North West Fish Great British Menu

This week on Great British Menu,

three of the North West's best chefs.

Determined newcomer Mark Ellis...

It will be nice to give something back to those D-Day veterans.

..Jason Atherton's protege, James Durrant...

It's all about really treating these guys at the banquet.

..and returning contender, Heston Blumenthal trained Mary-Ellen McTague...

Oh, that's so nice!

..are going head-to-head for the chance to cook for our WWII veterans

at a banquet commemorating the 70th anniversary of D-Day

at London's awe-inspiring St Paul's cathedral.

-Yesterday, James leapt into the lead.

-James?

I'm going to give you an eight.

-Leaving his rivals reeling.

-I'm over the BLEEP moon!

-No, you're not.

Today, it's a fight for fish course glory.

It takes quite a lot of effort to serve food on its head.

-And Mary-Ellen faces a frozen fish meltdown.

-It's ruined.

It's gone completely mushy.

But will it leave her battered?

-Pressure on you now?

-Yeah, it is. It BLEEP well is.

-Just fish and chips, Mary-Ellen.

-No, mine's just fish and chips.

She's got a big, big mountain to climb with this.

This is going to either make or break her.

This year, the chefs are paying tribute to the incredible heroes

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

They've been challenged to produce patriotic dishes that evoke

-the spirit of wartime Britain.

-Land of hope and glory.

-Does this make you proud to be British?

-I think so, yeah.

And have been inspired by their own families

-and people in their communities...

-Wow!

..who experienced this momentous period of history first-hand.

You could hear bombs going and it was terrifying, really.

Judging them all week is two Michelin-starred

and twice banquet champion, Daniel Clifford.

The fish course is the hardest out of all four to get right.

So today, I'm looking for brilliant cooking,

I'm looking for great execution

and I don't think fish should be played with.

I think it should be a piece of fish on a plate that tells a story.

So, guys, a new day, new opportunity.

Um...I'm a bit disappointed from yesterday, to be honest.

I want to claw back a few points, too. Not a good start.

But I saw last year, it all could change.

We've all got to really try and impress them today.

-Hopefully show them what we can all do again.

-Yeah.

-It's all about making an impact, I think.

-Certainly is.

First up is ambitious newcomer Mark Ellis, who overcomplicated

and overseasoned his starter,

putting him last, with just five points.

He can't afford any mistakes today.

I'm quite determined to get a better score with the fish.

It's a simple dish in concept. Loads of really good flavours.

Not a lot of room for error. I've given myself quite a bit to do.

But hopefully, I'll pull it off this time and it'll be worthwhile.

-How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

-Good.

-Raring to go.

-Ready for this?

-Yeah.

-So take me through the dish and where the inspiration came from.

OK. The dish is called Marshland.

My nan's father was a fisherman during the war,

so they always did really well with fish.

And because we live near a marshland,

I've decided to do a marsh scape of where she grew up

and all the things you can find in there.

-You've got as lovely piece of plaice.

-I'm going to fillet it.

I'm going to make a mousse with the bottom fillets.

Very high risk, so it needs to be spot on.

-Not too much salt today, Chef.

-Not too much salt, no.

-These are the ingredients. There's, like, a duck egg.

-Yeah.

-I wouldn't expect this on a fish course.

-No.

-And you've got pig's caul there, as well.

-Yeah.

The duck egg, I'm going to make a vinaigrette with some of them

and I'm going to serve a little bit of duck egg with the rest of it.

-OK. Obviously, you've got samphire here.

-My nan calls that sampkin.

That's something her father would pick fresh when he came off the boat

and bring back with the fish and they'd eat it together.

-So this really is quite a close one to your heart.

-Very much so, yeah.

Mark's dish is called Marshland.

He's got beautiful shrimps in there,

he's got a beautiful piece of plaice. He's got a lovely box of ingredients.

It's just whether he's overworking it.

That's what's scaring me about his food.

