Marco Pierre White blasts 'fake' MasterChef over cold food and reveals how stock cubes changed his life

When it comes to cooking, Marco Pierre White certainly knows his onions and he has little appetite for shows like MasterChef. In fact, the knives are out, as the ‘enfant terrible’ of haute cuisine declares: “Number one it is a reality show. Number two, when it comes to the tasting the food is three, four hours old. It's cold food. It is a TV show, don't take it seriously. It is not real. It is fantasy. If it makes you want to cook then that is all that matters. It’s food porn." Britain’s first celebrity chef, Marco - who is included in a new paperback book Blood, Sweat and Asparagus Spears: The Story of the 1990s Restaurant Revolution by Andrew Turvil - is preparing to star in a new three-part BBC series later this year, called The Rise of the Rockstar Chef. Set against the ‘Cool Britannia’ backdrop of the nineties, it will chart his colourful career, also featuring Gordon Ramsay, his apprentice, and Heston Blumenthal. A frequent guest judge on MasterChef Australia, Marco reaches boiling point, as he recalls: "I remember when I was on I looked at the plate, and I don't like to criticise, so I said ‘that little bit is so nice’.” Claiming he was less than truthful, he adds: “I had to go and see my priest afterwards.” This is just a taste of the kind of explosive anecdotes viewers can expect on the new show, which will delve into the friendships, fights and feuds that characterised the three chefs’ rise to fame. Meanwhile, Marco's return to the spotlight will mark nearly 40 years since he opened his first restaurant, Harveys, on Wandsworth Common, London, in 1987 - earning him his first Michelin star almost immediately, and his second a year later. Injecting an explosion of flavour into the British restaurant scene, with his ingredient led simplicity, Marco arrived in London with just £7.36, a box of books and a bag of clothes. But his classical training as a commis chef with Albert and Michel Roux at the two-Michelin starred La Gavroche made him a champion. Freely admitting he learned from the best - with mentors also including Raymond Blanc, Pierre Koffmann and the late chef Nico Ladenis, before becoming an assistant at the Six Bells pub on Chelsea’s famous King’s Road, under American chef Mario Batali. After six years running Harveys, where Marco first met Gordon Ramsay, he became chef-patron of The Restaurant Marco Pierre White at the Hyde Park Hotel. There, he became the youngest chef to achieve three Michelin stars, before moving to the Oak Room at London’s Le Meridien Piccadilly Hotel. Then, after a 17 year pursuit of culinary perfection, Marco shocked the world of gastronomy in 1999 by turning his back on his career and returning his Michelin stars. Twenty seven years later, he has no regrets. Of Michelin stars, he says: "They [Michelin] know more about tyres than they do about food. Today, I go to Michelin starred restaurants and they confuse me. If you go to a two star or a three star you are told what you are eating. The romance has gone. In my opinion, they have turned gastronomy into a canapé party.” Marco also believes there is too little discipline and an excess of drink and drugs in kitchens. He says: "I did not start drinking alcohol until I was 41. I have never taken a drug in my life. Today, there's drugs and drink. I don't think it is in the world of gastronomy [fine dining] but I think it is everywhere. It is pretty sad, the reality of this.” Marco also says Gordon Ramsay’s expletive filled rants are tame, compared to his own early experiences in kitchens. He says: "If I think what my head chef used to call me...that is another conversation. But you know, a good b*****king did not do anybody any harm. It gave me backbone. It gave me a spine. In that world you were never late, you never called in sick and you would learn. Today, people call in sick and people look at their watch. I was knocked down and had things thrown at me! I am glad I was b*****ked." Marco’’s famous temper flares when he is compared to Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, played by Jeremy Allen White, in the American TV drama The Bear; or Bradley Cooper in the 2015 film Burnt. He says: "Let me tell you, The Bear and The Burnt is fluff. Don't believe it. It is way worse!” Asked by now disgraced Harvey Weinstein to coach Bradley Cooper for the part, Marco refused. He says: "It is manufactured drama.” While he no longer cooks professionally, Marco remains forthright with his opinions about cuisine. And, when it comes to flavour, he has a surprising secret weapon. He says: "Knorr stock cubes are life changing. If it had not been for Knorr I would not have won three stars in Michelin. Whenever I cook something, I always use a little bit of Knorr instead of stock. "Why? When I was a boy of 17 I was told ‘it does not matter how you create the desired effect, as long as you create the desired effect’. "My customers don't care whether it is salt or Knorr as long as it tastes delicious.” The Rise of the Rockstar Chef airs on BBC1 later this year. Blood, Sweat and Asparagus Spears by Andrew Turvil is out now priced £10.99 by Elliott & Thompson