Episode 8 MasterChef

Seven talented cooks have made it this far through the competition.

Move, move, move!

Absolutely love it.

Oh, crying out loud.

Tom, well done. Bravo.

I think this may be the best cooking you've done.

Tonight, their challenge

is to bring the best out of the Great British larder.

Cooking for the champion of local produce,

Michelin starred Tom Kitchin.

We have so much going on, from Cornwall and the seafood,

right up to the Highlands of Scotland, with the fantastic produce we have.

And Cumbria's expert forager, Michelin-starred chef,

Simon Rogan.

British ingredients are better than anything else in the world.

But for one contestant, the dream will be over.

To be facing elimination is a tough prospect. One strike and you're out.

Margins for error, none.

You got to be right on your game.

I'm under a ridiculous amount of pressure right now.

It's serious business.

Today, we want a bit of a spirit of John Bull.

We want something that screams Rule Britannia at us.

Today is a celebration of the Great British larder.

And to help Gregg and I judge today,

we have a very talented man,

who takes the fantastic ingredients on his doorstep

and elevates it to dizzy heights.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Tom Kitchin.

Behind me we've got an array of fantastic produce.

I'm looking for something really special today.

One plate of food, one and a half hours, ladies and gentlemen,

come and collect your ingredients.

Tom's Larder includes Scottish lobster,

spider crab,

razor clams from the North Sea,

Queenie scallops,

North Atlantic red mullet,

oysters,

langoustines,

and Highland beef...

..and a range of fresh vegetables, fruits, and store-cupboard ingredients.

The inspiration on their faces when Tom walked through that door.

They realised how serious it was.

I think this is going to be a brilliant round.

Tom's such an amazing chef from Scotland. It's great.

But I've got to cook a brilliant dish.

Guys, two minutes left, please.

Your destiny is in your own hands.

Impress us.

Because, at the end of this, one of you will be leaving us.

One hour, 30 minutes, ladies and gentlemen,

a brilliant plate of food,

let's cook.

I'm really excited about today,

but I'm looking for perfection.

They've got to think outside the box.

Push themselves to the next level,

make me sit back and think,

"Wow, you really showcased the Scottish produce today!"

I feel a lot less confident

when I'm in challenges where

I don't have Japanese ingredients,

when I'm restricted to cooking western food.

I really wish you would have had the confidence to go with

a bowl of pasta, because, I think, all three of us would have been saying, "Good job."

Aki, why have you got five times more ingredients than anybody else?

Ah, because I was just grabbing anything that looked remotely nice.

So, today I'm trying to do a picnic with an onion tart

and a croquette with black pudding, potatoes,

and breadcrumbs, fried, and a nice salad.

The last couple of tasks has been quite tough for you.

-Yes.

-How are you feeling about the competition right now?

I don't have ingredients that I ideally want,

but I'm struggling through and I think I'm learning a tremendous amount.

-Do you want to stay with us?

-I love you, John and Gregg,

I want to stay with you for ever.

That might have worked if you'd have said Gregg and John.

As it is, you're out of here.

Aki's got to be really careful.

There may be some sense in that madness, but, the mess!

If that was one of my chefs, boy!

Now, I think I'm a strong contender.

I think I've been able to show

John and Gregg adaptability.

I said good Italian food makes you emotional,

and that makes me emotional, so good on you. Well done.

Being around some of the greatest chefs in the UK has just

made me realise I want to be part of the best.

There's no question about it.

Shelina, what dish are you going to cook to knock you out or keep you in the competition?

I'm doing crab-stuffed zucchini flowers,

braised Fennel, and pan-seared fish. It's going to be like a fish-and-seafood medley.

-What's it about, having Tom Kitchin in here?

-Scary!

I don't know if you could hear my heart racing

when he walked through the door. It's going to be challenging. I've got to impress everyone today.

-Hopefully, this dish will turn out how I'm thinking about it in my head.

-Good.

Shelina has really impressed me.

If she gets that dish right, it could be a winner.

If I'm totally honest, I'm extremely competitive,

and have been from day one.

The roast pheasant, the thyme, the mushrooms, and that rice underneath,

perfectly cooked,

I think it's an absolutely perfect combination.

Now, I'm only competing against six people. I want to beat them all.

Good, old-fashioned invention test, British produce,

right up your street, isn't it?

Yeah, I'm happy with today's task. Really happy.

-As soon as John introduced Tom Kitchin, you grinned.

-I did.

It was a nervous smile - he doesn't tolerate anything other than excellence.

What I produce today, has got to be, you know, really top drawer.

What is the dish?

