Forget your butcher’s blocks and multi-storey vegetable racks, apparently what every modern kitchen needs is… a highland unit.
Great British Menu’s kitchen proves to be no exception, as four of Scotland’s bravest chefs enter the fray to win the coveted prize of an evening of intense stress, mass catering and televised scrutiny, otherwise known as a banquet celebrating British innovation and invention.
At the start of the week, returner to the competition Amy Elles from The Harbour Café in Fife faced off against three Edinburgh chefs – last year’s heat winner, Roberta Hall from The Little Chartroom and newcomers Stuart Ralston from Aizle and Fhior’s Scott Smith.
Amy doubtless thought she’d hit on a brilliantly original concept for her canapé – a witty reinterpretation of chicken soup, aka ‘Jewish Penicillin’, complete with medicine bottle and spoon. Well, she undoubtedly got there first in terms of the menu, but Alexander Fleming’s discovery soon emerged as the most consistent source of inspiration, sprouting up again in
Stuart’s starter, Scott’s fish course and Roberta’s dessert.
Sadly, Amy also appeared to have more than one problem with continuity, as her headband was on, then off, then back on again in the first five minutes – a distracting omen perhaps.
She was forced to bid farewell after the fish course and Scott, who battled with the show’s demon equipment (pressure cooker and ice cream maker), followed after desserts.
This week’s veteran chef, Tom Brown was ‘not bowled over’ by any of the canapés. Onto the judging chamber, and they’re sampling Roberta’s little Dunlop cheddar and onion tart and Stuart’s offering of duck liver parfait sandwiched between beetroot tuiles.
Guest judge, author and campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez OBE argues Roberta’s tartlet is bigger than one mouthful. Matthew Fort disagrees but says it’s ‘dull’. However, any exacting bite-size standards are soon disregarded in Stuart’s favour. Oliver Peyton munches in relatively silent appreciation, Rachel Khoo praises its rich combination of flavours and absolutely nobody complains that it’s the size of a coaster.
Roberta’s starter is inspired by the Edinburgh Seven, a group of women who were pioneers in the study of medicine. She plates creamed sweetcorn and adds singed baby onions and hazelnuts. Wild mushrooms in lamb sauce go next, followed by pickled sweetcorn, sheep’s curd, wood sorrel and crispy lamb sweetbreads. Matthew says it’s a ‘wonderfully mellow dish’, but Rachel notes they’re missing the promise of black garlic puree. The bottle of puree remains in the kitchen, mercilessly taunting poor Roberta.
For his starter, Stuart takes the supermarket phrase ‘perfectly ripe’ to its limits (and beyond) with a bacterial celebration of long life and whiffiness. Stuart smears cherry mustard on an oversized petri dish, spoons on a tartare of aged rump beef, confit fennel and lemon juice, then tops with horseradish gel, crispy beef, cress and a little snowfall of frozen Lanark Blue cheese. Despite Caroline’s praise for the cherry mustard, Rachel feels the cheese dominates, Matthew calls it ‘an odd combination’ and Oliver decides ‘no likey’.