Episode 15 MasterChef: The Professionals

Knockout week continues on MasterChef: The Professionals.

It started with ten chefs in two groups of five.

Last night, the first group delighted diners

at the Royal Society of Medicine.

It's a jolly good surprise.

I'd like more of it, please.

However, for Zoe,

the final challenge marked the end of her competition.

Tonight, the second group must pull out all the stops,

cooking at one of London's most exclusive addresses.

This is a massive challenge for our chefs.

It's going to be very interesting to see how they gel together.

We're looking for team spirit but I'm also looking for some flair.

Only the best chefs can go through to next week's semifinals.

I think I've done a good job so far,

but I'm not taking it for granted that I'm through.

For me to get to the semifinals, it would be absolutely amazing.

There's no-one that I'm not worried about.

I'm just going to work as hard as I can just to keep in the competition.

I'm going out all guns blazing,

it's going to be like the OK Corral in there

and I'll be the only one standing at the end, hopefully.

Chefs, good to see you. What a fabulous opportunity,

cooking here at the French Ambassador's residence.

We would like you to create a three course menu

for the French ambassador and her guests.

The food in this house is of the highest level.

This is a massive opportunity for you to shine as a team.

Guys, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. We suggest you get moving.

Just seeing that French flag hanging over the front door just made us all

a bit nervous when we were coming in.

We've got a great mix of guys here in our team,

and if we can all mix and match and come together

and put up some fantastic food, then, boom,

I think we've all got it in the bag.

I can't wait now, I want to get in the kitchen,

see what they've laid out for us, see what we've got to go with.

The chefs only have 30 minutes to plan their three course menu.

Their ingredients are selected from the finest produce from France,

including pollock and mussels from Brittany,

Bresse chicken,

and a wide selection of fruit and vegetables.

Do we want to go fish starter and...

Fish starter and chicken as the main course.

If you poach it and then lift the skin, that'll be nice, I think.

We could make like a mussel beurre blanc or something?

The ingredients look fantastic, we are the only ones who can

go wrong now. If we don't use them properly, then it's all on us.

It's not the ingredients' fault, it's our fault.

So, the main course - we're going to go chicken.

Poach these to keep it moist, then take them off the carcass.

OK, yeah. If you want to do a little pithivier with the leg meat...

Yeah.

For me, personally, this is probably the biggest thing I've ever done in

my career so far. I am nervous,

but I'm not going to let those nerves get to me and ruin my day.

I think we've got enough time, so we can do a fondant.

-As long as you guys have recipes for it?

-Yeah, cos I'm...

I've got a recipe - 125, 125, 150, 3 eggs, and 35g of flour.

-Do you want to do pastry now?

-That's off his head,

-so you're happy taking control of that?

-I am.

I really like the way our chefs are talking at the moment.

They're all having a say and input

on how the menu should come together.

Frosted hazelnut sauce?

This is the first time you're going to have a service where you're

working together in a professional kitchen,

and with some very serious guests upstairs as well.

The one thing we do have to be very aware of here, chefs,

is being absolutely on the button for our timings.

They now have just two hours' prep time

before their first course is served.

The brigade is made up of Elly, a junior sous chef.

Gary, a college lecturer.

And sous chefs James and Brenton.

And Max, head chef of a gastropub.

I don't think there's any sort of big egos in the group.

We've separated the kitchen up

so we've got two on starter, two on mains, one on dessert.

But, no, I think it's a good kitchen to be working in today.

Take your time with that.

The first job for Max is to carefully fillet and portion

the pollock for the starter.

-You all right?

-Yeah, fine.

If you make it taut this way, if you bend it,

what it does is it firms this up, OK?

That's a great tip, thank you very much.

-You learned something.

-I did learn something.

James is also on the first course.

He makes a start prepping the garnish

of broad beans and tomato concasse.

It's nice to be working as a team for once, instead of just

going solo, so it's going to be nice to see what comes together.

-How are you doing, James?

-Yeah, very well, thank you, Chef.

Quite happy with this so far?

Yeah, I'm taking my time, I'm making sure everything's done right.

Obviously I'm not taking too much time to do it as well.

No, you can't take too much time, you're the first course up!

We are, we can't be late, either.

The menu seems very straightforward.

They're taking the pollock, which you poach and crispy up some skin,

they're going to make a beurre blanc,

possibly some sea veg to go with that. It's a nice-sounding menu.

-That's a good sized portion.

-Yeah, don't go any bigger.

-Don't want to go much bigger than that.

-No, cos you've got your

-beurre blanc and then your mussels.

-Exactly. Cool.

On the main course with Brenton is Elly,

who's prepping three different cauliflower garnishes.

-Right, Elly, where are you up to?

-I've got pickled cauliflower done,

I'm going to caramelise these at the end, I've made my puree,

and then I'm going to jump on and help Brenton.

How do you feel about your involvement on the menu?

-Do you feel you've had enough input?

