The Hairy Bikers are preparing to hail the best foods in Britain. Roz Laws reports.

Shropshire had better brace itself for a run on its local delicacy, as Fidget Pie takes its place in the television spotlight.

It is one of the traditional dishes being championed by the Hairy Bikers as they embark on an epic new series.

The bearded biking cooks, aka Dave Myers and Simon King, begin The Hairy Bikers’ Food Tour of Britain on BBC2 from Monday.

Shown every weekday teatime for six weeks, it follows the men as they travel 15,000 miles around the UK, finding the best of British food.

And naturally they discover plenty in the Midlands to make their mouths water.

From asparagus in the Vale of Evesham to Hereford beef (and snails), from pheasants shot in Shropshire to Worcestershire pears, the bikers show off the cream of our regional crop.

Of the 86 counties in the British Isles, the bikers have covered 30 of them, from Aberdeenshire to Cornwall.

That means hours spent in the saddles of their Midland-made Triumph Rocket III 2,300cc motorbikes.

In each episode, they visit the county town to cook that county’s signature dish in front of an audience. Then they gather ingredients from nearby producers to take part in a cook-off against a top local chef.

Dave says: “We cook what the locals consider to be their county on a plate, what they’re most proud of.

“We set up a mobile kitchen in the middle of the town and get cooking. People know us now so they will chip in – some days turn out to be a right old bun fight, with grannies taking over and telling us how to do it.

“Then we go to a local chef’s restaurant to see how we measure up, and a panel of foodies judges which dish is best. It’s pretty nerve-racking but the results are sometimes surprising. We have even been known to beat Michelin-starred chefs!”

Friday’s episode comes from Shropshire, where Dave and Simon rustle up a Fidget Pie – a mixture of gammon, apples, potatoes and onions – in the middle of Shrewsbury town centre.

Then they take on Michelin-starred Will Holland at Le Becasse restaurant in Ludlow.

To get the best ingredients for the meal of roast stuffed pheasant breast, they venture on to the Stiperstones National Nature Reserve to shoot down their dinner before going shopping at Ludlow Food Centre.

Dave, 51, says: “Finding local food heroes and almost-forgotten dishes like Fidget Pie is so rewarding.

“Tasting fresh asparagus that’s bang in season from Worcestershire – it doesn’t get any better than that.

“To research each recipe, we set off to find two or three local food heroes. For example, there is a lady in Herefordshire, Jo Hillditch, who comes from generations of producers of berries used for Ribena. Now they are using the blackcurrants to make cassis which rivals the French. We also visited England’s leading escargot producer in Hereford.

“We see some stunning beef. Everyone loves steak and chips and native British beef is a true treasure we can’t ignore.

“In Cornwall, we made proper Cornish pasties at the Eden Project. We’ve made Malvern pudding, Cullen Skink soup in Moray and my mum’s Yorkshire pudding in Scarborough. These are dishes born out of the land and generations of cooks perfecting the recipes.

“And by championing local producers, we hope to give them a well-deserved boost and open up more market places where artisan producers can sell.

“We wanted to get back to our roots and celebrate the food culture we have in Britain, which is among the best in the world.”

Life continues to be all go for Dave and Simon. No sooner had they finished filming their Food Tour of Britain than they’ve embarked on another series, Mum Knows Best.

Produced by BBC Birmingham, the six-part series, to be shown early next year, sees the pair undertaking a nationwide search for Britain’s lost recipes, forgotten gems or secret scribbles handed down through the generations.

As many of the Hairy Bikers’ series were produced in Birmingham, the pair know the city pretty well – though they wish they could spend more time here.

Dave, a former make-up artist who lives in Cumbria with his partner Lili, says: “We have lots of Brummie friends among our crew.

“Our home economist, Sam, lives in Kings Heath. Her favourite restaurant in the city is Simpsons and we’ve popped in a couple of times with her, but I’ve yet to have the time to eat a meal.

“I can’t wait to taste the food there.”

* For more, visit www.hairybikers.com

* The Hairy Biker's Best Midland Delicacies

STAFFORDSHIRE
Where: Lichfield town centre
Local dish: Staffordshire oatcakes
Cook off at The Moat House, Acton Trussell near Stafford, making roast chicken with sage and onion stuffing with gooseberry sauce.
Local ingredients: Free range chicken from Packington Poultry in Burton-upon-Trent, gooseberries from Essington Fruit Farm near Wolverhampton.

WORCESTERSHIRE
Where: Priory Park, Malvern
Local dish: Malvern Pudding
Cook off at Belle House in Pershore, making pork fillet with black pudding with a caramelised pear and perry sauce with asparagus puree and tips.
Local ingredients: Asparagus from Revills Farm near Evesham, pears from Madresfield Orchard near Malvern.

HEREFORDSHIRE
Where: Goodrich Castle
Local dish: Roast Herefordshire beef and homemade creamed horseradish
Cook off at The Bridge at Wilton, Ross-on-Wye, making snail-topped Hereford fillet of beef with red wine and cassis sauce.
Local ingredients: Beef from Free Town Herefords, snails from L’Escargot Anglais in Hereford, British Cassis from Jo Hilditch, Lyonshall near Leominster.

SHROPSHIRE
Where: Shrewsbury town centre
Local dish: Fidget pie
Cook off at La Becasse in Ludlow, making roast stuffed pheasant breast with three root mash, buttered spinach and hedgerow sauce.
Local ingredients: Pheasant from shoot on Stiperstones National Nature Reserve, vegetables from Ludlow Food Centre.