Episode 1 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Junior is one of them.

Thomas, two St Jacques au passe, now!

-ALL:

-OUI!

Now he and MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace

are on the hunt for Britain's next culinary superstar,

a professional with the talent to cut it in the world's top kitchens.

Perfect.

This week's chefs all believe they've got the skill

to cook at the highest level.

I think I'm going to go all the way. There's no reason why I can't.

I'm entering it to win.

I want to show people I can go all the way.

I have the determination, I have the passion.

I'm not going to stop until I win it.

I won't blow my own trumpet,

so I'll give myself a nine out of ten as a chef.

Service!

But first, they'll have to impress Michel's sous chef, Monica Galetti,

who will set them two tests

to prove they're good enough to cook for Michel.

Professional MasterChef, chefs from all over the country

coming together, each of them dreaming of lifting that title.

The mark every year is going higher and higher.

I want to see what these guys can deliver.

We know how high the standards are. We know the calibre of chef we're looking for.

Let's see what they're made of.

Bring it on.

Welcome to Professional MasterChef.

This is your first test.

In front of you, you have six ingredients.

We are going to give you 50 minutes

to make either a savoury or a sweet dish

with any of those ingredients.

Please uncover your ingredients.

We've given you a duck breast,

a cinnamon stick,

a punnet of blackberries,

some thyme,

you have some garlic

and a leek.

You also have a limited larder.

Your ten minutes' preparation time

starts now.

I don't want to see ten of the same dish here.

Show us your strengths. Be individual. Come through and shine in your dish.

Show me a dish that I would be happy to put in front of Chef Michel.

Right, that's your prep time over.

Your 50 minutes' cooking time

starts now. Good luck.

I want to see a plate that's going to say, "Wow,

"this guy's got it and I'm ready to put on in front of Michel."

If I was doing this test, I would make

either a lovely tart with those berries,

some sable biscuits.

You could do the duck in savoury crepes.

They don't have to use that duck breast.

I'm up for this more than anything. It will be superb.

It will be a great experience

and I don't see why I can't go all the way in this competition.

-Dan, what are you making?

-Roast duck breast, nice and crispy,

with a sweet and sour blackberry sauce.

-Are you serving anything else?

-I'm doing something with the leeks.

Not too sure what.

Why MasterChef?

I teach catering in a prison

and it would be a great thing to try and hopefully inspire

some of the guys I work with to see what you can do.

Monica won't make you nervous, then.

Oh, no, she scares me far more than they do. Far more!

-OK, good luck, mate.

-Cheers.

Dan, he's got some intense flavours going on.

It looks very simple, but I like that he's got gastric in his leek,

which is like a sweet and sour sugar in there with some vinegar,

which works very well.

I know what it takes to achieve Michelin standards.

I've worked with good chefs before

and done a year's stint in a Michelin kitchen.

Chris, what are you making for me?

I'm going to do pan-fried duck breast, pink,

with sauteed leeks and onion.

-Is this your style?

-Not really, just put on the spot.

What is your style, then, if not this?

Kind of arty, I suppose. I'm a graphic designer,

that's what I trained for.

I left it behind and now I'm a chef.

-Let's see some art on a plate. Thank you.

-Thanks a lot.

I've always enjoyed food, always enjoyed flavour combinations.

I dived into a kitchen at a very young age

and enjoyed it and followed my passion from there.

-Perry, how ambitious are you?

-Quite ambitious.

Probably the bad side of me, to be fair. It might put me in a bit of trouble.

-Not if you pull it off.

-Yeah.

I'm not here for an easy life, so, hopefully, it's going to work.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

I think I can win Professional MasterChef,

otherwise I wouldn't be entering it. I know the high expectations.

I know the pressures and I think I can cope with it.

-You OK, Oli?

-Yeah, very good.

-What are you making for us?

-I'm doing a pan-fried duck breast,

onion puree, a light gastric.

-Why put yourself through MasterChef?

-It's a good learning curve.

It'll help me on the way in the industry

and help me see other things I haven't seen before.

You are halfway. You've got 25 minutes left.

Before being a chef, I trained as a banker.

A really donkey job. Very well paid but very stupid job.

And I changed to go back to what I really like since I'm a kid,

which is cooking.

-Where are you from, Sebastien?

-Marseilles, South of France.

-Are we going to see cooking of Provence?

-Definitely there's a big influence

from Provence in my cooking, yes.

And from Lyon. I've got two grandmothers that teach me to cook.

-Why MasterChef, Sebastien?

-I'm self-taught. I've learned it all on my own

and I wanted to compare myself to other chefs,

obviously be criticised, in a good way.

Sebastien, best of luck.

Sebastien, it's hard to see what he's putting together.

He's got a puree and a sauce and a duck.

I hope he has a bit more things that are going to add to this dish.

I've been a professional chef for about five years

and now I'm a head chef.

I'm feeling very nervous.

This is the first time I've done anything to this calibre,

so we'll just have to see what actually happens.

You're shaking. Are you like this with every customer?

Not at all. I'm normally quite confident in my kitchen.

-What's going on today?

-No idea!

Tell me what it is you're cooking for us.

It should be a confit garlic and leek tartlet

served with a bit of pink duck breast, if all goes well.

Well done. Good luck.

I've been a professional chef a while.

I've worked in lots of local restaurants and kitchens

around Cornwall since the age of 13, 14 years old

and built my way up from there.

I'm very competitive.

You have to be in this game to keep moving forward, and you have to have that drive.

Ben, you're cooking duck. How will you make yours more special than the other nine?

I'll present it beautifully. I'm giving it a spiced blackberry sauce,

and to finish on top, I'm going to do some crispy onion and leek rings.

Why here? Why MasterChef?

MasterChef, it is me,

and this is a competition where I can showcase my abilities,

impress Monica and you and see how far I can go.

-I like the sound of this. I want to eat it.

-Thank you, Gregg.

-Well done.

Ben's already cooked his duck. It was his first job.

That meat should've been the last thing to finish. Colour it, sear it, let it rest.

Hopefully, he's still got it pink in the middle.

I've worked in high-volume catering for quite a number of years now

and I just felt it was time to spread my wings, so to speak.

I just want to prove to myself I can do it.

What are you making?

Erm, not quite sure but it's going to be duck breast

with blackberry vinaigrette dressing with onions, leeks, garlic,

kind of thing.

You have just over 15 minutes and you're still deciding on your dish.

I'm like this all the time. I'm so indecisive.

-Well, good luck. Please make your mind up!

-It'll look fantastic when it's finished, I hope!

-All right, Joanne. Good luck.

-Thank you.

I'm a bit worried about Joanne. She hasn't written anything down

so she has nothing to refer to.

She seems to spend a lot of time cleaning and very unsure.

Maybe she'll pull something out of the air and it'll be amazing,

but I hope she gets it together.

You've got ten minutes left, just ten.

Though I'm a head chef, I'm here to better my standards.

I understand the high standard it takes for Michelin Star level.

-Kev, good haircut!

-Thank you.

-What are you cooking for us?

I'm just doing a roast duck breast with cinnamon-spiced leeks,

roasted garlic and a sweet-and-sour blackberry sauce.

-What do you want to be?

-Aspire to be as good as Michel Roux Jnr and Monica.

That'll get you far, that will.

To win MasterChef would be an ultimate dream.

And to be part of it's just brilliant. To win it... My God!

It'd be awesome!

Mike, where do you work at the moment?

In the North Sea on the oil rigs.

-How many people do you feed every day on there?

-95, every day.

-Wow. And is that food you love to do, the oil rigs?

-No. I used to do fine dining.

When I was younger I worked in London. I do miss the fine dining.

-Hopefully, I still have the touch.

-I hope so, too. I've got to eat it!

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

Mike is making a very interesting

onion and blackberry ragout-style thing.

But I think the onions are still raw.

Last five minutes. That's all you've got.

It's very interesting that they've all done duck,

cos we're going to see ten different interpretations of this duck dish.

Guys, that's it, time's up. Step away. Stop. That's it.

Steve has roasted the duck breast

and served it with a garlic and blackberry sauce.

He's also made a confit leek and thyme quiche to go with it.

Steve, not an exciting plate for me.

I think it just lacks that oomph on your dish.

Would I send that to Michel?

I have ifs and buts about it.

The cooking of the duck is fantastic.

I don't like that sauce.

Your pastry is cooked very well. You have obvious skill.

I don't know what it is. Something's actually catching in your teeth

and I think it's sticks of thyme.

You should know that as a professional chef, pick those leaves

if you're going to use it.

I quite like your dish. Duck's cooked nicely,

the sauce is sweet AND sharp, your pastry's well made.

Not bad, mate.

Next time, I need to tone it down a bit and maybe calm down a bit

and keep an eye on what I'm doing rather than panicking a bit.

Perry has also made

a confit leek and blackberry tart to go with his duck

and has served them with a cinnamon and blackberry puree and crispy leeks.

-Perry, it looks nice, it looked clean.

-Yep.

Then you plonked those blackberries in the middle of your tart

and a tree of thyme in the middle, which is a real shame.

I like the flavours I'm getting.

The sauce is not overpowering.

The tarte is wonderful.

The pastry's fantastic, not too thick, nicely cooked.

It's a shame you've put the blackberry in there.

Your leek, unfortunately, is burnt, which is very bitter.

Something as simple as that can ruin the dish.

I really like it.

There's a saltiness, and a sharp and sweetness from the sauce, too.

Taste the leeks in there. The pastry is really crispy.

It's nice.

Thank you.

Gutted, really.

It wasn't a bad result but it wasn't what I was looking for.

So I'll go back to the drawing board

and hopefully impress them next time.

Kev has served his duck breast and crispy leeks

on top of cinnamon-spiced leeks with roast garlic,

and a sweet-and-sour blackberry sauce.

This presentation should be neat and come together.

However, the sauce has been drizzled in a way

that doesn't look very appealing.

This big nest on the top is too much.

It's not something I'd like to see in the restaurant.

There's not enough sauce on this plate full stop.

However, the leek is very moist, very flavoursome.

This roasted garlic is burnt on one side.

It's a disappointing result

because when I watch you work, I like what I was seeing.

A bit of inventiveness with the cinnamon in the leeks,

and I like the way you've presented it.

But for me as a punter,

those black bits look like carelessness.

I think it was the right dish to do

but simple schoolboy errors with the garlic.

Better next time, hopefully.

Ben's duck is resting on braised leeks and onions

in a blackberry sauce,

topped with crispy onion and leek rings.

You definitely chose the right plate

cos you've got a lot of sauce on there.

First glance, it looks like a blackberry consomme with duck.

Ben, your sauce, your syrup, destroys, kills that dish.

It's so sweet. It's like a duck dessert.

It's a real shame because the flavour of the onions,

the perfectly cooked duck and the leeks are wonderful.

Apart from your sauce, everything else is cooked really nicely,

seasoned well and tastes good.

Ben, I'd like to see you cook some more with a bit more thought.

Thank you.

I wouldn't say my dish was absolutely fantastic

but I'm sure I can come back even better and stronger.

Oli has made a pan-roast duck breast,

a leek and onion tart served with onion puree

and a blackberry gastric sauce.

Oli, first glance, your dish is very simply plated.

Maybe a touch too simple for my taste.

It's not a plate I could give to my boss and say,

"Wow, watch out for this guy."

Nice flavours. Gastric is too sweet, OK.

The onion puree, the onion was not cooked enough

so you've got this odd texture, quite lumpy in there.

I enjoyed watching you work. I watched you taste as you were making.

I love the way you made that pastry. But more colour, cook it through properly.

Monica, forgive me, what's a gastric sauce?

Gastric sauces can be used to flavour sauces, enhance sauces.

For example, if I was to make a gastric duck sauce,

I would put some shallots in there, some sugar,

let it caramelise slightly, deglaze it with vinegar, in with some stock.

It just helps to enhance the flavour, give a sweet-and-sour touch.

I'm a happy boy.

It could look better.

Tastes fine to me. OK, Oli?

I don't think I've done myself as much justice as I could have.

Fifty minutes sounds like a long time but it really isn't.

Sebastien is serving his duck on a cinnamon and garlic puree

and a blackberry and black pepper sauce with a side of confit garlic.

To prevent the duck leaking on the plate, make sure you drain it.

I'm sure you should know that. I don't have to tell you that.

Sebastien, I like the flavour of your puree.

The duck is just pink.

You don't want to cook it any more than that.

Your confit garlic is raw.

That's why I didn't even eat it.

This was your opportunity to show off and, for me, you haven't done.

I'm a little put off by a cinnamon stick.

I'm also a little put off by the multicoloured puddle.

What I've had tastes OK.

But it's left me wanting another dimension, something else.

-Sebastien, thank you.

-Thank you.

It's just a bit upset cos I had some time probably to do a bit more.

I should have done this extra bit to show off.

We're in a competition. I have to show off in front of the others.

Dan cured his duck before roasting

and has served it on leeks with a blackberry sauce.

It is duck with blackberries. It is what you see.

-It doesn't look amazing.

-Yep.

-I don't like well-cooked duck.

-Yep.

-That's not nice, it's not pleasant.

It's a shame because I like the leeks,

-but I don't like anything else on there.

-Fair comment.

It's a shame you've overcooked your duck cos your sauce is nice

and there's also a bit of acidity in those leeks as well that I like.

Mate, all those good ideas and then you went and overcooked your duck.

Dan...you've got a bit of a point to prove, haven't you?

Next time, I've got to be the best because I've come out of this one

looking like probably the worst, so I've got to be the best next time.

Joanne's duck is on a bed of sauteed leeks and onion,

served with a blackberry vinaigrette and crispy leeks.

Joanne, your vinaigrette looks like a sauce that's split.

If you took the central piece off your plate

and put that on a clean plate, I'd be happy.

Joanne, it's a shame the duck is overcooked

because the leeks are fantastic.

The vinaigrette is not strong enough to carry the dish

and you've made too many schoolboy errors at this level.

Mistake with the duck and with the sauce, everything else is great. I don't know what to make of you.

Half of you's really good and there's some silly bits.

-Thank you, Joanne.

-Thank you.

Next time, I've got to prove that I can cook and I can cook well.

Chris has added the cinnamon to his blackberry sauce

and served it with the duck and braised leeks.

The duck is too chunky to the amount of leeks.

This presentation could have been very delicate. But it isn't.

It's not necessary to put the blackberries on the plate. It would have been nice as it was.

Chris, the leek on its own is quite salty,

but with the sweetness of the sauce, it does even out. Not a bad dish.

Not that I want to disagree with Monica,

but I actually like your presentation.

I think you may have a bit of style.

That's perfectly yummy!

That's soft duck, soft leeks, nice seasoning in there

and a sweet sauce, a bit of sharpness. Chris, bang on, mate.

Cheers, guys.

Really happy now, so I've got to raise the bar next time and get better comments again.

Finally, it's oil-rig chef Mike,

who's put a twist on the duck and leek combination

by serving his with blackberry-infused leek ragout and a blackberry reduction.

Erm... It's purple.

All of it. Erm...

The duck is nice and pink.

I like the flavour of the leeks, the sweet and sour through that.

-It is very nice. I like it.

-Thank you.

Putting the blackberry over the duck was a mistake, so was using the green of the leek.

However, your blackberry through the leeks was a great idea,

you duck's really nicely cooked.

Mike, I reckon you might be able to cook a bit.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Maybe he was very lucky.

To do what I did today for the first time in five years, yeah, I'm a happy man.

I can walk out with my head held high.

Thank you very much, guys. I realise I must come across very harsh,

but you must understand that my boss's expectations are up here.

Well done. Obviously, there were mistakes.

But there was a lot of potential in the room as well.

No-one goes home right now. Thank you very much. Lots to think about.

Off you go.

Fascinating. Six ingredients and we ended up with ten ducks, all cooked very differently.

I've got three people that impressed me today.

One was Perry, very focused young man, and his food looked so neat and precise.

Not relieved, no. There's so much more to do, so much more to plan. The pressure only gets higher.

I also liked Chris. I thought Chris's cooking was without fault.

My confidence has grown. It's going to be better from now on in.

I like Joanne. I think Joanne had the best-looking plate in the room.

Some of them, they definitely have a point to prove,

especially if I am to put them through to Michel.

Sebastien lacks the depth of knowledge the other chefs have on him.

I think the competition is tough.

I think everybody, they deserve to be here.

Dan, who is a trained chef, had a lot of technique,

attempted to cure the duck, but he overcooked it.

Dan has got a big point to prove. He was probably the worst-cooked duck.

I let myself down a bit, but there's another task to go

and I've got to prove myself and do even better.

They should have overcome their nerves with this test. Next time we see them, should be no mistakes.

The first test is over.

Now, the ten chefs will be split into two groups.

Tomorrow night, the first five are back to face their final test...

You've got ten minutes, chef. Off you go.

You've got a minute left. Don't ruin it now. Come on.

You haven't got time to make another one.

..before Monica decides who will cook for Michel.

You're going through to cook for my boss. You need to up your game!

At the level we're looking for, you really are not far off.

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