Episode 11 MasterChef

Eight weeks ago,

24 contestants entered the MasterChef kitchen.

Now, only the strongest four are left.

And they are about to face their toughest challenge yet,

as the battle begins to earn a place in the finals.

Winning the competition is what the competition is about for me.

There's only one to be one person who wins.

It's about perfection, and that's really tough.

There's absolutely no room for error any more. To actually win it,

I'm going to have to pull out all the stops.

It is a battle. Believe me, it's a battle.

Thailand.

Home to nearly 70 million people

and home to one of the world's most popular cuisines.

The colour, the smell, the flavour. Everything is assaulting my brain.

This, for me, is the most addictive food in the whole world.

Tom, Jay, Shelina and Andrew's food odyssey begins here,

in the country's gastronomic capital, Chiang Mai,

renowned for its bustling street food markets.

Now, Thai food, understanding it and cooking it is a real, real art.

And I don't believe there's a better place to experience this

than here, at a local market.

You understand the essence of this cuisine

and it will change the way you think about food forever.

Today, each of you will open up your own food store

and each of you will be cooking

a dish to sell at lunchtime to this extraordinary crowd.

Here in Thailand, everybody eats in the streets because the quality

of the food on the street is so diverse and so high.

I mean, you can eat restaurant-standard meals

off a man with a plastic chair and a wok. It's just stunning!

Thai food for locals.

The only thing that I've ever done is green curry at home

and stuff like that for my mates.

This is way out of my comfort zone.

The locals are going to be very particular about what they like

and what they're looking for.

Can you show me how to eat this?

It's a cockroach paste.

It tastes sweet and... I don't know, I've never tasted anything like it.

I'm worried about it because I don't know the ingredients,

I'm not familiar with the dishes.

I'm not familiar with the method of cooking.

So, it's all new and we've really got to get to it fast.

There is things that I've never even seen before,

so it's a real eye-opener actually.

Local people, local Thai food, are they going to want to buy from us?

You know, I don't know. I'm not sure.

To help them make sense of this complex cuisine

is chef David Thompson.

Based in Bangkok,

he has restaurants around the world, including Phnom and London,

the first Thai restaurant in Europe to win a Michelin star.

He is regarded as the leading authority on Thai food.

I went to Thailand in 1986 and I just fell in love with it.

Thai food is defined by its sense of balance,

where tastes - sweet, sour, hot and salty -

must be balanced to form a proper, intended sequence.

And that will be the challenge for the guys to do.

To help the contestants compete with the locals,

David has selected popular market classics that incorporate

traditional Thai cooking techniques.

Everything will be prepared by hand.

And each dish balances up to 40 ingredients,

including the unfamiliar betel leaves,

snake beans, tamarind pulp,

serpent-head fish and fermented fish paste.

OK, Andrew, what you've got is som tum and gai yang.

Som tum is a green papaya salad. It's made from shredded papaya,

pounded with some garlic, little tomatoes, some dried prawns.

The gai yang is just grilled chicken.

It's peasant food and I'm going to drag you back into the past.

-See how I'm holding it?

-Yeah.

-See how I'm going like that?

-Oh, I see. Right, OK.

Andrew's dish, the green papaya salad,

the most famous street food in all Thailand,

is an absolute great example of the balancing act of sweet,

sour, salty and hot.

I'm just thrilled to be cooking with David Thompson, it's amazing.

He admits himself that the recipe can be quite daunting to most cooks,

especially ones who aren't familiar with Thai cooking.

That's going to be a tough challenge.

You've got an interesting dish and it's called nam sot khao tok,

which as you know, means "spicy minced pork with rice cakes".

-What you'll need to do is make your red curry paste.

-OK.

You need to soak some chillies.

You then chop your lemongrass, limes,

coriander root, white peppercorns and perhaps a little bit

-of coriander seed, too.

-OK.

And that's the challenge of this particular dish.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Chok di khrap.

It's like this whole kind of sour, savoury,

sweet, heat thing going on. And if you don't get

that combination right, no one's going to eat it.

Tom, your dish is tod mun pla, or fish cakes,

which litters every Thai restaurant throughout the world.

It's kind of easy if you're an old bloke

that's been born in the market and used to deep frying

-fish cakes the last 20 years.

-Yeah.