Next up in second place is returning chef Mary-Ellen McTague.

Despite doing research into wartime Britain,

her starter failed to hit the brief, scoring just six points.

The fish course is a simple dish

and so each component's going to have to be really, really good

in order for it to stand out, otherwise it's going to be a flop.

Mary-Ellen, explain to me the dish.

So this dish is called Vera's Friday Night Fish Supper.

And it's about what my husband's grandmother used to have

as a weekly treat during the war years.

I thought if we're going to do a banquet for veterans,

we need to think about what kind of foods were treat foods.

Something that would bring back memories,

-something that had a sentimental value.

-Yeah.

-So I'm using some locally-grown potatoes.

-OK.

I'm going to fry them in dripping.

-You're using a completely different fish.

-This is megrim sole.

So when I was looking into fish and chips

that were served during the war years,

this is one of the fish used quite a lot.

Um...these are the black peas,

so it's eaten a lot in my hometown of Bury.

We have black peas and vinegar.

Um...and I'm going to be making a vinegar jelly with a gelling agent.

So the vinegar jelly will be battered and deep-fried.

-That'll be a difficult one to pull off.

-I've practised it.

Well, practise makes perfect.

Mary-Ellen's Vera's Friday Night Fish Supper, she's using megrim.

I've never tasted it. It's a fish that is not commonly known.

It could be one that amazes me, or it could be one I think,

"Hmm. That should have been left in the sea."

Last up is Jason Atherton's protege, James Durrant.

Used to working in some of London's toughest kitchens,

he kept a cool head yesterday,

taking the lead with an eight for his starter.

I'm determined to do well again.

I suppose it's like an addiction. I want to keep doing it.

It was a good feeling and a nice feeling

and I don't really want to be in the losing position, really.

Explain to me where the feeling of this dish has come from.

My idea behind the brief was almost to take it on a journey.

We've gone from wartime food to the future.

-And this kind of comes in the category of dream food.

-OK.

It was a big thing speaking to my wife

and talking about what her grandfather

would've really dreamed for when he was out there

and what he loved till the day he passed away.

And fish and chips is up there.

-Fish and chips has always been one of those ones, like a Friday special.

-Yes.

-So basically, we're starting with monkfish.

-OK.

-We've got a lovely monkfish here.

Why have you chosen monkfish over cod or haddock or megrim?

It works well with the spice. I'm rolling it in curry powder.

-Are you battering this?

-No. It's going to be complemented.

We've got some lovely cod cheeks. This is going to be a cod cheek scampi.

-so I'm wrapping them in my powdered Scampi Fries.

-Does this work?

-I think it gives it a scampi flavour.

-Have you tried it?

Yes, I have tried it. Yeah. And then the chips. We've got celeriac.

And then I'm going to do scraps.

So we're going to use a real traditional beer batter.

And hopefully the ingredients are going to tell the story.

James' fish and chips, he's got these cod cheeks

and they're beautiful and he's going to wrap them in Scampi Fries.

For me, that's a fear. He must have tried this dish.

If he hasn't, it's a sinking ship.

Ambitious Mark is quick to point out

his rival chefs are producing very similar dishes.

Two head-to-head fish and chips.

It's the same as the last course, isn't it, really?

They're very different dishes, aren't they?

It didn't work out so well for me last time.

Doesn't that mean it's a good idea, if more than one person's has it?

Yeah. I agree.

I didn't, so what does that say?

LAUGHTER

Returning contender Mary-Ellen's starter

failed to hit the brief yesterday,

so she needs nothing short of perfection with her fish course,

Vera's Friday Night Fish Supper of megrim sole

and technical vinegar jelly scraps.

I've got a really big problem with my fish.

It's been in the bottom of the fridge and it's frozen. It's ruined.

-It's gone completely mushy, horrible texture.

-You got more coming?

-Yeah.

I've sent out for some more and it's on its way,

but it's not here yet and I'm not going to have time

to get everything done that I need to do to that fish.

