Episode 11 MasterChef: The Professionals

'These eight chefs want to become Professional MasterChef champion.

'They've been split into two groups.

'Today, the second four have to prove they're good enough to make it through.'

This could be the last chance to impress, but I'm confident.

Seeing the competition really makes you want to step it up

and do your absolute best every single time.

I'm not focusing on anyone else. If I do my best I'll be happy.

Right now, I'm kind of just quite anxious

and nervous about what's waiting round that corner.

'First, they will face Monica's infamous skills test.'

I thought you worked with bread.

Got a bit of a monster there now.

'Then, they finally get to face Michel Roux Jr

'and his classics challenge.'

Very good attempt.

'At the end of today, one of them will be sent home.'

This is the skills test. What do you want them to do?

I'd like them to use this wonderful bread dough

to shape us different types of bread.

So, bread rolls, baguette and a four-plait.

-How long are you going to give them?

-Ten minutes.

-It's easy. They've only got to shape dough.

-Too easy, you think?

-Show me how.

-Little bit of flour.

Not too much on here.

The bread is aerated now so the last thing you want them doing

is knocking too much of this air out of the dough.

Fold the bread over to the centre.

-Gently push it in.

-Why?

It gives it a bit of strength. This part is the backbone of your bread.

I'm going to divide it. I want a few bread rolls.

So I'm going to save half of it for the plait, to the side.

You want to get them uniform size.

Your typical way that chefs do it, you normally take it with your hand

and not too much flour.

It's not a round motion. It's almost a side to side.

This is what you want. Just like that.

If the chef revolves his hand like you did, he knows what he's doing.

Pretty much. You'll be more impressed if you see them doing two at a time.

For the baguette, all you want to do is pull as you roll.

Not too much flour.

You're putting pressure on the ends to taper off.

So the last lot we're going to do is the plait.

Want to roll a sausage, Gregg?

Mine's not rolling out! Mine's not getting any thinner!

-Put a bit more pressure on it.

-Not that easy, is it?

-It really isn't that easy.

-Look.

-Out and back in.

-Oh, yeah.

OK, that's enough. Thanks, Gregg.

MONICA LAUGHS

Four-plait - one, two, three...

One, two, three.

-Would you like a turn?

-No, no, no! It's OK.

Then just taper off at the end.

That's amazing! That's brilliant.

So there we have it, Gregg, three types of bread shapes.

Your bread rolls, small baguette and a plait.

-Wonderful test! Love it!

-I'm looking forward to this.

'First up is James, who works as a cookery teacher in Belfast.

'In the first round, he impressed

'with his crab, potato and aubergine canapes.'

I have to get up in front of a classroom full of 16-year-olds and demonstrate skills.

I'm hoping that will serve me well.

As you can see, there's not a great deal on this bench.

All we want you to do is shape us three different types of bread.

A couple of bread rolls, a baguette

and a loaf that has been plaited, a four-plait. OK?

Yes.

Ten minutes, James. You and the dough. Off you go.

He-he!

I'm impressed with that, mate.

You've had two and a half minutes. Seven and a half minutes left.

JAMES CHUCKLES

There we go. Almost.

You're actually halfway, mate.

-Seeing as you've got so much time, can I ask you to do something?

-Yeah.

Can you make me a baguette with tapered ends?

-What are you doing with that?

-Some more bread rolls to use it.

Well done, James. You finished with three minutes to go.

The bread rolls you've obviously done before. You were very confident rolling them away.

However, if you're going to make me extra, do them all a uniform size.

Yes, chef.

The four-plait, you gave it a good go.

You trimmed the end off and tried to get it as presentable as possible.

But you can see it's uneven here.

It's going to cook very well here,

and possibly underdone where it's very thick.

I commend your effort, the fact that you didn't give up and say,

"I've never done these before. Can't do it."

-You attempted to give us something. Thank you.

-Thank you, chef.

-I'm disappointed I didn't get a baguette with a pointy end!

-Me too.

But hey, love your rolls! I reckon you know what you're doing.

-Thank you, James.

-Thank you.

-Great attitude.

-He's a good lad. I like him.

I wasn't as comfortable with it as maybe I should have been.

I'm just hoping they saw something that is good enough to go through.

'24-year-old David is a chef de partie from Darlington.

'His first dish of crab ravioli was pleasant but unremarkable.'

I've worked in every section. I've struggled on certain sections.

I've flourished on others.

I believe that I've got enough background knowledge to tackle any task.

We would like two rolls,

a pointy-ended baguette

and a four-plait loaf.

Me daughter's been trying to train us to plait her hair!

-Is that right?

-Yeah. I'm not very good. She gets her mam to redo it!

Ten minutes, you and some bread shapes. Off you go.

Huh!

That's it. Come on.

Two and a half minutes gone. Seven and a half minutes left.

-Now the four-plait, yeah?

-Yeah.

DAVID LAUGHS

-You've got five minutes left, David.

-You've got more dough there.

Put that to the side.

Three minutes left. Less than a minute a plait!

You have 90 seconds to do up your loaf.

-Yeah! That'll do!

-Yeah. I'm going home now and practising.

-How do you think that went, David?

-Could have been a lot better.

-Could have went a lot worse.

-What could have been better?

-The plait.

Definitely. And the sizes on the rolls.

Yeah. I like the way you did them, but they're different sizes.

I'd like the baguette to be a bit pointier at the end,

-and I'd like the plait to be plaited.

-Yeah. That would be nice.

Even though you were struggling, you could make that really nice.

-Get the strands the right size before you start plaiting.

-Yeah.

-A three-plait, I'm sure you'd have no problem to do.

-Thank you, mate.

I need to finesse things a bit more, be a bit more consistent

and a bit more perfectionist in what I'm doing to show what I do in my work every day.

'Ryan is a 24-year-old junior sous chef from Twickenham.

'He got off to a good start with his ricotta cheesecake

'and mango salsa.'

It's very important to try and stay on track for where you go.

I want to make sure I keep a strong presence all the way through.

Ten minutes starts now. Off you go.

That's not going to work.

It's not really a baguette, is it?

Two and a half minutes gone, Ryan.

You're half way, so you've got five minutes left.

I'm just going to relax after five minutes.

Be happy with that.

-Is that you done?

-Think so, yeah.

-Five minutes to go?

-I think so.

I'm a bit disappointed you didn't have another go at the baguette.

-You weren't happy with it.

-I couldn't work out why.

I've never made one so I knew it wasn't right,

but I didn't want to fluster myself any further.

Bread rolls not an issue for you.

I like the fact that you took time to attempt a decent plait.

And your baguette, yeah, five minutes left.

It would have been good to see you give it another go.

You had a lot of time. Perseverance, you will get there.

Ryan, thank you. You're free to go.

I feel a lot more nervous now I know there's something I don't know.

Before, it could have been a test you knew and you'd leave positive.

Now there's doubt in my mind. What else don't I know?

What else will get thrown at me?

'Last up is 34-year-old Marcel, who runs his own restaurant in Oxfordshire.

'His deconstructed mango cheesecake

'was nothing short of a disaster.'

If I feel I've done my best, I'll be happy, whatever happens.

I just don't want to let myself down again.

-Do you work with much bread?

-Yeah, I do bread.

Good, Marcel. That's great. Ten minutes, off you go.

You're halfway. You've got five minutes left, Marcel.

Last minute.

All done, Marcel?

-Finished?

-Uh, yeah.

I thought you worked with bread.

You've made this lovely dough, left it to prove,

yet you've knocked all the air out of it, tearing the dough like that.

Pour the whole dough out then portion out what you need to roll.

I would have liked a smaller baguette with some pointy ends.

That's what I was after. And I'd like rolls the same size.

Plaiting? We've got a bit of a monster there now.

-Bit of a truncheon, we've got there.

-But at least you gave it a go.

If you're really going to struggle, at least trim these ends off.

Make it more presentable if it's something you're going to use.

All right?

-Marcel, thank you very much.

-Thank you very much.

-I'm not convinced.

-No.

I had a really disappointing first round.

I don't feel I completely excelled in the second,

although I feel I've done better.

I think the third one, I just need to nail it.

I just need to cook my socks off.

After seeing these chefs do both tests,

when Michel and I sit down to decide who's going home,

I've got a pretty fair idea who it's going to be.

I'm a veteran of MasterChef. I've seen loads of twists and turns.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns itself around on its head.

It'd have to be a huge leap of faith to change MY mind.

For my classic dish, I want the chefs to prepare a veloute de coquillages au champagne.

That is a seafood veloute flavoured with champagne.

Champagne, for me, is the perfect accompaniment for seafood.

It's all about celebration - and this dish celebrates seafood.

First job, we need to rinse the clams and the cockles

in some cold water.

This really is basics,

making sure that the seafood is clean before it's cooked.

And then, the champagne.

Lovely. The mussels have just opened.

It smells of the sea. Wonderful!

Now we need to pick all these cockles, mussels and clams.

Make sure that they are clean, spotless.

Don't want the chefs to rush this.

If they rush and hurry it,

then they will damage and bruise these beautiful little cockles.

Look at that! Exquisite!

Every single mussel to be checked.

No sand.

Now for the razor clams.

The best part is this muscle here.

Sliced thinly.

If it's not sliced, it can be a bit too chewy.

Let's prep the squid.

All chefs should know how to prepare squid.

The beak there...is not nice to eat.

Remove the quill.

And the skin.

For this recipe, I like little rings.

Which I'll cook at the very last second.

I want to see the chefs using the body and the tentacles.

I think it's important to use all of the squid.

Needs a quick rinse.

Langoustines.

I think it's wonderful to have these little langoustines

just roasted still in the shell.

They look wonderful.

They're so sweet when you roast them in the shell.

Now to prepare the veloute.

We have the wonderful juices from cooking the clams and mussels.

I'm going to pass that through a fine sieve,

just in case there are any impurities or sand in it.

We now reduce that down a bit.

Not too much, otherwise it'll be too intense a sea flavour.

Just a touch of cream.

I like a little bit of creme fraiche as well,

which gives a nice hint of acidity.

You don't want it to be over-creamed.

If it is, it's just going to be heavy.

A tiny drop.

I want to sear the langoustine and the squid.

Not fry them.

The squid rings.

Get that wonderful, wonderful seared flavour.

That's it.

That's cooked.

Really just a matter of seconds.

The veloute coming up to the boil.

As soon as it's hot, we reheat our seafood in there.

And off.

A few of the shrimps.

All that's left now is to assemble the dish.

A little boat.

The langoustine.

Some samphire, which will add texture.

And this is sea lettuce. It is quite delicious.

And finally, the veloute with that last drop of champagne

to give that sauce vivacity.

And that's it, a veloute de coquillages parfume au champagne.

A celebration of seafood flavoured with champagne.

For me, this is heaven on a plate.

If the chefs can do something like that, I'll be happy.

Welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.

You've had your chance to cook for Monica and Gregg.

Now your chance to cook for me.

For my classic recipe, I want you to prepare a veloute de coquillages de champagne,

a seafood veloute flavoured with champagne.

All professional chefs should know how to make a veloute.

That's why the recipe in front of you has no weights or measures.

This is your chance. Grab it.

One hour to deliver an exquisite plate of seafood.

Get cooking.

I feel I'm way behind everyone else in the competition,

but this is my chance to get back on top.

-Marcel, are you classically trained?

-No. I'm self-taught, never trained.

-Never cook in professional kitchen, other than mine.

-Really?

I work restaurant manager, bar manager,

food and beverage manager, but always loved cooking.

-I learned from the books, from the internet.

-Fantastic!

I love what I'm doing, so I put everything into it

and it seems to be paying off so far.

-Good. Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Marcel, I don't think has ever cooked a razor clam,

let alone seen one.

He's cooked it in a frying pan and it's just not worked.

It's a bit worrying.

If there's something I can't do,

as long as in my mind I've done it to the top standard I can produce,

it's something I'm going to be happy with.

-Hi, David.

-Hi.

-You're comfortable with this recipe?

-I've got in my mind what I want to present. I'm comfortable.

-Good. That helps you focus.

-Yeah.

-Where are you working now?

-In a 3 Rosette restaurant in a hotel in Darlington.

-I'm a chef de partie.

-CDP, chef de partie.

I want to get the highest ever I can get to.

-The competition will help us achieve that. That's why I'm here.

-Hm!

The thing about the seafood that I've given them

is that there are different ways that they could cook them.

I like the squid seared or roasted.

You get a different texture and flavour. Likewise the langoustine.

It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

You've got to respect the forefathers of the cuisine.

I've read a lot about and cooked a bit of classical cooking.

So hopefully my background knowledge will get me there.

-Hi, Ryan.

-Afternoon.

-You worked with seafood before?

-I really enjoy working with seafood.

-Really?

-So this is a perfect recipe for you?

-A very happy recipe for me.

-What's your background?

-I started as a waiter, two years front of house.

Then fell in love with the magic of the kitchen. The boys at the back seemed to have much more fun.

I started as a potwash, then jumped on salads and general prep.

Just kept learning and learning.

As long as I'm happy and keep loving the ingredients, I don't think I'll ever stop.

Ryan has set his stall out.

He says he loves seafood, he works with it on a regular basis.

Well - deliver!

This is a massive opportunity, to cook for Michel Roux Jr.

Today is either going to be a baptism of fire or a day I remember for the rest of my life.

-Where are you from, James?

-Just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland, a place called Dungannon.

-Do they enjoy classic cooking there?

-I'm a lecturer in Belfast College.

I kind of teach the classics to the next generation there.

-I'm hoping this is going to play to my strengths.

-Fantastic!

Have you done any competitions before?

In Ireland last year, I won the Senior Chef of the Year.

In 2009, I won the Young Chef of the Year.

I've tried to compete in England as well - haven't always been so lucky.

They all seem to have used the cooking liquor to make the basis of the sauce.

I think they've all used the langoustine heads

to add more flavour to the dish.

I think I'm in for four very good veloutes.

I hope they don't over-reduce it and make it too buttery and creamy.

Four minutes. Last squeeze of lemon. Dash of champagne.

You're in the final minute.

That's it. Over.

I asked you to cook a veloute de coquillages au champagne,

a seafood veloute flavoured with champagne.

The veloutes should be light, not over-reduced.

It should be a soup, not a sauce.

The seafood cooked properly.

Presentation should be elegant,

have style, have panache.

David, up you come.

First thing, David, is droplets of oil have settled on the veloute.

-It doesn't look very appetising. It makes it look greasy.

-Yeah.

Not nice.

You pan-seared the squid. It would be nice to get a bit of colour on it.

The seaweed you fried and it just hasn't worked.

It won't crisp up.

The veloute itself has got a strong flavour of lemon.

I think you put a bit of lemon peel in there.

That is overpowering the delicate flavour of the sea.

There's no taste of champagne and there's fat over the top,

which is not pleasant to eat and not pleasant to look at.

David! Grr!

Stupid mistakes that I don't usually make.

It's just, er...a bit of a let-down.

Big let-down.

Ryan, your turn.

-Ryan, first thing - you've given me a roast shallot in there.

-Mm-hm.

Wasn't asked for. It certainly adds some colour.

I don't know if it's going to add anything to the dish.

Roast shallot's really nice. Really sweet, well-roasted.

I don't think it belongs on the plate.

You mention that you love cooking seafood and I can see that.

It's obvious you know how to cook clams and langoustine. Very good.

The razor clams, you've chopped up into different sizes and shapes.

It would be nice, a little bit of symmetry.

The veloute itself has got a pronounced lemon taste.

It should be a pronounced champagne and seafood taste.

Little errors there, little errors of judgment.

Ah, Ryan!

He can understand I can cook. It's paying attention to the details.

He's a two-star chef. He wants to see discipline in us.

James, now for you.

James, first off, I do like the presentation.

You've frothed up, using the hand blender, some of the veloute.

It looks like the waves have been splashing in the rock pool

and there's that lovely froth.

-It LOOKS beautiful.

-Thank you.

All the seafood is well cooked.

I like that the squid is in small pieces

and I could eat all of this with just a spoon.

The veloute is slightly too reduced, quite heavy.

Saying that, it has got the flavours of the sea

and you do get a little bit of the champagne taste as well.

-Very good attempt.

-Thank you.

-James, well done.

-Thank you, chef.

I showcased my abilities as a chef

and they put me on the radar for the right reasons now.

-LAUGHING:

-Very pleased. Finally!

'Last up, it's Marcel,

'whose two tests with Monica left her unimpressed.'

Marcel, I do like the presentation.

I like the fact that you've kept some of the mussels in their shell.

Little bit upset that you didn't put the razor clam in.

I tried to cook it, then I taste it and it didn't taste right.

So I didn't put it on the plate.

The seafood is LOVELY. It's tender, moist, full of natural juices.

You picked the langoustine raw then roasted it,

which adds more sweetness, I feel, to the langoustine.

That's very good. I like that.

The veloute is not too rich.

You can taste the champagne. The acidity levels are just right.

This is a really good plate of food,

especially coming from a self-taught chef.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

I think I made the right step towards impressing him.

I think it's the first step. That's all it was.

Now, a chance for you to cook YOUR classic recipe,

a dish that showcases your skills.

One hour. Off you go.

If I was to go home at the end of the day, I would be devastated.

Whatever happens, I'm going to have to roll with it.

-Change my name, move to Spain.

-LAUGHS

James, what's your classic dish?

Today, chef, I'm doing a take on chicken carbonara.

The only decent carbonara I've ever ate - my daughter's boyfriend, who's Italian, cooked one once.

OK, well, that puts a lot of pressure, then, chef.

It was just a rustic carbonara.

-I've a funny feeling, this isn't going to be rustic.

-You'd be correct.

-You're playing your cards very close to your chest.

-I am, chef. Yes.

-What's the saffron for?

-It was for the pasta, chef.

I've had a think at the last minute and I don't want a flavour that's not traditional to the dish.

-Hm.

-So I've just omitted it.

-That might be a wise move.

Chicken is never normally served with a carbonara.

It's a very simple rustic dish.

I'm not too sure about prettying up carbonara, if it's going to work.

15 minutes gone, chefs.

Ryan, what are you cooking for me?

Scallops baked in a shell with a sauce.

I'm going to put a modern twist, a bit of Asian influence in there.

You love cooking with seafood and you cooked your seafood really well in the last challenge.

-Are you playing safe, by any chance?

-As safe as one can with a scallop.

I've got to make sure it's clean, the flavours are nice, it's not over-cooked.

It's a very subtle flavour.

-It looks simple, but it can go very wrong very quickly.

-Mm!

-Fancy your chances?

-I do, indeed. Yeah.

-Excellent, Ryan. Get cracking.

The scallop was one of the first proteins I learnt how to cook properly.

It's something I've got a passion for.

You can make it a subtle flavour. You can pan-fry it, ceviche it.

I'm going to take everything I can do with a scallop and do everything.

Half way, chefs. 30 minutes to go.

The dish that I've chose to do is rack and loin of rabbit

with smoked mustard sauce.

This is what I feel is one of my best dishes.

If this doesn't meet the standard of the competition, I need to seriously up my game.

David needs to prove to me that he can dress a plate of food

with elegance and without any mistakes.

In the previous round, there was oil all over

and it didn't look delicate.

-Rabbit and mustard, a true French classic.

-Yeah.

-Your variation of it.

-Yes.

-Good.

-And it's tried and tested?

-Once, yeah.

-You can do it in an hour?

-One hour three minutes.

-Ooh!

-Yeah.

Ooh! Cutting it fine.

-Are you feeling confident?

-Um, yes and no.

I'm confident in the dish,

but the French-trimmed rack has to be perfect,

otherwise the dish won't look right.

-There's some good chefs here.

-Yeah. Hope I'm one of them.

We'll find out at the end.

15 minutes to go, chefs. 15.

-Marcel, what's your dish?

-I'm doing fish and chips.

Oh, I thought so when I saw the beer and your piece of fish and peas.

-I thought, "Hang on a minute!"

-It was the first dish I had when I came to England.

Also, my mum, when she comes over,

it's one of the few dishes she likes to eat.

She always asks for it so I thought I'm going to do that.

Basically, I'm taking the fish and chips

and trying to refine every single ingredient on the plate.

-Good. Any timing issues, you think?

-I think I'll be all right.

-I hope so. I do like fish and chips.

-I'm glad to hear it.

This is definitely not going to be the fish and chips you get in your chippy down the road.

There's a lot of work going into the chips. He's cut them into cylinders.

Blanched them, put them in the vacuum pack machine twice to extract the moisture

and hopefully make them super-crispy.

I don't feel that I'm messing around with a classic.

I'm refining it and bringing it to the modern form.

Two minutes. Come on.

You're in the last few seconds.

Finish. Well done.

'First up is James with his take on the classic Carbonara -

'roast chicken breast topped with a deep-fried egg,

'crisp bacon and chives

'resting on a leek and bacon ragout,

'accompanied by confit chicken wings,

'tortellini filled with chicken and mushroom mousse

'and a creamy chicken sauce.'

Visually, I think this works.

You have bust a gut to give me a plate of food with so much process.

You've confit the little wings and cleaned the bone,

put back inside to look incredibly neat, like a chicken lollipop.

Beautiful work!

Mm!

Your breast of chicken is incredibly moist,

beautifully cooked, lovely crispy skin.

Egg yolk, perfect.

Crispy on the outside and the yolk running into the sauce. Lovely.

Pasta, very well made - thin, cooked al dente.

The stuffing inside, not over-powering.

Well judged.

I'm not really sure about the cream for the carbonara.

A true carbonara has no cream.

But, yes - I get it.

You are a chef that thinks.

You're clever.

-Thank you.

-I like that.

Better than your daughter's boyfriend's?

Ah! Well, that's different! BOTH LAUGH

I would never diss my daughter's boyfriend.

Delighted with how today went. I represented myself as best I could so I'm happy with that.

'Ryan has prepared his scallops in three ways.

'Baked in a shell with apple, cucumber and wasabi sauce

'and a pastry rim;

'ceviche with apple and wasabi foam

'topped with cucumber, carrot and tobiko flying fish eggs;

'and pan-seared.'

The coquille St Jacques in its shell

looks like the pastry's not cooked enough,

or it should have been egg-washed to give it a nice shine.

Mm.

The original classic dish

of cooking a scallop in its own shell is a great concept.

The scallop will steam in its own juices and whatever else you're putting in,

be it Asian-style flavours or classic with truffle or whatever.

You open it up and you get that wonderful aroma.

And...that's missing here.

The scallop has rendered down some juices and so have the vegetables.

Therefore, the sauce is quite wet. The flavours have just been diluted.

Your seared scallop is delicious - crisp, golden, cooked really well.

The ceviche, lacking in seasoning and there's far too much garnish.

It's also a little bit rough.

It's not presented with any true elegance.

I'm not bowled over by your trio of scallops.

Nothing really went that well. Don't want to beat myself up too much.

Just got to improve on everything he said.

'For his take on fish and chips,

'Marcel's poached cod has been served with a shard of crisp skin

'and accompanied by twice-cooked chips, onion rings,

'capers, cucumber-pea puree and a hollandaise sauce.'

Nice. Very nice. The lovely poached fish glistening.

A nice piece of crispy skin to give it height.

Almost looks like a sail. Very nice.

I'm not a fan of cooking fish in a water bath, because of the texture.

Almost like a raw fish. It's not to everybody's taste.

But lovely, lovely crispy skin.

The hollandaise is lovely. The pea puree works really well with that.

The onion rings - delicious! The chips - they worked.

All that effort - blanching, sous-vide to extract the moisture - it's worked.

Chef's hat off to you, mate.

I feel I've done much better with Michel

to what I've done with the tests with Monica,

so, yeah, I'm reasonably pleased with myself.

'Inspired by the classic combination of rabbit and mustard,

'David pan-fried the loin and served it with crumbed kidneys,

'onion and carrot purees, grelot onions

'and a smoky mustard sauce.'

It's just minuscule! Why?

If I had a taster menu, which is the direction I want to go into,

this is what I would put on and how I'd represent it.

The rack's missing.

Yeah. Time constraints. I forgot about it in the last-minute rush.

Hm.

Kidneys lovely. Crispy on the outside. Pink.

But cooked all the way through.

The loin is VERY pink.

All right for me. I'm not sure that all diners would like it that pink.

Sweet onion puree could have done with a bit more seasoning.

Likewise the carrot puree.

-The sauce, you've used the smoke essence that comes in a bottle.

-Yes.

It's very strong, that stuff. VERY strong.

Rabbit is very delicate. It's a white meat.

It has little flavour.

It's overpowered by the smoke.

Oh, dearie me.

I don't know what to think about you, David.

Really don't.

I've shown skill. I've just not got it right.

I'm not very confident about staying.

Four different plates of food and four completely different chefs.

Monica will be joining me to help me decide who will be leaving us.

Thank you.

I enjoyed today, I must say.

I've tasted some good food today and I've seen some good chefs at work.

Marcel impressed me today.

His classic recipe, I thought, was beautiful.

There were little mistakes when I got to taste it, but to look at,

it was the kind of food you see in very high-end restaurants.

You've got that look in your eye. You weren't impressed by Marcel?

On the skills test, we had the lovely proved dough in the bowl.

He tore at it, yanked it out.

It upset me to watch something so beautiful get destroyed like that.

But I am prepared to take a punt on Marcel.

The food that he cooked today was of a very good standard.

James is confident and that comes with age, with experience.

In his classic recipe,

he made a dish which he called carbonara and chicken.

It was very pretty, very precise.

He knew exactly what he was doing. I think he's a very clever chef.

In the skills test, he managed to deliver, you know, on the day.

A lot of enthusiasm from him and I like to see that.

James definitely deserves to go through.

That leaves us with David and Ryan.

I was a bit disappointed with Ryan.

For his classic recipe, he cooked scallops three ways.

There was no cohesion to this dish. You could hardly taste the scallop.

In the skills test, Ryan was very quick.

He could have done a better job.

I did ask him and he said, "No, that's me done," which is a bit of a disappointment.

I feel I've let myself down and I've got a lot to prove to Michel.

To stay in would be a second chance to prove what I'm all about.

David, for his invention test, made a crab ravioli.

There were flavours here. There was a plate that worked well.

But it was just one ravioli with herbs strewn on the top.

For his classic recipe, he decided to cook a loin and a rack of rabbit

with a smoked mustard sauce.

But smoke drowned out the flavour of the delicate rabbit.

What really annoyed me, Monica,

was that it was this big!

I did say that to him and he said, "It would be part of a tasting menu, chef."

LAUGHS HEARTILY

STILL LAUGHING

I'm just nervous to see if I come back. I want to come back.

I'm all over the place.

Monica, we have to look at who we think is going to improve the most.

David or Ryan?

We have made a decision.

The chef leaving us is...

..Ryan.

Very disappointed with myself to go home this early.

I've got more to give, but I didn't give it to the competition. Hindsight's a beautiful thing.

MICHEL LAUGHING

That was a big shock. I expected to go.

Really expected to go, but very, very happy that I'm still here.

-MARCEL:

-Obviously, I'm really happy.

I feel I can hold my head quite high when I leave today.

It was a very good day. I enjoyed every bit of it.

There's definitely more to come.

'Tomorrow, it's the quarterfinals.

'Six chefs must impress Michel and Monica

'with a dish of their own design.'

Visually looks stunning and it's cooked very well.

-This is what we want to see.

-G-ah! It's a good dish.

'But only four will get the chance

'to prove that they can cut it with the critics.'

There's only one word for it - disgusting.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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