Wales Fish Great British Menu

This year on Great British Menu...

Hold on to your hats.

..24 of the country's top chefs...

The old gloves are off now, aren't they, you know?!

..are competing to cook at a glorious Taste of Summer banquet...

-The competition is on.

-I'm going to flip out.

..celebrating 140 years of the iconic Wimbledon Championships,

the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.

This week, three chefs from Wales

are battling it out in the Great British Menu kitchen.

He was going to try and take you down.

Returning contender Phil Carmichael,

who triumphed yesterday to take the lead.

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

First-time competitor Nick Brodie who finished a point behind Phil

after his nerves got the better of him.

-Are you shaking, Nick?

-I am, man, I'm nervous.

And fellow newcomer Paul Croasdale,

who's in last place after failing to score highly

with his ambitious starter.

You served a farmer's portion.

Today it's the fish course

and all three chefs are gunning for a perfect ten.

The dish is all right, it's whether I deal with the nerves and everything.

Pressure is an illusion.

But with just two points between first and last place,

who will come out on top?

A schoolboy error.

To make it through to Friday's regional final,

the chefs must impress with exceptional dishes

that capture the taste of summer and honour 140 years

of the incredible Wimbledon Championships.

Third-timer Phil is one step closer to cooking for the judges,

having scored a winning nine for his starter course.

The standard in the kitchen this year is very, very high.

I've got to make sure I nail my fish course.

Hopefully I can stay in the lead.

But in hot pursuit is newcomer Nick with eight points,

while fellow first-timer Paul has seven.

The fish course, you have a bit of ground to make up in the points.

Do you think this is the dish that's going to do it?

Yeah, confident on this one. It's a bit better, I think.

-Yeah? Nick?

-I learned a lot of lessons on that first go.

Time goes quickly, doesn't it?

Very quickly, yeah.

Judging them this week is one of the country's most renowned chefs,

known for his meticulous attention to detail -

Tom Aikens.

There's hardly any points in between us all and I, for sure,

-want to get through for Wales.

-Fighting talk.

How are you feeling, guys?

-I'm happy.

-Happy.

Miserable.

I mean, it's still very close.

So, the fish course.

Have we got summery, Phil, on these dishes?

No winter chills?

I do have snow on mine.

-Snow?

-Yeah.

OK. Interesting.

Keep it clean, fresh tasting.

Get cooking.

Cheers, Chef.

The fish course can really throw some chefs.

They make it overtly complicated and because this is all about the taste

of summer, what I'm looking for is pure, clean, summer flavours.

Returning chef Phil Carmichael is hoping to stay at the top of

the leaderboard today with his fish dish, Mackerel In Summer Flavours,

inspired by the taste of a refreshing summer cocktail.

-Hi, Phil.

-Hi, Chef.

-How are we?

-Good.

-Feeling positive after your first course?

-I am, yes.

-Tell me what your dish is?

I'm going to marinate the mackerel in Summer Cup and cucumber juice,

so that's going to cure the mackerel.

And how long are you brining the mackerel?

-Quickly, 25, 30 minutes.

-OK.

Then I'm going to add the flavours that match with the Summer Cup.

I'm going to use some juniper,

some grated orange zest, some fresh apple,

and then I'm going to do the mackerel two ways.

-I'm going to do a burnt piece and some tartare.

-OK.

And the mooli?

The mooli, I'm going to use a Japanese slicer,

cut out discs of this and then, you know, pickle this very quickly,

-in lemon juice and a little bit of water.

-OK.

That'll add a little bit of acidity to the tartare part of the dish.

Nick, what do you think to Phil's dish?

Sounds very good, but I, too, am using mackerel.

-Are you?

-Yes.

It's a wonderful fish, I love it, so do it proud.

Cook it well and I think with the flavours you've got, you know,

it's interesting. I'm intrigued, Chef.

Good, thank you.

Phil's dish, I love its simplicity

but I think if he leaves the mackerel to brine too long

in the Summer Cup, it'll overpower the mackerel.

Newcomer Nick is hoping to take Phil's narrow lead

with his dish inspired by summer childhood memories of fishing.

-Hi, Chef.

-Hi, Nick. How are we doing?

-Yeah, very good.

-So, Nick, what's the name of the dish?

The dish is called Boat Trip.

-OK.

-Its main element is mackerel.

-The sentimental feeling behind it was going on family holidays as a kid.

-OK.

On the mackerel boats in summer, catch a few, take them back,

barbecue them. It's going to be blowtorched mackerel,

tomato consomme and pickled vegetables.

-OK.

-And then I'm going to do spots of tomato ketchup down the back

of the mackerel.

The consomme, why is it in a bag?

What I'm going to do, I'm going to macerate it into the bag,

freeze it and then I'm going to let it drip through muslin and

oil it up and let it pool on the plate around the mackerel.

And the nectarine - what are we doing with these?

I've got a Japanese mirin pickle which I'm going to pickle these,

nice dice, and they're going to go down the spine of the mackerel.

OK. It's quite a lot of fruity, sharp flavours,

which I think will contrast with the mackerel, which is quite oily and rich.

-You know, it should work very well together.

-That's cool.

Phil, he's got mackerel, as well.

Are you concerned?

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how we both do our different versions of the dish.

Battle of the mackerel.

Nick's dish, the Boat Trip, again using mackerel.

One of the components that Nick is using is mirin.

The only thing with that, if he uses too much of it,

it could actually overpower the subtlety of the mackerel.

Fellow newcomer Paul is hoping to move up from third place

with a regal dish that celebrates the Royal Family's long-standing

connection to Wimbledon.

-How are you?

-Good, how are you?

-Yeah, good.

Interesting. So what's the name of the dish?

-It's called The Royal Box.

-The Royal Box?

-Yeah.

The Royal Box is, like, the most exclusive part of Wimbledon,

centre stage, so hopefully this dish can get me a bit more centre stage

myself, one would hope.

So, king crab and then queen scallops.

And they'll all go in a Royal Box.

King crab, king of the sea, I would say.

It's a beautiful ingredient to use.

As we know, if it's overdone, overkilled, overcooked,

it's like chewing a rubber band.

Yeah.

So the preparation, then, how's it all magically coming together?

Very simple with the scallops, just going to take them out,

clean them up, chill them down and ceviche them.

-Sounds nice.

-And the king crab,

water-bath it and then I'm going to barbecue it.

I see you've got a lot of lemon there, Chef.

Lemon puree.

Herb and lemon pickle.

I've got some yoghurt with some preserved lemon to give a creaminess to the dish.

I've a bit of pickled cucumber and a bit of apple going on there.

Again, a little bit of elderflower vinegar,

and I'm going to finish it off with, like, a horseradish snow,

just a bit of fire from the horseradish.

I mean, I love the ingredients you're using,

and if it is prepared with lots of love,

it could be a wonderful dish, Chef.

Guys, are you feeling a little worried about...

-..about Paul's dish?

-Yeah, he's using some beautiful ingredients there.

I'm very much looking forward to tasting it.

King crab legs, probably the biggest I've seen.

It looks amazing.

I've got them running scared, look.

-Yeah.

-Let's see if I can cook it first.

Paul's dish, The Royal Box,

he's using a lot of strong ingredients on his dish.

He's got elderflower, he's got lemon puree, he's got the horseradish snow.

As long as he tones them down

and doesn't make one stronger than the other,

I think this dish could be a stunning dish.

-Anyone think they'll get a ten?

-Why not?

Tom seems to be in a generous mood.

I'm really going to need a high score to keep up with both of you.

Come on, we're only two points!

-You're all doom and gloom over there.

-He is, isn't he?

Determined to stay at the top of the scoreboard,

Phil is combining the unusual flavours of the classic Summer Cup cocktail

with fish in his dish, Mackerel In Summer Flavours.

He starts by creating a brine for his fish using cucumber juice

and Summer Cup liqueur.

What's a Summer Cup, Phil?

