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