Central Dessert Great British Menu

This week on Great British Menu,

three of the Central Region's finest chefs...

former champion Aktar Islam...

This is our little war, Aktar.

Yes, it is and I hope to be just as victorious.

..Daniel Clifford's protege Mark Poynton...

For me, cooking's all about taking humble ingredients

and making them the best you can.

..and ambitious newcomer Jason Hodnett...

This dish is humble, super humble.

..are fighting it out to cook their dishes at a banquet commemorating

the 70th anniversary of D-Day at London's iconic St Paul's Cathedral.

Yesterday, after a shaky start,

Jason triumphed with the highest score of the week...

I'm going to give you a nine.

..putting him in second place, one point ahead of Aktar.

Today, it's the dessert course,

and the chefs are going all out for their final shot at glory.

-Serious pressure on your end.

-I thrive on pressure, mate,

-thrive on pressure.

-Thrive on pressure!

-Bring it on.

But with only two places available in the judges' chamber...

Please, please, please, please, please...

..whose valiant efforts will be rewarded?

Well, you did push yourself, didn't you?

That really was the blood, sweat, toil and tears, wasn't it?

Yeah.

This year, the chefs are paying tribute to

the Second World War heroes who fought on D-Day 70 years ago.

They've been tasked with creating patriotic dishes that

-tell the story of wartime Britain...

-Wow!

..and have sought inspiration from people in

their own communities who lived through rationing.

Just one egg? For a whole cake!

That's for a whole week, one egg for each person.

Judging the chefs this week is a former dessert course winner

and two Michelin star heavyweight Marcus Wareing.

Back in the days, it was all about steamed puddings and pies

and cakes, but, obviously, we're looking for a little bit more.

I want to see precision from start to finish.

Any one of the three chefs could be leaving today.

I really need a good result today.

I want to make it through to the judges.

I do not want to go home today.

I'm not going to finish the week on a low. I've got a great dish,

great story, I'm going to the judges' chamber. It's up to you

-who's joining me.

-Hopefully that's me, high scorer of the week so far,

hitting nine off Marcus Wareing, so, I hope to carry that on.

-It's all about today. I'm going to nail it.

-Let's prove it.

First up is Michelin starred Mark Poynton.

His menu, telling the story of the soldiers' journey to Normandy,

has given him the lead, but he's yet to hit the top scores

as Marcus feels he's been playing it safe.

I'm not happy that Jason's got the highest score

so far in the competition, but we've still got dessert to go.

My dessert says everything about the brief.

It's got lots of textures, lots of flavour.

For me, technically, it's a very, very hard dish,

so it's the biggest risk of the week for me.

What are we going to call this one?

It's a "Duke Pudding with Tastes of Normandy."

OK, so tell me about it, what are we going to do?

So, in continuation of my story, this is when they land in Normandy.

Duke pudding came round at the turn of the century.

It's basically a carrot cake, hence the carrots, bulked out with

stale bread which we rehydrate in water to keep the cake

nice and moist. With that, we're going to do a carrot cannelloni

filled with this lovely Calvados and cream cheese mousse.

I've got some lovely apple juice.

We're going to bring that right down to a caramel.

-It adds a lovely, sweet acidity to the dish.

-Right.

We're going to finish that off with Normandy brown butter ice cream.

This sounds like there is some challenges in there,

especially with the cannelloni and the ice cream.

The biggest risk for me is, I'm not a pastry chef.

I started off in pastry 18 years ago for three years.

I know the fundamentals, I know the basics.

Why don't you keep it simple then?

You don't like simple.

True.

Mark, he's made his life difficult. He's got a complicated dessert.

I just hope he's practised.

He did say he hasn't done pastry in years, which is not really great.

I hope Mark can bring the precision to his dish,

otherwise, it could just be a...just be a mess.

Next up, and just two points behind Mark in second place is

ambitious young gun, Jason Hodnett.

After a slow start, his risky main course paid off,

with Marcus giving him the highest score of the week.

When you get a nine off Marcus Wareing, that taste of victory is

unbelievable, but complacency, like in anything, could kill it instantly.

