South West Fish Great British Menu

-This year on Great British Menu...

-Oh!

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

HE LAUGHS

..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 tennis championships,

the oldest and most revered Grand Slam in the world.

This week, battling to represent the South West in the national finals

are Tom Brown, who took the lead yesterday with his elegant Cornish starter.

I really can't fault the cooking in it, and this is a cooking competition.

Returning chef Dominic Chapman, who's just one point behind.

The old gloves are off now, ain't they?

And newcomer Andy Clatworthy,

in last place after failing to deliver a taste of summer with his starter.

I'm really sorry, but I think you're miles off.

Today, they're cooking their fish courses, and Tom is going for glory

-once again.

-Is there a chance it could be too runny?

It won't be. I'll have it sorted.

But with Dom and Andy both eager to close the gap,

who will take the all-important lead?

-Whose is going to be better?

-The competition is on.

Mine!

THEY LAUGH

To reach the banquet, the chefs must create outstanding dishes,

fit to celebrate 140 years of Wimbledon,

which capture a taste of summer.

Fish specialist Tom is currently in first place,

with seven points, after his lobster starter.

With Dom just behind on six and Andy in third on five.

I need to improve on the starter, but today is another day.

Yeah, I'm definitely in the same boat as you.

I feel like I didn't really get the score that I wanted yesterday as

well, so hopefully today... I mean, it's South West, isn't it?

-Fish, we should do all right.

-Coming out of a fish restaurant,

there's got to be a bit of pressure there, isn't there?

Yeah, a little bit. I'm going to look a bit silly if I don't do well

-in this course, aren't I?

-How much more pressure do you reckon we can

put on you, that you work at a fish restaurant?

I'm not going to tell you, Chef!

THEY LAUGH

Judging their dishes this week is Michelin starred chef Michael O'Hare,

A former competition winner who got his own fish course all the way to

the banquet.

Chefs, how are you feeling?

-Ready.

-Yeah, ready.

So, going into the fish course today.

The South West is renowned for its fantastic seafood,

so this should be the strongest region.

This is a banquet celebrating Wimbledon and we need to see top-class dishes.

I want to be wowed, I want to see some fantastic plates of food.

-Get cooking.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

This year's brief is all about the taste of summer for a banquet at

Wimbledon, so I'm looking for the glamour,

the prestige and the elegance of Wimbledon,

using the absolute finest British summer produce.

Seafood chef Tom is hoping his experience will work in his favour

today with his dish, Soused Breal and Scrumpy,

another nod to his Cornish roots.

So, today's fish course, you have a Michelin starred fish restaurant...

Would it be unreasonable to expect big things from you today?

This is the one everyone's going to be watching me for, right?

-What is the dish?

-This dish is called Soused Breal & Scrumpy.

Soused Breal?

So, breal is the nickname that the old boys from Penzance used to call

-mackerel when they were out catching it, so you'd be out whiffing for breal.

-Whiffing for breal?

-Whiffing for breal.

-What are you doing with the mackerel?

I'm going to lightly cure it all with a little bit of thyme salt, and

because it's so fresh, some of it, I'm going to serve actually raw.

Some of that mackerel,

I'm going to grill as well because it's lovely, you get a really nice caramelisation

on the skin when it's had that light cure. And the rest of it, I'm going to make a mackerel pate with.

-I'm going to make some bread.

-You're making your own bread?

-Soda bread.

I'm using black treacle in it and buttermilk in there as well, so it's

got a bit of sweetness, a bit of sharpness.

Dom, what do you think? Mackerel?

Mackerel is a really tasty fish, but is it luxurious enough?

It is a cheap... A peasants' fish almost, but it does have a habit of making

-it to the banquet.

-There's nothing wrong with being humble and beautiful.

Do you know what I mean?

THEY LAUGH

Really intrigued by Tom's fish course.

To go with lobster for his starter and mackerel for his fish is unusual,

but this is a guy with a Michelin star fish restaurant, so I'm

expecting really big things from him.