-Yeah, I think so,

everyone's had a certain input on all of the dishes.

I've got a funny feeling you're going to be controlling these

four chefs around you in about an hour from now, is that about right?

-Yeah, probably!

-Probably, thought as much! OK.

Happy with that?

-Yeah.

-I'm liking the way they're talking at the moment.

Elly's really getting vocal in there, which I think is great.

-You all right, Brenton?

-Yeah, so far so good.

The main course is the chicken from Bresse,

which they are going to poach and then roast,

and they're also using the leg meat to make a pithivier,

which is like a little pie.

For me, this sounds like a great main course.

Brenton is butchering the Bresse chickens,

a world-renowned breed

famous for its rich flavour and reared only in eastern France.

I've worked in France before and I've seen some of the stunning food

they have in their average restaurant.

We're going to have some pressure to cook up something to impress them.

For the chicken, the poached chicken...

We're going to just do water on the stove, mirepoix, thyme, carrots.

To keep the chicken as moist as possible, Brenton and Elly

are poaching the breasts on the crown

in a classic French mirepoix vegetable stock.

We know Elly can cook the chicken very well,

we've seen her do it this way a few times now in the kitchen,

so it's in good hands.

The bones and trimmings are being sauteed to add flavour

to the chicken jus,

and the leg meat used to create the filling for the pithivier,

a traditional French pie.

Right, Brenton, where are we at?

At the moment, I'm just starting to make the mix for the pithivier,

the little chicken leg pie,

so in that I'm going to sweat down some onions, a bit of garlic,

-mushrooms.

-Are you excited about the challenge,

and working with Elly as a team?

I'm working with Elly, she's a great chef. I'm quite excited about

the challenge but, obviously, now I'm getting a bit nervous,

time's flying by very quickly,

trying to find our way around a new kitchen, yeah,

there's a lot going on, it's quite nerve-racking.

For me, this sounds a great main course.

I love the pithivier part of it, I hope it doesn't dry out,

I hope the filling doesn't dry out.

I've had a taste of the mix, it's delicious so far.

Over in the pastry section,

Gary has a strawberry ripple ice cream well underway.

And he's made a praline to add an extra nutty flavour

to his chocolate fondant mix.

How confident do you feel about cooking a fondant?

The recipe I definitely know. What I don't know is the oven,

timings and size, so it's really going to come down to practise.

Gary's next big task is his chocolate fondant mix.

Equal quantities of butter and chocolate

are blended with whisked eggs and sugar before finally adding flour

and the ground-up hazelnut praline.

Gary, tell me, where are we at?

We've got our fondant mix ready,

just going to leave that at room temperature.

We've got the base done for my chocolate tuiles.

I'm just starting the nut crumble, the granola.

-There was some fruit you were going to use?

-Yeah, we've got, again,

these amazing strawberries, so I've made a little kind of reduced puree

-and that's going to be for our ice cream.

-I'm really impressed

with how controlled you are, you've got so much work done already.

-Thank you.

-I think the team did well by putting you in here!

THEY LAUGH

-No pressure there!

-No pressure!

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

The dessert, for me, is in great hands. Gary has got beautiful,

little textures of chocolate here and there, there's nut,

he's taken the strawberries and he's got ice cream.

He's got a lot of work. I dropped in on him, he seems so in control,

he knows exactly where he's at.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see him coming

and giving these guys a hand later on.

But so far, I like the way our team is working in this kitchen.

I think there's a great atmosphere at the moment and there's definitely

a level of unity with these five chefs.

They've come together very, very well.

Chefs, one hour has gone,

you have one hour left before your first course is due.

Oui, Chef.

Built in 1840,

and initially the home of the 10th Duke of Marlborough,

the Ambassador's residence

was bought by the French government in 1946.

I'm representing my government in many fields -

security, defence, economy, culture, gastronomy as well.

French cuisine is obviously one of the best,

and it is recognised as so.

It's part, really, of our DNA,

and our culture. I think there's a lot of pressure on the chefs,

and today is very important, but I hope it will be a great success.

Can I make a suggestion? You're 50 minutes away from your first course,

I think it may be a good idea to just have a quick conversation

-of where everybody is right now.

-Shall we go through to Gary quickly?

-Don't you think?

-So, starter-wise, what are we looking at?

Starters, the pollock is portioned.

-You're poaching it? In the water bath?

-If I'm honest with you,

I've not done that before, so I'm not going to start playing around...

-As long as it comes out nice.

-You happy poaching it in the liquor?

-Yeah, it's just old school.

-Sauce, you need to finish, like, now,

and then florets I'm going to start cooking roughly about 20 past.

-Right, pastry.

-Sweet, Gary?

-Fondant mix is done,

I've got chocolate tuile which I'm going to blitz

and then dust over these

-and get little, really thin wafers.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Erm...

-But I think it's going to come together really well

-because those strawberries are stunning.

-Sweet.

-Awesome.

-Let's crack on.

In preparation for service,

James is blanching three different varieties of sea vegetables

to accompany the pollock.

That's the only stuff that concerns me,

I'm thinking about leaving that off. It's like eating plastic.

Get rid of it. Take it off, we'll just do the nori and the samphire.

Cos that's actually quite tasty, and once that's seasoned up...

-What are you doing with the mussels?

-We're going to steam them open

and then use the liquor to go through the beurre blanc at the end.

Beurre blanc is a classic French butter sauce.

It's got a reduction of shallots and herbs

with a hint of white wine vinegar or a little bit of lemon juice.

So when we've got the sauce, get the fish stock into it,

just intensify that, blitz it up, strain that in a minute,

put it in there, start getting the butter into it.

We're just getting the final pieces together,

just getting it all ready so it's all ready to plate.

I'm personally just finishing the sauce,

Max is just doing the last few bits of garnish,

then all it's going to be then is just getting everything cooked,

seasoned, tasted,

dressed and on the plate, ready to rock and roll.

We're discussing everything as we go along,

we're all sort of talking stuff through.

Someone's not happy, we'll talk it out.

I don't know about you, but I would run a bit more butter through that,

just literally on here.

Because it is just a bit sharp, I think.

It just seems a little bit tart, that's all.

Let me taste that?

That's just a bit sharp for me.

It's a bit vinegary, isn't it?

-It's a bit tart.

-You need a touch of sugar in that.

Have we got some?

Yeah, I'll get you some.

-Sugar in a beurre blanc?

-Yeah.

-Sugar in a beurre blanc?

-Yes.

-Really?

-Yes. I've been taught that,

just to give it a little extra sweetness,

then it will all come together nicely.

Could I have the parsley over the fish, please?

Personally, for me, it's still sharp,

but, at the end of the day, it's not all about me.

Back on the main course, the chicken breasts are poached...

-Yeah, that's all right.

-Yeah.

..so Elly and Brenton have both turned their attention

to the chicken pithivier.

Pithivier is a French pastry

that's defined by its shape and its markings.

I would like that to have had detail in the scoring,

I would love that to be shiny and stand out.

You want it to almost be like the jewel in the crown of the dish.

Brenton is making the filling.

The mixture of chicken thigh meat,

pancetta and mushroom is wrapped in chard leaf and placed in a mould

to create the perfect dome.

On the other side of the kitchen,

Elly is rolling the puff pastry for the pithivier,

traditionally decorated with ornate scoring.

We're going old school, so we're not using

all the modern, fashion cooking,

like water baths, etc, it's like old, classic cooking,

and it's showing how good a chef you are, really, I think.

The base of the pie must be perfectly sealed,

but the steam inside must also be allowed to escape to stop the pie

from bursting open when baked.

You put the disc on the top, and you put a little hole in it,

and that creates the steam.

And then it won't break apart, cos it might split open.

I've never had that problem, but, I mean...

All right, we'll do it your way.

-Not like that.

-No, no, it's fine.

I don't mind.

We're thinking of more of the decoration,

so we don't want to destroy the decoration,

so we're going to go with no disc.

Different experiences in the past lead to different methods

of cookery, basically. I think it's going to be really tasty and really,

really flavoursome.

As long as we cook it all properly just as we're serving it,

it will come out nice.

Chicken's good, pithivier's OK?

Yeah, we just need to pan-roast the chicken, cook the florets,

caramelise them up,

and pithiviers we need to put in place in the oven and sauces made.

Have the pithiviers been egg-washed?

-Yes.

-Do you have any spare?

-No.

-No?

So you can't put a tester in now?

-No.

-OK.

-No, it'll be good.

I have faith.

Meanwhile, Gary is adding to the garnish of his dish by making some

chocolate caramel discs.

I've probably not done pastry in a restaurant for about 25 years,

so to be standing here

in this particular moment in time and on the pastry is, erm, fun.

Pastry's not feeding people,

pastry's about that little element of luxury and surprise,

and that's what I enjoy about it.

With time to spare,

Gary has decided to test the cooking time of his fondant.

If they're baked for too long,

they won't have the all-important oozing chocolate centre.

So it's a six minute fondant, not an eight.

I'm sure the French ambassador has had some of the best chefs

in the world cook her a chocolate fondant.

I just want to make it memorable.

With service fast approaching, the guests arrive.

They include Maxime Holder, head of global French bakery Paul.

Florence Gomez from the French chamber of commerce.

Journalist Mark Roche.

Gilles Quillot,

the Ambassador's chef de cuisine.

And TV and radio journalist Benedicte Paviot.

They say the chemistry between politicians can really change

in negotiation. I'm sure food has its part to play in good relations.

I think it's very important when you have international conferences,

if the buffets are good and dinners are good,

people are in a better mood to negotiate.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Just want to let you go, you've got half an hour for your first course,

OK? Guests are here, they're having their champagne.

-7:30 - first course out.

-Yes, Marcus.

