The Exotic Favourite Of King George V ｜ Royal Recipes ｜ Real Royalty

Hello, I'm Michael Burke. Welcome to a brand-new series of Royal Recipes. This time, we're at Westonbird House, formerly a grand country house, now a boarding school, which has played host to royal visitors for over 100 years. In this series, we're delving even further back in time to reveal over 600 years of royal food heritage. You play Anne Boleyn, and I will play Henry VIII. And we've been busy unlocking the secrets of Britain's great food archives, discovering rare and unseen recipes that have been royal favourites through the ages, from the earliest royal cookbook in 1390... It's so precious, so special, that I'm not allowed to touch it. ..to Tudor treats from the court of Henry VIII. I can't wait for this. One, two, three. We'll be exploring the great culinary traditions enjoyed by the royal family, from the grand to the groundbreaking, as well as the surprisingly simple. I did think that was going to be a disaster. Whoo! As we hear from a host of royal chefs... Prince Philip would walk past or pop his head in and say, what's for dinner, what are we having? Oh, yeah, it's not just a normal kitchen. ..and meet the people who provide for the royal table. It's OK for the Queen, it's OK for everyone. Welcome to Royal Recipes. Today, we're looking at how the spice trade transformed the flavour of royal cuisine in this country, and how those royal flavours influenced everyday cookery for the rest of us. Coming up... ..Executive Chef Anna Ha sets the Royal Recipes kitchen alight with a spicy dessert. Whoo! Social historian Dr Polly Russell discovers how rare spices brought flavour and fortune to the crown. Elizabeth's share of this voyage allowed her to completely pay off her national debt. And Chef Dipna Anand recreates a tandoori treat that was a highlight of a royal visit. Smells and looks yummy. But first, we're returning to the reign of King George V to sample a favourite curry recipe. I'm here in the Royal Recipes kitchen with Executive Chef Anna Ha. Spicy is the keynote. What are you going to do that's spicy? Well, I'm going to do my version of Bombay duck curry. Which everybody knows is not duck. OK, what is it? Traditionally, it's with bombil, a dried fish. But today, I'm going to do my version, which is with seabream. George V, Emperor of India, was terribly keen on Bombay duck, and his chef, whose name was Gabriel Shumi, used to make it. He was chef to both George V and his father, Edward VII, and this was one of their favourites. So, what are you going to do first? Well, first of all, I'm scoring the fish, so that I can get some salt into the flesh, so I can get a bit of seasoning in there. There's lots of stories, aren't there, of why a fish dish should be called Bombay duck? Yeah. Apart from the British sense of humour, or maybe even the Indian sense of humour. But I think one of the most convincing that I've heard is that the actual cargo carriages, they used to put the dried fish on, were called dacks, from Bombay. I think it's probably a corruption of Bombay dack, which is why they call it Bombay duck. Yeah, and I love it. I think it's such a fascinating, interesting name, with so much kind of story and history to it. OK. Well, they look wonderful, don't they? All perched up. Would you like to pop them in the oven for me? I will. I will. So, the oven should be at about 180 degrees. Do we ever put an oven on anything other than 180 degrees? It's my favourite number. And we'll cook it for about ten minutes. So, what next? So, next, we're going to make the actual kind of curry sauce. What we have here is something I made earlier on. So, it's coconut, you have ginger, chillies, garlic, onion and coriander that I've just blitzed together. It's rather interesting, actually, that George V should be interested in a spicy dish like this, because, famously, he was an unsophisticated eater, and Gabriel Tshumi, his chef, used to rather complain about it a bit, because he only liked plain food. Queen's grandfather, of course, we're talking about. But he really loved this Bombay duck. What are the main spice flavours and smells that are coming out? The base of nearly all Indian cookery is ginger and garlic. And right now, that's exactly what you can smell. It's just delicious. This is just the beginning of all the other delights we're about to add in. OK, so, to this, I'm going to add fish masala. Next, I'm going to add in the garam masala. And what does that do? Well, this is a mixture of in-house spices, so every restaurant or every home would have a different mix. Next, I'm going to add in the tomato that's been pureed up to make it nice for a sauce. Gabriel Tshumi, the royal chef. I mean, he was a royal