Florence Pugh Makes An English Breakfast Mar-Tea-Ni, Elderflower Collins & a Cheese Board

Ultimate British Taste Test.

Ultimate British Taste Test, tasting the tastes of tests.

All the Britishness is testing the tastes.

Okay, here we go. [laughs] Ready?

[upbeat music] [martini sloshing]

[glass thumping]

[cracker crunching]

[utensils clanging]

[cocktail trickling]

I'll be making two cocktails and a cheeseboard,

and we're going to start

with my very easy elderflower presse columns,

and here are the ingredients,

although olives don't go in it.

The olives are for you to eat as you're making it.

It's very simple.

You'll need vodka, elderflower cordial,

mint, soda, some limes, and if you don't like vodka,

you don't have to put it in.

So we're gonna get cracking, but we start with this.

It's good snacks. Okay.

Where are my things? Here, right.

[Florence and cameraperson laughing]

[upbeat music]

[ice rattling]

Sometimes, we overcomplicate things,

especially when we're about to put on a party,

and that's just not the thing that you need to be doing.

You need to keep it very, very easy.

You also need to have some form of a drink

as you're getting the food ready for yourself anyway,

and this is my personal favorite.

This one is the elderflower.

I like mine quite sweet, so I'm gonna do an inch.

That's not very helpful if you have a different glass,

but give it a go.

And then I'm going to do another inch

or however vodka you want,

and then I actually learned this in my dad's restaurant

when I was working behind the bar.

You pick your leaves, and then you're going to clap them,

[hands smacking]

and for some reason, the aromas will come out better, more.

I don't know, I was told to do it and it works.

Then we're gonna do some lime.

'cause I love a sour cocktail.

Oh.

See? I smell like Mother Nature's perfume.

And then, to feel fancy, pop that on the side.

Pour in your soda.

I should have done the leaves afterwards.

Ah, ah, ah, ah. I'm gonna give it a little spinaroo.

[glass tapping]

Ah.

So the best bit is my nose is going straight into this mint,

so I'm getting a free tickle, which is always great.

And then the next bit that I'm getting

is obviously the elderflower, which is really, really sweet,

and the vodka is kind of hidden, which I don't know.

If you want more, then obviously, pile it on,

but I think this is enough for me right now.

Whenever I go to a fancy bar,

the drink that I want to order is a martini,

and whenever I have a martini,

I really like applying lipstick.

There's something about the combination of lipstick

and a martini that I really, really enjoy,

and it feels a bit naughty and quite fun.

And then the second thing that I'd be wearing,

I like a knee-high boot when you go somewhere fancy.

I love a knee-high boot. It makes me feel very womanly.

I think it's probably because my mom

had some really beautiful knee-high boots

when I was younger, and I always idolized them

and her wearing them.

So a knee-high boot and a red lipstick and a martini,

and the girl is ready.

Oh yeah, obviously, there will be clothes.

[Florence and cameraperson laughing]

[upbeat music]

Okay, I'm bringing in my cheeses and stepping on my step.

Here, we have a sheep's cheddar, a cow's cheddar,

a goat's cheese, and a Shropshire Blue.

Now, the most important thing

is you absolutely have to sample everything

before you put it on the board, because you cannot afford

to put anything on the board that might kill people.

I'm gonna just chop open this goat's,

because goat's is my favorite,

and then I'm just gonna figure out which bits

would go best for it.

Hang on, lemme just try it first.

We have some figs here and we have some grapes,

so I'm gonna put some grapes out next to it,

but I kind of just wanna see what that's like with that.

And it's amazing!

Ooh, my mom does a really amazing thing in winter

where she chops a date in half

and she fills it with goat's cheese,

and then she shoves a walnut in there.

Yeah, she does some really fun things with dates,

and they all involve shoving cheese in.

Party life in the Pugh house is unbelievably fun and loud.

You kind of have to make sure that you're prepared

for quite a big ordeal.

We're all very full of character,

that's a good way to put it.

Let's try the cow's cheddar.

I mean, let's put it on the board,

but also, in the meantime, I'm gonna try it as well.

Let's go over here, I reckon.

Oh, look, a perfect size for me.

Right, we're gonna go with this one.

A little cornichon? That's a yes.

I think that a cheeseboard could actually be my main meal.

They're just so fun,

and you can create so many different bites.

It's like cooking at the table with cheese.

Let's try this one. I'm gonna pop it on a cracker.

[cracker crunching]

That was the tits.

Ooh, these are fun.

♪ And spicy, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm ♪

[Florence blowing]

It's actually fine.

It's fine, it's fine.

It's just very...

[Florence coughs]

This was unexpected.

[inhales] This was unexpected as she wears a velvet dress.

I wonder which cheese it should go with.

I actually think this sheep's cheddar.

Mhm, still spicy,

but it's definitely going down a bit better now.

Let's go. [bread scratching]

And that's how you cut bread. Claps for me.

All right, let's try this.

Whoa, that's bluey.

Should we try some honey? That's pretty.

My granddad, when we were younger,

for Christmas, would get a big Stilton wheel.

He made me a cracker once, and it was amazing,

and then after that, every single day,

I'd go to his Stilton and I'd chop a piece off,

and then one day, he discovered me doing it,

and it wasn't good news,

because the kids weren't allowed to touch it,

but it was delicious.

[cracker crunching]

Mm.

[Florence kissing]

That was a good one.

So far, this corner is looking pretty, this corner isn't,

so I'm gonna fluff up this corner,

and I'm gonna put some more walnuts here.

What else? Oh, we want some of these, make a little pile.

We can make a Jenga pile! Oh, who's gonna win?

Is it floss or floss?

Oh, now I've been left with the two massive ones that we..

[groans] Okay, let's just leave those last two.

Let's do over there, over there.

[bowl clinking]

Beautiful. Ta-da!

My incredible cheeseboard

that I have sampled every single item,

and they're delicious.

[exciting music]

Are you ready, kids? [clears throat]

My homework today is to make a cocktail

that I have never made before,

and it's called the English Breakfast Martini.

It has lemon juice, marmalade, tea-infused gin,

ice, orange to garnish.

Let's go. I am going to try this.

You know what this is gonna be like?

When Mary Poppins says,

♪ Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down ♪

and it looks like it as well.

Can you remember when she poured it in?

I always wanted to try it.

Well now, this is the grown-up version.

Ah, there's tea at the end.

I'm gonna fill up my shaker.

[ice rattling]

So if it's a martini,

then I guess there's quite a lot in there.

Ah, I've got a pip in there! Oh no, I've got another one!

Bugger. It's gonna be fishing pips.

I'm gonna go with the bit of marmalade in there.

Is that now gonna go really cold on the ice? Yes, it is.

Oh, poo. Let's just give it a go.

Come on. [utensils rustling]

Everything's fine.

Okay, I kind of wanna put a bit of orange in there.

Is that okay? I'm gonna do it. It's happening.

Can't tell me not to.

Okay.

That smells fun. I'd drink that.

[martini sloshing]

Perfect.

[glass thumping]

Come on.

[glass thumping]

[Florence grunting]

[Florence squealing]

[glass thumping]

Wow, I created a suction device there.

Let's give that a try.

[Florence coughing]

It's not no.

It's not yes, but I'm just gonna do a tiny bit more of this.

[spoon tapping]

[lid thumping]

[martini sloshing]

[glass thumping]

Sorry, bar. I'll clean it up.

Mm, dericious. That is actually quite tasty.

Okay, I've been told that the glasses have been stored

in my favorite way, which is in the freezer.

Oh, there's two. Who's the lucky lady?

Oh my God, that could have been so bad.

Then we're gonna do this for garnish. I want to do a peel.

I'm just gonna do a bit of this, grab that around.

It's a nice color.

[martini sloshing]

Let's give it a go.

It's nice.

There's so many complex flavors.

You've got black tea in there,

which you can actually get the aftertaste of,

and then you've got the tartness of the marmalade,

but it's also sweet, so every single time

you get a really sharp flavor,

it twists into a really yummy aftertaste.

And the lemon is really healthy,

but I really liked putting the orange in there,

'cause it's made it a bit more citrussy.

Do you want to try it? Let's see what you think.

It's one of the things that I really want

to learn how to do to another level, mixology.

There's things like these.

[air blowing]

How fun is that?

[air blowing]

See what that tastes like.

That's actually so much better.

[Florence and cameraperson laughing]

That stuff.

So that was my Ultimate British Taste Test.

Thank you so much for joining me. Cheers! [kisses]

[relaxed music]