The Big Family Cooking Showdown (2017–2018): Season 1, Episode 12 - The Final - full transcript
With everything on the line, the Top Three families face the final challenge: preparing a multicourse feast for eight in under five hours.
[Nadiya] It’s the final
of The Big Family Cooking Showdown.
[tense music]
Three of Britain’s best family cooks
will go head-to-head for the last time.
It’s the final!
It feels surreal,
like I can’t even explain.
It’s crazy.
We’re all quite nervous.
-We’ve made it this far
-[Jean] We have.
To win the competition, wow.
It’s going to be difficult,
we do want to try and win it.
-We wanna win
-We do want to win.
[Lorna] We’re testament
to the love for our family.
And their secret spice mixes.
[Nadiya]
16 families went head-to-head
to prove their passion
for food and cooking.
-You’ve got to impress us
-Oh, you will be impressed.
[woman] Mum, you haven’t seared it.
You’ve never seen anything like it
in your life.
[woman] Hurry up!
[man] Not the best thing to do,
cooking pasta for an Italian.
-[Zoe] Amazing
-That's good.
[Faith] And in, yeah!
[Nadiya] They served their very best food
to our judges.
Slightly more stressful than tea-time
for three children.
-[Nadiya] Giorgio Locatelli...
-Wow.
[Nadiya] ...and Rosemary Shrager.
That is very, very, very competent.
[Nadiya] Tonight, these three families
remain to battle it out...
Who will be crowned
Britain’s best family of cooks?
Here we go, today’s the day.
-[Giorgio] The final day.
-[Rosemary] Very exciting.
I’m sure that we’re in for a big treat.
I think everyone who is taking part
in this competition
brought a bit of themselves,
a bit of their family,
a bit of their love to us.
Three completely different
family home cooks.
[man] This is it, this is it, this is it.
-Good luck, other families.
-Good luck, everyone!
[tense music reaches its climax]
Hello, families, welcome back.
I can’t believe I’m saying it,
but this is it,
the final of
The Big Family Cooking Showdown.
Zoe can’t be here today, but she sends
her love and wishes you all good luck.
Believe me, you’ll need it with these two
as they won’t be taking any prisoners.
You’ve performed amazingly well
to have got this far,
but today we’re going to raise the bar
even higher.
For this challenge,
you’re cooking
for a big family get together,
a feast of food for eight people
Remember, this is aimed
at the special people in your lives,
so make it with love,
make it with passion and make it perfect.
You have four and a half hours,
let’s get cooking.
Come on, guys, no dillying
and definitely no dallying.
[Nadiya] Tonight, the families must create
an exceptional three course feast,
enough to feed eight people.
Each course must be delivered on time,
during four and a half hours of cooking.
-So, Mons, you’re on the garlic, yeah?
-Yeah.
[Dan] I needed a peeler,
have you seen the peeler anyone?
No, dear, I haven’t.
[Nadiya] The Charles family
from east Yorkshire
are newlyweds, Betty and Dan.
I’m definitely in charge, let it be known.
-We let her think she is...
-I am...
[Nadiya] And Betty’s mum, Jean.
And you’re the glue
that holds us all together.
That’s exactly right,
I can chop vegetables.
We make an event of pretty much
every meal we do,
whether it’s at mum’s or here.
[Nadiya] Trips around the world
and a honeymoon in Italy
have influenced their love of cooking.
[Betty] We did, like, cooking courses
and that’s where
our absolute passion for Italian food
really kicked off.
Look, that’s why mine’s not doing it
because I’ve only got--
[Dan] Is it the fork again,
is it the fork?
We have lots of fun
when we cook together.
-We do.
-We make each other laugh no end.
Push it.
You’re not doing anything I’m telling you.
[Giorgio] The Charles are great cooks,
there is no two ways about it,
they set their standards very, very high.
You’ve got it perfect.
All those flavours, are really working
together into something quite special.
It’s really good
[laughter]
Thank you so much.
[Nadiya] During the heats,
they staked their reputation
on the food of their travels.
Well, considering one of the main judges
is an Italian--
[Dan] Michelin-starred chef.
I can feel someone lurking behind me.
Hi, Giorgio.
[Rosemary] I would love to have this
for a lovely lunch.
-Can I have a little bit more?
-[laughter]
I would serve this risotto.
[applause]
[Rosemary]
What I love about the Charles family,
is how they have this passion for cooking,
you can see it in their faces.
That looks bang on. Yeah!
[Nadiya] But in the semi-finals,
they took risks...
My polenta is set.
That looks lovely
Wow, bold decision.
I’m not a vegetarian,
but yet I’m satisfied...
[Nadiya] With mixed results...
[Nadiya] What’s the twist on your roast?
It’s all pretty twisty, really.
We’re doing a pork Wellington,
but we’re doing it with Italian flavours.
It’s in. That’s it, hope for the best.
I’m disappointed because
you usually hit the flavours so well.
-Don’t go, don’t go.
-Don't hug me then.
[Nadiya] However Jean’s baking
impressed the judges.
Oh, I’ve knocked a few cakes
together in my time, we’re in.
[Rosemary] Absolutely delicious, fact.
-How competitive are we?
-I think we’ll win the competition.
[laughter]
-Hiya
-[Betty] Hi!
Do you want to grab a mixing bowl bin out?
Watch out! OK, it's this one.
Right, Sam, bin, Matthew mixing bowl.
That’s good,
keep talking yourself through it.
OK.
[Nadiya] The Piggott brothers
from Oxfordshire are eldest, Matt...
I’d say I’m the intelligence--
-No, come on, just do it....
-No.
Just a little taste.
-[Nadiya] Middle bother, Ed...
-[Matt] Ed’s the looks.
-Hello, how are you?
-Good.
[Nadiya] And Sam.
-[Matt] Sam’s the wit.
-They’re spicy. Spicy that.
He’s the fun one, you might say
he’s the chef de partay.
Yeah, I’ll take that.
You’ve been thinking about that,
haven’t you?
[Nadiya] So far, they’ve impressed
with their gutsy flavour combinations.
-[Nadiya] What’s going in there?
-[Sam] Everything you can think of.
One, two...
five Scotch bonnets.
Five Scotch bonnets.
Mm, that smells really good.
These boys, it's so lovely to watch them,
three brothers cooking together
and loving every minute of it.
So, who taught you guys to cook?
From teenager time, we’d come home
from school and cook something
and it’s kind of just gone from there.
-What’s your favourite thing to cook?
-Kebabs.
The marinade has a very good influence
on the chicken.
It really delivers a very good taste,
so I really like that.
[Rosemary] This is exactly what I’d expect
if I was getting some street food.
It's got all those lovely flavours coming
through, I would pay for this wrap.
-Have you got a napkin?
-No. I’ve got loo roll.
Remember to get some in,
will you, next time?
[Matt] Yes.
[Nadiya] In the heats, they aimed high
during the Impress The Neighbours round.
Have you seen what they’re doing yet?
-Are they doing dauphinoise?
-Yeah
Battle’s on.
Just warning you,
I really know my venison.
That’s made me feel way better,
I don’t know about you?
[Nadiya]
And proved themselves masters of meat.
It’s very good.
Brilliant, you’ve done a fantastic job.
Whoo!
[Nadiya] But in the semi-finals,
they struggled with planning...
We haven’t completely finished
our menu yet.
-Ah.
-Are you winging it a little bit?
Um, yeah.
This is difficult, isn't it?
There doesn't seem to be a natural leader,
they all seem to just work together.
[Nadiya] ...and their puddings.
-This isn’t going into small crumbs.
-How is your pastry?
-Your guess is as good as mine.
-[Zoe] OK.
[Nadiya] It was their bold take
on a traditional English breakfast
that saw them through.
Actually, it was one of the best
cooked breakfast I’ve ever ate in my life.
Your lovely bacon jam
is quite frankly delicious.
I salute you.
[applause]
[woman] Well done, boys.
It’s all about pride to try and win.
'Cause we think we are good cooks,
we want to demonstrate to people
that we are good cooks.
Do you need some help
with the aubergine or are you OK?
[Bobby] Is that my frying pan?
-[Monika] I’ve got your frying pan out.
-Thank you.
-I’m going to get the lamb mince on first.
-I’m just going to leave that on.
Just make the stuffing
for the spring rolls.
[Bobby] Right, chopping boards.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras from Birmingham
are sisters Lorna...
-Never a dull moment in our house.
-[Nadiya] ...Bobby...
I think my cauliflower and aloo gobi
is better than her's.
[Nadiya] ...and their sister-in-law
Monika.
Aw! That’s on camera now!
These ladies are instinctive home cooks.
We remember grandmother, mum,
you know, watching them in the kitchen.
[Bobby] You just can’t get away from it.
You just can’t get away from it,
it’s just in our blood.
It’s our garam masala,
this is our home-made secret blend.
[Zoe] You would never share
that with anyone?
No!
-Well, I think this looks amazing.
-[women] Yes!
This is without a doubt
a piece of your heritage in front of me.
-[Bobby] Thanks, Mum.
-Yeah.
[Nadiya] From the beginning,
they wowed the judges
with their family recipes.
The Gangotras have cooked us
some fabulous foods.
Some of the best curries I've ever eaten.
That is terrific.
[applause]
You guys have got loads going on today.
We love all these dishes so much,
we couldn’t decide what to eliminate.
Your eyes are bigger than your stomachs.
I don’t think so,
our stomachs are pretty big.
[Nadiya] But occasionally,
they bit off more than they could chew.
The flavour is not there.
I think you tried too much,
sometimes less is more.
[Nadiya] In the semi-finals
they toned it down.
Are you sort of paring it back a bit?
We’ve taken on feedback
and we’re keeping it...
-The curry is delicious.
-I like what you’ve done.
[Nadiya] But their puddings
were far from perfect.
I think that it needed a little bit more
in the oven.
OK.
It’s an undercooked Bakewell tart. Sorry.
I know.
[Nadiya] It was their twist
on the nation's favourite
that secured their place in the final.
On the outside it’s going to look
like fish and chips,
but on the inside, yeah, pow.
I have to say to you...
...that’s probably one of the best fish
and chips I have ever tasted.
[Bobby] Part of this process is
there’s no second chance
at making a first impression.
Practice makes perfect, hopefully.
Practice, practice, practice.
That was a subtle hint from Lorna
to get back in the kitchen.
[Nadiya] Today, the judges expect
each family to serve an impressive feast,
over three mouth-watering courses.
You need bigger ones that,
there’s bigger ones for the...
[Nadiya] Our families
must prepare enough food
for eight people
beginning with three rounds of nibbles,
followed by a main course.
To finish, two different desserts.
[Matt] Any idea
where some scales are, Ed?
-There you go.
-[Matt] Thank you.
-[Jean] Anybody feel a bit sick?
-No, we don’t feel sick.
We feel fine.
You haven’t got time to be feeling sick.
[Jean] No, that’s true.
This is what
they have been working towards.
[Giorgio] Each of the three families
deserve to be here,
and each of them
have a big challenge in front of them.
The thing is, they’ve got so much food
to produce today.
You know, they’ve got nibbles,
main course, dessert.
They’ve got to have their timings right,
get it properly done, be organised.
Suddenly, four-and-a-half-hours
doesn’t seem long!
[Nadiya] For their first course,
our families
must prepare three rounds of nibbles,
a total of 48 servings each.
-What’s the chilli like?
-It’s quite hot, it’s in.
It’s just nice,
we added a top notch up a bit.
[Nadiya] And they need to be plated up,
ready to serve in just 90 minutes' time.
When you start to have lots of people
around for lunch,
it’s very, very important
to have some good nibbles
and they’re like kind of
a declaration of war.
This is when you’ve got to set out
your path.
You know what?
I love a good nibble.
Small and tasty,
it’s got to almost sing in the mouth.
That is all the white wine
that I need to use.
-[Jean] That’s got our names on it.
-[Betty] It certainly does.
Risotto was our first ever challenge
in the competition
and it went quite well for us,
so returning to that for the final seemed
the logical thing to do.
[Nadiya] For their first set of nibbles,
the Charles are making
deep-fried Italian rice balls
called arancini.
Traditionally made with leftover risotto
served with an arrabiata sauce.
They’re also making scallops
with capers and parsley butter
and a butternut squash soup.
[Dan] This is a soup,
it’s shallots, butternut squash,
vegetable stock
and a bit of extra virgin
olive oil on top.
-[Dan] That is pretty much it.
-[Betty] It's looking good.
Adding stock bit by bit.
[Jean] Got your little arancini balls,
they just absolutely are the best,
they are.
Thanks, Ma.
[Jean] Scrumptious is the word
we’re looking for here.
Arancini are my favourite thing
in the world.
-I'm going to take this out to cool.
-OK.
-Good luck.
-Thanks.
[Giorgio] But I take two days
to do arancini,
so if these guys can make
an arancini in one hour
that means I don’t understand
anything about cooking.
This is going to be
really a tough challenge for them.
Just have a little taste,
a little bit more?
No, it’s fine.
-[Bobby] Are you sure?
-It’s fine.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras are serving
three Indian-themed nibbles.
Fried spicy potato balls
also known as batata vada,
chilli chicken bites
and finally, spiced lamb spring rolls
with a mint and yoghurt dip.
These are our favourite nibbles,
there are elements that we all love
and it’s representative
of our whole family, I think.
[Bobby] I might just start on the mixture
for the spring roll.
Just a pinch of turmeric.
I’m concentrating 'cause normally this is
my duty at big family weddings,
they put the orders in,
and I have to shell out
200-odd spring rolls.
She makes so many to make sure
that everyone leaves
with a full tummy and is fully satisfied.
[Bobby] OK, guys can you taste, please?
[Bobby] Are you happy with that?
[Rosemary] They’re bringing their Indian
traditional food
into something that’s Chinese,
which is quite unusual.
I like that fusion.
A little concerned
it might be a bit greasy.
You know, every time you cook something,
always tell us something about you.
What is this whole meal
going to say about you?
It’s basically, testament to our mums,
dads, aunties, uncles,
whoever we’ve been watching
through growing up,
cooking their things
and putting our spin on it as well.
It’s an honour as well,
sort of an ode to them.
I already can feel the weight
of all of them looking upon us.
That's a lot of weight.
[laughter]
[Sam] So we’re doing pork and apple
as a general theme.
So every single course contains
either pork or apple
and a lot of them contain both.
So it’s sort of a celebration
of those flavour combinations.
[Nadiya] For their nibbles the Piggotts
are making bite-sized ham, egg and chips,
smoked chilli pork tacos
and a mini pork chop with crackling
and sage and onion marmalade.
Oh! Smelling really good.
The pork’s smelling good, lads.
[Ed] That’s good.
The Piggotts have come in
with a declaration of pork, really.
They’ve really got three
very heavy pork-based nibbles.
[Sam] Matt, just try this,
just for spice levels.
Really good flavour, it’s not very sp...
Hmm.
[Sam] You know what I mean? Bit more?
'Cause you want a hit.
I wouldn’t add anything in smoky.
No, no, don’t. It’s come to me.
-No, don’t add any more.
-[Sam] OK, good.
Nice, it grows on you, spice wise.
[Rosemary] They’re very good on flavours,
the Piggotts.
They really are,
but what is worrying me on this is,
it’s going to be too big a portion.
Tacos do not come tiny, tiny, tiny, mini
because we’re talking about,
we asked for nibbles.
Ed, did you get any advice from Mum?
I cooked up my starter for Mum
and the main,
she came over last weekend
and we had a little test drive.
She had a few pointers to make.
I don’t know if I’ve put any of them
into the final recipe, sorry, Mum.
But she was... It was definitely good
to practise it, cook for her,
it was a nice thing to do,
slightly less stress than this.
You’ve asked advice from Mum
and then not listened to her.
Well, she gave advice,
I’m not sure if I actually asked advice.
Matt, what would it mean to win?
I entered originally as a joke
to wind these two up,
and slowly but surely, it’s gone further
and further down the line
and now we’re in with a chance
of winning it.
There's a one in three chance
and it’s exciting.
Yes. I’ve lost count now.
[laughter]
-Bobs, do you need a garlic?
-Yeah.
-Have you done your garlic?
-Yeah, I’ve done my garlic
I’m worried the smell of garlic
is staying on my fingers
for numerous hours after this challenge.
Families, you’ve had 45 minutes!
I’m just going to go grab my risotto
and stuffing.
-[Dan] How are the sage leaves coming on?
-It’s coming on.
[Nadiya] In 45 minutes, the families must
serve all three rounds of nibbles.
That’s alright.
[Nadiya]
And continue with their main courses.
-Hi, Betty.
-Hi, Giorgio.
You know they are my favourite thing
in the world, arancini?
[Jean] No pressure then, Betty.
-What’s in the stuffing?
-We’ve got fontina, buffalo mozzarella,
sun-dried tomatoes
and chopped pistachios.
-Wow.
-[Betty] Yeah...
Very, very unusual stuffing, isn’t it?
Does it say something
about your family that?
-Yeah, it’s a mismatch--
-[laughter]
...of everything.
We’re odd balls.
[Lorna] We’ve got to get
the chicken on, guys.
-Start burning the chillies.
-The massive ones?
-[Bobby] Split them or anything?
-No.
-High heat?
-High heat, cover the pan.
[Nadiya] Lorna’s in charge
of the Gangotras' second set of nibbles,
the chilli chicken.
Basically,
green chilli has gone into the pan,
we want them to explode, burst open,
all that chilli oil coming out
and it’s that chill oil
that’s going to be seasoned
with ginger, garlic, onions,
a bit of soy sauce
and then the chicken will go in
and it will just cook in that.
It’s a family favourite, we all love it.
The chilli chicken,
my mum used to make growing up
and Bobby and Lorna's mum
still makes to this day,
and it’s such a favourite
when we have company.
[Matt] I’ll need to start prepping
my pork chops.
[Nadiya] Eldest brother, Matt,
is responsible for the Piggotts
next pork-themed nibble.
There's going to be basically
a strip of pork chop
with some onion and sage marmalade,
crispy fried sage leaf
and then a little strip of crackling.
[Giorgio] I think they’re cooking
like a piece of meat
and the cutting it
like a little pork chop.
It can be very difficult to eat it.
I’m not worried about the flavour,
I’m worried more about size and texture.
The crackling, I'll put it in the oven
for about 10-15 minutes
until it’s nice and crispy.
It’s something
that you can eat quite easily,
but adds a nice crunch to the pork chop.
OK, remind me to check the crackling,
probably in five minutes.
I’m going to start cooking this pork,
guys, OK?
Yeah, good idea.
OK, guys,
I’m going to start frying the vadas.
Let me move this stuff.
-Try one and see.
-Try the balls.
We’re going down.
Families, ten minutes
till your nibbles need to be served.
Right, everything needs
to be happening now then.
[Ed] They’re cheese string fries,
so they’re really thinly cut.
-[Ed] How brown would you take these?
-Quite, you want them crispy.
[Ed] They look good.
[Lorna] OK, where should I plate up?
I’m doing it, it’s going to be perfect.
[Dan] Any chance we can
get the spoons here?
-[Jean] Do you want me to--?
-Don’t touch anything.
Just searing the scallops,
just want a nice caramelisation.
[Matt] Nice, I’m happy with that. Yeah.
So this is the most stressful part of it,
I wasn’t looking forward to.
[Bobby] Nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 16.
Don’t just abandon your capers!
[Dan] Guys, you have two minutes, these--
I’m coming!
I can’t be in two places at once.
[Ed] Yeah, crack on, Matt, crack on.
Guys, judges are ready.
Please, serve your nibbles now.
There’s one bite that’s nice.
-Chicken?
-Yeah.
[sighs]
[Sam] Well played, mate.
[Betty] Don’t you trip me up.
[Matt] OK, really careful, guys,
do not drop it.
Particularly you, clumsy Sam.
[Nadiya] Our families were asked
to serve three sets of nibbles.
One family member
will hear the judges’ comments,
the others must continue
with their main courses.
Can I check how much garlic you need?
'Cause I think... Is that enough?
Total relief we got it all out on time,
it all look really good.
Well done, guys.
-That is so impressive
[Jean] Yeah.
-[Monika] Really, really nice.
-[Jean] Oh, that is so clever.
[Nadiya]
The Charles have made arancini balls
with an arrabbiata sauce,
scallops on caper and parsley butter
and butternut squash soup.
[Giorgio]
So that’s butternut squash soup, yeah?
What’s that little oily bit on top?
-Olive oil.
-Olive oil.
[he slurps]
I think that butternut squash soup,
it's a really nice flavour,
but the oil is too much.
I’ve got oil immediately on my lips.
[Giorgio] The arancini,
the rice is a little, slightly little bit
undercooked for an arancini
and I’m very disappointed with the sauce.
I don’t really like the sauce,
it’s too strong,
it really doesn’t work with it.
I think the scallops are very well cooked,
seasoned properly, the capers
with the butter coming through,
I think you’ve done a good job with that.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you very much.
How are you feeling now that one piece
of your puzzle is out there being judged?
Bless Monika, she’s there to take
the lamb to slaughter, as they say.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras' nibbles
are fried spicy potato balls,
called batata vada,
lamb spring rolls with mint
and yoghurt dip and chilli chicken bites.
So spring rolls, dip it here.
Our spice girl...
[Rosemary chuckles]
[Giorgio] That is really,
really delicious,
the chicken is perfectly cooked,
it's got this really beautiful,
sweet flavour on top of the spice.
Your chilli, absolutely delicious.
Seriously yummy,
I could have had another one of those.
Your little potato balls,
a little doughy.
OK.
-But good flavour.
-I love the potato.
A lot of flavour come through
and this is what I really like.
I think those spring rolls are wonderful
and not spicy, I taste all the herbs.
[whispers] Thank you.
The sauces complement it,
absolutely perfect with that sweetness.
Really spot on.
-Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
How do you reckon
it’s going to go then?
I have no idea.
It looked like we wanted,
so I’m pleased with that.
Whilst Ed’s getting slated outside.
Don’t say that.
[Nadiya] The Piggotts have made
mini ham egg and chips,
smoked chilli pork tacos,
and a pork chop with crackling,
and sage and onion marmalade.
Quite big.
-Big portions are nice, aren’t they?
-This is boy portions.
-Yes.
-[Rosemary] OK.
Your take on your egg bacon and chips,
I like those little chips, actually,
I like the way you’ve done that.
The flavour is delicious,
you’ve got it in one.
That taco is beautifully spiced,
really nice and crispy, no greasy.
Really lovely bite to that.
I think that crispiness
of the biscuit underneath,
you’ve done really well.
Everything in there
is beautifully balanced,
but I would have liked
a little tinnier portioning.
The little pork is a bit too much chewing,
the pork belly,
the skin is far too hard,
but it carries a fantastic flavour
with the onions,
the onions is beautiful in it.
The crispiness of the pork,
but actually a bit worried
about my fillings!
For me, it was too much,
too much pork in the mouth,
It should have been daintier,
but the flavour is delicious.
Perfect.
Oh, they’re on their way back.
Oh, right, nice.
I wonder what they’ve got.
[Matt] Give us a thumbs up
or a thumbs down.
-Eh...
-Thumbs up.
[Jean] Ours was mixed.
Mixed. Was it worst?
No, it wasn’t awful at all.
-Loved the flavour, loved everything.
-Oh, fantastic.
-Spring rolls, smashed it.
-Honest to God?
Smashed it.
-The scallops were perfect
-Go on, bab!
-Yes.
-Yes!
Not so keen on the arancini.
Oh, my God, why?
What was wrong with the arancini?
[Jean]
They said it was a little bit underdone.
They both really liked your tacos,
they said they were a little bit big,
both really liked my ham, egg and chips.
Rosemary said they were a little bit big,
Giorgio didn’t say that.
Yours didn’t go down so well, I’m afraid.
-They really didn’t like it at all?
-No, it wasn’t... No.
He just said that he thought the risotto
was a bit undercooked.
It was really nice, it was really like,
you're out there and it's so intense,
but everyone did really well.
Everyone, congratulations.
-The Gangotras nailed everything.
-Cool, right come on, let's crack on.
Let's just crack on.
[Nadiya] Now the families must race
to complete their main course,
enough to feed eight people
in less than two hours.
[Jean] Right, I need to crack...
Oh, thank you, everybody.
We’ve got a lot going on,
we’ve got a lot to do really early on,
so, yeah, we’re going to be hard pushed.
[Monika] De-brief me, fill me in,
what can I do?
-Am I chopping, cutting, and peeling?
-[Lorna] Just cut the shallots.
The atmosphere in this kitchen
is electric at the moment.
[Lorna] Bobby, you need to do garlic.
Bobby, garlic, please,
before the onion, garlic.
OK, she’s so bossy.
The thing about this is,
that all three families are so different.
They’re different,
but they’re all so good.
[Rosemary] They’ve invested so much time
and energy into this final,
they really all want it,
that’s what I find so exciting.
Smile.
I can’t, I’m concentrating,
it’s my concentration face.
The main, we’re going to have?
For a main we’ve got salmon curry,
which is going to be the main dish,
which is a fusion of Bobby’s and I...
That story is very interesting, actually.
-[they chuckle]
-What is the story?
She had to go out and she started making
the curry and she was like,
"I’ve got an appointment, I’ll be back
in a bit, can you do this, this and this,"
and I said, "Yeah, yeah,"
I really wasn’t listening,
so I just added what I thought
it needed
and it fused into this
Thai, Goan, Indian--
Well, sometimes in the kitchen,
big mistakes makes big dishes.
A bit like penicillin.
-It was sabotage, actually.
-It wasn’t sabotage.
It definitely says something
about Bob and our relationship
and Lorna was quite famous
for her salmon recipe,
so we’ve taken all three
and Bobby emulated Lorna’s original recipe
and then I added to it,
so it’s really our three.
So it is your recipe, for real, this one?
[laughter]
[Nadiya] To go with their salmon curry,
the Gangotras are making
a spiced-yoghurt dish called kadhi
with vegetable fritters
known as pakoras and baingan ka bharta,
smoked aubergine in a spiced tomato sauce
with flat breads called missi roti.
So in the base of the salmon curry,
I’ve actually got the cumin,
the curry leaves, the garlic,
the ginger, the chilli, the onion.
[Rosemary] I’m excited about this,
I don’t think they will go wrong
with the sauce,
they could go wrong overcooking
the salmon.
If the salmon isn’t right,
no matter how good the sauce is,
that will spoil the whole thing.
Salmon is a delicate fish,
that element goes right at the end.
It’s going to be poached in the sauce,
which is why the sauce is so important.
I’ve got to get that sauce right.
If I don’t get the sauce right,
even down to the consistency,
it won't poach the fish properly.
-[Jean] Any injuries, Dan?
-[Dan] Zero.
[Nadiya] Dan starts by prepping
the garnish for the Charles' main course.
-I’ve just criss-cross-ed...
-Criss-cross-ed?
Is that a word?
Criss-crossed my game chips.
[Nadiya] Thinly sliced
white and purple potatoes and parsnips,
crinkle cut on a mandolin.
I think they're traditionally
served with grouse and things like that,
but we’re not today,
we’re serving with a cacciatore.
Just provide an extra bit of texture.
They taste lovely, you can’t go wrong
with salty potato chips, basically.
[Nadiya] The game chips will accompany
their main dish,
with an Italian stew
called chicken cacciatore
served with a white bean mash,
garlic green beans, charred chicory
and a rosemary focaccia bread.
[Betty] One, two, three, four, five.
I’m just going to brown the chicken off.
Every time that I brown
the chicken at home,
I’ve always burnt it
and these have actually gone quite well.
This is the base for the cacciatore,
it’s actually one of the oldest recipes,
it has wild mushrooms in as well.
That goes back to it being
a hunter’s dish thing.
Giorgio will definitely
be familiar with it,
so we'll have to make sure
the flavours are bang on.
My grandmother used to cook
a fantastic chicken cacciatore.
But it's simple food.
[Giorgio] What I really like about that,
is it is one of these dishes
that goes in the middle of the plate
and whoever cooks it,
sits down with you to have it.
Yeah.
It’s not in the kitchen
preparing something.
[Rosemary] So, real--
Convivial dish.
I’m excited, but it is simple,
and it’s got to be right.
[Rosemary] It’s got to be right.
[Nadiya] So, Jean, what I love about you
is that you guys are always smiling
and you and Betty are close,
but I’ve noticed you've got a bond
with Dan.
Well, yes.
How did that happen?
It’s more like he’s your son.
Well, yeah,
about three and a half years ago,
I was diagnosed with breast cancer,
you see, and I had...
-Oh, I see.
-I went through all this treatment.
Yeah, and I had chemotherapy
and we all went together, you see.
-Dan didn’t miss one chemo session
-No, he didn’t.
Not one.
-He went to more than I did.
-[laughter]
So every chemo day was a really good day.
It was a good day out,
I wouldn’t recommend it but...
[laughter]
-So you’d all go together?
-Yeah.
We always went out to eat,
and we always had a good laugh.
Is that how you started cooking
together?
I’ve always cooked for them,
they’ve cooked for me,
we’ve always done cooking together,
but this was real bonding session.
That’s what brought us really close
and since then, I think,
you’ve got to enjoy every day.
Wow, that’s fragrant breadcrumb.
Have a whiff of that.
-Mmm. That’s well nice, is it basil?
-Basil, oregano and parsley.
We’ve got the stuffing here, so
it’s breadcrumbs whizzed with some herbs,
-then we’ve got the sobrasada.
-[Sam] Oh, hello,
-I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.
-I’ve practising it, night school.
Give me the name again.
-Sobrasada.
-Perfection.
Thank you.
[Nadiya] Continuing
with their pork and apple theme,
the Piggotts are making
pork tenderloin stuffed with sobrasada -
a Spanish cured sausage
and sides of pork belly croquets,
chick peas in a spicy tomato sauce,
roast broccoli, an apple and fennel salad
and cider sauce.
There’s loads of paprika,
loads of garlic in that.
[Matt] Get that nos in there, Sam.
[Sam] You know it’s from Majorca, yeah?
You get them either wrapped
in red string and it means they’re spicy,
or white string and it means it’s normal.
So this is a normal one.
Oh, I did not know that.
Right, Sam, this the oiliest thing
it the world so...
[Sam] Gosh, it’s oily.
[Nadiya] This mixture will be stuffed
inside the pork tenderloin.
This is the centrepiece
of the whole dinner.
[Rosemary] It’s a fine line to get
the inside cooked as well as the outside,
so it’s not overcooked.
It’s really tricky.
There you go.
Sam, you done with the thing yet?
Yeah.
Can I ask you,
do you feel overdosed with pork a bit?
I don’t think so.
I think we wanted to show
how much we could do with one thing.
Really test ourselves
to try and produce a menu
with just one ingredient
and really push it.
You know, boys, that’s what I thought.
What do you think that this whole meal
tells me about your family?
I think it shows
that we’re quite adventurous
and we’ve got good basic skills
and we’re not afraid
of kind of putting flavours together.
-[Lorna] You OK, Mon?
-[Monika] I’m cool,
I’m just going to check on my aubergines
and start scooping that out.
Yes, please, do that.
-I just need the blender.
-Which one?
This is the kadhi,
this is one of the accompaniments,
but, in my eyes,
it’s a main attraction as well.
[Nadiya] Punjabi kadhi consists of
a thick gravy made with chick pea flour,
yoghurt and spices with pakoras.
So in India they...
It’s so hot there,
they make their own yoghurt every night,
just bung it in a hot space
and you get this live yoghurt
and this is what we use for the kadhi
'cause it gives a nice sourness.
[Nadiya] In the Charles' kitchen,
Dan’s game chips are ready for frying.
I haven’t seen those
sort of chips for a long time.
[Dan] Game chips.
The only thing that is worrying me,
I have to say this to you.
How long has he been on those chips?
[Giorgio] There’s a touch of magic.
Well, I tell you what,
they better be magic.
They better be good.
They better be magic,
because if they’re not magic,
they’re in trouble.
[Matt] The pork needs to go in.
This really honks of pig over here, lads.
[Nadiya] On the Piggotts' bench,
Matt has moved on
to the pork belly croquets.
[Sam] Is it not too big?
I’d do it more to, like, there myself.
-[Matt] Would you? I wouldn’t.
-[Sam] I think it’s too big.
-Have you seen the croquets?
-Yeah, that's the croquets.
That's the croquets,
see how big they are.
They’re for a giant.
Lads, do you want me
to just make them smaller?
No, no, do that. Carry on.
Guys, 15 minutes
till your mains are served.
-15, guys.
-15 minutes.
Matt, can you try that?
Oh, I think it’s really nice.
[Lorna] Yeah, that’s brilliant, Mon.
-Check the consistency of your sauce.
-That's perfect.
-You want it more blitzed?
-No.
I’m not worried at all about the sauce,
all I’m worried is they cut
their salmon very, very small.
Very, very easy to overcook it.
Mons, can you put the sauce
on the salmon
and then just cover that for five minutes
because it has to poach in the sauce.
[Dan] This is the white bean mash,
heated some olive oil,
some lemon, some rosemary
and I’ve just dropped the beans in.
I've got haricot,
butter beans and cannellini beans.
It’s not meant to be like mash,
this is meant to be a bit knobbly
and bobbly and rustic. Taste.
[Betty] Oh, my God,
yeah, that’s really tasty.
Five minutes left before your mains
have to be served.
[Ed] Have you got your croquets in, Matt?
[Matt] Yeah the croquets are in,
I’m going to slice up the pork.
[Ed] Yeah.
[Betty] How are they?
The potato wasn't quite crisp enough.
This is the first missi roti.
Gives it the finishing touch,
makes it more-ish.
Sam, do you need a hand?
No, mate I’m just--
-Is everything served except your sauce?
-[Ed] The chick peas are on.
[Sam] Yeah, yeah,
the sauce is looking fine.
That looks really good, keep that up.
Do you want the cacciatore out now?
[Dan] Watch your backs, guys.
[Betty] Looking lovely.
Right.
[Monika] We’ve got to just serve up
that salmon.
Yeah, just give me the bowl.
Families, it’s time to serve your mains.
-Focaccia, focaccia, focaccia.
-[Betty] It’s on there.
[Matt] Well done, lads. Look at that.
[Nadiya] With less than an hour left,
the families must now
finish their desserts,
there'll be no time to hear
the judges’ comments
on their main courses until later.
[Ed] Back in we go.
Just tidy up a bit, where’s the rice?
-You alright?
-Hungry.
Do you want to stop for a snack?
[laughter]
[Nadiya] For their main course,
the Charles have made chicken caccatori
topped with game chips,
served with white bean mash,
garlic green beans,
charred chicory
and a rosemary focaccia bread.
-Let’s go for it.
-[Rosemary] Let’s go for it.
-I think the chicken is cooked perfectly.
-Yeah.
It comes apart,
it’s got a very beautiful flavour.
I think that little bit of chilli
coming through, I really like it.
I do like that bean mash.
It’s got some good depth to that.
That really is well seasoned as well,
and that focaccia is delicious.
But the chips are a complete
and utter disaster, disappointing, but--
Yeah, because they flap like that.
[Nadiya] The Piggotts' mains are
pork tenderloin
with a sobrasada stuffing,
with sides of pork belly croquets,
chick peas in a spicy tomato sauce,
roast broccoli and an apple
and fennel salad with a cider sauce.
I’m going to start off with pork.
The stuffing is extremely good,
I like the taste.
I think that works.
[Giorgio] The roulade of pork
with the amount of work
that went it to that
and the ham and everything else,
carries a very good flavour.
These croquets, it’s almost like
a main course rather than part of a dish,
I mean, it is enormous.
And obviously,
they don’t get so warm inside
because they haven’t had the chance.
The flavour,
all the flavour in here is really good.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras' main
is salmon curry, kadhi and pakoras,
smoked aubergine in spiced tomato sauce
and missi roti.
Well, first of all,
I think the roti is absolutely delicious.
They look fantastic.
It’s tasty, it’s textured,
it’s got everything going on about it,
but, to me, the star of the show
is that salmon.
It melts in the mouth,
it could not be better.
It’s so balanced, so perfectly cooked.
As fish curry goes, this is the best
fish curry that I’ve had in my life.
[Rosemary] Mmm.
[Sam] Yeah, crack on, boys.
[Nadiya] Time is running out.
Literally, I don’t think we rest
for a second
in this four and a half hours,
so just straight on.
[Nadiya] The families
must complete their desserts,
enough to feed eight people.
Betty’s dad, Andy,
we’re both big fans of espresso martinis.
Whenever he comes up, we end up having
far too many and having a sore head.
We've done our little cocktail spin on it,
we’re doing espresso martini tiramisu.
[Nadiya]
As well as espresso martini tiramisu,
the Charles are making baked
home-grown rhubarb with custard
and floating island meringues.
There’s two things that I like in life,
one is espresso and the second one
is espresso martini.
Espresso martini and tiramisu
mixed together,
I cannot imagine anything
better than that!
[Jean]
My God, this takes some folding.
I am now making my...
Well, they’re called lady fingers,
what are they called, Dan?
Savoiardi.
So I’m trying to ensure
that I keep all the air in.
They’re a fatless sponge.
[Giorgio] I can see them, the Charles
are cooking their own savoiardi for that.
That is courageous.
I don’t know many chefs would do that.
Time is of essence to do this,
because they need to kind of dry out
for a good tiramisu.
Right, we’re in.
-[Betty] We’re in?
-We’re in.
Jumbo cardamom,
they’re really, really flavoursome.
I’m just putting the cardamom in my kheer.
[Nadiya] The Gangortras' desserts
are kheer, an Indian rice pudding
spiced with cardamom and a fried batter
with a spiced syrup coating called jalebi.
[Rosemary] I’m slightly concerned
that this might be just too simple
for a final,
they seem to be pulling back in this meal,
rather than pushing forward.
They seem to be keeping everything
almost basic.
[Lorna] So this is our rice pudding
for our dessert.
We obviously want it to simmer
for a little while to really thicken
and become nice and unctuous.
[Bobby] I think it befits the menu
that we’ve done
otherwise it just wouldn’t flow.
This is just kind of the icing
on the curry.
[Lorna] We just put the almonds
and sultanas in,
can you smell the cardamom?
Yeah, I’m getting the smell
of the cardamom.
[Giorgio] I love rice pudding full stop,
between perfect and disaster,
is a very tiny little bit.
What can go wrong with rice pudding?
Then it becomes like food for chickens.
-[Matt] Sam, what are you making?
-Cake mixture.
Cracking on with my cake mix.
[Nadiya] The Piggotts' puddings
are an apple cake
served with a baked apple
and burnt honey custard.
A Mexican fried sweet dough
called bunuelos
served with apple and raspberry compote
and Baileys ice cream.
We just thought we’d try
some different stuff,
interesting things,
none of us have ever actually been
to Mexico,
but we’re having a Mexican dessert.
You know, try something new.
Try a little bit of that.
What is this, cake dough?
Nice.
I think there’s a risk
of the desserts letting us down.
It’s not what we cook, or eat.
We’ve practised and think they taste good.
It’s only the second time we’ve done one,
so might have just been an off day
on the first one.
Last time, they make us a cake
was with olive oil
and they put so much olive oil
it was terrible.
Let’s hope today works out.
[Dan] Betty, you OK, you on track?
Yeah, I’m just getting these
lady fingers cooling, they look fantastic.
Would you like me to do that, Danny?
No, 'cause I want you to waz this up now.
This is our home-grown
Yorkshire rhubarb,
pulled direct this morning
from my mum’s garden,
with her curlers in.
This is going to be for our rhubarb
and custard pudding,
but again a little Italian twist.
Bake the rhubarb in Aperol and sugar
and orange juice.
You can't beat a boozy pudding.
We’ve got booze
in the other pudding as well.
[Jean] Right, so you need 500 of milk
and 568 of cream.
[Nadiya] Jean’s in charge
of the creamy accompaniment.
-[Betty] Oh, God
-[Dan] What?
-[Betty] The custard
-[Dan] Oh, God.
[Dan] You need to get the custard going.
[Jean] All I need is to whisk it up.
It’s very tricky because you can be
very careful with it in case it curdles.
[Rosemary] Custard
is a very tricky thing to get right.
Stopping it just at the right moment
till it’s cooked
now that is a trick,
that’s almost having courage
while you cook.
[Dan] We have about half an hour left.
-[Jean] What?
-[Dan] Yeah, seriously, half an hour!
[Lorna] Bobby, keep an eye on the kheer,
we need to get the jalebi thing going.
The jalebis,
are going to be fried in the ghee
and from that, dipped in the sugar syrup
and then drained and then ready to eat.
This is a jalebi bottle,
to give it that squiggle
otherwise it’s so difficult
to do it by hand.
Ed, Where are we at?
How are we going?
[Ed] Just kneading out my dough,
this is certainly a good workout.
[Nadiya] Ed is working on the bunuelos,
the Mexican sweet dough.
[Ed] I’m just rolling these out flat,
then I’m going to cut them into strips.
Then rest for a few more minutes,
then they go in the deep fat fryer
and, when I’ve practised them,
they’ve puffed up,
so I’m confident about these hopefully.
Guys, you’ve got 15 minutes left.
Ed, where are we at?
How are we going over there?
[Ed] Yeah, fine.
[Matt] Let’s not forget the ice cream.
We can get that out at the last second
and hopefully it will be a nice pile
of ice cream
not a pile of melted cream.
[Matt] They done?
No, another minute,
just this one here.
[Monika] Just plating up
the rice pudding.
-[Matt] Ed, when are you frying?
-[Ed] Now.
Is there any way of getting this hotter?
These are little floating
island meringues, I’m really shaky.
[Betty] Poach them for 30 seconds
and you're good.
That cake looks really good, Sam,
proud of you.
-[Ed] This custard OK?
-[Sam] Yeah, just got to keep stirring it.
It’s not done yet
[Betty] It is, that’s custard.
Let’s get it done,
we need to assemble now.
So now the jalebis
are going into the sugar syrup
seasoned with a bit of saffron,
cardamom and clove.
-That’s what custard should taste like.
-Good comment, Ed.
-Go and get the ice cream - one minute!
-Guys, it’s an absolute puddle.
Nah, kidding its fine. LOL.
Time's up, everyone, back away.
Oh, my God.
[Lorna] Finished.
-Oh, my God, well done.
-[Dan exclaims]
-Look at that.
-Well done, guys.
-[Jean] Custard's just milky
-It’s not, Mum, it's perfect.
It’s absolutely gorgeous.
-Final cheers.
-Cheers, guys.
Cheers.
[Nadiya] For the judges final tasting,
each of the families
has prepared two desserts.
The Charles have made baked rhubarb
with custard
and floating island meringues.
[Jean] We can’t do any more,
we’ve done all we can.
[Nadiya] Their second dessert
is an espresso martini tiramisu.
The Piggotts have made an apple cake
served with a baked apple
with a blackberry sauce filling
and burnt honey custard.
I think it’s gone OK, hasn’t it?
We’ve done as well as we could,
so well done.
Sam, yours looks really good,
nice plating.
[Nadiya]
Their second pudding is bunuelos,
Mexican fried sweet dough
with apple and raspberry compote
and Baileys ice cream.
[Nadiya]
The Gangotras have made kheer,
Indian rice pudding,
spiced with cardamom.
[Bobby] Are they tasting some stuff?
[Monika] They are eating, yeah.
Oh, God!
[Lorna] I want to know
what they're saying.
Yeah.
[Nadiya] Their second dessert is jalebi,
fried batter with a spiced syrup coating.
[suspenseful music]
[Nadiya] The judges will now feedback
to the families for one last time
before deciding on their winner.
You know what was said
about the nibbles,
but what we’d like to do
is now talk to you
about the main course and the dessert.
So we are going to start off
with the Piggotts.
Your main course was the abundance
again, it was so much,
but the flavours were,
quite frankly, delicious.
I thought you cooked the rolled pork
very well.
And the stuffing was delicious,
but what really killed it a little bit
that dish, was that croquet.
That was like half a pound of pork
with potato on it.
The dessert again was mammoth.
It’s got something to do with
your generosity, young men,
healthy appetites.
Definitely half an hour more
on that apple in the oven
would have done absolutely perfect.
I would like to also say
about the ice cream.
That was fabulous.
But I also loved your lovely little
doughnuts,
they were so gorgeous.
The Gangotras, yeah, I would like to talk
about your main course.
It was quite frankly delicious.
That main course was something else.
As far as fish curry goes,
that was one of my favourite and best
fish curry I’ve ever tasted in my life.
You keep that salmon absolutely
perfectly cooked and so balanced.
You blow me away every time.
[Rosemary] The dessert.
You know what, I was a bit shocked
how simple you kept it.
It was meant to be two puddings,
but you delivered us a very simple
rice pudding and some fried little wheels.
But what you produced was delicious.
I really liked my rice pudding,
it was perfectly cooked,
it wasn't over sweet.
The little touch of the gold on the top
makes it so special,
and the jalebi,
I thought they were fantastic.
Thank you.
The Charles.
I thought the chicken, it worked,
the whole thing worked.
You kept it very, very simple.
Today, you delivered that chicken
that was perfectly cooked.
For what’s concerning the dessert,
it was very different
from a normal tiramisu,
but it was really delicious,
it carried a really deep flavour.
The fact you made the sponges,
perfectly balanced in sweetness,
but what really was the topping
on the cake literally,
was the floating islands.
The fact that you had so many
different consistencies
on the same little glass,
that was a great, great job.
Well done.
-Thank you so much.
-Thank you.
As you can see, the judges have got
a really difficult decision to make.
So they are going to go off
and have a chat.
We'll see you shortly.
[Matt] Oh, well done.
That was really good comments, guys.
-Well done.
-I want some ice cream.
[Betty] The best fish curry
he’s ever eaten.
Are you kidding me?
-I wanna see this croquette.
-[Jean] I want to see your croquette.
-[Betty] How big are we talking?
-[Sam] How big was it?
We’ve got the Gangotras who do
the spice work, got it right every time.
They kind of take me through a story
all the time.
There is more flavour to eat
than just the food.
Those nibbles were absolutely delicious.
Delicious.
I'm absolutely ecstatic
that they enjoyed the fish curry.
I’m so glad they enjoyed
those home dishes
that they would never find
in a restaurant.
We've got the boys who get
the balance of flavours every time.
This idea of these three brothers,
so young,
cooking together, I really like that.
The flavouring on that, for instance,
the nibbles was delicious.
Too much, too big,
but I’m going to say, they surprised me.
Flavour is what we push for.
Portion size is not a bad comment, is it?
We served up big portions
for eight people, I think.
I thought there wasn’t enough food,
I genuinely did.
We’ve got the Charles,
who actually create this rather
classic cuisine,
but the nibbles today.
The arancini, for me, didn’t hit it.
But that scallops was fantastic.
Scallops were delicious.
I thought they worked like a dream.
I hope we have done enough though,
I really do.
-Yeah.
-It’s meant loads to us.
We’ve worked our flipping socks off
for this, so we would--
-We would love to win.
-Yeah, we would love to.
I think the three finalists
come from different conceptions
and idea of how to make food.
Each one, they are at the top
of what they do
and I really, really enjoy their food.
I think we have three different
types of home cooking
coming together today here.
I have admiration for all of them
Families, well done,
it’s been a long road,
but we’ve nearly come to the end.
Each and every one of you
has shown how capable you are of cooking
and also that you have taken
home cooking to another level.
We have loved your passion
and your dedication
and your hard work that you put in
on every single dish.
You are three extraordinary
families of cooks
and, sadly, only one of you can win.
[Nadiya]
The judges have come to a decision.
The winners of
The Big Family Cooking Showdown are...
...the Gangotras!
[Jean] Yes! Yes!
Yes!
-[applause]
-[Jean] Well done.
[Jean] Well done.
[all talk over each other]
[cheering]
Yay!
On top of the world,
this is amazing.
Thank you.
-I think the best family won on the day.
-Yeah, they smashed everything.
[Matt] It’s been a really great
experience.
We've really enjoyed every minute of it.
We’ve got to know each other even
better cooking together,
it’s just been a real laugh.
Come here!
Ooh!
-They were absolutely worthy winners
-100 percent.
[Betty] It was theirs.
-We couldn’t compete.
-No way
-They were just the best and so lovely.
-Yeah. Exactly.
Just lovely people.
[laughter and chatter]
I’m proud of these two.
[Lorna] It’s in our blood,
we are born with spice in it
and it’s such a true testament to,
again, our family and everybody
who has just helped us along this journey,
being our guinea pigs along the way,
it's just been amazing.
Hard work but amazing.
[Giorgio] I strongly believe the Gangotras
really cooked from the heart
and that shows in every dish
that they cooked for us.
[Betty] Oh, my God, what...
They have given us,
right through this competition,
the most amazing flavours
that both Giorgio and I
have been completely shocked by.
Every time, every dish,
there was always an element of surprise.
-Oh, my God, the doughnuts...
-Oh, wow.
They peeled it back today,
but if you are going
to do something like that,
you have to deliver sublime food.
There was no question
of their talent today.
-[Dan] I’ve never tried one, what is it?
-Jalebi.
[Matt] I’ve always wondered
how they make them.
We really have discovered
a very talented group of girls,
so our Spice Girls, aren’t they?
[Rosemary] In my opinion,
I think at this particular moment in time,
they are the best family cooks
in Great Britain.
[fading indistinct chatter]
of The Big Family Cooking Showdown.
[tense music]
Three of Britain’s best family cooks
will go head-to-head for the last time.
It’s the final!
It feels surreal,
like I can’t even explain.
It’s crazy.
We’re all quite nervous.
-We’ve made it this far
-[Jean] We have.
To win the competition, wow.
It’s going to be difficult,
we do want to try and win it.
-We wanna win
-We do want to win.
[Lorna] We’re testament
to the love for our family.
And their secret spice mixes.
[Nadiya]
16 families went head-to-head
to prove their passion
for food and cooking.
-You’ve got to impress us
-Oh, you will be impressed.
[woman] Mum, you haven’t seared it.
You’ve never seen anything like it
in your life.
[woman] Hurry up!
[man] Not the best thing to do,
cooking pasta for an Italian.
-[Zoe] Amazing
-That's good.
[Faith] And in, yeah!
[Nadiya] They served their very best food
to our judges.
Slightly more stressful than tea-time
for three children.
-[Nadiya] Giorgio Locatelli...
-Wow.
[Nadiya] ...and Rosemary Shrager.
That is very, very, very competent.
[Nadiya] Tonight, these three families
remain to battle it out...
Who will be crowned
Britain’s best family of cooks?
Here we go, today’s the day.
-[Giorgio] The final day.
-[Rosemary] Very exciting.
I’m sure that we’re in for a big treat.
I think everyone who is taking part
in this competition
brought a bit of themselves,
a bit of their family,
a bit of their love to us.
Three completely different
family home cooks.
[man] This is it, this is it, this is it.
-Good luck, other families.
-Good luck, everyone!
[tense music reaches its climax]
Hello, families, welcome back.
I can’t believe I’m saying it,
but this is it,
the final of
The Big Family Cooking Showdown.
Zoe can’t be here today, but she sends
her love and wishes you all good luck.
Believe me, you’ll need it with these two
as they won’t be taking any prisoners.
You’ve performed amazingly well
to have got this far,
but today we’re going to raise the bar
even higher.
For this challenge,
you’re cooking
for a big family get together,
a feast of food for eight people
Remember, this is aimed
at the special people in your lives,
so make it with love,
make it with passion and make it perfect.
You have four and a half hours,
let’s get cooking.
Come on, guys, no dillying
and definitely no dallying.
[Nadiya] Tonight, the families must create
an exceptional three course feast,
enough to feed eight people.
Each course must be delivered on time,
during four and a half hours of cooking.
-So, Mons, you’re on the garlic, yeah?
-Yeah.
[Dan] I needed a peeler,
have you seen the peeler anyone?
No, dear, I haven’t.
[Nadiya] The Charles family
from east Yorkshire
are newlyweds, Betty and Dan.
I’m definitely in charge, let it be known.
-We let her think she is...
-I am...
[Nadiya] And Betty’s mum, Jean.
And you’re the glue
that holds us all together.
That’s exactly right,
I can chop vegetables.
We make an event of pretty much
every meal we do,
whether it’s at mum’s or here.
[Nadiya] Trips around the world
and a honeymoon in Italy
have influenced their love of cooking.
[Betty] We did, like, cooking courses
and that’s where
our absolute passion for Italian food
really kicked off.
Look, that’s why mine’s not doing it
because I’ve only got--
[Dan] Is it the fork again,
is it the fork?
We have lots of fun
when we cook together.
-We do.
-We make each other laugh no end.
Push it.
You’re not doing anything I’m telling you.
[Giorgio] The Charles are great cooks,
there is no two ways about it,
they set their standards very, very high.
You’ve got it perfect.
All those flavours, are really working
together into something quite special.
It’s really good
[laughter]
Thank you so much.
[Nadiya] During the heats,
they staked their reputation
on the food of their travels.
Well, considering one of the main judges
is an Italian--
[Dan] Michelin-starred chef.
I can feel someone lurking behind me.
Hi, Giorgio.
[Rosemary] I would love to have this
for a lovely lunch.
-Can I have a little bit more?
-[laughter]
I would serve this risotto.
[applause]
[Rosemary]
What I love about the Charles family,
is how they have this passion for cooking,
you can see it in their faces.
That looks bang on. Yeah!
[Nadiya] But in the semi-finals,
they took risks...
My polenta is set.
That looks lovely
Wow, bold decision.
I’m not a vegetarian,
but yet I’m satisfied...
[Nadiya] With mixed results...
[Nadiya] What’s the twist on your roast?
It’s all pretty twisty, really.
We’re doing a pork Wellington,
but we’re doing it with Italian flavours.
It’s in. That’s it, hope for the best.
I’m disappointed because
you usually hit the flavours so well.
-Don’t go, don’t go.
-Don't hug me then.
[Nadiya] However Jean’s baking
impressed the judges.
Oh, I’ve knocked a few cakes
together in my time, we’re in.
[Rosemary] Absolutely delicious, fact.
-How competitive are we?
-I think we’ll win the competition.
[laughter]
-Hiya
-[Betty] Hi!
Do you want to grab a mixing bowl bin out?
Watch out! OK, it's this one.
Right, Sam, bin, Matthew mixing bowl.
That’s good,
keep talking yourself through it.
OK.
[Nadiya] The Piggott brothers
from Oxfordshire are eldest, Matt...
I’d say I’m the intelligence--
-No, come on, just do it....
-No.
Just a little taste.
-[Nadiya] Middle bother, Ed...
-[Matt] Ed’s the looks.
-Hello, how are you?
-Good.
[Nadiya] And Sam.
-[Matt] Sam’s the wit.
-They’re spicy. Spicy that.
He’s the fun one, you might say
he’s the chef de partay.
Yeah, I’ll take that.
You’ve been thinking about that,
haven’t you?
[Nadiya] So far, they’ve impressed
with their gutsy flavour combinations.
-[Nadiya] What’s going in there?
-[Sam] Everything you can think of.
One, two...
five Scotch bonnets.
Five Scotch bonnets.
Mm, that smells really good.
These boys, it's so lovely to watch them,
three brothers cooking together
and loving every minute of it.
So, who taught you guys to cook?
From teenager time, we’d come home
from school and cook something
and it’s kind of just gone from there.
-What’s your favourite thing to cook?
-Kebabs.
The marinade has a very good influence
on the chicken.
It really delivers a very good taste,
so I really like that.
[Rosemary] This is exactly what I’d expect
if I was getting some street food.
It's got all those lovely flavours coming
through, I would pay for this wrap.
-Have you got a napkin?
-No. I’ve got loo roll.
Remember to get some in,
will you, next time?
[Matt] Yes.
[Nadiya] In the heats, they aimed high
during the Impress The Neighbours round.
Have you seen what they’re doing yet?
-Are they doing dauphinoise?
-Yeah
Battle’s on.
Just warning you,
I really know my venison.
That’s made me feel way better,
I don’t know about you?
[Nadiya]
And proved themselves masters of meat.
It’s very good.
Brilliant, you’ve done a fantastic job.
Whoo!
[Nadiya] But in the semi-finals,
they struggled with planning...
We haven’t completely finished
our menu yet.
-Ah.
-Are you winging it a little bit?
Um, yeah.
This is difficult, isn't it?
There doesn't seem to be a natural leader,
they all seem to just work together.
[Nadiya] ...and their puddings.
-This isn’t going into small crumbs.
-How is your pastry?
-Your guess is as good as mine.
-[Zoe] OK.
[Nadiya] It was their bold take
on a traditional English breakfast
that saw them through.
Actually, it was one of the best
cooked breakfast I’ve ever ate in my life.
Your lovely bacon jam
is quite frankly delicious.
I salute you.
[applause]
[woman] Well done, boys.
It’s all about pride to try and win.
'Cause we think we are good cooks,
we want to demonstrate to people
that we are good cooks.
Do you need some help
with the aubergine or are you OK?
[Bobby] Is that my frying pan?
-[Monika] I’ve got your frying pan out.
-Thank you.
-I’m going to get the lamb mince on first.
-I’m just going to leave that on.
Just make the stuffing
for the spring rolls.
[Bobby] Right, chopping boards.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras from Birmingham
are sisters Lorna...
-Never a dull moment in our house.
-[Nadiya] ...Bobby...
I think my cauliflower and aloo gobi
is better than her's.
[Nadiya] ...and their sister-in-law
Monika.
Aw! That’s on camera now!
These ladies are instinctive home cooks.
We remember grandmother, mum,
you know, watching them in the kitchen.
[Bobby] You just can’t get away from it.
You just can’t get away from it,
it’s just in our blood.
It’s our garam masala,
this is our home-made secret blend.
[Zoe] You would never share
that with anyone?
No!
-Well, I think this looks amazing.
-[women] Yes!
This is without a doubt
a piece of your heritage in front of me.
-[Bobby] Thanks, Mum.
-Yeah.
[Nadiya] From the beginning,
they wowed the judges
with their family recipes.
The Gangotras have cooked us
some fabulous foods.
Some of the best curries I've ever eaten.
That is terrific.
[applause]
You guys have got loads going on today.
We love all these dishes so much,
we couldn’t decide what to eliminate.
Your eyes are bigger than your stomachs.
I don’t think so,
our stomachs are pretty big.
[Nadiya] But occasionally,
they bit off more than they could chew.
The flavour is not there.
I think you tried too much,
sometimes less is more.
[Nadiya] In the semi-finals
they toned it down.
Are you sort of paring it back a bit?
We’ve taken on feedback
and we’re keeping it...
-The curry is delicious.
-I like what you’ve done.
[Nadiya] But their puddings
were far from perfect.
I think that it needed a little bit more
in the oven.
OK.
It’s an undercooked Bakewell tart. Sorry.
I know.
[Nadiya] It was their twist
on the nation's favourite
that secured their place in the final.
On the outside it’s going to look
like fish and chips,
but on the inside, yeah, pow.
I have to say to you...
...that’s probably one of the best fish
and chips I have ever tasted.
[Bobby] Part of this process is
there’s no second chance
at making a first impression.
Practice makes perfect, hopefully.
Practice, practice, practice.
That was a subtle hint from Lorna
to get back in the kitchen.
[Nadiya] Today, the judges expect
each family to serve an impressive feast,
over three mouth-watering courses.
You need bigger ones that,
there’s bigger ones for the...
[Nadiya] Our families
must prepare enough food
for eight people
beginning with three rounds of nibbles,
followed by a main course.
To finish, two different desserts.
[Matt] Any idea
where some scales are, Ed?
-There you go.
-[Matt] Thank you.
-[Jean] Anybody feel a bit sick?
-No, we don’t feel sick.
We feel fine.
You haven’t got time to be feeling sick.
[Jean] No, that’s true.
This is what
they have been working towards.
[Giorgio] Each of the three families
deserve to be here,
and each of them
have a big challenge in front of them.
The thing is, they’ve got so much food
to produce today.
You know, they’ve got nibbles,
main course, dessert.
They’ve got to have their timings right,
get it properly done, be organised.
Suddenly, four-and-a-half-hours
doesn’t seem long!
[Nadiya] For their first course,
our families
must prepare three rounds of nibbles,
a total of 48 servings each.
-What’s the chilli like?
-It’s quite hot, it’s in.
It’s just nice,
we added a top notch up a bit.
[Nadiya] And they need to be plated up,
ready to serve in just 90 minutes' time.
When you start to have lots of people
around for lunch,
it’s very, very important
to have some good nibbles
and they’re like kind of
a declaration of war.
This is when you’ve got to set out
your path.
You know what?
I love a good nibble.
Small and tasty,
it’s got to almost sing in the mouth.
That is all the white wine
that I need to use.
-[Jean] That’s got our names on it.
-[Betty] It certainly does.
Risotto was our first ever challenge
in the competition
and it went quite well for us,
so returning to that for the final seemed
the logical thing to do.
[Nadiya] For their first set of nibbles,
the Charles are making
deep-fried Italian rice balls
called arancini.
Traditionally made with leftover risotto
served with an arrabiata sauce.
They’re also making scallops
with capers and parsley butter
and a butternut squash soup.
[Dan] This is a soup,
it’s shallots, butternut squash,
vegetable stock
and a bit of extra virgin
olive oil on top.
-[Dan] That is pretty much it.
-[Betty] It's looking good.
Adding stock bit by bit.
[Jean] Got your little arancini balls,
they just absolutely are the best,
they are.
Thanks, Ma.
[Jean] Scrumptious is the word
we’re looking for here.
Arancini are my favourite thing
in the world.
-I'm going to take this out to cool.
-OK.
-Good luck.
-Thanks.
[Giorgio] But I take two days
to do arancini,
so if these guys can make
an arancini in one hour
that means I don’t understand
anything about cooking.
This is going to be
really a tough challenge for them.
Just have a little taste,
a little bit more?
No, it’s fine.
-[Bobby] Are you sure?
-It’s fine.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras are serving
three Indian-themed nibbles.
Fried spicy potato balls
also known as batata vada,
chilli chicken bites
and finally, spiced lamb spring rolls
with a mint and yoghurt dip.
These are our favourite nibbles,
there are elements that we all love
and it’s representative
of our whole family, I think.
[Bobby] I might just start on the mixture
for the spring roll.
Just a pinch of turmeric.
I’m concentrating 'cause normally this is
my duty at big family weddings,
they put the orders in,
and I have to shell out
200-odd spring rolls.
She makes so many to make sure
that everyone leaves
with a full tummy and is fully satisfied.
[Bobby] OK, guys can you taste, please?
[Bobby] Are you happy with that?
[Rosemary] They’re bringing their Indian
traditional food
into something that’s Chinese,
which is quite unusual.
I like that fusion.
A little concerned
it might be a bit greasy.
You know, every time you cook something,
always tell us something about you.
What is this whole meal
going to say about you?
It’s basically, testament to our mums,
dads, aunties, uncles,
whoever we’ve been watching
through growing up,
cooking their things
and putting our spin on it as well.
It’s an honour as well,
sort of an ode to them.
I already can feel the weight
of all of them looking upon us.
That's a lot of weight.
[laughter]
[Sam] So we’re doing pork and apple
as a general theme.
So every single course contains
either pork or apple
and a lot of them contain both.
So it’s sort of a celebration
of those flavour combinations.
[Nadiya] For their nibbles the Piggotts
are making bite-sized ham, egg and chips,
smoked chilli pork tacos
and a mini pork chop with crackling
and sage and onion marmalade.
Oh! Smelling really good.
The pork’s smelling good, lads.
[Ed] That’s good.
The Piggotts have come in
with a declaration of pork, really.
They’ve really got three
very heavy pork-based nibbles.
[Sam] Matt, just try this,
just for spice levels.
Really good flavour, it’s not very sp...
Hmm.
[Sam] You know what I mean? Bit more?
'Cause you want a hit.
I wouldn’t add anything in smoky.
No, no, don’t. It’s come to me.
-No, don’t add any more.
-[Sam] OK, good.
Nice, it grows on you, spice wise.
[Rosemary] They’re very good on flavours,
the Piggotts.
They really are,
but what is worrying me on this is,
it’s going to be too big a portion.
Tacos do not come tiny, tiny, tiny, mini
because we’re talking about,
we asked for nibbles.
Ed, did you get any advice from Mum?
I cooked up my starter for Mum
and the main,
she came over last weekend
and we had a little test drive.
She had a few pointers to make.
I don’t know if I’ve put any of them
into the final recipe, sorry, Mum.
But she was... It was definitely good
to practise it, cook for her,
it was a nice thing to do,
slightly less stress than this.
You’ve asked advice from Mum
and then not listened to her.
Well, she gave advice,
I’m not sure if I actually asked advice.
Matt, what would it mean to win?
I entered originally as a joke
to wind these two up,
and slowly but surely, it’s gone further
and further down the line
and now we’re in with a chance
of winning it.
There's a one in three chance
and it’s exciting.
Yes. I’ve lost count now.
[laughter]
-Bobs, do you need a garlic?
-Yeah.
-Have you done your garlic?
-Yeah, I’ve done my garlic
I’m worried the smell of garlic
is staying on my fingers
for numerous hours after this challenge.
Families, you’ve had 45 minutes!
I’m just going to go grab my risotto
and stuffing.
-[Dan] How are the sage leaves coming on?
-It’s coming on.
[Nadiya] In 45 minutes, the families must
serve all three rounds of nibbles.
That’s alright.
[Nadiya]
And continue with their main courses.
-Hi, Betty.
-Hi, Giorgio.
You know they are my favourite thing
in the world, arancini?
[Jean] No pressure then, Betty.
-What’s in the stuffing?
-We’ve got fontina, buffalo mozzarella,
sun-dried tomatoes
and chopped pistachios.
-Wow.
-[Betty] Yeah...
Very, very unusual stuffing, isn’t it?
Does it say something
about your family that?
-Yeah, it’s a mismatch--
-[laughter]
...of everything.
We’re odd balls.
[Lorna] We’ve got to get
the chicken on, guys.
-Start burning the chillies.
-The massive ones?
-[Bobby] Split them or anything?
-No.
-High heat?
-High heat, cover the pan.
[Nadiya] Lorna’s in charge
of the Gangotras' second set of nibbles,
the chilli chicken.
Basically,
green chilli has gone into the pan,
we want them to explode, burst open,
all that chilli oil coming out
and it’s that chill oil
that’s going to be seasoned
with ginger, garlic, onions,
a bit of soy sauce
and then the chicken will go in
and it will just cook in that.
It’s a family favourite, we all love it.
The chilli chicken,
my mum used to make growing up
and Bobby and Lorna's mum
still makes to this day,
and it’s such a favourite
when we have company.
[Matt] I’ll need to start prepping
my pork chops.
[Nadiya] Eldest brother, Matt,
is responsible for the Piggotts
next pork-themed nibble.
There's going to be basically
a strip of pork chop
with some onion and sage marmalade,
crispy fried sage leaf
and then a little strip of crackling.
[Giorgio] I think they’re cooking
like a piece of meat
and the cutting it
like a little pork chop.
It can be very difficult to eat it.
I’m not worried about the flavour,
I’m worried more about size and texture.
The crackling, I'll put it in the oven
for about 10-15 minutes
until it’s nice and crispy.
It’s something
that you can eat quite easily,
but adds a nice crunch to the pork chop.
OK, remind me to check the crackling,
probably in five minutes.
I’m going to start cooking this pork,
guys, OK?
Yeah, good idea.
OK, guys,
I’m going to start frying the vadas.
Let me move this stuff.
-Try one and see.
-Try the balls.
We’re going down.
Families, ten minutes
till your nibbles need to be served.
Right, everything needs
to be happening now then.
[Ed] They’re cheese string fries,
so they’re really thinly cut.
-[Ed] How brown would you take these?
-Quite, you want them crispy.
[Ed] They look good.
[Lorna] OK, where should I plate up?
I’m doing it, it’s going to be perfect.
[Dan] Any chance we can
get the spoons here?
-[Jean] Do you want me to--?
-Don’t touch anything.
Just searing the scallops,
just want a nice caramelisation.
[Matt] Nice, I’m happy with that. Yeah.
So this is the most stressful part of it,
I wasn’t looking forward to.
[Bobby] Nine, ten, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 16.
Don’t just abandon your capers!
[Dan] Guys, you have two minutes, these--
I’m coming!
I can’t be in two places at once.
[Ed] Yeah, crack on, Matt, crack on.
Guys, judges are ready.
Please, serve your nibbles now.
There’s one bite that’s nice.
-Chicken?
-Yeah.
[sighs]
[Sam] Well played, mate.
[Betty] Don’t you trip me up.
[Matt] OK, really careful, guys,
do not drop it.
Particularly you, clumsy Sam.
[Nadiya] Our families were asked
to serve three sets of nibbles.
One family member
will hear the judges’ comments,
the others must continue
with their main courses.
Can I check how much garlic you need?
'Cause I think... Is that enough?
Total relief we got it all out on time,
it all look really good.
Well done, guys.
-That is so impressive
[Jean] Yeah.
-[Monika] Really, really nice.
-[Jean] Oh, that is so clever.
[Nadiya]
The Charles have made arancini balls
with an arrabbiata sauce,
scallops on caper and parsley butter
and butternut squash soup.
[Giorgio]
So that’s butternut squash soup, yeah?
What’s that little oily bit on top?
-Olive oil.
-Olive oil.
[he slurps]
I think that butternut squash soup,
it's a really nice flavour,
but the oil is too much.
I’ve got oil immediately on my lips.
[Giorgio] The arancini,
the rice is a little, slightly little bit
undercooked for an arancini
and I’m very disappointed with the sauce.
I don’t really like the sauce,
it’s too strong,
it really doesn’t work with it.
I think the scallops are very well cooked,
seasoned properly, the capers
with the butter coming through,
I think you’ve done a good job with that.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you very much.
How are you feeling now that one piece
of your puzzle is out there being judged?
Bless Monika, she’s there to take
the lamb to slaughter, as they say.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras' nibbles
are fried spicy potato balls,
called batata vada,
lamb spring rolls with mint
and yoghurt dip and chilli chicken bites.
So spring rolls, dip it here.
Our spice girl...
[Rosemary chuckles]
[Giorgio] That is really,
really delicious,
the chicken is perfectly cooked,
it's got this really beautiful,
sweet flavour on top of the spice.
Your chilli, absolutely delicious.
Seriously yummy,
I could have had another one of those.
Your little potato balls,
a little doughy.
OK.
-But good flavour.
-I love the potato.
A lot of flavour come through
and this is what I really like.
I think those spring rolls are wonderful
and not spicy, I taste all the herbs.
[whispers] Thank you.
The sauces complement it,
absolutely perfect with that sweetness.
Really spot on.
-Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
-Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
How do you reckon
it’s going to go then?
I have no idea.
It looked like we wanted,
so I’m pleased with that.
Whilst Ed’s getting slated outside.
Don’t say that.
[Nadiya] The Piggotts have made
mini ham egg and chips,
smoked chilli pork tacos,
and a pork chop with crackling,
and sage and onion marmalade.
Quite big.
-Big portions are nice, aren’t they?
-This is boy portions.
-Yes.
-[Rosemary] OK.
Your take on your egg bacon and chips,
I like those little chips, actually,
I like the way you’ve done that.
The flavour is delicious,
you’ve got it in one.
That taco is beautifully spiced,
really nice and crispy, no greasy.
Really lovely bite to that.
I think that crispiness
of the biscuit underneath,
you’ve done really well.
Everything in there
is beautifully balanced,
but I would have liked
a little tinnier portioning.
The little pork is a bit too much chewing,
the pork belly,
the skin is far too hard,
but it carries a fantastic flavour
with the onions,
the onions is beautiful in it.
The crispiness of the pork,
but actually a bit worried
about my fillings!
For me, it was too much,
too much pork in the mouth,
It should have been daintier,
but the flavour is delicious.
Perfect.
Oh, they’re on their way back.
Oh, right, nice.
I wonder what they’ve got.
[Matt] Give us a thumbs up
or a thumbs down.
-Eh...
-Thumbs up.
[Jean] Ours was mixed.
Mixed. Was it worst?
No, it wasn’t awful at all.
-Loved the flavour, loved everything.
-Oh, fantastic.
-Spring rolls, smashed it.
-Honest to God?
Smashed it.
-The scallops were perfect
-Go on, bab!
-Yes.
-Yes!
Not so keen on the arancini.
Oh, my God, why?
What was wrong with the arancini?
[Jean]
They said it was a little bit underdone.
They both really liked your tacos,
they said they were a little bit big,
both really liked my ham, egg and chips.
Rosemary said they were a little bit big,
Giorgio didn’t say that.
Yours didn’t go down so well, I’m afraid.
-They really didn’t like it at all?
-No, it wasn’t... No.
He just said that he thought the risotto
was a bit undercooked.
It was really nice, it was really like,
you're out there and it's so intense,
but everyone did really well.
Everyone, congratulations.
-The Gangotras nailed everything.
-Cool, right come on, let's crack on.
Let's just crack on.
[Nadiya] Now the families must race
to complete their main course,
enough to feed eight people
in less than two hours.
[Jean] Right, I need to crack...
Oh, thank you, everybody.
We’ve got a lot going on,
we’ve got a lot to do really early on,
so, yeah, we’re going to be hard pushed.
[Monika] De-brief me, fill me in,
what can I do?
-Am I chopping, cutting, and peeling?
-[Lorna] Just cut the shallots.
The atmosphere in this kitchen
is electric at the moment.
[Lorna] Bobby, you need to do garlic.
Bobby, garlic, please,
before the onion, garlic.
OK, she’s so bossy.
The thing about this is,
that all three families are so different.
They’re different,
but they’re all so good.
[Rosemary] They’ve invested so much time
and energy into this final,
they really all want it,
that’s what I find so exciting.
Smile.
I can’t, I’m concentrating,
it’s my concentration face.
The main, we’re going to have?
For a main we’ve got salmon curry,
which is going to be the main dish,
which is a fusion of Bobby’s and I...
That story is very interesting, actually.
-[they chuckle]
-What is the story?
She had to go out and she started making
the curry and she was like,
"I’ve got an appointment, I’ll be back
in a bit, can you do this, this and this,"
and I said, "Yeah, yeah,"
I really wasn’t listening,
so I just added what I thought
it needed
and it fused into this
Thai, Goan, Indian--
Well, sometimes in the kitchen,
big mistakes makes big dishes.
A bit like penicillin.
-It was sabotage, actually.
-It wasn’t sabotage.
It definitely says something
about Bob and our relationship
and Lorna was quite famous
for her salmon recipe,
so we’ve taken all three
and Bobby emulated Lorna’s original recipe
and then I added to it,
so it’s really our three.
So it is your recipe, for real, this one?
[laughter]
[Nadiya] To go with their salmon curry,
the Gangotras are making
a spiced-yoghurt dish called kadhi
with vegetable fritters
known as pakoras and baingan ka bharta,
smoked aubergine in a spiced tomato sauce
with flat breads called missi roti.
So in the base of the salmon curry,
I’ve actually got the cumin,
the curry leaves, the garlic,
the ginger, the chilli, the onion.
[Rosemary] I’m excited about this,
I don’t think they will go wrong
with the sauce,
they could go wrong overcooking
the salmon.
If the salmon isn’t right,
no matter how good the sauce is,
that will spoil the whole thing.
Salmon is a delicate fish,
that element goes right at the end.
It’s going to be poached in the sauce,
which is why the sauce is so important.
I’ve got to get that sauce right.
If I don’t get the sauce right,
even down to the consistency,
it won't poach the fish properly.
-[Jean] Any injuries, Dan?
-[Dan] Zero.
[Nadiya] Dan starts by prepping
the garnish for the Charles' main course.
-I’ve just criss-cross-ed...
-Criss-cross-ed?
Is that a word?
Criss-crossed my game chips.
[Nadiya] Thinly sliced
white and purple potatoes and parsnips,
crinkle cut on a mandolin.
I think they're traditionally
served with grouse and things like that,
but we’re not today,
we’re serving with a cacciatore.
Just provide an extra bit of texture.
They taste lovely, you can’t go wrong
with salty potato chips, basically.
[Nadiya] The game chips will accompany
their main dish,
with an Italian stew
called chicken cacciatore
served with a white bean mash,
garlic green beans, charred chicory
and a rosemary focaccia bread.
[Betty] One, two, three, four, five.
I’m just going to brown the chicken off.
Every time that I brown
the chicken at home,
I’ve always burnt it
and these have actually gone quite well.
This is the base for the cacciatore,
it’s actually one of the oldest recipes,
it has wild mushrooms in as well.
That goes back to it being
a hunter’s dish thing.
Giorgio will definitely
be familiar with it,
so we'll have to make sure
the flavours are bang on.
My grandmother used to cook
a fantastic chicken cacciatore.
But it's simple food.
[Giorgio] What I really like about that,
is it is one of these dishes
that goes in the middle of the plate
and whoever cooks it,
sits down with you to have it.
Yeah.
It’s not in the kitchen
preparing something.
[Rosemary] So, real--
Convivial dish.
I’m excited, but it is simple,
and it’s got to be right.
[Rosemary] It’s got to be right.
[Nadiya] So, Jean, what I love about you
is that you guys are always smiling
and you and Betty are close,
but I’ve noticed you've got a bond
with Dan.
Well, yes.
How did that happen?
It’s more like he’s your son.
Well, yeah,
about three and a half years ago,
I was diagnosed with breast cancer,
you see, and I had...
-Oh, I see.
-I went through all this treatment.
Yeah, and I had chemotherapy
and we all went together, you see.
-Dan didn’t miss one chemo session
-No, he didn’t.
Not one.
-He went to more than I did.
-[laughter]
So every chemo day was a really good day.
It was a good day out,
I wouldn’t recommend it but...
[laughter]
-So you’d all go together?
-Yeah.
We always went out to eat,
and we always had a good laugh.
Is that how you started cooking
together?
I’ve always cooked for them,
they’ve cooked for me,
we’ve always done cooking together,
but this was real bonding session.
That’s what brought us really close
and since then, I think,
you’ve got to enjoy every day.
Wow, that’s fragrant breadcrumb.
Have a whiff of that.
-Mmm. That’s well nice, is it basil?
-Basil, oregano and parsley.
We’ve got the stuffing here, so
it’s breadcrumbs whizzed with some herbs,
-then we’ve got the sobrasada.
-[Sam] Oh, hello,
-I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.
-I’ve practising it, night school.
Give me the name again.
-Sobrasada.
-Perfection.
Thank you.
[Nadiya] Continuing
with their pork and apple theme,
the Piggotts are making
pork tenderloin stuffed with sobrasada -
a Spanish cured sausage
and sides of pork belly croquets,
chick peas in a spicy tomato sauce,
roast broccoli, an apple and fennel salad
and cider sauce.
There’s loads of paprika,
loads of garlic in that.
[Matt] Get that nos in there, Sam.
[Sam] You know it’s from Majorca, yeah?
You get them either wrapped
in red string and it means they’re spicy,
or white string and it means it’s normal.
So this is a normal one.
Oh, I did not know that.
Right, Sam, this the oiliest thing
it the world so...
[Sam] Gosh, it’s oily.
[Nadiya] This mixture will be stuffed
inside the pork tenderloin.
This is the centrepiece
of the whole dinner.
[Rosemary] It’s a fine line to get
the inside cooked as well as the outside,
so it’s not overcooked.
It’s really tricky.
There you go.
Sam, you done with the thing yet?
Yeah.
Can I ask you,
do you feel overdosed with pork a bit?
I don’t think so.
I think we wanted to show
how much we could do with one thing.
Really test ourselves
to try and produce a menu
with just one ingredient
and really push it.
You know, boys, that’s what I thought.
What do you think that this whole meal
tells me about your family?
I think it shows
that we’re quite adventurous
and we’ve got good basic skills
and we’re not afraid
of kind of putting flavours together.
-[Lorna] You OK, Mon?
-[Monika] I’m cool,
I’m just going to check on my aubergines
and start scooping that out.
Yes, please, do that.
-I just need the blender.
-Which one?
This is the kadhi,
this is one of the accompaniments,
but, in my eyes,
it’s a main attraction as well.
[Nadiya] Punjabi kadhi consists of
a thick gravy made with chick pea flour,
yoghurt and spices with pakoras.
So in India they...
It’s so hot there,
they make their own yoghurt every night,
just bung it in a hot space
and you get this live yoghurt
and this is what we use for the kadhi
'cause it gives a nice sourness.
[Nadiya] In the Charles' kitchen,
Dan’s game chips are ready for frying.
I haven’t seen those
sort of chips for a long time.
[Dan] Game chips.
The only thing that is worrying me,
I have to say this to you.
How long has he been on those chips?
[Giorgio] There’s a touch of magic.
Well, I tell you what,
they better be magic.
They better be good.
They better be magic,
because if they’re not magic,
they’re in trouble.
[Matt] The pork needs to go in.
This really honks of pig over here, lads.
[Nadiya] On the Piggotts' bench,
Matt has moved on
to the pork belly croquets.
[Sam] Is it not too big?
I’d do it more to, like, there myself.
-[Matt] Would you? I wouldn’t.
-[Sam] I think it’s too big.
-Have you seen the croquets?
-Yeah, that's the croquets.
That's the croquets,
see how big they are.
They’re for a giant.
Lads, do you want me
to just make them smaller?
No, no, do that. Carry on.
Guys, 15 minutes
till your mains are served.
-15, guys.
-15 minutes.
Matt, can you try that?
Oh, I think it’s really nice.
[Lorna] Yeah, that’s brilliant, Mon.
-Check the consistency of your sauce.
-That's perfect.
-You want it more blitzed?
-No.
I’m not worried at all about the sauce,
all I’m worried is they cut
their salmon very, very small.
Very, very easy to overcook it.
Mons, can you put the sauce
on the salmon
and then just cover that for five minutes
because it has to poach in the sauce.
[Dan] This is the white bean mash,
heated some olive oil,
some lemon, some rosemary
and I’ve just dropped the beans in.
I've got haricot,
butter beans and cannellini beans.
It’s not meant to be like mash,
this is meant to be a bit knobbly
and bobbly and rustic. Taste.
[Betty] Oh, my God,
yeah, that’s really tasty.
Five minutes left before your mains
have to be served.
[Ed] Have you got your croquets in, Matt?
[Matt] Yeah the croquets are in,
I’m going to slice up the pork.
[Ed] Yeah.
[Betty] How are they?
The potato wasn't quite crisp enough.
This is the first missi roti.
Gives it the finishing touch,
makes it more-ish.
Sam, do you need a hand?
No, mate I’m just--
-Is everything served except your sauce?
-[Ed] The chick peas are on.
[Sam] Yeah, yeah,
the sauce is looking fine.
That looks really good, keep that up.
Do you want the cacciatore out now?
[Dan] Watch your backs, guys.
[Betty] Looking lovely.
Right.
[Monika] We’ve got to just serve up
that salmon.
Yeah, just give me the bowl.
Families, it’s time to serve your mains.
-Focaccia, focaccia, focaccia.
-[Betty] It’s on there.
[Matt] Well done, lads. Look at that.
[Nadiya] With less than an hour left,
the families must now
finish their desserts,
there'll be no time to hear
the judges’ comments
on their main courses until later.
[Ed] Back in we go.
Just tidy up a bit, where’s the rice?
-You alright?
-Hungry.
Do you want to stop for a snack?
[laughter]
[Nadiya] For their main course,
the Charles have made chicken caccatori
topped with game chips,
served with white bean mash,
garlic green beans,
charred chicory
and a rosemary focaccia bread.
-Let’s go for it.
-[Rosemary] Let’s go for it.
-I think the chicken is cooked perfectly.
-Yeah.
It comes apart,
it’s got a very beautiful flavour.
I think that little bit of chilli
coming through, I really like it.
I do like that bean mash.
It’s got some good depth to that.
That really is well seasoned as well,
and that focaccia is delicious.
But the chips are a complete
and utter disaster, disappointing, but--
Yeah, because they flap like that.
[Nadiya] The Piggotts' mains are
pork tenderloin
with a sobrasada stuffing,
with sides of pork belly croquets,
chick peas in a spicy tomato sauce,
roast broccoli and an apple
and fennel salad with a cider sauce.
I’m going to start off with pork.
The stuffing is extremely good,
I like the taste.
I think that works.
[Giorgio] The roulade of pork
with the amount of work
that went it to that
and the ham and everything else,
carries a very good flavour.
These croquets, it’s almost like
a main course rather than part of a dish,
I mean, it is enormous.
And obviously,
they don’t get so warm inside
because they haven’t had the chance.
The flavour,
all the flavour in here is really good.
[Nadiya] The Gangotras' main
is salmon curry, kadhi and pakoras,
smoked aubergine in spiced tomato sauce
and missi roti.
Well, first of all,
I think the roti is absolutely delicious.
They look fantastic.
It’s tasty, it’s textured,
it’s got everything going on about it,
but, to me, the star of the show
is that salmon.
It melts in the mouth,
it could not be better.
It’s so balanced, so perfectly cooked.
As fish curry goes, this is the best
fish curry that I’ve had in my life.
[Rosemary] Mmm.
[Sam] Yeah, crack on, boys.
[Nadiya] Time is running out.
Literally, I don’t think we rest
for a second
in this four and a half hours,
so just straight on.
[Nadiya] The families
must complete their desserts,
enough to feed eight people.
Betty’s dad, Andy,
we’re both big fans of espresso martinis.
Whenever he comes up, we end up having
far too many and having a sore head.
We've done our little cocktail spin on it,
we’re doing espresso martini tiramisu.
[Nadiya]
As well as espresso martini tiramisu,
the Charles are making baked
home-grown rhubarb with custard
and floating island meringues.
There’s two things that I like in life,
one is espresso and the second one
is espresso martini.
Espresso martini and tiramisu
mixed together,
I cannot imagine anything
better than that!
[Jean]
My God, this takes some folding.
I am now making my...
Well, they’re called lady fingers,
what are they called, Dan?
Savoiardi.
So I’m trying to ensure
that I keep all the air in.
They’re a fatless sponge.
[Giorgio] I can see them, the Charles
are cooking their own savoiardi for that.
That is courageous.
I don’t know many chefs would do that.
Time is of essence to do this,
because they need to kind of dry out
for a good tiramisu.
Right, we’re in.
-[Betty] We’re in?
-We’re in.
Jumbo cardamom,
they’re really, really flavoursome.
I’m just putting the cardamom in my kheer.
[Nadiya] The Gangortras' desserts
are kheer, an Indian rice pudding
spiced with cardamom and a fried batter
with a spiced syrup coating called jalebi.
[Rosemary] I’m slightly concerned
that this might be just too simple
for a final,
they seem to be pulling back in this meal,
rather than pushing forward.
They seem to be keeping everything
almost basic.
[Lorna] So this is our rice pudding
for our dessert.
We obviously want it to simmer
for a little while to really thicken
and become nice and unctuous.
[Bobby] I think it befits the menu
that we’ve done
otherwise it just wouldn’t flow.
This is just kind of the icing
on the curry.
[Lorna] We just put the almonds
and sultanas in,
can you smell the cardamom?
Yeah, I’m getting the smell
of the cardamom.
[Giorgio] I love rice pudding full stop,
between perfect and disaster,
is a very tiny little bit.
What can go wrong with rice pudding?
Then it becomes like food for chickens.
-[Matt] Sam, what are you making?
-Cake mixture.
Cracking on with my cake mix.
[Nadiya] The Piggotts' puddings
are an apple cake
served with a baked apple
and burnt honey custard.
A Mexican fried sweet dough
called bunuelos
served with apple and raspberry compote
and Baileys ice cream.
We just thought we’d try
some different stuff,
interesting things,
none of us have ever actually been
to Mexico,
but we’re having a Mexican dessert.
You know, try something new.
Try a little bit of that.
What is this, cake dough?
Nice.
I think there’s a risk
of the desserts letting us down.
It’s not what we cook, or eat.
We’ve practised and think they taste good.
It’s only the second time we’ve done one,
so might have just been an off day
on the first one.
Last time, they make us a cake
was with olive oil
and they put so much olive oil
it was terrible.
Let’s hope today works out.
[Dan] Betty, you OK, you on track?
Yeah, I’m just getting these
lady fingers cooling, they look fantastic.
Would you like me to do that, Danny?
No, 'cause I want you to waz this up now.
This is our home-grown
Yorkshire rhubarb,
pulled direct this morning
from my mum’s garden,
with her curlers in.
This is going to be for our rhubarb
and custard pudding,
but again a little Italian twist.
Bake the rhubarb in Aperol and sugar
and orange juice.
You can't beat a boozy pudding.
We’ve got booze
in the other pudding as well.
[Jean] Right, so you need 500 of milk
and 568 of cream.
[Nadiya] Jean’s in charge
of the creamy accompaniment.
-[Betty] Oh, God
-[Dan] What?
-[Betty] The custard
-[Dan] Oh, God.
[Dan] You need to get the custard going.
[Jean] All I need is to whisk it up.
It’s very tricky because you can be
very careful with it in case it curdles.
[Rosemary] Custard
is a very tricky thing to get right.
Stopping it just at the right moment
till it’s cooked
now that is a trick,
that’s almost having courage
while you cook.
[Dan] We have about half an hour left.
-[Jean] What?
-[Dan] Yeah, seriously, half an hour!
[Lorna] Bobby, keep an eye on the kheer,
we need to get the jalebi thing going.
The jalebis,
are going to be fried in the ghee
and from that, dipped in the sugar syrup
and then drained and then ready to eat.
This is a jalebi bottle,
to give it that squiggle
otherwise it’s so difficult
to do it by hand.
Ed, Where are we at?
How are we going?
[Ed] Just kneading out my dough,
this is certainly a good workout.
[Nadiya] Ed is working on the bunuelos,
the Mexican sweet dough.
[Ed] I’m just rolling these out flat,
then I’m going to cut them into strips.
Then rest for a few more minutes,
then they go in the deep fat fryer
and, when I’ve practised them,
they’ve puffed up,
so I’m confident about these hopefully.
Guys, you’ve got 15 minutes left.
Ed, where are we at?
How are we going over there?
[Ed] Yeah, fine.
[Matt] Let’s not forget the ice cream.
We can get that out at the last second
and hopefully it will be a nice pile
of ice cream
not a pile of melted cream.
[Matt] They done?
No, another minute,
just this one here.
[Monika] Just plating up
the rice pudding.
-[Matt] Ed, when are you frying?
-[Ed] Now.
Is there any way of getting this hotter?
These are little floating
island meringues, I’m really shaky.
[Betty] Poach them for 30 seconds
and you're good.
That cake looks really good, Sam,
proud of you.
-[Ed] This custard OK?
-[Sam] Yeah, just got to keep stirring it.
It’s not done yet
[Betty] It is, that’s custard.
Let’s get it done,
we need to assemble now.
So now the jalebis
are going into the sugar syrup
seasoned with a bit of saffron,
cardamom and clove.
-That’s what custard should taste like.
-Good comment, Ed.
-Go and get the ice cream - one minute!
-Guys, it’s an absolute puddle.
Nah, kidding its fine. LOL.
Time's up, everyone, back away.
Oh, my God.
[Lorna] Finished.
-Oh, my God, well done.
-[Dan exclaims]
-Look at that.
-Well done, guys.
-[Jean] Custard's just milky
-It’s not, Mum, it's perfect.
It’s absolutely gorgeous.
-Final cheers.
-Cheers, guys.
Cheers.
[Nadiya] For the judges final tasting,
each of the families
has prepared two desserts.
The Charles have made baked rhubarb
with custard
and floating island meringues.
[Jean] We can’t do any more,
we’ve done all we can.
[Nadiya] Their second dessert
is an espresso martini tiramisu.
The Piggotts have made an apple cake
served with a baked apple
with a blackberry sauce filling
and burnt honey custard.
I think it’s gone OK, hasn’t it?
We’ve done as well as we could,
so well done.
Sam, yours looks really good,
nice plating.
[Nadiya]
Their second pudding is bunuelos,
Mexican fried sweet dough
with apple and raspberry compote
and Baileys ice cream.
[Nadiya]
The Gangotras have made kheer,
Indian rice pudding,
spiced with cardamom.
[Bobby] Are they tasting some stuff?
[Monika] They are eating, yeah.
Oh, God!
[Lorna] I want to know
what they're saying.
Yeah.
[Nadiya] Their second dessert is jalebi,
fried batter with a spiced syrup coating.
[suspenseful music]
[Nadiya] The judges will now feedback
to the families for one last time
before deciding on their winner.
You know what was said
about the nibbles,
but what we’d like to do
is now talk to you
about the main course and the dessert.
So we are going to start off
with the Piggotts.
Your main course was the abundance
again, it was so much,
but the flavours were,
quite frankly, delicious.
I thought you cooked the rolled pork
very well.
And the stuffing was delicious,
but what really killed it a little bit
that dish, was that croquet.
That was like half a pound of pork
with potato on it.
The dessert again was mammoth.
It’s got something to do with
your generosity, young men,
healthy appetites.
Definitely half an hour more
on that apple in the oven
would have done absolutely perfect.
I would like to also say
about the ice cream.
That was fabulous.
But I also loved your lovely little
doughnuts,
they were so gorgeous.
The Gangotras, yeah, I would like to talk
about your main course.
It was quite frankly delicious.
That main course was something else.
As far as fish curry goes,
that was one of my favourite and best
fish curry I’ve ever tasted in my life.
You keep that salmon absolutely
perfectly cooked and so balanced.
You blow me away every time.
[Rosemary] The dessert.
You know what, I was a bit shocked
how simple you kept it.
It was meant to be two puddings,
but you delivered us a very simple
rice pudding and some fried little wheels.
But what you produced was delicious.
I really liked my rice pudding,
it was perfectly cooked,
it wasn't over sweet.
The little touch of the gold on the top
makes it so special,
and the jalebi,
I thought they were fantastic.
Thank you.
The Charles.
I thought the chicken, it worked,
the whole thing worked.
You kept it very, very simple.
Today, you delivered that chicken
that was perfectly cooked.
For what’s concerning the dessert,
it was very different
from a normal tiramisu,
but it was really delicious,
it carried a really deep flavour.
The fact you made the sponges,
perfectly balanced in sweetness,
but what really was the topping
on the cake literally,
was the floating islands.
The fact that you had so many
different consistencies
on the same little glass,
that was a great, great job.
Well done.
-Thank you so much.
-Thank you.
As you can see, the judges have got
a really difficult decision to make.
So they are going to go off
and have a chat.
We'll see you shortly.
[Matt] Oh, well done.
That was really good comments, guys.
-Well done.
-I want some ice cream.
[Betty] The best fish curry
he’s ever eaten.
Are you kidding me?
-I wanna see this croquette.
-[Jean] I want to see your croquette.
-[Betty] How big are we talking?
-[Sam] How big was it?
We’ve got the Gangotras who do
the spice work, got it right every time.
They kind of take me through a story
all the time.
There is more flavour to eat
than just the food.
Those nibbles were absolutely delicious.
Delicious.
I'm absolutely ecstatic
that they enjoyed the fish curry.
I’m so glad they enjoyed
those home dishes
that they would never find
in a restaurant.
We've got the boys who get
the balance of flavours every time.
This idea of these three brothers,
so young,
cooking together, I really like that.
The flavouring on that, for instance,
the nibbles was delicious.
Too much, too big,
but I’m going to say, they surprised me.
Flavour is what we push for.
Portion size is not a bad comment, is it?
We served up big portions
for eight people, I think.
I thought there wasn’t enough food,
I genuinely did.
We’ve got the Charles,
who actually create this rather
classic cuisine,
but the nibbles today.
The arancini, for me, didn’t hit it.
But that scallops was fantastic.
Scallops were delicious.
I thought they worked like a dream.
I hope we have done enough though,
I really do.
-Yeah.
-It’s meant loads to us.
We’ve worked our flipping socks off
for this, so we would--
-We would love to win.
-Yeah, we would love to.
I think the three finalists
come from different conceptions
and idea of how to make food.
Each one, they are at the top
of what they do
and I really, really enjoy their food.
I think we have three different
types of home cooking
coming together today here.
I have admiration for all of them
Families, well done,
it’s been a long road,
but we’ve nearly come to the end.
Each and every one of you
has shown how capable you are of cooking
and also that you have taken
home cooking to another level.
We have loved your passion
and your dedication
and your hard work that you put in
on every single dish.
You are three extraordinary
families of cooks
and, sadly, only one of you can win.
[Nadiya]
The judges have come to a decision.
The winners of
The Big Family Cooking Showdown are...
...the Gangotras!
[Jean] Yes! Yes!
Yes!
-[applause]
-[Jean] Well done.
[Jean] Well done.
[all talk over each other]
[cheering]
Yay!
On top of the world,
this is amazing.
Thank you.
-I think the best family won on the day.
-Yeah, they smashed everything.
[Matt] It’s been a really great
experience.
We've really enjoyed every minute of it.
We’ve got to know each other even
better cooking together,
it’s just been a real laugh.
Come here!
Ooh!
-They were absolutely worthy winners
-100 percent.
[Betty] It was theirs.
-We couldn’t compete.
-No way
-They were just the best and so lovely.
-Yeah. Exactly.
Just lovely people.
[laughter and chatter]
I’m proud of these two.
[Lorna] It’s in our blood,
we are born with spice in it
and it’s such a true testament to,
again, our family and everybody
who has just helped us along this journey,
being our guinea pigs along the way,
it's just been amazing.
Hard work but amazing.
[Giorgio] I strongly believe the Gangotras
really cooked from the heart
and that shows in every dish
that they cooked for us.
[Betty] Oh, my God, what...
They have given us,
right through this competition,
the most amazing flavours
that both Giorgio and I
have been completely shocked by.
Every time, every dish,
there was always an element of surprise.
-Oh, my God, the doughnuts...
-Oh, wow.
They peeled it back today,
but if you are going
to do something like that,
you have to deliver sublime food.
There was no question
of their talent today.
-[Dan] I’ve never tried one, what is it?
-Jalebi.
[Matt] I’ve always wondered
how they make them.
We really have discovered
a very talented group of girls,
so our Spice Girls, aren’t they?
[Rosemary] In my opinion,
I think at this particular moment in time,
they are the best family cooks
in Great Britain.
[fading indistinct chatter]