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00:00There you go. Enjoy.
00:07There we are.
00:09Yummy.
00:10Sausage, chips and beans.
00:12That is champion.
00:13Cheers.
00:14Third.
00:15The oven chip.
00:17How easy is life with these?
00:20I don't want a parent without them.
00:21Absolutely.
00:23Thing is, though, it's not going to be a very long episode, is it?
00:26Potatoes, chop them up, done.
00:28It's possible there's a bit more to it, Paddy.
00:33Every year in the UK,
00:35we get through an astonishing 280,000 tonnes of frozen chips at home.
00:43As a nation, we love them so much
00:45that we need massive factories like this to keep up with demand.
00:49Shall we get our hairnets on?
00:49Let's do it.
00:53Hello. Paddy McGuinness here.
00:55This time...
00:57Let me squeeze in there so the people at home can see me.
01:01I'm discovering the mind-blowing technology...
01:04That is a modern way of peeling a spoon.
01:07...that's responsible for making miles and miles of frozen chips.
01:12My word, it's just chips as far as the eye can see.
01:15I'm in northern heaven here.
01:20And I'm delving into the science behind one of our favourite condiments.
01:26To the bacteria!
01:28Whoa!
01:29That will blow your socks off!
01:31And our resident historian, Ruth Goodman...
01:35Lovely.
01:37Cheers!
01:38...serves up the story of our favourite fried fish...
01:42They were processing about 20,000 tonnes of fish.
01:45Good grief!
01:47...and chips...
01:48When did they come together?
01:50...became a national dish.
01:52This factory peels, slices and fries over 80 million chips every single day.
02:0180 million!
02:0280 million!
02:03It's a lot.
02:04It's a lot of chips.
02:05Welcome to Inside the Factory.
02:07Inside the Factory
02:08Inside the Factory
02:10Inside the Factory
02:22This is the McCain Factory
02:39near Scarborough
02:41and they've been making chips here since the 1960s.
02:45Look at that!
02:46It's like a savoury version of Tipping Point.
02:48Top of the world bar!
02:56They make all sorts of spud-based delights here.
03:01Not often you see a robot playing chess with potatoes, is it?
03:07From skinny French fries...
03:10Chip Nirvana...
03:12...to chunky chips.
03:17Blue Jacket potatoes here as well.
03:20Well then, what you're whacking the microwave, very nice.
03:24But I'm looking for a classic family favourite.
03:28Today I'm following production of the bestseller,
03:32the Straight Cut Frozen Home Chips.
03:35Lovely stuff.
03:40Now there's no prizes for guessing the main ingredients for chips is...
03:45Potatoes.
03:50And bang on cue is a lorry packed with 28 tonnes of them.
03:56Operations manager Mike Hartnett...
03:59...is in charge.
04:04Morning, Mike.
04:05Morning, Pally.
04:06Pally, OK.
04:06Let me squeeze in there so the people at home can see me.
04:11Spuds.
04:12Spuds.
04:12This is where it starts, Mike.
04:14So, we've got a lorry load of daisy potatoes from the West Midlands.
04:18One of our 250 growers from the UK that supply into us.
04:21I don't know why I thought they'd be like a Maris Piper.
04:24I've never heard of daisy potatoes.
04:26Why daisy?
04:27What is it about the daisy potato that makes a really good chip?
04:31Daisy just process the best way possible
04:34to make the chip that we're looking for today.
04:37How many daisies are on there, then?
04:39This lorry will make 1.7 million chips.
04:42And how many of those wagons come a day?
04:45So we get between 60 and 70 a day.
04:49Yep.
04:53Staggering.
04:55These farms must be absolutely constantly churning them up,
04:59sending them in.
05:00Yep, it is constantly, mate.
05:01It's one of our busiest times of year as well.
05:03We're currently straight off the field.
05:04So, straight from the farmer's field,
05:07from loading these potatoes to being put in the bag, frozen,
05:12how long's that process?
05:13In two hours' time, they'll be in a fresh bag of chips.
05:18Two hours?
05:20Better get them on.
05:21Better get them on, Mike.
05:22So if you want to press that green button there,
05:24and we'll start unloading.
05:31As the clock starts on this super-speedy process,
05:34the spuds are unloaded with a clever conveyor belt
05:38that runs right along the bottom of the lorry,
05:41gently carrying them into the factory.
05:46Go on, you little daisies.
05:48You've got to be careful, though.
05:52You don't want to bruise them, do you?
05:53We have got to treat potatoes very carefully.
05:56We look within the factory of not having anything more than a 30-centre-metre drop
06:00for that exact reason.
06:02Nobody wants a bruised chip.
06:03Nobody wants a bruised spud.
06:06To me, it feels like a really simple, quick process.
06:11Potatoes chop them up, out they go.
06:14It's certainly a quick process.
06:16There is a little bit more to it.
06:17You'll see that later on.
06:20Well, if you say so, Mike.
06:23But if this lot's going to be chipped and frozen in just two hours,
06:28surely it can't be that complicated.
06:30I still can't get my head round the amount of potatoes
06:38that go through this place every single day.
06:42The mind boggles, really.
06:43So I've sent Cherry Healy off to a farm
06:46that supplies this actual factory to get involved with the harvest.
06:50This farm in the West Midlands provides the factory
07:02with almost 9,000 tonnes of spuds every year.
07:07In charge is fourth-generation potato farmer, Nigel Adams.
07:13Nigel, lovely to meet you.
07:15How are you?
07:15My hands are dirty, sorry.
07:17I'll swerve that one.
07:18And the harvest for Paddy's potatoes is already in full swing.
07:23So why is Daisy so good for chips?
07:26It's quite a durable variety.
07:28It can handle various different conditions.
07:30It's a lovely-shaped potato
07:31and it can produce that nice, round, long, perfect potato.
07:35So they're going to make that into lovely, long chips
07:37once it goes into the factory.
07:39So Daisy is low-maintenance.
07:41She's not a fuss bag.
07:42Perfect shape, cracking chips.
07:44Very good, yes.
07:48This hardy crop was planted just four months ago
07:51using potatoes, or tubers,
07:54from the previous year's harvest as seeds.
07:58If I could just show you over here.
