My Big BBD Adventure

Last week I jetted off to London to take part in the regional heat of Britain's Best Dish. I was head-to-head with a lovely contestant called Rose who was making a rice pudding with a whisky cream and raspberry compote.The judges were calling it 'The Battle of the Whisky' as both dishes featured it.

It was quite an experience. The three judges (Jilly Goulding, Ed Baines and John Burton Race) all sat and watched on monitors but it was possible to hear every word they were saying. Some people found this unnerving but I kept my calm and worked through the components of my dish.


The first part went without a hitch and much to the amazement of the film crew and Jilly I produced six lovely round chocolate cups from balloons and a bowl of chocolate. 


The next stage was to make the shortbread dough and pop it in the fridge to harden. I had concerns as this stage as the fridge didn't seem particularly cold.

Onto the mousse and my first disaster struck. When separating the eggs I burst a yolk. The eggs have to be room temperature as they are beat into the warm chocolate. My replacement egg was freezing cold and the chocolate wasn't very forgiving with this. I could hear Ed saying that the chocolate was a disaster but I kept beating and once I put the whisky in it seemed to calm down and go lovely and glossy...phew! The whites went in fine and the mousse looked lovely in light. It joined the shortbread dough in the fridge to chill.


The dough still wasn't firm but with time ticking on I had to use it. I cut out twenty-odd biscuits and popped them in the oven. Immediately they spread out and were a disaster. I put the remaining dough in the freezer but it was too late, I didn't have enough time to leave it.


Two minutes remaining and I plated up my lovely mousse and not so lovely biscuits.


The judges tasted the rice pudding first and were not that impressed. It looked amazing and it was a lovely concept as it had some wonderful spices through it but Rose had used basmati rice and was heavily criticised for it. Ed said there were some classics you should never mess with. One is steak and the other is rice pudding. 


My turn to be under the spotlight and John reckoned when the show is televised I will start a national craze of kids wanting to make the chocolate pots. They enjoyed the mousse, said it was lovely and light. They also liked the light thin crisp biscuits although they weren't shortbread!


My favourite comment was Ed saying that he really enjoyed watching me cook as I had a really nice approach to each process and was confident in the kitchen.

I got all three judges' votes but having seen the main course that had just gone through I knew that to progress I would have to up my game and bring some extra sophistication (turns out the winning dish will be on the menu at The Savoy) to it. Ideas were already whizzing through my head at this point.

Sadly only two of the four winners of the regional heats can go through to the regional final and I wasn't picked. I am undeterred though I made the most of the experience and I am already planning my dish for next time...