1 00:00:02,940 --> 00:00:07,660 The Cornish pasty. This pastry-based meal-for-one is a British classic. 2 00:00:09,220 --> 00:00:12,780 We get through 120 million of them a year. 3 00:00:12,780 --> 00:00:15,180 Laid end to end, 4 00:00:15,180 --> 00:00:19,140 that's enough to stretch from here to Bangkok and back. 5 00:00:19,140 --> 00:00:21,060 To be labelled as Cornish pasties, 6 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:25,460 every single one of them needs to be made in Cornwall. 7 00:00:25,460 --> 00:00:30,940 That's because, legally, they have protected geographical status. 8 00:00:30,940 --> 00:00:33,780 You can't go making them anywhere else. 9 00:00:35,420 --> 00:00:37,820 So, to find out how they're made, 10 00:00:37,820 --> 00:00:43,140 I've come here to the biggest Cornish pasty factory in the world. 11 00:00:46,980 --> 00:00:49,700 Whoa! That's a swede avalanche. 12 00:00:49,700 --> 00:00:50,940 I'm Gregg Wallace. 13 00:00:50,940 --> 00:00:52,100 Oh, sorry. Now, you... 14 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:54,260 It's sticking, it's sticking! 15 00:00:54,260 --> 00:00:57,580 And I'm getting a much-needed lesson in pastry management. 16 00:00:57,580 --> 00:00:59,180 Whoa! 17 00:00:59,180 --> 00:01:01,220 And flavourful fillings. 18 00:01:01,220 --> 00:01:05,260 For a proper Cornish pasty, it's got to be baked from raw ingredients. 19 00:01:05,260 --> 00:01:06,500 I didn't know that. 20 00:01:06,500 --> 00:01:07,660 I'm Cherry Healey. 21 00:01:07,660 --> 00:01:11,140 I'll be getting to the root of what goes into this savoury treat. 22 00:01:12,300 --> 00:01:14,220 Aaah! It's really hard. 23 00:01:14,220 --> 00:01:15,660 No, a little bit more. Ha, ha! 24 00:01:15,660 --> 00:01:17,460 It's like I'm carving a Sunday roast. 25 00:01:19,180 --> 00:01:21,300 And historian Ruth Goodman... 26 00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:23,100 Look at the chandeliers! 27 00:01:23,100 --> 00:01:27,620 ..is unearthing the truth behind some common pasty myths. 28 00:01:27,620 --> 00:01:31,460 I've heard the crimp around the edge was used just as handle. 29 00:01:31,460 --> 00:01:34,300 Sorry, I'm not going to go along with this. You're not convinced? 30 00:01:36,540 --> 00:01:38,580 Over the next 24 hours, 31 00:01:38,580 --> 00:01:42,220 180,000 Cornish pasties 32 00:01:42,220 --> 00:01:44,980 will fly out the door of this bakery. 33 00:01:44,980 --> 00:01:47,100 Welcome to Inside the Factory. 34 00:02:09,860 --> 00:02:14,540 This is the Ginsters bakery in the town of Callington, Cornwall. 35 00:02:14,540 --> 00:02:18,180 This 20-acre site makes over three million savoury 36 00:02:18,180 --> 00:02:20,020 pastries every week. 37 00:02:22,820 --> 00:02:25,700 From chicken and mushroom to steak slices. 38 00:02:27,420 --> 00:02:29,380 But, today, we're looking at how they make 39 00:02:29,380 --> 00:02:32,540 their large Cornish pasties. 40 00:02:32,540 --> 00:02:34,860 In order to be called Cornish, 41 00:02:34,860 --> 00:02:38,900 they not only have to be made in Cornwall, but they can only contain 42 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:40,780 three specific vegetables - 43 00:02:40,780 --> 00:02:43,020 onion, potato and swede. 44 00:02:45,500 --> 00:02:48,300 The first of today's vegetable deliveries is arriving 45 00:02:48,300 --> 00:02:50,420 at the bakery's intake area... 46 00:02:54,940 --> 00:02:58,620 ..where I'm meeting production director Richard Bain. 47 00:02:58,620 --> 00:02:59,940 Good morning. And to you. 48 00:02:59,940 --> 00:03:03,020 What you got there - fresh batch of swedes? Exactly right. 49 00:03:03,020 --> 00:03:05,340 So how much swede have you got in here now? 50 00:03:05,340 --> 00:03:07,780 2.1 tonnes on this delivery. 2.1 tonnes of swede?! 51 00:03:07,780 --> 00:03:09,460 We're making a lot of pasties. 52 00:03:09,460 --> 00:03:12,660 You know, we've got to keep the swede rolling. How many pasties will that make? 53 00:03:12,660 --> 00:03:15,940 So we'd expect this delivery to make 184,000 pasties. 54 00:03:15,940 --> 00:03:17,900 Crikey. Come on, let's have a look. 55 00:03:17,900 --> 00:03:19,340 All right, get it unloaded. 56 00:03:20,340 --> 00:03:22,380 Our pasty production begins. 57 00:03:25,900 --> 00:03:27,460 Brilliant! 58 00:03:27,460 --> 00:03:30,820 This tough little root veg was first introduced to the UK 59 00:03:30,820 --> 00:03:32,340 in the 18th century. 60 00:03:34,540 --> 00:03:37,620 Today, farmers sow its seeds in the early summer 61 00:03:37,620 --> 00:03:42,100 and harvest in the autumn and winter. Cherry is lending a hand. 62 00:03:43,980 --> 00:03:48,780 It's 8am and swede dreams are about to be made right here. 63 00:03:50,780 --> 00:03:56,100 This 550-acre farm in Devon grows 12,500 tons of swedes a year. 64 00:03:57,660 --> 00:04:00,420 Farm manager Richard Clarke is in charge. 65 00:04:00,420 --> 00:04:02,380 Morning, Richard. Morning, Cherry. All right? 66 00:04:02,380 --> 00:04:05,420 I've got a lot of pasties that are in need of a swede. Yeah. 67 00:04:05,420 --> 00:04:08,900 I think you might be able to help me, looking at this field. Yeah. We've got a few. 68 00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:10,820 Oh, wow. 69 00:04:10,820 --> 00:04:12,900 Look at that. Oh. Would you like to try a bite? 70 00:04:12,900 --> 00:04:15,580 I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of eating a raw suede. 71 00:04:15,580 --> 00:04:16,820 First time for everything. 72 00:04:18,660 --> 00:04:21,420 That's quite nice. Quite sweet, really, isn't it? 73 00:04:21,420 --> 00:04:25,140 So what is the difference between a swede and a turnip? 74 00:04:25,140 --> 00:04:29,140 Turnips are quite white on the bottom and more purple around the top. 75 00:04:29,140 --> 00:04:31,220 More of a radish, really, a bit more bitter. 76 00:04:31,220 --> 00:04:36,860 Whereas swedes are orange and sweet, but they're not the easiest of veg 77 00:04:36,860 --> 00:04:38,500 to get out of the ground. 78 00:04:38,500 --> 00:04:41,380 Oh, my God. Feel like The Sword in the Stone. 79 00:04:41,380 --> 00:04:43,620 Aaaargh! Oh, I got it! 80 00:04:44,660 --> 00:04:45,660 Great, yeah. 81 00:04:47,500 --> 00:04:52,580 Fortunately, Richard has the help of a seven-and-a-half-ton harvester... 82 00:04:53,740 --> 00:04:56,100 ..that can pull up 200 a minute. 83 00:04:58,340 --> 00:05:02,620 There's a long piece of metal that goes just underneath the roots of the swede. Yeah. 84 00:05:02,620 --> 00:05:06,220 So a huge spade goes underneath the roots, lifts up the swede. 85 00:05:06,220 --> 00:05:07,820 To bring it up, yeah, exactly. 86 00:05:09,820 --> 00:05:13,580 Hidden just behind the wheels, the blade scoops up the veg 87 00:05:13,580 --> 00:05:18,140 and bounces them over a perforated conveyor which shakes off the soil. 88 00:05:21,580 --> 00:05:25,380 Large stones, leaves and roots are picked out by hand. 89 00:05:25,380 --> 00:05:28,340 Then the swedes drop into a trailer, 90 00:05:28,340 --> 00:05:30,180 which is pulled alongside. 91 00:05:31,980 --> 00:05:34,220 So is that your average swede? Yeah. 92 00:05:34,220 --> 00:05:35,820 What's a big swede? 93 00:05:35,820 --> 00:05:37,060 Ho! 94 00:05:37,060 --> 00:05:38,660 You're not mucking about, are you? 95 00:05:38,660 --> 00:05:41,660 Yeah. You could make a lot of pasties with that. You could, yeah. 96 00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:46,260 Whoppers and tiddlers alike, Richard's harvester gathers 97 00:05:46,260 --> 00:05:49,380 100 tonnes of them a day. 98 00:05:49,380 --> 00:05:51,820 They head four miles down the road... 99 00:05:54,100 --> 00:05:57,740 ..where they are tipped into a 9,000-litre water bath... 100 00:05:58,700 --> 00:06:01,060 Here they co... Whoa! 101 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:02,940 ..which cleans them up. 102 00:06:04,140 --> 00:06:05,980 The swedes are having a swim. 103 00:06:05,980 --> 00:06:08,220 Yeah, this is the first wash they get. 104 00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:12,140 They climb up and into a rotating drum, which tumbles them 105 00:06:12,140 --> 00:06:14,420 at 20 revolutions a minute. 106 00:06:14,420 --> 00:06:16,980 It's a bit like a very elaborate carwash. 107 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:19,380 Yeah, pretty much. But just for a swede. Yeah. 108 00:06:19,380 --> 00:06:22,660 Now free of soil, the swedes are sorted by size. 109 00:06:22,660 --> 00:06:27,420 Only the small and medium ones fit through our factory's machines. 110 00:06:27,420 --> 00:06:30,100 So the big ones are separated out. 111 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:33,300 They'll head off to supermarkets and other factories instead. 112 00:06:33,300 --> 00:06:36,180 Look at these now they're all washed. They look beautiful. 113 00:06:36,180 --> 00:06:39,100 Yeah. It does have a bit of a hairdo problem. 114 00:06:39,100 --> 00:06:41,220 Yeah, well, we'll take that off next door. 115 00:06:43,140 --> 00:06:45,980 A team of 15 people use machetes 116 00:06:45,980 --> 00:06:50,780 to give 375 swedes a short back and sides every minute. 117 00:06:53,020 --> 00:06:55,980 So, quick and forceful. Yeah, you've got to be confident. 118 00:06:57,100 --> 00:06:58,300 Aaargh. 119 00:06:58,300 --> 00:06:59,940 It's really hard. 120 00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:03,140 Oh, is that not enough? No, a little bit more. 121 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:05,940 Ha, ha, it's like I'm carving a Sunday roast. 122 00:07:07,060 --> 00:07:08,660 I don't think I'm cut out for this. 123 00:07:10,900 --> 00:07:14,820 Now topped and tailed, the clean-cut veg are presentable enough 124 00:07:14,820 --> 00:07:16,660 to become pasty filling. 125 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:25,500 68 miles down the road in misty Cornwall, 126 00:07:25,500 --> 00:07:30,940 it's taken 30 minutes to offload today's 2,100-kilo delivery. 127 00:07:36,180 --> 00:07:41,060 Once safely inside, prep operator Paul Hutchins checks them over. 128 00:07:42,620 --> 00:07:44,620 Hello, Gregg. Hello, my friend. 129 00:07:44,620 --> 00:07:46,660 Yah, big pile of swedes. What happens to them now? 130 00:07:46,660 --> 00:07:49,220 They are put into the swede tipper behind you. 131 00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:52,540 And what do we do? Just tip it up? Yeah, carefully tip it up. 132 00:07:52,540 --> 00:07:56,620 Obviously, you don't want 300 kilos of swede going over at once. 133 00:07:57,740 --> 00:08:00,940 My reputation for clumsiness clearly precedes me. 134 00:08:00,940 --> 00:08:02,900 Whoa, bit nervous. 135 00:08:02,900 --> 00:08:05,660 But I reckon I can't go wrong pressing a button. 136 00:08:08,660 --> 00:08:13,260 The tipper uses an eight-tonne hydraulic ram to lift the veg. 137 00:08:16,380 --> 00:08:17,460 I can hear 'em. Yeah. 138 00:08:18,780 --> 00:08:21,740 Whoa, whoa! But I've been a bit heavy-handed. 139 00:08:21,740 --> 00:08:23,500 Whoa! Yeah, you've got to... 140 00:08:23,500 --> 00:08:25,100 That's a swede avalanche! 141 00:08:25,100 --> 00:08:27,500 I've overloaded the chute. 142 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:29,100 HE LAUGHS 143 00:08:29,100 --> 00:08:30,820 Did I tip it up too high? 144 00:08:32,780 --> 00:08:34,220 I messed it up a bit, didn't I? 145 00:08:34,220 --> 00:08:36,220 Yes, you did a little bit. 146 00:08:39,340 --> 00:08:45,060 We're quickly back on track and our swedes take a short 20-metre trip 147 00:08:45,060 --> 00:08:46,980 to the vegetable prep area. 148 00:08:51,100 --> 00:08:55,700 Here, they fall into a water tank for another wash. 149 00:08:55,700 --> 00:08:58,940 This is the reason why we don't let so many down the belt in one go. 150 00:08:58,940 --> 00:09:01,500 As you can see in there. That's all right, that's not full up. 151 00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:04,060 No, they should all be under water. 152 00:09:04,060 --> 00:09:05,420 Oh! 153 00:09:05,420 --> 00:09:06,900 Sorry. That's all right. 154 00:09:09,980 --> 00:09:13,980 Luckily, my swede sabotage hasn't completely messed things up. 155 00:09:15,820 --> 00:09:19,900 With the push of a button, they're raised out of the water 156 00:09:19,900 --> 00:09:23,580 by an Archimedes screw and are dropped into a rotating drum 157 00:09:23,580 --> 00:09:25,980 which strips them of their skin. 158 00:09:25,980 --> 00:09:29,980 You can actually hear the swedes hitting the side of the drum. 159 00:09:29,980 --> 00:09:32,260 That's the high speed it's spinning at. 160 00:09:32,260 --> 00:09:35,580 You know what that's like? Being under a tin roof in a thunderstorm. 161 00:09:35,580 --> 00:09:36,740 Yes. 162 00:09:36,740 --> 00:09:41,020 It's spinning at 230 revolutions per minute. 163 00:09:41,020 --> 00:09:42,140 I've got a spare one here. 164 00:09:42,140 --> 00:09:45,300 It's a very rough, abrasive material we use there. 165 00:09:45,300 --> 00:09:47,700 It's like a heavy duty sandpaper. Yes, it is. 166 00:09:47,700 --> 00:09:50,780 That spins very fast, pushing the swede against the side, 167 00:09:50,780 --> 00:09:52,620 which is what causes them to peel. 168 00:09:52,620 --> 00:09:54,060 Wow. 169 00:09:54,060 --> 00:09:55,380 That is seriously abrasive. 170 00:09:55,380 --> 00:09:57,660 It is. Yeah. 171 00:09:57,660 --> 00:10:03,460 This mean machine de-skins 30kg of swedes in just 50 seconds. 172 00:10:03,460 --> 00:10:04,900 Whoa! 173 00:10:04,900 --> 00:10:06,580 HE LAUGHS 174 00:10:06,580 --> 00:10:08,860 Peel them beautifully, don't they? They do. 175 00:10:08,860 --> 00:10:12,100 The newly nude veg are lifted out of the water 176 00:10:12,100 --> 00:10:14,140 by another Archimedes screw. 177 00:10:15,340 --> 00:10:17,940 Now what happens? They are cut into flakes. 178 00:10:17,940 --> 00:10:19,380 You don't dice them up? 179 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:21,420 We flake them because they cook quicker. 180 00:10:22,540 --> 00:10:23,860 RATTLING 181 00:10:23,860 --> 00:10:26,700 Each swede is pushed through a blade 182 00:10:26,700 --> 00:10:30,900 which slices it into three millimetre thick strips. 183 00:10:30,900 --> 00:10:32,700 It's raining swede! 184 00:10:32,700 --> 00:10:37,100 Then each slice is cut into two centimetre squares called flakes. 185 00:10:37,100 --> 00:10:39,060 GREGG LAUGHS 186 00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:44,300 We weigh out 45 kilos of them for one batch of pasties. 187 00:10:47,420 --> 00:10:49,460 Do you know how many pasties that would make? 188 00:10:49,460 --> 00:10:51,340 Yeah, roughly 3,600. 189 00:10:51,340 --> 00:10:53,940 Big numbers for a little swede, right? Very big numbers, yes. 190 00:10:53,940 --> 00:10:55,740 Yes, we got swedes. 191 00:10:55,740 --> 00:10:57,340 HE GROANS 192 00:10:58,820 --> 00:11:01,260 40 minutes after my swedes arrive, 193 00:11:01,260 --> 00:11:04,500 they're prepped and ready for pasty making. 194 00:11:04,500 --> 00:11:07,180 One veg down, two to go. 195 00:11:07,180 --> 00:11:09,220 Next up is the humble spud. 196 00:11:10,740 --> 00:11:16,700 A batch of 224kg is de-skinned and flaked, just like our swede. 197 00:11:18,300 --> 00:11:21,340 The third and final veg is onion, 198 00:11:21,340 --> 00:11:22,780 which is prepped last... 199 00:11:22,780 --> 00:11:23,980 I'll help. 200 00:11:23,980 --> 00:11:27,620 ..because it can quickly lose moisture and dry out. 201 00:11:27,620 --> 00:11:31,300 How many onions do we need for our batch? 50 kilos. 50 kilos. 202 00:11:32,540 --> 00:11:34,620 Why don't you cry when they're chopping the onions? 203 00:11:34,620 --> 00:11:36,020 You will eventually. 204 00:11:38,900 --> 00:11:43,300 Well, that's our three veg prepped and ready for our Cornish pasties. 205 00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:48,180 But when did the Cornish pasty become, well, the Cornish pasty? 206 00:11:48,180 --> 00:11:50,700 Ruth's going underground to find out. 207 00:11:53,020 --> 00:11:55,980 Cornwall isn't just famous for its pasties. 208 00:11:55,980 --> 00:11:57,660 For around 4,000 years, 209 00:11:57,660 --> 00:12:00,900 it was the centre of tin mining. 210 00:12:00,900 --> 00:12:04,020 It's been claimed that the men who toiled at the rock face invented 211 00:12:04,020 --> 00:12:06,460 pasties as a convenient snack - 212 00:12:07,460 --> 00:12:09,940 and that they even helped influence their classic shape. 213 00:12:09,940 --> 00:12:13,780 But how much of what we think we know about Cornish pasties 214 00:12:13,780 --> 00:12:15,180 is really true? 215 00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:20,260 I've arranged an underground rendezvous in this abandoned mine 216 00:12:20,260 --> 00:12:23,100 with food historian Glyn Hughes... 217 00:12:23,100 --> 00:12:25,540 Glyn? Ruth. Hey! THEY LAUGH 218 00:12:25,540 --> 00:12:29,580 ..to help me unpack the connection between miners and pasties. 219 00:12:29,580 --> 00:12:32,740 Digging this rock out is really, really hard work. 220 00:12:32,740 --> 00:12:34,500 You need to get energy inside you. 221 00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:36,100 And what could be better than a pasty? 222 00:12:36,100 --> 00:12:37,700 Yeah, makes sense. 223 00:12:37,700 --> 00:12:40,300 We've got a photograph here in my miner's bag. 224 00:12:40,300 --> 00:12:42,780 This is from the 1890s. 225 00:12:42,780 --> 00:12:45,460 Yeah, I mean, that's really clearly a pasty. 226 00:12:45,460 --> 00:12:47,700 It's a meal all in one, isn't it? It's simple. 227 00:12:47,700 --> 00:12:49,780 It's easy to carry and it's cheap. 228 00:12:49,780 --> 00:12:53,260 These fellas were not well-paid, they were very often working on a 229 00:12:53,260 --> 00:12:56,700 system where they only got paid if they could actually get tin ore out. 230 00:12:56,700 --> 00:13:00,620 So you want something you can eat quick because it's eating into your earning. Absolutely. 231 00:13:00,620 --> 00:13:03,140 It is the ultimate convenience food. 232 00:13:06,820 --> 00:13:10,980 It's clear that miners WERE packing pasties in their lunches. 233 00:13:10,980 --> 00:13:14,580 But what about the idea that they had a very particular 234 00:13:14,580 --> 00:13:16,260 way of eating them? 235 00:13:16,260 --> 00:13:18,180 I've heard, traditionally, 236 00:13:18,180 --> 00:13:21,620 the crimp around the edge, that sort of crust bit, 237 00:13:21,620 --> 00:13:25,060 was used just as a handle and wasn't for eating. 238 00:13:25,060 --> 00:13:27,740 Well, have a look. Freshly made. 239 00:13:27,740 --> 00:13:32,780 The reason for that story, I think, is that this isn't just tin ore. 240 00:13:32,780 --> 00:13:34,540 There's also arsenic here. 241 00:13:34,540 --> 00:13:38,260 And that's not a very good thing to get on your hands. Right. 242 00:13:38,260 --> 00:13:41,100 So if you just hold it by the crust, then you throw the crust away, 243 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:44,140 you don't eat the arsenic. Well, I'm not going to go along with this. 244 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:45,740 You're not convinced? 245 00:13:45,740 --> 00:13:49,500 Actually, I couldn't even hold the weight of the pasty just by the crust. No, I don't think so. 246 00:13:49,500 --> 00:13:51,260 In any case, we've seen it from the 1890s. 247 00:13:51,260 --> 00:13:53,140 And they've got them in little bags. 248 00:13:53,140 --> 00:13:54,700 Lovely little cloth bag! 249 00:13:54,700 --> 00:13:56,100 Yeah. Absolutely. 250 00:13:56,100 --> 00:14:00,180 So is there any actual historical evidence of 19th-century miners 251 00:14:00,180 --> 00:14:01,420 using it as a handle? 252 00:14:01,420 --> 00:14:06,740 Well, we've been back through literally thousands and thousands 253 00:14:06,740 --> 00:14:10,340 of newspapers and magazines going back to the 18th century 254 00:14:10,340 --> 00:14:14,140 and we can find absolutely no mention of it anywhere. 255 00:14:14,140 --> 00:14:17,100 So it seems the traditional story of how miners ate 256 00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:19,700 these pasties is false. 257 00:14:19,700 --> 00:14:23,020 Far from being a handle, the crimps simply sealed the fillings 258 00:14:23,020 --> 00:14:24,380 into the pastry. 259 00:14:24,380 --> 00:14:27,100 Shall we go and get some fresh air? Some fresh air, yes. 260 00:14:28,940 --> 00:14:34,140 And these miners can't lay claim to inventing the pasty either. 261 00:14:34,140 --> 00:14:35,540 Ah, daylight! 262 00:14:35,540 --> 00:14:40,020 People had been folding pastry over fillings for 2,000 years, 263 00:14:40,020 --> 00:14:43,860 and it's thought that the first use of the word "pasty" came way back 264 00:14:43,860 --> 00:14:45,300 in the 13th century. 