North West Judging Great British Menu

It's been a shocking week for the North West.

-What's the fish bit?

-There isn't a big piece of fish.

It's not about that.

-BLEEP

-This is not looking good. I'm getting dangerously close

-to aborting this.

-It's the pressure of the kitchen.

Either got it or you haven't.

We've seen a chef pushed to breaking point

-'and walk out of the competition...'

-Johnnie.

BLEEP

Can I just say something?

..paving the way for two top chefs to go head-to-head.

It's like watching a genius at work.

Aidan, you're one point in front.

Today, it's crunch time.

Their technical skill, creativity and passion will all be under

the scrutiny of the most discerning of judges.

The perfume of pork coming off that.

It is an Olympian piece of piggy!

I don't know what I'm eating. It's wonderful!

Will newcomer Simon Rogan

falter in the face of immense pressure...

-I'm going to have to leave the chilli dressing off.

-No way, Simon!

Aiden's a great chef. We've been neck and neck.

Will it be Aiden's, will it be mine? We'll see.

..leaving a two-time runner-up Aiden Byrne

with the upper hand of experience?

-BLEEP

-I've burnt some, haven't I?

I do have a fight on my hands, because he'll cook

an absolute blinder.

There's only one place at the final

and both chefs will fight all the way.

The chef going through is...

North West finalists Aiden and Simon

have pushed themselves to breaking point to get this far.

-This is it, mate. D-Day.

-You know, it's neck and neck, isn't it.

You're ahead on courses.

Yeah, but you're ahead on points.

Returning contender Aiden Byrne

managed to steal the lead overall

with his boundary-pushing takes on classic flavours.

At the end of the day it's a competition and I want to win.

But with top scores for three out of four dishes,

innovative Simon Rogan is one to watch.

Just down to the judges, what sort of mood they're in

and what sort of food they like.

-May the best man win.

-Yeah. Let's get in there.

-Good luck.

-Cheers. And you, mate.

Both chefs have designed menus to scale new heights of gastronomy,

to reflect record-breaking Olympic standards.

To decide who has most successfully raised the bar

is down to the most critical of judges - Prue Leith,

Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort.

This is an Olympic ideal.

You've got to be the best, the best of the country.

The reality of the situation is this is an opportunity

to show Britain as one of the greatest food nations in the world,

because the quality of our food now is world-class.

I want this dinner to reflect the excitement

of the Olympic Games themselves.

I mean, there you are at the final of the 100 metres

or 1500 metres or the long jump,

there's a wonderful involving sense of excitement and joy.

That's the effect. I want people to have that same

kind of excitement as they go through this dinner.

Aiden and Simon are facing a gruelling day,

cooking their complete menus for the judges...

..something Aiden has done twice before,

and lost.

It's the menu that's going to them, not individual dishes.

I've tried to keep that in mind, the balance and the way it flows.

I need to get the menus right this time,

because I don't want to go home.

Aiden's really pushing for it. This is his last attempt to go through.

You can see how badly he wants it. I've got to keep fending him off.

I'm so adamant that this year, it's going to be me going through

and I certainly don't want to be the one going out of here

with my tail between my legs.

Aiden's first up and looking to impress with an unusual take on

a classic dish -

foie gras terrine and gingerbread,

spiced cherries and sorbet

and a daringly sweet foie gras and palm sugar mousse.

It scored a solid eight earlier in the week,

which he's adamant he can improve.

I want to make a change.

What I'm going to do is more of that palm sugar mousse.

You know, the palm sugar mousse is the unusual item in the dish.

-That's the main reason I'm putting more on.

-It is quite unusual.

But with Aiden's mind on his mousse,

he's taken his eye off his gingerbread,

an integral element to his dish.

BLEEP I've burnt some, haven't I?

-What happened?

-Me gingerbread... because of the high sugar

and the honey in there, leaving it two seconds, it's gone.

-Were you ready to plate up, were you?

-Yeah, yeah.

