The Black Swan Chefs: Put Your Menu Where Your Mouth Is

Britain's top chefs...

Yee-ha!

-..are going up against each other...

-This is going to 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 meeeeee!

..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 do better than that.

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

That took forever to cook.

But the big question is, who will make the most money?

Rock on!

And win?

We came, we saw, we conquered.

Today, gastro juggernaut Ed Baines

takes on cavalier culinarian James Tanner

in a thrilling clash of cookery that will push their chef skills

to the absolute limit.

Come on, let's do it.

Coming up...

Ed faces a culinary crisis.

My gut feeling is chuck it all away and start again but I can't.

And James proves a bit of a hit with the paying public.

You need relaxing.

Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Would you like to know about my dessert?

And we find out whether it will be Ed's delicious dishes,

or James's mouth-watering meal that wins the day!

If you want some heat, come in to the kitchen

and prepare for one of the biggest battles

in the history of cooking shows!

Two colossi of the culinary world are about to go head to head

in a real restaurant to establish beyond doubt

which of them is the better chef.

Ed, are you getting a sweat on?

Our challengers couldn't be more different.

In one corner, a man who's run some of London's most popular restaurants,

it's the maestro of all things gastro - Ed Baines.

My cooking style is fresh, clean and simple.

When I don't win I get terribly disappointed.

In the other corner, a cheeky chappie who opened his

first restaurant at the tender age of 23,

and has gone on to become one of Britain's best-loved chefs,

it's the young pretender - James Tanner.

What I love about being a chef is creating

different elements and different dishes.

Every day is always different.

Food's always changing, it's never boring.

I absolutely love it.

Right now, our champion chefs know nothing about the challenge

ahead of them, but they're about to find out!

They'll be going into battle at The Black Swan,

a popular gastro pub in the South East.

It's a big venue with a top notch reputation,

and it attracts regular customers who expect a lot more than

just your average scampi in a basket.

I'm expecting the food to really exciting, quite different.

Something that will tickle my taste buds.

So our boys will need to focus all their expertise

into creating exceptional menus.

And it doesn't stop there.

They'll also have to buy all their own ingredients.

They've each got a budget of £850, with which they'll have to

seek out the very best deals.

-50 quid.

-40?

As it will be the chef who makes the most money who will be

crowned the winner, and all profits will go to their chosen charities.

Ed Baines and James Tanner -

it's time to put your menu where your mouth is.

So, gastro pub, could've been worse.

For me, fits quite comfortably. I've owned a few gastro pubs in my time.

Oh, all right.

The thing I find daunting is the number of diners and the time frame

we've got to create these three dishes and do a service.

-Could be a problem, Ed.

-So, James, have you got any ideas on your menu?

I'm not giving anything away, Mr Baines, no way.

I've already written my menu, you know that. A flash of light has

come into my head, I've created this menu and it's a winner.

-You just got something wrong then.

-What's that?

You said it was a winner,

the competition hasn't started yet, Mr Baines.

-We'll see, OK. Well, battle will commence at 7.00pm.

-All the best.

-I look forward to it.

-But not too much luck.

And so the challenge is set!

Veteran Ed is awed by the sheer number of diners they'll be

catering for, they're expecting over 90, while young James could be

out of his comfort zone in a gastro pub.

The first thing going through my head is how can I spend

as little money as possible but create something that is

really sensational that the diners are absolutely going to jump at.

While Ed wants to keep his costs to a minimum,

James' plan couldn't be more opposite.

I'm going to spend that cash.

I want to spend the cash sensibly but buy premium.

I want premium ingredients, premium food at a premium price.

It's a high risk strategy, James,

you better hope those diners are willing to pay for it!

With their battle plans in place,

our boys turn their attentions to their starters.

There's a trout farm near here and I feel that I want to support a local

producer so it's going to be trout and something that everyone loves.

So Ed is opting for trout, and after further deliberation

he decides to serve it up with spiced crispy squid

on a bed of apple, ginger and kohlrabi - a type of German cabbage.

On the side, a vegetable scented broth.

James, like his rival, is also going for seafood.

I'm going to go for Thai-style fish cakes

with sweet and sour cucumbers.

Deciding what to dish up is a huge challenge,

but it's nothing compared to cooking it on a massive scale

in a kitchen you've never even seen before.

