Me and my best mate Jimmy are back at our very own cafe
here at the end of Southend Pier.
Who's hungry?
ALL: Yeah!
Because we're passionate about cooking up great food
to share with friends and family.
~ Lovely flavour. ~ That's delicious. ~ That's really, really good.
'We've invited down a whole host of very special mates...'
Hello!
'..to help out in the kitchen.'
It's getting hot, it's getting hot, it's getting hot!
Because the weekends are for feasting.
~ Thank food... ~ BOTH: It's Friday!
CHEERING
'On tonight's menu...'
Oh! Look at that.
'..I've got an epic 12-hour slow roast for you this weekend.
'An overnight, meat-melting, off the bone,
'shoulder of pork with all the trimmings.'
That, my friends, is a feast.
I'll show you how to build an American style barbecue smoker,
so you can get the authentic southern flavours at home.
Look at that. It's just falling to bits.
I'm in meat heaven.
And we're off on a food fight to meet a couple of radical young cooks
who want to get us all feasting on food destined for landfill.
In there are the good and great of Brighton.
And they're eating bin food.
'Helping us out in the kitchen is my old student, Kerryann.'
~ Couple more? ~ What, mugs? Yeah.
I was going to say, I've got two.
One's called Jimmy and one's called Jamie.
We've got a menu board full of amazing feasts for you
to try this weekend.
And joining us is one of Britain's best loved actors.
It's only Hugh Bonneville. Look!
CHEERING
Good to see you. Come and sit down.
~ Hello, sir. ~ How lovely to see you.
~ Welcome to the caff. ~ Thank you. ~ Have you said hello, Kerryann?
Hi, Kerryann. Nice to see you.
Nice to meet you too, Lord Grantham. May I get you a beer?
Do you know what? I think I might... Yeah, I'll have a cup of tea.
~ Cup of tea. ~ Yeah? ~ Even better.
You seem to have been in every film going.
Unbelievable array of films. Everything from Bond.
You've been in Doctor Who. You've been in endless films, haven't you?
I've been very lucky. There's been quite a lot of variety.
And, of course, Downton is a massive hit, isn't it?
Huge in the States. One thing I wanted to ask you is that
when you watch any period drama,
they even get the right cows in the field for that period of time.
When it comes to the food, do they do the same with the food?
They work out what the dinner menus are, what course we're on,
what the menu is and all the little menu cards you see on the table,
all poshly laid out,
they've got the actual menu of what we're meant to have been eating.
Wow, amazing.
And we all look forward, I have to say me in particular,
to the breakfast scenes because they do cook fantastic sausages.
It's all right, everyone's just usually has one mouthful,
but on take 20, you've had about 20 sausages...
Well, yeah, I know.
So now, if you noticed, Maggie Smith never eats anything in Downton.
Do you think there's a little possibility then
that maybe they'll want a little cameo role for
a, maybe, chef that's not getting so much work these days?
I think...
I think move over, Mrs Patmore.
I think it's, you know, young master Oliver is here.
I'd like to know about your food from your childhood.
~ I grew up... ~ Where were you living?
Yeah, I grew up in Blackheath in southeast London
and I was a '70s kid. So I've got lots of memories of sort of
a lot of Coronation chicken going around
and a lot of things with "au vin" on the end.
And a lot of Fanny Cradock.
I was a early adopter of the Pot Noodles, you know?
Cos that sort of rose up in my generation really,
in the early '80s I suppose.
Time for the first feast on today's menu
and it couldn't be more different from an instant Pot Noodle.
It's my indulgent, slow-cooked, weekend roast.
We have got an incredible feast.
It's a pork shoulder with the gravy, cracklings,
an amazing potato and fennel al forno.
The ultimate roast dinner.
As well as serving it up to Hugh and the diners,
I want to show you how to make it too.
For many of us, the weekend wouldn't be the weekend
without a beautiful roast dinner and this is the one,
the shoulder of pork. It's an epic weekend feast.
Cooked overnight,
this is a magnificent show-stopping feast of soft melting meat
and most importantly, lots and lots of lovely crackling.
The shoulder of pork here, right, this is my favourite cut of pork.
Cos I'll feed easily 20 people out of this.
It's got the most marvellous marbling of fat
that when it cooks it melts, gives you flavour and tenderness,
and it really is truly amazing.
'I've taken off the skin, or your butcher will do this for you,
'for one very important reason.'
When I slow-cook meat,
it's very hard to get the perfect crackling, OK?
It's almost impossible, OK?
So I'm going to cook this crackling separately.
This, however, is going to go low and slow.
'We're going to add some amazing flavour, so the first thing
'we're going to do is bash up a punchy rub in a pestle and mortar.'
First, a heaped teaspoon of sea salt.
Two tablespoons of fennel seeds.
A little bit of dried chilli.
I just want that hidden hum, oooh!
And then, three or four little cloves.
So then pound it up.
Give it a good old bash.
Muddle it and look,
you end up with this kind of beautiful handful of green heaven.
'Rub the seasoning all over the meat on both sides.
'Then it's time for the gravy,
'created in the bottom of the pan whilst the meat is roasting.'
So I'm going to use four onions. Three sticks of celery.
Two lovely apples. Apple and pork, best friends.
'Cut the fruit and veg into chunky wedges.
'You'll want to keep some of their texture
'during the long, slow-cooking process.'
In they go.
'To guarantee full flavour, we're using beautiful aromatics -
'earthy sage, the warm woody flavour of bay leaves
'and, of course, garlic.'
And then...
cider. Beautiful!
Pork and apples, really, really good.
'Place the pork on top and seal tightly with foil.
'Next, a great tip to guarantee crispy crackling.
'Simply cut the skin into thin strips.'
And that way, the perfect piece of crackling every time.
'Season all the skin with salt and pack it tightly into an oven tray.'
What you can do to make it super flat and super crunchy
is just put another tray on top
and the weight of that tray will just make sure it's really crunchy.
'It'll need 20 minutes at 240 degrees Celsius
'before taking off the top tray and cooking until golden and crispy.'
Now, I'm not going to cook this until tomorrow.
This will go in the fridge but this, my friends...
Now I'm going to put this baby in the oven for about 10 to 12 hours
at 130 degrees Celsius, OK?
So it's quite low. And basically, that's it.
Gravy done. Meat done. This goes in now.
'It's the long overnight cooking at a low,
'low temperature that guarantees soft, melting meat.
'12 hours later and we're ready to assemble this feast.'
OK, so the pork's been cooking all overnight, nice and low.
I've also done my cracklings. Little bit of salt.
Look at those, they're beautiful
and you can see how lovely and crunchy they've got.
They'll be brilliant. Hide them. Go and hide them.
I've just taken the tinfoil off of the pork,
just for a couple of minutes, three or four minutes,
just to get that top of the fat getting crisp, OK?
So let's get in there
and show you what we've invested all of our love and time in.
Oh! Look at that.
That, my friends, is a feast.
'After the long, slow cook, the meat is falling apart
'and beautifully perfumed with that fennel seed rub.'
Let me get a chunk and just show you.
That's what we're talking about, guys.
Just chunks of tender, gorgeous, gorgeous meat.
'And to top it all off,
'we've got those incredible strips of crispy crackling.'
Get two forks, and there's no right or wrong way to do it,
ladies and gents, apart from just get stuck in.
Oh, come on!
Proper, tender, gorgeous meat.
Guaranteed flavour every time.
'Serve up big, juicy chunks of meat with whatever veg you fancy.
'I'm going with a potato and fennel gratin.
'Top it with a shredded apple and mint salsa
'and then pour on that flavour-packed gravy.'
Have a little ferret about
cos you will find a lovely little chunk of apple
and a nice little chunk of onion and I love that.
'And finish off with everyone's favourite bit.'
Beautiful.
Mm!
What I love about this recipe, if you cook it like I said,
it always works. No question.
Meat tender - guaranteed. Juice - guaranteed.
Cracklings - brilliant.
And I know that everyone back in the caff is just going to love this.
~ Guys, who's hungry? ~ CHEERING
OK. Well, don't wait for us.
Come up here and we'll serve you. Me and Mr Bonneville.
It's posh school dinners today.
Next, please.
She's queue jumping.
Here we go. Look at that.
Mm.
Mm, that is good.
That is beautiful. Oh, this has been worth waiting for.
My pork never tastes like that.
I'll be back next week, definitely.
Wow!
~ Has this been cooked overnight? ~ 12 hours. ~ Wow.
What do you make of the ultimate roast dinner?
That is absolutely delicious.
'That was just the first of our weekend feasts.
'Hugh's in charge of today's special
'and he's cooking for the entire caff.'
You, on this show, get to come and cook anything you want
and I'm going to teach you how to cook it.
And your request was Pad Thai, wasn't it?
Tell us a little bit about that.
About eight, nine years ago, I was filming in Thailand
and on our day off,
me and a couple of my co-stars went for a walk across a hill
and we found this shack, this little roadside shack
and this guy cooked us simply grilled fish
and this Pad Thai that was just intoxicating.
And I'm no cook. I've tried to sort of recreate it to terrible effect
and I'd like to learn how to do one properly.
Well, the exciting thing is, this photo here...
~ Ah, you've got the photo! ~ You took that photo of the shack.
Now, in this programme we take our research really, really seriously
because, for us, we want to get you as close to that as possible.
So we've had bloggers, journalists, local news crews
trying to find this shack, OK? Which is actually this one here.
~ It's still there. ~ We've found it now. ~ Oh, my goodness!
~ And here's the cooks, there. ~ Oh, my goodness! Oh, my God!
So this is the actual shack.
How did you do that? That's extraordinary.
We talked to these guys and we have the recipe.
And I am going to show you how to do it.
I'm welling up here. That's really special.
Chef Som does all the cooking,
and her granddaughter, Treenit, serves the food.
Their family restaurant began as a simple shack 20 years ago
but has built up a reputation for serving some of the best food
on the island.
I'm afraid you have had your time to chum down.
You've got to get in the kitchen now. Get the pinny on!
OK, here we go. I'm stripping off.
Next, we meet a couple of food mavericks who are salvaging food
from skips to cook up some seriously tasty meals.
It's crazy but that jam, even if it was 15 years out of date,
20 years out of date, it won't do you any harm.
'And self-confessed cooking novice Hugh is struggling in the kitchen.'
~ Humiliating. ~ No, no, no, you won't be, cos when you leave this cafe,
~ I assure you, you'll be brilliant. ~ OK.
Here in our caff in Southend, we've got a menu packed
with delicious weekend feasts.
And national treasure Hugh Bonneville is here
to cook his favourite dish for the whole caff.
I'm stripping off. I'm stripping off for this.
~ ALL: Whoo! ~ Get your pinny on. ~ Da-da!
Hugh's making Pad Thai.
The best he ever had was in a shack in Thailand,
and I've found that shack, and the owner, and got her recipe.
Everything that you see here today, including the wok,
is yours and you're taking home.
~ You're kidding! ~ Cos you're going to own it this weekend.
OK, OK, you're on.
'The secret to a great Pad Thai is to have everything
'prepped and ready for fast stir-frying.'
So what we're going to do next is all assembly.
And that's when the music goes on and you can have a little bit
of the old wine, and we'll prepare these things.
~ But then when it comes to cooking - two minutes. ~ OK.
'First up, a crunchy garnish.
'Toast some unsalted peanuts with a traditional Thai ingredient -
'dried shrimps.'
Sweet, and a real bang of flavour.
'And add a splash of sesame oil.'
Grab a little of that dried chilli over there.
And that's just going to spice it up a bit.
~ Let's have a look at your tossing action. ~ Oh, my God!
Yeah... I wasn't copying you very well.
So, the whole point... And look, this is, I mean...
~ Humiliating. ~ No, no, no, you won't be,
cos when you leave this cafe, I assure you,
~ you'll be brilliant, OK? ~ OK.
So there's a really great way to practise it at home.
Put a load of sea salt in here, and then you just...
While it's cold, just go round the kitchen and just do that.
So try and shake it. That's... Ooh, well, that was...
~ HUGH LAUGHS ~ Yes.
Salt in the eye.
That's it. Slightly less aggressive.
That's it. That's nice. And then, ultimately,
you want to be in a situation in life where you're doing this.
A two-handed tosser, look at that.
And... Yeah, it says a lot about me.
So, mate, you really need to learn this,
because you got to cook, honestly, for all these people.
~ Right, no pressure, no pressure. ~ And also, they've all told me they're really hungry.
'Once the nuts and dried shrimp are lightly toasted,
'get them into a pestle and mortar.'
Would you mind just bashing that for me?
I can smash that to bits for you.
'Now for the real-deal Pad Thai sauce.
'Chef Som's recipe starts with palm sugar.'
There's going to be a few ingredients here that you can
swap out for British things.
Like, you know, palm sugar. You can use brown sugar.
But when you start adding them all together,
~ that's what makes it really authentic. ~ Yeah.
'Next, tangy tamarind paste,
'diluted with a splash of water and fish sauce.'
Please never, ever drop this, like I did in my kitchen.
It will ruin everything in your life. Um, smell that.
~ It's fish sauce. ~ Ooh!
Smells like hell, but used correctly through a recipe, is amazing.
Now, this is it.
The only thing I would do is a little splash of vinegar
to give it that sourness.
You've already got sourness in the tamarind,
so this is the kind of, the base right there.
So, sauce - done. Sweet radish. Have a little look at that.
Again, really not in our kind of British sort of mindset.
~ Oh! ~ Sweet, sour.
~ You know, it's got that element of almost Japanese pickles. ~ Yeah.
But these are the flavours that are going to make Pad Thai legitimate.
'Chef Som's recipe also uses bean sprouts, shallots, chilli and tofu.'
I think a lot of Brits get confused with tofu.
They think that tofu's there to replace meat.
You know, like mozzarella, it's made with real care and pride.
Silken tofu is another wholly authentic ingredient
and a great carrier of flavour.
If you could, Hugh - use my razor-sharp knife -
just cut it in the middle and then across into little centimetre dices.
'And just for that extra special bit of love,
'I'm going to add some fresh prawns.'
The last thing is herbs, and of course you can use regular chives -
well, I've been to the Chinese, Asian supermarket,
and we've got the Asian ones.
This is what you would have had in yours. So you can hold that.
I've got the lovely Asian basil, OK?
~ Just smells a bit more peppery, OK? ~ Wow, it does.
You could make this with regular chives.
You could make this with regular basil.
But I want to give you the real deal, because you're worth it.
~ So, so far, are you happy to do all this at home? ~ Yes.
Are you feeling this is technically up your strada?
~ Yes. I'm still not sure about me tossing technique. ~ Right.
I'm going to leave you on your own, just to toss away
with some cold rice.
And remember, angle it down.... toss up.
And I'm going to leave you, and you've just got to crack on, mate.
Rice everywhere. It's terrible. It's getting better,
it's getting better. It's going to be fine.
While Hugh perfects his wrist action, next on the menu,
we're heading to Brighton for our latest fight against food waste.
In the UK, we've gone date crazy.
All of us are chucking out millions of pounds' worth
of perfectly edible food,
just because we don't understand the complicated date on the packets.
I think the whole issue of "use by" date,
"sell by" date confuses people so much.
People see that little date on a packet and go,
"Oh, God, not having that," and throw it in the bin.
To cut through all that nonsense, it would be great.
It's time to set the record straight. "Use by" dates matter.
If a product goes past its "use by" date, don't eat it,
but the rest are up for grabs.
"Best before" and "display until" dates
have nothing to do with food safety.
They've been introduced by the supermarkets
and manufacturers to rotate stock and indicate quality.
Judging if it's good enough to eat is entirely up to you.
Whatever happened to, you know, smell the milk?
"Oh, that's all right."
You know, and the same with all foods, I think.
Just getting back to proper, old-fashioned "touch it, feel it, sniff it".
This is what your grandparents did, your great-great-grandparents.
This is what humans have done for ever,
until the last 40 years.
We're all throwing this stuff away,
and so are our shops, supermarkets and delis.
The whole system is under fire,
and experts agree that "best before" and
"display until" dates are responsible for creating a waste mountain.
It's estimated at around 7.2 million tonnes a year is thrown away.
That is perfectly fine to eat.
That's a fair old bit of landfill right there.
That is, isn't it?
But think about... Think about the people you could feed with that.
Think about the resources you could save with that.
We're off to meet two pioneers who are fighting for just that.
Sam Joseph and Conor Walsh
are rescuing food that's gone past its "best before"
or "display until" dates and turning it into
great meals at their Real Junk Food cafes in Bristol and Leeds.
Sam, look at what I've just got back today.
Right, so we've got spring greens here.
No, there's nothing wrong with them.
Bread, you know, we can either just serve it with the food or
make bread and butter pudding.
They've persuaded their local shops, supermarkets and delis to
donate out-of-date food, so they can cook it up before it gets binned.
They want to roll this out.
They want the Real Junk Food cafe to be rolled out across
the nation, utilising food that's going to be wasted.
~ But they need a bit of help. ~ I tell you what's brilliant,
is the fact that there's young people passionate
~ about doing it and have the vision... ~ Absolutely.
.. to want to roll it out, and, yes,
it's answering a problem that's disgusting and none of us like.
The boys want to open a caff here in Brighton,
and I'm excited to see how we can help them do that.
~ Nice to meet you, Sam. ~ Nice to meet you. ~ Hello, boys!
They've brought with them a range of produce to show us
the kind of food they get to work with.
This cheese, was that...? That's beyond its "best before"?
Yep, that's, er, over a week beyond it's "best before" date.
~ This cheese is absolutely fine. Tastes delicious. ~ Yeah.
My missus is, like, ninja on that. Any dates on the pack - gone.
There's loads of different foods here which...
Their main purpose is so they last longer,
so they don't need a date. You've got jam here.
~ So that's five years out of date? ~ Yeah.
~ Open it up, let's taste it. ~ Let's taste it.
It's in perfect nick. No mould or anything like that.
~ No, lovely. ~ Tastes delicious.
So, look - pumpkin, squashes...
These are perfect for storing for months and months and months.
We all know that. Why is there a "display" date on it?
So, that "display" date is only on there for the supermarkets.
~ It's their way... ~ For the staff?
For the staff and for the managers,
for their systems, to know when that food's come in
~ and when it's gone out. ~ That's not for the consumer.
It's not for the consumer. It shouldn't exist.
It doesn't have any benefit for the consumer.
No wonder the public's confused.
So there's only one really important date,
as far as public health is concerned,
and that's the "use by" date.
In their caffs, the boys never use food past its "use by" date,
but anything else is fair game.
That said, drumming up custom for a caff serving food
that's destined for the bin isn't going to be easy.
If we talk to the general public, and said,
"We're going to create some dishes using food that's out of date,"
what do you think the average response is going to be?
Fear, I think, and not wanting to taste it.
I think, yeah, people get very scared.
People are very worried about food.
To help the boys launch a new cafe in Brighton, we need to test
the market to see if the locals are brave enough to eat bin food.
Let's do a little pop-up tonight. Feed it to some
local, sort of, dignitaries or whatever you want to call it.
~ Well, you're going to need a lot of ingredients, then, aren't you? ~ Yeah.
First step, we need to rustle up some food donations.
So I'm heading off with Conor to see who's up for getting involved.
~ Hi there! ~ How are you doing? Alan. ~ Conor.
~ I'm Jim. Nice to see you. ~ Hi, Jim.
We've come for your waste. I know it sounds a bit weird.
Shops don't legally have to take food off the shelves
if it's past its "best before" date, but most do.
They want to get fresh stock out that they can sell at
full price, and they know that most of us
wouldn't buy out-of-date food anyway.
Fortunately, we have some flour here which has just passed
its "best before". Thanks, guys, take care.
Look at this. Whoo!
Now you're talking. Look, it's like a Christmas hamper.
Unfortunately, it's gone past its "best before" date.
~ But there's nothing really wrong with it, is there? ~ No, no, not at all.
Now, these guys are trying to set something up called
the Real Junk Food project - set up a little cafe.
So if we could get something off the ground, would you be happy
supplying stuff that's gone past its "best before" date?
~ Sure. Definitely, yeah. ~ Yeah? ~ Yeah.
~ So a few more boxes, we'll be on our way. ~ Let's go.
Wow, look at that. Lovely.
So, imagine if there was a fantastic little cafe in Brighton that
could take your waste and turn 'em into fantastic meals.
~ That'd be great. ~ Yeah? Do you want to be part of that? ~ Yeah.
~ Thanks for these. ~ Thank you. ~ Take care.
The response from shops and delis has been great.
People want to see out-of-date food put to good use.
But will anyone want to eat it?
~ You all right, mate? How's it going? ~ Good.
We're going to have to pull out all the stops to win
the town round to the idea of a waste-food cafe.
Back at the cafe,
I'm serving up panzanella salad made with stale bread and
over-ripened, squishy, squashy tomatoes
that were destined for the bin.
We're wasting so much food in this country,
and you can turn it into fantastic dishes like this.
This is really good.
There's nothing wrong with it. It tastes amazing.
You wouldn't know once it's on your plate.
Do you throw a lot of stuff out?
We're pretty good. My mum, in fact, is very proud
of the fact she's got some jam in her fridge from about 1973.
Next, I'm building an American-style barbecue smoker for
slow-cooked meat perfection.
It is so tender.
And with 30 hungry diners to feed in the cafe,
Hugh's under a lot of pressure.
This is carnage!
'Here in Southend, we're tucking into some proper weekend feasts.'
'So far, we've served up Jamie's ultimate slow roast pork
'and an Italian classic - panzanella salad.'
Yay-hey!
'But now, it's all about today's special -
'Hugh Bonneville's Pad Thai.
'He fell in love with the dish at a shack in Thailand,
'and after tracking down the owner,
'I'm teaching him a recipe inspired by Chef Som's family recipe.'
~ OK, so, the moment of truth has come. ~ OK.
'We've got all the ingredients ready,
'so now it's all about a fast and furious stir-fry.'
~ Let's go for it. You ready? ~ Oh, crumbs! OK, here we go.
'Once I've taught Hugh the basics,
'he'll have to cook for the whole cafe.'
In with the onions and then grab nuts and prawns
and go in with your half of the nuts and prawns.
I'm grabbing everything else, too.
Stay there. Stay there. Wait your turn, bean sprouts.
And then we're back to our tossing action.
Try and hold it over the heat so it's not cooling down.
Then we can take our prawn.
In with that mix.
Give it a little toss, very quickly.
And then when we've done that,
we're going to go in with our lovely pickled radish.
Then we're going to go in with our lovely Chinese chives here,
and then we're going to go in with egg. And just kind of shake it flat.
That's it, and just let it kind of almost go like an omelette.
And then I'm going to add your tamarind sauce,
and now we need to toss again, my friend.
And it's completely changing.
'Go in with bean sprouts, tofu and half the basil.'
This is carnage!
We'll finish it off with the noodles.
And now this time, we've sort of really achieved
what we wanted to achieve, which is our sort of base for our Pad Thai.
'While Hugh cracks on, I'm going to show you a DIY build that'll give you
'the most smoky, tender barbecued meat you've ever tasted.
'The latest food trends have seen the rise and rise of the heavy-duty,
'American-style barbecue smokers that can be used all year round
'to turn cheap cuts of meat into super-tender, flavour-packed feasts.'
This is about slow meat that just falls apart.
'Originating in the Deep South, offset barbecues cook the meat slowly
'in hot smoke, away from the direct heat of the coals.'
The meat's going to be constantly caressed by lots and lots of
flavoursome smoke coming out the firebox.
'Supersize models from America can cost thousands of pounds,
'but I've come up with a smaller upcycled version
'you can make for 60 quid using a pair of old sinks.'
I need to start with my heat source,
and this old saucepan will do the trick
because it can deal with high temperatures.
'First up, I'm going to turn the lid
'into a hinged opening for the firebox.
'So, grab your angle grinder, chop it into two,
'and then attach it back together with a large hinge.'
I love doing this tinkering.
But every time I'm doing this, in my head is the theme tune to The A-Team.
You know, they would get locked into a shed and be left with a bog roll,
a tennis racket and a go-kart and come out with a tank.
I get locked into a shed and I come out with a barbecue.
So, you see how that's going to work now, can't you?
'The saucepan will be filled with burning coals, and offset to the side
'will be the sink chamber, where the meat will sit.
'So you'll need to join these two together.'
You can pick up old sinks anywhere.
You look in any old skip, there's usually a sink in there.
Ask before you take it out.
There we go.
Look at that.
So you can start to see it's coming together.
What I want to do now is just mark out a little flap.
It's going to be like, er, a letterbox that acts as a baffle.
So when the smoke comes along,
it's directed down and then up and around the meat.
'Use your angle grinder to cut the flap.
'It's the key to giving your meat that delicious smoky taste.'
There we go. You see that?
'To help with the airflow,
'I'm going to make a chimney from an old tin can.
'To fix it in place, cut a hash symbol along the bottom
'and then, wearing heavy-duty gloves,
carefully fold these flaps back into the sink.'
There you go.
Bingo.
Time to put it together.
This little tea trolley is going to make the perfect little stand.
'You can pick up an old tea trolley on an auction site,
'or any upcycled metal stand will do.'
Now to light the fire. This is exciting bit.
'You'll need to let your barbecue heat up before you cook in it,
'so while I'm waiting, time to get my meat ready.'
Anybody that knows beef loves brisket.
It comes from the muscle that runs all the way
down the front of the animal.
Absolutely packed with flavour
because it's the muscle that does so much work.
But with muscles that do lots of work,
it can be quite tough if you cook it in the wrong way.
But by cooking it low and slow
it becomes lovely and unctuous,
the kind of meat that just falls apart.
So what I'm going to do with this beautiful bit of brisket is make
a lovely little dry rub.
'Add a sprinkle of sea salt, a pinch of pepper,
'a few chilli flakes, and give it a good old rub.'
Oh! Do you know, it's like, er, any muscle when you're stressed,
you know, it's all... You're all like that, aren't you?
Nice bit of massaging.
Working in those flavours.
Also just releasing the tension in the meat.
'Tie your brisket with string, and add a splash of olive oil.'
Right, in you go.
MEAT SIZZLES
Oh, listen to that sizzle!
Now, the real secret that's going to put so much flavour into this
are these guys - these wood chips.
Now, I've got sweet chestnut, which adds a lovely sweetness...
mellow smoke to it,
but also whisky barrels chipped up.
Lovely. I mean, oh! They smell incredible.
If I was a beaver, I would just eat those right now.
They're going to go in. That's red hot. So gloves on.
Ooh! Look at those coals!
Just sling 'em in.
Now, don't think this is something you can just leave.
You've got to think of it as a living, breathing entity.
It needs feeding. It's like a dragon.
You've got to keep feeding it
if you want to get that wonderful, smoky-kissed meat.
Look, look, look!
Ah! It's going to be awesome.
'This size brisket should take seven or eight hours to cook
'at around 110 degrees.
'You'll need to keep topping up the coals
'and wood chips every half hour.
'After four hours, take your brisket out and wrap it in foil.'
And I want to capture all those flavours. I don't want it drying out.
There we go. Lovely little parcel.
Back in you go, my sweet.
Right, time to get this beauty out.
Whoa! Come on!
Seven odd hours cooking, look at it!
Oh, the colour is amazing, but the smells!
And look at all those lovely juices.
Right, let's get into this.
Oh! Look at that.
That beautiful, gorgeous crust,
and then as you break through it,
the meat just rolls away.
Got to taste some of this.
Look at that! It's just falling to bits!
It's so tender.
Oh, it's so decadent.
All that time cooking is well worth the wait,
that lovely beefiness.
But best of all is that smoke. That smoky flavour.
You don't get better brisket than this.
It's meat heaven.
Have a go. Tuck in.
That is so delicious!
What you're eating here, beautiful bit of brisket,
but you could do anything you want.
Lovely bit of pork belly, shoulder of pork. You name it.
I'm so impressed. This is tender, delicious,
legitimate old-school smoking.
Think I might have to build myself a smoker.
Hugh, can I persuade you just to leave your noodles
and come over here?
Taste this. Eight-hour brisket - absolutely delicious.
~ Mm. ~ What do you think of that?
~ Have I got it in my moustache? ~ LAUGHTER
~ It's very, very good. ~ Isn't it? Isn't it?
Get back to work, Lord Grantham.
Oh, he's taken it!
'Next, will Hugh's Pad Thai be a hit with our diners?'
It's gone very quiet over there.
LAUGHTER
I'm beginning to sweat.
'And we serve up a controversial banquet for some VIP guests.'
The most amazing thing about it,
it's all made from ingredients destined for landfill.
SEAGULLS SQUAWK
It's late afternoon,
and our menu of weekend feasts is going down a storm in the cafe.
But our diners still have today's special to come -
Hugh Bonneville's Pad Thai.
With the stir frying in hand, now I'm going to show him
how to finish off the perfect portion.
Now we're going to serve it up.
So, want you to just kind of pinch it, and then go into the middle.
All of it can go in, my friend.
Oh, this is one... This is one thing?
It's actually... It's two portions and they're going to share it.
Oh, I see. It's all about sharing. How lovely.
And then just to finish, some little bits of mint.
~ From a height. ~ It's all about the height. Yes.
Well, it is, cos then it kind of goes evenly everywhere.
And then, don't forget, your nuts that you bashed.
OK.
And now it's raining nuts.
And then a little bit of chilli.
And is it starting to look a little bit more familiar
~ to what you were seeing now? ~ Yeah.
And all we've got to do now, mate, is, um, eat it.
'Now, if I've got it right, tasting this should take Hugh back
'all the way to that shack in Thailand.'
Wow. That's really nice.
It's really nice.
The prawns work really well.
~ Few little memories coming back there? ~ Yeah.
It is amazing how a meal can be so evocative.
You know, a simple - in our case, a little half an hour stop
at a shack somewhere, and it's like a photograph in your mind.
It's pretty delicious
and it just takes you back to a moment, like a piece of music.
It just takes you...
Guys, this is all lovely, very, very cosy chitchat
You've got 30 people out there to feed.
~ So, er, can you get a wiggle on? ~ Right.
Er, not even going to pretend that I know how to chop well.
Otherwise I'll take me fingers off.
OK, OK. What am I missing?
What am I missing apart from talent?
While Hugh summons up his stir fry mojo,
it's time to head back to our junk food fight.
FUNFAIR MUSIC
20-somethings Conor and Sam are turning food destined for the bin
into deliciously healthy dishes, fit enough for paying customers.
This cheese was beyond its best before.
Yeah, that's over a week beyond its best before.
This cheese is absolutely fine.
Their first caff has fed over 10,000 people.
Thank you.
And saved over 20 tons of food that would otherwise have gone to waste.
And now they have their sights set on Brighton.
Wouldn't that be amazing
~ if you could have one in every town in Britain? ~ Yeah.
We've got the supply chain sorted.
We've come for your waste. I know it sounds a bit weird.
Wow, look at that. Lovely.
But the next step is the biggie.
We need to see if the people of Brighton will eat the food
that was destined for the bin.
I think, yeah, people get very scared.
People are very worried about food.
So we've invited the great and the good of the town
to a food waste feast.
We got about an hour and a half to knock together
a load of grub out of this waste food.
You know, I'm doing some peppers out there which I'll marinade and dress.
They'll be spectacular. The peppers are actually better for being,
like, not quite that peachy at its best. They'll be incredible.
I'm doing some flatbreads because there's a few dips
coming out of this section.
Yeah, we've got a banana cake in the oven, like a banana bread.
Um, we're just making up some fruit smoothies.
And as time is tight, I've drafted in some help from Matty Bowling,
head chef of award-winning Brighton restaurant Terre A Terre,
and Douglas McMaster from Silo,
Britain's very first zero-waste restaurant.
Douglas has got some lovely scallion-type onions there.
He's got a mushroom soup on the go.
Mushroom broth, and then I'm just going to roast these
~ and fold them in at the end. ~ Nice.
I'm going to make some rice fitters out of this here,
and then I'm going to blitz half of it up
and then fold in whole rice too, to give it texture.
~ Everyone feeling good? Everyone got what they need? ~ Oh, yeah.
Every item on the menu is being made with out of date food
donated by shops and delis,
great produce that was heading for the bin.
~ All right, guys, how's it all going? ~ Hello.
Yeah, not too bad.
The mayor and mayoress have just turned up.
~ You've got a number of local actors that are here. All sorts. ~ Brilliant.
So you've got to impress.
To help ease our guests into a more forgiving mood,
we've knocked up some tasty little cocktails
made with out-of-date booze, fruit and mixers.
So guys, that looks amazing. Can I have a little go?
That's a good one. Look at that.
Drinks are served as our guests arrive,
all eager to see what's on the menu.
But perhaps a little bit nervous about eating it.
Hello! Ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests, come forward.
So lovely to see you all.
You guys are in for such a treat.
We have got the most wonderful meal prepared for you.
But the most amazing thing about it,
it's all made from ingredients that were destined for landfill.
Would have been thrown away. Come forward, get yourself a drink.
OK, guys, come in and get some food.
So let's see how our diners feel about eating food
that's past its best.
Do you throw stuff away if it's out of date?
Er, yes, I'm afraid I do.
If you enjoy this meal this evening,
would you actually reassess, rather than throwing stuff away
~ if it's gone beyond its best before date? ~ Yes.
Let's put some almond in this cucumber.
I'm right beside you, mate. Have total faith in the power.
So boys, not long now until we serve up to the locals.
Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention?
Once again, thank you all so much for coming
and being part of this event.
Food waste is such an important issue
and we all have to do something about it.
You've tasted your cocktails, now it's time for the food,
so I hope you are all very hungry.
APPLAUSE
CHEERING
There's a delicious, rich and earthy mushroom broth,
various mezze and dips made from the vegetables
that were being thrown away by local supermarkets,
roasted new potatoes, an array of salads,
and fresh Indian flatbreads
made from the out of date flour from the local delis.
It's time to tuck in.
~ Ladies and gents, what's the verdict? ~ It's lovely.
It's gorgeous.
The food seems to be going down well with the VIP crowd, and the hope is
they'll support the project and help spread the word around town.
Thank you for coming.
Local people, people in the community, some people
that have got the advantage of some sway and opinion in this town,
this isn't funky or quirky. It's not a kind of mis-sight.
It's not a little problem. It's a humongous problem.
Now, I'm upset about it, but these boys are really angry about it.
What's so inspirational about you guys is that you're coming up with
a solution and I think we all need to get round and back these guys.
APPLAUSE
~ So guys, this has been amazing, yeah? ~ What a day. Amazing.
~ What a day. ~ You should be so proud of yourself,
because I think what you've done is really bring this issue
to the fore and in there are the good and great of Brighton.
And they're eating bin food.
LAUGHTER
Bringing it back to earth again, brother.
That's what I love about you!
So guys, after the feast at Brighton, what was the response?
~ What's happened? ~ Directly from that meal,
he got offered some kitchen equipment
~ there and then, on the spot. ~ Brilliant.
~ So the whole thing is, is happening? ~ It's happening, yeah.
~ The cafe will be in Brighton? ~ The cafe will be in Brighton, yes.
~ Amazing, amazing. ~ And even in Leeds in the last ten days,
we've had two new cafes open.
There's no stopping you boys, is there?
Anything else on the radar that's going on with you guys?
We got an e-mail through,
saying that we'd just been listed as one of Britain's 50 New Radicals.
~ So that was really exciting. ~ Wow.
~ Oh, so you're collecting awards now? ~ Yeah, yeah.
So when you're at this event, collecting the awards,
did you nip out round the back and go round the bins afterwards, maybe?
I did actually fill a bag up.
I took some of the cakes home to bring to these guys.
~ Brilliant. OK, er, guys, you still hungry? ~ Starving.
Hugh! How's that Pad Thai doing?
I'm in the zone now!
Yeah, that's beautiful, Hugh.
~ All you got to do now is just wind your butty. ~ My what?
~ Your bottom. ~ My bottom? Oh, yes.
You got to style it, mate. That's the thing.
~ CHEERING ~ I'm fencing!
Come on!
Prawns and nuts are going in.
Big prawns going in now.
Yes, Bonneville. That's what I'm talking about, boy!
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
~ It's gone very quiet over there. ~ LAUGHTER
I'm beginning to sweat.
Here we go.
Er, oh!
Service!
Thank you very much. Pad Thai.
Lovely people.
I thank you.
Wow.
Ooh!
That's delicious.
Really authentic.
Wow. Really crunchy.
What did you do on your day off?
Lord Grantham cooked your lunch.
Look at all those folks out there. They're all tucking away.
Doing a great job. Everyone's smiling.
How do you feel about it? Are you happy?
Well, it's just great because I'm not a natural in the kitchen
and it's been a lot of fun, and recreating a dish
that was a very special snapshot in my memory bank,
it's been lovely. It's been great fun. Cheers.
Good man. Well, cheers to you. Thank you for coming.
~ Thank you for having me. ~ Ladies and gentlemen, Hugh's Pad Thai!
CHEERING
Oi, oi, oi, oi.
It's mine. Thank you!
We've served up some seriously tempting feasts for the weekend.
A slow-cooked shoulder of pork with plenty of cracklings,
Jimmy's smoky barbecued brisket,
and Hugh Bonneville's favourite Pad Thai.
If you want to join the feast,
you can get the recipes and more at...
Next time on Friday Night Feast...
I'll be making delicious Japanese ramen,
with noodles and pork belly.
Absolutely delicious.
I'll show you how to build your very own rotisserie,
for the juiciest, crispiest chicken you'll ever taste.
You've got to treat yourself. You've got to do this.
We uncover a shocking story of food waste in the farming industry.
We are talking about thousands upon thousands of tons of food.
And superstar songstress, Ellie Goulding,
is making a healthy version of a dirty burger.
Everyone, Ellie's cooking now.