Aiden Byrne Yes Chef

Four of the best chefs in Britain

are on the hunt for their perfect partner.

For the first time ever,

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

the cooking experience of a lifetime.

Mash the spuds!

Each day, a different Michelin-starred chef will choose

their perfect partner from four talented home cooks.

I need to think about the person I'm going to take with me

cos I want to win.

Then, in the Friday final,

all four pairs will go head-to-head to cook for culinary royalty

Pierre Koffmann.

What I look for, for the perfect dish,

is to keep it simple and tasty.

The professional chefs' reputations are on the line.

Bring the home cooks in!

But will the amateur home cooks live up to their expectations?

This is Yes Chef.

Hello and welcome to Yes Chef.

Let's meet today's four home cooks.

First, it's Sarah Alkin.

She's a customer team member for a supermarket chain in Kelso.

I am anally tidy.

I don't like anybody in the kitchen with me

because I'm a bit of a control freak.

I never make this much mess in the kitchen.

This is disgraceful for me.

I really want to win this - really badly.

Next, it's Eugene Rangayah, an IT consultant from Wilmslow.

Based on the fact that I usually concoct stuff,

working to exact measurements is one of my key weaknesses.

That's much better now.

All I know is that I love cooking

and I love people appreciating my food.

Steve Baldwin from Blackburn is an art tutor.

My strengths are...I'm very clean,

I follow instructions and I'm pretty good at chopping.

Just a case of keep stirring.

I want to get through the heats today and then get to that final.

And, finally, Suzy Blyth is a shop owner from Wigan.

I've got a six-year-old

and I've cooked too much children's food the last six years.

Just hope it's not too wacky.

I absolutely love just getting everything out of the fridge

that is going off and, va-va-voom, a little bit of magic wand.

Welcome to the show, guys.

So we have our four home cooks.

All we need now is our chef.

He was awarded his first Michelin star at the age of just 22.

It's Aiden Byrne.

Aiden Byrne has worked in some of the best restaurants in Britain for

the last 20 years.

As a protege of Tom Akins,

he's developed a love of classical cooking but with a modern twist.

One of my main focal points

are really strong flavours and traditional marriages.

He began his career working for free in a hotel kitchen and is

always striving for perfection.

After just four years in the business,

he became head chef and, at the age of 22, was the youngest person ever

to win a Michelin star.

Qualities I'm looking for in a home cook are a

good sense of taste, a little bit of common sense

and someone with a real passion for food.

Any competition you enter, you want to win it.

Give me the right person, there's no doubt about it, I will win this competition.

Welcome to the show, Aiden. We're over the moon to have you here.

Thank you very much. I'm very excited to be here.

Good. So our four home cooks are going to be doing everything they

can to impress you as one of them will be joining you

on the Friday final. What are you going to be looking for today?

I'm a real stickler for classical flavour combinations, marriages,

so I don't want to see anything too far out there.

I want to see well thought out dishes, clean flavours,

stuff that's going to really stand out.

Well, let's get on with it.

This is round one - dish of the day.

Now, cooks, in this round,

you are going to be preparing the one dish that you feel

sets you apart from the rest.

Are you ready? ALL: Yes, Chef.

So, our cooks are off and,

with someone destined to leave at the end of this round,

impressing Aiden is crucial because no-one wants to go home.

There is only 45 minutes on the clock but art tutor Steve

is already feeling confident.

Hopefully, I'll have a taste sensation.

Hi, Sarah. Hiya.

How are you getting on? Not too bad, thank you.

How are the nerves?

OK. What are you making first?

I'm making a Venetian fish soup.

I had it in Venice on my honeymoon.

Oh, lovely. With everything that's in front of me here,

including the cod and the prawns,

this is the dish I'm probably most excited about, just because of it's

classic, putting something like this up in front of Pierre Koffmann,

that excites me, so...

Thank you. Brilliant.

Added pressure.

Good luck. Thank you.

Bit nervous but, apart from that, I'm OK.

The only thing that could go wrong is the fish overcooked.

It just needs a bit of love.

Hi, Eugene, you all right? Good to see you. Good, thanks.

Are you excited? Yes, very, very.

It's obviously a curry.

