Eddie Scott MasterChef: Yorkshire marine pilot crowned Masterchef 2022 champion

Eddie overcame fierce competition from 44 other amateur cooks through seven weeks of culinary challenges and an exhilarating final cook-off to claim the MasterChef trophy from judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace.

The star chef, who lives in Beverley and has spent the last five years piloting ships on the Humber, was described as “daring,” “adventurous,” and “a culinary powerhouse” by John, while Gregg said he was “born to cook”.

On his win, Eddie said: “It’s everything. My whole life I feel has been building up to this moment. I can’t believe I’m standing here as the MasterChef champion.

“It’s just been the most stressful and the most enjoyable! I feel like I’ve just discovered who I am as a cook. It’s the best feeling ever.

“I sat watching the show for years telling myself to apply. I wanted to go up in front of John and Gregg to see what I could really do.

“I think every amateur cook secretly dreams of having the chance to go onto a show like MasterChef - to have that one chance of totally changing your life in what you love doing!”

Leicestershire-born Eddie faced off strong competition in the final week from tonight’s finalists Pookie Tredell and Radha Kaushal-Bolland.In the final, the contestants were challenged to cook the best three-course meal of their lives.

Eddie’s winning menu started with turbot, topped with caviar, tempura oyster, cucumber compressed in dill oil and a champagne beurre blanc.

For the main he went for a Hyderabadi Dum – a caraway and nigella seed pastry-topped chicken biryani, spiced basmati rice with crispy onions, chicken thigh cooked on the bone, all flavoured with saffron, Kashmiri chilli powder and cardamom, with a cucumber raita.

To finish his menu, Eddie served his take on the classic French dish, St Emilion au Chocolat – chocolate mousse with a prune purée centre, prunes soaked in Armagnac, almond frangipane, and an almond and Armagnac crème Chantilly.

MasterChef judge John Torode, said: “Eddie is nothing short of a culinary powerhouse. His love of classic French food blended with the spices of India, has made us really stand up and take notice. He’s daring, he’s adventurous, he doesn’t play it safe.”

His fellow judge Gregg Wallace, added: “I think we’ve just seen the birth of a future great chef. Eddie impressed from the moment he set foot in this kitchen. He’s hardly put a foot wrong throughout the competition.”

Eddie’s love of cooking stems from a family passionate about food – from his mother’s baking skills, to his father’s experimental dishes and his grandparents’ perfection of Punjabi classics – all inspiring him to learn more in the kitchen.

The culinary star recalled his childhood, looking through cookbooks, constantly thinking about food and says: “All of our best memories were cooking together, travelling and eating together.

“Growing up, we’d pack up our little Ford Fiesta and spend summer holidays camping in France.

“I was astounded by how the French presented ingredients and how delicious dishes in the simplest cafés and restaurants were.

“The way food was ingrained in French culture was a total revelation. I wanted to recreate it and that’s how I really got into cooking.”

He said that while he loves to cook the Punjabi dishes he grew up eating with his family, his “real passion” is the Mughlai cuisine: the historic royal dishes of Old Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

So what’s next for Eddie?

His ambitions include cooking in top restaurants, writing about food, and doing more TV.

“What I’d really love is to own my own restaurant, sharing my food memories and nostalgia,” he said.

“I always knew one day I wanted to pursue a career in food and now MasterChef has made me realise that this can be a reality.”

MasterChef Series 18 is available to catch up on iPlayer