Episode 16 MasterChef: The Professionals

It's the professional MasterChef semifinals.

Last week, the knockouts reduced 12 chefs down to the best eight.

Tonight, the pressure builds...

as the remaining chefs cook off against one another

for the chance to work with some of the most inspirational

culinary talents in the country.

You always hope and you always want to do your best.

In my wildest dreams,

I didn't think that I would be here at the last eight.

I'm 100% up for this. I'm fit, I'm ready, I'm raring to go.

The pressure is full-on, it's full-on.

I'm not scared of the other boys.

At the end of the day, it's a competition

and we're all here to win it now.

The confidence is starting to kick in.

This is going to be one fantastic round.

This is huge.

Two of our chefs are going to be leaving the competition at the end of it.

Chefs, welcome back into the kitchen.

You are our final eight chefs.

Today, you're going to have to cook something very special to

keep yourself in the competition.

What we want from you is a dish dedicated

to someone that inspires you.

It could be a teacher, a mentor, a chef,

it can be an historical figure, we don't mind,

as long as that person inspires you.

This is a fantastic opportunity for you to pay homage to someone

who has touched you and your career

and made you the chef that you are now.

You will have 1 hour and 45 minutes.

-GREGG:

-Eight chefs here now. We're going to taste eight plates of food.

We will choose our favourite two.

Those two will go straight through to the next round.

That will leave sick chefs remaining,

and you're going to have to cook again for the remaining four places.

At the end of today, two of you will be going home.

Off you go, chefs.

Brighton-based sous-chef James

has shown real character to make the semifinals.

He divided the judges with his last dish he called Frustration.

I think this dish is just wrong.

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

-'It hurt me.'

You know, getting that critique off Marcus really hurt me.

It's someone you look up to as a chef.

But I think, as I'm going through this competition,

I'm getting stronger, and you're just starting to see

a little bit of a shimmer of what's to come.

-Has Mr Angry stayed at home?

-Yeah, I've left him well at home.

-Is he here?

-He's nowhere near. You've got Mr Love today.

-Good man.

Tell me about your dish, and tell me the inspiration behind it.

This dish is dedicated to my daughter, Alexandra.

It's called Alexandra. And it's everything that she means to me.

When we're at the seaside, we always go for a fish and chip lunch.

So I'm doing a bit of a play with fish and chips today.

With that, I've got a caper ketchup.

I like tartare sauce, my daughter likes ketchup.

-Amalgamate the two together.

-We all love fish and chips, James.

-Looking forward to this dish, James.

-If I get it right.

He's taking two fillets of brill and he's put them together.

He's going to pan fry it,

so he's going to get a nice golden colour going over the fish.

He's also going to be bringing the vinegar element into the cockles,

he's going to dip them into tempura batter and deep fat fry them.

He loves tartare sauce and his daughter loves ketchup.

He's put the two together. I can't wait to see if it works.

James has got a point to prove.

He's got to do that here now with this dish.

39-year-old Arnaud moved to the UK when he was 17.

He has impressed with his classic French food.

I want to make it through to the last three. At least.

-Winning would be great, but...

-HE LAUGHS

Most of all, I wouldn't like to let my wife down.

She's expecting a trophy on her fireplace.

Well, the dish is a roasted rump of lamb with cassoulet of white beans.

And it's cooked with cavolo nero, sweetbread.

It's going to be a pleasant dish,

but it's going to have truffle on, which is a bit more refined.

Who's the inspiration behind this dish?

I used to work in a restaurant in Cheltenham.

David Everitt-Matthias is the chef owner.

It's a two Michelin-starred restaurant.

And David was the biggest inspiration in my life.

He taught me French cooking. And he's English.

I didn't expect that from him today.

Did you think it might be an old French...?

An old friend chef, or Escoffier, or someone like that.

-No.

-And you go for an English chef! Wow.

-Yeah.

-We must be getting pretty good over here.

-That's what I was thinking.

Rump of lamb, a stew with the beans. Some marrow.

This is comfort food for me.

I'd happily sit down with that and a lovely glass of wine.

Can he refine that beautiful classic cookery?

Well, this is the time he has to do it, right now.

25 minutes have gone, chefs.

Junior sous-chef Elly works in a Michelin-starred kitchen and

is the youngest semifinalist.

Her precise, well-executed cookery

has impressed the judges from day one.

I think I've performed really well

and I've done what I've wanted to do.

But it's a competition at the end of the day,

and someone else will go home, but I'm going to go in there,

produce something that I love.

It's all about cooking and that's what I do best, and I love it.

Today, I'm doing Dexter beef two ways.

I'm doing a braised and a fillet itself, pink.

And then I've got a mushroom and onion risotto,

charred morels and sherry vinegar jelly.

Where does the risotto come into this dish?

I think, personally, risotto brings everything together.

