It’s not every day that you’re offered the chance to be cooked for by professional Masterchefs, that is unless you’re Greg Wallace or Marcus Wareing
Last week I got a taste of what it was like to be cooked for some of the countries top chefs and, no doubt some of the countries future culinary talent. The one-off lunch, hosted by The Adams Restaurant on Stoney Street Nottingham, part of an industry week, was an initiative to emphasise the need for more celebrity chefs to work with local colleges to get today’s students to follow their hopes and dreams to become the next generation of superstar chefs.
Finalists from the previous two years of the hit BBC television show Masterchef ‘the professionals were there to show off their skills to level 2 and 3 diploma students. 2016 contestant and former Nottingham chef Rich O’Donnchu said he wanted to come in and say to the students “You can do it because I can do it. We’re human”
Although guided by the professionals who have taken time out of their busy schedules to each bring a dish of there own to the menu, students had a massive input into the preparation of the imaginative 8-course taster menu for excited guests, it’s courses exploring sweet and sour.
Our first course was ‘not an ashtray’ sour dough and black garlic, from multi award-winning chef Rich. The 34-year-old former Hart’s chef now runs two restaurants in South Africa. His Asian fusion gastro bar Yuzu in Cape Town is listed as one of the top ten places to eat in the country. The black garlic is served in what is to be fair, an ashtray looking dish. It has the appearance of a cross between Nutella and Marmite. Spread onto the sourdough, the first bite seems to reveal a host of Asian spices. As you continue to eat a smokey sweetness hits the palate. Like Marmite I’m not sure about this dish but as Rich says “If you leave not liking, I don’t care but you will leave remembering.”
Each course of the imaginative menu is introduced by the chefs as they do on the television when they take their creations to the judges’ table, except there are no judges today, the diners are made up of more than 50 local foodies. I sit with my friend the Post Food and Drink writer Lynette Pinchess, Chris Hickman from Visit Nottingham and Phil Tomlinson college faculty area manager for catering and hospitality, who keeps a watchful eye on the students whilst we chat all things food.
Our second course is one of my favourites from the menu. Another creation from Rich we are served Sticky beef cheek, nashi pear, blood risotto, crackling, celeriac & afilla cress. The celeriac gives an earthy tone which compliments the beef, then you get a sweetness coming through from the pear.
Also sharing his expertise is Wayne Sullivan. The roasted cod, smoked cauliflower, blue cheese, caviar and white chocolate is a take on a dish he did on Masterchef. It is an amazing combination – salty, sweet, bitter and mellow all at the same time. The chocolate didn’t stand out and the aroma made it smell like it was off. That could be down to the smoked cauliflower or the blue cheese but put me off.
James Villiers couldn’t make it on the day, so the chefs created their interpretation of what they thought the dish should be. Local duck, pickled berries, heirloom beets & duck confit croquette. Everything on the plate is pretty much a shade of purple. Wayne, we are told, was slated for the dish on Masterchef but still went through to the next round anyway.
Louisa Ellis has recently landed herself a job at Sat Bains. Her course of Cured & torched mackerel, rhubarb, leek and sorrel work well together.
Matt Healy, our next chef, also couldn’t make it on the day. His dish was created by accident. When his sauce was accidentally dumped in the sink he had to use some of Waynes. Ironically Marcus said it was the best sauce he had ever tasted. On the show he did it with pork loin, today it is 12-hour belly pork served with langoustine, apple & bisque sauce.
A lot of time has been spent by Rich getting our next course just right. Red curry ice cream, candy floss & burnt lemon. A cube of ice cream served on a stick with candy floss woven around it, it tastes cold but then the heat hits the back of your throat when you’re not expecting it.
Our final course from Zoe Simons gets weirder. Obsessed with the combination of chocolate and mushroom she has created Sour cherry olive oil, porcini fudge, hazelnut & truffle chocolate. The first mouthful tastes of earthy mushroom but then it becomes a rich decadent chocolate dessert.
The lucky students did a fantastic job using many cooking techniques they had not encountered before. To think some of them are only 14/15 years old. Where they’re going to be in the next 10 years is amazing.
You might not get to try the Masterchef experience but you can still try some delicious food cooked by the students and they hold regular theme nights.
For more information visit: https://www.nottinghamcollege.ac.uk/about-us/our-facilities/adams-restaurant-and-brasseries
By Tanya Louise
Editor
@tanyalouise_
*Disclaimer -My meal was complimentary but the views and calories are my own
