London and South East Dessert Great British Menu

Three of London and the south-east's most talented chefs. Phil Howard...

I guess I'm a big cheese.

..Marcus McGuinness...

I'm not intimidated. You know what they say about young blood.

..and Graham Garrett.

I'm getting more frogspawn than egg yolk, I'll be honest with you.

With five Michelin stars between them, it's a battle of wills.

I'm going to win the competition because I'm going to cook

immaculate food, and that's what matters.

Tonight, it's the dessert course -

their last chance to smash their rivals.

There's so much at risk. Everyone's sort of bang on it today.

I'm really up against it in this one.

I'm losing. I've got to pull it back.

A really bad error from any of us will be terminal.

And Marcus takes one of the biggest risks of the whole competition.

Oh, now you're talking!

You know it's a dessert course, yeah?

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

There's so much that can go wrong with this.

Marcus, as usual, he's way out there with this one.

He's cooking a starter for a dessert.

It's just not a dessert.

In this Olympic year, our chefs are taking inspiration

from our world-class athletes...

Yeah!

You're getting it now!

..in their bid to create groundbreaking dishes,

worthy of a breathtaking Olympic feast.

Culinary mastermind and veteran of the competition, Jason Atherton,

knows exactly what it takes to push boundaries

and wants the chefs to finish in a blaze of glory.

It's the final day. It's dessert day.

This is a chance for these guys to push themselves that extra bit.

I'm looking for an Olympian effort

to push themselves over the finishing line.

There's only two places on the podium today

and they're all aware of what's at stake.

I want to win this competition. There's still a chance I can.

There's no way I intend doing anything in there

that's going to surrender that lead.

The way it stands at the moment,

it's a three-horse race. Anyone could win.

Maverick chef Marcus McGuinness has defied convention all week

with his no-holds-barred approach to flavour combinations.

And today is no different.

I've got a really surprising dessert.

It's not your normal ingredients for dessert.

If that's not pushing boundaries, then I don't know what is.

See you, boys.

Marcus. We're back to starters.

No, dessert today, my friend, dessert.

So what's going on here?

I'm going to do a sweet asparagus cream, with black olive

and fresh goats' curd.

Asparagus is the main component. What are you going to do with that?

Infuse that with some cream, cook it with eggs, sugar

and white chocolate and that's going to be a very smooth, sweet cream.

-Black olives?

-I'm going to cook in sugar, and dehydrate,

so that you get little crispy bits on the plate.

The rest I'm going to cook with water and sugar

and make a black olive jam.

Fresh goats' curd is going to lighten everything up.

So much can go wrong with this, texture-wise and palate-wise.

Do you think you're really taking a gamble?

Flavours-wise, I'm confident how it works and ties together.

For me, it eats beautifully.

And you think that, at the Olympic banquet,

all those guests who eat it are absolutely going to get the concept?

I think so, yeah.

It'll look strange with raw asparagus on the plate,

but the way it eats is delicious and that's the most important thing.

True to form, Marcus has gone for a radical dessert of asparagus,

olives and goats' curd. But is it too challenging?

He's got everything riding on this dessert

and he brings out stuff I'd normally eat in a starter.

I just hope, for his sake, he knows exactly what he's doing.

Currently in last place is Graham Garrett,

but he's not out of the race yet

and he's determined to make his dessert count.

Forget about the rest. Forget about what's gone now.

I want to execute a dessert to perfection

and get the marks to put me through.

Hi, Graham.

It's the final day, the final dish. It's neck and neck.

-Name your dish.

-Lemon meringue. Obviously not just a lemon meringue.

Well, I hope not, so talk me through what you're doing.

I'm making a lemon curd.

The meringue flavour of the topping comes from a meringue ice cream

and, for the texture that you would normally get from a meringue,

I'm making some little raspberry puffs,

using raspberry puree and Methocel.

What this does is, it gives you volume.

You mix it with your puree, whisk it like a meringue

but they're made with the puree. There's no egg white in them at all.

-And this?

-Dried hibiscus flowers.

I'm going to make a nice hibiscus-flavoured jelly, cut them into cubes.

-Are you nervous?

-I don't think I've got time for nerves at the moment.

It's about doing the dish to my best and, hopefully, pulling it back.

Is this dish daring? Is this an Olympian effort?

I think it is. It's daring in the fact that that I've got different elements

that I've not seen in a dish like this before, so, yeah, I think so.

Graham's out to blast classic lemon meringue to Olympic heights

with the latest in molecular gastronomy. But can he pull it off?

Graham's not making the traditional meringue, as we know it.

He's doing it without any egg whites. I've never seen this before.

Is this going to be the Olympic effort I'm looking for to give him maximum points

to get him through to the judging chamber?

Culinary force to be reckoned with, Phil Howard, has led all week

but after a disappointing main, is he losing his grip on the competition?

It is nerve-wracking. There's no two ways about it.

It could all completely change.

Pastry is a science, it can all come a cropper.

It's the final day, how are you feeling?

Feeling pretty good, but there's always anxiety when you've got a souffle in the pipeline.

-Can you talk me through your dish?

-I think, for a spring dessert,

and if you want to incorporate fruit, rhubarb is the only option. It's got bundles of flavour.

-You're making a puree?

-I'm going to make a coarse compote

and I'm also going to make a jam.

I think a souffle has got to have some body, not just some thin egg whites.

Basically, we're going to make a rice pudding and that gives

a great, rich, unctuous base to make the souffle with.

You're two points ahead. If this fails and the souffle doesn't rise,

it's pretty much going to put you down to the bottom of the pack.

Yeah, that's why I feel a little bit anxious about it. I'm putting all my eggs in one basket.

What's innovative about this dish?

Daring, and it's impressive through its delivery, rather than through its innovation.

Phil's putting his neck on the line

with a technically challenging souffle.

But has he missed the mark on innovation?

Phil's decided to do a rhubarb souffle. Is that going to be enough?

Has Phil stretched himself?

This'll have to be a really dammed good souffle

for me to give maximum points for that dish.

With a whisker between all chefs, Jason is swift to set the challenge.

Whoever comes up tops with this dessert is going through.

Whoever makes a mess of it is going home. It's as simple as that.

All three chefs are desperate for a place in the final.

With the most ground to make up,

Graham gets straight to work on his lemon curd

and on psyching out the competition.

-Is that asparagus I see on your board there, Marcus?

-It is indeed.

-You know it's a dessert course, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah, I know.

We're going for something a bit different, surprisingly, yeah?

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

I have to say I am at my most classical with pastry.

I just cannot escape the deliciousness of chocolate

and orange and pears and salted caramel.

Don't you think, when you've got something like salted caramel,

-most people would find that quite strange, no?

-Yeah.

-But it's classic.

-Yeah. But it's not asparagus.

-No, it's not asparagus.

And it's not olives.

From my perspective, he's trying to drag these flavours

kicking and screaming into pastry to be different. It's not their natural home.

Marcus, as usual, is way out there with this one.

I mean, he's cooking a starter for a dessert

which is great if you're in a hurry, maybe you only want one or two courses.

I guess the most important thing is if Jason enjoys it

because no matter what those two guys think, they ain't marking me!

Despite the raised eyebrows, Marcus is standing by his dish

but Jason is also intrigued by his unusual choice.

Whereabouts are we up to in the dish?

I've got my sugar syrup. I've got my asparagus.

I'm just going to pop it in the machine in a minute.

-Standard 50-50 sugar-syrup?

-No, it's a four to one.

One part sugar, four parts oil.

Just a very, very light syrup because asparagus is quite sweet in itself.

-Black olives?

-Black olive jam. Black olives, sugar, water.

Cook them till they're tender, blitz them all up and away you go.

All right, then.

He's got asparagus, goats' curd, black olive.

Is this too much on one plate? I don't know.

When I taste it, I'm going to be able to give my verdict, but, for now,

it's down to him to pull this off.

So the jury's still out on Marcus' dessert.

Across the kitchen, Phil's made a more familiar sweet treat -

rice pudding for the base of his souffle.

His risk is all in the execution but is this daring enough?

-Have you had chance to do a trial?

-No.

And as far as the rhubarb,

you said you're doing a compote and the jam. How do they incorporate?

You're doing a compote, there's the compote in the making, so you've got some texture.

You've got a bit of actual rhubarb.

But rhubarb is a bit of a bizarre fruit.

If I was just to try and puree that, you'd end up with a gunge.

In this pan here, I've got rhubarb, with a little bit of orange juice,

a bit of hibiscus there to boost its colour

and I'll force this through conical so the majority is juice.

-Right.

-Then I'll reduce that down and that's what I'm going to brush up the side of the moulds

and add a spoon of that to ripple through the souffle.

Phil's using rhubarb.

This is the most seasonal fruit in spring

but I'm looking for a dish that's going to inspire me

and is a souffle going to do that?

I'm not a massive fan of souffle.

I know they're very impressive but they're not my thing.

Hopefully, you know, he might be able to surprise me with something a bit different in it.

We'll wait and see.

Graham's also pinning his Olympic hopes on a classic dessert -

lemon meringue - which he's looking to bring bang up-to-date

with modern techniques.

Can he deliver the boundary-pushing dish Jason is looking for?

-Graham, coming along nicely?

-I'm just making the ice cream. I've got the meringue made, it's in the oven.

This is not the raspberry meringue you're making?

No, this is standard egg white and sugar meringue.

-That's going where?

-That'll be the sweetener for the ice cream.

Why would you substitute normal sugar?

I was trying to achieve the meringue flavour that you would get,

like the burnt topping on top of a lemon meringue pie.

I wanted that flavour into the ice cream.

-You put sugar in it and meringue, it starts to get too sweet.

-Right.

I was cutting it back and back and I thought, "Why am my putting sugar in the base at all?

"I might as well just use the meringue."

Graham likes to keep the food in his restaurant simple but is determined

to come to the competition armed with innovative techniques.

It's a real big challenge this year, the Olympic thing.

It's about pushing yourself, not normally what I would do.

To give himself the edge, he's visiting Westminster Kingsway College in London

to get molecular advice from development chef Vicky Enderson.

-Hiya, Vicky.

-Hiya, Graham.

In his bid to turn classic lemon meringue on its head, he's been experimenting

at home with different flavours and techniques

but so far his trials have been a bit hit and miss.

I want a texture instead of meringue and I wanted a raspberry flavour

so I've been playing with Methocel, making these raspberry puffs.

Raspberry is a very acidic fruit and when the acids

come in contact with the foam and the Methocel,

they tend to try to dissipate the foam and break them down.

That's exactly what's been happening.

To try and solve Graham's issue,

Vicky adds sodium citrate to neutralise the raspberry puree.

It hasn't diluted the flavour of the raspberry but it's a bit of a milder flavour.

Right, what you'll find now is when you dry that out,

you take the moisture out, you're going to intensify the flavour even further.

After a blast in the dehydrator,

it's time to taste the new and improved meringues.

It is a lot more raspberry than the raw mix.

Keen to exploit his time with Vicky, Graham gets her input

on his hibiscus jelly as well.

They make one with a traditional setting agent

and one with a state-of-the-art ingredient.

That's the LT100 in there.

-It started to set at about 80 degrees.

-Right.

So will Graham go experimental...

This is a lot more of a rigid gel.

..or old school?

This looks more traditional, doesn't it?

Exactly, it's got that wibble-wobble factor.

-Jelly on a plate!

-Exactly.

Which I actually prefer.

To find out how his dessert would go down at the Olympic feast,

Graham's invited some legends from his past to try his experiments -

his old YaYa band-mates, Ray, Terry and Sam.

-Working hard?

-Always.

-How are you doing?

-How are you doing?

-Good to see you.

Basically, I want you to taste a few things.

Will his raspberry puffs get the rock 'n' roll seal of approval?

-Wow!

-You're getting raspberry.

-Yeah.

Nice and crispy, those ones.

What about his jelly?

Hits you straight away, the flavour's.

Yeah, I'll say.

-Have you done much hibiscus before?

-Not recently!

Does it remind you of anything you ate on tour at all?

-Not right now.

-No.

-Give me a minute...

-Well done!

-It does now, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

I'm not comparing myself to an athlete, don't get me wrong.

But it's pushing yourself, pushing your boundaries

and that's what I feel I'm doing.

Graham's piped his molecular meringues

and placed them in the dehydrator.

All three chefs are desperate to cook for the judges tomorrow,

and with the competition so close, nobody can afford any mistakes.

There's so much at risk, so much to lose. And, then, so much to gain.

Everyone's sort of bang on it today.

Everything's risky because you're up against it. This is the last course.

A really bad error from any of us will be tough.

Marcus is going for broke with a left-field savoury dessert

which could polarise opinion.

He's busy making his controversial asparagus

and white chocolate cream which Jason is keen to try.

-Is this asparagus cream?

-Yes, indeed.

-White chocolate?

White chocolate, eggs, a little bit of sugar.

-Do you mind if I taste that?

-Be my guest.

'Here's the thing with Marcus' dessert. Has he gone a step too far?'

I tasted that white chocolate and asparagus.

It's already quite powerful in asparagus.

Marcus may be playing a risky game but for Graham this is his last chance to make up vital points.

It's his most innovative dish of the week

and Jason's keeping a close eye on his unusual method

for making meringues.

-Can I?

-Yeah, yeah.

This is the meringueless meringue?

Yeah, this is the meringue with no egg whites.

-It should taste of raspberry.

-And hibiscus jelly?

-Hibiscus jelly.

-This is so powerful, you've got to get the balance right.

-Yeah.

I actually like the powerful flavour on the hibiscus.

I think it works really well with the raspberry.

Graham's using hibiscus.

Now, potentially this could overpower the whole dish.

This is a massive pitfall for him.

So Graham's got a tricky balancing act to pull off

but Phil's Olympic bid is also in fear of falling flat.

Literally.

His hopes rest on a classic dessert known for being temperamental -

souffle.

-Have you had time to do a test yet?

-No, but I'm about to get on it now.

Phil's banking on his dessert rising to the occasion

but his rivals are yet to be convinced it fits the brief at all.

Could his efforts be in vain?

At the end of the day, it's a souffle.

I don't think a souffle is something the judges haven't seen before.

Oh, now were talking.

But Marcus' dish is first up today and he's got one last trick

up his sleeve in his bid to break culinary ground.

He's making frozen asparagus cream with liquid nitrogen.

It's the moment of truth as Marcus starts to plate his radical dessert.

He pipes goats' curd, along with the controversial asparagus cream

and black olive jam onto a slate.

Next, he adds slivers of sweetened asparagus,

before crumbling over the pastry base and frozen asparagus cream.

-Are you happy?

-I'm pretty happy.

It looks clean, it's fresh, it's interesting.

I think we should taste it because I don't think it'll last too long.

Is Marcus' asparagus and black olive dessert

distinctive and gastronomic enough to fit the Olympic brief

or just too experimental?

Are you happy with the texture of the asparagus cream?

The texture is just what I wanted. Just that nice, soft set, nice and creamy.

Wow.

There's flavours going on like...

-It's super rich.

-Yeah, very rich.

-You certainly couldn't eat a lot of it.

-No.

-You've dehydrated the black olive?

-Yeah.

-What is that bringing to this dish?

-Texture again.

You've got that lovely crunch, you bite into it,

it gives that burst of flavour and, for me, when you put sugar

with black olives, they become like treacly,

salty and sweet and it's just all fantastic.

I'm never going to like olive on a pudding.

-It's got a complex, oily, medicinal flavour...

-Yeah.

It doesn't work on pastry, for me, anywhere.

You don't think that if this goes to an Olympian banquet,

guests won't have a problem with eating vegetables as a dessert?

I've absolutely no idea.

I'd say it definitely captures

the brief in being really out there and going for it

but it's not something I'd want to eat.

-It's just not a dessert.

-No.

You guys are neck and neck, is this going to push you out in front?

Yeah, I think so, I'm very happy with the dish.

I really hope it takes me through to the final tomorrow.

I was really pleased with my dessert.

I think it ticks all the right boxes for the brief.

Hopefully, Jason will give it a big enough score for me

to progress through, because, yeah, I'd really like to eat that.

Next to be scrutinised is Graham and with vital points to claw back,

he can't afford any mistakes.

First he plates the lemon curd, hibiscus jelly

and molecular meringues,

followed by a scoop of toasted meringue ice cream

and, for a final Olympic flourish, a shortbread medal.

Has he done enough to pip his rivals to the post?

-Are you pleased with the result?

-Yeah, I am.

I think it delivers what I set out to do.

Has Graham pulled it out of the bag at the 11th hour

with his high-tech lemon meringue dessert?

With that ice cream, are you happy you've got the meringue notes in there

-that you were looking for?

-I could do with it being a bit stronger,

a little bit more of the toastiness of the meringue I'd like in there.

-What about the texture of that?

-The texture I love.

Meringuey enough for you?

If you weren't told what was in there, you would think about it

and I think you'd come to the right conclusion.

Are you happy you've achieved the right lemonness with that?

You want that fresh, tart lemon zing. That gives me that.

-Don't think it's too sour-y?

-No, I think it's good.

It's a lovely lemon curd.

It is a lovely lemon curd. It could be tiny bit more delicate, maybe.

The raspberry meringues, do you feel they've added anything to the dish?

Yeah, I do, because if I wanted to get that raspberry flavour

into the meringue, I couldn't have done it.

This is why I tried to find this method and you've got the meringue texture there, definitely.

I wouldn't know that it wasn't egg white, actually.

Whatever this product is, it certainly works for me.

Hibiscus jelly, this is the part which potentially

has the biggest danger because it's quite powerful.

It is and I've gone for a strong hibiscus jelly flavour

-rather than just a wishy-washy jelly.

-Mm-hm.

-The jelly is as delicate as they're going to come.

-Good dessert.

It deserves a good mark, but not a fantastic one.

I think that's a fair assessment.

Do you think this is innovative, groundbreaking?

I think it is a cos I've never come across these methods before,

making eggless meringues. With a bit more beefing up of the ice cream,

I honestly believe you'll be proud that you put this dish through.

That's it, then. The final one's out of the way.

It was tough. It was very tough.

It's so competitive now and it's all to play for in this last one.

Back to Phil who's pinning his Olympic hopes on a dessert

known for its tricky execution - souffle.

He's reached a crucial point as he folds rhubarb jam

through his souffle mix and loads up his ramekins.

Then it's into the oven, and all he can do is wait.

Doing a souffle, especially with something like this,

is very, very risky.

You make your mix, put it in the oven.

If it doesn't rise, there's nothing you can do.

As plate-up fast approaches, timing is everything.

And with his rivals looking on, Phil's worst nightmare is realised.

His souffles are not playing ball.

All he can do is pray that they eventually rise

but the stress is starting to show.

As always with Phil, he's pushing himself.

That's part of the challenge.

You don't get that luxury in a restaurant.

You know, the food has to go when it has to go.

He can't keep Jason waiting any longer

and has to get his dessert to the pass.

He serves his vanilla ice cream and cones

and finally reveals his souffles.

Are they up to scratch?

Phil... Got to ask you, happy?

Mostly. They're not up as nicely as they should be.

They're a rich souffle so they are never going to be a lofty souffle.

I'm not sure why they haven't performed. I'd rather have them soft in the centre than push it.

-I think we should go and eat it. A souffle won't last forever. OK?

-Thank you.

Phil's souffle may require Olympian technique

but it's got to be the best Jason has ever tasted.

Will it be surprising enough?

-Are you happy with the consistency of that rice pudding?

-I could have left it another minute

-but the pressure was on.

-Yeah...

-That is exactly how I like it.

It is rich, it is creamy.

-Phil looked a bit rattled there.

-A little bit stressed about it all.

-It does what it says, doesn't?

-It does.

-It's definitely a souffle.

It's a rhubarb souffle.

And the ice cream?

-Are you happy with the texture?

-Yeah, it needs to be incredibly soft.

The souffle's got to be eaten quite quickly

so the soft ice cream wants to melt into it quickly.

-Good vanilla ice cream.

-Indeed.

I'm getting that you're not that armoured by this dish as a dessert?

I'm trying to be as excited about a souffle

as I can be excited about a souffle.

You feel we could get all this out with the manpower?

Yes, I think so.

If you've under that much pressure now, doing this,

how much pressure are you going to be under doing it for 100 people to get it out on time?

I wouldn't want to think about that, let alone do it.

This is unusual in its make-up in the fact that you've used a rice pudding base.

-Are you happy that that's delivered?

-I'm very happy.

It does give a flavour but it also gives richness and body to the souffle as well as stabilising it

and I think it's delivered exactly what I intended.

There we have it, game over.

I managed to get something to the pass that was delicious,

not quite as I wanted it. There are definitely some wrinkles to iron out.

The last dish has been cooked and served.

Now the chefs face an agonising wait for Jason's final scores.

He's about as steely-faced as they come.

-He is, absolutely.

-Are you feeling confident or not?

Relatively, I think so. I mean, I was happy.

With Phil on 24, Marcus on 23,

and Graham not far behind on 21,

it's anybody's game.

Well, boys, it's all over.

In the next few minutes, someone's going home.

Marcus...

Your asparagus, goats' curd and black olive.

I applaud the fact that you went out on a limb to try and get you through

to the judging chamber.

Asparagus doesn't very often go in desserts for a reason.

-It's not a combination I would do.

-But I felt you pulled that off.

Having said that, it looked messy on the plate for me.

You said it was clean, I felt it looked messy.

Graham, for your lemon meringue,

I felt that was one of your most technically accomplished dishes.

It was pretty to look at. The raspberry meringues were super.

Everyone's looking for new ideas and to come up

with something no-one's ever seen before I thought was pretty cool.

The lemon meringue citrus curd was divine.

The hibiscus jelly, which I thought could have been the low point,

again was bags of flavour.

Having said that, the ice cream...

I didn't like the texture.

The flavour wasn't there enough.

Phil, your rhubarb and custard souffle was a very polished dish.

It tasted wonderful. I loved the rice pudding.

It was dense enough but at the same time

it just didn't taste of rice pudding, it just added that creaminess and I really got that. I really liked it.

The ice cream was nice and creamy but are the judges going to say,

"Has Phil Howard stretched his imagination enough

"or is he just relying on the fact of it being something that's going to be

"very difficult to get 100 of these out in one go?"

As you know, guys,

only two people can go through to cook for the judges tomorrow

With a score of eight for their dessert,

and that person goes through...

Phil.

-Well done, Phil.

-Thank you.

That leaves two chefs left.

Graham, for your lemon meringue, I'm giving you...

..eight points.

Just one or two elements there from stopping that being a nine. It was a fantastic dish.

Marcus, for your asparagus, goats' curd, black olive...

..I'm giving you...

..an eight. That puts you through with Phil to go tomorrow head-to-head

to cook for the judges.

-Graham, it was an absolute pleasure to stand in this kitchen this week and judge your food.

-Thank you.

All I can say, guys, is good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Do us proud.

-Well done, Phil.

-Thank you, Graham.

-It's been a pleasure, mate.

-It has.

-And you.

-Sorry to see you go.

So despite a heroic effort, Graham is sadly leaving the competition

and Phil and Marcus will cook for the judges.

Of course, disappointed.

I mean, you know, I'd be a liar to say I wasn't.

I've said all along I wanted to get to the banquet.

Come tomorrow, gloves are off and I'm going to be fighting all the way to the end.

So the challenge is on.

Tomorrow, Phil and Marcus lock horns.

You're like one end of the spectrum

and I'm on the other end of the spectrum.

It's every man for himself.

If that is the case, it'll be a clear and outright win.

-Hopefully it'll be me, eh?

-It's always good to dream.

And the judges are unleashed.

This dish is likes someone running up for the pole vault

and spectacularly soaring underneath the bar.

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