The Orient Express Chefs: Put Your Menu Where Your Mouth Is

Britain's top chefs...

Yee-ha!

..are going up against each other...

Be a good battle.

..to see who can make the most money from creating fabulous food

for the great British public!

It's all about making money.

Our award-winning chefs will be putting their reputations

on the line...

Help me!

..as they are each challenged

-to produce a delicious three-course meal...

-Yes!

..for a room full of ravenous diners.

We can't have customers waiting!

-We want beef!

-Perfect.

-Wow!

They'll be working in kitchens they've never set foot in before...

-This is impossible!

-..with a limited budget.

-Deal!

-You've got to go a bit lower than that.

..and up against the deadline of that day's service.

That took for ever to cook.

But the big question is who will make the most money...

-Rock on!

-..and win?

We came, we saw, we conquered.

Today's challenge is set to send our two rivals right off the rails,

because our chefs will be battling to keep the diners happy

on one of the most luxurious foodie experiences that money can buy -

the Orient-Express British Pullman.

It's not often you get to dine with silver cutlery

and have crystal glasses.

Chefs, put your menu where your mouth is!

When you think of the British Pullman,

you think of luxury, class, sophistication.

The art deco jewel of the railways.

A pinnacle of travel and fine dining.

What you don't picture is two flustered celebrity chefs

fighting it out head-to-head over a tiny hot stove,

but that's exactly what's about to happen.

We've set today's chefs the challenge of a lifetime.

They have just ten hours and £350 to each come up with

a three course menu, buy the ingredients, and cook the food

for a very discerning train of over 40 fine diners.

I think everyone's really excited.

So just who are these gastronomic gladiators?

Well, chef number one is a man who is used to life on the move.

He was born in Singapore, has lived in France,

and once even served food on Concorde.

He's a giant in the kitchen.

I am very, very ambitious, and I really, really want to win.

On the other side of the tracks

is a chef who knows what his customers want.

He's worked at some of Britain's most popular restaurants,

from the River Cafe to The Dorchester.

He should know how to pitch his menu just right.

It's the rampant restaurateur...

I think the best way to describe my cooking style

is fresh, clean and simple,

and if I can use those three pillars as the basis to everything I do

and it's successful, I'm happy.

The battleground for today's culinary clash

takes us back to the heyday of great train travel,

a time when glamour, fun and a dash of the Bertie Woosters

were all the rage.

Today, the iconic brown and cream carriages take guests

on five-star dining tours through the British countryside.

So, here we are, John. The Orient-Express.

This is a new one, isn't it?

It is new. I've always wanted to go on this.

Up we come. Wow, fantastic.

-It's a long climb up, isn't it?

-Beautiful.

These trains, described as palaces on wheels,

took the world's most exclusive passengers from London to Venice.

The British Pullman met them at Dover,

and whisked them to and from London.

Audrey. This carriage is called Audrey.

She's a good old girl.

Creating menus to match these surroundings

is going to be a challenge,

but not as big a challenge as cooking and plating up

in a tiny galley kitchen!

Here we are.

Here we what are? Are you serious?

This is insane. I'm terribly claustrophobic.

Well, it's got everything

you'd expect to have in miniature, hasn't it?

Well, you're not miniature.

-No, nor are you.

-No.

So, erm, we're going to be struggling with the ovens.

The chefs have a serious challenge in store.

On board, there is no electricity for blenders and mixers,

The galley ovens have no temperature control,

and sauces must be made thick to ensure they don't slop

onto the passengers' expensively-dressed laps.

Fortunately, the chefs will have the morning to prepare their ingredients

at the train depot kitchen.

Here, they can start their dishes off before they are loaded

onto trolleys and taken aboard before departure,

ready for finishing and plating as the orders come in.

Each chef has been shopping with a budget of £350,

securing the best possible ingredients

at the best possible prices.

Oh, it's such a great smell.

Both need to recreate a vintage fine dining experience

with starter, main and dessert

which fit the first class bill for over 40 paying passengers.

Whichever chef makes the most money for their chosen charity

will be the winner.

And so the challenge is set.

What menus have our chefs chosen to serve

on the world's most luxurious travelling train?

Well, for his starter, John has opted for a lobster salad

with a lobster cream dressing

and salad shoots bound in a tarragon dressing.

You don't get more upmarket than that!

But Ed is also aiming high-end,

with a delicious crottin goats' cheese salad

of honeyed white peaches, cobnuts

and fresh black truffled mascarpone cream,

but which one would you choose?

So, with time very much not on their sides,

our two chefs settle into the train depot kitchen.

