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ITV's Britain Best Dish


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Hey ho!

Here I go again! yep it's your celebrity chef wannabe.

Just got through the audition for a new ITV cooking program called Britain's Best Dish.

Basic premise is that amateur cooks, cook one course at the competition and have regional heats again others until there is a winner.

There are three rounds and the final round is going out live and there is a prize money of £10,000 for the winner.

The three judges are Ed Bains (who?), John Burton-Race and Jilly Goolden.

I was meant to have gone for the audition last month with a main course of chicken ballotine but it was the FA cup final so I couldn't be bothered and I didn't know there was a £10k prize :raz:

Anyhoo they called me up as they didn't have enough entrants for the dessert course and wanted to know if I was interested. Once they told me there was a prize I perked up a lot :wink:

I gave them a list of desserts I can make and in the end they plumped for chocolate souffle. In the audition it turns out that my souffle was more a fondant as I had cream or tartar in the ingredients so renamed it to molten lava cake :wink:

souffle.jpg

anyway 1st round end of the month and the final is in October.

anyone else got through the audition? :wink:

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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  • 2 weeks later...

round1.jpg

I got through Round 1 :biggrin:

I was up against a raspberry, rosewater and champagne jelly served with madelines.

I tried my competitors dish and i thought that the jelly was a little too sour. None of the competitors heard the judges comments so no idea what comment they made about my dish except it was too runny.

The other competitors:

for the starter course it was a trout and vegetable tartlet versus a fish soup

for the main course it was Fish and Chips versus Chicken Curry and Roti.

Not going to say who won in those rounds but the competitor that made the fish and chips was a 14 year old boy versus a (probably) late 40's lady.

It was good fun, a lot of waiting around and I actually undercooked my chocolate souffle. But my excuse is i didn't think the oven had the right temperature calibration but heck even if I served it uncooked they would have liked it!!

it's chocolate. :wink:

Anyway next round is in a few weeks time

fingers crossed i get passed the next round and win some prize money!!!

Edited by origamicrane (log)

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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round1.jpg

I got through Round 1  :biggrin:

Congratulations, but why the regimented fruit in a three-by-three grid and strawberries perched up on end? It looks a bit peculiar to me.

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Congratulations, but why the regimented fruit in a three-by-three grid and strawberries perched up on end? It looks a bit peculiar to me.

Thanks Duncan.

The fruits pieces were marinated in orange blossom water, cinamon, sugar and vanilla.

I think if I was serving this there would only be three pieces of fruit.

but there were 3 judges and I wanted one piece for each of them

hence the rather cluttered plate.

I thought about serving with a sprinkling of icing sugar on the souffle or sugar coating the tips of the raspberries or sticking some mint leave on for decoration but it all seemed a little old hat.

I would really appreciate if you or anyone has any platting suggestions

as I could do with the help

thanks in advance.

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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Congratulations, but why the regimented fruit in a three-by-three grid and strawberries perched up on end? It looks a bit peculiar to me.

I think if I was serving this there would only be three pieces of fruit.

but there were 3 judges and I wanted one piece for each of them

hence the rather cluttered plate.

I thought about serving with a sprinkling of icing sugar on the souffle or sugar coating the tips of the raspberries or sticking some mint leave on for decoration but it all seemed a little old hat.

Ok, that makes a lot of sense then. I'd steer clear of the mint leaves though, that's the sort of thing that seems to upset the judges on this kind of thing.

Fruit kebabs on a cocktail stick perhaps? But don't take my suggestion, there's probably a good reason you are in this competition and I'm not :rolleyes:

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Ok, that makes a lot of sense then. I'd steer clear of the mint leaves though, that's the sort of thing that seems to upset the judges on this kind of thing.

Fruit kebabs on a cocktail stick perhaps? But don't take my suggestion, there's probably a good reason you are in this competition and I'm not  :rolleyes:

Or not as the case maybe.

I don't believe this.:angry:

ITV just called me up and said that even though I won my round

I cannot go to the next round as I have been eliminated because a runner up in another of the rounds was better!!

:wacko:

oh well! c'est la vie

I'm just glad i didn't have to take a day off work to do the filming!

ho hum!!

back to the chopping board

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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I don't believe this.:angry:

ITV just called me up and said that even though I won my round

I cannot go to the next round as I have been eliminated because a runner up in another of the rounds was better!!

:wacko:

Sorry to hear that - and what a strange way to run a competition! Ah well, fingers crossed for next time...

Caroline

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I don't believe this.:angry:

ITV just called me up and said that even though I won my round

I cannot go to the next round as I have been eliminated because a runner up in another of the rounds was better!!

:wacko:

Sorry to hear that - and what a strange way to run a competition! Ah well, fingers crossed for next time...

Caroline

Hi caroline

yeah i thought so too.

but the judges decision is final and as they say thats show business!! :raz:

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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  • 2 months later...
I don't believe this.:angry:

ITV just called me up and said that even though I won my round

I cannot go to the next round as I have been eliminated because a runner up in another of the rounds was better!!

:wacko:

Sorry to hear that - and what a strange way to run a competition! Ah well, fingers crossed for next time...

Caroline

Hi caroline

yeah i thought so too.

but the judges decision is final and as they say thats show business!! :raz:

They have just finished the first week of the "regional" rounds - the first one was the "West" which includes Wales, Southwest England and (Northern?) Ireland.

Watching the programme the regional selection was very confusing - the way they presented it they went straight from the first auditions to the first TV round.

I searched for this thread since I had a vague memory you had entered, and your comments seem to indicate that there was at least one round before the TV round. Do you know if the "next" round was the TV regional heats, or if there was more before that?

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I don't believe this.:angry:

ITV just called me up and said that even though I won my round

I cannot go to the next round as I have been eliminated because a runner up in another of the rounds was better!!

:wacko:

Sorry to hear that - and what a strange way to run a competition! Ah well, fingers crossed for next time...

Caroline

Hi caroline

yeah i thought so too.

but the judges decision is final and as they say thats show business!! :raz:

They have just finished the first week of the "regional" rounds - the first one was the "West" which includes Wales, Southwest England and (Northern?) Ireland.

Watching the programme the regional selection was very confusing - the way they presented it they went straight from the first auditions to the first TV round.

I searched for this thread since I had a vague memory you had entered, and your comments seem to indicate that there was at least one round before the TV round. Do you know if the "next" round was the TV regional heats, or if there was more before that?

The first "round" was just the audition then it was on to a cooking round.

I think they are just editing the filming to fit into there "regional" classifications.

I haven't actually caught a single episode of this series as i am at work at that time.

I was actually on yesterday's episode.

Didn't manage to catch that either.

Friend watched it and said the program does actually show that i won my round...... :blink:

I wonder how they explain that I don't appear in the second round??

hmm....

Edited by origamicrane (log)

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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The first "round" was just the audition then it was on to a cooking round. 

I think they are just editing the filming to fit into there "regional" classifications.

I haven't actually caught a single episode of this series as i am at work at that time.

I was actually on yesterday's episode. 

Didn't manage to catch that either.

Friend watched it and said the program does actually show that i won my round......  :blink:

I wonder how they explain that I don't appear in the second round??

hmm....

[

Good question. Yes, the programme did appear to make it very clear that you won last night's pudding course.

From what I have seen the format is supposed to be that they get one winner per course from each day, giving them 12 contestants for the regional final. They then compare the dishes and decide which 6 will go on to cook again.

Although it looked like all 12 were in the studio at the start of the "Friday" programme I am not entirely certain if they were all there.

One possibility is that you were "there", but that they had decided you would not go on to cook since they don't actually need the constestants there to make the decision. Is it possible that they just got it wrong when they called you and that it was simply that they decided you were not one of the best 6 who would cook?

It looks like we need to watch the Friday programme carefully to find out exactly what they have done...

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The first "round" was just the audition then it was on to a cooking round. 

I think they are just editing the filming to fit into there "regional" classifications.

I haven't actually caught a single episode of this series as i am at work at that time.

I was actually on yesterday's episode. 

Didn't manage to catch that either.

Friend watched it and said the program does actually show that i won my round......  :blink:

I wonder how they explain that I don't appear in the second round??

hmm....

[

Good question. Yes, the programme did appear to make it very clear that you won last night's pudding course.

From what I have seen the format is supposed to be that they get one winner per course from each day, giving them 12 contestants for the regional final. They then compare the dishes and decide which 6 will go on to cook again.

Although it looked like all 12 were in the studio at the start of the "Friday" programme I am not entirely certain if they were all there.

One possibility is that you were "there", but that they had decided you would not go on to cook since they don't actually need the constestants there to make the decision. Is it possible that they just got it wrong when they called you and that it was simply that they decided you were not one of the best 6 who would cook?

It looks like we need to watch the Friday programme carefully to find out exactly what they have done...

arrr... ok thats makes a bit more sense then, although that was never explained during the competition.

I thought it was a standard tournament format rather then a regional ranking thing.

oh well live and learn :cool:

Edited by origamicrane (log)

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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Hi,

sorry to be late on the bandwagon, have been off the scenen for some time due to a bike accident in april, but earlier (much) you asked for some advice plating as I thought the berry fruit thing was a bit much.

perhaps consider fine dicing the strawberry, halving 1 and a half raspberry and tossing in your marinade a la minute, as for the mint leaf that is a big no-no, if you really need mint then dust with sugar, lay between 2 sheets of cling film and microwave till crisp, that way the flavour is great and the colour fixes well, just don't overdo it.

anyway sorry to hear it didn't quite go your way but anyway after seeing Burton-races face on many a dish that was put in front of him, it's probably for the best and better luck next time.

Alex.

after all these years in a kitchen, I would have thought it would become 'just a job'

but not so, spending my time playing not working

www.e-senses.co.uk

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Hi,

sorry to be late on the bandwagon, have been off the scenen for some time due to a bike accident in april, but earlier (much) you asked for some advice plating as I thought the berry fruit thing was a bit much.

perhaps consider fine dicing the strawberry, halving 1 and a half raspberry and tossing in your marinade a la minute, as for the mint leaf that is a big no-no, if you really need mint then dust with sugar, lay between 2 sheets of cling film and microwave till crisp, that way the flavour is great and the colour fixes well, just don't overdo it.

anyway sorry to hear it didn't quite go your way but anyway after seeing Burton-races face on many a dish that was put in front of him, it's probably for the best and better luck next time.

Alex.

Hey alex

how you been?

sorry to hear about the bike accident hope you are all recovered.

Yeah wasn't really that bothered with it as I was just having a laugh anyway :smile:

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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From what I have seen the format is supposed to be that they get one winner per course from each day, giving them 12 contestants for the regional final. They then compare the dishes and decide which 6 will go on to cook again.

Although it looked like all 12 were in the studio at the start of the "Friday" programme I am not entirely certain if they were all there.

Ok, so it was clearer on Friday's program. The three judges had allegedly spent the evening before 'agonising' over which pair from each group of four would be allowed back to cook again and after a brief summary of the four dishes in consideration one of them explained the reasons for their decision. In the case of the puddings John Burton Race said how disappointing they had found the standard (nice guy!) but they had selected Monday's Frangipane and raspberry tart and Thursday's Sticky date pudding.

The Friday winners got a cheque and the chance to appear in the national final, although whether that means they all appear or the judges perform another off-camera cull isn't yet clear.

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From what I have seen the format is supposed to be that they get one winner per course from each day, giving them 12 contestants for the regional final. They then compare the dishes and decide which 6 will go on to cook again.

Although it looked like all 12 were in the studio at the start of the "Friday" programme I am not entirely certain if they were all there.

Ok, so it was clearer on Friday's program. The three judges had allegedly spent the evening before 'agonising' over which pair from each group of four would be allowed back to cook again and after a brief summary of the four dishes in consideration one of them explained the reasons for their decision. In the case of the puddings John Burton Race said how disappointing they had found the standard (nice guy!) but they had selected Monday's Frangipane and raspberry tart and Thursday's Sticky date pudding.

The Friday winners got a cheque and the chance to appear in the national final, although whether that means they all appear or the judges perform another off-camera cull isn't yet clear.

win some, lose some.....

actually win and still lose

ho hum :hmmm:

next time

"so tell me how do you bone a chicken?"

"tastes so good makes you want to slap your mamma!!"

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi,

sorry to be late on the bandwagon, have been off the scenen for some time due to a bike accident in april, but earlier (much) you asked for some advice plating as I thought the berry fruit thing was a bit much.

perhaps consider fine dicing the strawberry, halving 1 and a half raspberry and tossing in your marinade a la minute, as for the mint leaf that is a big no-no, if you really need mint then dust with sugar, lay between 2 sheets of cling film and microwave till crisp, that way the flavour is great and the colour fixes well, just don't overdo it.

anyway sorry to hear it didn't quite go your way but anyway after seeing Burton-races face on many a dish that was put in front of him, it's probably for the best and better luck next time.

Alex.

Hey alex

how you been?

sorry to hear about the bike accident hope you are all recovered.

Yeah wasn't really that bothered with it as I was just having a laugh anyway :smile:

Good, all things considered. still can't walk any better than an extra on Shaun of the dead and still not in the kitchen yet (8 months off!!!!!!)

anyway btw, fun is the only reason, too many cooks are far too serious about these things and forget why they started them in the first place.

Good to hear from you.

take it easy

after all these years in a kitchen, I would have thought it would become 'just a job'

but not so, spending my time playing not working

www.e-senses.co.uk

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