Now, I've been quite privileged in my job as a chef to travel to so many different countries.

But there is a place that has it all.

[theme music] From farmers to fishermen.

Planes, trains and automobiles.

Woo-hoo!

And phenomenal seafood.

That is the finest ingredient in the world.

How good does that look?

And it houses some of the greatest chefs in the world that just happen to be a few of my mates.

How good is that?

That's sensational, absolutely sensational.

It's good, the suspension on a Mini.

[laughter] [engine whirring] Where is that special place?

Great Britain, of course.

♪ ♪ [vibrant music] JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I've made it to the Midlands, Birmingham to be precise, home of the Balti, Michelin-starred restaurants, and more canals than Venice.

And for this leg of the journey, I'm on my best behavior, as my traveling companion today is the acclaimed restaurant critic Grace Dent.

Right, then, do I call you boss?

Yes.

JAMES MARTIN: Boss.

- Yes, boss.

- OK, boss.

I like to be treated as a restaurant critic.

As a restaurant critic, I like to see a look of fear in your eyes when you see me.

I'm-- I'm too old for that.

It's almost as if I like to-- I like to feel as if it's Darth Vader coming into the room.

What more can I prove?

I can't do anymore, really.

Do you know something, though?

It must be a real treat for you to see me because I-- I can tell you where you're going wrong with your food.

Yes, you can.

Precisely.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Located right in the middle of the country, with a population of just over a million, Birmingham has flourished from once being a small market town to the UK's second largest city.

And the food scene here certainly hasn't been left behind.

It's got something for everyone, from street food to fine dining.

JAMES MARTIN: So tell me about Birmingham.

What do you know about Birmingham?

You know, I think that in the last 10 years, Birmingham has changed.

It's transformed.

Yeah.

It's got-- it's got more Michelin star restaurants than any other city outside of London.

Which I don't think people are aware of.

JAMES MARTIN: And I'm not saying it's about the Michelin, but that gives you an aspect of what Birmingham is all about.

But also underneath it, it's got a massive food culture, in terms of back in the 19th century with the tea and the limes, and they used to use the canals and everything else.

It's quite-- the infrastructure was always there for food.

Birmingham today is a beautiful example of where Britain is now.

You know, there's 1 million people here and people from all cultures, and all cultures bringing their food and everybody eating each other's food, and the ideas bouncing off each other.

You can get any type of food that you want in this city, and it is authentic.

It's just-- it's just an exciting place to be.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Birmingham's full of hidden gems, including 35 miles of canals.

Built in the 1700s and 1800s, these were lined with barges transporting coal, iron, and of course, food.

So while Grace goes in search of Birmingham's more eclectic eateries, I've swapped my trusty Mini for a narrowboat.

And proud owner Richard Connor is giving me a guided tour, along with his first mate, greyhound Archie.

JAMES MARTIN: What I love about this is you've got-- I mean, everywhere is modernized.

You've got builtup areas, old school.

But this is still-- this has not changed all these years.

RICHARD CONNOR: 1772 or 1776, can't remember the exact date.

So this is like 250 years old.

And the infrastructure survived 150 years, and I hope it keeps going.

I was told that there was more canals in Birmingham than there are in Venice.

Totally.

Absolutely wipes Venice out.

It's a very unfair comparison because Venice is like this.

Birmingham-- - Yeah.

--massive.

JAMES MARTIN: Some beautiful parts as well.

I mean, an amazing place to have restaurants and stuff.

And that building's spectacular.

Yes, it-- And you've got the modern building behind it.

So you've got a mixture of the old and new.

Well, that's-- that's the Broad Street Bridge ahead.

And that's just great.

It seems fantastic.

I'll tell you what, having been on this-- I've never been on a-- on a boat like this before.

You've never lived?

Well, it's just-- it's so relaxing.

Life's just amazing at 4 miles an hour.

It's just-- well, not-- stressful at times, like what's coming up here.

But it is-- it is pretty amazing.

How much gap have I got inside here?

RICHARD CONNOR: Oh, you've got an inch, maybe two.

You've got loads of space.

Archie.

JAMES MARTIN: Archie, don't worry.

RICHARD CONNOR: It's not gonna hit.

You've got about a foot on my side now.

JAMES MARTIN: Archie, you'll be fine.

Stop stressing.

RICHARD CONNOR: Greyhounds don't stress.

[jaunty melody] JAMES MARTIN: He's-- he's looking at the gap.

[laughs] RICHARD CONNOR: So this would have been the old M6.

It is, but less stressful.

Less stressful.

And a bit like the current-day M6, the old main line got very, very busy.

So they built the new main line.

And it's still called the New Main Line, even though it's-- because it's only 200 years old.

It's new in canal terms.

It's a fantastic way of life.

Very relaxing.

Very stressful at times, like back there, but very relaxing.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): I've quickly become accustomed to life aboard a barge, so much so I've persuaded Richard to continue his tour whilst I cook up a Birmingham classic with a controversial twist.

And there's no better place, no better dish to cook in Birmingham than a classic Balti.

What I'm gonna use is use chicken for this.

So what I've got in here is I've got some diced chicken breast.

You can use chicken thighs for this if you want.

Remove the skin because that removes most of the fat.

But the marinade comes in the form of just a few ingredients.

So first thing we do is grab a bit of garlic, which we can just chop up.

And then grab some salt.

Now, you can buy nowadays-- this is where food's all changed.

You can buy the paste already done if you want.

But you just press it down, like that.

You can do this either fast cooking or slow cooking.

I'm gonna use chicken breast for this, which means that you can cook this quite quickly, same as if you're gonna do prawns and that kind of stuff.

Alternatively, if you're doing mutton or goat, that kind of stuff, you would want a lot longer to cook.

So in we go with our chicken with the garlic.

The ginger I've got in here.

Now, I've got a fancy grater for this.

I bought this in the States, this little Japanese grater.

If you rub it on here, you can see it makes a paste.

Now, you can leave the skin on the ginger.

You don't need to peel it.

There's lots of heat from ginger.

Now, whatever meat you use, really, or fish, the marinade almost stays exactly the same whichever you do.

It's garlic, it's ginger, and it's lemon juice.

So I took some lemon juice in there.

And then the spices of which, I've got a selection of spices in here.

It's usually the dried spices for the marinade.

Just a little bit of garam masala and then a touch of chili powder.

And then we mix all this lot together.

Just leave that to one side.

Meanwhile, turn your attention because we can start to cook it.

Now, I've got a classic pan here.

You don't have to use a Balti dish.

You can serve it in a Balti dish if you want.

But I'm just gonna use a classic pan because we are at sea kind of thing.

And just start off with a little bit of onion because whenever I've done Indian cooking, it's always about the onion to start off with.

So we're gonna chop this up.

Now, you could use ghee for this if you want.

But all the recipes that I've found use oil to start with.

So this is just a bit of veg oil.

So you want a nice, hot pan.

And then start to cook the onions in a hot pan.

Now, you wanna get some color on the onions first.

So fry these till they start to brown.

Now, once your onions start to color, which these are-- it's kind of essential for this-- we can then turn our attention to the whole spices.

Now, the whole spices, I'm gonna use some cinnamon.

So you just chuck them in.

A little bit of bay leaf.

We're in a city.

In goes the bay leaves.

Now, these little fellows over here, cardamom pods.

Wonderful in dishes like this, but also amazing in desserts.

They make delicious creme brulees and stuff like that if you infuse them with the milk.

Great desserts.

A lot of the Indian desserts are very, very sweet.

They have this amazing donut called a gulab jamun.

I think that's how you pronounce it.

It's made out of condensed milk.

But we're gonna throw in the cardamom pods.

There's little seeds in there as well.

You just pop them in there as well.

And next, a few spices.

I've got some more of this chili.

I've got some more garam masala.

And then I'm going to use some fenugreek.

Now, this stuff is dried fenugreek.

But I've also got this.

This is fresh fenugreek.

I've never really seen this before.

And you can tell you're in Birmingham when you can buy this from the supermarket.

So I'm gonna use a little bit of this fresh fenugreek as well.

But so often, you'll just be able to get the dried stuff.

It's got a wonderful perfume to it.

Quite a unique perfume as well.

I'm gonna throw the fenugreek in.

You'll find there's fenugreek seeds as well.

Once you've got that cooking away nicely, we can add our chicken and start cooking that.

[vibrant music] Now, we need some form of liquid into this.

I'm gonna add some tomatoes to this, both fresh and tin, half and half because recipes vary.

Some use tomato puree and a little bit of stock.

Some use fresh tomatoes that are just blended.

So I'm gonna use a combination of the two.

Just chop that up.

Throw your tomatoes in.

So once your tomatoes are in, we need to cook that now for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Now, if you're using lamb or mutton or goat, you'd have to cook this for about three to four hours.

But with chicken, only about 20 to 30 minutes.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Which is just enough time for a spot of liquid refreshment and to take in the view.

♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN: Now, we're gonna finish this off with three things, all of which are a bit controversial when it comes to a Balti, but some coriander.

It's really up to you whether you put it in.

Some fresh coriander, just in at the end.

And then some sugar.

I think this is quite important, particularly if you're using things like goat or lamb, because the tomatoes, as they cook, they go slightly bitter.

So a little bit of sugar and some double cream.

This is where it gets controversial.

Just a little bit of double cream, just to finish it off.

It just enriches it nicely.

And of course, some seasoning.

Black pepper, a good pinch of salt, and a stir around.

How good does that look?

And then we'll just lift it off.

♪ ♪ And of course, no Balti would be complete without the dish that it originated from.

And you can serve it in one of these.

♪ ♪ Now, of course, served in a Balti dish or cooked in a Balti dish is the classic way.

But you don't need rice for this.

You need naan bread.

Rip it up, stick it in, and taste it.

♪ ♪ That is fantastic.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): And there it is, my take on that Brummie classic, a chicken Balti.

[upbeat music] Us Brits are forever indebted to Birmingham for bringing us the Balti.

It was conceived here in the '70s.

And as a nation, we've been in love with it ever since.

This is the Balti Triangle, where there are literally dozens and dozens of amazing Balti houses.

And some of them have been here for decades.

But as much as I love a curry, I need to find out what's new and exciting in this city.

So we're heading down to Digbeth, where something very interesting is going on.

[frenetic music] ♪ ♪ Welcome to the Digbeth Dining Club, a collection of street vendors where you can get Middle Eastern kebabs, Taiwanese steamed buns, and literally everything in between.

♪ ♪ There are so many things to eat in here.

The smells are so amazing.

I can hardly decide what I'm gonna have.

But I've heard so many good things about Low and Slow.

Apparently, you can't come here and miss what they've got on offer.

Andy, hello.

Hello.

It's so noisy in here and rowdy.

And you've got by far the biggest queue.

We have.

Somebody told me that I shouldn't miss the ox cheek taco-- The barbacoa tacos, yeah.

Do you wanna talk me through that and make-- make me that?

I think I'm in the mood.

So we make all of our tortillas from scratch.

So we make the masa ourselves, which is this, which is made from corn.

OK, so this isn't anything that you're just getting out of a packet, are you, from a-- from a supermarket?

Certainly not.

OK.

So we'll press each one of these to order.

So we get that in there.

GRACE DENT: OK.

ANDY: Nice.

What is this?

That's masa.

So that's the flour made from the corn.

GRACE DENT: OK, corn flour.

Were you nervous that the Birmingham people wouldn't understand it, wouldn't take to it?

Kind of, yeah.

So we've had to, like, sort of use different words and explain a lot of stuff to us.

Give me a word that you had to swap for Birmingham people.

I love language around food.

ANDY: Just the fact that it's called barbacoa.

And then obviously, barbacoa is ox cheek.

And it was quite hard to get people in Birmingham at first to eat cheek meat.

But once they try it, it's the best part of the animal.

Yeah, I think that British people haven't really learned to love the cheek of an animal yet, have they, maybe?

Yeah.

We're getting there, though.

We're spreading the-- spreading the cheek-- Over the last 10 years, definitely.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Andy, for something so simple, it just looks so delicious already.

The beautiful colors that you've got on that.

But you're gonna make it even better, aren't you?

I sure am.

GRACE DENT: What are you putting on it?

So we're gonna start with our homemade crema, which is homemade sour cream.

GRACE DENT: OK, what's in-- what's in crema?

So crema is just double cream fermented with buttermilk and then-- Sounds good.

--a little bit of lime juice, just to sour it a little bit more.

Then we're going to go on with the barbacoa.

So this is-- Now, I'm assuming that the clue is in the title, Low and Slow.

Yeah, so that's cooked-- How low, and how slow?

So that's longhorn British cattle from a farm in the Cotswolds that we just smoked for 24 hours and then just shred it down so it's-- Are you allowed to tell me what is put onto it before you shred it?

Is there a secret recipe?

- There actually isn't.

It's just salt and pepper.

Really?

So we don't-- we don't like to mask the flavor of beef with anything apart from just natural seasoning.

I would have sworn that there was sugar or some kind of vinegar or something in there, but no.

Wonderful.

No, just salt and pepper, as they do in Texas, just to let that natural beef flavor-- - OK.

- --shine through.

What goes next?

So this is beautiful British heritage tomatoes that we sort of char direct in the fire, then blitz them up with a chili paste and make into a salsa.

I'm getting the sense that you must smell a lot of this at the end of the night.

Do you smell quite delicious?

I don't think I do.

She-- she kind of doesn't think I do when I get into bed at night.

But, yeah, I kind of smell like meat.

I get followed around supermarkets.

Don't-- don't let her put you down.

I think you-- you'll smell delicious, like a delicious taco.

ANDY: And then that's just finished with a little bit of fresh coriander.

GRACE DENT: Wonderful.

OK.

So to be authentic to the Digbeth Dining Club, how do I do this?

Just fold it up and eat it.

Am I gonna look glamorous when I do this?

Very.

Andy, thank you so much.

I'm gonna take myself somewhere private and eat this because I'm not looking very glamorous at all.

Thank you so much.

[fast-paced music] Hello, James.

How are you doing?

How are you doing?

Is this Manila Munchies?

It is, indeed, yes.

OK.

The clue is in the title, Manila Munchies.

How did this come about?

Basically, we started because there was no Filipino food available.

You know what I find very exciting is that when I started to look into Digbeth Dining Club, I noticed that you are mentioned as one of, like, the top five or six Filipino food places in the country?

That's right, yeah.

GRACE DENT: Is that exciting?

Was it-- - It is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

As I said, there was nothing available.

I mean, we-- I'm half-Filipino, my wife's full.

And we wanted to, you know, sort of spread the word of the food that we know well and love.

OK, I need to choose something to go.

It's so much choice when you're down here.

I'm gonna have the butternut squash with string beans.

It sounds healthy and nourishing and exciting at the same time.

- Come on.

I'll grab that for you.

GRACE DENT: OK, so what's in there?

JAMES: So basically, it's butternut squash in coconut milk, a few other ingredients as well.

It's a vegetarian and vegan dish that we do.

Is this the finished product?

Are we gonna-- I'm just gonna put some dried onions on there, just to finish it off for you.

GRACE DENT: OK.

And you're cooking your mum's recipe or your auntie's recipe?

JAMES: It's my wife's grandma's recipe.

GRACE DENT: Oh, my gosh.

This looks like the ultimate comfort food.

Hang on a second.

Mm.

Mm!

Can you tell that I'm really happy as I'm pushing this in?

JAMES: Yes.

Yeah.

[laughter] The interview's already gone out of the window, so.

You don't need to see me eat this.

It's not pretty.

Thank you very much.

See you.

[frenetic music] ♪ ♪ I've had the time of my life in there, tasting all the foods, chatting to all the vendors, and really feeling in the heart of just lots of Birmingham people having a wonderful time.

The future is certainly looking bright, Birmingham.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Now for something more traditional.

Birmingham isn't just renowned for its flavorsome curries.

It's also the birthplace of a British pudding classic-- custard.

JAMES MARTIN: I'm gonna do a lovely steamed sponge pudding, that classic treacle sponge pudding.

Now, the first thing we're gonna do is get our butter into our machine, together with the sugar.

Then I want the insides of the vanilla.

And vanilla is getting more and more expensive.

So to get value for money, buy the bourbon ones.

So get this going, first of all.

While that's happening, we can prepare our mold.

I've got in here just a-- a pudding basin.

I've just lightly greased it with some butter.

And to make it easier for you to tip it out, we're gonna create a little circle like that in the bottom.

And then you can take your golden syrup now and pour this into the base.

Once this is all nicely creamed together, we can then turn our machine off.

Add the eggs.

I'm gonna add 3 eggs for this.

And then add the flour at the same time.

Now, this is self-raising flour.

If you haven't got self-raising flour, you can get away with just plain flour and about a teaspoon of baking powder will work.

So just give it a good mix together.

We just pop it straight into our mold.

And then to steam it, it's quite straightforward.

The first thing we do is cover this.

Now, you can see this little fold in it means that if this mixture hits the top of this, because it should do because the self-raising flour, it will give a little bit.

If it doesn't, it can toughen up the sponge.

So do the same thing with tin foil as well and carefully just wrap it.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ And then to steam this, something like a ovenproof dish, just sat in the base turned upside down.

And then fill this a third of the way up the dish.

Then carefully lift this into the center.

We put this over the top and then pop this on the heat.

And I'm gonna steam this for about an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes to cook.

Now, while that's happening, I'm gonna get my rhubarb on.

I love rhubarb with steam sponge pudding.

But let's face it, rhubarb and custard, a classic combination.

No need to peel it.

Basically, just chop it up.

But one thing you do need with rhubarb is sugar.

And the liquid comes in the form of stock syrup.

And we get that with sugar and water.

Add the rhubarb to this.

And the other amazing flavor with rhubarb, orange.

I'm just gonna use some of the zest, some of the juice.

You bring this to the boil.

You only wanna cook this now for about 10 to 15 minutes, until you get a lovely compote, which gives you enough time to turn your attention to the custard.

We use a combination of milk and cream.

And then we just take the vanilla pods that we've used.

Now, while it's coming to the boil, I need 8 egg yolks.

Now, it seems like a lot of egg yolks.

But you do need it because this is the only thickening agent in the custard.

And then we need to sweeten this up.

And to do that, you add some sugar.

As soon as I add the sugar to these egg yolks, it starts to cure them.

So only until this is about to come to the boil do you add the sugar, and the other half into the milk and cream.

Now, this has come up to the boil now.

So what we do is pour about a third into the bowl.

Mix it together and pour this back into the pan.

And if you keep it on the heat and keep mixing, you can see it starts to thicken.

As it starts to thicken up-- that's ready-- we can pour this back into our bowl.

Give it a quick stir.

And that is your custard done.

Now, you can see the rhubarb.

It's nice and soft, definitely cooked.

It's nice and sweet as well.

So we'll just leave that to cool down slightly.

Meanwhile, all I've gotta do is wait for that.

♪ ♪ Now, for the moment of truth.

It's taken a long time to cook.

That's 50% of the way there.

This is the other 50%.

♪ ♪ Never any doubt.

This is a thing of beauty, isn't it?

But it's when you combine this that turns it into something really, really special, when you cut this.

It takes time to make a steamed sponge pudding.

But trust me, it's worth it in every sense of the word in terms of what it tastes like.

Sure, you can buy the puddings nowadays that you can reheat in the microwave, but it doesn't beat this.

Even with the skin on the custard as well, I don't think there is a finer dessert than that anywhere.

Just look at it.

That is a proper pudding.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): A British classic-- rhubarb compote, steamed sponge pudding, and a generous helping of creamy vanilla custard.

[vibrant music] ♪ ♪ I'm in Birmingham.

And whilst my travel companion, Grace Dent, is exploring the latest street food scene to take the Midlands by storm, I'm headed to the other side of the town to meet a lady who's created a sweet treat catering company that makes a difference.

I know what you're thinking, a glamorous trading estate.

But I'm here to meet one of my mate's protégés.

Glynn Purnell used to have a member of staff who worked for him that was particularly good at pastry.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Rosie Ginday, also known as Miss Macaroon, doesn't just pride herself on making her moreish delicacies in any color you like.

She's built a business that helps less fortunate youngsters achieve their dreams whilst providing customers with moments of sublime indulgence.

And I'm meeting her where it all begins.

Practice makes perfect, by the looks of it.

It does, indeed.

And how many of these are you piping out a day?

I mean, lots by the looks of things.

Yeah, it depends.

A single batch has about 1,000, 1,200 macaroons.

So, yeah, we get a good amount of practice.

- All by hand?

- All by hand.

JAMES MARTIN: I mean, you've got your experience from Michelin star restaurants and stuff?

ROSIE GINDAY: Yeah.

JAMES MARTIN: But how did it develop into a business that you've got in here?

Well, I trained to be a pastry chef so that I could set up a social enterprise because kitchens are a fantastic place to train young people.

Excuse me while I tap.

- It's all right.

Go ahead.

So, yeah, it's-- That's one of the critical points of doing-- doing these.

[tapping] So, yeah-- It's a modern technique.

[chuckles] We could have a machine doing it.

JAMES MARTIN: Yeah.

ROSIE GINDAY: But, yeah, it's a great place to-- to train young people who maybe haven't done quite so well in school.

Some of them have been homeless, maybe ex-offenders, care leavers, young people on the autistic spectrum or have learning difficulties, lone parents as well.

Food's a great leveler, though, don't you think?

Absolutely.

Doesn't matter where you work, where you're from.

When you're in the kitchen, you're all-- all the same, aren't you?

ROSIE GINDAY: Yeah, so it is a great leveler.

And it's also something that everybody can kind of get passionate about as well.

And I chose macaroons to kind of use as a social enterprise product because they're really quite complicated to make.

So for me-- Because people think they're easy.

But to get them right is a skill on its own.

There are so many different parts of the process that you can actually get it wrong, and they break.

And then you don't get that gorgeous smooth shell, and you'll get cracks and things in, so.

So to get the shell, it's not just the recipe.

It's this next bit.

ROSIE GINDAY: Yeah.

But also leaving them before you put them in the oven, that's the key.

ROSIE GINDAY: Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

[tapping] It's part of the task.

ROSIE GINDAY: There we go.

JAMES MARTIN: Oh, this is amazing, all the different colors you've got here.

Because when I first started out training as a young-- young kid, we never got flavors like this.

It was basically plain-- ROSIE GINDAY: Yes.

JAMES MARTIN: --flavor.

And that was it, really.

But you also color match it, don't you?

You're the only macaroon place that color matches.

Yeah.

So we're the only patisserie in the world that can Pantone match macaroons.

So we match them within a 2% to 4% variance of any brand colors or your wedding colors.

Any color you want?

Any color you want?

So can I have a go then?

Yes, I have-- Can I do a tray that's not gonna be sold?

[laughter] Yes, you can.

So we've got you a-- I'm gonna make a complete fool of myself then.

Yeah, you've got the idiot's one.

Yeah, thanks very much for that.

Yeah.

So this is the idiot's guide to making Macaroons.

Go on, then.

There you go.

So if you pipe to the-- the red, you can tap it out, and it'll get to the right size.

Pipe to the red?

Yeah.

ROSIE GINDAY: Thank you, Chef.

- I'll race you.

ROSIE GINDAY: [chuckles] So it's eight across.

[mischievous music] ♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Uh, Rosie may have done this once or twice before.

I think she's putting me to shame.

JAMES MARTIN: Right, slow down a bit.

So Rosie, I feel like I'm losing here.

I don't have enough mix to finish the tray.

So you're probably going to win.

This is quite tricky.

I always think with these things, people think they're easy.

To make them properly, it's quite tricky.

When I was training as a young chef, a head chef said, you've-- you've gotta make these.

Otherwise, you don't get the job as the pastry chef.

And it was basically by pure fluke that I got them right because they're actually quite tricky to get right, as in all the time.

But this is the key to it as well.

You've gotta hit the tray, flatten them out kind of thing.

In fact, you better keep these separate.

You can't sell these.

ROSIE GINDAY: [laughs] They look great.

No, you can't sell them.

They don't look anything like yours.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): At least they don't need long in the oven, though.

[quirky music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JAMES MARTIN: Well, I've gotta try one.

So can you fill one for me to taste?

Would you like to match one?

- Match one?

- Yeah.

Can you-- can you find your perfect pair?

Usually the biggest.

[laughs] JAMES MARTIN: That'll do.

ROSIE GINDAY: Yeah.

And then.

JAMES MARTIN: So what filling is this?

ROSIE GINDAY: This one is vanilla ice cream.

Do you bite into it?

Or you just stuff it-- stuff it.

Yeah, I just go straight in one.

Rosie, you're a genius.

They taste amazing.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): Rosie's macaroons don't just taste great.

They're also eye-catching, too.

And that's why I'm using them for my next dish, which is a bit of a showstopper for any dinner party.

Now, this is a great, simple dessert, mainly because most of the hard work's been done.

I'm gonna use some of these macaroons as a little garnish to go with it.

And this is a lemon and raspberry mousse.

Now, I love this.

It's so, so simple.

So it starts off with full fat cream cheese.

And you want a good dollop of that in here.

And double cream, just a little bit.

And then we need to whisk this together.

Now, before you start changing the recipe and going all health conscious on me, this doesn't work with half-fat cream cheese.

It splits and separates.

Now, the flavorings with that, I'm gonna add some fruit in a minute.

But I'm just gonna add a touch of lemon to give it a nice little sharpness.

Now, lemon and raspberries are a great combination.

And some creme fraiche.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ You wanna mix this now till it starts to firm up.

It should take about a minute.

Now, so often with a mousse like this, you would add caster sugar to sweeten it.

But there's enough sweetness in the macaroons anyway.

But I've got in here some beautiful, fresh raspberries.

Now, I love these things.

What I don't like is going on social media and finding out from people that I pronounce raspberries wrong.

I think they've just got too much time on their hands.

It's the same people who say I say Yorkshire too many times.

But raspberries in Yorkshire, that'll probably kick off.

Anyway, mix this up.

And we want to combine this together so you end up with like a raspberry ripple, I suppose, that kind of stuff.

Just break the raspberries up a little bit.

[chuckles] I'll have a little taste.

Lovely.

And then using a cake stand and a metal ring, all you wanna do is basically just take the whole lot and dollop it in.

♪ ♪ Take yourself a palette knife.

What you wanna do is spread it right into the base, really.

So get it all into the edges.

This is a great, obviously, dinner party dish.

I think if you're watching this and wanna save it for yourself, then all very well and good.

But it's mainly for about 10 people.

You just spread this so it's nice and compact like that.

And there's no sugar in there because the sweetness comes from these.

And this is what makes this just a simple little cake you can do for a dinner party.

And all you do is you take your macaroons and just lay these all the way around the edge.

Just keep them inside the ring itself.

But you're going all the way around.

It's looking good so far.

I like that.

Now, you can pop this in the fridge if you wanted to.

The macaroons will still be all right.

But when you wanna take the ring off, the best way to do that is to either use a hot cloth and you heat up the hot cloth around the edge, or you get yourself a blowtorch.

Now, you're heating up the metal ring, not the macaroons.

Otherwise, the amount of sugar that's in there, these will go up like a birthday cake.

[vibrant music] ♪ ♪ All the way around the edge.

And then make sure all the macaroons are tucked in, and then we just lift off the metal ring.

♪ ♪ And there you have it, my little homage-- a raspberry, lemon, and macaroon cake.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): A truly sumptuous pudding topped off with a rainbow of Rosie's moreish macaroons.

[frenetic music] ♪ ♪ I'm back to the tranquility of the barge for my final cook, a twist on a Brummie classic.

It's kind of like a flatbread, really.

So think of it as a combination of a pizza and a naan bread.

But we're gonna top it with these wonderful little prawns here.

Now, I've got some beautiful tiger prawns.

And then I'm gonna make a simple, little, almost like a dry rub.

Now, you could do this with yogurt at its base.

But I'm gonna use the yogurt at the end.

So I've got in here a selection of different spices.

It's good to have spice pots like this.

You can use whatever you want, really.

So garam masala is one of the first ones that I'm gonna add.

Now, a little bit of curry powder, like this.

So what you can do to upset the crew is you can do that.

[crew coughs] [giggles] And then we're gonna add some of these little fellas over here.

Now, these are little Nigella seeds or onion seeds.

But you take a few of these and stick them on there.

But essentially, really, with this, it's all about the lime.

Now, limes have a strong connection with Birmingham because in the mid to late 19th century, they used to export these from the West Indies, this and tea.

And they used to use the waterways to ship it around.

But I'm gonna use the lime as like a little marinade.

So we want a few bits of fresh lime in there.

A touch of oil, not too much.

And then some red onion, really.

So we're just gonna take a few bits of sliced red onion.

Now, I love red onion with dishes like this.

And if we're talking about sort of this West Indian-Indian cooking, onions are really at the heart of most of it.

So you've got that.

Give it a quick mix.

Now, this is a marinade that we just leave for a few minutes, really.

It's not one that you wanna leave overnight because it's-- the limes particularly, it's gonna cook and cure the prawns.

Now, I'm gonna turn my attention to the batter.

Now, for this, I call it a batter.

