Episode 14 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Junior is one of them.

Two Saint-Jacques au passe now!

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.

Ten professional chefs have faced their first challenge

to prove to Monica Galetti that they can cook at the highest level.

Now they've been split into two groups.

Today five of them will face the final test

to decide who is good enough to cook for Michel Roux Junior.

At the end of it, one of them will be going home.

'Today's very important. It's massive.'

The biggest day of my life.

To win this competition is going to take a lot of determination, hard work. I'm in it to win it.

No one wants to fall at the first hurdle. We're all gunning to get through today.

-This is the skills test. What have they to do?

-Today I would like them to tunnel bone

this leg of lamb, which means to literally go in with the knife, around the bone, hence the term.

This leg will then be left hollow.

-I'd like them to prepare it ready for roasting.

-So get the bone out without ripping the meat?

I want to learn how to do this.

Right.

I always start on the top here.

Nip that off cos we do not want to serve that.

Take everything off there.

Gives it a lovely presentation.

So here there is a knuckle that holds that joint together.

All I've done is nipped it there over the joint and it comes off.

This is still attached here. You're going to take the knife

and cut there. That is dislocated. We'll take this bone out from the inside.

You'll be left with all this meat and that holding it together.

Wow. That's trickier than I thought.

Just go in and follow that around. Tunnel around that, OK?

Turn it round

and then the same thing. You're going to tunnel through here to the other side.

And then all they need to do is twist and out it pops. That leg of lamb is tunnel boned.

This tunnel boning is basic chef's butchery, isn't it?

They all should have done this in college. They must follow the bone.

Now we're going to tie it up ready for roasting.

On the top, down to the bottom and then criss-cross here. And back up.

Knotted off at the top.

And then just a matter of forming it and tying along the middle of the leg of lamb.

Also just pierce it like so

and then stud it with the garlic and rosemary. Here we have it.

A tunnel boned leg of lamb ready for roasting.

-Five chefs outside ready to do this.

-Let's get the first one in.

First up is Ash, who has worked in Australia, France and Spain across his 15-year career.

In the first invention test, his strawberry tart was a triumph.

'I think it's very important to stay in the competition.'

I need to try to do the best possible, keep Monica happy.

We'd like you to tunnel bone this leg of lamb.

And prepare it, tie it, ready for roasting.

10 minutes, Ash. Off you go.

You've had five minutes, Ash. Halfway.

You've got three minutes.

-All finished, Ash?

-Yeah.

-How do you think that went, Ash?

-Not fantastic, to be honest. I've never boned a leg of lamb.

Overall, I think you've got a great level of skill. You have done butchery before, Ash,

because you've taken the meat completely off the leg. We were hoping you'd leave this end in,

so it still resembles a leg of lamb. It's not the neatest piece of meat tied up,

-but not a bad job at all.

-Thank you.

-Cheers, Ash. Off you go.

-Cheers.

Pretty good.

I could have done a lot worse job.

But it might have just been enough.

Head chef Tom started life in the kitchen six years ago as a porter.

Last time, his collapsed white chocolate mousse was disappointing,

but his basil-flavoured shortbread was a hit.

'I didn't do as well as I'd like to, so I'm going to go in there'

and pull all the stops out.

10 minutes, chef. Leg of lamb, off you go.

I think you need a plaster on your finger, Tom.

You've just scraped it on there.

Thank you.

-Plaster's on. You all right?

-I'm fine.

-Off we go.

You've had five minutes. You're halfway.

You've got three minutes left, Tom.

-Finished, chef?

-Yeah.

Tom, not a bad effort in tying. However...

the method you were using was very dangerous. You should always try as much as possible to go away.

I know that. I just forgot, you know.

Point number two. There's quite a bit of wastage. See that there.

-We do not want to do that.

-Don't be too down. We realise how tough this is.

-Thank you, Tom. Off you go.

-Cheers.

I'm a bit annoyed with myself.

I've let myself down in the technique, which would have led to a better result in the end.

Alison left her job as a nanny at 25 to retrain as a chef.