Tom is challenged with probably one of the most famous

dishes in the whole Thai repertoire.

The tricky thing is the technique of making sure those fish cakes

can puff up and become light and fluffy.

When you look up, it's just a different world,

you know, it's really bizarre.

I'm using a fish I've never seen before and deep frying... You've got

to constantly adjust your temperature,

otherwise you'll end up with black fish cakes or soggy fish cakes.

This is the most local dish. It's called khao soi.

And it is Chiang Mai chicken noodles, curried noodles.

-OK.

-People eat this all the time

and they will travel for kilometres to go to their favourite shop.

Hopefully, they'll come to you today.

Huge amounts of dried chillies, huge amounts of fresh chillies,

ginger, garlic, coriander root

pounded together and then fried off and cooked with that wonderful meat.

If that pace is wrong, it's going to be flat and damp and dull.

I got the most local dish, so I've got the toughest crowd.

There is a bit to do, so I'm going to have to get cracking.

This market feeds thousands of locals each day.

And the lunchtime rush begins in two hours.

To stand any chance of competing with over 50 other stalls,

the contestants' food will have to be authentic.

By the end of the day, they're going to be a sweaty, blithering mess.

With his chilli sauce on the boil,

Andrew marinates his lemongrass chicken for barbecuing.

Andrew, do you like a challenge?

This is a challenge, Gregg, this really is a challenge.

I've got a chilli moustache, I can feel it.

You can't see it, but I can feel it.

-Is this like a barbecue at home?

-No, I've got a gas barbecue.

People are going to smell that and it's going to make them hungry.

The smokiness. I've got to get on this, it's going to take 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, Tom is still filleting the serpent-head fish

for his fish cakes.

I would say, it's like that.

-They should've been done 20 minutes ago.

-Right.

How confident are we?

It's definitely the toughest thing I've had to do so far because

I've got a lot of prep to do and I'm not working through it very quickly.

Tom hasn't done his pace yet. He spent too much time on his fish.

His paste will either make him or break him.

With the temperature over 100 degrees,

Jay and Shelina are both still

pounding their all-important pastes.

Shelina's is a red chilli paste

to combine with her crunchy rice cakes.

Is that paste good enough? Or carry on?

It's all in the wrist, girlfriend.

-This paste is taking forever!

-How will you know when it's right?

It needs to be really sour, very hot, but then there's

like a sweetness as well.

So far, Jay has pounded the chilli,

ginger and turmeric into his paste.

OK, that's looking very good. A little bit more.

Just a little bit more.

-What about the coriander root?

-They need to go in, too.

Do you now appreciate

when you eat a curry how much work truly goes into it?

Yeah, some labour goes into it all right.

From what I can work out, the paste is the heart of the dish.

Once this is right, the rest of the dish will fall into place.

OK. Push on, you've got a lot of work to do.

-And I think you're going to sell quite a lot.

-Yeah.

It is very, very hot.

It feels like I'm cooking on the surface of the sun,

-you know what I mean?

-Guys!

Thais eat early, at about 12.30,

which means you've only got another hour to get things done.

Finally, Jay's paste is pounded.

He now adds it to the coconut milk to make his curry sauce

for the chicken.

A little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more.

Good. Not too much.

HE LAUGHS

The sauce is on, I'm pretty much on track.

Jay's curry chicken is ready, but nothing else is.

I think he thinks it's only going to take another ten minutes,

and it's not. It's not at all.

Your chicken is burning.

Take the chicken off because the charcoal is too hot.

To fix it, take the black stuff out.

I burnt two chickens already. Pretty disappointing.

They're on, but I'm going to have to do one in the pan

because it's too temperamental and I can't handle it.

Is that one really burnt?

-I need a drink!

-HE LAUGHS

These guys, they're learning that there is a huge amount

of ingredients and a huge amount of work that goes into something

that actually doesn't look very complicated.

There are some lovely smells coming from our kitchen,

but they're going to have to move their bottoms!

I just finished.

I've got a fair bit to do still.

The prep for the paste took me forever.

So, I'm going to make my rice cakes and loads of other stuff.

Work it, work it. Has this given you grief or what today?

-It has given me a lot of grief.

-Therapy. Squish it therapeutically.

Work it, work it, work it. OK, now have a taste.

-Mmm!

-Not bad, OK.

