1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:05,600 Pots and pans, our cupboards are full of them. 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,400 Whether they're nonstick, cast iron or stainless steel... 3 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,480 We spend over £800 million a year on cookware. 4 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:19,080 We couldn't simmer, stew or fry without these heavyweight 5 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:21,760 kitchen essentials. 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,160 So, how do you turn this into this? 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,640 To find out, I'm heading inside this giant French foundry. 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:33,640 I'm Gregg Wallace. 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:35,440 The heat is incredible! 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:39,800 And I'm testing my mettle in perhaps the most challenging factory 11 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:41,040 I've ever visited... 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,680 Whoa! That was terrifying. 13 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:45,160 ..as solid blocks of iron... 14 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:46,480 Wow! 15 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:50,200 ..are transformed into colourful pots using Gallic flair. 16 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:51,880 How do you catch the drops? 17 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,040 We have a waterfall. 18 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:55,480 I'm Cherry Healy. 19 00:00:55,480 --> 00:01:01,680 And I'm at one of the largest open pit iron ore mines in the world! 20 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,240 Unearthing the heavy metal in our cookware. 21 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:10,880 It's like driving a gigantic house. Whoo! Woohoo! 22 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:12,920 And historian Ruth Goodman 23 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,040 is learning how one-pot cooking evolved. 24 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,880 Oh, I can do it in one hand! 25 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,000 They completely revolutionised many people's style of cooking. 26 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,880 Over the next 24 hours, 27 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,520 this factory will produce one cast-iron pot 28 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,680 every five seconds. 29 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,840 Welcome to Inside The Factory. 30 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:58,000 This is the Le Creuset foundry in Fresnoy-le-Grand, northern France. 31 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,840 This 50,000 square metre site produces pots and pans 32 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,000 in more than 300 different shapes and sizes. 33 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,360 From saucepans and grill pans to cooking pots, 34 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,920 as long as it's cast in iron, they make it here. 35 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:23,360 Today, we're following production of their signature cast-iron 36 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,160 round casserole dish. 37 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,240 I'm starting at Material Intake... 38 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,000 ..with production director Frederic Salle. 39 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,120 Good morning. Morning. Bonjour. Bonjour. 40 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:47,080 What is on that? Inside, it is pig iron. 41 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:48,720 What is pig iron, please? 42 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,680 Pig iron, it is the raw material coming from the iron ore, 43 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,640 and then already melted in the blast furnace. 44 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:57,400 How much is on there? 45 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,360 About 20 tonnes, yeah. Yeah. 46 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,480 20 tonnes of iron! 20 tonnes, yeah, yeah. 47 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,680 How many of your dishes will 20 tonnes make? 48 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:10,520 About approximately 5,000. 49 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,960 5,000? Yeah. Wow! 50 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,840 That's a lot of stuff. Yeah. That is a serious lot of stuff. 51 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,560 Right, how do we get this unloaded? Yeah, we can start, 52 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,000 but we're going to need this. Why? 53 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,480 Because of the noise. You will see. Really? Really! 54 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,880 OK, show me. Yeah, let's start. 55 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:36,920 A hydraulic arm jacks the trailer nine metres into the air. 56 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,480 And the pig iron begins a deafening descent. 57 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,320 YELLS: Whoa! 58 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,120 Whoa! 59 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:56,600 Once it's safely unloaded, our production begins. 60 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,160 GREGG LAUGHS 61 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:02,640 That is fast! 62 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,480 Wow! 20 tonnes of iron! 63 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,040 Come on, come on! 64 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,480 Wow! 65 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,720 GREGG LAUGHS 66 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:16,360 That is the fastest unloading I've ever seen, 67 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,320 of anything, ever! 68 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,640 That's a great big dirty pit of metal. 69 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,880 We can say that, yeah! 70 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,720 This metal is derived from iron-rich rock known as ore. 71 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,720 The iron ore used to make this iron comes from Russia. 72 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,440 But it's dug out of the ground in many other countries 73 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,040 around the world. 74 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,240 One of the biggest suppliers is South Africa, where Cherry went 75 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:41,920 to see how it's mined. 76 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:49,320 This is Sishen Iron Ore Mine, one of the largest open pit mines 77 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,600 in the world! 78 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,840 An 80-minute plane ride west of Johannesburg, 79 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:58,720 it's over nine miles wide, 80 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:00,840 three miles long 81 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:03,120 and 400 metres deep. 82 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,920 And it's getting bigger all the time. 83 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:16,640 To learn how they mine and process a staggering 670,000 tonnes 84 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:21,000 every day, I'm meeting general manager Bongani Buthelezi. 85 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,840 Hi, lovely to meet you! Hi, Cherry. Welcome, yeah. 86 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,800 I feel like I'm at the top of the Grand Canyon, 87 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,480 if it was on Mars! This mine is the largest iron ore 88 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:32,480 mining operation in Africa. 89 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:34,720 What is iron ore? What are you after? 90 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,120 So what are you looking for is iron ore. 91 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,360 I actually have it here in my hand. So this is premium grade iron ore. 92 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:44,920 So, an ore is actually a rock that has minerals in it. 93 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:50,200 Iron ore is any rock that has enough metallic iron inside it 94 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,360 to be worth extracting. 95 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,200 And it's our only source of iron. 96 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,520 What can we make out of it? So for any infrastructure in the world. 97 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,000 Any building? The bridges, the skyscrapers that you see, 98 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,960 that's made from this key ingredient. 99 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,080 It's funny, cos this is blue. 100 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:08,520 It's got that metallic look to it. 101 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,920 Correct. And yet, everything that I can see is red. 102 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:16,000 The red that you see is the oxide of iron. In layman's terms, 103 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,320 that is rust. Right. 104 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,200 So when it's deep in the earth, it's blue, because it's metallic. 105 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,160 Yes. And then it meets the oxygen, it oxidises, 106 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,680 and it turns that red colour. Yeah. 107 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:30,000 The purest iron ore sits 300 metres below the surface. 108 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,880 So there's only one efficient way to get it out of the ground. 109 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:44,360 Twice a week, over 2,000 tonnes of explosives are detonated 110 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:50,040 below the surface, dislodging over 4 million tonnes of iron ore. 111 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:55,880 Once the dust has settled, clearing up is a big job. 112 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,440 This is my ride for the day. 113 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:04,400 And like everything in mining, it is super-sized! 114 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,840 This is one of the biggest trucks in the world. 115 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:10,640 It's seven metres tall 116 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,040 and weighs in at 164 tonnes. 117 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,040 Mpho Dinsi is in charge. 118 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,720 Oh, my goodness. 119 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,760 This is one hell of a ride! 120 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:25,440 Whoa! 121 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,560 This beast has 3,500 horsepower, 122 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:33,200 the equivalent of about 23 family cars. 123 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,680 It shifts over 7,000 tonnes of rock a day in this harsh terrain. 124 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:45,760 It's like driving a gigantic house. Yeah. Whoo! Woohoo! 125 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,120 Do you love it? Yeah, I love it. 126 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:57,760 It's like driving a car. But just a massive, massive car. 127 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,120 Here's the shovel. It's absolutely enormous! 128 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:07,600 A 14m-tall digger scoops up 65 tonnes of iron ore and drops it 129 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:09,840 into the back of our truck. 130 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:14,680 The whole truck is shaking. 131 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,920 You can feel the weight of it when you take off. 132 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,000 The whole truck is kind of groaning. 133 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,240 The scale here means that a single driver can transport 134 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:32,400 over 220 tonnes of iron ore across the site every 30 minutes. 135 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:34,800 Mpho backs it up to the crusher. 136 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:38,880 Tipping. 137 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:41,840 Whoa! 138 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,600 The next challenge is getting at the metal inside. 139 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:53,480 In a huge cloud of dust, it's pulverised to break open the ore. 140 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,760 This is what we blasted out of the earth, 141 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:00,800 and what I collected on my truck. 142 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,000 Its content is about 50% iron, 143 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,640 but there are some things that've just got to go. 144 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:13,520 To increase the percentage of metal within the ore, 145 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,600 it travels through a series of machines which remove things 146 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:19,200 like rock and sand. 147 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:27,120 Our ore now has a metallic iron content of 64% 148 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:29,720 and is ready to leave the mine... 149 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:31,720 ..on its very own train! 150 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:39,000 Each wagon will hold 100 tonnes of iron ore. 151 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:43,240 And in a total, they'll be 342 wagons. 152 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,560 That is a very long train! 153 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,960 More than two miles long, in fact! 154 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:55,440 Over 30,000 tonnes of iron ore is taken away every day. 155 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:01,400 How amazing that this rock has come from the earth raw and dusty. 156 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,640 And now it's ready to go on a very long journey. 157 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,560 Who knows what it will become? 158 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:10,440 A car, a hospital, or maybe even a pot? 159 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:20,640 Back at the factory in France, our iron blocks are on their way 160 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,480 to a hot date. 161 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,280 But shifting 20 tonnes is no easy job. 162 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:29,320 All right. How do we get it out of there? 163 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,600 We use a giant electromagnet. 164 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,680 No way. Yeah. Really? Whoa! 165 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,880 How do we get that started? Just using this. Can I do it? 166 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:46,320 You can do. What do I say in French? Vas-y! Vas-y? Vas-y! 167 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,040 Hello? Vas-y! OK. 168 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:51,480 That's right. 169 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,800 The control room turns on the electromagnet, 170 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:00,200 sending 13 kilowatts of current through the wire coil inside. 171 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,880 That's like a science fiction film! 172 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,680 By changing the current in the electromagnet, 173 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:09,200 you can change the load you pick up, yeah. 174 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,120 Wow! Wow, wow! 175 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,760 The electromagnet picks up two tonnes of iron at a time... 176 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,520 No, no, no. That is just incredible! 177 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:23,840 ..and transports it 25 metres across the factory. 178 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:28,400 When the current is turned off, the iron drops into the hopper, 179 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:30,880 in Melting. 180 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,240 But this iron isn't the only ingredient in the recipe 181 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:40,480 for our pots. The magnet also collects steel. 182 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:47,800 What is the balance between the pig iron and the steel? 183 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,520 50/50 almost. Yeah. Oh, right, OK. 184 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,640 That's easy to understand. 185 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:57,760 A pot made from pig iron alone, although hard, 186 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,840 risks being brittle. The steel adds some flexibility. 187 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,120 How much metal on there? 188 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,560 Eight tonnes of metal. 189 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:13,040 But we can't make pots from a load of solid blocks of metal. 190 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,600 We need to melt them down in a terrifying piece of kit 191 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,440 called a crucible. 192 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,760 What is that? It's an oven. 193 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,240 A melting furnace. 194 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:26,800 It's like a giant cooking pot. 195 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,560 That's exactly what it is, isn't it, really?! Yeah, it is. 196 00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:31,840 What temperature does that get to, to melt the..? 197 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:36,800 The objective is to reach 1,550 degrees Celsius. 198 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,240 That's like a volcano! Nearly, yeah! 199 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,440 Electric induction coils heat the contents of the crucible 200 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,640 up to a temperature even hotter than lava. 201 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,040 Now we need to get our eight tonnes of metal down the throat 202 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,680 of this man-made volcano. 203 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:56,960 So the control panel is here. 204 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:01,520 So you just see the white button here? So just press it. 205 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,560 This is the biggest load I've ever played with. 206 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:07,040 Ever, ever, ever. 207 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,240 It works! Wow, it's moving! 208 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,000 It's moving! 209 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,120 The hopper travels on its very own rail system. 210 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,200 Wow, this is big! 211 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,120 Whoa, look at this! 212 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,680 The size of this thing! 213 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,640 The mix of metal is tipped out of the hopper 214 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,440 on a vibrating chute and melted down. 215 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:49,640 40 minutes later, our iron and steel has combined. 216 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:57,560 Any impurities, called slag, rise to the surface of the mix. 217 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:01,560 They can damage the crucible, so must be removed by hand. 218 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:08,360 And it seems I'm expected to get hands-on, too! 219 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,960 OK. Why am I dressed up like a spaceman? 220 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,680 Because we have to check the composition of the cast iron. 221 00:14:14,680 --> 00:14:17,480 We need a sample. A sample from there? Yeah. 222 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,760 So you need to wear this hat also. Me?! You, yeah. 223 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,360 So we take a sample using a 2m spoon. Really? 224 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,960 With the foundry guy. The big man here? Yeah. 225 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,480 He is twice the size of me! OK. 226 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:39,640 ROBOTIC VOICE: I am ironman! 227 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:45,880 No way! 228 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:47,760 No! 229 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:51,680 The heat is ridiculous! 230 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,640 All that stands between me and third degree burns 231 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,920 are thick leather gloves and a gold visor. 232 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,840 Whoa! Whoa! 233 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,120 Oh, the heat, the heat is incredible. 234 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:07,800 Yeah, help! 235 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:09,320 OK. 236 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,680 Whoa! Look at that stuff! 237 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,560 This is a really tricky challenge. 238 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:20,040 Look at it! 239 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:24,920 It requires strength and accuracy to tip my white hot sample 240 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:28,440 into a 4cm-wide mould. 241 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,840 I've never done anything like this, ever. 242 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:37,080 Whoa! Brilliant! Big man! 243 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:44,440 Well done! You're a real foundry guy now! 244 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,240 That was terrifying. 245 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,280 Yeah. That was so scary. 246 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,960 My sample of molten metal cools for five minutes. 247 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:01,120 A spectrometer fires electricity through the disc. 248 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:04,680 The atoms of the different elements within it send readings back, 249 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,080 which are checked against the requirements for our pots. 250 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,880 Has it passed the test? Yeah. Everything is green. 251 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:12,440 So you passed the test? 252 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,240 Are we ready now, please, to make some pots? 253 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,280 Yeah, we are. Come on. Come on, show me where. Show me where. 254 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:22,200 With our metal given the all clear, the molten mix is poured 255 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:26,680 into smaller, 1.6 tonne holding crucibles. 256 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:30,880 These are kept at 1,450 degrees Celsius 257 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,240 to ensure the metal remains liquid 258 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,840 until we're ready to turn it into pots. 259 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,840 This French foundry has been casting cast iron for almost a century, 260 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,600 but it was a Brit who first developed the technique 261 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,840 they use here, more than 300 years ago. 262 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,360 Ruth is picking up the story 263 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:59,040 at the Iron Bridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire. 264 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:04,160 Just along here is one of the most important sites in British history. 265 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,960 A furnace where the modern method of making cooking pots 266 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,080 was first devised. 267 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,040 But it didn't just change the way we cooked, 268 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,200 this changed the whole world. 269 00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:20,680 Because the humble cooking pot helped forge 270 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:22,560 the Industrial Revolution. 271 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,000 To find out how, I'm heading to the furnace, 272 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,120 where the first mass-produced cast-iron pots were made 273 00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:33,240 and meeting historian Georgina Grant. 274 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,240 Georgina! Hello. 275 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:39,240 So what is it that makes this structure so special, then? 276 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:42,560 Well, it's here that someone called Abraham Darby developed a patent 277 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,960 for sand-casting pots. And I've got this patent here. 278 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:51,240 So it says, "A new way of casting iron-bellied pots in sand only. 279 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:53,200 "And in regard to their cheapness, 280 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,680 "may be of great advantage to the poor." 281 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,880 Abraham Darby was an innovative 30-year-old metal worker 282 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:01,760 from the Midlands. 283 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:06,880 So before, you would use a clay mould to make cast-iron pots, 284 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,240 or any kind of cast iron, but it was a very laborious process. 285 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,400 So if you're making a clay mould, well, presumably you have to make 286 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,960 one by hand, you get some sort of moulding clay. Yeah. 287 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,520 You pour hot iron into it. 288 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:20,800 So the only way you're going to get that out is that clay 289 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,760 is going to bake, isn't it? So you'd have to actually smash that mould. 290 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,480 Yes. Which means you cannot use that mould again. 291 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:29,640 Darby discovered a method that allowed him to make 292 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:32,640 moulds from sand. They were quicker and cheaper 293 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,200 to work with than the old clay moulds. 294 00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:41,800 Metal items could be cast in the sand moulds and, once cool, 295 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:46,760 the sand could easily be knocked off and reused again and again. 296 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,960 It was the start of an efficient factory process. 297 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,080 So they're producing lots and lots of cooking pots. 298 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,640 They were cheaper to buy. And I've got one here, actually. 299 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,040 So this is a real one, this came from... Right. This is... 300 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,320 ..the Darby furnaces. Oh, goodness. 301 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,000 Well, you were pretending it's heavy! 302 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,080 This, in comparison to all the early cauldrons, is incredibly light. 303 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,400 I mean, look at that! Yep. 304 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:17,960 I can do it in one hand! Yeah, much more manageable. 305 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:19,800 Yeah. Much more affordable. 306 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,400 It really is the birth of mass production here. 307 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:28,280 But sand casting wasn't the only innovation. 308 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:36,280 Darby had a secret weapon, a new process that made his pots 309 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,200 better quality, more desirable and a lot cheaper. 310 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:45,160 Because instead of using the traditional wood charcoal, 311 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,600 he was using this - coke - to fuel his furnaces. 312 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:57,720 This coke, a form of purified coal, replaced the dwindling wood supplies 313 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,280 that had traditionally fuelled these furnaces. 314 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,240 It had many advantages. 315 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:09,440 Smelting iron, using coke as a fuel, allows the furnaces to become 316 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,040 incredibly hot, producing high-quality iron 317 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,520 in massive quantities. 318 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,760 Melting iron using coke made the iron more fluid 319 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,440 when it was poured, helping to make thinner pots 320 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,800 that were still strong. 321 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,800 But soon it wasn't just pots that they were making. 322 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,240 People were beginning to come up with ideas for all sorts of things 323 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,440 that they'd like made out of cast iron. 324 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:46,520 The most striking of which is the very first iron bridge, 325 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,920 constructed just a mile from the original foundry 326 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:54,640 by Darby's grandson, Abraham Darby III, in 1779. 327 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:01,000 Only 72 years after his grandad's ground-breaking success, this bridge 328 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,760 was built to showcase just what cast iron could do. 329 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:12,720 Quickly adopted by 19th-century engineers, iron became the magic 330 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:19,080 material that built steam engines, railways and factory machines. 331 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:24,040 Today, this place, Ironbridge, calls itself the birthplace 332 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,520 of the Industrial Revolution. 333 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:30,840 But let's not forget, it all began with a cooking pot. 334 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:41,960 In the modern pot factory in France, my molten metal 335 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:46,200 is being held in crucibles, ready to be poured into moulds. 336 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,640 We just need to make them. 337 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,800 They still use Darby's sand method here, but it's done 338 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,080 on a mammoth scale, 339 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,800 over in Moulding... 340 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,480 ..where they make a sand mix by adding a little carbon, 341 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,760 clay and water. 342 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:09,440 I still don't understand how fine sand can be made into a mould. 343 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,800 You can have this, which can stick 344 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:17,240 because of the water which activate... 345 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:21,000 ..the clay. Ah, OK! 346 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,200 And that's how you can make a mould? Exactly. 347 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,080 So it's soft sand until you squeeze it? Yeah. 348 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,400 And then it squeezes into a shape? Yeah, exactly. 349 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,680 Because of the clay and the water? Exactly. That is genius! 350 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,280 Every hour, 70 tonnes of sand mix is pumped down 351 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,120 into an ultramodern moulding machine. 352 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:44,120 What is happening? Where is the sand? Ah. 353 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:45,600 And where are the moulds? 354 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,760 So we're making some moulds there, in this machine, 355 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,240 at a very high speed. 356 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,000 The black sand funnels down from above 357 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,240 and is then squeezed with a mould from either side, 358 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,160 a bit like an accordion. 359 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,560 The inside of a pot shape is pushed from one side 360 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,880 and the outside of a pot pushed from the other. 361 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:09,280 The whole block is then shunted towards the one in front, 362 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:14,560 leaving a 3mm to 4mm gap, which is the mould for our pot. 363 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,760 That is unbelievable! 364 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:18,480 Unbelievable. 365 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,080 The newly created moulds travel out of the moulding machine 366 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,680 in a continuous block, filling the holes in the top, 367 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:27,880 ready for the molten metal. 368 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,440 The metal we left in the holding crucibles on the other side 369 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,240 of the foundry is sent over by rail. 370 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,720 It's lifted up and poured into a funnel system 371 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,560 above the moulding line, 372 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,680 which drops 11 kilos of molten metal into the top of each mould. 373 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,480 The liquid metal flows round the gap inside, 374 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,960 creating the shape of our pot. 375 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:04,560 Wow! 376 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,960 That's what we call really hot! All right? Yeah. 377 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:15,320 So what we've got here is a continuous block of sand... 378 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,960 Yeah. ..with metal being poured inside, creating lots 379 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,800 and lots of little pots? Yeah. 380 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,200 We're producing pots with a lot of heat 381 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,160 and enough sand to fill a beach! 382 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:31,480 Very, very good. 383 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,600 I want to see them born, come on. Let's break the moulds. 384 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:44,000 It takes 25 minutes for our metal-filled moulds 385 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:45,720 to travel 18 metres 386 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:49,480 along the conveyor, cooling as they go. 387 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,960 Removing the moulds is a very simple process. 388 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,760 Because they're made of sand, you just shake them off. 389 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,200 The pots travel along a vibrating conveyor 390 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:02,280 where the sand breaks up in a noisy black river of dust. 391 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,200 It falls through the grates and is funnelled back 392 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,320 to make another set of moulds. 393 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:19,960 Finally, the newly created pots emerge. 394 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:24,320 There they are! 395 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,200 There they are. Why is it rattling so much? 396 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:29,480 It's a vibrating grate. 397 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,640 Just to make the separation, to break the sand moulds. 398 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,080 All that tonnes of metal, 399 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,360 all that heat, there's our pan. Can I touch one? Yeah. 400 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:41,960 What temperature is this now? 401 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,560 200 degrees. 200 degrees. 402 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,240 So it was 1,400 degrees? Yeah. 403 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,840 And now it's 200 degrees. So you can feel the temperature? 404 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,080 I can feel the temperature on my face. 405 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,440 It's like I've taken a hot pot of stew out of the oven. 406 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,160 From here, our pots have any remaining sand cleared off 407 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,760 and sit to completely cool. 408 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,800 Half of the metal in these pots is steel. 409 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:12,400 It's the most recycled material in the world, with the ability 410 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,640 to be melted down and reused an infinite number of times. 411 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:21,240 Cherry's going to find out how it's done. 412 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,360 The biggest single lump of steel we're ever likely to recycle 413 00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:29,600 is a car. 414 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,560 So I've come to ASM in Oxfordshire to see what goes on. 415 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:41,160 When it's time to retire a car, it can be a very emotional thing. 416 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,360 And it got me thinking, what really happens behind the gates 417 00:26:45,360 --> 00:26:47,800 of a scrap yard? 418 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,480 Every year, around 2 million cars reach the end of their life 419 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,880 in the UK, and in this modern scrap yard, 420 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,280 they pride themselves on recycling as much of the car as possible. 421 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,000 Site supervisor Josh Morgan is going to demonstrate their methods 422 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,200 on my old banger. 423 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,440 Hello. Hiya. 424 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,840 It's a sad moment. Yeah! 425 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,880 But it's time. It's the end. It is, the end. 426 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,760 How much of her will you be able to recycle? 427 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,880 Eh, usually about 95% of the vehicle. Oh, so almost all of it. 428 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:20,520 Yeah, almost all of it, yeah, yeah. 429 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,800 So what's the most useful material? The steel. 430 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,080 But, before we get to the steel, 431 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:29,400 any hazardous or valuable parts are removed in the de-pollution 432 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,280 and dismantling workshop. 433 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,200 So what's next? Wheels off now. Yeah. 434 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,360 Oh, look! That was really fun. 435 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,800 Screwdriver? 436 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,040 We remove anything that can be sold as spare parts, 437 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,000 such as wing mirrors, doors and bumpers. 438 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,320 OK, right. We're going for the barcode on it now. 439 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,560 Taking her wings off? Mm-hm. Lovely. 440 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,880 And drain fluids like oil, which will be recycled. 441 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,440 Next, my car is taken outside, where a machine packing 60 tonnes 442 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,080 of gripping pressure, called a power hand nibbler, 443 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,920 removes larger non-steel items. 444 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,320 Oh, my... Oh! 445 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:17,360 Whoo! 446 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:23,080 He's peeling the roof back like a tin of sardines. 447 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:24,360 Oh! Oh! 448 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,280 That just exploded. 449 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,520 Woohoohoo! 450 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,000 Whoo! Whoo! 451 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,680 You've got various different components in the vehicle. 452 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,960 You've got the aluminium, which is in the radiators. 453 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:42,960 You've got the copper, which is in the wire. 454 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:44,440 And you've got obviously the steel, 455 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,320 which is the main chassis body of the vehicle. 456 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,800 There are lots of things that can be recycled? Lots of things, yeah. 457 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,160 But the steel is the main body? Yeah. 458 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:55,200 The car is now an empty shell of around 90% steel. 459 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,560 She's looked better. Yeah, she certainly has. 460 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,440 Next, we need to make it easier to transport. 461 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:08,120 The giant hydraulic grab picks up my 1.2 tonne car 462 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,880 like it's a cuddly toy in a seaside arcade. 463 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,440 And it's dropped into the baler. 464 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:20,960 I feel bad, but it's very satisfying. 465 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,680 Oh, listen to that crunch! 466 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:25,480 CRUNCHING 467 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,000 250 tonnes of crushing weight, 468 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,560 the equivalent of 20 double decker buses, 469 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:36,040 pushed down, reducing my motor to, well, a bale. 470 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:37,600 Oh, no, here we go. 471 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:45,240 Oh, my goodness! 472 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:50,800 And that's it. 473 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:52,600 I don't know what to say. 474 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,000 It is a square of steel. 475 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,520 It's now just 30% of its original size, but the all-important metal 476 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,760 is still twisted around plastic, glass and paint. 477 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,520 That is very, very strange. 478 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,760 The steel needs separating out, so the bale's loaded 479 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:17,880 onto the back of a waiting lorry. 480 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:24,400 And 25 bales are driven to nearby EMR Metal Recycling. 481 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,000 Lovely to meet you. Good to meet you. 482 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,840 Mark Priestman loads my car bale into a pre-shredder. 483 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,920 So I've spent ages compressing it into a tight box, 484 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,720 and you just loosened it all? It's just tearing it open 485 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,600 so that it can go easily and at a very fast rate 486 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,320 into the main shredding process. 487 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:58,800 The opened up bale is dropped into the 7m-tall mega shredder. 488 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,200 The machine is a bit like Granny's old mince meater, 489 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,960 with a 6,000 horsepower electric motor attached. 490 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,280 Hidden inside this steamy machine, 491 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,600 giant hammers spinning at 500 rotations a minute 492 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,400 pound the metal. 493 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,320 The resulting friction strips away the paint. 494 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:22,080 It chews through one car every 15 seconds. 495 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,320 Next, a revolving magnet separates the steel we're after 496 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:29,320 from any remaining plastic, glass or other metal. 497 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:35,000 240 tonnes of it drops onto a huge stockpile every hour. 498 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:39,720 This is what's left, Cherry. 499 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:42,680 Ha! Is that the exhaust pipe? That's the exhaust pipe! 500 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,120 I mean, it's just torn that car apart. 501 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,160 It's too late to say you want it back now! 502 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:55,480 Worldwide, 700 million tonnes of ferrous metal, like steel, gets 503 00:31:55,480 --> 00:32:01,120 recycled every year, enough to make around 69,000 Eiffel Towers, 504 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:06,600 using 80% less energy than making new metals from virgin iron ore. 505 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:12,480 Steel is the most brilliantly recyclable material on Earth! 506 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,720 It's extraordinary to think that one minute I can be driving in it, 507 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,600 and the next minute I can be cooking my stew in it. 508 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:33,360 At the factory, almost two hours in, our pots have been cast and cooled. 509 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,360 But they're looking a bit rough around the edges. 510 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:41,400 An extreme beautification process begins with a rub down. 511 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,920 The rim is smoothed with an electric grinding wheel 512 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,480 in a process called de-burring. 513 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,800 Ten workers speed through seven pots a minute, 514 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,840 before they're sent over to Finishing... 515 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:59,920 ..where they'll be cleaned up in preparation for their colour coat. 516 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,200 Your factory just does not stop being crazy! 517 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,560 Everywhere I look, there's just something else ridiculous going on. 518 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,760 Have we got to load these up? You can just load it here. 519 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:14,040 So they have... 520 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:15,400 POTS CRASH 521 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,080 Not like this! 522 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,600 You know what this looks like to me? 523 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,120 The inside of a dishwasher. Yeah, it is! 524 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:26,480 Just like a dishwasher rack, the large wire baskets 525 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,240 we're loading our pots on to allow them to be cleaned. 526 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:34,520 They travel sedately into a huge grit blaster. 527 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,760 Inside, millions of tiny pellets of steel 528 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,960 are fired against the surface of the dishes. 529 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,120 That's really heavy. 530 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:47,760 Stainless steel. Yeah. But that must make the surface rough? 531 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:49,840 Yeah. Yeah, of course. 532 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,280 And it is what we want to obtain. Why? 533 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,720 Just to allow the colour coat to stick on the metal. 534 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,720 I see. So they do two jobs. 535 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,080 They clean the pot... Exactly. And they make it rough 536 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,480 so that you can put the colour finish on. Yeah, you got it. 537 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:11,480 After 45 minutes of extreme exfoliation in the gritter, 538 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:15,720 our pots head off for individual spot checks 539 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:19,160 in a busy area called Hand Finishing, 540 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:23,400 where workers smooth away any remaining blemishes. 541 00:34:27,240 --> 00:34:31,080 So we have to see all the little tiny imperfections 542 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:34,960 we can have remaining on the bottom. So you can see this. 543 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,840 It's a little imperfection. There? Yeah. 544 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,840 So how do you get rid of that? You use a grinding tool... Show me. 545 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,800 ..just to remove this little imperfection like this. 546 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,880 Can I have a go? Yeah. You can have a go, yeah. 547 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:55,680 Yeah. That's OK? 548 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:00,880 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 549 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,240 I like this job! This is a good job. 550 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:13,920 I hope the person that buys my pot 551 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,800 appreciates the hard work I've put in. 552 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,480 To protect my pots from rust, they're sprayed 553 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:24,400 with a fine base coat, spinning as they go. 554 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:30,680 This will also help the colour coat stick to the metal. 555 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:34,120 They're coming on nicely. 556 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,560 Soon they'll be ready to make a French casserole. 557 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:42,840 Or, its British equivalent, the Lancashire hotpot. 558 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:47,760 Ruth's investigating the history of this classic one-pot dish. 559 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:54,280 200 years ago, during the Industrial Revolution, men and women 560 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:58,560 were going out to work all day in mills and factories. 561 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:01,280 With no-one at home to look after a stew pot on the fire 562 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,400 and no ovens at home to speak of, 563 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,680 many people resorted to this - a pot 564 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,160 that they took along to their local baker, 565 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:15,920 or the communal oven, shared by all the people in the terrace. 566 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,960 12 hours later, on their way home from work, 567 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:25,760 they collected their slow-cooked meal. 568 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,720 The old name - a hodgepodge, meaning whatever you had to hand 569 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:33,720 bunged in a pot - came to be known as hotpot. 570 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:39,760 I'm at Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, to see how the hotpot 571 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,760 transformed from a working-class dish to a 20th-century staple. 572 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:49,280 I'm following the evolution of the recipe with chef Roopa Gulati. 573 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:51,760 Roopa, hello! Hello! 574 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,080 I have brought a hotpot from the communal oven. 575 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:59,120 So what exactly is traditionally in a Lancashire hotpot? 576 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:01,640 Not very much. Potatoes... 577 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,800 ..meat, usually mutton. 578 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,560 It's cheap, it's accessible. 579 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,040 And you've got a filling, tasty meal. 580 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,600 Lots of fuel to keep you going. 581 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,480 But by the end of the Victorian era, the humble hotpot had made it 582 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,760 into middle-class cookbooks. 583 00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:25,680 This recipe is from 1892. 584 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,240 Oh, yes! A Lancashire Hot Pot. 585 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:30,000 And in there... Oh! 586 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,480 ..you see all kinds of interesting... I do. 587 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,840 Four mutton kidneys, a score of oysters! 588 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,080 A score is 20. 589 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,840 As Britain's empire expanded, so did tastes. 590 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:43,760 Oh, my goodness! 591 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:47,400 And a teaspoonful of curry powder. Glamorous! 592 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,800 So you have a humble Lancashire hotpot that started off 593 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:55,280 being something quite simple for mill workers, 594 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:57,760 and you're now adding curry powder to it. 595 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:02,840 But it wasn't just the recipes that were evolving, 596 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:06,040 so too were people's kitchens. 597 00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,120 The availability of cast iron in the 19th century saw 598 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:14,120 the widespread adoption of the coal-fired range oven at home. 599 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:19,160 By 1900, little tiny cheap versions were available 600 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,120 in pretty much every coal-burning household in Britain, 601 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:25,880 and they completely revolutionised many people's style of cooking, 602 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,640 because now you've got an oven at home. 603 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,080 The next time I turn my convection oven on and, five minutes later, 604 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:37,200 it's 200 degrees... Oh, yeah. ..I will pay homage to my ancestors! 605 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:41,880 # When all the skies are grey 606 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:43,920 # And it's a rain day 607 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:47,480 # Think of the birdies in spring...# 608 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:51,000 By the 1940s, the hotpot found itself on the front line 609 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:55,400 of the war effort, with people encouraged to oven cook 610 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,800 economical one-pot dishes. 611 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:02,000 There's no better poster that sums things up than this one. 612 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,880 "Better pot-luck with Churchill today 613 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,600 "than humble pie under Hitler tomorrow." 614 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,560 And the message, "Don't waste food!" 615 00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:13,440 Yeah. The idea is that, in a hotpot, 616 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,760 it can cook long and slow 617 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:19,600 and you can basically chuck anything in it and let it just simmer. 618 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:23,080 Right. Whereas if you're going to be kind of indulgent, 619 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:27,280 you're going to make a quick pie... In a saucepan. ..in a saucepan! 620 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,240 So what sort of recipes have we got from this era, then? 621 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,920 Well, this recipe I find really interesting. 622 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,480 It talks about three quarters of a pound of meat. 623 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:41,000 No mention what. Just any meat you might... Any meat! 624 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,240 Anything you can get your hands on. Anything, 625 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:45,640 because it was in such short supply at the time. 626 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:47,880 It was about coming together 627 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,200 and making a little go a really long way. 628 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,400 Post-war, one-pot cooking was marketed as labour-saving, 629 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:57,320 even glamorous. 630 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:05,240 But fast forward to the 1970s, and the latest technology gave 631 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:08,160 the humble hotpot a new lease of life. 632 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:11,760 And here we are in the 1970s! 633 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:14,520 Absolutely! Dressed to match. 634 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:18,040 I do remember these... I do! ..1970s slow cookers. 635 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,560 It was a curiosity, but it really did take hold in the 1970s. 636 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,520 I mean, why do you think that was? 637 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,680 I think it had something to do with women 638 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:29,680 suddenly having to go out to work. Right. 639 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:31,440 And being independent. 640 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,760 And yet, when they came home in the evenings, they were still 641 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:38,280 expected to put a meal on the table, a hot meal at that. 642 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:42,600 And this was their way of giving the best of both worlds. 643 00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:47,760 1970s working women embraced this dish for the same reasons 644 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:52,160 the millworkers had 150 years earlier. 645 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:57,680 And right back to the sort of earlier history of the hotpot, 646 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,400 in that it's something you can pop on in the morning, go to work, 647 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:03,640 come back, got a hot meal. 648 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:06,560 It's almost as if it's completed the full circle. It is, isn't it? 649 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,720 Come back to its roots. Yeah. 650 00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:11,080 And it's big on flavour... 651 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:12,600 And convenience. Mm! 652 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:15,040 That's nice! 653 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,480 At the 21st-century factory, 654 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:30,680 my pots have been cast, buffed and received their base coats. 655 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,520 After almost four hours of production, they're now ready 656 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:35,520 for their colour coating 657 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:37,200 over in Enamelling... 658 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:44,680 ..where I'm meeting ceramic engineer Sandra. 659 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:48,640 Hello. I've come to find out about enamelling. 660 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,120 So enamel is a layer of glass. 661 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,680 And so we mix the pigments with glass. 662 00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:56,840 So you mix colour dye with glass? Yes. 663 00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:58,600 We mix all the colour here. 664 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,640 So, this is the mixing machine? 665 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:03,680 Yeah. 666 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,520 The enamel is 80% powdered glass, 667 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,320 5% colour pigment and 15% additives, 668 00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:16,760 like clay powder mixed with water. 669 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,400 Resistant to heat and acid, 670 00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:26,360 it will protect our cast-iron pots and give them a long life. 671 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,000 Although their outsides will be orange, 672 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,920 their insides will be a creamy sand colour. 673 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:37,120 SHOUTS: That looks like a big milkshake, 674 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,880 a big vanilla milksha... MACHINE TURNS OFF 675 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,920 Sorry? SHOUTS: That looks like... Sorry. 676 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:46,760 That looks like a big vanilla milkshake. 677 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:48,840 LAUGHS: Big milkshake. 678 00:42:48,840 --> 00:42:50,360 How much enamel do I need? 679 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:53,320 One barrel like this. That's it? That's it, that's enough. 680 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:55,720 The barrel for the... Brilliant. 681 00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:58,800 The barrel of enamel is connected up to tubes, 682 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,280 and the dishes are placed on revolving pedestals 683 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,440 on a conveyor which will carry them through the colour process 684 00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,400 at a sedate 0.2mph. 685 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,720 The enamel is pumped through into precision spray guns 686 00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:20,320 which coat each spinning pan in a uniform 0.3mm-thick layer of colour. 687 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,160 GREGG LAUGHS 688 00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:31,840 Right, that is my sand-coloured enamel going inside the pot, right? 689 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:34,640 How many different guns does it take 690 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:38,080 until you have completely covered the inside? 691 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:40,920 So, the inside it's six guns. 692 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:42,560 Six guns? Yeah. 693 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:45,120 What...are they all different angles? Yeah. 694 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:46,480 Ah, I see! 695 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:47,720 Oh, yes. 696 00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:49,760 That one is higher than that one. Exactly. 697 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,840 OK. So, six different angles... Exactly. 698 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:55,400 ..to cover the inside of what... Right. 699 00:43:55,400 --> 00:44:00,000 Why is there not enamel everywhere? 700 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:01,720 So, we are using a waterfall. 701 00:44:01,720 --> 00:44:04,040 We connect it to an air cleaner 702 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:06,440 just to collect all the dust, yeah. 703 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:11,880 The waterfall is clearing away the excess enamel? 704 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:12,920 Yeah. 705 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,520 The enamel is liquid when it is fired out as a fine mist 706 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:20,320 at the speed of sound. 707 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,600 Larger liquid droplets cover the pot, 708 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,760 but smaller particles dry into dust in the air 709 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:29,560 and are sucked by fans into a waterfall, 710 00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,880 removed to stop workers breathing them in. 711 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:34,560 How do you catch the drops? 712 00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,160 "We have a waterfall." Of course you do. Yeah. 713 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:39,960 You people here are incredible. 714 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:41,560 Incredible. 715 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:51,280 Interiors complete, my pots move into the next spray booth, 716 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:54,560 where the machines have been replaced by humans, 717 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,920 who spray the hard-to-reach handles manually 718 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:02,040 using a temporary lid to stop the orange colour seeping inside. 719 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:03,480 Here we are. 720 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:05,200 That's our orange, right? 721 00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:06,520 Yeah, it is. 722 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:10,440 Workers have just 12 seconds to complete each one, 723 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:13,360 as it spins past them on the conveyor. 724 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:14,480 Please, take the gun. 725 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:16,560 The colour. 726 00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:18,880 Go. 727 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:21,360 Let's see if I'll make the grade. 728 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:22,680 Yes. 729 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:25,360 It's not enamelled inside the handle. 730 00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:28,800 I think there may be a few for the reject pile. 731 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:35,400 A little better, but there's no enamel on this handle, here. 732 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:38,520 FREDERIC LAUGHS I can't do it. I can't do it. 733 00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:40,000 It may look simple, 734 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:45,080 but it's surprisingly tricky to get the enamel right inside the handles. 735 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:47,000 Yes! No, no. 736 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,320 There's no enamel here. 737 00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,800 FREDERIC LAUGHS 738 00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:54,000 Stop laughing! 739 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,400 It's not helping. 740 00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:59,600 Please, please, may you stop? 741 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:02,600 We have too many rejects. 742 00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,960 I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 743 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:08,520 It's not my fault. 744 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:10,960 So, it's not as easy as it seems. 745 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:15,200 That was really difficult. Yeah, it is. 746 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:17,040 I'm not going to be in artist. No. 747 00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:18,440 I am no Matisse. 748 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:23,640 The pots I haven't messed up 749 00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:26,640 are flipped over and sprayed a vibrant orange. 750 00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:37,200 But they also like to give this dish a final French flourish. 751 00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:39,000 What happens at the end? 752 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:42,120 Are you spraying another...are you spraying it red as well? 753 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:43,760 Yeah, it's a different colour. 754 00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:46,800 It's a gradient, right? Is it more red at the bottom? Yeah. 755 00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:49,080 And then more orange at the top. 756 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:50,120 Exactly. 757 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:55,600 The change in colour is created by gradually reducing the amount 758 00:46:55,600 --> 00:47:00,800 of darker red enamel that is sprayed as the gun moves along each dish. 759 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,840 All the colour creates quite a spectacle. 760 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,720 I love an orange waterfall. 761 00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:10,920 You could travel around the whole world 762 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:13,560 and you will never see an orange waterfall. 763 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:15,320 You guys are crazy in here. 764 00:47:17,240 --> 00:47:20,800 The wet pots are sent through for drying. 765 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:26,960 That is hot. How long is that dryer? 766 00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:28,760 About eight minutes. 767 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:30,400 At what temperature? 768 00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:32,040 At 150 degrees Celsius. 769 00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:33,960 Can I see them coming out the other end? 770 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:36,080 Yeah. Yes, please. Yes, please. 771 00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:40,840 What have you done to them? 772 00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:42,560 They're pink! 773 00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,720 Why is it that colour and why has it gone all matte and not shiny? 774 00:47:46,720 --> 00:47:48,880 It's because it's a dried enamel. 775 00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:58,760 The dryer has removed all the water from the enamel, dulling its colour. 776 00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,960 But it's a vital step before it can safely enter 777 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:04,320 the high temperature of the kiln. 778 00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:06,760 That's a kiln? That's a kiln, yeah. 779 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:08,840 And what will happen to it in there? 780 00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:13,000 So, there we just transform the enamel into glass. 781 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:17,320 We need to increase the temperature up to 800 degrees 782 00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:19,880 just to recreate this glass 783 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:24,000 and to melt all these elements all together. 784 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:25,840 And how long is it in there for? 785 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:27,080 35 minutes. 786 00:48:28,720 --> 00:48:33,360 The powdered glass within the enamel melts down into a liquid in the kiln 787 00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:35,760 and then sets hard when it cools, 788 00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:39,960 transforming into a layer of super-hard coloured glass... 789 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:43,800 ..a process called vitrification. 790 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:47,760 It gives the pots a glossy shine. 791 00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:53,120 There we are. Lots and lots of shiny, shiny pots. 792 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:55,200 May I? Yeah. 793 00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:58,240 So it is, shiny again. There it is. 794 00:48:58,240 --> 00:49:00,080 Yeah, that looks good. 795 00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:02,200 That looks really, really good. 796 00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,840 I didn't like it at the last stage. 797 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:07,560 Are they all quality-checking? 798 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:09,120 Yeah, it's a quality-checking. 799 00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:10,360 What are they checking for? 800 00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:13,240 Little pin holes. Maybe the handle isn't painted. 801 00:49:13,240 --> 00:49:15,360 Maybe. BOTH LAUGH 802 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:26,720 Our pots are placed in crates to cool for 30 minutes. 803 00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:31,200 The amount of science involved in making these pots 804 00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:33,080 is pretty astonishing. 805 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,640 There's a fair bit involved in making a decent casserole too, 806 00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:38,440 as Cherry is discovering. 807 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:43,160 Look at that. 808 00:49:43,160 --> 00:49:45,200 That is a thing of beauty. 809 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:50,320 Soft, melt-in-your-mouth meat and thick, gorgeous gravy. 810 00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:52,240 The perfect casserole. 811 00:49:52,240 --> 00:49:53,800 But when I try and make this at home, 812 00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:55,720 it just doesn't cut the mustard. 813 00:49:55,720 --> 00:50:00,600 Can science tell me what I'm doing wrong and help me get it right? 814 00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:07,480 In search of tips to ensure my casseroles are more hit than miss, 815 00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:10,440 I'm heading to London Metropolitan University 816 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:12,640 to meet food scientist Dr Sue Bailey. 817 00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:15,920 Lovely to meet you. Lovely to meet you, too. 818 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:20,640 So, can you teach me the art of making the perfect casserole? 819 00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:22,760 I'd be delighted to. 820 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:25,640 First, choose the correct cut of meat. 821 00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:28,280 What is the best cut of meat for a casserole? 822 00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:29,960 Well, the best cut of meat, actually, 823 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:31,280 is the cheaper cuts of meat. 824 00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:33,360 That's good news. It's very good news, yes. 825 00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:36,400 I mean, something like this, for example, which is brisket. 826 00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:38,160 So, where is the brisket from? 827 00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:42,200 It's from part of the shoulder of the animal. 828 00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:44,240 So, quite muscly. So, quite muscly. 829 00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:46,800 So, anything that's been working very hard 830 00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:49,240 and it's got a lot of connective tissue in it. 831 00:50:49,240 --> 00:50:51,200 Why do you want connective tissue? 832 00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:53,040 That just doesn't sound yummy at all. 833 00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:56,160 Well, connective tissue, when you cook it, 834 00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:59,160 breaks down and then makes you a nice, thick casserole. 835 00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:01,680 That is so interesting because, in the past, 836 00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:04,960 I've got rid of these bits cos they just don't look very tasty. 837 00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:07,240 Next up, brown the meat. 838 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:11,200 In order to actually get a really well-flavoured casserole, 839 00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:12,640 you must brown your meat. 840 00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:15,760 Now, a lot of people think 841 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:18,000 that's to sort of sear and seal the outside of the meat. 842 00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:20,280 Yes, lock in the juices. Lock in the juices. 843 00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:22,880 Well, actually, no, that's not what it's there for. 844 00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:26,240 What you actually need to do is start off a reaction 845 00:51:26,240 --> 00:51:27,720 called a Maillard reaction. 846 00:51:27,720 --> 00:51:30,960 You've got a small amount of sugars in the meat 847 00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,200 reacting with the protein in the meat 848 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:36,520 and then creating a whole load of new taste molecules. 849 00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:40,320 Rule three, add the correct amount of stock. 850 00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:44,480 You need to add enough water to just cover the meat. 851 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:46,360 It would dry out otherwise. 852 00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:48,600 Yeah. About right? That's about right. 853 00:51:49,920 --> 00:51:53,040 Now choose the right dish. 854 00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:55,480 What is most important is that you have a lid. 855 00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:57,320 So, it doesn't really matter what you use, 856 00:51:57,320 --> 00:51:59,400 as long as there is a lid and it fits tightly. 857 00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:03,040 What you want is no steam to escape during the cooking process. 858 00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:07,480 You want to retain all the flavours in your casserole dish. 859 00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:12,440 Finally, it's the all-important cooking time. 860 00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,920 Now, I've always believed cooking for longer 861 00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:17,120 equals a better casserole. 862 00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:20,440 And this time, instead of telling me what's best, 863 00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:22,480 Dr Sue's devised an experiment 864 00:52:22,480 --> 00:52:25,440 so we can measure the differences accurately. 865 00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:27,960 We're cooking three identical casseroles 866 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:30,280 all at a relatively low temperature. 867 00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:34,440 Check the temperature. 868 00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:35,840 OK, so it says 140. Perfect. 869 00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:40,160 One will be cooked for an hour and a half, 870 00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:41,800 one for four hours 871 00:52:41,800 --> 00:52:43,920 and one for eight hours. 872 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:46,000 Which will come out best? 873 00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:50,960 You have to get to this sort of magic zone within a casserole. 874 00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:54,360 And that is where you get the connective tissue 875 00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:57,320 beginning to break down, turning into gelatine 876 00:52:57,320 --> 00:53:00,520 and then giving a really nice mouthfeel. 877 00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:04,000 OK. 878 00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,600 BOTH: Ooh! That looks very good. That smells amazing. 879 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,240 We take the meat to the lab for scientific testing. 880 00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:17,000 A compression test is done with a texture analyser, 881 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,600 which measures the meat's tenderness. 882 00:53:21,560 --> 00:53:24,520 A vacuum oven analyses moisture content. 883 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:27,720 Now the moment of truth. 884 00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:32,000 So, this is the 90 minutes, 885 00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,160 so that's 58% moisture. 886 00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:37,800 This is the four hours' cooking time with 61% moisture. 887 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:40,840 So, you can see that the moisture level has gone up. 888 00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:45,520 But in fact, for the eight-hour cook, it's gone down quite a lot. 889 00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:49,560 It's clear that our four-hour casserole had the most moisture, 890 00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:52,040 meaning it's the most succulent. 891 00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:57,680 And the four-hour bake also results in the most tender meat. 892 00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:01,320 Why does cooking time affect the meat so much? 893 00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:04,520 Well, what's actually happened in the casserole 894 00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:06,520 that's only being cooked for an hour and a half 895 00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:10,360 is that there's not enough time for the connective tissue 896 00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:14,080 to break down into the lovely, silky gelatine in there. 897 00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:16,080 Yes, cos you can see it's still very hard. 898 00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:18,760 This one, however, that's been cooked for eight hours, 899 00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:21,280 there's not much gravy, 900 00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:23,000 everything is quite burned. 901 00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:27,120 What you've had here is a secondary breakdown of the proteins. 902 00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:30,640 The muscle fibres have actually broken apart. 903 00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:33,920 I've always thought the longer you cook a casserole for, 904 00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:35,800 the better and better it gets. 905 00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:38,960 No, that's not true. 906 00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:42,560 So, this one that was cooked for four hours is pretty much perfect. 907 00:54:42,560 --> 00:54:45,800 The meat falls apart really easily, the flavour is delicious, 908 00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:48,160 the vegetables are still intact. 909 00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:50,720 I mean, it's bang on. Exactly. 910 00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:54,880 They say that you can't rush a good casserole, 911 00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:58,520 but it turns out longer isn't always better. 912 00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:02,400 Finally, I have the secret to making the perfect casserole. 913 00:55:14,040 --> 00:55:15,360 Back in France, 914 00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:19,560 and our cooled enamelled casserole dishes are sent to Packing... 915 00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:22,200 ..where they meet their lids. 916 00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:26,680 But there's one thing missing - 917 00:55:26,680 --> 00:55:28,760 a stainless-steel knob. 918 00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:32,880 I have been involved with every stage of production. 919 00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:35,720 I would really, really like to just screw the knob on, put them in. 920 00:55:35,720 --> 00:55:37,320 Yeah, it's the last operation. 921 00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:39,800 Because it's got to be easier than spraying the enamel. 922 00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:41,480 So, please. Please, can I? 923 00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:43,080 Excuse me. Excuse me. 924 00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:44,640 Sorry. Pardon! 925 00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:46,360 Can I just...? Right. 926 00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:47,840 The screw. 927 00:55:52,200 --> 00:55:53,400 Yeah. Aha. 928 00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:56,200 Then, yeah, you maintain the screw like this. Aha. 929 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,080 You take a stainless-steel knob. 930 00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:04,520 Oh, I can't believe the screwing a knob on is difficult. 931 00:56:04,520 --> 00:56:06,440 Look, I'm going to look so stupid. 932 00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:11,240 So, 150 pots per hour will be difficult. 933 00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:14,560 And now... And look. Now, look. Ready? 934 00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:16,000 Gladiator. 935 00:56:20,440 --> 00:56:23,680 Yay! Come on! 936 00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,640 After five hours and 44 minutes, 937 00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:30,960 we have finished pots. 938 00:56:30,960 --> 00:56:33,920 They box 150 an hour. 939 00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:39,440 Overall, it's taken 42 pairs of hands to make each one. 940 00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:46,200 From here, our boxes are loaded up on pallets of 116 dishes 941 00:56:46,200 --> 00:56:48,000 to be sent to distribution, 942 00:56:48,000 --> 00:56:51,040 where I'm meeting company owner Paul Van Zuydam. 943 00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:54,560 Paul. Hi, Gregg. 944 00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:56,160 Good to meet you. You too. 945 00:56:56,160 --> 00:56:58,760 Do you know who your biggest customer is in Europe? 946 00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:02,120 That's the United Kingdom. Yes! Exactly. 947 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,360 I think that proves we may be the best cooks in Europe. 948 00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:07,840 You are the best cooks. GREGG LAUGHS 949 00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:10,120 The Italians won't agree with us. 950 00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:12,000 No, and my wife's Italian. 951 00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:14,240 Oh, no. 952 00:57:14,240 --> 00:57:18,560 Paul, do you know how many casserole dishes are on there? 953 00:57:18,560 --> 00:57:24,600 Yes. There are 3,828 casserole dishes on there. 954 00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:29,040 We export over 95% of our product today. 955 00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:32,520 So, the last pallet on there, should we send the truck to the UK? 956 00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:36,040 Yes, indeed. It's ready to go. Come on. Thank you, Gregg. 957 00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:42,000 Up to three lorries leave every day. 958 00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:46,960 The casserole dishes are shipped 959 00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:49,640 to over 60 countries all around the world, 960 00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:52,760 as far away as the USA and New Zealand. 961 00:57:54,720 --> 00:57:56,960 When I came to this factory in Northern France 962 00:57:56,960 --> 00:57:58,760 to see a casserole dish being made, 963 00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:02,680 I had no idea I was going to start off in an enormous foundry 964 00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:06,240 and I didn't know that enamel was made from glass. 965 00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:09,280 And as complicated as these systems appear, 966 00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:11,360 actually, they're pretty traditional. 967 00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:14,400 They're making this pot in the way that craftsmen have worked 968 00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:16,880 for hundreds and hundreds of years. 969 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:18,200 Au revoir.