Masterchef UK Professionals
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King Prawns Two Ways
King Prawns Two Ways — Blanched and Tempura — with Rainbow Chard, Courgette, Deep-Fried Rice Cracker, Confit Egg Yolk, Dashi Broth, and Prawn Oil
{Mario}: "I'm feeling great. What I'm cooking today — I'm gonna leave Spain behind. I'm moving to Asia, so I'm gonna do a dashi broth with some vegetables inside, some tempura prawns, and then some just lightly blanched. And then I have some spring roll crackers. So I'm gonna deep fry them in the fryer."
{Matt}: "Why Asia?"
{Mario}: "I've been working a couple of Asian restaurants before. I traveled to Asia. That's why I have all this Asian style tattoo here. And I don't want to be stuck in Spanish, so I want to show that I can do something different."
{Mario}: "So I finally told my family. Now I feel confident to tell them — at least I went through the first stage — and they were really happy. I'm sure that I'm going to make it to the next challenge. I have to have a good attitude — otherwise what am I doing here?"
{Mario}: "It's not what I normally do, this kind of Asian food. So I kind of took a risk in there. So hopefully for the next one, I can prove that I can do much better."
Voiceover: "Mario is a Spanish chef taking inspiration from Asia. We got some blanched prawns. We got tempura prawns, dashi broth. Tempura prawn is about a great batter — comes nice and crunchy and crispy and aerated, really crispy."
{Matt}: "Mario's making a dashi broth. He's got some kombu, he's got mirin, and putting some dried shiitakes through it. Great flavorsome stock. It will be delicious and works beautifully in this dish."
{Marcus}: "But once you pour the liquid or the broth into the plate, you have to be very careful — all that crispiness and tempura prawn doesn't disappear." {Matt}: "And he's also now decided to add a confit egg yolk onto this dish."
{Marcus}: "He's not confident in oil. He's got a pan of water at boiling point and he's cracked about three or four eggs and it's not worked. By boiling it, you can overcook it because it's just cooking in the wrong way. Confit is about slow cookery at low temperature."
{Mario}: "You know, best do them in oil instead of water and see if that works better."
{Mario}: "I think they're going to go bitter." (on the eggs)
Marcus: "The confit egg yolk — I saw you do them in water, boiling them. They weren't working. You've gone on to confit, but I think on mine, you've got the oil just a little tad too hot. And it's created its own little crust around it."
Monica: "Mario, that really does need the broth to complete it. We have two different prawns. The one that's been blanched — just a very simply cooked prawn. The tempura could be a bit more crispier on the outside as well. The prawn oil is where I'm getting most of the prawn flavor. For the brief of this, which is prawns, it only comes together because we have it in this oil."
Marcus: "Not a great tempura batter, if I'm honest with you. Fresh tomatoes bring freshness. Courgettes that are a little bit on the bland side. Like Monica, I love the dashi. Love the oil. Delicious. Great flavors there. And you've really captured the true flavor of the prawn within the oil. And it's great. But I don't necessarily want to eat just oil where the true flavor is."
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