Because you've got two lots of meat.

You need something to bind everything together.

It doesn't all sit on a risotto,

the risotto is on the side like a mashed potato?

No, the risotto is in a Roscoff onion shell.

This dish is for my father.

He brought me up single-handedly until I was about eight years old,

so he used to come home with steak and he used to cook it well done.

-My dad did that!

-And then the fillet, I've done my style. Pink.

And I've come up with this dish,

cos it's a journey for both of us to come together.

And I've done his element and mine,

and I've put it in together as one dish.

-Is it going to be good enough to get you straight through?

-I hope so.

With everything I've done today, I've pushed myself,

so with the little tweaks that I hope that you pick up on,

I hope it just gets me into that final two.

The beef cheek, it's so important she gets the cooking right.

She doesn't need a lot, so hopefully she's broken that muscle down,

so that it's going to cook in time.

The steak also has to be cooked well.

You want it beautifully caramelised in the pan,

but lovely and pink in the middle.

You want that Dexter beef flavour to come through.

Yorkshire-based Matt has earned his place in the semifinals

cooking pared-back dishes with intense flavours.

Matt's cooking us quail breasts with a Scotch egg on the side,

so he's going to be confiting the quail legs down,

and he's going to be putting that into his Scotch egg mix.

He's got some onions and a Pedro Ximenez sauce.

The sherry sauce has got to have the right balance.

You want these flavours to really shine through.

Tell me, who has inspired you to cook today?

My wife will be upset to know that it's not her.

It's my main mentor in cooking, a bloke called Simon Shaw.

He opened a little restaurant in the North of England

in the middle of nowhere, made it a destination restaurant.

And I was falling out of love with food massively, I just...

I was at a really low end, went there as sous-chef.

He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and dragged me through

kicking and screaming, ended up being his head chef.

You've got to go through the rough to appreciate the smooth.

That's what I did with Simon, so this dish is for him.

How good do you think you have be right now

to be one of the chosen two dishes?

It's got to be mega. I've really got to put everything into this.

Fingers crossed, I'm in the top two, but there's seven

other phenomenal chefs in here that I've got to compete with.

There's loads that could go wrong with this dish.

I could overcook the quail breasts, I could overcook the Scotch eggs.

You've got to be really careful with the sauce,

because Pedro Ximenez can go quite clacky and quite sticky.

Yeah, this dish has got to be perfect,

otherwise I'll be under the cosh.

Development chef Rich has worked all over the world.

His daring and experimental flavour combinations

have both challenged and excited the judges.

I've got, you know,

an hour and 45 minutes to produce

something that means so much to me.

I'm going to be testing myself with this one,

because I'm not a pastry guy. But, you know, I'm confident.

It's just a beautiful dish with a lot of history involved in it.

Tell us, who has inspired you for this dish?

It's my nan, she's in an end-of-life home.

But she's the first person who taught me this dish.

This exact dish. It's a lime meringue pie

with a strawberry and jasmine tea and pistachio.

I remember it as a six-year-old, having it with a cup of tea,

some jasmine tea and some strawberries out of the garden.

So the whole dish is designed around that.

Are we going to see a little bit of you in it?

Have you put a bit of a twist on this?

Definitely, yeah, it's not going to be the bog-standard sort of

lime meringue pie that you'd expect to see if you went to a shop

and bought one or whatever, or went to a normal patisserie.

It's going to be a little bit different.

Recipes passed on from grandparents, for me, are some of the best,

and I'm looking forward to seeing what your twist is on this dessert.

-Thank you very much.

-Make your nan proud.

-Thanks, guys.

Lime curd, pastry, pistachio paste, pistachio crisp.

Meringues with strawberries.

The question is, is it going to be too much?

The key flavour in this dish for me is the lime,

that's the one I want to taste first.

1 hour gone. 45 minutes left, please.

Australian-born sous-chef Brenton

has worked in Michigan-starred kitchens

in both the UK and France.

In the last round, he produced one of the stand-out dishes.

You sit on your couch at home going,

"That's easy, how could he have stuffed up like that?"

But I'm telling you, the pressure is immense.

And to be able to block out everything

and just focus on doing your own food, it's quite a challenge.

For me it is, anyway, I don't know about the other guys,

but for me, I'm finding it a challenge.

My biggest inspiration in my whole entire career is actually my mum.

She's the one who got me into cooking.

She's always got a cup of tea in her hand.

Even today, ask her, "Can I do something for her?"

"Make me a cup of tea."

Not only that, my earliest childhood memories is of her...

roast lamb for dinner on a Sunday.

So I'm making a lamb consomme,

then garnishing that with a potato foam, minted potato foam,

have some little mint jellies

to do with, like, a mint sauce kind of concept.

Did you pour the consomme over the rest of the dish?

You will pour the consomme on the rest of the dish.

