Episode 13 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Jr is one of them.

One lamb, two fish. CHEFS: Oui!

Now he, Gregg Wallace and Monica Galetti 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.

These chefs all believe they've got the skill to cook at the highest level.

My game plan for the whole competition is going to be just

to blow everyone out the water.

MasterChef is the benchmark, and I'm going to win it.

I'm secretly a competitive person.

I don't like to show it on the outside, but inside, it's all guns blazing.

Service, please!

I love being around food, I love the different flavours.

I love experimenting.

I can go for hours and hours in the kitchen without complaining.

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

who has set them two tests to prove they are good enough to cook for Michel.

Ten chefs on their way here to make a culinary mark.

To make us sit up and take notice.

Someone who has that attitude, who is willing to try

and give it everything, is what matters to me.

Welcome to professional MasterChef.

Your chance to prove that you have something special.

We are going to give you one hour to create any dish you want,

savoury or sweet - anything.

Right, uncover your ingredients now.

In front of you you have some minced beef, pears,

an aubergine, red wine, almonds, brioche and wild mushrooms.

You also have a basic larder to work from.

First of all, we're going to give you ten minutes to plan and design your dish.

Off you go.

I want to see some amazing cooking here today.

You have some fantastic ingredients in front of you.

Be individual, really wow me.

Show me why you deserve to be here, why you deserve to go through

and cook for Michel.

Right, your ten minutes is up. Your 60 minutes' cooking time starts now.

Great ingredients here today.

Aubergine, wild mushrooms, lots that we can do.

Mince - not a very exciting ingredient,

but it gives room for creativity.

Monica's terrifying, but we'll see how that goes.

Hopefully I can impress her. That would be the best possible

outcome of today, I think.

David, what are you going to make for us?

I'm going to make aubergine roll mops.

A roll mop is pickled herring.

Yeah, so it's kind of a play on that, but with mince and wild mushrooms.

What food do you normally cook?

I've got a kind of fine dining background,

but I've moved recently into a deli, doing lots of baking,

home baking, organic bread, that kind of things.

-How long have you been out of fine dining?

-About six months.

-That's no time! I think you miss it.

-A little bit.

At times, yes, at times I do.

I'm really passionate about what I do.

I love my job. I love, sort of, the team of the kitchen.

I love food, obviously, but I love being a chef as well.

I think the job is wicked.

-Oli, you OK?

-Yep, good thanks, Gregg.

Good. What are you going to make to impress us?

A sort of pear and almond pain perdu type thing with a red wine syrup.

-Pear and almond pain perdu. Lost bread.

-Yep, exactly.

-Very French.

Is that the style you cook with?

British with French technique, I guess.

-What do you hope to achieve on MasterChef?

-As much as I can, really, Gregg.

I just want to get through this dish, to be honest.

That'll be my first task.

We have Oli, who is making a pear and almond pain perdu.

Very classically, normally it's soaked in a custard and egg and milk mix with sugar.

Oli has a different twist on this.

He's going to bake it and possibly slice and then fry.

I like the looks of him. This is a chef in the making.

I've been cooking since I was 16. It hasn't ebbed.

If anything, my passion has grown just by taking in new things,

seeing new ideas, seeing new dishes.

It's just installed a lot more love for what I do.

What are you making?

I'm making a pan fried brioche pudding.

Are you a pastry chef?

I love pastry, I can't help it. It's an emotional thing.

-I get quite emotional when I do desserts.

-What job do you do now?

-I'm a head chef.

-Are you?

-Yes.

-What sort of restaurant?

It's not a restaurant, it's a contract caterer.

So you could be doing the directors, doing the staff, could be doing a function.

-Absolutely.

-You could be doing a quick lunch.

-Yep.

-How long have you been a chef?

I've been a chef for 24 and a half years.

They don't let people in the kitchen when they're five years old.

28 years I've been cooking for, yeah. So quite a long time.

I've always been in the Michelin Guide,

but never had a Michelin star, so that's my aim before I get too old.

-Allan, I can't work out what it is you're making.

-I know, it's amazing.

Neither can I! No, I'm doing a German frikadeller,

which is basically a kind of meatball.

-Why do you know so much about German food?

-My wife's German.

-Lived there for a while.

-Did you work there as well?

-Yeah, I did. Five years.

-Where are you now?

-I'm at a stately home. Private chef.

-Private chef for the family?

-Yes, so...

Do they get what they like to eat or what you like to eat?

-No, they're pretty good. They let me do what I want.

-Cheers, Allan.

-Thank you, Gregg.

-Danke schoen.

-Bitte!

Allan is making a German meatball, frikadeller.

It's a mix of the mince with some bread, he's got the brioche in this case,

and he serving it with a rosti. Sounds wonderful.

I was born in Oxford originally,

but I've lived down on the south coast for quite a while.

I'm ahead chef in a seaside restaurant down there.

I've always, always cooked. Just absolutely love it.

Since day one, I've never looked back.

-Sam, you got a big smile on your face. You happy?

-I'm very happy.

Good, I tell you, I know a certain Monica who'd be very happy with how tidy your station is.

-Oh, thank you very much.

-What are you going to make, Sam?

I'm going to do quite simple crostini of wild mushrooms with poached egg and hollandaise,

and then make a puree of the aubergines with the nuts and lemon and rosemary.

-Have you had a classic training?

-Yes, yeah, very classic.

-So, you're a quality chef, then, Sam?

-I like to think so.

-So, do you reckon you can go far here?

-I'd like to win it.

-Really?

-Yep.

-All right, Sam. Classic Sam. I'm looking forward to this.

-Good.

-Thank you.

I'd love to win MasterChef.

It's a brilliant opportunity for me. Why not try and take it?

If there's anyone out there who's got more experience than me,

so be it. Let's let the food to the talking.

You going to make us some pasta, Christian?

I am, I'm making ravioli of beef and aubergine with a wild mushroom sauce.

-What position do you hold now?

-Head chef at the moment.

We've been open a year, but previously I was head chef for a year before.

-How old are you?

-23.

-That's young to be head chef two years.

-Mm, yes.

Are you very talented, or were they very short of staff?

No, I think I'm very talented.

It's all I've done, and that's what my drive is as a lifestyle choice.

-Good luck, mate.

-Thank you.

-Christian has made his ravioli.

He has minced beef and aubergine in there.

My only worry is because the mince is already cooked,

it might dry out quite a bit.

I hope he's got a very moist sauce to accompany this.

Halfway. 30 minutes left.

Every day my expectations get higher with this lot,

and I can see some great skills here today.

My current role in the kitchen is as head chef of a brand-new

gastropub in Richmond.

I've been a head chef for about four weeks.

-What are you going to make for us?

-I'm making us a cottage pie.

What's the best job you've had, Amir?

The best job I've had is probably working in the rock 'n' roll industry,

cooking for music artists.

Who have you cooked for? Who are the biggest names?

Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton.

-So, all the support groups, really?

-Yeah.

I'm from Cardiff. I'm a sous chef in a big 140-bedroom hotel.

I started down the route of wanting to be an astronaut.

That kind of wasn't going to happen.

I wanted to be a cowboy.

That kind of wasn't going to happen, either.

So I settled for being a chef, and to be perfectly honest,

I've been passionate about food since I was a kid.

Stuart, we've got something sweet going on here, haven't we?

-We have indeed.

-Is pastry your thing?

-Not really, if I'm honest.

I trained as a pastry chef, but I don't enjoy it.

I trained as a baker and I don't enjoy that.

-Just thought it would be the most valuable thing to learn.

-What are you making?

I'm making a brioche pain perdu with a poached pear, confit lemon zest, and a salted almond nougatine.

Very nice.

You've got 20 minutes to go.

I never wanted to be a chef.

When I was at school I wasn't very well-behaved,

and I had to go and do some work experience in a shoe shop

and I didn't like it,

so I went through the list and there was catering on there.

I went there and fell in love straight away.

This is a busy section, Craig.

-Yeah, got a lot going on.

-You have, haven't you? What are you making?

I'm just doing beef three ways. I've got a croquette, here.

I'm going to do some meatballs, going to do a potato dumpling.

What job have you got at the moment?

I'm a sous chef in just a bistro/restaurant at the moment.

How long have you wanted to be a chef?

I've been a chef since I was 15, since I got kicked out of school.

So I went into catering from there, straight away.

And fell in love straight away.

-Kicked out of school and straight into a kitchen?

-Basically.

Craig is doing mince three ways. Wow!

He's got meatballs, croquettes and mince with mashed potato.

If you really like mince, you're in for a treat!

Cheffing is a lifestyle. You either love it or you hate it.

There is no in between. It is draining and it is an emotional job.

Because you're catering for people's taste.

So I think if you don't give it everything you've got, then there's no point doing it.

Paul, I don't know whether you're the best chef in the room, you might be the toughest.

You were spinning that sugar, hot, across your fingers.

Many years of practice and belief.

What are you making, Paul?

I've got a pear tarte tatin, which is infused with rosemary and lemon.

I don't mean to be at all offensive, but I look at you and I think, "that man is not a pastry chef."

Pastry was the first thing I did when I went to a kitchen.

-Are you head chef now?

-Head chef now.

-How big is the brigade? How many chefs?

-18, 19 chefs.

-Good man.

I get the feeling I'm talking to a very serious chef.

Thank you. Cheers.

Last 90 seconds.

Ten seconds. If it's going to go on the plate, it needs to go on now.

That's it. Time's up.

These ten cooks were given minced beef, two pears, an aubergine,

red wine, almonds, a brioche and three types of wild mushrooms.

Alan has made German frikadeller, or meatballs,

flavoured with rosemary, served on a rosti with onion and pear chutney,

sauteed mushrooms and a red wine butter sauce.

The star on this plate is not the meatball, it's your rosti.

I love the crunch that's coming through that.

The mushrooms are wonderful, I love the garlic in that.

If anything, just a lack of seasoning.

-Remember to taste at all stages of your cooking.

-Yep, OK.

There is sweetness there, there is fruit, there is garlic -

it's lovely. Yeah, you're a serious cook.

But you probably knew that, right?

I hope so.

THEY LAUGH

-That's great!

-Fantastic job. Well done.

I'm pretty happy with everything. Everything went really well.

Just a minor fault with the seasoning,

but I'll put that right next time, so, yeah, it all went well.

David has cooked an aubergine roll filled with mince and mushrooms,

and served with an almond dressing and toasted brioche.

Wow. Erm...

I've never seen anything like that.

I think the flavours are great.

But the execution is wrong.

You know, this brioche, you could have done nice, small pieces of it,

nice wedges of it.

It tastes good, but your presentation? You need to work on it.

I'm really sorry, I don't like it.

I get like a sweetened vinegar taste,

and that's mixing with oil, and it's all being soaked up by

the sweetened brioche, and I really can't get on with it at all.

I wish I hadn't put the brioche on at the end.

I wish I had maybe taken my time a little bit more and worked on the presentation.

Hopefully I'll be able to do better next time.

Or I will do better next time.

Keri has served a pan roasted brioche pudding

with butter sauteed pears,

candied roasted almonds and a sauteed almond creme anglaise.

Keri, that's a lovely dessert.

I love in the end of that, the salted almonds that come through in your sauce.

Your lovely brioche, doesn't do it any credit to have it in such small pieces.

It doesn't look as lovely as it should.

That's the only criticism, because you can cook, this tastes wonderful,

-I'd love for Michel to try that.

-Thank you.

I got creaminess and toasty nut flavour and a little bit of salt.

Then I went into the sweet bread,

and then I got the juice of all that pear. I thought, that is delightful.

I tell you, for a first up invention test, mate, you are...

You are good.

I feel ecstatic. It went really, really well.

I couldn't have asked for better comments.

And Monica was absolutely over the moon. She loved the dish.

And it was just amazing. I feel really, really great.

SHE SIGHS

Amir has served cottage pie with an aubergine, mushroom and pear salad,

and a red wine reduction.

Your salad is original.

I've never eaten aubergine, pear, nuts and wild mushroom before.

It actually does work.

I mean, it's juicy, there's some sweetness there, of course. There's good seasoning.

But I don't actually see these two things as matching to make one complete dish.

The cottage pie is very well seasoned.

The mash - wonderfully seasoned.

I like your aubergine salad. I think they do go well together.

But it's not quite there. The dish is not quite there.

I think you could have done a bit more to lift this up.

Today I think went well.

I've got to come back a lot stronger and just wow them.

It is a competition at the end of the day,

so you're watching out for the rest of the sharks.

Paul has cooked a pear tarte tatin with rosemary and lemon,

creme anglaise and caramelised nuts. Topped with spun sugar.

I like your presentation. The colours that you've got with the sauces,

love the sugar work on the top.

Paul, the pears are cooked wonderfully, very soft, very moist.

It's all very sweet.

However, for a true tarte tatin, I miss that caramel.

Lovely juicy pear, light pastry,

the sugar on the top makes it taste like a proper tarte tatin.

I also love the nuts that actually give a little toasty bitterness as well.

-Really good, Paul.

-Thanks a lot.

-Very clever.

Big confidence boost, should set you up for the next task.

I think the hardest part is just keeping it up now, and keep improving.

Stuart has made a dessert of red wine, poached pear with pain perdu,

which is brioche dipped in a custard mix and fried.

He's served it with a salted almond nougatine,

confit lemon, and pear salsa.

I think it's beautiful. I think it's really lovely.

I love, love, love the honeyed juice of a pear.

I find it sweet and cleansing at the same time,

which is a perfect match for the sweet stickiness that's going on.

But I also love that confit lemon.

That hint of bitterness matching the sweetness I think is very, very good indeed.

Pain perdu, lovely and crispy from where you've pan-fried it.

I love the salad of the pears. I think you've done a great job.

I'm really pleased. Really good feedback. Well chuffed.

Craig's dish is beef three ways -

a meatball, a croquette and a dumpling,

with garlic foam, a vinaigrette and pear puree.

Mmm!

I love that dumpling cooked with red wine, obviously.

Really tasty, really flavoursome, really good texture.

I like the flavour of the croquettes, they are really well seasoned,

but they are a little dry because they are big. It needs more sauce.

I think you have a really good touch and a really good inventive mind.

Cos to take mince and do this with it, I think is very, very clever.

That's a lovely surprise, to be honest.

I prefer the dumpling and the croquette to the meatball.

It's crunchy. The meatball, for me, is not special,

but these two are a pleasant surprise.

Clever, Craig. Well done.

If anything I'd do differently, I'd lose the meatballs

and just stick you what you're good at, I suppose.

And that's not making meatballs, by the sound of it.

Christian's dish is ravioli of beef and aubergine,

with a wild mushroom and garlic sauce.

The pasta, the ravioli, it's very well-made.

It's lovely and thin, it's cooked properly.

The filling inside is very dry, with the mince,

but you have a creamy sauce which helps.

And unfortunately you've used mushrooms and not washed them, so I have grit in my teeth.

You need to step it up and show me that you can do better.

I think it's a really good concept. And you've made the pasta really, really well.

However, my one has leaked. There are mistakes there, Christian.

But there is obviously talent. You obviously know how to do stuff.

I just think you've got to focus on the detail.

A little bit disappointed, you know.

It is what it is. Decision is made.

I know I'm better than this, so let's step it up for the next round.

Sam toasted his brioche and topped it with wild mushroom fricassee,

poached egg, aubergine puree and a red wine sauce.

It's a little bit sloppy and sloshy.

I like the wild mushrooms, I'm picking up the aubergine.

My issue here is one of texture. It's really all very slushy.

I agree with Gregg - how that looks is how it feels in your mouth,

and I don't like how that feels.

The mushrooms have still got a bit of grit in them, the onion is

still a bit raw it's got a bite to it, I don't like that, and...

I don't think Michel would like that very much at all.

-You got a bit of work to do, Sam, haven't you?

-Yeah, definitely.

I haven't shown off my best today, I don't think.

Very disappointed today. I was reasonably confident in what I did.

But neither of them seem to like it at all.

So I'll just to make sure I come back and do a lot better next time.

So I think I'm probably in last place at the moment.

Finally, Oli's dish is almond and brioche pain perdu with

dressed pear, pear puree,

caramelised rosemary, an almond praline tuile, and red wine syrup.

Mmm!

I don't just want to eat that, Oli, I want to bath in it.

That is lovely. That is fantastic.

It is so mellow and so yummy, it's quite rich,

it's deep it's not too sweet,

and there are little candied bits of rosemary that are just...

You get a bit of sugar and then you get a rosemary hint.

I mean, this is really clever cooking.

It's a great plate, Oli.

Your flavours are well balanced, your pain perdu is ever so moist,

ever so soft, but full of flavour,

and I love the crunch coming through with the almonds.

Really happy with the feedback they gave me.

Next time I want a little bit more perfection, really,

with all the stuff I put on the plate.

No matter how well or badly you think you've done,

there is another round coming up. But I've got to say,

I thought there was some amazing cooking going on in here today.

Well done.

For those of you who didn't do so well today, you need to step it up.

Pick yourselves up, there's another round to prove yourselves. Good luck.

I look forward to seeing you again. Off you go.

Now the ten chefs will be split in two.

Tomorrow night, the first group return to face their final test...

Crepe souffle. Off you go.

Can we start again?

I expected better from you.

You need to face your fears.

..before Monica decides who will go through to cook for Michel Roux Jr.

MICHEL: I would say it's a faultless dish.

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