'It’s all self-taught, there’s no more to it than that': Masterchef winner Simon Wood learned his skills from YouTube (and says family meals resemble a gourmet buffet)

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Simon Wood, 38, from Oldham won Masterchef last Friday

Wannabe chefs with their eye on a career as the next Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver should take note - it doesn't have to cost a fortune. 

The new winner of Masterchef Simon Wood, who won the title last Friday, hasn't been on a single cookery course or even had one lesson. 

Everything the 38 year old knows about cooking is self-taught - learnt form reading recipe books or watching television shows. 

He told MailOnline: 'It’s all self-taught. There’s no more to it than that.

You can achieve anything if you try hard enough and you’re passionate enough.

'I learnt what I know from reading, websites like YouTube, watching TV and talking to people who are also passionate about it. 

'I also found out a lot from watching chefs when I go to a restaurant - you go into a lot of restaurants these days and you can see straight into the kitchen. 

'I can’t help it, it’s like watching TV and if it’s happening in front of you, you can’t help but watch what they do.' 

While Simon, who lives in Oldham,  learns about his cooking from reading and watching programmes, he sharpens his skills by practicing on his four children - Liam, 20, Alex, 18, Cameron, 16, and Charlotte, seven. 

The lucky children are often on the receiving end of their father's culinary masterpieces - in the Wood household lunchboxes can become works of art. 

He said: 'They only get fancy stuff in their lunch boxes when I’m practising. 

'All of my kids like different things, so it can be like a gourmet buffet sometimes when you’re at my house.

'Everyone wants something different, someone wants fish, and someone else wants shellfish - if it’s in the fridge or freezer it’s likely to come out at some point or another.

'They’re not fussy at all though. They’re like me, there’s nothing I don’t like and that has carried on through to them too. It makes life a lot easier.'

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Simon has always wanted to be a chef - when he was eight, he won the opportunity to spend a day in a hotel kitchen and featured in the local newspaper.  

But he gave up his dream because he and his wife, who he separated from two years ago, had a child very young.

The couple met while working at McDonalds and when he was just 19, they had their first child - Liam. 

Simon as an eight year old after winning the chance to spend a day in a hotel kitchen 

The hours that chefs do are notoriously antisocial and so Simon decided to take up a career in IT instead. 

His children are over the moon that their father is now following his dream though and they watched the Masterchef final on TV together last Friday, when they learnt for the first time that their father had won - because it had to be kept a secret until the programme aired.  

He said: 'When we watched it together, it was the first time that they found out I had won and it was emotional, it was pretty overwhelming. 

'It was a moment in all of our lives that we’ll remember and will treasure and look back on.'

Simon has come a long way since the beginning of the show - in the first episode he was so terrified that Greg Wallace, who is one of the judges on the show, pointed out that he was actually 'shaking in his trainers'. 

Simon said: ' When you first go in there on day one, when you see John and Greg for the first time, they’re practically idols of yours and you’ve not met them before that.

'Then it all starts to get very real very quickly. It’s a daunting prospect that’s in front of you.

'So the next hour and 15 minutes that you get in there can determine the rest of your life really.'

But Simon managed to overcome his nerves and was noted as one of the contestants who had grown the most over the course of the show. 

He won the final with a starter of octopus, with chorizo crisps and a cannellini bean and chorizo salad; his main course was pigeon with carrots, pommes parisienne and a cassis jus; and for the pudding he produced a lemon posset, with citrus tutti-frutti.

Simon was noted as one of the contestants who had grown the most over the course of the show

He said: 'You grow so quickly when you’re down there. You get feedback from people that you’d never normally meet and they’re so good at what they do - everyone down there is. 

'I got loads of really good feedback down there. I had a really good competition when I found my confidence and got rid of my nerves – I think it showed as well.'

For anyone looking to follow Simon's success, he has one simple tip - enjoy it. 

He said: 'If you don’t enjoy it, it shows in the food that you haven’t made something you believe in or enjoyed making. 

That comes out on the plate and ultimately for your guests or whoever is eating the meal and that’s no good because food is about passion and giving people a valuable experience. 

'If you don’t enjoy it I don’t think your guests will either.'

Simon hasn't always been this good, even Masterchef winner's have the occasional cooking disaster. 

As a young man, he learnt the hazards of absent-minded cooking after he tipped and entire stock he had worked on for hours down the sink. 

He said: 'My biggest disaster was when I was younger and first started out cooking, I did Christmas dinner for the first time.

'I had a big turkey carcass so thought I was going to make a really nice stock.

'I simmered it for hours and hours and made a really good stock. 

'Then I went to drain all of the vegetables and the bones out and ended up pouring it all down the sink because I didn’t put something under it, that was a lesson I learnt really early on – think about what you’re doing.

'I don’t think there is anything I can’t cook though. I think I’ve shown throughout the competition that I’m good with most things that get thrown at me.'

Simon is now hoping to open a restaurant of his own 

While he enjoys fancy cooking, one of the simplest culinary pleasures for Simon is a meal that can be rustled up in under ten minutes - a plain omelette. 

He said: 'The first thing I ever cooked as a child was an omelette. 

'And if I'm looking for something quick and easy to do, I still always go back to an omelette and a glass of wine, with a salad.

'Nothing in it, just some sea salt and a really good salad with it, that’s it – done. 

'Just nice and simple, good eggs, good omelette.'

But anyone looking to sample some of the cooking that netted Simon the Masterchef prize can expect something much more intricate when he succeeds in his dream of opening his own restaurant. 

For the time being he is going back to the IT company he worked for, but his eye is already on setting up his own eaterie. 

He said: 'I am definitely planning on having a restaurant eventually – it’s every cook or chef’s dream. 

'If you can make money doing something you love and enjoy it and help people create memories then that is amazing.

'I think a lot of people remember where they were when they had a good meal with special people at special times - if you can get involved with that by having a restaurant, it’s really good.

'I think I’d want to do classic dishes with a modern twist. 

'Something that looks nice, is achievable. But is also quite opulent and refined and nice.

'Also something that isn’t out of everybody’s reach.'