Food Stories episode 10
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TravelTranscript
00:00I've been a chef for over 50 years, but I've come to realise that the food we eat tells
00:08a story about who we are.
00:13So I'm on a mission to find out what we all like to eat today.
00:17Oh, that is good.
00:19From our traditional dishes.
00:21Long live the Yorkshire pudding.
00:23To those we've made our own.
00:25I mean, that is multi-faceted Britain on one page.
00:28Our meat producers.
00:29There you see a robot, he's picking them.
00:32I find a lot of craft beers too hoppy, don't know why, but it tastes alright.
00:38Some of our best chefs.
00:40We're picking scurvy grass, pretty punchy.
00:44Plus those keeping traditions alive.
00:46We've just got to finish, I have no hope.
00:49I'll see how food brings us together.
00:52Dig in!
00:53Lovely, that sort of hot garlic, fabuloso.
00:58And from my home in Padstow, I'll bring you great dishes of my own.
01:02Love stuff like this.
01:04So join me as I unearth the stories behind the food we all love to eat today.
01:17I'm continuing my adventures around London, hunting out foods that define the British
01:23palate.
01:26What I love about this city is that it's constantly evolving.
01:31Even an old dog like me can learn a few tricks, as there's a new culinary experience around
01:37every corner.
01:39London is just magical.
01:41The food scene is so wonderful.
01:44Not only the plethora of restaurants, every type of cuisine, but it's the markets and
01:50the food shops.
01:51The whole place seems to be alive with great food.
01:54And that really, really cheers me up, because I can remember feeling a bit embarrassed in
01:59the 70s and 80s, going to places like New York or Sydney and thinking, actually, London's
02:05a bit tired.
02:06Now it's all changed.
02:08Indisputably, London has the best food in the world.
02:14Incredibly, there are over 120 different world cuisines on offer here, officially making it
02:23the most diverse food city on the planet.
02:27I love how people arrive in London and just set up shop, sharing their food culture with
02:33us.
02:34And today, I'm checking out some of the newest arrivals.
02:38Later, I'll be exploring Walthamstow in the northeast of the city.
02:45But my first stop is in West London at Shepherd's Bush Market.
02:52I've heard people raving about one particular Palestinian place for years.
02:58But this is the first chance I've had to try it for myself.
03:02Hello.
03:03Nice to meet you.
03:04Welcome to Mr Falafel.
03:05Well, I've just heard so much about it, but what I want to know, what is your favourite?
03:10What you recommend?
03:11OK.
03:12How about I make you my childhood favourite?
03:13Why not?
03:14Which is the falafel and macdouche wrap.
03:15Macdouche wrap.
03:16Yes.
03:17Macdouche, they're basically pickled baby aubergine stuffed with walnuts, sun-dried chilli
03:20and garlic.
03:21And the word macdouche means stacked, so they get stacked on top of each other while they're
03:25draining out.
03:26OK.
03:27And they obviously create the most beautiful flavour.
03:30Ahmad Yassin moved to London in 1992 as a refugee from Lebanon.
03:36He started Mr Falafel as a small kiosk 23 years ago before opening this market cafe.
03:45One of my most memorable sort of eating moments are in a sort of little stall like this.
03:52Falafels are deep-fried balls of spicy chickpeas.
03:56Ahmad says the trick is to make sure the falafel mix has the right amount of water so it doesn't
04:02disintegrate when it hits the hot oil.
04:06Just watching Ahmad work there, I mean, there's so much going in to the wrap I've ordered.
04:12We've got hummus, fresh salad, chopped parsley, crunchy pickles and tahini sauce made from
04:18crushed sesame seeds, garlic and lemon juice.
04:22Here we go, Rick.
04:25Thank you very much.
04:28That looks good.
04:31Such a great combination of very, very vibrant flavours.
04:35That's great.
04:36Thank you very much.
04:37It's so good.
04:38No wonder it's so famous.
04:40In fact, Ahmad was ahead of the curve.
04:44Since he started out, there's been a huge increase in Middle Eastern eateries all across the UK.