With seconds to spare he browns another slice,

while he plates the foie gras and cherry terrine, then the new gingerbread,

mousse and sorbet.

A massive relief for him,

but has Aiden pushed the classic combination too far?

I want it to go down in front of the judges

like I'm the judge, please. Be quick,

that sorbet will go, guys. Thanks.

I took the decision to make the palm sugar mousse more plentiful.

Hopefully, the judges'll like that.

Gosh, there's lots of very visual disorientation going on here.

Is it a pudding, is it a starter?

Is it a slice of foie gras?

Yes, I do believe it is.

I'm glad to say it's a slice of foie gras

and presumably this is cherry jelly round the edge?

This is definitely cherry sorbet.

Which is just wonderful, actually.

This is a very, very confident piece of cooking.

What is this?

I think it's a foie gras mousse.

It's quite sweet though, isn't it?

I think it's absolutely awful.

Oh, really, you don't! I love it.

Your palate's being distracted a lot here

from the foie gras itself.

But the other flavours are so delicious and the whole thing

is delicious, that I could quite easily have this for dessert.

Let's match it up to the brief, for a moment.

It's supposed to be innovative,

it's supposed to surprise us, to be delicious.

He's done it. That's exactly what this is.

To be fair, I do think this chef has tried extremely hard to be

imaginative and creative.

But I still rest my case that it should be a pudding.

Aiden's foie gras and cherry dish didn't get sweet talk from all the

judges, so will this be a chance

for newcomer Simon to take pole position?

He's off the blocks

with a warm salad of grilled leaves and truffle custard.

He'll top the dish with cheese foam and home-made chilli oil,

but in a crippling blow, Simon discovers

some ingredients are missing.

One small detail in the starter.

The chilli oil which unfortunately got thrown away by mistake.

Nobody's fault. Probably my fault for not checking this morning.

Nonetheless, maybe I should have.

Simon let to pressure get to him

when things went off course earlier in the week.

If he panics today, it could spell disaster.

Five minutes, six minutes, going to be all right?

-Yeah, I'm going to leave the chilli dressing off.

-No way, Simon!

Confident in the dish without it. We ain't got time. We've got to plate.

Without the menu, the judges won't know the chilli kick is missing.

But will the salad have the wow factor

to blow them away without it?

Oh!

Does it look interesting

and different or does it look a bit of a mess?

It's a mixture of grilled vegetables

and cheese

and I'm not quite sure what this mousse stuff is.

This is my type of food, lots of nice flavours.

It's a lovely little balance to this dish.

It's got that fantastic contrast between that acrid,

burnt flavour, the soft, moussy texture,

little bits of nut, little bits of winter truffle,

an extraordinarily complex series of flavours

from ingredients... when was the last time you

-saw bits of burned vegetable served as a first course?

-Never, never.

Thoughtful and original. This really does fulfil the brief to me.

-Delicious.

-Mmm.

-Good, isn't it?

It's one of these dishes where it goes down, you think,

"I'm not too sure about this, could all go wrong here."

And the more it unfolds in front of you,

the more you realise it's actually a very, very sophisticated dish.

The contrasts are amazing. It really does push a few boundaries.

I would be very happy to see that at the final banquet, to be honest.

Do you know, chaps, we're in danger of agreeing with each other?

When you come across this, what can you do but agree on it?

Simon swept the board with his starter,

but Aiden received the best score of the week with his fish course

and will have all confidence of bringing it back.

His caviar salmon roll with razor clam and citrus salad

scored a perfect 10.

Aiden's been here before and knows a technical dish needs to

be precision perfect every time.

Any risky elements in it that could go wrong?

You've witnessed it yourself by putting your first course up.

All that confidence just goes out the window

-when you're plating up for the judges, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

Sticking to his tried and tested dish,

Aiden manages to keep his cool.

Off you go. Nice and straight.

-Phew!

-As good as the last time, d'you think?

Yeah, absolutely. Fresher, I totally controlled it,

more so than I did on the starter.

I'm excited to hear what they genuinely think of it.

Will Aiden's boundary-pushing marriage of citrus

and seafood have the gastronomic excellence the judges demand?

-Wow!

-You know it is absolutely exquisite.

Look at this razor clamshell

and it's full of the most incredible detailed things.

There's a bit of crunchy element,

there's a soft popping of the eggs, there's little chunks

of sweet razor clam itself.

This is a complex dance of flavours and textures in there

that I think is just beautiful.

The salmon with the caviar in the middle

and the beetroot colouring is really delicious.

In fact, I enjoyed the flavour of it more than the razor clam, and I love razor clam.

But I wouldn't mind eating them both on the same plate, together.

This is a complete waste of a razor clam, as far as I'm concerned.

One of the beautiful things about fresh fish is the taste of the fish.

All I can taste here is the citrus flavour.

And I think the salmon, Prue, I don't agree with you.

I just don't understand the relationship between the salmon

and the razor clam. It's just two pieces of fish on a plate that are passing by in the sea.

Oliver, you've just obviously had a taste-bud bypass.

There are flaws in the dish, but to be so relentlessly negative seems to me to absolutely miss the point.

This is a very assured piece of cooking.

Is it a dish which should go through to the final feast?

Not in its current form, certainly,

cos I think the two elements need to be somehow brought into relationship with one another much more closely.

And I have seldom seen anything as exquisite

as that little line-up of things in there. They were beautiful.

-If only we had to do was eat with our eyes, that dish would have been a winner.

-Exactly.

So, top marks for Aiden's presentation,

but mixed reviews for taste.

Will Simon's fish course be able to bring it all together?

Simon's intent on making a feast of flavour -

lobster infused with lobster stock gel,

paired with apple, beetroot and the unusual cuckoo flower paste.

Last time, Simon's execution let him down,

resulting in his lowest score of the week.

The worry is making sure it's damn better than the last time,

so I've just got to concentrate and make sure that happens.

After faltering on the starter, and now facing the pressure to perfect his fish course,

Simon's lost track of time.

-What's happened, mate?

-I've really got to get this

-BLEEP

-lobster in.

But, keeping his head, Simon plates up just in time,

with the lobster cooked to perfection.

-What will the judges make of the unusual cuckoo flower it's served with?

-OK.

Can Simon improve on his previous attempt?

A good result here could help put his menu in pole position.

Lovely smell emanating from this dish.

Mmm, lobster and beetroot. Yum.

There's a sort of apple jelly, there.

The thing I love most about this dish is the fact that

each single ingredient has really got a great flavour to it.

The lobster is very delicate. I think it's a very interesting dish.

I have never had lobster and apple together.

It's beautiful, isn't it? It's going to be a classic flavour.

This chef has obviously, really obviously,

thought a lot about the flavours involved in this dish.

And that's what I like about the cooking, here.

I like the fact that it's a little journey on your palate.

I think the green stuff is seriously disgusting.

It's very bitter. I don't like it at all.

Ah, cuckoo flower.

-We need to lose cuckoo flower.

-Too cuckoo for you, is it?

-It's completely cuckoo.

I don't mind it being cuckoo, I just mind it being horrible.

Simon's lobster and apple had rave reviews,

but the unusual cuckoo flower may have let him down,

leaving it very close between the chefs as they head into the main course.

Aiden's a great chef. We've been neck and neck.

Will it be Aiden's, will it be mine? We'll see.

I think we both want it as bad as each other.

I really do have a fight on my hands at this stage of the game, cos he's going to cook an absolute blinder.

It's make or break time.

The main course.

Another close call which Simon pipped to the post with a nine.

Simon? Main course, mate. How you feeling about it?

Two of my stronger dishes now, the main course and dessert.

Obviously, Marcus really liked it.

Simon's up first with his slow-cooked rare breed suckling pig,

served with clamped vegetables picked in their prime

and stored underground.

It's an incredibly daring move to cook and serve his ingredients so simply.

