Sunday Edition Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

It's not long until Christmas, so feast your eyes on these sensational treats.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. With Christmas round the corner,

we've got some fantastic festive cooking

from some great chefs for you this morning,

and some pretty peckish celebrity guests too.

Stephane Reynaud hotfoots it from his Paris restaurant

to make a rabbit, pork and rosemary terrine with a tomato chutney.

Aussie chef Ben O'Donoghue cooks the perfect family winter warmer.

He slowly cooks masala mutton shanks

and serves them with a tangy lemon rice.

And one of Scotland's favourite sons, Nick Nairn,

brings us a touch of decadence to the proceedings

when he cooks a baked potato with a difference.

He tops the spud with a rich thermidor-style lobster topping

and makes it a bit healthier with a tomato kachumber salad.

And Downton Abbey actor Brendan Coyle

faced his Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would he get his Food Heaven,

prawns, with my delicious turmeric-spiced prawns

with sauteed rice?

Or Food Hell, meringue?

He might end up with a huge portion

of coffee and chestnut chocolate meringue cake,

complete with a sprig of holly, of course.

And you can find out what he gets to eat at the end of today's show.

But first, Galton Blackiston is here

and he's showing off his Morston muscles.

-Welcome to the show, boss.

-Nice to see you.

I'm looking forward to this dish. What are you cooking?

We are doing mussels, a veloute of mussels,

with lovely local mussels,

-which need to have the beards taken off.

-These are Morston mussels?

These are Morston mussels, which are brilliant at this time of year.

Any month with an R in it is a good time for mussels.

-There are other mussels available.

-There are.

You can get them from, you know, supermarkets all over the place now.

You are de-bearding these, which is basically just what it hangs on.

-These are grown on ropes, aren't they?

-That's right.

That's right. And you just need to take the beards off.

As well as the mussels, we've got the rest of our stuff here.

-We've got white wine.

-Yes.

-Onion. Butter. Curry powder.

-Yes.

Little bit of flour, just to thicken it. Some cream. I always use cream.

-Bit of chives.

-Chives. Spinach. And some crusty bread.

-Just to serve with it, OK.

-So, what I'm going to do...

-Yes.

-You wash these off?

-Yes, wash them off.

I actually keep them in a little bit of floured water

-to let them spit out any muck that they might have in them.

-Yes.

-Then make sure you have a high heat under your pan.

-Yes, OK.

-Pan with a lid for this.

-Yes, you do. You do.

-You need to get these open as soon as possible.

-OK.

-Straight in.

Get the pan. Straight in. Add the white wine.

You could use apple juice or cider. I quite like that, actually.

-I've had it with perry as well.

-Yes, perry. Great. No problem at all.

What you are going to do, James, you are going to slice that onion for us.

-I knew it.

-Very finely.

-I always get the great jobs, don't I?

-Thank you.

-His make-up is going to run.

-I can imagine! Bruno, I can imagine.

-Now, do you make this dish at Morston, or not?

-Yes, we do.

We serve it all the time, at this time of year in particular.

-Now, you're quite big on the local produce, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-And seasonal.

-And seasonal produce.

And a lot of changes gone on since we last saw you.

-Oh, yes, lots. Lots.

-You've built a load more bedrooms.

-We have.

Well, I think they're a load more.

We've got six stunning new suites which are all-singing and dancing.

You know, underfloor heating, televisions in bathrooms.

What about that?

So, you can sit and watch Strictly Come Dancing in the bath.

It's a must, actually. It's probably the best place.

-Absolutely.

-You can blow bubbles.

-Yeah!

We don't want to hear about your private life.

I always wanted a television in the bathroom. I always wanted...

-There we are.

-Fantastic.

-Another hot pan. Melt the butter.

-Add the sliced onions.

-OK, so you've got the butter in there.

-Yes.

-Now we've got the onions.

-Now, once the...

You're sweating those onions down.

Once the mussels are starting to open, which they are now...

-I'll get a spoon so you can give them a quick mix together.

-Yes.

-There you go.

-They're starting to open.

It's really important at this point, isn't it, really?

-Very, very important.

-Explain to us what we are achieving here.

-We are basically just going to cook these...

-Now, then.

As soon as they are cooked, as soon as the shells have opened,

you can use them, take it off the heat,

and we are going to put it in a colander.

Keep the juice. The juice is the important thing. That's your stock.

-Right, OK.

-Any which don't open at all, discard.

-Don't bother prising them open.

-No, no.

-Don't try and do that. It's not worth taking the risk.

-Yes.

-This is your job now, James.

-I thought it would be mine.

-Thanks very much.

-Into there. There we are.

-Picking mussels.

-Picking mussels.

-But this will take me between now and Christmas.

What are you doing at Christmas?

-What is Christmas going to bring you?

-Christmas, actually, I'm having...

-We're not working at Christmas.

-Really?

Since the children came of an age where it really means something,

-I take Christmas off.

-So, we've got a little... What?

-Question from Italian...

-Question.

-No garlic?

-No garlic.

-No garlic.

-Oh.

You could put garlic in. Of course you could.

-Slightly disappointed.

-I think... Don't start.

-A twinge of bitterness. A twinge of bitterness.

-Oh, now, here we go.

No garlic, no parsley.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get a word in edgeways. Right.

Once I've got a few of these opened, I'm going to do the next stage.

-There you go.

-Keep going, James. Keep going.

-Get Christmas out of the way.

-Yes.

Now, a little birdie tells me

you are doing something quite interesting on New Year's Day.

On New Year's Day.

So, we have a big night at Morston on New Year's Eve,

but on New Year's Day,

I'm going to be jumping in the quay at Blakeney,

-which is the little village right on the coast in Norfolk, and it's tidal.

-Yes.

And on New Year's Day, I'm jumping in the quay for a local school,

Blakeney school charity, and it's to raise funds for the primary school.

-And it's going to be very, very cold.

-And...

-I think you are barmy.

-I know I'm barmy.

-You wait till you hear this bit.

-Absolutely no way...

Bruno, you'll like this bit.

And your wife has said that you are going to be wearing very little,

is that correct?

Because I'm a Norwich City supporter, because I support Norwich,

-I'm going to wear a yellow and green thong, Bruno.

-Oh, are you?

-Yes.

-Are you competing with Beckham for a contract?

This one's knitted, so it'll shrink.

Shrink-wrapped. You'll be shrink-wrapped.

Oh, it's going to be. I'm going to have it over my shoulder, I think.

Anyway, enough of this.

What a lovely way of starting the New Year.

Right, now, look, look. I've added the mussel juice.

If you want to go see more MUSCLES,

head to Norfolk on New Year's Eve. Go on, then.

-There's a stampede already.

-Go on, fire away.

-What is this?!

What's in your sauce, then? What have we got in here?

That's the mussel stock, which had the white wine in it.

It's delicious. Absolutely delicious.

Reduce it a little bit, then we're going to add a touch of cream to it.

You are absolutely right, Bruno. I could add garlic.

-You could add garlic.

-You could, couldn't you?

But, you know, it's the time of day that I don't want...

-You've got a lot of work to do later on.

-I don't care.

I don't plan on snogging anybody.

I don't think I'm going to snog Arlene Phillips or Craig.

Right, right. Now, have you done enough of those, James?

-I'm going as quick as I can.

-You're doing very well.

You're doing very well. So, you've got a lovely creamy sauce, like so.

-We then add, at the last minute, some spinach leaves.

-Yes.

So, just let them wilt down in the sauce. Back on the heat.

And then when James has eventually finished...

No, you're doing a very good job. You are.

-There are a lot of mussels here.

-There are a lot of mussels.

-You've got very agile fingers.

-Thank you. I had agile feet until...

Shame that the legs didn't work as well on the show...as your hands.

-Isn't it?

-I shall get my own back in a minute.

-Like so.

So, the spinach is just wilting down. Doesn't take long.

It's a great dish, this.

You can make it in advance, as long as you're sure that...

Mussels are so inexpensive, aren't they, really?

-I love them.

-I don't understand why people don't use them more.

Literally go and get a bag of mussels 50 yards from my doorstep, so...

what could be better? And, as you say, they're cheap.

This time of the year, they're very, very, good.

-They're good, Gennaro. They're great.

-Really great.

-OK.

-Right.

-Just recap what we've got in there.

-So, we've got...

-The onions, the flour went in after they softened up.

-Absolutely.

The spinach. The cream. The white wine. The stock. Into our dish.

-I'll slice the bread for you.

-Look at this.

-It has to be...

It's a rustic dish, it's a "this time of year" dish.

-You CAN change it for the summer.

-Yes.

Well, when there's an R in the month.

-Just fill it up. They'll be hungry.

-Do you think so?

-Yes.

That looks delicious.

I like the idea of the spinach. I never would have thought of that.

-Bit of bread on the side?

-Bit of bread on the side.

But I'll tell you what you would do.

You'd put some garlic on the bread and toast that

-and do the garlic bread on the side.

-Forget the garlic.

-Just remind us what that is.

-That is...

-That is a veloute of Morston mussels.

-Without garlic.

-Without garlic.

Done.

Right, follow me over. There you go.

Right. Have a seat, Galton. You've got to dive into this.

-Oh, this looks fantastic. What about you, girls?

-That's... Yeah.

-What?

-I have to share?

-Just put it in your mouth and taste it.

-Oh, you are so assertive.

-Well, just get it...

-OK, OK! I have to...

-Your show will be on in a minute.

-It's all about presentation as well.

I'm just checking the presentation. It looks good. The green is green.

-I'm a professional. What about the black pepper?

-Too late. Right...

Girls, dive in. Pass it down to Gennaro.

-Delicious. No, it's really, really good.

-And instant.

-It is.

-Six, seven minutes to make.

-It's really easy.

-Very, very good.

-And that addition of curry powder really does...

-I think so.

You got that idea from a fellow chef, didn't you?

I call him the spice king.

Atul Kochhar, you know, I've got to know him a lot in the last few years,

and what he does with spices, in just the right amount, is fantastic.

-Incredible.

-It gives it a kick.

-Yes.

-I like a kick.

-Don't you?

-Gennaro, what do you think, Gennaro?

-Catch him now.

-It's the first time he's not going to say anything.

-I love it.

-He loves it.

Of course, if you want to make it more Italian,

then stick some garlic in it.

Coming up, I'll be poaching smoked salmon for stunned Catherine Tate,

after Rick Stein gets in a festive mood.

Well, I'm driving through the flat Fenlands of Lincolnshire.

It's actually also known as Little Holland,

and it's beautifully fertile farmland round here.

Particularly good for brassicas - cabbage, cauliflower,

but above all, Brussels sprouts.

I would not dream of eating turkey or goose for Christmas lunch or dinner

without sprouts.

'This is the very heart of sprout country.'

Sorry, Chalks.

'And this is Roger Welberry, the self-proclaimed king of sprouts.

'Well, let's face it -

'the poor old sprout needs someone to champion its cause.

'He thinks they should be called British sprouts.'

Why do you think people think they're sort of a joke?

Do you think it's school dinners, or what?

I think the older people realise a bit more,

but it's kids that immediately think, "Sprouts, eurgh!" You know?

I think it's...

A lot of the kids I've asked, "Oh, we don't like sprouts,"

when I've done some demos and things like that,

and I've said, "Have you ever tried them?" "No."

It's their mates. They listen to their mates, don't they?

They say, "He doesn't like sprouts, we don't like sprouts."

If they dressed up...

I think you've got to get away from the, maybe, traditional way.

You've got to think more adventurous, more, say, sexy,

if you like, but I don't know how you sex a sprout up!

Why not put a bit of chocolate on the sprout, you know?

If they won't eat the sprout as it is, put some chocolate on it.

-Or a bit of brown sugar.

-I'm not quite so sure about that!

But I'll give it some...

I don't care, as long as I'm selling sprouts, that folks are eating them.

That's the main thing!

Now, what I like in a good sprout

is it should be just ever so slightly overcooked,

but only so slightly that it's still got a nice bite to it.

That's what I like to see in a turkey.

It's taken quite a long time to cook.

Every year, I'm astounded by the detail that you get

in magazines and newspapers about the latest way of roasting turkey.

It's almost like you've got to buy this magazine

because, otherwise, you won't roast your turkey properly.

And they are ever more elaborate. Pages and pages of detail.

Some call for covering in buttered muslin.

Others call for a bit of foil here, a bit of foil there.

Over on one side, turn around, take your time,

lower the temperature, up the temperature, in with the turkey,

out with the turkey, back in again, out again, down the pub, up here.

And, basically, one of the things that really makes me smile

is looking at Escoffier's recipe for turkey,

which just says, "Roast in a moderate oven."

This is the full works, with sausage and crispy bacon,

fluffy roast potatoes, glazed carrots and bread sauce.

It's the stuff of dreams, especially if you're a long way from home.

This was a bronze turkey that we got from the Copas family,

who also produce very fine free-range birds

on their farm at Cookham in Berkshire.

It's a much larger concern than Andrew's,

but it's run on similar lines.

We thought we'd take one of Mr Copas's birds

to a hotel near Carlisle,

where we conducted our very first taste test.

The Crown at Wetheral.

The reason I've come in here

is because I wanted to see what they look like.

Now, one of these turkeys is a free-range turkey

that's lived all its life in orchards -

apple orchards, cherry orchards -

and the other is a, shall we say, mass-produced turkey.

I'm not going to ask the chefs

to parade the turkey out with our invited staff guests

who are going to choose either A or B.

So, I'm off.

I don't know which is A or B.

But having looked at them, I think I have a pretty good idea.

So, we've got two turkeys for you today - turkey A and turkey B.

