Episode 21 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Jr is one of them.

Thomas, two St Jacques to the pass, now.

CHEFS CHEER

He and Masterchef judge Greg 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!

Oli,

Ash,

Steve

and Claire,

have made it through to the Masterchef finals.

This is what we've been waiting for. This is the start of the finals.

Four absolutely outstanding chefs.

We have got a week of culinary adventure coming up.

I want to go as far as I can. It's going to be

such an amazing ride ahead and I want to be a part of it.

To have entered it and to actually win it,

that's what it's about and what I'm here for.

I've had to work really hard to get here.

The risks I've taken

have pulled off, so far.

I'm very proud to get to the final.

I want to be here to the last day, hopefully win the competition.

I don't want it to end now, it's too much fun, too exciting!

We were hoping to find a star

but we found more than that,

we have a constellation of chefs!

Welcome to the Masterchef finals!

You've got this far and it's a major, major achievement!

But we never meant to have four of you.

We can only have three.

Which means, at the end of today,

one of you definitely has to leave the competition.

We've noticed, throughout the competition,

you've shied away from cooking meat,

so now the test is to cook

a starter and a main course

using beef or chicken.

One for the starter,

and one for the main course.

Behind us, you have the most amazing array of ingredients.

You are going to have to think on your feet.

This is the ultimate test.

We're giving you 10 minutes

to come up and have a look at these ingredients

and plan your menu. Up you come.

The chefs have to design their dishes

from beef fillet,

sirloin,

rump,

rib eye,

bavette or flank,

four rib and beef sausages,

a free range chicken and giblets,

as well as a range of ingredients

including bacon, cheeses,

vegetables, herbs and spices.

I've got a few ideas. There's a few more ingredients I'd like,

but there's some great stuff there.

Hopefully we all should be able to produce some really nice food.

I enjoy coming up with things

out of nothing and it is something I feel quite strong at.

But the nerves are kicking in, thinking, "Am I doing enough?

"Am I not doing enough? Am I doing too much?"

There's a lot at stake.

I am very nervous, so I need to make sure there's

no errors in my cooking today

and my flavours are strong.

I'm just going to keep a clear head,

do what I've wrote down in my book

and just try and absolutely nail it.

If I do nail the dishes, I have a good chance of going through,

if it's done right.

Have you all chosen fillet of beef?

All four of you

have gone for the most expensive cut with the least taste.

I think you're all being lazy!

-You've changed your mind now, Ash?

-Yeah, quite like sirloin.

OK, chefs, that's it. Can I ask you to go back to your benches, please?

Chefs,

one hour and 45 minutes.

Off you go!

Today is probably

the most important day of my life.

My two dishes need to be bang on,

perfect, 100%.

If not, then I have got every chance of going home.

Steve, what are you cooking?

Nice fillet of beef salad with a blue cheese beignets,

pickled beetroot, pickled shallot.

-Main course?

-Breast of chicken

with chicken dumplings, pumpkin, and then some lardons.

-What do you think of the challenge?

-It's really, really hard.

I feel nervous cooking,

there's a lot at stake. I want to be in the final three.

The reason we've got this test, we've got four of you,

is because of you and Claire.

The last round, we just cooked our hearts out and we did our best.

I'll just do the same today

and hope it's good enough.

With this beef salad,

we've got little fried blue cheese beignets.

Blue cheese is really strong

and it's whether that beef can cope with that and pickle flavour as well.

You've had half an hour.

The food now needs to be perfect.

You've got to come up with something

and you've just got to nail it, the first time.

Any mistakes and it's game over.

Ash, tell us what your two dishes are.

A mushroom consomme with some tarragon gnocchi

ballantine of chicken followed by a sirloin.

I'm going to serve it with a little potato and mushroom cannelloni.

Ash, I can't recall ever seeing a chef attempting a consomme

on Masterchef.

Neither have I!

So, sometimes you've got to just try and do something different,

stand out a bit, especially at this stage of the competition.

Wow! To clarify the stock and to make it crystal clear,

that's a lot of work, brave, mate!

-I know.

-How much do you want this, Ash?

-A lot.

I wouldn't be trying to do this in the amount of time

if I didn't want it. I have got to get there, got to be done.

I don't know how you make a clear, perfect consomme

in one hour and 45 minutes.

I don't know how you make a cannelloni

out of potato and mushrooms,

but I really want to try it!

Ash is attempting a very brave menu.

But now is the time to be brave.

You guys are halfway.

To go home today would be gutting.

It's kind of, like, you're not quite good enough to be a finalist.

Hopefully, it's not me.

-You OK, Claire?

-Very nervous.

This competition's under your skin!

I love it, I love being here and I enjoy it, so...

fingers crossed, I can pull it off, today.

Tell me what the whole menu is.

I've decided to do chicken consomme with confit chicken wings,

bit of chicken breast

-and a chervil gnocchi.

-Mmm!

And then for main course

I'm doing fillet of beef with spinach, pumpkin puree,

and some red wine jus.

Have you made chicken consomme before?

Yes, once at college.

It's not working.

To clarify any stock,

it should be cold

and you pour in your egg whites and then bring it to the boil.

You had boiling stock and you poured in your egg white.

The egg white cooked immediately

and didn't have the chance to take out the impurities.

A consomme is a clear,

crystal clear soup.

She's messed up on it.

Ultimately, if she can give us a really good chicken broth

with great garnish, I'll be happy!

It's an emotional day, it's showing on her.

She's young,

and she's feeling it!

Last 15!

I have made errors along the way, even in the semi-final.

I think now, today,

I just need to nail to get everything perfect on that plate.

I think I can do it.

Oli, what's on your menu?

Today I'm doing a ballantine of chicken for the starter,

with shallot puree and a borlotti bean stew.

And then for the main course, I'm doing fillet of beef Wellington

with a horseradish butter, a red wine jus, girolles and spinach.

Beef Wellington, though.

Is that the kind of menu that's going to get you through to the last three?

I am going back to my classical training. I can do it very well.

My flavours will be there.

It's the cooking of the meat, it should be strong enough to take me through.

-Biggest day of your career, Oli?

-Yeah.

This is one of the biggest days in my career.

A lot of pressure on today, as well.

I want to be in that final three.

Oli's making a beef Wellington for his main course!

Classic cooking can get you through to the last three, but it has to be perfect.

Last five minutes, OK?

Last two minutes!

One of them goes home today. The slightest mistake and that's it.

Last touches, 30 seconds.

That's it! Stop. Stop cooking.

Claire picked the chicken for her starter,

serving it with confit chicken wings, chervil gnocchi, carrots,

broad beans and girolle mushrooms with a chicken broth.

I think it looks lovely. I do. You started off saying that you were going to give us a consomme.

The clarification didn't work.

You've called it a broth. That's fine. As long as it tastes good.

The supreme, or the breast, is soft and tender and moist. Perfect.

Heavenly.

The little vegetables and the baby gnocchi there are great also.

The chicken wings have got bags of flavour.

A great choice of cut off the chicken.

The broth itself, well seasoned, good flavour, but far too much garlic.

The garlic is overpowering your chervil and even your chicken.

It could do with a little less garlic,

but sweet carrot and sweet broad bean

with the nice strength of that chicken broth, I think it's lovely.

For her main, she went with the fillet of beef

with a bed of spinach, cubed and pureed pumpkin and a red wine jus.

The beef is cooked correctly - medium rare, and it's got a nice colour on the exterior.

The sauce is the right consistency,

and the spinach is cooked properly and well seasoned.

It's not the kind of dish that's going to set the world on fire.

However, everything on this plate is 100% bang on.

That tastes great. I like it. I like it.

It's quite toned down from your normal presentation,

but there's no doubting its taste. It tastes great.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

I did get some positive feedback from the dishes.

It's just, have I done enough?

Oli used the chicken to make a ballantine stuffed with liver and bacon

accompanied by borlotti bean stew, shallot puree and chicken jus.

What works really well is your ballantine,

because you get the liver, you've got the chicken mousse, the smoked bacon

and that lovely sweet shallot puree.

What, however, doesn't work is that borlotti bean.

It's not quite cooked enough. It's quite hard. The texture's not right.

The sauce that it's bound in, though, is very good.

Very good sauce-making.

A shame about the beans. They're not cooked enough.

For his main course, he's chosen the fillet of beef to make a Wellington

with horseradish butter, spinach, girolles and a red wine jus.

The beef, for me, is well cooked. It's bordering on the rare side.

That's fine. The mushroom around that is very well done as well.

Lots of flavour in your beef Wellington. The pastry is a little soggy.

Five minutes more cooking would have been great.

The highlight for me is that lovely horseradish butter.

And your very good sauce. It works. It's heavenly. Very good.

I'm happy. I'm happy.

I'm not convinced by your presentation, but I love the way it tastes. I really do.

But being in a final of Masterchef, I think you can go to classic dishes,

but you should be giving them your own interpretation.

A very different interpretation. Because we know there are many chefs that could cook beef Wellington.

Thank you, Oli.

I'm feeling a bit disappointed. The execution again has let me down slightly.

Ash's starter is chicken pancetta ballantine, sauteed tarragon gnocchi,

girolle mushrooms, served with a mushroom consomme.

The consomme is beautiful and crystal clear, just as a consomme should be.

It's precision personified.

The chicken is beautifully moist, and that bacon is well seasoned.

The gnocchi are as light as a feather.

The consomme itself is very, very good. I take my hat off, honestly.

That's a lot of work, and very well done.

Oh, man, that's lovely.

Wow. It's like a whole box of mushrooms in one mouthful.

That's almost sweet, almost beefy, like a hug from a great big mushroom.

Hats off to you, that's absolutely stunning.

For his main, he's cooked pan-fried sirloin on a bed of spinach

with garlic cream, a potato and mushroom cannelloni,

broad beans and a beef jus.

Everything is beautifully seasoned as it should be.

Your sauce has got a nice tomatoey finish to it,

which works beautifully with that sweet garlic puree.

The perfect match.

Your sirloin is well cooked, well seasoned.

The potato cannelloni is fun.

It's showing a bit of ingenuity, a little bit of imagination.

I like this dish. I really do.

It's without fault. For me, it's beyond reproach.

I think it's delicious. I think it's delightful.

Two, I think, absolutely fabulous dishes, Ash.

Thanks, Ash.

I feel a lot better now after hearing the comments.

I think both dishes came out quite nicely. I did a decent job today.

Steve is the only one who's chosen beef for the starter,

thinly slicing it and topping it with blue cheese beignets

with pickled, pureed and deep-fried beetroot.

My fear was that the strong taste of the blue cheese

and the pickled beetroot was going to overpower the beef.

And that is the case.

It's just too much going on on there. Too much going on, too many flavours.

Visually, it looks great, beautiful and so much work on that plate.

Such a shame that we can't really get the best out of the beef.

For his main, he's made chicken ballantine

and dumplings with roast chicken breast, lardons,

cubed and pureed pumpkin, and a bacon and mustard sauce.

There's sweetness from the pumpkin,

sharpness from the mustard which I really like,

your little dumplings or chicken mousse, poached or soft.

The little ballantine is a pleasant surprise.

I like the chicken breast. It's got crispy skin. Precise, clever cooking.

I really like it. Really like it, because wherever you go on that plate,

you get a different taste sensation, but always with chicken.

The chicken may have the texture of mousse. It may be crispy.

I think it's great. I think it's a box of chicken delights.

It is clever, Steve. We gave you one chicken.

You've given it back to us in four ways.

Thank you.

I'm not sure if I've done enough to stay in the competition.

Maybe my starter might have let me down, you just don't know.

This was a real tough one,

but it had to be at this stage of the competition.

After all, there are four of you, and only three go through.

Off you go.

Today was amazing. You can see how much this meant to them.

It's do or die.

I think Ash is absolutely unbelievable.

That mushroom consomme was just out of this world.

Ash's consomme was like an elixir. It was so intense.

Amazing skills. I love the fact that Ash had used sirloin and not fillet.

With that garlic cream, it was lovely. It was perfect.

The potato cannelloni, as he called it. It was incredible.

The guy's a star. The guy's an absolute star.

Can we talk about Steve next? Because he never ceases to amaze me.

Steve's starter of rare beef salad was pretty as a picture.

Unfortunately, we couldn't taste the beef

because it was overpowered by the pickled beetroot,

the beetroot puree and those very good blue cheese beignets.

I'm prepared to forgive him for that. It looked beautiful and tasted great.

And I thought his main course of chicken was lovely.

Steve was never going to give us a piece of chicken with a garnish.

All of that plate was delicious.

I don't think Steve thinks like other chefs. I think he's unique.

-Steve has definitely got to join Ash through to the final three.

-Right.

Steve in, and Ash in.

This is where it gets tougher. Because we've got Claire and Oli.

Claire tried to make a consomme. She didn't make that work. I don't care.

I thought her broth was excellent.

And she gave us with that broth little tiny gnocchi.

She gave us crispy lovely juicy chicken wings as well.

That was yummy. It tasted very, very good indeed.

However, it had too strong an aftertaste of garlic.

She spent so much time on that broth, she was left with very little time

actually to do the main course, which was the fillet of beef.

It was good cooking. I would say error-free.

But it wasn't inspired.

It wasn't the kind of food we have come to expect from Claire.

She remains a very exciting young talent,

but this was not one of her strongest days.

To be knocked out now would be a real blow.

From past series you see what the finalists get to do

and it's absolutely amazing.

I really, really would love to be a part of that.

Oli gave me a very good ballantine.

It tasted great as did his shallot puree that he made as well

but the borlotti beans that he had were too hard.

The borlotti beans were nowhere near cooked.

If he'd have mashed them up, it would have been fine, but they were hard.

Oli's main course was an attempt at a great classic - beef Wellington.

His beef was well cooked, well seasoned, his sauce was delicious,

but the pastry was a little thick

on the base there and hadn't cooked enough.

There's always a little mistake with Oli. It's infuriating.

His food always tastes great but he never,

never manages to cook without an error. Ever.

My execution hasn't been right in quite a few of the rounds.

Today nerves got a little bit the better of me.

It would be devastating if I let myself down today.

One of these has to leave.

It's either Claire or Oli.

I love them both and they're good chefs. It's very hard to say.

We've ended up with four of you. We can only take three of you.

One of you has to leave the competition.

The chef leaving is...

..Oli. I'm sorry, Oli.

I'm sorry.

Today was the day I had to perform to my highest ability

and I didn't do it.

My ambition for my own restaurant is still there.

I have to carry on working as hard as I have been and I can get that.

So tired, I still can't believe it.

This is such a roller coaster. I'm still on that ride. It's going to be amazing.

It's been a daunting day today. A bit overwhelming, the whole thing.

I'm happy to be here still.

To really be in the final three is just amazing.

I'm so happy that what I did today was enough,

cos there was some doubt there.

There's still a long way to go.

Calm down, let me tell you, listen to me.

Your adventure is about to begin.

We are sending you to El Celler De Can Roca in Spain,

a three star Michelin, number two restaurant in the world.

'Tomorrow night in the battle for the title, the finalists must prove

'that they can cook with the best in the world.'

If I were starting off my career again, this is where I would want to learn.

Cooking for the Roca brothers. This is a huge deal.

I'm really nervous about this. I really don't want to mess this up.

Three star Michelin food - it is down to them.

Go for it. OK? Pass, pass, pass.

Plates that are just gone - can we stop them, bring them back?

For once I don't feel confident in cooking.

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