Norfolk The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain

We're the Hairy Bikers!

We're on the road to find regional recipes to rip up your appetite.

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

-Come on!

-Wahey!

Today, we're in search of the real tastes of Norfolk.

-The Norfolk Broads!

-There's only one broad I want to see in Norfolk and that's Delia Smith.

Look, she's not the only famous resident in Norfolk. Lord Nelson.

-Lord Nelson! Delia Smith. Two eyes.

-The Queen at Sandringham.

There's only one queen at Norfolk, that's Delia Smith.

Delia was a revolutionary who brought good food to the masses.

Who was it who taught the nation how to boil an egg? Delia Smith.

Look, Norfolk is a water-based county.

You've got the Broads and the bountiful coastline, which produces some of the finest seafood.

We've got crabs, lobsters, cockles. You name it, it's there, dude.

-The best in the country.

-So it's not going to be all turkey and mustard?

No, it's not. Get on the bike.

'On our quest to define the true flavours of Norfolk,

'we live on the edge and cook a local recipe

'that we would never dare try at home.'

We learn why the locals think Cromer crabs are the best in the country.

We meet an eggs-pert in his field!

'And representing Norfolk in a cook-off later is Galton Blackiston.

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

'You can't come to the north Norfolk coast without visiting the local institution. Cookie's crab shop.

'This place has been selling seafood for three generations.'

Look at that Norfolk man, you've got to love it.

-Let's nick a strawberry.

-You're caught on camera!

-Hello there.

-Wow, look at this, all this smoked fish.

In Norfolk, is there a tradition of smoking fish as well?

-Most definitely, yes.

-What's a buckling?

-That's a herring too.

-It's roasted and then smoked so you can eat it as it is.

-Look at that, that's perfection.

-Great with the garlic, I'm surprised actually.

-Yes, wonderful, isn't it?

It sounds daft to say, but what, to you, is Norfolk on a plate?

-Crab. Samphire.

-Samphire?

-Samphire goes with everything. It's God's salt.

-Is that you gathering the samphire?

-That's me.

-Is that local to Norfolk then?

-Oh, yes, it's plentiful on the marshes. You have to know where to go, though.

Could we have a quick look at where it might be grown on?

I'll show you one place, but not the best place.

'Samphire is a wild plant which grows in muddy marshland.'

'It's got a unique salty taste that works brilliantly with seafood.'

'Only real locals like Pete know the best spots to find it.'

It's vast, isn't it? It's such a lovely area.

It is vast. Pete said, "We're just going to go over there," and it kind of looked pretty close.

20 minutes later, we arrive at the centre of samphire.

Wow. It's like little cactuses.

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

-You can do a lot with it.

-You can.

You can pickle it, blanche it, eat it raw in salad.

People used to call it sea asparagus, didn't they?

-That's right, yes.

-Is samphire seasonal, Pete?

Yes, the middle of June to the middle of September.

Says something about your coastline, because it only grows in good clean waters.

It's great what you when you know what to pick.

It's lovely. But it's a bit dangerous sometimes. You've got to study the tide a bit.

Get in your dykes and out sometimes.

You've got to study your tides and not eat toadstools and the like!

Look at that, we've got crabs as well.

We've got it all, dude.

-It truly is a bounteous county.

-It is!

Next up on our food tour of Norfolk is Wells-next-the-Sea.

Right, let the searching commence.

What to you is good traditional Norfolk fare?

You can get some really nice local mackerel and sea bass.

I'd say shellfish on the seafront is beautiful.

-It comes straight off the boat.

-Have you any traditional recipes?

-Pick some samphire.

What are you fishing for?

-Crabs.

-If you don't mind me saying, I don't think there's much of a feed on that one!

-A bit of Colman's mustard. That's pretty nice.

-Of course.

What to you is good traditional Norfolk fare?

Proper beef stew and dumplings.

-Norfolk dumplings?

-Norfolk dumplings, definitely.

What's in a Norfolk dumpling?

If I told you that, everyone would know.

If he won't tell us, we'll have to find someone who will.

-I don't use suet.

-You don't?

-No, no.

-I use flour and water.

-Right.

Cook them for about 20 minutes

until they blow up big.

-Hello, how are you?

-I'm very good, hi.

Hey, what a fabulous place.

You've got lots of Norfolk things here.

What to you is Norfolk on a plate?

Today, I think it's Binham blue, which is a local blue cheese.

This is made by Mrs Temple. She's a local farmer's-wife-cum-scientist and this is one of her first cheeses.

It's won several awards. If you'd like to have a little taste.

-That's nice, isn't it?

-That's a good cheese.

It's not crumbly like a Stilton.

-Mmm.

-Get the blue, get the cream.

Have you got any other secrets?

We've got some local sea lavender honey. He has all his hives

out here on the marshes. They start here and go all the way to Blakeney.

He just harvests all the hives there.

It doesn't taste anything like lavender.

You get that rich sea mineraliness in it.

-You do, don't you?

-There's nothing light and floraly about that.

There's a salt to it as well.

-That's mad.

-It's got a savoury finish.

-I've heard of salt marsh lamb, but never salt marsh honey.

-No!

'There's certainly no shortage of great produce in Norfolk,

'but we still need to nail a traditional county recipe.'

-Hello.

-Hello, I'm Si. Nice to meet you, sir.

-This looks great.

-Doesn't it?

-Arthur, are there any old traditional dishes?

Norfolk dumplings, that would go with mince or something like that.

-What is a Norfolk dumpling?

-Can I get you my father? He'd be the man to tell you.

We're going through layers of generation to find out what the actual dumpling is.

-It's like Lara Croft of the dumpling world.

-The dumpling-nator. Hello, sir.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Hello, I'm Dave.

Sir, we need to know, what's a Norfolk dumpling?

A Norfolk dumpling is just plain water and flour.

-It's self-raising flour.

-Right.

You had to eat them as soon as they came out because they went flat.

-They used to put them on top of the potatoes.

-Right.

I think this gentleman knows his dumplings.

-I think he does. He is a Jedi of the dumpling world.

-Yes.

'We won't forget about the fabulous Norfolk seafood when it comes to the cook-off,

'but for a really authentic taste of the county, it just has to be Norfolk dumplings.'

The locals insist we have got to make them without suet.

We'll serve them in the traditional style with mince and potatoes.

To get cooking, we are off to the market town of Diss.

# Oh, Delia, you're breaking my heart

# You're expanding my cooking confidence daily... #

It's such a thrill to be in Diss.

-We have scoured Norfolk.

-We have.

And we have come up with what we reckon is a good traditional dish.

And that's the Norfolk dumpling.

Yes!

For us, I think it's fair to say the jury is out.

-Absolutely.

-We're northerners, we love big dumplings.

But we love suet dumplings.

Now, the Norfolk dumpling, it's just flour, water, salt and pepper.

-It's wrong.

-But we are doing a favourite, I think, of everybody.

It's mince. People love mince.

-They do.

-It's brilliant. Anyway, we'd better try these dumplings.

For the Norfolk dumpling, you add flour to a bowl.

Add to that... salt.

I think these dumplings have to be well-seasoned, or else it is going to be dough.

I have put a lot of pepper in, because I think this is going to be nice if they are a bit savoury.

It's odd without suet.

I've got no fat to rub in.

We put the water into the flour.

The only thing is, it's self-raising flour, so I'm hoping that is what will give the dumplings a lift.

These are going to be fantastic. There's loads of pepper in!

-Dave.

-Yes?

-Are you going to chop your parsley now?

Oh, Carruthers! I forgot.

-I'll do that.

-Go on then.

Now, a top tip when you're making Norfolk dumplings is put the parsley in

with the flour first, before you start making the dough.

I never was one for an easy life.

I'm quietly confident, ladies and gentlemen.

I'll go with a kind of golf ball sized dumplings,

because I don't know how much they'll swell up in the pan.

If I do these and they're all big, we all can't have some!

CHEERING

-Look at the size of those!

-Do you think they're too big?

-No, they're fine.

-All right.

-I think me pan is too small, that's what I think!

No, they'll be fine.

What I've done is, I'm sauteing off these lovely onions in readiness for the mince.

Now, look, I'm coming to a top tip.

Look. Chop the organic beef stock cubes up, nice and fine and crumbly.

Do about two and a half of those.

Then put them in your pan like that. Sprinkle them.

Then just cook them out a little bit. And it changes the flavour of that stock cube. It's really odd.

-But it happens. It does work.

-Oh!

-Doesn't that smell lovely?

And then, it gets all the onions coated in the stock cube, you see.

So, all I'm going to do now is add the mince.

You know it makes sense.

You put your potatoes in a pan of boiling water without splashing the cameraman.

-We just get those back to the boil.

-Now, what I'm going to add to this, is some Worcester sauce.

I'm gonna put a few drops in. And then there's about a litre of water.

This water will miraculously turn into gravy, you know!

With the addition of the stuff that seasons and thickens, but we can't mention the name.

Potatoes that are all in the boil. It's time for the Norfolk dumplings to take a bath.

Just throw them into your potatoes and watch them bubble.

They're nice when they're fluffy.

Right.

Now, simply simmer for 20 minutes, by which time, the potatoes will be done,

and so will the dumplings and you'll have a hearty but simple supper.

Now, back to the mince. You've got to simmer this

for three hours, so these dumplings may be a bit previous.

You don't really have to wait three hours, because here's the mince that we did earlier!

You get lovely, thick gravy with the mince, that's what happens after three hours of cooking.

What we do with this is, we've got our final garnishing flourish, some lovely baby carrots.

They've just been washed. Just topping them, and we'll boil them.

Hello. As the Town Mayor of Diss, I'd like to present you with a Diss apron.

-Are you the the Mayor of Diss?

-I am.

-Well, thank you very much. Thank you very much.

-You're welcome. You can put your nice apron on.

Can we have a cheer for Diss? CHEERING

Such a time to distract you. Have you seen the dumplings?

-They're growing some, aren't they?

-Now that's what you call a rising dumpling.

-Put the carrots on.

I've left the green tops on.

Like they do in the posh restaurants.

Let's have a look. Nice. Look. It's risen. It's bouncy.

-Beautifully cooked. Ow!

-I'll drain the carrots.

-A big knob of butter.

-Thanks very much.

-Let's serve dinner.

-Dumplings.

Now, mince. We want it with a glaze of gravy.

See what I mean?

The carrots.

These are so good, I think I could eat three.

Oh, look at that!

Just on the potatoes for that country chic.

Voila! The Norfolk dumpling!

I never thought we'd see the day when we'd serve up dumplings without any suet.

-How will it go down?

-Would you like to try a Norfolk dumpling and mince?

-Very nice.

-They're delicious.

They're different to ones with suet, aren't they?

-And healthier without the suet.

-Absolutely.

I put me fork in and couldn't get it out!

-Your Worship?

-Interesting. Were they lighter when they first came out?

-No.

-Really nice.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, I'd have them again.

Thank you.

Do that, look, you missed a bit, look at that!

-Have you had the Norfolk dumplings before?

-I haven't. No.

-You've lived in Norfolk all your life?

-Yes.

What do you think?

-Yes!

-Very nice, actually. I'd never had a Norfolk dumpling before.

-What's this?

-That's a Norfolk dumpling.

-I know.

It just looked a bit hard. Oh!

Well, a mixed response there, but the kids certainly seemed to enjoy getting stuck into them.

Next, an even bigger challenge is around the corner.

'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 Norfolk.

Our opponent today is...

Galton Blackiston, the chef and owner of Morston Hall

on the north Norfolk coast.

He was born and bred in Norfolk and has been named East Anglian Chef of the Year.

He's had a Michelin Star for over 10 years.

There's a saying, us Norfolk boys always come back to roost,

so I'm back in the county where I belong.

I'd say the geography of the county is massively important.

We haven't got a motorway in Norfolk, so people have to find the produce.

Obviously, we've got a vast expanse of coastline, so there's never a problem with fish.

It's a massive farming community here.

Since coming back to Norfolk, most of my mates are farmers.

Everything that comes out of the kitchen is fantastically fresh, fantastically local and seasonal.

I only use fish caught out of the North Sea, wherever possible.

In the summer months, I've got sea trout, sea bass, crab, lobster, cockles, everything that I'd want.

We get fantastic vegetables, fruit, best strawberries in the country, but I would say that!

What I do is all about the ingredients. The cooking is the easy part.

Years and years ago, maybe I would mess about a bit more, but now,

if I've got fantastic main ingredients, it's going to be served very simply, but really well.

To take on the bikers today, my taste of Norfolk

is Morston pan-fried sea trout

with Stiffkey cockles and our own locally grown vegetables.

-HE RINGS THE DOORBELL

-Galton!

-Gentlemen!

-Hello there.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Lovely to see you. What a day!

What we need is a nice cup of tea to cool us down.

-My mother used to say that.

-Come into my office.

Good man. We'll follow you.

-Galton, could you headline your dish?

-Yeah.

I'm going to do Morston sea trout, pan-fried, with Stiffkey cockles,

some locally grown vegetables and just a simple butter sauce.

-And that's going to be...

-Beautiful.

