Great British Menu judges reveal which Great Britons they'd dedicate a meal to

Ed Gamble

My starter: Two Meats, To You

My great Briton(s): The Chuckle Brothers

I’m approaching my dish as a comedian, writer and podcaster, not as a chef, so I thought of the title of the dish before I thought of the contents of the dish. I can exclusively reveal the great Britons I’ve chosen to celebrate were not mentioned in the series.

All the chefs in this series, which is dedicated to Great Britons, went down the road of honouring people who have achieved great feats, contributed to the country or helped others through charity work. Classic heroes. Whereas I believe the Chuckle Brothers should have had at least one shout-out.

My starter is inspired by the brothers Chuckle and is called Two Meats, To You. For someone my age, the pair were hilarious and perfectly represent Great Britain – they’re constantly failing but always getting back up and trying again. That, to me, represents the resilience of all great Britons.

To meet the series’ theme, Two Meats, To You will be a little kebab with a toasted flatbread carrying a silhouette of the Chuckle Brothers.

I know what the judges are like and they are very specific about a dish and how it’s linked to the theme. The two meats of Two Meats, To You are lamb shoulder and pork tenderloin; I haven’t chosen pork belly because sometimes it can be overly fatty and ruin everything else in a dish. Barbecued and grilled meat is almost magic to me, because when you put meat on hot coals, all you need is a bit of salt, pepper, and, occasionally, spice mix.

Alongside the meats, we’ll have some pickled red onion, pickled cauliflower and toum – a very garlicky whipped dip. I recently had some very nice toum in Bubala, a restaurant in Soho, and it’s knock-your-head-off garlicky, so you only need a tiny serving. On the side, for those who prefer a moister meat, we’ll have a small jus dip made from the lamb and pork bones we’ve cooked down.

To present Two Meats, To You, the flatbread would lie on the plate so you can see the silhouette of the Chuckle Brothers, with the meats and sides arranged around the bread, allowing diners to build their own kebab. I’d then place all the plates on a big board of polished mahogany, because people love placing dishes on big boards.

The polished mahogany board would enter the room carried by two Great British Menu runners dressed as the Chuckle Brothers, who’d say, "Two Meats, To You, Two Meats, To You". Everyone would be thinking they were going to drop the board, but they wouldn’t, which is crucial. It’s a rare success for the Chuckle Brothers.

I think this is a lovely way to kick off the banquet, but one thing I would say about this dish is it’s not very British. It’s also the sort of dish that would absolutely not make it through to us in the judges’ chamber.

Andi Oliver

My fish course: Everybody Everywhere All at Once

My Great Briton: Dame Floella Benjamin

The Great Briton who has inspired my life is the incredible Floella Benjamin, who was one of the few women I saw on television when I was a little kid who looked like me. Here was a young black woman, fully herself with beads in her hair, who was all those things you look up to when you’re a kid: hilarious, kind, sweet, smart and beautiful. Floella has the same Antiguan heritage as me, so there’s a reflection of my own family as well.

My dish, inspired by Floella and a recent trip to Sri Lanka, would be called Everybody Everywhere All at Once. What I believe is most important for us in this country is to remember that all the things that make us different are the most exciting, beautiful, and brilliant things about us as a nation. Everything I’m trying to do at the moment is to step towards unity because so much right now is about division and I find that incredibly depressing. I’d love to make a dish that explores the beauty of multiculturalism.

So I’d brine mackerel, a beautiful and very sustainable fish, in Caribbean rum, sugar and vinegars, before torching it. On the side, I’d have a little shot using Caribbean and British ingredients that reflect Floella and me. I’d make a fish broth with the bones from the mackerel, and a juice with all the greens and herbs I could lay my hands on – I’d blitz callaloo, spinach, cucumber, spring onions, kale, chervil, parsley, chives, mint, roasted garlic and thyme. I love green food, and I don’t really understand people who don’t like vegetables – I find that very weird. I’d pour the fish broth through the juice to make iced fish shots. To balance the sweetness and acidity of the shots, I’d add honey and lime, then I’d stick them in the freezer. For a garnish, I’d add a bit of pickled gooseberry and cucumber.

Flavour-wise, this is a very refreshing dish, because the vivid green shot is icy and all the ingredients are invigorating while the mackerel has a robust texture and a nice char from the torch. All the silver from the fish and the green from the shots will excite your eyes, and the dish would be served on a hand-drawn map that expresses the connection between the Caribbean islands and Great Britain.

I know there’s a dark history behind these links, but I think what’s emerged from those times is our multiculturalism, which is the jewel in the British crown, and we should be much more celebratory of our multicultural society. I think if a chef presented this dish to me, I’d be very moved and very excited.

Tom Kerridge

My main course: Rags and Riches

My Great Briton: Sir Bobby Charlton

Sir Bobby Charlton, the brilliant Manchester United and England footballer, is the Great Briton who has inspired my main course.

He was a World Cup winner, one of the Busby Babes, a prolific goal scorer, and probably one of the most well-known footballers in the world. The way he conducted himself makes him a brilliant and Great Briton.

There is so much about him that is inspirational, even if you’re not necessarily a follower of football, and he was a real advocate for the game and for gentlemanly and sporting conduct. I’m very fortunate to have cooked for Sir Bobby several times in the directors’ box at Old Trafford and there was an aura about this great man who had achieved so much.

To celebrate his life, my dish would be called Rags and Riches, based on a rag pudding, a well-known Manchester and Lancashire dish. It’s a steamed suet pastry, wrapped in cheesecloth or muslin, and the filling is roasted and minced beef with onions.

Inside my pudding would be braised shin of beef, oxtail and roasted mince, running through an incredibly rich gravy made from the braising liquor. Whole silverskin onions would be mixed throughout, with great big pieces of roasted bacon and Lancashire’s famous black pudding. I’d then wrap this in a suet pudding pastry, which is in turn wrapped in the rag – a cheesecloth – and then steamed so the pastry puffs up. I’d add a number nine on the pastry, in honour of Sir Bobby’s number at Manchester United.

We’d leave it to cool a little, before brushing the pudding with melted butter and crispy black pudding crumbs. I’d then bake the pudding in a very hot oven so the dish almost has a crisp bread crust.

There would also be a serving of parched peas, which are a little bit like mushy peas, but you use black peas, with loads of butter. They are very famous over Oldham and Lancashire way and they are absolutely delicious. Squares of set mint jelly would top them off.

For the green, I’d like braised kale that has been cooked slowly for two hours, served with anchovies and grated lemon, so the kale has an almost salsa verde-style kick. And you can’t go up North without having chips, so on the side, I would have great big chunky chips cooked in beef fat. There would be extra gravy available to the side of the dish, served in a small replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy.

This would most definitely be served family-style in the middle of the table. Rag pudding is one of those dishes that doesn’t look very pretty once you start messing around with it, but it’s all about the flavour.

Lorna McNee

My dessert: Address to a Cranachan

My Great Briton: Robert Burns

The Great Briton I’d choose is the formidable Rabbie Burns, the famous Scottish poet, who’s celebrated with haggis, neeps, and tatties every Burns Night. He came from humble beginnings, this small-town poet who became famous all over the world, which makes him a real Scottish hero.

Haggis, neeps, and tatties wouldn’t quite work as a dessert; I’m sure I could try to make them work as one, but I’m not going to! Cranachan is the most famous Scottish dessert but, to me, it’s boring as it is – it’s just cream, berries and oats, which isn’t very exciting. Instead, I’d create a Burns Night take on it, called Address to a Cranachan, a Scottish dessert for a Scottish hero.

This one would incorporate the haggis theme, because when you walk into the banquet room, you want to see some theatre. I would build a dessert with flavours all the way through the layers. Usually cranachan is made with raspberries, but I’d have a rhubarb centre in this dessert, because rhubarb comes into season around the same time as Burns Night.

I’d encase the rhubarb centre with a cheesecake mousse to give it a bit more body and depth of flavour. For a whipped cream to spiral around the outside of the dessert, I’d make a vanilla diplomat cream, which would almost make the dessert into a dome with a pretty spire and a crunchy base. I’ve made a similar dessert before in terms of structure, but not in flavour.

To add the oats, I’d have a piper enter the room, followed by others who would approach the table with what looks like a filled sheep’s stomach. They’d be reciting Burns’s Address to a Haggis and would then cut into the haggis, but what would fall out of the stomach would be lots of different oats and puffed rice – no sheep would be harmed in the making of this dessert! You’d sprinkle the sweet contents on top of the dessert to add a nice texture.

You could make this pretty quickly using a blast freezer, which the chefs have in Great British Menu, so the whole dessert would take about 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you were making this for a banquet, it would take longer, because you have more people to serve, but for the purpose of presenting to the judges, it wouldn’t take too long. You have to work fast!

This would be an elegant dessert celebrating Scottish flavours, Burns Nights and Rabbie Burns, who’s celebrated worldwide whenever Auld Lang Syne is sung. If someone brought this dessert into the judges’ room, I’d say, “Come on! Let’s go, Rabbie Burns!” The chef would be straight through.

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