Great British Menu ™
Baker:
Season:
Week:
Challenge Type:
Tea is Served
Joe: "My dish is inspired by a lady called Elizabeth Warren. She was a marine botanist during the Victorian era. So I wanted to do, like, a tea broth. I'm going to infuse dried seaweeds, almost like a traditional tea. A little bit of diced celeriac in there as well. We're going to finely grate the ginger and then season it a little bit with the soy."
Michael Caines: "Any particular variety of seaweed here?"
Joe: "This is kombu, and it just gives, like, a really, really strong savoury hit. I'm serving that with a little crumpet, which is going to have organic sea greens just running through it, and then pairing that with a little bit of sweet black garlic and some wild mushrooms."
Notes taken during cooking
Joe: "There's two main components. It's a crumpet and it's the broth."
Joe makes a base for his tea broth.
Joe: "So I'll just put ginger in it, garlic in it, and the dried kelp."
Joe mixes sea greens into a crumpet batter before frying.
Joe: "The batter's looking good. Just a matter of finding the sweet spot on the planchet now. Find out in about three minutes."
Joe moves on to black garlic puree.
Joe: "The crumpets look good now, but it's what they look like underneath. You got to try and get them hot enough that they bubble and they cook quickly, but not too hot that they burn underneath."
Michael Caines: "Have you got a little bit something for me to taste?"
Joe: "Yes, this is my black garlic puree."
Michael Caines: "How have you made this, then?"
Joe: "So I've made almost like a caramelized onion puree. Tried to get the sweetness out of the onion there, then added the black garlic, blended it up all until it's nice and smooth. It's going to be a nice contrast to the mushrooms."
Michael Caines, having left the kitchen : "Joe's black garlic puree, actually surprisingly mild. I was quite pleased. He's almost going to use it like a butter on top of the crumpet, but there's not a lot going on, so that has to have some sway in the profile of the dish."
Plating
Sea green infused crumpets are topped with a black garlic puree. A layer of wild mushrooms and spinach. The dish is topped off with grated truffle.
Michael Caines: "Does that tea work for you?"
Joe: "I think the tea's got the seaweed flavor, nice kick of ginger. It's not too much as a little drink on the side.
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"I quite like the drink"
"The drink's great, but it's very strong."
"Works really well as a tea rather than as a broth."
Back in the judging room ...
Michael Caines: "The crumpet, are you pleased with the texture?"
Joe: "Yeah, I think I've got a nice, light, fluffy crumpet."
Michael Caines: "The black garlic in this dish, are you happy that it's got its right balance?"
Joe: "Yeah, I think you get hit in the face with black garlic."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"The crumpet's wonderful."
"I actually really like the sweetness of the black garlic and onion puree"
Back in the judging room ...
Michael Caines: "What was the thinking behind the display?"
Joe: "I wanted to do it almost a tray, as if Elizabeth Warren herself had sort of walked down to the shores.
Michael Caines: "So if you were to mark this dish, what would you give yourself?"
Joe: "I'd give it a 7."
Final Judging
Michael Caines: "Joe, your dish. Tea is served. I think that you've really missed the opportunity to celebrate all those plants that were foraged and represented by Elizabeth Warren. I didn't really see any of that on the plate. The crumpets were good. Nice depth, nice fluffy texture, and they were well cooked. The opportunity really was missed with your broth. I really felt that should have been fresh and herbaceous, and it just felt like a tea that had been brewed a little bit too long, which is a real shame."
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