Episode 18 MasterChef: The Professionals

It's the professional MasterChef semifinals.

This week, the contestants have been split into two groups

and sent to cook under some of Britain's finest chefs.

I need you to pick up the pace,

I need you to find a second gear, third gear. Fourth gear

would be great.

I want it perfect.

Last night, Steven and Jamie earned a position in Finals Week.

Now, the last three chefs battle to secure

their place in the competition.

22-year-old Louisa, based in Birmingham.

Gloucestershire-based 29-year-old Tom.

And 21-year-old Craig, from Maidenhead.

There's no margin for error.

If I slip up, it's game over, I'm going home.

This part of the competition is intense.

Getting to the final, it would mean the world.

It's going to be tough to beat them,

but someone has to go and I want to make sure it's not me.

They are in touching distance of the finals.

We are that much closer to discovering our next champion.

It's early morning.

Craig, Tom, and Louisa are in Oxfordshire.

For the next two days,

they'll be working at one of the most celebrated

culinary institutions in the world.

Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons...

Wow, two-star.

Absolutely incredible.

..founded by the legendary Raymond Blanc,

one of the godfathers of modern British cookery.

When it churns, you know it's got the right level of olive oil.

Lovely.

The foundation of our success,

is the ability to create

a multifaceted ensemble of total excellence,

which is based on warm fuzzies rather than cold pricklies!

It's retained two Michelin stars for over three decades.

Not too much, you can always add.

-But you cannot take away.

-Oui, Chef.

Raymond and his team have created one of the greatest kitchen gardens

in the country.

The garden is the heart of Le Manoir.

It is from this garden that my gastronomy is born.

That means seasonality, freshly cooked, cooked with love,

great craft attached to it.

You give that to your guests, and believe me, you know it is special.

Three, four, five, go.

Teaching and nurturing young chefs is at the core of the ethos.

Raymond has trained an astounding 38 Michelin-starred chefs.

That is greatest the satisfaction.

That's for you, voila.

And, of course, Gary is one of them.

Gary is my protege.

And I'm so proud of him.

Gary Jones is one of Britain's most revered chefs.

And, today, will be guiding the three semifinalists.

Keep loading. Good.

Gary started off as a modest pot washer in Merseyside

before working his way up to sous chef,

aged just 21, at Le Manoir.

Then, he left for a spell as Richard Branson's executive chef

on Necker Island in the Caribbean.

Back in Britain, Gary won his first Michelin star at Homewood Park

in Bath, and his second at Cliveden House in Berkshire,

before being lured back to Le Manoir...

-Voila, tres bien.

-..where he has been executive chef

for the last 22 years.

Oh Gary, oh, oh...

Raymond, he's just a force of nature himself.

He's just absolutely phenomenal.

He wants to give more of himself and his knowledge.

That's what it's about. It's passing on your skills that you've learned

over the years to the youngsters around.

We take young, raw talent and mature them into

the next head chefs of the future.

Being able to work with a chef like Gary, it is a great opportunity.

He's got such wealth of experience.

Really want to try and grab it with both hands, really.

Walking into a kitchen with such high standards, it's quite scary.

So I don't want to mess things up.

We're at Le Manoir, you know, we're at Le Manoir, it's a two-star.

It's shocking. But, wow, it's an amazing opportunity.

Hi there, guys. Welcome to the Manoir.

A lot of talented chefs have walked down that path.

It would be nice to see if we can inspire you for the next level of

this competition. OK, so let's get cracking.

To test they can rise to the standards expected

in Gary's kitchen,

they have been charted with making his signature dish.

Spiced Cornish lobster roasted with curry oil, ginger,

and cardamom in a red pepper jus,

served with Jersey Royal potatoes,

curried yoghurt and caviar.

So, every single scrap of flavour from this guy we're going to try and

capture and get back into the plate, that's the important thing.

First, the lobster head and shell is used to create a lobster and

red pepper jus.

The smaller it is, the quicker the extraction, the bolder the flavour.

I was lucky enough to spend some great time in the Caribbean.

And when I smelled lobster on the barbecue,

it was absolutely fabulous.

Thought, that's great. How can we recreate that

by bringing the Caribbean to an English country garden

in a French house?

That's what we've done.

A curry oil of spices, lime leaves, and lemon grass is added.

Could you smell that?

All of those flavours coming through.

This is what I smelled on that barbecue years ago.

And it is that lovely aromatic smell

and I thought, "Wow, that intrigues me."

The lobster pieces are added to a red pepper sauce

to reduce right down.

Next, the preparation of the meat needs to be meticulous.

We take a couple of bamboo skewers right down the centre of the tail to

keep it straight. Just twist that off...

..break here...

So, there's our claw.

The meat is marinated in curry oil, ginger puree, and cardamom.

We just work that into the flesh.

The heaviest part of the tail

goes towards the hottest part of the plancha, OK?

I only want to take this to 55 degrees.

After that, it becomes rubber.

The key to cooking lobster is not overcooking lobster.

And this is really, really critically important.

Then our claws. That's why all my guys know, if it's above 56 degrees,

it's a go again.

The red pepper has reduced right down after 25 minutes.

We're going to extract all of the lobster pieces.

And we're going to be left with a very, very fine liquid.

That is the pure juice.

