Episode 15 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Junior is one of them.

-One lamb, two fish.

-ALL: 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.

Ten professional chefs have been put through their paces by Monica.

Today, five of them have one last chance to perform to her demanding standards...

..because only the strongest can go through to cook for Michel Roux Junior.

One of them will be going home.

I'm really worried about facing Gregg and Monica.

It's like being back at school, big time!

I like the pressure. It's good fun. I want to keep going.

Above all, I just want to prove

that I'm good enough for this and I'm going to win it.

Monica, a tricky-looking skills test. What have they got to do?

Today, Gregg, I'd like them to prepare and serve these sea urchins.

If possible, I'd like to see them use the juice as well.

-I've got to say, Monica, I'm not a huge fan of the sea urchin. Are you?

-I love them.

Sea urchins, or the uni as it's known in Japan, flavours of the ocean, it tastes of the sea.

-It's a delicacy.

-Well, if anyone can make me like them, it's you.

The first thing they need to do is to remove the mouth from the urchins,

then you just want to pull that out.

It looks like a scene from a sci-fi movie.

And what you see here, the orange, which is also known as the uni, that is what we want.

We do not want to be eating any of this black on the side.

We want to keep that juice.

-It's an acquired taste.

-Yeah, yeah.

Right, now we want to remove the uni out.

Gently does it.

That's a very delicate operation.

If you happen to get some of the grit on there, you can rinse it in salted water.

Don't leave them to soak because that will just wash out any flavours that you've got.

Nice, whole roes, undamaged and clean.

What I'm going to do is serve my urchins with some cucumber juice and avocado cream.

Oh!

A bit of lime.

A touch more lime.

You know how important it is, Gregg, to be tasting.

And I'm going to serve it with an avocado cream.

I'm going to use some of the juice from the sea urchin to flavour that.

There you have it, Gregg - sea urchins with an avocado cream and cucumber juice.

-It's very elegant.

-But are you going to eat it?

-Of course I'll eat it.

I'm looking forward to tasting everything apart from the urchin.

That's a very unusual texture,

but the flavours are very good.

I would eat this, handled by somebody like you. Let's see if they can get anywhere near this.

First up is sous-chef Craig who works in a hotel bistro in Cornwall.

In the first test, his minced beef served three ways was praised

for its texture and flavour combinations.

My game plan is to just go in there and, hopefully,

Lady Luck is on my side and it's something that I've done.

Craig, we're going to give you 12 minutes to remove the urchins from the shell

and then plate them up.

-Have you seen an urchin before?

-I've never, ever done one. I don't even know how to open it.

Craig, you're a chef. You have used seafood before.

Think of the flavours you get from an oyster and use what you have on the table to get something for us.

Right, 12 minutes, Craig. Off you go.

-Mind your hands, OK?

-Yeah.

That'll do it.

Oh, it stinks!

You've got three minutes.

Yeah, I've done it too quick.

Craig, you've never worked with sea urchins before.

-No.

-At least you managed to get them out without too much damage to the uni.

The plate is tidy and neat. However, you've got so much salad on there, it's not been properly seasoned.

I'm curious to see how it tastes.

You didn't know what they tasted of, yet you made a dressing without tasting them.

-I just thought of oysters.

-I'd much rather have seen you taste because that is a leap in the dark.

The mixture for your urchin is actually really nice.

Slight bit of acidity and it matches it perfectly. That, though, is luck.

It was really, really hard.

I wanted seafood, I got seafood, but a seafood that I'd never done before. It's just typical, isn't it?

Next up is Oli, a chef de partie who is in charge of the sauce section.

At 22, he has already gained experience in three Michelin-starred restaurants.

In the last round, his pear dessert with caramelised rosemary and an almond tuile blew the judges away.

I left school, I applied to be a chef

and they just stuck me in the sink.

Then a few months later, I was on the stoves, then it just went from there. I love it. I have a wicked time.

Oli, you've got a big grin on your face. Can I ask you what's going on?

I've never seen one of them in my life.

-You've worked with seafood before?

-Yes.

-Shellfish, oysters? The urchin flavour is very similar to that.

-Can I ask a question?

-Yes.

-Can you eat it raw?

-Yes, it's preferred raw.

12 minutes. Off you go.

-I know you haven't worked with these before, but remember, the orange bit is what we want.

-Yeah.

You've got two minutes left. You'll have to start plating up, Oli.

You've got ten seconds, chef.

Right, that's it. Time's up. Time's up.

-All done?

-Uh, yeah.

Uh...Oli, Oli, Oli, Oli.

The problem is the urchin is the main ingredient,

but you've washed it so much, you've lost a lot of the flavour in there.

And then you cut it up, chopped it up even smaller.

With such a big salad that you have in there, I very much doubt we'll get much taste of the urchin.

You've made a neat little salad that tastes very nicely of avocado and lime,

but it's absolutely nothing to do any more with those urchins.

Thank you.

Yeah, it was just hard, to be honest.

I didn't have a clue what it was. I've never used it. At least I learnt something.

Paul heads up a brigade of 18,

serving modern British food in Leeds.

In the invention test, he impressed with both his cooking

and the presentation of his pear tarte tatin.

It's still an unknown, what we're going into at this point,

so if I don't know it, I'll use my chef's intuition and make something.

Paul, have you worked with an urchin before?

-No.

-No, OK. Off you go.

You've had five minutes.

You've got two minutes.

I won't hold it against you if you want to use a spoon.

Paul, you managed to get quite a bit of the orange flesh out which was very good.

I see where you're going, trying to use the uni to make a dressing,

but you had so much juice there to use and it has a lot of flavour. I would have preferred that instead.

And also it's a very expensive ingredient.

To see it passed through a tammy like that was not nice to see.

You struggle to get any urchin flavour out of there. What I've got is olive oil and pepper.

The one thing you do expect to find on your palate when you order a dish of urchins is urchin, obviously.

I'd feel pretty cheated, actually.

You like to think you're accomplished

and you can tackle anything,

so it's just...you know...

It's done now, so... Yeah.

Sea urchins.

Sam is head chef of a Hampshire restaurant specialising in seafood.

In the first round, his brioche topped with wild mushrooms fricassee and a poached egg

was criticised for its sloppy texture.

I thought I was good enough before the first round, then I've had my confidence smashed. Fingers crossed,

cooking one bad dish doesn't make you a bad chef.

-Sam, have you worked with an urchin before?

-Um...once.

I've made, um... I made a risotto with it, I think.

-Fantastic.

-OK then, Sam, off you go.

-Thank you.

Right...

Sam, you've had five minutes.

90 seconds, Sam. Come on, please.

All right, 30 seconds. Quick, quick, quick.

That's it.

-All done?

-Thank you. Yeah.

Sam, you managed to get the uni out of the sea urchin quite quickly. Well done.

The only reservation I have is you got so many out,

I wish you'd sorted through it and got the nice pieces out on your plate.

What I don't want to see is you throwing everything in the bin that could be used later on.

All that lovely salad that went in the bin, don't do that ever.

I really like your salad and I like the cucumber with the lime and the cream.

You've actually handled this delicately.

-I like him. I think he did really well.

-Hmm.

I got told off for a couple of little things,

but she seemed to like my food this time. I don't know. It's quite hard to tell though.

Last up is Stuart, a sous-chef at a hotel in Cardiff.

In the first test, his pain perdu with red wine poached pear

impressed on both flavour and technical skill.

I have two very young children. I'm hoping that both my sons

will start the cheffing industry too

and we'll be the next dynasty in cooking.

Just like the Rouxs.

-Stuart, you look a bit bemused.

-Indeed.

-Why?

I've never used one before, so I'll give it my best shot.

Let's go, Stuart.

-You want to be tasting the orange bit.

-I was just wondering if I should throw it away.

Three minutes left, Stuart.

I'm sorry. It was quite funny to watch you eat the grit, instead of the orange bit which we want.

I'm a little confused then about how you proceeded to try and pick out the grit,

then passed it into a pan.

And then using the bits you had in the strainer through the salad, it was just silly.

I've never seen a chef pass something through a sieve

-and use the stuff he's passed as well as the stuff he hasn't.

-Yeah.

I'm really sorry, chef. There's grit in every single mouthful

and all I can really taste is avocado and olive oil.

Thanks.

That was really hard. I thought I'd be OK, you know, my skills will get me through.

It just shows that you can't ever be complacent about your own knowledge.

Gregg, I'm obviously disappointed by what we've seen today.

No-one treated this ingredient with enough respect.

You shouldn't be disappointed. For all of those chefs, it was about drawing on their instincts

and trying to work it out as they went along with varying degrees of success.

Sam was the only one here today who had used an urchin before.

He tasted as he worked, he managed to get the urchins out and he had some nice pieces.

I want to go through so much. I hope they've seen something in me that they want to put through.

Sam struggled less than the others, so he deserves to go through.

We have Craig. Never worked with a sea urchin before, yet he got very nice pieces of the urchin out.

I don't know if I impressed them. They might have thought I was lucky.

But if I go through, I will be extremely, extremely happy.

Because he treated those pieces of urchin with respect,

he didn't damage them so much, he deserves to go through.

Oli actually managed to get the pieces out of the urchin,

then he washed them once, twice, maybe even three times.

There was hardly any flavour left when Oli finished with the urchin.

Now I've done that badly, I want to go through more. That sounds weird.

But I just want to do better.

Oli has issues here, but I'm willing to put him through because he was so strong on his last round.

So now the biggest problems lie with the two chefs that put their sea urchins through a sieve.

Paul managed to get the urchins out, yet he passed it all and attempted to make a dressing with it.

It wasn't a pretty salad either. He was good in the last round. What happened to him with this urchin?

I wish I'd done it all different,

but you can't do that now.

Stuart put his urchin through a sieve.

Everything on Stuart's plate was full of grit.

Unpleasant, although I like his presentation.

At least you found something to like on there. He did taste as he was working, yet still left grit in it.

I would go as far as to say that's my biggest balls-up to date.

I just hope I get the opportunity to show them what I'm really about.

Which chef has shown enough to make you think he might be able to handle the pressure of the next round?

There are four chefs I'm willing to take a risk on. One of them I am not.

It's a difficult round. We realise that.

We have made a decision.

The chef that is leaving us today is...

..Stuart.

As a chef, I had so much more to give

and they just haven't seen it.

And it came down to 12 minutes of something I'd never done before,

so, yeah, gutted to be going home, gutted.

As far as I'm concerned, I am taking a huge gamble on all four of you going through to cook for Michel.

Shape up. Get ready for what comes next.

Oh, my...

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.

Today, I want our chefs to cook "un oeuf froid Careme".

This recipe was created by Antonin Careme himself, a famous chef of the 1800s.

Presentation is vital. It has to look elegant, how Antonin Careme would have served it to royalty.

The first job is to make the blinis.

The yeast needs time to rise and to work its magic,

so we need milk just warm.

If it's too hot, it will kill the yeast.

And a little bit of flour.

Cover this and leave it in a warm place to rise.

Next job, turn the artichoke.

Turning vegetables is a skill that every chef should know.

I want a nice, round artichoke heart.

If the artichoke is badly turned

or if they leave too much of the inedible green on there, it could go horribly wrong.

I remember one particular banquet, I had to turn a thousand artichokes

and every one had to be perfect.

So this now goes into the boiling water.

So next, the mayonnaise.

Dijon mustard.

And the veg oil.

And I like to add just a drop of chilli, of bite to it.

And just to make it very rich and special,

a spoonful of cream.

Now for the smoked salmon.

Some of the mayonnaise.

Just enough to bind it all together.

And now a little drop of brandy.

Just that little bit extra to give a kick to this dish.

I'm also going to add truffle.

This is an extravagance, but Careme cooked this dish for royalty,

so it has to be something special.

Hmm!

The next step is to poach the eggs.

The shape of the poached egg is very important.

It has to have that lovely, rounded edge to it.

The skill of the chef is to achieve that without cheating.

The real way is in water with a drop of vinegar.

A good boil and then in they go.

The yolk is still runny and the white has set.

The next job is to add the remaining ingredients to the blinis.

We put the egg yolks into the batter mix...

..and the egg whites we are going to whisk up and fold in at the very last second.

That is going to give us a blini that is incredibly light.

There we go. Now we need to cook them.

It's a matter of seconds

and you can see those beautiful bubbles which means it's light and airy.

Check the artichoke.

If the knife goes through it easily, we know it's cooked.

The final step, we need to remove these leaves here which are totally inedible

to reveal what is the choke which is not nice to eat.

There we go. Perfect shape, perfectly cooked. That's what I'm looking for.

Time to plate up.

There we have it - the oeuf froid Careme.

150 years old recipe,

but still fit for a king.

Given the MasterChef jacket makes you feel like you're properly in the competition. It'll only get harder.

I'd love to cook for Michel. Any chef would.

Whether he opens you up or he thinks it's good, it doesn't matter.

I can't wait to cook for Michel, do some old-fashioned dishes,

turn 'em modern and see what he thinks. It'll be ace.

He knows what he's talking about. If he doesn't like it, he'll tell you.

Gregg and Monica told me the skills test wasn't the easiest for you.

Well, this might be even more of a challenge.

My classic recipe is an oeuf poche Careme.

It's a Roux household favourite. One hour. Off you go.

In the last couple of rounds I've made stupid mistakes

that could easily have cost me my place. I need to cut those out so nothing gets me knocked out.

-All right, Sam?

-Yes, Chef.

-Were you a bit nervous?

-Very, today.

-Why?

-I haven't done very well in the first two tests and I feel quite fortunate to be here today.

-Are you going to redeem yourself with this recipe?

-Yeah, I think so.

-You've turned an artichoke before?

-Yeah.

-Poached an egg before.

-Yeah. But not for a little while.

-Why MasterChef? Why put yourself through all this pain and agony?

-You want to find out how good you are.

-And to be judged by yourself is an honour. I'm looking forward to it.

-Good.

Sam is classically trained. He's turned his artichoke really well

and his mayonnaise is spot on. I'm expecting good things from Sam.

15 minutes gone, guys.

I think he's looking for sharp food that's done correctly, hopefully.

I'm not trying to do anything flash. I just want to do stuff right.

Oli, how's it going?

-I've got everything on.

-Good. Artichoke, smoked salmon, mayonnaise.

-I'm about to make the blinis.

-Have you made blinis before?

-No.

-Classically trained?

-Em...sort of.

-Sort of classically trained.

-Sort of, yeah.

-What is it about work that turns you on?

-I love being at work as much as I love cooking.

-I just like being there, to be honest.

-And why MasterChef?

Something to do on my days off. And I want to learn more, you know.

MasterChef is something to do on your days off. I love that.

Oli said he's never cooked this dish before, but Oli is working methodically, step by step.

Like a true chef. ..Halfway, chefs.

I've never cooked for any famous chef, so it'll be a treat to see what he thinks.

Craig has obviously never turned an artichoke before. I don't think he's ever seen an artichoke!

He's just cut it in half and not taken the leaves out.

Ah...I don't know.

-All right, Craig?

-Yeah. Nervous.

-What's making you nervous?

-I've never done this before, so... I don't cook a lot of French food.

-You don't cook French food?

-Not a lot. Modern British

-and I like a bit of Thai as well.

-Well, smoked salmon artichokes, poached egg is not the Thai route!

-No, it's not!

-What elements are you worried about?

-Just all of it. I don't know what it should look like.

-I'll just do it my way. That's honest.

-Well, maybe your creation is going to be

-the one that sets you apart - for the right reason.

-I hope so!

Yeah! I hope so, too!

15 minutes to go.

I expect to cook the best I can. Michel has achieved his Michelin status.

Maybe one day I will as well.

-Paul, where have you trained?

-I didn't do college. Classically trained with old-school head chefs

-who put me through the wringer.

-What style of food are you cooking?

It's modern fine food.

-Very busy restaurant. Saturday lunch we'll do 150-200 for lunch.

-Oh, yes.

-So it's just trying to balance that.

-Making sure we can keep it right every time.

-How have you fared?

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster. Pressure's on now to raise my game and put a good plate of food out.

-I'm expecting great things from you, Paul.

-I hope so! No pressure.

Paul has really badly turned the artichoke and for some unknown reason he's decided to roast it.

It doesn't say roast it on the recipe. It's a cold dish.

Come on, guys. Final five minutes.

Craig hacked his artichoke, then he started pan frying it.

Now I think he's put it in the bin.

-You've not got the artichoke?

-No.

-Not serving it?

-No, it's gone.

OK, that's it.

I asked you to cook an oeuf poche Careme.

The artichoke should be a perfect round,

cooked just right to have a little bite to it. The blinis should be light, small, airy.

The egg should be poached perfectly and have a runny yolk, but have the right shape.

Sam, let's taste yours.

Sam, your artichoke is well turned. It's a nice round shape.

I don't like the fact that you've put the blinis underneath it.

Such a shame when you go to all the trouble of making a light batter to then squash it.

First we'll see if this egg yolk is runny.

It's lovely.

The whole dish is slightly under-seasoned. The artichoke is well turned,

however, you could have taken away a little bit more leaf.

But it is a perfect round shape and well cooked. It's well presented, it's neat, it's tidy,

but it is lacking in flavour.

'There was a couple of small things Michel picked up on,'

but overall I think I did a pretty good job of it. Well, hopefully!

Oli, now for you.

I like the presentation. It also looks very round. You've turned the artichoke properly.

Lovely.

I have to stop myself because I would very easily eat all of that.

Thanks.

Seasoning, bang on. A little bit of lemon juice, the right amount of pepper in there,

the mayonnaise just holds that salmon together. The blinis are light, airy.

It's a very well-balanced dish.

-First time you've made blinis?

-Yeah.

-That's very good, Oli.

'Massive confidence booster.'

Just to do well in any round helps you with the next one, hopefully.

Paul, your turn.

It's not how I would present the dish.

But there's a certain style to it.

That's good.

The artichoke isn't particularly well turned.

There's still some very hard pieces there, the exterior green leaf that should be off.

You poached it or boiled it and then decided to roast it.

It's got a slightly bitter taste from that roasting.

The filling is... a little too seasoned.

Your mayonnaise on the bottom of the plate is really nice and I like the super-fine Julienne.

The blinis are very light and really nice, good blinis.

It's not without fault, but it's not a bad attempt.

Thank you.

A little bit of inexperience, a little bit of nerves of the day.

Yeah. It's done now.

Craig, your turn.

-So what happened, Craig?

-I've never prepped an artichoke. I messed it up and didn't want to serve it to you.

I thought I'd try Eggs Benedict instead.

I'd much rather you didn't put those artichoke leaves on the plate. They're not edible.

It looks really nice. It's a lovely plate of food.

The egg is well cooked, but the dish that I asked you to prepare asked for a mayonnaise

and you've given me a hollandaise.

The blinis are a little bit rubbery. The yeast hasn't had time to work.

Ah. It's very difficult for me to understand what kind of a chef you are when you don't give me

anything remotely like the dish I've set.

It wasn't a hard thing to do, really, if you think about it,

but it's just in that circumstance, you just... All your thoughts go out the window

and you go the completely wrong way from the way you should be going.

You cooked my classic recipe, but it wasn't fault-free.

Now you're going to cook your classic recipe and I AM expecting fault-free.

You have got a lot to prove.

Not just to me, but also to the diner.

One hour, at the end of which, one of you will be leaving us.

Off you go.

It's one dish, it's for an hour. I'm confident I can deliver it.

It's tried and tested. I'm sure I can pull it off.

Right, Paul. What are you cooking for us?

-Fillet of beef a la bourguignon.

-So the essence and flavour of the Burgundian style,

-mushrooms, bacon, red wine.

-Yeah.

Fillet of beef roasted, I take it?

I'm going to poach it in red wine first to get the Burgundy.

-Have we got a potato with this?

-There's no starch in this dish.

-We've got cep puree.

-Do you want me to quickly knock you up a dauphinoise?

-If you have time!

-What point have you got to make now?

-This is the first time cooking our own food.

This is the first insight into us as a chef, so if you mess it up, it doesn't leave a good taste.

Paul is going to poach the fillet first in the red wine sauce and then roast it.

Paul's messing around with it and not serving any spuds!

-You don't want an overcooked fillet of beef.

-15 minutes have gone!

I felt like I had a really good round, but this is where the nerves kick in properly.

If you mess up, you're out.

-Right, Oli, what are you cooking for us?

-Sort of a sole Veronique. Not exactly the same, but similar.

-What do you mean "sort of"?

-I'm doing a beurre blanc.

I've got some peeled grapes compressed and some salted grapes with a mousse and some truffle.

Ohhh, wow! I've never, ever before in my life tasted a truffle and a grape together.

-Does it work?

-I think so, yeah.

-It rings alarm bells for me.

-Grapes, truffle. We'll see.

-Yes, Chef.

-What point would you like to prove?

-Just that I can cook nice food,

not complicated. Simple, but well done.

You take a sole Veronique, change it, add truffle, add a mousse and you say it's simple?

Sole Veronique is a great French classic. It's a heavenly dish when it's cooked properly.

We've either got a young genius or somebody's taken the wrong A road.

Halfway, guys!

It's all or nothing for me. If I pull this dish off, I think I've got a good chance.

But if I mess this one up, I'm definitely going home.

-I'm doing Cornish cream tea.

-Cornish cream tea?!

I've turned a pot of hot tea into an Earl Grey and orange panna cotta

and I've done an orange and beetroot jelly with baby meringues, mini scones, white chocolate ganache

-to make little sugar cubes.

-Why a dessert? Are you a trained pastry chef?

-It's not my strongest aspect,

but I thought it was go hard or go home, so I'll give it a go.

-Is there someone special at home you're doing this for?

-The wife, I suppose.

-She thinks all chefs are lazy.

-How can she say chefs are lazy?!

-I know.

-She sits in a bank all day.

-You're going to prove her wrong.

-Definitely.

It sounds absolutely divine.

It's like a Mad Hatter's tea party! But Craig has got a lot to prove.

He had a poor round in my classic. If he pulls this off, this could put him straight back into contention.

10 minutes!

Michel's got very high standards. Hopefully, I'll meet them.

I feel quite confident, as long as everything goes right today.

-Right, Sam, what's your classic dish?

-Chicken with morels.

I've made a mousse out of the fillets and the chicken livers.

Just roll that in the ballotine.

Then a little pea puree. Hopefully, a pea surprise.

-A pea surprise?

-If there's time. Like a pea mousse. I've set it, then fry it and it should explode.

-Not on you.

-So there's really only three ingredients.

-Yeah. Chicken, mushroom and peas.

Classic combination, but you are doing different methods.

-You're making a ballotine, a mousse, you're confiting.

-Why would you push yourself this hard?

I want to win. I've got my chance and don't want to throw it away.

Sam is pulling lots of tricks out of his hat. He's got peas exploding...

It seems improbable that he'll manage to get all of that work done.

That was him!

But if he does, we could be onto a winner.

Last five minutes!

You have literally got two minutes.

Stop!

First up is Paul with his version of beef bourguignon.

Fillet of beef served with cep puree, pan-fried mushrooms,

button onions, pancetta, garlic and parsley crisps

and a red wine foam.

Presentation, very neat. Colourful. Beef looks a bit small, though.

For me, the beef is slightly overcooked. I like it a bit rarer.

But I do like the flavour.

Marinating it in a little bit of warm red wine, that's a good touch.

The cep puree is very rich and the sauce is good. Just a little bit too sharp.

It's crying out for a potato.

I don't miss a potato, but I'm missing the rest of the beef. Who's got it?

The beef is going a little dry and I find that red wine slightly bitter,

but when you put it with that cep puree and bits of smoky bacon and foresty mushrooms,

the whole thing really comes alive. Quite, quite delicious.

They didn't tear me to bits. They were 90% happy with it,

so I can walk away with my head held high.

Oli's classic dish is a modern take on sole Veronique.

Sole stuffed with fish mousse, topped with salted red and white compressed grapes,

ratte potato crisps and slices of truffle,

served with a leek puree and a verjus beurre blanc.

Very modern, colourful. And...looks good.

-Love it. Lovely looking plate.

-Thanks.

Wow! Almost, Chef.

Almost. There's some heavenly, delightful flavours in there.

That lovely fish and the truffle and the fish mousse inside is mouth-wateringly, meltingly good.

And you put that beurre blanc on there and it's just so sharp.

You've taken me from really, like, mellow and it's really nice and smacked me round the face with it.

There's some good cooking here. I think the sole is lovely, well seasoned,

and the truffle works very well with the puree, which is sweet.

I'm still not sold on the truffle/grape combination, but the big issue is the beurre blanc.

It's far, far too sharp. Otherwise, it's a very good dish.

'So up and down, really.'

There's stuff wrong with it, obviously, as they pointed out,

but I think, in general, it went to plan kind of thing.

For his classic dish, Craig has made a miniature Cornish cream tea.

Beetroot and orange jelly, baby scones and meringues,

served with an Earl Grey and orange panna cotta with white chocolate and praline sugar cubes.

Where's the little meringues? ..Ah!

Ha!

Presentation - it's really great fun.

Unfortunately, your sugar cubes of white chocolate have melted a bit.

Oh...

Your jelly is decent. It's good.

Your scones don't work very well. Your panna cotta is an absolute knock-out!

Comforting tea finishing in sweet, sharper orange is amazing. I've never had that combination before.

Absolute knock-out.

The orange and beetroot jelly just melts in the mouth as soon as it gets in there.

It could have had a few more bits of strawberries to freshen it up.

Your orange and tea panna cotta I find could do with more tea.

A little bit more of a kick.

The mini scones aren't quite as crumbly as they should be, but the combination works well.

I like the fact that you're not a pastry chef, but you've shown some great skills here.

'I'm really happy with that dish. Really happy. I don't know.'

50% of me says I'm going home, the other 50 says, "You'll stay."

Last up is Sam with a French classic of chicken with morels.

Chicken breast stuffed with chicken liver and morel mousse,

chicken wing lollipops, stuffed morels,

peas served three ways

and a chicken and sherry vinegar jus.

It's a modern plate. Is it going to have old-fashioned flavour?

The chicken is well cooked, the morels are well cooked, the pea puree is nice and smooth

-and I like these little... How did you describe them?

-Pea surprise.

-Pea mousse in breadcrumbs, deep fried.

Really nice. I appreciate the amount of work you've put into this dish.

And for the best part I think it has worked, but the predominant taste of the sauce is of sherry,

which is a shame.

Nice textures, very pretty presentation, but it's not filling your head with yum.

It's not making me go, "Ahhh!"

'It feels absolutely fantastic'

when they give you praise. There's not been quite enough so far for me!

I hope if I can get through today they'll be happier from now on.

Your work's over. Our hard work's just about to start.

Off you go, please, gentlemen.

That was good cooking today, Gregg. What I liked from all four chefs

-was the imagination and presentation was up there with the best.

-It was.

There were errors, though. It wasn't fault-free in my round and there were little issues in their round.

Oli in my classic round had an almost perfect plate of food.

A beautiful artichoke, perfectly turned and cooked, wonderful poached egg and a beautiful filling.

I'm pretty convinced Oli is a good cook. The fish was really nice and the fish mousse was delicious,

but his beurre blanc was far too sharp. It had a "eeesh" factor.

Obviously, I want to come back and show them more. All those little things I want to get right.

-For me, Oli's a fine chef in the making.

-Can't argue with that.

Paul in my round didn't cover himself in glory. He turned the artichoke, boiled it and roasted it!

-Why?!

-It didn't say that on the recipe.

We both agreed Paul's beef was a little dry.

I thought the red wine sauce was a little sharp, a little bitter,

but when you put it with that cep puree, the whole thing came alive and was a delight.

It could have done with a potato,

but it was good cooking and, above all, great flavours.

You just keep working hard. The more you put in, the more you get out. Hopefully, we can cook again.

Sam's attempt at my classic dish looked good, it was well presented,

but lacked in flavour. And also he'd squashed the blinis.

You make a lovely light batter and beautiful light blinis

and you smother it with an artichoke, an egg and smoked salmon!

He did some sterling work today with that chicken, mushrooms and peas.

Real craftsmanship.

There was some fine cooking there. It had lots of little surprises,

but...the sauce was just overpowering with sherry.

That's twice I've seen and tasted Sam's food and been let down on flavour.

There's no weak link in this group of chefs,

so it's going to be very, very hard to get through.

Craig had issues with my recipe.

He had never come across an artichoke before and just cut it in half,

then decided to roast the leaves and throw away the edible bit.

I will say Craig did give me a very good-looking plate of smoked salmon and blinis,

with a perfectly-cooked poached egg and hollandaise. Instead of mayonnaise.

But then his choice of a dessert for his classic recipe was really ingenious and clever.

I absolutely loved the Earl Grey and orange panna cotta. I thought that was delicious.

But his scones were really rubbery and chewy.

I don't know what they'll judge me on. Will they forget the first one and judge me on my second dish?

I hope so!

They're all good cooks. They cooked well. All of them made mistakes,

-but some made bigger errors than others.

-What do you want to do?

Impressive cooking. Imaginative.

Skilful. Great to see.

Unfortunately, one of you is leaving us.

The chef leaving us is...

Craig.

I'm happy I got this far. I'm proud of myself, but I'd like to have come further.

Just to make Michel smile and laugh was good enough for me. It's good experience.

Apart from artichokes and bloody sea urchins!

Well done.

Absolutely fantastic. You won't wipe the smile off my face today!

Really happy. I'm still here, so I get to live and fight another day.

I'm not going to celebrate. I'm going to practise my next dishes and get on that tonight!

Might have a couple of cheeky beers.

Tomorrow night, Oli, Paul and Sam will join the other heat winners in the quarter-final.

Come on! Get it in, out, on - plate it!

Great flavours and great cooking.

There's a big row of boxes and you just stuck a fat tick in each one.

Only the best will go on to cook for the critics

in a bid for a coveted semi-final place.

When you start spraying gold onto plates, you are seriously over-compensating for something.

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