Episode 15 MasterChef: The Professionals

Knockout week continues on MasterChef - The Professionals.

The final ten chefs have been split into groups.

Let's go. We've got five minutes.

Last night, the first five impressed,

cooking a VIP dinner at Twickenham.

Just want you to know that I enjoyed it more than anyone else.

LAUGHTER But for Tom,

the last challenge brought an end to his competition.

Tonight, the second group must go all-out,

cooking at one of London's

most prestigious addresses.

You've got less than five minutes, guys,

and you've got no food on the plate yet.

It's time to test our chefs.

We're taking them out of the MasterChef kitchen.

Well, this is fantastic.

Only the best chefs will go through to next week's semifinals.

Now we're in the serious part of the competition.

Now it's like, OK, everyone's at their A-game.

It'd be truly great to get into the semifinals.

But if you get ahead of yourself

there's a chance that you might go home.

Get further into the competition, you start to think,

"Oh, I'll start relaxing."

It's not happening. It's not happening.

Everything's stressful at the moment,

but it's an amazing opportunity and I want to really impress here.

It's important here to start producing dishes,

not just showing up.

They're all good chefs, but someone's got to be a winner.

There is some talent in this kitchen.

I cannot wait to see what they go on to deliver.

Chefs, welcome to the Institution of Civil Engineers.

As you can see, this is quite a fabulous place.

The civil engineers make the impossible possible.

Crossrail, bridges, Channel Tunnel -

the list goes on.

You're going to have to cook something very special this evening.

It's got to be something that's going to give them a wow factor.

So far in the competition, you've cooked as individuals,

but today, you need to cook as a team.

Tonight, you will be cooking and serving

a three-course, fine-dining menu

for the president and five of his VIP guests.

This menu has got to be worthy of the grandeur

and the splendour of this room.

You've got a lot of work to do, so you better get going.

I mean, that hall is pretty impressive, isn't it?

It's like walking into Hogwarts or something.

-Yeah.

-It's going to have to be pretty magical.

My dad's an engineer, so he'd love this place.

So, yeah, looking forward to it.

I think that I speak for all five of us -

we're definitely going to put on a good show today.

Obviously, yeah, it's going to definitely

match the great hall there.

The five chefs now have to work together

to create a menu for a special dinner

celebrating the institute's 200th anniversary.

It needs to be produced from the ducks, Dover sole,

and a wide variety of fruit and vegetables they've been given.

Any ideas, anyone?

I think the duck's the obvious for the main...

The duck's the obvious one, yeah.

There's a bit of chicory, though. Oranges, which I like.

These are five very good chefs, and they need to talk to each other.

They should be bouncing ideas off each other,

and then getting, you know, three or four different ideas

that they can choose from.

There we go. We've got lentils.

-Duck, lentils, braised chicory and sauce epice.

-Yeah, yeah.

Is it going to have, like, a wow factor?

Definitely a tasty kind of factor. Definitely one of them.

Why don't we go, like, the sea vegetable route,

like fennel and stuff?

Why don't we try and do some sort of, like, engineering?

-Like bridge tuile sort of thing?

-HE LAUGHS

They have to be careful cos if they don't talk quickly

and get a bit more involved with those ingredients, they're going to run out of time.

-I've seen some passion fruits over there, some white chocolate.

-Nice.

Some ginger there, as well.

Actually, there are some peaches there

to go with the white chocolate. You could use it for that,

and the citrus would work quite nice with that.

-Have you guys split into teams already?

-Yeah.

So, myself and Tom are going to do the starter.

We're going to use the sole, do a potted shrimp kind of sauce,

and also like a potted shrimp cannelloni type of element

with the cucumber, as well.

Me and Leo are going to do the duck as the main course.

With braised chicory with orange, some lentils with sauce epice.

-And dessert?

-Dessert, I was thinking passion fruit and white chocolate.

Maybe like a lemon curd sort of thing?

And I saw some coconut milk. Maybe try and tie that in?

So far, I have to say, I think your menu's sounding

a little bit on the safe side,

and lacking a little bit of adventure.

-What you do need to do is impress.

-Yeah.

So, some of the menu is still developing.

However, you do need to get started now.

Matt, Tom, you've got two hours for your first course to go out.

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

I'm going to be prepping the fish first.

I'm going to sort the potted shrimps out right now.

Then I'll make the sauce.

Private chef Matt and junior sous-chef Tom

have teamed up to make the Dover sole

and potted shrimp cannelloni starter.

It's interesting to work with another chef.

It's just good to work with someone who I'm happy with and who...

Yeah, we're kind of on the same page,

so I think it's good.

It's a different book, but it's the same page.

HE CHUCKLES

The first job for Matt

is to carefully clean and fillet the Dover sole.

I like using Dover sole.

I use it quite a lot in the South of France.

The only problem is, this bit, I normally get my fishmonger to do.

It's really delicate,

which is why we've decided to poach it.

Basically, it's a long way for it to go upstairs,

so if we're searing, using really intense heat,

it's more than likely going to be overcooked

by the time it gets there.

Tom is tasked with making the potted shrimp butter filling

for the intricate cucumber cannelloni,

which will sit alongside the fish.

In there, there's shallots, shrimps,

butter, lemon, and nutmeg.

In ways, it's a classical dish with classical elements.

We're just going to try and tilt it on its head a bit.

-It's definitely getting there. I think it needs more acid.

-More acid?

More lemon. A little bit more lemon.

-Are you working well together?

-Yeah.

Being very vocal, talking about it, just working through.

