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Great British Menu ™
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Salt-baked celeriac, spiced tea broth
A plant-based course. Dan salt-baked celeriac in a crust made from black tea, lapsang souchong, and salt. He described the mix as rustic: 'You can break it all down, but I quite like it being a bit mad and rustic on it.' After baking, the celeriac was cut with indentations, then glazed with pine, maple, and more lapsang tea before being finished on the barbecue with juniper. He prepared a celeriac broth given an Arabic spice seasoning and bloomed tea leaves added into it. An apple gel was made to attach fresh herbs, including bull's blood, nasturtium, and sorrel. The dish was garnished with pickled turnip, pickled apple, preserved lemon zest, and Douglas fir oil. On the side, a Bedouin-style spiced tea was prepared from cardamom, cinnamon, mint, sage, and sugar, served with an extremely thin piece of toast (referred to as a twill toast). The turnip served double duty: added to the broth for sweetness and depth, and also pickled for the garnish. Dan: 'I am here to prove that big chefs can be delicate.' A celeriac and apple puree was also plated. Dan on the tea flavour: 'The tea is subtle on it. The Douglas fir, I can taste it. Could have had a little bit longer on the barbecue.' Tommy tasted the raw salt bake during cooking and found it very salty, noting he could not detect flavours of tea or Douglas fir at that point: 'I have to admit, I am worried about Dan. It is so salty. I also did not really get any flavours of tea or Douglas fir.'
VETERAN ROUND: Self-scores from all four chefs after tasting: all four and Tommy agreed on 7. Tommy Banks formal veteran score: 7. Tommy's formal feedback: 'I like the carpet as a mat and the traveling case. The tea itself, I enjoyed the taste. It was very earthy. The turnip brought some sort of pepperiness. I think the pickled turnip and apple added real good freshness and acidity. My issue with the dish, though, was the celeriac itself. The flavour of tea and Douglas fir did not really come through. The celeriac was also a bit undercooked, with a bit too much bite. But if you sort the celeriac out, you have got a really good dish.' Tommy's score: 7. Andy Oliver: 'It was a shame not to be able to read some of those wonderful things that you put into your dish. Just needs a little push up the hill.'
JUDGING ROUND: Pending transcript.
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