They have just four hours before departure, and each get a couple

of handy assistant chefs, who won't be coming with them.

For the last time today, our boys can enjoy a bit of space,

freedom to move around at will and a chance to wind each other up.

John and I know each other very well.

I like to call him, like, my older uncle.

Forget the old!

Erm, Uncle John.

You're being really ridiculous.

Both the chefs have opted for cold starters -

probably a good idea, as it minimises the amount

of actual cooking they'll have to do on the train.

Ed starts off with roasting the white peaches for his salad.

Salt, vinegar, sugar, butter,

and now I'm going to let them cool down,

they're going to caramelise on the bottom,

we're going to add a little bit of honey to these,

and these will go beautifully with goats' cheese.

So how is Ed planning to cope

with the constraints of tonight's unique environment?

During service on the train,

every single element of what I'm doing is prepped.

I don't have to really do anything,

just reheat things and stand there doing this.

I've asked lots of questions about working on the train

and all these guys have an awful lot of experience

of working in a galley kitchen,

and the one thing they've pointed out to me is,

"Ed, it's very, very small."

Small, Ed, but perfectly formed,

not unlike your portions of goats' cheese.

Meanwhile, John has banked on lobsters -

some may say the king of crustaceans.

Mind you, the train is leaving from London Victoria,

not King's Crustacean!

Yeah(!)

He's banking on lobster being seen above Ed's truffle

as the opulent choice on the menu.

But Old Johnny Lobster isn't cheap, you know - oh, no!

So, once humanely dispatched,

John needs to make sure he gets as much from his money as possible -

heads, legs, the whole lobster caboodle.

-Did you see this green?

-Yeah.

Keep it in a little bowl for me,

cos that's going to make my sauce pink.

That's called the coral, or the eggs.

-But you give me the lobster shells.

-Yeah.

The lobster meat will simply be boiled and chilled

ready to place on his salad.

The real taste in this dish will come from its sauce,

the lobster cream dressing - mm!

We're reducing this down with the remaining shells...

..and some cream to bring down and extract as much of the iodine

and the flavour from the lobster shells.

Also, all the coral that was kept back, that green stuff in the head

that looked pretty revolting, that's gone in here, too,

and that's like concentrated lobster flavour,

so it's very straightforward.

No truffle in this dish, no caviar, no foie gras, no nothing.

Truffle? Who mentioned truffle?

I spent all my money on this, really, all of it.

Oh, can you smell it, though?

Look, it's like Christmas!

Christmas? What on earth is Ed talking about?

Oh! Mmmm!

That looks amazing.

-£80?

-£80.

Do you know what, though? If you were in France,

they'd appreciate it.

If you were in Italy, they'd love it.

In England, on the Orient-Express,

-they'll say that smells like your dirty socks...

-Put your shoes back on. I knew that!

There we are, then. Ed's Christmas smells like dirty socks!

According to John, anyway.

But John is not the only one with a vivid imagination.

Imagine peach trees, bees eating peach blossom,

and goats wandering around.

It all works together, plus nuts,

goats, nuts, nuts growing, peaches, it's all there.

Good. Well, I hope you all got that recipe at home.

Nuts, goats, nuts, trees... Oh, never mind.

Now, talking of recipes, how's Uncle John's lobster sauce coming on?

It's taken such a long time to prepare, wouldn't it be awful

if he accidentally threw it all over the floor?

-PAN CRASHES

-Argh!!!

Oh, John!

We've lost the lobster cream and about an hour's work.

That, my friend, is a disaster.

It smells absolutely lovely.

I shouldn't laugh, really, but it's one of those, when someone

falls over, sometimes it's funny.

Yes, I wouldn't laugh if I were you, Ed.

That's a classic case of less haste, more pace.

John salvages a mere mug-full from the pan,

and the stuff on the floor goes in the bin.

Do you mind if I pop outside and have a scream

and I'll come back in a minute?

Poor old John.

Arggggh!

Ed, however, can barely hide the smirk on his face!

I have to commend you on maintaining your calm.

I can promise you I am not maintaining calm.

I'm just holding it in and it's destroying me.

Please don't tap me on the shoulder cos I might kill you!

And while John tries to expand what's left of his lobster cream,

it's time for Ed to whip out his deadly weapon - his fresh truffle.

I've got mascarpone, a little lemon juice, a little olive oil

and a pinch of salt and into that we've got this lovely truffle.

Some people, you know, you can shave truffle,

but I want it quite fine, quite delicate.

Ed's truffle is a big gamble. It cost him £80,

almost a quarter of his entire budget,

and as this competition is all about making the most profit,

spending £80 on a mushroom could come back to haunt him later on.

