[theme music] Here we go.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I'm going on my most ambitious British adventure yet-- Yes!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): --meeting some of the finest chefs in the world.

You've been sweating over, James.

Aw, poor James.

Aw.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Cooking my way from the far South.

Duck on a barbecue is just off the charts.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): --to the northernmost reaches of the land.

It's a magical experience.

JAMES MARTIN: You've got to do this.

It's amazing!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): And using some of the best produce you'll find anywhere.

FARMER: Come on, pigs.

Come on.

Come on.

GALTON BLACKISTON: Look, look at him.

How can you miss that mouth?

[laughs] JAMES MARTIN: And some of the places require a little bit more effort to get to.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I'll be traveling by land, air, and sea.

TONY SINGH: Yeah, look.

Look, dolphins!

TONY SINGH: Dolphins.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): So join me as I explore the British Isles, from islands to highlands.

My epic tour continues.

And today, I've made it to the rolling hills of the Peak District, an area of outstanding natural beauty, where the locals live for tradition, and they go above and beyond the call of duty to make you feel welcome.

Not quite done there.

OK, we missed a bit.

We missed a bit.

He's doing very well.

Completely unscripted, this, you know.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): This is awkward, really awkward.

Oh, oh.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): As much as I'd love to stop for a jig with this jovial crowd, I've got a jam packed day ahead.

I can't wait to explore the hidden gems in this glorious landscape around me.

[cheery music] Founded in 1951, the Peak District was England's first national park.

♪ ♪ It straddles five counties in the heart of England and covers no less than 555 square miles.

I'm already peckish, so my first stop is the village of Ridgeway, just outside the national park.

And I'm heading to a restaurant, which I'm told serves complex, picturesque food that follows the seasons.

Now, if there's one person that's famed in these parts for food, that's got to be Tessa Bramley.

Now, she took over what was an old vicarage, an old house, really, and turned it into an amazing restaurant.

And I've always wanted to come and visit.

So now is the perfect opportunity.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Acclaimed chef Tessa Bramley has owned and run The Old Vicarage for over 30 years.

A grand country house with manicured grounds and views of the surrounding rolling hills.

Inside, the restaurant is elegant yet comfortable.

And Tessa's cooking has been described as exciting and vibrant, yet solidly rooted in the seasons.

And I can't wait to taste her food.

She's making me one of her classics, roast beef fillet with bone marrow, veg from her garden, and a spinach and nutmeg puree.

What a feast.

♪ ♪ Now, James, you're going to love this because it's scrumptious.

JAMES MARTIN: Scrumptious?

I like the word scrumptious.

Looks spectacular.

Do you love me?

[laughs] You're not bad at this, are you?

[laughter] I have to say, this place is spectacular.

It's an iconic building.

TESSA BRAMLEY: It's lovely, isn't it?

When we bought it, it was in a bit of a sorry state.

So it took us a year to renovate it and get it ready for opening.

JAMES MARTIN: You've been behind the hobs for what is now, I don't mean to be rude, but decades.

And that's a great thing.

But you still love it.

Yes.

I didn't when I started off.

[laughter] I know that's-- but the only chef I know that didn't want to do it when they started it all off.

No, no, I didn't.

I kind of was pushed into it and fell into it and developed a love of it.

And as a child, I loved visiting my grandmother, who was a Victorian cook.

And all the things that she taught me, like foraging, she was just one of these people who didn't waste anything.

And so I learnt a lot from her.

This doesn't happen very often on this show, to be honest with you.

I normally have to stop, and they take pretty shots of the food.

I've just finished that.

[laughter] I think you liked it.

That was delicious.

Absolutely delicious.

Tessa, thank you so, so much.

I've always wanted to come here.

It's my pleasure.

And it's worth the trip.

It really, really is.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): What a fantastic place to begin my time in the Peak District.

And I'll be seeing Tessa again later.

But now it's time I got cooking in this spectacular national park.

So, inspired by the beautiful landscape here, and also that delicious meal Tessa made me, I'm keen to use some of the region's quality beef in my next dish.

[grand music] JAMES MARTIN: It really is a fabulous part of the world.

This is fantastic.

But what makes this place so special in terms of food is this stuff, this great pasture, because it's that that produces amazing meat, great dairy.

And I'm going to utilize that and do us a wonderful little beef stew.

So I've got some gorgeous rump steak.

Now, so often, you get a rump steak, and it can taste like shoe leather.

But this stuff, because of the pasture from this neck of the woods, is some of the best beef you'll find anywhere.

It really, really is.

That, and of course, Scotland.

But I'm going to use this to make a wonderful little beef and beer stew.

