North West Dessert Great British Menu

It's the final curtain here on Great British Menu

for one of the North West's most talented chefs.

-We all need the points.

-I'm going for it.

Returning contender Aiden Byrne...

Wait till you see this one, it's an absolute blinder.

..Heston Blumenthal trained Mary-Ellen McTague...

This is where it all goes wrong, you know.

..and technical newcomer Chris Holland...

So far so good.

..are fighting for the chance to cook witty, playful dishes

at a special banquet celebrating 25 years of Red Nose Day.

-It's different.

-Wowee!

Yesterday, Aiden stole the show,

with an incredible beef main course...

If ever there was a plate of food fit for centre stage,

that was it.

..that scored a perfect ten!

I knew that was a ten!

Today it's dessert and Mary-Ellen and Chris are going head-to-head

for a place in the judges' chamber tomorrow.

This has to be the mother of all parfaits!

And Aiden takes a massive risk...

I could end up going home tonight.

..that could see him fall at the final hurdle.

There's only two chefs that can cook for the judges tomorrow.

This year's challenge is to create a performance on a plate,

inspired by Comic Relief.

The chefs have visited organisations throughout the UK

that use the charity's money to change lives...

I think it's absolutely brilliant there are projects like this.

-They all right?

-Mm! Very nice!

..and done their bit to raise some much-needed cash.

You're smiling, that's a good sign, isn't it?

Today is the chefs' last chance to impress two-Michelin starred,

former champion and pudding aficionado Phil Howard.

Desserts are far more fickle.

They're either delicious to eat or they're pants.

I'm looking for simplicity in its eating,

but expertise in its execution.

-Morning.

-BOTH: Morning.

-So, looking forward to today?

-I am. Got a nice box of tricks today.

Plenty of sugar. I've got plenty of potions,

I don't know if he's going to like this.

Phil did confess to having a bit of a sweet tooth.

What little tricks have you got up your sleeve?

My fun element is a surprise.

A secret. Clearly keeping your cards close to your chest on this one.

-Good luck, then.

-Thank you very much.

-Yeah, and to you, good luck.

First up, with 25 points is three-time loser Aiden Byrne,

who's desperate to get to the banquet.

He stormed his way to the top of the leaderboard yesterday,

but knows he can't take anything for granted.

I've been in this position before.

I've got a perfect ten, come in the judges' chamber and been sent home.

That's the hard part about this competition, anything can happen.

Four times round, surely the law of averages is going to let me

through to the banquet.

Hello, Chef. Talk me through it, what have you got?

I'm going to cook a sweet burger.

-OK.

-As you can see, we have got pineapple.

They are going to be my chips.

I'm going to make iced pineapple parfait,

coat it in desiccated coconut and deep fry it.

I'm making a lime cheesecake, a nice slice of cheese.

And then the burger itself is a warm panna cotta.

-I feel to my core there is an element of risk here.

-Yeah.

Is it going to bring a smile to people's faces?

-Is it going to fit the brief?

-You are going to see a burger.

I'm not just saying it's a sweet burger

because there's a burger bun in there, this is a burger.

It comes down to what will it taste like?

Will it deliver when you eat it?

-And, uh, let's wait and see.

-All right.

-Good luck.

Aiden's final showdown is a risky sweet burger, with a warm

coconut panna cotta patty and deep fried pineapple ice cream chips.

Warm panna cotta in a bun, my gut reaction is horror and disgust.

And if he produces a car crash of a dessert, it's just going to

annihilate his chances of even getting through to perhaps tomorrow,

let alone the finals. So, you know, he has it all to play for

in this pudding. He has got a lot to lose.

In second place, with 23 points,

is cutting-edge newcomer Mary-Ellen McTague.

She has let her nerves get the best of her all week,

but has scored well, and needs top marks again today.

A few hiccups aside, the scoring has gone really well for me.

So, I'm happy about that. I need to maintain that now.

I really need another good score to make sure

I get through to the judges' chamber.

-Go on, talk me through. What have we got here?

-OK.

I am going to be making a chamomile lawn for dessert.

It is basically a trifle,

but I've just added some more interesting flavours.

The trifle is chamomile and apricot flavours

and then kind of mandarin flavour and the syllabub.

How does it become a lawn, where is the link with the brief?

The presentation is the fun part.

The trifle is served in a lawn, in a garden.

