Episode 134 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites

Good morning, I hope you're hungry because we've cooked up some treats.

This is Saturday Kitchen Best Bites.

Welcome to the show, don't go anywhere for the next 90 minutes

because we've got some amazing chefs at the ready.

Coming up on today's show,

the pride of Ireland, Paul Rankin,

is cooking a succulent rose veal chop

and he serves it with herb butter, summer veg

and lightly-crushed Jersey Royal potatoes.

The man who made us all stir crazy, Ken Hom, whisks up a treat.

He creates a stunning pork and pineapple stir-fry with noodles.

And Marcus Wareing brings fish to the lunch table.

He braises a beautiful piece of halibut and serves it with

watercress, coddled quails' eggs, cobnuts and griddled baby leeks.

And Aggie MacKenzie faced her Food Heaven or Food Hell.

Would she get her Food Heaven -

raspberries with my baked raspberry cheesecake made with

raspberries she'd grown in her very own allotment,

served with boozy berries? Or would she get her dreaded Food Hell -

cauliflower with a pork pie and a piccalilli picnic?

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

But first, it's time for a celebration of British

seasonal produce from chef Cass Titcombe with a little help

from a fish that we don't often see on Saturday Kitchen - the gurnard.

-Good to have you on the show, Cass.

-Good morning, James.

-Your first time on the show.

-That's right, yes.

Traditional British food. So what are we cooking then?

-OK, today, we're doing pan-fried fillets of gurnard.

-Yep.

We're going to serve that with a stew made from some new potatoes,

spinach, a few broad beans,

some mint and a little bit of crispy bacon cooked in some chicken stock.

It's everything that's in season at the moment, that's the key to this.

OK, so you want me to do the bacon first?

Yeah, cut that up in to lardons, put that into that dry pan there.

OK, so tell us about gurnard then, cos it's one of the fish that

people don't use but I think they should do a lot more.

Yeah, it's one of my favourite fish, I have to say,

it's a very meaty texture,

-similar to monkfish but it's got quite a nice, strong taste.

-Yeah.

Kind of like a bream has that good, strong fishy taste.

-It's also very reasonable.

-But the skin's quite firm, innit?

It has got quite a firm skin,

that's why you need to cut some slits in this

when you put that in the pan, otherwise it'll really curl up

and you won't be able to get the skin nice and crispy.

-They used to use this as bait for lobster pots, apparently.

-Right.

And often, it's like a pinky colour, the flesh, innit?

You can get different colours. They go from grey to very, very deep red.

We've got our little bacon here.

This is the dry-cured bacon.

So you want that frying off in a dry pan, no oil in there.

Just need to fry that one dry.

I'm just going to pop those there and wash my hands.

And then, what else have we got in here? Beans?

OK, if you could shell some broad beans for me.

I'm going to slice up this onion.

Gurnard, have you ever come across that?

I've never tasted it. So, it's only a new thing?

Is it something you're just starting to see on menus or...?

-It's been around for a while.

-It has been around for a long time.

Presumably, it's been around for an awful long time.

It's been around for a long, long time. I don't know the date...

LAUGHTER

I'm sure it's been around for a while, yeah.

You don't see it everywhere in fishmongers',

I guess they don't really supply it if people don't ask for it.

-There's not a demand there for it.

-No, no.

I'll tell you one of the reasons for that - the name.

It's not a very attractive name, is it?

Well, it's like the monkfish, I always think.

If people really didn't buy it cos they look a bit...

The angler fish, it's a horrible-looking thing,

but they used to use it for scampi

and bits and pieces but now it's really expensive.

It's like John Dory in Australia.

-It sounds like the name of your bank manager, doesn't it? John Dory.

-OK.

So, a little bit of oil, some butter in there.

Yep, now this is for the stew to go with it, yeah?

That's the stew, that's right, so we're going to cook off these onions.

Would it be fair to say it looks like a little haddock?

Yeah, the colour of that one is quite haddock-looking

but when you get the red ones, they look more like a red mullet.

Yeah, OK.

Right, so, potatoes.

That's right, I'm just going to cut these into quarters.

You want to sweat these for about ten minutes just so they get nice

-and soft, no colour.

-Now, where did you learn your love of food from?

-From the parents?

-Yeah, I guess so.

My mum and dad are both great cooks.

They moved the family to live in the hills of Wales

when I was about six years old,

they wanted to be very self-sufficient and that,

obviously, involved keeping animals, we had chickens and ducks

and goats which I had to milk.

Planting lots of vegetables and just generally trying to, you know...

Well, Wales has got a terrific larder up there.

Were you right up in the highlands?

Cos I was up in Anglesey, beautiful part of the world.

Yeah, a little bit further south than that,

just kind of inland from Aberystwyth and the Cambrian Mountains.

Right.

And, as a child, wanting to eat cakes...

But your parents used to make everything, didn't they?

That's right, yeah, everything - jams, chutneys

and if I wanted a cake, I was basically handed a recipe book

and told to make it, with a little bit of instruction initially.

-It's the best way to be, though.

-Yeah, absolutely.

So, tell us about the Canteen,

the ethos behind that then cos you started off with one.

Yeah, we started our first one about five years ago.

Approaching our fifth birthday.

Really, we wanted to raise the standard of the cooking

on the high street.

British food, simple, prepared in-house,

open all day so we're open from eight in the morning...

-..till 11 at night.

-So, there's no lunch and dinner service?

It literally goes all the way through,

you can also have breakfast...

-Sorry, can I just have some black pepper, please?

-Yep, there you go.

You can have breakfast at any time of day.

Right, get those gurnard fillets in,

you want to start that off nice and hot.

And this is why it's good to keep that skin on it.

-Yeah, that's right, you can get a nice, crispy skin off that.

-Yeah.

-You won't forget the garlic.

-OK. Now, that needs to go in.

So, you cook those onions and potatoes for how long roughly?

OK, you're going to sweat those for about ten minutes,

just till they're nice and soft.

-Now, how many restaurants have you got at the moment?

-Four.

We've got one in Spitalfields, Baker Street, Canary Wharf

and one in the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank.

And are we going to see Canteens opening throughout the UK?

-Is that the plan?

-It's definitely part of the plan.

We want to open another 15 to 20 over the next 3 to 5 years.

Just another 15 or 20(!) A bit like you, Bill.

OK, so that's just browning off nicely.

I'm just going to reduce the heat on that one a little bit.

-I'm going to put the garlic in with the potatoes and onions.

-Yeah.

Some chicken stock.

I'm cooking Louise's special portion here.

Just a little bit cos you've got put the bacon in there as well.

That's right. And you could, if you want...

-Got that.

-If you wanted the fish but you don't eat meat,

you can do that with either vegetable stock and omit the bacon.

Now, you mentioned your book. Tell us what that is then.

Literally the same ethos as the restaurants - British food?

Yeah, that's right, it's called Great British Food.

It's just a collection of recipes, really,

things that are on the menu at the moment

like big favourites of our customers,

and also things that have been on at some point over the past few years.

I mean you don't have a different menu for each different restaurant?

No, we have the same menu in all the restaurants,

it's all exactly the same.

We change it a few times a year, just seasonally,

just so we can use things when they're at their best.

OK, so I'm going to take those broad beans.

If you could roughly chop that spinach for me.

I'm going to put the broad beans into that stew.

That's ready for you, the mint's there as well.

-The bacon, you want this drained off, yeah?

-That's right, thank you.

And you're appearing at a lot of these food festivals.

Yeah, I've been doing quite a few this year.

There's a great one in Abergavenny coming up, isn't there?

That's right, I'm doing that in September.

Also done Taste Of London a few weeks ago and I'm doing a launch for the

Real Food Market which is going to be in Royal Festival Hall next weekend.

-Keeping busy then?

-Yeah, just a little bit.

So, the mint's going to go in there so I'll just swap that over.

OK, I just need to flip over these fish fillets.

So, you almost cook that all the way through on the skin side?

That's right, yeah, and then just turn it over

and give it just another minute on the other side, that's all it needs.

-Right, so do you want to season this up?

-Yeah.

If people are looking for different types of fish that they could use?

Great stuff like ling...

Yeah, there's a lot of different sustainable fish around that

people can use.

There's ling, there's pollock, saying that,

pollock has started to get a lot more expensive these days.

Yeah, but don't just go for cod and haddock all the time.

No, no, we try to use different things.

We sell fish and chips in the restaurant, we have it on every day.

-Is it done with beer batter?

-No, we bread our fish and chips actually.

Ah, you know, some of our bigger restaurants,

we're serving up to 800 covers a day so...

-Now, you've used chicken stock for this.

-That's right, yeah.

That's the reason why you haven't got any.

Do you want some bacon on the top?

I know what you vegetarians are like with your bacon.

LAUGHTER

-Do you want?

-Could you put some of that bacon on that plate for me?

-A bit of bacon on there?

-Yeah.

-How about that?

OK, and then we just...

-pop the gurnard on to the top.

-It looks pretty. It looks so good.

-There.

-Almost there.

-Yeah.

-And there you have it.

-Anything else on the top?

-No, that's all ready to go.

-Remind us what it is?

Pan-fried fillets of gurnard, with new potatoes, broad beans,

spinach, mint and some crispy bacon.

How fantastic does that look?

It looks fantastic, I know it tastes fantastic,

because I had some in rehearsal.

Have a sit over here, Cass. Dive into that.

Tell us what you think.

-Thank you.

-Dive into that. Tell us what you think.

-Have you had the fish before, Louise?

-I haven't, no.

-Gurnard.

-Have you tried this before?

-No, I'm not aware of gurnard's work.

It's not the best name, but the texture, like you say,

-is a bit like monkfish.

-Pollock's not a great name either, is it?

It's not very good, no. The texture is monkfish-y.

Firm, meaty, similar to monkfish, but it's got a stronger taste, I think.

It's also one of components of a fish soup or...

Yeah, that's why it'll take flavours like bacon, stronger flavours.

What do you reckon?

Mm!

Mm?

It's much more... It takes a lot more eating.

Yeah, than the lemon sole.

-But it's a meaty fish.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it's lovely.

There you go, "it's lovely".

That veg stew is a real summer treat. You have to try it.

Coming up, I'll make cheese croquets with Lincolnshire Poacher

for Richard E Grant,

after Rick Stein hunts down a cheese of his own - Lancashire cheddar.

I'm on my way to Lancashire, and you've probably guessed why...

Because, on a culinary trip such as mine,

where I'm really looking for good regional flavours and produce,

I've been eagerly anticipating exploring

the steamy depths of the county's most famous dish.

So, I rang up a friend of mine, Nigel Haworth, at Northcote Manor,

who's fiercely passionate about anything that comes from Lancashire,

and said, "Please, can you make me the ultimate hotpot?"

Which I'm pleased to say he did!

Been cooking this for four hours now.

It's a lovely pot. Is that a traditional pot, Nigel?

That is, yeah.

I'm told every household had one of these, in Lancashire.

-It smells...

-It smells wonderful, doesn't it?

I don't think there's any dish that's more appetising than this, really.

There isn't.

And that long, slow cooking is the thing that makes it so special.

What lamb cuts are in there?

We use the cheap cuts of lamb.

Under shoulder, we're looking at neck, and then shin.

And shin's really important to get that real gelatinous feel

-to your hotpot.

-The thing I like is that it doesn't taste fatty.

Quite often in a hotpot, it's almost overpoweringly rich fat.

But the other thing that's so good about this is the red cabbage, right?

Because the thing is about all these dishes, is the accompaniments.

I think one of the main things about this area of Lancashire is that

we have absorbed some of the influences of people

coming in to live here.

When a lot of the Asian people were brought over

to work in the mills et cetera, and they brought all their spices over,

you've now got, with Lancashire hotpot,

a very spicy red cabbage, which you didn't have in the old days.

-I sense a bit of star anise in there.

-Star anise in there,

chilli in there. Yeah.

And it just enhances what we're doing today in Lancashire,

so this is a today's Lancashire hotpot.

Well, I have to say, on my last trip to find the perfect hotpot,

and, indeed, I did find the perfect hotpot,

at Nigel Haworth's place

I couldn't find a hotpot in any pub, any restaurant, any hotel, anywhere.

Lots of other food, as usual.

Creole cooking, Thai cooking - you name it.

But a local dish like hotpot? No chance.

And you just think, "What is wrong with this country?"

When you've got such a fantastic dish,

which goes so well with red wine, why isn't it in the pubs?

Please, chefs out there, start cooking your Lancashire hotpot.

It's great. OK. First of all, I'm using best end chops,

but I'm going to trim the whole end off, cos the thing about hotpot

is not to get too much fat in there, otherwise it's a bit overpowering.

Excuse me. I have to look down here now.

Cutting myself with a mandolin is one thing,

but chopping my fingers off is not quite the same joke,

I think you'll agree.

OK. There you go. It's knocking all that off.

Now you've just got a very neat little chop like that,

which will look really good in the finished stew.

There's my best end chops done,

but one thing I picked up from Nigel, and it's a really good idea,

is to use some lamb shank as well, cos when that cooks over

a long period, it makes the stew very nice and gelatinous.

So I'm just going to slice some lamb shank...

and put that in too. I've also got some kidneys.

Some recipes do have lamb's kidneys, some don't,

but I like a few kidneys in there.

I've just cut them in half

and removed the sinewy bits in the middle.

I'm just hand-slicing these potatoes.

You can use a mandolin, but, actually,

if you do them by hand, they always end up a bit thicker, and you need

a slightly chunkier slice, cos they'd otherwise break down in the cooking.

There we go.

To make up the hotpot, you brush the bottom of the pan

with melted butter to stop the potatoes from sticking.

Begin with potatoes and build up the stew in layers.

Next, onions, and then the meat, half chops and half shin,

and some of the kidneys.

Now add thyme. I think it goes particularly well with lamb.

A good quantity of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

You often find other ingredients in a hotpot. I've added kidneys.

But sometimes they put in black pudding, mushrooms,

and even oysters when they were particularly cheap.

It's important to season every layer.

Finally, just some chicken stock, but you can use water.

There'll be so much flavour in the stew anyway.

Top with a neat layer of potatoes, because you want it to look

pretty when it comes out of the oven, all brown and crackling.

Just press those down a little bit.

Now just a little bit of melted butter on the top.

Actually, this Lancashire hotpot came from a time

when nobody had ovens, and everybody took their individual pots

to the local baker who put it in the baker's oven

after he'd done his bread.

Then when you came back, presumably from a shift at the mill,

there was your pot all bubbling and hot - hence hotpot.

I'm putting it in the oven for about two hours, but it's even better

if you can leave it for about six to eight on a gentler heat.

I took the lid off for the last 20 minutes.

I can't think why regional stews like this

aren't more available everywhere.

I mean, think of a similar dish - scouse from Liverpool, or Irish stew,

or Welsh cawl for that matter -

all of them so good that, if they were in France,

they would be famous regional specialities,

like bouillabaisse in Marseilles,

coq au vin in Burgundy,

or cassoulet in the Languedoc.

To finish off, some pickled red cabbage,

which adds such a sharp piquancy to the dish.

Still in Lancashire,

I'm going to see the famous Mrs Kirkham,

who owns a small farm in the shadow of the Pennines.

I've used her Lancashire Cheese in my restaurant for about 20 years now.

There are probably lots of people who think she's a product

of some marketing man's imagination, like Mr Kipling,

but she and her son Graham do make exceedingly good cheeses.

We actually started making cheese, all those years ago

because, running such a very small farm, with only 30 acres here...

why I decided to make cheese was to keep us going in some industry.

It is like a little cottage industry,

and it has actually kept us in farming.

If I hadn't made cheese,

we would have been out of farming many years ago.

It's like looking after a baby, really.

Each one is individual,

and you like them to have a lovely finish to them.

So, if you make a nice job of binding them,

they have a nice finish to them.

I was surprised they matured the cheese

in an old refrigerated lorry trailer.

I thought it would be in a cool, stone cellar.

This is around six to eight weeks old,

so the curd's starting to break down, and this cheese is

starting to go creamy, but you still get a nice milky taste.

So if you just give this a go.

Graham, Mrs Kirkham's son, reminded me of a fine wine maker.

And, indeed, cheese is a bit like making wine,

both from the point of view of the living culture that's

added to the milk, and the long maturing process.

Although I was taken aback at first, I really like the trailer.

It's making use of everything and it does the job.

It's not just when you eat it,

but once you've eaten it and it's gone, you'll get this

fantastic flavour in your mouth and it'll last for five or ten minutes.

-It's so good!

-That's beautiful.

-Like a fine wine.

-Yes!

I love Mrs Kirkham's cheese

and I can think of no better way of eating it than just with some

nice crusty bread, a pint of beer and some pickled onions.

But one of the things I notice about it is that it's very crumbly,

and I was talking to a friend the other day, a lady,

and she was saying, "Why don't you have any nice big salads

"for us ladies at lunchtime in your restaurant?"

And I thought, "Yeah, she's got a point."

So, I thought of Mrs Kirkham's cheese and this is what I did.

I made up some mixed salad leaves, including baby beetroot,

lamb's lettuce and rocket.

I poured on olive oil and sprinkled with salt and black pepper,

and tossed everything in a big bowl.

Then I thinly sliced some Lancashire cheese and crumbled it.

What's special about this cheese is that it's creamy

but also has a pleasing acidity about it.

I started with some of the leaves, then I took some pancetta,

which is like very fine streaky bacon...

I'd already fried it

until crisp with a little bit of balsamic vinegar.

Next, the first lot of cheese, followed by some beetroot

which I'd steeped in wine vinegar, with a little chilli and garlic.

I added more leaves,

gradually building up a really interesting lunch dish,

designed specifically for the sort of people that like a big salad

and a glass of Chardonnay in the middle of the day.

Now then, it may not be the rufty-tufty way

of eating Mrs Kirkham's cheese,

but, for the ladies that lunch in my restaurant,

it does very well, thank you.

It's not just ladies that lunch

who enjoy Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheddar. It's delicious

and I've got some here, but my favourite...

This is the Lancashire one.

..but my favourite is this one - Lincolnshire Poacher.

I'm going to show you a great dish, not just for ladies who lunch,

but for guys too.

It's potato croquettes, but cheese in the middle,

with a little salsa and a salad on the side.

Starting off here, we've got some baked potatoes which I've baked

and then taken the filling out, because I want them quite dry.

The problem is, when you boil them, they can be quite wet,

particularly for croquettes. Salt and pepper in.

I'm going to mould them into a croquettes

and then flour, egg and breadcrumb them. These are our jackets here.

You can obviously keep those and deep-fry them if you want.

But this cheese is just delicious.

Wonderful stuff, this one.

We're just going to cut it up into wedges,

then I'm going to mould that around my potato.

Now, Richard, you're not a big fan of dairy produce, are you?

-Not hugely, no.

-Can you manage a bit of cheese, like this?

-Yeah, I'll have a go.

-We just put a little piece in there.

And then pop that in there too, and then the idea is

to mould this potato just over the top so the cheese is inside.

This is different to the type of food you had in your upbringing.

-You were brought up in Swaziland.

-Yep.

There wasn't a huge choice of stuff in the '60s, and I got,

I think because of the heat, migraines when I was a kid,

so cheese was the one thing that they said to avoid.

What kind of food was it you were brought up on?

-It was traditional English food, wasn't it?

-Traditional English.

We had an African cook who my mother taught to cook seven dishes,

so each day of the week we knew exactly what we were going to get.

-They were just all traditional English fare?

-Yep.

Roast beef, chicken, lamb, Lancashire hotpot,

cottage pie, shepherd's pie,

fish on a Friday, and that was it.

I mean, getting the ingredients out there must have been hard work?

Oh, there's plenty of meat, and a lot of stuff was tinned.

And fish was not usually fresh,

so my father used to eat these

fluorescent orange kippers for breakfast,

so I've had a life-long aversion to them ever since.

You mentioned at the top of the show that your food heaven

-would be these fantastic Mozambique prawns.

-Yep.

-That came from, what, your travels to Mozambique?

-Yeah.

We used to go, because it was the one place you could get to the sea,

which was 100 miles from where we lived, so you could go,

spend the day at the beach,

and then have this big feast of prawns at night.

-So it was great childhood memories of doing that.

-Delicious.

I mean, throughout your career, you went to Cape Town,

came back to the UK, travelled so much...

and what amazes me is that your love of cooking

isn't just from your travels...

Was it last week you ended up cooking for your birthday?

-For 130 people?!

-I know, it's complete madness.

My wife is from Aberdeen, and she has this Scottish Calvinist idea

that if you're going to entertain people to show your appreciation

for your friendship or your love of them,

that you should do all the cooking yourself.

She said, "We're not having caterers."

I said, "I can afford to!" She said, "We'll cook it ourselves."

I said, "There's 130 people for my 50th birthday."

She said, "Right, we're doing it."

So, we cooked for three days and...

it was worthwhile...

-I nearly had a breakdown.

-Seemed like a good idea, but never again.

Exactly. When I first married her 24 years ago,

I could barely boil an egg, so I've learnt along the way

-watching guys like you.

-Well, hopefully, yeah.

I've taken the potato and the cheese, so it's inserted inside.

I've got flour, egg and breadcrumb,

and I've got some deep-frying in here.

The secret of this is you deep-fry it at quite a low temperature.

About 160, something like that.

You want them just to colour gently, but not colour too much.

I want to keep that cheese

nice and melted in the middle.

If it's cooked too hot,

obviously, it's going to be brown on the outside

and the cheese won't be soft in the middle.

So a simple little salsa to go with this, because you have the potatoes

and the cheese, then what you want is something sharp to offset it.

We will just get some tomatoes, onions

and gently fry these off.

How many people in the country own one of these deep-fat fryers?

I don't know. You can use a pan.

I've got one! I never use it.

The easiest way to test it, if you're doing it in a pan...

Pans, you really don't want to use

when you're deep-fat frying stuff if you can help it.

Normal deep-fat fryer's the best. But if you are using a pan,

be careful of the amount of oil you put in there

and just drop a little bit of bread in there to test it first.

And that will dictate whether the pan is at the right temperature.

Don't just pop them in, throw a little bit of bread in.

A little piece of bread.

If it goes brown straightaway, you know it's too hot.

Just keep checking them like that. In we go with the pan.

This is kind of like a little warm salsa.

We've got some capers in here to add a little bit of saltiness to it.

We've got lemon juice,

a touch of lemon juice.

A bit of that in there.

Red wine vinegar, which I love in salsas.

A touch of that.

And then rapeseed oil.

Just delicious.

Now, you've got a long day today lined up for you, haven't you?

Yeah, it's the 60th anniversary of BAFTA,

so I'm hosting the, er,

film proms at the Albert Hall this evening.

-This will be televised this evening?

-Yes.

It's going on BBC Two, I think. Radio 2, as well.

So they're playing all film music from Dam Busters, all the way

through Patrick Doyle's Much Ado About Nothing

-to Harry Potter. All great British film music.

-A bit of everything.

If anybody's interested in listening to it, it is

on Radio 3 this evening, as well.

So we've got in here some salad, a bit more of this rapeseed oil,

just a touch.

A touch of olive oil.

A touch of lemon juice, bit over the top like that.

This a quick mix.

Just keep it lovely and light, simple. Watercress as well.

Love the pepperiness of this. Pop that on the plate.

Then I'll drain these off.

You can tell when they're just about ready,

the cheese starts to come out of them.

I'll just cut one on this board,

so you can actually see what they look like.

You just cut straight through.

They're lovely, cheesy in the middle.

And then, grabbing some of our salsa,

I'll just put that on the side for you.

It's not the king prawns yet.

-That's if they get picked.

-Please pick them! Please!

Just a few of those on the side.

A simple little brunch, that.

Have a dive into that, tell us what you think.

I know you're not a massive dairy fan, but...

You've got potato in there to mix it up.

They will be quite hot.

So I'll burn my tongue.

Mix it with a bit of salsa, probably. Cool it down.

It is hot, yeah.

LAUGHTER

Just nod.

RICHARD MUMBLES

See, I did tell you it was hot, Richard.

Now, if you'd like to try cooking any of the studio recipes

you've seen on today's show, all of those are just a click away at

bbc.co.uk/recipes.

Today, we're looking back at some of the great

cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

And now it's time for the man who won Ireland

its very first Michelin star, Paul Rankin,

to get creative with veal.

And then he cooks some lettuce. I kid you not.

-Welcome back.

-Always enjoy it.

-Exactly. What are we cooking today?

-We're cooking some proper food.

-Proper food.

This is a rose veal chop.

Check that out. It's a great British product.

We're going to be cooking it up with some beautiful summer vegetables.

We've got some romaine lettuce,

some broad beans, some peas,

scallions or spring onions.

This is just like your garden at the moment.

Jersey Royals, scallion

and bacon, some herbs, butter.

So all of this...

Take away the lemon, all of this is British.

All of it. There you go.

First of all, you're going to get the veal out.

I'm going to take the broad beans.

OK, this is a veal chop.

And rose veal chop.

This particular cut is kind of as the sirloin goes into the rib.

So it's part of the rib roast and you get chops all the way down.

Now, rose veal is sort of humanely-reared veal.

You'll get a lot of people watching this going, "Veal..."

Still got that mentality as it was ten years ago.

It's a weird thing.

Basically, what it is, it is young beef.

It's young beef.

We should be eating more of it, shouldn't we, Arthur?

It supports the dairy industry anyway.

There's a lot of calves that come out of the industry,

they just get culled. So we should be eating them.

They either get culled or they get shipped off to

Holland to get reared in crates.

The rose veal, they are farmed in barns, about eight to ten in a barn.

They get to roam about and do whatever they want, frolic.

It gives a slightly darker colour,

but it's still got that lovely texture.

So lots of salt and pepper on it.

It's wonderful on a barbecue.

I'm just cooking it with a bit of light olive oil and butter.

I'll just dice up a bit of my bacon and my potatoes.

Broad beans, you want these podding and then podding again?

These have been podded once, but you want them podded again?

We don't have to blanch them and shell them, but I do love that.

It adds a real bit of colour to this dish.

So the bacon is going in there

-for the potatoes.

-Sorry.

So you just chop the bacon up. This veal, you'll seal it?

Bumping into you, man, it gives you a real shake.

He's a big boy, I'm a bony guy!

What were you talking about?

This, you're going to seal it to add colour?

Yeah, we want some really nice caramelisation on there.

It's like cooking a steak.

As I said, it's wonderful on the barbecue, as well.

Actually, we're going to get the...

the lettuce and peas on first.

Get those ready.

So, with the lettuce, I love to take

the sweet heart of the lettuce.

The top of the leaves can sometimes be a little bit bitter.

You know an interesting fact about broad beans?

That links you together, as well?

Is that broad beans, you're supposed to give these

to people when they get married.

-Are you serious?

-It means ensure the birth of a baby son.

-I'm going to send...

-You've got about a dozen, haven't you?

LAUGHTER

I was given a lot of... I'm going to send everyone

a broad bean who gets married from now on.

They're also delicious.

But that shelling business, that's quite a hassle, isn't it?

They are delicious. Bang in season at the moment.

My garden's full of these and full of peas, as well.

Another great thing out there, they call them habitas fritas,

which are the... The Spanish actually deep-fry these

with salt, don't they? A bit like we do peanuts.

-They're absolutely delicious.

-Are they the slightly dried ones?

-But they're fried and roasted broad beans.

-Very good.

So need a bit more heat on this veal, actually.

So, once it's nice and brown, we're going to pop it in the oven.

That will take about eight minutes.

You can cook that on top of the stove.

A chop that size will take a good five minutes either side.

About 400... about 200 degrees centigrade.

-Classically, it's served pink.

-There you go.

What have you got in there?

Just blanching the lettuce.

It sort of removes a little bit of the bitterness.

You can use the Little Gem, as well. You've got romaine there.

But the Little Gem is very, very good for that, as well.

-You didn't really put me on that website, did you?

-Yeah, I did.

-I bigged you up.

-You won't be sorry.

Jeanne will be happy.

She'll love you for that, James!

"You know that James Martin, I never trusted him! I never trusted him."

The worst thing is, I put your mobile number on. No, joking.

Right, here's the peas.

This is a nice broth you'll serve this with.

Well, it's kind of like a broth.

Adding a little bit of chicken stock.

And then in goes a bit of butter.

In goes the veg.

With the peas and everything else.

What you need is one of Nick Nairn's handy scraper things.

Do you want me to drain out this...

There you go. Lettuce?

Just whack that in there.

-Get the broad beans in here, James.

-There's the broad beans.

You can see, once they've been podded it goes...

Look how fresh and bright this is!

..a fantastic green colour. There you go.

Now, there is really something special about this time of year.

From a chef's point of view, it's so exciting.

You have got all this stuff coming on board. You've got...

You're not having to buy stuff from abroad, are you?

You've got so many great ingredients in the UK.

And at this time, the first peas, the first broad beans.

From a chef's point of view, that is exciting for us, isn't it?

They're the first things to land on your doorstep, really.

You think spring's here, but nothing has really arrived yet.

When summer hits...

People talk a lot about the first strawberries and things like that.

But, for me, I kind of love

the whole broad beans sort of thing.

OK, quite interesting little potatoes here. A little technique.

These are Jersey Royals.

Not got long left in the season of Jersey Royals.

This is a little bit cheffy.

I just gently crush them, so that they keep their shape.

What this does, it allows the butter to go into the potato

and kind of flavour it without turning it into...

Remember the first time, I think in the mid-'90s,

when someone put crushed potatoes on their menu?

Remember those? I couldn't believe it!

My potatoes look like that, cos I always cook them

for too long cos I'm drinking too much wine.

-There you go! You become too cheffy!

-Like, "Oh, gah!"

We're making up this lovely, simple herb butter.

Let's not put too much.

You didn't cook that bacon, then?

No, no. It's going to be cooked now.

Because what I'm going to do here, this is a little sort of...

It's something good to do at home. I think this works really well,

cos you can have this all prepped up and then you pop it

in the microwave for a couple of minutes.

-You're going to do that?

-Sure. There you go.

What we're saying to the young chefs at the restaurant -

taste, taste, taste, all the time.

As you're cooking, check your seasoning.

I'm such a great chef, that is so delicious!

LAUGHTER

Right, the herb butter's got tarragon,

a little bit of chervil, parsley, bit of chives in there.

This is basically a French dish.

No, no. It's a British dish,

but it's a French technique.

And this is what they call fines herbes, in France.

Arthur, you were trained like that originally.

It's lovely, it's still lovely, isn't it?

It's called parsley butter, where I come from!

Cooking lettuce, am I the only one...

Do you two think that's a bit weird?

Just a little bit.

I tell you, that would be lovely with a bit of goat's cheese on it.

It would be delicious! I'm serious!

I would go back to raw lettuce with some tomato, cucumbers.

There you go, that's your bacon. It's cooked.

So it just warms up, you get that beautiful scallion flavour in there.

I need a touch of salt.

I can't remember if I seasoned it.

And then we just put

three of those onto the plate.

It doesn't really matter, they're sort of crushed potatoes anyway.

-On it goes.

-It is the essence of summer.

Look at this chop. Look at that.

I'd almost say it's manly food, but it's not.

It's just really beautifully, delicious food.

I will clear up after you.

And a little bit of the pan juices.

And finally, you've got a bit of butter on the top?

A little bit of butter, and you're doing just the right thing.

BLOWTORCH FIRES UP

Just take a little bit off.

Get that melted on the top.

So, while that's melting, remind us what that is again?

That's my rose veal chop

with lemon and herb butter,

braised summer vegetables and crushed potatoes.

Looks delicious.

It really is the essence of British cooking, that. Over here.

Dive in. Now, are you a big fan of veal, or what?

Well...sort of.

You sit on the fence, that sort of stuff?

I've never been completely convinced...

There's some amazing suppliers producing veal now in the UK.

This is quite an exciting time, I think.

This is a very good product.

Texturally, it is lighter than beef and a little bit more tender.

And it's also got lower fat, as well, because it is not as old.

-You've just taken a big chunk of fat there.

-I know. I've just realised.

Dive into this bit.

I've been waiting to taste it all morning.

To me, it's something that you just want to eat.

This is a hungry man's kind of dish.

-Or a hungry girl's kind of dish.

-Mm!

-It's delicious, isn't it?

-Oh, that is delicious!

It's something we should be eating a lot more of.

So, if you know anybody that wants

a baby son, send them a broad bean, apparently.

