Episode 21 MasterChef: The Professionals

It's finals week on Professional MasterChef.

Only four chefs remain in the competition.

Tom...

Adam...

Steven...

and Scott.

Getting to the finals of MasterChef is a pretty big achievement.

It's pretty much the same as being in your cup final.

You know what I mean? It's pretty exciting.

Competitiveness is, you know, something that's in me,

and I haven't come here to come second, I've come here to win.

I've got a lot more fight in me, yeah, definitely.

This challenge, I'm going to give it my all.

I want to win. Everybody wants to win this competition.

And if you're not thinking like that,

then what's the point in being here?

Tonight, they face only one challenge.

To cook two exceptional dishes...

..from kitchen scraps.

They've had some amazing ingredients up to now,

but this is a reality check.

Show me what a real chef you are. That's what this test is all about.

Throughout the competition

there's not been one perfect plate, for me.

The nearest to perfection

would probably be the pork and langoustine dish.

If that pork loin hadn't been overcooked,

then the dish would be perfect.

One of my favourite dishes

is definitely my classic take on the muntjac dish.

I like the theatrical effect of that dish, the flavour, the design of it.

A little bit fine dining-y,

but a very humble dish at the end of the day.

I think I've cooked really well in the competition.

You know, the rabbit dish was flawless,

really good, and highlights my cooking.

The best dish, for me, was the duck dish in the last round.

The feedback was the closest I've got to that "wow" that I'm desiring.

Welcome to the finals.

First off, you have an invention test.

An invention test with a bit of a difference.

Reveal your ingredients.

In front of you, you have got scraps and trimmings,

offcuts that would normally not be used in high-end restaurants.

We're going to give you 20 minutes to get your head around this,

and then an hour and 45 to cook two plates of food.

This is it, guys.

This is a real challenge, a tough one. I want you to rise to this.

After this challenge, one of you is going.

Simple as that.

Off you go.

The scraps include a meat bowl with leftover roast rib of beef,

stock bones, pork fat, a chicken carcass in its skin...

and a bowl of fish, with a cod's head, salmon trimmings,

bones and scallop roe.

I have no idea where to begin.

The vegetable peelings include potato skins, carrot,

fennel and beetroot tops, broccoli and cauliflower stalks.

The hardest bit is trying to find the main component of these dishes,

because...it's all scraps!

There is leftover rice, stale croissant and bread,

overripe brie, berries, bananas, apple cores and orange pulp.

Hour and 45 minutes to make two dishes

out of some pretty awful ingredients, really. You know?

But, yeah, see what happens, and hopefully it'll be good.

To help create their dishes, they also have a limited larder,

including eggs, flour, lemon and chocolate.

This is the hardest thing I think I've ever had to cook

in my entire life.

Really.

Time's up, guys.

Now's your chance to deliver.

One hour 45 minutes from now. Off you go.

Any chef can cook a fillet of beef or a supreme of chicken

and put a bit of truffle on it.

Well, there are no truffles in that trimming box there.

None whatsoever.

We're pushing them to be even more creative.

I'd like to have a go at this!

Adam is a prodigious talent in the kitchen,

but we haven't, as yet, taken him out of his comfort zone.

He's got to keep calm and trust in his skills,

cos he is a talented chef.

I am a control freak, I need to practise my dishes.

So, the dishes like the invention ones

are ones that I have no control over.

I'm crazy determined to make sure there is no fault in my dish at all.

Adam, what are you using?

I'm using the cod cheeks,

and I'll be serving them with crispy salmon skins, chicken skins

and other bits and bobs

that I'm going to do closer to the time, I haven't decided...

-That you're finding in the bowl as you go along?

-Yeah.

Yeah, it's like Aladdin's cave, that bowl.

MICHEL CHUCKLES

What's the second one?

I'm going to do a souffle. I know it's extremely risky.

So, I'm basically using all of the sweet stuff.

I'll be serving that with fennel-infused chocolate.

Feeling confident about this one?

I'm going to try it.

I'm going to go out kicking and screaming, put it that way.

Keep delving in Aladdin's cave, then.

Adam is using the cod cheeks, which is good to see.

And he's going to make a burnt lemon puree to go with it,

and then, he says, lots of crispy things.

The rest of that dish,

he's going to have to delve into that big bowl of leftovers

to find some more stuff to go with it.

That worries me a little bit,

because you should have exactly in your mind what you're doing.

He does seem to know exactly what he's going to do

with the dessert, though.

He's going to use all the berries, cook it in a sugar syrup,

and then make a souffle out of it.

He's serving with it chocolate

that's going to be infused with the fennel.

How it's going to work with the souffle, I don't know.

This is pushing him to the limit.

It's what we want, and let's hope he can perform.

Scott is Mr Dependable in the kitchen.

He's the kind of chef you and I would want by our sides on a busy service -

but now he's starting to impress us with some exceptional cooking.

Obviously, you know, the further you get in the competition,

the bigger drive.

And now, you know, definitely just got to keep pushing myself.

As long as I enjoy it and I cook good food, I'll be perfectly happy.

-Wahey, Scott! Happy with the test?

-Yeah, happy with the test.

Obviously, I think you could see the shock on our faces

when we seen it, but, you know, when you actually dive in

and bow to it, it's stuff you use all the time.

So, you're in your element.

Yeah, definitely, you know, cooking's what I love doing,

so, you know, get me behind a kitchen stove, I'm happy.

Put me anywhere else, I'm not.

-It really forces you to be creative, doesn't it?

-It's really good.

Takes you out your comfort zone, and hopefully you get back in it.

-I think it's a fun test.

-Yeah, really exciting.

So, what scraps are you using?

I'm using a little bit of the trotter, some of the beef knuckle

and making a beef bouillon, and I'm serving that with salmon.

I've made a little ravioli of that.

He's described this dish to us, and my eyes lit up.

I mean, a ravioli stuffed with the trimmings of the salmon.

He's also making a bouillon, and he's reducing it down,

just to get a bit more flavour as well.

He's making one of my all-time favourite desserts,

a pain perdu, eggy bread, but using that stale croissant.

He's making a parfait from the blackened bananas.

And he's using the berries to make a foam to go with it.

These ingredients might look like rubbish,

but he's showing us how much intense flavour you can get from them.

One hour left, chefs.

One hour to go.

Steve cooks beautiful food,

and he raises his game at every challenge.

I would say that I am quite versatile as a chef,

but there are ingredients that I haven't used.

That's the thing that I'm quite apprehensive about,

is the fact that my fate in this competition

hangs in the balance of an invention test.

Steven, what are you making for us?

I'm doing cod cheeks, drying out some scallop roe,

so that's going to be almost like a crumb.

And for the main course, I'm doing rib of beef,

with a bacon and cheese arancini,

and then I've got some pickled cauliflower stalk

to go along with that dish as well.

Sounds like you're enjoying this challenge.

Yeah. When the blanket first came off, I thought it was a joke!

You know, but I think it's a great challenge,

it made me really excited to try and come up with dishes.

Hopefully, hopefully, it'll be enough

to get me through to the next round.

Mm. I love leftovers!

Steven has really got the idea of this, and he's giving it his all.

He's using dried scallop roe with some breadcrumbs

that he's going to crumb the cheeks with,

I think that sounds wonderful, really pungent flavours.

He's using some of the stalks of the vegetables as well,

and pickling some of them to give it a bit of acidity.

Wonderful with the fish. I think that could work really well.

He's also taken the rib and the leftover of the roast beef

and water-bathed it, so it's almost like a slow-cook confit.

He's making an arancini with the leftover rice, using the brie

and a bit of the bacon rind.

It's exhausting for us, just talking about it. I mean, pfft.

Tom. I find he's a very creative young chef.

I've been impressed with what he's come up with

in both invention tests.

One of the reasons I entered the competition

was to see how I react in the invention tests.

It should be exciting for any chef, really,

cos it shows the chef thinking on the spot.

So, I've just got to make no mistakes and it should be OK.

All right, Tom. What leftovers are you using, then?

So, I'm doing a beef tortellini,

beef bone marrow beignets and beetroot tops.

And your next dish?

Doing a bouillabaisse with roast cod cheeks, salmon skin crisps

and a little fennel top salad.

Why do you think we've imposed this invention test on you guys?

Just to see how our minds work outside of our comfort zone

of ordering prime cuts in every day. These by-products, if you like,

they take time to get good flavour out of them.

And a lot of effort,

so it's good to see how we can figure out dishes, I guess.

-I tell you what, mate, we're enjoying watching you guys cook.

-Good.

Tom has opted to use the leftover from that rib of beef.

And he's going to make a ravioli from it.

He's broken the bone up and taken the marrow out,

which he's going to beignet and deep-fry to serve with his ravioli.

He's made a sauce to go with it.

For me, for ravioli, you need quite a bit of sauce,

and I hope he's made enough.

Tom's making a kind of bouillabaisse with the salmon bones.

A soup made with salmon bones does tend to taste very fishy,

and I mean that in not the best possible way.

Serving with it the cod's cheek, which is wonderful.

Knowing Tom, he'll deliver on taste.

But it needs a wow factor,

because he's got three great chefs who are going all-out here today.

You have ten minutes left.

OK. Time's up.

Finished.

The contestants were given a table of scraps

and asked to turn them into high-end food.

Scott, let's see your plates of food.

Scott's first dish is a salmon-filled ravioli

with roasted cod cheek, wilted beetroot tops and carrot tops,

and crispy onion rings

served with a bouillon made from leftover rib of beef,

stock bones and tomato skins.

I like the look of this. For me, ravioli should be in a bowl,

and it should have lots of sauce.

Scott, it's a good-looking plate.

Thank you, Chef.

I like the fact that you've scraped the bone of the salmon

and collected enough flesh to make that ravioli.

Ravioli's really thin, well-cooked.

The beetroot tops, as well. Very nice.

Adds a real depth to the dish.

The bouillon - very, very intense.

It's a good dish.

-Very good dish.

-Thank you, Chef.

You've used all the meat trimmings that you had there

to make your stock base for your bouillon,

so it's very strong, very meaty.

I like the fact it's with the cod cheeks, though,

because it's very delicate and it's not too salty, it brings that down.

And I also like the onion rings, the crispiness on top.

It's a great way to use what we've given you.

Scott's second dish is pain perdu, made from the stale croissant,

mixed berry foam, banana parfait

and bitter chocolate mousse garnished with tuiles.

There's nothing on this plate not to like.

I think the croissant is lovely, it's crispy on the outside, soft,

it's not over-sweet.

The parfait, it's mashed-up banana, not blitzed-up puree,

so you've got a bit of texture in there as well.

And the tuiles are delicious. That's good, very good.

That foam that you made from the old berries

and whatever other fruit was thrown in that bowl is very flavoursome.

If I have to find a fault, there's not enough pain perdu for me.

I want more on this plate.

-Thank you, Scott. Very good effort.

-Thank you, chefs.

Obviously, to use as much of the scrap as I can

was obviously the main goal,

and then just make sure the flavours all work together,

which obviously they did.

So, you know, I'm happy with what I've done.

Steven has pan-fried the cod cheeks with a scallop roe crumb,

and served them with potato puree, pickled cauliflower,

roasted cauliflower stem,

wilted carrot and beetroot leaves and crispy shallots.

The colours and the textures that you have on here really stand out.

I look at it, I want to eat it.

I'll push Michel to the side and have it to myself.

The cod cheek is very well cooked.

And I like the crumble. It's very flavoursome, not too strong.

And I really like the cauliflower that's been pickled.

Wow, what a great idea.

You've used the turnip top and the beet top and sweated it down,

and it really is great.

It's adding lots of texture and flavour. Really delicious.

The puree made with the trimmings of the potato is a little bit grainy.

It's well-seasoned, though.

The core of the cauliflower is really sweet,

and you've managed to find a couple of little florets

of cauliflower in there as well, and you've pickled them,

they are lovely. It's a good dish. Good, tasty dish.

Steven's second dish is the rib of beef cooked sous-vide,

with bacon and brie arancini,

roasted and pickled broccoli stalk,

a mushroom duxelles, carrot tops

and spiced red wine sauce.

The broccoli, the stalks, I really like that you used that,

because not many people do.

And it's very sweet and has a lot of flavour, quite intense.

You used the trimming of the fore rib, you've braised it again

in a vac-pack to break it down, but it's not broken down enough.

It's still quite tough.

What I do love, and I could eat a plateful of, are the little arancini

that you flavoured with bacon stock and some of that smelly brie.

And, phwoar, they're lovely.

-Thank you, Steven.

-Thank you.

You know, you look back with hindsight and think,

"I could've done this, I could've done that,"

but once I started digging through the ingredients,

I found little gems and I was really excited to create something

from something you'd normally throw in the bin.

Adam has roasted the cod cheeks and served them with burnt lemon puree,

caramelised onion, wilted lettuce, fennel tops

and crispy salmon and chicken skin.

I think that looks beautiful. Really does, Adam.

For me, visually, it works.

I really like the dressing in there.

That lovely, caramelised, almost burnt lemon. Really good.

Not quite enough in the plate, though.

The cod cheeks are well cooked,

and I like the fact that you've used the crisped-up chicken skin

as a texture. It's lovely. Really good.

The salmon skin, I like that you've also deep-fried it

and it's sort of puffed up, makes it very light.

My critique - it needs more of that wonderful dressing you made.

His second dish is a berry souffle

served with a fennel-and-cumin-infused chocolate mousse

topped with fennel fronds.

I think it looks stunning.

The souffle is silky smooth and has lots of flavour from the berries.

I do find it a touch too sweet.

The chocolate is delicious.

But in terms of what was on the bench,

and using up all the trimmings, it's only just there, to be honest.

I would have liked a little bit more.

I really like the spices that you used,

the cumin and the fennel, which was fried, so it's not so strong,

and it complements the chocolate very well.

But I have to agree with Michel, maybe a crumble on top,

something else to add a bit more depth

to your dessert and you were there.

-Thank you, Adam.

-Thank you.

I'm proud of the dishes I presented to the judges.

But that dessert let me down. I don't think I've done enough.

Tom has made bouillabaisse from the salmon, scallop roe and cod's head,

and served it with cod cheeks, wilted lettuce,

a salmon skin crisp and fennel tops.

I love the colours, I really do,

it's lovely and golden red from the tomato.

Exactly what I expect from you.

The cod cheek is well cooked. The skin is crispy and well tasty.

The sauce, or bouillabaisse, is very intense fishy flavour,

but I think you just about get away with it.

But, for me, I would have liked something else on here.

Something a little bit different.

I like your bouillabaisse.

I was a bit worried it might be too strong in salmon,

but no, it's a good balance in there.

I do like that you've used the greens and wilted them

and the cod cheeks are cooked well,

but this seems possibly too simple for you.

Tom's second dish is a braised beef rib and onion ravioli,

with a bone marrow beignet, wilted beetroot top,

roast garlic and a red wine vinaigrette.

The ravioli filling that you've got with the beef is very well seasoned,

it's very tender, but your beignet is too salty

because you've got all that salt on the top.

And there's not enough dressing of your vinaigrette for me.

Ravioli needs a lot of sauce.

You've used chestnut flour to make the pasta.

The chestnut flour is a little bit sweet,

and the sourness and really meatiness of that beef

really works well together.

Such a shame that there's not enough of this dressing on the plate.

OK, Tom, thank you.

I let myself down today, I think.

My positive feedback was definitely shadowed by the negatives today.

We knew you guys were talented,

but we wanted to really push you even more.

And you've delivered it, so thank you for today,

it's been a great test.

This isn't going to be easy for us, not easy at all.

Off you go, thank you.

The first test of the finals, and what a test!

To make something out of nothing.

They've got to hold their heads up high.

That was great cooking, Monica, absolutely terrific.

Scott performed really well today

and he used a lot of the ingredients that were in front of them.

The ravioli was well cooked, well prepared,

but I really enjoyed the bouillon.

That stock was bags and bags of flavour.

His dessert, though, stole the show.

It tasted wonderful.

I've always seen a good, solid chef in Scott

and now I think he is flourishing.

Definitely, a really tough test.

But I am really pleased with the dishes

and hopefully it is enough to get through.

I do like the way that Steven embraced the brief

and delivered the goods.

He went headfirst into this

and grabbed everything he could and put it on a plate.

I liked his starter.

I must say, those cod cheeks were beautifully cooked

and that crumble made from the scallop roe and old breadcrumbs,

it was good. It worked really well.

But then next to that, he used the fore rib trimming,

but it wasn't cooked down enough, so it was still quite tough.

What was right, most definitely, were those little arancini.

They were delicious.

I don't want to be that person that leaves today.

I want to have those experiences that Masterchef Final is all about.

Tom's starter, it tasted good, that bouillabaisse he made had a lot

of flavour, but it was just a sauce with a piece of green and cod cheek.

It was too simple for him. I know he could have done more on this dish.

Tom's second dish, a kind of ravioli filled with braised beef.

The flavours were good.

He also made a beignet from the marrowbone which was too salty.

-He could have done with a bit more of that lovely dressing.

-Mm.

If I get sent home today, I'll be quite disappointed in myself

for not pushing it that extra little bit.

Yes, I think that could have gone a lot better.

I really enjoyed Adam's starter, those little cod cheeks

with the crispy chicken skin on top was really delicious.

The dressing he made with the lemon was inspired, I thought.

Really excellent.

Adam made something like a jam base, with all the berries

for his souffle, which was quite clever.

My disappointment with this is although it looked stunning,

he could have used a lot more of these scraps on his dessert today.

If it is me to go today, because there is that chance,

I will be a little bit gutted.

But I'll be leaving with my head held high,

and to be fair, that's all I really want.

I didn't make a fool of myself, I cooked to the best of my ability

and I had fun.

However difficult and cruel it may be,

one of these talented chefs, we are going to have to say goodbye to.

Well done.

This was no easy task we set before you.

The chef leaving us is...

..Tom.

Taking the feedback that I've had from Monica and Michel,

it's going to make me want to push more now

and get to that higher level that I want to work to.

It's a shame, but someone had to go.

So good luck to the other guys, really.

Well done.

This feels amazing, it absolutely feels tremendous.

Then it got to the last three.

You know, words can't describe it.

My wife is going to be so proud of me.

For me to make her proud is what this is all about.

Don't relax too much.

Because we are sending you to Italy...

to work at the Osteria Francescana.

It has just been voted the third best restaurant in the world.

Tomorrow night...

..the contestants meet a culinary genius with no boundaries.

-Oops, I dropped the lemon tart. OK?

-He's just an absolute inspiration.

I want energy, OK? Don't be shy.

-You just have to express yourself.

-A bit daunted

because it's not natural to put food on the plate like that.

Here we go.

I couldn't have hoped for a worse scenario, a worse place to be.

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