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Private Notes
Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux Jr wants the public to revive its tastebuds and be more discerning when it comes to the British strawberry. He serves up a blind taste test with Wimbledon strawberry aficionados Sue Barker, Andrew Castle and Tim Henman, and makes history with a charity that's reviving the age-old practice of gleaning. He also visits East Malling Research Centre, where he uncovers EM 1764, the British strawberry of the future. Saturday Kitchen's James Martin discovers that sales have halved for watercress over recent years. He takes a ride on the Mid-Hants Railway Watercress Line as he pleads the case for this once-loved British product, following its historical trail to Covent Garden where he tries his hand as a watercress street seller, and finds out why this leafy salad is so good for us - from the only man in the country with a PhD in watercress.
Our rabbit population is at its highest since 1950 and Clarissa Dickson Wright wants to revive our culinary heritage and get them back in our cooking pots. Gregg Wallace champions British raspberries as he discovers there is a deadly enemy threatening their survival. Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace heads to Perthshire, where he comes face-to-face with an enemy that threatens the future of the British raspberry - root rot. He visits the remains of Tin City, an entire makeshift community where many Glaswegians enjoyed a holiday while they picked this valuable fruit. In the revival kitchen, he cooks three delicious dishes including his amazing raspberry pavlova. Food writer and cook Clarissa Dickson Wright is as irrepressible as ever as she campaigns for the revival of wild rabbit. She investigates the history of this once highly valued animal, whose delicious meat would grace the tables of kings. She tries to get to the bottom of our prejudices to find out why we aren't eating rabbit anymore. At Anglia Ruskin University canteen, she persuades students to ditch their burgers for rabbit rolls but it is a challenge that even Clarissa finds tough.
Raymond Blanc can not understand why we are not eating more trout as it's both sustainable and delicious. He casts his rod in the river Wye after being given permission by the landowner to fish for Wild Rainbow Trout. Then in Camarthen, Wales, he takes trout to the people to see how well they know their fish and in the revival kitchen he cooks three tasty trout dishes to encourage us all to seek out this fabulous fish. Mary Berry is on a mission to revive one of her most favourite foods, ice cream, after discovering that just two and half per cent milk protein is required to name a product 'ice cream'. She wants us all to go back to basics and learn how to make real dairy ice cream. She uncovers some of the earliest ice cream secrets by exploring a 19th century ice house and confectioner's kitchen at Syon House and then goes to University College London to brush up on her ice cream chemistry. Equipped with an old fashioned street seller's bike and her home-made dairy ice cream, she tackles holiday makers on Eastbourne's seafront to convert them to her cause.
TV chef Ainsley Harriott comes over all hot and fiery as he leads the charge for long forgotten British mustards. He discovers why every kitchen should have its own cannonball as he makes up some Elizabethan Tewkesbury mustard. No one is safe as he descends on the Cotswolds, armed with his very own mustard, to persuade people to keep the tradition of British mustard alive. Passionate cook Valentine Warner has been deer stalking since he was twenty years old and he cannot understand why we don't eat more of this plentiful, sustainable, free range meat. He goes stalking with a countryside ranger as well as finding out how a Lincolnshire culling initiative gets all its meat back into the food chain. He's delighted to track down a like-minded educational project which wants to democratise venison and make people realise it is not a food just for the elite. Finally, Valentine goes back to the classroom as a whole deer is taken into a Nottingham school for the children to skin, butcher,cook and eat.
Matt Tebbutt tries out lambs testicles and lymph nodes as he campaigns for less waste and more offal and Antonio Carluccio goes foraging to revive the fortunes of his favourite ingredient, the British mushroom. It's a match made in heaven, as Antonio Carluccio takes us on a magical journey in search of the hidden world of British mushrooms. After a secret tip off, he takes us foraging for the elusive St George's mushroom, and opens our eyes to cultivated British speciality mushrooms. He meets a young enthusiast who has found a way for us all to grow mushrooms at home - in used coffee grounds. Matt Tebbutt takes on the culinary equivalent of climbing Everest by championing offal. It is cheap, nutritious - and to avoid waste, we should all be eating it. He finds out about one supermarket who is leading the way by selling all the offal from their slaughtered animals. In Barnsley, one of the bastions of offal eating, even Matt's stomach begins to churn as he samples cuts like wesson and reed. But he is then reconverted to the offal cause when he visits a group of lads in Manchester who indulge in some extreme offal eating - but this is fine dining standard.
Michelin starred chef Giorgio Locatelli makes his first appearance on the series and heads to Cornwall. He discovers how the Cornish fishermen used some clever spin to turn the old fashioned and failing pilchard into the trendy sardine that everyone puts on their barbeque. He also tracks down the historical Stargazy pie, a dish which celebrates a heroic fisherman's sardine catch during one particularly bad winter. Another Michelin starred chef Jason Atherton discovers that the gooseberry is no longer a summer fruit of choice in the UK as sales of this berry have fallen dramatically. He is determined to change our perception of it and cooks three mouth watering dishes to prove just how versatile and tasty it can be. He investigates the world of the competitive gooseberry growing and is given access to a contestant's top secret garden.
Award winning chef Glynn Purnell delves into the history of King's Lynn's old fishing yards, before challenging the fastest shrimp peeler in town. He also goes out with the tide in Morecambe Bay to fish for brown shrimp the old fashioned way on a rusty old tractor. The Aylesbury duck is one of our oldest breeds but Masterchef presenter John Torode discovers just how close this ancient bird is to disappearing for good. At a south London school, he shows some budding young chefs the delights of cooking with duck and in the revival kitchen sets out to prove there's more to this tasty bird than a Chinese takeaway.
Monica Galetti flies the flag for British asparagus and is delighted to discover that the season has been extended from eight weeks to six months. Tom Kerridge champions the UK's remaining artisan producers of traditional cured ham and encourages viewers to seek out this delicious meat.
Angela Hartnett champions the revival of real ale as she challenges a group women to overcome natural prejudices and swap wine for beer. Michael Caines celebrates the charms of the hard-working British carrot and proves it can be much more than just a side dish.
Allegra McEvedy champions the humble little oat and discovers that there is much more to it than just porridge. She travels to Scotland to uncover the history of the oat and discovers just how important it was to the sustenance of the nation. She examines its credentials as a superfood, and in the revival kitchen creates three delicious dishes featuring oats - and there is not a bowl of porridge in sight. Over recent years, the UK has lost three quarters of its runner bean fields. Gary Rhodes is backing the British runner bean and broad bean. Both have fallen out of favour with the British public and Gary is determined to remind people of their unique qualities. In Somerset, he finds the martock bean which dates back to the 12th century, and makes up a delicious medieval pottage which was once the working man's staple diet.
