Episode 24 MasterChef: The Professionals

'Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

'Michel Roux Jr is one of them.'

Now! THEY SHOUT

'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.

'Since 2008, Professional MasterChef has produced three exceptional winners.'

-Our Professional MasterChef champion is...Derek.

-Yes!

Steve.

Claire.

Before MasterChef, I was just a normal young lad

from Scotland, Glasgow, working hard.

I've recently moved back to Scotland and taken on a head chef position.

MasterChef has changed my life. In the next few years,

I would really love to see Restaurant Derek Johnstone.

Winning Masterchef is obviously the highlight of my career so far.

It opened up a lot of opportunities. One quail, one plaice.

It's got me started in some of the top restaurants in the world

and also it's given me the support of Chef Michel, which is a massive opportunity.

Winning MasterChef has absolutely changed my life.

I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but it's so true.

This amazing opportunity came about to open my own place.

So we've got the pass here, oven, pastry.

Here I am, creating my own restaurant.

Life doesn't get much better, really.

'Tonight, a new champion will join their ranks.'

It would just be an amazing achievement for me

to be crowned MasterChef winner.

I do really, really want it now.

People don't remember the runners-up. I want to have that title.

I want to be called Steve - Winner, MasterChef The Professionals.

It would be the pinnacle to win the competition.

It would be fantastic for the future and my career, definitely.

'Steve, Ash and Claire

'face one final challenge...

'..before one of them is crowned Professional MasterChef 2011.

I was born in Bedford and brought up in a little village called Westoning.

When I was growing up, my mum was cooking in the school and my dad was an electrician.

And I've got my brother, who's three years older than me.

I remember, when I was six, cooking with my grandma, me being really small

looking up to her, trying to make Yorkshire puddings and there's flour everywhere

and making loads of mess, but I remember loving it

and I remember it to this day, my first experience pretty much of cooking.

Steve is always very busy.

Never sits still for five minutes.

He wasn't much into books, really. He was more practical.

Football, running around, making a lot of noise. Normal stuff.

Hey!

A kid's dream is always to be a professional footballer.

I'm not different. It's something that I did want to be.

But the reason I decided on food, I just think I loved it more.

When I was 15, I was starting out doing a bit of pot washing.

Then they used to let me go and watch Luton Town in the afternoon,

come back, wash up, then they used to tell me if I was really quick,

I could jump on and do a bit of pastry with the pastry chef.

I just remember loving it and decided then I want to crack on and be a chef.

I think it was about a week after I started,

my head chef came in and said, "Oh, we've got a pastry chef starting today"

and I remember the first words he said to me were, "Steve, don't fancy her."

He came down the corridor with a cup of tea for me with a big smile.

Pretty much two weeks later, we were going out on dates

and here we are now, really.

The dream is, I want a nice little country house hotel.

I'm the chef and she's the pastry chef.

Doing amazingly good food, making people happy.

Hopefully winning this will help me achieve that.

This competition for me has been so hard.

From day one, we were up against so many great chefs.

Steve is consistently delivering food of the highest level,

beautifully dressed and very, very complex.

It looks beautiful and so much work on that plate.

There's a lot of technique.

Every dish held 100 little surprises.

I like that because it wasn't what I expected. Very nice.

It's a box of chicken delights.

I think my best dish so far has got to be doing my classic,

because the first time cooking for Michel Roux Jr was nerve-racking.

It looks beautiful. This is knocking on the door, mate.

Yeah, that's a massive high.

Lowest point, probably in Spain

For once, I just don't feel confident cooking.

Pretty depressed, pretty down. Then at the same time, got really high on it.

Your work is fantastic.

I feel now that I really believe in what I can do.

-Wow, Steve, lovely. Very nice rabbit.

-That's looking great, Steve.

It's just exquisite.

-Technically very good.

-Whoever cooked it knows what they're doing.

It was such an experience. I just loved every minute.

I think that is an absolute treat.

-It's glorious!

-This is proper high-end dining.

You've given us something which you can be proud of.

To be called a winner would be sensational.

I'm going to give it my best shot and I'd just love to win so much.

I was born in Victoria, Australia.

Lived there for a few years and then moved to Tasmania.

And we sort of lived in bushland areas.

There was always a lot to do.

I was always running around in the bush, being a ninja,

making tree houses and stuff.

We used to spend most weekends at the beach, either surfing

or free-diving for abalone and spear fishing and that sort of stuff.

I grew up with my mum and my step-father.

They grow lots of their own vegetables and most of the food we ate there was home-grown.

My mum was always cooking at home for us and we were always involved and seeing what was going on.

I must have been 19 or 20 when I decided to enrol for cookery school.

During doing my cookery course, I started working in a cafe.

I was doing a lot of cooking quite quickly. Yeah, I fell in love with it.

I taught myself as much as I could through reading books

and then I decided, "Well, I really need to go to Europe,

"cos that's where I'm going to learn a lot about food".

I told Mum and she was sort of like, "Oh, OK, have a good time."

I pretty much started working as a freelance chef,

working around the larger catering companies around London.

I've been to Scotland a lot, France, Spain.

I've been all over the place with that, and it's been a great experience.

I started working at the hotel in Central London where I met a lovely, beautiful waitress

and her name's Begona.

I just used to see him in the kitchen all the time.

We started to know each other and, erm, until now, ten years later.

Yeah, we, erm, fell in love, moved in together quite quickly.

Begona's very much into her food, she's Basque.

-Looks good.

-Basque people are very serious about their food, so, yeah, we get on well.

-Is it as good as your mum's monkfish?

-Let's see.

Good. Lovely.

I'm starting to get to the age where I think I'd like to be more in my own environment, restaurant-wise.

It's always been a thing at the back of my mind

and Begona and I have spoken about it a lot.

If Ash wins MasterChef, it's going to open him a lot of doors

and mainly it will open his mind on looking into the future

and realising that he can do it.

-He has to make it now.

-SHE LAUGHS

Yeah, there might be a restaurant run by me one day soon. We'll see.

You look at Ash, the first time he ever came in and cooked, he made a tart fine.

Perfect. Ash, lovely dessert.

I know Monica is tough, but that's a serious pat on the back.

Ash has impressed us from the very beginning. He is an accomplished chef.

I take my hat off. That's a lot of work and very well done.

It's without fault. I think it's delicious. I think it's delightful.

Ash doesn't depend on gimmicks. It's proper cooking.

Dependence on taste, flavour and the beauty of the presentation.

The crust is nice and golden and crispy.

This is a very, very good dish.

That's incredible! That's divine!

-HE LAUGHS

-That's lovely!

Obviously, there's been points where I would've liked to have been a lot better.

-Ash, you're feeling the pressure.

-I'm going to be in trouble soon.

-Put the turbo on.

When things don't go right, I try not to panic, but you don't know if you're going to crack.

If we look at the chef's table, he started to lose it.

He really was that far away from taking his apron off and going.

If I had two more hands, I'd use them.

But he delivered on time a beautiful dish.

Absolutely fantastic. It's a chef's dish.

It's a song. It's perfect. I love it.

-Cook food like that in a restaurant, you'd be busy every day.

-Well done.

Being involved in MasterChef, it has made me realise what I am capable of.

My biggest highlight so far was working in El Celler de Can Roca.

Cooking for the Roca brothers. You don't want to get it wrong. This is a huge deal.

-The lobster is perfect.

-Muchas gracias.

It's definitely changed the way I think about food. I'll remember it for a long time.

Gracias.

It's eye-wateringly beautiful. It hurts it's so pretty.

The whole process of MasterChef's been so full-on, stressful, exciting.

To go so far to not win it would be disappointing.

I wouldn't have put in the hard work if I didn't want to win.

It'd be an amazing feeling to have your name called out at the end.

We'll just have to see. Nearly there.

I was born and grew up in Moseley, which is a suburb of Birmingham.

Me and my brother grew up with my dad.

Till I was 16, and then came to live with my mum.

She's always been very determined.

She walked when she was eight months and there was no stopping her.

Claire was very wilful. To say she's a little madam is not quite true,

but, you know...

I started off at an early age in the kitchen.

I always used to help my dad out.

I remember the first thing I ever cooked, which was a cheese sauce for Sunday dinner

and I was so proud of myself, I made a little roux.

I remember my brother paying me to cook,

so I'd get up extra early, make him breakfast, dinner,

wait on him hand and foot.

-He thought it was a chore, but I loved it.

-SHE LAUGHS

I went to do my A-levels. I started doing five different subjects

and then just kept dropping them until all I had left was home economics.

Which was the only thing I enjoyed. And that's when I decided

that I'd just go to the college of food and have that one subject to focus on.

A live cooking show, that was. There was loads of people watching us.

And your silver. That was the one I went to.

-Oh, yeah.

-That was good fun, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Champagne afterwards.

-Mm.

I went on to do my degree.

When I entered MasterChef, it was the run-up to my final exam,

so it was quite a stressful time for me and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to juggle everything.

But I got my results two weeks ago and, yeah, I got a first class degree.

-First class BA. Brilliant, isn't it?

-Yeah.

I can get a little bit emotional. You're very proud of your children.

To see her just flying really, just super.

In my first ever competition, I got a bronze award.

Young Chef Of The Year I got second place.

So I've never got first.

So maybe this is my time.

Claire, I couldn't see her coming. Because she was so young, I almost overlooked her.

But it was impossible to overlook the quality of the food.

That tastes fantastic.

Meeting Monica was very daunting. I was mostly scare of that.

It's an amazing mixture of flavours. You're a very talented little chef. You should be proud of that.

She's quite nice, actually.

Claire pushes the boundaries.

She's not afraid to try new combinations.

-Wow!

-It's certainly the kind of originality

we would want from a chef at this level.

I've never eaten anything like that ever before. I like it.

I am not convinced. But, saying that, I'd eat the lot.

Claire's food can divide the diners' opinion.

It's different. Whoever's cooked it has a bit of imagination.

I think it was a bit too much.

The scallops could've been cooked or sliced more thinly.

Critics day was definitely the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life.

You're breathing like you've just done a 100 metre sprint.

-This feeling that I've never felt before, it's so hard.

-Slow down.

-I know. I can't help it.

Well, this really has the wow factor. It's an absolutely unbelievably good looking dish.

This competition does make you push yourself to extreme lengths

and you do surprise yourself with how well you can do.

Claire, thank you. It's good.

Everything on this plate is 100 percent bang-on.

-Amazing.

-Very good.

It's mind-blowingly good!

Where you find this from at 22 years old, I've no idea.

I'd just be so proud of myself to win MasterChef.

Coming off on top would be absolutely amazing.

Today's the day that they have to prove to us for the final time that they have got it.

-We'll have a culinary joust.

-Bring it on!

This is it. This is the final of MasterChef The Professionals.

Two and a half hours

to produce three courses

that will give you the MasterChef title.

Deliver your heart and soul in your cooking.

If you can do that,

you will be the MasterChef Professional champion.

Off you go.

This is the final. We should get superb, sublime, delicious, beautiful food.

Big pressure. To come this far now, each three of these believes they can take this title.

I like to be on my game every day, really.

Today won't be any different. I'm up against two incredible chefs.

It is immense pressure. Probably the most pressure I've ever felt in my life.

For starter, I'm doing a confit salmon with a little smoked salmon Scotch egg, pickled beetroot,

beetroot puree, horseradish cream.

For my main course, roast breast of duck, slow-cooked leg,

pan-fried liver, carrot, orange and vanilla puree.

And then for dessert, I'm doing flavours of peach melba.

How does that differ from a peach melba?

It's exactly the same ingredients. You've got poached peaches, then a peach jelly.

So it's a deconstructed peach melba.

-Yeah.

-Steve, you have got a lot to do!

