After receiving straight 10 scores from both the chefs and judges Matthew Fort, Prue Leith, Oliver Peyton and guest judge Felicity Cloake – an achievement never seen before in the history of The Great British Menu – Matt’s faultless main course dish, Teaching and Preaching, was put straight through to the banquet without a shortlist.
Matt, from his restaurant Matt Gillan at The Pass in South Lodge, an Exclusive Hotel near Horsham, West Sussex, fought off stiff competition to secure his place cooking the main course, Teaching and Preaching – Goat, dumpling, pineapple, cheese – at a special banquet celebrating 100 years of the Women’s Institute at Drapers Hall in London.
Selected outright
The judges selected Matt’s dish outright for its first class cooking and excellent interpretation of the brief; reflective of the resourcefulness of the WI and their ‘waste not want not’ ethos.
Born in the UK but with St Helena heritage, Matt’s dish is inspired by his mother who regularly cooked goat at home though its popularity here in the UK has been in decline. With the soaring popularity of goat’s cheese and milk from females, the male Billie’s are often slaughtered and discarded, so Matt was keen to showcase every cut of the animal in his dish of 12 complex elements including salt baked leg, spiced shoulder and goat Ragu topped with mash potato, named Herders Pie.
Matt commented, “My dish is very personal to me – it’s more than just a plate of food – so it’s made my day for the dish to go to the banquet and to secure a place with ‘ten out of tens’ across the board is an unbelievable feeling.”
Oliver Peyton commented that Matt was “my tip for the future” with Prue Leith applauding Matt for taking the WI from its inception over 100 years and highlighting is campaigns,” in unanimous praise.
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