04:52But newer cuisines from around the world are landing in London all the time.
04:58And a couple of miles south of Shepherd's Bush is the old Brompton Road, where a new restaurant has
05:04recently opened.
05:07The Maria Neo is a Ukrainian bistro.
05:11Its owner is Olga Zivitoska.
05:14Olga, nice to meet you.
05:15Hello, Rick.
05:16Nice to meet you.
05:17Welcome to our Ukrainian Maria.
05:18Very nice.
05:20The restaurant is staffed entirely by refugees who've had to abandon their lives in their war-torn homeland.
05:28It serves as a vital hub for this displaced community.
05:33The name of the restaurant, Maria, it's a dream in Ukrainian,
05:37a dream of all Ukrainians for peace and victory.
05:4118-year-old chef Arkady Zerba was studying at an institute of food technology
05:47before fleeing the country with his aunt.
05:50And today he's cooking Ukraine's national dish, borscht,
05:55a hearty, vibrant beetroot soup often served with a shot of vodka.
06:01It really is no British equivalent.
06:04It's such a significant part of their heritage and daily life.
06:09Olga, what's borscht, as in Ukrainian, what it means to you?
06:13It's like part of religion, I would say.
06:17It's a symbol of Ukrainian cuisine, it's our legend.
06:20We eat borscht regularly on an everyday basis.
06:24It's also served at traditional weddings, at memorials.
06:28We cook it for Christmas.
06:30It's a really special borscht.
06:32I don't think that there can be one borscht the best one,
06:36because really the best borscht for Ukrainians is the one your mother cooks.
06:41You know, when you're talking to me about borscht,
06:43you come alive, it means that much to you, doesn't it?
06:46I believe in power of food.
06:48Food is opposite to war.
06:51It brings people together, it brings joy.
06:54It's incredible when all family gathers at one table
06:57and share this experience enjoying food.
07:01Olga, would you ask Arkady what borscht means to him?
07:05Sure.
07:06What does borscht mean to you?
07:08Well, first of all, it's a traditional Ukrainian dish
07:12which is very important for our family.
07:15Every week, if we didn't have borscht at home,
07:18it would be a shame not to have it.
07:23Just when he was talking, even in Ukrainian, it's the same thing.
07:28Food just brings the best out of people.
07:31Cooking borscht is a four-par event.
07:36Arkady fries up his onions and carrots separately from the beetroot.
07:42And in pan number four, he parboils his potatoes.
07:46Do you always drink vodka with borscht?
07:49Not always, that's a good question,
07:51but borscht tastes better with a shot of vodka.
07:54Ukrainian name is gorilka.
07:57It's just exceptional.
07:59The making of borscht dates back centuries.
08:02Borscht was so important culturally to Ukraine
08:05that in 2022, after the Russian invasion,
08:09UNESCO added it to their list of heritage traditions
08:13in need of urgent safeguarding.
08:16Arkady mixes the veg together with tomato puree.
08:21White kidney beans go in with the potatoes and cabbage.
08:25Then everything is mixed together and left to simmer.
08:30Olga serves the borscht with sour cream, dill and garlic oil
08:34and brioche bread rolls called pampushkas.
08:38You take a spoon of sour cream. OK.
08:41And stir it well.
08:43And what about the dill oil?
08:45So you break a piece of pampushka. Yeah.
08:49You dip it a little bit into oil. Yeah.
08:52And eat with your borscht.
08:55I love the pampushkas, by the way. Thank you.
09:01Well, that's really good.
09:03I'm very pleased to hear it.
09:05When do I get the vodka, by the way?
09:07Just after it. OK.
09:10And there is a belief that you should cheers with your left hand
09:15for you always to have money.
09:17And we say in Ukrainian budmo. Budmo. Budmo.
09:20Let us be. Let us be.
09:22That's a good expression, I must say.
09:24So just tell me about how this came into being, this restaurant.
09:28So we opened during the war, in August 2022.
09:33And this restaurant is a piece of home which we have here.
