Episode 15 MasterChef

It's Knockout Week on MasterChef.

Last time, Leanne and Lindsey went home,

leaving just the strongest 12 cooks.

Now, they've been split into two groups

and, tonight, the first six are back.

First...

How long?

30 seconds, Chef.

..they'll face the intense pressure of a professional kitchen...

Did I say pour from a pan?

No, you didn't, Chef.

-I didn't, I said use a spoon, didn't I?

-Yes.

..before cooking for one of Britain's most renowned chefs.

I've got to take my hat off to you.

You've gone for it.

At the end, for one of them, their competition will be over.

It's 7am...

..and Faye...

Brodie...

Fumbi...

Saliha...

Alison...

and Steve...

are about to experience the intense pressure

of their first professional kitchen

at London's Ormer Mayfair.

Heading up the pass is Michelin-starred chef Shaun Rankin.

Straight after table three main course, yeah?

Yes, Chef.

Brought up in Yorkshire,

Shaun trained in kitchens around the world

before settling in Jersey, where, in 2005,

he gained his first Michelin star.

OK, mains away on table eight, please.

Yes, Chef.

In 2013, Shaun set up on his own,

opening the highly acclaimed Ormer restaurant in St Helier,

earning a Michelin star within just four months of opening.

We play around with a lot of textures

and we lend ourselves to different cooking techniques.

There's some very classic methods from France, Asia, Europe.

We base it round the ingredients

and we go in to different styles with different seasoning

so it's quite rounded, very British European.

Starter to go, please.

In 2016, Shaun opened his first London restaurant,

showcasing his unique take on modern British cookery.

Ormer Mayfair's really important to me.

We work on discipline.

Everything recipe-wise has to be adhered to every single time.

So, they've got a very demanding day ahead of them

because when it's service time, I'm not going to relax with them,

you know, I want the food on the pass

the same way as what my cooks do.

OK, let's go.

It's going to be a completely different experience

to cooking here, cooking at home -

actually, to anything I've ever done in my life.

My approach is just going to be to do exactly what I'm told

and try not to mess it up!

The more you think about it, the scarier it gets, actually.

Best not think about it too much!

Morning.

-ALL:

-Morning.

Today, you've got the task of delivering lunch for 40 people.

You're going to be in charge of one dish each.

Two on starters, two on main courses and two on desserts. OK?

There's a lot to do.

A lot of mise en place to get ready.

We've got high expectations.

Our diners have got high expectations

for our food and our service.

So, let's get cracking, OK?

The contestants will have four hours

to prepare each of their dishes for service.

Aerospace engineer Fumbi is in charge of the first starter -

lobster ravioli with a crab bisque

served with a lemon grass dressing.

A ravioli, four minutes,

so you need to make sure you've got a timer set.

-Four minutes exactly.

-Yeah, four minutes exactly.

-Yes, Chef.

-20 seconds on your pak choi.

Yes.

I'm going to heat our crab bisque up now.

To finish the dish, pak choi leaf, ravioli, four minutes,

Maldon salt, black pepper, olive oil on top...

..and then our crab bisque, OK?

It's really important that you get your consistency right.

-Right.

-OK. Too thick, it won't work, OK?

Too thin, it won't sit on the ravioli.

Shredded spring onions and shallots for a little salad,

just to sit on top of the ravioli.

OK?

And you're going to finish with a little bit of puffed rice.

-That's how it should look.

-Yes, Chef.

It's one of my classic dishes -

it's been on the menu for around about 12 years.

So, don't get it wrong.

Yes, Chef.

That's a stunning piece of food I've got to cook today.

I've never done pasta before,

so that's going to be a bit of a challenge,

but I'm looking forward to it -

I think it's going to be a great skill to learn.

Fumbi's first job is to get the pasta rolled

in preparation for 20 ravioli.

The thickness of the pasta's really quite important.

Getting it not too thick, not too thin.

One of the hardest parts is making the pasta thin enough.

It can be quite tricky and quite risky at some points -

you know, they might split the ravioli, which is not acceptable.

Mum-of-three Faye will be preparing the second starter -

rabbit loin wrapped in pancetta

served with a truffle sauce with cocoa beans

and gnocchi garnished with charred baby gem lettuce,

chickweed, pickled shallot rings and shaved truffle.

So, the loin's been in the oven for about four minutes.

Nice and steamed, nice and pink,

and we're just going to get a little bit

of nice golden brown colour on there.

-The next part of the dish, quarter of little gem.

-Yeah.

It takes seconds, so it's right at the end, OK?

So, in the sauce I'm going to add cocoa beans.

In goes our gnocchi and our rabbit leg. OK?

And I've got a handful of girolles, as well. OK?

You get all the really good flavour from the girolles mushrooms.

A bit of gnocchi, cocoa beans...

..little gem goes on the side.

Very simple plating.

-It's supposed to be a nice little rabbit casserole.

-OK.

Some foraging herbs...

..and then...nice slices of truffle.

-Excited?

-Very, very.

-Good.

-It's a lot to do.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-A lot to do.

Any questions?

