Central Starter Great British Menu

This year on Great British Menu...

I'm really feeling the pressure. Aargh!

I think it's too close to call.

..the country's best chefs

are competing to showcase contemporary British cuisine.

You look like you're praying. I am.

In the year of the Queen's 90th birthday, the chefs are celebrating

the everyday Great Britons she's honoured

for their extraordinary achievements.

It's the most amazing thing you could ever receive.

The prize - to cook at the ultimate banquet,

held at the historic Palace of Westminster.

Here, the chefs must showcase the coming of age of British cuisine.

Everyone's going for top of the leaderboard.

I want to be the one that's there.

You think you're on track, then all of a sudden, something's missing.

That's the magic, right there in the pan.

That was a stunning dish.

This year, our chefs have travelled the country

to meet everyday Great Britons recognised for their remarkable work

and dedicated commitment to their communities.

Our charity supports young cancer patients in the whole of Scotland.

Since the coronation, more than 60 years ago,

thousands of people have been honoured by the Queen.

This is the Queen's Gallantry Medal. That makes it super-special.

This is the MBE... Wow! ..which Prince Charles gave me.

What an honour. It was an honour.

Inspired by these Great Britons, the chefs must demonstrate

the transformation of British cuisine during the Queen's reign...

It looks fantastic!

..to produce a lasting legacy for this new Elizabethan age.

Wow! That is really good. I'll be definitely having this again.

Thank you very much.

This week, competing to be crowned Central Region champion

are three hopeful newcomers...

Daniel Smith, a focused and competitive chef.

My cooking style is classical, uncomplicated,

not to be underestimated, just like me.

Andrew Scott, whose food is about flavour and finesse.

I've trained in Michelin-star kitchens all my life.

I'm here to win.

And Danny Gill, protege of GBM veteran Daniel Clifford

and a daring and innovative chef.

I've got some interesting pieces of kit.

I'm hoping to do something nobody's seen before on Great British Menu

to hopefully get me through to the banquet.

Judging the newcomers this week is one of Britain's

most outstanding chefs, honoured by the Queen with an MBE.

Who do you think the veteran judge will be? I'd like to be judged by someone at the top of their game.

A Michelin-starred chef'd be good.

A veteran of the competition for the fifth time.

I want someone who's going to put the fear of God into us, so...

Don't worry about that! I think we've got that!

Michelin-starred...

..Angela Hartnett.

Morning, chefs. Good morning. How are you feeling?

Er, now I've seen you...

Good. Good for seeing you.

You all think I'm an easy target.

I certainly don't think you're an easy target. You're ex-Ramsay, so...

looking forward to cooking for you. I'm much nicer than Gordon. Don't be silly!

Andrew, level of nervousness, out of ten?

Hmm, 11. 11?

But it's controlled. What about you, Daniel? Are you quite competitive?

100%, yeah. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't.

I just want to get in the kitchen, get cooking. A lot to live up to,

so good luck and give me some great-tasting food. Thank you.

HE CHUCKLES

First up, Andrew Scott with some classic ingredients.

Chef. How are you feeling? Confident? Very confident, yes.

Very confident. Love it! So, the inspiration behind your whole menu?

Recognising all the work that the Queen's done for the country

and, basically, all the awards she's given out to the people that have made Britain great.

So, dish - what's it called? Living On The Breadline. Living On The Breadline?

Yeah. It basically represents two guys called David and Robin

that run a food bank in my region. OK. They collect ingredients,

they distribute it to 60 different charities...

Yeah. ..and those charities make meals

for the homeless and the needy, basically.

They've been given an MBE by the Queen.

Just thought it'd be lovely to feature them. Pretty amazing!

Describe the dish. What are you using this oxtail for?

I'm going to braise the oxtail, reduce the stock, make it really,

sort of, sticky and nice and tasty. Yeah.

I'm going to salt-bake the celeriac. Yeah. Through that, I'm going

to put some Granny Smith, just to cut through. What are you using the yeast for?

The yeast is going to be a parsley dumpling. OK.

And we're going to pour some celeriac soup around the edge.