So first thing we do is take a little bit of flour, which is a bit tricky in this wind, and just roll this around in a little bit of flour.

And then we use a combination of oil and butter to seal it.

So a nice hot pan-- boiling, boiling hot.

That's what we want, really, really hot.

That's a bit too hot.

But that'll do.

And that's going to seal off nicely in a hot pan.

[pan sizzling] This is what it's all about.

Look, the color of that.

That's what it is, because it's that that will give our stew a nice, rich color.

Well, that and the beer that's going to go in there as well.

Mmm.

[pan sizzling] I don't know.

Whenever I'm cooking anything like this, you make the noise of the animal that it's from, to be honest with you.

It's a good job this is not a turkey stew.

I don't do turkey.

But look at the beef.

Look at this-- beautiful.

A bit more oil, bit more butter, keep the pan nice and hot.

Pop the beef in.

Now, the reason why I do this in batches, because the temperature of the pan drops if you're not careful, if you put too much meat in.

While this next one's in, I'm going to wash my hands.

[quirky music] ♪ ♪ Now, the beef's cooking away nicely, which is perfect on here.

Just get a nice little seal on it.

That looks pretty good.

While our beef's cooking away, we can turn our attention to our veg, keeping this really simple.

We're going to take a little bit of this onion.

We're going to finely chop, really, but not chunks.

Chop this a little bit smaller, a bit of that.

Got a nice little color on the beef.

So once you get to that stage, pop the beef back in.

Now, into our stew now, I'm going to pop in the onion.

That's going to go in.

Throw that in.

Now, our veg really, I've got some carrots.

So this is how I put the carrots in for the stew, literally like this, like that, even with the bits on it.

Stick those in because the carrots need to be cooked at the same time as the beef.

They should soften up as well.

So in we go with the celery.

A few bits of bay leaves.

I've got some rosemary, some thyme that's going to go in there.

And then our liquor comes in the form of beer.

And it's got to be beer.

It can't be lager, this.

It doesn't taste the same, this recipe.

It's got to be beer, really good quality beer.

That's going to go in.

So here we go with some Worcester sauce.

This gives it a nice little umami sort of flavor.

And then I'm adding some stock.

You can buy this now in the little pots as well from the supermarket.

It comes in these little pouches.

That's brilliant in that.

So now, what we need to do is bring this to the boil.

So pop the lid on and cook this for about an hour and a half.

While that's cooking, I'm going to finish off drinking this while the director cuts to shots of sheep and stuff.

See you in a bit.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ Just check this out, look.

[stew simmering] You cannot have beef stew, beer beef stew, without dumplings.

And dumplings are so, so simple to make.

This is how you make dumplings-- flour, self-raising flour, and suet, beef suet, plenty of salt.

Then we take some parsley, a bit of parsley.

Chop this up.

And we mix this together.

Now, the thing about dumplings, they need to be soft and light and fluffy.

And this is quite appropriate, really, because over there, kind of bit over there, you've got Sheffield.

And my gran used to live in Sheffield, and she used to do dumplings.

Used to leave you scarred for life, those dumplings.

She was lovely, though.

She was lovely.

She'd be laughing her head off here, look.

But look, what you end up with is you've got these dumplings.

This is what the dumpling mixture should look like.

If you can mold it up to a ball, it's too thick.

You need it like that, soft.

Look at this.

Now, what you have to do is you have to season this mixture first.

So I'll go and wash my hands.

♪ ♪ Then what we have to do is we have to take our stew off.

because this is the important bit.

You take your stew, you need to season it because the minute the dumplings go in, you cannot touch it.

You've just got to wait.

So season it, black pepper, season.

[pepper mill grinding] Stir.

And what I like to do is just enrich this with a little knob of butter.

You stir this all in.

See, this is one of these dishes where time really matters.

Not the herb, just time.

We never have so much time anymore in our lives.

But look, these are your little dumplings.

And don't mold them into fancy shapes, nothing.

It's not Michelin star food we're after.

It's taste.

Taste, taste, taste.

So just pop the lid on about 15 minutes.

That's all they need.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ This is the money shot.

♪ ♪ It gets better.

Just lift this up.

♪ ♪ Chunky bits of carrot, a nice bit of gorgeous dumpling.

And even with the dribbles around the edge, how good does that look?

Sometimes, you don't have to do anything to a dish to finish it.

No bits of parsley, no sprig of chervil.

That's what you want, on a tin dish in the middle of a field.

Cheers!

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): My beer beef stew with dumplings, proper food.

♪ ♪ I'm in the Peak District, where I'm with the legendary chef Tessa Bramley.

