In a cooking competition as famously tricky as Great British Menu, it’s understandable why even some of the country’s top chefs wouldn’t set their expectations too high. The North West’s Dan McGeorge certainly wasn’t taking anything for granted when competing. ‘I just did it to take part and give it a go really. I've watched it for years now and the calibre of chefs competing is amazing. Having the chance to cook against some of those chefs was the main reason for me to go on the show.’ Deciding to take part in the competition ended up being a very good decision for the Rothay Manor chef who, after winning his region, has now taken his dessert all the way through to the banquet. ‘It’s still a bit of a shock,’ he explains. ‘It was a surprise to even be cooking in the finals, so to get a dish through to the banquet was incredible.’
Dan did have some experience with competitions prior to taking part, having made it to the semi-finals of National Chef of the Year two years running, but that didn’t make the process any easier for the newbie (‘it’s very different to National Chef of the Year, where you just have to do three dishes in two hours’). On Great British Menu there are plenty of distractions for the chefs, who have to regularly talk to camera and help plate up each other’s dishes on top of cooking their own. ‘It was great fun, but it’s not as plain and simple as just cooking,’ he explains. ‘The first time I had to do an interview segment, it just felt so weird being in front of a camera.’
The chef wasn’t given the easiest of paths through to the final either, with the notoriously strict Tom Aikens judging the North West heats. ‘He’s a tough judge but I’d say he’s fair,’ says Dan. ‘He sets a standard and doesn’t give extra points to anyone randomly. Personally, I think that sevens and eights should be regarded as very good scores, and nine and tens ought to be for close to perfection.’ After scoring an eight for his dessert in the heats, it proved even more popular in the judging chamber, and again in the finals.
When it came to this year’s brief, based around British innovation, Dan felt it was key to begin with the inspiration behind the dish and then start to build it from there. ‘I think that’s the best way to do it because then it’s easier to make the link to the brief clear. If you create a dish first and then just adapt it, you risk missing the connection entirely. You end up relying on a prop, which does all the talking instead of the food.’