London and South East Judging Great British Menu

It's been a closely fought week for three of London

and the south east's best chefs.

With two award winning newcomers, Tom Sellers...

Come on!

..and Adam Byatt...

Don't worry about what's going on around me.

..snapping at the heels of returning contender Adam Simmonds...

Thank you!

..for the chance to cook for our World War II veterans at a banquet,

commemorating 70 years since D-Day at St Paul's Cathedral,

an iconic bastion of British wartime resilience.

Yesterday's dessert course was a three-way battle,

with all the chefs on equal points.

We move to the final course with a level playing field.

Adam Simmonds plated the winning dish, with Tom

and Adam Byatt both scoring a six.

Guys, it was so close.

In the end, veteran Richard Corrigan sent Adam Byatt home.

Now, to stay in the competition,

Tom and Adam Simmonds must cook their four courses again.

Adam has been here before and is determined to go all the way.

I can assure you now, I'm knocking a Tom out this year.

The judges are expecting the chefs' finest hours on a plate.

It's the closest we've ever seen it.

Ensuring the dishes evoke the spirit of wartime Britain is

a fourth judge, Joy Hunter,

who worked in Churchill's War Rooms during the campaign.

That was quite exciting. Action packed.

The dishes must also taste delicious...

Stonkingly good pud.

..as only the finest chef will continue in the competition.

Going through to the finals is...

Newcomer Tom Sellers had a mixed week and just scraped through

after a tense dessert draw with ex-mentor, Adam Byatt.

I won't go home today. If I cook well, I won't go home.

-Good luck, Chef.

-Good luck.

In homage to Mr Corrigan himself, look.

That's what's going to take me all the way, man.

But it's returning contender Adam Simmonds

who has the biggest point to prove.

After missing the brief last year,

he's determined to impress the judges this time.

-My old boss beat you - Mr Aikens.

-Yes, he did.

I can assure you now, I'm knocking a Tom out this year.

I'm here to win now. I got a second bite of the cherry yesterday.

Tom Sellers is going home, for sure.

Judges Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort

are examining the chefs' menus.

So, Adam, a returning chef. Tom Sellers, really competitive.

The most competitive region. Today is going to be a humdinger.

It's the closest we've ever seen it.

-Well, it's going to be a tight old battle.

-It is going to be tight.

Morning, gentlemen.

-BOTH:

-Morning.

-Hard at it, I see.

-Exactly.

-This is your second crack at this, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

If I remember rightly,

the problem last time was that you didn't quite think about the brief.

-You just cooked what you wanted to cook.

-That's very true.

This year there's been a lot more work

involved into the presentation side of it.

-MATTHEW: Tom, I see you got a ten for your main course.

-I did.

And do you think you're on course to have another ten today?

I'd like to think so.

The scoring has been amazing all week.

I really expect to see some of these dishes that

you're producing today at the final banquet, so good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

They need to see that I've understood the brief.

If I haven't understood it,

then they're going to crucify me, aren't they?

Yeah.

Tom is first to serve.

He scored a respectable eight in the week for his Dig For Victory

vegetable starter. A complex dish with goat's yoghurt,

malt soil, baby vegetables and chicken rillette.

Tom, obviously you're first, which I'm delighted about.

-For me, it's like lambs to the slaughter.

-Yeah?

And I'm going to stand and enjoy that.

Well, it's funny because I'm a big believer in leading from the front.

The chefs will also be marked by a fourth judge who played

an important role in the war effort.

Today, it's 88-year-old Joy Hunter,

who worked in Churchill's War Rooms in 1944.

What an honour to have you in the judging.

Thank you, Prue, it's lovely to be here.

-And this is Oliver.

-Oliver.

-Very nice to meet you.

-Good to meet you too.

-And Matthew.

-Hello.

Good to meet you.

Can you tell us what you were doing in and around D-Day?

I actually helped to type the battle orders for D-Day.

You must have been on your tenterhooks.

Yes, we were. It was very exciting.

I suppose, perhaps in a way at 18, you're absorbed with what

you're doing. We were very busy.

It almost seems more exciting now on reflection.

-Did you see Churchill at all?

-Oh, yes, quite often.

The corridors were quite small.

We always knew when he was coming because of his cigar smoke,

and he was, of course, enormously normal.

You'd just say, "Good morning, Mr Churchill."

