‘There was just a lot of excitement to be back amongst other people’
As Masterchef: The Professionals returns to our screens, Danielle de Wolfe hears more from judges
Masterchef: The Professionals is back, serving up a healthy portion of positivity at a time when the UK’S hospitality industry continues to struggle under the weight of Covid restrictions.
Entering its 13th series, the professional instalment of the hit BBC cooking show sees 32 chefs battle it out over the course of six weeks to be crowned Masterchef champion.
Finding a new home on BBC1, Masterchef: The Professionals will see longstanding judge and presenter Gregg Wallace return to our screens, alongside the discerning taste buds of chefs Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing.
And with a second national lockdown triggering swathes of the population to return to their kitchens en masse, the forthcoming series is just the culinary inspiration we needed.
The knock-on effects of the pandemic saw tight new safety measures brought in on-set, however, the implementation of new social distancing measures did not prove too much of a challenge for the team.
“When you think about it, cooking is quite a singular activity anyway,” says Wallace.
“What was different was that there was no social mixing of the crew who have known each other for over 15 years.
“I think we’d been in lockdown for something like four months when we started filming,” continues fellow judge Galetti, 45.
“There was just a lot of excitement to be back amongst other people which is the weirdest thing. Marcus and I hadn’t been working for the first time ever; we weren’t as tired, we were full of energy.
And while social distancing measures did prove an annoyance for some, its introduction created an interesting new dynamic for the judges, who found themselves excluded to a separate room and forced to watch proceedings on a monitor.
“I think the running commentary from either one of us in the back gives the viewer an insight into what the cook is doing, which you wouldn’t normally hear,” says Wareing, 50.
“You may get a little snippet of that when we’re doing the tasting, so I think our viewers who like the skills tests so much will really enjoy [it], as you get a sense of what’s right or what’s wrong.
“I think this gives it a complete new angle.”
As with previous series, Masterchef: The Professionals brings together a host of chefs from around the world. It’s a culinary melting pot, one that’s as much of an eye-opening experience for the judges as it is for the viewers at home.
“We had a chef from Nepal,” recalls Wareing. “I remember there was one dish, the whole dish was ingredients from Nepal – and you have to bear in mind there’s not a lot up there in Nepal, they’re so high up – so to watch what this particular chef created was quite cool.
“Can I remember the ingredients? No. Because I didn’t even know when I was eating them.”
● The new series of Masterchef: The Professionals launches on BBC1 at 9pm tonight
Accordionist, composer and furniture maker Norman Mackay gives fond expression to his tune Big Hamish, written in memory of his uncle, the legendary Highland Games heavyweight athlete Hamish Davidson.
Mac kay, N air n-raised but based in Edinburgh, has a fine way with as low air, which was also evident on his album The Inventor, which he released last autumn.
The Inventor was an ambitious project, with Mackay accompanied by everything from trumpet to string quartet, en listing such familiar names as violinist Greg Lawson, trumpeter Cameron Jay, cellist Su-a Lee and bassist Duncan Lyall.
His compositions, too, were nothing if not eclectic, ranging in style from Highland air to continental café.
Yet, as Mac kay explains, he never formally studied the relatively unusual three - row button accordion( also the instrument of choice for the great Jimmy Shand). “Nobody really teaches it ,” he says.
“I was just taught tunes by my dad and my neighbour, who were farmers playing for their own enjoyment, when I was wee, then I taught myself through trial and error, listening to Phil Cunningham records and things like that. It was a pretty long road.”
Mackay’s music-making – he also has a rocked-up dance band, the Ceilidh Experience–runs in tandem with his craft as a furniture -maker, trading under the name Woodeye Furniture( with c ustomers including fellow-accordionist Cunningham).
On the left of the vid-eoyouc an see the Woodeye piano which featured in The Inventor, an existing instrument which Mac kay stripped down, re-casing it with his own, finely wrought woodwork in S cots elm, giving it an impressive new resonance.
Following last autumn’ s album launch, he had planned to spend this year touring on the back of it but that, of course, went by the board.
Post-C ovid, he hopes to resume live performance: “And there will be new music, which I’ve been writing.”
For further information see www.normanmackay.com