We've not cooked this dish before,

so we're just talking about it as much as possible.

Yeah. How many fillets of sole are you serving per portion?

So, we were going to originally just do one,

but they're quite small, so I think we're going to do two fillets -

one poached and then maybe one paupiette-style.

-Do you think that's too much? We don't want it...

-It is only a starter.

You're still filleting sole. You know, push on.

Matt and Tom working together - quite an unusual combination.

Matt really does think about his ingredients,

he loves to show off with his ideas,

whereas Tom is just a little bit more reserved.

I'd like to see Tom have a bit more influence on this plate of food,

and then, hopefully, Matt's not going to take over the whole dish.

Working alone on pastry,

sous-chef Craig makes a start on the centrepiece of his dessert -

a passion fruit and lemon parfait.

I'm making a curd from the passion fruit juice itself.

Going to cool it down and then add that to a pate a bombe,

so egg yolks and sugar, and then fold in some whipped cream,

and then, yeah, that's straight in the blast chiller.

I'm really pleased to see that they've come up with a lemon and passion fruit parfait.

So, it's going to be beautiful and cold from the freezer.

The lemon and the passion fruit flavour

has got to come out, it's got to be nice and cold.

You don't want it melting on the plate.

With his parfait in the blast chiller to set,

Craig gets going on the second component of his dessert.

I'm going to do a little set sort of cream,

coconut milk and rum.

Another creamy little element, but a different temperature.

But, yeah, it's just getting things set in time.

That's the worry.

So, you're staying in your comfort zone in the desserts area?

The other four guys, they sort of had strong directions

for what they wanted to do with the ingredients.

Pastry's comfortable with me.

So, it sounds a bit, by you being so quiet,

those four decided what they were going to do

and you were just left with puddings.

But maybe that's going to work to my advantage.

I'm comfortable with it, so, yeah, game on, sort of thing.

If you weren't doing dessert, what would you like to do?

-I would have loved the main course.

-Main course?

-Yeah.

I love cooking duck, so, hopefully, the guys do it justice.

THEY LAUGH

Chef patron Ryan has paired up with sous-chef Leo for the main

of Asian-spiced duck with orange and lentils.

Let's go roast it in the oven.

Then we're going to have to cook the thighs in the bag.

Yeah, well, get the legs off first.

Their first task is the extensive duck prep,

first removing the legs to confit in the sous-vide,

leaving the breast on the crown to roast.

We've got the base of the dish with the duck, the chicory,

the classical orange with it, the lentils,

the sauce with the spice.

We just need to work on really delivering

the extra wow factor, which will be an ongoing thing.

What do you think about putting the duck hearts on?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-It'll be a nice texture.

Leo is in charge of making a sauce to glaze the duck.

My sauce epice is a red wine

sugar reduction with some coriander seeds, fennel seeds,

peppercorns and star anise.

Get it so it goes nice and sticky.

It's a bit different.

None of us are trained in the oriental kind of style

and we've gone down the oriental route.

Taking a risk somewhere, yeah.

What are you up to, Leo?

Got my sauce epice on the go. Got my duck sauce, as well.

MARCUS: And the lentils are going to sit as a base?

A little bed of lentils. Braised chicory, just next to it.

And is the duck going to be sliced on top?

Well, we were just talking about that.

Maybe slicing it or maybe just square it off,

keeping a nice breast.

Why do we square nice, round breasts?

-Presentation. Purely presentation.

-Is it?

These are engineers. They like all kinds of weird shapes.

-They'll delve into it.

-Good point.

-Presentation?

-Yeah.

So, you've got the duck breast,

which is going to be cooked on the crown.

Beautifully roasted with a spiced glaze

that Leo has made himself.

You've got chicory braised down and cooked in orange juice.

The spices, the sweetness, the bitterness of the chicory,

the lentils and that beautiful duck leg -

I like the sound of the dish,

but the wow factor's got to come with the flavour.

I hope they can really develop this dish

and really bring something else to the table.

In this situation, there's part of you that needs to push to impress,

but there's also a massive part of you that just needs

to make sure that it's solid.

We've got guests coming who want to eat their dinner,

and that's all we need to do - serve them some dinner.

The Institution of Civil Engineers was created almost 200 years ago,

in 1818, by three young engineers in a Soho coffee shop.

If you think about it,

nearly everything that society takes for granted -

when you turn on the tap in the morning,

if you drive on a road, if you cross a bridge,

if you get on a train - all of these things are all

produced by civil engineers.

So civil engineering is all about producing

the right kind of infrastructure to make society work.

Lord Mair, a Cambridge professor, is the 153rd president.

Thomas Telford, elected in 1820, was the first.

Thomas Telford was,

arguably, the greatest engineer that the UK has ever produced.

He was the son of a Scottish shepherd,

and ended up being responsible for the design

of hundreds and hundreds of bridges, canals, roads, churches.

Opened in 1913,

the institution's headquarters is famed for its ornate interior,

and often used as a location for Hollywood films.

It may seem, to the chefs, a very daunting building,

but I'm sure they'll rise to the occasion.

Right, chefs, one hour gone. Just over.

Is there anything that anybody's not certain about

that they want to run past everybody else?

Dessert's on track. It's in the blast chiller.

-You go for main course next.

-Yeah, the main course.

The ducks, we're going to roast them on the crown.

-And...?

-Yeah, we want everybody's opinion on this.

I think, if you're doing it like that,

-you'll have to get them on soon, won't you?

-Yeah.

ALARM BEEPS

Over half the cooking time has gone.

Matt and Tom will be the first to serve,

and they're only just starting to build the filling

for their cucumber cannelloni.

Cucumber's going to be raw round the outside, so it's like, you know,

a cannelloni, but obviously there's no pasta.

If only we had a spiraliser, it would be so much easier.

To add a structural element to the dish,

Matt is creating a thin spiral-shaped potato tuile.

Never done this before. Don't know why I'm doing it now.

I'm using ladles just to give it that shape,

cos we've got the poached piece of sole.

We're going to have the shrimp butter sauce on top of it.

And then this is almost like the skin, like the crispy skin.

Just bringing everything together now.

Just don't want to rush it at the end.

Just treat it like a normal service, really,

except we've got five chefs to do it.

-Sealing the ducks off in a bag?

-Yeah, I'm going to get them...

Back on the main course,

Ryan and Leo will be serving 20 minutes after the starter,

and they're behind getting the duck crowns on.

-Just pan on...?

-I was just...

I was going to do them in two different pans.

Duck's good. We're just trying to render it down

so we get a nice, crisp skin for when we serve it.

Get it in the oven, get it rested, get it glazed up.

In an effort to elevate their main course,

Leo has come up with an idea.

-What about some granola?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Maybe just, like, a little sprinkling over?

-Yeah, yeah.

Cos if you're glazing it,

-that granola will stick really well to it.

-Definitely, yeah.

It's good to see that they're starting to push themselves.

But I still want something more,

and I'm not sure if it's in this granola.

We're kind of getting to the point now,

if we start putting anything else on, we'll be over-egging it.

There's always a tendency to more, more, more,

to try and impress, to try and wow.

At the moment, we're hoping we've got enough here.

-Going in now.

-OK.

-Give it a nice, good resting time.

-Yeah, yeah.

Feeling good about the time.

I'm not going to say I'm confident, cos I'm not,

until it leaves the kitchen.

In the pastry section, Craig's passion fruit parfait

and the coconut cream are setting in the blast chiller,

but he still has four garnishes to make for the dessert.

I'm just working on each element.

Obviously, the dish needs freshness,

so I'm going to try them out two different ways.

These ones, I might poach them,

and I'm thinking of compressing some.

And if they both come out right, I'll use both.

I've never done peach and passion fruit.

There should be no reason they shouldn't go together.

So, yeah, fingers crossed it turns out all right.

As well as the fruit garnish,

the parfait will be accompanied by a white chocolate crumb.

That's the sugar water boiling up.

Hard cracked sugar, and then chuck in the white chocolate,

and they'll all seize up, sort of crystallise.

That'll be the crumb for the plate.

Ah, that looks cool!

That's epic.

Determined to deliver a faultless dessert,

Craig is single-handedly juggling all the elements.

It's just the coconut lime cream. Just checking the consistency of it.

It's a little bit softer than what I'd like it,

so I might melt it back down and add a bit more gelatine

just to firm it up. I want it to hold on the plate.

With service fast approaching, the guests arrive.

They are former president Professor Tim Broyd,

ex-Royal Army engineer Nick Baveystock...

..vice president Rachel Skinner,

instrumental in delivering London's 2012 Olympic

and Paralympic transport system...

..railway infrastructure engineer Steve Beniston...

..and Emily Bonner, who worked on the redevelopment

of Twickenham Stadium.

-See, I'm just looking forward to the three very good courses.

-Exactly.

There are some good analogies, aren't there?

-Variable ingredients, time pressure.

-Absolutely.

-Indeed.

-Just imagine, it wouldn't go down well in a dining situation

if the chefs had to go back to the customer saying,

"Sorry, it's going to cost a bit more."

-LAUGHTER

-So, anyway, here's to 200 years.

-To a great evening.

-A great evening. Cheers.

200 years more.

Chefs, you have just half an hour left before the first course is due.

With service looming, Tom still has to roll and chill

his delicate pickled cucumber and shrimp cannelloni.

Do you think we should cut that bit off of cucumber?

Cos we only need one layer, don't we?

I just want to roll round it first, if you get me?

-Just like that, overlapped.

-Yeah, just roll it.

Just roll it a couple of times.

-I'm going to drop this in now, all right? 20 minutes, yeah?

-Yeah.

-I believe your dad's an engineer.

-He is, yeah.

Fitting gas pipes in the Shetland Isles, places like that.

Is there a bit of engineering coming into this?

Yes, there is, I suppose.

-It's all engineering and creativity.

-A cannelloni tunnel?

-Yeah!

-And do we know what the dish is going to look like?

Erm...Matt, I do believe, knows how he wants it to look.

Are you happy with that? Are you going to settle with just Matt dressing the plate?

-No, no, I'll put my input in, as well.

-Absolutely, yeah. Don't let him do it all.

-No, I'm not going to.

-Don't let him take all the glory.

On the main, the ducks are roasting, and Leo is prepping the duck hearts

that'll be served with a lentil garnish.

Cutting them in half now, yeah.

And I was going to saute them off, diced,

and then add the lentils to that,

-make it into it a mix.

-All right, OK.

With time on his hands, Ryan checks in with Craig.

Are you all right? Do you need anything doing here?

Erm, yeah. Can you just whip in a bit of glucose and some sugar,

-boil it up to hard crack?

-Yeah.

The sugar syrup for the tuile needs to reach the hard crack stage -

the point before it caramelises.

Pan's not great, eh?

-Just have to keep it on the high heat is all.

-Yeah.

With Ryan keeping a close watch over the sugar syrup,

Craig checks on whether his passion fruit parfait has set.

It's frozen solid. Obviously, the blast chiller's quite intense,

so if I put them in just a regular freezer, they'll soften up a bit.

Ten minutes, yeah?

Guys, just under eight minutes.

As the guests take their seats for dinner,

it's crunch time on the starter for the cucumber cannelloni.

Yeah, cannelloni seem to have come out all right.

Trick's getting the clingfilm off them.

So, ask me again in a second.

The scissors are a bit bulky.

They're like me - bulky.

Wow, look at this. We've got poached Dover sole,

cucumber and potted shrimp cannelloni

with potted shrimp sauce, fennel and sea herbs.

I think this is quite some way to start the process, isn't it?

Got less than five minutes now, and you've got no food on the plate.

With time against them,

Matt enlists the help of the entire brigade to plate up.

Right, and then if you drain these, put them on a...

We've got everything ready. Spoons ready. Yes.

-Have you got them? Just season them up.

-Yeah.

Now, one often associates Dover sole with a main course,

rather than a starter, so this is really interesting.

You've got two and a half minutes.

-You'll dress all these plates in two and a half minutes?

-Yeah.

You better get a move on.

-Tom...

-Yeah.

-..let's see this.

-Yeah, and then a second.

-And just fill these sauce jugs up.

-Put a slice on like that.

-Just one here?

-Copy it like that.

Cannelloni like that.

Oh, the cannelloni will be difficult.

I think I'll be quite keen to see how they pull that off.

Got that going?

-One and a half minutes.

-Sauce, a little bit of the paupiette first.

-Just drop a tiny little purslane on the top of it, yeah?

-OK.

Come on, guys. Let's get a move on.

Waiters are waiting. Guests are waiting.

Your time is nearly up.

-God, there's a lot of chefs here.

-Yeah.

Crisp. Just do straight on top of the paupiette.

Right, guys, let's go. Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Fennel on this, fennel on this, fennel on this.

Right, and then we're good. Service, please!

-Yeah, well done.

-No, I'm happy with that.

-Gosh.

-Gosh!

The starter is Dover sole served two ways -

one steamed and rolled, the other poached -

with a potato tuile,

a pickled cucumber and potted shrimp cannelloni...

..sea herbs and fennel...

..accompanied by a potted shrimp sauce.

Gosh.

-I wasn't expecting the cannelloni that way.

-No, exactly.

-It's clever. Very clever.

-Really clever. Mm.

-Right.

Mm, that is very good.

I think the two versions of the sole are very nice,

-and they're different.

-They're very different.

-Different texture.

-Texture. Exactly, yeah.

I'm very taken by the cucumber cannelloni.

And it's that nice crunch with pickled cucumber, I think it is,

that sits around the potted shrimps,

which is absolutely not what I expected,

and goes really well with the sauce.

-Lots of different textures...

-Absolutely.

-..for one starter course.

-Mm.

I think, if that's the standard for the food, judging by the starter,

I think we've got a treat with the rest of the food to come.

And beautifully presented, too.

You know, our first royal charter, from 1828,

talks about the art and science of civil engineering.

I think we're seeing here the art and science of well-presented food,

-well-cooked food.

-Creation.

-Can we have some more, please?

-LAUGHTER

I think the sole has been cooked wonderfully.

It's so soft and moist.

I love it like this.

It's just missing a touch of seasoning.

Thankfully, we've got this pickled cucumber,

which I think brings that sharpness to the dish.

There's a lightness about the sauce,

and it sort of all works if you eat it all together.

Next up are Ryan and Leo with their spiced duck main.

Moment of truth.

Still pink.

A little bit over, but still pink.

Could've done with a little bit less cooking. Just a touch.

-Ryan, Leo, you've got five minutes.

-Yes, Chef.

"Epice glazed duck crown, orange braised chicory,

-"lentils and granola."

-Amazing.

-Good combination.

-Do we know who's doing what?

-Yes, Chef.

-Who's on lentils?

-Me.

-You're sauceing?

-Yeah, I'll sauce it at the end if you want.

While the brigade pulls together to plate the garnish,

Leo takes charge of carving the duck.

-Leo, you've got two minutes. Where's this duck?

-Coming up now.

-I'm always concerned that the duck can be overdone.

-Yes.

-No, I agree.

-That's my only concern on this.

-Are you happy with the cooking of the duck?

-Yes, Chef.

I normally have granola for breakfast.

-I know, yeah.

-So...

-I suspect we all do.

Yeah. So, that'll be interesting.

-How are we doing, guys?

-Yeah, just about to finish off.

-What's left to go on?

-Just the sauce now, Chef.

-We got enough?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Service, please.

-Thank you. Wow.

-Look at that.

-Thank you.

The main course is spiced glazed duck breast

topped with granola on a bed of lentils

with confit duck leg and sauteed duck hearts,

served with orange braised chicory and finished with a duck sauce.

-Ooh, it smells good.

-You can get the orange and the spice coming off it.

And I recognise the breakfast element of the granola.

-LAUGHTER

-Absolutely.

I suppose I look at it and it's one colour.

The starter looked really interesting.

It was lots of different colours. I think this is a bit more bland.

But maybe it'll taste great, and that's all that matters.

Delicious. I think the crunch of the granola

and the softness of the duck is absolutely wonderful.

Yeah, the granola, against my preconceptions,

doesn't taste like breakfast at all.

And I like the bitterness of the chicory. I thought it was going to be sweeter

-than it is, and I think that sets it off well.

-Very, very subtle.

The sauce is lovely, I think. Really, really powerful flavour.

I guess, if I'm going to be horribly critical for a minute,

my duck is actually, for me, slightly overdone.

So, it's perhaps not quite as...

Not quite as tender as I might have liked.

Mine's on... Just about right. It's just on the point.

This is probably, technically, not as diverse as the first course,

but it's delicious nevertheless.

I have to say, I'm very underwhelmed with this dish.

The duck is way overcooked for my liking.

The lentils lack richness and flavour.

The chicory is probably the best bit of this dish.

It's beautifully caramelised,

and it's got that bittersweet flavour

that always complements a fatty meat like duck.

I just find, because the spices weren't heated in the beginning

before they were added to the spiced glaze,

we have lost the essence of the beautiful spices

that I smelled earlier on on the bench.

We know these two chefs are capable of delivering much more.

With two courses sent, Craig's now in the spotlight with the dessert.

Craig, five minutes to go. How are you doing?

Yeah, on time. It's just last-minute placing,

cos the parfaits have to be cold, so...just starting now.

So, for dessert, we've got lemon and passion fruit parfait

with a crystallised white chocolate and coconut rum and lime cream.

Sounds amazing, actually.

It's citrusy, but the white chocolate...

-And the rum.

-Absolutely. And some rum - coconut and rum.

I'm intrigued to know how this is all going to come together.

Who's doing what? Can someone put something on the plate while you're doing that?

With these peaches, just sort of put that one there.

-Expecting something really creative, aren't we?

-Here we are in the institution.

We would expect something that was built beautifully.

Are you happy with everything that's going on the plate, Craig?

Yeah, I'm happy.

Everything's set, everything's holding, so...happy as I can be.

Can someone else do the coconut cream?

Just little sort of quenelles

just, like, leaning up against the peaches like that.

Crystallised white chocolate, though. How? What does that mean?

Finishing touches now.

-Happy?

-Yeah.

-OK, let's go.

-Service, please.

-Cheers, mate.

-Well done, mate. It's brilliant.

-Nice one, man.

-Well done.

-Oh, wow!

-Oh!

Dessert is a passion fruit and lemon parfait,

served with a coconut, rum and lime cream,

crystallised white chocolate crumb...

..a coconut and sugar tuile...

..poached and compressed peaches...

..and a passion fruit sauce.

-Well, this is fantastic on presentation.

-Mm.

Of the three dishes we've seen, I think that's

stunning presentation. Looks precise.

Well thought-out. Well-engineered, actually.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Yes.

-It looks almost too well-presented to eat.

-Exactly.

-Superb.

-Oh, wow.

-Superb.

I think this parfait is delicious. Really nice and creamy.

And the crystallised chocolate goes really nice.

There's sort of a great crunch to it.

I like the chocolate,

but I'm less convinced on the texture of the chocolate.

And I think the cream -

you can really taste the lime in the cream, can't you?

-It just adds that extra level of taste, doesn't it?

-That's true.

The strongest part of it is the fruit parfait.

I would agree. That's really absolutely wonderful.

I was afraid to eat it, but I've given it a good go.

LAUGHTER

Some nice colours and some nice thoughts on the plate here.

I think the parfait has held well.

You can taste the lovely flavours of the passion and the lemon.

The parfait has got a lovely, smooth texture to it.

You can taste the passion fruit coming through.

The peaches are nicely compressed.

It's got a nice balance of sugar.

For the youngest chef in the kitchen

I thought he had a really nice touch and a nice control.

APPLAUSE

We've had the most delicious meal.

Couldn't be more appropriate in this wonderful institution of ours,

which is celebrating its 200th anniversary.

We loved every one of the three courses.

And the courses complemented each other very well.

-Thanks.

-Thank you all very much.

Wow. We had some very happy diners here today.

It was a good day in the kitchen. It wasn't a perfect day.

Just felt our chefs were just slightly holding back a little bit.

Massive opportunity, today was.

Not every day someone can say they've cooked here, in this building. It's amazing.

I thought it was, like, just a bit of an easy day.

Turns out it wasn't an easy day. It was very difficult.

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

and just cooking my own food.

The weird thing is,

I was looking forward to getting out of the MasterChef kitchen.

Now I'm looking forward to getting back into it, which is...

Yeah, it really is a strange competition, this.

When they go back into the MasterChef kitchen,

they're fighting for that place in the semifinal.

Their food is going to have to be faultless.

Back to flying solo, as such. Just looking forward to it.

I'm going to give it everything I've got.

Obviously, after working as a team, it's going to feel really strange,

but it's a competition, at the end of the day.

Game on.

Chefs, welcome back.

Wonderful to see you working as a team,

but now you've got to fight it out amongst you once again,

but this time for a place in our semifinals.

Want to see some new ideas,

maybe even see a dish that we've never tasted before.

We're looking for something special.

At the end of this, one of you will be going home,

but four of you will be semifinalists.

You have 90 minutes to deliver an absolute show-stopper.

Off you go.

We have seen some fabulous food from Matt.

Some great combinations, new ideas, inventive thinking.

I can't wait to see what he cooks today.

The dish I'm cooking today is completely left-field.

We'll see how it goes.

It could either be amazing or it could just...

That could be me done.

What's your show-stopper dish?

I'm doing a dessert, but it's a raw cacao delice.

Four separate layers.

Then I'm going to do a Jerusalem artichoke...

I invented it. It's like a rosti-type tuile.

It'll go round the outside.

And then I'm making a Jerusalem artichoke custard.

But I wanted this dish to be vegan, gluten-free,

-dairy-free and refined-sugar-free.

-But if this is a dessert,

why don't you just stick a load of sugar and cream in it like everybody else does?

In the culinary world there's alternatives for all this,

so I wanted to do a dish that you're not going to miss the sugar,

you're not going to miss the butter. But we'll have to wait and see.

And what are you substituting for sugar?

Maple syrup and then the sweetness

of the Jerusalem artichokes, as well, which...

They've got natural sugars inside.

-You may well be the future, IF it works.

-If it works.

There's all other sorts of layers going on with this,

with the artichoke and the chocolate and the maple syrup.

Fascinating combinations. I can't wait to try them.

Is he taking a risk? Yes, he is,

but that's not the first time Matt's taken a risk and it has paid off.

Craig is our youngest chef in the kitchen.

Quietly confident.

I know there is raw talent with this young man.

I want this chef to come into this kitchen today

and show us another level that we've not seen from him before.

I've got to execute everything to perfection.

Standards are going up and up and up with every round,

and if you don't keep up with that,

it's not good enough, at the end of the day.

Craig, welcome back. How are you feeling?

Yeah, a bit stressed at the moment.

I'm worrying a bit now that I've given myself too much to do,

but if I don't produce something wow,

-then it's game over, isn't it?

-What's your show-stopper dish?

I'm doing corn-fed chicken, braising down the leg,

topping that with a pine-nut crust.

The breast - water bath slow-cooking.

Then I've got a few variations of carrot -

poached and glazed carrot.

I'm going to roll that in some crispy chicken skin.

With all the pressure now building on you - you know, you are 21 -

do you think you can really sustain this pressure?

Hopefully. Fingers crossed, I can do it.

The leg meat - he's cooking it in a pressure cooker

and then pressing into a mould,

and then topping it with a pine-nut crust.

We've got carrots with a crispy chicken skin and tarragon powder.

Tarragon powder goes very, very well with chicken.

It's a lovely combination. It goes very well with carrots.

So, the tarragon is going to be the flavour we're looking for.

He's really driving hard today

and pushing himself to the limit, which is what we want.

Guys, 60 minutes left. One hour to go, please.

Leo has given us some good cooking throughout the competition,

but he really needs to step into the limelight,

and I hope he's got something special planned for his dish.

I've not had all the judges on my side all at the same time,

so, hopefully, today, this dish is the one where they all kind of go,

"Yeah, that's the dish we wanted to see."

-What's your dish, Leo?

-So, I'm doing turbot with potato scales,

artichokes and braised lettuce with a red-wine sauce.

-MONICA:

-Sounds very classic.

-It is very classic.

Are you bringing something to really lift this,

to bring it to 2017?

The way I'm presenting it, the way I'm doing it,

I'm going to lay the potatoes onto the turbot

-to make it look like the scales.

-Oh!

-So...

-When it's done properly, it looks beautiful.

-Yeah.

So, someone's took all the scales off the fish,

-and you're going to stick them all back on again?

-Back on again.

HE LAUGHS

Leo's dish is artichokes with braised lettuce, artichoke puree,

and on top of his turbot, he's got potato scales.

Quite a risky thing to do. It has to stick to the fish.

He's got to cook the potato with the fish.

You don't want your fish overcooked before your potatoes are ready,

and you don't want your potatoes overcooked before your fish is cooked.

I'm hoping that Leo's presentation is going to be something

that you and I have not seen before,

because taking a classic and elevating it can do wonders.

Guys, 40 minutes left, all right? 40 minutes.

Tom has been generally quite safe in the competition,

but his food has always had a little bit of surprise

that we didn't see coming.

Definitely feel a lot more comfortable now.

I'm still nervous cos, at the end of the day,

I want to do well and I want to go through.

I feel like I've not truly smashed it out of the park yet,

so it's something I'm looking to do today.

Right, Tom, what are you doing?

I'm cooking British rose veal with cauliflower,

yeast and salted blackcurrants.

Yeast? Why yeast?

I just like the flavour it brings to the cauliflower puree.

And then I've got some crispy yeast, as well. A seasoning, almost.

-I am cooking a sweetbread today, as well.

-Ooh.

He struggled with the sweetbread in the skills test, Gregg, remember?

Cor, does that not haunt you - sweetbread?

Yeah, it does haunt me, but I was so nervous, it's unreal.

I've prepped and cooked sweetbread a million times,

so it's something I'm comfortable doing,

and I want to show that I can do it.

Have you got to the stage where Marcus staring at you

doesn't bother you at all?

-I don't think you can ever get past that stage.

-Thanks.

Tom always has something that's a surprise factor in his cooking,

and for this dish, he's brought the yeast and blackcurrants to his veal.

The flavour of yeast brings a lovely, warm feeling to the dish,

and a malt flavour that will really complement the cauliflower.

The blackcurrants, now, that's quite sour,

and he's going to need to get the balance of the sourness

and the sweetness right with the blackcurrants.

Otherwise, it will kill this dish completely flat.

Guys, listen up! 20 minutes to go. Just 20.

We have seen Ryan cook some fantastic food,

but today is not the day to play it safe.

He's a good cook, and he's going to have to bring it into the kitchen today.

I'm hoping that they'll see a plate of food that's quite original.

I'm taking some risk with this.

I've never cooked fish in a water bath before,

so, yeah, I am gambling a little bit.

Tell us about your show-stopper dish, Ryan.

So, I'm doing some sea bass with a courgette, basil, Parmesan puree,

a cuttlefish Bolognese,

and then we're going to do a squid ink sauce and confit

some slow-roasted cherry tomatoes.

-So, you're using courgette to make scales for your sea bass?

-Yeah.

That's a visual thing, more than anything else, just to...

You know, it's a show-stopper. I want it to look as good as I can.

-And how are you then cooking it?

-In the water bath,

which is something I don't do. I don't cook fish in the water bath.

Ryan's sliced courgettes very finely and blanched them in water,

and he's layering them on top of the sea bass.

From that point on, this becomes a very, very difficult dish.

You've got to get it into the sous-vide bag, vacuum-pack it down,

put it into the water bath, cook it,

and just hope that all those scales stay in the perfect position.

Quite a lot of work to do and a very risky thing to do for Ryan.

This is just the hard part now

cos I just have to cut it out.

Guys, four minutes, please. Come on.

HE WHISTLES

Two minutes.

Leo, get it on a plate, please. You've got nothing on a plate.

That's it! Stop!

-Oh, sexy, Ryan.

-Yeah, I've just gone for it.

-Whoa!

-Looks tidy, that, doesn't it?

Fighting for the vegans!

For his place in the semifinals,

Craig is serving pan-roasted chicken breast

and braised thigh with a pine-nut crust,

pickled carrots with tarragon powder...

..a glazed carrot coated in crispy chicken skin,

and a carrot puree,

with braised romaine lettuce and a pine-nut puree,

finished with a chicken reduction.

The chicken is beautifully cooked. I love the thigh.

I like the fact that you've sort of left it whole.

The pine-nut puree worked very well, and complements the carrot puree.

And you've actually brought tarragon into the dish in different layers,

and in different ways, and I really like that. It shows skill,

it shows intelligence, and it shows very good cookery.

I think this is an excellent dish, Craig.

In fact, I think this is probably one of your best dishes so far.

What I particularly love

is when I get little surprises.

So, a great big carrot

that tastes almost crispy and meaty with chicken skin,

and a little green ball of carrot that tastes of aniseed,

and then goes sharp with pickling!

These are the little surprises that delight me.

I think that's very clever.

When you eat your plate of food, it is just delicious.

You understand the flavours that are meant

to accompany each other on this plate,

and that's why I say it's just delicious.

For Marcus to say it's one of my best, it was like, "Wow!"

I wasn't expecting that.

But if he liked it and he thought it was tasty, then...wow!

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Well done, mate. You smashed it. Well done.

-Thank you.

I'm happier now. Blimey!

Leo's show-stopper is pan-fried turbot

with crispy potato scales,

garnished with baby artichokes,

artichoke puree and braised gem lettuce,

all served with a red wine sauce.

Your fish is nicely cooked. Your sauce is rich.

It's got a lovely shine to it.

The garnish, for me, on this dish, is a little bit flat.

I don't find it exciting at all.

The dish, for me - the fish is cooked wonderfully.

The potato looks lovely when it's done perfectly,

like you have done here.

But because it's something we are very familiar with,

there's got to be a bit of personality

that's got to come onto this dish with it,

and I guess that's what's missing.

The fish is soft. The potatoes are seasoned.

The sauce itself has got depth and it's also got a little sweetness.

However, here's the issue.

Is it a show-stopper dish?

I'm not sure it is.

Disappointed in myself. I was happy with what I produced.

I wish there was something there just to kind of spark it up a bit.

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, man.

Just...there wasn't a wow factor.

-Just one of them...

-If you've not made any mistakes,

and one of us makes a mistake, it could be enough.

-It's tough, that, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

-Yeah.

Tough, tough, tough.

Ryan's dish is sous-vide sea bass with courgette scales...

..served with a cuttlefish Bolognese,

a courgette puree and semi-dried tomatoes...

..topped with a squid ink tuile and a Parmesan crisp,

finished with a squid ink sauce.

-GREGG:

-Uh-oh.

The puree with the basil - really like that.

I like the flavours of the Bolognese.

My disappointment is the fish is raw under the courgette,

and that makes the dish inedible.

Such a fantastic-looking dish.

Such wonderful flavours. It just conjures up southern Italy.

You've got a bit of Parmesan, salty tang there.

I love that cuttlefish ragu.

All of those things are absolutely lovely,

but no use at all if you can't eat the fish because it's not cooked.

I'd have to send it back with my apologies.

When it came back out the second time,

I'd probably forgive and forget.

90 minutes to serve raw fish?

-Really, Ryan?

-No. No, it's not good enough.

The dish had a great potential.

The presentation was great, the idea is interesting,

but what you haven't taken into consideration is,

when you put the courgette on the fish itself,

you haven't adjusted your timing when it's cooked in the water bath,

and it's such a shame.

I really... I can't believe I've done that.

I didn't go in expecting...

To get that feedback was really...

Yeah, it really knocked me, so...

But you've just got to deal with it and move on.

HE EXHALES

I can't believe that. Can't believe it.

I can't believe that. It's a stupid mistake.

Tom has made a fillet of British rose veal

with a sweetbread topped with crispy yeast...

..cauliflower three ways -

roasted, pickled, and a puree with yeast -

pickled and salted blackcurrants,

choy sum and parsley oil...

..served with a Madeira sauce.

I like the veal. The veal was soft. I like the sweetbread.

I like the fact that you've got a slight bit of bitterness in there

from the burnt cauliflower.

I don't particularly like the look of your plate.

I think it needs to be a lot smarter than this.

-MONICA:

-I'm not a fan of how your plate looks,

but I am definitely a fan of what I'm tasting on here.

I think the veal is cooked wonderfully.

That cauliflower puree is fab.

The sauce with the sweetness of the Madeira coming through

just brings it together.

I think the cookery is excellent.

The sweetbread is nicely cooked, thank goodness.

The rose veal is a delight,

and the sauce really works well with it.

But I love that freshness of the blackcurrant

running through your palate.

Yeah, it's good.

It was a well-put-together dish.

It just wasn't well-put-together on the plate,

which is disappointing. It's definitely something to...

I need to improve on if I'm to go further.

-Nice one, mate.

-Cheers.

Well done, mate.

Finally, it's Matt,

with his vegan take on a chocolate dessert -

layers of raw cacao delice,

maple-syrup-salted caramel with a date and pecan nut base

encased in Jerusalem artichoke rosti tuile...

..served with pickled artichokes...

..and a roasted Jerusalem artichoke custard.

I... I just...

I don't know what's going on inside your head,

but I find it fascinating.

I can't wait, actually.

I get, from this, chocolate, caramel, nuts -

all the things I love in a dessert.

I'm really amazed that you can take almond milk

and a Jerusalem artichoke and turn it into this.

I think this is brilliant.

Wow! I don't recall having a dessert like it before.

It makes me think outside of the box,

and understanding how you've made this.

The caramel in the middle

has got the sweetness you expect from a caramel.

The chocolate is quite dense,

but it's counteracted by the sweetness of the layers underneath.

That's impressive.

I like the way you've made it, I love the cleverness of it,

but I find it very, very heavy.

I don't think I could eat all of it.

And the only place I get any artichoke flavour

is in this little custard.

I like your ideas, but I'm not a big fan of this dish.

To get that feedback from Marcus at this stage of the competition -

a little disappointing.

He's not converted, but then he's more in his classic, two-star ways.

I think we had a couple of show-stoppers.

For the right reasons, and some for the wrong reasons.

Craig, I think, is a little superstar.

I absolutely loved that young man's chicken.

-MONICA:

-I'm always impressed when he serves up a plate of food

and how much understanding he has about flavours,

and he has some great skills.

Craig's dish was the dish of the day for me.

I thought he did a great job, cooked well, mature in his thinking,

and it all came together with that fabulous sauce.

After that, we've got four chefs that we all found an issue with.

Yeah.

I find Matt fascinating. I really like his ideas.

I thought his dish tasted fantastic.

I got nuts, I got caramel, I got chocolate from it.

-The understanding...

-Yeah.

..to take all that and recreate a dessert -

I can't help but be bowled over. I thought it was delicious.

This is a chef that creates food that's healthy and vibrant

and full of energy.

I felt today's dish was just too dense for me.

-GREGG:

-Tom plated up, I think, a really good-flavoured

rose veal dish.

Tom's dish was a show-stopper on the palate.

Everything on that plate was delicious.

Presentation? No! Tom, what were you thinking?!

-GREGG:

-Leo - you know, I couldn't find fault with his dish.

I really couldn't. The fish with the scales of potato.

-The red wine sauce.

-Mm.

-But I wasn't inspired by it.

There was nothing that turned that dish from a good dish

-into a great dish.

-This is the show-stopper round.

We want food that's going to show off and really energise us.

Ryan... I know it's difficult to defend raw fish,

but I think he's a quality chef.

It was a great idea,

and I loved the skill factor running through this dish

with the courgettes. If Ryan's fish was cooked properly,

we would not be having the discussion with him right now

because I think he would probably sail through.

I find he was my biggest disappointment

because of the way that fish was cooked.

Not very confident at all. I'm feeling a bit 50-50.

Literally, you just don't know what they're thinking.

You don't know what they're thinking.

Yeah, I'm disappointed with myself, you know.

I am disappointed with myself.

I felt I had a lot more to offer the competition,

so to be in this situation now is...disappointing.

It's so close to the semifinals now.

It's incredibly stressful, and the time just vanishes,

but it's so much fun.

So, I just want to keep going. Yeah.

Want to be a semifinalist more than anything else, really, at the minute.

This is all I've done for the last...God knows how long,

and I don't want it to end now.

Four of you are going to be semifinalists.

One of you, unfortunately, is leaving us.

The chef leaving the competition...

..Ryan.

Thank you, Chef.

Overall, it has been enjoyable.

It's just disappointing to go out

when you feel that you've still got a lot to go,

especially on a daft mistake.

That's the most difficult thing.

Words... I'm speechless. Absolutely speechless.

It's a great feeling.

Semifinals - massive!

I know my food's always going to divide opinion.

I'm slightly relieved, in that respect,

but ecstatic to make it through.

Being a semifinalist is beyond

what I ever expected from this competition.

It ranks definitely up there with the best of...

Especially career-wise.

I'm immensely proud.

I've really, like... It's almost a dream, you know.

I wanted to be in the semifinal and I've done it,

so it just got real, almost, you know?

-Chefs!

-Thank you.

-Leo.

-Thank you.

-There we go.

-Come on, guys! Semifinalists!

-Great cooking!

-I've got to do it all again now!

Next week, it's the semifinals.

The remaining eight chefs cook off against one another

for the chance to work with

some of the most inspirational chefs in the country.

I think this is a really crackingly clever dish.

I can sum this up in one word...

..and that's "outstanding".