Central Fish Great British Menu

This week on Great British Menu,

three of central region's top chefs are putting their reputations

on the line. Daniel Smith, a focused and competitive chef...

My biggest gadget is this bad boy here.

..Andrew Scott, whose food is about flavour and finesse....

I've got to really run around like an idiot.

..and daring and innovative Danny Gill.

Deep breaths.

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

celebrating the everyday Great Britons honoured throughout

her reign, and competing for the chance to cook for them

at an historic banquet at the Palace of Westminster.

One course in, and Daniel and Danny are out in front,

both scoring seven for their starters,

with Andrew just one point behind.

You can all do a lot better than you did today.

For today's fish course,

the chefs are all desperate to better their scores.

Is it going to smash my dish out of the park?

I'm going to have to say yes to that.

The pressure is on Andrew not to slip further behind.

This is, like, the hardest dish I've ever done in my life.

But Daniel and Danny are both determined to top the leaderboard.

I'm getting there, I'm winning.

I'm here to get a dish to the banquet.

The competition is heating up.

Come on, baby, come on, baby.

She'll either love it or hate it, I suppose.

The pressure in the kitchen is ridiculous.

The chefs are competing to create dishes that are a fitting legacy

to our modern Elizabethan age,

and a celebration of the complete transformation of British cuisine

during the Queen's historic reign.

Judging these dishes for innovative and contemporary cooking

is veteran Angela Hartnett.

An MBE herself, she's expecting excellence.

This is a banquet for Great Britons.

They've got to cook some amazing food.

I really want to be giving out tens for this fish course.

Angela, she's a tough cookie.

Yeah, I think all the scores we got for our starters,

I think maybe she's looking for a little bit more from us.

I'm going to push myself, try and get those scores

that little bit higher. What about you, Daniel?

Mine is super simple.

I just have to deliver, I'm going to have to show off what I do.

I have to make sure mine's not safe. I have to really go for it.

First is Danny Gill.

His starter showcased one too many ingredients and techniques

for Angela, but, undeterred, he's risking another complex reinvention

of a classic dish.

I'm really confident about my fish course. There's an awful lot

going on, so hopefully I can pull it all together.

Hi, Danny, how are you? Hello, Chef.

Are you all right? Very well, thank you.

Good, good to see you. Wow, this looks lovely.

Yep. So, what's the name of your dish?

It's called Modern Tradition.

Right. I've got fond memories of when I was younger,

of smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese. Yeah.

I wanted to do an interpretation that no-one's ever seen before.

So, what's the components of your dish, what are your interpretations?

I've got some beautiful oak-smoked salmon here.

I'm going to be making a mousse out of this, and also making a crumb,

which gives it a really nice texture.

OK, and the whole fresh salmon?

Yeah, I've got this beautiful, sustainable farmed salmon.

I've got some lovely caviar, so just a little bit of luxury,

with it being a banquet.

And just nice... You've got some dill, cucumber, lemons, apple.

All work well, really, with salmon, don't they?

Exactly. There's a consomme with the cucumbers, some different pickles,

which add sharpness to the dish, and then a lovely rich

aerated cream cheese. I want a little bit of surprise,

an element of fun and an element of adventure as you're eating it.

I want to show lots of different variations and techniques

that I've used to produce a fantastic dish.

Just pack flavour in, and you'll be fine. Yeah.

I like his twist, that it's a traditional English thing

- cucumber and salmon -

and now he's basically going to put his modern element on it.

The only thing is, he needs to make sure it comes together as a dish and

it's packed full of flavour.

Next is Andrew Scott.

Angela felt his classic starter was a bit safe, and it left him

trailing the other chefs by a point,

but he's confident his fish dish will help him catch up.

You can't be deflated after the first score.

We're all in the same kitchen, all cooking in the same environment,

so the dish is strong, it nails the brief.

Hopefully, I can win her over.

Hi, Andrew, how are you?

I'm good, thank you, Chef. Good to see you.

And you. What's the dish?

This looks all very exciting.

It's Crabbing The Headlines.

It's a coronation crab dish, based on the Queen's coronation

being filmed. 27 million people watched it, out of

a population of 36 million. Jeepers!

So, the dish is a play on coronation chicken.

Something similar to what Danny did.

Apricots, no mango, which is a bit more traditional.

OK. I've gone different with the crab.

What are you doing with the crab?

I'm going to be making a brown-crab biscuit and a brown-crab panna cotta.

The white meat is going to be picked and dressed.

What are you doing with the almonds?

The almonds get roasted and then blitzed.

It sort of makes a mayonnaise texture,

but it means the almonds run through the whole dish.

Wow, I've never seen that before.

Stud it with apricots and the raisins,

and the curry flavour as well. And, obviously, my lovely coriander.

I've got your famous coriander.

Don't worry, it doesn't mark against you.

OK, are you feeling confident?

Full of energy, ready to go again, so, yeah.

One of my favourite ingredients, crab, so, good luck.

I think it sounds really interesting.

If he's smart, he'll leave the white crab meat to speak for itself,

just enhance it with a bit of seasoning.

You don't want to kill that flavour.

Last is Daniel Smith.

Like Danny, he scored a solid seven for his starter.

Today, he's aiming to build on his score and pull away from his rival.

Joint leader at the moment, but maybe not for long.

I've done my preparation. Let's just hope I deliver.

Are you OK, Daniel?

I'm very well, thank you. Good.

What's the name of your dish for your fish course?

Above And Beyond. My inspiration has been driven by Caister Lifeboat.

That's my home village. Oh, OK, nice.

Their motto is, "Caister men never turn back."

These guys have got a voluntary award from the Queen in 2012,

and as you can imagine, they are lifeboatmen,

and so they go above and beyond.

What is going to be on Above And Beyond?

Tell me about the dish. Well, I have some potato risotto...

OK. Interesting. ..made from potato.

OK, so the starch in the potatoes will hold it all together?

Correct, yeah. OK. What are you doing with this lovely lobster?

I'm going to just cook that very quickly.

Yeah. I'm going to use the head to make a bisque.

It's a really rich sauce, that will go around it as a sauce,

to really enhance the flavour in the dish.

What are you using with this samphire?

The samphire, again, this is a luxury that I have

within our region. I'm going to be also making a cheese custard.

Right. And let's just finish with some really nice white crab meat.

Right. That's been picked through.

Again, Cromer crab, so in my eyes it's the best.

He's doing crab. My crab's Cornish.

Cornish crab, OK. Cornish crab, yeah. Battle of the crabs.

All right. How are you feeling against these two?

I've got to deliver. It's all there to be proven, isn't it?

I'm looking forward to tasting some fantastic fish dishes.

So, Daniel's Above And Beyond. Cheese custard,

I'm interested to see how that's going to work in the whole dish.

He just needs to make sure he doesn't overcook those potatoes,

or he'll just end up with potato soup.

The chefs start cooking, and it's not just Danny who's opted

to use many different ingredients and techniques.

You two look a little bit busier than you did for your starter.

Have you got a bit more to do today?

Yeah. Plenty. I've got to really run around like an idiot.

I've got a little bit more to do,

because it's integral I get this bisque reduced.

How many bits have you got in this dish? 300?

No, same as before, really.

Some serious flavour going on in the kitchen today.

I think everybody wants to get at least an eight.

Danny is filleting his salmon,

and using smoked salmon to make a mousse

for his reinvention of a Great British classic combination,

salmon with cucumber and cream cheese.

I'm here to get a dish to the banquet, and I want to

make sure I make a good account of myself.

Danny executed his technical starter well,

but Angela felt the many elements didn't come together

as a complete course.

Hoping to take the lead, he's risking another complex dish,

including a tricky aerated cream cheese.

Start saying prayers for me.

It's essential that he creates lots of air bubbles,

so it remains light and airy while it sets in the blast chiller.

Come on, baby, come on, baby. It looks pretty interesting.

So, basically, this is a vacuum pack, and it's taking all the air

out of this container, so it's nice and light. Cool.

Definitely crazy!

Andrew is also pushing himself.

After playing it too safe with his starter,

he's hoping innovative touches will hit the brief today.

He's making a curry and almond emulsion for his coronation crab.

Angela said she'd never seen it before,

so the oils will emulsify with the water

and make a really nice smooth puree, or emulsion.

But he's run into problems with his brown-crab biscuits.

It's cooked too harsh in the oven, and I'm not happy with it.

It's too thick, it's been blown around.

As he's trailing behind Danny and Daniel,

Andrew has no choice but to start the biscuits again.

The pressure in the kitchen is ridiculous.

I don't want any points docked for anything at all,

so it needs to be perfect.

For Daniel's crab and lobster dish, honouring his local lifeboat team,

he's putting a twist on a classic risotto.

How do you think Angela will take substituting potato

for risotto rice, because she has Italian roots? Rice isn't British,

so I'm representing my dish in my British way.

She'll either love it or hate it, I suppose.

For me, everyone I've ever cooked for and given it to them

have loved it.

Angela felt the flavours of Daniel's starter weren't strong enough.

Today, he's hoping a powerful lobster bisque and cheese custard

will complement his risotto and appeal to her taste buds.

Is that your potato?

Yeah. So it's all raw, or it's cooked?

No, that's been blanched, just brought up to the boil

and then refreshed, and obviously the starch will come out

in the reduced stock. Right, OK.

When that crab hits it, it really changes its texture.

What do you do with those lemons?

They're just now going to be blitzed with some stock syrup.

Right. That will make a really nice puree.

Rather than me just squeezing the lemon juice over the lobster,

I'm using that as a little bit of sweetness,

and then I've got my custard in here.

Ah, so when I thought of a custard,

I thought it would be like a little baked custard. No, no, no, no.

It's a sauce. OK, good luck, looking forward to tasting this.

Thank you.

I imagined a little cooked custard, but instead it's like

a cheese sauce, so that could overpower the flavour

of the lobster.

Andrew is making an apricot gel for his coronation dish,

similar to one element of Danny's starter.

Is it going to smash my dish out of the park?

I'm going to have to say yes to that.

That's fighting talk.

His modern take on the classic dish must be banquet-worthy to honour

the Queen's Great Britons.

After Angela's comments about mine not being spicy enough,

are you going to up your spices?

Yeah, at the moment I haven't got any chilli in mine.

The flavour will be a bit milder, I suppose, a bit more curry-esque.

Yeah.

Andrew wants his dish to be fit for those Britons honoured by the Queen,

people like Kamal Hanif, OBE.

Kamal's day job is executive head teacher of Waverley School

in Birmingham, but he likes to moonlight as a school cook as well.

Andrew, this is my tandoori mix, so yoghurt, chicken, a bit of salt,

chilli flakes. More chilli.

It smells lovely, don't it? I love it.

Because of his love of food, twice a year

Kamal cooks for the whole school.

His speciality is the Kashmiri food of his family.

Very good. You can taste the onions.

A bit hot for me, but still good. Really nice.

I've tried his dishes around two or three times,

and it's been nice. It's worth the wait.

I think it's cool, the fact that he actually makes it

and he actually serves it to us, too.

Other head teachers wouldn't do something like that. Yeah.

Kamal's relationship with the school is long-standing.

When I came to the school as head teacher in 2005,

it was quite a surreal experience,

because it was actually my old school,

so most of the senior team were actually my ex-teachers.

The school had faced difficulties for a number of years.

Locally, it didn't have a very good reputation,

and I felt really sad about that.

Over the years, Kamal and his team have turned the school around.

It's now classed as "outstanding" by Ofsted.

Kamal's efforts were rewarded in 2012

with an OBE for his services to education.

It was a very, very special day, and for me,

I think what was most special is seeing my parents so proud.

My parents came over from Kashmir in the '50s, and for them to even think

about being able to go to Buckingham Palace, but then to see their son

achieve an award, was an absolutely amazing event.

As one of the Queen's Great Britons, Andrew was keen to get

Kamal's opinion on his spiced coronation sauce.

What I'm trying to do is get the almonds running through

the whole thing.

Yeah, that's really nice. You can taste the slightly roasted almonds.

Cool, well, a thumbs-up?

I think we're special students to have our executive headmaster

cooking for us and serving.

We know our head teacher is one of the best people in the world.

In the kitchen, Andrew's hoping his second batch of brown-crab biscuits

is going to be perfect.

How are they looking? About there.

This is, like, the hardest dish I've ever done in my life.

He's juggling lots of cooking techniques

for his crab coronation dish. As his panna cotta sets,

he picks the white crab meat, which will be dressed with his sauce.

Hi, Andrew, how are you?

All going to plan. I'm just up against it for time.

Picking the crab down, fruit's steeped.

What have you steeped it in?

Ginger wine and apple juice. OK, right.

Just to get a bit more of that ginger sort of curry flavour, Indian flavour in. Yeah.

It's a cold dish, but I just need to get everything cooked, chilled.

So are you feeling the pressure today more?

Yeah, a lot more today. I want to beat these two guys.

Good luck with it. Thank you, Chef.

Daniel has lightly poached the lobster for his potato risotto.

Cooked nicely?

Yeah, I'm really happy with those.

It's a simpler dish than his rivals', but he hopes attention

to the brief and use of Norfolk ingredients will be enough

to pull his score away from joint leader Danny.

I'm getting there, I'm winning. I think this dish hits

the brief totally, and I'm fully comfortable with that.

Just because I'm not running around

doesn't mean I'm not going to pack a punch.

Danny is racing to finish the many elements of his Modern Tradition

salmon and cucumber dish.

Brioche discs are in the oven, and he's finishing his pickled cucumber

and tricky cucumber consomme.

LOUD BANGING Sssh.

He's relying on some hi-tech equipment to win him the points.

My biggest gadget is this bad boy here. Yeah.

Whereas I know your big gadget is that washing machine over there.

We've been asked to go above and beyond, so I've brought in

some toys, and if they work for me, brilliant.

If they don't, it's back to the drawing board.

OK, Danny? Yeah, the cucumber's been blended,

passed it off so that all that's left is the juice.

It then goes into the evaporator,

spins at about 4,500 rpm.

While it's spinning, all the evaporation is then being

taken out of the canister through here.

And you keep that, or you get rid of that? No, this is what goes.

Oh, right. What's inside is a really concentrated cucumber juice.

So that's going to be full of flavour. I'm looking forward to tasting it.

Andrew is first to plate up his coronation crab dish.

Crab panna cotta sits on top of his problematic brown-crab biscuits.

Biscuits are looking good, yeah.

Big, big, big relief.

Next is white crab meat, dressed with curry and almond emulsion,

apricots and raisins.

Andrew starts his plate with the apricot gel...

..and tops with the crab tower.

That looks beautiful. Cheers, mate.

More apricots and raisins garnish the plate.

It's been steeped in apple juice and ginger wine.

He finishes the dish with more apricot gel,

almond and curry emulsion, and celery and coriander cress.

There we go.

That's a relief. A relief?

Yeah, one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Really? Yes. So, "Crabbing The Headlines, by director A Scott."

The tins are basically what the film reel would be kept in,

back in the '50s, for the Queen's coronation.

Right, let's see what it tastes like.

I'll take that one with us.

Presentation, again, I think he's absolutely nailed it.

He smashed it, yeah, definitely.

Yeah, it looks brilliant. It looks really good.

Is the biscuit as you wanted it?

Is it crunchy enough? It's not meant to be really rock hard and crispy,

and it's not meant to be really soft,

so it's got a bit of bite in there.

I was expecting the biscuit to have a bit more of a crunch.

A crunch. Yeah, definitely.

And is the panna cotta set how you would like it to be?

Yeah, really soft.

The brown-crab panna cotta he's got going on here,

it's got great flavour. Texture's a little grainy.

Just a touch, just a touch, yeah.

And then, in this crab mix, you've got the crab, the coriander.

Have you put any of these purees in there as well?

Yeah, I put a little bit of the nut puree in there, but not too much.

I can taste the almonds in there big-time.

Then you've obviously got this... apricot gel, isn't it?

It's a gel, yeah. And that's got the flavour you want there?

Yeah. Definitely. It's not too sweet.

A lovely sweetness to it. Yeah.

So this dish, you think it's going to be worthy

for the Great Britons at the banquet?

Yeah, it's crab, it's one of the nation's favourites, I think.

It's a nice treat for them.

There's spice, there's sweetness, but there's no real hit of curry.

He's got a rounded dish,

but it's just not hitting that coronation mark.

I'd have to give it a six.

That's where it's going to have to be, a six. Yeah.

How was that, Andrew?

Hard, but she didn't give anything away, as usual.

I was happy with it. The biscuit could have been a bit crispier,

but I did have a bit of a nightmare with it.

Daniel is next to plate up his tribute to

the award-winning lifeboat team back home in Caister.

He hopes the simple dish will impress, with attention to the brief

and bold flavours.

He's using fishing nets for presentation.

Potato risotto is first into the bowl,

with poached lobster tail on top,

warmed through with garlic and parsley butter and lemon puree.

It looks beautiful.

I've got the samphire here to keep it really, really Norfolk-centric.

Daniel dresses with lobster bisque emulsion and cheese custard.

All right, Daniel? Yep.

It says, "Good luck, Daniel. Caister men never turn back."

Correct. That's you, yeah?

Exactly. Caister man.

Looks beautiful, smells amazing.

OK, well, the proof is in the pudding.

Let's go. Superb.

Do you think that represents the banquet brief?

Definitely. I think it represents my home village,

my lifeboat centre, and so, for me, that does the job.

Let's taste your potato risotto.

Are you happy with the texture? Definitely, yeah.

Texture of the risotto, it's lovely and creamy.

Could do with a bit more seasoning.

It's a little bit flat, do you think?

Lobster cooked like you wanted it to be cooked?

Yeah, definitely.

Nailed the cooking of the lobster.

Do you need both the bisque and the cheese?

The sauce and the custard as well adds a different dimension to it.

I'd have just been happy with just bisque. Yeah.

There's freshness of lemon there somewhere, but I wouldn't

necessarily say there's a lemon puree on there. Yeah, yeah.

Anything you'd change about this dish?

No.

I'm finding it really hard to... find anything wrong with this dish.

A bit of shell. Got a bit of shell?

Not good. Rather you than me. Or Angela. Let's hope it's not her!

So there's nothing you'd change?

You're going to give yourself ten out of ten?

On the err of caution, I'm going to go nine.

OK. I'm going to give it a seven.

It's just the bit of shell for me. I've got to mark him down. Yeah.

Last to plate up is Danny.

His starter was marked down for having too many elements.

However, he's gone ahead with a salmon and cucumber dish

that's just as complex, starting with salmon rillettes.

How did that go, Chef?

Who knows? Did you like that?

Yeah, mate, it was lovely. Dish of the week so far.

I thought it was beautiful. Thank you.

Danny pipes smoked-salmon mousse on top and dresses

with pickled cucumber, pickled apple, and brioche discs.

There are two parts to the dish.

In a bowl, Danny pipes more salmon mousse,

and adds two types of caviar.

Little bit of luxury for the banquet.

Lovely. The garnishes are edible cucumber flowers,

pickled cucumber and apple, brioche discs,

smoked-salmon crumb, and dill oil.

Deep breaths.

The aerated cream cheese frozen in liquid nitrogen

is added to both plates.

Sous-vide salmon fillet finishes this dish,

and the rillettes sit on top.

Cucumber consomme is served in jugs.

You pour the consomme and you eat one part of the dish,

remove it, and then go for the other part.

It's a warm consomme, yeah? Slightly warm, yeah.

What do you think, guys? I think it's really good, very technical.

Yeah, very impressive. Let's go and see if it's got the wow factor.

Let's go.

I wanted to bring some theatre to this dish.

Obviously, you're going to start wondering where the consomme

has gone. The natural instinct is going to be to want to have

a little look underneath the plate there. Lift under that.

I think the presentation is very, very neat.

Yeah, definitely. It's Danny's food.

It's Danny's style, it's Danny's food. It's definitely what he does.

Yeah.

So in this is the smoked-salmon mousse?

That's the texture you wanted?

Yeah. And, flavour-wise, it's smoky enough for you?

Yeah, I'm happy with the smoke on that.

Do you think it should have more smokiness?

Possibly could be a little bit more.

And why do you think you needed the brioche?

I wanted a real crunch.

Right, OK.

The brioche is definitely nice, soft and wet.

Just that little element, would you change anything?

I'm happy with all the element on the top.

You've got another starter.

Two courses in one. Yeah.

You obviously taste the consomme more in that part.

I find you have a lovely contrast of texture, temperature,

and flavour. The cucumber consomme...

That's really nice. That is very nice.

The brief's asking us to push ourselves.

Think outside the box.

I think this hits the brief in that aspect.

I'm going to score this dish a good eight.

I think it could be a ten, if he polished the edges.

Totally agree. Totally agree.

Hey.

All right, buddy?

Yeah, good. How did it go? Well done. I ain't got a clue what she thinks.

I think there's three strong dishes again, all banquet-worthy.

We've all cooked our socks off.

I really hope I get a good score and start to peel away from you boys.

We all want to lead, so we're just going to have to see what she likes.

OK, Chefs.

So that's the fish course done.

Did you feel that was easier than the starter?

No. No? OK.

I'm going to start with you, Andrew, and your Crabbing The Headlines.

I loved the newsreel tin.

I thought it was a really clever and original idea.

The crab panna cotta, it had a beautiful texture,

beautiful flavour, absolutely delicious.

You soaked your raisins, and you soaked those apricots.

That really cut through that creaminess of your panna cotta.

However...

..the crab biscuit, although it had great flavour,

needed more crunch.

As soon as you cut it, you felt it was soggy.

I felt the white crab meat had been overpowered a bit with your

almond puree. You sort of killed that lovely unctuous white colour of

the crab meat, and it didn't shine through.

Now, Daniel, you and your dish, Above And Beyond.

As soon as the dish was put under my nose, the smells, the aromas,

you just wanted to eat it.

Lobster, although not my favourite seafood, I thought

you cooked it beautifully, and I liked the potato risotto,

and the little cheese and the lobster bisque enhanced that.

I think the lemon puree, although I liked the idea,

I don't think you necessarily needed it.

You could have just had a little bit of just lemon zest,

and it would've lifted the whole dish.

Presentation, for me, in a way, let you down.

It felt too crammed into that little dish.

You could have really shown it off a little bit more.

Danny. Your dish, Modern Tradition.

I thought some elements of it were really sublime.

Even things like the little cucumber flowers.

I've never tasted them before, and they were really delicious.

I loved the salmon mousse.

It was very light, it was a great texture,

one of the lightest ones I've ever tasted.

Thank you. Overall, you delivered a banquet dish.

It was theatre on a plate. The two elements to it.

But maybe there were one or two many elements,

you were a bit guilty of that.

Did you need that dill oil?

Did you necessarily need that brioche underneath?

Now to the scores. Andrew, I'm going to score you...

..seven points.

Daniel, I'm going to give you a score of...

..eight points. Danny, I'm going to score you...

..nine points. I thought it was a great dish.

Definitely worthy of something going to the banquet, so well done.

Thank you.

Chefs, I thought you all elevated your game.

Only a couple of points between you.

Have a good night. Thank you very much.

Thanks. Thank you, Chef.

Well done, boys.

Well done, mate. That's a great score. Thank you. Good man, good man.

With two courses down,

Danny leads, with Daniel one point behind, and Andrew in third place.

I'm absolutely overwhelmed.

I can't believe I got a nine for the fish course.

I'm absolutely speechless, really.

Obviously, I'd love to be first, but at the moment I'm second,

so it's still not over yet.

Main course is a big day.

I'll have to come out on top for once.

Yeah, it's OK, I'm building up.

I just have to keep going. There's no point worrying about it.

Got to go for it again tomorrow.

I've definitely got it in me to catch up with the other guys.

I'm not going to give up.

If there is nothing new, then the Court of Appeal

aren't going to change their decision.