All language subtitles for Rick.Steins.Australia.S01E04.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HDFLiX_track3_[eng]

I was 19 years old
when I first saw Australia.

My dad had just died.

And I was running away
from my old life.

What I found
in Australia changed me.

And I can remember saying,

"This is me. I've escaped.
This is my life."

Today, Australia is so much more

than just another
travel destination to me.

My wife is Australian...

Thank you, Ricky. Scrumptious.

Scrumptious, hey?

..and this country
has become my second home.

Love it to bits.

So after a lifetime
of food journeys,

I'm finally retracing
some of that first trip.

Ow!

I want to discover how Australia
and its food is changing.

This goat curry is really special.

After exploring Sydney
and the coast,

I'm travelling west
into the outback...

Great.

This is Daffi. Yeah,
she's one of my favourites.

..and I'm bringing my inspiration
home to create new recipes.

I have used
extra virgin olive oil here.

I really want
the flavour to come through.

I suspect it's going to be
another journey of a lifetime.

I'm leaving the coast behind and
travelling into the open plains

and enormous skies that, for me,

are the first signs that
I'm heading inland.

I've never been to this part
of New South Wales before...

..but I did go inland during
my first teenage adventure

and it left
a strong impression on me.

The thing I remember most
was the vastness of everything,

coming from
a small island like Britain

and faced with
these enormous distances.

I'm 400km inland,

heading west to the town of Moree.

This is some of Australia's
best farming land,

with fertile black soil

above one of the world's
largest freshwater reservoirs.

But it's the remoteness out here
that most intrigues me.

There are just 72 people
for every 100 square kilometres.

I'm curious to find out

if this isolation makes people
more traditional

when it comes to food and farming

or if it makes it easier
to pioneer change.

I've reached Moree,
the largest town on these plains.

I am here for the biggest event
of the year, the Annual Moree Show.

Generations of locals have grown up
with this gathering

for more than 150 years.

Like the county shows
I'm used to in Britain,

it's a chance for people to show off
their prized animals, machinery,

produce, cooking and farming skills.

It's still quite early,
so it's not particularly busy,

but I must say
I really like a county show.

It's just you meet
so many interesting people.

My name's Rick.

- G'day, Rick.
- I love the dog.
What kind of dog is it?

Australian kelpie.

You can have really good
conversations.

I suppose it's cos I was born
and bought up on a farm,

I still have a great affinity
with cattle, with sheep,

with chickens - you name it.

So, as I meet locals
at this first stop,

I want to find out
if celebrating tradition

is actually the main event here,

or if the show looks
to the future of farming.

If I'm not mistaken,
that's a Hereford.

We used to have them on our farm.

First up, I'm meeting Moree's chief
cattle steward, Lisa Whibley.

- Good morning, Rick.
- Very nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you in Moree.
- Well, it's very nice to be here.

I'm just familiar with shows
back in the old country,

but I don't know
whether they go into all this...

Well, these are your English breeds.

This is a Red Poll, which is...

- Red Poll.
- ..which is a heritage English breed.

Oh, is it? OK.

So, yeah,
it's actually dual purpose,

so you can eat the meat and milk it.

Red Poll cattle are known
for their rich red coats

and natural hornless,
or polled, heads.

This is Daffi.

- Daffi?
- Daffi, Daffodil.

- Ah.
- And she's one of...
Yeah, she's one of my favourites.

HE LAUGHS

Lisa is getting Daffi ready to
compete in the showring shortly,

and she's pulling out all the stops.

We start off three months out, three
to four months out, from a show.

- Yeah.
- And we feed them,

um, a high-protein special mix to
get as much fat on them as possible.

- Yeah.
- Then you sort of go through...

..get them quiet enough
to come to a show,

and then on the day, like today,

usually they'll hit
the wash bay first.

Then after the wash bay, they will
blow-dry and then they'll clip

and put some hairspray in
just to make them

look that little bit more special.

Did you say hairspray?

COW MOOS

- Skin and hair conditioner.
- Wow.

So what you'll do is...spray...

..and...then...

..brush it.

You can see
the difference in the hair.

- Yeah.
- Coat coming up now.

Smells nice too.

I know. They do.

I wonder if she feels better
with that nice scent.

COW MOOS

- With the blow dry...
- Yeah.
- ..it removes the dead skin cells.

Yeah.

It also removes the hair
to make them look fatter because,

you know, fat's flavour.

Yeah.

So we want our cattle, being beef,
prime beef cattle,

to look as fat and juicy
as possible.

What do you love about the show?

- My favourite thing is the kids.
- Yeah.

Watching the kids learn, watching
them have fun in the showring.

The kids are our next
generations of farmers,

so if we don't keep them interested,
we won't have more farmers.

So, you know,
my biggest drive is for the kids

and to let them have
a great day out in the showring.

It seems Lisa is all about keeping
Moree's farming heritage alive,

and with Daffi all dolled up,
it's showtime.

So this morning
we're starting with the Red Polls.

There are only two cows
in the Red Poll field

because Red Polls have become
a rare breed in Australia.

There's the first one.

The judge is looking for
signs of a good breeder.

It looks like our judge
has made her decision.

