Irvine man Peter Coull cooks in BBC show MasterChef

IT consultant Peter Coull was one of six competitors who appeared on the second episode of the MasterChef's 20th series, which aired at the beginning of this month.

The proud dad had high hopes of cooking up a storm and earning an apron by impressing the MasterChef judges John Torode and Greg Wallace.

He had his first opportunity to do so in the initial challenge set for competitors, 'basic to brilliant'.

Aspiring home cooks were asked to take a humble, everyday ingredient and elevate the item into a "spectacular" dish.

Peter's chosen ingredient was the cabbage, which he was going to cook as part of an intricate and complicated dish.

He told the judges he would be making braised red cabbage with braised tenderloin of venison with celeriac fondants, a beetroot purée, shiitake mushrooms and a red wine and chocolate sauce.

Judge John feared that Peter was over-complicating the challenge, with Greg also asking the Irvine man why he hadn't made things easier for himself.

Peter explained:  “I’ve dreamt of being in this kitchen for years and I really want to grab that apron.”

But he was left rueing his decision to take on such a challenging dish after burning his red cabbage.

Providing feedback, John said: "The star of the show is supposed to be the red cabbage and that got over reduced. Sadly it’s gone tough, a little bit dry, and it’s going bitter.

“Your venison is really nice, so is your celeriac fondant - but then we get beetroot, we get chocolate, we get red wine all coming together and it’s just too many things.”

Greg added: “I like sweet with the game, but the chocolate can’t survive the strength of that cabbage, and you know you’ve over-reduced that cabbage.”

Following this challenge, it was two other chefs who earned the first aprons and a shot at a quarter final place.

“I’m pretty devastated about the cabbage," Peter admitted, "I just took my eye off it.”

But all hope was not lost with two of the remaining four home cooks still able to earn their shot at a place in quarter finals.

Their next task saw them all given a trout, which had to be star of the show - though it could be embellished with any other ingredients they liked from those on offer.

As he struggled with de-boning the fish, Peter told the judges: “I’ve taken your advice. I've reined it back, I’ll try and keep it simple.” 

For this challenge, Peter opted to bake his trout with coriander, lemon juice and parsley, and fry up roast vegetables and chillis, alongside making lemon veloute. 

At this stage both John and Greg were concerned that the Irvine man was not coming good on his word to make matters less complicated.

And as the judges tried Peter's finished dish, he was left to rue words he had spoken earlier in the show.

At the beginning of the programme he said: “Last night I watched some videos of the 50 most disastrous pub events on Masterchef. 

“I prepared myself for the worst case scenario and to see how bad I need to get before I’m really bad.”

As Peter dished up his trout, and John took a bite, he screwed his face up at the taste of the roast vegetables.

It was at this stage that Peter realised instead of cooking the veg with butter and sugar, they had been cooked with butter and salt.

Greg added that his lemon veloute was "too harsh" alongside the other components of the dish.

“Nerves really got a hold of me on that dish," Peter commented. "They say it’s not over until the fat lady sings, but I can hear them in the distance.”

And Peter was proved right as he became one of the two contestants to miss out on a chance to cook for three former contest winners and a quarter final place.

He said: “I feel disappointed. I can’t hide that. Maybe it was a small problem that I nearly poisoned John and Greg with salt rather than sugar."