Scotland Starter Great British Menu

-This year, on Great British Menu...

-Hey!

..24 of the country's most talented chefs...

This is it. The pressure's on.

..are fighting it out

in the toughest competition of their lives...

-The old gloves are off now, aren't they?

-I'm going to flip out!

-..as previous competitors...

-I'm quietly confident.

-..and ambitious newcomers...

-Don't jinx me.

..go head to head for the chance to cook at this year's banquet...

..celebrating 140 years of the iconic Wimbledon Championships,

the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.

Go, go, go!

To get there, the chefs must create outstanding dishes

which match the exceptional skill and flair

of the tournament's greatest champions...

Perfect harmony.

..and celebrate the incredible smells, colours and tastes...

-Beautiful.

-..of the best of British summertime.

I've never tasted a plate of food like that.

First, they'll have to impress

a formidable veteran of the competition...

You completely ignored the brief. I think you're miles off.

..who, between them, hold a total of eight Michelin stars.

The presentation of this dish is stunning.

This week, competing to represent Scotland, two returning chefs...

I think I'm taking a massive risk.

It's not made it easier coming back.

..being challenged by a newcomer.

I think I'm going to trump you on this one.

But which two will make it through to cook for the judges on Friday?

-Don't panic. I'll let you know when I'm going down.

-No worries.

This year marks the 140th anniversary

of the Wimbledon tennis Championships.

The competition first took place in 1877 and since then...

You cannot be serious!

..has become the ultimate grand slam tournament...

..attracting the greatest players from around the globe

and signalling the start of the British summer.

Three sets again! Wimbledon champion again!

This week, competing for the chance

to represent Scotland at the Wimbledon banquet

are Michael Bremner who, last year, got through to the national finals

but narrowly missed out on cooking at the banquet.

Going home on Thursday is not an option.

I want to win for Friday, be Scottish champion,

get myself to the banquet.

Fellow returner Ally McGrath, who was beaten by Michael last time

when he failed to get through to the regional final.

All four of my dishes are stronger.

I've practised a lot more so, this year,

I'm definitely cooking for the judges.

And newcomer Angela Malik,

who's determined to impress with her innovative flavours.

I'm Scottish through and through, so to be representing my home,

there can be no bigger honour.

Judging their dishes this week

is one of Britain's most celebrated chefs.

Any thoughts who it might be?

The entire list scares the life out of me.

The holder of four Michelin stars

and renowned as the king of seafood...

-I am very nervous.

-It's terrifying, even still now.

Yeah, I have to agree.

..Nathan Outlaw.

ANGELA LAUGHS

-Morning.

-Morning.

-Morning, Chef.

-Morning, Chef.

-Angela, is it your first time in the competition?

-It is, Chef.

-I'm looking forward to cooking for you.

-Cool. Good luck.

-Michael, back again.

-Back again, yeah.

-Ally, back again as well.

-Yes, Chef.

-Are you excited?

-Petrified, Chef.

-Are you? Petrified?

-Absolutely petrified.

-Don't worry.

I've been on that side, where you guys are,

and I know what the pressures are like.

Turn all that negative into positive and you'll do really well.

-Good luck with it all.

-ALL: Thank you, Chef.

ALLY SIGHS

Wow!

-Nathan Outlaw.

-Oh, no!

Today, the chefs will be cooking their starters

and, with four Michelin stars,

Nathan will be expecting nothing short of perfection.

I'm feeling quite sick now. I think suddenly the reality

-kind of dawned on me as to who I'm cooking for.

-Yeah.

Only the best dishes will stand a chance

of making it through to this year's taste of summer banquet,

celebrating 140 years of Wimbledon.

For me, Wimbledon is about precision, class

and perfection, and that's what I want to see from the food.

Having narrowly missed out on the banquet last year,

Michael Bremner is more determined than ever

to make his dishes stand out,

starting with his Summer Cup Ceviche with Wimble-Gin 22.

-Hi, Michael, how are you doing?

-Yeah, how are you?

A lot of ingredients here. What's the actual dish you're doing?

It's basically a raw vegan salad,

so I'm adding watermelon, grapefruit, some avocado, tomatoes.

-There's a bit of spice in there as well.

-Yeah.

-I've got some fermented chillies.

-What do you think of that guys?

Vegan dish for the first course.

When I heard vegan ceviche, my ears pricked up.

Blimey, I'm interested in tasting it.

-My Wimble-Gin 22 is a cocktail that I'm making.

-OK.

