Welsh Rivalries Are Renewed On Great British Menu

It’s Wales’ week on GBM; let the jokes about the sheep begin! Judge in residence is Stephen Terry, a former winner who saw his organic salmon and smoked salmon with crab fritters and cockle 'popcorn' served at ‘The Gherkin’ in London back in 2008. A series later, he faced off against, and lost out to, one of our chefs this week, James Sommerin. Let’s hope he’s not bitter!

Our first competing chef is the aforementioned come-back kid James Sommerin. He is the head chef at the The Crown at Whitebrook, in Monmouthshire. Next up, Richard Davies, executive chef at the Manor House, Castle Combe. Completing our line up is Aled Williams, the kitchen chef from Plas Bodegroes, Pwllheli.

As in the weeks before, each chef started their search for ingredients from a different National Trust property. James Sommerin was based at Stackpole Estate, Richard Davies at Llanerchaeron and Aled Williams began the hunt from Penryhn Castle.

Programme one, and we see our Welsh chef’s starters. James Sommerin cooked a pressed chicken terrine with asparagus, onion and jasmine. Richard Davies offered a summer salad of pea mousse, pickled beetroot and carrots with coriander mayonnaise and Aled Williams created a dish of Ham hock with cawl cennin foam and smoked cheddar mousse. Stephen scored them six, four and six respectively, making James and Aled neck and neck leaders on the first day.

Day two, the fish course. James Sommerin made poached & smoked sewin with apple, beetroot, turnip and smoked mussels, in a slightly bizarre black box. Richard Davies produced a Butter-poached lobster with confit potato, tomato chutney and white wine poached apple, and Aled Williams did Sea bass with brown crab, fennel purée and tomato and herb dressing. Stephen kept James and Aled together at the top of the leader board when he awarded both seven, but Richard pulled a point back by gaining an eight. Totals now were James and Aled 13, Richard 12.

And so, onto the mains, and you may have predicted ‘sheep’- indeed, ‘sheep’ we got; lamb and hogget precisely. James Sommerin cooked his lamb four ways with salt baked celeriac, rosemary and tomato, while Aled Williams took an older sheep for his main with a loin and slow-cooked shoulder of mountain hogget served with morels, asparagus and broad beans. Only Richard bucked the trend by serving up slow-cooked Welsh Black beef with leek and potato terrine, shallot purée and globe artichokes. Stephen proceeded to demonstrate that by-gones really were by-gones by awarding James a nine. His rivals both notched up a respectable seven. James finally secured a clear lead with 22, breaking away from Aled on 20, and leaving Richard in their wake on 19. James couldn’t resist a dig at Richard who seemed to be finding everything a struggle, saying he would be kicking himself for not having practiced. An incongruously relaxed-looking Richard confided to camera that he was kicking himself, as he could have done a lot better if he had practiced. Uncanny!

Puddings, and a bizarre collection up for judging today; James made a beetroot parfait with a chocolate and raspberry brownie- rather American sounding, which worried Stephen right away even though locality is not actually one of his personal judging criteria at this stage. Richard offered a mint mousse with hazelnut biscuit, strawberry sorbet and juice and Aled a lemon verbena flavoured baked custard with strawberries and black pepper shortbread. Hmmm, not sure about that one! Scores were two sixes for James and Richard, whilst Aled managed to get seven. Totals finished at James, 28, Aled, 27 and Richard, 25, making Richard the chef to leave and not get to cook for the judges.

Speaking of which, on with the judging! The first dish of the day was Aled’s. PL and OP adored the soup element of the starter, but PL commented that if you started with the soup and moved onto the ham next, it was sort of downhill. OP said the dried ham was very nice and that each component of the dish was very beautiful. MF and PL were concerned that the mustard was a bit dominant. OP continued to be positive, saying he thought the dish was a lovely bit of thinking, very beautifully thought out, that he really liked the balance of the whole thing and the quality of the ham. He concluded; the overall dish to me is sensational. This is perfect for a banquet.

Next up, James, with his terrine. On arrival MF’s first comment was that this was a large plate with a very small amount of food on it. PL announced it had good flavour and MF liked the ‘rubber band’ detail which was made up of some boozy substance. He also felt the pickled onion had a nice touch of acidity. PL thought the chicken taste was powerfully of good chicken, but MF queried that, saying he couldn’t quite accept that the dish was hugely flavoured of chicken. PL said it was the best chicken terrine she’d had in a long time, but both MF and OP disagreed, saying they could produce one better. MF dismissed the effort as a plate without a focus- a piece of eating. OP, similarly underwhelmed, felt it was ‘just passable’. MF commented that if this went down at the banquet there would be a collective sense of disappointment, and OP said ‘depression is the word I think you’re looking for.’ PL said they were being incredibly and unfairly harsh.

Fish course, and Aled’s was first again. Presentation was immediately ‘slated’ as OP announced he found the fish on a black slate disconcerting. PL said it smelt delicious. After tucking in OP said he would lose the sea bass and have more of the fish cake. MF corrected him, saying it was crab cake. OP and PL thought the crab cake was absolutely delicious. OP did not understand the relationship between the crab cake and the sea bass, with the cake being infinitely better cooking. PL felt it overshadowed the fish. OP said the fish itself was overcooked. MF replied that his was not overcooked; it was beautifully moist and just holding to the skin. PL concluded that although the crab cake was delicious, she would have liked to see more cayenne or chilli, as it just needed a bit more lift. MF summed it up saying that the problem with the dish was that there were two dishes there which were not working together. The sea bass and fennel went beautifully together, the crab cake and salsa went beautifully together, but they didn’t marry up. In that sense he said the chef had been incredibly generous and given them two fish dishes for the price of one. PL thought the chef had forgotten that old adage, less is more.

So, James’ black box arrived. MF said there was a bit of theatre in this, but was it high farce or high tragedy? On opening his box he jokingly coughed when the smoke poured out. PL thought it looked sensational and she loved the whole idea. MF agreed that it offered high drama. PL admired the crackly skin. MF worried that the taste could struggle to live up to the drama of the presentation, but PL thought it was perfectly cooked. OP agreed it was delicious but wasn’t getting any smoked flavour from the fish at all. MF admitted that this was the type of dish he had been hoping for in the competition, having theatre and pizzazz and being a showman’s dish. PL loved it for being original, spectacular, but still classy. MF noted that it was tricky and a little irritating trying to get the last of the food out of the box. PL thought the real beauty of the dish was the quality of the cooking of the fish, and said it was a joy, a perfectly balanced dish. MF said it was a corker.

James’ main, which had been such a hit with Judge Stephen Terry, was the first out. PL immediately thought it looked a bit of a muddle and OP unflatteringly called it a study in beige; brown and murky, but acknowledged that the flavours could be wonderful. PL thought the Rosemary crumble was delicious but MF found it ‘odd’, saying he didn’t think it advanced the cause of the lamb much. OP said that the problem was that it didn’t look very summery, though the lamb itself and the quality of the cooking were excellent. PL agreed that the produce was terrific, that the lamb was really good and the sweetbreads were fantastic. OP said it just looked a little bit dull. MF said it was dull and uninspired, there was no real excitement about the dish and it was not the sort of thing to make you think; oh crikey, I really want to wade my way through all of this. OP said the dish lacked passion. He thought the primary ingredient was good, it showed off Welsh lamb as one of the greatest ingredients in the whole country, but there was no sense of desire to compete and to win there. MF summed it up saying, is this a piece of Welsh lamb fit to put down before the Prince of Wales, and the answer is, in its present form, a resounding no. I think it would be off to the tower with you young man! The judges all laughed a little.

Next into the fray, Aled’s hogget. MF said it had a bit more zing to it. PL responded that it had a bit more veg to it. MF remarked that there was a tremendous smell on the little chop, and he and PL concluded that this was hogget, not lamb. OP said the chop was fantastic. MF loved the potato construction, saying someone had put a bit of thought into it. He also loved the sweet onion puree, saying excitedly that this was kick arse hogget. PL thoroughly enjoyed the rib, saying she’d like a plateful of them. She thought the pie and that were very good. OP said that elements of the dish were very nice; the ribs, chop, onion puree. There was a lot of talent on display in the dish. MF said the pie of shoulder and potato was very nice indeed and more could have been made of that, and that the chop was delicious, the chef had really worked hard and brought out the flavour. PL brought the one down side of the dish up- she was disappointed in the veg, as the asparagus was too salty, the beans had little flavour, and the morels were not very nice. MF concluded that this dish was more inviting than the one before to eat. He said it was a piece of eye candy and he’d rather attack this than the other one.

Onto desserts and on Stephen Terry’s advice, James’ Brownie had been renamed chocolate cake. OP was immediately negative, saying it did not look good, disappointing in fact. MF called the design abstract, and PL said she did not mind that. PL thought the parfait was very clever as it had looked like blackcurrant but wasn’t. MF helped identify the beetroot with a chocolate fondant. OP said it was awful and wondered aloud what the point of the dish was. He went on to complain, saying the chef had rocked up the competition with a mini chocolate fondant with raspberry in it- I mean really! MF briefly interrupted saying he agreed, but OP was not done, crying out; let’s put him out of his misery, I want to go home now! PL said that she was not a great expert on chocolate but that she actually thought it was quite good chocolate, unlike OP, but she definitely did not think the main ingredient of a Welsh dessert should be chocolate. MF concluded that work must be done on it- even if it were total reconstruction!

In came Aled’s dessert. On seeing it PL was excited, but this stopped when she spotted the foam. MF also pointed that out, saying he could feel her bile rising as they looked at it! Scrutinising MF’s plate she asked why his baked custard was melting. MF admitted it was looking extraordinarily unattractive. OP retorted that it was still better than the last dessert. PL found it interesting. MF quipped that the sludge on the plate looked like the mud of the great grey green greasy Limpopo River underneath, but he was sure it would taste nice. OP began to say that he thought the strawberries and mousse were... when PL interrupted saying ‘ridiculous. OP continued ‘yes, a tragedy, but I think the verbena, the biscuit, everything else is quite interesting.’ MF quite liked the foam because it had quite a lot of strawberry in it. PL loved the short biscuit which was delicious and liked the hit of black pepper, she also loved the lemon verbena custard and found it original and perfumed, but she didn’t see what the strawberries had to do with it. OP said that he thought if the chef lost the strawberries altogether, they’d be much more inclined towards the rest of the dish. He could possibly replace them with ice cream or something cooler and more summery, something that balanced out the dish a bit more. He thought the strawberries were the thing that took your eye off the ball on the dish.

So time to pick menus and bring back the chefs! PL went for Menu B, but MF and OP both plumped for A. Menu A belonged to....

Aled Williams!

James cheerfully gave him a big handshake. MF said he chose A because it greater balance between dishes and fewer weak dishes. He said it wasn’t perfect and one or two things needed work but as a menu it gave him a great deal of pleasure. PL was very impressed with how much he’d sourced locally, and that the pudding had real potential, the lemon verbena in the custard was delicious. OP said he really liked the ham hock, thought it was a really nicely balanced dish and a great way to start the meal. PL told James she thought his smoked box of tricks was just the most sensational dish, one of the best dishes they’d had in the competition, offering some small consolation to the deposed champ.

Coming next, the North East!