Masterchef UK Professionals
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Spiced Fried Chicken with Malt Gravy
Spiced Fried Chicken, Crispy Chicken Skin, Sauteed Chicken Heart, Maple Glazed Carrot, Chicken Fat Mash, and Malt Gravy
{Ben}: "I actually feel okay about the invention test. I have to write a menu daily with whatever we've got. Should just be another day in the office."
{Monica}: "Ben, how do you feel when you saw our key ingredient?"
{Ben}: "I was actually really happy. I love chicken, love eating chicken, love cooking chicken."
{Marcus}: "I heard the words floating around Kentucky. Are you gonna do it?"
{Ben}: "Yeah, I'm gonna do a take on refined fried chicken."
{Marcus}: "What's the special herbs and spices you're gonna use then?"
{Ben}: "I can't tell you."
{Marcus}: "Unfortunately, you have to. Unfortunately, you're gonna have to tell me."
{Ben}: "I've got some cumin, some espelette pepper, some ground ginger, a little bit of cinnamon, and some smoked paprika."
{Monica}: "So you would serve a dish like this in your restaurant?"
{Ben}: "Yeah, for sure. Normally in a burger. So this is something a little bit new."
{Marcus}: "I've got to say, Ben, I'm really looking forward to this. In fact, I hope it's finger-licking delicious."
{Ben}: "Yeah. I can just imagine Marcus and Monica both at a chicken shop after a long day in the kitchen."
Voiceover (Monica): "I think this is going to be, you know, a fun take on fried chicken. We've got chicken fat mash. Braised carrot, crispy chicken skin, and a malt gravy. It definitely sings of delicious."
Voiceover (Marcus): "I don't want too much of the mashed potato. I want to taste the chicken fat running through it. Ben is making a chicken gravy, but he's using a malt ale, so he must be very careful in the reduction of that because it can go quite bitter. That's the one flavour that concerns me the most about this dish."
Monica: "Ben, this is possibly the fanciest fried chicken I've seen served up. The fried chicken is so crunchy. The chicken fat mashed potato, that's delicious. I actually just enjoyed a few spoonfuls of that before I even got to the crispy chicken. Your sauce, which you really reduced down, it's almost like an intense chicken gravy with mash, and it's just delicious. But the hearts, I find them quite undercooked. Have you done anything that blew me away? Well, not really, but I'll happily finish the rest of this, minus the heart."
Marcus: "Carrots are sweet, beautifully cooked. Your chicken skin is crunchy. Your chicken thigh is crunchy. I think you could have been braver than this. I think you could have gone a little bit further on those spices and really let them sing out and done something really interesting with a barbecue-type, spicy sauce going on the side."
{Ben}: "So a mixed bag, but my head's not down. There's a tasty plate of food, so I'm not too disarmed."
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