I'm originally from South Africa, so I've taken a spin on the curry from there. Right, OK.

I added my own twist to it, so it's more flavoursome,

not too much of heat.

Is the lamb going to be served pink or is it going to be well done?

It's a curry, so it's going to be well done. OK.

And then cucumber, just as a cooler if the curry is a bit spicy.

Do you get nervous or do you feel nervous?

Right now, yes, probably, I do.

I guess, you, know, normally I'm caught up in my kitchen.

With a glass of wine on the go, no doubt. Yeah, absolutely.

A glass of wine works perfectly.

OK, well, good luck.

We'll let you carry on. I'm excited.

Thank you. Perfect.

Just going to cover it up,

so it aids the cooking process because of the time.

Hi, Stephen. Are you all right?

Good, how are you?

I'm good, yes. I'm good.

Good smells already.

Lovely strong flavours there.

That's what I'm hoping to have, a lot of flavour.

You're making risotto. Are you going to cook it the classical way?

Keep on stirring it, get that creaminess going?

I got told to stir it in the same direction.

OK, OK. Cos if you stir the other way,

you're stirring the starch back in.

I don't know if that's a myth or if someone told me and laughed at me.

The whole point of it is the rice is smashing against each other,

so the more it smashes against each other,

the more starch it releases. So I've never heard that one but, you know,

I'll bow down to that.

I'll bring that up with the person who told me after this.

You serving anything with the risotto or is it just...?

I'm going to thinly slice ciabatta, just drizzle it with olive oil,

and then just rub a bit of garlic on the top.

Your hands look like they're shaking there. Are you nervous?

I wasn't until you said you were more excited with the other dish.

Oh, well, we'll let you carry on. All right.

All the very best. Yep.

And finally it's a chance for shop owner Suzy to wow chef Aiden.

Hi, Suzy. Hello.

Hi.

Wow!

There's a lot going on here, obviously.

Basically, I'm doing venison on a bed of chorizo

and blackberries with some hazelnuts,

so a little bit of a strange combination but it works.

So are you quite an experimental cook?

Very much so. Sometimes it works and...

Well, good luck. Exciting. ..sometimes it doesn't.

Look forward to tasting it. Thank you.

This is one of the main ingredients - pretty spicy chilli powder.

Some people will pour all the stock in at once and then cook it

in the oven, but I think you can manage the creaminess more

through stirring it in the pan.

Whose dish excites you the most at the moment?

There's three very classical dishes,

very classical dishes,

and almost quite safe, and then there's the wild card.

Suzy. When I saw all the ingredients, I thought, "Oh, my God,

"it's going to be a nightmare."

But I'm quite excited by it.

But, at the same time, if he nails that risotto,

"See you later, everybody else."

If she nails that soup, again, "See you later." Yeah.

And the same with the curry.

He taught me something there. I said, "How are you going to cook it? Is it going to be medium rare?"

He went, "No, it's a curry, so it's going to be well done." Duh!

Risotto is a risotto,

but I'm intrigued serving it with fried bread.

I would've put a breast of chicken or something like that.

Fish, in my opinion, is one of the hardest to cook

because you've got about a seven-second window

where it can be cooked to being overcooked.

Perfect.

But it's not the fish that is causing concerns in the kitchen.

It's such a fine art.

It's a couple of seconds between them being done and not quite done.

That smells good, Eugene.

I hope it's not overpowering because it can be a bit strong.

I'm just going to take it off for a bit.

Got more of a kick than my previous attempt, so...

And with the pressure building,

Suzy has nicked her finger with the knife.

I couldn't quite work the mandolin,

so I thought I'd be safer with a knife, but I wasn't.

Fortunately, I've got two hands.

Right, cooks, you have just two minutes left,

so you really need to start thinking about getting the food on the plate.

30 seconds, guys. If it's not on the plate, it won't be judged.

Five,

four,

three,

two, one.

Stop cooking and step away from your plates.

And breathe, and breathe.

But, in all the rush, Eugene's cooling cucumber has been forgotten.

First to be judged is Sarah with her dish of the day,

a Venetian fish soup.

A classic dish made with cod, mussels,

prawns and saffron served with crusty bread.

There you go. Perfect.

And are you happy with your dish?

As happy as I can be, yes.

Tuck in. Absolutely.

It's a lovely dish.

The chilli is just right. There's not too much chilli in there.

I think, by putting the prawns in,

you've taken them too far.

Yeah.

There's one thing missing...is a bit of body.

It's a bowl of flavoured water... Mm-hm.

..but it's gorgeous.

The flavour is beautiful. There's no disputing it. Thank you.

If you'd like to go back to the waiting room. Thank you.

We'll see you very shortly. Thanks very much. Well done. Thank you.

Just needed some substance,

maybe some potato or something, to maybe thicken it up a wee bit.

She looked a bit deflated.

I thought she was going to start crying.

The one thing that was missing in that dish,

to me, was some seasoning.

I cooked the prawns for too long. I shouldn't have put the prawns in when I did.

I should have just done the mussels.

That's lovely. Really nice.

Next to the tasting room is Eugene with his dish of the day -

lamb Durban curry with ginger, garlic,

mustard seeds and cumin served with a kale and spring onion Basmati rice

and garnished with coriander.

Did you enjoy that? It was enjoying.

OK, let's give it a go.

Here's hoping that you are.

I see you didn't have time to do the cucumber -

that's always a bit of a worry about that.

Tasting it now, those flavours are very calm

and they sit side-by-side,

and I have got no criticism about that whatsoever.

Excellent. Thank you. I'm very glad about that. None whatsoever.

It went better than I expected,

so I'm really, really pleased with that.

The food was great, but one thing that concerns me about Eugene...

is...is he a one-trick pony?

Right. OK. Does he just cook curries?

So we'll just wait and see, I guess.

To get that sort of flavour in 45 minutes, oh, it's gorgeous.

I mean, you'd marinate it for, like, a day or something.

Time for a Steve's dish of the day -

chorizo risotto with smoked paprika, chilli and Parmesan

accompanied with a char-grilled garlic ciabatta.

There you go.

The technique you brought up earlier about stirring it in one direction,

do think that's put you in good stead?

I changed it after I spoke to you.

I went anywhere. Did you?

OK, well, we'll see. Shall we have a taste? We'll see.

The chorizo has got a kick to it.

It's more spicier than I wanted it.

You should have tasted it before. Yeah.

There is that creamy texture there.

Just not quite enough. Just not...

It just hasn't hit the nail on the head, I think.

If anything's let you down in that dish, it's that.

I tasted it a lot and I was trying to get it off the heat,

so, as a result of that, I added a bit more stock.

So regrets are really not covering all bases.

And finally it's Suzy with her dish of the day -

a venison steak in orange juice and passion fruit vodka,

with deep-fried beetroot, carrots, chorizo,

blackberries, hazelnuts and asparagus.

How did you find that?

Terrifying.

OK, so shall we taste? Yeah, let's do it.

There is quite a medley of ingredients in there,

which, personally, I wouldn't put together.

Beetroot, orange, I get. The hazelnut, the chorizo...

But take the asparagus out of the equation and you've got...

..real, strong, harmonious collection of ingredients

there and it sits really well together, surprisingly enough.

Congratulations. Thank you.

He said I didn't need the asparagus.

There was a bit too much going on.

He liked it but he didn't know why he liked it.

It was a bit of a bizarre combination!

I think he was just, like, "Woman, you've thrown what on the plate?"

Whether I would take her and put her in front

of Pierre Koffmann is another matter. Right.

If we were to take her right to Friday,

will she try and do her own way of doing it? Yeah.

Maybe. I've got to think about that.

Yeah, OK.

Only three people can be taken through to the next round.

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

When I walked in and saw that list of ingredients,

I knew exactly who was going home.

Are you talking about Suzy? Yeah, Suzy, yeah.

I think he thought it was going to be absolutely awful...

but he looked pleasantly surprised.

And then I tasted the flavour combinations

and she almost got away with it.

But then three really classical dishes,

I could probably nurture them.

It was OK but what he brought up was what I expected, as well.

I want to get to the end, basically. It would be an honour to work with him. So, yeah, it would be great.

I think I definitely, definitely want to win...

A hell of a lot.

OK. OK? All right, let's go and speak to them.

Firstly, I'd like to say well done to everybody.

But, as you know, only three of you can proceed to the next challenge

and Aiden has made up his mind.

The dishes that you guys have all delivered today have been much

better than I expected them to be right across the board.

But the deciding factor is - can I mould this person to take them?

Cos I want to win.

Really sad to say that...

..Suzy, I think you cook from the heart -

I admire that - but are you too much of a wild card for me?

I'm really, really sorry. That's OK.

Aw, Suzy.

Well done. You should be very proud of yourself.

Very, proud of yourself.

Gutted, absolutely gutted.

I never do play safe.

I've never played safe in life,

so I could have chosen something easier maybe,

but it's not what I'm about.

You know, so, yeah, I'm the wild card.

So that leaves three home cooks.

They are customer team member Sarah, IT consultant Eugene

and art tutor Steve.

Time for round two - it's the chef's challenge.

In this challenge, Aiden has devised a test to determine which one of our

home cooks has the skills he is looking for.

So, Aiden, what's the challenge?

I'm making a bowl of soup here.

As I'm going along, I'm going to let you taste, taste, taste.

You're going to taste the difference as we add and take away ingredients.

The person who goes home is the person that under delivers

with regards to flavour.

OK? Yeah. First of all,

I need a base to carry them flavours.

For that, I'm going to use a shallot.

I'm going to put the chicken stock on,

so, when I pour my hot chicken stock over my soup,

it's automatically going to come up to boil.

Get my shallots in there...

little bit of thyme in there,

put the lid on, and then we'll do the eel.

It just peels away.

And then off with a flesh.

It's dead simple. Your knife just runs down the back.

All in there.

So the skin has gone in there and the bones. Release all the oils, yeah. Skin and the bones.

Now we're going to put in the apple.

Sliced apple. This will cook in seconds.

I'm going to put a little bit of the...

eel in now and that will give the soup a little bit of body.

In with the stock, in with the cream...

..and then we blend it.

You guys need to taste now.

OK, that's the eel that is the most predominant thing in there.

As we go on and season it, the apple will start coming through.

The smoked eel will have a slight element of saltiness to it.

We're not overly stressed with the salt.

Put a little bit of salt in

and I want you to have a little taste of this now.

You want to take it to the point where it won't take any more salt at all.

If you put one more grain of salt in,

it's going to be way up there and too much.

I still think it would take some more salt.

I'm going to add some sugar, add some acidity,

because what you'll notice is,

when I add that sugar and acidity,

the salt levels will stand out even more.

Have a little taste of that.

It definitely lifts it.

I'm going to put a little bit more lemon juice in there.

That's taken it up a notch. It has taken it up to another level, hasn't it?

But you see that growth of powerful flavours, can't you?

Spot on. OK. Happy with that?

You happy that you're able to reproduce that?

NERVOUS LAUGHTER

Yeah.

So our cooks have just 15 minutes to create a perfectly seasoned soup.

Aiden is looking for a partner that can follow his instructions

to produce a good balance of flavours

and he'll be watching closely for any mistakes.

I think my nerves are holding out so far.

The home cooks have no notes,

so must replicate the recipe from memory alone,

and Aiden's watching their every move.

I'm trying to remember.

Whether I've done it in the right order, I don't know,

but hopefully I will have.

Hopefully!

I've never worked with it before.

Surprisingly quite slippery still.

I think I'm doing all right.

Too much of the liquid.

The pressure, the pressure!

So, have you noticed if anyone's nerves have got the better of them

or if anyone has forgotten to put anything in?

I think Sarah is really struggling with her nerves.

I thought she was going to slice her fingers off

when she was grating that apple.

Not holding...

Holding the grater over the top of a bowl. It was like, "Oh, my God!"

Your finger's going to pop out in a minute!

I need someone who is composed but, at the end of the day,

it is just about the flavour and the person that gets that out,

it's that final little window right at the end.

If you get it right, I can't not take them through.

Yeah. Simple as that, really.

In the final minutes, with the soup made,

the pressure is on to get the correct blend of salt,

sugar and lemon juice.

Cooks, you have just two minutes left.

