MasterChef UK ™
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Miso-Glazed Aubergine Steak with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Ritchie, a 33-year-old plant-based chef from Nottingham, brought his restaurant experience to this challenge but struggled with execution. He removed the skin from the aubergine edges, compromising the steak's structure. His cooking style was described as 'rough' — throwing spices carelessly, cutting ginger too thick, and adding excessive soy sauce that made the dish initially too salty (corrected with water). Rather than a smooth peanut sauce, he created a textured pesto-style dressing with crunchy roasted peanuts, olive oil, and fresh chili. Critically, he added spices raw rather than toasting them, leaving flavors underdeveloped. The finished dish was overly wet with inconsistent presentation.
Marcus Wearing: 'I actually thought the aubergine would be overcooked. It's actually not very salty, though. Your peanut sauce could have been a little bit smoother. There was some coconut milk there, and you were throwing in quite a lot of the spices raw, and they do need heating up in the pan to get the flavors out, so I think it could be better, but overall, it's not a bad start.' Monica Galetti: 'The way you cut that aubergine, you need to keep the skin on to hold it together. And the way you cooked it — just so rough — threw spices on it, slices of garlic onto it and went soy and just let it soak up all the soy sauce. That's why it's so salty. I thought the appearance wasn't particularly good. I thought you could have made a much smarter, not so wet dish.'
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