Eight years later, she's a sous chef with Michelin star aspirations.

Despite timing issues, her mushroom ravioli was a success in the first round.

It's been a lot mentally, preparing.

If I can get my nerves under wraps, I'm confident about my skills.

-Alison, do you understand what I mean by tunnel boning it?

-Yes. I haven't done it before,

but I...I'll give it a go.

Leg of lamb. 10 minutes. Off you go.

OK?

Yeah. My whole body's shaking.

You've got five minutes. You're halfway.

Last 30 seconds.

-That's it.

-Finished?

-Yeah.

Alison, I wish you could have calmed down and had a bit more faith in yourself

because even though you've not done this before, you've managed to get this bone out quite well.

You did a good job there. Little things - this needs to come out here, the knuckle.

Your tying is fine, but you need to control these nerves.

Nearly every chef shakes here.

Not as much as you, but they all shake here. OK?

-Thanks, Alison.

-Thanks.

My whole body, literally, my legs and everything were shaking.

I could have done it a little bit better, but I'm quite happy.

Dan left his native New Zealand for the UK to further his skills as a chef.

In the last round, he failed to impress when his strawberry souffle didn't rise.

It's very important for me to stay in the competition.

I'm very determined

to prove to myself that I can cook for Michel.

All right, Dan. 10 minutes. Off you go.

Ohh...

You've had five minutes. Halfway.

Dan, you have managed to take all the bone out, in one piece. That's great skill.

Just remember to be very careful to work that knife away from you as much as possible.

I was so scared you'd lose your knuckles. With tying it, make sure it's much more tight,

so it holds its form. But you've done it. Not a bad attempt.

When I first saw what I was doing, I went a bit blank.

I could have probably done better. I'm not sure if I've done enough.

Last up is Ben, who was inspired by his father, a former Ritz head chef, to pursue a culinary career.

Last time, his white chocolate mousse dish was let down by its presentation.

'I've come here to go as far as I can.'

To go all the way would be special.

10 minutes. Off you go.

You've had five minutes. You're halfway.

-All done, chef?

-Done.

For someone who's not done this in a long time, damn good job.

You went back in to remove the knuckle. That's fantastic.

If anything, the tying needs to be more evenly spaced out, but I think you've done a great job.

Well done.

Ben, thanks. Well done. Off you go.

Sound job.

I'd like to think I've done myself justice.

I did what was put in front of me and what they asked me to do. Hopefully, that's enough.

Monica, you're going to have to help me here. I can't see a lot between them.

They all managed to deliver today, which was good to see.

Ben did a wonderful job. He kept that leg of lamb whole.

-He still had the bone at the end.

-I thought it looked very good. Ben's got to go through.

Ash has never tunnel boned a leg of lamb out. However, he showed the skills of a chef

-to still remove that bone.

-What he ended up with was very good indeed.

Let's put Ash through.

Alison could do great things if she can control those nerves.

She still managed to get that bone out and, with tying, she knew how to do it.

I'm impressed that someone so nervous did such a decent job.

-Alison is a risk that I'm willing to put in front of Michel.

-Good, good.

Now that leaves Tom and Dan. Tom and Dan were very similar in that you were scared

-that both of them would lose a finger.

-Both very dangerous.

Also very lacking in skills. Tom, when he butchered the leg of lamb,

it looked very rough. He left a lot of meat on there.

I'd be devastated if I went home now. I haven't shown what I can do.

Dan, however, still managed to get it out and the bone was quite clean.

If their skills tests are very similar, we have to look at the dishes they did.

Dan made the souffle that wasn't a souffle. It was more like raw porridge.

Tom made a mousse that didn't quite set, but also a basil shortbread, which is skilful.

Tom's cooking was definitely better, but this skills test, I think Dan edges it.

I really want to progress and cook for Michel.

If I went home now, I'd be gutted.

Monica, I think the decision has got to be yours.

I know who's going to go through and cook for Michel.

We've seen you now working through two tests. You've given me and Monica plenty to talk about.

We've reached a decision.

The chef leaving us today is...

Dan.

To actually get here and then messing up at the first hurdle and not being able to cook for Michel,

I'm feeling pretty gutted now. One thing I'll take from it is to just learn from my mistakes.

All right, guys. You get to go through and cook for Michel.

One or two of you need to really step it up.

There are classics that should be part of every professional chef's repertoire

and Michel Roux Junior is looking for chefs who aspire to cook them at his two-Michelin-star level.

For the classic dish today, I want the chefs to cook a nouilles aux fruits de mer.

Pasta with seafood. It is superb.

This complex classic, which has been on the Roux menu for over 30 years,

consists of fresh pasta, a medley of seafood and a creamy seafood sauce.

First of all, they have to make a really good pasta dough.

If it's too wet, they won't be able to work it through the machine. That's where skill comes through.

The right consistency for the dough should be elastic.

Wonderful. Just right.

Now we have to put it in the fridge and rest for at least 10-15 minutes.

Next, the seafood.

The mussels first.

They need to be rinsed

and checked for the beards,

check for any barnacles on there. Then we have the razor clams. They get the same treatment.

A little rinse.

To steam the mussels and the razor clams, we use a little bit of shallot. That'll add sweetness.

They're going to steam. When they come out, I'll use that lovely liquor for the sauce.

A little bit of dry white wine. Lid on.

Now for the winkles. You just take a toothpick

and dig them out. This protective cap needs to come off.

If you turn the winkle over, its intestine just pulls off.

For me, this is basic knowledge of how to prepare seafood. The scallop...

I want to use just the best part, which is the white.

Mmm. Clean it down.

So it has to be edible in one mouthful,

manageable with only the fork.

So in they go to this simmering liquor. I just want to ever so slightly cook them

because we'll be cooking them in the finished sauce.

Next, the langoustines.

I'm going to keep one of the heads for decoration.

The other heads we're going to put back into the cooking liquor,

along with some fish stock.

Now we need to finish off the razor clams.

The sweetest and best part is this pure white meat here.

That's the bit I want to see on the plate. The sauce has now reduced and it's intense.

Double cream. And we let it reduce again. Not over-reduced, not heavy.

It has to have finesse.

It should be coating the back of the spoon.

The tomatoes need to be blanched, de-seeded and diced, which I'll add to the sauce at the last second.

Now all we need to do is roll out that pasta, cook it and bring the dish together.

Tagliatelle or thin pasta I think works best with this sauce

because you can coat the sauce on every strand of pasta.

In they go. Fresh pasta cooks very, very quickly.

A little bit of the sauce on the pasta.

Now to reheat the seafood.

And it is only reheating.

Right.

Voila.

Les nouilles aux fruits de mer. Fresh pasta with seafood and a cream sauce.

A beautiful dish, fit for a king.

That's what I want the chefs to prepare.

It really feels like the real thing now. All I can do is... cook my heart out, really.

It's good to cook for Michel Roux Junior. It'll have to be perfect because nothing will get past him.

I don't cut corners. I go into as much detail as possible, so I hope I can deliver the same standard.

We are now going to kick it up a gear.

For the first classic dish, I want you to cook nouilles aux fruits de mer. I expect you to have

the knowledge and the skills to cook it to perfection.

This is the first of two classic dishes that we want you to cook.

At the end of both of those, one of you will leave. You have one hour, ten minutes. Off you go.

I'm basically going to try to blank everyone and everything around me to try to get a hold of my nerves.

I just want to show that I've got the skills it takes to go far in this competition.

-Hi, Alison.

-Hi.

-So how are you with the classics?

-I think I could do with learning a bit more about them.

-I sometimes try a couple of things at work when I have time myself.

-So what is your training?

I went to college in Malta and as an apprentice I got sent to a hotel over here, in England.

-I've been here ever since.

-We've seen you do pasta before.

-Yes.

-You're good at it.

-Well...

This looks to be Alison's round - a bowl of pasta with seafood. It's the food of the Mediterranean.

However, she is of a nervous disposition and that is not good for cooking.

You've had 15 minutes. Wow, that went quick.

I'm fairly confident in the classical style of cooking because I grew up around my father.

He was trained in the classics and brought me on to be a chef.

-Pasta you've made before?

-Yeah. It's probably one of the weaker sides to my cooking.

I don't do a great deal of pasta work. Seafood is a passion of mine, so I hope that gives me an edge.

-You got MasterChef aspirations?

-I hope to move on further.

-How far?

-As far as I can possibly go! To the end would be lovely.

He's just confessed to us that pasta is his weakness.

I could see that he was struggling when he was rolling it out.

You are halfway. Just half an hour left. I'm hungry.

The classic dish test is going to be another big test for me

because I haven't been classically trained, but I'm sure I can rise to it and deliver.

Do you feel like you've got a point to prove now with these classics?

Yeah, definitely. I don't think I've done as well as some of the other contestants in the last two rounds,

so I really need to have a faultless round.

-Do you understand the standards we're looking for?

-Your standards.

-What other passions do you have in your life?

-Just had a little girl, Lexy, two and a half weeks ago.

-So we're doing this for Lexy, yeah?

-Yeah.

Tom needs a confidence boost in this competition.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for him.

I follow modern trends a lot, but I very much respect the classic roots of French cookery.

I'm just hoping I can make sure every detail is spot-on.

Ash, how are you with the classics?

I wouldn't say it's my strongest side.

But I've read a lot of recipes. I just haven't actually done them.

-You understand the recipe?

-This is not a typical thing I would cook, bu I very much enjoy cooking seafood.

What style of food do you love then, Ash? What gets your heart beating?

I love Basque cuisine and I love Japanese cuisine.

They're both deeply rooted in tradition and I respect that.

-What do you do now?

-I work as a freelance chef.

It's given me a lot of experience, a chance to travel a lot. It's worked out well.

He says he's got no classic upbringing, yet every time I've seen him work, it's very good indeed,

so I'm hoping for the same now.

You've got ten minutes left. Just ten.

Guys, you've got just three minutes.

You're going to have to push it. Come on.

Tom, you've got 60 seconds left, mate. You're going to have to get this up now, please.

Last minute, people.

That's it. Stop! Time's up. Stop!

We asked you to cook a classic dish - nouilles aux fruits de mer.

The pasta should be thin, tagliatelle-shaped,

rolled in a lovely, light cream sauce.

The preparation of the seafood is vital. It mustn't be overcooked.

Everything should be no bigger than bite-size and must be beautifully presented.

Alison, we'll start with you.

I really like your bowl of pasta, Alison. It's a really generous portion.

Hmm! That is really, really delicious.

It's all that saltiness and sweetness of the sea,

whether you get in there a lovely scallop or a salty mussel.

The pasta is lovely and thin. That's really good.

Alison, I like the way you have cut the langoustines in half lengthways and presented them like that,

but you've left this razor clam whole which, firstly, is not easy to eat

and secondly, you've left the sac, the sand part which I normally discard.

The sauce has got enough depth to it from the seafood.

It's creamy, it's rich, without being overpowering, which is good.

I was quite happy with my dish. I really enjoyed that challenge.

Ash, your go.

Ash, beautiful presentation.

That's got elegance and finesse. It's not far off how I present this particular dish.

Small morsels, easy to eat,

lovely twirl of pasta

and the three mussels there left in their shell.

The scallops are well cooked

and the langoustines as well, well cooked,

but your sauce is a little bit too light for me

and just lacking a bit of depth of that lovely seafood sweetness.

That is a nice tasting, beautifully presented dish.

The pasta is really light, but it's got the right texture.

If that sauce was a little thicker, those lovely seafood flavours would have taken it from nice to yummy.

Ash, this is a beautiful bowl of pasta

and you really are that far away from what I was looking for.

The style of presentation that I did I think they're looking for,

but I think that I can improve on what I've done.

Tom, let's look at yours.

-That doesn't look right serving it on a plate.

-No.

-It's a wet dish. It needs to sit in a bowl.

-Yeah.

Seafood flavours, creaminess, nice, light pasta, but terrible presentation, Tom.

Tom, this really isn't elegant at all. If you use a shell,

there should be something in it for the diner -

little pieces of the razor clam just to make it interesting and beautiful.

Also, it looks as if you've thrown the langoustines on the plate last second. It looks rushed.

The razor clams have not been cut properly.

The winkles have still got the sand tract

and the langoustines needed to be cooked a little bit more,

but your sauce has got bags and bags of depth to it. It really is good.

Mixed emotions. I found the challenge really difficult.

My presentation definitely let me down.

Ben, your turn.

Ben, it doesn't look very smart.

You've got lumps here that are just too big.

And look at the size of your concasse. That can't ever be smart.

I'd love it at home, but it's not what I'd expect if I went out.

Nicely cooked seafood, nice sauce.

I have a problem with the tomatoes. I don't want that much tomato juice in a mouthful of creamy seafood.

I want to stay with the creamy seafood.

Not the best presentation. There should be a lovely twirl of pasta. This is just strewn across the bowl.

If you're going to put a langoustine as a decoration, why is it half-hidden?

Let's be proud and show it off.

The pasta is well cooked, but there are parts of it that look as if it hasn't been rolled properly.

There's thin parts and thick parts which means uneven cooking.

The seafood is all beautifully cooked.

Your sauce, not quite enough of it in the plate,

but it has the right depth to it.

It's a good, tasty bowl of pasta.

It's not bad, Ben.

I'm not 100% happy with everything, but I have to just take the positives and improve on that.

That was the first of the classic recipe tests. Now you are going to prepare your own food.

It's your choice, you've practised it, showing your skills.

I am expecting perfection.

One hour.

Let's go.

I've chosen a Basque dish

because it means a lot to me.

Technically, it's quite a simple dish,

so you're relying on making sure that everything is cooked to perfection.

Ash, what classic dish are you cooking?

Hake in salsa verde with clams and a little cured smoked bacon beignet.

And I add some peas to the sauce as well which is a bit of a play on sort of ham and pea

and pea goes with fish.

-It's using the classic ingredients and tweaking it a bit.

-Yes.

With a classic dish, I like to keep the integrity of the tradition as well.

-You can do beautiful-looking dishes. Can you make this one taste good as well?

-I hope so.

I need to step up on the flavour front a bit.

Looking forward to it, Ash.

Hake can take big flavours. In fact, hake needs big flavours, so the seasoning will have to be bang-on.

Just over 20 minutes gone.

I've chosen the dish because it's me on a plate, really.

There's a lot of components in it that could go wrong, but if I get them right

and nail them, it'll be a lovely dish.

Tom, what's your choice of classic dish?

I'm doing scallop mousse tortellini, cauliflower puree,

chorizo cream with some chorizo crisps.

It's something I've practised and something that I'm confident with.

Classic flavour combinations.

It's not a classic dish as such, but it's using classic methods

and it tastes good.

-Can you reverse your fortunes with this dish?

-Yeah.

Definitely. My presentation, I think has let me down a lot

which is normally one of my stronger points,

so if I get that right along with the flavour, I'll hopefully impress you both.

He's got to open those scallops, he's got to make his pasta dough,

make the chorizo crisps and the sauce...

It's do or die for our Tom right now.

He either delivers a wonderful dish or it's the end of his competition.

I've chosen my dish because it was one of the very first things I learnt to do as a commis.

I believe in this dish. It's a great little dish.

And I hope it's good enough for Michel.

-Alison, what's your choice of classic dish and why?

-Cailles aux raisins, which is quails with grapes

I just love quail. I love the flavour.

Cooked properly, it's beautiful to taste, and I love grapes, I love wine.

What do you think you have to prove to us now?

I need to prove I can get everything bang-on under the pressure. No more, no less.

I really don't want to go home now.

I want to go through and I want to impress both of you, hopefully, with good, honest classical cooking.

Alison has chosen quail with grapes, turned potatoes and French peas -

not an easy dish to make look beautiful, not an easy dish to balance either.

Quail meat is very dry, so it needs to be cooked pink. Overcooked, it's horrible.

If she gets this right, it could be a heavenly dish.

-That's all right?

-No.

-It's too dry.

-It is too dry.

-I'll make another one.

-Your call, mate.

Your call.

Chefs, you've got 20 minutes left!

Everything about this dish is something I've done throughout my career.

If all goes well, I'm hoping that I can really nail that and produce a good plate of food.

Ben, what's your classic dish?

I'm doing a breadcrumbed rack of lam with a pommes Anna potato, celeriac puree,

roasted garlic, confit shallot and a redcurrant jus.

That's a lot of work. Is it the kind of food that you cook at the moment?

I cooked this sort of dish when I started cooking.

I would have done it in my first job hence going back to the classics.

What is it in this dish that will wow us?

I'm hoping to get a perfect balance of flavours and I need to execute al the elements on the dish perfectly.

How much are you putting into this?

I've yet to show what I'm really capable of, so I'm hoping I step up this time.

Ben has got his work cut out - roasting the lamb,

covering it in breadcrumbs, getting that crispy, a proper reduction for his sauce, then the pommes Anna.

These flavours are wonderful if you can get all that work done in an hour.

Last 15 minutes.

A quarter-final place up for grabs.

You've got three minutes.

Put it on a plate. You've got 60 seconds.

Time's up. Stop!

First up is Tom.

His classic dish is scallop mousse tortellini, cauliflower puree,

seared scallops with chorizo cream and chorizo crisps.

Beautiful colours, beautiful choice of ingredients as well. Looks really nice and appetising.

The scallop is slightly underdone, but I would far rather have a scallop underdone than overcooked.

Nicely caramelised around the edge as well which gives a good sweetness.

The cauliflower puree is smooth, sweet.

-Your chorizo cream is a little bit heavy.

-Yeah.

The tortellini were a bit rushed.

The pasta dough hasn't really rested properly and is quite chewy and doughy.

Scallop and chorizo is a tried and tested combination.

This makes wonderful use of both those ingredients.

The only slight thing is the thickness of the pasta.

I felt like a bit of a headless chicken running around I was really pushed for time.

And I think the dish wasn't to its full potential which I'm a bit deflated about, but...

For his classic dish, Ash has cooked hake in salsa verde

with clams and smoked cured bacon beignets.

Ash, if it tastes like it looks, we're in business. I think your presentation is stunning.

It's mellow and it's sweet, a little bit of iron of parsley, a little bit of sweetness of pea,

but I think you're a little too subtle. I think you could be bigger and punchier.

That's well seasoned. The potato beignets are really nice, very light and crispy.

I like your version of a salsa verde or green sauce.

The hake is well cooked, but it's lacking a little punch, just a little bite.

In saying that, there's a lot of skills here.

I'm feeling quite happy and pleased with what I've done.

Everything's not perfect, but I hope if I get through, I can just get more flavour into the dishes.

Ben has cooked a herb-crusted roast rack of lamb, celeriac puree,

roasted garlic, confit shallots

with pommes Anna potatoes and a redcurrant sauce.

I, after putting my fork in there, would probably send that back.

The meat is far too pink and jelly for me.

I like your pommes Anna, crispy, buttery, a hint of truffle.

I love the roasted garlic, a bit of bitterness on the top there.

What I'm not comfortable with is the cooking of that lamb.

Ben, it is big. It's a huge portion there -

two double chops of lamb.

I feel it could have been dressed with a little bit more attention and a little bit more finesse.

The lamb is pink. The celeriac puree is really nice.

It's got almost a real nutty sweetness to it.

The confit shallot is sweet, the French beans are well cooked.

The sauce I find far too sweet. It's almost like straight, melted redcurrant jelly.

For me, it's a bit of a mixed plate here, Ben.

I think there's been elements of my cooking today that have shown skill.

I think I've shown I'm committed,

but I've let myself down on that lamb.

Alison's classic dish is quail with grapes,

petits pois bonne femme

and pommes cocotte.

Alison, I like your presentation.

It's very neat. Very neat and tidy.

If I was cooking cailles aux raisins with petits pois like this,

I would probably plate it up in a very similar fashion.

The sauce is a good reduction.

It has lots and lots of depth of flavour there.

The quail is well seasoned, well roasted, pink as it should be.

Attention to detail here as well because you've trimmed down the bones on the quail there.

That's the kind of stuff we're looking for as chefs.

It's good, classic French cuisine.

Thank you.

I've got no complaint about that.

What I really love is that quail, its slight gaminess,

but you've got the smokiness of bacon in there, then that acidic sweetness of cooked grape.

That is very, very nice indeed.

I got amazing comments from both the judges

and they didn't fault my dish,

not one bit, not one tiny element of it, so...

I can't feel anything other than happiness really.

A mixture today,

but nonetheless, really good cooking.

Some chefs had a good first round, some had a good second round. Quality though.

Alison's quail was very good. It looked incredibly neat.

The little potatoes around the side there,

that lovely, juicy, well-cooked quail, perfectly seasoned,

a very good reduction sauce.

It was French classic cooking almost at its best.

Her take on your classic pasta dish didn't look beautiful,

but it tasted heavenly.

She has to go through. I want to see her cooking again.

Hopefully, I'll be staying in. This is just the beginning.

Now that I'm having fun, I don't want it to end.

Ash's attempt of my classic recipe looked exquisite.

It was so beautifully presented, but the sauce was too light.

It lacked oomph and he carried that through to the next round.

His classic dish was technically very good,

but it didn't excite the palate.

There is nothing wrong with the taste of Ash's food, but your expectation is so high

because of the presentation that you almost feel let down that it's not wowing.

He can cook though. He's a very talented young man.

He's got to go through, but I'd like to see him give it some welly.

I really don't want to be going home

I just hope that Michel Roux Junior and Gregg think I've done enough to stay in the competition.

With Ash through and Alison through, that means we have to decide between Tom and Ben.

Tom's interpretation of my classic was bordering on a disaster. It just didn't look right on the plate.

-In fact, the presentation was ugly.

-His own food was more than sound.

The ingredients worked really well. He had cauliflower puree which was beautiful and silky smooth.

I had one complaint and that was the pasta was a little too thick.

I'm just starting to get in the swin of things and cook good food.

I would be really annoyed with mysel if I left now.

Ben's definitely got the technical knowledge there. His bowl of pasta was good.

It didn't look pretty, but all the seafood in there was cooked bang-on.

His own classic recipe, all nice ideas, but his lamb was really undercooked.

Ben had so much to do - roasting the rack of lamb, covering it in breadcrumbs, the reduction sauce,

the four garnishes that he had. That's a lot to do in an hour.

For the most part, he got it right.

I'm desperate for a place in the quarter-final. There's plenty more of me to come, plenty more to show,

so I need that opportunity to prove there's more there.

You've got Ben with more cooking experience, but Tom, I think, with more flair.

I know which chef I'd like to see through to the quarter-final.

Three of you are going through to the quarter-final. One of you is going home.

And the chef leaving us is...

..Tom.

I always said I wasn't going to be tearful, but it's easier said than done.

It's just a shame that I didn't get to show my full potential, really, but...

Yeah.

Congratulations. You three are quarter-finalists. Well done.

I'm pretty happy, obviously.

I've got through to the quarter-finals, so pretty stoked about that.

It's a huge relief. Huge, huge relief. I'm over the moon as well.

Happy, ecstatic and nervous again.

I don't want to go home now. I want to keep on going.

Tomorrow, the four remaining chefs are back to be tested.

I think this is going to terrify them.

-The plate's a bit of a disaster.

-Oh, my word! Where's my spoon?

-This should not happen.

-That made you smile, you big, tough chef!

Before Michel Roux Junior sets the best chefs their first classic recipe.

It's about to get tough.

When it's like that, don't put it on the plate.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2011

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