Spookery Programmes...

They spook me out!
Cookery programmes that are transformed into a lukewarm foody version of the X-Factor.
Down to the incidental music, the tic-toc, the suspense, the bated breath...
"The chef who is coming back next week isssss..."
Before the name is announced, you have ample time to head for the kitchen, whip yourselves a three-egg omelette, two slices of toast and a cup a tea.

"The chef who is going home this week isssss..."
Fancy a quick pizza? You have all the time in the world to make the whole thing from scratch. Flour, yeast, cheese, tomatoes, anchovies, olives, etc...

Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramshead, Raymond Blanc, Jamie Oliver, Anthony Worrall-Thompson, Michel Roux, Jean Christophe Novelli, Ronald McDonald... The whole lot of them are getting on the bandwagon!

Yesterday afternoon, I flicked to ITV and there was gentle Rosemary Shrager teaching a bunch of budding chefs how to make pastry, ice cream in relaxed, beautiful surroundings.

A breath of fresh air of a cookery programme...

...That is until she got up on her pedestal and put on her X-Factor voice and said:
"The chef who is coming back next week isssss..."

I got up and went to work.

Competitive know-how...

No, I didn't win the competition but I did win a £250 voucher at one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants in London. That'll probably be just enough for two starters!
The competition was held at Birmingham University College. The very modern kitchen where the whole thing took place cost over a million pounds! One of the cleaners proudly said that each cooker cost thirty thousand pounds.
There were five other competitors and, unlike me, they all had competed at one time or another in the past. I felt very relaxed as I had practiced the dishes quite a few times over the last two weeks.
We were all given a finish time by which we had to produce three portions, one for the official photo and the other two for the judges to taste.

I cooked my Fish Tagine and then a dish using sustainable Pacific Cod Loin.

At 2.30pm the winning chef was revealed. The other five received the Ramsay voucher.
Later the winner said he had already won another competition with the same dish. I think he is onto a winning formula.

Would I ever enter another competition again? Not sure about myself but I might help our young chefs enter and win them now that I know what is expected.

As I travelled to Birmingham the night before the competition, I ate at the Michelin-starred Simpsons. The food and service were out of this world.