I know that I've got belief in this dessert.

I think it's a great dessert and, hopefully, that will shine through.

-Hey, Jason.

-Morning, Chef.

-You got a big score yesterday. You happy?

-Yeah, ecstatic.

-Tell me, what's the name?

-It's called "Home Sweet Home."

-OK.

It's the end of the war, we're starting to get things back

-that we're used to, the staples.

-What is the centrepiece of it?

So, I'm making a medal of the 1939 to 1945 George Star that was

-awarded for bravery.

-What's that made out of?

So, I'm going to make it chocolate, so I'm going to use

a nice, rich chocolate, then we're going to make a ganache,

-I'm going to use a different type of chocolate for the ganache.

-OK.

And then we're going to make a sour cherry filling

that's going to go inside.

-What's the lavender?

-We're going to use that in a honey parfait.

OK, where's the risk here? What's your fear with this dish?

This medal has been the bane of my life,

trying to get this medal to come out

-and, if it comes out, it's a dream and it looks fantastic.

-OK.

If it doesn't, then it's game over.

That's a huge gamble you're taking then.

This is a big boys' game, you have to try and take some risks.

-OK, well, I wish you the best of luck with that, Jason.

-Thanks, Chef.

Jason, yeah, "Home Sweet Home."

The most important thing about the medal is the chocolate,

that has to be absolutely perfect for it to work.

He said that it's been a problem for him

ever since he's been practising the dish.

I hope he's mastered the dish before he sends it to me.

Last up, and trailing Jason by just one point is returning champion

Aktar Islam. Having reached the banquet once before,

he's desperate for another taste of glory.

I'm determined to make it through to Friday,

because I don't want to go home.

It is about doing all I can today to make sure

I'm cooking for the judges tomorrow.

Tell me, what is the name of your dessert today?

-"Victory Is Sweet."

-OK.

-We're using a classic British Queen of Puddings.

-OK, yeah.

So, the pudding itself, it's going to be served warm, set,

and then we've got a Swiss meringue going on.

There is going to be some spice in it. Cardamom.

I think a lot of Indian desserts are sort of milk-based,

cardamom works really well with it,

and we're going to do a little fun tribute to Winston Churchill.

-A little chocolate cigar.

-What type of chocolate are we using?

-This is Manjari.

-OK.

We're going to make a whipping ganache

and then we're going to put some popping candy in there as well.

-Right.

-So, it's all just a bit of fun, that's all it is.

What are these?

It's a Queen of Puddings, so, I'm doing a sugar crown.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

-You're not a pastry chef, and

-you're spinning sugar?

-I'm going to do it.

You do realise how close this is, don't you?

I do, I do, but I'm taking a big risk here.

I get the feeling we're about to enter the danger zone!

But, remember this - any one of you could be going home today.

-Good luck.

-Thank you, Marcus.

-Thank you.

"Victory Is Sweet." Well, we'll soon find out.

Aktar is attempting to do spun sugar.

For someone who knows that pastry is the hardest thing

out of all of the menu,

to come to Great British Menu and to start spinning sugar...

..is insane.

With only three points separating them, the chefs all need to

score highly today to secure a place in front of the judges tomorrow.

Aktar's pinning his hopes on a dessert

inspired by an icon of the war.

Winston was a big part of the war effort, you know, he led

the nation into World War II, so I had to actually pay tribute to him.

-It's iconic, Winston and his cigar.

-Exactly.

You're not going to teach kids bad things, are you,

with this cigar malarkey?

No, no, no! It's bad for you. Don't do it!

To accompany his Churchill tribute,

Aktar is making a complex sponge sugar crown

and a modern take on Queen of Puddings using spice to bring

this classic dessert into the 21st century.

-What have we got?

-It's the custard base for the Queen of Puddings.

-So, what's in there?

-Brioche, which has been crumbed down,

-and in the custard we've put, with the spices to it.

-And the cardamom?

In Indian puddings, we always use cardamom, yeah.

A little bit of spice in there.

