Episode 1 MasterChef: The Professionals

These eight chefs all want to become Professional MasterChef champion.

Service!

I think I could win this competition because I am different.

I haven't seen anyone like me on MasterChef before.

I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm ready to give it my best shot,

and for me it is a win.

I'm just like, "Right, let's do it."

I'm here for a reason, to achieve something great.

I would like to say... mm, it doesn't get better than this!

But over the next three nights,

they will have to pass the tests set for them by chef Monica Galetti,

diner Gregg Wallace and Michelin-starred Michel Roux Junior

throughout this competition.

Today, it's Monica's first challenge.

She wants to test the chefs' creativity by giving them

seven ingredients from which they have to create one dish.

All right, Gregg, they've got some wonderful strawberries,

some dark chocolate, some mushrooms, quinoa.

They also have Italian mascarpone and artichoke and watercress.

We're going to give the chefs one hour.

Let's give you one hour, see what you'd make.

With pleasure.

Don't need these.

Not mushroom there?

"Be creative" is very important, and really show off.

I want them to really stand out in this round.

I'm just cutting the strawberries down

because I want to extract as much juice as possible from them.

Infuse it with some basil stalks.

Oh, Monica, I'm beginning to warm to this dish.

Halfway gone. There is a lot of process.

We've got the mascarpone in the freezer,

we've got a chocolate ganache,

we've got a strawberry jelly going on there

and we've got crumble in the oven.

You are just showboating now, aren't you? Yes.

The thing is with chocolate,

if you tamper and put it in the fridge before it is set,

it will then melt when you bring it out to room temperature.

So let it set at room temperature and then put it in the fridge? Yeah.

Five minutes, Mon. Thanks, Gregg.

I've made a basic crumble, but I've added the quinoa to it.

Ah, splendid.

So there's strawberry there,

running through the middle of that mascarpone. Yes.

Strawberry jelly. Unbelievable.

Wow. So what have we got there?

There you have a take on a cheesecake with quinoa crumble,

strawberries and chocolate. That is just stunning.

Mmm!

You've got a very light crunch of the quinoa.

Welcome to Professional MasterChef,

your opportunity to show what a class act you are.

First up, we want you to make one quality dish incorporating

some of the seven ingredients under that tea towel.

Chefs, uncover the ingredients.

In front of you, you have quinoa,

globe artichokes, mushrooms,

mascarpone, chocolate, strawberries

and watercress.

You also have a limited larder to the side.

You are a professional chef,

I want to see what level of cooking you can achieve.

Get off to a great start. One hour to cook.

Off you go!

The chefs have got great variety of ingredients today.

Lots of options. They could do a wonderful watercress soup.

They could make a savoury souffle.

They could make a lovely, rich,

decadent chocolate tart decorated with the strawberries.

There is a great opportunity for them to stand out now.

I think I am a creative chef.

Sometimes, you know, I go a bit too far. Sometimes I don't go far enough.

I like to do crazy dishes that use liquid nitrogens, use the foams,

a little set strawberry jelly,

black pepper, shortbread and, like, a little chocolate paint.

How good are you at pastry? I think I'm all right. Is that what you do?

No, I'm a head chef. How old are you, Marcus? 24.

That's young for head chef. It is young, I know.

But I've worked in a lot of places in London

and done a few scholarships abroad. I've done Elberly.

How good are you going to be? I'd like to think I'd go all the way.

Cheers, Chef, keep it up. Thank you. Good start.

I would say I'm a creative chef.

I think I'm just developing my style, which I feel is my strongest point.

I like to involve new techniques, a lot of dimensions in there,

textures. My weaker point, I'd say, is pastry.

I wouldn't say I am classically trained, I would say I'm well trained.

I'm going to demonstrate my quirky side.

I'm going to do a take on rice pudding,

using the quinoa with a strawberry and basil jelly.

I've never had rice pudding made out of quinoa.

I've never done it, so I have my fingers crossed.

Pfff... Good luck, mate. Thank you.

Quinoa as a rice pudding?

Possible, but I'm yet to be convinced.

I'm originally from South Africa.

It was hard to grow up in a township.

Luckily, I got a job as a commis chef.

Today I am here, I'm happy.

My philosophy is that, when you wake up in the morning,

always have a smile because you never know who you are going to meet.

I will charm them with my smile.

OK! What are you doing now? I'm a head chef in Aylesford in Kent.

What do you want from MasterChef?

Winning MasterChef will change my life for ever

and it will inspire nations, especially my country. Wonderful.

What does your wife think of all this? She is just amazed.

Maybe she is thinking "I'm going to have a rich..."

And she's going to take all the money.

You've had 30 minutes. You're halfway.

The cream in the cheese has split, so...I'll just have a look

through the ingredients again and pick something else.

Lindsey has already split her cream.

She cannot panic, she needs to really think on her feet

and pull this one out of the bag.

Hello, Lindsey. Hi, how are you doing?

I'm doing fine, how are you doing? I'm all right, thank you.

Did you have an issue here a minute ago? Yeah. I was going to do

a lemon and ginger cheesecake with some toasted quinoa.

Now I'm going to do like a ginger

and mustard seed shortbread with a chocolate tuile,

down the same sort of line.

You don't look like it's much of a drama.

There's no need for drama, is there? It's all good.

What do you do? I work in a hotel in Chesterfield, junior sous chef.

What do you dream about? I dream about having my own pub, gastro pub,

having a star or two. And how good are you?

I think I can be one of the best.

Nice talking to you. Cheers. And you, Gregg. Cheers, mate.

I'm a driven chef.

From 16, I knew I was going to be a chef, even maybe before that.

some pickled mushrooms and crispy basil.

We'll keep it Asian and hopefully do something different.

Is that what you love to cook? Indian, Thai, Asian.

I am not a massive fan of French cooking.

I want to say that quite quietly.

I look forward to you telling Michel that.

HE LAUGHS

I think we will skip that bit.

I don't want to be arrogant.

You know, when you come in a kitchen, being a chef,

being a French one, they expect so much from you.

"You're French, you're going to know that."

The funny thing is I did learn a few French classics in England

which I didn't know in France.

I'm definitely going to have to push myself. I'd like to win.

I just need to be confident and keep calm and I will be fine, I'm sure.

Hopefully.

Quentin, what you making? I'm not sure yet.

Why did you move from France to Chichester?

Cos I wanted to learning English and I stayed because I fell

in love with the country, with the food, my girlfriend...

All right. Good luck. Thank you.

I'm feeling on top of the world because I believe that

I have got what it takes to win this and the opportunity to do it.

I'm not being bigheaded, but I've got the technical ability.

I love to amaze people.

And I'd like to see Monica and Gregg amazed by my food, definitely.

Michael, you've got a very focused look on your face, Chef.

I am focused. What is happening?

I've got some sweet pastry cases baking blind in the oven.

My chocolate tart mix is ready to go into them.

I've got some nice strawberry puree there, a lemon mascarpone

I'll do my best.

Michael is doing very well.

He is very comfortable. And it is what I expect here today.

I hope he pulls it out in the end.

Ten minutes.

Being a head chef, you can't really have anything you can't do.

I have sort of hit all my targets and I can do every section pretty well.

I'm really excited, I'm just looking forward to getting in the kitchen

and getting some work done where I am most comfortable.

A pudding man's dream, this is, this bench today.

I thought that, I know you like your puddings.

What are you making? A little basil panna cotta, strawberry jelly.

I'm going to do some crumbled shortbread as well,

just for a bit of texture. How much pastry do you do?

You've got just 30 seconds. Hurry up!

That's it. Your time is up. Step away. Finished. Well done.

The chefs were given globe artichoke, mascarpone,

quinoa,

strawberries,

mushrooms,

chocolate and watercress.

With those ingredients, Monica cooked a dish in one hour

and it was stunning.

So, that's pretty much the benchmark.

and crispy basil.

Lovely presentation, Luke, very neat, very tidy.

Curiously, would this be a starter or main course? Probably a starter.

It's a Gregg-sized starter, isn't it? A little bit, yeah.

It's probably somewhere in-between. Yeah!

SHE LAUGHS

I like your bhaji.

I like the sweetness of the pickled mushroom,

but I just find it's a touch too much sugar for me.

But, don't be disheartened. I think you've done a great plate.

I look forward to seeing more from you.

Soft potatoes, a bit of fierce heat of chilli,

lovely crispy bhaji, I think it's great, mate.

The fact that you've turned everyday Indian takeaway stuff

into a posh plate of food I love.

Thank you very much. Good lad.

served with lemon mascarpone with black pepper,

strawberry compote and a strawberry coulis,

decorated with sugar work.

I like the presentation.

The only thing, it's very clear to me

that something's happened to your chocolate mix, here.

Either you've overcooked it or you've split the mix.

It should be lovely, smooth and shiny.

A lot of positives in this dish.

Your quenelle is beautiful.

I like the twist of black pepper on there.

Your chocolate tart is what let you down.

You can see where it's actually split in the mix.

However, it tastes amazing.

I would happily eat that tart on its own.

I would demolish the strawberry with the pepper lemon mascarpone.

Mate, that's a flavour sensation. Little mistake on the chocolate.

Matt has created a strawberry and mint quinoa rice pudding

with strawberry and basil jellies and mint oil.

Matt, if I said what I thought that looked like,

it would just be beep-beep-beep-beep!

I'm sorry, Matt, this hasn't worked.

Just, the whole thing is very odd. Um...

This is the kind of plate that really winds me up.

I don't like it.

The quinoa strawberry rice pudding, it's not a bad flavour,

but the texture is really odd.

Petrus has made two dishes.

A watercress soup with poached egg,

and a dessert of chocolate panna cotta with chilli-poached strawberries.

Now, the thing is, we can only taste one of your dishes.

So, you're going to have to decide

which one it is you want us to taste.

Why did you choose the soup and not the chocolate dessert?

Because it's a bit messy. I should have done it better.

Right.

..than giving me two mediocre plates.

Sure.

You've poached the egg nicely, and the soup tastes great.

It's got buttery finish to it, it's got lots of good seasoning.

But, there's not a great deal going on, is there?

Do you hate us now? No, I don't hate you, it's good feedback.

I'll make it better.

I hope so. Then I'll really hate you.

HE LAUGHS (Just kidding!)

Thanks, Chef.

Interesting.

Marcus's strawberry and ginger cheesecake

is served with toasted quinoa,

black pepper shortbread,

a chocolate and rock salt crisp and basil foam.

I love the shortbread.

I like the quinoa crumble. However, I don't think it's necessary

when you got the wonderful shortbread to go with it.

I think one or the other.

The flavours are there, the skill is there, presentation,

you need to pick up quickly.

The shortbreads are fantastic.

Sweet and buttery and crumbly.

The chocolate tuile with the salt in it is another delight.

I like the base of your cheesecake. But, there's not enough fruit top.

You need a contrast. It's got to be fruity or sharp or sweet.

It's not enough. Look, for me, there is obvious creativity and knowledge.

I can't wait to see you cook more. Thank you, Marcus. Thank you.

What's underneath the biscuit?

Mascarpone cream. I tried to make a mousse, but it didn't set.

Did you have to hide it under the biscuit? Er, yes.

I can taste salt in there. Is that right?

Yes, probably some salt in there, in the cookie.

Did you taste your dough before you cooked it?

I did, yes. Before and after.

Very salty.

Is it? Yep, yep.

I like the caramel decoration. It's very stunning.

However, the reality of eating a large shard of caramel

is not pleasant.

When you said you were going to work it out as you went along,

I got a little bit worried.

Maybe that's why we've got

so many things on here that haven't quite worked.

Cheers, thank you.

Lindsey has made ginger and mustard seed millefeuille,

poached strawberries,

custard and caramelised quinoa,

with a strawberry soup.

Are you happy with your plate? No. No. OK. I'm not happy with it.

The tuile melting across the biscuits has spoilt

the look of the dish and your quenelles of quinoa have dissolved.

Still, let's taste it.

Lindsey, firstly, your biscuits are wonderful.

However, your strawberry compote is still quite warm,

has soaked through those biscuits.

The quinoa is raw,

it's very, very sweet

and I think it need something more sharp to set it off.

I don't think this is the dish you wanted to give me today. No.

Mmm.

Finally, Scott has made basil panna cotta with strawberry jelly,

lemon mascarpone

and a shortbread finished with basil and mint.

I think that looks splendid.

Scott, you've made my day.

You really have. It's almost as good as mine!

SHE LAUGHS

Almost!

Well done, Scott. I like the sharpness of your jelly.

you're getting cream, you're getting sweet strawberries,

toasty biscuits, there's even a hint of salt in there as well.

That is yummy-yummy. Great start, mate. Thanks.

Can you keep it up?

Hope so.

You better!

Well done. Thanks very much. Cheers.

Chefs, I enjoyed that.

Remember, no matter how well you think you've done...

..or how badly you think you've done...

..there's still a lot of competition to come. Off you go.

Don't panic. Give me something. Make it abstract. Whatever. Give me something.

What on earth is that?!

..before Chef Michel puts them through their paces with his classic tests.

This is their chance to show me really what they're made of.

How much do they want this?

At the end, one of them will be going home.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd