Mark: "I wouldn't say I'm necessarily playing it safe, but I've gone for flavour over crazy technique. I've got my ice cream base made, and then I'm going to start on my quince compote."

Mark: "So the title of the dish is 'An ode to mold'. It's inspired by Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin. And how that changed the course of medical history."

Mark: "I'm doing a koji-infused rice pudding. Koji is a cooked grain that's had koji mold added. Popular in Japanese cuisine. I'm infusing the milk and cream with fresh barley koji. With it, we have a rose geranium and amazake ice cream."

Mark: "So Amazake, again, sort of fresh alcohol that's made using koji. Then we've got a quince and sake compote to bridge the gap, if you will."

Notes taken during cooking

For his amazake and rose geranium ice cream, Mark first makes the base. (You can buy the amazake base here)

Mark: "So we've got egg yolk, sugar, milk powder, a little bit of stabilizer."

After frying wild rice in a searingly hot pan, Mark caramelizes the grains before moving on to his quince sauce.

Mark: "Quince juice, green tea, honey and a bit of sake."

Aktar Islam: "One of the things that I really want to try is the Amazake and the rose geranium ice cream."

Aktar Islam: "Tasting that ice cream, the rose geranium and the Amazake. It almost has savory notes as well, so it's a really interesting flavor.."

Plating

Mark's first to the pass with his celebration of Dr. Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin.

 

Whilst Callum helps by preparing test tubes of quince and sake sauce, Mark layers petri dishes with his ice cream, followed by the puffed rice, then quince compote topped with miso caramel. Each dish is finished with hot rice pudding.