265 00:14:47,340 --> 00:14:51,700 This is what a traditional medieval pasty would look like. 266 00:14:51,700 --> 00:14:55,260 It's one single piece of meat, in this case, some venison, 267 00:14:55,260 --> 00:14:58,100 some wine with spices, with butter, nutmeg on top, 268 00:14:58,100 --> 00:15:00,340 a very fancy piece of pastry around it. 269 00:15:00,340 --> 00:15:04,340 This is not your everyday snack down a tin mine, is it? 270 00:15:04,340 --> 00:15:07,060 So who exactly would have been eating something like that? 271 00:15:07,060 --> 00:15:08,460 The fella in the big house. 272 00:15:08,460 --> 00:15:09,660 Right. The King. 273 00:15:09,660 --> 00:15:10,820 The Queen. 274 00:15:10,820 --> 00:15:13,020 Oh, now, that looks good, doesn't it? 275 00:15:13,020 --> 00:15:15,780 Very reminiscent of the beef Wellington. It is. 276 00:15:15,780 --> 00:15:20,220 So how, then, do we go from this sort of pasty to what we know today 277 00:15:20,220 --> 00:15:22,060 as a Cornish pasty? 278 00:15:22,060 --> 00:15:24,940 As always, with ordinary, everyday people's foods, 279 00:15:24,940 --> 00:15:27,340 the problem is it doesn't get written down. 280 00:15:27,340 --> 00:15:30,060 It's only the posh people's stuff that gets written down. 281 00:15:32,380 --> 00:15:36,260 Over the centuries, the vegetable contents slowly increased 282 00:15:36,260 --> 00:15:39,100 and Cornwall became particularly associated 283 00:15:39,100 --> 00:15:41,380 with these pastry-wrapped treats. 284 00:15:43,020 --> 00:15:46,860 The earliest reference we can definitely find to a Cornish pasty 285 00:15:46,860 --> 00:15:49,900 is, strangely enough, in the Leeds Times. 286 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:54,500 This is 1861 and this says, "The standing dish of Cornwall 287 00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:59,900 "is the Cornish pasty, small pieces of beef, highly peppered, enclosed 288 00:15:59,900 --> 00:16:02,220 "in a wrapper of paste." 289 00:16:02,220 --> 00:16:05,460 So it's starting to become a regional specialism. 290 00:16:05,460 --> 00:16:06,980 But it's not exactly the same, is it? 291 00:16:06,980 --> 00:16:08,980 There's no vegetables there. 292 00:16:08,980 --> 00:16:12,660 The first reference we can find to a Cornish pasty as it's made now 293 00:16:12,660 --> 00:16:15,100 is as recent as 1929. 294 00:16:15,100 --> 00:16:18,140 It's in Cornish Recipes Ancient and Modern. 295 00:16:18,140 --> 00:16:19,820 And a lovely little poem. 296 00:16:19,820 --> 00:16:21,220 A Cornish Pasty. 297 00:16:21,220 --> 00:16:23,060 Pastry rolled out like a plate, 298 00:16:23,060 --> 00:16:25,220 Piled with "turmut, tates and mate." 299 00:16:25,220 --> 00:16:27,540 Doubled up, and baked like fate, 300 00:16:27,540 --> 00:16:29,300 That's a "Cornish Pasty." 301 00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:31,140 It's there, isn't it? Absolutely. 302 00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:35,540 I mean, the main ingredient, turmut, that's like turnips and swede. Yep. 303 00:16:35,540 --> 00:16:39,380 Tates - potatoes, and mate, accent on meat, isn't it? Yeah. 304 00:16:39,380 --> 00:16:42,260 So why do you think it sort of finally settled 305 00:16:42,260 --> 00:16:44,460 on these simple ingredients? 306 00:16:44,460 --> 00:16:47,380 Because they're cheap, and because they're produced locally. 307 00:16:47,380 --> 00:16:50,020 And very delicious. Very delicious indeed. 308 00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:57,380 There may be gaps in the local history of these famous pastry parcels, 309 00:16:57,380 --> 00:16:59,700 but one thing's for sure - those miner's knew 310 00:16:59,700 --> 00:17:01,620 they were onto a good thing. 311 00:17:09,540 --> 00:17:12,580 Back at the factory, we're continuing that proud 312 00:17:12,580 --> 00:17:15,820 pasty-making tradition. All the veg are prepped. 313 00:17:15,820 --> 00:17:17,180 Hello... 314 00:17:17,180 --> 00:17:20,300 And I'm with Richard to beef up my fillings. 315 00:17:22,940 --> 00:17:28,580 The factory gets through 70,000kg of British beef every week. 316 00:17:28,580 --> 00:17:32,300 Whoa, that's it, a drum of beef. 317 00:17:32,300 --> 00:17:34,140 Can I ask what cut that is? 318 00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:37,740 That's flank from this section of the animal, sits over the top of the rib cage. 319 00:17:37,740 --> 00:17:40,380 There's a nice big-sized muscle of it, so there's plenty of it. 320 00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:43,460 It's 30% fat to 70% meat. 321 00:17:43,460 --> 00:17:47,100 That fat will help to keep our pasty filling moist. 322 00:17:47,100 --> 00:17:50,020 So now you cut it into chunks, I'm guessing. 323 00:17:50,020 --> 00:17:51,460 No, we're going to mince this. 324 00:17:51,460 --> 00:17:53,620 Mince it? You don't have mince in a Cornish pasty! 325 00:17:53,620 --> 00:17:55,740 You can have mince in a Cornish pasty, and we mince it 326 00:17:55,740 --> 00:17:59,060 so we get a nice even amount of beef throughout the whole of the pasty. 327 00:17:59,060 --> 00:18:01,500 What you're saying is if it was chunks, I might take a bite 328 00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:03,980 of a Cornish pasty that might not have meat in. That's right. 329 00:18:03,980 --> 00:18:06,220 Cos it might all be at one end. That's right, yeah. 330 00:18:06,220 --> 00:18:09,220 What percentage of the Cornish pasty is the meat? 331 00:18:09,220 --> 00:18:11,300 So 15% beef in every pasty. 332 00:18:11,300 --> 00:18:15,140 And it's going to need 138 kilos from the mincer to go into our batch 333 00:18:15,140 --> 00:18:16,540 to be able to get the 3,600. 334 00:18:16,540 --> 00:18:18,940 Why do you smile when you say the weight of beef? 335 00:18:18,940 --> 00:18:22,180 Because I just didn't want to forget the number. You swotted up before I got here! 336 00:18:22,180 --> 00:18:25,100 I've made sure I'm aware of the numbers that we're using. 337 00:18:29,900 --> 00:18:32,380 This lot is about to become mince. 338 00:18:34,020 --> 00:18:36,460 Inside this mincer, there is a screw 339 00:18:36,460 --> 00:18:38,260 that pushes it through the mincing plate. 340 00:18:38,260 --> 00:18:39,940 Like an old-fashioned sausage machine? 341 00:18:39,940 --> 00:18:42,820 Yeah, we've just got a big version of it. 342 00:18:44,580 --> 00:18:47,020 Whoa! Look at that. 343 00:18:47,020 --> 00:18:50,900 The screw hacks through the pieces, then forces them through three 344 00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:53,820 plates with increasingly smaller holes. 345 00:18:53,820 --> 00:18:58,940 The meat emerges as uniform, 5mm-thick ribbons of mince. 346 00:18:58,940 --> 00:19:01,020 Whoa! That's a serious amount, isn't it? 347 00:19:01,020 --> 00:19:03,900 At a rate of 1.5 tonnes an hour. 348 00:19:04,900 --> 00:19:06,260 Our spare plates are just here. 349 00:19:06,260 --> 00:19:07,540 Come on, show me. 350 00:19:07,540 --> 00:19:09,180 So this is the first plate. 351 00:19:09,180 --> 00:19:11,180 The red meat comes through this section. 352 00:19:11,180 --> 00:19:13,180 That blade rotates, which cuts the meat. 353 00:19:13,180 --> 00:19:16,060 Then it comes through the next plate, which sits over the top. 354 00:19:16,060 --> 00:19:18,420 And the red soft meat that we're looking for in our pasties 355 00:19:18,420 --> 00:19:21,020 comes through this final plate. 356 00:19:21,020 --> 00:19:24,220 And there's an ingenious way to remove any gristle. 357 00:19:25,900 --> 00:19:28,660 What's the - like sausage - that's coming out the side there? 358 00:19:28,660 --> 00:19:32,100 Well, this tube here is what we call the de-gristling tube. De-gristling tube? 359 00:19:32,100 --> 00:19:33,980 We're working on the basic density, 360 00:19:33,980 --> 00:19:36,220 the tougher chewier part of it is more dense. 361 00:19:36,220 --> 00:19:39,260 So any gristle that might be in there gets exited out the left 362 00:19:39,260 --> 00:19:41,740 and we don't get any gristle or chewy bits in the mince. 363 00:19:41,740 --> 00:19:44,180 The gristle's too big to go through the little holes? 364 00:19:44,180 --> 00:19:47,340 Yeah. And then you sell that to go into other people's pasties? 365 00:19:47,340 --> 00:19:49,980 HE LAUGHS No, that goes to food waste. 366 00:19:51,220 --> 00:19:52,580 Over an hour into the process, 367 00:19:52,580 --> 00:19:56,260 our mince is covered to keep it fresh. 368 00:19:56,260 --> 00:19:58,300 But it still needs seasoning. 369 00:19:58,300 --> 00:20:00,140 # Spice up your life... # 370 00:20:00,140 --> 00:20:03,820 So I follow my nose to the aptly-named Spice Room. 371 00:20:05,620 --> 00:20:07,140 You can smell it. You can. 372 00:20:07,140 --> 00:20:09,140 An overriding smell of pepper. 373 00:20:10,780 --> 00:20:15,700 The dry powder ingredients for our Cornish pasties are blended here. 374 00:20:15,700 --> 00:20:17,620 So if you can grab the pepper. 375 00:20:17,620 --> 00:20:18,980 Yes. Yes. 376 00:20:20,300 --> 00:20:24,020 They mix in a monster 180-litre blender. 377 00:20:24,020 --> 00:20:25,940 Already inside is salt 378 00:20:25,940 --> 00:20:30,820 and vegetable stock for flavour, and starch to thicken it all up. 379 00:20:30,820 --> 00:20:33,460 I'll just get some coriander and some white pepper 380 00:20:33,460 --> 00:20:35,500 and add some mustard. Righto. 381 00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:37,340 That is a fair amount of mustard. 382 00:20:37,340 --> 00:20:39,740 That's a hot old mix, mate. 383 00:20:39,740 --> 00:20:42,820 But that's not the only kick in here. 384 00:20:42,820 --> 00:20:45,740 Where do these black peppercorns come from? Cos they are powerful, mate. 385 00:20:45,740 --> 00:20:48,140 The pepper's coming from Indonesia. Right. 386 00:20:48,140 --> 00:20:51,180 It's a specific pepper type that we use. 387 00:20:51,180 --> 00:20:52,780 Is it a secret? Yeah. 388 00:20:52,780 --> 00:20:53,980 Is it? 389 00:20:53,980 --> 00:20:55,380 No. 390 00:20:57,500 --> 00:21:01,300 I'm going to take Richard with a pinch of salt from now on. 391 00:21:01,300 --> 00:21:05,420 And I'm keen as mustard to get my seasoning mixed. Tip it all in. 392 00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:10,700 Combining the powders like this ensures that every pasty 393 00:21:10,700 --> 00:21:13,460 gets a consistent blend of spices. 