River Cottage: Winter's On The Way review (DVD) ★★★★

When he isn't on his soapbox championing free-range chicken and battling against wasteful fishing practices (worthy but slightly preachy), Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is one of the more entertaining and engaging chefs crowding out a busy television market. There's a thought there – a cull on TV chefs? As the nights draw in, there is something comforting about settling down to a selection of mouth watering winter warmers, cooked up a storm (quite literally in one instance) in River Cottage style.

Hugh and his gang whisk us through a tasty selection of seasonal treats, starting off by trying Gloucestershire pear perry on unsuspecting Devon cider enthusiasts at a cider press party (one suspects these events are concocted purely for the show). Perry was once the favoured tipple of medieval monarchies, and is a far cry from pear cider, which consists merely of pear essence and other elements.

Throughout the series, Hugh treats us – alas, only visually – to delicious dishes concocted from one of his cattle, specially reared on his own home-made porridge and treacle, for tasty marbling of the meat. He shows how to slow cook and season the least considered cuts – shin, tongue, skirt and ox heart. With a little more effort, these tougher cuts can deliver on flavour and are especially nourishing in stews and broths, perfect for the cold nights.  He also learns to hold his breath for longer to free dive without scuba equipment for scallops. In a nice stitch-up, he believes he has found a motherlode which in reality was already scouted out by his Olympic free dive mentor Emma Farrell.  It must be all the more satisfying to eat something you pulled yourself from the sea hours before: scallops, butternut squash and bacon.

Mushroom picking with his expert friend is certainly enlightening. There are 500 species of edible funghi in the UK, so never pick any if you don't know your hedgehog mushroom from your beechwood silkcap. The latter tastes of delicious ginger, chile and horseradish, according to Hugh, but a whole one will have you writhing in agony. After selecting some safe funghi he concocts a delicious mushroom dish cooked on the pan in an oven, covered in pastry, and flipped for an alternative to mushrooms on toast.

Rabbits can be a pest in the wild so Hugh calls on some sharpshooters to cull the twitchy nosed trespassers snaffling his greens, then rustles up some delicious rabbit recipes. The Womens Institute are roped in for rabbit skin craft (rabbit-pelt loincloth and glasses warmers, anyone?) His colleague Tim puts curried rabbit on the menu in a local Indian restaurant to resounding success, as well as trying a rabbit variation on southern fried chicken for post-club revellers. And if you hanker after findus crispy pancakes, the gang rustle up their own delicious variations, using alternately smoked pollock, steak and kidney (with red wine) and chicken, sweetcorn and bacon.

Basically, the series presents many mouth-watering receipes for seasonal produce that won't necessarily break the bank. If only it came in aroma-vision.