Rick Stein’s Food Stories
Rick Stein has been a top chef for more than fifty years and has realised the United Kingdom is a mouth-watering melting pot. Here, Rick Stein tucks into the nation's cook book, savouring the UK's favourite food. From farm to fork, he explores age-old traditions and modern tastes.
Cast:Rick Stein , Jack Stein , Stuart Maconie , Rachel Green , Aktar Islam
S1.E1 ∙ Cumbria
Rick Stein tours the Lake District, sharing mutton hotpot with James Rebanks, visits Stan Laurel's hometown, catches shrimp in Morecambe Bay, and makes shepherd's pie with his son Jack in Padstow.
S1.E2 ∙ Argyll
Rick Stein rediscovers his love for the foodie heaven of Argyll, where land and loch yield exquisite produce. He first meets chef Pamela Brunton, a Michelin Green Star winner, whose menu showcases local and foraged ingredients. Rick next catches langoustine with teacher-turned-fisherwoman Mary Galloway and explores a century-old smokehouse. At home, Rick cooks arroz rojo and tattie scones with Scottish smoked salmon.
S1.E3 ∙ Lincolnshire
Rick visits Dyson's futuristic farm with robot-tended strawberries in Lincolnshire, meets chef Rachel Green for plum bread, and local sausage makers. He then makes strawberry sorbet and bangers and mash.
S1.E4 ∙ Northern Ireland
Amid Belfast's buzzy food scene, Rick Stein tucks into Filipino-style Sunday lunch. On Northern Ireland's Atlantic coast, he meets an award-winning chef with a 'no waste' approach who turns fish offal and underused species such as dogfish into stunning dishes. Back home, Rick makes his first ever Filipino adobo, and after witnessing the dry-ageing of some special Irish beef, he cooks beef and Guinness pie.
S1.E5 ∙ Manchester
In Bury, at Britain's best market, Rick Stein immerses himself in the rich food traditions of north west England. In Manchester, he meets Joe Otway, an exciting chef reinventing those traditions for a hip crowd, and at a shop selling old vinyl records, Rick recalls how much joy Manchester's music has brought him. In his home in Cornwall, Rick cooks a scotch egg for a ploughman's and one of his favourites, liver, bacon and onions.
S1.E6 ∙ Wales
On Wales's Gower Peninsula, Rick Stein meets a farmer raising salt marsh lamb who's thankful that none of his sheep have been blown up by the WWII bombs still buried there. Rick is intrigued to try vegan rhubarb pizza made by social media star Gaz Oakley, and he's hoping to catch a fish whilst coracle fishing at night on the River Tywi. At home, he cooks rack of lamb and demonstrates how to smoke sea trout.
S1.E7 ∙ Bristol
Rick Stein finds and eats the ultimate jerk chicken made by the man behind Bristol's most exciting Caribbean food kitchen. He delves into the history of the city's African-Caribbean carnival and witnesses the healing power of food at a café staffed by victims of modern slavery. He dips into the recent craze for fermented foods and back home, makes his own version of a modern UK favourite, the burrito.
S1.E8 ∙ Suffolk
Halfway through his tour of Britain's favourite foods, Rick Stein visits a Suffolk bakery making artisan sourdough. He meets an old friend who sells fresh fish on the beach, and in Southwold, Rick next discovers that the writer George Orwell held surprising views on English cooking. Back at home, he has a go at making sushi with cabbage soup. Rick also makes sushi maki rolls.
S1.E9 ∙ London - Part 1
Rick Stein is now in London, the city where he started out as a chef, which is now home to 120 world cuisines. In Chinatown, he's entranced by the art of making dim sum, and in west London, he witnesses the magic of mozzarella making. Returning home, he makes Beef Chow Mein and honey-baked peaches with mozzarella and ciabatta. DJ Stuart Maconie, who's written a book on the full English, tells Rick about the hilarious variations he's had of the country's favourite breakfast.
S1.E10 ∙ London - Part 2
Rick continues his food tour of London in west London, over a bowl of borscht at a Ukrainian restaurant staffed by refugees, he is reminded of how food creates community. In Walthamstow, he meets head brewer Jaega Wise, who explains why craft beer is so fashionable. Rick further discovers more about Walthamstow's little-known silent film studios. At home, he brings back a favourite ready meal, chicken Kiev and also cooks John Dory with beer, bacon and lettuce.
S1.E11 ∙ Kent
In Kent, the 'garden of England', Rick Stein harvests English cherries at a family-run farm. From Ramsgate, he heads out to sea in search of dover sole, his favourite fish, and in Margate, he celebrates the artist Joseph Turner and Britain's love of fish and chips. At home in Padstow, he makes red velvet chocolate and cherry cupcakes, and a simple French-style dish called dover sole a la meuniere.
S1.E12 ∙ Glasgow
Rick Stein delves into Glasgow's multicultural food scene, tucking into Korean and Pakistani dishes and finding out how Italian food became part of the city's fabric. He discovers the best chocolate he's ever tasted, made by an artisan chocolatier who used to be a car engineer and uses it to make profiteroles. At home, Rick also teams up with son Jack to make an inexpensive Stein family favourite, osso buco with risotto Milanese and gremolata.
S1.E13 ∙ Yorkshire
In Yorkshire, Rick Stein discovers the history behind the famous Yorkshire pudding and how best to make this most famous of British foods. After Indian-style mushy peas in Leeds, he enjoys a pint of his favourite bitter and a chance to reminisce about his literary hero, John Betjeman, before visiting the UK's biggest tofu factory. At home, Rick cooks two vegetarian dishes, tofu Pad Thai and paneer jalfrezi.
S1.E14 ∙ Midlands
Food writer Gurdeep Loyal gives Rick Stein a tour of Leicester's finest Indian food, from a hidden gem of a food truck to the Indian equivalent of high tea at the Ritz. There's Michelin star fare from Birmingham chef Aktar Islam and the story of how a traditional mill was saved by the local demand for chapati flour. At home, Rick cooks a British favourite, chicken tikka masala, and a vegetarian dish called matar kulcha.
S1.E15 ∙ West Country
Rick Stein ends his UK food tour on home turf, the West Country. He meets a bevy of food pioneers, from Riverford's Guy Singh-Watson, who blazed a trail for organic food before many people even knew what it was, to the famous cheese maker Mary Quicke, finishing with his friend and fellow chef Mark Hix, the master of simple British food. Rick at home cooks a carrot tarte tatin and a cheese, potato and spinach filo pie.
