Sporting Pursuits Royal Recipes

Hello, I'm Michael Buerk.

Welcome to a brand-new series of Royal Recipes.

This time, we are at Westonbirt House,

formerly a grand country house,

now a boarding school

which has played host to royal visitors for over 100 years.

In this series, we're delving even further back in time

to reveal over 600 years of royal food heritage.

You play Anne Boleyn, and I will play Henry VIII!

And we've been busy unlocking the secrets

of Britain's great food archives,

discovering rare and unseen recipes

that have been royal favourites through the ages.

From the earliest royal cookbook in 1390...

It's so precious, so special that I'm not allowed to touch it.

..to Tudor treats from the Court of Henry VIII.

I can't wait for this! One, two, three...

We will be exploring the great culinary traditions

enjoyed by the royal family,

from the grand to the ground-breaking,

as well as the surprisingly simple.

I did think that was going to be a disaster!

HE LAUGHS

Ooh!

As we hear from a host of royal chefs...

Prince Philip would walk past, or pop his head in, and say,

"What's for dinner, what are we having?" Oh, yeah.

It's not just a normal kitchen!

And meet the people who provide for the royal table.

If it's OK for the Queen, it's OK for everyone.

Welcome to Royal Recipes.

We're looking at the royals' love of sport today,

and the food that they eat when they're at it.

This time on Royal Recipes...

-So that's quite a powerful taste.

-Quite a powerful taste.

..chef Paul Ainsworth scores with a Tudor hunting snack...

Oh, what have I got in my saddle bag?

Do you know what, I wouldn't mind that in my saddle bag!

Dr Annie Gray gets a flavour of lunch aboard a royal racing yacht.

It's a lovely little menu, actually, but it is very, very simple food.

I know that George V was particularly fond, apparently, of mashed potatoes.

And we make Olympian efforts to turn out a Buckingham Palace pud.

THEY LAUGH

You've gone all red!

I'm here in the Royal Recipes kitchen and with me today

is Michelin-starred chef Paul Ainsworth.

This is looking really interesting.

-What are you doing today?

-Mitton of pork.

It's a terrine, basically, but rather than in a terrine mould,

it's going to be in this beautiful pudding basin, ideal for picnics.

Picnics, and that's the point, because royal picnics in particular,

this dish goes all the way back, maybe even beyond, to Henry VIII.

-Right, OK.

-It was his favourite,

he was always outdoors, always riding, hunting.

This was the sort of thing that would be in Henry VIII's saddle bag

and it's still a favourite with the royal family today.

The recipe is actually based on one we found

in this wonderful old cookbook

that's hidden away in the British Library,

called Country Contentments, Or The English Housewife.

Absolutely. So what we've got here is, look at this...

-A lattice of bacon! Isn't that impressive?

-Ingenious, isn't it?

Is it... It's kind of plaited.

Completely plaited, right the way through.

-Look at that.

-Now tell me, how long did it take you to plait the...

Well, while you were having a massage this morning,

I was here pressing on with this!

That's going to season the mixture in the middle,

which we come over to here.

-Pork loin.

-It's the equivalent of a fillet steak in beef, isn't it?

Absolutely. If you just kind of feel it, it's such a tender cut.

-It really slides through.

-It glides through it.

And when you're cooking tenderloin of pork,

I remember we were always told that

the one meat that you shouldn't have rare,

you shouldn't have red, is pork?

We now treat, for me, pigs exactly like we would a piece of beef.

Now I wouldn't cook this medium rare,

but I would cook it pink like a blushing piece of saddle of lamb.

-Treat it like any other meat?

-Absolutely.

So what are you putting in there now?

So what I've got here is some sausage meat.

-Now what's this?

-Now, just have a smell of that.

-Ooh...

-What do you get?

Well, I'd say, I'm not good on these things

-but almost nutmeg but not quite?

-Absolutely spot on.

-What is it?

-That is mace.

Mace, I've heard of mace

but it's a rather more old-fashioned ingredient, isn't it?

-Do you use it in your kitchen?

-We do, we use it a lot.

It's an amazing ingredient.

It's the husk, it's the outside of a nutmeg.

-Ahh!

-Now, what we've done, Michael,

is we've just literally cooked the onions down with some mace

and some sage and butter.

All these ingredients right here are still absolutely relevant today.

This is real Sunday roast territory for me.

Pork, sage, onions.

You could just imagine, can't you,

there's Henry on his horse ready to go off hunting

and the servant coming out with this, with this amazing mitton,

mitton of pork, and him putting it in his saddle bags.

You know, we get Henry VIII completely wrong.

We've got this idea of him, you know, full of dropsy, fat, you know,

-and all gouty...

-Which is exactly how I think of him, yeah.

Yeah, exactly. But, for most of his life,

he was incredibly tall, athletic...

You know, they say, actually,

that he spent a third of his life in the saddle. Hunting, jousting...

-Right.

-Yeah. OK, Paul, what are you doing now?

-You're layering it.

