Great British Menu 2024: Central England recap
Howard Middleton catches us up on the goings on in the Great British Menu kitchen this week, as chefs from the central region fought tooth and nail for a place in finals week.
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Great British Menu 2024Generally speaking, less is more. In this competition, there’s a time and a plate for gold leaf and popping candy, but, when it comes to personal accessories, simple styling can be the key to success. Et voilà – enter this week’s veteran chef, Tommy Banks, looking beautifully understated in a modern interpretation of chef’s whites. And then two competing chefs decided to dress him up a bit. Worcester born Sam Ashton-Booth, development chef for Tom Aikens at Muse in Belgravia was responsible for the gold laurel crown. Liam Nichols, head chef of Store in Norwich opted instead for a Danish-style coronet. In fairness, Tommy pulled off both looks with aplomb, but it didn’t stop Sam from going home after the fish course and Liam following after dessert. Coincidence perhaps, but a lesson worth noting nonetheless - if you want to get ahead, think twice about giving Tommy a hat.
Taking a more classically refined and restrained approach are Adam Smith, executive chef at Woven by Adam Smith at Coworth Park in Ascot, and Louisa Ellis, a private chef who creates bespoke tasting menus for clients in and around Nottingham.
In the judging chamber, Ed, Nisha and Tom are joined by renowned Paralympian sprinter Jonnie Peacock and the chefs are straight out of the blocks with two tasty canapés. Adam serves a Thai-flavoured cured chalk stream trout tartlet with trout roe. Louisa’s is lightly cured salmon with chilli emulsion on crispy salmon skin. ‘What a start!’ exclaims Tom, as the judges are evenly divided over their favourite.
‘Definitely not chips and dips,’ has been Adam’s insistent claim about his starter – a colourful tribute to the Olympic oath. Meticulously arranged petals complete his sunflower illusion of tomato jelly with tonburi, elderflower-glazed roast tomatoes, sunflower hummus, diced avocado and a linseed tuile. Nisha says she’s struggling with the petals, but Tom insists ‘they’re lovely’ and tells her to ‘think of it like a salad leaf’. Jonnie loves the avocado, Tom doesn’t, and Ed says if he’d had a mini pitta bread he’d have ‘whammed it all in.’
Inspired by the new Olympic sport of breaking (aka break dancing), Louisa serves up ‘Breakin’ Beets’ – a tartare-style disc of barbecued beetroot, fermented beetroot, beetroot jelly, blackberry and chard, mixed with wasabi and smoked seaweed oil. Perched on a black caraway and hazelnut tuile designed to look like a vinyl record, it comes with tiny finger-sized sneakers and instructions on how to bust some moves in them. Poor Tom can’t even get them on and sadly, the dish itself doesn’t seem to be a good fit either. Ed and Tom agree the tuile is too sweet and Tom concludes ‘it’s not gelling.’
‘The Road to Paris’ is Adam’s fish course of day-boat Cornish brill, covered with a trout and truffle mousse and served with cauliflower puree, Romanesco cauliflower, pickled cucumber and caviar. Two sauces accompany – a chicken-based truffle sauce and an English sparkling wine and lemon verbena sauce. ‘I love it!’ declares Tom enthusiastically. Jonnie is slightly more subdued but praises its subtlety and says it’s ‘pretty tasty.’ Nisha just wants a touch more wine in the sauce.
Having already arrived (culinarily speaking) in the French capital, Louisa presents her ‘Scallop Flotilla on the River Seine’, which aims to recreate a scene from the upcoming opening ceremony. Just to be clear, the flotilla is planned, the River Seine will be flowing, but, on that occasion, there may not be any scallops participating. However, the scallops are certainly appearing in the judging chamber, resting on salt-baked kohlrabi, topped with kohlrabi, coriander and lime salsa and crispy chicken skin. Also present are jugs of creamy Champagne sauce, split with lovage oil and bowls of dashi pearls with sea herbs. ‘That Champagne sauce was everything I wanted the English wine sauce to be,’ admits Nisha. Tom agrees, adding ‘I could drink a pint of that.’
On to mains and ‘Tea for Two’ is Louisa’s Olympic stadium-themed sharing platter in honour of athlete Richard Whitehead, who won gold in the Paralympian T42 category. ‘Absolutely banging’ is Ed’s verdict on the caramelised ribeye steak with parsley and garlic emulsion. Tom says the vegetables in a bone marrow crumb are ‘magic’ and the peppercorn sauce is ‘mega.’ The discus-shaped leek and mushroom pithivier is deemed to be ‘the ultimate pie’ by Nisha and Jonnie agrees it’s ‘perfect.’
Adam’s main course pays tribute to Emily Scarratt, who captained Team GB to the Women’s Rugby Sevens in Rio. Coincidentally, Adam went to the same school as Emily… and her family run a beef farm. It’s a tie-in that is almost as neat as Adam’s precisely rolled beef roast. Wrapped in bacon, carrot and celeriac and stuffed with smoked tongue, it gets a mustard glaze before being carved into satisfyingly neat slices. With maitake purée, girolles, baby turnips, crispy cauliflower mushrooms, beef fat potatoes and a glossy beef sauce, the dish got full marks from Tommy Banks. ‘Blown away by the technique,’ says Tom in admiration and Jonnie agrees it’s his favourite ‘by quite a long way.’
The pouting lips of Marianne (the Parisian face of this year’s games) pucker up for Louisa’s pre-dessert of banana and yuzu parfait with peanut praline dust. Adam opts for a rapidly melting torch of goat’s cheese and buttermilk ice cream with cherry and tonka bean compote. Debating Louisa’s generous portion, Nisha says, ‘I like the fact that it’s massive.’ Ed and Tom say they’d prefer a smaller serving, but both agree it’s their favourite of the two.
Taking inspiration from Emily Campbell, the first woman from Team GB to win a medal in weightlifting, ‘Chalk and Cheese’ is Louisa’s witty cheesecake-style dessert of mango and passion fruit jelly on lightweight lime mousse and a ginger crumble base. Coconut granita ‘chalk’ completes the theme. ‘Very tasty,’ is Tom’s verdict, though he thinks it lacks the ‘wow’ factor. Jonnie disagrees – ‘I think if you gave that to a room full of athletes… they’d be buzzing.’
Pinning his hopes on the phenomenal winning streak of para-equestrian, Sir Lee Pearson, Adam rounds off his menu with ‘Good Luck’ – a horseshoe of olive oil cake, fig compote, almond and honey mousse, served with fig leaf ice cream. ‘Stunning presentation,’ says Nisha but all agree it’s ‘missing something’ on flavour. However, Adam isn’t missing out when it comes to a place in finals week. He goes through, having edged ahead of Louisa on most courses.
So, with a result that’s perhaps not entirely surprising, I can’t help thinking of one of the week’s more unusual revelations. With chefs coming up early to the pass on Tuesday, Tommy Banks and Andi Oliver considered the prospect of a night out. ‘We’re on the town,’ exclaimed Andi, and then she tempered the thought. ‘I mean, when I say on the town, I’m thinking half a shandy and perhaps a scone.’ Less is more, Andi. Less is more.
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