Returning chef Dominic Chapman is in second place,

following a disappointing starter.

But he hopes to take the lead with a dish inspired by his memories of

summers spent by the sea, in Dorset.

-Dom.

-Michael.

-How are you feeling?

Good. Love the fish course, so really confident.

It looks like you've got some fantastic ingredients. What's the name of your dish?

Fishing The Cobb. The Cobb in Lyme Regis, where I grew up.

On the beach, you've got scallop shells that wash up and you go fishing for

turbot and mackerel as well, so this is not just a childhood memory,

I take the kids down there now.

-So, how are you cooking it?

-So, I'm going to do crystallised seaweed,

I'm going to do a beautiful fillet of turbot,

pan-fried finished in foaming butter.

I'll take the scallop out of the shell, seared either side.

I want it to be nice and opaque inside,

and then a selection of sea vegetables, so sea purslane,

samphire and a little seaweed sauce.

The thing from the starter course, I felt, is some of the elements weren't executed perfectly.

-Correct.

-But I think with these ingredients, if you can get that right,

then this could be a great dish.

Going up against Tom, the bar has been raised, so let's see what we can do.

I think Dom really needs to raise his game.

His ideas are great, he hits the brief,

and he's got some great produce, but if he wants to get a dish to the

banquet, the execution needs to be so much better.

Having missed the brief with his starter yesterday,

and only scoring a five,

Andy is hoping to claw back points today with a dish that pays tribute

to the history of the Wimbledon championships.

Disappointing score for you with the starter?

Yeah, but that was the starter, this is fish. Get on with it, move on.

So, what's the name of your fish course?

It's called For The Ladies & Gentry.

When Wimbledon started, obviously it was just males only.

It was only seven years later that women were allowed to join in.

Lobster was huge back in the 1880s, so they all kind of tie in together.

How are you cooking your lobster?

I'm going to poach it. We're going to have the claw with a caper and

dill breadcrumbs. And then the knuckle, flavour that up with a little paprika and vanilla.

The tail with some dill and some butter. And then the shells,

-we're going to roast them off and make a bisque.

-What are you doing with this?

Deep-fry them, cover them in Chinese five spice and salt, and the flavour

of that is exactly what people associate with Chinese takeaway seaweed.

So, Dom, Andy, you're both doing crispy seaweed.

-Yeah.

-Whose is going to be better?

-Mine!

-Said with confidence.

-Yeah, you can have that.

This is a tried and tested recipe and I'm

using experience to get it right.

-Cool.

-Well, we'll see.

'Andy scored low with his starter and really needs to claw some points

'back, but a lobster can be excellent.'

If he can pull this off, then he's got an opportunity to get those points back.

With all three chefs aiming to score highly today,

they're each hoping to learn from yesterday's mistakes.

-Do you think Michael is a harsh veteran?

-I don't think he was overly harsh.

I think he was really fair with me.

He told me why he thought it was wrong.

I don't think he's too harsh, no.

I think you're right. The points he made were quite valid.

Yeah.

Tom is working on his two-part mackerel dish, Soused Breal & Scrumpy,

inspired by his Cornish heritage.

As his rivals are going for luxury,

with Dom serving turbot and Andy cooking lobster,

Tom has to make sure his more modest mackerel is executed perfectly.

What element of the mackerel is that?

That's going to be for the pate. I'm gonna flavour that up with horseradish, lemon.

-It's going to be lovely.

-Fantastic.

Tom's serving his fish alongside black treacle soda bread.

A similar style of dish to Andy's starter yesterday.

We all know how my mushrooms on toast went.

How's your mackerel on toast going to go?

Better, I hope!

THEY LAUGH

Dom's working on his Fishing The Cobb,

a complicated dish featuring turbot and scallops,

both of which require precision cooking at the last minute.

He starts by prepping the turbot fillets.

Next, he moves on to cleaning the shellfish.

Wow, look at them scallops. They're huge. That's great produce.

No, they're lovely. We're really lucky. I honestly believe we have some of the best fish in the world.

