Inside the Factory

S5 E5 Pasties

本集简介

Gregg Wallace is in Cornwall at an enormous bakery where they produce 180,000 Cornish pasties a day. He follows the production of the pastry snacks from the arrival of two tonnes of swedes right through to dispatch. Gregg learns that there are very specific rules to creating a Cornish pasty. They must be made in Cornwall, the filling can only contain onion, potato, swede, beef and some seasoning - and each ingredient must be cooked from raw within the pastry parcel.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is delving into the wonderful world of the onion. She peels back the layers to discover the science that makes it such a versatile vegetable, and more importantly, why it makes us cry. It is all down to a chemical called lachrymatory factor, which is only created when an onion is cut into. Cherry visits an anaerobic digestion plant, where they turn waste from food factories into electricity. Micro-organisms feed on food waste, producing methane gas, which is used to power generators.

Historian Ruth Goodman is debunking some common Cornish pasty myths. It has been claimed that the county's tin miners invented the pasty as a convenient snack to eat while they toiled at the rock face. She learns that miners may have eaten them, but they didn't invent them. And it is unlikely that they used the pastry crimp as a handle. She also visits the Worshipful Company of Grocers in London, which was responsible for importing pepper into Britain. She learns how this ubiquitous seasoning transformed from a commodity so valuable it was known as black gold to a spice that everyone could afford.

上一集

2019/12/12 S5 E

Xmas Party Food

Gregg Wallace heads to Nottingham to a factory that makes 200,000 canapes every 24 hours. He discovers the secrets of creating party food on a grand scale as he follows production of mini-quiche bites and vol-au-vents. It begins with a tonne of egg - 20,000 individual eggs - which are whisked into a custardy filling. 283kg of bacon and 800kg of cheese transform this mix into quiche lorraine. This round-the-clock operation requires 600 staff in the run-up to Christmas, since 85 per cent of their annual production is made and dispatched in December.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey discovers fail-safe scientific methods for cooking the perfect turkey. This year, she is turning her oven into a turkey sauna by popping ice cubes into a baking tray. The hot steam keeps her bird succulent, and a coating of alkaline baking powder speeds up the browning reaction, ensuring a beautifully bronzed bird. She also heads to Wiltshire to a traditional candle makers. She learns the ancient technique of hand-dipping, laying down a 0.7mm thick layer of wax around a wick. It takes 16 dips to create a half-inch-wide candle.

Historian Ruth Goodman finds that, while bringing mistletoe inside at Christmas time goes right back to pagan times, the tradition of kissing beneath it is much more recent. The earliest record she finds is a song from 1784, where it seems it began in the servants' hall, making the most of the topsy-turvy norms of the festive period. Ruth also investigates how the period of Advent, traditionally associated with fasting, came to be connected with chocolate-packed calendars.

下一集

2020/04/14 S5 E6

Pots and Pans

Gregg Wallace is in France at an enormous foundry that produces a cast iron pot every five seconds. He follows production of casserole dishes from the arrival of 20 tonnes of crude iron right through to brightly coloured orange pots. Along the way, Gregg tests his mettle by taking a sample of molten iron at 1,550 degrees Celsius. With only a heatproof visor and gloves as protection, he dips a ladle into a bubbling cauldron and pours the white-hot sample into a tiny mould. He also discovers that the coloured enamel they protect their pots with is made from glass.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is in South Africa visiting one of the largest iron ore mines in the world. Nine miles long by three miles wide, it produces a staggering 670,000 tonnes every day. Cherry rides in one of the biggest dumper trucks in the world. Seven metres tall and packing 2,500 horsepower, it collects 65 tonnes of freshly mined rock and dumps it in to a processing plant. Days later, the iron ore is taken away from the mine in a two-mile-long train. And Cherry is rooting out the science behind cooking the perfect casserole. It turns out that when it comes to cooking time, longer isn't always better.

Historian Ruth Goodman takes a journey through time, learning how one-pot cooking evolved. From communal ovens during the industrial revolution through to 1970s slow cookers, technology influenced how people prepared simple meals. Ruth also visits the birthplace of the industrial revolution in Shropshire to discover how casting iron in sand moulds democratised our kitchens by producing affordable cookware.

当前季

2019-07-30

In Series 5, Gregg and Cherry continue to gain access to some of the biggest factories in Britain and Europe, to follow the 24 hour production lines that produce our favourite products – from croissants to Cornish pasties.

哇，窗口太小啦

Inside the Factory