Michael O'Hare Yes Chef

Four of the best chefs in Britain are on the hunt

for their perfect partner,

because for the first time ever,

amateur home cooks will be paired with the best in the business

for the cooking experience of a lifetime.

She's stirring the mousse, why would she do that?!

Why would you do that?!

Each day a different Michelin-starred chef

will choose their perfect partner from four talented home cooks.

No-one's looking for Picasso on a plate... Yeah.

I just want something that looks like I want to eat it.

Then, in the Friday final, all four pairs will go head-to-head

to cook for culinary royalty Pierre Koffmann.

'There is only two type of cooking,'

bad cooking and good cooking.

For the professional chefs, their reputations are on the line.

Bring in the home cooks!

For the amateur home cooks,

they're about to be put to the test by the country's finest.

I don't like watching this. LAUGHTER

I don't want to watch it. But who will win?

This is Yes, Chef.

Hello and welcome to Yes, Chef. Let's meet today's four home cooks.

First it's Gabi Margiotta, a waitress from Southport.

I've got a great skill to ignore mess, I just cook

'in absolute chaos.'

I don't think I've put the timer on right.

Oh.

Next is Andy Rice, an electrician from Widnes.

Strengths in the kitchen, I think, kind of a willingness to sort of

experiment and try new techniques and ways of cooking.

'I love all of the crazy cooking methods and techniques

'that we see nowadays.'

Kill him with butter.

Karen Birchall is an agricultural solicitor from Norfolk.

With a well-stocked kitchen, I can pretty much pull anything out

of the fridge or the freezer and just throw it together.

It takes a lot of arm energy.

And, finally, Chris Watson is an IT consultant from Manchester.

I like to cook with different, you know, Italian, Spanish, French...

'Mainly rustic dishes, but with lots and lots of flavour.'

Unusual.

Hi, guys, welcome to the show. So, we have our four home cooks.

All we need now is our chef, it's Michael O'Hare.

The uber-talented Michael O'Hare is famed for his bonkers

but brilliant dishes, such as sea urchin bolognese

and potato custard.

My style of food is quite modern,

'it's quite stark and simple, but also striking in presentation.'

Having trained at the world-renowned Noma in Denmark,

Michael's bold menus and creative combinations

saw his restaurant, The Man Behind The Curtain,

win its first Michelin star in just 12 months.

I like the kitchen to be calm.

'I hate to see lack of control in the kitchen,

'I like things steady,'

controlled and confident.

He cooks with military precision, but takes his inspiration from music

and the arts, and has entertainment at the heart of everything he does.

I'm looking for someone who can follow instruction

and can work clean.

In the kitchen, cleanliness is next to godliness and that's what

I want to see from the amateur cooks.

Prawns are ready. Can I pick up?

Hi, Michael, welcome to the show. Thank you, pleasure to be here.

Oh, it's good to have you here.

So, today isn't about just one of these cooks winning you over,

it's about you picking your perfect partner for the Friday final.

So, what are you looking for, Michael?

Today, ultimately, I'm looking for a great-tasting dish.

See a little bit of finesse in the presentation

and cleanliness in the way we work, the way we cook.

But, ultimately, it's all about the flavour, the way it tastes.

OK, well, let's get on with it, then. This is round one - Dish Of The Day.

Home cooks, you're going to prepare one dish that you feel will

set you apart from the rest and I'm going to leave it to you now, Chef.

OK, cooks, are you ready to go? AMATEURS: Yes, Chef.

I can't hear you, say it to me louder!

AMATEURS: Yes, Chef! Thank you.

So, our cooks are off and with someone destined to leave at the end

of this round, impressing Michael is crucial, because no-one

wants to go home. Electrician Andy already has a grand plan.

Kill him with butter.

There's only 45 minutes on the clock, so the pressure is on.

Oh, sugar.

Hi, Gabi. Hi. How are you getting on? All right so far.

So, what are you making?

Today I'm doing a cod loin

served on a bed of cannellini bean mash

with a salsa verde and then, like, a little gremolata

sort of pangrattato to go on top

with some samphire and then char-grilled tenderstem broccoli. Oh.

It sounds more now I'm saying it out loud. Cod's my favourite fish.

