Pub Classics Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food

-Portion of chips. Pork is a la carte.

-Thank you.

I'm Tom Kerridge.

-'I run the only pub in the UK with two Michelin stars.' Lamb in, please, Ant.

-OK.

How long on lamb out?

'The great British pub. This is what we Brits do best.'

Set lunch still coming, yeah?

'And I want to show you how to cook pub classics in your own home.'

-There we go.

-Lovely.

You've got your eye on that, chef. LAUGHTER

I'm all about simplicity.

Solid, strong flavours.

You shouldn't complicate food. You should just keep it nice and simple.

It's about good food,

prepared with a little bit of extra love and attention, to share with family and friends.

This is my pub food done properly.

'In this episode I'm going all nostalgic

'with those classic pub dishes you always hope to see on the menu.'

There you are, girls. Fancy some spicy nuts?

'Like my version of the nation's favourite dish.'

Come and grab some fish and chips.

-Brilliant.

-Brilliant.

-Brilliant.

'Proper old-school pub snacks.' Salty snacks and beer. They are the best combination.

'A big, hearty roast.' The sound of that crackling is incredible.

'And a great British pud you always make room for.'

Sticky toffee pudding and caramelised banana? Amazing.

'But first up, my favourite classic salad.

'It's only got a handful of ingredients, but it's full of flavour

'and makes a great light lunch or starter.'

I'm going to show you how to make one of the most famous dishes in the world - Caesar salad.

The key is the dressing and once you know how easy it is to make,

you'll leave that bottled stuff on the shelf.

'But before I get to that, I need to sort the rest of the salad out.'

First off, I'm going to make some croutons.

This bread is about a day old, so it's a little bit firm and a little bit stale.

'Perfect crouton material. Stale bread crisps up a treat.

'Just roughly tear it up and give it a good drizzle of oil.'

This then goes into a hot oven for about ten minutes.

'Next, the lettuce.'

I'm using cos lettuce.

It has a wonderful combination of a crispness,

but also a nice softness in the larger outer leaves.

You see this middle core stem? You want to keep that in. That has real crunch, loads of flavour.

'Give them a good rinse and a couple of turns in a salad spinner and you're done.'

OK, my croutons have been in the oven for about ten minutes.

This is when you season them.

If you dust them from a height,

whilst they're warm, they'll just absorb that little bit of salt with the remainder of the oil.

Now to make the dressing...

The beauty of this is you can do it all in the food processor.

'It starts with two egg yolks.'

What we're basically doing is making a very posh, super-flavoured mayonnaise.

'Add a good whack of Dijon mustard, a splash of white wine vinegar and some garlic.'

I like to grate the garlic in. It releases all the oils a little bit more.

'The finer the garlic, the bigger the flavour hit and I want this dressing to pack a punch.'

The key to this dressing is finding the best anchovies possible

and I find some of the best ones come from southern France or Spain.

'Top quality anchovies will transform this from a good dressing to a great one.

'They're a real store cupboard essential,

'adding an instant savoury kick to stews, pasta and they're amazing with roast lamb.'

It's like the most pungent, vinegary, mustardy, anchovy kind of dressing already.

When the anchovies are just beginning to break down, we slowly add our oil.

'I'm using rapeseed. It's got a great yellow colour and, of course, it's British.

'But sunflower or veg oil would do the job.'

We're adding the oil very slowly, so that it doesn't split.

If you add it too quickly, the egg yolks can't take with the amount of oil that's coming in.

'Keep the motor running until the eggs have emulsified and you've got a lovely, thick mayo.'

OK, we're there. That's what we're looking for -

a nice, thick mayonnaise, ready for us to add Parmesan cheese.

'So it's in with a generous mound of grated Parmesan

'and a squeeze of lemon.'

Gently fold this all together.

There's an amazing Caesar dressing.

'Grab the leaves and layer the salad up.'

I like to use nice, big drops of it.

And now we're going to disperse the croutons all through the salad

and layer a few of the anchovies,

then we're going to do the same thing all over again.

'Don't mess around adding chicken or bacon. It really doesn't need it.'