When Wimbledon first started, there was 22 amateur players,

so I've made the gin and tonic cocktail with 22 ingredients.

You must be a master of balance,

cos there's a lot of things you've got to get right, seasoning-wise.

Good luck with that!

Michael's dish sounds challenging but the dish just sings summer

and this is what this competition is all about.

Hoping to beat Michael is his old rival, Ally McGrath,

who's aiming to score high with his summer starter, Halcyon Days.

-How you feeling?

-Not quite as nervous as a wee while ago.

-You should be well nervous!

-Thanks, Chef!

-I'm joking. It's good.

So, what's your dish?

It's all about summer memories and sort of passing that on

and seeing my kids doing stuff with their granddad in the garden.

-Essentially, Chef, it's a beetroot and cheese salad.

-Right.

I've got a couple of different types of beetroot. I'm going to roast it.

-I'm going to make a beetroot bavarois.

-Yeah.

I'm going to make my own dill seed ricotta.

How do you actually make the ricotta?

I'm going to roast off the dill seeds,

put that in with the milk, curdle it with lemon juice and then hang it.

-Usually a ricotta, you hang overnight.

-Yeah, but they can...

-You can do it in the time.

-You can? OK.

-It sounds like you've got a lot to get on with.

-Yeah.

You probably don't want me talking to you.

-Yeah, if you could maybe go away, that would be nice.

-No worries.

My biggest worry about Ally's dish is the ricotta.

He's got to get it drained but if he gets it right,

it's a lovely two classic flavours - beetroot, ricotta -

and I think he can make it really work.

First-timer Angela Malik is determined to take on her rivals

and is hoping to impress Nathan with her unusual starter,

Strawberries And Cream.

-Hello, Angela, how are you?

-Good, thank you.

-Cool.

What are you cooking today?

First thing that popped into my head when I heard about Wimbledon

was strawberries and cream and I wanted to do a savoury version

-of strawberries and cream.

-Right.

Essentially, a strawberry soup with scallop ice cream.

-Did you say scallop ice cream?

-Yes, scallop ice cream.

Right, how are you going to do that then?

Basically, cook up the scallops gently,

make a lemony, zingy ice cream...

-Right.

-..served with a strawberry gazpacho.

-OK, what do you reckon, guys?

-I've never heard of anything like that.

I've never heard of anything like that.

-You have tried it before?

-I have, yes.

The actual strawberry gazpacho sounds really exciting.

The scallops not so much.

The ice cream, I'm not really sure that's going to work.

All three chefs are desperate for high scores

and they've each tackled the brief in their own way.

With it being summer, it's not my strongest season.

Summer is the best time for me. All the kind of flavours I love.

I'm very much focussed on the tennis side of things.

Wimbledon inspired me for all of my menu.

Michael's Summer Cup Ceviche is his take

on what is traditionally a cured seafood dish,

but he's making his version using just fruit and veg.

I think getting a vegan dish through to the banquet would be amazing.

There's never been anything like that

and I think that this style of food is the future.

He starts by thinly slicing tomatoes

before placing in the dehydrator to crisp up.

Next, he heats a strawberry puree with agar to make a gel.

I know I'm doing a vegan dish, but I'm going to be making gin.

-It's 50% vegan, 50%...

-Boozy.

-Yeah, so it's a win-win.

-Yeah.

Aberdeen-born Michael is the chef-proprietor

-of 64 Degrees in Brighton.

-Hi, guys, how we doing?

His innovative, small plates have seen them named

-in the top 20 restaurants in the country.

-Service.

Last year, Michael made it all the way to the national finals

but, despite his fish course scoring a perfect 10

from each of the judges,

he narrowly missed out on cooking at the banquet.

I came so close last time. I could taste it.

I just wanted to win, especially for Scotland. I'm very patriotic.

I'm very excited about representing Scotland.

My goal is to win this year. I know a lot more now

and I think I'm going to go into it in a different manner.

This time, he's leaving nothing to chance

and has spent days meticulously planning

each dish on his summer-themed menu.

I am a bit geeky.

If I'm creating a menu, I need to have it visually down.

I started off with history of what was in the brief,

traditions that I can think of,

flavours and smells of what I thought of,

as far as taste of summer goes.

I then started drawing down

what I think I'm going to do and this is, like, my plan here.

To make sure he's on the right track,

Michael's enlisted the help of his wife, Carla,

as chief taster of his specially created Wimbledon gin.

This is the type of grass that they grow on Wimbledon.

I want it to taste like gin but have an aroma like freshly-cut grass.

I think it's a great idea. It's a bit different.

When he won the Scottish heat,

he said it was the best day of his life.

The only other times I've heard him say that

was when both the girls were born.

That's the equivalent of how much it means to him.

I just really want him to win. He gives it everything,

so it would be quite soul-destroying if he didn't.

Back in the kitchen,

fellow returner Ally is also hoping to do better than last year.

He's working on the beetroot elements of his Halcyon Days salad.

He starts by slicing beetroot before pickling in vinegar.

Right behind you.

Next, he makes a beetroot bavarois, or mousse,

by mixing double cream, beetroot puree, vinegar and gelatine,

then leaving to set.

I lost points on my starter last year, so I need to be strong

with this one, to stay ahead and not be behind all week.

Ally's starter is inspired by his childhood summer days,

growing up in Peebles, a small town on the Scottish borders,

where he's chosen to bring up his own family.

Oh, that was a good throw. I love this place.

This is where I came as a kid and played,

fishing, swimming, throwing stones,

and now, it's generally a place where we bring the boys.

-What's in your wellies?

-Water.

-How much water?

-Er, 20-61.

20-61 waters, wow! What abut the other welly?

Ally opened his restaurant, Osso, here in 2007

and has been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand for the last six years.

I've worked in many restaurants around the country

and some of the best restaurants in London.

Coming back and sharing that with the people of Peebles

is very important to me.

We might not do the prettiest food, we might not do the most modern,

but it's full of taste. That's what we're all about.

Having failed to get to the Judges' Chamber last year,

Ally has adopted a different approach.

I let myself down slightly last year. I didn't practise enough.

This year, practising an awful lot more,

so we get the finer details bang-on

and hopefully do a lot better than I did last year.

Back in the kitchen,

Ally's making the ricotta cheese for his summery salad.

He mixes milk, cream and dry-roasted dill seeds,

then adds lemon juice to curdle, before pouring into muslin cloth

and leaving to drain, a process which usually takes 24 hours.

Is anything worrying you at the moment?

Everything, to be quite honest with you, Chef.

A lot of people might say, "Why bother making your own ricotta

"when you can just get some ricotta and season it?"

Why bother doing anything, Chef, you know what I mean?

Hopefully, to impress YOU.

I really like the fact that Ally's making his own ricotta.

It shows some skill to do something like that.

But he's got to get the texture right to make the ricotta sing.

Newcomer Angela is going all out with her daring summer starter,

which combines scallops

with the iconic Wimbledon strawberries and cream.

Scallop ice cream - it sounds incredible.

Let's hope it turns out incredible.

She's also serving a cold strawberry soup,

an unusual mix of flavours, inspired by her Indian heritage.

I think it's very brave.

It's flavour combinations I grew up eating.

Angela was classically trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine,

before working in some of the best restaurants in the country.

She now cooks for private clients at exclusive events.

I do exquisite high-end fine dining.

Essentially, every plate you do is a little bit of yourself.

And that's what I absolutely love,

is that immediate connection with the people eating your food.

My food is an eclectic collection of my Scottish heritage,

my Indian birth, my classical French training. I'm a global chef.

Angela's cooking has been heavily influenced by her mum, Nima,

who moved to Edinburgh from India in the 1970s.

-Hi, Angela.

-Hello, Mum.

As children, Nima was keen for Angela and her brother

to embrace a classic British pastime.

Do you remember when we used to go strawberry picking as children

and we would have competitions

as to who could pick the most strawberries?

But I think most of them used to end up in our mouths.

Yes, I still remember.

To use what they'd picked,

Angela's mum would add the strawberries

to a traditional Indian fruit chaat,

which became a childhood favourite of Angela's.

Your strawberry chaat was the inspiration

for my strawberry gazpacho, which is a cold strawberry soup.

Oh, that would be interesting. I wish you all the best.

I hope you win the competition.

I think Angela will do very well.

I am very proud of her.

Angela's working on her strawberry gazpacho,

part of her twist on the Wimbledon classic strawberries and cream.

To strawberries and peppers, she adds tomato juice,

sriracha chilli sauce and thyme,

before blending and passing through a sieve.

-Oh,

-BLEEP!

-You all right?

-Just spilt it all.

Do you want me to hold something for you?

-If you could hold the chinois for me?

-Yeah, no worries.

-Thank you, that's great. Thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

-Oh!

We've got enough.

Having rescued her gazpacho,

Angela moves on to her unusual scallop ice cream.

I'm struggling to understand how you're making this ice cream.

-It's a classic custard base.

-Are you putting sugar in it as well?

-Yes, I'm going to put glucose in to stabilise the ice cream.

-OK.

-Cos scallops are sweet as well.

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

I don't want you to put it in your mouth and it be...

-A dessert.

-..a dessert.

-You know I'm a seafood chef, right?

-I know that very well!

-OK, yeah.

She's adding sugar to already sweet scallops.

If she ends up with a fishy ice cream,

that's going to be disgusting.

Michael is working on his Wimble-Gin 22 drink,

which he'll serve alongside his dish.

It uses a blend of 22 ingredients

which he hopes will create a unique summer flavour.

How you doing, Mike? How's this gin coming along?

-What I've got here is I grew the perennial ryegrass.

-Right.

The grass that grows on Wimbledon court.

What's that going to do to the gin?

It's about a tone of freshness, if you like.

Are you worried it might take away

-what you're doing with your dish?

-No, cos this focuses on sweet, sour.

This is very bitter, so it works well with the dish.

-You'd better get on with it.

-Cheers.

Across the kitchen, fellow returner Ally is still working

on his tricky ricotta cheese.

Despite leaving it to hang,

the mixture hasn't set and he's running out of time.

How's the ricotta, Ally?

I've just changed it to not quite a fine cloth,

-just to get the last of the liquid out of it.

-Right.

-It's not draining in time?

-Yeah.

-Have you got a back-up plan?

Beetroot salad, Chef?

I'll leave you to it, mate.

-Ally's...

-Sweating.

-Stressing out.

It's not made it easier coming back.

Ally isn't the only one feeling the heat.

First-timer Angela is yet to complete

her risky scallop ice cream.

She adds eggs to cream and kombu powder

before mixing with cooked scallops

and pouring into an ice cream machine.

The scallops are getting stuck, are they?

The scallops aren't going through the ice cream machine

because the opening isn't big enough.

To rescue the ice cream, Angela removes the scallops,

then passes the mixture through the machine

before adding the scallops back in

and leaving to set in the blast chiller.

Starting to get a bit worried about time now.

Michael is first to the pass,

with his Summer Cup Ceviche and Wimble-Gin 22.

He starts by plating compressed watermelon,

infused with fennel seed and star anise.

Then lime-infused cucumber,

blanched and dried tomatoes and grapefruit segments.

Next, he adds thinly sliced celery,

strawberry gel and fermented Scotch bonnet chilli sauce.

How you going, Michael? Are you on time?

I might just be a little minute late.

A minute's a long time in a kitchen.

Then avocado puree, elderflower dressing,

slices of dehydrated tomatoes and raw red onion.

Finally, he pours his gin and tonic cocktail into bottles

and places on ice.

So, this is my Summer Cup Ceviche with Wimble-Gin 22.

-What do you guys think?

-It looks absolutely beautiful.

Yeah, a very pretty plate of food, Chef.

I'll grab the plate, you bring the glass.

It's certainly a nice drink. It's very summery but I don't know

whether you can actually taste the grass in there.

That's nice.

-ANGELA COUGHS AND LAUGHS

-That's quite bitter.

The watermelon and cucumber - have you got the flavours you intended?

The watermelon, I compressed with some star anise

and you get that kind of aniseedy vibe going on in there,

which I think freshens a lot of it up.

-The raw onion, I know there's not a lot of it...

-Yes.

..but it's really strong.

I think the textures are very interesting on the whole dish.

There's chilli in it cos I just got a massive bit in the watermelon.

I'm going to have to have some more gin.

You've got a nice sort of heat going through the whole dish.

Could maybe sort of outshine some of the other ingredients.

Wanted it to be fruit and veg, simple,

but with a bit of presence behind it.

I would give it 7.

It's all about flavour. I think it's lacking that. I'd maybe give it a 6.

Well?

I was happy with it, so what do you guys think?

I thought the raw onion was a bit overpowering.

-Right, OK.

-I was a little bit underwhelmed with it.

-Ah!

-I'm sorry.

Next up to the pass is Angela,

with her savoury take on strawberries and cream.

At the last moment, she fries her queen scallops,

which she'll serve with her strawberry gazpacho.

Cooking scallops for Nathan Outlaw is very scary.

-Yeah, I wouldn't want to do that.

-Yeah, good luck!

-How are them scallops cooking?

-They're looking good. Caramelised.

Next, she checks on her problematic ice cream.

The ice cream hasn't set as much as I want it to, Chef,

but we're going to go for it.

Angela starts her dish by placing the scallop ice cream into bowls.

Next, her savoury strawberry gazpacho...

Hopefully, the flavours are there.

..garnished with nasturtium leaves,

which she tops with the fried queen scallops.

What's that you're putting on now?

These are borage flowers, so these have the cucumber flavour.

-Finally, she adds wild strawberries and black pepper croutons.

-OK.

Are you pleased, are you?

-Um, unfortunately didn't get quite the look that I wanted.

-OK.

-Well, we need to taste it.

-Absolutely.

I'm intrigued by the scallop ice cream.

I'm a bit nervous about it, I'm not going to lie.

-I do get the scallop flavour.

-Yeah.

I don't like that.

It's a bit of a sort of beurre blanc that you'd have with fish.

Do you think using sweet strawberries in a savoury dish

-is the right thing to do?

-Yeah, absolutely.

I don't think it's incredibly strawberry-ish.

I don't get any strawberry.

-How was that?

-He didn't like the presentation.

I thought it was a brave move and very bold.

I'll be honest, I didn't really like it. It wasn't my kind of thing.

Last to the pass is Ally, with his summer salad, Halcyon Days.

He starts with his beetroot bavarois.

-What's that you've got there?

-Little bit of apple puree.

He adds roasted golden and micro red beetroot,

followed by a reduced picking liquid.

Next, he checks his dill seed ricotta.

Oh, my God!

-How's your ricotta?

-It's a bit wetter than I would want, Chef.

He adds pickled beetroot and roasted quinoa,

followed by beetroot puffs,

julienned apple and roasted hazelnuts.

Finally, beetroot leaves and a blackcurrant leaf oil.

-There you are, Chef.

-Happy?

The ricotta could have done with a longer hang, Chef.

-Let's go and taste it now, yeah?

-Yes, Chef.

It certainly looks beautiful. The Wimbledon colours.

-This is the beetroot bavarois, right?

-Yes, Chef.

Is that meant to be set like that?

I think the heat in the kitchen, Chef,

I think it's maybe softened up a little bit.

A bavarois, to me, should be a bit more set.

I think that's unlucky. The flavour's there.

The ricotta texture is not right.

It's definitely more exciting than normal ricotta.

The ricotta, I think it's a great flavour to it.

Overall, are you happy with the result?

It can be improved, there's no denying that.

-All right, how was that?

-Tough. The ricotta wasn't right.

A good score's important.

Don't want to end up, the rest of the week, playing catch-up.

So, hopefully, start ahead of you two.

THEY LAUGH

-Hello, Chefs.

-Hello.

-Hello, Chef.

-So, first course of the week. How did you find it?

-Challenging.

Michael, I'm going to start off with you and your dish...

The dish really said "summer" to me.

There were a lot of elements in that salad

but the flavours were well-balanced and it showed a lot of skill.

I really like the hint of chilli as well. But...

..the dehydrated tomatoes should have been crisp.

As for the grass in the gin,

I don't know what grass should taste like,

but what I did expect from it

was that freshly-cut grass smell and that really didn't come through.

Angela, to your dish.

First impressions of the dish were not very good.

The scallop ice cream - I expected it to be disgusting.

However, it brought a nice richness to the dish.

The gazpacho had a lot of flavour in it.

It was fresh, it was well-balanced.

Overall, the flavours were really nice.

Finally, Ally. Your dish...

I thought the colours on the dish were really vibrant, really summery.

I was a bit worried about the ricotta being a bit bland

but, actually, the dill and the lemon really did come through

in the dish. However...

-..the texture of your ricotta was completely wrong.

-Yeah.

Your beetroot bavarois also wasn't set enough.

You're in danger of that whole dish becoming a little bit soupy.

So, to the scores.

I'm going to start with you, Angela.

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

-..7.

-Oh.

Ally...I'm scoring you...

..a 7.

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

..8.

So, there's not much in it.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to the next course

-and you know why - cos it's the fish course.

-Yes.

So, no mistakes, thank you, and good luck.

ALL: Thank you.

-ANGELA:

-Oh, my God!

Well done, you.

-MICHAEL:

-Thank you. I'm over the moon.

To get an 8, it's a massive confidence boost.

I got the highest score, so I'm happy about that.

I'm very happy about that.

-Same as you, Ally.

-Same as me.

-One only away from you.

I got a 7, which is a good start, but it's got to get better.

-It's close. It's good.

-MICHAEL:

-It IS close.

With the scores being really close, it keeps everyone on edge.

Anything can happen.