North West Main Great British Menu

This week on Great British Menu,

three of the North West's finest chefs.

Returning contender Mary-Ellen McTague...

-You don't look stressed out at all.

-Do I not? This is my "mum" face.

Jason Atherton protege, James Durrant...

I'm very happy.

And ambitious newcomer, Mark Ellis...

Takes quite a lot of effort to turn food on its head.

Are fighting it out to get their dishes to a banquet commemorating

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

Yesterday's fish course saw the chefs flounder.

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

With Mary-Ellen in particular...

It's ruined, it's gone completely mushy.

..getting battered.

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

Today's the main course.

-It's going to one of them...

-BLEEP

-..days, I can see it.

And all three are desperate to win Daniel round.

-Hopefully cheer him up after yesterday.

-Yeah. Oh, God.

But only one of them will perfectly redeem themselves.

I'm shaking just telling you it.

I'm going to give you 10.

This year the chefs are commemorating the soldiers

who fought on D-Day by creating dishes that tell a wartime story

and demonstrate British cuisine's world-class renaissance

since rationing.

Wow!

They've researched how their own communities

were affected by the war.

It's a dawning of a realisation, you know, the cost,

and what people went through. It's such an overwhelming place.

Judging them all week is twice winner

and double Michelin star heavyweight, Daniel Clifford.

Yesterday I had a really bad day.

The fish courses weren't brilliant and I was shocked by it.

They've got to start ticking all the boxes on the brief

but also the food's got to be excellent.

They've got to show me why they're in this competition.

-How we feeling after yesterday?

-Bit bruised.

It was quite brutal, wasn't it? - Yeah, we took a bit of a beating.

-We're not making the North West look great at the minute.

-No.

-So we need to do better today.

-Yes.

-We will.

-And we will, yeah.

First up is current leader James Durrant

who used to work for two time Great British Menu winner, Jason Atherton.

He didn't disappoint with his starter,

but like his rivals came unstuck with his fish course yesterday.

I'm feeling a little disappointed still

but got to crack on and get them points back up, keep the lead

and get through to the judges on Friday.

-Morning, Chef.

-Morning, how are you?

-You all right? Yeah, I'm great.

-Tell me about the dish.

-Right, we've got English Rose Veal

-with beans and toast.

-OK.

People say that is was the British spirit that won the war and I wanted

-this to kind of celebrate that, you know?

-Yeah.

-It's a sharing dish to

bring community together, like the Blitz spirit.

-So, like a real family, sitting down, tucking in, eat what you like.

-Yeah.

-Loving it.

-Yep.

We've got these lovely veal cheeks here,

really, really slowly cook them.

We've got some fantastic baby vegetables,

so some baby leeks, baby carrots.

Just all kind of classic young vegetables.

That's that part of the dish.

The haricot beans, the broad beans and the lovely green beans,

that's going to be the base of beans and toast.

-With some lovely veal loin.

-Yep.

And then some really lovely fried veal, English sweetbreads.

-You've got a lot to do today.

-Yeah, I've got a lot to do.

Well, that's good.

James' dish is a sharing dish.

He's got the beautiful veal, he's got these beans and toast.

It sounds amazing but is it too simple?

I just hope he can make sure that it's ticking all the boxes.

Next up and in joint second place is determined first timer, Mark Ellis.

So far, the modern twist he's made to his nan's wartime dishes

haven't paid off and he's yet to score highly.

Perhaps been a little bit cocky before now

but yesterday was a bit of a wake-up call that I needed.

Really confident in my main course.

-Morning, Chef.

-How are you?

-Sleepless night.

-Yeah, me too.

Poor performance yesterday, bit disappointed.

-Had a really good think.

-OK.

Taken all your criticism and advice on board

-I've actually tweaked this dish.

-OK.

-The dish is Lobscouse.

-OK.

It's a traditional stew. The reason I chose it is because

it was a dish that we grew up eating.

-OK.

-After speaking to my nan we found out that that was

a recipe that she learned during the war from her mother.

-Passed down generation by generation...

-Yeah.

-..by generation.

-Brilliant.

-I've tried to keep it as faithful to the original version.

Obviously with a few modern tweaks. So, I've got some

beautiful racks of lamb, put a couple of cutlets on there,

-give the veterans some opulence.

-Lovely.

I'm going to braise the lamb next.

I'm going to lightly bind it with chicken mousse

and I'm going to deep fry it and crisp it up.

And then traditional vegetables really

-so we've got some beautiful swede.

-OK.

Potatoes. Going to try and make a Parmesan and eggless gnocchi.

-OK.

-We used to have it with pickled red cabbage out of the jar.

-Yeah.

So what I'm going to do with that is a slight twist. I'm going to do a

pickled red cabbage puree

and I'm going to try and make a crisp as well.

Just remember, you know, take your time,

make sure everything's perfect and taste, taste, taste.

Mark's doing Lobscouse which is a stew.

It's proper British food but I know Mark.

He can't stop himself.

He's doing a red cabbage tuile.

To me, that's Mark putting one of his modern twists on a dish

that it might not need.

Finally, with the same score as Mark,

is second timer, Mary-Ellen McTague.

Last year she impressed from the start

but she struggled this week with a devastating score of 4

for her fish course, her worst ever in the competition.

Yesterday was horrific.

I mean, it was awful, it was embarrassing, it was horrible

seeing the disappointment on Daniel Clifford's face.

So I just can't have a repeat of that.

-Morning.

-Good morning.

-Sleep well?

-No.

-OK.

-What we doing?

-We're doing Bill's Pot Mess.

-OK.

Bill is my husband's grandfather

and he was in the navy during the war on D-Day.

-So this is really close to the heart?

-Very, very.

This is all about his experience.

So there's two parts to it, there's one part which represents what

he would have had when he was out at sea.

They couldn't cook on board because it created smoke.

So the first part is ship's biscuit and corned beef.

I've got this beautiful brisket for the corned beef

and then back in harbour they all got their food rations

put together and made a big thing that they called Pot Mess.

Got another lovely piece of meat here. This is the sirloin.

This is going to be poached in a water bath and then roast.

-OK and some beautiful kidneys.

-Yep.

We've got some locally grown kale, we've also got turnip and...

-Then we've got this.

-Yeah, we've got some rum.

-OK, so the party's going to start today as well.

-Yeah, so you're

going to get a rum ration just like Bill would've done on board.

-Does that scare you, boys?

-She's certainly done a lot of work,

she's put a lot of effort into it

and I think she's got a lot to prove so, yeah.

Mary-Ellen's doing two dishes.

To do one dish and get it right is hard enough

but to do two dishes, that's a massive risk.

I just hope it pays off for her.

The chefs are still in shock at yesterday's bad result.

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

-it just makes me want to do better and better.

-Yeah.

Think yesterday it was my seasoning, it wasn't right

and me being impatient and trying to serve it too quick.

So, how are you going to impress Daniel today?

Trying my best with the cooking really. I want to get it perfect.

I want the seasoning right, I want the execution right

and hopefully the whole idea of sharing

and the getting together will cheer him up after yesterday.

Yeah. Oh, God. He looked so miserable.

Don't worry, I'm up first. I'll try my best.

Jason Atherton protege, James is aiming to keep his lead with

an elaborate dish named English Rose Veal.

Got a lot of pans on the stove there.

-You going to save some room for me?

-No, not at all.

He's busy making a veal cheek stew, known as a blanquette which

he's serving with a new take on the British classic, beans on toast.

-James, how's it going?

-Yeah, all good.

-These your beans?

Yeah, we've got butter beans cooking down in the veal sauce.

White beans with a little bit of garlic and thyme in there.

The beans were the big staple in the British diet during the 1940s.

-The veal cheeks I'm braising.

-Lovely.

The veal loin, that's going to go carved over the beans and

then the breadcrumbs are drizzled over the top.

Is this going to be the main course of the banquet?

It ticks all the boxes,

the flavours all work, I'm happy with it.

James' downfall yesterday was the dish was far too salty.

I just hope today that he has full control of his seasoning.

Also, he's got quite a bit to do.

I'm just a bit concerned

whether he can pull it all together at the last minute.

Desperate to put yesterday's disaster behind her is

returning contender, Mary-Ellen.

This time last year I got an 8 for my main course.

Do you feel that you're on that sort of level now after yesterday?

-Well, that was a different course. I knew it wasn't my strongest.

-Yeah.

With her two part main, she's aiming to tell the story of what her

husband's grandfather Bill ate while in the navy during the war.

The inspiration behind the dish, Bill's experiences,

it's made this the most important dish for me, really.

She's doing her own take on ship's biscuit and corned beef.

-And Bill was there on D-Day, on Normandy...

-Yeah.

-Definitely don't want to let him down with it then.

-Well, no.

As well as Pot Mess,

a type of stew with beef sirloin, kidneys, dumplings and vegetables.

She's under pressure to pull it all off.

-How you getting on, young lady?

-Yeah, OK, thank you.

-You all right?

Yeah, yeah. Just really want to make sure everything's perfect, you know,

-got a lot to make up...

-Yeah.

-..for after yesterday.

It was a big blow and kind of embarrassing as well. So...

-Well...have you got two minutes?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Come with me.

I feel personally that this could be your day.

When you were telling me about the box it made me slightly well up

because I can see how much love and passion you've put into it, yeah?

Take a step back. Take a deep breath.

You've got two guys in there who are cooking really good food

but yours has got the whole journey about it.

-Just good luck, yeah?

-Thank you.

-Please.

-Thank you.

If executed properly this dish is...I know it's a good dish,

I've just got to get it right and if I do, I think he'll really like it.

Also out to impress today is ambitious Mark

who's modernising his nan's recipe for Lobscouse.

Instead of stewing all his ingredients in one pot,

Mark is cooking them individually.

Braising lamb neck,

roasting lamb cutlets

and instead of potato,

he's making an eggless potato gnocchi.

What I'm trying to recreate is almost an overcooked boiled potato.

I really want that texture but I don't want to overcook a potato

-because that's not what chefs do, yeah?

-Yeah.

He had just as elaborate plans for the rest of his veg

but after being marked down by Daniel for over complicating

his first dishes, he's chosen a safer route today.

What I was going to do was like a carrot mousse,

I was going to do a swede puree and basically I've just gone back

to doing sort of diced, roasted, poached swede. Yeah.

I really want that clarity of bold flavours,

that's what I'm going for with this dish.

It really needs to bring back loads of nostalgic memories.

Big family favourite mine is, scouse.

It's so close to a lot of people's hearts, you know,

in the war effort it played quite an important part

-in keeping everybody going.

-- OK.

To research his main course of Lobscouse,

Mark took a trip to its spiritual home Liverpool,

where during the war, ships brought vital food supplies to Britain.

-You OK?

-Yes, thank you.

He met up with historian, Frank Carlyle.

This was the main port in the whole of the country.

This would've been chock-a-block, not only with warships

but also the merchant ships that brought in not only arms

but also the food which was really essential for everybody.

In this unassuming building in the city centre the Allied Forces

built a secret bunker of great strategic importance.

-It's all very mysterious, Frank, where are we?

-Well, we're actually

in the headquarters of the Western Approaches.

This was where the battle of the Atlantic had actually taken place.

-Right.

-It was here that the commander-in-chief would have

plotted where the U-boats were for the safety of our convoys

getting through here to Liverpool.

-Right here.

-Incredible.

But, Mark, over 3,000 merchant ships were actually lost

through the U-boats.

And also 175 Royal Navy ships were also lost.

It's a dawning of a realisation, you know, the cost,

and what people went through.

It's such an overwhelming place.

With so many boats never making it to shore, food was scarce and

Liverpool's favourite one pot dish, Lobscouse became even more popular.

At Maggie May's cafe, 81-year-old regular, Mike Kelly remembers

it always being on the menu.

It's very relevant to the war years, Mark.

-It was easy to get bits and pieces to make a good pan of scouse.

-Yeah.

-The main ingredients as we know was the potatoes...

-Yeah, yeah.

-..you know and the veg and meat. If you could...

-If you could get it,

-yeah.

-..afford meat in those days.

With the meat being scarce as well and being rationed,

that's how blind scouse came into.

The blind scouse meant that there was no meat in the scouse.

The absence of meat also saw new additions to the dish.

To bulk it out, beetroot or pickled red cabbage was added on the side.

I'd really love it if you could try this for me

-and give me your opinion.

-Great.

It's my nan's recipe, I've tried to do it as authentically as I can.

-It's delicious.

-Good.

-I can see Frank and I asking for more.

That's encouraging to hear as this is the basis for my main course.

It's really important to do well.

I feel like I owe it to the people of Liverpool

and also to my nan, especially with this course to get it right.

There's so much history around it and so many people

find it a staple part of their diet still to this day.

I really, really don't feel I can let anyone down with this one.

But Mark has had a set back.

He's over reduced his lamb stock.

Do it again.

-It's going to be one of those...

-BLEEP

-..days, I can see it.

Meanwhile he starts his red cabbage element which he's determined

to bring into the modern era by turning it into a crispy tuile.

-Mark. How's it getting on?

-OK, yeah.

-What's this?

-This is pickled red cabbage.

-OK.

-So I've juiced the red cabbage.

-Yeah.

-This has been thickened with Ultratex. It's a starch that allows

you to thicken liquids cold so you don't have to destroy

the natural flavour by heating them up. So it's a really different

flavour. I'm hoping that it will cut through the richness of the lamb

-a little bit.

-And then you're going to dry it out in the oven?

-Yeah,

-that's right.

-How are you keeping it from not going soft?

It doesn't go soft. Keep it in an airtight container,

break it at the very last minute and it should be nice and crisp.

Mark is on fire today.

He's cooking his socks off but he's changing things again.

Pickled cabbage is now a tuile, that scares me because I know

for a fact tuiles, once they go onto warm plates, they melt.

James is first to plate up his English Rose Veal main course.

-Smells great, James!

-Thank you.

-He begins by filling a large pot with veal cheek stew.

-You happy?

Yeah, I'm very happy. Let's just hope Daniel thinks so.

Then turns his attention to the side element, beans on toast.

He starts with mushrooms and green beans.

Then adds his stewed beans with veal sweetbreads.

-Next on is roasted veal loin.

-It's coming right now.

Topped off with breadcrumb toast fried in butter and veal stock.

Well done, Chef.

-Are you happy with it?

-Yes, I am. Yeah, yeah.

It's for everyone to get in and enjoy.

OK, do you want me to hold the plate?

That would be perfect, thank you.

-How do you feel?

-Nervous.

-Does this dish tell a story?

-I like to think so, yeah.

A big thing struck me in the brief

and it was about the Blitz spirit and the community spirit

so I wanted to represent that by getting people together

and sharing and enjoying the food together.

OK.

It's a really nice idea to have something that you put down

-in the middle of table and everyone kind of helps themselves.

-Yeah.

-That could really work.

-Yeah.

The tarragon is coming through with the blanquette,

is this how you wanted it?

Yeah. I think it really freshens it up.

-So, the blanquette.

-It's really good.

-That's really good.

Really good. Cor, blimey.

And this is the veal loin.

-That loin there is really tender.

-Yeah.

-Nice flavour.

-I really like that, think he's done really well.

-Yeah, I do.

This is the beans and toast.

Yeah, what I wanted to do was give the dish a different texture.

Beans are good, nicely cooked. Little bit under seasoned for me.

Yeah.

-Do you think this is your finest hour?

-I believe so, yeah.

-I'm really worried now.

-Yeah.

-If you was me, what would you mark it?

-I think it was 7 or 8 today.

-I'm going to give him 9.

-Yeah, I think I will as well.

-That was really good. How did you get on?

-Yeah, I know, I'm happy.

-You're happy?

-Yeah, I'm happy with today.

You've definitely raised the bar, mate.

-Fingers crossed.

-Sorry, bit lost for words!

No, I really like that, mate. I'm a bit underwhelmed(!)

- It was, it was lovely.

Thank you.

Next up is returning chef Mary-Ellen.

Don't drop it.

Don't drop it, don't drop it, don't drop it.

With her two part beef dish, Bill's Pot Mess,

named after her husband's grandfather.

What's that, Mary-Ellen?

It's a radio.

-RADIO BLARES

-Oh, that was just the tuning.

-Today when I come up to the pass I'm going to play some music.

-Yeah.

But if I manage to get to the judges' chamber I'll be playing Bill

talking about his experiences on board HMS Wensleydale.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

She has more wartime props up her sleeve.

Her ship's biscuit and corned beef is served in ration tins.

You serving in two parts or is it all going up together?

Today it's going up together, if I was to get through to the

-judge's chamber it would be two-parter.

-Yeah.

She starts her Pot Mess with kale.

Next on go girolles.

Kidney.

Beef sirloin.

-Looking good, Mary-Ellen. It sure smells lovely.

-Thank you very much.

Dumplings...

and truffle all topped off with gravy.

-They not deal with the heat very well?

-No!

-BLEEP

Luckily she has a spare set of cups for her beef consomme with rum.

MUSIC ON RADIO

-Music, nice touch. Happy?

-Yes, think so.

What do you think, boys?

Looking good, I'd be happy if I was Bill on board.

I thought we was going to have a rum?

We are!

-We're totally having a rum.

-Great.

-Think the radio was a lovely touch.

-Yeah, she's done well.

She's nailed the brief with that and the fact she's telling the story and

you've got the tins, the rations, the rum, I think that's great.

Bully beef, is this how you wanted it?

Think it's slightly under seasoned.

-Is that supposed to be corned beef?

-Yeah.

Think it perhaps needs a bit more seasoning.

-Biscuit, think that works?

-I think there's not quite enough salt

in there. It's kind of lost its impact actually.

Textures are great on that.

-Really crunchy thin biscuit, think she did really well with that.

-Yeah.

This is the beef consomme with rum.

That's nice.

All right, shall we move onto presentation?

It could be a bit tidier, I suppose, yeah.

I think this is a lovely idea in the box

but I'm finding it difficult to get in.

-Difficult to eat.

-Yeah.

-What about the size of the beef?

-I think I've done it slightly too big.

-It's a lovely flavour to the beef.

-The beef's great.

-What would you score it?

-Erm...

7?

I'm going to give her 7 for that. I'm impressed.

I'm going to give her 8.

Er...I'm not sure about that.

He seemed pretty underwhelmed.

Think he was excited about it when he saw it come up to the pass

but didn't seem to enjoy eating it very much...

Which is unfortunate.

Last up is ambitious Mark with his modern take on the old classic

Lobscouse stew.

Feeling confident at this point, Mark?

I'm really confident with this dish, yeah. I love it, I think it's great.

He starts his plate with carrot puree.

-That lamb all right, Mark?

-Perfect.

Then adds lamb cutlets,

unusual burnt onion, potato gnocchi.

This looks good.

Deep-fried lamb neck.

- Certainly not how my nan used to make scouse.

No.

And baby vegetables.

Finally he adds his controversial red cabbage tuile

and pots of sauce on the side.

-Happy?

-Yes, Chef, very.

-For me this really does represent a modernised version of scouse.

-OK.

The original recipe was from my nan so it's quite important to me

to get this one tasting right and looking right.

OK.

-Do you want to carry that for me, Chef?

-Yeah.

-The braised lamb, is this how you wanted it?

-Yeah.

-Lamb neck, isn't it?

-Nice garlicky flavour.

-Texture's great, really moist.

-Yeah.

And what about the cooking on the lamb?

It's a touch over from when it's been resting. Just a touch.

The lamb. Mmm. That's really tender.

Potato, is this how you wanted it?

Really happy.

-Do you think that's worked, the gnocchi?

-I like the flavour.

He's gone for a bit of pepper in there, it's nicely seasoned.

What was the thought process behind the tuile?

I thought veterans might like to try the flavour but in a new way.

That's got a good flavour to it.

-A lot more intense than I kind of anticipated it to be.

-It is.

Does this dish tell a story?

To a lot of people in Liverpool, I think if they ate this dish,

they have the nostalgia, the flavour, I think

everybody would have an individual story involved with this dish.

I don't think it has nostalgia, that obvious impact to it.

By itself, no.

Give me your score.

I'd be disappointed with less than 7 for that.

-I'm going to give it 6, I think.

-6 from me as well.

-How you doing, mate?

-Another tough one.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

It was tough going in after seeing your dishes.

Think everyone raised the bar really high today so yeah, rattled me

a bit going last but I achieved what I wanted to on the plate.

Hopefully Daniel will get it as well.

-Think we've all really pushed ourselves today, haven't we?

-Yeah.

And hoping to do a little bit better than yesterday.

Yesterday the fish course was quite a disappointment.

I think we all went home and had a pretty sleepless night.

Mary-Ellen, I'm going to start with you.

Bill's Pot Mess with ship's biscuit and beef stew.

When we first started tasting the dish, you were already

telling me negatives and you've got to believe in your food.

The beef bully and the ship's biscuit,

the first thing you said to me was it needed more salt.

I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

The beef stew, I thought it was nice. I loved the story.

I think you've done Bill really, really proud.

But...

I found the sirloin a bit too big to eat in the tins.

The rum ration, I think if you'd given me a bit more rum,

I'd have been a happier guy.

James.

Your English Rose Veal with beans and toast.

Yesterday I found the fish course really salty.

But today the balance of flavours was absolutely perfect.

The veal was delicious. The sweetbreads just melted in my mouth.

The beans and toast, it brought something very different to the

dish that I didn't expect it to be.

And I loved the tray. It made me really quite feel quite emotional.

But does the title tell a story?

Mark.

For your Lobscouse with lamb and red cabbage.

The two types of lamb, I really enjoyed it.

The potato, I liked the texture.

The red cabbage tuile...

It actually worked. That was a good result.

But...

The story, it didn't quite translate onto the plate.

And I just wanted it to be a bit more stew-y.

Mary-Ellen.

For Bill's Pot Mess...

I'm going to give you...

8.

Thank you.

Mark.

For your Lobscouse...

Mark, I'm going to give you 7.

James.

For your English Rose Veal...

Chief, I'm shaking just telling you it.

I'm going to give you a 10.

Do you know when we were tasting it together I found it so hard

not to give it away how impressed I was?

I think you really need to work on the title

but it absolutely blew me away.

Thank you.

Well done, everybody.

Three courses down, James storms out in front

while Mary-Ellen has a one point lead over Mark.

I'm completely in shock actually. I'm shaking a little bit.

Over the moon.

-Well done though.

-- 10!

Yeah, I'm quite blown away by that.

-A better result than yesterday.

-Yeah, amazing.

Been quite average all week so to get 7, I'm over the moon with that.

Oh, thank God. Especially after the disaster with the fish course,

you know, it's really good to end on a high today.

Tomorrow the battle for the North West heats up with dessert.

It is custard, would you stop going on about it?

-Anything can happen in here.

-Got to be careful with this.

Couple of drops too many and it's back to the drawing board.

As only two chefs can go through to cook for the judges on Friday.

So, for the scores...