Scotland Starter Great British Menu

We've got the best...

It is all about gold medals.

..the award-winning...

I do hope it's going to be perfect.

..and the Michelin-starred.

-You're confident that will be tender?

-Yeah, absolutely.

Putting Britain's most successful chefs...

I wonder whether I've done too much.

..through their paces.

I'll have to pray like I've never prayed before.

Great British Menu is back.

BLEEP!

Wahey!

One minute.

The challenge in this Olympic year is

to push themselves to the absolute limit...

It's getting white hot now.

..and create awe-inspiring dishes that reach new culinary heights.

Their gold medal - the chance to cook for our incredible

sporting heroes at a once-in-a-lifetime Olympic feast.

For some, it'll bring heartache and failure...

BLEEP. BLEEP.

-No, it's pointless. No,

-BLEEP

-that.

..others, ultimate glory.

Absolutely outstanding dish.

This is Olympic-class cooking.

I won't mess around.

I almost started crying.

But all have their eyes firmly on the prize.

I haven't come here to make enemies, mate.

I've come down here to cook great food.

This week, fighting to represent Scotland, is rising star Mark Greenaway...

You're not making me feel any better.

..two-time competitor Alan Murchison...

My job isn't to make you feel better. My job is to beat you.

..and determined newcomer Colin Buchan.

Now it's showtime.

Scrutinising them all week is veteran Jeremy Lee.

You've got three judges who may not love this.

And, from the off, the most experienced chef begins to buckle under the pressure.

Nobody said, "Come here and have a day off."

Sanity is quite a nice thing to enjoy.

Sanity's for the weak, Jeremy.

In this Olympic year, the chefs' gruelling challenge

is inspired by the Herculean efforts of world-class athletes.

-Yeah!

-You're getting it now.

We've asked Britain's cooking elite to push

the boundaries of their art, creating daring dishes

that reflect the ambition and dedication of our sporting heroes.

You've got just one chance. Make the most of it, grab it with both hands.

Their groundbreaking menus must be fit for an Olympic feast,

celebrating the sacrifices made by record breakers

and the friends and families who've helped them succeed.

To actually get to the banquet would be one of the milestones of my career so far.

Judging them is a tough-talking veteran of the competition who'll be watching the chefs' every move.

This week, it's a Scottish-born chef who now has

a fearsome reputation on the London restaurant scene.

It's Jeremy Lee.

I'm looking for stellar cooking, of the highest quality.

Come Thursday, only the two highest-scoring chefs will go through to the judges.

If I get sent home on Thursday, I will be devastated.

I have to win this year. I won't be back in the Great British Menu kitchen again.

First up is Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison

who runs L'Ortolan in Reading.

Two steak gourmand and two carp, two mackerel, two venison, please.

It's crunch time for this two-time former competitor

who's failed to deliver a dish to the banquet so far.

For me, I've got to win this year.

I've got to get to the final banquet.

It's once in a lifetime the Olympics are going to be in your home country.

Alan, what is the name of the dish you're going to cook today?

Barbary duck with pineapple.

You've got quite a big, busy box of stuff here. Is this a terrine or...

I'm doing a terrine because I know that's perfect for a banquet.

I'm focusing on an amazing quality duck, and a beautiful garnish,

incorporating lots of different pineapple techniques.

And this is ground-breaking?

Well, there's going to be elements and textures

that will challenge you.

How many elements in this?

Four textures of duck and about five textures of pineapple.

Cos duck and pineapple seems a vaguely new one.

Duck likes fruit but pineapple seems fairly out there.

I think it's beautiful. I've practiced and researched this dish.

Putting yourself through it again.

Read the brief, push boundaries - that's what I'm trying to do.

Alan's hoping to blaze an Olympic trail with his complicated

duck terrine and pineapple cooked multiple ways.

Duck and fruit is very classic.

Erm, ground-breaking?

The worry with Alan is it could be a little bit overambitious.

Just too much going on.

Right, check on. One spelt, one terrine to follow, hake, pork.

Next up is a fast-rising star on the Scottish food scene.