Now, it's time for a trip down memory lane,

with the one and only Keith Floyd.

Today, he starts off singing the praises

of a famous market in Brittany.

It's OK if you like haddock, plaice

and unidentified frying objects,

but if you really want to taste

the full variety fish landed in the Southwest,

you need to come to France.

Saint-Malo, for example.

Quel dommage, ain't it?

Good morning. It's a very, very early morning,

but the sun's shining and we've finally made it to Saint-Malo.

Excuse me if I'm looking a bit rough,

but the crossing was, you know, a bit heavy.

Anyway, look at this fabulous fish market we've found!

It's quite incredible!

I'm afraid it leaves English fish markets

looking very sad, by comparison.

Look, mountains of beautiful black mussels -

like pearls, they are.

And the cockles, aren't they delightful?

Do we ever see cockles in England?

Never, never, never, except in vinegar in jam jars.

And fresh prawns, and shrimps, little brown beauties. Look at them.

Pilchards, indeed.

We can't be bothered to eat them in Cornwall

where they catch them by the tonne.

Here they are in Saint-Malo in France, of course.

Other white fish is here.

Really superb little sardines, absolutely magnificent

for charcoal grilling, summer evenings and stuff like that.

This is just over the top, isn't it? It's wonderful!

Dogfish. Cooked with little sort of pink tomato sauce,

absolutely magnificent.

And skate, ray, cooked with black butter and capers and vinegar.

Absolutely magnificent.

Cod, all with which we can do is dip into batter and deep-fry.

More mussels.

What else is there? There's everything here! Oh, look...

# Hold tight, hold tight

FLOYD JOINS IN: # Hold tight, hold tight

# Ooh I could like some seafood, Mama

# Shrimpers and bites

# They're very nice

# Hold tight, hold tight

# Hold tight, hold tight

# ..Want some seafood, Mama

# Steamers and sauce

# And then, of course

# I like oysters, lobsters too

# Like a taste of fish

# When I come home from work at night

# I get my favourite dish

# Fish!

# Hold tight, hold tight

# Hold tight, hold tight

# Want some seafood, Mama... #

And look at this, this is quite incredible.

Fresh shrimps, absolutely live.

Whenever did you see those? What a treat.

And live langoustines, right next door. They'll eat everything!

Look, those things are selling so fast,

there won't be any left by the time we finish filming them.

And even the humble winkle.

Fantastic! It's fantastic!

# ..Fish, fish, fish, fish

# Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish

# Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish

# Fish, fish... #

Look! What a plate of luxury! What a table of extravagance!

This is remarkable!

These are the things I told you about in England, that we

send them all to France. And here they are.

You don't buy them, the French know what to do.

Look! It's fantastic. Live lobsters.

Nice lady here, just an ordinary lady, buying a lobster for lunch.

Pardon, Madame!

And look at these, these beautiful little crabs for making fish soup.

Absolutely incredible!

I tell you one thing that really saddens me here -

this is a fabulous cathedral for fish, but all of these lobsters,

all of the spider crabs and all of the crabs that are here,

all come from England, from Devon and Somerset and Cornwall coasts.

That's what our fishermen are doing. We're not eating it, the French are.

But well done the British fishermen for providing it anyway.

But, in fact, with all this terrific food around the place,

if I don't get myself a kitchen and start doing some real cooking soon,

I'll just go potty!

One of the charms of France is the market

and, despite the inexorable advances of the hypermarche,

street trading is still where it's at.

Shopping in France is not a once a week,

one store, one-hit exercise, like in England.

They shop daily for freshness and choice,

touching, smelling, testing the produce before they plan a menu.

What a wondrous place!

Home-made sausages, fresh vegetables,

a side of beef, a fish head, or just a bone for stock.

It's all available here.

It's also a great social occasion

and the nearby bars are filled with folk

discussing tonight's dinner,

and not the price of loo rolls or special offer coffee.

'Anyway, back to business.

'I've done the shopping, bought langoustines, mussels,

'clams and things and, of course, spent too much money. But so what?

'All I have to do now is procure a kitchen, because, of course,

'the great BBC forgot to organise

'when they planned this little mini break.

'Anyway, I'll try a bit of British charm and see how we get on.'

Six heures?

Six heures, c'est puit. OK.

SPEAKS IN FRENCH

OK. C'est bon. Entendue.

Merci beaucoup. Merci.

So, you're still with me.

If shopping around the place wasn't enough.

But, actually, you can't do much with me now, because I've borrowed this

superb kitchen and, at six o'clock, the chef is coming in and I'll

prepare a meal for him of mussels and langoustines and stuff.

But, so that you can see that properly on film in a moment

or two, I have some basic homework to get going with.

So, do excuse me.

I've got to do my little bits of preparation.

And get a few things happening.

If you want to watch, you're very welcome.

But I can't spend too much time with you

at this precise moment.

But what I can say is

it's an absolute thrill to be let loose

without any questions or complaints

in one of these fabulous French kitchens.

I do have work to do.

Now, Jacques Yves, I wonder if you could...

THEY SPEAK IN FRENCH

'It's really good fun, this television lark.

'Look, I'm talking to you, and yet I'm talking about something

'completely different at the same time.

'Anyway, I'm just making a rather standard white sauce

'with butter, flour and milk.

'You know, something you've all done before.

'So, why don't you go off and work up an appetite?'

RELAXED MUSIC

The sun is shining, the good life goes on apace.

Gently working up an appetite, these boules players will soon drift

off to eat, after they've argued the subtleties of the last game.

Life, like lobsters in France, is on the street.

But at noon, everything stops for food

and restaurants will fill with dustbin men and grand dames,

who will munch with enthusiasm plates of crab, scallops, clams and sole.

And clean their plates with bread and suck again on a claw.

Culinary sisters of mercy in the kitchens

create stunning tastes for you.

You see, lunch is so important in France.

It is the highlight of the day.

Unlike the English, where we rush to the pub

for a pint and a pie, they sip and philosophise

in splendour and encourage cooks to create even greater marvels.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your little walk around the town.

While you've been out playing, I've been really very busy.

I am now able to tell you what we're going to cook.

But, one of the secrets of French cooking

is that menus are planned after the shopping.

You don't plan a menu and then go shopping,

because you might not find the ingredients you want and you

are forced to make a compromise, which results in a bad dish.

So, if you're drifting past, like I was this morning, and you saw good

mussels or good langoustines, you buy them, then you plan a menu.

So, today's menu, the one we've planned,

is to use these langoustines.

And I'm going to cook them

in a piquant tomato sauce.

Now, the tomato sauce which is going to go with them

is a fairly complicated thing.

You need to use a liquidiser

and you need to use sugar

and chopped shallots and stuff like that.

It's a detailed recipe that you can get from any cookery book or

particularly mine, Floyd on Fish, when it comes out fairly soon.

And I've cheated a bit, because I got Jacques Yves' chef

to already make my tomato sauce for me.

Clive, this is quite important.

If you can come in close to see, that's a very smooth,

freshly-made tomato sauce.

Just make that, use a cookery book, use a recipe book.

Have some of that ready. OK.

Our other ingredients... Clive, this is a bit tricky,

you've got to wander round a bit.

..are going to be some finely chopped shallots...

..and some finely chopped parsley.

Jacques Yves's been very busy doing me some garlic, which he

has taken the little coarse bit out of the middle.

And we shall chop that up, not too finely,

really just to crush it to get the flavour from it.

OK? We need equally some olive oil,

doesn't matter what mark.

But it must be olive oil, incidentally.

Corn oil will spoil this dish.

And a little bit of hot pepper sauce or something to really

gee up the flavour of it.

OK, you've got all the ingredients.

I've had a lovely morning so far shopping.

I am desperate to get on with some cooking. So, if you can...

You know, if you need to take a break, Clive, for a second,

I'm going to the stove, follow me if you can,

and I'll start cooking this wonderful dish.

Which is, first of all, into a large saute pan,

a good dollop of olive oil.

Then we're going to chuck in our little shallots.

Note, as usual and as always,

I have the pan hot already.

Always start with a hot pan,

otherwise things will boil and not fry.

And we want these to fry.

In go the langoustines.

Like that.

Sorry to cut across you.

Little mix of salt and pepper.

You know, there's a point of honour at stake here,

because I have got to cook supper for these rather brilliant chefs,

and I want this to be the best langoustine I've ever made.

And I am going to jolly well ensure that it is.

Then, next, be a bit extravagant.

If I can find it.

Flambe au Cognac!

That really gives it the je ne sais quoi.

It's so essential to make these superb dishes.

Let that reduce a little. OK?

And then - take care not to burn yourself -

in with the tomato sauce.

We've got this unctuous, beautiful pink sauce

bubbling away there.

Let's just taste it.

Always taste things.

It's coming on extremely well so far. A bit of parsley in.

And look how the colour is.

I know we always mention colour on Floyd on Fish,

but the colour is the essence of it.

If it looks good, it's probably going to taste good.

Now, just a few dashes of Tabasco.

I'm using Tabasco, you could use

any kind of piquancy that you fancy.

And you stir those round.

Very important thing with langoustines,

cos we are cooking for gastronomes, today.

Not gastronauts, you're the gastronauts.

You know, the mythical, unidentified frying object people.

These are the real ones. So I am undercooking these langoustines.

They're going to be slightly undercooked and delicious, OK?

We'll pull them off the stove now and eat them in a minute.

Real French ale, extraordinary, isn't it? And, by God, I need it.

Do you know, Jacques Yves peering over my shoulder

has made me really nervous.

So I've sent him off to lay the table, actually.

But I've got to press on.

I've got 15 minutes left to get this mussel dish on the road,

which he's going to judge, presumably equally

as harshly as he's been looking at my langoustines.

If I can just recap on what we were doing.

When I was in the market this morning,

I couldn't resist this beautiful, fresh spinach.

Stay where you are, Clive, I'll bring it over to you.

And look how tender and young it is compared

to the stuff we get in England.

No big, thick stalks, no brown edges.

Couldn't resist it.

I know it makes a superb gratin dish.

Mussels widely available, couldn't help buying those.

And you saw me earlier,

I just cooked them off, took them out of their shells.

I got Jacques Yves to do that.

About the only thing he's done today, except make me nervous.

So they're already just lightly steamed

and taken out of their shells.

Then, the treat.

The really good treat about being here in France

was these little clams,

which cost no money so I bought a couple of dozen of those.

BANGING I steamed those...

Something breaking up over there. Can I have an assistant?

Producer, do something sensible, take that off - it's going to break.

And I couldn't resist buying these clams.

Steamed them open on an open tray on top of a hot oven.

So I've got those, which I am very pleased about.

And then, also earlier on this morning,

you saw me make my bechamel.

Well, everyone knows how to make a white sauce. That's what it is.

Butter and flour and milk.

Except, I am going to make it even richer in a moment by adding

some egg yolk and some double cream.

I cooked my spinach in the normal way,

which I'll bring over to you, Clive.

A bit hot and difficult in here, isn't it?

That has been cooked right down, with no liquid at all.

So now, if you come with me, I'll whack this in the oven

and give it the gun, because I want to get back to

being Floyd on Fish and not frightened of these Frenchmen!

So come with me. Come in, come in. We haven't got a lot of time.

Hold on that. We've got the producer working. This is absolutely amazing!

I hope it hasn't burnt your fingers, darling. Has it burnt your fingers?

He's actually in pain, holding a very hot dish.

Clive, can you come in close?

Clams... Don't worry about me at all.

Just watch the processes here.

The clams, the mussels, the spinach.

A little bit of the bechamel.

OK. Then that's on a fairly hot heat. We stir that in.

It looks a bit strange at the moment, green and going cream.

Now, stay where you are, because double cream into that

to make it really extravagantly rich.

Then, the coup de grace,

as we could say, is some egg yolk stirred in.

Now, if I can have my producer back with a dish.

Stay with it, Clive. Don't leave us now.

We've only got ten minutes before the real chef comes in.

And the pudding is going to hit the fan, as they say.

I think that's how they say, the pudding is going to hit the fan.

Tip this into a nice, ovenproof dish.

Doesn't that looked delicious?

Stir it around, so the clams and mussels

and the sauce are all equally distributed.

In fact, I haven't got it too equally distributed there,

so I'll just stir it around a little bit.

And then I've got what we call fromage rape,

grated Gruyere, this is.

But you could use Cheddar, as long as it was very fine.

But try to stay with the authentic flavours, OK? That is the dish.

And now it has to go into the oven for about five or ten minutes.

A very hot oven, mark you.

Or under the grill for four or five minutes to brown slightly.

I will do that straightaway,

because time is pressing on.

Jacques Yves will be back in a moment. He has laid the table.

His assistant chef is coming, his wife is going to be there.

This is the first time, honestly, that I have

cooked in France for French chefs in the way I'm doing it now.

Is it going to be a winner or a loser? We'll see in a moment.

RELAXED MUSIC

You don't like spinach very much, do you?

-No, no.

-No!

-Is it the way that I've cooked it, you don't like it?

-No, no.

I didn't know it was spinach.

You just don't like it.

I cooked this, and she doesn't even like spinach!

You know, what am I going to do now? What do you think of it?

-Superb.

-You like it? Honestly?

Honestly. I'll have some more.

Et vous, monsieur le chef, comment vous trouvez ma cuisine?

C'est tres bon. Tres bon.

-Vraiment tres bon?

-Ah, oui.

Regarde le camera, s'il vous plait, et repete apres moi,

-"C'est vraiment tres bon."

-C'est vraiment tres bon.

And that, for you... I am sure you understand.

You all take the Sunday Times. He actually says it's very good!

So, I think I'm halfway there.

I have been so frightened in the kitchen there.

And now, he's telling us off because I'm getting over the top,

as usual, having lots of glasses of wine

and having a fine time. I don't care.

Let's have some langoustines. How do they feel?

Tell you what, if we could find someone useful to change the plates.

Madame doesn't like spinach anyway.

C'est pas la peine de le manger si tu n'aimes pas, hein?

Mais j'aimais avant que tu me dises que c'etait des epinards.

-C'est un surpris, quoi?

-Oui!

-C'est un surpris.

-J'ai fini.

-Non, non. Oui, j'ai fini. Bon. On est presse pour temps.

That's the trouble, you see?

Television won't even let you relax and enjoy yourselves.

And that is one of the big problems with the English in general.

They will rush food.

Whereas the French take hours over eating and having a lovely time.

Do you find, when the English people come here, that they rush?

-No, they just take their time.

-They're totally decontracte? Yeah.

-They're fine.

-Well, they're on holiday.

They're on holiday, so they have got everything to go for.

Bon, mais j'espere que tu preferes les langoustines aux epinards.

Sinon, je me suicide.

But look, when you've tasted these, tell me honestly,

what I really want to know...

Passe l'assiette, s'il te plait. Merci.

If any of you are taking French lessons from me,

unless you know the people very well, you mustn't tutoie them.

It's quite rude. You must call them vous and monsieur.

But we are friends here, so it's all right.

I want you to tell me honestly, would you,

if I turned up on your doorstep,

do you think you might give me a job?

Non, monsieur, c'est parfait.

C'est parfait, oui. Non, mais ecoute.

Would you give me a job?

I mean, I've tried really hard to cook for you this afternoon,

would you give me a job?

Even peeling the potatoes? Anything?

Any time you want.

-Really?

-You speak too much.

I speak too much!

-And you don't eat enough.

-But if you work enough, it will be all right.

You see? The hard patronne that is...

She should be dressed in black

and sit in one of those little glass cases.

What a great piece of classic Keith Floyd there.

As ever on Best Bites, we're looking back at some of the great

cooking from the Saturday Kitchen archives.

Still to come on today's Best Bites,

it was Daniel Clifford's first time at the Omelette Challenge hobs,

and he was about to do battle against Kenny Atkinson.

Daniel was also keen to beat Sat Bains' time,

but would he manage it?

Find out how they both get on a little later.

The very talented Marcus Wareing cooks halibut.

He braises the fish and serves it with watercress,

coddled quail's eggs and grilled baby leeks.

And Aggie MacKenzie faced her food heaven or food hell.

Would she get her food heaven - raspberries with my baked raspberry

cheesecake, made with raspberries from her very own garden?

Or would she get her dreaded food hell - cauliflower,

with my pork pie and piccalilli picnic?

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

Now, it's time for a lesson in serving noodles. That's right.

It could only be the one and only Mr Ken Hom.

-Great to have you on the show.

-You're feisty today.

I am, I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll.

What are we cooking?

I'm going to make you work at the pineapple,

cos I've got to put you to work.

-This is pork and pineapple?

-This is lean pork fillet.

You know, a lot of people, when they eat pork,

they're worried about fat. This is really...

You're speaking to the wrong bloke, Ken!

I trim off the meat and eat the fat.

But this is really healthy.

This is perfect for him.

Perfect for you.

Except, there's a bit of a garlic in this.

Simply because, otherwise,

we won't have that oomph, you know?

But it's kind of a background flavour, isn't it, really?

I could never live without garlic.

I have always grown up with that.

So, we've got our pork. This is the pork fillet.

Can I give you that?

And what I'm going to do is just marinate that in some soy sauce.

Now, particularly, what soy sauce are using?

This is where most people have a problem.

When they go to a Chinese restaurant, it is

-not the same as cooking at home.

-I know.

But just soy sauce that you can find in any supermarket.

The dark or the light?

Well, you know, just plain soy sauce.

Usually it's just one sort.

And this is sesame oil.

We just mix that together, like that.

You can add a little bit of salt and pepper, if you want.

-Now, soy sauce is quite salty, as well.

-Exactly.

But what you want to do is,

if you're worried about salt,

there's now sort of low sodium.

You mix that together.

You see that? And what we are going to do, while that is cooking...

Now, you've got cornflour in. Why is the cornflour going in?

Well, that keeps the marinade on the meat.

OK, I am going to add our noodles there.

Egg noodles? Salted water or plain water?

Just plain water.

And what you do is just mix that and put that aside.

Now, this is his hell,

which is this garlic.

You need lots of it.

And, you know, it goes wonderful with pineapple.

It really is good.

And one of the best ways to actually chop it

is to just crush it like that.

What is it about Chinese food and fruit and meat and bits and pieces?

-Is it something that breaks down the meat?

-It's a nice contrast to meat

cos that's really light. I mean, that's really healthy.

A lot of people are so concerned about, sort of, eating well

-and this is probably one of the best ways to combine with meat.

-Yeah.

And you get your fruit at the same time.

Now, we want to heat up our wok until it's very hot,

-and that's also very crucial.

-Now, a masterclass on wok cooking.

-Yes.

One of the first ingredients that people put in is a big no-no,

which is this stuff - they put sesame oil in.

Not the sesame oil but just regular, any type of vegetable oil.

Make sure it's hot before you actually add the oil.

It could be groundnut oil, something like that?

Yes, groundnut oil, sort of sunflower oil is fine.

And you see how it's smoking like that?

You know, you don't need to call...

-Get it nice and hot.

-..our policeman over there!

-Get it nice and hot.

-Yeah, get it nice and hot like that.

And what you do is... You see how that's sizzling?

That's what you should hear.

If you don't hear that, that means your wok is not hot enough and

the meat will start steaming instead of being sort of grilled like that.

And what I like to do is, I like to also drain it

all off as soon as it's done.

-Cos it shouldn't be oily, should it?

-No, it shouldn't be oily.

But you need oil to give it a good head start.

Now, if you could chop up some spring onions for me, young man.

So what is Ken Hom up to at the moment,

cos January next year's quite interesting for you -