08:01When we planted the potato,
08:03we actually put this mother tuba that we call into the ground.
08:05A mother tuba.
08:06Mother tuba, yeah.
08:07So she's sort of, like, gone from the solid potato.
08:10She's used all her energy to produce these roots and leaves
08:14and then the soil and the sunshine feeds it.
08:17And so she produces the little babies.
08:19Oh, look, look.
08:20That's incredible.
08:21So she's produced 15, 20 new potatoes.
08:25Yeah, yeah.
08:25Once planted, they take 16 weeks to grow.
08:29So these are their little babies that are grown into big babies.
08:32Yeah, they're big babies, aren't they?
08:33Look at that.
08:33So the perfect size, perfect shape.
08:37A whopping 750 trailer loads of spuds
08:40are harvested here between July and October every year.
08:45Come on, enough chat.
08:46Let's get on and do some work, some harvesting, please.
08:49So they need some serious kit.
08:52OK, so this is the beast that harvests his daisy.
08:56Look at that.
08:57She's a monster.
08:58All right.
08:59So we'll fire her up.
09:00Oh, there she goes.
09:01Yeah, we're off.
09:05The harvester uses a blade to dig into the soil,
09:09scooping up around 35 tonnes of potatoes an hour.
09:13Then the spud is separated from the mud using a mesh conveyor.
09:17So before these huge machines were invented,
09:22how did they used to harvest potatoes?
09:24So I remember coming to a field,
09:26seeing my granddad harvest them,
09:27and he had his spade,
09:28and they used to literally loosen the soil,
09:30pick them up by hand, put them into buckets,
09:32and then into the trailer.
09:33So you used to harvest potatoes when you were a kid?
09:36Yeah, yeah.
09:36What you don't know about potatoes isn't worth knowing.
09:39Yeah, maybe.
09:47We've actually nearly full now.
09:50We are nearly full.
09:51Look, they're mounding up.
09:52Yeah, they are, yeah.
09:53Lots of potatoes, all ready to go to the chip factory.
10:02Transferring the spuds from the harvester
10:04is a carefully choreographed operation.
10:06This is like a piece of ballet.
10:15This is amazing.
10:19The harvester and tractor must move in perfect unison.
10:26Travelling in tandem,
10:28as the crop is gently dropped into the trailer.
10:31But the performance isn't over yet.
10:40Every potato must travel through another monster machine.
10:44It's quite the set-up, isn't it?
10:46It is, yeah, yeah.
10:46It's impressive.
10:49As the spuds trundle through,
10:51this optical sorter removes rocks and any imperfect potatoes.
10:57How does that machine tell between a rock and a potato?
11:01Five cameras that's looking at every individual potato
11:04as they go through the machine,
11:05and it's saying, you're a good one, you're a bad one.
11:07And what's a good potato and what's a bad potato?
11:10You get the odd one that has a bit of a green on it or something.
11:13What's a green potato?
11:14The soil that we have over them gets washed away a little bit,
11:17lets a little bit of sunlight in,
11:19and it's like a little bit of a sunburn on it.
11:21OK, so it's pretty harmless,
11:23but we don't want that going into the factory.
11:27Potatoes with green marks are edible,
11:29but here they go to animal feed.
11:33Meanwhile, the spuds for the chip factory are being loaded,
11:36and I want to inspect the goods.
11:40Right, so where is this perfect potato?
11:43Here.
11:44It's had the right amount of sunlight,
11:46the amount of rain.
11:47And will that make the perfect chip?
11:49I reckon so.
11:50When it goes to the factory, yes.
11:51Well, as the potato expert,
11:53I can't argue with that.
11:54Perfect.
11:55Can I have this?
11:56Of course you can.
11:57You've got a pocket.
11:58Yeah, I've got a potato pocket right here.
12:01Potato pockets.
12:02Very fancy.
12:04Not for me.
12:05I'm old school.
12:06Anyhow, potato pockets aside,
12:17just look at the size of this place.
12:22This factory is spread across 50,000 square metres,
12:27with ten enormous buildings,
12:29and most of them,
12:30chocker with chips.
12:31But first,
12:36me and my batch of spuds
12:38are heading to the receiving area.
12:43Fresh from the farm,
12:4528 tonnes of them
12:46are rolling along conveyors,
12:48and into one of 14 huge storage containers.
12:56But before they can be made into chips,
12:58every single load coming into the factory
13:01is put through some rigorous tests.
13:08Oh!
13:12So, Paddy,
13:13this is where we sample our potatoes.
13:15So this is the first part of the process
13:17where you said it's not quite as simple.
13:19Exactly, yeah.
13:20Right, OK.
13:21So what are we doing in here exactly, Mike?
13:23So every lorry that we get of potatoes,
13:25we will bring a sample into this lab
13:28and then we will test for things like natural blemishes
13:32and we will also check for any levels of naturally occurring sugar
13:36that come in the potatoes.
13:38Where did the sugar come into it?
13:39So the sugar is made up within the starch and glucose
13:42and that's where the sugar comes from.
13:44Right, OK.
13:44So it's naturally occurring within the potato.
13:46Am I right if a potato's just predominantly water and starch?
13:52That's exactly right, yeah.
13:53So a potato generally is 20% solid, which is starch.
13:57Yeah.
13:5780% water.
14:00The higher the sugar or starch content in the spud,
14:03the browner the finished chip will be.
14:06So the levels are carefully checked
14:07by technical operator and chief test fryer,
14:11Sarah Thompson.
14:14Are you all right, Sarah?
14:16I'm good, thank you, Paddy.
14:17Yeah, I'm good, Tara.
14:18How many chips are there?
14:20There's 18 there.
14:2118, so that's usually what you get out of one potato.
14:25No, this is 18 separate potatoes.
14:30You've took one chip out of one potato.
14:33We have.
14:33My days.
14:35So we do that so we can get a good idea
14:37of the colour of that complete load,
14:38not just one potato.
14:41Why are we frying it?
14:42That will indicate the level of naturally occurring sugar
14:45that we have.
14:46In they go.
14:50Oh, I love that noise.
14:54Oh, that's fancy.
14:56It automatically lowers for a more standardized process
14:58so we know that every sample is the same.
15:01These are all those things that I never thought about.