-All right.

These are things that are very local, they're blue in colour, that's why they're called Stewkey Blues.

I actually got these myself.

-Did you?

-I love doing that. I love going cockling.

-They're big!

-They're decent sized ones.

You've washed them through so they don't go green. What have you got in the water?

I put a bit of flour into the water so it makes it spit out

any muck and grit and stuff - well, that's the theory behind it.

And then you leave them in there for almost overnight, next day, drain them.

Now, this is the way I cook cockles.

White wine. Into a hot pan. Immediately, throw in...

-Your old cockle, innit!

-Your shallot and your garlic.

Pop in... You don't need to put any more liquid in than that.

And the lid on the top.

The thing is, in the professional kitchen, none of the pans have lids.

Or if you have a frying pan, you put a lid on, you just put another frying pan on the top.

-I thought that was just Norfolk, but maybe it does go round.

-No, everywhere.

-That's beautiful.

-That's what I want to show you gents.

-Oh, that's a star turn!

That's a local sea trout. Only here for eight weeks.

And then you don't use them any more.

These don't take long either. They're already beginning to open.

There's so much meat on that fish. Have you got your own fishing boat?

I have a crab boat. There's nothing better to relax than just messing about on a boat.

If you know what you're up to. And that's half the trouble with me. I get caught in the mud.

Everybody knows, they say, here comes Galton, he's ploughing his way through.

-Beautiful.

-Now, what we don't want to do is to nail these too much.

They'd be a pan of squash balls.

When they're cool enough to handle, just take as many as you can.

-Pop them in a dish.

-Unbelievable.

The sort of thing that I'd sit outside and just eat like that.

-Absolutely.

-I'm going to skin this sea trout.

Very simple. Quite interesting to see, this fish was quite bruised,

but it doesn't matter, it won't alter the taste of the fish.

It's a wild fish. And it's been on an epic journey, that fish,

so it should be bruised, it's the signs of its life.

That sea trout is gonna take some beating.

It's going to be rolled up tightly, so it'll look very neat on the plate.

But I'm essentially serving it with seasonal vegetables and cockles.

Now, I'd sort of refrigerate that for a minimum of an hour, just so it firms up.

-Could you pop that in that fridge? It's a bit limp at the moment.

-It is a bit limp, isn't it?

I'm just going to wash my hands.

-Chef?

-Yes?

-Do you want the one that looks remarkably like the one I've just put in back out here again?

-Yes, please, sir.

-Thank you very much, chef.

-That will be the "here's one he's done earlier."

Now, it's just a matter of doing the vegetables.

In a frying pan, just a little knob of butter, perfect.

Straight away, we're going to saute off some new potatoes.

You don't mind it going like a bernoisette?

No, I don't mind that too much.

These are local new potatoes, and then, seasoning.

I season lightly, because I'm bearing in mind

that I've got the cockles and samphire is going with it as well.

You can always add more salt. But you can't take it out.

Exactly, that's what I tell them all the time.

Whilst they're being sauted off, I'm going to bring a couple of pans of boiling water.

I have a local guy who grows carrots for me now.

These are local, English carrots.

They're of a decent size, but they aren't huge, and they taste of a carrot.

What I'd like in here, a bit of a butter sauce.

Cooking liquor from those cockles.

Where does the name Galton come from?

My ancestor was a guy called Sir Francis Galton, who found that everybody

had individual fingerprints, and so I get lumbered with the name Galton. It's been a disaster.

So, what do you have in here? What's in here?

We've some shallots, lemon juice, white wine vinegar and white wine, and then you whisk in butter.

-Is that a beurre blanc?

-A beurre blanc or a butter sauce. That's ready, so that can stay around.

-Now, we're almost ready to get our asparagus in.

-He's quick, isn't he?

-Isn't he?

-This is another jewel from our region.

-Norfolk asparagus is great.

-How long for the asparagus?

Five minutes. That's quite thick asparagus.

So, once you've had your sea trout and you've put it in the fridge,

you can still cut it in the clingfilm.

-It's going to look a little bit like a hockey puck.

-Oh, monsieur!

For me, probably the easiest way to cook it, because it's all a similar thickness.

And you also get quite a lot out of it.

I think these vegetables are nearly there.

That's what I mean by tasting when it's hot.

That's cooked.

-So, John?

-Yes.

-Just strain those, please.

-Thank you.

The last thing, to cook the sea trout.

Olive oil in first, and a little knob of butter.

I'll cook these with the clingfilm on.

