> Features

Five things we learnt from week one of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016

Five things we learnt from week one of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016

by Great British Chefs 11 November 2016

From strange steaks to vile veloutés, the first week of MasterChef saw some ambitious chefs go into meltdown over basic techniques. Here are five lessons we all learnt over the initial three episodes.


More from this series:

If you’re a fan of watching professional chefs flounder, panic and eventually produce incredible plates of food, 2016 has been a pretty good year. As soon as Great British Menu came to a close, Gregg, Monica and Marcus were on hand to step right in and kick-start a new series of MasterChef: The Professionals. While there are less shots of people asking each other if they’re nervous and no liquid nitrogen to be seen (for now, at least), it’s good to see less established chefs taking a punt and putting their career on the line in a bid to make a name for themselves.

However, there’s always the risk of being caught out by a few basic techniques or recipes that – in theory – every chef should know. Such as…

1. Check the bottom of your tart tin

As many of the unfortunate contestants in the first episode of this series discovered, tart tins have evolved in all sorts of exciting ways since the dark days of culinary competitions. Flipping their painstakingly crafted Pistachio and raspberry tarts out of their tins upside-down onto a plate, many lost that professional finish they’d worked so hard to achieve. They should have taken a closer look at the tin – just a light prod on the bottom would’ve released the tart gently and in one perfect piece. Welcome to the future, chefs – where loose-bottomed tart tins are a reality!

Pistachio and raspberry Bakewell tart
by James Mackenzie
How to fillet a flat fish

2. You can get T-bone steaks from more than just beef

Episode two’s technical challenge seemed to confuse not only Gregg (not hard) but a lot of viewers, too, as Monica claimed you can get a T-bone steak from a plaice. Rather than presenting some sort of genetically modified cow-fish mutant being, there was relief all round when we realised it was just a way of portioning the plaice into bone-in steaks, completely beef-free. If you’re wondering how to fillet a flat fish in the more conventional way, take a look at our video guide.

3. Know your classical French techniques

The wild garlic velouté challenge Marcus and Monica (and Gregg, we suppose) set in episode two stumped pretty much everyone, which goes to show knowing your French classics is pretty vital if you’re in a professional cooking competition. Essentially a stock thickened with roux (although these days it can refer to almost any sauce thickened with butter or cream), it’s one of the five ‘mother sauces’ that form the basis of classical French cooking – something that a lot of the chefs need to read up on.

Velouté
Recipe Collection
Salmon with sauce vierge
by Steven Doherty

4. Brush up on the basics

In general, episode two was a bit of a disaster all round, as something as simple as a sauce vierge – an uncooked dressing of tomatoes, oil, herbs and citrus juice – resulted in mass panic amongst the contestants. The few who did get it right struggled with the plaice, once again showing that it’s no use being all bells and whistles if you haven’t mastered the basics. Maybe they should’ve taken a look at Steven Doherty’s Salmon with sauce vierge before applying to the show.

5. Don’t put asaparagus in cakes

This is something most of us could probably guess, but it’s always nice to have confirmation. Despite James’ obvious technical skill, his borderline insane decision to serve a lemon cake with a stalk of asparagus baked into it (alongside another caramelised stalk and some blobs of asparagus gel) was just plain weird rather than avant-garde. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t go down well, prompting some great facial expressions from Monica and withering put downs from the critics. While some vegetables work beautifully in cake (see: carrot, courgette, beetroot), asparagus is perhaps just a little too vegetal for pudding.

Comments ()

Five things we learnt from week one of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016

 

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Change your username in user settings to something more personal.

 

(Editing)

>

This comment was edited

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Reply | | Edit | Delete Report

This comment has been deleted

Report this comment

Please state your report in the space below

Please enter text

Reports must be less than 750 characters

loading

>

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

(Editing)

>

This comment was edited

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Reply | | Edit | Delete Report

This comment has been deleted

Report this comment

Please state your report in the space below

Please enter text

Reports must be less than 750 characters

loading

>

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Be the first to leave a comment on this page...
...   ...
 

Please enter text

Comments must be less than characters

Change your username in user settings to something more personal.

 

You may also like

Five things we learnt from week one of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
French
Recipe Collection
Tart
Recipe Collection
Five things we learnt from week six of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Five things we learnt from week five of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Five things we learnt from week four of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Five things we learnt from week two of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Five things we learnt from week three of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
5 predictions for MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Izzy Burton
Three things we learnt from the final of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Fish and seafood
Recipe Collection
Ones to watch: Alex Jackson
by Pete Dreyer
Fish
Recipe Collection
Sole
Recipe Collection
Food and wine pairing tips: Fish
by Fiona Beckett
Baked skate wings with mushroom, shallot and Gruyère gratin
by Food Urchin
Skate
Recipe Collection
Roast turbot with fennel, tarragon and lemon
by Food Urchin
Turbot
Recipe Collection
Plaice
Recipe Collection
Brill
Recipe Collection
Great British Chefs Academy: mastering tarts
Lemon sole
Recipe Collection
Plaice with celeriac, apple and lemongrass purée and cobnut foam
by Peter Coucquyt
Sous vide brill with fish fumet and sea herbs
by Galton Blackiston
Steamed plaice with ginger and soy
by Andrew MacKenzie
Crumbed plaice with green mash
by Galton Blackiston
Plaice with homemade tartare sauce
by Galton Blackiston
Plaice and mint chutney rolls
by Alfred Prasad
Local plaice ‘Viennoise’
by Robert Thompson
French dessert
Recipe Collection
Turbot on the bone with parsley, lemon and garlic dressing
by Tom Brown
Poached turbot with artichoke and Sauternes velouté
by Tom Aikens
Turbot fillet, pearl barley, burnt cauliflower, tomato and garam masala sauce
by Will Holland
Fillet of brill in lobster sauce
by Simon Hulstone
Soft lovage-crusted brill with new potatoes
by Frances Atkins
Hazelnut-crusted brill with sautéed ceps and Jerusalem artichoke purée
by Shay Cooper
Brill, English peas, heirloom tomatoes, farfalle
by Luke Holder
Whole roasted brill with sprouts and potato galette
by Gary Foulkes
How to cure
How to gut a fish
How to scale a fish
How to skin a fillet of fish
How to cook lemon sole sous vide
How to roast a whole turbot
How to cook brill
Flounder with potatoes, tomatoes, olives and capers
by Grazia Soncini
Fritto misto from the Adriatic
by Grazia Soncini
Turbot, ricotta and herbs, mustard sauce and egg
by Emanuele Scarello

NAVIGATE

© Great British Chefs 2018