Hampshire The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain

-BOTH:

-We're the Hairy Bikers!

-We're on the road to find recipes to rev up your appetite.

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

-Come on!

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

I've got it! Oh!

Today we're going to Hampshire, one of the southernmost counties of Britain.

It's got cities like Southampton, Winchester,

it's not just at the end of the M3. We've got France over there.

We've got the New Forest with all the game, the ponies, the deer -

you can't eat the ponies. SI MUMBLES

So, there you go. We're about there.

It's really cold.

SI CONTINUES TO MUMBLE

-Where am I going?

-Spain!

-Excellent!

'On our quest to define the true flavours of Hampshire, we cook up a classic combination to tempt

'the crowds at the National Motor Museum.

'A mysterious rendezvous with one of the country's leading mushroom experts in the New Forest

'leads us to some of the best fungi we've ever cooked.

'We visit the former world-champion racing driver who uses microscopes and manure to take organic farming

'to a whole new level.

'And representing Hampshire in the cook-off is Alex Aitken.

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

SPAGHETTI WESTERN MUSIC PLAYS

It's awfully quiet!

Too quiet!

Cos they're all down the market!

Winchester farmers' market is the biggest in the UK,

so we're going to be spoilt for choice in this county. The market's got to be the best place to start

our search for the real taste of Hampshire.

The produce is amazing.

Everything's grown in Hampshire or strictly ten miles from the county border.

You ever seen an aubergine like that?

-What would you do with that, tempura?

-Ooh, yeah.

Aren't celeriac ugly looking things? But they're fantastic, aren't they?

-I love it done with mashed potato with butter and white pepper and salt.

-Oh, God!

-Just cos it's a bit ugly doesn't mean it's not lovely.

-No.

-You've got buffalo farmed in Hampshire?

-Just down the road, 20 minutes away. Yeah.

More a bit Wild West than prairie?

It's more an Indian vibe going on.

Indian water buffalo from Asia.

But let's not get side-tracked.

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

What do you think is the iconic foodstuff of the whole of Hampshire?

Trout. With watercress.

-Hampshire hogs and watercress.

-Hampshire hogs and watercress?

-Trout. Beautiful local trout.

-Right.

-Anything else...?

-Watercress.

And the jams.

-ALL:

-Watercress.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Time and time again that comes up.

-This is tomato heaven, isn't it?

-It is to a lot of people.

That looks wonderful. Look down there!

Absolute panorama of tomatoes!

Can we have a sample?

Mm, that taste goes on forever.

At this point, I wish we weren't on motorcycles and had a truck.

THEY LAUGH I know!

We can't do the shopping we want!

Cor, the Hampshire hog.

It's like Kingy on a sun bed.

-SKIN CRACKLES

-Oh, listen to that!

-Now that's crackling!

-Oh, look at that meat!

You'll find that going around the country, each county has its little treasures.

I've found a little treasure. I've found the crackling tree at the back of the pig!

-Ah!

-Watercress!

I knew about the trout, but watercress.

-Watercress only grows in chalk streams, so where else are you going to get it?

-Yeah.

In Victorian times they used to have bunches of watercress like this and eat it. Have some.

-Do you want your own one?

-No! We'll share. Don't want to be greedy.

I do love the peppery flavour of watercress.

It's a real kind of substantial vegetable.

And it's so good for you!

It's got more calcium than milk,

more vitamin C than oranges and more iron than spinach.

Are there any secrets to keeping the watercress fresh, Jennifer?

Leaf-side down in iced water.

-That'll keep it an extra two or three days.

-Oh!

And my husband's very pleased to know that it's a cure for baldness.

You gotta eat it, dude!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Fantastic element to a salad as well.

Pear, blue cheese, walnuts and watercress.

With a honey dressing - fabulous!

-TOGETHER:

-Pear, blue cheese, walnuts...

-And honey dressing.

With a nice honey vinaigrette.

Not giving you any ideas.

We might take that!

Cheerio now.

It was only picked this morning as well.

-Thank you, my darling.

-A pleasure.

Wherever we've gone in the world, nature always puts two foods together

that complement each other perfectly.

You're not wrong.

We should put the two ingredients that Hampshire has to offer together - watercress and trout.

-It's a must, Dave.

-It is.

They were born together, they should die together.

They can fry together. SI LAUGHS

Ah! Hampshire trout.

-Now it's closed season, so we can't have the brown trout.

-Yes.

-So we've got the next best thing...

-Some beautiful reared rainbows.

-Could we have...? What do you reckon, about six?

-Yeah.

-..Six trout would be brilliant. Thank you.

-OK, then.

-Look at those! Beauties, aren't they?

-They do look very healthy fish.

