Pub chefs in Great British Menu 2014 grand final
Emily Watkins, chef/owner of freehold the Kingham Plough, Kingham, Oxfordshire, won the south west heat and James Durrant chef/licensee of the Plough in Longparish, Hampshire, won the north west heat.
Both will now compete in the grand final to be screened from 2 to 6 June.
The chefs had to compete against two other top chefs from their region to create four dishes each to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings. The winners will see their dishes served at a special banquet at St Paul's cathedral.
Both have already seen big benefits to their businesses since their heats were screened on BBC Two.
Durrant, chef/owner, of the Plough, Longparish, Hampshire, has seen a big increase in forward bookings.
He said: "We’ve taken bookings three or four months in advance – we’ve been getting enquiries about dates in August, September, and even October. Website traffic has increased a huge amount – the site was hit massively in the week I was on TV."
Durrant screened the show at the pub for the five nights he featured in mid- April and put the featured dishes on the menu..He plans to do the same during grand finals week which takes place from 2 to 6 June.
Watkins, chef/owner of the Kingham Plough in Kingham, Oxfordshire, said: "Bookings have definitely increased. On the final day of the heat we were averaging 50 unique visitors to our website per minute."
She beat off competition from Michelin-starred chefs Josh Eggleton of the Pony & Trap, Chew Magna, Bristol and Dominic Chapman of the Royal Oak in Paley Street, Berkshire to win the south west round.
The three chefs are hosting Great British Menu 2014 events at their pubs this week and in the first week in June.
Watkin’s winning menu features a starter of ‘Luncheon Meat in Jelly’, a fish dish called ‘Fight Them on the Beaches’, which includes flasks filled with cockle broth, griddled scallops, sea greens, shells, braised morels in mess tins and tobacco tins with dehydrated seasoning. Her main course is ‘Don’t Come Back Empty Handed’ featuring rabbit bangers, belly and slow-cooked rabbit leg with baby vegetables on a quirky allotment scene.
Her 'street party' dessert was a spin on jelly, cake and ice cream, served with blackberry jelly cubes, blackberry gel, fresh blackberries, lardy cakes, blackberry mousse, blackberry buttermilk sorbet and poppy seed remembrance tuilles.
Durrant’s winning menu features ‘S-P-A-M’, a spin on army ration meals, with spiced pork, molluscs, leeks, pickled onions and pork vinaigrette.
His fish dish is ‘Ultimate Fish & Chips’ with cod cheeks, celeriac chips, mushy peas, curried monkfish and tartare.
His main course is "Blitz Spirit" - a sharing dish, featuring beans in veal stock with veal sweetbreads, green beans, mushrooms, veal loin and bread crumbs fried in veal stock and butter. Durrant's
dessert is a sticky toffee apple pudding of apple puree, walnut balls, toffee apples, toffee sauce and sticky toffee pudding topped with cinnamon ice cream.
*Watch the Great British Menu final on BBC Two from 2 to 6 June.
