Trust Guernsey to supply one of the oddest delicacies the Countryfile team had ever come across – and chef Tony Leck to show the programme’s legions of fans how we cook them. Forget sushi or pizza – a proper Guernsey ormer casserole was the only way to go, as Nicci Martel reports

GET your wellies on. It’s ormering time and the season to celebrate a true Guernsey icon.

If you’d rather leave the hard, wet and probably quite chilly work to someone else but still have your ormer and eat it, you’d better hope you have friends in the right places – the humble Haliotis tuberculata is an elusive delicacy.

The love story of the donkey and the ormer goes back hundreds of years and islanders’ incessant pursuit of it resulted in near-tragedy for the sea snail. Thanks to a restraining order, enshrined in the Fishing Ordinance 1997, the island’s appetite for this frankly ugly little creature is very much under control.

For just 24 days in January through to April, islanders can get their fix and for the rest of the year the ormer is left alone to thrive.

Guernsey’s culinary fascination with ormers will come under the spotlight in an episode of BBC’s Countryfile. From where to find them to how to eat them, presenter Ellie Harrison and her film crew got stuck in when they visited the island last week and despite travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles, director Dean Jones said the ormer was one of the oddest delicacies he’d come across while making the show.

‘We don’t often feature cooking on the programme, but this was really too good an opportunity to miss,’ said Dean, who has worked on Countryfile for five years.

‘The weirdest thing I’ve eaten for this job is in the BBC canteen. That really takes some nerve.’

Countryfile researcher Leila Finikarides agreed: ‘Obviously, most people don’t know them as ormers. They’re called abalone in Australia and in South Africa they’re known as perlemoen,’ she said.

‘I don’t think there’s anything odder than an ormer – and I’ve worked on a cookery programme. But trying ormer casserole is an experience and it was delicious. I’d be excited to see what it tastes like floured and flash-fried.’

After a hard day’s ormering around Lihou Island, the Countryfile team turned to chef Tony Leck, of The Pavilion restaurant, for guidance on what to do with its catch.

In Japan, ormers are eaten raw – and live – in awabi sushi, or served steamed, salted, boiled, chopped or simmered in soy sauce. Salted, fermented ormer entrails are the main component of tottsuru, a regional dish.

A little less terrifying-sounding is the Californian way of serving them – on pizza, or sautéed with caramelised mango.

Guernsey fans, however, generally like their ormers in a simple, homely stew and that’s exactly what Tony did for the cameras when the Countryfile team descended on his home kitchen.

‘A lot of people from the UK will probably think, “What on earth is that?” I hadn’t heard of ormers before I came to the island,’ said Tony.

‘Ormers can be quite tough, so the best thing to do is either flash-fry or casserole them, which tenderises them. I think the traditional ormer casserole is delicious. We serve it in the restaurant if we can get hold of them.’

Having never cooked in front of a TV camera before, Tony was pretty nonplussed by the experience. But with a regular viewing audience of about eight million people, Countryfile is exposure on quite a new scale and Tony did see it as a great opportunity to plug not only one of Guernsey’s best-loved dishes, but also the quality of the island’s produce. Monty’s Ale,

home-grown carrots, shallots and potatoes, as well as spinach and parsley from Guernsey Fresh Herbs, all went into the mix.

‘Countryfile is about bringing the countryside into people’s homes,’ said Dean, who was delighted at the chance to shine a spotlight on Guernsey.

‘It’s about rural issues and it takes viewers to a place they wouldn’t ordinarily get to see and shows them things that might give them a whole new perspective on a place.

‘Coming here in January has still been like Birmingham in April, temperature-wise. I can’t get over how nice it is and it makes it so much better for filming. It makes people that bit more energetic, because we’re not all huddled together sheltering from the rain.’

It’s not the first time the Channel Islands will have featured on Countryfile and Dean is positive it won’t be the last.

It’s the programme’s producers who decide on locations and the ormering season seemed like an excellent reason to visit. It was then Leila’s job to find out more about the island and what’s going on this time of year, make the calls and develop ideas.

Dean wrote the script based on Leila’s information, but a lot of it was devised on the job.

‘We always feel that wherever we go, people are really welcoming and helpful and that just makes the job so much easier,’ said Dean, who can’t get over Countryfile’s popularity.

‘The programme was attracting about two-and-a-half million viewers for 20-odd years. Then one executive decided to put it on a prime-time slot and it started getting seven million. The last few months we’ve been getting nine million, which in this day and age is amazing.

‘I can’t put my finger on what we’re doing differently. No one expected this huge hike in figures and it’s got a lot of people scratching their heads wondering how we can repeat its success.’

Nine million people is an awfully big audience for the island’s celebrated ormer.

It seems that one of Guernsey’s best-kept secrets is soon to be a secret no more.