But Simon is confident the flavours will speak for themselves.

Can I have a little nibble at this pork?

-It's lovely, isn't it, the pork?

-Absolutely stunning, Simon.

Is definitely right up there, this stuff.

That pork was just melt-in-your-mouth, stunning.

One of the best flavoured porks I've ever tasted.

By no stretch of the imagination do I think this competition is over.

You know, I know this is going to go right down to the wire.

Happy with that?

Will such a simple dish be deemed banquet-worthy by the judges?

Ooh! The perfume of pork coming off that!

That's a nice piece of suckling pig or something, isn't it?

-Mmm!

-The pork is absolutely delicious.

I think few people coming to an event like this will ever have tasted pork that good.

It's got a wonderful, meaty note, really running in deep, really deep.

The vegetables are really, really, really well-flavoured vegetables.

I just couldn't bear to throw this out, it's so lovely.

But, this is just roast pork and veg.

Vintage vegetables, created by using an ancient preservation technique called clamping...

-Oh, they're clamped!

-..where the veg is buried in sand.

It raises an interesting question.

This seems to fulfil a perfect brief of food from yesteryear, not food from tomorrow.

If we get flavour by going back to old-fashioned techniques,

why can't that be part of the future? It should be part of the future.

Prue, I've nothing against worshipping the past, but it has no place, frankly, on this menu.

Matthew, Matthew, Matthew.

Come on, top-class level of skill going on here.

I would love to see this piggy trotting into the final banquet.

It is an Olympian piece of piggy.

Perfect pork wasn't enough to satisfy Matthew,

so will Aiden's more technical dish give him a chance to overtake?

He's taking classic ingredients - veal, ham and peas - to a new level,

using molecular spherification,

a risky move that involves controlled jellification of a liquid,

forming spheres when submerged in a bath of sodium alginate.

-Are you still doing the spherification?

-I'm doing the peas, I'm not doing the ham.

I couldn't master it, and I'd rather not do it.

I was going to ask you for some help, cos you're a bit of a master at the old,

at these techniques, aren't you?

Yeah, I was going to offer, but I need all the help I can get.

No, but I'm going to put the diced ham fat in there.

It's not too dissimilar a texture, anyway.

Marcus told me that I really need to be disciplined with this dish, cos it is a very simple combination.

I've got to make sure I get it absolutely spot on.

It's a gamble Aiden's hoping will impress the judges, but will it be enough to beat the competition?

Right, gents.

Quite quickly, cos it'll go cold, as well.

Will the judges think Aiden's advance on classic ham and peas

grand enough to take centre stage at the banquet?

Oh, there's a lovely smell coming from this, again.

I think this is veal fillet.

-I mean, that's larded.

-Delicious.

-Because the fat is actually threaded through the meat. Amazing.

-How often do you taste veal that good?

-Almost never.

-Right.

There is... The flavour of the veal is just extraordinary.

There's a bit of black truffle in there,

air-dried ham, little bits of fat, peas.

-What is that?

-It's pea puree, isn't it? Made into little balls.

-Let's have a look.

"The pea puree is made into spheres

"using a molecular technique called spherification."

Spherification, right.

I can't help feeling that chef may have bunged in a bit of spherification

in order to bring his dish up to speed.

I think it's actually... To me, it's the fat which is a real revelation.

I would never, ever have thought these little, tiny, little squares

would add so much, both in terms of texture...

almost like jelly.

I'm fascinated to know, Matthew, if you think this is cutting edge cooking,

compared to the pork dish.

I think it is MORE cutting edge, yes.

This is a future-looking dish, and I think the last one was a celebration of the past.

This is based on old-fashioned techniques. They need bringing back.

And I think that they can be part of the future, just as I thought the previous dish could.

-Well, I give in.

-Good.

So, all in favour of Aiden's main.

It's still a close-run race, the fate of which rests entirely on their desserts.

Aiden's going all-out for a grand finale,

recreating his olive oil cake, candied celery

and orange cannelloni filled with cardamom ice cream.

