South West Starter Great British Menu

I don't want to go through easily. I'd like to give you a beating first.

The very best chefs from across the nation are pushing culinary

boundaries to create jaw-dropping dishes for an inspiring Olympic feast.

Emotions have run high.

BEEP.

I'm upset with myself, really.

It's not working. BEEP.

This week, the South West will be put through their paces.

Reigning champion Paul Ainsworth and old rival Nathan Outlaw

take on first-timer but competition pro Simon Hulstone.

-Is there any competition you haven't won?

-I've done a lot.

Tonight it's the starter,

and Simon is hoping to make a big first impression.

-But will his rivals stand in his way?

-Are you OK, Simon?

-I've just misplaced my cutters.

-Initiation test for the new boy, hey, Nath?

Britain is braced for the world's greatest sporting event,

and to honour the occasion,

our chefs are pushing themselves to Olympian levels.

Sometimes in a fight you have to take a risk.

Even just to meet these people, then cook for them, is a huge honour.

They're legends.

To help whittle down the finest,

the chefs will face the scrutiny of a previous winner.

This week's veteran has two Michelin stars to his name,

and is the only chef to ever win the banquet main course twice in a row.

-It's Tom Kerridge.

-I want to see dishes that leave me astounded.

Olympic feats, things that you stand there and can't believe that

somebody has actually achieved something that amazing.

I would love to see that today.

And with those three chefs in there, I'm sure one of them can do it.

On Thursday, one of the chefs will be calling it a day,

and for competition professional Simon, failure is not an option.

How are you feeling about your first time being in a competition?

-Nervous?

-Not yet. It's a walk in the park.

-Good. Confident.

Check on, guys. One cover.

First up is newcomer Simon Hulstone of Michelin-starred restaurant The Elephant in Torquay.

-Service, please.

-New to Great British Menu, but a heavyweight in competition

cooking, Simon's determined to do whatever it takes to win.

Great British Menu is the only competition that I want to win.

I've moved on from National Chef of the Year, the Roux Scholarship.

Competitions are in my blood, and I want to win whichever one I enter.

-How are you?

-Good.

-New boy on the block.

-Let's do it.

-OK, talk me through what you've got.

-My dish is called Track and Field.

So it's a beetroot-based dish with goat's cheese, and I'm just

doing loads and loads of different elements using the beetroot.

I'm making a little sponge.

I've got a beetroot which I've made a little snail with, wrapped in goat's cheese.

-I've got beetroot ketchup.

-Snail?

-Yes. It's based around the forest.

-What do you think is going to be your biggest boundary-pushing element?

-The sponge.

And then a few unusual ingredients like the moss.

-Moss?

-It's reindeer moss. It's edible moss.

Experienced in the competitions, aren't you?

Yeah, and hopefully it'll put me in good stead.

Simon's starting with a bang,

a Track and Field inspired creation

showcasing his cooking techniques

using beetroot and goat's cheese, a bold move for a first outing.

Simon has got two very simple ingredients.

The question is, can he lift those two ingredients to Olympic heights?

Four scallops.

Next up is critically acclaimed Nathan Outlaw,

best known for his two Michelin star fish restaurant in Rock, Cornwall.

Four John Dory now.

A returning contender who's failed twice on Great British Menu before.

This year, he's determined to shine by building on what he knows best.

I have incorporated seafood in three of my courses.

It's different. No one's done it before. But that's what I do

day in, day out, so it's fitting that I do it in the menu I'm cooking for Great British Menu.

Third time here, third time competing. What are you doing?

Hogs pudding married with some seaweed, potato terrine and mushroom ketchup.

So it is essentially a breakfast?

It's a breakfast, but I'm really trying to showcase the combination of flavour.

It's got a touch of the West Country in the hogs pudding, sausage and cider.

And then seaweed, I've got to have something from the seaside.

Quail eggs. What are you doing with these?

Soft-boil them, breadcrumb them and deep-fry them.

Where are we pushing the boundaries?

Groundbreaking doesn't mean for me the fussiness of it.

It means perfection, and that's what I'm trying to do.

Nathan's resting his hopes on a hearty Olympian breakfast -

hogs pudding with quail's egg, potato terrine,

and bringing in his key discipline by adding a taste of the sea.

He's got nowhere to hide with this.

His dish is so simple that if there is one element that goes wrong,

then it's all over.

Service!

Last up but certainly not least is reigning South West champion

-Paul Ainsworth.

-Very nice, lads, lovely oysters.

Based at Number 6 in Cornwall, he surprised everyone last year

by going all the way to the banquet with his spectacular playful desert.

He's back and he's determined to carry on his success

with his theatrical serving style.

I really want to win it. I've put so much work into it.

I know what that taste of being at the banquet feels like,

and it's the best feeling in the world. I want to be there again.

-So, what have we got here, Paul?

-Breakfast Of Champions.

Nathan's doing a breakfast. Battle of the breakfasts.

-So, what are we doing? What are the elements?

-Confit bacon.

I am going to make a hash brown with rice and wrap it in potato with quail's eggs.

Rice and potato?

Yes, and I'm going to do a pain au pudding,

so like a pain au chocolat, but I'm going to replace the chocolate for black pudding.

-And I'm going to do my version of baked beans.

-OK.

-Pushing the boundaries, you feel?

-Definitely.

It's food that you recognise and love,

but done as you've never seen before.

So, guys, this is your one chance to cook at an Olympic banquet.

How much do you all want it?

I was lucky enough to get to the banquet last year,

so it is a great, great feeling.

I'd love to go all the way again. I want it more than anything.

Paul's also set his sights on an Olympic breakfast,

but served with a twist by adding black pudding pain au chocolat

and a baked bean cappuccino - a light touch,

but Tom's already concerned things could get heavy.

Paul has got three forms of carbohydrate.

He's got rice, potato and beans. Great for an Olympic athlete.

Whether that's right as a starter for an Olympic banquet, that's a question.

Timers set, the South West rivals dive straight in.

Two chefs on breakfast, one on beetroot.

But it's not Simon's ingredient choice that concerns the other chefs.

It's his record for coming first.

Apart from Great British Menu, is there a competition you haven't won?

No, I've done a lot, quite a lot, all round the place. It's my hobby.

Sometimes you get a medal out of it.

Just as long as you don't get one this time.

As a competition pro,

Simon is no stranger to psyching out the opposition.

So, boys, this breakfast thing. Are you ganging up on me?

Or is there something I should know that we in Devon ain't heard of?

An Olympic breakfast is one of them things that an athlete needs, isn't it?

An athlete needs a great start, and they say breakfast is the best start to the day.

Do you want it at seven o'clock at night at a banquet?

Yeah, the way I'm doing it.

If you go to a banquet, is breakfast what you really want?

Is it a bit too heavy for a starter? I've gone vegetarian. I've gone cold.

So it's a light start, and if you're doing a banquet,

you can have it pre-prepared and ready to go.

Paul's making his bacon banquet worthy by using pork belly

in a confit of duck fat, which he'll pan fry in spiced maple syrup.

While Nathan has blended his pork with chicken and cream to make hogs pudding.

It's a simple local dish and Tom's keen to know what else is going on the plate.

-What have we got in there, big man?

-The mushrooms are cooking down for the mushroom ketchup.

I'm going to season it with lemon juice, salt and pepper, a bit of cream.

The acidity is the ketchup element. It gives you that sweet and sour.

Mushroom and sausage, you can't go wrong.

-What's this in here?

-This is potato terrine.

We've got layers of potato and Cornish Cheddar cheese. This is the hash brown element.

-So this is just literally, potato and cheese.

-Potato and cheese, yeah.

-That's it? OK.

Now I've seen the elements together, his mushroom ketchup,

his potato terrine, it's a bit more complicated than it sounded this morning,

but it's not unusual, it's not groundbreaking.

I still worry that the dish has got enough to be pushing boundaries.

Nathan Outlaw has a proven track record for making the simple taste sublime.

He's worked hard to put his seafood restaurant on the map,

which is now in the UK's top five, all built on his purest principles.

The type of food that really gets me excited is stuff that is very bare and very simple. And fresh.

I'm not one of these people who's impressed by all the sort of foams and the jelly sort of style.

For me, it's about the raw ingredients and letting them sing.

Nathan's plan to build a boundary pushing menu incorporating seafood

in almost every course started at a local beach, with the catch of the day.

-What have we got in here?

-We've got a few bass and a rock bream.

That's quite interesting.

I don't think I've ever seen one of them, certainly I haven't cooked one before.

Nathan is the only chef I know who makes it down to the beach, looking for something different.

Most of the chefs, you never see at all.

Just like an athlete,

he hopes training hard on one main event will give him the upper hand.

It's the third time I've done the competition

and I've got to get one of them dishes to the Olympic Feast. I just want to win it.

True to form, Nathan is personalising his breakfast with an ocean kick of deep fried seaweed,

something Paul hasn't seen in a breakfast before.

That's quite original, like, with the seaweed.

Seaweed's close by to us and I wanted to put a bit of me on every plate.

The truffley, ozoney flavours you get from the seaweed work really well with the hogs pudding.

It's important not to put things on a plate for just putting them there.

But what's caught veteran Tom's eye is Paul's unusual take on a breakfast pastry.

-How are we doing, Paul?

-Very good. This is the pain au pudding.

I'm just going to cut it into portions and let it proof

and then I'm going to glaze it and cook it just like a croissant.

So you're looking for the pastry, all those layers to puff out.

-Crispy on the outside and soft and moist in the middle?

-Yeah. Exactly.

Croissant pastry's so light and so fluffy, if you get it wrong, it can be stodgy and soft.

But if he pulls it off, it should be pretty stunning.

It's like the ultimate sausage roll.

Paul's playful presentation and elaborate cooking skills helped secure his place at the last final.

Table eight, one pig's head, one mussels.

For this year's challenge, he's taking things even further.

I'm trying to create a menu that embraces the Olympics,

embraces the whole theatre to it all. I'm going to be bringing a smile to people's faces.

Although Paul's cooking style comes with a sense of humour,

it's something he takes very seriously.

So he's heading to London with wife Emma

for some first hand inspiration from the Olympic Stadium.

Wow!

-It's huge, isn't it?

-It's huge.

It's just... It just really gives me a real reality of what it's about.

-It's amazing.

-Crazy.

When you're in Padstow, a long way away from London, you don't feel the spirit, of course you don't.

I've got a much better idea of how I can really embrace

and bring that Olympic spirit in to my menu.

Today's been a real confidence boost.

It's this confidence that Paul is relying on to get him all the way to the banquet.

I really can see my dishes being at the Olympic Feast, without a doubt.

Paul's blending borlotti beans to make a froth to use in his quirky take on a cappuccino.

But he's not the only one playing with his food.

Simon's baked beetroot sponges in special semi-circle trays

which he then fills with a goat's cheese centre, before making into a ball.

However, Tom's spotted something even more unusual, in the form of edible moss.

It's very neutral,

once it's been hit with the beetroot powder, salt...

-That's the flavour.

-Yeah, you'll taste the beetroot.

You don't actually taste the moss. It's there as a vehicle...

It's a total vehicle.

'The moss element for me on Simon's dish, I'm not yet convinced about.'

I love the texture of it, it looks fantastic,

but Simon was saying it doesn't taste of anything. For me, food is about tasting.

Tom may question how it'll taste, but he can't deny Simon's record breaking effort.

You've built yourself a reputation of being the most prepared chef on Great British Menu ever.

This is practise from competition, competition, competition.

Everything's visual. I can see where I am. Bam, bam, bam, bam!

Simon Hulstone has dedicated his working life to competition cooking.

When he's not at his award-winning restaurant,

his aim is to win awards elsewhere.

About 40 gold medals in total, I've won, over the years. So this is my shrine.

And like a competing athlete, there's one award Simon covets the most.

There's one medal I haven't won and that's the Great British Menu one.

I'm looking forward to making space for it.

To further his preparation,

Simon's heading to the local Torquay harbour to talk tactics with his father.

Hello, Pops.

Another competition chef, who knows exactly what it takes to win.

-These are what the previous chefs have done.

-Who are you up against?

Nathan Outlaw and Paul Ainsworth. So what can I do?

I think from what I've seen of their styles, one is quirky, one is simple,

but you've also got perhaps a more futuristic look at your foods.

And your dishes can stun people.

Simon's a really dedicated chef.

If Simon gets that podium place, it would be amazing for me and the family.

It's this focus and drive that Simon is banking on to get him all the way to the banquet.

I think cooking at the Olympic Feast would be a pinnacle of my career.

It's something that I would love to be able to do.

Three South West chefs are determined to make it through to the final.

Who goes through to face the judges on Friday will be up to Tom Kerridge and he doesn't miss a trick.

Paul, there's a lot of running around. Nathan, not running around.

Very simple, seems to be very under control.

I think Simon works very much with his own methods and systems

and if something knocks him out of his stride, maybe that could put him off.

Tom isn't the only one to spot how well Simon's prepared.

He's using a Japanese turning slicer to carve golden beetroot into mushroom shapes,

just one of the extra pieces of kit he's brought into the kitchen.

Simon, when you're doing the competitions, you bring everything with you, like this?

-Pretty much.

-It's a big advantage, bringing your own stuff.

-It's not so much a big advantage, it's just you're comfortable with your own bits and pieces.

-You are!

But then, Simon is stopped in his tracks when he realises some of his equipment has gone missing.

-You OK, Simon?

-Yeah, just misplaced my cutters, mate.

Initiation test for the new boy, eh?

He's got such a lot of equipment, it's easy to misplace one element

and when that happens, it panics you and it's not nice. It's a high, high pressured environment.

Luckily for Simon, Paul is first to plate up.

But he's still got his work cut out to bring his dish together.

First, his take on a hash brown, for which timing is key.

He works quickly with a partially cooked egg, which he's surrounded in cooked risotto rice,

then wraps in ribbons of potato and deep fries.

To get past veteran Tom, it'll need to be cooked to perfection.

To keep that quail egg soft in the middle,

but crispy on the outside and warm, and this is something Paul Ainsworth will have practised.

Let's just hope he gets it right on the day.

Paul finishes his pain au puddings, with dark chocolate and crumbs

of crackling, which he positions on a board with a mug of baked beans.

Now, with timing critical, he takes out his hash brown.

Undercooked will be inedible. Overcooked, the dish will be ruined.

His biggest hurdle over, he races to the finish line,

serving his pork cooked in maple syrup with mushrooms

and a final piping of white bean froth for a cappuccino effect.

-Is this fit for Olympic gold?

-Absolutely! I think so.

-Shall we get on and taste it, chef?

-Yep. The most important bit.

Will Paul's full breakfast with a twist light up the banquet

or just weigh it down?

-So the deep fried quail egg? Happy with that?

-Yeah.

-And the rice, you're happy with the risotto rice around it?

-Yeah. Really happy.

-The texture, he's tried to get like hash brown, it's just right.

-Yeah, it's a hash brown.

-It's clever.

-And this is the bacon?

-Yeah.

-Flavour of the pork comes enough?

-Yeah. Big time.

It's cooked just right, he's got that caramelisation on the edge.

-This pain au pudding, is that cooked properly for you?

-Yeah.

Black pudding's cooked through. But again got that moistness so it doesn't dry out in your mouth.

-That's clever. It's like a sausage roll texture.

-A sweet sausage roll.

-That's the beans.

-You're happy with the acidity?

-Yeah.

I wanted these to be a cross between baked beans and ketchup.

-It's tart, isn't it?

-Mmm.

-It's very strong.

