The Big Family Cooking Showdown (2017–2018): Season 2, Episode 2 - Episode #2.2 - full transcript

-Let's go!
-[bell dings]

[Angellica]
The Big Family Cooking Showdown is back.

Brilliant. Perfect.

We are bringing to our kitchen
sixteen foodie families,

ready to take each other on
and prove their cooking is best.

I wake up thinking about food,
I go to sleep thinking about food.

We're either gonna prepare something great

or we're gonna give the judges
food poisoning.

They come in different combinations,

from in-laws...

If I hear that word 'chilled' again
someone's gonna get hurt.



...to grandparents.

Nan, these are going horribly wrong.

Twins... to teenagers.

-Bit of salt and pepper in there?
-Yes, Mother.

Alright, only asking.

But what they all bring

is their very own brand of family cooking.

Perfected over years,

sometimes generations.

In India this is like
the nation's favorite snack.

Food is at the very heart
of these families' lives.

That's enough!

The ingredient that binds
each family together.

The family that cuddles together,
stays together.



Watching and judging their every move

will be Tommy Banks...

Dropping bombs!

...Britain's youngest ever
Michelin-starred chef

and owner of his own family restaurant...

-Good?
-I could eat that three times a day.

-Okay.
-It's a great piece of cooking.

Right, stop.

...and me, Angellica Bell.

I've written family cookbooks

and know just how important
homecooking is for family life.

It's delicious.
My granddad would just love that.

Yes, Angellica!

We're not looking
for fancy restaurant cuisine,

but we are expecting
the very highest standards...

Smashed it.

...as we search for the families

that make ordinary food extraordinary.

-Yeah, I just feel overwhelmed.
-Just take your time, Daddy.

This has gone so wrong.

[glass shattering]

It's heat two and three families are back,

to cook for a place in the play-offs.

After which, it's the finals.

My heart's going...

[imitates heartbeat]

Last time...

...after four families
cooked their hearts out...

Move, just move.

Overall it's a bit underwhelming.

...we saw one family go home.

Sorry to the Stones.

Thank you so much for cooking for us.

And at the end of today,

we'll have to say goodbye to one more.

What could this challenge be?

I don't even wanna think about it.

I'm Empire,

his cousin Zhané,

and sister-in-law Diva

are the Abimbola-Younges from London,

who are hoping to spice up the competition

with their soul food.

[I'm Empire] Afro-Caribbean tradition,

it's our heritage

and that's why we call it "soul food."

[Diva] The food we cook,
it will always have

an awesome amount of flavor in there.

And last time,

it was definitely their fiery,
flavorsome food that got them through.

You took the nation's favorite pasta bake
and put your own Caribbean twist on it.

-Disgusting.
-[I'm Empire] That's a good sign.

When you see the challenge,
no "I can't do this."

-Yeah, no negativity.
-Okay.

No Neggy Nellie.

The Whites from Hampshire,
are country-dwellers:

William, his daughter Molly,

and son Jack,

who are championing British produce.

I love the thought of buying British...

and getting everything
as close to home as possible.

Previously, the Whites really impressed us

with their tasty, home-produced food.

-So this is your lamb?
-Yeah.

Let me come 'round here
and have a butchers.

[Tommy] Making lasagna is quite
a labor-intensive task,

but when you reared the sheep
that go in it...

fair play.

Making them the family to beat
from the last heat.

Lastly, we have the Penmans
from Lincolnshire.

Twenty-one year old Elisha,

her nan Anne,

and boyfriend Chris,

who love to cook creative food
and lots of it.

-Overboard!
-Yeah, we go big

when we're feeding everyone.

Yeah, we're like scientists

-in the kitchen.
-[Chris] Experimental.

But whilst they impressed us
with their inventiveness in round one...

Strawberries and fish

in the first round is a bold move.

And I love it.

...in round two...

I put the wrong thing in the wrong one,
it's gone to mush.

This isn't sticking.

Oh, it's raw!

Trying to do too much backfired.

[Angellica] If you'd focused on a couple
of things, you would've perfected those,

so cherry-pick

the bits you want to showcase
and do those well.

I get stress-y and nervous.

You make everyone else nervous
and stressed.

Morning.

[all] Morning.

-Everyone well?
-Yes.

-Very well, thanks.
-Good.

Today, you're gonna be cooking
two more rounds,

at the end of which,

two families will go through
to Friday's play-offs.

[Angellica] The Penmans.

Yesterday you could've fed five thousand,

but today four will be just enough.

The Abimbola-Younges.

Is it time to expand your empire
and take over the kitchen?

And the Whites,

you were unflappable and unstoppable,

but will you be bringing home the harvest

today?

Now, yesterday you were
cooking as a family.

[Tommy] Today, we're going head to head.

Only one family member
is cooking in this round.

We need you to put your best cook forward.

We're gonna give you
two minutes to decide

and then we will need an answer.

[Angellica] Off you go.

Our families need to pick just one member

to cook this challenge,

but it's a hard choice,

as they don't know yet
what the challenge will be.

I was not expecting this at all.

It has to be you. I don't want it to be,

but you know that you're the best cook
out of us three.

What do you guys wanna do?

No.

No.

-I would rather you did it.
-I will try my best,

-but are you guys happy with that?
-Yes.

[Angellica] Time's up.

The Penmans, who will be cooking?

-Me.
-Elisha.

The Abimbola-Younges?

-Diva.
-Diva.

And the Whites?

-Molly.
-Molly.

Anyone who's not cooking,
please make your way to the den.

No.

Good luck.

This is actually horrible.

Horrible.

I guess you wanna know
what you're cooking?

You're gonna be cooking
a chocolate salted caramel tart,

but you're not totally on your own,

we've got some recipes for you.

We've got three recipes showing off

different levels of technical ability.

Easy, medium, or hard.