With time running out, Tom's curry paste is ready to add to the fish.

Now he has to make the fish cakes using a traditional technique

-called slapping.

-Slap your fish, yeah? Slap it.

For Tom, the fish cake mix has to be like making a souffle.

It has got to aerate.

So, as it fries, it puffs into little pillows of fish.

Harder! Harder! Harder! Harder!

Harder! Harder! Harder! More! More!

It's 12.20 and the market is filling up with locals ready to eat.

Lunch happens pretty soon and the Thais are very gracious

and forgiving people, except when they have to wait for food.

And the way these guys are working, there is going to be a riot here.

-Are you ready?

-Not yet, no.

-Oh, when is it going to be ready?

-Five minutes.

-Five minutes, OK.

We're starving.

For the sake of sanity, those girls offered to pick herbs,

which every contestant needs, so we can serve soon.

Shelina's rice cakes are almost ready.

-That's looking great. Yep.

-We're getting there, chef.

-You need another five or six of those and you're laughing.

-OK.

Ahaan tiang, everybody! It means lunch-time, come on!

They're burning, they're burning, they're burning, they're burning!

You need to take them out, take them out!

Three minutes, three minutes, three minutes!

Chef, let me have a look at those deep-fried noodles! They're perfect.

-Umm...

-HE LAUGHS

OK, guys, we're open for business, let's start selling now.

Finally, lunch.

How many? One?

The quality of the contestants' prep will now be put to the test

as each dish must be finished to order.

More of this sweet, sour, salty.

OK, more of the sweet, more of the sour.

All these Thai people queueing up for my Thai food.

My version of Thai food.

Andrew has made som tum, green papaya salad with tomato, prawn

and snake beans

accompanied by lemongrass chicken and a toasted chilli sauce.

Delicious. Delicious.

Whoa!

Fair bit of chilli in there! Wow, that is powerful!

That is power... What an innocent looking thing.

What a punch in the face of chilli.

Some of the chicken looks a little bit dark and overcooked,

but I really like the green papaya salad.

-But for me that needs more chilli.

-You're kidding.

-No.

What are you, Inferno Mouth?

Tom's serpent-head fish cakes

are also attracting a crowd.

They are served with deep-fried Thai basil

and accompanied by cucumber chilli dip.

-Is it OK?

-Yeah, OK.

-Good.

That is a beautiful fish cake! It's light, it's crispy,

it's full of flavour and it's completely balanced.

Oh, I like that! Oh, and the heat! That heat comes in waves afterwards.

I thought I got myself quite a mild little dish here. Nice!

The fish cake, the taste is very good.

Normally, in the market, they put a lot of flour.

But this one you can taste more the fish.

-It's better than many Thai people make it.

-Wow.

Shelina's dish is also proving popular.

She has broken up her chilli paste coconut rice cakes

and mixed them with the spicy minced pork, coriander and mint.

All served on betel leaves.

Mmm! I like this. It's sticky, salty, lots of lime and heat.

Oh, that's nice!

You get that sweet, sour, salty, hot.

It all really balanced. There's not one which is too prominent.

-And that's why it's a really good dish.

-Kop Khun Kha.

Even me, I don't think I can make it. It's too complicated.

Jay is serving his last portions of the local delicacy,

Chiang Mai chicken noodle curry, topped with crispy noodles,

mustard greens and dried chillies.

Mmm! Good job!

Whoa! Now that's spicy. That's properly fiery.

I love the contrast of wet slippery noodles and crispy noodles,

I think that's really clever.

It's balanced well,

he could probably just do with a little bit more lime sharpness.

Sold out. No more. Sorry.

Good job.

Thank God, huh? Welcome to my world, welcome to Thai food.

God, don't you need a beer? I do!

I think you grill chicken brilliantly.

You were fantastic over the rice cakes.

Your khao soi was a winner.

And your fish cakes, you're being kidnapped

and going down to Phuket to make fish cakes the rest of your life.

-Congratulations, guys. Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Chok di khrap.

-Cheers, everyone.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

The food they have produced has been absolutely stunning.

I've just been working for six hours, non-stop. It was intense.

It was a real buzz we started selling.

And I got some good food feedback, so, yeah, I feel good.

That was the hardest challenge I have ever, ever done

in my whole life. It was a killer today.

Talk about fast and furious.

I'm happy with the way it's gone. From every angle.

I'm happy with the way the day has gone.

It's day two.

And the contestants are travelling into the northern highlands.

This ancient region is heavily

influenced by Burmese and Chinese culture.

And the food here is unlike anything else found in Thailand.

Nestled in the hills, is the Thai Royal Project,

a collection of farms set up to provide the local tribes

with alternatives to growing opium.

Today, 150 crops are grown here.

And opium production has radically declined.

Now, they've had an introduction to Thai food down in the market,

but up here in the hills, the food is completely different.

To continue their education, the contestants have to prepare

a banquet for the Project's workers, guests and residents.

Using the farms' produce,

they have been given the recipes of celebrated local dishes.

You go to any Thai restaurant in Britain

and you'll not find food like this.

50 people are turning up specially to be here for lunch.

Three hours, really bloody hard work and we'll get through it.

Shelina has got a northern curry of crayfish with herbs,

but it is seriously robust.

A really heady curry paste firstly made up of salted dried fish,

lots of chillies, garlic, with huge amounts of herbs,

holy basil, which is probably

the biggest, most powerful basil plant in the world.

And somehow or another she's got to be able to allow that

crayfish to stand up against all those really big flavours.

Ridiculous amounts of prep.

My dish requires 22 cups of chopped vegetables.

Some of the ingredients I don't even know how to pronounce.

I need to just get into some kind of factory mode.

-What is this?

-Cha om.

Take the ends off. Try some. Cha om.

I'm not overly confident

because I've seen a lot of things in here that I don't know what they are.

Tom has got a chilli relish.

Now, he's roasted up lots of chillies and shallots

and tomatoes and aubergines,

grinding the whole lot together.

But one of the seasonings he's using is fish sauce with cockroaches in it. Cockroach fish sauce.

You have this huge amount of preparation to do to end up

with little balls of this wonderful, fragrant relish.

And then jackfruit with fried pork.

Jackfruit, which he's never seen before,

which has to be cut up, then boiled and then mixed with another paste.

Tom's got his work cut out. He'll have to rely on his instincts.

The amount of elements is just unreal.

It's just a case of working through it methodically and hopefully getting the job done.

Jay has got a pork curry.

Two different types of pork, two different marinades,

a frying process and then finishing off with tamarind water,

some sugar and some fish sauce. A huge amount of work.

The seasoning has to be balanced, it can't be too outrageous,

but at the same time, it can't be to subtle.

I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

I'm going to get as much prep as I can done.

I'm hoping to break the back of it pretty quick.

Start panicking later, mate.

Andrew's dish is a northern bubble and squeak.

Originally made from three old curries coming together and reused,

now it is made as a fresh dish.

Pork and chicken all mixed together with salted pickled bamboo,

huge amounts of chilli, lots and lots of garlic

and then served with crispy fried garlic on top.

John, the flavours in that, that's massive!

He's going to really have to really work at balancing those.

There are more things I haven't seen in the market.

I thought I had seen lots of stuff.

There's something to be worried about,

the more I think about it.

Those dishes sound absolutely stunning!

This is not about tins of coconut milk

and pouring it in with some chicken, this is really beautiful food,

food that some people will never get a chance to taste.

You've got two hours left. An hour is gone!

This bit, really important make sure that paste

is absolutely spot on.

My secret is the pestle and mortar.

I broke down my paste really, really quick.

Once you get your technique down, you're laughing, mate.

Remember to use the weight of it, not your muscles.

Bring it up and let it drop. Let its own weight drop it.

Jay, I can't put it together. Would you mind doing that? Is that OK?

-All right, yeah. How fine do you want this?

-All the way, it's paste.

-On this one as well.

-All that?

-Yeah.

Thank God for Jay and his big arms cos that paste was taking forever.

Tom's relish requires him to skewer 120 chillies, 120 shallots

and 50 tomatoes, all of which have to be grilled over hot coals.

You're not pounding away for two and a half hours today.

No, I think I'll be putting things on sticks for two and a half hours.

Thai cooking is just so labour-intensive.

It took me an hour and 15 minutes to make my 30 portions of curry paste.

-Where are you up to?

-I made the paste.

-Right.

So I need to prep all the veg, prep all the meat.

-And then get it all simmering.

-OK. So, what do you think...?

-This is not going to take long to do the garnish.

-No.

So get the meat done, all your butchering done,

all your veg-prep done, get it on to cook.

Then it's out of the way and you can start doing this stuff.

In 45 minutes, this banquet begins. Yeah?

Tom's grilled chillies and vegetables are done.

I'm getting the flesh out of these charred aubergines

to go into the relish.

He now needs to pound them together with the cockroach fish sauce.

I'm confident that I'll get the dish to taste nice.

I'm not confident it will be the way it's meant to be done.

And I'm not so confident about time.

Andrew, you got quite a dark look on your face.

I still haven't finished my veg prep yet.

And how much work you reckon you got?

I've got 10 or 15 minutes of veg prep, then I can start cooking.

-So how up against it are you?

-I'm against it, mostly against it.

-OK, how far off on that pork?

-I'm ready to go.

-Is it tender?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Tough as old boots, mate.

-What should I do?

-Let it cook, then move it. Let it cook, then move it.

-OK.

You wanted to go fragrant.

That's going to take at least 15 minutes.

-We've got 15 minutes.

-Well, they're not going to be ready.

You can't keep pounding that thing, it's been pounded enough.

Get the rest of the stuff done. OK?

Tom still has to make his jackfruit and pork salad.

Andrew's pork, chicken and veg curry is also far from ready.

Vegetables in there.

Shallots in there, let's go. Quick, quick, go, go.

Argh! What are you doing?!

Quick, quick, quick, take those out.

Out, out, out.

-This is one of the vegetables.

-This takes 30 seconds to cook. Put it right last minute.

Ten minutes to service. I know the pork's won't be cooked for another ten minutes,

nor's Andrew's dish.

You guys have to get as much stuff as you can up

and those last two dishes go up at the last minute.

-It's not spicy enough.

-Not spicy enough? OK, fine. You know why?

Because everybody else has very spicy dishes. When you do a banquet,

you're talking about balance of flavours. Everybody's dish

comes together to become dishes.

So, you've got a sweet one, he's got a sour one. He's got a smoky one, right?

She's got a ferociously hot one.

Every single dish comes together to be part of the banquet.

Guys, we're supposed to be serving now. We're running late.

Lay them out and do them all at one time, please. Get your relish up.

Everything is ready except Tom's jackfruit salad.

Just pound it!

Can I have service, please?

Tom has attempted the ginger spiced pork

with a jackfruit and tomato salad

and a chilli, tomato and aubergine relish.

Mm! Smells really good.

My first taste is tomato, not jackfruit.

For me, I would like to see more jackfruit,

but, overall, it's good.

The jackfruit itself is like an artichoke,

flavoured with the coriander, sweet tomatoes

then, on the side, that pork with more sort of garlic and ginger. I like the sweetness of it.

You're right, ginger. Mild ginger on Tom's pork dish, lovely.

Lovely!

That relish from Tom has got a richness to it, but, for me, I think it should be a bit hotter.

Jay's challenge has been the pork curry with shallots,

pickled garlic, peanuts and a chilli and ginger paste.

The meat is tender. The taste is not too spicy.

I really enjoyed this one.

Chiang Mai pork curry is the best.

That is sweet and tangy and the meat is just falling off my spoon.

I love that!

The sweetness and the sourness and that bitterness

has made that dish really tasty. Really delicious pork dish.

Andrew's had to perfect the northern bubble and squeak curry

of chicken, pork and three types of aubergine

in a chilli paste.

The meat is pretty tender. The spicing is good, but...

we need some more salty in there.

-B minus.

-B minus.

The meat is soft, but the flavours - garlic, ginger, chilli,

bitter little pea green aubergines.

John, this is big, rustic food.

This dish of Andrew's has got so much going on all at once,

but actually it's quite refreshing at the same time as being spicy. A delicious dish.

Shelina's had to balance the crayfish

with the intense herb and chilli curry

with holy basil, pea aubergines and snake beans.

Yes, very good. It's delicious.

For someone who's not Thai and who's cooked for the first time,

I think it's excellent.

A. Grade A.

HE CHUCKLES

There's 120 chillies in that curry.

And it had to stand up with that little crayfish and she's done it.

Cor! That is the sort of food you just have to keep on eating.

Listen, if this is what they eat in the hills, I'm moving here! This food is fantastic.

