The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
MasterChef: Cupar man cooks his way to knockout week.
Brodie Williams tickles the judges’ tastebuds with spicy Chinese dish
A Fife man has kept his dream of winning BBC’s MasterChef on the boil, by making it through to the next stage of the competition.
Brodie Williams, from Cupar, impressed judges Gregg Wallace, John Torode and restaurant critic Jay Rayner with a spicy Chinese aubergine dish.
Despite scraping through in Thursday evening’s episode, the 27-year-old’s dish in yesterday’s quarter-final episode was described as “superb” by Wallace.
Brodie said: “It’s nuts to think I’m still in the competition. It’s amazing.”
The former pupil of New Park School, St Andrews, served his aubergine with a spicy garlic sauce, egg fried rice and pork and aubergine dumplings.
Rayner’s challenge was to cook either a savoury dish showcasing aubergine or a dessert with honey as the star.
Torode told him: “You know how in the first round I didn’t like your food very much? I love this.”
Selecting Brodie as one of the final four to progress to knock-out week, Wallace said to Torode: “We have disagreed over Brodie through this competition but today me, you and Jay could not stop digging into his Chinese aubergine dish. It was just superb.”
Brodie said: “I feel quite shocked. It’s really nice to get some positive feedback. “They all seemed to enjoy it. “I just wish I had made it a bit spicier.”
In Thursday’s episode the hosts were divided on Brodie’s ambitious take on a Rogan Josh curry with basmati rice and lemon and pistachio yoghurt, as he used kidneys and lentils instead of lamb.
Torode blasted it as over-reduced and acidic, while Wallace loved it.
Next week, the 14 cooks remaining will come together for the first time to cook off against each other over two shows, starting on Monday.
They will be split into two groups and be challenged to create one dish inspired by a family favourite or food from their childhood.
Brodie, who works as a store designer for lingerie company Agent Provocateur in London, has previously told how he was inspired in the kitchen by his mum and the cuisine he cooked up in student digs was a hit with friends while he studied architecture at Glasgow School of Art nine years ago.
The trained architect has written and illustrated his own cookbook and hopes one day to design and build his own restaurant.