OK. So it's like a pimped soup, posh soup. Pimped soup, posh soup!

I'm pimping it up! OK, and you reckon this is a winning banquet dish?

Yeah. Cheap ingredients, and I'm trying to elevate them

to a banquet dish. OK. Well, good luck. Thank you, Chef.

Looking forward to tasting it.

You know, I don't think there's anything overcomplicated there.

Is it good enough for a banquet?

Is it pushing the boundaries of gastronomic food?

We will have to wait and see, really.

Next is Daniel Smith with a box of Norfolk ingredients.

Hi, Daniel. How are you? Pleased to meet you.

So, Norfolk boy, born and bred, I believe? Yeah, 100%.

So, what's the inspiration behind your whole menu?

I've taken inspiration from how the judging panel rate

and, I suppose, use the criteria for the honours list

and give the awards out for the Queen.

I've used that for the inspiration for my titles of each dish.

So, what's the title of this dish?

So, this one is Making A Difference. Right.

Teresa Dent, who is the CEO of the Game Conservation Trust,

she's been given a CBE for her fantastic work.

You've got a beautiful partridge here.

So, I'm going to take the breasts off. Yeah. I'm going to use

the legs and the bones to make a consomme.

What are you going to do with these lovely girolles?

I've got some fantastic girolles. They've been picked by my forager.

They're going to be sauteed very lightly in a little walnut oil.

Stem ginger? It gives a little Asian influence in the apple puree.

What's that? Pork crackling, that's going to be,

so that's dehydrated pork.

So there's going to be some textures in here. It's not overcomplicated.

I can cook it for 60, 100 people, no worries.

You're feeling confident and you're ready for it? 100%, yeah.

Do you think you'll beat him? We'll see.

That's not very confident, "We'll see." Are you going to beat Daniel?

Yeah. You are? Ooh! We'll see!

Daniel's got a few little twists. You know, he's got the stem ginger.

He seems like he's got this dehydrated pork crackling.

So I think he's elevating the dish.

Let's see what he comes out with.

Finally, Danny Gill with a box bursting with produce.

Morning, Danny. You all right? Yeah, very well, thank you.

How are you feeling today? Really excited to be here.

Title of the dish is called Celebration Of The Coronation. Yeah.

Coronation chicken was actually created by a florist and a chef.

The florist was the first florist

who actually started using food with florist designs. OK.

So it is the flavours of coronation chicken but I'm putting a bit

of a twist on it as well. The chicken is going to be brined,

then confited down. I'm serving it with hand-dived scallops.

Some of them are going to be served raw, in a tartare, some of them are

going to be roasted. Right. I've got some mangoes. I'm going to be

taking thin slices of these and making, like, an open ravioli. OK.

So we'll cut discs, make a little filling

with the coronation chicken and the scallops.

Got some lovely edible flowers on there as well.

Lots going on, then. Yeah, there's a lot going on but I want to push myself to the limit.

OK. Do you think he's got too much going on?

I don't know. I mean, I think it looks great. I'm really intrigued.

It's a bit of a balancing act with all those spices and flavours.

I've practised it a lot so hopefully I can pull it off.

Good luck, yeah? Sounds great. Thank you very much, yeah.

Danny's Celebration Of The Coronation...

Chicken and mango do go together. Scallops is the new twist to it.

It's obviously complicated. He's up for the challenge and, you know, he really wants to win.

As the chefs get to work,

their thoughts are on impressing Angela with their take on the brief.

Now we're here, lads, have you got a good feeling about how you've gone about the brief?

We've got to cook great food for these honorary people.

We've got to smash it. We all need to get off to a good start.

Let's just hope Angela likes what we're doing. She's got super-high expectations.

She's going to be sending someone home on Thursday.

She's not going to be a pussycat...

is she? Approach with caution!

Daniel is butchering his Norfolk partridge. He'll poach the breast

in the water bath and use the bones to make a consomme

for his Making A Difference dish, which celebrates British game.

My concerns here are just getting that flavour packed into this consomme,

which I've been doing on my practice runs. I can't hide from what

I'm doing here. I'm doing some simple things, but I think my

ingredients all honour people we're cooking for on this competition.

Food runs in Daniel Smith's family.

Hi, Dan. Hello, Mum. You all right?

Mum Sara has been running a tearoom

on the Great Yarmouth seafront for 18 years.

Mum and Dan don't always see eye to eye in the kitchen, do we?

No. Maybe not.

But Daniel still wants her input on his partridge consomme for the competition.

Will I just drink it? Just drink it like tea.

Oh, it's delicious!

Absolutely gorgeous.

Dan has always been magical

at getting flavours to come out of food.

Such a clever lad!

After training in kitchens around the UK, Daniel returned to

his Norfolk roots and is now chef proprietor of the Ingham Swan.

One mackerel, one pigeon. Yes, Chef. Nice one.

A passionate advocate of local produce, Daniel hopes

his unfussy cooking will go down well in the competition.

Thank you. On the pass now. Thank you.

I'm going to be using modern techniques but I believe that

simplicity is key and if I can cook that to perfection, what more do I need?

He can count on the support of his young family -

his children always enjoy Dad's cooking.

So, Daddy's going to do this on the Great British Menu.

That's nice. Right, we're on a winner, are we?

I suppose I've been a big fish in a small pond, being in Norfolk,

so it does concern me that I'm going to be the little fish.

But the little fish may still win.

Daniel's working on the vegetable accompaniments

for his partridge dish,

which is inspired by the Game Conservation Trust,

including Norfolk-foraged girolle mushrooms

and an unusual apple and ginger puree.

Confident. Confident. That's...

I'm happy the way things are going.

All right, Daniel? Yeah, I'm getting there. Definitely getting there.

I'm going to be cruising for a little while. OK. Why's that?

I've got the consomme on. I've got a little apple puree there, as well.

You want to come for a coffee? Is that what you're saying?

Well, maybe. Have a little sit-down, a little sleep.

And is that yours as well? That's the parsley crumb.

It's just blitzed-up bread. It's just got the parsley in there.

I'm going to saute that so it's nice and crunchy and crispy.

I've got the pork crackling as well. That is that texture in there.

All right. Good. Cool.

Danny is working at double-quick speed as he prepares

his reinvented coronation chicken starter,

a challenging dish with many complex elements.

I've got two purees. Yeah.

I've got pickles, confited chicken, and I've got the scallops

being served in a couple of different ways, as well, so...

Are you concerned you've bitten off more than you can chew? Not at all.

Instead of traditional apricot, Danny's using mango.

A coronation-chicken-and-scallop filling

will be served in slices of mango ravioli.

These are flavours that work. As soon as you have the first

mouthful of this dish, you'll know what you're eating.

People who've been awarded these amazing honours by the Queen,

they go above and beyond the call of duty, so I want to try and reflect that.

How many mango raviolis are you making? BLEEP-loads!

THEY CHUCKLE

OK, Danny? Hello. Yeah? How you doing? I'm good.

Is that your ravioli? Yeah, so basically, nice and thinly sliced.

Bit closer to the time, a little bit of lime juice, a little bit of

coriander chopped on there, and my filling's going to go in there.

I hate coriander. You know that?

I won't hold it against you, but I do. Really? Yeah, just generally.

I might leave it off now, then. No, no, don't leave it off. Keep it on the dish.

You must not like something, surely? No, to be honest with you, there's not a lot. Really? Wow!

I don't like coming second! You don't like...

SHE CHUCKLES

I like that, Danny. Good luck. Thank you. See you later. Yeah.

For three years, Danny Gill headed up the kitchen

at Daniel Clifford's Midsummer House in Cambridge.

Now, with his mentor's backing,

Danny's about to set up his own venture.

Restaurant down here? Yeah. About 20 covers in the front area here.

Danny was keen to show it off to his dad Alan,

who's been a great inspiration.

So all the guests can see into the kitchen.

Have to watch your language! Yeah, have to watch my language!

Alan worked as a chef in the RAF and has cooked for the Queen and other royals.

Danny grew up helping his dad in the kitchen.

You had enthusiasm even when you were a kid... Yeah.

