7 times Luke Nguyen gets heavily involved with his food

In his latest series, Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom (Thursdays 8pm on SBS ONE), the chef takes sourcing produce to the next level and gets up close and personal with his food, from hauling crabs out of the sea to stalking his own venison.

Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

1. Rods at the ready

Wading out into the water in Wales, Luke tries his hand at fly-fishing to see if he can entice a plump trout to take a nibble of the lure. Sadly, they're not interested, but happily for the other fishermen, Luke instead decides to focus his energies into cooking them this leek-wrapped trout with mango salad.

Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

2. Doe, a deer

This time, Luke prepares to hunt deer that have become a nuisance to local farmers. Culling deer not only helps to control their numbers, lessening their impact on the environment, but also provides a sustainable and healthy meat source. As it turns out, Luke's not such a hot shot, so he leaves the kill to the professionals and puts his culinary skills to work making this venison with wild herbs.

Venison with wild herbs and potato Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

3. Getting crabby with it

In Cornwall, spider crabs give the old Cornish pastie a run for its money. Luke joins local fisherman, Phil, on his boat to see if he can haul in some of these spindly delicacies. The spoils of his labour end up in these Asian-Cornish crabcakes, but in true Luke-style, there's a little Asian riff on the classic to keep it interesting.

Source: Benito Martin

4. Farm the hogget

In the idyllic rolling hills of Cumbria, Luke discovers the excellent local produce includes Herdwick sheep. Native to the area, these sheep are a hardy lot and are often enjoyed as hogget, which is meat that's older than lamb but younger than mutton. Luke sets up his station to cook this hogget with orange marmalade sauce in a paddock populated by onlooking sheep, a decision he later feels a little awkward about. Nonetheless, a delicious recipe.

Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

5. Like a grizzly bear

Once again, Luke pulls on his fish frighteners to try his hand at catching one. This time it's salmon, and instead of using a lure, the ancient method of half net fishing is employed. As he waits for the salmon to swim into his net, Luke conjures up a recipe for this Asian salmon with beetroot chips. Lucky for you, you don't need to wait in ice-cold waters to catch your lunch.

Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

6. A Bute salad

In the clear, calm waters of Scotland's Isle of Bute we find Luke (again waist-deep in water) and local "seaweed guy", Ian, collecting and nibbling tendrils of seaweed. This beautiful foraged produce isn't the only star ingredient from the island, the beef is also incredible, and once Luke returns to shore he whips up this chargrilled beef with glass noodles and seaweed salad.

Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

7. What a buffalo

Luke's mobile kitchen visits a paddock dotted by nonchalantly grazing water buffalo, where he cooks up, ahem, this slow-braised buffalo in aromatic spices. The buffalo don't seem to give a hoot, but this dish is well-worth replicating if you can get your hands on some meat.

Source: Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom starts Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm on SBS ONE and finishes 2 July 2015. Visit the Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom website to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes or find out more about the show.