Who's up for a cod cheek omelette?

It is autumn, the clock has gone back and this can mean only one thing - Masterchef the Professionals is back. 

(Actually the clocks going back means several things, not least that I start to feel normal again instead of out of tune with nature and my body clock which is what happens when we put them forward and 'enjoy' BST Bit you know, for effect ....)

Of all the programs in the Masterchef stable this is the one I enjoy most.This is partly because quite often we are relieved of the presence of Greg Wallace, the bullet headed greengrocer, although to my mind not quite often enough. But there' is something good about watching people do things that they are good at in front of you, especially when you couldn't aspire to doing them yourself, and there's also a lot to be said for the pleasure of watching people improve week by week, which is also something that happens here. 

There are a couple of  downsides. One is that I sometimes have to watch people preparing food that normally I would not even raise my eyes to were I to be passing a shop that sold it in the street. This applies to several types of bird, anything that comes  with a head still attached, and all fish. This made one of this weeks skill tests practically unwatchable for me as six chefs were each presented with a huge cod's head and asked to concoct something using the meat from it; most went for the cheeks although one got the feeling Monica would have given extra marks for using the tongue or throat. Some had no idea what they were doing and  I had to watch their antics through interlaced fingers. Honestly, some of them were wrestling with it. One of them was so flummoxed he really did serve up a cods cheek omelette. None of the judges were prepared to taste it, which I thought was rather bad form on their part. They are paid squillions for fronting this thing; the least they could do would be to taste what's put in front of them. (Although to be fair, they generally do, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to try it, but then I'm not a Michelin starred chef hosting a cheffing comp. 

And here comes the other downside. These are professional chefs, right? The sort of person who is holding sway in the kitchen when you go out for a meal. Until a few years ago I sort of assumed that  all these people were competent, Knew what they were doing. Could at least cover the basics. 

Alas, if there is one thing that Masterchef the Professionals teaches you, it is that you should assume no such thing. Many of these people, and remember they have put themselves forward for one of the most prestigious cheffing competitions in the country, cannot perform the simplest and most basic of tasks presented to them by judges Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing. How can you mess up cooking pasta and prawns for goodness sake? I don't even eat prawns, but after years of being subjected to a variety of cooking programs on TV I could have made  a better fist of it than some of those guys. I do at least know to start by taking out the intestinal tract. As for kitchen hygiene -for many years I have felt slightly ill while watching them taste stuff off spoons and then put the spoon straight back into the cooking pot. Ahem! Eugghh! This year, there are far too many of them trying to prepare vegetables on a board they have just used to prep raw meat or fish on, without wiping it first. All my old Domestic Science teachers are spinning in their graves. 

I also think that the standard this year is generally seriously underwhelming. Marcus is turning back into the humourless cooking Nazi he always used to be as he watches a series of hapless chefs fail to complete the most basic of tasks, and Monica's faces are getting weirder by the day. I suspect that a lot of this general 'not-having-a-clue-ness' is down to a lack of formal training; it seems every pot and bottle washer in a kitchen can work up to  being a sous chef in six months these day, without necessarily ever being told that you don't peel parsnips on a board you just jointed a chicken on. 

I'll still watch till the biter end though.