MasterChef finals, the last time I'll cook for you, I want to make sure it's the best.

What's your dream, Steve?

Later on in my career, I want to get a Michelin star and just be the best.

I want to be what them chefs were that we cooked for.

I want people to look at me like I looked at them. That's what I want.

I think Steve's menu's absolutely delightful. Delightful.

Steve's starter is a confit salmon.

Serving with a smoked salmon Scotch egg and horseradish and beetroot.

Classic combinations served up in Steve's style.

Steve's main course is a roast supreme, or breast, of duck.

He's serving with that leg meat that he's slow-cooking and braising.

And orange, carrots and vanilla sauce.

I worry about that. The carrot is naturally sweet and he's adding the vanilla and the orange.

Steve is going to have to be very careful with his balance of flavours.

I've got a bit of vanilla in the duck. I think it works perfectly well.

It might not be Gregg or Michel's cup of tea.

That's a risk I'm going to take.

Peach melba. I don't think there can be a better dessert. It's heavenly.

Steve is deconstructing this wonderful, classic recipe.

He's making a raspberry mousse,

peach jelly.

He is giving us a peach cooked in a water bath.

And a vanilla custard.

This is playing to Steve's strengths.

He takes classic combinations, he uses classic cooking to produce something very, very different.

You've had half an hour.

I'm going to put everything into the final cook-off. It's the last chance to win it.

The last time to prove myself, so it means everything.

I'm cooking some monkfish with some piperade

followed by a main course of lamb with artichokes and anchovies

and then I'm doing a torrija, which is like a pain perdu with apricots and almonds.

-Why all these Spanish influences?

-I've picked up a lot of influences from Spain in my travels.

-They've sort of stuck by me.

-Your food, correct me if I'm wrong,

is a tribute to your love for your girlfriend.

Erm, yeah, you could say that, as well.

You seem to be motoring along at 100 miles an hour, as per usual.

-On time? Or are you just really pushing yourself.

-I've just got to keep pushing.

It's just like, yeah, I like the pressure. I don't know why, but I sort of like being here.

-It's a bit silly, really.

-THEY LAUGH

It's a competition and you've got to push.

So if it all goes wrong, it goes wrong. Hopefully it won't.

He's come out all guns blazing. He want this title, he wants it big style.

Ash's menu is full of bold, strong flavours.

Ash's starter is a monkfish tail with chorizo.

Served on jet-black lentils.

And a piperade jus.

It's peppers concentrated with onion. Fantastic, great, gutsy flavours.

I can't wait to taste that.

It just shouts Spain.

It couldn't be more Spanish if it chucked a maraca at you.

His main course is speaking to my inner depths.

He's roasting a rump of lamb

but also braising the neck ends

and putting that inside mashed potato.

And he's got anchovies, as well, which will give depth and saltiness.

Very bold flavours

Wonderful, again.

Ash's dessert is a torrija of apricots and almond.

Very similar to a bread pudding.

With beautiful poached almonds.

And a lovely vanilla custard.

I can't wait to taste that.

That could be heaven in a bowl.

You are halfway. One hour and 15 minutes and we want three MasterChef winning courses.

I've got to be confident.

I must be pretty good to have got this far.

The menu I've created is a winning menu.

Very representative of my style, definitely, 100 percent, it's me on a plate

My starter is oysters

with vinegar aioli, bellota ham,

buckwheat and cucumber.

Mm!

Main course is smoked pigeon with beetroot and rosemary oil.

And for dessert, I'm doing chocolate marquise with a cocoa nib tuile,

cherry fluid gel and amaretti biscuits.

-If you don't mind me saying, you don't look yourself.

-More nervous?

-Yes.

-Because it means so much to me and this is the final day of cooking,

so it's like... everything's got to be perfect and there's just no room for error.

I'm just worried that these nerves are going to make me do something wrong,

so try and hold it together today.

-You're the first chef ever to light a bonfire in the MasterChef kitchen.

-SHE LAUGHS

Claire is preparing a starter of oysters,

buckwheat, cucumber and bellota ham.

Buckwheat is very unusual. It has that lovely nutty taste.

I think it's a combination that really could work.

She says her main course is beetroot and pigeon. Knowing Claire, there'll be a different angle to this, though.

The smoking element to the pigeon, that's showing a new technique.

But it's a very fine line of it being over-smoked and overpowering.

Hope I'm not invited to one of your barbecues.

Smokiness on a pigeon works really well.

But it has to be a delicate aftertaste.

She's smoked it with birchwood.

Birchwood can be quite acrid and bitter.

There's a big risk here.

Dessert, chocolate marquise, like a chocolate mousse,

served with deep, fruity cherries.

I can't see Claire giving us just a chocolate mousse with a few cherries and amaretti biscuits. Not her style.

I'm sure this dessert has got another Claire twist to it.

Chefs, we have just 20 minutes left.

I think there's one or two chefs who wish they hadn't pushed themselves quite so hard.

-Claire, are you OK?

-Yep.

-You had such a nervous look then.

-Just worried about getting ready on time.

-You are rushed, aren't you?

-Yep.

Come on. That helps, doesn't it? Bald bloke shouting come on.

Tense, tense, tense. Come on.

Last five minutes, please.

There's some beautiful food being dressed now.

It's absolutely amazing!

Guys, last touches!

Time's up.

Up you come, Steve.

'Steve has made a starter of confit salmon with crispy skin,

'smoked salmon Scotch eggs served with pickled beetroot,

'beetroot julienne, beetroot puree and horseradish cream.'

It looks awesome. The black slate brings out all these wonderful colours.

It's very vibrant. It's striking.

The salmon you cooked sous-vide.

It's lovely. It's succulent, it's moist and has a wonderful flavour to it.

The Scotch eggs are perfection.

Not easy to cook that salmon, get a nice crisp exterior

but still have the yolk runny, and you have done that.

That's all down to precision timing. Well done.

Ohh!

Throughout is the lovely flavour of that clean, beautiful, elegant salmon.

That Scotch egg is wonderful. That lovely smokiness of the salmon

and you've got the egg yolk sticky.

This is without fault.

'For his main, Steve has made slow-roasted duck breast,

'pan-fried duck liver and a deep-fried ballotine of duck leg.

'Accompanied by potatoes, braised chicory and a carrot, orange and vanilla puree

'with a port and duck sauce.'

The duck supreme is beautifully cooked, it's pink and succulent.

The liver is lovely, golden and crisp on the outside, cooked pink,

it's not dry, which is very difficult to get right.

The ballotine made from the legs you've rolled in breadcrumbs and then fried,

which adds another texture and another dimension.

The little potatoes you cooked in a vacuum bag. They come out really, really intense in flavour.

There's some great cooking on this plate. Great, great skills.

Duck is lovely. There is crispiness and there is softness.

The sauce I'm not convinced of and it's because of the vanilla.

It's taking me into the world of dessert. And I'm not quite sure. But I would eat it.

Another beautiful plate, Steve. Another absolutely stunning, good-looking plate.

'Dessert is flavours of peach melba,

'made up of a vanilla parfait, topped with a flake almond and caramel brittle,

'poached peaches, a peach jelly, a raspberry mousse and vanilla custard.'

Wow. It's unrecognisable as a peach melba.

But it's certainly got the flavours of a peach melba.

Beautiful colours and lots of little treats.

Mm. Those peaches are delicious! They are divine!

You put them sous-vide in the vacuum pouch to conserve all the wonderful flavours and to concentrate them,

and you've achieved that. It's a nice dessert. Very delicious.

It's soft peach.

Peach has a finish which is almost bitter, back up again with sweetness of raspberry, that is almost sharp

and then the really mellow wash of vanilla.

It's just like eating a peach melba, with different textures.

-It tastes divine.

-GREGG LAUGHS Thanks, Steve.

I don't think I could have done any more.

I think I gave 100 percent, if not more.

I did my best out there that I could, my best ability,

so, yeah, I think it's enough.

Ash, up you come.

'Ash's starter is a roasted monkfish tail served on a bed of beluga lentils and a Basque piperade,

'which is made up of red peppers and tomatoes,

'all resting on a smooth piperade, with diced chorizo and courgette twirls.'

Ash you always present your food with precision and elegance.

It's no surprise that you've done it again here. White, orange, green, really vibrant.

The aroma of this dish is intoxicating, almost. It's lovely.

The monkfish is cooked to perfection, well-seasoned.

The little lentils are beautifully cooked, as well. They still have a tiny bit of a crunch.

They're not going away to a puree.

Delicious. I like the fact that you have a smooth piperade, but you also have a chunky one.

So we've got texture, which is vital.

The flavours are like the aromas. Intoxicating.

The depth of flavour that you've managed to get in this dish is remarkable.

It's a beautiful dish.

Tender, juicy, yet still meaty, sweetness and a little bit of sharpness from the peppers.

This is a little bit of northern-Spanish sunshine in here.

-HE LAUGHS

-I really like this.

'For his main course, Ash has made a roast rump of lamb served on fondant potatoes,

'with a braised lamb neck and potato croquette on baby vegetables,

'artichoke sauteed with Serrano ham,

'a roast garlic and anchovy puree and a red wine jus.'

Yet again, presentation, it's very difficult to fault.

It's just clean lines, precise,

it looks elegant and refined, without any of the faffing around.

You don't faff about when it comes to putting food on the plate.

-GREGG LAUGHS

-Good, is it?

I'm not stopping.

That little potato croquette with the braised neck of lamb is moist on the outside,

sweet from the meat, and crispy on the outside from the breadcrumbs.

Bang on! It's lovely. Beautiful.

And a perfect accompaniment for this lamb dish.

Your roasted rump of lamb has got a lovely crisp exterior,

but, for me, the highlight, and what really does bring the whole dish together,

is this puree of garlic, anchovy and onion.

It's sweet, salty, garlicky and is a perfect foil for the lamb rump.

It's excellent, beautifully executed.

And above all, delicious.

As far as I'm concerned, that is just brilliant,

from one end of the plate to the other, absolutely brilliant.

At the end here, this croquette, what you've made is a crispy shepherd's pie, and it's divine.

-Ash, this is super, super food.

-Thank you.

Very, very good indeed.

'Ash's dessert is a torrija, a Spanish bread and butter pudding made using brioche,

'served with a vanilla parfait dusted with almonds and caramel,

'poached apricots and an almond custard.'

The little bread or brioche pudding is really delicious.

It's a play of textures

because you've got the outside which is crunchy from the sugar and the basting in foaming butter

and the inside is soft and sweet and has got that little yeasty flavour to it that you get from the bread.

Very good pain perdu, or bread pudding.

The apricots have got lots and lots of vanilla in them, they're beautiful.

Your vanilla parfait is lovely. It's got so much vanilla in there, it's heady.

Everything on this plate is well-cooked,

cooked by a craftsman,

-very, very good.

-Thank you.

I think you may be putting together a combination of flavours that I might kill for.

No, that's me done. I'm happy, mate.

Er, almond flavour, little bit of sweetness with the sugar on top.

The bread holds all that vanilla flavour in

and you get a little bit of sweetness coming through with that apricot, as well.

I think that's beautiful. You could happily close your eyes and float away. That's bowl-licking.

-HE LAUGHS

-I think your food needs to be eaten by lots and lots of people.

-And I mean that.

-Thank you.

I'm proud of myself. For me, it's been a great personal achievement to get this far.

I think I've cooked well.

It's up to the judges now.

Up you come, Claire.

'Claire has made a starter of poached oysters with toasted buckwheat and bellota ham

'with cucumber slices, pickled cucumber balls,

'pickled velvet mushrooms and aioli.'

It looks beautiful. It really does look exquisite.

I love the combination on here. The oyster and the buckwheat work really well together.

I was a little bit wary about cucumber and ham, but the ham brings in a bit of smokiness and meat.

It's a really wise choice, a really wise combination.

It's one that I would order. It's a good dish.

Oh, you're clever. Oh, sometimes you are just so clever.

Clearly, succinctly from one texture to another, one flavour to another flavour.

I think it's lovely. I think it tastes every little bit as good as it looks.

'Claire's main is birchwood-smoked Anjou pigeon

'served with pickled beetroot, beetroot puree,

'beetroot crisps, rosemary oil, and a Barolo wine and pigeon sauce.'

That's really good. It's all about that iron gaminess of the pigeon.

The sweetness and earthiness of the beetroot

is matched by a slight sweetness in that sauce, as well.

That taste combination is a new one to me.

And I think it's lovely, very nice.

I was very, very worried when I saw that bonfire in your kitchen there.

I saw all that smoke. But it works.

It really does. It's not overpowered.

You get that smokiness, but the meat has still got that lovely, rich pigeon flavour,

and it's cooked to perfection.

Well done.

There's some very, very good cooking here.

But I have to ask myself, is it a great dish?

Does it wow me? Well, actually, it does.

'For her dessert, Claire has made a chocolate and coffee marquise...

'..topped with a cocoa nib tuile, amaretti crumb and silver leaf,

'and served with griottine cherries, a cherry gel and a chocolate sauce.'

That is so rich.

Chocolate, sweet, yes, but bitter,

but the whole thing really comes alive when a boozy cherry bursts in your mouth.

The chocolate marquise is lovely, it's creamy in texture,

and just the right amount of sugar.

The little tuile on the top adds more texture and a bit of bitterness.

This whole dessert is not too sweet, which I like.

The only little let-down I have is this cherry gel, which hasn't got enough depth of flavour.

But this is unbelievable cooking, Claire.

You should be proud of yourself.

Thanks.

I thought it went really well.

I think I've given them a very difficult decision to make.

You know, it's going to be a close call.

Truly magnificent.

Outstanding.

Thank you. Off you go.

Well done, everyone!

I didn't think I was going to make it.

I think we are in a real privileged position here

where we have just watched glittering careers born.

You've seen hundreds of chefs, they are that good, aren't they?

They're not just good, they're very good.

They've got it, they've got it in abundance. They're true professionals, Gregg.

They've got that drive that's necessary to achieve stardom.

Potentially we've got three stars.

Steve, undoubtedly one of the superstar chefs of the future

with an eye for detail and presentation second to none.

Steve's starter was cooking to perfection. It was timing, it was precise.

You don't get a runny yolk in a quail egg Scotch egg

without knowing how to cook to the second. That was unbelievable, that was skill.

Heaven, I'd like to say on a plate. Heaven on a slate we got there.

Steve gave us another exquisite-looking dish with his duck.

I don't believe it was the best puree he could make. It was the vanilla.

But I find it hard to criticise such a stunningly good-looking plate of food,

with such brilliant, precise cooking.

Steve's duck was cooked bang on.

He'd made a little ballotine with the legs, they were lovely and that piece of liver was cooked to perfection.

There was some good cooking on that main course.

-Dessert, very clever.

-It worked beautifully, the combination of flavours.

-It was like eating a peach melba.

-He's great.

Before I was like, "Yeah, I want to be in the final, it's been amazing journey."

But now you're here, you just cook the food, and I want it so much.

Claire has a touch and style and a creativity and inventiveness

completely out there on her own.

I loved Claire's starter. And it was new on me.

I've never even dreamt of putting buckwheat, oysters, cucumber and aioli together,

and a little bit of ham, but it worked.

How does she do it? How does she dream up these combinations?

It looked fantastic. It was light, yet still vibrant. Very, very exciting food.

I was a bit worried with Claire's main course of smoked pigeon.

But when I tasted it, I thought it was heavenly, there was just the right amount of smoke.

The balance was perfect.

The sauce that she'd made, it was wonderful.

I really liked that pigeon. I thought the flavours were absolutely right.

I really enjoyed Claire's dessert. Absolutely beautiful.

It had a lightness of touch, it was elegant, it had class, it had style, I could have lapped up that plate.

But the whole thing really came alive as one of those boozy cherries popped in your mouth,

then you were like, "Whoa!" Good flavours.

I'm very nervous about what the outcome is going to be.

Yeah, I will be disappointed if I don't get the title.

I loved Ash's food today.

His monkfish starter, the piperade, that jus, that reduction of flavours from the red pepper, the garlic,

and the sweet onion, it was good cooking.

And it looked superb. It looked stunning.

Ash always presents his food with elegance. His main course of roasted rump of lamb was lovely, delicious!

That lamb was absolutely gorgeous.

And I loved that little garnish of a braised neck of lamb,

wrapped in mashed potato and deep-fried. It was heavenly.

-Mm.

-Really brought together with that garlic, onion and anchovy puree.

-That was a dream.

-Using anchovy as a seasoning and not as a flavour.

-That's clever.

-That's the sort of dish you don't want to come to an end. You don't want it to finish.

You want another one, as soon as it's gone.

He made a lovely Spanish-style bread pudding, which had a lovely crispy, sugary topping on top.

And the fact that it was warm and his vanilla parfait was cold gave a nice contrast.

It was creamy, rich, sweet.

Mm-mm.

I was chest deep in it. I was just floating away on a sea of vanilla

and sugar and a little bit of deeper sweet apricot.

That's the sort of warmth and nurturing sort of food that I just love.

He's got love and drive and passion. You can see that, you can taste it on the plate.

You like to think you're going to come out on top after how much effort has been put in.

But the other guys are great chefs, as well, so there's a lot of competition.

We have three finalists which are of exceptional talent.

To get three of them together in one competition has been unbelievable.

Steve, for me, is a Michelin star chef in the making.

Steve's cooking is precision personified. He has got a glittering future in front of him.

A lot of things are going through my head. Just thinking, "I hope it's my name."

Yeah, a bit worried.

Claire has been unbelievable. A revelation.

Unique, inventive, creative food, a style of her very own. She is destined for greatness.

It has been emotional.

I'm excited, nervous, my heart is pumping.

It just means everything to me now.

Ash is a supreme talent.

He pushes himself to the absolute limit and always delivers.

His food is incredible. Standout, world-class, fantastic dishes.

End of the journey, just about.

It's been long, difficult, tiring, strenuous.

But it's been good, as well. It's been a really good experience, a life-changing experience.

What are we going to do, Gregg? We've got to make a decision. We've got to draw the line.

If I could only eat one of these guys' food for the rest of my life, I know which one I would choose.

Me, too.

Watching you three has been a joy.

Tasting the food has been heavenly.

Making this decision has been very tough.

Our Professional MasterChef champion is...

..Ash. # Tonight's the kind of night

# Where everything could change

# Tonight's the kind of night

# Where everything could change

I can't help but be disappointed because I wanted to have that title so much.

But I'm definitely proud of what I've achieved and where I've got to.

There's a bright future ahead of me.

I've got to thank you guys.

What we've done in this competition is just a chance in a lifetime. And I've taken it and I've done well.

And I just can't wait for my career ahead of me. It's going to be good.

Wow! I'm in dreamland now.

Goals are achievable, dreams can come true.

It's amazing. Hopefully I can go even further. Get right to the top.

Hey! Congratulations, Ash.

-Oh, my God. Cheers.

-Where have you been hiding all this time?

Your food is outstanding.

Ash has got a gift, the gift of culinary genius.

He has got the eye for it, he's got the palate for it, he's got the touch for it,

and he has given me some of the best food I have ever tasted.

This is definitely the biggest thing in my life.

That's amazing. Completely amazing.

# There's a boy with his head pressed up to the window

# Of a bus headed out of town

# His breath on the glass, he draws with his finger

# A map of the roads they go down

# The circles of street lights are the only signal

# That there's people out there in the black

# And he waves goodbye to the town he grew up in..

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