394 00:21:16,740 --> 00:21:19,580 A six-minute spin is all they need. 395 00:21:22,540 --> 00:21:24,940 Now we come into our weighing-up booth. 396 00:21:24,940 --> 00:21:27,140 We are going to get all that up our nose, aren't we? 397 00:21:27,140 --> 00:21:28,700 Well, you step forward into there 398 00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:30,740 and see whether you can tell the difference. 399 00:21:32,780 --> 00:21:35,020 You've got some serious extraction here, haven't you? 400 00:21:35,020 --> 00:21:37,980 This is a downflow booth, it's bringing in the air down gradually 401 00:21:37,980 --> 00:21:39,900 and out through the filters in the bottom. 402 00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:42,340 Out here, you've got the slight irritant of a pepper. Yep. 403 00:21:43,580 --> 00:21:46,300 But, in here, you've got nothing. So this is all designed to make sure 404 00:21:46,300 --> 00:21:48,500 that it's - literally - not going up our nose. 405 00:21:50,660 --> 00:21:54,300 I measure out four bags, each containing four kilos 406 00:21:54,300 --> 00:21:56,260 of my powerful spice blend. 407 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:01,420 And we head to the Mixing Room, 408 00:22:01,420 --> 00:22:05,700 where all our fillings are finally coming together. 409 00:22:08,420 --> 00:22:11,260 Give these to you? Thank you very much. Thank you. Splendid. 410 00:22:11,260 --> 00:22:14,620 Perfect. So these are all of our ingredients for our pasty mix. 411 00:22:14,620 --> 00:22:16,460 Got our beef. Yeah. Some diced onions. 412 00:22:16,460 --> 00:22:18,700 That's the swede. Are those two at the back potatoes? 413 00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:20,500 They are, that's the potato at the back. 414 00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:23,180 That's a nice mix, mate. That's a nice mix. 415 00:22:24,580 --> 00:22:26,820 But it's not an even mix. 416 00:22:26,820 --> 00:22:29,660 The vegetables are very different sizes. 417 00:22:29,660 --> 00:22:33,500 For a proper Cornish pasty, it's got to be baked from raw ingredients. 418 00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:37,780 I didn't know that. The vegetables are all prepared to a flake 419 00:22:37,780 --> 00:22:40,700 and a size to make sure they all cook evenly at the same time. 420 00:22:40,700 --> 00:22:44,980 So if I get you a piece of swede and a piece of potato, you can see 421 00:22:44,980 --> 00:22:47,540 that the potato is slightly thicker than the swede. 422 00:22:47,540 --> 00:22:52,220 That's because the swede is denser than the potato and will take longer 423 00:22:52,220 --> 00:22:53,820 to cook. You've got it. 424 00:22:53,820 --> 00:22:56,860 And if they were the same size, they would cook at different times. 425 00:22:56,860 --> 00:22:59,060 Exactly right. So you cut 'em exactly right, 426 00:22:59,060 --> 00:23:01,540 so they all cook at the same time. That's it. Let's do it. 427 00:23:01,540 --> 00:23:03,700 Let's do it. Let's get it together. 428 00:23:03,700 --> 00:23:08,460 Our 45 kilograms of swede goes into the paddle mixer first, 429 00:23:08,460 --> 00:23:12,500 followed by 224 kilograms of potatoes. 430 00:23:12,500 --> 00:23:14,780 And finally... Onions! 431 00:23:14,780 --> 00:23:16,780 ..50 kilos of them. 432 00:23:16,780 --> 00:23:20,860 Now, we're going to mix all the vegetables to get that nice and even through. 433 00:23:22,540 --> 00:23:25,300 After a couple of minutes, we add the spices. 434 00:23:25,300 --> 00:23:26,660 Nice. 435 00:23:26,660 --> 00:23:29,980 The starch starts to bind all the veg together. 436 00:23:29,980 --> 00:23:32,300 We don't want to put the beef in until the end, 437 00:23:32,300 --> 00:23:34,500 because the beef is a bit more delicate. 438 00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:36,260 It's already minced, why would it matter? 439 00:23:36,260 --> 00:23:39,220 Well, you'd lose the texture. We don't want it to turn into a gravy. 440 00:23:39,220 --> 00:23:40,620 So we're as gentle as we can. 441 00:23:40,620 --> 00:23:41,980 Right, OK. 442 00:23:43,220 --> 00:23:45,820 After two minutes... Whoa! 443 00:23:45,820 --> 00:23:49,100 ..we add 138 kilos of our minced beef. 444 00:23:50,420 --> 00:23:53,140 Right at the minute, you've got yellow with pink patches. 445 00:23:53,140 --> 00:23:55,220 It's like somebody's worst nightmare cardigan. 446 00:23:57,300 --> 00:24:01,860 Another 120 seconds and we have 507 kilos... 447 00:24:01,860 --> 00:24:03,300 That's great. 448 00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:06,260 ..of evenly mixed meat, veg and seasoning. 449 00:24:07,580 --> 00:24:10,460 You can smell the spice coming off there. You can. 450 00:24:12,260 --> 00:24:15,220 Along with these spices, it's the onion in our blend, 451 00:24:15,220 --> 00:24:18,940 which helps it to pack that flavourful punch. 452 00:24:18,940 --> 00:24:22,380 So what is it about them that we love so much? 453 00:24:22,380 --> 00:24:25,220 And why do they make us cry? 454 00:24:25,220 --> 00:24:29,140 Cherry is getting to grips with their chemistry. 455 00:24:30,260 --> 00:24:32,140 From beefburgers to bolognese, 456 00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:34,740 from stir fries to curry, 457 00:24:34,740 --> 00:24:38,660 onion is the essential ingredient for so many recipes 458 00:24:38,660 --> 00:24:40,300 around the world. 459 00:24:44,740 --> 00:24:48,420 To peel back the layers on this multi-purpose vegetable, 460 00:24:48,420 --> 00:24:51,620 I've come to one of Britain's biggest onion producers, 461 00:24:51,620 --> 00:24:54,460 Collmart, to see Dr Meriel Jones... 462 00:24:54,460 --> 00:24:56,500 Hi, Meriel. Nice to meet you. 463 00:24:56,500 --> 00:24:57,740 Nice to meet you. 464 00:24:57,740 --> 00:25:00,980 ..a biologist from the University of Liverpool. 465 00:25:00,980 --> 00:25:02,420 The wonderful onion. 466 00:25:02,420 --> 00:25:04,220 Where does it come from? 467 00:25:04,220 --> 00:25:07,900 They originate from somewhere in Central Asia, where it's very dry 468 00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:09,540 for a lot of the year. 469 00:25:09,540 --> 00:25:13,980 So the sugar, the water in these bulbs would have been great for 470 00:25:13,980 --> 00:25:15,020 people travelling. 471 00:25:15,020 --> 00:25:17,660 I would never think of an onion as having a lot of sugar. 472 00:25:17,660 --> 00:25:19,300 To me, it's savoury. 473 00:25:19,300 --> 00:25:24,140 Yes, but the sugar is concealed in the flavour by the savoury flavours. 474 00:25:24,140 --> 00:25:28,700 Is that why it makes such a good basis for a lot of recipes? 475 00:25:28,700 --> 00:25:30,420 Absolutely. Yes. 476 00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:35,940 It's their complex chemistry which makes onions so versatile 477 00:25:35,940 --> 00:25:39,460 and creates that all-too-familiar teary feeling. 478 00:25:40,980 --> 00:25:43,420 Boy, do they make you cry. But not immediately. 479 00:25:43,420 --> 00:25:45,460 I mean, try taking the skin off one. OK. 480 00:25:45,460 --> 00:25:47,580 And what's it smell like? 481 00:25:47,580 --> 00:25:48,900 Nothing. 482 00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:51,980 The reason I'm not getting that intense onion smell 483 00:25:51,980 --> 00:25:54,180 is because I haven't cut into it. 484 00:25:54,180 --> 00:25:57,460 Inside the onion is a chemical that's within the cell. 485 00:25:57,460 --> 00:26:00,300 And it just sits there quietly, not doing anything. 486 00:26:00,300 --> 00:26:02,980 And there's enzymes in another part of the cell. 487 00:26:02,980 --> 00:26:05,420 They're kept apart until you cut. 488 00:26:07,420 --> 00:26:11,020 When you cut, you break the cells open and the enzymes 489 00:26:11,020 --> 00:26:13,220 break the chemicals up and... Ohhh! 490 00:26:13,220 --> 00:26:15,180 Smells of onion? Oh, yeah. 491 00:26:15,180 --> 00:26:19,580 And it's stingy and slightly uncomfortable. 492 00:26:21,420 --> 00:26:23,660 Inside each onion cell, 493 00:26:23,660 --> 00:26:27,220 the chemicals and enzymes are kept separate. 494 00:26:27,220 --> 00:26:30,180 When the cell is broken open, 495 00:26:30,180 --> 00:26:34,620 they mix, producing new chemicals, including one called 496 00:26:34,620 --> 00:26:35,980 lachrymatory factor. 497 00:26:37,940 --> 00:26:41,340 Lachrymatory factor is what gives the characteristic 498 00:26:41,340 --> 00:26:42,900 smell and taste of onions. 499 00:26:42,900 --> 00:26:45,580 That's the compound that really sets your eyes off. 500 00:26:45,580 --> 00:26:46,820 If there's a lot of that, 501 00:26:46,820 --> 00:26:48,660 you'll start crying. 502 00:26:48,660 --> 00:26:51,900 You can reduce this by wearing goggles or even chopping 503 00:26:51,900 --> 00:26:55,940 under running water, but lachrymatory factor isn't 504 00:26:55,940 --> 00:26:57,980 just an eye irritant. 505 00:26:57,980 --> 00:27:01,940 It also helps give onions their distinctive oniony taste. 506 00:27:05,100 --> 00:27:09,980 And, when you cook them, they release a whole load of new flavours. 507 00:27:09,980 --> 00:27:13,220 So we're going to fry some onions. You'll do them for five minutes. 508 00:27:13,220 --> 00:27:14,620 I'll do them for 15. 509 00:27:14,620 --> 00:27:16,260 So we're going to have a cook-off? 510 00:27:16,260 --> 00:27:17,820 Yeah, we are. 511 00:27:17,820 --> 00:27:19,100 Yeah! 512 00:27:19,100 --> 00:27:20,900 How long you cook them for 513 00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:23,100 determines which flavours you get. 514 00:27:23,100 --> 00:27:25,500 That is a lovely smell. 515 00:27:25,500 --> 00:27:29,020 What is going on inside the onion when it's being cooked? 516 00:27:29,020 --> 00:27:32,700 You're getting a reaction between the sugars, the same sort 517 00:27:32,700 --> 00:27:34,700 of reaction that makes caramel. 518 00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:37,180 So that's a really sweet, nice flavour. 519 00:27:37,180 --> 00:27:41,060 And then they also react with the protein in the onion, 520 00:27:41,060 --> 00:27:44,100 so that you get these great savoury flavours. 521 00:27:45,940 --> 00:27:47,700 Time for them to come out. 522 00:27:47,700 --> 00:27:50,980 It's pretty obvious that cooking onions for just five minutes 523 00:27:50,980 --> 00:27:52,420 isn't long enough. 524 00:27:56,900 --> 00:28:01,540 Well, they certainly look very different. Yours look lovely 525 00:28:01,540 --> 00:28:04,420 and caramelized and mine look a bit pale. 526 00:28:07,220 --> 00:28:09,060 Very punchy. Mm-hm. 527 00:28:09,060 --> 00:28:12,140 After a shorter cooking time, the raw flavour 528 00:28:12,140 --> 00:28:13,980 is still very strong. 529 00:28:13,980 --> 00:28:15,980 Very oniony. Let's try yours. 530 00:28:15,980 --> 00:28:19,620 Whereas the longer-cooked version tastes far better. 531 00:28:19,620 --> 00:28:22,780 A very savoury, sweet flavour now, isn't it? 532 00:28:22,780 --> 00:28:27,580 This oniony sweetness is the basis for so many of our favourite dishes. 533 00:28:27,580 --> 00:28:29,180 When it comes to cooking them, 534 00:28:29,180 --> 00:28:30,900 there is no quick shortcut. 535 00:28:30,900 --> 00:28:32,420 They're just splendid. 536 00:28:32,420 --> 00:28:34,460 It tastes fantastic. 537 00:28:34,460 --> 00:28:38,380 The chemistry under the skin of the onion certainly helps 538 00:28:38,380 --> 00:28:42,060 to explain why this vegetable is so very versatile. 539 00:28:51,340 --> 00:28:54,980 In cloudy Cornwall, we are one hour and 28 minutes 540 00:28:54,980 --> 00:28:57,620 into making our pasties, 541 00:28:57,620 --> 00:29:00,620 but there is one very important component missing. 542 00:29:01,900 --> 00:29:05,220 So I'm heading to the Pastry Production area. 543 00:29:05,220 --> 00:29:08,420 Helping me to wrap this one up is David Eyam. 544 00:29:10,820 --> 00:29:13,060 Morning. You're David? I'm David. 545 00:29:13,060 --> 00:29:16,340 What pastry is this? So we're making puff pastry. Puff pastry? 546 00:29:16,340 --> 00:29:18,540 Puff pastry. Not shortcrust pastry? 547 00:29:18,540 --> 00:29:21,820 Traditionally, in the home kitchen, you might have produced a short 548 00:29:21,820 --> 00:29:25,860 pastry, but because we need to have a product that is both good 549 00:29:25,860 --> 00:29:29,620 cold and hot, we make our pasties with puff pastry. 550 00:29:29,620 --> 00:29:33,620 The problem with, like, a shortcrust is what, it's no good cold? 551 00:29:33,620 --> 00:29:36,700 It tends to be a lot harder to eat. And you'd have a lap full of crumbs. 552 00:29:36,700 --> 00:29:38,380 And that's not what anybody wants. 553 00:29:38,380 --> 00:29:39,500 Show me how you make it. 554 00:29:39,500 --> 00:29:42,500 Sure. So we've got two sets of margarine that are going to go in. 555 00:29:42,500 --> 00:29:45,700 This one is softer and creamier, which is going in for flavour. 556 00:29:45,700 --> 00:29:47,180 How many of these do we need? 557 00:29:47,180 --> 00:29:49,620 We're going to put four and a half in this bowl. 558 00:29:49,620 --> 00:29:50,820 Four and a half. 559 00:29:52,260 --> 00:29:56,540 This first batch of marge has a relatively low melting point... Like that. 560 00:29:56,540 --> 00:29:59,980 ..which will create a creamy texture in our pastry. 561 00:29:59,980 --> 00:30:01,820 They look like enormous sugar cubes. 562 00:30:01,820 --> 00:30:03,820 Bit heavier than sugar. 563 00:30:03,820 --> 00:30:04,860 Oops! 564 00:30:08,940 --> 00:30:11,860 We've got another margarine which is going in to get our lift, 565 00:30:11,860 --> 00:30:14,620 because it gives better strength to the dough. 566 00:30:14,620 --> 00:30:18,540 This green-wrapped marge has a higher melting point, 567 00:30:18,540 --> 00:30:22,940 which will strengthen our pastry and help hold it together. 568 00:30:22,940 --> 00:30:25,980 What is in the margarine? Just like the margarine you'd buy 569 00:30:25,980 --> 00:30:30,860 in a shop, it's made of oil and water emulsified together. 570 00:30:33,700 --> 00:30:38,700 88 litres of water drops into the super-sized bowl... 571 00:30:38,700 --> 00:30:39,860 Here he comes. 572 00:30:39,860 --> 00:30:42,660 ..along with 224 kilograms of flour. 573 00:30:44,020 --> 00:30:46,700 Press the white button. What, the button that says "discharge flour"? 574 00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:47,780 That's the one. 575 00:30:47,780 --> 00:30:50,740 Enough for a batch of 4,000 pasties. 576 00:30:50,740 --> 00:30:53,820 The difference between this and the way I would do it at home, 577 00:30:53,820 --> 00:30:56,940 is here I haven't got a glass of wine and I'm not listening to Abba. 578 00:30:56,940 --> 00:30:58,700 Would you really want Abba? Yeah! 579 00:30:58,700 --> 00:31:00,540 What's a perfect pastry-making music? 580 00:31:00,540 --> 00:31:01,820 Jazz. 581 00:31:01,820 --> 00:31:03,980 Jazz? Yeah. Contemporary jazz. 582 00:31:03,980 --> 00:31:06,420 LIGHT JAZZ PLAYS 583 00:31:06,420 --> 00:31:08,020 Nice! 584 00:31:11,700 --> 00:31:13,180 Ingredients collected, 585 00:31:13,180 --> 00:31:15,300 next, we swing by the mixer. 586 00:31:17,980 --> 00:31:19,580 How long's it going to mix for? 587 00:31:19,580 --> 00:31:21,180 About two and a half minutes. 588 00:31:23,180 --> 00:31:29,140 As the ingredients combine, the water and flour mix, forming gluten. 589 00:31:30,780 --> 00:31:34,460 Whoa, mate! That is seriously stretchy, isn't it? 590 00:31:34,460 --> 00:31:37,260 The elasticity on it is quite incredible. Yeah. 591 00:31:37,260 --> 00:31:38,500 Look at that. 592 00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:41,740 It's gluten that makes this dough elastic. 593 00:31:41,740 --> 00:31:44,220 It needs to be tough so that we've got enough strength 594 00:31:44,220 --> 00:31:47,420 in there to expand to give us the puff pastry. 595 00:31:50,220 --> 00:31:54,780 Our giant bowl of stretchy dough is lifted up and tipped into a hopper. 596 00:31:58,020 --> 00:32:00,260 Before a series of five rollers 597 00:32:00,260 --> 00:32:03,780 force it through an 18-millimetre-thick slit. 598 00:32:05,180 --> 00:32:09,180 So the dough is extruded and then we cut it in half 599 00:32:09,180 --> 00:32:11,420 and then we put one over the other. 600 00:32:11,420 --> 00:32:14,060 Oh, yeah. One's going up and one's going down. 601 00:32:16,700 --> 00:32:20,340 This all happens because we're adding more margarine. 602 00:32:22,540 --> 00:32:27,260 The margarine is extruded between the two pieces of dough, 603 00:32:27,260 --> 00:32:29,020 as we can see under here. 604 00:32:30,100 --> 00:32:31,300 Ahhhhh! 605 00:32:31,300 --> 00:32:32,940 Right. 606 00:32:32,940 --> 00:32:34,460 That's brilliant. All right. 607 00:32:34,460 --> 00:32:36,180 So the dough is being split. 608 00:32:36,180 --> 00:32:40,140 One's going up, one's going down and then more margarine comes 609 00:32:40,140 --> 00:32:42,900 in the middle - like a sandwich. Correct. That's right. 610 00:32:45,540 --> 00:32:48,020 This process is called lamination. 611 00:32:51,220 --> 00:32:53,460 When the pastry is baked, 612 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:58,540 the water in the dough of one layer boils, becoming steam. 613 00:32:59,860 --> 00:33:02,580 As the steam expands, it pushes up the layer 614 00:33:02,580 --> 00:33:07,060 of margarine and dough above it, creating a pocket of air. 615 00:33:10,300 --> 00:33:13,780 How many of these layers are you going to have? 616 00:33:13,780 --> 00:33:15,780 There are going to be 80 layers when we finish. 617 00:33:15,780 --> 00:33:17,820 80 of them? 80 layers. 618 00:33:19,260 --> 00:33:21,100 To create the 80 layers, 619 00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:27,180 our dough-fat sandwich is rolled to a thickness of 12mm, 620 00:33:27,180 --> 00:33:32,260 before being folded over on itself, giving us four layers of margarine 621 00:33:32,260 --> 00:33:35,700 sandwiched between five layers of dough. 622 00:33:35,700 --> 00:33:37,940 It's then rolled flat again. 623 00:33:39,780 --> 00:33:43,820 And the process is repeated to produce 16 layers of fat. 624 00:33:47,700 --> 00:33:50,980 Finally, it's cut into sections and stacked. 625 00:33:53,580 --> 00:33:56,060 So this is where we get our 80 layers. 626 00:33:56,060 --> 00:34:00,980 Each piece of pastry here has got 16 layers and they're five deep, 627 00:34:00,980 --> 00:34:03,140 giving us our 80 layers. 628 00:34:03,140 --> 00:34:05,140 Is 5 x 16 = 80? 629 00:34:05,140 --> 00:34:06,580 It was when I was at school. 630 00:34:09,220 --> 00:34:13,100 Maths lesson over - the stacked layers are rolled back down to 631 00:34:13,100 --> 00:34:17,780 create one continuous sheets of dough with microscopic layers 632 00:34:17,780 --> 00:34:18,980 of fat inside it. 633 00:34:20,380 --> 00:34:22,460 And that is 80 layers. 634 00:34:22,460 --> 00:34:24,100 80 layers, you're absolutely right. 635 00:34:24,100 --> 00:34:27,100 80 layers squashed down into one bit of pastry. 636 00:34:27,100 --> 00:34:31,180 All of this folding and rolling takes just seven minutes. 637 00:34:31,180 --> 00:34:34,500 So here we are, this is the end of the pastry-making process. 638 00:34:34,500 --> 00:34:37,380 We've got our 12mm sheet - it's coming along here. 639 00:34:37,380 --> 00:34:40,300 We're then going to cut it into 1.5-metre lengths, 640 00:34:40,300 --> 00:34:42,700 roll it up and place it on the racks 641 00:34:42,700 --> 00:34:44,980 ready to go to the production of the pasties. 642 00:34:44,980 --> 00:34:49,020 The pastry is carefully rolled to protect and store it. 643 00:34:49,020 --> 00:34:51,260 That looks relatively easy to me. 644 00:34:51,260 --> 00:34:53,340 Stand back. Stand back. Round the back here. 645 00:34:56,140 --> 00:34:57,580 Whoa! Whoa! 646 00:34:57,580 --> 00:35:00,220 Erm, I've dropped this one. 647 00:35:00,220 --> 00:35:02,460 I'll take that one away, then. 648 00:35:02,460 --> 00:35:05,180 David might regret allowing me to try this. 649 00:35:05,180 --> 00:35:07,100 Have another go. 650 00:35:07,100 --> 00:35:08,260 Oh! 651 00:35:10,420 --> 00:35:12,300 That one, at least, didn't hit the floor. 652 00:35:14,220 --> 00:35:16,060 GREGG CHUCKLES 653 00:35:16,060 --> 00:35:17,620 It's like wrestling a crocodile. 654 00:35:19,700 --> 00:35:22,580 THEY CHEER 655 00:35:22,580 --> 00:35:23,780 Well taken! 656 00:35:24,780 --> 00:35:25,780 Yes! 657 00:35:25,780 --> 00:35:27,300 You've got it. 658 00:35:27,300 --> 00:35:28,820 I think he's got it. 659 00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:32,900 Each of these pastry rolls weighs 14kg. 660 00:35:32,900 --> 00:35:36,100 That might not sound heavy, but I'm cream crackered. 