The Wild Gourmets Wild Gourmets episode guide

Date Published:

10/10/2007

Cornwall & Dorset

Tommi & Guy begin their adventure in Cornwall, travelling down using vegetable oil for fuel in a customised car.

The purpose of their journey is to find natural, wild food and, by using a combination of skill, judgement and bartering, to create delicious and healthy meals from it. Their first discovery is shellfish; the mussels in the sea are far superior to the ones attached to the rock, and taste delicious when cooked in thyme butter. In Frenchman’s Creek, Guy catches flatfish, and describes the essential tools that anyone needs while catching their food, including flint, 3 kinds of knives, 2 axes and a shotgun. In the woods, they find wild sorrel, and beefsteak mushrooms, so called because of their taste and appearance, which makes a delicious omelette.

In Dorset, 'a foodseeker’s Mecca', they go in search of pigeons, and are shown how to catch them using a hide and recently killed ones, which are used as bait. As they’re a pest, farmers are only too keen to be rid of them. These form the basis of a delicious warm salad with blackcurrants. They also face a challenge to cull a dozen wild rabbits, which are “lamped”, by having a light shone in their eyes, and then being shot. This forms the basis of a delicious rabbit Milanese, with a slow-cooked ragout, all using local ingredients. The rabbit can be used in its entirety, with the bones for stock and the remaining meat in casseroles. At the start of their travels, all looks rosy; as Guy quips, "If all goes wrong, we can still eat puffin!"

East Anglia

Tommi & Guy venture to the rich pastures of East Anglia, "the breadbasket of England".

With woodland packed with game and rivers full of fish, it is an essential stop for any food-lover. The most delicious food on offer is pheasant which, with a licensed shotgun and the landowner’s permission, forms an excellent meal. Guy improvises a 'game rail' on which to hang his catch to keep them fresh. Meanwhile, Tommi visits some 19th century walled gardens to find an assortment of riches that include unusual food such as bananas and chillies. Eventually, the pheasant is used to stuff chargrilled peppers along with coriander, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper, and a cale and squash mash.

They also venture to the rivers in an attempt to catch some pike, an aggressive fish that is nevertheless a delicacy in France. Tommi catches two, much to her delight, to Guy’s solitary catch ("Beginner’s luck or not, you have won!") and, after bartering a pheasant for a bag of potatoes, Tommi makes an 18th century recipe of baked pike in white sauce, flavoured with thyme and the pike’s liver. Taking it to a wild food party, the locals are delighted by the delicious dish.