Fillets of the mullet with scallops

and a warm fennel-and-tomato salad with a fennel sauce.

Let's hope that my plans are good.

I'm quite looking forward to Tom's dish,

because he's cooking, for the first time, with a huge smile on his face,

and I love the sound of his fennel salad with the red mullet. I think that's lovely.

The closer you get it, you can feel your fingernails on the title.

At this stage, there's no place for a major screw-up.

There is so much to admire. But, all together, you lose the quail.

You're cooking so much that you're learning so fast,

and that feels really satisfying.

I absolutely love it.

I think this may be the best cooking you done so far, Andrew.

Andrew, you look absolutely delighted.

I am pleased. I'm half Scottish, so, hopefully, all my mum's teaching will come flooding back.

What dish are you going to make?

I'm going to have pan-fried mullet on a pearl barley risotto.

There'll be mushrooms through the risotto.

I think I'm going to try and do a whisky-and-honey sauce.

I think.

Andrew, do you always get the flavour combinations right, do you think?

Unfortunately not. There's been a lot of catastrophes here and at home.

I'm going to go a little bit simpler, today, I think.

I like the way Andrew's working. He's clean, he's focused.

I'm worried about the whisky. I'm Scotland's biggest fan, I love whisky,

but, he's got to be careful,

cos that's a big flavour he's playing with. Especially with shellfish.

You got just 35 minutes left, guys.

35 minutes.

MasterChef has completely taken over my life, now.

All I ever do, really, is think about food, think about recipes.

The combination is really stunning.

It's like tasting a mouthful of fresh sea.

I think Eamonn completely and utterly nailed it.

I'm feeling calm and confident.

I'm on a roll and I want it to continue.

Eamonn, it seems that you're driven, very focused, today.

I'm a happy bunny.

Fantastic ingredients, and as soon as I saw what was up there,

I knew what the centre of my dish would be.

-What's the dish?

-Langoustine on a Cullen skink sauce

with some roasted veg.

If you went home today, how would you feel?

Don't even want to go there. I've given up a lot,

I'm not even thinking about it.

What I really like with Eamonn is

he's used the carcass of the langoustine to make the sauce.

Everything depends on that sauce.

You've got to snap up your game.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, I just don't want it to be over.

It really embraced what France was about. It was opulent.

It was exciting. It was rich. It was vibrant.

I'm very comfortable in my cooking ability, now.

It's really coming together. I'm dead happy with it.

Jay, what dish are you going to cook, to keep you in the competition?

Fillet of beef with braised red cabbage, a carrot puree,

and rosemary walnut garnish.

-How do you make it look beautiful?

-I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Try and cross the bridge before you come to it.

Yeah, I mean, when I come to...

-How do you do that? How do you...

-I don't know. What I'm trying to say is,

think about the presentation before the last minute.

I've got it in my head, you know what I mean? I've kind of got it.

You going to beat these guys today?

Oh, don't. Can I whisper?

Come on.

Yeah.

Jay's got a fillet of beef and a carrot puree.

He's got some walnuts that he's frying with some rosemary.

However, I'd just like to see a little bit more creativity,

a little bit more invention from the man!

It's just a bit safe, Jay.

I'm not so sure I've got many lives left. I've had three.

Do I get another one? I'm not so sure.

She serves onion ice cream. I mean, some of this is highly questionable.

The whole thing is too sweet, even for me.

I have a lot to prove in order to stay in the competition.

If I can pull it out the bag today, then I might be in with a chance.

-Emma.

-Hi.

-Honestly, how are you feeling?

You've done the double whammy on me - Scottish produce, a Scottish chef, and I'm Scottish.

So, I have even more to prove, now, which is wonderful.

So, I'm cooking beef with mushroom, onion, garlic tart with pumpkin puree.

Scottish produce, Scottish chef. You can do this, can't you?

Oh, I hope so. I really hope so.

Emma looks so nervous, now, John.

I really hope she has a really, really good round.

-She needs a confidence injection.

-And in a room of competition as strong as this,

it's going to have to stand up and deliver.

Two and a half minutes left, guys.

Just two and a half minutes to finish your plates.

Guys, listen, last 60 seconds, OK?

-Emma? Are you going to use that tart?

-Don't know.

You got 30 seconds.

-Make a decision.

-OK, yeah.

-No, no.

-That's it. Stop. Stop.

Aki has created her version of a British picnic -

cheddar and onion tart, black pudding croquettes, and a salad.

I can't believe this, that it actually works for me,

in a strange and crazy way.

You make me smile, Aki, I don't know what it is about you.

I mean, the onion tart is nice.

The black pudding croquette is a good idea.

The salad -

we could have finessed that a little bit more, but the idea

of a raw cabbage salad

with walnuts and apple and chicory is refreshing.

-You've obviously got something.

-Thank you.

I have never seen anybody take all those ingredients

and then say, "I'm making a little picnic."

And we end up with this.

I want to hate it, but I don't.

I enjoy the food you cook for me, but what I've always seen is individual nibbles.

Very good nibbles that I've always enjoyed,

but I need, at some stage, to see a finished plate from you.

How her brain works, I have no idea.

I feel like that one element, that Gregg is concerned about,

is the deciding factor of my future.

If they give me another chance, I'm going to work on it.

It's going to be fixed.

Andrew's chosen the red mullet,

and served it with a pearl barley risotto,

with pickled girolles,

razor clam ceviche,

and a whisky-and-honey sauce.

It's intriguing, OK?

It might even be exciting.

Let's give it a go.

In my mouth, now,

I've got a floral, sweet, oaty, fish biscuit.

Mate, your flavour ideas are way out there.

It's just a bit weird.

Whisky, for me, doesn't belong in this dish.

Whisky is a very, very strong ingredient.

Honey has got nothing to do

with ceviche of raw fish, here.

It's just not right.

There's too many flavours, for me.

Too many flavours.

I've never had a whisky and fish before,

and I'll please ask the rest of the world never to do it,

cos it doesn't work.

-That's so frustrating.

-Honeyed, whiskyed fish.

I got absolutely roasted by all three of them.

It feels horrible, because my judgement

of what would be a good plate was lacking.

Jay has cooked fillet of beef with braised red cabbage,

carrot puree, roasted root vegetables,

and walnuts dressed with fried rosemary needles.

I like it. I like the way you cooked the beef.

I love that rosemary walnut. I think that's a touch of class.

Don't get cocky.

The rosemary and the walnut works, OK?

You pick on the smallest man, don't you?

Jay, I think you can cook. But, do you know what my honest opinion is?

There's too much butter in that puree. The cabbage is too sweet.

The beef is beef. I don't find it exciting.

It needs something to lift it, make it sing.

The walnuts are saving this dish,

because they've got your personality in there.

Your cooking, not in question, but at what stage, Jay,

are you going to stand up and go, "Gentlemen, look at me!"?

Because that's what we need from you.

I didn't push myself enough. He says, "You've got it, you can cook.

"You just need to get edgier."

So, that's what I've got to do,

if I get through, of course.

Tom's dish is pan-fried mullet

on a warm fennel-and-tomato salad

dressed with mint,

served with scallops and a fennel sauce.

The fish is well cooked. It's crispy.

The fennel is cooked well.

Were you looking for a bit of crunch in there?

I was hoping for crunch.

I think you've lost a bit of crunch. The tomato's a little bit soft. A good effort.

Beautifully cooked, very rich mullet.

Sweet baby scallops.

Wonderful fennel and then a hint of mint,

which I didn't expect to get at all.

I think your cooking, today, is great.

It's not something I've ever cooked before,

I put a very pretty, attractive plate of food,

all cooked well, so, I'm very happy with it.

Emma has made fillet of beef with a pearl barley sauce,

pumpkin puree,

onions and cep mushrooms.

The beef, Emma. I can't see the crispiness, that lovely caramelised.

You could've got it nice and crispy.

It looks like it's slightly cooked too much on one side than the other.

I would love to have seen the ceps cut in half.

Keep the shape of cep, and just caramelise them.

We could have a lovely pile of fricassee of ceps.

I'm left with, sort of, an iron richness, but no texture.

Everything on the plate is a little bit wet.

We need something else.

Mate, I'd kill for a potato fondant on there, right now.

I really would.

GROWLS

You spent so much time making a tart.

You could have used that time to actually

do something that was meant to go on the plate.

And so much more, I think,

could have been done with this dish to make it special.

Every tiny little mistake you make, they notice.

I'd be gutted if I got sent off in the Scottish round.

That would just be a classic,

and something that my friends would never forgive me for.

Shelina has pan seared the mullet

and served it with a crab stuffed courgette flower,

braised fennel,

and a sauce vierge.

With red mullet, you have to get that skin crispy.

You've done that. Well done.

The courgette flower is excellent. I was really looking forward

to someone stuffing that courgette flower, today.

It was really, really important, you know?

You've combined skills and real understanding of cooking,

but also in the marriage of flavours, and so many chefs don't understand it.

Well done.

Thank you very much.

What you've ended up doing with those fresh herbs

and the sharpness of the capers against that beautifully cooked fish,

makes the whole thing fantastic. You've got crunch in your fennel.