It's a complete disaster for Mary-Ellen.

For something that needs to be so fresh to not even be here

when she needs it, let alone what she needs to do to it,

I feel really sorry for her. She's got a big mountain to climb.

If she pulls this one off, I'll be really surprised.

He may lack the Michelin-star training of his rivals,

but Mark is keen to make an impact.

Yesterday, he overseasoned his complex starter.

Today, his Marshland fish course is another complicated dish

of plaice fillet and mousse, deconstructed potted shrimp

-and unusual samphire, or sampkin puree.

-Chef, how are you getting on?

All right. made a really good start. Left myself quite a bit to do.

So, what's going on here?

What I'm going to do is roll them without the butter

so I can serve them warm. The butter would melt.

I'll make a powder with the butter so I can serve it warm.

So you still get those buttery flavours.

-It'll still be...?

-Yeah. It's potted shrimp...

-Potted shrimp done your way.

-Obviously served with crispy plaice and sampkin.

-So, this is sampkin puree?

-That's sampkin puree, yeah.

Nice and smooth, velvety, little hint of that salt.

-Trying to keep the salt content down.

-You've got a lot to do here.

-Yeah.

-The concerning thing for me is nothing seems to be what it is.

-No.

-You need to pull it together.

Mary-Ellen has plenty of prep to do,

-so her replacement fish arrives in the nick of time.

-Right stuff?

-Yeah, right stuff.

-It's a bit smaller, isn't it?

-It is.

It's not exactly the right size, but at least it's fresh.

-I mean, look at the difference.

-Yeah.

With her black peas in the pressure cooker,

second-timer Mary-Ellen prepares her replacement megrim sole fillet.

I'm really under pressure now

because I haven't got a lot of time to get this prepped, brined, glued.

Smaller than expected, she needs to adjust her portion size

so they don't overcook in the batter.

-How you getting on?

-Because it's not going to have as long as I wanted to glue,

I've had to roll it a bit tighter than I normally would.

If I had longer to glue the fish, I would've rolled it looser

-and let it keep more of a natural shape.

-You don't look stressed out.

-Do I not?

-No.

-That's my mum face.

-Is it really?

-Yeah.

Tell me it's Vera's face. That's what we're trying to do today.

Look at her. She's looking after me.

-Yeah, she's looking over you. What's going on?

-This is black peas.

-OK.

The slight risk with the black peas is you never really know

what's going on in there until you take the lid off.

-Are these on a timer?

-Yes.

They're having an hour from when they came up.

She's cooking them for an hour. I can't work that out.

Me, I'd normally cook my pulses for 30 minutes, maximum.

That's a bit of a risk.

If that dries out, they're going to be burnt.

Mary-Ellen and James are going head-to-head

with their takes on fish and chips.

Both of them hoping it's a fitting tribute to commemorate D-Day

and the spirit of resilience in wartime Britain.

This dish was really a big treat for me and generations beforehand

and it's all about really treating these guys at the banquet.

And I suppose out of any of them,

this one's really the dream food for me.

Out of all the nicer foods that were available during the war,

fish is chips is the one people still love today, but also, everyone

could get hold of it because it was affordable and it wasn't rationed.

-Although I did hear there were some queues for it.

-Yeah, probably.

-There still are.

-Yeah!

During the war, fish and chips was a treat for many

and one of the very few foods that wasn't rationed.

It's the inspiration for Mary-Ellen's fish supper,

so she's come to a chip shop close to home to meet Sylvia,

who has profound wartime memories of this much-loved wartime dish.

Your parents would put you to bed, say, 7:00,

and then you would hear the air raid sirens

and then you would get up, get dressed, in the shelters

and then somebody would say, "Shall we send out for fish and chips?"

So, the fish and chip shops were open during air raid sirens?

-Yeah, they were.

-When everyone else was in the shelters.

-Exactly.

My sister used to go out for fish and chips

when the bombs were dropping on Manchester.

And, um...she used to take a list out of what we wanted

and then she used to go and get them and then come back.

That's amazing.

You could hear bombs going and...it was terrifying, really.

You could hear bombs landing, it wasn't just the siren you could hear?

We could hear the sirens and then the bombs in Manchester.

We were four miles from the centre of Manchester. You were frightened.

You must have been.

They haven't come to just any old chippy.

Didsbury Fish Bar has been open for more than 100 years,

so could well have been one of those that kept frying

while the bombs were flying.

It only remains to be seen if Sylvia will approve

of Mary-Ellen's fish in light tempura-style batter.

I do hope you like it.

Mmm!

-This is lovely, but I like a thicker batter.

-OK.

It's beautiful fish.

Mmm. Great.

I'm hugely relieved Sylvia liked the fish and chips,

so I hope if it gets as far as the banquet, people there will enjoy it

just as much and it'll do justice to a dish

that has a lot of sentimental value for people.

Back in the kitchen, Mary Ellen is straining her cooked black peas...

And preparing the vinegar jelly for her megrim sole fish supper.

Mark is using conventional ingredients in his own unique way.

He's moved on to preparing the mousse element of his multifaceted

marshland plaice and potted shrimp fish course.

Easy on the salt, this time. Let the vegetables season it.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Experienced newcomer James is once again keeping calm

and in control - his ultimate fish and chips of curried

monkfish and celeriac chips includes an unusual ingredient.

Chef, I'm seeing everything come from you. Scampi Fries...

What's going to be on the main course, pork scratchings?

You seem to have brought a complete different outlook on this

competition - flavours that no-one else would have done.

I'm hoping I can create the ultimate fish and chips...

That's what we're looking for. You called it that, so it needs to be.

The pressure is on James to deliver on his promise.

He is first to plate up his fish dish and, having made

a strong start yesterday, needs to keep his lead today.

What are the bits?

Just beer batter. Proper scraps.

-They just go in a little cone to sprinkle over the top.

-As garnish?

Yes.

He starts his plate with butter-rich mushy pea puree,

then it's his curried monkfish

and the controversial scampi snack-coated cod cheeks.

Next on, it's the unusual celeriac chips.

-And tartar sauce.

-I have to say, James, now I'm seeing this go on the plate,

-I am a bit worried!

-It's just fish and chips, Mary Ellen.

No, MINE is just fish and chips!

James continues with pickled cucumber

and his beer-batter scraps in a newspaper cone

complete the dish.

Is this your finest hour?

Monkfish could have rested a little longer, I think

certainly, but I'm happy.

Let's go and taste it.

-It looks great.

-Yes, I think the plate looks fantastic.

-It's an ideal size for a fish course, as well.

-Yeah.

The monkfish is a fish you need to rest a little bit longer.

Yes, I think I should have taken it out or put it on a little earlier.

It just needs that bit more resting for the water to come out of it.

That monkfish is really well cooked. Cuts through the spice quite well.

Mmm!

The spice on the monkfish, was this how you wanted it?

You can taste it, you can taste the curry,

it doesn't overpower the dish and the seasoning's good.

This is the scampi fry coating.

I think it's quite clever, it's got a really nice flavour.

I just think it's a little bit overpowering for the cod.

-So these are the celeriac chips.

-Yes.

I mean, they're never going to get as crispy as a potato,

but I didn't want potato, I wanted to add a new element.

Mm, really nice, but very salty.

A little bit soggy I thought, really, if anything, in texture.

But nice.

For you to call this the ultimate fish and chips,

that's a really bold statement. Do you feel you've pulled that off?

In my opinion, yes, I think I have. It ticks the boxes for me.

Fish, chips, mushy peas - it brings me back to childhood,

-Friday night chippy tea.

-OK.

I reckon that's another eight.

I think probably a seven.

It's very, very strong cooking,

but I'm just not convinced of its originality.

Hey!

All right, how did you get on?

Not too bad, not too bad.

-He's still not cracking.

-Poker face.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's not giving anything away.

Ambitious Mark is up next and is struggling with the wartime

inspired hardtack biscuit for his marshland fish course.

I'm having a bit of trouble keeping it flat,

so time is running out and you don't want that.

Mark needs to avoid the disaster he had yesterday

with his over-seasoned starter.

Are you happy with the way it's cooked?

Couldn't be happier.

Pleased the plaice is cooked perfectly,

he starts his plate with duck egg yolk vinaigrette...

followed by his deconstructed potted shrimp

topped with a mace butter disc.

It takes quite a lot of effort to turn food on its head!

It's hard work. I think if Daniel doesn't like it,

it might be that he doesn't get the story.

Next on, plaice topped with plaice mousse,

coated in breadcrumbs along with samphire puree.

Then, it's the hardtack biscuit and sparingly sprinkled samphire.

-That was hard work, chef.

-Is the seasoning right?

-Absolutely spot-on.

-Perfect.

-Does this honour the war veterans of D-Day?

-Very much so.

-OK, let's go and taste it.

It's an edible marsh scene for me,

sort of a landscape of the marsh on a plate.

I know where it's from, I know the area

and I think it does sum up where he's from.

It's not as entirely obvious to me.

What about the plaice and plaice mousse?

I think it works quite well in the mouth

when you get the fried plaice and soft plaice at the same time.

The samphire is a little bit lost, isn't it?

Yes, it's not a very bold flavour to flavour a mousse with, is it?

-I think the fish is cooked lovely.

-Hm.

The vinaigrette -

do you think the egg flavour is coming through on that?

Yes, it's got that richness of the duck egg.

The duck egg yolk vinaigrette is a little bit heavy on the olive oil.

-A bit bitter.

-Yes, I think it could do with a touch more vinegar.

-Yeah...

-Use that sharpness. It would really help the shrimps.

The potted shrimp, do you think that's too dry?

No, I think it comes together quite nicely with the vinaigrette,

the samphire puree and the butter quite nicely under the fork

when it's taken together.

So this is the potted shrimp.

It is perhaps a little bit dry.

If you was going to score this dish, what would you give it?

I think it's quite a high score, to be honest, Chef.

Six.

I'm going to go with a five.

I think Daniel may struggle to find the story.

Can't read him again at all.

No idea what he's thinking. Um...

Doesn't seem to get any easier, either,

the more plates of food that come up, the harder it seems to get.

It's been a hard day for returning contender Mary Ellen.

She's last to plate up with her Vera's Friday Night Fish Supper

of megrim sole, chips and black peas.

How you getting on, how's your fish?

Hopefully it's stuck.

With time running out, Mary Ellen gets ready to batter her megrim.

Her vinegar jelly cubes are added to the batter for her scraps,

then she deep-fries her fish.

-Pressure on you now, Mary Ellen.

-Yes, it is.

BLEEP!

-Got a little ways to go.

-Right.

Twice-cooked chips are next on the plate,

followed by her battered fish.

Then it's a pot of the unusual black peas with vinegar...

..topped with the technical vinegar jelly scraps.

Mary Ellen wraps it all, chip-shop style,

in wartime-inspired newspaper and serves with a pot of iced white tea.

-Last dish of the day.

-Yep.

-Happy?

-So-so.

-OK, I'm taking mine through...

-I'm looking forward to my dinner!

Me too!

You're close to my heart already.

-Shall we tear it open?

-Yes, you do the honours.

It certainly smells like proper fish and chips, doesn't it? Yeah.

-Are you happy with the colour on the fish?

-Erm...

Well, it could be a little more of a deep golden colour.

The problem I had was the fish being a bit small.

I didn't want it in the fryer any longer.

The fish looks a little bit pale to me.

-It's not the most vibrant-looking plate of food, is it?

-No.

-Chips, happy with them?

-I am, actually. Um...

Crunchy...

Crunchy chip.

Mmm. Nice flavour.

Lovely chips.

-And the puree, is this how you wanted it?

-Um, yes.

That's how we eat black peas!

I'm just not sure about the colour, personally.

-Did the jelly scraps work?

-They went a little bit wrong, they did.

The batter was a little bit too thin.

But, um...

Would you call that a ten?

I'm going to give her a six again.

-Being brutally honest, I'd probably give it a five.

-Yeah.

I'm not saying it's a bad dish, it's just not my cup of tea.

The fish is quite an important part of the fish dish,

so it would have been good to get that right, really!

-He's not an easy one to crack, is he?

-He's expecting a lot.

-Yeah.

I just hope I've done enough today to catch up a little bit.

I really don't want to be behind after today. I'll be devastated.

-Good evening, chefs.

-Evening.

-Evening.

-How have you found today?

-Another tough one.

-I had really high hopes for the fish course.

And the north-west won it, last year.

But I have to say, today I've been bitterly disappointed.

Mark, for your marshland...

..I really enjoyed the potted shrimps.

The fish...

The outside was really nice and crisp and worked well with the dish.

The seasoning was perfect.

However, it's not all good news.

The plaice was really overcooked, slightly mushy.

The duck egg vinaigrette... I couldn't taste duck egg.

All I could taste was olive oil.

There were small bits of samphire on there,

but I believe it needs more to be a real marshland.

The dish needs work.

James, for your fish and chips, I thought

the scampi was a really nice touch.

The chips weren't crisp, but the sweetness

of the celeriac I thought worked quite nicely with the dish.

The curried monkfish, I enjoyed the flavour of that.

But... the monkfish really needed to rest.

I found a dish little bit too salty.

The big question I have to ask myself...

was that the ultimate fish and chips?

Mary Ellen. For Vera's Friday Night Fish Supper...

..when we unwrapped it, it really did bring me back to that day and age.

I really thought you were in danger of overcooking the black peas,

but I actually quite enjoyed the texture.

Your chips, definitely the best chips of the day, really nice and crisp.

But...

And today there's a few really big buts,

I really felt underwhelmed

by the dish itself.

I was expecting to have a wow factor

and I had blobs of jelly sitting on top of the black puree.

And the fish was anaemic. It just didn't look pleasant.

To be totally honest,

I was really shocked that you'd put that dish on the pass.

So, for the scores...

Mark, for your marshland...

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

..a five.

It needs to be more like a marshland

than just fish on a plate.

James, for your ultimate fish and chips...

..I'm going to give you a five, too.

If you're calling a dish "the ultimate fish and chips",

it's really got to be the ultimate fish and chips.

Mary Ellen...

for Vera's Friday Night Supper, I'm going to give you...

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

I feel for a chef of your experience,

you can give me a much better plate of food than that.

Today hasn't been easy for me at all.

The big question I ask myself - could I see any of these

dishes at the banquet?

And the answer has got to be no.

So whoever goes through has really got to up their game on fish course.

It's been a tough day. But I'm going to say good night.

Tough, all right.

-I'm shocked.

-Mmm.

Two courses down and James has a three-point lead with

Mary Ellen and Mark both on just ten points.

I'm absolutely stunned.

That was awful. I feel completely sick.

Pretty gutted, actually.

You could tell he was disappointed.

I knew it wasn't right when I put it up.

I'm not sure James and Mark did.

I can't believe any of the dishes were worthy of a score that low.

I am absolutely devastated.

Bit of a kick in the stomach for us all, really.

Tomorrow, the fight continues with the main course,

as the chefs go all-out to reverse their fortunes.

Every time you get a disappointment with the scores, for me,

it just makes me want to do better and better.

-Hopefully cheer him up after yesterday.

-Yes - oh, God!

But will Daniel think it's their finest hour?

I'm shaking just telling you it.

I'm going to give you a ten.