I've sampled some of her delicious cooking.

Do you love me?

You're not bad at this, are you?

[laughter] JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Next, I'm dropping Tessa off right in the heart of the national park to discover a sweet and savory favorite.

Derbyshire oatcakes have been a local speciality since the 17th century.

And master baker Ian Barratt makes them using a family recipe that dates back to 1949.

Tessa's going to find out how they're made at Derbyshire Oatcakes and Pikelets.

IAN BARRATT: Come on in, Tessa.

Well, this is really nice and cozy in here, isn't it?

This is where the magic happens.

TESSA BRAMLEY: Really?

So you're going to show us how the magic happens.

And I'm going to try and get your secrets off you.

So come on, let's get going.

Do your best.

But basically, we've got a load of oatcakes that's been prepared six or seven hours before.

And the oatmeal and the yeast has been put together.

And now, we're going to mix it out and create a batter to go through the depositor.

So what have you got here?

What goes into the oatcake?

So basically, there's the flour, salt, sugar, and water.

And then what are we prepared earlier is the yeast and the oatmeal.

TESSA BRAMLEY: Basically like pancakes?

IAN BARRATT: Yes, yeah.

And we'll fill the hopper up.

[gentle music] That looks lovely and creamy.

IAN BARRATT: That is the thing is to keep it creamy.

It's ready to go now.

We'll just make sure that we've got some oil on the hot plate now.

So is this vegetable oil?

Olive oil?

IAN BARRATT: This is rapeseed oil, actually, this is.

TESSA BRAMLEY: All right, I see.

IAN BARRATT: So now, we're going to put the oatcakes on the hot plate with this very old fashioned depositor.

TESSA BRAMLEY: Oh, I see.

I've never seen one of those before.

That's fabulous.

And it looks so simple.

Simple but effective.

Yeah.

What I like is, can you see all the bubbles are coming up straight away?

I like the holes in the oatcake.

When you come to eat them, they fill up with butter.

That's what I like.

IAN BARRATT: Oh, yeah.

[laughter] TESSA BRAMLEY: Naughty, but nice for you.

IAN BARRATT: Very much so.

TESSA BRAMLEY: You're very adept at that, aren't you?

So how many of these do you do a day?

It's about 200 dozen a day About 1,000 dozen a week.

TESSA BRAMLEY: Oh, wow.

IAN BARRATT: It's a good workout.

TESSA BRAMLEY: (LAUGHS) Well, yes.

Yes, I can understand that.

There you go, Tessa.

Time to show your talents.

Oh, well, let's have a go.

Let's have a go.

Oh, no.

I can't do it.

That was rubbish.

You're not going to make me any money, are you?

TESSA BRAMLEY: Oh, no.

I'm going to lose money.

Look at that.

That's rubbish.

IAN BARRATT: You've got to actually push it underneath it, so you've got to do that.

So you've got to take it up.

Take it up and off.

TESSA BRAMLEY: You make it so easy.

But it's not easy.

IAN BARRATT: Up and off.

TESSA BRAMLEY: Up and off.

IAN BARRATT: Oh!

Well done!

- I did it!

IAN BARRATT: Amazing!

Up and off.

Up and off.

Oh, gosh.

I think I've cracked it now.

Well done, you.

[laughter] TESSA BRAMLEY: Ian, what a fabulous place to sit and try this food.

IAN BARRATT: Where else would you want to be?

Shall we try some of these oatcakes that we've done?

Oh, I can't wait.

So we've got a cheese one here and also a chocolate one.

Can I start with the cheese?

Help yourself.

Thank you.

Mmm.

Now, that's what I call delicious.

It's buttery, cheesy.

And it blends beautifully with the oats.

I love it.

IAN BARRATT: Yeah.

So we've got the chocolate spread on the oatcake here, so help yourself.

TESSA BRAMLEY: There we go.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ That's lovely.

I love the chocolate with the oats and the nutty flavor.

That's really nice.

IAN BARRATT: It's a guilty indulgence, isn't it?

Right.

I didn't expect that.

That's lovely.

- Yeah.

Well, I've really enjoyed today.

It's been an absolute pleasure having you today.

And if you ever want a job in the future, you can do the oatcake flipping with us again.

[laughter] I thought that was lovely.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I had a feeling you'd like those, Tessa.

They're sure look tasty.

However, I can't get over just how good the beef is in the Peak District, so I can't resist cooking with it in one more dish.

Now, you'll like this dish.

Well, I know that Tessa will like this dish as well, because this is a real classic, a little toast to the great cook, Tessa herself, because I remember having an old recipe book when I was a young kid.

And it had one of Tessa's recipes in there.

And I wanted to do this sort of steamed suet pudding for a while, really.

So I thought this was the prime time to do it.

So the first thing we're going to do is chop our veg.

I've just got a little bit of carrot and some shallots.

Now, either way, we want to make sure these are chopped quite small because I'm actually going to pop these little suet puddings in these little molds over here.

So if the meat's too big and the veg is too big, you just end up with one carrot and one chunk of meat.

So a little bit of onion, a touch of garlic.

Again, make sure it's chopped up.

And we'll do the same with the carrot.

[quirky music] ♪ ♪ Nice hot pan, touch of butter in the pan.

We can start off by adding our veg.

[pan sizzling] Now, at the same time, I can add the diced bit of beef.

So just pop the chunks of meat straight in.

So now, we can add our beef mince.

I like the combination of two different textures, particularly when you're doing smaller ones.

You get much more meat inside the pie.

Grab some fresh thyme and add that to the pan as well.

And then into the pot, glug a plonk, bit of red wine.

And then we can grab some beef stock.

You can buy this stuff now from the supermarket.

It's not the powdered one.

It's the clear packet stuff.

And then bring this to the boil and gently cook this.

This is going to take about an hour and a half.

We can turn our attention to our pastry.

And our pastry is a classic suet pastry-- plain flour, beef suet, and water.

And that's it, simple as that.

So add the beef suet to the flour, a nice pinch of salt.

You need a decent amount of salt.

And then mix this together with a bit of water, cold water for this.

So this recipe is one part suet, two parts flour.

Now, you don't want the pastry tacky because you want to be able to roll this out.

So just enough cold water to mix.

[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ Now, this isn't like many pastries where you've got to leave it to rest, really.

Kind of don't need to worry with this one that much, especially if you make it by hand.

Once we're happy with that, we can get our molds ready.

A little bit of oil-- you can use butter for this one, a touch of lard of course.

But just a little bit of oil, a little bit of your pastry.

And then we can roll it out.

So a little bit of flour over the top.

So the key to it is about 3 to 4 mil, if you dare.

So use a large circle first like that, and pop the pastry in.

And then with your hands, you can push the pastry up the side.

Now, it takes about an hour and a half to have this mixture ready.

What you need to do is season it, and season it while it's still hot, and then allow it to cool down.

Now, this is the mixture that's cold.

This one's been in the fridge.

And then we can take our mixture and fill our molds like this.

You can grab a smaller cutter for the top.

What we can now do is just simply steam these.

If you're doing a larger one, then you're looking at probably something like half an hour.

Cover it over, and this will take literally about 10 minutes to cook.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ We can finish off with a nice little sauce to go with it.

So I've just got in here some beef stock, sits in the pan.

Just a little knob of butter, and we just bring this to the boil and just gently simmer this for about three to four minutes.

Meanwhile, I love a little bit of gherkin with it.

Now, it's not everybody's cup of tea.

But with this, I think it works a treat.

Meanwhile, take our pies because these are ready.

We'll take a touch of our sauce, first of all.

Pop it on our plate, stop it from sticking, take our nice little pies, and then we'll simply just tip these out.

You can then brush this with our sauce, give it a nice little look to this.

So lift this up.

Sits on your plate.

And then I'm going to use these two different purees, one of which is a little pea puree-- a few bits of that around the edge, and then finally, just to finish this off, and then the other one is this garlic puree.

♪ ♪ And then in between that, just take a couple of slices of this gherkin.

And then finally, just to finish this off, you've got that rich reduced sauce.

And there you have it.

There's a little homage to one of the finest cooks in the UK.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Yes, I think Tessa would approve.

These steamed beef puddings are hearty and delicious.

♪ ♪ Today, I'm in the stunning Peak District, England's oldest national park.

Earlier, I visited local chef Tessa Bramley, who cooked me a meal to remember.

I've just finished that.

[laughter] I think you liked it.

[laughter] That was delicious.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): And Tessa discovered she had a hidden talent.

TESSA BRAMLEY: Up and off.

IAN BARRATT: Oh, well done!

I did it!

[laughing] JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): But now, sadly, I've said goodbye to Tessa, and I'm heading further into the wilderness.

[cheerful music] ♪ ♪ My next stop is a traditional pub in a village called Bonsall.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, but outside, they hold a rather unusual contest.

Yes, hen racing.

And the world champion is local lad, farmer's son Jack.

And he's just 12 years old.

So, Jack, you're the current world champion.

Yeah, yeah.

How do you feel?

Just really amazed that these made me the champion.

So these, what have we got here?

Are they a particular breed?

- Yeah.

JAMES MARTIN: What we've got here?

So the grayish one is called a cream legbar.

JAMES MARTIN: Right.

And the two black and copper ones are called copper marans.

JAMES MARTIN: OK.

Which one's the world champion then?

Which one is the supreme champion?

The supreme champion is this one that's nearest to me.

And that's just amazing.

JAMES MARTIN: And how old is she?

She holds the world record.

Holds the world record?

Yeah, for the world's fastest hen.

JAMES MARTIN: Really?

JACK: Yeah, 3.8 seconds.

3.8 seconds?

To get to the end of the track.

JAMES MARTIN: So how do you train a hen?

Is it like horse racing?

How do you train a hen?

No, it's totally different to horse training.

You need to get them used to you.

And you just need to make a call so they know that they get food at the end if they go to you.

They just-- that's it.

They just go, oh, food.

And they go, oh, OK, I'm going to eat it.

JAMES MARTIN: And that's it?

JACK: So that's all that's in the chicken's head, food.

JAMES MARTIN: So can you teach me how to train a hen?

Eh, can give it a go.

JAMES MARTIN: OK, so which hen have I got?

You've got the cream legbar.

JAMES MARTIN: I've got the slow one.

You've just said these two are the better ones.

Well, if you're going to do it, you're going to learn the hard way.

I reckon I've got my work cut out here, don't you?

Right, shall we crack on?

- Go on, then.

- So what do you do?

You hold the chicken like this?

So the chicken's head, you just have to funnel your hands like that so the hands are pointing straight to it, straight to the food.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Really, how hard can this be?

You ready?

Mine's not looking.

On the count of three-- one, two, three.

[hens clucking] [crowd cheering] Jack, what's going on?

Mine's not going anywhere.

JACK: Well, [pause] bad luck, innit?

I've been sold a dud.

[laughter] JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I've been stitched up, that's what I've been.

Right, I'm off.

Next, I'm heading to the other side of the national park to meet a man who gave up his day job to follow his passion.

Karl Bond is the co-founder of Forest Distillery, which is based in a 17th century barn near the Macclesfield Forest.

And it's where he produces some of his award winning gin.

[glass clinking] - Karl good to see you.

- Good morning, sir.

You all right?

- I love this place.

So how long have you been here?

When did it all start?

Me and my wife started distilling from home, 2013, 2014?

I was working in IT.

My wife was a beautician in the local town.

And was it a trial and error at first or?

Absolutely.

JAMES MARTIN: Yeah?

Complete hobbyist.

It was a home brew, if you like, a tiny little kit, messing around.

So you're still doing small batches now, though, aren't you?

I mean, that's the key to this place.

KARL BOND: Oh, we've not changed a thing, yeah.

We just make more of it.

So we distill in 25 liter stills, so we get about 70, 72 bottles out depending on the weather.

JAMES MARTIN: And everything is literally local, because even this bottle is produced locally.

Yeah, we have these made in Stoke-on-Trent, Wade Ceramics.

So yeah, just 20 minutes down the road, quite a nice thing.

Hopefully, people keep them after they've enjoyed a gin.

JAMES MARTIN: Yeah, they do.

And you're going into whisky now as well, so you're expanding a little bit.

KARL BOND: We are, yeah.

We've got the 15th licence, I think, it is in England to make whisky, because English whisky isn't really a thing just yet.

Well, if it goes as well as this sort of stuff as well, you'll do well, I reckon.

I've been looking forward to this.

[chuckling] It's proper stuff, this.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): What a great little place.

And Karl's inspired me to make a mouth watering dessert.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ Now, if there's one drink that's on trend at the moment, it has to be gin.

And I'm going to do a trendy jelly and ice cream using some of this gin, but also using some elderflower cordial.

And it's so easy to make this.

So the first thing we're going to do is concentrate on the jelly.

Now, in this pan over here, I've just got some cold water, and I'm going to add a little bit of sugar.

Now, not too much sugar because we want the flavor of the gin and the elderflower.

So try not to sweeten it up too much.

This is a grown up version of a jelly.

So elderflower cordial and then gin, a good amount of gin.

Try not to get one that's too floral in terms of its flavor.

But what we're creating is a nice little jelly.

And for that, we need to set it.

And we use some leaf gelatine for this one.

I've got about 10 leaves in here.

But what we do need to do is soak them in some cold water, and then we allow this mixture to heat up.

What you're not doing is boiling it.

So what we're going to do is just warm this enough to not only melt the gelatine but also dissolve that sugar.

Now, I like using a big selection of different molds here.

It's entirely up to you which you use, really.

And then all we do is we take our fruit, and then this is where you can vary the fruit as well.

We've got raspberries over here like that, a few bits of blackberries, and then fill each individual one.

The red currants, you can just basically just strip off the little stalks.

Now, if you look at the mixture over here, it's nice and warm now.

And then what we need to do now is add our gelatine.

Now, you can see that is what we're looking for.

So add that to the mixture straight in there.

Now, what you want to do is make sure the mixture is hot enough just dissolve the gelatine, but not too hot as in boiling to get rid of the alcohol of the gin.

Turn the heat off now and just let it sit there.

Then what we can do is take half of the mixture and pop it into a bowl, about half of it.

And then the other half, flavor it with fruit.

And the best fruit to use for that is raspberries.

And what you want to do is just use a whisk and just break them up a little bit with a whisk.

It's important to do this off the heat.

So once you've got to that stage, when you're happy with that-- this jelly is still warm, by the way.

And then we can pass this one through a little cloth.

Now, you can use a tea towel for this.

But just pass the mixture through a cloth.

[cheery music] ♪ ♪ Hold it together.

Just give it a gentle squeeze.

Now, don't force the mixture too much.

Otherwise, the jelly will go cloudy.

So just a light compress is all you need, really.

And there, you have that sort of nice pink jelly.

Once we get to that stage, it's just a simple matter of filling up your little molds.

Some with the raspberry jelly and some, of course, with the elderflower.

♪ ♪ And then what you can do is basically just allow these to set in the fridge.

Now, I've got some that have been setting.

They want about a good hour, hour and a half, something like that.

Not too long, because they're only small jellies.

Now, there's several different ways you can get these jellies out of the mold, but I find the easiest way to do this is to invest in one of these, a blowtorch.

Heat it up.

[torch whirring] [music playing] ♪ ♪ You can, if you haven't got a blowtorch, dip them in hot water.

The problem with this is it does have a habit of melting the jelly a lot.

So just tip them out.

You've got another one.

You can see that just melts it a little bit too much.

I found the easiest way is to use one of these.

[torch whirring] Now, just to finish this off, I've got in here some nice raspberry sorbet.

You can use ice cream if you want.

But I think a nice little bit of raspberry sorbet with this is fantastic.

And just a sprig of mint, that's all you need.

It's good, that, innit?

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): So there you have it, my grown up version of jelly and ice cream with elderflower and gin.

♪ ♪ I'm in the Peak District, exploring everything the rolling hills here have to offer.

What I love about this and just driving around here, wherever you go, whatever hill you go over next, there's a different vista, a different view.

It's a fabulous part of the world.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): And now, I'm off into the wilds to get a taste of nature.

JAMES MARTIN: What is fascinating around here is all along this roadside now, I can see these beautiful elderflowers that are bang in season, and that vibrant color and vibrant taste as well.

So it'd be rude not to just park up the car and maybe pick some.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): And to make sure I pick the right thing, I'm meeting expert forager Marlow Renton, a man who really knows how to live off the land.

[jaunty music] ♪ ♪ You see, what I love about people like you guys, I can see your brain's already thinking.

It's already looking.

There's stuff everywhere.

Whereas you would walk past and go, no, I'm not touching that.

But there is so much out here, isn't there?

There really is, yeah.

When you've got a little bit of plant knowledge, you walk around.

And everywhere you go, you see things that you think, oh, maybe that's edible.

But there are do's and don'ts to this, really.

So, advice for people?

Go on a course, probably?

Definitely, yeah.

JAMES MARTIN: I roughly know one of them.

Obviously, elderflower?

Yes, absolutely.

And one of its key identifying features is its awful smell.

So if you crush that leaf up and have a bit of a smell, you'll find it's not-- That's ridiculous, isn't it?

It's not very pleasant.

This leaf is toxic.

If you were to eat this leaf, it's got what are called cyanide inducing glycosides in it.

So if you-- He's not making this up, you know?

This is actually happening.

MARLOW RENTON: The flowers as well, we're going to collect a few of these.

And you'll find that the smell of the carrier bag of elderflowers does smell a little bit like cat's wee.

JAMES MARTIN: It's a nice way of putting it, isn't it, really?

We're going to cook with it a bit later.

But it makes an incredibly tasty champagne and cordials and fritters and all kinds of things.

- Yeah.

MARLOW RENTON: It's a wonderful treat.

JAMES MARTIN: Is there anything else out here, then?

MARLOW RENTON: Here you go, James.

Raw nettles are just about the most nutritious thing that we have growing on dry land in Britain.

JAMES MARTIN: Are you having a laugh?

Are you putting raw nettles in your mouth?

MARLOW RENTON: Yeah, absolutely.

I've got rid of the stings.

This is the nettle top.

So if you eat that, you shouldn't get any stings in your mouth, and you should get a flavor a bit similar to raw cabbage.

It's a nice, pleasant flavor.

Now-- It's actually really good, isn't it?

It is.

It's nice.

Yeah, foraged food is really good.

It's all right.

So there's plenty more.

Every 30 feet that you walk in the wild, you're likely to find a different plant.

This is a plant called hogweed, what I consider to be a gourmet vegetable, basically.

You blanch this just for a few minutes in boiling water to soften it up, get rid of these hairs.

Chuck the water out, chuck a bit of butter in.

You've got a lovely green for the side of your plate.

What else can we eat?

What have we got?

Well, what can we eat here?

Every thistle.

- Thistle?

- Every thistle is edible.

Come on.

MARLOW RENTON: No, no, they're in the artichoke family.

I wouldn't bother with the thistles, though, when there's things like hogweed and nettles and the elderflower around.

- I'd leave the thistles.

- Yeah.

JAMES MARTIN: Can you eat these things?

MARLOW RENTON: Oh, this is a really, really good plant to know about.

This is a plant called ribwort plantain.

These flower heads, if you have a little nibble and chew them for about five seconds, you get this incredible flavor of mushrooms.

So I love mushrooms.

I'll tell you what, it does, doesn't it?

MARLOW RENTON: It does.

When there's no mushrooms around, if I want to make a mushroom sauce or a creamy pasta with a bit of a mushroom side to it, I'll use these flower heads.

More importantly, it's also a very mild anesthetic.

So these leaves, when you roll them around, you start to hear a bit of a squelch.

Yeah, you got it.

Right.

Now, that sap is what works on stinging nettle stings.

This stuff actually has proven medical-- I'm about to find that out.

MARLOW RENTON: Quality.

JAMES MARTIN: So I'm going to test this out on the sound man.

So this is Ryan.

Apparently, he's got a sore head.

Have a mushroom.

MARLOW RENTON: [laughing] Legend.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Don't worry.

Ryan's better now.

Now, some things are toxic, though.

So if you're not sure what to pick, leave it alone.

Marlow has impressed me with his foraging knowledge.

And now, he wants to show me one of his speciality recipes, his very own fizzy elderflower wine.

So I can just sit back and relax.

You are looking very relaxed, James.

It's quite nice, actually.

You're going to be doing it, chief.

So what are you going to be making?

We're going to make elderflower fizz.

JAMES MARTIN: I presume because you've got this pile of lemons over here, you want me to zest these then, is it?

Yeah, yeah.

I've been looking forward to this, James.

Exactly, I bet you have.

Could you get the zest of the lemons for me, please?

I can do that.

What are you doing apart from just stirring water?

Well, not a lot, really, to be honest.

It's that simple.

So we've got some sugar water here For 20 liters, it's 2 kilos of sugar, roughly 20 elderflower heads.

And just immerse the flower heads as they are.

JAMES MARTIN: You don't have to wash them, nothing?

MARLOW RENTON: You really-- you actually don't want to wash them, because the water will wash off the natural yeast that's in the flower heads.

JAMES MARTIN: Ah.

MARLOW RENTON: So that's our sugar water going in there, and then 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

And the white wine vinegar does add a little bit to the flavor as well.

We've got the zest and juice of 10 lemons going in.

JAMES MARTIN: So what happens when you've got everything in there?

MARLOW RENTON: You basically, you just cover it with something that's going to let a bit of air through, like a tea towel or a bit of muslin, and then leave it for four or five days, and then strain it and bottle it.

And then you-- JAMES MARTIN: And then we've got this stuff, forager's vintage.

So what vintage is this?

MARLOW RENTON: This is vintage May 2019.

Chateau Byford.

[chuckling] Chateau Byford, Chateau Byford.

Thank you very much, sir.

Do you know what?

What a fantastic day.

MARLOW RENTON: Thank you very much.

To your health!

JAMES MARTIN: I'll tell you what.

That Chateau Byford could catch on, couldn't it?

- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

- It's all right, innit, that?

Well, now, I've given the recipe away.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make much money out of it, though.

Shouldn't have done that.

[laughing] JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): What a wonderful way to use the wild produce growing all around us.

But before we go, I've got another elderflower recipe.

It's both delicious and simple.

I thought I'd end the show still in this gorgeous location.

Just look at this place.

It really is spectacular.

And I thought I'd use some of these amazing elderflowers that we foraged for earlier, and do elderflower fritters, but with a little bit of this elderflower cordial, some of this elderflower fizz-- a really simple little dessert, really.

And I say simple because you can do it on the side of a field on a trestle table.

Anyway, first of all, what we're going to do is poach the pears.

So a little bit of water in the pan, some sugar, a bit of sugar in there.

A nice squeeze of the lemon in there as well.

And then I'm going to use some of this fizz, this elderflower fizz, and the cordial to poach our pears in.

So we get a double whammy, really.

Also what I'm going to do is flavor it with some of these elderflowers as well.

You can increase the flavor a little bit with a touch of vanilla if you wanted to.

Just split that down the center, pop that in.

But it's literally just a great liquor to cook the pears in.

So with these pears, I'm basically just going to leave the tops on because they look nicer, you see?

A bit like this view, really, you see, look.

Because what you lot get is this amazing view, look.

What I get-- Ash, just look around to that.

Just check what I'm looking at.

Look, on the floor.

Unbelievable!

But as long as you get the nice view at home, that's what it's all about.

Now, you can, if you want to, keep these peelings as compost.

Don't waste anything on this show.

Now, what we need to do is just basically cook these for about 10 minutes.

Now, in the same time, I'm going to create this wonderful little sabayon.

It's really, really simple to make a sabayon.

Egg yolks is what you need for this one, a nice little pinch of sugar.

But when you make this, don't add the sugar until just as you're about to use it.

Now, normally, sabayon has got a little bit of white wine in there-- sometimes masala, really.

But I'm just going to use some of this elderflower fizz, a bit of that and a bit of the cordial, really.

It's just a touch of that.

And then what you need really is just time.

Takes time, this.

And you just whisk it over a heat, and it cooks at the same time.

So this is going to take about five, six minutes.

I'll see you in a bit.

Cut to the sheep, not to that.

[tranquil music] ♪ ♪ Enjoy the view?

But look, what you end up with is this amazing sabayon.

Now, you can have a taste of this.

That is delicious.

It's absolutely delicious.

You can put whatever you want in here.

You can make this with gin, masala, vodka, anything you want, really.

Now, while that's happening, we've got in here our beautiful pears.

I'm just going to split them in half, look.

Straight down the middle.

Now, what you can do now is just take the core out just with a spoon.

Just pop the center out as well.

But these with elderflower, they're just delicious.

People think of elderflower, you think of desserts all the time.

But they go really well with savory dishes.

Things like venison is also fabulous as well.

So what I'm going to do is grab our tray and then put our pears onto our tray.

You can just pop them any old way, and then dust this with icing sugar on a hill.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ It's brilliant, this job, innit?

Anyway, I don't really want a lot of icing sugar on here.

Blowtorch.

Got a grill at home, it's a lot easier.

But to be honest with you, if you've got a kitchen at home, it's a lot easier.

♪ ♪ Tell you what, though.

You don't get Bear Grylls doing this, do you?

Look, a few pears on it.

A few bits of pears on there.

Next up, this is our batter.

This is our elderflower fritter batter.

We've got some cornflour, some flour.

I'm going to use some of this fantastic fizzy stuff.

It's going to go in there.

Touch of this, pinch of sugar, just a little bit.

I'm going to leave that to one side just a little bit.

It's nice and thin as well.

As we take our sabayon, look.

We just drizzle this in and amongst your pears, look.

Bit of that over there.

Blowtorch is coming out again.

Check this out.

Picnics are never going to be the same again.

Look at this.

We were lucky if we've got a chocolate wafer when we went camping.

Look at that.

Next, we take our elderflowers, dip them in the batter, and then these get put in a really hot fryer.

[oil sizzling] Now, obviously, doing this at home, deep fat fryer.

These are going to be good-- a bit of sugar.

And we just pop these bits of elderflower fritters all over, oh.

How good does that look?

Now, to finish this off I'm just going to drizzle it with a bit of honey.

Just dollop it on there over the top.

I think that looks just good enough as it is.

So there you have it, poached pears, a sabayon, and deep fried elderflower fritters.

Who says you can only do sausages and burgers?

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): The perfect dessert for this wonderful part of the country.

[gentle music] JAMES MARTIN: Well, there you have it.

What a fabulous place the Peak District is.

It's amazing views, amazing people and fantastic food.

But the highlight to me has to be Tessa's restaurant, The Vicarage.

There's something special about that place.

It's proper classic cooking.

Better still, she gets to use the amazing produce from this area.

I'm definitely coming back.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