With only two cooks going through to the next round,

it's essential they get the balance right.

A poorly seasoned soup will be sending someone home.

30 seconds to go.

And in the last few seconds,

Sarah decides to add something extra to her soup.

Two pieces of smoked eel.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Stop cooking.

So, our cooks have done all they can.

Now it's time to taste.

Ooh, exciting.

That was another tough challenge.

That was a lot of information to take in

but you've produced three bowls of soup, so well done.

OK, so it's not about the texture, it's all about the flavour.

Wow!

There is a clear winner. Um...

Eugene, yours is hands down best soup. Erm...

It's got everything, absolutely everything.

Taste buds are going crazy.

Congratulations. You are definitely through to the next round.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

I'm really torn here. Erm...

Sarah...

..yours is under seasoned ever so slightly. OK.

And I don't know why you put pieces of eel in there.

You were supposed to replicate everything that I had done.

You need to do everything I've told you to do. Yep.

Steve, yours is well over seasoned.

Oh, it's hard.

Because I can nurture both of yous.

Putting that in front of Pierre Koffmann.

he'd just walk away from it and we won't stand a chance,

so on that premise, I'm afraid, young man,

I'm going to have to send you home. OK.

Aw, Steve.

Congratulations and congratulations.

Steve, give us a hug.

Absolutely gutted.

Just for simple things that I got wrong, so...

If it were anything else,

I can understand but it's things that I could've done better.

So, just two cooks remain.

They are customer team member, Sarah, and IT consultant, Eugene.

But only one can be Aiden's partner.

Time for our third and final round, the chef's special.

Our two finalists will be given a set of ingredients to one of Aiden's

signature dishes.

The aim of this challenge is to see what you can make from the same set of ingredients.

You will get to see what Aiden makes a bit later on,

but for you at home, here's today's ingredients.

Aiden's ingredients are...

a saddle of lamb which includes two loins and the back bone,

anchovies, onions,

thyme, double cream, lamb stock,

panko breadcrumbs, butter, flour,

eggs, white wine vinegar, peppercorns and bay leaves.

Right, cooks, you have one hour to create a mouthwatering masterpiece

for Aiden. Reveal your ingredients because your time starts now.

OK.

SHE MOUTHS

I'm trying to work out, you know, your meat and accompaniment.

The clock is ticking but Aiden's selected ingredients have ground our

cooks to a halt.

A few minutes in and Eugene appears to have a plan but Sarah still seems a little stumped.

Sarah does seem very nervous.

Sarah is nervous now,

imagine when she's in the room with three other high-profile chefs and

Pierre Koffmann and I leave her alone,

Sarah's nerves are just going to get the better of her.

You know that minute when you get brain freeze?

I think the confidence levels in Eugene in comparison to Sarah

are poles apart.

I'm trying to get the butter to infuse with the thyme.

I don't think I'm going to use that.

Don't think I'm going to use that.

How are you getting on?

I'm still trying to deliberate exactly what I'm doing,

but I'm definitely doing the rack of lamb.

I'm going to do a spiced crust for it

with the juniper and black pepper.

I'm trying to come up with something else as well.

To garnish?

Yeah, a garnish I'm trying to conjure up.

You don't have much time, though. No, I know.

And the shallots and onions,

they're very unforgiving when they're not cooked enough.

Yeah, I know. OK.

Good luck. Hopefully it'll come together.

Hopefully. Keep calm. Thank you.

Hi, Eugene. Hi. You seem to be moving on.

Yep, I'm just trying to pan fry the cutlet

and then I'll make a sauce, a creamy sauce.

At the moment it's just the lamb and the cream sauce?

Yes, I'm thinking about a pasta, sort of,

piece to put along it but never made pasta before.

Haven't you? No! Good luck. Thank you.

Should have used a saucepan for this. Change pots.

I'm making a sauce so it will be easier in a saucepan.

I'm intrigued with Eugene making a bit of pasta.

I know. Very impressed with that.

I think Sarah's idea of making a crust for the lamb

is a really good idea.

So do you still think Eugene is a one trick pony?

It's really tough to say.

I think this challenge will really decide whether he's got the

capabilities of moving outside that box.

As time ticks on, Sarah isn't any more confident in her menu.

Lamb and a sauce, basically, and some roasted shallots.

Hopefully that will be enough to impress him

because I can't think of anything else to do.

Hi, Eugene. Hi.

How are you getting on? I decided against the pasta.

Have you? Yes, yes.

Why? I'm just thinking about the time,

so I'm just going to gently pan-fry the fillet

and then serve that with alternate sauces.

There's a really nice calmness about you.

Inside, is a different story altogether!

It's all over the place. Is it?!

How are we getting on? All right, I think.

Are you feeling a bit more confident?

A little bit, maybe. I don't know!

Cooks, you have just 15 minutes to go.

And as things heat up in the kitchen,

the usually calm and collected Eugene is showing signs of nerves.

Oh, no, that's not cooked.

Needs five minutes more, I think.

I can't get through that.

I can't actually get through the bone.

I'm losing all my crumb!

Cooks, you have just five minutes left.

That's better now.

One minute left.

Five, four...

three, two, one.

Stop cooking!

That was the fastest hour of my life!

That's it, that was the third and final round.

Our cooks have done all they can.

It's now time to taste.

First is customer team member, Sarah.

She's made a rack of lamb with a herbed and spiced anchovy and lemon crumb,

roasted shallots and a lamb jus.

There you go. How did you find that challenge?

I struggled a bit to begin with, but hopefully it has kind of come together a wee bit.

The jus, did you roast any of the lamb bones through the jus?

I didn't, no.

The lamb is really nicely cooked.

Thank you. Yes, really, really nicely cooked.

Real kick of anchovy there.

Nice.

I think you achieved what you wanted to achieve with the sweetness of the shallots. Yup.

Yes, it's perfect.

I would be happy sitting down in a restaurant eating that.

The lamb is cooked perfectly, the sauce is lovely,

the shallots are doing what they need to do.

No negatives, really. That's brilliant.

How do you feel about those comments? I'm absolutely astounded.

Great. I am so taken aback. Thank you. It means a lot to me.

For him to turn round and say he'd happily eat that in a restaurant

is just phenomenal.

Nobody has said anything as good as that about my food

and I'm just so, so proud of myself.

Next into the tasting room, it's IT consultant, Eugene.

He's made pan-fried lamb cutlets infused with onions,

anchovies and peppercorns and a lamb fillet with a cream,

shallot and spring onion sauce.

How did you find that challenge?

Challenging!

Tuck in.

It certainly appealed to my palate. Thank you!

This is anchovy in your face

and that can only be a good thing in my opinion.

I'd probably question the cream sauce.

Lamb, being quite fatty, adding a cream sauce on top of that,

maybe the plate of food would be a little bit too rich

to sit down and eat it in its entirety. Yeah.

But I think that standing out for me,

the amount of anchovy that you used

and I don't think you can ever have enough. No, I agree.

Part way through the challenge,

I realised that it was still very rare in the middle,

so I decided to pan-fry it.

He's a big fan of lamb and anchovies so I'm glad I put that final touch.

So with the final challenge complete,

it's just left for Aiden to decide between our two remaining home cooks.

She hasn't tried to do too much.

He's got the cream sauce and all of that kind of stuff which makes me quite nervous.

But who do I want on my side?

Yeah. I feel a little bit anxious about it.

I've got to think about the endgame, really,

who is going to assist me better going in front of Pierre.

You are a competitive man, Aiden!

But before Aiden announces his winner,

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

So, it's over to you now, Chef.

I'm making lamb with onions and anchovies.

Wow. Obviously, the main focus of the dish is the lamb.

Cut it in half and I'm going to let that render down.

I'm going to do exactly the same with the loin.

Take away any excess fat and leave that to cook away.

I'm going to keep these little bits of trimming because I want to enhance as

much flavour as I can into the sauce.

Get all the meat out of the way.

With this piece of meat, which is the most tender of all,

I'm just going to dice it and serve it as a tartare.

What's your favourite thing to cook?

What we're doing here is probably not too far from it.

Strong, robust flavours married together in a classical way.

How long does it take you to get your own style?

I think I was 29 years of age. I went to Ireland

and I went to work for a guy called Paul Rankin.

This chap came and poached me to go and work in Dublin.

I stayed there for about four or five years and we got a Michelin star and

we were very happy with what we were doing but my old boss,

Tom Aikens phoned me up and said, "I'm opening up a restaurant in Chelsea."

Watching his free flow cooking,

I began to develop that style

and I knew then exactly what my identity was.

I knew exactly where I wanted to be.

It is something that takes a long time.

What we are doing here is we are going to make a white onion puree.

A knob of butter in there.

So for the pickling liquor, I've got a little bit of white wine vinegar,

extra virgin olive oil and some more time as well.

Peppercorns, a bit of sugar, salt.

I love these spring onions.

I'm just going to pop them in the pan with the lamb fat.

Do you experiment a lot at home?

I wouldn't say I brainstorm at home

because my home time is my family time.

You completely switch off? I try my hardest to switch off.

My poor wife would probably disagree with that, but...!

I put in the stock over the top of my lamb trim onions.

Next, I'm going to put my anchovies in there.

So you got your first star at 22?

Yes. Which is the youngest still.

It is, yeah. That was a very long time ago.

That is amazing.

It was just one of them moments where I'll never forget

till the day I die. Pretty amazing.

So, I've got them few shallots in there.

Right, so, I'm going to pop this in the blender and make a puree.

No cream whatsoever in there. Beautiful colour.

More salt.

A little bit of lemon juice.

I'm just going to put these eggs in now.

Then I'm going to pop this...

pour that over the top of the anchovies in the ring.

Then we'll cover that with clingfilm.

What's your favourite type of food to eat?

I like tapas, because you've got that element of sharing, and sushi.

For that sociable aspect of it all.

In the steamer. There we go.

OK, with these anchovies, we're just going to coat them in breadcrumbs.

Trying to keep the silverside for the presentation.

These little anchovies, we'll drop them into this little bit of oil.

I think the lamb is pretty much ready.

I'll take a look at the custard.

The custard has just set.

There we go. I felt it drop then.

We have the tartare.

These are ready.

The lamb loin itself.

Take the outside skin from the onions.

Then finish off with these little pickled onions,

and this is pretty much the dish finished.

Lamb with onions and anchovies.

This is the best bit now because we get to taste it!

Go on, tuck in.

That is amazing.

Absolutely delicious.

Good. Unbelievable.

That custard is amazing. It is nice, isn't it?

It is so yummy.

So tasty.

But now it's time to reveal who you're going to be taking through

to the Friday final with you.

Before we do, let's have a quick recap.

In the first round, Sarah's classic fish soup was bursting with flavour

but lacking in body.

It's a bowl of flavoured water.

She slipped up by adding pieces of eel to her soup in the second,

but received high praise for her rack of lamb in the final round.

Yep, it's perfect. No negatives, really.

Thank you.

I know it's a selfish thing to say but I'd really love to win.

Meanwhile, Eugene impressed Aiden with his control of spices in the first round.

I have got no criticism about that whatsoever.

And perfectly balanced the flavours of his soup in the second

but was his rich cream sauce too much for Aiden in round three?

I'd probably question the cream sauce.

I've tried my absolute best.

So, Aiden, it's time to declare your winner.

Who will you be picking as your partner in the Friday final?

Both of yous cook at the same level.

The decision I'm going to make is based on

that partner remaining calm and in control.

In my opinion,

Eugene, I believe it was you who kept your nerve all the way through.

Congratulations. Well done.

I am absolutely gobsmacked. I didn't expect it.

I'm feeling sad, but I'm really excited for Eugene

to get through to the final

and I'm sure he'll do an absolutely fantastic job

and I've just told him that they've got to win.

Any final thoughts for Friday?

I'm here to win and so should you be.

Are you going to do me proud? Yes, Chef. Thank you very much.

To think that I'm here paired up with a Michelin-starred chef

to go against other chefs...

It's a dream! Absolute dream right now.

I need to pinch myself to wake up!

Tomorrow on Yes Chef...

Four more home cooks go all-out to impress super-chef, Matt Gillan.

You didn't taste the dish. It's bizarre.

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

No amount of perfect garnish will ever pull that back.

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

The person going home today is...