..when you used to come in the kitchens on a Saturday morning, to peel carrots and veg.

It was you that got you to where you are now,

through your determination. This is your dream and you got your reward.

With Danny waiting to get into his new kitchen...

Hi, Chef, how's it going? Yeah, good.

..mentor Daniel was keen to see how his competition menu was coming along.

What's the key words that you've taken out of the brief this year?

Taking things that are ordinary and making them extraordinary.

I can't wait to see you on the telly! Cheers, Chef!

Danny's still up against it to get the many elements

of his reimagined coronation chicken finished on time.

Every chef interprets simplicity differently. In my opinion, this dish is simple.

Lots of different elements and techniques

but on the plate, it will come across quite simple.

He's working on his spiced coronation dressing...

..and crispy curried shallot rings.

Danny, are you going to slow down at any point?

No. No? No. I'm racing, otherwise this dish ain't going to happen.

You're like Superman, you are. One minute, you're over here...

It's like you've got a brother in here!

Andrew's making a celeriac soup for his starter,

inspired by the founders of a charity food bank

awarded MBEs for their work.

Everything's going well, but it's really hot and it's intense.

It will be served with oxtail, which is usually tenderised by slow-braising.

But Andrew has to use a different technique as he has limited time...

Daniel, you know how to do this?

..and it's proving problematic.

What's this? Pressure cooker? No idea, mate.

Not used one like that.

It's like Cub camp! DANIEL CHUCKLES

Here we go! I hate these things!

It's in the pressure cooker, so, er, yeah...

I'm, er, praying.

Andrew Scott formerly headed up a Michelin-star kitchen...

Service!

..and has a passion for reworking old recipes.

At Restaurant 56 in Oxfordshire,

he serves new versions of retro classics,

with lashings of nostalgia.

What we try and do here is look at things that you ate when you were a child.

We do a Parma Violet marshmallow, we do a custard ice cream.

Let people go away happy.

Andrew's Brummie heritage boasts a family of good home cooks.

Mum Dawn is one of them. She joined Andrew at his restaurant

to remind him of a favourite Scott family dumpling recipe.

It's been such a long time since we did any cooking.

I'm usually washing up behind you, or vice versa. You weren't washing up behind me - that's for sure.

This is a cookbook that was handed down by Nanny Dolly, wasn't it?

Yep. The recipe I know and love is this one,

but I can't serve these to the judges. Why?

I need to elevate it to, sort of, restaurant standard.

They might like my dumplings. They're a bit rough.

They're a bit rough?! Not happy with that!

Now it's up to mum Dawn to decide if the original family recipe

or Andrew's new refined dumplings are best for the competition.

I like the look of mine, Andrew. Yeah. Yours are...

Yours are traditional.

They're lovely. Nanny Dolly's always are. Mine are different.

What do you think to that one?

Mm, lovely. But I think you should make them a bit lighter.

A bit lighter. OK, yeah.

I just want to make her proud and do the best I can.

In the kitchen, Andrew's using an old-fashioned culinary technique

for his Living On The Breadline starter.

What are you doing there, then, mate? I'm salt-baking the celeriac.

It's a mixture of egg white and just normal salt.

It's quite an ancient way of cooking but now it seems to be all the rage with everything.

His simple approach, in keeping with the charity food bank theme,

hasn't gone unnoticed by competitor Danny.

The banquet is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for these people.

Do you not think they want something a little bit luxurious?

I think my dish, just being based on two guys running the food bank...

I think it had to be from cheap ingredients

and then elevated to a dish for the banquet.

It won't make them feel like they're being cheated.

Andrew's hoping his homely but refined cooking will impress veteran Angela as well.

So, how are you, Andrew? Good. I'm just doing my parsley dumplings.

Is there any suet or anything in it?

Suet - that's quite a traditional way of doing a dumpling. Yeah.

I took that out and just tried to make it a bit more light and airy.

OK. Cos it's a banquet, I don't want it to be too heavy...

Right. ..from the get-go. You're feeling everything's going to plan?

I'm not arrogant but I've got to be confident so, yeah, I think it nails the brief.

You'll have to tell me later.

Also keeping his cool is Daniel. He's first to plate up his starter,

using Norfolk produce and in honour of the Game Conservation Trust.

He starts with apple and ginger puree, girolle mushrooms...

And the breast? Are you carving it? I'm just going to cut it once.

..and sliced partridge breast,

topped with crispy shallot rings and apple matchsticks.

You ready? Just about there.

Daniel garnishes with watercress, parsley crumb and pork crackling.

His partridge tea consomme is served in shotgun cartridges.

The plate is presented in a medal box.

This certainly, for me, signifies who we're giving it to,

which is the honorary guests of the Queen.

So, this you would present like this at the banquet?

Yeah, 100% like that. OK, right. You hold that. Let's go.

I love the presentation. Yeah. I definitely think it hits the brief.

These little shotgun cartridges are cool.

Just pour on the consomme.

Nice flavour on the consomme.

Do you think it's seasoned as you wanted it?

As that sauce reduced, its natural salts

add enough flavour to this dish.

The partridge is cooked as you would want it to be?

Yeah, definitely. It's very tender.

I prefer a little bird roasted on the crown, rather than taken off

and put through a water-bath.

Mushrooms could do with a bit... Seasoning?

And the mushrooms - there's enough walnut oil?

Yeah, just a small amount of nuttiness in the mushrooms.

I'd just like a little bit more sharpness from the apple. Yeah.

And more of it. A bit more puree. More puree on the plate would help.

I can't taste the parsley.

What would you mark it out of ten? A good eight.

For the first course, that, for me, has made me...chuffed.

I'd probably give it a six. Six?

I wouldn't want you as my veteran judge!

How was that? Fine. Did she look like she enjoyed it?

I'm not getting any signals to say she didn't. OK, that's good.

Danny is next to plate his ambitious starter,

a reinvention of coronation chicken.

He's serving his dish on floral plates,

designed to give a nod to the chef and florist

who created the original dish.

He starts with mango ravioli, stuffed with chicken, scallop -

and featuring coriander.

DANIEL: So, you still got that coriander on there, then, mate?

That doesn't affect how I taste it. Stop winding him up!

Next are the pickled jasmine raisins...

Who made those, er, plates? I did. I designed them and took them to

the florist who does all the flower arranging for the Queen.

..followed by spiced mango puree.

They're the same flowers the Queen had at her coronation.

Are you going to let Angela take a plate home when we've finished? Depends how nice she is to me today!

Pickled shallots are next.

Confited chicken leg topped with coronation chicken dressing...

and puffed wild rice.

Seared scallops are sprinkled with crispy chicken skin...

..edible flowers and curried shallot rings garnish.

The final ingredient is raw scallop tartare.

I think it looks amazing. You should have been a florist as well as a chef!

Man of many talents! Let's see if you can cook, though.

"So we open this banquet with a special dish -

"Coronation chicken served with fish."

Cool! I like it. A poet as well.

On this shell, I've got the roasted scallop...

Yep. ..with the little crispy chicken skin.

I wanted a little bit of crunch on there.

The scallop is just cooked. Just cooked, yeah.

The mango ravioli... The mango's nice and fresh.

And the ravioli's worked for you?

I think the spice works well with the chicken.

The chilli should be swapped for a bit more curry, and...

Yeah, maybe. I think you're right. More of the coronation flavour.

What about the tartare? I like the different textures.

And you get all these little extras, as in the onion ring,

you've got the raisins and then you've got the edible flowers.

It's not merging as one dish. Yeah. I don't know if it was worth

all the running around. I think he could have taken a few elements off.

What would you score yourself? I would score this an eight.

I wanted that wow factor and I really think this delivers it.

Andrew is last to plate up his simple but refined starter,

Living On The Breadline, that he hopes celebrates his Great Britons,

the founders of a charity food bank.

Thank God for that! Cooked? I think it's cooked, yeah.

First on the plate is shredded salt-baked celeriac and Granny Smith apples.

Hey, how'd it go? Complete poker-face.

Were you happy with it? Yeah, I was really happy with it. I was really happy with it.

You just don't know, do you?

Andrew layers the oxtail onto the celeriac.

He brushes dumplings with oxtail sauce and places on top.

Celeriac crisps and micro parsley provide a garnish.

The celeriac soup is served in tin cans on miniature shelves,

representing the charity food bank.

So there's my dish. That's Living On The Breadline.

What do you think, Daniel? I think the plate looks lovely.

What about you, Danny? I love the story. Presentation's great.

Right, let's go and try it. Enjoy, boys.

"For David and Robin, two charity workers awarded the MBE for devoting

"their time to collecting leftover food for people in need."

These guys must be very proud you've done this.

Yeah, just representing all their hard work.

Quite thick soup, I suppose. It is.

I think it could be slightly thinner. It's quite hard balancing it.

The salt-baked celeriac - that's turned out as you wanted it?

Yeah, it's nice and crunchy.

It doesn't scream out that it's been salt-baked. No.

But nevertheless, the flavour of it is really, really lovely.

The dumpling's quite heavy for me. It's a bit bready, I suppose, maybe.

ANGELA: And the dumpling - light as you wanted it?

Could be a little bit lighter.

And is the oxtail braised enough for you, in that pressure cooker?

The oxtail I'm quite happy with, actually, and that was the thing I was most worried with.

I really like the oxtail.

Lovely and moist. Do you think it needs the crisps?

Now that that soup has gone on it, I'm assuming...

They've gone a bit soggy. Yeah.

Marks out of ten? I'd be happy with a seven.

How did it go, Andrew? Good, I think.

Did Angela give much away? No. No.

Do you think you got a good score? Well, I'd give myself an eight.

Yeah? Yeah.

I'd be disappointed with anything less than an eight. This is...

My palms are sweating! Yeah!

OK, guys. How are you feeling? A little nervous.

Well, it's the first course out of the way.

So, Daniel, I'm going to start with your dish, Making A Difference.

I thought the presentation in the medal box was really original

and I thought the consomme was delicious.

And, in fact, every component of your dish tasted good.

However, Daniel...

..I think you needed to put more of that apple puree on the plate.

OK. The crispy pork - you should have added more on there,

give a bit more texture to it.

It didn't really kick and pack those flavours for a dish that's got to go on the Great British Banquet.

Danny, with your Celebration Of Coronation...

You were a man on a mission today, weren't you, running round?

Great to see that energy, especially for the first course,

and I thought your ravioli, just using the mango skin, was nice.

And your presentation, without doubt, was brilliant.

But the coronation chicken - I think it needed more spice.

And I also think you could have actually had more coronation chicken.

I don't think each little element came together as a whole dish.

It felt like three, sort of, little canape dishes.

Andrew and your Living On The Breadline...

I like the story behind the dish.

The oxtail had a lovely texture to it

and it was really full of flavour.

The apple and celeriac work very well together.

Great, classic combination, but...

..that dish was in a soup bowl - it needed to be a proper soup.

You needed more of it, lighter, not quite so thick.

You made a big deal about getting these parsley dumplings nice and light.

They weren't as light as they could have been.

With the celeriac crisps, as soon as you poured the soup over them,

they weren't crisp any more.

I felt that dish was a little bit safe.

Now to the scores...

Daniel, I'm going to start with you.

And I'm going to give you a score of...

seven out of ten.

Andrew...

I'm giving you a score of...

six.

Danny...

I'm scoring you...

..a seven.

Chefs, you can all do a lot better than you did today.

I expect brilliant-tasting, bold, delicious food from the next courses.

Good luck. Thank you. Thank you.

Well done, boys. That's not bad, eh?

A little bit disappointed with the score. I'm quite competitive, so I always want to do better.

I don't think that's that bad. They're average scores.

All to play for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All to play for.

Angela liked it. She picked on things which I believe I can change.

I'm really happy with that result.

It's close. Yeah, really close.

Yeah, I'm a point behind but I've got three more to go. I'm confident, still.

If there is nothing new, then the Court of Appeal

aren't going to change their decision.

You have to question everything.