Episode 21 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Jr is one of them.

-One lamb, two fish.

-Oui!

-Oui!

-Oui!

Now he, Greg 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.

Keri, James, Anton and Oli

have made it through to the MasterChef finals.

We have found ourselves four fantastic chefs, Michel.

I've been fed very, very well and I expect more of the same.

I think my best dish was definitely the crab dish.

Michel said, "We'd have that in the restaurant." Brilliant.

I think the dish that I'm particularly proud of

would have been the gooseberry crumble.

It's one of my favourite desserts ever.

It's just, yeah - yummy.

I've put some good food out there, I think.

Hopefully I can sort of nail a dish today.

A dish that I'm really proud of was my pork dish.

It pushed me a little bit, that dish.

I love these guys. I love their food.

I'm really looking forward to this.

Good to see you guys back here. Massive achievement to get this far.

You are one step away from a huge culinary adventure.

Today is an invention test.

But it's an invention test with a difference.

No fish, no meat, no poultry.

In front of you is a beautiful array of ingredients.

Fruit and vegetables.

Grains, eggs, cheese.

Nuts.

You need to prepare two outstanding dishes.

Prove to us that you really do deserve that place

in the final three.

You're going to have ten minutes to come up, plan your dishes

and then we're going to give you two hours - two hours to cook.

Ready, chefs? Come up, have a look at these ingredients.

I'm looking forward to this one.

I'm not going to spend hours doing incredible crazy things.

I'm going to keep it down to flavour and presentation.

It's a scary feeling, knowing that my place rides on this invention test.

I just hope I can pull it off.

I've had an idea of about six dishes, not two, unfortunately.

I think it's a good way to decide who goes through.

You've got to be able to think on your feet if you're a chef.

Thinking on your feet's one of the things I'm kind of happy with.

I've already drawn the picture in my head. I'm really ready for it.

Two hours, two stunning dishes, place in the final three.

Off you go.

Oli is a fine, young, classically trained chef.

His depth of knowledge is amazing.

When you talk to him, you forget his age.

It's like talking to seasoned professional head chef.

Being on MasterChef's very stressful.

Good fun, though.

I really want stay in now.

Every round, I want to stay, I want to go that little bit further.

So what is it you're cooking?

I'm doing a white truffle and egg yolk ravioli to start,

with a mushroom veloute and pickled mushrooms.

And for dessert, I'm just doing a chocolate fondant

with a pineapple salad.

-An egg yolk ravioli?

-Yeah.

-So you're hoping that when we cut into it, it's liquid?

-Yes.

-Same as your fondant.

-Yeah.

-Mm.

-You're under pressure.

-Yeah. I've got to cook my best, put it that way.

Oli's preparing a truffle flavoured, egg yolk ravioli

with chocolate fondant.

That's two dishes depending on perfect timing.

25 minutes have gone already.

I love Keri's flavour. I've always enjoyed her food.

MICHEL: It's not just tasty, it's divine.

Keri! Keri! Love her food!

I'm really up for the fight.

One position in that final three.

Yeah, I really want it and I'm determined to get it.

What have you got for us, Keri?

Panko-crusted tofu, pickled vegetables,

pickled daikon - white radish.

And the other dish is a chocolate tart

with a white chocolate cream.

-Why tofu, though? Do you cook with it?

-I like tofu.

If I go to an Asian restaurant, I will always order tofu.

It is a favourite of mine.

-Keri, are you going to do it?

-I'm going to do it. Absolutely.

Tofu is a lovely texture but it's bland.

I mean, it is so bland.

You've got to get flavour into it but you can't kill it.

We're halfway, chefs.

One hour left.

Anton has an amazing imagination when it comes to food

and his plates of food look great.

They're clever, they're smart and they're appealing.

This competition's very, very addictive.

It's like a Friday night down the pub all the time - you just want to keep going.

-Anton, what are you cooking?

-I'm doing a Moroccan-style baba ganoush,

salt-baked carrots

and I'm doing a little tzatziki dressing over the top of it.

And then for the following dish I'm doing herb-crusted duck eggs

with a bearnaise sauce.

Mm! Two very different dishes.

You are very, very close to the final three.

-Does that fire you up?

-I feel absolutely on cloud nine at the moment.

You don't get to do this every day.

I'm just going to push as hard as I can and just try and do better than these three.

I do like the sound of Anton's Moroccan mezze.

I'm really looking forward to that.

You've got 20 minutes left. Just 20 minutes.

James is a forager

and that's what he wants to put on the place.

He wants to share his passion and his foraging with all his customers.

The thing that's got me here is my flavour.

Little bit offside of central with some of my ideas

and I think it's that quirkiness.

It's going to really hurt if it doesn't go my way today.

I'll be bitterly disappointed.

James, what is your menu?

I've got a love of Indian food,

so I'm going to do a really nice curry sauce

with squash, turmeric potatoes with black onion seed,

some chard stalks and leaves and some poppadom.

How do you stop it just looking like a bowl of curry?

Presentation's been one of my let-downs.

Just try and keep the presentation a little more symmetrical,

which is quite hard for me.

What's your second dish?

I'm going to soft boil a quail's egg so the yolk's still runny

and then pane it in panko crumbs and deep-fry it at the last second.

I just hope that I can pull it off today.

James is going to make us a vegetable curry.

He says he's got his work cut out with the presentation - I agree.

Last ten minutes.

Chefs, you've only got four minutes left.

90 seconds!

Your time is up.

Oli's first dish is a white truffle, mashed potato and egg yolk raviolo,

served on a bed of leeks,

with pickled mushrooms and a mushroom veloute.

-Ooh!

-Mm.

Oh, yeah! Perfect and runny, as it should be.

Lovely. Mm.

Oh!

That lovely mushroom veloute with the egg yolk running into it -

that is heavenly.

And the potato and mushroom work beautifully well.

A hint of truffle oil, not too much - very well judged.

The pasta is cooked perfectly.

You get the odd pickled mushroom in there, a little ping of vinegar.

And it's... Yeah. That's top class, that.

Mm.

I really didn't expect that to be as delicious as it is.

The mushroom's so deep it's almost sweet,

with that beautiful truffle oil and that rich egg yolk.

That's banging on the door of divine, that is. Honestly, Oli.

Oli's second dish is a chocolate fondant

with a pineapple and mint salad and a chocolate crumb.

Way!

-Wa-he-hey!

-Oh, yeah.

The fondant is lovely and runny in the middle, how it should be.

The pineapple has been roasted beautifully

and it's sweet enough to go and work in perfect harmony

with the chocolate.

Everyone's got their own tastes.

For me, I've got tropical sunshine one side

and an English winter the other.

Love the pineapple, love your fondant,

but I don't like the juice of the pineapple running into chocolate sponge.

-Thank you very much, Chef.

-Thank you.

I'm really pleased with the judges' comments,

especially the raviolo.

I think the comments on that were really good.

James' first dish is a vegetable curry

with turmeric potatoes coated in black onion seeds,

pumpkin and romanesco broccoli,

served with a raita and poppadoms.

I like getting a piece of potato and dipping it into your sauce.

It starts off sweet and it ends up with chilli heat - I do like that.

But it's the same flavour sensation, it's just a different texture with each vegetable.

The poppadoms themselves are a little too dense to be poppadoms.

They're more like nachos.

Nice ideas on here, the sauce is good

but it's a little messy to look at.

The curry sauce is really well balanced.

It's not too strong

and I think that's probably the star of this plate, along with the potato.

I think the potato is lovely

and with the sauce it's really very, very tasty.

I don't like these romanesco. They're burnt on the outside.

I know what you wanted to do - you wanted to char them a bit -

but your eye is drawn to the burnt bit.

His second dish is a salad of deep-fried crispy quail's eggs,

served with potato crisps, mushrooms, carrots and tomatoes.

You've got really good-tasting bits on there.

I love that egg.

Nice slippery egg yolk and nice crispy outside. It's lovely.

I really like the strength of the mushrooms.

I like the firmness of your vegetables

but for me, that's what it is - it's a collection of tasty bits.

You wanted the quail eggs to be crisp on the outside and a runny yolk -

you've done that perfectly.

The potato crisps, as well - very nice, crispy, seasoned,

not overcooked.

The salad itself, with your tomato dressing,

lacks seasoning, lacks character.

It's not got the punch that I was expecting

and for me, carrots, whether they're baby carrots or not,

you should take that off.

I think you've always stayed true to your style and I like that

and you're true to natural flavours and I like that, as well.

How do you get that honesty and that love and that foraging

to look like it's Michelin-starred?

I'm just feeling really dejected.

You know, I think I've possibly cooked myself out of the competition.

It's not a good feeling.

Keri's first dish is panko-crusted tofu,

marinated in vinegar, saffron and sugar

and served with pickled mushrooms, pickled daikon, sweet potato

and an Asian dressing.

For me, the star of the plate is that daikon,

along with the pickled mushrooms and the tofu.

Put those three together and it's very, very good.

I do like that daikon radish against the blandness of the tofu.

I do like that. I like it as a texture, as well.

For me, it's a lovely light starter,

which means I can indulge in a very rich pudding.

-Perfect choice.

-Thank you.

Keri's second dish is a dark chocolate tart,

served with caramelised hazelnuts and white chocolate cream.

I absolutely love it.

Very good. Very, very, very good.

A little crunch to the pastry,

rich, beautiful dark chocolate

and then the cream to just mellow you down,

make you ready for the next bit

and the next bit would come, from me, very, very rapidly.

-Delicious. Delicious.

-Thank you.

The filling in this chocolate tart is absolutely superb.

It is light yet it has the intensity of dark chocolate.

For me, there's a little bit too much white chocolate cream on there.

That's for me, not for him.

I'd like to think I've done enough.

I feel as though I've just landed on the good side of the fence.

I hope I have.

Anton's first dish is a baba ganoush-stuffed courgette flower

topped with tzatziki,

served with roasted baby aubergines,

cumin-roasted buttered vegetables,

salt-baked carrots and crispy flatbread.

For me, that's how to dress a plate of food.

The baba ganoush is not baba ganoush for me.

It's lacking in a hint of garlic and the smokiness that it should have.

The aubergine puree is well seasoned.

The little flatbread is really nice.

It's got spices going through it, it's crunchy, crispy

and it's a wonderful texture

to what is otherwise quite a soft plate of food.

I am not a great fan of carrots but they're lovely.

They've got such a lovely fragrance to them

and that comes from baking them in that fragrant salt that you made.

Looks delightful.

Conjured up the flavours of North Africa really well. Well done, mate.

It's a delicious starter.

It's one that you can pick at and it works.

Anton's second dish is a herb-baked duck egg

with bearnaise-glazed mushrooms,

deep-fried Caerphilly cheese

and tarragon crisps.

Mm.

That looks good. That looks very good.

Good enough to dive in.

The egg is perfectly cooked.

Absolutely perfect.

That yolk is running all over the plate.

The green crumb packs a real punch of herbs.

The mushrooms underneath are meaty, are well seasoned.

The little cheese beignets are absolutely delicious

and they really are quite pungent, quite strong,

which I think this dish needs because egg can be quite bland.

The bearnaise has got a real kick of vinegar -

perfect.

The eating pleasure on this plate is great.

It's up there. It really is.

For an invention test, I think it's incredible.

Incredible. Well done. Well done.

OK, Chef? Thank you very much.

What I got from that was, yeah, I smashed those two dishes.

So, yeah, over the moon. Really, really happy.

Fabulous work today, guys.

Absolutely fabulous.

Thank you very much. Off you go.

I think it's easy to forget that that was actually an invention test

and we didn't allow them any meat, any fish or any poultry.

We couldn't have made it harder

and that makes what they cooked even more incredible.

The plates that Anton gave us looked like the kind that you would find

in the smartest of restaurants.

They were exquisite.

The flavours floating around the paste texture of that lovely cooked aubergine

was, mate, honestly, honestly...

Anton's second dish,

that green egg with five little parcels of deep-fried cheese,

was spectacular.

That sort of food could grace a final,

let alone an invention test.

I'm absolutely praying now, really. You're that close, you know.

I cooked... I couldn't cook any better today even if I tried.

I loved Oli's raviolo. It was absolutely sensational.

And of course, when we cut into it

that egg yolk was running into the veloute and it was divine.

Oli also made a very decent chocolate fondant.

You and I differ on whether chocolate fondant goes with pineapple.

That's as maybe but it doesn't at all detract from the fact

that Oli's pineapple was very good

and his chocolate fondant was very good.

For me, that was dessert or pudding heaven.

I don't know if I've done enough to get through

but it's the best I can do in the circumstance,

so if I don't get through, at least I know I'm not good enough, it's not because I messed up.

James gave us a delightfully flavoured curry sauce

with very, very well-cooked vegetables.

Spiced food is good when you get a slow build-up,

layer after layer of flavour.

That's what James gave - it started sweet and it ended with heat.

There were mistakes on the plate. That romanesco was over-charred.

It was a bit black and bitter.

And his attempt at poppadoms was not right.

James' second course was a salad with crispy quail egg.

They were beautifully cooked

but didn't have that depth of flavour that I was expecting.

I didn't like James' carrots.

He'd left some of the stalk on it

and that's attention to detail that at this level we should be achieving.

The pressure was really on and I think maybe I buckled under it.

Erm...

We'll see but I'm not holding out any hopes.

I really enjoyed Keri's starter. It was light, it was refreshing

and it was great to see somebody actually use the tofu.

I'm not a great fan of tofu but I would have eaten that, no problem.

The star was her chocolate tart. Michel - oh, my word.

Shiny, light pastry, crisp, deep chocolate,

cream on the top that actually made the whole thing mellow again.

Very, very good indeed.

I mean, proper dreamy, fill-your-face chocolate dessert.

I've worked really hard to get here.

Going home is not an option that I've actually thought about seriously.

Never an easy decision, not at this stage. It never is. It never is.

-But we've got to be brave, we've got to be bold.

-I do, too.

I know who, sadly, is going to have to leave us.

We've made a decision.

And the chef leaving us is...

James. Sorry, James.

The experience has just been amazing.

Disappointed, yeah, downbeat about it

but at the same time, hey, I got this far.

I'm quite happy with that.

You are our final three. Well done.

You are about to embark on the most incredible journey.

I don't think it's really sunk in right now.

I'll cry around the corner but I don't want to cry in front of everyone - again.

Yeah - very happy. Very, very happy.

I'm proud of myself. You never actually think you are going to do well.

Yeah, obviously, really, really pleased.

Having those comments today was what I've been trying to do the whole competition.

It blew me away. Final three. I've done it.

-Well done.

-Cheers.

-GREG CHEERS

Tomorrow night, the finalists must impress at the very highest level.

This is the one night of year where you have 30 Michelin-starred chefs

all in the same room at the same time.

A lot of pressure on these guys doing this.

I wouldn't want to be in their place.

Ooh, that lamb looks a bit over.

And they're burnt.

This is their moment to produce the dishes

what's going to set them on the road for the rest of their career.

If they can impress these guys, they can impress anybody.

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