Lebanese Lamb Skewers and Kofta
As seen on TV
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Lebanese Lamb Skewers and Kofta with Vermicelli Rice and Toum
On the show: a Lebanese classic cooking lamb two ways. Grilled leg of lamb skewers seasoned with baharat and pomegranate molasses, and minced lamb kofta, served with vermicelli rice with pine nuts and parsley, and toum, a punchy Lebanese garlic sauce.
Big Zoo: "My dad is Lebanese, so this dish is very close to my heart. In Lebanon, we love lamb, so the main thing is make sure that lamb is cooked right. And the toum is a very punchy garlic sauce."
Grace Dent: "Ingredients are garlic? Oil?"
Big Zoo: "Yes. It's about the balance of how much garlic you use and how you get that consistency in the sauce. It's not a simple thing to do."
Melvin Odoom: "Can't make any mistakes today after my Dijon situation. So I have to measure everything to a T, which is not how I'd like to work. Not too much. Don't want to overpower it."
Melvin Odoom: "I need to start on that meat. There's a million stages to this. So many different layers to it. I'm sure it'll be a lovely dish, once it's done."
Melvin Odoom: "We're going to toum land."
Melvin Odoom (on knowing Big Zoo): "We used to work together. Radio. Zoo used to get food for everyone. Like, used to get the chicken and stuff."
Melvin Odoom: "I'm not worried. This is my excited face."
Melvin Odoom: "That looks all right. The rice I'm not too sure about, but rice is rice, surely."
Melvin Odoom: "This is a traditional way of crushing vermicelli, with your fingers."
Melvin Odoom: "I've never done this dish before. I don't know what I'm doing."
Melvin Odoom (at the griddle): "No, I'll burn it. I'm going to turn it down."
Melvin Odoom: "It's falling apart. Going to make some more, cuz I don't like this."
Melvin Odoom (presenting): "Judges, this is my Melvin O'Toum."
Melvin Odoom (after judging): "Oh, I let you down. Sorry, judges. I feel like I let myself down. To be honest, I feel like I let Zoo down. It's one of his family dishes."
Melvin Odoom (at deliberation): "I think that's probably the worst dish I've done. Uncooked food is never the key on here."
During the cook: Big Zoo: "The cooking of the lamb, super important. We want that smokiness. That's why the griddle pan helps. You want nice grill markings, but you want it cooked all the way through."
Big Zoo: "Getting that vermicelli right, you have to fry it off first and then cook it with the rice. You don't want it to be too overcooked, otherwise it's going to be mushy."
Big Zoo: "Meat needs to get cooked. What's going on? You wait until the end, you might have raw meat. Get on it."
Giorgio Locatelli: "Get the kofta on now. Otherwise it's never going to be cooked."
Giorgio Locatelli: "You're not burning it, I'm telling you. No time to give up now."
At the tasting: Big Zoo: "The plate looks a little bit bland, but I'm here for the flavor. Go for your kofta straight away. It does look... it might be raw in the middle. Yep."
Grace Dent: "It's pink."
Big Zoo: "The lamb is cooked well. It's still soft, but I can't see the vermicelli in the rice. The rice does have a nice little buttery flavor. The garlic sauce, I feel like you've maybe added too much oil. It's split. You didn't get the consistency right."
Grace Dent: "Your pine nuts aren't toasted. Toasting the pine nuts gives them the depth. When you don't toast them, they're just a bit spongy."
Giorgio Locatelli: "That sauce. To call it a sauce would be an offense to every other sauce. It's a garlic oil."
Big Zoo: "Overall, it's not amazing, bro." Giorgio Locatelli: "The result is not so great."
At deliberation: Grace Dent: "Melvin struggled with so many parts of that dish. That toum, it's just odd."
