This will be a blog that builds over the week, rounding up each episode of the North West heat of Great British Menu 2016.

Competing in the North West heat this year was reigning regional champion Matt Worswick, the Savoy Grill’s first female chef, Kim Woodward and Adam Reid, protégé of Simon Rogan. Judging the three contestants would be former Banquet winner and holder of two Michelin stars Phil Howard.

Matt Worswick is executive chef The Latymer in Surrey. His fish course was shortlisted in the final this year and this year, he is hoping to win. His starter ‘Liver and Onions’ aimed at a contemporary gastronomic re-imagining of the British classic.

>>> See more liver dishes here

Matt blowtorched ox liver and cooked it sous vide. He roasted baby red onions with bone marrow and thyme, and pickled shallot rings in a mix containing coriander and fennel seeds. He also opted to caramelise some onions in the bone marrow fat and cook some crispy shallots in butter. Matt wasn’t just showcasing British cuisine but he was attempting to show every technique possible for this course. He brought in a centrifuge to make his gravy.

He piped his mash into the bottom of the bowl then added the onions, liver and gravy, red onion, soft shallots and bone marrow. He topped with a generous garnish of crispy shallots and seasoned with dehydrated onion ash. For that roasted aroma “like me mam used to make”, Matt had boxed where British flags covered dry ice and dehydrated burnt onions. He poured the gravy over this at service to activate the smell and smoke.

Judge Phil Howard said that while the dish was a classic and the ‘kind of thing we all like to eat’, he didn't feel that all the behind-the-scenes techniques showed in Matt’s starter and said it lost finesse in its execution. He did however say that the shallots and onions were delicious, the mash was rich and the gravy delivered.

Kim, a former protégé of Gordon Ramsay created was a tribute to the British Overseas Territories, ‘B.O.T’. She used exotic flavour combinations in a broth for the langoustines – coffee, ginger, sugar cane and rum to name a few. Kim also made a chickpea and coconut milk houmous and served in bowls with sea trout, chickpea crackers, sweet potato crackers, coconut shavings. Her broth was in a bottle on the side with a little message lodged in the top, explaining what the B.O.T are.

Phil felt that the idea really worked well with the brief, the crackers added great texture and the crab worked well. He added however that she should have had a larger piece of crab and he said that the langoustine broth had a confused flavour. The houmous he felt looked cloudy at the bottom of the bowl.

Adam Reid is head chef at Simon Rogan’s The French at the Midland Hotel. Judge was very excited about this dish – as he felt it was inspired by Simon’s canapes and he called them the “best in the world”.

Adam’s starter ‘From Pakoras to the Palace’ was inspired by his family friend Laila Remtulla MBE. Laila found success starting her own company Laila's Fine Foods, selling homemade bahjis forty years ago. He would pay tribute to Laila’s Tanzanian and Indian heritage by making samosas with a spiced cabbage, mustard seed and goats curd filling. He also served a bittetachamp – an east African dish of spiced mince wrapped in mash and paneed before being deep fried.

Adam served his samosas in a traditional Indian tiffin box, decorated with flavours. To accompany the bittetechamp, he served dates poached in tamarind and a saffron infused cultured cream with chopped anise hissop?, parsley and mint. He also made a chilli tomato dressing for the pakoras.

>>> Click here to read previous GBM blogs

Phil said that Adam’s starter was fun to eat and well executed but he felt that the pakora didn’t deliver. He suggested adding some crab to boost the flavour.

Adam received the highest score for his starter – an eight. Matt’s liver dish was given a seven and Kim’s a six. There’s still all to play for as we head to the fish course tonight!

Adam Reid was in the lead as the North West chefs head into the fish course last night. There was only one point between the chefs though so there was still everything to cook for! Judge Phil Howard won at the Banquet with his fish course so he had high expectations for the three contestants.

Kim Woodward was on the lowest score but she felt confident that her dish ‘Great Miners’ would change this. The star of Kim’s course was a big piece of halibut, brushed with charcoal oil and coated in a mix of fennel seeds, paprika and celery salt.

She cooked the fish on an indoor barbecue – as the dish was a tribute to North West miners. To accompany the fish, Kim made crushed black potatoes and black bread rolls, using squid ink for colour. She made a brown butter sauce with capers, lemon juice and chives.

>>> For more halibut recipes, click here…

Kim made a ‘gravel’ for her dish using black olive and rosemary. She presented the dish in miniature coal carts with the brown butter sauce in little pots. While unsure about the ‘double carbohydrate’ element of serving potatoes and bread, she felt it did fit with the theme of miner’s food. Matt said that he would have used less olive with the dish.

Judge Phil said that Kim’s rolls were under-proved but that the black element of the course definitely had impact. He went on to say that her halibut was “what cooking is all about”!

 Reigning champion Matt Worswick was making a reinvention of the classic ‘Prawn Cocktail’. In an attempt to make it more refined, he made an iceberg lettuce puree with a dash of spinach and salt. He coated langoustine tails in lemon oil, star anise and thyme at poached them in a water bath at 56 degrees.

Interestingly, Matt chose to freeze his Marie Rose sauce with liquid nitrogen. He said that he hoped this would give the ‘cold crunch’ familiar with a prawn cocktail.

He served his fish course on a plate surrounded by ‘psychedelic’ flowers and coloured lights. First on the plate was the puree, then the langoustines, then some raw lettuce discs for added crunch. Matt chose not to make his own bread and used shop-bought bread for croutons. He also added cucumber flowers to the plate and finished with lemon oil and frozen lemon.Both of the other competing chefs felt that Matt’s dish would score a nine.

Phil Howard called his presentation ‘naff’ but then said that prawn cocktail IS naff. He said that the puree was used in the right way and Matt’s sauce was ‘spot on’. He was however disappointed by the langoustines and said that they lacked character being cooked at a low temperature.

>>> Check out Wild Atlantic Prawns for more inspiring prawn combinations

Adam Reid’s dish ‘By The Seaside’ was inspired by his family trips to Bridlington as a child. He fried his hake and finished it in clarified butter. Rather than doing a ‘fish and chips’,

Adam chose to make his version of chip shop ‘scraps’, small pieces of batter cooked in vinegar and gin to make them puffy and light. He would serve pickled cockles, sea greens and an aerated tartare sauce on the side.

Adam said that his dish was partly inspired by the late Connie Brown MBE, who was still working in Brown’s café in Pembroke just before her death at the age of 102.

A tribute to Connie, Adam served his course on a newspaper and wrapped it inside it.

The other chefs said that you would expect chips with the dish. Kim also said that the ‘scraps’ had no vinegary bite to them. Judge Phil was intrigued by the scraps to begin with but agreed that they lacked impact when served with everything else. He said that the hake was risky but that Adam had cooked it perfectly and it had met the brief well. He felt that unfortunately overall there was a lack of vitality in the dish.

The scores from Phil were a nine for Kim (boosting her low score from Monday), a seven for Adam and a six for Matt. This puts our North West chefs on level pegging as they go into the mains this evening!

Yesterday saw Kim Woodward claw her way back and win the fish course with a high score of nine. The chefs were now halfway towards an elimination and the scores were level pegging.

Kim's main,  ‘Bobbys on the Beat’ was dedicated to the men and women of the police force honoured by the Queen. This was a rather personal theme for her as her grandfather was in the force for twenty-two years and her husband was too at one point.

>>> Check out more pork recipes here...

The star of her dish was a pork rack from Suffolk which Kim chose to roast whole, having brined it in fresh bergamot, garlic and thyme. She also chose to serve pork cheeks and made a blue cheese and apple biscuit which resembled a scone.

Kim wanted to make a 'tea' - a pork liquor infused with earl grey tea and bergamot. She served her dish in 'copper' pans - a bit of a play on words! First, petals of charred onion, then the sliced bergamot-infused pork loin.

On the side were teacups with buttered cabbage, braised cheek and sage.
 Her teapot was filled with her 'tea' and her blue cheese biscuit on the side. Her presentation was completed with flashing replica police hats!

Matt Worswick said that her pork was a tad pink and needed more resting time. This did not seem to be how judge Phil Howard felt as he said that Kim's pork delivered way above expectations.

He said that the dish however was lacking in detail - her biscuit lacking in finesse, her sauce too thin. He also said that a vegetable would have been appropriate

 Adam Reid was looking to score more points with ‘Time for Tea’ – a nostalgic beef and vegetable dish that was inspired by family roast dinners.  

>>> We've got loads of beef recipes here...

Adam removed the fat from 42-day-aged Cumbrian shorthorn beef sirloin, slow cooked it and rolled it back around the fillet ready to cook souse vide. Adam like Kim would also serve cheek - ox cheeks cooked in a pressure cooker