South West Dessert Great British Menu

It's make or break time on Great British Menu

for three incredible chefs from the South West...

Feeling the pressure on this one, boys.

..clashing swords for the chance to cook at a magnificent Olympic feast.

Yesterday saw Paul Ainsworth steal the gold

with an extraordinary chicken kiev...

I'm giving you ten out of ten.

-Phenomenal!

-'..knocking two Michelin-starred Nathan off the top spot,'

and new boy, Simon, into touch.

I was a bit disappointed with yesterday's result.

I know I can cook better than that.

Tonight it's dessert - the course Paul won last year.

And I'd love to do it again.

If those boys want to take my crown,

they're going to have to tussle me for it,

because I'm not going to let it go easy.

But Paul's taking a big risk with some unusual ingredients.

Turning into a bit of a Greek salad - anchovies, black olives...

Do you want me to go out and get some for you, Paul?

And Simon's coming out all guns blazing

with an Olympic dessert,

and the ultimate seal of approval.

-Thank you very much for coming.

-No no, my pleasure.

-Lovely to see you.

-I was lucky enough to test my dish on Lord Coe.

-Really?

-Yeah.

He said, "Make sure you beat Nathan Outlaw."

-Worried?

-I'm worried,

because I'm trailing you and he's just behind me.

If he can get this right, he has every chance of winning.

Fantastic!

To meet this year's Olympic brief,

the chefs have been pushed out of their comfort zone.

Goodbye, Mr Nice Guy, come on!

They've sought inspiration from world-class athletes,

who know what it takes to win.

Tonight, veteran Tom Kerridge will send just two contenders

through to meet the judges. Everything rests

on this final course.

The thing about pastry, it is all about technique.

If you don't get it right, you get hammered.

For seafood chef, Nathan, the pressure of cooking against

last year's dessert course champion is mounting.

I don't know about you boys, but dessert is not my strongest point.

No shellfish in my dessert. I do have to practise very hard.

Bit nervous about today.

I remember last year, having a good week

and then I really messed my dessert up, but it ended up going

to the banquet.

-Dessert catches a few chefs out, doesn't it?

-It does.

I've already turned your ovens off!

Just out in front with 25 points is Paul Ainsworth, whose playful

presentation and cookery earned him the dessert course

at last year's banquet.

He stole first place from Nathan yesterday with a perfect ten,

and is hoping for the same result today.

I really don't want to lose the lead

but as long as I get through to tomorrow to cook for the judges.

If I could go into tomorrow with a bit of an advantage, even better.

-Morning, Tom.

-Hello, Paul. How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-What have we got here?

-This dessert is called Then And Now.

-OK.

I'm going to do a representation of how you used to be

rewarded in the Olympics and how you're rewarded now.

For an olive leaf laurel wreath, I'm making a pistachio

-and olive oil sponge to make a leaf.

-Olive oil.

-Sponge.

-OK.

-And then I'm going to make

a crispy biscuit, Rice Krispie base,

-like a chocolate delice.

-OK.

-And I'll simply garnish it

with watermelon,

strawberries and feta cheese.

OK.

-Confident with this one, Paul?

-Yeah, I am.

Any theatrics for your closing ceremony here?

I had something specially commissioned. It'll showcase

a bit of theatre and I'm literally going for gold on this one.

Paul's looking to hold onto his title

with an unusual Olympic dessert

with Greek-inspired olive oil sponge cake, feta cheese

and modern-day chocolate medal,

with a specially made chocolate disc.

He's thrown in a few ingredients I wasn't expecting in a pudding.

It's a risk. He's five points ahead.

If he gets this disastrously wrong

and Simon or Nathan get theirs spot-on, pin perfect right,

Paul could find himself in last place again.

In second place, four points ahead of Simon,

is two Michelin-starred heavyweight Nathan Outlaw,

a third-time contender who's yet to cook at the banquet.

His classic dishes with a modern twist have scored well all week,

but he can't afford to be complacent today.

I've been in GBM twice before and my desserts were not up to scratch.