There's a pot of the consomme, it's your tea,

pour it into a bowl, unfortunately I don't have a big cup,

I'd love to have a big cup, it just looks a bit tacky.

How do you feel now? You've got down to the semifinals.

I still have to push myself

and make sure that I stand out from the crowd.

I don't to cook again today,

I want to get into the top two and get through.

I don't want to have to cook twice in one day.

That's too much stress for me, I'm already stressed out.

-Aw, poor Brenton(!)

-Yeah, don't be like that.

Consomme is one of the hardest things to make in a kitchen.

He can't serve a cloudy consomme.

If he'd have called it a broth, he may get away with it,

but this is a consomme, it's got to be clear,

it has to be clarified and it's got to have a good flavour.

This is a huge twist that Brenton is putting to what we know as

a classic roast lamb dinner.

I hope it's going to work.

Head chef Wayne works in a boutique hotel in the Cotswolds,

and earned a semifinal place

with his stand-out pork and langoustine dish.

I have had some adverse comments,

about possibly playing it a bit safe.

Perhaps not being enough on the plate. But that's how I cook.

Everything that goes onto a dish that I prepare

is there for a reason.

So I don't believe in doing too much for the sake of it.

So, what's the dish?

I'm doing an elderflower panna cotta with champagne jelly,

and then variations of strawberry to garnish with a shortbread crumb.

-And who's inspired that?

-My wife.

She made me apply for this,

she made me believe in myself.

And every day, when it's a bit of a struggle,

a little pep talk from her, she's the rock that I depend on.

If I was poetic, I would say this is a dish of sunshine,

-and she sounds like the sunshine in your life.

-Yeah, no, absolutely.

She loves elderflower, she's a very summery, lively,

bubbly person, so this dish is basically her in a bowl.

This is a very simple dish at this stage of the competition.

It's got to be right.

The elderflower has to come through,

the strawberries have got to be beautifully cooked or poached.

There is no room for error on this dessert.

30 minutes, chefs.

Glaswegian Gary has been a catering college lecturer for 15 years.

His workrate and mastery of modern techniques

has produced some memorable dishes.

I think today there's a definite change in myself,

I think I'm being definitely a lot braver,

I'm doing things that I said I would never, ever do.

But I feel, to beat the rest of the competitors,

I really have to be doing the risky elements

and the techniques that other people might not try.

-Gary, it's good to see you. Always got that smile on his face.

-Yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

-Loving it, absolutely loving it.

First of all, who's the inspiration behind this dish?

-It's my wife Sharon and my five kids.

-What?

-Five kids, yeah.

-That's more than you.

-Five kids?!

-Five kids, yeah.

Tell me about the dish, then.

Right, so, we've got a little gateau that is built up in several layers.

I've got five kids, so there's a little layer for each of them.

The truth is, the only thing that joins my kids together is chocolate.

We've got the gateau, what's on the plate?

We're using elements from what's inside the gateau,

so we're using little bits of the praline, chocolate, the mousse,

we're also putting in some cherries, soaked in kirsch,

and I'm also going to do a little bit of pulled sugar.

I love the idea of the dessert and I love the layer for each child,

and chocolate combining the whole lot, cos that's what they all love.

It's got a little element of the Black Forest gateau

about this dish that I love.

There's some ganache, poached cherries, there's a cherry gel.

He's also going to be spraying the gateau with chocolate.

But it's all about these beautiful flavours coming together,

especially with the cherries, to complement each other.

Chefs, five minutes now.

HE SIGHS

Three, three minutes!

-Time's up.

-HE SIGHS

-You good?

-Yeah, I think so. I don't know how I feel about it, though.

That is stunning.

Cheeky monkey.

Sexy, mate, sexy. Oof!

James, come on, mate.

Inspired by his daughter's love of fish and chips,

James has cooked pan-fried fillets of brill,

tempura cockles,

pea puree, charred baby gem lettuce,

samphire, confit chips,

and caper ketchup.

The fish you've sandwiched together, and I like the idea of that

and I love the fact that you've used brill.

The pea puree's got a lovely acidity to it.

I'm loving all the flavours.

It's a reincarnation of fish and chips, restaurant style.

I like the dish a lot.

That delights me, chef. Absolutely delights me.

And it's the sharpness of vinegar running through all of it.

I think it's really, really clever.

The best thing for me on this plate is the caper ketchup.

I love that and I could have more of this on the plate.

It's a lovely memory of you being by the seaside with your daughter,

and it's great to see you cooking when you're happy

rather than frustrated.

That was me cooking with love.

-Every ounce and more.

-I'm welling up here!

You big, hairy chefs, what's the matter with you? Well done, James.

Thank you all so much. Thank you.

HE SCREAMS SILENTLY

-That's a lovely dish.

-I've done what I needed to do, they're all happy!

Yes! All of them.

Put a smile on Marcus's face, that means the world to me.

Inspired by her dad, Ellie has cooked Dexter beef two ways -

a fillet and a braised cheek,

with onion and mushroom risotto, served in a Roscoff onion shell.

Swiss chard,

girolles,

sherry vinegar jelly

and a red wine jus.

Ellie, I think your presentation is always very precise,

and well thought out.

And this is no exception.

Dexter fillet steak that good, it only needs to kiss the pan.

You've just taken it a tad too far.

But I do like the idea of the risotto with the braised cheek

and I'm loving the flavour of the braised cheek coming through

in that lovely sauce as well.

The risotto, I've never had with beef before, and that is delicious.

-Thank you.

-I like the fact that the mushroom risotto

matches the other mushrooms on the plate,

I love two bits of beef to get stuck into,

love the richness of the sauce.

Really like the little sweet notes that I get through the jelly.

-Love this dish, Ellie.

-Thank you.

We're in the final eight now,

nothing's going to be smooth, but I think overall I've done a good job,

I just hope it's got me through to the next round.

Inspired by his grandmother, Rich's dish is a lime meringue pie,

lime curd with strawberry meringue,

a pistachio pastry base,

topped with a pistachio caramel wafer.

It's served with strawberry spheres,

macerated strawberries,

strawberry powder, a strawberry and jasmine tea sorbet,

and a pistachio puree.

I love the flavours of the strawberry

and I get the sharpness of the lime,

I get the finish of the pistachio,

but it's very sweet even for me.

You've definitely got the flavour of the lime

running through the curd, that's for sure.

I think you've got your curd and meringue the wrong way round.

You should have a lot more meringue over the sweet,

acidic flavour of the curd itself.

I really like the pistachio caramel tuile that you have on the top,

but I'm a bit disappointed in the base, though.

I think I need it just a bit thicker,

just to take the richness of this dessert.

-It's just missing in parts for me.

-OK.

'I don't think the judges got the dish.'

I don't really want to cook again,

but I'm 90% sure that I'm going to be cooking again.

Do I feel good about it? No.

Arnaud is serving roasted rump of lamb

with a white bean and cavolo nero cassoulet...

..sweetbreads,

bone marrow,

truffle shavings,

caramelised onion puree,

and finished with a red wine sauce.

What I've enjoyed is the cooking of the lamb.

I love the onion puree that you have on the plate.

The sweetbreads, for me, are cooked wonderfully.

I really enjoy the sauce that goes with the lamb.

A bit strong, but I actually don't mind.

All the textures are lovely,

I like that you've got a little bit of firmness to the beans.

And of course the lovely fat on the bone marrow.

However, I think that bean and cavolo nero

lacks a little bit of flavour.

Do you know what those beans are really lacking? Lamb fat.

This is very close to being a great dish, Arnaud,

just that little bit of lamb fat

and some more salt and a twist of pepper,

and you'd have nailed it.

OK.

The judges' comments were very fair.

And I take on board the seasoning in the white beans.

-Tough gig.

-Yeah.

-Tough gig.

I think there's a big chance I'm going to have to cook again.

Brenton's roast dinner, inspired by his mum,

consists of lamb loin fillets,

potato skin filled with peas and lardons,

yellow cauliflower, baby carrots,

Brussels sprout leaves, mint jellies,

lamb consomme served in a teapot,

finished with a potato foam.

It looks a stunning plate of food and I love the beautiful colours

that are coming out of it.

Once you've poured the consomme on, it actually completes it.

The consomme is perfectly made.

I love that you can taste the lamb bones through that.

The vegetables are well cooked.

For me, I quite like the richness that potato foam

brings to this dish.

I've got the flavours of a roast dinner.

If I haven't got all the textures,

I've most certainly got the flavours, but as a customer,

is there enough actual lamb there for me to smash into?

The cooking of the lamb, the potato skin,

everything about this dish is brilliant.

But I don't think the dish works as a concept,

because it's very difficult to eat in this bowl.

You don't know how it works,

and I think customers would struggle with it.

I looked at it and I thought it was a stunning plate of food.

I thought it was something that did my mum proud.

The flavours were there.

You had faith in it, so you've got to stick by your guns, buddy. Yeah?

Yeah. It's not top two, though.

Matt, showtime. Up you come, please.

Matt is serving roasted quail with quail's eggs scotch egg...

..girolles, spinach,

apple puree,

and a Pedro Ximenez sherry sauce.

Bird is cooked brilliantly, as I expect it to be.

Lots of great flavours, lots of good texture.

And with a little bit of apple sauce as well,

I think that's a lovely sweet sharpness to go with

the meaty scotch egg. That's a good dish, that's a fine dish.

For me, it's the apple that comes through in this dish.

It's the hint of the spice that's coming through the scotch egg.

I always knew that you could deliver us good food,

I wanted that extra something special, and you've done that here.

-I'm really, really happy with this dish.

-Thank you.

I have to say, Matt, I think that's probably one of the best sauces

-I've tasted in this competition to date.

-Ooh!

I think that's sensational.

You've absolutely delivered a beautiful sherry sauce

with a little edge of alcohol at the end.

-Great job, Matt, well done.

-Thank you.

'Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.'

In my career, I don't think there's been a better moment.

Wayne's dish, inspired by his wife,

is an elderflower panna cotta served with champagne jelly,

shortbread biscuits,

caramelised white chocolate,

strawberry meringue,

and variations of strawberry -

macerated, freeze-dried,

and a strawberry gel.

Wayne, I'd have liked a little bit more punch

of the elderflower and the champagne itself,

and I feel it's slightly lacking in both of those flavours,

because that's the two things I was really excited about.

It does conjure up an English summer. However, the flavours

are far more sophisticated for me than the appearance.

It's a nice panna cotta, it's a nice dessert.

But I'm wanting something more when I eat this.

Finally, it's Gary,

whose dish is dedicated to his wife and five children.

A chocolate and cherry gateau with layers of joconde sponge,

chocolate praline,

mascarpone mousse,

cherry ganache,

and cherry jelly,

served with liquid cherry spheres and spun sugar.

That is a lovely, lovely gateau.

Cherry and chocolate is the backbone of a Black Forest gateau.

Tried and tested. What I really love

are the little cherries that you've had drowning in booze,

because that's heat and that's a grown-up favour and, for me,

that makes the whole thing divine.

I really, really, really like this dessert a lot.

Love the cherries, love the kirsch, love the spheres,

when you burst them open, you can see it splattering all over the plate.

-Good job.

-Thank you.

For me, your gateau is not as perfect as it should be.

The spray was not thick enough,

and, because you've got so many layers in there,

you've got to make sure it's as smooth as possible.

But they are things that I see as a chef on the plate.

But in saying that, love the cherries, love the chocolate.

I'd happily be a member of your family for a day.

'It was a difficult dish, it was a big risk,'

but I think my kids will be proud, my wife will be proud.

She'll love the boozy cherries.

We are going to choose our favourite two dishes.

Those two chefs will go straight through.

The remaining six of you will have to cook again

for the remaining four places. There are eight of you here.

At the end of the day, there'll be six of you.

Well done. Off you go.

Great cook-off. That was fab.

I'm knocked out by the standard of dishes they're delivering here.

That is top, top-notch cookery.

You could pick about six, maybe even seven chefs

that did a great, great job today.

It's going to be hard to decide which two were my favourites.

The one chef that really impressed me today was Matt.

Love that sauce, and I really meant that.

Outstanding sauce for me. I loved that dish.

Brenton managed to get so much flavour into that consomme,

it was beautiful and clear.

The presentation was stunning.

Loved the colours of this plate.

Last time I saw James, he was fighting for his MasterChef life,

giving us a feta and tomato salad.

Today, I thought that fish and chips was absolutely brilliant.

I loved Arnaud's lamb dish with the beans.

Just a little bit of lamb fat, some more seasoning,

and that would have been sensational.

I loved Gary's gateau.

That was skilful and it tasted divine.

You can't ask for anything more.

Elly gave us a great plate of food.

The beef cheek of that risotto I thought was genius.

There was only a small amount,

but boy, didn't it pack a lot of flavour?

-I've got my top two.

-I know who my top two are.

I've got my top two.

That still makes six. What are we going to do?

What a fantastic cook-off.

I think you all did a great job today. Well done.

All the people that you dedicated your dishes to today

would be proud of what you've done.

We've chosen our favourite two.

Those chefs are going to go straight through.

The remaining six are going to have to stay here

and cook again.

Our first favourite dish...

..is Matt's.

Well done. Congratulations.

Our second favourite dish is...

..James's.

Congratulations, James.

What a turnaround, huh?

Matt. James. You're through. Off you go. Very well deserved.

Do well. Do well.

-Come on, James!

-MARCUS:

-Come on, Jimmy!

Good luck, good luck.

I can't believe that, man.

Brilliant.

It's about time.

-Oh, fortune has come our way.

-Absolutely.

I need a beer.

I'm not going to lie, I'm so glad I don't have to cook again.

Oh, wow.

I didn't go through, because other people's weren't as good -

theirs were good. Mine was just a little bit better on the day.

Chefs, you should not be disappointed with yourselves,

but you've now got another chance to prove yourselves.

This challenge has been set by Gregg.

Do you know what I want you to do?

I want you to cook with something

that has been part of me and close to my heart for over 30 years.

And something that I really love and enjoy.

I want you to cook with and celebrate only

fruit or vegetables.

It can be sweet, it can be savoury.

You will have an hour and 15 minutes

for one dish, either vegetable or fruit-based -

completely up to you.

Off you go.

As well as the wide range of fruit and vegetables,

the chefs also have herbs, spices and dairy products.

In so many dishes, the vegetables are a side-show.

They're a backing singer.

I want to see these chefs really highlight

and make the fruit or the vegetable the star of the dish.

Four of them are going to love fruit and veg forever,

two of them are going to curse the day

this bald greengrocer ever walked into the MasterChef kitchen.

I can't say I was really looking forward to coming back.

Just got to get on with it and cook something nice.

The two people that went through were amazing,

so I'm not disappointed that I've got to cook again.

We're all here for a reason, so we're just going to do what we can.

I want to get through, so, I mean, I've got to do what I've got to do.

I've got to get through, that's basically it.

That's what's on my head right now.

If they can think as a chef should,

it does not have to be complicated

to achieve a great vegetarian or fruit dish.

I don't want to see

60 types of vegetables on the plate, char-grilled.

No. They've got to elevate it and be creative

and be innovative about it.

I've already got loads of ideas working in my head.

I've kind of got to settle on one or it could get a bit confused.

It's... Yeah, it's pretty cool.

This is the second cook-off.

This is huge.

I wouldn't say I was confident, but I'm enjoying the challenge

and I'm pretty sure I can get some nice food out.

I don't mind admitting to you that, with your last dish,

you came within a millimetre.

How do you feel now?

It's a wee bit disappointing coming back in,

but you've got to lift yourself and fight for your spot.

I mean, we're talking about final six of MasterChef,

so these places don't come easy.

And what are you going to do for that spot?

We're doing all things citrus,

so we've got a vanilla and lime posset,

we're going to do a lemon tart,

we've got, er, a vanilla and lime syrup,

we've got a pistachio praline.

-That's not lemon!

-I know, but there needs to be something other!

We've seen a lot of skill from Gary.

I just hope he's not trying too hard.

He has to stay focused on the main event, he's got to get it spot on.

I personally love desserts that have a lot of citrus flavours in it,

so this one I'm really looking forward to.

We cook, in our restaurant, pretty vegetarian-based food all the time.

Does that make me confident?

Kind of, you know.

But again, look at the competition, look what I'm surrounded with.

I'm going to do a gnocchi.

I'm going to do it with a roasted chilli and tomato dish

with a balsamic and garlic reduction

and I'm going to do some literally just touched vegetables.

I haven't got a completely clear idea

of exactly how it's going to be plated up yet,

but it will be very much in the restaurant style.

I love the sound of the dish - the tomato sauce,

the balsamic with garlic.

Can he keep this a simple, beautiful, light dish

without having too many twists?

25 minutes have gone, chefs.

So I'm basing my dish around artichokes.

I'm going to make a kind of pistou -

it's kind of like a pesto, essentially -

and then I'm going to garnish it with some pickled girolles

and a nice, really quite intense lemon dressing.

Do you know how much I love artichokes?

I think they may actually be my favourite vegetable in the world.

Soon as you grabbed them, I thought, "Go on, son."

The artichokes have got to be prepared properly.

He's going to then cook them

and yet still have them nice and firm.

There's a lemon dressing and various other vegetables

which he will keep in their raw form.

Sounds like a lovely light dish that Brenton is going to create here.

What are you cooking?

OK, yeah, so I'm going to go down an Asian route.

I'm actually braving to use tofu.

I'm going to do a nice pan-fried mooli

and then I'm going to do some nice raw vegetables

with a nice Asian dressing.

I love tofu. Quality protein, no fat.

Problem is, it tastes of nothing.

-It's like eating a raw button mushroom.

-Exactly.

So that's why, you know, I've done the nice strong dressing,

the nice strong marinade, and I've compressed it as well

to help get as much flavour into the tofu as possible.

It's a style of food that I personally eat a lot of.

I don't cook a lot of it.

It's not food that you cook, but it's food you love to eat,

-and you're trying it right here, right now?

-Yeah.

-Go big or go home.

-You're a brave boy. You're a brave, brave chef.

30 minutes left.

Arnaud is making a pistachio and olive oil cake.

He won't be the first French person to shout, "Let them eat cake!"

The last one got their head chopped off.

With that, he's got a pumpkin puree.

He's poached some beautiful pears.

He's also made a peanut praline.

There is also a ricotta and vanilla cream.

I think there's a lovely idea,

the combination of the savoury and the sweet dessert.

Yes, please. I'm really liking

what Arnaud's coming to the table with today.

Elly has decided that she's going to make us a cold potato and leek soup.

She's also got some quail eggs

and there's some apple diced in there.

A cold soup may sound easy,

but it's a very, very difficult thing to get right.

Absolutely delicious... when done well.

Three minutes.

I'm telling you - three minutes left, come on.

One minute. One minute.

Guys, that's it. Finished. Time's up.

Please, thank you.

Oh, man.

Elly, come and join us.

Ellie has served a cold vichyssoise soup

made with leek and potato,

and a salad of quail's eggs,

pickled apple, pickled mooli,

spring onion and frisee leaves.

-I think the vichyssoise is absolutely stunning.

-Thank you.

Very light, very delicate.

I love the eggs in the dish

because it just gives it another level of richness.

I love the acid of the apple, I love the sweetness of it,

and the salad is just lovely to go with it as well.

The vichyssoise is beautiful.

Thickened with potato and creamy,

but still has a slight harshness of those leeks.

The pickled apple, I don't mind,

but it's taken over.

And it's the vichyssoise is what I want to taste.

I quite like the apple and the sharpness that it has in here

as well as the sweetness it brings to the dish.

When you use potato, it's so easy to get the starch to thicken the soup

too much, but you've got a wonderful consistency into it.

-Very nice and very clever.

-Thank you.

Well, listen, I thought the apple was too much,

but the guys beside me really like it.

So one of us has got it wrong, Elly.

SHE CHUCKLES

I've done two dishes today that I think are fantastic, and if I can

get through to the final six, it'll absolutely be amazing.

You've done so well.

Brenton's dish is a salad of artichokes,

pickled girolles, Parmesan crisps,

carrot shavings, broad beans,

a Parmesan and basil pistou

drizzled with a lemon vinaigrette.

That's a beautiful, delicate-looking plate

that showcases those artichokes brilliantly.

Brenton, I really like your dish here.

The pistou with the hint of the basil coming through,

and then the nice surprise of the Parmesan as well.

I really enjoyed the hints of the sweet lemon dressing.

It's so light, yet so, so delicious.

You've brought sweetness to the carrot,

you've brought a little acidity and sweetness to the artichokes.

The broad beans are delightful, the mushrooms are light.

You haven't just cooked those, I feel like you've picked 'em up

and cradled them and just done your best you can to look after 'em.

I think, if you take away the lemon dressing,

I think this would be just a very nice plate of vegetables,

cooked very well and presented in a pretty fashion.

I can't take that away from you, but that's about it for me.

Yeah, it was a little bit simple, but I felt I executed it very well.

That was hard to take.

Oh, well, let's just hope

it's enough to keep me in the competition.

Wayne's dish is soy in mirin-marinated tofu.

It's served with roasted mooli, roasted aubergine,

carrot shavings, sticky coconut rice

and an Asian dressing.

I think you've been very clever getting lots of Asian flavours

into the tofu, cos tofu is terribly bland.

I wanted it to be about veg - you've used a lot of veg.

I love you for that.

I'm not convinced you're making everything harmonious on this plate.

It's not a dish that wows me.

The main thing that I enjoy is the vegetable with the chilli,

the mirin and the citrus coming through it.

I wish you'd have done more mooli, because it tastes delicious.

But then what you've got on this dish is two neutrals -

the rice and the tofu - and I think you should have just focused

on your tofu and some good vegetables.

You added the rice at the last minute and I think maybe

you slightly over-thought this dish.

The judges are right, I put things on a plate

that didn't really need to be there, which isn't really

what I do, so maybe the pressure got to me a bit, I don't know.

Arnaud has served a pistachio and olive oil cake,

pumpkin puree, poached pears, peanut praline,

puffed quinoa and a ricotta in vanilla cream.

Arnaud, this cake's got body and it's got really good flavour and

there's a moisture to it that stops this dish from being dry.

The ricotta and vanilla just adds a lovely light, velvety, sweet

touch to this dish.

The cake is heavier than I would like, denser than I would like.

However, I love the vanilla cream with that pumpkin puree.

And then the slight saltiness of peanuts that you got on there!

-MONICA:

-And you've got the sweetness from the pumpkin,

the pears that have been roasted.

The cake for me is heavier than I'd like it to be.

-Everything else on the plate I really enjoyed.

-Thank you.

The flavour combination is very risky.

-Well done.

-Cheers.

But overall I think it worked.

Rich has made potato gnocchi with heritage tomato cylinders,

a courgette flower filled with an egg yolk,

croutons, a red pepper chilli and tomato sauce,

parsley oil and a balsamic and garlic reduction.

I don't like the presentation.

It doesn't look put together for me at all.

It's one of the simplest plates of food that you've put up.

You've got the gnocchi, which is very well made,

you've got a lovely golden colour to it,

and it's such a light plate of food and there's no gimmick,

no craziness about this.

The pepper sauce, the heat of it, is delicious.

Little dots of it is just harmoniously just coming together

in different stages.

You have used loads of veg and you have worked hard to bring out

the best flavour you can in them.

'They've seen me cook a normal dish now,'

and, you know, the execution's been relatively perfect.

How could he not like that presentation?

But you can't be too confident, cos you never know what'll happen.

For his citrus dessert, Gary has made a lemon tart,

a lime and vanilla posset,

meringues, pistachio praline,

a line and vanilla syrup garnished with candied lemon and lime zest.

That piece of lemon tart I had is just perfect.

-It takes you to the edge of...

-HE SLURPS

..and then brings you back in again with sweetness.

-It's almost...

-Do that again!

-Tffft-tffft-tffft!

It calms you back down again with sweetness. It's absolutely perfect.

But do you know what I absolutely thought was brilliant?

Putting a meringue into that lemon and vanilla syrup.

That is just beautiful!

Thank you.

The pastry on the lemon tart is beautiful and delicious and light.

The texture of the lemon tart itself is perfect.

You made your life very, very difficult, and

at this stage of the competition, that is exactly what I look for

in a chef - pushing the boundaries and giving the dish a little extra.

You've absolutely nailed that brief, Gary.

Thank you.

Limes and lemons,

that's what this dish is about and that's what you've done.

Thank you.

To get that feedback from my second dish is an incredible feeling.

It's just been such an amazing day.

Well done, wee man!

You know what's going to happen now.

We've got to somehow decide on sending two of you home.

Thank you very much indeed. Go and take a break.

To have to come back and cook again a second time was

a big ask of our chefs, but I admire their spirit and their attitude

to be able to pick themselves up, come back refreshed,

ready to tackle the challenge from Gregg.

-GARY:

-How are they going to split that?

Wayne is a really good chef and I was really surprised.

He was cooking a dish today with flavours that

he doesn't normally use in the kitchen.

Why today of all days?

He did the Asian veg, and, although not an unpleasant dish,

it no way lived up to the other five dishes in the room.

So I think Wayne has unfortunately run his course, don't you?

-I do. Do you agree?

-I agree, I do.

I think Gary's the one chef in this kitchen

that really nailed the brief.

He pushed himself to the limit and what a plate full of detail!

I mean, wow!

To be able to give us a wonderful lemon tart like he did,

for me, just shows so much skill.

The guy cooked another great dessert here,

this time not with chocolate, this time with citrus.

I mean, I think Gary has proved his class, actually.

Elly's dish was great. Technically, a very difficult thing to get right.

I loved the sweetness of the apple and the pickled vegetables.

It looked really delicate, tasted even better.

Gary's going through, OK?

Young Elly's going through as well.

Wayne, we've agreed is going out.

Brenton...Rich or Arnaud?

Now, Arnaud, he made an olive oil and pistachio cake

which I thought was slightly dense.

Then, with that, he poached a pear and made a puree.

You, Monica, thought his cake was a bit heavy,

you, however, liked everything he did.

What we have here is a chef that understands the marriage of flavour.

That, for me, is as important as skill.

And I thought that he did that very well today.

We all agree that Rich managed to get some good flavour out

of that gnocchi and tomato dish.

It wasn't the best-looking plate of food, but I thought Rich did well.

Brenton took the artichokes and I loved it. It really appealed to me.

-You loved it, Monica. You thought he played a little safe.

-I did. I did.

Yeah, when you first look at it, you think it's very simple, very light,

but I liked the surprises that I got as I went through the dish.

This is a hard decision. Really, really hard.

I want to go as far as I can, and getting down to the last eight

is good, but getting down to the last six is better.

I'm not here to sort of go out in the semifinals and go,

"OK, I tried my hardest."

So, disappointment is imminent if I go out today.

My fingers are crossed. I'm hoping to get through.

I want to get through.

This was the most difficult judging decision I've been involved in

in this competition.

We had - well, we've had to -

take into consideration both your dishes today.

Regrettably, we are sending two of you home.

The first chef leaving us...

..is Wayne. Thank you, sir. Pleasure to meet you.

Thank you very much. Cheers.

The second chef...

leaving us...

..is Rich.

I can't be down on myself for going out at this stage,

because I'm a semifinalist, you know.

So I've got to be chuffed about that.

Pretty devastated. But I've loved the experience.

It's one of the best experience that I think

I'm ever going to be able to experience in my life, so, yeah.

Congratulations!

You join James and Matt in the final six.

Wow! Wow, wow, wow. Wasn't expecting this.

Whatever happens, I'm happy. Last six is a real achievement.

It's not real. Has that just happened?

It's incredible, absolutely incredible.

I feel so drained right now. I'm...

I'm exhausted. I'm ready for bed.

SHE CHUCKLES

I know... I can't believe it.

Tomorrow night, the semifinals continue

as the first three chefs take on one of the country's

most inspiring kitchens.

You've got to move fast, but you've got to do it with grace and style.

They will then have to showcase their own talents

if they want to stay in the competition.

I think I could eat it all over again. It's that good.