I thought I’d had a bad week. Two cancelled trains and one delayed… and that was just Wednesday. Of course, I could go on to tell you about a detour through a muddy field and an unexpected (and rather inelegant) encounter with a stile, but you’d probably prefer me to tell you about a very ‘bumpy’ week in the GBM kitchen. Thanks for asking though.
‘The lowest scores I’ve ever seen,’ lamented Gemma Austin after starters. Returning to the competition for a third time, the chef patron of A Peculiar Tea in Belfast soon decided this would be her last attempt. Also from Belfast, Matt Jordan from Shu somehow managed to keep a smile on his fresh face, whilst understatedly admitting it was ‘not the best start’. He did better with his fish course but left after it, still smiling, vowing to return to ‘set the record straight’.
John Hollywood from County Armagh proved to be a master storyteller but only managed to translate his gift onto the plate with pre-dessert and pudding. Tied with fellow newcomer Kerry Roper, head chef at Stix and Stones in Belfast, a charming pre-dessert swung it in Kerry’s favour, so that she and Gemma are left facing the judgement of Tom Kerridge, Nisha Katona, Ed Gamble and yet another award-winning illustrator, Oliver Jeffers.
For canapés, Kerry serves a beef tartare and chive tartlet with bone marrow emulsion and coal oil, whilst Gemma celebrates Northern Irish snack company Tayto in her cheese and onion gougère with potato crisp. ‘Delicious,’ says Tom of Gemma’s, but in the end he settles on Kerry’s, ‘so it’s not a clean sweep’, blissfully unaware that this little gesture of fairness will later prove to have major repercussions.
It's fair to say that this year’s chefs have struggled with the brief for a vegan starter. Kerry’s Gruffalo-inspired crumbly chestnut flour tart scored a three from veteran Aktar Islam, partly for being so late to the pass, but also because, in the words of Andi Oliver, ‘the dish didn’t quite come together’. Now ditching the pesky pastry completely, Kerry opts for Jerusalem artichoke ‘in different ways’ – roasted, pickled, pureed and made into crisps, served with black garlic puree, lovage emulsion and a sunflower seed and linseed cracker. Ed bemoans the lack of ‘a standout flavour’ and Tom says it’s ‘all over the place’. Nisha agrees it’s clearly not ‘banquet-worthy’ but they all like the crisps.