North West Main Great British Menu

I want to make sure I'm going to deliver great-tasting food.

This week on Great British Menu,

three of the best chefs from the north-west.

Ha-ha! Yes!

Kim Woodward, a head chef who works for Gordon Ramsay.

I want to make sure I'm going to deliver great-tasting food.

Simon Rogan's protege, Adam Reid.

I just want to smash it.

And Matt Worswick, reigning regional champion.

I was hoping for a ten on every course, but Phil doesn't seem to agree, does he?

In the year of the Queen's 90th birthday, the chefs are celebrating

the everyday Great Britons honoured throughout her reign

and competing for a chance to cook at an opulent banquet at the

iconic Palace of Westminster.

Yesterday, Kim won the fish course.

That's what cooking's all about.

Matt was one point behind.

Need a pair of sunglasses for that!

I'm going to give you a score of eight.

Thank you.

But Adam failed to shine.

It just lacked presence and impact.

Coming into today's main course, the chefs are all level pegging.

This is the course which is going to determine what happens for

the rest of the week.

So who will manage to push out in front?

You absolutely nailed that dish.

And who will fall behind?

What let you down was the detail.

The chefs are competing to create dishes that celebrate the

transformation of British gastronomy during the Queen's historic reign.

And paying tribute to our modern Elizabethan age.

Judging this week is veteran Phil Howard who's looking for

exemplary banquet-worthy dishes.

Main course today, we've got to have some innovation,

some originality, some flare.

Two more courses, someone's out. The pressure is really on.

With a bit of luck,

that'll be the fuel to produce an absolute cracker today.

Are you ready for today? We're all level pegging now, aren't we?

It opens the competition wide up again.

I got a decent score yesterday, I need to pull it out the

bag today to try and get ahead.

Got a strong dish going in today, it's nice and straightforward.

Phil's going to like it.

For me, it is about getting that high score now.

I don't think anybody's going to take their foot off the pedal now.

Kim Woodward's up first.

After a slow start to the competition, she came back fighting,

scoring nine for her fish course.

Kim's aiming to do the same today.

Main course has to be absolutely perfect.

It's all about absolutely nailing it on the cooking.

Kim, good morning. Morning. You clawed away back.

Great fish course. Really happy with that, thank you.

Let's have the title of the dish, your main course.

This dish is Bobbies On The Beat.

This is about recognising the police force,

the men and the women that have been honoured by our Queen.

My grandfather, he was in the police force for

22 years and also my husband was in the police force, as well.

Special touch for you personally, then. Yeah. Great.

Let's talk through the dish.

So, I'll be using the pork rack,

a British product from Suffolk. Fantastic.

You're going to cook the rack whole like that?

Yes, for me, it's all about getting that crispy crackling for you,

nice and juicy in the middle. Absolutely.

The pork cheeks, I'm going to be braising these down,

give a little acidity to it.

I've got these pickled mustard seeds, nice bit of classic veg.

Carrots, celery, keeping it nice and British.

Putting a little cheeky spin on it.

Bobbies In Blue. So blue cheese.

I'm going to make a little blue cheese and apple biscuit and

a cup of tea.

I'll be using Earl Grey tea infusing into the sauce of the pork

cheeks for the whole dish to be complete.

What are you going to do to the dish to give it a bit of

a modern and contemporary feel?

With the pork rack, I'm going to brine it with bergamot.

Not commonly known that Earl Grey and bergamot are effectively the same thing.

And bergamot has got that complex citrus flavour.

Are you confident that you are going to be able to turn it into

something that has got some presence and impact?

It is about showing this dish off,

especially for the policemen and women. For your grandad. My grandad, yeah.

I like Kim's take on the brief.

She's celebrating real people who've made

a real difference to our country.

If she nails that rack of pork,

it's certainly going to be a beautiful piece of meat to enjoy,

it could stand her proud.

Next is Adam Reid.

He started his week well, but despite winning praise for

consistent cooking, his fish dish was given the lowest score of the day.

He's out to improve on that with his main course.

I was gutted at getting a seven for my fish, so I'm going to go

out today and just cook my little socks off.

Hi, Adam, how are we? Very well, thank you.

You lost a bit of ground in the last course.

Yeah, it was a bit gut-wrenching.

Let's have the title of your dish, your main course.

The main course is called Time For Tea.

It's based on your family evening meal, tea-time, as I'd call it

back where I come from.

I've got some dry-aged Cumbrian beef.

Beautiful-looking piece of beef, I have to say.

I'm going to serve that with some braised ox cheek.

I'm going to roast things like the parsnips in some dripping and

I'm going to salt-bake the swede and some carrots.

I like to have a roast potato with my roast beef.

Got some lovely little new potatoes, again, roast them in dripping.

Very nice, onions?

The onions are actually for the other part of the dish.

While you're having your dinner, you're going to have an intense onion

and beef broth just to really round off that nostalgic feeling.

And that's going to be served in the style of tea.

OK, and roast beef wouldn't be complete without

a bit of horseradish. Horseradish.

How are you going to get this dish to the banquet?

It's nostalgic, but I'm just going to bring

a level of refinement to it that you wouldn't get at home.

Hopefully that will just take it on to that next level.

Adam, I look forward to it. Good luck. Thank you, Chef. Thank you.

Adam has got fantastic ingredients.

I like his approach to cooking, but that's not enough

to win a competition.

Is there going to be anything about this

dish that's going to really warrant giving it a great mark?

Finally, it's Matt Worswick.

Last year, he was awarded a 10 for his main course and

he made it all the way to the finals.

This year, he's more determined than ever to get to the banquet.

I'm going in fighting today, I think.

I've got stiff competition,

I really need to pull it out the bag to get a decent score.

Matt, how are we? Not too bad, thank you.

This time last series...

you got yourself a ten. I did indeed.

Give me a mark right now what you're going to get this year.

Hopefully, I get higher than an eight. A bit conservative.

I don't want to jinx myself just yet.

OK, let's reveal the name of the dish and how you're going to

let yourself down, then.

OK, so, Coronation Chicken. OK.

A great staple British dish.

It's fallen out of favour,

become almost a sandwich filler, but the Queen served it

at her coronation for her guests

so I thought why not pay a nod to that and try and refine the dish?

If it's good enough for the Queen, it's good enough for me.

It's good enough for me, too, then, I guess. Yep.

I have got some lovely baby chicken from the Northwest.

I'm going to use the breasts, marinate it in a bit of curry powder.

Break the legs down and then I'm going to marinate them in

curry powder, as well.

Then I'm going to shred that up,

mix it with some pickled golden raisins. I'm going to make

a mango salsa and then I'm going to make my own Bombay mix.

How do you make Bombay mix? Chickpea flour.

Going to make my own sev noodles.

I've got some black wild rice, puff this up in some hot oil. Yep.

Dried onions. I've got some chicken skin which I'm going to freeze,

mince and then fry so you get really intense chicken flavour

so that will fit in with the whole dish and then sprinkle the

Bombay mix on top of the chicken so you get lots of curried flavour,

lots of texture and, hopefully, it will marry the dish together.

So what prevents it from being a 10?

I think it could be a 10.

I've just got to do it justice.

Matt's Coronation Chicken,

he's giving it a real thorough work over.

He's being creative, he's being inventive. If he nails it,

it will stand him in good stead.

As the race to win the main course begins,

nerves are building in the kitchen.

Everybody's worried this is the course which is going to

determine what happens.

It's a really important time in the competition.

I really don't want to go home on Thursday.

Hopefully, I'm going to turn it around and we're going to go upwards

rather than downwards. I think it's all great that we're all level pegging.

It's anyone's game, that's how I see it.

Matt's pinning his banquet hopes on a menu of reinvented

British Classics popular during Queen Elizabeth's reign.

For his contemporary take on Coronation chicken,

he puts the baby chicken, which has been marinated in curry and

buttermilk, into the water bath to cook at a controlled temperature.

So, Matt, with getting a 10 on your main course last year,

do you think this is putting the pressure on a little bit more?

I was hoping for a 10 on every course,

but Phil doesn't seem to agree, does he?

Matt's curried chicken will be crowned with his own version of

the popular Indian snack Bombay mix, which he's making from scratch.

He minces frozen chicken then puts his dough of chickpea flour,

turmeric and water through a noodle press before deep frying.

He then combines the skins and the Indian sev noodles with

puffed black rice, roasted peanuts and crispy dehydrated onions

then flavours with a curry spice mix.

Bombay mix. It's what I'm intrigued by. Here it is.

I've never tasted fresh Bombay mix.

Do the noodles make a massive difference?

A Bombay mix without sev noodles is not a Bombay mix.

I'd never seen one made before so I thought why not try and

embrace the technique and make it as authentic as possible?

So that's what I've tried to do.

I'm going to have to give it a little taste.

It's going on top of the chicken breasts

so as you get it, you get a bit of curry,

a bit of buttermilk and you get the Bombay mix at the same time.

OK. Interesting. Thank you.

After her success in the fish course,

Kim's hoping she can continue to impress Phil.

She's going for unusual flavour combinations,

brining her rack of pork in fresh bergamot, garlic and thyme.

Do you think you can keep it going?

Obviously, you came with the lowest score on the starter, but you

have then come back and nailed it on the fish. I'm going to give it all.

I mean, it is a competition. All guns blazing.

Knowing it has to be perfect, Kim prepares her pork for roasting.

Kim's dish is really interesting.

There's a few flavours on there that I'd never put together.

Could be great, could be... not so great.

Bergamot and pork, who knows?

Adam dish Time For Tea also features a prime cut,

a 42-day-aged Cumbrian shorthorn beef sirloin.

Is that going to be special enough for the banquet for all these

Great Britons having just a Sunday lunch?

Couldn't get any more special than that.

In a bid to maximise the flavour of the aged beef fat,

Adam's removed it from the sirloin and slow-cooked it.

Next, he rolls the fat back around the fillet, ready to cook sous-vide.

I am pushing myself for this course.

It's all about getting it right at the same point in time.

And really selling the dish to Phil.

As part of his mission to get his main course to the banquet,

Adam went to meet Anna Kennedy,

one of the Great Britons being honoured in this year's competition.

Hello. Hello. Nice to see you. Nice to meet you. And you.

Anna is a leading campaigner for autism.

She set up a specialist school after her two sons, Patrick and

Angelo, were diagnosed with the condition.

This is Patrick and he's 25 now.

He was premature when he was born, he was only 2lb.

I had him 11 weeks early. He's faraway from 2lb there! I know!

When my boys were at mainstream school,

they couldn't meet both of the boys' needs so I thought what do I do?

So we set about opening a school.

When it opened in 1999, Hillingdon Manor had just 19 pupils.

Today, there are around 180 and it's the largest school of its

kind in Europe.

Four years ago, Anna was honoured with an OBE for her services

to special needs education and autism.

How did it feel when you got the OBE from the Queen?

She knew quite a bit about me, so it was...

Really? She does her research, as well?

Yeah, she does. She chatted about Patrick and Angelo.

She said, "I hear you've opened up a school," and I said, "Oh, yes."

And I was just telling her a little bit about it.

An important part of the school's curriculum is teaching independent

living skills that will help the children when they're older.

How important is it to actually teach the children in the school how to cook?

Very important.

Also to broaden their taste because some of them,

their diet's quite limited.

I know one mum said that her son only likes to have cornflakes.

He won't eat anything else but cornflakes, so we might say,

"You can have this to eat if you smell this," to start off with.

Just keep working at it.

Adam's main course celebrates family mealtimes

and is dedicated to people like Anna.

So he was keen to get her verdict.

Sunday lunch is a key part of every Briton's life and it brings

us all back to childhood.

We all reminisce around it.

It's really lovely. So I've made a brew to have

with your Sunday dinner. It's a beef broth.

And it goes nicely down.

It makes you feel warm. Yeah, and it warms you up. It does, yeah.

It's really nice. Exactly what a Sunday lunch does. Lovely.

In the kitchen, Adam's made a start on his beef broth

by grilling beef shin on an indoor barbecue.

You're talking about a cup of tea,

but, actually, what we've got here is shin of beef on a barbecue.

The base of the brew is going to be, obviously, the barbecued beef,

but you also have caramelised onions in there as well.

I really want to make people feel warm as they're eating the meal,

and think, "Yeah, this takes me back. This is tea-time."

I'm expecting Adam to produce some really good broth.

He's got the right cut of meat.

He's treating it in an intelligent way on the barbecue.

Big flavours. Lots of onions.

It's exactly the components you'd want in a rich beef broth.

Adam moves on to his ox cheeks.

He's using a pressure cooker to try to achieve a succulent texture.

Across the kitchen, Kim's cooking her pigs' cheeks in a braise

which she'll later infuse with Earl Grey tea and serve in a teapot.

We are having a tea-off and a cheek-off.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting, Kim.

It's all about what you do with them. Yeah.

To go with Kim's Earl Grey flavoured pork tea,

she's making savoury apple and blue cheese biscuits.

How are we doing, Kim. Yeah, fine.

I like to give a little extra take to

the tea-and-biscuit factor in this dish.

I like to, you know, show a little something

that they're not doing, so...

Are they, sort of, a shortbready, sable kind of biscuit?

More like an American biscuit. They'll rise a little bit,

nice and crispy on the outside, and inside really moreish.

That blue cheese really gives it a moist base.

And some finesse in there, I hope.

Absolutely. Everything's going to be spot on.

Good. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.

With her biscuits in the oven and plating-up approaching,

Kim checks her bergamot-infused pork.

It needs to be roasted to perfection, then left to rest.

On the last course, Kim got nine, so she really upped her game then.

There's no signs of her slowing down.

Matt's preparing his final elements.

He mixes the shredded meat from his curry-spiced confit chicken legs

with freshly-made mango puree and salsa, coriander,

and pickled golden raisins.

The first dish under scrutiny today is Kim's Bobbies On The Beat.

Hoping for a perfect bake,

she takes out her American-style apple and blue cheese biscuits.

Is that similar to a scone?

Yeah, I'd say more like a scone, being British and all.

Now it's time for Kim to slice her rested pork.

The moment of truth for the pork in. Is it good?

The pork is good.

A tiny bit under? Just a little bit.

I'm going to be using it from the back end.

Kim starts her plates with petals of charred onion

and sliced, bergamot-infused pork loin.

Nice copper pans. It's a play on words with coppers on the street.

That's it.

Kim starts her teacups with buttered cabbage,

which she tops with her braised pigs' cheeks and sage.

Next, she pours her braising liquor, infused with Earl Grey tea,

into her teapots,

and serves with apple and blue cheese biscuits on the side.

It looks lovely, that, Kim. Very nice.

Thanks.

Kim's presentation comes complete with

flashing replica police helmets.

There's no confusion about what that is, Kim.

It makes a statement, doesn't it?

I wanted the sirens, but, you know...

Let's go and eat it.

How does it look? Do I look more important?

It... It suits you, actually.

This is the flavour over the main element of the pork chop,

so this is the Earl Grey tea.

OK.

A nice bit of crackling on the back. I'll try the crackling.

To really serve something like that, that pork has got to be immaculate.

Are you happy with the way it has come out?

It's spot on, exactly what I wanted.

You can see the middle is quite pink. Yeah.

Definitely, more resting time is needed there. Yeah.

The braised cheek...

is how a pork cheek should be.

I wanted to make sure the pork cheek was completely broken down.

For me, it's the best way to eat it.

So, you've got the cheek, nice. The cabbage is nice.

The sauce is nice. You've just got that bergamot flavour in there,

which I don't know if it goes.

One of the absolute key ingredient in your box is the bergamot.

Has that come through in that sauce?

The Earl Grey has been felt, definitely,

and I think keeping the bergamot just subtle in the brine,

I think has just done its job.

The biscuit - blue cheese. Apple in there, as well.

I think it's supposed to be crispy, but it seems quite soft.

Yeah. It's got a lovely blue-cheese flavour,

but I'm not getting a lot of apple.

Give me a mark.

A good eight to nine. I'm very happy with it.

And is next to plate up Time For Tea -

a spin on a traditional British roast dinner to evoke

memories of family mealtimes.

How are you doing? Yeah.

Happy with that? Very happy.

What did you think of it? I thought the pork was a bit pink.

It's nice. The bergamot flavour - a bit of a risk with pork.

Do you think it came off?

Yeah, I thought it was good. You're up next, aren't you?

Yeah, going to get in there. Yeah. A little bit tight.

Adam has also planned an imaginative way to present his dish,

which he hopes will give him the edge.

Can you do me a favour? Grab my house. Absolutely.

You'll know what it is - it's the one with the doors and windows.

Finally, Adam caramelises his sous-vide-cooked beef sirloin

in dripping.

Now the plating-up, on vintage china.

He starts with braised cabbage, cooked in butter,

and sliced sirloin,

followed by honey-glazed parsnips,

then crushed, salt-baked carrots.

Matt, you're looking worried there.

It looks very nice. I love a bit of beef.

Next, ox cheeks, roast potatoes and turnip discs.

Adam finishes his plates with horseradish sauce,

and pours beef gravy into a jug and barbecue beef broth into his teapot.

Finally, everything is served in his model house,

and entrees customised with family photos.

A first for everything, Adam.

I've never been served one of them before.

The first thing you do when you go home is open the front door

and have a nice brew,

and that's exactly what our banquet guests will be doing.

I'll go for the main event, for the beef.

The sirloin. Nice and pink.

You started off with a really handsome piece of beef.

Has that come through in the final sirloin?

Yeah. I mean, I'm happy with it, yeah.

It's such an intense beef flavour. Absolutely delicious.

What lacks for me is a bit of salt.

And the cheek.

It's tender, it's rich and it's fulfilling.

KIM: Shall we have a brew?

Have you got the depth of flavour in there you were hoping to?

Yeah, I think so. It's warming, earthy...

It's not a meal in itself.

That is packed full of flavour, isn't it?

Absolutely delicious. It's not particularly heavy either,

so you could carry on drinking it. Drink the whole cup.

You could have a pint, couldn't you?

The gravy and the tea, are they both needed?

I'd think so for the composition of the whole dish.

So, can I see this at the banquet?

Yes, I can.

Give yourself a mark, Adam. Probably an eight.

It's a great plate of food. It has worried me, definitely.

How are we doing? Hiya.

Can you tell me what you scored it? No, you'll have to wait.

I'll give it a nine. Wow.

Let's hope Phil agrees. Thank you.

Matt is lasted to plate up his modern take on Coronation chicken,

a dish first served at the Queen's Coronation Lunch in 1953.

He starts gold-rimmed plates with buttermilk gel

and quenelles of shredded confit chicken leg and mango mix,

followed by crispy chicken skin.

Matt tops the curry-spiced chicken breasts with his Bombay mix.

Is it like you wanted? Yeah. It's colourful.

It's many things but it isn't a Sunday roast, is it?

Next, mango salsa, more buttermilk gel,

and a final season.

A bit of drama.

Matt adds a garnish of coriander cress and pickled golden raisins,

and, finally, crowns his royal dish.

Have you done enough, Matt, to take the lead? I certainly hope so.

It certainly isn't meat and two veg, that's for sure.

Coronation chicken... Wow.

It looks fantastic, though. Yeah.

With the Bombay mix on top,

is the chicken coming through as much as you wanted it to?

I really wanted the palate to be elevated right the way

through the dish.

The chicken - cooked beautifully.

You've got the spicing right in there? I'm really happy with it.

The Bombay mix on top - a nice crunch.

Just that right level of saltiness.

I want to keep eating more. Yeah.

I mean, I think it's fantastic.

Mango.

Why the deviation from the apricot, which is the more traditional?

I think it marries itself with the Bombay mix, with the curry flavours,

better than the apricot.

I think the mango is a great tweak.

You know, it gives it all a nice, mild roundness.

Are you happy with the texture of the leg-meat mix

underneath the skin?

I wanted it to be a nod to the Coronation chicken,

the sandwich filler.

And then this is the shredded leg, yeah?

It's the same elements on the dish, all bound together.

Yeah, it's lovely.

You have introduced curry to every element of the dish.

Is that the right way to go?

With the mango, hopefully that cleanses the palate a bit more.

I think it's a high score. It is a great dish.

I'm really worried.

Hey-o. How are you doing?

All right. Yourself?

Yeah, all right. Yeah.

- It was a great dish. - Too great.

I just hope Phil thinks the same thing.

The scores are even now.

Somebody needs to start breaking away, now.

I got a ten last year.

Hopefully it's up there this year, but, you know, you just never know.

Hello, chefs. Hello. Hello.

Adam, I'm going to start with you for your Time For Tea dish.

I thought the ox cheek was perfect,

the sauce was rich and full of flavour,

and the tea brought a bit of fun to the dish.

Thank you.

However, having seen that beautiful sirloin of beef,

I have got to question how you've handled it.

Breaking it down so much, I'm not quite sure.

Kim, for your dish, Bobbies On The Beat...

I watched you roast that piece of pork.

It delivered way above my expectations.

It was a great piece of pork.

But what let you down was the detail.

I thought the biscuit was lacking in finesse.

The apple was lost in the biscuit.

Because the sauce was too thin,

the bergamot couldn't really be, kind of, harnessed, too,

because you couldn't get the sauce onto the piece of pork.

And I do think a vegetable of some sort would have been appropriate.

Matt, for the Coronation chicken,

I thought the texture of the leg meat was

just a little bit, kind of, non-descript.

You could leave it coarser - perhaps roast the leg

so that it's still got a bit more structure to it.

However, I thought it was a great interpretation of a classic.

I thought the Bombay mix was really inspired. Great texture.

It worked perfectly sitting on top of that lovely, soft chicken breast.

For the most part, you absolutely nailed that dish.

I think it's got legs to go the whole way.

So, for the scores...

Adam, I'm going to give you a score...

..of eight.

Thank you.

Kim, I'm going to give you a score...

..of six.

Thank you.

Matt, I'm going to give you a score...

..of nine. MATT TAKES A DEEP BREATH

That dish was fun.

It was clever.

It was absolutely on brief.

We've got one course to go - the dessert.

There's a few points in it but you're all still

very much in the competition.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'll take a nine. That'll be all right.

With just one more course to go, Matt is in the lead,

Adam is in second place,

and Kim is trailing in third.

To get a six, you know, it is disappointing. I must admit it.

I wanted to get a higher score than that,

especially up against the two boys.

You can get two or three points,

and it can turn it all on its head, I think.

A good, solid score.

It's an eight and it's kept me up there on the leaderboard.

Matt's only one point ahead.

This is all too much for me, this. I can't take it.

I'm absolutely elated to get a nine.

You know, luckily for me, he seems to like it.

I'm absolutely made up about it.

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