Or they can create their own,
using a Smörgåsbord of extra ingredients.

However, whilst we'll be judging them
on their technical skills,

we'll also be looking for who excels

at flavor, presentation, and execution.

[Tommy] Just remember,

your family's depending on you.

And your time starts now.

Molly, Diva, and Elisha

have just one hour
and forty-five minutes

to make their salted caramel tart.

And little do they know
that their loved ones

will be in our backstage den with me,

watching their every move.

Oh wow.

How does that come off?

[Tommy] Chocolate & salted caramel tart

is one of my all-time favorite desserts.

A nice, crunchy biscuit base,

but then that gooey caramel

and the nice sort of salt flavor
coming through,

then the smooth, rich texture

of the chocolate ganache on the top.

Luckily for Elisha, desserts is her thing.

[Ann] Yeah.

She will be happy with this one.

This is a good cook for her,

because it looks sort of like
a baking challenge.

-Yeah.
-She does a lot of baking.

But there is one cook in the kitchen

who isn't used to baking.

Who chose baking?

Who chose this horrible,
horrible challenge?

Like, I don't really understand.

I'm just, yeah...

Oh well.

I'll make it work, so...

Because Diva's not the type of person

to give up.

I'm a very, very competitive person.

-I hate losing.
-Yeah.

[Diva] I always try my best to win.

I would say Diva's really like:

aim, fire, destroy.

-I like that.
-Yeah.

-I like that.
-I think that was good.

But faced with a tart task,

the family now
aren't feeling so confident.

This is a baking challenge.

My anxiety levels are

through the roof right now.

So, I've chosen to go...

for...

the easy option.

Only because it's not something
that I'd normally do.

I mean the most baking that I usually do

is just the pre-made cupcake mixes.

This is going to go so horribly wrong.

With the salted caramel ready made,

the easy recipe chosen by Diva

only has two elements

that need to be prepared.

The chocolate ganache topping

and the pastry base,

which is simply flour, cocoa powder,

water, and butter.

However, if you're going to opt
for the easy recipe,

every element must be perfect.

This is a mess.

What do I need?

Diva, start cooking.

Start cooking!

I think I'm running a bit behind.

I don't wanna watch this.

In contrast,

less than ten mintues into the challenge,

Elisha's dough is done,

despite going
for the most difficult recipe.

It doesn't surprise me at all

that she's gone for the hardest one.

Yeah, she just went straight for it.

Unlike the easy and medium,

the hard recipe is a four-layer tart,

with an extra praline topping.

And all of it has to be made from scratch,

so there's more to do
in the same amount of time.

But, if you choose the hard recipe,
you need to be careful

that you don't run out of time
with too much to do.

I've gone for the hard recipe because...

I like to challenge myself.

If I went for the easy one,
I know I could've done better.

[Chris] So, as long as she follows it
to the exact tee...

Yeah, I don't think she'll change it,

because she can't taste anything.

At home,

twenty-one year old Elisha
has to rely on family

to taste her inventive fare,

as due to an ongoing gastric condition,

she's not been able to eat normally
since she was thirteen.

Chris, would you mind tasting this?

People think
'if you've got a feeding tube,

you probably can't cook.'

Or you've lost your ability to cook.

Whereas, I pretty much

surround my whole life around food.

People liking my food

gives me the confidence that I can cook.

Good? Good.

I could be the next Michelin star chef

in the world,
that doesn't taste their food.

You never know.

But, with her regular tasters absent,

will ambitious Elisha
be any less experimental

in our head to head tart challenge?

-Elisha.
-Hey.

Somehow I knew
you'd be doing the hard recipe.

-Yeah.
-Are you doing any sort of twists

to it then?

Is it just the straight up recipe, or...?

No, I'm gonna put some twists to it,
but I don't know what yet.

You like to make life
difficult for yourself.

I do.

At the end of the day
you've got to try and push yourself.

That's gonna be interesting then.

Certainly will,

because the hard recipe

is for one big tart,

but Elisha's decided to experiment.

-She's changed her tray.
-Yeah.

[Tommy] Elisha is supposed to be making
one large tart,

but instead she's chosen to make
lots of little ones.

Now, you can't mess around with baking,
it really is an exact science

and changing the size of the tart tins

could really impact how it turns out.

One recipe that did demand

mini tarts though, is the medium one.

Being followed religiously by Molly.

Which is a vegan tart,

so instead of cream, butter, and eggs,

there's avocado, coconut oil,

and coconut milk,

and the pastry contains no flour.

The difficulty with this medium recipe

is the use of these unusual ingredients.

It's kind of a twist
on, like, a normal pastry.

You just use ground almonds

and then you've also got the nuts as well,

which when you grind it all up

it kind of goes into
that flour consistency,

and then you've got the dates,

which is kind of the sweetness,

and then coconut oil,
which is kind of like the butter.

As a family then,
do you just like to go by the book?

No, not always.

I don't think Molly would want
to get it wrong on her own.

[William] She'd be so worried
that if this went wrong,

-that she'd let us down as a team.
-Right.

So, I think it's a horrible task.

-It's gruesome.
-Do you?

-Yeah.
-I'm glad.

Molly, all on your own.
You got rid of William and Jack.

-Yes.
-Is that how you like it?

Um...

It's kind of nice in a way.

[groans] Molly!

But, I do kind of miss them

at the same time.

[both] Aww.

In the White household,

twenty-three year old Molly

likes to push the boundaries
at dinner time.

Molly's probably the adventurous one.

Yeah, I would say I'm quite adventurous.

-[William] Yeah, the creative type.
-[Jack] Creative.

-And calm, as well.
-Yep, very calm.

[Molly]
I work for an organic healthfood company

doing marketing and social media.

I love finding new healthy foods.

I'm really interested in cooking

with healthy foods
and seeing what I can do with them.

