How time flies. Series eighteen of Great British Menu and the young chefs of early competitions are now the veterans of today. And if that doesn’t make you feel old, well, Paddington Bear is sixty-five! Perhaps not the most obvious theme, even when broadened to include British illustration and animation in general, but this year’s chefs will just have to grin and bear it.
Overlapping with the children’s literature brief of 2020 and last year’s Great British broadcasting, will we really see anything new? Well, judging by the first week’s creations, the answer is thankfully a definite ‘yes’!
In a remarkably high-scoring heat, this week’s veteran judge, Angela Hartnett had the tricky task of narrowing it down to just two chefs. With a tie breaker on Tuesday, Newcastle’s Rory Welch, head chef at Träkol, was gracious in defeat to Gareth Bartram from Winteringham Fields in Scunthorpe. He faced stiff competition from two newcomers but left on a high on Wednesday. So going into the judging chamber, it’s Will Lockwood, head chef at one Michelin-starred Roots in York and Cal Byerley from Pine in Northumberland, which has both a Michelin red star and a green one.
The judges first taste of Will’s work is a crisp artichoke pastry shell filled with fermented turnip cubes, beef tartare and dried smoked ox heart. Cal’s canapé is brown and white crab in a sourdough pie tee. Well, it is for judges Ed Gamble and Nisha Katona. As Tom Kerridge has a seafood allergy and guest Joe Sugg doesn’t eat fish, Cal packs their pie tees with carrot puree, Berwick Edge cheese custard, smoked dry aged carrot and lovage jelly. Joe admits his experience of food is a bit limited. ‘There’s about twelve ingredients in there that I’ve never heard of,’ he says. But he likes the ox heart, although the others prefer the ‘punchy flavour’ of Cal’s.
With chefs challenged to create a vegan starter for this year’s competition, it looks like we could be in for a lot of mushrooms. Cal’s starter ‘The Magical World of Mushrooms’ is inspired by the books of author illustrator Kylie Dixon. On the plate go salt-baked leek hearts, barbecued lion’s mane mushrooms and blue oyster mushrooms in a black garlic glaze. With a drizzle of wild leek oil and a scattering of garlic capers and pickled shiso herb leaves, it’s completed with jugs of clarified mushroom broth and mini loaves of bread. Tom likes the ‘beautiful bit of acidity’, Ed’s loving his loaf and Nisha says it’s ‘banquet worthy’.