I think that's going to take some cooking.

A seared scallop, a little bit opaque in the middle so it's not dry.

-Beautiful.

-The turbot's all prepped, you're cooking that off the bone?

-Yeah, it's a big old fish.

I'll pan fry it on one side, finish it in foaming butter, flip it over out.

I'm confident that we can produce a beautiful piece of fish.

I'll leave you to it, Chef.

'Dom seems relatively in control.

'His produce is beautiful and that's what I expected to see,

'but he has to cook everything last minute.'

This is a big risk for him.

Andy is pulling out all the stops for his dish,

For The Ladies & Gentry, which features lobster,

the same fish Tom used to get a winning score for his starter.

So, Andy, you're doing lobsters, yeah?

Yeah, I am doing lobster. I thought I'd follow Mr Fish by doing the same

fish he did, but doing it on a fish course.

-So...

-HE LAUGHS

-Is that maybe why I'm out in front, lads?

-HE LAUGHS

-There's no response to that, is there?

-Sorry?

Andy's serving his lobster four ways.

Having poached it in an aromatic vegetable stock, he picks the meat.

He'll also use the shells to make a sauce.

Have you got enough time to make a nice roast lobster stock?

When we make ours, it's two hours boiling, three hours sitting,

another three hours reducing. Are you going to have time to get that done?

I'm going to have enough time to make sure it's a really, really tasty lobster stock.

Next, he moves on to the lobster claws,

coating them in capers and breadcrumbs, which he hopes will add a salty

flavour and crunch to balance the sweetness of the meat.

-Andy?

-Yes.

How do you feel about getting a dish to the banquet?

It would mean the world. This dish means the most to me in terms of

what the brief is saying. We're going to Wimbledon, so there's going to be loads

of old Wimbledon greats there. It's going to be incredible.

Andy's dish pays tribute to the first time women competed at Wimbledon.

To find out more about the history of the women's game,

he went to meet Jo Durie,

one of Wimbledon's greatest tennis players and a former British number one.

-Hiya.

-Hi, Andy, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, Jo.

Jo's professional career spanned 18 years,

playing in all the major Grand Slams. In 1984,

she had her best ever performance in the Wimbledon women's singles...

-COMMENTATOR:

-She didn't get the winner, she forced the error.

..beating a 15-year-old Steffi Graf to reach the quarterfinals.

-COMMENTATOR:

-A relieved Jo Durie and the crowd around the Centre Court.

She finally got to lift the coveted Wimbledon trophy in 1987 when she

won the mixed doubles with her partner, Jeremy Bates.

I was standing there on match point.

I was at the net and the racket was shaking in my hand.

The roar from the crowd on that match point just really lifted us.

That's incredible. That's given me goose bumps!

SHE LAUGHS

Literally, that's given me goose bumps.

Despite women now being a firm fixture of the tournament,

when the championships first began, it was a very different story.

So, am I right in thinking that women weren't actually allowed to compete

at the beginning, when the first championships started?

Yes, that's right, Andy,

so 1877 for the men's, but not until 1884 for the women's, and actually,

that was pretty amazing in its day because they had all the long skirts

they had to wear. I don't know how they used to get around the court.

It was incredible.

Even with the huge talent of female tennis players today,

Jo feels that it's taken some time for the women's game to gain the

same recognition as the men's.

I think, just generally, men in sports were watched and it's as though,

well, the women can play the sport and just have a nice time,

and that was the barrier to get through.

Jo now works as a coach,

putting the next generation of female players through their paces.

So, Jo, do you feel that women are recognised equally as men are today?

There's always going to be debate about it, but I think we're getting

there because women's tennis is really good to watch.

Come on, we've got Serena Williams. Who wouldn't want to go and watch her?

Meeting Jo today has taught me a very,

very important lesson, and that's that you can't stop. You've got to give 100%.

She's inspired me to just throw everything I've got at this competition.

Back in the kitchen,

Tom has moved on to his treacle soda bread, which he plans to serve on

the side of his dish.

