Episode 2 MasterChef: The Professionals

The hunt for the next Professional MasterChef Champion is back on.

And these six chefs all believe they have what it takes to win the title.

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 think my mum always said, even before I knew what a chef did,

I wanted to be one.

I'm confident in my cooking, in my ability

and I believe I have enough to go far.

I'm expecting all these chefs to come in here to put up a good fight.

They're here because they want this title.

I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to this amazing journey.

First test is a skills test.

Marcus, what are you going to get them to do?

I'm going to ask the chefs to make an omelette Arnold Bennett.

-I think this is going to be a tough one.

-Yep.

-Ooh!

-An omelette Arnold Bennett is a haddock omelette

with hollandaise sauce and Gruyere cheese.

And this was a dish that was invented at the Savoy

in the early 1900s.

Arnold Bennett was a novelist who was a guest at the Savoy Hotel.

He just used to call to the kitchen and ask for a flat omelette

with some haddock and a glazed cheese top.

Do you want to show me?

First thing, I'm just going to poach the haddock in milk.

No seasoning. Just milk.

Just put a little cartouche on top.

That's just so that any steam coming off the milk

can then just cook the little bit of fish that's on the top.

All we need for the hollandaise sauce is just the egg yolks.

Just going to bring them together.

Not going to put any seasoning in here at the moment.

Slightly whip them up, get them a little bit aerated.

Got our pan of water. This is our bain-marie.

This is what we're going to cut it on.

See how they change colour. Very pale. Aerated.

Take your clarified butter

and, as you start to add the clarified butter,

it starts to emulsify and come together as one.

There's nothing here, so far, that the chefs shouldn't know.

-It's hollandaise and poaching a bit of smoked fish.

-That's right.

They're all skills that our chefs should have.

I'm also going to add in the hollandaise reduction,

which is white wine vinegar, black peppercorns, and dried bay leaves.

Otherwise, it would just be too rich.

-That's the consistency I'm looking for.

-Not unlike a good custard.

That's it. That's what it looks like. Just check our fish.

Just touch the fish and, naturally, it just breaks off

into its natural flakes.

I've left it on the skin to hold it together

and then just take a fork and just break the flakes away.

You'll know whether the fish is cooked

because it will just come away from the skin.

OK. Now, I'm just going to whisk up a little bit of cream

which is going to be added to the hollandaise

before it goes on the omelette.

It will help it glaze under the salamander.

Just fold that through and a little squeeze of lemon.

Now we're going to go to make our omelette.

Any idea how many Arnold Bennetts

you may have made in your time, Marcus?

No, I don't. I mean, when I was at the Savoy, when I was 17,

I worked on what they called the potage section,

which is the soups, omelettes, all the egg dishes.

So I've made a good few, hundreds, if not thousands, of these.

Just keep moving the egg.

So, I'm now just flaking the haddock onto it.

Just gently fold that in.

-Gruyere cheese.

-Mmm.

Classically, Parmesan.

I find Parmesan just a little bit strong, for me, personally.

-Hollandaise.

-Mmm.

It's a very rich dish, isn't it?

Oh, yeah. It is that. Beautiful, huh?

Over to the grill.

This cooks very quickly.

There we go.

-Wow!

-Omelette Arnold Bennett.

I tell you what, it looks deceptively simple but it's not.

And its flavours and textures are complex.

Three key skills is poaching the fish, making the hollandaise,

and a good omelette glazed under the grill.

-Let's see what they can do.

-Yep. Let's get them in.

First up is cafe owner Lucie who started out working for her parents.

Most recently, when they had their pub, I was the head chef there.

It was the closest we've ever worked together as a family.

Me and my mum worked really well together

and my dad was just not allowed in the kitchen.

Basically!

I would like to use elements of my everyday cooking in the competition.

However, I will have to be refining them

to produce the quality of food that the judges will be looking for.

Hello, Lucie. Welcome to MasterChef. This is a skills test.

I would like you to make us an omelette Arnold Bennett.

OK.

-Do you know what that is?

-Um, not exactly. No.

-You have made an omelette before?

-Yes. So, it's omelette.