One of them is a free-range turkey that spent most of its life outdoors

in apple orchards, cherry orchards.

And the other is a battery raised turkey.

And I want you to try and tell the difference.

So, you want to have a look at the texture of it, the smell of it

and, of course, the taste.

If we get it wrong, I could be very depressed.

Lastly, let me say that I don't know which is which,

and I'm going to vote too.

Smells like Christmas, somebody was saying.

Everybody finished?

Let's put them all back down.

And on to turkey B.

Now, I just had to point out one thing,

that one of these turkeys, obviously the free-range one,

cost nearly four times as much as the battery fed.

Is it four times as good? Let's go.

Now you're starting to taste the second one,

I'd just like to know whether, actually, you can taste a difference?

MURMUR OF ASSENT

Good.

The object here is for you to tell me which you think tastes the best, OK?

And I'm going to vote.

But just in case you think I'm a bit of a smart aleck,

I'm going to put up my hand right at the end.

OK, let's go.

Right, who thinks that turkey A is the best?

Oh, gosh.

Well, there's no need for a show of hands. Let's have a look at the...

Oh, gosh!

This could be the end of my career.

Turkey A is...

Oh, my gosh! It's the supermarket battery turkey.

It's been a very tough day.

Sales of smoked salmon soar at Christmas time,

and one of the best and oldest cures

comes from Forman's here in London's East End.

A lot of people think that it's an ancient Scottish tradition

-because, of course, this fish comes from Scotland.

-Yes.

But, actually, traditional cold-smoking of salmon,

and this is a cold-smoked salmon,

came over to this country roughly 100 years ago from Eastern Europe.

And it was people like my great-grandfather

that brought over those techniques of salmon curing.

They didn't even realise there was a salmon native to this country,

so they would actually import salmon from the Baltic

in barrels of salt water.

The quality, you know, a three-month journey in salt water

didn't really do very much for the fish.

And they then discovered this wild salmon coming down every summer,

you know, to the fish market from Scotland,

started smoking that fish instead,

because they thought, you know, if we've got a native fish here,

let's try this one, and the quality was so outstanding,

-that's when smoked Scottish salmon started to take off.

-Good Lord!

This fish would have taken about five years to grow to this size,

whereas the farmed fish would have got to this size in about a year.

-So, a lot of difference.

-Could you cut us off a slice?

-Absolutely.

Here we are. So, let's go for the...

-This is really interesting for me.

-..farmed salmon first.

That's lovely. It's really...

I see what you mean by the London cure.

It's really mild and sort of subtle, really.

We believe that the art of successful salmon smoking

is to buy the best quality fish you can get hold of

and do as little to it as possible.

Just a touch of salt to cure it and a touch of smoke to enhance it.

-You don't want it to be too smoky.

-So, that's the London cure?

-That's what we call the London cure.

-Let's try some of the...

Try the wild. Let's have a go here.

I think they're... They're very different. The, um...

I would compare them to sort of a nice, light Chardonnay

compared to a sort of, you know, a full-bodied Bordeaux. Um...

They're both great, but they're really quite different.

The wild smoked salmon was delicate.

It's a bit like the difference between a native oyster

and a Pacific.

Actually,

one of the best farmed salmon around comes from the Outer Hebrides.

It's so good, it's almost like wild.

See, what we sort of reckon

is that every time we talk about fish farming,

I get a sheaf of e-mails from people saying, "This is devil stuff.

"This is devil's work." You know?

And it can't be like that. It's like all farming, isn't it?

-There's good 'uns and bad 'uns.

-Well, it is.

I mean, we know that the wild fish is just not available now.

-There's over-catching, over-fishing.

-Yes.

-And aquaculture is here to stay.

-Yes.

What we have to ensure is that we do it in the best possible way,

first of all so that we look after the fish that we're growing,

that their welfare is the highest degree.

But more importantly,

you have a product that is in tandem with nature.

Well, Angus has just told me

that he's been standing on that land just over there

looking at these cages and not being able to see them

because of the waves going right over the top of them.

And this is the first time I've actually been at a fish farm

which is truly out at sea,

and suddenly you can see what they say about being out in the open sea,

that there's, like, water rushing down here all the time.

And, constantly, you're getting clean water.

And that is the sort of main thing, I think, about organic salmon,

is not only that, but the cages are well spaced apart

and I'm sure a low density of fish in the cages.

I mean, it just makes sense to me.

I know people are going to start writing to me saying,

"You shouldn't be covering fish farming at all."

But there's good farmers and bad farmers,

and it's the same with aquaculture.

'They don't have any electronic feeding machines here.

'They deliberately feed the fish by hand

'so that they only get what they need

'and there's no excess food on the bottom, polluting the water.'

You've got two.

This, to me, is a very attractive fish. A lovely colour,

as you can see, and it's also nice and sleek.

And the thing that I always look for in good farmed fish

are the sort of... the shape of the fins.

I mean, this is used to swimming a great deal.

And one of the things that Angus was saying

was that because the fish here are out in a strong current,

their muscles are being engaged actively all the time,

and you can feel that.

I just go like that,

the actual fillet is really firm.

And the other thing, of course,

that people worry about is lice, sea lice,

and there are no lice on this fish.

Again, that's because the fish are in low densities

and they're out here in the current.

Yeah. I'd quite like to do something with that. Eat it, in other words!

Now, this is roasted salmon with salsa verde

but, unusually, I'm going to actually stuff the salmon with salsa verde

and roast it on a bed of tomatoes.

'I sprinkle the sliced tomatoes with a good handful of capers,

'and then two or three coarsely chopped cloves of garlic.

'Next, plenty of fresh thyme and a good amount of sea salt.

'Drizzle olive oil all over everything,

'and then a little bit of water as well.

'Lay the fillets of salmon on top

'and don't forget to season them on the inside.

'Look how lovely and pale the flesh is.

'That's because there's no pink dye in their feed.

'Now to make the salsa verde stuffing

'using mint, parsley, anchovies, garlic and capers.'

This is my own dish,

but it's just the sort of thing I like for Christmas.

Probably on Christmas Eve,

something a bit different from turkey or goose on Christmas Day.

It's actually based on Italian ideas of cooking.

First of all, of course, the salsa verde,

which I made really sort of stiff and dry so that it makes a nice stuffing.

But also the tomato that's under there and the water and the olive oil

is a way of cooking the Italians call acqua pazza, which means "mad water".

I don't quite know why it refers to that,

but maybe as it's boiling briskly like this, it's going bonkers.

But it produces this lovely emulsion

which will work really well with that salmon.

'Oil the top of the fish and sprinkle with chilli flakes,

'some more thyme and a final bit of seasoning.'

That goes in the oven for about 25 minutes - a hot oven.

'20 to 25 minutes is more than enough for cooking a fish like this.

'Let's face it - come Christmas Eve,

'you don't want to be locked away in the kitchen all night.

'And an elegant and simple dish like this

'frees you up nicely to enjoy the festivities.

'Those tomatoes have cooked in the juices from the fish

'and have softened in the oil and become sweet.

'This is a six-pound salmon, and it'll feed a dozen people.

'And, do you know, it goes really well

'with a good glass of sparkling English white wine.'

Now, salmon is probably the king of all fish.

Nothing says Christmas morning more than smoked salmon.

And there are lots of ways you can enjoy it,

and I'm going to show you something slightly different.

It's a great lunchtime dish, this,

good to do over the Christmas holiday.

Cos you've generally got smoked salmon at home,

and also another ingredient, duck fat.

Cos Delia and Nigella made this famous, you see?

Well, I'm never without any.

Duck fat, because what we're going to do is I'm going to poach

the smoked salmon in duck fat with vanilla.

I can see you're really impressed with that!

And I'm going to serve this with a pickle, all right?

Now, the idea is this.

We make a pickle with water, rice wine vinegar and sugar.

All right?

So we put the whole lot together, and we just

dissolve the sugar with the rice wine vinegar and a pinch of salt.

-And that's it. That's our pickling liquor done. Easy.

-Easy.

And then we take a mooli, which is this stuff,

and I'm just going to, basically, just peel this.

-Now, I thought that was a parsnip.

-No.

What's a mooli?

Similar to a...

Parsnips are creamy inside.

-This is a Japanese radish.

-Oh, OK.

That's what it is. And we just peel these like this.

Now, about yourself. You started life as a...

Well, serious acting, really? How did you get into comedy, then?

Because you've almost gone full circle now, how did it all start?

Oh, there was just too many people auditioning for The Bill

when I was...

When I was a young hopeful. So I thought, "Oh, I'll try and make people laugh."

But you were in the Royal Shakespeare Company, were you?

Yeah, no, I do... I've done a lot of theatre.

I did want to do comedy and I realised that

the way to get into comedy was perhaps to do stand-up,

so I started doing stand-up.

So I went from kind of being classically trained,

then going round the clubs of Great Britain.

And one place, for stand-up in particular,

-we've had a lot of comedians on the show, Edinburgh Festival?

-Yeah.

That seems to have launched their career. And it did the same with you, did it?

It did. Edinburgh's like a big trade fair, really, for comedians.

You know, if you get...

If you just catch a wave, it can happen really quickly,

and I was lucky that it did, yeah.

And then almost gone full circle because, you know,

you're into acting now as well, obviously, comedy's still there,

but how do people take you, really, in the industry?

Because most people... Do you get branded as a comedian and...

I'm sure I do. I don't really...

-I don't really care, as long as I get asked to do stuff.

-It's a job!

-It doesn't matter!

-They can call me what they like!

But, yeah, no, I think when I went into Doctor Who...

Even though I'd been doing lots of straight stuff before,

my show kind of launched me

out to the public as quite a... You know, quite a definite comedian,

you know, doing quite broad characters and stuff.

So I was really lucky to get the opportunity to start again

in Doctor Who, really, and launch myself as something else.

Was that just... It was only meant to be just one appearance, was it, or...?

Yeah, it was only a one-off, a couple of years ago,

for Christmas.

-And then... Then it kind of came back again.

-And then, literally...

Christmas Day is busy for you. It always is, every Christmas...

-I'm all over the schedule, love!

-Yeah, you're all over the place.

-Tell us about Doctor Who and...

-Yes.

I can't really say too much about Doctor Who because it's...

It would spoil it.

But you can say something that's happening later on in the evening.

I can say something that's happening a little bit later, at 10:30pm.

Tell us about this, then?

I've got a Christmas special called Nan's Christmas Carol,

it's my old lady character,

and we've done a comic retelling of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol,

and she's effectively the character of Scrooge.

-Right?

-As you know, because you pop up in it, don't you?

I do pop up on it. We can't say exactly, because...

We can't spoil that surprise.

And we can't say that at this time in the morning, can you,

what you said about me?

Which is really nice, thank you very much!

She knocked on the dressing room and said, "Are you OK with this?,"

and said this line, and I said, "I don't really have a choice, do I?

-"You've already done it." But anyway...

-No, that's not true.

-You were very game. You were very game.

-David Tennant's in it as well?

Yeah, he is, yeah. I've got lots of special guests.

And the guy that I couldn't keep my eyes off, off Only Fools And Horses.

-Yeah, Roger Lloyd-Pack. Yeah, yeah.

-How fantastic was that?

Brilliant, yeah. Brilliant. And Ben Miller and Madness, everyone.

-Oh, everyone's there.

-Everyone's there.

Everyone's there. And films and stuff like that.

You're partial to West End and stuff like that,

-you're a bit of a jack of all trades, really?

-Yeah.

I think, you know, as long as you've got options as an actor,

you're doing well. And I have been lucky.

-You never know, a cooking show might be on your list?

-Oh, it will.

If you'd have seen my fairy cakes!

I mean, seriously, Jane Asher, watch out!

Right, look. There's your pickle, all right?

So this is the mooli, all I've done is just pour that hot pickle -

or hot pickling liquor - over the top,

and it just sits on the plate like that.

-And you just pop that on.

-It's quite limp.

-It's supposed to be like that, Catherine.

-I know.

I'm just saying.

My textural observation is it's a little bit limp.

-That's supposed to be a compliment.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

-It's slithery and it looks a bit slimy, too.

-There's your...

There's your salmon, which is poaching away nicely.

-With the quack-quack fat.

-Yeah, with the quack-quack fat.

That's gone in there.

Now, when I told my folks that you were coming on, They...

"Bothered." Where does that come from?

Where does your inspiration for these characters come from?

Because it's kind of iconic now.

Yeah, that sort of caught on, and I didn't expect it to.

I don't know, I just said it one day and then...

So it wasn't scripted, or is it just...?

It was scripted, but it wasn't scripted... It was scripted once,

but we did it in front of a live audience

when I was trying out my live shows, and I said it and then,

just because the audience were responding,

I kept saying it again and went on a roll.

So it was a bit by accident that it kind of...

But where do these ideas for these characters come from?

My mad ole 'ead!

-Yeah? Is it? You just kind of make them up?

-I don't know.

I suppose, really, I suppose I'm logging people that I meet

all the time, really.

I've got a really good character coming up,

it's quite a lairy northern chef.

Thank you very much!

That wouldn't surprise me. But there you go, look at that.

You can't say that's not pretty, look.

-I can't say that's not pretty.

-I've done it on a roof tile.

-Just for you, Catherine.

-Thank you. Straight out of the bathroom.

-Tell me what you think.

-Thank you.

-Bathroom?

You've got a fancy bathroom when you've got that in your bathroom.

That's off my roof, love, this.

Tell me what you think. This is... Literally, what's that?

-Four and a half minutes?

-It was four and a half minutes.

And you got a pickle.

Yeah, I can't pick it up.

-Oh, God!

-In your own time, don't worry.

-I will.

-Go on, then.

-It's pretty good, though.

-It's delicious.

-Vanilla and duck fat.

-Oh, don't say it!

-It's the way forward.

And, of course, the roof tile is optional, of course.

Now, if you'd like to try cooking

that salmon or have a go at any of the recipes you've

seen on today's show, they're just a click away at

bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Now, we're not live today, so instead we're looking back at

some of the delicious cooking from the Saturday Kitchen back catalogue.

Now it's time for a festive treat. No party should be without it.

It's a tasty terrine made by one of France's finest chefs,

Stephane Reynaud.

It's Stephane Reynaud. Good to have you on the show.

-I'm very happy to be back, there.

-Very happy to be back.

We're very happy that you're here as well.

I love your type of food, cos it's very rustic-y, very French.

-Yes, it's from countryside.

-The countryside. Full-on flavours.

Saint-Egreve, everybody knows Saint-Egreve now.

So what are we cooking?

We're going to cook a terrine of rabbit, so we have the rabbit,

we have chicken livers, we have pork.

Pork is what you became famous for, I suppose?

You know, I was born with pork in my pocket, so...

-Always pork in my recipes.

-So we've got pork, this is pork fillet?

Yeah. It's chopped into little pieces.

Then you have shallots, you have the rosemary,

you have quatre epices, port, white wine, cream, eggs and bread.

We'll get onto the spice in a minute.

And then you've got a simple chutney.

And then we're going to make a chutney, a tomato chutney.

Sorry to interrupt, you know quatre epices, you're making me do this

omelette challenge, I challenge you to tell me what's in quatre epices.

-Ginger, nutmeg, pepper...

-Clou de girofle...

Cloves, isn't it?

-I don't know the name.

-Yeah, yeah, cloves.

There you go. It's amazing what this little earpiece does,

somebody's telling me in my ear! Anyway...

Cheat! Cheat!

So we're going to cut the rabbit in big pieces,

because I like to know what I have in my terrine when I eat a terrine,

-I like to have big pieces of meat inside.

-Big, chunky, chunky pieces.

-Yes.

-OK.

-So we're going to do that.

Now, I mentioned at the top about your book.

You were here last time with the pork book,

but it went on to be huge. I mean, hugely successful.

-French cookbook of the year.

-Oh, yes. I was lucky for that.

I don't know why, it's only the story of the family,

the story of the butchery and the story of friends and food...

-Sorry to interrupt...

-Is this another one?

-It's just a great book.

The thing is, it's so sort of gutsy.

I always think of the French as just eating little bits and bobs

-and being very sort of...

-No, come on!

Have you seen the size of this guy? But it's true, though.

-It's literally a great book...

-It's a fabulous book.

It's not just recipes, as well. And this new one is not just recipes?

It's a new one, which name is Ripailles,

and it's still about the French, old-fashioned food.

And I have stories, too, with friends,

I have story... How to play petanque.

-It's very important to play petanque before lunch.

-Of course.

You have to know how to make your own pastis,

so there is a lot of things, a lot of recipes, too.

-Petanque is boules, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's very important, before dinner, to have a petanque.

Petanque, and maybe a little bit of pastis while you're doing it,

just to cleanse the palate?

Pastis and petanque, it's a good way to start a meal with friends.

There you go. Right. What have we got in here, then?

Explain to us what's happening.

We've put all the meat in the pot, with the white wine,

-with the port, and then I'm going to cut the shallots.

-Yeah.

Now, you'd literally... Cos you're just whacking everything together,

like you said, to keep it quite chunky?

It's nice when you do that, like, four hours before, to make the terrine,

when the meat is mixed with the port and the wine and everything. So...

OK. Right. And tell us about your bistro, as well. People try...

If they're venturing out and about around Paris,

whereabouts is it, roughly?

It's in Montreuil, I've told you,

it's the nice area which was in fight three years ago. The war in Paris...

Oh, the famous area where they were fighting? That's where you're from?

Yes, but it was very quiet, don't worry.

It's a nice place, because there is a lot of different

people from everywhere, so there is a good mix of culture.

-I like this area.

-Yeah.

-And the people like old French food.

So I can serve terrine in my restaurant.

What do you think the art...

The art of French food, I went over there at the beginning

of the year, and I still think the art of French food is

about great ingredients, but it's all about the family, you know?

When you go around the markets, it's vitally important.

We don't really have those markets nowadays.

They're deemed as sort of a gimmick, what we were brought up...

-It's interesting you're using rabbit, actually, Stephane...

-Why?

We don't tend to use rabbit here.

I did this series called Food Heroes,

and I wanted to film a rabbit farm, cos farm rabbit's tender.

I'm from a little village,

and in this village you have only pigs, rabbits, cows.

It's in the countryside.

So it's very usual for us to use such kind of meat.

We wanted to film in this rabbit farm,

and the BBC said, "Absolutely no way, there's too many children that

"would not like to see little bunny rabbits being turned into food."

It was an old rabbit, very sick...

Just warming to the theme, though.

A friend of mine saw this sign somewhere near Chicago,

it said, "Rabbits - food or pets?"

That is really rugged stuff.

But, you know, where I live, it's so far away from everything,

so you have to have everything in your home.

So that's why we use this kind of meat very often.

Run me through - you've got the eggs in there? Ginger?

The eggs, the ginger and then that's done. We just have to mix everything.

And the bread and the cream, I mean, look at that.

-Truly all classic French style of cooking.

-It's very good.

The meat of the rabbit, it's a little dry.

So it's nice to put cream...

And then ask your children to do that,

they love to put their hands in the food.

And just mix it all together.

And the spices, you've just got a little bit of cumin in here.

This is to do the chutney, if you missed this.

Just chop all the ingredients nice and fine.

We've got here, obviously, white wine vinegar and the sugar,

and some sultanas - or raisins, these ones.

We've got some tomato, which I've deseeded and chopped,

and then the other ingredient, this well-known ingredient in France...

It's ketchup. It's a new ingredient in French. It's typical French.

-You tried it...

-Exactly. So this goes on as well? OK. We throw that in.

It's especially for my children.

Now, is this the kind of dish that you're putting on the menu now in the bistro?

-This is straight off the bistro menu?

-It's on the bistro menu.

And then we'll bring my terrine, to serve tomorrow. Sorry.

Yeah, exactly. OK. And then what we're going to do is cook this in a bain-marie?

Yeah, in the bain-marie without cover.

It's important to put in the bain-marie like that.

-So literally just...

-One hour, hour and a half.

All the liquid has to be evaporated.

So you literally cook it for about an hour a half.

I'll move this to one side. And you want the rosemary on the top?

-Yes, please.

-There you go. You forgot that bit.

I'm going to bring this over.

-And about, sort of, what, 200 degrees centigrade?

-Yep.

-400, something like that.

-And it's ready to be cooked.

You can pop that one in there.

There you go. We've got the terrine. I'll bring that one over to you.

I'll give you that. Meanwhile, I'll get the chutney. There you go.

So literally cook the chutney down for,

what, about 45 minutes, the chutney?

-45 minutes, one hour, yes.

-Yeah, one hour.

-And, here, you've got a terrine.

-Look at that.

So it's still very rustic,

big pieces of meat inside and generally hard to be cut, but...

-We have to eat like...

-French bread?

-Yeah.

It's nice to serve in the pot, because it's still very...

And the cream and the bread, I mean, that's quite...

All the different pieces of the meat,

and then you just have the cream and the shallots.

-A bit of that on the side.

-Bon appetit.

Nothing better than that, traditional French food.

-So remind us what that is again?

-It's a terrine of rabbit.

Terrine of rabbit, you see?

And you can put everything in the terrine that's nice with this meat.

You can put fruit, you can put another spice like cinnamon, or...

-It's lovely.

-It's up to you.

He's off with it. Where are you off with it?

-I want to go back to my restaurant!

-Come on over here, have a seat.

You get to dive into this first of all,

-tell us what you think of that?

-Wow, look at that.

But, like you said, you can mix-and-match the meat,

you can put fruit in there...?

Yes, that's what I like with this meat.

Pistachio nuts and stuff like that.

I like the idea of putting cream and bread in.

It looks just so nice and chunky.

Because we always think of, sort of, terrine as a bit smooth,

but I just love...

You have a lot of flavour, a lot of texture in the terrine.

And the chutney still on the side.

You've got to learn to get a big mouthful at the top.

It's lovely, it's almost like a meal on its own as well.

And that cream is so important, because rabbit is dry.

-It's really nice and moist, that.

-It makes it nice and moist.

Everybody's diving in.

Thanks for testing me on my food knowledge, Rick,

but my advice is never mess with a presenter wearing one of these -

an earpiece.

Now, we're heading up to Northumbria,

where the legendary Keith Floyd is ready and waiting.

# Dum-da-da-da-bom

# Bom-bom

# Ba-da-dum-da... #

This music is incredible. Rock on, Robert.

But, you know, duty calls and it's back to the commentary.

So here we are, then, on the good ship Radiant Way,

putting out to sea from Seahouses.

A bit like the owl and the pussycat,

except we ain't got a five-pound note.

Now, all cooking of the real kind depends on first-class shopping.

Now, anybody can go to the supermarket

and buy a packet of frozen fish.

But if you've got real B... with an S on the end,

you go to where it's really happening,

which is, you know, waves with teeth like bananas,

hell of white water and all of that business.

In case... Because you know what fishermen are like, don't you?

The one that got away was that big...

When you actually go fishing, they haven't caught a thing.

I brought a few mussels from Seahorses

or Seahouses or whatever it's called,

just to cook for the crew.

But, in fact, they've been quite good boys,

they've caught a few things, so I'm going to prepare a dish

which is going to be called Light Of The Radiant Way,

which is, you know, this is our nautical dish of the day.

Panache of fish the radiant way.

Name of the boat, get it?

We got a few whiting, we got a few haddocks,

we got some little lemon soles, we've got some cod,

we've got some prawns and we've got some codlings.

So take your shopping basket...

A couple of whitings, a couple of haddocks.

I'm not joking, my little gastronauts,

this is unbelievably bad.

It really is.

A bit of one of these little things here. Very slippery.

In you go. This is your shopping basket.

This is shopping on the ninth parallel, OK?

A little codling.

And something... Richard, if it's OK with you...

I mean, no, actually, seriously, don't laugh.

Every time you have a fish meal,

what I'm doing now is what they do every day of the week

to bring you the fish. So don't joke about it.

I mean, it's fun, I know, for us. But this is how they really work, OK?

So out of this lot, I'm going to dedicate a dish to this ship,

the Radiant Way.

Richard, come into the kitchen.

If we can get back.

To recap on the whole thing, Richard, and stay with me,

I know you're not used to being on boats.

We have my little fresh codling, OK, down here.

My little whiting, my little haddock, my little langoustines,

my little prawns, the mussels I brought with me,

a bit of parsley and some cream and not really very much else.

But, while I fried those fillets of the freshest fish you can imagine

in a little butter in the pan, at the same time,

I made, as every good little cookette in the world knows,

a simple white sauce - butter and flour,

filled up with milk, a few onions, bay leaf,

a bit of parsley and stuff to make a basic white sauce, OK?

So I did that while I was fiddling about,

cos this is the magic of...magic.

At the same time, from Seahouses, I got some of these brilliant mussels

and merely poached them. Sorry about this.

Maybe poached them in about a quarter of a pint of water,

so that they opened.

Didn't overcook them, because they're succulent and nice.

And, to make... Cos I want to get a really good fishy flavour

to the ultimate sauce of this dish...

Now, Richard, this is the tricky bit, OK?

We've got to get some of this juice from the mussels into...

the white sauce. Just to give it a fishy flavour.

And stir that in.

OK, so we've now got a fundamental white sauce, OK,

with a fishy flavour, which is quite nice.

If I may now... I'm...

Do you know, I have to tell you, I am really tired.

We do take these things, in a way, pretty seriously.

And I know you all love me rolling about in a ship and trying to...

And just simply cooking things but there aren't, I can promise you,

17 home economists behind me doing all this.

Right, our little fillets are sort of ready. OK?

And the point about this kind of dish is

it shows that you do not need to go to night school

to get your CSE in cooking.

Freshness is everything that counts.

Simplicity, application and, if I can do it in, quite frankly,

a space that my arms won't stretch out into,

any of you can do all this kind of thing

in the wonderful comfort of your home.

Right, I've got a few tasks to do.

For my parsley sauce, very freshly chopped parsley. OK?

We all know what that is. Excuse all this muddle-up of the pots.

Stay with it, Richard, you're doing very, very well.

I'll buy you a large one when and if ever we get ashore.

Strain... Stay with it, dear boy. I can see you wobbling.

Strain the white sauce of all the lumps into the parsley there.

Which is quite good. Discarding, then, as you can now see,

the little flavourings I put in - the carrot, the onion,

the mushroom and stuff like that to make that brilliant.

Put that into the sink.

Stir that in. That is really real.

And it's very, very good. I want...

Because this is for the captain

and for one of my very good friends, Mr Swallow,

here on the Radiant Way, I want to make this really rich and luxurious,

so I'm going to add a little cream to the sauce. OK?

And put that gently on the gas, over there, to cook away, while...

And here we come to the tricky bit.

Put my couple of little fillets here on this lovely, white plate.

Simplicity itself.

The little langoustines, which I've just tailed and headed,

split down the middle. Like that. OK?

A few fillets of fish, then some of my little mussels.

I think that, one way or another,

this has got to be the sort of fishy version of Northumbria on a plate.

You know, we are working in those absurd conditions -

nothing on the clock but the maker's name and all that kind of stuff.

I think now my sauce is warm,

the flavour has gone through to the thing.

And...watch closely.