-Soda bread, Tom?

-Yeah.

-Nice and moist?

-I use a little bit of self-raising just to give it a

-bit more rise.

-So that will rise up quite a bit, will it?

Yeah, it should come just above these tins.

Next, he prepares the mackerel for his mackerel pate, which he will

cover in apple cider jelly once set.

-So, what are you doing here, Tom?

-So, this is the mackerel pate.

I've just adjusted the seasoning with a little more horseradish.

I'm just going to pass it off to keep it super smooth.

And what's in it that's going to set it?

Just the natural fat of the mackerel and the cream cheese.

So the idea is that the oil in the fish will firm up in the fridge?

-Exactly, yeah, yeah.

-So, is there a chance it could be too runny?

Yeah, I suppose there's a slight chance, but it won't be,

I'll have it sorted.

Tom's mackerel pate is loose at the moment and he's confident that

it's going to set, but the heat of that kitchen is something else and I

wouldn't be as confident if I was in his shoes.

Both Andy and Dom are using seaweed to create technical garnishes for

their dishes. Dom wants his to have a natural sea flavour.

-Doing your washing there, Chef?

-Doing my washing, yeah.

-Hanging out your curtains?

That's it. Believe it or not, I did this 20 years ago.

-It looks about 20 years old!

-I tell you, it's a fantastic little recipe.

While Andy hopes his will taste like the seaweed that comes with a

-Chinese takeaway.

-How are you doing your crispy seaweed, Andy?

So, you take dry nori, and literally rub water so it just becomes that texture,

so it's not even hydrated yet. It's just a little bit damp.

To finish, Andy deep-fries his seaweed and sprinkles with five spice.

-Andy, can I try this?

-Absolutely.

It's nice and crisp.

Is this the Chinese takeaway kind of feeling that you wanted?

It's that association or flavour with it.

You know, I'm not trying to replicate it.

'Andy's last dish was incredibly overpowering.'

I'm hoping this time he can balance the flavours of the five spice with

the delicacies of his shellfish.

For Don's elaborate fish course,

both his turbot and scallops require cooking just before serving.

Yeah, always feel it last minute.

That's the pressure point and that's when you realise you haven't got a

team of chefs behind you and you've got to do it all yourself.

He's working on the seaweed emulsion that he hopes will tie all the

elements of his dish together.

It's quite tense, actually.

After starters, everybody's really keen to produce a great dish.

I want to concentrate on getting this right...

and make sure it's beautiful.

With time running out,

Andy checks on the lobster shells he's roasting to make his lobster sauce.

BLEEP!

So, a couple of the lobster shells that I roasted off have just gone a bit too far.

So, I'm just having to pick through them,

make sure we got rid of the burnt ones.

The sauce might not be as powerful as I wanted it to be, but I'm trying

to rectify it.

First to the pass is Dom with his Fishing The Cobb.

Before he can start plating, he needs to cook his turbot and scallops.

OK, Dom, you're actually due up at the pass now.

-OK.

-How long do you need, Dom?

Just a couple of minutes, if I can.

He drains his sea vegetables and coats in his emulsion.

Right, put it together.

Onto his plates goes a bed of sea lettuce for the scallop.

-Those scallops are stunning, aren't they?

-Big is sometimes beautiful, you know?

-Turbot looks nice there, Dom.

-Thank you.

Next, blanched emulsion dressed samphire and tomatoes.

Followed by sea purslane.

He serves his seaweed emulsion and tops his scallop with a seaweed crisp.

-OK, everything's on the plate. Coming up now.

-What about your shrimp?

Thank you.

Well done, mate, I have to say, that looks wonderful.

-What do you think, chefs?

-A very pretty dish.

-Really nice.

-Lovely colours.

-Got you worried?

-Yeah, a little bit.

-Maybe a little bit, yeah.

-Right, shall we go and taste your fish?

Please.

It's a lovely looking plate of food. It looks like the summer.

So, I'm going to start with that beast of a scallop.

The big ones, it's quite hard to get right.

Sometimes they're really overcooked on the outside and still raw, but

he's handled that well there.

I think you've done really well with the scallop like that.

A lovely bit of translucency through the centre and nice

caramelisation on the outside.

I've been dying to try this.

It's definitely crisp and it's not as salty as I expected it to be.

That's really nice.

I would have left the seaweed crisp off, personally, because the outside

is delicious. The inside's soft.

Your turbot.

It's a really nice piece of fish.

Do you think it's creative or inventive enough for a banquet?

I think, sometimes if I try to be too inventive,

I get things wrong.

That's a really, really worrying dish.

Dom, what would you score this dish?

-I want a ten.

-So, aiming high, then?

-I'm aiming high, yeah.

HE LAUGHS

-All right, boys?

-How was that?

-Yeah, good.

-Happy?

-Yeah, good, I am happy, yeah.

Oh, feels good, you know.

I feel like I cooked how I should cook.

Tom is next to the pass with his dish, Soused Breal & Scrumpy,

celebrating the mackerel caught off the Cornish coast in summer.

-Tom, what's that? That looks wicked.

-That's the cured mackerel.

Yeah, no, love that. With a bit of soda bread, absolutely fantastic.

Let's hope so.

He places his thyme cured mackerel fillets quickly under

the grill.

Next onto his plates go blanched baby leeks and dried seaweed.

Just finishing with a little bit of dill.

-That's straight out of the Nathan Outlaw cookbook, isn't it?

-THEY LAUGH

Finally, he serves with his black treacle soda bread and the freshly grilled mackerel.

-There we go.

-Are you happy with everything?

I think so, yeah. Yeah.

-Chefs, what do you think?

-It looks like a mackerel creme brulee.

-I really want to get stuck into it.

-Let's go and eat it.

-Please.

So, do you think it hits the brief, summer?

I think it looks quite summery.

My initial thoughts were, "Is this potentially a starter?"

Do you think this looks like a main fish dish?

I think so, yeah. It's very,

very clean just with mackerel, so I think it's certainly a fish dish.

Has the bread worked out how you expected?

It's got the right texture, it's really crispy on the outside.

I'm pretty happy with it, yeah.

I think the soda bread is a little under.

-Yeah.

-Onto the mackerel,

it looks a little bit disjointed from the pate itself.

I wanted hot and cold and obviously if I put the hot one on,

it's going to start melting the jelly, so I wanted to keep it separate.

-What do you think of that mackerel?

-I think it's very nicely seasoned.

The mackerel pate is delicious, but as a quantity,

do you think that's a lot of pate to eat?

Don't demolish it, but

maybe not at the banquet.

The pate's quite sickly. Would you want to eat a whole one?

I personally would.

So, what would score the dish, Tom?

For this, I'd score...

I'd score an eight.

-All right, chaps?

-Good?

-Yeah, thanks.

-Horrible.

-Didn't like it?

-I loved it. I thought it was lovely.

-Really nice.

-Thanks.

-The soda bread, thought that might have been a bit under, I wasn't sure.

-No, I wanted it to be nice and moist in the middle.

-I certainly ate it all.

-Yeah.

Last to the pass is Andy with his lobster dish, For The Ladies & Gentry,

celebrating the women's game at Wimbledon.

-What's that, Andy?

-So, this is the knuckle meat mixed with vanilla,

a little bit of chilli, capers and dill.

First onto the plate is his lobster sauce.

-The sauce good?

-It could do with coming down a little bit more.

Followed by his poached lobster tail and onions filled with lobster and dill.

Where are your lobster claws?

We've got these claws here, butter breadcrumbs with capers.

It's like eating buttered toast.

Next, a garnish of purple heritage potatoes and crispy five spice seaweed.

-Have you got that oyster leaf?

-Yeah, I love oyster leaves, I think they're delicious.

He finishes with dill oil.

So, this dish celebrates women's tennis?

-Yeah.

-Can I read this?

-Yeah, absolutely, please do.

"The first ladies' singles tournament was held in 1884, and won by Maud Watson,

"wearing a bustle, a hat and high-heeled shoes."

-I like her style.

-Thank you.

What's your initial thoughts, Tom?

It's a very colourful plate of food.

Keen to see how it eats.

-Shall we go and eat it, Andy?

-Yeah, let's do that.

-You feeling happy?

-It's not as clean and tidy as I wanted it.

Would you change anything?

I would have liked the sauce to have been thicker.

So, we should eat.

I think the lobster tail is cooked nicely.

Let's try the claw.

-I find the claw a little bit under seasoned actually.

-Yeah.

-And very soft.

Is that claw cooked enough for you?

-Could have done with a little bit longer.

-Should we try the seaweed?

-Try the seaweed.

-See if it matches up to your one.

They don't seem as crispy as when I first tasted them.

There's a little bit of a bend to that.

I think it's just simply a case of they needed another four or five

seconds in the fryer.

I think that's got a nice flavour until he's added the five spice.

I think if he left it off, it would be much, much nicer.

-So, Andy, what would you score it?

-I'd be happy with a seven, if I was honest.

-All right, boys?

-Yeah, good.

-Yourself?

-Trying to put too much on the plate, trying to work too hard.

I should have made things a little bit more simple, more refined.

One point in it. Are you going to knock me off the spot today?

It would be nice to go home tonight on a level playing field.

-Hi, chefs.

-ALL:

-Hi, Michael.

So, the fish course is done. How do you feel?

-Good.

-Yeah, really good.

I'm going to start with you, Tom, and your dish,

Soused Breal & Scrumpy.

For me, this hit the brief.

It was light and refreshing and, ultimately, summery.

The balance of flavours, I thought, was spot-on.

The cider jelly was really delicious and the texture of the two I

really enjoyed.

The addition of the raw mackerel on top of the jelly, I thought, was

inspired and added another dimension to the pate.

But...

..the mackerel felt a bit disjointed.

There was little too much pate for me.

The biggest issue I have with this dish is,

it's more of a starter than a fish course.

Andy.

For The Ladies & Gentry.

I thought your take on the brief was a lovely idea.

The idea of celebrating the women's game at Wimbledon.

The lobster tail was cooked nicely,

and with the sauce, even though you weren't happy with how far it had reduced,

I think it was perfect and didn't need any more.

However, as a tribute to the ladies of Wimbledon,

I was expecting something lighter.

I instantly think of lobster in champagne sauce and something just

elegant and crisp. I don't feel you had that.

It didn't feel to me like a tried and tested plate of food.

Again, it didn't taste like summer.

I found it heavy and there was too much going on on the plate, when really,

I just wanted that lobster to sing to me.

Dom. Your dish,

Fishing The Cobb.

This wasn't the most creative we've seen...

..but it tasted absolutely delicious.

It was really summery, fresh and light.

The turbot and scallops, I thought, were cooked perfectly.

And the wilted seaweed underneath the scallop,

I thought that was absolutely delicious.

So, to the scores.

I'm going to start with you, Tom.

I'm giving you a score of...

..eight.

Andy.

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

..of six.

Finally, Dom.

I'm scoring you...

..a nine.

Andy, you're four points behind these two.

You can still go through, but you have to give me a taste of summer on

-a plate. I'll see you tomorrow.

-ALL:

-Thank you.

-Well done, mate.

-Congratulations.

Getting the highest score puts Dom level pegging with Tom on 15 points.

Whilst Andy is trailing with 11.

There's still two courses to go.

Still two courses. I just need you boys to slip up a little bit, that would be great.

I do like to give myself a bit of a challenge.

I'm four points behind the other guys, so anything can happen.

-You'll be chuffed with that, a nine.

-Good, yeah.

-Great score.

Dom's neck and neck with me now, so I'm going to have to step my

game up tomorrow to get my lead back.

Amazing. Loved getting a nine, but you've got to remember, it's only

the fish course, and in this kitchen, anything can happen.