Episode 14 Celebrity MasterChef

We've got 16 celebrities battling it out to win the MasterChef crown.

I have just to keep focused, keep it together.

Hopefully, that will see me through.

These celebrities have already made a name for themselves

in their own professions.

But can they cut it in the kitchen?

I thrive under pressure and I love challenges.

I've just got to make sure I nail it today.

I feel nervous, anxious, but I feel excited.

I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into today.

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this.

This week, these three celebrities

have been competing for a place in the final eight.

Now Diarmuid, Rebecca and Michael

are heading to cook in their first restaurant kitchen.

I don't know how the pressure can get any more than it has been.

I think we are in for another tough one.

Our three celebrities now are about to get a baptism of fire and they're going to have to be on their mettle.

This is the Criterion Restaurant, Piccadilly Circus.

Opened in 1873, its opulent dining hall

has played host to such luminaries as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,

H G Wells and Winston Churchill.

Good morning, guys. I am the head chef, Matthew Foxon.

We've got over 70 covers booked today.

I do expect you guys to listen, be precise.

Right. Let's get cracking.

The contestants have just three hours to prep their dishes.

So what's happening now?

Sealing in the moisture in the meat so we are not making it dry.

In service, Diarmuid will be in charge of the beef sirloin

on a bed of carrots and green beans, served with a potato puree.

We are going to cut a piece about that big

so we can make sure that we've got three decent slices.

I want the steak served medium rare every time.

My biggest concern about today would be letting chef down.

Whatever I do, I want to do well for him

so I want to listen, understand it, practise it a bit and then go for it.

You are going to make a slice and then just slide your knife in

and run it all the way up.

Rebecca will be making the mackerel tartare,

topped with sliced scallops,

pickled celery and coriander cress,

accompanied by balsamic and passion fruit jellies

and a raspberry dressing.

Put the point of your knife inside there.

Move it down.

The scallop will fall out.

Oh, this is just the worst possible option.

Fish just repulses me.

This is its stomach, which is not edible. We want to remove that.

And that's exactly what I want to be seeing from you.

A beautiful, fresh scallop. Over here, once you have opened it

-and you have removed the muscle on the bottom, effectively, it's dead.

-Ohhh.

'Why me?'

Oh. Seriously, it's grim.

I just have to put it out of my mind. Eugh!

Yuck, yuck.

Whoa! I just did it!

A bit bony.

Right, first we've got a beautiful Aylesbury duck.

We cut all the way down by the spine.

Michael is responsible for the duck breast with black pudding,

parsnip puree, puy lentils, sauteed mushrooms and broccoli.

Trim down any excess fat. It is a beautiful duck breast.

-OK?

-Yep.

-Good luck.

I have never cooked with duck in my life. Never.

I've never taken the meat off a duck. I'm really worried.

Also, how long do you cook a duck for for it to be rare or medium rare,

or medium or medium well done or well done?

One thing at a time, I guess.

-This isn't too long, no?

-No. Let's have a look. Lift it up.

Let's have a look. That is perfect. Try and seal a bit on the open end there.

-How do I do that?

-And just seal it like that a bit.

Over that heat! Bless those hands, chef.

We'll take that off and put it on a tray.

Oh, the poor thing.

SHE GROANS

Argh! It's eaten my knife! Oh, my God.

-It has clamped down on the knife.

-They are quite feisty. Oh!

Oh!

There we go.

Oh, that's...that really sad. And it was holding... Oh.

-I was getting into the swing of it...

-I'm not used to being asked or interrogated by someone.

Yeah, that's what we do as chefs.

You know, food has to come from somewhere to go onto the plate.

Really happy. Not much wastage on the carcass.

Good job on the breast.

Now what we've got to do is seal them off, ready for service.

The problem with my dish is there's so many different elements to it

and I've got to get them all together,

without burning or overcooking them or undercooking them, on the same plate, at the right time,

when it's called by chef.

It's 12 o'clock and the first customers have started to arrive.

Nothing will leave the kitchen if I'm not happy with it.

They can start again.

And if it's not right, we will carry on doing it until it is right.

Guys, listen up.

One soup, one terrine, followed by a beef and duck.

Diarmuid, that mash is too big. We will redo that.

Let me show you the size again, Diarmuid, that I am looking for.

Yeah. That is about the perfect size.

And then three little slashes across the top.

Just move your carrots in

so everything's more in the centre and we've just got to make sure

we work a lot cleaner so we are not having to wipe. OK? Service, please.

Yeah, I never got to practise doing the potatoes

so I have to tidy that up a little bit and keep the plate clean.

Next time, the mash will be even a bit more brilliant than the last one.

Guys, listen up. One terrine, one mackerel.

Rebecca, you're on.

You need to get salt and pepper in it now, please.

That seasoning is fine. Let's get that on the plate now.

-You need to take the ring off before we serve it.

-Oh, yes. Jeez.

Yeah. Right, service, please.

Check on...two mackerel, one duck, one beef.

Erm...it was a good first starting point. I've got to speed up, though.

I've got two on the go now. I've got to get into the rhythm of it.

I think this needs to go in for a few more minutes, chef.

It's a bit too pink.

Cut it and we will let some of that blood drain out.

We should be getting thinner than that, and don't cut on the cloth.

We just use the cloth to drain.

We just need to work on cutting it exactly straight.

Get that onto the plate.

That's looking OK, Michael.

But we do need to make sure that you are cutting that duck straight.

-Yes.

-Service, please. Table 28. One duck, medium. One beef.

I was really pleased with it.

I got all the items, all elements of the dish together and got onto the plate.

My cutting needs to be worked on, though.

-It was fine on the side I was looking...

-Listen up. One duck, one beef.

Yes, chef! See? It's just coming in.

I've just put one in, I've got to put another one in but there's one timer.

I've got to remember when the last one went in and this one goes in,

and make sure I don't take the right one out, wrong one...

I don't even know what I'm saying. This is ridiculous.

-Check on...two beef. How long?

-I can give you a minute, chef.

One minute.

A couple of orders in for beef. It's all in control.

All in control.

I think the secret is just to know what you're doing

and have confidence in the timing.

Diarmuid, you said one minute. Let's go.

I want to see you get it right this time, this mash, Diarmuid.

No pressure then, chef!

Do that mash again, please.

He wants it to be an absolutely beautiful dollop. That's what I'm trying to achieve.

-That's better. We can improve on it but I'm happy with that.

-Chef.

-Service.

-Yes.

-Service.

Guys, we need to keep ahead now, please.

-Guys, can you answer me, please?

-ALL: Yes, chef.

-Thank you.

Right, you've got two mackerel working, yes? Rebecca?

Oui, chef. Oui, chef.

-You've got to speed up, please, Rebecca.

-Oui, chef.

James, can you give Rebecca a hand?

I need two mackerel now, please.

Right, you're going to have to speed up.

-I've got other people to help you.

-Yes, chef.

We've got two tables waiting so please can we speed up?

-I don't want to have people helping you all service.

-Yes, chef.

I'm not quick enough. Just not quick enough. Falling well behind.

It's the speed of the processes, it's not quite in my head at the moment yet.

Right, those are better. You still need to improve the speed. OK?

-Yes, chef.

-Service, please. Two mackerel, table 38.

-Oui, chef.

-Starters gone on 38.

BEEPING

I don't know what alarm that's for. What's that doing?

BEEPING CONTINUES

I don't know what you're telling me. I'm ignoring you.

Michael, I think that's your timer, eh?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yep, yep, yep. Just going to get it.

BEEPING CONTINUES

OK. Check on two duck and two beef.

HE GROANS

How long on that first duck?

-Two minutes.

-That's a bit long, eh?

-I can do less, if you want.

-Yeah, it's going to have to be less.

-The table's been waiting already.

-OK. OK. It'll be less.

It's manic. I can't even stop and talk to you now.

I haven't even got ten seconds. Chef wants this now.

-Are you happy with the colour of it?

-Yeah, that's perfect cooking.

-OK.

Yeah, ready.

Mains away, two duck.

-Mains away, two duck.

-Yes, chef.

Check on...three mackerel followed by two beef!

You can see your mash is starting to split a little bit.

-You need to work it.

-OK.

-The more you play with it, the better.

You need to work your mash again and, look, it's burnt. OK?

If you leave it on the heat for too long,

it's just going to carry on splitting.

You're struggling with the mash as it is, yeah? That's it.

And now it's going to be much easier for you to plate. Yeah, OK?

Let's do these up, let's keep them nice and warm.

Ah, Diarmuid! Much better! Much, much better!

Thank you, chef.

I'm going to take the credit for that but he left it on the scoop

so I just tipped it in.

I went for the beef. It's really, really lovely.

It's really nice and pink. The pomme puree is really smooth.

So, yeah, really enjoyed it.

Can I have the mackerel to start, please?

-How long on those two mackerel?

-Erm, one minute, chef.

It's still flowing fast. This is pretty mad.

I haven't even had a second to stop and breathe and get back on track.

I'm constantly trying to catch up.

Listen up, guys. Three mackerel, one terrine.

I just... I'm lost for words, really. I didn't anticipate this kind of speed.

It's just relentless and I'm just literally trying to go as fast as I can.

-Right. How long on those mackerel?

-Erm, ten seconds. 20 seconds.

These are looking so much better

-than those first ones you were putting up and you're a bit quicker.

-Thank you, chef.

Table 40, three mackerel. Yeah.

I had the mackerel with scallops. Excellent, actually.

What I like about it, it's cleansing on the palate.

-I need those two medium rare duck.

-Yep.

And just after that, if I can get three medium duck at the same time.

HE WHIMPERS

Guys, I've got table 37 and 24. They've been waiting too long.

-You need to hurry up.

-Go. We're on.

Get your plates down and start plating.

Yep. That way. That's fine. Yeah.

-Start slicing those other two.

-Yes, chef.

-Right, come on, Mike. Let's get these last two plates out.

-Yes, chef.

-Service! Oh, after I've done some sauce.

-You're not finished.

Let's finish them. Come on, let's carry on focusing.

-Yes, chef.

-Right. Last two plates. Well done.

Service, please. Table 24. Two medium duck.

The duck was really soft and succulent.

Just melted in your mouth and I loved it.

Right, guys. Well done.

-Service is finished. Thank you very much. We made it.

-Oh, my God.

-Yeah.

Wasn't as bad as you thought, I hope.

Erm... No, it wasn't.

It was manic, it was exhausting, it was incredible.

It was just overwhelming, I think, but I loved it.

I absolutely loved it.

Wow-ee. That was just unbelievable. What an experience!

It didn't go disastrously wrong so I can't argue with that.

It was fantastic.

I love the atmosphere of a kitchen,

but to become part of that atmosphere and not flip the lid is great.

A tough service is over but the celebrities

now face another challenge, to cook Matthew's trio of crab -

brown crab risotto, crab cake and a crab salad.

So to start with, we're going to do the crab cake.

We've got some potato puree here. We're going to add some white crab.

I always like being very generous with my fish because I don't like it when they put too much potato.

To me, it just ruins the whole thing completely.

Watch out for seasoning.

You're going to want some chopped chives.

Spring onions.

If it's too wet, you'll struggle to make a nice round shape from it.

And now we're going to pane it.

Pane means we're going to put flour, eggs and breadcrumb.

If you don't get a good coating on it, it can burst open.

Moving on to the crab salad.

We take some of the white crab meat,

fresh lemon juice...

a small dollop of mayonnaise, and that's the salad.

Now we're ready to start on the risotto.

We're going to add some vegetable stock.

-The thing with risotto is you keep stirring. Does that apply...?

-No.

I don't want to be agitating it. I'm going to put some vegetable stock,

make sure it's not catching on the bottom and that's all I'm doing.

Your risotto needs to be perfectly cooked - al dente.

I'm going to add in some of my brown crab.

Brown crab's very strong in flavour.

You don't want to be using too much of it. It can overpower the dish.

Put a little bit more white crab inside.

Parmesan cheese.

The last thing you're going to do is cook your crab cake.

As soon as it is golden brown, it is ready.

We don't want something that is burnt.

And that...is my crab dish.

Now it's your turn.

Diarmuid is first up.

I've never made a risotto before.

That's the thing I'm most worried about.

The important thing is we create something that he likes.

I've had a disaster with deep frying before.

I don't want to repeat that because if I do, I've learnt nothing.

So I'm determined to get this a nice golden brown colour.

Which it almost is.

Might be a little bit too much there. Actually, it looks sloppy.

Never done that before in my life.

Never done that before in my life.

And there's my dish.

The first thing that strikes me is the size of the crab cake.

It's very big. It's far too big for this dish.

There's far too much mayonnaise that's gone in to your crab salad.

Just needs a bit of mayonnaise just to bind all those flavours together.

The risotto is cooked beautifully but you haven't seasoned the rice

and then there's far too much seasoning inside your crab cake

and far, far too much seasoning in your white crab.

-You should always be tasting.

-I did, and I still get it wrong.

-Thank you very much and good luck.

-Thank you very much.

The result wasn't brilliant, or it didn't taste brilliant,

but I produced a plate of food, food I'd never, ever cooked in my life before.

I rate what's just happened, for me, a mighty success. I'm beaming.

There's a lot of steps to remember so I can't waste time.

I've got to get onto it real quick.

I think that's a little bit on the big side

and, just in case, I think I've got time to squeeze out another one.

Yowzers.

They're just...I got them just in the nick of time!

SHE SIGHS Erm...

Oh, I don't know which one to choose. Erm...

OK, erm...

Where's the salady stuff?

OK. I'm really quite chuffed with that.

Rebecca, it looks great. You've got the right colour on your crab cake.

The salad looks good but I can see that the risotto's undercooked.

You've got nice seasoning in your crab cake.

I'm very happy with the flavour inside your white crab salad. Very nice.

The risotto rice is a little bit undercooked.

The flavour inside there needs a bit more brown crab

but the rest of the dish, I'm very, very happy with.

Really positive comments from the chef.

I'm really proud with how I've done. It's not perfect. It's not 100%,

and it's not spot on, by any means,

but I'm really pleased with the step up I've made.

I thought chef's dish was amazing.

It looked beautiful so I want to try and recreate that,

but it's not going to be easy.

Time-wise, I think I'm all right. I've just got to make sure with this risotto that it is as chef wants,

which is al dente.

It can't be sloppy and can't be like you're biting through rock.

I have no benchmark for this sort of dish whatsoever,

other than what I saw with my eyes.

Clearly, the important part is how it tastes. That's key, without a doubt.

Now, where's the Parmesan?

We're done.

I just hope that I've done it justice and, you know, he's pleased.

Right, Michael, this looks good.

You've got the right size on your crab cake.

The salad could be a little bit taller but it looks like there's enough dressing,

and it's not leaking all over the place.

Michael, I'm really happy because you have nailed it on the head.

The rice is spot on.

You've got a decent amount of crab inside your crab cake

and the seasoning inside your white crab salad is great.

-I'm really impressed. Really, really impressed.

-Oh, brilliant. Thanks, chef.

I'm really, really pleased that I've managed to show you what I can do.

Today I wanted to come here and show chef that, you know,

I can do it, I want to learn

and I'm willing to listen to what he has to say and put it into practice,

and hopefully he saw that in the dish today, cos he seemed pleased.

Rebecca started off a little bit shy and unconfident

and she's definitely progressed during the day.

She got her confidence back. She ended up doing very well.

I'm really proud of what I managed to do today.

To go into a professional kitchen and be able to hold my own

and get some good compliments -

it's just something I never thought possible.

Diarmuid started off a little bit shaky at the beginning of service.

He did pull himself back, though, near the end.

He has let himself down majorly on the crab dish.

Today has been exhilarating. Absolutely fantastic.

To be let out with your food in the big, bad world,

to be producing restaurant-quality meals,

it was amazing.

Michael's had a great day. He did have a busy dish for service

but he was keeping his head above the water

and he was getting through it.

And then just to present this amazing crab dish is fantastic.

He's definitely surprised me.

I've had a brilliant time today. It's just been incredible.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how things went

but I'm going to have to keep up the good work, if I can.

Tomorrow night, the battle for a place in the final eight reaches its climax...

-Have you made this sauce before?

-Yeah. It wasn't great.

..as the celebrities face their toughest critics yet.

-Ohh.

-I would never in a million years choose it, ever.

It's terrible.

No, no. They're still wet.

The person leaving us is...

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