The clingfilm doesn't actually melt into anything like that, so it's perfectly safe to cook with.

And it just helps keep that shape.

-Sea salt.

-Lovely, all perfectly the same size.

It appeals to you that, doesn't that?

It does. Yes, I like uniformity.

It's really clean.

Of course it is. It's lush.

Turn it over like so...

Then I'm going to turn the pan off, leave these to finish off cooking,

a little bit of butter goes in with the asparagus.

-Of course.

-Of course.

-Gives it a nice little sheen.

-Absolutely.

Same with the carrots. Not a lot.

A little bit of butter.

Strain my sauce.

That sauce has held really well.

-It does.

-It's been standing for a while.

-I shall just put that back on a gentle heat.

All my vegetables are nice and hot.

Add a few cockles...to the sauce.

What I'm gonna do with these potatoes is just have a little samphire.

In its raw state.

Toss it through. You'll get a bit of crunch in with that.

Good colour, isn't it? We're just about ready to serve.

All you do is take that off.

Leave it to sit.

-That looks exquisite.

-A few chives in there, that's optional.

Put on the sauce.

You've done that a few times, haven't you?

I'd normally do it 10 times quicker than this.

It does excite me. This is very simple, but it's good.

I'm happy to have that as a main course.

Or any course.

So there we've it.

Gentlemen, that's my pan-fried Morston sea trout

with Stiffkey cockles, seasonal local vegetables, butter sauce.

That's good food.

Could you not have just done egg and chips?

I'd love to have done egg and chips for you, guys.

Right. Taste that sea-trout.

Can't wait. It looks wonderful, doesn't it?

That fish couldn't be better.

The acidity of the buerre blanc is just superb.

The vegetables are cooked to perfection.

The cockles are like a seasoning for the sea-trout.

-It's just so fresh.

-Fresh, light.

Absolutely perfectly executed.

-We're off again, aren't we?

-Yeah.

-We've got another challenge on.

-We've got to find out what's out there.

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.

Galton is a real class act and his knowledge and use of local

produce is second to none, so we really need to uncover some gems if we're going to stand a chance.

Everyone around here raves about the quality of the Cromer crabs, so we've got to get our hands on some.

This is Cromer. It's got a pier.

It has. We need a man in a boat.

To the sea! Come on!

Wait for us! Sorry we're late.

What time do you call this?

-It's crab time. Hello, Dave.

-How do you do, nice to meet you.

-Hello, I'm Si. How are you?

-How do you do, Si?

-I think he's done that before, don't you?

-Yes, Si.

Oh, our insatiable quest for the crab!

-What's that smell? Is that you?

-Oh!

-It's the bait!

-It's bait. Lovely.

'John Davies has been fishing these waters for over 30 years.'

-Lobsters.

-Yeah, several smaller ones again.

-Is this OK?

No, not legal size.

-Goes back in the ocean.

-Oh!

-That's what you came after.

A nice, female crab.

It's got to be 115 mm, and that clearly is.

It's a small crab, but for the size of the meat density, it's very, very high.

So, John, what's the flavour of the Cromer crab that no other crab has?

-It's famous for being a very, very sweet meat.

-Yes.

There's just something a little bit different about our crab.

I bet some of these crabs have been round a few times before.

They say, "oh, no, not again".

And it's, oh, yes.

What makes the marine environment here great for crabs?

I think the main thing is that it's a shallow, flint and chalky sea bed.

A bit like a chalk stream trout really.

-How long has your family been doing this, John?

-About eight generations.

Do you like crab or are you fed up with it to eat?

No, I like crab. My grandfather he'd eat crab nearly every day.

I have it maybe, once a week, once a fortnight, fresh bread and butter, salad, green mayonnaise, or whatever.

Keep it simple, basically. Yes.

When you've got a good product, why do you want to mess about with it?

Yes, exactly. How many crabs do you reckon we got out of those pots, about 20 pots?

20 pots, 80 to 90 crabs in there.

Look at the size of that one. That's got our name on it!

Look at him!

He's magnificent, isn't he?

Three big ugly brutes together.

Look at that. Just show us how to hold a crab properly.

A big crab-like this, not only would he bite you, he'll give you a nasty crush in there.

-Yes.

-If you've got him on his back, there's no way he's going to hurt you.

Yes, that's there. Lovely little female crab.

-That's what Cromer is famous for.

-Si, I reckon against Galton, we can't do better than this.

-No.

-Let's buy a dozen of those off you, John.

