Central Starter Great British Menu

-This year on Great British Menu...

-Come on!

-..an army of talented chefs...

-Feeling the pressure?

Massively, massively, massively.

..are putting their finest culinary hours on a plate...

-Blimey. That's really good.

-That's really good.

..for the chance to cook at a glorious commemorative banquet

marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day at London's St Pauls,

an iconic bastion of British wartime resilience.

Going head-to-head this week to represent the Central region

are ambitious young gun Jason Hodnett...

I think it's fair to say I'm the underdog out of the three of us.

..Daniel Clifford's former right-hand man,

Michelin-starred Mark Poynton...

Please, God, work. Please, God, work.

..and previous champion, Aktar Islam...

Chef, I'm here for a reason, and I'm here to win.

..who is back for the third time to regain his crown.

But with a reputation for being late, can he banish old demons?

I'm killing myself putting it together, I hope it counts.

And take on new competitors determined to make their mark?

-It's about balance.

-So when are you going to find the balance?

I found it many years back when I went to the banquet.

This year, the chefs are paying homage to the soldiers who

fought for our freedom on the beaches of Normandy 70 years ago.

They've been challenged to produce a very modern tribute

to the sacrifices made during World War II,

-both at home...

-I would have liked to have given them

a pat on the back to say, "God, I didn't realise that you did this."

..and abroad.

It really is the most emotional place to be standing here.

Battling for glory this week are former champion Aktar Islam,

determined to put the ghosts of the past behind him.

I've been here twice before, I cooked at the banquet

and I've also fallen at the first hurdle.

This time I'm back, and I'm going all the way.

Michelin-starred newcomer Mark,

aiming to make a big first impression.

I might be the only chef the kitchen with a Michelin star,

but I'm not going to rest on my laurels today.

And young gun Jason Hodnett, who has a personal connection

to this year's brief.

Both my dad and grandad were Army chefs,

so it's time for me to get a dish to the banquet and do them proud.

-How are you?

-I'm all right, how are you?

-I'm OK.

Judging the chefs is one of Great British Menu's most

formidable veterans.

For me, first time here, not knowing who the veteran is,

-that's a big deal.

-Whoever it is, you know it's going to be tough.

Previous dessert course champion...

I've had a run in in the past with Marcus Wareing,

so better not to repeat that.

..and two-Michelin-starred legend...

..Marcus Wareing.

-Good morning.

-Good morning, chef.

-How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

Welcome to the Great British Menu kitchen.

-Aktar, you've been here before.

-I have.

-You got knocked out on the Thursday.

-I did, yes.

-So, huge focus for you.

-Yes, chef.

-Mark, you've been Daniel Clifford's head chef for a long time.

Seven years.

He's going to give me a lot of stick if I don't give it my all.

Jason, you're the new boy on the block.

Yes, there are a few nerves, shall we say.

OK, guys, this is all about the war veterans.

Great food for some amazing people. I wish you the best of luck.

First up is former fish course winner Aktar Islam,

who's struggled before with his timings...

-How are we looking for time?

-I'm being fashionably late.

..and been at the sharp end of Marcus is fearsome judging.

The meat was dry, I'm going to give him a three.

How are you doing?

-I'm well, thank you very much.

-That is a big box of ingredients.

There is quite a bit going on.

Tell me, what is the inspiration behind your menu?

In my opinion, one of the reasons we fought the war was to

maintain the freedom that we have today, so it's all

part of the legacy of the sacrifice that people made at the time, and

allowing people to enjoy flavours

and experiences from all over the world.

-OK. Tell me, what is the name of the dish?

-Run Rabbit Run.

We were encouraged to turn to rabbit as a source of meat.

This is where I got my inspiration,

it's a poster encouraging the nation to eat rabbit.

-In my opinion, it is an unsung war hero.

-OK.

-There it is.

-The legs, we're going to do a pie. Lightly curried.

We're doing a roasted French trim rack.

With the shoulder and the meat of the neck, we're doing a brawn,

and with the liver,

we're going to do a liver parfait served with some vegetables.

You are a veteran chef, you've been to the banquet, the second time

you got knocked out on the Thursday, you've come back with a new focus.

I have, I've come back with the same attitude

I had in the first year, just go in there and give it your all.

Looking forward to it.

Aktar's box of ingredients looked incredible.

Run Rabbit Run, it sounds like there is a lot of work for him to do.

I really hope he's not going to be late.

Next up is first timer Mark Poynton,

aiming to go all the way to the banquet with his classical cookery.

-Hello, Mark.

-Hello, Marcus.

-What is the inspiration behind the menu?

The menu is all about the journey from the first day when they left

home to landing on Normandy beach.

-What is the title of the dish?

-Packed Lunch.

It's about the soldiers leaving home.

The wife waving them off, saying goodbye,

giving them a packed lunch, hopefully see you soon.

-Simple as that.

-Simple as that.

OK, so tell me about the ingredients we've got here.

-This is shin beef, we're going to make a beef tea.

-Right, OK.

-What else?

-We've got a lovely pork loin.

We're going to do a take on a sausage roll, make a pork mousse,

wrap it round that. We've got some tamarind,

going to make my own version of a brown sauce,

and we're going to make a nice malt loaf.

We're going to roast these chicken skins and make a chicken butter,

serve it on top of the malt loaf.

-You really put some thought into this.

-Yes, a lot of thought.

The soldiers didn't have the rations like everybody else,

-they needed nutritious food.

-Is this going to keep them going?

Keep them going until they get to the harbour.

Mark's Packed Lunch,

I now have a vision of the soldier leaving home with his packed lunch.

Does it live up to its title?

The sausage roll, when you start adding things to it,

it could work, but he has to be very careful with that particular item.

Finally, it's 28-year-old fellow newcomer Jason Hodnett,

who is hoping to draw inspiration from his family's background

in Army cookery, to make a big impact in the competition.

-Good morning, Jason. Nervous?

-A little bit.

First of all, tell me the inspiration behind your menu.

My dad and my grandad were both military chefs, so I wanted to draw

on that as inspiration and hopefully a dish that can do them proud.

-What is the title?

-It's called Grow Your Own.

So, firstly, there's the rabbit, abundant, plentiful, not rationed,

and this is going to be almost like a little garden.

Things that the rabbit would eat, the carrots, different types of baby

carrots. Everyone was growing things of their own,

and that was really important for the war effort, so I'm going to

use the whole rabbit, all of the carcass, to make a hay bale.

A hay bale?

Yes, we're going to pressure cook it down, wrap it in potatoes.

A nice black pudding, we're going to make a soil from the black pudding,

going to use the livers to make a nice parfait.

Aktar doing rabbit, are you bothered?

I think he's doing it differently, so no.

Jason, Grow Your Own, I like the idea of a hay bale,

but rabbit is a delicate meat.

How long you leave it in the pressure cooker for -

you start eating overcooked rabbit, you've got a problem on your hands.

With no time to lose, the chefs get straight to work

on their wartime-inspired starters, aware there is no room for error

if they want top marks from the veteran today.

Do you think we got the short straw getting Marcus as our veteran?

Marcus is a hard person to please.

I remember Marcus got through to the Queen's banquet with a custard tart.

-I remember watching that.

-You must've been about four, surely?

-How old are you? 52?

-52 going on 32.

Not as old as Aktar though.

You've got history with Marcus, no?

Correct, but I still made it to the banquet.

Not this year, not this year.

Aktar's attempting to impress Marcus and regain his crown with

an extremely complex rabbit dish, but with eight different elements

to get to the pass, including a marinated rabbit rack and

fiddly rabbit brawn, he may have bitten off more than he can chew.

Really, really rushed off my feet at the moment, got so much going on,

have to make sure every element I've set up to deliver, I do deliver it.

I'm up against Marcus Wareing, let's hope I get it on time.

Self-taught, Aktar Islam cooks innovative Indian food

in the heart of Birmingham at his restaurant Lasan.

He is taking a big risk competing for the third time.

The last time I was in the competition,

it felt terrible to go home on the Thursday night,

but, British bulldog spirit, I'm here to give it another go,

do my best and hopefully replicate my successes from my first year.

Aktar has a personal reason

for wanting to get to this year's banquet.

If it wasn't for the sacrifices that people made, I probably wouldn't be

here, my great-grandfather may not have chosen to settle in the UK.

It is paying respect to that, really,

and appreciating the sacrifice people made for us then.

He's thought long and hard about his D-Day-inspired menu

and come up with dishes that marry the best of British with

exotic spices - flavours that some of our World War II soldiers

would have experienced for the first time overseas.

And he's been practising them on some of his friends.

You won't believe that some of the recipes that people were

cooking involved curry and spices even back then.

-I need you to be very critical.

-That will be difficult!

I really worked on it, practising all the elements,

trying to put it all together.

-If I lose, it's not for the lack of trying.

-That is fantastic.

This banquet, it is all about pushing yourself to the limit,

because that is what we asked our heroes to do back then.

A lot of them paid the ultimate price for the freedom

and luxury and liberty that we have today.

It would be lovely to be able to say thank you to them.

You are in it to win it, no doubt about it. You keep going.

Aktar is getting ready to cook his rabbit liver parfait,

the third element on his complicated Run Rabbit Run dish.

-Aktar?

-Yes, chef?

-You're putting your parfait into a bain marie.

-That's right, chef.

-Is it a main element?

-It is part of it.

The biggest element will be the pie,

you will get two or three bites out of it.

Then you've got the rack and the terrine.

The parfait, I didn't want to waste the liver.

-What's the presentation?

-You will have to wait and see,

but it will definitely tie in with the story,

and they will understand exactly where I'm coming from.

I can see behind you you've got a lot going on.

-I will leave you to get on with it.

-Thank you.

A lot of ingredients, I really hope he's not going to be late.

I don't want to have to take away points

because he's far behind in his timing.

Aktar is not the only chef cooking rabbit today.

Young gun Jason is attempting to tell a story on a plate

with his Grow Your Own garden scene,

complete with quirky rabbit hay bales cooked in a pressure cooker,

and a miniature wheelbarrow of rabbit parfait with plum jam

and black pudding soil.

Jason, you're both doing parfaits, do you think yours

-is going to be better than Aktar's?

-Well, there's a big difference.

I'm classically trained and he's not. I know I can cook it properly.

So you're saying Aktar is going to mess around with his food?

I'm saying we've seen it before, I'm sure we'll see it again.

Too many ingredients and all that.

I think we'll have to get a time-out area for Jason. Getting too excited.

Jason's dish of rabbit is difficult. Easy to over cook, it can be dry.

He's serving soil, I don't want to eat soil of any type.

We will see when we taste it.

I think it's fair to say I'm the underdog out of three of us.

I've just got to try to keep focussed. This banquet is important.

Yes, I think you've got a very personal connection with it,

from we discovered earlier on.

28-year-old Jason Hodnett cooks inventive, playful food

at The Raven Hotel in Shropshire,

where he's been head chef for just under a year.

Whether I'm the oldest or the youngest,

it makes absolutely no difference, I will represent myself

and the Central region the best I possibly can.

The theme of the banquet this year, for me, it couldn't be better.

My dad and grandad were military chefs, so for me this is perfect.

With a family history of military cookery,

Jason didn't have to look far to research his menu.

His granddad's stories about the war have directly inspired

the main ingredient for his starter.

Living in the country,

at least we had the chance of getting different types of food.

Rabbits were a delicacy in a lot of ways, even though

you used to get fed up of it.

Having the opportunity to speak to people like my grandparents

has been really inspiring.

To be able to translate that into a menu for me is really lovely.

It's more than just cooking.

Girlfriend Lorna also brought along her grandparents

to help paint a picture of wartime experiences.

One of the children in our class had a coconut sent through the post.

We thought that was amazing.

We hadn't got a clue what they were like inside.

To get to the banquet for me would probably mean more than for most.

To do them proud, to do myself proud, absolute dream.

It's time for Jason to start constructing the miniature

wheelbarrows for his Grow Your Own garden scene,

complete with black pudding soil.

-All right, Jason?

-Yes, chef.

-What are these for?

The little wheelbarrows are going to be filled with the parfait.

I want to do 35g of each.

I notice you've not made your black pudding, you brought it.

Is there any reason for that?

It's a product I've used before, so, for me, it's a good product.

-I will let you carry on.

-Thanks, chef.

I actually thought at this level I would expect a chef to come here

and make his own black pudding.

I hope there is going to be more to the dish,

and I'm not 100% convinced at the moment.

Fellow newcomer Mark is attempting to hit the wartime brief

by elevating a humble packed lunch to Michelin-starred standards.

For his updated sausage roll he is wrapping pork tenderloin

in pork mousse and Parma ham, ready for the water-bath, a cooking style

he learnt under former champion and one-time boss Daniel Clifford.

Obviously, you've got a very good relationship with Daniel.

No doubt he's given you some tips and pointers.

He's given me a few, yeah.

He told me not to listen to you, not to let you bully me.

You being the old boy and all that.

Classically-trained Mark Poynton is chef patron of Alimentum

in Cambridge,

where for the last six years he has cooked award-winning food.

I think I've got the edge in the competition

cos I've got one Michelin star, three AA Rosettes.

It's food like this, which is really simple,

three or four flavours, that is what my food is about.

With a busy restaurant to run and a young family,

Mark's found researching his D-Day-inspired menu hard.

Speak to daddy later, before you go to bed.

I found the D-Day brief quite tough

because there is no generation of my family alive I could speak to.

So it took a lot of research with a food historian.

I've tried to bring that into my food.

But he's got an ace up his sleeve in the form of two-time Great

-British Menu winner Daniel Clifford.

-Hello, chef, how are you?

-You all right? How's it going?

-It's been a challenge.

Thinking about food from the 1940s is not easy.

Let alone the rations and everything else they had to go through.

Daniel offered to help Mark by taste testing his starter.

-Hopefully represents the '40s quite well.

-No, it's beautiful.

Really beautiful.

Hopefully give them a better experience than what they had then,

but still remember what they had.

If there is any advice, it's just practise, practise, practise.

He's won this twice before.

I want to be able to showcase to everybody that I can win it,

so get through to the final and get to feed the ex-servicemen.

There is no greater honour than doing that.

Mark is aiming to emulate the success of his old mentor

Daniel with his packed lunch.

He's removed the pork tenderloin for his elevated sausage roll

from the water-bath, wrapped it in pastry

and put it straight in the onion without giving it time to rest.

Daniel is the only person that I get nervous cooking for.

Possibly apart from Marcus Wareing today.

With his sausage roll cooking, Mark moves onto his malt loaf.

Hello, Marcus. It looks quite heavy. It's really sticky.

Do you feel this is a dish that can be elevated to banquet standard?

This is my hardest dish.

-If it all comes together...

-Get yourself in front. Brilliant.

My reservation with Mark is the packed lunch idea. Is it good enough?

Has it really got a place on the Great British Menu banquet?

Rivals Jason and Aktar are working on their respective rabbit dishes.

Jason has removed the rabbit for his Grow Your Own garden

scene from the pressure cooker,

and is busy making rabbit hay bales wrapped in potato spaghetti.

-You boys looking like you're going to be on time?

-Yes.

It's going to be touch and go, but hopefully.

But with plating up fast approaching,

Aktar's Run Rabbit Run dish is still far from ready.

He's rolled the pastry for his rabbit pie

and made its curried filling,

but has yet to get construction under way.

Aktar, previous form of being late?

I hope to be on time, that's all I can say.

Luckily for Aktar,

Jason is first to plate up his Grow Your Own rabbit starter.

He deep fries his rabbit and potato hay bales, spreads plum sauce

onto his set rabbit parfait and adds raw and cooked mini veg.

-Jason, how are we doing?

-Yes, one minute to the pass, chef.

I don't want to be deducting points for lateness.

Next, his controversial shop-bought black pudding soil.

And he finishes it off with the deep-fried rabbit hay bales.

Wow, there you go, first dish up. Jason, how are you feeling?

Relieved to get the first dish done and out of the way.

-What do you think, guys?

-It looks like a garden.

-That's the idea, chef, that's the idea.

-Shall we try it?

-Let's do it.

Are the vegetables raw?

Some are, some aren't.

The parfait under there - pretty. What do you think about the flavour?

I'm not blown away by it, to be honest with you.

Plum is the major flavour.

-Texture wise, the parfait, would you change anything?

-That is what it is.

A very true dish, I think.

The black pudding, it's not really adding any flavour.

Yes, it adds a nice fresh crunch.

-I would perhaps cook the black pudding slightly less.

-Why?

It's slightly too textured.

-All right, we've got another element.

-You first, mate.

Hay bale with the rabbit.

The whole rabbit, we've used all of the rabbit,

-the loin, the legs, everything.

-It's quite dry.

I think it needs some stock in there, give it some moisture.

Any reason why you didn't make a rabbit stock?

In the pressure cooker, it's almost creating its own stock with

-the rabbit.

-Do you think it works?

-Yes, I think so.

I can't imagine a war veteran thinking,

-"Eating out of a wheelbarrow reminds me of the war."

-It misses the mark.

-I agree.

-What are you going to score this dish?

This is my weakest course. A seven or an eight.

-How did you get on, Jason?

-A daunting man, he is a daunting man.

Next up is Michelin-starred Mark with his modernised Packed Lunch,

a dish inspired by the journey of the D-Day troops,

lined with imagined newspaper articles from 1944.

Aware of the consequences of being late,

-he is racing to beat the clock.

-Please, God, work.

Please, God, work.

He starts plating up by pouring his beef tea into a hip flask.

Slices his malt loaf and removes his updated sausage roll from the oven.

Bring that chicken butter straight over, please.

He quenelles the butter and sprinkles with crispy chicken skin.

At the last minute,

he slices his sausage roll to complete the package.

-A packed lunch.

-What do you think, guys?

-Yes, it looks very good indeed.

Are you happy with all that?

I think this dish nails the brief 100%,

and they will reminisce about what they had in the '40s.

Fantastic. Let's go.

-Cheers.

-All right, cheers.

Like a cup of tea. Beef tea.

-That was very nice.

-Very smooth, very clean.

There is a little bit of Worcestershire sauce

in there for a background hint.

-Sausage roll.

-I wish the pastry was slightly crisper, if I'm honest.

Are you happy with the texture, the pastry of the sausage roll?

I think on the top it was nice, on the bottom it's a bit soggy.

That's cos the pork wasn't rested. I still want it to be pink,

but I need to get the timing right of that.

What do you think the old boys will think about pink pork?

-I don't know.

-Let's try this malt loaf.

Are you pleased with the way it's come out?

Yes, I think it's a good malt loaf, it's got a nice crust to it.

The malt loaf I would say is done very well.

I think I lose a lot of the chicken butter though.

-Do you think the whole thing comes together?

-I think so.

It's a packed lunch done in a modern way,

but you can still see 1944 in it.

I think that is what the brief is.

I would go probably six.

I would have probably gone for seven.

-How did it go?

-He doesn't give much away. He ate it all.

-A good start.

That's got to be something.

Last up is former champion Aktar with his Run Rabbit Run,

but he's only just finished making his rabbit pies.

You look like you're not going to be ready, mate.

My pies take 15 minutes in the oven.

Living up to his reputation for being late with Marcus looking on,

Aktar starts his plate with pickled veg.

-We'd do anything for you, Aktar, you know that.

-Yes, I'm OK, thank you.

Well, I'm not all right, but I've got to deal with it.

-Aktar, ready to go?

-A few minutes away, chef.

-How long have we got?

Five minutes now.

I cannot believe that Aktar's come to the Great British Menu

for the third time and started off by being... he says five minutes

behind, but I think we're going to be looking at 15 minutes.

With his pies still not ready, Aktar plates up his rabbit brawn

and hastily blowtorches his rabbit cutlets.

OK, we've had 10 minutes now since you said you would be ready.

Two minutes, chef.

With the pressure mounting, Aktar adds his rabbit parfait,

dots of beetroot yoghurt and finally his rabbit pies.

Before bringing his wartime story to a close with an elaborate

-rabbit meadow cloche.

-That's a very slow rabbit.

Are you happy, taking the time out of the equation?

-I could have made it a little tidier.

-Shall we go and try it?

Yes, chef.

The pie was the hot thing, so shall we go with that?

Rabbit with raisins, and it's got a slight coronation flavour to it.

Worth waiting for?

Yeah. You wouldn't know it was rabbit. Could be chicken.

It could be anything.

What do you think of the texture of the pie?

I think the filling, I could have put a little bit more

sauce on it to make it a little wetter.

I think the little rack of rabbit, although it looks nice,

I don't really see that it plays a massive part on the plate, do you?

It's difficult to eat.

And it's supposed to be cooked like that?

-I did it at 54 in the bath, yes.

-Parfait. Happy with that?

Cuts with a knife quite well, so...

The parfait is lovely, I do think it is lovely.

I just would like some more of it.

What are you going to do with this dish?

-Certainly something needs doing.

-I appreciate that, completely.

A couple of changes need to be made to simplify the process.

-I think probably a six.

-How are you going to mark that?

-I don't know. Six, perhaps.

-OK.

-How you feeling, mate?

-Battered.

-He didn't look very happy on the pass.

-No.

-For me, it was tougher than I thought it was going to be.

-What do you think?

-Maybe not as optimistic as I was.

Let's see what he says.

Hi, guys. I'm going to start with you, Jason.

Your Grow Your Own, with rabbit parfait, plums and black pudding.

I love the title.

The idea of the hay bale was fun.

The vegetables were a great idea, the raw and cooked.

But...

..I thought that the parfait lacked flavour.

Hay bale was dry.

Very surprised that you didn't

attempt to make a fresh black pudding.

I suppose the question is, was it a case of style over substance?

Mark, for your Packed Lunch, with sausage roll, beef tea,

malt loaf, I think the idea is very clever.

I thought the beef tea was very nice.

The malt loaf was delicious, I loved the crispiness around the outside.

But...

..should a sausage roll be undercooked?

Thinking about the veterans, what their expectations are going to be.

I thought the pastry could have been a bit flakier.

The one thing I thought about the whole dish was I wanted more of it.

Aktar. For your Run Rabbit Run rabbit pie, parfait...

..I liked the title. I thought the brawn was really nice, I liked that.

I also thought the parfait was really smooth.

But...I thought the pie was a bit on the dry side.

The cutlet I thought was completely undercooked.

I actually thought the whole dish was disjointed and I think

as you know the worst part about it for you today was the timing.

-I appreciate that, chef.

-Jason.

I'm going to give you...

It's going to be a five.

Mark...

..I'm going to give you a six.

Aktar.

A five.

But I'm going to take a point off you as well. You go down to a four.

There is lateness I can accept, but this was a stage too far for me.

Get a good night's sleep, and I will see you in the morning. Thank you.

All over. Well done.

A six puts me in the lead,

so now I need to push on and stay in the lead tomorrow.

I think we all knew that was coming, to be fair.

I'm disappointed, but I'm not last.

I'm feeling absolutely battered.

I was late, and I have to deal with it

and hope for the best on the other three courses.