GLASGOW’S newest Professional MasterChef today spoke about how family is at the heart of everything.

Despite being the hottest new culinary hit, it seems his two youngest children are oblivious to their father’s newfound fame.

At home with Gary, Finlay, four, is feigning a momentary illness and seeking a fatherly cuddle while Harris, three, is stirring an imaginary pot of soup on his toy cooker and attempting to poke a wooden steak into his father’s mouth.

Beads of sweat appear on Dad’s forehead as he moves from keeping the children amused in the living room to tending the hot stove in the kitchen, but he admits he is used the the stress.

Gary said: "I do all the cooking for the family and all my kids have different meal requirements and tastes. Maybe now you can understand why for me doing MasterChef was a breeze,

Gary also spoke of the secret heartache for him and his wife after losing their baby daughter.

Gary Maclean, from Robroyston, and wife Sharon had a stillborn daughter, Eilidh, in 2011.

Wife Sharon, also a chef, said: “Eilidh was a surprise and I didn’t know I was having her until I was 20 weeks.

“She was delivered at 31 weeks, and we don’t know the reason she died. She’d not hidden away. She’s a huge part of our family.”

On the wall, alongside a drawing of Eilidh, there’s a photograph of Gary holding the newborn son Finlay, now three, and on his arm is a tattoo that reads: “Some people dream of angels. I held one in my arms”, in memory of Eilidh.

In the garden there is a memorial where each child chose something to remind them of her. There is a cherry tree, and fixed to the fence are butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and fairy lights. All around the house, and on the steps at the front, are little angels and hearts bearing Eilidh’s name.

Despite his new found fame after being named as the winner of the BBC’s Professional MasterChef last month, family remains Gary’s priority.

The couple have other five children Cameron, 20, Ewan, 16, and Laura, 14, Finlay four and and then Harris, three, who was born 11 weeks premature and is recovering from chronic lung disease and heart problems.

Whatever beckons next for Gary, he says he remains committed to his work at City of Glasgow College where he is a senior chef lecturer on college’s HND Professional Cookery course.

There could be a perfect role for him up for grabs as Scotland’s National Chef whose remit would be to champion good food and healthy eating across Scotland.

“I’d love to be Scotland’s national chef,” he said. “I’m passionate about Scottish produce and I don’t think there’s enough education about it. There’s a massive gap between what we grow and what we actually eat. We somehow have to bridge that gap.