-By all means.

-So I reckon we take a dozen, six will do for the diners, that leaves six for us.

-Cheers.

We'll use our shellfish bounty to make warm potted crab, and delicious crab cakes,

served with some of that samphire we saw earlier.

And I tell you what would complete the dish, a poached egg and some mayonnaise.

Let's hunt for the best eggs in the county.

In Great Snoring, there's a family farm that has been producing free-range eggs from chickens,

ducks, quails and geese for 20 years.

Although his 30,000 birds produce eggs for supermarkets,

farmer, David Perrault, proves that you can work on a commercial scale without battery farming. Excuse me!

-Good morning. How can I help you?

-Have you got any eggs?!

-We've got one or two.

-Free-range eggs?

-All free-range.

-Look at them.

Straight out of the field.

They're still warm. What makes the goose eggs so special?

It's the white, which is different from a chicken white.

Also, they've more yolk, so they've more flavour than a chicken egg, in proportion.

So, goose eggs, good for cakes.

Not quite as good as a duck egg. They really make lovely batter.

What's the equivalent of chicken eggs to a goose egg?

I suppose, about three to four medium eggs.

So, good value for money.

I still think it's too big. Have you got anything smaller?

Quails, they're comical looking birds, aren't they?

That's what we'll use, quail's eggs, they're rich, they look great on the plate.

I agree, they're beautiful. I'm very partial. I've often sat down and had a 12 egg omelette with quail's eggs.

Again, it's like a goose egg, it's got more yolk than white.

The shells are intriguing. One lady thought I painted thousands of them every night.

This is all nature's work, not mine.

Everyone is individual to each individual animal.

They nest on the ground, so they need to camouflage the egg.

We could just use three. On a plate, it would look great.

Ever since you suggested eggs, I have this idea of dipping crab cakes and stuff in there,

and it's too small.

Oh, look, David, have you got anything in the middle for Mr Pedantic over there?

-Dave, dude, duck eggs!

-Yes, you're right!

There's nothing better than nicely poached duck egg.

I hope this is what you want. Something in between?

We've got it, dude.

They are magnificent, David.

Every animal is what it eats.

Although, some of our diet is, in pellets and everything else,

an important bit of their diet is grass, it's the same with geese.

The goodness comes out in the egg. You see it in the colour of the yolk and everything else.

-Eggs need be eaten fresh.

-It depends on what you want to do with the egg.

If you want to poach them, fry them, a lovely fresh egg,

if you want a hardboiled one, it wants to sit in the fridge for a fortnight so you can peel it easily.

-That's a top tip.

-It is.

I think we need to visit your shop.

How many are you after?

-A dozen.

-A dozen.

There you go, nice and white.

-That's beautiful.

-It's people like you that are farming commercially

but responsibly, and that means we can have the quantity of good food at a reasonable price.

-Being commercial doesn't mean you don't care about what you do.

-Absolutely.

-Well, this is a perfect 'eggxit'.

-Certainly is!

You put them in your panniers.

-Thanks very much, David.

-See you, have a nice day.

-Thanks!

We can honestly say, we've gathered our own ingredients.

-We gathered the samphire out of a muddy gully. These were laid this morning.

-Right.

-And the crabs, we did go out on a crab boat and got 'em.

-Fantastic.

Our dish tonight is...

-A warm, potted Cromer crab.

-With a caper and samphire sauce.

With a softly poached duck egg on toast.

And Cromer crab cakes and lemon mayonnaise.

Oh, gentleman, that sounds absolutely brilliant.

Well, I hope so.

-We have a lot to do.

-You've got a lot to do.

But, will the local diners think our dishes good enough to beat Galton in the blind tasting?

These are the classic Cromers. These have been cooked for about 20 minutes.

-First of, for the potted crab, we'll serve it warm and we'll do a spiced butter.

-Right.

So, I'm going to heat this up until it goes frothy and strain it off.

See this little gap here, you just put your thumb in there,

and you just pull the crab out.

OK? Then, this little bit,

which is where its mouth is in effect, you push it like that...

then what should come out is that.

That, you can strip the meat of it but

this comes off.

What you do, so you can get at the meat, is you just crack it

and that will just crack of there like that.

All of this meat is good meat.

So put a little spoon in there and you can just bring all of that meat.

Don't forget, the dark meat comes from the inside of the shell,

the white meat comes from the legs and all of that. That's it, literally.

We'll move on to the claws.

Just pull them off, dead easy, get a hold of the claw,

hold the top part of the leg,

and crack.

If you got a big spoon use a big spoon, we've got a trusty old axe.

I feel at home with an axe.

All you do, nice and gentle...

Now once it cracks, you should get it out in a oner.

Look at that. Lovely.

There is a tough cartilage that you just need to pull the meat away from because you don't want that.

I've brought the butter to a sizzle,

we want the spices in here, I've got some shallots,

the zest of half a lemon,

and some mace. Mace is like the outside of nutmeg.

It's quite traditional with potted shrimps, isn't it? It's lush.

A pinch of cayenne pepper

and some nutmeg. A good pinch.

I want to leave this to infuse on a very gentle heat for about 10 minutes.

All I'm doing here is just making sure that this is absolutely smooth

because people pay quite a lot of money to come and dine here.

LAUGHTER

I'll pass that through, the smell is just absolutely wonderful.

-Brown crabmeat.

-This is starting to worry me now.

-Look at that.

-That's beautiful, isn't it?

-That is very good.

We've got these little moulds for potting. Line them with Clingfilm.

We'll just strain that off.

We don't want lumpy bits.

All we do is pour that spiced butter on to the crab.

We taste it, make sure it's OK.

A bit of salt?

You two keep tasting, let me try some. Please, sir.

Thank you.

Lovely.

Now we start packing the pots.

Two spoonfuls in each.

Right, so onto this, we are going to strata the brown meat.

So you haven't added anything at all to the brown meat?

-Nothing at all because the crab speaks for itself.

-Yeah.

Cover those with Clingfilm so the steam doesn't get in there.

We'll put that aside for a moment.

We'll start building the crab cakes.

For this we're going to mix the white and the brown meat.

Chopped parsley.

Splash of Worcester sauce. I think that's enough, do you?

Can you do us a duck's egg yolk in there, Kingy?

No worries, dude.

About a tablespoon of creme fraiche, some salt and pepper.

These are fantastic.

Some lemon zest, a squeeze of lemon juice.

Mix that together - and see how sloppy or how thick it is.

Then we thicken it up with breadcrumbs.

While Dave's doing that, I am going to get on with the lemon mayonnaise.

Three duck eggs... We only want the duck egg yolks you see.

-I'll get those going.

-Now this is for the assembly for the crab cakes.

I've got one tray with a beaten egg, one tray with breadcrumbs and one tray with flour.

What I'm going to add is a little touch of Norfolk's finest mustard.

Just whisk that in, great product.

-Shall I put some in the fish cakes as well.

-Yeah yeah, why not?

Not much.

-Mustard and crab are great.

-Absolutely.

Add some lemon juice to that.

These have to be quite small, we're not back in the chip shop doing fishcakes, am I now? no.

Into the flour,

into the egg,

into the breadcrumbs.

Look at that little beauty.

Marvellous.

I'm going to pop those in the fridge now for about 20 minutes to firm up.

Thanks, Galton.

-That's bobber, innit?

-Job's a good 'un.

Heavenly. Thanks, Chef.

Put them in there.

Now we put those into a low, medium oven, 150 degrees centigrade,

-for about 15 minutes.

-Yes.

Water, bring to the boil with a splash of white wine vinegar, that is all you'll need.

Have you heard this one about putting the egg in the water to heat it up.

I heard about this a few weeks ago and I can see how it can make sense.

-Have you done it before like this?

-No.

-Brilliant!

What I could do while I'm waiting for the water to boil is go through this samphire.

All this you can eat.

The bottom bit there, it's just a tiny bit woody...

We went out with Cookie from his crab shop.

..and you just pick it like that.

-It's all lovely and fresh.

-Did you put the egg in?

20 seconds. Yes. I'll count. Ready?

Go.

Right, they've had 20 seconds in the water.

Now, you break the egg first into a bowl.

-That is slightly jelly.

-It has.

-It's jelly.

Just float the egg in there...look at that.

-You've gone and pulled that off.

-It's done it, hasn't it?

And...repeat.

-Do you think we'll get away with more than one in the pan?

-No.

-Yeah.

-He's trying to nobble them.

-No I'm not.

I'm full of admiration for you two so I wouldn't try and nobble you.

Fresh eggs make good poachers.

-Right, dude.

-It's coming out.

Right, to stop it cooking further, just plunge it into ice-cold water.

Perfect eggs - set aside. The final push.

The final push, dude.

-I'll get the potted crab out.

-I'll get the sauce on.

Just leave those to cool now.

I'll put my toast on now. I want this toast precisely one centimetre thick.

-Dave, I'm just going to chop down some of these capers cos they are a bit big.

-Yeah.

I need about 60mls of white wine into this pan.

We need to turn that up because I need to reduce it.

I'm going to put this samphire in.

Just need to blanch it for three minutes and then we'll drain it.

Look at those babies.

Where's Myers gone? Get him out of the... Myers!

Kingy, you should see the inside of this man's fridge.

You could live for a month.

No but you've got to whistle every time...

Get him to whistle or he'll eat stuff.

Fabulous. The crab cakes have firmed up a treat.

I've just reduced that 60 ml of white wine and I'm just going to put the butter into it now.

And just give it a good whisk. I'm just going too whisk this in...

They'll be all right.

Now these must seal on the bottom.

If we try and turn them before they're done they'll fall to bits.

Now, to this I'm going to add some parsley, some capers.

Another whisk just to infuse...

David, will I turn over your...

-Yes, please.

-They've gone quick, haven't they?

There perfect, aren't they?

It's been blessed by the hand of the master. Right, dude.

That's the sauce.

Toast on, mate.

That needs to go in your bag.

-All right, chief.

-That's that sauce ready.

-Toast's good.

-Perfect.

What's those crab cakes like?

HE CHEERS

I'm so happy with that. Come on, son.

-Look at that.

-Great.

I'm going to refresh the poached eggs. How many?

Three each.

That's it.

Too much...so the window box has collapsed.

-Sea salt flakes on the egg?

-Yes.

-Lemon wedge?

-No!

-All right. Just a thought...

I like it, it's very good, guys.

There you have it, our tribute to Norfolk.

Hewn from the beaches and the oceans and the land -

it's a hot potted Cromer crab.

Served with a samphire and caper butter sauce.

And a perfectly poached poached egg on toast.

Cromer crab cakes served with a lemon mayonnaise.

Absolutely. Well done.

Go on, Galton, get your laughing gear round that.

I'm actually really looking forward to this because I think you have done a brilliant job.

That's delicious. The big test is this crab cake.

Really lovely. And your poached eggs are good as well.

Dear, oh dear, this is a disaster actually. I was expecting you

to make at least one, two, three, four mistakes - you haven't.

It's right up my street.

If it was me,

I would tart up the presentation a little bit more, but that's me.

-That's not our strength.

-No.

-It's honest.

-It's lovely.

It's lovely. Everything works well together, really well.

Thanks, Galton.

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

First up its Galton's sea trout and cockles with seasonal vegetables and butter sauce.

That was a fine selection of the local produce.

Stewkey blues, samphire and asparagus, one of Norfolk's specialities.

The sea trout was delicious. It was buttery, it melted in the mouth and it tasted as good as it looked.

The cockles and the sea trout played very nicely together because they've got the seafood flavour.

It's a really good representation of the county, definitely.

In Norfolk, from the sea, from the land, couldn't be better.

Well, they were rightly impressed by that. What will they think of our dish? Fingers crossed.

When it came to the table it had that real kind of wow factor.

I didn't think I liked crab but it was subtle and tasty.

The samphire was zingy, it had a lemony tinge to it and was quite nice and crunchy as well.

The cakes were delightfully spiced with a crispy texture.

I particularly liked the samphire with the caper butter.

It looked more like a dish of separate items rather a completely melded together meal.

There were a lot of flavours there, I enjoyed all of them and I could eat it all over again.

APPLAUSE

Hello!

Thank you so much for coming this afternoon.

We've had a belting time in Norfolk, the weather has been kind to us for a change.

The coast here is stunning. I just want to come back now.

I can only reiterate what Dave has said and thank Galton for his kind hospitality. It's been fantastic.

Now we have to get down to the nitty gritty of it.

For the sea trout can I have a clear show of hands?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Thank you.

For the Cromer crab?

1, 2.

Thank you very much indeed.

Well, the sea trout...

-was Galton's.

-Congratulations.

Thanks.

Thank goodness for that!

And ours was the crab, funnily enough!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

We're very proud and privileged to have gone round some of the best kitchens in the UK.

-And yours is up there - without a doubt.

-Absolutely.

All that remains for us to do is to thank Galton so much for having us in his kitchen.

-Thank you, guys.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you, my man.

'Well done, Galton. We were beaten by a truly great chef.'

Ee, we've had a great time in Norfolk,

a 'bootiful' county with a real sense of pride in its food.

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