The hottest culinary battle on TV got off to an interesting start tonight when Aberdeenshire councillor, Geva Blackett, served up haggis, neeps and tatties with hollandaise sauce.
It was deemed an unlikely pairing by judges and presenters of BBC One’s MasterChef, John Torode and Gregg Wallace.
And unfortunately for Geva, the duo couldn’t see past the split sauce, which in the end cost the Aboyne and Upper Deeside councillor her MasterChef dream.
In a mad dash against the clock to plate her first dish which was her take on “a family favourite made MasterChef worthy”, Geva had to remake her sauce that was served alongside her haggis in filo pastry in the final five minutes.
Collecting the sauce she made in the microwave with moments to spare, the second batch had also split.
However, that didn’t stop the 66-year-old who lives in Braemar serving up the sauce which she described as having the consistency of “scrambled eggs”.
“My husband said ‘you can’t do hollandaise sauce with haggis’, and I said you can, and here we are… hollandaise sauce made in the microwave,” said Geva.
Despite serving the dish to her children growing up she failed to impress John and Gregg enough with her “present from Scotland” to bag herself one of the first three MasterChef aprons.
“I love that haggis” said Gregg “there’s a hint of smoky whisky about it as well.” He was impressed with her Duchess potatoes but said her hollandaise was a “disaster”.
John added that the dish had all the flavours of a really good pasty, but he couldn’t ignore the sauce issues.
From hollandaise to pancakes
Battling against nine other amateur cooks in heat one to bag one of the signature MasterChef aprons, Geva and five others had to cook again after she failed to impress the judges with her Scottish dish.
In the second round of cooking which was a MasterChef invention test, mum-of-four decided to make pancakes from the plethora of ingredients contestants were given access to. Everyone had an hour and 15 minutes to cook and present their dish.
Geva admitted she was “nervous” explaining it was her “last chance” to impress judges.
Her pancakes were served with apple and pear with salted nut caramel sauce and whipped cream. And she chuckled, “Hope that it leads straight to your heart” to Gregg.
An easy dish that everyone loves, John was concerned it wouldn’t show enough skill.
While both John and Gregg liked the pancakes, they agreed there wasn’t enough technique to the serving and disqualified Geva from the competition.
She was joined by Jo from Yorkshire who also had to leave the competition.
A big man needs a big portion 😋 #MasterChefUK @JohnTorode1 pic.twitter.com/PDGOIUP8Mo
— MasterChef UK 🍴 (@MasterChefUK) April 10, 2023
Flying the flag for the north-east
However, it wasn’t over for the north-east in episode one as Aberdonian Zoe Fraser, who now lives in Stirling, made it through to the final with her two dishes.
The first that she made during the audition round was a lobster risotto with bisque and the second, the dish that secured her a MasterChef apron, was her Sicilian dumplings.
Now Zoe will cook off against the other contestants to secure her future further in the competition.
The next episode airs tomorrow at 9pm on BBC One and the show will air every Monday (8pm), Tuesday (9pm) and Friday (8.30pm) until the finale at the start of June.
A total of 24 episodes will air and will showcase 45 amateur chefs competing throughout.
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