661 00:35:37,980 --> 00:35:39,420 That's hard work. 662 00:35:39,420 --> 00:35:41,460 Have you got a pasty? I've got plenty. 663 00:35:43,700 --> 00:35:47,540 Like me, the pastry needs to rest. 664 00:35:47,540 --> 00:35:52,500 In 45 minutes' time, the gluten inside it will be more relaxed 665 00:35:52,500 --> 00:35:54,060 and easier to work. 666 00:35:56,140 --> 00:36:00,260 Our pastry is nearly ready to be filled with the spicy Cornish 667 00:36:00,260 --> 00:36:02,580 pasty mix that I whipped up earlier. 668 00:36:02,580 --> 00:36:06,420 And one of the most important ingredients in that mix is pepper. 669 00:36:06,420 --> 00:36:08,780 But when did our love affair with this spice begin? 670 00:36:10,900 --> 00:36:13,340 Whenever I'm tucking into a plate of steak and chips, 671 00:36:13,340 --> 00:36:16,580 the pepper grinder is never far from reach. 672 00:36:18,820 --> 00:36:22,260 But how did this spice become a staple of the British kitchen? 673 00:36:23,700 --> 00:36:27,420 I'm hoping food writer Christine McFadden can help me find out. 674 00:36:27,420 --> 00:36:28,500 Hello, there. 675 00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:30,460 How nice to meet you. And you. 676 00:36:30,460 --> 00:36:34,060 We've come to the home of the Worshipful Company of Grocers... 677 00:36:34,060 --> 00:36:35,180 Wow. 678 00:36:35,180 --> 00:36:38,140 ..which was originally called the Guild of Pepperers. 679 00:36:39,780 --> 00:36:41,420 Enter. 680 00:36:41,420 --> 00:36:43,860 Oh, look at the chandeliers. 681 00:36:47,060 --> 00:36:49,900 From the 12th century, it was responsible for setting 682 00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:52,580 the standards of pepper imports to Britain. 683 00:36:55,020 --> 00:37:00,180 So what exactly is it that is so special about pepper? 684 00:37:00,180 --> 00:37:04,580 It had the same kind of importance as, say, oil has now. 685 00:37:04,580 --> 00:37:07,620 So how much worth am I holding? 686 00:37:07,620 --> 00:37:11,580 Well, in the 12th century, you're holding, pound for pound, 687 00:37:11,580 --> 00:37:13,260 maybe the same as gold. 688 00:37:13,260 --> 00:37:14,420 Wow. 689 00:37:15,900 --> 00:37:19,780 It was so expensive that it was known as black gold. 690 00:37:21,020 --> 00:37:22,620 I mean, who on Earth is eating 691 00:37:22,620 --> 00:37:24,820 something that's worth its weight in gold? 692 00:37:24,820 --> 00:37:28,860 Mainly the noble people, and they wheeled it out at banquets. 693 00:37:28,860 --> 00:37:30,060 It was a status symbol. 694 00:37:30,060 --> 00:37:32,060 So it's super-rich party food. 695 00:37:32,060 --> 00:37:33,180 Yes, absolutely. 696 00:37:36,420 --> 00:37:39,860 Peppercorns came from the pepper plant, which is native to Asia. 697 00:37:41,100 --> 00:37:45,140 Its high price was largely due to the expense of transporting it. 698 00:37:46,380 --> 00:37:49,340 So, notoriously, a difficult plant. 699 00:37:49,340 --> 00:37:53,460 It has to grow in the tropics, Vietnam, south-west India. 700 00:37:53,460 --> 00:37:56,540 It requires dampness, monsoons, rain. 701 00:37:56,540 --> 00:37:58,380 We cannot grow it in Europe. 702 00:37:58,380 --> 00:38:02,140 So it would have come all the way across the land with camels. 703 00:38:02,140 --> 00:38:04,060 So, right across the Arabian Desert? Yes. 704 00:38:04,060 --> 00:38:07,100 And then it would have been put on barges and boats and shipped 705 00:38:07,100 --> 00:38:09,260 across the Mediterranean and, from there, 706 00:38:09,260 --> 00:38:11,340 over land to the rest of Europe. 707 00:38:12,660 --> 00:38:16,580 The trade was controlled by spice merchants along the route. 708 00:38:16,580 --> 00:38:19,740 They had the pepper trade sewn up and were very good 709 00:38:19,740 --> 00:38:21,100 at protecting it. 710 00:38:21,100 --> 00:38:24,780 They invented myths about how hard it was to get. 711 00:38:24,780 --> 00:38:28,540 And I've got one here written by a 13th century chronicler called 712 00:38:28,540 --> 00:38:30,060 Bartholomew, and he said, 713 00:38:30,060 --> 00:38:33,700 "And serpents keep the woods that pepper groweth in. 714 00:38:33,700 --> 00:38:37,060 "And when the woods of pepper are ripe, men of that country 715 00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:41,380 "set them on fire and chase away the serpents by violence of fire." 716 00:38:41,380 --> 00:38:43,140 It's complete codswallop. 717 00:38:43,140 --> 00:38:45,860 So it's trade protection. You don't want to muscle in on our trade. 718 00:38:45,860 --> 00:38:48,300 This is really just too dangerous and difficult for you. 719 00:38:48,300 --> 00:38:51,580 In a bid to break their dominance and make pepper cheaper, 720 00:38:51,580 --> 00:38:55,260 in the 15th century, European traders decided to cut out 721 00:38:55,260 --> 00:38:59,100 these profiteering middlemen and transport the pepper themselves. 722 00:39:03,820 --> 00:39:06,900 This was made possible by advancements in shipbuilding, 723 00:39:06,900 --> 00:39:10,460 which allowed vessels similar to this replica of the Golden Hinde 724 00:39:10,460 --> 00:39:12,300 to sail round the globe. 725 00:39:13,300 --> 00:39:16,900 And the type - and many other ships similar - opened up the world. 726 00:39:16,900 --> 00:39:20,380 So this represents a technological leap forward. 727 00:39:20,380 --> 00:39:24,700 Suddenly, you could do huge voyages across open oceans. 728 00:39:27,140 --> 00:39:29,180 These ships could get to Asia, 729 00:39:29,180 --> 00:39:31,380 load up with pepper and sail back, 730 00:39:31,380 --> 00:39:34,020 circumventing the pepper traders entirely. 731 00:39:35,260 --> 00:39:38,780 All the way around the bottom of Africa, right round the equator, 732 00:39:38,780 --> 00:39:40,620 right across the Indian Ocean. 733 00:39:43,380 --> 00:39:45,820 Ooh. Oh, it really is tiny. 734 00:39:47,020 --> 00:39:50,260 In 1601, British businessmen clubbed together to form 735 00:39:50,260 --> 00:39:53,860 the East India Company and promptly dispatched four ships 736 00:39:53,860 --> 00:39:55,180 to Southeast Asia. 737 00:39:57,460 --> 00:39:59,820 Sir James Lancaster was a captain. 738 00:39:59,820 --> 00:40:01,580 The man of action. 739 00:40:01,580 --> 00:40:05,540 Lancaster returned with around 450 tonnes of pepper. 740 00:40:06,820 --> 00:40:10,780 It was equal to a quarter of the consumption of all of Europe. 741 00:40:10,780 --> 00:40:13,660 It used to come in sort of dribs and drabs, smaller bags, 742 00:40:13,660 --> 00:40:15,260 but suddenly these massive sacks. 743 00:40:15,260 --> 00:40:16,420 Can you imagine? 744 00:40:17,700 --> 00:40:21,540 During the decades that followed, English merchants imported huge 745 00:40:21,540 --> 00:40:22,780 quantities of pepper. 746 00:40:24,740 --> 00:40:26,820 So, much more pepper keeps arriving. Yes. 747 00:40:26,820 --> 00:40:30,100 They're bringing in more and more. More and more. And more. 748 00:40:30,100 --> 00:40:31,540 And what happens? 749 00:40:31,540 --> 00:40:32,660 The price goes down. 750 00:40:32,660 --> 00:40:35,180 And it becomes a much more everyday commodity. Yeah. 751 00:40:35,180 --> 00:40:38,980 So, pepper has gone from being black gold to... Something for everybody. 752 00:40:38,980 --> 00:40:40,660 Everyman spice. 753 00:40:42,300 --> 00:40:45,380 It's thanks to ships similar to this and the men 754 00:40:45,380 --> 00:40:49,740 who sailed them that pepper is so popular on our dinner tables today. 755 00:41:01,980 --> 00:41:07,860 In the pasty factory, two and a half hours after our swedes arrived, 756 00:41:07,860 --> 00:41:10,820 the veg has been chopped, the filling seasoned, 757 00:41:10,820 --> 00:41:13,780 and our relaxed pastry is ready to roll. 758 00:41:15,020 --> 00:41:17,780 I'm delivering this batch to the production line... 759 00:41:19,060 --> 00:41:22,140 ..where I'm meeting Emma Sanders. 760 00:41:22,140 --> 00:41:24,140 You must be Emma. I am. 761 00:41:24,140 --> 00:41:25,340 What are we doing here? 762 00:41:25,340 --> 00:41:27,580 We're joining the pastry by hand. 763 00:41:28,980 --> 00:41:31,860 The hungry pasty-making machines our pastry 764 00:41:31,860 --> 00:41:36,700 will be travelling into require one continuous ribbon. 765 00:41:36,700 --> 00:41:39,340 So the rolls must be seamlessly joined. 766 00:41:41,180 --> 00:41:45,260 Emma has to keep up with the conveyor, which travels at 767 00:41:45,260 --> 00:41:49,180 20 metres a minute or the line will grind to a halt. 768 00:41:50,180 --> 00:41:53,260 Start from away from you and just push and push. 769 00:41:54,660 --> 00:41:55,900 Shall I have a go, next one? 770 00:41:55,900 --> 00:41:57,260 Yeah, if you're up for a laugh. 771 00:41:58,460 --> 00:42:01,700 Let's see if I can perform better here than I did earlier. 772 00:42:04,100 --> 00:42:05,620 Wahey! 773 00:42:05,620 --> 00:42:08,180 You just nearly lost that one! 774 00:42:08,180 --> 00:42:10,020 Oh, now what do I do? 775 00:42:10,020 --> 00:42:12,380 Oh! Fold the pastry... 776 00:42:12,380 --> 00:42:14,740 It's stuck. No, you've ruined... It's sticking! It's sticking! 777 00:42:14,740 --> 00:42:16,740 You're going to cause a jam-up. 778 00:42:16,740 --> 00:42:18,380 Emma! 779 00:42:18,380 --> 00:42:20,380 Right. Right, how do I get it up there? 780 00:42:20,380 --> 00:42:21,980 You push it up. 781 00:42:21,980 --> 00:42:23,820 Where'd he come from? 782 00:42:23,820 --> 00:42:25,140 He just pops up now and again. 783 00:42:27,740 --> 00:42:30,140 Now... Use the step when you're going up. 784 00:42:30,140 --> 00:42:31,140 Start from the other end. 785 00:42:31,140 --> 00:42:33,900 Oh, that's why you need the step. Yeah, because you're short like me. 786 00:42:33,900 --> 00:42:35,420 No, you're... 787 00:42:35,420 --> 00:42:36,580 That looks good to me. 788 00:42:37,660 --> 00:42:40,100 He's back again. There you go. 789 00:42:40,100 --> 00:42:42,740 You know you've got it wrong if he comes up. 790 00:42:42,740 --> 00:42:44,300 You're going to cause a jam-up. 791 00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:46,940 Every time. Every time. 792 00:42:46,940 --> 00:42:48,220 Get out! 793 00:42:48,220 --> 00:42:50,540 The seam needs to be perfect. 794 00:42:50,540 --> 00:42:53,900 Otherwise, pasties made from the join could fall apart. 