Read about my Masterchef journey below all my recent news.
THE CHELTENHAM FOOD FESTIVAL
Here are the recipes I cooked at the demonstration.
Pan-Fried Fillet of Brill, Braised Baby Gem Lettuce, Smoked Eel Cream, Bacon Crisp
Ingredients: Serves 2
2 fillets of brill
3 small baby gem lettuces
100g smoked eel
Lemon juice
A few chives
100ml double cream
100ml chicken stock
50ml white wine
2 rashers streaky bacon (pre-cooked in oven until crisp)
salt & pepper
olive oil
knob of butter
Method:
1) Cut lettuces in to 4 lengthways. Melt butter in a large based pan, add lettuce and colour on high heat. Then add white wine and cook until evaporated. Add chicken stock and braise over a medium heat until almost evaporated.
2) Heat double cream until almost boiling, reduce heat to very low. Chop smoked eel and add to the mix. Allow to infuse for 5 minutes. Purée the mixture in a mini food processor and pass through a fine sieve. Keep warm until needed.
3) Heat frying pan to high, add knob of butter and little olive oil. Season skin side of brill and place skin side down in the pan. Cook 2 minutes skin side and 1 minute other side, allow to rest, squeeze over a little lemon juice.
4) To assemble, place ring mould in centre of plate, remove lettuce from pan and place in the ring mould. Remove mould, cut fish into two pieces and place attractively on top. Add chopped chives to warm smoked eel cream and spoon around. Garnish with crisp bacon slice
Chocolate Ingot, Olive Oil Crumbs, White Chocolate Emulsion, “Sweet Tapenade”
Ingredients: Serves 4
300g 70% Cocoa Solid Dark Chocolate
6 eggs
100g Clear Honey
100g Green & Black White Choc
1 vanilla pod
Water
100g sugar
Small tub of Smoked olives
1 Orange
Pinch Cinnamon
200ml olive oil extra virgin
100g fresh white bread crumbs
Method:
1) Beat eggs until fluffy and light and cream in colour.
2) Heat honey until 121°c or until it forms large bubbles above the surface.
3) Melt choc and mix carefully with the honey.
4) Add choc mix to egg mix, mix well and pour into moulds. Set in fridge
5) For the white chocolate emulsion, heat 70 ml of water with 70g of sugar until melted. Add white chocolate and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside in a squeezy bottle. You may need to warm in the bottle in hot water if the mixture sets too thick
6) For the olive oil bread crumbs; heat olive oil, add bread crumbs, watch like a hawk! Pour into a sieve when golden then place on kitchen roll to drain.
7) Optional sweet tapenade. Rinse olives thoroughly. Stone and dice finely. Mix in little orange zest, tsp of orange juice, 1/4tsp of cinnamon, 2tsp of honey and seeds from half a vanilla pod. Chill (the mix and you as all the prep is done, easy!)
8) Remove ingot from fridge 1 hour before serving. Slice with hot knife into portions. Squeeze a line of white choc emulsion on plate. Position two slices of the ingot on the line. Sprinkle over bread crumbs. If using place a tiny quenelle of sweet tapenade at one end of the plate.
ONE YEAR ON
Time seems to have flown and I'd barely recovered from our Christmas rush before this new series of Masterchef started. So did the show really change my life? Well it certainly gives me a level of credibility on the cooking front. I've undertaken paid work for dinner parties, a hotel opening and cookery demonstrations. I've given cheese masterclasses at the BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW, written for a charity cookbook, occasionally been recognised in the street and generally been asked "when are you opening your restaurant?". Well plans may be afoot. It would be impossible to run the shop and a restaurant at the same time, so I am currently awaiting offers for the business so I can proceed with the next phase of my journey.
In the meantime, I have a whole notebook full of new recipe ideas that I am keen to develop and staff levels permitting I would like to take some time out to do some food writing.
A LARGE UNDERTAKING
As you probably know I've been catering for private dinner parties. Recently a customer asked me to provide a seven course menu for 10 people. Luckily they had an awesome kitchen for me to cook in. Here's what they had:
Pea jelly with crispy parma ham, mint and Ravida olive oil
Langoustine ravioli with shellfish sauce
Monkfish cheeks with braised chicken thighs and sherry vinegar dressing
Rabbit loin, liver & kidney, pearl barley risotto, beer sauce, “devils on horseback”
Duck breast, cabbage stuffed with confit duck leg, pomme puree, red wine reduction
Rhubarb jelly with toasted almond cream
Pear tart tatin, fromage frais sorbet, star anise salt
Cheeseboard
Salt butter caramel truffles
They ate every single morsel. It was only after the meal that Derek (the host) told me I'd been cooking for two restauranteur friends of his. Fortunately they loved it all, and even said it was the best duck they'd ever tasted. As I'm fond of saying "Pwwehhh!", and I could not have done it without the able assistance of Charlotte in plating up and serving and Georgina in serving and pot washing. They were both amazing. We were so busy that I forget to take any photos so you'll just have to imagine what it looked like.
