Food & Beverage

The day has come for Hugh to harvest his first crop of home-spun honey. At River Cottage HQ, with the help of bee-keeper Ken Bishop, Hugh carefully extracts a healthy 25lbs of glowing golden sweetness. To prove the quality of the harvest, and his skills with honey in the kitchen, Hugh enters the bee-keeping classes at the Melplash Country Show. But after overindulging in a competitors home made mead, he comes a bit unstuck in the kitchen. Hugh's also taken a fatted steer to slaughter, and is determined not to waste a morsel. This time he's focussing on the offal. Transforming the tripe into a culinary treat is not a process to be sniffed at, but once done Hugh plans to test it on the general public at the local Bridport Farmer’s Market. But is tripe truly ripe for revival, or will the public turn up their noses??

Summer and the season of plenty are well and truly over, but Hugh's going with the seasonal flow and planning a menu for a special Autumn feast at River Cottage HQ. His hens have produced almost 30 chicks over the summer, and Hugh's looking to the young cockerals to provide the main course for the feast. The trick of course is working out which are the boys and which are the girls. Not always easy with youngsters. Being free-range, farmyard birds they're on the rangey side, but Hugh also has a cunning plan for cooking them to ensure maximum tenderness. He joins local potter Tim Hurn at the potters wheel and together they create ten chicken bricks (or at least Tim creates them and Hugh cocks his up). The bricks are to be fired in Tim's immense wood-fired kiln, that needs constant stoking for 2 days and a night. It's a great excuse for a bonfire night party, and Hugh has offered to provide firey home made pizzas for the revellers. It's also the time of year for the final flush of wild mushrooms - perfect for Hugh's Autumn Feast if only he can find them. Hugh's mushroom mate John Wright has long harboured a fantasy of searching from the air and thanks to local paraglider Eddie Colefox it might just come true. With mushrooms collected, chickens roasting in the bricks and pumpkin pie underway, the tables are again set and the Autumn Feast can begin.

This episode follows Lionel, a native Aussi, bush politician & ex-pro fisherman. The waterways are called Narooma, Aboriginal for clear water & they’re not kidding. We learn how to throw a traditional spear; precise hunting of mullet & bream and gather lobster, abalone & other succulent shellfish. Cooking is no mucking around, boiling and barbying with a few secrets chucked in. It’s a seafood-and-eat-it paradise but with the local law playing a tough role.

Meet the Cat and the Penguin, a father & son team that run fishing trips and a wild-west diner. Straight out of Hemingway, this macho backwater has more whales and assorted marine life than the entire gulf. The fishing is basic, hook, lead and squid. The catch is plentiful; pescada blanco (white fish) and pescada a puta (whore of a fish). Like the name infers, these are dangerous to play with! Penguino, prepares pescado Ranchero, a fishy salsa with his buddies. It’s a blur of tequila and sensational fish tacos.

Joe of Joes Lodge loves fish, beer & grog. He explains the different disciplines. Grog or kava a mild narcotic is taken at special occasions; beer is taken always and fish only after the Yavirouw. This is when a taboo on fishing ends and the village take to the water. Circular netting and lots of big sticks are used to make the catch. The fish look like aquarium escapees, as they are driven into human pens across the coral reef. If this seems unusual they then bury the fish, (a lovu) wrapped in banana leaves and volcanic rocks with lots of goodies. Fishing and cooking doesn’t get more fun than this.

It’s Christmas and Hugh is preparing for River Cottage HQ’s final event of the year. The plan is to shoot, harvest, gather and cook enough food to furnish the tables for a magnificent medieval festive banquet. Hugh’s own fattened geese and ducks inspire the centrepiece for the feast –a ten bird roast of medieval origin. The plan is to stuff a turkey with one of his fattened geese, the goose with a duck, the duck with a pheasant, the pheasant with a pigeon, and the pigeon with a woodcock, and so on. With the goose and duck already up his sleeve Hugh joins old friends for a day’s shooting to try and bag some of the rest. Next on the list is something porky. Neighbour Ed Found has a smokery where he cooks delectable smoked meats. He helps Hugh install his own cold smoker at the River Cottage HQ - improvised from an old oil tin, several meters of pipe and a large cider barrel. Hugh christens the smoker with a collection of ‘Christmas pork sausage baubles’ and two hams. Hugh then visits baker Aidan Chapman for a night making medieval bread, dye guru Sarah Burnett to process a whole range of natural food dyes, and cider maker Colin Hopkins for help concocting and testing a typically lethal and medieval brew. As the day of the medieval feast approaches a Christmas tree arrives and is hung with the smoked sausage baubles, gingerbread shapes and icing sugar streamers. The barn is then strewn with ivy and candles are lit. Medieval clad friends arrive and the kitchen buzzes with activity as the ten bird roast, hams, hot cider, bread, pickles, preserves and puddings are cooked to perfection and carried to the table. May the feasting begin...

Autumn is nearly over and Hugh is concerned about the winter ahead. He’s slaughtered his steer and his old mutton weather but he’s short of firewood and, after his disastrous hay harvest, still hasn’t any feed for his animals. But Hugh’s spotted a wild hop plant attached to one of his elm trees and gets down to brewing some beer to liven up the cold winter months. Local woodsman Nigel Dowding and his daughter Sharon come round to help him clear the hedge behind the cottage. Their efforts are rather more radical than Hugh had in mind, but the resulting crew -cut at least generates a healthy pile of logs. In return for a dozen bales of hay, Hugh agrees to be the quarry for the hunters of the West Country Bloodhounds. Despite his best efforts at deception, Hugh is pursued over the rolling hills and finally caught by the pack of slavering hounds. Hugh realises that as a means of earning winter fodder, playing the fox is a non-starter and decides to throw a party where the guests will be asked to bring a bale of hay instead of a bottle. Next morning, he cooks a mutton tagine for the party before freelance butcher Ray Smith calls round with the hindquarter of his Dexter steer. While Ray butchers the beef into steaks and burgers, Hugh rustles up a horseradish sauce. That night, the party goes well and next morning he stacks up the bales of hay - just enough to see him through the winter.

Zane joins locals for some drinking games and fried crickets the size of Buffalo wings. His drinking binge leads him to the infamous Snake Alley, where the most exotic concoctions in 'Three Sheets' history are found.

Antonio Manuel is 71 and still fishing. Like most in this whitewashed village, he regularly takes on the brunt of the Atlantic in a small diesel boat. We see him potter along the shoreline with a cane pole and chicken gut. He’s usually up to his waist in surf & surrounded by rocks and that’s where he hunts up to 30-kilo Conga eels. They can break your arm with their body whilst dicing up your fingers with their teeth. They are also the essential ingredients for an authentic Caldirada, (the Portuguese Bouillabaisse). Cooked in a witch’s pot on an open fire for up to several days. Its got lots of surprises, some of which you are sure to smell later.

This rich & jaded paradise is famous for their stick fishermen, mounted on poles, along the coast. But the only things of value they catch are the tourists. Senna, unemployed and unassuming, fishes off the edge of the protected marine reef. It’s half work, half recreation, and Senna is highly skilled at fly-fishing. Using a Pithia (native branch) as the rod and weed plucked from the reef, the Paramuva (silver mullet) bite timidly, but once hooked it’s a fight; never mind the razor coral and crashing waves. If the endorphins aren’t flowing the quickly bled and boiled fish mixed with backyard curry leaves will sort you out.

Hugh’s sow Maggie is due to give birth to piglets. There is little Hugh can do to help except build a maternity room and leave her to it. While he waits for Maggie to give birth, Hugh must install proper plumbing and loos before he can welcome members of the public to The River Cottage HQ. Never one to be conventional, he opts for a sanitation system of willow and reed beds that will filter his HQ’s sewage, turning it into clean water. With the River Cottage HQ still some way from opening Hugh is also on the lookout for some spring business. It’s purple sprouting broccoli season and Hugh hopes to turn this neglected veg into something more special. With the help of some locally produced Blue Vinney Cheese, he plans to put purple broccoli back on the culinary map.

Hugh is embarking on the big financial venture of the summer. He’s harvesting his entire tomato crop to sell at the local Farmers’ Market. He plans to maximise his profits by converting his raw material into a range of deli products: tomato ketchup, smoked tomato soup, tomato and apple butter and green tomato and tomato samosas. To add spice to the enterprise he’s got a bet with his rival grower Michael Michaud as to who will take the most at the market. He’s come up with a brand name, The River Cottage Glutton, but in search of a suitable design he goes to see local artist Trish Wylie. Hugh gets down to making his tomato products but while feeding his pigs one morning he notices signs of a porcine rumpus. It appears that a local wild boar has attempted to break into the pen. Fearing for the safety of his sows, he builds an elaborate alarm system to warn of any future incursions. Taking a break from his preparation for the market, he gets a day’s work with John Wason who fishes out of Lyme Regis. Aboard his boat the Rhiannon, Hugh is put to work hauling pots and untangling nets. At the end of the day, and after some haggling, Hugh gets paid one lobster for his efforts. That night, he makes the classic lobster thermidor for Trish who’s coming round with the labels. Hugh works on into the night sticking labels on to the various jars and bottles of tomato produce. Despite the wind and rain, the Farmers’ Market proves a huge success. Hugh sells out and wins his bet with Michael.

Zane steps behind the fortress walls of Croatia to find homemade Grappa and Marask flowing. When he arrives in Dubrovnik, Zane crashes a pub-crawl and does his best to keep up with some hard-drinking Croats through a very long night.

Japan is a country that prides itself on its traditions, even when it comes to drinking. Zane adds his own unique touch to these traditions, as he explores all things sake, from a brewery to the bars. Kampai!

It's Soju-time when Zane takes on Seoul and South Korea, not a place for drinking amateurs. Follow Zane as he explores the outdoor 'Soju Tents' and experiences the mysterious 'Ginseng Booze'.

The best things in life are free, but not here. Gambling rules!.. And it can be cocks, cards or fish. Tackle shop owner, Preecher, shows his mates some stiff & dangerous competition. The rage is all lures, trawling behind an 8-cylinder canoe & landing meter long, angry barracuda & African Pompano. Its all bravado & glory but who cares when it ends up as Tom yum prad, (fish soup) bubbling with lemongrass and chillies. Away from the big money, Gotlam hangs out in a stilt kitchen where you can check the tide underneath you. He chases Mengdas, a prehistoric crab, like a squashed armadillo. You only eat their eggs as they’re poisonous if cooked incorrectly… and they taste like they look!

True Londoners love jellied eels and in this episode we’re in the company of a real cockney, Dave the eel man. Dave enjoys not only eating them but also catching them - fat eels, returning to the coast to spawn up the Thames. Using hi tech "slingshot" tackle, he makes it all look easy. The hard part is catching the bait; live crabs under groins. Only for the masochistic, and so is the meal. Boiled eel in green liqueur and jellied eel from the fridge needs no explanation. The secret in English cuisine is the salt? Not for the queasy

It’s been several weeks since Hugh took a lease on a collection of barns near his new farm in Dorset. He plans to turn them into a culinary headquarters – a place he can use as an outlet for his home-grown and home-reared food and for hosting seasonal dinners for paying customers. The place is still filled with mud and muck however, but Hugh has got to get it up and running as quickly as possible if this is going to be a successful business venture. He sets himself a ludicrous two-week deadline to create a working kitchen and a charming dining room out of the filth, after which he hopes to kick off his themed seasonal nights with an opening Valentine’s Night Special.

On May Day every year you can find the Wessex Morris Men dancing on the Cerne Abbas Giant. Crowds gather to watch the event and this presents Hugh with the perfect opportunity to make some cash selling chocolate waffles. It’s also the opening night of The River Cottage HQ. For the first time Hugh hopes to serve food to 40 paying guests and he wants to cook them something spectacular. He chooses lobster. There’s been a report of a three-foot lobster living on a wreck off the Dorset coast, and Hugh and his diving pal Tim Rudkin set off with a giant home-made metal trap to try and catch it.

Spring spells many new arrivals at Hugh’s farm. Maggie has given birth to 11 piglets, and they are today joined by two new lambs. The season has also kick-started the social calendar. Hugh has been invited to an Easter Blossom Picnic Party, where the stakes are high in a competition for the best picnic. Hugh gets into the swing of things and, with mushroom-hunter John Wright, goes to great lengths to find one of the most prized seasonal mushrooms around – morells – for his picnic terrine. Later, in return for one night of his sweaty services, master baker Aiden gives Hugh a crash course in bread-making, an area of culinary expertise in which Hugh certainly has room for improvement. Armed with trays of fresh bread rolls and a ham, Hugh helps Aiden sell the produce at the Powerstock local cider festival.