09:38History is in the making here,
09:40that Ukraine is doing exactly what's happened historically
09:44with so many different peoples coming to this country.
09:47Somebody would open a restaurant and all the immigrants would go there
09:52because it reminded them of home.
09:54London is very favourable.
09:56British people are very open and they are curious to taste new cuisines.
10:02We are very lucky to be here. We need tremendous support.
10:06We are also very lucky to have you. That's the truth of it.
10:10I believe that food can transport you anywhere,
10:14and I'm so pleased that Olga and her team
10:17can at least enjoy a taste of home.
10:21There really is no place like home.
10:25And back in my kitchen,
10:27I'm inspired to continue paying tribute to our friends from Ukraine.
10:32Well, borscht is a very famous Ukrainian dish,
10:36but so is the dish I'm going to make now, chicken kiv.
10:40This delicious crumb chicken stuffed with garlic and herb butter
10:46is an all-time favourite with us Brits.
10:49So, first of all, I'm going to start by chopping up my dill and my parsley.
10:54Its popularity is thanks to Marks and Spencer,
10:58who were the first retailer to introduce the dish in 1979,
11:03and it took the UK by storm.
11:05I'm going to have two cloves of garlic, so quite a lot,
11:09and then just get a tiny bit of salt.
11:12And this is a favoured way I have of mashing garlic,
11:15is squishing it, really.
11:17The sort of grittiness of the salt helps you to mash the garlic as well.
11:21There we go.
11:23I'm very finely chopping the parsley and the dill.
11:27I want the butter that oozes out to look very sort of elegant and green.
11:32Add the herbs to some nice soft butter, along with salt and pepper.
11:37There we go.
11:40There we go. And now just mash everything together.
11:44The butter needs to be wrapped up and popped in the freezer.
11:48Devilish stuffed cling film. It never stays flat for me.
11:51A bit humiliating if you've been cooking for as many years as I have.
11:55Roll it till it's reasonably straight.
11:58That looks good. So I'll pop that in the freezer.
12:04And out comes the one I made earlier.
12:07I'm using chicken cutlets,
12:09which are chicken breasts still with the wing bone in.
12:13You want as big a flap as possible to get as much butter in as possible.
12:17Just make sure that you don't go too far.
12:20Great. Now then, the garlic butter.
12:23Again, a thick slice, but not too thick.
12:26If it's too thick, it'll ooze out.
12:28If it's too thin, there's not enough butter in there.
12:31So four like that, and then stuff two in each.
12:35Dip the chicken first in flour,
12:38then beat an egg...
12:42..and finally coat with breadcrumbs.
12:45I'm using panko.
12:47To get them nice and crispy, fry them in oil, basting as you go,
12:52until they're golden on both sides.
12:57Then finish them off in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
13:02I must say, I find the history of chicken kiv quite fascinating.
13:07Obviously, it would appear to be a Ukrainian dish,
13:10but Russia has claimed ownership, and France.
13:14But at the turn of the last century,
13:16a hotel opened in Kiev called The Continental,
13:20and its signature dish was chicken kiv.
13:24I rest my case.
13:32That's good.
13:34What I wanted was the butter to ooze out when I opened it,
13:38which indeed it has.
13:43It's lovely.
13:44The contrast between the chicken fillet and a nice crisp coating,
13:48it's fantastic.
13:50I mean, it's amazing that chicken kiv has stayed so popular.
13:54I mean, foods come, foods go.
13:56But this is still a number one favourite.
13:59And actually, chips aren't bad too.
14:06Back in London, in the north-east suburbs, is trendy Walthamstow.
14:13With a buzzing, eclectic food scene,
14:16it's been named the coolest neighbourhood in the UK.
14:21And it has a glamorous past.
14:24100 years ago, it was home to several film studios
14:28during the era of silent movies.
14:31Over there was Broad West Studios, a new building now.
14:36It was a very important studio from 1910.
14:39Produced about 360 films during its history.
14:44Actually, the studio space in Walthamstow
14:46was about a fifth of all the studio places in Great Britain.
14:49And the reason why the studios were here
14:51was because the air was very clean.
14:53It wasn't like much of London, which was smoggy.
14:56And most of the films were made using natural light.
14:59Indeed, Broad West Studios was a big glass house.
15:03And actually, Walthamstow, it produced some serious actors at that time.
15:07I've got a few pictures here.
15:09You may not have heard of these stars,
15:11but I find there's something quite endearing
15:13about how important they were at the time.
15:15Well, to start with, I have heard of Violet Hobson.
15:19She used to drive up and down this road here
15:21in a canary yellow Opentourer.
15:24And here we have Stuart Home.
15:26He looks a bit of a blade in his sports shirt.
15:28And lastly, I really like this one,
15:30Matheson Lang looking very serious
15:33and the sort of dad you could rely on.
15:36So there they all are, those forgotten stars.
15:40Only 20 of those 360 films remain,
15:43and only little snippets of them remain of those.
15:47It's really sad, don't you think,
15:49when you think what a great industry it was?
15:52Everything passes, including silent movies.
15:59But there are the exciting green shoots of a thriving newer industry
16:04that's taking over the neighbourhood.
16:07Craft beer.
16:10Over the past two decades,
16:12there's been a craft beer revolution going on in this country.
16:17A massive growth in demand for more diverse artisanal beer options
16:23has led to an explosion of small creative breweries
16:27experimenting with new flavour concoctions.
16:30These small-scale businesses now amount to a £1.5 billion industry,
16:36and Walthamstow has one of the greatest concentrations
16:40of microbreweries in the UK.
16:44I've got a bit of a confession to make.
16:46I don't really like craft beer.
16:48It's too hoppy, it's too intense, it's too in-your-face.
16:51I'm a session beer man, a little more subdued, a bit more delicate,
16:55not so much big flavour.
16:57But there's nine, soon to be ten, craft breweries around here,
17:01so I must have got something wrong.
17:05I'm at the Wild Card Brewery, where the head brewer is Jager Wise.
17:11Hello. Nice to meet you.
17:13Welcome, welcome.
17:15Craft beer is made in small batches
17:18using the four traditional ingredients.
17:21Grains, hops, yeast and water.
17:24So, what are you brewing today?
17:26So, today we're making a table beer.
17:28So, the table beer's only 2.7%, so quite low ABV.
17:31Quite low? I wouldn't drink that.
17:33I like 3.6 to 4.5.
17:36Anyway...
17:37That's quite specific.
17:40So, we've got three different kinds of cereals we're using today.
17:43And depending on what we're making,
17:45you can change quite a few of the grains
17:47in order to build a different profile in the base of your beer.
17:52The first stage is the mashing in.
17:55Hot water is pumped in and mixed with half a tonne of oats and barley.
18:02The high temperature creates an environment for enzymes
18:06to break down these starchy cereals into simple sugars,
18:10which will be turned into alcohol.
18:14Everything's given a good stir.
18:17It's quite therapeutic, isn't it?
18:19I was just thinking it's like a stock pot, but a bit bigger.
18:25So, what's it like being a brewer, then?
18:27It must be quite creative.
18:29Yeah, it's this really interesting combination of science
18:34and also, I don't want to say art, but I mean...
18:37Why not? Why not?
18:39I always think cooking's a bit of an art.
18:41I just feel like we can do so much
18:43with just the four basic ingredients of beer.
18:46And because it's a batch process,
18:48every time you taste your final product,
18:51you just want to do it again.
18:53And you want to make it better than you did the last time.
18:55It's exactly the same thing.
18:57Every time I take a dover sole and I cook it,
19:00I think, this is going to be the best I've ever done, right?
19:04It never is.
19:07Next, we move on to hops.
19:09Of course, and that is the big issue for me.
19:12Issue?
19:13Well, it's just because I find a lot of craft beers too hoppy.
19:16They're too fragrant for me.
19:18I've got some beers for you later.
19:20I think I'm going to be able to persuade you.
19:24After an hour, the liquid is separated from the grain.
19:29Then it's boiled and hops are added.
19:33After this batch has cooled, in goes yeast.
19:37Then it's put into the fermenter for about a week.
19:40After all that, it's ready to drink.
19:44I'm going to start you nice and gentle, Rick.
19:47I'm what Jager calls a trad, but I'm keeping an open mind.
19:53So the first beer I'm going to show you is a 4.3% pale ale.
19:57That sounds good to me. Nice colour.
20:00So this is quite clear, quite crisp.
20:02It's made with a hop called Citra and a hop called Simcoe as well.
20:09It's all right, actually.
20:11All right.
20:12Well, I was expecting it to have this incredible fragrance,
20:16but actually it's quite subdued.
20:18Where are the hops from, then?
20:20These hops are American.
20:22What's wrong with our British hops?
20:24This is all right.
20:26Different hops from different parts of the world
20:28just have different personality traits.
20:30US hops tend to be known for being quite loud,
20:33quite full of flavour, quite citrus-forward.
20:35You've got Australian hops that are very tropical, fruit-forward,
20:38and British hops tend to be quite floral, quite subtle in flavour,
20:42and they work brilliantly when making things like a bitter or a mild.
20:46Why has it all happened?
20:48What's changed in the country to allow this profusion of small breweries?
20:53If you compare beer to wine, for example,
20:55it is a lot cheaper of an industry in terms of initial start-up.
21:01The other thing is the fans.
21:04So there is a huge amount of home brewers just in the nation,
21:08and those home brewers of yesterday tend to be the brewers of tomorrow.
21:12As a sort of teenager and in my early 20s, I tried brewing my own beer.
21:17It was just disgusting.
21:19It always tasted so yeasty and cloudy.
21:23Next is a New England IPA, India Pale Ale.
21:27You look a bit scared.
21:29Well, no, no, I'm just, you know, I mean, it's just a bit cloudy.
21:32It is a bit cloudy, so that's what a New England IPA is.
21:39I don't know why, but it tastes all right.
21:42I'm definitely coming round, but this might be a step too far for me.
21:47A beer made with fruit, raspberry, blackcurrant and lime.
21:54It's got that sort of tartness of berry fruit,
21:58so, I mean, that's quite nice, but it's... I wasn't expecting it.
22:02You begin to blur the lines between cider, winemaking...
22:06Absolutely. ..and beer-making.
22:08And there are lots of different flavours that you can get.
22:12It's growing on me, you know?
22:14I'm going to have you persuaded, yeah, Rick?
22:16Do you know what? I'm really impressed.
22:18It's such fun. Honestly, it is like cooking, though.
22:21I mean, you've just got, like, this sort of big kitchen... Yeah.
22:24..and you're just producing lovely dishes.
22:26And it's funny, cos about, I don't know, 15 years ago,
22:29my father-in-law said,
22:30you should open a microbrewery in Padstow,
22:32and I thought, are you out of your mind?
22:34You know? And now, look.
22:35Missed the check there, Rick. I so did.
22:38It's all right, running restaurants is enough, to be honest, but...
22:42Well, Jagger, I have to say, this has been an absolute revelation to me
22:46and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
22:48You converted?
22:50Converted, yes. Excellent.
22:59I brought a can of Jagger's Pale Ale back to base,
23:03where I have a cunning plan.
23:05I'm going to use it in a sauce for some pan-fried John Dory
23:10with bacon and lettuce.
23:12And the reason I thought of it was I really like a bit of bitterness
23:16with a fish sauce, but not too much.
23:18And when I was drinking that Pale Ale,
23:20I just thought, this will actually make a very nice sauce.
23:23Well, I've got a very nice fillet of John Dory.
23:26This is always known as the St-Pierre,
23:28cos that's the mark of St Peter.
23:30In French, it's called St-Pierre.
23:32We call it John Dory, which I think is a rather nice name.
23:35Cut the fillet in two, then set aside while you get going on the sauce,
23:40starting with smoked, streaky bacon.
23:43I wonder if the trendy people of East London will enjoy this dish.
23:46The people that love Craftdale,
23:48they like everything to be local and honest and wholesome,
23:52and I think they'd like this dish.
23:54Next, in go leeks.
23:57I could have used onion, I could have used shallots,
24:00but with fish, the leek member of the Allium family
24:04I think is excellent.
24:06Now for my beer. I think I'll use half this can.
24:11Lovely pale, pale ale.
24:14It's smelling great.
24:16I'm also adding chicken stock.
24:19Beer is great for adding body to a dish.
24:22And although the hops add an edge of bitterness,
24:25it's balanced out by the sweetness of the malt.
24:28You really can taste the hops in that.
24:31Good on them for making a beer so suitable for my fish sauce.
24:36Now I'm going to cook something
24:38you normally only think about eating raw, a cos lettuce.
24:43A lot of people don't think of lettuce as a vegetable,
24:46they think of it as a salad,
24:48but actually in a dish like this it makes a very, very nice vegetable.
24:53Right, that is nearly ready to go.
24:55I'm going to turn it off and cook my fish
24:58and then finish off the lettuce at the last minute.
25:00So here we go with the fish.
25:02Little bit of oil. I'm not going to flour it or anything,
25:05I'm just going to cook it as it is.
25:09Grind a bit of black pepper and cook for six to seven minutes
25:13until the skin is crisp and the fish is opaque.
25:17I think those will be nicely cooked on the skin side.
25:21Yeah, that looks really nice.
25:23Now chuck the lettuce into the sauce.
25:26Just see how that volume is decreasing so quickly.
25:29It's like cooking spinach.
25:31And a handful of flat-leaf parsley.
25:34Just going to put a little bit more butter in there now.
25:37It's this French expression, monté au beurre.
25:40It just means you add a little bit of fresh butter at the last minute,
25:44which just gives it the sauce a glisten,
25:47but also gives it a sort of fresh flavour as well.
25:50Monté au beurre.
25:53Well, I'm looking forward to this.
25:57I know self-praise is no recommendation, but it is really good.
26:02John Dory's a fabulous fish, actually. It's so firm.
26:05Unfortunately, it is a bit expensive,
26:07but you could use bass, you could use bream,
26:10you could use flatfish like plaice or lemon sole.
26:13And I do like the hops in there.
26:15But all the ingredients are local, which I think is really good.
26:18Except, perhaps, the American hops.
26:22But, as a craft ale newbie, I think I'll allow it.
26:30Back in London, one last stop at a restaurant called Delina,
26:35for another world cuisine and a first for me.
26:40Hello. Hi there.
26:42I've never eaten Ethiopian food before.
26:44What can I order?
26:46I think beyanatu is the best way to introduce you to Ethiopian food.
26:50For the traditional dish of beyanatu,
26:53Chef Nazareth Khalif starts by making the fermented flatbread
26:58called injera.
27:00Try that.
27:03It's amazing.
27:05It's so sour, it tastes almost cheesy,
27:07but it's like sort of bread with cheese on it.
27:10Yes. It's so flavourful.
27:12And I'm loving the spice. Yes.
27:14And the butteriness of it, and the crispness of it.
27:17The injera acts as a serving platter and accompaniment.
27:21The sauces are dolloped on top,
27:23and you use the bread to scoop them up.
27:28Oh, that's gorgeous.
27:30It's so lovely to come into a place
27:32and taste things that are lovely like this,
27:34that you've never tasted before.
27:36And I think that's what's so special about London.
27:39It's celebrating food from everywhere,
27:42and as ever, the one thing that you can always say about food
27:45is it draws people together.
27:54If you'd like to see more episodes of Rick Stein's Food Stories,
27:58press the red button now to watch on BBC iPlayer.
28:06Next time, I'm in Kent.
28:11Hooray!
28:12I just love watching fish coming in in their necks.
28:17Oh. What do you think?
28:19They're soft and incredibly sweet.
28:21You can't get a better taste than an English cherry, I think.
28:24I am actually itching to taste this.
28:27Chocolate is a great weakness with me.