It's really like a bread dough, really.

What I've done with this is simply just make it like a bread dough, but I've added yogurt to this.

And it turns it into this very different texture, very softer texture, which is exactly what we want for this kind of bread.

So really now, it's an assembly job.

So running through the rest of the ingredients, I've got some mint, I've got some coriander, I've got some yogurt that I'm gonna put at the end, a little bit of pistachio nuts.

But I'm gonna use at its base some of this, lime pickle.

Now, we're on a boat, and I was never gonna make this.

This is Indian lime pickle.

It's much easier to buy.

You can make it yourself if you're bored.

But I bought it.

And all we do now is we're gonna take a little bit of flour over our board, like that.

And then take a good handful of this, really.

You can see the texture of this is quite wet, which is exactly what we want.

So many times with bread dough, you make it, and it's too dry.

You must get moisture in it, really.

What we're gonna do is just pin this out.

Just roughly to the size of our little barbecue.

Now, if you're gonna do this on a barbie, ideally, you want one with a lid, obviously, because this is gonna cook like a-- like a pizza, really.

Now, traditionally, of course, these parts, this would be done like a naan bread.

And when you're doing this, you'd bake it inside a clay oven, on the inside of it.

And most chefs and cooks that produce naan bread in restaurants literally have no hair on their arms whatsoever.

None.

It's gone.

So all we're gonna do with this is just pin it out.

And if you're doing it on a barbecue like this, try not to get it too thin.

And once we got to this stage, it's really just a-- a job now where you just basically put the bread straight onto the coals or on the plate like that.

Take the lime pickle and just drop this around over the top.

I don't want too much.

It's probably fine.

Take the prawns.

Sprinkle a few of these over the top, this and the onion.

Now, you don't want the barbecue too hot, because obviously, you want to cook the bread and cook the prawns at the same time.

And you can see the bread's starting to puff up now.

So shut the lid.

And this is gonna cook for about four to five minutes.

Meanwhile, I'll wash my hands.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ Glamorous, this TV lark, innit?

♪ ♪ So obviously, you can do this in an oven.

But we just lift this out.

Oh, look at that.

On there.

Now, if you wanted to, a few bits of pistachio nuts.

It's entirely up to you, really.

But I quite like texture in a dish like this.

So you can put almonds with it if you wanted to.

But a nice bit of pistachio nuts.

I've got some lovely yogurt here, some lovely full fat yogurt.

Just a few pops of that on it.

Some nice bit of pistachio.

And of course, you want some fresh herbs, so I've got some coriander Not everybody cup of tea, coriander.

But I love it.

And also what I love with dishes like this is mint, fresh mint.

Over the top.

And then just to finish this off, little cheffy drizzle.

Even though we're on a boat, you can't beat a little cheffy drizzle of oil.

And there you have it, my homage to Birmingham.

Cheers.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): The perfect flatbread with spicy Balti prawn topping.

And that rounds off a fantastic day exploring Birmingham.

But before I return to dry land, who's that damsel in distress?

Grace!

[laughs] Hello.

JAMES MARTIN: Hello.

Welcome on board.

- How are you doing?

- You all right?

- Yeah.

You said you had a speedboat.

- It's not a speedboat-- - No, it's not quite.

But-- - Have a seat.

--I'll sit here and be quiet.

JAMES MARTIN: So have you enjoyed Birmingham?

I have had a wonderful day, a special day.

But, yeah, I think that this place is-- is underrated and overlooked by the rest of Britain.

And I'll take you to all the glam places because we're just going past a screw and fastening factory.

I am such a lucky girl.

It's wonderful.

This is it.

This is Great Britain, and I love it.

JAMES MARTIN: Well, this is its beating heart, really, the canal.

I mean, fed amazing food.

I mean, it's a mixed-- mixing pot of everything, isn't it, really?

And I think that that shows in the-- in the culture.

What is wonderful when you're here, you realize, there's 1 million people here.

So many different cultures.

It's wonderful.

It's an exciting place.

JAMES MARTIN (VOICEOVER): It's clear Birmingham has much more to offer than you first think.

From its exciting street food scene to a lady who's doing her bit to change the world one macaroon at a time, this city has something to tantalize any taste bud.

It's a great place to come and visit, even better at 4 miles an hour on a narrowboat.

I could get used to this.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