Something so simple, using the amazing ingredients that we have here,

really is so exciting. You've got the freshness of the lettuce, saltiness of the anchovies,

the richness of the dressing and the crunch of the croutons.

Come on, you lot, give it a go.

'For me, there's nothing better than a nice pint of real ale and some salty snacks,

'but there's more to bar snacks than a packet of crisps or nuts.

'I've got three great, home-made ones that are dead easy to knock up.'

Old-school pub snacks are back on the menu and rightly so.

I'm going to show you a few that are perfect for when your mates come round, brilliant beer food.

First up, pork scratchings,

everybody's favourite.

'They're so ridiculously easy to make, you'll never want to buy a packet of pork scratchings again.'

Pork skin is very cheap. It's very easy to get hold of, so don't worry about the expense on this one.

'Any good butcher will have this for you.'

When pubs introduced these snacks, they were nice and salty to encourage drinking.

Salty snacks and beer, they are the best combination.

'So in with a good whack of salt and a splash of white wine vinegar.'

Vinegar makes the skin go very tight and salt draws out any moisture.

It also helps to give it a really good crunch and a nice crackle,

the same as if you're doing crackling for Sunday lunch.

'Then they go on to a tray with a rack.'

The whole point of this is if there's any excess fat, it just drops down, so they don't sit in it.

'Half an hour in a hot oven and we're in business.'

Wow! They look amazing. They're one of my first pub memories, pork scratchings,

being given a packet of them and a little bottle of pop and sitting in the pub garden.

'Next, I'm going to knock up some pickled eggs.'

The most important part of pickled eggs is the pickle mix, something I keep in my fridge all the time.

It's a mixture of water, sugar and vinegar,

and in it, there's a load of spices and aromates - cinnamon, star anise, coriander seeds and fennel seeds.

'This is my secret to a top-notch pickled egg

'and it makes a great vegetable pickle as well.

'Now, the eggs.

'I'm using quails' because they're naturally snack-size.

'I've boiled them for two minutes, then straight into a bowl of iced water to stop them cooking further.'

What you normally get with pickled eggs

are eggs that have been hard-boiled, then put into a vinegar solution to preserve them.

What I'm trying to do here is make sure that we've got just beautifully cooked, soft-boiled quail eggs

that have then gone into a vinegar mix just for flavour.

'Two hours will do the job nicely.'

Right, to go with these quail eggs, I'm going to make an amazing curry sauce.

'It's just curry powder and tomato puree cooked out in a little oil for a more rounded flavour.

I add red onion. It gives a lovely sweetness to the onion puree,

and then white onion.

This has loads of acidity. It gives that real kind of onion kick.

Then add in two chopped tomatoes.

I'm going to stick a lid on the top... 'And let it gently stew for 20 to 30 minutes.'

Oh, it smells amazing.

'Then it's into the blender for a good blitz.'

You want to leave it to puree for as long as possible or as long as your ears can bear it.

SWITCHES BLENDER OFF

Ah, silence is golden.

'It's a bit cheffy, but I like to pass the sauce through a sieve to get rid of any last lumps and bumps.

'A sprinkle of toasted onion seeds and chopped chives and you're done.'

This is going to be great for serving with the pickled eggs.

The best way to do that is stick it in a squeezy bottle, so you can squirt them all over the top.

Now I'm going to make some spicy nuts. I'm using peanuts, but you can use any other type.

'Almonds, cashews and hazelnuts work a treat. Just remember this simple blend of four spices.'

First thing, a little bit of turmeric. This is wonderful for a fragrance and colour.

Cayenne pepper. It gives a real heat. And now cumin.

It's really fragrant, a real depth of flavour.

And then curry powder.

'And plenty of it.

'A good pinch of salt, then a bit of water to make a paste.'

I'm bringing all of these flavours together. It's a fairly wet paste. You want it to coat the nuts. OK...

The moment you start stirring all those spices together,

they start releasing all of their fragrant smells. It smells amazing.

'Once they're nicely coated, tip the nuts into a baking tray.'

Spread them all out. 'Then it's into the oven for about 15 minutes till they're lovely and toasty.

'But give your nuts a quick stir from time to time to make sure they're not burning.'

Wow, these smell fantastic!

Three great pub snacks.

The old school is definitely the best.

'But they're not proper pub snacks without a pub, so I've come to The Bake & Alehouse in Kent

'where landlord Pete Williams is passionate about real ale.'

-How are you doing, guys?

-Nice to see you.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Listen, I've got some pub snacks for you. What an amazing place you have!

-Thank you.

We have pickled eggs. We've got some spicy nuts.

-And also we've got some home-made pork scratchings.

-Those I love.

-There you are, girls. Do you fancy some spicy nuts?

-Lovely.

That's a compliment. "They're as good as what my missus makes."

-The scratchings are good.

-The scratchings?

-Yeah, spot-on. They're really nice.

-Pickled eggs?

The way that Sally ate hers, it was quite erotic.

LAUGHTER

-So sometimes big is not always best.

-Thank God for that!

Cheers!

'My love of pork doesn't stop with scratchings.

'Pork belly makes a right tasty roast and when it's done properly, it's hard to beat,

'so it's no surprise it's become a pub menu staple.

'My version guarantees amazing crispy crackling and lovely moist meat every time,

'so go on, give it a go.'

Pork belly has the perfect ratio of fat to meat.

That allows you to cook it nice and slowly and get a nice, crispy skin while the meat stays nice and juicy.

'And it's easy on the pocket too.'

To take this dish to another level, I like to soak the pork belly in brine overnight.

'For me, this is an essential stage, but it couldn't be easier to do.

'The brine solution is just water, salt and demerara sugar

'and it's the secret weapon for an amazing pork belly.'

It helps to do three things.

It imparts flavour and seasons,

it locks in moisture

and it helps to give a really good, crispy crackling.

'I don't even bother scoring the skin. Just pat it dry to give the crackling a helping hand.'

It's then going to go into an oven, pre-heated at about 150, 160 degrees.

It's going to sit in there for about two and a half, three hours.

'And you can literally just forget about it while you knock up some sides.

'I'm giving this pub classic a cheeky French twist and serving it with some braised lentils.'

The flavours they take on are absolutely stunning.

'Starting with some smoked bacon which just needs chopping into cubes.'

You want the most smoky bacon you can find. It gets that flavour going through them as quickly as possible.

'That just goes into a pan with some olive oil, along with a diced onion.'

I'm going to give them a stir and cook them out until they go all translucent.

'Then add a generous sprinkle of Herbes de Provence.

'I use dried herbs for this dish as they're more intense than fresh.'

It gives kind of a wonderful, almost sausage-like flavour.

You know those kind of dried herbs that you have through your breakfast sausages?

That flavour of the pork and herbs will all marry and cook together and go through your lentils.

'Next in, a good few handfuls of Puy lentils

'and a generous glug of white wine.'

About a large glass worth.

Like a risotto, we'll bring this up to the boil and cook it out until the white wine has been evaporated

and the lentils have started to take on all that lovely flavour.

'Then in with really good quality chicken stock and simmer it on a low heat until the lentils are tender.

'30 to 40 minutes should do the job.'

The pork is in the oven just gently cooking.

The lentils are on the stove ticking over

and I'm going to make a bitter salsa to cut through the richness of that meat.

'It's mint and parsley for fresh herbiness

'and green cabbage.'

I'm going to use the outer leaves of the cabbage. They're very bitter,

but that's what we're looking for, a really nice, strong flavour.

'Cabbage may sound a bit bonkers,

'but I promise you it works.

'The cabbage and herbs just get blanched in boiling, salted water.'

As soon as they begin to soften, refresh them in some iced water.

What that does is it stops the cooking process

and keeps them nice and green.

'Once they're all blanched and cooled, squeeze out any excess water and give them a good chop.'

This, I suppose, is a kind of version of a salsa verde.

But using that cabbage leaf gives it a bit of a British feel.

It's really important to do this by hand.

If you put it into a food processor, it will just kind of bruise it and smash it all up.

I've got to be honest with you. It smells proper lush.

And then to this, I'm going to add a banana shallot.

They're called banana shallots because they're long and look like a banana, funnily enough!

'Banana shallots are lovely and sweet, but you don't want big lumps, so chop it as fine as you can.