It scored well with Marcus,

but with so many unusual flavours,

-this could easily be hit or miss.

-They're either going to love this or hate it.

Yeah. Quite marmalade-y, isn't it? Quite tart.

Some of them might like it, some of them might hate it, so it really might throw them off,

and it might upset them a little bit, but it's a risk I was willing to take.

Aiden's turned classic savoury flavours on their head

by using them in a dessert.

Is it pushing boundaries or overstepping the mark?

OK, gents.

Will Aiden's flavour-filled masterpiece be worthy of a gold medal?

There's a sort of air of Zen-like tranquillity about this dish.

It's a very pleasing-looking number, this.

And there's cake. I do like a bit of cake.

-It's like a brandy snap.

-With ice cream.

-Yeah.

There is a fabulous command of technique, here.

Little bit of crunch, little bit of softness, and the ice cream.

The orange jelly, the cake underneath, which I think has got almond in it,

it's just really, you know, bloody brilliant.

It's a very, very happy combination of flavours, I think.

-I love the slight spiciness of the cardamom-flavoured ice cream.

-Mmm.

I think the jelly on top of the cake is a little bit of genius.

I love the relationship, as well, between flavour and colour.

The flavours carry through with those colours, so you get this whole sensory perception going on,

where you've got beautiful colours, beautiful flavours.

Yeah, a very lovely pudding.

I don't think I've seen a pudding exactly like this before, or anywhere close to it,

and that's what makes it really radical.

But this is a big party. Is this bold enough to make an impression?

I'd be very, very happy to see that on the final banquet.

-I'm going to make a suggestion, here, now.

-What's that?

I think we have a nailbiter on our hands.

Another full house from the judges,

unsurpassed results, that Simon will do everything to top.

He steps up with a cutting-edge dish, bringing together rare British ingredients,

and high-tech cooking methods.

A unique combination of rosehip and pear, with sweet cheese ice cream

and herb-scented snow made with liquid nitrogen.

He lost points from Marcus for mistakes that he's determined he won't repeat.

This is a dish that I'm feeling very happy about.

-It's looking good.

-Is it?

-It's looking very good.

You getting me nervous now, yeah?

Marcus told Simon that it's a potential ten out of ten dessert.

He said it was one of the best desserts he's ever tasted, if he gets it right.

If he delivers that dessert, that could totally knock me off my pedestal.

-OK. Go.

-Finish on a high, mate.

-Yeah.

-Well done.

-Yeah, that was a bit better than yesterday.

Will Simon's radical dessert nail his hopes of Olympic glory,

or leave the judges cold?

I thought it looked like a little snowfall.

I think this is so light, and so clean, and so fresh.

-Soft, velvety cream.

-I love this.

I don't know what I'm eating. It's wonderful.

It says, "The rosehips were foraged at altitude for purity of flavour."

And it is a wonderful, pure, clean...

-Fabulous.

-A sort of, almost apple-y flavour, isn't it?

-This is a very unusual thing. I've never had anything like this before.

-No, me neither.

And, you know, absolutely, this is the type of thing we're looking for, where you have that experience.

We have to be worried, we are agreeing with each other...

MATTHEW LAUGHS ..Rather a lot.

When you're faced with something that is, you know, as good as that, what else, you know?

-So perfect. So perfect.

-Even someone as grumpy as Oliver is bound to be swayed.

There is no doubt that in our long tenure in these seats

that we've ever had a day where we've had two better puddings.

-This has been a battle royal, today.

-This is what we asked them to do, which is something different.

Menus complete, the chefs now have an anxious wait for the verdict.

It's hard, sitting on this side waiting to know what the result is.

Fingers crossed, the judges think my food's better than his. Simple as that.

They've embodied all their creative spirit into their menus,

but only one of them can go forward to the final.

Walking into the judging chamber for the first time, feeling pretty nervous.

It's showtime as the judges find out which dishes belong to those all-important menus,

still not knowing which chef is A or B.

If you look at the level of detail in these menus, it is just extraordinary.

One menu has a sequence of dishes, has a sort of neat precision, visual precision about them.

-And the other looks more casual and...

-A bit looser, bit more informal.

Aiden's celebrated classic flavours,

but pushed them to Olympian levels

through his innovation and skill,

while Simon's showcased

rare British ingredients

in a trailblazing mix of

ancient and cutting-edge techniques.

The judges must decide which menu is the winner,

without knowing the chef.

-Oliver, have you made up your mind?

-Yes, I have.

-Prue, have you made up your mind?

Right, I have made up my mind.

I think we'd better get onto the hard part, and call in the chefs.

-Good luck.

-And you, man.

-Seriously.

-Yeah, best of luck.

For Aiden and Simon, the long week is finally over.

For one chef it will be all worth it as they move into the final. For the other, it's game over.

Aiden and Simon, welcome to the judges' chamber.

You have treated us to an absolutely bravura display of cooking.

I don't think we've ever done this before, but I think a round of applause is in order,

-don't you think?

-Absolutely!

-APPLAUSE

However, as you know, this is a competition.

It's not about individual courses, it's about individual menus.

-Now, Prue, have you made up your mind?

-I have. It's menu A.

-Oliver?

-Yes, Matthew, it is menu A.

Well, I disagree with you both, because I've gone for menu B.

However, we don't know who actually cooked menu A,

so if you pass me the card, I'll put us all out of our misery.

So, the chef going through to represent the North West

in the final of the Great British Menu is...

..Simon Rogan.

Simon, congratulations!

-Congratulations.

-Well done, mate. I'm a little bit shocked, actually, Matthew.

I've had a bit of a tough day. Well, it makes me very, very happy.

Very sorry for Aidan, because he's cooked his socks off, and his food was brilliant.

The brief might have been written for your style of cooking.

I think the three of us were absolutely knocked out by your first course.

It was just astonishing.

It couldn't have said more clearly foraging, freshness, country, all that stuff,

and yet I know that it took hours.

I thought the suckling pig was great.

The vegetables, the whole tone of the dish was really, for me, just modern and confident.

It was a cornerstone, for me.

-And can I tell you about my one little complaint?

-Yes, go on.

I'm dying to get it off my chest. The cuckoo flower. The lobster dish was delicious without it.

I want to talk about Aiden's menu, cos that's the one I voted for. That wonderful foie gras dish.

The razor clam I thought was absolutely outstanding.

-You then came back with that absolutely phenomenal veal dish.

-Aiden, how do you feel?

Just the third time here, and third time going home, you know? It's quite sad.

I think both of you have done an amazing job, and so you have to go away very proud.

Thank you both very, very much indeed. Simon, many congratulations.

Look forward to you very much in the next round.

Aiden, it breaks my heart, really, to have to send you away, because it was nip and tuck all the way.

See you at the final, Simon, and Aiden, see you again soon, I hope.

-It's been a pleasure.

-Thank you.

-Take care.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

CHEERING

All the best, mate. Well done.

I'm really gutted. But it's just... it is hard to take, you know?

But, I'm very, very happy for Simon. Because, credit where credit's due, he is an absolute genius.

It's a competition, one of us had to go through, and, blimey, it's me. I can't believe it.

I've got that one step closer, now.

I'm going to be giving it my all to get to that banquet,

and giving the people attending the food that they deserve.

Next week, three culinary heavyweights from London and the South East

are on a collision course.

Is this a tactic, this smoke screen there between us?

With five Michelin stars between them...

I guess I'm a big cheese. I remember judging you, Marcus.

I'm not really intimidated with Phil's reputation.

..it's a fierce fight for victory.

I'm going to win the competition, because I'm going to cook immaculate food,

and that's what matters.

You know it's the dessert course, yeah?

-Yeah, I know.

-That's why the olives are there, it's obviously a dessert.

BLEEP BLEEP

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