A Cook on the Wild Side
Watch A Cook on the Wild Side Season 2
Episode 4
A Cook on the Wild Side : A Cook on the Wild Side
aired: Thu, Sep 17, 2009
Hugh's waterborne zig-zag across Britain brings him to heart of Yorkshire, along canals formerly bustling with the boom of the textile industry. At the peak of the industrial revolution…
Episode 2
A Cook on the Wild Side: season 2, episode 2
aired: Thu, Mar 13, 1997
Hugh's waterborne zig-zag across Britain brings him to heart of Yorkshire, along canals formerly bustling with the boom of the textile industry. At the peak of the industrial revolution, the heavily exploited work-force relied on the hedgerows to save them from starvation. Landing in the Calder Valley near Hebden Bridge, Hugh attempts a local speciality ¿ Dock Pudding, otherwise known as the "caviar of Calderdale". It's clear that the pudding's main ingredient is bistort, locally known as dock, but the other components remain shrouded in mystery as Hugh goes door-knocking to unearth the secret recipe. Fleeing to Lancashire, Hugh discovers this area is not just home to the hotpot. In Morecombe Bay, he tries his hand at shrimp netting, only to find the population has somewhat diminished in recent years. Upgrading his equipment to a local trawler, Hugh teams up with Raymond Edmondson, a man whose red-faced joviality belies the fact that his industry is in terminal decline. The last fisherman in the bay to catch his own shrimps, Raymond soon nets an apparently healthy load of the small crustaceans. For a final feat, he risks life and limb during a daring tree climb in a Lancashire rookery. While the chorus of young rooks may be the sound of spring for some, to local farmers they are the enemy. During the war, while food was rationed, rook pie was considered a local delicacy. Hugh aims to bring a touch of nostalgia to some local farmers by catching and cooking some rooks of his own.
