1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,400 What's the difference between chips and oven chips? 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,920 Have they been coated in something? My wife normally burns these ones. 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,320 You can't beat a bit of pub grub every now and then. 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:17,560 These days, supermarkets are selling typical pub food for you to cook at home. 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,840 But how do they make it on an industrial scale? 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,720 Why do you reckon you'd have to X-ray a peanut? 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,920 How do you turn one of these into one of these? 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,560 Perhaps they inject into the chicken breast. Mince it up. 9 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,560 Mince it up? Did you hear that? 10 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,040 I'm going to reveal the secrets of the pub menu...Food Factory style. 11 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:58,800 Have you ever wondered what goes into making your favourite pub food? 12 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:03,800 I'm going to find out because I'm setting up my own food factory inside this barn. 13 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,240 It may look as though it's full of junk, but this barn has got 14 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,400 everything I need to discover the secrets of supermarket food. 15 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:19,920 Steak and chips, fish and chips, and burger and chips. 16 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,400 It seems almost all pub meals come with chips! 17 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,400 So that's where I'm going to start. 18 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:34,760 Pubs tend to use deep-fat fryers, but these days, when you're cooking chips at home, 19 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:41,880 the traditional chip pan often stays on the shelf, in favour of a baking tray and a bag of frozen oven chips. 20 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,200 But if you stick raw potatoes in the oven you don't end up with crispy chips. 21 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,200 So what does the factory do to create the crunch? 22 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,680 Here in the barn, I'm going to try to make my own oven chip shop. 23 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,320 And every chippie needs a potato peeler. 24 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,640 My mum'll go mad when she sees what I've done with her graters. 25 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:05,040 I'll spin these spuds in the bottom of this bucket. 26 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:09,320 It's a bit like the commercial potato peelers in real chip factories. 27 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:15,760 One potato in every four dug out of the British soil ends up in one of these. 28 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:17,200 Right, let's see if this works. 29 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,520 It looks like I've been savaged by my dog, but it's working. 30 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,480 Think I'd better stop, cos my potatoes are getting smaller and smaller, but look at that. 31 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,520 It's a bit battered, but I think you can call it peeled. 32 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,560 The next step is to make these ugly spuds all chip shape and Bristol fashion. 33 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,480 In the factory they use a slicing machine called a hydro-cutter, 34 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:49,200 which involves firing a potato down a pipe, through what they call a knife block, 35 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,320 that slices the potato into chip shapes. 36 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,200 Sounds dangerous. 37 00:02:54,200 --> 00:03:00,600 Instead of sharp knives, I'll be using a gun to fire my potatoes at a tennis racket. 38 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,080 I was rubbish at tennis anyway. 39 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,760 I'm restringing my racket with cheese wire. 40 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,640 Don't try this at Wimbledon! 41 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:15,160 Not too fiddly, this, is it? 42 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:21,160 Right, that's that done - now, what could be better to fire my potatoes through the slicer than a spud gun? 43 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,880 In the factory, they propel the potato using a water jet. 44 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,560 But my spud gun is powered by a gas explosion. 45 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:36,120 It all goes off in this chamber at the end of the barrel. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. 46 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:42,560 Pull the electrical trigger, sets off an explosion and fires the potato out, 47 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:49,080 through my slicer. And hopefully, chip-shaped potatoes come through. 48 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:55,240 But before I try slicing, I need to see if my potato gun can actually shoot a spud. 49 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,600 Little bit nervous. 50 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:02,360 Right, three, two, one. 51 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,080 Ohhh! Oh, my god, look at this! 52 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,480 The potato has totally obliterated... 53 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,240 Look, it's knocked a whole in the side of the shed. 54 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,160 That is the only piece of potato I could find. 55 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,520 I'm not sure that tennis racket is going to be up to it. 56 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:23,040 There's only one way to find out. 57 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:31,520 I've got my spud gun. That's going to fire the potato, which is going to hit my slicing device. 58 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,960 The potato will pass through, looking a bit more chip-like. 59 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,600 And be captured... 60 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:39,760 in here. 61 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,280 Right, all set to make oven chips. 62 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:43,840 Oh! 63 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:49,720 I think I blew my bag off! 64 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,400 There's bits of chip all round the back of the barn. 65 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,840 That's a very excitable spud gun. 66 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:58,200 Oo-hoo-hoo! 67 00:04:58,200 --> 00:04:59,320 Look at that! 68 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,320 Right, I've got an idea to slow the potato down. 69 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:06,400 If I put a tea towel over here, as the potato passes through here, 70 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:11,480 it should be captured, and slow its speed down. 71 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,200 That's the idea - right, let's see if it works. 72 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,840 Ohh! 73 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:24,680 Well, the tea towel's gone. Let's see. 74 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,120 Let's see, let's see. 75 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,560 Ta-dah! Look at that! 76 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,720 Chips - it works, just got to make more of them now. 77 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:39,080 Ohh! 78 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:46,880 I'm getting quite good at this. 79 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:53,320 See - when you put your mind to it, nothing is impossible! 80 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,800 Later, I'm going to try to turn these into frozen oven chips. 81 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:01,840 It'll be crunch time. 82 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:16,240 A nice bit of sirloin steak. Where do you reckon it comes from? 83 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,760 There. Haven't got a clue! Here. 84 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,480 Just down a bit there. Its bum. The bum? 85 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,240 Down a bit...back, back. There? 86 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,840 Why would you say there? The chunkiest bit. 87 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:29,440 It's on the leg. The leg...yeah. 88 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,720 I'm totally wrong, aren't I? 89 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,000 So it's a mystery - anywhere from the neck to the leg! 90 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,480 In fact, the sirloin steak comes from the loin area, so it's along here. 91 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,480 Sirloin...of course! The great British steak! 92 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,760 No-one likes a tough one. 93 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,240 But how do you make sure every one is mouthwatering? 94 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,680 One farm boss who reckons he knows the answer is Richard Phelps. 95 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,360 He produces 480,000 sirloin steaks a year, 96 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,360 and supplies a major UK supermarket. 97 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,680 So Richard, what makes the perfect steak? 98 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:11,920 The perfect steak has got to be tender, juicy, tasty and consistent. 99 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,560 So if you have it in a restaurant and it's delicious, 100 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,880 you go back next week you want it to be the same, don't you? 101 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,960 That's right - the problem we have is because so many different farmers 102 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:25,000 do different systems, different ages, different breeds, that we get inconsistency in the steaks. 103 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:29,840 Richard has 16,000 cattle spread across many farms. 104 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:36,120 So, to make sure every steak tastes the same, all his animals are brought up the same way. 105 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:42,400 So your secret is to get the farmers to do exactly the same thing, wherever their farm is? 106 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,360 That's right - using the same feed, the same health systems, 107 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,240 so every animal is the same that comes through our process. 108 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:51,360 And it starts before they're born. 109 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,400 Paul Westaway is one of Richard's cattle breeders. 110 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,800 If good genes produce good offspring, then this is your man. 111 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,560 No, not Paul - meet Goliath. 112 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,960 He's smashing, but what makes him such a great animal? 113 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:08,200 From a steak point of view, he's really fantastic between his shoulders and his hook bone. 114 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,560 So from a butcher's point of view there'll be lots of steaks there. 115 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,120 But the important thing about Goliath here is we're not going to 116 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,360 turn him into steaks, it's what he can do for his offspring, isn't it? 117 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:23,000 That's right. His job is to sire sons and daughters that will go into the beef chain. 118 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:28,120 So he's like a stamp that he can put all the good qualities onto his next generation. 119 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:33,600 Absolutely, he's been specially selected and bred to make sure he sires perfect steaks every time. 120 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:40,120 Goliath could father some 200,000 beef calves and Paul reckons he's worth around 50 grand. 121 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,600 If only he could play football too! 122 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,800 He loves us talking about him. We've said nothing but praise! 