Great British Menu

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
Staff member
Joined
19 Apr 2015
Local time
1:59 PM
Messages
46,942
Location
Maidstone, Kent, UK
Is anyone watching Great British Menu? There was a priceless comment from the chef/judge Jeremy Lee in last night's episode:

"I wasn't sure about serving your lamb on a tennis racket but..."

The theme for the series is Wimbledon Tennis. I think he ended up with the full score of 10 points for that dish. But I think its silly. These are high end chefs (some from Michelin starred restaurants). But they have to do the 'theme' and ending up resorting to ridiculous props. I love it really...
 
I have been watching and enjoying this series. Again, the first point is, I am never even slightly tempted to think that I could cook any of the dishes. Of course I couldn't. I am only left profoundly regretting the probability that I will never get the opportunity to eat food like that.

And yet I do enjoy watching - particularly the judging episodes when the four judges get to eat the dishes. I think my number one fantasy, above all others, is getting to be a judge on Great British Menu. As I have said before, the problem is that I almost certainly would fail to discern. I would immediately and unequivocally award ten out of ten to just about every single dish.

Keep your Ferraris your cruises in the Caribbean and your stays at the most expensive hotels in the world. Give me one chance to eat the food they cook on the Great British Menu.
 
I have dipped into past series of this programme...it's not for me. I find the ideas either too experimental, some ingredients hard to find or with techniques not easily replicated at home. It's high class but too finicky for me. I prefer to watch something where I stand a chance of reproducing the dish or at least be able to predict/get an inkling of how it might taste!

Bake Off Creme De La Creme is anal cookery! That they all have to be the same size etc....clever but loses the joy of cooking.
 
Last edited:
creative said:
I have dipped into past series of this programme...it's not for me. I find the ideas either too experimental, some ingredients hard to find or with techniques not easily replicated at home. It's high class but too finicky for me. I prefer to watch something where I stand a chance of reproducing the dish or at least be able to predict/get an inkling of how it might taste!

Bake Off Creme De La Creme is anal cookery! That they all have to be the same size etc....clever but loses the joy of cooking.
Click to expand...
I agree re the latter. But with GBM I pick up ideas for flavour combos and the odd technique. Not a whole dish though! Fermenting seems all the rage at the moment - as do obscure foraged herbs!

The one I viewed last night (I watch on catch-up TV) featured fermented turnips in one dish. They looked like normal thinly sliced turnips so I've no idea what was 'fermented' about them! I'd like to know though and I've ordered some baby turnips in order to experiment.
 
I haven't seen any of this series but have watched previous ones. I'm in two minds about it really - I can marvel at the skills involved but it is so far beyond my level of cooking which is more about ingredients and taste. But I suppose those guys cracked ingredients and taste a long time ago so need to move on to other challenges. I'm just not sure how far you can go down the road of turning food into a form of art before you start missing the point. Unfortunately, such programmes give inspiration to gastro pubs up and down the land, serving up inadequate food in all sorts of weird receptacles.
 
Last edited:
epicuric said:
I haven't seen any of this series but have watched previous ones. I'm in two minds about it really - I can marvel at the skills involved but it is so far beyond my level of cooking which is more about ingredients and taste. But I suppose those guys cracked ingredients and taste a long time ago so need to move on to other challenges. I'm just not sure how far you can go down the road of turning food into a form of art before you start missing the point. Unfortunately, such programmes give inspiration to gastro pubs up and down the land, serving up inadequate food in all sorts of weird receptacles.
Click to expand...
Or make young people just learning to cook think that nothing has to be measured and anything thrown together will work. (That may be more Chopped than GBM).
 
creative said:
I have dipped into past series of this programme...it's not for me. I find the ideas either too experimental, some ingredients hard to find or with techniques not easily replicated at home. It's high class but too finicky for me. I prefer to watch something where I stand a chance of reproducing the dish or at least be able to predict/get an inkling of how it might taste!

Bake Off Creme De La Creme is anal cookery! That they all have to be the same size etc....clever but loses the joy of cooking.
Click to expand...

We have watched the occasional episode of bake off creme and yes it is very anal! Thing is these chefs are supposed to be from the high-end restaurants etc... and yet some have been really poor, maybe it is nerves on the day but there have been some disasters.
 
epicuric said:
I haven't seen any of this series but have watched previous ones. I'm in two minds about it really - I can marvel at the skills involved but it is so far beyond my level of cooking which is more about ingredients and taste. But I suppose those guys cracked ingredients and taste a long time ago so need to move on to other challenges. I'm just not sure how far you can go down the road of turning food into a form of art before you start missing the point. Unfortunately, such programmes give inspiration to gastro pubs up and down the land, serving up inadequate food in all sorts of weird receptacles.
Click to expand...
A bit like nouvelle cuisine - an excuse for a restaurant to charge a bucket full of cash for a few pence worth of ingredients.
 
sidevalve said:
A bit like nouvelle cuisine - an excuse for a restaurant to charge a bucket full of cash for a few pence worth of ingredients.
Click to expand...
I always think nouvelle cuisine best suits rich people who are in love....they don't have much appetite but might better appreciate an artistic, pretty presentation of food (it's there - under the flower) and can pay for the privilege of being ripped off!
 
sidevalve said:
A bit like nouvelle cuisine - an excuse for a restaurant to charge a bucket full of cash for a few pence worth of ingredients.
Click to expand...

creative said:
I always think nouvelle cuisine best suits rich people who are in love....they don't have much appetite but might better appreciate an artistic, pretty presentation of food (it's there - under the flower) and can pay for the privilege of being ripped off!
Click to expand...

My perspective is somewhat different.
 
Ken Natton said:
My perspective is somewhat different.
Click to expand...
Well of course I exaggerated to highlight the dubious aspects of nouvelle cuisine. So...what is your perspective? You don't mind paying over the odds for a pasted streak on a plate and a miniscule piece of quality food somewhere in the centre of a very large white plate?
 
creative said:
Well of course I exaggerated to highlight the dubious aspects of nouvelle cuisine. So...what is your perspective? You don't mind paying over the odds for a pasted streak on a plate and a miniscule piece of quality food somewhere in the centre of a very large white plate?
Click to expand...

No that is not my perspective either. I recall one of the top chefs making the point that a significant part of being a genuinely great chef is taking really great ingredients and simply not destroying them. Certainly, if I am going into a restaurant to eat an expensive meal, I expect to be served something that I couldn't have done myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom