Great British Menu 2012 – Northern Ireland, the chefs, dishes & results

Note: For this week only, Great British Menu will be shown at 18:30 not 19:30.

Three chefs from Northern Ireland aim to convince judge Richard Corrigan that their dishes are good enough to be served to judges Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort.

Chris Bell

Head Chef – The River Room Restaurant, Ballymena

Returning chef Chris Bell appeared on last year’s show, making it as far as the judging chamber but loosing out to rival Chris Fearon. Since last year’s show, the chef has moved back home to Northern Ireland and taken up position as Head Chef at The River Room Restaurant on the Galgorm resort in Ballymena.

The chef previously held a Michelin star at Paul Heathcoate’s Longridge Restaurant in Preston where he was also Head Chef.

Follow Chris Bell on Twitter – @chrisbell77

Niall McKenna

Chef Patron – James Street South, Belfast

Niall McKenna has also appeared on Great British Menu – in the 2010 series – when his dessert of rhubarb and strawberry with lavender ice cream was chosen to be served at the end of series banquet.

His restaurant, James Street South in the centre of Belfast is in its 9th year. He has recently expanded the restaurant adding a separate bar and grill, private dining room and a cookery school. Across his menus, the chef tries to use as much local produce as possible with 75% coming from Northern Ireland or is shores.

Follow James Street South on twitter – @jamesstsouth

Chris Fearon

Head Chef, Deanes at Queens, Belfast

Chris Fearon made it all the way to the banquet last year with his starter “season, shake and curry on” which caught the judges eye for the imaginative use of props – a tactic he plans to re-use this year.

The self taught chef currently works as Head Chef at Deanes at Queens, one of several restaurants owned by renowned Belfast chef and restaurateur Michael Deane. Unlike most of the chefs in this year’s competition, Chris Fearon works in a fast-paced brasserie environment serving up to 200 diners on a busy Saturday evening.

Read our interview with Chris Fearon here.

Follow Chris Fearon on twitter – @chrisfearon80

Mentor & Guest Judge – Richard Corrigan

Executive Chef at Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill and Corrigan’s Mayfair

Farmer’s son Richard Corrigan is well known for his passion for food and good quality ingredients. As well as appearing in the show for several years as a judge, Richard Corrigan appeared twice as a contestant. On both his appearances as a contestant, the chef’s dishes made it to the banquet table with his starter being served to the Queen in 2006 and his fish course appearing on the final menu in 2007.

Follow Richard Corrigan on twitter – @corrigansfood

Starter

Chris Bell cooked a salad of rabbit, rhubarb and black pudding served with a savoury “tea” and ginger biscuits. He poached the loin, made a dumpling from the legs and a consommé from the bones (the tea). Both the other chefs and Richard Corrigan were sceptical about the pairing of rhubarb and rabbit – but after tasting all agreed it worked well. Although Richard didn’t like the biscuit, he deemed it an “exceptional dish”. [ Score: 9]

Niall McKenna’s dish was pig sweetbreads with truffle, duck egg yolk and watercress. Richard Corrigan was unsure about the use of pigs sweetbreads declaring them a “cheffy ingredient” that others may not want to eat. The other chefs both enjoyed the dish, but felt there should have been less meat on the plate and the egg needed salt (something the judge agreed on). Despite problems with the water bath (used to slow cook the duck egg yolk in oil) failing to heat up properly, the he managed to rescue the yolk, something Richard Corrigan gave the chef credit for. Over all the judge liked the dish, praising the truffle emulsion, but he wasn’t as keen on the sweetbreads. [ Score: 7 ]

Chris Fearon’s dish, “Clay Pigeon Shoot” – a pigeon tagine, served in clays from a clay pigeon shoot was served with blood orange, fennel. The dish also included a pigeon pastilla, flavoured argan oil – an unusual ingredient from Morocco which is traditionally made by using the undigested parts of Argan tree kernels which have been eaten by goats. The chef presented the food on a plate made from shotgun cartridges. Both chefs and the judge loved the presentation declaring it “fun” and “visually great” – but the chefs doubted if the dish was ground breaking cooking. Richard Corrigan felt the dish did show that the chef had pushed himself – but criticised the dish for poor spicing, under cooked pigeon breast and a lack of filling in the pastilla. [ Score: 8 ]

