The finest of Ayrshire produce had bellies rumbling across the country as three local firms featured in a new series of top cooking show The Hairy Bikers on Wednesday.
Troon’s Spes Bona Superior Seafood, venison farm Whitehill Farm in Coylton and Ayr’s Blackthorn Salt shared the screen with celebrity chef duo Si King and Dave Myers in their new BBC Two series The Hairy Bikers Go Local.
Si and Dave were in Scotland for the second episode of the series where they visited a Glasgow street food café, Julie’s Kopitiam, and travelled across the west coast to find local suppliers that café owner Julie Lin could work with to produce her signature Scottish Malaysian fusion dishes.
The first stop on the tour of Ayrshire was to Troon to meet Spes Bona’s Donald and Robin Gibson, who are the sixth generation of their family to take to the Clyde to catch fresh seafood.
Dad-of-three skipper Donald, who has worked in the industry for over 30 years, told Ayrshire Live all about the filming experience, which you can read here.
Next stop on the tour was to Whitehill Farm, run by husband and wife Suryaveer and Bonita Rathore, who swapped the busy city living of Dubai and India for the serene Ayrshire countryside to farm their pure Scottish bloodline of red deer.
Mum-of-two Bonita, 49, said they were shocked to get the call to feature on the show.
“When the producer phoned we were like ‘Really?! Alright!’,” she said.
“We obviously didn’t expect this to happen. They were supposed to be here for about two hours and they were in literally the whole day.
“They arrived on EVs - the electric bikes - and my husband likes bikes as he has a BMW bike, so he was showing off his - basically because his makes a sound whereas the EVs are pretty silent, and the BMW is noisy. So they were just having fun."
Bonita, Suryaveer and some of the family treated Si and Dave to some pickled venison, which saw the meat cooked with spices including curry leaf, mustard, ginger and cumin.
“We then did an impromptu cook on stone,” said Bonita.
“They were so complimentary about the food saying it was the best venison they’ve tasted.
“They are lovely human beings.”
Bonita said the show has firmly put Ayrshire on the map for local and sustainable food sources.
She added: “It’s exciting and there’s loads of Ayrshire in the programme. It just highlights the whole area.
“People talk about Ayrshire like ‘it needs this or that’, but it’s really nice to show that Ayrshire has these places.”
Si and Dave left armed with some venison, which they used to make Bao Bun Char Siu Venison later in the show.
The pair also used Kennox House in Stewarton as a base for their stay in Ayrshire.
The duo cooked dishes from the Grade A listed home built in the 17th century that was also once the ancestral home for the Macalister Clan.
The last leg of the journey took The Hairy Bikers to Blackthorn Salt in Ayr, where Si and Dave marvelled at the striking eight metre tall blackthorn structure, which produces salt using only sea water and a little help from the Ayrshire elements.
Salt crystals are produced during a natural evaporation process which form following sea water pouring down the top of the tower, running through the blackthorn branches with the sun and coastal winds evaporating it.
Blackthorn Salt, run by couple Gregorie and Whirly Marshall and experienced salt maker Malky, praised the other local suppliers featuring on the show on their Facebook page and added: “The experience was fantastic. Si and Dave are absolute legends, as fun and lovely in life as on screen and were so interested in Blackthorn, so we were just thrilled to bits.
“We are just pinching ourselves to have been included within such an inspirational, passionate and talented company to represent some Scottish tastiness.”
The full episode is available to watch on catch up on BBC iPlayer.
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