North East Starter Great British Menu

This year on Great British Menu...

I think you guys need to be hot on my heels.

-..the nation's finest chefs...

-You shaking? You shaking?

I am a bit, to be honest.

..are battling to plate up perfection...

I thought you absolutely hit the brief with this dish.

..for a grand banquet marking 100 years of the Women's Institute...

-Wow.

-Puts a smile on your face, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

It definitely has got the wow factor.

..at London's historic Drapers' Hall,

where pioneers of the WI once gathered.

In its magnificent rooms,

the chefs must honour the custodians of first-class home cooking...

It would be an absolute dream to be there at the banquet, wouldn't it?

..with impeccable, 21st-century dishes.

Pitch perfect.

Going head-to-head this week for the North East,

are three ambitious newcomers.

Michelin-starred Tim Allen, determined to show off his skills.

I've thrown everything at this, I'm here to win.

But he faces fierce competition in classically trained Mini Patel.

I hear it's tough in that kitchen,

but I'm going to take it all in my stride.

And experimental chef Michael O'Hare.

For me, food is art.

And I'm bringing my style to this competition.

All three are vying to make their mark.

Turns out I'm a bit under the cosh.

But can these first-timers handle the pressure of the kitchen?

-I'm 34 years old and I still can't figure that

-BLEEP

-oven out.

For the past 100 years,

the WI has encouraged women to grow and preserve food.

And helped shape the way Britain cooks.

Good evening.

The chefs have done their research...

-They look very grand, don't they?

-Yes, they do.

..taking inspiration from the important women in their lives.

Mmm, delicious.

To take classic home cooking to new gastronomic heights.

My bowl's empty. First-class! Thank you very much!

Judging this week is a chef who is no stranger to the

pressure of the Great British Menu kitchen...

I'm not sure if I'd like to be judged by a more classical chef,

Angela Hartnett or even Marcus Wareing.

For me, someone with a classical background would be awesome.

..a banquet champion and holder of two Michelin stars...

The brief's really important this week.

I'm probably beyond nervous about that fact.

I've really gone quite left-field with it.

..Marcus Wareing.

-Morning. ALL:

-Morning, Chef.

Good to meet you.

-Thank you.

-All your first times?

-It is.

-How do you feel?

-Nervous.

And a little bit more now that you've walked into the room, I'll be honest!

Tim, you're a Michelin-star chef -

how do you feel about coming here and doing this now?

It's huge pressure, Marcus, to be honest.

I'm used to having a team around me.

Here, it's about standing on your own and producing the goods.

What about you, Michael?

It feels a lot like your first day at work, under a lot more pressure.

This is a competition.

What I'm looking for is great food,

but it has to have a connection with the Women's Institute.

-I wish you the best of luck. Let's get cooking. ALL:

-Thanks, Marcus.

Thank you.

Oops.

LAUGHTER

Tough veteran judge, guys.

With 20 years' experience,

Michelin-starred Tim Allen believes his pedigree will help

him deliver a refined menu, representing the heritage of the WI.

-Tim, how are you doing?

-Good.

What's the title of the dish?

This starter is called Preserving The Past.

I want to begin back at the beginning.

I've done that based around a lady called Adelaide Hoodless,

who was one of the original pioneers of the Women's Institute

-in Canada, where it all started.

-OK.

She actually wrote a book on domestic science,

-and this dish is served in that book.

-Interesting.

It's basically ham and eggs.

Where I come from, ham and egg is a main course.

It's rich, but each mouthful has got something else.

It's quite an exciting dish.

And I think, as a starter, it works really well.

Talk to me about the ham.

Basically, this is going to get pressure cookered.

And then to go on that, I'm going to create a glaze with the maple syrup.

-My little nod towards Adelaide and Canada.

-Yeah.

And then, I'm going to take the skin of the pork and I'm going to

-braise it in the oven, get it really crisp like crackling.

-And the egg?

These are an organic duck egg. These are going to get fried.

-A natural, fried egg.

-OK.

-I've got some plum tomatoes

that I'm going to compress in a pickling liquor.

OK, what about potatoes? I see potatoes.

I'm going to make a pommes gaufrette,

which is like a hatched, potato crisp.

So, could be a ham, egg and chips?

In effect, Marcus, yeah.

He's got a lot of ingredients in there.

My concern is that the dish could be incredibly rich.

Newcomer Mini Patel is classically trained,

and a champion of local produce.

He believes his simple yet stylish approach

will stand up to his rivals.

Wow.

Tell me the inspiration behind your menu.

The WI has always been about canning, preserving,

growing your own.

So I've taken all those values and I'm putting them throughout my menu.

-OK.

-Today, I'm doing Rabbits In The Allotment.

Where I grew up, everyone had allotments.

You'd always see rabbits attacking the veggies, going for them.

I'm going to basically set it up and present like it's an allotment.

So I've got some seeds, nuts, olives, mushrooms.

That's all going to be part of making the soil for the allotment.

Right.

I'm going to be using these lovely vegetables here to help

build my allotment. I'm going to be pickling them.

And I'm going to be using star anise alongside my carrots to make

the carrot puree. So it's not just visual.

What's the preserve part of this dish?

The rabbit itself is going to be potted.

I'm going to be using farmed rabbits and wild rabbits today.

With the farmed rabbit, I'm going to be confiting in fat.

-The wild rabbits, I'm going to be braising.

-What's this?

-That's yeast, fresh yeast.

-OK.

And that yeast, alongside the beer, is going to make beer bread.

-You're making your own bread?

-Yes.

-OK.

It sounds like a lot of work.

It is a lot of work, yeah.

I love the fact that Mini's making his own bread.

I think it's very brave.

The whole dish sings Women's Institute,

and I think that Mini has absolutely nailed that brief.

Last up, another first-timer. Experimental chef Michael O'Hare.

He prides himself on setting rather than following trends

and hopes his maverick cooking style will win over Marcus.

-First of all, how are you feeling?

-Yeah, I feel good.

-Well, you certainly look good.

-Thank you, likewise.

Tell me the inspiration for your whole menu.

I've taken the ideas and thoughts of the WI

and translated those into food.

Ideas like the family table, equality for women and mothers,

and that's what I've translated into my dishes.

What's the title of the dish? What are you calling this dish?

Everybody I Ever Ate With.

What I discovered when I was thinking about this,

-is that the food that I ate wasn't important at all.

-Sorry?

It wasn't important.

It was the company that I kept and the people that ate with.

Fair enough.

The food that I'm cooking for my starter is

based around the family Sunday table starters.

Traditionally, a prawn cocktail or melon.

If you were a child, you'd have the melon.

If you were old enough, you could take the prawn cocktail.

-Is it prawn cocktail?

-No, it's not prawn cocktail.

-So, inspired by home cookery, but this is your take on it?

-Exactly.

Just talk me through the box of ingredients.

First up, my langoustines

-I'm using the tail as a tartare.

-Raw?

-Yeah, completely raw.

-OK.

Melon, I'm going to peel it, seed it and compress it in the vacuum pack.

OK.

With the lavender, I'm going to make a puree,

the base of which will be my apples.

-That'll be served cold with a tartare on top.

-And the lard?

The lard I'm going to slice super-thin,

and just melt, last-minute over the top of the langoustines,

-almost as a dressing itself.

-OK. I see you've got some gin.

Yeah, there'll be a hidden cocktail within the dish.

-What do you mean?

-Completely underneath the plate.

-Completely?

Yeah. So you won't see the cocktail, so to speak.

-But you'll suck it up through a pipe.

-Suck it up?

-Yep.

-OK.

I'm intrigued.

-And you've certainly got my attention.

-Good.

Michael's starter is a prawn cocktail with melon,

but I hope his food is as interesting as the man standing in front of me.

I'm sure you're dying to get cooking.

I wish you all the best of luck.

Let's crack on.

As cooking gets underway, talk turns to their esteemed veteran judge.

I'm quite pleased that we've got Marcus.

He's somebody that I've looked up to for many, many years.

-He certainly knows his stuff, right?

-Entirely.

Tim, you're the only chef in the kitchen today with a Michelin star,

-but you're frying an egg.

-Yep.

Simplest thing to learn in quality cooking - simple is better.

OK.

Mini is doing rabbit three ways - rabbit leg confit...

..braised rabbit...

..and a rabbit butter.

Anything you're not 100% on?

No, everything's well-rehearsed,

it's just making sure I move like the wind to get it up on time.

Michael's raw shellfish starter

is a take on a classic, home-made prawn cocktail.

He's prepping langoustine tails for the tartare, which he then freezes.

And cooking apples for the base of his lavender puree.

Tim's simple starter of ham, egg and chips features ham hock.

As well as onion done two ways -

pickled in white wine and vinegar, and an onion jam.

Feeling good. Really excited.

Adrenaline's going, first course...

Yeah, it's mad.

Tim Allen is head chef at London's Launceston Place.

Tiny amount of salt, and about four, five bits of lemon in there.

The Yorkshireman is hoping his classical training

and Michelin star will help him tackle the centenary brief.

I love the brief, to be honest.

I thought I knew what the Women's Institute did,

but once I spent the time researching and looking into it,

it's just so much more than I envisaged.

Away from his restaurant kitchen,

father of two Tim is a passionate home cook,

and hopes to impress his partner Magali with his ham hock starter.

It could be a winning dish. Just a little less sweet.

-Hopefully it would be more successful to the big day.

-Hope so!

I've put my heart and soul into this and I really believe in it.

I want to win and I think I've got what it takes to get there.

Nuh, no.

No.

In the kitchen, Tim is working on the compressed tomato

element of his ham and egg starter.

To prove his pedigree,

he knows he'll have to take this humble dish to new heights.

Tim is cooking well, he looks on fire at the moment,

and you can see the hunger in his eyes.

This is no joke for Tim, he's here to win it.

Also aiming to impress Marcus

and hit the brief with his rabbit dish, is Mini.

He's pickling vegetables in white wine

and vinegar for his allotment presentation.

I want them just a little bit more crunchy than al dente.

So you really do feel like you're eating a raw vegetable almost,

do you know what I mean?

Leeds native Mini Patel is head chef

at the Pointer restaurant in Buckinghamshire,

where he combines a love of local produce with classic cooking.

My food's definitely in keeping with the WI.

Good, honest food, cooked simply, tasting amazing.

What more do you want?

Mini is visiting farmer Judith Ives in West Yorkshire,

who shares a passion for cooking rabbit meat.

Just after the war, when there was rationing on, food was

so scarce that it was wonderful that you could go out

and catch a wild rabbit and come home with some food.

And the Women's Institute were the forebearers of getting people

to grow their own so that people had something to eat.

-All seems to make sense. Rabbit's what I should be doing.

-Yeah.

With confidence in his dish,

Mini's raring to take on the competition.

Forget the rest, Mini is the best.

In the kitchen, Mini's working on the edible soil for his

potted rabbit dish, which must dry out in the oven before serving.

But it's his vegetable pot that's caught Marcus' eye.

In here, what have we got? Carrot?

I've got carrots, water and star anise in there.

This is the one part of the dish that I'm finding hard to see a place.

Where would you find a carrot puree in an allotment?

You wouldn't find a puree in any allotment, I don't think.

But you would find carrots.

Good luck.

Mini, to me, looks unsure.

Perhaps he is a little bit of a rabbit in the headlights

at the moment, but his ideas are interesting.

Experimental chef Michael is prepping the compressed melon

for his version of a prawn cocktail and melon starter.

Marcus was quite taken aback by your apron.

Do you like it? I made this one myself.

Quite WI of me, isn't it?

I love it, love it.

Born and raised in Middlesbrough, Michael O'Hare opened

his first restaurant, The Man Behind The Curtain, in Leeds, last year.

My cooking's about creativity, about artistic freedom.

He's hoping his unique style of cooking

and presentation will make for a standout menu.

I took from the Women's Institute their tag line of Inspiring Women.

And I thought, how can I make food suitable for women

that are an inspiration to everyone?

Michael's starter is inspired by the people he enjoys sharing meals with.

Top of the list is mum Jane.

It's true what you say about

-you just need to be with people that you love.

-I think so.

You never eat with someone that you don't care about.

I didn't always think that Michael would be a chef.

He is really, really good at what he does, and I'm so proud of him.

My mum has supported me throughout my whole life,

and she stuck by me through any life decisions I've ever made.

Like everyone's mother.

But obviously, this one's mine.

Give us a kiss.

Marvellous, let's go home.

In the kitchen, Michael works on his raw shellfish dish.

Infusing apples with lavender, and blending for his lavender puree.

Adding lilac food colouring for visual impact.

-Wow! What is that?

-That is apple and lavender.

-Bright, isn't it?

-It is bright.

-Can I taste that?

-Yes, certainly.

-What do you think of the flavour?

-Ah, I'm not telling you what I think!

-What have you done to these?

-I just froze them for pasteurisation.

I'm just going to peel them, chop them up, and season them with salt.

Are raw langoustine the right thing for a banquet of a lot of people?

-I certainly think so.

-You do?

-Yeah.

All right, Michael, I'm going to let you carry on.

What is really interesting about Michael is,

in his own place of work, he comes with the food, serves it.

But that's not going to happen here.

And I really hope he's taken that into consideration.

Tim is also aiming to impress Marcus with his simple ham and eggs dish.

He thinly slices the potato for the chips, and deep-fries them.

Do you feel like you have a point to prove here because of what

-you've achieved in your career?

-I've got to do well, haven't I?

It's that simple. Yeah, of course I feel that pressure.

I want to be at the banquet and cook there. Absolutely.

-I'll let you crack on.

-Brilliant. Thanks, Marcus.

Michael's first to plate up his dish - Everyone I Ever Ate With -

a raw langoustine and melon starter, inspired by family dinners.

I'm quite behind. I didn't realise I was. I was kind of cruising,

but it turns out I'm a bit under the cosh.

He starts by adding lavender puree to the plate,

followed by his langoustine tartare, salted cucumber,

and compressed melon slices.

Next, he adds edible flowers

and ropes in Tim to help with his gin sour cocktail.

-Tim, can you fill those for me, mate?

-Yep.

Which is decanted into bags and fitted with a straw.

-There you go, mate.

-Thank you.

He adds ham fat and blowtorches to melt.

Michael's avant-garde approach to food also applies

to his presentation.

His serving plate will sit in a giant, white egg.

Finally, he's ready to add his gin sour and serving plate to the egg.

OK, Michael, are you ready?

One last thing, I just need the lights dimming a little.

OK.

Lights!

You are something else. LAUGHTER

This is my starter. This is Everyone I Ever Ate With.

So the egg, a symbol of life, and inside it, a collage

I made of every person I've ever eaten with in my entire life.

Boys, what do you think?

-Stunning.

-Stunning?

-Yeah.

Think it's an amazing concept.

-I couldn't have thought of that.

-MICHAEL:

-Thank you.

-Are you pleased?

-Yeah, I'm buzzing, yeah.

Let's go, come on, you.

-And it's all your family...?

-Family, friends.

People that I've chose to spend my dinnertimes with.

I've never seen anything quite like it.

There's definitely a story there. But it's Michael's story, isn't it?

And then we've got a straw to drink something out of.

It's a gin sour.

I kept it relatively light on the gin,

because I didn't want to do something overpowering.

That's really nice.

The langoustine.

-They literally are raw.

-Yeah.

-Salt?

-It needs more.

TIM: You've got to like raw fish, which I do.

Who doesn't?

MARCUS: The melon...

Have you done anything to enhance the flavour?

Just plain melon, yeah.

I like the melon...

but I'd like it if it was probably a bit greener, a bit crisper.

The lavender puree.

Would you sweeten it up a little bit more?

-No, it think if anything, I'd go sharper.

-OK.

I think the acidity of the apple really brings the flavour out

really quite gently, as well.

Where's the WI point of this dish?

Although it's really weird to look at,

it is a heartfelt expression of how I see my family dinner.

What will the WI make of it?

I don't know. And so, I'm going to give it a seven.

I'll probably give it a six, to be honest.

All right, Mike?

How did it go with Marcus?

It's tough being stood next to him, critiquing yourself,

and thinking, "This guy's a legend."

The only Michelin-starred chef in the kitchen,

Tim, is up against it to plate up Preserving The Past.

A risky twist on simple ham, egg and chips.

Tim's starter hinges on executing every element to perfection.

-Tim, how are the eggs?

-Yeah, nice, Marcus.

He starts by piping onion jam onto gaufrette potato chips.

To a serving plate, he adds compressed tomato,

mustard garnish, and pickled onion.

Followed by salad and the gaufrette potatoes.

He sprinkles pork crackling onto the ham hock and adds to the plate.

Can I do anything for you, Tim? Are you cool?

Can you stop me shaking? LAUGHTER

I've got gin, if you want.

He removes the eggs from the pan...

Don't break those yolks.

..and seasons with pork crackling.

Then centres on the plate.

They're topped with maple jelly and chives,

then placed into a presentation book.

OK, Tim, what's the name of your dish?

This is Preserving The Past, Marcus.

How do you feel?

Erm, stressed.

I want you to eat it now.

-Will I open it?

-Yeah, love to.

These are some of the quotes from the book.

-Very Women's Institute.

-Something very true about that!

-Yeah.

The ham, have you actually achieved what you wanted to achieve with it?

I think it's nice to eat, Marcus.

It's not slimy, like ham hock often is.

It's a really accomplished bit of cooking, that.

The egg, you didn't turn it over?

I think, for me, that's the best way, Marcus.

I think with duck eggs, they're so rich, if it gets

heat on the yolk too much, it just makes it coagulate very quickly.

I think the egg could possibly have done with a little bit of seasoning.

And then we go to the little potato crisp

with a little onion jam in the centre.

Pleased with that texture?

-Textures, I thought was bang on. The seasoning's nice.

-OK.

I think that's really worked.

Wow, that's nice as well.

They're really nice, not too sweet. That's beautiful.

I think he's going to get a nine or a ten for that.

I'm going to give it a nine.

I think he's done everything to an extremely high standard.

-Hi, guys.

-Hey, man, how's it going?

-Bit nerve-racking.

You're just questioning yourself constantly.

It's details, and that's what Marcus is looking for, isn't it?

Mini has a lot to do, plating up the ten elements of his

Rabbits In The Allotment starter, inspired by childhood memories.

And he's got a problem.

-I've been trying to dry it out all day.

-OK.

And now it's gone wet!

He needs to dry out his edible soil,

but he's put the oven on the wrong setting.

Undeterred, he pots layers of farmed rabbit confit,

braised wild rabbit,

and chunks of liver.

To create the allotment garden, Mini layers carrot puree

and the edible soil straight from the oven.

-I'm 34 years-old, and I still can't figure that

-BLEEP

-oven out.

Next, the pickled vegetables

and edible flowers,

before adding beer bread to the serving platter.

What is that, Mini?

It's my rabbit butter, but it was too soft,

-so I put it in the blast chiller, and now it's...

-Too hard?

Finally, he quenelles the butter onto the platter.

-That looked a little bit tough towards the end there.

-Yeah.

-All right, Mini, shall we taste some?

-Yeah, sure.

Do you think the Women's Institute would like the fun of this dish?

If it doesn't put a smile on your face,

-then I'm not really doing my job right.

-OK.

TIM: Rabbits In The Allotments.

This looks really cool, actually.

MARCUS: Do you think you can taste the difference

of the wild and the tame rabbit?

I would say that you can definitely tell the difference.

I'm not sure I can distinguish between the wild and the tame,

but they've got a good rabbit flavour.

-MARCUS: Do you think you've got the flavour of the rabbit in the butter as well?

-Yeah.

I'd change the size of it, make it smaller.

Trouble with the butter, but it's soft.

-It's got a real intense, meaty hit, hasn't it?

-Yeah.

The soil.

Oh, it's soft.

-Did you think that was going to be really crunchy?

-Yeah.

-So did I!

Just literally came out the oven, at 180 degrees, about five minutes ago.

Hence why it's still warm.

And the carrot puree at the bottom?

The carrot puree is as it should be.

I'd have liked more of that carrot puree,

-because that has a really lovely flavour.

-Yeah.

-What would you give it, Tim?

-Six, probably.

-Yeah?

-How did you get on?

-Erm...

-Fine?

-I think I've done all right.

-I'm dreading the first scoring, to be honest, you know?

-Yeah, it's scary.

Really scary. I won't lie.

It's done now.

None of us have any control over it.

First course down, how are you feeling?

I think all of us agree we feel better for getting that first one out of the way.

OK, I'm going to start with you, Mini.

Your Rabbits In The Allotment.

I thought the presentation was fun.

I'd have liked a bit more carrot puree underneath,

-because it added great flavour.

-Great.

And your mistake of the soil being slightly warm I thought was

brilliant, because it maintained its fantastic flavour

and the aroma was great.

But...

the potted rabbit, I don't think you had a great deal of flavour.

-It felt like you'd just pushed it all into that little pot.

-I did.

And your quenelling was very, very poor.

Tim, for your dish, Preserving The Past,

I loved the presentation.

It really told the story of the beginning of the WI.

The cooking of the egg, the crackling,

the ham tasted delicious.

The tomato...

absolutely spot-on.

You took a tomato to a completely new place.

Thanks, Marcus.

But...

there is room for improvement.

I think the salad didn't have the punch or the power that you

wanted it to have. So I have to question why put it on the plate.

The dish could have been finished with just a little sauce,

or a little slice of truffle

to take the dish to a completely new, new level.

Michael...

for your dish, Everyone I Ever Ate With.

Your story's really interesting, because you've turned it on its head.

The WI is moving forward and becoming more modern than it's ever been.

I think that's what you're doing with your presentation.

But when it comes down to the cookery, Michael,

for me, it was disappointing.

The langoustine was incredibly under-seasoned.

The lavender and apple puree, you could taste the acid of the apple.

It hadn't been toned down with any sweeteners.

The story was far greater and more important than the dish

and the execution itself.

So, for the scores.

Mini...

I am going to give you...

..a six.

Tim...

..I'm going to give that dish an eight.

I thought it was a beautifully executed dish, Tim.

Michael...

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

..a four.

I think it lacked flavour.

You need to start focusing on the detail of your dishes.

OK, first course done. Next up is the fish course.

It's not over, not for anybody.

There are some high scores to get, see you all tomorrow. Thank you.

-Well done, guys.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, well done.

What do you think for yours, Michael? You knew yours was edgy.

Yeah, I knew when I came into the competition,

where I was standing, it could go either way.

Obviously I didn't want a four, but I think it's fair.

To get an eight from Marcus was amazing.

But the bottom line is, you're as good as your last plate of food.

Tim's two points head of me.

For me to claw back those two points is extremely important.

-Fish course next.

-Yeah, man.

-Push on.