Well, don't watch closely

but I mean just admire the steadiness of my hand

under these absurd conditions.

And I can't put that down. That's very difficult.

I think, you know, fresh fish, Floyd, Northumberland -

there it is, on a plate. I think it's brilliant.

Now beginneth the first history lesson.

A long, long time ago, in the days of old,

when the knights were bold and telegraph poles hadn't been invented,

on this rugged shore, a Viking longship floundered.

The locals, being an enterprising lot,

patched it up and turned it into the famous Northumbrian coble.

"Now, this is a food programme," I hear you cry

and what has this got to do with the price of fish?

Well, the lovely oak chippings from the local boat yard

go a few yards up the street

and are used to smoke these plumptious little monkeys

at John Swallow's smokery.

I love this symbiotic stuff, don't you?

Nothing is wasted and the delicious symmetry of it all.

The cobles are used to catch the herring

and the oak is used to flavour the kipper.

Which, incidentally, was invented by a Seahouses man,

called John Woodger, in 1840.

I think there should be a statue to John Woodger

in the centre of Seahouses,

so you think about it, you civic worthies.

Now, once the kippers are split and gutted, they are immersed in brine

for half an hour or so and then they put on these tenterhooks

and this is where the expression originates, "on tenterhooks,"

which is what I'm on all the time when making these programmes.

This timeless procedure, unaltered since the invention of the kipper,

has been handed down from father to daughter for generations,

as this extremely rare piece of archive film shows.

PROJECTOR WHIRRS

You know, on these Floyd programmes,

we've done so many crab-cooking sequences,

I've quite frankly run out of things to say in the commentary.

So I thought I'd write a little poem instead. Here it is.

It can make you quite sad to cook a crab

They say that they squeal in the steam

But I know a crab is really quite glad

To appear well-dressed on the screen.

Do you know, I am a very partisan kind of guy -

I love Somerset and I love Devon and I love Cornwall but...

# I love coffee, I love tea

# I love the Java Jive and it loves me. #

But, jokes apart, I will tell you that, as much as I love

the West Country fish, if you want a real crab, come to Seahouses.

These are the sweetest...

I have ever tasted.

They breed in the cold North Sea,

they live off the hard bottom, not in the mud.

They're superb, they are the sweetest I have ever tasted.

Coming from me, that's something.

But we're not here for that. Well, we are. We quite enjoy that.

What we're really here for is the kipper, the real kipper.

None of your Japanese technology, no stainless steel chutes,

no gas-fired burners but the real business.

Now, Richard, sometimes in a cameraman's life,

smoke get in your eyes but stay with it, OK? This is where it's at.

Step in to see the fire, to see the kipper

and, you know, after about 11 hours, killing me softly with her herrings,

you can take a bite out of one of these...

and step out of the world and into heaven.

Heaven turned out to be dead good.

Lots of pretty scenery and birds, rivers flowing with milk and honey

and the lady angels were "wy-kings," as the next cooking sketch reveals.

Do you know, Northumberland must be the last bastion

of rural countryside in Britain.

Here amongst the fells, the valleys and where the North Tyne flows,

people here eat in a strange way.

GUNSHOT Oops!

HE LAUGHS

This is what they eat.

Not, as it is down in the Succulent South, a luxury,

here it's quite a common dish.

In fact, it's so cheap and so plentiful,

and people are so BORED with it,

I couldn't find a real Northumbrian person to cook me one.

But what I did find was a wy-king, a wy-king who is called Eben.

In fact, I shall call her Deep And Crisp And Eben,

because that's how I can remember it. And she's a great pheasant plucker.

Difficult to say if you've had one or two

and, as a wy-king who's been raping and pillaging for 1,000 years,

she is going to cook something for us

that demonstrates HER understanding of Northumberland.

Particularly cos I don't feel very well today.

I've got a cold and all that. What are you going to do with this?

I'm going to skin it, take the breasts off,

-which I'm going to cook in mead.

-Mead?

-Yes.

Now you are talking to me in a nice way there. What is actually...?

I know you can drink it. What is mead? Let's have a glass.

It's a honey-based drink

-that was actually brought over by the Vikings.

-Ah!

-A plug for the Vikings!

-Yes, yes.

So this is what they find themselves up on

when they charged on their cricket club tours and things like that?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, very nice.

-Oh, it's brilliant.

Anyway, start plucking the pheasant. And...

It's true, what I said, isn't it,

that the locals are not desperately keen on eating it,

say in your hotel or restaurant because it is so...

such a common sort of dish for them.

Yeah, that's right.

They usually sort of eat the lambs and beef and things like that.

But it's...

As far as I'm concerned, it's

one of the nicest sort of meats you can get. So tender and...

-And good value, too.

-Yeah.

It's what it eats, you see, this is why farmers are a bit cross

-with them, because they eat all their little...

-The Last Supper!

The Last Supper. That's right!

OK, you carry on plucking away there. We all know what plucking is about.

We've got to actually get on with some real cooking.

Now, what you should do, and I've pinched her recipe here,

you get these lovely fillets of the pheasant

and they've still got their shot in them, probably upsets some people.

What I used to do in the olden days in my restaurant,

to make things really authentic,

I used to have little tray of split shot and put it into the dish

at the last moment, just in case they thought they were home-reared ones.

Anyway, these breasts of pheasant have been marinated for how long?

48 hours, just in mead, just to keep it really simple because it is...

As you probably already know, the Vikings

and the old sort of Northumberland way of cooking was

to try to keep everything simple,

and also they just didn't need to disguise any real sort of meats.

-Any genuine flavours.

-Yes, with anything. Because it was so fresh.

Right. OK. Well, let's get to do some cooking, the gas is on over here.

Whizz round in one of your steady, slow walks, Richard,

we'll find ourselves over here by the stove.

It's up to you to tell me what to do. We've got the gas on.

-Have we got...?

-It's on, it's on.

Richard, close up in here, if you please.

We've already sweated off or melted down or softened a few onions.

What do we do next?

Add the pheasant breasts now and just sort of blanch them off.

-One in there. No seasoning at this age?

-Not at this stage, no.

-just sort of close the pores on it and...

-Just up to maximum?

-That's it.

-Let that sizzle away.

Let them get brown or golden on both sides like that,

so that they seize up and seal.

Richard, if you don't mind, close up and then organise

a wibbly-wobbly shot so that we can come back to that

a little later on in the cooking stage.

And certainly this mellifluous amber liquid will make all

the difference to the dish, won't it? Sweetness and light, it is.

Good word, too, I might add - mellifluous. What's next?

-Then add some double cream to it.

-Right.

But first, we're just going to cook the alcohol from the meat off,

take the breasts out, serve them up on your dish.

Spilt it all over the place, but that doesn't matter,

we'll wipe those dishes in a moment.

-That's right.

-Cream into there now?

-Yep. Be quite generous.

I mean, this is your invention, isn't it, this dish?

-This is a Viking-Northumbrian marriage, I suppose?

-Yes.

It's so simple,

but I prefer simple dishes that are really tasty and nice.

It is tasty and nice, actually. Isn't it?

And if you think this is a very, very rich dish, if it's too fruity and

too sweet to go with game, think about pork and apple sauce,

think about venison and redcurrant jelly, the thinking behind this dish

is perfectly OK, the savoury meat and the sweet sauce.

Do you want to whop those over to the table, my darling,

and then we can have a little taste and see how it all comes out?

Right, this, as usual, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

If it isn't brilliant, I'm cutting you out of the programme! OK?

-It should certainly be tender enough now.

-Well...

I think that's marvellous.

It is gamey and sweet.

I'm always worried about dishes that have honey

and cream in them, because I feel it's an excuse for not cooking

properly sometimes, but you did reduce it all properly and all

nice and it really does work, it's a lovely melange of flavours. Yeah.

Here's to you, my darling.

-Viva Northumberland and up with the wy-kings!

-Definitely. Skol!

And more from Floyd next time.

We're not cooking in this studio today, so instead we're looking

back at some of the great cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Still to come on today's Best Bites,

we get our Christmas hats out for the omelette challenge.

As well as looking a bit ridiculous, the Hairy Bikers

Si and Dave try to better their omelette challenge time.

But has it all gone to their heads? Find out a little while later.

The wonderful Nick Nairn bakes a potato with a difference.

He tops the potato with a rich thermidor-style lobster topping and

make it little bit healthier with a tomato kachumber salad.

And Downton Abbey actor Brendan Coyle faced his Food Heaven

or Food Hell.

Would he get his Food Heaven, prawns with my delicious turmeric-spiced

prawns, with sauteed rice,

or would he get his dreaded Food Hell, meringue?

He might end up with a huge portion of a coffee chestnut

chocolate meringue cake.

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

If you're looking for a one-pot wonder for the family

this Christmas, look no further

because Ben O'Donoghue has the perfect recipe for mutton.

Take a look at this.

Right, moving on, what are we doing?

Mutton shanks made into a wonderful aromatic curry.

You cannot beat good mutton. There's no substitute for it.

That old saying "mutton dressed up as lamb",

I've got to firstly cook the mutton, which is going to take

an hour and a half. To do that, place the mutton in a pot of water like so.

Then season. Then, if you could just quickly chop that up. That's ginger.

I've got some turmeric, which goes straight into the water.

And I've got some garlic.

Now, mutton, it used to be quite fashionable some years ago.

But people don't tend to eat it as much as they used to.

It's a shame, James. I mean, I think the biggest factor that influences

that is the fact that economically, it is more expensive to produce.

Lamb takes 12 months to reach maturity, no more, no less,

obviously it does.

But mutton takes up to two years. It needs to have two incisors,

and it can either be...

-a ewe or...

-A ewe?

-A female sheep. Or a wether.

-Do you know what a wether is?

-No. I'm sure you'll tell me.

It's a sheep, a male sheep that doesn't know "wether" it's a man

or a woman because it's had its testicles removed. James, I have...

-That's why you couldn't get it in Britain.

-Exactly.

James, I need you to take these five chillies,

take the tops off, chop them up, put them in

this here, leave the seeds in with the coriander,

the cumin, the black pepper, the black poppy seeds and the coconut.

You are going to make a paste, OK?

Now, what I'm going to do is here I've got a couple of onions.

I'm going to quickly slice these up.

And then I'm going to start with the flavour base.

This is a really beautiful aromatic curry.

Mutton cooked like this is great

because you cook it separately to the actual curry sauce, so you

still maintain the distinct flavour of the curry and the actual meat.

-But mutton's got so much more flavour than lamb.

-Yes.

I often think that mutton can be quite tough

so it needs this method of cooking, long method of cooking,

to sort of tenderise the meat as well.

I think definitely with shanks, but in Australia

a lot of the cockies, the farmers, for a Sunday roast

they'll have a roast leg of mutton and it's beautifully tender.

You cook to a medium-well stage, you can't really eat it that rare.

It would be Australian, that, wouldn't it, really?

I'll just ignore that. This pan is so hot, what I need to do is...

-So hot? You mean too hot!

-So hot.

But that's fine because what we want to do is cook our cinnamon.

-And cloves and cardamom pods.

-Do you want me to turn that down a bit?

I've turned it down.

I like to get all the pans hot before we cook

so it happens quickly.

-We cook that until you get the aromas.

-I'm getting the aroma.

It's like one of his wood fires!

I'm feeling quite at home!

He's feeling at home!

OK, right, then we add our onions.

-We cook this down until the onions are soft.

-Yep.

-OK? Not coloured, just soft.

-Not coloured?

-Just soft. Nice and soft.

The Indians use onions a lot in most of their curries,

just like with the Italian food, it's the flavour base.

-Bay leaves. OK? We have got...

-Not that strong stuff.

I should have added my tomato, add my tomato...

That goes in. Cook that down for about five, ten minutes, OK?

-Then we add our green chillies.

-What's next?

-Next?

-Green chillies.

You got a curry paste there? They go in.

Cumin and coriander ground. That goes in.

-Now, you finished that spice mixture?

-I'm there.

This gets cooked for about five, ten minutes again on a nice,

slow heat, so it's nice and soft.

Oh, smell that? At which stage...

Mmm. Smells like onions and tomatoes.

You can smell the cinnamon, the cloves, the bay leaf.

-Starting to cry?

-Sorry. There's 17 chillies that have gone in there.

It's the great thing about having glasses, I'm protected.

Since I've had glasses, I used to think you were quite a handsome man,

James, but...

LAUGHTER

I'll tell you what... Oh, you are gorgeous now.

OK, so now we've got our curry paste in there.

So we've let those flavours develop.

Now, what we do is take our mutton shanks.

OK, and we place those in. These are wonderfully soft.

You could shorten the cooking time by using a pressure cooker.

If you haven't got a pressure cooker, and they are becoming trendy

nowadays, a big sort of Renaissance of pressure cookers.

My nan used to cook with a pressure cooker.

OK, so we've got our shanks.

They reduce the temperature down, literally,

it increases the temperature, cooked under steam and pressure,

-but it can reduce the cooking time down by...?

-Over a half.

It would take 20 minutes probably to 30 minutes to cook those lamb shanks.

We just add all of our juice back again, OK? Like so.

Make sure that that's all sort of...

melted through, pushed through.

Now we cook that for about 20 minutes.

I'm going to take it off because I need more space.

Pull this pan to the fore. We've got some lamb shank there.

I'm going to quickly do some rice, lemon rice. To do the rice,

we need to temper, use a tempering agent, which is basically a flavour.

We've got some turmeric, some ground ginger and asafoetida. OK.

What else have we got in here then?

We have got some rice, lemon, cashew nuts, mustard seeds

and chana dal and curry leaves and coriander.

-I'll take these.

-Where can people get this stuff from?