27/03/2016 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Get ready for a show brimming with fantastic food ideas and inspiration.

You won't want to miss it. This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show. Stay right where you are because there's lots of fabulous chefs,

a whole heap of tasty food and a large helping of celebrity guests.

Coming up on today's show, Nigel Haworth treats us

to an Easter spiced pork loin served with black pudding sauce.

Renowned chocolatier William Curley shows us how

to get creative in the kitchen with an ingredient we all love.

He creates an indulgent chocolate cadeau that he builds up with tasty

layers of creme brulee, chocolate cake and an orange compote.

Aktar Islam serves a celebratory dish of tandoor style lamb cutlets.

The lamb is marinated in two stages

and he serves it with a green chutney and a colourful salad.

And Jimmy Doherty faces his food heaven or food hell.

Would he get his food heaven - a whisky and mustard

crusted pork chop with sauteed potatoes?

Or would he get his dreaded food hell - a marzipan and raspberry tart with Chantilly cream?

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

But first on today's menu is a very vibrant and tasty

broccoli soup and Mark Sargeant is here to show us how it's done.

I'm not going to mention the omelette till later.

-Surprised you had me back.

-It was a disaster last time.

-At least I can redeem myself.

-He spotted it. What are we cooking?

Like Al mentioned earlier, if you buy decent ingredients,

simplicity is the best thing.

We're doing a nice broccoli soup which is going to be broccoli cooked in water,

water put back into the broccoli to puree,

no stock or anything like that,

with a nice poached duck egg, which maybe not many people use

-but they're fantastic cos of the rich yolk.

-Lovely. Really good.

Finished with a nice goat's cheese cream and some toasted almonds.

-OK.

-So we'll start making that. If you can toast those almonds.

Toast those almonds. I'll get them on the tray. So what are we doing?

Just cutting the broccoli into nice rough florets.

On top of this you're going to be doing a Parmesan biscuit.

Parmesan crisp, which I'll show you how to do in a non-stick pan.

So we just cut up the broccoli very roughly.

You know, we want it to be quickly cooked, so...

-You take most of the stalks off.

-You can save...

Obviously, trim it down and use it for stir-fries, etc, etc.

While I'm doing this, James, you can make me up

a little goat's cheese cream.

Take some of that lovely soft goat's cheese. You can use anything soft.

Quite tart but it's important that it's rindless.

-Otherwise you're just going to scrape it out.

-English?

Well, obviously, British is best. Sorry, Raymond, but, you know.

-THEY LAUGH

-It's true.

-This one's Slipcote, isn't it? This one?

-That's right. Yeah.

-Slipcote. Anything without a rind that's soft.

-Nice and creamy. You know, slightly tart.

You don't want it too acidic cos it's going to ruin the flavour.

-Touch of cream to loosen it?

-And once it's broken down, into a bowl

-and let it down with a bit more cream.

-OK. No problem.

-OK, the eggs.

Now, you can put salt, water, whatever you feel, into the pan.

But if you haven't got fresh eggs you're never going to get

a decent poached egg. So it's really important you have a fresh egg.

One thing that really infuriates me, when people buy a fridge at home...

I know it sounds daft but they buy it and it's always got one of these egg holders on.

-I never keep eggs in the fridge.

-No.

-I don't know about you, Raymond.

-Never keep eggs in the fridge.

-No. Good idea.

Normally they buy these egg holders which comes with the fridge

right next to the cheese tray or whatever it is.

But their shells are porous, aren't they?

-So they'll soak in the flavour from the cheese.

-Flavour from the fridge.

Anything that's smelly. Exactly. Keep them out. These look fresh.

Make sure your water's boiling.

On a rolling boil because people put them in and they're a bit scared

but that brings the whites up

-and sets it around the egg.

-Have you got salt and vinegar?

-Yeah.

And you're putting your egg in a cup.

In a cup, so you can put it to the water and drop it in there gently.

I'll just do two.

I'm sure you've heard this before, a little tip about the eggs -

you can poach these a couple of hours or a day before.

Take them out, drop them into iced water and then take them out,

trim them so they've got a nice shape,

put them in the fridge on tissue paper, then the next day

when you need them, drop them into a little bit of water, heat them up and they're done.

So you haven't got that nightmare of cooking an egg...

And you literally reheat those for, what? 10 or 15 seconds?

Just to make sure it goes through.

Don't forget, duck eggs are much more dense than chicken eggs

so the whites are much thicker, the yolks are larger.

You need to heat them a bit longer than you would do a chicken egg.

-Cook it a little bit longer.

-Exactly.

Now we're going to do the little Parmesan crisp to go on top.

-You want...

-A nice sort of coating so we can spoon it over the egg.

About half a gallon of double cream going in here, mate.

Too much cheese, James.

-Season it up with a bit of salt and touch of black pepper.

-OK.

Now, this crisp that you're doing here,

normally it would be done in the oven? Or just do it in the pan?

Obviously I'm just doing one portion here.

If you've got six or eight to do, put them on a nice non-stick baking tray, put them into the oven,

let them melt down and then take them out.

It's a lot easier but I thought I'd stitch myself up this morning.

Just so Al can take the mickey of me.

So basically you just want a nice hot pan to start with,

sprinkle your cheese on. Roughly in the same area.

So no oil, no butter.

-Nothing. Just a non-stick pan.

-Just a good non-stick pan. He hopes.

OK. Sorry. Little bit of black pepper in there.

Do you think the common mistake is with soups that people always just

think soup is any old bits that's just left over, boiled up?

And it can be a great soup if you do a leftover roast dinner soup,

for instance, but this is just nice because, you know,

we're all post Christmas, we're all a bit fat... Well...and, erm...

-What are you talking about?

-It's nice, fresh, cheap.

Some of us are over five foot, though, aren't we?

Yeah. All right. Frodo Baggins again.

-It's Gollum, actually.

-It's nice and tender. That's the key here.

You need to overcook it slightly.

Not how you have it as an actual vegetable.

So that needs about another minute in there.

Our Parmesan crisp is just melting down there.

Just colour that, then cool it down a bit.

A little bit of colour cos if you get it too dark it's bitter and that'll ruin the whole thing.

Eggs.

Again, these probably take about two minutes.

They should have a nice bounce. They're about a minute away.

-Al, is this something you might attempt?

-Definitely. Yeah.

Now I know I need to keep my eggs out the fridge,

poach them the day before...

God, it's so much to remember this time in the morning.

-Just stick to the fish pie. Much easier.

-OK. What's next?

We've got the goat's cheese cream. Nice consistency there.

-Drain the soup off now.

-And it's important to keep that liquid.

Don't just drain it down the sink.

I did this in a demonstration once with my chef and drained it

down the sink and he said, "And now we get the water..."

-And it's gone.

-Yeah. It's like my omelette. I didn't live it down.

-We'll pop that into there.

-But no need for chicken stock. Nothing.

Cos the flavour of broccoli is fantastic.

It's got that iron-y flavour

and you want to reserve all that flavour in here now.

-What we'll do is give that a buzz first.

-OK.

-Give that a buzz without any liquid in it.

-Cover that up. Thank you.

-Switch that on. Notice how he gets me to do this bit.

-I know.

MACHINE WHIRS

-Need to put a little bit of liquid in it.

-Touch of water.

-Just a touch.

-OK. Get it going.

-And I'll do that while you do the eggs.

-I'll get the eggs out. All right.

-Just gently blitz this up.

MACHINE WHIRS

-Happening, slowly.

-OK. Bit more water in there.

-Bit more liquid.

-Yeah.

-Just a touch. There you go.

-Cheers.

-Thank you.

MACHINE WHIRS

-That's better.

-And again, you're looking for a really nice puree.

-More of a puree than a soup.

-It's definitely not soup, mate.

-There you go.

-Need a touch more water in there.

-Again.

-It's quite thick, innit, really?

-Let me see. Yeah, touch more water.

Just a little tiny bit, just to loosen it up.

The secret with this is to add the liquid slowly, rather than too much.

Absolutely, or like I did earlier, we'll end up with a, you know...

Far too wet.

The secret here as well - if you look for the brightest green, darkest green broccoli you can find

because it will add to the colour of the finished product.

-That's fine. There we go.

-Do you want to season that or something.

-I'll taste it.

-OK.

-Happy?

-Yep.

-Good with that?

-Yep.

-OK.

-We'll season up the egg.

-So it's just the salt in that water that's the seasoning.

-Yeah.

But you need it slightly salty, the water.

A bit more salty than you would normally. Broccoli puree in.

-Lovely.

-Nice poached egg in the middle.

-Oh! The almonds!

-See?

-I knew that would happen.

-Do you want them brown or what?

-THEY GROAN

-The one thing!

-James again, huh?

-What did I say?

We should start with the almonds

-toasting.

-You can have one.

-There you go.

-OK. Great.

Like Gordon says, when they're brown, they're cooked, when they're black, they're...

I've got... There you go.

There's two there.

I just find, almonds,

if you toast them nicely, it just adds another texture and colour.

Yeah. There's me trying not to make my Parmesan crisp too dark.

Chef, what's this? You've got an egg on the floor as well now.

-There you go.

-Thanks for bringing that to everyone's attention.

Cameras can't see that behind there. Could have just styled that out.

OK. Then we'll just break this up into nice pieces.

-A little bit of crunch on it.

-Exactly.

-Lovely.

And flavour as well. Like we don't put things on just for no reason.

Just want a nice... That.

And then drizzle the olive oil around.

Remind us what that is again.

It's just a broccoli puree cooked just plainly in water, poached

duck egg, burnt almonds, goat's cheese cream and Parmesan crisps.

-Lovely.

-Just don't step back, chef.

-Thank you very much.

-You're good at this live cooking.

-Well, no.

-There's room for improvement, isn't there?

-Follow me. Follow me.

-Mind that egg!

-Here we go. Right, dive into that.

-That looks fantastic.

-Get rid of the almonds.

-Cheers.

-The only bit I get to do and I burn it.

-The goat's cheese cream is nice.

Whoa, that's... Yep. That's fantastic.

I'll give you that £50 later.

And apologies again for the burnt almonds, Mark.

Coming up, I cook risotto for actress Sue Johnston.

That's after we head to Lancashire with Mr Rick Stein.

He's starting off in Morecambe Bay today, searching for one

of Britain's smallest seafoods - the brilliant brown shrimp.

I really like this statue of Eric Morecambe.

It makes everyone who sees it smile but also, at night,

when blue lights shine on it,

it becomes a very useful navigational aid for the local

fishermen, like Ray Edmondson,

who is one of the last two shrimpers on Morecambe Bay.

God. Just look at all these crabs!

-Could make great soup with these crabs.

-What? These?

-Yeah.

-Inshore crabs?

-Yeah.

-We just shovel them back.

-I bet you do.

I've seen them piled up in Barcelona fish market. Big piles of them.

-And they must have used them for soup there.

-Yeah.

-And there's me shovelling them away!

-I know.

They've got to be boiled while they're alive

because if they aren't, when you come to peel them, they won't peel.

-They're soft.

-Yeah.

-These are brown shrimps.

They've got a more concentrated flavour than the pink ones.

Perfect for potted shrimps.

I went into the local supermarket to ask for some and they said, "We don't sell them."

Here's a case of ignoring something that's more famous than the town itself!

Nearly as famous as Eric!

I reckon any cook worth his salt should be able to taste

something like this in its natural state, just freshly cooked.

You know, shrimps straight out of the bay at Morecambe or potatoes,

new potatoes straight out of your garden into boiling salted water.

Just as a sort of touchstone for how things should taste, you know.

Cos sometimes you taste these shrimps, they've been long frozen

and they're dried out and over salty and you think, "What's that about?"

-Yeah.

-But if you can come out here and, you know,

just taste this like it is, like it should be,

it's just so evocative of where you are, somehow.

If you come to Morecambe it's worth going to Ray's little shop

where he sells his own potted shrimps.

He and his wife Pat and son Paul pick out the freshly caught shrimps,

then they mix them with butter, cayenne, white pepper,

ground nutmeg and salt.

Then they stir in the freshly peeled shrimps.

They've got to be good.

They were only caught at 11 o'clock this morning.

They're given a good old coating in all this mixture,

based on the original Poulton recipe.

Poulton was the old name for Morecambe.

It was used more as a preservative than for the taste but the flavour

became so popular that people came from miles around to buy them.

And that's it, really. Caught, picked, potted. All in a day.

-And all say "fish".

-ALL: Fish!

Across the other side of Morecambe Bay is the little

village of Flookburgh.

The word flook is another word for flounder

and I went flounder fishing with Michael Wilson.

I'd never been fishing in a tractor before.

I felt like I was on a camel in a desert out of Laurence of Arabia.

There were miles on miles of sand.

The fishermen put out their nets the previous night at low water

and waited till the tide came in and as it ebbed

it revealed the extent of the day's catch.

There's a remarkable sense of space out here.

Made sharper by the fact it's borrowed from the sea.

It can be very dangerous. The incoming tide can outrace you.

I hope the ancient tractors are going to start.

Chalky, come here.

In the nets there were lots of flounders - beautiful prime fish.

The reason flounders are so prolific here is because they feed

off little shells called "henpens" and also little cockles.

I was hoping that local Flookburgh flounder would be on the menu

back at the hotel, but it wasn't.

Only a strange fish called a queen fish from the Indian Ocean.

How much are you getting for these flounders, then? These flooks?

-All we get is 80p a pound for them.

-Why so little?

-I don't know really.

People just want plaice. They've never had flooks.

No-one bothers with flooks really. We can't catch plaice, not here.

I mean, what do you think about the British attitude to fish,

that they won't eat flounder? They'll only eat plaice?

We're just a nation brought up on cod and chips now, aren't we?

I mean, they won't try any other sort of fish

except for cod or haddock.

That's all.

It's such... Like, to me, there's no difference in that to a plaice.

That looks the same as a plaice to me,

except it hasn't got them little spots on it.

People won't eat it cos of that!

-Chalky!

-Michael's absolutely right about the flook or flounder.

The ones from round here are sensational.

I mean, they're firm and sweet.

The best way I know to cook flounder is deep-fried flounder

with costelloise sauce.

It's quite unusual, like hollandaise,

only made with olive oil instead,

which makes it very light.

So first of all you put some olive oil in a small pan

and bring it up gently to about blood heat.

Then you break a couple of egg yolks into a bowl and add the juice

of about half a lemon

and about one and a half fluid ounces of water or so.

Whisk that together very, very thoroughly.

Now, you've got a pan boiling on the heat so you put the eggs over

the steaming saucepan and whisk very briskly

to build up your sabayon.

That'll take a couple of minutes and you've got to have a strong wrist

to do it but it's very important

because it makes the final sauce so light and voluminous.

Now you pull the pan off the stove and start to add the olive oil.

A little bit at a time to start with, just beating it all the time.

Then you can add more and more and more

and you build up this magnificently light and fluffy sauce.

Whisking all the time. There, it's done. Now to flavour it.

First of all some salt and then cayenne pepper.

And I like quite a lot of cayenne pepper in this sauce.

I want it to have a good heat.

And finally, the thing that makes all the difference - some

fresh basil leaves, just torn up in your fingers at the last minute,

dropped into the sauce and stirred in.

That's done. And now the flounder.

You give them a very light seasoning with salt. Not too much.

Now into some flour.

Drop both sides into the flour

and then tap the fillets to get all the excess flour off.

You whisk up a couple of eggs in a bowl.

Drop the fillets into the bowl, turn them over

till they're nicely coated and straight into the breadcrumbs.

First one side, then the other. And now for the deep frying.

Your fryer should be set to about 170 degrees centigrade.

In go the fillets.

Lay them in gently. Don't be too hasty when hot oil's around.

Three at a time. Fry for about a minute to a minute and a half.

Lift them out and look how wonderfully brown

and golden those beautiful fillets of flounder now are.

Turn them out onto kitchen paper to drain off the excess fat

and now to serve the dish.

Make a nice little pile of fillets on the plate, a great big dollop

of costelloise sauce and finish with just a little sprig of basil.

I guarantee you won't get a better dish for flounder than that.

Brilliant stuff from Rick,

and he was using two great British ingredients in that film.

Flounder is delicious but still quite tricky to get hold of.

However, you can get brown shrimp from a fishmonger or supermarket now

and I'm going to show you a great way to use them with some broad

beans in a risotto because it's one of your favourite dishes, I believe.

It is but I once had a risotto in Italy in...

Now I can't remember the name of the place. That's an age moment.

-THEY LAUGH

-Assisi.

And I've never, ever tasted one as good as that since.

-HE COUGHS

-So no pressure, James.

-No pressure.

Well, to be honest, the Italians wouldn't normally put cheese

and fish together.

They wouldn't normally put shrimps

and stuff like that in a risotto

but I think it does really work with this.

I thought I'd do a shrimp and broad bean risotto.

-Keep things nice and simple.

-I love broad beans.

I was reading about you and it's 20 years working in theatres

and bits and pieces. Quite a tough upbringing

-and going through the ranks before you really became known.

-Yeah.

-Oh, yeah.

-You got your big break.

Weekly rep, I started in, which was like the coalface of theatre.

A bit of a shock to the system actually.

And then drama school and then, yep, rep, community theatre...

But it must have been quite good learning because you had to do every single role.

It was a great basis to learn

and, sadly, it's not a way that people really do it any more.

They tend to take the quick way. Instant success.

Get into a soap or be film stars.

And 20 years of that ended up with a small part in Coronation Street?

Corrie. Yes. I did three episodes in Coronation Street. My first telly.

And while I was doing that, I got an audition for a new soap.

Didn't know anything about it.

-They just said it was going to be a new soap like Coronation Street but different.

-Yeah.

And I went for that and that's where I met Ricky Tomlinson in the final auditions.

-We were grouped together.

-That was in 1982 and went on to be Brookside.

Just run you through this risotto, so if you do want to do it we've got

shallot or a little bit of onion, some garlic in there,

a bit of white wine, in goes the arborio rice.

Use arborio or carnaroli rice. I use chicken stock for this,

although it's a fish risotto we do use chicken stock.

Cook that for 12 to 15 minutes.

Cool it down and then you can end up with this.

The only reason I've cooled it down is that it won't cook all

the way through in real time in six to eight minutes but I'm just

going to decant a little bit of this stuff off. This is the risotto.

After about 12 to 15 minutes, you end up with this.

That's the kind of stuff. The important thing with risotto is the rice but above all,

I think, the stock you have to cook it in.

So you want really good quality stock.

I'm going to do broad beans with this.

What we do is get a kettle full of water,

pour it over your frozen broad beans like that.

And then they'll almost cool straightaway.

And we just de-pod these. Take them out their pods.

They're so pretty and green.

If you've got kids, this is a good way to give them their pocket money.

-50p for a bowlful.

-I think that's a bit generous, James. 10p.

Sorry, bitter Scot. There you go. The idea is we just de-pod these.

That's the idea with this one. The brown shrimps I've got there,

the French call these crevettes grises, which Rick talked about.

They're absolutely amazing. You can actually eat them raw like that.

-You just literally pick all of the...

-I've never seen that.

-Sorry, they're cooked, by the way. Not raw.

-But you can.

You can actually eat the whole lot. That's what they do in France.

Absolutely delicious. Crevettes grises.

We've got our stock here and I'm going to keep adding it to here.

But of course, it was Ricky Tomlinson that you kind of

followed from Brookside and then, of course, into The Royle Family.

-Yes. Married to him twice.

-Married to him twice.

-Did you realise when you were doing that it was going to be such a massive show?

-No.

Well, I remember Ricky saying this is either going to be a big hit

or it's going out at 12 o'clock. No man's land.

But, erm, it was very hard to read it.

They sent... Caroline met Ricky at an awards ceremony once and said,

"I've written a script for you and Sue Johnston.

"You're going to be my mum and dad."

-And this is at her height of fame as Mrs Merton.

-Yeah.

And...but we never heard anything for months and months

and months and then suddenly these scripts plopped

through our doors and he rang me up and said, "What do you think?"

And they were so thin and there wasn't much in it

and most of it was just great big long gaps where you'd take

a Polo mint and sit there for 20 minutes watching the telly.

And we had a read through and it was very...

It was weird because it was very different

because there was no studio audience and she didn't want canned laughter.

She didn't want us to leave the sofa.

And of course the producers were going,

"You can't just have them sitting watching the telly.

"Nobody will find it funny."

But she fought them for it and that's what she got

-and that's what made it so special.

-But comedy...

Another thing that was written for you as well was...

Jennifer Saunders wrote something. Jam & Jerusalem.

Yeah. Which is fantastic. Yeah. Very flattering.

Apart from comedy you've got Waking The Dead, of course...

-Very funny!

-I said apart from comedy!

But apart from that, you've started to do your new series.

We start filming it the week after next. Yeah. The ninth series.

And in conjunction with that, it's just about to come on screen,

this new thing. Tell us about that. This drama.

It's called A Passionate Woman.

It's written by Kay Mellor and it's a two-part drama

so it starts from my story.

-I'm Betty.

-Yeah.

And it's based on a story of Kay Mellor's mother.

She did write it as a stage play.

It was in the West End with Stephanie Cole.

And it's her mother's story.

And she thought she would never, ever put it on screen

-until her mum died, bless her.

-Yeah.

And she died a couple of years ago so she's adapted it for screen.

-So it's a screen and it's being made into a film.

-Right.

And it's her mum's story.

-It starts in the '80s with Betty.

-Yeah.

Takes us back to the '50s and becomes Billie Piper.

-I become Billie Piper.

-You become Billie Piper. There you go.

But I've got brown hair, long brown hair.

Very grey brown hair and brown eye contact lenses

and Billie's got brown hair and, of course, brown eyes.

And I think Betty must have broken her nose round about the '70s

-because, of course, our noses are totally different.

-This is on when?

Coming out in a couple of weeks?

The first Sunday is on the 11th and then the '80s is on the 18th.

-And it's a wonderful story and it's beautifully done.

-Fabulous.

-I'll look forward to seeing it.

-I think you'll enjoy it.

I hope people will watch.

This is the risotto.

My little top tip for risotto is a little bit of mascarpone cheese.

It just slackens it down a bit. We've got broad beans in there.

-You put that in why? Mascarpone?

-It just softens it.

Often when you go to a lot of restaurants, I'm sure Nick will

agree, when you go there and it can be quite solid.

Fills me with dread

when you see risotto that's been put into some kind of mould.

Risotto should fall back under its own weight.

The idea is when you put the risotto on the plate,

although in a little mound like that, which it should be,

when you knock the plate it should flatten.

And then I've got some pea shoots here. This is really trendy, Sue.

-Look at this. They actually grow these in tissue paper.

-Really?

You can grow these in your garden or a windowsill.

Do you know the thing about these things, though, James?

They're just like cress. It's just seeds that have sprouted.

But cress is 20p a punnet and that stuff's about two quid!

-Somebody's making a lot of money out of that.

-He is a Scotsman, isn't he?

You can tell he's a Scot. Exactly.

You've got your nice little simple risotto.

A shrimp and green bean risotto with pea shoots. Little bit of lemon.

-Tell us what you think of that.

-Mm-mm.

-Little bit of chervil went in at the end, by the way.

-Did it?

And obviously some Parmesan cheese.

Tell us what you think of that one?

-Mm. That's heaven.

-Is it?

Not quite as good as the Italians make it but not far off.

-I think it's better.

-Come on! Get in!

THEY LAUGH

Now there's a compliment if ever I had one! Glad you enjoyed it, Sue.

If you'd like to try cooking any of the fabulous food you've seen

on today's programme they're just a click away at bbc.co.uk/recipes.

We're taking a look back at some of the most delicious dishes

in the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Next up is a chef whose passion for quality ingredients is always

reflected in the fantastic and flavourful dishes he creates.

Over to you, Mr Nigel Haworth.

And on the menu with you we've got pork.

What are we going to do with it, chef?

We're going to spice the pork up, we're going to cure it.

A three-day cure, OK. So get the old pestle and mortar over here.

You're going to serve it with cabbage and black pudding

-and all manner of stuff.

-Cabbage, black pudding and parsnip.

And we're going to pressure cook it,

cos my mum used to do a lot of pressure cooking.

A lot of pressure cooking when I was a lad. So we've got our orange.

Spices in there, we've got allspice, cinnamon, juniper berries

and star anise. So zest the orange in there.

-Christmassy spices in there.

-It is. But I've sort of said Easter.

-Easter's coming up.

-Easter sort of spices, then.

Easter sort of spices, yeah. Give them a real good old bashing.

-Spicy pork's traditional up in Lancashire at Easter time.

-Sorry?

Spicy pork's traditional up in Lancashire at Easter time.

It is now!

You're celebrating up there, what? 30 years of Northcote?

30 years in 2015 so we've got lots going on for that.

-18 years with a Michelin star?

-Yeah. 18 years. 30 years.

But it's been, you know, different phases, you know.

Where does time go? Cooking is always moving, isn't it?

It's always changing so it's never boring. That's one thing for sure.

Tell us about this cabbage. I know you're going to do the spices.

The January king cabbage is grown for me by a guy called

Peter Ashcroft in Tarleton who is one of the best growers in the UK.

He grows a lot of cauliflower for us

and it's just got so much succulence and sweetness.

More than the modern varieties.

Right. I'm putting it in the wrong place now.

This is supposed to be an easy dish as well.

This is one you can do at home.

Pop that into there, into your pressure cooker.

And then pop your chicken stock in.

There's about half a litre of chicken stock there.

And I'm just going to cook the parsnip.

We're going to salt this cabbage as well.

-Just a bit of Maldon salt or Cornish salt.

-Yeah.

Salt it for about three hours.

-And then wash it off.

-Leave it and we've got one on there. Yeah.

And that's that. Pop that there. I'll get rid of this monster.

This is quite a good St Patrick's Day dish, Nigel.

Cos you've got your pork and your cabbage.

Well, you know, I was trying to...

-Paul, I was trying to make you feel included.

-Yeah. Good man.

You see, they're not as bad as they say, these Lancashire people, James.

Ah. Right. THEY LAUGH

-Let me do the jokes, eh?

-Right. So in we go with the bacon.

It's a dish for all occasions.

It is a really good... As James said, a really good Christmas dish.

But it is fantastic, really fantastic at any celebration.

Are all your mates at home saying, "Get into that James Martin,

"that Yorkshire fella! Go on, Nige. Get into him, man."

-I've chopped him some herbs already.

-Have you chopped them already?

-Right. And asparagus.

-There's no rivalry there, Paul.

-Don't be thinking there is.

-Yorkshire and Lancashire?

-No.

-There's no rivalry.

-THEY LAUGH

-Go on, son! Go on!

-Go on, son! Give him one!

-Nah, there isn't.

-Asparagus.

-What do you mean, there isn't? It's a very...

It's such a traditional rivalry.

They're all traditional, aren't they? These rivalries?

Now, tell us about this asparagus. Where are you getting this from?

-First of the new season.

-Wye Valley, Herefordshire.

It's not Lancashire, if that's what you're thinking.

Whoa! It's far too early for a bit of Lancashire. I hope nobody's...

-You didn't see that, did you?

-No, no. Didn't see it at all.

I've got my eye on James there. Why are you doing that, James?

-Is that...

-It's cheffy.

-He's got a Michelin star and I'm just...

Do you not leave the skin on the asparagus, then?

Cos sometimes you go in restaurants and you just eat it as it comes.

Actually, modern day asparagus isn't as woody as it used to be

so, you know, you don't have to take loads.

I'm just doing the bottom bits.

-Just for a bit of presentation rather than anything else.

-I see.

Anyway, the sauce has just had a bit of a boiling scenario.

You can use the bottom of the asparagus

and the peelings as the base to a lovely soup, though,

cos there's lots and lots of nutrition in there.

And you can make soup from it, or purees.

Right, I'm just getting the parsnip here and,

with a fork, just breaking it down. And I'm going to add...

It will be nicely seasoned cos it's got all the flavour of the pork

cos it's cooked with the pork for the 25 minutes that it's in.

-Where did you get this recipe from, Nigel?

-I made it up.

It's not like a...because of the black pudding it's not like a sort

-of Lancashire dish.

-There's a tradition...

a real tradition of curing, isn't there, in the UK?

So, you know, it is there as a thing that we do.

But it's just adding that seasonal spice, I think, you know, is great.

And it makes sometimes what you can say is a boring old piece of pork, it makes it a bit more interesting.

Because I'm now going to caramelise it. I've got some icing sugar now.

And I'm not good with fire but we'll have a go.

-And then we're going to blowtorch.

-Go on, son.

Go on, Nige. I thought that was the lump of black pudding.

One of the things you've got to watch out

when you're using a blowtorch is that you don't just point

it down too much, so you aim it almost horizontally a bit more.

Sometimes when you point it down it exhausts the oxygen

and then it goes out and blows out.

Make sure you point it away from you.

This gives it a smokier caramel flavour. And they, you know...

I've got to say that, you know, lots of kitchens are using

blowtorches now to get that flavour before and after cooking.

-Right. There's your sauce reducing down.

-We'll turn that off.

That's a really cool looking one, that blowtorch.

It looks like it's done a bit of service, that one.

-It's a bit Darth Vader.

-I actually thought it was the black pudding.

-Probably Irish.

-There's your black pudding. Where's that going?

That's going into the sauce. I'll just take the skin off.

How'd you get the black pudding, Nigel? Is that...

Well, the traditions in Lancashire, obviously, for Bury black pudding.

Hang on a minute, James.

Or... Gosh. They go back centuries and centuries.

The traditional black pudding in Bury is quite a fatty black pudding.

I've always used black pudding that's quite fatty.

-Thank you, James.

-They came over to Ireland and got the recipe...

-Yeah, yeah.

-Is that where it comes from? Right.

But you can also get white pudding, can't you?

You can get white pudding, yeah, where you omit the blood

and you use onions and groats and herbs.

Actually, white pudding is quite a nice thing.

-That's like a vegetarian version, then.

-Yeah.

-No, it's got pork in it.

-Oh, has it?

-How's the cabbage?

-Cabbage is done. There.

-Thank you very much.

-The rind's probably about another minute off.

Tell us what you've done with the rind. We're going to crisp that up.

We've dehydrated the rind cos, of course,

we've taken the rind off the pork to pressure cook it and

we want to have some texture to the dish so we've dehydrated

the rind for five days and then we're going to deep-fry it.

It's a wonderful thing. It's what you call pork quaver.

Do you just put it in the airing cupboard?

Yeah, dehydrators run at, like, sort of 50 degrees.

-Oh, you put it in a dehydrator. Have you not got a dehydrator?

-Oh, yeah.

I've got a dehydrator. I use it every day. I do, yeah.

I stand in it for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.

Right. We're ready to plate it.

Bradley, I'll get you a dehydrator. Don't worry.

I'll hold you to that. You've said it on national television.

-Can I have one as well, Nige?

-Can I have a blue one?

I imagine you're pretty busy at Northcote.

Been building a new cook school and everything.

We've got a new cookery school, we've got new kitchens.

The restaurant is reopening May 3rd but we're using the private

rooms while that's being refurbished

so we've had lots going on now for the last sort of 12 months.

And of course we're opening a new pub in Cheshire.

-We're going to Cheshire, Paul.

-That's a bit posh for you.

Posh part of the world.

Which is a little place called Haughton near Tarporley in Cheshire.

Pub called the Nag's Head. There you go.

Have you had the same restaurant all that time, though?

-Has it been the same building?

-Northcote. Yeah. We've put...

-Basically we've sort of decided...

-If you don't hurry up it'll be open.

THEY LAUGH

No more questions, please.

OK, so that's the pickled spicy cabbage. He's going to put the...

We've got the two pieces of pork going on there

and then the asparagus. There's one upside down there.

Asparagus going on there. Like so. And the sauce.

And this is a... Brad, this is a real homely dish.

I've done this cos every time I do Saturday Kitchen they say,

-"Don't be too complicated."

-This one only takes three days!

-I've gone really homely!

-THEY LAUGH

I'll just put one. And that's your pork quaver.

You've got to try those. They're stunning. OK.

And that's your rare breed pork, black pudding sauce,

January king cabbage and a bit of fresh new season asparagus.

All you need is three days and a dehydrator. Done.

It's not complicated at all but it tastes great, it does.

-Have a dive into this one. Taste this one, Bradley.

-I will. 100%.

Tell us what you think. There are your pork...

-Literally, break them.

-I like the...

I think they're important when you're eating the dish cos it

gives you that texture, that crispness.

-They're really lovely.

-Wow.

-You can season them. Salt and vinegar ones.

You could put those in bags and sell those.

You could do shamrock flavoured ones.

That pork was cooked to perfection, Nigel.

Next up we're back on the road with the late great Mr Keith Floyd

on another ones of his classic culinary tours.

He's taken a nostalgic trip back to his school

today before meeting up with one of his baker chums in Somerset.

Now, I don't paint myself with woad and sit around on hills like some

people I could mention but there's a powerful serenity about the place.

In fact Somerset, my boyhood stamping ground, has a timeless attraction to me

and as Brendon said, it typifies the mood of the county.

This ancient fashion of fishing with a sledge between the fierce

tides of the Severn goes back centuries.

Notice the elegant way I skip across this thick mud whilst poor

old Brendan struggles manfully with his sledge.

-All right?

-Of course I'm all right. If I ever get back...

-I'll have to put you on and push you.

-That would be the answer.

If I get back I'll cook you something nice to eat.

Take it down to there, Keith, if you like.

It's a bit difficult to get out of there, I expect.

-How does that work, then?

-Right here, look. I'll tip it out.

-Now, he went in there for a few shrimps.

-Yeah.

-Cos he was a greedy little monkey.

-Yeah. That's it.

He feels plump. Actually, I mean, this is so fresh it's unbelievable.

-I think I'll cook you this one when we get back.

-Yeah. Lovely.

If we get back. The tide is going to come whizzing in in a minute

and we've got about 15 minutes to get out of it. Oh, I see.

Do you know, that was one of the most strenuous bits of filming

I've ever done. It's OK for Brendan. He does it every day.

How many years have you been doing it?

-Oh, 45.

-45 years! Like a little fairy, he is.

Hops over the mud like a sandpiper or a little dipper or

-something like that.

-That's right.

-I find it really heavy going.

It does make you hungry, you know, this fresh air.

Of course, we could have gone to his little cottage

and done it all on a nice Creda oven and extractors

and things like that but we felt like a really good snack

and you couldn't have a fresher piece of cod than this.

You saw us pick it off the net, Brendan's filleted it.

So we'll just fry that in a bit of butter.

Brendan, what about that huge monstrosity over there,

-Hinckley Power Station?

-Well, yes.

We've got to live with that and, you know, it would be better if

it wasn't there but it's employment for several thousand people.

Has that taken away your living in any way?

There used to be more than just you fishing like this.

It hasn't improved the fishing but we still get by, just about.

That's the main thing.

And if you weren't... If you weren't this mud fisherman,

this mud skater, you know, what would you do?