-I'm layering it.

-So you've put the... Mixed...

-Absolutely.

-..the sausage meat and the other ingredients.

-Yeah.

-You've put a layer of that in,

you're putting a layer of pork tenderloin

so that it's in storeys inside?

-Absolutely.

-And you're seasoning it as you're going?

Seasoning it, that is the key.

Seasoning all the way.

The dish goes back to Tudor times

but it's actually named after a Regency Rake

called Mad Jack Mytton.

-Mad Jack Mytton?

-And he really was an eccentric, to say the very least.

He used to feed his dogs with champagne and fillet steak.

Anyway, he's achieved immortality.

Mitton of pork? Named after him.

Yeah, good on him!

I like that! So we come right up to the top,

you want to get in as many layers as you can and the more layers you get,

the more impressive when we come to cut this.

-OK?

-The other image we have of Henry is of those banquets

and him sitting there all fat

and throwing chicken legs over his shoulder and things,

but actually, apparently, he was a very fastidious eater.

-Was he?

-He didn't actually throw many banquets at all,

except on special occasions.

He was so fit and active until his 40s.

-After his accident...

-And then he had a jousting accident,

got his leg injured and it never healed.

It got ulcerous, and his waist ballooned to 52 inches!

-OK, now what's happening?

-See, look at this.

You've domed it. Rather than just flat...

And there's a reason for this.

-Why?

-So when this cooks, it's going to reduce.

It's going to compact down a bit.

Absolutely, so we want to pack it to allow that reduction

because then we're going to press it when comes out.

-Yeah.

-So that's now, if I can just give you...

..this to take to the oven...

-OK.

-Tinfoil, buttered.

-Yeah.

-Right the way around, like so.

We're now going to transfer this into the tray,

we're going to cook it at 180 for 50 minutes.

-OK?

-50 minutes, the famous 180.

-The famous 180!

-None of you cooks cook at anything else!

Everything's at 180!

Yep, here we go.

But we don't have to wait, do we?

-No, we don't.

-Because we've got one already.

-Right...

-Let's have a look.

Ahhh, what have I got in my saddle bag?

Do you know what, I wouldn't mind that in my saddle bag!

That is pretty impressive, isn't it?

That looks fantastic.

You see, you've got that shape. It's cooked down, and then we pressed it.

So as soon as it comes out the oven, we press it.

Overnight, let it set, then all of the juices will come out,

-a bit like a pork pie.

-Do you put it in the fridge, make it cool?

Yeah, put it in the fridge. Now, if you can see,

I've then glazed it all over, you see that thin...

With the juices that have come out?

With the juices and that natural jelly.

But I love the way, the plaiting, the latticing, as you put it,

of the bacon makes it looks so pro,

almost as if you were a professional chef!

-I know!

-And look how wonderfully chunky and solid it is.

-Are you ready?

-Yeah.

I'll just pull them apart.

-Look at that.

-Ohhh-ho-ho! Wow.

I mean, what blows me away is that, you know, for me,

that right now is modern, relevant, incredible cookery

and they were doing that all those years ago.

-How are you going to serve it up?

-I am going to serve this to you

on a plate with some beautiful piccalilli,

a nice wedge and some salad herbs.

-There's some sharpness there.

-Yes, absolutely.

Exactly, we've got a lot of protein and fat there,

and that sharpness is going to be wonderful.

Um... I don't want to be rude, but just looking at it,

are you sure the bacon on the outside is cooked?

-It looks pretty pale.

-Do you know what?

It's an excellent question, Michael.

If you feel it, just have a feel on the outside,

you'll feel how firm it is.

You've got to remember, it's in a terrine mould,

it's just completely and utterly enclosed

so it hasn't got an open surface.

So, to reassure you, it's cooked!

And the pork inside's quite pink?

-Yeah, like we said earlier.

-Yeah, yeah.

The sausage meat's lovely and firm and then those little layers of pork

-are beautiful and pink.

-I tell you what, it's rich though, isn't it?

It's absolutely delicious.

You can just imagine pulling up with your horse, couldn't you?

Taking this out your saddle and a couple of plates.

A little bit of olive oil on those herbs.

How you manage to keep a slim waist when eating this sort of stuff,

-I don't know.

-There you go, look at that.

-There's yours.

-Thank you.

-Do you mind if I start?

-You go for it.

-I've been very patient.

-This is nice.

-You've got the texture, the lovely pickles.

Lovely and chunky, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely delicious.

Lovely. The piccalilli...

Just everything, isn't it?

-Absolutely...

-You do need it, don't you?

-I'm going to have another of those.

-Happy?

Mmm.

More than that, ecstatic!

-Yeah? Fantastic!

-Perfect for anything outdoors.

It is, isn't it? It's that proper outdoor fodder.

-Absolutely, royal or otherwise.

-Yes!

A fortifying hunting snack for England's most famous king.

But, of course, a regal love of the outdoor life

didn't start or stop with Henry VIII.