But even for Molly,

using avocado in a dessert is a first.

I've never made avocado mousse,

but I have kind of made tarts out of nuts.

For the mousse,

Molly mixes cacao powder with water,

then blitzes with the avocado

and maple syrup.

-Is it gonna be smooth?
-Yeah.

I think so.

It should be.

You're not regretting the lack
of butter, eggs, and cream?

-Don't think so, no.
-Okay.

I think it should taste nice,
just as good.

Avocado's quite a hard thing
to use in desserts, I think.

Getting that balance between
chocolate and avocado

is really important.

I don't want it to be too sweet,

but it can't be too savoury.

Whilst Molly and Elisha are making headway

with their toppings,

Diva's having pastry problems.

I'm still on, like, the first few steps,

which is really bad.

Oh, my God.

It's just not getting there.

When I roll it, it's coming apart.

Stop rolling it! Stop rolling it!

Why is it doing this?

Is there a trick to this that I'm missing?

Stop rolling it, the more that...

Ugh.

[inhales, then exhales deeply]

[Zhané] She's still rolling.

What is with this thing?

Diva, how's it going?

Oh Tommy!

Just forget it.

Just kick me out right now, seriously.

Don't even have to taste it now,
just tell me I'm gone.

Are you not enjoying being on your own?

Actually, I am enjoying
the peace and quiet.

Empire's a nightmare and he would be just
doing my head in right now.

-Oh, she said she's happy on her own!
-Oh!

-Uh-uh!
-That's the shades.

Did she really just say that?

I thought like baking was supposed
to be like, you know, la la la la,

like therapeutic and stuff,
but it's just annoying.

Once you found out the task,
do you think you were the right person?

I think I'm the right person in terms of,

if I just think that
something's not working,

thinking on my feet.

-Well, I'm gonna leave you to it.
-Thank you.

Cheers!

[Tommy] The problem with pastry:

the more you work it,

the worse it gets,

and once it's over-worked,

there's no way of bringing it back.

She might've been better off
starting again.

Anything can happen.

Oh, my God.

Based on what I'm seeing,

the only thing that could happen,

is throwing it in the bin.

Trouble is, Diva's running out of time,

so she's decided to go
with what she's got.

I'm quite concerned.

Please, come on.

Okay, we've got one hour to go.

This is gonna be the caramel filling,

for the tarts.

For the medium recipe,

Molly's mixing sugar with coconut milk

instead of cream,

to make a vegan salted caramel sauce.

It's gonna reduce a bit,

so it's nice and thick,

and then I'm gonna pop it in the tarts

and then hopefully it's gonna set.

But it seems to be taking a long time.

I think my dad would probably be
sweating by now.

I am.

But, even with her caramel not thickening,

Molly's as calm as ever.

I think this just needs
to get in the fridge to cool.

Or just leave it out actually.

What's your mum like then?

-Loud, she's loud Irish.
-Very outgoing, she's Irish.

Would she have wanted to be here or...?

No, absolutely not.

She would've got wound up,
I think, by us all.

Back in the kitchen,

Molly's caramel has cooled,

but its consistency is still questionable.

The caramel is meant to be a lot thicker.

I think this has actually
gone really wrong, but oh well.

What can you do?

Hopefully they'll just set.

For the Penmans,

Elisha's decided not to take any risks

with her caramel sauce.

I'm making caramel the way I know.

Rather than follow the recipe.

Over half way now.

-What's this?
-Caramel.

It's the way I've learned.

So, the salted caramel from the recipe
has been binned?

Yep.

And now you're making...

-Yeah.
-Butterscotch?

Well, it's similar, yeah.

So, Elisha's decided to scrap the caramel

and make butterscotch sauce.

The base of caramel is sugar,

it sets nice and firm

and will give the tart a good structure.

The base of butterscotch is butter.

I'm not sure that's gonna give the right
consistency to make a killer tart.

To compensate for not making
a salted caramel sauce,

Elisha's added peanut butter to her tart,

which was also not part of the recipe.

She's a bugger for changing things.

Luckily for Diva,

her salted caramel is already made,

but the easy recipe

does ask for a chocolate ganache,

which is slowly heated cream

combined with chocolate.

I'm not pleased with this consistency.

God, what the hell is that?

[Tommy] Diva's over-heated her ganache

and that's meant all the fat's
started leaking out of it.

It's quite greasy and oily

and if she doesn't do something
to rectify that,

it's not gonna be pleasant to eat.

[Diva] Just thinking...

I'm gonna add some more double cream.

Where's my double cream?

-What is that?
-Cream.

Look what the cream is doing already.

[I'm Empire] Yes.

Now that's the Diva I know, okay!

Over with the Whites,

Molly's planning the presentation
of her chocolate and avocado mousse.

I'm gonna use a piping bag
and just pipe it into nice circles on top.

I kind of have an image

of what it looks like in my head,

at the end, but I just...

I'm kind of relying on the caramel to set,

otherwise it's gonna look awful.

It's the moment of truth.

Taking them out.

Have they set?

Very liquidy!

[William groans]

It's just gonna go flop!

This has gone so wrong.

[Tommy] Five minutes left now.

Oh my God!

Come on, move it.

[Molly] I was gonna drizzle chocolate,
wasn't I?

Oh my God.

This just gets worse.

So, it's a chocolate tart
and a shot of rum.

That's so you're maybe a little bit
inebriated while making the decision.

I think I'm just focusing on

turning it into a beautiful disaster.

Last minute now.

One minute left, okay.
You've got a minute left.

I really just need more... petals!

[Molly]
Gonna sprinkle over some pistachios

and edible flowers

and hopefully cover up all the mistakes.

Thirty seconds.

Is there any icing sugar?

Stop, you've done enough.

Oh, Molly's looks good.

That one looks really nice.

Five.

Four.

[all] Three.

Two.

One.

Stop!

-[Angellica] You glad that's over?
-I am so happy it's over,

and I never wanna let Diva
cook or bake a cake... ever!

[Angellica and contestants laughing]

Do you know how long it took me
to get my pastry in the oven?

-How long?
-A very long time.

Sometimes the consistency

isn't easy to tell.

The pressure was just quite a lot more

than if the family had been there, I felt.

It's bang out of order,
we need to shake this off.

I really need to shake it off.

Oh dear.

But first we need to judge the tarts.

As well as looking at flavor,

presentation and execution,

we'll be taking into account

the technical abilities shown

in making either the easy,

medium, or hard recipe.

Diva, you're up first.

Diva served her easy salted caramel tarts

with edible flowers and a shot of rum.

Feel free to have the rum first.

Are you trying to get us drunk?

Yeah, if that would work.

[Tommy] Bottoms up.

[Diva] Oh my God.

[Angellica] Alright, let's go in.

Uh-oh.

Halfway through I wasn't sure
you were gonna give us anything.

Kind of a bit of a pastry situation,

but the pastry is a lot better
than I thought it was gonna be,

after you were working it so much.

It's by no means perfect,
but the effort you've put in

has meant that we've got something
presentable to eat.

You decided to do the easy recipe

and you had all the instructions
there to help you,

but as a whole this isn't great.

I think you weren't happy with your tart

and sort of overdressed the plate

with the flowers,
and for me it's too busy.

The chocolate ganache has
a really good chocolate flavor.

It's very, very rich,
and that's what you want.

[Angellica]
I think you started the challenge

in not the right frame of mind,

and I think that sort of
hindered you a little bit

because I think you could've done this
really, really well,

but you have to believe that.

I can't tell you that.

And the rum, I can't handle it.

Okay, time for Molly.

Molly chose the medium recipe

and has topped
her vegan chocolate salted caramel tart

with additional pistachios,

edible flowers,

and a drizzle of chocolate.

I have to say,
I really like your presentation.

It's simple, the plate isn't overdressed.

[Tommy] Yeah. We've not got
a whole bouquet on there,

but just a couple of little flowers
on the top.

[Angellica] I like the pistachios.

Just gives it a little bit of finesse.

[Tommy] A little runny from appearances,

but we need to see what it tastes like.

The base has a great texture.

The hazelnuts in there
have still got their crunch.

Then we have your salted caramel.

[Tommy] It's more of a sauce

than the sort of set caramel that we need
to make the structure of this tart.

And a little bit more salt in there
would be good,

but maybe if that was reduced down more

it would have been a bit more seasoned.

The avocado ganache is delicious.

It's smooth,

but still rich.

How you've managed to do that
with avocado is really impressive.

The chocolate flavor comes through well.

I actually wanted more of it,
one little dollop felt a little bit mean,

-especially when it was so tasty.
-[Molly] Sorry.

[Angellica] But, you understood that
if you added too much of it,

-the whole thing would've collapsed.
-Yeah.

Adding the pistachios was genius,

because it gives it even more texture,

even more nuttiness.

Thank you.

Good result, she's smiling.

Should I stop holding your shoulder now?

It's mine next.

Elisha has done her own twist

on the difficult
chocolate salted caramel tart recipe,

serving tartlets,

with a peanut butter
and butterscotch filling

and a strawberry, chocolate,
and praline brittle garnish.

So Elisha, this is your take on
a chocolate and salted caramel tart.

It does look pretty.

You've thought about it.

And I'm looking forward to tasting it.

Thanks.

Looks a bit dry doesn't it?

-Looks dry.
-Yeah.

You went for the hardest recipe
and this recipe was supposed to be made

-in a large tart.
-Yeah.

And whilst the individuals look good,

I think you'd have had a better result
if you'd have cooked this in a large tart

and then cut a slice out,
'cause you'd have that real softness.

What you find with the smaller tartlet,

the residual heat cooks it through

and it becomes more cakey.

You'd have to adjust the settings

or maybe keep it in the oven
a little bit less.

It still tastes good.

I like the little ganache on the plate,
that's nice and soft

and it adds another richness and texture,

but then you decided to make
butterscotch sauce,

which I thought was a bit of a risk,

but you have put peanut butter in.

That peanut butter is naturally salty

and it actually gives the tart
a savouriness which is nice.

So, it is a good effort.

You have delivered something on the plate.

You've put your own twist on it,

but for me it tastes more
like a peanut butter cake.

Not that I've got anything wrong
with a peanut butter cake,

but it's not what we asked you for

and it's missing the salted caramel.

What do you make of that?

It's Elisha isn't it,

she'll change things.

So, the chocolate
and salted caramel tart round,

which was incredibly difficult.

I think they all found it hard,

but Molly came out on top.

The little bit of salt in the caramel,

reduce it a bit further
and she'd have had a really good dish.

So, we had one good plate
and two not so good.

[William] Look at this.

What?

What just happened there?

I'm gonna teach you a dance move, okay?

-And it goes like this.
-Oh wait, no, I can't dance.

It goes like this, so it's a one,

two, three, and four,

five, six, seven, eight.

-Yes, that's very good.
-How's that?

Beginner's luck.

Five,

six, perfect,

seven, eight!

Okay.

-Give me some love, darling!
-Yay!

Rest over, it's time to cook again.

After this challenge,
one family will be sent home

and the remaining two
will go through to the play-offs,

where they'll battle two new families
for a place in the finals.

-Alright, good luck kids.
-Here we go again.

This afternoon your dishes
will need to be designed around

two key ingredients.

You can use them together or separately,

but you must use them both at least once.

The first is my favorite, beetroot.

And the second is oats,

but you all already know this,

and you should've been practicing at home,

so we're expecting
something quite special.

