02x01 - Mevagissey

[bunniefuu]

This is my son, James.
And this is my dad, d*ck.

We're exploring the
coast of the Southwest

in search of ingredients to
cook on our boat, Morwenna.

We're going to call into ports and
harbours, meet the locals

and pick up ingredients
to cook some tasty dishes.

Which is just as well,
because we're very Hungry Sailors.

Our first port of call is Mevagissey,

where we'll explore a long-lost
garden...

When James was growing up he had
little pink boots like that. That's a lie.

Grapple with a home-made pastry roller.

Now over to you.

No, what are you doing?
This is what I'm doing.

Are you sure?
Don't get it wrong.

And search out a new-born
heifer calf in the mist.

Hello, you. Hello, beautiful.

And all to make dinner
for some very special guests.

It's kind of weird but it works.

I beg to differ.

We're setting off on a new journey
on a new boat, the Morwenna.

She's a 45-foot pilot cutter
built to a traditional design.

Our journey's taking us round Cornwall
to the Channel Islands and Scilly.

It's a big sweep to the southwest.
We're visiting the Cornish Med.

We're going to meet local producers
and bring their ingredients back.

And then see who can cook the but
dish.

Quietly confident. I am.

We've drawn straws already.

Our first stop, James gets to do
the starter and the pudding,

and I'm doing the main course and the
side.

We will help each other
but it's a competition.

Good luck, Dad. I don't need it.

Our adventure is underway. We're
heading from Fowey, our old home port,

and sailing six miles to Mevagissey.

We start in perfect sailing weather,
sunny with a brisk breeze

that sweeps us southwest – no problem.

But before long, the wind drops and
we're becalmed.

The only way forward is diesel power.
How embarrassing!

Sails down, engine on.

Our crew is skipper Rob
and - this could get confusing -

our first mate, just like the boat,
is called Morwenna.

I thought I'd have a peek at the
belly of Morwenna.

Here's the galley, where me and my
dad will be competing.

It's quite snug, so we'll be
bustling each other out the way.

We've got the heads in here, the
toilet. Nice and clean.

Beds either end and beds aft, as
well, which is the back of the boat.

The thing we're doing differently is
entertaining our guests here

and seeing which dish
they prefer for each area

around Cornwall, the
Channel Islands and Scilly.

♪ I don't care if Monday's blue

♪ Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too

♪ Thursday I don't care about you

♪ It's Friday I'm in love ♪

Prepare to see my dad shimmy up a ladder.

It's going to be worth watching.

After a leisurely journey west,
we arrive in Mevagissey.

We have to tie up against the wall
of the outer harbour

because it's low tide, so
there's not enough water

to get Morwenna in the inner harbour.

♪ I'm sitting on top of the world

♪ I'm rolling along, rolling along ♪

Mevagissey is named after two Irish
saints, St Meva and St Issey.

The G in the middle comes from the
Cornish for "and" - "hag".

The locals think they had the oldest power
station in Britain over 120 years ago

and it was powered by pilchard oil.

Pilchards are just larger sardines
but they're not in season now,

so we need some other ingredients.

We're near one of the most famous
gardens in Cornwall -

we may have lost it.
Right. Lost Gardens of Heligan.

It's here somewhere.
Have you got a map?

It may always be uphill
but this is lovely. It is.

The weather's a bit changeable, though.

Typical Cornish weather. You've got
your cagould on for a reason.

These sheltered valleys give lots of
opportunities for growing exotic things.

The whole idea is suited to importing
tropical variety of plants

and here at Heligan,
they grow quite a range of them.

The Victorians were great collectors

and you look around here and we could
be in the jungle.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan
are the stuff of legend.

It was created by the Tremayne family over
the 150-year period from the mid 1800s.

But like many of the great estates,
along came the First World w*r

and most of the manpower left to
serve King and country.

They were left to go to ruin.

Before the Great w*r, this estate
had 22 full-time garden employees.



That meant over the following
decades, the gardens ran to ruin.

Overgrown tangles hid all the
original features

and it wasn't until the 1990s that
the Lost Gardens of Heligan were found.

They've got plants from all over the
world - bamboo, banana plantation

and even giant rhubarb. Imagine the
crumble you'd get from that!

Actually, it's not rhubarb, it's gunnen.

Just imagine if it WAS rhubarb.


if you were a Victorian -

you're exposed to the Empire, everything's
great and you want to grow exotic food.

You get a taste for the exotic but
how do you grow it in Britain?

The answer is a pineapple pit.

Have a look at this. This is a simple
system that uses horse manure

and the heat that is generated
when it breaks down.

You've seen a pile of horse manure
with steam coming off it.

