Mary cooks up a storm to secure tasty €25,000 prize

A WATERFORD woman proved she could stand the heat in the kitchen last night, fighting off stiff competition to become the first MasterChef Ireland.

Mary Carney (28), who works as a policy advisor with a telecoms company, was one of more than 1,000 people who applied to participate in the RTÉ reality cooking programme.

With just 50 people making it to the audition stage earlier this year, 16 budding chefs were selected to take part in a series of filmed cooking challenges, broadcast on RTÉ2 on Tuesdays and Thursday nights over the past six weeks.

Judges Nick Munier, co-owner of Dublin restaurant Pichet, who used to be the maitre d’ of the British version of Hell’s Kitchen, and chef Dylan McGrath, now of Rustic Stone, continually turned up the heat under participants throughout the 12 episodes.

Challenges ranged from preparing canapes for a glittering cocktail evening at a country house hotel to catching a live fish within three hours and then serving it at a Dublin restaurant.

Among those who sampled some of the efforts of competitors was Catherine Cleary, restaurant critic of The Irish Times.

In the first part of the final aired last week, Carney, along with fellow finalists Tipperary native Brídín Carey (28), an occupational therapist with the National Rehabilitation Hospital, and Limerick father of two and Xtravision district manager Mike Curran (37), were matched to the Michelin-starred kitchens of Chapter One, L’Ecrivain and Bon Appetit respectively and tasked with preparing and cooking an evening service.

The next morning, the pressure cooking continued with contestants given just 2½ hours to prepare and cook a starter, a main or a dessert from the menu at Ireland’s only two-Michelin starred restaurant, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud.

In the final, which aired last night, finalists had just three hours to use everything they had learned to cook a three-course meal of their own design for the judges.

In the end, it was Carney, a solid performer throughout, who wowed judges with her starter of warm lobster salad, squab pigeon main and summer berry plate dessert.

Walking away with the coveted title and €25,000 prize, Carney – who credits her mother as her biggest cooking influence – says she hopes the MasterChef title will bring her closer to her dream of running her own cafe in the style of chef du jour Yotam Ottolenghi.