Is there anything else? I know you've done this all your life

and your father before you but is there anything you ever wish?

-You know, "Oh, I wish!"

-No, I don't think there is really.

There's something about this fishing.

It sort of gets hold of you and it's the element of surprise

in what you're going to get on the next tide.

Like you said, if you won half a million.

We all wish that, everybody on the land wished that but I still

think I would like to go out there and see what was on the next tide.

Something about it. Maybe if you was working in a factory you'd

run from the back door and you'd never want to go there again but

with the fishing, it's just one of those things that gets hold of you.

In my Somerset jaunt I couldn't resist visiting the old alma mater, Wellington School.

The last time I came round here I was on a push-bike and they gave me 50 lines.

HYMN IS SUNG

Great showing off, isn't it? Of course,

you've got to be in the sixth form before you can drive on the grass.

But actually I'm a bit nervous because I'm going to meet a few old chums, my old masters.

They're probably about 104 now.

# Ye blessed souls at rest Who ran this earthly race

# And now from sin released Behold your Saviour's face... #

You know, you might think this is sort of self-indulgent.

You might it's nostalgic. You might think it's a bit wet but it's not true.

This is actually where, 30 years ago,

I developed my first real passionate interest in food.

After a hard day learning Latin, playing rugby and scoring tries,

the school dinner was what you really looked forward to.

But my God, times have changed!

I mean, we used to have a drum of baked beans or butterbeans,

a vat of stew and that was it, sunshine.

But now look. Look!

You can have baked gammon, roast chicken,

smoked mackerel, tuna fish, assorted cheeses, coleslaw,

potatoes, and melons.

You can have roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, chicken casserole,

seafood au gratin, cheese and broccoli quiche,

beefburger and rolls,

three vegetables, apple tart and stuff like that.

Wine is extra. Ha-ha!

But I tell you one thing, never mind the vegetarian stews,

never mind the quiches, there is one thing that hasn't changed,

yippee, is the steamed pudding with chocolate sauce.

Now that is a part of a real school dinner.

I'm going to have three bowls of this. So, it's not all bad.

'I felt quite tearful after that morning but I soon cheered up

'when I met my old baker chum Margaret, born in Frome.'

-So, how have you been? I haven't seen you for a year.

-Too long.

Too long, dear friend.

I've been very well, I've missed you. Have you been busy?

I've been absolutely frantic.

Well, you've become very, very popular.

-Of course, I'm not at all surprised.

-You are so smooth.

-Be careful with this. You'll fall in it.

-It's pretty.

-Isn't it lovely?

Never dries up. Very cold.

Ah. Yes, do you know, the extraordinary thing is,

my bakery used to be a fishmonger for about 180 years,

and the fishmonger would come out and wash the fish in the stream.

How nice. But this isn't a history lesson,

this is not "look at life",

it's a cookery programme, you silly old bat.

-So, have your flowers, because I love you. Right.

-Mwah.

-And take me to your hot, steaming kitchen.

-Oh, I can't wait.

That will, of course, fade on the bosom of a flirt. You realise that?

-What a cruel thing to say.

-SHE LAUGHS

Now, an old Somerset dish is cod's cheeks and tongues.

You know, we British are so wasteful -

all this wonderful, rich flesh usually gets fed to the cat.

But Margaret simply rolls them in fresh breadcrumbs

and fries them in butter for a few moments and they taste

as good as fresh scallops but cost a fraction of the price.

Don't go too far away, sweetheart. He's nice, isn't it?

-You shouldn't shout at him as much as he does.

-It's not...

Now, then, you can come here.

This is what he says, doesn't he? He says, "Down here, Richard!"

I've seen him on some of those programmes.

He's quite rude to you.

-Where are you, dear heart?

-I'm here, sweetness and light.

-Come along.

You're supposed to be helping me do this.

You're drinking all that cider behind my back.

Now, that is all going to fry gently away.

Yes. Actually, only for, please, about a minute and a half.

-Right.

-Turn them over. I mean, really hardly any at all.

They need very little.

OK. Tell me, what is this lovely green

-oinks-looking liquid in here?

-Oinks?

-Oinks.

There's a nice word.

That is gooseberry and tarragon sauce.

-Be careful, sweetheart, it's hot.

-Mm.

-Isn't it lovely?

-It's beautiful.

-And that goes with...

-And that is

a lovely piquant sauce that we serve with these.

And to go with it, because these are all very soft and gentle.

See, these really, honestly, it's marvellous,

the housewives should buy these.

They are so inexpensive.

Most of the fishmongers,

they don't have to buy the whole head.

Look at that lovely white flesh. Can you see that?

Isn't it making your mouth water? Isn't it lovely?

And they're almost done! I'm sorry, am I...?

No, I recognise when I'm in front of a real trooper, you know.

I'll take a backseat.

-Now, listen...

-I didn't mean to do this.

-She is going to do that,

we've actually got upstairs sitting

eight beautiful maidens who work in this fine restaurant

of Margaret's, and I've got to cook them the other half of their lunch,

which is rabbit.

And I don't want a little bunny-wunny in my little wo-boat.

-Cos the bunny might be crazy and bite me in the fwoat.

-The bunny?

It was by the throat, wasn't it? Remember that Tom Paxton song?

Brilliant. About President Carter.

Anyway, it's back to the real business now, Richard.

We've had all the jokes, we've had all the fun,

the imperial spin round of the ingredients,

we know we've got rabbit joint and all that business.

Fresh field mushrooms - chopped, parsley, root vegetables,

in this case, onions and carrots, fresh thyme, good bacon,

tomato puree, garlic,

rabbit I've already referred to, dredged in seasoned flour. OK?

And the star of this particular little show is going to be

the sparkling gooseberry champagne.

The mushrooms at this stage can go into here with the bacon...

..fat and the carrots and onions

and they can all brown off quite nicely.

No problem there.

I need my champagne. This is the sort of thing...

Do you know, the sound man in television programmes doesn't like

frying noises but he insists on having that kind of noise...

-CORK POPS, SLIDE WHISTLE WHINES

-..and yet it's the most uncool way

to open a bottle of champagne.

It should be opened so it makes no noise at all.

Right, that's all going well. Flip over here.

These are browning nicely.

Free range, well, not free range but actually wild rabbits.

Going very well. Move that over like that.

With my little fingers. They have to be used.

Turn these things over. Those are brown, those are sealed. OK.

-Maximum...

-DOG BARKS

-Who's talking to me?

-Oh, I'm sorry, I'm back.

-Where have you been?

-I bought you a lovely cup.

-You've been to the junk shop.

I thought you'd gone to Marks & Spencer. What a brilliant idea.

-Ooh, I say.

-Just keep an eye on it.

-Isn't this gorgeous? Can I help?

You can help by being quiet at the moment, Margaret.

You always give me the difficult things to do.

I'm busy, all right?

Oh, right. You don't want me to catch this?

Stand here.

Hold that.

And shut up.

SHE LAUGHS

-He's so polite(!)

-Right...

-I'm cooking, Margaret. This is, after all, my job.

-I know.

I'm not a television presenter, I'm not an interviewer.

I know, that's what I like.

I don't work on Tomorrow's World or anything like that.

I actually am a cook.

-And if it is all right with you...

-It smells heavenly.

-Right.

-I wish we could have a smelling television.

-Yes, smelly vision.

They used to have it in 1984, didn't they?

Right, so we've got all our nice bits and pieces in there. OK?

Are we happy?

A bit of thyme. And I don't have enough of it.

I'll be honest with you.

Get the dreadful pun there.

Some parsley.

And, then, hold on,

we'll add our tomato puree which we'll stir well in,

that will all mix in a moment or two.

Right, that...

-Then...

-HE WHISTLES

Oh, look.

-English. Sparkling wine.

-Isn't that lovely?

-OK?

What will have to happen now, you'll probably go

walking around the Somerset Levels or watching combine harvesting,

I don't know, he's quite a clever bloke at filling them up.

Because the next time you see this dish...

Richard, you just better have a look before it goes into the oven,

you all know what the oven looks like, it goes into the oven,

covered with foil, it will be in there for about an hour and a half.

-Not much longer.

-Not much longer.

-Look at that lovely fleshy piece.

I bags that bit.

You can have it later. An hour and a half and it'll be on the table. OK?

So, amuse yourselves with whatever the director dreams up now.

I couldn't come to Somerset

without telling you how Cheddar cheese is made.

So, are you sitting comfortably? I'll begin.

After the milk has been heated and the rennet has been added,

it goes all thick. Then it is paddled into curds and whey.

Then the whey is drained off, which leaves a lovely crumbly curd.

Yum-yum.

The curds are drained of all the moisture and then

they are compressed and packed into these moulds lined with cheesecloth.

I understand now the significance of the great Monty Python line,

"Blessed are the cheesemakers."

Finally, the moulds are all stacked together

and pressed again to eliminate every last drop of moisture.

Then they are turned out to be stored and matured.

So, it's farewell, then, from Somerset, and thank you,

nice moo cows for one of the finest cheeses in the world.

What do you think? Is that Somerset?

I think it reminds me of the meadows and the green fields and...

Ah, Somerset. You're brilliant.

I'm not only brilliant about cooking,

I'll be running business management programmes as well

because she's taken my correspondence course,

the reason she's so successful here in Frome, she surrounds

herself with caring, intelligent, loving, helpful staff.

-Helpful people.

-Absolutely.

-And that's where it's at.

-Especially the caring.

-Let's go and serve them.

-I think they're hungry. They deserve it.

MUSIC: Peaches by The Stranglers

I love watching those. Classic stuff there.

As ever, we're looking back at some of the most mouthwatering recipes

from the Saturday Kitchen store cupboard.

Still to come on today's Best Bites, Madhur Jaffrey and Theo Randall

battle it out at the omelette challenge hobs

but how would they both do? Find out in just a few minutes' time.

Aktar Islam is spicing things up with some luscious lamb cutlets.

The lamb is brushed in a garlic and ginger paste

and then covered in a sweet spiced date and sultana marinade.

And Jimmy Doherty faces food heaven or food hell.

Will he get his food heaven - a whisky and mustard crusted pork chop

with sauteed potatoes?

Or would he get his dreaded food hell -

a marzipan and raspberry tart with Chantilly whipped cream?

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

Now, by the time he was 27 years old,

William Curley had already worked with the likes of Pierre Koffmann,

Raymond Blanc and the brilliant Marco Pierre White.

And he was head pastry chef at the Savoy.

The skill this man has with chocolate is quite astonishing.

Enjoy this one.

Great to have you on the show, William.

Seven years we've been waiting for you.

So, Easter, chocolate, what are we going to make?

We're doing a cadeau of chocolate.

We're going to make a tempered chocolate pyramid.

And inside, we've got a dark chocolate mousse,

a vanilla creme brulee which you're going to help me with,

some marinated sultanas and rum and a little orange compote.

I'm going to get out of the way and do that middle bit.

-Tell us about the chocolate, then.

-Yeah, OK. So, chocolate.

-So, as you can see, I've melted my chocolate here...

-Yeah.

..to between about 45 and 50 degrees Celsius

and you'll be saying, why have I done that?

Well, when we buy a bar of chocolate,

it comes in a tempered state and you get this wonderful snap.

The minute we melt the chocolate,

that snap has obviously gone

but unless we temper the chocolate when we work with it,

and recreate the temper, if you like, it will bloom.

-Temper is all about temperatures, isn't it, really?

-Absolutely.

It's all about temperatures.

Within my world, we call it the curve.

So we melt it to between 45 and 50.

Then we cool it down to about 28 degrees Celsius.

And I'm using a little granite slab here that you guys kindly gave me.

Now, you'll notice when it's sort of bloomed a bit,

as you call it, which is basically

when you melt a chocolate bar and reset it and the white...

Absolutely.

And that can be from leaving it in a warm environment

so that the cocoa fats within the chocolate, they melt,

and then when they reset, they are distorted, if you like.

Or the chocolatier has not done a very good job.

So, what you are trying to do now is lower the temperature.

-I'm cooling the chocolate down, absolutely.

-As quick as possible.

As quick as possible, yes.

Now, there is other ways to do this.

The seeding method is where you put it in the bowl

and you cool it down and then warm it back up

but I thought for today, a nice bit of melted chocolate...

-On the table...

-Now, chocolate has obviously been around for a while

but this new style of chocolate, we are almost going back to our roots.

That's not been around that long, really?

Well, chocolate, I mean...

Touching on it quickly, I mean, obviously,

the cocoa drink was where it all began,

with the Aztecs and the Mayans.

And over time,

1840s, Joseph Fry created a bar of chocolate.

He was the man.

And, really, over the next hundred-odd years, chocolate,

to a certain extent, became quite generic. Even, commoditised.

And lots of things happened to it that...

really shouldn't have happened to it.

There was stuff put in it that shouldn't have been there, really.

You've got it.

-That was more for commercial gain, I take it?

-Commercial gain.

And also, during the war years, it became very difficult to get

cacao so putting other fats in was a solution, if you like,

and chocolate, of course, was a comfort food

and it kept people happy.

But in the '80s,

one or two companies put a lot of time and effort

and really sort of followed the wine industry,

er, with the attitude towards trying to create

-what I call fine chocolate.

-Right.

And they used many of the same techniques that you would find,

you know, such as the French would call it a terroir,

the environment in which it grows.

And the best cacao, the best chocolate, comes from, of course,

most of the chocolate, the beans come back to Europe

and the chocolate is made here,

tends to be from South America, Caribbean, Madagascar.

There's three different varieties, is there?

Yeah, there's three main varieties. There's many hybrids.

In fact, one of the three...

So what are we looking at here?

So I can get rid of this out of the way for you.

So, the three varieties - Forastero, the main bean.

The Criollo, the jewel in the crown.

It's the one that you really want to have your chocolate made with.

There is also the Trinitario, which is a cross between the two.

If chocolate is made from the Trinitario and the Criollo,

-it has a great chance of being good.

-Right, OK.

So, this is what it starts like in its raw state.

It's fermented, then it's dried. Roasted.

-Yeah, you're on the right lines.

-Roughly like that?

-Yeah.

Cacao grows 10, 20 degrees north, south of the equator.

In the wild, of course. These are cut down by machetes.

They'll go back to a farm, they're cut in half, the beans

are scooped out, they are fermented for three or four days.

In the fine chocolate world,

the beans will be allowed to dry in their natural environment

and some lovely ladies will walk across the beans to turn them over

to prevent them from going mouldy.

If we mass produce it, it will be dried in a tumble dryer.

Then they come back to the place where the chocolate will be made.

The beans are roasted. The husks are removed.

Have you never seen these before? There you go.

You can have a look at that.

I mean, good quality... The best quality bitter chocolate...

-Bitter, don't use the word bitter.

-It shouldn't be bitter.

-Absolutely.

That's a perception that has been created over the years.

You can have a chocolate, a bar of chocolate at 70%, and it can be

smooth, elegant, beautiful on the palate and no sign of bitterness.

And you may get other flavours coming through,

such as raspberry, tobacco, er...

..nutty notes, that type of thing.

Right, well, I've got my little brulee here which I made with

vanilla, little bit of egg, some cream...egg yolk, cream, and sugar.

So, what I am doing, James...

And you want these poaching in a bain-marie in the oven.

And then these will be set in the freezer.

So, they will sit in the centre.

The chocolate mousse I made with a little anglaise, a little custard.

And then that's just had whipped cream and chocolate added to it.

For the chocolate mousse that you want.

-Tell us what you're doing there.

-Yeah, sorry. Yes, yes.

I have these little bits of pre-made plastic,

which...

Nice and thin, very flexible.

We're spreading it with the chocolate.

In basic terms, what you are doing, basically,

is making the chocolate shiny.

-That's the key to the process.

-And crisp. Absolutely.

Right, I'll move this lot out of the way.

And these are allowed to set and this is what I've got here,

which I know you want to finish off.

Chocolate mousse.

Yes, you obviously made the creme, the creme anglaise,

the melted chocolate,

and now I am going to fold the whipped cream.

I always add one third first.

Then give it a good little mix.

At this stage...

-The key to that is to not put it in the fridge.

-Great point.

That's another issue with chocolate.

It will sweat in the fridge. The sugar within the chocolate

will start to melt, come to the surface,

and then you get a different type of problem.

It is fragile stuff, chocolate.

So, particularly at this time of year,

it has got to be the most busiest time of year for you.

You've got two shops now where you're selling your produce?

Yes, we have two shops.

Definitely the busiest time of year for us,

at Easter, for obvious reasons.

-How many kilos of chocolate you can go?

-Per year?

-Yes.

-Er, we use...

-This year, we are going to use well over 12 tonnes.

-Wow.

We work for a very small company who are based... The creme brulee.

-You're buying your chocolate from Italy, are you?

-Yes,

a small company based in Tuscany.

We work directly with them. We use some of the house blends there.

And they also make one or two blends for us as well.

Right, there's your, er...

And all the chocolate we use...

It's all made purely... with Trinitario and Criollo beans.

-Now, you say you get your chocolate from Italy, then?

-Absolutely.

But the beans all grow in South America, Caribbean, and Madagascar.

That is a flourless chocolate sponge?

That is a flourless chocolate sponge.

And your passion for baking,

it's a long way from your hometown up in Fife in Scotland?

-Your father wasn't into it.

-I know.

-How did you end up doing...

Well, my father is a docker. So, you can imagine how that went down.

LAUGHTER

I guess, like lots of young lads, left school, not knowing where

I was going to go,

decided to go to a local college,

er, saw a bit of cooking, I saw lots of young ladies,

and, er, off we went.

-And off you went. You trained with some of the greatest.

-Yeah.

Some wonderful chefs in the kitchen.

Pierre Koffmann, Raymond Blanc, and Marco Pierre White himself,

which all, you know...

Weren't you the youngest pastry chef at the Savoy? Was that right?

Yes, I was,

I was 27 when I took that role on. And it put ten years on me.

You were working with... You must have had 20 chefs working with you.

Yeah, there were 21 chefs in the team. It was a wonderful job. 24/7.

-We love it, don't we?

-So we've got some of that in the fridge now,

which we will bring across.

You can buy these, as well, can't you?

Yes, if you go online, you will be able to.

And even if you go down to your local...

stationery shop, you can buy bits of plastic, etc, etc.

You want that?

Obviously, we don't want to be touching the sides too much

-with your hands because you start to melt the chocolate.

-Yeah.

-I'll put that onto there.

-You've still got the plastic on there?

-Yes.

So...

Just take your time when it comes off,

where the little connection is.

-He makes that look easy!

-I need a masterclass, I'm telling you.

There's two and a half million people at home -

it ain't going to turn out like that...

THEY LAUGH ..this weekend.

What is this that we have made here?

So, what I've done, I've just made a little chocolate flick.

-So, this is chocolate, just draw it like...

-Absolutely.

Tempered and just flick it.

-Move that to one side.

-And there we have a little bit of...

-So, the same process applies when you've done the mould as well?

-Yes.

Once you've learnt how to temper, you will be on your way.

Yeah.

Little bit of gold because we love a bit of gold.

This is based on one of your famous dishes which has got

-the matcha chocolate?

-Yeah.

-That's Japanese tea.

And the Japanese are huge chocolatiers, aren't they?

Patisserie and chocolaterie in Japan is... After France,

it's the next big thing, I guess. Yeah. And my wife is Japanese.

So we play with a lot of the flavours.

-So, tell us what that is again?

-So, here we have a cadeau of chocolate.

Dark chocolate mousse. Vanilla creme brulee. Marinated sultanas in rum.

Inside a tempered chocolate shell with an orange compote.

Good luck this weekend.

-How great does that look?

-Wow.

-He's made that look very, very easy.

-I'll move that out of the way. Happy Easter to you.

-It's a work of art.

I don't really want to... Oh, I haven't got a knife and fork.

You've got a spoon, there you go.

You've got the creme brulee set in the centre as well.

-A little surprise, if you like.

-So, you sell this in your shop as well?

-Indeed, yes, we do, we do.

-Oh, wow.

-Look at that.

-Dive in.

-Yes.

The chocolate mousse is inside of it.

-Mm.

-And you can move the flavours around inside as well.

It looks so beautiful. Even inside, it's so beautiful.

Well, you've just Top Trumped my stew. There you go.

You see, he makes it look so easy. What a fantastic creation.

Now, Madhur Jaffrey had her heart set on making

the tastiest omelette when she met Theo Randall at the hobs.

But how long would she take to get it onto the plate?

I can tell you.

Too long.

Now, unfortunately, last week we had a disqualification.

Make yourselves at home at our hobs.

We've got our disqualification.

Our first one, just some random chef we had walk into the studio.

Three Michelin star Michel Roux. He's in the bin. He won't like it.

-I'm cheating.

-So, please make sure you don't go on there.

Three egg omelettes cooked as fast as you can. Are you ready?

-Three, two, one, go.

-OK.

-I can tell you now...

-You're behind, Madhur.

-I don't care.

-Right.

I really don't care. I want the slowest best omelette.

GONG RINGS