795 00:42:54,940 --> 00:42:56,140 I wouldn't quit your day job. 796 00:43:00,220 --> 00:43:02,460 This is why it's running slow, is it? 797 00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:04,260 Mate, this is really hard. Is it running slow? 798 00:43:04,260 --> 00:43:06,500 Emma, you've got a trainee. How's he doing? 799 00:43:06,500 --> 00:43:08,140 Not very good. 800 00:43:08,140 --> 00:43:09,940 All credit. Thank you. I can't do that. 801 00:43:12,380 --> 00:43:14,820 That is physically really tough. It is. 802 00:43:14,820 --> 00:43:16,460 Surely you can get a machine to do this. 803 00:43:16,460 --> 00:43:18,700 Well, we've tried a number of different machines to do it, 804 00:43:18,700 --> 00:43:21,940 but we just can't get it to join and keep the pastry even 805 00:43:21,940 --> 00:43:23,100 all the way through. 806 00:43:23,100 --> 00:43:25,820 Otherwise, we'd get dead pastry and the pasty would be no good. 807 00:43:28,020 --> 00:43:33,900 We need 40 rolls to make our batch of 3,600 pasties. 808 00:43:33,900 --> 00:43:35,980 So, we've joined the pastry together. 809 00:43:35,980 --> 00:43:37,980 Well, Emma did. 810 00:43:37,980 --> 00:43:41,100 And now what we're doing is rolling it to the right thickness. 811 00:43:41,100 --> 00:43:44,340 So we're taking it down in stages, ready to put it into a pasty. 812 00:43:44,340 --> 00:43:46,500 And is that through a series of different rollers? Yeah. 813 00:43:46,500 --> 00:43:48,140 A bit like a pasta machine at home. 814 00:43:48,140 --> 00:43:51,100 You don't automatically make it thin cos it will stretch it. Is that the same? 815 00:43:51,100 --> 00:43:53,700 That's exactly right, yeah. We want to take it down gradually. 816 00:43:53,700 --> 00:43:56,460 It is squashed through three rollers 817 00:43:56,460 --> 00:43:59,580 which reduce its thickness from 12mm to 3mm. 818 00:44:01,060 --> 00:44:02,780 It's like a pizza cutter. Yeah, that's right. 819 00:44:02,780 --> 00:44:05,860 We're cutting it into four strips for the four lanes of pasties 820 00:44:05,860 --> 00:44:08,260 that we're making. Brilliant. 821 00:44:08,260 --> 00:44:10,500 And then we've got a little bit of water that we're spraying on 822 00:44:10,500 --> 00:44:11,780 for joining the pastry. Yeah. 823 00:44:11,780 --> 00:44:13,340 Makes it stick, right? Exactly right. 824 00:44:13,340 --> 00:44:15,140 Same as at home. Exactly. 825 00:44:16,620 --> 00:44:19,420 Now, this pastry is ready for the raw filling 826 00:44:19,420 --> 00:44:20,980 we prepared earlier. 827 00:44:23,980 --> 00:44:26,140 That is a lot of pasty filling. 828 00:44:26,140 --> 00:44:27,980 We'll need four of these bins. 829 00:44:30,180 --> 00:44:32,420 # Row, row, row your mince... # 830 00:44:36,220 --> 00:44:41,980 The filling is pressed out in 140-gram shapes, four at a time. 831 00:44:41,980 --> 00:44:43,420 They're semicircles. 832 00:44:43,420 --> 00:44:44,540 Yeah. That surprised me. 833 00:44:44,540 --> 00:44:47,180 But then, I suppose that's the shape of a pasty, isn't it? 834 00:44:47,180 --> 00:44:48,260 That's right. 835 00:44:48,260 --> 00:44:52,140 How long will it take before that's finished our batch of 3,600? 836 00:44:52,140 --> 00:44:53,940 Half an hour. 30 minutes? Yeah. 837 00:44:58,020 --> 00:45:01,980 Each line of pastry runs under stainless steel bars, 838 00:45:01,980 --> 00:45:05,220 which gently fold it over the filling. 839 00:45:05,220 --> 00:45:06,420 Oh, I love that. 840 00:45:06,420 --> 00:45:07,780 Yeah? Yeah. 841 00:45:07,780 --> 00:45:10,220 Is there a technical name for that? They're our folding bars. 842 00:45:12,460 --> 00:45:18,820 Each dollop of filling is spaced exactly 150mm from its neighbour 843 00:45:18,820 --> 00:45:22,460 and sits perfectly in the crease of the pastry. 844 00:45:23,420 --> 00:45:26,460 It almost looks like it's going to move the meat filling off. 845 00:45:26,460 --> 00:45:29,100 That means that we've got it right to the edge of the pastry. 846 00:45:29,100 --> 00:45:31,340 So we've got fill to every edge. 847 00:45:31,340 --> 00:45:33,980 You're not going to get a bite of hot air, right? Exactly right. 848 00:45:33,980 --> 00:45:35,220 Most of that comes from me. 849 00:45:37,100 --> 00:45:39,100 And I'm getting a second wind. 850 00:45:41,100 --> 00:45:45,900 There's one more process before I finally see a Cornish pasty. 851 00:45:45,900 --> 00:45:51,140 A set of metal teeth press down onto our pastry parcels. 852 00:45:51,140 --> 00:45:54,540 The blue rubber sheet stops them sticking to the metal mould. 853 00:45:58,540 --> 00:46:00,180 There we go. That's it. 854 00:46:00,180 --> 00:46:02,820 It's the first time I've seen anything pasty shaped in here. 855 00:46:06,260 --> 00:46:07,780 So here's our crimper. 856 00:46:07,780 --> 00:46:10,140 This comes down onto the pasties. Exactly. 857 00:46:10,140 --> 00:46:14,060 You've got the inner section which crimps the pasty together. 858 00:46:14,060 --> 00:46:15,620 This is what gives it the decoration. 859 00:46:15,620 --> 00:46:18,420 And then the outer edge is the bit that cuts it right through. 860 00:46:18,420 --> 00:46:19,460 Brilliant! 861 00:46:22,340 --> 00:46:26,620 The pastry offcuts are collected and added to the next batch of dough. 862 00:46:31,660 --> 00:46:36,100 The team here make every effort to minimise food waste. 863 00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:38,380 But some can't be helped. 864 00:46:38,380 --> 00:46:42,300 Cherry's hitching a ride in a lorry full of the stuff gathered 865 00:46:42,300 --> 00:46:46,700 from local schools, hospitals and food producers to find out 866 00:46:46,700 --> 00:46:48,340 what happens to it. 867 00:46:48,340 --> 00:46:52,380 I'm on my way to a site where waste from nearby factories 868 00:46:52,380 --> 00:46:54,020 is turned into energy. 869 00:46:55,620 --> 00:46:59,260 And in the back of this lorry is a whopping ten tonnes 870 00:46:59,260 --> 00:47:01,900 that will be turned into electricity. 871 00:47:04,260 --> 00:47:07,020 Dave Atkins is going to show me how it's done. 872 00:47:07,020 --> 00:47:08,620 Hi, Dave. 873 00:47:08,620 --> 00:47:09,860 Hi, Cherry. 874 00:47:09,860 --> 00:47:14,140 He's plant manager at Andigestion Waste Recycling, where they use 875 00:47:14,140 --> 00:47:18,180 a process called anaerobic digestion to generate energy. 876 00:47:19,180 --> 00:47:22,460 So, anaerobic digestion, what happens? 877 00:47:22,460 --> 00:47:25,500 It's a biological process where we use microorganisms 878 00:47:25,500 --> 00:47:26,780 to break down the food waste. 879 00:47:28,940 --> 00:47:31,580 It all starts in the intake area. 880 00:47:35,100 --> 00:47:38,620 Dave, this really smells like the bottom of my dustbin. 881 00:47:38,620 --> 00:47:40,740 Yeah, you're correct. It's not my favourite place. 882 00:47:44,940 --> 00:47:47,020 How many of these lorries do you get a day? 883 00:47:47,020 --> 00:47:48,980 Normally, it's about ten lorries. 884 00:47:48,980 --> 00:47:53,340 So, probably, you know, 160, 180 tonnes a day. 885 00:47:53,340 --> 00:47:56,660 Suppliers pay to get rid of their food waste here. 886 00:47:56,660 --> 00:47:59,900 How much they're charged depends on many factors, 887 00:47:59,900 --> 00:48:02,380 including the calorie content. 888 00:48:02,380 --> 00:48:06,100 High-calorie foods create more energy as they rot down, 889 00:48:06,100 --> 00:48:07,940 which can help make them more valuable. 890 00:48:07,940 --> 00:48:09,340 So what about pasties? 891 00:48:09,340 --> 00:48:10,700 It's got a lot of pastry in it. 892 00:48:10,700 --> 00:48:13,820 It's got fats, meats, so it's a very good fuel for us. 893 00:48:16,060 --> 00:48:19,940 But before these leftovers can be converted into electricity, 894 00:48:19,940 --> 00:48:22,940 the packaging must be removed. 895 00:48:22,940 --> 00:48:27,660 Inside this mill, 28 rotating hammers bash open any packets 896 00:48:27,660 --> 00:48:29,260 and squeeze the food out of them. 897 00:48:31,300 --> 00:48:33,340 The light plastic is blown into a hopper... 898 00:48:35,780 --> 00:48:39,460 ..and is sent to another power plant, where it's burnt to generate 899 00:48:39,460 --> 00:48:41,860 heat and electricity. 900 00:48:41,860 --> 00:48:46,740 The sludgy food remains are combined with enough water to help them flow 901 00:48:46,740 --> 00:48:48,380 through the factory's pipes. 902 00:48:49,980 --> 00:48:51,100 And there you go. 903 00:48:51,100 --> 00:48:53,660 There's your food waste you brought in, all liquidised. 904 00:48:53,660 --> 00:48:54,660 Oh, God! 905 00:48:56,500 --> 00:48:58,860 It's like the world's worst smoothie. 906 00:49:00,140 --> 00:49:05,020 This unappetising liquid is pumped into this four-million-litre tank. 907 00:49:06,220 --> 00:49:08,180 Wow. That is huge. 908 00:49:08,180 --> 00:49:11,100 This is the heart of the process, the digestion tank. 909 00:49:11,100 --> 00:49:15,300 In here are two types of naturally occurring microorganisms 910 00:49:15,300 --> 00:49:19,660 which feed on the waste, producing methane gas. 911 00:49:19,660 --> 00:49:22,500 It looks like a massive vat of hot chocolate 912 00:49:22,500 --> 00:49:23,940 with loads of bubbles on it. 913 00:49:23,940 --> 00:49:26,780 Yeah, see the methane gas bubbling up through the food waste 914 00:49:26,780 --> 00:49:28,740 being caught in this gas holder at the top. 915 00:49:30,420 --> 00:49:34,460 This soupy mix bubbles away for around 56 days. 916 00:49:34,460 --> 00:49:36,500 After that, it is given away 917 00:49:36,500 --> 00:49:39,740 to local farmers to be used as fertiliser. 918 00:49:39,740 --> 00:49:43,140 But it's the gas that produces the electricity. 919 00:49:43,140 --> 00:49:46,460 It's siphoned off into this huge PVC dome. 920 00:49:48,580 --> 00:49:49,900 This is our biodome. 921 00:49:49,900 --> 00:49:54,380 It holds up to 5,000 cubic metres of methane gas at any one time. 922 00:49:54,380 --> 00:49:56,220 It's a lot of gas. 923 00:49:56,220 --> 00:49:57,860 I mean, it's soft. 924 00:49:57,860 --> 00:49:59,860 So the outer membrane is filled with air 925 00:49:59,860 --> 00:50:01,540 and the gas membrane is inside. 926 00:50:01,540 --> 00:50:04,620 This protects the gas membrane from the elements, basically. 927 00:50:06,900 --> 00:50:09,220 The methane is pumped into one of the plant's 928 00:50:09,220 --> 00:50:11,340 six electricity generators. 929 00:50:12,460 --> 00:50:16,340 Inside, the flammable gas fuels an internal combustion 930 00:50:16,340 --> 00:50:18,740 engine, producing electricity. 