Wales Starter Great British Menu

This year on Great British Menu...

Oooh!

The country's best chefs have been challenged

to pick plate up perfection...

I've got to do it, I've got to pull it off.

..for the chance to cook at an opulent banquet

celebrating 100 years of the Women's Institute...

I didn't come here to lose, you know?

..at London's historic Drapers Hall,

where pioneers of the WI once gathered.

The chefs must honour the custodians of impeccable home cooking...

I really want to win this course.

Definitely want to make my grandma proud.

..with flawless, 21st-century dishes.

My silence is I am stunned.

From soaring highs...

THEY LAUGH Wow. Wow, wow and more wow.

..to crushing lows...

BLEEP!

Oh, no!

..as our fearsome former champions

seek WI perfection.

Pitch-perfect.

Going head-to-head for Wales...

Phil Carmichael, executive chef to former

Great British Menu winner Jason Atherton.

I am hoping my Michelin-star training will give me the edge.

He is up against experimental chef Stephen Gomes.

I don't know anyone in this competition who cooks like me.

And young, new restaurateur Adam Bannister.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't petrified,

but I'm going to do my best.

Both determined to take on Phil's star training.

You have big boots to fill, with Jason Atherton as your boss.

But will their inexperience cause them to crack under the pressure?

Oh!

That hurt.

I opened the oven door and just caught my eye on the corner.

100 years ago, the Women's Institute was created to encourage

women to grow and preserve their own food.

A century on, the WI is still at the heart of great British home cooking.

That is delicious, so I look forward to getting your recipe.

The chefs have explored the history of the organization...

I have a photograph. That is from the actual day.

..and paid tribute to the women in their lives...

That Great-grandma Eggleton in front of the greenhouse.

That is where they used to grow all the fruit. All the tomatoes.

..to produce culinary creations that match the exacting

standards of the WI.

The flowers are fantastic.

They look beautiful and they taste beautiful, too!

Judging the cooking this week is one of Britain's most respected chefs...

How are you feeling, boys? Nervous, nervous, yeah.

Let the food do the talking now.

..who has won through to serve their main course at the banquet twice.

Getting judged by one of our peers is going to be pretty daunting,

no matter who it is.

The king of gastropub gastronomy

and holder of two Michelin stars, Tom Kerridge.

How are you doing, chefs? All, all right? Yeah, nervous.

Nervous? A lot.

Once you guys get in that kitchen, get your nerves out, you'll be fine.

You all right, Phil? Very good. Thank you, Tom.

Now, I know you are here representing Jason Atherton as his executive chef.

Has he given you a few pointers? Smile, don't mess it up.

Now, the Women's Institute, Centenary Banquet, you know

how exacting their standards are. I am looking for exactly the same.

Good luck, guys. See you on the other side.

ALL: Thank you, Chef.

He is a two-star chef, so, you know, his standards are super high.

First up, experienced chef Phil Carmichael.

He is planning to use his Michelin training to deliver

dishes of star quality.

Good morning, Chef. Good morning, Tom.

How are we doing? Good, how are you? I'm very well.

OK, now, Phil, what are you going to be making?

So I have researched the WI

and I picked out the growing of their own veg,

growing stuff for the community.

It is called The Allotment.

I am going to make jellied ham with some normal ham hocks

and smoked ham hock. OK, so it is two different types of ham hock.

This one... Wow, really powerful, smoky flavour. Smoky.

I'm going to make a gribiche sauce.

So gribiche is a little bit like a posh tartar sauce. Yeah, exactly.

OK. Yeah. Some dehydrated mushrooms. Some pumpernickel bread.

And then we're going to sort of blend all that up

so it looks like a soil. An edible soil? An edible soil.

And then on top of that, I'm going to pickle some baby veg.

And pickling, this is something I suppose the WI have done.

Preserving, that sort of thing. Exactly.

One last ingredient - this photograph. Yeah, this is my gran.

I used to go around her place for sort of Sunday tea.

She always used to give us tinned ham and chips.

She sort of inspired the sort of tinned, jellied ham part

of this dish.

So, Phil's dish, The Allotment. It's ham and pickles, basically.

Big concern for Phil is that ham hock being set properly.

You want it nice and soft, just perfect so you can spoon it out

and it tastes great.

Only time will tell.

Next up is experimental chef Stephen Gomes,

who spent the last 15 years working in Cardiff.

His menu fuses Welsh produce with an inventive take on Indian classics.

Good morning, Stephen. Good morning, Chef.

Talk me through your inspiration, what you are going to be doing

for the WI. It is called The Greenhouse.

