Tom Rhodes is the winner of Masterchef 2021.
He has loved cooking since he was a child, and taught himself to cook properly in his teenage years; he is now assistant manager at a chain restaurant in Newcastle.
His food is inspired by his travels in East and South East Asia, combining ingredients from these regions with British cuisine and classical techniques.
Rhodes winning menu opened with a trio of oysters – one raw oyster topped with apple, cucumber and sake granite, a beer battered oyster with umeboshi mayonnaise and a grilled oyster with miso and seaweed butter topped with a panko crumbs and oyster leaf.
The main was a rib-eye steak, topped with kombu pickled beetroot, baked beetroot cooked in beef fat, wasabi buttermilk and a watercress puree served with sake and bone marrow sauce.
Dessert was a lemon tart with a shortcrust case, filled with a yuzu citrus cream and topped with a black olive meringue, served with an olive oil ice cream, olive oil and sea salt flake.
Tom now has dreams of writing a recipe book and opening his own cookery school - watch this space!