-Hollandaise, you can do?

-Can do omelette, can do hollandaise, smoked haddock.

-Yeah.

-In the omelette. Hollandaise.

-Brilliant.

-I think.

Yes. Chef's head on, then you'll be fine.

There are a lot of people in here, but it's fine.

-I'm going to give you 20 minutes for this test.

-OK.

-Lucie?

-Yes. Marcus.

-Are you OK?

-Yes.

I'm classically trained

and I've worked in lots of different restaurants,

hotels, catering companies,

-and I used to be a private chef. That is what I mainly do.

-OK.

And none of your private clients ever said,

"You know, I really fancy an omelette Arnold Bennett"?

Um, no, they didn't.

I've made lots of omelettes in my time, though. So...

Hopefully, it will work out.

-Lucie, you've had five minutes.

-Thank you.

-15 minutes to go.

I'm wondering whether I need to poach the haddock.

-It says milk.

-If you don't, what else will you do with it?

-Um...

I think, maybe, I'm going to do that then.

-Ten minutes left.

-OK.

Lucie, you have five minutes left.

-Are you done?

-Yes, I'm done.

-With a couple of minutes spare.

-Yeah.

Well done.

-How do you think that went, Lucie?

-Erm, not bad.

How does Marcus think it went?

-Not good.

-Not good? OK.

-Because it's not an omelette Arnold Bennett.

-OK.

That's a frittata.

-So you've cooked it under the grill rather than fully in the pan.

-Yep.

You've attempted a hollandaise.

It's one of the quickest that I've seen made up,

but this is basically the butter folded into the yolks.

It will be quite heavy.

The fish and the cheese is a nice flavour together. That's right.

What I find hard to forgive

is that the hollandaise isn't hollandaise, it's just butter.

-You may have to prove a point in the next round.

-Yeah.

-I agree.

-I think, Lucie, you need to get your chef's head on.

-Yep.

Because with the classical training that you've had,

-you know how to do this.

-Yep.

-Lucie, thank you very much. Off you go.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

That was pretty rough, actually.

It was not something that I wasn't familiar with,

it was just I think the nerves and the pressure got to me a little bit.

Next is 23-year-old Alex,

who is a chef de partie in a high-end garden centre restaurant.

We do seasonal food based on Italian cooking here.

We seek out the best ingredients that we can possibly find.

A lot of the stuff that needs to be really fresh, we grow here

so we can actually use them fresh from the garden to the plate.

I think professional cheffing is a bit of a lifestyle.

You have to love it because of the effort and hours that you put in.

It's one of those careers that you have to really, really live.

OK, Alex, I would like you to make us an omelette Arnold Bennett.

-OK.

-Do you know what that is?

I'm not classically trained,

but a smoked haddock omelette with a bit of cheese?

Close.

It's a flat omelette with smoked haddock going through it

-and served with glazed hollandaise sauce.

-OK.

-Off you go.

No classical training?

No, I was in the Army and I trained there for 12 weeks

and then everything else was on the job.

When was the last time you made a hollandaise, Alex?

-I made one for breakfast a few weeks ago.

-Oh, good.

You've had five minutes, chef, you've got 15 to go.

Split.

Why do you think that's split, Alex?

My eggs weren't cooked enough, maybe?

- Too quick with the butter, maybe? - Maybe.

-I'll try again, go a bit slower.

-You've got 14 minutes left.

You've only got a little bit of butter left in your pan.

What are you going to do?

Try and get some more of the split hollandaise back in

-once the emulsification has started.

-OK.

-Thinking on your feet, chef?

-Trying to do what's asked.

-Have you made many omelettes in your time?

-No.

Four minutes left. Enough time, but just.

Go on, son!

Bring it over here, Alex.

There you go, sir.

-You done?

-Yep.

-You happy?

-I think so.

You're still not sure

whether you've delivered an omelette Arnold Bennett, are you?

No.

Well, I can tell you that you have.

I think that's a very, very good job. Well done.

I think it's an amazing first attempt for someone

who didn't have a clue what it was and that's what we want to see.

Ooh, nice! Really nice texture!