As our chefs set foot in this kitchen for the first time,

Ed gets used to the layout.

Lovely.

And James is determined not to give off any sign of nerves.

-Mr Tanner.

-Mr Baines.

-Where have you been?

Shopping, buying premium ingredients.

Yeah, you're taking your time.

I know but as you're more senior I think you need that more time.

-So I can plod along.

-You can plod along and...

You're going to show me how it's done, aren't you, today?

I don't need to do that, Ed, surely.

You're going to whizz around like a young whippersnapper

while you see me plodding along in the corner.

You'd better get going, you're going to be way behind.

No, I won't.

No more time for idle chit chat. I've got to get back to do the job now.

-I wish you the best.

-Nice to see you though, I'll see you later.

-Yeah!

Ageist jokes, James? That's a bit below the belt.

Anyway, time to get your kit on and meet your team.

Both chefs have been assigned two brave volunteers

from the regular kitchen staff to help them prepare

their three courses.

Come closer and I'll explain what we're doing.

And with service only hours away, they need to get cracking.

One of us start blitzing up the fish cakes and we've got four hours.

And so the race begins for our chefs to prepare their starters.

Ed is determined that nothing he's spent money on will go to waste.

I've got loads of trimmings here, leek tops, sort of celery tops.

You stuff them into the jars and then boil them for four hours.

All the sweetness, all the aromas are going to be caught into these

little jars, the idea is when you're cooking and you've got

an awful lot going on if you try and get as many things working for you

before you move on to the next thing.

So I should have about four or five happening and then I can go

and sit at the bar or watch James and laugh at him making,

I think I heard him saying something about fish cakes.

Yes, Ed, you heard right!

So what we're making here is the Thai fish cakes, OK.

We've got our mixed white fish

that I got from a selection from the fishmonger earlier.

We've got red Thai curry paste, bit of that.

Here we have citrus zest, lime, lime zest.

Now we're going to add egg, egg binds things as we all know

and it helps hold everything together, OK.

Can you get me a big bowl and a maryse to scrape everything out?

Unbeknownst to James, his opponent is eye-balling his every move.

My cat Percy would just have a field day in that bowl.

The thing is it looks nice on the menu, Thai fish cakes,

we all eat them, but look.

Ed, you know, I don't, I wouldn't be concerned about my starter.

Just think about your own, mate.

Think about your own. That's a nervous man.

Look at him sweat, it will do him good actually today,

working a full day for once in his life.

So as well as the seafood starters it seems that

barbed personal insults have also made their way onto tonight's menu!

Both our chefs are coming out fighting -

but which dish will be the winner?

Victory in this competition will go to the chef who makes

the most profit, so earlier on in the day,

whilst shopping for their ingredients,

both chefs were focussed on buying the minimum they'd need

to cover the evening's service.

And keeping their expenditure as low as possible.

The less they spend, the greater their potential profits.

For the fresh smoked trout for his starter,

Ed headed off to a local trout farm to meet Gerry.

But was he able to find the right ingredients at a bargain price?

-It's so lovely.

-Boned already.

-It's all, it's sensational.

The smokies also come from a local hurdle maker.

He makes hurdles for race horses and that sort of thing, it's ash.

So you're giving me lots of little pointers now to write the menu,

so it's ash smoked trout. Hurdler's ash smoked trout, in fact.

Are you happy with that?

Yeah, this is brilliant. This is absolutely perfect.

I'm on to a winner here.

Don't speak too soon, Ed,

as James is also out to secure the ingredients for his fish cakes -

but how great a deal will he be able to get?

I need great price white fish, basically.

Obviously, I can see you've got haddock and cod and stuff like that.

Basically, mate, it boils down to, like, a final price

for about six kilos of fillet weight.

OK, we can do that for 60 quid for you.

You couldn't do it for 50 quid, could ya?

-Yeah, I can do it for 50 quid for you.

-Fantastic stuff.

Oh, a tenner discount and £50 for the main ingredient of his starter

means James is a happy man.

Ed has now gathered his smoked trout, some garlic and some squid.

But can he get as good a deal as his rival?

-What's the damage?

-50 quid.

-40?

-45.

-42?

£42, yeah, that's brilliant.

Oh, Ed gets a cracking deal, knocking Gerry down by £8

and securing the main ingredients for his starter for £42.

So how will the money our chefs have spent on ingredients

influence what menu price they give their starters?

Well, with the other ingredients included,

Ed spent a total of £62.28

and has put his starter on the menu at £9.00.

James' total spend on his starter was £78.11

and crucially he has priced it at £6.95,

over £2 cheaper than his opponent's,

meaning he's going to have to sell considerably

more portions if he is going to win the round.

And the starters are just the first leg of this competition -

there's mains and desserts to follow!

James is prepared for high demand

and is moulding his fish cakes ready to order,

but Ed is getting concerned that, unlike his opponent,

he may not have bought enough.

We've got two sides of this smoked trout and we've had a look at this

and we were going to give two slices, that's now reduced to one slice.

I have to at least prepare 50 portions, there's 90 guests,

so 50 covers me, hopefully.

What we were going to do was give two.

We're now going to give one but with everything else going with this dish,

with the slaw, the broth, it should be enough.

Well, let's hope for your sake it is, Ed.

If you haven't bought enough to cover demand,

you could be in big trouble!

The clock strikes 6.00 and the hour of reckoning is upon our chefs!

Outside, almost 100 hungry diners are queuing up to take their seats.

Inside, our chefs are on the final stage of the preparation

of their starters - plating up!

Ed is serving one slice of trout per dish, cut into two pieces.

And like every top chef, he's pulling his team together to help.

So if you go slaw, I'll go fish.

James is going to plate up all by himself.

But the advantage is that his fishcakes are already made

and standing by.

As the diners take their seats, the expectations couldn't be higher.

There is a definite bit of a buzz.

The atmosphere is electric.

I'm expecting the food to be quite experimental.

The diners tonight don't even know the identity of our chefs,

let alone which chef is cooking which dish.

They've got two quite different starters to choose from -

James's gastro pub classic Thai-style fishcakes,

and Ed's more experimental dish of hot hurdler's ash smoked trout.

Which dish will prove more popular with the discerning guests?

Before we find out,

our chefs get the chance to taste each other's starters.

Now, do try to be nice, boys.

-Nice that.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's all right.

This is lovely. I have to say, this is correct, very authentic.

You don't want to do anything else to it, do you?

-Very authentic.

-That's what it is.

It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Ah, the lull of politeness before the storm of combat!

Come on, James, what do you really think of Ed's trout?

A lot going on.

I think it would be great in a fusion restaurant, a country pub,

I'm not sure, maybe because it's different

though people'll order it, I don't know.

Not so convinced then! What's Ed got to say about James's offering?

It's completely authentic, the flavours are all there.

The guy's sort of playing it more safe,

something that they'll be more familiar with, of course.

They're going to go with the fish cake

and the ones that don't eat fish are really in trouble.

Oh, this could go either way!

Now the pub's head chef, Dave, will be overseeing tonight's proceedings,

taking care of any complaints and making sure

the chefs don't short serve his diners.

And with the orders about to come in,

ready or not, chefs, it's time for action.

Right, guys, we've got a full restaurant,

-are we ready for service?

-Yep!

-Yes, Chef!

Here we go!

I'm going to try the hurdler's ash smoked river trout.

Smoked trout, yeah. What would you like for the starter, sir?

Can I have fish cakes, please?

Please can I start with the river trout?

-The river trout, absolutely.

-Fish cakes, please.

While the dining room feels like an oasis of calm,

in the kitchen, it's getting frenetic!

Check on for two. One river trout, one fish cake. Let's go, let's go.

And check on for four, two fish cake, two river trout.

The orders come flooding in, but as Dave is receiving the chits,

it's difficult for our chefs to keep overall count,

so all they can do is keep churning out the starters.

Fish cakes are ready to go, guys, yeah. Thanks, bye.

Remember, this battle is all about profit

and as James spent more on his ingredients

and has priced his dish considerably lower than Ed's,

he's the one who needs to sell more dishes.

Right now, the orders are coming in for

each starter almost in equal measure.

I'll have the Thai-style fish cakes.

-Fish cakes, yes.

-I'm going to try the smoked river trout, please.

-Smoked river trout.

-And the fish cakes again for me, thank you.

James's fishcakes are doing well,

and Ed's gamble on going for the unusual seems to be paying off.

It's going better than I thought actually because

this is a bit of a strange dish and I'm quite pleased that the

guys out there are prepared to try something very different, very new.

No complaints from the diners so far who have no idea which chef

cooked each dish, but in the kitchen our boys are desperately

trying to keep up with the sheer volume of orders pouring in.

Right, your next tables are going to be a three and a three,

followed by three river trout.

Yeah, we're looking at five river trout right now, guys.

One chef is starting to worry.

Ed is rapidly running out of portions.

And it doesn't go unnoticed by his opponent.

Ed, are your portions getting smaller or what?

-Yeah. Yeah. Marginally.

-Marginally? Where's the squid?

They'll be going, "Oh, my God, there's no squid on this dish."

Scrape it, Ed, scrape it.

Oh, it doesn't get closer to the wire than this.

Ed manages to squeeze out one final portion,

but has he made it through to the end of service?

-Is this, is it, is that it now?

-That's it on starters.

-OK, cool.

It's been a very closely fought battle throughout this first course,

but before we find out how many dishes were sold,

the big question is - what did our diners think of the food?

I had the river trout and I have to say on our table

definitely it won hands down.

We had the Thai fish cakes which were, they were OK.

The cucumber coleslaw was nice, really, really nice.

We both had the smoked river trout.

-Broth.

-Broth, yes, and it was very, very nice.

Well, both starters proved popular with the customers.

But the bottom line is, will it be Ed's trout

or James's fishcakes that have sold the highest number of portions?

-Shall we?

-Yes, let's go, let's have a look. Ready.

One, two, three.

Ooooh.

HE LAUGHS Here we go.

-Right, this is so down to the wire now.

-Here we go, look at that.

All right, OK.

Main course, the main course. Come on, let's do it.

Ed and James might know how many starters they've sold

but the all-important question is, how much profit have they made?

Ed spent less and charged more for his trout starters.

They've bagged him a big total of £414.

And when he takes off his costs, he's left with an impressive profit

of just under £352.

James's 46 fishcakes have netted him a smaller total of £319.70,

and when his costs are deducted, he's pocketed less than £242 profit.

So James is behind, but there are bigger potential profits to be made

in the next round, so this contest is far from over.

It's time for round two, the main course.

Profit-wise this is the most crucial stage of the contest

so let's find out what our gastronomic greats are planning.

I'm going to do a lovely slow cooked lamb leg.

Beautiful sliced meat over the top, it's going to sell.

Ed will be serving his lamb leg with heritage vegetables,

borlotti beans and honey tomato relish.

For my main course I'm going for it,

it's going to be beef fillet medallions.

There's something a bit pubby traditional

but with my little twist on it.

James's beef fillet medallions will be served with

wild mushroom brandy cream, green bean fricassee and champ potatoes.

Which of these two splendid dishes will be triumphant

in tonight's service?

Only time will tell,

but both our boys know they've got to do their prep work fast.

Ed drizzles his lamb legs in oil

and rubs them with rosemary and thyme

ready for slow roasting.

So I'm going to cut nice, just lovely little slices to go with our dish

to sit on top of that sour cream mash that we're serving with it.

So at least 12 to 14 portions out of each leg.

On the opposite side of the kitchen, James is racing away

with his premium beef fillet.

I'm slicing it up now, just getting it ready, prepared

and what we'll do is, we'll leave it out at room temperature.

Very important to cook your meat at room temp and then

we'll season it up with a touch of salt and pepper oil.

Oil the product, not the grill.

And then I think I'm going to have a go at char-grilling them off

but I'll do that obviously a lot closer to the time.

James's wild mushroom brandy cream is made by frying shallots,

garlic and mushrooms and adding brandy, stock and cream.

This competition will be judged purely on how much profit

our chefs make, so, earlier in the day, when they went shopping,

they knew they had to spend minimally on their ingredients.

In choosing to offer the much more expensive option of beef fillet,

James knew he was taking a huge tactical risk,

so how much of a good deal was he able to get?

-How much is it a kilo?

-I can do that at 25.50 a kilo.

-Can you see how...?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is crucial.

-I can't watch, I can't watch.

-It's coming up at 194.82.

I can help you out and round it down to 190.

190? I keep looking at the size of them.

James has got to be careful here. He doesn't want to over-spend,

but with over 90 diners due for the evening's service,

he can't risk not buying enough.

Have you got a half you could top it up with?

Yeah, finding a half is no problem.

I really think I need that extra piece because if it is popular

and I run out, Ed's going to get it all in the main courses

and I can't let that happen.

James has decided how much he's buying.

His next challenge will be getting it for the best price.

Ed is out on the hunt for his lamb legs,

and they're a lot cheaper.

Right, how much do you want for these then?

-Well, £80.

-80 quid? You couldn't let them go for 60, could you?

-Shall we go 70 - in between?

-65?

-68?

-68.

-68.

-All right, that's a fair price, that's lovely.

Graham, I'll take those and if you can bag them up

-and obviously I'll have the bones as well.

-Pleasure.

-Lovely.

Oh, Ed's haggled well there for his lamb,

but James's beef is surely going to be a lot more expensive.

Can you do anything else on the price at all?

I'll put a chunk like that and we'll call it 200 quid.

That's a good deal.

-Yeah, all right, go on. Yeah.

-I'm earning nothing.

Yeah, I know. Let me just...a nice chunk, yeah.

-A nice chunk, like that.

-A nice, a nice chunk, back.

There you go. Done.

So James is playing a high risk game, while Ed is playing safe,

but how will the amounts they've spent influence the menu prices

our chefs give their main courses?

Well, with the other ingredients included, Ed's spent

a total of £108.75, and he's put his lamb on the menu at £14.50.

James' total spend on his main course was a whopping £239.45,

and he's had to make that extra expenditure count.

He's priced his beef at £18.95,

over £3 more expensive than his opponent's!

Back in the kitchen,

Ed does not seem overtly phased by his rival's strategy.

If they'd rather have fillet steak,

you don't get much fillet steak, by the way,

you just get a little slither.

A piece of fillet steak for a lot of money,

he's going to charge a lot for that, or a lovely slice of

roasted lamb, beans and vegetables,

don't say anything, I haven't finished yet.

I'm not, I'm listening.

Let the master finish what he's got to say now. So be it.

Ed's doing this, do you know why?

It's cheaper and he can get a lot of portions

and he's probably going to...

Cheek, it's a lamb leg, it cost 80, well, 70 quid.

Well, you've got four of them and you've got...

How much did you spend on your fillet?

Oh, honestly, 200, straight up.

Oh, that face!

Ed pales at the very thought of spending £200 on ingredients,

but he knows he's got to sell more dishes than James

to match his rival's profits!

And so our boys throw themselves into their final preparations.

Only time will tell whether it will be Ed's cheaper slow roast lamb leg

that will triumph or whether it will be James's more expensive

beef fillet medallions.

But for now, let's see how our chefs rate each other's work.

This is lovely, very classical French bistro.

I could be in a little cafe in Lyon.

But obviously, as we all know, I did spend money on it.

Do you have reservations on that now that you've gone off

and just spent loads of money?

No, because if you want it, you buy it and if you don't, you don't.

This is good flavour. What about these?

-Have they got anything else on them or are they just parsnip?

-And salt.

Well, what do you want?

It's a parsnip crisp, what do you want to put on them?

I wouldn't put it on there personally but...

I know, I think older chefs kind of do that stuff.

Right, anyway, shall we crack on, Ed?

Tonight's diners don't know which chef has cooked what

as they decide on their orders -

so which dish will be the one that wins the day?

-I'd like the lamb, please.

-The beef medallions, please.

-Can I have the same, beef medallions.

-Fantastic.

In the kitchen, Ed and James await the first orders.

And the restaurant's head chef and adjudicator Dave

doesn't keep them waiting for long!

First table, 25, two beef, both pink, please.

The kitchen explodes into action.

Table 24, two lamb, two beef.

And as they vie for space,

James and Ed are brimming with competitive spirit.

So the only thing that's going to go on this course.

Well, considering you need to sell about twice as many as me

because you spent so much money, I think I'm in good shape, James.

You think?

Come on, boys, focus! The orders are coming in thick and fast.

Can I have the beef, please?

-I'll try the lamb, please.

-Four, fix, six lamb. Seven beef.

James, seven beef.

Right, OK, cool.

Ed's calling the shots.

And it looks like our man has plans to dominate the entire kitchen.

Can you get me some plates up there?

Because Ed's got the entire pass to himself.

HE LAUGHS

In the restaurant, happy diners are tucking in,

but in the kitchen, a battle for supremacy is raging.

I need one beef to finish table 20.

-I need one beef.

-Come on, Tanner, look, you're slowing us all down.

I'm not listening, Mr Baines.

Right now it's looking like equal orders are coming in

for both dishes.

Lamb's up now. Followed by table 18, three lamb, three beef, pink.

Last course, you know, neck and neck all the way,

this is close now though and obviously a lot of it's down to...

PANS CRASH

Well, there's banging and crashing in the kitchen,

but in the restaurant, how is the food going down?

I ordered the beef for my main course and it arrived

just as I ordered it, pink, tender, beautiful. I really enjoyed it.

I had the lamb and it was very, very nice.

Especially the crispy, whatever it was, parsnips I think it was on top.

Oh, this could go either way.

But Dave, the man keeping an eye on things in the kitchen,

is about to give Ed some bad news.

Table number 16's lamb is not hot enough.

-Not hot enough.

-Yes, they said it's barely warm.

OK, two cold meals. Can you replace them with two hot lambs, yeah?

Two hot lamb away, please.

Seven hot beef on the pass.

Oh, you couldn't resist it, could you, James?

Two of them, two of them! They're sending out cold food, yeah.

Ed can't let two returned dishes get to him.

He's got to hope that overall his lamb has gone down just as well

as his rival's beef.

Well, I had the lamb and it was absolutely delicious.

It was very tender, just melted in the mouth.

Very happy I've got the beef.

It was beautiful, very well cooked and lovely.

Positive reviews on both sides!

After another fiercely fought round,

our chefs are desperate to find out the results of all their hard work.

The moment of truth. How many main courses we've sold.

You sold more than me. I'm pretty sure about that.

But it's all about the margins now. Well, shall we have a look?

I don't really want to now you've said that.

One, two, three.

Blimey, blimey.

That's disappointing actually. I thought I'd at least...

What do you mean, that's fantastic!

-It's not fantastic. 37! It's fantastic for you.

-Ed.

Do you know what, I thought, I was hoping for 42, 43.

It's a bit like when you get your exam grades, this is.

You thought you were going to get maybe a B and you got a D.

This is a stupid game. I don't want to play any more.

Oh, come back, Ed. Ed? Ed?!

Well, James may have sold more dishes but he had much higher costs.

So let's find out who's made the most profit.

Ed's 37 lamb dishes have banked him a healthy £536.50,

and after deducting his costs,

he's made a respectable £427.75 in profit.

It's a good effort, but it's not good enough.

Because James's 55 beef fillets have made him almost double,

just over £1,042.

Although he spent a hefty £239.45,

he's made an amazing profit of £802.80.

For a selection of recipes from this series, log on to:

And so the final battle begins - dessert.

Ed has got some serious catching up to do, so he's chosen to

serve up a favourite dessert of his from American chef Thomas Keller.

I love puddings and I think I make a good pudding,

so chocolate souffle.

Ed will be serving up his chocolate souffle

with a cookie and cinnamon ice cream.

James is going to have his work cut out matching that!

I think lovely spiced apple cake with a lovely bit of custard on it,

perfect for a pub, I'm going to give that one a shot.

And so our boys put together their final salvos of the day!

James and his team have boiled their apples,

added bicarbonate of soda, butter, eggs and sugar

and mixed with baking powder, ready for baking.

So far so good, but watch out for your custard, James.

Keep an eye on the anglaise, yeah.

I'd take that off and pass it, yeah.

-Pass it.

-Yeah, quickly on to ice please, it's too hot.

The thing with the custard there almost made scrambled eggs

so we saved it in the nick of time.

Ed's dessert is a complicated one too but he's being canny.

He's using shop-bought cookies and vanilla ice cream

so he can concentrate on creating his chocolate souffle.

We've got a combination in there, egg yolks, cocoa powder, milk, sugar.

Ed then adds dark chocolate, whisked egg whites and gelatine.

Due to the nature of this pudding being quite unique,

having gelatine in it means we can then set it by freezing it.

So each time we get an order, we've got the oven on,

pop them into the oven and we send it out.

It's a very, very, very simple modern dessert.

But is it a winner, Ed?

Now the rules are a little different for dessert,

because our chefs must go out into the restaurant

to pitch their dishes to the diners face to face.

And the customers will only have to pay whatever

they think the dessert they choose is worth.

So earlier in the day, when James and Ed went shopping, they knew they

had to pick up their key ingredients for as little as possible.

Ed was on the hunt for chocolate.

That is worth about £40 so...

Yeah, make me a sensible offer on that.

-Five quid.

-That's a bit hard.

The thing is, I'm not going to use all of this.

-I know, I know.

-And it's a massive block of chocolate.

-It certainly is.

-I'm going to use about that much of it.

-What can you afford to pay then?

-Eight quid.

-A tenner and it's yours.

-£10?

Tenner, OK. Done, done, done, done.

Oh that's a mighty reduction! James is also on the hunt.

Are you looking for a bit of apple there, James?

-We are indeed, yep.

-What are you after?

Well, I was thinking something from the south east region,

something British and I'm looking at them Bramley apples.

Bramley from Kent, yeah, that's grown in Kent.

Excellent, how much is half a case?

Well, we're at £15 a box so half a case would be £7.50.

OK, yes, seven quid and I'll take 'em, brilliant.

-That's not a problem.

-OK, you're a star. Thanks very much.

-Cheers.

-Thank you very much.

With all the other ingredients included,

James total expenditure on his desserts was £41.44.

While Ed spent slightly more - £62.34.

In the kitchen in the run-up to service,

Ed's preparation time is draining away, and he's got a problem -

his delicate souffle mix is starting to congeal.

Keep it moving, yeah. It's starting to curdle and it mustn't curdle.

Keep that moving, keep it moving.

That's the only thing to do with chocolate is that it's always

very tricky, very difficult.

It's incredibly temperature sensitive.

We've got some little curdling in there from the egg yolks

and we're trying to bring it back.

My gut feeling is - chuck it all away, start again

but I can't because I've used all my...I've got 36 eggs in there.

With such a limited supply of ingredients, Ed has no option but

to keep going, and someone's taking great delight in his discomfort.

I think, I think you've left it quite late with them, eh?

You left it quite late with them.

How is your pudding? You've burnt it! That's burnt.

-It's brown sugar.

-Burnt! I'd send it back.

Do you know, I've got one thing to say about that pudding,

it shouldn't be allowed.

-Burnt, they're all burnt.

-What's happened to yours?

Nothing.

THEY LAUGH

OK, I'm going to leave you alone.

They're perfect, my puddings are perfect.

-I'm going to leave you alone.

-Yeah.

I have no idea what's going on with Ed.

He seems literally like he's pulling his hair out.

I'm digging myself into a hole here.

I must admit though, yeah, bought-in...

he's bought cookies, I've seen that he's bought ice cream

and he's panicking.

He's bought half of it and he's still messed it up.

Oh, James is loving this, but he shouldn't speak too soon.

Ed pushes ahead with his dessert preparation,

but he'll only know for sure if he's managed to avert disaster

once his trial chocolate covered cookie has been baked.

Look, there you go.

Gooey on the inside. Oh yeah!

The biscuit's all nice and gooey.

Shaboose!

Well, what a turn up.

Ed's dessert was teetering on the edge of disaster,

but he pulls it back from the brink!

He's pretty pleased with himself.

But let's see what his harshest critic has to say.

That's got a great chocolate kick, big time.

It's nice and gooey. I like it.

Do you know what I like here is the textures. This is what I like.

I like the texture and I like the sweetness of the sauce

and then the custard.

Compliments aside, our boys know exactly

what this competition is really about.

It's not necessarily about covers, is it?

-It's about money.

-It's about the money.

-Let's see, let's see. I don't know.

-Bring on the tranches.

-There we go.

And now it's time for the final push in today's competition.

Once again, the diners don't even know the identity of our chefs,

let alone which chef is offering which dish,

but the choices they make now could swing the entire competition.

Time for James and Ed to finally reveal themselves

and pitch their desserts.

Right I'm going to reveal tonight's chefs,

it's Ed Baines and James Tanner.

CROWD APPLAUD

That's very nice. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

It's been a bit of a battle there obviously between the two of us

and now it falls down to desserts.

Indeed.

Obviously, what you're prepared to pay for them

and who buys the most of whichever one.

To emerge victorious today, our boys know they've got to

pull out all the stops to persuade the diners to choose their dessert.

Hi-ho, good evening.

-That's my dessert this evening.

-That's what I'm going for.

And they're giving them the hard sell.

It's very simple, it's very modern, it's very rich

and it's a little bit gooey inside.

-Right.

-I'm going to have that.

-It's still gooey inside.

-Oh, yum!

Both our chefs are getting a great reception,

but neither of them could have anticipated that here tonight

James would have a bit of an admirer.

Come and sit with me, darling.

HE SIGHS

You need relaxing.

Yeah.

SHE LAUGHS

Would you like to know about my dessert?

I would love to know about your dessert.

Well, James, you've certainly got one customer!

But which dish will the rest of the diners go for?

I think James' pitch was the best.

Ed was full of enthusiasm and he loves his chocolate but

I reckon James explained a little bit more of why he cooked what he cooked.

James did a great sales job but I still want the chocolate.

Oh, this looks set to be incredibly close!

It's not long before the orders start rushing in

and the final round of today's battle begins!

We go on six apple cakes to begin with, please.

Five chocolate souffles and five apple cakes.

So it's nine apple cake and five chocolate souffle,

that's three tables, please.

James' apple cake is off to a flying start.

Ohhh, come on!

Sorry, sorry, did you say nine apple cake then?

-It's nine.

-It's nine, is it?

-OK, right, I'll get on with them, Chef.

I'll get on with them.

James is delighted, unlike his opponent!

Well, James sold 18 more main courses than me and he took like four quid

more on each dish so I've got some catching up to do.

Not looking good, it's not looking good.

Come on, Ed! Don't give up, the diners are still tucking in!

James' apple cake is still going great guns and Ed is falling behind.

The next four checks is eight apple cake and four chocolate souffle.

Yes, Chef.

I need a blanket order.

I need a boom boom to get back in there because at the moment...

The next batch is five apple and two chocolate souffle, please.

After the three you're doing now.

Nine apple cake and we have three chocolate souffle, please.

Nine apple cake.

Last ones going out now. I've smashed him, I've smashed him.

We'll see, James, we'll see!

This won't be decided on how many dishes our chefs have sold,

but on how those dishes have gone down with the diners

and how much they're willing to pay for them.

I ordered the sticky toffee apple cake.

I think the toffee flavour sort of overpowered everything else.

Overall, I think I'd pay maximum 5.95 for it.

I ordered the chocolate dessert, it certainly was quite chocolaty,

quite rich and I was happy to pay 6.95. It seemed reasonable.

I was very impressed with the presentation

of the...of the apple cake.

The custard was fantastic

and I would have paid £7 to £8 for my dessert. It was lovely.

Well, we'll find out shortly how much profit our chefs have made,

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

Ed managed to sell a total of 32 chocolate souffles.

It's a decent effort,

but James sold a very impressive 52 apple cakes.

The diners have only paid what they think their dessert is worth

so if people paid good money for Ed's dessert,

he could still walk away the victor in today's contest.

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

in an unfamiliar kitchen, but now their work is done

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

-Can we just do this? Cos, you know...

-Yeah, let's have a look.

I need to sit down after this whatever happens.

-It's been a big day.

-Three, two, one.

-Ooooh!

-Wow.

-James.

-Well, high-five myself on that one.

THEY LAUGH

-Well, well done.

-Thank you, Ed.

A little disappointed but, you know,

it's still a king's ransom there.

That's quite a big, considering what I spent, I'm well surprised.

Job well done.

So it's victory for James

and the young pretender is pretty chuffed about it!

I don't know what to say, really.

I didn't think it was going to be that much.

I didn't think I was going to win anyway, to be honest,

at one point, if I'm, you know...

Throughout the day, I didn't think I'd win.

But to win it by that, about 500 quid, nice, that's sweet.

I think he made a better pudding, I've got to be honest.

And it certainly created more sales.

Obviously, when you mark up and you've got your margins

and your charge on top,

the moment you get a bit of a run on something in this competition,

you storm ahead.

Both our chefs have made an amazing amount of money

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

My chosen charity Barnados, which is for disadvantaged children.

My charity this evening is St Luke's Hospice in Plymouth,

which really helps cancer sufferers that are terminal

and in their last weeks of life.

Well, James 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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