Episode 1 The Chef's Protege

Getting to the top of any profession takes not only skill

and determination, but a few breaks along the way.

Show me what a good cook you are.

Tom Kitchin, Theo Randall and Michel Roux Junior have all been

helped in their careers by someone who believed in them.

I think it would be very difficult for any chef to achieve

greatness without a mentor.

Put it through one more time.

Now, they want to give someone else that same chance.

Out, out, out, out, out, out!

They're going back to catering college to find a young

student they can each take under their wing as their own protege.

It's such a gruelling industry.

If you want to get to the top, you need to work with the best.

Look at you! You're excited! Huh? You're excited! Hallelujah!

Tom, Theo and Michel are searching for someone who

they think is a worthy apprentice.

Happy, Chef Shonagh? Think so!

They each have a week to select and train up

their strongest candidates...

Mmm!

How many have you done? One so far. You've done one? Yet, but I...

Sorry, chef.

..before they compete against each other to see who has the best

protege.

Two Roquefort, two tomato. Yes?

This week, it's Tom Kitchin's search.

He earned his first Michelin star aged just 29.

But his style began to evolve over a decade earlier,

under the guidance of his mentor, the legendary Pierre Koffman.

When I went to work for Pierre Koffman,

then that was the reality check, like, "Oh, my goodness, mate!

"I know absolutely nothing!"

The amazing thing for me now in my career is I've reached

the stage where I know I can pass on my knowledge to the next generation.

Tom is returning to his old catering college in Perth,

where they have shortlisted some of the best current students and recent

graduates who they believe have the potential to be his protege.

Yeah, they've got different backgrounds.

A couple of the students were unemployed before they came

to college. Some of them, at the moment,

still lack a bit of confidence in what they're doing.

And the level of food might not be Michelin star,

but they have the same dream as him.

So hopefully, Tom can support them and bring them on.

If someone's got passion and determination,

I can take them on an incredible journey.

Honoured on the Hall of Fame of Perth College!

Mr Gibb! How are you? Hello, hello! Nice to see you. Nice to see you.

You all right? I'm very well, thank you. Good. How are you? Very well, very well. Good, good.

I'm really looking forward to meeting the students. Superb.

They actually remind me, some of them, of you. Oh, really?

Hopefully not as cheeky as me!

THEY LAUGH

Today, Tom will meet the first four students,

but he can only take three forward in the competition.

First, he will spend 30 minutes getting to know each one.

I'm hoping I'm going to find someone who's in this little shell and they

just need to be shown the way into the wonderful world of gastronomy.

That's what I'm looking for.

He is giving them the ingredients of his signature scallop, fennel and

orange confit starter to help get a sense of their skill and passion.

First up is Jordan.

Hello. Hiya. Hi. Nice to meet you. My name's Jordan. Jordan?

Nice to meet you. Come in, Jordan. How you doing? Not bad. Yourself?

You all right? Bit nervous? Yeah, just a bit. So tell me, Jordan.

You work in the industry? Yeah. I've worked in the industry for three years now. Three years?

How old are you? 18. 18? Started when I was 15. Oh, really?

So we're going to make a dish today. We're going to have a bit of fun. So let's open the scallops.

It's not a test. I will teach you if you don't do it properly.

'In the kitchen, I like the pressure, I like finding out new things...'

..trying to work out what things go well with other things.

'I've just always had a thing for food'

and wanted to see what I can do about it.

Just take this bit off. Mmm-hmm.

What I like is your real attention to detail.

The only problem being it will soon be Christmas time,

we're going so slowly!

Let me show you how I would do it.

Boom! Soon as that knife's in, scallop lid's off, OK?

Off. Scallop's out. Try.

Then, just carefully around. Bang! Exactly the same, but... A lot faster.

Couple of days faster, Jordan! A couple of days! OK.

So, I want you to bring a dish together.

We've got all these ingredients. Think of me as a chef.

What's going to impress me?

But most importantly, make something that you'd be proud of, OK?

'I'd say I was a quick learner.'

I kind of take things on as quick as I can.

What was the reason for adding the butter?

I think it brings out the flavour a wee bit more.

Gives it a nice shine as well.

But the trouble is now that the butter is... Starting to burn.

..because the pan is so hot. Yeah.

OK?

So, how do you feel? I'm happy with it. You happy with it? Yeah.

I did like parts of what you were doing,

but we have quite a lot of scallop on the plate.

I mean, it's three whole king scallops.

In my restaurant, that would be about ?60 a portion!

There's very little garnish around there.

As you eat the scallop, you like to have little bits.

But these are things I can teach you. Yeah. I can teach you.

There was a lot of positives.

