In tonight’s penultimate MasterChef 2022 show, Sarah Rankin from Kinross bowed out of the cooking competition.
The Inverness-born amateur chef has battled for weeks to bag a place in the final but it was her haggis, neeps and tatties dish which brought her time on the BBC One show to an end.
She pulled out all the stops to impress judges, John Torode and Gregg Wallace, in the final four cook off which saw the contestants compete to earn a place in the final three.
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The quartet each had to present their interpretation of a classic dish that showcased their growing cooking talent to the judges.
They had one hour and 45 minutes to present and deliver the dish of their choosing.
Sarah Rankin’s MasterChef final four dish
Sarah, 38, decided to try and put a fine dining twist on Scotland’s traditional haggis, neeps and tatties.
Proud to champion Scottish produce, the marketing consultant explained how it isn’t traditionally a fine-dining dish, but said it “makes her happy” and wanted to plate something that nodded to her home country.
On the plate was lamb, deep fried haggis in pastry, potato fondant, neep puree, roasted onion puree, whisky sauce, tattie scones, cabbage and kale.
While Sarah was explaining the dish, John Torode said it reminded him of a deep fried sausage roll. However, on plating it had little resemblance.
He also commented on how there was a “huge amount going on on the plate” with the array of ingredients the amateur had committed to using.
When presented with Sarah’s fine dining take on the classic, Gregg commented on how it was a good idea to put the haggis inside pastry, however, it was the lamb that let Sarah down on her dish as Gregg commended that he felt it was too undercooked for his liking.
John was happy with his lamb, but it was the tattie scone on his plate, which turned out to be burnt, that let Sarah down.
She said: “This is probably the worst time to go home really. You’re so close to it, and yeah, I think this is going to be a tough one.”
The other contestants all presented their dishes with the judges raving about Eddie Scott’s Indian classic meets French classic of lamb Rogan josh with buttery pomme Anna and cabbage.
Radha Kaushal-Bolland, who is the youngest MasterChef contestant to date, made a dessert playing to her strengths. She presented a deconstructed Black Forest gateaux with chocolate brownie, mascarpone cream, cherry ice cream and cherry cocktail with whisky.
Pookie’s Chinese and Thai influences in her food led her to make a Cantonese steamed snow fish which too was raved about.
As John and Gregg took centre stage to deliver the news of Sarah’s departure, John commended on how gifted the finalists were and how tough a decision it was.
She said: ” I’m devastated. It has been really, really special. It has been a life changing experience.
“I’ll miss the buzz of it all. I’d say to anyone to take the chance as it is absolutely worth it.”
Final three
The final three then went to cook lunch service at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London under the watchful eye of the celebrity chef who led service and ran the hot plate.
They served up lunch to Gordon’s original brigade such as Clare Smyth and Paul Ainsworth, as well as his old mentor, former three-star Michelin legend Pierre Koffmann to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the venue boasting three Michelin stars.
Pookie was on starter which was lobster ravioli, Eddie served the main of chicken and Radha made a custard tart for dessert.
The four prolific chefs were impressed with all of the courses, however it was Eddie’s main that really impressed them the most.
The three finalists will battle it out to win the title of MasterChef 2022 winner tomorrow night on BBC One at 8pm.