123 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,200 He's a bit of a superstar. There's a bit of an ego going on! 124 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:56,520 Good breeding is just the start - at around a week old, the calves are sent to a different farm. 125 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:02,120 Nigel and David Maidment specialise in a kind of nursery school for young cattle. 126 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:08,400 They need to make sure all their pupils grow at the same rate and get the same amount to eat. 127 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,760 When I was at school, there was always someone who distracted you, 128 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:16,680 you had the greedy one. How do you stop the greedy one getting too fat in here? 129 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:22,000 Basically, this mixes the milk powder, it's a replacement for the cow's udder, effectively. 130 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 So that's almost like a mechanical mum, it's a computerised cow. 131 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,240 It's exactly that, exactly that. 132 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:31,960 How does she know that number two's coming in for its second feed and it shouldn't be? 133 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,360 They all have a little tag that we put in their ear. Every tag is different, 134 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:37,000 so every calf is different to the machine. 135 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,920 I've got you, so if number two comes in and happens to be a greedy calf, 136 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:45,120 the tag will get beeped, and then mechanical mum won't give you any milk. Yes. 137 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,960 That's some mum, isn't it? She looks after them well. 138 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:52,000 When the calves are weaned off mechanical mum, they move farms again. 139 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:58,200 For this bunch, it's back to human dad Paul Westaway. What are you doing here now, then? 140 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:04,080 We're trying to make sure that the cattle grow at a very level rate every day that they're here. 141 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,640 We're looking for them to average about 1.1 kilos a day, 142 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,640 so the steaks develop properly and they stay really nice and healthy. 143 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,920 And it seems to work. 144 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:14,960 Look at these calves - they're the same height and size. 145 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:16,960 I wish I'd brought my spirit level! 146 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,680 Tall and well-built, just like yourself. 147 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:21,840 Thank you, Jimmy. Pleasure. 148 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,920 Paul checks how fast they grow by weighing them. 149 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:30,560 What is she? 150 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:32,360 About 410, 415. 151 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:33,520 Not bad. Spot on. 152 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:38,960 That's dead on. That's just what you want, isn't it? All exactly the same. 153 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,880 Come on, lovelies! Here they come. 154 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,400 So according to Richard, good breeding and a strict upbringing 155 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,920 are the key to a consistently great steak. But does it really work? 156 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,440 To find out, Richard's invited me to lunch. 157 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,400 So tell me, what's the test for tenderness? 158 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,040 A good tender steak, when you cut it, you should 159 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,880 be able to cut with a standard cutlery knife, not a steak knife. 160 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:08,400 So will I be able to tell the difference between a mid-range steak and one of Richard's? 161 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,760 I'm going to have to saw through that one. 162 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:16,120 Wow, that just went straight through. 163 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:20,200 So after what you've said, I'd say that is probably your steak 164 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,200 because it was easier to cut. Let's have a look. 165 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,680 There we are. Now, you sure you didn't swap them over? 166 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:32,520 Right, I'm going to polish these two steaks off. Are you that hungry? I feel like Desperate Dan. 167 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:47,960 Back at the barn, to go with that steak, I'm making my own frozen oven chips from scratch. 168 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,880 I've built a high-speed spud gun, which did a great job slicing my potatoes. 169 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,680 That's the most fun I've ever had making chips. 170 00:11:55,680 --> 00:12:02,040 Now I need to work out how the factory get their oven chips all crispy and golden brown. 171 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,160 Look at those... fresh out the fryer. 172 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,120 Now, apart from the golden colour and the delicious flavour, 173 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,720 what really makes a chip a chip is the crunch. 174 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:10,680 CRUNCH 175 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,880 I can't find my mouth. 176 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,280 That crunch is what my oven chips need. 177 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:23,560 It comes from the crispy outer skin that forms on the chip when it's fried. 178 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:28,000 The trouble is, you can't create that crispy skin in the oven from just raw potato. 179 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,680 So the oven chip makers have to create that crispy skin for you in the factory. 180 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:35,920 The key is starch - it's the milky stuff 181 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,000 that leaks out of a potato when you slice it. 182 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,840 Starch is what the potato plant uses to store the energy it needs to grow. 183 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:48,320 And these little gritty bits in the potato juice are actually tiny little grains of starch. 184 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:53,960 On their own, these gritty bits won't provide the crispy skin that you look for in a chip. 185 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,240 They need a bit of encouragement. 186 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:02,000 The factory take the sliced up potato and they soak them in really hot water - they blanch them. 187 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,200 Blanching for around 40 minutes makes the starch grains swell up and go softer. 188 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,000 This makes the chip fluffier on the inside. 189 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:16,560 Now the top layers of starch have gone slimy, almost pasty-like, and it's the layers of starch 190 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:21,240 on the top of this slice that eventually will give us that nice crisp texture to the chip. 191 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:28,520 I just need to dry the slices, leaving behind that starchy skin coating. 192 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,000 Here we go. All ready for Saturday night now. 193 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,520 FAT SIZZLES 194 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:35,960 That's a great sound, isn't it? 195 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,720 You might not have realised oven chips are pre-fried. 196 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,520 The hot oil makes the starchy skin go brittle and crispy. 197 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:48,040 Timing is everything - you don't want to completely cook them. That's what your oven will do. 198 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,440 All I want to do is add that layer of crispy "chippiness". 199 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,160 Oh, getting hungry! 200 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,120 Now you can see the effect the blanching has had 201 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,280 on those slices of potatoes, because they've gone sort of 202 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:05,680 fluffy round the outside, and that's allowed them to get really crispy in that hot oil - look at that. 203 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,480 You can see them bubbling away. 204 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,880 The starchy skin gives the chip its crunch. 205 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,320 It also stops the chip from soaking up too much oil. 206 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,160 And because they spend less time in the fryer than the ones from your local chippy, 207 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,840 they have a third less fat. 208 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,920 Looks like they're done. One last thing to do, and that's to freeze them. 209 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:34,640 In the factory, they use an icy gust of air, 210 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:38,720 at minus 29 degrees centigrade, to freeze the oven chips. 211 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:44,680 I'm using a leaf blower to push air through this tube and across dry ice - frozen carbon dioxide. 212 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:46,280 And hey presto... 213 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,120 a cold-air blaster! 214 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:49,560 Chilly chips! 215 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:52,800 Right. 216 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,000 Let's test those chips! 217 00:14:58,040 --> 00:14:59,320 SOLID TAPPING 218 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:01,160 That sounds frozen to me. 219 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:06,400 The weird thing is, it can take the factory about an hour and a half from start to finish. 220 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,160 Way longer than it'd take you to make normal chips. 221 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,920 Let's have a look at these beauties. 222 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,680 Well, they look like the real deal. Look how amazing and how clean the edges are. 223 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,720 And that's really good, if you think I fired it through a tennis racket. 224 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,320 But the real test, has it got that crunch? 225 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,360 CRUNCH 226 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,880 Oh! Really "chippy" crunchiness about them. 227 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:36,720 Do you know what? 228 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,960 I think... 229 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:43,200 you can't really tell the difference between my oven chips and the ones from the supermarket. 230 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,000 They're really good. 231 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,480 Oh! Fantastic! 232 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,480 There we go. My very own oven chips. 233 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:58,240 Brilliant! 234 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:02,520 But don't to take my word for it. Later on, we made another batch to the same recipe. 235 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:07,600 When it came to the crunch, would my oven chips be a hit down on the farm? 236 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:11,280 Here's my version of oven chips - want you to taste them. 237 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,640 They are... Very crispy. 238 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,480 Yeah, they are very crispy. A lot better than normal oven chips. 239 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,520 And they're not greasy at all. 240 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:20,960 Nice taste. Slightly dry. 241 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:22,880 I might have overcooked them! 242 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,000 Peanuts are a favourite pub nibble. 