A SELF-taught chef who became the country’s youngest Michelin star recipient has cemented his reputation with a record-equalling performance in a TV cookery contest.

Millions of viewers tuned in to watch Tommy Banks stun judges on the 11th series of BBC Great British Menu and win the North-East heat with dishes he created for a banquet to honour the Queen’s Great Britons.

The regional final saw the 27-year-old head chef and co-owner of The Black Swan, at Oldstead, near Helmsley, receive numerous top scores from judges, restaurateurs Prue Leith and Oliver Peyton, critic Matthew Fort and John Williams, executive chef of The Ritz.

The dishes were inspired by the North York Moors and his grandfather, who looked after the White Horse of Kilburn, and featured a range of unusual produce, such as preserved elderflower berries and woodruff, from his kitchen garden.

Dishes included a prawn cocktail-style starter with slow-cooked duck eggs, a tartare of mackerel, wagyu beef with hen of the woods mushrooms and a dessert centred around oil from pine trees near his home.

Mr Banks, who captains the cricket club at Newburgh Priory, near Coxwold, said the secret to his success in the show had been “subconsciously thinking about the dishes 24/7”, using unusual produce, cooking in his own style and extensive practice.

He said he had been thrilled with the praise, but despite being used to working 16-hour days, found the experience draining.

The former Easingwold School pupil said: “You can’t believe how exhausting the process of filming the show is. It drops your life expectancy. I had been told by chefs it would be the hardest thing I would ever do, and they were dead right.

“There was a gas leak where we had to go out of the studios for two hours and I said to a producer ‘I have nothing left, I’m done’. I felt the pressure because I didn’t want to let everybody down.”

Speaking about making his dessert tribute to his farmer grandfather, for which he received four ten-out-of-ten scores from the judges, Mr Banks said: “It was emotional. He was a massive part of my life and brought me up like my dad. I never really got over losing him, it was awful, I was about 18 at the time. Doing that gave me a bit of closure and felt like I had given something back. It is a really tasty dessert as well.”