Great British Menu ™
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Martini Tiramisu with Salted Chicory Ice Cream
Paul: "It's going to be a little take on an espresso martini. Flavours crossed over like a tiramisu, textures and bits in there. So I'm looking for lots of layers." Paul: "It's going to be a chocolate coffee ganache. Then you've got mascarpone, vanilla, some tuile, a muscovado sponge. I'm making a salted chicory ice cream to go alongside it." For the ice cream: "So it's a salted chicory ice cream. That is the Camp coffee essence, some maple syrup, and then just a little bit of malt and sea salt." Paul: "I just need to get the balance right, the right sweetness. It's not super sweet." For the ganache: "Milk, cream, espresso, glucose in a pan. I add gelatine and pour it over the chocolate as soon as it comes up to a boil. Just need to make sure the coffee flavour is in there." He uses the ganache to make chocolate poker chips, noting: "This is a little bit like the centrepiece, so having this done is a relief." He decorates the chips with a red cocoa butter spray. For the mascarpone cream: "It's cream, semi-whipped mascarpone, vanilla, and then just some coffee liqueur. Essentially the base of a tiramisu." The cream split on the first attempt. Paul: "The fat's just split out of it. I'm going to do that again. It's super simple. Not the end of the world." For the sponge: "We've got walnuts, hazelnuts, all ground up. Just combining the rest of the ingredients in hope it gives a nice light sponge." He shapes tuiles and coffee jelly. He plates in poker-themed boxes: sponge at the bottom, chocolate disc, mascarpone cream, coffee jelly, then poker chips on top, served alongside salted chicory ice cream. Lisa noted during prep: "The coffee in the mascarpone cream was so subtle. He needs to bring a bit more coffee flavour through." Paul: "I'm glad it's over. I hated every minute of that."
Lisa scored the dish 6 out of 10. Lisa: "The presentation was great and set up huge expectations. However, when I dived in with my spoon, there were no distinct layers. The chocolate disc on top was very rich and bitter. There was no snap on it, and it was very greasy. The mascarpone cream didn't work. It was split, and it was too heavy. The sponge is well made, but you need to soak it in a coffee liqueur. You need to rethink the overall construction and inject more decadence and luxury into it."
During the tasting: Jack: "I would have liked to have seen an alcohol in it. I think it's lacking moisture."
Jack: "The ice cream I love. I think it's really clever. I like that dark sugar flavour, but it's not over sweet and I like the texture of it."
Daniel: "The texture of the ice cream is incredible." Daniel: "It's very rich. I can't imagine having a whole one." Self-scoring: Paul gave himself a 7, deducting for "a bit more acidity and a bit more snap on the poker chip." Jack also scored it 7; Daniel scored it 7.
FINALS JUDGING -- Changes: Soaking sponge with coffee liqueur (Lisa's feedback -- "you need to soak it in a coffee liqueur"). Added salted chicory caramel between layers. Changed mascarpone cream to creme fraiche mousse (mascarpone had split previously). Changed chocolate to lower cocoa percentage. Removed salt from chicory ice cream. Reduced chicory essence -- less bitter. Properly tempered chocolate for poker chips (failed previously). Poker chips coated with red cocoa butter.
Phil: "Oh, wow. Look at that. That's amazing." (presentation)
Debbie: "What a lot of trouble somebody's gone to. Presentation amazing."
Lorna: "Presentation is amazing. Unfortunately, the dessert is a bit one dimensional. My favourite part was the chicory ice cream."
Phil: "I really like that. The ice cream was a delightful surprise. Refreshing and interesting. The chicory went well with coffee flavour. That's what I would be looking for -- something cold, refreshing."
Debbie: "It's the ice cream I don't like. The chocolate spongy pudding, I think it's delicious."
Tom: "I folded my hand quite early. I wasn't that impressed with it. The ice cream was delicious -- creamy, rich, smooth, good flavour. But the actual sponge cake bit, I thought was a little dry, a little bitty. There was a real bitter undertone in there. The effort and energy that's gone into the presentation is magic."
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