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COMPETITION WINNER
Katherine Liu was the lucky winner of the competition to win me for an evening dinner party. She invited 3 of her friends, who are all academic experts on Shakespeare, to the meal. The menu consisted of Locally Smoked Trout Tartare with Fennel, Apple & Watercress Salad. Local Duck with Smoked Garlic Pomme Puree, Cabbage stuffed with Duck Leg Confit and Red Wine Sauce, a cheese course, and to finish Raspberry, Lychee and Rosewater Macaroons. Recipes below.
Smoked Trout Tartare with Fennel Apple & Watercress Salad Serves 2
4 smoked trout fillets
1 tablespoon crème fraiche
1 teaspoon chopped chervil
1 teaspoon chopped chives
½ teaspoon of horseradish
1 teaspoon of caviar or herring roe (optional).
1 granny smith – cut into batons
1 bulb of fennel – cut in strips
50ml rapeseed oil
juice ½ lime
pinch sugar
watercress
Shred trout fillets finely add herbs, crème fraiche and horseradish. Place in a ring mould in the middle of plate, remove mould, garnish with teaspoon of caviar.
Mix oil, lime juice and sugar to form a vinaigrette. Dress apple and fennel strips together and then dress watercress. Arrange around the trout.
Duck Breast, Cabbage stuffed with Duck Leg, Garlic Pomme Puree, Red Wine Sauce Serves 4
1 whole Duck
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery Stick, chopped
1 onion finely, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 green Cabbage
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
50g bacon fat processed to a puree
Splash cognac
1 slice white bread soaked in milk
6 large baking potatoes (Maris Piper)
375ml double cream
600ml red wine
600ml chicken stock
Bay leaf
8 juniper berries
8 white peppercorns
8 green peppercorns
Splash port
Butter
Remove breast from duck, slow roast rest of carcass at 165c until legs are cooked through. Remove meat from legs and shred whilst warm. Place in a bowl with the spices, salt, pepper and bacon fat. Squeeze excess milk from bread, add to mixture with a splash of cognac. Mix well. Gently fry off 2 tablespoons of onion and 1 garlic clove until softened, add to duck leg mix.
Blanch cabbage leaves, drain and dry. Brush 4 ramekins with butter, line with cabbage leaves, season inside of leaves then place leg mixture in each. Seal at the top with cabbage and chill until required.
Fry carrot, rest of onion, celery and if you have it, duck neck and wings with 1 clove of garlic until well browned. Deglaze pan with port, add bayleaf, juniper, peppercorns and redwine. Reduce until 1/3rd of original volume. Add chicken stock. Reduce to desired thickness(light syrup consitency is best). Strain through fine sieve into seperate pan. Season. Set aside until needed.
Bake potatoes. Remove flesh whilst still hot. Put through a potato ricer twice. Boil cream with crushed 4 crushed garlic cloves until cream is 1/2 orginal volume. Add to potatoes, fold in gently, season, then slowly fold in 125g of butter cut into cubes.
Season duck breast, pan fry to desired level. Place ramekins with cabbage in steamer for 8 mins or microwave at 850w for 2mins (or until warmed through). Reheat mash and sauce. Place a line on mash in the middle of the plate, turn cabbage out of ramekins and place at one end. Arrange sliced duck breast along rest of potatoes and spoon over sauce.
Raspberry, Lychee and Rosewater Macaroons Serves 4 (adapted from Pierre Hermé)
Tin of lychees, chopped and drained overnight
Punnet of raspberries
Rosewater
145g egg white
145g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
145g granulated sugar
1g powdered egg white
Red food colouring
100g butter
Rose petals
Make the macaroons bases up to 72 hours ahead. Beat almonds, 1/2 egg whites, 145g icing sugar together to form a paste. Add food colouring until deep pink.
