High-profile cooks, including Gary Rhodes, Antony Worrall Thompson and Nick Nairn, will compete for the title of Britain’s best television chef.
Fourteen chefs will take part in seven regional head-to-heads, with their dishes marked by celebrity judges. The aim will be to create the perfect four-course meal.
The series, entitled The Great British Menu, will be shown over eight weeks on BBC2 in April. Scotland will be represented by Nairn and Tom Lewis, the head chef at the acclaimed Monachyle Mhor hotel at Balquhidder in the Trossachs.
In the southeast heat, television chef Rhodes will go head to head with Atul Kochhar, the first Indian chef in Britain to be awarded a Michelin star.
In the Midlands and east of England region, Worrall Thompson, who dished up “bush tucker” in the reality television show I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here, will take on Galton Blackiston, whose recipes have been championed by Delia Smith.
Advertisement
Britain’s best known vegetarian chef Simon Rimmer is up against Gordon Ramsey’s protege Marcus Wareing in the north of England heat.
The series is being produced for the BBC by Optomen Television, the production company behind the hit cookery shows Two Fat Ladies, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and which launched the career of Jamie Oliver in The Naked Chef.
The heats will be presided over by expert gourmands Pru Leith, Matthew Fort and Oliver Paton, who will pass judgement on starters, fish dishes, main courses and desserts. The final choice of dishes will be selected by the votes of viewers.
A BBC spokeswoman, Jay Hunt, said: “It is fantastic that the best of the best, ultimately chosen by the audience, will then by tasted by Her Majesty the Queen at the City of London’s official lunch to celebrate her 80th birthday celebrations.”
Lewis, who has been shortlisted for the prestigious Scottish chef of the year award, is looking forward to crossing kitchen knives with his friend and Perthshire neighbour Nick Nairn.
Advertisement
He said: “The Scottish heat of the show will be a real local derby between myself and Nick. We are friends and big supporters of one another, but in this competition there is bound to be a bit of friendly rivalry.”
“I know exactly what I am going to be cooking, but I am keeping it firmly under wraps until the first day of filming. We are so lucky where we live because we have got the best of everything.
“It is great to get a chance on a big stage like this to show just how excellent Scottish food and produce is.”