Well, the pits are along the front
and all the warm air comes in.

It's like a greenhouse heater.

And you can grow exotic things like
pineapples to impress your dinner guests.

"Come to supper." "Oh, are we
having pineapple tonight?"

Don't tell them about the horse poo.
No, definitely not.

Despite these exotic species, we're
here to try something traditional

and very English.

We're heading to the potting shed
to meet senior gardener Nick Bridley.

Nicola, hi. Lovely to meet you.
Hello. Hi, Nicola. Good to meet you.

What are you doing? We're just potting
up some pumpkins and squashes.

Can we help? Yeah. Come on, get
in there. Yeah, go for it.

Nicola, what's your title?

So I'm the vegetable garden supervisor,

so my role is to oversee
the overall cropping plan

and make sure that what we've got
to do gets done when it needs it.

What's your background?
Are you a horticultural expert?

I was a textile designer for ten
years, lived in London

and then thought, "I don't want to
do this. I want to be outdoors."

I always loved my garden, so I did an
apprenticeship with the National Trust.

What's special about working at
Heligan? The manpower.

To have that two acres completely
under production.

There's no kind of orchard space,
there's no...

It's every square inch of that
garden produces a crop.

It's all done by hand, so it's
double digging. It's epic.

What's your favourite bit of produce?

This time of year, it has to be asparagus.

Lead on, lady. Lead on!

British asparagus is in season
for only a short while,

seven or eight weeks from May
to midsummer's day or thereabouts.

So we'll harvest these? Shall I hold
that for you? Show us how to do it.

All you're doing is you're just
going just below the soil level.

So you don't snap them off.
So you're not snapping them? No.

Could we take back some of the
asparagus to our boat? Yeah, sure.

It's not a great exchange.

In exchange for some of this
lovely fresh asparagus,

Nicola will join us on board
the boat for dinner.

There's a real feeling of history.

When you're working in the garden,

you can feel that there's almost
somebody else with you.

But picked fresh is
best so we're not waiting

till the boat to taste
Nick's produce.

We've decided to do a gardener's
salad in a plant pot.

He. We had a discussion. It's a ridiculous
idea. I asked but Dad said yes.

Our soil's going to be nuts.

We're going to have fresh
salad leaves and a dressing.

The asparagus is dead easy.

All we're going to do is pop it onto
a hot pan.

We're going to make a simple
dressing to go with our salad.

We've got some parsley and chive.

That's like leaves falling off the
tree and landing on the garden.

We're using half oil
and half lemon juice.

That's like the manure you put on
your lawn to make it grow nicely.

And then we're adding some mustard
to give it a bit of bite.

That's like putting mustard on it.
It'll compliment the radishes.

Don't add that until you've tasted
it. I want a bit of sugar. Maybe not.

The thing about our cooking is,
whoever's got the whisk's in charge.

We're going to pour that
over our plant pot.

When James was growing up, he had
little pink boots like that. That's a lie.

These radishes are going to be
really nice and peppery.

Look at that. Chargrilled.
Just put in a dry pan.

In our salads we always like to have
a little crunch factor.

So in here we've got our toasted seeds

with some chilli and some soya.

It's assembly time.

So that's our gardener's salad.
It looks good, mate.

Mm.

If you do it the other way up, it
looks like a proper salad.

Sometimes I just don't know why I bother!

♪ Well, you done done me
And you bet I felt it

♪ I try to be chill
But you're so hot that I melted... ♪

I love your forcing pots for the
rhubarb. They're great.

I might just take some of that
rhubarb for my dessert. For free? Yeah.

Hey, look at this.

I'm going to do something delicious
with these on the boat.

Our coastal cooking journey is off
to a great start, if a damp one,

and we've already got some fabulous
ingredients for dinner on our boat,

plus our first guest.

Happy days!

We're in Mevagissey on the first leg
of our sail around Cornwall,

meeting the best producers and
looking for fantastic ingredients.

We've already collected
rhubarb and asparagus

for dinner on board
our boat, the Morwenna.

Mevagissey's picturesque harbour
attracts visitors from all over the world.

But it's very much still a working
harbour.

I'm leaving James to enjoy the
sunshine on the quayside

and heading into the mist once again
in search of beef -

not just any beef.

Liz Letcher and d*ck Crawford-Jones
raise Dexter cattle.

They're the smallest of our native
bleeds

and some farmers don't think
they're worth rearing.

But what they lack in size, they make
up for in flavour and I want some.

Hello! Hello, there. You found us all
right? Lovely to see you.

Were those Dexters I saw? They were.
Certainly were.

It's a tad soggy. Just a little bit.

OK. Do you lose them often?

Especially in this weather.
Fairly regularly.

I cannot see a single... No. They're
black, a lot of them.

They just like hiding from us.

Right field? Right field, I think.

In that case, they're out them
somewhere.

They say that on a dear day,
you can see for miles,

right down to the Lizard,

but there's no evidence of that today.

We're heading
up to the top field,

where there's a new-born
calf who needs tagging.

It's like Gorillas in The Mist.

No wonder they're hard to spot.

Go on, a bit of corn for you.

There's the calf, hiding in the mist.

Go over here, nearer the grass.
Come on, babe.

We have to take it slowly or she
could give us the run-around for hours.

We don't want to distress her
but she must be tagged right away.

Hello, you. Hello, beautiful.

Hello, beautiful.

Just go quiet.

Hello. Come on, baby.

She's gorgeous.
Lovely, isn't it?

Right. Come on, baby.

We want to get her in the corner if
we can. I'll come down the middle.

We've got her. This goes in the left ear.

That's good. That's done.
One in the right ear.

This one's a bit more permanent.

There we go. All done.
That's all we've got to do to it.

Shall we let her join Mum? Yeah. Go
on. Away you go, sweetheart.

Ah!

How long have you been farming here?



Are you a farming family?
Generations of farming?

This is. I'm a fisherman by trade, I am,

but Liz has been doing it...
Forever. ...woman and girl.

How did you end up being a farmer
from being a fisherman?

I met Liz.

Oh, right! I talked him into it.

has brought up in Sum, near Guildford.

We're surrounded by the sea.
Guildford's not seaside country.

This isn't Guildford high
street, I'm glad to say.

Best move I ever made in my life,
moving to Cornwall.

OK. How did the Dexters start?
This is the National Trust.

They wanted them for conservation grazing

because they'll eat just about anything.

They're small, they're a hardy
breed. They were endangered.

They've grown like Topsy ever since.

So eating anything - so it's not just
grass? Everything that's around.

Anything that's not here! They're on
cliffs for part of the year.

That's half the idea of having them.

On the cliffs itself! On the actual cliffs,
yes. They actually no out there.

So the Dexters aren't just about meat.
They do a job in the countryside? Indeed.

You have got some beef in, haven't
you? We'll find you some.

Some fillet and some skirt.
No problem. Excellent. Come this way.

This going to be good, is it?
You'll have nothing to may about them.

I can cook it for you - come and join
us on the boat.

Even better! Now you're talking.
Yeah, no messing around.

We've got a treat for you.
Lovely Dexter beef. Dexter! Yes.

Lovely to see you. See you on the boat.

While Dad's been out in the countryside,
it's been lovely and relaxed in Mevagissey.

But I've got a feeling
that's all about to change.

Fishing's always been important in
Mevagissey, especially for pilchards.

The harbour is vulnerable
to easterly gales coming in.

so a group of local worthies sent a
petition to parliament

to get the quay built
to protect the harbour.

In 1891 there was a great blizzard
that actually destroyed the quays

and it took six years to rebuild them.

I'm glad they did because the wind's
picking up and it's chowy out there.

And guess when we're going?
Oh, no!

And if the state of the sea
isn't bad enough,

we're going in search
of my least favourite fish.

Hiya. How are you, Chris? Hiya.
Chris, nice to meet you.

How are you doing? Hon are you doing?
Can we come aboard? Certainly.

Nice to see you, mate.
We're excited, Chris. Yes!

So what are we going to catch?
Hopefully, James is going to catch conger,

catch some whiting, some cod.

There's no way I
want to catch a conger.

No way at all? No! Yes,
please! Let's go fishing.

We're heading about five miles offshore

on board the Aquila with skipper
Chris Gill and crewman Mark Cook.

Never mind the whiting and the cod -
we want a conger!


When did you last see one?

I've never seen
one. There we go.

Wow! There must be fish here.

OK, are you ready? Yeah.

All right, what you need to do,
unwind the weight off your handle,

lower it in, keep your thumb on the
spool, OK? Yeah. Yeah.

Lever back and gently let it down.

Generally I let it down for ten, 15
seconds. OK.

Then stop the line,
lift the rod up in the air,

see if there's any mackerel about, OK?

If there aren't any mackerel about,
go right down to the bottom.

Once it gets to the bottom,
the line will stop, all right? Yeah.

There's mackerel on there, so...

You're just trying to make
us look bad, aren't you?

Oh, look at that!
There's some fresh bait for us.

Chris turned from IT work
to become a fisherman,

swapping the internet for a fishing net.

And there is... [CHEERING]
...three whiting.

Get it on the boat!

Be careful with these. They do have
razor-sharp teeth.

They're only small but they do hurt.

Whiting - that'll do nicely
for a snack later on.

Oh, nice!

I'm actually bringing up a complete
fish stew in one.

Do you want to go for conger? I do.

Chris takes us to a spot that he
guarantees will be teeming with fish.

It's a shipwreck, directly below us.

Fish love them because, like rocks and
reefs, they're good feeding grounds.

I know Chris has been
doing this for a long time

and he takes lots of people out
sea fishing and wreck fishing

but I'm a bit nervous.

That's a big anchor
and if there's a big anchor,

that could mean there's a big conger
on one of these lines.

The anchor is to keep us off the wreck.

I thought it was to stop the conger
pulling the boat away.

Well, that's a relief.

What a Jessie!

So how long have had the Aquila?
I've had the Aquila five years.

I was a computer technician for
Caradon District Council.

I come out on the boat
and the original owner said,

'Would you want to buy the boat?'

He was retiring and I bought the
boat off him. Wow.

What unusual things have you come across?

There were a pod of five pilot whales

and they came right up
to the side of the boat

and a lad threw one of the mackerel in.

One of the whales ate the mackerel,
so we carried on

and fed about £250-worth of mackerel
to the pilot whales

and it was worth every penny! I bet it was.
It really was. Pretty special yeah.

And suddenly the last thing
I want to see - a conger eel.

I couple of stats to explain
why I don't like conger eels.

The biggest one ever recorded
weighed a whopping 350 pounds,

more than twice my weight,

and they also have extremely sharp teeth.

Right, if you watch out the way.

And there's your conger.
[LAUGHTER]

That's about 30 pounds.

It's only got one eye.

We never keep a catch that we're not
going to eat, so this is a lucky eel.

I'd be happy to cook it,
but James isn't keen

and neither, as it turns out, is Chris.

A friend of mine has a recipe.
Yeah, OK.

Basically, cut them into
two-and-a-half inch steaks.

Right. OK?

Put them in a pan of milk,
flat down. Yeah. OK?

Cover that in tin foil and then put
some house bricks on top,

just to weight it down, OK?

Put it in the oven for 40 minutes, OK?

When it's done, take it out, throw
the conger away and eat the bricks.

Chris, that was a pleasure, mate.
That's not a bad catch, really.

Whip that way, nice whiting.

Will you join us on the boat?
Certainly.

Will you join us on the boat?
Cheers, lads. Bye. Take care.

On shore, the first thing we do is
cook up a quick fish stew with our whiting.

It doesn't get any
fresher than this.

The fisherman are working
away and we're making fish stew.

So I'm going to gut this and then fillet it

and then the bones and the head
will go in the stock.

We just want a light stock for this.

Part of the reason for the light fish stock

is because we've got such
strong flavours.

We've got garlic, onion, saffron,
fennel and tomato.

So it's a very rich soup that
doesn't need a very strong stock.

When you're filleting fish,
it's all about bold strokes.

If you saw at it, it gets messy.

I've opened it up and then it's going
to be long strokes through.

Nice bendy knife and you can
actually go close to the bones

and we just whip off the fillets.

The fins and the spare bits of
fish are all going in for my stock.

just adding in a bit of fennel as well.

to give it that nice aniseedy
flavour.

You know what I'm missing with
slightly scaly hands? A glass of wine?

What are the ingredients
for this fisherman's stew?

Well, a little mug of wine.

Thank you very much, sir.

Good health, fellow member of the
British Conger Club.

So in here I've got garlic, onion,
fennel and leeks,

just softening down in a little oil.

I've got fish heads, bones and tails

and I've got some fennel,
celery and carrot.

Adding in the tomatoes.

The stock's done. This is ready for
some wine, looks like it.

Oh, more! More?
More, that's for sure.

That's lovely. Saffron now. A pinch
of saffron. Very, very expensive.

Well. It's not new day you catch
a conger, is it?

Saffron's popular in Cornwall. We've
had it for thousands of years.

The traders brought it in

and on our journey, I expect to see
saffron buns and all sorts of noodles.

[HISSING] You can tell by the sound
that it needs more liquid in the pan.

It's all soft and it's ready for the
fish stock. Ta-da! This is it.

Let's not have any heads in here.
Serious flavour.

It's got an amazing smell
coming off it, that stock.

Boneless, skinless fillets of whiting
that was swimming not so long ago.

I think this is the one that I caught.

Yeah, it was quite small.

There's fish about!

The seagulls in Mevagissey,
I tell you...

I had a pasty nicked from me once
here. Did you? I wasn't happy.

That looks like it's ready.
Do you want a ladle?

No, you don't.
I couldn't be bothered to wait.

OK, that's lovely.

Some nice fresh bread. There you go.

Look at this. Mevagissey fish stew.

It's got no conger in it.

♪ Sitting in the morning sun

♪ I'll be sitting
when the evening coma... ♪

Mm! Good, eh?

I love the whiting.

I feel like I conquered a fear, as
well. You did, didn't you? Yeah.

You conquered your fear.
I conquered my fear.

A pretty perfect way to finish a
first day, isn't it?

Our adventure starts here, son. What
a gorgeous setting, as well.

And every day's another adventure.

We're on a new adventure
to find great food

and people who love it as much as we do.

We're sailing around Cornwall on our
boat, the Morwenna

and we've arrived in the busy
fishing port of Mevagissey.

Boat building has been a vital part of the
economy here since the mid-18th century.

At that time, there was a famous
boat builder called Captain Dunn

and he used boat building purely as a
front for his other business - smuggling.

With so much money around, the locals
had to have somewhere to make it safe

and so Philip Ball set up the bank of
Mevagissey with its own £1 note.

Philip the Bank went bankrupt,
leaving the locals out of pocket.

Does that sound a bit familiar?

We've invited gardener Nicola from Heligan

and Chris the fisherman to eat with us.

We've got some lovely rhubarb,
asparagus and beef

and we really should get on
with the cooking

but first, James is off on a secret mission.

I'm really excited. I've come to
meet a Cornish sushi maker.

Hiromi Bunday is from Kobe in Japan.

She's been running a sushi business
for about five years,

since moving here with her Cornish husband.

Hi, James!

[SPEAKS JAPANESE]

What? Rice is ready - come on.
I'm sorry I'm late. Yeah, come in.

Lovely to meet you.

She's going to give me a masterclass
in the ancient art of sushi making.

This could be inspiration for my starter.

Now, sushi rice has obviously got a big
reputation as one of the key ingredients,

but how important is it in sushi?

Everything you call sushi is rice.

So it's not actually raw fish?
No, raw fish is sashimi.

You see, when you come to think of it.

a few hundred years ago when sushi started,

there wasn't any refrigeration system,

so eating raw fish was not done.

Not done? Not done, unless on the
boat or you live on the coast.

So the rice, is it ready to roll up now?

No, not yet. You vinegar - rice
vinegar, sugar and salt.

Cutting motion like this.

Mix. Can I have a go? I'm going to be
a real amateur. Cutting motion.

While you do that,
I'll start to fan the roll.

Yeah, that's it.

OK, the rice is ready now. Great.

OK, so we do eggs now. Eggs?

I thought we'd be using raw fish
and fancy ingredients.

When you go to a sushi restaurant in Japan.

you sit at the counter
in front of the sushi chef.

The first piece you would order if
you were a sushi connoisseur is egg.

Not the fanciest thing on the menu?
You'd go simple? Simple. Why's that?

Because, I guess, you can tell how
good, how bad, the rice is.

And fish meat from light colour to dark.

It's cooking from the edge. Right.

Now what you do is bring the edge up.
Yeah. It's cooking from the edge. Right.

Then roll. Oh, wow.

And then keep applying your oil
Yeah.

And then push it, then roll. Yeah.

Now you put the rut... In this side?
Yeah.

And then, tuck... Tuck this
underneath like that? Yeah.

Firmly sort of fold it like that?

All the way? That's it.

Fold again. Yeah.

That's it. That's it!

Hey! You've done it. Oh, wow.

It's a delicate process,
cutting sheets of dried seaweed,

neatly preparing fillings
of fish egg o'vedge

and rolling the sushi rice into shape.

What's next? Rolls now. Rolls. Yeah.

Hiromi teaches me to make a maki roll.

that means a line of rice and fillings
rolled together and cut into rounds.

Very good. And then squeeze now?
Yeah.

We think of sushi as Japanese but it
originated in southeast Asia

and moved through China into Japan.

In the '70s it became popular in the
US and then spread worldwide.

I love it for its amazing combinations
of colours, flavours and textures.

Sushi is traditionally eaten with a
blend of soy sauce and wasabi,

a hot Japanese horseradish.

Wow.

Can I pay you back by cooking you a
meal on the boat? Really? Yeah.

I'll try a sushi dish.

Thank you very much. I'm going to need
some sushi materials - this is the seaweed.

See you later. Bye. Oh, hold on.

Is it all right if I take that with
me as well? Excuse me!

I'll see you soon. Bye.

I could happily spend all day
learning lots more from Hiromi

but I need to start making my
contribution to tonight's dinner -

the starter and dessert.

I'm going to put my new-found
knowledge to good use on the starter.

My dad's brought me back a bit of
Dexter beef skirt

which I'll wrap in pastry like a maki

and I want to get some Asian
flavours into it.

I'm going to marinade this
lovely piece of skirt.

To add the flavour, I'm putting in some
fennel seeds, star anise and a bay leaf.

A teaspoon of sesame seeds and two
tablespoons of dark brown sugar.

About half of a dried chilli.

I throw in the seeds as well
because I like spicy food.

And the final part of this marinade
is the soy sauce.

Of the secret ingredients that are
going to win me this competition,

sesame oil is the number one.

It's available in all supermarkets

and basically, it sort of releases flavour.

So there we have it.

I'm going to leave that to marinate
for two to three hours.

For my main course, I'm going to do
a fillet of beef, just seared, very rare.

And then I'm going to serve it with
potatoes, bashed up with some butter

some beans and a reduction as well
and a fresh horseradish sauce.

This is going to be horseradish,
crème fraiche and lemon.

It's simple so the flavour
of the horseradish comes through.

I could season it
with salt and pepper

but instead I'm going to
season the outside of the beef.

In here, I'm going to put some lemon zest.

Crème fraiche next.

A very difficult one now.

You stir it.

I beat James with a sauce like
this - result.

Now for my dessert.

I've got that lovely rhubarb from
Heligan and here's a whacky idea.

I'm still inspired by what I learned
from Hirumi,

so I've come up with an unusual
dessert -

sweetened sushi rice with custard
and rhubarb.


Dad. 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

What I'm doing to go with
the sushi is custard.

In here, I've got 250mis of milk
and 25mis of double cream.

Two teaspoons of cornflour into the
milk and cream to help thicken it up.

All I'm doing here, is
beating these two egg yolks,

and adding in about a
tablespoon's worth of sugar,

and just creaming it into
a nice smooth mixture.

Beat quicker. It's coming now, it's
coming now. It's not funny. Stop it.

It's going to scramble. Oi, Dad! It's
going to scramble. That's not funny!

Oh, it's scrambled.
That's just not funny at all.

We put this back on the stole and it
will thicken up

and then chill it
and then we can make sushi.

Next, I'm making a reduction, which
is really just a posh sauce.

Two bay leaves, one diced shallot,

two thirds of a bottle of port,
two thirds of a bottle of red wine.

You cook it until it changes the
sound it makes

and then it goes all nice and sticky.

Leave that to cool and then put it
straight in the fridge

and anything from half an hour to 45
minutes should be long enough.

Right, next stage, I've got to cool
this sushi rice very quickly and evenly.

The rice has simmered for 15 minutes
and steamed for another 15.

Now, Hiromi says that I have to fan
it until it's cool enough to roll.

She's coming to eat on the boat - I
must get this right.

It's making a different noise now.
It's sounding thicker.

This will give us probably three
Tablespoonful's of very strong flavour.

It's my little winning trick.

So what I'm doing here is just
spreading out the sweetened sushi rice

onto a strip of seaweed.

I'm now going to position a load of
rhubarb in strips

along the length of it.

And next some of the nice, thick
custard.

And this custard that's going to set
more

when I put the sushi in the fridge.

The rice is incredibly sticky,

so that actually will help bind it
all together.

Hopefully, it will be tasty
but I'm going to dress it

with honey and sesame
seeds to finish it off.

If it's not, then I've
just had a lot of fun.

[HOOTER] That's the warning siren.
Stand by, sushi's nearly ready.

That's my pudding sorted but I do need
a bit of assistance for my starter. Dad?

What I want is a Cornish-inspired
beef maki roll, OK?

What do maki mean? Maki means roll.
It's a beef roll roll. It's a roll roll.

There's the clue about what we're
going to be doing.

I want to wrap really nice marinated
beef in some seaweed

with maybe a bit of twist on it,
on a big scale.

And I've got to do a
vegetarian version, as well.

My son needs a
machine for his roll rolls.

To be fair, I got a clue when he
turned up with this.

So what we're going to do is
we're going to have...

These rolling pins, we're going
to have a piece of canvas

and you should be able to set your
ingredients on top

and then when we bend it in and roll.
it should turn it into a perfect cylinder.

I don't believe that but if it does,
I'll be really pleased. What can I do?

A frame. We're going to put it on a frame.

I love this part.
James does all the running around.

If we get this right, I'll be able
to make a perfect roll

with a layer of pastry wrapped
around my marinated beef,

then cut into individual rounds.

Inspired by Hiromi's maki rolls,

It's sort of a Brit-Japanese fusion idea.

Excellent. That's really good.

Now, this bit here, we need
to have it so it can move.

I'm going for the easiest way
and the easiest way for me

is we actually have it so we get the
bits of wood attached to this.

Yeah! Yeah. We fit a nut
and a bolt through them

and we have it so it can swing backwards
and forwards. OK. Yeah! Yeah.

♪ Turning Japanese I think
I'm turning Japanese I really think so

♪ Turning Japanese I think I'm
turning Japanese I really think so

There you go.

Now we turn it inside out.

The good thing about this, James,
is you can take it off and wash it.

There we go.

We'll pop that in...

What's happened?

What have you done?

Oh, crap.

We've already fixed
the roller to the frame,

so it should have been sewn
around it in situ -obviously.

Oh, well - just a couple of screws
to undo. Put that back on there.

All the great inventors have moments
when their genius deserts them

but you shall have the sushi roller
of your dreams, son.

OK! One sushi roller!

Now... [GIGGLES]

We're going to test it on the boat
and if it doesn't work...

Well, if it doesn't work... I don't
know what's going to happen.

Maybe we'll just have beef.

Shall we go back to the boat?

A pudding of sushi with rhubarb and
custard? He's lost it.

Surely that means I'm on to a winner
with my fillet of Dexter beef.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

We're on the south coast of Cornwall

and the first leg of our
voyage of discovery

has brought us to the
picturesque harbour of Mevagissey.

We've got great ingredients and have
started to cook for our guests.

They'll decide which dish they like
the best, so the gloves are off

and soon we'll know who's taken the
first victory.

I've given James a bit of help with
his starter by making a sushi roller.

In return, he's taking me to a local
produce market

to meet his friend Hiromi,
his sushi guru.

It's great, isn't it?
There's loads of good stuff.

Lovely produce. Ooh, duck eggs.

Look at that - pork.
Such a range of produce, isn't it?

This is Hirumi. Hello. Good morning.
Nice to see you.

I'd like to challenge you, Dad.

So if you were going to taste one,
which would you start with and why?

Logically, I'd go for a palate
cleanser,

which would be one of the plain
veggie ones.

But the omelette's like a pudding,

so I'm assuming that's what you would
have last

but I'll have it first for some
Japanese reason. Oh!

You're spot on. Well done. I thought
I would have got him then but...

But why? Well. Hiromi was telling me
that when you go and taste a chef's sushi,

you start with the omelette
because it's the simplest,

so you can tell if the rice is
good quality.

Mm! That's good. It is, isn't it? You
spend a long time learning to make rice.

There's a saying that it takes three
years to cook rice

and eight years to shape the rice.

[LAUGHS] So actually, to be a proper
sushi chef, 11 years at least.

You see, Japanese apprenticeship,
boss, they don't teach them

with words.

They let them watch them and learn -
steal the skills.

Steal the skills. I like that.
The logic of that's good.

I'll take the prawn. Do
you want some soy sauce?

Soy sauce on the
ingredient, not on the rice.

Upside down? That's it, that's it.
And then a little wasabi. Yeah.

It's falling apart. Get it in there.

What's in this one? That's pickled
cucumber.

Who would have
thought that in Cornwall

we'd be tasting sushi at
a farmer's market? Mmm!

Very exotic. It is, isn't it?
Very exotic.

Mm.

Mmmm. How do we say, 'That's really tasty'?

There it is. That's the phrase.

Oi ee shi.
Oi ee shi.

James thinks it's delicious.

I'm going to say, 'Godji so sama
tashita.'

Well done! I enjoyed it. I enjoyed
it. Yeah. Yeah.

We'll see you on the boat. Looking
forward to that. Take care.

Bye. Sayonara!
[LAUGHTER]

♪ If I had been born


♪ I would have been a sailor
And sailing I would go

♪ I'd sail around the capes
And across the seven seas

♪ And then back home

♪ If I'd been born 200 years ago. ♪

The starter which I'm going to be
cooking tonight is a beef sushi roll

and I'll use this contraption
that I made earlier with my dad.

It's a competition... [SIGHS] ...so what
we've done is I've made sure I win.

By building something ridiculous.
It was your idea!

So we've got one sheet of puff pastry.

Like that. Two sheets of nori,
which is that seaweed,

and next up, we've got this beef.
Look at that.

Ooh! A couple of asparagus.

It won't be long till our guests
arrive, so we need to get a move on.

It's quite beefy looking.

One more asparagus. OK, it's ready.

Now, over to you.

What are you doing? This is what I'm doing.
Are you sure? Don't get it wrong.

Which bit turns? Does any of it turn?

Dad, this isn't even funny.

Something must... Ah!
It does... Not that way.

You've got too much... Roll it
the other way. Roll it this way.

Get rid of... Shush. Roll it that way.

A bit further.

OK, now stop.

You've got too much pastry in there.

Why are you not rolling it?
I'm trying to roll it.

Keep rolling.

Oh, phew!

Ta-da! Oh, careful!

Eggy milk. We've got people coming.
Let's get it out.

It creeps off the end. It does,
doesn't it? I've got to tell you,

If you've got nothing else to do
with your rolling pins...

I'm pretty impressed with that.
I just hope our guests are, too.

I'm just putting some egg
on the outside of this pastry,

then I'll throw it in the oven
at 180 for 15 to 20 minutes

until it's nice and puffy and golden brown.

The beef will hopefully be cooked,
the asparagus will be tender

and it's going to be one-nill to James.

Our guests have arrived.

There's Nicola from Heligan,
beef farmers Liz and d*ck,

fisherman Chris
and Hiromi, queen of sushi.

On the menu tonight,
my starter is a beef maki roll

with coleslaw and wasabi mayonnaise.

Then my dad's got a fillet of Dexter
beef with red wine sauce,

asparagus, Cornish new potatoes

and home-made horseradish sauce.

And for dessert, my rhubarb and
custard sushi.

As well as our food producers,

we've invited skipper Rob
and first mate Morwenna to join us.

Why am I helping you?
What's that about?

We're getting out the starter,
which is a beef sushi roll,

nice coleslaw with cabbage
and asparagus

and wasabi mayonnaise.

Fingers crossed they'll like it.

Mate, I wouldn't eat it.
I wouldn't eat that. What?!

Here we go.

Mm. There you go.
I hope you enjoy it.

Don't feel you have to eat it.

♪ I wish I was a fisherman

♪ Tumbling on the seas

♪ Far away from dry land
And its good old memories ♪

The skirt stands up to that
quite well, actually. It does.

I'm pleased with that. That's good.
Do you like it? Well done.

It's lovely. You can taste the
seaweed in it.

Erm, the beef is lovely.
Cooked to perfection.

I really like the wasabi in it.
It works really nicely.

It's quite unusual but really good.

I would like another one, please.
Very nice.

I've got a hot griddle pan on there

which means that when this gets
cooked, it'll chargrill it

and we'll get the flavour of the beef -

the best cut of beef
from a very tasty little steer.

It's all about the resting of the meat.
They're in no rush now.

What we're going to do is cook it on
all sides

and it's going to be very,
very rare in the middle

but by leaving it
to rest of a period,

all the juices are just
going to come back into it.

You can mash potatoes or boil
potatoes but these are bashed.

They're Cornish new potatoes, some
nice butter on them and roughly chopped.

Ooh, look at that, James.
Look at that. Wow.

This is simple food served
the best way I can.

We've got lovely beef and mash -
well. bash -

and some nice vaults
and some nice little saunas.

Enjoy. See what you think.

Mm. Mm.

Very nice. The beef's good, isn't it?

It's tough to beat, really.

What does beef farmer d*ck think of
the way I've cooked his fillet?

You've made it beautifully tender.
Very tender. Beautiful.

Delicate beef. Nice.

Nicola - spuds and veggies?
What do you reckon?

Those potatoes are so buttery.

The horseradish is really good.

It's got a really nice spice
but a really fresh tang.

I've taken a risk.

I'm going to hopefully impress
them with this fairly unusual dessert.

So enjoy. Good luck. [LAUGHS]

It's unusual looking but...

I think as a dessert it
was different to anything

I'd ever tasted
before but it worked.

I'm still trying to get rid of the seaweed.

It's kind of weird but it works.

I beg to differ!

Sorry, James, but not for me.

Faintly fishy.
[LAUGHTER]

The contrast between the rhubarb, the
sweetness of that, and the seaweed -

It's the seaweed that makes it taste fishy.

Lovely! Yeah? We're going
to get you to vote now.

Anyone for the starter?
Yeah, well, I'll take one. One vote.

OK. Anyone for the main course?
Yay! Yeah!

Oh, I don't even have
to ask about the pudding.

Thanks, yeah. Good food.

And next time, I won't be doing any
rhubarb and sushi.

That's what I call the perfect start to our
cooking challenge around the Cornish Med.

Do I get to put it on myself? You
can. You've earned it, I suppose.

First competition, and I get a little
star because I'm a good boy.

So there's Mevagissey. I'll put it in
there and just push it in.

An old man needs to feel happy
every so often, you know?

I haven't got long left, obviously.

So it's good to win.

And we're ready to do it all over again,

as we head of to our next port of call.