Episode 11 MasterChef: The Professionals

It's the last heat of Professional MasterChef.

And these six chefs believe they have what it takes to earn

the remaining quarterfinal places.

Tonight, they face two challenges set by judge Gregg Wallace

and two of Britain's best chefs -

Monica Galetti...

and Michelin-starred Marcus Wareing.

I relish the fact that I am competing

against some of the best chefs in the country.

If I can stand up there with them, then I will be very proud.

I'm 100% competitive, do you know what I mean? I want to be the best.

I'm excited to meet our chefs

and see what talent we are going to uncover.

I hope they can enjoy it, relax and serve some fantastic food.

We've got some new faces to see, some skills to check out.

You're going to test the first three, give them a skills test.

What are you going to give them?

Today, I would like our chefs to prepare and cook langoustines

and serve it with a sauce, Marie Rose, made from a fresh mayonnaise.

Most importantly, I want to see the langoustine prepared and cooked

properly, a wonderful mayonnaise for the base of their sauce.

Adding the langoustine into the equation is going to be good.

I think it is preparation.

You would hope they would have come across them somewhere.

But I think there could be chefs here who will

just see it as a prawn Marie Rose. But this is different.

How long are you going to give them? - 15 minutes.

-GREGG:

-Off you go.

-MONICA:

-Right.

So what we have here is a whole langoustine. So, very simple.

Twist the tails and take the head off.

Now, in the back here, you twist that.

And pull the intestinal shoot out. OK.

- Ah! I never knew that.

-MONICA:

-Simple as that. The langoustines are prepared.

I have a pan of water here.

And in goes the tails. They will only take a minute, no more.

So, straight out, onto ice.

And we're just going to let them cool on the side.

The next thing I'm going to do is my mayo for the Marie Rose sauce.

Two egg yolks. Some mustard and just a splash of vinegar.

Just gradually emulsifying the mayonnaise, whisking it,

while we add vegetable oil.

-GREGG:

-We would expect a chef to be able to make a mayonnaise,

-wouldn't we, surely?

-Yeah, yeah.

And now I'm going to add the flavourings that make it

a Marie Rose sauce.

Squeeze a lemon.

-And to that, a few drops of brandy.

-GREGG:

-Hmm!

Tabasco.

A spoon of ketchup.

Yes, that will do. Right.

So the next thing I'm going to do is to peel the langoustines ready.

Press in the sides.

And then you just pull it open.

- They're fiddly, but the chefs

are going to have to work quick if they want this done.

They're going to have to be quick,

but they're going to have to treat them with gentle hands.

I'm going to blitz up some avocado.

It is something that goes very well

with langoustines, sauce, Marie Rose.

Yeah, that will do.

And so now I'm going to plate it all up.

I want the Marie Rose on the bottom. Spread it over.

So we've got some beautiful gem lettuce here.

A couple of squeezes of lemon juice on it.

Our chefs can use what ever they like, you know, it is

up to them how much salad they are going to use.

And we have our langoustines.

Tossing it through that Marie Rose sauce.

I want it completely all the way through this dish.

-GREGG:

-That's a very pretty dish.

-MONICA:

-So I've got the avocado, which is in a bag.

And then just going to sprinkle it with chive flowers.

There you have it, langoustines with Marie Rose.

-GREGG:

-That's the poshest prawn cocktail I've ever seen.

-And a really good test for the chefs, I think.

-It is a good test.

Three really interesting skills, from the mayonnaise,

langoustine and the making of the salad.

Classically, this is normally served in a glass.

Monica, you've put it onto a plate,

and that's a very skilful thing to do.

If it is going to be a plate they choose,

I hope it looks as good as that.

Mmm!

Lovely seasoning. Lovely, sweet, fresh fish.

The Marie Rose sauce underneath just all comes through. It is delicious.

That's stunning, and I can't wait

to see what the chefs make of it, I really can't.

I'm excited for this.

- Let's get them in.

First up is 25-year-old agency chef Ryan.

I became a chef because my mum kind of influenced me.

Everybody in my family is cooking-orientated.

My sister is a home ec teacher, my dad has got a pub.

Plus, it is the only thing I could do, to be honest.

My cooking is probably Scottish

with a bit of a French influence, I would say.

The best thing about cooking is we get paid for what we love.

We do stupid amount of hours, but we enjoy it,

and the banter is amazing.

Being a professional chef means the world to me,

and I think it makes my mum and dad very proud.

It is a good thing, I think. It brings family closer, food.

Hello, Ryan. You look a little nervous.

Was it nerve-racking walking in here, facing us three?

-Absolutely nerve-racking.

-Is it?

-Yes.

-All right.

OK, so what I would like you to do, Ryan,

is to prepare and cook the langoustines.

Serve it with a Marie Rose,

and make a salad of anything on the table, OK?

-You have 15 minutes. Off you go.

-Thanks.

-Ryan. You've made a Marie Rose sauce before?

-Yeah.

You seem to be flying through this, Ryan.

My nerves are getting the better of me just now, so...

Take a deep breath. Come up for some air, Ryan.

Yeah, I know. Here's hoping I do well.

-Do you get many langoustines where you're from?

-Yeah.

Best place in Scotland.

You're halfway, Ryan, so you have seven-and-a-half minutes left.

-It doesn't look like you need them, though.

-Just got to make it pretty.

-You have time, Ryan, so make it count, OK?

-Yeah.

-You done?

-Yeah. Could be a lot better, but, yeah.

-How did you find the test, Ryan?

-Nervous.

Definitely out the comfort zone.

Hmm.

-Why did you not make a mayonnaise in yours?

-Nerves got to me.

I have here some salad leaves with badly prepared langoustines,

nothing has been seasoned at all, with ketchup sauce.

Ah...

I... I'm speechless.

I don't even know whether I want to taste it, to be honest.

-MONICA:

-I'm not.

-I'm not.

-That's the sharpness of ketchup with oil.

-Yeah.

Listen, we are not sending anybody home at this stage,

because we understand people will be nervous.

You cook your own food next, but you really are going to have

to prove that you actually have professional chef standards.

-All right?

-Thanks.

I can't even explain what happened.

I'm disappointed and embarrassed with myself, to be honest.

My nerves... I was very nervous,

but hopefully next round I'm going to bounce back, definitely.

Next up is 32-year-old head chef Bobby,

-who trained in India.

-Morning.

-MONICA:

-Morning.

-Bobby.

-Are you well?

- All right, Bob?

My food style, I like to call "spice odyssey".

OK, odyssey is a journey where I can incorporate my spice roots

with my trained French cooking techniques

and all the European techniques. Bring it together.

No offence to my chefs, I learned a lot from French chefs,

but they think they are the best chefs in the world.

But obviously not.

Indian cuisine, we have tradition,

5,000, 10,000 years back.

The curry, if you have...

They say tikka masala is the national dish of UK,

but everything is inspired from India.

I think I'm a future diamond.

Bobby, this is the skills test.

-Thank you.

-Not everybody looks as happy about it as you do.

This skills test was set by Monica.

Great. Thank you.

You're welcome. I don't know if

you'll thank me at the end of it, or if you'll still be smiling,

buy hey ho, it is a good start.

Have you worked with langoustines before?

-I did.

-Brilliant. I would like you to prepare

and cook them, and serve them in a salad,

using any of the ingredients up here,

-with a Marie Rose sauce.

-Oh, sure.

-15 minutes.

-Yes.

-Off you go.

-OK, thank you.

Bobby, you've had five minutes,

-you've got ten minutes left.

-Oh, thank you.

-You are so polite, Bobby.

-I try to be.

-Bobby.

-Yes.

-You are halfway, you've got seven-and-a-half minutes.

Oh, great.

Bobby, you're a lovely man. You've only got three minutes left.

-You're going to have to...move.

-Sure.

Go, Bobby, come on.

-You've got 30 seconds, finish that off, please.

-Yes, Chef.

-You done?

-Yes.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Bobby. So, prepare and cook langoustines.

Yes, you've blanched them really quickly.

I loved the idea of also

pan-frying them as well.

-What I don't love is the way you prepared them.

-OK.

-OK.

The cutting along the back,

you were almost preparing them like they were prawns.

- I like you, you have the swagger of a confident man.

But this leaves a little bit to be desired.

Bobby, the dish is flat.

And I think, because there's so much garnish on the plate,

-the sauce is not evident.

-Not enough.

The langoustines are slightly undercooked.

And everything just lacks a bit of care and love.

Bobby, raw langoustines, lettuce that's not seasoned

and a very average sauce.

You've disappointed the judges slightly here,

-and I think you've probably disappointed yourself.

-Yes, I did.

-Bobby, thank you.

-Thank you.

-Off you go.

-OK.

I could have done better.

I believe I need to show them I care for detail.

I don't know, I need to raise my game.

-Sous-chef John is the last to face Monica's test.

-Good afternoon.

-GREGG:

-All right, John.

-MONICA:

-Morning.

-Morning.

HE LAUGHS

I honestly don't know where the passion for food came from

because, as a child, I never ate anything.

I'd have probably cried if you had shown me an onion.

My food is quite old school, really.

It is just a nice hot pan with lots of butter.

Meat, veg and potatoes type thing.

I think what you can expect from me

in the competition is something a bit different.

I imagine I'm quite unorthodox,

through lack of training or whatever.

But the results in the end, I think, are good.

Service!

John. Are you familiar with langoustines?

Um. A bit like prawns, aren't they?

Hmm.

-You have 15 minutes.

-Right.

-Prepare and cook the langoustines.

-Marie Rose and a salad to serve it with.

-Yeah.

-Are you all right?

-I'm just having a think.

-OK.

-GREGG:

-It's all right, just be honest, have you made

-a Marie Rose sauce before?

-I've made a Marie Rose sauce before

but to be honest, I don't make mayonnaise fresh

for the Marie Rose sauce.

-You normally use a jar of mayo?

-I normally use mayonnaise.

I've got an idea in my head how to make mayonnaise,

and I should know the method.

-I'd crack on if I was you, John.

-Yeah.

My mind has gone totally blank now.

I'm totally making this up as I go along, if I'm honest.

You never know, we might invent a new type of mayonnaise.

-Hmm, I'm not sure about that.

-LAUGHING:

-No, I'm not either.

I think I'm just going to agree that that's not right.

I'm not going to bother with the mayonnaise, if I'm honest.

I'll just do the langoustines.

-I know you're nervous now, John, but...

-Yeah.

-..you are only halfway, you've got seven-and-a-half minutes left.

-Yeah.

John, what about these langoustines?

-You've got three minutes to go.

-Three minutes to go?

John, you've got 90 seconds, you've got to get them up.

Get something on a plate, if you can.

-Are you done?

-Yeah.

-HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

That were terrible.

Yeah, pretty much.

There's nothing here to try.

If we taste it, all we'd be doing is telling you how ripe the avocado is.

I'm...almost at a loss.

Yes, I understand that. That's fine.

All I'd like to say, John, before you go is, you are here now,

you've got your signature dish to come along,

you are not out of the competition yet, so pick it up.

-Yeah.

-Rise to the challenge, chin up...

-and make it count in the next round.

-Yeah.

I'm disappointed, obviously.

I'm not heartbroken. I mean... Nobody's died.

But let's cook again. If they like that, then bonus.

If they don't, then I'm going home.

Obviously, the previous three had a go at your skills test.

Marcus, these three are going to attempt yours.

What are you going to get them to do?

I would like them to make us a burger.

-A burger?!

-Yeah.

-That's not really posh food, is it, Marcus?

This is not about posh food. This is about good cookery.

To come in to here and cook us something that

we're really going to enjoy. Great flavour. Great cookery.

-Great skill.

-I don't know anyone who doesn't love a good burger.

There is an array of different ingredients here. What a fun test.

-- How long have they got for this?

-I'm going to give them 20 minutes.

-Right, 20 minutes.

-Off we go.

-Cracking burger.

-OK.

Over to you, chef.

So, first up, I'm going to just quickly dice up half an onion.

And then we're just going to cook that quickly in a little bit

of oil and butter.

I'm going to leave the onions now to sweat down

and I'm going to start the mince. I'm going to be using a chuck steak.

And I'm also going to be adding some bacon.

So, the onions have now come off the heat.

They're beautifully sweated down. I'm going to use a tray from

the freezer, and they will cool down straight away.

Why has it got to chill?

Because if you put hot onion on to the burger mix,

it will start to cook straightaway.

It won't hold together and it will just fall apart in the pan.

I'm going to put some herbs into the mix, a little bit of rosemary.

And some thyme.

Salt, pepper, and a whole egg.

Now I'm going to add the onions, nice and cold.

Get our hands in, really want to work the mix together

to make a nice patty.

What I want to do, I'm just going to put this

straight into the fridge, just to get a little bit of firmness to it.

I'm going to slice some red onions.

I've got some beautiful streaky bacon.

The burger has now been in the fridge for a couple of minutes.

I'm going to start cooking.

Sealing the burger on both sides, and then I'm going to be brushing it

with a little bit of English mustard and then put it into the oven.

Why go from the pan to the oven?

-Why not just keep it in the pan?

-Putting it into the oven gives it

the heat all over, so it cooks nice and evenly.

I'm going to go for the brioche bun. It's nice and rich

and I'm just going to go for a nice cheddar cheese on top.

Just a little bit of oil.

And on to your grill.

So I'm going to take the cheese...

-You're going to melt the cheese on the...

-Drop that on top, like that.

Now we can start to put the burger together.

That bun is nicely toasted. Ketchup.

Onions on the base.

Put the burger on top.

-Tomato.

-GREGG:

-Mmm.

HE GIGGLES WITH DELIGHT

There you go, Gregg.

What do you mean "There you go, Gregg"?

Cos I know Gregg's going to beat you to it.

And then a little bit of watercress, just for a bit of colour.

-GREGG:

-That's fabulous!

-Just a bit of fun.

So there you have it. My burger.

No, my burger!

Your burger.

- Our burger.

That looks fabulous, and actually,

there's a lot of work gone in to that.

To make this, you still need the chef skills.

You need the knife skills, you need the palate,

you need the vision, you need the touch.

- Wow! Well done, Greggy!

HE CHUCKLES

That is one of the best burgers I've had.

- Let's get the three chefs in. I want three more good burgers.

25-year-old Tom is a senior chef de partie.

I'm working in a five-star hotel, in a three-Rosette restaurant,

in Berkshire.

School wasn't for me, so I started as a pot wash at 14

and I just watched the chefs and I was just wowed by them.

Being a professional chef for me is my life.

I spend most of my week in the kitchen.

I just love the buzz, the adrenaline, working hard

and under tight schedules.

I love my job as being a professional chef.

OK, Tom. This is the skills test.

-Are you ready to have a go at a Marcus skills test?

-Of course.

-Good.

-What I would like you to make for us is a cheeseburger.

-OK.

Or a burger of your choice. There is no trick with this, Tom.

It is what it says on the tin.

-20 minutes, off you go.

-OK.

Tom, when did you last make a burger?

Actually, funnily enough, I was cooking burgers the other day.

We had a barbecue at the hotel for some of our club guests.

-You're halfway, Tom.

-OK.

-You've got ten minutes left.

-Yeah, lovely.

-Argh!

-GREGG:

-Whoa!

-That grill is powerful.

Most grills are, Tom.

-Oh, dear.

-GREGG:

-So, are we getting a sesame bun now?

We're getting a sesame bun now. Unfortunately.

-Right, Tom. You've got three minutes left.

-Lovely.

-Good.

-OK.

-All done?

-Yeah.

There's a lot of different ingredients on the table

-for you to come up with something that was to make a burger.

-Yeah.

What you've delivered is not

really a very exciting, interesting burger at all.

Also, putting hot onions on to raw meat isn't always

-the best thing to do. You've got to chill them down first.

-Yeah.

This is like, for me,

is something that's been cooked many hours ago and just been reheated.

-Not very flavoursome, Tom.

-No, I'm fairly disappointed.

Oh, Tom. It's overcooked on one side. It's dry.

It's just screaming for so many other things to make this

-an amazing burger.

-Mm-hmm.

Tom, I reckon you're made of sterner stuff.

Thank you very much. Off you go.

It was horrible.

I overcooked my burger, burnt my first bun.

I've made such a tit of myself.

Next is Polish-born Mateusz.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

I'm head chef here. I've been in Bournemouth for ten years.

And I've been head chef in this particular restaurant

three-and-a-half years.

In my restaurant, we are focusing on traditional English cuisine,

with a little modern twist.

For me to be a professional chef means everything, basically.

That's all I have and my restaurant where I'm working is my baby.

This is who I am.

-Just put the gloves, I'm allergic.

-What are you allergic to?

When I touch the shellfish, tomatoes...

-Basically, I try to work with gloves.

-OK.

-Mateusz, I would like you to make us a burger.

-OK.

20 minutes, off you go.

-Do you have a burger on your menu?

-Yes, I do, actually, yes.

Good.

You've got 12 minutes left, Mateusz.

Five minutes left, Mateusz.

-You done?

-Yes, thank you.

-Thank you.

-With a couple of minutes to spare, Mateusz.

I believe... Actually, no.

-You just said a couple of minutes spare, yeah?

-Yep.

-Yeah.

-I missed that out, the best ingredient.

-MONICA:

-Run!

-You've still got two minutes, chef.

-I seen it before, I just...

It's all right.

First thing I saw on the bench was the...

-Streaky bacon.

-What's Polish for streaky bacon?

-Bacon.

-That's good to know!

LAUGHTER

-Right. Good use of your last two minutes, well done.

-Yeah, thank you.

You've made a burger that I want to eat.

Overall, I think everything I've used, you've used.

Mateusz, the reason why we're all still eating it is

because it tastes great.

Thank you.

I cannot tell you how happy you've just made us three. Great job.

-Thank you.

-It's so full of flavour.

Still very moist and it's well seasoned and the bacon... Thank you.

- We've got a nice burger, we've got a crispy bun.

The flavours there are great because you get the tang

of the cheddar on the top,

the heat of the mustard on the bottom. That's very flavoursome.

-Well done, my friend.

-Thank you.

I really enjoyed watching you work today.

-I thought you were incredibly professional.

-Thank you very much.

Off you go.

Marcus, for me, is like a superstar.

To hear any good feedback from him, it's absolutely amazing.

Finally, it's 48-year-old head chef Stuart.

I became a chef only four years ago.

Prior to that, I was training sheepdogs.

I've worked in farming and shepherding all my life.

I suppose it was a little bit of a midlife crisis.

It was always a love of mine, is food. As you can probably see.

I thought if I didn't do it now, I would never do it.

My food is very diverse.

Anything from a fish finger sandwich right through to a fillet steak.

I'm quite a creative person.

It's not just about the way the food looks.

It's primarily the way it tastes and try and achieve pleasure.

-All right, chef?

-Yeah.

-Welcome to MasterChef. You look pretty happy.

-Well, I'm here.

What I'd like you to do for us is to make us a burger,

with the garnishes of your choice.

-We'll give you 20 minutes.

-Right.

-Off you go.

Thank you.

-Have you got a burger on the menu in the pub where you work?

-Yeah.

Good. All right. Good.

Stuart, you've had five minutes.

You've got 15 minutes left.

-Plenty of time.

-Stuart, why MasterChef?

It was programmes like MasterChef that got me into cooking.

-This is actually the fourth time I've applied for MasterChef.

-Oh, OK.

-Twice for normal, twice for professional.

-Is that right?

So, I've got here now, so...

If you win this, you could then apply for Celebrity.

-You've got five minutes, chef.

-Thank you.

You're very calm, Stuart. Very, very calm.

Can't do anything about it, can I? Just got to wait for it to cook.

You've got 90 seconds.

-Are you done, chef?

-That's me done.

Stuart, there's a lot more that could have been done with

this dish to make it exciting.

For me, it's just a cooked minced piece of meat, and just squashing

the burger down in the pan, you are pushing all that flavour out of it.

You don't do that with anything.

-MONICA:

-It's not great, but you've given us a burger.

I'm really, really hoping that in the next round, Stuart,

you're going to come back with a bit more oomph

and ready to fight for the next round.

- It's not great, but it's not a disaster.

It's up to you now to turn this around.

-Yeah.

-All right? Off you go, chef.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

A bit down. It could have gone better.

Something I cook day in and day out, but it just didn't seem to go right.

I expected nerves, but not to be as nervous.

Your langoustine skills test - one of them did OK.

The other two...not great.

No.

With the burger skills test, we had one wonderful burger

and then two pretty average burgers.

- I think today has been a tough day for both our skills tests.

What we thought would be simple tests for our chefs to sort of

-come in here and take it to the next level has been a disappointment.

-Mm.

Don't be disappointed, you two. I know what you're like.

We've been here before. We know how quickly this can turn around.

I think they've all got to come into the kitchen and cook their

signature dish with some energy and some passion and some fire.

You've all had a go at the skills test

with varying degrees of success,

but now is a real chance to show off.

This dish is all about you and who you are.

You've got one hour and 15 minutes to give us your best signature dish.

Three of you at the end of today

are going to be leaving the competition

and three of you are going to go through.

Off you go.

Expectations are very high.

I'd like to show the judges that I can actually cook.

I'm so excited that I'm here.

I'm over the moon, honestly, this is a dream to be here.

-Mateusz, how are you?

-Very nervous.

You did pretty good in the last round.

Tell me, what are you going to make for us now?

I'm cooking a lobster and spinach risotto with a sauteed lobster tail.

It's going to be on top of scallop carpaccio.

You're going to have raw scallop

and, on top of that, you're going to have a risotto

-and, on top of that, you're going to have a lobster tail?

-Yes.

You do realise this is a highly unusual thing to do,

-don't you?

-Yes.

It's beautiful ingredients and they will speak for themselves.

Nice colours, nice presentation, nice flavour.

I am a little bit confused.

You do not put a risotto on top of a carpaccio.

Carpaccio is raw, it's seasoned, a bit of oil, a bit of vinegar.

It's supposed to be raw.

By putting the risotto on top, it's just going to cook the scallop

and it's almost pointless.

You've had 20 minutes already. That's 55 minutes left.

Flies by, doesn't it, eh?

It'd mean a lot to impress them now

after what they've just seen, cos at the minute,

they think that I don't know what I'm doing

so it means a lot for me to prove myself again,

to show them that I do, and I've got a right to be here.

John, what are you going to cook for us, then?

Today, I'm going to be making a quail dish, using both the breasts.

I'm taking the legs off to make some lollipops,

carrot and potato fondants, some beetroot syrup

-with a nice sauce with the red wine and the port.

-OK.

-Where's this dish from, then?

-I sort of made it up not long back.

I was thinking of a dish to do for this

and I had to pick a core ingredient

and just play with stuff to work round with it.

What do you want to do now? What do you need to do now?

I need to now prove to you I can cook cos my performance

were embarrassing before and I understand how it looks.

So now I'm going to prove to you

what I'm doing is what I should be doing.

-Good.

-If you do it, no-one's going to be more delighted than us.

-Good fighting spirit, John.

-Thank you very much.

John had a disastrous skills test.

I want John to pick himself up off the floor

and deliver us a great plate of food.

If John can serve us a perfectly cooked quail dish

and those little lollipops are well seasoned,

they're not just deep-fried to death,

I think he could give us a good dish here. He has to.

I don't think I made a great impression on the judges.

I think they think I'm somebody who wants to change their career,

mid-life crisis. I'm really looking forward to cooking my own food

cos it's a chance to try and prove that I am a chef,

that I can do it and I will be trying my best.

Stuart, what are you making?

Sous-vide and then pan-fried loin of hogget,

done with a red wine and lamb jus, a baked potato mash,

cauliflower cheese, Vichy carrots and a sauteed sweetheart cabbage.

Now, explain to people that don't know -

between lamb and mutton, you've got hogget.

Yeah, hogget's over a year old,

just past the lamb stage before you get to mutton

so hopefully you keep the tenderness

and then you get a little bit more flavour cos of the age.

Is this the kind of cooking you're doing at the moment?

Yeah. It's the kind of food I've eaten all my life.

It's traditional British, it's what I'm doing at the moment.

It's the kind of stuff I was brought up with,

but hopefully just lifted a little bit.

What is it in this dish that's going to lift it up, do you think?

I suppose, when I was growing up, big families,

not everything was done as rich and as unctuous

so it's trying to make everything

as rich and as nice as I possibly can.

-I don't mind admitting I'm very much looking forward to this.

-Good.

The thing that concerns me here is the red wine with the lamb sauce.

Generally, you're making it with white wine.

You just have to be careful of how strong you make the sauce.

I love the sound of this dish because, for me,

it's hearty, it's home cooking.

If everything is cooked to perfection, we will be happy.

Guys, you're halfway.

You are halfway. 37 minutes left.

Recovering from such a bad skills test,

I'll just have to cook my dish to perfection.

I'm worried about the whole dish now.

I'm worried I'll let the pressure get to me again

and just it all fall by the wayside and go wrong.

-Tom, how are you?

-I'm good, I'm good. I'm getting on, I'm happy.

Everything's flowing as it is at the moment.

What are you making for us?

Roast duck with faggot, which is made from the leg,

braised baby gem and a pea puree and pommes dauphine.

I just think it's very well balanced

and I don't like using too many ingredients.

I just like using the main ingredients

and making them stand out for themselves. I want it to wow you.

This is classic cooking here from Tom.

He's going to make faggots from the leg meat and the offal.

That will look stunning on this plate.

If Tom gets this dish right - beautifully cooked duck,

pommes dauphine, great duck sauce -

this could be sensational.

You've got 30 minutes left. Half an hour left.

I'll try my level best and I'll have to put more than 100%

because obviously I didn't impress the judges in the skill test.

I did some silly things.

I need to change their opinion.

I need to turn around their opinion, actually.

-Bobby.

-Chef.

-What are you making for us?

Sea trout and oyster

and a bit of shimeji mushrooms, coriander sauce.

There's coconut sauce - that's a traditional sauce.

Right, so am I missing anything here?

There's a pancake, a purple one, actually.

You're making a purple pancake?

Yeah, a traditional one. We eat it with this dish

and I'm trying to involve it in a different way.

So, you're cooking food of where you're from

and you're taking that and sort of presenting it in a fine dining way?

-Yes, Chef. That's what I want to cook.

-It's what you want to cook

and you're testing it out on me, Monica and Gregg?

In MasterChef kitchen! What a time to do it!

Bobby, it's exciting food.

-Yeah.

-It's complex food.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Bobby.

-Thanks, Chef.

Bobby has got so many ingredients on his bench

and he's just going through so many processes at the moment.

We're going to be looking for all those different flavours

that we love about Indian food.

We want to taste the spices, we want to taste the ginger,

but I certainly want to taste the sea trout.

I don't want it over-camouflaged.

Looking forward to the oysters,

but that purple pancake - that's going to be interesting.

I just freaked out in the first round.

I didn't know what I was doing, to be honest,

and I'm hoping to change their opinion just by cooking well.

I want to prove that that first dish was just not me.

Hopefully, I can bounce back.

Ryan, you look very much in control.

A lot better than the first round, anyway.

What are you going to cook for us?

Sous-vide chicken breasts, chicken and herb ravioli,

sweetcorn puree, fresh sweetcorn and creamed leaks.

Why have you picked this dish?

It kind of reminds me of when I was a kid -

chicken, sweetcorn, getting into pasta.

My mum used to make that every Sunday

so it means a lot to me, this dish.

Ryan is making us chicken breast.

He's taking the skin off, he's putting it into a sous-vide bag.

He's serving it with little pasta parcels.

I love the sound of this dish.

I was not convinced by Ryan in the last round and, for me,

this dish has got to be spot on.

You have four minutes. That's all you've got, all right?

-Guys, you've got just two minutes. Bobby, you got a plate out?

-Yes.

-You've got two minutes.

-Yes.

Stop! That's it, time's up.

That went like that - bang! Gone.

-Everything all right?

-Yeah, it was just...

-Happy?

-Yeah.

Ryan, up you come, please.

Ryan is looking to impress with chicken breast

served with chicken and herb ravioli,

creamed leeks, wild mushrooms, carrots, sweetcorn puree

and a chicken skin crisp.

I like your presentation. It's clean, it's nice and simple.

The chicken is cooked very well.

It's so tender, it's very soft, it's been seasoned wonderfully.

The ravioli, for me, was nice and thin.

It was neat little pouches that you've made.

The dish as a whole was pretty good.

-Thanks.

-What really pulls this dish together are those delicious leeks.

The little sweetcorn, the carrots,

this is a really well accomplished dish

and I'm really happy for you that you've pulled this back

cos that's all we want, is a chef to come back fighting

and you've just done that.

Well done!

I'm really pleased for you

and I just wonder where you were when I met you in the skills test.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Amazing, absolutely amazing!

I couldn't ask for more from what the judges said, so I'm overwhelmed.

Head chef Mateusz has made pan-fried lobster tail

on a lobster and pea spinach risotto,

sitting on a scallop carpaccio

with a lime and rapeseed oil dressing.

I'll tell you what,

that's the first time I've ever seen anything like that.

It makes me slightly nervous. It's highly original,

it's very unusual. Let's have a go.

The lobster, for me, is just slightly overcooked,

but there's a lot of salt.

The carpaccio has this really odd warmness to it

and it's partly cooked and it's partly raw.

Is it well executed?

No, I don't think it is and I just think the idea's wrong.

If you put something hot, which is a risotto,

on top of a carpaccio, which is supposed to be cold,

-practically something's going to give.

-Yeah.

Thank you very much.

That was very hard. They said it was just OK,

which is not what I wanted them to experience.

Sheffield sous chef John has cooked quail breast

with stuffed quail leg lollipops.

They're served with carrot and potato fondants, pickled beetroot,

a shallot puree and a red wine and port sauce.

The sauce is far too big and rich and sweet in alcohol.

The quails aren't cooked very well cos they're burnt at the top end.

The fondants are tasteless because you spent the last hour with them

boiling them in the stock and that's not how you cook a fondant.

It just looks like you're trying too hard to do too many things

and it sort of hasn't worked.

It feels like all the life has been cooked out of the vegetables.

The sauce packs so much port flavour

and I think because the rest of the plate is so bland,

that's all I can taste now.

I'm happy with your quail. I really like the lollipop.

The sauce is, although a decent sauce, it's far too big

and sweet for that quail.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, cheers.

The feedback that I got was not great, I suppose.

I was just testing the water, seeing if I was at a level.

It seems with the comments that I'm not, but it's fine.

That's what I've come here to find out.

Stuart's hopes rest

with his sous-vide and pan-fried loin of hogget with baked mashed potatoes,

cauliflower cheese, sweetheart cabbage, carrots,

roast shallots, salt-baked beetroot and a red wine and lamb sauce.

Stuart, on the presentation, it's not a refined plate of food,

but it does look like a plate of food that needs to be eaten.

It's inviting.

I LOVE the hogget. The carrots are beautiful and sweet.

The sauce is big and bold.

You're not pushing any boundaries here whatsoever,

but it's a really good, tasty plate of food.

I kind of feel nostalgic about it, like I'm with my best friends,

it's Sunday, we're sitting down to a great Sunday lunch. It's not bad.

This, for me, is comfort food.

It's not fine dining, but, for crying out loud,

it doesn't half taste good.

-Thank you, Stuart.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I feel a lot better after that. It just seemed to go a lot better.

It's the type of food I do and they seemed to enjoy it.

I'm just going to wait and see what the final verdict is.

Tom has cooked roast breast of duck, braised baby gem lettuce,

peas, pea puree, pommes dauphine and a duck sauce infused with honey.

-Didn't you have little faggots to go on this?

-I did.

-Where are they?

-They're still in the pan.

-Oh!

-It was just one of those things.

You get caught in the moment and you get flustered. I'm gutted.

I like the sauce, Tom. It's got a great flavour to it.

I love the fact that you can get the honey

and the sharpness of the vinegar coming through.

Great colour as well.

I just feel that you've not really maxed out on all the flavours

that are on the plate.

What I love is the sweetness of the sauce

with a little bit of sharpness

and of course fresher sweetness of your pea puree.

It takes a lot of skill to get a great sauce like that

within an hour and 15 minutes, Chef.

You bring great things to the dish,

but it hasn't really quite got there.

Thank you.

-Thank you, Tom.

-Thanks, Tom.

-Thank you.

I shouldn't have got flustered, it was just left in the pan

and I realised two minutes before I was about to take my dish up.

I'm really kicking myself.

I'm going to have a few stiff ones when I get out of here tonight.

Hmm!

Finally, it's head chef Bobby.

He's cooked confit sea trout,

topped with a fermented rice flour and coconut pancake,

a coriander sauce, mushrooms,

Romanesco broccoli, soft boiled quail's eggs

served with a battered oyster and a molee sauce.

Love those colours! Love the colours.

It's like a fusion of so many different flavours here,

not just Indian.

I have the cured sea trout, just lovely and pink.

And then you've got the flavours of the curry coming through it.

A very light chilly as well.

And this pancake on the top -

I've not had a pancake like that before.

And you've said it is fermented.

-So it does give an also spongy texture to it.

-Yes.

Did I like it? Yes, I did.

But do I understand it? No, I don't.

Yeah, wow.

The two stars of this plate for me are the trout -

I think that's beautifully cooked.

-Nice and pink.

-Thank you, chef.

-Brilliant job on that one.

And that fantastic sauce!

I love the mildness of it. I love the flavour to it.

I think it works very well.

I'm not a big fan of the pancake,

cos I don't really see the point of it.

But having said that, Bobby, I think the flavours are great.

Very much like that coriander and garlic

green little globules you've got there.

That's a big punch of very exciting flavour.

You've got some really vivid colours.

I like your cooking.

-Thank you.

-I enjoyed your food.

-Thanks, Bobby.

I am happy with the dish, how it came out and everything.

I pushed myself but I still feel I could have done better.

What I am pleased about

and what you should be really pleased about

is how you turned this around from the skills test earlier.

This isn't going to be an easy judging for us.

Three of you are going to stay, three of you have got to go.

Go and take a break while we do some judging.

Off you go. Thank you, chefs.

Actually, I think we had a very, very decent round

of signature dishes, here.

Quite a few of our chefs had a lot of ground to make up

and I think a few of them did that. So I am much happier.

Before we decide who is going to go through

to become a quarter-finalist,

can I just mention someone

who I think is not ready yet for this competition?

And that is young John.

-I agree.

-He didn't know how to make mayonnaise in the skills test.

And there were real issues with his quail dish.

I think John's time in the competition is up.

Who was your favourite cook?

I liked Ryan's dish. It was nice.

I loved the creamed leeks. The chicken was beautifully cooked.

The ravioli!

He did the chicken ravioli with the tarragon. That was good.

Ryan definitely did much better than that skills test.

This is what we want to see, a chef that's ready to come back fighting.

It was probably the better of the six dishes

and I think Bobby was just sitting behind.

The garnishes were beautifully finished.

They were tasty, the sauce was delicious.

You loved the little green sauce.

And you can't take it away that the salmon trout was beautifully cooked.

You know, what more can you ask for?

His food is different, it's interesting.

I think he's got something we want to see a bit more of.

So, Ryan goes through, Bobby goes through.

Can we talk about Mateusz? Cos he confuses me.

He did a very, very good burger.

He then comes in and just does one of the most unusual...

in fact odd things I have ever seen.

The carpaccio and a risotto with the lobster... Oh!

For me, out of the skills test,

he was the better chef out of the six

and I just felt that he threw that out of the window with this dish.

Tom - the concept of the dish made sense.

It was all there.

The faggots for me...

Oh, I only wish he had put those on the plate.

If he had another four, five minutes,

this would have been a very, very well executed plate of food.

I just felt it was rushed.

I think Tom is a decent chef.

Is he good enough for a quarter-final place?

Stuart's food is food you want to eat.

You know, it's hearty, it's warming food.

Food for the soul.

I really loved the flavour of the hogget.

The question is, does Stuart have any more in the tank?

Is there anything else that he can bring to the table?

That is the big question.

I don't know if I've done enough.

There is some good cooks out there - good chefs.

I just hope I have.

To stay in the competition means everything to me

and I would love to stay

and to show the judges I am really, really worth it.

I was as cool as a cucumber when I walked in this morning.

I think it's just been a bad day at the office

and I would be gutted if I went home, I would.

I'm going to look at it from the point of view

as who can deal with what's coming in the next round.

I know who I'd like.

Three of you are going to be quarter-finalists.

Three of you unfortunately are leaving us.

Our first chef leaving the competition is...

..John.

Leaving at this stage, it's obviously not ideal.

I've had a good time - coming out for the day, met some people.

Been on TV for ten minutes!

What's the worst that can happen?

Our second chef leaving the competition is...

..Mateusz.

Obviously I am very disappointed to leave.

The judges haven't seen the best of my cooking, obviously, today.

I wish I could do it again.

Our third chef leaving the competition is...

..Stuart.

It is devastating to be leaving at this stage.

I thought I had maybe just done enough but...

obviously not.

Chefs, congratulations. You are quarter-finalists.

'I really did not think that I was going to get through.'

I am over the moon. I am so happy.

I'm shocked, more than anything.

'Feeling excited about the next round.'

I am feeling great. It's good. A good feeling.

'This morning, I was terrified.'

This afternoon, feeling a lot better now.

I am definitely on top of the world. Definitely!

Next time, it's the last of the quarter-finals.

The best six chefs from this week's heats

will battle it out with a pastry invention test...

Very beautifully executed.

Everything about this dish works.

..before having to face the country's most discerning food critics.

That is just sensational.

Oh!

Bleurgh!

HE EXCLAIMS

Wine.