- Eneko and Álex’s families served as inspiration for the preparation of their menus for the final of ‘MasterChef’. The judges and chef Mauro Colagreco were in charge of tasting and assessing the duelists’ work.
- Eneko opened his menu with a carabinero tartar marinated in lime peel, accompanied by a teja and coriander emulsion shots. The main course consisted of a pigeon with a base of cocoa, brandy, port and camomile, to which he added a mushroom duxelle, a filo pastry mille-feuille filled with a pâté prepared with the pigeon’s insides and a corn multisphere. The dessert was white chocolate rocks with a matcha tea sponge cake, accompanied by white chocolate, vanilla and allspice ice cream and topped with candyfloss.
- Eneko received a prize of 100,000 euros and the programme’s trophy. In addition, his recipe book will soon be published and next year he will be studying for a Master’s degree in Cuisine, Technique and Product at the Basque Culinary Center.
After a life dedicated to football, injuries left Eneko out of the game. However, he decided to make his other great passion, cooking, his profession, and this was the reason that prompted him to enter ‘MasterChef’. To fulfil his dream, he has been separated for the first time from his pregnant wife and two daughters for three and a half months. This sacrifice and all the effort he has put into improving his cooking skills have led this 38-year-old from Zaragoza to victory. “If I had had to write my story in “MasterChef”, it wouldn’t have been as beautiful as this one”, declared Eneko on hearing the judges’ decision.
Eneko became the winner of the eleventh edition of ‘MasterChef’ after facing Álex in the final duel. Eneko won the title of ‘MasterChef’ Spain in front of 1,771,000 viewers and a 20.4% audience share. The eleventh season of ‘MasterChef’ has had an average linear audience of 1,350,000 viewers and a 13.2% share. MasterChef’ was the most watched programme on La 1 on a deferred basis in May.
In the grand finale of ‘MasterChef 11’, Eneko and Álex offered the jury and the guest chef, Mauro Colagreco (3 Soles Repsol), a final duel in which companionship reigned supreme. “We have witnessed a duel between two true friends, accomplices since day one, who admire each other, who love each other and who have come prepared to enjoy this final battle and give us a lesson in sportsmanship and attitude”, said Pepe Rodríguez, Samantha Vallejo-Nágera and Jordi Cruz.
On being proclaimed the winner, Eneko will be able to enjoy a prize of 100,000 euros in cash and will see his name engraved forever on the ‘MasterChef’ winner’s cup. The winner will also receive the programme’s trophy and his recipe book will be in bookshops very soon. In addition, next year he will study for a Master’s degree in Cooking, Technique and Product at the Basque Culinary Center. The centre also offered prizes to the second and third place winners. On the one hand, Álex (in second place) will enjoy a Master’s Degree in Restaurant Pastry and Sweet Cuisine, while Lluís (in third place) will take a Specialisation Course in Avant-garde Culinary Techniques.
A tribute to the family
For the final duel, Eneko proposed to the judges a journey through the flavours that remind him of his partner and his daughters, from whom he has been separated for the first time for three and a half months in order to enjoy the intensive learning that ‘MasterChef’ has meant for him. The starter that opens Eneko’s menu is called “El Amor” and is inspired by the flavours that made him start cooking after the first trip he made with his partner to Thailand, where he discovered an incredible gastronomy that he later tried to replicate. The starter is made up of carabinero tartar marinated in lime peel, coriander tuile and coriander emulsion shots. The prawn base is finished as a Thai infusion or lax soup. “It’s a dish like you: transparent, beautiful, elegant, expressive and, therefore, it defines you”, said Jordi Cruz.
The main dish, called “The family”, reflects the values in which he has been brought up and which currently represent a guide for him when it comes to creating his own family. In this dish, Eneko leaves aside international flavours to focus on tradition, on his home. It is a pigeon cooked in two batches with a base finished with cocoa, brandy, port and camomile. On top of the pigeon, he placed a mushroom duxelle with a little of the pigeon’s own juice and accompanied the dish with a filo pastry mille-feuille filled with pâté made with the pigeon’s insides and crowned with a corn multisphere. Eneko finished his dish with a textured smoked oil to give a smoky note to the dish.
The dessert speaks of “The future”, which begins with his present in “MasterChef”. “It was that door that I had closed and that insecurity prevented me from opening”. Baking has always been Eneko’s weak point and, therefore, this dessert is the main reflection of his apprenticeship in “MasterChef”. It is white chocolate rocks accompanied by a matcha tea sponge cake and a white chocolate, vanilla and allspice ice cream, which the “MasterChef” winner topped with candyfloss in a clear nod to his daughters. “You’ve managed to amuse my palate,” said Mauro Colagreco.
Pepe Rodríguez described Eneko’s menu as “balanced, well thought out and very well done”. The judges applauded Eneko’s work throughout the eleventh edition of “MasterChef” and praised his progress in the kitchen.
Family is also the protagonist of Álex’s menu
The runner-up, Álex, presented a menu through which he wanted to relate cooking to the great pillars of his life that have encouraged him to pursue his dream: his family. To begin with, the starter “Vermut en familia” refers to the great relationship he has built with his father through the moments they have shared at vermouth time. Therefore, the dish contains all the elements of a vermouth: the piparra, which is transformed into gel, an olive sphere, a mackerel marinated in citrus salt, as well as a crunchy olive and passion fruit. For the main course, Álex highlighted the elements of the land with “No se muere quien se va”, a tribute to his grandfather Juan, who was the person who taught him to appreciate his village. It is a venison marinated in soya, orange and ginger, accompanied by a celeriac cream, the venison’s own sauce, a marrow fritter and a chestnut emulsion. The duelist finished the dish with a vinaigrette of Perrechico mushrooms and criadillas de la tierra. The dessert was a tribute to his mother, the person who taught him to cook and who pushed him to study cooking. “The first steps with mum” is made up of a chocolate sphere with a Catalan cream, raspberries, blueberries, vanilla shots and nitro flowers. This last dish on the menu was, in the eyes of the judges, the one that had some room for improvement. “It’s not a Catalan cream, but rather a vanilla cream or crème anglaise”, said Jordi, who also appreciated Álex’s great potential and even proposed him to work in one of his restaurants. “You have a place in my house to work”, he explained.