Derbyshire The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain

-BOTH: The Hairy Bikers!

-On the road to find regional recipes to rev up your appetite.

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

Come on!

Today we're in search of the real taste of Derbyshire.

Ah, yes... Ah, lovely!

This is Derbyshire. And we're right here up in the High Peaks.

The High Peak district was the first National Park in Britain.

-Really?

-Yeah, yeah.

You know, to me, Derbyshire - there's three main towns.

There's Derby, the city. That goes back to prehistoric times.

Don't forget Buxton, with the spring water.

And Chesterfield, that town with the church with the twisted spire.

Look. The sun's shining. There's dander in wor gander. Let's gan find out.

-I'll race ya!

-Right, done.

'On our quest to find the true flavours of Derbyshire, we set up kitchen in Buxton,

'to cook the county's favourite pud.

'We hit the road to dig up some very fresh vegetables.'

You're crying out to be in a leek and potato soup.

'And in the grounds of Calke Abbey we find some local deer which make for some extra special venison.

'And, representing Derbyshire in a cook-off later is Rupert Rowley.

'Will we be able to beat him in a blind tasting with local diners?

'First stop in Derbyshire is Chesterfield. The market's on

'so let's pick the brains of these local foodies. What is this county on a plate?'

What are the traditional foods of Derbyshire?

Well, two things I always think about - one are the cheeses,

and one is locally produced meat.

Bakewell tarts and puddings are absolutely gorgeous.

Bakewell tarts, lovely.

I'd certainly say lamb from say, Chatsworth and the surrounding areas.

The butchers in the market hall are fantastic.

Tomato sausage is produced locally as well. That's very tasty.

There's a murmur on the street, which is why we're here, that you guys

are farm to shop. Is that right?

That's right. We try and use everything off us own farm if we can. If not, we just use local farms.

-I've never seen a hodge bag before.

-Never?

-No.

-It is basically tripe out of a pig, that's all.

-It's pig's tripe? Got it.

We've got some great sausages.

There's some nice rare breeds - there's some saddleback sausages, and you know, the Brampton banger.

Are there any that are specific to Derbyshire?

We've actually got some tomato sausages.

It's a traditional Chesterfield recipe, if you want to try some of them. Made on the premises.

Seeing as we're here!

We use pork, pinhead rusk which is just like a wheat-based binder,

a little bit of a salt-based seasoning and then tomato puree.

-I made them me sen.

-Did you? Good lad!

-What's good to eat in Derbyshire?

-Bakewell tarts, obviously. Bakewell pudding.

-Oatcakes.

-Oatcakes?

-Derbyshire oatcakes?

-Got to have them.

-What do you have those with?

-Fried in a pan for breakfast with bacon on top.

-They're not hard, are they?

-No.

-Like a biscuit. No?

-You can fry them and put anything on them.

-Similar to a pancake.

Oh!

-Look at this wonderful array of cheeses. There's bound to be some Derbyshire cheese.

-Got to be.

Tell us about Derbyshire cheese.

We've actually only got one factory in Derbyshire that actually makes cheese.

I'm sorry to say that is actually closed now.

-We've just got the last few batches of it.

-Oh, what a shame.

So you're quite lucky we've got it.

So after this has gone, there'll be no more cheese made in Derbyshire?

Not in Derbyshire. The Hartington factory is being closed down.

-It's like eating the dodo.

-Isn't it?

Let's give you a taste anyway.

-There's no bitterness to it at all. Like some Stilton.

-That's it, yeah.

Nice salt to it. Lovely cream.

-That's really special.

-Wonderful.

A little bit of a bite, with the blue in there. Really nice on the palate.

What about the sage Derby that you buy in supermarkets?

I get it from Carron Lodge in Lancashire.

It's done to the same recipe, the Derby recipe.

Why do they put that sage in it?

It's cos it had healing properties.

So over the time, people were eating it hoping they would get better.

Oh, that's nice. I like that, bit of anthropology.

-Would you like a taste?

-We'd love a taste.

-Be rude not to.

I thought you were going to say that.

-I've never tasted proper sage Derby.

-No, I haven't.

-Ooh, yeah.

-It's a lovely texture, it's almost like a Gruyere.

-It is.

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh, that's lovely.

-You can taste the sage in it.

-Yeah.

And the creaminess... It's mild. The Derby's a mild white Cheddar.

-Well, RIP the Derbyshire Stilton.

-Mmm.

It were lovely.

-What do you like to eat in Derbyshire? What's your favourite?

-Bakewell.

-Bakewell pudding.

-Bakewell pudding.

Bakewell pudding.

-Bakewell pudding?

-What's the...?

-Bakewell tart.

Pudding. You can't call it a tart.

-What's the difference between a tart and a pudding?

-Ah!

-Pudding I would say is pastry on top.

-It is confusing!

Are they the same? Is one a tart, is one a pudding?

The only difference between a tart and a pudding is the pastry.

The actual filling is exactly the same.

-So the pudding's a puff, and the tart's a shortcrust?

-Yeah.

Mmm... It's a lovely almondy flavour.

To be a traditional Bakewell, it's got to contain ground almond.

-That's lovely.

-It is.

-Be interesting to taste the pudding.

-The pastry gives it an entirely different taste.

So there's a thin layer of jam down there,

it's like the almondine mixture on top in a puff pastry.

I like both of them. But I think they're fit for a different purpose.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-I'd have my tart with a cup of tea - and have my pudding with some custard.

-Cream.

-Cream would be lovely, wouldn't it?

-Nice bit of cream.

This is a Derbyshire oatcake. These are made on a hotplate, out of oats, oatmeal.

That would be great with some cheese, and just roll it in bacon.

-May I?

-Fried in bacon fat.

-Yeah.

-With eggs and bacon.

-Yes. Fabulous.

It's lovely cos it's not too sweet.

-It's not sweet at all, there's no sugar in it.

-Excellent.

'We've got the lowdown about Bakewell tarts and puddings,

'so it's time to get cooking!

'Today we're in the spa town of Buxton,

'to make traditional Bakewell pudding served with vanilla clotted cream.'

We're in the Pavilion Gardens, Buxton. And mighty fine it is too.

Now, the Bakewell pudding - it's so far away from the kind of supermarket monstrosity

that's like...it's like fibreboard with icing and a cherry on the top.

That's not the real deal. What are you doing with that? We're working!

Well, somebody gave us it!

All right. All right. So one of the first things that strikes you about a pudding

as opposed to a tart is it's got a puff pastry bottom.

We start off with puff pastry. Nothing wrong with bought puff.

So I'm going to line the tin.

It's very simple. Just roll it out.

A bit of butter.

I know it's nonstick,

but everything we touch does have a propensity to get stuck.

-Should I be doing something(?)

-Just a minute.

Line the tin with your puff pastry, and just press it down gently.

Trim the puff pastry, in a rustic fashion,

and there you go. One lined tin.

-We've got another three that we made earlier.

-See?

-See?!

-LAUGHTER

Now, stage two after we have these tins lined

is the usual one when baking a pudding -

the creaming of the sugar and the butter.

This...is butter!

This...is sugar.

You put that...in there.

Cream it together till it's white and fluffy. It's easier with softened butter.

Look, man, the butter's rock hard! That's not...

It's a wrestling match, not creaming!

How does Bob Marley like his Bakewell pudding?

-CROWD: Wi' jam in(!)

-Yeah.

With jam in.

-Jam in.

-LAUGHTER

Right, if anybody laughs at another one of those really bad jokes...!

The people of Derbyshire are talking my language.

This is good raspberry jam.

So in each of these pastry cases, huge dollops of Derbyshire jammy love.

Story of my life, this - a constant struggle.

To flavour up the base, we're going to put some almond extract in it.

Almonds, Bakewell - it's all there.

Don't use almond essence, cos almond essence is a chemical.

Extract is made from almonds.

This might loosen it up, Kingy.

We live in hope, dude.

Oh, that's loosened it up GREAT, aye(!) Smashin'.

If you were to put that bowl in that oven for 20 seconds, it would be easy as anything to cream.

We reckon, because we've got, like, raspberry jam,

we'll use fresh raspberries.

Take some off, cos we want garnish for the tops.

So we squash the raspberries now... So we'll give it a thump.

Look at that.

GIGGLING

# On you go... #

Oh, look at that.

The body of the pudding... It's a rich beast.

-It's a mixture of ground almonds...

-Almonds.

..and 20 eggs.

Not 10, not 12, but 20 eggs.

Some almonds...

And by alternating the eggs and almonds, hopefully it won't split.

-Now, look at that.

-That's lovely.

Just pour it over that. But don't pat the almonds down too much,

or else it'll force the raspberries to the top.

And they won't take long, probably about 25 minutes.

What do you reckon?

Have a look, Mum.

Nice, eh? Do you think that's done?

-A bit dodgy in the middle.

-A bit dodgy?

-I used to work on school dinners for 18 years.

-Right.

-We made loads of these.

-So you reckon...?

-Just about five more minutes, I'd say. Yeah.

-I'll take your advice.

-Right. LAUGHTER

Just about five more minutes, and it'll be perfect!

Meanwhile...anybody got any suggestions what we could serve with our Bakewell pudding?

Clotted cream!

-Clotted cream.

-Superb idea.

I think we can improve on that. Let's make fresh VANILLA clotted cream.

Why don't we(?)

-This is a vanilla pod...

-No, it's not.

-It is.

-It's a cigar.

What you do is, you get a knife,

and just pare it down there taking care not to have your fingers off.

And just open it, and there's, like,

little black seeds inside.

So you just take the knife,

and run it down there and scrape out the black seeds.

Mix them with the cream. And those little black spots,

they're a sign of quality.

You get ice cream with black bits in - don't send it back, it's good.

-Unless it's a fly.

-LAUGHTER

Gadzooks, that's half an hour. Let's check the oven.

They're ready!

One...

Ah...!

Oh!

I've just taken this out and somebody's just said,

"'Ere - I thought they were doing puddings, not quiche."

LAUGHTER

Well, that's all right, mate. Don't worry!

Now, it's a simple garnish, because it's a rustic dish.

Just a few raspberries.

And then we'll sprinkle with icing sugar.

Look at that.

Reminds you of Christmas.

An advantage of using the icing sugar is

if one's a bit burnt, you never notice, do you?

LAUGHTER

There we have it - our tribute to Derbyshire.

A traditional Bakewell pudding,

made de luxe with the addition of fresh raspberries.

Good for you to boot! I canna believe it.

CHEERING

'Time to get the verdict from the people of Buxton.

'Will our Bakewell pudding be a hit or a miss? Only one way to find out.'

So what do you think?

I like the sharpness of the raspberries, in contrast with the almonds and the cream.

A lovely cheesecake(!)

LAUGHTER

Lovely. Really gorgeous, yeah.

It's amazing. I love it.

-I wish I could make it.

-You can.

-It's dead easy.

So, kids, what do you think on the whole?

It's delicious.

The vanilla cream's the best cream I've ever tasted.

It's sweet, but not sickly-sweet.

The raspberries give it a proper zing, and I've had Bakewell pudding

from Bakewell before and I've always found it a bit greasy

but this is so light.

I've ate mine.

LAUGHTER

It was that nice!

No offence to Mum and Dad, this is probably the best thing I've ever tasted.

Thank you very much!

-I would probably pay for some more.

-Pay for it?

I've got £2.

And miraculously...

-Seconds!

-Oh, thank you.

-Take that, there you are.

-Get a clean... Good lad.

-Thank you.

-You're very welcome.

'Our pudding certainly satisfied the sweet tooths of Buxton,

'but next, an even bigger challenge.

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

'to see who best defines the taste of the region.

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

'best represents the true flavours of Derbyshire.

'Our opponent today is Rupert Rowley,

'head chef of Fischer's Baslow Hall.

'He trained with Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc,

'and has come home to use the best local produce to create food perfection.'

Baslow Hall is a traditional country house hotel. Very formal and elegant,

but we try to sort of go across that,

and we're much more into much more modern food,

using traditional techniques with a modern interpretation.

One of the key things about Derbyshire is, you're in the seasons.

You know when lamb should be on the menu, or when pheasant's around.

You're almost in a big farm in Derbyshire, so you know exactly what's growing at any one time.

The presentation of a dish is very important, but that's secondary.

Get the flavours right, and then you come to your presentation,

so that when the plate comes in front of the customer they go, "Wow."

But then you need that second hit that they go, "This is unbelievable."

We've got a Michelin star, which has been here about ten years,

we've got four AA rosettes...

The awards and accolades are good for PR, and we're in all the guidebooks,

but the key is the customers coming through the door.

Looking after them, making sure they're happy, and then the rest will follow on from that.

To take on the bikers, my taste of Derbyshire is slow-poached loin and braised canon of Derbyshire lamb,

with Derbyshire oatcake crust and caramelised onion mousse.

Hiya.

Welcome to Baslow Hall.

-Smashing. Thank you.

-Safe journey?

-Not so bad.

-It was good. It was good.

-Yeah?

-You got the kettle on?

-Yeah. Come on. Let's go and have a brew.

Rupert, could you headline your dish?

Today we're going to do a slow-poached and a braised shoulder of Derbyshire lamb,

with an oatcake crust and a caramelised onion mousse.

-Let's crack on!

-Right.

So we've got a whole shoulder here with the bone in just to show.

We've got it all tied and ready there.

Season that all over. Not too much salt.

In a pan. We want that nice and golden brown all over,

and then we'll prepare some simple braising vegetables -

onions, carrots, celery, some garlic.

So if we cut them too small, the vegetables cook too quickly,

and you get a really cloudy sauce.

-So you want a clear sauce?

-Yeah.

We want them really well roasted.

Bit of garlic in as well,

and we'll start to get our herb crust.

I've got some different herbs, leaves, shoots, et cetera.

This one is a wild garlic leaf.

We've got some chives here, some parsley, a bit of rosemary,

some bay leaf. Jimmy, can you just pass me a bit of thyme, please?

And, again, our vegetables are getting nicely coloured.

Into that, we're going to add

just a little bit of tomato puree into that as well,

and some of the thyme and some rosemary.

We'll leave that to carry on roasting.

We've got that lamb nicely sealed off all over.

-Fabulous.

-So that goes in as well now.

So we just use white wine...

into there, and wash all of that off from both pans. About half a bottle.

Once that's all reduced down a bit, that goes on the top of there.

Jimmy, chuck me that bucket of beef stock.

Some lamb bones that I've already roasted off,

-so they go in.

-That's beef stock.

That goes in over the top.

I've just got bubbling away on the back here some chicken stock,

and we'll just put in a couple of ladles of that,

and that'll be about three, four hours there.

Can you just pass me that metal tub...? That's it.

This is a really good machine.

-So what have you got there?

-We've got Derbyshire oatcakes. Fantastic.

They're weird. They're like a crumpet.

They're great for the crust -

Normally we'd use bread, but these are a bit doughy, and that's great for the crust.

So we just chop them up roughly.

So everything's in there now. All our thyme, garlic...

This machine is like a fancy food processor.

-Dude, it's a space shuttle(!)

-So that sits in there,

and then what we've got here is a blade that's going to spin round,

chop through everything, and mix the whole lot together.

So we'll just set that going.

We're going to start our onion mousse. We don't need to cut these up really fine.

So in our pan, we want some butter.

Now, in here...that's the shoulder there, all cooked.

So we just lift that out...

..and into there.

We're going to pass the stock off now, pass it through a chinois,

so we've got it nice and fine, to take out all the impurities.

-Just sieve it, really.

-Sieve it, yeah.

So what we're going to do...

is just cover that over with some clingfilm, like that,

and then put a weight onto that,

and press it.

-Wow.

-Jimmy, can I pass that to you?

-And is the pressed shoulder served cold?

-No, no, no.

We're going to reheat it then.

-Have a look at this now...

-Wow!

That's our crust there. Smell that.

-God, the flavours!

-Oh, that is amazing.

That is amazing.

We've got some cheese here.

We're just going to add a small amount of that to our herb crust.

Back in, and we'll give that one more blast.

-I want one of these, they're great.

-Through the magic machine.

This cheese is another one of our great Derbyshire products.

-This is called Little Derby. Fantastic cheese.

-Thank you.

-This is a really good old cheese.

-Good, isn't it?

-So you can see that now.

-Cor... Look at the colours in that!

Back to our other cut of lamb. We're going to cook it sous-vide.

So we're going to vac-pack it, and slowly cook it.

-Sous-vide is a water bath, isn't it?

-That's it.

"Sous vide" is the French term for cooking under pressure.

-So we're going to put this into the bag...

-Yeah.

We're going to add a little bit of rosemary into each bag,

a bit of thyme, a little bit of garlic.

Then we've just got a little bit of olive oil... Goes into that.

So we're going to vac-pack these on the machine.

Close that up.

-We've got this at 57 degrees exactly.

-Not 58, not 56...

-We can if you want...

-But you don't want.

-We can go 57.1,

but I think that'll be too hot. That goes on for exactly 20 minutes.

And the beauty of cooking that way,

-is rather than when I put the shoulder into the pan the meat instantly tightens up...

-Oh, yes.

-This way, it doesn't tighten up at all. It's like going in a warm bath.

-Yes.

-It just relaxes.

So we get our crust now, and we're going to just bin that out on some silicone paper.

Just lay the other sheet over the top, roll it nice and thin,

and then we'll put that on a tray, into the fridge...

-Jimmy!

-Jimmy!

We're going to make... I suppose you'd call it cheesy mashed potato.

-What would YOU call it, then?

-Pommes aligote.

-Oooh(!)

Can you just pass me another gadget over, please?

Oh, this is a man so much after my own heart.

-It's a Thermomix.

-Thermomix.

You see, this... It not only blends, purifies and pulses,

but it can cook at the same time!

We'll add some whipping cream into here,

we'll set the temperature to about 60 degrees,

and then as it's warming, we'll just keep adding the cheese to emulsify it.

Like a cheese puree, almost.

We'll just start to add our cheese to that...

-..and let that emulsify.

-I want one.

OK. So what we've got here is just a potato puree.

So we just take some of that, and put that into our pan here.

So we've come back to our cheese puree now, and we turn it right up,

and give it a really good blast just to get it all to mix up.

-And that's what we've got there.

-Look at that!

We're just going to warm up some milk. Just get all that out.

We're just going to add to that now a bit of milk,

and a little bit more butter.

You can see now that's got a few lumps in it,

and we want it to be silky-smooth.

-Behind you there's a drum sieve.

-Yes, Chef.

You can see I'm just taking out all those lumps... So there we go.

-Scrape the rest of that.

-Aww, man...!

-We'll go back to our onion puree.

I've actually got one here which is ready...

-Go on, say it - you're dying to.

-"One I prepared earlier."

-Good man!

-Good lad. Good lad.

It's like an onion jelly - but when it's hot it sets, when it's cold it melts.

We're going to use this product Methocel, which is what makes the jelly the opposite way round.

So our chicken stock goes in. Double cream goes in.

Into that, we put our Methocel.

Could you pour while I stir that in?

So this is our jelly mould. Take some clingfilm...

We pour our mousse in.

This is our slightly caramelised onion mousse,

going to wrap it in clingfilm.

I think our timer's just gone off for our lamb.

You can just feel that, it's changed the textures of the lamb.

So we'll just put that there.

Some lovely little baby beetroots - just cook those down in a little bit of water, salt, sugar.

The liquor they were in, we use to reheat them.

We've cooked some baby carrots down in carrot juice,

and then we've got some baby turnips, and a few baby leeks, in a little water and butter to glaze them up.

We've pressed our lamb shoulder. We've got a little bit of fat running through it,

it'll be lovely and tender when we cook that.

-And will that stay...?

-Well, we hope it will.

-Right, OK.

So we're just going to trim that up.

So we're just going to seal that off... We're adding that roasted flavour back to it.

We're going to add some of our lamb jus.

Just glaze that up.

So this is our herb crust...

It's like a biscuit.

So this is when I have to judge to get the right sort of size.

This is like the lovely Derbyshire grass on the top of our lamb.

Now we'll grab our lamb. It's not going to have a really strong flavour, so very quickly in a hot pan

we just seal it off on the outside.

I think it needs this just to finish it off.

Just to give it that oomph at the end.

So that's ready.

So that comes out,

and that goes on there.

The last thing we need to do is we've just got some pea shoots...

We've got some of the little buds off of the wild garlic,

and some of the garlic leaves. These, we're talking seconds,

just in a little bit of butter, bit of water.

All our vegetables are nice and hot... Onto there.

Lovely beetroots. Baby turnips. Which we've cut down.

So we've got some pea shoots and our garlic, and I've got here

a few really tiny young garlic leaves, which we're just going to put on raw.

They'll just go on the stove for literally ten seconds.

Just sit that along the back...

Just go round the front with our different vegetables.

I think they're going to know which dish is which!

I think that's highly likely, dude.

So now we'll come to our jellies here.

-We've just got some little tiny onion rings...

-Aw, man!

-..to add to the top.

So that's our sort of Derbyshire pommes aligote.

Got our lovely lamb jus,

and we'll just glaze up the herb crust.

Go round with that.

-There we go.

-Chef...headline your dish for us, give us the title.

So, we've got braised shoulder,

slow-poached canon of Derbyshire lamb

Derbyshire oatcake crust, and a caramelised onion mousse.

-Fabulous.

-Fantastic.

-Absolutely fantastic, Chef.

That's a work of art.

-It's an event.

-Let's just pause a moment...

OK, that's enough.

The intensity of that jelly, and the kind of texture that it is -

when it goes into your mouth it goes back to its original state.

It's onion. It's a synthesis of the taste of onions.

Each vegetable has the most intense flavour.

-This is one of the nicest meals I've ever tasted.

-Yeah.

That is unbelievable.

-It's so, so fresh.

-This meat is just sublime.

It's to die for.

Whoa, that's posh tatey, isn't it? It's great!

Oh, man!

Well, I think as a plate of food it all works together really well. And I think we're in the doop!

-Yeah. Fair enough!

-Fair enough.

'It's all very well what WE think, but the real judges are the locals

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

The inevitable challenge. What to cook, Kingy?

-Fish, dude. Let's cook seafood!

-Don't be ridiculous. Derbyshire's landlocked. It's like Switzerland.

-They don't do trawlers!

-Well, Switzerland has seafood.

Kingy, Kingy, Kingy. Vegetables.

Derbyshire has this great tradition of market gardening.

-Vegetables. We need to look to the land.

-Vegetables?!

-Kingy. Just say yes.

-Vegetables have never been a main event, man.

They're a garnish!

Good grief, you're so negative! Kingy - be positive, just say yes.

Yes!

SI WHINGES

'Between the wars, there were about 100 market gardeners

'in the Melbourne area of Derbyshire.

'Although numbers have fallen since then, there are still veg producers

'who sell their crops exclusively to local restaurants and shops.

'We met Martin Sharp, from the South Derbyshire Growers' Association.'

-That's PSB!

-It's PSB, isn't it?

-Purple sprouting broccoli.

-That's right, yeah.

Look at that. Still dripping with the dew from the field.

Martin, what do you do here, then? How does it work?

Well, we're the growers. We grow everything from seed,

plant it in the fields, harvest it, take it to market and sell it.

Well - from small acorns doth great oaks grow.

This is a great start. Can we buy some of this?

I'm afraid not, it's all spoken for.

The local guy Barry Hodgkinson's coming to pick it up. He's South Derbyshire Growers,

and he's having it all.

Well, we need to speak to and follow Barry, don't we?!

-Is this him in the van?

-This is him, yeah. He's coming now.

-You all right there, Martin?

-Hi, Barry.

-What you got here, then?

-You're the man that flogs the veggies, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-So can we buy some of the fantastic veg?

-Well, it's all spoken for.

But if you help me out, we'll see what we can do.

-Where do you want it, Barry?

-In the van.

-Hold me helmet, Martin.

-Anything to do with vegetables, we have to work for it.

-Come on!

Meat - fine, you just walk into a shop and you buy it.

-We're going to pop it in the van, so we can meet up with Brian. How about that?

-Yes!

-Barry - in Derbyshire, what produce do you sell and grow here?

-Ooh, a range of produce.

We start in the spring with the spring salads, lettuce,

and we go on to things like spring cabbage, beetroot, runner beans...

And what does it mean to you to do this?

Oh, it's not just about me making a living - it's about supporting the whole tradition of market gardening

and rural tradition in general in this part of Derbyshire, which is where I was born and bred.

-You're a proper old-fashioned market gardener.

-Yeah, cum-farm shop.

-So what treasures are we picking up?

-You tell them, Brian.

There's not a lot available for the next month or so,

but we've got carrots and leeks still.

Can we have a look, before we start humping?

-I'm sure they can.

-Sure, yeah.

-Go have a walk.

Leave it to Barry, he's a strong fella.

Yeah, these are the... That's a bit of a pull. These are the leeks.

We could do summat with these, Kingy.

-You cannot leave these, can you?

-Look at that.

I love when you've got that moisture that's from the soil - you know, the dew.

It's that heavy mix, isn't it? The smell of the soil, and then the wonderful smell of oniony, earthy...

You're crying out to be in a leek and potato soup.

-You love this, don't you?

-Yeah, it's your hobby, your passion, everything rolled into one.

It has to be, for the amount of effort that you put into it.

Look at that, Kingy - my leek looks like Tina Turner.

# Private dancer, only for money... #

THE BEACH BOYS: # I'm gonna keep well my vegetables Cart off and sell my vegetables

# I love you... #

Yeah, so these are the carrots that we grow.

That's a perfect carrot as ever I've seen.

These are real carrots, and they look a bit wacky. But they taste brilliant.

You wouldn't find them in supermarkets.

No. You get some weird and wonderful shapes, but they all taste the same.

You see - by just saying yes, we're ending up with all this wonderful food.

No - yes, Dave. Fair do's. Yes.

What we need to do now is go back and see Barry - see where he's going to take us to now.

-That's us! Are we all loaded, Barry?

-We are. All loaded and ready to go.

-Excellent.

-What's next, Barry, cos we're just gonna go with the flow!

-Well, we're going to have a drop-off this time - we're off to Calke Abbey.

-Yes.

He's like Jean-Claude Van Man - The Vegetator.

-BARRY LAUGHS

-Not much time for vegetating in this job.

We're at the restaurant, one of Barry's local drop-offs.

-All right, Chef?

-Hello!

-We've got your stuff.

-Thank you very much.

-Taters. You got 'em?

-Thank you.

-Four loose carrots.

-Four.

Ooh, they smell good.

It's not very organised, mind, is it(?) Just as well you've had your Weetabix.

'To celebrate Derbyshire's vegetable heritage, we'll cook up bubble and squeak

'topped with purple sprouting broccoli and Vichy carrots.

'But to accompany it, another outstanding local flavour.

'Here at Calke Abbey, deer roam in the 240-hectare estate.

'Head gamekeeper Bill Cove is making the introductions.'

-Are those DEER nuts(?)

-Really expensive, this lot.

And we'll see if they'll come across. See if they're interested in a bit of food.

-Sss, sss, sss...

-Come on, boys!

HE SHAKES THE BUCKET

-Aren't they elegant?

-Bit tatty right now in their winter coat.

They're beautiful.

You'll find the jackdaws'll spend a lot of time on their backs now pulling all the dead hair out.

-For their nests?

-Yeah, lining their nests.

So how many deer are on the estate, Bill?

Well, within this enclosed park we keep about 80 fallow deer and about 30 reds.

And of course those numbers are bumped up every year with all the youngsters being born.

And that's the surplus we have to take out -

it's an enclosed park, you can't keep increasing your numbers.

Do you take it to local butcheries and restaurants?

Yeah, they're all sold to farm shops. Direct to the public as well.

But also, a lot goes straight through the restaurant

-on the property.

-Have deer been in Derbyshire a long time?

-We've always eaten deer.

-Right.

-Always eaten it here.

-So it is quite appropriate for us in Derbyshire to cook venison.

-Definitely.

OK, let's bring you in here. This is the larder,

-and I think this is probably what you've come to find.

-Look at that beauty!

In terms of what we're wanting to do, what sort of joints are you looking for?

The fella that we're against has a Michelin star. It's got to be the finest cut.

In terms of the venison then you can have the loin, all the way down this piece...

Can't go wrong with that, can you?

-You can't.

-Just sear it, rest it and serve it.

Sounds good to me.

-What are we doing?

-We're doing a loin of venison with a sloe gin and blackberry glaze.

-And served with bubble and squeak!

-And candied shallots.

-Vichy carrots.

'But will the local diners think our dish is good enough to beat Rupert's in a blind tasting?'

First off, I need to make some pancetta blankets, in order to roll the venison.

The loin runs here... Now, that's the fillet.

-This is Derbyshire venison, then?

-It is, yes.

So what we'll do once the loin comes out is just trim it up.

Now, into the bowl I'm just going to put some olive oil,

salt and pepper, and some dried thyme.

Crack it in two for us, mate.

Fab. Just roll that in the olive oil and thyme...

Put that on there.

Just roll that, we want it nice and snug.

I'll cut them seam side down so that seals first. Gonna sear it, then finish it in the oven.

What I'm gonna do is I'm just knock off a leek...

So you mix the potato and the cabbage. These are your building blocks for bubble and squeak.

-I'm going to saute these off...

-Yeah.

-..in a little bit of butter,

and that'll do us really.

Butter... Excuse me.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

Right, now, that's on.

I really want this nicely combined. I'm using about an equal quantity of cabbage to potato.

That's what we want. We don't want them caramelised, we just want them relaxed.

Now, we put those leeks in there. Look at that!

A bit of butter...

-Look a that.

-Lovely.

I'll use the maurice for this. It's not as good as your hands, though.

I'll just oil those rings.

-Oh, yes.

-Always got to oil your ring(!)

-You're packin' 'em in there.

-Oh, aye.

-That's the bubble on.

-I'll knock the carrots out.

-And I'm going to make candied shallots.

-Vichy carrots. Simple.

Vichy carrots are carrots cooked in the alkaline qualities of Vichy water.

-Then we reduce them to a puree.

-So have you got Vichy water from Derbyshire?

No, no. Buxton!

Ah.

-It's more a method than a statement.

-Ah, right.

I've got some shallots. And they've just been blanched for about five, seven minutes so they're soft.

And the shallots go into the butter.

And we just do them till they're nice and golden.

Now, what we do with these carrots -

put them in a pan, just cover them with water...

We're going to put about two tablespoons of butter in there.

We're just going to put the zest of an orange.

Are they Derbyshire oranges, or...?

-Listen.

-He's getting at us.

-Isn't he?

-When these are cooked, we'll pass it through...

-The Thermoblaster?

-..the Thermoblaster.

To the onions, I'm just going to sprinkle on about a tablespoon of caster sugar.

-You're going to caramelise that further?

-Oh, yes.

Into this bowl here...

..I've got 250ml of stock.

-To that, I'm adding 75ml of red wine...

-Yes.

-..50ml of port...

-You're not wrong.

-..and 50ml of cassis.

-You're not wrong.

I'm adding a quarter of this, and letting it boil down. This is going to make a wonderful syrup.

-So you're reducing that down round them.

-Yes.

To that, I'm going to put a bay leaf,

and the zest of half a lemon.

So I can put the last of my stock, wine, cassis and port in there...

-What are we doing now?

-Well, tomatoes.

-Tomatoes.

Now, this really IS simple. Throwaway item.

Just salt, olive oil...

Pepparius.

Some balsamic vinegar.

-We'll set these aside. We'll put them up there, look...

-Yeah.

Can we have the Turboblaster!

My onions are just reaching critical mass.

-Into that, we're going to put some chervil.

-White pepper, Mr King?

-Yes.

It's a chervil sprinkle.

Do you want me to do that?

Ho-ho-ho...

-Oh!

-MACHINE WHIZZES

INAUDIBLE

I'm heating up the pan for the venison. There's a steamer on for the broccoli,

and those are a treacly loveliness.

-Are they all pureed down now?

-Yeah, that's the consistency we want.

-Shall I get the venison on, Kingy?

-Yeah. I'll crack on with this.

It's important that you put the venison in to sear with the seam side down, cos I want that to seal,

and once that's done we're going to roll it round till it's golden all over.

-Kingy?

-Hello.

-Could you pick through some purple sprouting broccoli?

-Yes.

That's that.

This goes in the oven for seven minutes,

along with the tomatoes. Right, seven. Yeah, seven minutes, please.

We've got what's called a demi-glace, and what that is

is a reduction of beef stock. Or any stock, actually.

-Veal stock, really.

-Oh, is it?

And then we're going to crush some juniper berries.

Not into a powder, we're just breaking the husks.

When the venison comes out, we're going to deglaze the pan with this - sloe gin.

Great flavours with venison.

That's come out nice.

They can just rest and roll in the juice.

We're going to put this back onto the heat. Tablespoon sloe gin.

I'm adding the demi-glace to the pan...

This is a bag of carrots.

These are juniper berries.

-I'm putting the broccoli on now.

-Yeah, that's good.

-Time for me to get the bubble on.

Now we'll sieve the sauce, to get rid of those juniper berries,

and add the blackberries. Put it back onto the heat.

-Look at that, Kingy!

-That's good. Lush, man.

I think that's enough.

They're really glazed up now, aren't they?

Brilliant. All we need is nine pieces.

That's six there...

There...

Oh, look at that.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-That's it.

-That's it.

-That's the job!

There we have it. Derbyshire on a plate.

We've got a loin of venison with a sloe gin and blackberry glaze!

-And we've got some bubble and squeak...

-Candied shallots.

And some Vichy carrots sitting underneath.

With an anointment...of a cherry tomato, purple sprouting broccoli

as an homage to the market gardeners of Derbyshire!

-Right...

-Judgment time, Rupert.

-Venison's one of my favourites.

Well, it's good Derbyshire venison.

Yeah, the venison's good. Carrot really comes through with the sweetness

and then the blackberry on the top's lovely.

Yeah. Lovely.

You get the lovely sweet and sour with the shallots coming through

which goes well.

Broccoli's nice and crunchy still. Not too cooked.

I think you've done Derbyshire proud on your travels.

-Well, coming from you that's a great compliment.

-Thanks very much.

No, it's good.

'It's crunch time. The diners here will taste both dishes,

'but with no idea who cooked which.

'First, Rupert's canon and shoulder of lamb

'with a herb oatcake crust and an onion mousse.'

The lamb was lovely and tender, particularly the shoulder cut.

Strong flavours. But quite a nice, light dish, really.

Beautifully presented, very modern.

The piece de resistance was the potato mash. I thought that was excellent.

The two lambs were very different, the shoulder and the canon.

That was a compliment to the dish.

The mash was very nice, but it had a very lasting taste

which spoilt it a little.

It represents our county very well. The spring lamb

is one of the best meats that we produce in the county.

It's the sort of dish that I would hope and expect to get

when I'm dining in Derbyshire.

'That seemed to be popular. How will OUR dish go down?

'Time to find out.'

I thought the presentation was a little contrived, a little clumsy.

Carrots Vichy, which is French - I don't know what that's doing in a Derbyshire dish.

The venison really was very tasteful, very tender.

The shallots were wonderful.

Bubble and squeak - that didn't do a thing for me.

I don't normally like venison,

but I would definitely choose it again based on that.

Not something I would immediately associate with Derbyshire.

It doesn't ring as true a bell as say, lamb or beef.

Derby after all means "deer park". That was its derivation.

So it IS Derbyshire through and through.

Hello, how are you?

Thank you very much for coming. We've had great food in Derbyshire, met some great people.

And this fella, here...

-He's a canny lad.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

OK. This is the bit we don't like. It's decision time.

Could I have please a show of hands for the lamb?

So that's one, two, three, four, five, six for the lamb. OK, good.

And now could I have a show of hands, please, for the venison.

One, two, three. OK, good.

The lamb...

..was Rupert's dish.

-APPLAUSE

-He's the man.

I've got to say, it's one of the nicest things I've tasted as well!

We were kinda going, "We divven't care! Oh, it's mega."

I think all that remains is for us

to thank Rupert for his hospitality, We've learnt an awful lot. And we've had great fun.

-And he's a brilliant chef.

-Yes, you're very lucky to have him.

Time for a beer now. Lead the way, Chef!

See ya. Thanks very much indeed.

'Rupert's dish was a feast for eyes and palate,

'so we knew a win here would be tough. But hey - it was all good fun in the kitchen.

'And I've got to say Derbyshire is fit to bursting with food treasures.'

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