This is the best I've seen 'em cook. Incredible food, John!

They've used their instincts, they've used their senses,

but it was not without trouble.

I will now forgive any fraughtness in the kitchen,

because the end justifies the means.

'That was an incredible challenge.'

To have cooked for all those people, dishes we've never seen before.

'It was a real learning experience.'

That was absolutely crazy. The emotions are incredible right now.

Ten minutes before I put the food out,

I couldn't see it coming together the way it did and looking as good.

This whole experience is wonderful.

When the food's out and everyone's happy, the sense of achievement is fantastic.

Bring on the next challenge. As long as it's not today!

They've done well today. They seem to be taking it all in.

And just in time.

Cos what comes next will live with them for a long, long time.

It's their final day

and the contestants are en route to their last challenge.

This is the Dhari Dhevi Chiang Mai Hotel.

Recreating an ancient royal city,

it took 1,000 craftsmen five years to build.

I reckon we're cooking in that gorgeous building.

Tonight, preparations are under way for a dinner hosted by Thai royalty.

Welcome to this unbelievably beautiful setting.

Tonight, one of the most revered men in Thailand,

His Serene Highness, Prince Rajani, is hosting a dinner.

Prince Rajani is one of the longest living royals in Thai history.

Your dish has to be worthy of these extraordinary surroundings and amazing guests.

You have to create an absolute show-stopper.

'I can't believe I'm actually cooking for royalty.'

This is probably the most important dish I'll ever probably cook.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime gig, so I'm going to try and do it proud.

The food has to be the best thing I've produced on MasterChef so far.

Incredible privilege. I'm feeling very nervous. My mouth's gone dry.

Today, our four simply have to pull out all the stops.

Their own food that shows us the influences they've taken on through their journey so far in Thailand.

They've survived two masterclasses.

Now the contestants have four hours to impress with their own recipes.

Andrew is making a trio of starters,

including ma haw,

fruit with a spiced pork and prawn minced topping,

chive dumplings

and a betel leaf filled with a blend of over 20 ingredients,

including pork, dried turnip, shallots and ginger.

These are all about sweet and salty, sour and hot.

-The three dishes, have you made any of them in their entirety before?

-I've eaten dumplings,

but I've never made or tasted ma haw.

-All I'll say to you is that's too sweet.

-Too sweet.

-Needs to be hotter.

Tom's main is pork two ways -

pork loin in a spicy tomato paste and deep-fried pork belly,

with a mango and wing bean salad and a mango and tamarind sorbet.

-Beautiful stuff here. I reckon you're doing something complex.

-I'm cooking for important people,

-so I'm trying to push myself.

-How are you serving the sorbet?

A few little balls around the plate.

It's going to be the sour element of the dish.

-Could look stunning. Have you any idea of the temperature out there?

-It's very hot, I'm aware of that.

Hopefully they'll hold up in time.

-You like to sail close to the wind, my friend!

-I know.

Sorbet and pork is edgy, edgy.

But is this the right place to be a little bit left-field?

Jay is preparing a fish course

of red snapper with pickled papaya and carrot

in a pea aubergine Thai green curry sauce.

I've cooked this a couple of times at home and loved it.

So, being over here, with Thai ingredients, doing something I love?

Stands to reason, you know what I mean?

Jay, you look in charge, bordering on relaxed here.

Er...

Yeah. There's no point getting yourself het up, really.

As always, I'm quick with a paste.

It's not as complicated as the others' cooking.

Do you wish you'd done something else as well?

I think I've got a complete dish. Fish is a delicate flavour.

You've got to have things that stand up to it, not overpower it. I don't want to go too far.

We've got a strange combination here. A green papaya salad,

on a piece of deep-fried fish, on a curried sauce,

which probably should have the fish inside it. Many component parts,

which don't necessarily come together as one dish.

Shelina's designed a dessert of boba milk tea,

made with tapioca pearls,

a mango tart

and a traditionally-inspired six-layered rainbow cake.

I want to show that I understand how sweets work in Thailand.

I've really pushed myself on this.

I fully need four hours.

-What are you most scared of here?

-The rainbow cake. Never done it!

I don't even know what kind of consistency I'm looking for.

You have to steam each layer individually to get a rainbow effect.

That's a complex thing to do!

