Sunday Edition Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning. This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show.

We've got a great line-up of autumnal recipes to warm you up,

cooked by some of the best chefs in the business,

and of course, some celebrity guests,

ready to feast at the Saturday Kitchen table.

Yummy Brummie Glynn Purnell

demonstrates how he's brought fine dining to Birmingham

by making a veloute of butternut squash

and he serves it with poached hens' eggs, persillade

and a good old English Cheddar.

Paul Rankin's one-time head chef Danny Millar

comes over from Northern Ireland to cook a seasonal game bird.

He roasts wood pigeon and creates an exquisite salad with pear,

hazelnuts, watercress, chicory with a gin vinaigrette.

Nic Watt brings some Far Eastern sunshine to the table

with his oven-grilled tiger prawns.

He marinade the prawns using chilli yuzu

and serves it with a white miso aioli.

And Sharon Corr faces food heaven or food hell -

would she get her food heaven, hake,

with my Singapore chilli deep-fried hake with pad Thai?

Or would she get her dreaded food hell, dill,

with my roasted gravlax with home-made dill mustard mayonnaise,

crushed potatoes and watercress?

Find out what she gets to eat at the end of today's show.

But now, it's Galton Blackiston's turn to cook,

and he's about to serve venison

to someone who's never tried it before - enjoy this.

Great to have you back. Nice to be here.

On the menu, something very seasonal. Absolutely.

Now is a great time of year for using venison.

I'm a big advocate of using things in season,

so we're coming into the game season now, big time.

I just wanted to show you - this is the one I'm using,

which is a loin from a roe deer, which is a small deer,

bigger than a muntjac but not as big as the red deer,

which is one of those. OK.

Massive, substantial difference in size. Oh, yeah.

And with that comes also...

The red deer are lovely and flavoursome,

very flavoursome,

but can be a bit too strong for my liking.

So I believe it's the first time you've ever had venison?

I actually haven't eaten any game. I haven't had venison, no.

This is a first for me. Yeah.

I suppose the beauty about venison

is there isn't a lot of fat on venison.

You do need to trim a bit of the sinew off it -

if I was doing this, I'd trim it all up completely.

Yeah. But as far as fat goes, there isn't a lot on there.

No. What I'm going to do with this, when the pan is hot, is seal it well.

But game is a huge thing for you up at Morston Hall. Oh, absolutely.

As you well know, James. I do.

You even shot a bird, didn't you? Once upon a time. I did, yes.

I've got to say, you're a crack shot.

I've been out with you and you are a good shot.

I'm not, I'm not as good as he is. Really?

And I am useless, so that tells you everything.

He's got the gear and no idea, that's the thing with him.

I'm much the same as you, but you can actually shoot.

He's got this dog, and I've got to tell you the story.

Don't start on Daisy, please.

The clue is in a gun dog called Daisy.

Oh, I love that name!

It's the most disobedient dog in the world,

and before the shoot actually started -

this is the first shoot I've ever been on...

I know a little bit of etiquette...

He had this dog - Daisy, isn't it? Yes, Daisy. A springer.

In the back of the 4x4,

tail wagging, ready to go out on the shoot,

the mist was coming over the hills. Snow on the ground.

This poor old lady, whose farm they were shooting on,

came out with her lovely pet wire-haired terrier.

Don't know what it was. Lovely thing. Wasn't wire-haired for long. No.

Because Daisy leapt out of the thing and treated it as a rabbit,

ran after it.

It was extraordinary, wasn't it?

We'd only just got there. It was hilarious.

Now, back onto the venison.

You need to take your time and seal it off well, like so.

That was one of the most extraordinary events

of my year, last year.

Right. On with the food.

Sit it on a trivet and place it into a hot oven,

200, 400, Gas Mark 6,

for probably about 8-10 minutes.

You want to put that in? I'll put that in.

And, um...now, I want to talk about my gravy.

Now, this is a venison stock,

which is really beautiful and jellied, like that,

and it takes a lot of time to get a really good stock

and do it properly.

You can buy veal stock and stuff like that. So you tell me, James.

So you tell me.

Yes, obviously in the home kitchen, that is the way forward.

You get them in those tubs, now.

I think they're very good, great value.

I'm sure it's sensible to do something like that, OK?

I'm warming the gravy up and whilst I'm warming that up,

I'm going to fry off some shallots,

and they're going to go with my wild mushrooms, and I've got...

Are you all right, James? Yeah, I'm just doing...yes.

That's the one I had in earlier, which has had 8-10 minutes.

I'm setting that on eight minutes.

It's not a laptop, James, it's an oven.

Now, I want to talk about wild mushrooms.

These are winter chanterelles.

You wouldn't do what I do,

because you don't mess about like I mess about,

but I split these in half

to make sure there's not a maggot in the middle of them

and somebody doesn't get an unsuspecting mouthful of maggot...

Oh, dear!

Generally speaking, you just put them into a pan and pan-fry them.

We have this banter all the time.

And James does what a normal person would do.

Put them in a pan.

I clean them up - these little, beautiful girolles,

we clean the stems.

And the difference is ?28.50.

No, don't be like that.

But...yeah, we do play about.

I've been to Morston Hall and it is...

It is quite spectacular up there, what you've done -

you're celebrating 20 years? Next year is our 20th year.

I was a bare child when we started...

..and now, 20 years on, you know....

It's gone in the blink of an eye.

Amazing how quickly it's all gone.

But still the same ethos with the food and stuff. Absolutely.

We've been very fortunate

and retained a Michelin star for the last 14 years,

and whilst you don't set out your stall to achieve Michelin stars,

once you've got one, you don't want to lose it.

No. That sort of thing.

You just set out your stall to try and cook as well as you can.

Now, you're doing some fried brioche for me, aren't you?

Yeah - eating most of it, but it's great.

This curly kale goes into a pan of boiling, salted water, like so.

And these, you want like little soldiers.

Yeah, like that - they might be soldiers up in Yorkshire, crikey.

They are good, good-sized soldiers.

These are lovely - these mushrooms just take seconds like that.

OK. Then elderberries.

Do you ever pick elderberries, James?

Yeah, but normally the ones with the flowers, not the berry bit.

That's the season before, isn't it? The spring, summer time.

Then you get the elderberries. Make cordial with it.

Yeah, but these elderberries are still around a lot of hedgerows

from where I'm from and they're great to use.

You can also use blackberries and things like that -

great flavour, great thing to put with game.

Now, last time you were on, Norwich, your football club...

Oh, you're not going to start, are you?

No, the producer told me, he reminded me,

because the last time you were on, you actually said

if Norwich went up, you were going to get a Norwich City tattoo.

Oh, yes, yes! Well, James, I have had a Norwich City tattoo.

Do you want to see it? It's on my bottom.

No, thanks. Not particularly. What is it of?

It's a little canary, signifying, you know...

A little yellow and green canary, if you really must know.

I want to see it! Does it say Norwich?

I actually went in, I've got a bit of an aversion to needles,

so it's not my favourite thing to have done.

They haven't Tippexed it on!

LAUGHTER

I was in and out very, very quickly, but it is there. It is there.

How do you know it's there?! Because I felt it.

Now...get back onto cooking! No, I want to...

Does it say Norwich on it? Yes. No!

It's a Norwich emblem, all right? OK.

Now, we're nearly ready to serve this.

What goes on here is the mushrooms on the toast, the brioche toast.

You don't have to use brioche, you can use ordinary white bread,

if you wanted to.

Like so...

It's mushrooms on the toast,

then give me the venison, James, will you, please?

That's all right, there you go. Oh, venison - yeah.

There you go. Thank you, thank you.

Then what I tend to do is...

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I think venison loin should be served pink.

Actually, Delia's phoned in just now. Oh, here we go...

She's asked if she can have her name on the other cheek if they win.

LAUGHTER

Queen Delia can have anything she wants on my cheeks.

Oh, Queen Delia...

Um...add the berries, last second. There you go. Then...

Literally...spoon over. Don't you want my kale?

Yeah, I am going to use it. All right, OK. I'm going to use it.

I need to taste it.

I love kale. Lovely stuff.

A little bit of curly kale. You can't get any more seasonal than that.

And that is a really seasonal dish - roe deer, mushrooms on toast,

elderberry jus, curly kale.

I'll never look at you the same way again.

Did you want this? Oh, that's my quince jelly!

You did want it! Oh, I wanted to talk about the quince jelly...

Well, talk about it while it's over there.

Quince jelly, home-made,

beautiful thing to go with any game dish.

Talk about it while we're coming over.

How do you make quince jelly, then? With quinces. With quinces!

You're kidding(!)

Yeah, but it's the sugar and stuff like that...

Yeah, you boil the quinces up in water,

then take out the liquid - strain it, take out the liquid,

and for every pint of liquid you have, it's a pound of sugar.

You know what? That's delicious. Don't sound so surprised, Emma!

No, I don't mean surprise... It's very lean and really healthy.

Yes. Very healthy.

The secret is not to overcook it. That's the key to it.

It's gorgeous! And your quince jelly is fabulous.

There you are, there you go.

I can't believe Emma had never tried it before,

and I'm glad she liked it.

Coming up, I'll be making cobnut, wild mushroom and chestnut stir-fry

to go with a classic roast chicken,

after Rick Stein meets more of his food heroes.

Today, he's nut hunting in Kent and he's after bacon in East Anglia.

The days of working oast houses are over -

those curiously shaped buildings, used for drying hops,

make extremely desirable residences now,

but they're still a potent symbol of the garden of England.

I thought that phrase came from some 1930s railway poster,

but in fact, it was coined in the time of Henry VIII,

when the orchards were being planted.

And when you think of Kent,

you think of apples, soft fruit and cobnuts.

Samantha Petter and her family

have one of the biggest cobnut orchards left.

Most of the rest have been grubbed up

for more profitable crops or building land.

And anyway, the market in Britain is...well, peanuts.

There's not many of us who farm them specifically -

I think, our neighbour,

he's probably got about the same as us,

but we've got 2,700 trees

and that's considered probably one of the largest plantations.

Do you make money out of the nuts?

Could you make a living for all your family?

Oh, no - not at all.

Here, have a nut.

So, why do you do it?

Because it's a sense of history -

they've been planted over 100 years ago by a member of our family,

and we're lucky enough to be in charge of it.

I feel it's our duty - we all do, my family and I -

our duty to carry them on.

Because once they're gone,

there's very little incentive to replant them

and they're beautiful to look at, beautiful to taste,

and there's a real sense of history there.

And it's all your family doing it. Yeah - my mum, my dad, my husband,

my three brothers and my baby now.

Unfortunately born a nutter!

The whole experience of meeting this family

wasn't a million miles away from The Darling Buds Of May.

Samantha's mum made lots of crunchy cobnut meringues with cream

and a tart damson sauce for our lunch -

"Perfick!" said Pa Larkin.

Well, I came up with this recipe about 20 years go now.

Must have been in an autumn when I got lots of cobnuts,

and there's always a good run of herring, sprats,

sardines, pilchards in the autumn,

and it was designed to go with fish like that.

What I did was I took about 20-30 cobnuts,

put them in a liquidiser - I had in mind a pesto.

I added marjoram and I put in a big handful of parsley

and half an ounce, an ounce of Parmesan cheese

and groundnut oil, cos I didn't want an olive oil taste -

about five fluid ounces of groundnut oil.

Little bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper

and just whizzed it all up,

and it came out with this lovely, dense green sauce,

but which was very light as well as being dense.

And it just goes so well with oily fish

like herrings and sardines.

These are sprats - they're really common on the south coast

in the late days of autumn, and they're as cheap as chips.

But just because something's cheap, it doesn't mean to say it's not good.

These are as sweet as the proverbial cobnut and with this pesto sauce

and a crisp glass of Kent white wine, they're, I'll say it again, perfick.

Now, confession time, about five years ago,

I came here to try the famous cockles at Leigh-on-Sea, next to Southend.

Nothing unusual about that,

As are jellied eels - not everybody's favourite,

you either love them or you hate them.

I think it's the bones that put a lot of people off,

but eel lovers travel from miles around for Rawlings' eels.

but eel lovers travel from miles around for Rawlings' eels.

I think it's the richness of the eel -

they're a lot creamier than the eels you find from most places,

I believe.

They're typical of our area here,

they're typical of this side of the country.

They go back to the old Londoners, the eastenders,

it's passed down from generation to generation.

Jellied eel making is often a jealously-guarded secret,

but I can confirm that here they use dried chillies

and bay leaves in the stock.

The eel is gently boiled and there it gives off its gelatinous qualities.

It's left to cool in the liquor.

There are many variations on a theme, but basically that's it.

Well, this is a little bit of praise to jellied eel.

I mean, a lot of people think the whole idea of eels with the bone,

the jelly and the general sort of simplicity of it

is very off-putting, but you know I'm now very, very keen on jellied eels.

The thing that really matters with jellied eels

is the pepper and the vinegar.

It's got to be white pepper, not black pepper,

and it's got to be malt vinegar, not wine vinegar.

And it's that combination. It's a bit to me like strawberries and cream.

You know, you get strawberries,

it's got to be double cream, it's got to be caster sugar

and in the end you think, "Which do I prefer more?

"The strawberries or the cream and sugar? Which do I prefer more?

"The eels or the jelly and the vinegar and the white pepper?"

And so to East Anglia and a good area for food heroes.

It's a great place for food anyway.

For example, I was having breakfast in a very nice pub in Snape,

and like Archimedes leaping out of his bath after discovering,

whatever it was, I found an amazing bacon that was dark and sweet.

After a few enquiries, I found that it came from a little shop

in the village of Peasenhall in Suffolk.

It's run by a food fanatic called Mark Thomas.

His bacon has a real old-fashioned taste

and stays dry when it's cooking.

I'm told it was a favourite of the Queen Mother's.

This is a village store, really, but with lots of Spanish influences -

every sort of olive you can think of, figs, dried fruit,

wines from all over Spain.

But it's the hams and bacon that have made him famous in these parts.

He smokes them in oak chippings at the back of the shop.

Just the appearance, initially, I think they look amazingly sexy.

People say, "How can the ham look sexy?"

Well, to me, it does. I make them all here myself.

I pickle them for six weeks.

We turn them every other day with the help of a gentleman.

And then we hang them in the smokehouse and hot smoke them.

What's the pickle, then?

The pickle is...predominantly...

It's a local Suffolk stout, natural brown sugar and molasses.

We heat it up and the ham stays in the pickle.

And you do the bacon the same way?

Exactly the same way,

so we put some sides of bacon in with the hams, as well.

So, presumably, that's the bedrock of your business, really?

It's obviously... Yeah, it's very important.

It's what we have a name for.

It's from that that I can establish and grow the business.

I cooked one of Mark's hams for about four hours at gentle simmering,

they're that big.

Some people put hay in the water

which is supposed to reduce saltiness.

But this one didn't need it - it was sweet and succulent.

I asked around for the local way, the Suffolk way, of serving it up

and it was dead simple.

But I don't think you'd get it like this in a restaurant.

It was boiled potatoes with parsley, good, hot English mustard,

and it must be English, and gravy made with a reduction from the stock.

Simplicity is the key to good food.

Suffolk ham is world famous,

but Norfolk is the place to go for dumplings.

Chef Richard Hughes is passionate about them

and this is how he makes them -

flour, a bit of salt and dry mustard, some parsley,

celery leaves, thyme and a little water.

Mix it all together to a reasonably stiff dough.

It's not what you'd call Pacific rim,

but once in a while it's a real treat.

I'm not really terribly familiar with the dumplings of Norfolk,

they obviously mean a lot to you. They do.

I mean, the biggest problem is, though, every person you see,

whether it be on the Broads or to the Fens or out to the coast,

everybody has got their own version, you see,

so we've had big problems trying to get the definitive recipe.

The main thing about dumpling - or the Norfolk dumpling -

is it's there to bulk up the main dish.

Obviously, years ago, meat was an expensive item.

People work on the land, on the coast,

people have got big appetites.

You know, you see Norfolk people, they're big people,

they're well-built people. This is down to the dumpling, I'm sure.

And this one's, what, a sinker, is it? Is that because there's no...

No, this one will float. We've got self-raising flour in there,

so we'll pop this in the pan and this will come straight up.

Years and years ago, it just had the plain flour, flour and water,

that would sink to the bottom

and it was almost the consistency of a bread roll

or something like that. And indeed people used to take it the next day.

Make enough on the Monday and on the Tuesday, they used to have it cold, sliced, butter on.

But don't you think it's important that there's regional food in restaurants in a region?

That's it. I think you should go to the region,

you go to Lancashire, you should have Lancashire hotpot.

You go... I mean, on a wider scale, you go to Russia, you have borscht,

you go to France, you have bouillabaisse.

Come to Norfolk, you'll have a dumpling. Good on you.

There are not very many places left in the country where you can

buy freshly-caught fish straight off the beach.

But in Aldeburgh, in Suffolk, you still can.

But the days of these little fishing boats are coming to a close.

20 years ago, there were a couple of dozen of them,

but now, with the depletion of fish stocks

and the introduction of quotas, they're down to four.

Dean Fryer is one of the few left.

Another bass, that's good.

It's a very nice fish, Dean.

Yeah, 20 years ago, when I first started fishing,

you couldn't give it away. Nobody wanted it.

Well, the Chinese used to take a few off us,

but you never got a lot of gold for them.

But nowadays, it is the most expensive fish money can buy.

I have to ask you, if you had to pack up fishing,

how would you feel? What does it mean to you? I couldn't do anything else.

Fishing is in you, you don't want to go work in an office

or stack shelves in the Co-op or nothing.

I couldn't do anything else.

I wouldn't want you to do anything else. I wouldn't want, no.

Those cob nuts that you saw at the beginning of the film

are delicious, they are just in season right now.

They go brilliantly with fish, and also desserts,

but they can be great with roast chicken.

I thought I'd show you and the people here

just a simple little dish that I do with my little cob nuts.

Have you ever tried cob nuts before?

No, I didn't know... They are from Kent! ..there was a Kentish cob nut.

They are these things here, you just break them open. Like that.

I'll peel those in a second.

I start off frying my onions and garlic.

It is a brutal life for a cob nut. It is, really. They are small inside.

Just break them open. That one is rotten! That is no good.

You can tell you're live, that one is rotten!

Can't trust these cob nuts. There's another one in here. There you go. It's like a small...

There you go. A Kentish cob nut, the food of my fathers. Here we go.

It is quite soft. It's really nice.

LAUGHTER

He loves his veg! It's not meat!

It's not meat, but it will be. It's going with chicken so you're all right.

We are frying off some onions and garlic, first of all.

We have classic things this time of the year.

We've some wild mushrooms - again, don't wash mushrooms.

We talked about it last week. Literally just throw the mushrooms in.

If you want to wash them off, just take a brush,

even an old toothbrush, sorry, new toothbrush, there you go.

Throw the mushrooms in.

Are you interested in cob nuts? No, but I will have a new toothbrush.

Throw in those. They are delicious!

I don't want to alienate any Kentish cob nut growers. They are really lovely. Little bit of fresh thyme.

A touch of fresh thyme, that can go in.

Then also we have seasonal food this time of year as well,

we have these, I love these, chestnuts. These are soft chestnuts.

I am just ploughing you with more veg. Dive into that one.

You're going to leave with a bushy tail...

Don't worry, the chicken is coming.

There are two ways of buying chestnuts, you can

buy fresh ones and roast them yourselves, like the cob nuts.

These ones you can buy in little tins, vacuum-packed jars.

But when you buy them at this time of year they have sweet and savoury ones on the same shelf.

Make sure you are careful which ones you buy.

Do they still have jaunty cockneys selling them in London? From a brazier? They still do.

They do them on Oxford Street, I've seen them yesterday. Not as many as there used to be.

Not as many as there used to be. Not many companies left, that's why.

Seriously, you must buy the right ones, sweet or the savoury ones.

The savoury ones are used for stuffing, the sweet ones you'd use for a very famous dessert.

Like your creme brulee, Mont Blanc. I love Mont Blanc.

Mont Blanc, which is just whipped cream with a chestnut puree.

Meringue base. Meringue base. Delicious. Like a poncey Eton mess.

I had the best Mont Blanc in the world in the summer in Paris.

Angelina's... Sorry, I am advertising here,

Angelina's Tearooms in Paris.

While they are gossiping, tell us about Extras. How do you get involved in that?

Ricky Gervais phoned me up, I had never met him

and he said, "Are you up for a laugh?" I said "Of course, look at me."

"Come up and I'll tell you about my new series."

He explained the premise, that it would be

a take on the real world of TV and film

and I was in two small scenes in two episodes which

I was very grateful for, but when he sent the second series I was in all six

and the part was fleshed out, so it was rather wonderful.

When he told me who was going to be involved, all these A-list...

people like Samuel L Jackson and Ben Stiller, that was wonderful.

Great company. The last one, in two Thursday's time,

it's no secret, Robert De Niro.

Robert De Niro is waiting. What's next?

We won't see Barry again, but what's next?

I have a film called Daylight Robbery

which is a good old-fashioned bank heist caper.

Set in and around London, so I am looking forward to that.

I worked with Rory Bremner the other day, that's on tonight. Lovely.

I'm interested in this food - where is this aversion to veg from?

I don't know, Mum was a good cook

but I just really feel that it is often peasant food which is

put there to stop you feeling too hungry at the end of the meal.

So they can get away with putting less meat on your plate.

I have some meat here. No more cob nuts for me, but that looks good.

No more cob nuts, but I have got to put these on.

This is roast chicken, a great way of serving this.

Lovely. Little bit of roast chicken. A sensible meal.

And these sauteed mushrooms, look at that.

All of the cob nuts in there. You hide them. You can have them.

It just...it says this time of the year - winter warmer food,

it is delicious, a bit like Sophie's...

The way it's cooked and if it's cob nuts, turnips or parsnips, I'm sure if it's cooked well...

I am trying my best. The enthusiasm in there!

Don't forget the best, which we used to fight over as kids,

the juice over the top of the chicken.

Dive into that. I know what you'll go straight for. There's a bowl of cob nuts for you.

I am going to go straight for a cob nut! Thank you.

Funny story, you were in the Navy, weren't you?

Yes, I was, and I joined up and was colour-blind

so that limited what branch you could be a part of.

You were never going to be an action man. Didn't you cook for 70-odd people?

They sent me to sea, because I was so lacklustre as a naval rating

they sent me to sea to get me enthused.

One morning we had to cook for 70 fellow sailors in the galley

because it was the cook's morning off. They never asked me again.

If you would like to make a seasonal stir-fry or have a go at any recipe

you've seen on today's show, they are just a click away at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

We're not live today so we are looking at some of the delicious

cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Next is the man in charge of one of Birmingham's finest restaurants,

and as you'll see from this clip, he's sporting Birmingham's finest moustache.

Good morning. I am going to call you Janno this morning. What did you call me at the start?

Squadron Leader and Wing Commander.

That is a promotion! I tell you what, it is pretty impressive.

It's not a fashion statement, let's get that straight.

Tell us what it's for while we're doing this dish.

Let's get the squash soup on first. You are going to chop, I'll do the carrots.

We are going to sweat some shallots off. We should start any good soup with some onions and garlic

and some carrots. The reason why you do look like that, it is for a good cause.

A good cause, basically November is man month, where men,

proper men, grow moustaches and we get sponsored to do it.

It's called Movember.

We're called mo-Bros, so if you see another man in the street with

a fine handsome caterpillar on his top lip, you give him a nod.

I am obviously missing something here.

James, I did mention the man thing at the start, I don't know why you're missing it.

On with your carrots. On with my carrots, chef.

We've done that in Purnell's and also at the other restaurant, the Asquith,

which I opened the last time I was here,

but I have just opened a cocktail bar, so all the cocktail waiters,

not the waitresses, have done the moustaches as well.

There are a few hairy women in Birmingham

but they don't work at my restaurant.

I certainly don't live with one!

What's gone in the pan? Otherwise you'll get into trouble.

I live in trouble. I just want you to come with me.

Right, what's gone in here then?

Basically we have got our butternut squash, shallots, carrots,

a bit of garlic. Can you use others? Pumpkins?

The small green pumpkins are fantastic for soup.

Now is the time of year, isn't it? Exactly.

When I knew I was coming on and wanted to do something simple that

someone could have a go at and do at home, rather than black pudding crumble with Corn Flakes.

Put your stock in. Do you want to grab some... We have the stock in.

There are loads of different types of squashes out there.

this is the butternut squash. That, I believe, most of it comes from Kenya? It does.

South Africa, most of the squashes we get. But you can get onion ones...

Spaghetti ones.

We use the local cream of the crop at the moment,

it is delicious, like an acorn.

It's fabulous. You get weird shaped stuff.

It grows easily. You can plant it at home, no worries.

It would do really well in a compost heap.

Not paying attention. That's fine, go on.

I just want to get this squash in.

Same theory as when you do a baked potato.

You put the salt on the bottom of the tray. This is just the Maldon salt?

The cheaper industrial salt is better. Big coarse stuff.

But this is Maldon, which is fine. You mean grit? Proper stuff you put on your pavement.

It's the same theory of... as a baked potato.

You're drawing all the moisture in and dry it out, so you retain the flavour.

I'm going to put that in the soup as the garnish. Am I putting sage in here?

Whack that in there, James.

Bit of seasoning in there as well.

I'll dice the shallots, if you want to start dicing

and chopping some of the herbs for the persillade.

Persillade is a mix of herbs,

so we've got sage, tarragon, parsley, a little bit of chopped garlic.

Garlic in that soup as well? The garlic's in there.

There you go. That's how quick I was. Did you see that?

The cocktail bar, I wanted to make a cocktail...

I wasn't talking about the cocktail bar, but you're going to promote it.

I'm not promoting it. I'm fascinated.

They call themselves mixologists. I just call them barmen.

Do you know what I mean?

They muddle, don't they? They do. All this sort of stuff.

It's done, isn't it?

Don't put an umbrella in my pint, that's all I'm saying.

I ain't having it, not with this moustache anyway.

It's the same theory as cooking, really.

Do you get involved with any of the cocktail recipes?

No, I leave them to it. I just drink them.

But there is food in there, though?

Yeah, the other thing is that,

the restaurant, it's within the same venue, it's called the Asquith.

I've got a fantastic young team,

which, all of them have previously worked for me at Jessica's...

the one-star restaurant I had and Purnell's,

and they got to a stage where they went off and did other things,

came back to the area, and I wanted to set up another independent

restaurant so they can run it with me overseeing it.

I've got Jason and Julie both worked in Michelin-star restaurants as well,

so it is exciting to see...

Don't get me wrong, I'm going bald and grey over it,

but it is exciting to see young people have a real good go, like.

In Birmingham, there is a big food revolution going on. I started it.

You started at! There are a few going up there. It is fantastic.

15, 20 years ago, Birmingham was a bit of a dump, to be honest.

And I have lived in Birmingham all my life. It was a bit rough.

Now they've developed it

and we even get people like James Martin come to see us, don't we?

Rather than driving through it, they're driving to it now.

Yeah. We actually pay ?25 to eat cornflakes!

Is what you gave me last time.

I did, yes, James, but there were some more courses as well.

This is one of your traditions.

It was quite fascinating to me.

Tell us about that dish. It's one of your specialities.

Yeah, one of my traditions... Basically, it's a slow-cooked...

It's moved on since the last time you came. All right.

Coco Pops now? No, Rice Krispies!

Basically, I slow confit the haddock,

I flake it in the bottom of the bowl now,

cooked in curry oil,

and that's covered with a smoked haddock milk foam, so we infuse

the milk with the haddock, as milk is porous, then we thicken the milk

and we put it into a gun, and it sprays out like a really airy

sort of moussey...

and we serve it with spiced cornflakes and a poached egg yolk.

It's nice. You cooked it on Great British Menu. Sounds posh.

Basically, I'm off a council estate and it's my mum's haddock and eggs.

Put in a blender... LAUGHTER

Sounds good. Maybe you should come round to my mum's house.

She'll cook it for you. Yeah, right!

I'm intrigued about these eggs. We want to get these on.

These take no time at all. You're poaching the egg yolks.

We want the richness... We are going to try to not put too much cream in this.

You fall foul... You put lots of cream in

and you lose the vibrant flavour of the fresh... Not too much.

Eh, eh, eh!

Just think of World War I - there was no cream then!

Just people like me!

LAUGHTER Go on, then, with the eggs.

I don't want the whites.

I'm not a big fan of egg whites, only in meringue

I like the texture of the egg yolk...

It's like a sauce that you could never make.

We'll do that to richen the soup up.

You've just boiled the water, taken it off the heat.

It's around about sort of 65, 70 degrees.

Right. You just want the egg, basically, to warm through the yolk.

It's not aggressively cooking it.

it's just gently sitting there, bathing in the water.

I don't know if you can see that in there.

It's gently just sort of rolling around, saying, "Oh, it's warm!"

Right... Then I'm going to chop the...the roast.

We've got a lovely sort of... I'll pop this lot in the blender.

Really nice sort of roast, caramelised, soft butternut squash.

There you go.

Get that on the heat. Thank you, James.

You have about 30 seconds left. 30 seconds left, OK.

What cheese are you using?

Cheddar, is it? Sorry? What cheese are you using? Cheddar.

Any particular...?

I use Cheddar, but we have used, in the past, a Berkswell.

I like to try and use, obviously, English cheeses.

CLATTERING

We didn't need that one, James. We don't need that one.

Don't worry, carry on.

So the egg yolks...

That's salt baking that... Salt baking the... Squash.

You can do that with celeriac and all manner of different... Yeah.

..stuff - beetroot, which is really nice.

This goes in the oven for 45 minutes?

45 minutes, just until it's nice and soft.

And then...

The soup's there, ready.

There, James. There you go.

There you go.

That's just the garlic, all those herbs and the... Yeah.

This is a rustic dish you can knock up at...

at home, especially at this time of year.

Bit of olive oil there, please, James.

And there we go. The veloute...

..round the outside.

Walking the dog, straight back in, there you go.

Remind us what that is again.

Veloute of butternut squash with a poached egg yolk,

persillade and English Cheddar. Easy as that.

There you go. Right.

You get to dive into this. Fantastic.

The egg, I presume if you break it down the centre,

it just helps with the texture of the soup as well.

Yep, you can see that richness.

There's a little bit to top up there so we all get a taste.

What do you reckon?

I just need a bit more!

It always worries me when they don't say anything!

It's a dish that, literally, we've done that in six or seven minutes.

It's soup, easy, nice and rich. Squadron Leader.

Chocks away. It is pretty good. Absolutely, yeah. Beautiful.

One more. The idea is you pass it down!

There's a little bit there.

And there you have it - that's Michelin-starred soup right there.

Now it's time for Keith Floyd to continue travelling

around Britain and Ireland, and today he's in the Emerald Isle,

experiencing the delights of the fabulous area of County Cork.

Longueville House sits proud, not on a knoll or a hill,

but an eminence.

Great word, great place.

Overlooking what they call the Irish Rhine.

The Blackwater River, famous for its fine salmon runs.

These rich acres, with trees planted to celebrate

the Battle of Waterloo that surround the house,

provide most of the produce, from beef and lamb to fish,

from asparagus to strawberries,

that the present incumbents, Jane and Michael O'Callaghan,

use in the restaurant.

Even the wine from Ireland's only vineyard is quite superb.

This is fabulous wine - it's a shame it's the last bottle.

Is it truly the last bottle you've made? Absolutely, and we kept it for you.

When will there be some more?

Hopefully in September, October, if we get any sun,

but today is the first of July

and we have a fire on, so it's not looking too good. Never mind.

Let's get down to pigeons, because pigeons, people think,

are humble, common, peasanty.

How do you persuade them to eat such a thing, as they might think it's a bit, you know, not too good?

and cover that with about a pint of water, pint and a half,

and let it simmer gently for maybe an hour or an hour and a half,

How long would you think it should stay in the oven? 20 minutes? No.

How long? 10, 12. It'll come out pink and people will send it back.

You've got to eat it rare.

If you don't eat it rare, you might as well eat this here.

Take it and eat it. Same thing.

OK. You take it and cook it and pop it in the oven. Will you eat it? I'll certainly eat it. OK.

I should tell you about this wine. It's a Riesling sort of wine.

It's the only vineyard in Ireland. It's called Chateau Longueville.

It's absolutely brilliant and it's as rare as anything.

It's very worth drinking.

Nice and close there, Richard, OK?

Jane, can you explain exactly what's going on?

John is making a brilliant sauce here, Floyd.

He's got the stock from the pigeon, which I showed you earlier on,

and it has been reduced a little bit because it was too thin.

He's reduced red wine, he fried some shallot,

he fried some... little bit of garlic and thyme.

We're using thyme because we have thyme in the garden at the moment.

Now he's beating in some butter into it, to thicken it.

To enrichen it. Absolutely superb.

I reckon that pigeon must be ready, mustn't it? I hope it is.

It's a long 12 minutes if it isn't.

Here we go. So you just carve that. Yes.

And, John, put the sauce on the plate. That's right. OK?

This is just right, Floyd, look. OK. Carve away. Yeah.

Oh, it's beautifully pink, absolutely superb.

Will you eat it that way? Yes, I will. Good.

I'm going to have to cut down through that bone.

That's the way it should be.

Jane, there's someone at the blinking kitchen door.

Oh, no. Sorry, I'm sorry.

I am trying to make a television programme. Thank you.

Isn't it strong?

Strawberries - can you take these away, please?

Thomas, would you take the spinach? I'm sorry about that.

That's quite all right. I'm sorry! Get on with the carving.

Business has to go on. I don't see why! I can't stop, Floyd!

Is that all from the garden? Yes, everything.

We didn't go into town and buy it and bring it through the window just for you!

Touche! OK, get on with it, then.

John, can we have the sauce, please? I think madam here is nearly ready.

Very hard to carve when you're looking at me.

You've got it. I have it. You have it. Yeah, I have.

Give it one big one there.

Pour the sauce on the plate, John. Snap to it!

We've got a television crew waiting here.

Richard, you look at that very nicely and you'll see that lovely, rich, red sauce

poured over the wonderful white plate with the pigeon breasts on.

And Richard, up to me for a second.

Everybody thinks I've done nothing on this programme.

I've cooked the cabbage. It's beautiful cabbage from my three-acre garden here. Walled garden.

Simmered gently in butter with little raisins in it.

Absolutely superb. And, of course, it makes the dish.

Look at that. A really super meal.

Magnificent, the humble pigeon elevated to heights of gastronomy

you've never seen before. Back up to us again, please.

I want to make a speech about vegetables.

Do you think they really taste so much better coming from the garden?

Or is that just nonsense? No, it's not nonsense. They have to be better.

That cabbage was growing half an hour ago

and it's beautifully fresh and it'll taste completely different

to something that's sitting in a shop for the last week.

Here's to fresh vegetables. Yeah!

It isn't only wine that needs to be grown on the perfect slope -

the identity of a good cheese, too, should reflect the very earth.

Now, we all know Ireland is very green,

but there is something extra special about this rich grass -

washed as it is by the wet winds from America,

and kissed by the Gulf stream - which brings fuchsia into bloom,

and cows munching on this untainted carpet produce thick,

creamy milk, perfect for making cheese.

There we are. Thank you, my dear.

Once upon a time, in a university in Dublin called Trinity College,

there was a dashing young professor of philosophy.

And, one day, as professors do,

he fell in love with a charming young lady.

And they didn't want the hustle and bustle of academic life

in a busy capital city, so they ran away here

to the western coast of Ireland - the furthest extremity of Europe.

And they fell in love.

They were so deeply in love, they got married, and they had little cheeses.

Sweet, isn't it?

We've travelled many hundreds of miles to come here to the extreme

west coast of Ireland to witness a very, very strange and rare event.

It's the first time for several hundred years that

a soft, cream cheese has been made in the British Isles - or,

more precisely, here in Ireland. Is that actually true, Veronica?

I believe it is.

When we began to make it here,

it was the first time for hundreds of years that a soft cheese

had actually been manufactured in the British Isles.

What is it about the Irish,

why do the Irish know about cheese, for heaven's sake?

I thought the French were the people who made all the cheese.

Following the fall of the Roman Empire,

a dark age descended on Europe,

and a great deal of the skill and culture was temporarily lost.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, where the Romans never came,

we were a repository for a great deal of the art and culture,

and when the Renaissance came along,

out went Irish monks and scholars across Europe,

reintroducing...

I'm not claiming we invented cheesemaking by any means,

but reintroducing the skills

and cultures again to those places where they were gone.

For many people, Irish cookery is all about potatoes. It's partly true.

This brilliant thing you're seeing here is a potato and apple pancake.

Where are you? This is vital, we're breaking brand-new ground here -

potatoes, that's the whole thing here.

This potato and apple pancake is traditionally made by mixing

mashed potato with flour, rolling it very thin, like a pancake,

stuffing it with apple, folding it like an apple turnover

and frying it in butter.

What they don't say in the recipe books and what I'm going to tell you

you have to do is pour whiskey over it, like that,

and then set fire to it, and you absolutely have something that

should dazzle even these academic and very brilliant cheesemakers.

And if it doesn't, I won't eat their cheese.

Right, there we are. That is a new thing of apple and potato pancakes.

Can I give you a tiny bit? Yes, please. Quite a generous helping.

A generous helping.

Norman and Veronica are these brilliant people

who I told you about in the fairytale when we started,

who fell in love all those years ago, dragged themselves off down here

to this romantic part of the world, and made brilliant cheeses.

Take that. I think it's quite good.

I'm going to do it quickly because we haven't got lots of film, OK?

Just say it's really brilliant. It's super.

Quite brilliant, really brilliant? Very brilliant.

A definite break through. Brilliant. An Anglo-Irish first.

Absolutely.

Super. Right, we can't have any more of that. Thank you very much indeed.

You can eat that after you've done your work,

because what I want to know really quite seriously -

this is a cookery programme, we do try to give you information -

is about your brilliant cheese.

Can we start with this one, which I think is very young, isn't it?

It is, this is a young cheese.

You can see it is young inside.

Can you just say why exactly you can see that is young inside?

You can see the cheese is ripening here from the outside,

and it still hasn't ripened all the way through.

But it's very mild, and it will be very nice. May I taste a bit?

Is he saying the right things?

Because you actually make the cheese, Veronica.

This will taste quite acidic.

Clean, acid flavour which I love, young cheese.

Here is a riper one.

This one here is very ripe, it's ripened all the way through.

Do you see what I mean? Compare it there.

It's very strong, it's got a fairly strong smell to go with it.

It's strictly for the initiated, I think.

Does a beautiful countryside make a beautiful cheese?

Yes, I think if you are happy somewhere and doing something well,

it's going to show through in what you come up with, what you make.

And the cheese seems to be happy -

this is a taste of your home, isn't it?

Well, there's no point fighting with the environment you're in.

Why not make something and do something that will fit in with it?

No point making something that is going to be better off in a dessert.

I tell you what, the toil and strife doesn't fit in,

I haven't seen your lovely Irish locks yet.

Off with the hat, if you don't mind. How do you know I'm not bald?

That's a chance I'm going to take. Beautiful.

Now, you've come all this way from Dublin, you've forsaken the port,

the parties, the conversation of Joyce, Nietzsche and all that lot.

Was it worth it? All the boring old soaks in the pubs of Dublin?

Ah, come on, you can replace the port with porter,

and you can have some very interesting conversations down here.

No, I think we're very happy here - we've a nice family

and a lovely place to live.

It's really nice putting a bit of this part of the world

into a lot of other ones.

Our cheese turning up in London, Germany, all over the place,

and people enjoying it.

I'll drink to that. Good luck.

They say life begins at 40, and it's true.

In the way that you can in a crowded room catch the eye of a stranger

and fall head over heels in love with a passion

and certainty that defies logic or explanation,

so it was with me when I staggered,

shaken and slightly unsteady, from a buffeting little aeroplane

at Cork Airport for the first time.

Quite frankly, Ireland gobsmacked me,

and I don't care if this sounds pompous, I felt a sense

of excitement and thrill that had been missing from my life for years.

Phew, I've got it off my chest now, thank goodness. I feel better.

But this isn't the psychiatrist's chair you know - not yet, anyway.

It's a cookery programme,

and the first lady of Irish cookery is her grace, Myrtle Allen.

I was relixing... I beg your pardon?

I was relaxing with a glass of stout in the pub the other day

after a very hard day's filming, and we got to chatting.

As usual, we started talking about food - not food in general,

but Irish stew in particular. In Ireland, it is difficult to find.

Sometimes in pubs midday you can get it.

In England, it is often a disastrous mishmash of potatoes,

lamb and onions boiled to death, tastes absolutely awful.

So I wanted to find out the secret of what I think to be

one of the finest dishes on Earth. So I came to my friend, Myrtle Allen,

who is undisputedly the Queen of Irish cooking, famous here,

famous in Beverly Hills, Paris and throughout the land.

It's true, isn't it, Myrtle?

She is absolutely brilliant, and she knows all about it.

But, before we go into all of that, Richard, the usual business -

spin round the ingredients.

The most important thing is a splendid shoulder of lamb.

Traditionally butchered - more on that later.

Spring onions, new potatoes - not the flowers.

Young baby carrots, a bit of fresh thyme,

a bit of fresh... I forgot the name of that. Marjoram.

A bit of marjoram, fresh.

Then I've butchered the chops this way a bit to take off all the fat,

because we need that to cook the chops in later,

and that's where I cut my finger.

So - down here again, Richard, don't smirk -

we've got these nice cutlets for later on,

a bit of parsley to garnish it off with.

Over here, we're going to need some stock.

We use this piece of bone - stay there, Richard -

from the end of the lamb there.

Pop that in with the tops of the spring onions, a bit of thyme,

some parsley stalks - economical use of parsley stalks -

a few chopped carrots, covered with water like that,

and that's put on to simmer to make stock.

That's fine, there's another chop.

The chops in the bottom is the first thing, isn't it?

As you can see, I've been frying them in the sweated-down lamb dripping.

I'd like a little piece of that. Myrtle, do you want a piece of that?

Yes, thank you. This will have the doctors up in arms, won't it?

Never mind about that. Now, next thing is what?

The onions and carrots.

That's right. Just give them a quick turn.

If it's a bit too slow you may have to heat that fat.

And then our thyme. A little bit of thyme.

That's enough, and a little bit of marjoram.

That's enough.

My viewers won't have seen an Irish stew with whole potatoes.

They tend to think of it as being sliced.

There are different ways of doing it. Some people slice them.

They say the potato thickens the gravy,

but I love them whole on top, they get brown in the oven.

You want to get this, have you got the lid? You want to strain it.

Under pressure like this, I sometimes have to improvise,

because once this goes in, I've had it.

So I'll strain it through like that.

Now, it doesn't have to cover the potatoes, does it?

No, it will be fine.

Because the lid is on, they're going to sort of steam and glaze

as they cook. By the way, you don't need to throw that away,

you can leave that to be cold, chop it up into little bits,

toss it with a bit of vinegar or something, couldn't you? You could.

Well, you wouldn't necessarily throw that away.

What would you do with that? I'd give it to the dog, actually,

myself, I'm afraid!

These people who live in castles!

Anyway, that goes in the oven for how long? That goes in the oven.

At this time of year, the lamb is young,

say three-quarters to one hour. Three-quarters to one hour.

And we'll go and do something really amusing until that is ready to eat.

Let's wander off and he'll think of something to make us look good

and interesting.

By popular request and overwhelming demand, I've been asked to

show you this steamroller being unloaded by a committee again.

May I remind you, the committee is a group of well-intentioned people

who individually can do nothing,

and collectively decide that nothing can be done.

The Irish stew - in the name of the law,

the producer made me say that bit - turned out to be superb.

But, after simmering for an hour or so,

it's worth skimming the fat before serving.

There is no hard and fast recipe for this classic dish,

and Myrtle Allen sets greater store on the quality of ingredients

rather than the variety of them.

If I had seen you a week ago,

my butcher had brought me in a sward of grass

from the pasture that he likes to fatten his beef on.

And it contained so many little flowers, the clovers,

red and white, many, many glasses and plants.

He won't give his cattle, for instance, silage.

He looks for sweet hay with plenty of meadow grass in it.

Which of course is very uneconomical for farmers to grow.

So we still have these people in the country,

and they need to be encouraged.

Is there any other place in the world you would rather be

than here in Ballymaloe?

Well, I haven't had a chance to try, you see, I've been here

since I was 19. Maybe there would be, you know.

I wouldn't mind the Pacific,

but I have a feeling it's not what it used to be.

A classic piece of Mr Keith Floyd there.

Now, we're not cooking live in the studio today,

so instead we're looking back at some of the great recipes

from the Saturday Kitchen cookbook.

Still to come on today's Best Bites - things get tense

at the hobs when Andrew Turner faced the mighty Silvena Rowe

in the Saturday Kitchen Omelette Challenge.

Both were keen to improve their times,

but I can reveal that only one of them manages to do it.

Find out which one moves up the leaderboard a little later on.

Nic Watt demonstrates his amazing knowledge of Asian flavours

with his oven-grilled tiger prawn dish.

He marinates the prawns using chilli and yuzu

and serves it with a white miso aioli.

And the fabulous Sharon Corr faces her food heaven or food hell.

Will she get food heaven - hake, with my Singapore chilli

deep-fried hake with pad Thai?

Or will she get her dreaded food hell - dill with my roasted

gravlax and home-made dill mustard mayonnaise,

crushed potatoes and watercress?

You can find out what she gets to eat at the end of today's show.

Now, it's time to look at the first time Danny Millar joined us

on Saturday Kitchen, fresh-faced, and armed with a pigeon.

Check out his great recipe involving a fabulous gin vinaigrette.

Now, what are we cooking? I'm going to cook some beautiful pigeon.

A herb hazelnut salad and a little juniper marinade for the pigeon,

and a bit of gin vinaigrette.

So you're going to do the marinade first of all, you want me

to peel the pear. What is it about pigeon?

Well, two reasons why I like it.

I love the flavour, and plus, it's economical.

It's pretty cheap, isn't it? It is indeed. Just get some thyme.

My grandad used to call it the flying rat.

Yes, I think it's a bit harsh.

You know what I mean? It's a bit harsh.

But there are loads of them, aren't there?

There are indeed, and because, as you say,

farmers tend to actually shoot them, so we're doing actually a favour.

Get some juniper in there.

The Italians like their pigeon, don't they?

They do, they slow cook the wood pigeon

and make it into a pasta sauce.

Would that be with pasta, by any chance? A little bit of lemon zest.

I think it's always good to marinate any kind of bird, especially game.

I think it brings it out a bit more.

Doesn't matter whether these are male or female, does it? No.

Not like pheasant or anything.

I normally pop that in the fridge for four hours or overnight,

would be ideal. So we're basically making this little salad.

The pear is going in the salad, and then you're going to make

a dressing out of the pan juices, is that right? Yes, that's right.

A bit of hazelnut oil, lemon juice.

There you go, the pan is ready for you.

So you season that afterwards, of course.

Yes, because obviously the salt would cure the actual pigeon,

and you wouldn't want that. A little bit of butter.

Already hazelnut oil on the pigeon, so you don't need any more oil.

Skin side down. Yep.

Breast side down.

Tell us about your restaurant in Northern Ireland.

Is it near a lough?

It is indeed. It's about...

..one mile from Strangford Lough. Right.

Just outside of Belfast, is that right? It is indeed.

About 20 minutes outside Belfast. Yep.

The cooking is what? Local food, that kind of stuff?

Local food cooked simply.

This will highlight it.

It's three key ingredients - pigeon, pear and hazelnuts. Yeah.

You used to be the head chef with Mr Rankin, didn't you? I did indeed,

for four successful years

and moved on to my own thing with my business partner,

Ronan Sweeney, and it's gone from strength to strength.

Fantastic.

Anyway, seal that off. Just get a bit of colour in there.

These don't take very long to cook, do they, these things?

No, you're talking three minutes either side

and about four minutes in a hot oven. Yeah.

Right, these are toasted hazelnuts, these.

Yeah, again, you want to bring out the flavour.

If they weren't toasted, they're lacking a bit.

Get a bit of lemon juice in there, a bit of hazelnut oil.

In the oven just till they're browned nicely.

You could do them in a dry pan or something like that. They're fine.

You can actually buy toasted hazelnuts now. Is that right? Yeah.

Just going to pop this in the oven now. Four minutes. Right.

There's a sink there if you want to wash your hands.

We've got one that is cooling down there.

You're literally going to take this off the bone as well, aren't you?

I am indeed.

And like all roast joints, it's so important to let it rest. Yep.

Would you say the optimum is sort of room temperature?

Exactly, and you want to give it a good four to five minutes again.

Yeah.

Hopefully we all like our pigeon nice and pink.

If not, we're going to have problems.

That's still got a pulse, that one.

If it's still a little bit under, we can pop it back in the pan.

It's alive and kicking. It's still trying to get off the board.

Exactly!

No, wait!

Seal up a little bit. So in our salad we've got this little leaf here.

Seal up a little bit. So in our salad we've got this little leaf here.

This is a little bit of red chard, isn't it?

Bit of watercress.

It doesn't have to be those particular leaves

but I like to use bitter salad leaves for this dressing

cos a little bit of sweet and sour.

So we're just going to seal the breast up a little bit. Yep.

Just to cook it a little bit more. Just a tad more.

We've got some chicory here as well.

Chicory they use a lot in Italian cooking.

It's fantastic cooked as well. It's delicious cooked.

I think it's nicer cooked than it is in a salad.

Into the pan we're going to pop a little bit of gin. Yep.

Plenty of flames. Just straight gin?

Gives a good flame. Set the kitchen on fire!

What a way to start my first day!

Just going to pop those thyme stocks in there as well.

Bit of thyme. Waste not, want not.

That's just going to make a little dressing that's going to go...

A little lemon juice, hazelnut oil. Lemon juice.

Little bit of sugar. There's your lemon.

So in the hazelnuts and the pears

you want a little bit of this hazelnut oil.

Yep. There you go. Like vinaigrettes,

you're talking three parts oil, one part vinegar.

With hazelnuts and nut oils, you don't cook with them at all, do you?

No, never.

Just dressings.

We're just going to strain that.

There's almost two dressings going on here.

There's one for the pears, and the other one.

Yep. And again it's...

It's very, very simple. Yep.

I don't think food should be...

..anything too complex. It should be nice and simple.

Mother's watching, don't dab that in. Mother will be watching.

She'll be on the phone. There you go.

Oh, my phone will be buzzing... Not your mother, my mother.

So, basically, we have our warm dressing. Yep.

We have our pear that's had the lemon juice, hazelnut oil.

Lemon juice, sorry about that!

That's in, yep. OK.

Little bit of salt and pepper. Yep.

And our pigeons, which are nice and rested.

So you only use the breast? You don't use the legs?

The legs I would confit down. I wouldn't use them for this salad.

I'd take them a little bit further and use them

as little lollipops, which is nice when they confit down.

Lollipops? Yeah! There you go.

You've got to be careful.

You don't want any feather that's been shot through or shot.

It's not good for your fillings.

What is the legal position on that? What's that?

If you're in a restaurant

and you're serving things that have been shot, game.

Normally they have it on the menu, don't they? Is it a disclaimer?

"Please beware." I don't know about that.

"Contains shot." Great question, I don't know.

He'll go straight back...

Will take your tooth out.

I always think you're cheated if you don't get a bit of shot.

You've got to watch out for it.

You've literally scooped up all the juices. That's all the love.

All the love? Yeah, when it's been rested.

Like any piece of meat, that's where the best parts are.

You need to get out there a bit more, Danny.

Yeah, well, when you're stuck in the country, you know what I mean.

Right, OK. So here we're going to assemble... Yep.

And the pigeon's gone in there and everything else.

Pigeon's in there, so it's still warm.

Just go in this nice little pile.

Want to get a nice mixture.

I like salad to have different textures with the hazelnuts,

give it a nice little bite.

Often salads are cold, but it is nice to have warm salads as well.

Especially at this time of year. Yep.

Makes a pleasant change.

So, there we go.

There we go.

And I'll put that over there and you can finish off the dressing.

And then we have our lovely gin stock which we made.

That's the pan juices. Yeah.

So while you drizzle that over the top,

remind us what that is again.

That's a little bit of sugar, little bit of lemon juice,

gin and a little bit of chicken stock.

With a nice, lovely wood pigeon salad. And some hazelnut oil...

The finishing touch.

For that little chef in us.

Easy as that.

I tell you what, it looks great. Smells fantastic.

I always think there should be a round of applause at the end.

When people used to get married, they didn't applaud,

and now the thing is you do applaud. Do you?

I now pronounce you... You'll find out.

I now pronounce you...

We've got nine between us. We know. Oh, right!

It's brilliant, it's gorgeous. Dive into that. Bit of gin, eh?

Looks great. Why did you go for the gin, Dan?

Well, with the pigeon, I marinated it in juniper berry,

and that's what gin's made from,

so it just compliments each other really well.

I think juniper... Continue the theme?

But you need to burn that off, like you said. You can smell the gin.

What do you reckon?

It's stunning. Simple.

It's all about being cooked perfectly, isn't it? Yeah.

Not overcooking that game, that's a big mistake.

That would work really well with venison and bits and pieces.

Exactly, venison fillet, venison loin. Yeah.

It actually tastes quite similar to venison. Yep. Or even pheasant.

Theo's happy.

That's just goes to show - cooking game doesn't have to be expensive.

It's Omelette Challenge time now.

Both Silvena Rowe and Andrew Turner

desperately need to improve their times,

but only one of them would.

Let's see who makes it up the Omelette Challenge leaderboard.

Right, let's get down to business.

All the chefs that come on the show battle it out against each other

to see how fast they can make a simple three-egg omelette.

Silvena's time, pretty respectable. 24.24 seconds. Not good enough!

Right next to you here, but on the wrong side of the board...

Yeah, I know. There you go, 32 seconds, or 30-odd seconds.

I'm having a tenner on Silvena, I think.

I'll double it. All right, you're on.

I'll put 100 quid on it.

I've seen him in rehearsal. Right, you ready?

Three-egg omelette, fast as you... Hold on! Come on, then! Ah!

Easy in the ranks! Three, two, one, go!

Go on, Silvena.

Oh, my God!

This is not happening today.

Take your time. Make sure they're cooked.

Look at her go, look at her go! Look!

Make sure it's cooked.

GONG CRASHES

Oh, close. Very close.

You nearly lost your tenner, I nearly lost 100 quid there.

Right, let's have a taste. God.

Give me strength.

I've seasoned it too. Yeah, it's all right.

Oh, don't show off. This one?

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. That looks lovely!

Oh, you're nasty!

God, you are so nasty. Male chefs are so competitive. Of course.

Oh, my God. Of course. Don't you dare. Andrew. Yeah?

Before you get hit. Yeah.

I don't mind that, actually. Yeah.

That is an omelette. Thank you very much.

And you are quicker than where you were.

32.08 seconds, that can go back to you. But how quick?

Oh!

Not very quick. You did it in 28.18 seconds.

There you go, right next to Brian Turner. Lovely, well done.

Uncle Turner? The two Turners together. Infamous.

Silvena...

Ach, don't, don't, don't, don't.

I seem to have a chronic problem with the omelette on this programme.

Chronic problem.

You were quicker. You did it in 26.68 seconds.

Yeah... Useless!

I can't believe I had the guts to call Silvena's omelette useless.

Now, before he moved back to his homeland of New Zealand,

Nic Watt was a regular on Saturday Kitchen

and with recipes like this, you can really see why.

Now, is this typical of the dishes you serve? It is, it is.

I've built this dish off one of the dishes

from the Charlotte Street restaurant and incorporated them into something

that can be more versatile for home and ingredients you can source.

And apart from the big, big prawn we've got here, what's the dish?

OK, so we've got the big prawn.

I'm going to make a simple pesto-style, I'd call it,

of some coriander, some yuzu, which is a Japanese citrus fruit,

some garlic, some yuzukosho, which is a Japanese mustard, almost.

Following this? I'm gone. Lost already?

It's got a little bit of power, it's going to give it that zing,

that brightness I'm talking about,

some ginger, some chilli paste,

some water that's going to make the pesto,

and the oldie, baked potato, some garlic, lemon, poached egg,

ginger juice, white miso, which is fermented soy bean paste.

Again, very available. Yep.

You're quickly going to whack on some julienne of daikon for me,

and crush me a little bit of garlic. OK.

And I'm going to start working on these prawns.

I'll try and keep up with this. Can I ask a question already? Please do.

Where do you get ingredients like that from?

They just sound so exotic and fancy.

I've selected ingredients for this

that are all available from an Asian grocer.

I mean, they might sound exotic but, really,

there's only two ingredients you might struggle for