Hopefully you're in for a treat today because we have

some amazing chefs and they're going to cook their socks off.

That's absolutely fantastic. I can't wait.

Tom's allotment begins with goat's yoghurt and herb emulsion...

chicken rillette path and oak and malt soil.

Next, he carefully plants pickled, blanched and baked vegetables,

including beetroot, radish and turnip.

Well done.

Isn't that pretty? It's an allotment for one.

Well, it's a lot whichever way you look at it.

There was too much on it when I did it first time round.

Richard picked up on that. I've changed that.

OLIVER: I think the chicken contrasts really well.

I really love this dish.

Well, it would be luxury at wartime.

There's no doubt about that, even though it's vegetables.

To have a mixture like that and to have that amount.

-You've used a lot of veg, haven't you?

-Yeah.

A vegetable cooked beautifully is one of the best things in cooking.

You've got these sort of sludge favours, I would describe them.

PRUE LAUGHS

-Well, the earth and the yoghurt and herbs.

-A bit boring.

The chicken's too wet. And it's too ground up.

Don't be put off by these two over here with me.

I know a thing or two about food and they're just learners.

I think it's a clever mix of vegetables.

If we'd been able to have a dish like this in the war,

we would have regarded this as Ritz food.

Adam is up next with a complex starter

inspired by the dehydrated food in ration packs during the war,

brought into the 21st century, using modern techniques.

His chicken dish includes dehydrated celeriac and chicken liver parfait,

rehydrated by a hot consomme.

Veteran Richard awarded it a nine for flavour

and inventive presentation, reflecting the brief.

Everything under control?

On the outside, yes, on the inside like a flapping swan right now.

What was it, Dad's Army, where he says...

-AS CORPORAL JONES:

-Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring, don't panic.

Into the ration packs goes cod roe puree, egg yolk, chicken wing

and chicken spam, then celeriac chucrute.

The dry elements are served on the side.

Crispy chicken skin in bags and dehydrated celeriac

and chicken liver parfait in tins.

His chicken consomme is served in replica wartime flasks.

HE EXHALES

-I think the props department has been working overtime.

-Yes.

I'm terribly excited about this.

There's something quite mysterious about this.

Wow. Goodness.

-PRUE: Read before you feed. MATTHEW:

-I like this DIY business.

For me it encompasses everything in that brief.

I think this is great.

Very tasty. And good fun.

It reminds me of camping.

There's loads of rich textures going on.

They're very comforting flavours.

I particularly like the egg yolk

which thickens and makes the soup a little bit richer.

This would definitely have helped win the war.

Do you think they're going to like the freeze-dried?

It's there for a purpose. It's about a modern-day ration pack.

This is a very sophisticated,

very modern piece of cooking that uses all sorts of modern techniques.

His idea of dehydration was a perfect wartime technique as well.

MATTHEW: And all these little design details,

this is what would resonate with the veterans at the dinner.

It would certainly make them smile.

Did you see that?

Tom's aiming to impress the judges with his turbot fish course...

which evokes the essence of Normandy by using ingredients

typical of the area. Blitzed oysters,

apples in a burnt apple puree,

cider cream sauce and samphire.

It scored a disappointing seven for being overcomplicated

and the overcooking of the then pan-fried fish.

I'm steaming the fish.

That was the biggest change I was going to make.

I think it's going to make it a better dish.

Nice.

The dishes are dressed with burnt apple puree,

samphire and black celeriac.

And topped with the turbot fillet.

Finally, Tom pipes an oyster emulsion

and spoons over cider cream sauce.

Thank you.

-Oh, doesn't it smell so beautiful?

-It looks really good.

That fish is going to eat better, for sure.

It is extraordinarily hard to cook fish this well,

and even with these strong flavours he's really pulled that off.

PRUE: He has. It's really extraordinarily good.

Do you think Churchill would have liked this dish?

I think he probably would. It's elegant.

MATTHEW: I've two misgivings.

The dominant flavour on the plate is not the fish, it's the apple.

The other thing is that it's about as far removed from D-Day itself

as I think can possibly be imagined.

It's about Normandy.

The four in there are smart people. They know their stuff.

They're going to know that everything on my plate of food

comes from Normandy.

Fish, apples, samphire.

They could just as well have been Somerset.

I was a bit worried about the brown things. I thought they were snails.

However, when I tasted it, I liked the burnt apple.

There's a lot to like about this. I like the use

of the sea vegetables, the samphire and the sea parsley.

It's on the verge of being a fantastic dish.

I think this could go all the way to the banquet

with no tweaking whatever.

For his fish course, Adam is preparing herrings, called

Silver Darlings in the war, with charcoal mayo and horse radish snow.

It scored him his second nine in the week for again delivering

on flavour and presentation, but the portion was too small.

You've listened to Richard then, Adam

and you've done a bigger portion of fish?

Yeah. Because I can't have them saying it's a canape, can I?

First on the dishes, depicting London in the war, are herring pate

in cucumber jelly, charcoal mayo, pickled cucumber and baby potatoes.

Then pieces of herring tartare and pickled herring.

To finish, the unusual horseradish snow,

herring powder and a selection of herbs.

Oh!

Patriotic.

Wow, that's absolutely magnificent...

even got barrage balloons, and little people.

Do you think the judges are going to like herring?

It has a fantastic flavour.

-I think it's really yummy.

-Me too.

-Delicious.

I love the cucumber with it. It really sets off the fish.

What I am won over by...

the little dash of horseradish, which I think it needs,

it gives that little kick.

-So, Adam, charcoal mayonnaise?

-Yeah.

-I like it.

-Do you think it's risky, though?

-Sometimes you have to take risks.

Of course.

The only question mark I've got is the charcoal mayonnaise.

I don't think there's any point in it and I don't like the texture.

This is so on message and so correct and beautiful,

and it tastes absolutely perfect. I just love this dish.

What I particularly liked, not only the taste of the fish,

there were no bones. Also the size is just the right portion, I think.

Is that you sitting alone on that bench there, Matthew?

No, it's me up in the aeroplane, the Spitfire.

Nee-ow-w-w.

Unfortunately, I think it's a Hurricane, not a Spitfire.

Oh, I stand corrected(!)

Joy, it's very nice to have somebody put him down like that. Well done.

At the halfway point, the chefs are busy

with their main courses, as the judges consider their scores.

I've had a ten. A couple of nines. The quality is outstanding.

-I think it's the best day we've had in the competition so far.

-Prue?

A ten. On the other hand, I did a six.

-MATTHEW: Ooo!

-Come on, there's no six there today.

That's just wrong.

Well, I was going to give a rather low mark on one of them.

Perhaps I hadn't thought it through carefully enough.

Don't be bullied by these guys.

Not these guys. Besides, I'm quite tough really.

Adam's main course was one of his lowest scoring

dishes in the week, but Tom bagged a perfect ten.

Do you think you're behind at the moment?

I'm busy getting another ten for my main course.

Adam's up first, serving venison loin, smoked venison sausages,

salt-baked beetroot and potato puree.

The Bulldog is a homage to Winston Churchill

and was inspired by Adam's visit to Churchill's War Rooms,

something fourth judge, Joy...

Hello, Joy.

..has first-hand experience of.

-I saw Churchill quite often, obviously.

-Was he very demanding?

I'm sure he was with the chiefs of staff, not of civilians.

We always found him very pleasant, quite amusing, really.

So was it a fast pace?

Action packed, because it was immediate down there.

All the planning for D-Day and we had reports from all over the world

from all three services every hour,

and when there were bombs, we had knowledge of where all

the bombs had fallen and how many casualties there were.

It was very strict. We were locked in.

And the door was guarded by Marines.

-Timekeeping was very strict.

-Kind of like Great British Menu.

So how's the food been going in the judging chamber?

Well, that's another thing altogether.

But I won't say there haven't been any tens

but I'm not going to say what they were for, or why.

Top secret.

The best of luck with the rest of it. Thank you.

-BOTH:

-Thank you very much.

You could listen to a lady like that all day.

-I feel like you almost need to do her proud.

-Yeah.

Adam's serving his Winston Churchill inspired

dish on plates decorated with quotes from the man himself.

He starts with walnut puree...

walnut pieces and beetroot.

Next is venison sausage, mushrooms and venison loin.

Then aerated pomme puree, an element Richard wasn't keen on.

The plate is finished with truffle, frozen blackberry

and blackberry vinegar, with venison sauce on the side.

RADIO STATIC

RADIO: 'This is the BBC Home Service.

-CHURCHILL:

-'We shall fight on the beaches.

'We shall fight in the fields.

'We shall never surrender.'

I must say it's extraordinary listening to that voice.

It always has the same effect actually.

I think it's very stirring.

Do you think Joy is going to like it?

I think she'll like it, yeah.

-It's a delicious mixture and the venison is beautiful.

-Beautiful.

There is some little missing element here.

When you're using a low-fat meat, like venison,

you're just looking for some counter action to it.

That's exactly what you've got with the walnut puree

and the beetroot. That's exactly what it's for.

-I think it's representative of who he was.

-Yeah.

And what he liked to eat.

It's quite a straightforward, good eat. He would appreciate that.

I think the sausage itself is far more tasty than the venison.

I like the dish. I was just expecting more bells and whistles.

These are the bells and whistles, all the stuff around, the quotes.

I love it.

"How little we should worry about anything, except doing our best."

The only thing I would say against this dish

is that it would be very nice to see something green on there.

This is a good dish, it's not a great dish.

I'd be delighted if I was presented with it at a banquet.

Tom's main course was the highest scoring dish of the week.

He is preparing a pigeon dish using breast and confit leg,

served with mashed potato and a pigeon and potato consomme.

Tom's putting a lot of pressure on himself to repeat his top score.

Do you think you'll get a perfect ten this time?

-I'm

-BLEEP

-doing my best to.

BLEEP

First in the dishes is mashed potato...

Did you get a big enough pot?

..followed by cabbage, baby leeks, turnips and carrots.

And topped with fried ceps.

Next, the pigeon breasts and pigeon hearts,

finished with pigeon consomme and the confit leg

with a coded message...

representing the vital information homing pigeons communicated

during the war.

-Do you think it's a perfect ten?

-I really hope so.

I need it to beat you.

-OLIVER:

-Wow!

-Those saucepans.

-Thank you.

-Crikey.

-Wings for victory.

-I've got a code on mine.

The next one's on the legs.

PRUE: It's a homing pigeon.

It must have some dramatic, important message.

-Can you work it out?

-Absolutely no idea.

-Nor me neither.

-PRUE: And I'm getting terribly hungry.

-Let's eat.

-Look at that.

You know, pigeon for me is a really underestimated piece of meat.

ALL: Mmmm.

-MATTHEW:

-Delicious.

Oh!

-Is that good?

-Absolutely delicious. Perfectly cooked.

The potato was crispy, the broth was tasty.

For me, it was good classic cooking.

Joy, you've never had pigeon before. What do you think?

Well, it's very tasty.

Do you think one of your messages might ever have gone

through pigeon post?

I doubt whether they went from the underground War Rooms

but they certainly were used.

And usually by resistance workers or special ops people.

I think this one, brief-wise, with the little coded message...

I think for a veteran...something they could really connect with.

MATTHEW: The numbers represent the letters of the alphabet.

PRUE: Nine is 'I'

- Berlin! - There you go.

-Berlin has fallen!

-Something about victory?

-OLIVER:

-Victory in Europe!

So this is a happy story. There is a happy ending.

Well, it's not much of a happy ending for the pigeon.

Adam is due first with his dessert.

In the week, it proved problematic with many components to juggle

and the kitchen too hot to prepare his chocolate.

Today, the kitchen's still too warm

and the blast chiller's not cold enough.

Right now I'm worried about the ice cream.

The blast chiller's not coming down to temperature quick enough,

so the ice cream is not setting.

Tom throws Adam a lifeline.

Listen, I can go on my dessert and give you some more time. Shall I go?

-If you can. Yes, please.

-I'll go now then. All right?

Tom will serve his dessert first.

He's prepared a treat box of what he imagined would have been

Winston Churchill's favourite things. Textures of chocolate,

whisky parfait chocolate bar and beer ice cream.

A dish which scored a disappointing six,

with Richard deeming it too big and too boozy.

-I've made a lot of changes today.

-What changes have you made?

I've changed everything about the box, so the way it's dressed,

the way it looks.

Into whisky presentation boxes, he lines chocolate custard,

chocolate soil and chocolate crispy.

I'm removing the smoke. I think it's too much.

The chocolate bar of malted chocolate biscuit, whisky caramel

and whisky parfait is covered in edible gold leaf and placed inside.

Finally, it's beer ice cream, made using ale that was flown via

Spitfires to the British troops in Normandy after D-Day.

Boom! That's better than yesterday.

PRUE: Oh, great.

A wonderful idea, sky raining barrels of beer.

I think it's a marvellous thought and typically British.

Who else would do a thing like that?

-Are you pleased with the changes?

-Yes. Ten times better.

Do you know what, if we eat all of this we'll be drunk.

-There's lots of booze in it.

-This is my kind of pudding.

It's great quality chocolate with different elements to it.

It just hit every button for me.

I've made a lot of changes.

Less is more.

Remember that Richard gave his pudding a six,

and so clearly he's done a lot of work on it. I take my hat off to him.

Stonkingly good pud.

-Big problems with mine.

-That's why I went first for you.

And I'm very grateful, thank you very much.

I'm not really a pudding person but this is right up my street.

And as for that... Keep me going.

Oh! Yes!

Adam's dessert is a homage to our American allies, inspired by

a chocolate bar developed by Colonel Logan for soldiers' ration packs.

Adam's dish is a chocolate orange bar with orange jelly sweets,

aerated chocolate, sorbet and granita.

-I cannot

-BLEEP

-believe it.

-What's up?

This dessert is going to be the death of me.

I left it out there because it was cooler out there. The sun comes out.

And it starts to melt.

BLEEP

With the judges waiting,

Adam dresses the plates with the chocolate orange bars,

then scatters the orange jelly sweets,

orange segments and aerated chocolate.

He finishes with evaporated milk sorbet and milk and orange granita.

BLEEP

Mmmm.

-It could have been a lot worse.

-It could've been.

But it could've been a lot better.

"This Logan Bar was instigated by Colonel Paul Logan,

"specifying that chocolate taste only a bit better than boiled potato.

"This was imposed to keep soldiers from snacking

"on their emergency rations in a non-emergency situation."

Tell me, are we in an emergency situation

-or are we in a non-emergency situation?

-Yes, we're in an emergency

because this cream is floating off the side.

-Mine's going off the sides too.

-Better get stuck in.

It was melting, so it's not right, is it?

I know that I'm capable of 100% better than that.

The quality of the chocolate is quite terrific, isn't it?

Yes, and I must say it goes beautifully with the orange.

Those little orange jellies.

The flavours work, I know the flavours work.

Richard said the flavours work.

I think what we're seeing here with this spillage is

a result of whatever problem he's had in the kitchen today.

Is that insurmountable? I can't answer that.

The person that makes the mistake is the one that goes home.

-Isn't it?

-Yes.

I think that the evap sauce is horrible.

Oh.

I'd have to fundamentally disagree. I love evaporated milk.

I'm an evap man.

I don't think this comes up to the standard of the other one.

We've been caught in a pincer movement between these two.

Listen, this has been a great day. We have eaten some great food.

-I would agree with you and I think...

-What?! You agree with me?

-All you have done is moan all day long.

-Listen.

Tens! Nines!

I think we were neck and neck until the dessert.

There's Adam, absolutely hit the brief and he could not

have turned round more. And there's young Tom, going at it like a train.

It's a good idea that, Chef.

I gave two tens.

I gave no tens. But, crikey, we had some good food.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

It just feels really close.

-Listen, it's been a pleasure to cook with you.

-You too. Well done.

OK, guys, this is it. We've got to add it up and get them in.

-Tough day at the office?

-Very tough.

Well, we have had amazingly high scores.

We had four tens...

-and we had ten nines.

-Blimey.

We've added up the scores.

You both scored exactly the same numbers. It's a draw.

Really?

We've never been in this situation before, so we've discussed long

and hard, and we've decided that going through to the finals is...

Both of you. Congratulations.

You both deserve it.

-I can't believe that.

-How does it feel?

-Brilliant.

It almost feels a justification

and a privilege to be going through with him.

Adam, I loved your herring dish. I gave it a ten.

Big Ben, barrage balloons -

spot on and the fish was delicious. And there were no bones.

I gave you ten, too.

And, Tom, for me the best dish was the turbot.

It was perfect in every way. It looked beautiful, it was delicious.

-I wish I could have given it a 12.

-Thank you very much.

Listen, guys, I look forward to seeing both of you cooking for us

in the finals.

Thank you.

I can't believe it. Can you?

I just can't believe I've got to see you all over again.

-I'm so happy for both of them.

-It's lovely to see.

I thought I'd got rid of him. Now I've got to put up with him again!

-I'll be coming back stronger.

-Yeah, me too.