And she's done it!

First place goes to Daffi...

APPLAUSE

..with her bigger frame,
bovine femininity,

and beautifully coiffed coat.

Congratulations, Lisa.

Thank you very much, Rick.

They're like kids - you're just
proud if they get this far

and, you know, to get them to the
show sometimes is an achievement.

Well done.

There are hundreds of competitions
going on here

and Lisa's got her eye
on another prize.

Tomorrow she'll be competing
in the classic country art

of whip cracking,

so she's keen
to squeeze in some practice.

They look a bit dangerous.

- Are they?
- Um, no,
they're not really at all.

Don't ask me to have a go.

It's actually a really good
workout for your whole body

and your brain as well.

So if I keep whip-cracking, I won't
get the fat tuck-shop lady arms,

and I also keep my brain thinking

cos one arm's doing one thing
and one arm's doing the other.

Well, I thought that's what women
did all the time, isn't it?

- You know.
- Multitask.
- Exactly.

That's it.
Anyway, I'll do some little ones.

- Anyway, I'll leave you to it.
- Yeah. OK.

Lisa's picked up the bullock whip,

traditionally used by stockman
driving cattle through the bush.

WHIP CRACKING

Even her practice run draws a crowd.

I'm leaving Lisa to hone her skills

while I head to an event for which
I'm eminently more qualified.

Hi, Rick. I'm Mel.

- I'm one of the judges
of the cooking.
- Oh, great.

I've agreed to help judge
the finals of one of the cake shows.

Country show cooking
is an institution.

So it's one of those things...you'll
always find a fantastic fruit cake.

- There's bread as well.
- Bread, yeah.

We've had a great
showing of sourdough this year.

- Yeah.
- Our decorated cupcakes,

and the kids always put in
such a fantastic effort.

Oh, that's lovely.

And "sc-ons" or "sc-ohns"?
Which...? What do you call them?

- Um, "scon".
- Same with me.

And so many chocolate cakes this
year in so many different varieties.

- Yes. Look at the chocolate cakes.
- Yeah.

That's what I call
million dollar shortbread.

- But you call it something like...
- Caramel slice.

Caramel slice.

- I'm a bit of a sucker for
a caramel slice.
- It's pretty good.

But lamingtons
we're going to do, aren't we?

We've had quite a bumper entry
into the lamingtons this year.

So I have to confess I didn't start
off as a great fan of lamingtons.

But it's a bit like, you know,
Vegemite.

I'm now actually beginning
to like them.

Yeah, they're a great little treat
and perfect with a cuppa.

Well, let's go.

Lamingtons are a vanilla sponge cake
cut into squares

and covered first
in cocoa icing glaze

and then in desiccated coconut.

They were created here in Australia
around 1900,

and by the time
I came here in the '60s,

the lamington was
a culinary institution,

found in almost every bakery,
school canteen or cake stall

around the country.

You could say
they're Australia's national cake

and today I'll decide
the winner from Mel's shortlist.

- Just looking at them...
- Yep.

..is there any spec
for the way they look?

So I do aesthetically whittle it
down a little bit first.

I'll look for four
to five centimetres square.

- They can be a little rectangle.
- OK.
- Yeah.

The other thing is some...
some are much darker than others.

Is there anything
to be read into that, then?

I think that's probably down
to your quality of cocoa.

It's actually not chocolate.
It is cocoa in an icing.

- That's a common misconception.
- Right.

With all that in mind,
it's time to get tasting.

- Just take a slice.
- I think so.

And for the finalists,
the pressure is mounting.

- Sponge is good. Nice and light.
- Mm. Nice and light.
- Yeah.

- Farm eggs. It's nice and yellow.
- Farm eggs too.
- I think so.

Plus point.
Ad the coconut's very nice.

If we were splitting hairs,

we really are probably
looking for desiccated coconut.

It's shredded.

- Right.
- They're all very uniform...
- Yeah.

- ..so I do want to see
equal lamingtons.
- OK.

- Another good sponge.
- Beautiful sponge. Yes.

- But this is definitely desiccated.
- Yes.

Very good flavour in the sponge.

- Nice vanilla flavour.
- Mm-hm.

- Slightly less flavour
in the chocolate.
- OK.
- But...

- ..not bad. Not bad.
- Yeah. OK.

Nice-looking sponge.

- That's a good one.
- That's a good one?
- Yeah.
- OK.

I think I'd like
to try that one too.

That's a very light sponge.

- They're really good.
- They are.

Do you think you could
pick our winner?

Ladies, come over.

- Hello.
- Hello.

Difficult choice, I have to say,
but there we go.

They were so great.
Third place today was Georgi.

- Oh, wow. Thank you.
- Congratulations.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

They're all lovely.

Our second place today was Kim.

- Well done, Kim.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Great.

Uh, Rick,
would you like to do the honours?

Yes.

Our winner today was...

Rihannon.

Thank you so much.

I think the reason was
it just was particularly...

The sponge was really nice -
brilliant. Lovely flavour,

very moist and lovely
dusting of desiccated coconut.

- Thank you.
- Good job.
- Well done.

Thank you.

I know farmers hope the Moree Show
is keeping traditions alive

for the next generation,

and, wandering around,
it seems to be working.

I see people of all ages competing.

- Jensen Basil. Is that you?
- Yeah, that's me.
- Well done.

- Thank you.
- And what type of chicken is it?

This is an Australian Game.

- Australian Game?
- Yeah.

They are Australia's breed
of chook, which is pretty cool.

It's a very lovely-looking
chicken, actually.

I've never seen one
with such long legs.

Um, well, back in their day
they used to be a farm chook,

so they could drink out of, um,
troughs and that.

- Yeah.
- That's why they were so tall.

- Is that right?
- Yeah.

And I mean, you do seem quite young
to be breeding chickens.

- Yes. Yes.
- Do you mind me asking,
how old are you?

- 16.
- Fantastic.

My family's been doing it for
a long time.

- I was just brought up into it.
- Yeah.
- I love my chickens, yeah.

Well, um, congratulations.

Clearly, the Moree community is
proud of its strong farming roots.

I've read that the town was
founded as a pastoral station,

and by 1862 it had grown
into a thriving rural hub

of about 7,000 people.

But it's not just farming
that's put Moree in the spotlight

over the years, this town is also
famous for its local swimming pool.

I'm very pleased about this.
Actually, I love a swim

and having left the coast I thought
there'd be nowhere to swim,

but, of course, virtually
every town in Australia has a pool.

And 60 years ago, this pool thrust
Moree into the national headlines.

Oh, this is really interesting.

1965. It's the year
before I first came here.

Freedom Ride.

"In February 1965,

"a busload of university students

"with Aboriginal activist
Charles Perkins as leader,

"set out to visit
country towns in New South Wales

"to expose the unacceptable living
conditions of Aboriginal people."

They were also determined

to end the widespread
segregation of Aboriginal people.

They targeted Moree pool

because entry here
was reserved for whites only.

"The Freedom Riders pressured
the council to allow a group

"of local Aboriginal children
to enter the baths.

"Angry scenes ensued.

"However, the mayor signed a motion
to rescind the colour ban."

For the first time,
First Nations children were free

to swim in Moree's pool.

This hard-fought victory
helped ignite

a successful referendum

that recognised Aboriginal people
as equal citizens.

It's wonderful
to learn that this little town

was at the centre of such pioneering
change across the whole country.

This is really lovely

and it's great to see the whole
community using the pool.

From its history in the struggle
for Aboriginal civil rights,

Moree is forging a new legacy
as a research hub

for First Nations knowledge.

I'm leaving town and heading
through the traditional lands

of the Gomeroi people.

My destination is a wetland
known as Whittaker's Lagoon.

I'm meeting an agricultural pioneer,

a Gomeroi woman
called Kerrie Saunders.

Kerrie is helping drive
a community-led research project

with Sydney University

into native grasses
as a mainstream food.

And I find that really interesting,

simply because the native grasses
surely should be more adapted

to the climate and the soil
in this country

than the introduced
European species.

It seems,
long before wheat was grown here,

these native grasses
produced edible seeds

that the Gomeroi people
harvested as grains.

- Good morning. Kerrie?
- Yes.
- I'm Rick.

- Hello, Rick.
- I'm looking forward
to talking to you about grass.

Welcome.
Thank you for coming along.

These native grains,

they've been eaten by my old
people for thousands of years.

They keep the soil healthy,
they keep the biodiversity healthy,

um, and they also bring carbon down.

- Can we have a look at some of them?
- Let's go.

- I wouldn't know one from the other,
to be honest.
- OK.

I have to say,
coming from England,

- I mean, this landscape
is just so special.
- Yeah.

The...the native grasses...
has been here for, you know,

since time began.

A lot of our native grasses,
they've got long root systems

so they touch the moisture
in the ground way down.

They have survived
through droughts and floods.

The grasses are here. If you...

- Oh, they... Are they here?
- Yeah.

So they're on both sides.

And there's a particular species
Kerrie wants to show.

- The common name
is called native miller.
- Yeah.

But the Gamilaraay language,
it's called goolie.

- What does goolie mean?
- So, goolie means river grass.

River grass. They're just
tiny seeds, aren't they?

Yeah. So the seeds might be small,

but you do get a lot of them.

Traditionally, they were gathered
just for the seeds,

- so the whole plant stays.
- Yeah.

And then you get the top part

that produces the seeds.

So how often would they seed
in the year? Just once or...?

- No, you can get two or three
harvests off the one plant.
- Really?

- So...
- Have to try...
taste everything.
- Yeah.

- Very tasty.
- Yeah, they are.
- A bit bitter.

But can you mill that, then?

Yes.

They can be milled into flour

and you can cook with it,

bake bread.

- I can show you. Show you...
- Fab.
- I can make something today.

As she harvests native millet,

Kerrie is reviving
a 60,000-year-old food tradition...

..one that might be making
a comeback

as a crop for the 21st century.

She's offered to make me

an unleavened bread
with native millet and water.

It's traditionally baked
in the coals of a campfire,

a bush method that's known
in Australia as "damper",

and I'm eager to see how it works.

- That's the goolie grain, is it?
- That's correct.

- It's sitting in the coolamon.
- Coolamon?

- A coolamon is a dish...
- Yeah.
- ..made out of bark from the tree.

- Yeah.
- And I have threshed it,

so I've separated the seed
from the husk

and now I'm going
to rely on the wind.

- Yeah.
- Um, and if it's not
windy enough...

- You winnow it.
- ..I winnow it. Yeah.

I know about... We had
a winnowing machine on the farm

- I was bought...on, so I know...
- OK.
- ..it's just blowing the chaff off...

- ..off the grain.
- Yeah, that's right.

SHE BLOWS

- So now that I've got
the clean seed...
- Yeah.

..they get grinded into flour.

- My old people been, um,
harvesting and processing...
- Yeah.

..the goolie into flour
for thousands of years.

They would've just used
grinding stones.

Once it turns into flour,

add water, make a paste

and then we can cook it
near the fire.

Looking forward to it.

I think that this is right now
to, um, add water.

I'll just stir it.

- Can you smell...? Smell it.
- Yeah, I'd love to.

- Smells like sweet cake batter.
- It does.

Now we are going to put
the dough into the camp oven,

place it on the coals...

- Yeah.
- ..and let it cook.

OK.

- So, did you grow up learning
these techniques?
- No.

When I was a small child,
I used to run along the river,

run in the paddocks,
run along the swamps.

Didn't know about this then.

When I started, you know,

learning about the native species
that's grown around here,

then I realised that I'd been
smelling goolie all my life.

Who did you learn it from, then?

Curiosity about being Aboriginal

and the oldest living culture
in the world and...

What did we eat?

I went to my local, uh, TAFE

and then it led me into, you know,
the University of Sydney,

finding out the scientific side
or the value of how

these grains are so good for you.

When you think of people that lived
here for 40,000, 50,000 years,

they probably knew a thing or two
about what to eat

and how to stay healthy really.

Yeah, I...I think so too.

In fact, university research
shows that goolie contains

significantly more fibre than wheat,

a major plus for one of the grains

that made First Nations people here
the oldest bakers in the world.

And after 15 minutes on the coals,
our damper is ready.

OK.

So, the damper is like
a little kind of a flat cake...

- Yeah.
- ..because it's all
gluten-free.
- Yeah.

- So it's not going to rise.
- This is 100% goolie.

Kerrie's brought along
some olive oil, saltbush

and purslane, or pigweed, seeds

to sprinkle on top
for added flavour.

- Thank you.
- Cheers.

Cheers.

I like it.

It's a lot lighter
than I thought, and nutty.

Very nutty.

Well, you...you said it
smelt of cake dough before

and I...I could tell that,
but I can't taste it in there.

And I...I would like something
like some honey with it, I think.

Honey would go really nice.

I've got a lot of friends who
are gluten-intolerant and I think

this research into native grains
is really important for all of us.

I just find it really interesting,

the way these ancient
traditions are now being revived.

Moree's plains
have seen a lot of change.

With the arrival of the British,

these grasslands became
wheat and sheep country.

By the time I was travelling through
Australia in the mid-'60s,

the Northwest Plains were on
the cusp of another big shift,

the cotton boom.

New dams and irrigation
spurred massive cotton planting,

lured by high returns
and plentiful water.

But drought
and tighter water allocation

soon challenged that promise.

One farmer did the maths

and took a bold leap
in a completely new direction.

Well, I'm off to see Dick Estens,
and, interestingly,

I've been driving on his property
for about the last ten minutes.

He owns one of
the biggest farms in Moree.

He used to grow cotton
and he switched to citrus.

He now supplies the majority
of fresh orange juice in Australia,

and a global orange juice shortage

has seen Dick continue

to expand his citrus empire.

I'm keen to know how he went
from farming a traditional crop

to becoming a pioneer.

- Dick.
- How are you going?

Nice to meet you.

Welcome to the Vitonga Farms.

Well, it's, um, quite big here,
I've noticed already!

You've got a lot of planes.

Each one of these beauties
earns its keep on the farm,

including six air tractors.

- Is this how you get around?
- Absolutely.

This is my farm Ute.

This is your farm ute?

Others might know it as a Cessna 210

but Dick and his beloved farm ute

have clocked up plenty
of flying hours together.

It takes me something like ten hours
to go across Australia.

- And have you done that?
- Yeah, I've done it a few times.

Fabulous.

Yeah, we're always in a hurry
and the cops can't book us in it.

Dick, I want to talk about oranges.

So how come you've ended up
with so many oranges?

Started here in 1980,
growing cotton.

You know, cotton's been
a really good crop for us

and it's been really good
for the district.

But, you know, with the 1990s
and the mining boom,

I was worried about
the profitability of cotton

in the longer term.

So we spent years
looking for an alternative crop.

And it boiled back
to pecans or oranges.

Because of the high summer rainfalls
and summer storms,

you don't want a soft-skin product
that can take damage.

- Yeah. So we decided on oranges.
- Fantastic.

You get a better look from the air.
Hop in the farm ute.

Great. Which side do I get in,
by the way?

- Do you want to fly it?
- No.

- You hop in this side, then.
- Oh, right. OK.

Ready to go?

We get airborne here,
about 70 knots.

Now we're kicking sideways
because of the wind.

And from up here, the size of
his orange empire is staggering.

When Dick first started
replacing cotton with oranges,

many of his fellow farmers
thought he was mad,

and, in fact, for many years
he lost money.

You plant your tree,

then you go two years pulling
your oranges off the trees,

cos you literally want them to grow.

Third year, it's like
two tonne a hectare,

four tonne to five tonne a hectare,

to 12, to 25, to 32.

Then you get 45 plus.

Generally, you want to break even
around six years.

So that's eight and a half years
after you order your first tree.

So we took a few hits.

It's taken 20 years, but his
gamble is certainly paying off.

And when I look back at my life,
it's always been about challenges.

I think I love a challenge.

I really enjoyed that.

That was really exhilarating.

It's almost THE part
of Australian outback life -

is flying around in planes.

It's what they all do.

So now I've seen the whole farm
from the air,

I'd really like
to now get in amongst it.

Well, I have to say,

I don't think I've ever seen
more oranges on a tree in my life.

Can we try one or two?

- Let's try a few.
- OK.

We'll get some
nice-coloured oranges.

One... I think that one up there.
Can you...?

- Yeah, that'd be good.
- Can I give you a leg up?

No, you're taller than me.
You can have a go.

Let's get ourselves an orange.

Get this one over here.

What...what's the difference between
a Valencia and a navel orange then?

Well, the navel at the bottom
of the orange here

- have a big round navel.
- Oh, yeah. Yeah. I see.

- Sort of a bit like a Christmas cake.
- Yeah.

These don't have a navel

but this is a bit smaller, this one.

But it should be pretty good eating.

Looks good.

They're not too bad.

They're brilliant.

They've got a lovely round flavour.

Lots of acidity.

Lots of sweetness.

Delicious.

I tried the orange.
Can I try the juice?

Absolutely.

With pulp.

With pulp - great.

That's really good.

It's got a really deep flavour.

It's really fully flavoured,
I'd say.

- Excellent.
- And it's sweet, but not too sweet.

It's real orange juice.

It is. And on that note...

- Cheers.
- Good health there, Dick.

Good health.

I just loved talking to him cos,

in a way,
I feel the same way as him.

He sort of didn't start out

meaning to be a massive
orange grower but he is.

He's somebody who's prepared
to take risks.

And in Dick's case,

those were big risks

in the early days.

And finally he hit gold -
in oranges.

Dick's oranges have inspired me

to update one of my favourite
desserts -

an orange, almond
and olive oil cake.

Having visited Dick Estens'
orange orchards,

I now know that navel oranges
are better for making a sweet.

How'd you tell a navel orange?

Well, I now know that it is because
it has a little navel on the bottom.

I have to say that I thought it was
something to do with a navy,

but how wrong I was!

But the importance about
these particular oranges

for this recipe is
you need two oranges

each weighing about 200g,

and I'm going to now boil them.

Boiling the oranges
gives a richer flavour

than if I just use the juice
and zest.

I'm going to simmer them
for 20 to 30 minutes

until the peel is tender
so I can puree the whole fruit.

So they should be done by now.

It's about half an hour cooking.

They are. Knife through butter!

So I'm just going to take
these off the heat

and let them cool down enough
to handle them.

So, these are nice and cool now.

Just cutting off the ends like that.

Now I'm just going to cut them
in half to check for seeds,

but being a navel orange
it's unlikely that I will find any.

So I'm just going to put these
in the food processor...

..and blend them until smooth.

Good.

Now, to make up the mix.

Four eggs.

160g of caster sugar

and the zest of one lemon.

The lemon just adds a bit more,
um, citrus hint,

I suppose, to the orange cake.

I often put a bit of lemon juice in
with an orange drink, really.

It just gives it a bit of a lift.

There we go.

Now I'm just going to beat
all that together.

I'm not looking for any
sort of voluminousness here.

It's not one of those cakes with...

It's not like a genoise or a sponge.

But I do want to amalgamate the,
um...the egg yolks thoroughly.

And now the all-important olive oil.

And I have used
extra virgin olive oil here.

I really want
the flavour to come through.

Right, now the paste.

Smells gorgeous, that.

Stir that in a little bit.

Now a little bit of baking powder,
which is very important,

because we haven't got
a lot of natural volume there.

This will give the cake
plenty of aeration.

And now the almond.

And this is why
it's a flourless cake -

because the almond is adding
the structure to it.

Just going to fold that in now.

And that is it.

Ready to put that into my cake tin.

So, in goes the batter,
I suppose you'd call it.

And I'm using
a spring-form cake tin.

It's nonstick but I have just put
some baking paper in the bottom -

sort of belt-and-braces-wise.

And I should have added that
I've set my oven to 180 convection.

That would be 160 fan.

And that's going to go in the oven
for 50 to 60 minutes.

Traditionally, this cake
is served quite plain,

but I'm giving it a delicious
country twist with vanilla icing.

That looks great.

I'm just going to leave that to cool
down while I get on with the icing.

I'm going to make a pouring icing.

Now, that means that it'll run
nicely over the edge of the cake.

So first of all some melted butter.

Just going to stir that into...

This is just icing sugar,
nothing but icing sugar.

See, I will just add a little
bit of vanilla now,

about a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

And now I'm just going
to stir this all in

and then decide
how much milk to add.

I don't want to add too much.

And as soon as I start adding milk,
it will go enormously

quickly into a liquid.

So we'll start
with about a teaspoon.

And then I'm just going to work
teaspoon at a time

till I've got
my pouring consistency.

It will take another.

So that's five.

Yeah, I'd be tempted
to leave it at that.

Of course, if you go any longer,

it'll just run off the side of
the cake but it'll still look nice

because you'll see the orange
coming through the icing.

So, that looks very nice.

All ready to go with the icing.

And I hope
this is the right consistency.

You never quite know.

I'm just judging it.

I'd like to pour it all over there
but I don't want to go mad.

That's all I want to do.

I just think it looks nicer

when it's sort of not
covering everything.

So, this is the bit I love -
afternoon tea.

A nice piece of orange
and almond cake with olive oil.

It's lovely.

The thing that most
pleases me is the icing,

because normally
I use water to make my icing,

but this time I've used milk
and it's creamier and more luscious.

There's something lovely about a
long drive that sets your mind free.

I'm heading five hours west
towards the town of Bourke

because it's the gateway
to the outback,

which is where I want to end up.

When I was 19, I headed
into the outback for the first time.

I did odd-jobs and met some real
characters working in an abattoir,

and later maintaining railway
lines in very isolated places.

I was trying to grow up.

I came from a very close family,
very protective of each other.

Finding myself in this strange,
wide-open country,

it was quite unusual for me.

But also I had this tremendous
sense of freedom.

Much as I love the beaches
and coast,

it's this landscape
that really speaks to me.

Just stopped off for a cuppa of,
uh, British tea, as it happens!

Should be billy tea,
but British tea's all right.

Uh, I'm a great fan of
Australian poetry, actually,

particularly of poetry
of the outback,

and I found this poem
which I particularly like -

the famous My Country
by Dorothea Mackellar.

"I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,

"Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains."

FLIES BUZZ

Excuse me.

It's called the "country salute".

There's too many flies!

HE COUGHS

Got one up my nose then.

How does that ruin a poem!

"I love her far horizons,

"I love her jewel-sea,

"Her beauty and her terror -

"The wide brown land for me!"

I mean, what she's saying is...
She's a 19-year-old in the UK

and she's homesick, and she's
comparing the sort of orderliness

and the greenness of England
with her lovely sunburnt country.

I do think remoteness can be
a great driver of inspiration

and I do believe that landscape
has an enormous effect on us.

My route to Bourke is taking me
past the Barwon River

and one of the oldest human-made
structures in the world.

The Brewarrina fish traps
were built by the Ngemba people

tens of thousands of years ago.

Their stone walls were designed
to channel fish into ponds,

where they could easily be speared.

Cleverly, they were built
to work in low water

AND after the rain when the
rivers ran high, as they are now.

We arrived last night in Bourke

and I was expecting just a few
houses and maybe a bar,

a couple of shops, and lots of dust.

It's not like it at all.

It seems there are dusty dry years

and then there are years
of flooding rains, like this one,

when the land turns green.

And as I've just learned,
water has played a big role

in this town's history.

Last night, I was in the pub,
right -

and this is exactly
how it happened - and I said,

"What's this pub called?"
It was a nice pub.

And they said,
"It's called the Port of Bourke."

And I thought,
"Well, this is some sort of joke."

I mean, there's no port in Borke.

It's in the middle of...
middle of Australia!

But in the 1800s,

all the wool from all
the sheep farming around here

was transported from Bourke,

down the Murray-Darling
river system,

and this was where
everything was loaded.

So right where I'm standing now

is the old port of Bourke.

From 1862, Bourke thrived for 50
years as a bustling frontier town.

At its peak, its population was
two to three times what it is today.

But by the early 1900s,
fortunes here had started to change.

Global wool prices tanked

and road trains began taking over
from this inland port.

I love places like Bourke.

It just speaks of the sort
of fragility of isolation.

I'm fascinated to find out
how this impacts people,

especially those
living "beyond the back of Bourke".

It's a phrase that's synonymous with
the most remote parts of Australia.

Out here, there are just six people

for every hundred
square kilometres of country.

This is the outback I remember -

everything red,

and the vegetation very sort of...
very sparse and scrubby.

Generations ago,

this part of the country
rode high on the sheep's back.

I'm curious to see how these
pastoral families are faring today.

So I'm driving another
70km west to see for myself.

I've been invited
to stay at Rose Isle Station,

a sheep station
at the back of Bourke.

Rose Isle is a family-owned
grazing property

run by farmers Garry
and Samantha Mooring.

Welcome. Welcome to Rose Isle.
I'm Samantha.

- I'm Rick.
- Pleased to meet you.

Well, it's really stunning.

I'm loving all this red country.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

But it's all about sheep.

How many sheep are you running?

Um, in a really good season, we
might run 8,000, but at the moment

probably 4,000 or 5,000.

- And how big?
- 60,000 acres.
- Crikey.

Which isn't that big for out here.

It's 11 acres to one sheep.

It's unbelievable,
compared with, you know, back home.

Yeah, it is. Yes, where you are
11 sheep to half an acre!

And how is sheep farming?
Is it prosperous, successful?

No, no.
Wool isn't very prosperous.

Why?

Everything has gone up
except the price of wool.

So a bale of wool
you might get $1,200 for.

Yeah.

And it costs $500 just to shear
that wool to put it in the bale

and another 500
to run it for the year.

So you are getting $200.

Yeah, for a bale of wool.

But you might take
80 fleeces to make a bale.

So we've diversified, so we have
sheep that are not only wool,

they're also... You can get a lamb,
a fat lamb, out of them as well

but you can still get
a 19-micron wool off them.

So presumably the demand
for wool is still there.

What about the demand for lamb?

It is declining. It's expensive.

It's expensive to produce
and it's very expensive

to buy at the butcher, and we have
a lot more people

who don't eat meat at all and their
children have never tasted meat.

Uh, when I was young in...
as a late teenager,

I spent some time
out near Alice Springs.

We used to have mutton chops
for breakfast with gravy.

- Yes, delicious.
- Delicious. I agree.

Samantha has invited me to join her

rounding up the rest of the sheep
she needs in this yard.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Interestingly, the first
flock of sheep in Australia

arrived on the first fleet in 1788,

destined to be eaten as mutton.

Mutton refers to sheep meat
that is two years or older,

whereas lamb is younger.

- The secret is to give them time...
- Yeah.
- ..to turn.

Don't push them and push them.

DOG BARKS

The dogs will work in the middle,
so he'll push them along.

Good boy, Cole.

Cole, here, right.

Come on, Cole.

DOG BARKS

Walk up.

DOG BARKS

SHE WHISTLES

- Well done.
- Thank you.

Thank you for your help.

Well, I didn't help.

My accommodation at Rose Isle is
in one of the small shearers' huts

on the station,

and I've offered to earn my keep
by cooking dinner for my hosts

while I'm here.

I've always thought of roast lamb
as Australia's national dish,

but I'll defer

to my trusty old A-Z Of Australian
Facts, Myths & Legends.

"Until the arrival of immigrants
from Southern Europe in the 1950s

"and the subsequent waves
of migrants from Asia

"and the Middle East,

"Australian cuisine was notable
for its very British awfulness."

Hang on!

"The quintessential Australian meal,
particularly in the 19th century,

"was a piece of mutton, which had
to be cooked for hours and hours

"so it was tender enough
to consume with two vegetables,

"which were usually potatoes,
peas and pumpkin."

I think that's three, actually.

When I arrived in the '60s,
most people were eating lamb.

But tastes have changed again

and today chicken and beef
are more popular.

Still, in honour of my hosts,
I'm serving lamb tonight.

So I'm going to roast a couple
of racks of lamb

and I'm going to serve it up with
some carrots, some glazed carrots,

with a little bit of star anise
and olive oil,

and I'm going to cook the lamb
in this oven.

It is actually an old steam engine

that used to drive the pumps
in olden times.

It's beautiful, it's chunky

and, most importantly,
it came from Birmingham.

There we go.

So, the first thing to do is
to colour up my lamb.

So I've got two racks of lamb,

and actually a rack of lamb
is one side of the loin of lamb.

These have been French trimmed,

which just means this part of the
fat and the meat has been taken off

just to make them look attractive.

But I'm just going to season
these racks of lamb first of all.

I do like to put quite
a lot of salt on my lamb.

Now, to colour my racks of lamb

before they go into the oven.

So, in they go like that.

And just because
it's a sort of habit of mine,

I always like to put
a bit of rosemary with my lamb.

It's almost... The flavour does come
through in the gravy a little bit,

but I just love the smell
of rosemary when I'm roasting lamb.

So, unfortunately, because
I haven't got a boiling top,

in other words a burner,

this will take a while,

but it's a lovely afternoon,

we've got plenty of time

and so I'm going to take plenty
of time.

So, interestingly I've got some
really nice fresh carrots here.

When I was thinking
about cooking beyond Bourke,

the back of Bourke, I think, "Well,
they won't have decent carrots,"

but they have! They're really nice.

So I'm just going to cut them like
that and leave the tops on,

because I really like carrot tops.

They look nice and actually
they taste nice.

The other thing I'm going to do
when I finish off the dish is just

serve a bit of a carrot top as
what we call garnish in the trade.

So I've already got a roasting dish
in this magnificent oven.

But what a lovely roasting dish
that is!

It's an antique.

I don't know where it came from
but I crave one myself.

So, this is just very simple.

Roasted carrots.

So in there I'm going
to put some olive oil.

A copious amount of salt

and a couple of star anises.

I just like the flavour
of star anise with carrots.

Uh, it doesn't taste
like sort of Indian spices.

It's just got this very nice
aniseedy flavour

and it works with
the sweetness of carrots.

And a fair bit of sugar.

I just find that sweet carrots,
slightly salty as well,

it's very much to my taste.

So now to stop them burning,

I'm going to add some water...

..and those will all cook down
to a nice shiny glaze.

So, back into the oven.

I'm going to leave that in the oven
now till the water's all boiled away

and the carrots will be cooked.

Now, back to the racks of lamb.

It could still do with
a bit more browning

but I'm noticing the skin
is beginning to catch

on the bottom of the roasting tin

and that will flavour the gravy
very nicely.

So that will take a little bit
longer but I'm in no hurry.

I like cooking like this.

I mean, here's one of the great
things about Australia -

you get plenty of mild afternoons
like this, lots of sunshine.

Why wouldn't you want
to cook outdoors?

Time to check the lamb.

That's much better. Much better.

So, into the oven.

Carrots are looking good.

I need a hot oven,
about 200 degrees Celsius,

and I'll roast the lamb
for 12 to 15 minutes,

as I like my lamb quite pink.

Well, one of the things about using
an oven like this is

you don't know your oven.

Back home I know what the oven...
how it works and how long I've got,

but this is really, really
pumping out the heat now.

Being out here reminds me of a poem
by bush poet William Ogilvie.

"Where the mulga paddocks
are wild and wide,

"That's where the pick
of the stockman ride,

"At the Back o' Bourke.

"That's where
the skies are brightest blue,

"That's where
the heaviest work's to do,

"That's where the wildest floods
have birth

"At the Back o' Bourke.

"Where poor men lend
and the rich ones borrow,

"It's the bitterest land
of sweat and sorrow,

"But if I were free
I'd be off tomorrow

"Out at the Back o' Bourke."

The carrots are ready,
so I'll cover them with foil,

and I think the lamb is too,
but best to check.

So, that is quite firm now.

So I think that would be
like medium rare.

But here's another tip -
take a small knife

and put it into the side like that.

Take it out
and test it on your bottom lip.

If it feels warm, as this does, you
know that it's medium rare really.

If it feels hot,
it's medium to well done.

So now all I'm going to do is
just rest the racks like this.

And this is so important.

You want to rest meat - I mean,
like a rack of lamb -

for probably 10, 15 minutes,

and the reason for doing that

is it relaxes all the tissues
in the meat,

and the juice, which is sort of

forced out towards the surface,
returns.

So they're ready to be
sliced in about 15 minutes.

Now I'm just going
to make the gravy.

There's quite a lot of oil
left in there and lamb fat,

so I'm just pouring
most of that off.

Now open the little barbecue.

Get that heated up.

And the first thing I'm going
to put in there

is a little bit of flour to thicken
the gravy up a little bit.

Good strong red wine.

And also...some redcurrant jelly.

The reason for that is to give
a little bit of sweetness

to the gravy to offset
the sourness of the wine.

Now some stock,

about 300ml of stock.

And the last thing I'm going
to do is put some soy sauce in

and that just gives it
a bit of colour.

So about teaspoon of soy sauce.

Just stir that in,

and finally, to make it nice
and glisten-y and rich,

some butter.

Just going to taste.

And what I'm looking for is the
right amounts of seasoning in there.

At the moment, it's just not
quite deep enough,

so I'll achieve that
by reducing it more,

but I just want to put a tiny bit
more salt in there as well.

The gravy's coming down nicely.

I'm just going to make
a little salad now.

And I mean a little salad.

And there's no big deal
about a salad like this.

It's the freshness and just adding
the ingredients at the last minute.

There is some olive oil, and
just a tiny little bit of vinegar.

So, just a bit of salt, perhaps
a little bit of sugar as well.

And that's my salad.

And now to slice the lamb.

So here we go.

Garry and Samantha have joined me
at the shearers' cottage.

Hope it's still piping hot.

Roast lamb with carrots
and a leafy salad.

- That's great lamb.
- It's beautiful.
- It's local.

Beautiful Australian lamb. Lovely.

Very tender and lots of flavour.

And I must say,
cooking it in that oven,

the fat is really nice
and crisp, isn't it?

- It's almost smoky.
- Yeah. Almost smoky.

What you've done to the carrots
is made them beautiful and sweet.

And the tails on them,
I haven't had before,

but it adds a little bit of fibre
and that to the...

Fibre, Garry, yeah.

That lamb is just why
we breed lambs in Australia.

It's... There's nothing like it,

cooked like it was now -
I mean, the old oven.

It's absolutely beautiful.

I'd love an oven like yours,

but, you know,
they don't come that way any more.

THEY LAUGH

When we were
discussing about making this series,

it was people like Garry and Sam

and Dick Estens and Kerrie Saunders
that I was really wanting to meet.

I mean, there's
something about their resilience

and their connection
and love of the land

and actually the timeless
splendour of the land itself.

Join me next time as I head south...

Beautiful.

..to the once-dry plains
of the Riverina...

- Amazing, eh?
- It's so nice.

It might be messy.

Maybe I am on the way to becoming
a proper Aussie after all.

..now the nation's food bowl.

Quite a lot bigger than
I remember in the '60s.

They do look prehistoric, a
bit like sort of dinosaurs, really.

Hey, just stop it!

Whoa! Would you get off my belt?!

HE LAUGHS