Your fish is cooked beautifully. Your courgette is lovely and soft.

You're starting to understand, and that's great.

-Really good.

-Thank you very much.

That is a very good-looking dish,

very nice-tasting dish.

That's wonderful.

I feel fantastic, yeah. It was amazing.

I can't believe Tom Kitchin

thought my dish was faultless.

I'm definitely proud of myself today,

really very proud of myself.

Last up is Eamonn.

He's made langoustines

on top of roasted pumpkin,

turnips and courgettes,

served with a potato puree

and a Cullen skink sauce.

Your potato puree is lovely

and smooth and delicious,

and goes really well with those langoustines, which are just cooked.

But the sauce is so heavily reduced, it's becoming really overpowering

to the stage where it's...

The acid's hitting the side of my cheeks

and almost, sort of, bubbling and burning

inside my mouth a little bit.

And it's so strong, that I'm fighting, even,

to taste a turnip, and the courgette.

This dish isn't right. You've overdone it.

You've got to be more measured in your approach. You've got to.

When you took your ingredients, and told me what you were going to do,

I pencilled you in as my winner, today.

You've broken my heart, here, today.

Langoustine, they should be the hero,

they should be singing from this plate.

We've got some in the shells, still.

What am I supposed to do here?

Bloomin' plate was red hot

and the whole sauce just went thhhh,

and, I should imagine,

doubled in intensity, at least.

Oh!

What a day!

Serious amount of pressure.

No lack of effort.

Thanks very much.

We've got to have a chat. Off you go.

I'm impressed by the standard, but, I think, there's some dark horses still to come through.

I really do. I think, some of them, they just need that confidence.

-Sure.

-I wish you luck, boys.

-Tom, having you here has been wonderful. Thanks.

-Pleasure.

Thanks, Tom.

I'll tell you my best dish.

Shelina.

She's really proved a point today.

Fish perfectly cooked. The lovely little herb sauce that she had around the outside.

Really salty but sweet crab

inside the courgette flower,

cooked beautifully. Really good dish.

I liked Tom's dish.

I thought the red mullet on the fennel

-and tomato was a good dish.

-For me, the most exciting thing about the dish

was that subtle note of mint

that ran underneath the fennel and the tomato

to give it real vibrancy

with that beautifully cooked piece of mullet. I think it was a great dish.

Shelina and Tom, safe.

-Let's move to Aki.

-Oh, my word!

I didn't come on here to have a picnic.

She took those onions, and some cheddar cheese,

and turned it into a tart.

She took black pudding, lots of mushrooms,

and cooked it all down,

and then made decent croquettes.

She actually thought about the dish, and as a brief,

produced a British idea on a plate.

Yeah, you can't nibble your way to the final.

-But could you have eaten all of Aki's dish?

-Yeah, happily.

-There you go.

-What point are you making?

-Ha-ha-haa!

Jay, I think he quietly goes about his business.

He had a very nicely cooked beef.

I thought the puree with the cabbage was a little too sweet. But...no glaring errors.

And he took the care to make sure those rosemary needles

were lovely and crisp and crackly and salty to go with those walnuts.

It was just all a bit safe.

But he's solid, John.

He doesn't make the crazy mistakes that others make.

Totally agree with you.

There's three in the pot.

Eamonn,

Andrew,

Emma.

Andrew just has this maddening

insistence on chucking

flavour after flavour into the same bowl.

Clams, tomatoes, raw onions, honey, mullet, whisky and mushrooms.

That's just disturbing.

What's the point of having all that skill if you can't make a nicely flavoured dish out of it?

-Are you slightly frustrated by any chance?

-Oh, mate. Honestly.

I hope I'm not going home today,

because I do feel that I've shown John and Gregg consistency,

a lot of dedication and skill and good hard work.

Eamonn had langoustines,

one of the jewels of the sea,

and he promised at the start the Cullen skink type sauce

with vegetables running through it.

Instead, we had an overreduced, really strong

seafood bisque, broth at the bottom with these langoustines fighting for their lives.

Eamonn's tripped up today. I mean, he's fallen flat on his face.

At this stage, can you knock him out? He's done so well so far.

My guess is I'm going home.

I always said,

just try and leave with a smile.

I'm wondering whether Emma actually does have basic all-round skills to go further.

That dish was not complete.

-The beef itself, not even crispy on the outside.

-Oh!

My issue, right now,

is three times in a row and she hasn't delivered.

I hate being on the back foot.

I want to be on the front foot,

and at this stage of the game, I might not have done enough.