Simon is going to come out all guns blazing, he has to,

because this is his last chance. I will be a little nervous

about what he's going to do, so I'll have to up my game today.

-Hello there, chief.

-Morning, Tom.

-What are we doing?

Elderflower and lemon tart

with a strawberry and Cornwall sorbet.

The Cornwall is a sparkling wine from Cornwall.

Let's talk through what's going on.

We've got little baby wild strawberries here.

They're going to be as a nice garnish

and then we got normal strawberries,

which we'll make a jus out

-for the base of our sorbet.

-Yes.

-We've got a little elderflower

-cordial and lemons, which is the base for the tart mix.

-OK.

Where's the ground-breaking, pushing the boundaries,

what chances are you taking with this dessert?

The ground-breaking aspect of this dish is the flavours.

There's a few techniques in there, bleeding the strawberries,

extracting the juice.

-It's a nice way of making a strawberry sorbet.

-OK.

Nathan's letting his ingredients do the talking,

cooking an elderflower and lemon tart with strawberry sorbet

and vanilla meringues - a simple classic that needs to pack a punch.

Nathan has turned up today with a tray

full of fantastic flavours,

but I'm worried his dish doesn't have the fireworks of a grand finale.

And if he hasn't got the fireworks of a grand finale, and Simon has,

Nathan's not untouchable.

Trailing behind with 20 points is rising star Simon Hulstone -

a competition pro, whose technical dishes have

so far been hit and miss.

He's four points behind rival Nathan,

and giving everything he's got to stay in the competition.

There's every chance I could still get to the judges tomorrow

so I'm going to go in and make sure it's the best I can.

I'm not going to go down lightly.

-Hello, chef.

-How are you?

-Super-dupes!

Ready for that final lunge for the line?

Yeah, let's go for it.

-What's the name of your dish?

-It's called Closing Ceremony -

chocolate medal, using chocolate, olive oil,

cream, and then I'm going to be spraying it gold

and also doing the Olympic Torch, so I'm going to make

strawberry compote, vanilla rice pudding,

lemon creme brulee and then I'm going to set it alight

and it will be a self-glazing creme brulee, so it's going

to go there on fire and when it's popped off, it's nice and crunchy to break through.

You'd say the boundary-pushing thing you're doing

-is setting fire to your dessert?

-Yeah.

Simon's throwing everything at this last course,

making a groundbreaking

chocolate and olive oil medal and a flaming creme brulee Olympic Torch.

Simon appears to be going for fireworks, he's making a gold medal

and then he's going to set it alight with an Olympic Torch.

It all sounds amazing. If he can get this right,

focus on getting it right,

he has every chance of winning.

The South West contenders all want to end their menus on a high,

but there's only room for two in the judges' chamber tomorrow.

Simon and Nathan are worried that last year's champion has this course

in the bag, with another presentation surprise.

What little sneaky tricks have we got this time, you're keeping hidden from us all?

No, nothing.

Not anything specially made for this one?

I've had a little disk commissioned, which is like a, basically

a nice recipe of cocoa butter and chocolate.

When I plate up, I'll explain to you what it's all about.

So you have something up your sleeve, then?

This is another Paul Ainsworth style kind of dish.

There's going to be a nice simple bit of theatre with this.

I think this is a really brilliant dessert,

huge focus on flavour, but again, good fun.

One of the biggest mistakes you could make on dessert day is thinking you're already through.

One of those two guys could really mess up here.

Simon's just got to be ready to pounce.

Simon's got some tricks up his sleeve too,

making award-winning Nathan begin to doubt his elderflower

and lemon tart has what it takes.

Simon, when you talked through your dish to Tom,

I heard you were flaming something.

I'm sending my dessert out as an Olympic Torch on flame.

It's instantly recognisable as the Olympic Torch.

It's making me feel like I should flambe my lemon tart.

You can always do that, chef.

Nathan's dish sounds very simple.

There's probably nothing really daring in there.

If he gets the techniques bang on with flavour, he could pull something out of the hat.

There's certainly no guaranteed place for me tomorrow.

Paul overtook Nathan yesterday and is confident his

Then And Now dessert will extend his lead.

But Tom's not sure about his choice of ingredients.

-So, you've got salt from the feta cheese...

-Yeah.

-..olive oil...

-Yeah.

Are you not worried there's a few savoury things going on?

Are you not concerned it's turning into a bit of a Greek salad?

Anchovies, black olives - want me to go out and get some for you, Paul?

Not used feta cheese with a dessert before.

I think savoury is quite a nice thing in desserts.

It works, it really,

really does work and I'm hoping to showcase that today.

I'm hoping I'm not going to get egg on my face.

Feta's really salty.

Too much feta could kill off the whole dish

and turn it into something bizarre.

Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.

It doesn't sound great to me, to be honest.

Paul isn't the only one marrying lots of different flavours.

How are we doing, Mr Hulstone? All good. What's going on?

-Just de-moulded my chocolate olive oil.

-Chocolate and olive oil?

The olive oil replaces the butter to make it lighter

and easier to cut through.

-Does the olive oil come through?

-The olive oil is there for the texture,

it doesn't affect anything more than that.

-What else have we got going on?

-I've got my brulee to go on in a second.

I've cooked the brulee in the Thermomix.

-Compote's on - strawberries.

-Yeah.

-Rice pudding's almost there.

You're going to put all these lovely elements together and then you're going to set them alight?

Yeah, I'm going to burn them.

Simon, he's putting a lot of emphasis on this flame

on his dish working.

I hope for his sake he's got it right and he's practised it.

If it all fails we could end up with complete disaster.

To make sure his dessert met this year's Olympic brief,

Simon sought the help of friend and fellow chef, Andrew Ditchfield.

Welcome to the House of Commons kitchen.

He's been a pastry chef at the House of Commons for 13 years

and there's one technique in particular Simon's desperate to perfect.

I need to do a dessert for the Olympic Feast.

I want the flame going out there, I want a gold medal.

I want everyone to be talking about it. It's got to be spectacular.

Andrew has a groundbreaking idea.

I was thinking, could we flavour it with a Cointreau or a Grand Marnier?

-So the alcohol burns rather than using a blowtorch?

-Yeah.

-Give it a good squirt?

-Yeah, see what happens. Right.

-Well, that's pretty impressive.

-That's certainly burning.

Who better to test it than former Olympic gold medallist

and chair of the Organising Committee of the London 2012 Games -

Lord Sebastian Coe.

-Lovely to see you.

-Hi.

I've been tasked with doing a dessert for the...

-You've got the medal.

-Yes!

I'm going to do the Olympic Torch and the gold medal

which every one of the British team will be taking away with them, I'm sure.

Oh, it's a given. Is this the point I stand clear?

You stand very clear.

No, it's all perfectly safe.

-You've created a great flame here.

-It's fantastic.

I hope ours is as good as this.

-Proof of the pudding.

-The rice pudding.

Mm! This is superb.

-The glaze is fantastic.

-It works a treat.

An Olympian effort!

A dessert that not only tasted delicious

but really sported a fairly serious meaty flame on the top

which is the embodiment of the Olympic spirit.

I think he got all the right ingredients in more than one way.

Lord Coe's reaction was absolutely fantastic.

To get that from my first mock-up was mind-blowing. Absolutely fantastic for me.

Simon can't wait to tell his already anxious competition

about his amazing Olympic feedback.

I was lucky enough to test my dish

-on Lord Coe in the Houses of Parliament.

-Really?

-Yeah.

It was really good to meet him. Wished me luck and said, make sure you beat Nathan Outlaw.

I'm feeling more nervous now than I have done all week.

There's a couple of elements to my dish,

if I get them wrong I might be struggling.

-How are we doing, Mr Outlaw?

-Good. Got the tart in the oven.

-What temperature's that in?

-110.

Also in there we've got the meringues that are in there as well.

-You're doing the meringues and the tart at the same time?

-Yeah.

On the stove here I've got my strawberry and champagne sorbet.

Is there enough of a wow factor, enough to not make me nod off on the last day of judging?

I think the zinginess will wake you up.

Nathan's not going to give me fireworks,

as in setting his dish alight, but he has to make sure that everything is right.

The pastry's got to be very thin and crisp and cooked properly.

The meringues have to have that amazing crunch to them.

As simple as they are everything has to be perfect.

Paul, on the other hand, is promising fireworks

with his chocolate medal and specially commissioned chocolate disc

which his fellow chefs are yet to see,

and he has another surprise up his sleeve.

OK, Paul, how are we doing? What have we got here?

Tom, here I'm making, it's like a toffee sauce

and I'll put a little bit of rock salt in there to give a savouriness to the dish.

Once I get the consistency I want, I'm going to put this powder in.

-This is gold colour.

-Going for the gold medal.

-Yeah, exactly,

which is then going to be one of the last elements to the surprise bit of the dish.

Paul mentioned to me at the beginning

he's got some sort of a major surprise going on.

I've seen some liquid gold on the stove.

There could be a grand finale to Paul's dish.

Paul's not the only chef going for gold today.

Simon's making chocolate medals too

and his clever presentation has caught veteran Tom's eye.

Is that a professional spray gun there, Simon?

Yeah, it's a compressor gun.

It's for home hobby craft, really, to you know, paint your model trains.

-You're painting this with what?

-Edible gold.

-What's the white underlaying?

-It's cocoa butter.

Basically, because the chocolate's so dark

when you put the gold onto it it disappears.

So, the gold will show up on the white.

-It's like an undercoat if you're painting a wall?

-Exactly, yeah.

Simon's techniques are stuff I've never seen before

and wouldn't know how to do it either.

My dessert is good, it's fun, it's got a bit of humour to it,

it's got the Olympic spirit to it.

So, yeah, I could pull it back.

Paul still hasn't revealed what tricks he has in store

and is first to plate up.

He cuts his olive oil sponge into leaf shapes

to symbolise ancient Greek laurel wreaths.

And gets his modern day chocolate medal onto his plate

with that controversial feta cheese salad.

Before revealing his specially commissioned tempered chocolate disc

with then and now Olympic dates etched in gold.

Finally his presentation surprise.

If you just pour a little bit of the sauce on.

Wow.

Bronze, silver, gold.

-Which one's this going to be, Paul?

-I'm hoping gold.

-Shall we go and taste it?

-Yeah, love to.

Does Paul's Olympic themed dessert have what is takes

to close the Olympic Feast?

-Pleased with how it looks?

-Yeah.

Every element today has turned out perfect.

-It looks impressive to me.

-It looks lovely. It does look lovely.

-The chocolate disc on the top, that's obviously the surprise?

-Yes.

-Did you have a go at making that yourself?

-I could not get chocolate that thin.

It's not just tempered chocolate disc,

it's a ratio of cocoa butter so that the sauce goes through.

OK.

The one thing that is on there that I think could have been made

in the time is the tempered chocolate disc.

Have a stencil already done but chocolate tempering takes 10 minutes.

And the gold sauce?

-The flavour of that is like...

-Like Caramac.

You've got this gold sauce which is really nice.

-Pistachio sponge. You can taste the pistachios enough?

-Yeah. Yeah.

I think you can definitely taste the pistachios.

And the olive oil isn't too overpowering?

It's not too rich?

No. That's what I wanted.

-He's got a nice dessert.

-I like the effect of the leaf as a pistachio cake, yeah.

So, the feta coming through this dish. The point of it is for..?

I think it brings an unusual element that people won't have tried before.

I think it's definitely pushing boundaries.

Ooh. It makes your mouth go very dry, very quick.

It's really savoury.

-Takes the sweetness away.

-I don't know if it needs to be there.

Well, that's it, the last dish of the day.

Um, I hope I've done enough. I'm desperate for a high score.

I'd love to the end the week being the winner of the week

but I just want a high score that takes me through to cook for the judges tomorrow.

Nathan's next to plate up and all he has to do

is caramelise the top of his lemon and elderflower tart.

It's one of them desserts you look at and think, that's very simple, there's not much wow about it.

But I think the real ground-breaking element of it is the flavours,

the way they marry together. I think that will see me through.

He dots the plate with vanilla meringues

and adds some wild strawberry garnish.

He then drizzles his tart with elderflower syrup,

adds a quenelle of strawberry sorbet and delivers it to the pass.

-There you go.

-OK. Is it ground-breaking?

I think so because of the flavours and when you taste it, hopefully you'll see that.

-It's got a nice cream on it so shall we get cracking and taste it?

-Definitely.

Will Nathan's simple lemon and elderflower tart

be the grand finale Tom is looking for?

-OK. Happy with it?

-Yeah. I like the look of it, definitely.

That's the way I'd want it to look at a banquet.

-It's stunning.

-Yeah, lovely.

-My sort of dessert. I love that set-up.

Do you think there's enough sparkling wine in there? Is the acidity high enough?

I think there is because I didn't want it to be too sharp.

Usually a sorbet's quite tart but with this,

it's the tart that's tart and you want the sorbet to complement that.

I don't really pick up any elderflower anywhere.

It has a very, very slight undertone of elderflower

but it's not the main flavour you can taste.

-Pastry cooked OK?

-I'm happy with the way the tart's gone.

I would have gone a little thinner with the pastry, maybe.

-I'm not sure about the pastry.

-It's a bit under, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Feels a little bit damp.

Yeah, I don't think that's cooked underneath.

So, Nathan, do you think you've taken a risk here,

that you've been daring and pushed boundaries?

For me, it's pushed boundaries because pastry's not my strongest point.

To actually execute a tart like that,

get the sorbet right in the time we've had,

for me, I'm very happy with it.

It's classic flavours, isn't it?

I don't know if it's ground-breaking or pushing boundaries.

It's a lemon tart with elderflower.

I don't know if it's the way to end an Olympic banquet.

-Is it good enough to keep you ahead of Simon?

-Yeah, I think it is.

The tart came out exactly how I wanted it to.

It was a big risk because if it had gone wrong there was no reserve,

I'd have had basically nothing to serve.

The sorbet came out nice and set. I was really happy with it.

I'm really pleased.

But will it be enough to keep him ahead of rival Simon,

who's pulling out all the stops on this last course serving

a ground-breaking chocolate and olive oil medal served on a novelty Union Jack pillow

and has one last technique up his sleeve -

a self-glazing top for his lemon, vanilla and strawberry creme brulee.

I'm just adding a caramel mixture to the top of it.

All of this is broken down bits of caramel then I add the alcohol to it.

When the alcohol burns it brings the caramel back together

to form a self-brulee, basically.

Working quickly, he places his creme brulees

on their specially designed stands and delivers them to the pass.

Before setting the self-glazing top alight.

-The Olympic torch for Closing Ceremony.

-Fantastic!

-What do you make of that, boys?

-Brilliant presentation, isn't it?

-Really good.

-It's stunning, isn't it?

The flame. The gold medal.

OK, Simon, shall we get going and get tasting

before the flame goes out on us?

Will Simon's Closing Ceremony propel him to Olympic glory

or see him crash out of the race?

Has it got a purpose?

Yeah, well, the whole idea behind it is actually self-glazing

the top of it.

It's a creme brulee on the top.

It's Simon on presentation again, isn't it?

-This is his simplest one yet, though.

-I know, true.

That rice OK, cooked for you?

Yeah, the rice is fine.

Pleased with the way that the strawberries are at the bottom,

-not too sweet?

-No, because the rice pudding is not overly sweet.

-The old classic flavours in there.

-Yeah.

-Strawberries, rice pudding.

-Creme brulee.

The chocolate itself, you used olive oil in that, rather than butter,

are you happy with the end effect from that?

Yeah, because butter would set a lot harder

and also coats your mouth with fat.

I think that's quite strong, that chocolate. That is bitter.

Two elements here, you've got the chocolate

then the rice pudding and lemon.

You think they work well together?

It's almost like having two different desserts

and that was the idea behind it so sweet and then on to the chocolate.

-Worried?

-I'm worried.

I'm trailing you and he's just behind me so, yeah.

Have you pushed the boundaries far enough to get back in contention?

Yeah, I'd like to think I finished on a high note.

-I think he'll be feeling confident.

-It's strong.

Well done, mate, we were just saying you should be feeling confident.

-Did you enjoy it?

-Yeah, loved it. Really good.

A real good wow factor with that flame.

-Tom gives nothing away in there, does he?

-No.

Cooking over, the waiting begins.

Only two chefs can go forward to represent the South West tomorrow. Who goes is down to Tom.

I'm really nervous.

Especially after the high I got yesterday.

Today... I could go home today.

I don't mind if I get three points, as long as Nathan gets two and Paul gets one.

As long as I come top out of the three of us in one course,

I can leave very happy.

I think Simon has probably had his best dish of the week.

I just hope that I get a high enough score.

Paul is in the lead with 25 points.

Nathan's in second with 24

and Simon is in the danger zone with just 20.

-How are we doing, guys?

-Nervous.

I'll start off with you, Paul.

Your pistachio, chocolate, feta, strawberries and melon.

The chocolate cake looked fantastic.

Flavour-wise, it tasted so rich, so decadent.

The flavour of the olive oil with that pistachio sponge,

I thought it worked really, really well. The feta?

It gave a really salty kick

but whilst the feta, it made sense being there,

I'm not quite sure that you got the quantities right.

The chocolate disc on the top,

I have to ask if the judges will question whether you should be tempering the chocolate yourself.

Nathan, your elderflower and lemon,

strawberry and Cornwall yogurt and meringues.

The dish was quite simple and with it being that simple,

everything on that plate needs to be perfectly executed.

The pastry was a little bit thick on the bottom.

It didn't quite have that crunch that maybe you were looking for.

The elderflower in the custard,

although it was cooked perfectly, I kind of lost it.

The lemon overpowered it.

I had to ask myself, were you pushing any boundaries here?

I'm not so sure you were.

Simon,

your closing ceremony,

possibly your simplest looking dish by far.

But for me, the most effective thing you've done all week.

I thought that gold medal was just beautiful.

The richness of the texture, it was just spot on.

Lighting a desert with a blowtorch, I'm not sure if you were lucky

or whether you're just brilliant.

It worked so well.

Overall, Simon, this is by far your best dish of the week. Really well done.

Thank you very much.

As you know, only two of you can cook for the judges tomorrow.

With a score of seven for their dessert,

giving them the highest score across the week...

Is Paul. Congratulations, Paul.

-Smashing!

-Thank you.

So, that leaves two chefs.

Simon and Nathan.

Simon, for your closing ceremony,

I am giving you...

Nine points.

Nathan, for your elderflower and lemon tart, I'm giving you...

Six points.

Which means, Nathan, you're also cooking for the judges tomorrow.

-Simon, huge, huge commiserations.

-No problem at all. Beaten by two good guys.

Nathan and Paul, tomorrow, the battle continues.

Well done, boys.

It's a great result for Paul and Nathan,

but sadly, newcomer Simon must now leave the competition.

I'm absolutely elated with the nine out of 10.

I'm absolutely gutted I haven't got to cook for the judges tomorrow.

When he said about Simon's dish and he was praising it like that,

I thought, that's it, I'm going out.

Luckily, it was all right and I'll be cooking tomorrow against Paul.

I'm on cloud nine.

I'm going to take all Tom's comments on board, get a good night's sleep,

come in tomorrow, early start, all guns blazing.

Tomorrow, it's crunch time for Paul and Nathan.

-Are you up for this?

-Well up for it.

Former champion Paul is taking a massive risk.

I might be shooting myself in the foot.

You must have had a sleepless night, making changes at the last minute.

-Oh, you

-BLEEP!

-I'll have to re-plate one piece.

And the judges have a tough decision to make.

Everything just sings off the plate to you.

-Hang on, this dish is beige!

-No.

-You are just arguing for the sake of it. Yes, you are.

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