Episode 15 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 Jr

have all been helped in their careers by someone who believed in them.

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!

..by 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, yeah? You're excited!

-I am excited.

Hallelujah.

Tom, Theo and Michel are searching for someone who they think is a worthy apprentice.

-Happy, Chef Shona?

-I think so.

They each have a week to select and train up their strongest candidates...

-Mm.

-Two things on the go at the same time. Come on, come on, come on.

Or even three things on the go. Multi-task. Come on.

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

This week, it's Michel's search, which started at University College, Birmingham.

From seven, he's down to three students.

Today, he can only choose two to continue,

so he's putting them to the test in a central London kitchen.

This is the next step up the ladder for our students.

I need to see, really, if they can stand on their own two feet.

So far, 18-year-old Sophie has overcome a shaky start

to become a favourite.

Surely, long nails are not allowed?

-Would you like me to chop them off?

-Yes, I would because that's not right.

It adds a bit more pressure, so, yeah.

He obviously believes in you, so you've got to pull out the stops.

At 21, Rebecca's skill with desserts has endeared her to Michel.

I like it.

I'm up against two great chefs.

It's going to be the little things again that make the difference.

And 21-year-old Alex's early confidence has pushed him through.

Alex has definitely ticked all the boxes for me.

I think we're all in the same boat, really.

I'll give it my best shot and try to produce to the best of my ability.

-Morning.

-Morning.

-Morning.

-Come in, guys. Come in, come in.

So, this is a big day. Big, big day.

I want you to excel. I want you to do really well.

Michel wants the students to each cook a dish from his menu,

but has decided not to demonstrate them.

He's only giving them a basic recipe with no weights or measurements.

It's all about seeing if they have understood everything that I've been drilling into them.

And can they actually deliver Roux food

whilst just reading the recipe?

I'm surprised that he trusts us, cooking his food.

He obviously believes in us quite a lot.

Rebecca has been asked to cook a classic French recipe

with complicated techniques.

Cassoulet of frogs' legs in a chlorophyll veloute

served on a tomato fondue.

Rebecca wants to be a pastry chef and I've seen her work with pastry

and that chocolate mousse she made was divine.

I want to see if Rebecca has got what it takes

to work as confidently with savoury as she does with sweet.

-You've got your recipe?

-Yeah.

-You've been through it?

-Yes.

So tell me about three components.

So the first thing to do is the frogs' legs.

And then make the tomato fondue.

Well, I would start with the tomato fondue

-because it does say here that it takes a while to cook.

-OK.

-Then it's make the veloute.

-How would you make your veloute?

So start with the shallots, then add the stock...

-Oh, no. Sorry. Shallots, then white wine.

-White wine, yes.

-Yeah.

-Absolutely.

My method is more about helping, encouraging,

letting them actually take that step.

And if they get it wrong, then to tell them.

Alex has the main course - roasted pigeon breast, pigeon pastilla,

radish fondant and fennel puree

served with a ras el hanout flavoured sauce.

So talk me through, step by step, what you're going to do.

I'm going to start getting the pigeon... Get the pigeon started braising.

Then I was going to get the fondants prepared

and then start cooking my crown.

You've understood it. You have.

You've understood the recipe perfectly. Absolutely. Well done.

-That's such a relief.

-Now... Now you actually have to put it in motion

because you can talk the talk - can you walk the walk?

With Alex, I think it's just a question of confidence

and he needs that boost and he needs to be told, "Well done, you're doing well. Keep going."

I feel like I've grasped as much information as I can learn,

so hopefully now I can show what I've learnt and put it into this dish, really.

Sophie's been given a poached pear with shortbread and sabayon cream.

As it's pastry, she's also been given exact measurements

and complete control over the presentation.

Cooking pastry for Michel's going to be a new experience for me

because I know him and his pastry is, like, top notch,

so I'll see if I can live up to it.

Right, then, Sophie. Have you understood the recipe?

-Yeah, sort of.

-Sort of?

-Yeah.

-What's the secret to a good shortbread biscuit?

-Light and crumbly.

Crumbly, yeah.

Can I put vanilla in the actual mix or not?

When you're making a dessert, it's best not to overdo the flavours.

So if you've got vanilla in, say, the biscuit, the pear and the sabayon,

it would be too much.

-So that's why we've just got the vanilla in the pears.

-All right.

-No problem.

-No issues?

-No. I'm good.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Good.

I think my dish is going to have to be exceptionally good

because the other contestants, their dishes are like frogs' legs and pigeon,

stuff you don't really eat every day.

I'm going to have to make it something extra special

to pull myself through.

Michel's invited three guests for lunch today...

..who know his menu inside out.

They are Michel's general manager of 14 years, Emmanuel...

..and his two maitre d's, sisters Ursula and Silvia.

I think what's special about Chef Michel's food

is it's very true to the family traditions,

his father and his uncle,

but they're not shying away from modern touches,

so they're always connected to the past, the present and the future.

Michel is a master. He was my mentor as well, you know.

It is absolutely a dream to be working for him.

All right, let's get cracking.

The students have an hour and a half before lunch is served.

They look like little trousers. You can see the bone, look.

That's going to be the biggest challenge for you. They're tiny.

I think the most difficult part of my dish will be cooking the frogs' legs

so that they're beautifully tender and froggy.

-You've got your frogs' legs.

-Yeah.

You've never cooked these before, so off you go.

-I want to see you cooking.

-OK.

-Be confident.

-Yes.

Confident in yourself.

-So what have you just put in there?

-Some garlic and now shallot.

-OK.

-So what's happened to your garlic now?

-It's started burning.

It's started burning. And are the frogs' legs cooked?

-No.

-Shallots and garlic and parsley at the end.

-OK.

-I think they're there.

-I think so, too.

-Are you taking the meat off the bone?

-Yeah.

-Do you want a go?

-Yeah.

-You see? See how easy it comes off?

-Yeah.

-That's it. Good. Simple, yeah?

-Yeah.

'It's great to see that these young chefs are like sponges.

'They're sponging up all this information

'and it's a very, very captive audience, which is great.'

Alex's dish contains the unusual Moroccan spice mix ras el hanout,

which will be used to season the pigeon breast

and in the sauce.

-Is this quite a strong spice?

-It can be a little bit too hot,

so you've got to be careful.

So taste it and then I'll leave that to you to judge the level

-that you need to get.

-OK, then.

Be careful not to overdo it. But you can always add more.

-Difficult to take it out.

-Yes!

So taste, taste, yeah?

Good.

Sophie needs to add whipped cream to her sabayon mix.

How much liquid are you supposed to have there? A litre?

-Yeah.

-Are you sure that's a litre? It looks like a lot.

-1,000 mls, isn't it, a litre?

-Yeah. It looks like a heck of a lot.

Do you want me to double check? I swear to God I weighed it out.

-I did it on there.

-You had it on there?

-Yeah.

-So you weighed it?

Yeah, but I changed. I changed the mode on it.

-So you didn't measure it. What's this?

-That's a jug.

Now I'm worried because if this recipe's wrong, it's not going to work, is it?

-So where's the litre mark?

-There.

-There. OK.

I wasn't wrong! Yes!

-Pardon?

-Was I wrong? Was I wrong?

-So what's all that?

-I was only wrong by a little bit.

-What's all that?

-OK, I was wrong by a little bit.

-What is all that?

-1.2 litres is more.

-OK.

I've just averted a disaster

because there's no way that sabayon would have set

with that amount of extra cream.

It happened. You can't erase it.

Just learn from it, move on.

While Sophie tries to focus,

Rebecca is learning to extract green pigment from fresh herbs and spinach.

I'm just squeezing all the juice out of the herbs,

which will form the chlorophyll, and then it gets reduced down.

-OK. Have you had a smell?

-Yeah.

-It smells lovely, doesn't it?

-Mm.

-OK, onto the heat.

-Yeah.

If you boil this, you're going to lose all the colour.

You're going to cook the chlorophyll

-and you're going to end up with a brown chlorophyll.

-Yeah.

-The chlorophyll should be a vibrant green.

-OK.

This is a very time-consuming process

that, to be honest, not many kitchens do any more

but it's well worth it.

Is this a traditional method or something you've...?

It's a traditional method

to make natural green food colouring with taste,

as opposed to getting it in a little bottle with loads of E numbers.

He seems to want to teach

and he seems to be passionate about teaching us how to get these dishes tasting great

and looking great and... yeah.

To make up for her potentially disastrous miscalculation with the cream,

Sophie needs to ensure there are no mistakes with her shortbread.

How many of those little leaves are you going to serve per person?

-I was just going to do one but...

-What, one little leaf per person?

-Yeah, because I wanted it like as the pear.

-I like the idea.

The only problem is, you're going to have a lot of pear

for very little biscuit.

Can I do like a biscuit base underneath the pear?

Yeah. And then you have your leaf as the decoration, maybe.

-Yeah.

-I really like the idea of the leaf. That's a good idea.

That's good. You're taking your time but you need to crack on.

You need to move.

I've got a good connection with Michel

and I think it is getting stronger as the levels go up.

I can ask him anything

and he's always there to tell me and teach me,

which is always helpful.

I wanted to learn from him and I am learning from him, so, yeah.

With service drawing closer,

Michel has concerns about the way Alex is approaching the pigeon.

-You've put them this way up, haven't you?

-Yes.

Where are the natural juices going to run?

Downwards. So I should have turned them on the breast.

You turn them this way up, so that all the juices run into the breast.

OK.

-So that's your fondants?

-Yeah. I've got the sauce ready for it.

It looks like you're dry-frying them, almost.

-What is one of my all-time favourite ingredients?

-Erm...

The... shallots.

-Dairy fat!

-Dairy fat.

-Butter and cream.

They're crying out for some butter. Feed them.

Michel has guided Rebecca through the cooking of the frogs' legs

and the tricky chlorophyll

but he expects her to make the veloute by herself.

I went through on day one with the students how to thicken sauces

because sauces, for me, are so important.

And she hasn't listened. She's just put everything in the saucepan and boiled it.

It's wrong!

Just by looking at it, I can see it's going to be wishy-washy.

-Did you reduce the stock?

-The wine reduced and then I added the stock.

-Remember one of the first things we went through, how I explained about sauces...

-Mm.

..and thickening?

-Yeah.

-One of the methods of thickening a sauce?

-Reduction.

-Reduction.

That doesn't look reduced. It doesn't look like the chicken stock was reduced properly.

Every stage you need to reduce to get that flavour.

You intensify the flavours by reduction,

not by just throwing everything in a pan and boiling it.

But Rebecca isn't the only one running into trouble.

-BUZZER

-It's black!

I think... I think at 262 degrees C...

I didn't put it on 262. It was on 180 when I put it in the oven.

-You and measuring and numbers...

-It was on 180 when I closed the door.

This doesn't change the temperature.

-That's not going to work.

-What have you done? BUZZER

I don't know! Here we go, here we go.

-Just imagine if you'd put all your...

-Oh, my God. Please don't.

-You really would have been in trouble.

-Stay, stay.

-Now get them in and I recommend you look at this often.

-Standing.

None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes.

But what I don't like is that a mistake is repeated.

The temperature on the oven went from 180 to 262.

It is my test in the oven, so it's a good job it was.

Have you seen the time? Yes, Chef.

I'm very curious how they handle it,

the challenge of dealing with traditional Gavroche dishes.

I've got a huge expectation, actually. I'm salivating. I'm starving.

With the guests hungry and waiting,

it's time for Michel to see which of the students are protege material.

First up is Rebecca.

I think it's coming together really nicely,

so I just hope that the foam works and it'll be great.

Come on, Rebecca. Yes, Chef. Let's go, darling. Go, go, go.

For young English people, frogs' legs, it's not really something you would have every day.

You won't have that at home on your Sunday roast.

-Come on. Quick, quick.

-Yes, Chef.

-No bones.

No bones.

Rebecca fills each bowl with a layer of tomato fondue.

Careful, careful. When you're in a rush, you struggle to keep things tight.

Then adds the frogs' legs, butter and garlic.

You didn't put much butter in there, did you? After me saying how much I like my butter.

-Froth up your sauce.

-Yes, Chef.

Finally, she mixes the chlorophyll and veloute to make a froth.

Please work, please work, please work, please work.

That's it. You've got enough froth there.

If you haven't, you come back and get a bit more. Let's go.

That looks lovely. Very nice. The colour's perfect.

That's it. Last one.

Last one. Come on.

That's it. OK, good.

OK. Yeah, OK.

Lovely.

-Well done. Happy with that?

-Yeah. I think so.

I think I might be sick.

That's more or less what I expected to see, visually.

It is a bit flat in taste.

There is a slight hint of parsley but it's also not very intense.

Right. I hardly can taste garlic, actually.

I think this is a little bit bland, I have to say.

In need of maybe a bit of pepper and seasoning, definitely.

The frog legs itself, they've been nicely cooked.

They haven't been overcooked. That was just right done, I think.

I'm proud because I didn't have a full recipe.

I'd never done any of it and it's just a real...

a real honour again to be cooking with Michel and the people we cooked for, the guests.

Really great.

-Alex, 2:15.

-Yes, Chef.

They're bang on time. I want you to be bang on time.

Yes, Chef.

I've seen Alex before during service

and he does tend to panic and not realise that time is catching up with him.

I just hope that he does focus

and that he realises that he must deliver on time.

-Let me stop you there. The first thing to do...

-Is to slice them.

-Take the pigeon off the bone.

-Yes, Chef.

-Good.

Try and be quick with this because it's going to cool down very quickly.

That looks lovely. Nice and pink but not bloody.

I think when you're a young chef starting off, confidence is so important.

That's it. OK.

If you are knocked down too many times, it can absolutely ruin your career.

That's good. Smashing.

You need a mentor to guide you and to help you

and to give you a pat on the back now and then.

OK. Sauce.

That's it. Lovely. OK, cloche on there, please.

Thank you.

-Good. Happy with that?

-Yes, Chef.

-Pleased with yourself?

-Yeah.

I think so. You're pleased with yourself, aren't you? That's good.

Presentation wise, I think it's nice and simple.

This is what we were expecting to get.

Presentation wise, you could take it for a Gavroche dish.

It's nicely cooked. Look at the pigeon - it's so pink. It's beautiful.

The meat is nicely cooked but not the skin.

They should either remove it or made it crispy.

There's only two ways with skin.

It is nicely cooked, I have to say. The taste is lovely.

The fondant is very...

It's nice. It's very good. It's a very good attempt.

That was a hard challenge,

especially when you getting part of the recipe.

You're trying to draw on everything that you've learned that I felt I was capable of doing.

It gives you that belief, as well.

-There she blows. Right, Sophie, come on.

-Yeah.

It's time. Now. Let's start.

Pastry is very important to the Rouxs.

We've all trained as pastry chefs, that's how we started.

A tiny bit more generous

and try to do it in only two or three goes maximum.

We always say that, you know, pastry is almost like the foundation.

Then you go on to savoury and you go from there.

-Happy?

-Yep.

-Good.

I'd like to think I've got a chance but I'm not 100%.

I don't think anyone is. I'm not 100%. It's just too close to call.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

To me, it looks kind of, well, old fashioned.

To me, it looks like more cookery school

than actually restaurant cooking.

-The pear is nicely poached.

-Mm-hm.

Mm. It's delicious.

-It's soft.

-Yeah.

-Mm-hm.

Very, very nice.

That vanilla flavour, that's very nicely done.

The shortbreads tasted nice.

-Hey!

-Hello, Chef.

-Are you well?

-Hello, Chef.

-I'll grab a chair.

-So...

-Good.

-Good lunch?

-Yeah, it was really nice.

LAUGHTER You're still alive,

-so it must have been all right.

-It was very good, actually.

-Yeah?

-It was not too bad.

-So what do you think of my three students?

-It's quite astonishing.

Considering that they didn't have the proper recipes, I'm quite surprised.

I have to choose two to go to the next stage,

so I want to be sure I make the right decision.

-Gut feeling - what would you say?

-I'd be very taken to give it to the boy to stay on

because there was the most professional presentation

of all the three dishes we had today, I have to say, yeah.

-Keep the boy.

-Keep the boy, yeah.

It leaves me with a choice of the girls. That's not going to be easy.

Thank you for your attention to detail

and, yeah, I'll see you back at work later on.

Thank you, Chef.

In the end, Michel is looking for just one protege

and today he must lose another student from the running.

I purposefully put Sophie on dessert today

because I wanted to see her prepare sweets

and see if she had a little artistic touch.

I'm beginning to think that she is a good all-rounder.

My only worry with Sophie is that she still has that giggly kind of attitude.

If she was left on her own, would she have the mental strength

to stay serious and focused and deliver the goods?

Rebecca is a very conscientious worker

and cares so much about what she puts on the plate,

but everything she did today was at a slow pace

and lacking in depth of flavour.

I can definitely see strengths and weaknesses in all three of them.

Alex, up you come. Grab your knives.

Stand there.

I got some good comments on your pigeon dish today.

-Thank you.

-Some very good comments.

-So grab this chance. OK?

-Chef.

-You're in.

-Thank you.

Off you go.

Phew!

To get this far is... It's out of this world, really.

Michel now has to make a choice between Rebecca and Sophie.

The sabayon was very nearly a disaster.

-Mm-hm.

-The way I see it, you weren't concentrating.

-You weren't.

-No.

-Very up and down. Up and down.

One minute brilliant, the next minute I can't count on you.

I'm giving you another chance, OK?

Grab your bag and go down the corridor. Well done.

I'm so glad that he's put me through. So glad.

I honestly thought I was going out today.

Honestly.

You've got a heck of a lot going for you - a heck of a lot.

You're a hard worker,

but I think that your vocation is pastry.

I shall remember that chocolate mousse for a heck of a long time.

-So I'm afraid, Rebecca, you're out.

-Mm-hm.

But when you do open your pastry shop,

-I'm expecting an invitation.

-All right.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Thanks, Chef.

-Unlucky today.

Very unlucky.

It has been absolutely incredible.

Hopefully, in ten to 15 years' time, I'll have my own chocolate and ice cream parlour

like I've always wanted and, yeah, it would be amazing.

So hopefully.

From starting this competition to now,

there's been so much I've managed to pick up and learn,

it's been quite amazing, really.

I've learned loads, so, so much,

and I don't want it to stop - I want to learn some more.

I want to carry on learning.

What's really pleasing for me is that I can see a step forward.

I can see they're all marching on.

Next time, Michel, Theo Randall and Tom Kitchin

finally choose their proteges.

Put your heart and soul into it.

This is make or break today, yeah?

I'm looking forward to this.

Mm!

It's not an easy decision. It really isn't.

Mm.

Before they all come to London to compete,

judged by their very own grand mentors.

This is simply the biggest moment of your cooking career.