15:04After 90 seconds in the oil,
15:07if the test batch comes out pale in colour...
15:10They're looking a little bit anemic at the minute.
15:13..it means that the starch levels are in the correct range.
15:17They are on the paler end.
15:19Which is a good thing.
15:20And the colour of the fully cooked chip
15:23will be perfectly golden.
15:25But even these pale ones
15:26must be checked against a colour scale.
15:32Can I just say...
15:34I'm loving this.
15:35This is like when you go in the old DIY place
15:38looking at the paint charts.
15:40Yeah, yeah.
15:40Where's the perfect chip on there?
15:42Anything below that four there.
15:45But because of the time of year we are,
15:47we'll be around here.
15:48This is our first indication
15:50of how we set up our manufacturing process
15:53to deliver that consistent product.
15:56Are they all passed?
15:58They're passed.
15:59Right, Mike, what next, pal?
16:00So we can now release these potatoes
16:02through to manufacturing.
16:03So we have a radio.
16:05If you want to do the honours, Paddy?
16:07It's a modern world, isn't it?
16:09Am I...am I releasing...
16:11Release the potatoes.
16:14Hello?
16:16Paddy McGuinness here.
16:17You are.
16:18Just give them a minute to get over.
16:20They'll be a bit starstruck.
16:22Yep, yep.
16:23Untether the potatoes.
16:31Thousands of freshly dug muddy spuds
16:34are starting their journey
16:35to becoming frozen chips.
16:42We've unloaded them off the lorry.
16:45We've tested them for the sugar content.
16:47Yep.
16:48And we're here now.
16:49How long have we been at this, Mike?
16:50So at this point here,
16:52we've been 30 minutes.
16:53So 30 minutes.
16:54So you're saying in another, what,
16:5690 minutes, hour and hour,
16:58they're going to be on the back of a wagon
17:00and done and off.
17:01Exactly, yep.
17:02Yep.
17:02Frozen, finished, in the bag,
17:04ready to go.
17:05I mean, I know we're against the clock here, Mike,
17:08but before we go any further,
17:10you've got a plate of chips.
17:12What are you putting on them?
17:14Brown sauce all the way.
17:16Tell you what.
17:17It's amazing how quickly it can go off somewhat.
17:21Brown sauce on chips.
17:26To get rid of any residue from the field,
17:28the potatoes tumble into a de-stoner,
17:31which floats the spuds in water
17:35and sinks any remaining stalks.
17:40Then it's onwards into a washer
17:42to remove the last bits of soil.
17:46Oh, there they are.
17:49Spotlessly clean.
17:50They just had a lovely bath.
17:52Yep.
17:53What's the next stage now, Mike?
17:55Because I know we've got to keep this moving.
17:56We have, yeah.
17:57So that's me done now.
17:58So that's where my responsibility ends.
18:00And I'm going to hand you over
18:01to my production colleague, Ashley.
18:03Ashley.
18:04Right.
18:05Lovely to meet you, Mike.
18:07You too?
18:07Better for the brown sauce.
18:08That's unforgivable.
18:10Right.
18:10I'll follow the potatoes.
18:15My spotless spuds are as fresh as,
18:18well, the daisy.
18:21And are now sorted by size.
18:24Any that are too small for chips
18:25drop away between the rollers
18:27to become other products.
18:30The rest continue at a rate of 50 tonnes every hour.
18:36Straight to the peeling area.
18:41Production director Ashley Borsley
18:43is the man in charge.
18:46You all right, it's Ashley?
18:47All right, Paddy.
18:48Pleased to meet you, mate.
18:49Nice to meet you.
18:50I tell you what,
18:52it's a bit noisy up here.
18:53Well, it is.
18:54It's the reason it is because this vessel,
18:56it's a steam vessel.
18:58Hang on.
18:58I thought I was coming to the potato peeling bit.
19:01Yeah, this is.
19:02So what we've done with technology,
19:04we've changed it.
19:05So rather than a person using a potato peeler,
19:07we now steam peel out potatoes.
19:12You steam peel out potatoes?
19:14I have never heard of this in my life.
19:16How does that work?
19:18The potatoes go into a vessel,
19:19into here.
19:20The steam is injected.
19:22The potato's made up of 80% water.
19:24And what happens is the water behind that skin
19:26is then heated up
19:28and the steam's generated behind it
19:29and then it explodes the skin off the potato.
19:33The steam is added at such high pressure
19:35that it quickly heats the water
19:37under the skin of the potatoes.
19:41The pressure inside the vessel is then released,
19:44causing the water to suddenly expand,
19:47loosening the peel from the flesh of the potato.
19:49That makes perfect sense.
19:54I can't believe no-one's thought of that before.
19:56How long have you been steaming your spuds?
19:58That sounds wrong, but you know what I mean.
20:00Yeah.
20:01We've steamed the potatoes
20:02for between 5 seconds and 15 seconds.
20:05What a time to be alive.
20:08That is a modern way of peeling a spud.
20:14The potatoes are lifted into a washer,
20:17which removes any loose skin
20:18before they tumble out.
20:2432 tonnes of squeaky clean, shiny spuds a minute.
20:31Me and Ashley have been getting on famously,
20:34so I wonder how we'd feel about a little day trip.
20:38You know, I know we're in Scarborough.
20:41You get down to the seaside much.
20:43Every now and then I get there.
20:44Oh, I love it.
20:46I mean, obviously, fish and chips
20:48are the main thing,
20:49but I do love a sugar doughnut, Ash.
20:52Let's hope he takes the hint.
20:58Meanwhile, Ruth is several steps ahead of us,
21:0150 miles down the coast,
21:03discovering the origins of this belter of a dish.
21:06Lovely.
21:09Cheers.
21:09You're welcome.
21:13Fish and chips.
21:15By the seaside,
21:16you can't get a much more British institution than this.
21:20But where did our passion for deep-fried fish and chips come from?
21:26To find out, I'm meeting food anthropologist, Dr. Mukta Das.
21:33Mukta, hello!
21:35Oh, how lovely.
21:37On Cleethorpe's historic pier.
21:39This is the British seaside, isn't it?
21:42Fish and chips and a breeze.
21:44Overcast.
21:45This looks fabulous.
21:48So what was it, then,
21:49that gave rise to the unrivaled popularity of fish and chips?
21:53We can't really be 100% sure about the history of this dish,
21:58but we can be sure that it wasn't an entirely British invention.
22:03And, in fact, possibly the most compelling origin story
22:06is that fried fish came across to England
22:09with the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal.
22:16Sephardic Jews began to arrive in London
22:19at the beginning of the 17th century,
22:21fleeing the Spanish Inquisition,
22:24which persecuted people who didn't share its Christian faith.
22:28And with them came one of their favourite foods, fried fish.
22:35Initially, it's the food of an immigrant population,
22:38and then gradually it spreads out.
22:39That's right.
22:41By the middle of the 1800s,
22:44fried and very likely battered fish
22:46began to appear as a popular street food.
22:49It took its place among the jack-o'-potatoes
22:53and the meat pies and everything else, really.
22:55Jelly deals.
22:56Jelly deals.
22:57Absolutely.
22:58Absolutely.
23:03To discover how a simple fish snack
23:06became one of our most celebrated national dishes,
23:11Mukta has brought me a couple of miles up the road
23:14to the industrial port of Grimsby.
23:17So, what's so special about this dock, then?
23:22These docks were the first docks
23:24to incorporate both the port plus railways.
23:28So, this was an all-in-one,
23:31we're going to build a dock with railways.
23:33That's right.
23:37The once-small fishing port
23:40was expanded in the 1850s
23:41to include its own railway,
23:43running straight from the docks.
23:45So, freshly caught fish could be loaded onto waiting trains
23:53and sent all over the country.
23:58Grimsby became one of the largest fishing ports in the world.
24:03Would it have been as busy as this?
24:05Around the first year of operation,
24:09they were landing and processing around 3,400 tonnes of fish,
24:13about double the amount from the year before.
24:15And within 10 years or so,
24:17they were processing about 20,000 tonnes of fish.
24:20Good grief.
24:22By the 1870s, technology was advancing out at sea as well,
24:29as the traditional sail power of most fishing boats was replaced.
24:34What you had were the introductions of these trawlers,
24:39as you see here.
24:39Oh, it's a steam trawler.
24:41That's right.
24:42And they're larger,
24:43so they're able to go out for longer
24:45around Greenland, around Iceland,
24:47and then just capture as much as they can through their trawl.
24:51And then the fast clippers and cutters
24:53would then ferry these fish back and forth
24:55to be sold in markets like this.
24:57So that's a well-thought-out system.
24:58This industrialisation of the fishing industry
25:03made fried fish much more readily available.
25:07And so it became an affordable meal for the masses.
25:12So we've talked about the fish.
25:14What about the chips?
25:15There are chip restaurants that emerge at this time
25:20in the Victorian era.
25:21So not fish and chip, just chip?
25:23Yeah, it becomes a really classic working-class staple
25:27where you have chips deep-fried
25:29in the same way that you'd have fish deep-fried.
25:32So the two are happening separately.
25:35When do they come together?
25:37The crux of it is when we have an emergence
25:40of a sort of new technology of deep-frying.
25:44In the late 19th century,
25:46the development of new, larger, deep-fat fryers
25:49meant that for the first time,
25:51fish and chips could be cooked side-by-side,
25:54much like they are today.
25:55And so you have the birth of this new type of establishment
26:00that combines both fish and chips.
26:05Arguments remain about where the very first
26:08fish and chip shop was opened,
26:09but one thing's for sure,
26:11they proved a big hit.
26:13By 1910, there were more than 25,000 around the country.
26:18That said, it still doesn't explain one thing.
26:24And what about the seaside?
26:25I mean, I definitely associate
26:27eating fish and chips with the seaside.
26:30When did that begin?
26:31The same railways that transported fish across the country
26:35would have been the same railways
26:36that would have carted people into seaside towns.
26:39And here, with the fish and chip industry growing as it did,
26:43this would have been the ultimate sort of holiday food
26:45for those folk as well.
26:47We're at the seaside.
26:48We've had our fish and chips.
26:49You know what we need now, don't you?
26:51What's that?
26:51An ice cream.
26:52Come on, I'll treat you.
26:56Ooh, I'll have a 99 in two funny feet, please, Ruth.
26:59I'm still no closer to getting a plate of chips here.
27:12Here we are.
27:13Oh!
27:18My freshly peeled potato pals...
27:21I can see how they keep flicking up.
27:24..are passing through another optical sorter.
27:29Cameras detect any naturally occurring green marks
27:33and bruises revealed by the peeling.
27:35And it flicks them off using computer-controlled levers.
27:41Right, there's another.
27:44Hey!
27:45I mean, I could stay here all day.
27:48But time is ticking.
27:51And while the blemish spuds are sent for animal feed,
27:53me and my pristine potatoes need to get a wriggle on.
27:59Now, your mate, Mike, from earlier,
28:04told me the whole process is going to be two hours, Ash.
28:08How far into this are we now?
28:10So we're currently 65 minutes into the process.
28:14Excuse me maths,
28:15but I think that leaves us 55 minutes, doesn't it?
28:17And they've not even chipped yet.
28:20At home, I'd have power-boiled these fellas hours ago.
28:23But Ash has something more high-tech.
28:28We need to put for our pulse electric field machine,
28:31which softens the potato up, ready for cutting.
28:34Pulse electric field.
28:36So where are these magical electric things happening?
28:39And it's that small machine, which looks tiny,
28:41and it literally goes through there in seconds.
28:43But does that even work?
28:44So what that does is it sends electric pulses into the water.
28:49That then softens the potato up for us,
28:51so it allows it for us to cut the potato easier.
28:54The amount of stuff what goes on with the humble chip in here is amazing.
28:59So what we do now is we actually start cutting the potato into chips.
29:12Now, let me show you, and I'll show you.
29:13So I'll get potato off the line.
29:17So what happens now is the potato will come down here.
29:20Yeah.
29:21OK?
29:21It'll come into this, what we call a tube.
29:24What this does...
29:25Hey, I call it a tube as well, you know.
29:27Oh, we all call them tubes.
29:30What we call a tube and what we call a potato.
29:34That's a tuber.
29:37Right, so it goes into this tube.
29:39And it comes through here.
29:40What's that called again?
29:41A black tube.
29:42A tube, yeah.
29:42OK, yeah.
29:43OK, so it actually comes through the tube at 60 miles per hour.
29:47That's going some.
29:48Yeah.
29:49Why so fast?
29:50The reason is, is so then when it goes into our cutter box,
29:53it goes through here, and then it's cut into chips.
29:56Can I pick that up?
29:57Is that all right?
29:58Yeah, yeah, of course.
29:59So all them are razor sharp, and that's what the potato goes into.
30:03See that in there, they're all sort of staggered.
30:09I can see exactly the size of the chips and everything.
30:14I can totally see them there.
30:20So in there now is the chips totally cut, what we'd all recognise on our plate.
30:28Yeah.
30:28But where can I actually see them?
30:30That's in the next bit.
30:31After you, pal.
30:32Four cutters are chopping 100 kilograms of spuds a minute
30:40before they make the big entrance.
30:43There they are, the little rascals.
30:59Look at them.
31:00Just marching out there.
31:02A whopping 1.7 million chips tumble down this waterfall every hour.
31:16Can I grab one of these?
31:17Yeah, go for it.
31:18Very exciting.
31:19Here we go.
31:19Let's have that little rascal there.
31:21Look at that beautiful chip.
31:26Perfect size.
31:28So that's what we're looking for.
31:30What we've got is a clean cut.
31:31Yeah.
31:32And the reason for that clean cut is because of our pulse electric field machine.
31:36It's softened that potato up, and then what we've got is then a nice clean cut potato.
31:41So now, is it just a case of freezing them and getting them out there?
31:45No, no.
31:46So after here, what it goes into is a water flume.
31:48It's because what we're trying to do is stop in the oxygen attack the potato.
31:52So they don't go brown.
31:54Yeah, so imagine like your apple at home, where you bite into it,
31:57you leave it on the side, it starts to go brown.
31:58Yeah.
31:59In effect, that's what happens to the potato if you leave it out.
32:02How far into the process, and we know then?
32:04So we're 67 minutes into the process.
32:06Feels like no, because I've seen the actual chips.
32:09It's doable.
32:10At the beginning, when I met Mike and he said two hours,
32:13I was thinking that's not achievable, but I think we're on it.
32:19I think we've caught it up, Ash.
32:20Right, go on, lead on to the next bit, pal.
32:22Go on then, Paddy.
32:23Come on, Paddy, follow me.
32:25Take it with me.
32:27I've got to say, it does feel like we're getting into the groove
32:32of making chips at last.
32:38Oh, look at that.
32:48Like a little disco.
32:50What have we got here?
32:51So what we have is another optical saucer.
32:54And what is it doing then?
32:55So what it's doing is it's looking for natural imperfections in the chip, OK?
33:00So they're not harmful or anything like that.
33:03This third optical sorting machine also uses high-speed cameras
33:08to detect the contrasting colours of blemishes caused by bruising or sunburn
33:14that have been exposed by the cutting process.
33:18What it does is if it sees anything that's not the natural chip colour,
33:22it'll then shoot that off with a blast of air.
33:24And the cameras spotting each one of them, every single one it takes an image of, yeah.
33:29I mean, they're going that fast that when I'm looking at it,
33:32you can't even tell the chips, it just looks like yellow things.
33:36Where do they go to then?
33:37What happens to those, the ones with the little bits of black and the little bits of green on?
33:40So we save every single chip.
33:44The machine then siphons off the blemished chips for a separate sorting process.
33:51So they're coming down to there, all the little bits and different colours on them,
33:54the bits of green, bits of black, bits of brown, yeah.
33:57And then after there, what it does is go through another camera
34:00which takes an image of that chip again.
34:02This final camera pinpoints the exact location of any blemish that needs to be cut out.
34:11And in here is a big cutting wheel, OK?
34:14You can't see it in there because obviously we've got all the blades.
34:16But what it does, it cuts every single piece out.
34:20I mean, that's a lot.
34:22And again, at the speed they're coming through, how is it cutting them out?
34:25So inside what you have is these two blades, OK?
34:29It's not just two of these, there's thousands of blades in there.
34:31It uses air pressure to push these blades out
34:33and cut them natural imperfections out.
34:36That, so in there, that's going to be doing that at, like,
34:40you're not even going to be able to compute it
34:42because it's just that fast how it's doing it.
34:44That'll be milliseconds, that.
34:46And then I can see all the little bits that have been cut out.
34:50Can you see that? Look at that.
34:52That's been cut off there.
34:56Are they binned then? What happens to them?
34:58Nothing's binned, so all the small bits will go to animal feed.
35:01So we don't put anything to landfill.
35:03OK.
35:04And also, listen, me, where I grew up in Bolton,
35:07all those little bits we're calling imperfections,
35:10the little green bits, the little dark bits,
35:13they are edible.
35:14Oh, yeah, all of them are edible.
35:15They just don't look the best on the eye, do they?
35:17No, all of them are completely edible and you can eat them.
35:19Beautiful.
35:21Well, with all this chip chat,
35:23I'm definitely starting to feel a bit peckish.
35:26I was talking to Mike before about your favourite sauce on chips,
35:30and it's got to be heated,
35:31but really, when I think about it,
35:35I know it's not technically a sauce,
35:37but you've got to start off with vinegar.
35:40Nah, not for me.
35:41I don't like vinegar.
35:42You don't like vinegar?
35:43No, I don't like vinegar.
35:45I've got Mike with a brown sauce and you with vinegar.
35:47Where's all my friends in here?
35:50I love vinegar.
35:52In fact, Cherry's doing a bit on vinegar now.
35:58More peas.
35:59More peas.
35:59More.
36:00More peas.
36:00Oh, get it on there, Cherry.
36:02More.
36:03More.
36:04More peas.
36:04You can't buy a class.
36:06More peas.
36:06When?
36:08Banging.
36:09Oh.
36:11I also love a lot of vinegar on my chips.
36:15It's the perfect pairing.
36:18But have you ever wondered,
36:19how exactly is malt vinegar made?
36:28I'm visiting a factory in Middleton,
36:31Greater Manchester,
36:32where they know a thing or two about making vinegar.
36:38Sarsens have been producing this ultimate chip condiment
36:41for over 230 years.
36:45Graham Houghton is the technical manager.
36:49Graham, lovely to meet you.
36:51Nice to meet you too.
36:52I love the vinegary smell in here.
36:54I just wish I'd bought some chips.
36:55Oh, we can sort some of those later.
36:57I just couldn't get them in my suitcase.
37:01Thomas Sarsen began making the original vinegar in 1794.
37:06And despite some high-tech hit,
37:08the factory uses surprisingly similar methods today
37:11to how they made it two centuries ago.
37:15I can't wait to see how you make it.
37:17OK, shall we go ahead?
37:18Yes, please.
37:20Production starts, as it always has,
37:23with the main ingredient.
37:25Milled, malted barley.
37:33OK, so what's in here is a bed of barley with water.
37:36OK.
37:37It's around about 63 degrees C.
37:39And what's happening is the enzymes which were in the barley,
37:43they start to break down the starch into sugars.
37:46This is quite similar to making beer, is it?
37:50It is.
37:50It's very similar to the beer-making process.
37:53Before factories like this dedicated their business
37:56to vinegar production, it was made by brewers
37:59who collected excess beer that had soured
38:02and sold it as a by-product.
38:05We are historically a beer-drinking culture.
38:09Yes.
38:09Hence, they go hand-in-hand.
38:11Yeah, absolutely.
38:12That's why we're famous for malt vinegar in the UK.
38:22Just like making beer,
38:24the barley and hot water mix is strained,
38:27producing a golden-coloured liquid...
38:30Cheers.
38:31Cheers.
38:32Bottoms up.
38:33..known as sweet wort.
38:37I mean, hiya.
38:40It's good, isn't it?
38:42It's good.
38:42It's so sweet, but it's also malty,
38:45and it's got those sort of fruity flavours to it.
38:48It's almost like a syrup.
38:49Yeah.
38:50And that's exactly what we want at this stage.
38:52So that's going to become vinegar.
38:54It is going to become vinegar.
38:55Can I bring this?
38:56Yeah.
38:57OK.
39:01The transformation from sweet wort
39:04to acidic malt vinegar begins inside these steel fermentation vessels.
39:12Yeast is added, which gets to work for six days,
39:15turning the sugars into alcohol through the process of fermentation,
39:19before the liquid is moved to huge wooden vessels.
39:23These here, they're Siberian pine, about 50 years old.
39:30Does it help with the flavour?
39:31We think it helps to round and mature the vinegar,
39:35and, again, part of the uniqueness and heritage of our process.
39:38The fermented liquid, now known as bright wort,
39:43is similar to a barley ale,
39:45and it certainly packs a punch.
39:50Inside of here is 9.3% alcohol.
39:54That sounds very strong.
39:57It is very strong, but we need that strength
39:59because what we're trying to do is convert the alcohol into acid,
40:03which is what makes vinegar.
40:06Cool.
40:08You can taste the alcohol in that, can't you?
40:11You can indeed, yeah.
40:11You really can.
40:14Next, the boozy liquid is piped into another set of wooden barrels,
40:18where it's mixed with something called acetobacter,
40:22a live bacteria.
40:24Along with another unusual ingredient,
40:27which Graham has set up for me in this glass container.
40:30So what we have here is a smaller version of the big barrels.
40:35Inside this is wood wool.
40:37Wood.
40:38Wood wool.
40:39These are shavings from the larch tree,
40:41and that helps impart a roundness of flavour to the vinegar
40:44as it passes through.
40:46It has a very particular smell.
40:48Yes.
40:49It's very fresh and piney.
40:50Yeah.
40:50Wood wool has been used to add flavour to vinegar for more than 200 years.
40:58Inside the wooden barrels,
41:00the alcohol liquid is passed through the wood wool
41:03and the acetobacter bacteria many times.
41:09What we're doing is we're giving the bacteria alcohol,
41:11which they need as food,
41:13which they then consume, and that converts to acid.
41:17So the bacteria are eating the alcohol,
41:20and that is reducing the alcohol level and increasing the acidity?
41:24Increasing the acidity.
41:26That's so clever.
41:27So it's a really organic process.
41:30It's a living process,
41:32and those bacteria will do the magic for you.
41:34And what's left is vinegar,
41:39which leaves the traditional part of the factory
41:42for the high-tech bottling haul.
41:49And after all that, here we are!
41:52Yep.
41:52Would you like a taste?
41:53Yeah, I would!
41:54OK.
41:57Freshly brewed!
41:59Yep.
41:59Freshly brewed, fresh sauce.
42:01To the bacteria!
42:02Cheers!
42:03That will blow your socks off!
42:10I wouldn't want a pint of that,
42:11but my goodness, it's that punchy and delicious.
42:14And on your chips, so well!
42:18Right, to the chippy!
42:29Oh, boy!
42:31Oh, boy!
42:33Oh, boy!
42:35Oh, boy!
42:36Oh, boy!
42:40I'm getting ever closer to tasting a few chips myself.
42:44Send me on the way!
42:46Send me on the highway!
42:48But it looks like I've got to get through an obstacle course first.
42:51Oh, crikey!
42:55Not made for people our size these, are they, Ash?
42:58No, they're not for these.
43:01Dab, out of the way, son.
43:03Trying to make a TV programme.
43:04My freshly cooked chips are travelling along yet another massive system of conveyors,
43:19drying out as they go.
43:20My word, it's just chips as far as the eye can see.
43:27I mean, I'm in northern heaven here.
43:30Look at it.
43:30How many steps are you getting a day walking around this factory?
43:33So, to get around this factory is 6,000 steps a day.
43:36Oh, which means we could eat more chips.
43:39We're burning it off.
43:39Definitely.
43:40It's a win-win.
43:43And we've got further to go yet, as we're following my chips to the drying area.
43:50Were they blasted with hot air, reducing the moisture content from 80% to 70%?
43:59Look at that.
44:00Now, they don't look as damp as the last time I saw them.
44:05So, the whole idea is that this chip is now a little bit tacky, ready for the battering process.
44:10Batter?
44:11Batter, yeah?
44:12It's a nice, light batter that we put on to give it that crispness.
44:17And also, it gives you that nice colour.
44:19Honestly, I never realised they had that on.
44:22That's got to be a really thin layer of that.
44:25Who knew?
44:27The batter is made from wheat flour, water, a pinch of salt,
44:31and turmeric and paprika extracts, which give it a golden colour.
44:36And then what you have is air blowers,
44:38which then takes off any excess batter on there.
44:41So, then it gives us the right amount of crispness.
44:47My battered chips are ready for the big moment.
44:50In the most enormous fryer I have ever seen.
44:56Ah, here we go.
45:03I can see them dropping in there for a little fry.
45:08Yeah, because what we've got is a two-stage fry.
45:10I know how to fry chips at all, but why are you doing them in two stages here?
45:13What's the reason?
45:14So, the first stage is we seal the batter onto the fry.
45:17So, the whole idea is to get that crispness right.
45:20The second stage is then making sure we can cook it further
45:23to get the right internal texture.
45:27Both stages happen inside this monster fryer,
45:31where vegetable oil is heated to 185 degrees Celsius,
45:36doing the job in just 50 seconds,
45:40before they emerge.
45:42They're the ones up there.
45:49So, up there, Paddy, is where the chips will come out of the fryer.
45:52Unfortunately, we can't get up there for safety reasons.
45:56I never let health or safety get between me and a mountain of chips.
46:02Hi.
46:03Please, don't...
46:05Dan, come round here.
46:06Come round here.
46:07Luckily, one of our crew's cameras can get us a closer look.
46:14Sam, take that up, Sam.
46:16Let's have a look.
46:20Look at that.
46:21Lovely stuff.
46:22They're a bit paler than what I thought they'd be,
46:24coming out of the cooker.
46:26At this stage, we've not actually fully cooked them,
46:28because that's what you do at home.
46:30Park coot.
46:31Yeah.
46:32Makes sense, because obviously you get them on the tray at home,
46:34but in the oven, and then you finish them off.
46:36Yeah.
46:36So, after that, where are they going to?
46:38So, they're going into the freezer.
46:40Sam, move along a bit, Sam.
46:42Move along a bit.
46:45They're going into the freezer.
46:47Beautiful.
46:47Right.
46:48Shall we crack on, Ash?
46:49Get to the next bit.
46:49Yeah, let's go.
46:50There's a cat up in a tree outside.
46:53Won't give it a lift.
46:54Right.
46:54Come on.
46:55The sky-high chips are 95 degrees Celsius
47:02when they're travelling to the freezer.
47:04But after 15 minutes...
47:08..they emerge at a chilly minus 18 degrees.
47:18And I've not packed me extra socks.
47:22Oh!
47:25My dear, Zai.
47:28I definitely know we're in the frozen section.
47:32Well, there they are, pal.
47:34Frozen chips.
47:35Exactly as I know them.
47:37How long are we in the process now, then?
47:40So, we're about an hour and 35 minutes into the process now.
47:44So, these are now oven-ready chips.
47:47These are all oven-ready, yeah.
47:49Which leads me on nicely to a mate of mine, Ruth.
47:52She's done a history of the gas oven.
47:57I can tell the way you look at me.
47:59You've got electric.
48:00Let's go.
48:00Before the 19th century, most people cooked on fire,
48:09whether it was a coal-fired range or an open hearth.
48:13But with the arrival of a brand-new fuel,
48:18our kitchens would change forever.
48:19And that fuel was gas.
48:24I've come to what remains of Fakenham Gasworks in Norfolk,
48:28an industrial relic from the Victorian era.
48:31To meet engineering historian...
48:34Hello, Ruth.
48:35Pleased to meet you.
48:36Hello.
48:36Dr Nina Baker.
48:39What a place.
48:42Oh, Nina, this is fabulous.
48:46You often hear that word, don't you?
48:47The gas works.
48:49This is the gas works.
48:51This was how gas was made for over 100 years here.
48:54What we're looking at is a load of ovens.
48:57They were known as retorts and they were full of coal
49:00and they were heated up without much oxygen
49:04so that the coal gave off a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide
49:09that was used to make what was known then as town gas.
49:13So all these pipes are collecting the fumes that are coming off.
49:17Yeah.
49:17Unlike natural gas, which forms over millions of years underground,
49:25this man-made gas was stored in distinctive ring-shaped gas holders,
49:33which, by the 1820s, were a common sight in most large towns and cities.
49:40It was piped underground to light factories, streets,
49:44and, by the 1840s, homes as well.
49:49So gaslighting becomes, for a short period,
49:53the form of modern lighting.
49:55Absolutely.
49:56It really takes off and suddenly everybody's got gas in the home.
50:00And once you've got gas for lights,
50:02then people start thinking, well, what else can you do with gas?
50:05Well, how else can we sell gas to you?
50:08By the 1880s, an invention that could really boost gas sales
50:13was gradually becoming more available.
50:16The gas oven.
50:17Look at these cookers.
50:18Look at all these cookers.
50:21Gas manufacturers, like London's Gaslight and Coke Company,
50:25knew that if people embraced gas cookers,
50:28they could sell more gas.
50:31The problem was most people were very comfortable
50:34with their solid fuel stoves.
50:36If you'd cooked on a coal-burning range,
50:40you would recognise the cast iron.
50:42You might not have any idea how to use the gas,
50:44but it would look like a cooker.
50:45It has this little oven with gas flames at the back.
50:49And you could hang your Sunday roast,
50:52or you can use it to bake a cake...
50:54Yeah.
50:54..in a traditional way.
50:57The cookers were connected to gas piped into the home,
51:00providing an instant flame
51:03and offering the potential
51:05to replace dusty coal-fired cooking
51:07if would-be customers could get past their fears.
51:12There was concerns about whether the gas
51:14would make the food taste weird, about safety.
51:19Why were the people so worried about it, then?
51:22You've got to control the flame more constantly,
51:24that you can go away and leave coal,
51:26but you can't really with the gas.
51:28Everybody knew gas was dangerous,
51:31that it could gas you and that it might explode.
51:37Gas companies were desperate to reassure the public
51:40that careful use of gas was safe
51:43and that cooking with it was the future.
51:46With uptakes still slow, they took action
51:49and in 1888 put the call out to a group of women
51:53who had become known as lady demonstrators.
51:58Here we have the International Gas Exhibition at Earl's Court
52:02and a lady demonstrator on the Imperial Stove Company's stand.
52:07And these were well-known cooks of the period,
52:11often with published cookery books.
52:13And they did tours of different parts of the country,
52:16giving cookery demonstrations.
52:18The gas companies realised that, at the time,
52:22it was women who ran the home.
52:25And who better to convince them of this new technology
52:27than other women?
52:29So part of the convincing was to get the lady demonstrators
52:33to talk to the housewives direct
52:35and show them how to use the gas cookers
52:37and show them that their sponge cake wouldn't be spoiled.
52:40So this is women talking to women?
52:42Absolutely, yes.
52:42And that's part of the point of it?
52:45Yeah.
52:47But these women were using skills
52:49that far exceeded a basic cooking demo.
52:52The lady demonstrators had to have
52:54quite a bit of technical knowledge.
52:56The gas company in your area
52:58would send a lady demonstrator to visit the home
53:01and she would show you how to dismantle the cookers.
53:04So there was physics all about how the gas actually was made,
53:08how it worked, how the cooker worked.
53:10By taking on roles traditionally reserved for men,
53:14these women, soon known as lady demons,
53:17helped to sweep aside typical gender stereotypes.
53:22And this is a socially acceptable way
53:24for women in the early part of the 20th century
53:28to be interested in scientific subjects.
53:31Yeah, absolutely.
53:33The role of the housewife was changing
53:35and the lady demonstrators really made a difference.
53:40The demos helped to break down barriers
53:43for women in the workplace.
53:45But the strategy also worked for the gas companies.
53:49So convincing were the lady demons
53:51that by 1920, new applications
53:53for a home gas supply had trebled.
53:56Gas ovens are everywhere.
54:01People stopped being frightened.
54:03They did.
54:03And it was the technical women that really changed it.
54:08Clearly there was nothing to beat woman talking to woman.
54:11Here we all are with our gas cookers.
54:16Lady demons cooking on gas.
54:19Right, where's my mate Cherry?
54:21She's in here somewhere. I know she is.
54:23Hey, excuse me. I'm looking for Cherry Healy.
54:27But if you've seen her, she's about that tall.
54:30Very chatty.
54:31No. I'll find her.
54:38My chips have been frozen at minus 18 degrees Celsius.
54:43Now it's a race against time to get them bagged up.
54:47As they hurtle towards the packing area,
54:50they cascade into 11 weighing machines.
54:53Each measuring a one kilogram portion of chips.
54:57Before they drop down to meet Cherry,
55:00our very own lady demonstrator.
55:04Oh, the bagging machine.
55:06It's amazing.
55:07So, Paddy, I spent a bit of time in the packing room
55:09and it taught me through how it works.
55:11So, they weigh the chips upstairs,
55:14one kilogram,
55:15it falls down
55:16in this, like, never-ending stream of packaging.
55:20This machine cuts it and seals it,
55:2265 bags a minute,
55:24and then it goes down onto the conveyor belt
55:26and off it goes.
55:28And do you know what the best bit is?
55:30Do you know how much I love air fryers?
55:31Come with me.
55:32Yeah, shut it up.
55:32All right.
55:33So, on the bag,
55:34it says you can air fry them
55:36as well as oven cook them.
55:37Oh, I've nothing to add.
55:43All right, I'll go and brew up.
55:46Does she ever take a breath?
55:48Anyhow,
55:49our freshly bagged frozen chips
55:53are loaded 12 bags at a time
55:55into cardboard boxes,
55:58stacked onto pellets
56:00and sent to dispatch,
56:02where, after several subtle hints,
56:05Ashley has finally sorted me out
56:07with a nice, thick jacket.
56:09Without stating the obvious, Ash,
56:12it's freezing in here.
56:14It is.
56:15In here, we'll be at minus 18.
56:17Minus 18,
56:18it feels it.
56:19So, the whole point of this now
56:20is it needs to stay frozen
56:21because now the chips are frozen.
56:23There's nobody around.
56:24Is it fully automated?
56:26Yeah, so everything is automatic.
56:28The pallets come in
56:29on automatic tracks.
56:31It then fills up to a full load,
56:33which is 26 pallets,
56:35and then it's automatically pushed
56:37onto the trailer.
56:38How many are we putting
56:39on the back of that one?
56:411.7 million.
56:43Brown source Mike said,
56:44when I first met him,
56:45two hours in total
56:46were we up to?
56:48Now, bang on,
56:49the two-hour mark.
56:52Bam.
56:52And I like that.
56:53No gloves on.
56:54Proper.
56:56Normally, it's a bloke
56:58with a pallet truck,
56:59pump truck.
57:00Is there a button?
57:01How do we get them going?
57:02I'll give it a signal.
57:03All right, OK.
57:06High tech, love it.
57:18Right.
57:18Thank you very much, Ash.
57:20But as it's absolutely freezing in here,
57:23I was about to get in the canteen
57:24and get those chips warmed up.
57:27Come on, off you go.
57:33Well, they said it would take two hours,
57:36and bang on the dot,
57:381.7 million oven chips
57:41are leaving the factory near Scarborough.
57:45Heading out across the UK
57:47to be enjoyed with everything
57:48from sausages and beans
57:50to pies and pasties.
57:53And I can't wait to try some.
57:56Look at this, Paddy.
57:57A great big bowl of chips.
57:59Oh, the fruits of our labour.
58:02Do you know what?
58:03It's what the country were built on.
58:05Oh, so fluffy inside.
58:07Mmm!
58:09I've been waiting to do that all day.
58:12You know what's missing?
58:14Ketchup.
58:15Ketchup.
58:15Yeah, baby.
58:16Ketchup.
58:18That's all.
58:24Going from rundown to renovated,
58:26Amanda and Alan's Greek job
58:28takes shape on iPlayer now.
58:30Just press red.
58:31This and everything across the BBC
58:33is made possible
58:34because we're funded by you.
58:37I'm not sure about you.
58:41I stand here to lie
58:43and I'm not sure about you.
58:46You
58:48You
58:48You
58:48You
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