chef for a long time. He started in the palace kitchens as an apprentice, and he did Edward VII's coronation meal. Yeah. And he actually did the wedding breakfast for the Queen's parents. So, I've added in the kokum. That's the leaves that I just added in there. What's kokum? Kokum is... It's the skin of a fruit that you find in India. A little bit like the tamarind paste that I'm adding in as well. Both of them add in a bit of acidity. It's beginning to look like curry, isn't it? Yeah. I'm going to add our oil in here, because this needs to get quite hot. It's olive oil, is it? This is pomace oil. Pomace oil is, like, the last press you get out of an olive, so that it is a really... It's a really good cooking oil, basically. There's very little flavour in it, doesn't interfere with your dish, and can go to quite a high temperature, which is really what you want. So, next, I'm going to make a salad. OK. To go on the side... You do need, with curry, don't you? You need some freshness. Yes. And I'm just going to season this with a little bit of salt before we go any further. Get that on the tomato, because I think tomatoes are quite delicious with a bit of salt. Put that in there. So, we're going to mix it with a little bit of garam masala. Why is that, then? I just think that the spice flavour just goes really well. Yeah. So, I'm just chopping up a green chilli to give it a nice little bit of a kick. This will put hairs on your chest, so you'll have to be careful how much I put in here. I've got plenty of hairs on my chest, thank you very much indeed, if you're going to get personal. Bit of lime juice on there. Oh, that really freshens it up, doesn't it? Oh, yeah, I love a bit of lime juice. Actually, I mostly like lime in gin and tonic, but, you know how it is. And then we're going to just rip some coriander in there. And I'd say the fish is probably close to being ready now. Uh-huh. If you'd like to go and investigate that. I'll do it. It's going to be hot, isn't it? Oh, it's going to be hot, hot. Mind your fingers. As I say, their tails are not swishing now. Oh, can I put it on there? Yeah, perfect, perfect. Just in time. Golly. Yeah, gorgeous, beautiful. So, this tray is completely dry. Mm-hm. And that's very important for what we're going to do now. Place these lying down on their sides. Beautifully cooked. And I will just place this away, get it out of our way. Shall I do that? No, it's OK. OK. Got it. I'm being gallant, you see. Oh, you're very good. So, now I'm going to pour this very hot oil over the fish. So, you need to stand back. Now, what's the purpose of this? Why are you doing this? This is going to blister the skin of the fish. And, what, it's just to crisp up the skin? Yeah, just crisps up the skin. HE LAUGHS Like a gunshot. But that was really quite a high-risk technique, that blistering it with boiling oil. I was just trying to impress you, Michael. You've impressed me, all right. Frightened me to death. So, we're just going to bring this up to the boil again. I bet that's fantastic. I mean, it's got so much in there, you couldn't possibly be wanting for anything. Ah, bit of salt. No, I'm going to put a little bit of sugar. Tiny bit of sugar. Sugar? Yeah, just a small amount of sugar. The tamarind and the kokum, they're quite tart kind of flavours. Gorgeous depth of flavour they bring, but a little pinch of sugar doesn't go amiss. And I'm putting just a little bit of salt in there as well. We nearly there? Yeah, we're there. Ready to serve. Excellent. I'm ready to eat. So, I'm just going to take the curry sauce now and place it on the plate. Are you going to put the sauce on first? Sauce on first. I just think this is a more beautiful way of presenting the fish. That's fantastic, isn't it? Yeah, the star of the show. There we go. Some salad. And that looks terrific, doesn't it? The colour, apart from anything else. It's beautiful. It packs a punch, so... So, I've got to be careful of that as well. Well, I think... You know, it's a risky job. Making cookery programmes with you, it's a really risky job. There we go. Here's your knife and fork. Thank you. Can you start? Yes, of course. And then I'll follow you into it. Oh, my God, I'm so excited. And rightly so. Look at this. Mmm! There's so much flavour... Mm. ..packed into that. And yet you've got this wonderful succulent flesh of the sea bream. And now your nuclear salad. Oh, yeah. How much did you put in? My word. LAUGHTER My word. I can't warrant you. Mmm. Well, George V was Emperor of India. And if that's what the Emperor of India gets as an Indian dish, it's brilliant. A wonderfully spiced dish that's a modern take on a royal favourite. These days, a trip to the supermarket can get you all manner of herbs and spices to jazz up your cooking. But until the 16th century, spices were rare and expensive. So, in 1577, Elizabeth I dispatched her favourite swashbuckler to open up the trade. Polly Russell went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to find out more about that fearless adventurer of the Tudor age, Sir Francis Drake. He set off on an epic three-year voyage around the world, returning to our shores with a treasure trove of riches, including exotic spices. The Elizabethans loved spice, but only the very, very wealthiest could afford the luxury of eating food flavoured with the taste of the East. Peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon. There were fortunes to be made from spices. Cloves alone were worth their weight in gold. But how did Sir Francis Drake establish this profitable trade? James Davey, curator of naval history at the National Maritime Museum, explains. Drake was one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan age. He was actually a man of relatively humble origins. So, not an aristocrat? Not an aristocrat. And basically grew through the layers of English society as a result of his own ambition and talent. Drake made his fortune from profitable trading voyages to the West Indies in 1570 and 71. While there, he raided Spanish ships and ports and stole treasure, including gold and silver. This came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth I. So, I understand why Drake wants to go on these voyages, because he becomes fabulously wealthy, but why does Elizabeth care? She is essentially an investor in Drake's voyages. She puts money up initially, which enables Drake to sail across the Atlantic. But this means when he does return, hopefully with a ship full of gold, she gets a large share of the booty. There were a lot of English adventurers capturing a lot of Spanish ships. And can you give me some sort of sense of the wealth that is involved in this? You know, what are the wins if you're successful, if you're someone like Drake? Personally, you can make a fortune. We're talking tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds in 16th-century money, which is many, many millions in today's money. But also huge amounts for the state as well. This is why Elizabeth is so keen for these adventurers to be sailing around the Atlantic Ocean. And we see her gratitude here in this portrait with that fabulous jewel slung around Drake's waist, right? Was it called the Drake's Jewel? Absolutely, yes. She bestowed numerous gifts on him, as well as a knighthood, much to the fury of watching Spanish observers, who knew exactly what Drake had been up to. There's this wonderful contrast. In England, Drake is this hero celebrated on the streets. In the rest of the world, he is El Drac, the dragon, a pirate in all the name. Drake was secretly commissioned by Queen Elizabeth to lead raids against the Spanish colonies on the American Pacific coast. During his three-year voyage, not only did Drake amass a huge cargo of treasure, but he also became the first Englishman to forge a lucrative spice trade with the East. And this is where the trade in spices is really centred? Absolutely. Drake took a detour to the Spice Islands in Indonesia, picking up an array of spices that would be sold for enormous profit back home, often 1,000% more than the price he paid for them. Well, some of them you can see here. So we've got nutmeg and we've got cinnamon and cloves. And, you know, people in England just hadn't seen anything like this before. But it's also about, I think, just saying how boring English food probably was before this and what a revolution spices like this made. So these things that we take as being so quite ordinary now, we can get them everywhere, actually are worth an enormous amount of money? Exactly. And I think we have to remember that's probably what was most important to Drake. Drake was not a person who would be stirring the kitchen pot every evening. He wasn't interested in recipes so much as what these commodities would be worth. And how was he rewarded for this incredible journey? Well, firstly, he had a share of the profits himself, so he did very well financially out of it. But he also found a very grateful queen. The proceeds from Elizabeth's share of this voyage allowed her to completely pay off her national debt. We're talking vast sums of money. So, yes, she was very, very grateful and bestowed on him a knighthood. And that's when he became Sir Francis Drake. Getting spice to England was incredibly difficult, so these trade routes, which are pioneered, in a way, by Drake, would have made possible an easier flow of spice to the country. Absolutely. The Elizabethan era saw the beginning of British imperial aspirations, which would reach their peak some 300 years later under the rule of another formidable queen, Victoria. And Sir Francis Drake was one of the forerunners of generations of adventurers who would make their fame, name and fortune on the high seas. And all this was set in motion by the lucrative trade in spice from the east. And, what, 400, 500 years later, the royals still love their spiced puddings today, don't they, Anna? Yes. What are you going to do now? I'm making a soufflé inspired by barobrith, which is a spiced fruit loaf. And barobrith, I think, is Welsh for speckled bread. Apparently, what used to happen in Welsh homes when they're baking bread, the last kind of lump of dough, they'd throw in some dried fruit that had been soaked in tea and some mixed spice, and it would come up with this. And it's a great favourite of the Prince of Wales. And, in fact, he sent a recipe for this, or a bread and butter pudding based on this, to some Welsh primary school for a charity cookbook, which is our excuse for doing it. So, how are you going to do it? So, I'm going to take my brown sugar, some raisins, sultanas, some mixed peel, cranberries, there's a few different fruits in here, and then tea. So, we're going to let that soak overnight, so that the raisins and the dried fruit soak up all the tea and become quite soft and plump. And then we puree it, and this is what you'll get. So, this is like a kind of fruit base that I'll add to our creme patte later on. So, I'm going to make creme patte now, which is... Creme patte? Posh custard. How do you divide it? It's custard. I'm going to mix some allspice in here. So, there's some lovely nutmeg, some clove and some cinnamon. And while I'm waiting for that to boil, I'm going to mix my cornflour and my sugar. When the Prince of Wales, I actually invested in the Prince of Wales in 1969, as a young reporter, and I travelled up and down Wales, followed him round, the 21st Prince of Wales, all that history, and such a... But I never came across Barabrith. It's amazing what you catch up with in your old age, isn't it? Now, what are you doing now? I'm just whisking the sugar and the cornflour and the egg yolks, and it's perfect timing. The milk and spices just come up to the boil. And I'm going to slowly just pour a little bit into it, mix it in. Oh, no, you do this quite often, don't you? You do very gently, so the eggs don't kind of get... Scrambled. Scrambled, I suppose, yeah. You feeling the pressure? I'm feeling the pressure. Good, good, good. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm feeling more pressure. OK, so our crème pâté goes back into the pan. Yeah. And we're just going to thicken this up now. I love those sort of spicy smells and flavours, because there's so much history behind them. Yes, yes. And when you think of what fortunes were made when these spices were so rare, now you can slip down the supermarket and, you know... I know, and... ..buy them off the shelf. People lived and died, huge empires built on spices. Absolutely. So, how's it coming along? Yes, it's thickening up nicely now. And now I'm going to just place it into the bowl. You can't use a hot mix with your eggs, because it will just remove all the air. So, I'm going to get rid of this bowl now. And I have some that I made. Made earlier. Earlier. So, I'm going to start to whisk the egg whites now. OK. OK, so I've got, like, a tablespoon of caster sugar and I've got about four egg whites here. Four egg whites. And what's really important is that you don't rush whisking the egg whites. But also, once you start whisking, you also can't stop. So, it's like you have to be ready to make the soufflé, because this can wait. It is a luxury food, isn't it? Yes. You know, the sort of thing you would serve to a royal dinner or something like that. Absolutely. There's a kind of excitement about soufflés. Is there a danger of overdoing this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nothing's easy about a soufflé. OK, so I think we're done now. OK. So, now I'm just going to take a little small amount of our puree, not too much. Well, that's a very tiny amount. And then I'm going to take all of the creme pâté. Well, it's very strong. It's quite a strong puree. And then take my first bit of egg white. When you're folding it, it's exactly like I'm saying, you're folding it, you're not whisking it, you're not over... Yeah, exactly. So, piping bag. Why are you doing that? Why don't you just turf it in? Well, if you look at how I pipe this in, I put it down pretty close to the base and I squeeze it into the mould. And what this does is that it removes kind of air pockets. So, if you've got a big air pocket in the bottom of your soufflé, it would push your soufflé up to rise, like, huge, and you think, oh, my God, my soufflé's done, but it's not. It's a pocket of air that's trying to escape. HE GASPS OK, great. So, this goes into the oven, 200 degrees for eight to ten minutes. So, what goes with a soufflé? I was thinking some caramelised bananas, maybe with some whisky on top. Oh! OK. So, how do you do it? So, on a nice, high heat, we want to get our pan lovely and warm so that when we get our sugar and our butter in there, that it kind of goes into a caramel very quickly. So, you've done the butter. Yeah, done the butter. Ordinary sugar or caster sugar? This is just caster sugar, yeah. It's just caster sugar. I'm just going to sprinkle it in on top of the butter. I'm worried about that soufflé, you know. Don't worry. I'm really surprised you're not worried. Leave the worrying up to me, Michael. Are you sure? Mm-hm. Yes. Oh, it won't matter if the soufflé's a disaster now, will it? This'll be delicious anyway. It was really... The important thing is the flambéed bananas. When does the booze go in? Just when the sugar does start to change. Right. So, it kind of stops the caramel. Michael, do you want to check the soufflé? Tell me how beautiful it looks. OK. It's OK. OK, I'm going to put the whisky in now. How's it looking? Oh! Oh, Michael! Stop it! Looks amazing, actually. It's trying to escape. How do you know when it's done? Well, it sounds like it might be almost done. When it's halfway across the kitchen floor. HE CHUCKLES OK, there. OK. In goes our whisky. In goes the whisky. Bye-bye, Ivan! HE LAUGHS Oh, that's fantastic. All we want to do is just cook off the alcohol, and when you flambé, you cook off the alcohol faster. So, now I'm just going to put a little spoon of this... Not just showing... Chef's showing off. No? No. OK, I'm going to go check our soufflé now. Now, what do you think? Oh, my God! It looks amazing! It's a bit lopsided. Stop it! It looks amazing! OK, so here we are. Oh, look at that! This is our soufflé. Dust it a bit. With caramelised bananas. Wait for the bananas, yes. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Go, go, go, go! Oh! Oh! Oh! And a bit of... Banana, why not? A bit of banana. Mm! It's so light. There's sweetness there, but it's the spice. It's really the spice, isn't it? All those spices over the centuries, and they're all in this dish. That's it. Brilliant, Anna. It's so spicy, it's so sweet. It is so, in every sense, A blend of sweet spices in a surprisingly light pudding. No doubt Prince Charles would approve. We Brits love a hint of spice in our food, and it was the lucrative spice trade that first led us to establish a presence in India. As the jewel in the British imperial crown, Indian food culture has permeated our cuisine like no other, and the royals are big fans. Southall in West London, where Dipna Anand runs an award-winning Indian restaurant. Her family have been making Punjabi cuisine for 150 years, and they have a time-honoured connection with royalty. My grandfather used to cook for the Maharajahs, and now, of course, we cater for royalty here in the UK. We serve authentic Punjabi food. It's explained as food that comes from the heart and food that's made with lots of love and passion. Dipna's restaurant has catered for the British royals on more than one occasion, and hosted two exalted visitors. When Prince Charles visited with the Duchess in 2007, it was great because he sampled lots of our dishes, and one of the memorable dishes was the tandoori salmon. And as it came out fresh, he was quite wowed by this dish and really wanted to taste it. So he had a bite, and he absolutely loved it. Dipna, with the help of her father, Gulu, is recreating the dish that made such a great impression on the prince. To begin with, we need to marinate it. So, first of all, some ginger-garlic paste. Let's be generous with that. And next, we need some lime juice, and the lime juice, which is freshly squeezed, will really help to hold the fish fibres together. The salt will help the salmon seep out the water, so that's the secret there. And then, using your hands, and be careful whilst you do this, because you don't want to break the fish. While the fish absorbs the flavours, Dipna prepares a second marinade. So, yoghurt first of all, and then some olive oil. And then we need to spice it up. So, some garam masala. It's made with 15 different spices. It's my grandfather's recipe, and you can smell the flavours from a mile off. It is, it is. And then some red chilli powder. Add the turmeric, and turmeric in our cuisine is only used for colour purposes. And then some red chilli flakes. And now we're putting in some carom, and this is an ingredient that goes really well with seafood dishes. Carom, also