Ed Gamble
My starter: Two Meats, To You
My Great Briton(s): The Chuckle Brothers
BBC
- Toby Earle
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I’m approaching my dish as a comedian, writer and podcaster, not as a chef, so I thought of the title of the dish before I thought of the contents of the dish. I can exclusively reveal the great Britons I’ve chosen to celebrate were not mentioned in the series.
All the chefs in this series, which is dedicated to Great Britons, went down the road of honouring people who have achieved great feats, contributed to the country or helped others through charity work. Classic heroes. Whereas I believe the Chuckle Brothers should have had at least one shout-out.
My starter is inspired by the brothers Chuckle and is called Two Meats, To You. For someone my age, the pair were hilarious and perfectly represent Great Britain – they’re constantly failing but always getting back up and trying again. That, to me, represents the resilience of all great Britons.
To meet the series’ theme, Two Meats, To You will be a little kebab with a toasted flatbread carrying a silhouette of the Chuckle Brothers. I know what the judges are like and they are very specific about a dish and how it’s linked to the theme. The two meats of Two Meats, To You are lamb shoulder and pork tenderloin; I haven’t chosen pork belly because sometimes it can be overly fatty and ruin everything else in a dish. Barbecued and grilled meat is almost magic to me, because when you put meat on hot coals, all you need is a bit of salt, pepper, and, occasionally, spice mix.
Alongside the meats, we’ll have some pickled red onion, pickled cauliflower and toum – a very garlicky whipped dip. I recently had some very nice toum in Bubala, a restaurant in Soho, and it’s knock-your-head-off garlicky, so you only need a tiny serving. On the side, for those who prefer a moister meat, we’ll have a small jus dip made from the lamb and pork bones we’ve cooked down.
To present Two Meats, To You, the flatbread would lie on the plate so you can see the silhouette of the Chuckle Brothers, with the meats and sides arranged around the bread, allowing diners to build their own kebab. I’d then place all the plates on a big board of polished mahogany, because people love placing dishes on big boards.
The polished mahogany board would enter the room carried by two Great British Menu runners dressed as the Chuckle Brothers, who’d say, “Two Meats, To You, Two Meats, To You”. Everyone would be thinking they were going to drop the board, but they wouldn’t, which is crucial. It’s a rare success for the Chuckle Brothers.
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I think this is a lovely way to kick off the banquet, but one thing I would say about this dish is it’s not very British. It’s also the sort of dish that would absolutely not make it through to us in the judges’ chamber.
Authors
Toby Earle
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