Beat remaining eggs whites with egg white powder until medium stiff. Heat 45ml of water with granulated sugar in a pan until it reaches 121c. Trickle sugar syrup over eggs whites whilst continuing to beat them (best done with an electric whisk). Whisk all syrup in then continue whisking until temperature falls to 40c, very slightly warm to the touch. Combine 1/5 of the meringue mix with the almond paste beat in well. Then fold in remaining meringue. Place in a piping bag and pipe 55mm diameter rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet/tray. You'll need 8 to serve 4 people. Best make more in case of breakages, uneven cooking etc. Place in a warm dry place for 45 minutes until a skin forms and they are no longer tacky to the touch.
Bake in 165c oven for about 20-25 mins until the surface is crisp and they lift easily of the baking sheet. Cool and keep in airtight container until needed.
Beat butter with remaining icing sugar until soft and creamy. Add rosewater to taste. Cover base of macaroon with rose buttercream. Arrange raspberries on base to the outside, spoon lychees into the middle. Cover underside of the top with rose butter cream. Place small amount of butter cream on a rose petal and stick to top. Refrigerate until needed (up to 48 hrs) Remove 30 mins before serving.
BREAKFAST CANAPES
Hotel du Vin has just opened in Cheltenham. The company who fitted out the interior of the hotel asked me to cater for their handover party to the hotel management. A few constraints; The party was in 6 days time, on a Monday morning, for 40 people and oh, by the way it needs to be breakfast inspired canapés.
To be honest I quite enjoy a challenge. So I set about devising a number of breakfasty canapés. Here is what I came up with. Cappucino cake, Earl Grey tea macaroons (similar to the macaroon recipe above but just filled with an Earl Grey buttercream), mini scotch pancakes with maple syrup mascarpone cream & raspberries, mini banana and caramelised walnut muffins.
The savoury selection consisted of: Manchego with membrillo, agridolce figs & rocket wrapped in serrano ham, bacon & mushroom scones with confit tomato, and smoked trout on dill oatcakes.
I was particularly please with the Earl Grey tea macaroons as I managed to encapsulate all the fragrance of the tea in the filling. I assembled the macaroons at 3.30am on Sunday morning after a night out. The mixture hadn't dried enough to go into the oven before I left, so they had to be finished when I got home, slightly worse for wear. I ended up sitting on the kitchen floor by the oven wishing them to hurry up and cook. My girlfriend had diligently and, moreover punctually, dealt with the other baking elements and was fast asleep in bed.
Canapés are always fiddly and hardwork, but the result was definitely worth it! MASTERCHEF - From applicant to finalist - I’d applied for Masterchef Series 2 but must have missed the deadline as I heard nothing until April of 2006. I was given a 1 hour telephone interview and invited down to the auditions along with 800 others. We were asked to bring along a cold dish we could serve immediately and given a 20 minute interview on camera. My dish, a coconut bavarois, passionfruit jelly and coconut tuiles was well received and 6 weeks later I got the call. I was in!
WHY DOES FILMING TAKE SO LONG?- Prior to arriving I had wondered why they needed us to be there for the whole day, after all the invention test requires you to cook a dish in 40 minutes. It soon became clear that filming this show takes a long time.
The format that follows was kept up throughout the competition: Entrance shots, one on one interviews before tasks, immediately after tasks, after eliminations and the day after (just so you’ve had time to reflect and they haven’t missed anything). After editing, the result is about 20 seconds of footage, if you are lucky!. Setting up shots, particularly food shots of the finished dishes takes time, judging each dish can take up to 15 minutes. So it all adds up to a long tense day. It must be said though that the crew work those hours as well and were always good humoured throughout.
As these shots take so long the food is, without exception, stone cold by the time it’s tasted. John and Gregg do factor this into their comments and try to taste as many elements of your dish whilst you are cooking.
THE HEAT
The invention test: I felt physically sick and thought I might freeze. I had no inspiration for probably 10 minutes, you can see me in one shot just standing there looking petrified, but then I realised I’d better do something. Fortunately I got the least negative comments of the six and felt I had a good chance of making to the next day.
The pressure test:
Most of the morning was spent trying to sort out sound and camera angles. We were shown the dishes once before service, but only cooked our first portion when the orders came in. In truth we didn’t have the hardest of tasks, although it was a busy lunch, the dishes weren’t that complex. We all enjoyed the morning, but just wanted to get stuck into cooking our own dishes. Chris was really inspired by the morning and it sealed his decision to go to catering college. We’ve met up since, and he is doing really well on the course.
