Masterchef UK Professionals
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Ibérico Pork with Whisky Sauce
Serranito — Ibérico Pork Tenderloin with Whiskey Sauce, Shoestring Potatoes, Pepper Purée and Wild Garlic.
Mario's main course was his personal take on the serranito, a famous sandwich from his home city of Seville, traditionally made with pork, ibérico ham, peppers, garlic alioli and chips in bread. He deconstructed the sandwich into a refined plate, omitting the bread. Ibérico pork tenderloin was gently pan-fried with butter and carefully rested. Shoestring potatoes replaced the chips. A garlic emulsion stood in for the alioli, with pepper purée and wild garlic leaves completing the plate. The dish was sauced with a whiskey reduction, inspired by the famous Sevillian dish solomillo al whisky.
{Mario}: "This is my take on the serranito. It's a Sevillian sandwich that has pork, ibérico ham, peppers, garlic, alioli and some chips on the side. In Seville, we have a really famous dish called solomillo al whisky, which is pork tenderloin with whiskey sauce. So I bring this sauce into this dish."
{Marcus}: "We've got the ibérico pork, which is a delicious pork. Gently pan-fried, little bit of butter, but don't overheat it because it could dry out very quickly. And the key is always give it a really good resting before you serve it. Shoestring potatoes — they've got to be crunchy and perfectly crisp."
{Monica}: "This pork sauce should have a nice reduction to it as well. Hopefully finished with some of the pork fat, if not some butter and a hint of that whisky, just to finish it off."
{Leyla Kazim}: "It is a bit deconstructed. There's no bread, which I'm very sad about. It looks like a pretty plate of food. The meat is cooked well. I love the pepper — that had the right amount of acidity and crunch."
{Jimi Famurewa}: "The potatoes are very interesting because they look pale and possibly undercooked, but they're not. They're very crispy."
{Tom Parker Bowles}: "I quite like the whiskey sauce, which has just a kind of back note of bitterness rather than a great whack of booze. Mario's clearly a cook with real visual flair and real high technique."
{Marcus}: "Beautifully presented. Lovely colour. The pork is lovely and tender. The peppers are delicious. The purée on the plate is good."
{Monica}: "Ibérico pork doesn't get any better than that. It's beautifully cooked. The sauce — I can taste the whiskey — and of course, the shoestring fries. Delicious."
In the final summary, {Monica}: "Mario came in full of energy and excitement, talking about the food of Seville."
{Marcus}: "Main course was delicious. The pork was beautifully cooked."
Note: Leyla expressed slight disappointment at the absence of bread from the deconstructed sandwich concept.
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