known as ajawan caraway, has a bitter taste, similar to oregano. I think this is the one that Prince Charles picked up on when he actually tasted the salmon. It's full of flavour. And a little bit of food colour. Although it looks orange, it is actually yellow food colour, but just a touch. OK, and then we need some gram flour, which has been roasted. Gives a beautiful flavour. Also acts as a binding agent for the marination. And then all I need in there is some dill. Dill is not really used in Indian cooking, but combined with Indian flavours, it's beautiful. Again, not too much dill, just... That's OK, just a touch of dill in there. And now we need to add the salmon pieces into that beautiful marination. And then it's time to get our hands dirty. Once the fish is well covered, the salmon is left overnight to marinate. Or, if you're in a rush, an hour will suffice. Serving food for royals may be daunting, but Dipna's grandfather, the late Bishan Das, established the tradition back in the 1950s. Well, this was a very, very big honour to be sort of cooking for the Maharajas. So this was first back in India, and then he was asked to do it again in Kenya? Yes, then when we migrated to Kenya and opened up the restaurant there, they started asking Papaji that, look, we need you to do the catering for us. The family's culinary skills have pleased the royal palate on three continents. With the salmon marinated, it's ready to be put on square skewers for cooking. This is a tandoor, a traditional clay oven, charcoal-powered and very hot. The salmon will be left to cook for 15 minutes. I remember when His Royal Highness came, he put his head over the clay oven like this to see what was cooking inside. He was really intrigued to know how the whole concept of a clay oven worked. OK, and these are just about ready, so I am going to take them out. Really nice. Smells and looks yummy. All ready to plate up. It's a knack of doing this, you twist, then you lift. Really hot. You've got to have asbestos hands to do this. This smells absolutely delicious. Garnish with a little bit more coriander. And that is a dish fit for royalty. On official engagements to countries around the world, the royals have been exposed to all manner of spicy ingredients and delicacies. And it's fair to assume that they enjoy the occasional piquant meal at home too. Although the royals do tend to avoid things like garlic and spices when they're on their official engagements, for obvious reasons, they do seem to enjoy Britain's different food cultures, don't they? Well, I'm not surprised, they do travel a lot. Yeah, they travel a lot, but they also enjoy the different foods in this country. I think in 2015, Charles and Camilla spent Chinese New Year in Chinatown with a Chinese TV chef, rather like you, learning how to do dumplings. Oh! I think all those different food cultures have kind of fed into what we now regard as our food heritage. You know, all these condiments, I mean, these are some that the royals are said to favour. The condiments that we think are quintessentially British, you know, ketchups and the brown sauce and these various different mustards. At one time, the ingredients in these condiments were exotic and expensive. So expensive that they were almost the preserve of the royals. What's your favourite? My favourite, well, when I was a child, my dad always used to kind of put this version of Worcestershire sauce on it, I think called candy sauce. But nowadays, people use this in cooking every day, like you'd put it sometimes in your spaghetti bolognese. It's kind of a part of our life. And it really peps it up, doesn't it? Actually, that's the one piquant household condiment that's been a favourite of the royals since Queen Victoria gave it the regal thumbs-up 170 years ago. The makers of this spicy sauce have been based at the same site in the city of Worcester since 1897. Communications director Nigel Dickey shows us around. This site was developed specifically for Liam Perrins in 1897. In the early days, this courtyard would have seen horses and carts bringing ingredients in. So that's changed, of course. Health and safety wouldn't allow that, and we've moved on. This is a time-honoured process that really hasn't changed since it was first created. In 1835, two local chemists, John Lee and Williams Perrins, were approached by an English nobleman, Lord Sandys, to recreate a sauce he'd tasted while in India. The result was said to have been unpalatable, red-hot firewater and was subsequently left in the cellar. 18 months later, they returned to the barrels, which had been slowly maturing. To their astonishment, it tasted delicious. Mr Lee and Mr Perrins were real entrepreneurs, and by 1843, they were selling 14,500 bottles a year. There was a mystique around the recipe, but here today we can see around 1,600 barrels that are used, where the key ingredients are kept. So in this barrel here, for example, garlic, which is quietly maturing in malt vinegar. And it can be here for up to 18 months before it's just ready and just soft enough. So not many people know that there is this great aroma of onions and garlic down here. It's a great shame we can't give that to everybody in that experience. I don't think this is ready just yet. A few more months yet before it can go to the making house. During the Second World War, rationing meant that the sugar had to be taken out, but otherwise the ingredients haven't changed too much over the years. These barrels have around 100kg of red skin onions and 100 litres of malt vinegar. We've brought them up from the basement because they're just ready to be mixed in the mixing tank. Here, tamarind paste is added. This fruit from the tamarind is native to India and gives the sauce its sweet and sour note. The last ingredient to be added is the secret spice mix, known only to four people. This gives the sauce its signature taste. And this mixing tank's about 5,000 litres, so we bring all of the ingredients together and blend them and then they're moved to our maturation tanks, which are around 30,000 litres. And there the recipe stays for up to 18 months, occasionally stirred, and it continues its quiet maturing process. The sauce was first sold commercially in 1837. In 1849, arrangements were made for its export overseas. Some bottles didn't survive the voyage, so the company began to wrap its precious cargo in paper as a cushion against the rigours of transportation. Next stop, bottling. In a day, we will pack around 450,000 bottles. We'll make around 26 million bottles a year. So some of these bottles moving along here, they'll end up in supermarkets. Some of them may even end up in the royal households. The process has remained practically the same since 1835, and another thing that's remained unchanged is the royal's taste for the sauce. We have a royal warrant. It started in 1904 with the royal warrant from King Edward VII. But that continues today, and we're very proud to have Her Majesty's approval. Amongst their archive, the company has a letter from Queen Mary, writing to thank them for making a miniature bottle of the sauce, especially for her doll's house. Dated in April 1924, it says, It is with the greatest pleasure that I have to say thank you to all those kind people who have helped make the doll's house the most perfect present that anyone could receive. And you can still see that doll's house today in Windsor Castle. Personally, I like Worcestershire sauce in a Bloody Mary. Now, you're going to use it in a dish, aren't you? I am. What are you going to do? I'm going to make steak Diane, and the Worcestershire sauce is going to be in the actual sauce. Steak Diane? Yes. OK. Oh, gosh, look at that. Oh, you're cutting them really thick, too. Yes. I'm going to brush it with some oil, or drizzle some oil on it. Now, is this perfect for a barbecue? Perfect for a barbecue, because the lovely leanness of the meat means it doesn't need to cook for too long, so the smokiness can just hit the outside and it's done. It's quite handy. This was a great favourite of Edward VII, actually while he was Prince of Wales, you know, Bertie. And he used to go along to the top London hotels, and particularly when there was a chef called, I think almost everybody's heard of him, August Escoffier. He used to cook at the Savoy and other hotels. And Bertie, as he was known to his friends, used to go along and have an absolutely wonderful slap-up meal cooked by this fellow who was the father of modern cuisine, many people say. Absolutely, and what an incredible picture. To imagine, you know, one of the greatest chefs of all time cooking for a king. Absolutely, absolutely. Escoffier. That's where you get the word scoff, by the way. Oh! From Escoffier. Yeah. Some people say that Steak Diane's a modern dish. Some people say it's Escoffier who actually invented it. What's the truth? Well, he invented the sauce, the Diane sauce, and I think he may have actually served it with venison. Actually, that would make sense, because Diana is the goddess of hunting. Exactly. I'm going to put a drop of oil in the pan now so that we can get our sauce on the go. OK. I'm just going to give my steaks a little move. Now, what's the trick with those steaks? You don't want to cook it for too long on one side, because you'll get this kind of deep brown ring, and what you want is the most kind of pink, rare meat that you can get there. So I need to get my shallots on now. It's a nice hot pan. I'm going to put a bit of garlic in here as well, just crush that, throw it in. I'm going to add my mushrooms in. Yeah, Escoffier came over in 1899, made his career in London, made his reputation in London, cooked for the royals in London. But, you know, he never spoke English. He only spoke French. I'm going to put my cognac in here. Oh, yeah, we need cognac. Ooh! Wow! We want to burn off that alcohol just left with the flavour. You meant to do that, did you? Yes! And then once the alcohol is burned off, I can add in my reduced-end beef stock. The steaks look done already. Yeah, they're ready to go. Oh, yeah. But they need to rest, of course. They need to rest, they need to relax. So I'm going to just chop a little bit of parsley. Oh, let me get out of your way. I always admire the precision with which you do that. I'm going to put a spoonful of mustard in there now. Right. OK, a dropful of cream. It's missing two things. Worcestershire sauce. It's missing two things. Worcestershire sauce and butter. And I like quite a little bit of a kick to my steak, so I do put a good bit of the Worcestershire sauce in. A real slug of Worcestershire sauce you put in there. And actually, while I'm waiting for that to reduce down a bit more, I'm going to put the gem on the barbecue. So baby gem. Yep. Just trim off the end of the root. Yep. Cut it in half. You're going to do this very... Oh, yes. Lovely colours, aren't they? Yeah. Then just brush the top with some oil. And that's it, is it? Nearly. Nearly. A little bit of salt. Would Escoffier have done that, do you think, is the sort of thing he'd have with it? He might have braised. Braised baby gem is quite a classic French thing to do. But, you see, I've noticed in posh French restaurants, not that I get to them very often... Oh, I'm sure you get to them plenty. ..that they don't seem to be big on vegetables. I think you're going to the wrong French restaurants, then. You're probably right. You're probably right. The vegetables are the best bit. Add another drop of cream. Actually, Escoffier was a bit of a crook. Do you know that? I don't. This is news to me. I can't believe you're insulting one of the most famous chefs of all time. Well, yeah. A little bit of parsley. He was at the Savoy with somebody else you've probably heard of, called Cesar Ritz. Ah, yes. Who eventually had his own hotel, still there, in Piccadilly, the Ritz Hotel. But both of them worked for the Savoy. Oh, yes, Escoffier's nose would be twitching if he wasn't six feet underground. No, no, no, apparently he got caught taking backhanders from suppliers. Oh, dear! And he was kind of quietly sacked. Had to be quietly sacked, because apparently he'd cooked for Bertie, you know, the Prince of Wales, for so long that he got the goods on the Prince of Wales and his shenanigans with Lily Langtry and so on. So he knew too much. So he couldn't be prosecuted or anything. He was just pushed out the door and went to another hotel. I did not know that. You've got to watch who cooks. You know, cooks, crooks. Oh, this looks pretty good now. You just want to char them a bit? Just char them a little bit, give it another stir on the other side. That barbecue is almost cold, you might say. No, I wouldn't say it was cold, I was thinking just ready to eat, I'd say. So what I might do now is carve our steak. Moment of truth. Oh, look at the way that knife slides through there. I do like it rare. So do I, especially fillets, you want to eat your fillet rare, because it's just so tender. Something like a rib, you want to have that medium, because the fat in the centre... You need the fat cooked, don't you? Oh, that looks absolutely delicious. This piece on the end you don't need, do you? You can already start your testing. Oh, that's lovely. Little baby gems. And last, but certainly not least... The sauce. Now, how are you going to present the sauce? Are you going to slosh it over the top? I won't be sloshing anything anywhere. Now, I'll put a little bit of the mushrooms in the centre there. Sauce nicely around. Wow. That's your steak, Diane, with barbecued baby gem. Now tuck in. Wow. I want everything here. I want the sauce, I want the mushroom, I want some of the gem. Mmm. HE CHUCKLES Let me in. Mmm. That's really nice. The meat, of course, is sensational, but the Diane... Packs a punch, doesn't it? Absolutely. Is it the Worcestershire sauce? Is it the brandy? Is it the cream? Is it the butter? I mean, it's really kind of sharp but good, you know? It's delicious. For me, the key is the Worcestershire sauce. Yeah, I think the Worcestershire sauce absolutely makes it. Oh, that's really, really good. Escoffier was a genius. Rather like you, Anna. Join us next time for more royal recipes.