Episode 4 MasterChef: The Professionals

Only an elite group of chefs holds two Michelin stars.

Michel Roux Jr 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!

These six chefs have made it to today's quarter-final.

Now the battle really begins.

It feels amazing to be a MasterChef quarter-finalist.

But, on the other hand, the pressure's starting to mount.

This morning, I'm feeling it.

The competition's pretty serious now.

Everyone in that room wants to get to the semi-finals.

You need to be perfect or you don't go on in this competition.

The kitchen is like a boxing ring.

So you have to fight now.

First, they must prove to Michel and Gregg

they've got what it takes,

with a dish of their own invention.

Only the best chefs will go on to showcase their food

for some of the UK's toughest restaurant critics.

This is magnificent.

This is an ill-conceived experiment that's gone horribly wrong.

This tastes fantastic.

You've done well to get here.

Now you have to cement your place.

You have got an incredible choice of ingredients.

Guinea fowl, partridge, pheasant.

Beautiful, fresh fish,

along with an incredible array of fruit and vegetables.

We are going to give you ten minutes to come and choose your ingredients.

Go shopping!

I'm looking at so many perfect ingredients.

You want to make sure you get the ones that suit your style of cooking.

I can't walk to my bench with everything,

so I have to choose wisely.

You've had five minutes to choose your ingredients. Five minutes left.

I'm going to push myself today and concentrate on my flavour,

which I haven't managed to show in the competition yet.

So create a really beautiful, flavoursome dish, hopefully.

You've chosen your ingredients.

One hour, a masterpiece. Off you go.

Morten is a 32-year-old chef from Fife in Scotland.

Morten's cooking so far has been inconsistent.

Yet, when he did his own food, it was superb!

What I want to see is which Morten is going to turn up in here today!

The other chefs are good.

I just need to be a wee bit better than them today.

-What are you going to make, Morten?

-A ballotine of guinea fowl.

In the ballotine they'll be some mixed herbs and some prunes.

Some potato gnocchi, mushrooms and a celeriac puree.

Today, I want to show you that I can go a step higher.

Start mixing a wee bit more flavours and then show really good food.

-What's happened to you in this competition? There's a spring in your step.

-Yeah!

I got some really good comments from you and that made me feel special.

I just want to keep proving that I'm a really good chef to you.

Phoar! Morten is fired up. He has got that look in his eye.

If he manages to get all of that on a plate with some sauce in an hour...

Hats off!

Anna is a 25-year-old, part-time chef from Lancashire.

She's a pastry chef, Michel. That's where her heart and soul is.

BUT she didn't cook her pastry properly with her lemon tart.

She can't afford any other mistakes.

I'd like to say I'm feeling confident, but I know I've made errors.

Today, I'm going to have to work

as hard as I've ever worked in my life.

Anna, what are you going to make?

Pan-fried sea bream with a clam linguine and caramelised fennel.

That sounds delicious! We thought you may choose the pastry route.

I wanted to prove that I can do more than pastry and I do have a good palate also.

-You are going for it now, aren't you?

-Oh, I'm going for it, yeah!

I've just got that buzz in me, you know.

I just really want to do well, make everyone proud of me.

Craig is a 32-year-old head chef working in Exeter.

I'm confident with my cooking, seasoning, presentation,

but I keep making schoolboy errors.

So if I can produce a dish with no errors,

then, hopefully, I can redeem myself and get through.

Come on, Craig, tell me what you're going to make.

Roast partridge with a pommes fondant, sauteed beetroot,

smoked bacon, confit the legs and do a crisp potato galette as well,

and saute some mushrooms with no grit.

Is there any sauce on this? You made a lovely sauce last time.

We're going to make a sauce, reduce it right down

and turn it into like a hazelnut vinaigrette.

-Do you want this now, Craig.

-I want it more than anything.

Yeah. This a time to raise my game. No more schoolboy errors.

No time for schoolboy errors now.

Craig chose a partridge to cook.

Very traditional, classic tastes,

but it has to be totally fault free.

You are halfway!

30 minutes left!

Stefani's a 24-year-old head chef. She works in a deli in Bristol.

Stefani has got the lightest touch

and her presentation skills are fantastic.

The point she has to prove today is that she understands flavour.

She needs to prove she's got a palate.

I really am desperate to get through to the next round

and show them more what I can cook.

Because I don't feel like I've fully shown them my full potential yet.

-Hello, Stefani.

-Hiya.

-What are you going to cook?

Pan-fried pollock with a clam and smoked bacon sauce,

a celeriac puree, globe artichokes, beet tops and sea samphire.

-Is this a tried and tested dish? I mean, you...

-No.

-Totally off imagination?

-Yeah.

I wanted to make my flavours bolder than I have done with you guys,

because you haven't tasted my bolder food, so I wanted to prove myself.

Stefani's food needs to be as tasty as it is beautiful.

Now's the time to deliver!

Karl, 40-year-old head chef from London.

He's been in the kitchen quite a while, Michel, and it shows.

I need to nail it today.

I need to get the timings right, the presentation right,

and make it look exciting, taste exciting,

fresh, colourful - it just needs to be perfect.

-What's the dish, Karl?

-It's a guinea fowl breast stuffed with pine nuts, prunes and lardons,

celeriac puree, a pancake souffle with the thigh of the guinea fowl.

Basically, a souffle recipe folded into a pancake

and then finished in the oven.

Karl, that's an incredible amount of work that you are attempting in an hour.

Chef, you said to me in one of tests before

that I was lazy. I took a shortcut.

Today, I really need to prove to you that I'm not a shortcut taker.

I believe in hard work, food is my life and I'll cook till I die.

Good on yer, Karl! I like it.

Karl has got so much to do. His list of work is endless.

Karl is not trying to get through this round.

Karl is cooking to win the competition today.

James is a 32-year-old private chef from Northumberland.

James likes to forage, he likes to hunt and I really want him to have another good round.

I want him to prove that he really is the quality I think he is.

I've had some great comments. I started out well.

That makes it even tougher for me. I've got to really improve

to carry on in this competition.

What are you cooking, James?

I'm doing something dear to my heart - pheasant breast with a mustard leg, some baby veg,

but I'm also using the stalks and the leaves from the veg as well.

You must have been very pleased when you saw the ingredients and saw the game.

I just love game. It's wild food.

But also young vegetables - I love them!

The leaves, the stalks. Why waste them? They're just as edible as the rest of it.

-I love your passion, James. Where's it...?

-The woods and the fields.

What I see outside is what I put on the plate.

Good job you don't live where I live!

HE LAUGHS

James has chosen to go the game route. We know he loves game!

But he didn't talk to us about the sauce with this pheasant dish. My worry is, it's going to be dry.

Ten minutes! Last ten minutes!

Just five minutes left!

Stop! Time's up.

First up is Craig.

He has chosen to roast the partridge

and has served it with a potato fondant,

a crispy potato galette,

sauteed girolle, baby carrot and beetroot

with a partridge and hazelnut vinaigrette.

First off, Craig, initially you told us there would be a confit leg.

-Mm.

-It's not on the plate.

For me, it wasn't quite cooked enough. I figured it would be better to leave it off.

Fine. Good!

I like the look of it. It's got a certain elegance to it.

Partridge is well seasoned, well cooked. It's still a little bit pink.

The girolle mushrooms, grit free! Not overcooked, just right.

The pommes fondant could have been a little bit more buttery.

I think if you leave it to rest in the pan with lots of butter,

-it does tend to soak up the butter and then become a true fondant.

-OK.

Although I like your vinaigrette with the bird, cos it's sharp and it's tangy,

sharp and tangy doesn't go with a buttery fondant.

Gregg's right.

A dressing is more salad leaves, vegetables,

or even the lentil.

I'm feeling really disappointed.

I was trying to think outside the box today and do something that was a bit different.

Yeah, just fell short again.

Anna has chosen to pan fry the sea bream.

She's served it with clam linguine and a cream sauce

with finely diced fennel and carrots,

samphire and caramelised fennel.

You're a trained pastry chef

and you've decided to go the fish route.

And I think it's worked.

Fish, beautifully cooked. Your fennel's delicious.

Samphire's bringing a bit of saltiness to the dish as well.

The cream sauce - it's just lacking a little bit more acidity.

So a squeeze of lemon juice or a little bit more white wine.

That said, it's a very accomplished dish.

The textures really good because the skin of the fish is crispy.

I love the little bits of fennel I'm picking up through the pasta.

It's a really well-balanced, genius choice of ingredients.

Anna, that's really nice!

You've cooked out of your skin today.

-Thank you.

-You are absolutely made up, aren't you?

I am!

Yeah, I'm over the moon.

Thank you, Anna.

To get praise like that from Michel Roux Jr, it means everything, you know.

You really feel like you're on top of the world and you can go and conquer anything.

Morten has made a ballotine.

He's stuffed the guinea fowl with prunes and served it with spinach

gnocchi, celeriac puree, girolle mushrooms and a Madeira sauce.

Morten, first off, presentation. It's looking a little bit untidy.

A bit scruffy. I think the choice of plate is not quite right.

If you had a bigger plate, we would have seen more of the white,

and it would have brought out the ingredients.

You cut through that ballotine and you get the sweetness of those prunes,

which is matched by the sweetness of your sauce and then earthy, creamy celeriac.

Absolutely delicious!

But I don't want grit in my mushroom.

I really don't.

The sauce is very good.

Bags and bags of flavour. The gnocchi, a little bit bouncy.

A little bit too heavy. Could have done with less flour in them to be lighter.

Attention to detail. There are errors.

But you can cook.

Tiny wee issues. A wee bit of grit on one of the mushrooms.

It's a good 85%, 86% today again, yeah.

Stefani has roasted the pollock

and served it with globe artichokes and a clam and smoked bacon sauce,

with beetroot tops, samphire and a celeriac puree.

When you get a piece of that fish with the sweet celeriac puree

and some saltiness either from the clam or from that bacon, wow!

It's an explosion of flavour. Saltiness, sweetness.

There's creaminess. Wonderful.

For me, there is not enough clam and bacon on there.

Perfectly cooked fish. Absolutely bang on. That is top class.

You can't get it better than that.

We wanted to see taste from you and I think you've delivered.

Thank you...very much.

I feel really positive about the comments that they gave me.

I wanted to wow them with my flavour combinations

and I felt like I did that.

Karl has also made a ballotine of guinea fowl,

stuffed with pine nuts, prunes and bacon lardon,

a guinea fowl crepe souffle,

celeriac fondant and puree and a guinea fowl jus.

You put in a shift in your hour here. A lot of work.

I'm going to start with the pancake. Little bit crispy on the outside.

Light and fluffy on the inside. Meaty.

Nutty. Yeah, I like it. I think it works.

The ballotine is lovely, very well executed.

It's fresh, it's moist, it's well done.

The celeriac fondants are beautifully cut.

I mean, each one is identical to the millimetre,

which shows a good eye.

However, the celeriac puree

is grainy and watery.

It's not right.

I've never seen anything like that pancake. It's very rich, creamy,

yet it still tastes of the guinea fowl.

It's quite unusual. What I absolutely love, without a shadow of a doubt,

is the breast of this guinea fowl with the stuffing,

with the crispy skin and inside you've got sweetness,

you've got a bit of spice, you've got pepper. It's delicious!

Then when you put that rich, deep sauce across the top of it as well!

I mean, it's just beautiful, beautiful stuff!

I really enjoyed myself today. I did my best out there.

Hopefully, with the level of work that I've delivered today,

maybe enough to get me through.

James has roasted the breast and leg of the pheasant,

and served it with baby turnips, beetroot and potato,

vegetable stalks and leaves and a red wine gravy.

James, beautiful colours.

It's singing out. It is a very appetising plate of food.

All the little vegetables there taste really, really good.

I love the leg as well that's been braised in onion and garlic

and swathed in mustard. It's got a real kick to it.

Your supreme of pheasant, ever so slightly overcooked.

But once you manage to find some of the sauce, it's really very good.

Heaps and heaps of flavour that you've managed to get out of the bones of the pheasant.

That shows great skill and understanding of making a sauce.

Sweet beetroot. Hot, peppery turnip. Because it hasn't been overcooked.

I mean, they're beautiful. They've got a crunch to them. Really lovely.

But I'm lifting up veg and roots looking for a bit of sauce on the plate!

And it's the second time you've done this to me.

If you go through, I am going to nick a sauce jug out of Michel's restaurant for you.

-And I want you to use it.

-I'll keep one in my pocket from now on, if I get through.

A little bit dejected after that one.

I don't think I really took on board the lessons and this competition's about improving all the way through.

We asked you to deliver the goods and, I must say, I'm impressed. Well done.

We have got a really tough decision to make.

Ladies and gentlemen, off you go.

I tell you what, these guys really step it up.

The amount of work they went through was just unbelievable. Got some really good food.

Oh, I was absolutely bowled over by the standard of cooking today. Real skills on show.

Can I tell you my favourite dish?

It was actually Anna's pasta with the bream and the little clams.

It was so simple and everything had to be right.

And, for me, it was. It was delicious.

I was so nervous before I went in.

I just channelled it all in the right direction, obviously,

and just pulled it out of the bag.

James' plate of food was full of flavour,

full of textures, which I really love.

And his pheasant was slightly overcooked.

But everything else on that plate was heavenly.

And, again, he made a terrific sauce

and just didn't put enough on the plate.

But he can cook!

I like his food.

I wish I'd served a jug of sauce, it's as simple as that.

If I'd done a jug of sauce, I'd be laughing all the way and the fact they said it yesterday to me,

should have sunk in.

Karl is a quality, quality, experienced, seasoned chef.

The actual breast of the guinea fowl itself

with that stuffing was superb.

And the depth of his sauce was just beautiful.

I liked the pancake. I thought it was good.

But there were errors there. The celeriac puree was grainy and watery.

You know, cooking today was great, but it's not enough. I want more.

So, yeah, we'll see what the result's going to be.

I really enjoyed Stefani's pollock.

It was cooked to perfection.

Fair enough, it wasn't as elegant as we know she can dress food,

but it's a very accomplished plate of food.

We said there was a question mark over her palate.

Has she put that right today? Has she convinced you?

She can cook with taste.

I really haven't got a clue where I stand competition-wise,

because I had negative comments on mine, so maybe I'm near the bottom.

Craig can cook. His partridge was beautiful, moist and well seasoned.

But that dish he presented to us was not complete.

I had the unusual dressing which didn't match a potato fondant,

which in itself wasn't soft and buttery enough.

He's not a bad chef. It's just this bunch are good.

He's off the pace, well off the pace.

I'd love to stay in the competition, but, for me, it's got to be on merit

and I don't feel that I produced enough.

-I really liked Morten's dish.

-But there were errors on that plate.

The gnocchi were heavy and bouncy, when they should be light and fluffy.

And, for me, the presentation certainly wasn't great.

Everyone in this competition didn't enter to get thrown out now.

So, of course, I want to go all the way to the final.

-We've got six very good chefs in the kitchen.

-You can't have six!

Which two are we going to send home?

Great cooking. Really, really fantastic.

I can't praise you high enough.

It's really tough because two of you will be going.

The first chef leaving us is...

Craig.

Thank you.

This opportunity is only ever going to come about once,

and you either take it or you don't and I didn't take it so, yeah, extremely disappointed.

The second chef leaving us is...

Morten.

I'm disappointed that I made these stupid mistakes today.

What's done is done. I can't change it now, so it's time to go home.

You are cooking today for a place in a MasterChef semi-final

and you are presenting your food, not just to Michel and I,

but to three highly respected restaurant critics.

This is your chance.

Two dishes of your own creation.

Cook your heart out!

One hour, 15 minutes.

Go on! Do it!

At this stage of the competition, we want to see our chefs breaking the barriers,

giving us something new, something exciting, something that we haven't seen before.

Karl has got a great repertoire. He's got experience coming out of his ears.

Today is a day for Karl to show his experience,

show all that professionalism and absolutely knock 'em dead.

The dishes that I'm doing today are great. They really make me smile.

And I'm really nervous because I've got so much to do.

It's going to be horrible today! It's going to be so hard.

Right, Karl, what are you cooking for us and the critics?

Duck three ways. It's the breasts, which are roasted with thyme butter.

The leg as an egg.

The other leg is mixed with the liver and made as a ballotine, poached.

That's going to be served with a beautiful, smooth carrot puree and a morel sauce.

-And for dessert?

-A marjolaine of chocolate, two chocolates,

and that's with a hazelnut biscuit.

You haven't got time to do all that to a duck!

I have. Watch me. I love work. Work keeps me young.

It keeps me energetic and, er, yeah...

I don't know how to break this to you, Karl, but you look quite old.

You're the first one to tell me that, Gregg!

Karl has seriously got his work cut out. Stuffing a leg, making a ballotine out of it.

Making a Scotch egg out of the other leg.

-A supreme roasted and crispy skinned.

-An hour to do that much to a duck? Is it possible?

You've had 20 minutes! Sorry, but 20 minutes has gone!

Stefani's food is always presented with great elegance. Sometimes was lacking in flavour.

Now she has to get both of those together to impress the critics.

The type of food that I cook is quite quirky.

I like having like an array of cookery books in front of me

and picking lots of different ideas from each one and creating one dish.

-Stefani, what have you got cooking?

-Pan-fried black bream

with pea and asparagus salad.

Wild garlic puree, braised salsify and tarragon gnocchi

-with a beurre blanc.

-And dessert?

Date and sweet potato cake

with cardamom yoghurt

and a stock syrup of golden raisins and walnuts.

I really like this cake. It's one of my favourites.

Have you ever cooked for critics before?

No.

People criticising your food is constructive, I know, but I'm really nervous today.

Now I order desserts everywhere I go.

-I've never come across a sweet potato dessert, ever!

-There might be a reason for that.

James can really cook, especially when it comes down to satisfying the taste buds.

It's hearty, country-style fare

with restaurant elegance and I really like it.

What I want to get out of this competition is recognition from my peers, definitely.

I've spent the last ten years in the wilderness, so to speak.

I think it's time I came on to the stage.

James, what are you cooking for us?

I'm cooking hanger steak, wild garlic and bone-marrow croquette,

garden greens, a little Pontac Catsup and a beer gravy.

Pontac Catsup?!

-Very fruity made with spices, onion...

-Wooah!

Very strong. It doesn't need much. It's two years old, so still young.

-What's pudding?

-A sous-vide poached rhubarb.

I'm going to take the poaching liquor, sorbet with that, some little meringues.

Set English custard. There's no vanilla in there.

And the other thing I've got is a little crumble with the rhubarb.

Do you think of anything other than food?

Food is my life. I live it, breathe it, sleep it.

To the detriment of my social life, definitely. I probably bore all my friends silly talking about food.

-But that's my life.

-Have you cooked for critics before?

-No, I've never cooked for critics.

I just hope that my slant on wild food isn't seen as overdoing it,

and the flavours balance well.

Very often chefs will go the easy route and take fillet,

whereas hanger steak takes skill to cook properly.

If he gets this right, then it's the sign of a really top chef.

Anna is the dark horse. She's come from nowhere.

If she cooks anything near to that bream dish, the critics will be impressed.

I just hope today she can deliver the goods again.

Going into that kitchen is nothing like stepping into your kitchen at work.

It's in a league of its own. So, hopefully, I can show them that I've got it.

That I can be MasterChef. You never know!

-Anna, what are you cooking for us?

-Honey-spiced rump of lamb,

with mango, pak choi, couscous and, for dessert,

a rhubarb, orange and pistachio cake with poached rhubarb,

creme anglaise, a grenadine syrup and a pistachio praline.

Mango and lamb are two of my favourite things to eat in the whole world.

-And I've never had them together before now.

-Have you not?

Right. Well, first time for everything then!

Your food in the last round was fabulous.

-Can you recreate that sort of splendour?

-Hopefully.

I want to go out there and prove to everyone that I deserve a place.

Anna is cooking roast rump of lamb with mangoes, couscous with lots of fruit

and a honey and rosemary sauce. All that sounds very sweet and sticky.

If she can put them together and make something delicious,

I'll be really happy. I do have my doubts.

20 minutes and then the first courses have got to go!

What we're hoping for always is great food,

that magic extra element which shows you someone knows what they're doing.

I like food to be

a joy rather than a piece of art.

If we see over-complication.

If we see people trying to be too clever, it reeks of amateurism.

The critics aren't normal punters!

They understand every trick of the trade.

They're not impressed by gimmicks or over-decoration.

What will impress them is cooking of the highest quality.

Every plate of food has to be perfection.

The two that get it right, straight into the semi-final.

Karl, I'm worried about you. 15 minutes till the mains go out.

"Gressingham Duck Three Ways" - I wonder what they will be?

One thing that does strike me about Karl's menu is that he's set himself

a lot to do in just over an hour.

Karl is sailing close to the wind. I doubt very much if he's going to be serving up on time.

Critics are now waiting.

I'm going to start plating in four minutes.

A few minutes over is no big deal, but you don't want to go too far. Come on!

-Homemade stencil?

-Yes, Chef.

-Good!

I like what I'm seeing, Karl. Looks good. Come on!

Cor, runny Scotch egg!

-Nice!

-It's lovely.

-Go on, go on, go on! Go, go, go!

-Go!

-Well done.

-Shouldn't... Too ambitious.

-Yeah, but the end result.

No! Listen, no-one wants to be kept waiting for ten minutes.

Good afternoon. I'm really sorry about the delay.

Thanks.

Today, we've got Gressingham duck done three ways.

So the breast is roasted with thyme butter.

The leg as an egg with morels and shallots.

And the other leg with liver and as a ballotine.

Thank you.

It wasn't what I expected. I didn't expect to see a Scotch egg.

There's a lot of work in this plate. Amazing he wasn't later than he was.

This actually tastes fantastic.

Mash is good.

The duck sausage, or ballotine, if you're posh, is really nice.

The duck itself, amazing! It's still really tender, the breast.

And given the fact he's got so much to do,

he still managed to get the egg yolk slightly runny, which I think is genius.

It's complicated, it's ambitious, but he's really pulled it off.

The Scotch egg is the star of the show. It's fantastic.

Slightly spicy. The puree's really smooth and sweet.

A lot of very good skills on show here in this plate of food.

Ten minutes late? I think it's worth it.

Now you're going to need to smash into that chocolate, yeah?

"Chocolate and Hazelnut Marjolaine and Hazelnut Brittle".

I think if you attempt something like a marjolaine,

which comes from the classical French canon of patisserie,

you have to do it absolutely perfectly.

-Right, what's left to go on the plate?

-Just these three elements now.

So, cut your marjolaine chocolate dessert and put the hazelnuts on?

-Yes.

-Let's go, go, go! Come on! You're nearly there. Come on!

Come on, Karl. We've got to go! Got to go, mate.

Very cunning.

Karl, it looks great. Well done. Come on!

Go!

Well done.

I'm really sorry about the delay.

Dessert in front of you is chocolate marjolaine, two chocolates,

-with hazelnut brittles. OK? Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

So here's a marjolaine. Have you ever wondered what it was?

A sort of chocolatey, sandwichy thingy.

The chocolate part of it has been nicely made.

I think the sponge, if that's what it's meant to be, is very dense and compacted.

This is a sort of dish you might get on a little tea trolley.

You need either a big dollop of cream or a cup of tea with it.

It's cool, it's chocolatey, it's got the flavour of booze in it.

It's also got a slight flavour of marzipan in it.

The only thing missing, for me, is some toasted hazelnuts in there,

to give it a bit more depth of flavour, but otherwise,

that's a really good marjolaine.

Oh!

Phh! I'm empty. I've given everything I had in me there.

I'm exhausted.

Phwoa!

-Stefani, eight minutes you've got. Are you OK?

-Yep.

-Under control?

-Yep.

Pan-fried bream, braised salsify, tarragon gnocchi.

A British pea and asparagus salad and beurre blanc.

This is like a fantastic display of British flavours on a plate.

If you were organising a wedding, you'd pick that one.

This could be a fantastic dish.

-How long for the fish?

-Two minutes.

We'll probably be in the nick of time, Stefani. Well done.

-What's the little green leaf in there?

-Mint.

-Lovely. Aw!

Mint and peas - sshw!

-Fish cooked?

-Yep.

-What's left?

-Beurre blanc.

You're off. Go!

You've got pan-fried black bream, tarragon gnocchi,

English asparagus and pea salad, braised salsify,

wild garlic puree and beurre blanc.

-Thanks.

-OK.

-Thank you.

-I think it looks absolutely gorgeous.

-Looking forward to this.

The fish is really well cooked, but there are other things that aren't quite right about this.

My asparagus is undercooked.

The gnocchi fails to score

because the texture is kind of slimy rather than fluffy.

I don't know what's got you guys! You don't know a good plate of food when it hits you in the face.

I love the crunch that she's got in the veg.

The fish is subtle. It's tender. You know, wonderful texture.

I think the dish works together. I think it sings.

I love the wild garlic puree. I love the salsify,

giving almost a nuttiness to it, but the gnocchi are almost shapeless

and the fish is slightly overcooked.

The vegetables are delicious - beautifully cooked and seasoned.

The beurre blanc is practically non-existent. There's nothing there.

And that's what's missing from this dish!

-Clear down, get your head together. You've got 15 minutes before the puddings go out.

-Yep, OK.

-Well done.

The dessert - sweet potato and date cake with spiced cardamom yoghurt.

The juices don't flow, cos that sounds like a really heavy, merciless sort of pudding.

There's a sort of Indian spin and it's got some flavours that I'm excited by.

-Syrup ready?

-Yep.

-Nearly there, Stefani. Come on!

-I like this.

Smells absolutely lovely. That it?

Well done.

It's a sweet potato and date cake with cardamom yoghurt and stock syrup,

with diced sweet potatoes and golden raisins.

-OK?

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

I was a bit in love with Stefani. I thought we had something going,

till she brought out this insult.

It looks like someone has just thrown up next to three pieces of cake.

I think you're being a bit harsh. It's not the most beautiful looking thing I've seen,

but it doesn't look awful at all.

Well...

I think the yoghurt is very nice.

The cake fails for me on many levels.

This is like old-fashioned bread pudding,

only it's without the charm here.

I don't like the grated cinnamon.

I don't think the sweet potato is very clever.

And there's too much of it. This is an ill-conceived experiment that's gone horribly wrong.

It's unusual, but I actually rather like it.

SHE LAUGHS

I know!

It has a lightness about it and I'm quite enjoying this sticky, reduced

sweet potato and sultana thing on the side.

It's peculiar, but I'm actually enjoying it.

There's lots of cinnamon in there and then there's cardamom,

which is also a really nice, clean spice that's going through her yoghurt.

However, the texture is really quite dense.

We were very sceptical about the sweet potato in a cake and I think we were proved right.

I feel quite deflated.

Half of that didn't go as well as I was hoping it to.

So...

I couldn't have worked any faster or harder.

I just didn't work fast enough.

-James, you've got three minutes, mate.

-Steak's on.

I'm going to be, I think, two minutes over, Chef.

James' menu, hanger steak, bone-marrow croquettes,

-beer gravy and greens.

-Plenty to look forward to there.

I'm hoping he's taking something simple and will deliver it with some finesse. I hope!

-How are you going to be serving these steaks?

-Very rare.

That's the way it should be, in my view.

That's time up. We should now be delivering.

Come on, James! Come on! Let's go, go, go!

-Your sauce ready?

-Yes, it is.

-I've got some gravy jugs on your advice, Chef.

-Good idea.

-Greens and a dribble of sauce?

-Yeah.

OK, James. Be careful with that.

Hanger steak, garden greens, Pontac Catsup

and a potato, wild garlic and bone-marrow croquette.

-What's Pontac Catsup?

-It's an elderberry pickle that's been aged for two years.

-Thank you.

-Enjoy!

-Thank you.

It's a lovely, delicate-looking thing.

And the star of it, this lovely, ruby red, gorgeous-looking beef.

I think this is magnificent. This is a beautiful piece of meat. It's been barely cooked.

As you chew it, it releases flavour after flavour. It's just fantastic.

And croquettes of which I could eat a dozen.

They're as light as air and a wonderful little bite of wild garlic coming through

and a shiver of kind of bone marrow in there, too. They are absolutely glorious.

Yeah, I'm seriously impressed. It looked beautiful, tasted great,

yet there's a real originality behind it as well.

Hanger steak is one of my favourite cuts of meat

and it should be served rare or blue. He's done that perfectly.

The bone-marrow croquettes are delicious, but the sauce

is far too thin and bitter.

I love the croquettes. Croquettes are amazing.

That beef is far too rare for me.

-15 minutes now, Chef, till the rhubarb and custard, yeah?

-Yes.

James' simple menu description

follows through to the dessert, which is "Rhubarb and Custard".

I suspect, however, that James is going to do something a little bit more complicated.

You've got six minutes to go, James, plenty of time to make this superb.

Just got apple blossom, hawthorn blossom

and the others are violets out of my wood at home.

-So that's it! Just the sorbet to go on, yeah?

-That's it.

-One spoonful?

-Yep.

-Magic.

-Beautiful colour in that, eh? Woah!

-That dessert is wonderful.

It's like a fairy's garden.

-Good to go? That's it! Lovely.

-Thank you.

Well done.

We have pudding - rhubarb and custard.

We have a little English set custard,

some sous-vide rhubarb with red wine and sweet cicely,

little elderflower blossom meringues,

a rhubarb and pine needle syrup puree and the poaching liquor turned into a sorbet.

-Enjoy!

-It looks lovely. Thank you.

This looks absolutely beautiful. If it tastes as good as it looks, we're in for a real treat.

He's really done a show-stopper here.

But I don't know, yet, whether I approve

of custard you can slice.

The custard I think is wonderful. I love the crunchy crumble on top.

The rhubarb sorbet is incredible. All the little flowers work.

There's a problem. The rhubarb hasn't been cooked.

Unfortunately, that tilts the scales in the favour of failure.

The rhubarb, having been cooked sous vide,

retains its texture and also retains all the acid you get in rhubarb.

So that is actually painfully sharp.

You can't call it a failure of a dish. It's a triumph of a dish let down by one ingredient.

The guy is clearly very gifted.

That rhubarb needs more cooking and it needs the addition of sugar.

It's too firm and it's really sharp.

The custard is really nice and only just set, so it's soft and not too sweet.

The meringues are crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside.

He meant for the rhubarb to be a bit crunchy, but that is too crunchy.

Phew!

HE SIGHS DEEPLY

Wow! Wow!

That was fun.

The adrenaline's coursing. I'd forgotten what it was like

working under pressure in the kitchen.

But whether I've done enough today, we'll see.

-Last couple of minutes, Anna. Are we there?

-Yep!

So Anna's doing honey-spiced rump of lamb with caramelised mango.

I think that's a really interesting first course.

It's also quite a sweet meat.

To serve it with caramelised mango, I hope there'll be some balance and something a bit more savoury.

I remain to be convinced.

It smells really spicy. Come on, Anna! Nearly there.

Nice.

OK. So we've got a bit of sauce over it and we're there?

That's it, last touches.

-That's it!

-Yeah, that's it.

-Nice, clean plates. Off you go!

I've cooked a honey-spiced rump of lamb with a spiced couscous

caramelised mango and pak choi.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

The lamb is very nice and the little honeyed sauce that comes with it also good,

but the whole dish is overwhelmingly sweet,

leaving aside the issue of the mango. No, it just doesn't work.

I actually don't mind the mango.

I kind of like that sweetness. It's like having a sweet chutney with lamb.

I don't think it's a good flavour combination.

The lamb is ever so slightly overcooked and badly sliced.

The sauce is too sticky, too sweet - overpowering!

In fact, this whole plate is just too sweet.

It's too sweet even for me.

-You've got the smile on your face. 15 minutes we need the dessert gone.

-Yeah. It's fine.

Wow, look! Rhubarb and custard again.

Well, she obviously likes sweet tastes.

She might even be a pastry chef, so she'll have to do something spectacular

with her rhubarb and custard to end our day.

-Home straight! Come on! Are you going to be on time?

-Yeah.

-Well done.

-So that is grenadine and...?

-Rhubarb syrup.

-Mmm!

-Mm.

This we like. This we like a lot.

Mmm!

-Can you hurry up, so I can taste it?

-SHE LAUGHS

-I like the look of that. Well done, Anna.

-Well done, Anna.

-Be careful. Well done.

-Thank you.

-Do you like that?

-Mm.

-Yeah, me, too.

We've got an orange pistachio and rhubarb cake with the rhubarb compote underneath.

Poached rhubarb, pistachio praline and creme anglaise.

-Thank you.

-Enjoy. Thank you.

The whole thing looks absolutely lovely.

It looks like a pudding that's been put together by someone who likes eating puddings.

This is how rhubarb should be - a balance between sharp and sweet.

Very satisfying, really good.

And I absolutely adore the addition of the pistachios

because it gives you a bit of bite, bit of crunch. The custard is great.

This is just a really good, English pudding. It's fantastic.

Altogether, it's a really nicely balanced combination,

so I think she's really redeemed herself with this.

Mmm!

Cor!

She has made a perfectly rich, creamy vanilla custard,

beautifully cooked and perfectly sweetened rhubarb and a perfectly light sponge.

That's very clever pastry work and it's delicious!

With the main course, I don't know if they'll think it's too much fruit and sweet on a plate.

But I did as best I could. I just hope it's enough.

Right throughout this week, the level of cooking has been very, very good.

And it culminates with us having to get rid of two very good chefs.

My favourite chef today was Karl.

Even though he was outrageously late, I thought he cooked with real skill.

I mean, that duck was complicated stuff. The Scotch egg, for me,

was the pinnacle. I thought that was absolutely delicious.

That was by far the best plate of food I think we had today.

Karl's classic chocolate marjolaine was good.

For me, it was lacking just a bit more praline base, but... Gosh!

In the time he was allotted, it was a very good attempt.

I think Karl is the most technically gifted

and he was the most ambitious. That ambition nearly killed him today.

I want him in there. I think you do, too.

Today, I bit off more than I could chew.

I want to deliver amazing food. That's in my DNA.

That's... Aaagh! That's what I want to do.

I liked Stefani's bream served on the asparagus and fresh peas,

flavoured with mint. The vegetables were beautifully cooked.

The gnocchi were a little bit too light. They were even waterlogged.

Those sweet potato cakes were like bread pudding!

It was stodgy, really stodgy! You want something finer than that.

Sweet potato, what's going on?

We can see she can cook well. She can dress food well.

But... You've got to be able to do more than that.

I really wanted to impress, but I don't know if...

I feel quite low, actually.

I don't feel like I've impressed as much as I wanted to.

James' hanger steak was cooked blue - just how I love it and how it should be.

But his sauce was too thin and bitter.

But I did love those croquettes.

I really liked James' dessert. I thought it looked beautiful.

I liked the custard and gooey meringues.

It was just let down by the fact he hadn't cooked the rhubarb enough.

I'm feeling a little bit down because I wasn't perfect today.

I wanted to go out there and show I could do it.

I don't know about Anna.

I mean, one plate, for me, was a disaster and one plate was an absolute revelation.

I struggle to find anything that I liked on Anna's plate of lamb.

It was just far, far too sweet.

BUT Anna at her best

was that rhubarb sponge with vanilla custard.

Lovely. A pudding man's delight.

I've shown everything I possibly can today.

You know, I've shown my spirit. I've shown who I am.

I hope I've done enough to get through, I do.

I think what makes this judging really difficult

is that the critics couldn't quite agree, you and I couldn't always see eye to eye.

So what are we going to do? We're talking about a semi-final place up for grabs here.

One way or another, we're still having to send away

two very good chefs.

You did well, very well.

The first chef leaving us is...

Anna.

Thank you.

I'm very proud of myself for getting to where I have.

I've learnt a lot really. I've learnt more about myself

and the direction I want to take in life.

It's been a fantastic time.

The second chef leaving us is...

Stefani.

I am really disappointed.

I didn't feel like I cooked my best today at all.

There's still an awful lot more of me that I wanted to show.

But...good luck to the guys that carry on.

Well done. Well done.

Yes!

Yes!

I just feel like dancing on the ceiling.

This is amazing. This is awesome. This is everything I wanted.

Unbelievable to be a MasterChef semi-finalist, wow!

I've worked on my own for ten years. I've had no other chefs with me.

Maybe what I've spent the last ten years doing has been worth it.

Next week...

ten more chefs will compete to impress Monica and Gregg.

I have very high expectations of you and so does Michel.

I would rank myself in the world of professional chefs quite high.

Sometimes my style can be a bit wacky.

I try not to let my imagination take control of me.

They really need to dig into a chef's repertoire and be individual and creative.

I don't know if you've got the makings of a genius or just got very lucky!

This, for me, is a plate of heaven.

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