931 00:50:22,460 --> 00:50:25,700 On average, we're exporting 70 megawatt hours a day, which equates 932 00:50:25,700 --> 00:50:27,700 to about 6,000 homes. 933 00:50:27,700 --> 00:50:29,700 That's just huge. 934 00:50:29,700 --> 00:50:32,180 You really help keep the country's lights on. 935 00:50:32,180 --> 00:50:33,380 Yep, all from food waste. 936 00:50:35,340 --> 00:50:38,860 From waste to watts in a little under 60 days. 937 00:50:39,900 --> 00:50:42,820 And if you're wondering how much of that energy will come 938 00:50:42,820 --> 00:50:47,820 from a pasty, it takes just two and a half of them to produce enough 939 00:50:47,820 --> 00:50:50,460 electricity to boil a kettle. 940 00:50:50,460 --> 00:50:51,460 Tea, anyone? 941 00:50:52,820 --> 00:50:53,860 Just me, then. 942 00:50:57,340 --> 00:51:01,220 Two hours and 41 minutes after unloading the swedes, 943 00:51:01,220 --> 00:51:05,700 our pasties are looking a little pasty, so they're glazed. 944 00:51:08,740 --> 00:51:09,740 Nice and shiny. 945 00:51:09,740 --> 00:51:11,980 What is that, an egg wash? It's an egg wash, yeah. 946 00:51:11,980 --> 00:51:14,140 It's 70% whole egg, 30% milk. 947 00:51:14,140 --> 00:51:16,260 Are they ready for baking? Into the oven next. 948 00:51:23,900 --> 00:51:26,420 Mate, this is a ludicrously long oven. 949 00:51:26,420 --> 00:51:27,620 How long is it? 950 00:51:27,620 --> 00:51:28,820 60 metres. 951 00:51:28,820 --> 00:51:31,060 And how long does it take to go 60 metres? 952 00:51:31,060 --> 00:51:32,900 27 minutes. 953 00:51:32,900 --> 00:51:33,900 Right. 954 00:51:35,780 --> 00:51:38,260 As the pasties travel through the oven 955 00:51:38,260 --> 00:51:40,420 at around 230 degrees Celsius... 956 00:51:41,420 --> 00:51:43,060 Can I see in here? Yeah. 957 00:51:43,060 --> 00:51:45,500 ..their pastry begins to puff up. 958 00:51:46,500 --> 00:51:48,820 You see the pasties are just starting to colour now 959 00:51:48,820 --> 00:51:50,140 and bake through. 960 00:51:50,140 --> 00:51:52,700 They're just about getting a bit of a sun tan. 961 00:51:52,700 --> 00:51:54,020 I can smell 'em. 962 00:51:59,340 --> 00:52:03,180 Finally, the golden shell of a Cornish pasty. 963 00:52:04,180 --> 00:52:06,660 There we go. That's a nice sight. 964 00:52:06,660 --> 00:52:08,260 I do like that. 965 00:52:08,260 --> 00:52:10,180 That is really nice. 966 00:52:10,180 --> 00:52:11,420 Endless stream of pasties. 967 00:52:18,220 --> 00:52:19,780 But they're hot, right? Yeah. 968 00:52:19,780 --> 00:52:21,260 Really hot. 969 00:52:21,260 --> 00:52:24,700 Our pastry may be perfectly cooked, but the filling 970 00:52:24,700 --> 00:52:27,140 still has a way to go. 971 00:52:27,140 --> 00:52:31,420 The residual heat from the oven ensures the veg inside will carry 972 00:52:31,420 --> 00:52:34,060 on softening for the next five minutes. 973 00:52:35,060 --> 00:52:36,620 Now we've got to check the quality. 974 00:52:36,620 --> 00:52:38,140 So we'll go to our tasting station. 975 00:52:38,140 --> 00:52:39,940 The what station? The tasting station. 976 00:52:41,380 --> 00:52:42,780 Really? Have I caught your attention? 977 00:52:42,780 --> 00:52:43,780 Come on. Come on. 978 00:52:47,660 --> 00:52:50,380 Look at that. Steaming. There we go. Absolutely steaming. 979 00:52:55,180 --> 00:52:56,620 Quite a little bit of give in them. Yeah? 980 00:52:56,620 --> 00:52:58,420 But they're going to carry on cooking, right? 981 00:52:58,420 --> 00:53:02,300 They're going to carry on cooking. But I don't mind them having a little bit of texture. 982 00:53:02,300 --> 00:53:04,860 I can think of one improvement, though. 983 00:53:04,860 --> 00:53:07,140 You haven't got a pint of beer down there, have you? 984 00:53:08,580 --> 00:53:09,860 Not just at the minute. 985 00:53:13,660 --> 00:53:18,540 The pasties continue their journey by taking a sharp left-hand turn. 986 00:53:18,540 --> 00:53:21,380 They're going to fall off the edge, are they? No, no. 987 00:53:21,380 --> 00:53:23,060 Ha-ha-ha! You like that? 988 00:53:23,060 --> 00:53:25,020 Do you know what, I've never seen one of these before. 989 00:53:26,660 --> 00:53:31,740 The rubber belt extends, then retracts by 80 centimetres. 990 00:53:31,740 --> 00:53:34,900 The slack taken up by four rollers underneath. 991 00:53:36,420 --> 00:53:38,900 Now in neat, diagonal rows of four, 992 00:53:38,900 --> 00:53:42,100 our pasties glide effortlessly onwards. 993 00:53:43,140 --> 00:53:46,300 So this is just so we can line it up to send it off to the cooler. 994 00:53:46,300 --> 00:53:47,220 Brilliant. 995 00:53:49,220 --> 00:53:54,780 Over three hours in, my pasties have been baked, and are in a spin. 996 00:53:54,780 --> 00:53:57,660 They're travelling through a seven-metre tall, 997 00:53:57,660 --> 00:54:02,020 minus 24 degrees Celsius, cooling corkscrew. 998 00:54:03,260 --> 00:54:06,660 Which takes their temperature from around 95 degrees 999 00:54:06,660 --> 00:54:08,700 down to below five. 1000 00:54:08,700 --> 00:54:12,580 After 90 minutes, they reach the bottom fully cooled 1001 00:54:12,580 --> 00:54:14,780 before heading into the packing hall... 1002 00:54:16,260 --> 00:54:18,900 ..where Kim Campbell... 1003 00:54:18,900 --> 00:54:20,060 Good to meet you. 1004 00:54:20,060 --> 00:54:22,940 ..runs the factory's state-of-the-art packers. 1005 00:54:24,340 --> 00:54:26,980 This bit looks much more hi-tech than the other bit. 1006 00:54:26,980 --> 00:54:29,060 Yeah, it's an automation line. 1007 00:54:29,060 --> 00:54:33,700 There's three scanners which scan the pasties and they map out 1008 00:54:33,700 --> 00:54:35,500 where the pasties are on the belt. 1009 00:54:37,060 --> 00:54:40,180 As each pasty processes under this red line, 1010 00:54:40,180 --> 00:54:43,020 a computer checks it's the right shape and size. 1011 00:54:44,060 --> 00:54:46,500 And then the grippers, as you go along here, 1012 00:54:46,500 --> 00:54:50,940 the grippers will then pick the pasties and place them into the card 1013 00:54:50,940 --> 00:54:52,140 to protect them. 1014 00:54:59,740 --> 00:55:03,940 They're like a load of robotic hungry birds picking at the pasties. 1015 00:55:03,940 --> 00:55:05,860 I almost feel sorry for 'em. 1016 00:55:05,860 --> 00:55:07,740 Looks like they're being attacked. 1017 00:55:08,740 --> 00:55:13,900 The six robot arms use information from the scanners to rotate each 1018 00:55:13,900 --> 00:55:17,380 pasty to match up exactly with their individual 1019 00:55:17,380 --> 00:55:20,380 protective cardboard sleeves. 1020 00:55:20,380 --> 00:55:25,900 They grab our batch of 3,600 in just 30 minutes using four 1021 00:55:25,900 --> 00:55:28,740 delicately controlled pneumatic fingers. 1022 00:55:28,740 --> 00:55:30,060 Does it ever miss any? 1023 00:55:30,060 --> 00:55:31,980 Do you ever get any left on at the end? 1024 00:55:31,980 --> 00:55:34,340 Only it it's the wrong size or it's not the right shape 1025 00:55:34,340 --> 00:55:35,620 or the right colour. 1026 00:55:35,620 --> 00:55:36,900 What happens if I get hold of one 1027 00:55:36,900 --> 00:55:38,460 and break it in half and put it through? 1028 00:55:38,460 --> 00:55:40,100 Will it go through? No, it won't go through. 1029 00:55:42,500 --> 00:55:44,180 Challenge accepted. 1030 00:55:47,140 --> 00:55:49,140 Right, let's see if it gets grabbed. 1031 00:55:49,140 --> 00:55:51,300 You feeling confident? I'm feeling very confident. 1032 00:55:52,980 --> 00:55:55,340 There it is. That should come out right at the end. 1033 00:55:57,940 --> 00:56:00,220 Pick it up. Come on. 1034 00:56:00,220 --> 00:56:02,060 Go on. Get it! Go on! Get it! 1035 00:56:02,060 --> 00:56:03,500 Get it! 1036 00:56:03,500 --> 00:56:05,540 It's not grabbing it, is it? 1037 00:56:05,540 --> 00:56:06,700 There you go. 1038 00:56:09,980 --> 00:56:12,180 What about our good pasties? What happens to them? 1039 00:56:12,180 --> 00:56:13,860 Well, they go through our flow wrapper now. 1040 00:56:16,980 --> 00:56:21,580 Each pasty is covered and sealed in plastic and a use-by date 1041 00:56:21,580 --> 00:56:22,980 is stamped on the packaging. 1042 00:56:24,740 --> 00:56:27,460 What is the shelf life of that once it's sealed? About ten days. 1043 00:56:31,100 --> 00:56:34,540 Wrapped and ready to go, our pasties are boxed by hand. 1044 00:56:36,860 --> 00:56:40,220 The packers double check every pasty is whole. 1045 00:56:42,820 --> 00:56:47,980 Robots vacuum-lift stacks of boxes onto pallets, 18 at a time. 1046 00:56:49,980 --> 00:56:52,420 After four hours and 49 minutes, 1047 00:56:52,420 --> 00:56:58,580 our finished Cornish pasties travel to the 2,700-square-metre 1048 00:56:58,580 --> 00:57:02,860 dispatch area, where warehouse manager Peter Wilford 1049 00:57:02,860 --> 00:57:03,940 is waiting for me. 1050 00:57:05,220 --> 00:57:06,860 Hi, Gregg. Peter. Nice to meet you. 1051 00:57:06,860 --> 00:57:09,500 Is that a double-decker lorry? Yes, it is. 1052 00:57:09,500 --> 00:57:14,780 40 pallets on there, 67,200 pasties. Or 20 tonne, if you like. 1053 00:57:14,780 --> 00:57:17,980 How many of those trucks leave here every day? 1054 00:57:17,980 --> 00:57:22,300 15 of those trucks leave here every day, roughly every hour and a half, 1055 00:57:22,300 --> 00:57:23,940 seven days a week, 24/7. 1056 00:57:23,940 --> 00:57:26,180 That's an incredible amount. 1057 00:57:26,180 --> 00:57:28,380 I never knew we ate that many pasties. 1058 00:57:28,380 --> 00:57:29,580 I know. You can tell. 1059 00:57:35,420 --> 00:57:39,980 They ship 180,000 pasties out each day... 1060 00:57:41,620 --> 00:57:45,020 ..sending them all over the UK and Ireland. 1061 00:57:46,260 --> 00:57:49,500 Londoners eat the most, but pasty fans in the Midlands 1062 00:57:49,500 --> 00:57:50,940 aren't far behind. 1063 00:57:53,780 --> 00:57:55,780 I've enjoyed my visit and I've learned some 1064 00:57:55,780 --> 00:57:57,500 really interesting stuff. 1065 00:57:57,500 --> 00:57:59,860 Here in this bakery, they mince the beef. 1066 00:57:59,860 --> 00:58:04,540 And the pastry they use is puff pastry, which really surprised me. 1067 00:58:04,540 --> 00:58:08,820 And also what I learned is to be an authentic Cornish pasty, 1068 00:58:08,820 --> 00:58:11,660 the filling has to go into the pastry uncooked. 1069 00:58:11,660 --> 00:58:15,700 And, of course, it has to be made right here in Cornwall.