Oh. And how are you feeling about the amount of time

you've been given? It's fine, I think I put my timer on wrong,

so I'm not actually sure how long's gone and how much time

is left, but I think I'll be all right.

Now, you really like cooking, you come from a big Italian family,

don't you? Yes, I do. And you'd like to go into cooking as a profession?

I'd love to, yeah, it's better than waitressing anyway.

Well, good luck, we'll let you carry on. Thank you very much.

Hi, Andy. Hello, you OK? Yeah, how are you getting on?

Yeah, getting there, getting there. What are you making for us?

I'm going to try and do a rack of lamb with a pistachio crust,

a potato rosti, a nice jus made from lamb bones

and some spring seasonal vegetables.

In 45 minutes? I'm going to try me best, yeah.

And have you made this tonnes of times at home?

I've made it a few times, yeah, yeah. And what does your wife think?

She's fed up of lamb by now.

She'll be glad when this is over

so she can go back to eating normal food.

Excellent, it seems like a lot of work, though.

Yeah, it's a lot of work, we'll let you get on. Thank you.

Looking stressed there, calm down. Good luck. Cheers.

Hi, Karen, so what are you making?

I'm doing you a chicken supreme with lemon and mixed herbs and spices

with some chicken stuffed under the skin.

And then in here, we've got a chilli and tomato jam just bubbling down,

and seeing I'm short of time, I'm using sun-dried tomatoes.

Now, you breed your own chickens, don't you? Yes, I do.

I've got some beautiful white Brahmas

and some lovely gold Brahmas and a variety I use for the eggs

as well, Rhode Island Red.

Barnevelders, they have those lovely dark brown legs

with chocolate spots on.

You've got a real thing for chickens, haven't you?

I'm sorry, I'm gabbing away.

So does this one have a name or do you not get that personal with them?

I hope you're going to do it justice, anyway. Thank you.

Good luck. Good luck. Thanks very much.

Hi, Chris. Hi, Sheree. How are you getting on?

All right, OK. I think I've burnt me first lot of lardons,

so I'm on me second lot now. Oh, no. So, what are you making?

I'm making a pan-fried turbot with a petits pois a la francaise,

which is lettuce, peas and lots and lots of herbs,

and I'm also then topping that with some brown shrimps in a garlic

butter and then with some seasonal asparagus.

This sounds right up my street. Oh, does it? Oh-oh-oh.

I love fish, turbot's a beautiful fish. Petits pois a la francaise,

I love it, you know, as long as it's not burnt.

Yeah, if it's not burnt, it's even better, yeah.

Well, good luck, we'll let you carry on.

Thank you. It sounds delicious. Thank you.

So, as Chris starts his second set of lardons,

Karen is struggling with her home-made jam.

I want all these gubbins sitting on the top to be pushed through.

I want the goo, but without the seeds and the skins,

cos that's what I want to make my jam nice and thick and unctuous.

And that's not happening.

So, Michael, who's caught your eye at the minute?

First impressions, Gabriella's food seems organised,

but clean and fresh, so I'm excited to try that. What about Andy?

Andy seems to have given himself a lot to do.

It could be beautiful, because it's roast lamb, but it's maybe not

the most imaginative of all dishes.

I don't think it's going to stand out.

Is anyone worrying you at the moment?

Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about Karen,

she seems a little bit flustered and not perfectly in control.

The old-fashioned way, it takes a lot of arm energy.

On Friday they're going to be cooking my food and cooking with me,

so I need to know that I can work well with them and they can

work well as a team. Yeah, so

they've got to have the whole package. Exactly.

Ten minutes to go, guys, you have ten minutes.

Ten minutes left. Ahh! My fish.

With time running out, Gabi's got to pull out all the stops to get

her cod cooked and on the plate.

Michael is looking for great tasting food, but also some finesse in

the presentation.

So these last few minutes could make all the difference.

You really need to start thinking about getting your plates together.

Oh, why is this not going on?

Right, guys, that is it. Your time is up.

Please step away from your plates.

First to be judged is Gabi with her dish of the day.

Cod loin on a bed of cannellini mash,

served with tenderstem broccoli,

samphire and a salsa verde.

Hey, how are you feeling? So nervous. Shall we tuck in?

Proof's in the pudding, right? Yes.

Mm.

I love how light it is.

If anything slightly negative, I think the beans are maybe

a little bit low in salt. I would maybe just up the samphire amount.

Hm-mm. It looks beautiful, you worked very clean,

I was impressed with that.

I could see you were super-nervous, especially towards the end.

I don't think you've got any need to be,

I think it's a delicious plate of food.

Happy? Yeah, I'm sick of the sight of fish now.

I think nerves is nice, to be nervous is to be motivated. Yeah.

And you're only nervous because you care, and if you can manage that,

And you're only nervous because you care, and if you can manage that,

then it's a quality worth having, but if you're a shaking wreck,

then you're not... It's going to worry you.

There's going to be food everywhere, which might not matter.

I think the best thing was that he never spat it out

and he swallowed it and he enjoyed it.

They said that they liked the fresh flavours, so I'm pleased.

Next to be judged is Andy with his dish of the day.

Rack of lamb with a pistachio crust,

potato rosti, spring seasonal vegetables and a lamb jus.

Hello. You OK? How are you? I've been better.

THEY LAUGH How do you feel about it?

The lamb, when I've been practising the dish has been

a little smaller, and I managed to get the lamb to stand up nice

on the rosti so it looked a little bit better and also

the cooking of the lamb, I think the lamb needed a little longer.

Right, shall we tuck in? Do you want to sauce me up?

Do I want to sauce you up?! THEY LAUGH

Andy, I actually think the lamb's cooked right. Yeah? Wow.

I'd have probably gone a little thinner on the rosti,

I think the beauty of a rosti is to

have that nice crispiness on the outside, but

it's a little bit mushy. Right.

I think you could have had maybe more sauce and a little bit thicker,

so we can get it to coat everything on it, so it can coat

your rosti and things like that.

But I think the lamb's cooked beautifully.

It's a roast dinner, so it should be quite heavy and it's not, and

I think that's great, I think that's really on point.

Good stuff. Brilliant.

Do you mind if we try a bit? No, please.

That's exactly how I would want lamb cooked. That's lovely. Cool.

It went OK. A few elements I wasn't quite pleased with that I would

have maybe done differently next time. It was just maybe

a bigger piece of lamb that altered the cooking times that I didn't

take into account, so lesson learnt.

So, obviously, it's all about the final on Friday. Yeah.

And you've, literally, not got any time, really,

to mould someone to how you want them to be.

Thanks for reminding me of that.

But it's quite a challenge, isn't it? Yes, definitely.

but, I think, as long as people have a basic understanding of cooking,

if you can manage that and they get the right ingredients and

a quick briefing on how it's going to go, then it should be all right.

Time for Karen with her dish of the day - supreme of chicken

stuffed with taleggio cheese,

served with Moroccan-inspired quinoa,

aubergine and mozzarella stacks and a chilli and tomato jam.

How are you feeling now? Very nervous. Oh, still nervous.

I'm sorry, I'm not great at presentation.

I would have liked my jam to have been a little bit thicker.

I know you can make tomato jam set, because I've got pots of it at home

which are so set, you can cut it like a cheese.

That sounds awful, like a cheese?

Tomato, no... You know you've got jams, jellies and cheeses...

It's set like a cheese, a fruit cheese. OK.

Well, let's tuck in. Definitely.

There's a nice spice to the jam and I do like a bit of a kick

with food.

I think everything is cooked quite nicely. With the chicken,

I probably would have separated the wing from the breast, I would

cook my wings differently to how I'd cook my breasts.

The presentation is not amazing...

But it does taste good. Thank you. So, how did it go?

Well, as predicted, presentation ain't great, which I knew.

That jam's so good, in 45 minutes. Do you like it? Yeah, it's lovely.

So, if that was your dish, how would you present it?

That wouldn't be my dish. It wouldn't?

No!

You know, chicken's nice,

it's not my style of cooking, but I like the heat.

I just think, for me, no-one is looking for Picasso on a plate,

I just want something that looks nice

and looks like I want to eat it,

whereas the look of that, it's a little complicated, a little...

Too much going on? Yeah, exactly.

And, finally, it's Chris with his dish of the day,

pan-fried turbot with petits pois a la francaise

and asparagus, served with brown shrimps in a garlic butter.

How are you feeling, are you glad that's... I am now, yeah,

it was very nerve-racking to start off with, I just hope it's...

it meets your expectations. Let's...let's see.

I like petits pois a la francaise. With the herbs, it's fragrant,

I think you've really achieved that, it's really nice, delicious.

Thank you. I think the presentation, the cleanest of today.

Especially, like, the attention to detail on the tips

of your asparagus there.

They're all exactly the same size. So, really, really beautiful.

There's not really anything negative I can say about it.

Wow, that's brilliant. I enjoyed it, it's exactly the kind of food

I like to eat and I think you executed it really well. Thank you.

CHRIS SIGHS Well done. So, yeah, so proof's

in the pudding. Let's try. Can we? Yeah. Thank you.

'I was absolutely, you know,'

made up with the comments, especially coming from a chef...

a Michelin-starred chef, it was fantastic.

That's lovely, the pancetta's nice.

That's because that lot's not burnt, the first lot got burnt.

So the first lot was all black and charred, you know, so...

I felt for you.

He understands detail, the asparagus really...

You know, to get that. Yeah.

And to have that it's not just peeled,

it's kind of turned at the end and it looks beautiful.

The best thing is that he made a mistake and he rectified it.

I think that is to be applauded, so I think he's done really well.

Michael is looking for someone who can work cleanly,

deliver great flavours and show some finesse.

For one of our home cooks, it's time to leave the competition.

Some of the contestants were able to do a great deal

in a short amount of time, which is important to me,

but then maybe presentation is not so good and some are really neat

on presentation, but not quite there on flavour.

It's difficult.

'I think with the time that I had'

I did as much as I could do, so I'm happy.

I'm relatively pleased with how I've done, but I'm up against some

very good home cooks, so we'll see.

The other plates on the table looked absolutely gorgeous, like

little works of art. Mine didn't.

I just hope now that it's enough to get into the next round.

So, have you made your decision?

Yes. Oh, OK, well, let's go tell them the news.

Well done, everyone.

As you know, only three of you can make it through to the next

challenge, and Michael has made his decision.

So, it's over to you, Chef.

Today has been a great standard of cooking,

I was impressed with every single one of you. Certainly, within

that 45-minute time slot, I think you all did really well.

Unfortunately, I do have to send one person home at this early stage

and I have made that decision.

The person I'm sending home...

..is Karen.

Well done, Karen. Give us a hug, you did extremely well.

My food tasted good, I know it tasted good...

Obviously, the taste isn't necessarily everything.

If it's about looks rather than taste and substance of the food,

then fine, so be it.

So, that leaves three home cooks, they are waitress Gabi,

electrician Andy and IT consultant Chris.

Round two, it's the chef's challenge.

Now, in this challenge Michael has devised a skills test to determine

which one of our home cooks has what he's looking for.

So, Michael what have you cooked up for us?

So, today for the skills test, it's something really, really simple.

It's just scrambled eggs on toast, it's something that everyone makes

kind of every day.

But I think the key to it and what I'm looking for

is the seasoning and the consistency of the eggs,

how you treat those eggs, so what you can do with something

so basic and how well you can make it taste.

We'll do three eggs in this. Just start them off.

And add a little bit of salt early on.

Bit of oil over the top of your bread, nice, hot griddle pan.

I like to use double cream in my scrambled egg.

On a decent slurp.

I cook with a little bit of oil and a little bit of butter.

Oil, so the butter doesn't burn at too high a temperature,

butter for flavour.

Then once your fat's dissolved, add the eggs in.

Why have you picked scrambled eggs as your challenge? It's something...

that's got a big variable on it,

I think there's quite a lot of margin for kind of error with it.

So, do you like your scrambled eggs runny? I like them, you know,

like a perverse omelette, I like a little bit of consistency to it,

but I do like a run also.

I tend not to use a whisk so much, because I like the bigger pieces

of egg floating about.

Just a real, steady heat on it,

so we don't end up with them horrible kind of burnt brown bits

on the bottom of the pan.

Which is probably what I do at home.

Always scraping the pan afterwards. In your microwave.

No, I don't micro... You put a pan in the microwave?

No, I don't, I'm not that bad.

So not too runny.

But not over.

Super-simple.

Wouldn't add pepper? You just use salt when you season?

I don't use pepper at all.

I think pepper is a really strange thing.

You know, there's salt in your blood naturally,

so it makes sense to use salt with your cooking.

Pepper adds heat to something, so unless you want it hot,

I see no reason to add pepper.

So I think there's nicer ways to get heat into food.

So you're welcome to taste the scrambled eggs.

It is very much scrambled eggs, it's not too high in salt,

you can still taste a little bit of the egg,

that's how I, personally, like to eat them.

It's lovely, it's really creamy.

Yeah, it's very light and...

Like you say, the key is the seasoning, and it's bang on.

So, you all know what you need to do?

AMATEURS: Yes, Chef. Excellent.

Oh.

Our cooks have just ten minutes to make the perfect scrambled eggs.

Whilst Michael is looking for someone with natural flair,

he also needs to know they can follow instructions and is

watching closely for any mistakes.

In this round, even the simplest ingredients can pose a challenge.

Yo, Chris, how you getting on?

This toast seems to be smoking quite a lot, so...

Remember, you've got ten minutes to do something really simple,

so you've got a chance to do it again,

you don't want to cook it too quickly. That's true. Thanks.

Nice and controlled.

So, taking Michael's advice, it's back to square one for Chris.

Meanwhile, Gabi's struggling with her oil.

Can I borrow your oil?

I can't get the lid off mine.

Thanks.

How we doing, Chef?

Getting there, we're getting there.

Do you like scrambled eggs?

I'm not too fussed on a sort of underdone egg, shall we say?

I don't eat a great deal,

but I haven't had a masterclass on how to cook a good scrambled egg.

They weren't underdone. Well, it was rather nice.

It was cooked nicely. Yeah.

I'm just messing with you!

Gabriella, how are you getting on?

Good so far, had a little incident with the oil,

couldn't get the lid off, but we're all good now.

Pan's hot enough? Yeah, I'd say so.

Yeah, sorted. We're on a roll. Brand-new oil.

It seems really harsh that someone is actually going to leave

the competition based on scrambled eggs.

Yeah, that's quite a lot to deal with.

It's such a simple task, but it can go wrong,

there are variables with simplicity.

And, I think, when judging this it would be unfair just to base it

on the scrambled eggs, I will be thinking about

how they did in the first round also.

Hopefully not a lot can go wrong. No, you'd think not.

You'd think not. And if it does,

they'll never cooked scrambled eggs again. Yes.

Michael wants to see perfectly seasoned eggs with exactly

the right consistency.

One minute, guys. One minute left.

These times are killing me off.

Come on, Gabi, get those eggs on the plate.

And with Gabi once again racing to the finish, time is running out.

Come on, Gabriella.

Time's up.

Let's taste them eggs.

Well done, guys.

I mean, it's a small challenge with huge consequences,

because one of you will be leaving us.

Oh, I wouldn't like your job right now.

First up, Chris.

The thing I like about you, Chris, is when you make a mistake,

you correct it. Yeah.

You see it and you do something about it and you

don't flap over it and, I think, that's essential,

certainly given the context of the Friday final.

We need to be able to fix things if they go wrong.

It's made my job a little bit easier.

You're through to the next stage. Well done.

Oh.

Between the two of them, there's so little in it and, also,

actually, with your first dishes, both completely different.

Both actually really delicious.

Like, I really enjoyed both of your cooking.

So, I've got a decision, but it's just based on who I think

has the confidence to possibly go into that Friday final

and not let the nerves get the better of them.

So, Andy I'll be taking you to the next stage.

Well done. Congratulations. Gabi, I'm really sorry.

I'm absolutely devastated that I'm not going through,

but at the end of the day it is a competition and someone had to go.

So, just two cooks remain, IT consultant Chris

and electrician Andy, but only one can join Michael

in the Friday final.

So, this is the third and final round,

the Chef's Special. Now, our two finalists will be given

a set of ingredients to one of Michael's signature dishes.

So, the aim of this challenge is to see what you two can make with

the same set of ingredients.

You'll get to see what Michael makes a bit later on.

So, for everyone at home, here's today's ingredients.

Michael's chosen 15-year-old Galician dairy cow beef rib,

olives...

..quails eggs, green olive powder, black olive powder,

xanthan gum, a thickening agent,

won-ton wrappers

and lardo.

Easy enough for a Michelin-starred chef,

but what on earth will our home cooks think?

Right, guys, so this is it, this is your last chance to prove to

Michael that you're his greatest hope for victory on Friday.

Now, he can only choose one of you and he really wants to win,

don't you, Michael? Yes, Chef.

Right, so good luck, you've got one hour and your time starts now.

Oh, my days.

So, the clock is ticking and this is the first time our home cooks

have seen these ingredients, but will they know where to start?

Can I just say, first of all, if I was given those set of ingredients,

I would literally bolt for the door!

You have got to know your stuff in order to identify some of it.

Definitely. But I think, you know, safety first,

and if you're not confident with those things,

then maybe the answer is just a perfectly cooked steak.

Maybe you get points for that, you know? OK.

Or you could be creative and mess it up. There's not a lot there.

No, there is very little. Then, wait until they see what you are doing.

And how they compare.

I just hope it's not better than mine.

The ingredients I would have loved would have been

maybe a potato, some garlic and some vegetables.

But then, I am sort of drifting back into me old roasts,

so I think it is good to step outside the comfort zone

and see what you can come up with.

Michael will probably make a gateau or something amazing,

so I really can't wait, I just want to get this out of the way

so I can see what Michael's got to do.

Andy. I'm very sorry.

I used to like you.

Oh, are you stressed? Yeah.

Have you identified all the ingredients?

Yeah, I know about the olives and we know about the xanthan gum,

and I think this is some kind of dried olive tapenade of some sort.

OK, what are you going to do?

A little bit of a nod towards a lasagne, but with some quail eggs.

I want to try and roast the rib of beef and somehow get

some nice cuts off it, layer it in between the sheets of...stuff.

'The "stuff" is won-ton wrappers, best served deep-fried,

'but whether our cooks know that is another question.'

Good luck. Thank you, I'm going to need it.

How are we feeling? Well, where do I start?

Some of the ingredients I am obviously

a little bit not familiar with, but what I'm going to do is,

because I have got this time,

a little bit of trial and error.

What are you going to do?

Well, I might just go for something as simple as steak and eggs.

I'm just going to try and keep it quite simple

but quite effective. Yep. OK.

So I have got me meat, I have seared it and it's in the oven,

so maybe I will decide something from there, as we go along.

Oh, good. Thank you. Well, good luck. Thank you.

(So what do you think of what they are making?

(Let's start with Andy.)

With Andy, I like his train of thought.

He is thinking of what is possible and he's not playing it safe,

which is quite nice, quite interesting.

He's taking a bit of a risk. Yeah.

If he feels comfortable in it,

it could work out really well for him. Yeah.

Not sure it will work with the pastry,

cooking it the way he wants to cook it.

Right. And what about Chris?

Chris, I'm not entirely sure what he's doing.

But I don't think Chris is either,

so I think Chris might be the one that just cooks us a nice steak,

and that could be a nice juxtaposition - we have got

someone who has played it super-safe and someone that has taken a risk.

It's about which is the better dish at the end of it,

and I am not looking to see someone replicate what they think

I'm going to do or second-guess what I'm going to do,

I just want to see them use some ingredients and cook it nicely.

But it is difficult! SO difficult.

I can't tell you, I would probably cry.

So cruel. I think Andy is.

And with time ticking,

Andy's getting all wrapped up in his won ton.

It's like trying to handle a fish, very slippy.

I have boiled it, I have fried it

and now I'm going to roast it and see how it behaves.

HE CHUCKLES

So, whilst Andy spends time experimenting with his "stuff",

Chris commits to making olive ravioli.

It's either going to be a failure or...

Just to let you know, guys, you have got ten minutes.

LAUGHING: I've only got one left.

This is the last chance for our home cooks to prove to Michael

that they are his perfect partner for the Friday final.

Unusual.

You really need to start thinking about

getting your plates together. OK.

'And with time running out,

'Andy is having second thoughts about his sauce.'

Right, that's it, time is up.

HE EXHALES

It's time to taste.

First up, it's Andy.

He has made a deconstructed beef lasagne with quail's eggs

and a dusting of olive powder.

Hello.

Tell us what you have made.

"A bloody mess", I think I'm going to give it the title.

Aw, no.

Erm, I was a little bit out of me depth with the ingredients

and knowledge of what to actually do with them.

So all I was thinking was, what if it was like a sort of pasta,

so layered the pasta with some of the nice rib of beef

and then seasoned it with the tapenade,

and attempted some soft-boiled quail's eggs.

So when you pulled back the tea towel to reveal the ingredients,

what was your thoughts?

"Is this a joke?"

No. I was waiting for another tray with potatoes.

No, I thought, "What a challenge."

Bit of fear, but a bit of excitement as to what I could actually

get stuck in and try and create.

I saw you were quite stressed with that, right?

Yeah, just chasing the pasta round the table.

OK, shall we have a taste? Yeah, sure.

First thoughts, Andy - the beef is actually cooked very nice.

It is a little dry.

Although you haven't got loads of ingredients for a sauce,

there is juice that comes off that steak,

and some of that basting liquor from the pan...

It caught in the pan, so I thought,

"I'm not adding to me tales of woe",

so I just thought I'd best leave it off. What a shame.

Well, it's better to not serve it. Yeah, yeah.

So are you going to tell him what actually this is?

That's won-ton pastry. Won-ton pastry? Right, OK.

Won-ton pastry is traditionally kind of deep-fried,

which you could have done in a pan or in a fryer.

You know, I shallow-fried it, I didn't deep-fry it.

I was going to say, you did everything possible.

I tried everything with it just to see what I got

the best results with, then I saw the time was running out,

so I just had to revert back to the good old slimy pasta.

It's such a limited amount of borderline-useless ingredients,

that's where the skill comes out, and you've got a plate of food

up to us that tastes nice, it doesn't taste awful. Yeah.

Looks awful. No, it doesn't! No, it does.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

He said it was edible, so...

I managed to get a plate of food on the tray, so... On the pass.

That was good enough for me.

And now I know it was won tons.

Won ton...

Last into the tasting room is Chris.

He's made pan-fried steak served with boiled quail's eggs,

olive ravioli and a beef and lardo reduction.

How are you feeling? Exhausted, really.

When I lifted the tea towel up and looked at the ingredients,

I was scratching me head for the first few minutes, thinking,

"Oh, my gosh, what do I do with some of them?"

But I have tried to make as best as what I can, you know.

Ready to tuck in? Yeah, yeah. OK.

There is stones in the olives. Ah. Yeah. How do we eat the ravioli?

Er... Did you think about taking them out or...?

I did, but then I just thought it might have took too long.

Yeah. You can't... Yeah.

You can't get into it, you know.

Unless you're a woodpecker.

Yeah, the beef is a little over, as you can see,

the kind of grey gradient here.

So you've always got to underplay it a little bit,

cos you can never un-cook it, but you can always... Got you.

You can always go back for more.

But the eggs are cooked perfect. Look at that. Wow. Well done.

Thank you. Really, really nice.

What I would say is, I really like that you have put

this reduction through so it has got a flavour to it.

And I really think those stones have let you down. I know.

Because that...bang-on.

Mm-hmm.

I made a fundamental error with the stones in the olives,

I think I pulled back, though, with using a beef dripping reduction

on top of the pasta.

So that seemed to pull it back - hopefully.

Can't do no more now. No. It's all done.

Just wait and see what happens. Yep.

So with the final challenge complete, it's just left

for Michael to choose his partner between our two home cooks.

Bizarrely, Andy is, like,

100% on track to where I'm going with that dish. Really? 100%.

He's used the eggs but he's omitted the olives,

and I think it really could have done with some juice.

Definitely. Super-dry.

And what about Chris? Chris...

I think it's such a shame.

You've been given something that you physically can't eat. Yeah.

It's a massive error.

But I do like that he used everything and he didn't

take a short cut, he put a lot of work into it.

If the stones hadn't been in and the steak was a little bit under...

It would have been good. Yeah, it would have been good. OK.

But, before Michael announces the winner,

it's time to reveal what he makes with those ingredients.

So come on, then, show us what you're made of.

So, Andy, you weren't actually far off. I'm going to make a lasagne.

I'm going to make a lasagne with the beef,

so we have got a 15-year-aged retired Galician dairy cow.

So do you get this beef from someone special?

Erm, yeah, Galicia!

LAUGHING: I mean... Sorry!

The butcher(!) Sorry!

Erm...

So the olives I have pitted earlier.

LAUGHTER To save time.

And we're going to juice them.

Then we have got the olive juice.

And then the powder, a xanthan gum, a thickening agent,

that we can just add to that.

So something like a cornflour or something like that would...?

Yeah, a cornflour you'd have to cook, and we're not cooking. Right.

See there, we have got the thickened juice. Oh, wow, yeah.

Beef tartare is raw, so why are you...?

Beef tartare is raw, it's just...

There is a lot of bacteria in the outside of the meat,

so we are going to cook that first

and remove it afterwards, just to make sure it is safe to eat.

So then, just remove the fat from it.

And put the fat back into that pan.

Sorry, am I getting you? Have you? Yeah, I'm covering you.

I should have a pinny on, shouldn't I?

The won-tons, we're just going to deep-fry them,

so we'll just throw them in.

Be nice just as crisps, wouldn't they? Bottle of beer.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

So now, ignoring that, I'm just going to slice,

we've got a block of frozen fat, or lardo, back fat from the pig.

This is salted and cured. Sounds disgusting, doesn't it?

HE LAUGHS I didn't like to say.

SHEREE LAUGHS

So I think we've got just about enough fat out of that.

I'll just pass that off to get rid of any impurities.

So then, with the beef...

You can see it's still completely raw.

Then finally, you have got the quail's eggs.

And I'm going to use them just as a fried egg.

So now we get me oil,

that we have rendered down to try and get super-hot.

You see, it starts to, like... Yeah. ..seal the beef on the plate.

And then a layer of the won ton,

just with a little bit of the lardo.

And we build our second.

Just melt that down. Where did you learn to cook?

In restaurants, so I didn't decide I wanted to be a chef,

or come to terms with the fact I wanted to be a chef

until quite late on. Didn't you used to dance when you were younger?

Yeah, thanks, Sheree(!) LAUGHTER

Just thought I'd mention it.

The olive juice we've just put on the top there, like a bechamel.

The fried egg, nice on top. Just the olive powder.

So there you have it - beef and olive tartare lasagne.

It's fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Why didn't I think of that?

Can we try it now? Please do. Right, OK, let's tuck in.

It's as good as it looks. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, that's fantastic. The olives is gorgeous. Really good.

So, Michael, it's crunch time...

Yep. ..time to pick your winner.

But before we do, let's have a quick recap of what our cooks made.

In the first round,

Andy impressed Michael with his speed and efficiency,

making a tasty roast in only 45 minutes.

He scraped through with his scrambled eggs and then

pushed himself out of his comfort zone with a brave attempt

at a deconstructed lasagne.

It doesn't taste awful. Looks awful.

No, it doesn't. No, it does.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

I'll be ecstatic if I win, cos I've come this far now,

so obviously that will be the icing on the cake.

Or the icing on the won ton!

Meanwhile, Chris impressed Michael with his presentation and flavours

in the first round, stormed ahead with his scrambled eggs,

but tripped up on challenge three by overcooking his beef

and leaving stones in his olive ravioli.

You can't get into it.

Unless you're a woodpecker.

If I win this and go to the next stage, it'd just be fantastic.

So our cooks have completed three challenges, but who do you think

has what it takes to join you on the Friday final?

Gents, this has been incredibly difficult.

It's so close it's unbelievable, so I really struggled with it.

But at the end I've got to be selfish about it and pick who I feel

I can work with and can withstand the pressure of working

when I'm not there. I can't tell you how tight it was!

But the person I'm taking through on Friday...

..is Chris. Well done, Chris. Congratulations.

Congratulations! Commiserations.

I'd like to go all the way and obviously win on Friday,

so...just fingers crossed.

The experience has been amazing,

to put food in front of a Michelin-star chef and have him

taste it and critique it, and to also taste one of his dishes

has been the chance of a lifetime.

You don't get many opportunities like that.

And how are you feeling? Quite numb actually, now.

Obviously I won't let you down. Friday's a new day,

we need to focus and just make sure

we don't let that happen. Right, Chef.

Tomorrow on Yes, Chef - four more home cooks go all-out

to impress super-chef Stephen Terry.

You've got to cook these egg yolks,

they're not going to cook in thin air.

It's a chance for them to work with the best in the business.

I can't remember if he put... When he put salt and pepper in.

But only one can become his partner for the Friday final.

Argh. Agh!