You have got smoky fish, you've got that tang of cheese

and you've got the acidity and slight sweetness of the hollandaise.

That's very good.

-You should be smiling. We're smiling, Alex.

-Good job, well done.

-Off you go.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Alex.

Nerves of steel, the boy, he's got nerves of steel.

Great start.

After that, I'm feeling a bit confident,

but I don't want to be overly confident.

I want to still have a few more... What do they call them?

Healthy nerves.

The last chef to take on Marcus's skills test is sous-chef Tim,

who works in a seafood restaurant.

Since I was eight years old,

I knew for a fact that I wanted to be a chef.

Growing up in the Philippines, I saw my mum

and my aunties running their catering business

and basically from that, I got engaged in the kitchen,

helped them out and everything so it's just become

a fascination for me and become my career right now.

I'm a guy with loads of ambition and I want to prove something

not for everybody else, I want to prove something for myself.

It's the biggest thing I've ever done in my career.

I hope I'm ready for it.

-OK.

-OK, Tim, I would like you to make us an omelette Arnold Bennett.

OK.

Do you know what that is?

Erm, basically it's poached with smoked haddock and everything,

then put some cheese and stuff.

I think I can do it.

I'd also like you to make a hollandaise sauce

-which you've got to glaze the omelette with.

-Cool.

Try and focus on what you're doing.

-You know what the elements of the dish are.

-You've got 20 minutes.

Off you go.

Oops!

It's the nerves, chef.

Ooh! Slow down a bit!

Tim, are you classically trained? Yes, Chef. You are?

I've done culinary school back in the Philippines.

You've got five minutes left, still.

Oh, hollandaise!

I think I've just done a stupid mistake.

-I'm not happy with it.

-You're not?

It's just really nerves kick in to me.

Literally, I just forget the basics.

HE COUGHS

The inside of the omelette's still runny,

but that could possibly be because there's a kilo of butter in it.

-It's a bit of a disaster, really.

-I agree, chef.

-Totally agree.

-You were just rushing too much, Tim.

Tim, thank you. Off you go.

What was he thinking? Well, he wasn't thinking, was he?

Look at this swamp thing!

I just feel emotional. I'm angry, I'm speechless towards it.

This was a really, really silly mistake, what I've done.

Marcus, we've seen three chefs attempt your skills test.

Monica, your turn. How are you going to test the next three chefs?

Today, I would like them to make two different types of brandy snaps.

The two classic shapes - the cigar or a basket, but our chefs

can make whatever shapes they want and fill it with Chantilly cream.

Not easy! This is a really interesting challenge.

-How long have they got?

-15 minutes.

-Right, show us how it's done.

First thing I'm going to do is make the mix up

so I've got golden syrup here.

-And butter and sugar.

-Butter and some sugar.

Our chefs are going to need a bit of elbow grease here today

and a lot of whisking.

So we also have some flour to go into it

and I'm going to make a dark chocolate one

so in goes cocoa powder,

but our chefs can just make a plain ginger one if they want.

It's all about getting that right thickness

cos if it's too thick on one side, it won't cook.

So there's no brandy in a brandy snap?

There's no brandy in the brandy snap,

but apparently the name comes from the term "branded" - to burn.

Wow!

-Now it's going in the oven.

-How long?

Roughly about eight minutes.

Now I'm going to make Chantilly cream -

vanilla, some cream and icing sugar.

So a classic Chantilly is simply those three ingredients, right?

Even though it's just a whipped cream,

the skill is the quantity of vanilla, the amount of icing sugar,

the passing of the icing sugar and the texture of the cream.

There are key things in there that Monica's going to be looking for.

-You can look as well.

-I can look as well.

-All right, I'll let you.

I'm just going to melt a little bit of chocolate.

So I'm just splitting my Chantilly in two

because I want to make one with chocolate.

It's just stirred through and it's that simple.

So I'm just going to roll this up quickly.

If the chefs try and roll it when it's still on the tray,

it'll be too hot, just too soft.

You can't mould it. It needs to come off and cool.

This is the chocolate one I'm piping in.

So, there you have it - very simple.

Brandy snap basket and a chocolate filled cigar.

That's a beautiful thing, look at that.

I tell you what, the cream is the very easy, easy bit.

Everything's about the brandy snap.

It's a very thin crunchy coating, isn't it? Very thin.

The chocolate works beautifully well.

It really does.

This for me is a huge test of control -

to get the thickness of the brandy snaps is so important.

If they can hold their nerves together

and stick to their chef's instincts, they should be fine.

First up is 33-year-old Andi,

who's a senior sous-chef at King's College, Cambridge.

We cook for the students on a day-to-day basis as well

as the fellows and we also cater for private events up to 350 people.

It's very busy.

The hours are long and the kitchens are hot and it's very stressful.

I'm a single dad so it adds to the pressure,

but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I love it.

It's the best job in the world.

Service, please.

-All right, Andi?

-Yeah.

A bit nervous.

Take a deep breath. This is the much-feared skills test.

It gets easier after this.

-Promise?

-Er, no!

-No.

What I would like you to do today

is make two different shapes of brandy snaps.

-Yep.

-Fill them with a Chantilly of your choice.

-Are you worried about that?

-Yeah.

-Why?

-Cos I've never made a brandy snap.

-Oh! So, try to stay calm.

-The ingredients have been weighed out for you.

-Yep.

-That could be a help.

-It's down to you. Dig deep, take a breath.

20 minutes - off you go.

-I can see your hand shaking, Andi. You all right?

-Yeah, yeah.

-You don't do a lot of pastry work at the college?

-Er, no.

I'm relatively new, though,

so I've yet to work my way around the sections.

-What position are you, Andi?

-Sous-chef.

-You've had five minutes.

-Thank you.

-Feeling a bit better?

-No.

-No!

-You're halfway. Andi, you have ten minutes left.

-Thank you.

What have you got in there at the moment?

A bit of a puddly, sugary mess.

Aye-aye!

GREGG WOLF WHISTLES

Yeah!

Three minutes to complete your masterpiece.

Or taco.

I knew you were going to say that.

Come on, mate, you're getting there.

60 seconds.

You shook that strawberry off the spoon, Andi!

-Are you done?

-Yep.

I'm really impressed that you cooked the brandy snap mix off first

and then cooled it.

It was very important to cool that mix and you put it into a bowl.

You could have made the mix a bit thinner,

-especially the one you made into a taco.

-Yep.

But you got a great colour,

you were very patient to let it cook and wait for it,

especially being so nervous,

you could easily pull the oven out and ruin that.

THEY CRUNCH

I'm just glad they're crunchy.

Whenever you're putting icing sugar into cream or using icing sugar,

you should always sieve it first to get rid of the lumps.

But, overall, very good.

You've attempted something you've not done before

and you've achieved it.

It's about attention to detail, OK, but good job.

The brandy snap itself has got plenty of snap.

There's the heat of ginger in there, which acts like a slight irritant,

which just for me emphasises the sweetness.

I got hit with a big waft of vanilla.

The coulis is lovely and all that strawberry juice coming over it,

that's an absolute DELIGHT, Andi.

An absolute delight.

I wonder what you can do when your hand stops shaking!

-Thank you very much indeed. Off you go, sir.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, Andi.

-He did really well.

-He did all right.

He was nervous, but he didn't rush it, did he?

'With the nerves and stuff, I think they were quite impressed'

that I managed to get the job done.

Next is Lee, who works as a chef de partie in a boutique hotel.

I see myself in five to ten years hopefully a head chef,

top of their game, maybe even a star.

The skills test, it does make me feel nervous,

but you could throw me anything

and I think I would be able to cope with it.

-Lee, have you made brandy snaps before?

-I have, but not for a while.

Go on, mate, get amongst it! Off you go.

You've had five minutes, Lee, so there's 15 to go.

Would you like a bigger whisk?

How long you been a chef, Lee?

About eight, nine years now, I think. It's been quite a while.

-You're a veteran, then?

-Yeah, I don't feel like one at the minute.

What are you making, Lee?

I'm just making a chocolate sauce to go over the top of the fruit.

You're halfway, Lee. You've got ten minutes left.

They don't look how I remember them to look.

-Shaky!

-Yeah.

-All done?

-I think so, yeah.

-How was that?

-I know the brandy snaps aren't right.

-They're more like tuiles.

-Do you know where you went wrong?

I'm not sure, no.

You didn't put any sugar in the brandy snap mix

and that's why it hasn't worked.

What happens is while it's baking, it's caramelising, OK,

and that's missing, hence you do have a tuile mix here.

The Chantilly cream you've made was of a nice consistency.

It didn't look overwhipped.

I'm really sorry, I'm struggling to find anything positive.

I really am, apart from the Chantilly and the berries.

And the chocolate's burnt.

-Your face looks very disappointed.

-Yeah, I am.

I am disappointed, I knew they weren't right

when they came out the oven.

Lee, thank you very much for your efforts. We'll see you again soon.

-Off you go.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

You're just shaking, trying to keep it all together.

It is hard, but hopefully that's the only slip-up I'll have.

Finally, it's 26-year-old sous-chef Nick,

who has spent six years working in Michelin-starred kitchens.

My first job was just washing up in a pub in the countryside.

I got a bit of a bug for it

and I decided to go to catering college.

I'm not a finished product at all,

but I'd like to think I have a certain amount of creativity

and I can be quite creative under pressure.

I hope I deliver good food perfectly seasoned, hopefully,

and I think that'll be enough for the early stages at least.

You look relatively relaxed.

A lot of chefs get quite stressed out at this bit.

I see a bit of fruit and pastry work

so I'm into pastry at my place at the moment so it could be worse!

Hey!

-That's excellent - music to my ears.

-Off you go, chef.

-Thank you.

-Five minutes have gone, Nick.

-OK.

-15 minutes left.

How long are you cooking them for, Nick?

I'm going to give them about four minutes

-until I think they'll be pliable enough to hold in a mould.

-OK.

Nick, you are halfway, which means you have ten minutes left.

Ah!

-Six minutes left.

-Thank you.

-You done, chef?

-I'm done, thank you.

Oh, my gosh!

Nick, pastry chef, you've come here, you've given it a great go.

You've also attempted a chocolate sauce.

Lovely with this wipe to hold it,

there's a bit of thought and care into your presentation.

There are some really lovely flavours on there -

vanilla and fruit that you've slightly cooked down.

-Nick, I'm really impressed.

-I think your working methods were excellent.

The way you approached the job was very professional. I like your work.

I think you've had a very, very good round. Off you go, thank you.

He's a good chef. He's a good chef.

Now the first test is over, I just want to carry on, really,

and get stuck into it.

I tell you what, I'm not normally given to great optimism,

but I think this went pretty well.

I think most of them have put up a good dish, some better than others,

and it really does show what type of cook we've got in front of us.

I've got some idea of how they work now,

but they're going to be more relaxed the next time we see them.

It's their dishes, it's their choice of recipe so they should know it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they're doing.

Chefs, this is your opportunity to show us your signature dish.

It should be practised, it should have been rehearsed

and it will be perfect.

Make sure it's a good one because, at the end of it,

three of you are going to be going home.

One hour and 15 minutes - off you go.

It's hard to know where you stand after the skills test.

Today, I want to prove that I can hack it, I can do it,

I can work under pressure.

I can just do what I do every day of the week, really.

Andi, this is your signature dish. What is it?

Duck breast with some Chinese five-spice,

some spiced peanuts, some broccoli puree

and then there's a sauce with honey and soy to go with it.

Tell me why this is your signature dish.

Well, I've visited Malaysia, Singapore

and I just love the whole excitement -

the sourness, the spiciness,

the whole range of flavours that it can bring

and I think this is the dish that I can hopefully nail.

Andi's dish has been influenced by his travels throughout Asia,

but travelling and enjoying food doesn't give you the expertise

to be able to carry it through.

He needs to make sure that the flavour of the duck comes through.

He cannot lose that flavour through all those other big ingredients.

The last test was just really...

I was really, really disappointed with it.

I need to control my nerves, basically.

So, what are you doing for us?

Basically the dish called ginataang isda with aubergine salsa.

-Ginataang esta?

-Ginataang...

-Ginataang...

-Isda.

-Isda?

-Ginataang isda.

-Yeah.

And how does that translate?

Basically it's fish in coconut sauce.

Fish in a coconut sauce.

So, is this a classic Filipino dish that you're doing?

The flavours are very classic, but I break it down a little bit

because Filipino food is more like a one-pot wonder,

everything served with rice and I want to take away that.

-I want it to be a bit more refined, more contemporary.

-Absolutely, OK.

I like the selection of ingredients you've got here,

but, tell me, have you got enough ginger?

Erm, I wish I could have more!

It's his signature dish, it's a dish from where he is from.

I'm expecting him to come together

and deliver a really, really tasty Filipino dish.

You've had 20 minutes already.

I want to show the judges with my signature dish

that I can prepare savoury food as well as I can prepare pastry

and just that I can cook.

I just want to show them that I can cook

and that I'm a controlled, calm individual.

I'm doing a pork fillet,

which I'm just going to roast in a pan with some sage and butter.

I'm doing a set polenta, a pine nut crumble

and a sherry and creme fraiche sauce. Every element of the dish

is something I've worked on and practised.

Are you an ambitious chef, Nick?

Yeah, I think any serious chef's got to have a bit of ambition.

Nick is using the polenta in sort of a different fashion.

He's going to make a pine nut crust and use it as a crumble,

as a topping so I'm really interested to try this.

You are halfway. Halfway.

I think the judges think I'm a young lad,

enthusiastic and hopefully I can show them that I can cook.

Alex is making us a pigeon dish,

which he's going to glaze with pomegranate molasses.

He's going to serve it with a cauliflower tabouli-style salad.

He's making a pastilla with the legs

so he's going to be confiting the legs down

then he's going to be rolling them in pastry.

There's not a lot of meat on a wood pigeon, to be honest with you,

and he needs to be very careful with the pomegranate molasses

that he doesn't overpower

what is considered to be quite a delicate flavour.

Why the North African style?

When I was growing up, I used to eat a lot of Middle Eastern food

so I grew up with spices being a seasoning to your food and...

-Where did you grow up?

-In Manchester.

I am Jewish so we used to eat a lot of shawarma

so I grew up with quite a bit of spices.

I really like eating this food

so I thought I'd cook it for you today and see if you like it too.

20 minutes left. Just 20 minutes. Come on!

I hope the judges see what I want them to see

because there is a lot more to me than a blip in pastry.

It's not my strong point.

My strong point is creating dishes

and cooking dishes that I know I can do.

Lee, what is your signature dish?

It's a cannon of lamb, Jersey crushed potatoes, pea puree,

broad beans, asparagus and a bit of chorizo.

It's my favourite dish, this is.

What have you got to do to make sure you go through?

I've got to nail every component of my dish

and hope the other contestants slip up.

What I want to see from Lee is some great cooking

and these wonderful ingredients cooked to their best.

Guys, last 15 minutes.

-Lucie, are you happy you left the omelette behind?

-Yes, definitely.

That was a bad round for me. I was definitely out of my comfort zone.

-What do we need to do now?

-Probably a lot, yeah.

It's a dessert you're doing, isn't it?

Yes, something that I do at work quite a lot,

but obviously refine it for MasterChef -

chilli, chocolate and beetroot brownie with chocolate soil,

sweet pickled baby beetroots and beetroot meringues.

You ever had a brownie with pickled vegetables?

No, I have not had a brownie with pickled vegetables before, Gregg.

-Neither have I.

-No. So it's a first, that's good.

-Is it?

-I think so!

I've practised this dish a lot of times so it's really well rehearsed.

I've got a really strict schedule that I'm keeping to to make sure

that it's all done in time and it's all done perfectly.

It sounds very interesting. It's got my mind racing. Can it work?

Does it work? Will it work?

Lucie's very confident at the moment and believes in this dish

so I hope for her sake it works.

Three minutes. Come on!

-What?

-You make me nervous, chef.

90 seconds left.

That's it. Stop.

Time's up.

That was the quickest hour and 15 minutes of my life.

Right, Andi, shall we have a look at your food, please?

To stay in the competition, Andi has made pan-fried duck breast

coated in Chinese five-spice served with chilli peanuts,

broccoli shavings and puree, wild garlic,

coriander yoghurt and a honey soy jus.

It's a very nice looking plate of food.

-Nice presentation, good colours. Very good.

-Thank you.

The duck breast that I've had was nice and pink,

a little bit crispy on the skin and just a hint of those spices.

It's not overpowering at all.

The peanuts, for me, just as you're eating,

I was thinking, where is the spice in here,

but then it slowly starts to come through.

But it's not overpowering, it's actually very pleasant.

I like the duck with the soy saltiness, I really like that.

However, the brocooli puree is a very European flavour

in an otherwise very, very Asian dish.

I like the fact you've not tried to get the broccoli puree smooth,

you've kept it quite textured, I quite like that.

I think the sauce packs big flavour - it's bold,

it slaps you round the face, it's great. This dish works for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done.

I did my best and we'll see how it goes.

Nick, your turn, please, sir.

Nick's dish is pork fillet served with discs of Parmesan polenta

topped with a pine nut crumble crust, accompanied by asparagus,

crispy nettles, pine nut puree and a sherry creme fraiche sauce.

I think it's lovely. It's elegant and refined without being fussy.

Nick, one of the hardest things about pork,

especially a pork fillet,

is what you put with it as it's such a delicate piece of meat

and I think that what you've done here

is you've complemented the meat very, very well

and the ingredients all work together

and the meat is beautifully cooked as well.

I'm glad you've kept it pink.

The polenta still retains its softness,

even though you've fried it and gratinated it with the crumble.

I love the crispy nettles as well. The sauce, for me, is very rich.

It's lovely, though. You've got the sherry coming through.

Smart dish - smart guy.

You have delivered to me

some wonderful flavours of Italy

in a texture that I've never had them in before

and I find it really brilliantly clever and completely delicious.

I'm absolutely chuffed to bits. It couldn't have gone any better.

Tim's steamed turbot has been served on a banana leaf

with aubergine and tomato salsa, crumbed mussels and a coconut sauce.

Mmm.

I think the salsa's nice and light and refreshing underneath the fish.

The fish - beautifully well steamed.

The mussels are good as well.

They're not overcooked, nice little crunch to them.

I think the sauce is divine.

I can actually see all of that being poured into there

and just eat the lot

and it's one of those dishes that you would clean up.

The fish, for me, is the only bit that lets me down

because the bit that I had, I find it was just slightly over.

But is it delicious? Yes, it is.

I don't understand the sauce going on top of the salsa.

For me, it muddies everything in my palate.

This dish I'm not convinced by.

I think they might beat me up afterwards

cos they disagree with me completely.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you, Tim.

-Thanks.

Having two out of three judges actually agree

on what I'm trying to put forward is actually a big win for me.

Lee's cannon of lamb has been served with crushed Jersey Royals,

chorizo, asparagus, broad beans, heritage carrots, pea puree

and a chicken stock emulsion.

The lamb isn't very well cooked at all.

There's no fat around it at all and the emulsion,

well, it's not an emulsion.

An emulsion is when the stock comes together with some fat

or some butter or something and it has a little bit of body,

a little bit of something about it, some flavour

and that really doesn't have anything.

This is missing a lot, Lee.

What I've learned from these guys and being with them

is the effort they take to enhance flavour.

It's like their Holy Grail and there's so much of this

that doesn't deliver that top-end flavour -

the potatoes without seasoning, without butter,

the puree that's a lovely vivid colour, but again, no big flavour.

The sauce doesn't smash you.

You had a point to prove on this round,

you really had to come in here guns blazing and ready to blow us away

with a great plate of food, but it seems like you've given up.

I played it safe. It turned out not to be the best idea on the day.

Alex's wood pigeon breast

has been coated in a pomegranate molasses glaze

and served with a pastilla made from the legs,

accompanied by cauliflower, tomato and spring onion tabouli,

charred apricots and toasted almonds.

I absolutely love the pomegranates, the apricot,

the lemon juice that's running through there.

I even like the little ice cream cone pastilla.

You have captured, in my opinion,

the flavours of the Middle East.

There is a lot of great things on this plate of food.

I love the idea of the pastilla

and the spices that are coming through that.

That works with the pigeon, possibly maybe, for me,

less of the tabouli then so it's not so overpowering on this dish.

The tabouli is very, very strong and acidic.

It doesn't come together and the flavours don't work

because I can't taste the main event, which is the pigeon.

I think the tabouli may have been too acidic for the delicate pigeon,

but I like the dish, I think it's a great one, but that's just me.

Finally, it's Lucie whose quarterfinal place

rests on her chilli, chocolate and beetroot brownie

served with blackberries, blackberry coulis,

pickled baby beetroots, beetroot meringue,

chocolate soil, Greek yoghurt and edible violas.

There are well tested flavours, sweet flavours of chocolate

and the beetroot.

However, I find the brownie a little dense.

This brownie is not great and I don't get that chilli note from it.

The meringue is nice, but the little baby beetroots on the plate,

when you eat that baby beetroot with that cake,

that is not a nice flavour at all.

It does not work.

That was quite stressful.

All in all, just not a great day at the office, I don't think.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much indeed.

We have to make a decision now

because three of you are going through to a quarterfinal.

Three of you, unfortunately, are leaving us. Off you go, thank you.

Some good cooking here today from our chefs and it makes my day

if I can find ONE chef that does great.

What is quite obvious is that Nick is a quality chef.

He's strong in the pastry and he's strong in the main kitchen.

-I think Nick has sailed through.

-Without a doubt.

Who was your next favourite?

Andi, for me, was the next chef that did well today.

I didn't quite agree with you guys on the puree,

but we all liked his dish. I think Andi's had two good rounds.

Andi and Nick definitely deserve to go through.

-Yeah, I think that's obvious.

-I agree.

We have to lose three of these chefs

and we know, I think, who two of them are.

I have Lucie.

For me, if you can't make a brownie at this level,

-we have some serious issues.

-Yeah.

-And Lee with the watery lamb dish.

-Agreed.

-Agreed.

There was just no love in Lee's food today.

This is where I think we now may disagree

because we have to decide between Tim or Alex.

First of all, you've got to look at Alex

and say that Alex cooked the best skill test today out of all six.

That we have to take into account.

His signature dish wasn't quite hitting the mark for me

in various different areas and slightly lost and confused.

But I did like the tabouli that he made.

This chef, I believe, has some great fundamental skill.

Hopefully I've done enough to stay in the competition.

We're getting slashed by 50% which is quite high.

Now, Tim had a bit of a meltdown with the omelette Arnold Bennett.

-You're being polite, Gregg. That was a disaster.

-It was a disaster.

However, you two both liked his dish

inspired from his home country of the Philippines.

At the end of the day, this is what I signed up for.

I didn't sign up to go home right away,

but whatever happens, it's all in God's will.

The question is who can withstand what's coming round the corner.

I think we all know who should go through.

Three of you are going through to a quarterfinal,

three of you are going home.

That's the competition.

The first chef that is leaving us today is...

..Lee.

The second chef that is leaving us today is...

..Lucie.

And our third chef that we're losing today is...

..Tim.

You know, at the end of the day, at least I've tried. I did try.

I think that it was fair judging.

It's just a shame that it wasn't good enough.

It's disappointing, but there are other great chefs in there

that were better than me on the day.

Congratulations, all three of you.

You are MasterChef quarterfinalists, well done.

I'm surprised, I'm glad I got through.

I think it was quite a close call, yeah.

It's been draining, it's been exciting,

but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now.

I'm really, really chuffed to bits.

It's been amazing and I just want it to last as long as I can.

Tomorrow, it's the quarterfinal...

..and the chefs must prove themselves to Marcus and Monica.

It's delicious.

Only the best of them will get to cook for the critics.

It's one of those "Are we going to clear the plate?" moments.

What can one say? Snoozarama!