2 Courses in an hour: I never really felt at home in the Masterchef studio kitchen until the end of the semi’s. The time, flew by, but I felt reasonably in control. John had said he thought I had a game plan. He was right. I never wanted to win anything so much as this competition. My aim was to at the very least make the quarter finals. In order to do that I felt I had to use my best dessert early on. In retrospect, maybe I should have saved it. The favourable comments and the fact I produced what I intended gave me a lot of confidence. I was surprised and touched by Chris and Rebekah's reactions. They were genuinely pleased for me, and gave me strict instructions “to go on a win the whole thing”.
QUARTER FINAL
With just 24 hours between my heat and my quarter final I’d hardly had time to take stock. I felt absolutely shattered and was hoping that a well needed dose of adrenalin would keep me going. Adrenalin, I got, by the bucket load. I don’t know if it was just the combination of the four of us, but the emotion was unbelievable. We were all highly competitive individuals, and realising this gave us a measure of respect and fear for each other.
Passion Test: I was comfortable with the test and knew from their reactions I said something that grabbed their interest.
Ingredients test: Oh dear oh dear, not my best hour. The less said the better. I got some basics wrong and ended up with 6 out of 10. Both Helen and Louise did better.
Elimination: To have to go at this stage not even having cooked is beyond harsh. We were all just a bag of nerves and close to tears at several points before going through to sit on the sofa. Sharif was terribly unlucky; having seen his dishes in the heat you’d think he had a decent chance. I’ve no more insight into the judge’s decision that what was seen on TV. We all felt for him, and it’s a part of the show that every contestant thought should be abolished.
3 courses in 1hr 30:
My god time was tight. Just as the judges came round my white chocolate and lime cream split. With 10 minutes to go I thought I wouldn’t produce 1 dish let alone 3. I was desperately struggling to get the frozen lid off a box of ice cubes and eventually swore very loudly launching the whole thing across the studio floor. Fortunately the cameras were on Louise at the time.
I managed to improvise the dessert minus the split cream, although the dish looked an absolute mess. From the judges assessment I felt I was going out. I called my girlfriend to let her know and tell her nonetheless I was happy as they gave high praise to my starter, a dish I’d invented myself.
I was shocked to go through. From the judges' decision seen on TV it appeared that it was down to my starter and my potential. My heart really went out to Helen and Louise who put a huge amount into the competition.
SEMI-FINALS
The semis were filmed over two weeks with the occasional days break.
From 6 to 4:My god the competition was tough. I was so impressed with the standard of most of the food produced. I was labelled "conceited" for trying to cook in the style I’d chosen. I had a long debate with John and Gregg and defended my dish, after all the aim of the programme was to get contestants to produce “restaurant quality food”. Of the dishes I got to taste that day, David’s I felt stood out as the best.
Breakfast test: Having taken a roasting for overly pretty presentation I could not have produced a bigger mess than I did with the tomato sauce. I still cringe when I think back to it. As for the maple syrup, well it’s down to personal taste.
Volume test: And volume we got , 4 hours to cook 500 portions of food for school kids, using little or no salt/sugar, in a kitchen we didn’t know, without recipes, and between 4 of us instead of the usual 14 staff the school employ. It was portrayed that David and I were running late. In fact both teams got their food out ahead of time, quite an achievement in itself. That said I didn’t enjoy the task and was feeling pretty low.
After a weekend off and pep talks from my father, stepmother and girlfriend I returned with renewed confidence and a determination to succeed. Being in a more positive frame of mind helped my cooking immensely. Gregg commented that happy people make better food. He had a point.
Fine dining test:
Part 1: As we drove up to Waddesdon Manor I knew I’d be far more in my element than the previous two tests. And so I was. On top of what you see, we also had to create 8 canapés before moving on to cook our dishes. I loved the experience. The head chef was a superb teacher and remained so calm throughout. The challenge was made even more difficult as the serving kitchen was located 3 floors above the prep kitchen. I was just praying that nothing fell of the trolley or spilt as we made this perilous journey. The highlight of the day though was tasting 3 vintages of Chateau Mouton Rothschild, some of which retail at over £250 a bottle. Reward enough I felt for the hard days cooking we’d undergone. As we were driven back to London I slipped in to a deep wine induced sleep.
Part 2: The following day we had a later start in the studio, which was a good job as I had a little bit of a hangover to sleep off. This challenge was almost déjà vu. Another invention test, but this time with finer ingredients and an extra 10 minutes. I had a resonnably clear idea of what I wanted to do. The dish got great comments. I was back on track and had proved to the judges that I could match my presentation with the flavours it promised. Phew, what a relief.
Indian Restaurant: Cyrus Todiwala is a great guy, awesome chef and an absolute nutter to boot. I would have preferred any one of the other restaurants. Spicing and Indian cuisine is a whole different language within cooking, and an area which I prefer the mystique to remain. Talking of other languages, the whole of lunch service was conducted in hindi, apart from when Cyrus was talking to me. I was shown how to make dhosas in the middle of service, quite a challenging skill to learn. In the studio task that followed, the ghee I had been given was found to be sour. With 10 minutes to go i had to redo my peas and potatoes from scratch, no wonder the spicing and seasoning wasn't spot on.
The four of us: After the above show was broadcast, all four of us managed to speak on a conference call (a.k.a group therapy). We've all been supportive of each others' down times during both the filming and screening of the show. Being exposed on camera, having your every mistake writ large and reliving those stressful times can be very draining. We've all found the negative comments on the message boards very hard to deal with at times. We each put our heart and soul into the show. We sacrified alot, personally and professionally, over a period of six months. We all wanted to win, we gave each other bloody stiff competition throughout, but we never lost sight that we all wanted the same thing, all loved cooking and all pushed ourselves to the limit: in that we will always have a common bond. Hannah,David and Steven, thanks for being there.
The critics meal: We had a day and half free beforehand. I have never, ever felt nerves like it, I was a jittering wreck and my legs were about as firm as the half-set jelly I served up in the quarterfinal. Somehow I found a moment of calm the night before and managed to hold onto it throughout the next day. The cooking flowed and was actually enjoying it. I knew that a good frame of mind usual meant good food. As the dishes went out I was pleased that I’d produced the best food I could. Watching last night for the first time, I was glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of the critics who were pretty severe in their assessments. I hadn’t realised until seeing the show what they’d actually said about my food. To receive praise from two individuals whose job it is to review restaurants made me immensely proud. In Masterchef though, there is no chance to rest on your laurels. The competition just gets tougher!
That day was, unfortunately, always going to be a bitter-sweet one, someone would end up devastated. David did some exceptional cooking throughout the show. His passion for British regional food is amazing. We’ve kept in touch, and although on a downer for a few weeks after he has used the experience to his advantage. You can follow him on his superb blog CLICK HERE
THE FINAL WEEK
The critics day was long. We got to bed very late and had taxis picking us up at 5.am the following morning to fly to Cyprus. The final would be filmed over 3 weeks. During both the semi-and the final I rarely slept for more than 5 hours a night due to worry, adrenalin and a bloody awful sofabed in the studio flat provided by the production company! Cyprus was to be the exception. We’d been allocated a 5 star hotel.
Casualty – This show was actually filmed after our trip to Cyprus. Hannah had burnt and cut herself quite badly in previous challenges. She must have developed an infection in the wounds and had become very ill. It was a chance the crew couldn’t miss, carting poor old Hannah off in a blanket through the set of Casualty.
Casualty has been going for twenty years and is filmed in a warehouse in Bristol. The set is permanent, but due to planning restrictions they have never built a permanent kitchen. So everyday the cast traipses outside in all weathers to queue for their lunch. The van we cooked in is something else. Due to its size you have to be incredibly organised, work very tidily and clean as you go. I think the crew were expecting something out of the ordinary as we were Masterchef contestants. But this wasn’t the day for elaborate dishes, even if we’d had the time to do them.
I was hoping to serve Charlie, but he wasn’t there that day, and for all I know he may have left the show as it’s years since I watched. There were plenty of other recognisable faces to keep us amused. All the cast remained in costume for lunch. It’s quite disconcerting to have someone come up to you in full make-up looking like they’ve been in a car crash and ask for more custard on their pud. At the end of the task both Steven and myself felt like we’d done exceptionally well just to serve the volume of people in such a short time.
The Army – The “remote” training area was serviced by an immaculate tarmac road just of the main coastal highway. As you can probably gather I’m not the most enthusiastic when it comes to volume tasks and I can’t bring myself to cook with awful ingredients. You can’t get much more awful than ration packs.
Ok, so the Sergeant Major and I weren’t the best of friends in the morning. We were put under a lot of pressure, and my leadership was called into question, as was our organisation as a team. I found it incredibly hard to cook with the field kitchen equipment, not least a certain tin-opener. It was all quite comical in retrospect, but on the day, we felt far from jovial. In the end we produced the food on time (just) and beat the army team on flavours.
That evening I was determined to prove myself to the SM. I chose the smallest workspace in the kitchen, kept it immaculate throughout and got my dishes out on time. Outside my room at the hotel I'd found a rose geranium plant, I picked some of the leaves thinking they might come in handy that evening. Sure enough they did as I was asked to come up with three mini desserts. I couldn't remember recipes for pavlova or the mille-feuille so it was all guess work. Thankfully the three dishes turned out as I'd hoped.
I felt that throughout the day we had all worked well as a team, stepping in to help each other when necessary. That evening the crew, John and Gregg indulged themselves in the bar. I unfortunately missed Gregg’s 30 minute stand-up impressions of the contestants and crew. Apparently no one was spared.
No.10: We knew something big was brewing days before. The crew were on edge and forever whispering things just out of earshot. We’d wrongly concluded the night before that we’d be cooking for Charles and Camilla at the Royal Variety performance which was taking place that day. When Gregg and John announced our task we were surprised and I had mixed emotions. On the one hand I knew that I was in an extremely privileged position to be cooking for two prime ministers at number 10, but from a personal point of view I have found many of Tony Blair’s political decisions in recent years hard to swallow so I was unsure of how I would react when meeting him – I knew that I had a difficult day ahead of me.
We were given a recipe each along with pictures of how it should look and an equipment list. No10 kitchen has no equipment in it at all, not a can opener, not a teaspoon, not one single pot or pan. We had to pack everything we needed that day. Unfortunately, the equipment lists were short on some items, which led to Hannah and I having to share oven pans and inevitable delays. There was a lot of waiting around when we arrived as the press were waiting outside the door for the P.M. We had to use the back entrance so we weren’t spotted. All very clandestine, the arrival shots were filmed the following day when neither the PM nor the press were around.
The cooking went by in a blur. So many processes to complete and so little time. John and Gregg both stepped in towards the end to help myself and Hannah, with us helping Steven once our dishes went out. It was quite amusing watching the two of them, dressed in their best suits and ties getting down and dirty in the kitchen. John didn’t have anyone to blame but himself as it was his restaurant which came up with the dishes!
A school boy error of leaving the Wellingtons on the hot plate as I brought them out meant that the last few were overdone; fortunately the 8 that went out to the table were fine. They went out as per the picture I was given, which you can see in shot pinned up on the wall. Nonetheless, the inevitable comment of it not looking as attractive as my usual dishes was levied. Well I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t. At that stage of the competition we were all feeling the stress. Hannah and I had been living away from home and loved ones for 4 weeks and we all had work to worry about. Having been judged everyday during this period, you start to analyse your own every little mistake and think….have I just blown it. The pressure is immense! We left No.10 quite late that evening. Food hadn’t been provided we had to make our own arrangements. The only place open was a regal burger outlet. Oh the shame of it!
The Savoy: This was a dream come true for me, to meet and make an impression on these chefs at the top of their game. It was without doubt the longest continuous stint we have ever cooked for, 12 hours non-stop (like real pro chefs!). We ate our lunch standing up. Could you imagine cooking for a more intimidating dinner party?. We were cooking someone else’s dishes, which we’d never practised, in an unfamiliar kitchen. To produce anything worthy of credit would be a major victory..
As described in the commentary we each had incredibly complex and challenging dishes to produce. I myself had 8 lobsters, 40 langoustine and 50 crayfish to be cooked and shelled before I could even embark on the rest of the recipe. The processes were complicated and many. I made steady progress and I was delighted that I was able to get my dishes out on time. As I walked into the room I wasn’t sure what to expect, I didn’t know whether what I’d sent out was up to scratch or not. At the time all I could hear ringing through my ears were the words of Michel Roux, but in retrospect I had ignored all of the positive feedback from the other chefs, especially how much they had praised my technical skills. I should have been pleased that I’d got even one positive out of them but I am my own harshest critic!. I left downhearted for the post analysis interview where I expressed how much I just wanted to cook my own dishes, I would have loved the opportunity to be able to serve one of my own creations to the chefs.
The next twist in the story blew me away; as I made my way to the kitchen I was called back. Marcus Wareing and Raymond Blanc had something more to say to me. Marcus said that he admired my determination and passion and Raymond Blanc said he’d be happy to employ me and invited me down to Le Manoir for a few trial days. What an honour! In spite of my disappointment at not ‘wowing’ them I was absolutely chuffed to bits that they recognised my potential. I’m hoping to be able to take Raymond up on his offer when the dust has settled.
Back in the kitchen it was all hands on deck to get the remaining dishes out. I was totally spent at the end of the day, but had to make a mad dash across London to catch the finals throes of my school and university friend Angela’s wedding reception. Missing their wedding was one of the many sacrifices being in Masterchef demanded. Fortunately Angela and her husband Ken are avid foodies and were behind me 100% despite me missing their big day.
The whole day was a rollercoaster of emotion for us all, for many different reasons. We all worked incredibly hard and pulled together as a team when needed! We knew we were now in the final straight with only a few challenges left.
GRAND FINAL:
The final show started, the same way it began for all of us, with an invention test. This one didn’t feel nearly as daunting as the first one, and I think it’s fair to say we all demonstrated the progress we made, or perhaps we just demonstrated we were used to the pressure, the kitchen and the cameras!. As soon as it was finished we made our way to the Eurostar terminal.
Myself and the crew arrived the following day at Patrick Pignol’s restaurant to the surprise of all the staff. He wasn’t there and none of the staff had been told to expect us. Fortunately I’d grown up in Belgium and my French was still serviceable. After a small debate his second in command agreed to let me get involved with the prep. After two hours Patrick arrived. He was worth waiting for, he was indeed the “character” I’d been promised. We seemed to hit it off straight away and felt at ease with the situation. He was constantly joshing and joking with me. His tongue-in-cheek sense of humour is epitomised in his none too subtle phallic signature dish of foie gras in potato sheath; something I would have to make later, much to the amusement of the crew.
Patrick’s small restaurant caters for a loyal band of foodies who appreciate the food, the atmosphere and above all his mercurial charm. During service he was happy to get me making as many dishes as possible, including the frog’s leg dish which involved pulling the bone from over 20 legs as soon as they had been tipped from the frying pan. More a test of resistance to pain than cooking skill, but I was game to play along. I felt at home in the restaurant and had daydreams of relocating to Paris and working for him.
Back in London it was Monday 18th December and time for our final cook-off. I’d planned a starter of brill with braised celery, and brown shrimp. With a week to go I decided to change the dish and go with a new combination of scallop, apple and black pudding. I made the final tweaks to it the Saturday before, and felt comfortable that all the elements balanced. I’d also been fretting about whether to include the coffee foam in my pigeon dish. An unusual flavour to add, but one I was convinced completed the dish, but after all the question marks over my flavours would the judges be similarly convinced?
Everything went as planned, there were no major mishaps whilst I cooked and I seemed to be fine with time. Don’t forget that we had to cook 3 courses and dish them all up at the 2 hour point, something that required careful planning.
Thankfully I was first to be judged. The relief as both John and Gregg enjoyed my starter was immense, then praise for the main, I was feeling relatively pleased until the dessert. It didn’t float their boat. They asked me in advance if it was designed to shock. Not at all, it was a dish that had originally been inspired from a fennel ice cream I had tried in a restaurant. To me the orange, fennel and olives worked beautifully together, whilst it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, my aim was always to serve dishes I believed in.
I hoped that the praise given to my first two dishes, the creativity and work that went into them would perhaps counter the comments on the dessert. When all three of us had been judged I felt I was in with a chance. Not the best of chances but certainly a fighting one. The wait was interminable. John and Gregg debated for over two hours. At close to 7pm we were called back in. Six months of preparation, cooking, pressure, stress and hope would all be come to and end within minutes. As would stood there in a line minutes passed as the crew got shots of us trembling, exhausted from the strain of the intense 5 weeks that made up the semi and the final. I had a horrible feeling, John’s eyes had always given the decision away in previous rounds, every time I’d made it through his eyes had darted back and forth to me. They didn’t this time.
After the decision was announced I hug and congratulated Steven before I was overwhelmed by my own disappointment. Hannah and I were rightly whisked off so Steven could celebrate and savour his moment.
I could hardly bring myself to talk afterwards such was my feeling of failure. Eventually the crew managed to get a few comprehensible comments from me. I spent some time on my own in a quiet corridor before calling my girlfriend and parents to tell them. I wanted to get back home, but also wanted to thank all who’d been involved over the six months. Everyone was spread out in different areas of the building but I was able to track down Hannah, Steven and the crew and say my goodbyes. John had a few words to say to me but sadly Gregg had already left. As documented in our blogs, we all keep in touch; I’m not sure how John or Gregg are doing as they haven’t been in touch since the judging.
I’d no time to reflect on the experience as I was returning to the busiest week of the year in my shop; a week of 14 hour days. Masterchef had been excellent preparation!
Along the way I was given tremendous support from my staff, my parents and their partners, but above all my partner Charlotte. In her I have the most supportive, encouraging girlfriend a person could ever wish for. From her practical advice, her feedback on dishes to her words of wisdom and ability to make me laugh at my mistakes; she’s been an invaluable part of Team Cheese. Thank you to all of you who helped me try to achieve my goal and thanks to all the members of the public who gave me their best wishes in person and via the net.
So how do I feel now, 3 months later? Well being my own harshest critic I’ve relived my mistakes a few times. However, there is a lot I can take from the journey. I’ve cooked 553 portions of food along the way. I’ve catered for TV stars, Majors, Prime Ministers, food critics, school children, paying customers, Michelin-starred chefs, Parisians, and last but not least those two rogues that make up the dynamic duo.
My low/funniest points: the maple syrup, “cheese” in a tin, brandishing a tin-opener at the Warrant Officer and kicking an ice tray across the studio floor in a hissy fit during my quarter-final.
My high points: choking John and Gregg with all that chilli (they asked for punch, they got it!), tempting Charlotte to eat chicken after 15 years as a veggie, slugging a vintage Bordeaux from the bottle seconds before meeting Tony Blair, any of ten given moments with Patrick Pignol and of course the food critics; Charles Campion’s plaudits and Kate Spicer’s state of arousal.
What next? Having been so involved with Masterchef last year my business took a back seat so I need to get it back on track., Charlotte is leaving her job to come and run the shop which will hopefully allow me spend some time in restaurants learning a lot more. I’ll keep you updated along the way.
Well done to Steven: Masterchef 2007 and to everyone who applied, competed and made the competition what it is.
Miscellaneous: We were given a number of challenges throughout the show which never made the final cut. We had to cook profiteroles and chicken paté according to a recipe, similar to the bouillabaisse challenge. In Paris we also spent a morning at the Ritz – Escoffier cookery school with a superb and must be said quite comedic chef. Yet again we were asked to cook dishes according to traditional recipes: Red Mullet with potato scales, chicken and foie gras ballontine etc.
What you end up seeing on TV is only a tiny percentage of all the hours of footage that were shot.
The Masterchef finals and semi-finals were filmed almost continuously over 5 weeks with some days starting at 7am and not finishing until 11pm. It’s difficult to convey the pressure you are under. The initial invention test is, for most contestants, the most nerve-wracking time. This is the first time that you are competing, the first time on camera and the first time in the studio kitchens. In many cases it may also be the first time that you have ever cooked the dish you produce from the ingredients. Then you may well be on your way home. It doesn’t necessarily mean you are a bad cook, sometimes the pressure just gets to you.
A DISH: from initial idea to finished article
My final dish of pigeon with chard, parsnip puree, coffee foam and cassis sauce was a risky dish to do, particularly in a final. There are a lot of flavours vying with each other and they all need to be finally balanced to work. So how did I come up with the dish?
I was eating chocolate coated coffee beans in my shop and noticed a blackcurrant aftertaste. It got me thinking about using blackcurrant and coffee together. I originally devised a blackcurrant pannacotta with coffee snap. I’d always wanted to showcase unusual dishes and flavour combinations on Masterchef, I had a large stock of desserts I could produce, but felt I needed some more inventive mains in my repertoire. Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) is often added to game sauces to add a background fruitness and sweetness. Slowly the concept was coming together. Next: which game to use?. Pigeon has an almost livery quality to it, the perfect balance to sharp sweetness of the cassis, which was now incorporated into a deep rich pigeon stock based sauce. I wasn’t sure how best to get the coffee into the dish, it needed to be present but not overpowering, its earthiness blending seamlessly with the pigeon and allowing the cassis to come through. Foams may sound poncy and pretentious but there are many cases where they merit inclusion. They are the perfect vehicle for carrying flavour without being overpowering. So I devised a coffee foam using a light chicken stock and cream as a base, lecithin(a fat emulsifier) was added to stabilise the foam. I chose parsnips as their earthy sweetness worked with both sauce and meat, and swiss chard for the bitterness and a dab of colour on the plate. Finally, the potato rosti adds texture to the dish. The reward: they loved it!
The above dish it’s a fairly lengthy and complicated so if you’d like to use coffee in a savoury dish then try this:
Steak with coffee sauce:
Cook your steaks in a very hot frying pan, adding a knob of butter towards the end of cooking. Remove the steaks, pour out any excess fat, add 1 teaspoon of instant coffee granules then 100ml of chicken stock and deglaze, reducing the stock to a syrupy consistency, finally add 75 ml of double cream and reduce to desired thickness. Season with salt and a good grind of black pepper, adding more coffee if required. Pour over your steaks and serve with parsnip mash.
