I have just about recovered from my MasterChef skills test – it was one of the fastest, and most mentally draining, half hours of my life.

I shouldn’t really complain, as chef, judge and presenter, Marcus Wareing, kindly gave me 10 minutes more for my challenge – sausages and mash with an onion and stout sauce – than the professional chefs get. And I got to watch Wareing demo it first, unlike the professionals, who walk in blind to a set of ingredients and just have to cook (you can see how they fare in the first episode of MasterChef: The Professionals – November 8, BBC One.)

Still, even with the head starts, it is still some feat being able to present a decent plate of food when you’re surrounded by cameras, Wareing is wandering around eyeing your pans, and the knives are genuinely sharp (mine are basically blunt at home, I have never chopped an onion so swiftly before).

Things begin by tipping half a can of Guinness into a pan to reduce, and then caramelising some red and white onion slivers to make the base of the sauce. I usually grill sausages, but Wareing has us frying them with thyme and rosemary – it’s quite stressful keeping an eye on them while passing the innards of a baked potato through a sieve to make potato puree (mine ends up quite gluey, but not so bad that a whole lot of milk and butter can’t fix it).

Into the sauce goes mustard, balsamic vinegar, beef stock and by far the most exciting bit: brandy – I have to burn the alcohol off with a WHOOSH thanks to a blowtorch. My eyebrows, fortunately, remain intact.

My final plate looks a little messy (presentation needs more effort, Wareing tells me) and my sauce is “too sweet” but as a whole dish, the chef says he would eat it. Which I’m happy with. Undoubtedly, the bright studio lights are a far cry from home cooking, and pureed potato is not something I’d ever faff about making again, but if you do ever get a chance to enter the MasterChef kitchen, professional or not, it’s genuinely rather fun. Blowtorch included.

MasterChef: The Professionals, starts tonight (Monday, November 8), 7.35pm and 8.30pm, on BBC One and catch up on iPlayer.