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MasterChef outing for local chef
09.12.09
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
LOCAL man Brian McDermott was in Birmingham recently
to take part in the BBC’s MasterChef live show. The
Moville-based chef took part in the Invention Test
and had just 30 minutes to produce a delicious dish
from a box of mystery ingredients. “My ingredients
included chicken breast, bacon, broccoli, carrot,
lemon, soft cheese and I made a herb crusted breast
of chicken with Asian infused stir fry of vegetables
with a lemon and ginger scent and a white wine,
shallot and crispy bacon stew.”
The judges were Gregg Wallace and John Torode,
familiar to regular viewers of MasterChef on BBC TV.
Presenter of programme was Andi Peters a former
runner up of Celebrity MasterChef and BBC presenter. |
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“With almost 3,000
spectators in the auditorium there was a real sense
of theatre to it and I got a great buzz from it,”
Brian said. “I’m a big fan of the MasterChef
programme and while I was a bit nervous at the
start, I relaxed into it fairly quickly.”
“Gregg Wallace, who jokingly throughout referred to
me as baldy (bearing in mind he has no hair at all)
said I had a natural flair that was distinctive and
professional. |
He said my chicken was
succulent and bursting with flavour.”
“John Torode didn’t believe me when I said I was a
bit nervous, ‘You are very calm and in control, a
natural’ he said.”
“Under the pressure and time allowed was extremely
happy with the dish I produced, and even if I had
more time I don’t think I would have done anything
different,” Brian said.
Brian was perplexed at the winner, a girl who made a
lemon cheesecake. “We were briefed beforehand and
encouraged to use as many of the ingredients we were
supplied with as possible,” he said. “But it wasn’t
about the winning, it was about enjoying the
experience.”
Brian isn’t sure when the programme will be
broadcast and in the meantime he’s keeping himself
more than busy doing voluntary work with community
groups.
“I’m doing a lot of work with groups of young men
and I’ve found them to be very good and able
students,” he quipped. |
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