Food Stories episode 13 - Yorkshire
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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 peg.
00:28Our meat producers...
00:30There you see a robot, he's picking them.
00:32I find a lot of craft beers too hoppy, I don't know why, but it tastes all right.
00:38Some of our best chefs...
00:40We're picking scurvy grass, pretty punchy.
00:44Plus those keeping traditions alive...
00:47We'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.
01:21Today I'm in Yorkshire, God's own country.
01:26This huge historical county in the north of England is famous for such places as Whitby,
01:33said to be the inspiration for Dracula, and the city of York, home of York Minster, one
01:40of the most magnificent cathedrals in the world.
01:43And it also gave us the Bronte sisters, who wrote some of our best-loved novels, including
01:50Wuthering Heights, set in the rugged hills of the Ridings.
01:57Yorkshire is so large today that it's made up of four different counties.
02:02Yet to many, it's still known and loved simply as Yorkshire.
02:12I couldn't make a TV series on British cuisine without talking about one of Britain's best-loved
02:18dishes, known the world over.
02:21It's been famous in this country for well over 300 years, and I would guess it's in
02:27the top ten of everybody's loveliest things to eat.
02:31I wonder if you can guess what it is.
02:35My destination?
02:36A Michelin-starred pub on the edge of the Yorkshire moors called The Star Inn.
02:42All right today, then?
02:44Yeah, under control.
02:45Busy day ahead.
02:46Pet patron Andrew Purn has been cooking here for 27 years.
02:51Do you know, if somebody said, what would you really like to talk about about British
02:55food, I would say Yorkshire puddings.
02:58And here I am, about to watch the perfect Yorkshire pudding being made.
03:04So what quantities there?
03:06I mean...
03:07So equal quantities of flour.
03:08Simple.
03:09Yeah, exactly.
03:10Not rocket science, you know, as chefs we like it like that.
03:13Local eggs, free-range eggs here, fantastic.
03:16Full-fat milk and plain flour.
03:18Equal quantities and it seems to work.
03:19OK, here we go.
03:20Plenty of air in it as well.
03:21That's the beauty of the handheld blender.
03:22Yeah.
03:23It's not as good for the biceps.
03:36It's crucial to get your fat sizzling, so preheat your dripping in a muffin tray at
03:41180 degrees.
03:46Then the puds need to go in for about 20 minutes.
03:49Just got this poem that I found.
03:52In praise of Yorkshire puddings, light brown moon in a gravy sky, round O of delight on
04:00a big white plate, floppy as a vest if you get them early, sounds very Yorkshire to me,
04:07hard as a wall if you get them late.
04:12Well, the proof is in the pudding and joining me is pudding expert Elaine Lem, who's written
04:18a whole book about them.
04:20Oh, I say...
04:23We can't eat the Yorkshire pudding without the gravy.
04:25No, of course not.
04:26No.
04:27Wow, what lovely Yorkshire pudding.
04:28They are great.
04:29Wow.
04:30Mm.
04:31This is so good.
04:36You see them sometimes and they're enormous, toppling off a plate, but to me a Yorkshire
04:41pudding should look like that.
04:42It's just a lovely size, it's got a really soft bottom and crispy around the top.
04:48That really is a textbook Yorkshire pudding.
04:49I couldn't agree more.
04:51Tell me about a Yorkshire pudding, what is so special about it?
04:54I think it's just, it is part of our heritage and it goes back centuries and centuries.
05:00It's nothing new and initially it wouldn't even look like this.
05:05Back in the day, in the 16th, 17th century, they had what was a forerunner to the Yorkshire
05:11pudding, which was actually a dripping pudding.
05:13So then meat would be roasted, I know we call this a Sunday roast, don't we?
05:18But we actually don't roast the meat anymore, we bake it.
05:21So a roast, you know, on a big spit and underneath a big tray to catch the drippings.
05:27So they just used to pour this batter in, which made a thick, sort of stodgy pudding,
05:32which I can only imagine must have tasted incredible.
05:36Why do you think it's stood the test of time?
05:38If I speak for myself, it's nostalgia, it's childhood, it's memories of family.
05:44And I think that's true for a lot of people.
05:46It brings family together, it's hearty, it's just, and it's simple, it's really, really
05:51simple to make.
05:52Long live the Yorkshire pudding.
05:55Absolutely, absolutely.
05:59The classic Yorkshire would have been served with meat and two veg.
06:05But times, they are a-changing.
06:10We're now eating more and more vegetarian food.
06:15Sales of meat substitutes are at an all-time high and the UK market is the largest in Europe.
06:24I'm off to meet a Yorkshireman who saw this coming.
06:29I'm on a very interesting trip, because I'm going to a tofu kitchen.
06:33I think there's a bit of a tofu revolution happening in this country.
06:36I mean, the place I'm going to sells 22 million pounds worth of tofu a year, and that is about
06:42100 tonnes a week.
06:44Now, ten years ago, can you imagine anywhere selling anything like that sort of tofu?
06:49And I think it's just very indicative of our changing taste in food.
06:56The pretty Yorkshire market town of Moulton is home to the country's biggest tofu producer.
07:08Owner David Nibbs had a background working for big food corporations.
07:13When he and his wife bought the company, tofu was not widely accepted.
07:18We came to it seven years ago and the market was tiny, and that was kind of what excited
07:25Lydia and I about it, was we just didn't feel like Britain loved tofu, and it needed
07:30a company that could help people love it, and that's what we set out to do.
07:34It wasn't just you noticed a nice little chink in the market then?
07:37Well, I mean, yeah, there was a gap, but it was because nobody loved it.
07:42You're tofu nuts.
07:43No, we love it.
07:48As demand grew and they got their product into the supermarkets, the business rocketed.
07:55Dave's now selling 14 million packs of the stuff a year.
08:00We start with dried soybean, which we can see here, they're blown into these large tanks.
08:09We put 700 kilos in a tank and they soak for 12 to 14 hours.
08:15When I came in here, it smells like, it could be chicken in here, it smells like chicken stock.
08:20It's got a very savoury smell to it.
08:22It has, hasn't it?
08:23It's not boring.
08:24No, it's got a very, well, it's a very beany smell, I always describe.
08:32Once soaked, the beans are transported off to be ground.
08:39Tofu originated in China and because of the milk it's made from, produced when the beans are crushed,
08:45it's sometimes called Chinese cheese.
08:51Soy milk's going into those cauldrons and then we're adding the coagulant.
08:56And it's like a cheese making process.
08:58What is the coagulant?
09:00So it's basically an extract of sea salt called nigari.
09:03It's dropping the pH in the milk and that allows the curd to develop.
09:09The curds are gently hand cultivated.
09:20They're then drained of most of the liquid whey and then the curd is pressed into large blocks,
09:26which are then compacted.
09:31It's called the tower of tofu.
09:33It's going to lift up to the top and then we're going to press the curd out.
09:36So it's like a giant press then, really?
09:39A huge press, yeah.
09:45What I'm really liking is just the sort of gnarly look of this tofu.
09:51I'm not really into sort of vegetarian things that are made to look like something else, like veggie burgers.
09:58Tofu is tofu. It's not trying to be a meat substitute.
10:03It is what it is.
10:05Now, when it comes to flavour, tofu is often accused of being a bit bland,
10:11but Dave and wife Lydia are determined to convince me otherwise.
10:15So this is the, what do you call it?
10:17The naked tofu.
10:18Naked.
10:19It's got quite a lot of flavour, hasn't it? I mean, it's not neutral.
10:22It has got that nice beany taste to it, actually.
10:26Beany, yeah.
10:27Is what I would describe it as, yeah.
10:29So that's the native, that's what, smoked?
10:31That's the smoked one, yeah.
10:33It's just slightly been brined and then smoked for four hours.
10:36That's really good.
10:37So why do you think it's taken off in the last, what, five years, ten years?
10:40Do you think it's more young people then?
10:42Definitely young people and, you know, that's a Mexican dish there, tofu.
10:46With nachos?
10:47With nachos, barbecue sauce.
10:49Oh, that's good.
10:50Younger people are more interested in sustainability.
10:53They're more interested in where their food comes from.
10:56So we think people's palates are broadening.
10:59We also think eating less meat is part of the future.
11:02I agree, I agree.
11:03And that little nice feeling in the back of your mind that it's healthy food,
11:07you're doing people a big, big favour by making it more popular.
11:10Yeah, definitely.
11:11Congratulations.
11:12Love it.
11:20I brought a chunky slab of their tofu back to base,
11:24where it will star in a best-selling dish
11:27that is not only loved by us Brits, but all over the globe.
11:32Pad Thai.
11:34There's even a World Pad Thai Day,
11:38the 7th of November, if you want to pop it in your diary.
11:41And if the future is vegetarian, as Dave and Lydia predict,
11:46trust me, this is the recipe you'll need.
11:51Right, first the tofu.
11:55Just going to fry this till it's nice and brown.
12:02Now add some garlic.
12:04I like to grate the cloves straight into the oil.
12:08It's lovely, that sort of, whoof, smell of hot garlic.
12:14OK, that's looking really nice and brown now.
12:19I've pre-cooked the rice noodles so they're ready to chuck in.
12:23Now what I'm going to do is just put a tiny bit more oil in here
12:27and make some scrambled egg.
12:29I like this sort of cooking.
12:31It reminds me of the old restaurant days,
12:33you know, everything has to be done at great, great speed,
12:36and so I guess it's the way I like to cook generally.
12:41Shush it around a bit.
12:43Egg's very important in this, just makes it a lot richer.
12:46Lovely, lovely.
12:48Next, add the sauce.
12:50I've mixed together palm sugar,
12:52fish sauce,
12:54tamarind,
12:56chilli sauce,
12:59and chilli flakes.
13:01Then in go the spring onions.
13:03Bean sprouts.
13:07Now I'm going to add coarsely chopped peanuts
13:11and top it off with some fresh coriander.
13:15Bit of a stir up now.
13:17Oh, it's smelling so good.
13:19As soon as the coriander gets in there,
13:21it's sort of like you're in Bangkok.
13:23Fabuloso.
13:26Well, that was fun to make.
13:28I really like making dishes so quick like that.
13:31It satisfies me.
13:33Excuse me, I'm going to bite this.
13:35Oh.
13:37I do think this tofu goes together to make a fantastic dish.
13:41You sort of feel really healthy eating it.
13:44You know you're going to wake up in the morning,
13:47get on the scales and say,
13:49that is great.
13:51I had a lovely big plate of pad thai
13:54and I've lost weight.
13:58Of course, that's just wishful thinking.
14:04Back in Yorkshire,
14:06and my next stop is Leeds,
14:08the UK's fourth largest city.
14:12And I'm delighted to be following in the footsteps
14:15of one of my all-time heroes.
14:21Now then, if you've watched any of my programmes set in Cornwall,
14:26you know that I'm very fond of the poet John Betjeman.
14:30You might have thought, as I mentioned him so often,
14:33that I'd left him behind in Cornwall,
14:35but no, he had a lot to say about Leeds.
14:39Here we are in the city square of Leeds,
14:42and there's such a lot to see,
14:44and it's so full of individuality,
14:46I don't know where to start.
14:48But Leeds is full of alleys,
14:50and down one of these alleys,
14:52you'll find white locks.
14:54What a rest and what a welcome this place is.
14:59It's a city dining rooms with a bar mixed.
15:03I mean, look at that, the stained glass
15:06and the Harvest Festival display above it.
15:09And let's treat the place like a church.
15:13Dear old John felt that white locks, Leeds' oldest pub,
15:17represented the very heart of the city.
15:20And I'm so excited to visit his old haunt.
15:23It also serves a wonderful old Yorkshire bitter
15:27that's as popular as ever.
15:33That is the very, very heart of great British beer.
15:38Timothy Taylor's Landlord.
15:40Timothy Taylor was, in fact, a tailor,
15:43and he started brewing beer in 1858.
15:47Many think because his brother-in-law
15:49died from drinking dirty water.
15:52In those days, beer was a lot safer than water to drink.
15:56But thank goodness he did,
15:58because, as far as I'm concerned,
16:01Timothy Taylor's is one of the best beers in the country
16:05and, more importantly, a Yorkshire beer.
16:12One of my favourite beers,
16:14it's still the same now as it ever was.
16:17But in Betjeman's day,
16:19but in Betjeman's day,
16:21Leeds certainly didn't have the variety of food there is today.
16:26Known as the foodie capital of the north,
16:29it has a thriving contemporary food scene.
16:36The city has a dish for every palate.
16:39Here you go, sir. Thank you very much.
16:41From innovative street food
16:43where you can get the world on a plate...
16:47It's a Caribbean goat curry. It's delicious.
16:51..to the fabulous food stalls of Kirkgate,
16:54Europe's biggest indoor market.
16:59And Michelin-starred fine dining.
17:03It's great to see all these different types of food.
17:06I mean, I've just enjoyed everything I've tried.
17:09I think it's a real testimony
17:11to the ethnic diversity there is in Leeds.
17:14But of all the world cuisines you'll find here,
17:17the best represented are those from the Indian subcontinent.
17:22In the 1950s, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis
17:26flocked to the area.
17:29And thankfully, they brought their wonderful food with them.
17:34Since we had our first taste, we've never looked back.
17:38The 1970s saw an explosion of curry houses.
17:43But now there's a new wave of Indian cuisine.
17:48Bundabust, in Leeds, is in the top ten
17:51of time-out Indian restaurants in the UK.
17:55It started as a pop-up ten years ago
17:58and is run by Bradford-born friends,
18:01Maya and Marco.
18:03Oh, yeah. There we go.
18:06Wow.
18:08So we've got the chawli saag,
18:10the bhajis, the bell curry,
18:12the aloo gobi paratha.
18:14Fantastic.
18:16Maya designs the menu,
18:18which is all from the western state of Gujarat,
18:21famed for its bold vegetarian dishes.
18:24Far from your run-of-the-mill curry...
18:27Oh, good. So colourful.
18:29Just a light lunch. Right.
18:31So what's this one, then?
18:33That's our chaat.
18:35So layers of samosa pastry,
18:37chickpeas, potato, tamarind, yoghurt.
18:40It's just really textural.
18:42So it's a texture
18:44as well as a sort of combination
18:46of sort of sweet and sour.
18:48Great crunchiness.
18:50Okra.
18:54And lots of people don't like okra
18:56because it tastes a bit, like, sort of phlegmy.
18:58But this is crisp.
19:00Yeah, so we sort of dry them out
19:02for a little while,
19:05spice them up, and then they're just perfect beer food.
19:07Such good food, this.
19:11Their concept is to combine
19:13inexpensive vegetarian street food
19:16with specially brewed craft ales
19:19and served in a modern canteen-like setting.
19:23So that's the coriander pills now.
19:25Right.
19:27Our session pale ale.
19:29Go for it, Rick.
19:31Let's just try this.
19:33Marco's the brains
19:35behind the beers.
19:39It's a lovely, clean beer.
19:41That's got coriander in it.
19:43Yeah, it's toasted coriander seeds
19:45which give it kind of a citrusy,
19:47toasty flavour,
19:49and it plays on the hops that we use.
19:51They're quite well balanced as well.
19:53We don't like to make the flavours too extreme.
19:55It's all about, you want to drink it,
19:57you might want to drink another one,
19:59and you might want to drink another one after that.
20:01Let's keep the balance right.
20:03Yeah, yeah.
20:05How has this evolved from curry houses?
20:07How come you're cooking food like this,
20:09which I would never have tasted
20:11in a sort of flop wallpaper place
20:1320 years ago?
20:15I think from the curry house
20:17to then having this variety of food,
20:19I think it really genuinely comes down
20:21to just eyes being open to regionality.
20:23You know, travelling through India
20:25just as you have,
20:27the flavours change literally
20:29in the middle of the holidays.
20:33Working hard behind the scenes
20:35is head chef Gopi Singh.
20:37He's going to show me
20:39how he makes one of their most popular dishes.
20:43A mouth-watering mash-up
20:45of Indian spices
20:47and a quintessentially northern ingredient,
20:49mushy peas.
20:53It's called ragda.
20:55What are these spices then?
20:57So this is all the spices
20:59which makes our garam masala.
21:01All these spices?
21:03Yeah.
21:05It's 19 in total.
21:0719?
21:09My garam masala's got seven.
21:11So this looks amazing.
21:15Gopi's special selection
21:17of spices is dry-roasted.
21:19The smell is fantastic.
21:21Then put through the grinder.
21:23If you're making a curry,
21:25for want of a better word,
21:27because we know the Indians
21:29don't use the word curry,
21:31a garam masala freshly made
21:33is the best way of giving it authenticity.
21:37Gopi adds turmeric and salt
21:39to some pre-soaked marrow-fat peas
21:41and pressure-cooks the lot.
21:43He fries up ginger
21:45and green chillies
21:47with the garam masala.
21:49I love pressure cookers
21:51cos it's so efficient and so quick.
21:53But it's a bit like a sort of being,
21:55the way it sort of hisses at you
21:57every now and then.
21:59I was thinking going to Iceland
22:01and the geyser suddenly going...
22:03And, of course, that is the warning
22:05that we're up to pressure.
22:07And without that,
22:09we'd have an explosion.
22:11All faithful.
22:13He's off again.
22:15Shush!
22:17Shush!
22:21Fantastic.
22:23So, what, you're adding
22:25the very mushy peas?
22:27Yeah, mushy peas.
22:29Once the peas are mixed with the spices,
22:31they're ready to be dished up,
22:33along with spiced potato cakes,
22:35fresh tomatoes
22:37and onions,
22:39crispy noodles
22:41and sweet tamarind sauce.
22:47Gorgeous.
22:49Gorgeous.
22:51You really wouldn't want to be eating
22:53a lot of meat with food like this
22:55cos you'd be perfectly satisfied anyway.
22:57That's, for me, the rubber stamp
22:59to say, right, it's just good food
23:01that happens to be vegetarian.
23:03British people just love Indian food.
23:05Why do you think that is
23:07and do you think that love will continue?
23:09Yeah, definitely
23:11it'll continue.
23:13The reason why it's so popular
23:15is because I think Indians,
23:17Pakistanis, Bengalis and that eating culture,
23:19I think that's probably why we have a taste for it
23:21and that pecan,
23:23spicy, salty,
23:25punchy flavour,
23:27it's addictive, isn't it?
23:29It's almost the way that
23:31we all love each other's food
23:33shows how integrated we are.
23:35I think you're onto it
23:37with food like this.
23:39It sort of brightens up Leeds, doesn't it?
23:41So, coming on a slightly rainy day
23:43in Leeds.
23:45Do you think? It's getting brighter.
23:47Oh, good.
23:49With all those wonderful flavours
23:51tickling my taste buds,
23:53I'm inspired to cook a
23:55vegetarian version of one of
23:57Britain's favourite curries.
24:01A Jalfrezi with
24:03paneer and Indian cheese.
24:07A recent restaurant survey
24:09had Jalfrezi topping the charts
24:11as the UK's most popular
24:13Indian dish.
24:15It's so easy to make,
24:17I hope you'll give it a go.
24:19First of all, I'm going to make a garam masala.
24:21While Gopi's deluxe blend
24:23had 19 spices,
24:25my own concoction has a mere
24:27seven. Cinnamon sticks,
24:29cumin seeds,
24:31coriander seeds, whole cloves,
24:33black peppercorns,
24:35nutmeg and finally
24:37cardamom seeds.
24:39So you have to get the seeds out of the pods.
24:41In a dry
24:43frying pan over a medium heat,
24:45chuck in all the spices.
24:49The point of roasting
24:51spices is you get this lovely
24:53toasty aroma from all of them.
24:57They only need a couple of minutes,
24:59then I like to grind mine with a mortar
25:01and pestle.
25:03Next,
25:05grate some nutmeg.
25:11The east,
25:13the east in a mortar.
25:15Right, let's go and make
25:17the Jalfrezi now.
25:19Oil in the pan.
25:21Start by frying up cumin seeds,
25:23a whole red chilli
25:25and some finely shredded ginger.
25:27Now I'm going to add
25:29onions,
25:31lots of them.
25:33I'm using three
25:35onions, roughly sliced.
25:37Jalfrezi
25:39is a dish that originated
25:41in Bengal and jalf
25:43just means spicy
25:45and frezi means fry.
25:47Throw in
25:49some green chilli
25:51and a couple of peppers.
25:53I think there's a lot of recipes for
25:55Jalfrezi. It's a bit of a
25:57sort of catch all really. I mean if you think
25:59about a stir fry, I often
26:01do stir fries with what is in my fridge.
26:03It's the same with Jalfrezi.
26:05You can use leftover
26:07vegetables, a bit of leftover meat if you
26:09like. It's just a
26:11spicy fry up.
26:13After adding chilli
26:15powder, turmeric and salt,
26:17it's time for
26:19the paneer.
26:21Take care not to break it up too much.
26:23And tomatoes.
26:25I do think that paneer is a really, really good
26:27cheese to cook with. Incidentally,
26:29if you can't get paneer,
26:31the Greek cheese halloumi is very
26:33similar. It's a bit saltier
26:35but it holds its shape when it's cooked
26:37just like paneer does.
26:39Now some vinegar.
26:43Some shredded ginger.
26:47Finally,
26:49the all important
26:51garam masala.
26:53Final
26:55shake
26:57and it's done.
27:01If I have one tip,
27:03it's to have a go at your own
27:05garam masala. I promise
27:07it'll make all the difference.
27:09This is really, really
27:11good. Sparky
27:13and light and
27:17crunchy and delicious.
27:19There's two ways of using
27:21garam masala. You can put it right in the beginning
27:23of making a curry so it blends
27:25in with the rest of the spices. But in this case,
27:27by adding it at the end, you've just
27:29got this sort of explosion
27:31of flavour.
27:35Oh, I do
27:37like paneer.
27:41I really believe that nutritious
27:43vegetarian dishes are here to
27:45stay and will soon be creating
27:47new traditions in
27:49British cuisine.
27:53If you'd like to see more
27:55episodes of Rick Stein's Food Stories,
27:57press the red button now
27:59to watch on BBC iPlayer.
28:03Next time,
28:05I'm in the Midlands.
28:07This is the very super hot chilli sauce.
28:09How is it?
28:11It's really hot. Oh my gosh.
28:15The New York Times mentioned Birmingham as one
28:17of the places in the world to visit for its food,
28:19which I thought was incredible.
28:21Oh.
28:23Honestly, that is
28:25just wonderful. Perfect Indian
28:27food.
28:51.