-I would scrap the baked beans.

Slightly overpowering to rest of it.

-Is it light enough to start a banquet?

-Yeah.

I think it's very small. The whole thing as a whole is light.

-There's also quite a lot of carbs for a starter.

-It's quite heavy.

-So do you think this dish is fit for an Olympic banquet?

-Absolutely.

They know we're trying to push ourselves as hard as what they do.

They recognise all these flavours,

but they'll be able to recognise I've done them in a different way.

I think that's worth a gold medal.

I put my heart and soul into that. I hope it was enough.

Nathan's up next. He's planning to take his Cornish breakfast to Olympian levels,

and is at last feeling the pressure.

I know with this competition it all comes down to your nerves in the last ten minutes.

All you can do is prepare yourself as well as you can.

First, he pan fries slices of his potato and cheese terrine

with pieces of the poached hogs pudding.

Then, for perfect consistency, he last minute deep fries quail eggs wrapped in breadcrumbs.

He plates the other elements with a piping of the mushroom ketchup

and serves the just fried egg.

Finishing with a local cider gravy and his personal touch of the deep fried seaweed.

Will Nathan have broken boundaries with perfect execution of simple ingredients?

-Happy with it?

-Yeah, it's what I'm about. Simplicity.

-Pushing boundaries?

-It is in my book.

-Shall we find out if it works?

-Let's do it.

-Let's go.

Will Nathan's bold move to stay simple pay off,

or has he sunk his chances of Olympic glory?

Shall we go with the quail egg? Happy with the crunchy outside?

I think it came through all right. The fryer could be a bit higher.

-Nice and crispy, nice and runny. Delicious.

-Perfectly cooked.

-Are you happy with the way the hogs pudding's come out?

-If I was being completely honest,

it could have had five minutes less in the oven.

The hogs pudding's quite dry. It's a lot moussier than I'm used to.

I quite like that lightness.

-Cheese come through enough for you?

-The cheese is there for two reasons, to richen it up

and also to help it stick together.

-Pleased with the way the seaweed comes through?

-You get that taste of the seaside.

That's important. That's indigenous to my area, where I'm cooking.

The seaweed is quite salty and fishy.

-The seaweed doesn't really gel with it all.

-No.

-Are you happy with the mushroom ketchup, the balance of the flavours?

-I'm more than happy actually.

The mushroom's lovely. Works really nice.

You've got that nice acidity in that sauce.

So the brief this year is about groundbreaking, pushing boundaries...

-Does that dish do it for you?

-From my view, it is.

You don't see hogs pudding and seaweed on many menus in the UK.

From that point of view, groundbreaking? Yeah, it is.

Well, I think that went all right. Really happy with what I did.

Anything less than eight would be a bit of a failure for me.

It's only competition star Simon left to plate up

and fortunately for him, his missing equipment has turned up.

-Looks like you found your cutters.

-Yeah, just about.

-Bit of a fright there.

-I can breathe again.

But creating a woodland field is no mean feat and time is against him.

Taking the cutters, he quickly shapes wafer thin slices

of pickled beetroot and fills with goat's cheese.

He then serves on a specially made wooden track with his edible moss, seasoned in beetroot powder.

With the golden beetroot mushrooms and beetroot sponge,

his woodland is coming to life, but there's still a lot to do.

He cuts a role of beetroot gel and cheese to form a snail,

-but in a rush, his nerves take over...

-BLEEP

-..and it's ruined.

A heavy blow for a seasoned competition chef,

but prepared as ever, a back-up is at hand.

He quickly rolls again, adds truffle antennae

and garnishes with leaves, goat's cheese cream and beetroot powder.

Will the pioneering cold starter leave Tom feeling lukewarm?

-A few shaky nerves at the end there, chef?

-Shaky hands all the time.

Are you going to be top of the podium at the end of the day?

It would be nice to be, but there's a long way to go.

-Shall we go and try it?

-Let's do it, chef.

-Come on then.

-Enjoy, boys.

Will Simon's beetroot-based track and field be an epic start for

a banquet, or has the competition king fallen at the first hurdle?

First dish of Great British Menu up for you. Happy?

Yeah.

-Pleased with the way it looked?

-Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

I've never seen anything like that before, have you?

I don't know about Mr Snail. He's running round the track.

So this is the sponge that's been made with the gelatine?

Yeah, it's just aerated beetroot juice.

Has that come out the way you wanted?

Perfect for me, yeah.

Look at that.

I haven't got a clue how he's done that, honestly.

-It's like foam, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Like a beetrooty foam.

-It just disappears in your mouth.

-Yeah.

For me, the goats cheese just smashes all the flavour of anything that's in there.

So the moss element of this dish, what does it add to the dish for you?

It's there more for the shock factor.

It's really for people to say, "Is that really moss?"

-The moss, again, it's texture, there's no flavour.

-No.

It's much more of a concept dish.

It's got to taste good, if you're going to make it look that good.

I think the only thing we haven't tried is the snail.

I feel bad breaking it.

I'll leave you with the antennas.

Has this whole dish got enough of focus for you, a focal point?

I wanted it to be a real travel around and taste different things.

A good way to start a banquet?

I think it's a clever way to start a banquet.

How did it go?

It was hard, yeah. I've never been sort of really

criticised like that, but without being criticised.

It's putting seeds of doubt into my mind.

One minute, I think I've got a good dish, the next minute, I'm thinking, "Is it?"

Starters tried and tested,

their fate is entirely in Tom's hands and his say is final.

Three different dishes as well, totally different dishes.

Yeah, completely.

Even though we did two breakfasty type dishes, they weren't anywhere near.

Nowhere near, were they?

OK, shall we put you out of your miseries?

Paul, your breakfast of champions.

The dish was full of groundbreaking ideas.

The pain au pudding was stunning.

The bacon cooked with the maple, the flavours through that was delicious.

Lots of great ideas going on there

but...you got carried away in the moment

and there was too many great ideas on one plate.

Overall, I thought the dish was a little heavy to start off a banquet.

Nathan, your hogs pudding with seaweed and crispy egg,

potato terrine and mushroom ketchup, the saltiness and the earthiness

of the seaweed worked really well with the hogs pudding.

The flavours on the dish I thought were really subtle

but it was really elegant.

Needed acidity and you got that through the mushroom ketchup.

The hogs pudding could have done with five minutes less in the oven.

The mousse just a little bit grainy

and visually it was fairly simple looking.

Overall,

I thought it was a wonderful dish.

Simon, your track and field beetroot and goats cheese,

visually was stunning.

You really pushed yourself there.

The sponge was fantastic, set really well.

Overall, I thought maybe the dish was a little sweet.

The moss seemed to lack just a little bit of flavour

and the dish seemed to lack focus.

It kind of got drawn into technique rather than ingredient.

Paul, for your breakfast of champions I'm giving you...

..seven out of ten.

Nathan, for your hogs pudding with seaweed, crispy egg potato terrine

and mushroom ketchup, I'm giving you...

..eight out of ten.

Simon, for your beetroot and goats cheese track and field,

I'm giving you...

..seven out of ten.

Well done, guys. Let's see some nines and some tens.

Keep up the good work, South West.

Well done. Well done.

So, after the starter Nathan's out in front with eight,

leaving Paul and Simon in joint second place only one point behind.

Eight out of ten gives me a head start over the other guys

but this competition is fierce.

Tomorrow, we'll have to see what happens.

I'm playing catch up at the moment, but it's a race, not a sprint,

and I'll be catching up Nathan soon hopefully.

At this stage of the competition I'm happy with a seven.

It is tight in there, the competition is seriously tight.

Tomorrow it's the fish course.

Seafood chef Nathan is intent on keeping his crown.

-How are you feeling now?

-A bit under pressure.

And competition pro Simon is chasing his tail.

-This is just scallops and cream.

-Blimey.

-You ever seen anything like that before?

-Never.

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