Taste of the Sea

Rick Stein shares the recipes that have helped to make him a top sea food chef, including rich fish soup, creamy crab Newburg and fresh mullet cooked in a spicy Tuscan sauce: aided and abetted by his terrier Chalky.

Rick goes hunting for the razor shells of the Camel estuary to add to his clam chowder, he also goes fishing with his son for mackerel : 'the Ford Escorts of the fish world' : and cooks a banquet for his school's Old Boy Society.

The gourmet chef holds his annual feast for the restaurant staff - a clam bake on the sands around Padstow - then embarks on a nocturnal hunt for soft-shell crabs in a remote part of the estuary. Finally, he prepares a delicious seafood salad using ingredients gathered from local rock pools, including mussels, limpets, whelks and samphire.

The restaurant staff anxiously await the verdict of food writer Michael Bateman, who drops in to sample a seafood starter. Rick reluctantly submits himself to a photo session to satisfy the critics beginning to note his work, before preparing a range of dishes including his own recipe for fish cakes.

The chef crosses the Channel and hears strong opinions about the British attitude to fish. In Padstow, he attempts to catch the King of the Sea and tosses together a seafood salad : oblivious to the turning tide.

Rick concludes the series by making his own innovative contribution to Padstow’s ancient May Day traditions, creating lobster salad in spicy Thai sauce for his friends and neighbours. A coastal walk offers a chance to gather mussels, limpets and samphire for poaching in wine and cream and a final fishing trip provides a salmon to cook with sorrel sauce.