Gabriela Hinojosa has been proclaimed winner of “MasterChef 13”, one of the most exciting and hard-fought finals of the talent show. The broadcast was the audience leader and achieved a season maximum, with a 15.1% share and an average of 864,000 viewers, who reached 3 million contacts throughout the programme.
Throughout the 13 weeks of competition on “MasterChef 13”, Gabriela has shown herself to be a tireless worker. She always wanted to work in the kitchen, although her father convinced her to learn finance. Her passion for gastronomy never stopped growing and, during her third pregnancy, in the sixth month of gestation, she decided to take the plunge. Gabriela has managed to overcome all adversities to become the winner.
Through her preparations, Gabriela wanted to share a piece of her history, as she retraced her past, her present and her future. Each dish was dedicated to her parents, her husband and her children, without forgetting the land where she currently lives, Valencia, whose presence was also present at the table. Her ambitious menu won over the jury and the guest chefs, Joan Roca and Quique Dacosta (each with 3 Michelin stars), and culminated with a dessert that Joan Roca described as worthy of a restaurant with three Michelin stars. 
For her part, Bea cooked a menu with cheese as the common thread, with which she paid tribute to her family, her roots and everything that has marked her character and driven her to reach this final.
The winner of the culinary talent won the trophy that accredits her as champion of MasterChef Spain and a cash prize of 100,000 euros. In addition, her recipe book will be in bookshops on 16 July. Her training will continue with a Master’s Degree in Cookery, Technique, Product and Creativity at the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian. The same centre will also award prizes to the second and third place winners: Bea will take a Master’s Degree in Sweet Cuisine and Restaurant Pastry, while Ismael will enjoy a five-week Specialisation Course.
Past, present and future, with a tribute to Valencia
Gabriela’s starter consisted of a tuna salad with plankton crunch, basil spheres, fig emulsion and citrus sauce. Next, she served a reinterpretation of the classic calamari sandwich: low-temperature cooked squid, pancetta, tempura drops, emulsion and sriracha mayonnaise, topped with an obulato dome. To finish, a dessert of pavlova with horchata foam, strawberries osmotized with amaretto, orange gel, orange blossom and orange osmotized with Valencia water.
“As long as there are parents, there is home” was the name of the starter he dedicated to his progenitors. “The last time I ate with my father was at a place in Cadiz that he loved; he always ordered the tuna palate carpaccio. I’ve wanted to make a version of that dish,” she shared excitedly. “Technically it’s perfect,” praised Joan Roca. Samantha Vallejo-Nágera added: “From the first day you can see you work harder than what we asked for. You’re not afraid of anything, you can handle anything, and this dish reflects that.”
The main dish was dedicated to her husband, Curro, which she titled “The most important choice of my life”. Inspired by the emblematic squid sandwich, her recipe was born from the memory of a very special moment for the couple, since, after asking Curro in marriage, in front of the Almudena, they celebrated with one of these sandwiches. “This is a 10. It’s a calamari sandwich seen through different eyes: fun, modern… It’s very good,” said Pepe Rodríguez.
The finishing touch was the dessert, “No effort, no reward”, a representation of his vision of the future in Valencia, which he decided to recreate as an authentic Valencian falla. “If Valencia is the land of flowers, light and color, here it is perfectly staged. I think that every Valencian woman and man would feel very proud of this dish, and from here, as a Valencian, I thank you for the tribute,” said Quique Dacosta. This sweet was a dedication to her children (Curro, Gabriela and Pepa), to whom she wanted to emphasize the importance of fighting for their dreams, becoming an example for them, just as her parents were for her.
Cheese, the starting point for Bea’s new life
In ‘MasterChef’, Bea has found the starting point for a new life in the kitchen, leaving behind her time as a salesperson in her father’s cheese factory in La Mancha. Demanding, hard-working and meticulous, the second duelist presented a Manchego menu called “My family”. Cheese, an essential ingredient in her life, served as the common thread of her elaborations.
The first dish, “To my mother”, was a zucchini flower stuffed with Manchego cheese mousse, accompanied by baked vegetables, fried egg mayonnaise, piquillo coulis and green bell pepper air. With this creation, the aspirant wanted to take the diners back to one of her favorite family memories: when they used to make preserves with the garden products that the neighbors gave her. “In that abstract construction that the dish has, it perfectly narrates that moment. If you hadn’t told us that story, we almost certainly would have understood it by eating it. In the end, that’s what a dish has to do: speak for itself,” Quique Dacosta said. The jury recognized that it was a dish of haute cuisine from La Mancha, although they pointed out that they would have appreciated a greater presence of cheese in the filling. In spite of that, Pepe Rodríguez joked about copying it.
For the main course, she prepared a venison sirloin with a demi-glace with its own juices, sautéed perrechicos with truffle, chestnut emulsion and a creamy potato and rosemary cured sheep’s cheese with diced quince. Through this dish, she tried to reflect everything her father represented to her. “It’s absolutely impeccable, worthy of a three Michelin star. It is very well executed“, Joan Roca congratulated her after asking her to dedicate herself ”to cooking”. For his part, Dacosta pointed out that “the virtue of the dish” was not to spoil it: “There is a very important fragility between the tenderloin being dry or juicy, especially in these meats. So, not only is it a success, but it has no errors and, technically, it must be taken into account”.
The tasting ended with a savory dessert composed of a toasted aged cheese ice cream with citrus gel, doughnut soil, honey crunch, nitro blackberries and carbonated grapes. He dedicated it to his brother, being “the best person” he knows and from whom he learned “the value of loyalty”.