Liam just misses out on TV title
FORMER Nottingham chef Liam Rogers has just missed out on becoming the Masterchef: The Professionals champion for 2021.
Instead Dan Lee, 28, a private chef from Birmingham, lifted the trophy.
Thursday’s final followed six intense weeks of blood, sweat and tears, which saw 32 professional chefs whittled down to just three.
The ambitious :iam cooked his heart out in the final round of the BBC1 series. However, it just wasn’t to be. Judges Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace were all impressed with his work, but a rogue piece of clingfilm helped Dan along across the line in first.
Speaking to the Post, Liam said: “Making the final was a dream at the start and now it’s reality. I’m super proud of myself even though I didn’t win.
“I can hold my head high. “Being able to sit back and watch what I’ve done over the last few weeks has been really good because at the time I was so involved. My head was focussed on the next dish all the time.”
At 25, Liam was the youngest of the three finalists.
The gruelling final challenge saw him up against Aaron Middleton, 27, a private chef in Oxfordshire, and Dan.
He applied and filmed Masterchef: The Professionals while working for the two-michelinstarred Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham.
“Working for the legend that is Sat Bains has been so significant,” said Liam.
“The unique style of food is what drew me to this restaurant and it was great to learn Sat’s thought process behind it all.
“One of the biggest things I took from there was how to create a dish with flavour, with texture, with acidity and with balance before you even put an ingredient on the plate.
“Chef John Freeman there taught me so much, especially pastry, which I wasn’t so comfortable with at first.”
Warrington-born Liam became interested in cooking at the age of six. He said: “My dad would let me sit me on the pass of the kitchen of his restaurant – so I could watch him work – and annoy all the chefs, who called me a little bandit.”
Liam worked for his dad for six years before going to expand his cooking career under Andrew Fairlie at his two-michelin-starred restaurant Gleneagles in Scotland, where he is currently working as a sous chef.
He was busy in the kitchen while the final was being screened but said he would watch it back afterwards with a glass of wine.
His ambition is to go into 2022 cooking his own food at pop-ups, food festivals and dinners with fellow industry chefs.
“I have the travel bug and am hoping to move away to widen my knowledge and see something completely different, perhaps in Copenhagen or Japan,” he added.
“It’s always been a dream to work abroad in a three-star restaurant, so we shall see what happens.”