Can I write it all down?!

Down there...

Faye's first task is to delicately butcher the rabbit loin

before it can be wrapped in the pancetta.

My presentation skills lack finesse,

so if I can learn how to make things

look smart and pretty and sexy on the plate,

I'll be really, really happy!

That dish is a very difficult dish to get to the pass by yourself.

One of our strong cooks, the chef de partie, you know,

on the hot starter section -

even that's, you know, a tricky dish for him to get to the pass.

For the first main, hospital doctor Saliha

will be in charge of another of Shaun's signature dishes -

pan-roasted turbot served with a pistachio and pine nut crust

and textures of cauliflower

garnished with pickled cockles, samphire and sea beans.

Carefully flip that over.

As you can see, the fish is nice and golden brown.

This is our nut crust, which we've made earlier.

It goes on top of the fish.

It's going to go under the salamander, OK,

for about 20 seconds.

Little bit of oil.

-Raw cauliflower.

-OK.

We want that to be crunchy, yeah?

-and have a barbecue flavour to it.

-OK.

Lots of different textures going on.

OK...

There you go.

-The crust has melted away...

-Mm-hm.

..and it's attached itself to the fish that we need to.

A little bit of puree.

-These are what we call cauliflower couscous, OK?

-Yeah.

-It's just shredded cauliflower down.

-Yeah.

Next, our roasted cauliflower.

Turbot on top.

Pickled cockles.

Heat the salty fingers and the samphire up.

Out they go.

Nice sprinkle on top.

We've got some florets of cauliflower...

and then sea purslane.

-Really concentrate on the turbot.

-Yeah.

If you get that right, you know, you're halfway there.

-OK.

-OK?

Everything's done to absolute perfection.

All the herbs are cut up beautifully -

there's things in squeezy bottles.

You know you're in the right place when you're using squeezy bottles!

Turbot is not a cheap ingredient

and I'm going to be looking at them

to make sure there's no wastage here.

I've never filleted anything this big in my life.

Never, ever, ever.

It's huge, it's a monster.

I'm trying to give it a go by myself.

You feel quite privileged handling a really nice ingredient,

so you don't want to mess it up.

Ta-dah!

Not bad for a first attempt.

Marketing consultant Alison

is in charge of preparing the second main -

Iberico pork with grilled calamari

served with chorizo jam,

a chorizo and tomato puree,

pressed Asian pear and a dressed fennel salad.

This is where you're going to work today,

so you're going to be hot!

-OK, fine!

-THEY LAUGH

So, straight in.

So, you've got pork -

that's actually cooked for about three or four minutes

in the Josper grill.

We've also got some calamari that needs to be cooked at the same time.

We have a chorizo puree.

We've got to cut some fresh Asian pear,

which we've pressed, which is cold.

We've got to dress some fennel, which, again, is cold and textured.

We have a chorizo jam

and then you've got to build all of those elements

while cooking the two things at the same time

and get that onto two plates.

It's a very fun dish, but it's very complex, as well.

-Lots going on.

-Yeah.

You're going to be very busy and very hot.

-Yeah.

-Are you ready for it?

-I am, yeah.

-Good.

I think so!

Alison starts by scoring the calamari.

So, when you score it,

it kind of gives it a really nice look when it's finished,

but also it gives it that nice curl, I guess, when it's done - I think.

Doesn't it?

Yeah, basically.

I knew that.

Store designer Brodie is on dessert -

Shaun's highly complex Black Forest gateau...

with cherry souffle and a roche of cherry sorbet.

Voila!

I've got to be honest, I've never done a souffle before.

-Never?

-No - and I know that they can definitely go wrong, so...

Well, make sure you do what we say, you shouldn't have any problems.

I'm a little bit worried about the souffle.

Obviously, it's so visibly incorrect if done wrong.

So, yeah, there's a bit of pressure on that.

There's absolutely nowhere to hide with a souffle.

You've either got it right or you've got it wrong.

The risk is in making sure your moulds are cold,

buttered and sugared properly, otherwise your souffle won't rise -

then it's all about timing, as well,

because we want to make sure the gateau is on the plate,

a nice roche of cherry sorbet as well, that's got to be perfect.

Lots of things to get wrong.

This is so much harder than it looks!

You know it's ice cream - I'm going to be doing with sorbet.

So, it's probably not the best thing to be practising with.

Sound engineer and DJ Steve is in charge of the final dessert -

Shaun's highly creative take on an apple crumble.

Sitting on the crumble is a white chocolate sphere...

..garnished with apple puree and salted caramel

and filled with apple chutney...

creme anglaise...

and a custard espuma...

accompanied with a cinnamon and vanilla sauce.

-And then, to finish, a little bit of gold leaf on top.

-Wow.

And right at the end, we're just going to dot the plate

with a little bit of white chocolate aero for texture.

-Wow.

-And there you go.

It's a bit different to my apple crumble!

Good luck.

I think I might need it!

There's a lot of things I've never done before.

I've never really done any chocolate work.

It looks pretty intricate and delicate.

I've definitely got a challenge there, I think.

