Professional chefs from across Kent put their skills to the test against amateur chefs, seeing what dishes each can create with the same locally sourced ingredients.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Slice of Kent. I'm your host, Peter Boy, and this is a show where
00:25we challenge professional chefs to come up with a dish using three randomly selected
00:29ingredients. They'll be competing against me and my co-host Hannah as we find out who
00:33can make the best dish. But first, we need to find out where our ingredients come from.
00:37So we sent our team down to The Good Shed, found in Canterbury, and asked about the importance
00:41of fresh produce. Let's see what they had to say.
00:44I went to The Good Shed in Canterbury and spoke to Sally about what The Good Shed is
00:47all about and where they get their produce.
00:50The purpose of the business was always to provide produce to local customers. Our staff
00:57will drive to all of the different farms that we work with in the local area and they'll
01:00collect the produce every morning. And that's from the fish counter to the butchery to the
01:06vegetable stall and bring it here every morning. So if you're a customer, you can come and
01:10buy that, you know, within hours of it being picked.
01:13I then asked about the importance and benefits of shopping for produce locally.
01:17It gives jobs to local farmers. It gives jobs to producers. It gives jobs to the people
01:21who are working in the market. Everything that's bought here, the money goes back into
01:25the local economy and it almost feels like a web or network. What makes us really stand
01:29apart is that it is really local food grown by really local people.
01:34I also spoke to one of the chefs about their opinions on buying local produce.
01:38Realistically, you know, you can't just buy small producer things. But I think just being
01:44in an environment in here, like when you're doing your shopping, this is so much more
01:48of a mentally stimulating environment than walking around a supermarket or going to a
01:52big, big producer. You leave here feeling better about yourself.
01:57Lastly, I asked for any advice to help our amateur chefs on this week's challenge.
02:01The go-to for a beginner or an amateur would be to cook it out, like slow cook it. Choose
02:08a cut that is slow cooked because it's much more forgiving.
02:11Now that we have our ingredients, we sent our resident foodie, George Erdogan, out to
02:15the Jamaican restaurant, Soul Chef Kitchen, where he met with Dexter Thomas, award-winning
02:20head chef and owner, to find out what dish he can make with the three random ingredients.
02:24Let's have a look.
02:25So this week we're in Dill, where I'm going to go to an authentic Jamaican restaurant
02:29called Soul Chef Kitchen. There, I'll meet head chef Dexter Thomas, where I'll learn
02:33a little bit about his business, Jamaican and Caribbean influence in Kent. And of course,
02:38this week's challenge, where the three main ingredients are lamb, oranges and shallots.
02:44Let's see if they're up to the task.
02:45Soul Chef Kitchen isn't a restaurant in the stereotypical sense, serving its food
02:50inside the Port-au-Prince pub in Dill.
02:52First of all, I want you to tell me a bit about your journey as a chef. How did you
02:55start? How did you come to be? And how did you come to start Soul Chef Kitchen?
02:59I always loved food. Food has been my life. Since I was nine years old, I was in the kitchen
03:02with my mum. I used to go to school and I looked forward to leaving school to go home
03:05and cook. And since I came to the UK in 2004, I went straight to college to do NVQ 1, 2
03:12and 3 because I know cooking is what I wanted to do, to be a chef. I worked for Hilton Hotel.
03:17I worked for Michel Roux and I worked for also Jamie Oliver and the Silver Sturgeon
03:22in Thames. And I met my wife three years ago. And since then, she fell in love with Jamaican
03:29food and she pushed me towards actually doing something Jamaican. I wouldn't be anywhere
03:33I am today without the influence I had from food with my mum.
03:36How much do you feel the presence of Jamaican food and culture in Kent?
03:40It's very important to have that mix. And I think it's very important to have that cultural
03:44advantage because at the end, a lot of Caribbean people live in Kent and they can't go to
03:48London just for the food.
03:49And I guess, speaking a bit more about the business, where do you source your food from?
03:55Is it all locally sourced?
03:56In deal, physically, it's about local and it's about keeping it all in deal. Meat, local.
04:03Veg, local. Two suppliers here. Fish, just on the road from here, Jenkins.
04:08I'm now going to reveal to you what the ingredients are. So for the meat, for the protein, we
04:13have sourced some lamb there.
04:15Oh wow, okay.
04:16We've got an orange.
04:19Okay.
04:20And we have got some shallots. Most important question, do you feel up to the challenge?
04:27100% man.
04:29I'm making a coconut curried lamb with rice and peas, which I've already made in hand,
04:35but I'm going to do a nice lemony, honey chargrilled corn. And then for dessert, I've got some
04:41orange there, so I might as well do a caramelized orange with candied shallots.
04:47Very, very, very risky, but I'm confident it'll pay off.
04:53I've got lovely Jamaican curry here. This is salmonella. We call it cornmeal in Jamaica.
04:59So you're going to get a nice crust in there.
05:03Then our lovely homemade jerk sauce.
05:12I'm just going to let that sit for a few minutes and then I can crack on with the dessert.
05:26While not being at the level of cookery of Dexter, the simplicity of his dishes gives
05:29me hope that I can achieve a similar result, especially that lovely dessert that I'll definitely be trying.
05:40And there you have it, our main and our dessert. And what a feast for the eyes.
05:51So there you have it. This is Dexter's final piece. So I'm going to go try this now.
05:57Go for it, man. Tuck in.
06:01You can taste that sweet coconut scourge from the sauce, isn't it?
06:04And you get a light tanginess from the jerk sauce.
06:07You can see the smile on my face. But it's good. It's real good. It's real good.
06:13Now it's our turn, where we show you what us amateur chefs can do with the same ingredients.
06:18Here's how we got on.
06:19Hi.
06:20We're Back In The Kitchen.
06:21And this week we'll be cooking with...
06:24Lamb neck.
06:26Orange.
06:28And shallots.
06:29It's quite an interesting combination.
06:31I think it'll be fun to make though.
06:33And joining us as always is George.
06:35Guys, I'm so excited. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
06:38How do you like today's challenge?
06:40Um, it's definitely different.
06:42But we'll try our best though.
06:43Well, I guess I'll eat it too.
06:45Let's get cooking.
06:47Today we'll be making lamb stew. It is very robust and customisable.
06:51And these are the ingredients we'll be using on screen.
06:56So, what are we making today, Peter?
07:00So, we're going to be making a lamb stew.
07:03Um, not too complicated, so we'll be okay I think.
07:07How are you going to do the lamb?
07:08Um, so I want to get a nice cross on it.
07:11So I'm going to coat it in flour and then put it in high heat with the olive oil.
07:17Whilst Peter handles the lamb, I began chopping up the vegetables.
07:20Today we chose onions, carrots, celery, shallots and garlic.
07:24Then, I grated the oranges for its zest.
07:29I think this is hot enough because it started smoking, so I'm going to add this now.
07:34How long does that usually take for you?
07:36Um, so it's all dependent on the power of your stove I guess.
07:40But usually I think it would take around five minutes.
07:42We're not trying to cook the lamb here, we're just trying to get a nice browning on it.
07:46To build up some fond on the bottom.
07:48When the meat has browned, lower the heat and add your onions.
07:51This is where we begin caramelising.
07:57So I think to speed up the caramelisation, I'm going to add some sugar.
08:02You don't usually add this, but it'll make it a little bit quicker for us.
08:05Because I want to eat this as soon as possible.
08:07But you know, you hear that sizzle?
08:09Yes!
08:14That smells amazing, Peter.
08:17Mmm.
08:18It's just onions as well, and the residual lamb juice.
08:23Once the onions have deepened in colour, increase temperature,
08:26add the rest of the vegetables and saute for a minute or so.
08:30Then, deglaze with red wine.
08:32You need to make sure to cook off all the alcohol.
08:38Do you want to add the canned tomatoes in now, yeah?
08:40Yeah.
08:42Careful about splashing.
08:44Sorry.
08:45No worries.
08:48Making sure all of it's in there.
08:50Yeah.
08:51And then add the rest of our seasonings.
08:56Can you just remind me what's in there?
08:57So inside of it we have paprika, coriander seeds and cayenne pepper.
09:03Finally, re-induce the lamb back into the pot.
09:10And cover with one cup of beef stock.
09:14Whilst it begins to reduce, this is your chance to season with salt and pepper to taste.
09:21After at least one hour, add the orange zest.
09:24The lamb should be tender and flavourful.
09:27So plate up and enjoy.
09:32There you have it.
09:33Our attempt at making a dish using lamb neck, oranges and shallots.
09:37And as you can see, it looks amazing.
09:39But of course there's only one way to find out and that's with our resident foodie, George.
09:44Guys, this looks really good.
09:46I'm eating from my eyes and it looks delicious.
09:48However, the most important part, does it taste good?
09:52I hope so.
09:53Well, let me try.
10:00How tender that is.
10:05How is it?
10:06The lamb is so tender.
10:08And guys, the combination of flavours is like, it's gelling so well.
10:12You guys have smashed that part of this week.
10:15Well, I guess we did a good job.
10:17See you guys back in the studio.
10:20Now with me in the studio is my fellow amateur chef, Hannah.
10:23Thank you for joining me, Hannah.
10:24So how do you think it went?
10:26I think it went really well, considering I've never made anything with lamb before.
10:31So the end result, it was really tender.
10:34So I was really proud of that.
10:36What do you think?
10:37I was quite sceptical, like you.
10:39I've cooked lamb before, but lamb chops.
10:41But I've cooked it like a steak, just pan fried it.
10:44So coming into this, I was a bit nervous.
10:46But much like an oxtail stew, the lamb neck broke down effortlessly and was so tender.
10:52It tasted really nice as well, don't you think?
10:55Yes, I think we'd have to thank Morgan for telling us to stew it because that was a perfect tip.
11:00So would you say there was anything that we could improve on?
11:03I think we could have improved on adding a little bit more of the orange.
11:07Obviously, the challenge wanted us to put in the orange.
11:10But at the end, we didn't really taste much of it, did we?
11:13No, I'd say another thing as well, probably including a carb like potatoes,
11:18because I feel like we're kind of lacking that in this stew.
11:21I don't really think about that, but I agree.
11:25Well, thank you for your input, Hannah.
11:27That's all we have time for this week.
11:29Be sure to come back next time as we find out which restaurant our foodie George will discover next
11:33and see what ingredients can be sourced locally.
11:35Until then, thank you for watching. Goodbye now.