Cardamom's going to give it the Aktar touch.

It's that flavour, it's that spice, but it all boils down to

the balance and that has to be absolutely perfect for it to work.

Despite having limited experience as a pastry chef, Mark has

a lot of different elements to get right on his Normandy Duke pudding.

Mark's got to make sure that it's perfect,

because, if it's not perfect, Marcus will pick up on it

and it's certainly going to be bad news for Mark.

He's creating a carrot cannelloni filled with cream cheese

and Calvados foam, and a brown butter ice cream to complement

his Duke Pudding, a wartime dessert similar to a modern day carrot cake.

Hiya.

-Duke pudding.

-That's the one.

-It's a carrot cake made with stale bread.

-I've soaked that in water.

-In water?! OK.

-It keeps the cake nice and moist.

-Cooking at what temperature?

-180.

-That's good. OK, good.

-Thank you, Marcus.

Mark's doing the Duke's pudding. It just sounds like a cake to me.

To get to the final banquet,

you need to be pushing the boundaries and I'm not 100% sure

whether he's actually going to be doing that today.

Ambitious newcomer Jason comes from a family of army chefs and,

all week, he's used his background to inspire his dishes.

Today, he's honouring the veterans with his "Home Sweet Home"

dessert, creating a chocolate World War II medal.

The 1939 to 1945 star was awarded to personnel who'd completed

six months service in the Second World War.

Your dessert sounds like a bit of a risk, Jason.

-This medal's all about bravery.

-OK.

I think this would be a fantastic thing to get to the banquet

and give everybody.

That's very noble.

Jason is using classic flavour combinations including

a lavender and honey parfait

and a sour cherry filling for his risky chocolate ganache medal.

At what point are we at, Jason? Are these cherries

-going into that now, are they?

-No, I'm going to cool them

down first, get them nice and cold.

I'm going to add a little touch of honey as well,

-just to sweeten them up again.

-Is the honey in there now?

-No, not yet.

I came across the fact that, you know, sugar was rationed,

so honey was the sweetener, so, you know, there's no sugar in this dish.

Everything is sweetened with honey.

To find out more about the importance of honey

during rationing, Jason paid a visit to Brian Goodwin,

president of the Shropshire Beekeepers' Association,

whose father was a beekeeper during the war.

Now, sugar was very difficult to import into this country

because of the blockades by our enemies, and so the government

encouraged people to create allotments

and even public parks were ploughed up and planted with potatoes

and all sorts of other crops so that the country could be fed,

and the bee played an important part in that.

Bees fertilised crops as well as producing much-needed honey.

To increase production, the government offered

a £10 sugar incentive per colony to anyone who kept them.

So, is that now just ready to eat?

It's ready to be harvested, yes.

With Brian in possession of a wartime cookbook, it was a chance

for Jason to see for himself some of the recipes born out of rationing.

Companies started to produce special cookery books,

which had got recipes which were designed to use just

the allocation of food which was given to you during the war.

-One of them for a honey cake...

-Ah-ha!

-..which was quite good fun.

So, in this recipe, it says, "One large egg." Just one egg...

-It's fantastic, isn't it?

-..for a whole cake.

That's for a whole week, one egg for each person.

A lot of our recipes these days have got 20, 30, 40 ingredients...

-That's right.

-..and this has got, so far, six.

-Yes.

But, of course, there is an alternative to sugar,

-and that's honey.

-Three spoons of honey.

So, this has now got to go in the oven. Is that right?

That's got to go in the oven and it says, "For one hour."

I'm sure with another ten tablespoons of honey, it would be really nice,

but that's all they had. What they had was one egg and it was

the little bit of flour and it was the little bits of things.

-Ready.

-Now, let's taste it.

-After you, sir.

I'm going to try a delicate little slice to start off with.

That's...pretty disappointing, Brian.

I don't think I'll put it on the menu any time soon.

BRIAN LAUGHS

I wanted to learn something about the product that I'm going to use.

I always wanted the honey to be the sweetener

and to do the talking with flavour.

Trying that cake concerned me slightly, but, I know,

using the right quality that I can really nail that

and let the honey do the talking.

With only a one point lead over Aktar, Jason's adopting

a dangerous strategy.

The chocolate for his "Home Sweet Home" medal needs tempering,

a technique that should ensure a strong glossy finish

if it's allowed to cool to a precise 28 degrees.

-Have you tempered this chocolate?

-It stands for 27,

so, you know, it's as close as I'm going to get it in the time.

I don't really think he's thought his dish through.

Tempering chocolate in this heat, it's a no-no.

If that chocolate doesn't turn out, he's going home today.

Jason's not the only one taking risks.

With his "Victory Is Sweet" Queen of Puddings, Aktar's attempting

to transform an English classic into a modern masterpiece

and he's not taking the easy route.

So, spinning sugar, that's quite a difficult technique.

It is, it is.

His crown is spun from sugar syrup drawn into fine filaments

that require delicate handling and precision to shape.

My partner's been a pastry chef for 19 years

and she still doesn't do that, because it's so high risk.

-Maybe I'll get a medal from...

-From Jason? Maybe.

I wouldn't count on that, boys. I wouldn't count on that.

Despite a two point lead, Daniel Clifford's former protege

Mark has a lot to live up to and can't afford to rest on his laurels.

A lot of pressure for you, your missus is a pastry chef, Daniel made

it to the banquet with his dessert, serious pressure on your end.

-I thrive on pressure, mate, thrive on pressure.

-Thrive on pressure!

-Bring it on.

Ooh!

He's putting his pastry skills to the test, rolling delicate strips

of carrot cannelloni to hold his cream cheese Calvados foam.

Did you get some tips off the missus? Did she give you any tips or not?

-Yeah, don't listen to you.

-Anything else?

-Come home a winner.

-Let's see how many you can do properly.

First to plate up, and in last place,

is former champion Aktar with his cardamom spiced Queen of Puddings.

Do you think you've done it?

I should be OK, but if you hear a scream, that means I've run over...

He's still working on his technical spun sugar.

A minute, 30 left. You going to be all right?

A minute, 30? BLEEP!

With no time to lose, Aktar quite finishes his crowns and turns his

attention to his Winston Churchill cigars filled with whipped

chocolate ganache.

Next, his pipes meringue onto his cardamom spiced Queen of Puddings...

..adds strawberry, raspberry and blackberry jam...

..and blowtorches the top...

..before adding a quenelle of raspberry sorbet.

Finally, his crowning glory, spun sugar crowns.

Well, Aktar, is this your finest culinary hour?

I'd like to hope so, yes. A bit of bling.

I grew up in the ghetto, Chef!

We cover everything in gold.

OK, let's go and do some tasting.

That's your nod to Sir Winston.

I never knew Aktar had it in him

-with puddings like that.

-No, not at all.

Let's talk about the base itself.

Breadcrumbs mixed with a custard base, a little bit of cardamom...

The cardamom's really nice. It gives it a nice, fresh...

palate cleansing finish.

Tell me about the consistency of the custard.

I'm happy with it. I wouldn't want to set it any further than it is.

To me, it's got the texture of being split.

I would say that it's been overcooked.

Let's talk about that texture.

I'd probably whip it a little bit further.

I like the cigar.

It fits the fun element, it fits the brief.

Pretend you're Winston Churchill chugging on your cigar.

Do you think the crown's necessary?

What I wanted to do was have a bit of fun.

I'll give him credit on the skill.

To do spun sugar that well is very accomplished.

It's your final course, so give me a score for this one.

He's probably looking at a seven, maybe an eight.

I think seven.

Seven or eight.

-Well done, mate.

-Thank you.

-Happy with that?

Yeah, I'm happy.

Do you think the texture on the Queen of Puddings was right?

That's how I've always had it and, based on that,

I've presented it to you in that way.

Michelin starred Mark is next to plate up his Normandy themed

Duke Pudding, hoping to secure a spot in tomorrow's regional final.

He's gone the extra mile for his presentation,

with a box filled with sand from Normandy.

He starts with a smear of apple caramel, then carefully

slices his Duke pudding made with carrots and stale bread...

..adds beurre noisette powder...

..pickled apple cubes...

..and dots of carrot puree.

Do you think this is your ticket to the judging chamber?

I've built up quite a nice lead over the last three courses, boys.

I don't particularly want to lose it at this point.

Finally, it's on with brown butter ice cream and his fiddly

carrot cannelloni filled with cream cheese and Calvados foam.

This for me...

is the perfect ending.

Interesting presentation.

For me, this sings of D-Day,

you've got Normandy sand in the bottom,

and you've got a nice traditional English Duke's pudding.

-Now, without any delay, let's go and try it.

-Yes.

Tell me about the consistency of the cake.

Any carrot cake always a bit stodgy,

but adding the stale bread which we soak in cold water keeps it moist.

The pudding's got quite a light texture.

It doesn't really hit me with any main flavour.

The smoothness of the ice cream...

Any ice cream's lovely. You get the brown butter, you get the nuttiness.

It is a little salty for me.

I perhaps would have used unsalted butter,

I don't know whether he did, maybe I'm wrong.

Let's talk about the consistency inside the cannelloni.

I'm happy with the foam.

The foam inside, I don't think...

it worked with everything else.

Tell me about the caramel.

It is just pure apple juice.

It's just reduced down to that caramel consistency.

That's actually quite pleasant. That's quite sharp.

Right, we can now, we've almost cleared away the dessert

and the date underneath...

The date 6th of the 6th, 1944 was D-Day.

And the sand you said it was from Normandy, the beach?

From Normandy beach, yeah.

I think the presentation is beautiful, I think

it's poignant and it's meaningful.

Right, my last question. Give me a score.

I'd like to stay consistent with an eight.

OK.

-Welcome back.

-Yeah.

-How'd it go?

-It was all right.

-What did you guys think?

-I enjoyed, you know, various elements.

A couple of elements, I thought,

could have been done a little bit better.

I thought the whole thing came together very well.

-The thought process was very clever.

-Thank you. Good.

It's the moment of truth for Jason and failing to temper his chocolate

properly has brought him to his knees.

He's having trouble turning out his World War II inspired medals.

It's extremely tense in the kitchen at the moment.

Jason's having some real struggles

getting his medals out of the moulds.

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please...

It's not a position I'd like to be in, especially

when I'm due at The Pass.

Seriously intense.

I think Jason is just about to crumble.

It doesn't look good for him.

This first attempt is a disaster...

Anything we can do, Jason?

..and his only option is to sacrifice the moulds and cut out

the rest of the medals, enlisting the help of competitor Mark.

BLEEP! Get out in one.

Come on, come on, come on.

-Jason...

-I'll be on The Pass in one minute, Chef,

hell or high water.

Come on, come on, come on.

He finally releases a second medal,

but, with the chocolate not tempered, the surface has cracked.

Unfortunately for Jason,

his spares are broken too.

HE SIGHS

With none of them perfect, he's forced to serve the damaged medals.

He places them on a bed of lavender and honey parfait.

and finishes with a ribbon on the presentation box.

-Well done, buddy.

-Well done.

Well, you did push yourself, didn't you?

That really was the blood, sweat, toil and tears, wasn't it?

Yeah.

At least I know one thing. There's passion in there.

That's for sure.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yeah.

OK, Jason, I think about now we're going to have to go

and taste it, OK? Come on, let's go.

-Well done, Jason.

-Well done.

Stand up. You're still in it, OK?

The poor kid. He's been so brave and courageous.

He's put everything into that.

Take the presentation out of the equation.

Tell me about the cracking of it when you go through.

I think it cracks OK.

It hasn't got that crisp crunch, has it?

No, he hasn't got the temperatures right.

It's going to stick and it's going to go soft.

Let's talk about the flavour of the cherry in the centre.

You get enough sour through.

-The sour cherry's lovely.

-It's popping away.

There's some popping candy in there.

So, this is the lavender and honey.

I think there's enough honey in there.

I get a subtle lavender, which is all I wanted.

It's just a light whipped mousse.

I'm not getting the honey, I'm not getting the lavender.

So, now we've got to the end of it,

-it's all really about presentation for you, isn't it?

-Done right...

..I know that can be what it should be.

That's cooking.

I know.

If he's have pulled it off, I think that might

have been Marcus's ten for the week.

It's a dream for every veteran to be presented with your medal.

It totally nails the brief.

OK. I'd like you to mark it, Jason.

With my eyes open?

-Hmm.

-Four. With my eyes closed, a seven.

It's always a tough one, pudding.

I gave that absolutely everything,

150%.

All I can hope, I suppose, is that Marcus sees that

that dish was... It's got so much potential, in my eyes, you know.

It could be...

..a banquet-worthy dish.

Good luck, guys.

And you.

-Evening, guys.

-Marcus.

-Marcus.

Only two of you can go through to the judges.

Aktar, for your "Victory Is Sweet" Queen of Pudding

with chocolate and praline tuile,

I think you hit the brief.

I thought the balance of flavour with the Queen of Pudding was good.

The crown was not my taste...

but I thought the skill and the making of it was excellent.

I thought that the chocolate cigar was a fantastic idea

and a great nod to Sir Winston Churchill.

Thank you, Chef.

But...

..I was really looking forward to the cardamom flavour

because I really like it. I just didn't think it was enough.

I thought it would have come through a bit more.

I'm not so sure about the texture

of the pudding.

I suppose the question I was going to ask you,

do you think you could do this on a large scale, though?

Mark, your "Taste Of Normandy" Duke pudding

with brown butter ice cream...

a great idea and a real nod to Normandy.

I thought you got the cake flavour beautiful

and I really liked the butter ice cream as well.

You know, very smooth.

A few things...

I thought that the Calvados and cream cheese in the cannelloni

for me lacked flavour.

I know I've been saying all the way through

that you've been playing it safe.

I suppose the question is, how safe was it?

Jason.

For your "Home Sweet Home" of chocolate medal with honey

and lavender parfait,

I thought the idea of the medal was very, very, very clever.

You couldn't think of anything better at the end of a banquet.

I love lavender and honey as a combination,

I really think those two flavours do work.

But...

..I thought that the ganache itself was too heavy.

Because of the thickness of the chocolate,

the whole thing became too rich to eat, something that you'd feel

very sickly as you started to get towards the end.

And, of course, I don't need to tell you this,

the cracking of the chocolate.

OK.

The scores.

With a score of eight,

giving that chef the highest mark of the week...

..that's you, Mark. Well done. Congratulations.

Thank you.

-You deserve that, totally.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

OK, the final two.

Jason, the mark I'm going to give you...

..is a five.

Aktar...

..the mark that I'm going to give you...

..is an eight.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

-Aktar, you're going through. Well done.

Thank you very much for showing that confidence in me.

Commiserations, Jason. That dessert broke my heart, I must say,

and I know it certainly broke yours. Two of you are going through.

I wish you both the best of luck and I would really love to see

one of your dishes on the Great British Menu final.

-Thanks, Chef.

-Thanks.

-Thank you.

Mark and Aktar will cook for the judges tomorrow

but Jason must leave the competition.

From a high of nine to going out now with a five for the dessert,

that's devastating.

Like I said to you at the start of the week, it is going to be

the toughest thing you've ever done in your life.

I'm going to make sure that British bulldog spirit comes through

and I'm going to go all the way to the banquet.

After the research and homework I've done,

I believe I deserve to win and get through to the banquet

because I think I've nailed the brief, so, yeah, I'm very happy.

-Well done, boys.

-Well done, man.

Tomorrow, Aktar and Mark go head-to-head...

This is our little war, Aktar.

Yes, it is, and I hope to be just as victorious.

..cooking their four courses again for the judges.

I love this pudding.

Fantastic! Absolutely wonderful.

It does not look delicious, it does not look pretty.

But only one can go through to the national finals.

The winner is...