North East Dessert Great British Menu

It's the final round of the re-match on Great British Menu

between three of the North East's most talented chefs.

-Returning champion Colin McGurran...

-No chance you'll knock me out.

-..determined returner Stephanie Moon...

-I'm trying my best.

-..and daring Charlie Lakin...

-If I go out, let's go out on a top score.

..are under pressure to cook witty, playful dishes

for the chance to cook at a special banquet celebrating 25 years of Red Nose Day.

For yesterday's main, the chefs failed to deliver a show-stopper.

BLEEP... BLEEP

-All of you undercooked or overcooked your meat.

-Colin came out on top...

Colin, for your duck and turnips, a seven.

..but Charlie's second gutsy dish of the week bombed.

If you served that in a one, two-star restaurant, I wouldn't pay the bill.

Today, it's dessert and Colin is striving for perfection.

I want to try and get a ten.

And as Charlie and Stephanie fight for survival,

the pressure becomes too much...

BLEEP

We're a long way off the final banquet.

..as one chef goes home.

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

fun gastronomic cooking that will make people smile.

And the chefs have all done their bit to help raise money for the Red Nose Day appeal.

Aaaaaaah!

I made it!

Today is their last chance to impress Great British Menu champion and seasoned veteran Jason Atherton.

It's dessert day and I don't want to see any of those catastrophes we saw yesterday.

I want to see a dish that blows my head off. I want to be able to give nothing but a ten.

So, guys, dessert day.

Final push? I'm going for it. I'm really giving it every last drop.

I've got a comfortable lead now, but I still want perfection in this dish. You guys have got a big battle on.

For me, I'm bottom of the pile, three points shy.

It'll be a scrap for me and if I've got to do it nastily, I'll scrap and make sure I get to the final.

Nastily? OK.

First up with 23 points is returning champion and technical wizard, Colin McGurran.

He has held on to the top spot all week with his inventive cooking,

but is yet to achieve the perfection he desires.

Dessert is one of my strongest sections. I love desserts. I love the finesse, I love the refinement.

I would love to get a ten for this. I want to smash through.

-So what's your dish today?

-Today, I'm going to do Tommy Cooper's fez.

-Suddenly, you've got a sense of humour.

-Yeah. It's inspired by the Viennetta.

It's going to be in the form of tiramisu. I've got my mascarpone, my chocolate and my espresso.

I'll coat the fez in white chocolate. Inside you'll have this tiramisu.

-How will you make it look like Tommy Cooper's fez?

-I'll build it into a mould shaped like a fez.

Will anything here trip you up?

I have to set the mould, I've got to then freeze it and thaw it

because the way it will be presented will be another trick up my sleeve.

I'll leave that to the end because I would like you to be surprised as the guests would be.

It's the final chance to get points on the board. Will this see you through no problem?

If I perfect this dish, I believe it can go all the way.

Out to finish with a flawless dish,

Colin's complicated take on a tiramisu

finally delivers on fun in the form of Tommy Cooper's fez.

The potential here for disaster

is he's got to freeze his tiramisu before he coats it.

If he doesn't defrost it properly, the whole dish will die because it will come to me frozen.

Next up is determined returner Stephanie Moon whose flavoursome and fun-filled food

has kept her in second place all week. She's resolute on reaching the judges' chamber.

If I slip up today, Charlie has room for manoeuvre.

You know, I want this to be my year.

-Ready for the last day?

-I am.

-Name your dish.

-The raspberry blower.

What I'm going to do, I'm using raspberries in many different ways.

-I'm going to layer up using a vanilla biscuit with some lemon rapeseed oil.

-Hang on a minute.

-You're using lemon rapeseed oil to make the biscuit?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Raspberry puree to make a pate de fruits, then a white chocolate ganache with vanilla,

then on the top I'm steaming oeufs a la neige,

then I'm going to roll it in crushed raspberries and pistachios, then comes a surprise.

-Hopefully, all being well, I'm going to blow sugar into a cloche and sit it on top.

-Wow!

-I want to make a giant red nose.

-That's the humour part.

This is my third year in the competition. I want to be remembered for something spectacular.

If the whole thing collapses and Charlie pulls a good dish off, he'll overtake you and you're going home.

-This is, like you say, your last chance.

-It is.

-So, you know, good luck.

-Thank you.

In a last big push, Stephanie's grand finale

is a raspberry and pistachio oeufs a la neige

on a lemon rapeseed oil biscuit,

presented under a technically difficult,

blown sugar, red nose cloche.

She's really set herself a task here. Pulled sugar is for the skilled pastry chef.

She's got to nail this. This dish will live or die by that red cloche.

Trailing behind Stephanie by three points is adventurous Charlie Lakin

whose daring dishes have so far this week failed to outwit his rivals.

I've got to put the rest of the week behind me. No gimmicks, no messing around, it's got to be good cooking.

Get back in there, get it nailed and hope and pray for a nine or a ten.

-Charlie, dare I ask what we're doing today?

-Custard pie.

Custard tart flavoured with hogweed seeds which have a nice citrussy, cardamomy flavour.

-It's like a foraged ingredient?

-It is.

Then also some candied green hogweed seed.

-Why are they green?

-These were picked a lot earlier.

-Completely different smell.

-Just crystallised them in sugar.

I'll mix that with some pistachios, some dried orange and oats, maple syrup, and make a granola with it.

I'll do a blood orange sorbet, with that, an espresso fluid gel.

-Where's the humour element?

-It's the custard pie. It's the reference to Laurel and Hardy style,

classic, old-fashioned comedy.

OK, well, we'll see.

In a last-ditch bid, Charlie's jettisoned the gimmicks

with his hogweed and orange custard pie,

but has again taken a huge gamble with his many flavour combinations.

Charlie's custard tart has to be perfection. Fine pastry, beautiful custard can cut through like silk.

Everything must be perfectly balanced because this is, for him, last-chance saloon.

Cooking is under way in the kitchen.

With returning champion Colin out in front and the lowest-scoring chef leaving the competition today,

Stephanie and Charlie's dessert scores are critical.

Steph, it's you and me in this race.

I'm in there behind you, but still in a catchable position.

It's quite an exciting thought to get to the final banquet.

We're a long way off the final banquet, chef.

I wouldn't mind seeing that ten.

-Even if I'm going out today, let's go out on a flipping top score.

-That's the way you have to think.

This means a lot to everyone, especially Steph and Charlie. One of them might go home.

I'm not counting myself out, but I'll probably go through. For them, it's a lot tighter.

Out to deliver a perfect dish with his fez hat, Colin has mixed his tiramisu style filling

which he is layering into moulds with coffee-soaked sponge fingers and tempered chocolate discs.

Colin's in the lead, but he's pushing himself, he wants a good score, a ten.

So, Colin, how are we getting on now?

This is a key moment. I have to get these moulds set and get it looking like a Tommy Cooper fez.

-The cream for the tiramisu...

-How does the cream react in the freezer? Fine?

-A bit of gelatine in there to help it.

-You're extremely focused when you could relax.

If there is a ten available, that's what I want to try and get. I could sit back, but this is a competition.

Across the kitchen in a last-ditch effort to push through to the judges' chamber,

Stephanie is pushing boundaries with flavours and tricky techniques.

Having made her vanilla and rapeseed oil biscuit base,

she's now working on her meringues for her oeufs a la neige.

-Steph, so we've got the oeufs a la neige.

-Yes.

I'm steaming it. I'm just going to cut this down and roll it in the raspberries and pistachio.

-Are you serving custard with that?

-Vanilla anglaise.

-You're taking a big risk with this dessert.

-This is a massive risk for me.

But I figure I'm going to go guns blazing and, hopefully, this will pay off.

-You don't think there's a chance of crashing and burning?

-Every chance.

Steph is pushing everything into this dessert, so I don't catch her.

I've just got to make sure I cook perfection. If that dessert isn't right, I'm going home.

Risk-taker Charlie is going hell for leather to overtake rival Stephanie.

With his pastry cases for his custard tart baked,

he's also made his espresso gel and pistachio puree.

Next, he moves on to his hogweed which he's using both in his egg custard filling and to make granola.

Charlie, I'm a big fan of foraged food myself.

You're using foraged food in your dessert. Jason's not a fan. Are you worried about that?

What have I got to worry about? I've given him everything that probably he didn't want to see.

So I'm not too fussed.

It's probably a good one.

LAUGHTER

I love you, Charlie. I bloody love you.

As well as creating witty, gastronomic dishes this year,

the chefs have been set fund-raising challenges to inspire their menus and raise money for charity.

Charlie is on his way to a nearby Strongman gym to fulfil his challenge

and get some feedback on his dessert.

I'm going to do some fund-raising for Comic Relief.

The thoughts behind it, I cook big, bold food,

strong flavours,

I'm a big guy myself,

so I need to be in there doing something big.

Charlie's been sponsored by friends and family to perform a super-human feat -

to pull a van loaded with one tonne of metal.

-And to help put him through his paces...

-Easy!

..is Europe's Strongest Man competitor, Jay Hughes.

-Hi.

-How are you doing? All right?

I'm hoping to do a few Strongman events, raise some money for charity.

First up, it's a warm-up with Atlas Stones.

We'll start with this stone, it's the women's stone, just to try and get technique.

So, bend your legs, slip your arms underneath,

so just up to your legs and just roll it up.

Yeah, perfect.

-Let's have a go at this one.

-That's it, into your lap. There we go.

Hips forward. Roll it up, roll it up. There we go. Getting there.

Next, it's the Monster Tyres.

I won't help. I'm here just to...

Keep going, keep going. I'm not helping. Get your knee underneath. Come on.

Push! Just push, push, push, push! Keep going.

-All over. Well done.

-That's a bloody good feeling, putting that over.

After some physical motivation, Charlie is keen to see what the boys think of his dessert.

-Have a taste of that, boys.

-Thank you very much, sir.

The idea is to have a bit of fun, a bit of wit and humour.

With this dish, I was thinking of the old Laurel and Hardy style...

I like that. Very soft. It'd be nice with a bit of cold...maybe some ice cream. I'll have another go of that.

-I don't like it...

-LAUGHTER

-No, it's really nice!

Confident his dessert has what it takes, it's time for Charlie

to strap up and fulfil his fund-raising challenge.

Charlie's going to pull this van. It's all for Comic Relief, but to make things more interesting,

we'll load the van up with a few hundred kilos more. Lads...

And I think we'll put them in as well maybe.

You have to reach the line at the end.

Three, two, one, go!

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Come on, keep going. Come on, start running now.

Come on, keep going. Aim for the line.

Keep going. Touch the line. That's it. Done!

-APPLAUSE

-Well done, man.

-I'm knackered!

-Well done, man. Well done.

I didn't know he was a chef. I thought he'd been training there.

To raise money was a good thing. I'm proud of what he did.

Once I crossed that line, it was a great feeling of achievement. I can't wait to get that buzz in the kitchen.

Back in the kitchen, the fight continues.

Charlie has made the egg custard infused with hogweed and orange zest for his tart filling.

As they go in the oven, he gets to work on his blood orange sorbet.

Having made her raspberry pate de fruits and set her white chocolate for her raspberry blower dish,

Stephanie moves on to her cloche.

Having boiled the sugar, she knows that timing is vital and transfers it on to silicone mats to cool

in preparation for the tricky pulling process.

Colin, with his moulds of tiramisu now set for his fez hats, moves on to his chocolate topping

with the all-important red colouring.

Finally hitting the humour brief, he hopes to get a perfect score from Jason.

-Tommy Cooper's fez.

-You've dipped it. You're ready to go. Is there any risk?

-They could be like bullets.

They're in the blast-chiller. It's minus 35 degrees. The texture is very important.

He has to be careful that he leaves enough time on the plate to rest,

so when it's served to me, when we eat it, it's nice and delicate.

Charlie, having cooled his sorbet, churns it in the ice cream machine to firm it up.

-Is that right?

-Yeah, it's locked up as much as it can be.

There's a lot coming out there.

But the machine is not playing ball.

Not what he needs when he's trying to deliver the perfect dish.

And whilst he's preoccupied, disaster strikes with his pies.

BLEEP

No, I need to turn the oven back down.

-Are you all right there, Charlie?

-Just the oven.

-Too hot?

-Just a touch too hot.

-What temperature are you cooking them at?

-150. They don't take a lot of cooking.

Luckily, the pastry's still good.

Charlie's tarts are a bit overcooked or they're splitting.

He had them in at 150. I've never heard of custard at more than 95 degrees. I'm surprised about that.

-You're looking a bit stressed. Are you OK?

-I had a moment of panic.

I took my eye off the ball with my tarts, but I had a back-up plan.

-Right. So you're back on track now?

-Yeah. No, I'm good.

-Good. I like "good". Good, good.

Charlie fills his pies with some reserved custard mixture and they go back in the oven.

You reckon he could lift the oven?

It's going to get thrown out of the window in a minute.

The atmosphere is quite tense. Everybody is on a last-push mission.

The Comic Relief factor has gone. It's more like Hell's Kitchen.

It's close to plating-up time.

Stephanie is working on her technically tricky red nose cloche,

but with her first attempt literally blown, she's feeling the pressure.

Stephanie...

This looks very, very technical.

It is quite difficult to do, but I'm on number two.

Is that not too thick?

-Is it OK?

-This is the cloche.

-You're not eating it?

You can eat it. It's a bit like eating a stick of rock.

Couldn't you make it super-thin, so you smash it, then eat it?

It needs to be like this, really.

I'm slightly worried that if I don't pull the red nose off, I'll get a low score here.

A low score is no option for Colin who is hoping his fez hat will deliver the perfect ten.

Having made a cappuccino puree and meringue for decoration, he's the first to plate up.

He starts with a smear of the puree and then pipes on the meringue

and uses a blow-torch for a toasted finish.

He places on fresh raspberries and grated dark and white chocolate follows,

then decorates his fez hats with melted dark chocolate and they're attracting attention.

I'm loving the look of those fezzes. They look stunning.

The fez takes centre stage and all that's left is the preparation of his surprise presentation element.

Dry ice, please!

You love this stuff. You love your dry ice, don't you?

The dish is almost complete, just one final touch.

Little milk shake there.

At last, Colin, you give in to the Comic Relief brief!

Well, on my dessert, yes.

It's technically very difficult, but I think it works.

Let's go taste it and see if this is a curtain-raiser.

-It's got the humour there.

-You can have fun with desserts.

We're probably the only two chefs that wear a hat and now we're eating a hat!

Shall we dig on into the old volcano and see what we've got going on?

-Happy with the flavour?

-It's inspired from Viennetta style. It's perfectly like that.

There's Amaretti in there, there's coffee.

The coffee puree, you think that's OK, it's not too bitter?

For the guests who find coffee strong, you've got the raspberries to give it balance.

I don't really like coffee.

Layer upon layer upon layer.

A lot of effort has gone into it to make it eat well, look well and tick all the boxes in the brief.

I knew he was going to nail it.

Colin, if you could pick a fault in your dessert, is there anything you would change?

Me, personally, I'm 100% happy with it.

Brilliant, no, I loved that one.

I enjoyed cooking it.

I'm very happy with it. I don't think I could have faulted it. Personally, I think I cooked it really well.

Next to plate up is Charlie.

He knows his dish needs to be perfect if he's to overtake Stephanie.

He starts with a smear of pistachio puree, then places on his hogweed and custard tart.

He tops it with his blood orange sorbet and pipes whipped cream with orange essence.

The hogweed granola follows and blobs of espresso gel complete the plate.

You think this is the dish that will give you those extra points you need

to get you through to the judging chamber?

Well, I don't know. It could do.

We'd better go and try it before it starts melting.

-That's the blood orange sorbet sat on top?

-Yeah.

-Happy with that?

I was keen to get to the pass with the sorbet.

-What do you think of the hogweed? I quite like it.

-It's not a flavour that I'm used to.

-Are you happy with the hogweed coming through there?

-Hmm.

Yeah, it's working quite well. The main flavour is the hogweed.

I'm not a massive lover of coffee in things.

I wouldn't put coffee in it.

-And the puree there?

-Yeah, a good coffee flavour.

He had to put this back in the oven and it looked quite dark.

-It doesn't taste it.

-Not at all.

Are you happy with the pastry?

-Has it come through as a custard tart? You've covered the actual tart.

-I think so.

After tasting Charlie's dessert, are you feeling more confident

-or is the pressure building on you now?

-I don't know.

I just want to get to tomorrow.

I hope mine does better than this.

-Do you think you've got enough points in the bag with that dessert to claw yourself back?

-I hope so.

It really depends on how Steph does.

It's all plated up now, eaten. Not much else I can do. It's in the hands of Jason and Stephanie.

Last up is Stephanie who is desperate for her dish to secure her spot in the judges' chamber,

but she's got a struggle on her hands

as she's yet to finish off her oeufs a la neige and time-consuming cloches.

How's it going? Are you having a fretful few moments?

It's a difficult thing to do, but it seems we have to do something spectacular to keep up with Colin.

-He's really set the benchmark, hasn't he?

-It's sky-high.

It's up to us, dude, and I'm trying my best here.

To finish off the oeufs a la neige,

Stephanie coats the meringues in ground pistachio and freeze-dried raspberry powder.

First on is the vanilla and rapeseed oil biscuit which is topped with the raspberry pate de fruits.

Fresh raspberries follow along with white chocolate

and the oeufs a la neige.

Her showpiece blown sugar, red nose cloche follows.

And finally, she fills a jug with creme anglaise which completes her dish.

The cloche, is it edible?

Everything on the plate is edible.

We need a sense of humour to eat it, so let's grab your plate.

We've taken the cloche off to one side, but are people supposed to smash it or take it off?

-It's up to them.

-I'm judging the dish. What would you like me to do?

No, it's purely presentation. You can't eat that.

You need to tell people that. That's got to go to the side. I think it will completely ruin the dessert.

These are very time-consuming, very difficult to do.

If she got through, I'd forget that.

Are you happy with those textures?

-I don't think she was happy with every element in that. I think the...

-The white chocolate had...

I don't think she was 100% with that.

There's a minimum amount of chocolate and pate de fruits

because it's quite strong and rich, but I think it works.

You've got the oeufs a la neige, super-soft egg white.

-I don't think she was happy with it, but it's coming through quite nice.

-Yeah, you've got the vanilla.

You don't think it's too sweet?

I think the oeufs a la neige and the vanilla balance that out.

-Do you think you've knocked Charlie out of the competition with that dessert?

-I think so.

-Why's that?

I think it's a better dessert.

-Hey... How was it in there?

-I gave it everything I've got.

Now it's all down to Jason. It's how he scores it. I think you guys are going through to tomorrow.

Well, it's all over, guys. No going back.

Colin...

Tommy Cooper's fez.

At last, Colin, you got a sense of humour!

It's a super dish.

It was funny, witty because the minute it hits you, you know what it is.

Classic marriage of flavours and every element had a reason to be there.

Charlie...

your custard pie...

You've been using foraged ingredients all week and for the first time for me,

the hogweed had a reason to be there.

But the sorbet did melt.

If that dish got through to the banquet, you'd have to think how that's going to get there.

The custard wasn't deep enough for me to get the texture of the custard through the sorbet.

That's what I felt stopped it from being the very, very top.

Steph,

for your raspberry blower...

I really liked it. I loved the presentation.

The edible red nose cloche...

It wasn't edible. It was too thick and you knew that.

If you want people to eat it, that's your own risk.

But as flavour, it was great.

The three of you have been here before, but there's only two spots to go through,

so that means one of you right now is going home.

Colin, it's probably no surprise to you that you're through to the judges' chamber,

but what score did I give you for your dessert?

-I've been dying to do this all week. It's a ten.

-Well done.

-Come on!

-Well done, kid.

It's the third time that's been out of my pocket in five years.

I couldn't find one negative point about that dish.

Thank you very much.

So, Charlie, Steph, you've been neck and neck all week, up, down, up, down.

Who's going to be joining Colin to fight it out for the place for the final to represent the North East?

Charlie...

It was probably...

..your best dish for the week.

And I'm giving you eight.

Steph...

..has your inedible cloche cost you the competition?

I'm giving you the score of...

..seven.

Well done, Steph.

You've put last year's demons to rest. You're through to the judging chamber. You're all great chefs.

You two guys fight it out another day and good luck.

-You got your ten.

-Yeah, you did and well deserved.

It's amazing. To get a ten from Jason, especially, is an achievement on its own. I couldn't be happier.

I am gutted. You don't enter this competition without wanting to get at least to the judges' chamber.

If I can do well tomorrow and walk out of the Great British Menu kitchen with my head high,

I'll be really happy.

Tomorrow, it's D-Day for Colin and Stephanie.

Surprisingly, I'm not the one who's stressed today.

This time there are four judges to please.

It's absolutely scrumptious. LAUGHTER

With one difficult decision to make.

There can only be one person who goes through.

I'm sure you wish to know who it is.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd