Golden shot at banquet
A new series of Great British Menu starts this week and, in a testament to the strength of the region’s food scene, Yorkshire chefs star in the opener. Catherine Scott has an exclusive preview.
WITH an Olympic and Paralympic theme to this year’s Great British Menu, Yorkshire’s chefs are going for gold as they cook up top dishes for the BBC culinary competition, which starts at 8pm on Tuesday. The competition for the best professional chefs has decided to kick off its new series this week, by leading for a second time in a row with the North East and Yorkshire heat.
Two chefs from Yorkshire and two from the North-East will battle it out in the Great British Menu kitchen as they look to win the honour of representing their region in the UK finals.
A former winner of the competition in 2015, and owner of Leeds’s Man Behind the Curtain Michelin-starred restaurant, Michael O’Hare even thinks it’s the unique geography of the county that is responsible for making Yorkshire’s chefs so successful.
“While chefs in Yorkshire may have the same knowledge as the rest of the country, there’s something unique about being able to get out into the fresh air and the countryside here, which for me means chefs in Yorkshire are a lot happier and I think that shows in the food.”
Tommy Banks, chef owner of two Michelinstarred restaurants, the Black Swan at Oldstead and Roots in York, says: “From a North East and Yorkshire perspective, people naturally expect places like London to have a very strong heat so the fact that the North East and Yorkshire has been so strong in recent years is just testament to how many great restaurants there are up here.
“It’s really becoming a hotbed of talent and it’s great to see them getting this amazing platform. It’s no surprise to me that the North-East
‘Viewers can expect some stunning looking dishes and a competition which goes to the wire.’
has been so successful in recent years and I don’t expect it to stop any time soon either; for the next few years and beyond you’ll see our region strongly represented on Great British Menu.”
Returning for a third time to have one more go at getting to the banquet is Samira Effa, head chef at EightyEight, an Asian fusion restaurant at Grantley Hall in North Yorkshire. Born in Huddersfield, she’s determined to get to the banquet with her unique culinary influences from Nigeria and Persia.
“I don’t even know what went through my mind when I agreed to do it again,” she says, laughing. “It’s very hard but it’s very rewarding. As we don’t open the restaurant at lunchtimes, I was able to go in early and practise my dishes before we start work at 1pm.
“You learn such a lot from your fellow contestants and from the judges. Andi [Oliver] is so supportive – she was one of the biggest things throughout this year’s competition.”
Although she is unable to say how she got on, Samira did reveal that she took the opportunity to honour some of her Yorkshire Olympic heroes in her dishes.
Newcomer Adam Degg has made Yorkshire his home with his family including his young son and was head chef at Horto restaurant in Rudding Park, Harrogate, which had three rosettes, and he also has a Green Michelin star there for sustainable cooking. Horto recently closed while a new restaurant, to be run by Adam, who has worked with the like of Tom Kerridge, is created in the hotel’s kitchen garden as part of a multi-million-pound development at the hotel, spa and golf course.
“I have been a fan of Great British Menu since the beginning and it was dream to appear on the programme and work with such amazing chefs,” he says. As Horto was open as a cafe during the day before coming a fine dining restaurant in the evening, Adam didn’t get chance to practise his dishes until after service, often not finishing until after midnight, But he says the experience was worth it.
Also returning is Cal Byerley, from Northumberland, the creative, seasonal chef behind Pine with two stars to his name – a Michelin star and a green star for sustainability – and Newcastle’s Scott John-Hodgson, head chef at one Michelin starred Solstice by Kenny Atkinson.
Andi Oliver, the host of Great British Menu, says: “This year promises to be our most exciting yet as the chefs are competing to cook at a finale set in Paris hosted by the British Ambassador. As part of the competition, they’ve had to devise dishes for a good luck banquet for the British athletes competing later
this year in both the Olympics and Paralympics at Paris 2024. The chefs for Yorkshire and the North-East are passionate chefs with brilliant creativity and I loved tasting their food and hearing their ideas.”
“The North-East and Yorkshire has amazing food,” says lead judge Kerridge. “The chefs there have some great produce to work with and the area is full of talented chefs who cook with heart. This year’s North-East and Yorkshire heat was such a close competition and it is a worthy region to begin this year’s Great British Menu with its Olympic and Paralympic theme.”
Executive producer Sarah Eglin adds: “It’s a reflection of how strong the food scene is in the North-East and Yorkshire that for two years in a row, we’ve chosen to begin with this heat. The dishes cooked are extraordinary, with every single one of the four chefs competing delivering great flavour and creativity. Viewers can expect some stunning looking dishes and a competition which goes to the wire.”
This year’s praise for the chefs from Yorkshire and North-East comes after last year’s hear saw York chef Will Lockwood make it to the final banquet episode with his dishes. Will is the executive chef at Michelin-starred Roots owned by Tommy Banks, himself a winning veteran of the competition who remembers well how nerve wracking but career defining taking part was for him and his restaurant.
“Great British Menu is the hardest and most respected competition for chefs. It’s the pinnacle of cooking on TV and past winners are a who’s who of the hospitality industry. I’m incredibly proud to have won it and to now be a mentor on the series,” says Banks.
In Tuesday night’s opening episode, one of the four chefs will leave the competition, decided by this week’s surprise veteran judge after they have tasted starters and fish courses.
“It’s very tough on the chefs who have to leave after the fish course as you have worked so hard on all your dishes yet you might not get chance to cook them for the judges, which is difficult,” says Samira.
The starter, like last year, is a vegan course and the dishes include a Jerusalem artichoke “Winner’s Medal” served with a broth, an Olympic flame brought to life with aubergine puree, a nostalgic tribute to the egg and spoon race, and a celebration of the Paralympic logo with flavours of Japan.
Then it’s the fish course. There’s a kohlrabi white rose with brill and champagne sauce to pay homage to the seven gold medalists from Yorkshire at London 2012, and a “Breakfast of Champions” with fillet of brill, stuffed with smoked Yorkshire sausage, preserved girolle mushrooms and chopped dates and served with a teapot of bacon seaweed broth.
There are also two pollock dishes with very different stories: a pollock wellington with a champagne sauce dedicated to past and future winners of the Olympic Games, and another inspired by Olympic gold sculler Kat Copeland. Who will lose out in this strong field and be sent home?
Wednesday night’s episode sees the three remaining chefs cook main courses and desserts and on Thursday the two top chefs go head to head cooking their entire menus again for Kerridge, food writer and podcaster Ed Gamble and restaurateur Nisha Katona. The winner is crowned that night and will be seen again on BBC2 competing in the UK finals in March.
Great British Menu starts on BBC2 on Tuesday at 8pm.