10 June 2024 | Blog
6 November 2019
The Nurtured Way
MasterChef: The Professionals 2019 – Week One Heats
For the next 4 weeks, Tuesday’s and Wednesdays episodes will each have 6 contestants who will be competing and cooking through a variety of heats, quarter finals and knockouts until the ultimate winner is crowned. Who are then whittled down to 2 groups of 3 who will appear in the quarter finals on a Fridays episode.
In the first opening heat, each chef begins with the famous skills test. Under the watchful eye of all three judges, the first moments for any chef in this competition are crucial, as their knowledge, palate and experience are tested. The 3 chefs began to make a tagliatelle pasta and serve it with a lamb ragu sauce and chives. They had only 15 minutes to show how to prep a squid before perfectly cooking it tempura-style, whilst also having to whip up an impeccable mayonnaise, set by Monica Galetti.
The remaining 3 chefs face marcus’ skills test. Challenging them to prepare and poach a guinea fowl breast, with a sauce robert and a hispi cabbage, rosemary and thyme garnish.
All 6 chefs will then have a chance to redeem themselves from any earlier mistakes when their cook their own signature dish, where they must show creativity, palate and personal style, in an hour and 15 minutes. A final chance to show their culinary talent before the judges decide which 3 stay and which 3 go home.
Lets meet and see how the chefs got on, in episode one…
Freddie, aged 25. Senior Sous chef at a fine dining hotel restaurant in West Sussex.
Signature Dish: Pan fried sea bass on a bed of cream cabbage and bacon, with a garnish of parsnip puree, fondant potatoes, baby carrots, baby turnips, crispy shallots and nasturtium leaves, served with a red wine sauce.
Monica enjoyed the dish, saying the seabags had a ‘wonderful crispness‘ with a rich and tasty sauce. Monica believed this dish shows the love Freddie has for classic cookery.
Gregg couldn’t compliment the dish enough, saying overall it was ‘just wonderful‘.
Marcus was very happy that Freddie had shown the judges exactly what they wanted, by cooking an ‘outstanding plate of food‘.
Yann, aged 30. A private chef in London.
Signature Dish: Pan roasted wood pigeon, with confit leg, baby carrots, a carrot and cardamom puree and a rosemary cream, topped with a rosemary blossom, butterfly sorrel and a marsala and shallot jus.
Marcus praised the chef on how brave he was to cook the wood pigeon, but thought it was ‘really lovely‘. He went on to praise up the dish more, with a slight criticism that the confit leg was a little on the ‘dry side‘.
Monica really enjoyed the different flavours coming from the puree, which went really well with the pigeon.
Gregg agreed with the other 2 judges and thought the flavours were very ‘clever‘.
Craig, aged 42. A Private chef in Cornwall.
Signature Dish: Cured and torched mackerel with dash kohl Rabi, apple and mackerel gel and a tarragon emulsion topped with sesame seeds, oyster leaf and sea purslane.
Monica enjoyed the ‘flavours on the plate‘, but suggested the chef to pay attention to the bones in the mackerel.
Marcus thought the dish was ‘well presented’ and had some ‘great flavours running through the plate’.
Gregg enjoyed the ‘beautiful array of greatly matched flavours‘ and thought it was a ‘terrible shame‘ the chef hadn’t took away the bones.
Raquel, aged 32. Junior Sous chef at 2AA rosette restaurant in Edinburgh.
Signature Dish: Marinated mackerel on a bed of tomato and cucumber salsa, with muscles and mole sauce made from tomatoes, chilli, nuts and dark chocolate.
Unfortunately she didn’t have enough time to make a jalapeño and cream velouté.
Monica really liked the mackerel and salsa underneath, but unfortunately didn’t enjoy the mole sauce in combination with the rest of the dish and believed something was missing.
Gregg thought the mole was ‘divine‘, but wasn’t convinced it went with the mackerel.
Marcus thought the dish was very ‘interesting‘, but didn’t believe it was ‘executed very well‘ and she ‘rushed and tried too hard‘.
Joesph, aged 22. Senior chef de partie at a hotel in Cambridge.
Signature Dish: Pan fried trout, with a plantain crust, a cream and coriander puree, sautéed red peppers and a passionfruit trout roe sauce.
Marcus was impressed with the cooks fish cookery, but thought the passionfruit and fish roe sauce was a ‘real odd combination‘.
Oddly Monica liked how different the dish was, praising the chefs plantain crust and cool ideas, just wish he had ‘refined’ it more.
Gregg congratulated the chef on his big flavours, but unfortunately this did ‘overpower‘ everything on the plate.
Yaz, aged 24. Senior chef de partie in London.
Signature Dish: Pan fried coley with burnt leek and caper crumb, served with muscles, barbecued leek and sea vegetables and finished with a dill oil and leek velouté.
Marcus was very impressed with the ‘packed flavours and combinations of ingredients into the dish‘ and couldn’t praise the dish up enough.
Gregg couldn’t agree more, saying it was a ‘beautifully strong and at the same time delicate plate‘.
Monica loved the fish cookery from yaz and had ‘sold the plate of food‘ to her.
Gregg, Marcus and Monica all agreed that the 3 chefs going through to the quarter finals would be; Yaz, Freddie and Yann.
Unfortunately saying bye and good luck for the future to Joesph, Craig and Raquel.
Lets meet and see how the chefs got on, in episode Two…
The first 3 chefs began to take on the task of tackling a crab omelette Arnold bennett, in this skills test set by Marcus Wareing.
The remaining 3 chefs face Monica’s skills test. Digging into their pastry repertoire, they are asked to create a puff pastry and vanilla mousseline layered dessert.
All 6 chefs will then have a chance to redeem themselves from any earlier mistakes when their cook their own signature dish, where they must show creativity, palate and personal style, in an hour and 15 minutes. A final chance to show their culinary talent before the judges decide which 3 stay and which 3 go home.
Christian, aged 36. Chef Patron at a pub in Brighton.
Signature Dish: Lemon sole papillote in a hazelnut crust, a pepper sauce and sea herbs, served with a pea shoots salad and pomp de pain with salt and vinegar seasoning.
Gregg particularly liked the sauce that complimented the hazelnuts, however there were ‘too many elements to the dish that had been drowned in the vinegar‘ making him ‘wince‘.
Marcus was impressed with the chefs fish cookery and thought his combinations.
Monica was very happy that the chef didn’t over cook the fish, saying it just ‘fell away‘, but suggested the chef take care when adding the vinegar powder.
Andy, aged 35. Head chef in Bristol.
Signature Dish: Pan fried lamb loin, served with peas, broad beans, asparagus and glazed onions, with a tomato and mustard dressing, finished with a lamb and port sauce.
Monica liked that the ‘lamb was pink and the asparagus had a bite‘, but unfortunately for Monica the sauce was so sweet she couldn’t taste the flavour from the lamb and therefore wasn’t ‘wowed‘ about it.
Marcus hoped for a ‘point of difference‘, but didn’t think the 2 sauces worked together on the plate together.
Gregg enjoyed the textures, but would ‘preferred more seasoning‘ on the lamb and wasn’t ‘convinced‘ by the mustard and tomato sauce.
Neil, aged 20. Chef de partie at a fine dining restaurant in South Wales.
Signature Dish: Squab pigeon, pigeon leg stuffed with chicken mousse, braised baby leek, sautéed mushrooms, silver-skin onions, black truffle puree, deep fried quails egg and a juniper jus.
Unfortunately the chef didn’t manage to get on the purple kale.
Marcus loved the ‘cookery of the pigeon, vegetables and mushrooms‘ but didn’t think the chef needed the quail egg on the plate.
Gregg was shocked by the change of chef from the first round, but thought the cookery was ‘excellent‘, but for the judge the ‘black truffle and juniper sauce was too heavenly seasoned‘.
Monica was impressed by a young chef showing so many skills off on one plate, but suggested he give himself ‘more time‘.
Masterchef: The Professionals – OliviaOlivia, aged 24. Sous chef in London.
Signature Dish: Butter roasted turbot with a garnish of yellow courgettes, sprouting broccoli, asparagus, crispy chicken skin and micro herbs on a bed of wild garlic and broccoli puree, finished with a chicken butter sauce.
Marcus was over enjoyed with a dish full of flavour and congratulated the chef on her choice of vegetables and cookery. Also adding he was a ‘big fan‘ of the dish as it was ‘sensational‘.
Monica thought the chef had showed ‘skill and style‘ and congratulated her on her dish.
Gregg agreed with both the other judges, saying ‘the dish had been cooked by someone with absolute skill‘.
Michael, aged 29. Head Chef in Norfolk.
Signature Dish: Roast lamb cannon with Persian potatoes, silver-skin onions, asparagus, carrots, broad beans, pea puree and a red currant and mint jus.
Unfortunately for Monica the lamb was ‘overcooked‘, but enjoyed the idea of a roast dinner and congratulated the chef on his ‘comeback from the first round‘.
Gregg thought it was a ‘nicely flavoured dish‘, but agreed with Monica and said the ‘lamb could be a little bit more pinker‘.
Marcus worried about the red currant jelly, and unfortunately he was right, which made the dish ‘very sweet‘. He also congratulated the chef on his ‘fight‘.
Killian, aged 27. Chef de partie in London.
Signature Dish: Roast rump of lamb topped with pea shoots, served with braised baby gem lettuce and peas, fondant potato and a red wine sauce.
Marcus didn’t believe the lamb was cooked enough, making it ‘incredibly tough and difficult to eat‘.
Gregg didn’t think the chefs fondant potato was cooked enough.
Monica enjoyed the vegetables, but agreed with the judges and clearly the chef didn’t get his meat ‘cooked in time‘, which was a ‘shame‘.
Gregg, Marcus and Monica all agreed that the 3 chefs going through to the quarter finals would be; Olivia, Christian & Neil
Unfortunately saying bye and good luck for the future to Killian, Andy & Michael.