'Next, salted anchovies.'

I'm just going to quickly run my knife through these.

'And capers.' A small handful of these.

These are really intense in flavour. It gives a real punch.

'Grate in some garlic... and the zest of a lemon.'

Adding this at the last minute releases all of those beautiful citrus oils

and gives it a real freshness.

I'm just going to add a little pinch of cayenne pepper.

That'll give a bit of heat and a whole lot of spice to the salsa.

'Finally, stir in some extra-virgin olive oil and we're ready for the pork.'

Hello, you.

That looks amazing.

I can't wait to get in there, but I've got to resist. Leave it to rest for about half an hour.

CRUNCHING SOUND

The sound of that crackling is incredible.

Wow!

Still nice and juicy.

That brining process and that slow cooking really has paid off.

You can see why this has become a pub classic.

'We Brits love our fish and chips, chomping through over 250 million portions a year.

'They're a real pub favourite I always have on the menu,

'but there's nothing like a bit of fresh sea air to go with your fish supper,

'so I've come to Suffolk to meet Nick Attfield.

'Over 60% of the orders at Nick's seaside pubs are fish and chips

'and for the busiest summer months, he's found a novel way to meet the demand for this British classic.'

-Your little fish and chip hut?

-Yeah, my pride and joy.

-A drunken idea a few years ago.

-They're always the best ones.

Some of the best. To take an old doughnut van and convert her into a Southwold beach hut.

-This is the secret to your success?

-Yeah.

'Angie, the award-winning fish and chip van, gets herself about.

'As well as helping Nick cope with the summer rush, she can be seen at festivals and weddings,

'so it would be rude not to give her a test run.'

Right, I have squeezed my giant frame into Nick's tiny van

and I've pinched some of his amazing local fish that he's got.

The first thing I'm going to do is make the batter.

Self-raising flour...

'The secret to crispy batter is plenty of air,

'so I'm adding a good pinch of bicarbonate of soda for extra lift.'

I'm just going to pour in a little bit of beer to take it to a paste.

This gives even more volume and adds flavour.

'Next, separate two eggs.'

I'm just going to whisk up these egg whites until they're almost at soft peak.

'This will make the batter lovely and light and you can keep the yolks for mayonnaise.

'Once you've got soft peaks, whack it into the mix.'

I'm just looking for a consistency like a thick pancake batter.

It's all right if it's lumpy because all those lumpy bits will fry up and go nice and crispy.

I'm just going to leave this to the side, just to rest for about 20 minutes.

If I can find space!

I'm turning round and round and round.

Great fish and chips wouldn't be great unless they had tartare sauce.

'And my version's proper tasty.'

Mayonnaise, then into that, chopped egg...

..gherkins, whole capers,

chopped shallots...

'And loads and loads of chopped parsley.'

Right then...

Local to here, this is a brill. Now, I love using flat fish for fish and chips.

Sometimes I find cod or haddock maybe a little bit too watery.

'This can mean soggy batter which nobody wants.'

So, fish and chips, flat fish is best.

'Start by taking the fillets off the bone.'

Don't worry. You haven't got to do this. You can ask your fishmonger. I'll let you off.

Now, brill is fantastic, but all flat fish works really well.

Things like lemon sole or slip sole work really well

and, in season, there's nothing better than plaice and chips.

'Brill skin doesn't crisp up, so I whip it off.

'Cut the fillets into portions and we're ready to rock'n'roll.'

I just get my fish fillet and give it a light dusting of flour,

then into the batter.

'The flour helps the batter stick to the fish.'

Then I drop this

into Nick's lovely fryer

and just give it a turn-over, so it cooks nice and evenly.

Whilst they're cooking, I'm going to drop in some of my chips.

'For me, the secret to a great chip is triple-cooking,

'so mine have been steamed, then fried at a low temperature before a final fry at a high temperature.

'This ensures the chips are light and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.'

-How are you getting on?

-All right. You've come at a perfect time.

I'm just going to drain the chips.

-CRUNCHING

-That's the noise chips should make.

'And I'm ready to serve. Now all I need are some hungry customers.'

Let's hope my fish and chips are up to scratch. Come and grab some fish and chips!

-Oh, it smells good.

-Tartare sauce.

-Hmm!

-Brilliant.

-Brilliant.

-Brilliant!

Want a bit of pea puree?

-Definitely.

-Come here, girl. There you go.

-Thank you very much.

Right, chief, two more there and I'll do some more.

-That fish is lovely.

-You like the chips?

-Yeah.

-That's really nice.

-Well said, Jana!

-There we go, chief.

-Thank you very much.

-No worries. Thank you very much for the use of your cool van.

-What was her name again?

-She's Angie.

-Angie. I'm in love with Angie.

-So am I.

-Bless her!

'What better way to round off a great dinner than with a classic British pudding?

'I'm going to show you my twist on an all-time favourite.

'Trust me, you'll always have room for this pud.'

This is my version of sticky toffee pudding, served with my ultimate toffee sauce.

First thing we're going to do...

water and rum.

'This will make a lovely boozy base for the puds.'

One vanilla pod.

A little tip with vanilla, don't store it in the fridge.

It tends to dry it out.

'So it's in with the seeds and stick the pod in as well for an extra whack of flavour,

'then bring the whole lot to the boil. The next job is to chop some rich, sticky dates.'

The dates for this dish are really important.

They give a beautiful kind of sticky toffee flavour going on.

Everything about this dish kind of comes from the dark side,

so it's got dates, it's got dark, unrefined sugar, it's got rum, it's got bananas.

It's amazing.

'Then just pour the hot rum and vanilla mix over the dates.'

What happens, it's like getting into a warm bath. They'll sit there and absorb all that lovely flavour.

'Whilst they do their thing, get the pudding batter together.

'It's just 150 grams of plain flour and two teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda for lift.'

I'm just going to give that a quick sieve and get some air into it.

'Then it's just sugar...' I love using soft, dark-brown sugar.

It's that real, unrefined kind of flavour that comes from it.

It smells really bitter, but when you cook it, it goes really rich, almost toffee-like instantly.

'And softened butter, creamed together until light and fluffy.'

Then we're going to add three eggs one by one.

'If you chuck them all in at once, your mix might split.

'Then just tip in the flour and bicarb.'

Turn the machine back on. Very, very gently, though.

If you do it too quickly, you'll get clouds of flour.

I've learnt that from experience.

'Another quick mix and it's ready for the boozy dates.'

They've taken all that lovely flavour of rum and vanilla. It smells amazing.

I'm just going to pour it in.

Then I'm going to fold it all together.

'Then just pour the mix into buttered and floured moulds.'

You can do this in one big loaf tin,

but it feels just a little bit more special as an individual dessert if you have people coming round.

'Then it's into a pre-heated oven for 12 to 15 minutes.'

Whilst they're in the oven, we'll have a clean-down and we're going to make the ultimate toffee sauce.

'It's well tasty smothered over ice cream or fruit salad

'and it's what makes these sticky date puddings so hard to resist.

'It's just 175 grams of demerara sugar,

'170 grams of butter,

'a very generous drizzle of thick black treacle and golden syrup.

'This is not a dessert to hold back on.

'Bring to the boil and simmer until they become a dark, bubbly caramel.

'Then it's in with 500ml of double cream.

'Give it a whisk and chuck in a good pinch of salt

'for a cheeky salted caramel finish.'

The sauce is done and that is proper lush.

The puddings are ready.

And to finish it and make it super-special,

we're going to garnish it up with some caramelised banana.

I know this looks fiddly and a bit of a pain, but I'm telling you...

This will be the ultimate topping to your amazing sticky toffee pudding.

I'm going to layer on the sliced bananas...

..all around the outside.

'Give them a generous sprinkle of demerara sugar.'

Then we grab the best toy of all.

This is a proper plumber's blowtorch you can get from any DIY store.

'But don't worry. A kitchen blowtorch or a super-hot grill will get the job done.'

Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and caramelised banana?

Amazing.

'Next time, I'm cooking dishes that are perfect for Sundays

'from a mouth-watering brunch...' The best way of starting the day.

'..to a long, lazy roast beef lunch.' Beautiful and really easy to do.

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