Letter S The A to Z of TV Cooking

You're buying your ingredients and looking forward to some cooking, but which top chef to turn to?

We've got all your favourites here. The nation's top TV chefs all in one place on The A to Z of TV Cooking.

Today we're looking at things linked to the letter S. Here's just some of what we've got on the menu.

The Hairy Bikers get hands-on with salt and Szechuan squid.

First off, I need to pull the body from the tube, like so.

Gennaro wins over Antonio with his sweet and sour bread salad.

-Oh, come on!

-Delightful.

Yeah!

And Nigel Slater serves up some sensational sea salt chocolate snaps.

We've got a triple whammy of Ss in this dish. This is the marvellous Mary Berry and she's come up trumps

cooking her beautiful salmon with a sorrel and spinach sauce.

This is sort of a Hollandaise sauce, but there's no difficulty in making it.

It will not separate. It's everlasting and it's easy.

Not as rich as Hollandaise, either.

What more could you want? It starts with a tub of low-fat creme fraiche, into the processor with one egg yolk.

Then I'm going to add the juice of half a lemon.

So it's a nice lemony sauce. And two level teaspoons of flour to thicken it.

Like that - one, two.

And then I've got some melted butter here. Half the amount you'd use in a traditional Hollandaise.

And some salt and pepper. And I know purists would always use white pepper in a white sauce,

but I like to see the flecks of black.

On goes the lid.

Whizz it together until it's all emulsified.

And that doesn't take a moment.

Then cook out the flour in a bowl over simmering water.

This is a really good sauce to make ahead. Hollandaise you've got to make at the last minute.

Often a recipe will say "gently reheat it".

Half the time, if you try to gently reheat Hollandaise, it separates.

So this is very un-temperamental.

So we have in the bowl everything except for the spinach and the sorrel.

The reason for not adding it now is if you cook sorrel and spinach and keep it hot for a long time,

it goes grey. So we'll add it at the very last minute.

While that thickens, we can get our fresh herbs ready.

I've already got the sorrel here and it's nice, young sorrel.

And it has a sharp, lemony flavour.

I'm going to take some of those stalks off. Like that. And then chop it up.

Sorrel was very popular in Tudor times,

but nowadays not many people use it. It's so easy to grow,

but the one thing you have to do is keep cutting it. The leaves get very tough if you don't.

But it's a perennial and once you've planted it, you've got it forever.

So I've chopped up the sorrel. Now the spinach. There's no stalk on the spinach. It's fairly young.

You don't have to be really fussy at doing it small. It's only a matter of working it into the sauce

at the last minute. Looking good.

Nice and frothy and fairly thick.

So we can add the sorrel and spinach, a handful of each, and stir.

I'm just going to taste that, although I tasted it before.

It might need a dash of sugar because sorrel is very, very sharp.

When you're happy with the seasoning, it's ready to serve.

Now this is a beautiful piece of salmon.

It could be salmon trout, a little halibut or sea bass.

I've cooked it in the oven with a touch of lemon juice.

It goes really well with the sorrel and spinach sauce.

And what would I serve that with? I would like that with... Small new potatoes would be good.

There's a generous amount of sauce, but I'm married to a gravy man. I always make a lot of sauce.

'And what does it taste like?'

Truly lemony, sharp and, of course, very inviting.

It's this lovely bright green colour.

Mmm. That's a bit of all right.

And I'm going back for another one!

Thanks, Mary. For our next S, it's one of my favourites.

It's squid! And these are the Hairy Bikers.

Salt and Szechuan peppercorn squid with a fragrant dipping sauce.

Oh, that accents the squid beautifully.

It's hot, it's frizzly, it's lovely

and it celebrates the squid. Now British waters are heaving

with these creatures. We've got loads of squid.

I think most people think they come from Greece or the Mediterranean. There's loads in our coastal waters.

-Our squid's great. You look at him and he doesn't immediately say, "Eat me!"

-No.

He requires preparation to make him appetising and lovely.

I'll show you how to do squid.

I've got four here and I'm going to merrily get on and butcher them.

First off, I need to pull the body from the tube, like so.

'If this makes you squeamish, you can get your local fishmonger to do it for you.'

Now peel the fins off and this kind of yucky-looking membrane and underneath you find

that wonderful pure white meat. That's what we're after.

Now look at what's inside. I've found the quill.

It looks for all the world like a quill. It looks like it's made of plastic. That's the spine. Remove it.

Next step is we slash this, open it up

and inside is a little bit of guts. See that membrane there?

Peel that off. Just tidy off the edge.

That wonderful piece of squid meat. Now on to the body.

Pull the tentacles off here, like so. I tend to pull off the big long one.

Cut them there, just below the eyeballs.

Now while Dave's butchering his squid, I'm going to prep what can only be described

-as the dipping sauce.

-But what a dipping sauce!

-Oh, what!

'Put 50ml of water into a pan along with one tablespoon of white wine vinegar

'and 100 grams of caster sugar.'

Caster sugar. 'Dissolve the sugar and boil for a minute.

'Next, take a chilli.' Seeded or de-seeded? What do you fancy? Seeded, eh?

-Oh, yeah. We like it hot.

-'Chop your chilli along with a thumb-sized piece of ginger.'

Sliced very, very finely.

'And two cloves of garlic.

'Add these to your syrup.' And we let that cook through for about a minute.

-It doesn't take long, does it?

-No.

'Then add one more tablespoon of white wine vinegar before allowing to cool.'

Have you noticed what we're doing? We're balancing the sweet and sour.

We've got sugar in there, two tablespoons of vinegar,

but also we've got a load of spice. Sweet, sour and spice go fantastically well together.

What they do is they complement each other so well that it pushes those flavours on your mouth

to the fore. It's such a great, great way of tasting each individual spice.

Let that just stand and go cool.

'Before we move on to the next stage, wash the slimy bits off the squid and get rid of any ink.'

So to get the best out of these fantastic ingredients,

we're going to have - to a dry frying pan, no oil in it -

two teaspoons of black peppercorns,

two heaped teaspoons of Szechuan peppercorns.

Now this is very interesting. Szechuan peppercorns, they're not a pepper.

They're a berry. I bet you didn't know that.

A tablespoon of sea salt flakes.

And half a teaspoon of chilli flakes.

And as we push heat through them, the natural oils that are trapped in the drying process

will be released, thus making them more pungent and a bigger, more rounded flavour.

It really is the best way to get those flavours out of those spices. They're fabulous.

Now the squid. I cut the little bunches of tentacles in half

and they're ready for frying. These big pieces, what we do is this.

In order to get a decent shape and cook them, you score them with a chequerboard pattern.

Not all the way through.

But just across like that.

Now cut those into ribbons. So just like that.

But when they cook, they're going to go like this.

And you get twists. Much easier than rings for picking up the sauce.

The way you can tell that these peppercorns are nearly ready is you can smell them.

They start to have that beautiful, beautiful fragrance.

Smell them, mate.

-Oh, yeah. Quite nutty.

-Aren't they? It's odd.

What we're going to do is put those...

-You all right, mate?

-It's a bit heavy, like. I was surprised.

Put those in the pestle and mortar.

And we're just going to grind them to a nice powder.

People talk about fast food. OK, there's a bit of faff, but we're talking about a minute or 90 seconds

to cook these squid strips out. Then you have a whole heap of them.

You sit with your dipping sauce, cold beer in one hand, that in the other. There's nothing finer.

And with all our recipes, if you notice what Dave and I are doing with recipes that are quite quick,

we're prepping everything and it's dead important, that.

It takes the stress out of your cooking and you just enjoy it more. You have a right good giggle.

-It's brilliant.

-Look at that.

-Oh-aah!

-Fabulous, isn't it?

-That's the Szechuan pepper and salt, beefed up with some black pepper

and chilli flakes. That will set the squid alight.

-Put that into a bowl.

-'Add five tablespoons of corn flour and five of self-raising flour.'

Self-raising...five. Mix that up with the spices. It's the ultimate seasoned flour.

-That's it.

-'Into your wok or medium saucepan pour 2cm of sunflower oil

-'and heat it to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.'

-That's it. We're there.

Now take a piece of squid like so,

dredge it in that wonderful Szechuan peppery melange.

Pop it in the fat and repeat. And Mr King will man the pan.

We only want this to cook for about a minute.

As Dave's dropping them in, I'm not touching them.

If you do touch them or stir them, the spice flour will fall off.

-Just leave it alone.

-'They will only need between one and two minutes.

'Try not to overcook them or they'll end up like rubber bands.'

Let's do a few tentacles next. I like these. They go like a spider that's deep fried.

Dave's dropping the squid in. It lowers constantly the temperature of the oil, so keep tweaking it.

Turn the gas up as you go through.

And the easiest way to do this is with a deep fat fryer with a thermostat. It's also safer.

But it's easier to see when it's like this.

'When the squid is done, remove from the oil and drain on some kitchen paper.

'To serve, put your dipping sauce in a bowl and garnish with finely-chopped coriander

'and a slice of lime.

'Then pile up the twists of delectably succulent squid.'

-Shall we dive in to the spice?

-Lime juice?

-Yes, please.

Look at that. It's just so nicely curly. That's how it's meant to be.

-It's coming through.

-And the texture of the dipping sauce is just enough to cling. Proper sweet chilli sauce.

Thank heaven for spice. It defines our cuisine these days.

-Yeah.

-And I'm very pleased we have it.

'They're so right about the importance of prepping.

'It makes the whole cooking experience much more enjoyable.

'If you're after enjoyment, Levi Roots is your man. And he's got an S for snapper.'

I'm so chilled that I'm going to do my easiest recipe ever.

I'm going to do my roast snapper with coconut, chilli and lime salsa.

The Caribbean sunshine kit has got just what I need to give the snapper a tangy stuffing.

Thyme, ginger and Scotch bonnet pepper. I'll be adding a fresh citrus twist

with limes and parsley. A succulent coconut salsa is the perfect partner.

I've got my fish, so let's get it scaled.

I'm using a really big snapper here because I want really nice flesh.

The bigger the snapper, the less the bone. Snapper is easy to find in the UK now.

What you need to do with your fish now so your seasoning gets right in

is give it a couple of slashes. That's one. Another one here.

Remember not to go too deep.

Right, that's looking good. Let's put it over there and start making the stuffing.

I'm going to be using some flat-leaf parsley. I would usually use coriander. It's out of season,

so there's no harm in using parsley.

And now some old friends from the Caribbean sunshine kit.

Some thyme, chopped finely. In the pan it goes.

A bit of ginger, which gives some gentle heat.

'And, of course, Scotch bonnet pepper, de-seeded and chopped finely.'

I'm going to need two limes. I'm going to use the zest to give it a nice, tangy, fresh taste.

Now the same lime - cut that in half.

And mix everything together.

That smells lovely. Right, OK. Let's get our fish back on here.

And now for our other lime. 'Rub the lime juice on the skin and inside the snapper.'

Now your snapper is ready to be stuffed.

Start with the slashes first. Really poke that in.

Get it right in there.

Now I've got some foil here to wrap my fish in.

I'm going to use a double amount of foil to make sure all the steam stays in.

And wrap it up. We're in Jamaica, so I'll do this in a jerk pan, but you can do it in the oven,

barbecue or roasting tin. Cooking time depends on the size of the fish.

That's a big fish. I'll leave it for about 40 minutes.

You're looking for the flesh of the fish to be opaque. Then you know you're on your way.

The salsa is a variation on the stuffing, but with crunchy coconut.

You need the juice of eight limes,

the zest of two limes and into this dissolve a teaspoonful of caster sugar,

some coconut shavings,

Some coarsely-chopped flat-leaf parsley or coriander.

And two de-seeded Scotch bonnet peppers, cut into strips.

That's looking delicious. I'll leave those flavours to get acquainted.

I've invited a few friends along

and the snapper seems to be going down a treat.

Mmmmm!

And do you know what? I've even thrown in the entertainment.

# Don't you give up on yourself Love will see us through... #

Time for an obvious one now. S for salad, and we've got a great dish for you here.

The Greedy Italians, with their warm sweet and sour bread salad.

-Antonio...

-Yes?

-Look at the view. It is incredible!

It is fantastic. It's called the table of Puglia.

-I'm making a bread salad. What do you think?

-Fantastic. I like bread.

Here is the bread. Double-cooked bread.

Almost like a biscuit.

It's easy. Just pour some water on top. The bread needs to drink.

That's wonderful. In summer, people, they take this bread. They squash it, ripe tomato.

A little bit of olive oil. And you have a taste of Puglia.

So I start first by cutting the carrot in small strips.

That should be enough for now. And, of course, celery.

-But remember, celery, I need to keep...

-The leaves.

-..the leaves. Only use the tender part.

They're sweet. If you use the very green ones, they're bitter.

So, again, cut it. A little strip.

Then the water is boiling. I need it to blanch a little bit.

Then I start with red pepper.

-So you cut it.

-I'm salivating.

-Then you make little strips again.

We've got red and yellow peppers.

Then we go to the shallot. Cut it.

The onions. And then garlic.

And I've got to strain it because it's almost there.

Oh...

-Now I'm going to finish off. Zucchini.

-Chop, chop, chop.

-Good.

-And aubergines.

Just a little bit with the hard skin.

-Antonio, the cats. I can hear the cats.

-I love it.

This oil, Gennaro,

it is the direct pressing of olives just brought in.

Come.

-The fruit is there. You drink and...

-I know.

If you put a little teat on top and give it to Antonio, he'll enjoy.

-I would.

-Let's put them inside here.

I'm going to start with anchovies. I'll put two fillet of anchovies.

You see? They melted away.

And then I will add some garlic and some shallots.

A few olives. OK? Then I go with yellow and red peppers.

A bit of courgette. Stir, stir, stir.

Now I will add in the aubergines.

The carrots. And the celery.

-A bit of salt...

-Not too much.

-You are right.

Because of the anchovies. A little thyme. Strip it.

And then I will start to put one tablespoon of sugar.

And now I'm going to put three tablespoons of vinegar.

Wow!

-Ah, wonderful.

-Stir it, stir it, stir it.

Let it reduce a bit. The sugar and the vinegar, they become almost like a syrup.

I add fresh basil. I do not cut it, I break it.

But I will roughly chop the celery.

-And by now the bread...

-Breaks very easily.

It breaks very easy, but it still stays in one piece. It's still a little bit al dente,

-the crunchiness, which is fantastic.

-I can already imagine.

-Go on.

-Come on, come on.

And just for you, but also for me...

-Lovely.

-I will put a few...

-Anchovies.

-..anchovies.

That's beautiful. Ah!

-Try to eat this.

-Just tell me.

-Oh, come on!

-Delightful!

Yeah!

Next, a gorgeous dish from Raymond Blanc. He's going to whip up a classic souffle,

one of those dishes that many of us find quite tricky. Raymond says it's relatively simple

and he starts this recipe by choosing the perfect cheese.

For Raymond's next recipe, a special delivery.

He needs the right cheese to make a souffle.

-Hello, Patricia.

-Patricia Michelson is a cheese connoisseur and owner

of two award-winning cheese shops in London. She's got three cheeses in mind for Raymond's souffle.

-That's for you.

-Thank you.

-That's...

-Emmental.

-Emmental Francais.

-It's got the big hole.

Very delicate. In a souffle, that would be not strong enough.

-I'll leave that one out.

-OK.

Wine, no?

Hey, Thomas.

Are you asleep?

It's for the Beaufort.

It's got such a lovely smell.

-Beautiful cheese.

-Beaufort is also good for souffle because of its floral flavour.

-It's not too heavy.

-I understand. You are trying to tell me...

Trying to tell you how to cook!

But I want a strong souffle. The Beaufort I prefer to put on the side and let's taste the Comte.

Oh, so perfect.

I'm lucky.

-It's lovely.

-That's lovely.

-Voila!

-To you, Patricia. Thank you.

-To you and to our cheese.

-Now the day is perfect.

Raymond has chosen a Comte from his native eastern France for his classic cheese souffle.

The Comte cheese souffle, I really have a huge affection for it.

It was given to me quite regularly. People say, "Souffle! Mon Dieu! C'est terrible!

"If you open the oven door, they'll collapse. If you breathe...!" Of course not.

They are so simple to make when you know what's happening.

Start by preparing a dish.

Just butter your dish and the butter will help the rise of the souffle.

OK, breadcrumbs. Look how beautiful they're coating.

They're not too fine. I want to have texture, to bite into them.

-Tres bien.

-Then begin the souffle base.

I'm going to simmer my milk here. Voila.

The butter. In here I've got 50 grams. I don't want to colour it.

I just want to melt it down. And, of course, you have your friend here.

Very close to. She is just perfect. The world is absolutely perfect.

I don't normally cook like that in my kitchen,

so it's a treat for me. It's a big treat.

When the butter has melted, add flour and whisk until smooth.

I want to give it a bit of colour, a nutty flavour to my souffle.

The flour will be nicely cooked and very digestible.

Gradually, add warm milk which has been simmering gently.

Look. That's it. No lumps whatsoever.

Then season with salt, pepper and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.

Ah, it works.

OK, a nice lump of mustard here.

That's what you are looking for in terms of thickness, no?

Next, add three egg yolks.

That gives a richness to your base.

And 160 grams of Comte cheese.

Voila.

So let the cheese melt very nicely.

I can see how shiny it is. I love to see that.

Now put the lift into your souffle with six egg whites.

I feel absolutely exhausted. I cracked so many eggs!

A bit of lemon juice here.

-Whisk until they form soft peaks.

-I'm going to be muscle man!

-Again, I'm so fit!

-An electric mixer is always an option.

You can really beat them as long as you want to. Nothing can go wrong.

Add a third of the egg whites to the warm base mixture.

-Mix very fast to lighten the base.

-The base must be warm or the mixture goes lumpy.

-Then fold in the rest of the egg whites.

-Go right from underneath.

My souffle base is ready.

Just a little bit of the Comte on top.

Voila. So 180-degree pre-heated oven.

And you cook your souffle for 20 minutes.

-While the souffle cooks, prepare a sauce.

-Voila.

Boil double cream.

-Add some Comte.

-The more cheese you put in, the more it thickens, so be careful how much you put in.

A pinch of cayenne pepper and a splash of kirsch liqueur.

This is cherry alcohol. Interesting how cherry goes so well with dessert, with cheese.

So now it is beautifully rich and lovely.

Lovely.

-Patricia, whoa! You like your cheese and you like your wine, too, eh?

-That's right.

-Sorry!

-Me, too!

Oh, isn't that perfect?

So...

So there is no guilt, OK?

Fabulous.

-Merci, Patricia.

-Thank you.

And here's another French classic. Sole meuniere.

It's so simple, says Rachel Khoo. See if you agree.

Most people think French cooking is complicated to do.

This dish is the exact opposite.

My super quick supper.

The key here is the nutty sauce to complement the subtle flavour of the fish.

I've got here a fillet of lemon sole.

I'm going to grab some plain flour, about one and a half tablespoons.

A generous pinch of salt. Two pinches.

And some black pepper. OK.

And then just grab your fillet and you kind of dip it.

This technique of flouring fish and cooking it gently in oil is called a la meuniere,

which means "of the miller's wife" because of the flour.

Give it a little pat.

Just tap it off.

OK.

Frying pan. I'm going to use sunflower oil.

So...

..that's enough.

We want to get this nice and hot.

While that is heating up, I'm just going to grab a bit of parsley.

Scrunch it up and then just run your knife through it.

This is flat parsley. I always think curly parsley kind of tickles a little bit.

OK, I think that is getting hot enough, so it's ready...

You can put it in the pan. What this should do is bubble round the edges.

Two minutes on each side should be fine. Sole is a delicate fish.

You want to be able to taste the fish. That's why you don't need many ingredients. OK, turn it over.

Yay.

I'm going to cut half a lemon. I'll need that later.

That's a beautiful, brown, golden brown colour.

OK.

And then you're just going to slide it out onto the paper.

Wrap it up to keep it warm. Just wipe off the excess in there.

Put that on the heat. A nice chunk of butter.

Now we'll make our brown butter sauce. This is a very quick sauce,

so don't go disappearing anywhere or you'll come back to a black sauce.

'As the milk solids in the butter cook, they give the butter a lovely, nutty colour and taste.

'The French call it buerre noisette, or hazelnut butter.'

You can actually smell the butter starting to cook. It should get this light, toasty flavour.

OK, so that is done.

Watch out. I'm going to add the lemon. It's going to...

..splash a little bit.

The lemon goes in. Parsley.

And then...

..just going to add a good tablespoon of capers.

Right, that's the sauce done. Get a plate.

Unwrap your fish. Slide the fish on there. And put the sauce on top.

You can finish off with a bit more parsley on top. And a little slice of lemon.

And that's it. C'est tout.

That's supper in a couple of minutes.

Who said French cooking was complicated?

Now S is for semolina.

Many may automatically flinch at the thought of it,

but this is an amazing dish from Anjum Anand, totally different from what you might expect.

'Although the people of Dorset will certainly have come across tandoori cooking,

'one dish they may not be familiar with is my delicious savoury semolina cake.'

It's just really light and fresh and full of vegetables.

It's a perfect teatime snack. If I could ask you to weigh the semolina

and you could just give me 165 grams in here. That's fine.

Perfect. So let me get some yoghurt out of the fridge.

I'm going to use really good quality, fresh, whole yoghurt. I really want this to be slightly rich.

It doesn't have much butter or oil and you need to make it slightly moist.

If we just grate half. Half of that should be enough.

'It might seem strange to Western taste buds, but adding vegetables to a cake is traditional

'in any Gujarati household.'

And just chop them up into not too small pieces.

But slightly even. Add those in.

In they go. 'I'm also putting in some frozen peas,

'some grated ginger and mix.'

All we need now is a little bit of tarka. Tarka.

Tarka is heating some seeds up or some spices up in oil and just adding it on top.

-So the process is called tarka?

-Yeah. Or tempering.

-I've heard of that! I've heard of tempering.

-Tarka is the Indian word for that.

-All right.

-Some cumin seeds.

Mustard seeds. And sesame seeds. This is a very Gujarati dish, actually.

They like their things to be slightly sweet and savoury and use a lot of mustard seeds.

They use a lot of sesame seeds also.

You bite into a little season. It gives you a new flavour. Delicious.

Just be careful. Whenever you're making a tarka or tempering spices,

you want to heat the oil up so the seeds get in the hot oil, but not so hot that they burn.

They become bitter really quickly.

I'm going to pour that in there.

-Can you smell all the seeds and flavours?

-Gorgeous.

-That flavour will go right into your food

and flavour the entire batter.

A bit of bicarb of soda. Half a teaspoon's worth.

And then...

the trick is to mix it, pour it into your pan and straight in the oven.

And then I'll sprinkle some sesame seeds on top, which will roast and toast in the oven.

-So it'll look nice.

-Beautiful. With a little crunch as you bite.

If you could just spoon it out. Thank you.

-Take our sesame seeds.

-I love that combination of sweet and salt.

So it'll take about half an hour. I'll have a check with the skewer.

-At times like this I get peckish. I want the cake now. Patience!

-Shall we check it?

-Yeah.

-It should be done.

-What's that stick for?

If the skewer comes out clean, with no batter, it's done. So it's done.

-Not burning.

-Oh, wow.

-Oh, that looks yum.

-See all the beautiful moistness and the peas...

-It smells so good.

And it's crusty.

Shall we?

-I think that's yummier when it's hot.

-It's good cold, too.

Our final S is that kitchen essential salt,

so crucial to so many dishes, but we've chosen one where you might not expect to find it.

Let's find out more from Nigel Slater.

'I love any excuse to experiment and dreaming up a sweet recipe for Surf and Turf

'has given me the perfect chance to play.'

You'd have to be a more adventurous cook than me to make Surf and Turf pudding,

but I do like the idea of salt and sugar together.

'To get as close to Surf and Turf as I can in a dessert, I'm going to try mixing chocolate

'with some sea salt to make a wonderful treat. Let's call them sea salt chocolate snaps.

'It starts with one of my favourite things to do in the kitchen.'

There's something I love about melting chocolate and yet one thing I'm asked a lot is how to melt it.

I'm told the easiest way is in a microwave, but I like to do it the old-fashioned way

with the chocolate broken into small pieces over a pan of simmering water.

And I don't poke or prod or stir.

I just leave the chocolate to melt itself.

I absolutely love pistachio nuts. They remind me of being on holiday.

Just sitting there with a drink as the sun goes down, shelling wonderful little nuts.

'A handful of any chopped nuts will be great for this recipe.'

It's worth keeping an eye on the chocolate

and just pushing the unmelted chocolate down into the melted.

So no stirring. Just pushing the solid into the liquid.

Once the chocolate's started to melt, you can actually turn the heat off.

The residual heat will do everything we need.

'I also fancy throwing a couple of handfuls of toasted almonds in, too.'

This really isn't the time to do other things. I know it's tempting.

But they burn in a heartbeat, they really do.

'With the almonds a golden brown, a sprinkling of sugar will add

'a lovely, toasted caramel flavour.'

It's extraordinary how nuts straight from the jar taste of almost nothing

and then give them some warmth and a tiny bit of sugar and they taste amazing and smell like Autumn.

'Once they're glistening and smelling sweet, they're done. Now comes the bit I love.

'Just spoon the melted chocolate onto some greaseproof paper.'

I think these are much nicer when the chocolate is really thin and crisp.

And there's no right or wrong chocolate for this.

If you like milk chocolate, use it.

But I like the idea of chocolate that's quite dark and bitter with the sugar.

And the nuts.

'This is where you've got to work fast while the chocolate is soft.'

You don't need many of these. You don't even need them at all.

It's just that I like having two flavours of nuts.

And then the salt. This is where the surf comes in.

I love the idea of the flakes of salt

and the sugar and then they'll be earthy chocolates.

And then I just fancy something...

..something silly. I'm going to put some...

..crystallised rose petals on. Could be violets.

The thing about crystallised rose and violet petals is that they're really sugary.

So what you get is little explosions of sugar and salt in your mouth at the same time.

And then, of course, the deep earthiness of the chocolate. That's as near as I get to turf.

'These are at their best chilled and crisp. Just 15-20 minutes in the fridge ought to do the trick.

'I can't wait to see how these turn out.'

It's extraordinary - the grittiness of the sugar,

the little grains of sea salt, the toasted nuts and then the gorgeous melted chocolate.

That's really, really wonderful.

And you get fingers to lick as well.

These are a must make for everyone.

Trust me. That sprinkling of salt really is the icing on the cake.

Well, that's all the cooking we've got time for today.

A big thank you to all our wonderful chefs and please make sure you join me for more magical moments

here on The A to Z of TV Cooking.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd