They’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country, sampling the best on offer from the UK’s top producers, but when it comes to one region that has the perfect balance, the Hairy Bikers look to Lincolnshire.
The hirsute duo, who are back on our screens with new travel cookery series Bakeation, chose the eastern county as their prime location for the best selection of fresh produce in the UK.
“If you’re into your food, and enthusiastic about fresh produce, then the UK is a fabulous place in which to live,” Cumbrian-born Dave Myers, one half of the duo, explains.
“But I would say Louth in Lincolnshire is an extraordinary town,” chips in his culinary partner in crime, Si King. “It’s one of those foodie heartlands in north Lincolnshire - an outrageous abundance of markets, fresh gardens and such tremendous outdoor flavours that you’d expect of such an open place.”
“You’ve got thyme and haslet [pork meatloaf], which seem to be peculiar to that part of the world,” Myers adds. “There are butchers who do the most wonderful meat products - Lakings Meats, Meridien Meats - and a wonderful cheese shop, imaginatively titled The Cheese Shop, Louth. That’s a really passionate foodie place.”
In an era where our small-screen chefs are either turning the air blue with expletives or sensuously melding their tongues to their fingertips, the Hairy Bikers are a break from the mould with their no-nonsense approach to good food. “We’ve no gimmicks, no faddy ploys to pull in the viewers,” Myers tells FPJ. “We’re just two fellas who worship food and want to explore the endless options.”
In previous series, they have gone to great lengths to bolster the fortunes of fruits and vegetables sometimes forgotten by the public, with tea-time favourite cauliflower receiving particularly strong airtime. Has the duo any others in mind waiting for a boost? “Oh, so many,” King says. “There are Brussels sprouts, beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes. But it’s not all seasonal stuff, it’s about versatility too. Take beetroot, for instance. It has so many uses - it’s great in salads, fantastic boiled, can be puréed and pickled, anything. But it gets a bad reputation, and I think it’s time to bring back the beetroot to the family table.”
So what’s the strangest vegetable or fruit the duo has worked with? “I found a wonderful recipe for a lamb biryani, from this chef at London’s Cinnamon Club,” King recalls. “He suggested putting sliced papaya on the [raw] lamb, which makes it more tender, even though it doesn’t taste of papaya. It’s unusual but, my god, it works. It’s the best biryani recipe I’ve ever tried.”
Myers goes on: “You know the Indian drumstick. Well, we’re a great fan in our house of sambar, which is like an Indian gravy. You use a drumstick to make it. It’s more the flavour rather than the actual vegetables, because it’s really stringy. When you bite it, it’s still nice to chew, but you crave the flavour more than anything else.”
“Salsify is similar,” King adds. “That’s a lovely vegetable. When you peel it, it’s great poached in beetroot because it just goes bright red, with a brilliantly distinctive flavour. Or if you want to make a nice red wine sauce, it’s fantastic for that too.”
Seeing as they’ve both worked with such exotic delicacies, the Hairy Bikers clearly know their stuff. So FPJ decides to give them a random basket of fresh produce and see what they can come up with. What can the chefs produce from kale, apricots, Tenderstem broccoli, Bramley apple and chillies?
“Well, I’d do an apple and chilli chutney,” King says. “You’d pan fry the kale off by putting a bit of water and butter through it, then soften and caramelise what I’m presuming are fresh apricots, toss it through the kale and serve it with beef. Beautiful.”
But Myers wants to make a little adjustment to the recipe. “Can I add some more ingredients to it? I’d do something lamb-based with the apricots and the apples - maybe add some potatoes and the chillies, all in a tagine, and I’d cook that separately, while I steam the broccoli and the kale - the latter I’d finally deep fry. Curly kale when it’s deep fried is the most incredibly crisp green stuff and I would serve the tagine on one side with kale and broccoli separately. Actually if you wanted to combine the two, for the last five minutes of steaming, you’d lay the broccoli on top of the lamb and the fruit and that would get everything out of there. The one thing you’d have to leave out of the tagine would be the kale, but that could be fried as a garnish.”
After finding success with The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook series, former film location manager King and prosthetics make-up artist Myers have found a cult following in their original cookery format. There have been a string of rebranded follow-ups, each offering a charming mix of cooking and travelogue, in a style compared to the late Keith Floyd.
And they’re back on the road again with Bakeation, which will see the pair hop on their bikes and roar along the highways and byways of central Europe, stopping off for a little baking action on the way. “We wanted to go on a big road trip,” King explains. “For a number of years other commitments had meant we were unable to do it, but it was great getting back out there, and we’ve a whole new passion for baking that we didn’t know existed within us!”
So where were some of their favourite spots on the tour? “Norway, where we started the trip, was totally fantastic,” Myers offers. “And because we hadn’t been before, we both got that new, nervous excitement that comes about when you’re exploring new places or new flavours. Apart from the great motorcycling, the food was brilliant, and the baking just fantastic. Austria and Germany were amazing too - great food and ruddy good fun.
“We did [the TV show] The Hairy Bakers a few years ago,” King adds. “But that was only four half-hour shows and a Christmas special, so we had some unfinished baking business! After all, we’re Hairy Bikers, and have never had that much experience with an oven. But it all comes back to experimenting and trying things out. The best meals combine all of those key elements: veg, meat, bread, and a good drink too. If we can keep promoting this great food package that the UK offers, inspiring people along the way, then I guess you could say we’re doing our jobs.” -
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