(upbeat music)
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- And here we are, first time back in the studio.
That's how excited I was.
- Getting emotional!
Genuinely, it's lovely to be back and see your faces again.
Mike, can't quite touch you, Ben.
- [Mike] Good.
- Please don't.
The excitement is probably short lived.
A few weeks ago, Mike was challenged to create
a 100 layer lasagna.
- No.
- Barry, it's your turn for a mystery box.
(upbeat music)
- So this is from the same book that Mike cooked from,
Signature Dishes That Matter
and these are a mix of some really simple recipes,
some very complicated ones and a very fishy box.
- Oh, why thank you.
- Smoked haddock,
lots of double cream.
- Whole milk.
- A lot of eggs,
chives.
- A selection of ingredients and the book has been
bookmarked to the page you will require.
Page 59.
- Okay, an Omelette Arnold Bennett.
- This was created by a French chef back in 1929
for the English author, Arnold Bennett.
The description: this fluffy open omelette is topped
with smoked haddock that has been cooked in milk
and cream infused with bay leaves and nutmeg.
The cooking liquid is used to make a bechamel,
which is added to a Hollandaise sauce
and then cut with whipped cream.
It's iconic and to this day it is still on the menu
at the Savoy Hotel or the Savoy Grill
and it must be done with precision and excellence,
not just a few eggs smashed up, cooked off
and with some crumbled flaked smoked haddock on top.
We would like you to prepare an Omelette Arnold Bennett
as per that recipe, all the details are in the book.
- So I can't freestyle it?
- And we're gonna give you 30 minutes to do it,
that should be ample.
- Half an hour to make an omelette?
Come on, give me a challenge.
(laughing)
- Well in that case, your 30 minutes starts in
three, two, one, omelette!
- So I've gotta start off by making the Mornay sauce,
which is infusing the haddock trimmings in the milk
and then strain it.
Just gotta strain it?
Oh crap.
- Two minutes gone!
- Oh crap.
- Do you think slapping some cold fish in some cold milk
is gonna infuse it the way you want?
- No but it doesn't tell me to warm it up.
Oh what!
Fine, milk and haddock trimmings in a pan.
(upbeat music)
Can I get a time check?
- You've already had four minutes.
- No I haven't, that's--
- You have.
- Exaggerating.
- You've done about minute of cooking
and about three minutes of reading
and actually I don't hold that against you
because it's important to get it right.
- Cooking's a challenge
when you haven't done it in a long time.
So I've got my haddock in the milk,
warming up so it can infuse
and then I'm moving on to my bechamel,
I've got my butter melting down.
As soon as it starts to bubble a little bit,
I'm gonna go in with my flour, mix that together,
cook out the flour and start adding in my milk,
then finish it with Swiss and Parmesan cheese.
- So to recap, a Mornay sauce is basically a cheese sauce.
It is a bechamel base, so roux, flour, butter,
added milk, in this case, the milk is infused
with a few smoked haddock scraps
and then when it's cooked out, you add the cheese.
Now as we said, this is gonna be a challenge,
so you might want to, as you're making this, read ahead
because if you're doing one thing at a time,
you're probably not gonna have time.
(groaning)
- So what do I do next then?
Doesn't tell me how to make a Hollandaise.
Oh no!
- You may have to do a cheat's Hollandaise
but your ingredients are there.
- I've got a mind blank, okay,
Hollandaise, Hollandaise, Hollandaise, Hollandaise.
- 20 minutes remaining!
- Can I look at a recipe?
- Yes, it's in the AM Menu book.
(upbeat music)
Now opting to cook it on the bench.
- Well it was too hot on the hob.
- Do you know when five minutes ago I said
you need to think ahead and do two things at once?
- Yep, not gonna happen.
Mate, two things at once: turn the hob off,
keep cooking this.
(laughing)
Hollandaise, Hollandaise, Hollandaise, Hollandaise.
What recipe is that in?
Okay, so you've gotta make a reduction,
of course you've gotta make a reduction.
- With 20 minutes remaining, you might not have time
for a classic reduction, you might just have to use
the splash of vinegar.
(ding)
- I don't have to add it all do I?
(ding)
- Oh he's using another bowl, sorry, my mistake.
Another bowl, just for this step.
- Peppercorns, this is the bit I don't really understand,
makes any difference, it's like...
- Well it adds flavour to a reduction.
- Faff, that's what it is.
200 grammes of unsalted butter, sure.
There was 50 in that, so...
- If a butter comes in blocks of 250
and you took 50 away earlier for your roux,
how much do you reckon's left?
- Probably about that much.
- There we go!
(laughing)
Maths!
(upbeat music)
- Oh God, my heart is pounding.
Okay, so two egg yolks.
Oh another (bleep) bowl.
(ding)
(laughing)
(ding)
- See and you're back in your comfort zone,
you're just making a mayonnaise but without oil,
you're subbing it in for clarified butter.
That's literally the two mother sauces:
Hollandaise, mayonnaise.
- [Barry] I'm out of my depth, I haven't even got
to making the omelette bit yet.
- Just an omelette, I'm pretty sure that's what you said,
just an omelette.
One of London's finest restaurants, The Wolseley,
has been serving their version
of Omelette Arnold Bennett since 2005.
The head chef, Mr David Stevens, has said
that it's a dish that you'll, quote,
"need to make several times before you get it right."
- Oh great!
Great.
- But it's all right, it's just an omelette.
- [Barry] Cheese!
- You've got that and then the same of your Swiss cheese.
(laughing)
- It's really, really fluffy.
- But he's adapted, he's taken it to the board,
he's gonna cut instead, smart.
- My butter has clarified, my eggs are separated,
my vinegar reduction is not a thing, it's just soaking.
My cheese is going into my
cheese sauce.
- Mornay.
- Mornay and I think once all that's in there,
I can then start thinking about the omelette.
How long left?
- You're about half way.
I kind of don't want to help you
but I kind of want to help you make it plausible.
You might wanna preheat a grill.
- A grill?
- Don't leave that to the last two minutes
when you're panicking and going "the grill's cold."
- Grill?
- [Ben] Just, I mean...
- A grill?
Why a grill?
Grilled?
- Number one rule, read ahead when you can.
(Barry indistinctly mumbling)
So that you can do things like preheat a grill.
Halfway!
- Right, I'm just
(pots clanging)
panicking, right.
Hollandaise, hot, hot water, steam, kind of half cook it
but not too much so it makes scrambled eggs.
Sure, that's good, that'll do.
- Get it over a hob.
I hate to say this Baz, 'cause I know,
I don't feel like you need reminding to leave a hob on
but you might want to switch a hob on
to start preheating your omelette pan.
- This one?
- This one.
- I'm so fucking confused, why, what's--
- You're gonna make an omelette
and then you're gonna transfer it into the serving dish.
- You transfer, that is stupid!
- So you can put it under the grill.
- Oh...
- He's acknowledged it but he's still not done it.
- Vinegar go in now?
I forget.
- That is gonna season it.
- Flavour!
I know that you gotta basically whip these eggs
to a point when they start to thicken very slightly
to make a little figure of eight
and drizzle it, it's pretty much there
and I've gotta dribble in clarified butter,
which is the clear butter on top of the scummy bit.
- Now he's rocking.
Over the pan of steaming water, you don't want
to let the eggs to get too hot
but you want the warmth to stop the butter from cooling
but you can always take it off the heat
once you're happy that it's cooked.
(upbeat music)
- [Barry] Oh my goodness, it's working!
- [Ben] Slowly dribble in, as you whisk, clarified butter.
- That's done, right, cool this.
So now I need to poach my haddock, so it starts to
flake apart beautifully.
So I've got some milk on the hob that is on.
(upbeat music)
I'm gonna be honest with you, it's been a long time
since I've cooked on camera
'cause usually the chaos happens in my own kitchen,
no one's watching, it's fine in my flat.
Now I'm starting to feel a little bit silly
'cause I can't turn the scales on!
- He's never worried about flapping in the studio before.
(upbeat music)
- I'm a four egg omelette man.
- Is this the time to go off-piste
with six minutes remaining?
- It'll be fine, fine.
So I've got to whisk these up,
I need to add some double cream,
some salt and some pepper, I think
and then I've got to fry it off in a pan,
that smoking hot pan, probably too hot now.
- Probably too hot now, he says
and then doesn't do anything about it.
- Right, cream, how much cream?
Sure, salt, salt, salt.
Butter, sure, five grammes, sure.
That's hot, isn't it?
- You've got a wonderful non-stick pan,
so once you're happy with it,
it should just slide out into your copper pan.
At which point, you're going to add the glaze on top.
What's your glaze?
- Glaze?
- [Ben] What is the glaze?
- What is the glaze?
Which one is the glaze?
I can't do more than one thing at a time.
- [Ben] Okay, does that make sense?
- What, in another bowl?
- In another bowl, why not?
(laughing)
- What?
I thought I was just making an omelette!
- So all those wonderful things you've just made,
the Hollandaise, the Mornay, now need combining
in the right ratios with a little bit of whipped cream
to cut through it.
- I'm so sorry Ben, this is messy for me.
- I mean, don't be sorry to me, you're clearing up.
- James, is... oh.
(ding)
(rock music)
Bloody hell, this is a lot of cheese, isn't it?
- [Ben] Whisk that together and that's your glaze.
How's your omelette doing?
- It's done.
- [Ben] Three minutes left.
Oh, nicely done, Baz.
Haddock.
- Hot, hot fish, hot fish!
Use a spoon, no time, going on.
- Use a bowl!
- Bloody hell!
What am I making?
- Under the grill to gratinate and then you finish
with chives to garnish.
It's served in the copper pan.
- That is outrageously good.
- Understandable that sometimes when you're rushed,
you forget about the finer details.
You've not seasoned a huge amount.
Last minute!
- [Mike] Chop some chives!
- He's eating smoked haddock.
I'm pretty sure that's how all the chefs do it
in the Savoy Hotel, while they're waiting
for it to gratinate.
- Oh my God, that's shredded.
Right, here's are the good ones.
How's that gratinated?
Ooh, it has and it's puffed up, which I wasn't expecting.
- So rather than folding it over
and serving it sort of, in those thirds,
in that wonderful sort of pillow-like effect
that we recognise in a traditional French omelette,
this open style allows for a greater surface area of glaze.
You have the last 20 seconds, if you need them.
Gratinate it, whoa, that is gratinated.
I mean, that's wonderful.
Five, four,
three, and now you're just showing off,
two--
- I might tidy up.
- One, stop!
- That was
outrageous.
Now I've done it, it all now makes perfect sense.
That is the most stressful and the hardest I've ever worked
to make an omelette.
- Flapping aside, I think he's done it.
(upbeat jazz)
(whoosh)
(click)
(bell ringing)
(cheering)
Baz, a slightly stressy 30 minutes but it looks good.
- I'm really proud of this
and it's unlike any omelette I've ever had
and I'm fascinated to see what it tastes like.
- The time limit was perhaps a little tight
and increased a little bit of stress
but we want to kind of replicate the professional kitchen,
otherwise you tend to flap too much.
Dig in, have a taste.
This is one of my favourites and if I ever see it on a menu,
I nearly always go for it as an omelette option.
- I've nailed it
and just already, straight away, look at it.
It's light and fluffy, it's almost souffle-like.
- Flaky fish and you should get the richness, for sure,
the tang and the saltiness from the Parmesan.
- Serves one!
- And the Swiss cheese, a little bit of light smoke
from the haddock.
- It's undeniably, it's delicious.
Whether or not I've nailed the technique or not,
I'm not sure but for my standards, that's exceptional.
This is the perfect example of French cooking.
Like, this is why it's so famous.
It's simple, really simple, rich ingredients
but just a lot of technique.
- I think maybe the omelette pan was a fraction too hot,
I think you probably got some crispy bits round the edge
but actually, that looks pretty light and fluffy.
It's definitely creamy, the consistency of your fish
and the fact you've got that gratination is excellent
and it is rich, but I can guarantee you'll eat it all
because it is light.
It is indulgent but look, we chose this
because it is packed full of skills, from poaching fish,
to making Hollandaise, to making a roux
and then a bechamel and turning it into a Mornay,
plus the omelette, it's got a whole bunch of skills in there
and yet it's a classic dish that everyone should try
when they come to the UK.
- That gives just a slight taste of what it's like
to work in the Savoy
and it ain't easy but worth it,
if you manage to pull it off.
- Not a bad effort at all
for the first time cooking back in the studio.
How do you think Barry got on?
And comment down below if you'd like to see us give
more iconic dishes a go.
- You know what, I was wrong.
It's not just an omelette.
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using the Eat app, listen and contribute
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Check it all out by heading to sorted.club
and now a blooper.
(beep)
- One, two, three, four, five,
five bowls.
One, two, three, four, five, six pans.
Six bowls, six pans.