Gary Maclean wins MasterChef: the Professionals 2016
Glaswegian chef Gary Maclean has been crowned champion of this year's MasterChef: the Professionals.
The 45-year-old chef, who is a senior lecturer at City of Glasgow College, beat contestants Elly Wentworth and Matt Healy to claim the title.
He impressed the judges from the offset, with judge Gregg Wallace saying Maclean's lobster bisque was the best he had ever tasted.
Maclean trained to be a chef almost 30 years ago and has experience in top restaurants in Glasgow. He regularly appears as a guest chef on STV Glasgow and applied to be on MasterChef three times before being accepted.
The show has been running for six weeks and saw 48 chefs battle it out in the kitchen. During the first part of the final the three chefs, alongside Arnaud Kaziewicz who was eliminated from the competition, were tasked with cooking a four-course meal for 28 industry experts, with 30 Michelin stars between them, at the Chefs' Table.
Guests included Michael Caines, Sat Bains, Nieves Barragan Mohacho, Simon Rogan, Jonny Lake and Claude Bosi alongside previous winners of the competition. The chefs were watched closely by judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti.
For the final episode of the series, the three remaining chefs had three hours to cook three dishes. Maclean won with a menu of razor clams in white wine with artichokes, lemons, asparagus, courgette and lemon gel; smoked roe deer with celeriac three ways, a mustard sauce and carrots cooked in whisky.
On the show, Maclean said: "I've loved every second of it! What an amazing journey. This is the biggest competition that any chef can put themselves through and to be standing here at the end is incredible."
Wareing said: "Gary has soaked up every little bit of this competition; he's lived the MasterChef dream. He's a major talent, he's grown incredibly well and he's a gentleman of the kitchen."
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