-Oui, Chef.

For Max and James, timing the poaching of their fish is critical.

How long before we start plating?

About two minutes.

We will start by poached pollock loin, mussels, samphire,

seaweed and mussels beurre blanc.

Everything smells of Brittany and I love the idea.

Max, should that fish be boiling?

-No, I'll just turn it down.

-Turn it off.

I think it's going to be interesting to see the way the pollock

is poached because this is not that easy.

I think we're about done.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little bit peckish.

OK, guys, you've got five minutes left.

-Oui, Chef.

-Dish leaves the kitchen in five, OK?

-Oui, Chef.

Round the outside, yeah?

Yeah.

Beautiful, guys. Very, very nice.

There's nothing going in those shells?

No, they are just decoration, Chef.

-Off, on?

-We've got time, put some mussels in.

Grab a spoon, put some mussels on.

-Every plate consistent.

-Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm just looking at.

-Right, guys. You happy?

-Yes, yes, Chef.

-We're good.

-We've got thyme and garlic and everything?

-Yeah.

-Well done, mate.

-Well done, mate. That'll do.

-That was a challenge.

Right, then.

The starter is poached pollock topped with crispy skin,

a mussel beurre blanc, broad beans,

tomato concasse and sea vegetables.

Looked exactly how I thought it was going to look.

And taste-wise, I think it's great.

-I think we got what we set out to do, so...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Let's hope the guests are happy.

-Fingers crossed.

-That's the main thing, isn't it?

The colours, they are very nice.

I think it is quite attractive and the smell is really delicious,

-so I think we should try it.

-Smells nice.

The fish is a bit dry, but I think

the sauce or the beurre blanc is very tasty and I like it

with the seaweed and samphire.

What I really like is the texture of the skin of the fish that's on top.

The flavour of the mussel beurre blanc is great,

but I'm a bit surprised cos the texture of the fish, it's a bit dry.

I would like to have tasted a little bit more mussel flavour

-going through this sauce.

-The beurre blanc has got the sharpness

from the lemon juice coming through it and the sea vegetables

with the seaweed brings that saltiness to it. It's a good dish.

Nice colour on them.

Next in the spotlight

are Elly and Brenton with the chicken main course.

You are 20 minutes away. Yes, Chef.

-Have we got everything under control?

-Oui.

The pithiviers take 15 minutes to cook.

Without any testers and no spares,

it is essential that they all are cooked perfectly.

That's it. Butter, garlic.

-Thyme is here.

-Yeah.

Take them off now.

It's very interesting to have chicken pithivier

because it's actually technically really hard because it wants to have

the puff pastry perfectly cooked and also the chicken not overcooked.

Where are we at with the pithiviers?

Out in 30 seconds.

It's a big challenge,

lots of pressure because it's going to be a very French dish

with French people around the table.

The fact that they are in the Residence de France -

absolutely no pressure whatsoever!

-Is that it now?

-That's it now.

-Let's do this.

Oh, dear.

Pastry is nice and crisp, though.

They have split a little bit on the bottom, on the sides.

Once the pressure has subsided they will...

flatten out a little bit, but it is not ideal.

-Chicken on the side, yeah.

-Pithivier in the corner.

-We're getting there, guys?

-Yes, Chef. Yes.

-Happy? Yes, Chef. Send them?

-Service, please.

-Service.

The flavours are there, I believe.

The puree...that's what we wanted to do,

and the chard, giving that little crunch at the end.

But inside the pithivier,

-the flavour, that's what we wanted, so... Overall happy.

-All right.

For the main course,

they have served poached and roasted breast of chicken,

braised chard stems, a chicken, pancetta and mushroom pithivier,

roasted and pickled cauliflower,

cauliflower puree and a chicken jus.

It's superbly well presented.

-It's like a painting.

-Yes.

I really like the chicken.

I think the way it's cooked, it's really, really good as well.

The pithivier was great.

It's one of the best pithiviers I've ever had. The flavour inside

was really great and it was linked with the rest of the dish.

It was like a little bombshell of taste.

It was quite surprising, wasn't it?

And I ate it too quickly, it was so good.

-Well, you enjoyed it.

-I enjoyed it tremendously.

You've got a lovely sauce.

The pithivier is nice and moist, the chard is beautifully cooked.

It's a crowd pleaser.

You put this up, people will be happy to eat it.

Do you want the strawberries on a J Cloth?

Service is almost at an end,

but for Gary there is one notoriously challenging task

to overcome.

He must now cook seven chocolate fondants to perfection.

I think in two minutes, the first tray of fondant is going in.

When it hits three minutes,

we'll put the second tray in, backup, just to make sure.

There's going to be a spare on each tray so if the first one comes out

and it collapses, I'll just pop them back in.

You've got ten minutes before service, Gary.

-Are you going to be OK?

-Yep, perfect.

This is the most complicated fondant cooking I've ever witnessed.

While the fondants are cooking, the team start assembling

the rest of the dish,

as once the hot fondant and the cold ice cream are plated,

the dessert will need to be served immediately.

The bit I'm looking forward to is the chocolate fondant.

They need to rest a little bit longer.

30 seconds.

Sorry, guys, I think they're going to need another minute.

Not ready.

-How long have we got, Gary?

-One minute.

-They're now waiting.

So you've got no spare ones, have you, right now on this tray?

-No.

-So if one breaks...

Gentle, come on.

I think I'm going to need that second lot.

-OK?

-You all right?

Well done. Group hug.

-Are you all right, Gary?

-Yeah, I'm good.

Just glad I done the extra. Definitely needed it.

The dessert is a praline chocolate fondant

served with almond granola,

strawberry ripple ice cream,

compressed strawberries

and chocolate caramel wafers.

I love the design on the plate.

It's very simple, very sober, very elegant.

-C'est magnifique.

-I just couldn't wait just to see if it is nice

and liquid inside.

Oh, that is perfect.

This is exactly how we like it.

That's a real fondant.

-That's perfect.

-It's perfect.

The pastry chef has been really clever cos nothing is overwhelming,

everything is going together and we have the taste of strawberry,

the taste of the chocolate and it's perfect.

This, to me, is delicious.

The ice cream actually enhances the flavour of the chocolate fondant

and the strawberries as well and it works so well together.

I loved it.

It's perfectly cooked

and so it's one of the best I've eaten.

I love the ice cream. I think the ripple is really nice.

It's got a lovely fruity flavour.

The strawberries are carried through on the plate and the fondant is

really good. It's lovely and soft in the centre.

Massive risk trying to take this dish on but they've done it very,

-very well.

-For me, it was really the star dish of the day.

I think Gary has done a great job. Great to see the guys come around

and support him when he really needed it. They've done well.

So, thank you very much.

It was a delicious meal and it was a crescendo

because we loved the desert.

You were very brave because offering such a traditional dish

to French guests is not that easy and you did it great

because the flavour was perfect.

Congratulations and all the best for the future.

Thank you.

Hey, Gazza!

Well done, guys. Tough.

-They loved it.

-It was a tough one.

-Well done. Group hug.

Gazza in the middle.

The challenge today was to see our chefs work together as a team

and they showed that they can do that.

This was never going to be easy.

Our chefs have done us proud.

It was fun but stressful, very stressful.

It's not every day you get to cook for the French ambassador, so, yeah,

it was good fun, enjoyed it.

It's been a really good team today, really good team.

Back to normality now.

There is one of us going to be going and I don't want it to be me, so,

I've just got to cook better than these guys now.

I can't wait to get back in and cook, to be honest.

It's almost sadistic to say but I actually really enjoy cooking

in the MasterChef kitchen

and I think that would be the worst thing about not going through

is the fact that I wouldn't get to cook in there again.

It means a lot if I can stay in the competition.

We have worked so hard to be where we are today.

It's exciting and I love showing the judges what I can do.

You've got to give everything and not hold anything back to proceed.

You get one chance.

I came here with the mind-set

that I wanted to get through to the semifinals, at least.

Now I want to go even further.

Chefs, you are now cooking for a place in the semifinal.

This needs to be something very, very special.

You're going to have 90 minutes for your showstopper dish.

At the end of this, one of you will be leaving the competition.

Off you go.

Brenton is a very creative chef.

His food has been different, it's exciting,

huge attention to detail. I'm really, really looking forward

to seeing what he's going to cook for us today.

I'm going in with a dessert today and...

..it could make me or break me, really.

If I could pull that off and have all my timings correct,

it should be a fantastic dish.

Brenton, what are you doing?

I'm doing a take on bombe Alaska. It's my take. In the centre,

it's going to be cherries with a cherry kind of sauce

surrounded by a chocolate mousse

and then surrounded by an Italian meringue, blow torched.

As you cut into it,

it's just going to ooze everywhere all over the plate supplying a sauce

to go with the financier that I'm serving it with as well.

Why this dish for your showstopper?

If it goes according to plan,

it's going to be a bit of a wow factor in front of you guys.

Hopefully you're going to be looking at it

going, "I want to dive into that,"

so if I get that across to you, I think that's going to stop the show.

-That's what we want.

-We'll see.

A lot of different techniques going on here.

Huge amount of work that Brenton has given himself.

He's got to temper chocolate to make the dome,

he's got to make a chocolate mousse,

he's got an Italian meringue to make,

he's got financier cakes to make as well.

He's really going for it today.

This chef wants to be in the semifinal

and good on him for pushing the boat out.

James is a really determined chef.

When the pressure is on, you will see him fighting.

This means everything to James.

He came close to being knocked out of the competition.

He means business and he's throwing everything at it.

Tell us about your dish today.

My dish today is venison.

I'm doing it with blackberry and beetroot.

That's the main elements but everything on the dish is purple,

so I've named the dish.

-What is the name of the dish?

-Frustration.

MONICA CHUCKLES

Purple is the colour of frustration.

As a young chef, I was quite frustrated so this is me getting

that frustration out on the plate now.

I've seen you cook when you've been determined

and been put under pressure when it really counts

and you've come out on top.

That's what you need to do today with this dish.

-Yes, Chef. Thank you.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

James has labelled his showstopper dish Frustration.

But if we look at what James is doing, the garnish here makes sense.

He's got potatoes, beetroot, blackberries,

things that go very well with a loin of venison.

Visually, it's going to look very odd.

A purple plate of food is not an appetising colour and I'm just

questioning the reason behind the whole thing.

Just sounds a little bit silly to me.

Can he make it work? Can this plate come together?

I think it's going to be a real slog in the kitchen today,

it's going to be a real fight.

Getting through to that next stage,

it's not going to be pretty and it's not going to be easy.

I'm getting myself ready for that, I really am.

Chefs, 45 minutes have gone.

You have 45 minutes left.

Max has given us some really solid cooking,

some great-tasting plates of food.

Max is growing through the competition.

Cooking great food and working very hard on his presentation.

I came in as a pub chef,

but to actually accomplish what I've accomplished

and get this far, I'm amazed at myself.

I'm doing a neck of lamb two ways,

so I'm making a little shepherd's pie.

-Shepherd's pie?

-Yeah.

And then with the other piece of neck,

I'm going to do a very sort of quick sear, confit garlic puree,

confit shallot. You've got baby onions in a little bit of butter,

you've got silver skinned onions which I'm going to char,

we've got baby leeks which I'm going to blanch and then char...

and I think that's it.

-Do you know this dish?

-Yes.

-You do?

-Yes, there's a lot going on, all right,

but if you're going to sit back for a semifinal place,

then you might as well go home. It's all guns blazing today.

-You crack on. Thanks, Max.

-Thank you very much.

This is the type of cuisine that Max cooks every day.

Very earthy, wintry dish.

It's almost the type of food that gives you a hug.

I liked the sound of Max's dish.

It's something you'd order and you know you're going to enjoy it.

What I like to see here is whether he's going to elevate this dish

and make it look absolutely stunning.

I'm really impressed with Gary's development in the competition.

Gary is an all-rounder in the kitchen.

He can cover any section.

That makes him a very strong chef.

He's one to watch.

-How are you, Gary?

-Good, thanks.

Enjoying being back in our kitchen?

Yeah. Feels like home now.

Feels like home. What's your showstopper dish?

Home-made black pudding with scallops.

In the Western Isles, they make an oatmeal potato scone which is cooked

on a skillet, so it would cook on an open fire.

I'm doing it a wee bit different.

I'm going to bake it in between a couple of shells so you've kind of

got a little edible shell, almost, to eat with the dish.

-You've been busy.

-It's been a busy 45 minutes, yeah.

I'm sort of watching you really grow in confidence

and really enjoying this competition.

It's been a great thing to see.

You know, my main objective was not to get put out in the first round.

Going back to college, getting out in the first round would be tough

-but I'm just absolutely loving it.

-Keep it up.

-Thank you.

Thank you, Gary.

Gary is trying quite a lot of new techniques.

Making fresh black pudding, apple spheres.

He's made a little scone mix, a biscuit,

to give us the look of a scallop shell.

There's also going to be a black pudding mayonnaise

on the plate, as well.

I am really curious about Gary's dish.

It's just how it's all going to come together.

My dish might sound fairly simplistic

and it's a classic combination of

black pudding and the scallops, but the technical elements of this dish

are terrifying.

Chefs, 30 minutes left.

We have had some great food from Elly throughout the competition.

She is going from strength to strength.

Elly is definitely in this competition to win it.

This is one determined chef.

I'm doing Iberico pork two ways.

I've got the braised cheek in there.

I've got a roasted rack loin in the oven.

How are you finding the pressure in here?

Yeah, I'm quite nervous today, actually.

You seem nervous. You don't look the usual Elly that I've seen.

You know, Elly, you need to believe in yourself.

-Do you think you could go further?

-I would love to go further.

I would love to get into the next round,

but there's a lot of good guys

in this kitchen and were all wanting the same achievement.

If you cook to the standard that you've been doing lately,

-you won't be going home. Good luck.

-Thanks very much.

-Good luck, Elly.

Elly's cooking us two different types of pork.

The pork cheek is being braised down in the pressure cooker.

The loin she's left on the bone

and she's roasting it gently in the oven.

She's got a smoked potato puree

that she's put inside little potato crisps

that she's made into spaghetti and deep fat fried.

I love the sound of this dish. I can't wait to try it.

I think Elly really is pushing herself.

I think she wants to get through so much to the semifinal

and the pressure is on her.

This is a really strong dish for me and if I can do what I want to do

with it, I think the judges will be amazed.

I am doing quite a few technical things

so it could either make or break me.

Seven minutes left, chefs.

Start thinking about plating up soon.

The pressure is immense.

The chefs have all got their heads down. They are focused.

They know this is serious.

I love what they are doing in the kitchen today

and I love the energy in here. It's fantastic.

Final touches.

Cutting it fine, Elly.

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

Mamma mia, look at that. You all right?

-Uh-huh.

-How'd it go?

Beautiful.

Elly, bring your plate up.

For her showstopper, Elly has served Iberico pork two ways,

roasted rack and cheek braised in five-spice,

potato cannelloni crisp filled with smoked butter mash, hispi cabbage,

charred button onions, roasted carrot,

carrot puree, all finished with a five-spice sauce.

Elly, a very clean, crisp presentation as always from you.

A little small on the portion side, I may add.

I'm just glad Gregg's not here.

THEY LAUGH

The pork cutlet, it's just there.

I quite like it this pink so you're quite lucky, OK?

The cannelloni with the smoked potato mash is a delight to eat.

The crunch and then the softness of the puree.

It's a great plate of food from you, Elly.

Love the smokiness,

love the braised cheek and I really do like that pork chop.

It's great and a big sauce to go with it.

One thing that is quite clear to see here

is that you cooked it sat like that in the pan.

The bottom of the meat is a little bit on the dry side.

A few little details and that's what Monica and I are going to do.

We're picking out the final details now

-because this is the sharp end of the competition.

-Yep.

Thank you.

The pork could've done with an extra five minutes, but I'm happy overall.

Thank you, that was hard.

Gary has made his own black pudding and served it with king scallops,

shell-shaped potato scones, fennel,

apple and chilli salad and apple caviar.

For me, I think the scallops have been cooked wonderfully.

They are sweet, they're still moist,

they've got a lovely colour on the outside.

The black pudding is delicious.

It doesn't look great,

the way it's been served on the plate but I love the flavours that

you've got in there. The potato and oat crisps, I really like those.

I don't think they look great, but they do taste amazing.

But then I find odd having a hot scallop with a cold salad.

I like the dish. I do.

I am so pleased you are doing

something different and you're pushing yourself.

I love the idea of picking up that little scone biscuit

and eating it like a cracker.

It's a very nice, light, refreshing dish.

You've got to work on your presentation, though, Gary, OK?

Putting half your food on half the plate does not work.

Thank you.

The presentation, I think I'm always going to struggle with.

At this stage in the competition,

you're not getting much chance to practise so you're really plating it

for the first time, so...

But I was happy overall with the positive feedback.

Max has made a shepherd's pie using lamb neck,

along with seared lamb neck,

baby onions, confit shallots,

confit garlic puree and charred leeks

finished with a minty lamb jus.

I love the ideas of using the different types of onions

and the garlic and puree and a shepherd's pie

on the side with your neck end of lamb.

Unfortunately for you, your neck end of lamb is not very tender at all.

Even the shepherd's pie meat is a little bit on the coarse side.

I love all the little onions. I love onions. I love spring onions,

all types of onions and they work really well on this dish.

-OK, thank you.

-It's a shame the lamb cookery is not good here.

It should be the star on the plate.

In saying that is, you have started to refine your touch on the plate.

You are starting to get how your food should look.

I thought it went OK.

A bit disappointed with the meat cookery, but I think the two judges

can see that I am getting better,

I'm taking on the comments and improving so all in all,

I was quite happy.

James has cooked Frustration,

which is roasted loin of venison with blackberries,

purple potato croquettes,

salt-baked baby beetroots,

beetroot puree,

pickled purple carrots and a port and juniper jus.

What do you think of the colour, Monica?

-It's not all purple.

-True. True, true, true.

We have a white plate.

I think this dish is just wrong.

The pickling of the carrots.

It's too big, it's too bold.

It's too thick, as well.

The croquette looks nice.

It's overshadowed by the acid on the plate.

There's a lovely flavour of beetroot coming through, though,

which is really nice. The roasted beetroot, the beetroot puree,

the sauce is nice.

It could have a little bit more juniper in there, though.

I just don't think it's you at your best, James.

For me, I like the cooking of the venison.

It's how I would have it. Lovely and pink as it is.

It is a big portion though, James.

The beetroot goes very well with the venison.

The pickling of the carrot is fine.

-There's just too much of it, OK?

-Yeah.

I don't think it is your best or your strongest plate of food,

but there are things here that I've enjoyed.

Thank you.

Monica seemed OK, but Marcus was a proper tear down, proper tear down.

It's probably just jeopardised me...

..being here, so...

I don't know. I really don't know but it's not good, is it?

Finally, it's Brenton with his take on a bombe Alaska.

Italian meringue covering a chocolate dome

filled with chocolate mousse and cherry sauce,

along with a financier cake topped with cherry jelly,

poached cherries and caramelised almonds.

When you're going through the chocolate bombe,

you're getting amazing flavour of a lovely, light meringue

with almond essence and you get the richness of the chocolate

and the beautiful fruitiness

of the cherries coming through just underneath.

That beautiful, natural flavour.

Great flavours, lovely textures,

the chocolate dome just needed to be a little bit harder.

But, having said that, I like the dish a lot, Brenton.

I love the fact that you really drove yourself really hard.

-Very good, well done.

-Thank you very much, Marcus.

-Well done.

-Brenton, I do like your dessert.

You know, chocolate and cherries is a marriage made in heaven.

You've shown a lot of skill, really pushed yourself.

There is so much that is on this plate from the mousse

to setting the jelly inside,

you made the domes, the Italian meringue,

the financier. You know, there's just so much work

and a lot of effort to put this dessert together.

Thank you.

I'm happy with the amount of work that I've put in.

For a showstopper dish,

I think it did have a bit of a wow factor to it.

Neither of them said "wow", but I think they enjoyed it.

A really great day in the kitchen, chefs.

Great cook off, great attention to detail.

I know you all want to be in that semifinal round.

Unfortunately we can only take four of you through.

Marcus and I have got a lot to talk about.

Take a break, we'll see you back here in a while.

Another good day in the kitchen.

Five very, very different plates of food from five very different chefs.

They had a real battle in there today.

It was fantastic to see. The energy was extraordinary.

You could really feel it.

This means so much to our chefs

and they came in here and gave it their all.

For me, of our five chefs,

there is one chef that stood above the rest and that was Elly.

Stunning looking plate and it tasted delicious.

Very happy with Elly today.

The pork cheek was delicious, beautifully presented, lovely sauce.

She did a great job today.

It's so hard work, but so exciting at the same time.

It's a great experience.

Brenton really impressed me today.

I'm really loving the way this chef is developing

and what he's turning into. It's great to see.

The dome was delicious.

The financier cake was buttery,

loved the touch with the jelly on top

and then the almond and the caramel

just brought a wonderful texture to the plate.

This was very risky for Brenton today to take a dish like this

with so much detail and skill, but he pulled it off.

I've said from the very beginning

I want to be through to the semifinals. It's within reach.

I'm so close to getting there.

Gary, as a chef in the competition,

I have come to thoroughly enjoy watching him work.

The dish didn't quite come together

as a whole for me, but there was a lot

that I thoroughly enjoyed on this plate.

I thought the black pudding tasted absolutely delicious.

The scallops were beautifully cooked,

the apples brought a freshness to this dish.

I would like to be in Gary's class if was a young student.

I'm having the time of my life.

It's a terrifying environment, but I absolutely love being in there.

I love being under that pressure.

We've got to now decide between Max and James.

Max has really honed in on his presentation of his dishes.

I liked the look of his dish.

I thought his garnish was very well thought out.

His little shepherd's pie,

it just needed another ten or 15 minutes

of slow braising with the lamb.

The neck end itself on the plate, it was just too tough.

The meat cookery let Max down today.

That lamb neck that wasn't cooked properly

ruined the presentation for him

because it was a key piece of this dish.

James's Frustration dish.

The venison, I liked the way it was cooked.

The berries worked well.

I liked the pickled purple carrots,

but I just thought it was too much of it on the plate.

You're right, Monica. The venison was well cooked.

I just couldn't see it through all the purple.

I know there's more to come from James

if he could just get rid of this inner frustration

and let himself go with some passion,

who knows what this chef can do.

Which one of these chefs deserves that place in the semifinal?

I'm desperate to stay in.

The whole competition has been a dream.

If I get through, well, I hope I do because it's a really good dream

and I want to stay in it if possible.

I do feel like I'm halfway out the door, if I'm honest...

..but I've got to the final ten of MasterChef

and not a lot of people have really got the chance to say that,

so if I go home today, I go home proud.

Today, you could really feel the tension in the kitchen

and the fight for that place in the semifinal.

You've made our job today very, very difficult.

It was so obvious to see now how much this competition

means to all of you.

Unfortunately, one of you has got to leave us today.

The chef that is leaving us is...

..Max.

-Thanks, Max.

-Thank you, Max.

I'm gutted to be leaving, but I've just had such a great time

and been fortunate enough to get this far. I'm very proud of myself.

Congratulations, guys, you are semifinalists.

I thought I was going home after today.

HE EXHALES

I'm truly over the moon right now. I'm feeling fantastic.

I'm so proud of myself for doing it.

I'm speechless.

It is such an exciting and hard competition to do

and for me to be in the semifinals is amazing.

The last eight, we've got to start

seriously thinking about the possibility

of winning MasterChef which is nuts, but, again,

we've got a long way to go

before we get to that so a lot of cooking still to do.

Next week, it's the semifinals.

The remaining eight chefs cook off against one another for the chance

to work with some of the most inspirational chefs in the country.

It looks a stunning plate of food.

That's probably one of the best sauces

I've tasted in this competition.

I'm welling up here! You big hairy chefs, what's the matter with you?