-Only came out the water last night.

-Just noticed here that you have oak smoked.

-Yes, we do smoked fish too.

-We'll take a couple of them.

-Shall we?

-Yeah!

I think we've got Hampshire cracked!

It's purity - it's watercress, it's trout.

It's clean, fresh flavours.

Yes! Let's use our imagination and pinch Jennifer's recipe!

-Cheers! Thank you very much!

-Thanks, fella!

-Nice trout!

'With our ingredients decided, we're heading into the heart of the New Forest

'and to Beaulieu, the grand residence of Lord Montague.'

Beaulieu is home to the National Motor Museum, every petrolhead's dream,

with over 250 of the most important vehicles ever built.

But there's no time to get distracted, as there's a hungry crowd waiting for our take

on tastes of Hampshire.

We'll be cooking up trout en papillote - that's a paper parcel to you and me.

And a fresh watercress and smoked trout salad.

-Here we are again!

-And we're doing two very simple dishes

using the two signature ingredients, we feel, of Hampshire -

watercress and trout!

Look, potatoes - put them in boiling water. It's interesting this, isn't it?

CROWD LAUGHS This isn't the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This is greaseproof paper.

And we're going to cook the trout en papillote,

or in a paper bag.

Make like a little parcel...

The fish cooks in all its own juices.

No washing up, just throw it away.

People say, "Can you cook trout or salmon in the dishwasher?"

-Do this with foil. Put it in the dishwasher on a hot wash...

-Why would you want to cook your fish in there?

It's questions you get asked. However, don't put the tablet in!

LAUGHTER

-Or you'll end up burping a lot!

-You've washed trout!

-Yes.

This is rings of butter that we're going to set the trout on.

-Real butter?

-Oh, it's real butter.

-Real Hampshire butter, I think.

-It is.

-Everything we've got here, we've got from Hampshire.

Even the oil - we're not using olive oil, we're using rapeseed oil from Hampshire.

-How's that?

-Oh, that's marvellous!

-Isn't it?

So we're placing the fish on its little trivet of fat.

LAUGHTER Right!

Next step, season that trout on its inside and out...

Look at the flesh and the colour of that trout.

-We both love fly fishing for trout, and Hampshire's great for fishing.

-It is very good.

-Should we tell them about my trophy?

-Oh, yeah. Go on.

A long time, years ago, I was fishing in the north

and, um...I caught a monster trout and ended up passing a tattooist...

I had the trout tattoo. CROWD LAUGHS

Dave thought it was an original bit of artwork and what happened was there was a fish and chip van

-went by with the same thing on it!

-LAUGHTER

-Now then...

-However... Children, don't get a tattoo!

-No.

It's not big and it's not clever.

-Have you seasoned that all right?

-Beautifully.

Right, now the fresh herbs.

OK, what we have is some dill...

Goes well with fish.

-A sprig of chervil?

-I think so.

-So just build that up like that...

And then, do you know what this is?

-BOY:

-Coriander?

-Nah, looks like coriander. Well done, good lad.

It looks like coriander, very similar leaf.

It's flat-leaf parsley.

I'm just going to cut some nice thin slices of lemon to put on the top.

-There you go.

-Just put some oil... Look at the colour of that!

Rapeseed oil's great. You can substitute that for extra virgin olive oil. It's, um...

a great salad oil. It's quite kind of nutty.

That watercress is gonna steam in the fish juices

and that'll be our vegetable.

So we'll put that said watercress around our trout...

Now I'll attempt to close this!

Has anybody got any Sellotape?

THEY ALL LAUGH

-Dear, me!

-Think Cornish pasties for this.

Seal this nice and tightly.

For a dinner party, you can imagine you've got 12 people coming,

just prep 12 paper bags up, like this. Apart from your potatoes

you've got 12 boil-in-a-bag dinners!

Except it's posh boil-in-a-bag.

-Should we do another?

-Should we?

-Yes!

-Let's.

I reckon that we can get one of those done, from scratch, in three minutes.

CROWD LAUGHS

-Look at that, dude!

-Butter on. Butter on. Hurry up!

Lemon juice!

Finished! How long was that?

-One minute 30.

-Right.

Conclusive proof that you can cook a meal for 12 in 18 minutes.

Sit that in a hot oven for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Think we're trouting.

We're going to get on with some salad.

Again, using trout. Again, using watercress.

Lovely smoked... Some little mustard dressing.

Some local horseradish, mixed with some creme fraiche.

It's gonna be an amalgam of lovely gorgeousness, isn't it?

It's a honey dressing, not mustard.

-What did I say?

-A mustard dressing.

-Did I?

-Yes. But you were very good till then.

-Thanks.

-The salad will have some pear and some walnut as well.

We'll make a nice honey vinaigrette for that.

And I've got to tell you, you haven't seen anything until you've seen the Myers

crack a walnut with his bare hands! Oh, yes!

Finger. Walnut...

Zen...

Good!

-APPLAUSE

-I'll show you that again.

HE EXHALES MEDITATIVELY

CROWD LAUGHS

Ow! HE HUMS

CROWD LAUGHS I want another one!

I could be a nut ninja!

SI LAUGHS

The middle-aged mutant ninja nut cracker!

LAUGHTER

Now the other thing is...

You know how pear has that slight aniseed flavour to it?

It goes really well with fish, that. And also, because it's cold,

you want to have those different textures on your palate, and flavours.

-The salad doesn't just have to be a load of old lettuce, does it?

-It does not.

-Look, you can see the size of the chunks of the pear.

-Nice pear.

Look at that.

You want to get a bit of pear and a bit of walnut in each bite.

The reason is there's a slight bitterness to the back of the walnut when you bite it.

You know, great nutty flavour, but a slight bitterness. And what happens is that the pear

-complements it perfectly because it's slightly sweet.

-Rapeseed oil.

You could use extra virgin olive oil but when in Hampshire, use what's local.

White wine vinegar. 50-50.

Honey from Brockenhurst.

About those fillets - just trim them off...

-DAVE HUMS

-Have you gone all Miranda again?

Look how this is flaking.

This is oak smoked trout. Absolutely gorgeous!

Oak smoked trout.

-Do you want to try this vinaigrette?

-I do.

-That's the honey.

Very nice. It's lovely.

-Good balance?

-A good balance, I would say.

We'll just pour what we think... is right on that.

That'll stop the pears discolouring.

Do you not have to use any special kind of pear?

No. The best pears to use are the pears that are in season.

And you want quite a firm pear just for that texture.

As a final finish for the smoked trout

I'm just making a little topping.

Some creme fraiche...

some hot horseradish...

Horseradish is always a great one with smoked trout.

And some nice wholegrain local cider mustard.

Oh!

Does anybody here eat a lot of trout?

-MAN:

-Yes. Twice a week.

-Do you fish for trout yourself?

-No. A friend.

-So you get his fish?

-Yes.

Did you notice how he said "friend"? He said it in a sort of, "I've got a mate who's a poacher, so..."

THEY ALL LAUGH

Just put some of that wonderful horseradish and mustard on there...

-Look at that!

-There we are.

Here we have it - the watercress, walnut, pear, smoked trout salad

with a honey vinaigrette and horseradish, creme fraiche and mustard topping.

Hurray! APPLAUSE

But we mustn't forget our first dish - trout in a paper parcel.

Now the watercress has wilted down beautifully.

All that butter and juices, that's our gravy.

-This will serve, how many would you say, Dave?

-Two.

Yeah. I would say that.

-I think one trout per person.

-Look at that, you've got the outside of the fish...

Good that, innit? Yeah?

These lovely potatoes. And, of course, the butter.

Just to finish...

-Sprinkles!

-Some chervil.

Our homage to Hampshire trout, dude.

Our homage to Hampshire.

APPLAUSE

But what will the locals make of it?

It's the salad I want to taste.

-It looks lovely and moist.

-Good, are you getting all those flavours?

-Good, innit?

-Very good. Enjoying that.

What do you think of the fish, ladies?

-I'll be trying that.

-It's a very fragrant way to cook the fish.

I haven't had watercress with trout before, but that is lovely.

-I'll try it at home.

-What about the potatoes, boys?

-Yummy!

-Try it.

-I don't like fish.

Try a piece of pear in it.

-A nice touch with the flavours?

-Hmm.

-See?

-Oh, I like the pear.

-Is it a winner?

-Hmm, with the pear. It's lovely.

-Great.

-What do you think of the salad?

-I was a bit suspect about the horseradish.

But it really sets it off really nice.

-Quite glad you came, really.

-What was this one again?

-It's watercress.

Oh, watercress. Yeah, this is so nice.

He's going, "Is the watercress good?" THEY LAUGH

-Very nice.

-Ladies?

-Thumbs up!

-Thank you very much.

Our two ways with trout and watercress hit the spot with the locals

but our biggest challenge is yet to come.

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 to decide whose dish best represents

the true flavours of Hampshire.

Our opponent today is...

Alex Aitken - the self-taught chef and owner of restaurant Le Poussin

in the heart of the New Forest.

Alex has held a Michelin star for the past 15 years.

I'd left school without many qualifications

so I got a job in a kitchen washing up.

As for training, I never went to college. Never worked in anybody else's kitchen as a chef,

so I really, really am totally self-taught.

We are based in the heart of the New Forest. The New Forest itself is a great larder

and we do pick wild food. We pick lots of mushrooms.

There's shoots around here and we get game and venison virtually all the year round.

Then there's the small-holding farmers who produce wonderful pork,

free-range chickens, ducks - it's just a great place to run a restaurant.

My favourite dishes are wild dishes.

It's like eating off the forest floor coming here, cos I forage for everything.

Today we're going to do some venison with wild mushrooms. It's me.

Saddle of venison with pears, walnut and a beautiful game sauce.

It's not going to be easy, this one. I can sense it.

DAVE SNIFFS I can smell truffles and furniture polish.

We'll be all right. Confidence. He's self-taught, we're self-taught.

It's all gonna be fine.

He's coming!

-Hi, there.

-Nice to meet you.

-I'm Dave. Pleased to meet you.

-You can cook, can you?

-Right, I'm off. See you later!

-Come on!

-Boys, I'm not that scary. Come in!

Courage. I said we'd be all right.

We're here. Let battle commence!

-What are you kicking off with, Alex?

-I'm gonna kick off with saddle of venison

cooked rare, with pears, walnuts and a beautiful game sauce.

I might sneak in a New Forest haggis.

How can you sneak in a New Forest haggis?

-It's not the sort of thing that falls out your pocket, is it?

-No!

-I think he had that planned all along.

-He has.

-What this?!

-Potatoes.

-That's not a potato, that's Imperial Leather, that.

-No, no.

-Very special potatoes.

-Poshest potato I've seen.

-There's two reason for it -

one, yes, it'll look pretty on the plate.

But the other reason is we have a uniform shape, and when we cook it, it'll cook correctly.

Otherwise if you put all sorts of different shapes and sized potato,

-one's raw, one's soft and there's one in the middle that's just right.

-What are you doing first?

These fondant potatoes. We call them fondant, which means "melting",

cos they've been cooked slow but in lots of butter.

So in this pan here I've got butter, garlic and a little bit of thyme.

-A fella after our own hearts - he's not shy with butter.

-No.

-Butter's lovely!

-It's a good thing.

Right, well, those there... nice colouring. I'll just pop them in the oven

and eventually they'll come out golden and beautiful.

The next garnish to prepare is the pears.

-And these are very simple.

-What pears are your preference for this dish?

Conference pear is best. These are a bit soft, to be honest.

-Are you sure about putting pear with venison?

-Definitely.

We want the richness of the venison to be contrasted with fruit.

And then I like to add nuts, which are my caramelised walnuts.

-Really?

-Are they nice?

-They are very nice.

I know, I've had a few! THEY LAUGH

This is the flavouring, what we're gonna cook the pears in, which is a garnish.

Some cinammon stick, star anise...

orange peel...

A little bit of sugar...

We'll let a bit of heat go on there cos I always think when you're using aromatics

it's quite nice to get some heat out of them first. And then some red wine...

Just simmer away, and, um...

-it'll be ready for us to use when we cook the venison.

-Right.

What I do with the venison is I will cook it first and put it to rest.

And then while it's resting, we finish the sauce and bring the dish together.

How long would that deer be hung for?

That one was hung for three weeks.

PAN SIZZLES

-The texture of that venison, it's lovely and sticky, isn't it?

-Butter-like, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It will be so tender.

-Yeah.

Oh, look at that!

You see you can tell the quality of the meat, cos there's an instant colour on that meat.

-It's caramelised straight away.

-Just wonderful.

-Here, unlike what you saw with the potatoes, I'm using a lot more olive oil here.

-Yes.

Which is quite good, cos venison is very good for you and very little cholesterol.

-I hope what you're cooking's got little cholesterol as well.

-Loads of oil.

-Little cholesterol.

The thing is we know what we do well.

-And it's not subtle.

-No!

No.

Oh, look at that!

And there's so much flavour in that...

the basting juices that we've put back on there.

And we will leave it there. It's in a warm kitchen...

-Don't touch!

-Sorry.

The warmth of the kitchen... I knew you were gonna go...

-But the great thing is in the warmth of the kitchen, it will just be left to repose.

-Yes.

He's saying "repose". Dude, we need to learn language like that! Repose.

Right, the pan's now seriously hot,

and when I was working earlier, preparing the venison,

I took off some of the trimmings and chopped them up.

So using the same pan, as well, that we were using,

just to add extra flavour to the sauce...

..and then we've already made stock, but when I make my sauces, I like to add carrot, celery, leek.

And this will give sweetness to the sauce a little bit as well and help with the colour.

And I suppose really all we're doing is building up flavour upon flavour.

-Is that redcurrant jelly?

-That's redcurrant jelly gone in there now.

So I now have to balance sweetness with sour, so I also add red wine vinegar.

Ah!

-It will give colour as well, cos it'll go really dark.

-Look at that!

So you can see now, all that redcurrant jelly, the red wine vinegar,

has virtually gone almost to a caramel. Almost.

That's just a little bit of red wine, a little depth of alcohol,

an extra little flavour.

And these boys here - we've got to keep turning them...

It's just the glaze on that, man - I mean, it's just...

That's now reducing well, and we add some wonderful game stock.

That's the basis for the sauce. We're building our dish now, nearly ready to present it.

Just got to finish the garnishes, so we're getting towards the end.

-There we are - look at that. That's the pears now, that lovely rich colour, the wine...

-Yeah.

-And the aromatics and, oh-h...

-HE SNIFFS

-Whoa! That's fabulous.

-That's cleared me senses.

From now on, we're not doing potatoes unless they're square!

These lovely pieces here, what happens to...?

-THEY LAUGH

-Chef's perks!

-It's a bit chewy, but it tastes good.

-It's all right, you know?!

These are a secret weapon, the New Forest haggis.

I'll put a little bit of the sauce in there.

-I think that's unfair.

-You really do?

-No!

-Good!

So I'm now just getting the pans ready to warm up all the different garnishes.

This is one of my favourite ingredients.

What is it?

Mashed swede.

What the swede really goes well with...

-The haggis!

-The haggis! You can't have haggis without neeps!

-Hey, man!

Buttered cabbage, eh?

Simple as that.

Start here - this is where the haggis will go.

It's a meteorite of swede!

I'll pick the best ones, as these are going out to be tasted.

-Have we got any greens?

-Oh!

-You can smell the thyme and the garlic coming through.

-Oh, yes!

-Candied walnuts.

-A couple of spare ones.

-I couldn't possibly(!)

Just perfect.

Yep.

Well done, mate. That's fantastic!

-Well, I hope the guys that are gonna taste it enjoy it. That's the most important.

-Oh, I think we might!

Oh, cor!

Oh!

I have to say, this sauce is just to die for.

A little bit of that swede...

It is technically a haggis - it's not a full haggis, it is a haggis.

Look at the colour of that pear.

-I know.

-I think we're in bother here, dude, cos it's a perfect execution of each individual element,

and we ain't got a Michelin star.

Yeah. In the words of the poet, we're knackered!

But it's the locals who will decide whose dish is best

in a blind tasting coming up.

The pressure's on.

What can we cook that's a real taste of Hampshire to beat that?

-The watercress and trout went down well.

-Yeah.

-We don't want to do that, though, do we?

-No.

-We need to up the ante more than that.

-What about...? A-yeah! Look at that!

I've had an idea - pig.

-Hampshire pigs!

-Hampshire hog.

-Oh, where's it gone?

You're seeing things again.

But it's a good idea, though.

-There's another one!

-Pigs and fungus...

Over there!

There's loads of them, dude!

-If we're gonna beat Alex, we need the best possible pork.

-Can't we just go to a butcher's?

We might stand a chance with this little number -

crispy belly of pork on a bed of wild mushrooms

with wild boar and mushroom tortellini. But it can't be any old pork,

it needs to be the best in Hampshire.

So we're making a pit stop with a man who's truly gone off-road.

Former Formula One racing driver Jody Scheckter

left the fast lane 12 years ago and took up farming with a difference - biodynamic farming.

-Its message is simple - healthy soil...

-Means healthy grass.

-Means healthy animals...

-Means healthy meat and probably the best pork in Hampshire.

Jody Scheckter - fast driver, but a very slow farmer, I gather.

Ah! Here's the man himself!

-Pleased to meet you.

-Jody, I'm Si. Nice to meet you, man.

Want to have a look at the farm now?

Absolutely. For sure.

Cor, being driven by Jody Scheckter! Fast cars and sausages!

If you have a look, you'll see our grass. 31 herbs, clovers and grasses. No rye grass,

and half a per cent red clover.

So it's all old varieties.

But what goes into the soil to make it so rich and diverse?

Yeah! Steaming piles of manure!

Here's the compost.

We're actually growing bacteria and fungi to put on the land.

We take temperatures every day.

We put compost in, seaweed in,

biodynamic mixes and biology mixes. We don't let it go over 65 degrees.

We are not reducing waste. We are making compost.

In his pursuit for perfect meat,

-Jody's even got a lab.

-Oh, no, not science!

-I failed biology at school.

-Don't worry, dude, I'll explain.

In the lab, chemists and biologists analyse every particle,

so they can produce naturally top-quality soil.

But we mustn't forget the main reason for our visit.

We're hunting for Hampshire's best pork to compete against Alex Aitken,

and Jody's got just the thing.

These wild boars would wreck your farm, given the chance!

Yeah, we try to keep them as natural as we can among the trees.

But you need special fences dug down and you can't rotate them.

We like to rotate the animals around the whole farm. The meat's fantastic.

It's stronger, isn't it? I think it'd be good for ravioli, or part of a dish.

-Can we buy some off you?

-Sure.

GRUNTING

-This is perfect.

-It's absolutely unbelievable, Dave.

-Nice layer of fat, nice marbling.

-The butchery skill here is second to none.

-So, boys, could we have some belly pork?

-Rind on, for nice crackling.

-OK.

-Could we have some loin of wild boar? It doesn't need rind on,

-cos I'm gonna mince it for tortellini.

-Right.

-That's us done.

-We got Jody Scheckter doing the meat!

-What can you say? We're laughing!

-We're laughing!

Hampshire's New Forest is home to some of Britain's finest fungi,

and we're going to get some chanterelles.

Oh, the joys of biking in Britain.

The county's mushroom expert moved here 30 years ago, and leads the field in foraging.

She's a bit of an enigma.

A secret rendezvous

in a secluded layby in the New Forest.

We're here to meet

the mistress of the mushroom.

She's late!

La femme de la fungi!

And we're soaking.

-I thought mushrooms didn't like the rain.

-They don't. I'm sure they don't.

Yeah, but these are wild mushrooms. Whoa!

Ah!

-Mrs Tee!

-Hello!

-Mrs Tee!

-Nice to see you.

-It's wet.

-Is it a good day for mushrooms?

I know. It's never that wet in the trees, you know, so...

-Shall we go into the forest?

-Yep.

-Hey!

'It might not look like it, but this is the perfect season

'for foraging in the undergrowth.'

OK, we are going in here now.

'We're looking for a very special variety - the brown chanterelle.

'It sounds French, but they've been picked here for generations,

'and all the locals say Mrs Tee is the best person in Hampshire to find them for us.'

-Food for free!

-Yeah!

And it's marvellous quality too,

but we're going to see tons where we're going.

-Look in the grass.

-Oh, yeah.

And in between the ferns.

Oh, right.

That's something which we don't eat.

So it doesn't matter what it is - we're only looking for brown chanterelles here. Look!

-Look, look!

-Oh, wow!

-Now you can start...

-There's loads!

-They're hiding under the grass.

We're careful to leave the stem in so as to make more mushrooms.

That's right. So in ten days' time, they'll be back.

-Oh, you're pulling them out!

-Sorry! I'm supposed to nip them, aren't I?

-I had me glove on. Sorry, Mrs Tee!

-It's all right, don't worry.

-SHE LAUGHS

Here, look, look - they hide under the ferns. Look at those!

If the chanterelle was a supermodel,

that one would be Claudia Schiffer! Hey-hey!

You don't happen to have any other varieties somewhere warm and dry and lovely, do you?

-Yeah, at home! Yeah!

-Oh, thanks very much! We'd love a cup of tea!

-SHE LAUGHS

-OK, bye-bye, mushrooms!

See you soon!

-THUNDER ROLLS

-When they are growing,

the paler ones are the younger ones,

-and the darker ones are the older ones, right?

-OK.

And then you leave the spot alone for ten days, then you go back,

-and you pick the same mushrooms all over again.

-They're very precious, aren't they?

They are after you've picked them, because you know how many times you've bent down to do it!

-It's a labour of love, really, isn't it?

-That's right.

Mrs Tee, we've got chanterelles here, which is what was available.

Do you have other mushrooms that we could buy? Because when we cook against Alex, we want a selection.

Well, the next ones I've got here is the hedgehog. It has needles underneath.

And they peel off like that.

And there are some chefs who actually scrape them all off,

because they say they look like maggots.

-They're a firm mushroom when cooked, aren't they? Fleshy and meaty.

-I love them with cream sauce on pasta.

-Oh!

-Yes! Or chicken - they'd be lovely, wouldn't they?

The chanterelles you can mix up, for a nice colour contrast.

-You can undercook mushrooms, but you cannot overcook them.

-Oh, right!

-That's interesting. I've never heard that.

-Do you have anything else?

-I've got here what we call odds and sods.

-Brilliant!

This is a sand bolete. This is honey fungus here.

Oh, wow! That would make a really nice base for the belly pork.

-Yeah - nice sauteed mushrooms.

-And I can use a mixture in the ravioli.

-I think that would be... What does that sound like?

-Yeah, I think that sounds marvellous.

-Thank you.

I've had a wonderful time. Thank you.

And thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge with us. Quite remarkable.

So...

changed sides. What are you now cooking for me, boys?

Hampshire crispy belly pork with a divan of wild mushrooms...

A divan?!

-A divan, dude.

-Ssh!

-Never heard that before? All the Michelin-starred chefs are using it now, divans!

With satellites of wild boar and wild mushroom tortellini.

-And with that we have a sauce.

-It has juniper in it, red wine, sage, rosemary.

-With an apple!

-What do you mean, with an apple? We were doing well till you went, "With an apple"!

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

-First off, look at that belly pork.

-That does look superb.

First thing I've got to do is scar that in a really fine chequerboard fashion.

-That lets out some of the fat?

-Yeah, it leaches out some of the fat.

-I have a tendency to cook it fat up.

-Because then the fat permeates through.

-Yeah.

While Dave's cracking on with that, I'm going to get on with a simple rub.

Some garlic, in a pestle and mortar,

garlic cloves, some salt, bay leaves with the vein stripped out,

Render it down into a light "crema". Just as it's going into a cream,

-put some whole peppercorns in, until it gets soft...

-Then you can rub it well into the fat.

Well in there. What I do now is

I pour boiling water onto that, and it opens up. It goes, "Whoo!"

We've got to dry that now, otherwise we'll never get crackling.

-For us, working in your kitchen, it's like a pub pianist playing a Steinway!

-Thank you! Do you like it?

It's bonzer, innit? All sorts of toys we're gonna use -

your pasta machine,

your Robot Coupe. We'll show you what a Robot Coupe is later.

-Looks great. Can I smell?

-Yeah.

Massive savoury smells, aren't they? So...

We turn this over, but we don't have time to marinate it,

-because that's really how it should work. Score through into the grain of the meat.

-Is it overnight?

Yeah, I would. I would.

I feel, when you've got super-good produce like this belly, not to marinate it so much...

Same with my venison - I didn't marinate that at all.

And if you're going to marinate fish, you're talking about 15 minutes.

-Yeah.

-I kind of sense with this that the quick hit of the bay and the garlic on the surface will be right,

-cos you want the integrity of the meat in the middle.

-OK, that's it.

Now, we'll put it on a grill with a tray underneath to catch the juices.

But because there's garlic in that and it's raw, we don't want it to burn.

Aluminium foil over the top, stick it in an oven,

150 degrees for a good hour.

Take it off, increase it to double, move it up into the oven,

do it for 15 minutes, that's your crackling.

-So which one of you is the pasta maker?

-Mr Myers.

Yeah. Well, really, it's my missus, you know. She's a Latin,

and this is proper pasta flour, six egg yolks and one whole egg.

This is gonna be richer than Donald Trump's hairpiece!

THEY LAUGH Right.

Egg...bowl,

numero uno.

Whisk...

This needs kneading now.

-I always get the kneading jobs, me!

-He's got strangler's hands!

-Working...

-Get that beauty working, like that.

Thank you.

If you roll it around like that, it'll start to come off the palm of your hand,

-and that's when you know you're there, dude.

-Fantastic.

Cling film, fridge, half an hour.

Meanwhile, let's make the wild boar filling.

Brr!

-Are you doing the onion and stuff?

-I'll do the onion if you do the butchering. You like that.

-I love it.

-You're doing a good job, taking that sinew out.

It's such good produce. It would be a pain if you made a mess of it.

You make the same amount of work, really, making a nice dish, as you do making a bad dish.

You're not wrong.

-Onions and garlic. Dave, how...?

-We're gonna process that.

-So if I just keep that chunk like that...

-Very lean.

-Yeah. Nice.

-You're gonna add some fat to that, are you?

-We are.

-Some nice belly pork fat.

-Is that cured at all, or just straight...?

-No, just straight.

-These are nice and translucent. I don't want them to brown,

so I'll put those aside. Now we get the meat in the Robot Coupe. Meat, fat...

I'll put the meat in first, then the fat. Right.

That goes there.

See, this is the thing with professional gear.

It's brill!

I'm going to start to prep some of these fantastic mushrooms from the New Forest.

We've got chanterelles here.

-We've got a bolete...

-Or boletus.

-Or boletus.

-And we've got the most fantastic hedgehog mushroom.

-This meat now, I've kind of coloured it up,

and it's broken down nicely into a granular thing. I'm gonna put some stock into that now,

and some seasoning.

It's more delicate than I expected.

-Yes.

-You've got those mushrooms going in it - a great balance. I might be getting worried!

-I don't wanna cook this much more, do I?

-I'll put those mushrooms in.

More seasoning, I think.

I've got to have the filling for the tortellini cold before I roll it up,

-or else I'm going to end up with little pasta pies!

-Nasty work if it's not cold.

Right. We'll start rolling out our pasta now. With pasta,

you've got to start thick and work thin. I'll put it in, you do that,

-like the organ grinder's monkey!

-Go on, then.

Yeah. Now I fold it up...

Ooh, you rebel!

Without a cause!

Slowly, slowly, slowly!

This is teamwork.

Right.

-That's been in what's called a blast chiller.

-Tortellini,

you put a little bit - not too much - down the edge, like so.

A little bit of eggy... and we roll this.

-Are you there?

-Yeah, we're there, dude.

I just nip the ends, curl that round, join the ends,

and that's a Michelin-star tortellini!

-OK, while Dave's cracking on with the tortellinis...

-I'll watch you make this sauce.

We start off with some red wine - about 250ml.

What do you reckon? Three or four sage leaves?

-Three sage leaves, five juniper berries, sprig of rosemary, one apple...

-Got that.

-One centimetre-size slice of fresh ginger.

-You're not wrong.

I lived in Singapore when I was a boy, so ginger and pork to me is...

-It's a must.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-It's starting to smell really nice.

-Talking of smelling...

-Pork!

-Oh, yes, indeedy!

Right, then.

What we do is rub some oil on it and stick it underneath the grill.

Hey! Oh, yes!

-I'll put those in the fridge.

-Right, mate.

-I'm going to crack on with these mushrooms.

-Shall I finish your sauce off?

-Would you mind?

-No, no.

What I'm going to do now is double the volume with stock, and this has to boil down.

-I'll look after that.

-Great, right.

-There's a pan for your mushrooms.

-Brilliant. Oil...

Bit of butter, chef?

Try and get this to the boil.

If that was me, chef, I'd say that was enough.

Autumn in a frying pan.

I think the sauce is ready now, for finishing.

That's reduced by half. I'm just going to sieve that, and then finish this with beurre -

-a knob of butter at the end.

-You're not shy of using butter, are you?

-No. Neither are you!

Oh-ho-ho! Look at that, man!

-How is it?

-That looks gorgeous.

-We need to get these mushrooms back on.

-The plates.

-Right. Chanterelles are in.

-Just before I take this off the heat,

-good bit of chervil.

-Yeah, goes great with the mushrooms.

OK, mate?

Great colour, isn't it?

Right. The tortellini's going in.

A gentle rumble - if it's boiling, they'll fall to bits. Basically, when they float, they're done.

-How's the tortellini going, mate?

-Beautiful.

They're all floating, there's no casualties. I'm gonna toss them

in butter and truffle oil.

-I'm starting to put the belly pork on top of the...

-Great.

On there, truffle oil...

Look at that!

-Look at that.

-There we are!

Hampshire on a plate. We can do no more.

That's good. Mm.

The wild boar comes through,

and then you've got that stronger flavour from the mushrooms, and the bacon fat. It really worked.

I'm quite worried! Is my venison gonna be good enough to stand up

-against your belly pork?

-Who knows? Nobody ever knows, do they?

Well, we're about to find out. The diners don't know whose dish is whose. First up

is Alex's venison. What will the locals make of it?

Very nice. It's got a sweet taste to it as well.

Representing Hampshire, absolutely perfect.

I like the tenderness and succulence of the venison,

which was exactly how I like it.

I thought the pear went with it very well. I like the sweet with the savoury.

It was tender, typical of the area, and nicely presented.

-I thought there were too many flavours, in a way.

-The only thing I'd miss out was the pear.

Spot on.

DAVE: 'As we suspected, the venison was a hit.

'It's the moment of truth for our belly pork.'

Very, very good.

Oh, that's lovely!

Mm!

-That pork is absolutely first class.

-I like the mix of colours -

what it looks like on the plate appeals to me enormously.

The crackling on the top was delicious. That's probably the most memorable part.

I like the presentation, but it did disappoint on flavour. The mushrooms were exceptionally good.

It's a very good, very tasty dish.

THEY CHEER

Thank you for coming to see us.

I think we've found some wonderful tastes and hospitality in Hampshire.

It was great fun, and I'm not good at competitions.

I don't do losing!

LAUGHTER

OK, moment of truth.

A show of hands for the venison, please.

One, two, three, four, five.

Ooh, close! And a show of hands for the belly pork and wild boar.

-Four.

-Four. Well, congratulations!

-Congratulations, Alex!

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you very much.

-All I can say is, to run that close, I'm chuffed!

'Well, we came a close second to a very talented chef.

'Does that mean we get half a Michelin star?

'Afraid not, mate. But our journey around Hampshire has uncovered some fantastic local treasures.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]