Heston's Great British Food

Pies (2x1)

Air date: May 01, 2014

Heston salutes the great British pie as he looks to find inspiration for a three-course pie banquet. For the starter, he delves into the history of the 'surprise' pies of the 17th century, where ingredients were sometimes - bizarrely - alive. He learns about Jeffrey Hudson, a dwarf boy who found infamy by jumping out of a pie at a grand banquet and alarming the assembled guests. Heston makes a gala pie where the 'meat' is actually beetroot and horseradish ice cream, and the 'egg' is made from goats' cheese panna cotta, saffron and bacon. The main course is a gothic pie inspired by Sweeney Todd, with body part pies accompanied by fake eyeballs, squid pupils, saffron veins, and fingers and ears made from cheese, Tabasco and chicken liver parfait and fig. No British pie banquet would be complete without a nod to pie and mash. Heston sets out to make the lightest ever mash by trying to change the molecular structure of a spud by sending it into space, before making a pie, mash and liquor dessert. He serves his pie banquet to a select group of British pie-makers, 100 feet in the air over the East End of London.