North East Region
Great British Menu is back, and the competition is fiercer than ever as the nation’s top chefs are being challenged to cook for the ultimate street party.
Last year, up to one million people took part in The Big Lunch – a nationwide one-day event that encourages people to cook and eat with their neighbours.
Inspired by this, our chefs are battling to create spectacular sharing platters, dishes that will get everyone talking, proving that food has the power to bring us all together, for the most magnificent street party ever held.
Each week three chefs battle it out in the kitchen, for a chance to cook at the banquet and a veteran of the competition will taste and score their dishes every day. The pressure is on, as only two chefs can make it through to cook for the Great British Menu judges at the end of the week and one will be going home on Thursday.
This week it’s the battle of the North East chefs – Andrew Pern, Stephanie Moon and Tim Bilton. All of them are determined to knock out their rivals in the race to the banquet.
Today they kick things off with their starters, but which one is going to be first off the blocks? Will it be potted venison with watercress and crisp fennel salad, ‘salmagundi’ of North County produce or sticky pigeon breast, forager’s relish, hedgerow and beetroot crisps? Former champion Nigel Haworth will decide
Fish Course
Today the chefs pull out all the stops with their fish dishes: seafood stew, fish soup with a toasted kipper club sandwich and hot oak smoked Kilnsey trout, golden tea cream and Daleside scraps.
Main Course
Today the chefs battle it out with their main courses. They are determined to win but which dish will take pole position? Will it be: haymaker’s twice-baked Nidderdale lamb, bluemin white potatoes and gravy, suckling pig with pork pies, black pudding, Scotch eggs and sticky spare ribs or whole roast stuffed suckling pig with summer vegetables?
Pudding Course
Here, it’s the last chance for the chefs from the North East to impress as the one with the lowest total score from across the week will leave the competition. Tim Bilton, Andrew Pern and Stephanie Moon deliver their desserts. Which of them will earn top marks: gooseberry and apple crumble, a celebration of rhubarb and custard or Yorkshire mess?
Its decision time on Great British Menu for the chefs from the North East. One chef left the competition yesterday and only two remain, as they cook their entire menus for the Great British Menu judges: Prue Leith, Matthew Fort and Oliver Peyton.
The judges aren’t easily pleased and only first class cooking will do. Just one chef can make it through to the national finals to represent the North East and get the chance to cook at this year’s People’s Banquet. If they win, one of their dishes could be paraded down the ancient cobbled streets of Leadenhall Market and served at a magnificent street party: a banquet for the people and inspired by the people.
