Great British Menu 2023: Scotland

March 08, 2023 / Geoff Griffiths

Watch ‘Scotland: Judging’ on BBC iPlayer while this image link stays available.

Furious - literally furious - activity on social media for the appearance of Scottish chefs on this year’s ‘Great British Menu’. There’s certainly material for an additional post about the public’s perceived merits of one chef in particular. Maybe later.
For now, please read on as I put plenty of ‘anal’ into analysis.

I’m jumping straight to the Judging Chamber here to analyse the scores which determined who won the Scotland heat.
Please check out the two ‘discarded’ chefs who competed and raised their own and, more importantly, their restaurant’s profiles but fell before the final hurdles.
Tunde 'Abi' Abifarin and Kevin Dalgleish got hot at their stoves but were knocked out cold by two manifestly superior chefs.
Which means that we are focussed on Adam Handling and Mark McCabe for the rest of this post.
More on Mark here. Likewise for Adam here.

Nervously waiting for the judges’ decision

Tom Kerridge, Nisha Katona and Ed Gamble were joined by Frank Quitely, superhero artist, for this round of the competition. You will see all their scores before I play around and give selective - hopefully interesting - alternative interpretations.

Disclaimer: I remain glaringly aware of the glorious nonsense to which I am adding. But as Bill Shankly (almost) said, “Great British Menu isn’t a matter of life and death for chefs and the viewers, it is much, much more important than that.”

Size really doesn’t matter, does it. But before we move on to the big stuff let’s deal with two small-but-perfectly-formed elements.

Canapé
Mark’s cured char and tomato croustade was given a unanimous nod over Adam’s pea and caviar tart.

Pre-dessert
Later on Adam restored the balance with his lemon panna cotta, lemon sorbet, jasmine-pickled apple and white wine foam. Also a unanimous decision.
Mark’s rye biscuit sandwich of lemon verbena mousse, damson jam and candied hazelnuts hinted that his lack of pastry skills might prove an Achilles’ heel.

Canapé - Mark wins hands down (or is it up?)

Pre-dessert - Adam wins hands down (yeah, it’s hands down, isn’t it. Isn’t it!?)

Starter
First of those ‘big ones’ is the starter. Vegan this year, in line with new stipulations from ‘The Powers That Be’. Whoever they might be.

And it’s a good start for Mark as his offering gets a respectable score ahead of what Adam must have deemed a disappointing one. Disappointed by his efforts rather than the judges’ reaction, I would suggest. He will surely find ways to improve on his tomatoey ideas in future.

Fish
Adam is straight back in the game with his fish course. Only just though. All comments suggested to me that Mark’s emotive, wistful evocation of the sea might see him retain his lead. Not so.

Main
Neck and neck. Adam just takes the honours with the main but the scores are still splitting the room almost equally.

Dessert
Things suddenly jump in Adam’s favour. Mark had already conceded his limitations here. “A little bit nervous going into dessert. Don’t feel like it’s my strongest dish. Haven’t had a lot of formal training in pastry. So I just kind of make it up a bit.” Those were his words before we saw his dish for the first time but it didn’t prevent Tom Aikens sending him to the Judging Chamber. Once there, he was unable to make up for his weaknesses and it cost him dear.

Time for my threatened jiggling of the numbers which have put Adam through to the final rounds against each of the other regional winners.

Canapés and Pre-desserts cancel out each other on all counts. Let’s look at how things are altered elsewhere - if at all - by refining our view.

I assume you will check these workings which are based on my GCE O-Level Grade 2 Mathematics (yes, I do go back a long way) but trust me on this as I explore a multiverse of alternate reactions.

Discounting the marks of Frank Quitely* - keen but, in food matters, fairly amateur participant - every course remains won by the same chef.
*Sorry, Frank - love your work! (GrimacingFaceEmoji)

I’ll make so bold as to see what happens with Ed Gamble out of the picture.* He has serious credentials as an ardent guest of hospitality but even he might come under fire for being unaware of some industry intricacies which could limit a truly professional judgement.
*Sorry, Ed - love your podcast! (GrimacingFaceEmoji)

With Tom Kerridge and Nisha Katona as final arbiters the result still stands. Both chefs are now inseparable on the fish and main courses. Adam gets even closer to Mark’s Starter score than with all four judges. But it is the dessert disaster which drags Mark into the desperate abyss of deciding whether to come back another time to “put his heart on a plate and showcase amazing culinary talent”.
Tom and Nisha finally pull Adam back to 6 points more overall than Mark compared with the gap of 11 when combining all four judge’s scores.

Still a win for Adam but by such fine margins that it might be worth telling Mark that, in this instance, second most certainly IS somewhere.

As I said, this show gives a welcome higher profile to chef’s restaurants. I’ve been interested, intrigued and appreciative of Adam Handling’s work ever since his 2013 ‘Masterchef: The Professionals’ appearance. Another tight contest there when coming second to Steven Edwards was also far from nowhere.
Mark McCabe was a new face to me.
Practical geographical considerations give Mark’s restaurant the edge but I’d be very keen to eat at either of these chef’s restaurants for the first time.

Before that, I’ll watch with continued interest to see if Adam’s dessert is strong enough to be chosen for the banquet. With the added interest of finding out if JOSEPHINE is right about that final week. Exciting, isn’t it!

I know how agitated people can get even when there’s a #SpoilerAlert so I suppose I should leave a respectful pause before editing the title of this post to “Great British Menu 2023: Scotland - Handling (by a nose)”. Say, a couple of years, eh…

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tags / Great British Menu, Adam Handling, Mark McCabe, #GBM, banquet, starter, main course, dessert, #adamhandling, #michelinstar, Scotland, chefs

Food Heroes - Gary Rhodes

December 06, 2022 / Geoff Griffiths

The anniversary of Gary Rhodes’ sudden death three years ago on 26 November 2019 prompted me to finally write a few overdue words about the man who had a huge influence in making me a more adventurous and serious home cook.

Mrs Cheoff worked much harder than I did in her career. I began to take over much of the cooking of our evening meals so that she could eat reasonably soon after completing the ‘overtime’ which came with her teaching of children and the management of other teachers.

The first series of ‘Great British Menu’ came along in 2006 just as I was gaining a little confidence in the kitchen. Gary Rhodes faced Atul Kochhar in one of the rounds.

At that time I mostly recognised Gary Rhodes from a daft TV advert in which he scaled a cliff to earnestly inform a sausage-cooking camper "the secret is not to prick them." I must have been aware of him from his BBC shows since 1994 but I probably limited my attention due to silly jealousy over the fact that he was just a bit more of an alluringly handsome bugger than me!

Gary didn’t make it past this stage in the competition but his dessert impressed me enough to wonder if I might try to make it at home. I soon decided to cook it as part of a meal to celebrate Mrs Cheoff’s birthday a few weeks later.

Here’s a clip from the original programme showing some of Gary’s preparation for ‘Kentish Apple Mousse with Toasted Honey Syrup Apples’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YkyDgM94Oc

Some - perhaps not all - recipes were available on the BBC Food website soon after programmes had aired. I was able to access Gary’s dessert details.

This was the most complicated recipe I had attempted so far. I read through unfamiliar techniques and processes and bought ingredients. Several hours spent over two days left me with all elements ready for final cooking.

The almond sponge base seemed to have worked very well. While not completely in the dark, I was working in very dim territory with Italian meringue and a jelly preparation. The mousse was poured on top of the sponge and chilled in the fridge to set.

The jelly was prepared last and poured over what I hoped was a successful mousse. The jelly mix, although cool, immediately began to seep into the mousse. I persevered with more setting time in the fridge.

With already pin-pricked confidence I finally attempted to serve a portion. On unfastening the spring-form tin a disaster waiting to happen began to happen. We were not in burst dam territory; more like the realms of a mudslide with sweeter components.

Oh dear. Even the sponge was now soggy from contact with a far too fluid mousse. Jelly simply added itself to the slurry. I remember Mrs Cheoff insisting we try some. After chasing it round the plate we quietly nodded in downcast agreement. I’m not even convinced that I’d managed to extract full flavours from all elements.

My crest had fallen way below a Gary Rhodes hairdo without styling gel. I have never attempted the recipe since.

In any case, I had stupidly lost Gary’s dessert recipe and it had disappeared from the BBC website.

The Great British Menu kept on coming to TV screens. I didn’t make Mark Hix’s 2007 pudding winner immediately but Glynn Purnell’s was served from our kitchen just weeks after the recipe was released in 2008.

So, you see, I hadn’t lost heart. However I had been made painfully aware of the care needed to understand and make a successful recipe with new, tricky process and technique. And was determined to still have a go.

*Perry jelly and summer fruits with elderflower ice cream*
Mark Hix won dessert in 2007 but his recipe soon disappeared. I now mix this version with Josh Eggleton’s similar offering to make my own.

*Strawberries with tarragon and black pepper honeycomb with burnt English cream surprise*
I already wrote about Glynn Purnell’s 2008 ‘Great Pudding Failure’ here. Recipe since taken down from the BBC Food website after their rights to publish expired. Find it in this book!

A slim insert from ‘Good Food’ magazine had been in our kitchen since 1998 as the only printed sample of Gary’s cookbooks. All the other books you see below have been catch-up purchases in the last four years.

Gary’s voice comes through in all those books. He is not afraid to introduce a little food history or to include some details from his own personal and professional life which underpin his recipes.

But there on the right is the book which, 15 years later, after nagging away at the internet, I found to contain ‘the’ recipe.

No. I still have not tried it again. Yet. I will. I really will.

Two books, ‘Spring into Summer’ and ‘Autumn into Winter‘ make up ‘The Cookery Year’, published in 2002. I am so glad I also bought the revised single volume paperback ‘compilation’ edition which gathers all safely in and contains something like a hundred further recipes.
In his introduction Gary leaves us with these lines which, he feels, reflect the message to be found in the four seasons.

“My father was a blacksmith... the tender bouquets of vegetables he brought were so full of flavour and aroma that all that was needed was the addition of a few of the big rosy strips of pork fat which sizzled in the cast iron pot.

This was the ‘cuisine heureuse’, which consisted of marrying natural products with one another, of finding simple harmonies and enhancing the flavour of each ingredient by contact with another complementary flavour... It is the very antithesis of cooking to impress.”

— From 'Cuisine of the Sun' by Roger Verge (translated by Caroline Conran)

If I ever need grounding in the kitchen, that reminder of the earthy basics which should be at the heart of cooking will always serve me well. But I still know damn well that I’ll attempt a fancy pants, show-off dish at regular intervals.

Gary’s iconic hairstyle, in meringue form. And what many, including my 95 year-old mother (!), might describe as ‘come-to-bed’ eyes. For me they are also sending a clear, calmer but still sensual message.
”Go on. Get in your kitchen and cook something special…”

My copy of ‘Gary Rhodes’ Sweet Dreams’ (Ah, yes, indeed. Sweet dreams to you too, Gary) was bought at a National Trust bookshop. Most certainly signed by Gary for someone else. But. ‘Happy Cooking’? Gary must have written that to me. Most certainly. My cooking has been made so much happier by exploring his legacy of food writing and especially his food ideas.

Hmm? Oh. Of course. You’ll be the first to hear it when I do finally make ‘Kentish Apple Mousse with Toasted Honey Syrup Apples’!

As far as I understand, the portraits of Gary used here were taken by photographer Sian Irvine
@sian_irvine_photography

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tags / #GBM, Great British Menu, Gary Rhodes, dessert, recipe, recipe inspiration, cooking inspiration, food hero, @sian_irvine_photography

Making Norwich even finer

January 25, 2016 / Geoff Griffiths

Benedicts, Norwich

My wife, Jan, and I ate at Benedicts on November 5th 2015. We were hoping that this new restaurant would be one more great reason to visit our favourite city. We were not disappointed.

The Place

The restaurant looked most welcoming as we approached on foot in darkness and drizzle. Inside the décor is stripped back and functional. Nothing is imposed on you except the obvious task of choosing your food and drink. I like that approach. People and good food are surely enough ingredients to create a successful atmosphere. I had walked in with the person I love most in the world but we were soon to find out that Benedicts surrounds you with special people as well. More about them later.

The Food

We had already decided to have the tasting menu. Here it is with my pictures of some of the food. The quality of my photography is rather awful. The quality of the cooking was truly terrific.

Prawn cocktails and Cheese and Pineapple to start... but not for starters. These were delightful amuse-bouches. The prawns had a light smokiness due to some Jack Daniel's in the sauce. The cheese and pineapple had been ripped away from any evidence of halved oranges and cocktail sticks. They had been given new texture and flavour as well. A good beginning.

A more substantial 'snack' came next. The sumptuous potato mousse and the deep, dark, desperately delicious gravy combined perfectly to show what can be done with simple ingredients.

The lamb dish which was served at the Women's Institute dinner followed. Jan loves lamb and this was a treat for her. Yes, the meat was great and the egg yolk added luxury but our talk all centred on the Jerusalem artichokes which were a revelation. Three approaches leading to unexpected textural and flavour hits. Parsley sponge, lovely as it was, fought, along with the rest of the elements, to combat those artichokes. We tucked in and just enjoyed the struggle.

The smoked trout is a sophisticated but gentle course which offers relative respite from the richness of the other dishes. The fish was perfect and the buttermilk began to supply some contrast but the plums were too bland. It was the one time when I judged that the quality of produce had been lacking. Among such excellence, it hardly mattered.

The Norfolk quail prep was posted to @twitter a couple of weeks before our visit. The bird is given royal treatment with a glorious herb stuffing. So easy to eat. Vegetables were just right. A further plus was Richard's conversion of my wife to the pleasures of pearl barley... previously scorned by her due to other chef's mistreatment. It will now appear in my risottos, soups, breads and puddings.

Nanny Bush's Trifle rounds off proceedings. You should be aware that the GBM Tasting Menu is not being served from the end of January but this and other winning dishes will still be available on the à la carte menu. Like any successful chef, Richard will be gladly 'saddled' with these dishes for some time... Glynn Purnell is still serving a version of his own winning dessert five years later! The need to satisfy customers with their favourites while continuing to challenge them with your latest innovations is a task I gladly leave to the professionals.

The trifle is glorious. No-one should mess up a trifle and Richard doesn't. Ah, we did have that lovely sweet 'cocktail' as well. Both will certainly be made in our house after our post-Christmas diets are relaxed and I have bribed chef to give me the full recipes!

My simple black coffee is so often a disappointing end to a meal out. Here it was properly brewed from properly roasted beans. Just as good as this fussy individual makes at home ;)

The People (the best bit!)

Richard is magnificently backed by a great team. Katja, his wife, is there supporting the business and making a fuss of all the customers in the best possible way… by not making a fuss about it. Working in a marriage and in a business with your partner has much potential to strain a relationship. I see every sign that it will instead provide challenging, but lovely, opportunities to bring these two closer together.

They have recruited young people to their cause, some less experienced than others. Each one who we met was very good at their job and made it hard to believe that they are still very much at the beginning of their careers. They must take credit for the fine qualities they already have. I am sure those qualities will be developed, nurtured and refined even more by the very much older Richard… he is thirty-three! The only drawback of Adam Vass joining as General Manager is that he must have raised the average age of this lovely, youthful lot by twenty years! I only fail to mention the names of others who looked after us so well since they are embroiled in a fierce contest to gain the most 'Likes' and 'Follows' on social media... I refuse to get involved!

If you watched The Great British Menu 2015 you will know that Richard also recognises the influence on him of some very strong women in his family; his mother in particular. After plating up Nanny Bush's trifle for television judging he attempted to read his written tribute to their inspiration. The love and passion which choked him into handing the task over to another was completely understood and very moving. All in all, there is great human strength behind the ‘Benedict’s’ venture.

To Finish

It is heartening, even though expected, that Benedict's is developing strongly in a very short time. There have been well-deserved awards and glowing reviews. I have referenced some of those below. Extra dining space is being offered and a Private Dining Room can be booked. Cookery demonstrations are available and, of course, the menu will change - but only in ways which will further display @ChefBainbridge's passion.

As you can see from the picture above, Richard looks over your shoulder for the whole meal to check that everything is to your satisfaction. It's either that or a clever, looming threat to ensure the bill is paid. I did do the sums before settling up but, to be quite honest, it is silly to put a price on such an experience. The only pain suffered during the evening was the sight of each finished plate. Everything else was perfect pleasure.

The final pleasure was when Richard came into the restaurant for a chat after service. He was genuinely interested in our experience, anxious to find out if anything might be improved. In our opinion the kitchen had been right on top of their game so it was very poignant that he admitted to constantly fretting over each dish as it goes out. Let's listen to Gordon Ramsay here... "The more confident a chef, the less he needs to hide." It's a fine ideal but only a misguided chef would think they achieve perfection time after time with every dish. However, while Richard's humility is a lovely thing, his rich talents really demand that he stand in the spotlight taking the plaudits instead of ever trying to find any hiding place.

Certainly our most enjoyable and memorable meal of last year. I wholeheartedly recommend a visit. I do that with a bit of reluctance. Bookings are pretty solid and I want to go again soon... leave me some dates!

We mentioned that Jan and I had met in Norwich many years ago and this was not forgotten in the short spot of Twitterland nonsense which followed:

There is one thing that has nagged at me since seeing his picture on the telly and meeting the man in person. Just where does Richard get the inspiration for his effortless style and panache from? I reckon I've finally found the answer in this iconic plaything for girls and boys.