You have two hours,

make it count.

Go!

-[I'm Empire] Ready?
-[Zhané] Yes.

Do you wanna start on the crumble?

-Okay.
-Let's go.

Cream.

Butter.

[Jack] Two beetroot, wasn't it?

[Molly] Yep.

Our main course

is beet balls,

so it's a sort of
a bit of a twist on the common meatball.

We're using beetroot, onions, carrots

and oats in the mix.

The beet balls will be served
with a tomato and basil sauce,

on a bed of spaghetti and courgetti,

and typical of the Whites,

their dessert is
a British berry oat crumble,

served with homemade vanilla custard.

[William] I've made this before.

Of course we've got the British berries
in there which I'm very keen on.

I actually know the producers,

so we're cooking with good stuff
here today.

William's always had a passion
for home grown produce.

Ever since I was a tiny baby,
about this high,

Mum and Dad took us
to stay down on farms in Devon,

and I used to love going out,
seeing the cows being milked.

Maybe sit on a tractor.

This launched William into a career
with the National Farmers Union,

spanning over three decades.

I love working with farmers.

You know, they're the best.

There's so many different types
of farms in this country.

They are fantastic food producers,

you name it, they're doing it,
no day is ever the same.

[Tommy] What've we got here?
This makes me...

makes me feel like I'm at home.

[William]
Angellica, we're going to ask you,

'cause he'll know,
he's a farmer's son.

Okay, so which are the oats?

Right, let me have a look.

I think this one is wheat.

-Yeah.
-Yep.

That one's a biscuit-making wheat

and that one's a bread-making wheat.

So, this one's oats

-and this one's...
-In there is the barley.

[Angellica] This is brilliant,
you don't usually see this.

No, it's kind of making the connection
between what the farmer produces

-and then what we throw into a recipe.
-Exactly.

So, did you pick this
from one of your farms?

[Jack] That's Dad's.

-You haven't told the farmer yet though.
-I actually scrumped that.

-No?
-Yeah.

The Whites have decided to use oats
in their beet balls,

as well as their berry crumble,

but Tommy's worried about texture.

I think with the Whites'
beet balls though,

putting the oats in the beetroot's nice,

but will it be a bit sort of
dry and stodgy?

I'm intrigued to find out
what it tastes like,

because they think it's amazing!

I reckon these are gonna be tough to beat.

The Abimbola-Younges
are also feeling confident,

and they're back to cooking
what they know,

soul food.

[I'm Empire] This is what we do best.

Frieds, Nigerian-style.

Who made the plantain yesterday?

Green team.

This is how to make plantain, yeah.

Last time, British food fans the Whites

accidentally used plantain
for banana pancakes.

But, unlike bananas,

plantain has to be cooked

and is commonly fried
in African and Caribbean cuisine.

Oh, they're trying the plantain.

-Can I try some as well?
-Of course you can.

That's so good.

-Can I try a bit?
-That's the truth, of course.

-Is this the plantain?
-Yeah.

Oh wow, it looks like mini chips.

The Abimbola-Younge's plantain is
going with Jamaica's national dish

of ackee and salt fish,

also being served with fried dumplings

and a spicy beetroot cous cous.

And to showcase the oats,

it's another crumble.

This time, apple and mango.

I'm sure you've had salt fish before?

-Of course I have.
-Are you looking forward to trying

-our salt fish?
-And the fried dumplings.

-And plantains?
-Yeah, love it.

-That's what I like.
-[Angellica laughs]

You got it all.

How did you learn to cook?

Who taught you to cook?

Do you know what's weird?
I don't think I've told you this,

but I ran away from home
when I was sixteen,

me and my twin brother,

and I ran away because of my struggles
with my sexuality.

Okay.

And there were times when we had no food.

We were broke and we would only have
a few things in the cupboard,

maybe some flour or something
or this and that,

and we had to create meals that were great

and that tasted great,

and we had to do this for a long time.

So, I think through that I learned
that you can make, like, biscuits

with flour and butter and sugar,

so as long as you've got
the raw ingredients in your house,

you can do anything, so...

So it's almost through adversity
that you've been able to learn,

learned these amazing skills.

It's the things I've gone through,
that's why I love cooking.

Totally.

-I like that.
-We look forward to tasting your food.

It's gonna be beautiful, hopefully.

-Fingers crossed. Thank you, darling.
-[Tommy] Thank you.

For the national dish of Jamaica,

the Abimbola-Younges boil cod till tender.

Then flake it into fried tomatoes,
onions, and ackee:

a tropical fruit native to West Africa.

[Diva] This looks like a mountain
of color, which is really nice.

But, they also have to incorporate
Tommy's favorite vegetable,

beetroot, which traditionally isn't used
in spicy Caribbean cooking.

I know that it's all about the beetroot,

but I still want it to have the heat.

So, to give heat to the beet,

they're mixing it with couscous

and adding to it
one of the hottest chili peppers

in the world.

They've got quite a lot of scotch bonnet.

Spicy!

Over in the Penman's kitchen,

Chris is also on beetroot duty.

Chunky beetroot.

Two centimeters, remember?

[Chris] I'm surprised he said
it's one of his favorite foods.

So we're really gonna have to impress him.

Eager to impress Tommy,

the experimental Penmans
are using beetroot in two dishes.

A curry,
and with black pudding in falafels,

served with rice, flatbreads,
and a coconut, mint, and lime yogurt.

And for the oats, they're making
a ginger and mango cheesecake,

topped with an oat and honey crumble.

[Elisha] Use your knuckles, Nan.

With Nan Ann cracking on with the pudding,

Chris and Elisha are concentrating

on their beetroot main and side.

The Penmans are making
a beetroot and black pudding falafel.

I've no idea what that's gonna be like.

[Angellica] Only Elisha would come up
with something like that.

For their falafels,

the Penmans blitz beetroot, black pudding,
chickpeas, breadcrumbs and spices,

knead in egg to roll into balls.

The falafel's sort of a mick-take

on an onion bhaji

or... what else?

-This was your idea.
-Yeah, more of an onion bhaji, I'd say.

They're not too big, are they?

No, they'll be fine.

Elisha and Chris both love to cook

and it was food that sparked

their first conversation.

The village pub that Elisha
was working at,

you were a barmaid there.

I was explaining to her
that I was always in that pub,

because I favored that roast dinner

more than any other local one around here,

and obviously ever since then,

I get my best ever roast dinner at home.

And now I know how to make it as well.

Love may have blossomed
over a traditional Sunday dinner,

but it's not the type of food
Elisha's really passionate about.

You're definitely
the most experimental cook, I think,

than anyone else I know.

Everything's brand new,
every time something gets made.

Well, what's the point in using
the same thing twice?

But, after deviating
from this morning's tart recipe

and cooking too much last time,

Chris wants to play this challenge safe.

So today we're not gonna change anything,

-are we, in the recipe?
-No.

Anything that's left over,
whatever, just leave it.

We'll stick to whatever's written down.

-Yeah.
-And leave it exactly how it is.

-Yeah?
-Yeah.

-Hello, hello.
-Hi.

How many people are you feeding this time?

-Four.
-Four.

-It is four this time.
-Four.

And how many flavors?

Beetroot, oats, and many more?

We've kept it quite simple.

Just wanna replicate today
exactly how we did it at home.

-So it's that good?
-Yeah.

It was that good.

You two are so cute together, aren't you?

-Yeah.
-What do you reckon, Nan Ann?

Do you think Chris is a keeper?

Don't know.

[all] Oh!

[Elisha] Nan!

-Cold!
-Cold!

-You got some shade there.
-Yeah.

-Word of the day.
-No.

Years ago marriages lasted.

These days they don't.

A lot of people don't ever get married.

[Elisha groans]

-Oh, a bit controversial.
-I'm being honest.

-You are honest.
-You be honest.

-Yeah.
-So, what tips can you give

to people out there,
so that their marriages can stay intact?

Just don't ignore problems.

If you've got a problem,
then talk about it.

It makes the world go a lot better.

Agony Aunt Ann!

Midway, and all the families
are working on their oaty desserts.

We have the battle of the crumbles.

We have a British berry oat crumble.

We have a mango, ginger, oat
and honey cheesecake crumble.

And also an apple and mango crumble.

Yeah, a crumble for me is right up there
when it comes to comforting desserts.

They're not hard to make,
in fact they're quite simple,

so there's no room for errors
in this round.

Oh my God, after this morning
you're on the desserts.

We're friends now.

Dessert and I. We are friends.

To incorporate the compulsory oats,

Diva's making an apple and mango crumble.

[Diva] I've made a crumble mixture.

I've added in the oats.

Then I've put a bit of cinnamon

to give it that nice colour, nice smell,

and nice taste, hopefully.

But, competitive Diva's
spotted the doppelganger

on the Whites' counter.

They're making a crumble too,
in the same thing.

-What?
-They are what?

-What?
-They're making a crumble.

-They're making a crumble?
-What?

We have to kind of...

[all] Step our game up!

The berry crumble William's working on

is his mother's recipe,

and a White family favorite.

[Molly] Whenever we went to Granny's

she'd always do
an apple and blackberry crumble,

and everyone would get so excited by it.

I've got one of her crumbles
in my bottom drawer of my freezer,

at the moment.

Yeah, she would give them to us
and we'd put them in the freezer

to take out another time,

so she'd always come with two
and then yeah...

really great.

Molly, are you happy with those,
just like they are?

Not too deep.

Well, you can have a...

Because you don't want a...

-Do you want me to take a bit more off?
-Yeah, I would take some off...

That's why every kitchen needs a Molly.

[Jack] Yeah.

But instead,

every kitchen here has an oaty crumble.

You need to put it into fine breadcrumbs.

-You got butter in, yeah?
-Yeah.

That's fine.

Yeah, that's why it's so crumbly.

The Penmans' oaty crumble

will be layered on top
of a mango cheesecake,

being made by Nan Ann.

Actually, I feel a lot easier,

we've done this recipe before.

But it has to be dead right.

She won't have it any other way.

[Elisha] I was always that person at uni.

I wanted to get a good grade.

If I wasn't happy with an A,

I'd say I could have got an A star,

stuff like that.

[Ann] What do you think?

Yeah, because I'll pipe over it.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

-Put it back in the fridge?
-Yeah.

In the fridge, right at the top.

-Yeah.
-Somewhere where it gets the cold more.

Well, I'll put it right at the top.

But Elisha's discovered their dessert

is missing a key ingredient.

[Elisha] Oh, you didn't put
any cream cheese in the cheesecake.

See, when you get flustered

-you forget stuff.
-Yeah.

-That's why--
-It'll be alright.

Literally, just fold it in Nan.

[Tommy] Ann's forgotten to put
the cream cheese into their cheesecake,

so she's folding it in now.

She's gonna have to work quickly
to get that back in the fridge

or it's not going to set in time

and we can't have
an oat crumble-topped cheesecake

without an actual cheesecake.

This could be a disaster for the Penmans.

[Ann] Sorry.

[Elisha] No, it's not your fault.

Got one hour left.

Over at the Whites,

William's been working on
his vanilla custard

to go with his berry crumble

for the last twenty minutes.

I've learned through bitter experience,
that patience is the best thing

with custard.

The trick is not to boil
the mixture in the pan.

But with a crumble war to win

I'm Empire strikes back.

We're doing a whipped cream,
which we didn't plan to do.

Well, someone else is doing a crumble,

so we said we'll...

...beat them at their own game.

So that's what we're doing.

In less than five minutes,

I'm Empire's cream is done.

As for William...

Come on.

[Molly] How are you doing, Dad?

[William] No sign of thickening yet.

...he's now been stirring his custard

for over half an hour.

-Moll?
-Yeah.

-The custard might actually just...
-Okay.

-...thicken itself.
-Shall we just take it off then?

Let's just take it off.

Nice consistency as it is like that.

Yeah, I think it will thicken in the jar,

so I'm gonna take these here
and do them.

With less than thirty minutes left,

the Penmans are also under
pudding pressure,

and need their cheesecake to be set.

It's not set is it?

[Ann] No.

It's gonna have to be a deconstructed one.

-Yeah.
-Okay.

Yeah.

All the other families
look like they're doing good.

Looks like they're pretty much done.

In fact, the Abimbola-Younge's main
is ready to go.

We're done, oh, my God!

We're actually finished
a little bit earlier than everyone else.

Okay! Okay!

Okay, yes!

Now, that's what you call teamwork.

With time to spare,

I'm Empire's checking out the competition.

What have you seen on this bench?

It looks really good,
I'm not going to lie.

I mean, it could do
with a little bit more sparkle,

some glitter or something just to...

make it cute.

-This is the glitter and sparkle.
-Okay.

-There's two crops here, right?
-Yes.

-Currently seen in the fields.
-Yes.

Can you name them?

Is it the same fields that
Theresa May likes to run through?

Correctamundo!

-Yes.
-Yes.

-Fields of wheat, sir.
-Yes.

Yes, but which is which?

-Let me see.
-Forensically.

So, when you think of beer...

Oh, hops!

-No.
-Barley.

-Yes.
-[trills] Oh my, Angellica!

I just learned something.

So, to return the gesture,

I'm Empire's giving the farm boys
a lesson of his own.

I'm gonna be teaching
my twerking masterclass.

Okay, so we've gotta get, okay.

So, what you do--
It's in the legs, okay.

So first you bend your knees,

like so, don't be afraid, okay.

And then you have your hands in the air,

like this and then you shake your back.

Oh my God!

Ah yeah!

Yeah, you got it.

Okay.

That's the shake.

Okay, yeah, you're doing good.

I think it's time
we brought this back to business.

Ten minutes left, everybody.

Start thinking about plating up.

With the clock ticking,

it's a final dash for the families

to the finish line.

-Move--
-Jack, move the bowls.

-No, no, Jack.
-Jack, move the bowls.

-Bring the block round this corner here.
-Jesus!

Just shove it on there.

How I am gonna do this?

Just literally scoop it in.

All of it!

All of it?

[Elisha] Well, it's gonna have to be.

I don't know how I ought to do it, duck.

Well, literally just bang it in, Nan.

Stop panicking,
because you're making me stress.

Let me handle this, please.

You're making my Diva moments come out.

One minute left.

No, not too many of those big bits.

[William] Okay, those bits,
just gotta go for it now.

Do you know how to do that trick?

-That's what I'm...
-I wanna see it now.

-Let me see it.
-I don't know.

-Do you know how?
-Do you know how?

Thirty seconds.

Three nice looking balls.

Then what, shavings on the top?

No, oh no!

Dad, that looks bad.

[Molly] Quick, quick, quick!

Spring onion, chili.

We can actually count down with them,

-because we're done.
-Yes.

Ten seconds.

Chilies, yeah?

Well, no, I like it as it is.

No more parsley or anything?

No, that's fine.

-A little bit of spring onion?
-No.

[Diva] Three.

Two. One.

Stop!

Everyone step away from your plates.

Okay.

Maybe next year,
I could be a judge on this show.

You have to make sure
your food's good enough first.

But the first family to showcase
their beetroot and oat dishes

are the Whites.

Serving beet balls

in a tomato and basil sauce,

on a bed of spaghetti and courghetti.

And a British berry oat crumble,

with homemade vanilla custard.

I think in front of us,
we have two well-presented plates of food.

And your beet balls

are sitting there, pride of place.

[Tommy] The crumble,
this dish is all about oats,

and William you've spent so long
stirring that custard.

I really hope it's good.

The beet balls,

I think it's a really ingenious idea,

I like it.

Now, I really like them,
but I think they could've cooked

just a little bit longer,

just to cook out the oaty flavor.

So, rather than frying them
in a pan of oil,

maybe if you'd got butter in there,
you could've had them

bathing in foaming butter,

and that would've really helped them
cook through,

but also added a little bit of fat,
which would've really rounded them off.

[Angellica]
You've got a rich tomato-y sauce,

it's lovely.

[Tommy] The courghetti as well
adds a lovely alternative texture.

A tasty plate of food
and a clever take with beetroot.

This is a proper pudding.

The crumble's really well made.

You can taste the oats.
They're still in my molars now,

-and I'm really enjoying them.
-The sauce,

with your strawberries, raspberries
and blueberries,

is absolutely delicious.

The custard is not as sweet,

so it really balances it out.

This is the type of dessert
you fall in love with.

I could eat this every day.

It's a proper homely family
crumble and custard.

Perfectly executed!

This is a really, really outstanding meal,

and you should be
really proud of yourselves.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

Good custard that, it's nice.

-Well done, Dad.
-Yay.

The next crumble is apple and mango,

served with whipped cream

by the Abimbola-Younges.

And their main is ackee and salt fish,

plantain, dumplings,

and a spicy beetroot cous cous.

[Angellica] So, we have the national dish
of Jamaica here in front of us,

-ackee and salt fish.
-Yes.

[Tommy] Looks like Caribbean on a slate.

Looking forward to trying this.

Crumble looks good.
You've got a hard act to follow.

Whoo!

That's hot!

[Tommy]
The ackee and salt fish,

it's extremely moreish

and really delicious.

Then we have this fluffy light couscous,

with your beetroot there.

And that scotch bonnet is really,

really giving a punch to us both.

But I love that. It gets my heart going,

in the right way.

And the beetroot,

you've got big pieces
of beetroot in there,

they kind of bring it all together.

This is what you do with plantain!

Not pancakes.

I like the caramelization on the outside,

nice and soft in the middle.

And you know what,
sometimes with plantain

it can be too oily,
but you've got the right balance there.

[Tommy] I think this is a huge triumph.

This is exactly what you're all about.

-[Angellica] Moving on to your crumble.
-[Tommy] Crumble's really tasty.

The fruit underneath is tart,

mango's slightly sweeter
than the apple,

but I'd have liked more of the fruit
and less of the crumble.

You've put cinnamon in,

something that I think
really adds to a crumble,

but if you had more fruit,
it'd just be even better.

The cream.

When you whip cream,

eventually it turns into butter,

and we're not far away from butter.

[Angellica]
There's so much flavor in your food, so...

I'm really, really pleased for you all.

-Okay.
-Thank you.

-Thank you.
-Yes.

The Penmans have made beetroot curry,

beetroot and black pudding falafels,

rice,

flat breads,
and a coconut, mint, and lime yogurt.

Dessert is a ginger and mango cheesecake,

with an oat and honey crumble.

Well, I think this is a bit more like it.

I think you listened to the advice.

There's still quite a lot of food here,

but much less than there was yesterday.
I think that's allowed you the time

for attention to detail
and it's presented all very nicely.

Straight in here.

I'm gonna start with my favorite bit,

the falafel.

Falafel can be so sort of stodgy and dry

and these are really excellent.

I really, really liked them.

They've got a real kick to them
and they've got texture.

They're soft.

Beetroot and black pudding
is a really good idea.

The black pudding keeps it really moist,

and I think these
are the best falafel I've had.

[Angellica] The beetroot curry I do like,

but it could've done with
a little bit more curry spice.

Some more garlic and ginger

and Indian spices could've gone
all the way through there,

and the beetroot would really
stand up to that

and be a good vehicle for it,

so I think you could've just

packed that full of flavor
and that would've been tasty.

Now, I know that you wanted
your cheesecake to be one whole thing.

It didn't set,

but you used your initiative
and it's now a deconstructed cheesecake.

Cool.

It's about the flavor.

That biscuit base is buttery,

and that ginger is lovely.

Little bit of heat
coming from the gingernuts

and that works brilliantly.

I know you were gonna serve this

as a whole and it collapsed
and you've put it into the glass,

which was clever,

and you were thinking on your feet.

But I think you kind of lost the effect
you were going for with the oat top.

Yeah.

So it's not a bad effort,
but I'm not sure it shows off oats

and that was the task.

-Thank you.
-Thanks.

This has been a really amazing heat.

All three of you have come here

and want to produce amazing food.

I think we've had some fantastic dishes,
and we've enjoyed them.

The only problem is now

we have to make a decision on which
two families go through to the play-offs.

We're gonna get together

and get back to you shortly.
Well done everyone.

So we have the Whites,

a family who have been very,
very consistent from day one.

They are calm,
and have serious skills in the kitchen.

I think they've come out top
every round, they've gotta go through.

The Abimbola-Younges though.

They have been a little bit inconsistent.

But, the food is packed full of flavor.

I feel like they're getting better
as they go along.

Yeah, their food is powerful
and it's a reflection of them.

The Penmans have done exactly
what we've asked them to do.

They started off with so much food
and they've scaled it back,

with a bit more attention to detail.

They're still making mistakes,

but at least they're improving.

I think we've got two families
on an upward curve.

I'm really wrestling with this decision,

but we have to make one.

So, which two families will cook again
in the play-off for a place in the finals?

And who has come to the end of the road?

Well, we started the day off sweet,

with a chocolate and salted caramel tart.

Then this afternoon
we had the odd combination

of beetroot and oats,

but out of the odd combination

came some inspired cooking.

And so, we've had
an incredibly tough decision to make.

The first family going through
to the play-offs is...

the Whites.

The second family staying is...

the Abimbola-Younges.

So, I'm so sorry

to say goodbye to the Penmans.

Oh my God.

Literally, I didn't even expect that.

Today we had a really tough decision
to make.

[Angellica] And after the first round,
it was tight between the two families.

[Tommy] But this afternoon,
the Abimbola-Younges

impressed us with their big flavors.

[Angellica]
Whereas the Penmans' curry lacked spice,

and their pudding just didn't have
the oats we'd asked for.

So, unfortunately
we had to send the Penmans home.

I'm so sorry.

-It's alright.
-Literally,

the hardest decision we've had.

Well done, Chris.

Cheers for that.

Hard luck mate.

I'm very proud.

Very proud.

And not only that,
we've made a lot of friends,

and that is very good.

It's wonderful actually.

-[Zhané] I'm gonna miss you.
-Don't be silly.

-[Ann] Good luck.
-Thank you.

Has it, like, registered?

-That we're staying?
-We're staying.

I'm quiet.

-Thank you very much.
-No worries, good on you.

That was a bit of a surprise,
wasn't it?

I literally can't really believe it.

[Tommy]
Mr. White, give me a hug, well done.

We'll bring enthusiasm to the next round.

Won't we, Dad?

Hello.

Next time, four new families

will compete to join the Whites

and the Abimbola-Younges

in the first play-offs.

[Angellica] When there's nothing
in the fridge, rummage through the...?

[all] Freezer!

-Let's go!
-Run.

I'll do a dessert.

Never used frozen coconut before.

We were majorly out of our depth, okay?

Okay right, scrap that.
We're starting again with that.

That's it, your time's up.

I'm buzzing now.