Food Stories episode 5 - Manchester
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00:00I've been a chef for over 50 years, but I've come to realise that the food we eat tells
00:08a story about who we are.
00:13So I'm on a mission to find out what we all like to eat today.
00:17Oh, that is good.
00:19From our traditional dishes...
00:21Long live the Yorkshire pudding.
00:23To those we've made our own...
00:25I mean, that is multi-faceted Britain on one page.
00:28Our meat producers...
00:29There you see a robot, he's picking them.
00:32I find a lot of craft beers too hoppy.
00:34I don't know why, but it tastes all right.
00:38Some of our best chefs...
00:40We're picking scurvy grass.
00:42Why are we picking?
00:43We're eating buckwheat.
00:44Plus those keeping traditions alive...
00:47We've just got a finish.
00:48I have no hope.
00:49I'll see how food brings us together.
00:52Dig in!
00:53Lovely, that sort of hot garlic, fabuloso.
00:59And from my home in Padstow, I'll bring you great dishes of my own.
01:03Love stuff like this.
01:04So join me as I unearth the stories behind the food
01:08we all love to eat today.
01:20I'm in the north-west of England, Manchester to be precise.
01:25Created in the furnace of the Industrial Revolution,
01:28which once sang to the tune of the cotton mills.
01:32Today, Manchester is a thoroughly modern city,
01:36a jewel in the northern crown.
01:39Yet Mancunians remain proud of their roots.
01:43And rightly so, as from this industrial melting pot
01:47came some of our most famous British foods.
01:51I've been told that the best place to find some great northern grub
01:55is at Bury Market in the town of Bury.
02:02If you really want to know what makes an area tick,
02:05come to a market, because there's so many different people
02:09and you get a feeling for the place, really.
02:12I will always do that.
02:14Wherever I am in the world, I go to a market
02:16and I really begin to understand what it's all about.
02:19Once in the county of Lancashire, Bury is now part of Greater Manchester.
02:24The market here was voted Britain's best in 2022.
02:29I just hope that I don't stand out as a southern softie
02:32as I search for my favourites.
02:35Ah, here we go.
02:37Could I try some flat pudding?
02:38Of course you can.
02:39Lancashire Viagra.
02:41Lancashire Viagra?
02:42Yeah.
02:45That's very silly.
02:46It is, I know, but it keeps people entertained.
02:49I have to say, the first thing I was looking for
02:52was the little lumps of fat, which is, you know...
02:56In this day and age, it's the dearest thing that goes into a black pudding.
02:59Is it? It really is, yeah.
03:00Everybody wants back fat for turkeys, for everything else.
03:04Oh, that is good.
03:05Good, I'm glad you like it. That is really good.
03:07And that's how it should be eaten on its own.
03:10Black pudding is a sausage made from pig's blood,
03:13back fat, herbs and oatmeal.
03:15It's believed to be one of the oldest forms of sausage.
03:19Even Homer, the ancient Greek poet, mentions it in his Odyssey.
03:24But Tony has also something which I think it's fair to say
03:28isn't quite so appetising.
03:30You've got tripe there too?
03:32Yeah, Lancashire calamari.
03:34Lancashire calamari?
03:35It is, yes.
03:36So we've got Lancashire Viagra here, calamari there.
03:39We're very cosmopolitan.
03:41Tripe has a surprisingly mild flavour,
03:44despite being the lining of the animal's stomach,
03:47usually a cow or sheep.
03:50It's actually done the traditional way.
03:54It's not bleached, it's done in lime and soda.
03:57I can hear a squeal of terror from our younger viewers,
04:01and I admit it's not the most attractive of foods,
04:04but it is very tasty.
04:06What I want to ask you is why do you think so many people
04:10find something like tripe something they just don't want to eat?
04:14People are used to going to supermarkets,
04:17getting a nice little fresh packet,
04:19the lovely label on, taking it home and dinging it in the microwave.
04:23This needs to be treated with a bit of respect,
04:25cooked nicely or prepared freshly.
04:29I think it's just down to time and supermarkets really do.
04:33We don't like things that we don't like the look of, you know?
04:36As if that mattered to our stomachs.
04:39Well, if tripe isn't to your taste,
04:41I'm pretty sure this won't be.
04:44Cow heel is, as advertised, the heel of a cow.
04:48I know it because as a boy,
04:50I wanted to be the comic book hero Desperate Dan,
04:53who ate cow pie made with cow heel to make him strong.
04:57Can I just have a look at a bit of cow heel? Of course you can.
05:00For me, the dandy, Desperate Dan. Yeah, yeah, Desperate Dan pie.
05:04It seems that in the north of England,
05:07black pudding, tripe, cow heel,
05:09they're all much more part of the sort of local culture.
05:12Why do you think that is, then?
05:13I think because industry started in the north-west
05:17with the cotton mills and everything else.
05:19So you had little slaughterhouses.
05:21You had a butcher who would slaughter everything,
05:23but he couldn't throw anything away, so he had to use it.
05:26Hence the tripes, the cow heels and everything else.
05:29So you'd want to use every, you know?
05:32You had to. You know, that nose-to-tail idea
05:34that you just eat everything.
05:35Which I think is the best wood policy, it really is.
05:38Yeah, and also, I think it makes you more inventive
05:41if you're using sort of grisly cuts of meat, you know?
05:45You want to find ways of making it tender.
05:47It tastes better. Yeah, I agree. It tastes much, much better.
05:54These types of food, collectively called offal,
05:58can be just as nutritious as other cuts of meat,
06:01just not so expensive.
06:04Perhaps one of Manchester's most famous residents
06:07was the writer Anthony Burgess, of clockwork orange fame,
06:11who often hankered for the food of Manchester
06:14and the neighbouring county of Lancashire.
06:17He once said,
06:18I'm sometimes mentally ill for Lancashire food,
06:21in particular hot pot.
06:23And he wrote about cow heel.
06:25Cow heel is eaten with much succulence and dribbling
06:28and bone chewing.
06:30Steak and cow heel pie, a great delicacy, he wrote.
06:38There's been a market here since the 15th century,
06:41but the Bury Market we see today was built in the 1970s,
06:45after a fire swept through the old market in 1968.
06:50So, these are all the good cheeses of Lancashire here, then?
06:53Yeah, that's good, yeah.
06:55Is this the crumbly?
06:56That's the crumbly Lancashire from Belfast.
06:58Right, so that's the crumbly.
07:00Now, this, that's really nice,
07:02but this is what people think of as Lancashire cheese, isn't it?
07:05Lancashire crumbly, yeah, that is the most popular one.
07:08I give all the samples out, which brings people in.
07:11Yeah.
07:12You know, once they've tried them, they can't resist.
07:14Thank you very much.
07:155, 10, 20. Thank you.
07:22I'm really enjoying Bury Market
07:24because you can sort of feel food history here.
07:27I mean, it's like a sort of working man,
07:29working woman's food everywhere you go.
07:33And my visit wouldn't be complete
07:35without a stop to taste some legendary northern English treats.
07:41Ah.
07:43This is what I've been looking for.
07:45Right, well, I'm Rick.
07:46Hi, Rick. I'm Joanne. Pleased to meet you.
07:48Very nice to meet you, Joanne. Welcome to Harry Buffet and Bury Market.
07:50Well, very nice to be here.
07:51First of all, Eccles Cakes, Chorley Cakes, right?
07:54So... What's the difference? Can I try both?
07:56You can. So, this is Eccles Cakes, which is puff pastry,
07:59coated in sugar. Puff pastry? Puff pastry.
08:02Nice, lovely plump currants in the middle. Mmm.
08:05Very nice with a cup of tea.
08:07Cup of tea? Got to be.
08:08Chorley Cake, that's a plain, short, sweet pastry.
08:12That's really nice with a bit of butter on top,
08:14just to make it that extra little bit.
08:16Very, you know, good quality.
08:17Subtle difference. Yeah.
08:18Really, same berries, the same fruit.
08:20Yeah. But...
08:21So, in the war, so when you had your ration book
08:24and you had your leftover pastry,
08:26you'd make Chorley's or Eccles Cakes,
08:28make the most of your ingredients.
08:30Really? Yeah.
08:31So, what's it like coming to work here, then?
08:33It's brilliant.
08:34You know, we're all friends and family who work here,
08:36and it is, it's great to be a part of.
08:44It's been a fantastic morning.
08:46It's also about the feeling of belonging in a community.
08:50I think that's what markets are really special for.
08:54Two for the five, but only beef, what is the mushroom?
09:00Back in my kitchen, I've a plan to make a popular British dish
09:05found in pubs up and down the land, a ploughman's lunch,
09:09using the black pudding I picked up in Bury Market.
09:13Well, a ploughman's lunch often has a pork pie or a scotch egg,
09:17and I thought, why not a scotch egg?
09:19Because I can mix the black pudding with sausage meat
09:23to make something truly special.
09:26First off, boil some water for the eggs.
09:30And then add some salt, about a teaspoon of salt,
09:33and the reason for adding the salt is twofold.
09:36It makes the whites stiffer, and particularly where I'm going to
09:39coat the whole egg with sausage meat, that's a good thing.
09:43And secondly, many people think it actually makes
09:47boiling an egg, a boiled egg, easier.
09:54While the eggs boil, start preparing the sausage meat mix.
09:59Fry some finely chopped shallots until lightly browned.
10:03Chop some parsley.
10:06Grind some fennel.
10:08And pop on the side for later.
10:11When six minutes is up, remove the eggs and shock them in ice water
10:16to stop them cooking.
10:18Now you're ready to start on the sausage meat mix.
10:21So, into my bowl with my sausage meat goes the fennel and the parsley,
10:28and now the shallots.
10:32And now for the black pudding.
10:34And here's my black pudding.
10:36And I've estimated that we need two-thirds of sausage meat
10:40and one-third of black pudding.
10:42Just crumble it in to my sausage mix.
10:46There's a number of theories about what scotched eggs means.
10:51In the 17th, 18th century, scotching eggs meant that you actually
10:56boiled them and then steeped them in lime as to preserve them
11:00for a long time, for months, actually.
11:03The eggs then became very discoloured,
11:05so they'd put a coating of sausage meat round them
11:08to hide the colour, I suppose.
11:10Now season the mix with a large pinch or two of salt
11:14and a generous amount of pepper.
11:16Then don't be shy, roll up your sleeves and mix it all up.
11:20Some chef once said to me,
11:22your fingers are the best tools in the kitchen.
11:25Use them whenever you can.
11:28Shape the mixture into patties.
11:30Roll your cooled, peeled eggs in flour
11:33and place each one in the centre of the meat.
11:37Now for the tricky bit, folding the meat around the egg.
11:43This is hard.
11:45I'm sure if I did it every day, I'd be whizzing through them,
11:48a bit like crimping pasties, but...
11:51I'm finding it difficult.
11:55Once you've done a half-decent job,
11:57cover each one in flour, then beat an egg.
12:01Finally, roll in panko breadcrumbs
12:04for that delicious, crispy coating.
12:09Deep fry at 160 degrees for eight to ten minutes
12:13until nice and golden.
12:17When cooked, carefully take out each one
12:20and remove any excess fat with kitchen roll.
12:28Once cooled, it's ready to serve.
12:31Well, that looks a bit special.
12:33Actually, ploughman's lunches go back a long way,
12:36to the 14th century at least,
12:39because they're mentioned in an allegory of the time
12:42called Piers Ploughman, which I studied at university.
12:45The actual phrase goes,
12:47bread and ale, butter, milk and cheese
12:50is a sort of lunch dish for a ploughman.
12:53And now to taste, you'll notice that there's plenty
12:56of the sausage meat and black pudding.
12:59So, here we go.
13:04Scrumptious.
13:18I've made my way into Manchester's northern quarter,
13:22this city's creative urban heart.
13:25It's steeped in history.
13:28Everywhere you look are the architectural reminders
13:31of its industrial past.
13:34But today, the old cotton mills and warehouses,
13:37once called the workshops of the world,
13:40have been transformed into trendy bars and restaurants.
13:44A few years ago, I did a series called Long Weekends,
13:47where I went all over Europe,
13:49spending a long weekend in cities like Palermo,
13:52Vienna, Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Berlin.
13:58And I guess if I was to do the same in the UK,
14:01I'd choose Manchester.
14:03Like Berlin, it has a certain noir quality.
14:07And I like noir, I like sort of roughness
14:10and a slight feeling of duquet,
14:12which doesn't exist in much of Manchester.
14:15It's a very go-ahead city.
14:17But I'd make a beeline to here because it's...
14:20I like a bit of grimness.
14:22It makes me think and it's interesting.
14:27Out of the grit came some of Manchester's best love bands,
14:31venues and clubs.
14:33And today, music is still very much alive in this area.
14:40As a fan of the sounds coming out of the city in the 70s and 80s,
14:44I just had to stop at a little slice of vinyl heaven.
14:50This is called the Vinyl Resting Place, which is perfect.
14:54A vinyl resting place.
14:56I grew up in the 70s.
14:58I used to use my albums to play in the disco
15:01and when I listen to them now, I can hear the scratches.
15:04It takes me right back.
15:06A really good friend of mine, Terry,
15:08worked in a club called The Twisted Wheel here in Manchester.
15:11She bought loads of 45s down to Cornwall and gave them to me
15:15and that's how I started the disco.
15:17So I owe Manchester a great deal for my early disco experiences.
15:22Look, 45s, this takes me back, back to those days in Padstow.
15:26Beatles, Kinks, Beach Boys.
15:29Great.
15:3110cc, Strawberry Studios in Stockport, Godley and Cream.
15:35Life is a minestrone.
15:37What could be more apt than that for a chef?
15:40Let's just give it a play.
15:53MUSIC PLAYS
15:58Just over 100 years before 10cc were even heard of,
16:03Manchester was a very different place.
16:10The factories and mills were dirty and noisy.
16:13No health and safety back then.
16:17The hardships of the 19th century workers
16:20were represented by one of my favourite writers, Charles Dickens.
16:25As a social reformer and frequent visitor to Manchester,
16:29he was appalled by what he saw.
16:32His accounts can be read in his novel Hard Times.
16:36Published in 1854,
16:38the book is set in a fictional northern mill town called Coke Town.
16:44And here's a bit which I think you'll like.
16:47It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys
16:50out of which interminable serpents of smoke
16:53trailed themselves for ever and ever and never got uncoiled.
16:57It had a black canal in it
17:00and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye
17:05and vast piles of building full of windows like those behind me
17:09and where the piston of the steam engine
17:12worked monotonously up and down
17:15like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.
17:26I wonder what Charles Dickens would think of the chef I'm about to meet.
17:31Dickens was a great lover of food,
17:33so I like to think that he'd thoroughly approve of Higher Ground,
17:38one of Manchester's newest foodie establishments.
17:41Sharon. Hi. How are you? Nice to meet you.
17:44Lovely smell of charcoal, is that...? Yeah, charcoal oven.
17:48Great.
17:50Joe Otway is the exciting new chef behind this venture,
17:54feeding Manchester's youngest and hippest crowd.
17:58But what's interesting to me is that he's giving them food
18:02which harks back to that bygone age of Dickens,
18:06when the tradition of nose-to-tail eating
18:09was simply part of life for many in this city.
18:14Walking into this restaurant, it's really cutting edge.
18:18It could be in any city in the world, really.
18:21You just think Manchester's arriving.
18:24What would you say about...?
18:26Well, it does feel like it's emerging.
18:29It doesn't have a history for dining that London does,
18:35or it doesn't have an established food scene,
18:38but for the modern diner, it's just emerging now
18:43and I think this new era is on the horizon.
18:48Today, Joe has offered to cook me a dish that I'm delighted to hear
18:53is one of his best-selling recipes.
18:56Pork offal ragout.
18:58To make the ragout, Joe prepares the pig's heart,
19:03kidney and liver.
19:08Which he'll mince before cooking.
19:12Then Joe gently fries the pork lung in oil and lard.
19:19To this, he adds the minced heart.
19:23Seasoned with salt and pepper,
19:25he cooks until the moisture has all but gone and then sets aside.
19:31Next, sliced wild garlic and finely chopped onion
19:37are added to the pan and he sweats them until soft.
19:45After a bit more seasoning, the offal is added back to the pan,
19:50to which Joe adds a splash of port...
19:55..and a good glug of red wine.
20:00Followed by a dash of brandy.
20:05Finally, he adds the minced liver and kidneys
20:08and a generous amount of beef stock.
20:14He leaves it all to braise for 15 minutes...
20:21..before serving with homemade pasta.
20:25Finished with toasted breadcrumbs and local Spenwood cheese.
20:31And, of course, always served with a glass of red wine.
20:37Well, I've been looking forward to this.
20:39I can tell you I know I'm going to like it just watching you making it.
20:43I hope so.
20:46I mean, why wouldn't you like offal?
20:48If it's all minced up like that...
20:50It's a difficult thing.
20:52It's not everyone thinks the same.
20:54Well...
20:56..it's just so interesting.
20:58This recipe came up from cooking something
21:01because we needed a pasta dish for that evening.
21:05We always cook with what we have available.
21:07We put the offal ragout on, I was pretty nervous about it,
21:10and then it just sold very well and people loved it.
21:14People have got to come round to eating offal, haven't they?
21:17I mean, this whole idea, your ethos of using every piece of meat
21:21and your ethos of using every part of the beast,
21:24I mean, it's not...
21:26It's not new in certain circles.
21:28No, it's old. It is old, but it feels new,
21:31but it shouldn't be that way.
21:33I think we're moving out of the dark days where offal is frowned upon.
21:37You have to find ways to use the offal.
21:39Slip it in. If you use it with pasta, everybody loves pasta,
21:43it's very comforting,
21:45and then the offal doesn't feel so jarring to people.
21:48That's right, but also, I mean, this part of the country,
21:51surely everybody should be eating offal.
21:54You've got black pudding, you've got tripe,
21:56you've got all those sort of hitherto poor people's food.
22:01We should be celebrating it, I think, really.
22:04Absolutely. You're on the money. You really are on the money.
22:07And I've been in the business for a while.
22:09I know, I appreciate your opinion. You are.
22:11I appreciate your opinion.
22:13Cheers. Yeah, cheers.
22:18Cheers.
22:24I'm so pleased to see that nose-to-tail eating is making a comeback,
22:29so I wonder if I can tempt the new crowd
22:32to a particular favourite of mine and a British classic,
22:36sautéed calves liver with caramelised onions,
22:40grilled bacon, cabbage and mashed potatoes.
22:44So, the liver doesn't take any time at all, it's very thinly sliced,
22:47but what does take a bit of time is the cabbage,
22:49so I'm going to start with that.
22:52I like to use a savoy cabbage as it's full of flavour.
22:56For this recipe, you only need half thinly sliced.
23:01To a pan of sizzling butter, add some chopped shallots,
23:05the sliced cabbage and a handful of chopped parsley.
23:10Season with salt and pepper and leave to cook on a low heat.
23:17In another pan, fry one sliced onion in butter
23:21with a little sugar to help caramelisation,
23:24then season to taste.
23:27When the onions are browned, add a splash of balsamic vinegar,
23:32some beef stock and leave to simmer.
23:36OK, now to start with some meat.
23:38First of all, I'm going to griddle some bacon over here.
23:41This is lovely dry cured bacon.
23:43The great thing about dry cured bacon is it's got no water in it,
23:46no brine, therefore it's much drier
23:49and when you cook it, it doesn't spit water all over the kitchen.
23:53This is actually streaky bacon which, for cooking purposes,
23:57it's got more flavour because it's got more fat in it.
24:01OK, that's fine. Let's keep that in a warm place now.
24:05And now for the liver.
24:08First thing I've got to do with the liver is season it
24:10with salt and a bit of pepper.
24:12Once seasoned, dust both sides of the liver with plain flour.
24:17And it is quite a quick operation, so I'm going to have to concentrate
24:21because it's so thin and I really like it thinly cut like this.
24:25It's literally only about 30 seconds on either side,
24:28so I don't want to...
24:32..overcook it by any means
24:34because I think actually overcooked hard liver is...
24:38It's not my cup of tea.
24:40I mean, of course, if you don't like the idea of pink liver,
24:46cook it for longer, a minute maybe on either side,
24:49but I just love it really, really brown
24:53but still pink on the inside.
24:55There we go.
24:57Smelling gorgeous, of course.
25:00There we go.
25:04Done.
25:06And now I'm just going to check my cabbage
25:08and we should be, as they say in certain circles, home and hosed.
25:13Cabbage looks great.
25:15Such a nice dish.
25:16Actually, what you want is not too much flavour in your veg
25:20because all the flavour's in the liver and the bacon and the gravy.
25:24So now to make it up.
25:36CLINK
25:48Well, that looks lovely to me.
25:50I'm just going to try the liver first of all because that's my big love.
25:56Nice and pink inside and so soft and luscious and sweet.
26:02It's just a great all-round dish.
26:04I just love it.
26:13It's been a fascinating trip to Manchester,
26:16but before I leave, I have to visit another one
26:20of this city's great institutions, the Marble Arch Inn.
26:27Like its thriving new food scene,
26:29Manchester's pubs are just as important to me.
26:34Oh, excuse me.
26:35That is a delicious feather blade and marble stout pie.
26:42It is the sort of pub pie that I dream of.
26:46But I think it's very important for a place like Manchester
26:49to have pubs like this because things are changing so rapidly.
26:53You just only have to go through Manchester
26:55and there's buildings going up everywhere
26:57and the whole food scene's moving on, which is great.
27:00Don't get me wrong.
27:01It's great that it's such a vibrant food scene in Manchester,
27:06but we still need our pubs.
27:08They're very British.
27:10They're what people from other countries long to go and sit in.
27:14It's a great experience.
27:16And to find a pub like this with really lovely beer
27:19and great pub food is something quite special.
27:24It's so exciting to see how this part of England
27:27is reinventing its traditional food
27:30for a modern generation.
27:32If you have a spare weekend, then it's well worth a visit
27:36to taste the new British food on the menu.
27:39But while you're here, don't forget to pop in for a pint.
27:49If you'd like to see more episodes of Rick Stein's Food Stories,
27:53press the red button now to watch on BBC iPlayer.
27:58Next time, I'm in South Wales.
28:02So, do you ever get a seat blown off at all?
28:04None that I've seen so far. Oh, well, that's really good.
28:10We've just got a finish. This is unbelievable. I had no hope.
28:17This is great. I love stuff like this.
28:20Where's my plate? OK. Where's my fish slice?