London & South East Starter Great British Menu

This year, on Great British Menu...

-It's hot in here.

-The pressure in the kitchen is ridiculous.

No!

..the country's best chefs are competing

to showcase contemporary British cooking.

-You look like you're praying.

-I am.

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

the chefs are celebrating the everyday great Britons

she's honoured for their extraordinary achievements.

It's the most amazing thing you could ever receive.

The prize - to cook at the ultimate banquet,

held at the historic Palace of Westminster.

Here, the chefs must showcase the coming of age of British cuisine.

Going for gold all the way, mate.

You think you're on track then all of a sudden something's missing.

Your hands all right there, Russell? You got a bit of a shake on?

That was a stunning dish.

This year, the chefs have travelled the country

to meet everyday great Britons,

recognised for their remarkable endeavours

and commitment to their communities.

Pay attention, it's your turn next.

I'm trying to keep up with the speed.

Since her coronation in 1953,

the Queen has honoured thousands of people.

This is the Queen's Gallantry Medal, that makes it super-special.

Future generations will look back and say, "Oh, yeah,

"he was lucky enough to get an MBE and meet the Queen."

Inspired by these great Britons,

the chefs must represent the transformation of British food

during the Queen's reign...

It looks fantastic.

..and produce a lasting legacy to this new Elizabethan age.

-I think you will get through, yeah.

-Cheers for that.

-Cheers.

LAUGHTER

This week, competing for London & the South East are...

Marcus Wareing's protege, Mark Froydenlund,

who crashed out of the competition early last year,

failing to cook for the judges.

I'm back again this year, I don't want to let myself down.

I've got a point to prove, and I've got the menu to do it.

The Michelin-starred returner faces tough competition

in two resolute newcomers.

Russell Bateman,

a classically-trained chef who is chasing a Michelin star.

So I've worked in some fantastic restaurants at the top level

and I'm here to show people what I can do, and who I am on a plate.

And Ronnie Murray,

renowned for his contemporary approach

to wholesome British cooking.

I don't have a Michelin star,

but I do have 12 years' experience of cooking great British food.

Lots of people get simple and easy confused.

I do simple, not easy.

Judging the chefs is an undisputed heavyweight of the competition.

Mark, you were here last year, come on, spill the beans.

It's tough.

-What's the toughest part?

-It's all tough.

LAUGHTER

The most successful chef in Great British Menu history.

I would be really pleased if it was Phil Howard.

That's my fear. Thanks, Mark.

LAUGHTER

Who don't we want, chaps?

For me, probably someone like Richard Corrigan.

Really, really high standards.

Three-time champion...

..Richard Corrigan.

Good morning, chefs.

ALL: Good morning.

Mark, second time around.

-Yep.

-It's not nice being knocked out, is it?

It's not nice at all, no.

How did Marcus treat you?

Pretty well, pretty well.

Yeah, he was pretty kind.

Russell. Yes, Chef.

You've worked in some demanding kitchens.

I have. Hopefully that's standing me in good stead

for the competition.

-Ronnie.

-Richard.

-Have you come prepared?

-Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Well, listen, it's a real pleasure.

I'm pretty straightforward as a judge, so I wish you all the best.

Happy cooking, guys.

Well, well, well!

-That was my pick!

-I was going to say, is that your one?

LAUGHTER

Yeah, great.

First up is returning competitor

Michelin-starred chef Mark Froydenlund.

-Welcome back.

-Thanks very much. Yeah.

So what dish are you cooking?

So, the starter is bubble and squeak.

Everyone thinks of bubble and squeak as leftovers.

Is it a good way to start the banquet?

I think so. I think it's a little bit playful.

So what I've tried to do throughout the whole menu

is to take iconic British foods

and bring them up-to-date.

What's in your box, here?

So these are smoked pork jowls.

So these pork jowls are going to be cooked in a pressure cooker

using the beer and the cider.

The cabbage is really actually the star of the show for me,

going to do as much with it as I can, roasted, puree, pickling some.

Maltose.

I'm going to make a crackling for the pork

with this dried pork fat here.

Then a little bit of the caramel,

sweeter than normal sugar,

so it really should be getting honey,

honey-roasted pork flavour from it.

Good. And you've chilli here, as well.

Yep, so all the elements for a piccalilli.

Do you want to bring home the bacon to Marcus, do you?

I think he'd be pretty pleased, yeah.

Bubble and squeak. Sounds a bit traditional for me,

but it's a dish that could bring a lot of happiness,

or it's a dish that could absolutely fall flat.

Next up is Russell Bateman,

with an unconventional combination of ingredients.

-Russell.

-Morning, Chef.

-How are you?

-I'm very good, thank you.

What's the title of your dish?

From Humble Beginnings.

So, this dish for me signifies the great Britons

that Queen Elizabeth has honoured during her reign,

the ordinary, everyday heroes of Great Britain.

And I wanted to give them something that they could recognise,

but I wanted to take it to another level.

So I'm going to be using some beautiful Cumberland sausages.

I'm going to do two things.

I'm going to make a broth,

and I'm going to make some little sausage balls for texture.

And then I'm going to make my own brown sauce.

I like my sausages grilled.

With a bit of brown sauce. You want to score lots of points,

-forget about the rest!

-Serve that on the side.

And then what I'm going to have

is I've got these beautiful native oysters from Colchester.

I'm going to poach these in a little apple juice.

I know that not everybody likes the raw oyster.

Through cooking it, more people enjoy it.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Are you sure?

I hope so.

I've got some wonderful smoked haddock from Grimsby...

..and then, of course, I've got some wonderful diver-caught scallops.

So the broth is going to be used to tie all these ingredients together.

So this is a soup you're doing, more or less?

-Yeah.

-Well, I wish you the best.

Thank you, Chef.

If Russell gets this dish spot-on,

I know, as a cook, it's going to taste great,

but cooking native oysters?

That could be a disaster.

Last up is Ronnie Murray, with a box of eclectic ingredients.

Morning, Ronnie.

What's the title of your dish?

The title of this dish is -

Mock Rook Pie with Brown Sauce Gravy.

So you are taking a take on history here, Ronnie, are you?

Yes. So kind of the theme for the whole menu

is looking at quite historic dishes,

so traditionally a rook pie would have been almost like a pork pie,

so I wanted to lighten it up,

and then maybe use a bit of a sort of shepherd's pie influence

-in there as well.

-And where's the rook?

You can't shoot rook commercially,

so I've turned to the pigeon as a close comparison,

hence the mock in the title.

OK, Ronnie, will you explain what's in your box?

So we've got some Duke of York potato.

So we're going to bake these, and then we're going to fry the shell,

so we've got a crispy potato shell.

We're going to take our pigeon and take the legs off,

make a bit of a mince,

put a little bit of my brown sauce gravy through that.

Wood pigeon, you know, they can be quite bitter as well.

They can be, but I think because of the size of it,

I think that'll work.

Ronnie's Mock Rook Pie.

If he can pull this off...

.. it's possibly a real contender.

As the chefs start cooking,

it's Richard who's uppermost in their minds.

How do you feel about cooking for Richard and his standards?

It's an interesting one.

I think the good thing with Richard Corrigan is

he calls a spade a spade, you know where you are.

-Yeah, of course.

-What do you think now you've met him?

Well, I'll tell you how I feel about him after he's given me a score,

-shall I?

-After he's scored you, yeah?

-Yeah.

Having earned just five for his starter last year,

Mark wants to redeem himself

with a contemporary spin on bubble and squeak,

a dish popular in the '50s, when the Queen came to the throne.

Last year for me, really hard.

Didn't get off to a great start, especially with the starter,

so, you know, that makes this course even more important for me.

He adds cabbage, potatoes and ham hock to a pan,

which he'll combine and shape into a croquette.

I'm guessing your bubble and squeak is not quite what I'm thinking.

It's just a great dish of leftovers, isn't it,

and I think this gives me the chance to really show what chefs do now

and how far we've come in the last, you know, 60 years.

Yeah.

Mark Froydenlund works in the heart of

one of London's most exclusive neighbourhoods,

as head chef at Marcus Wareing's restaurant

at the luxurious Berkeley hotel.

Pork, duck medium, lamb agnolotti, two pomme puree.

For the last three years,

he's retained two Michelin stars for Marcus,

which made exiting the competition at the first hurdle last year

hard to take.

I'll be absolutely devastated if I had to go home on Thursday again.

I've got something to prove this year, it's now or never.

Service, please, 14, please.

Having supported Mark through his first attempt,

fiance and fellow chef Shawna knows just how much the competition

means to him.

Last year was, was really tough.

You know, he was very deflated obviously not to have got through,

but I think he's going to come back fighting, which is the main thing.

Mark looked at the current trend in street food for inspiration.

As part of the menu this year,

I really wanted to show the dramatic change in food culture,

so from right back at the beginning of the Queen's reign

to today, where we've got fantastic chefs

working in a great environment.

Together with Shawna, he visited a stall at London's Piccadilly market,

famed for the leftovers dish.

We're interested in the bubble and squeak.

What we've got here is the ham hock,

this is the veggie bubble, and this is the classic.

Amazing, thanks a lot.

Take care.

Flavour's awesome, really good textures.

If you get it right, I think it'll be an awesome starter.

-And then it's just the garnish that you've got to get right with it.

-Mm.

If you get through, we should have this at our wedding!

-So, Mark.

-Hi.

-The start of your bubble and squeak, yeah?

-This is it.

Do you know, when you come up with the idea of what dish

you're going to cook, do you ever feel halfway through

-that..."I should have done something else?"

-Yeah, I do, I do. Yes.

Definitely last year, and this year, I think I'm more on track.

This year, I think I've got a really good balance between...

doing the right dishes and making sure it hits the brief.

Spuds, bit of cabbage, and the ham, yeah?

Yeah.

Lots of good flavours there, I have to say, you know what I mean, really.

OK, listen, happy cooking.

Thank you.

Mark's not the only one putting a contemporary spin

on traditional ingredients.

So you're both using brown sauce?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Yeah, it looks like it.

But one of you is making it and one of you is not?

Maybe one of us is taking the easy way out.

LAUGHTER

Russell's home-made brown sauce will accompany

his Cumberland sausage broth,

inspired by everyday British ingredients.

Two of his seafood elements, scallop and smoked haddock,

will be plated raw, then lightly cooked when the hot broth is added.

Russell, your...your starter has a lot of fish in there,

you sure you've got the right course?

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Obviously I wanted to do something different.

You guys have gone down two different avenues,

and mine's different as well.

Russell Bateman is head chef at Colette's restaurant

at the country estate hotel, The Grove, in Hertfordshire.

One cod, one chicken, one couscous.

Trained in Michelin-starred restaurants,

he won the prestigious National Chef Of The Year award in 2014.

His love of cooking was passed down to him by his grandparents,

who are keen home bakers and brewers.

My nan and grandad were quite into food and home produce,

and home baking.

When I used to go round their house,

I always knew that I could get fresh bread with some lovely butter.

Never allowed the beer, but, you know, that was unfortunate.

Russell has also enlisted some help from his executive chef,

Harry Lomas,

who himself has been honoured by the Queen.

Can you tell me a bit about the BEM and the MBE?

That was absolutely, you know, I mean, so overwhelmed when I got it,

you get the letter in the post and what have you.

You're just, "Me?!"

You know, you just can't really believe it.

As one of the Queen's great Britons,

Harry is well placed to sample an element

of Russell's competition menu.

That is beautiful.

You're a winner, it's brilliant, very nice.

But in this kitchen,

it's Richard who Russell needs to impress.

-How's everything going?

-Yeah, very good, Chef.

I've got my brown sauce here.

-May I?

-Of course.

-Just a...

Tomatoes, apple, browned onion.

I don't see that flavour going with a native oyster,

but this is the magic of you.

-Yeah...

-Trying to surprise the judge, yeah?

For me, it's the pork that brings everything together and this is...

this is like a seasoning, you know?

-I'll see you soon.

-Thanks, Chef.

Ronnie is putting a contemporary spin on an historic rook pie

by using potato instead of pastry,

and pigeon instead of rook.

He'll use the pigeon carcass to make a stock for the gravy.

-So, Ronnie, how are you?

-Good, very good.

-Could I test your sauce?

-The gravy?

-Yeah.

Wood pigeon can just be a little bit sour on the palate,

I always find.

Your brown sauce is a gravy.

The brown sauce goes in the gravy right at the end.

-Does it?

-So it's finished with a little bit of brown sauce...

..just to give it that hint.

So we'll see.

-Risky.

-Risky, possibly.

Ronnie Murray is in charge of eight busy kitchens,

as group head chef of HIX Restaurants,

owned by Great British Menu heavyweight Mark Hix,

who got both his main course and dessert to the banquet

in the second Great British Menu competition.

I wouldn't have too many issues emulating what Mark did, you know.

Obviously we worked together on his menu and the desserts,

and we kicked ideas around,

so it's nice to be able to do the same, you know,

the other way around.

Ronnie was born with a shortened left arm,

but this hasn't stopped him fulfilling his dreams of

becoming a successful chef.

I never see myself as having a disability,

I've never really seen it as that, it's something you're born with,

you're dealt the cards you're dealt with,

and you learn to adapt and just get on with doing what you want to do.

Classic British cooking is Ronnie's forte,

so to perfect his modern take on historic recipes,

he sought inspiration from the extensive library

above the restaurant.

A lot of the research into the dishes in the menu

comes from old cookbooks.

I've spent a lot of time up here

working on the menu for the competition,

to hopefully recreate a great British classic.

Before he attempts his starter in the Great British Menu kitchen,

he wants Mark's seal of approval.

To be honest with you, I wouldn't use the livers in there.

-I think they're a bit too strong.

-Think it's a bit much? A bit edgy?

It's not everyone's cup of tea though, liver, is it?

Certainly be disappointed if I didn't get to Friday,

and I'd like to... I'd certainly like to get a dish at the banquet,

that's the ultimate achievement.

I'm pretty confident that Ronnie'll definitely get at least one in.

Keep up the tradition.

In the kitchen,

Ronnie is going against his boss's advice

and is keeping the liver in his pigeon mince.

He then preps swede balls.

Meanwhile, Russell is clarifying his broth to make a consomme,

and he's not happy.

It's overcooked.

Obviously, I was over there and it started boiling.

I thought you were keeping an eye on it for me, chief.

I didn't even know it was on, Chef.

If I'd known I was supposed to be looking after it,

I might have sabotaged it deliberately.

-I'm sure you were busy.

-I didn't even see it!

I think it's OK, I think he's just about caught it, so hopefully,

hopefully it's all right, otherwise I'll feel really bad.

Mark is leaving nothing to chance

with his refined and reimagined bubble and squeak.

It has eight elements.

He cooks pork jowl in cider and beer,

then whisks spices with agar to form piccalilli gel.

Yeah, I've got my trademark sweat on today,

so I've got a flannel as backup though, so it should be OK.

He then moves on to the maltose crackling.

He's adding fine granules of pork crackling

that pop when added to hot oil, to add crunch.

Russell is first to plate up his raw seafood,

oyster and sausage broth starter.

You need a hand, Russell? You all right?

Just got to dress... and I'm ready to go.

Nice one.

He poaches the native oyster in apple juice.

To a serving bowl, he adds his home-made brown sauce,

sliced raw scallops, and raw smoked haddock.

Then Cumberland sausage balls, apple, and the oyster,

and garnishes with nasturtium leaves.

Just heat my consomme through slightly.

Yeah, I'm watching it, it's not going to happen again.

With his bowls in presentation boxes,

he pours hot Cumberland sausage broth into serving jugs

and places his royal invitation on top.

-"The Veteran Chef?"

-Yes.

This represents the first time a great Briton receives news

from the Palace, the famous letter from the Palace.

Chefs, what do you think of his dish?

Maybe there's a few quid in the envelope for you, Chef,

I'm a bit worried about that. Yeah, I was sure mine was bigger.

Yeah, it looks great, it's really interesting,

starting to tell the story even before you've tried it, so...

-RICHARD:

-The great shame for me is if that oyster is overcooked.

Let's get tasting.

So the consomme is there to cook all the raw elements.

This is the oyster, the native oyster.

The native oyster.

-MARK:

-I'm not sure about the oyster. For me, I always prefer oysters raw.

-RICHARD:

-The scallop.

I think the scallop does exactly what I want it to do.

-That's worked really well.

-It's worked well, yeah.

-RICHARD:

-Do you think there's saltiness in the broth you've made?

I know that it's high, but I think I needed that

to season the scallop once it was cooked.

Obviously, Russell was worried about that consomme.

I think for me a consomme should a little bit clearer,

I think this is more of a broth.

-RICHARD:

-A lot of effort going into making the brown sauce.

-Yeah.

Do you think it was worth it?

I do think it was worth it, yeah.

I wonder if that brown sauce is starting to get a bit lost.

What would you mark this dish out of ten?

I think I'd give myself...

a seven.

I think the presentation is incredible,

I just think that some of the ingredients are maybe lost in there.

-Russell, how was that, mate?

-Hey. That was tough.

-Was it?

-Yeah.

So what did you think of the dish, guys?

Oh, it was great.

Ronnie is still prepping his mock rook pie with brown sauce gravy.

Featuring wood pigeon,

it's a contemporary take on a dish popular in rural communities

at the start of the Queen's reign.

He scoops out the centre of the baked potatoes,

then deep-fries the skins.

The shop-bought brown sauce goes into his gravy and simmers.

How are you getting on?

I'm a little bit nervous, to be fair.

Next, he spoons minced pigeon and confit pigeon leg

into the potato skin.

He drizzles it with game gravy and tops with piped mashed potato.

The pigeon breast goes into the pan.

You all right, Ron, do you need something?

Only these pigeon breasts cooking about five minutes ago.

He then finishes the root vegetables in butter.

The brown sauce game gravy is served in jugs.

Finally, he tops the baked potato with sliced pigeon breast.

And places into a vintage serving bowl with the root vegetables.

Very honest type of food this man cooks, boys, what do you think?

-I think it looks great.

-I think you can see it's going to be hearty and delicious.

-OK, come on, let's taste it.

-Let's go.

I think if I saw mock rook pie on the menu,

I'd expect to see something with a bit of pastry,

something that's a bit more like a pie.

The brown sauce,

where is it?

I think it finishes off the gravy nicely and hopefully

stops it from being that bitter you were talking about earlier.

Can you taste the brown sauce in the gravy?

It's very delicate. I think if you're going to call it brown sauce,

-you should put a bit more in.

-Yeah.

-Maybe he should have made his own.

-Well, maybe!

Happy with the pigeon breast?

It is quite rare, I quite like it quite rare.

-Really tender.

-Yet, it is, yeah.

It's not, it doesn't have any bitterness at all, does it?

Is this worthy to be on the banquet?

Yeah, I believe so, I'm confident it's a banquet starter.

For me, it's just missing just a little bit of excitement, I suppose.

What would you mark it?

It's a tricky one.

I think it's definitely a risky dish.

If I get a 7/8, I'll be very happy with that.

Mark is last to plate up his bubble and squeak,

a contemporary spin on the traditional British home-cooked dish.

All right, Ronnie.

-Chaps.

-How did that go, mate?

You don't know, do you? You really don't know.

Poker face.

It's very tidy over there, are you sure you've got enough to do?

Mark starts by slicing the bubble and squeak croquette.

-Look, I'll get in there.

-Mop my brow a bit, boys.

-Right.

-To a serving plate he adds cabbage puree, sliced croquette,

pork jowl with a deep-fried cabbage garnish,

pickled cabbage and piccalilli gel.

That's not how my mum's looks.

Next, he adds chunks of pickled cauliflower, pickled cucumber,

shredded spring onion and cep powder.

What are they?

This is the maltose crackling.

Sort of a honey-roast pork flavour.

And finally, a drizzle of cooking juice from the pork jowl.

So, a million miles away from your style.

It's not the way I would do bubble and squeak but it looks fantastic.

Pretty food can fail, it's all about the flavour.

It looks stunning to me.

That's a work of art, that.

Going to taste the crackling.

That's pretty sweet, that crackling, though.

There's that piece of pork there with the crispy cabbage on the top, really...

-Wow, that's really punchy, yeah.

-Yeah, it's gorgeous.

This is the jowl.

That's just a lump of fat.

What about this main event, as it were?

Bubble and squeak croquette.

I mean, that's got a fantastic flavour.

Yeah.

The croquette.

You're happy with it?

Yeah, I am, you know, for me, the heart of the dish.

Maybe a bit too much cucumber and crackling.

That's pretty much all that's left.

Yeah, I was going to go in for a bit of crackling.

Oh, were you?, I'll shut up!

I was leaving it until last!

On the score level, you know,

where do you think this would sit, this dish?

I'd like to see at least an eight for this.

So, of course, Mark's been here before and he wasn't very happy last year,

do you think he'll be happy with that dish today?

I think he's got to be a lot happier with that than he was last year, for sure.

-Hey, guys.

-Here he is. Hello, Mark, all right?

-Yeah.

-How was that for you?

It's like the Irish Inquisition, isn't it?

-What do you guys think?

-Well, I thought it was delicious.

Amazing plate of food.

So, do you think we've seen some high scores today for the starter?

I think we should have, yeah.

Let's hope so.

Hello, chefs. First course done, how are you feeling?

-Relieved.

-Yeah, relief.

Russell, I'm going to start with your dish.

You went to all the bother of making the brown sauce.

Frankly, I think it was totally lost.

And the native oyster,

you overcooked it.

However, I thought this was a wonderful dish.

So simple, so elegant.

I love the apple. The scallop was cooked perfectly.

It was all magic.

Apart from the oyster.

Ronnie. Ronnie, I just don't see this dish at the banquet.

It was a bit too simple.

I'd lose the brown sauce.

But the pigeon was cooked beautifully...

..and I really liked the baked potato.

It just reminded me how good something so simple can be.

Mark, you served up an elegant...

..beautifully presented, and a well-crafted dish.

I did like the potato and ham croquette.

It was delicious. That and the sweet piccalilli...

..it was pure magic.

But...personally, I thought the crackling was too sweet.

I think the dish needed a little bit more earthiness...

..and I thought it was slightly more of a main course than a starter.

A little bit too heavy.

Right, to the scores.

Ronnie, I'm going to start with you.

I'm going to score your dish...

..six.

Mark, I'm giving you a...

..seven.

Russell.

Yes, Chef.

I'm giving you...

..eight.

And if you had put that oyster in at the very last moment...

you might have even scored a nine.

You are all clearly thinking about the brief

but remember the banquet deserves only the best.

So good luck, and I'll see you at the next course.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Nice one.

Obviously I'm overwhelmed, and I'm really pleased to have got an eight.

Early lead, Russell, well done.

Yeah, it's only the beginning, though.

-Yeah.

-I would have liked to see one more point on that,

my starter's always been my weakest dish.

There's nothing between us really, is there, let's be honest.

Obviously, finishing at the back of the pack with the lowest score today,

yeah, not an ideal start.

Looking forward to the fish course, I think.

-Yeah.

-Game on.