Very complex. I've got to push myself. This is the final four now. I've got to show what I'm worth.

Over an hour of cooking time has gone.

So, this is caramelising nicely.

Andrew is working on two elements of his starter at once.

I'm not used to rolling these dumplings. I'm sure people who do it all day are quick at it.

But he's taken his eye off the stove

and his spiced mince ma haw topping.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

-That's definitely burnt, that.

-Yeah, yeah. I was just checking.

Do one job well and finish it,

rather than doing two jobs at the same time and ruining them all.

-You're halfway through the dumplings, burnt your sauce.

-Yep.

Fortunately, I left the burnt stuff on the bottom, scraped off the top and it's OK.

Disaster averted, but it was close.

Tom is marinating his pork belly in a blend of spices

including star anise and turmeric.

Next, he gets on with his mango and tamarind sorbet.

That didn't just happen, did it?

I made a complete mess. I have no idea how long it'll take to set.

I'm hoping...about three hours.

While the others are up against it,

Jay has almost completely finished his prep.

You've got two hours before service. What else have you got to do?

I'm going to make the curry...

and just leave it to sit.

So you've got the sauce to make and that's it, you're done.

No, I've got loads more.

I mean, like, er...

Depends. I might've made this pickle a bit too early.

I need a bit of crunch, so I might have to make another one of them yet.

Jay's dish, regardless of how complex it is, has to be perfect.

If that sauce is not right, the whole thing will be completely unbalanced.

It's 6pm and the 92-year-old Prince Rajani

and his family members arrive.

A British spy during World War Two,

he is president of the Royal Projects

and has lived and eaten all over the world.

Also dining are David Thompson and Norbert Kostner,

one of Thailand's most celebrated chefs.

All the guests which are here tonight are great connoisseurs,

because in their palaces, they have fantastic cooks.

Guys, His Serene Highness has arrived.

-Are you all right, Andrew?

-Yeah, just about in control.

No, no, no. I wanted better than "just about"!

I've got a lot of prep to do - vegetables, fruit, garnish.

It has to be done carefully to look pretty.

You can't say to His Royal Highness, "Your food's late".

I understand that, Gregg. It's why I'm so worried.

Jay...

You've got salt and you've got chilli.

You've got no sourness and no sweetness.

-It's all over the place on your palate. I want you to sort out that sauce.

-All right.

While Jay rebalances his sauce, Shelina checks on her mango tarts.

-How long are they going to take to set?

-I'm going to give them a half hour in the blast chiller.

-That's the plan.

-You haven't got a lot more.

I don't have any more time, no.

But the blast chiller is on the other side of the hotel grounds.

I can't believe I just took some mango tarts in a golf buggy

to a blast chiller. Nuts.

I'm getting worried. With 40 minutes to go, this doesn't look like a well-oiled kitchen, ready to spark.

For me, right now, Tom is my worry.

The whole kitchen now smells of burnt deep-fried garlic.

What he's going to do with that...? I just hope he won't serve it.

-Burnt?

-Well-coloured, Gregg, well-coloured.

If it's burnt, everything's going to be acrid.

Very challenging menu. They are all dishes which are not easy to produce.

I saw them in the markets doing a pretty sterling job.

And, tonight, we'll see the fruits of their labour.

If we don't like his food, can we do something rude to him?

First course is at seven o'clock, OK?

Then every 20 minutes, like clockwork, these dishes go out.

-Andrew, how many more garnishes to go on that plate?

-Six,

seven, eight. There's lots.

You've got ten minutes.

-See these people here?

-Yeah.

-Aha.

Is that the last thing?

-Yep. Yes.

-Really?

-Yes.

-It's looking fantastic, I've got to say.

-Quick, quick, quick. Let's go.

-Please serve them facing the customer that side, like that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Go.

I'm happy. First time I've cooked for royalty - probably the last as well!

Andrew's made ma haw,

which is pineapple and orange topped with sweetened pork, prawn and chicken mince,

chive-filled dumplings in a chilli and ginger sauce,

and betel leaf filled with a mix of prawn, dried turnip,

shallot, coconut and peanuts.

This is so pretty. Do we really have to eat it?

The middle one is very nice.

The one that you have to pick up with your hand.

Very impressed with the dumpling.

It is something you have to have been born a Thai to cook like that!

What a bit of a surprise. I'm astonished, actually,

that Andrew has managed to pull this off.

For a person who made this dish for the first time,

I think...bravo!

Really bravo.

-12 minutes before your dish is going up.

-Yeah. I'm putting the fish in in two minutes.

-Sauce ready?

-Yep.

-Are you happy with this sauce now?

-Yeah. I'm happy enough.

Five minutes, OK?

-Done?

-Yep.

Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.

JAY: 'As far as I could see, it was good.'

I just hope I pulled it off for 'em.

Jay's fish course is deep-fried red snapper

with pickled carrot and papaya

on top of a pea, aubergine, and long bean green curry.

I like the fish in the middle.

but I don't like the sauce that's around it.

You should have meat with this sauce.

The green curry, it's far too thick. Must be more liquid, more runny.

And more sharp.

I think it's perfect, if I have to eat only one spoon,

because it's too much and the sauce is too thick.

-All right, Tom. You're in play. You've got 20.

-Yeah.

-How many more elements to go on the plate?

-About four.

-Four more, yeah?

Careful, careful.

-It's a nice dish, mate.

-Sorbet last thing.

Yep.

Just about frozen.

Fantastic. Service.

That was very frantic. For the first time I've cooked it, I'm pretty happy.

Tom's made spicy tomato pork loin, coated in roasted garlic,

served with deep-fried curried pork belly,

mango and wing bean salad

and a mango and tamarind sorbet.

I like it. It's a good combination and the pork is cooked perfectly.

I like the sorbet. I like the play with different temperature.

It's quite interesting and quite successful.

The tomato chilli paste is very similar to the tomato chilli paste

in the northern part of Thailand, which we call nam phrik ong.

Perfect.

This is really good. I just asked for some rice

to clean the plate. It's a compliment to the chef.

Shelina now has 20 minutes to plate up.

Yep, they've all cooled down. They've cooled down. Yeah, perfect.

-Shelina, are you OK?

-Yeah.

Cutting my tarts up, getting everything ready to plate up.

-Are we OK with our rainbow cake?

-Rainbow cake is set.

-We're going in ten.

-Ten minutes. OK.

-You've got time to make this look pretty.

-OK.

Ooh, steady, steady! Steady, steady.

It's so sticky.

-Where's our milkshakes?

-In the fridge

Good job, Shelina.

30 seconds, guys, we're going to go on this.

Service, please.

Jeez! Did I actually just do that?!

Shelina's dessert is a passion fruit, pandan and mango

layered rainbow cake, served with a sweet pastry tart,

filled with mango and papaya,

drizzled with a roselle and pomelo seed coulis

and a tapioca, coconut milk and lychee boba tea.

Mango tart was very, very perfect and very delicious.

The mango is very good, mango tart.

But this rainbow...

I've never seen green rainbow, so I can't eat it.

I really liked the rainbow cake.

It makes a good centrepiece for the whole dish.

I loved this one too.

I tried hard to be ladylike, but when I see this, I just had to...

..eat it all up!

The finishing and taste of the mango tart was very much appreciated.

And I even ate it all, you see.

We have to admire them for their effort.

Nearly every dish, we liked.

When are you coming again?

THEY LAUGH

APPLAUSE

I have to thank you very much. We enjoy ourselves very much.

- Thank you very much. - Thank you very much.

All of us appreciate the effort, the sterling effort. Well done.

You understand the basics of Thai food.

Would I be you, I would be proud of what you have done.

OK? You are just fantastic.

APPLAUSE

Thailand's been absolute magic.

I can't get over what a wonderful experience it's been.

I never knew that I could learn that much so quickly.

Those memories will be imprinted on my mind for ever.

Incredible.

The whole experience has been a bit of a romance with Thai food.

It's just been fantastic. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Cracking memories of Thailand, some memories better than others.

But, er, great place, great cuisine,

what more do you want?

'Feeling so proud of myself in this time here in Thailand.'

I've done stuff I never thought I'd be able to do in my whole life.

I think anything's possible at this stage. I want to win now.

Number one. I'd love it!

Next week...

four become three.

Hot, hot!

Cooking pastry for comedy legends...

HE GASPS

Has it all gone horribly wrong in the kitchen, do you think?

..and world famous patissiers.

I really don't know where to start.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd