Original subtitles

This year, on Great British Menu...

Hot stuff coming through. ..the creme de la creme of the UK's

chefs are cooking their hearts out..

Ooh-la-la! ..for a chance to cook

at the prestigious Great British Menu banquet...

Rock and roll. ..which, this year, celebrates Britain's triumphs

in animation and illustration.

That's amazing!

Of course, the chefs' dishes must taste delicious.

I'm not giving out points for confidence, right?

But they must represent the theme, too.

THEY LAUGH

A roster of revered previous Great British Menu winners...

Snakes. Snakes!

...return as veteran judges to score the regional rounds.

I'm scoring you a ten.

I would give you an 11 if I could.

They've got their eyes peeled and taste buds primed for supreme

culinary skill and unparalleled talent.

Go hard or go home. Focused.

The pressure is on as, at the end of each day, the least successful

chef... Done. ..will leave the competition.

Really exciting!

The north-east results came down to a tie-break yesterday...

Rory, you're going to be leaving us.

...and Gareth just scraped through.

He now needs to score big...

We need some flair. ..to beat Cal's creativity...

Anyone want to go the beach with me?

...and Will's focused precision.

How the hell did you come up with that? I don't know.

THEY LAUGH just on a whim!

Impressively, all three have Michelin stars...

Oh, boy, oh, boy!

...and they all still live and work in their region,

which, for our competition,

stretches from Yorkshire and the Humber to Northumberland.

Come on!

And what's more, they all want to get to our banquet.

One. One down.

The three remaining chefs from the north-east must now compete

over mains and desserts. Cal and Will are joint frontrunners

with 18 points, and Gareth is hot on their heels with 15 points.

It's impossible to predict who will triumph and get to cook

for the judges.

Big one today, guys - main course. The scores are tight.

Really tight. It's been good competition so far. Yeah.

Get cracking. Let's do it. Absolutely.

Scoring their dishes and deciding who gets through is their veteran,

OBE, MBE and Michelin star holder Angela Hartnett.

The main course always feels like the main event

at a Great British Menu banquet.

These guys really want to get theirs there.

They're going to be busy, they've got to multitask, got

to get their timings right. But ultimately,

it's got to be delicious,

whatever they put on that plate.

Each dish must be based on British animation and illustration,

and we're starting with Cal.

So, title of the dish - Tasty Tudors.

Of course, based on the Terrible Tudors, part of

the Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary.

He's from the north-east, of course.

I'm going to try and do what Horrible Histories did for me

and make history sort of fun and gruesome at the same time.

So, for the gruesome element, I've got pigs' trotters,

which are stuffed with a lovely spice sausage mix. Right.

Spices like nutmeg, star anise, etc? That's actually for the mulled

wine jelly castle. OK. So that's the fun element. Of course it is!

So, yeah. What are you doing

with this rack of pork? Going to render that skin off

above the barbecue, going to baste it in smoked pork fat.

Every single element,

so cabbages, carrots, mushrooms, pork were all staples

of the Tudor period.

Will, giant mulled wine castle.

Yeah. Sounds out there.

THEY LAUGH

Currently three points adrift of the others,

what has Gareth got that can topple a jelly castle?

The title is Meet Me At Lunch,

and the inspiration is the graphic novel Hearts top per by Alice Oseman.

She studied in Durham.

That's where she came up with most of these characters.

Beautiful love story. It is. It's two boys falling in love at school.

Yeah. Lovely. Lovely.

What are you cooking for us?

So I'm going to do a slow-roast pork collar. Lovely.

Ancl then a sticky rib brushed in a nice glaze with ho is in and soy.

Ancl then... In the actual novel, one character got dared to eat a whole

jar of mustard. So, on there, I'm going to put a mustard sauce. Nice.

Ancl then one of them always brings in a bottle of apple juice. Right.

So, yeah, I've incorporated apple and kohlrabi salad as well.

And your dates? Yes.

So I'm going to do a nice date puree. Is that a nod to dating?

It is now.

You've given it to him, Andi! Thank you very much, Andi.

Yeah, it is now.

Ancl also there's a little bit of a surprise.

Oh, a surprise! We like a surprise.

He's also doing cabbage three ways, including deep-fried,

which he transfers to the dehydrator to get really crispy.

Will's been inspired by the stories about skeletons

and their adventures, illustrated by Yorkshire's Janet Ahlberg

and written by her husband, Allan.

So the title of the dish is The Wishbone, and it's inspired

by the Funny bones I used to read as a kid.

And that's a cartoon. It's a book and a cartoon. Oh, fabulous.

What are you doing with the venison?

So, the venison rack is tempered in lots of juniper and herb butter,

and then it's roasted, rested in the butter, roasted.

Just so I can get it as even as possible. On the side, a little bit

of fried park in, and then that's going to be topped with beetroot

ketchup, and then a liver parfait on top.

That's just on the side! That's on the side.

What are you doing with the mince? That's going into a venison faggot,

and then the whole thing is finished off with a venison sauce, seasoned

with some cherry blossom vinegar.

It smells like medicine. Yeah, quite a marzipan flavour.

Nice. You're giving yourself a lot of work again, Will.

Yeah, it's a push. I mean, you broke a sweat on starters, didn't you?

Yeah. It gets hot in here with these guys breathing

down your neck. You guys are so tightly matched.

Yeah. I expect nothing less than a brilliant three dishes coming up.

By the sounds of the other boys,

they've got some really fantastic dishes, so I hope mine lives up to,

yeah, what I hope it lives up to.

Cal wraps his cabbage in insulating salt dough, which will keep it moist

and give an even bake for his pork loin and mulled wine jelly main.

I know the jelly castle, I need to get that boiled and set pretty quick

because you don't want them to cut into it and it all just ooze out.

So, yeah, that is my biggest concern right now.

Cal's dish - Tasty Tudors.

What an extraordinary flight of fancy and courage.

My real worry for him is so much to do.

You know, belly takes a while to cook.

You've got to braise down your pig's trotters.

He's got to set a jelly in that hot kitchen.

I mean, if he pulls this off, it could be spectacular.

Yeah, and let's hope he does, because otherwise it's going

to be an unmitigated disaster. Yeah.

Very tough competition this year.

These guys are cooking amazingly, so chase their heels and hopefully

I'll do enough to get through to the judges' chamber.

Gareth mixes ho is in sugar and five spice for a sticky rib glaze.

So I've got my glaze on my pork rib. I've got my apple puree and date

puree to work on.

I've also got cabbage I need to push on with, prep my pork.

So I've got a lot to do.

To go with his venison and faggots,

Will is caramelising cauliflower for a puree, and making

a blackcurrant and pork glaze for some red cabbage.

After coming top in fish, he's got the momentum.

Feeling good after the ten.

Very confident in this dish. It's full of flavour, big,

powerful. I'm really going for this one.

Will's dish, The Wishbone. What's your main worry with this dish?

I think he's got to make sure that faggot is beautifully cooked,

nice and moist, make sure his venison is not overcooked.

It's a very lean piece of meat. Ancl just don't over-fixate

on it too much that he messes the other parts of his dish.

Oh!

Gareth's dish, Meet Me At Lunch. I love it.

I love the fact he's using pork collar. Unusual cut, similar

to a ribeye in a way. And then apples, dates, mustard.

All of them a brilliant combination.

What he's got to prove now is that he's there with the other

two, making sure it links to the brief properly, and give us

a bit of theatre.

Anyone want to go to the beach with me?

Shunning catering moulds, Cal is using sand castle buckets

for his jelly.

Let's hope he has more luck with the detail

than your average beachgoer.

He sprays oil in to help, then pours the mulled wine jelly.

Good luck. I know, right!

This was a stupid idea.

You dancing, mate? Sorry.

After checking the rendering on his pork belly fat...

Look at you go, boys.

...he bastes his sausage-meat-stuffed trotters in smoked pork bone sauce

and black apple juice.

At the restaurant, we blacken apples.

Basically, a by-product of that is you get lovely caramelised

black apple juice. So, really intense caramel, but still lovely

sort of sour apple flavour.

Apples were a common Tudor food and, to make sure his historical

details are up to scratch,

Cal visited Dr Amanda Herbert...

Hi, Amanda. Come on in! Thank you.

...at 16th-century Bessie Surtees House in Newcastle.

So, what was the typical sort of tableware in the period?

In terms of plates, they would have eaten, for a middle-class family,

off of pewter.

Sometimes they would have had a piece of bread on top

of it that was called a trencher, and they would have put the food

directly on top of the bread.

Tudor people would have had their own eating knives

that they would have carried with them to every meal.

They would have also had a spoon.

Occasionally, they would have had a new invention

called a fork.

Ancl they would have had two tines, kind of like a miniature pitchfork,

rather than the three or the four that we're used to today.

I read that in the period, wealthy families would often

have large jelly castles as part of, like, a centrepiece

on their dining table. That's correct.

Tudor people loved a spectacle, and they loved having all kinds

of sculptures which would have been edible.

Sugar was a real luxury in the time period, and it's something

that a middle-class family would have saved up for in a banquet.

Wow. So, the sweeter the centrepiece,

the grander the occasion? Absolutely.

You all right, Cal? I'm good, thanks, Angela.

Little trotters there. Yeah.

Just getting these really nice and sticky.

That's the smoked pork bone sauce.

Just a bit of light spice in there now.

Lots of fresh herbs, plenty of sage, touch of rosemary,

a little bit of thyme. Ancl how are you looking?

It's going to be tight. I'm not going to lie.

It's going to be tight.

Cal's under pressure. I tasted his smoked bone sauce.

Delicious.

It's sticky, that pig's trotter glaze.

It can't be TOO sticky.

You know, you don't want it clagging on your throat.

Right, oven's free, Gareth.

As Cal gets his salt-baked cabbage out, Gareth puts his pig's collar

in with thyme and garlic for a long, slow cook.

And Willis mincing his faggots.

I've got some liver in there, some lardo, some spices, breadcrumbs.

I like using offal, you know? I like using the whole animal.

The mix goes in to chill, and he browns his venison,

before transferring it to the juniper butter bath.

Then he slices his ginger park in cake that he's made

using his grandmother's recipe, before blitzing

up his caramelised cauliflower.

Is this your cauliflower puree?

Yeah. So just roasted in butter, some double cream, some salt.

Nice and simple. Hmm.

That's delicious. Ancl what's in here?

So, that's the park in.

Oh, wow. My grandma's biscuit tin.

That's very good park in, isn't it? Yeah.

Are you feeling quite confident?

Got a lot to do. In myself.

Obviously, the other guys are cooking some real good stuff.

All right, I'll leave you to it. Thank you. Thanks.

He wraps the faggots in pig's fat or caul...

...as Gareth whizzes up his date puree.

He's also laying out leaves for a stuffed cabbage side

called chou fa rci.

This is a chou farci mix. So in there I've got black pudding,

a pork belly mince, a little bit of shallot, garlic, all my herbs.

He's using an unusual ham hock black pudding...

...from the same farm as his pork collar

just a few miles from his restaurant.

George! Nice to see you again. How are you doing, mate?

Yeah, good. Black pudding? Yes, please, mate.

I've got some on the go. Let's have a look. Fantastic.

OK. So this is where we make it.

It's all done in small batches by hand.

So, we're starting with the free-range ham hock.

That's smoked by ourselves.

We add the spice mix and then the barley.

How do you get the texture so soft and light?

So we're adding grains instead of big chunks of fat,

which keep it soft. And then, because it's all rolled by hand,

it's not forced into skins by a machine or anything like that

so it keeps that light and not too dense texture.

I think it's going to work really well in the chou farci.

Sounds good.

There we go, mate. Thanks very much, and good luck with the dish.

Cheers, thank you.

So, this is my chou farci.

I'm going to steam that so it's cooked throughout

and then I'm going to slice it and then pan-fry. Oh...OK.

Some date puree for you to taste as well.

And how have you made that?

So, it's dates, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, lots of spices,

sugar, apple. Mm. So it's really acidic.

A little bit of sweetness there as well from the dates.

Gareth's puree, really delicious.

He's got to get a great score.

He has to, otherwise he's not going through.

Good? I hope so!

Service is looming.

I'm just going to the oven.

Will puts his venison in for a first quick roast.

Cal finishes his carrots in reduced mead...

...before stuffing his cabbage with scapes.

Scapes are the flower pods of the wild garlic.

They've just been pickled, so a salt pickle.

He's also trying to keep one eye on the barbecue

for his pork and maitakes

and keep a check on his vegetables.

BLEEP! BLEEP!

I'm glad I've got more of that.

Just left the carrots unattended so absolutely destroyed them.

But I've got more carrots.

I'm sorry, Cal. I looked at them. I thought they were all right.

No, no, it's all right. It's just come up to temperature a bit quick.

The clock always seems to run faster in this kitchen.

Will returns his venison to rest again in the butter bath

and Gareth mixes kohlrabi and Granny Smiths

into a white miso dressing for his salad.

Right, Cal, what do you need? Great. Carrots.

Here, green in here. Yeah.

Cal's up first.

It's time to demould the mulled wine jelly.

What's coming out of the sand castle, Cal?

Hopefully not a liquid, Gareth.

Well, yeah. Fingers crossed for you, mate.

He says!

Ooh. Come on.

Go on. Go on!

THEY LAUGH WITH RELIEF

Cal, you've got four minutes, please. Yeah, I'll be on time.

He places the scape-stuffed heart into the middle of the cabbage.

Then he slices his barbecued pork loin and belly.

How's that for you, Cal? Perfect, mate.

A little bit of pink on the white.

Obviously got the dark meat at the top. Lovely.

Where do you want it? So, the loin there.

The others help plate it along with the maitake mushrooms

on Tudor-inspired metal plates.

How long to the pass, please? Er, two minutes.

Cal's under pressure.

He slices the trotter sausage

and Willis on sauce duty.

Oh, my word! ANDI SQUEALS

It's amazing. Look at that!

The candles are lit,

the lights are dimmed...

AW! Oh!

...and Tudor two-pronged cutlery given out.

The name of the dish is The Tasty Tudors

inspired by the Terrible Tudors book in the series of Horrible Histories.

All right. Enjoy. Let's go. Good luck, Chef. Thank you.

I'm mesmerised. Amazed that he's got it set in time.

It's really, really excellent, isn't it? I can't wait to taste this.

Oh, the sauce is so glossy, isn't it?

Pork belly's turned out as you wanted it?

The fat's rendered nicely.

Melt-in-the-mouth for me. Yeah, I'm happy with it.

The cooking on that main piece of pork there?

Excellent cuisson, on the right side of pink, so, yeah.

Succulent, tender. Yeah, it's wonderful.

So, you've got your pig trotter skin rendered down enough for you?

Yeah. It is a tough texture,

but it's meant to be there as a gruesome element

so you've got that lovely sausage on the inside.

Amazing. I think it's full of spice, rich.

The skin around the outside is a little tough.

Ancl your cabbage? It's a lovely little...

...salty, pickled, garlic, you know... I really like that.

Mulled wine castle.

Real punchy. It livens everything up as well. It lifts the whole thing.

Ancl what would you score yourself?

Presentation on the board, if I'd spent another couple of minutes

and maybe just got that a bit neater...

I mean, I'd love a nine again.

Yeah, I think a nine.

For me, the rind on the trotter's probably not my cup of tea.

It's a ten. Ten? Yeah.

He's set the bar quite high, lads, hasn't he? Mm.

CAL EXHALES HEAVILY

How was that? How was that, Cal?

Terrifying. Getting all that up, it was just crazy hard.

Gareth's next.

He's finishing his chou farci on the plancha

and adding mustard to his pork sauce...

...as well as barbecuing some jumbo pork ribs.

What's my time, please?

Three minutes, Gareth. Yeah. Need anything, mate?

If you can just keep brushing those ribs on there for me.

Sticky, sticky, yeah.

Cal brushes on the ho is in glaze before sprinkling on chives...

...whilst Gareth slices his roasted and rested pork collar.

Happy with your pork? Yeah, I am happy with the pork, yeah.

Hearts top per is set in a school so he's plating in dinner trays -

starting with the pork ribs and collar.

Farci. Thank you. Farci in the circle, yeah.

Yeah. Coming round, here you go.

The kohlrabi salad goes on top

along with ponzu citrus-dressed cabbage,

then the apple and date purees.

OK, you're clue at the pass now, Gareth.

Sorry. One more minute, please.

Anything else, Gareth? just these fresh dates on top of the cabbage.

The mustard sauce is poured

and, at the last minute, he remembers his crispy cabbage.

Forgot about that.

So, the name of the dish is Meet Me At Lunch

and the inspiration is the graphic novel Hearts top per

by Alice Oseman. Ancl what's in here?

So, this is supposed to simulate exactly how it feels

when you start to fall in love with someone.

SQUEALS OF DELIGHT, LAUGHTER

Isn't that amazing?!

It did actually make your stomach flutter!

I know. I felt a little bit funny.

Yeah. Fabulous. LAUGHTER

Right. Let's go and eat it.

All right. Shall we see if it's as delicious as it is emotional? Yeah.

So, the collar, is that cooked correctly for you, nice and pink?

Yeah. I like the cuisson on that.

Probably could have clone with a bit more resting.

Juicy, pink, just how pork should be served.

It's beautiful.

And then the rib?

It's sweet, soft, fatty, porky. Wonderful.

Ancl you're happy with the mustard sauce, the flavour?

Yeah. Yeah, I am. Yeah, it's just a light mustard flavour.

Chou farci, Will? Yeah, lovely.

Big, rich, deep black pudding with some nice cabbage. It's real nice.

So, it's more black pudding than it is... Cabbage?

...the belly, and the cabbage.

I wanted the black pudding to really come through. Yeah.

And what about the cabbage on top with the dates and the date puree?

Yeah. Welcome addition. Little fruity hits.

I love the crisp cabbage as well. I'm glad he remembered that.

How do you think you'll score?

Erm, I think if I'd rested the pork, I'd probably get a higher score.

You know, on a good clay, I'd hope to get nine, obviously.

I think he deserves a really high mark for this. I'm going to say...

Yeah, I'm going to say ten. I'm going to give them a ten as well.

Gareth really needed to deliver on this main course,

and I think he's done just that.

The food was delicious and the storytelling was so moving.

Finally, it's Will.

He fries his faggots in butter

then pipes liver parfait, followed by beetroot puree

on top of the park in which has been fried in bone marrow.

If you can help me put oxalis on top of this.

Yeah, absolutely. just on the beetroot.

Cal gets the job of tweezering on tiny oxalis leaves

as Will dots cauliflower puree on to crockery etched with funny bones.

Do you need a hand, Will, are you all right?

If you could help me just put the pumpkin seeds on this puree

and then just fill it in with your tweezers.

Black garlic is followed by some roasted cauliflower florets,

then red cabbage is topped with the faggot.

The park in is served on a wishbone,

just like the one featured in the Funny bones illustrations.

You've got nine minutes.

Can I come up early, Chef? Of course you can, yeah.

The butter-bathed and roasted venison is sliced.

Cuisson's bob on that, Will. Yeah, just how I wanted it.

And the venison and cherry blossom sauce

is split with her by bone marrow.

I'm shaking. Look at that!

Excellent.

The name of the dish is The Wishbone

and the inspiration is the Funny bones.

I'm not helping do those oxalis leaves at the banquet!

LAUGHTER

You can do that your bloody self!

All right, let's go. Well done, mate.

Sauce? Yes, please. Thank you. Sauce away.

So, venison, is that cooked for you?

Yeah. Yeah. Perfect.

It's perfectly cooked. Yeah. So soft, so tender. Yeah.

Ancl what about the faggot? Is that the consistency you wanted?

Yeah. Perfect. I think it's nice and meaty, nice and spicy.

The roast cauliflower puree with the toasted seeds on the top.

Great texture. just full of umami. It's just so tasty.

Ancl your nan's park in, have you clone it justice?

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

I love park in. I love parfait.

You know, put them together, it's just inspired. It's so tasty.

How would you mark it? Ten.

Has it beaten the other two?

No, I think we're equal.

Ooh, what, all three tens? Yeah, I think...

You think I'm going to be that generous, do you? Maybe, yeah.

Ten, without a doubt. It's got to be, ten.

You haven't made it easy, have you, boys? At all!

Yeah. Oh, here he is. Hey. Hey. How are you? How's it going?

Yeah, I'm all right. Yeah?

It's over. Finally over.

Yeah, man, that dish was phenomenal.

Standard's high. Yeah, very high. Very, very high. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, main courses. How are you feeling?

There's a few little tweaks, shall we say, one particular chef.

Yeah. But a very high standard overall.

You know, it's like great art to me, you know. Yeah.

And they're just delivering great art.

I've got to judge that great art!

I can just go...lovely! Eat it happily!

With Will and Cal currently on 18, and Gareth on 15,

it's time to find out the scores.

Hello, Chefs. How are you feeling?

Yeah, good. Good. Yeah, yeah.

Right. Cal, for your dish, The Tasty Tudors.

Your Horrible Histories style presentation was great fun.

I loved the jelly castle. It was really impressive

and that mulled wine flavour really came through.

The pork was smoky from that barbecue

and really nicely cooked.

For me, I felt that fat needed to render down a bit more.

Ancl the pig's trotter glaze was sticky, really tasty.

I did feel, though, the skin was slightly chewy.

Ancl I also think, given that beautiful board,

you should have put more on it, you know, a big sharing feast.

Gareth, for your dish, Meet Me At Lunch -

I really liked the presentation.

That fun surprise really did make my heart flutter.

Every element of your pork was delicious.

The pork rib melted in the mouth and I love the pork collar.

You're right, you probably could have rested it

a minute or two longer.

That mustard sauce - to die for.

I am stealing that recipe and it will be on the menu.

I really enjoyed your cabbage garnishes.

Loved the way you use the whole cabbage, had thought that through.

It really was good.

Will, for your dish, The Wishbone -

beautifully presented with your funny bones

and the park in, and the bones neatly clone on your rack. It was great.

The venison rack was cooked very well, and it was perfectly rare.

The venison faggot was delicious

and your sauce, the cherry blossom vinegar really came through.

Your granny will be very impressed with your park in toast

because it was delicious.

The venison parfait, beetroot puree bursting with flavour,

really original. It was a really beautiful main course. Well clone.

And so to the scores.

Cal...

...|'m giving you...

...an eight.

Cal, this was an absolute showstopper at the pass.

More finesse and just the little tweaks Angela's suggested to you,

and you could do very well if you get to cook this again. Thank you.

Gareth...

...I'm scoring you...

...a nine.

Gareth, this dish brought everything together for me,

your talent and your imagination.

It was so wonderful to see that happen for you. Thank you.

Thank you. Beautiful.

Will...

...I'm scoring you...

...a ten.

It's just an extraordinary dish.

Beautifully composed, stunningly executed.

And that park in was amazing. Thank you.

Right. Next up, gentlemen, it is the sweet part of the menu.

You let your imagination go wild. It's all to play for.

It ain't over yet, guys, that's all I'm saying.

Thank you. CONTESTANTS: Thank you. Cheers.

Ooh! Ten again. Well clone. Ugh!

Yikes. Yeah. Yeah.

It's great. Sweaty palms. Yeah.

The sweet part, shall we get on with it? Good luck. Thank you.

It's the pre-dessert.

The scores really are incredibly tight.

In the event of a tie, these rankings will really matter.

Nine's fantastic, I couldn't have asked for more.

Well, I could have, but nines, I'm happy.

Eight for the main, I expected it.

Felt the boys deserved higher scores today.

It's amazing to score two tens in a row.

You know, I never thought I would.

There's only two points in it, between me and Cal.

I'm trying not to let nerves get the better of me.

Angela will taste these blind

and, with the stakes high...

Come on!

...Will starts by setting the oven for his baking

and Cal churns a strawberry and apple marigold sorbet

for his pre-dessert inspired by images from a book

that spans the ages in its appeal.

The title is just A Tiny Taste. It's based on Charles Mackesy's book

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox Ancl The Horse.

Oh, it's so beautiful, that book. Yeah.

In the book, the little mole's

always chasing after the three-tier cake

and so what I'm trying to do is replicate that tiny cake.

And what kind of a cake is it?

It's going to be a lemon and verbena Victoria sponge. Oh, my word! Yeah.

He doesn't realise he's stealing Will's oven

as he puts his mini sponges in.

Oblivious, Will pops out some parfaits.

So, the title is Get Off My Cheese,

and the inspiration is Wallace and Gromit.

Their favourite cheese was Wensleydale

so there'll be a smoked Wensleydale parfait,

two kind of spiced biscuits with some elderflower jelly.

It'll look quite unassuming, in a little cracker tin,

and it'll be like an ice cream sandwich.

He's cut out cinnamon and ginger crackers ready for his oven.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't go in there.

Can you go bottom one? I'm in with cakes.

Cheers, dude, appreciate it. Yeah, no, it's fine, it's fine.

Everyone's getting jittery as Gareth makes a creme fraiche mousse.

So, the pre-dessert title is called The Toughest Kid In The Be a no.

Right. It's based around a character called Ivy The Terrible.

Oh, I love Ivy The Terrible... with the...hair! Yeah.

It's quite personal to me as well.

My eldest daughter is actually called Ivy as well.

The dish itself is a coconut sorbet

with a creme fraiche and lime mousse underneath

and on top I've clone an Italian meringue. Right.

In order to get into the main part of the dessert,

you need a little bit of tantrum and break through that meringue. Nice.

He gets his coconut sorbet in.

Did you see my timer anywhere? I had it on my tray earlier.

Oh, sorry. This one's mine.

This, and the oven, what next?! This, and the oven!

He's got tens now, guys, yeah, he's got tens, yeah.

They're all trying to time things so they can serve together.

Will builds his cheese ice cream crackers,

Cal pipes sorbet into his cakes

and Gareth helps to decorate.

It's not a quick job, is it? It's not a quick job. A worthwhile one.

You have three minutes. Yeah. Thank you.

Gareth plates up last to keep things cold.

Sorbet goes on top of his mousse, then a swirl of mint oil

and meringue in Ivy The Terrible's colours.

Wow.

Goodness me, gentlemen, you've surpassed yourselves.

Cheers. Well clone. That's incredible, man.

THEY LAUGH WITH RELIEF

Hello. Hello. I feel like I haven't seen you for ages.

Thank you so much, my love.

Oh, wow.

We're supposed to break the top open like we're having a tantrum.

OK. So, wreck... And there you go.

Looks amazing. Yeah, looks class.

Mm. Mm. Oh, that sorbet.

Real nice. Spot-on. Yeah? Yeah.

That meringue sort of just disappears, doesn't it?

Yeah, the meringue's very good, actually.

I think I prefer the meringue to the filling. I find it too sweet. Mm-hm.

Now we've got afternoon tea. SHE CHUCKLES

I mean, it's just gorgeous.

Oh, look at that.

Yeah. Clever. Goodness.

Oh, yeah.

It's all a bit a special, isn't it?

That marigold's so good with the strawberry.

It surprised me, actually.

I didn't expect that sorbet, and I think that's made it.

Quite refreshing, isn't it? Yeah.

Interesting.

That's incredible. That's amazing.

How the hell did you come up with that?

Don't know. THEY LAUGH

just on a whim! Yeah!

That's really good.

That smoky cheese is amazing. Mm.

A bit more of that gel would be even better.

I really like that.

OK, so least favourite,

this one here. Right.

Too sweet.

Second favourite - this one, the cake.

And my first was the crackers.

The simplicity of it just ticks everything.

Do you think you know who made what, though, I ask?

This is Will.

This is Gareth.

This is Cal.

This is Will.

This is Gareth.

Oh, interesting.

And this is Cal. Ah.

It's the final course and the final chance. We're on to dessert.

Is it hotter at the back or at the front?

It's nice to find out on the last day, innit?!

THEY LAUGH I know, but I keep forgetting!

For his, Gareth is caramelising pears.

So the scores are really tight at the moment.

So this course could potentially push me forward or one of us has got

to go home at the end, so...

Cal cooks down peaches in elderflower syrup for a compote,

and Willis mixing a crumble blackened with activated charcoal.

They are both all too aware that many chefs have fallen

at this final hurdle.

So the title of the dish is The Phoenix Meteor Shower.

The Phoenix Meteor Shower? Yeah. And what's the inspiration?

The inspiration is Look Up! Oh, Dapo! Illustrated by Dapo Adeola.

He's fantastic.

So it's about a kind of young, aspiring astronaut.

She's trying to convince everybody to stop looking at their phones

and look up at the meteor shower.

Tell us how you're getting it onto a plate.

So there's going to be a brown butter parfait.

I'm going to freeze it in liquid nitrogen, bash it up into sort

of meteor rocks.

I'm doing an aerated ruby chocolate that will again resemble a meteor.

I'm doing a black crumble with lots of edible glitter in it,

so it kind of looks like space dust. Night sky.

Ancl then there's a buttermilk granita, apple marigold caramel,

and some pears on there as well.

So what's your biggest worry with it? Splitting the parfait.

Oh, yeah. The butter, yeah. It cools very fast.

If you whip it too much, it splits fast. Yeah. Right.

As he aims for top scores,

Gareth mixes feuilletine into melted praline and white chocolate.

The title of the dish is "Incoming!"

And it's inspired by the video game Worms.

It was developed by Team 17

who were based in Wakefield.

There's, like, four worms on each team, and you have to try

and destroy the other team's worms.

Yeah. So how are we going to see worms? Yeah. Yeah.

So they used to use different types of weapons, so I'm making a layered

chocolate bar almost. Right.

So it's going to be a chocolate shell inside

a hazelnut ganache, caramelised pear with bourbon. Right.

Also a chocolate and malt ice cream to go on the side as well.

Mm, I like malt. So you're tempering chocolate?

Yes, obviously I need to get everything made and then chilled

so it'll fill the tempered shell without having to melt it.

Yeah, of course. And then that could

be a disaster trying to get it out the mould.

So we need to stop asking you questions so you can get on with it.

Pretty much, if you don't mind, yeah.

THEY LAUGH

He rolls out the feuilletine, whilst Cal is also making a crunchy base

with home-made biscuits and some butter.

I think this is the strongest course of the week.

So, yeah, head down, just get it all clone.

After a teeny wobble on main,

he's hoping to bounce back with a dessert based

on Quentin Blake's classic illustrations.

So title of the dish is james's Giant Peach.

Oh! Inspired by, you guessed it, James Ancl The Giant Peach.

So I'm making a cheesecake

in the shape of a peach with sour

wild camomile yoghurt, peach sphere in the centre

cooked in elderflower, and then make a couple of the characters.

So there's an earthworm in the book. Nice.

So that's made from a jelly worm.

So in there there's verbena, anise hyssop,

and a little bit of mint as well.

Ancl then there's going to be the Ladybug character as well

filled with ice cream. Do you think this is going to put

you through? Cos it's tight between you two. Yeah, it is tight.

Ancl I'm almost rooting for these guys as well because they've cooked

their hearts out all week. Yeah.

I'll be sad to see either one of them go, so...

Oh, right, so you're staying, are you?

Yeah, I will be, yeah. Yeah. I love that.

THEY LAUGH On that note, Mr-Confidence-pants.

I should be good on this course.

Apart from forgetting to put my cornflour in my crumble.

Nearly fell at the first hurdle then, didn't I?

Will gets the rescued crumble in to bake.

Cal pours his jelly into worm moulds and blends earthy, sweet

woodruff herb for his ice cream.

He's given himself a lot to do.

Still need to make the cheesecakes, get the peach spheres

in the cheesecakes, spray the cheesecakes, put the jelly worms

in the cheesecakes, make ladybugs.

Probably some other stuff.

Gareth mixes hazelnut praline and chocolate popping candy

into cream to make the ganache that will go in the centre

of a chocolate dynamite stick for his dish, inspired

by the Worms video game.

Gareth's dish, "Incoming!"

The key for him is getting his tempered chocolate right.

The heat in that kitchen can really mess with any tempering

you might have planned. You know, he's got to pull this out.

He's got to get a nine or ten if he wants to go

through to the judges. Mm-hm.

Will's dish, The Phoenix Meteor Shower.

So for me, that parfait's the key.

He's got to set it, can't have it split.

You want to be eating that parfait with the other elements

on that plate.

# Runnin, runnin' Runnin', runnin'. #

Cal's dessert, james's Giant Peach.

He's got to make sure that that peach is beautiful.

I don't want this rubbery cheesecake.

If he's got a soft centre, that's got to come out.

His main course sounded amazing but, for me, that was the weakest.

You know, he did not get it right.

As he pushes for top marks this time, Cal adds white chocolate

and cream to his camomile cheesecake.

He then gets the peach compote he made earlier from the freezer.

So this will just defrost inside the cheesecake eventually.

It will go back to, like, a compote.

He builds his cheesecakes, piping the yoghurt mix into peach moulds,

pushing in the spheres, topping with more cheesecake mix,

then adding his biscuit base.

Is this your cheesecake mix? Yeah, that's the mix.

So a little bit of sour camomile yoghurt in there.

A bit of salt, you know, just to balance with the sweetness

of the elderflower and the peaches.

Yeah. So hopefully get the balance right.

Feeling good? Yeah. Feeling really good. On time?

Yeah, I'll be on time.

Cal's cheesecake base,

maybe it should be a little bit sharper for me, but I think

when it's cooled down and frozen, it will have that.

He seemed very confident.

I hope he's not overly confident.

Gareth cools down the chocolate malt ice cream mix,

then gets his set popping candy ganache ready to add to his

gaming dynamite stick.

Worms, Gareth, really loved that game.

Yeah, Worms was fantastic.

Me and my brothers all gathered around the TV, PS1,

literally just bashing away all night. It was great.

I used to go round my matejames's house and have four N64 controllers.

Yeah, yeah. It was really good.

It's just a great way of bringing

everyone together, I think, gaming. Massive in my life.

I don't know about you guys. Oh, yeah, definitely.

Ancl it's artistic. The illustrations are incredible, you know?

Willis adding hot sugar and glucose to whipped egg yolks

for his parfait.

Next, he slowly adds the beurre noisette, or browned butter.

Noooooo.

Er... Ahh...

Maybe not.

The mixture nearly splits, but luckily comes back together.

He folds it with mascarpone and whipped cream.

BUZZER

Who's in the oven? Me.

His now-baked black crumble has been designed to look like

a smashed meteor.

And he got inspiration for it from astrophysicistjosie Rawes...

Hi, Josie. Hi, Will. Come on in.

...at York University's Astrocampus.

So what are meteors? It's basically a space rock entering the atmosphere

and burning up.

And I've got one here.

It's about four billion years old.

Wow. It's heavy.

So it could have broken off from something like an asteroid. Right.

Or it could also be the tail of a comet.

So I've got some images here of different coloured meteors.

What makes them different colours?

So the different colours arise depending on what the meteor

is actually made of. Right.

So the meteor that caused this trace would have been made of a lot

of sodium, which gives it this yellow colour.

This one's really famous.

This is from the Perseid meteor shower,

and they have a very characteristic green into pink, and that means

it's got magnesium and calcium.

And so the meteor shower occurs when Earth passes through

the tail of a comet.

And so you can see lots of them here, and they light up the sky

at night in all these different colours.

Wow.

To give his space rock some sweetness and acidity,

Will's using caramel three ways - in a pear puree...

...in compressed pear,

and as a drizzle on the plate.

What's this little delight?

So that is normal caramel deglazed with apple marigold vinegar.

You like a lot of vinegars in your cooking, don't you?

Yeah, I've been told that before. Oh, that's delicious.

I like that. How's that going to look on the plate?

What's happening with it? So that is literally getting drizzled on.

Ancl the parfait in the centre of it? Yeah.

Sort of all spread out, sort of even.

Yeah, like it's just been... Splat. ..blasted on the plate. Yeah.

Will's got to make sure it tells a story on the plate, and he's got

to make sure that it all works together,

it's not just elements and cleverness but actually

doesn't come together as a dish.

He's setting the brown butter parfait the speedy way, in liquid

nitrogen, before crushing it into large chunks.

He uses the same method for his buttermilk granita.

Gareth slices his feuilletine, ready to fill his dynamite sticks.

Moulds are already painted with the cocoa butter,

so they're looking pretty sharp.

I'm just tempering my chocolate now, so literally just waiting

for it to come down by a couple more degrees and then I can get it

into my moulds.

He pours in his tempered chocolate, then knocks it out to leave

a thin lining.

What's in that bag? So this is my hazelnut ganache.

So this is what's going to be in the filling.

There's going to be a layer of pears, a layer of hazelnut ganache,

and then feuilletine.

Ancl do you think the pears are going to give you that freshness,

cut through that ganache, and all the rest of it?

Yeah, the pears I'm using are really quite sharp as well. Yeah.

I've caramelised them and finished them with a little bit of bourbon.

That should hopefully help lift the whole thing.

I tasted Gareth's hazelnut ganache.

Slight little surprise in there - it had this popping candy.

He needs to get it all together, make sure it's not overly sweet.

Then he could be on for a great score.

Now layered with the feuilletine, ganache and pear,

he finishes his chocolate dynamite and gets it into the chiller to set.

As Cal fills white chocolate ladybirds with his woodruff

ice cream and also chills to firm up.

Are you confident yours are going to come out all right, Gareth?

Yeah. Yeah? Good. Pastry, man, innit?

Anything could happen!

Will's serving first and, for the red meteor colour,

he's aerated ruby chocolate, which is a recent invention

from red cocoa beans.

Need me to do anything, Will,

or are you all right? I'm good for now. Thank you.

His caramelised pear puree is swirled into the bottom

of his bowls and the compressed pear goes on top.

OK, Will, you've got three minutes.

Yes, Chef.

The apple marigold caramel is drizzled before he sprinkles on

the black hazelnut crumble, which now sparkles with edible glitter.

Space dust. Look at that.

The liquid nitrogen box comes out.

First on is the buttermilk granita.

Two minutes, Will. Yes, Chef.

Then the slightly bigger pieces of brown butter parfait.

Need anything? Yeah. Can you go with five pieces of ruby chocolate?

And finally, the red and yellow elements.

Will you start putting these dried marigolds?

Yeah. just all facing towards, like, 20 past.

Like going across.

Remember my analogue clocks.

You're clue on the pass now, Will. Yes, Chef.

It's served with a space-inspired sound and light show.

The name of the dish is The Phoenix Meteor Shower and it's inspired

by the book "Look Up!" illustrated by Dapo Adeola.

OK, let's go and eat it. Yeah.

This is interesting, isn't it?

Cos I think it looks quite unassuming, but I bet it's not.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

So, the parfait, that's worked for you?

Yeah, it's really sort of buttery, soft, like ice cream.

Yeah, definitely getting the nuttiness from the brown butter.

It's really, really nice.

And the saltiness comes through in there, too, doesn't it? Yeah.

Ancl what about your buttermilk granita?

Yeah, I think it, sort of, you know, makes it nice and clean.

Do you think texturally that works?

Yeah.

And then the ruby chocolate. Yeah. Lovely.

Almost sort of fruity flavour from that.

Caramel's worked for you? Yeah, very much so.

What about the crumble?

Yeah, it's crunchy. Obviously, visually, it looks impressive.

It reminds me of, like, an apple crumble, but, like, outer space

apple crumble. Mm.

What would you score it?

Erm...

...a nine.

My crumble could have been ever so slightly less powdered.

Yeah, it's got to be a ten, I think, for me. A ten from you?

Yeah. Ten.

You think you're through to the judges?

I'd like to think so, yeah. Good.

He's done as much as he can now.

But is it enough?

Cal's also throwing everything at this one,

including his power tools...

DRILL WHIRS

...as he drills his frozen cheesecakes for the jelly worms.

Insane.

That's completely insane!

He then sprays them - first peach, followed by a blush of red...

...whilst Gareth is pinning all his hopes on his complex

chocolate dynamite sticks filled with the ganache,

pear and feuilletine.

One... One down.

But the second one isn't good enough to serve.

BLEEP!

Crack the tray a little bit. Sometimes that really helps.

Freeze it for five minutes, maybe?

Do you want me to put them in?

Whilst he waits for them to set some more, he pipes out white chocolate

to look like detonating wire

on a gaming presentation box made

by his dad and pre-scoops his chocolate malt ice cream

ready to serve.

Cheers, buddies. Thank you.

Then he tries again.

Get these back out now. What do you reckon?

You got this.

Got one?

Got one, but...

You've got it. You reckon? Yeah, for sure.

Yes!

So the name is "Incoming!"

The inspiration is the video game Worms.

Right. Let's go and eat it.

Good luck, Chef.

Well clone, Gareth. Cheers.

Wow. This is great.

So chocolate tempered correctly. Nice crunch to it.

Yeah, I think it's got a decent crunch.

I would've preferred it to be a tiny bit more crunchier but,

other than that, I'm really happy.

Mm.

Mm.

Is your feuilletine base crispy enough for you? Yeah.

It adds a great crunch.

And then with the popping candy, that just adds extra bite.

Is that popping candy?

Oh, yeah. It's not just me? Yeah, it is. Yeah.

Are you happy with your ganache? Correct flavour, consistency?

Yeah. I think the ganache is spot-on really.

All the flavours marry up quite well.

Are the pears working in there?

I think the pears really work.

If I was being hypercritical,

I'd probably say I'd want a little bit more fruit.

What about your ice cream? Yeah. Delicious chocolate and malt.

That's exactly what I wanted.

Ice cream's really good. Ice cream's really good, yeah.

It's all really good.

ANGELA: What would you score it? I'd give it a nine.

I think if the tempers was bang-on, then it would be a ten.

OK.

I think it's a nine. Yeah, I think it's a nine.

It's a really good dessert.

Just the chocolate and the malt just overwhelms the fruit element.

Finally, it's Cal.

Can he deliver everything right this time?

He sticks stalks into the peaches with melted chocolate.

Seen my tweezers? Yes, I've got them. Have you? Yeah, yeah.

Keep 'em for now. No, no, no, no. You have them. I've got my own.

Then it's his moment of truth as he demoulds his ladybirds.

Ooh, check them out!

Easy. Little wriggly lads, aren't they?

He pushes in his jelly worms.

I just want it so he's crawling out the side.

It's so cool.

You've got five minutes, Cal.

Five minutes. Thank you. I'll be on time. Thank you.

As if that wasn't enough, he's got one last surprise...

How much essence do you want on it? A few drops.

Yeah, that's great.

...scented helium balloons to attach to the peaches.

BALLOON SQUEAKS

Oh. Hello. Squeaky.

Four minutes, Cal. Thank you. Thank you.

If you could bring it nice and close for me.

Next balloon, please. Yep.

Going? Yeah, happy.

Aw. So, inspiration for this one,

Quentin Blake's illustrations of James And The Giant Peach.

Brilliant. Let's go and eat it.

The balloon. Tell me about that.

Obviously, the balloon takes the peach to America.

Yeah, it's a little bit of fun. You can pop the balloon.

There's peach essence in there, so it really sort of ties it together.

BALLOON POPS

Ooh.

Oh, yeah, you definitely get that.

Oh, yeah, I got it! Definitely get that, yeah.

Wowser.

So, consistency of your cheesecake. Happy with that?

Yeah, it's soft. It's got a little bit of bounce.

Ancl it holds its shape, most importantly. Mm. Yeah.

It's delicious, nice and light.

Yoghurt flavour comes through perfectly.

And my peach in the middle - tiny little bit frozen.

I feel like he might be quite upset with that.

The peach centre, is that as you wanted it?

Was it slightly frozen? No, it's meant to be soft.

It wasn't frozen for me there.

What do you think of the flavour of that peach, though?

Unbelievable. Yeah.

You've tempered your chocolate correctly for your ladybird.

Yeah, it's nice and thin.

Yeah. Really nice.

Beautiful temper, woodruff, real nice flavour.

Yeah, it's very good.

OK. How's your little worm?

Yeah. Bit of fun, her by.

Yeah, it's fresh.

What would you score this?

I'd like a ten.

Yeah, it's a ten from me. Yeah, same from me. Ten.

Yeah, the peach is a little bit frozen.

But you can forgive him cos it's... Incredible.

...such an incredible piece of work.

Cal. Boys.

Good? How was that? Yeah, it was good.

You know, nothing given away, as usual. Wooh!

I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit hopped up on sugar!

THEY LAUGH

I don't always eat so much of the desserts, but they were three

very tasty, moreish desserts.

All of those desserts had elements you thought, "Wow."

You know, and technically, honestly, respect,

absolute respect for what they did in that time.

CAL: I think there's going to be some top scores, to be honest.

Hopefully. Hopefully, yeah, fingers crossed.

It's in Angela's hands now. Certainly is.

Yeah. Nerve-racking times now. Yeah. Yeah.

We have been at the high-end of scoring... Yeah. ..since starters.

Eights, nines, tens. That is a very unusual week. Yeah.

Are we in the top ends of things again? Yeah.

A different pecking order, I'd say, now. Yes.

I mean, again, you know, they have not made it easy, you know,

which is a good thing.

At the moment, Willis on 28, Cal, 26, and Gareth, 24.

Hello, Chefs. Hello. Hi. How are you all feeling?

Good. Yeah, good. Yeah.

Will, for your dish, The Phoenix Meteor Shower...

...| liked your inspiration,

I enjoyed the starry sky and music.

I think you could have pushed that theatre more.

I think I would have loved the whole ceiling to be lit up.

I loved that hazelnut crunch with the crumble.

Ancl you had freshness and acidity from the caramel and the pears.

Your brown butter parfait,

for me, I was hoping that was going to be the centre focus.

It wasn't.

I couldn't really decipher between the buttermilk granita

and the parfait. It sort of merged all into one.

So I think bigger pieces would really make you identify that.

Gareth, for your dish, "Incoming!",

the dessert look refined, it was elegant, it was fun inspiration.

I loved that ice cream, that fabulous consistency and delicious

chocolate malt flavour.

The dynamite stick was sharp and it was well made.

The pears brought welcome acidity and broke up the richness.

I would just put more pear cos I think

you really need that acidity.

Your praline feuilletine on the base provided good texture

and that chocolate had a nice sheen.

Ancl I think you said it yourself, a little bit more of a crack,

I think, was needed.

Cal, for your dish, james's Giant Peach,

it was a very clever, smart presentation.

The balloon with the peach essence was a great added touch.

Very imaginative.

That camomile yoghurt cheesecake was delicious and creamy.

Ancl the peaches in the centre, the sharpness was exactly

what you needed.

Your worm was very well made and refreshing.

The Ladybug, the chocolate was nicely tempered.

Ancl that woodruff ice cream had a lovely softness to it.

It was a magical dessert.

And so to the scores.

Will, I'm giving you...

...an eight.

Will, this was such a humble looking dish at the pass.

Then I took a spoonful.

It had so much flavour.

Really quite surprising.

If you follow Angela's advice... Yeah. ..you could definitely

get those extra two points.

Cal,

I'm scoring you...

...a ten.

Yes. Thank you.

THEY LAUGH

Matching your storytelling and your impressive pastry skills,

this dish was just simply a knockout.

Thank you, both.

Gareth,

I'm scoring you...

...a nine.

These final scores mean that Will and Cal are joint on 36.

And Gareth, you are on 33.

Sadly, that means you're going to be leaving us.

It's been so wonderful to have you back in this kitchen. Thank you.

You are an exceptional talent. Thank you very much.

Commiserations, Gareth.

But honestly, you've got nothing to be worried about.

You're a brilliant young cook.

Well clone, all of you. Thank you.

Good luck tomorrow, both of you. Thank you.

I'll see you here in this kitchen. Well clone, guys.

Thank you.

Well done, boys.

Mate...

Well clone. Well clone.

What a week, man.

Over the moon with my score for dessert to get a nine.

I must say I'm gutted to be leaving.

But to go out to these two guys is not a disappointment for me.

Just happy to be cooking along such amazing talent.

One of you better get a dish through. Yeah.

Can't believe we've got to do all that again.

THEY LAUGH

Ten. Finally got a ten.

Yes, absolutely stunned, yeah.

Tomorrow, I'm just going to try and enjoy it,

pick up on what Angela said,

and change it where she thought necessary.

It's amazing to get through to the judges, you know?

I think I've got what it takes to win.

I just need to go in there and cook as well as I can.

The judges are going to have a really hard time tomorrow choosing

between these two chefs.

They're exceptionally talented.

Next time, Will and Cal go head-to-head...

Do you think we need to get that out? Yeah.

...as they try to win over the judges...

Two, one... BALLOON POPS, SCREAMS

Feels like I've been beaten up by flavour.

...in one of the closest high-scoring battles we've ever had.

The winner is...