Then just get it out as flat as I can, I suppose,

or it doesn't really matter, yeah?

Steve's biggest challenge

will be to make and set the chocolate spheres.

The main thing that he needs to get right

is tempering the white chocolate, which is tricky to do.

We've got to get a really nice crunchy shell

and we've got to get a really nice shine to it.

-Like this?

-Yeah. Go down.

I am learning a lot.

I mean, I've never tempered chocolate before.

Yeah, it's quite exciting.

-All right, that's good.

-OK.

There are now just two hours until the first diners arrive.

You can see they're working away methodically,

but they've got no idea of time,

and they're about to get their eyes opened slightly.

On the starters, Faye and Fumbi

will have to get their prep ready first.

I've got to make 20 of these in about 20 minutes...

but these are really delicate,

so, as much as I want to go quicker, I don't really want to burst them.

Faye's rabbit with pancetta is ready,

and she's now preparing the dough for her gnocchi.

I've never made gnocchi before.

It feels lovely, it feels really soft and pillowy

and just really nice.

There's just so many things

that you just can't learn from a book, can you?

YouTube can only take you so far.

Alison, how are you doing?

I'm good, yeah, yeah. Getting there.

I've done the squid and nearly finished the pork.

-Nervous?

-No, in fact...

-Excited?

-Yeah, I'm excited, I'm enjoying it.

-I can't wait for the rush to start now.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

On the other main, Saliha is making the pistachio and pine nut crust

for the top of the turbot.

It's a lot of steps for a crust on a piece of fish,

but it's worth it because it tastes amazing in the end.

Next, she needs to prep the cauliflower three different ways.

So I'm expecting a really busy service,

and there's about seven elements to it.

So I'm a little bit worried about how I'm going to coordinate

more than one, or more than two, or seven, at the same time.

Over on dessert, Brodie is also under pressure.

He's had to prepare a whole new batch of Black Forest gateaux

for service.

Someone knocked the gateaux in the fridge, a big accident.

But we don't want to be down when it comes to service,

otherwise we'll be caught with our pants down.

-Give that another spray on top, then, yeah?

-Yes.

Meanwhile, Steve has moved on to the delicate task of spray-painting

the all-important white chocolate spheres with red cocoa butter.

-It just looks like a mess.

-With this one, this is knackered now.

Hopefully, the second time will be a bit neater.

Guys, listen up,

you've got 25 minutes until the first guest comes in, OK?

-Yes, Chef.

-Yes, Chef.

I'm nervous, but excited nervous, not like panic nervous.

There's an awful lot left to do.

It doesn't seem like it's going to be possible in the time.

In just a few minutes, the amateurs will have their first taste

of service in a professional kitchen.

There's high expectation in the room.

People are really excited about eating here.

I've got to say, it's a tough gig.

I just hope that our six can reconstruct his food.

I really hope they can.

I'm not going to send something out the kitchen I'm not happy with.

If they've got to do it again and again and again,

then that's the way it is.

And I won't be easy on them. I will not be easy on them.

I'm not stressed, no.

HE CHUCKLES

It's the calm before the storm, Fumbi.

-Tell me about it! Good luck.

-And you!

OK, check on, four covers.

-Two lobster ravioli, two roast rabbit.

-Yes, Chef.

First orders are in for Fumbi and Faye.

To get her starter to the pass on time,

Faye must steam the rabbit loin for four minutes before pan-roasting it,

whilst simultaneously making her sauce

and carefully braising the charred lettuce.

So I need two lots of ravioli,

two roast rabbit straightaway

followed by two more ravioli when ready.

I've got four checks on at the moment.

Both dishes must get to the pass at the same time.

OK, guys, talk to each other, work as a team, yeah?

-How you doing, Faye?

-I'm ready to plate.

You're ready to plate? All right, so am I.

That ravioli is back in the bisque.

It's now taken you ten minutes for your first starters.

-Raviolis are ready?

-Ravioli is ready.

If they're ready, get them to the pass, get them under the lights.

-Two rabbit?

-Yep. Two raviolis?

Well done, guys, well done. Come on, then, first table out, let's go!

The rabbit was cooked perfectly, just on the right side of pink,

and with the flavour from the pancetta

just made it really special.

-Just fantastic.

-I'll tell you what, a huge amount of promise.

A beautiful-looking dish, really nice sauce,

wonderful flavour of truffle.

Good old Faye.

-FAYE:

-It was OK going out, it could have been better.

There's still a lot to do.

There's a lot to...

..lot to do!

Table six, two lobster ravioli, one rabbit.

-Faye, have you got two more rabbit in?

-I've got three in.

-OK.

-Just remembering what you've got on order,

that's what the tricky bit is.

20 minutes into service, and with the orders mounting,

Fumbi is struggling to keep track.

How long on your next two ravioli? Four minutes, it takes. So how long?

Have you got a timer on? How long is it?

Er, I'm lost.

That one is probably going to need to be redone.

-It's been sitting too long, I think.

-Let's get them out.

Get them out on a flat. Check on, four lobster. Table seven.

Fumbi, it's all you!

-Ah, damn it, this one's broken.

-Broken ravioli?

-Yes, Chef.

-Yeah? That's what I'm talking about.

You need to look after them. That is the risk factor of your dish. Yeah?

Get another one in quickly. Check on, three more covers.

-Two lobster, one rabbit.

-Come on, mate, come on!

One ravioli broke, so it's a knock-on effect.

So the rest of the tables are now waiting.

-Fumbi, I need this ravioli, please!

-Coming, Chef.

They have waited long enough.

I am under the cosh, big time.

Did I say pour from a pan?

Did I say pour from a pan?

-No, you didn't, Chef.

-I didn't. I said use a spoon, didn't I?

Don't pour from the pan, please. Right, let's go, come on.

Let's go.

That was a lot of work. It just flew by. Just flew by.

The ravioli was stunning.

The pasta was really well done, very well cooked,

and the lobster itself was divine.

Though we had to wait quite a while for it,

but, other than that, it was perfect.

The pasta is thin-as-you-like. I think it's really well made.

And the bisque is rich and caramel

and sweet and savoury all at the same time.

-Very good.

-Fumbi, take a bow. That is beautiful.

Check on.

Two turbot, two pork. Away when ready.

Alison and Saliha are up next with the mains.

You need to work together, yeah?

-BOTH:

-Yes, Chef.

It's cos there are seven things to coordinate,

so you have to make sure seven things are happening at one time.

It's pretty hard.

While Alison keeps an eye on the cooking of the pork

in the Josper grill, she must also grill the calamari.

Alison, your calamari doesn't look cooked. Concentrate.

-Girls, how long?

-30 seconds, Chef, to plate.

Come on, girls, this is brilliant stuff, come on.

Well done. Looks lovely.

We're doing good, I think, so far. But it's only started.

The first plates are out, but in a professional service,

there's no let-up.

The checks are starting to rack up now, yeah?

Two pork, one turbot, followed by four pork.

We've got over half the restaurant on order on main course.

Right, cauliflower, guys. Cauliflowers are ready.

Quickly turn it over, you don't want to burn it. Two turbot, please.

-Table five.

-Yes, Chef.

-Are these too burnt, Chef?

-Yes, they're too burnt.

-Start again.

-Yep.

I think this pork is overdone.

-I'm going to have to do it again, sorry.

-Yeah, it's butchered.

-Sorry.

I forgot about them. I was plating up and I left them in there.

Silly mistake. It won't happen again...hopefully!

You need to be on the ball, that's what you need to be doing.

It's all about timing, do you know what I mean?

Now we need to start the table again. So we're behind.

Excuse me.

It's a beautiful fish, so I'm trying to do it justice.

-Thank you.

-That's much better. Much better, yeah?

-Thank you, Chef.

Presentation is really good. I'm really happy.

Service.

The turbot was outstanding.

The presentation was great and the textures and everything,

with the pine nut crust, was just really, really good.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I think that Saliha should be very, very proud.

She has absolutely smashed it. That's lovely.

Check on, four pork.

-Wow, Alison. It's all you.

-Great.

Yeah, it's all kicking off!

Right, come on, we need to get a move on now.

People are starting to wait. Don't let me down.

Oh, the pressure!

-Alison, how long?

-I'm ready now. Just slicing the pork.

-This is great stuff. Great turbot.

-Thank you, Chef.

You've not burnt the fish yet, which I'm really happy about.

-Thank you, Chef.

-You should be really proud, both of you.

Thank you, Chef.

40 covers, first time in a professional kitchen,

what can you ask for?

-Is that OK?

-You tell me.

Alison, this is great stuff, well done, yeah?

You've only overcooked one at the moment, which is brilliant stuff.

Service, please, restaurant.

Hopefully the customers like it.

I think it was cooked just right.

The calamari wasn't chewy and I like the spiciness of the chorizo,

I did enjoy it.

I think Alison has cooked it very well.

This is a hard dish to get right.

Chorizo jam, doing the squid, doing the pork,

all of it done to the minute.

To get the sweetness around the squid

and then to get the paprika heat afterwards is just lovely.

-BOTH:

-Aw!

Main service is over. All eyes are now on Brodie and Steve's desserts.

Check on, two apple crumble, two cherry souffle. Table one. Let's go.

With Steve having already prepared all the elements

to his apple crumble,

the challenge lies in mastering the complex plating

and presentation.

Now you can fold one part of the meringue. Half of it.

Half of this?

Brodie, however, must make his souffle mix from scratch.

-Fold it.

-Right.

Whisking the right amount of cherry puree, egg white and sugar...

..before adding a cherry compote in the middle.

The souffles must then be put in the oven for eight minutes.

You're kind of under pressure to make sure

that the whole plate is ready to go

before the souffles are finished in the oven.

Both desserts must be ready for Shaun at the same time.

-So you are coordinating?

-Trying to, yeah.

-You need to, yeah?

One can't go out without the other, OK? They both go out together.

Steve? Souffles, five minutes

and the next ones will go in straight after that.

OK, great stuff, cheers.

The hardest part is quenelling.

I'm not very good at it.

It doesn't come that naturally and it looks a bit scruffy on the plate.

-How long for the souffles?

-Souffles coming?

-All done. Yeah.

OK, let's go. His souffle's ready.

This is why, OK, you dust your souffles on the tray,

so you don't mess your plate up.

Sorry, Chef.

There's quite a lot of fiddly little bits to get on the plate,

so it takes a little bit more time, I suppose.

-Steve, are you going to be ready?

-Yes, I will be.

-You need to be.

Yeah.

Quickly, the souffle's dropping now, come on, I don't have time.

-Service, please.

-One second, one second.

Let's go.

Thank you.

I had the apple crumble. It was very tasty.

The presentation was really, really good. Impressive.

That apple dessert from Steve is incredible.

Sharp apple inside, creamy, a little bit of vanilla. That's very good.

A huge amount of skill, a huge amount of technique.

This is the sort of stuff that we're looking for.

-OK, how are we doing now?

-Yeah, I think we are all good.

-Good.

That's two down and a whole load to go!

It's getting a bit hectic!

We had it easy for the first 20 minutes.

It's full-on now, though.

With the desserts in full swing,

Brodie is struggling to keep track of the orders.

Right, that's service for the three.

Have you served that to two now?

No, I didn't.

-It was a one and a three.

-No.

I have one souffle too many.

Can I please have...?

But in his haste, he has sent out one souffle too many.

-Where's Brodie?

-Chef?

-I need...

This is too much.

-Too much?

-I need one souffle, one crumble, table three, now.

Sorry, how many?

How long with that souffle?

One more souffle, two more need to go in.

No answer?

Brodie's put in a souffle, which he shouldn't have done.

They're a little bit mixed up themselves,

but we're trying to just get them organised.

OK, so, er...

The challenge now for Brodie and Steve

is to get dessert service back on track.

Ready to go. Sauce ready?

But under the pressure, Steve is forgetting a vital process.

No, no, no, no, put that back in the pan, it needs a whisk.

-Put the sauce back in the pan, it needs a whisk.

-OK, Chef.

Get it on the stove.

-BUZZING

-Ready, Chef.

Souffle coming?

No, no, no, no, don't do that.

Put it on the bench and take it on a tray.

Ten seconds.

You're nearly there, well done.

Now back in sync,

Brodie must get his last two souffles to the pass.

You slowly just stop making quite so many mistakes and learn.

Great stuff, sorbet out?

Yeah, let's finish.

Service, please.

-Thanks, Chef.

-Table eight, please.

It's amazing, it was really beautifully presented

and the souffle was just right, in terms of its height.

Brodie!

Get in there, son!

I mean, that souffle's fantastic.

It's light, delicious, doesn't taste of egg in any way.

It's very good.

After four gruelling hours, service is finally over.

They're passionate about what they want to do,

they're passionate about food, and they want to cook,

but this is a different level.

But they did an amazing job, they did a really, really good job.

I was pushed really far today.

I stuck through it and got there in the end.

The time has flown by.

It's just absolutely gone in the blink of an eye.

The learning curve has been very, very steep, massively steep.

I feel really adrenalized.

It was a really amazing experience, really fantastic.

I've learnt a huge amount.

There's lots of ideas and techniques that I've seen

that I'd like to bring back into the MasterChef kitchen.

It's obviously a baptism of fire, just being thrown in.

I was expecting it to be tough, and, you know, it proved to be the case.

I made a chocolate sphere. I mean, how cool is that?

I'm looking forward to getting back into the MasterChef kitchen

and maybe trying to put a bit of what I've learnt today to use.

You've got to say you've got to be proud, don't you?

Truly, truly proud.

I hope they've picked up a little bit of chef magic

cos they've got one more chance to cook in the MasterChef kitchen

and then one of these is going home.

Welcome back.

Hope you enjoyed the first experience

in a professional kitchen and I hope you got inspiration,

working alongside Shaun Rankin.

This is an invention test.

Behind us is an amazing set of ingredients, all for you to use,

and what we want you to do is cook for us one great plate of food.

It can be sweet, it can be savoury,

but the food has to be worthy of a restaurant table.

You'll have one hour and 20 minutes.

Show us what you've learned, because at the end of this,

one of you is going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

The contestants' larder contains a selection of game meats,

including rabbit, venison and grouse,

seafood, including langoustines, mussels and salmon,

as well as an array of fruit and vegetables.

(Oh, God, yes!)

The food has just got to come up to another level.

They've had some great training,

great time in a professional kitchen.

I want to see them actually aspire to restaurant-standard food,

that's what I want.

My last invention test, I made a sort of kidney curry,

which totally divided the judges.

Greg really liked it, John, I quote, "hated it".

Hopefully, today, I'll get them both liking my invention.

Brodie, what are you cooking now?

Grouse and I'm doing some Hasselback fondant potatoes,

roasted butternut squash, butternut squash puree,

redcurrant sauce and maybe a bread sauce,

depending on what happens in the next hour and a bit.

Had you cooked a grouse before?

Er, I actually haven't. I've never cooked grouse.

I've eaten it and shot it, but it's usually cooked for me

by people like my mum.

Brodie, good luck with your grouse,

-I love grouse, love grouse.

-Cheers, Gregg.

Grouse has got to be cooked beautifully.

Can't be raw and jelly-like and it can't be dry.

It's an interesting thing, grouse -

very strong, which means the accompanying bits and pieces with it

also have to be quite bold, but not overpowering.

15 minutes gone already, 15 minutes gone.

Usually, when I'm planning my dishes,

I like to have as many practice runs as I can squeeze in.

So, today, it's going to be a real challenge to pick up the ingredients

and execute first time without any practice.

You're making a dessert.

I am making a dessert,

a relatively simple apple and pear crumble today,

with some custard. It's going to be more of a crumble slice.

I'm going to have the black treacle biscuit on the bottom

and then some blackberries on the side, as well.

Why a crumble?

Well, I saw all of the amazing produce we've got there

and, you know, it's all kind of winter or autumn food,

and I just thought, well, on a cold winter's day,

what's better than some crumble and some custard, really?

It warms the soul.

Fumbi, I love a crumble.

Who doesn't love a crumble?

It's got to be a very sexy crumble.

Fumbi knows, at this stage of the competition,

a dessert can't just be a big pot of crumble and some custard.

It's got to be special.

Come on!

And Fumbi saw how special an apple crumble could be

from that last restaurant round.

So Fumbi knows where he's got to aim.

That's good, that's perfect.

The hardest thing about an invention test

is that there is so many nice things

so it's quite difficult to not overcomplicate it

and do too much stuff.

How is the competition affecting you, Faye?

You wake up and it's the first thing you think of.

You go to bed at night and it's the last thing you think of.

This has really got under your skin, hasn't it?

Oh, yeah, it has. It's shocked and surprised me

and delighted me, as well.

What are you making today?

It's almost like a fish pie, but it's not a fish pie.

So I've got some nice creamy mash with some leeks running through it,

some langoustines that I'm going to roast off,

with mussels I'm going to cook in a little light broth

and serve on the side.

Will it taste and look like a restaurant dish?

I am hoping so, I'm hoping so.

-Go on, Faye, go get 'em.

-Thank you.

Faye knows what she's got to get right.

Those langoustine tails have to be crunchy, but not overcooked,

and not dry and definitely not raw in the middle.

The mashed potato has to be without lumps

and that mussel broth has to taste of mussels and the sea

and not have a tiny bit of grit in it.

You're halfway, you've got 40 minutes left.

Steve, I loved your dessert that you did, that apple dessert.

-Did you enjoy it?

-That was amazing.

It was great, a great opportunity, you know,

to try and do something so intricate

and do a little bit of chocolate work.

Has it inspired you to work with chocolate today?

100%. I've made a chocolate mousse,

I've tried to temper some white and dark chocolate

to make, like, a marble shard.

I've made a raspberry fluid gel, I've made some raspberry jelly,

I've marinated some raspberries,

I've just made some hazelnut crumble and a praline,

which I'm going to blitz and try and set into discs,

if, you know, if we've got time, so...

I really hope you can get all that done.

So do I!

I just want to show John and Gregg

that I can put out restaurant-quality food

and the time I spent in the kitchen on the pastry section,

I've taken some of the techniques

and some of the mind-set into plating, as well.

Steve's making a praline, he's making a mousse,

he's making a fluid gel, he's pickling raspberries,

he's got shards of white and dark chocolate.

It could be fantastic, as long as nothing goes wrong.

I'd like to show John and Gregg that I understand flavours,

that I haven't just kind of randomly grabbed things

that may or may not necessarily work together.

Alison, you don't look your normal calm self,

you look a little flustered.

I may have given myself a little bit too much to do.

-What are you making?

-So I'm doing venison and beetroot, essentially,

but the beetroot will be roasted, it will be pureed

and, if I have time, maybe some beetroot crisps,

and I'm serving that with potato and goat's cheese ravioli.

How are you going to cook the venison?

I'm going to remove a bit off the bone

and then I'm going to fry it and just finish it off in the oven.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

The thing about the venison from Alison

is she doesn't know what sort of venison it is.

It's a saddle, it's a lovely piece of venison.

Cooked well, it could be beautiful.

But she's roasted it for a while, now she's taking it off the bone,

then she's going to pan-fry it

and then she's going to roast it again. I just hope it's not dry.

You have 25 minutes left.

There is a lot of competition

and everybody is just as passionate about food as I am.

The only thing that divides us is what we make today

on our invention test and I don't want to be

the one going home today.

Saliha, what are you making right now?

I'm going to make some fillets of salmon

with a brown butter pine nut herb crust

and I'm going to serve that with a cucumber raita,

pickled vegetables, with, like, an Indian pickling spice,

and some nice turmeric potatoes to go on the side.

You're enjoying yourself, aren't you?

I am, it's just an incredible time in my life right now.

-Awww!

-Yeah!

-Awww!

And I'm really hoping that you will see the finesse

in my food, and like it.

Yeah, me too.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

Saliha's salmon has to be cooked beautifully,

so it falls apart and it's not chalky and dry.

It could be really good, but I hope it's flavoursome enough,

I hope it's special enough.

Guys, I've got to tell you, that's gone fast -

you've only got five minutes left.

As a chef, I love coming back to MasterChef

to judge at this stage of the competition.

You know, I'm going to be looking for execution.

I'm going to be looking for seasoning, imagination.

I'm looking for food that I want to eat.

I'm critical.

I want the best and I want to see a really good plate of food.

You have got two minutes to get your dish completed.

Damn!

(Am I going with this, am I going with this?)

Stop! Your time's up!

This is a very important part of the competition,

so we have brought in somebody we consider very important

to help taste and judge your dishes.

In my opinion, one of the best chefs cooking in Britain today -

ladies and gentlemen, Tom Kitchin.

Yep, I thought that would strike fear into your hearts!

Brodie, we'd like to see your grouse.

Up you come, please.

(Grouse!)

Brodie has roasted the grouse breast, and served it

with Hasselback fondant potatoes, roasted butternut squash

and butternut puree, accompanied by a black pudding crumb,

bread sauce and a redcurrant sauce.

I think the grouse, you've cooked it reasonably well.

It could have been a little bit pinker, in my eyes.

Your flavours and your combinations, they are marriages that go

well with the grouse, but there's one breast,

and a lot of veg and garnish.

It should be about the grouse.

Your bread sauce is really well flavoured, your potato

is buttery and soft, your puree is nice and fine,

your butternut squash is well flavoured,

your sauce has got a lovely sheen to it, it's well done.

I think the thing is just leave the bird on the plate.

It's an accomplished dish, I think you put a lot of work in.

I think you've slightly missed the point by just giving us one breast.

I should have just put the whole grouse on the plate,

it was ready to go, but, you know, I did what I did,

and, unfortunately, that was a mistake.

But everything else with the cooking I think, you know, went well.

Faye has prepared langoustines, with a leek mash and a mussel broth,

accompanied by pickled turnips and fried parsnips.

I'm really happy that you used the mussel stock to make the sauce.

I think the sauce is nice, the langoustines are nice,

the mash is nice.

The turnips are really random, I think that's really,

a really strange thing to do.

And the parsnip as well, I don't quite know where the parsnip

came from, but the essence and the seasoning is very good.

Langoustines, mash, mussels, the creamy sauce...

Then I think, "What on earth is a pickled turnip doing in there?"

"What on earth is a parsnip doing in there?"

It's just a really confused plate. The dish doesn't gel.

(You're listening to the positives, stick to the positives.)

(There was quite a lot of positive stuff in there.)

I'm annoyed with myself.

If I just took a little bit more time to think things through,

I would have gone, "Well, no, don't put that on there,

"or do that, or don't do that."

Saliha, please come up. You look excited, please do come up.

Saliha has made pine-nut coated fillet of salmon,

with pickled vegetables and turmeric potatoes,

served with a cucumber raita.

Your fish is overcooked, but as for the rest of it,

I really, really like.

I like the yoghurt sauce underneath, I like the spice that goes with it,

I like the flavour of the potatoes, I even like the flavour

of the pickle with the fish.

I think pine nuts are a mistake.

I mean, that's a strong, oily nut,

and I don't think it marries well with that salmon at all.

I really enjoyed the little pickled beetroot, that was nice,

I enjoyed that, but, for me, this doesn't really excite me.

You wouldn't be here now, cooking in the knockout stages,

if you weren't a good cook,

so I'm just looking for something that's like, "Wow."

Yeah.

I feel a bit annoyed that I left my salmon in my hot pan,

so that it cooked a bit more than it should have done,

but I think the criticism they gave is probably all really valid

and I completely understand what they were saying.

Alison has made loin of venison, with beetroot and horseradish sauce,

alongside potato and goat's cheese ravioli, roasted beetroot,

beetroot crisps, and a goat's cheese mousse.

It's very...blue, actually, I was going to say rare.

I'm afraid it's blue, and not many people like blue venison.

Yeah.

The ravioli's interesting, it's quite interesting,

and with the goat's cheese and beetroot,

that's a really nice combination.

Your ideas are absolutely sound, beetroot, horseradish,

goat's cheese, venison - I like that,

but we've got cooking issues here with the venison.

I think the issue here is you saw venison and you thought,

"OK, fine, I'll cook it," and you didn't know what cut it was,

-is that fair to say?

-Yeah, I've never cooked saddle.

-Fine.

And so what you did is you went about cooking it,

-and then realised you had difficulty.

-Yeah.

And I actually love venison and I'm just annoyed with myself

I didn't do it properly.

Oh, it's just so annoying, it's infuriating,

it's actually infuriating.

Like, I never, even when I'm practising at home,

I never make mistakes like that.

Oh, anyway...

Fumbi's dish is an apple and pear crumble with a spiced biscuit base,

decorated with sugar work and sauteed blackberries,

served with custard.

Presentation's not right, the skill set needs sharpening up a bit,

your base is too big and thick, your crumble isn't crumbly,

it's more bouncy and a little bit soggy.

Your fruit is... Because of the way in which it's been cooked down,

you can't work out which bit's pear, which bit's apple,

and that means that you're not tasting each individual part.

Come on, big man.

This is MasterChef, this is knockout.

It's too homely.

I wanted to execute a simple dish really, really well,

and I didn't do that.

Yeah, so it's a disappointment.

Finally, it's Steve, who's made a dark chocolate mousse,

with tempered white and dark chocolate shards,

a raspberry fluid gel, raspberry jelly,

marinated raspberries,

a hazelnut crumble and praline crisps.

Good effort.

I mean, this is incredible.

The mousse is nice. The jelly I found quite bland,

and if you're going to do jelly, it's got to pack a punch.

But I've got to take my hat off to you, you've gone for it.

There's a lot of skill in there.

I admire you, absolutely going for it

and just showing loads of technique, showing what you've learned.

I think your chocolate mousse is delightful.

It's light, it's airy. I love that, I really do.

You've done everything off the top of your head,

how to make a jelly, how to temper chocolate,

how to make a chocolate mousse, how to make praline,

so I'm going to have to say good job.

I hope the work I've put it in does count in my favour, you know?

I tried things that I've actually never done before,

and there's a fair few elements in the dish that they seemed to like.

So fingers crossed, eh?

What do you reckon, Tom, generally?

I mean, in every dish, there was something I liked,

but I'm a little bit frustrated,

because I just wanted more, more, more.

You can see the ambition, can't you?

I can see the ambition, I can see the hurting

when it didn't go to plan.

That means a lot.

-Tom, pleasure. Thank you, sir.

-Gentlemen.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks, Tom.

-Good luck with your choice.

-Thanks very much.

-Thanks for having me.

-Thank you.

Tom sits at the top table of chefs in this country,

he's going to be tough.

I think he put the cat amongst the pigeons,

but I've got to say I think we've got some promise in the room, Gregg.

Yeah, I agree, I agree.

Brodie's mistake was not serving the whole grouse.

However, it was a nice dish, John,

it was an accomplished, tasty, well-cooked grouse plate.

Really good.

I thought Steve's chocolate mousse was divine.

Delicious.

Lots of things going on around that plate, lots and lots of technique.

-Yeah, he pushed it, didn't he?

-Absolutely pushed it.

Faye cooked langoustine brilliantly well.

Those mussels, the sauce, the mashed potato

and the langoustines were delicious,

absolutely delicious.

For reasons best known to herself, she added pickled turnip

and a slice of fried parsnip.

I'm willing to overlook the turnip and the parsnip,

because I think the base and heart and soul of that dish was delicious.

Saliha's salmon, which was overcooked, with those pine nuts

across the top, was a mistake.

However, Saliha still produces good flavours.

I liked the coriander raita.

I liked the beetroot with the crunch.

I think the flavours were good.

I'm really worried today, actually.

If it's the end, then what can you do?

You know, I gave it a good shot, but, you know,

you live to fight another day.

Fumbi decided to make a crumble, and the thing is,

you make a crumble, it's got to represent the greatest crumble

you've ever eaten, if you're in knockout week, that's for sure.

It wasn't very ambitious, and there were errors.

I think I'm in a lot of trouble today.

There was not really anywhere for me to hide with that dish.

Alison, with all that work - the ravioli were lovely,

the beetroot was really good, the goat's cheese amongst,

and the horseradish, but the centrepiece of venison,

which wasn't cooked enough.

I would hate to go home, because it's so uncharacteristic,

you know, my performance, and if I did stay in,

I know I would do way better. So we'll just see what happens.

Great talent amongst the six of you.

Listen, Tom Kitchin is going to be critical.

But that's what we want.

We want you to get critique from the best chefs in the country.

At the start of this round, we said that one of you would be leaving us.

The cook leaving us...

..is Fumbi.

Well done, guys. Cheers, guys.

Thanks, Fumbi, thanks very much indeed.

I have made it much further than I ever imagined I would.

I've learned so much, and I think I've pushed myself.

I've got to cook in a professional kitchen, I mean,

that's, that's really outstanding,

and I'm going to take a lot of confidence from this,

and a lot of just pride, really.

You march on. Well done, congratulations.

Well done.

I'm unbelievably relieved.

That round was like nothing

I've experienced in this competition before,

it was so, so tough.

I'm just really happy that, thankfully, I'm still here,

and live to fight another day.

To be in the final ten is amazing.

Everybody would love to be in this position,

so you've got to make the most of it.

To get through today is great, and it's all great,

it's great to be standing here still.

Fantastic, a real privilege to cook for Tom, and confidence is probably

at an all-time high.

Tomorrow night, the remaining six face their first experience

in a professional kitchen.

Have I burnt this one? I think the butter's too hot.

You're going to have to get another two on.

This is mind-blowing stuff.

Then Tom Kitchin returns.

That's an outstanding plate of food, you should be very, very proud.