Fish course

Chris Bell presented his own interpretation of the classic combination of turbot and snails – the turbot was poached in red wine and served with a bourguignon of deep-fried Kentish snails and an olive oil mash. The chefs admired both the fish and the snails but doubted the dish was ground breaking. Richard Corrigan felt was a good idea, but the fish had been over cooked and the flavour of the wine wasn’t strong enough. He also felt the snails were under-seasoned. [ Score: 7 ]

Niall McKenna cooked a dish of turbot with white asparagus, rose petal powder and a blood orange hollandaise. The other chefs felt it was a simple dish that lacked a “wow factor” and weren’t sure they could taste the rose powder. Richard had a similar opinion of the dish, saying the chef needed to have been a lot more creative – he did, however, praise the chef for the accuracy of his cooking and the use of the rose powder. [ Score: 6 ]

Chris Fearon’s dish “Skate Rings” again used props and innovative presentation to create a visual impact. The dish had origionally been intended to use skate, but as it was unsustainable the chef substituted ray. The fish was served on a specially made platter, designed to look like a skating rink. The ray was topped with a slice of bone marrow and served with fondant potatoes and a lemon foam. Again, the chefs and the judge liked the presentation – but criticised the dish for having under cooked potatoes. Richard Corrigan also praised the use of bone marrow with the fish, which he hadn’t expected to work – however he had doubts that the dish as achievable for 100 people at a banquet. [ Score: 6 ]

Main course

Chris Bell prepared a dish of roast Lissara duck with a Bakewell tart. The Bakewell tart was a savoury take on the traditional sweet dish with cherry jam, duck leg meat & pine nuts and an almond & basil frangipan. The chef also served the duck heart and breast with picked cherries, basil puree and flambé fois gras. Competing chefs Chris and Niall thought the tart was underdone and the almond flavour was too strong with the other tastes on the plate. Richard thought the duck was cooked very well, and he really liked the duck heart. He did feel that the dish needed refining and the almond and basil were too strong. [ Score: 7 ]

Chef Niall McKenna cooked a fillet of miso coated Dexter beef stuffed with almonds and apricots.The meat was charcoal grilled which resulted in the meat being unevenly cooked. The other chefs and Richard Corrigan thought the flavours with the meat were delicious although Richard declared that it wasn’t ground breaking and therefore didn’t meet the brief. [ Score: 6 ]

Chris Fearon’s Spring jump lamb was served on a gym horse with lamb shank, loin, sweetbreads, sweet potato and beetroot. The chef pushed his limits and used a fish tank pump to put the air into his basil mousse, the plate was too hot and the mousse collapsed. The chefs thought the balance of flavours on the plate was good but worried that nerves were getting to Chris once his mousse collapsed. Mentor Richard thought the dish was well thought out and that the glazed shank was lovely but found the fat around the lamb ugly and tough. [ Score: 6 ]

Dessert

Chris Bell’s jasmine panna cotta with apricots and pistachio cake was met with positive feedback from the other chefs although the texture of the panna cotta was wrong. Richard thought the dessert met the brief but found the flavours quite samey, the colours anaemic and the cake soggy. [ Score: 6 ]

Niall prepared an apple sorbet with a whiskey jelly and elderflower custard. Again this was a simple dish and when Chris Fearon and Chris Bell tasted it they thought the whiskey flavour wasn’t there. Richard found the dish worked well, he liked the sorbet but thought the jelly was too firm and needed more whiskey. [ Score: 5 ]

Chris Fearon returned with more props for his ‘The Torch’ dessert. It was a homemade ice cream cone with rhubarb mousse, which greek yoghurt ice cream, tempered chocolate flames, honeycomb and liquorice meringues. Chris Bell declared that it was the best dish he had tasted all week. Everyone thought it looked great and met the brief although Richard removed the cone from its stand and stated that props always take centre stage. The dish was too sweet, but that it was humorous and fun and the chocolate was tempered well. [ Score: 7 ]

Following the scoring by Richard Corrigan, Chris Bell and Chris Fearon will cook for the judges on Friday and Niall McKenna will leave the competition.
Chris Fearons menu was chosen by the judges to go through to the finals.

Comments