Great British Menu 2023: Scotland
Watch ‘Scotland: Judging’ on BBC iPlayer while this image link stays available.
Furious - literally furious - activity on social media for the appearance of Scottish chefs on this year’s ‘Great British Menu’. There’s certainly material for an additional post about the public’s perceived merits of one chef in particular. Maybe later.
For now, please read on as I put plenty of ‘anal’ into analysis.
I’m jumping straight to the Judging Chamber here to analyse the scores which determined who won the Scotland heat.
Please check out the two ‘discarded’ chefs who competed and raised their own and, more importantly, their restaurant’s profiles but fell before the final hurdles.
Tunde 'Abi' Abifarin and Kevin Dalgleish got hot at their stoves but were knocked out cold by two manifestly superior chefs.
Which means that we are focussed on Adam Handling and Mark McCabe for the rest of this post.
More on Mark here. Likewise for Adam here.
Nervously waiting for the judges’ decision
Tom Kerridge, Nisha Katona and Ed Gamble were joined by Frank Quitely, superhero artist, for this round of the competition. You will see all their scores before I play around and give selective - hopefully interesting - alternative interpretations.
Disclaimer: I remain glaringly aware of the glorious nonsense to which I am adding. But as Bill Shankly (almost) said, “Great British Menu isn’t a matter of life and death for chefs and the viewers, it is much, much more important than that.”
Size really doesn’t matter, does it. But before we move on to the big stuff let’s deal with two small-but-perfectly-formed elements.
Canapé
Mark’s cured char and tomato croustade was given a unanimous nod over Adam’s pea and caviar tart.
Pre-dessert
Later on Adam restored the balance with his lemon panna cotta, lemon sorbet, jasmine-pickled apple and white wine foam. Also a unanimous decision.
Mark’s rye biscuit sandwich of lemon verbena mousse, damson jam and candied hazelnuts hinted that his lack of pastry skills might prove an Achilles’ heel.
Canapé - Mark wins hands down (or is it up?)
Adam’s pre-dessert
Pre-dessert - Adam wins hands down (yeah, it’s hands down, isn’t it. Isn’t it!?)
Mark’s pre-dessert
Starter
First of those ‘big ones’ is the starter. Vegan this year, in line with new stipulations from ‘The Powers That Be’. Whoever they might be.
And it’s a good start for Mark as his offering gets a respectable score ahead of what Adam must have deemed a disappointing one. Disappointed by his efforts rather than the judges’ reaction, I would suggest. He will surely find ways to improve on his tomatoey ideas in future.
Starter
Fish
Adam is straight back in the game with his fish course. Only just though. All comments suggested to me that Mark’s emotive, wistful evocation of the sea might see him retain his lead. Not so.
Fish - Mark
Fish - Adam
Main
Neck and neck. Adam just takes the honours with the main but the scores are still splitting the room almost equally.
Main - Mark
Main - Adam
Dessert
Things suddenly jump in Adam’s favour. Mark had already conceded his limitations here. “A little bit nervous going into dessert. Don’t feel like it’s my strongest dish. Haven’t had a lot of formal training in pastry. So I just kind of make it up a bit.” Those were his words before we saw his dish for the first time but it didn’t prevent Tom Aikens sending him to the Judging Chamber. Once there, he was unable to make up for his weaknesses and it cost him dear.
Time for my threatened jiggling of the numbers which have put Adam through to the final rounds against each of the other regional winners.
Canapés and Pre-desserts cancel out each other on all counts. Let’s look at how things are altered elsewhere - if at all - by refining our view.
I assume you will check these workings which are based on my GCE O-Level Grade 2 Mathematics (yes, I do go back a long way) but trust me on this as I explore a multiverse of alternate reactions.
Discounting the marks of Frank Quitely* - keen but, in food matters, fairly amateur participant - every course remains won by the same chef.
*Sorry, Frank - love your work! (GrimacingFaceEmoji)
I’ll make so bold as to see what happens with Ed Gamble out of the picture.* He has serious credentials as an ardent guest of hospitality but even he might come under fire for being unaware of some industry intricacies which could limit a truly professional judgement.
*Sorry, Ed - love your podcast! (GrimacingFaceEmoji)
With Tom Kerridge and Nisha Katona as final arbiters the result still stands. Both chefs are now inseparable on the fish and main courses. Adam gets even closer to Mark’s Starter score than with all four judges. But it is the dessert disaster which drags Mark into the desperate abyss of deciding whether to come back another time to “put his heart on a plate and showcase amazing culinary talent”.
Tom and Nisha finally pull Adam back to 6 points more overall than Mark compared with the gap of 11 when combining all four judge’s scores.
Still a win for Adam but by such fine margins that it might be worth telling Mark that, in this instance, second most certainly IS somewhere.
As I said, this show gives a welcome higher profile to chef’s restaurants. I’ve been interested, intrigued and appreciative of Adam Handling’s work ever since his 2013 ‘Masterchef: The Professionals’ appearance. Another tight contest there when coming second to Steven Edwards was also far from nowhere.
Mark McCabe was a new face to me.
Practical geographical considerations give Mark’s restaurant the edge but I’d be very keen to eat at either of these chef’s restaurants for the first time.
Before that, I’ll watch with continued interest to see if Adam’s dessert is strong enough to be chosen for the banquet. With the added interest of finding out if JOSEPHINE is right about that final week. Exciting, isn’t it!
I know how agitated people can get even when there’s a #SpoilerAlert so I suppose I should leave a respectful pause before editing the title of this post to “Great British Menu 2023: Scotland - Handling (by a nose)”. Say, a couple of years, eh…