Mark Greenaway's restaurant, 12 Picardy Place in Edinburgh,

has been open for just over a year,

and has won rave reviews for its molecular gastronomy.

I think the advantage I've got is the brief this year

really suits my style of cooking.

So Mark believes he has the edge with his

scientific approach to food.

What are you making for us this morning?

It's a play on pork and apple so it's braised pork cheek, hot apple jelly.

Hot apple jelly. Isn't that an oxymoron?

No. It's firmer in texture than a traditional jelly...

Yeah.

..because I'm actually serving the pork cheeks cold.

We've got sea buckthorn which is one of those

ingredients that you'll either love or hate.

Is there something in here that is going to take you

way into the 22nd century?

Hopefully, the processes that I use, you know, the beetroot carpaccio,

the sea buckthorn, will take it that far.

Mark's serving cold pork cheeks and hot apple jelly with

risky berries that have failed to impress the judges before.

Sea buckthorn, it's astringent, very powerful.

That's the holy grail.

If you can find the recipe that makes sea buckthorn delicious,

the whole world is going to tremble.

Our last contender is another newcomer to the competition.

Colin Buchan is head chef at York & Albany in Camden, London.

OK, so that's two mackerel, main course,

one plaice, one fish and one beef.

Colin's a classically trained chef, now pitched against two competitors

who have a reputation for innovation.

I've not got a lot of secret weapons. I think I've got to go in there positive,

maybe try to put the other chefs off, by being the

underdog and put little snippets in that will put them off guard.

What are you going to be cooking?

Today, I'm going to excite you with a smoked squab pigeon breast,

and my piece de resistance - I'm going to use the pigeon heart.

Have you ever tasted pigeon heart before, Jeremy?

I love all gizzards but hearts are interesting.

They can be bitter. They can be sour. Is this a gamble?

It's good to take risks and hopefully it'll work.

Is this a stinging nettle I see before me?

Yeah. I get these from a forager in Norfolk and I'm going to make a little veloute with them.

And the techniques for all this?

What my aim is, is to try and do a ground-breaking dish.

It's something that I've not done before.

Hopefully it will bring an element of surprise later on.

Not to mention a bit of jeopardy.

Colin's strategy for a breathtaking banquet delicacy

is to smoke the breast and heart of a squab pigeon

and serve with an unusual nettle foam.

The ingredients that Colin's going to use,

a lovely one is nettle, which I adore.

There's an element of jeopardy in using pigeon innards, that's for sure.

I'm consumed with curiosity to see what he's going to do.

With no time to waste, the rival chefs set to work.

Molecular expert Mark Greenaway is preparing to

marinade his pork cheeks.

Your starter, braised pig cheeks - a lot of people would think that's a main course.

It's actually a really light starter. I'm serving the pig cheeks cold.

What is it you're doing today, mate?

Today, I'm doing a smoked squab pigeon.

How are you cooking the heart?

I'm going to basically smoke the whole bird with the heart inside it.

Classically trained chef Colin Buchan is starting the smoking process

which he hopes will make pigeon suitable for the Olympic banquet,

and it's caught Jeremy's eye.

-Can I lift this up?

-Yeah, of course.

These pigeons are intact. Well, they're gutted,

but you've left everything on.

-And there's oatmeal and muscovado sugar?

-Yes, it is, yeah.

-And these are your hearts?

-These are all pigeon hearts.

I'll just fry these quickly.

I'm going to pan-fry them and confit the legs.

I understand. I see now.

There is this interesting business with the heart of the squab.

They have a tendency towards bitterness

so I'll be intrigued to see quite what he does with that.

Pigeon heart? It's a bit of offal at the end of the day.

Would I serve up heart to 100 people? I don't know if I would.

He's using a piece of the bird that's generally thrown away.

Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison is making a start

on his complicated duck dish.

-How many techniques are you using in this dish?

-Nine.

I don't believe you. I think there's more.

Nobody said, "Come here and have a day off."

Remember that sanity's quite a nice thing to enjoy.

Sanity's for the weak, Jeremy.

The worry with Alan is just too much going on.

So keen to win but it might be a step too far.

Alan's strategy is to strive for absolute perfection in every dish

he puts forward for the Olympic feast.

I've practised more than I've ever practised before.

I've put hundreds of hours into getting the dishes exactly how I want to get them.

This is a fiercely competitive chef,

obsessed with getting through to cook for the banquet this year.

Hopefully, this year, third time cooking - third time lucky.

Alan knows that Olympic records can be broken

in fractions of a second so he's spent months trying to push his dishes

to new levels of excellence, to mirror the spirit of the Games.

You talk about 1%, marginal gains,

so if I can apply that principle to this competition,

I should do very well.

He applies the same drive outside work, too.

Alan runs 50 miles every week and his training buddy

just happens to be British Olympic marathon hopeful Louise Damen.

He doesn't put a limit on what he can do, basically.

I've noticed that when he runs and obviously when he cooks as well.

I mean, yeah, there are no limits with Alan Murchison.

This year on Great British Menu,

we're being challenged to create a cutting-edge dynamic menu that pushes boundaries

and I want to try and take some of the details

that we apply in running and training to the kitchen.

Today, Alan's asked Louise back to his kitchen

to see if she's impressed with his Olympic starter.

What I've done with this is made a pineapple crisp.

Wow! That's, like, melt-in-your-mouth stuff, that is.

It's really good to get Louise's feedback on the dish.

What I'm looking to do is to take the brief and learn from her.

It's really important that the dish hits the brief,

but also excels and provides a wow factor.

Knowing Alan, knowing his competitive nature, I think he'll

get the bit between his teeth and really, really go for it.

But, back in the kitchen, could Alan now be struggling to juggle

all the elements of his complicated starter?

-It's all

-BLEEP

-up at once.

-BLEEP.

He's trying to keep an eye on the smoking process for his duck

while preparing five separate combinations of pineapple.

-Is that all right, Alan?

-It's absolutely fine.

Smoking out the opposition!

Once you start to play around with food too much,

you start to take that initial...product, of what it is,

it might be too much.

I've really pushed the boundaries with regards to timing

and brioche, gels and purees and jellies and all sorts of stuff.

I've actually left myself quite a lot to do.

Across the kitchen,

risk-taker Mark's going to cook sea buckthorn berries

in a slow vacuum pack in a bid to transform their sour flavour.

-It's an intriguing, elusive smell, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It really is quite unlike anything else.

-Yeah.

Controversial ingredient.

-I think it's...

-And you've got three judges who may not love this.

I think before it was the juice that was used which is so strong.

Potent, if anything, isn't it?

This won't be anything like that.

'Sea buckthorn - not my favourite thing.

'I think it's very powerful, very astringent.'

And to go with something lovely and yielding,

like pork, which is very subtle.

Sea buckthorn? Have you not done your homework on sea buckthorn?

I have, yes.

Sea buckthorn was done by one of the best chefs in the UK, Mr Nathan Outlaw.

But Nathan used the juice. I'm using the berries.

Would you not be worried, if you got to cook for the judges,

that they had such an adverse reaction to sea buckthorn?

A two-star Michelin chef couldn't get it to work.

But this is a chef who's renowned for innovation

and who isn't usually fazed by the competition.

I'm definitely a dark horse. I want to win a massive amount.

I've got a lot to prove, nothing to lose and we're there to win.

I'm not entering this not to win.

Mark's expertise in molecular gastronomy has led him to lecture on

this scientific approach to food at a cookery school in Edinburgh.

He's even given a masterclass about the unusual hot jelly he's going to serve,

with the pork and sea buckthorn in his Olympic starter.

Has anyone heard of a hot jelly before?

So, normally, a jelly would melt when you heat it up.

This one doesn't.

The key to Mark's hot jelly, like so many of his recipes,

is a natural ingredient with unusual properties.

Gellan gum's derived from seaweed and it's heat-stable

so it'll dissolve and disperse into liquid.

When the liquid goes below 75, it sets into a jelly.

That jelly won't then re-melt.

The way that you're able to display food with the techniques that

we're being shown today were just brilliant.

He seems like an innovator.

So, with this year's challenge asking the chefs to create

an innovative menu that takes food to new, extraordinary heights,

Mark feels the brief suits him to a T.

A lot of the elements of what they're asking us to do

within the challenge, I already do anyway.

I might as well just give it absolutely everything I've got

and hopefully come out the other end at the banquet.

Back in the kitchen, Mark's making hot apple jelly,

a technique that's caught Jeremy's eye.

-You've got potions and powders going on.

-Yes, hot apple jelly.

-We're also doing a fluid gel, as well.

-What is a fluid gel?

In simple terms, a fluid gel starts as a hot jelly.

The gellan gum, the sugar, the apple juice, all goes in cold,

bring it up to the heat, as soon as it thinks about boiling, take it off.

-There's a lot of components to all these dishes.

-Yeah.

Colin is now pan-frying his smoked pigeon hearts.

He's convinced his use of underused ingredients like heart and nettle

demonstrates enough innovation to be worthy of Olympians.

Any comments on my dish?

-I like squab. I don't think it's used enough.

-Yeah.

Are you quite a fan of foraging? Obviously I'm using nettles.

-I'm not a great lover of nettles, I'll be frank with you.

-Uh-huh.

I always come across them out running and they get your legs.

I'm quite excited to do something different with my dish,

especially the pigeon heart.

I think there'll be a lot of members of the general public, a lot of Olympians,

who might be a little bit off-put about eating a heart.

Glaswegian Colin Buchan was hand-picked by Angela Hartnett

to be her head chef at a leading London restaurant

and she's optimistic about the chances of one of her star proteges.

I think Colin can be quite progressive. I think he's got sparked imagination.

I think he's got the potential to do it.

In some ways he's an underdog. He's not a Michelin-starred chef.

He's up against some of these boys that have done it before.

Colin believes he can punch above his weight.

His strategy is to use unusual ingredients to crack the banquet brief.

I want to come up with these ground-breaking dishes.

I want to do something I've never done before and I want to win it.

Smithfield market in the East End of London is where Colin

found his foraged nettles and pigeons.

-Do these have hearts in them?

-They do, yeah.

They have the main guts removed but still come with the heart in.

-Well, this is the...

-It's not a question I've ever been asked before.

What are you using the heart for?

-I'm going to be smoking these. Have you ever had them smoked before?

-No.

He was surprised. He did mention that I'm breaking the mould.

That's what I'm hoping to achieve in the competition,

to get that prized reaction.

That's what I want to carry through all my dishes.

Back in the kitchen, Michelin-starred chef Alan has taken his foie gras,

one of the elements of his duck terrine,

out of the fridge and Jeremy's quick to spot a big problem.

Are you slightly in the wars with that?

It shouldn't be breaking up like that.

It's just slightly brittle. I'll just put it in a blast chiller.

The main thing to do is just get it right.

It needs to be reasonably pliable when it goes in the fridge.

I'm not sure what was happening with Alan's foie gras.

He was slicing it and then these cracks and crumbles appeared.

It doesn't seem to have the structure

of a recognisable foie gras.

Alan's desperately hoping his complicated terrine

will still hold with the crumbly foie gras.

Meanwhile, newcomer Colin is about to start preparing

his unusual nettle foam.

-Your nettles?

-These are the nettles, yeah. I've got these picked here.

Once I make the sauce, the veloute we've got there,

with some shallots, white wine, coriander.

Add some double cream, when that comes up to the boil,

put some nettles in.

It seems very ingredient-led and very driven by that

so, ground-breaking?

Not so sure.

Mark's sea buckthorn berries have finished cooking

and Alan is keen to try them.

-Did you just try two?

-Mm.

Really?

Really nice. You've done all right there.

Good man.

It's a thumbs-up for the sea buckthorn from Alan

but will Jeremy think the same?

Colin's first to plate up. He's made a date puree as a bed for the dish.

On top of this, he serves the smoked duck breast,

then a portion of the brown buckwheat is added,

with nettle foam, and, finally, the pigeon heart.

So, Jeremy, here we have

smoked squab pigeon, buckwheat and lovely pigeon heart.

You've got a javelin here which is very impressive.

Yeah, spearing the heart there.

And this is the starter cos that's quite a hefty-looking dish,

do you think?

Quite generous portions.

I think, going to dinner, you're very hungry,

so if you get a good portion of a starter,

then you're on to a winner, you know?

Will Jeremy find Colin's hefty smoked pigeon breast and heart

to be an awe-inspiring banquet starter?

Your first dish - how are you feeling?

Very happy with it, being the first chef up there,

under extreme pressure, may I add?

I've never had heart before.

You go for heart. I'll go for asparagus.

The heart's not as strong as I thought it'd be.

It's mild, very mild.

The pigeon breast - you'd think with something smoked,

it'd be slightly more intensely cooked.

It is very light.

I think you've got to be very careful when you're smoking meat, it becomes too tame,

then it overpowers the actual flavour of the bird.

Do you feel a hundred people would want to eat a heart?

I don't know. I think they'll try it.

I seem to recall you were describing that the nettle would be a foam.

This is much less structured than that. It's actually a sauce.

I don't want it to be too much of a foam and looking artificial.

-I lost the nettle, to be honest.

-I don't get nettle.

-Gold, silver or bronze for this dish?

-It's the first day. Silver.

You're a very kind and generous man.

You?

-I'm not convinced it would get on the podium in my book.

-No?

It's very nerve-racking cos you don't know what he's looking for.

You don't know what he's expecting. He might like it, he might not.

He doesn't give too much away, unfortunately.

Mark's next to plate up a starter that's packed with modern elements.

He begins by serving the cold pork cheeks,

wrapped in a wafer-thin beetroot carpaccio.

Next, it's his cold apple fluid gel with a hint of tarragon.

-What's that?

-It's the hot apple jelly.

It's Mark's piece de resistance,

the apple jelly that stays set, even though it's hot.

How long do you reckon you'll be before you serve?

30 seconds. This is it.

Finally, after a sprinkling of apple blossom,

Mark adds the controversial sea buckthorn berries.

Here we are.

Look what you've done,

as a starter, for a banquet to celebrate the Olympics.

Yep. I think it's fitting.

I think I've used something as humble as a pork cheek and elevated it to,

hopefully, new heights, which is what Olympians do so, I think so.

So, do Mark's cold pork cheeks, served with hot apple jelly and an

infamously sour berry, make for a revolutionary concept in cuisine?

Is there anything about this dish that you might want to rethink?

Erm, no.

-Good-looking dish, actually.

-Very eye-catching. I'm intrigued by this hot jelly.

Is it still going to stay hot if you're doing it for 100 covers?

-Have you had the sea buckthorn yet?

-It's just going in.

It acts like a little chutney.

I mean, it bursts in your mouth and you get the juices coming out.

For me, that's what it's about, that's why I'm using it.

Try this sea buckthorn.

-Apple.

-Yeah.

-Sea buckthorn - I like it.

Little bit of tartness in the shallot there and the berries,

which actually cuts through the meat.

It's a nice dish.

Cold pork cheek? That's quite bold, isn't it?

For me, it's pork terrine.

Do you know what I'd do with that?

I'd stick it in the oven and warm it up a bit

cos that is quite a big slab of cold braised meat.

-Do you see this going through to the banquet?

-It would be a great honour if it did.

So, first day over, first dish out. I think he liked it, I'm not sure.

You have to wait for the scores.

Now all eyes are on Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison

as he gets ready to plate up his duck and pineapple starter.

Will the crumbly foie gras mean his duck terrine has failed to set?

Have you cut into the terrine yet, Alan? Is this...

It could all end here.

Could be going home today.

-Anything I can do to help you, Al?

-You can pray to the God of terrine.

I think this could be our golden ticket, Mark.

This is where we see, boys, what we're made of.

It's moving a wee bit.

Has Alan pulled it off?

That's not a bad effort, is it?

That looks lovely.

I'm shaking.

The terrine seems to be holding.

Next, Alan serves the flat pineapple jelly

and a spoonful of the tangy pineapple chutney.

Pineapple crisps are added for a flourish,

together with the toasted hoops of brioche.

This is my take on an Olympic ring.

So, for me, good local duck, a bit of fruit, bit of showmanship.

Boys, now that you've got your dishes down, what do you reckon?

-Very nice dish.

-Visually, stunning.

Time for Alan's technical duck terrine and pineapple starter

to be scrutinised by Jeremy.

A stroke of genius or a step too far?

Is this the gold-winning dish?

I'd like to think I've delivered on the brief.

Attention to detail, which is the Olympic spirit,

it's making everything 0.1% better.

I've tried to do that.

There's a lot of textures there,

a lot of flavours through the duck. Is it too much? I don't know.

Is it too sweet with a lot of pineapple in it?

It's like half of this is a dessert.

The pineapple is there with that sweetness, the acidity,

the texture to cut through the richness of the duck.

This morning, there was a slight issue with your foie gras. Is that a future concern?

When you look at the Olympic spirit, you'll have challenges.

You're not always going to get it right.

I've delivered when I had a challenge.

The duck's a little bit chewy. Quite dry.

With this, do you feel you've really broken new ground and entered new territory?

When you taste the different textures of duck there,

I think what they will give you is just a beautiful balance.

You wouldn't expect anything less from Alan.

-He's here to win.

-Yeah.

-We all are.

-And we're here to stop him!

Well, I just finished with Jeremy now and I think it went reasonably well.

I like the flavours of it and I thought the delivery of the dish was spot-on.

So, for me, I'm quite happy. Jeremy? That's a different matter.

All three starters have been sampled

and the chefs are anxiously awaiting Jeremy's verdict.

-It's not nice, this bit.

-No.

I'm quite nervous about, obviously, the scoring.

I think if I was to score myself at all, it would be a silver.

I had a little problem with my foie gras

and it's about who deals with the challenges best

that's going to win the competition.

Jeremy's come to a decision.

Will one of the chefs make an early break from the pack on day one?

Colin, I thought your pigeon this morning...

Great cooking, pigeon was lovely,

even that rare, which I thought was interesting,

considering it was smoked, and then fried again.

Pigeon heart's a lovely idea

and I particularly liked it with the bulgur wheat and the nettle.

Loved the use of the javelin. Thought that was very funny.

But the one issue is the actual whole dish was enormous.

I thought it had more the element of a main course and I wish the

nettle had come through more because I thought it was so delicious.

And I think it's not quite sure whether it's a foam or a sauce.

Now, Mark.

Your pork cheeks...

What a lovely idea and a very, very beautifully cooked piece of pork.

I thought there was a slight struggle with how the dish was working,

and I thought this thing of a cold pork cheek is quite challenging.

I kind of want pork cheek to be warm.

And then the sea buckthorn,

which is this very curious devil of an ingredient.

It's going to cause mayhem and, indeed, it did.

And then, Alan.

Your terrine fulfilled the brief absolutely for a starter,

for the beginning of a four-course Olympic banquet.

I thought it fulfilled the brief absolutely brilliantly.

But I'm not convinced by duck and pineapple.

I think the acidity of the pineapple

kind of required the skin to be back on the duck.

Colin, for your pigeon, I would like to award you...

Seven out of ten.

Thank you.

Mark...

Five out of ten for you.

And, Alan..

I also give you seven out of ten.

Thank you very much.

-Congratulations.

-Well done.

So, with a score of seven points each,

Michelin-starred chef Alan is level pegging with newcomer Colin...

What can I say? On the same mark as Alan Murchison - that, I didn't expect.

Seven out of ten's an OK start

but I'm not here to do OK in this competition.

..while Mark is trailing on just five points.

Did I think I'd be in last?

No. I didn't come in to lose, I came in to win.

Tomorrow, it's the fish course

and Alan's playing mind games in an attempt to push ahead.

You being comfortable is not in my game plan.

Alan, you're not making me feel any better.

My job isn't to make you feel better. My job is to beat you.

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