Cornwall The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain

-We're the Hairy Bikers.

-We're finding recipes to rev up your appetite.

We're riding county to county to discover, cook and enjoy the best of British.

-Come on.

-Hey!

We're here to define the true taste of Cornwall.

-That was a long run.

-Cornwall!

Land's End, to be specific. I wonder what we are going to find here.

It's got to be the Cornish pasty.

But it's got the longest coastline of any county in Britain.

Well, that's a hint in itself - sea food.

And an exclusive climate that leads to interesting produce.

Shall we go for a rummage?

-Aye.

-Shall we have a cup of tea first?

-A Cornish cream tea, ooaw!

On our quest to define the true flavours of Cornwall,

we get crimping at the Eden Project and serve up a county favourite that everyone wants a bite of.

We find our sea legs and go in search of the forgotten treasures of the deep.

When we stop off for a brew, it's a shock to find tea growing in England.

And representing Cornwall in the cook-off is Kevin Viner.

Will we be able to beat him using the county's finest ingredients?

-What's the time?

-Oh, man, don't ask.

Why are we going to Fowey.

It's pronounced "foy", dude. You'll see, it'll be great.

Look at these narrow streets - it's proper kind of smugglers' Cornwall.

Apparently on a good day you can see Rick Stein.

I'm in the sea.

Enough dilly dallying. We are on a mission.

We need to find out what these good people of Cornwall fill their bellies with.

-It's got to be fruits of the sea, we're standing in it.

-What do we eat in a town like this?

-Pasty.

-It's got to be pasty.

-Oh, it's the best thing. Can't beat a Cornish pasty.

-No surprise there.

But we know there's other great produce in Cornwall. How about hog's pudding? But what's in it?

Pork, mixed herbs, bit of pepper, bit of salt, bit of rusk.

-Well, I will give you a bit to try.

-Oh, hey.

-That's lovely.

-That's great.

Best time to eat it, straight out of the boiler when it's been cooked.

On a Sunday, I'll have it for breakfast.

Don't blame you, it's lovely.

How do you have it with your breakfast? Bit of bacon in it?

It depends how much I've had to drink the night before!

Do you have any interesting cheeses? I've heard of the Cornish Yarg.

-Yeah we've got a couple.

-This is with wild garlic, yeah? That's fabulous.

Soft in texture.

-Oh, yeah.

-Have some of this on your toast at home.

Being a coastal county, there must be plenty of offerings from the water.

Particularly Fowey's fish, lovely fish.

I mean, the river here, then they've got mussel beds. So, the Fowey mussels are everywhere.

-Crab's good.

-Yeah.

-Cornish crab is famous all over the world.

-Yeah, lovely.

-Karen, what meat are we eating?

-That's fresh white crab meat.

Locally caught crabs, mostly claw meat, hand picked.

So, why is your sea food so good in Cornwall?

We've got a really good fishing fleet over at Looe, who go out daily for us.

Land their fish in the evening, it's auctioned in the morning, really good quality.

-And it's really, really fresh.

-What is great Cornish food?

Fresh fish and saffron cake, not together.

Rumour has it you've got great saffron cake.

-Do you want me to cut you a slice?

-Yeah.

We make it in a loaf tin. It's authentic Cornish product. Saffron's about £1,200 a kilo.

-More expensive than gold.

-Yeah!

If you have too much saffron it becomes perfumey. You've got to have it just right.

-Nice?

-Oh, yeah, that's great man.

I think we've hit the jackpot in Cornwall. It's fantastic. The fish is unbelievable.

The produce from the land - fantastic.

One thing we've got to nail.

Well, you wouldn't go to the moon and not talk about craters.

And you canna come to Cornwall and not talk about pasties, can you?

Daniel, I know we've eaten half your shop but what makes a good pasty?

You've got to have the best ingredients going in them.

Plenty of meat in it, because some people put hardly any.

-What type of meat is it?

-Rump skirt with a bit of fat in it.

Some people cut the fat off but you don't get

-the nice gravy at the bottom.

-Nice bit of skirt meat.

-Skirt meat.

-A little bit of turnip.

-Yes.

-And potatoes.

-Carrots, swede, potato.

-You put carrots in?

-No carrot?

-I don't think so.

-I will allow you to put leeks in.

-Got a lovely bit of crimping there.

-It's got to have a nice crust.

-Something to hold on to.

-Nice crimping action.

You don't want it on the top, you want it on the side.

-Oh, round the edge?

-Yeah!

-Are you a kinky topper or a crispy rounder?

Kinky topper.

-Plenty of seasoning, too.

-Not too much pepper as well.

Knob of butter.

Right, knob of butter.

So this, to you, is the people's pasty?

It is. I'm bound to say that.

THEY LAUGH

It looks like no-one can agree on a traditional recipe.

Bring on pasty expert, Phil Ugalde.

It's all uncooked when it goes in and the pastry case, it actually steams it inside.

-So, you'd never blanch your potatoes or your swede?

-No, no it's all raw.

-Would you ever put parsley in the pasty?

-No.

-Right.

Nor carrot.

-No carrot?!

-Absolute crime.

-Can we have a bite?

-Course you can.

-That's the business.

-That's top.

This is the prince among pasties.

-It is.

-Yeah, I get it.

The locals have spoken and we've got our ingredients sorted.

It's time to get cooking and in this weather, where better

than one of Cornwall's most famous landmarks, The Eden Project.

Here's me thinking it was three hippies and a shed.

-This is like James Bond for vegetarians.

-Can't they do anything about the weather?

It's got to be warmer in there.

We are attempting the perfect Cornish pasty stuffed full of beef skirt, potato, onion and turnip.

-Don't they call it swede down here, dude?

-You could be right, Kingy.

-Hello, Cornwall.

-Hello, Cornwall.

-CROWD:

-Hello!

-How are you?

We are at the Eden Project. It's the biggest greenhouse in the world.

It looks like a honeycomb, doesn't it?

-Look at it. This is the Mediterranean sector, they've got lemons growing on trees.

-Oh, what?

What are we doing this afternoon? We are doing a Cornish pasty.

We've asked experts, historians, it's been great. What we are saying is, as far as pasties go...

This is the pukka pasty of Cornwall.

Should I make the pastry?

-Yes, and I'll do the filling.

-It's very specific, the filling, isn't it?

There's a lady over here looking at me with a beady eye.

It's like trying to cook in front of your mam.

She's undercover from the pasty police.

-She is.

-It's made with beef skirt, taters, turnip and onion. No parsley, apparently.

No, that's just for decoration to make the turnip look nice.

The crust however, we are sticking with the shortcrust and you're going to love it.

First, 450 grams plain flour.

Two teaspoons of baking powder.

About half a pack of butter, cut that into chunks.

Some good Cornish sea salt.

Separate an egg, then pop it in.

And process it until it all goes to breadcrumbs.

Add the water until a ball appears.

Be careful because it goes all at once. There she goes.

Yes, what a ball!

There we have it - shortcrust pastry.

Don't want to handle that and it's going to be easier to work if it's cold.

So, wrap it up in cling film, put that in the fridge for about half an hour.

And here's one I did earlier. The pastry's rested. It's chilled.

We are doing eight big pasties, so there should be enough for everybody to have a nibble.

Now, am I going to get eight pasties out of this frugal piece of pastry?

No way.

What do you mean one?

Oh, that had to come from a fat lad! Good lad!

-No, that's about right.

-It's too little.

This quantity of pastry should make about six pasties.

-Now, what I'm going to do is cut the turnip.

-It's a swede!

It's a turnip!

Any chefs in?

CROWD LAUGHS

Look at that, that is a lovely bit of skirt.

CROWD LAUGHS

-It's worth it, though.

-So worth it.

-We are going to chop it, not mince it.

-The potatoes are coming.

Diced bits, like that.

-Oh!

-I think that's enough potatoes, don't you?

-Why not.

This is just about the right amount of meat for six pasties.

CROWD LAUGHS

Now, we want the seasoning to go right through the pasty,

not in dribs and drabs. So, we are going to season each entity.

-First, put some flower on the meat, so hopefully we'll get a nice thick gravy.

-Good Cornish salt, this.

-Salt's great.

-It's got to be peppery as well, hasn't it?

Yeah. We're gonna need more. Smelling nice.

It is, isn't it? It's good.

Now we need egg, for an eggy wash.

Now, the crimping. There's a lot of trouble with crimping, isn't there?

One expert pasty maker said, they start off and crimp it in the middle,

then roll it onto the side and roll it over.

Ooh, she's got a face like sucking bitter lemons, there.

What was that about, missus? Is that not...?

-No, definitely not.

-He said, you got a good stack of meat, you see.

Put the ingredients in the middle and then rolled it over.

I would have thought you filled half and put over and rolled up.

-Shall we try?

-Yes. Go on, then.

-Watch the expert.

-Let's give it a go, eh?

-All right.

-Oh!

-What do you reckon, Kingy?

-That's it, dude, you've got it.

-Then the swedenip.

-Yes.

Le onion.

-Onion.

-I thank you.

-Thank you.

-And then the meat. It is nice actually, skirt. Are we happy?

A teaspoon of water just to keep it juicy and for extra richness, a dab of butter.

These are all authentic tips described by Cornish folk. We are not inventing things. Eggy wash.

-Good eggs in Cornwall.

-They have.

Oh, now I know it's on the top, it's only temporary.

Please don't shout.

-What's that?

-Don't talk, just go mate, go.

-Is she cursing?

-No, she's not cursing.

-This expert said you crimp like this. Trust me, roll with me, roll with me.

-He's a pastry doctor.

CROWD LAUGHS

-I am the pastry padre.

-You need to be.

-Look at that. You see?

All we need to do now - lots of eggy wash

and bake the little beauties.

Now, a little bird tells me that there are some people who reckon they are expert crimpers.

Chef from the Eden Project - step up to the oche.

Come on, come on, come on.

APPLAUSE

-What's your name?

-Emily.

Emily, crimp my pasty.

That is perfect.

That deserves a round of applause, that. That is brilliant.

We need to put a hole in them, don't we?

Because if we don't, they'll explode.

They will. These are a well packed pasty.

I think we can take that plunge now.

All we need to do now is put these in a medium to hot oven for any time ranging from 20 minutes to an hour.

CROWD LAUGHS

55 minutes. I reckon they are done.

-If they are not done now...

-They are never going to be done, are they?

-Be brave.

Tell you what - they're hot.

They look like Cornish pasties.

Look at them beauties.

Look at that! A proper pile of pasties via Penzance, Polperro and a bit of Padstowe.

CROWD CHEERS

The traditional pasty isn't just a county classic, it's world famous.

-If we get this wrong, they'll have us in a pasty.

-Smells good.

-What they call a proper job in Cornwall.

-It's beautiful.

-Superb.

-Look at all that meat.

-How does this rank as a Cornish pasty?

-Proper.

It's one of the best I've ever had, certainly.

Oh, have another piece, sir.

-Very nice.

-What do you reckon?

-Really nice.

-Good!

-Hey!

Oh, go on, take the big 'un.

Just like my gran's.

-Just like your gran's?

-It's good.

-That's a great compliment.

-Dig in, guys.

-You can't beat butter pastry.

Strong and delicate, like the chefs.

-Ah, you sweet-talker!

-Have you paid her?

You could smell it was good as you came along with the plate.

-Yeah, I think the turnip gives the pasty so much.

-Swede!

-Swede!

THEY LAUGH

-Very good, mate. Well done!

-I thought I'd chance my arm.

I'm so chuffed.

We had a lot to live up to, but our pasty and Emily's expert crimping was a real hit.

Ooh, now we're up against a county legend of a different kind.

As always, we are taking on one of the county's top chefs in their restaurant,

using local ingredients to see who can define the taste of the region.

It will be up to local diners to decide whose dish best represents the true flavours of Cornwall.

Our opponent today is multiple medal winning, Kevin Viner.

No-one knows what the county has to offer better than him.

He works closely with local food producers and farmers to ensure Cornwall's diners

always get the best and the freshest on their plates.

I moved to Cornwall to open a restaurant in '89,

it seems a million years ago now, but it worked.

Within three years, we got the first Michelin star in Cornwall.

Local produce down here is absolutely amazing.

It's one of the biggest secrets in the UK. The deer here are bigger than Scotland's

cos of the milder weather. They are fabulous.

And then the fish - I mean, you get bass like this.

Sometimes I can't use it. It's so fresh you have to give it a day to relax.

I've done culinary competitions.

I represented Great Britain around the world.

I've won 63 gold medals, five bronze and 12 silver.

I won the National Chef Of The Year of Great Britain.

The following year, I got nominated as one of the top ten chefs of the decade.

To take on the Bikers, my taste of Cornwall is local poached monkfish

in Cornish red wine, using saffron and pickled celeriac.

It's just a lovely combination.

-Kevin.

-Hello.

-You're a Cornish institution.

-I know, it's sad isn't it?

-He's got more medals, him, than Montgomery.

Look, I've got my sleeves rolled up, dude.

Proper warfare.

So, what out of Cornwall's bounteous larder have you got in your armoury?

-Well, I thought I'd go nice and simple and take your challenge on with a little baby.

-Wow.

-She's a beauty, isn't she?

-She is.

For the viewers at home this is a monkfish, isn't it?

That's a monkfish.

So, what's the title of your dish?

Monkfish poached in Cornish red wine with a beurre blanc of Cornish champagne,

with saffron, pickled celeriac cooked in Cornish seaweed out of the Helford this morning.

-That sounds very good, actually.

-Come on, then.

Shall we prepare this, then?

I'm sure you've done a monkfish.

Not of that size.

You've got to get rid of the membrane, haven't you?

Yeah. It's also... It's a bit like a shark.

It's got a cartilage down here. There is no actual bone, so it's really meaty.

-Do you want me to hold that?

-Go on, then. There we go.

-You can see just pure meat now.

-That's quality, isn't it?

Oh, look at it, man. It's just superb, isn't it?

Fish is the ultimate fast food.

-It's instant.

-If you get fresh fish, apply fire and you've got something in two minutes.

Right, we've got to get a move on.

-So, that goes there and that goes there.

-Look at that.

It's like a family joint. So, what are you doing next, Kev?

I'm getting things ready for my beurre blanc.

So, I'm just chopping the shallots and then I've got to go through and do some tomatoes and cucumber

and pickle my celeriac as well.

I am going to skin these but not blanch them, put them in boiling water.

I'm just going to skin it like a fish.

Right. Celeriac.

Anything you can do with a potato you can do with this.

-You can mash it, poach it, grill it, chip it...

-Pickle it.

So, I'm going to pickle it today.

There's quite a lot of waste in celeriac, isn't there?

All of this could be washed well, chopped up with onions and tomatoes and make a lovely soup.

Then puree it. Don't need to throw any of that away.

I am just going to cut this really, really thin now.

Basic knives, these. Just keeping them sharp is the trick.

You've got to keep an eye on it and get this really thin.

-Yeah! Look at that, eh?

-He's a boy, isn't he?

-Sod the Japanese, we can do it, too.

-THEY LAUGH

-There we go, that's all julienne.

-So, how do you pickle it?

Simple. I've got some white wine here, lemons, sea salt...

..and a touch of olive oil.

I don't really want it to boil, I just want the heat to penetrate

so it opens all the pores and all the pickles go in.

And the other little thing that is going to go in now is my saffron. Brought this up to the boil.

-And that's saffron just infused with a bit of water.

-No, that's with wine.

-Right.

I want to get it out of the pan

-because I don't want it to cook any more.

-You want that crispness to it.

Yeah. Well, here's my cucumber.

It's a monster.

But cucumber when it is very lightly cooked is great, especially at this time of the year.

I'm building up colour for the dish. Here we go.

Now, I've just cheated a little bit. I've reduced some red wine already

with a bit of shallot and parsley.

Now, I'm going to use some of my Cornish red wine and that's going to be my poaching liquor. There we are.

-Oh, we're competing, aren't we?

-He's a one, isn't he?

Another little thing that is going to go in here is my fish stock, which I made a little bit earlier.

That goes on to get cooking. Right, I'm going to do some grapes now.

These are going to go in raw.

-There's a classic fish dish that changed my life, sole Veronique.

-Yeah.

It was one of those moments when as soon as I put it in my mouth, it's affected my cooking.

Did your mam do that?

Yeah, that is funny you said about the sole Veronique changed your life.

It was a plaice Veronique that got me going.

My mum was disabled, so my dad had to take the cooking on after about 40-odd years in industry.

He got the cook book out and it was for sole Veronique.

Well, he'd done it with plaice and we tasted it and thought, this is all right, it's kind of like the future.

And it is since that point that I started cooking with my father.

So, I could say it kind of kicked me into it as well.

-These things are important.

-Yeah.

They make the difference.

I've got those ready. Right. Now, I'm going to make my beurre blanc.

-So, that's shallot and champers.

-Mm-hmm.

So, I'm going to poach the fish in here.

My secret ingredient is Cornish seaweed out of the Helford this morning.

-This is a bit too tough to eat.

-It's like ozone.

It's chewy. It's lovely for flavour but not to eat.

-My sister just picked this this morning.

-It's not on, Dave!

-A bit more fish stock.

-He's got his sister out plucking seaweed.

That's coming up to temperature. This is a combination of chicken and veal stock.

Now, this has got to go into my pan. And that's going to reduce down now.

And that's going to have some of my red wine in as well.

It's going to be a nice dark colour.

Now, a lovely herb for this sort of thing, goes well with red wine, is tarragon.

I'm just going to put a little bit of that in.

Cos the red wine's quite powerful, I'm gonna put spring onion in rather than shallot.

Just a tiny bit. What I'm doing, I'm constructing little steps of flavour.

-Yes, yes.

-So, that goes in.

With herbs, scissors are really good. You don't want to bruise them.

This is Greek basil, because it is a lot smaller and tenderer.

Get all this prepped up.

Oh, isn't this delicious?

A little bit of sea salt, olive oil.

This is going to take about ten minutes.

I may even leave it slightly medium rare.

-Yeah.

-If we can get away with it.

That's going to go into my stock.

The judging panel might be people who like their fish well done.

-I've turned the lights down.

-Ahh!

-Now, I've got my shallots.

-And that's for your beurre blanc.

-For my beurre blanc.

I'm going to put a bit of saffron in this.

Just a tiny bit.

I don't want it to be bright yellow.

-Now, a little bit of butter in life is good, isn't it?

-Ah, yes.

If I whisk this in now, hopefully everything will be cool.

So, it's coming together now, boys.

-It's not too yellow, is it?

-Heaven.

I am going to sacrifice this - I'm going to strain it in a while.

Let them infuse.

So, what I'm trying to do is, I'm playing with all your taste buds, aren't I? All the textures.

I need a little bit of this to warm the cucumber in.

A little bit of sea salt, a little bit of lemon juice.

OK, let's have a little look at this. That's there, I think.

-It's not actually how I expected it.

-No, it's not as red as I thought.

Because I've had some red wine poached fish before and it was kind of liverish.

-I could do it more but it becomes too liverish.

-I was hoping

-yours would end up like that.

-Oh, right.

-We were!

We were kind of banking on it, really.

-Parsley beurre blanc.

-Do you rest that fish like you would rest a joint?

Yeah. The red wine sauce.

Here's my little bit of champagne now.

Just going to warm this up, not cook.

-Have a little smell, it's gorgeous. Smell Pimms?

-Summer.

-Yes!

Lovely flavour, isn't it? There goes in that lovely basil.

Now, I'm going to take this. Give it a light squeeze and that's going in.

The pickled celeriac.

Then in goes our grapes, connecting it with the wine.

-That would make a nice vegetarian dish on its own.

-It would.

-Oh, look at that.

-Oh, look at that. It's just cooked nice, isn't it?

-Yeah, funnily enough.

KEVIN LAUGHS

In goes our tomato.

Just a touch of basil so that the eye tells them what they are getting. There we go.

That goes round the dish.

-That's it, boys.

-What's it called, chef?

-Hairy Biker Surprise.

THEY LAUGH

Nice thought, Kev, but the dish is actually monkfish poached in red wine on a bed of pickled celeriac.

Looks great, doesn't it?

Yeah, I think these are sauces that are meant to be used.

-Everything he does is for a reason.

-Yeah, very clever cuisine, isn't it?

Just think of the best fish you've ever tasted. That's what it's like.

When you get the pickled celeriac, it nips through the fish.

Like putting lemon juice on fish.

Think of that bit more refining and you've got pickled celeriac.

-This one's not going to be easy.

-No, it's not.

-No.

Because that's superb.

But it's the locals who will decide whose dish is best in a blind tasting coming up.

That monkfish was really impressive.

That's the thing about Cornwall, all the fish is really impressive.

Let's fight fire with fire and get the best sea food we can.

Do you know what that means? An early start in Newlyn fish market.

This is Newlyn harbour, where they've been exporting fish since the 16th century.

-Man, the fleet's massive, isn't it?

-It certainly looks alive and prospering, doesn't it?

-It does, aye.

Let's see if we can get some fish.

-Oh, that's good, isn't it?

-Wo-ho!

Paul Trudgen has offered to show us around.

-Welcome to Newlyn.

-Thanks very much.

It's a quiet market this morning. Just auctioning right now.

-They bid on it and then put their tickets in the boxes.

-What are the prices like?

Today, only two boats landed. They are fairly high.

-What sort of variety do you get?

-We are blessed in Cornwall.

Something like 50, 60 species of fish and sea food landed every day down off the south west coast.

Just look in all the different boxes. You've got lemon sole, megrim...

-What's that Paul?

-Spotted ray.

-Conger eel.

-Yes. We've got John Dory.

I love John Dory. St Peter's thumbprint, there. From the Bible.

Gurney is another species readily available down here.

And that's a good fish to cook whole because it comes off the bone really well.

Easy eat, isn't it?

There's a huge amount of fish and shellfish down here, whether it be megrim or spider crabs

or whatever, that we haven't developed a taste for yet in this country.

-Spider crab is so lovely.

-Most of it ends up in Spain and Portugal.

We've got some cuttlefish that landed this morning.

All of this is cuttle that has been landed overnight or yesterday. All off the south west coast.

-I've only ever seen cuttlefish on the menu in Europe.

-Will this go to France and Spain?

-This will almost entirely go to Europe today.

-Today.

But a fish's journey from swimming to sizzling doesn't begin here.

Every day, fishermen cast off and take to the sea in the hope of a cracking catch.

So we're donning life jackets and climbing aboard and we've even got our own skipper, Jeremy.

-This is my boat, Alison Louise, named after my wife.

-Oh, fab.

Shiver my timbers. I've got my sea legs. Arr!

Yuck...

-Right boys, are you ready for this?

-Oh, yes.

-Get ready to haul critters.

-Wahey!

-What's in it?

-Yes, a big lobster and a crab.

-How about that?

-Oh, fantastic, look at him.

That is well undersize, that crab, but it's worth having a look at. That's a brown edible crab.

-He's too small, so he's going back.

-Another lobster, goodness me! You boys have got a bit of luck.

-Hey haven't we?

-You have.

-Look at that.

-That's the best fishing I've had all year.

-That is a female spider crab.

-Yes.

-All the meat's in the legs with this, but what you get is so sweet.

-Unbelievably good.

-Don't be afraid of him. Actually, it's a female. I'd be afraid of it.

-Oww!

-Oh, look out!

-Oww! He's undersized!

-He is undersized.

What I love is, there's an element of respect for what you do and what you catch.

The fishermen themselves are involved in the sea and the produce of the sea and the danger

of the sea all the time and the fishermen genuinely respect the place where they go to work.

And it's a wonderful job.

How many pots a day would you do in the season?

Well, we are looking to do 200 in a day.

I tell you what, when you get home at the end of the day, you are not fit for very much.

-I bet you're not!

-Good tea and into bed.

I don't know about you, Kingy, but all that sea air has made me hungry.

Good job I've arranged for local chef, Adam Clarke, to cook up some Cornish catch.

-I'd love to try the megrim. That's new to me.

-It's particular to this area?

Absolutely. The Cornish sole.

-That has a lot of taste, it's beautiful.

-And now the cuttlefish.

-Beautiful taste.

-That's sweet.

Really good eat. That's a good looking fish. Do you get much grey mullet down here?

That's a fish that's very often caught in the winter.

The red mullet's lovely, but we are looking for a fish we could get a big steak out of.

We've landed some silver mullet that you guys can have if you want to cook with that.

It's growing in popularity. We're selling more. We're fighting over it!

Get off, you! Did you see that? He whipped it off my fork!

Silver mullet it is, then.

A parve of it would be perfect.

Now, a parve is a French way of saying a square piece of fish.

It would be a shame to let those spider crabs go to waste as well.

They'd make a great Cornish crab risotto.

Finished off with scallops smoked in tea.

And not just any old tea. Tea that's grown right here in Cornwall at the Tregothnan estate.

-Hello.

-Hello, sir. How are you?

-Welcome to Tregothnan.

-Thank you very much.

Brewmaster Jonathon Jones has offered to show us around his secret garden.

-The tea garden.

-This is fantastic.

-This is the Cornish tea without the cream.

-You've seen tea in India.

-Yes, in the Cardamom Hills.

-But bigger leaf - these are the China-type leaves.

Most people say they are the best but they are smaller. They give you good stuff.

You can pluck some if you want.

You don't pick tea, you pluck it.

Bushes like this are coming on for ten years old and could produce tea for the next 400 years.

So, the tea plant is a perennial plant.

Perennial, evergreen, and this is a kind of camellia. Not many people know the tea they drink is camellia.

-I have to say, I didn't know that.

-It says something about the Cornish climate.

It does. This is a very cleverly thought out wall garden.

It catches the micro climate from Falmouth. Even when there's frost in Cornwall, this gets hardly anything.

This is putting the English into English tea, that's how we think of it.

-Fantastic, if these walls could talk.

-Imagine.

A bit of a monsoon today, I'm afraid.

One minute it's sunshine, the next it's pouring!

-Time for a cup of tea.

-You're not wrong.

-This is a quick tea tasting.

Earl Grey is added to citrus bergamia with the tea leaves.

A few grams in there. We are doing a green tea as well, which is one of my favourites.

You put the boiling water in here and leave it for four minutes.

-And that's the optimum, isn't it?

-That's right. Gives you a good strong brew.

So, it's a quick mini processing here.

This is how it would be done in China, very small scale.

You lay them out and they wither, allowing the leaf to soften.

What happens next is, you've got to roll it.

What you are doing is rupturing the cells in that leaf, forcing the juices

-and the chemicals to react.

-All the oils.

Exactly. What we are doing here is producing real tea out of camellia

and depending on how you process it, it gives you different types of tea.

Afternoon tea, green tea, all starts from the same leaf.

They then oxidise and start to turn brown.

After 20 hours you end up with leaves like that

and after 36 hours they start to look like that.

So, 36 hours from bush to cup.

Do you like green tea?

-Yes.

-Right, do you want to taste this one?

The proper way is to take a spoon.

You try to blow the air through the back of your throat.

That gives you a maximum of vapour in tasting.

-That's disgusting.

-Back of the throat.

You don't have to spit it out.

Well spat!

-Quite sweet.

-It's lovely. Actually, what a great way to taste tea.

HE CHOKES

THEY LAUGH

It went down the wrong hole.

That's lovely, isn't it?

Full of flavour.

Try the Earl Grey, then.

-Mm.

-Earl Grey now.

THEY LAUGH

The whole idea is not to breathe it, it's to drink it.

-Try one of the herbals, lemon verbena.

-Right.

By George, he might have it.

Oh, yeah.

-Now, that I'm not spitting out. I like that, it's lovely.

-Could you use that in cooking?

We are going to do some tea-smoked scallops.

Which one of your teas could we marry with that?

Two things spring to mind. Either Earl Grey or the lemon verbena.

I think the Earl Grey for an authentic tea-smoked taste.

-We want proper tea.

-From the eighth great grandson of Earl Grey.

Thank you. I'll never look at a cup of tea again the same. Shall we go for coffee?

-Here we go.

-What do you reckon? We've got Cornwall's finest, freshest, fruitiest fish.

Beautiful. You don't have to go to a fishmonger,

you can get them straight out of the water.

-Just stab them.

-They are amazing creatures.

-Shall we tell you what we are going to cook?

-Get my juices...

Yeah, just to kind of titillate your fantasies.

We are doing a spider crab, lemon and lemon thyme risotto.

-Lovely.

-Topped off with Cornwall's finest tea-smoked scallops.

Then parve of silver mullet, otherwise known as grey mullet, with a beurre noisette.

-Oh, beurre noisette's my favourite.

-Served on a bed of...

-Spinach.

It will be up to local diners to decide whose dish best represents the true flavours of Cornwall.

-Look at that fine example.

-Look at that.

-Grey mullet, or silver mullet.

If you get the stuff that's caught at sea, it's brilliant.

The stuff that swims up estuaries, it's a bit muddy.

-But this, however - look, it's still flapping.

-Ha-ha!

I am just here to be abused every day, me.

Shall I do the parve and you do the scallops? Cos I can't do them.

-OK.

-I am glad to see you are using a blunt knife, that's brilliant.

-Why's that?

-Because a lot of people use sharp knives, they don't need one.

They are really easy to come out.

We don't want a scallop wet, do we?

They are sponges and they'll go mwoar, and there's no flavour to them.

And these have a lot of flavour to suck up.

Look at that lovely fillet of solid fish.

-Do you know what these are good for?

-Ash trays.

-No.

You can spend money, but for scaling fish, this is it.

Scallop shell? Brilliant.

Just checking for pin bones. It's like Stevie Wonder reading a book.

-# I just called to say...

-Pin bone you.

-#

A little bit of salt and pepper.

This is not merely a wok. In the hands of a Hairy Biker, it's a smoker.

-Give us that a minute.

-First off, we place a piece of foil on the bottom of the wok or else you would

simply burn the bottom out of the wok.

-I've learnt something. I've never done that.

-Haven't you?

Scatter rice. That's smart, eh?

Demerara sugar.

This sugar will smoulder with the scallops.

Now the tea,

Cornwall's finest. Tregothnan estate Earl Grey tea.

-Just to get the smokiness up, some Lapsang Souchong.

-Ah!

A rack, a support. We are going to slice this quite finely on the top, so it's almost like relish, in a way.

A little olive oil, paint, then salt and pepper.

Not too heavy on the salt, though.

Cook them on its own, the salt. Even lemon juice would cook them.

-Pepper.

-From a height - wonderful.

Put the lid on that, onto the hot plate for about 20 minutes

until the scallops are smoked through but raw in the middle.

Big knob of butter in the oil, for melting.

-Oh, you...

-Christmas.

-What have you done?

I've cut my finger, haven't I?

-Oh, man.

-Painful.

-Put pressure on.

-Not that much!

KEVIN LAUGHS

Just soften the onions in a big knob of butter and some olive oil.

I am going to prepare a classic sauce for fish. It's a beurre noisette.

-When it is translucent, add...

-A couple of handfulls of rice.

THEY LAUGH

It's all right, pour it in.

About a couple of handfuls of the finest Carnaroli rice.

Just stir until it is coated with the butter, the olive oil and the onions

and the rice will take on a golden hue.

-This is approximately 100g of butter.

-I am going to leave that on the heat.

I am going to add the zest of a lemon, because it is a lemon risotto, and the juice of a lemon.

When you are cooking a risotto, make it with chicken stock.

Could use fish stock. You must have the stock boiling.

If you have cold stock, every time you add a ladle, it's going to stop cooking.

-Risotto is a labour of love because you can't leave it, can you?

-No.

Look at this, look. It's starting to froth now.

That old butter, it's frothing like a really big pig.

-She's going golden.

-It goes all of a sudden, doesn't it?

-It does.

What I am going to do now is stop the cooking process.

I am going to put the juice of a lemon in it.

This will be good. So, that's the juice of a lemon and then

some capers. You want those flavours to infuse all the way through.

Then we are going to chop some parsley. Straight in.

We're gonna season that. Season the beurre noisette.

Changing texture completely.

-It's a subtle smoke. Nothing too robust.

-Too fast...

No, not fast.

Take these parve of fish.

We are not cutting through the fish, just through the skin. Very lightly.

The skin will naturally contract but that will shape the parve and we don't want that.

You want a nice level one.

Nice level parves.

Look at these, see how they've changed colour. They are done.

I can move those off the heat.

What I've done is, I've put a bit of butter in the bottom of the pan.

Put the spinach in. Just going to season it with a bit of salt and pepper.

Just to bring the flavours of the veggies out.

-Literally, once you've rinsed it, that's enough water.

-It self-steams.

So, that will do us.

That's taken what, two minutes? Massive pan, down to that.

-It's wilted like a Geordie watching Shakespeare.

-I'm gonna use plain sunflower oil.

We are not far off plating up, are we, Kingy?

No, not that far, mate. Now, listen to that pan. That's what you want. Just there, like that.

I'm going to put some cheese in the risotto to finish it. This is a Cornish goat's cheese.

-A bit similar to pecorino.

-All right there, dude?

Give me a shock. Some lemon thyme. Add it from a height.

That's Cornish goat's cheese and lemon thyme in, just to finish. Now, some double cream.

-That's optional, though, isn't it?

-Just a tablespoon of that.

Aye, but anything we can help.

It's interesting - these two big spider crabs, when they are picked through,

because all the meat's in the legs,

gave this. So you don't get much meat.

It's quite big pieces because I don't want to lose its integrity.

That's your secret weapon, the spider crab, isn't it?

This is going to kill them.

Oh, man, this is lovely.

I should start plating out the risotto, shouldn't I?

-Yes, please.

-Make sure you've got plenty of spider crab.

Don't lick your fingers, Dave.

Look at them.

That's a very gentle smoke you've got. Some just go fierce, don't they?

I want scallops, not kippers.

Challenge is getting really strong, guys.

I am getting very concerned now.

I just want to do something here.

That looks better.

-Perfect, mate. Cheeky capers.

-It brings it alive, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

That shine helps with the fish as well, doesn't it?

There we have it. Spider crab risotto with tea-smoked Cornish scallops,

served with parve of silver mullet and a beurre noisette with caper and parsley.

-And love.

-Lots of love.

There we are - the best of Cornwall on a plate.

It's lovely and moist.

The crab's delicate. It hasn't been overcooked, has it?

-This is one of my favourite bits, I love beurre noisette.

-It's scary, isn't it?

Crisp, moist, seasoned - lovely.

Now, let's try a little combination.

That's the final test, isn't it?

# I'm in heaven. #

Not too much salt, creaminess, it's a balanced dish.

It's a full meal but the most important thing is, I want more.

-Oh, that's good, thank God for that.

-I can scoff it now.

It's the moment of truth.

The diners here will taste both dishes but without any idea who cooked which.

First up is Kevin's poached monkfish on a bed of pickled celeriac.

Superb texture. It's very meaty.

Very delicate, the fish. The sauce is thinner than I would have liked.

The fish looked beautiful. It looked like something I wanted to eat.

I didn't actually think it looked all that appealing.

Everything about it was delicious. The monkfish, just slightly underdone, which is perfect.

-The centre of the fish isn't cooked enough.

-The presentation, the colour, everything about it was perfect.

I'm not surprised they enjoyed that.

Now, it's our turn. Let's hope our seafood medley is as popular.

Didn't realise how hungry I was.

Scallop - absolutely fantastic.

If my wife is watching, that's how you cook scallops and they were lovely.

Just that hint of smoky flavour. It was gorgeous.

Second dish - well done, whoever did that.

To me, totally representative of Cornwall. Cornwall at its best.

You couldn't have persuaded me to go within ten yards of a crab before this,

but that risotto was something else. I've been converted.

THEY CHEER AND APPLAUD

Thank you so much for having us in your wonderful county.

-You've had some great food, haven't you?

-Yes, fantastic.

I'll go for that. That's a start, lads.

If nowt else, it's a start.

What you have to do now is, you have to vote.

So, a show of hands, please, for the monkfish.

Oh...

THEY LAUGH

Um, and a show of hands, please,

for the risotto, crab and smoked...thing. Right, OK.

You can put them down now. Thank you, thank you. Right, OK.

Well, the first dish was Kevin's and the second one, obviously, was Dave and I's.

Although the vote was a little bit one-sided, from my point of view it was very, very marginal.

And I can't actually tell you what swayed me.

Kevin, thank you so much for having us here.

It's been a wonderful afternoon, we've learnt such a lot.

-It's not a visit, it's friends for life.

-Yeah.

Absolutely, absolutely.

I can't believe it Dave, a clean sweep.

To have beaten Kevin is amazing. We had luck on our side.

And the Cornish fish. We were spoilt for choice, man.

Cornwall, what a wonderful county.

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