But we're going to end up with one spoonful.

For the whole lobster. One spoonful of amazing flavour.

The amount of effort and work that has gone into one single element,

is just mind-blowing.

So, do you see how we kept the nature of the thing there?

And then we just paint it with our lovely pepper jus.

So our beautiful Jersey Royals, claws we can put down.

All of these are from the garden, so we go into the garden to see what is

good right now. What has nature provided?

-And that's it.

-That looks incredible.

The flavour profile is just incredible, so aromatic.

What I'm going to give you now is your own Cornish lobster and I'd

like you to go into the garden and see what inspires you.

Find three, four, five elements that you would like to put on your dish.

The restaurant's two-acre organic gardens have over 520 varieties of

vegetables, herbs, fruits, and edible flowers to choose from.

Where do you start?

Ooh la la!

So impressive, it's like a kid in a sweet shop.

There are so many things to choose from.

Quite overwhelming almost.

Yeah, there's just so much variety.

We really are spoilt for choice.

Just broad beans, they're about ten different types of raw beans.

It's, like, incredible.

It's amazing. It's like Narnia.

Narnia's gardens.

Trying not to choose too much and making sure I pick flavours that

go together.

I want to see what they're made of.

What's in season, what's fresh that they can bring to this plate?

We've got a thousand flavours in the garden.

If you don't keep it simple, and they don't marry together,

it could be a train crash or collision.

There's many, many ways you can mess a lobster up. Really is.

I'm expecting lobster cooked beautifully.

Nice and tender.

If they can do that, then I'll be a happy guy.

Louisa has a year's experience

working as a senior chef de partie at a one-Michelin star restaurant.

First, I'm going to prepare the lobster.

I'm worried about getting the cooking perfect.

I've got a lot of inspiration from what he's done.

Quite nervous about taking it out.

So, we'll see what he thinks.

Louisa's interpretation of Gary's dish is lobster in a paprika oil,

lobster reduction, vanilla confit potatoes,

with radish, bean, shallot and fennel salad,

lemon verbena and lime juice.

It looks elegant.

Make sure you're using that probe,

because it's slightly under on your lobster there.

The other pieces of lobster are cooked really quite nice.

I think it's the claw, it's just slightly under there so be careful there.

-Yep.

-Your potato needs more substance.

It's almost like a translucence of potato that's slightly undercooked.

-Yeah.

-Lobster, vanilla, it works beautifully.

But in this case with a potato where you've got a very frustratingly

small piece of potato that's undercooked, it doesn't quite fit.

It's how life goes. You make mistakes and you've got to build a bridge and

get over it. And then don't make the same mistake twice, you know?

Sous chef Craig, works at a one-Michelin star gastro pub.

To cook for Gary, obviously in his own kitchen,

wow, that's a challenge.

It's daunting.

Just trying to make it look as natural as possible.

Don't overthink it. Just let the ingredients do the talking, really.

Craig's twist on Gary's dish

is seared lobster served with new potatoes,

cucumbers, dill pollen and nasturtium

in a parsley dill oil and lemon dressing,

with a citrus salad cream.

It's summery, it's looking fresh.

Beautifully cooked lobster. Really tender.

Flavoursome, and the little bit of dressing just lifts it a tiny bit as

well, which is nice.

The salad cream, for me, a tiny bit sweet.

Be careful, because the lobster meat is already sweet.

Just watch the sugar on that and I think you've got something beautiful

and clean and captures the season, captures the garden,

and that was exactly the task.

To hear a feedback like that from obviously a chef of Gary's calibre,

it's amazing.

It's absolutely mind-blowing.

Junior sous chef Tom has been a chef for 12 years.

And it's his first time in a Michelin-star kitchen.

I'm hoping I've captured some of Gary's philosophy in this dish.

I've kept it quite light and quite simple.

I feel quite nervous about it.

It's not every day that a chef of that calibre

gets to taste your food.

Tom is serving lobster glazed with lobster reduction,

with radish, cucumber, peas, broad beans, turnip, marjoram, dill,

lemon verbena, sorrel and nasturtium,

in a chervil and lemon verbena oil.

You've come up with something that looks very pleasant.

Nice and clean and tidy and neat, very natural.

So, looking forward to taste it.

The lobster I'm feeling is a little bit firm.

I think it might have gone up a degree or two far.

There's a lot of flavours here.

There must be 15, 16 different things.

You could take away four or five flavours there

-and you'd end up with a better dish.

-OK.

Pare it down.

You need less ingredients to have more impact.

It's just so easy to just start adding more things.

It is, it is.

But that's the discipline of a chef, to know when to stop.

It's not normally how I cook.

I've never put a flower on a plate before, and I've done it today.

I've just confused myself, really, and confused the dish.

When you start adding stuff,

you kind of get yourself in a bit of a rut.

And that's kind of what I've done.

The first test is over.

Tomorrow, the three semifinalists based the biggest challenge yet.

Joining Gary's elite brigade for service.

It's day two. At Le Manoir, 80 diners are expected for lunch.

And the semifinalists will each be responsible for a dish on

the five-course tasting menu.

What's happened so far isn't anything.

It's how they react under pressure.

When 12 o'clock rolls around, that's when the pressure starts.

Craig will be in charge of an intricate pasta course.

Ricotta and honey agnolotti ravioli,

served with confit of globe artichokes,

marinated cherry tomatoes, and broad beans,

topped with tomato essence.

We're taking the best tomatoes we can find on the planet,

we marinade it overnight with shallots, garlic, fennel, and basil.

In the morning, we hang it,

so what we're trying to get is this beautiful pure essence

of tomato from it.

Where this started was, when Raymond was a child,

his mum would make tomato salad.

He's just come in from school, and he's run in with his brother

to beat his brother home, so he can lift that and do this with the tray.

That childhood memory is where that recipe starts from.

And it's now used all over the world.

We've got 80 portions of this to knock out for lunch.

Craig will have to master 240 delicate agnolotti of saffron pasta

filled with goat's cheese, ricotta, and honey.

This can dry out really, really fast so you've got to move fast.

Pinch them down, OK?

You need to leave that much of a gap.

They have to be the same because it's a uniform dish.

They've got to be to the size.

Looking for that precision.

So you're going to pinch it together.

You've got to make sure there's a good seal.

So, as soon as these are dropped,

you've got three minutes to bring the rest of the plate together, OK?

So we've got to be fast. We're going to need

a little bit of broad bean here.

Half a spoon of this emulsion.

And it's just to warm up. We don't want to kill this.

This is one minute now to finish this plate, OK?

Broad beans and artichokes to the pass.

We're going to take the tomatoes from here.

TIMER BEEPS

-Drain your pasta.

-Every dish from Gary's kitchen has to be cooked

absolutely accurately, with pinpoint timing.

When they come out, straightaway, stand them up.

That's your presentation, OK?

We've got here some beautiful Parmesan.

A bit of olive dust.

And then our broad beans go right in the middle

there, OK? But can you see how we've kept everything tight in the middle?

We've warmed our tomato essence.

We've taken that to 60 degrees.

That is going to be served in the restaurant.

Yeah, as far as pasta dishes go,

probably the best one I've had.

-It's really nice.

-Big trust in this,

there's a lot of history behind the dish,

so let's make sure we honour it well and do this proud.

OK, it's a hot dish, so I can't let anything go out cold.

As soon as the agnolotti is dropped,

I've got three minutes to pretty much

get everything else on the plate.

So, yeah, timing's... Timing's critical.

Tom has complete responsibility for the restaurant's classic starter -

confit of Scottish salmon in lemon and dill oil,

dressed with horseradish creme fraiche,

seasoned cucumber ribbons and horseradish-infused cauliflower,

garnished with caviar.

We're starting with the wild salmon.

We're going to portion this into 55-gram pieces.

So use your scale.

There you go, exactly 55g.

No pressure.

½The salmon needs to be smoked for 20 minutes...

In you go.

..then dropped into a warm bath of lemon and dill oil for a further

-25 minutes.

-So what you're going to be doing in service,

you're going to make sure we don't run out of salmon.

There's 80 covers coming. Each bath will take about 15 salmon.

So we've got to keep those rotating.

Important that you keep ahead.

This will be the board that you're going to be seeing.

You'll be able to see exactly how many portions that you'll need.

While the salmon cooks, Tom will need to plate up

19 different elements.

The plating has to be absolutely on-point.

Very, very precise.

OK, just crisscross that over.

You don't want it to look messy.

Make sure you check the leaves

because if they're damaged or bruised,

I don't want to see them, OK?

-Yeah.

-They have to be absolutely perfect.

He's going to need a steady, calm approach to putting this down.

Tom, who overcooked the lobster in his Signature Dish earlier,

will need to get all the elements

plated before the salmon has reached the right temperature.

Important that we know we're hitting at 42 here.

The core cooking of the fish, it's easy to mess up there,

so it must be 42 degrees.

Exact. That's where you want to be.

Beyond that, it starts to go cloudy and powdery.

It's also flashed very, very briefly under the pass lights.

If it's there for more than 30 seconds, it's not acceptable.

We want glistening, beautiful, clean flavour.

And then just to finish the dish,

our little borage flower from the garden.

And that's it.

-Yep.

-This is one of Raymond's classics, OK?

So, Le Manoir started with this dish.

So today, the pressure is on to make sure you're keeping

that Manoir legacy alive.

The expectations are going to be colossal, really, to make sure I get

it right. This is my first Michelin-star service

so, yeah, it's pretty... pretty incredible, really.

The trickiest part is making sure the fish is

correct, so I'm going to do everything I can to get it right.

Louisa has been busy picking 200 courgette flowers for her main dish.

I think we have emptied the courgette house.

She'll be accountable for a dish of Norfolk quail,

marinated in a coriander, cinnamon and turmeric oil,

deep-fried courgette flower stuffed with spinach and Parmesan

on a bed of seeds, grains and peas, with a pea-and-mint juice.

This is a tricky one. Highly skilled,

there's a thousand ways this one can go wrong.

It's going to need this contestant to be totally,

totally focused on the objective of getting a great plate of food out.

First, the marinated quail is smoked.

We're just going to put them very briefly onto our smoker for about a

minute or so. Again, we're getting that lovely barbecuey flavour.

That's exactly where we want to be.

So you get your butter nice and foaming.

A crucial part of the dish,

you've just got to make sure that you've got a nice colour all over.

Really essential.

Straight into the oven, OK?

So it's 58, before we allow that to go.

Got to be consistently good, every single one.

While the quail heats, the courgette flower needs accurate preparation.

So those beautiful courgette flowers you picked this morning,

we've made our spinach mix, with Parmesan.

We're going to pop that inside.

Then we're going into our batter mixture here.

OK, it's important that this is very lightly coated.

Give it a wiggle. And then straight into the fryer.

If you take a look at that...

..there's a very light, beautiful golden-brown coating.

-Just touch it.

-Yeah.

Crispy.

We probe the quail.

What number are we looking for?

-Er, 58 degrees.

-58 degrees.

So we've got 58. And we're looking for one really neat cut,

from start to finish.

It's really important that you get this glaze around

the quail, OK? So it's shiny, it's clean.

That's where we need to be. And then it's the dish assembly.

You go right down the centre there.

-Simple as that.

-Simple as that?

That's all you have to do.

-That's really, really lovely.

-This dish is going to be yours today.

-Yep.

-80 covers, OK?

Very precise cooking technique,

so it's going to be a really big challenge.

This will be the first time doing 80 covers,

let alone 80 covers at two-Michelin star.

The morning prep is over.

The first guests are arriving.

The quality that has to go out, the quality our guests expect - today,

they're responsible for that.

People come from all over the world to eat here.

The 80 diners expect a meticulous service.

You come to Le Manoir, it's a busy restaurant.

The pace of it is relentless.

Not having so much Michelin experience, it's a big challenge,

and it's something I'm just really excited for.

Nervous as well, though, I won't lie.

I'm a little bit nervous, going in there with the unknown.

A new team, it's going to be quite hard.

It's going to be a high-pressure kitchen.

There's going to be no margin for error.

Nothing's getting past me if it ain't right,

so let's see how they do.

Action time, OK?

The first check is in my hand.

Is everybody clear about what they're going to do?

-Yep.

-It'll be fast, but we want the detail.

If it's the essence, what temperature is it?

-60.

-If it's the quail, what temperature is it?

-58.

-58. If it's the salmon, what temperature is it?

-42.

-42. And nothing is going out unless it's those temperatures.

So, let's see what you can do under pressure.

Let's go.

This is definitely the biggest service I've ever done so, yeah.

I think I've got my head around it, I feel quietly confident in it,

so we'll just see how we get on.

So, Tom, that's it, your dish is going to be first.

Tom has four plates of Raymond's signature salmon dish

to cook and plate in just 13 minutes.

No hesitation, just know where you're going, put it down once.

Every minute detail of the 19 separate elements

must pass Gary's scrutiny.

Keep it tidy. That mooli's overlapping your cucumber there.

That's not how we did it, OK?

Keep it tidy. You need about 15% more mooli on there.

With 80 covers, Gary can't let the service run behind.

So, the leaves aren't perfect.

They don't go down, OK? That's bruised.

-Yes, Chef.

-OK, let's lose that.

-Yep.

Everything's got to be precise.

There's a lot of elements on the plate.

So it's going to be tough.

We've also got little impurities on our plate here.

Little dropsy marks there.

Now, we've got five minutes to complete four.

-Yes, Chef.

-The cream should be on the plate, let's go.

Get your dill on there, get your oil on there, drain the salmon and go.

Be careful with your salmon, though.

Don't break it, don't drop it. They're very delicate.

OK, are you happy? Have you probed it?

I've not probed it. I'm probing it now, Chef.

OK, let's take a look.

The salmon's absolutely perfect.

Caviar on, and with speed, to the plate.

We're a minute late, Tom. Hand under, no drips on the plate.

Table three, please. Thank you.

Mmm!

In 15 minutes, I need five more plates from you, please.

Time's just flying by now, so it's just important

to get everything done.

You don't realise the speed that the covers come,

and you've got to be on top of it, you've got to be ready.

With Tom's salmon away late, the spotlight is now on Craig.

Hopefully, it's nice and paced.

It's not like - bam, bam, bam.

So, four minutes, Craig, on your first agnolotti.

-Great.

-Agnolotti's getting dropped in one minute, yeah?

Let's dress the plate, then, let's go.

While his agnolotti cook,

Craig has only three minutes to dress four complex plates.

Just make sure your tomato, before it goes down, is perfect, OK?

Any shabby ones, where the seeds are displaced, we don't want to see, OK?

A few impurities on your spinach you're bringing up here.

Take a look at it, can you see it?

The brown bits. I don't want any of that.

TIMER BEEPS

You're one minute behind there, Craig, let's go.

You are officially late.

Chef.

Craig, come on, we need the herbs down here.

We need chervil, we need cornflowers.

They're starting to dry now because of the pace we're working at.

Come on, let's get these things down, let's finish it!

OK, these guests are waiting. Table three, straight out, please.

OK, Craig, how many minutes late are you there?

-Four.

-OK, the first check is four minutes late.

Not good enough. Find your second gear. What's next? Tell me what's coming next.

-I've got, er, two up next.

-Let's see some movement, then, please.

Yeah, it's a fast pace for a lot of stuff to go on the plates and my

timing's just way off, so I've got to sort of try and improve on that.

Across the kitchen - on the meat section -

Louisa has her first order for three quail.

20 minutes from now, the first quail.

So I'm just trying to get a nice bit of colour on the skin.

Important to get the timing right.

I've got to get the courgettes cooked perfectly,

but also got to keep an eye on the quail.

Louisa, who undercooked her signature lobster dish,

now must hit 58 degrees exactly with the quail.

Right, at 53, so we just need a little bit of a flash in the oven.

While the quail gets up to temperature,

Louisa has just two minutes to plate up intricately at the pass...

Pretty tough. Got to be quick.

You know, it's hot, but you've got to get on with it and do your best.

..overseen by Gary's head chef, Dorian.

OK, let's start to get the quail down.

-Legs down first, come on, let's go.

-Chef.

Hold your hand underneath the legs

-when you're putting them on the plate, please.

-Yes, Chef.

The quail's cooked lovely, I'm happy with the temperature,

so it's all going well.

Chef.

Service.

I would like you to get straight into two more quail after this.

Following that, we're going to go into five more quail.

-Two quail, followed by five quail.

-OK?

-Chef.

-Service hits its second hour.

In the restaurant, all the diners have arrived.

We're just about to reach the peak of service,

so you'll see the acceleration now.

We'll see that movement that they need to have, OK, to get through?

So, Tom, we're late. I need you to pick up the pace...

-Yes, Chef.

-I need you to find a second gear.

Third gear, fourth year would be great.

Five plates, down now, leaving in how long?

-12 minutes, Chef.

-12 minutes is wrong, you've got five minutes.

-Five minutes?

-Five minutes, five plates.

Oh, yeah, sorry, I read the wrong bit.

Can I have one of them?

There's calm times and there's pressure times.

It's acceleration.

You've got to be able to... Va-va-voom.

You've got to be able to move, find fourth gear and get into fifth when

it's required.

Right now, four minutes, five plates.

Unless he gets into fourth gear, that's not going to happen.

Let's see some movement, Tom.

This is it, pressure. Let me see your fifth gear, please.

Speed, speed's the thing.

There's a lot to do.

Service is really fast.

OK, this isn't draining. Look at this.

Is this a draining tray? No.

Drain the cucumber, please.

Look at the mess we're working in, look at the mess.

If it's a mess on the draining tray,

it's going to be leaking all over the plate.

-Yes, Chef.

-OK? Keep it tidy.

Eyes on, please, Chef.

Smear on the plate. Can you see it?

-Yeah.

-Don't be saying "eyes on" if you haven't looked, OK?

OK, you've got caviar down the side here.

It's not in one pile, see it?

-Yes, Chef.

-OK, let's keep it clean.

Yes, Chef.

Chef doesn't miss a trick.

But then again, if you want to be at this level for as long as they have

here, then that's what has to be.

And there's no respite for Craig.

You have to move now.

You have to move. The pace will not stop till 3.30.

Let's go.

Biggest challenge is literally just the timings, getting everything hot,

everything precise. Obviously, you don't want dry pasta, you don't want cold garnish.

So it's just the timings are crucial.

Make sure your broad beans are central.

Keep them central, yes?

-Craig, can you hear me there?

-Chef, yes.

You can, OK. You're with us?

OK, let's see the greens for seven.

Craig, I don't know if you're there, can you hear me?

Craig. Earth to Craig.

-Greens for seven.

-Yes, Chef.

OK, we've got smears on the plate here.

You've got to answer me, Craig, so I know you're with us.

OK.

Craig, you're settling into this now, but when I'm calling something,

-you need to respond.

-Yeah.

-I can't hear much of you, OK?

-Yeah. Yes, Chef.

-Make sure you're responding.

Teapot down, then, let's go.

He got a little bit behind with a few checks, but he's caught up well,

and so it's really good. Really good to see.

It's getting very intense and hot in here.

Louisa has just minutes to expertly carve seven orders of quail.

-Perfect.

-All the meat's come off with one or two strokes.

Nice and neat, tidy cut.

Keeping it really natural.

There's no meat on the crown.

That's absolutely stunning, OK?

Yes, Chef.

It's really important to keep layering up the flavours.

That's the whole point in the dish.

Chef, could you just taste this, please?

-Yes.

-Thank you.

Same again, spot-on.

Lovely.

Service.

Louisa, keep on going like that.

-We're going the two, then the five, yes?

-Two by five, yep.

The chefs have been in service for over three hours...

Oil down, salmon down.

Wrap it. Let's go. Our guests are waiting for you.

And Tom is almost over the finish line.

We've got a little problem here.

Have a look at the corner here. See where it's starting to go grey?

That's above 42, I can assure you.

Knackered. 52 degrees on one fish.

Not good, OK? Where's the probe gone?

When the pressure's on and that acceleration starts,

you don't forget your standard.

You keep your standard, that's the trick.

Craig's agnolotti pasta is still proving popular...

OK, Craig, big moment, this.

This is a six, come on.

Let's go, let's finish it.

..and he can't afford to lose focus.

How long for the agnos, Craig?

Er, they're coming out now.

The agnolotti are tidy.

They're cooked well.

So far, doing brilliantly well.

Let's keep that standard, please.

Keep it up.

Do you answer in your kitchen when you're working?

-Yeah. Yes, Chef.

-You do answer your chef, yeah?

-Sorry, Chef.

-Have I upset you, have I?

-No, Chef.

OK, let's hear from you, I need to know you're there.

Teapots, Craig, please.

You're calm, you're cool, you're considered,

-but you've got to vocalise as well.

-Chef.

I suppose I'm quite quiet at times,

so it doesn't help in a noisy environment.

I've got to find my voice a bit, I guess.

Three minutes to finish. Four quail. One no gluten, please.

Chef.

Louisa is on her last order.

Louisa, she's enjoying every moment of this.

I think she's sucking it all up like a big sponge.

Looking good!

So this is the best we've had it all service, Louisa.

-Yes, Chef.

-Keep those plates going.

Absolutely stunning.

Can I get the, er, courgette flowers?

-Two, please.

-Yep.

-She's listening to every word you're saying...

..she's taking it all in, and she's smiling.

I'm... I'm loving it. If you don't challenge yourself,

then you don't get very far in life.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Really good service.

You've been an absolute star today.

Thank you. Thanks, everyone.

After three-and-a-half hours and 80 covers served,

service has come to a close.

Well done. Well done.

They've done a great job. Really, really great job.

The aim is to be better tomorrow than you are today,

and if we've helped along the way,

then I'm very, very pleased with that. I'm very happy with that.

When Craig is getting a clear command,

I need to know he's in the room.

I need to hear from him. But at 21 years old,

he's an impressive young man.

An impressive young man. Absolutely.

Yeah, my first two-star service.

It wasn't perfect but, erm, I've enjoyed it.

Hopefully, it's not the last.

Tom - when it's service time, you find that extra zip and you move.

He needs to find that and move forward with that.

79 covers, that's double what I normally do at my place of work,

and at a much higher standard and a lot more intense.

It was hard, don't get me wrong, really hard.

But, yeah, thoroughly enjoyable in the end.

Louisa - to bring all that together for 80 covers is a huge undertaking,

OK? She's done well.

She's very brave and she's got great prospects for the future,

-I would say.

-I can't believe it's done.

I was nervous this morning.

I'm feeling really comfortable right now and happy.

This is a big achievement in my career so, yeah, I'm really proud.

I hope our chefs have been inspired by Gary and his food

and bring it back here today into the MasterChef kitchen.

We know they are talented,

but now we want to see magic in their fingertips.

Today, chefs, you're going to have to produce two of your best plates

of food. It's going to need to be stunning.

Two of you are going through to Finals Week.

One of you, unfortunately, is leaving us.

1 hour and 45 minutes.

One main, one dessert separate you

from a place in the MasterChef finals.

Off you go, chefs.

It's getting down sort of to the nitty-gritty now.

There's huge, huge pressure just on two plates of food.

It's getting a lot tougher, a lot tougher.

Here you are now, Craig, fighting for a place in Finals Week.

What does that opportunity bring to you?

It's priceless, you know.

I so want to sort of prove that I can get there.

Do you have a single burning ambition?

The end goal, I suppose, for every chef, the dream is a Michelin star.

So I'd love one day to sort of, er, get my own star.

Craig has cooked some great food through the competition,

and with a touch of inspiration from Gary,

I can't wait to see what he's going to do today.

He's cooking duck breast.

Torched the duck, so he's coloured the skin,

he's burnt off all the little hairs that are on the duck itself.

Of course, always with duck breast,

you want to make sure that they've been beautifully cooked,

lovely and caramelised, but also very well rested.

Love the sounds of duck heart, coated in panko crumbs and duck fat.

Sounds delicious.

And beetroot tarte fine is what's caught my attention.

The pastry's got to be beautifully cooked, crispy on the bottom.

You don't want soggy pastry underneath that beetroot.

He's going to glaze it, so it should have a sharpness,

as well as a sweetness coming through.

Craig's dessert - citrus custard, strawberries and lemonade.

That's the type of dessert I would definitely choose on any menu.

The custard has to be rich and velvety.

The touch of citrus just coming through.

I like that he's adding some texture to it,

in ways of the cake and the biscuit.

Craig's done some stunning desserts through the competition.

This dessert sounds like another great dish.

You've had 30 minutes.

30 minutes gone.

Today is going to be tricky.

It's going to be intense.

It's almost starting to turn into a little bit of a war in there.

It's going to be really challenging

and I definitely have put myself under a lot of pressure.

Tell us, how was it at Le Manoir?

I learnt a lot from Gary and the team,

and I'm trying to put it into my dish today.

Just got to make sure I get the maximum flavour out of everything.

You seem a little more pushed than normal.

I am. I'm very, very pushed today.

I've got a lot to do. Erm,

just trying to get it done within the time limits

is going to be almost impossible.

In those instructions there, have you written "breathe"?

Er, no. You don't breathe, not in this hour and 45 minutes,

no time for that.

Louisa is looking her usual self,

under pressure, and her menu is massive.

She'll be cooking duck breast today.

For me, the skin's got to be wonderful and crisp,

and they've got to get that resting down to a T.

The sauce sounds delicious.

Duck and orange works very well.

She's also cooking a bread sauce,

but she's making it more into a puree.

We're looking for the infusion of the milk with the onion

and the clove and the bay leaf.

These are the little flavours that sit in the background

of a lovely bread sauce.

My curiosity is the orange and then the classic flavours of bread sauce

sitting together.

Interesting contrast and a contrast I've never had before.

Louisa's dessert is poached apricot, almond frangipane, goat's curd,

apricot gel, almond crumble and lemon sorrel.

Also a granita on there.

There is a lot going on on this dessert.

So far in the competition,

she's managed to deliver every plate of food just about on time.

Today's the day she can't afford to slip up.

35 minutes left!

Pretty surreal to be cooking for a place in the final four.

These next two plates of food are

the most important plates of food in my life.

If there was one thing that you took from Le Manoir, what would that be?

Precision. Just everything was so precise.

So I'm going to try and bring that to my dishes.

You've got two very good cooks in this kitchen cooking alongside you.

Is your food good enough to beat them?

Er, yeah, I think so.

-Yeah?

-They're great chefs,

but I'm going to do everything I've got to get through.

Tom's main course is Dexter beef,

celeriac, liquorice and morels.

Celeriac and liquorice, what a great combination!

Got to get the balance right.

I like the fact Tom is using two different cuts of the Dexter beef.

He's taken the shin, which has got a lot of flavour,

and then he's going to wrap it in a cannelloni with the celeriac.

The liquorice theme is running through this dish.

The beef is going to have liquorice,

the sauce is going to have liquorice,

and the celeriac puree is also going to have liquorice.

-That's a lot of liquorice.

-I personally love liquorice,

it's one of my favourite flavours.

So, why not combine them together?

It's very strong, and if you're heavy-handed with it

it can completely destroy a dish.

Tom's dessert is a white chocolate mousse

with poached cherries and pistachio.

The last dessert I did was the critics round,

and it didn't go very well.

Nothing set, I had to serve a puddle.

Embarrassing, annoying, frustrating.

So, I've just got to make sure it's all right this time.

Biggest challenge? I'm making a mousse, that's got to set.

That's the most important thing.

Eight minutes, chefs. Eight minutes.

Please, eight minutes.

Just three minutes!

-How're you doing, Tom?

-Yeah, all right.

My mousse hasn't quite set, so I'm quickly improvising.

-Mousse hasn't set?

-No, not quite.

-OK.

-I'm just going to whip some more cream through it.

-Absolutely.

-Should set it.

-Leave it till the last minute.

You have just 60 seconds.

That's it, your time's up.

For a place in the final four,

Craig has cooked a pan roast aged duck

served with a beetroot tarte fine,

warm glazed pickled cabbage, crispy duck hearts with panko crumb,

caramelised celeriac puree, topped with a duck sauce.

It's an extraordinary looking plate of food.

That is exceptional.

I find the duck is perfectly cooked.

It's moist, it's pink, the skin is lovely and crispy.

Loving the little duck hearts and the texture of the panko crumb.

I think it's a delicious plate of food.

Thank you.

That's fabulous. Your duck is divine.

It's like soft like butter.

You get even richer when you get into those duck hearts

with the breadcrumbs. I think it's a lovely, lovely dish.

I can't heap enough praise on you because it's just lovely.

Beetroot tarte fine, it's perfect.

You've got the flavour of beetroot coming through,

but you've also got sweetness.

The balance is perfect.

I couldn't make it better myself, it's absolutely delicious.

For dessert, Craig has served citrus custard with rose compressed

strawberries, fennel seed biscuit...

..lemon and yoghurt sponge, with a strawberry syrup.

What you have there, young man, is the sexiest,

most delicious trifle I've ever tasted.

You're disappointed by that being a trifle, Craig, aren't you?

Don't be. From a kid from a council estate in Peckham,

that reminds me of one of the most delicious things I had as a kid.

That is lovely.

I love how fresh and light it is, after such a strong main course.

It's been put together very well.

The custard's rich, it's velvety,

the strawberries are beautifully cooked,

and the little tuiles are just a delight because they add a soft,

melt-in-the-mouth texture.

And they just dissolve, and then the beautiful aniseed flavour comes out

of them.

There's some things in life you have to learn,

and there are things in life that you just come natural,

and I think cookery comes natural to you. I really do.

Speechless, almost.

I wasn't expecting that feedback, and, yeah, wow.

Amazing!

Tom's main is Dexter beef and braised beef shin

rolled in celeriac,

with celeriac and liquorice puree,

pickled celeriac, morels, cavolo nero,

and beef fat potatoes, topped with a beef and liquorice sauce.

Really interesting plate here.

It looks like a tray.

I love it, love the look of your main course.

The beef, for me, is not as tender as it should be.

I get the funny feeling that you've cut it with the grain,

rather than against the grain.

So it's not melt in the mouth, it's not the right texture.

It's too tough. I love the braveness of putting liquorice into this dish,

but now that I finished eating,

I can just taste liquorice on my palate,

and I can taste nothing else.

The earthiness of the celeriac with the liquorice finish,

I think it's inspired.

But there is no denying that beef is a little chewy.

For me, personally, the balance is off.

Because I find the liquorice is all I can taste at the end.

Tom's dessert is white chocolate cream with kirsch and port cherries,

pistachio cake, cherry sorbet, and cherry jelly.

You seemed a little stressed at the end.

Was that the dessert that you wanted to make?

Not quite. The mousse should have set better,

and my cherry jelly's decided to not set properly.

What I do enjoy are the flavours of the cherry on here.

The polenta cake is nice, but the pistachios are too chunky.

The sorbet, for me, is too sickly sweet.

I'm kind of disappointed, to be honest.

I bet you are, too.

Your main event, your white chocolate mousse, has not worked.

Your cherries just feel like they've touched a bit of alcohol,

but they really haven't got great depth of flavour to them at all.

The jelly, obviously, has melted.

It's a shame, Tom, because I like your menu, and I like your ideas,

and I like the little risky bits that you're putting through it.

But we're looking at errors here.

Not one, we're looking at quite a few.

Do you think you might have taken on just a little bit too much today,

-Tom?

-Yeah, I probably did.

Yeah, that didn't go very well.

Yeah, I honestly just tried too much,

and should have concentrated on that dessert more.

The dessert was just rubbish.

Finally, Louisa has cooked duck breast served with crispy ginger,

with caramelised endive, turnips, green beans, and bread sauce,

finished with a ginger and orange sauce.

The sauce is divine.

There is a warmth in there of the ginger coming through with the acid

of the orange cutting the richness.

Stunning dish,

but I just have one problem with this.

One thing that I was so looking forward to that I'm not tasting,

and that's the bread sauce.

I've seen you before mingle East and West really, really well,

and for me you've done it here brilliantly.

That sauce, ginger and orange together, is brilliant.

I have to say, the duck is slightly over for my liking.

It's a bit on the chewy side.

But, for me, that ginger that's been deep-fried has got this slight heat

left on the palate, and it's divine.

I guess what you did say was you wanted to bring the intensity of the

flavours to your cooking. Well, you definitely did that.

Thank you.

Louise's dessert is poached apricots, almond frangipane,

apricot puree,

goat's curd, almond caramel, crumble,

and an almond granita.

The granita is nice, it's refreshing,

you can taste the apricots.

It's a really delicious dessert,

and for me it's the goat's curd that brings it together.

It's something that I wasn't expecting.

-I really like it.

-Thank you.

My only disappointment here is I don't get a big frangipane flavour.

Everything else I find an absolute delight.

I get a feeling of a chef that doesn't know when to say stop.

The goat's cheese works, the biscuit works, the cake works,

the puree works, the herbs work.

But, for me, they just don't all work together.

There's a core message here.

And it is, do I need to keep doing more and more and more?

And that's something you're going to have to take forward...

..if you move forward into the competition.

I think I pushed myself a bit too much today.

I feel like the mistakes could definitely cost me.

Yeah, it's been a really tough day.

I think all three chefs cooked their hearts out in this kitchen today.

Could see how much it means to each one of them.

Craig, I think, just had an exceptional round.

That was real, real quality.

Visually, flavours, textures.

He just nailed it.

He came up here, put two plates of food down that made me just go wow.

We still need to remind ourselves

that this is a 21-year-old cooking food

at a level that only comes to people later on in their career.

I really want to see Craig in our Finals Week, I really do.

Craig has firmly nailed his name onto the final four.

Louisa has been a chef for great detail and complicated cookery,

and that's her style.

She pushes herself to another level, and tries incredibly hard.

Today, I just think there were just a few too many steps that weren't

needed in both her dishes.

You need to know when to stop.

I have to say, though,

Louisa's sauce with that ginger and orange

was nothing short of brilliant.

She's a fabulous chef.

There is no two ways about that.

The question is, has she cooked well enough today

to go through to Finals Week?

I liked Tom's main, I really liked the liquorice.

I thought that was inspired.

There was liquorice in the sauce,

there was liquorice through the puree,

and also through the meat that had been shredded,

and I found altogether, for me, it was overpowering.

He'd cut that beef the wrong way.

He'd gone with the grain, rather than against the grain,

and that is a schoolboy error.

A couple of things went wrong with his dessert,

and I think it just knocked him off a little bit,

and he didn't really recover.

To have a mistake like your mousse not setting can throw a chef.

I'm very disappointed for him.

I know how much it's taken for him to get this far in the competition.

We have one other place to fill.

Is it Tom, or is it Louisa?

What are we going to do?

Each of you should be incredibly proud of what you've achieved.

Only two of you can be in our Finals Week.

The chef leaving us is...

..Tom.

Good luck.

-Good luck.

-Cheers.

-Well done, Tom.

-Thanks a lot.

-Well done, mate.

-Well done, well done, Tom.

Well done, well done.

It's been hard, emotionally up and down.

But I've enjoyed it,

and it's something I can look back on with great pride, really.

Congrats.

You are Professional MasterChef finalists.

Just a bit emotional right now, actually.

I'm trying to hold it in.

I don't want to let myself go too much,

I've got to stay strong and got to be...

Can't let the boys see that!

This is totally insane. Final four, I can't believe it, honestly.

The thing I never thought would happen, and now it's happened.

I'm absolutely shell-shocked.

Next week...

..it's the Professional MasterChef finals.

An absolutely stunning plate of food.

Go, go, go, go!

Wow!

-It's quite incredible.

-On Thursday night,

one chef will be crowned

Professional MasterChef Champion 2017.

Four fantastic young chefs pushing themselves to the limit.