Summer Cup, yeah, it's your classic summer cocktail,

massively popular at the Wimbledon Championships.

It goes with lemonade.

In contrast to his competitors' more complex dishes,

Phil's consists of just two main elements -

a mackerel tartare and a scorched mackerel fillet.

Is this dish a bit simple for you, Phil?

-No.

-Do you think that's what they want at the banquet?

I think so. Fingers crossed, I might get to the banquet this time.

Maybe it'll be the fish dish, who knows?

Nick is hoping to gain the edge over Phil with his fish course.

He's serving his mackerel with pickled veg,

tomato consomme and a tomato ketchup.

Both mackerel - who's going to win the battle of the mackerel?

Yeah, I'm quietly confident.

-Nick, what do you reckon?

-Yeah, same. I'd like the nine.

-Yeah.

-I'd like the ten, to be fair.

He's making a start on his summery consomme, but,

after his nerves got the better of him yesterday,

he's hoping not to make any mistakes.

-Nick, how are you feeling with your dish?

-It's all good.

Paul is working on the queen scallops for his dish, The Royal Box,

a reference to the special seats reserved for the royal family

on Centre Court.

King crab will be at the centre of his dish.

It's an ingredient prized for its delicate taste.

I'm looking forward to seeing this king crab.

-Yeah, me too.

-Yeah, I'm excited about this dish.

-Yeah.

In the hope of retaining the crab's subtle flavour,

Paul will poach it in a water bath.

He prepares his meat by placing it in a vac-pack machine,

but not everything is going to plan.

BLEEP!

The vac-pack machine ripped the seal.

-BLEEP!

-King crab everywhere.

The crab has got to be cooked perfectly, otherwise, you know,

no chance. Game over.

-Is it working, or not?

-Yeah.

Paul puts his crab in a water bath to cook gently.

He'll barbecue it just before serving.

So you're confident you're going to pull it off?

The dish is right, it's whether I deal with the nerves and everything.

-Ignore the nerves.

-Yeah.

Obviously, mine really connected with Wimbledon, like yours, Phil.

I just hope I can do them justice.

Paul's dish is inspired by the Royal Family's long-standing connection

with Wimbledon. A member of the family has acted as patron to the

championships since 1952, but their link to tennis goes back centuries,

when the game was quite different.

Paul's come to Hampton Court Palace to find out more.

Hi, I'm Paul, pleased to meet you.

Hi, I'm Lesley.

Lesley Ronaldson is an expert in real tennis,

the original indoor sport from which

the modern game of tennis is descended.

My dish for my second course, fish,

is all about the royal connection with tennis,

it's called The Royal Box, so king crab, queen scallops,

and I think here's where kings and queens have a big connection with tennis.

Oh, yes, the king of games and the game of kings is real tennis.

This building behind us, with the high buttresses,

was Henry VIII's tennis court that he built and played on in 1535.

And there is a massive difference between tennis and Wimbledon tennis

-here, is that correct?

-Well, yes.

The tennis you're talking about is a modern game that began many hundreds

of years after our game began.

We were known as tennis and the other game was known as lawn tennis.

When the modern game became more popular, we had to change to real tennis.

-And there's still a royal connection today?

-Of course.

-Yeah?

Prince Edward is our senior patron of the game. He still plays.

Paul wants to experience the sport of kings first-hand with Josh,

a real tennis professional.

The game is believed to have started as a street sport,

before being adopted by royalty throughout Europe over 700 years ago.

-Hiya.

-I'm Paul, pleased to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

I believe you're going to teach me what real tennis is.

Absolutely right. This is a bit of a target game.

We've got three targets.

We've got the green area of floor, which is called the stroke area,

the grille, which is our Holbein of Henry VIII.

-Yeah.

-And the winning gallery.

If you were to hit him, that square, that's called the grille,

if you were to hit that during the middle of the rally,

then you win the point. For a serve,

that is what I would call a legal serve,

and that's how you start a rally.

-OK.

-Then the rally is on.

An interesting little rumour about the serve, actually, is Henry

and the other nobles thought that it was beneath them to just put

the ball into the rally.

So what they would do is they would

stand at the back of the court and they'd go, "Serve!"

Or, "Servant!"

And they'd hit the ball in...

-Right.

-Then the rally would begin.

-Serve actually comes from servant?

-So the...

-So the story goes.

-So the rumour goes.

-So, the whole game's got, like, a royal connection, then?

-Oh, absolutely. Particularly here.

Good.

Nice.

Shot!

Very good. All right. We'll call it a day.

-Thank you very much for today.

-Pleasure. It was lovely to meet you.

That was my first-ever game.

-Best of luck with the menu.

-Yeah, cheers. Thanks a lot.

Back in the kitchen, Phil is checking on his mackerel,

which has been infusing in his brine of Summer Cup flavours.

-Hello again.

-How are we doing, Chef?

-Good.

-All right.

Yeah, my mackerel's just coming out of its salty bath.

OK, and you're happy with the way that it's been cured, yeah?

Yeah. Give it a quick wash off so it stops curing, and then the belly,

I'm going to use for one part of the dish,

and the royal fillet across the top,

I'm going to use for the other part of the dish.

The brining is the important part of the mackerel dish.

He has to get it spot-on.

He looks very cool. He looks very calm. Let's hope he pulls it off.

Phil moves on to his mackerel tartare,

using the cured mackerel belly,

which he mixes with diced apple, capers and creme fraiche.

He wants the flavours of the Summer Cup to come through,

so he's using fewer ingredients than his competitors.

Phil's looks really simple, so he's going to have absolutely nail it,

but I imagine he will.

Pressure. Pressure is an illusion.

For his dish, Boat Trip, Nick is working on the many summer-themed

elements which he'll serve alongside his mackerel.

He starts by pickling fruit and veg in rice vinegar.

Next, he blends his herb oil...

..before moving on to his tomato ketchup.

Nick.

Nick! Coo-ee! How many...

How many purees are we getting off you today?

You seem married to that blender.

I think it's quite attached to my arm, but, you know,

once this one's done, it's pretty plain sailing then.

Plain sailing? Is that a pun to your Boat Trip?

That's it, yeah.

-Morning, Chef.

-How are we?

-Yeah, good, good.

So, tell me, Nick, what's in here?

So, yeah, I've made a tomato ketchup.

It's pretty strong, so I only need small amounts of it.

-OK. If I may?

-Yeah, sure.

It's got a kick, that's for sure.

I've just tasted Nick's tomato ketchup.

He's got that sweetness, he's got that sharpness and it's got a nice,

pungent flavour to it, so, with the mackerel, I think it'll work really well.

Paul is also working on the accompaniments for his dish,

The Royal Box.

He's making a salsa verde, in which he'll dress his king crab,

before serving using elderflower vinegar and green summer herbs

for a light, fresh flavour.

Next, he makes a horseradish snow,

before moving on to his lemon puree,

featuring blanched lemon peel,

blended with olive oil and sugar.

-All right, Paul?

-Yeah.

-How are we?

-Yeah, good. Getting there.

The scallops here, you're going to marinate these, are you?

I've made them quite thick, cos these are lovely ones.

-I saw you doing your lemon puree.

-Yeah, it's come out quite well.

Well, I think it's quite well.

-That's the consistency you want, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah.

I want it to be like a wet mayonnaise, almost, on the plate.

It's not, kind of... Yeah.

It's definitely, you know, a lot more zingy than I expected.

-OK.

-Lemon, elderflower, horseradish could be a car crash.

Oh, definitely, definitely.

First to plate up is Phil, with his dish, Mackerel In Summer Flavours,

a tribute to the classic Summer Cup.

He starts by blowtorching the skin of the cured mackerel, and plates.

Next, he spoons his mackerel tartare onto discs of pickled mooli,

and tops with charred, compressed cucumber and pickled apples.

What have you got going on there?

A little Parisian ball of Granny Smith's apple.

-Yeah?

-You know, a nice little bit of acidity.

He adds creme fraiche and cucumber powder

and finishes with orange zest,

borage and nasturtium leaves.

It's clean, simple, looks refreshing to eat.

-Good.

-It looks good.

-Looks very good.

-Not worried, are you?

-Yeah, always.

-Shall we go and eat it?

-Yeah, let's go.

Phil, do you think this ticks the boxes for Taste Of Summer?

Yeah, it does. It's crisp, light, fresh...

On a hot summer's day, I'd love to be eating that.

It definitely looks like the brief. Very summery.

The brine of the Summer Cup that you've put the main part

of the mackerel in, do you think that has enough flavour in there?

Yeah, for me, you know, I didn't want it to be overpowering.

He cured the mackerel with Summer Cup.

I don't taste that at all.

No, you really don't get it.

The mackerel tartare, I think it just needs that touch more...

a touch more seasoning and just a touch more acidity.

The scoring of the dish, I'd probably say a seven.

-I agree with you on that. It's a steady dish, not an extravagant dish.

-Yeah.

What would you score your dish?

I think it's up there in the, sort of, eights and nines again.

-How are you doing, mate?

-Good. Didn't really give too much away.

-A couple of pointers.

-It tasted really good.

-Yeah.

-I didn't really get the taste of the Summer Cup coming through it.

Next up to the pass is Paul, with his dish, The Royal Box.

He starts by barbecuing the water-bathed king crab,

before slicing...

It looks good, man.

..and seasoning in the elderflower salsa verde.

Next, on a serving board, he pipes yoghurt,

places a pickled scallop on top,

and adds compressed cucumber,

followed by the barbecued king crab.

-How are you getting on, there, Paul?

-Yeah, stressed.

He adds his lemon puree,

garnishes with borage flowers and sorrel paper,

and finally sprinkles on his horseradish snow.

To highlight the royal connection,

Paul serves his dish in a golden box,

decorated with crowns.

Fit for a king, yeah?

Yeah, a king and queen in a Royal Box.

It's definitely original, that's for sure.

-Shall we go and try?

-Yeah, please.

-Summery enough for you?

-Yeah.

It's supposed to be the ingredients, not just visual.

I think the flavour is summer.

I really like the... the Royal Box theme.

That ties in with the brief nicely.

Wimbledon, summer...

Amazing ingredients on the dish.

You've got the beautiful king crab.

Do you think you did it justice?

I think the king crab's perfect.

The king crab...

Oh, yeah. That's good.

Oh, wow.

The lemon puree that I tasted, you didn't put a lot on there, did you?

That is literally just over the top.

It's for the creaminess with the scallops.

I think you could have put a tiny bit more.

I think I probably lost confidence on when you were saying it was really zingy.

Could be doing with a little bit more acidity in the scallop.

Yeah.

The one thing that I'm not picking up enough of is...

-is the elderflower.

-The elderflower will be quite subtle.

It's mixed with, like, cider vinegar, so just to give it, kind of, sharp and sweet.

-I'd score that nine.

-Nine, really?

Yeah. I liked it, yeah.

If you were to score this dish, what would you give it?

Anything less than a seven is failure.

-All right, guys?

-How are you doing? How did you get on?

-I was happy with that one.

-Yeah. The king crab was phenomenal.

The dish was cracking, mate. I scored it as a nine.

-A nine?

-I gave it eight, yeah.

Well, I gave it a seven. Hopefully one of you two are right and not me.

Last to plate up is Nick, with his dish, Boat Trip,

inspired by his summer childhood memories of mackerel fishing.

He starts by blowtorching his mackerel for a smoky flavour,

then drizzles with lemon juice and arranges on the plate.

Next, he pipes rice wine vinegar gel on the skin of the fish,

and places pickled cucumber,

nectarine and radish segments on top.

What are you putting on there, Nick?

It's picked mooli with Oscietra caviar.

Next, tomato seeds and yellow carrot,

followed by sea purslane,

garden shoots and purple shiso.

Are all these leaves and shoots you're putting on,

are they from your garden again, like your starter course?

Yeah, the majority of them are.

Summertime flavours from Wales.

To finish, he pours on his tomato consomme,

and drizzles with herb oil and tomato oil.

-Looks lovely.

-Thank you.

-What do you think, guys?

-I think it's stunning.

-Looks beautiful.

Let's go and try one.

What do you think about the look of it?

-Do you think it hits the brief?

-Yeah, it's very dainty.

Yeah, it looks like summer, that's for certain.

All the components, you're happy with?

Yeah, I'm quite happy with that.

Anything missing from the dish?

Let's hope not, no.

-Where's the tomato ketchup?

-Ah...

Yeah.

That will be back on my bench.

-Oops!

-I think he'll be upset that he didn't put the ketchup on it.

-Yeah, big-time.

-Big-time.

I love the way you cooked the mackerel.

You get the nice, smoky flavour from the skin.

That mackerel - it's delicious.

So, the gel, the mirin gel that you put on the fish,

do you think that was enough on there?

Yeah, I think there's enough on there, with the pickles.

His tomato essence has worked.

I think you've got a real punchy flavour of tomato in there.

Is there any part of the dish that you would change?

I'm really gutted that I missed the tomato ketchup.

Because you know it would bring it all together, don't you?

Yeah, I know that.

-It really needs that saltiness, cos everything's sweet.

-Yeah.

So, what would you score your dish?

Eight.

Are you all right, Nick?

Yeah. A bit gutted.

-That looked like a walk of pain, that did.

-Yeah.

It was missing an element of that dish. I could just kick myself.

Oh...

Today the scoring will really make sure, well,

-which way the week's going to go, really.

-Yeah.

If you get any more points, Phil, I think you'll be hard to catch.

Hopefully.

-Hello, Chefs.

-ALL:

-Hello.

Paul...

So, your dish, The Royal Box.

The presentation,

with the nod to the Royal Box, definitely hit the brief.

The crab was perfectly cooked, really moist, lots of flavour...

You couldn't have cooked it any better.

The lemon puree wasn't too sour in the end.

In fact, you could have put more onto the scallops

to give it that final oomph.

However...

..the seasoning on the scallop, I'm afraid, a little bit underdone.

I felt the flavours of the horseradish and the elderflower

were too subtle in this dish.

They could have definitely come through that little bit more.

Phil, your dish,

Mackerel In Summer Flavours.

I loved the look of this dish.

It was clean and simple and appealing to the eye.

I loved the scorched skin on the mackerel.

It gave it a really nice, smoky, charred flavour.

However...

I don't think you marinated the fish for long enough.

The flavours of the Summer Cup,

for me, were a little bit too subtle,

and the compressed mooli lacked that bit of punch.

Nick, your dish,

Boat Trip,

definitely hit the brief.

It was a beautiful dish to look at.

It completely encapsulated summer.

The blowtorched mackerel was superbly cooked, faultless in fact.

The tomato consomme was clear, refreshing.

The mirin gel gave the acidity to the dish and it worked really well.

However...

overall, I think the dish lacked seasoning.

You forgot to add the tomato ketchup.

Yeah.

Schoolboy error.

It would have really brought all those elements together.

So, to the scores.

I'm going to start with you, Phil.

I'm giving you a score of...

..seven.

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

..eight.

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

..eight.

So, Nick and Phil, it puts you in joint first place.

Paul, you're only one point behind, so it's close,

which makes it exciting.

So, well done. You've got the main course tomorrow and I'll see you soon.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Chef.

Well done.

With two courses down, Nick and Phil are both on 16 points,

with Paul a close third on 15.

I'm really happy. Eight's a really good score. I've got to try and keep closing the gap.

-What do you think of your seven?

-I'm a bit disappointed.

I thought the dish was worth more than that.

It's a little bit frustrating to lose the, sort of, momentum.

I've just got to deal with it.

-Yeah.

-I'm still gutted...

It can be a ten dish, I'm sure of that.

I didn't come all this way from Mid Wales to be second or third.

By the end of tomorrow, I'll need to be first.