Episode 10: York - Pork

In this episode, the competition moves to York, where RAF cooks and close pals James and Ian prepare to rustle up a delicious meal using freerange Yorkshire pork.

This week’s ‘Street Market Chefs’ is set in picturesque York, where RAF aircraftmen James Wilmot and Ian Mark are ready to put their cooking skills to the test. The lads cook for over 1,200 people a week at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, combining serving the country with their love of serving up delicious food. James and Ian are full of enthusiasm for their chosen career. “Not many people can say that they love their job but, hand on heart, I can,” says Ian. The two lads are good friends, and will be cooking under the watchful gaze of their squadron leader, which should make for some friendly rivalry to spice up this week’s competition.

Three experts assemble to judge James and Ian’s efforts. Annie Stirk, food editor of Yorkshire Life magazine, is hoping to pick up some tips from the pair, while local television presenter Pam Royle is on the lookout for a healthy dish. “They’ll have to prepare something healthy, balanced and tasty to win,” she declares. The final judge is Michelin-starred chef Andrew Pern, of the Star Inn at Harome in North Yorkshire.

As the judges take their seats, Ian and James reveal their menus. For the first course, James will be cooking a fillet of pork with langoustine tails and olive salad. Ian plumps for a more traditional dish of roast pork fillet stuffed with apples and cranberries, along with new potatoes, asparagus and beans.

With just 40 minutes on the clock, the lads get straight into the cooking. As the judges look on, Ian combines sausage meat, apples, cranberries and onions to make his stuffing. He rolls the mixture into the pork fillet, tops with streaky bacon and rushes into the oven, before turning his attention to the veg. Meanwhile, James gets started on his surf and turf and the accompanying rocket salad. “I’ve never seen such tidy work surfaces!” Amanda exclaims as the boys complete the course with perfect timing.

The moment of truth is near, and the judges get stuck into James’s dish first. “The pork is cooked to perfection,” Pam declares, but Annie is not so sure. “It works on a certain level,” she explains. “But I probably wouldn’t have used so many different flavours.” Ian’s dish gets glowing reviews all round, and he is declared the winner by two to one. The result prompts a spot of friendly banter from James. “You’re going down on this one, Ian,” he says as he launches into the dessert round.

The lads have just 30 minutes to make a sumptuous sweet course, yet both plump for extremely adventurous dishes. James plans to serve up a traditional rhubarb and vanilla soufflé, while leader Ian decides on a chocolate mint parfait. Amanda is impressed by the speed with which James whips up a notoriously tricky dish, but he clearly has some stiff competition from his show-off opponent, who Amanda finds using a range of fancy techniques. Not only does Ian spin his own sugar, but he also uses a calcium bath to create bursting spheres of raspberry purée. In the first round, Ian took the lead with his classic meat and two veg, but could James get sweet revenge with his rhubarb and vanilla soufflé?