Stop cooking, Nigella and Gordon! You’ll never beat this Tudor treat
Nigella must be open-mouthed with envy. gregg will be speechless and gordon is probably screaming down the phone at his agent right now.
it’s a rare cookery show that reveals a simple technique for a sensational dish that’s completely new to television, but The Sweet Makers: A Tudor Treat (BBC2) delivered a beauty.
Take a rose, one that has just bloomed. Cut the stem no longer than a finger. Dust the petals in fine sugar — don’t roll or crush them, just turn the flower slowly as you sprinkle. When every surface is frosted, stand the rose in a warm place and allow the sugar to harden overnight. if possible, serve on a silver platter.
Candied roses should be eaten in a single bite, like a cherry. Do not pull their petals off one by one, because the frosting will go everywhere... and definitely do not lick them like toffee apples. You’ll just look common.
Historical food shows have become a BBC2 speciality, and this one appeared at first to follow the standard format.
Four professional cooks, including a couple of chocolatiers and a cakemaker, were dressed in smocks and wimples, and sent into the kitchens of a stately home to prepare a feast of sweetmeats. Naturally, they almost suffocated on carbon monoxide fumes from the open fires and kept singeing their petticoats, before they finally got the hang of the Renaissance recipes.
Their sugar banquet, with a centrepiece made from moulded marchpain (or marzipan), and baked medlars with chili chocs for delicacies, was a triumph.
But while most shows never cease to sing the praises of their food-glorious-food, this one didn’t flinch from examining what dangerous stuff sugar really is — addictive, destructive and the root cause of Britain’s obesity epidemic.
We visited the archives of the Museum of london, where ancient bones are apparently filed like historic documents, and saw two human skulls.
One, dating from William the Conquerer’s time, had perfect white gnashers worthy of a modern celeb. The other was more recent, belonging to a Tudor nobleman: the few teeth he had left were black, ravaged by sugar.
Then we flew to Barbados, to learn about slavery on the sugar plantations. This wasn’t the jolly glimpse into the past we used to get between rounds on Bake Off.
The producers over-sweetened the lesson, by letting two of their confectioners have a little weep at the plight of the slaves. Just once, it would be good to see a history doc that doesn’t involve sniffles and tissues.
There’s been much wailing and gnashing of teeth since Red Rock (BBC1) returned. The afternoon police drama centres on a fictional irish seaside town ruled by feuding crime families.
The tiny garda contingent is currently paralysed with grief for their murdered superintendent. Meanwhile, heroin is rife among the local teens: even the desk sergeant’s son is hooked on the stuff. all of this is about as cheerful as it sounds.
garda Paudge (Patrick Ryan), the amiable idiot of the series, has been blackmailed, stabbed and left for dead. That’s a bit like beating up Benny from Crossroads.
Red Rock dreams of being irish noir, but it’s written and filmed on an acorn antiques budget. every scene is filmed in huddles, as if the studio floor is about the size of a table-top.
a few good characters, including Paudge’s naive but brave partner, garda Sharon (Jane Mcgrath), draw the viewer in, and the stories do belt along. But this is not afternoon telly to put a smile on your face.