The Greenhouse. Yes, I am focused on celebrating those skills

and achievements of the Women's Institute.

So, a greenhouse is about growing vegetables,

and that is exactly what this is. That is exactly what I am doing.

There is no meat, no fish, this is a completely vegetarian starter.

It in the style of tapas. It is called chaat in India.

Full of flavours, three different flavours.

OK, so three kind of different dishes.

The first one, I am going to do a cold coconut gazpacho.

Something really similar to the Spanish gazpacho

but more flavoursome.

Yep. And it also has a got curry leaf and lemon foam to it.

And I'm going to do white peas and a dehydrated pea shoot chaat.

The other one is going to be black peas.

So, kind of two different types of chickpea salads.

Yes. But lots of different flavours going on. Definitely, Chef.

And in here, we've got a big pot of different spices.

Turmeric, garam masala,

daddy of allspice - red chilli powder, chaat masala,

coriander powder, mustard seeds.

My biggest concern with Stephen's dish is all three elements

have to be very different, otherwise it will just, kind of,

amalgamate into this one spiced vegetable starter.

If he can get that right, this is going to be amazing.

If it he gets it wrong, it could just be a little bit boring.

Last up, another first timer, Adam Bannister.

At just 29, he is the least experienced of the Welsh chefs,

but believes his menu, based on home-cooked classics,

will see him through.

Morning, Chef. Morning, Chef.

Talk me through your inspiration.

Where are you driving these ideas from?

So, my inspiration around the whole menu is all based on home cooking

and, you know, my mother and my grandmother.

That's what I think the WI's all about, you know, good,

honest, home cooking. Honesty, integrity.

And this dish, in particular, your starter, what is it called?

It's called Suckling Pignic.

Suckling...? Pignic.

Pignic. Yeah. So, it is a take on a picnic.

Let me guess, does it contain a pig?

It certainly does. THEY LAUGH

So, I'll be making a pork pie, a sausage roll and a Scotch egg. OK.

I will use my head and my shoulder.

Instead of mincing it, I'm going to slow cook it

and then wrap it round the egg. Right.

And then I've got the loin, the best bit, for my sausage roll.

And then I'm going to use the belly

and a little bit of the leg for my pork pie.

Yeah. And then a nice salad cream.

You know, when I won the main course on Great British Menu,

I had salad cream on that.

Oh, did you? Yeah. Well, right.

So, the WI are pretty famous and renowned for their baking.

And in terms of a pork pie, that hot water crust has to

have this really lovely, outer crunch on it and a nice, soft middle.

So technically, it is quite hard to get right.

As cooking gets underway,

Michelin trained Phil checks out the competition.

It's the first day in the kitchen, how are we all feeling?

I'm pretty confident, what about you guys?

You're feeling confident, eh? OK.

Fighting talk already?

I'm feeling very nervous still.

I'm used to running a sort of kitchen with 42 cooks.

You know, we do 500 covers a day.

But this is...completely different.

Whilst Phil and Adam are serving up traditional British classics,

Stephen is cooking three Indian tapas-style dishes.

Is that the white chickpea... Yeah. ..sauce in there?

I've got some onions, some cumin, some garam masala, some turmeric.

I need to get the flavours in, and that is my job done.

Oh, that's good.

For the canned ham element of his starter,

inspired by his grandmother, Phil is braising ham hocks with pig's

trotter and relying on their natural gelatine to create a jelly.

Is there anything you are really restricted with on time?

I've just got to get the jelly set very, very quickly.

Cos if that jelly is not set, might serve it,

everything will fall out of the tin.

Hey, check on...

Originally from Cowbridge, South Wales, Phil Carmichael

has trained under the likes of Michel Roux Junior.

That's broccoli. Carrots are the orange things. Yeah?

He is currently executive chef at Berners Tavern in London

for Great British Menu winner Jason Atherton.

If I don't get through, Jason is going to absolutely crucify me.

Service!

Under pressure to succeed, Phil's designed a menu to match

the exacting standards of both his mentor and the Women's Institute.

The WI are all about sort of homely cooking.

They really raised the game of cooking in the UK -

something that we are all doing now,

but they've been doing it for the last 100 years.

With his dishes, Phil is reinventing some home-cooked family favourites.

And has invited his mum, Jean, down from Wales to see what she thinks.

The first course, the inspiration for that was really Gran

on Sunday nights. Tinned ham, chips.

That was at your request, I might add, not her instigation.

It probably was.

So, yeah, I'm going to do a modern version of that.

Philip representing his country, it means a great deal to him.

We love our country, and I am very, very proud, as he well knows.

So, this is the braised ham hock.

That is lovely.

Do you think this is enough to get me past the judges?

I would have said so.

You're biased. I am biased. SHE LAUGHS

To meet expectations,

Michelin trained Phil needs to deliver on presentation and flavour.

And he is feeling the pressure.

The biggest concern I've got is time.

For his Allotment dish, he is pickling micro veg

and blending almonds, Jerusalem artichokes

and dehydrated mushrooms to create an edible soil.

But with the clock ticking, he must get his ham hock into the stock.

A canned ham. Yep. Is this going to be as good as Nan made it?

My nan didn't make it, she just opened the can. All right!

So, I'm just going to fill these up now. I hope these will set in time.

And there is enough gelatine in that? Yeah.

It'd be a big disappointment for Phil if the ham doesn't set.

If one element is not right then, you know,

it destroys the whole dish.

Stephen is making a rich, spiced sauce for his Greenhouse dish,

inspired by the WI's grow your own ethos.

And he has made some adjustments to its heat levels.

Usually, it is much more spicier than this. Right.

I just reduced it a little bit. OK. So that everybody can enjoy it.

Good. It is still flavoursome. It smells absolutely delicious. Thanks.

Mumbai-born Stephen Gomes has been living

and working in Cardiff for the last 15 years, serving up a unique

blend of Indian cooking and modern molecular gastronomy.

I am considered a Willy Wonka of Indian chefs

because my food is definitely different.

Stephen has won UK Indian Chef of the Year

six times, and culinary success runs in the family.

My father is one of the best chefs in India.

So, the expectations are always high.

With his inventive take on techniques pioneered by the WI,

he is hoping he can do his heritage proud.

You make chutneys, you make jams, preserves.

This is what I have learned from my childhood.

I have taken a lot of inspiration from the WI.

I have not copied anything from that,

but tried to give an Indian touch to it.

Hi, Kerry, how are you?

Oh, it is nice to see you. Oh, a pleasure, always a pleasure.

To help him find the perfect balance,

Stephen has been testing menu ideas on his friends.

I think the judges will see something different with Stephen.

He is very popular and he's a very sensitive person.

Very likable person.

The restaurant is full every, single night without fail.

He will win without a shadow of a doubt.

For his coconut gazpacho, Stephen fries curry leaves with black

mustard seeds and chopped ginger before combining with coconut milk.

Next, he blends a thickened spinach paste to create his foam topping.

Steve, is it a dish you have done quite a lot?

I've been doing a lot of tapas in my restaurant. OK.

Not exactly the same dish, something very similar.

Like Stephen, Adam is serving three separate

elements in his Suckling Pignic dish -

a porkpie, a sausage roll and a Scotch egg.

All of your components, Adam, are sort of British classics.

Any sort of major concerns there?

No, not really. You're not concerned about the egg being overcooked?

No. If my egg is overcooked, I'll go home.

PHIL LAUGHS

He's given himself quite a lot to do.

Everybody knows what a Scotch egg should taste like.

So, his has got to taste ten times better than that.

To make his elevated version of a Scotch egg,

Adam is encasing a boiled quail's egg in braised pig's head.

The pressure is on you, Adam.

Head down now. Less talking and I'll be all right.

Adam Bannister trained under Michelin-starred chef

and former regional champion Stephen Terry.

Despite being the youngest of the Welsh chefs at 29,

he opened his own restaurant in the last year.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was nervous about my dishes.

I wrote my menu to honour the WI, but also to honour

the women in my life that have been important throughout.

Hiya. How's it going?

Yeah, all right. I'm in here.

In developing his menu,

he has drawn on his close relationship with mum, Wendy.

Mum has been a big inspiration to me.

You know, she is not directly connected to the WI,

but she does a lot of things that the WI are about - you know,

a lot of home cooking, a lot of things to do with the community.

You know, she is just... She's my mum.

He always said he'd have a restaurant before he was 30.

He's 29.

So, I'm very proud of him.

CHOKED UP: Sorry.

Adam is keen to see

if the Scotch egg on his starter meets his mum's high standards.

I remember as a kid, you were always making jams and chutneys,

so I wanted to get some of that through the starter.

It's nice...

..but I think it needs just a touch of salt.

THEY LAUGH

Adam has to pull off three technically challenging

elements and is short on time.

I think Adam is up against it slightly.

The trickiest of all is his suckling pig pork pie with traditional

hot water pastry.

For Adam, getting this first dish out is going to be the big one.

He has got lots of elements going on.

He is running around a bit like a headless chicken.

That hurt.

Just walked into the oven.

Adam,

what happened to your eye?

I opened the oven door and just caught my eye on the corner.

Foreign kitchen and all that, bit of nerves.

That's OK, looks nice on you. Thanks.

A bit silly, really. But never mind, keep on going.

I just got to give it everything I can.

I brought a little present for you, Chef. Oh, thanks.

It's a little bag of ice for your eye.

Considering you are quite clumsy, they look lovely.

Oh, thanks, Chef. They look really nice.

Do you get a whole one each or is it...? It is.

It's not the smallest of starters.

All right. Well, listen, I'll let you crack on. Thanks, Chef.

One of the big concerns that I have with Adam's dish is the portion size.

Do you really want to finish the starter and be stuffed?

In his Greenhouse dish,

experimental chef Stephen has chosen to tone down his usually bold

flavours to make them more accessible.

I have definitely reduced the spicing.

So, you are quite conscious and worried about everything being

too hot for myself, for the guys here and also for the WI.

It has got flavours in it, but I have just reduced the spice.

He has turned the volume down on his spicing,

but has he calmed it down too much to being something a little bit...beige?

Despite his Michelin experience, Phil is still racing to finish

his gribiche, a sauce made with eggs, capers, shallots

and fresh herbs.

How are we doing, Phil? I'm sweating.

Going to be on time?

HESITANT: Yes.

The pressure is on as he is the first to plate up his Allotment

starter, inspired by Sunday night tea at his gran's.

Using miniature allotment boxes,

he spoons out his gribiche before covering with edible soil.

He then plans his pickled micro vegetables,

garnishing with pea shoots.

The final risky element is his canned ham hock,

which needs to be set to Tom's exacting standards.

There we go.

This is The Allotment.

First one up. Made you nervous? Yeah. It does.

OK, shall we go and taste it? Let's.

Shall we get in there, open the tin? Let's do it. OK.

Flavour of that ham coming through nicely? Yeah.

And the jelly is not too soft, not too firm?

I think it is spot on, Tom.

You think it is spot on!

I didn't quite get enough smokiness in the ham hock.

In terms of the soil on the top,

are you happy with the way that that works in the dish?

Yeah, I think I am.

The soil could have been a little bit crunchier.

And in terms of the pickled vegetables,

are you happy with the way that they still taste, the vegetables?

I don't know if he's executed it exactly how he wants it.

If you were in my shoes, Phil, what would you give this?

I'd give it an eight. An eight? OK.

Stephen is next to plate up with his vegetarian Greenhouse starter.

He is deep-frying spinach leaves in a gram flour batter

for his black chickpea chaat.

It has to look pretty.

It has to look exactly what a greenhouse is all about.

All right, Phil? How did it go?

I'm glad to get it over and done with, first course, first dish up.

Stephen spoons out his black chickpea chaat,

tops with a potato cake

and sprinkles with crispy gram flour noodles.

He adds his deep-fried spinach leaves

and garnishes with edible flowers to reflect his greenhouse theme.

Stephen, how you getting on there?

I'm OK. I have got a crucial part now.

Then it is this second chaat -

white chickpeas delicately spiced with garam masala,

cumin and ground coriander.

He tops with natural yogurt and dehydrated pea shoots.

He then pours out his coconut gazpacho.

And covers with his curry leaf, spinach and lemon foam.

Paying tribute to the WI's grow your own philosophy,

he arranges it in a miniature greenhouse.

Stunning. It looks really good. Yeah, looks very nice.

All right, then, shall we go and taste it?

Let's start from here, Chef. It is the cold coconut gazpacho.

And you are happy with that? It could have been a little bit more colder.

You think that flavour will work better with it being completely cold?

I don't know if there's something missing, though.

I was expecting a little bit more chilli heat in there. Yeah.

A little bit more spice in there.

So, we'll move on to this part next. It is a chaat.

The chickpeas and the yogurt and dehydrated pea shoot.

'It is a little bit awkward to eat, though. Yeah.'

Little bit, sticks sticking up your nose when you're trying to eat them.

In terms of spice, is that coming through?

I have kept it a little bit more on the milder side because it is for

a WI banquet, so I've got to keep it a little reduced.

Stephen said he had toned down the spices in his food.

I can see why. I wish he hadn't. I like a bit of a kick.

All right, shall we try the last and final one?

How are these chickpeas different? They are much stronger.

They are more flavoursome. OK.

What would you reckon out of ten? Pfff...

Be honest.

I would say a 6.5.

Six then.

Last to plate up his picnic inspired dish is Adam.

For his take on a traditional sausage roll,

he wraps pork loin and black pudding in puff pastry.

Oh, my God!

Keep it calm, yeah?

With the clock ticking, he moves on to his salad cream.

As judge Tom has served salad cream at the banquet,

Adam is feeling the heat...

Are you confident it's going to be as good as his?

I don't know about that.

..and can't get it to thicken.

Come on!

How do you think, guys, it was?

I was expecting more spice. Yeah. I like spice, I like spicy food.

Adam is serving his starter on miniature picnic table,

accompanied by pickled purple heritage carrots and shallots.

He pipes in a pork and apple jelly to his hot water pastry pies.

And squeezes his problematic salad cream into bottles.

How are we doing, Adam? It is running a little bit late.

Sorry, Chef.

He deep-fries his pork scratching-coated Scotch egg.

Whoa!

That's why you always do a spare.

And slices his sausage roll.

Finally, a wicker basket completes his presentation.

So, this gets served at the table like that? Exactly like that.

Waiter takes the cloche off. Reveals the Pignic.

I think presentation is great, the smell's amazing. So, yeah,

can't wait to tuck in.

To be honest, I can't wait to tuck in either.

Let's go and have something to eat.

I think it is a large portion for a starter. It is.

So, this is the loin from the suckling pig. Yes.

It's nice and moist.

So, talk me through this.

It's all, like, pork scratchings on the outside.

Then we've got the runny yolk in the middle.

You're saying it's a runny yolk? It's a runny yolk.

It is a runny yolk.

The braised pig's head around the outside,

a little bit under seasoned for me.

Yeah, it is a little bit under seasoned.

A little bit more salt in there.

Not happy. What are you not happy about?

The jelly. It's not in there. It's non-existent.

A bit of a gutter, that is. A bit of a gutter.

It looks nice, the pork pie.

Your hot water pastry work, is that going to pass the WI test?

He's taken a risk putting salad cream on this.

It's pretty sweet for me.

What about flavour of the salad cream?

For me, the flavour is spot on. What would you give it out of ten,

Stephen? Seven. I'd agree with you. It's going to have to be a seven.

So, how do you think it went?

Letting the pressure get to me a little bit, I think.

I made a couple of errors. Cos it's only myself who let it down.

Just don't know. We are all in the same boat.

We are all waiting for the right scores.

First dish time. Happy?

So, Phil, I'm going to start with you on The Allotment dish.

The pickled vegetables, you could really get the flavour.

Especially the carrots, I thought, were great.

And the ham. The jelly in that was just right.

But...

..it lacked texture.

In terms of reaching the banquet,

did it have that full opening dish to a banquet impact?

I'm not so sure.

Stephen, The Greenhouse.

Growing your own vegetables, served in that sort of style,

really did hit the brief.

The spinach and the black chickpea chaat, I thought, was

the star of the show.

But...

overall, I think you played it too safe.

Two braised chickpea dishes, texturally, they are both the same.

It was a little bit like walking through mud...twice.

You were worried about the level of spicing being too hot.

But for me, I thought it was too low.

You have to be brave and take risks.

Adam, your dish - Suckling Pignic -

you decided to make ME a salad cream.

Yours was a little too thin.

And a touch too sweet for me.

Anything with pastry for the Women's Institute is a massive risk.

The pork pie that we had, there was an issue with the jelly.

But that hot water pastry...

..I thought was fantastic.

It is one of the best hot water pastries I've had.

The cooking of the pork in the middle of your sausage roll pastry

was first-class.

Well done, Chef. Thank you.

OK, Phil.

I'm going to give you...a six.

To get that dish to the banquet, you really need to push it a lot harder.

Stephen.

I'm giving you...

a five.

I think you played it too safe with the spices.

You have got to stick to your guns, Chef.

Adam.

I'm giving you...

..an eight.

There was a few mistakes in execution,

but that dish really has got potential.

Come on, Wales. See you on the fish day.

Thank you, Chef. Thank you.

HE EXHALES Cheers. Thanks.

Cheers. I'm a bit disappointed.

I was hoping for a bit more than a six.

Still got three dishes to cook. So, there is everything to play for.

Hopefully, come Friday, I will be on top. Let's enjoy it.

Yeah, push on for the fish dish.

I've got a long way to go, so I will catch up soon.

I'm pretty confident on that.

Over the moon. I got an eight. It was a bit unexpected.

I felt the pressure quite a lot. But, yeah, feeling good.