A culinary wizard who hones his skills in the kitchens of a Moray soup firm will appear in the semi-finals of one of television’s toughest cooking shows tonight.
Darren Sivewright has advised viewers to keep their eyes peeled for mushrooms he picked in Lhanbryde when he puts his skills to the test on the BBC’s Masterchef: The Professionals.
The 34-year-old works as an executive chef for Baxters at Fochabers, helping to craft its famed range of soups, jams and chutneys.
In scenes screened last week, he competed against four top chefs for a place in the penultimate stages of the contest – all of whom had dazzled judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti with their own dishes.
After hearing the normally strict duo pile praise on every preceding plateful, Mr Sivewright nervously offered up the final dish – a chocolate mousse, which had been delicately layered with jelly.
The seasoned cook surpassed even his own expectations when the judges revealed that the efforts of each chef had been so strong that they would all advance to the next round.
Mr Sivewright said: “Being told I had made it to the semi-finals was an amazing experience, it had been especially tough standing there waiting to hear the results.
“When it turned out all five of us had done so well it was nerve-wracking, as there was no saying who would be told to leave.
“You could imagine how I felt, being the last one to approach the judges after they had praised everything else so wildly.
“So hearing that they had decided to put us all through was perfect, it couldn’t have gone any better.”
The Fraserburgh native said that a challenge he and his competitors were issued with earlier in last week’s episode helped bring them together.
The five cooks were tasked with working alongside one another to serve a technically tricky three-course meal.
Mr Sivewright added: “We turned from competitors into teammates, but we were really comfortable with one another and we believed in each other as chefs.”
The soup specialist says his aim in entering the competition was simply to reach the stage of cooking for critics, which he describes as “a landmark”.
He added: “I do believe in myself, but I never thought I would get this far.”