by getting me involved in baking on the weekends with her. I guess that's where my love of pastry comes from, so, inspired by her, I risked a place for the semi finals with a flapjack, based on the recipe made with mum when I was around five years old.”
Food Passions
“In cooking, I love the creativity involved and getting to work with great ingredients day to day. The pastry section is where I see myself being the most creative and adventurous with my dishes. Cooking in this era is amazing, we have such a variety of ingredients on our doorstep here in Britain, it's something we pride ourselves for doing at work. Also, we have access to fantastic ingredients from around the world these days, whether it be chorizo from Spain, yuzu from Japan or even spices, it's these things I believe can be the last missing ingredient that can really elevate a dish to the next level.
On MasterChef: The Professionals 2017
“I've watched the competition in previous years and always thought I'd be able to do that and it wasn't until I saw a tweet in January that applications were open, that I thought I'd actually enter. The most challenging moment of the competition for me has been the final 12 invention test in knockout week. It was such a stressful and long day, and having to cook twice that day made it even worse!
“Getting to the finals is so surreal, I’ve put so much time into focusing on the competition, for it to pay off is totally amazing.”
Cooking ambitions
“As the next step in my career, I'd love to focus more on fine dining and push myself to learn more whilst I can. My ambitions longer term are to learn as much as I can still while I'm young, and hopefully when the time is right in years to come step up to my own head chef role.”
MasterChef: The Professionals 2017 – The Final Week, starts tonight, continues Wednesday 21st and concludes Thursday 22nd December, 8pm on BBC Two