243 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:33,560 But do you know how they grow? 244 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,200 Any ideas how peanuts grow? 245 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,240 No idea. Like that. 246 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,280 Like this, on a bush? More like a tree. 247 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:42,480 Bigger, you think? Yeah. What about that? 248 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,320 No. On the ground. 249 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:45,960 Oh, around a bush? 250 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,040 Looks pretty convincing to me. 251 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,840 They look stuck on, but I've got no idea how they grow. 252 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:56,040 Stuck on! Now, you might think peanuts grow on bushes like this, but I can reveal this is a fake... 253 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:58,840 I made this. This is how peanuts grow... 254 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,560 Look at that! 255 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:02,800 Oh my word! They're great! 256 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,160 Underground! 257 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,880 Just like spuds. I'm shocked, I didn't realise. 258 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,120 They look...like potatoes! Weird! 259 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:20,680 Now, as peanuts grow underground, when they're harvested so are many things that we're not that keen on. 260 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:28,440 So how do you detect imposters trying to smuggle themselves inside your pack of peanuts? 261 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:34,640 To find out, I've decided to turn detective and join the peanut police. 262 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:39,200 Michelle Wake and Jon Sweeting have to stop any shady characters 263 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,000 that might sneak from the soil into your packet of peanuts. 264 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:44,880 This is what they want to avoid ... 265 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:48,120 If you dig them out of the ground, you'll get all sorts of debris. 266 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:53,240 I've got some funny little nut there, I've got some twigs, I've got a sweet wrapper, bit of sweet corn. 267 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,480 You're going to take up anything that happens to be lying around in the ground. 268 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,840 The nuts are cleaned and shelled before they arrive here at the factory. 269 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:07,000 But there could still be all sorts of dodgy things lurking in the shadows. 270 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,280 So the detective work starts with an x-ray machine. 271 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:15,360 So you x-ray every single peanut, I can see them going through here. 272 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:19,240 Every nut and peanut that comes through this factory gets x-rayed. 273 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,480 So this will detect any metal or foreign objects? 274 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:24,880 Metal, stone, glass, stalk. 275 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,960 If the machine spots anything like that, it's rejected. 276 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:34,640 That should have dealt with any unwanted intruders, but the peanuts are still under strict surveillance. 277 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:41,960 So Jon, what does this machine do? 278 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,000 It's actually an optical colour sorter. 279 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,080 It takes a picture of the peanut on both sides 280 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,240 so we get 360 degrees coverage of the peanut. 281 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,360 And if it's different from the known colour, we reject it. 282 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:54,840 It's like a peanut identity parade. 283 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,840 It is, yeah. And they're firing through like bullets, aren't they? 284 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,880 They are, there's a picture taken every three milliseconds. That is incredible. 285 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,760 By travelling so fast, any "iffy" peanut might think they've got away with it. 286 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:12,640 But Peanut CCTV can sort out the good guys from the bad guys and can 287 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,680 take out that reject peanut with just one blast of compressed air. 288 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:18,280 You're nicked! 289 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,120 This factory produces nearly two million bags of peanuts a week. 290 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:30,080 That's a lot of nuts to keep an eye on. And the job isn't finished yet. 291 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,800 So Michelle, what's going on here, then? 292 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:34,760 This is where our peanuts are fried. 293 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,400 You can smell them, that real sort of nutty aroma. 294 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,320 But they're still not ready for the packet. 295 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,560 A peanut isn't a peanut without a coating of salt. 296 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:54,720 To make sure every nut gets just the right amount, they have an ingenious test. 297 00:19:54,720 --> 00:20:00,440 Peanut technician John Christie, first mixes them with water. 298 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,600 So in that water should be all the salt from the nuts? 299 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:10,360 That's right yes, all dissolved. John passes an electrical current through the solution to see how salty it is. 300 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:14,000 So from this test here then you can say, right, our peanuts need 301 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,120 a little bit more salt, or cut back on the salt... Yes, that's right. 302 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,960 And this has to go on all the time? It does yes, every 30 minutes. 303 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,120 How long have you been doing this, then, John? 304 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:25,360 This particular job, I'm still training and I'm passing out this week. 305 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:28,440 How long have you been here? I've been here 17 years. 306 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,520 17 years and still training? Yes. You're doing a very good job. 307 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:37,720 The peanuts are ready to be packaged and sent off to the pubs and supermarkets. 308 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,240 Thanks to all these detection devices, 309 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,840 we can be sure there's nothing untoward lurking in our packets of peanuts. 310 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,080 The peanut police have the place locked down. 311 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,000 My work here is done. 312 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,960 Back at the barn, I'm going to get my hands dirty with a retro classic. 313 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,080 No, not the car! 314 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,240 This isn't Top Gear, it's Food Factory. 315 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,080 Remember the 1970s? 316 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,040 Then you'll remember prawn cocktail, 317 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,120 black forest gateau and chicken kiev. 318 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:23,200 Popular then and we're still eating them now! 319 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,640 When I was a kid, chicken kievs were a real treat! 320 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,640 Nowadays they're a familiar sight on pub menus 321 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,600 and you're just as likely to see them in the chill cabinet at the supermarket. 322 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,640 But there's a huge price variation, from around 323 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,920 a fiver for two premium chicken kievs 324 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,800 down to around a pound for two economy ones. 325 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,960 But how's it possible to make them so cheaply? 326 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,400 Well, to find out, I'm going to make my own. 327 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:51,600 Your top-end chicken kiev is made from chicken breast with garlic butter. 328 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,520 But inside your cheap and cheerful one, 329 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,520 you'll find a knob of garlic-flavoured margarine 330 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,080 and this stuff. 331 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,880 It really doesn't look like it's come off a prime chicken breast. 332 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,720 It almost looks like some sort of...chicken toothpaste. 333 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:13,800 So my first step to try to create my own kiev will be making this weird meaty stuff. 334 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,760 And you might well ask, which part of the chicken it comes from. 335 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,160 Well, the breasts, wings and thighs are generally used 336 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,000 for more expensive products, or premium kievs. 337 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:28,720 Now I've taken all the prime cuts off, I'm left with a carcass. 338 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,360 There's still quite a lot of meat left on here. 339 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:34,280 But if you multiply this by millions of chickens, 340 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:35,680 that's a huge amount of meat. 341 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,760 So what are we going to do with it? Throw it away? Well, of course not. 342 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:45,480 What I'm after is a machine that'll strip off any meat that's left on the carcass. 343 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,560 If a supermarket wants to sell kievs for just 50p each, 344 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,200 they can't afford to chuck a single scrap. 345 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,240 There we go, that's really solid, spot on. 346 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,160 How it's going to work is that I'm going to place my chicken carcass 347 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,920 here between these two rotating wheels. 348 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:10,680 And the pressure of the tyre pushing against this perforated cylinder should strip the meat off. 349 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,520 Now they obviously don't use old car tyres 350 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,000 and pieces of junk in the factory, but the principle is the same. 351 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:24,040 Inside the factory, all this is subject to very strict temperature controls. 352 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:29,520 So my chicken carcass is just out of the fridge and will go back in straight away. 353 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:31,320 Right, let's get this cranking. 354 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,840 It's like some medieval torture equipment. 355 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,880 SQUELCH Aww, listen to that! 356 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:50,640 Ha...it looks disgusting! 357 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,480 Through you go again. 358 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,400 Now you might have heard of "mechanically recovered meat". 359 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,080 It's the kind of thing you see on the packs of ingredients 360 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,200 of cheap, processed food, like tinned hot dogs. 361 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:09,000 Mechanically recovered meat is stripped from the carcass using very high-pressure machinery. 362 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,440 That process destroys the structure of the meat. 363 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,840 Look at that, it's pretty gross, looks a bit like a horror film. 364 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,320 I'm not using such high pressure to squash out the meat, 365 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:21,600 and there's a good reason for that. 366 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:23,600 I've got two microscope pictures here. 367 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,440 The first is of normal minced chicken and if you look, 368 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,720 you can really see the meat cell structure quite clearly. 369 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:35,160 The second picture is of old-school mechanically recovered meat. 370 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:40,440 To be honest, it's a bit of a mess because you can't see any of that structure of the meat cells at all. 371 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,280 Let's look at the meat from my machine. 372 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,160 I'm hoping that the meat I'm making won't need to be labelled 373 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,320 as mechanically recovered, even though I'm using a machine. 374 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:54,680 There we go, look at that. You can really see the structures of the meat fibres here. 375 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,160 Even though it's gone through my machine, they've come out pretty well. 376 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:03,400 So, in theory, I could label this on the ingredients as meat. 377 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,400 Factories that use a method of squashing the carcass like this 378 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:10,480 don't have to call their meat "mechanically recovered". 379 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:15,000 That's because you can still see the meat fibres. 380 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:22,320 It's not what I would call meat, but I suppose it's using an ingredient that would otherwise be wasted. 381 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:29,120 This puree is too gloopy to make a kiev, so I'm adding minced chicken like the factory would. 382 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:37,120 To keep costs down, I can't put more than 50% chicken in my economy kievs. 383 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:41,640 So to make up the other half, I'm adding cheap veggie mince - soya protein. 384 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:46,680 I'll mix that all in together and it's starting to take on the consistency of burger mince, 385 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,320 which is a good thing because an economy chicken kiev 386 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,360 is basically two burgers with a filling. 387 00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:54,600 I don't want it too thick. 388 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,200 This hamburger press should give me the shape I need. 389 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,680 There we go, perfect. Number one. 390 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:04,960 Now a chicken kiev isn't a kiev without the filling, so that goes in next. 391 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,480 I'm adding garlic-flavoured margarine. 392 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,200 Ooh! Nearly lost all my hard work then! 393 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,760 Look at that, it looks like a big fat burger, doesn't it? More than a chicken kiev. 394 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:23,480 Next, I need to coat my kiev in batter and roll it in breadcrumbs 395 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:24,880 before popping it in hot oil. 396 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,200 Now I've got to do this really quickly because 397 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,600 I don't want to cook the chicken and I don't want to melt the inside of it. 398 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:36,880 Otherwise, when I bake it in the oven for my dinner, all the marge will soak into the kiev. 399 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,680 There we go, that is now ready for the shops. 400 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:41,280 But it's not ready for tasting yet. 401 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,160 I have to bake it. 402 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:50,120 I can't believe I'm going to eat pulverised chicken that's been scraped off a car tyre. 403 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:53,400 Right, moment of truth... 404 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:58,560 Looks a little bit flat, but lovely colour, nice and golden and looks really crispy. 405 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,040 Let's pop it on a plate. Here we go. 406 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:06,160 Now for me, a really good chicken kiev, when you cut it open, the inside should be nice and soft 407 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,320 and really ooze out, so let's see if that's going to happen. 408 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:12,720 Great crunch. 409 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:18,920 It's empty, ha! 410 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:27,320 I think what's happened, through the cooking all that garlic-y margarine has been absorbed 411 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:33,480 by the meat, because look, it's just like an empty pocket. Let's have a go, let's see what it tastes like. 412 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,760 Can't always go on looks. 413 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:38,720 Smells nice. 414 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,520 Mmm, it tastes like... 415 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:50,960 it's been going round a tyre. 416 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,360 Reminds me a bit of school dinners. 417 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,320 Well, you know, I tried. 418 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,920 It looks good, it could taste a bit better. 419 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,880 My very own, very cheap chicken kiev. 420 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:17,040 Like the car, it's a '70s retro classic. 421 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:19,400 Fire up the kiev! 422 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,400 I've seen a school for steaks, seen the processing behind 423 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,800 a cheap chicken kiev and made explosive oven chips. 424 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,960 I had no idea pub grub held so many secrets. 425 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,920 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd