So Dan is the man. After three hours cooking head-to-head against Chiara Tomasoni and George Birtwell, Dan Merriman has lifted the MasterChef: The Professionals trophy. In what the judges called the best final yet, the 29-year-old chef from Accrington in Lancashire won them over with his faultless menu of Turkish-inspired barbecued scallops, truffled dairy cow steak with beef fat hash brown, and blackcurrant mousse with yuzu curd and honey tuile.
“Your food makes me smile,” Monica Galetti said. “We see something great in you.” Marcus Wareing called his cookery “fine dining at its very, very best” and Gregg Wallace said: “Dan’s food has been blowing us away, not just in this final but for round after round. Dish after dish of absolute beauty. Watching this