I've got a pound's worth there.

Oh!

Oh!

Delicious!

Well, that was a pound well-spent, then!

Let's hope the customers will share Ed's enthusiasm.

And with such an expensive ingredient,

at what price will Ed put his starter on the menu?

Time to talk money.

Ed's total spend on his goats' cheese

salad ingredients was £123.71,

£80 of which

went on his huge truffle.

He's decided to put his starter

on the menu at £14.50.

John has spent slightly less

at £110.13.

However, he has thrown

half the lobster on the floor.

He put his starter

on the dining car menus for £12.50,

a full £2 less than Ed's dish.

It's nearly time for the majestic British Pullman to leave the depot

and make its way to Victoria Station,

where it will be picking up tonight's discerning travellers,

and in the kitchen, the chefs are having to say goodbye to their

half-cooked food, as it's popped onto trays

and wheeled off to the train.

Oh, just look at it go!

Hmm...

Time for those last minute tweaks, or, in John's case,

the complete rebuild of his now less-saucy lobster starter.

So, I'm just having a play, to see how I think this might look tonight.

Time's up, John. It's time to board the train.

At Victoria Station, the vintage carriages are prepared

for the evening's journey, and the food is loaded aboard.

The starters will be served from the onboard kitchen

shortly after the train leaves.

Over 40 diners are joining the train for the journey,

and getting their first glimpse of the opulence

they will spend their evening in.

It really feels like a throwback to the times...

..when you're travelling in style, and just looking at the whole set up,

oh, it's just wonderful. I'm really looking forward to dinner now.

It feels a little bit like you're going back in time.

The atmosphere is just wonderful.

It's such a beautiful, beautiful treat.

Up in the kitchen carriage, our chefs are trying to

get their heads around what might be in store for them.

I'm not sure about John but I'm feeling quite apprehensive.

You can't have anything loose, or not sort of balanced like this,

it's all going to fall over as the train, apparently,

Geoff, the manager's told us it moves around a lot, so really...

..you know, one thing you don't want is to create something

and it falls all over the floor.

Yes, be warned - no butter fingers in there!

So it's time for the off.

In stately procession, the historic carriages pull out of the station.

Usually, passengers have all their meals included in their ticket,

but for the purposes of today's competition,

these diners will be choosing from the special menus

prepared by our chefs and will be paying for each course themselves.

My expectations of the food tonight - well, I presumed

we were going to have the best,

and just reading the menu has proved that that is the case.

I think, you know, Michelin star, I would imagine,

so, yeah, my expectations are quite high.

No pressure there, then, guys!

At the moment, the diners have no idea who cooked which dishes.

All they have to go on are the menus.

Ed and John, however, get to compare the two dishes

in the flesh, as it were.

But are they satisfied their rival

has come up to their own exacting standards?

Right, John, here we go, tasting.

First up is John's cold lobster salad.

Lovely way to start a meal.

-No one's going to complain about that.

-No.

And if they do, they should be thrown from the train!

So John's lobster gets the thumbs up from Ed.

What about John's thoughts on the goats' cheese?

I think this is English goats' cheese.

It is indeed, yeah.

Is it? And so it's quite sour?

Oh, so it's sour now, is it?

Luckily, you've got the sweetness of the peaches,

otherwise you might be in some sort of conflict,

but it's a lovely little plate, Ed.

Even John's convoluted compliments somehow sound patronising.

How does he get away with it?

Anyway, blissfully unaware of the compact kitchen shenanigans,

the unsuspecting diners have already started to make their choices.

I fancied something a little more exotic so I went for the lobster.

I like goats' cheese and honey, I think that's a nice combination.

You know, it's a no-brainer. I'm going to go for the lobster,

but, actually, I then read the second choice,

and I thought, OK, that looks interesting as well,

but I stayed with the lobster, so I'm going for the lobster.

Let's see what happens now.

Here we go!

And with the train barely out of Victoria Station,

the diners' minds are made up, and the first orders come in.

On your marks, get set, go!

-I'm going to go for the lobster, please.

-The lobster.

-Goats' cheese salad, please.

-And a goats' cheese.

Could I have the lobster to start with, please?

-The lobster, certainly.

-I'll have the goats' cheese.

First orders are pretty evenly matched, but how are the boys

going to get on for space in this tiniest of kitchens?

OK, one lobster, one goats' cheese, one lobster, one goats' cheese,

so obviously we're making two of each.

Erm, John's not.

I don't know why, John, you're not. Just make another one next to it.

