Matt Gillan 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.

You need to mash the potato, mate. Mash the spuds!

Each day, an award-winning chef will chose their perfect partner

from four talented home cooks.

It was dry, and no amount of perfect garnish will ever pull that back.

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 perfect dish, is to keep it simple and tasty.

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

Bring the home cooks in!

For the amateur home cooks, they are about to be put to the test

by the country's finest.

I honestly thought I wouldn't have this issue, not at this stage.

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 Judith Ruck, a secretary from Nottingham.

I'm a perfectionist, and I wouldn't normally turn something out that

I wouldn't eat myself.

I could eat that myself!

Next, it's Michael Hargreaves,

a lift installation manager from Doncaster.

I would describe my cooking as experimental.

It's missing something. A little bit bland.

Anything that's going to be a quick and fast pace

is not really my forte.

Lee McManus is a retail manager from Accrington.

My biggest fans, actually, are my wife and my two-year-old daughter.

They always give me compliments about my great cooking.

Enjoying it? So far, so good.

Absolutely, 100% want to win.

And, finally, Brigitte Murphy is an airline manager from Southend.

I cook with absolute passion, it's totally from the heart.

More salt.

It doesn't taste of the sea.

My style of cooking, I've travelled a lot

around the world, so it's very eclectic.

Welcome to the show, guys.

So, we have our four home cooks, all we need now is our chef.

He has held his Michelin star for the last five years...

It's Matt Gillan.

Matt Gillan is renowned for his

fresh and original approach to high-end cuisine.

I've always described my food as progressive British.

It's applying new techniques,

and it's going to bring the flavour to the forefront.

A protege of Daniel Clifford, Gordon Ramsay and John Campbell,

he was previously head chef at The Pass in Sussex,

where he successfully won and retained

a Michelin star for five years.

And he is currently working on his latest venture in Brighton.

One of the biggest gripes I have in the kitchen is the kitchen timer.

BUZZER If it's any more than three buzzes, that's it.

It's going to get launched.

Matt has a real love and respect for seasonal ingredients,

and combines classical technique with modern technology to produce

truly inventive dishes.

I'm looking for somebody who has the ability to listen,

because it's going to be my way.

Welcome, Matt, it's an absolute pleasure to have you here.

So, today, our four home cooks will

be trying everything they can to impress you.

What are you going to be looking for?

Main thing is enthusiasm for food,

creativity, um, just a passion for the ingredients.

Well, let's put that to the test. It's Round One, Dish Of The day.

Now, our four home cooks, you are going to be preparing the one dish

that you believe will set you apart from the rest.

So you need to make it count, because after this challenge, sadly,

one of you will be going home. So, Chef, it's over to you.

Right, so, um, so, yeah, I'm looking for, essentially perfection, really.

Um... LAUGHTER

Are we ready to deliver perfection?

ALL: Yes, Chef! Fantastic. Let's do it.

So, our cooks are off. This is their chance

to impress Matt with the food they like to cook.

And Brigitte is raring to go.

Yeah, it's going great. Just trying to keep my fingers together.

Graters can be a little bit dangerous.

Hi, Judith. Hi. How are we? Really good, thank you. Good.

Um, what are you making for us?

I'm making pork medallions in a Dijon and brandy cream sauce,

with mustard mash, spring greens and honey-roasted carrot.

Or I'm attempting to.

How are you cooking the pork?

Um, when I have done the dish at home, I've done it

as larger pork steaks, however, today I've got pork loin.

These are going to be much thinner cuts,

so I'm going to be quite cautious not to overcook it.

Oh, well, I wish you all the very best.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm sure it will be fine.

Hi, Michael. Hello there. You OK? How you doing?

I'm doing pretty good. A little bit nervous.

Fish is about to go in the oven, then? Fish is, uh...

Just been started in the pan

and it's just going into the oven for five minutes.

Max. OK. So it's nice and flaky.

And that's going in there.

What are you making today?

Basically, it's cod, chorizo and orzo pasta.

And is this something that you make all the time?

Is it like a favourite at home?

It's relatively new for me. Oh, is it?

This is probably only the fourth time, I think, I've cooked it.

We look forward to eating it.

Hi, Lee. Hi. How are we? I'm good. Good.

How you doing, Chief? I'm good.

Tell us what you're making, you're doing a...

Curried, uh, monkfish, with curried mussels,

and then some vegetables with sauce.

Monkfish is a beautiful fish as well,

and it can take, takes the spices.

And how are your nerves? Are you OK? Oh, yeah, really nervous. Are you?

But I've started settling down, now. Oh, good. Yeah, just enjoy it.

Doing what we're here to do, so, I'll try and win it.

We'll let you crack on. Good luck. No worries.

Getting there. Just got to be careful I don't overdo it.

Keep it simple.

Hi, Brigitte. Hi. How are we doing? All right, thank you, good.

Um, what are you cooking up for us today?

Today I'm going to cook something very light, easy,

but for me it's a bit of a challenge,

because the fish I'm using is a fish that comes from South Africa.

So I've tried to find something as close as I could

to what we call kingklip,

so I've got halibut. OK.

Tzatziki with a passion fruit... Oh. ..honey, vinegar, garlic,

parsley sauce, and then I'm going to garnish it

with a bit of samphire and make two toasties, garlic toasties.

And then finish it off with my toy. Tweezers!

OK, well, we'll let you get on. Thank you.

Oh!

Sorry!

So let's start with Judith.

What do you think of her menu?

I love pork, and, do you know, it's quite classic in

her ingredients that she's paired, which is,

it's good, because it's kind of safe for this environment.

Mash, pork, it's kind of wholesome, big flavours in there.

It sounds like a good dish.

Just on full-on competition mode, now.

Michael's chosen orzo, which is quite an interesting ingredient.

I probably wouldn't have picked that as one to see today.

Oh, really? No, because it's quite

a different one for, especially the home cook.

But the flavours, again, cod with chorizo,

you know, it's lovely.

And the piece of cod was massive, so it's just making sure it's cooked.

OK. But the dish sounds lovely.

Now Lee, he seems to me the most nervous of the bunch.

Absolutely. But his dish sounds quite interesting.

Yeah, it sounds lovely.

Again, it's quite a classic, with curried monkfish.

Monkfish is great because it can take big flavours. Right.

Um, I don't know if it's the nerves, but he was saying curried mussels...

Right. ..which then, uh, could be

quite a lot of spice going on with that dish. Right, OK.

And then we've got Brigitte.

I think that's probably the most exciting dish of the day.

She's got a very clear vision of how she

wants the dish to look on the plate.

She's there with her tweezers and stuff.

What does... Does that impress you?

Tweezers don't impress me whatsoever.

Oh, don't they? No, they don't!

Really? Oh, she looked like she

really wanted to show you the tweezers.

I know. Keep that a little bit of a secret for the minute.

Yeah, it's all about what goes on the plate, and, do you know...

How she puts it on the plate... It doesn't matter if

it's fingers or the tweezers. The tweezers aren't gonna impress me.

Ah!

Just two-thirds of the way through,

and Michael is already plating up his flaked cod with orzo.

Very, very early.

The other three are going to use every second of their time.

Wait for the monkfish to rest, that's reducing down,

and then the cream and done.

So far, so good.

Right, guys, you have just two minutes left.

With time ticking away, Judith has concerns about her pork medallions.

I'm just choosing the smallest pieces,

in the hope that they've cooked quicker than the others.

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six,

five, four, three,

two, one.

Stop cooking, step away from your plates.

And in all the rush, Brigitte's plan

of using tweezers goes out the window.

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

She has made pork medallions

with a Dijon mustard sauce, a mustard mash,

buttered, wilted spring greens and honey-glazed roasted carrots.

Hi, Judith. Hi. How are we? Oh, I am much happier now.

JUDITH LAUGHS

Now it's done and dusted.

Did you enjoy it? Oh, it was great fun. The pressure was on.

So different doing it here than it is at home,

even if it is the same time span,

but I just really thoroughly enjoyed it, yeah.

Oh, brilliant. Well, let's tuck in. Yeah, let's.

I think it's nice. I think the pork is...

nicely cooked actually. Brilliant.

Erm...

The ratio of meat to mash is kind of out a little bit. OK.

I think as individual components, it's really, really nice.

It is just balancing the dish a bit more. I'm with you.

But it is a very nice dish.

I am really, really happy with the feedback.

The constructive criticism was amazing,

I know where I went wrong.

Yeah, brilliant result.

Her main concern was the pork.

I think it still would have worked if she had

gone for the bigger pieces. Yeah.

I actually still think it could have been

just a little bit more gently cooked on that. OK.

So the bigger pieces that she had would have been much better

for that dish.

Next is Michael with his dish of the day.

Cod, chorizo and orzo with red peppers.

Did you enjoy that?

I really enjoyed that, yes, it was a great experience.

Pressure, or did you not feel it?

Once the cooking started, it was just auto-gear.

Brilliant. Shall we have a tuck in? Yeah, let's get into it.

SHEREE LAUGHS

And you're happy with it,

it has kind of come out how you wanted it?

Yeah, the main worry is I never tasted it, and I don't know why.

Wh... Why is that? Even though you had the opportunity.

I never checked the seasoning to make sure that was correct.

The only thing I was worried about was getting the pasta

with the right little bit of bite.

I think the cod... It has come out really nice. Good.

Quite a nice way to cook it and flake it down into the orzo.

It stayed nice and moist,

and also the sauce has kept it from drying out.

So the fish is really, really nice in there.

The thing that I can't keep losing is that you didn't taste the dish.

It's something I would do at home, and I have just not done it here.

It is quite a big thing to taste the dish, to make sure it is seasoned.

But I think it HAS paid off for you today.

RELIEVED SIGH

I had at least ten minutes left, and I just never used it.

I was more concerned about what the dish looked like, presentation-wise.

It's bizarre,

to present a dish that you don't know what it tastes like,

and you are hoping that it gets through to the next stage

of the competition based on its taste. Yeah.

It's a massive thing, so, yeah,

a little bit of luck went his way today.

Time for Lee with his dish of the day

of curried monkfish and mussels,

with saffron, coriander, leek, celery and carrots in a cream sauce.

How did you find that? Really enjoyed it.

I'm normally cooking for friends and family,

it's quite comfortable,

but to be on that stage and in front of yourselves,

the pressured environment, but no, it was fantastic,

I really enjoyed it and I hope you like the dish.

Oh, good. OK.

Let's find out. Let's go.

The fish is cooked really nicely.

Just maybe a sharper knife when cutting through it,

it is just a little bit...

kind of rough on the edges.

The flavour, I love the saffron in the sauce. Thank you.

It just adds another dimension to it. Yeah.

Personally, I would have liked

a few more mussels through that sauce,

it is very vegetable-heavy, but they are really nice.

I like it.

Absolutely made up to have someone of that stature,

like a Michelin star chef,

saying your food actually tastes all right is an absolute...

It's amazing.

Mm, the mussels are gorgeous. Very nice.

BRIGITTE: Not much monkfish left. I know! Chef ate it.

The size of the vegetables just totally dominated the mussels. Yeah.

And again, just a slight seasoning issue on there. OK.

But it was nice, it was enjoyable.

And finally, it is Brigitte, with her dish of the day

of halibut on a bed of tzatziki with a passion fruit coulis,

samphire, micro herbs and a garlic toasty.

Thank you very much. How are you? Glad that's over? Yes.

SHEREE LAUGHS

Did you enjoy it though? I thoroughly enjoyed,

it was great, yes. Bon appetit. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Erm, the passion fruit in there is really, really nice.

The...

..tzatziki, again, quite strong flavours, really, really nice.

Loads of flavour. Thank you.

For me, I think the fish is a little bit overcooked.

Which is a shame, because the rest of the dish is very, very nice.

It's very... Flavours - lovely.

The fish was in for too long, he said. It happens.

The biggest issue I had with that dish was the fish.

It was dry, it is a different texture,

and no amount of perfect garnish will ever pull that back.

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

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

Have you got an idea of who you might be sending home?

No, I need a little think about that,

because they have all excelled in kind of different ways.

So it is just finding the right balance, the right personality.

I'm normally very competitive, but I'm so happy with what

I have done now, if I do go home, I have still had a fantastic time.

I don't think I have done enough now.

I don't think so, I mean, the competition was fierce.

The other three dishes were amazing, so...fingers crossed.

If I went out now, I would be devastated.

It would be heartbreaking.

I think I have got an idea of who will go now. OK.

Well, let's go break them the news. Let's go.

Firstly, I would like to say a massive well done

to all four of you. But as you know,

Matt can only take three of you through to the next round.

So it is over to you, Matt.

I want to take somebody forward that can work with me,

and that I can also impart a bit of knowledge on.

So, based on that decision, the person going home today is...

..Brigitte. Aww.

Very well done though, give us a hug. Thank you.

I'm... Well, I'm just shocked. It was...

..the chef that I would have loved

to have worked with, especially, so...

I am very sad for that.

So that leaves three home cooks.

They are Judith from Nottingham, Michael from Doncaster

and Lee from Accrington.

This is round two, the Chef's Challenge.

Now, in this challenge, Matt has devised a skills test

to determine which one of the home cooks

has the skills he's looking for.

So, Matt, what is the challenge?

The challenge is going to be creamed mushrooms on toast. So...

You want to start? Yes, start.

So what sort of skills will you be looking for?

There is a few skills in here. The first one being knife skills.

We're going to cut the mushrooms in various different shapes

that suit the mushroom.

So this is going to be cut into wedges.

And then with the stalks, much more chunky.

And then the shell case, we're just going to cut them in half.

So what we have is different mushrooms at different sizes,

cut in different ways.

So you're going to cook them all separately? Not separately,

they are just going to go into the pan at different stages.

OK. So I am going to start with the buttons.

And the flats.

Just going to add a little bit of shallots to this as well,

nicely diced, it just adds

a nice, subtle onion-y flavour to it.

If you notice, it is not the first thing that has gone into the pan.

So you are cutting it really finely. Yeah.

Now we'll add the shallots.

So obviously they are going on toast, so we've got the sourdough.

So for the toast, we use the griddle.

Because it adds a nice kind of char-y flavour to it.

So the chives, nice and fine.

SHEREE LAUGHS

So we're going to turn the heat right up,

because we're going to add the brandy to it.

You might want to step back for this one, Sheree.

Oh, lordy. Woohoo!

Really important. You want to get that alcohol out.

Basically the mushrooms have absorbed everything in that.

That's what we want.

OK, so the cream just gently reducing.

You see it is just coating the mushrooms. Taste it.

Don't forget to taste - you listening there, Michael?

Definitely listening, I will not forget to taste. Never, ever again.

So a little bit of salt, with - weirdly - lemon juice.

It is an amazing flavour enhancer. Finish with the chives.

So once you have seasoned, chives in? Yeah.

That's us. So, mushrooms on toast.

CONTESTANTS APPLAUD

Oh, that smells divine.

What do you think, Judith? I could eat the lot. It is gorgeous.

So you know what you have to do? CONTESTANTS: Yes, Chef.

Matt is looking for good knife skills and a well-seasoned dish.

He also wants to see the different types of mushroom

served in the correct shapes.

So he will be watching closely for any mistakes.

The cooks have only 15 minutes to make this dish,

so they will have to chop fast if they want to finish on time.

How are they getting on?

Yeah, I don't think the sense of urgency

has kind of set in with any of them.

Just trying to memorise everything and what order it goes in.

Hi, Jude. Hey.

How we getting on? Erm... burning my bread.

I'm debating whether I have got enough time to put another lot in.

And then with time, five minutes have gone already,

are you looking all right? I'm getting there. Yeah?

SHE CHUCKLES

I will leave you to it, I will let you sort your bread out. Thank you.

How you getting on, Michael? OK so far, I think that is...

Did it make sense when I was saying about different ways

to cut the mushrooms and...?

Yeah. Well, I hope it has sunk in. We will soon find out.

Hi, Lee, looking under control.

Yeah, just trying to memorise different mushrooms,

what time they are going in. Just following the technique, so...

Well, kind of as a rule of thumb, work on textures.

Yeah, OK. I will leave you to it.

Judith wasn't happy with her bread, she thought she'd over-charred it.

She made the decision to redo it.

Right. But I don't know if that's the right decision.

Because it took up her stove space.

The mushrooms are in the pan though.

Michael has got his flames going on, so that is a good sign.

His toast was done fairly early on, that is resting,

it's beautifully coloured. Yeah.

Lee's nerves have just dropped off, he just seems much more confident.

Oh, that's good. Which is great. That's nice to see.

I think that they didn't realise that mushrooms on toast

was going to be this complicated.

Ooh, done it!

HER AND MICHAEL LAUGH

Eyebrows? I'm flambeing.

Need to be careful, take my eyebrows off.

So, Judith and Michael have successfully flambeed,

but what about Lee?

Right, cooks, you have just three minutes left.

With the clock ticking down, Judith is still swapping hobs,

trying to get her bread toasted.

Right, cooks, you have got 30 seconds,

you need to get your mushrooms on the plate.

And once again, Michael is first to finish.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one...

Stop cooking, step away from your plates!

Our three remaining cooks have done all they can,

it is time to taste.

So, Matt, it was a simple enough challenge, but based on

these mushrooms, one of our home cooks is going to be going home.

So, shall we have a taste? Let's. Let's.

Erm...

So the dish I would want to put straight through...

is Michael.

Well done. Thank you. Well done.

With the last two, I think right at the end,

they seemed a little bit rushed, both dishes.

Presentation is obviously going to be very key going forward as well.

Based on that...

..I'm going to say goodbye to you, Lee. Aww, Lee.

Cheers, mate, nice one. Been amazing, great effort.

Mwah. Well done.

Absolutely gutted, of course I am, I wanted to go on to the final,

but they have got two great guys there going through, so...

well done to them.

So, that leaves just two cooks.

They are secretary Judith and lift installation manager Michael.

But only one can be Matt's partner.

OK, so it is time for our third and final round, the Chef's Special.

Now, in this round, our cooks will be given

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

The aim of this challenge is to see what you can make from

the same set of ingredients.

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

But for you at home, here is today's ingredients.

Matt has chosen breast of Goosnargh duck, unsalted butter,

Cheddar cheese and onion,

espresso, water, flour, black wild rice, malt extract,

maple syrup, milk, black onion seeds and onion powder.

Simple enough for a Michelin star chef,

but what will our home cooks make?

Right, cooks, you have just one hour to create a fantastic dish,

and your time starts now.

So, our cooks are off, and this is the first time they have seen

these ingredients, so they had better get their thinking caps on.

I have had obviously the little Chinese packets of duck

that you get from the supermarket with the pancakes.

That is about it really.

I am really interested to see how they interpret

those ingredients and how they kind of put them on a plate.

There is not a huge amount to work with, there is nothing

you would traditionally associate with a duck breast.

So they have to think.

My first thought would have been to make a cheese sauce with the roux,

but I've not known of a dish that would go with the meat there.

But I might do, eliminate the cheese and make an onion sauce.

I'm going to cook the duck separately,

and then I'm going to make some kind of sauce,

which, I'll be honest, I'm not 100% certain.

It would help if I peeled me onion first.

Forgetting the basics.

Hi, Judith. Hi. How are you doing?

You have done very well with these confusing ingredients.

Yes. If I could have an orange, that would change things a little bit.

I'm enjoying myself, that's what it's all about. Good.

Exactly, brilliant. OK, well, we will let you get on.

Looking forward to what you come up with.

JUDITH AND SHEREE LAUGH

Hi, Michael. Michael, how you doing?

Hello there. I am OK, I think.

Still not identified every single ingredient as yet.

Have you cooked duck a lot or...? Not really, no.

But I suppose a duck breast is no different to a chicken breast.

This is a test on your skill and knowledge, so...

It is a test, I can assure you of that. Good luck.

OK, I'm going to go with this. I have made my decision.

So, after much deliberation, Judith is hoping that going sweet

with a maple syrup glaze will bring success.

Meanwhile, Michael is going savoury.

I would have said soy sauce, but...

Such an aroma of coffee.

How do you think you they're getting on?

Judith is trying everything, trying to understand each ingredient

and seeing how it will work.

Michael seems to have embraced a few ingredients.

Those that he's not sure of,

he has just totally dismissed them.

If they are not using the majority of what's there,

there's not going to be much of a dish to put up. No.

As time ticks on, Judith's plan is getting sweeter.

I don't feel that you would normally get an onion sauce with

a duck that's got maple syrup on it,

but what I'm going to do is try and caramelise the onions

so that the sweetness of that will then perhaps work with the sweetness

that I've put on the duck. Well, that's my thinking, anyway!

All right, cooks, you are halfway through. Ohh...

Still a little bit bloody, I think. A couple more minutes.

I'm resting my duck, however, I realise I've made the fatal error

in cutting into it,

so now the juices have been released onto the board.

I'm not going to give it any more now. That's the maximum.

That's nice.

The nerves have kicked in now.

And with time to spare, both cooks start plating up.

I think that's me finished.

Duck a la surprise!

Five minutes to go.

Only five minutes.

As Judith's meat rests,

its oozing juices force her to plate up again.

Seeing Judith under pressure right up until the last minute

pushes a usually confident Michael to add some hasty finishing touches.

It seems a shame to waste this sauce.

I'm going to try and caramelise some onions

and add a garnish on the side.

Can someone take the battery out of the smoke alarm, please(?)

Right, cooks, you have done your third and final challenge.

Time is up. You can do no more, because it is time to taste.

First, it's Judith.

She has made duck with a maple syrup glaze

on a bed of creamed caramelised onions.

Fantastic. How did you find that challenge?

Really exciting. Very challenging. Shall we taste it? Yes, let's taste.

The glaze you have got on the duck, so with the maple syrup,

it's really, really nice.

It kind of cuts through that oily flavour you get with duck.

There is the slight technical error in cutting it

a little bit too early. Yeah.

But I like the duck. I like the duck.

The sauce, I like where you are going with that,

with the caramelised onion. Just more onion, maybe. OK.

It's nice, it's pleasant to eat.

The tasting was really good.

I was very pleased with the results and the comments that I got.

The criticism I understood, absolutely 100%, I agreed with.

So you learn by your errors,

and I know what to do and what not to do next time.

And finally into the tasting room is Michael,

who has made duck breasts in a coffee-and-onion sauce,

accompanied with some pan-fried onions.

OK? Good. How are you? Glad it's over.

I didn't recognise at least half of the ingredients,

and just went with taste

and then texture, and tried to create a sticky, smoky sauce.

I would have killed for an orange!

Let's dig in.

The duck is slightly overcooked for me. Yeah, OK.

But the sauce... It just seems to have taken in the sauce,

so it's not as dry as I was expecting it to be.

The onion, you probably didn't need to fill your time with that at all,

because you had a great base there anyway.

OK. I understand.

I think the sauce went down well.

The duck was, possibly, slightly overcooked, I think.

So that was the only downside.

I was more concerned with not undercooking it, and probably

overcooked it because of that.

So, with the final challenge complete,

it's just left for Matt to decide which of our two home cooks

will return as his partner for the Friday final.

The way she has thought about the dish, I like,

although there were a few technical errors.

It's just a shame that the duck was a little bit overcooked, but it's

his lack of experience with duck, and he held his hands up with that.

Yeah.

I think they've both got different personalities and different

skill sets they bring, but I have got an idea of who I want.

But before Matt announces the winner,

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

So, Matt, over to you.

So, the idea of the these is to see what you do

with something very, very simple.

The focus is that as well as the duck.

So, top and tail it... and cut it in half.

So, without doing anything else to it,

we have got something quite substantial. Next, oil.

I'm just going to heat this up.

So, it is starting to colour and then we'll add

a bit of butter to that.

And then we'll pop this into the open and just roast it.

Roast it for about 20, 25 minutes

These little things here, black onion seeds, or nigella seeds. Ah.

So, we are going to put that in the pan

to make a roux and then a cheese sauce.

So...

You started your cooking career in a pub, didn't you? I did, yeah.

I was 15 and I started washing up,

because it was much better than the paper rounds I was doing.

So then you just became fascinated by food?

No, I moved into the food side of things because that was better

than the washing up, so...

I just really enjoyed it.

I loved the buzz of the kitchen and told my mum,

"That's it, I am going to be a chef."

She said, "That's just silly.

"You won't make any money or anything like that. Don't bother."

So I'm really glad that, at that point, I didn't listen to her.

That is the one bit of advice she has given me that I can throw

in her face and say, "Actually, you're wrong on this one."

So, the roux...

Just adding the milk to that.

Do you cook a lot at home? As much as I'm there. Yeah.

No. Because I know some chefs might just like to switch off and not...

Well, it is the last thing I want to do, but I've still got to eat!

No, but does your partner cook?

She is much more efficient with the kids,

and I'm much more efficient in the kitchen.

So, yeah. So, what I can do in half an hour for dinner is

a little bit more and slightly better than what she'll produce.

And... Yeah.

Neither of you touched this. This is black wild rice.

This oil is about 230 degrees. So...

Wow.

It looks like sugar puffs.

OK, so we have got onion powder, salt...

So, the duck. I am going to score this first.

A generous bit of seasoning.

This is going to take probably five minutes in the oven

once that renders down, about five minutes for the oven

and a proper rest, and that is all it takes.

Finish the sauce...

OK, so the onions have come out the oven.

Oh, look at that colour.

So we'll take these pieces, the outside, off.

So with this coffee-and-maple glaze...

So, for the moment, I'm not going to baste the duck,

I'm not going to cover it,

because I still want to keep this as crispy as possible.

Right, so you can see it is really syrupy now.

At this point we are done.

It looks amazing.

I am just going to leave that there for about four or five minutes.

So, while that is resting, we then concentrate on the plate.

So, as much as it is beautiful, we're going to cover it up.

Just finish with a little bit more of that syrup.

That's it. Wow. So, have a taste.

The texture from that is just amazing.

That is out of this world. That is so good.

The duck is amazing. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Good? Hmm. Beautiful.

Well done. Well done. Thank you very much.

But now it is time to reveal which home cook you're going to

take through to the Friday final, but before you do,

let's have a quick recap of their dishes.

Judith impressed Matt with her pork dish in the first round,

but didn't quite get the balance right.

The ratio of meat to mash is kind of out a little bit. OK.

She rushed her mushrooms on toast in the second,

but delivered a well-executed duck dish in the final round.

It's a huge learning process, and I've loved every second of it.

I really want to go through,

but I won't be crying into my pillow if I don't.

Meanwhile, Michael astonished Matt by failing to taste his dish

in the first round.

He breezed through the second round with some excellent mushrooms

on toast, but did his duck dish meet Matt's expectations?

The duck is slightly overcooked for me,

but it's not as dry as I was expecting it to be.

I would be immensely proud if I could go through. I really would.

It would mean a lot to me.

Firstly, I'd just like to say a massive well done to both of you.

However, it is time to declare your winner, so it's over to you.

OK, guys, the decision is based on what I need for moving forwards,

and that is somebody who I can trust when I give instruction to,

that's going to, in the situation, be able to adapt and still

retain my vision so, based on that,

I would like to move forward with...

..Judith.

Oh, wow.

Wow. I'm just still in shock.

I was all geared up emotionally for the,

"Thank you, it's been a great day, but..."

I did not see my name coming out of the hat. I'm just overwhelmed.

If I could do a back flip right now, I would.

I'm immensely proud to have got this far. I really am.

And the first prize has gone to a worthy winner, so I'm happy.

I'm very happy.

So, Judith, come Friday, are you going to do me proud? Yes, Chef.

I had no idea that I would win today so I really,

really want to win on Friday.

It would be amazing, just to give Matt back what he has given

me today, so I will try my utmost for him.

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

to impress top chef Frances Atkins.

If you had taken a bit of your stock, it could have been a wow.

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

but only one can become her partner for the Friday final.

Ooh!

Has anyone got eyes on Lane?

What's going to happen to me now?

Please!

Move!

I'm here to help people.