Masterchef UK Professionals
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Trout with Seaweed Sloke and Irish Soda Bread
Whole Trout: Roasted Loin, Cured Tail, Crispy Skin, Potato Colcannon, Seaweed Sloke, Potted Trout, and Irish Stout Soda Bread
Mark, a Dublin-born chef patron with a passion for American barbecue and whole animal butchery, created an Irish-inspired celebration of whole trout. {name}: "Today I'm going to be making you a whole trout. I'm going to do a roast loin. I'm going to cure the tail and confit the belly and the head, and then also use some Irish seaweeds. We've got some dillisk, which is very similar to dulse, and then some sea lettuce and some laver. And I'm going to use these to make a condiment that's very traditional in Northern Ireland called sloke, which is basically like a preserved seaweed and cultured cream. And some beautiful Irish stout soda bread as well. Couldn't have an Irish dish without giving you a beautiful piece of toasted soda bread." A judge remarked: {Judge}: "It's probably the most Irish dish we've ever had served in this kitchen." Mark: {name}: "Anyone coming after me will have a high bar to clear." Judges discussed the dish during cooking: {Judge}: "He's dried out some trout skins and roasted them in the oven so they're nice and crispy." {Judge}: "Trout sauce using the offal to enrich it. I really like that idea." {Judge}: "He's got a little sort of potted trout dish with some clarified butter and herbs over the top. Everything is being used. He's taking the best of the island and bringing it together on one plate." The narrator described the finished dish: celebrating his homeland of Ireland, Mark served roasted trout and grilled leeks topped with cured trout tail, crispy trout skin and sea lettuce, potato colcannon wrapped in cabbage, seaweed sloke made with sour cream and laver seaweed, trout sauce from trout bones and trout roe and dillisk, potted trout, and Irish stout soda bread.
{Judge}: "Presentation wise, there's a lot going on here. My trout, it's lovely. It hasn't dried out. I like that. It's a little bit crispy on the top. The cured tail, that's nice. The potatoes, I think, are just lost in all this cabbage. And the cabbage, where it's really dark and green, you really have to cook that down. And this condiment, it's almost like the seaweed hasn't been rinsed through enough. It's a bit gritty." {Judge}: "I love the potted trout. I think that's brilliant. The soda bread is obviously delicious, but there's lots of seaweed going on in this plate which brings its own saltiness. This little condiment, which I was very excited about, I can't eat. It's too salty." {Judge}: "Your sauce is delicious. Got lots of body. I like that a lot. I completely understand what you're doing and using absolutely everything in many different ways. But there's just too much here for me. Too many flavours just banging around with each other, and none of them are marrying together." In post-cook discussion: {Judge}: "I think Mark is a chef who had some issues with his trout dish. I really admire the use of the trout, but the puree with the seaweed and the sour cream, it was gritty and just very salty." {Judge}: "Really salty. Really salty."
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