Gloucestershire The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain

-We're the Hairy Bikers.

-On the road to find regional recipes!

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

Today, we're in search of the real taste of Gloucestershire.

Dude, I thought we were going to Gloucestershire.

We've driven into a chocolate box!

-I know. It's an absolute rural idyll.

-It's like Middle Earth!

You're going along and you see Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Moreton in Marsh.

-I'm looking for hairy feet and big holes.

-Dude, that's us.

-Gloucestershire's a big county.

-Oh, it's massive, isn't it?

And the Cotswolds is England's biggest area of outstanding natural beauty -

the River Severn in the south, the Forest of Dean...

-It's an ancient landscape so there must be plenty of nosh.

-Has to be.

Right, investigations.

On our quest to define the true flavours of Gloucestershire,

we find a traditional county recipe to serve up on Gloucester Docks.

We discover some of the best free range poultry we've ever tasted.

A visit to a Cotswold farm reveals a great alternative to olive oil.

And representing Gloucestershire in the cook-off is James Graham.

Will we be able to beat him in a blind tasting judged by local diners?

Stroud. It's very bohemian, isn't it?

-And an absolutely bonzer farmer's market. Look at that asparagus.

-Look at that rhubarb.

This is one of the busiest and best markets we've ever come across.

It's a great place to discover the real tastes of Gloucestershire.

It's a goat's cheese cheesecake.

Oh, that's lovely.

What's great to eat in Gloucestershire?

There's wonderful cheeses. Wonderful bacon. Beef.

-And vegetables. Just wonderful.

-So, it's a very fertile larder?

-It is, it is.

-Oh, they look good. You've got good pork here.

-Can I nick that?

-Yeah, nick that.

-Is it Old Spot?

-Gloucester Old Spot.

We want people to realise there's meat in there.

What do you eat here?

-Apples. There's really good apple juice.

-Cider?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Last week, I bought a bag of spuds which came from all of four miles away.

-Yeah, like that. Brilliant.

-Yeah.

-That is brilliant.

-Oh, look. Organic milk.

-This is our special breakfast milk. It's all the cream left in it.

It's all from our own cows and we bottle it all on site at the farm.

-I'm Jess.

-You're Jess and it's Jess's Milk?

-Oh, that's really good milk.

-We take it for granted,

-but when you get something that's just that bit better, you realise what you've been missing.

-Aye.

-Fancy a tipple?

-Oh, I love giggling juice.

That's finest Gloucestershire perry. We've got 16 acres of orchard,

some of them planted by my partner's great aunt in 1912.

-Crikey!

-But the perries go back 250 years on the farm.

And what varieties do you grow?

Over 200 varieties of apple.

Of those, 100 of them are Gloucestershire varieties.

Proper indigenous ones.

-Oh, that's dry!

-It is indeed. With food, if you imagine something...

-Fatty.

-Belly pork.

-That would be brilliant with it.

The single variety apple juices are really catching on. Good cloudy apple juice.

You say cloudy but we've got one variety here, an old Gloucestershire apple called Taynton Codlin,

and it produces a really clear juice.

-Oh, I like that.

-Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?

-That is wonderful.

There's a great perfume to it at the end on your palate.

You're a steward of the ancient apple orchard, aren't you, really?

Oh, that's lovely.

That's absolutely lovely.

What to you is Gloucestershire on a plate?

-Gloucester Old Spot pork.

-Yeah. Brilliant.

Everything. Cheeses, meats, vegetables. Anything you want.

-Some counties, where they've got really good products, it is difficult to pin down a specific dish.

-Yeah.

But I bet if we delve deep, we'll find one.

-Look at those, aren't they gorgeous?

-A nice layer of fat and a lovely eye of meat.

-Just looks good.

-Modern housewives do not understand that meat has got be mature. They buy on colour.

If it's bright red, they think it's good. It's bloody rubbish.

"Butter in the cow yesterday."

Thank you very much.

-I think we'll have one.

-That'll make great pastry.

-Are there any dishes...

-Any traditional dishes?

Well, there's squab pie in Gloucestershire.

People love pies here, don't they?

I mean, it's a good pie tradition.

-What's Gloucestershire produce on a plate for you?

-Cheese.

-Well, you would say that!

Our Single Gloucester. You've got to live in Gloucestershire and own Gloucester cows.

There's only four of us who make it. The Double Gloucester was the posh cheese.

The cream that you left from the Single Gloucester would go in the Double.

And so they could tell them apart, they put the orange colouring in it.

And the posher you were, the deeper the colour.

But we're still in search of a classic Gloucestershire dish.

-So, any traditional recipes that you know of?

-Squab pie.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Right.

-It used to be pigeon. But now they've made it with lamb and spices.

-I'm quite intrigued by this squabble pie thing.

-Squab, man.

-Squabble.

-Squab? Absolutely.

-Yeah.

-I suppose it's one of the older recipes that maybe country people might make.

We need to revive the traditional Gloucestershire squab pie.

And we're heading to Gloucester to convince the locals.

Elsewhere in the country, squab pie is made from young pigeons.

But in these parts, it traditionally uses superb local lamb and apples.

We're cooking at the city's historic docks - a working port for over 2,000 years.

Morning, campers, and welcome to Gloucester Docks. It's brilliant.

It's got water and everything.

This was the major meeting place of the sea and the canal system, that once made Britain mighty.

It's hard to find a traditional recipe. So we've delved into the past.

And these ancient recipes shouldn't be allowed to die out.

-COOKWARE CHIMES

-I couldn't agree more, camper.

-So, we've got one.

-Go on.

-It's a squab pie.

We found this recipe that's done with lamb,

all en-coffined in this wonderful Gloucestershire crust,

made with handmade Gloucestershire butter.

It starts off with the fillet of neck of lamb, or best end of neck.

Which my colleague here is trimming into cubes.

-Would you like some seasoned flour?

-I would.

Neck fillet's one of those cheaper cuts which we keep banging on about.

It's a great flavour, isn't it?

One of my dreams is to have a barge like that. A narrow boat. I love them.

-The seasoned flour goes into a big bowl.

-They've got a great tradition in Gloucester about lamb.

Because of the limestone, you can grow all that verbiage and legumeage that the sheep love.

We're going to brown the meat off because it looks slightly more attractive when you eat it.

-Also, it seals the flavours in.

-I'm doing it in batches because we want the lamb to fry.

Oh, it's lovely, isn't it? Summer's here.

People are out brewing tea on their barges. Swinging swing bridges.

-Who's got a barge, here?

-Yeah, me.

-Oh, look at you all.

-The big one over there with the umbrella on.

-Oooh!

It's the big one with the umbrella.

Is yours the blue one?

Right. So, the meat's browned off. I've chopped an onion.

We don't waste any flavours

so all the meet juices are going to go now into the fried onions.

This is the pie filling. You can cook this from raw in the pastry. But...

when we make pies from raw, it always ends up that the crust is burnt

and the insides are half raw. So, if you cook the filling first - guaranteed super juicy.

-Now, we want these onions brown.

-Think burger van.

So, we put the meat into the pan with all those lovely meat juices.

And then we put the onions, which have been browned,

With all those lovely onion juices and, oh, look at that, man.

And we've got some chicken stock, some water. Because there's going to be a lot flavour comes out the meat.

Just cut some rosemary up. Pop that in.

And a pinch of all spice. And some nutmeg. Always use fresh nutmeg.

Some salt. And you do the pepper.

That needs to simmer now for about 40 minutes to an hour. Or you can leave it longer if you fancy.

-It'll just keep on getting richer and richer. So long as you don't let it boil dry and burn your pan.

-Exactly.

Meanwhile, we'll make the pastry.

The flour goes into the processor.

And we're using two fats for this.

We're using lard and some of this wonderful butter.

Which was made yesterday, we're assured.

That was in the cow yesterday, that. Now, what we do is we blitz it...

It's that easy! LAUGHTER

Nearly there.

Poetry in a crust.

Next, we add an egg.

Now, as you can see, it just needs a little bit more liquid.

Dribble it in, about a tablespoon....

Come on, baby, form! Whoa!

Look at that! It's going round like somebody on a waltzer!

And there you have a ball of pastry. So, I just flour my board.

Don't want to handle it much.

And we need some strips.

We make like a really thick edge on the pie.

So, if you double the crust up on there it's just yummy.

-< ENGINE RUMBLES

-Excuse me!

Right, pastry's made. So, for this pie, we're using half Bramleys

and half a good old fashioned English Gloucestershire apple.

And we're going to put some sage in there. So, chop some sage leaves.

And loads of black pepper.

So, pepper, apples and sage.

Now it's time to build the pie.

So, actually this still needs another kind of 20 minutes, then it needs to cool down. So, we do have one...

We made earlier!

-You want half the meat in the bottom, like so.

-Oh, lovely.

And half the apples. If we use eating apples, it's going to be too sweet.

-If you use Bramleys, it's going to be too sour. So, this way...

-We get the best of both worlds.

-And it works.

The rest of the meat. This way, we different flavours.

Now, the crustacean. So, we need to do a layer of eggy wash on the bowl.

-See these excess strips that I cut earlier, this is where they come in.

-Now, look at this.

So, we just stick them on the edge of the bowl, like so.

It's two layers because the lid's going to go on top.

You get a nice puff pastry lightness to it.

Now, a nice eggy wash on that.

-The lid with the perfectly made pastry. Look at that.

-Look at that!

-Lush.

-Just run your fingers round there, like so.

-Your mam used to do it with her teeth, didn't she?

-Yeah, she did.

Nobody ever went round to Dave's house for tea.

Don't you disrespect my mother.

I haven't said owt!

So, cut off the excess.

And then finger and thumb, pinch press, pinch press.

Which is better than using your mam's false teeth. Look at that.

Now two breathing holes.

One and two. Eggy wash.

All we've got to do now is put that in a preheated oven,

about 170, 180 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until the top's golden brown

and we will have a Gloucestershire squab pie.

Brought back to the place it belongs.

-Yes.

-Squab-shire.

-Go on, then, go on. Oh, look at that.

-That's a pie, isn't it?

There we have it, ladies and gentlemen -

the original, the ancient, the positively prehistoric Gloucestershire squab pie,

brought back to Gloucestershire by a couple of Northerners.

Now it's the moment of truth.

What will the locals make of our Gloucestershire squab pie?

It's lovely. I'd never put apples and lamb together normally.

-What do you think?

-Fantastic. The lamb's really succulent.

-You've captured Gloucester.

-Oh!

-Oh, thank you.

-The lamb and the apples, it's wonderful.

The pastry's real nice. It's crunchy but it's soft at the same time.

That's the lard that gives you the crunch.

-I think it's absolutely delicious. I don't usually eat pie.

-What?!

-But you've converted me.

-Thank you.

-Ship's cat's not too keen, is it?

-No.

-Oh, it's delicious.

-This is lovely.

-I love nutmeg with apple.

-The lamb is really tasty.

-Best pie I've had in years.

-Is it?

-How old are you?

-11.

-That's a great compliment. Thank you.

Our bid to revive the traditional squab pie was a great success.

Next, an even bigger challenge is around the corner.

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

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

It will be up to local diners in a blind tasting to decide whose dish

best represents the true flavours of Gloucestershire.

Our opponent today is...

James Graham. Head chef and owner of Allium

in the Cotswold town of Fairford.

Allium has received numerous awards, including the title of South West Restaurant Of The Year.

Some of our best producers are right on our doorstep.

I can actually see the animals we'll be using in the fields.

I can talk to the farmer and say, these are the animals I want.

I know that an animal going off to the slaughter is going to be absolutely at its best.

I will only buy whole carcasses. If all you do is buy prime cuts,

the producers end up with stuff that they can't sell so easily.

So, we take the lot and we use the lot.

The dialogue between our producers and us is what generates the menu.

So our asparagus producer has literally only just started harvesting.

But he might say, I'm sorry, James, it's not quite ready.

So, we wait another week until it is at its best.

Every single thing is made in house.

Nothing bought in. Whether you start with the bread, or finish with an ice cream or have cheese biscuits,

nothing comes through the door that we haven't made.

We've set out to use local produce. Our clientele like the fact that

there's a connection between the land and what we're giving them.

They do understand food here.

I've never sold as much offal in a restaurant anywhere.

I can sell stuff here that I wouldn't even dream of selling in London.

My taste of Gloucestershire is roasted local zander

with crayfish, asparagus and a 60 degree duck egg.

-Hi, guys, how you doing?

-Hi, how are you?

-Brought the weather with you.

-Hello, James.

-How you doing?

-Smashing.

-Welcome to Fairford.

-Thank you very much!

Can you headline the dish for us as it would appear on your menu?

Roasted zander with local crayfish, white sprouting broccoli, asparagus and 60 degree duck egg yolk.

That sounds good!

-So, what's the texture of this fish, then?

-It's very similar to sea bass.

This was illegally introduced into Britain a few years ago.

We get ours from the Gloucester canal. They have to be killed if you catch them.

If I saw that in a fishmonger's, I'd swear blind that it was a sea fish.

Unlike most fresh water fish, it doesn't taste muddy.

-Sometimes it's known as a vampire fish, is that right?

-Yeah.

Look at the chompers on that.

Fabulous. So, what first, James?

Before we do that, I'm going to make a crayfish jelly.

-These live crayfish. I've taken some of these and we've put them in the freezer to humanely kill them.

-Yes.

And I'm just going to pop the crayfish into the ice cube tray.

And then we've made a stock which we've added some agar agar to -

a seaweed derived gelling agent, which is also heat resistant.

We'll serve the jelly slightly warm. It's already starting to set.

We'll pop these in the fridge.

I thought we'd fillet the fish now.

-Hey!

-I'm going to need one fillet from this.

Ha! I think that'll do.

So, I just take it through behind the pectoral fin.

So, I'm going to put the knife nice and tightly down the spine here and then just work the meat off it.

-Zander fingers.

-OK.

Blooming heck! That's nuts.

And we'll take off the cheeks.

They're like a cod's cheek, but bigger.

-Yeah, they're huge.

-Oh, wow!

Obviously, all of that's still useable.

There are loads and loads of people in Gloucestershire who are passionate about food.

They quite often produce more then they can use

so they'll turn up at the back door. and say, "I've got tayberries,"

or, "I've got medlars." We made medlar jelly.

I'll very quickly score the flesh on these, to help them stop curling up.

Next, I'm going to get the 60 degree duck egg yolk on.

We've got 7 duck egg yolks in here, OK?

-They're huge aren't they, though?

-And they're such a bright yellow.

I've also got a little bit of buttermilk, which lightens it up

and adds a little bit of acidity to it.

Couple of pinches of salt and a little bit of ground white pepper.

So that will now go on at 60 degrees with it constantly turning.

And then it'll be cooked through.

So, asparagus - I've peeled some of it as you can see.

Why do you peel asparagus? I've never peeled me asparagus before.

This outside bit can be a little bitter.

You can get rid of that and just leave the real sweetness.

And then just nick it off there which is just above the woody bit.

So, I'm just going to drop that in there for a couple of seconds.

I'll pick out as much broccoli as I think we need.

That's been in a couple of minutes - it's nicely cooked.

They've kept their colour nicely. Straight into cold water.

The white sprouting broccoli exactly the same way.

Into a pan of boiling water.

We'll cook these leeks in a slightly different way.

A little bit of water and we're going to put a decent knob of butter in.

-But we're not going to serve all that.

-No.

-It's going to cook down.

Little bit of salt.

And then the leeks which we can just pop in there. And they will cook in that.

The broccoli takes a little bit less time than the asparagus.

-You can see it's a beautiful colour.

-Fabulous.

And that's straight into cold water. For the beurre noisette, again this is about half a pack of butter.

The milk solids in this will start to cook. And they will gradually caramelize.

They'll go brown and it will smell like hazelnuts.

Which is why the French call it beurre noisette.

We're also going to use a little bit of shellfish foam.

-Oh, he's got a foam.

-He's got a foam and a jelly.

-He'll have one of those foamer things.

I'm getting the gig of this restaurant now, dude.

So, what we've got is a little bit of,

of the crayfish stock here, OK? And I'm going to add

-an emulsifier which helps this hold its foam.

-So, it's like arrowroot in a souffle, you know?

-Keeps it up there.

-Yeah. Will, will maintain its structure.

The only other thing we're going to add to it, OK, is knob of butter and a splash of milk.

And a little bit of seasoning.

So, the beurre noisette is now coming on.

You can still hear it though. One of the things they always say about it

is it's ready when it stops being noisy.

-And it's just gone silent.

-It has, it has.

It's just gone silent. And the bubbles have got much, much smaller.

And you can see in the bottom you're starting to get some caramelization.

So, we've got half a lemon. Give it a squeeze.

I'll add a little bit of salt. Tiny bit of black pepper.

Give it a help to scrape the bottom off and that's our beurre noisette.

-Oh, man!

-That smells great. Yup.

-We're ready to go.

And that's the shellfish foam which is just coming together now.

The leeks are nearly ready. Just whip these out.

Because they'll hold now because they've got enough fat in them.

Next thing we're going to do is breadcrumb the cheeks

so that we can deep fry them.

So, we're going to coat them in a little bit of flour

which just helps protect them, OK. And then into the egg yolk.

If you use opposite hands for the flour and the egg, you don't get all bunged up.

-Top tip. Ah, you see the way he's doing...

-That's why God give you two.

And then we'll just give it a second coat. Just to make sure it's really well protected.

And make sure that you don't get too much heat too quickly. You don't want the fish to overcook.

OK, so we're pretty much ready now to put the dish together.

We'll oil up the grill. Pop that on.

And we'll just dot some butter around it.

You like your butter, don't you?

Well, I honestly think that butter's a really important thing for adding flavour.

If I served the amount of butter that we utilise for the cooking processes,

you'd give everyone a heart attack.

But there is a difference between using butter and serving it.

Next up we've got water and some butter from the leeks.

Which will help us to reheat the vegetables that we're going to use.

Can you see how the flesh has gone that really nice white that you get with sea bass? Now I will season it

with a little bit of coarse sea salt

which helps give it another texture as well.

Tiny squeeze of lemon juice.

Non-stick tray.

This is a moderate oven, 180 degrees.

Pop it in...

and off it goes. So, I'm just going to pop these in.

These will only take a minute or two.

Pop those in there. Just a little bit of black pepper for the purple sprout and for the asparagus.

And I'm going to go and pop the cheek nuggets in.

We've got a fryer at 180 degrees. Just drop these in.

-Hey! Cool, Graham. Zander nuggets.

-OK.

Right, so I'll get some plates and we'll start to...

To plate up.

First bit,

couple of leeks with that.

The 60-degree duck egg yolk.

It's a proper eggy colour, isn't it?

Zander on top. Couple of crayfish jellies.

-Great colours on the plate.

-This with the egg.

Put a little bit of the beurre noisette over the fish.

Tiny bit of this very heavily reduced, like, flavour here.

There you go. Roasted zander, local white sprouting broccoli,

asparagus, crayfish and a 60-degree duck egg yolk.

-Fabulous.

-Awesome, dude.

This is one of the most imaginative dishes that we've been faced with.

Look at the way that flakes.

It does.

Whoa, that's good fish.

It's every bit as tasty as a really, really good sea bass.

And the 60-degree duck egg.

-I'm going to try it with asparagus. I'm thinking of the whole hollandaise vibe.

-Yeah, good.

-Brilliant.

-Yeah, it's eggy.

-He's a very clever man.

-Yeah.

-Crayfish jellies.

-The flavours are balanced perfectly, aren't they?

-Yeah, it's lovely. Brilliant.

-Well, this is the zander cheek, isn't it?

-Yeah. Awesome.

-Oh!

-He could've done a chop.

You know, there's pork in Gloucester.

-Exactly. But no.

-Dredges the canal and gets a zander.

Of course the real judges are the locals

who will decide whose dish is best in a blind tasting coming up.

James's zander is going to be a tough dish to beat.

So we need to find the very best ingredients that Gloucestershire has to offer.

Leonie McIntosh won Best Producer at the Cotswold Life Awards

for her free range poultry.

-Hi, I'm Leonie. Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you've come to look at guinea fowl.

-We have.

-We want to see your treasures.

-Excellent. Well, let's go and have a look.

-Fantastic.

Leonie started rearing guinea fowl five years ago

and found that they were ideally suited to the Cotswold landscape.

They're free range, aren't they? Crikey!

They always tend to drink in muddy puddles when I bring visitors.

I suppose it's the same way that...

-I kind of quite like drinking in a grotty pub rather than in a Formica bar.

-Absolutely.

-That is a very good analogy.

-Yes.

-Being free range is my excuse...

if we come here and there's no chickens outside, they've made the choice.

We just thought if we were chickens, how would we want to live?

So, Leonie, I can see lots of chickens here. But guinea fowl?

That's what you've come for. There's some in the corner over there with the chickens.

Ah, yes. I've got them. We've got them. Yes.

There's probably 3,000 chickens here and 300 guinea fowl. Something like that.

But the chickens teach the guinea fowl how to behave sensibly, so...

Are guinea fowl a bit stupid?

I don't know if they're stupid or very clever.

They're far lower down that chain of domestication.

-Can we have a closer look?

-Yeah, let's go.

-Super. We'll follow you.

-We'll take you to the shed over here.

-The space that we're providing in here is well in excess of the legal requirements.

-God, yeah.

I just believe you can't keep them clean and happy if you cram them in a shed.

I might need a helper in here, I'm afraid. To help me catch one.

Ah, lost him. Get them into the corner.

-Thanks, Leonie.

-Don't let him go.

-No... ow!

-I'll try and get a bigger one.

-Sorry.

-He's gone?

-Yes.

-There's a few gobbly ones here.

-Ah, well done.

-Well, done, Leonie.

I will not let go of this one. Hello, mate.

-They're nice, aren't they?

-They are lovely.

I think they're beautiful close up. These spotty feathers, they're gorgeous.

It's a disco diva, this one.

And they are fantastic characters. They've got a lot more attitude than chickens.

Oh, yes. I know that if I let go of this one's legs, it's going to be...

-He'll be off.

-He's going to be off like John Travolta.

-Three, two, one.

-Three, two, one... leg it!

-Look at him.

-I think we can safely say

-they never want to see you two again.

-THEY LAUGH

We've got a very holistic approach to the way that we farm here.

And that starts right back at the stage of growing the food that we feed the chickens.

We've done a lot of work in the last few years

creating wildlife habitats around the edge of the crops and also within them.

And the idea is then you're encouraging beneficial wildlife

which helps with the husbandry of the crops.

-But also I love the fact that the farm is alive with wildlife.

-Yes.

What we can do now maybe is let them out.

JAUNTY MUSIC PLAYS

Like a lass with a raincoat over her head running for a bus.

-They've got really strong legs, haven't they?

-Yeah, they have.

They're bred to run. And I honestly think that meat is going to have a lot more character

if it's from an animal or a bird

that's experienced as natural a life as we as farmers can give them.

-Well, brilliant.

-Great. Good on you, Leonie.

-Hats off to you. Can't wait to taste your guinea fowl.

-Shall we go to the kitchen, then?

-Oh, yes.

-Oh, yes.

Yes! So, Leonie, do you have any cooking tips?

One of the most important things to remember with guinea fowl,

you haven't got the sort of fat covering you'd have on a chicken.

So, treat it a bit more like a game bird.

Guinea fowl can take some good spicing and good flavours, can't it?

Yeah. I mean, you shouldn't be afraid of using flavours with it.

I'm going to have a piece of thigh.

-Oh, yeah. Goodness me!

-So, you're really getting a good...

-Yes.

-Robust flavour from that, hopefully.

If somebody's familiar to eating chicken they're going to love guinea fowl, aren't they?

I've made a casserole.

It's basically a white wine version of coq au vin.

Guinea fowl really stands up well to casseroling - it keeps its texture.

Oh, that's lovely. Oh, yeah.

Let's go and choose you a couple.

-Cor, yes.

-They're lovely, aren't they?

I think you'll do well with these.

-We cannot fail to win with them, Dave.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you very much.

-Well, all the best with them.

To take on James, we'll use both the breasts and the thighs

of the guinea fowl, served with a caramelised apple risotto.

And we'll complete the dish with another true taste of Gloucestershire.

When you're riding around this county in spring time,

it's impossible to avoid the golden hue of the rape fields.

And now they produce a home-grown rival to olive oil.

When faced with poor prices for his crops, farmer Hamish Campbell

took a gamble and began to make his own cold-pressed rapeseed oil.

The entire process from harvesting to bottling takes place right here on the family farm.

-Hello, are you Hamish?

-I am.

-Hamish the oil man?

Here's a bottle each. This our cold-pressed rapeseed oil.

All made and grown on the farm.

Now, rapeseed oil, it's a good alternative to olive oil, isn't it?

It's very low in saturated fats.

Only 7%. Most olive oils are between 9 and 15.

And a vegetable oil can be as high as 20%.

Because of the way we produce it, it's just a very natural, unadulterated product.

Most people say it's either nutty or asparagus.

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh, yeah. It's lovely. Lovely great nutty flavour to it.

Hamish, what's the difference between your oil

and a standard vegetable oil, that you would get in a supermarket?

Normal bottle of oil is refined.

So, it's chemically extracted using hexane and paraffin.

It's then deodorised, anti-foaming agents are added.

-That's why you get a very see-through bland product.

-Sounds dreadful.

Hamish, I'm really interested to see the whole pressing process that you do with the oil.

-Is there any chance of having a look?

-Yeah, do.

-Brilliant.

These are some of our fields behind me. That's a field of rapeseed

being grown on Cotswold limestone brash. It's a very shallow soil.

Very free draining. So it dries out very quickly.

And we feel it adds to the flavour.

Right. Well, this is some rapeseed coming in.

The yellow flowers you see are the, the rapeseed being pollinated.

It sets a flower and after flowering, each plant sets like a pod.

-It looks like a little pea pod.

-Right.

Inside that pea pod is lots of these tiny little black seeds.

It looks like caviar.

-I wish it was.

-Yeah.

-So, the little pods get crushed in the combine and that's what comes out.

-These little black seeds.

-What happens next, Hamish?

-Wow.

-This is where it all happens.

Very simple process.

-Obviously the rape is cleaned, and then falls down into the tiny little hopper above the press.

-Yes.

And then it goes through a very slow squeezing process.

We don't crush the rapeseed. We squeeze it.

-Right.

-And as you can see the oil very slowly comes out underneath the presses.

This is a very simple process.

And therefore you get a really good high quality unadulterated oil.

-Brilliant.

-And that's the residue of the husks, really?

Yes, that is cold-pressed cake.

And we either use that for animal feed,

-some people use it to heat houses in wood burners.

-Oh, brilliant.

It's great. There's nothing wasted.

-I'm a convert to rapeseed.

-Well, I am too.

-It's great.

-That's what we want.

-You could call that Gloucestershire crude, couldn't you?

-Yeah.

-We're not quite JR yet. But...

-THEY LAUGH

Here we go. We've come up with something a bit different.

-Because you did really.

-Yeah.

-We've shied away from the conventional.

-So, you've gone for guinea fowl.

-Yes.

-We're doing a celebration of guinea fowl.

-It's like two meals in one.

We're doing the breast with a lime and pepper paste, really.

Served with a Gloucestershire apple risotto.

And we've got a lovely micro salad with a rapeseed and citrus vinaigrette.

And then the thighs are going to be boned.

-And we're making a rapeseed oil rocket pesto.

-I'm concerned.

-I am concerned now.

-See, see?

But will the local diners think our dish is good enough to beat James in the blind tasting?

Now, what we're going to do though...

We're just burning off their feathers, basically.

Just any little... any little claws or feathers.

-And this tightens up the meat, doesn't it?

-It tightens the skin up.

Makes the skin a bit more resilient when they cook.

-I think I've set mine on fire.

-Hey, James. Hope you haven't got any customers next door.

You won't have for long with this stink. "What are they cooking?"

-Should I get the breasts off?

-See, these are easier as well.

A lot of guinea fowl have got the really wobbly breastbone.

Whereas these, because they've been raised really nicely they've got nice straight strong bones.

-You know Leonie, don't you?

-I do, yeah, yeah.

She's a top lass who produces great chickens and great guinea fowl.

Nice tidy.

Oh, look at that.

-And the thighs and the meat.

-That's a smashing portion, that.

-Isn't it?

It would easily feed four people by the time you got the legs and everything else.

I've just flattened that thigh out. I've felt where the bone is.

And I'm going to, with a smaller knife, loosen that bone away from the flesh.

-It just comes away so nice and easily, doesn't it?

-It does.

-It's just lovely. There we are.

-Look at that. Beautiful.

Wash hands because I've been handling poultry and I'm now going on to the vegetable section.

Great, look at that. Hey, you're going to get some stock out of that.

Now, what we're going to do while Si carries on boning and portioning the thighs,

we're going to make a pesto.

We've got Gloucestershire cheeses.

How about these - half single Gloucester and half Leonard Stanley?

-I don't think you'll go wrong with that.

-So, I'm putting the cheese in me processor.

I've got a bowl of basil and rocket.

Some toasted pine nuts. A glove of garlic.

-Can't have pesto without garlic.

-And we've roasted the pine nuts as well.

Just to kind of come underneath that.

Put some salt in there...

and some black pepper.

All that's missing is the oil.

But first I'm going to blast this down to a paste.

It's going down now.

Now, just drizzle the oil in.

-Wow. Oh, yes. Don't know why I'm sounding so surprised really. It really is very good.

-Right, dude.

-That's the thighs boned out.

-Right. So, let's build.

That's going to really help moisten those legs as well. It'll be lovely.

Oh, aye. Cor, smashing. Look at that, lovely neat parcel.

She's a thick-skinned bird.

Right. And then we...

because we want that to brown, don't we, on the top?

-And repeat.

-They're always the best bits of any bird, aren't they?

-The legs. So, what's next?

-Ah, now.

-Apple risotto.

-Apple risotto.

-Shall I cut the apples?

-Yeah. Some of this fabulous local butter.

-Netherend Farm. As good an English butter as I've ever had.

-Absolutely.

So, we're just gonna put some butter in here like that.

And then some rapeseed oil. About, I don't know, tablespoon.

This is a litre of vegetable stock.

So, we're going to heat that up.

-I'm going to add the risotto rice and just coat it.

-All I've done...

I've got two apples. I've peeled them, cored them and sliced them.

I've got some boiling water and I'm going to add the zest of one lemon.

Blanch these apples for three minutes. Apples go in.

You're just looking to just soften them?

Yup. Then we're going to fry them in butter to caramelize them.

Right, three minutes!

That's these apples out.

And I'm going to dry them on some kitchen roll.

Put me butter back on. Right, apples go in.

And there's still bits of lemon zest clinging to those apples.

The stock's hot enough now.

So, all I'm going to do is just add a ladle at a time.

Oh, look at that, man.

-Oh, man, man.

-And then just stir it until all of the moisture is absorbed into the rice.

And then you add another ladle.

And just keep repeating the process until all of that stock is absorbed into the rice.

Those apples are looking really good.

I'm going to use this good quality fatty bacon.

To render it down to use the fat to sear the guinea fowl breasts.

A splash of rapeseed oil in.

Just to get it going.

So, how long do you reckon that risotto's going to take to cook?

-About 20 minutes.

-For the paste, for the guinea fowl breasts, I've got some lime.

Going to do some zest.

-Full of really volatile oils, lime zest, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Juice that half a lime.

Some thyme.

I'm just going to add three tablespoons of good English wine.

This is from the Three Choirs vineyard.

-Which is a local vineyard here, isn't it, James?

-Yeah.

And then I'm going to add three tablespoons of good old Gloucestershire apple juice.

You cannot whack it, can you?

Clove of garlic. Some cracked peppercorns.

Some salt, pepper...

and a couple of tablespoons of rapeseed oil.

Want me to whizz them up for you?

Be lovely.

-Great, dude. Them lardons are doing canny.

-Dip that. That's the rub.

We just need to sear the guinea fowl breast in the reduced lardons.

Whoa!

Yeah, look - just, just nicely sealed.

Yeah. The fat and the skin of those is rendered out lovely, isn't it?

I'm going to take this off, dude.

And just let it sit for a minute.

-Put them in there.

-Yeah, they're lovely, eh?

I'm just going to give these a couple of slashes.

-Just to help the rub penetrate?

-Yup.

-Yeah.

-Lush. They look great.

-Yeah.

-This is quite intense, so...

-Not going to need a lot of that

-which that much pepper and lime in it, is it?

-No. Into the oven.

Moderate, 180... 15 minutes.

Right.

Now, I'm going to add the parmesan to the risotto.

Because if we use any other cheese then parmesan, it has the chance of splitting.

Becomes oily and it separates. We don't want that.

-These apples have come up lovely colour.

-Haven't they?

-Look at that.

Now, a few sage leaves.

Just chop it nice and finely.

So, we're going to put that in there like that.

-I'm just going to add the apples.

-I can start doing the breasts.

-Right.

-Look at that lovely caramelization there.

-Yup.

I'm with you.

Oh, aye. That's what I thought. I think we're there, Kingy.

-Grand, just going to dress it.

-Rapeseed and citrus vinaigrette.

-I think you've done justice to some really good produce there. Fantastic.

-There we have it.

-Really good job.

-A celebration of guinea fowl, from Gloucestershire.

-With an apple risotto.

-A fabulous stuffed guinea fowl thigh with lovely pesto.

And a nice kind of micro salad with a rapeseed and citrus vinaigrette.

-There you are, James. Tell us what you think.

-I'm really keen to try this thigh.

Because I think that's going to be absolutely brilliant.

And the skin's lovely and crispy. And it's really nice and tender.

-What do we reckon?

-I think that's brilliant. Pesto's quite rich, you know.

-Yeah.

-But the citrus really brings out that nice balance. Gives it a nice edge.

And I bet this risotto's just as good as well. So...

I think I'm up against it, to be fair.

It's crunch time. The diners here will taste both dishes but without any idea who cooked which.

First up is James's fillet of zander with crayfish jelly and a 60-degree egg yolk.

Well, I was impressed by the foam. My taste buds were zooming.

Everybody thinks of Gloucestershire as being old-fashioned and stuffy.

But actually it's quite contemporary and I think the dish was like that.

The cheek...the crust was really crisp and then really soft cheek inside. Lovely.

The vegetables were just on the bite. And the duck egg and the froth and things,

they really complemented the fish.

It was cooked to perfection. It was fantastic. It's just not a particularly tasty fish.

Very unusual presentation. And the flavour was beautiful. I finished everything on the plate.

'That seemed to go down very well. How will our dish fare?'

The apple risotto I loved.

-I could go home and cook that.

-In the thigh was pesto and basil,

and things that I wouldn't have put with a guinea fowl. Lots of ideas.

High point? Definitely the thigh, I think. Really enjoyed that.

The breast for me was was a touch on the dry side.

I liked the risotto. The micro salad... it's a bit hit and miss.

I loved the colour of the salad, as well.

-Because that complimented the pesto.

-The rapeseed oil dressing...

In May, Gloucestershire is covered with yellow fields everywhere.

So, yeah, Gloucestershire. Definitely.

-Hello, how are you?

-APPLAUSE AND CHEERS

-Wow! Now, that's a reception and a half, isn't it?

-That was a double Gloucester welcome.

-Wasn't it?

That was brilliant, thank you.

Well, we've had a great time. We've been blessed with the weather. So we've been flying around the lanes.

And we'd just like to say thanks very much. Absolutely top drawer.

Now to the nitty-gritty of it all really.

For the fish dish, please, could I have a show of hands?

One, two, three, four, five. OK, thank you.

And for the guinea fowl dish, could I have a show of hands, please?

One, two, three, four.

The fish dish...was James's.

APPLAUSE

We've got to thank James for his hospitality.

-You've got a fabulous restaurant here.

-Yes.

-And we've had a hoot.

-We have.

-Thank you so much.

James's zander was a worthy winner. It was one of the most innovative dishes we've come up against.

Gloucestershire is a beautiful county full of people who really know and love their food.

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