We're talking about the final six, John.

Who, really, is not going to hack it?

That round actually proved a lot tougher than we expected.

Some of you, very, very good.

Some of you actually let yourselves down.

Shelina, well-cooked fish. Stuffed courgette flowers, a brilliant idea.

It was the best dish of the day.

You're in, well done. Very well done.

Tom...

..Jay...

..Aki...

..you're staying with us. Congratulations.

And the person leaving us...

..is Emma.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Emma.

I knew I hadn't pulled out enough stops today.

I had to have a dish that was 100%, and it wasn't.

I've had so much fun, though.

And it has been an amazing experience.

I am actually in shock that I'm still in.

I just scraped in, and I don't want to be there again.

I dodged a bullet. There is no more room for errors like that.

All right, you can bring the colour back to your faces.

You live to cook another day.

All I'll say is, pack your waterproofs.

The contestants now travel into Cumbria, to meet a chef

whose restaurant has been called the Fat Duck of the North.

Simon Rogan opened the one Michelin starred L'enclume nine years ago.

Its accolades are based on his unique skill at foraging

and sourcing the best of Britain's natural larder.

Foraging is everything to us.

It's what connects us to our surroundings,

picking that link from the earth, out the ground

by your bare hands without it being transported. There's something special about that.

Welcome to a very windy Cumbria.

You might think there's nothing here, but the whole area is rich in

natural ingredients, and, hopefully, if you can grasp these ingredients,

then it will take your cooking to a whole next level.

There's plenty to choose from. Let's go for it.

This is what I've been really looking forward to,

so, it's really exciting to see what we're going to come up with.

So, that's the Sea Arrowgrass.

Taste that. It's a lovely, delicate herb.

A bit reminiscent of coriander. Some call it beach coriander.

-Would you use it in the same way?

-You could chop it and sprinkle it.

It doesn't actually lose its density during cooking, so I like to use it

as a garnish. It looks quite effective.

It's just nowhere near as salty,

but it's got that quality of the sea in it.

They're all really connected, in ways,

but they've got all these subtle differences, and, they're all quite unique in flavour.

Really lovely.

Simon says, "You just might see grass," he says, "but I see an open larder," like.

No, I don't, mate. Do you know what I mean?

No. But, in a short while, you're picking stuff up,

you're tasting it,

it's all new experience, you know what I mean?

OK, so we've got some hawthorn berries, here.

Quite good for use with game.

Good for thickening things.

Thickening stews, red-meat stews, and stuff like that.

OK, so the real star of the show, if you like,

and my favourite, is this one, here,

called Sweet Cicely, also known as sweet brackens,

because it looks like a bracken.

And it's got the most amazing smell.

Oh, yeah!

You know, when you eat it, obviously,

you can taste the aniseed,

but on cooking it dissipates quite a lot. Pretty amazing.

It makes you keep on thinking about what's around,

what's in the environment.

I've never done anything like this, so it's been an incredible day so far.

With their foraging introduction over, the contestants face

their next test -

lunch for 25 of Simon's food producers and farmers.

A makeshift kitchen has been set up for them in a farmer's barn.

This kitchen is so small and there's not many hobs.

Simon has provided their ingredients,

including venison, partridge and lamb sourced from the local estate,

as well as freshly caught herring

and a range of foraged sea herbs and berries.

These people that are coming in today, it's their food,

it's their produce. It's just got to be special, simple as that.

Between the six of them, they have to make four mains and two puddings.

I'm going to take the venison.

-Right, well there's five of us who want to do savoury.

-OK.

-So.

Oh, right.

-Eamonn?

-Yes, mate.

-What were you thinking?

-I wanted the venison.

Right, so there's two on venison.

How set are you on venison, Eamonn?

Well, um, there's plenty of other good ingredients.

Yeah, I know. But we need one more sweet.

We've got to come up with the dishes, so I'll go dessert.

-Anybody else wanting to do a dessert?

-Me, me, me.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is 10:30. Lunch is at one o'clock.

You are eating into your 2½ hours cooking time.

Plan well, think about your equipment,

who's using the ovens, you got a lot of food to make.

I think I'm going to make a venison stew.

Venison, I'm happy with, but the other meats,

I don't think I could cook.

So, I think that's where I am at the moment, yeah.

That piece of venison is a venison loin.

It's got no fat in it.

You try and stew that... It's no haunch.

It's going to be dry as an old boot on boot day.

-So, I'm not doing a stew.

-Not with venison.

While Shelina rethinks her dish,

Tom is underway French trimming his racks of lamb.

I'm doing a lamb with a pine-nut-and-herb crust.

The people who produce all this wonderful food today will be eating it.

There's nothing more disrespectful than ruining someone's good work.

I know what it's like. If I plaster your house out and then they get

an awful decorator who ruins it, and it would be the same thing for me to cook their food badly.

I have no intention of doing that.

After Andrew's whisky disaster,

he's hoping to impress with a dish using the local herring.

I'm going to smoke the herring with hay and herbs, erm,

and that's going to be easier for service, as well,

cos if it's smoked,

there is no risk, really, of it being overcooked.

-Don't go weird.

-No, I'm not going weird.

-Don't have 20 angry farmers.

-No. Simple, simple.

-Trusting you.

Fish, mash, and vegetables.

I actually really like the sound of Andrew's dish.

He's going to smoke his own fish. He's going to make a herb-flavoured mashed potato and then a sauce using

clams and some of the shrimp.

Jay has chosen to base his dish around the partridge.

You are roasting those birds, aren't you?

I'm going to pan-fry them, bone-side down first,

to get some fat rendered out of it,

and then I'm going to spin it over and crisp up the skin nicely.

-Puy lentils in a mirepoix, chopped-up veg.

-Yeah.

Jay, I like it. I do like it.

I'm just thinking earthy and rural, you know what I mean?

What do you know about rural?

You get nervous if you run out of concrete, you do.

Jay's dish is my pick of the dishes.

Absolutely lovely. He's going to take the breasts off the Partridge.

He's going to fry them. He's serving that with puy lentils and mirepoix.

After cooking in environments like this, going home to your own kitchen, it's a breeze.

Fantastic.

Aki, what are you going to do with those brambly apples?

I was going to do a tarte tatin until five seconds ago

when I change my mind, because I've never made it before.

So, what are you going to do now?

Some hazelnut toffee brownies with some caramelised apples,

with spiced custard, as well.

-All right, all right.

-Thank you. Thank you.

What are you giving them, Eamonn?

Calvados caramelised apples with those lovely berries.

I'm hopefully going to find a little bit of booze to put them just to give them a bit of zing.

You're both doing an apple dessert.

I'll ditch the apples and spiced custard.

I thought were doing a chocolate brownie.

I was, but with caramelised apples

-and spiced custard, which is the same as you.

-Right.

So, I'm going to ditch the apples, ditch the custard,

keep the brownie, and I'll think of something else to go with the brownie.

You're changing your mind, again. You're staying with the apples.

-Yep.

-Thank you.

-You sure?

-I'm absolutely sure.

Eamonn's nicked all the good ingredients.

But everyone loves a bit of chocolate, don't they? And toffee.

So, I'm pretty confident.

I don't mean to scare you, but two hours to lunchtime.

Shelina's now decided to sear and roast the venison.

And serve it with a foraged sloe berry jus.

I've never used sloe berries. I've never cooked this particular cut of venison.

It's all very new, so I'm going to have to be quite instinctual. I need to make the jus now,

so, I'm just letting it boil.

Andrew, are you about to fill the barn full of smoke?

Potentially, yes.

I'm going to try not to. I'm smoking the fish.

I only learnt to smoke a fish this summer, so I've put one in to experiment.

See how it goes. Taste it, and then I can do the rest, hopefully.

I'm concerned about that smoked fish.

If they're not cooked all the way through,

then you end up with this very, very harsh outer, which tastes like acrid smoke.

But, I'll tell you what, if Andrew pulls it off, fantastic.

Eamonn's caramelising the apples in Calvados,

which he'll be serving on pain perdu, or French toast.

I need to make it look pretty. That slop on the plate, last time.

This just needs to look pretty, pretty, pretty. I'm hoping it will.

The idea of using those wild berries really enthuses me.

I want to try and get a really nice, delicate-looking dish,

but with little...pings of flavour.

Guys, can you start talking to each other about equipment?

The oven's going to be used by everybody.

You need to make sure you get your food through to service.

Can I use an oven? At 180 for half an hour?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Say, "I need the oven. I need it 30 minutes.

"I'm going to have it on 180. You guys have bagsed all this.

"I have to do dessert. Changed my mind three times." Assert yourself. Come on.

I'm going to use the oven. How do you use the oven?

I'm already using the oven, Aki.

Aki has now changed her mind so many times,

I'm concerned about if she's going to complete the task.

It was going to be a tarte tatin, then it was going to be a chocolate brownie.

Aki, it's got to be something, and it's got to be something pretty quickly.

What exactly is your dish now, Aki?

It's toffee and hazelnut brownies, with some brown-sugar custard,

and, if I have time, I'll do some ginger-stuffed eggs.

Aki, you looking like that,

and people come in for lunch,

it's embarrassing.

-Promise me, from now on you work cleanly, please.

-Yes, John.

Start thinking about service, guys.

With lunch approaching, Simon's guests begin to arrive -

the local farmers, artisan food producers, and gamekeepers.

I really hope the contestants do a great job today.

I put my neck on the line, really, here. Erm, I know these producers.

They're really passionate about their products.

I want to see them used in the right way.

So, I just hope to God they do the business for me.

Whenever I go up to a restaurant,

if it's game on the menu,

that's what I'll always go for, because they're so natural,

really lovely, rich food.

I'd like it to be a rare exemplar of everything,

the best we can produce, here.

And that is game, meat and local vegetables.

25 minutes, guys. Actually, less than 25 minutes.

Almost 20 minutes, guys. And that's it.

-That's meant to be 120?

-Sorry?

-You got the oven at 120.

No, it's supposed to be 180. Who changed the oven?

OK, who put the oven at 120?

Who put the oven at 120?

-We need to work this out?

-I'm not using the oven, darling.

Eamonn?

Well, I put it at 180, whoever did that.

It was you, wasn't it? Sabotage.

I've been at it all week.

It seems a little bit underdone, maybe because of the oven temperature.

I'm going to put it in for another ten.

Can I get everyone's attention for just a minute, importantly?

You're going to have to get those bains-marie on. You're going to...

Where are you serving the food, to warm up? OK?

How's everyone serving their food?

I'm going to serve the lamb,

-come up and then serve....

-Your vegetables.

-Yes.

-How much will you need?

-Not much.

I just need a thing to keep it warm.

Guys, you've got ten minutes to have your food up, please. Just ten minutes.

Let's crack on.

-You need to be carving your meat.

-Right, this is my carving space, guys. OK?

We've got a little crowd of ruddy-faced farmers gathering.

And they look pretty hungry to me.

Are you going to be really ready in six or seven minutes?

All I've got to do is put these in the oven. These are done.

Has everyone got their food on the pass or do they need help?

-Is it cooked?

-It's cooked. They just need to set for a little bit, so.

How we doing?

I've got sauce, here. Which is here.

Ready to go.

You got about two minutes. We need a complete table buffet.

-Everything ready for service?

-Everything ready.

I've got a herb-crusted rack of lamb on roasted parsnips

with some pickled onions and a mint jus.

If anyone would like smoked herring, please come up.

This is partridge on puy lentils.

Jay has pan-fried the estate partridge

and served it with puy lentils and a mirepoix.

There you go, sir. Enjoy your dish.

This is the part that you dread. You're waiting for the feedback, now.

But, hopefully, I did good for them.

The partridge and lentils is really, really tasty. Really nice bird.

Really well seasoned. Really goes well with the lentils. Quite impressed with that one.

I had to try the partridge.

It looked as if it has been cooked different to how I'm used to.

But, I must say, it's really, really tasty.

It's got quite a subtle taste, partridge, I think,

and therefore could easily be overwhelmed.

Got it right.

Beautifully cooked piece of partridge.

Crispy on the outside, really well seasoned, it is really, really delicious.

Jay has taken good local produce and he's made a very good dish from it.

That's what we wanted from him. Well done.

Shelina has cooked the venison

with braised red cabbage

and parsnips, and served it with a foraged sloe sauce.

Everyone wanted the venison. They were just queuing up by me.

So, I'm really happy. Obviously, it looked pretty and attractive.

We'll see what the verdicts are in a minute.

The venison is really, really nice. Impressed with the seasoning.

The sauce complements the venison well.

Cuts through the venison quite nicely.

So, on the whole, a good, well-executed dish, as well.

It's divine. It's cooked beautifully.

I love to see local produce combined in such a way.

It's fantastic.

Beautiful. Beautiful plate of food.

And it looks nice, as well.

The layers of flavour are quite extraordinary.

Very woody, rich venison flavour.

Sweet parsnips, the crunch of that cabbage.

The venison is cooked really well, but the flavour of those sloes through that cabbage and that sauce

is almost magnificent. I've got to say, well done, Shelina.

Andrew's dish is hay-and-herb-smoked herring,

with clams and shrimps,

served with the rosemary mash and sea vegetables.

I only sold one portion of hay-smoked herring,

and that was to the chef, Simon.

You know, there's only 20 people there,

and I think meat's always a popular choice.

I went for the hay-smoked herring because

we do quite a lot of a hay-smoked cookery ourselves.

Really tasty. Seasoned well. Good balance. Very nice.

For me, this herring, this smoked herring with potatoes

and sea vegetables, the celery, the shrimps, and clams, is absolutely delicious.

I was really worried. I thought he'd attempted too much.

I thought he was going to put lots of things that were unnecessary on his plate.

But today, he's nailed it.

Tom has made pine-nut-crusted rack of lamb with parsnips

and pickled red onions, served with a mint jus.

My style of plating up, I'd like to spend a little bit more time.

But, yeah, I'm happy with what I've done.

Lamb, really, really tasty. It's a prime ingredient.

And, you know, he's treated it quite well, so, very tasty.

Absolutely beautiful. It's cooked beautifully. The crust is delicious.

The parsnips complemented perfectly. The only thing is, the onions,

slightly undercooked for me. Apart from that, absolutely fabulous.

I think the empty plate speaks for itself, really. It was beautiful.

I like the crust on the lamb, and I particularly liked the onion.

It was really, really nice.

The lamb's cooked nicely, but I don't like this pine-nut crust.

It makes it almost sweet.

It's not a particularly inspiring dish.

I actually disagree. I quite like it.

I like the smokiness of the lamb, and the sweetness of the parsnips,

and the real, sort of, strength of the onion. I think it's a good dish.

Sticky toffee hazelnut brownie.

With the main courses over, it's now up to Eamonn

and Aki to impress with their desserts.

Aki has cooked chocolate toffee brownie with hazelnuts,

and ginger-stuffed dates dipped in white chocolate,

served with a caramel custard.

I'm not really happy, actually. I wanted the brownies to set a little bit more,

and I was really furious that my oven temperature was

turned down with no-one telling me.

They taste really nice, so hopefully it's going to be OK.

Chocolate brownie, for me, is a little bit undercooked.

It's a bit gooey.

Would have liked a better consistency with the brownie,

It was a bit too mushy.

It was disappointing, I'm afraid.

I couldn't taste the caramel custard very much in it.

I thought it was more custardy than caramel.

But it was still very nice and I enjoyed the dish.

It tastes absolutely fine, because it's chocolate and it's sweet.

It's not too sweet. It's creamy, sticky.

But there's no texture at all. That brownie should be a little firmer.

It doesn't work. And, considering the mess she was working in,

I'm not surprised it doesn't work.

Eamonn's dish is caramelised apple slices with foraged blackberries

soaked in Madeira

on pain perdu with custard and blackberry sauce.

Looks gorgeous.

I'm confident they'll like it. What's not to like?

Apples, custard, sauce.

I'd like it.

I like the use of the blackberries,

the spiced fruits, and the lovely pain perdu on the base,

-which is really, really tasty.

-I'd give it a 9.99 out of 10.

There isn't any more, is there?

Eamonn's made really good use of these ingredients. Some really clever flavourings.

It's a good-looking dish. It's well cooked.

It's got a real depth of flavour coming from that alcohol.

It's far better than I expected it to be.

On behalf of everyone here,

I'd like to thank you.

That was a very good meal.

And the main thing was you treated our local ingredients with respect.

And you should be saluted. Thank you very much.

APPLAUSE

MUSIC: "Paradise" by Coldplay

I can't believe we've just had food as good as that in a barn in Cumbria.

That was fantastic.

This country has something to celebrate, and today we proved that.

This whole experience has shown me

to respect my ingredients a lot more than I probably have in the past.

Today was a fantastic day. It's an experience I'll never forget.

And I hope I bring those influences into my cooking, as well.

As it stands, I'm quite happy. I think I pushed myself.

I think I've done myself proud.

Aki's dessert didn't quite work today, nor, in my mind,

did it celebrate the Great British larder.

Aki wasn't in control.

I'm not particularly proud of what I did today.

But I am looking forward to going back and using the inspiration

and ideas I've learned through this experience.

Andrew and Eamonn came back in the game,

and they're back in the competition.

I had a lot to prove to all sorts of people today.

Most of all, myself,

but confidence levels are right back to where they should be.

I wanted to show John, Gregg,

and Simon that I can take nice British ingredients,

cook them simply, do them justice, and I think I did that today.

We are going to have to lose one of these contestants soon.

And, it's going to be really hard.

I think, today, they surpassed my expectations and yours.

Next week...

..the contestants enter the world of fine dining

at one of the world's most iconic legal institutions.

Masters of the bench, dinner is served.

If you put that in the glasses and it doesn't set,

it really is a disaster.

And Michelle Roux Jr pushes their creativity to the limit.

That's cooking from a professional chef, not an amateur chef.

Some of these guys are pushing it.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd