Food: A hairy biker's guide to Manchester fodder

Food: A hairy biker's guide to Manchester fodder

Conrad Astley
31/ 3/2006

AS one half of TV double act The Hairy Bikers, Dave Myers has sampled the culinary delights of some fairly exotic places.

The first series of the show, in which he travels and cooks with fellow hirsuite motorbike enthusiast Si King, saw him visit Namibia and Transylvania.

During the second series, which started on Wednesday, the pair travel to Vietnam, Mexico and Turkey - avoiding the western tourist resorts and instead following the country's borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria.

But despite taking in culture and cuisine from around the world, one of his most favourite food capitals is much closer to home.

Cumbrian-born Dave first came to Manchester in the early 80s to work as a make-up artist on Coronation Street, after a spell working on sci-fi hits such as Doctor Who and Blake's 7 in London.

Having grown up in Barrow-in-Furness, he recalls being star struck working with the soap actors he had watched as a child.

Although he met Geordie travel companion Si while working on the set of a Catherine Cookson adaptation on Tyneside, Manchester - and its culinary delights - remain close to the food-lover's heart.

"Bury market black puddings are the best in the world," he said. "Barbakan in Chorlton is probably the best bakery in the country.

"For interesting Indian food, you can't beat Rusholme. You drive down there and it's like Las Vegas, there's all these pakora pimps outside trying to entice you in with free poppadoms.

"Chinatown is just amazing, Yang Sing is one of the best Chinese restaurants around, Koh Samui does brilliant Thai food, Aladdin in Didsbury does stunning Lebanese food, and you've got Simply Heathcotes for top end food.

"It's got everything London's got - but usually better - except it's all really easy to get at, and the people are really friendly."

The show even had North West origins, as he had his first meeting with a producer while working on the Forsyte Saga for Granada, and the budget for an early episode, which was never broadcast, would take them only as far as Morecambe Bay.

Despite his love of the exotic - he munched on crocodile satay, oryx rolls and an African worm during one episode of the last series - Dave says you can't knock a bit of British comfort food.

"We usually spend seven weeks in each country making the programme," he said.

"But after a couple of weeks we almost revert to the English stereotype, and start craving a good bacon sandwich and a cup of tea."

And when it comes to comfort food, there's nothing more comforting than the North West food he grew up with, particularly that Rover's Return favourite - Lancashire hotpot.

Although the phrase "just like mother used to make it" is the normal way of talking about comfort foods, that isn't the case with Dave.

"My mum used to make it in really big pots," he said. "But she used to buy the roughest bits of meat she could."

Dave said he would definitely put hotpot in his list of the 10 greatest dishes, but another childhood favourite that has stayed close to his heart is Manchester tart.

"It's the most comforting of all childhood dishes," he said.

"We always used to get it at school, and of course when we saw the words `Manchester tart' written on the blackboard all the lads would snigger and say `Bet Lynch'."

The new series of Hairy Bikers is broadcast on Wednesdays at 8pm on BBC2. The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook is published by Penguin/Michael Joseph on April 6.

DAVE says the perfect hotpot would be made using lamb neck chops - ideally from Cumbrian Herdwick sheep - kidneys, Ormskirk new potatoes and, of course, Bury black puddings.

The fat should be cut off the chops before they are browned in a pan along with the kidneys.

A layers of chopped potatoes should be placed in a buttered oven dish, before a layer of the kidneys and chops.

This process is repeated until you get to the top of the dish, but the final layer should be made from potatoes, with knobs of butter, before meat stock is poured onto it.

Salt and pepper should be placed between each layer, and chopped black pudding and curly leafed parsley can be added to the meat layers.

Dave is the first to admit it isn't ideal for the calorie-conscious, but says it is a perfect winter warmer.

"It's not for the faint hearted," he said.

"It's perfect for standing on the terraces watching football - or it was, they don't have terraces any more.

"You put it in the oven at 140 degrees for four hours, go out, and when you come back the aroma's filled the house - it's wonderful."

ANOTHER favourite of his is Manchester tart, made by spreading a layer of short crust pastry over a baking dish, followed by a layer of jam, then a layer of custard.

Although he said his mum used to make it with a tin of custard, it could be improved by making your own custard.

To do this, take 250ml of milk, 150ml of double cream, two eggs and 50gm of caster sugar.

The eggs and sugar should be whisked together as the milk and cream are heated.

The eggs and sugar should then be mixed into the milk and cream just as it comes to the boil, but the trick is to do this very slowly and carefully.

"If you did that to a Manchester tart," he said. "That would definitely be worth the effort."


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