All right, he's going to make everything...

He's doing one at a time.

So multi-tasking is not for John, but the late arrival of his starters

doesn't seem to put the guests off ordering the dish,

and little by little, John's lobster is clawing its way into the lead.

I'm going to have a cold lobster salad, please.

I would, please, like the lobster to start.

The popularity of the lobster is not lost on Ed.

Oh, you've got four lobster now.

4-2, two lobster.

John's slightly running away with this now.

Er, one lobster, one goats' cheese, three lobster, one goats' cheese.

You know, I'm really pleased.

Erm, I'm not that much ahead anyway.

Five dishes. Five dishes, John.

-Is it five plates?

-Yeah, five dishes ahead.

Oh, right, OK. That's not massive.

Well, it's 25%.

Well, here we go.

This is the added moment now of making dishes up

whilst riding a fun fair.

And John's already thrown his lobster on the floor once.

Better not do it again, as his sales are starting to flood in.

Can I have the lobster salad to start, please?

-Goats' cheese.

-Goats' cheese, certainly.

-Yeah.

I think I would love to start with the lobster salad, please.

Once lobster, one goats' cheese, two lobsters.

John, I'm quite interested to know,

you know after you threw your lobster sauce all over the floor,

how did you manage to salvage,

because it was quite an intricate thing that happened there.

I know, I lost the best sauce.

What I did was, I had a few shells left in the pan,

I creamed it and to get the colour I put in tomato puree.

Tomato puree?

Let's hope you don't get rumbled by the diners.

Madame, what are you having?

Can I have the lobster salad, please?

Another lobster.

Can I get the lobster salad as well?

-And another lobster.

-And yourself, sir?

I'd like the lobster as well, please.

Three! Go on, make it four.

And the same for myself.

A full house of lobster! And make it snappy!

Oh, God, I've been slaughtered.

Two lobster followed by four lobster.

I'm going to run out.

I only made 30.

The last diners have ordered,

and has John's sauce-light lobster wiped the floor again?

I've just been absolutely beaten up by that order.

I was sort of limping along behind, hoping for something good to happen,

and now I've just fallen flat on my face.

Flat on his face? Beaten up? It's like Murder On The Orient-Express!

But this time the lobster did it!

So what did the customers think of John's piece de resistance?

I thought it was very nice, it was very tasty,

it was very light.

I thought it was absolutely lovely.

Very flavoursome, very tender, wonderful.

The sauce was very good, yeah.

I was a bit wary of it at first,

because it looked a bit like thousand island dressing,

sort of straight from the 80s, but it was actually much nicer

than that would suggest. It was really good.

It really sort of enhanced everything.

So, yeah, it was great.

Oh, if only he knew!

Anyway, Johnny Lobster went down a treat with the customers,

but what about Ed's cheesy hors d'oeuvre?

Everything about it was perfect.

It was really nice and the presentation on the dish

was really good.

And the £80 truffle?

I couldn't actually taste much of a truffle taste to it,

because I think the goats' cheese was quite a strong taste,

so even if it was there, perhaps it just overwhelmed it.

Oh, well. It was only £80.

£80!

Anyway, truffle aside, the big question is how many servings

did our chefs sell in round one of this special railway challenge?

-John, how was it for you?

-Er, yeah, that was great.

-You enjoyed that?

-Yeah, I think I've done well,

but it's not over, it's just the first course, Ed.

OK, let's have a look, it wasn't good for me, you know.

I would have like to have sold more, but here we go.

Let's have a look. Ready, one, two three.

28-17. Oooh!

-That's all right.

-Well, that's a lead of 11.

That's not bad, that's not much.

If it was a football score, it would be painful,

but if it was a rugby score it's acceptable, I suppose.

And it's neither, so there you go!

So that's the number of covers sold,

but this competition is all about profit.

John's 28 starters

brought him in a total of £350.

Deducting the £110.13

spent on his ingredients,

that leaves a profit of £239.87.

Ed only sold 17 starters,

bringing in £246.50.

He spent £123.71 on ingredients

including his expensive truffle

so his profit going

into the next round is £122.79,

almost half as much as John made.

Ed might be trailing at this stage,

but with carriages still full of hungry diners,

there's plenty of opportunity to pick up steam.

Time, then, for round two - the main course.

For this, Ed is going to be serving a grilled free-range chicken breast

with morel mushroom cream sauce, parmentier potatoes

and buttered baby vegetables.

John has opted for beef - a roast sirloin of Aberdeen angus

with a fricassee of girolle mushrooms in a red wine sauce.

It'll be served with garlic cream potatoes and green beans.

Which one would you choose?

The chefs prepped their main courses during the afternoon

at the train depot kitchens,

where Ed made no bones about John's more intricate dish.

John's created a very complicated menu by the sounds of things.

We can slowly watch himself combust as the time runs out.

This is the challenge, I'll tell you what,

cos we haven't got a lot of time,

and, you know, if you're boarding the Orient-Express,

you're expecting a superb meal...

..but one thing you must have, of course, is a meal.

So, first shot to Ed.

I think a bit of chicken in a cream sauce with some dried mushrooms is,

you know, it's fairly nice, but let's face it, Ed,

it's not terribly challenging.

Ooh, neatly parried by John.

This is no ordinary sauce.

Well, this is no ordinary competition!

Morella.

These little fellows grow on the stumps of fallen trees usually,

a wonderful fungus,

very prevalent in France.

Lovely, lovely flavour, very woody, very autumnal.

What I'm going to be doing is making a Madeira-based sauce

with chicken and morels, finishing it with cream,

fresh thyme, and that's going to go with my little breast of chicken.

John might find Ed's recipe rather tiresome,

but what trick has he got up his sleeve to make him quite so smug?

These are my marrow bones,

and they're going in to give my sauce some strength and flavour.

I'm trying to roast off some chicken bones to give it

some sort of sweetness, but this has taken 25 minutes to boil,

so I don't know what's going on, quite.

But I'm going to cook that out now for two hours

and we'll see what we've got.

Just make sure you don't drop it on the floor this time, John!

Now, both chefs are having to cook their food several hours

ahead of service in the terra firma prep kitchen,

as there is only room to warm it through in the train's galley.

Ed pan fries his chicken breasts to seal and colour them,

before putting them in the oven to roast.

They will then be cooled and wrapped up for transit.

Nice and easy, simple to manage, ideal for a small kitchen.

I mean, you wouldn't want to be messing about with a huge hunk

of meat now, would you?

Aberdeen Angus, it's been hung for about 32 days, it's delicious,

and it should be for that price,

but because it's a train, what I'm doing is I'm going to sear it

and I'm going to cook it to the point where it's medium rare.

That's going to take about 40 minutes,

and then let it relax,

so that when it comes to the train journey and serving,

I'll just warm it through the oven

and slice it...slice it to order, is the plan.

The only thing I am worried about, I have to tell you this,

I don't know if there's any room to slice the beef,

so it's going to be one of those chaotic services, I think,

where I might do an Ed Baines and lose my temper.

Well, there's something to look forward to -

a big explosion of beef and Burton-Race, in a tiny kitchen.

And what does Ed have to say about this?

Well, the butcher has done a fabulous job and so has the farmer,

and it looks nice, it's all crusted and lovely and juicy.

It's nicely cooked...

I like a little more colour on the skin, myself.

Would you, really?

-Yeah, maybe, a bit more.

-Oh, right, yeah, OK.

A bit more crispy.

But it smells good to me.

Of course, this competition is all about who makes the most profit,

not who has the biggest ego,

so let's find out what the chefs have decided as the menu price

for their main courses.

John spent £145.72 on the ingredients for his main,

and £120 of that was just on his upmarket beef.

He's decided his dish will be priced on the menu at £22.50.

Ed spent a little less. £127.06 on his chicken,

morel mushrooms and other ingredients,

and is pricing his main at exactly the same price as John is,

which means he stands to make

a little more profit per serving than John.

Four hours later at service,

the diners are weighing up their options,

while in the kitchen, the two chefs are weighing up

each other's dishes.

All right, here we go.

John's offering is his Aberdeen Angus steak with garlic potatoes

and green beans, and, of course, his special sauce.

Yeah, that's good.

I made a rich red wine sauce, with beef marrow.

Lovely, isn't it?

Very nice.

Ed's serving up chicken breast, with parmentier potatoes,

baby vegetables and a morel mushroom sauce.

It's very good. I think the sauce is a bit reduced, do you?

-It's quite strong.

-Yeah.

That's because it's been on the stove for three hours.

Yeah, yeah. Otherwise, fabulous.

So, tasting over and time for round two.

Let the battle of the beef and the charge of the chicken commence!

But which way will our diners lean?

Well, both ways, probably, as they are on a moving train.

I'll have the steak, please.

I'll have the chicken, please.

Can I have the chicken breast, please?

The steak for me, please.

Here we go, the bun fight begins.

The first orders seem pretty even - two chicken, two beef.

But as our two chefs make the best of the tiny amount of space

available to them, one dish seems to be edging ahead.

The Aberdeen Angus, for my main.

Can I just copy her?

It seems to be going John's way.

Three steak, one chicken.

But Ed has other issues to contend with.

Peas on a plate on a moving train is not a great idea.

Lack of space is even harder.

Ed might have a bit of a pea problem,

but John is starting to have a lovely time.

The potatoes are perfect now. They've taken on

all that lovely garlic cream and they're just perfect.

The only thing is I've only got 50 portions of them,

so I don't know if I'll have enough!

Ooh, he loves his own spuds, does John.

In fact, at the moment, he's loving everything.

The beef's looking amazing.

I think it's probably the best beef I've ever cooked and tasted.

In fact, I'd go as far as saying this is probably

the best beef in the world.

Modesty, understatement, generosity of spirit.

Three words that are not really in John's vocabulary.

And what would you like for the main course, sir?

Can I have the Aberdeen Angus, please?

-Thanks very much.

-I'm going to have the Aberdeen Angus.

Two more beef!

I'm going to have the Aberdeen Angus steak, please. Thank you.

Everyone wants Aberdeen Angus, and no-one wants poor old London Ed.

I'm not in the slightest bit sad about Ed's demise.

This chicken is so lovely, it really is, you know,

it's so juicy and lovely.

It's just a shame, really.

In this game, it's possible to have too much of a good thing,

and John is starting to have some fears.

It's going very well.

Really well, but I think I'm going to, seriously, joking apart,

I'm going to, I'm definitely going to run out of beef.

If either chef runs out of food,

his opponent gets to pick up his orders,

and take the profit for himself.

Surely that can't happen to either of our seasoned professionals?

Last two beef sold, Ed.

Oh.

What does that mean, then?

How many chicken do you need?

Probably quite a lot, Ed.

It's up to the train crew to break the news to the hungry diners.

Ladies and gents, just to let you know we've run out of beef,

so we just want to know whether it's OK

if everybody switches to the chicken who has ordered the beef.

-No!

-No.

-No, I want the beef!

I do apologise.

I'm going to have to offer you the chicken, if that's all right.

There's not going to some sort of great train mutiny, is there?

We want beef! We want beef!

Poirot would have expected beef when beef should have been served.

Poirot does not want chicken.

Chicken is good, but not as good as beef.

We want beef!

Do you think she wants beef?

I can't have 40 people on the train and do 40 beef.

-You haven't had 40 beef.

-Well, it feels like it.

I thought if I bought three-quarters of the whole of the diners

that would be enough. Obviously I got that wrong,

but I'm still winning.

If John had planned his portions right, he would have satisfied

nine more passengers' orders with his beef.

And at £17.64 profit per portion,

that's nearly £160 he has lost out on.

I'll win this.

I'll win this.

Watch.

Well, £160 on top of all his other orders

is certainly not to be sniffed at.

Just when he thought it was all over, Ed Baines is back in the game,

as long as the whole lot doesn't go flying, that is!

Slightly asking for trouble here, stacking all this up in this way,

cos if the train suddenly hits a set of points,

everything's on the floor.

Even with those bonus orders,

Ed is still nowhere near selling all his chicken,

a fact John is all-too-keen to point out.

Out in the carriage, it's chicken all round.

Sorry, I ordered the beef!

Yeah, it's beef substitute.

Ed and John have finished the massive challenge

of serving over 40 diners from a tiny, shaking train kitchen.

Let's find out what their customers thought of their efforts.

So, I had beef.

The presentation of it was beautiful

and I was really looking forward to getting into it.

Chicken breast was really, really big. Bit worried that it looked like

I had a whole plate of peas at one point

and they seemed to be going on for ever.

What about the customers who wanted beef but got chicken?

It worked out really well for me

because I didn't understand why top chefs cooked chicken,

but now I do, because it's all about the sauce that goes with it,

and it was actually really, really good.

And what about madam?

Oh, my goodness.

I ordered the beef this evening,

ended up with the chicken, but yeah, it was great.

I did enjoy the chicken, it was really, really tasty,

but I must admit, I would still have loved the beef.

Oh, you and your beef!

Well, it's all very nice to get good reviews, but this a competition,

so as the slow eaters down their last few mouthfuls,

it's time to find out exactly how many dishes each chef served.

Well, John, I have to congratulate you there,

you got a run on that one

and, you know, what I picked up on in the end,

cos I think I served about six or seven pieces of chicken, really,

-was that you didn't buy enough beef.

-I know.

Let's be honest, if you hadn't had those extra chicken sales

you would have hated me.

I would have been in pain, yeah, no, you know,

they like eating beef on the train, so, ready?

BOTH: One, two, three.

There you go.

20 to 23.

-Has that really niggled you?

-Yes!

I bet that does niggle.

It means he handed over a full nine portions to Ed.

What was he thinking only buying enough beef

to serve so few customers?

Let's find out how those figures translate into profits.

John's sales have banked him a total of £517.50,

and after deducting his costs,

he has made a reasonable £371.78 on his mains.

Ed's chicken, including bonus dishes,

has netted him £450 exactly.

He spent £127.06 on his ingredients,

so he makes a little less profit at £322.94.

For a selection of recipes from the series, log on to...

Now, let's find out what our two battling chefs

have prepared for their final assault.

John is once more going fancy,

with a chocolate and coffee layered mousse, and a cold coffee anglaise.

Ed is hoping comfort food will win the orders,

with a blueberry sponge pudding,

almond custard and blueberry compote.

The desserts, like all the food, had to be prepared in advance

in the depot kitchen and taken on the train

before it leaves for its journey.

John's dessert is an assemblage of complicated components -

a biscuit sponge that has to be baked

and a chocolate mousse that will take hours to set.

A risky decision on a time-limited challenge!

Where is the other mousse?

Yeah, but why aren't they in the oven?

No, no, man, no, seriously, we haven't got time.

Three hours to set this.

It's too hot, you know.

I don't care, I really don't care.

Three hours is three hours, and no dessert's going to wait for you.

The train certainly won't wait for anyone.

Ed seems much more on top of his game.

What we have here is the batter mix to make a steamed sponge pudding.

So it's flour, eggs, sugar, lemon zest, butter.

So how we're making these different

is we've got these absolutely beautiful Devon blueberries,

and these taste like blueberries should.

They're really delicious, so they're going in,

and this one I keep to make a little blueberry syrup.

John is starting the construction of his dessert.

So, here we are, here's my little chocolate dessert for tonight.

Now, what I've got is the almond sponge in the bottom.

Next job is to create the coffee mousse.

Basically, what I'm doing so we don't have any raw egg situation

in the dessert is I'm cooking out the egg yolks

over a bain-marie of water, and to that I'm going

to add 50g of instant coffee.

But has John attempted the impossible?

This is where it could all go horribly wrong.

Get them in the blast freezer to bring the temperature down

so I can set the mousse fast,

because what we're trying to do is something that takes overnight,

we're trying to do it in three and a half hours. That's why I was getting a little bit...

-Anxious.

-That's the word.

Fingers crossed, John!

The fine diners are not going want a runny half-set mousse.

Will he manage to pull it together?

Will Ed's blueberry sponge go down well with the upmarket clientele?

And what about the money?

Because it will come down to profit!

Well, John spent £41.57

on the components for his chocolate mousse,

but Ed has secured himself an advantage

in this round by clearing a shade under £16

for his blueberry sponge.

What makes this really exciting is that, for desserts,

the customers can pay what they want.

The good old British Pullman is now heading homeward,

slipping through the night while the diners enjoy

their last few sips of pre-pudding wine.

In the kitchen, however, disaster has struck once again.

They've come out of the ring moulds too early.

OK.

John was gambling on his chocolate mousse setting in record time.

Unfortunately, it didn't!

There's nothing I can do about this now, cos it's not set.

The only thing I've lost is about half the chocolate mousse.

It's a tiny dessert. I hope they're not terribly hungry after this.

This is the worst round for a disaster like this,

because, for the first time,

the diners are not choosing off the menu.

John and Ed have to go out in person with a sample portion

and try to sell their dishes to the customers.

They need their desserts looking as impressive as possible.

Ed's is exactly as he planned it -

a mouth-watering syrup sponge pudding with blueberries inside

and on top, and served with an almond custard.

It looks perfect.

That's delicious.

It's just, you know, it's got an almond custard,

it's a sponge pudding.

Yeah, it's a very good one, though.

-It's all right, you know.

-I love it.

John's construction of sponge and rather unset mousse

is served with a cold coffee Anglaise.

He's made the best of it, but it's half the size it was supposed to be.

Better hope that by now the diners aren't feeling hungry.

Combination of coffee, chocolate and almond.

Very sophisticated.

Like me, Ed. Like me.

So, time for our chefs to face their travelling public

with their creations.

Obviously, this is the point in the evening when you decide and choose

what you might want to eat for pudding.

This is a very classic pudding with a twist,

and it's got Devon blueberries in there,

so you can have a look at it. I'm going to cruise along.

There it is, it's very lovely and I'm going to head this way,

there we are.

So, Ed is charming as usual, but what about John?

OK, we've got rid of the rubbish.

Has he showed you that really revolting flat sponge thing?

-Yeah.

-Don't eat it, please.

I think Ed's probably come through the carriage

with a really revolting, tasteless blueberry sponge thing.

Isn't he rude? Rude! Perhaps that's why he's best off in the kitchen.

John might have won the last two rounds,

but misjudging his pitch to the customers

could now prove a costly disaster.

I think a lot of the table went for the chocolate and coffee dessert

and I went the other way with the blueberry sponge,

because the pitch was actually quite aggressive

with the chocolate and coffee dessert.

Yes, sure enough, John has put his foot in his mouth,

and more to the point, put Ed's sponge in the customers' mouths!

The rule with the dessert round is that the customers must pay

what they think their pudding is worth,

with a minimum of £2 and maximum of the sky's the limit,

which has led to a bit of wishful thinking in the kitchen.

All you need is one guy out there who is absolutely minted

with loads of dosh, and he just drops like 700 quid on a coffee.

But Ed doesn't have to dream too much,

as sales of his blueberry sponge appear to be mounting.

Can I have a blueberry sponge, please?

Er, blueberry sponge, as well.

Sir, what would you like for dessert?

I'll have the blueberry sponge, please.

And what about madam? Is it beef?

Chocolate one sounds too divine to miss.

Now in the kitchen it couldn't get worse for John, or could it?

The train has started to speed up.

This is nigh on impossible to...

to plate up properly.

I've got sauce all over the place,

the train seems to have picked up speed

and we're getting chucked all over the kitchen.

It's like, sort of, surfing, trying to cook on a surfboard...

..cos this train has decided now...

I think what normally happens, is they finish serving food,

but the driver doesn't know that John and I are still struggling

back here, and at this point it's like,

"Well, look, you've had your supper."

"I'm gunning it back home now."

Two blueberries coming now. Whoa!

Coming now.

Well, all hell has broken loose in the kitchen,

but in the comfort and tranquillity of the carriages,

how have the desserts gone down?

And, more to the point, how much do the diners think they're worth?

I had the blueberry sponge. It was lovely.

Perfect end to a lovely meal, light, fluffy, absolutely perfect, divine.

I would pay at least £12 for it.

I had the chocolate dessert. It was very nice and I paid £5.

I went for the blueberry sponge.

I thought it was absolutely fabulous and I was willing to pay £15 for it.

£15?!

A few more customers like that

and Ed is not just going to take the round but the whole competition.

Sadly for him, though, the orders draw rapidly to an end.

That's me.

Finished.

Well, no need to look so miserable, Ed!

So how have our heroes really enjoyed their day?

This whole experience today has been absolutely insane.

It's been a very interesting experience,

it has been very wonderful to be on the Orient-Express

and, erm, and THAT I have loved.

I've enjoyed fighting with John all day.

Well, good that you've both enjoyed it,

because now it's that all-important moment of truth.

We will find out shortly how much profit our chefs have made,

but, first, let's see how many desserts they've sold.

Ed managed to sell 23 of his Blueberry sponges.

A sterling effort, especially when compared to John,

who managed a less impressive 18 chocolate mousses.

It's been a tough day for Ed and John cooking against the clock

in a tiny kitchen on a moving train,

but now their work is done,

and it's time to reveal the outcome of today's competition.

That was a journey, wasn't it?

A real train journey, yes.

Shall we have a look?

Yeah, come on, let's do it.

One, two, three.

There you go. It's yours. A hard battle was fought.

Congratulations, I'll shake your hand.

-Thank you, Ed.

-Good job.

-There we go.

-Oh, it's only like 50 quid, isn't it, really?

Come on, man. It's at least 55!

So, victory for John, but only by a margin of three dishes.

That was tight!

Winning today was like any day, really, when you win.

It's fantastic, but it's been a fantastic experience

being on the Orient-Express.

I've really, really enjoyed myself.

Certainly not ashamed of what I did today.

I thought it was good, good cooking, good food.

John got a great run on the beef,

and, all in all, the experience of cooking on a train

was second to none.

Both our chefs have made an amazing amount of money,

and all of their profits will be going to their chosen charities.

I'm going to be donating the money tonight to a charity called

Ray Of Sunshine, which makes donations for children

that are terribly ill, or terminally ill,

to just have that one big wish in their life come true.

My charity today is Shelter Box.

They provide accommodation for people in times of disasters.

Well, John may be the winner in today's competition,

but both our chefs have shown that they've got what it takes

to put their menus where their mouths are!

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