It's under a compost heap.

-OK.

-And the syllabub is on the side in a kind of fun presentation.

-How it eats is obviously hugely important.

-Yep.

-I look forward to it.

Thanks.

Mary's last laugh is an apricot and chamomile compost heap trifle.

Hidden under a pile of edible soil with a mandarin

and thyme wheelie bin syllabub.

Trifle can be everything from diabolical

to incredibly delicious to eat. Yeah, she is trying to have some fun,

so let's hope that doesn't interfere with its eating.

Trailing behind Mary by two points is technical newcomer Chris Holland.

His modern twists on classical flavour combinations have

been hit and miss all week.

And he needs a top market today to stay in the competition.

I'm very hopeful that I'll come out with a good score today.

Desserts sometimes, in a competition,

people struggle with it.

I'm not going to struggle with mine.

We are, today, going bananas.

I'm going to give you a banana you've never seen before.

Basically, I'm going to make a white chocolate banana parfait.

It is set in a banana mould. When it comes out of the mould

it looks completely like a banana. So, it is really realistic.

I'm going to make a banana flavoured sugar skin,

-so it is quite technical.

-OK.

-I have got a chocolate brownie.

And it is going to eat supremely well, is it?

Absolutely. I think it is a winner. It is a really nice dish.

So, I've got a moulded banana, I've got a burger,

I have a chamomile lawn.

Someone is going to go home off the back of this course.

So make sure you put up something great. Good luck.

Chris is looking to show off with a caramelised white chocolate

banana parfait, with chocolate brownie, rum and raisins

and technical banana sugar.

I'm just worried that he is going off on a sort of slightly

gimmick tangent.

He is going to make this perfect, immaculate banana mould with

some crunchy sugar bits, and I think it's just got too much going on.

Who wants it the most? I need the points. I'm going for it.

We all need the points.

I think everybody needs the points, you know, 21, 23, 25.

It's tight. Four points, do you know what I mean?

The best dessert is a guaranteed win.

-So, are you confident?

-I'm not confident. I am not 100% confident.

I am feeling quite uncomfortable at the moment.

-How about you, Mary-Ellen?

-I'm concentrating hard.

I have confidence in my dish.

I'm hoping for a big score.

I've actually been in the judges' chamber four times,

I've never been sent home early.

I've got a point to prove. I am desperate to get into that banquet.

Aiden is pinning his banquet hopes on an unconventional sweet

burger, with warm coconut panna cotta, lime cream cheese slice

and a rich yeast cake bun,

something Phil has serious doubts about.

-Don't want that to burn.

-No.

-What have we got here?

This is my savarine.

It's a really nice, light recipe.

I'm encouraged that it is savarine rather than bread,

but the jury is still out and the proof is in the pudding, as they say.

-Literally.

-Keep going.

Rival Chris has made a traditional chocolate brownie to accompany

his Go Bananas dessert

and moved on to the mix for his banana parfait,

that has banana, yogurt and white chocolate in it that he has

melted in the oven to reduce its sweetness.

-White chocolate can be very sickly.

-It can be.

Some white chocolates are really, really sweet.

And that is really nice and smooth.

-And then the parfait is beautiful.

-Can I try a bit?

-Of course you can.

And it just changes the flavour profile of it.

Chris's parfait is on the go.

I love what he's done with the chocolate.

I haven't seen that before.

He caramelised it slowly in the oven by turning it over.

It's nice. He's then put it into the rest of his parfait mix,

which is a banana parfait,

and it needs the taste of banana.

-What are you adding in?

-Just a bit of whipped cream and fromage frais.

-Cream and fromage frais?

-Yeah. I like the sourness.

I don't want it to be really, really sweet.

This has to be the mother of all parfaits.

I'm sure it will be.

Closest rival Mary-Ellen is looking to outsmart Chris

with an apricot, almond and chamomile trifle.

And is serving a mandarin and thyme syllabub on the side

that could make or break her today.

Are you going to leave the thyme in there, are you going to pass it out?

Pass that out and then it gets frost and is served as a drink,

as a frothy drink. It is essentially a milkshake, I suppose.

You're happy that having a frothy drink on the side is

going to be enough substance

in the trifle so that it all doesn't end up being just too sloppy?

Yeah, I think so.

I don't really get why the syllabub is there.

All it does is just add more richness and liquid.

Even if it is pleasant,

I can't quite see why it is necessary to complete the dish.

So, we'll see.

But Mary-Ellen believes in her unusual dessert, having tested out

the flavours at a community project partially funded by Comic Relief.

So I went to visit this project in Runcorn

where they do cooking classes. It is called Credit Crunch Cookery.

It was amazing seeing something happening so close to home that

was making such a big difference in people's lives.

To find out how money raised helps charities here in the UK,

Mary-Ellen went to meet Marion Hayes,

who runs community cooking classes at her local church

in Runcorn, Cheshire.

Hi, welcome to Runcorn. We are so pleased you could come.

We're looking forward to you cooking with us today.

-Thank you very much.

-Do come on inside.

This is Mary-Ellen who is going to help us

make our cupcakes this morning.

Hello.

And they are not making just any cupcakes.

Mary-Ellen is testing out a recipe that uses the same flavours

as her apricot, almond and chamomile trifle.

Then, with your almonds, sprinkle those over the top, as well.

The cooking classes get £5,000 a year for Comic Relief.

The aim is to teach people from disadvantaged areas cooking skills

to make healthy, affordable home cooked meals.

We know that we could deliver the meals

at less than five pounds per meal.

They can sit down with the family and learn to eat home meals together,

which is quite unusual in our area.

I didn't really have a teacher of cooking through growing up,

so it helped give me confidence.

Beforehand I had only ever done beans on toast

and that was the best I could ever do,

but now I can do a roast Sunday dinner.

Really great. And the family looks forward to having it every Sunday.

OK, so there's your piping bag. You hold it about halfway up.

Cooking is such an essential skill

and it makes such a big difference in people's lives.

It is a really worthwhile project.

So, moment of truth then, would you like to try them?

-Mm!

-That's brilliant. Do you know what? You can taste the chamomile.

Do you think chamomile goes with the apricot?

I do. I think it tastes brilliant.

The whole thing is a beautiful combination. It's great.

So, with her unusual flavours a success,

Mary-Ellen decided to try them out further at a local primary school...

You are smiling, that is a good sign, isn't it?

..and raise some vital cash for charity.

That went well.

And their success only continued at the local market.

-They all right?

-Mm! Very nice.

-Good.

It has been a brilliant and inspirational experience

and it has given me more reason than ever to try and get to that banquet.

If you have been inspired to do your bit for Comic Relief and you enjoy

eating out, then an easy way to get involved is through Menu Relief.

Find out more at...

..and learn about other ways to help raise money.

Back in the kitchen,

Mary-Ellen is making apricot spheres to go in her chamomile trifle,

a technique she needs to master

if she is to score top marks with Phil today

and cook for the judges.

You'll have to see them, they'll just be inside the trifle and,

hopefully, they will come as a bit of a surprise.

As long as by the time you scoop down and you've brought them up,

they're still intact.

Yeah, that can be an issue.

But they do usually arrive intact.

They're fun, I like the spheres.

But I just don't see the point in burying them

at the bottom of the trifle.

Mary-Ellen isn't the only chef trying to impress Phil

with her dish's presentation.

Closest rival Chris is dedicating valuable time

to a banana-flavoured sugar.

Chris, this looks like risky business, correct?

Yeah. Yeah. Tense times at the moment. I am against time.

-This is effectively the garnish for the banana.

-Uh, yeah.

It is going to be what makes the banana look realistic,

makes it look like the skin.

-If it is a garnish, just make sure it works.

-Will do.

But it is returning contender Aiden

who is under real pressure to perform with his sweet burger,

and his yeast cake bun hasn't gone according to plan.

What is happening here?

My savarines seem to be a little bit lively for some reason,

so I'm just redoing them again.

-Don't let yourself down at this stage.

-No, most definitely not.

No scope for disaster.

You know, the truth is, he just wasted 20 minutes of his time.

He needs that like a hole in the head.

He's got to get back on top of it, get back on time

and produce a cracker.

In that environment, it's not easy.

With three high scores for his dishes this week

and three failed attempts in the competition previously...

I could do without it, clearly.

..Aiden's dream of making it to the finals and cooking

at the banquet now rests entirely on a perfectly cooked burger bun.

-Everything all right over here, mate?

-Yeah, fine.

-You're looking a bit tense.

-I am, yeah.

-Just checking, that's all.

Luckily for Aiden, Mary-Ellen's first to plate up.

She needs a good score from Phil to cook for the judges tomorrow,

so is reverting to the comedy presentation of her starter course,

creating a chamomile lawn

for her compost heap trifle.

So you're hoping to claw back a couple of points today

using this different approach to presentation?

Yeah. I don't know. I think he's either going to love it or hate it.

-Hard man to please.

-Indeed.

But Mary-Ellen has another trick up her sleeve.

She starts assembling her trifle

by placing her delicate apricot spheres on top of the almond sponge

before revealing her second presentation surprise -

a wheelie bin container for her mandarin and thyme syllabub.

She then pops her trifle into her chamomile lawn,

tops it with chamomile custard

and almond and cocoa powder soil

and delivers her edible compost heap on time to the pass.

One of these each as well.

Bin juice and chamomile lawn.

Sipping baked beans out of a bathtub is one thing,

but slurping juice out of a wheelie bin is a whole other ball game.

So come on, let's go and try it.

OK, a wheelie bin.

Ah, wheelie bin!

OK.

Whew!

It's quite vibrant.

You know what, that's actually really, really nice.

OK, first of all, are you happy with it?

90% happy with it.

10% unhappy with something?

Yeah, the sphere pots. That wasn't like the plan.

It's unfortunate.

-The spheres really work, don't they?

-Yeah, they do.

You get a real good flavour from that.

Chamomile singing with enough clarity in there?

Um, it's there.

I think the raw cocoa, I think that kind of masks it a little bit

-so if I was to do it again, I'd probably up the chamomile a bit.

-OK.

With regards to the flavour of the chamomile,

I'm not getting it strong enough.

There was more predominant flavours in there than the chamomile.

It could have been a little bit more prominent, yeah.

-Let's talk about the brief.

-OK.

Why am I slurping syllabub out of a wheelie bin?

Because it's silly, and the idea of it made me laugh.

That is a light, delicate and very, very tasty pudding.

-She's done very, very well with that.

-She has.

It went almost to plan.

Erm... It was on time,

and hopefully Phil enjoyed it,

although he gave absolutely nothing away, so I've no idea.

Next up is Aiden, whose buns are out of the oven.

He's at the top of the leaderboard for now,

but a poor score today could cost him dearly.

I'm a little bit concerned, to be honest with you.

If Chris pulls out a blinder,

Mary-Ellen's done a fantastic dessert,

I could end up going home tonight.

Aiden's sweet burger dessert hasn't been plain sailing.

-Anything that could

-BLEEP

-go wrong went wrong.

-Yeah.

Anyway, I'm here now.

With his second batch of buns cooked correctly,

he adds his warm coconut panna cotta

and lime cream cheese slice,

then tops it off with a lime tuile

and gets his sweet burger onto his plate,

with its sesame seed lid...

..and deep-fried, coconut-coated pineapple ice cream chips.

There we have it - my sweet burger.

The chips are melting, so we're going to have to go quite quickly.

It's a burger, but I'm smiling.

Let's go.

-It certainly looks like a burger.

-It does, looks fab.

Definitely hit the brief.

It does seem like it's starting to weep a little bit.

Yeah, it's melting really quickly, actually.

That could be difficult in a banquet situation.

Is it a pudding?

Yeah, it says pudding,

it's got all the elements in that a dessert would have.

It's got an ice cream in there, which has been deep-fried.

Mmm...

-It's really clever, that.

-Yeah, that's yummy.

-It's really nice.

This is the panna cotta, the actual burger bit.

I'm not mad on the texture of that.

I'm not sure whether that's what Aiden would have wanted.

Is the texture of the whole burger what you were after?

Outside the panna cotta I'm happy with it.

The panna cotta is not setting the way I would like it to set

but the flavour's still there.

It's a little bit odd.

Do you think, in trying to get every single component

of a traditional burger into this sweet burger,

there are too many flavours?

At the end of the day, the ingredients work together

and I'm happy with it.

I think there's too many flavours for me.

It seems a little bit busy.

I think he'll have his head in his hands in that tasting room.

That marriage, them ingredients, I've put them together

and I think they work together and I'm happy with it.

Once you take away from it being the burger, it looks a bit messy.

-It gives us a chance.

-It does.

Presentation-wise, very happy with it.

Flavours, textures, I'm not 100% there

but, at the end of the day, I can't do any more.

Last up, and trailing behind, is Chris and his banana parfait.

He needs a good score to stay in the running

and is finishing his sugar garnish outside the kitchen

to give himself the best possible chance.

Ah, crafty little sideshow here.

It's too hot in that kitchen.

I need the sugar to set quite quickly in its shape

so I've come for a little bit of tranquil peace and quiet.

Banana skin complete, Chris starts building his plate with rum cream,

rum-soaked raisins, roasted peanuts

and squares of chocolate brownie.

He then removes his parfait from his banana mould,

slices it in half and gets it onto the plate.

Looking very relaxed there, Chris.

I don't feel it. It's a calm exterior.

Then it's on with some rum sauce

and finally his technical banana skin sugar garnish.

Will all Chris's hard work be enough to see him in front of the judges?

-There it is.

-Banana.

Going Bananas.

Happy?

I am happy, yeah.

Come on, make me happy, let's go and eat it.

-It looks like a banana.

-Thank you.

Does the banana flavour come through, as much as you hoped?

I think it's there, I think it's quite subtle.

-That's not what I expected.

-No, I expected a big bit of banana.

-And it's not.

-No.

-I taste more banana in here than the banana does.

-Tastes of banana.

The flavour of the chocolate brownie doesn't dominate

the flavour of the parfait.

I think it's a great brownie.

I've not had many better.

OK...

It's a nice chocolate brownie. No?

There's nothing really wrong with any of it.

But there's nothing that makes you go "wow" either.

Is this your trump card?

I think it might be.

-Hey... are you all right?

-Yeah.

Yeah, I think so. I'm exhausted!

He didn't give anything away, though.

I was really happy with that.

That's it, we've done as much as we can.

One of us is going home today.

Afternoon, chefs.

Hi, Phil.

OK, let's get straight into it.

Mary-Ellen, for your chamomile lawn.

I liked the idea of a trifle.

I believed it could deliver.

I enjoyed your flavour combinations

and I particularly liked the choice of chamomile.

I thought it was interesting, I was looking forward to it.

But I didn't feel it had, for a trifle,

the layers, the richness.

I thought the custard component was too thin

and I'm all for a prop, particularly with this,

but I thought the wheelie bin was a little bit poorly thought out,

plonked on a saucer.

It should've come on something more fitting for a wheelie bin.

Aiden, for the sweet burger.

I embraced the idea. I liked the idea.

I thought the presentation was spot on, attention to detail.

It was fun, worked with the brief.

But, for me, the plain truth was, it just wasn't very nice.

The individual components worked but the reality was, in the mouth,

they just didn't come together.

It was a struggle.

I found it really hard to like it, I have to say.

Chris, for your Going Bananas,

good combination of flavours.

I thought the brownie was fantastic.

I particularly liked the caramelised chocolate.

I thought that was interesting, I liked it.

I did feel, however,

if you're going to put something on a plate that is really trying to look

exactly like a banana, it's either got to be something

completely different, or it's got to really pack the flavour punch

of a banana. I felt it was a bit weak.

So there's only two chefs that can go through to cook for the judges tomorrow.

Aiden...

For your sweet burger...

..I've scored you a four.

Is it enough?

Mary-Ellen...

..for your chamomile lawn...

..I'm giving you a six.

Chris...

..for your Going Bananas...

..I'm giving you a six, too.

That means...

Aiden, Mary-Ellen,

you both have a score of 29,

you will go through to cook for the judges.

Chris...

-I'm afraid we have to say goodbye.

-It's been a pleasure.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Sorry.

Congratulations.

Disappointed but, you know, I'm still happy with what I've done.

That was a bloody roller coaster, wasn't it?

I'm going away with my head held high and that's the most important thing to me.

I'm totally shocked, actually. Totally shocked,

I really didn't think this was what was going to happen.

You deserve it, guys, well done.

I feel like I've really achieved something.

I'm very happy to be at this stage, very happy.

I've been here many a time before and, if I don't get through this time,

then there's something seriously wrong with me.

Tomorrow it's make or break for Aiden and Mary-Ellen.

-The pressure is unbelievable.

-It's horrible.

And Aiden can't afford to lose for the fourth time.

Anyway, there's been a couple of tens

but there's also been a five and a four.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd