Episode 24 The Box

Across the country, lots of us are working out what to cook tonight

from the ingredients in our cupboards.

To inspire you with throwing away the cookbooks

and going back to basics...

..we're pitting three resourceful and creative home cooks

against one another to see what they can come up with.

Whoever does it best will be our cook of the day.

Ready to show they can think on their feet are today's three cooks.

Mel, who's from Cornwall and is used to feeding hungry teenagers.

I'm a feeder, at the end of the day. I love cooking.

I'm hoping I don't just fall to pieces.

I'm terrified.

Student architect and keen cricketer Nathan,

who's handy round the house.

My parents sort of sway away from cooking.

They make me cook.

They make me wash up.

They sort of just get me to do everything, really.

I'm looking forward to... how my food is actually like,

other than my mum saying,

"Oh, yeah, it's lovely," all the time.

And Charlotte, an Iceland travel specialist

with a creative flair in the kitchen.

Cooking, I am quite competitive, yeah.

It's the one thing that I think I'm quite good at.

I hope you don't see too much of a competitive streak in me

but it is definitely there.

Their first test will be to cook from a box of ingredients

put together by today's guest -

former JLS member turned farmer JB Gill.

-JB.

-How are you?

-Welcome to The Box.

-Thank you.

Now, I'm intrigued to know what's in here, but first of all,

-what's life like after the band?

-It's been good, you know.

-Yeah?

-It's actually quite refreshing. I've had quite a busy year.

-Yeah.

-I got married, I had a son, and...

-Just a little bit then?

Just a little bit and I've been working on the farm,

which has been a handful but very good.

So what do you produce, then, on the farm

-that you've got now?

-Pigs, primarily.

-Right.

And you know, I've got chickens for eggs and things like that.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yes.

Well, straight away, meat, obviously -

-venison, and then ribs, some pork ribs.

-Yes.

Yeah, OK, all right. What are you hoping with these ingredients then?

What dish would you like?

-I'd probably prefer to go with the pork.

-Right.

Just because, obviously, with the time limit,

the time restriction, it's going to be a bit more difficult to cook

the pork than it is to cook the venison.

OK, all right, well, we'll give it a go.

We've got 50 minutes and you get to sit and relax round the corner.

-Excellent.

-All right, we'll see you in a bit.

-Thank you.

And I have to say, spare ribs, cooked properly -

yeah, everybody would like that, wouldn't they?

OK, guys, well, welcome to The Box.

Now, you're all here to create a dish using a box of ingredients

that's been specially selected and shopped by our special guest.

You've got 50 minutes,

so open your box and let's get cooking. Good luck.

Today, in my box, I've given the contestants potatoes,

white rice, fennel, pork ribs.

My mum makes the best ribs in the world, tried and tested,

so I'm hoping that someone will be able to top her skills.

Parsnips,

loin of venison -

doesn't need too much seasoning.

It should carry a lot of its own flavour.

Cloves,

saffron,

strawberries,

a cooking apple

and brandy.

I hope they're good, cos when I meet them, there might be a few

things to pull them up on, if they haven't used the ingredients wisely.

They don't have to use all of JB's ingredients,

and to help them along, there's a store cupboard

full of the sort of basics we might have at home.

Mel's definitely going to cook the venison.

Ooh, it looks like she's gone for a curry kind of dish.

Right, Mel, this smells good over here. What are you doing?

-I've decided to do a curry cos I like cooking curry.

-Sounds good.

So it might be criminal use of the venison,

-which looked very beautiful.

-Absolutely not.

So, yes, venison curry, which is a bit spicy -

so if I decant it, I'm hoping to calm it down a bit -

and cardamom and saffron rice.

My family's from the Caribbean, so I am partial to a bit of curry.

I prefer a chicken curry, if I'm honest.

I've never tried a venison curry but I'm looking forward to it

if that's what she's going to do.

I wouldn't normally use a really good quality meat like that

and put it in a curry.

And so many times, home cooks overspice stuff,

and with the saffron and the cardamom rice...

saffron, so often it can overpower everything.

You've got to use it quite sparingly.

Ha-ha, Nathan's got some soy sauce and he just poured it into a bowl,

so I reckon he is going to do the ribs.

Good lad.

-This looks like a man who knows what he's doing.

-Hopefully.

I'm doing ribs, the marinade with some soy sauce,

and done them with some honey, some chilli flakes.

I'm going to do that with an apple and fennel salad, I think.

OK, sounds good. So, are you a big sportsman, then?

Yep, love my sport, absolutely love it.

What are you into, then?

Cricket's probably my favourite sport.

I like to play rugby as well.

I like to play golf, tennis... just all sports, really.

I love the idea of competition.

-You know there's two ways you can cook these ribs, you know that?

-Yup.

-I'm going to do them in the oven, I think.

-Right.

And they take about a good 40 minutes.

Do you know how long we've got left?

-About 35, so better get them in.

-Yeah, get them in the oven.

The problem is, with ribs, when you cook them in the oven like this,

is timing, really, but they're actually quite small ribs

so maybe these are going to be cooked in time.

I'll be very impressed if Nathan comes up with something

that's really good. I mean, he's only 21.

I actually like the idea of what he's put together.

Well, Charlotte's using a fantastic piece of venison there.

Now, this is haunch of venison -

it's a very delicate piece of meat to cook.

If you overcook it, it tastes horrible, it tastes like liver.

You must serve it rare in the middle.

All right, Charlotte, how are we doing?

Yeah, I think it's coming together now.

So you've got the apple sauce there,

-which is looking good.

-Yup.

-Mashed potato.

-Yup.

-Fennel?

-I may not use the fennel,

I just wanted to cook it cos it was there.

OK, sauce?

Yup, it's a redcurrant, wine and a little bit of chocolate

in there, cos I think that goes really well with venison,

personally, and I like the contrast of sweet and savoury,

so there's a bit of savoury with the mash

and the slightly sweet sauce.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, that's all right.

-I like it.

I've never had chocolate with venison.

I'm not sold on what she's going to do, but, you know,

we'll give her a little bit of leeway and see what she comes up with.

One of the classic accompaniments with venison is a chocolate sauce.

Now, I say chocolate sauce -

it means that you add a small amount of chocolate to, like, a jus,

or a fantastic red wine sauce.

It's not chocolate sauce that you'd put on profiteroles.

You've got to use it really, really sparingly.

Charlotte's got her venison in the oven to roast,

and now, I'm going to check on Mel's curry.

It's looking all right. Has it calmed down a bit now?

-It's looking... I think so.

-Let me have a taste.

-I think I might add some cream.

-Cream...

Poor Mel.

How much space did you use, anyway? You used...

Well, I used quite a bit, cos I'm used to cooking for four or six.

Four or six on the Richter scale, or what? What...?

-No, people, so quantities thereof.

-Oh, right, people.

Well, it's less... It's less...

..ba-bang!

-Isn't it? It's...

-Yup.

-It's more just like...at the moment.

-Uh-huh.

OK, let's hope it stays that way.

Yeah, keep it more like that.

We'll see just how spicy it really is.

Nathan is hiding the dish, cos I told him to keep an eye on it.

-Are you hiding this dish, Nathan?

-No.

-The one thing I said to you -

keep an eye on it, otherwise it will burn the dish.

These are the ribs. Yeah, they look pretty good.

-Yeah.

-Let's get this sauce on as soon as possible

and then get those back in the oven.

-Leave the tinfoil off, cos you want it to evaporate, you see?

-Yeah.

Time's almost up,

and soon JB will be judging who has made the most of his ingredients.

Charlotte has probably been the most creative with her dish,

so ideas and creativity points certainly go to her.

One minute left!

You're not in Cornwall, now. It's not making sandcastles.

-What are you doing?

-I'm good at sandcastles.

Mine always collapsed like that when I was on the beach.

30 seconds left!

Cheers.

OK, that's your lot. Stop cooking. Step away from the hobs.

OK, guys. Well, well done, we've got three dishes,

all of which appear to be edible. Now, you're probably intrigued to

know who put that box of ingredients together.

The person is obviously a bit of a foodie

but he's more known for being part of a hugely successful boy band -

sold over ten million records.

The band was JLS,

he is now a farmer -

it's JB.

-How have you been? Good to see you.

-I'm well, thanks.

-How was your little room?

-It was interesting. Interesting.

-What did you think of everybody?

-I thought everyone did a very good job,

-if I'm very honest, yeah.

-But we're going to start with Charlotte.

-Nice to meet you, Charlotte.

-So, what did you create?

I created pan-fried venison

with parsnip and potato mash - peppery mash -

with caramelised fennel and an apple sauce,

and there is a chocolate and redcurrant sauce to go with it.

-Oh, my God.

-I hope you like it.

-You've got to try it.

-So what do we do with the sauce?

-Wherever you like. I like it,

the contrast with the meat and the mash, but it's up to you.

OK, we'll put a little bit on there, then.

-Well, dive in.

-Cool.

I've never tasted venison with chocolate before.

-It's actually quite nice.

-Thank you.

-Yeah.

-Very nice. I really like it.

Erm...I like it all, to be honest.

Erm...apple sauce is quite sharp,

erm...so for me, it isn't the perfect companion for the venison

but I would eat it and finish it,

-so, thank you, Charlotte.

-Thank you.

-Well, there you go, that's all right, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Well, first of all, for me, it's a dish that has...

It's got everything but it hasn't got textures.

-You've got puree, puree and sauce.

-Mm-hmm.

Having said that, the venison is absolutely perfectly cooked.

I mean, perfectly cooked,

and to be honest with you, that, on the whole, is a cracking dish.

-Thank you very much.

-Really well done.

-Thank you.

-So, go on.

-Thank you, Charlotte.

-Right, Nathan, meet JB.

-How you doing, Nathan?

-Hiya, nice to meet you.

-You too.

-So, you've gone for a man's dinner?

-Yeah.

What are you going to call this, then? What's the name of it?

Sticky ribs with an apple and fennel slaw, with some chunky chips.

-OK, all right. Chunky chips?

-Yeah, they're not...

Do you want to rename that? I swear, you're wrong.

-Floppy chips?

-All right.

Well, it certainly looks good.

-It does look good.

-Do you want to try it?

-I will.

-You first.

Nice. The ribs are really good, I like the sauce.

The chips are just good with the sauce, anyway,

and then, I really like the coleslaw, actually.

You've got the right sweetness on the ribs.

-What you have got, though, is quite a lot of chilli.

-Yeah. JAMES COUGHS

I mean, I like chilli,

-but that's quite a kick, isn't it, really?

-Yeah.

It would have been nice to see them stickier.

-Yeah.

-You get that through a bit more honey, possibly, in the sauce.

But I think on the whole, you've done a great job.

It's quite difficult to cook those ribs and get them nicely cooked

in time, without them burning. As a meal, I think it works.

Absolutely, I'll eat that all day long.

-Thank you.

-There you go, well done.

Compliments, indeed.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

-Mel.

-Hello.

-Meet JB.

-Hi, Mel, nice to meet you.

-Hi, and you.

-What have you done with it?

-I've made a venison curry,

erm, with sticky rice

and a fennel and apple salad, just to cut the spice.

-Cut the spice, cos it was quite hot earlier on.

-It was a bit warm.

It's nice.

It's the first venison curry I've ever had.

-Yeah.

-And I'd probably eat that as well.

Cool, it's the first one I've ever cooked.

Well, well done, well done.

For me, I think the rice is...

Trying to think of a friendly way of...

-I don't think...

-Soggy?

-Yeah, a little bit, just a little bit clumpy.

-Yeah.

-Well, the curry, first of all.

-Yeah.

Erm, I really like the flavour of this.

It shows that game really does work with curry.

The rice, erm, you had a nice word for it.

We technically call it knackered.

Erm, it's overcooked. It'd be nice to see the saffron at the beginning,

-as well. It's quite strong. You've got the strands in here...

-Yeah.

..but when you taste one of these,

it's literally this whack of saffron,

but I think, on the whole -

particularly with the curry and the salad - fantastic.

-Mmm.

-Really well done.

-Cool.

-So, on the whole, what did you think?

-Very well done.

Yeah, all pretty good,

but it's down to you -

pick your favourite out of these three.

Out of the three dishes,

I would probably pick...

..the ribs.

Loved the ribs. Really liked the glaze that was done with it

and it was probably the most enjoyable.

Good job you like it, it cost me 28 quid for a new tray.

OK, well, well done. Round two.

In front of me are three boxes of ingredients

that I've gone shopping for.

We've got shellfish box,

basic box,

and a global box.

Now, what I want you to do is create a dish to impress me,

this time, but what JB has done is given Nathan the power to decide

what everybody else will be cooking with.

First of all, which box would you like Charlotte to cook with?

I'll give Charlotte the...

-..basic box.

-Basic box,

-are you happy with that?

-Yeah.

Should be able to give it a go.

Now, pick a box for Mel.

I'll give Mel the...

..shellfish box.

-I think you might be happy with that one.

-OK.

That means you, Nathan - the global box.

It could be from anywhere in the world,

-so that's pot luck, really...

-Mmm.

..but what isn't, is 50 minutes to create just one dish to impress me.

Collect your boxes - off you go.

My global box today is inspired by Portugal.

It has salt cod,

sardines,

chorizo,

red pepper,

kale,

tomatoes,

puff pastry,

a vanilla pod,

rice,

black olives

and bay leaves.

For me, it's just a fantastic selection of ingredients.

You've got salt cod, which is brilliant to use,

often poached, as well...

and when you get sardines, and they're absolutely fresh

like this, you have to use them, because they are so delicious.

-Nathan, how are you doing?

-I'm OK, at the moment, I think.

Do you know which country you're from?

Portugal, I'd guess.

Do you know what these are?

Erm, not a clue but it's the fish that I'm going to be using.

-Right, what are you going to do with?

-Pan-fry it.

-Pan-fry it?

-Yeah.

You know what it is, first?

-No.

-It's salt cod.

-So it's rock hard when it's salted.

-Yeah.

But then, what you do is you soak it overnight

and it softens it back again.

Traditionally, what you would do is poach this in milk,

and that's why I've put in there the bay leaves, as well,

but poaching is probably a good way to do this.

-OK.

-All right? And you've got the sardines.

I'm probably not going to use them, to be honest.

I think I'm just going to go with the salt cod.

Nathan, this is so difficult to find.

I've gone out shopping for these. Look at these beautiful sardines.

Are you going to leave them in there? Look at them, look at them.

I'm not sure how to prepare them, so...

You put them on the board like that,

then you press down here.

Like that, and then you flip it over,

and peel out the bones, so it all comes out.

Brilliant.

-See that?

-Yeah, that's good, very nice. I'll definitely use that.

Nice bit of colour. So what's the plan? What are we going to make?

Erm, so I've got chorizo, olives, I was going to use that,

and make...use the tomatoes,

make my own tomato, kind of, sauce to go with it.

-Now, have you been to Portugal or not?

-Yes, I have, actually.

-That's good, that helps, doesn't it? All right.

-Yeah, it's a help.

-I go every year.

-You go every year?

Yeah, so that's simple, isn't it?

That's a walk in the park, then. See you later.

-I'm expecting great things here.

-Well, I'll do my best, yeah.

Now, what he's actually decided to do is poach the salt cod -

that's the best way to cook it -

and basically, make a little sauce,

a little spicy sauce with the tomatoes.

Now, those ingredients work fantastically well together,

but really, the shining light for this -

you must put on those lovely sardines.

This has the hallmarks of a great-tasting meal.

Nathan gave the shellfish box to Mel,

which contains hand-dived scallops,

black pudding,

cauliflower,

frozen peas,

rocket,

banana shallots,

Parmesan

and chives.

You see, the shellfish one, to me, really,

-is probably the best ingredients of the lot.

-Mmm.

Cauliflower works amazingly with the scallops,

it works fantastic with the black pudding.

There's so many different dishes you could do with that one.

-All right, then, Mel.

-Hello.

-What are you up to?

Erm, so, I'm going to fry off my shallots and garlic,

ready to do something with white wine and cream, I think.

-OK.

-Erm...

and then, pan-fry the scallops and the black pudding,

erm, and do something cunning with the peas.

Now, these are hand-dived scallops, any idea of how...?

-What to do with these fellows, over here?

-Not a scooby clue.

All right.

They're very simple to prepare. What you do need is a table knife.

Now, so many times you'll prepare it with these.

Never, ever prepare scallops with these

cos you'll basically cut your hands.

-So, table knife, there's a round side and a flat side.

-Uh-huh.

You insert the knife and scrape along the top.

So, when you do this,

you go right along the top till you get to the edge, and it opens out.

Then, you take the underside of the knife,

and all the time, you're scraping along the shell,

cos otherwise the meat sticks to the shell,

and then, the whole scallop just comes away.

Like that, and then you pick out all the gubbins,

like that.

Trim that off.

Quick wash, just in case there's any sand in there,

and then that can sit back in the shell, all right?

-Thank you very much.

-Am I done now?

-Yes, Awesome.

-Brilliant.

-And they're about £2.50 each,

and me being a Yorkshireman, that's very expensive,

so be careful with them.

Well, first of all, wherever possible with scallops,

you must buy them as fresh as possible.

Frozen scallops, the tendency is they absorb all the moisture,

and then they dump that moisture out in the pan,

so you need to make sure they're really well defrosted,

they're dried off before they go into the pan.

Either way, you need to make sure the pan is very, very hot

before you pan-fry them.

Finally, Charlotte's got my basic box, which contains...

tinned peaches in syrup,

frozen raspberries,

oats,

custard powder,

natural yoghurt

and some hundreds and thousands.

Well, if you were looking in the cupboard

and you did find tinned peaches in there,

and are looking for inspiration, my best advice is give me a bell,

cos I'll just come round and eat them, anyway, cos I love the things.

All right, there, Charlotte? There wasn't a lot in there.

What are you going to do?

Well, it looks like a mixture between the ingredients

-for peach Melba and cranachan.

-Right.

So I'm going to make a fusion peach Melba and cranachan,

-and something...

-OK, that...

-Obviously, part of that is from Scotland.

-Yeah.

Cranachan, which has got whisky, toasted oats, and the raspberries.

-Yeah.

-What else is happening? You've got...

So, I've been making a biscuit to make a biscuit crumb,

and also, I like making sort of ramekiny desserts,

sort of layered things in ramekins, I quite like that,

sort of, lots of different layers. Erm...

What about the tinned peaches?

Cos these are just fab.

Don't you remember having tinned peaches as a kid?

-Oh, I used to love tinned peaches.

-Oh, when you were ill. Oh.

-CHARLOTTE LAUGHS

-School puddings.

Brilliant, thank you.

Oh, the best.

You see, if you just done that in a bowl...

-Sorry, next time.

-So you don't need your fancy biscuits,

just a few tinned peaches in a bowl - done.

What she's created is these little biscuits,

and she's creating, like, a little tower.

A combination of a classic peach Melba -

that classic, classic dessert that you should never mess with -

mixed together with another classic dessert from Scotland, cranachan,

which you should never mess with.

And we've got these two colliding on a collision course

together in a ramekin,

but it might work.

So, one minute left. One minute!

I think Mel's smiling, now. Doesn't look flustered at all.

-And we've got salt cod, look.

-Lovely.

-I mean, that...

It is fantastic.

I think Nathan's got a very cool exterior but...

He's got a mucky bench,

-I know that for a fact.

-JB LAUGHS

OK, that's your lot. Stop cooking!

Step away from the hobs.

Charlotte had to create a dish from my basic box.

What did you do?

Erm, it's fusion -

cranachan, peach melba,

with some hundreds and thousands,

because I felt like you'd be sad if I didn't use it.

-Well, we got to taste this, haven't we, really?

-Yes.

I like it.

-I would have liked a little bit, like, more of the biscuit...

-Yeah.

-..cos that tasted really good.

-Mm-hmm.

Erm, but, yeah, do you know what?

I've got to take my hat off to you because if I'd had that box,

-I wouldn't have known what to do with it.

-Thank you very much.

-So, well done.

-It's interesting...

cos it's not what I had in mind.

You managed to, sort of, fuse two dishes together in a pot,

from different sides of the world.

Has it worked?

Kind of, individually.

I shall remember that dish, put it that way. I shall remember it

and I'm glad you used the hundreds and thousands on the top,

-but well done.

-Thank you.

Well done.

Nathan chose to create a dish from my global box.

Right, Nathan, what did you do?

I've done poached salt cod and sardines,

and I've done it with a Portuguese sauce with

black olives, chorizo, and I've served it with some kale.

-Are you pleased with it?

-Erm, I've given it a go,

I've never cooked sardines or salt cod before but...

I hope you enjoy it.

Nice.

-You just like everything, don't you?

-Well, the only thing...

the only thing for me is that the salt cod's still a little bit salty.

I think the kale is really nicely cooked.

The cod could have done with about another five minutes,

four or five minutes in the pan, really. It's quite a thick piece.

Having said that, the sauce is fantastic.

Sauce is absolutely good.

You can tell you've cooked that before, but for me -

so glad you cooked it - it's the sardines.

-Thank you.

-Cos when you cook them like that,

and you've got the skin nice and crisp as well.

They are perfectly cooked, exactly what you want.

I think a great effort, considering you'd never cooked

-most of this before, so well done.

-Thanks very much.

And finally, Mel has created a dish from my shellfish box.

What did you do?

So, I've pan-fried the scallops and the black pudding,

pickled the cauliflower, pea puree,

and then a shallot, white wine and cream sauce.

OK.

How's that?

I've never really tasted black pudding before,

and it went quite well with it, so well done.

I like the cauliflower,

and the scallops. The scallops are all right.

It's fantastic.

-OK.

-Really, really fantastic.

I'll tell you the reason why.

Black pudding is perfectly cooked.

It's gone in the pan, and almost out of the pan.

-Nice hot pan, it's not dry - it's exactly what you want.

-Yeah.

The combination of the cauliflower and the black pudding.

Married even better is that sauce.

-That is fantastic with everything else.

-OK.

-That's a really, really tasty dish.

-Thank you.

And that's just made my life a lot harder,

because I get to choose today's cook of the day

based on the three dishes that I've tasted, and...

Yeah, having tasted that, I need some thinking time to do.

-Cheers.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

So, JB, you've done MasterChef, do you fancy having a go, or not?

Erm, to be honest,

-I probably would have been a little bit out of my depth today.

-Really?

A little bit, yeah.

I take my hat off to each of the contestants. You did a good job.

Yeah, well done to you all.

On the basis of what I've just tasted...

..the cook of the day for me...

..based on those three dishes...

..is you, Mel.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

-Thanks very much.

The black pudding was nicely cooked, and those scallops,

you certainly knew how to cook them because they were fantastic.

-It's all about the taste, and that dish tasted fantastic.

-Thank you.

You get this to take back to Cornwall with you, so well done.

-Thank you.

-And thank you, JB, as well.

-Thank you.

Thank you for coming along, and no doubt we'll see you

-on a bigger farm somewhere in the future.

-Absolutely.

Nathan, Charlotte, come on over.

-Commiserations, but, you know, good effort.

-Thanks very much.

-Portuguese food, there you go.

-Well done.

-Good effort, well done.

-Thank you.

Thank you for watching. Join us again next time.

We're going to meet three more great home cooks,

some more big celebrity names

and some more boxes of ingredients to cook with.

I'll see you again soon. Bye for now.