Great British Menu 2011 – Scotland
North East : N. Ireland : North West : Central : South West : Scotland : Wales : South East
Tony Singh, Philip Carnegie, Alan Murchison, Michael Smith
Tony Singh
Chef Owner Oloroso in Edinburgh
Tony Singh has over 20 years experience working as a chef. Prior to opening his restaurant he worked on The Royal Yacht Britannia and The Royal Scotsman train. He has received many awards including the 2001 ITV Chef of the Year and Scottish Restaurant chef of the year in 2003.
Michael Smith
Head Chef at The Three Chimneys on the Isle of Skye
Michael Smith first started working in restaurants in the school holidays. He started his career as a kitchen porter and trained at Le Pont de la Tour, Le Gavroche and then at the Blue Print Cafe. Michael moved to The Three Chimneys as Second head chef in 2004 and became head chef the year after.
Philip Carnegie
Head Chef at Inverlochy Castle, Fort William
Philip began work as a trainee chef as soon as he left school. He began work in Scotland and then moved around Germany and Europe. Philip started work at Inverlochy Castle as sous chef and took over as head chef when the head chef moved on. He has helped the restaurant maintain it’s Michelin Star for the last two years.
Alan Murchison (guest mentor & judge)
Executive Head Chef at L’Ortolan in Reading
Alan Murchison competed against Michael Smith and Tony Singh last year, this year he returns as the guest judge. He worked at a number of Michelin Starred restaurants from the beginning of his career before completing 5 years training under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir before returning to L’Ortolon as executive chef.
Starters
Michael cooked baked Highland brie style cheese with Struan bread served with tomato relish, grape jelly and shards of crispbread. His dish was simple, with bread providing the case for the baked brie. Judge Alan questioned if it was just ‘posh cheese on toast’ but had to admit that the food had great flavour and he liked the use of traditional recipes but he thought that the dish lacked impact and should it make it through to the banquet, needs taking from a nice dish to a dish worthy of a banquet. [ Score : 6 ]
Chef Tony Singh served up Kentucky fried rabbit, Asian peanut slaw and sweet hot mustard. He was the only chef that seemed to have put thought into making his dish contain a wow factor as the rabbit was served from a silver top hat. Alan was amused by the presentation and thought that it met the brief well, but he did think that the dish had too many flavours. [ Score : 6 ]
It was Michelin Starred chef Philip’s first year on Great British Menu and he opted for a rather complicated starter of pigeon stuffed artichoke with asparagus and chantarelle mushrooms. The first attempt that Phillip made burnt at the final stage of cooking in the oven, but he was able to prepare another one and presented it slightly late. Alan thought this dish might be too difficult to pull off for 100 people and took that into account and the overcooking when giving his score. [ Score : 4 ]
Fish course
Michael stuck to his formula of traditional Scottish recipes when he served up a Hebridean smoked salmon kedgeree. He used three types of salmon; hot smoked, cold smoked and poached organic and sourced his araucana eggs specially for their size and deep coloured yolk. Alan and the other chefs thought that the dish was more of a breakfast dish and Alan thought it would need more spice to bring it up to a banquet dish. [ Score : 8 ]
Tony Singh was first to the pass with his fish course today of Roasted langoustines with chilli jam. He had time to spare due to the simplicity of his dish with required him to make the chilli jam, roast the langoustines and serve up pre-prepared bread. Tony used a three tier serving dish with langoustines on the bottom, bread on the next and a ‘divers helmet’ on the top. Alan thought the presentation was ’super’ but felt that Tony undersold himself as a chef. [ Score : 5]
Philip set himself quite a major task with a Seafood platter made up of 5 different parts; lobster with melon, scallops on a bed of creamed leeks with potato espuma and crispy bacon, mussels bonbon with herb mayonnaise, home smoked salmon with beetroot, quail eggs & baby beets and langoustines. Alan expressed admiration for the amount of work that Philip had put into the dish, but felt that none of the individual parts of the dish were perfect and that the dish wasn’t possible to be scaled up to 100 people. [ Score : 6 ]
Main course
Michael cooked Barbequed Scottish lamb with summer slaw & pink fir wedges. Prior to cooking his lamb he coated it with a dry rub of rosemary, garlic, fennel seeds and salt. The chef prepared an indoor barbecue and cooked the lamb on coals and oak chips, even serving the meat on some burnt out embers which provided an exciting display. Alan loved the subtleness of the smoke and felt the dish had the wow factor, but that the coleslaw got a bit lost. [ Score : 8 ]
Everyone was worried when Tony Singh arrived in the kitchen today with tins of Heinz Baked Beans. His dish was titled ‘Scran – a few of my favourite things’, where Tony returned to his childhood and cooked the food that he enjoyed so much through those years. Tonys tiffin pots were filled with; spicy beans with honey glazed pork belly, potato stuffed paratha, mutton and potato stew, lamb and cabbage, spicy salmon and an onion and lime salad. Alan was convinced that the dish wasn’t going to work with the baked beans but he actually quite liked it, but felt that the dish had no earth shattering techniques and it was also a little confusing as to what order things should be eaten in. [ Score : 8 ]
Philip made things simple today with a stuffed saddle of lamb (with lamb fillets and basil) served with saffron dressed vegetables and a goats cheese puree. The chef kept a close eye on the lamb as it was cooking after Mondays mishap with the pigeon, and his lamb came out perfectly cooked. Alan thought the dish was prepared really well, but didn’t really feel it had the impact for a banquet. [Score : 7 ]
Dessert
Michael served up a dessert of Oatmeal & hazelnut meringues with raspberries & cream. Upon first hearing this dish, Alan did wonder what Michael was going to do to display this as fit for a banquet. Michael built a tower of meringues around a whiskey bottle (glasses provided for the guests) using Chantilly cream and freeze dried raspberries. On the top was honeycomb and raspberry paper. Alan did think the dish was well presented and had a great visual impact and was ideal for sharing but thought it lacked some of the chefs technical ability. [ Score : 5 ]
After yesterdays baked beans, the other chefs raised an eyebrow when Tony brought a microwave into the kitchen to help him prepare his dessert of Chocolate Revenge. This dessert was inspired by Tonys children and was made up of a chocolate mousse with chocolate lattice, chocolate shards, white chocolate bomb (filled with raspberry coulis – or monkey blood as described by Tonys children)) and a pistachio biscuit. Tony used the microwave to temper his chocolate which the other chefs thought was a risky technique. Alan thought the chocolate tasted good and was well presented but thought the dish would benefit from another texture in there such as nuts or something savoury. [ Score : 6 ]
Philip knew he had a lot to do for the dessert as he was trailing by 2 points. He prepared a dessert of Strawberries with white chocolate and champagne which included a strawberry gateaux served with white chocolate and champagne butter ice cream and a strawberry, champagne and black pepper cocktail. Alan thought the flavours were good, and really enjoyed the cocktail but thought the gelatine was too much, making the dessert too hard. [ Score : 5 ]
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