There's a lot of work to be done as well, though.

Thanks very much, Jordan.

For Tom to be my mentor, I'd be...

..speechless, like I am now.

Just to have someone of his standard and, obviously,

having a Michelin star,

it would just mean the world to me.

What I liked about Jordan was I showed him how to do it,

he cared about what he was doing.

If I can give him a little push, I feel that he can really blossom.

At 17, Shonagh attends the college three days a week

and does the rest of her training on the job in a professional kitchen.

Hi. Hi. Hi. Shonagh McGregor.

Shonagh, nice to meet you. Hi. Come in, Shonagh.

You all right there? Yeah. Nervous? Little bit!

Quite a bit, actually!

That's all right. Good, good.

So, we've got all the scallops there.

I'm sometimes not very confident in the kitchen.

I think it's cos I'm quite new still,

so I listen to other people more.

But I think that's my main weakness.

So what are you thinking? Quite like the orange, actually.

You like the orange? Yeah. Orange and fennel is a good combination. Yeah.

Uh-huh.

Why did you want to be a chef?

I always enjoyed it when I was younger,

just cooking for my family all the time.

And my granddad was also a chef. Really?

So you're going to make a little caramel there?

Yeah, with the oranges.

This is a big day for them, it's a big day for me.

I'm hoping they've used their initiative today.

And they all have that excitement in their eyes,

and that's what we're looking for.

That's my dish! Happy, Chef Shonagh? Think so!

I really like you thought outside the box, you made the little

caramel, and then you put the orange juice on top.

So naturally, the acidity of the orange would work really

well against the scallops. It's by no means perfect, by no means perfect!

But it was a good effort. Well done. Thank you very much. Thank you.

'It was great, learning from him.'

And a bit scary, actually, having him looking at what you're doing!

But it was really good fun, great experience.

I'm quite taken with Shonagh. She used her imagination.

That was really important for me.

And we're talking today, this first thing is about first impressions.

20-year-old Iain graduated three months ago and has just

started his first full-time job in a professional kitchen.

Hi. Hello.

What's your name? Iain. Iain? Yeah. Nice to meet you, Iain.

Yeah, you too. How you doing? Yeah, I'm good.

OK, what we're going to do?

I'm not sure. Er...

Something that you'd be proud of.

And think about, you know, what's going to impress me,

cos at the end of the day, you've got to impress me.

Well, I finished school and was working part-time in a kitchen,

just washing dishes. And I got offered a job as a chef.

I thought I'd give it a go, and I really enjoyed it, so I stuck at it.

Just trying to think what to do.

Maybe you want to start doing something.

So then, as you're working, I find if I'm working and I'm preparing

something and I start cooking, then little ideas start to come.

Just cook from the heart!

Is this the fennel puree? Fennel puree, yup.

Really struggling with ideas, what to do.

'There's a lot at stake here for me, you know?

'This is me putting my reputation on the line.

'If someone's got talent here

'and I can't nurture that talent out of them, then I've failed.'

OK. I think we've got a lot of work to do, you know?

All we've really done is cook the scallop

and put some orange segments on.

There's not really been any imagination there for me, you know?

What I was trying to get was the heart.

I hope it's in there somewhere! OK, right. Thanks very much. Thank you.

Cheers, thank you.

It's a difficult one there with Iain, you know? He's nervous, he's young.

I understand that. But there was no energy, there was no excitement.

Very frustrating. Very frustrating.

'Didn't have a clue what to do.'

I wasn't very good.

I would love for Tom to teach me more. I would love that.

17-year-old Jamie is the last student Tom will see today.

Hello, young man. Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm Jamie. Jamie? Yup.

Nice to meet you, Jamie. Come in. You all right? Yeah, I'm fine.

Where are you from? Perth. Perth? Just in Scone. Scone? Yeah.

Scone, you're a Saints fan? Aye! Excellent. Right, Jamie.

So, how long you been in the industry? Two years. Two years?

What do you love about cooking? Just like being able to be creative.

Just like the banter and that in the kitchen. You like the banter?

Always on your toes with the boys? Yeah? Brilliant. OK.

OK. Well done. Good.

'I was not bad at school.'

I preferred hands-on, like, practical subjects a lot more

'than, like, sitting at a desk, writing and stuff like that.'

I think that's one of the reasons that I went into the trade.

What we've got here is wild foraged herbs. Have you come across these?

Yeah, sometimes. Do you use these a wee bit? Yeah.

So this one here is Sweet Cicely, OK?

What kind of flavour do you get there? Aniseed. Aniseed?

Good, you've got a palette! I like that. I like that.

'This scale of cooking, it can be taught.

'It can be taught, but you have to fall in love.

'You have to be excited, and you've either got that or you don't.'

Excellent!

Have you tasted the fennel puree? Or are you just trusting me?

I've not tasted the fennel puree! Ah, chef! So let's taste it.

Make sure you're happy with it.

Happy? So-so. Do you know what I think?

What do you think? I think it's brilliant!

I think it's stunning!

I mean, you cooked to the scallops very well, great colour,

fantastic understanding of the product. You know what?

I couldn't have cooked that when I was 16, 17 years old. Yeah.

You should be really, really proud of yourself. Brilliant.

Really brilliant. Congratulations! Cheers.

Jamie there was quiet, reserved, very nervous.

But I already sensed, by just little things,

the way he went about his business, there's something

in there that can be released, there's some kind of lion in there.

We've just got to kind of find it and push it out.

'Yeah, it was a brilliant experience.

'Done something that I've never experienced before.'

Just gives you such a buzz to want to do better.

He's so highly regarded.

It'd give you such a brilliant stepping stone in your career.

Having a mentor means more than just being taught basic cookery skills.

Whoever Tom chooses as his protege will have the opportunity to

learn about the secrets behind his food.

Gentlemen, we need to accelerate a little bit here, please, yes?

From nature to plate is Tom's own style,

inspired by his years with Pierre Koffman, and later, Alain Duccasse.

One turbot, one grouse.

Central to his style is maximising the flavour

of the best seasonal ingredients.

And all his dishes are cooked a la minute, or in the moment,

with sauces made using the cooking liquor left behind in the pan.

Tom can't take all the students through today.

So to help him decide who to keep, he wants them

to cook a dish that reflects his principles.

Seafood ragout made with seven types of Scottish seafood,

topped with samphire and steamed vegetables

and finished with a Champagne sauce and salmon keta eggs.

I want you to really concentrate on exactly what I'm doing.

I want you to use those techniques

when you come to cook your own dishes.

OK, so, hot pan.

Mussels, shallots.

Razor clams.

White wine.

From there,

first, the razor clam.

As soon as the shell opens, the razor clam's cooked.

Now, what I'm looking for here is the cooking liquor, OK?

This is the gold dust, this is the real essence.

That's 100% flavour of the sea, OK?

The juice of the oyster into there as well, OK?

Anybody tasted oysters before? What does it taste like? Salty. Salty.

It's like running into the sea with your mouth open, huh?

Now, we're going to add some cream.

I know that the scallop,

the salmon and the langoustine are going to take the longest to cook.

OK?

So, in with my scallops.

It's important, as this cooks, all the natural flavour

of the seafood is coming into the sauce as well.

At the very end, top quality Champagne, OK?

Don't drink it!

In a way, it's like a rock pool, you know?

The creamy sauce is really just the sea.

For me, that's me, that's Tom Kitchin's heart on a plate.

Jordan. Have you ever tasted something like that?

Never. Never! Never.

It's very good!

Ready? Yep.

Let's do it.

This is the students' first chance to show Tom

that they understand his style.

I've not really done many fish before,

and I've not really worked with much shellfish,

so I'm going to try and see how well I do with it.

'A bit nervous.'

Having tasted this dish already hopefully means

I'll be on the stepping-stone towards that.

I would like to prove that I could do good and I can cook a good,

nice dish and have lots of flavour.

After being slow to open the scallops this morning,

this is Jordan's chance to show he's taken on Tom's tips.

See how much faster you were? Yeah.

Huh? Well done. Thank you, Chef.

Makes me feel like I want to get to that higher standard.

It may take a lot of hard work,

but if I get there, I'll be as happy as I can get.

OK, guys, any problems with the seafood, you can ask questions.

I'm here to help.

The dish can only work

if the students cook the razor clams as Tom has instructed.

Good boy.

Bad idea, I think.

Out, out, out, out!

As soon as it's open, it's out, otherwise it's overcooked.

Yes, Chef.

You'd already put the shellfish in, but the razor clam was already open

and you hadn't even put the white wine in, so you were slow

and you were late there, and you rescued it by that.

Come on. Let's go.

I've got to say this - this is excellent.

This is exactly the same as what I did.

I think you were a little bit disappointed with your first effort.

Yes. So this is your chance to show me what a good cook you are.

That there is a good start. Keep it up.

Tom wants them to understand that the success of the sauce

depends on capturing all the flavour of the delicate seafood.

I've messed up. I didn't add my...

You haven't added that.

So I'm going to add them to that and put the lid on that. Is that OK?

Yeah.

Everything I did was in one pan, so if you remember, I opened

the shellfish in one pan and used the cooking liquor to make the sauce.

I've lost that flavour.

What's that? Shallot?

No, garlic.

That's the garlic. You want to use garlic?

I never used garlic, so you're inventing your dish here,

which is fine, but this isn't the way I showed you, OK?

I want the scallops cooked well, the salmon cooked perfectly,

the sauce perfect. Taste what you're doing, OK?

Happy with the salmon?

No. Why? It's overcooked.

You've got seven minutes left. Do something about it. Huh?

Guys. Word of advice.

If you feel that you're not happy with something,

you've got seven minutes to do something about it.

OK, let's start to bring these dishes together.

I'm looking for the finesse that I brought.

Thank you.

'Well, I kind of messed up in the middle, to be honest.'

It's a big opportunity and I just feel maybe I've thrown it away,

but not a lot else I can do.

I gave it my all, tried my hardest, and hope for the best.

Hopefully, he sees potential in the dish that I've done.

I've cooked seafood and that before, so it's not as complicated.

I hope he likes it.

Guys. I set the bar right up here.

It is there to test you.

You should be very, very proud of yourself.

Tears - you care.

Young man, you pushed yourself. That's what I'm looking for.

I'm looking for people giving every ounce that they've got, OK? Right.

Let's taste. Jordan. This is your one.

Very good.

The salmon is pink, the presentation is good, the sauce is good,

but for me what's really exciting is from the Jordan I met this morning

to the Jordan who did this,

already we're taking steps in the right direction.

Yes. Well done.

Thank you. Thanks very much.

Never felt such excitement in my life, just to know that

I've been told from a Michelin-starred chef that my dish was nice.

And he enjoyed it.

OK, Iain?

Iain, all right?

Yes. Happy? Yeah, yeah.

You had a lot to prove with this dish. I certainly did, yeah.

Right, let's taste.

The scallop is sweet, it's not overcooked,

the sauce has got the real essence of the sea,

the Champagne flavour's there.

To think of how disappointed I was this morning with you.

And myself.

This, on the other hand, is a monumental step in the right direction,

because you listened to me. Hmm?

Brilliant, well done. Thanks very much.

Thank you.

'I think I could do well. If I did stay in,'

it would mean the world to me.

So, Jamie.

The sauce is good.

The poaching of the seafood is very good, OK?

When I looked at the dish, it looked alive.

It had an essence of freshness about it.

Not quite the standards of the first dish, but you know that yourself,

and that's really important to me.

Thank you very much, Chef. Thank you.

Even just being with him for one day today has just been, like, such

a brilliant eye-opener into what it could be like if you do well

and go further with Tom.

Shonagh.

First thing to remember is, if you weren't emotional,

it would mean that you weren't caring.

When I was a young commis, when I was working for Pierre Koffmann in London,

I used to have tears in my eyes nearly every day.

I didn't know it then, but those tears meant

that he could see how much it meant to me.

I was determined to succeed. So don't, you know... Things happen.

Let's taste and see. OK.

It's too garlicky. It's covering up all the seafood flavours.

For me, the main thing is all I can taste is cream,

boiled cream with a bit of garlic.

But the most important thing I want you to take away today

is that next time, you do it better, OK?

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

'I am a bit concerned that it will be the end, but...

'I've learnt already so much'

and created two dishes which I never thought I could.

It's gutting to think one of us is going

to be walking at the end of the day.

Yep.

Not easy. Huh? Get some fresh air.

Thanks, Chef. Thank you.

At the end of the day for me, Jordan and Jamie - streets ahead.

The decision between Shonagh and Iain is a tale of two halves.

Both of them know they've let themselves down at some point today.

Ultimately, Tom is only looking for one protege.

He must now let the students know who is still in the running

and who is going home.

Shonagh. Are you all right? Give me a hug.

Hey? Are you OK?

It was really good, though. A good experience.

The most important thing is you care about what you're doing,

put your heart and soul into it and everything else will fall into place.

You were that close, darling. Thank you. Keep up the good work.

Thank you. Thank you.

'I did enjoy it a lot. I tried my best.'

But I think it's just too early for me, I think.

'These kids, they want it, and that's what I wanted. That's what I wanted.

'They've got a long way to go.'

They need to be guided, but hopefully one of them

is going to go all the way.

Tomorrow night,

another three students from Perth College are offered the opportunity

of a lifetime, as Tom's search for his protege continues.

I've only been cooking for about two years at college. Two years?

Before that, I was a welder. A welder? Yeah.

My nerves are getting to me.

That's all right, we all get nervous.

I done this once in a restaurant

and hit my boyfriend in the face with the juice, so...

You're a free spirit now. Where's the monster in you, boy?

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