> Features

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

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

by Great British Chefs 21 November 2016

Silly sandboxes, fish mishaps and a cheese overload were just some of the events that upset this week’s collective of pro chefs. See where they went wrong and how you can avoid the same mistakes at home.

More from this series:

While the second week of MasterChef: The Professionals saw less people panicking over the simplest of tasks, there were still quite a few moments when we were able to scream at our televisions about how obviously wrong a chef was going. Most of the lessons from this week’s episodes seem to be focused around fish, even though it’s one of the easiest ingredients to cook if you know how. It was the way various species were prepared and cooked that really irked both the judges and critics, although there were a few other despairing moments for the contestants – see what we learnt below.

1. Serving both cooked and raw fish on the same plate is a risky move

Dale’s attempt to serve a fillet of cooked sea bass alongside the sea bass ceviche he was asked for went down like a sinking ship with Monica et al, presumably because hot, cooked fish will completely negate all the fresh, zingy flavours that make ceviche such a popular dish. It didn’t help that the whole plate tasted more like orange juice than sea bass either.

How to make scallop ceviche
John Dory
Recipe Collection

2. Don’t try to do a Heston

For the most part, plates of food are so-called for a reason; they should be served on a plate. While there are exceptions to this, Dylan decided to go completely off-piste with his glass box full of sand and pebbles, on which he served John Dory with edible puff pastry ‘sand’. While this was probably supposed to invoke a multi-sensory experience of being at the seaside (like Heston Blumenthal’s infamous Sounds of the sea), it instead completely distracted the judges from the food itself. All the rocks also ended up on one side of the box, which made it look as if it was accidentally upended at some point.

3. Big slabs of cheese don’t go down well

Chef Rohan started off on a positive, acing the skills test, but his signature dish of paneer layered with apricot and mint chutney dashed his chances in the competition. As a soaker-upper of other flavours (like a sort of cheesy tofu), paneer is well-loved in Indian cuisine, but the judges wanted something more on the plate. Perhaps it’s best to stick to other proteins for a showstopping dish; at the very least, a combination of cheese and fruit should be well avoided.

Fish and chips
Recipe Collection
How to gut a fish

4. Marcus likes a chip dinner

It almost looked as if the chefs were having fun trying to reinvent the classic British fish and chips, but it was Marcus who seemed happiest (probably because all he had to do was eat everything). Yes, when he’s not cooking two-Michelin-starred dishes in his restaurants it appears Marcus loves nothing more than to tuck into a piece of battered cod and a big pile of chips, and he fully enjoyed this round. Mushy peas in particular seemed to please him, even when they’re served as a foam with potato crisps.

5. Undercooked fish is a no-no with the critics

In the quarter-finals, fish and seafood featured on every menu served to the critics, but was the undoing of three of the four chefs. Arnaud, Dale and Brenton let themselves down with undercooked offerings, but Andrew hit the spot with his fillet of cod and secured himself through to knockout week. Arnaud and Brenton were lucky enough to join him, but Dale was sent home due to one to many schoolboy errors.

Comments ()

Five things we learnt from week two 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 two of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
5 predictions for MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Izzy Burton
Five things we learnt from week six of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Five things we learnt from week one 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 five 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
Three things we learnt from the final of MasterChef: The Professionals 2016
by Great British Chefs
Marcus Wareing
Marcus
Singapore Michelin Guide Results 2016
by Great British Chefs
Michelin Guide Results 2017
by Great British Chefs
Michelin Guide Results 2019
by Great British Chefs
NYC Michelin Star Results 2016
by Great British Chefs
Michelin Guide Results 2016
by Great British Chefs
Michelin Guide Results 2018
by Great British Chefs
Marcus Wareing
Recipe Collection
Marcus
Marcus Wareing
The Gilbert Scott
Marcus Wareing
The Great British Chefs NSPCC Dinner 2018
by Great British Chefs
Chefs on tour: Francesco Mazzei and Tom Brown in Croatia
by Great British Chefs
How to make truffled cheese at home
by Great British Chefs
Japan Centre: a look at the new store
by Great British Chefs
Picota cherries: the red diamonds of Spain
by Great British Chefs
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2018: the winners
by Great British Chefs
In pictures: the rapeseed oil harvest
by Great British Chefs
The Great British Chefs NSPCC Dinner 2017
by Great British Chefs
In pictures: the Jersey Royals potato harvest
by Great British Chefs
Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2017: the winners
by Great British Chefs
The Great British Chefs NSPCC Dinner 2016
by Great British Chefs
Quick chicken curry with coriander and quick-pickled red onion
by Great British Chefs
Ethiopian ful medames
by Great British Chefs
Jeeves and rhubarb Collins
by Great British Chefs
Awaze chicken thighs
by Great British Chefs
Lentil sambusas
by Great British Chefs
Mchuzi wa samaki (Tanzanian coconut fish curry)
by Great British Chefs
Berbere spice
by Great British Chefs
Alain Ducasse's pistachio and strawberry dessert for the Chelsea Flower Show
by Great British Chefs
Misir wot (Ethiopian lentil stew)
by Great British Chefs
Zigni berbere (spicy Eritrean beef stew)
by Great British Chefs
Deconstructed three-chocolate brownies
by Great British Chefs
Peach Melba float
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week seven of MasterChef: The Professionals 2017
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week five of MasterChef: The Professionals 2018
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week one of MasterChef: The Professionals 2017
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week six of MasterChef: The Professionals 2017
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week five of MasterChef: The Professionals 2017
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week two of MasterChef: The Professionals 2017
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week three of MasterChef: The Professionals 2018
by Great British Chefs
What we learnt from week six of MasterChef: The Professionals 2018
by Great British Chefs

NAVIGATE

© Great British Chefs 2019