George V, grandfather to the current Queen, was also a keen sportsman.

He was known as the Sailor King and spent many happy times

at a royal holiday spot, the Isle of Wight.

Annie Gray weighs anchor.

When it comes to sailing,

Cowes Week is THE dazzling place to see and be seen.

But it got that way because of royal patronage.

Between the wars, George V raced here many times.

He had his own yacht, Britannia.

A light, strong and successful racer,

said to be one of the most beautiful yachts ever built.

Sailing on the King's yacht in the 1930s

must have been an exciting experience.

Mary Montagu-Scott's grandmother, Pearl,

wrote it all down in her diaries,

giving us a valuable insight into the royal family at play.

Pearl Montagu was married to my grandfather, John,

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

He was a friend of the royal family.

She describes in great detail the sailing race of the day.

Who was on board, what they did, where they came in the race,

so they're a fantastic record of Cowes Week in the 1930s,

-of these incredible races.

-That's absolutely amazing.

She said, "The most thrilling day,

"we could hardly believe that we had won till Astra cheered.

"This is the King's fourth win and two seconds in a week.

"He presented Mary Beaufort and I

"with lovely enamel brooches of his racing flag. We were so thrilled."

And this is the brooch of Britannia.

-Oh, isn't that gorgeous?

-Given by the king to my grandmother.

Because every time she went on Britannia, they won.

And so, we're very, very honoured to still have this brooch.

It's absolutely beautiful, isn't it?

Did she talk about the dinners at all?

She says, "I changed into evening clothes.

"Harry sent me across to the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert."

Britannia was moored very close to the Victoria and Albert,

the official yacht, where the royals and their guests would eat,

drink and socialise after a busy day racing.

"A perfect evening and sunset.

"I sat on the King's left and Admiral Dudley North on my left.

"After a marvellous dinner, we went up on upper deck

"and watched the fireworks.

"The King pressed an electric button

"and up went the V&A's rockets, and then all began."

So even then they had an electric button to start the fireworks,

which in 1935, is quite amazing.

But the sense there of glamour and glitz and beauty

-really does come through, doesn't it?

-Absolutely,

and as a woman I think it's incredibly rare,

I don't know of any other ladies

who raced with the King during this time on Britannia.

Good for Pearl.

Yeah, very good.

Socialising at mealtimes went hand-in-hand with the yachting life,

but what was actually eaten on board?

Denis Steele is a maritime historian based in Cowes.

Britannia was quite outstanding.

She was, in a sense, the ultimate racing yacht of her era.

She won her first race and she won more than 200 following that.

She was placed in half of her 600 races.

So this is one of the menus, is it, from the Britannia?

This was from 1935,

and it was quite clearly a racing menu

rather than the more lavish ones

that he would have had on the Victoria and Albert.

Petit pois a la creme and puree de pomme de terre.

I know that George V was particularly fond, apparently,

of mashed potato so presumably this dish of peas and mashed potato...

-Yes.

-..was really something for him.

Yes, indeed, and I suppose a pigeon pie as well, again,

you can chop a slice and then you can have it,

-perhaps in a couple of minutes...

-So in a sense,

to use an awful modern expression, it was food to go.

It's a lovely little menu, actually.

But it is very, very simple food.

And the V&A III is the Victoria and Albert, isn't it?

So that's the more, I suppose, more cruising yacht that he had?

It was a very prestigious steam yacht,

it was the third of three Victoria and Alberts,

it came into service in 1901,

and of course we were at the peak of our power

as an empire at that time, and she was the best around.

In the evenings, they would all decamp to the Victoria and Albert?

They would go on board the Victoria and Albert which was 5,500 tonnes,

with a fabulous dining room and the wonderful skylights.

And of course, we have to remember that all the crowned heads of Europe

used to come to Cowes in those days.

On board that ship, you've got a much bigger galley, presumably,

and you have a much bigger team of chefs working.

A much bigger team, and again, by 1900 you've got refrigeration.

So the standard of food is higher and it's much easier to preserve it.

What about the Queen?

Did Queen Mary enjoy racing as well?

-Was she out there with George V?

-No, she did not like racing at all.

So the King would go racing

and she'd go off in the Daimler and have a look around antiques shops.

The story of Britannia has a sad ending.

George V wrote in his will that if none of his children wanted her,

she was to be scuttled.

So she was sunk upon his death in 1936.

All that remains of the once great racing yacht

are a few pieces of furniture,

and, of course, that wonderful lunch menu.

A fitting inspiration for the Royal Recipes kitchen.

This is going to be Derby beef.

-Derby beef?

-Derby beef.

What the French would call a pot-au-feu, all right?

Which is basically meat, vegetables, not roasted, all cooked in a pot,

so a one-pot wonder.

Now, the great thing about it is the seasons can change with this,

so you can add in the spring lots of peas, asparagus, broad beans.

As you move into the autumn, lovely root vegetables.

So we've got some lovely carrots,

some beautiful turnips, smoked bacon,

juniper, a wonderful bouquet garni, which we're going to tie up.

-Just have a smell of that, the thyme.

-Mmm!

Parsley, bay leaf.

Some red wine vinegar and some salt.

-So really simple but delicious.

-What the French would call pot-au-feu,

what the English would call boiled beef and carrots, I suppose...

-Boiled beef and carrots.

-And what George V called Derby beef.

There we are, served with ham, tongue, lamb,

and beef and pigeon pie on that yacht?

-Yes.

-On that fabulous racing yacht that was the love of his life.

And this was the centrepiece.

-Now, what do you do?

-So what we've got here is a silverside.

So it's not the most expensive cut of meat.

It's not the most expensive cut,

it's a cut that really benefits from being cooked nice and slowly.

So we're just going to turn on our heat here.

What have you got in the pot?

In this pot I've just got water,

and that's what's magical about these dishes.

We're going to transform that into a wonderful broth.

-So is that water cold or hot?

-Cold.

We want to extract the flavour of the beef

and everything that we're going to put in

as it comes up to that wonderful simmer.

-Yeah.

-So... I'm just going to give my hands a quick wipe there.

Can you imagine all this on a yacht?

-I know.

-You know, in a regatta?

I mean, I'm a yachtie myself and we don't get much further than cocoa!

Imagine what would happen if you fell overboard.

You'd sink like a stone, wouldn't you?

So, what's that you've put in there?

So we've got our red wine vinegar,

water and our silverside of beef seasoned.

We're now going to take our bouquet garni.

What you want to do is just do that, OK?

-What, to bruise them?

-To bruise them,

which releases the oils out of the herbs, OK?

We're going to pop that in there, like so.

-That's flavour.

-Next - juniper berries.

-Right, right.

-We're just going to crack them,

it's quite a lot of juniper in this recipe.

Because that's quite a powerful taste, isn't it?

Quite a powerful taste, if you just have a smell now...

-Yeah, yeah.

-You instantly get that gin smell.

They've been dried so the flavour is really nice and intense.

Again, in we go like so.

Next, beautiful quality smoked bacon, just delicious.

You just get that lovely smokiness.

Yeah, it's the smokiness that really gives it the flavour, isn't it?

Right the way around like so.

-Lid on.

-Yeah.

-That will come up.

Now, don't boil.

So a gentle simmer where the bubbles are just breaking,

-no more?

-Absolutely. Once you get to there,

about every ten minutes, just take the lid off and with a spoon,

just move everything around the pot and just turn your beef like that.

The temperature is going to travel up and down the beef

as you keep turning it.

There's something about beef and the sea, isn't there?

-The Navy's got this thing about roast beef.

-Yeah.

You know, they sailed, Nelson and everything with beef in great casks,

-didn't they? Salt beef and salt pork.

-Yeah.

And there's that patriotic ballad, The Roast Beef Of Old England.

That is still sung at naval mess dinners, I think.

You just touched on something there, that this recipe,

actually, the beef was pickled back in the day.

And the reason was we didn't have refrigeration.

No, no, no. They preserved it in these casks, yeah.

For me, it actually is better doing it how we're doing it.

The acidity is a bit too, kind of, aggressive on the outside

and I don't like the texture it gives.

No, but you've got vinegar in there so to a certain extent...

We've got that lovely acidity.

-We've got the idea there.

-So we're just chopping our parsley here.

Leave the stalk on as well.

It's a proper stew, all right,

-we don't need to be picking away and all of that.

-Chuck it all in!

-Right. After an hour and a half, that should be ready.

-Yeah.

The best way to tell is take a knife like this, go right into the middle.

Basically, if that knife goes through nice and easy,

almost like butter, goes right the way through,

that beef is beautifully cooked.

So this was lunch on the Royal Yacht Britannia,

which was that wonderful sailing boat of George V's.

When we talk about the Royal Yacht Britannia,

we think of the Queen's vessel,

you know, that was launched in 1954 just after the coronation.

And, you know, went out of royal service in '97.

And the Queen went everywhere, if you remember.

They did a million miles.

-A million miles?

-A million miles!

-How many times to the moon and back is it?

-Yes, yeah.

How many times did they have beef Derby?

-How's it looking?

-It's looking delicious.

When you've got to the hour and a half stage,

we're going to add these beautiful turnips and carrots.

Absolutely delicious.

They go in. Put them all round the pot,

lid back on, and then you know the beef is cooked -

the beef isn't going to overcook in the time it takes to cook those.

-Yeah.

-I want those vegetables to be soft,

because when they're soft they've literally absorbed all that stock -

and then you're ready.

-And as you can see...

-Oh, yum.

Everything is just...

And you know the most important thing about this dish, now,

is once the vegetables are ready, take it off and go walk the dogs.

Does it need to rest just the same as a roast does?

It needs to rest, and then everything kind of settles.

All that beef and everything just gets even more flavoursome.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So a good rest, with the lid on, right?

-Yeah.

Just going to finish with that parsley we've chopped.

Probably a good thing to have on a boat,

if you're racing and all that kind of stuff,

because you don't quite know when it is you're going to be serving it.

You just put a bit more vinegar in there?

Yeah, and I'm just going to literally move that around.

-Can you see all the vegetables in there?

-Yeah.

It is beautiful.

-It is more of a peasant dish, don't you think...

-It is.

..then a Royal dish, in a sense?

You're absolutely right, it really is.

-It's that real peasant, hearty food.

-Yeah, yeah.

-If I put that there...

-Thank you very much, Michael.

-Gosh, it looks good.

-It looks delicious, doesn't it?

-It does.

Right, I'm going to carve some slices,

if you can just go in there and get some carrots

-and some beautiful broth...

-OK, righto.

-..and some lovely turnips.

-I'll do that.

-All right?

How much broth do you want?

Just a little bit, just a little bit on the bottom.

The carrots are marvellous, aren't they?

They're a lovely colour -

and these baby turnips are a particular favourite of mine.

-That's plenty.

-Is that enough?

-That, in itself, is gorgeous, isn't it?

-Isn't it? Yeah.

So if you just pop that there...

-Ah, smell that!

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Go on, have a sniff.

-And do you know, what's fantastic

-is that that was water.

-Yeah.

-That's what I love about it so much.

-There we go.

-Just...like that, just on top...

There is just the faintest trace of pink in there.

Just a little bit, OK?

It's not, kind of... boiled to death, is it?

No, it's not. Now, important -

-a little bit of rock salt over, like so.

-Yeah, yeah.

Then we take a little bit more just of that parsley on the top.

-Yep.

-Just on the top, like so.

Oh, that looks good.

-Derby beef!

-Derby beef.

Here we go...

-There's yours.

-You first!

No, you first this time.

Me first this time?

-Yeah, after all the hard work you've put into this.

-Yes!

There we go...

-Now, isn't that funny? You go for the carrot first.

-Mm.

I wanted to taste that broth.

That vinegar is so important.

-Mm.

-It's absolutely delicious.

You can taste the beefiness that has gone through that broth.

-You can taste the beefiness in the beef!

-Yeah.

This is just the kind of hearty stuff you'd want on a boat

if you've been sailing all morning!

Definitely.

Well, King George V, he so loved that boat,

he so loved the sea,

I really hope he enjoyed that day because...

I mean, it's sad when you think about it -

within a year he was dead,

within a year that beautiful yacht

had been scuttled off the Isle of Wight.

So this is really a dish that was at the end of an era.

It's been a decade or so

since Prince Charles called time on his sporting career,

during which he'd sustained a few serious polo injuries...

Royal chef Carolyn Robb,

who worked for the Prince and Princess of Wales for 13 years,

recalls how food revived his spirits after one mishap...

Today, I'm making one of my favourite dishes.

It's poached eggs served on baby crushed baby new potatoes,

with baby spinach, crispy bacon

and a lovely fresh basil pesto sauce.

This dish, to me, represents real comfort food -

and I remember very fondly on one occasion when I made it.

Prince Charles had unfortunately broken his arm playing polo,

and although he no longer had the use of his right hand,

he still took the time and trouble to write a note to me

saying thank you, and telling me how much he'd enjoyed it,

and it was a wonderful note that I still treasure today,

because it was written with his left hand,

which I thought was just incredible.

Carolyn's boiled her potatoes for five minutes.

Now I'm going to crush these

and mix them with the butter and seasoning and herbs.

I like to be quite generous with the butter.

Put that in...

..and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper...

..and a little bit of salt..

..and lastly, just a dash of cream...

..and nutmeg.

You can buy ground nutmeg, obviously,

but I always think using whole nutmegs

and grating them freshly, the taste is even better.

That should do.

I'm just going to crush these now,

so that they can still be formed into a little potato cake.

Last thing we need to do now is add in the fresh herbs.

That will give them a lovely colour and a lovely flavour.

Now, those are ready to use,

and then just before we need them, I'll reheat them.

Eggs were often on the menu at Highgrove -

there were some wonderful chickens, so we had the most amazing eggs

that were freshly picked up every day.

It's quite an art to poaching eggs - the water should be simmering,

but it shouldn't be boiling fast.

I'm going to stir it round and round so we have a little whirlpool,

and then pour the egg right into the centre...

..and that should help to keep it together.

Then we hope for the best!

Now I'm going to cook the crispy bacon for the topping.

You can either use really thinly sliced streaky bacon or pancetta.

Today I've got some pancetta.

So, a little bit of olive oil in the pan,

and then I'm just going to leave that to heat...

..and it will only take a couple of moments to cook this.

Carolyn poaches the egg for precisely one minute

before placing it in a bowl of hot water to keep it warm.

Once the pancetta is crispy, she boils some cream for the sauce,

and is ready to plate up.

So, first of all I'm going to put the potato at the bottom...

Got a nice ring mould...

..to shape it into that.

If you don't have a ring mould, it doesn't matter at all.

You can also just have a free-form potato cake.

There's that lovely, creamy potato...

..and the next thing to do is to pop some baby spinach leaves on,

you can use baby spinach or you could use rocket.

It's lovely just to have a little bit of extra green on here.

So, using a draining spoon, take it out of the hot water..

..and have a piece of kitchen paper ready

just to get any excess water off the egg,

before we pop it on top of the spinach...

I've got the hot cream, here,

and into this, I'm just going to mix a few spoons of pesto,

so we have a lovely, bright green sauce to go over the top of the egg.

I'm just going to mix that in...

Being a chef in the royal household and working in a royal kitchen,

you're never lonely, never short of someone to talk to,

because they were very much the centre of the house

and there was always somebody popping in for a chat

and a cup of tea.

The kettle was always warm in the kitchen!

And then the last finishing touch to this dish

is a couple of pieces of this gorgeous, crispy pancetta

which I'm just going to delicately pop across the top.

So a few fresh herbs,

and a few shavings of fresh Parmesan,

to add the final finishing touch.

Simple, homely, comforting.

Royal or not, this is a Premier League pick me up!

A love of sports and the outdoor life

is something Prince Charles shares with most of today's Royals,

but the Windsors adventurous streak is somewhat tame

in comparison to the escapades of their forebears...

There was a famous incident, I just can't believe it,

there was a famous incident sometime in the 1860s, I think,

where Edward VII, he was the Prince of Wales then, of course...

-Yeah?

-..actually chased a deer through central London!

-Really?!

-Yeah, started in Harrow, somewhere,

and ended up in the goods yard at Paddington station.

I don't think you see many deers in London now.

No, I don't think you do...

-Hence the attraction of Balmoral!

-Yeah, yeah.

The Queen is famously fond of Balmoral,

and she loves to attend the Highland Games when she's in residence.

Toasting sporting success with a wee dram

has always been part and parcel of the occasion...

..and just a stone's throw from Balmoral,

Lochnagar whisky has a long association with the Royal family.

Anna Haugh caught up with the distillery's Claire Fraser

to find out more.

When was this distillery built?

So this distillery was built in 1845 by man called John Begg.

Now, he built the distillery here, and then three years later,

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were up on holiday.

-Ah!

-They were house-hunting.

-Oh, I see.

So John Begg wrote a letter to her private secretary inviting them up,

so they came up to the distillery,

they had the very first documented whisky distillery tour,

and then they tasted the fine spirit, as well.

At the time, Victoria and Albert were leasing Balmoral Castle.

It was a canny move by the entrepreneurial John Begg

to invite the royal couple for a wee dram.

The distillery was soon supplying whisky to the regal household,

and the word royal was swiftly added to its name.

So I heard Queen Victoria loved her whisky.

Yeah - she used to put claret into her whisky...

Oh, God, no!

..and she took it on all of her picnics with her.

Well, I heard she actually liked to put whisky in her tea.

Well, I don't know about in her tea,

but she certainly used to mix it with claret.

Over a century and a half on,

things are still done in a very traditional way here.

The distillery manager is Sean Phillips.

Is the whisky production the same as it was in Queen Victoria's time?

Yes, it is, because we only use three ingredients,

which was used back then and are still used today.

So we've got the good old Scottish water...

-..we have got our malted barley...

-Mm!

..and we have got our yeast.

So, can I make it myself?

Yes, you probably could - but it might not be a good idea.

Perhaps best if Sean shows Anna how it's done.

First, the barley is ground and mixed with hot water,

a process known as mashing.

And what the mash tun is doing is we're taking all the sugars out,

that will be going through to the washback,

where it will be starting to ferment.

The sugary liquid is then siphoned through a series of pipes

into a huge barrel,

where yeast is then added and fermentation begins.

-You can now see it fermenting...

-Oh, yeah!

-Yeah.

-..and you can start to see the froth...

-Yeah, all the bubbles.

-..starting to appear on there.

What's formed is a simple beer.

To turn it into spirit requires distillation.

Oh, wow, these are huge!

The beer-like liquid is boiled in these vast copper vessels,

and the vapour condensed.

This removes water and increases the alcohol content...

OK, we'll move onto the next one.

..before a final stage of distillation

to refine its strength and flavour.

-You can still really smell it.

-Still really smell it.

-It's quite a strong smell!

-Quite strong.

Can I get drunk on this, or...?

Not at this at this point, unless you drink it.

How do I get in there?

No, it's all locked away.

You knew I was coming!

Maybe that's why this part of distillation

is carried out in what's called a spirit safe.

A whisky fit for a queen shouldn't be rushed.

For the final stage,

the spirit is placed in wooden casks and left for a number of years.

So this is my...

One of my favourite places on the distillery.

We have got around about 40 casks maturing.

This one is a 1986.

-Wow!

-So what we're going to do...

-Yeah.

-..we're going to... taste from here.

Whenever you're ready.

Now release.

Cool!

-Would you hire me?

-I would hire you.

That is absolutely delicious.

It is, yeah - you can pick that up on the front....

Victoria and Albert may have been the Royals

who first discovered the distillery,

but today's Queen has also sampled the whisky here,

including a very special blend

created to celebrate 60 years of her reign.

The whisky that went into these casks was from 1952...

..and there were 60 whiskeys

used from distilleries all around Scotland.

We bottled 60 bottles for the Diamond Jubilee,

and we gave one bottle to the Queen...

-Just one?

-Just the one.

..and 59 bottles were all sold for £100,000 each.

Oh, my goodness!

For a scholarship trust.

£100,000 for one bottle of whisky?

For one bottle of the whisky, yes.

That's wonderful. Which one am I trying next?

-Cheers.

-Thank you.

Many of the Royals are not only avid sportsmen and -women,

they're also keen spectators and great patrons,

and when it comes to matters of national sporting pride,

the last thing they'll do is skimp on pudding.

Now this is not just a Royal dish...

-No.

-..but this has got sporting history.

This was served up...

It was a very special royal banquet in 2005.

Do you remember? London was pitching for the Olympic Games...

Yes, I remember it well.

..and the Queen threw a state banquet for the Olympic Committee,

and they were treated like heads of state.

They came through the quadrangle at Buckingham Palace,

the Yeomen of the Guard were there,

the Coldstream Guards string quartet -

and they had a full-scale Royal banquet.

-Right.

-It worked.

-Absolutely, yeah, it did.

-And this was the pudding -

caramelised pear tart.

So how did they make this?

-Do you like things like Bakewell tart?

-Oh, yes.

-Right, OK -

so what I'm making here is frangipane.

-We substitute the flour for ground almonds.

-Ah!

So, so far, in here, we've got butter and sugar.

Before we add the ground almonds, we're going to take one egg.

-Yeah.

-Basically to loosen the mix.

-Yeah.

-So, when it cooks, it's going to set nicely.

-Yeah.

-At the banquet, it may have been done sort of like a tarte fine,

which is like puff pastry, really thin, baked between two sheets,

little bit of frangipane,

and then basically sliced pears all the way around,

and then glazed with apricot jam.

-That's the French way, eh?

-The French way, yeah.

-Tarte fine.

-Mm.

-What we're going to do, the proper British way...

-Yeah.

-We're going to do a deep-fill.

-OK!

-Right, so...

Actually, we don't know which way they did it,

but my guess is we did it the British way

because what's really interesting about this banquet,

because you've got to remember that the other big competitor

for this stage in the Olympics in 2012 was Paris!

So when you look at the banquet menu, not even the wines are French.

The wines are from New Zealand, Australia, and Portugal.

So they were avoiding any reference to France.

-Yeah.

-Because Paris was a big competitor.

So I reckon they did it your way.

-What next?

-So, we've creamed our butter in sugar,

we've added our one egg.

We've folded in our ground almonds, and we've made that.

Just smell that mix.

-Oh, yeah!

-OK?

-Yeah.

-Now we've got one more ingredient to go in there,

-it's going to give it that bit of oomph.

-Yeah.

-Pear brandy.

-Is it nice?

Would you like me to pour you a slurp?

-Yes?

-Well, if you insist, Paul, yeah.

-What about yourself?

-I'm good.

I'm good, I've got to focus.

I'm not just standing there talking about history.

-I've got to cook!

-Come on, get on with it.

Oh, that's lovely, isn't it? You can smell the pears.

It's lovely, isn't it?

You've gone all red.

Not at all, Paul, just carry on, carry on, keep cooking.

OK.

-OK, so over here, we've got a...

-Ahh!

-..blind-baked pastry casing.

-What does that mean?

-That means we've filled it with baking beans

and then we've put it into the oven,

and we've cooked it so the actual pastry case

now is cooked like a biscuit.

So now we go in with this wonderful mixture.

Gosh, that looks good, doesn't it?

-What a beautiful colours they are.

-It's absolutely stunning.

And the flavour of it - just pears, almonds, they all go together.

-Now, if you...

-Oh, yeah, don't waste any.

No, I'm not going to waste any at all.

Right, now if you just spread that -

-Hold the case there.

-Right.

-Just spread that to the outside.

I'm going to make a start on the pears.

-OK. It's a bit of responsibility, this, you know?

-No...!

-Have you got enough for this?

-I've got every faith in you.

We're just going to take our pears

and we're going to top and tail them.

What I've got here is the William variety,

so, really juicy and it's a great pear for cooking with.

They're beautiful pears, actually, aren't they?

They're absolutely glistening.

Now how are you going to get rid of the core?

We couldn't have picked a worser thing -

-this is actually called a Parisienne scoop!

-No!

But today, it's a corer.

-It's a corer.

-It's a corer!

-It's almost like doing an ice cream cornet, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

-So, we're just going to remove that, like so.

-That's very neat.

Do you know what? I'm glad you picked up on that,

because it's all these little processes - it's such a simple dish.

-Yeah.

-It's a pastry case, frangipane in there,

but take your time with everything and just love what you're doing.

-OK, ready?

-Yeah.

Oh, I love the way you do this.

So now we're going to put those into lemon juice, OK?

What's the purpose of the lemon juice?

Now, the lemon juice is doing two things.

The acidity is stopping the pears going brown,

but also pear, lemon, almonds, they all go. They're best friends.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Right? So, if you just take the slices,

and literally, we're going to start from the outside...

You've done such a wonderful job here, Michael.

-That's very kind of you.

-There's that plate, all right?

I really appreciate that, coming from you.

We're just going to go around like so, and just overlap like that.

-Mm-hm.

-OK? And I'll continue to slice the pears.

It's a bit of a long job, this, you know?

Brilliant end to a meal, isn't it?

I can hear the Coldstream Guard string quartet

playing for these Olympic Committee men and women.

Do you want to know what else they had?

-I do.

-They started with sea bass, then breast of duck,

then halal chicken for the Muslim guests...

-Yeah.

-..and then the caramelised pear tart.

I mean, not a huge banquet by royal standards,

but I suppose the kind of royal banquet that you get these days,

which is pared down, so to speak.

-Joke.

-You're just too good.

-I am.

-Right, ready?

-Well, I'm...

-OK, right, I'm going to help you.

-I need help.

-Absolutely brilliant, mate.

-I'm not just saying that, absolutely fantastic.

-Mm!

And just overlapping them, like, right round, so...

-Here we go.

-..pears have gone all the way around, overlapping.

Now how thick should this be?

Is that going to thicken up?

No, we just want one layer.

So you're just going to go one layer of pears over the top.

So if you could just now take that to the oven,

I'm going to place it in at your favourite temperature.

-Which is?

-180.

-180, well done.

-I'm ahead of you.

-You are ahead of me.

-For 30 minutes.

-30 minutes.

-All right?

-Okey doke. The lemon with the pear, by the way, is...

-It works, doesn't it?

-It really works.

Not just for the browning purposes.

-No.

-Right...

-Now what are you up to?

We've got some apricot jam.

We're going to add some more of this pear brandy.

I think that's a good idea.

-Bring that to the heat, like so.

-Yeah.

Now, are you doing this with a brush?

Yeah, just with a brush,

cos this is what we're going to brush all over our finished tart.

Yeah. It does look good.

The taste of the apricot isn't going to overwhelm it?

No, it isn't. You'll see, it's just a thin glaze on the top

-and it just gives it that real nice shine.

-Yeah.

-Could you bring the plate, please?

-I'll bring the plate.

OK.

-I'll put it here.

-Right.

-Now...

-Go on, you do it.

-No, no, you do it.

-OK.

-Whoa!

-That is something special, isn't it?

That is terrific, isn't it?

It was worth going to all that trouble

layering the pear round there.

-Oh..

-So, now...

-Yeah.

This lovely apricot jam, it's got that lovely pear brandy in there,

we're just going to now brush it.

-I mean, it's already shiny.

-Yeah.

-Gosh, that looks good.

And just see how it goes on the pastry.

It just looks like a beautiful pastry shop desert, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-So we just glaze that all over, like so.

It also helps keep that pastry on the edge, there, nice and crispy.

-Are you up for this?

-I am, I am!

Beautiful.

Is there a rule of thumb for how large a segment you normally cut?

No, just - when I'm in company like yours, generosity.

-Ha, ha! That is the keynote.

-Look at that.

-Oh, yeah!

-Beautiful crisp pastry, frangipane nice and moist.

-Yeah.

-Those lovely glazed pears on top.

-Wow.

Now, coming up from Cornwall,

-there's only one thing to have with this, Michael,

-all right?

And that is clotted cream.

-Look at that.

-Oh, my word.

-Look at it glistening!

-Look at it.

-Ooh!

And, for me...we're just going to make it snow.

You've put everything into this, haven't you?

Do you know what I love the most?

-See the way that clotted cream is just melting...

-I know!

..on the warmth of the tart?

-Right.

-Yeah, come on.

-Your tools.

Let's not just look at, let's try it.

-After you.

-No, after you.

Are you sure? Excellent, I'm going to have some of your Devon cream.

You're going to be in trouble, you are!

A low blow, eh? A low blow.

Look at that.

Mm!

Oh, the frangipane.

That's wonderful.

Mm! The pear...

It has everything.

-Yeah.

-You've got the texture from the pastry, the frangipane -

you even get that lovely lemon coming off the pears.

-Yep.

-Everything.

That is stunning.

We don't know for sure, but you and I know, that's what clinched it.

I think if I had been there, and I'd have cooked that,

we would have known a lot sooner.

Well, maybe we'd have had the Olympic Games four years earlier!

Well, there you are. Caramelised pear tart.

A gold medal winner if ever I saw one.

Join us next time.