Kinross marketing consultant Sarah Rankin cooked up a storm in her first appearance on BBC1’s MasterChef.
Sarah, 47, left celebrity hosts John Torode and Gregg Wallace impressed with her cooking abilities as the second week of heats in the amateur cooking competition continued.
The married mum-of-two, who was born and raised in Inverness before relocating to Kinross in 2006, was joined by eight fellow amateur cooks.
And Sarah sailed through the heats thanks to her flair and determination in the MasterChef kitchen.
The TV hit is now in its 18th series and will run for a further five weeks.
It sees 45 of the UK’s most talented home cooks put through their paces, with only one being crowned MasterChef Champion 2022.
Flying the flag for Scotland
And this year the judges are mixing it up, introducing a whole new set of challenges the passionate amateurs must complete to progress.
Tasked with cooking a signature dish to kickstart their MasterChef journeys, Sarah looked to calm her nerves.
Nine contestants featured in the latest episode, cooking in groups of three.
Sarah, among the second group to take to the kitchen, previously proclaimed her love of Scottish ingredients and serving up food that boasts “a big punch of flavour”.
With that said, she took to her workstation and started pulling together her signature – venison loin coated in porcini mushroom powder with butternut squash puree, skirlie bonbon, hasselback potato, cavalo nero, pickled cherries and a port red wine sauce.
Sarah described the environment as “intense” while cooking.
But she was happy with her venison. And although admitting there was a lot going on, on her plate, the cook said the ingredients compliment each other.
John and Gregg tucked into Sarah’s dish in the new tasting room.
They didn’t watch the action in the kitchen, allowing them to judge each contestant’s food solely on the plate put in front of them.
While the venison proved too rare for Gregg’s liking, both judges were wowed by other aspects of the dish including the hasselback potatoes.
Gregg thought the skirlie bonbon, which he referred to as porridge balls, were delightful.
John thought the sauce needed more flavour but he commended Sarah on respecting the ingredients.
But after finishing the dish, Sarah was left feeling discouraged.
“I’ve made it better at home a hundred times,” she said. “That’s a bit frustrating.”
Second chance
Despite Sarah’s efforts, three other contestants were handed MasterChef aprons and absolved of cooking responsibilities in the next round.
The six remaining chefs were tasked with creating a sweet dish in their last attempt to win themselves a coveted apron.
It was a coconut pannacotta for Sarah, served with rum-soaked pineapple with lime zest and coconut shavings, macadamia and coconut brittle and a pina colada made from coconut cream and rum.
Under the watchful eyes of John and Gregg, the talented home cook was happy with how her sweet dish turned out.
Gregg described it as “absolutely delicious”, while John complimented her ambition.
Sarah’s reward was an apron and viewers will see her in the kitchen later this week.
“It’s great having the apron,” she said. “It kind of spurs you on as well.
“I have plenty more boozy desserts in my head.”
MasterChef, which is now in its 18th series, continues tomorrow night on BBC1 from 8pm.
