South West Judging Great British Menu

It's the head-to-head for Michelin starred Josh Eggleton...

I'm feeling the pressure!

..and Jude Kereama.

Help me!

Competing for the chance to represent the South West

in the national finals...

I need to get some points

and I'm not going to get there by simple dishes.

Making a nice mess already!

..and ultimately get a dish on the menu at The Great Britons' Banquet,

celebrating the everyday people honoured by the Queen

during her historic reign,

held at London's Palace of Westminster.

Josh has topped the leaderboard all week,

and wants to maintain his exacting standards today.

It definitely, definitely doesn't get any easier.

But Jude, who failed to reach the Judge's Chamber last year,

has his sights set on victory.

Definitely the hardest thing I've ever done.

Killer. It is a killer!

Only one of them can go through.

Thought I'd check this here for you.

Do you want me to check it? I might need it, man.

The winner is...

Josh Eggleton has pushed himself all week.

Having reached the finals last year,

he knows it takes perfect cooking to become South West champion.

Going into the kitchen today, I'm going to give it 110%.

I'm going to make sure I do everything I can to win.

Good luck today, mate. Best of luck. Thank you.

Cheers! Let's get cooking, huh?

Jude Kereama lost marks earlier in the week

for failing to make enough impact with his flavours.

But he fought back, scoring highly for both his main and dessert.

He must build on that success to stay in the competition.

Going to be a nerve-racking experience,

but I think I'm up for it today. Hopefully I can impress them.

Judges Matthew Fort, Prue Leith

and Oliver Peyton are looking over the chefs' menus.

It's our old friend Josh, back for the third time!

He came within a whisker of getting through to the banquet last year,

so he'll really want to make sure he does this time.

Yup. But he has got to beat Jude Kereama.

Terrific seafood cook, interesting Asian flavours,

and I'm sure he'll give Josh a run for his money.

Obviously very excited to try Jude's food.

But, you know, I am sort of feeling it for Josh here.

It is his third time back here!

Now listen, guys, we have got to be fair, impartial judges.

As always. As always.

I'm really anxious, you know,

cooking for the judges for the first time.

Obviously, you've done it now twice.

It definitely, definitely doesn't get any easier.

That's good to know, it's just not me that's nervous, then.

Hello, chefs. Hello, good morning.

Josh, it's good to see you again!

How are you doing? We're expecting good food today.

I'll try my best. What's your standout dish?

This week I was really happy with my fish course.

But Jude, it's you that's supposed to have this great reputation

for fish and seafood. What happened?

A six! I think the nerves got the better of me.

I made a schoolboy error.

I got my temperatures wrong.

We need not just the fish to get better,

but we need four great courses from you.

Well, may the best food win.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Josh is first to serve his contemporary take

on Coronation chicken, originally created

for the Queen's coronation banquet.

Josh's version features a curried chicken and lobster terrine.

Veteran Lisa Allen scored it seven,

putting Josh at the top of the leaderboard.

Did you have to make any changes to your dish?

I was just going to try and get a bit more powerful curry mayonnaise,

and I'm going to add some croutons.

Add a bit of crunch, you know, a little bit of texture.

Nice.

Joining the judges is Grace Dent,

a prominent food critic, author and broadcaster

with a passion for British food and its evolution

over the Queen's reign.

Hello. Grace, how wonderful of you to join us.

Thank you for having me. Come and sit. Oliver and Prue.

Hello. Hello, Grace.

Welcome. I watch this programme so much, I feel like you're my family.

THEY LAUGH

Has food always been a part of your life?

Eating has always been my greatest hobby, so to me, this is the dream.

Grace, we should tell you a bit about the brief.

We're really about reflecting the way food has changed

over the Queen's reign. OK.

And looking to the future to get it even better.

Well, this brief makes my heart sing, because I love the Queen.

And I'm also very proud to be British,

and I want to see that coming through in the food.

Those two chefs have one great problem ahead of them.

They've got to send Grace away a happy woman.

I don't think any men have done that.

THEY LAUGH

So, Josh, you brought your terrine out nice and early today, huh?

Yeah, I want to make sure it's the correct temperature today.

I had a few issues with that. I do remember! Yeah, all right.

Trying to remind me?

To an envelope shaped plate complete with the Queen's coronation stamp,

Josh adds a slice of chilled coronation chicken terrine...

..then poached apricot slices, pickled baby gem hearts,

apricot membrillo, apricot gel and curry mayonnaise.

Did you pack more curry favour in the mayo?

Yeah. Hopefully that will work with the sweetness of the apricot.

That's your idea in the first place, right? It was, yeah.

Coronation, curry and apricots.

Next, devilled quails eggs...

..wafer thin croutons...

..and, finally, lobster dressing.

Let's go one at a time. Yeah.

You have to stand facing them, so facing them this way. OK?

Oh.

Good on you. First one down.

This looks wonderful.

Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In the same way that ordinary people can achieve the extraordinary,

an ordinary dish can be taken above and beyond all expectation.

This is the best Melba toast I've ever eaten.

It's beautifully thin, it's perfectly baked.

What is this terrine missing? What do you think? Seasoning.

I absolutely agree.

If I'm being very critical, this apricot,

it really does leave me cold.

It is a bit mushy, definitely.

Those changes, do you think they've made a bit of impact on it?

I've got the crouton on now,

I've got a bit more curry mayonnaise on there.

I've got a bit more curry powder going through the mayonnaise.

I think the balance of the curry flavour is really terrific.

I love the little jelly, the apricot jelly.

And the quail egg in particular is delicious.

You know, the problem is that all the flavour's outside the terrine,

and not in the terrine.

I think good Britain, not Great Britain.

THEY LAUGH

Jude's starter is next.

Crank Up The Radio is a contemporary beef tartare dish,

presented on a wind-up radio,

like those invented by Great Briton Trevor Baylis, CBE.

Veteran Lisa scored it six for low impact flavours,

and for leaving the lotus root crisps in the kitchen.

Lisa said that there wasn't enough oyster kind of flavour on there,

so what I've done is I've used a little bit of ponzu,

shucked some oysters, used the juice...

Hopefully that'll be enough to get that oyster flavour through.

Onto a serving plate alongside the new oyster flavoured jelly,

he adds the Dexter beef tartare to moulds,

tops with pickled mooli, Daikon and wasabi cress,

wasabi mayonnaise and Parmesan ice cream.

Lotus root crisps go in copper pots.

Next, pickled shallots and radishes.

Thought I'd check this here for you.

Do you want me to check it? Yeah?

Indeed. I might need it, man!

All right. Oyster emulsion?

I haven't done that yet.

No?

Beef tartare, got that.

And the lotus root. The lotus root is up there to go.

There you go.

Little memento, mate. Mm!

HE LAUGHS

Oh, how wonderful.

Crank up the radio.

Please turn the crank on the side to listen.

Ah!

MUSIC: Rule Britannia!

I think I can see a tear in your eye there, Grace.

Yeah. Yeah, they got me.

There's an incredible amount going on in a rather small dish.

Yeah, there really is!

But he's managed to put a lot of flavour in here,

and retain the flavour of the beef. Yes.

And I think the ice cream is actually a brilliant idea.

Happy with everything? The jelly could be a bit more set.

This kitchen's so hot.

I'm just not enjoying this.

This radioactive looking puddle at the bottom.

I would solve that by simply not having the puddle at all.

No, it's got such good flavour!

Oh, no it hasn't! Yes, it has. No, it hasn't.

Well, I'm a great lover of crisps.

Professionally and in my spare time.

But these weren't really doing it for me.

I loved this dish, I love the balance of flavours on the dish.

I think it's completely on the brief. Great.

But is this the fierce cutting edge of modern British cooking?

I think so, yeah.

Next is the fish course.

Josh is first to plate up his contemporary seafood platter

in honour of the RNLI's lifeboat volunteers.

It earned him the highest score of the week - nine.

What do you think you could do to get a ten with this course?

I've decided to put a little bit of potato in the fishcake,

instead of the hake mousse.

To ensure they're cooked perfectly,

Josh pan fries mackerel fillets at the last minute...

Ouch!

..while Jude checks the hake fishcakes.

Can you bring those fishcakes over to me? Yeah.

Josh adds the shellfish and pickling liquor to a cup,

then places on an RNLI themed plate...

..followed by the fishcakes.

Poached oyster goes in the shell with oyster emulsion.

I forgot how good this dish is, mate.

It's looking great.

Next, the pan-fried scallops in roe powder.

Do you want a hand, mate? Yeah.

And sardine Bolognese is served on a spoon...

Just directly on top, yeah? That's it.

..topped with pan-fried mackerel.

OK. Thank you.

How do you feel about that? Good, I'm happy with that.

I love it.

Mm! I love it.

This is a greatest hits medley of everything

that I love about getting out of the city and going to the coast.

Munching very, very happily on this hake fishcake...

Oh. ..which is absolutely superb.

I think the hake is overcooked. Mm-mm.

Absolutely not. Do you know the sardine Bolognese works?

It's amazing. Sardine Bolognese does sound like something

that a student might make. The oyster is absolutely fabulous.

I like it, but I think it's fish, fish, fish, fish.

There's no counter notes to it.

It's just not giving me enough pleasure.

I think it's a fine celebration of a great British institution.

Jude's fish dish, Britannia Rules The Waves,

is his interpretation of Coronation chicken,

using lobster to showcase British seafood.

But veteran Lisa thought the lobster was undercooked,

and the dish needed more curry favour.

She scored Jude a disappointing six.

He starts with the centrepiece of his dish, the lobster tempura.

Is this the claw? It is a claw.

I thought it was really big before.

Of course, it's been a little bit too cold while I was...

To get out of the shell.

You know, you need those, you know, lobsters...

Just one. Just one.

Instead of one large claw,

you're going to put them into little chunks

and you're tempuraing them like that? Yeah.

To a serving plate, Jude adds extra curry mayonnaise and mango puree...

..lobster and quinoa salad, with an added ginger and yuzu dressing.

Yuzu dressing. It brings the lobster out more for you?

Yeah, I think so.

Next, marinated mango,

poached lobster tail and the smaller tempura lobster claw.

It'll taste the same, at least.

It'll just be two chunks rather than one.

Righty ho.

Finally, ginger yuzu foam.

As soon as I put that foam on, you can go.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Well done, mate. Cheers, mate. Well done.

I love the colours.

Vibrant is the word.

Vibrant is the very word I wanted.

Britannia Rules The Waves.

Inspiration, guess what, Coronation chicken.

Using lobster.

What about this dish reminds you of Coronation chicken?

There's no apricot, there's no chicken.

I think the lobster is perfectly cooked.

I do think actually the yuzu ginger foam is absolutely delicious.

I think the tempura batter is too thick.

Yes, the batter is thick.

But I'm from north-west England, and that's absolutely fine.

That is thin. That's very thin!

I think it needs more curry.

Less mango, more curry.

When I got to this section here, there was a real bang

of Coronation, curry, delicious with the lobster. And it really worked.

You've got a fruit sauce and a curry sauce together.

I don't think there's enough distinction between them.

Lobster should be the hero of this dish.

Underneath it all is a really stylish dish

struggling to emerge from the mire of mango.

As the chefs move on to their mains,

the judges are discussing the food so far.

I was thinking, whoops, Josh is going to walk this.

Josh is not going to walk it. I think it's actually quite close.

But we haven't given any tens yet.

So I think there's still a bit of a way to go for both chefs.

I think Josh's food is more confident than Jude's.

You can see it in the way he plates his food, his ideas are very strong.

I would say that Jude is the one that's sending out the dishes

that are the most surprising.

You know, I loved his beef tartare.

I thought that was actually very brave.

Jude has the potential of being by far the best,

but he also has the potential of crashing out completely.

Jude is first to serve his main course, V for Valour.

A venison fillet Wellington with a venison shin cottage pie.

He's fusing Indian and East Asian flavours

to honour modern day British heroes of the armed services.

It earned Jude eight points.

Jude, are you changing anything on this dish?

Lisa thought it was a little bit cramped on the plate.

Right. So I'm going to use some copper pots.

And I'm going to just put the veg in there.

OK. Then, you know, they'll have a bit more space.

You're not using any of my copper pots.

JUDE LAUGHS

Jude serves pan-fried beetroot...

..baby carrots, baby beets...

..and gravy in jugs.

Then kale accompanies the venison shin and celeriac mash cottage pie.

This is the moment of truth.

I'm going to cut this Wellington now.

The venison Wellington should be crispy on the outside...

..and medium rare in the centre.

Bit rare? Touch rare.

I'm just going to flash this under the grill,

it's the only way I can do it.

Jude presents his dish in a medal box,

with the ribbon of the Gallantry Medal inside.

Finally, he adds a slice of Wellington to each plate.

So, the V is going to face the judge, that way.

OK, thank you very much, service.

Dead hard, isn't it? Brutal, really brutal.

Ba-dum!

Look at that! I love a bit of Wellington, and I love venison.

You know, I would have done with another seven minutes resting,

it would have been perfect. It's resting now, as it goes.

This is a proper dinner.

The venison is lovely and rare.

I think it's a little bit tough.

Yeah, and I think that he's had a problem with that.

Gosh, these veg are lovely.

And the carrots are beautifully cooked, too.

I really don't like the pie.

It's just overwhelmed by spice.

The pie is where the risks are being taken.

And as a critic, I'm seeing something

that I've never seen before.

You know, whether you like it or don't like it,

this is not the vanguard of modern British cooking.

Josh is working on the Heart Of Britain, Les Rosbifs.

A celebration of British beef and the evolution

of its cooking over the Queen's reign.

Veteran Lisa was impressed by the dish,

but felt the ribeye was too rare, scoring it eight.

In a bid to score more highly, Josh is making some changes.

I am going to cook the beef on a little bit more.

I'm going to try and take it to a nice medium,

get the fat to soften up. Get some more caramelisation on there.

To a copper pot, he adds braised oxtail and tops with vegetables.

Next, Marmite and maple glazed sweetbreads.

To smaller copper pots with a roast garlic and watercress puree,

Josh adds ox-heart salad.

Next, a larger slice of bone marrow on toasted sourdough.

As an accompaniment, he's infusing beef stock with herbs

for a warm tea.

I like this, it's beautiful.

Finally, he adds sliced ribeye to the wooden board.

OK, let's go.

Perfect timing.

Thank you.

One more. One more to go.

Yeah.

Thank you. Wow!

I love a small helping, me.

What's in here? We want to know.

Go on. What is it?

It's a sort of beef tea with herbs.

It's rather good.

That smoked beef marrow is absolutely delicious.

It's rich as anything. Veal sweetbread.

Little nuggets of veal sweetbread.

Beautifully cooked.

The ox-tail ragu is absolutely delicious.

But it's the vegetables.

They're cut small, and they make it lighter.

The thing I like most about this ribeye

is I think the fat content in it is just correct.

It's the beef, the whole beef and nothing but the beef isn't it?

It's not a beautiful dish in the slightest.

What? It doesn't make my heart leap

like it's clearly making your hearts leap.

Well, it might make it palpitate.

THEY LAUGH

Jude is working on his twist on a quintessentially British dessert,

Eton mess. Which celebrates the artists

who perform at the last night of the Proms,

many of whom have been honoured by the Queen.

Lisa felt the dish was overpowered by mint flavours,

but scored it eight,

enough to see Jude through to cook for the judges.

I spilled a little bit too much mint extract into my macaroon mix.

There was mint everywhere.

There was mint on my board, there was mint on the mint.

So what I've done is put a lot less in there.

There was a bit of a mint issue.

To a serving plate, Jude adds strawberry cream and meringue.

He tops with fresh and freeze-dried strawberries,

mint shards and meringue domes.

Next, he adds white chocolate treble clefs.

Refined mint and white chocolate macaroons,

and strawberry sorbet.

Then decants his strawberry liqueur cocktail.

If you'd like to pour a glass each for the judges,

that would be lovely.

In the nick of time, Jude remembers his presentation facade.

Oh, yeah!

Representing the Royal Albert Hall, home of the Proms.

It's not like me to forget something!

Thank goodness for that!

Thank you very much, you can go.

We've gone all arty.

Oh, how exciting.

Looks suspiciously like alcohol to me.

Cheers, gang! Cheers!

I think it's delightful. I like the sorbet, because it isn't too sweet.

It's actually quite light and refreshing.

You could call into question the quality of the macaroons.

I especially like what he calls a mint shard.

That's very original and I've never tasted that before.

So, were you happy with the jelly?

Do you mean this jelly?

Oh, no. That was really nice, that jelly, as well.

THEY LAUGH

Well, I'll tell you something that's missing from here,

and that's the strawberry jelly.

An eight. Oh, yes, that would have been lovely.

For me, this is a solid, sugary, satisfying seven.

The final dish of the day is Josh's dessert.

Shall we see if it's ready? Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Oh, yes. That's cool, isn't it?

An unusual beetroot and white chocolate ice cream

with vegetable garnishes.

Celebrating the revival of the British high street

and growth of independent producers.

Lisa loved the fun idea,

but felt the ice cream was too sweet and scored him eight points.

To give him the edge over Jude,

Josh is making some tweaks to his garnishes.

I'm just making these carrot cake cubes a touch smaller.

Lisa said she really liked them,

so it would be quite nice to be able to put a few more in the cone.

Josh's presentation represents a traditional British high street,

with market stalls.

He adds smaller carrot cake cubes and frozen raspberry cells.

Candied carrot tuiles and beetroot syrup.

Josh seals the base of the hazelnut cone with dark chocolate,

then adds lemon thyme puree.

OK.

Oh! Such a good feeling! To get that last dish.

Let's go home. Yeah, see you later.

JUDGES LAUGH

Oh, good! This is more like it.

Very good. What's all that?

Oh, its sprinkles and stuff to go on top.

I absolutely love that.

I just need to go and have some ice cream now.

Hurry up.

We're right behind you!

OK.

Wow. Ahh!

Oh, carrot cake!

Carrot cake. Leave some for me.

No!

It's a real show stopper.

It's a real conversation piece at the end of a banquet.

I wasn't expecting to like the ice cream, but I think it's really good.

It's too beetrooty. I don't think it's...

No, I think it's not beetrooty enough.

The carrot cake works really well with it,

I think the beetroot syrup works with it very well.

Wow, there's chocolate at the bottom, too.

The chocolate's very good-quality chocolate,

but it doesn't go with the beetroot.

It's a high nine.

I think you're right, it's a high nine.

Why don't you give each other high nines?

High nines.

Well, what a week.

What a week. It never gets any easier.

Man, it was tiring! It was hard!

I loved what Josh has done today.

His menu showed all the marks of someone

who actually knows what the pressure is about.

What we got was what he intended us to get.

Who knows what's going to happen in that chamber, so...

You never know, do you?

Jude, I thought, took the greater risk today.

I mean, his food was more vivid, it had interesting spicing,

it had interesting ingredients.

And such good, strong flavours.

I wish you the best of luck. And you too, brother.

Cheers. You too.

Welcome, Jude and Josh.

Hi. Hi. How are you doing?

What a day of delight and delicious food you've given us.

Has it been tough? It's been really tough.

It's the hardest thing I've ever done.

It's been a great day, it's been a great week. It's hard.

Well, I'm sure you want to know who is going to be the champion

of the South West.

And so, I can tell you that the winner is...

Josh.

Well done. Thank you. Well done.

Thank you so much. Delighted, yeah.

Well, Jude. I'm really sorry.

You've cooked some absolutely dazzling dishes today,

but across the menu, the nod went to Josh.

Fair enough. He was a deserved winner.

I had my chance and I didn't take it, so well done to him.

Josh, I thought your main course was absolutely astonishing.

It was just exquisite cooking.

I gave it a ten. Oh, did you?

Both these guys gave it a ten.

Thank you very much. And Jude, your starter.

I love steak tartare dishes,

and that's one of the best ones I've ever tasted.

It was great. Well done.

Congratulations, Josh.

Jude, again, thank you so much.

You both need a pretty stiff drink.

Yes, please. Reward yourselves now.

Thank you very much. Thank you both. Thank you. After you.

Delighted, yeah. Absolutely amazing.

Makes it all feel worth it.

We have seen Josh grow up in this competition.

And it's wonderful to see someone

who's just getting better and better.

You all right? Got through!

Oh, wicked, bro. I knew you would, man.

You're going to get through to the banquet as well.

Josh was a deserved winner this week.

Mate, well done. Well deserved.

Hopefully he will do us all proud for the South West.

Come on, Josh! Cheers.

Cheers to you, mate. Thanks so much.

It feels great, I'm really delighted.

I just now got to get through to that banquet!