Galton Blakiston Yes Chef

Four of the best chefs in Britain are on the hunt

for their perfect partner.

Three amateur home cooks are here to prove they have what it takes to be

paired with the best in the business for the cooking experience

of a lifetime.

I hate eggs!

Come on, reduce...

Each day a different chef will choose their perfect

partner from three talented home cooks...

You see this one, I squeezed it too hard. Right, OK.

..then all four pairs will go head-to-head in our Friday final,

cooking for culinary royalty, Pierre Koffmann.

What impresses me with food is the end result.

The taste is the most important.

The professional chefs' reputations are on the line.

Are these going to be proper Yorkshire potions?

-They certainly are.

-And the amateur home cooks have a lot to live up to.

This is Yes Chef.

Hello and welcome to Yes Chef.

Let's see who's cooking in the kitchen today.

First, it's Rob Wilson, a strategy analyst from Birmingham.

I tend to use spice.

I like sort of Asian cooking.

I don't really work against the clock so I think I'll have to

be a little bit more regimented today.

Next is Lucy Lawson.

She's from Settle in north Yorkshire and runs a deli and farm shop.

When people eat my food, they usually leave quite happy.

Give me a tin of tomatoes,

I'll make you soup or a stew, things like that.

And finally, it's Jason Cowley.

He's from Market Bosworth in Warwickshire

and runs his own beauty clinic.

My cooking style is very dinner party,

so I like to spend a lot of time in preparation.

I don't stress in the kitchen.

People say I eat stress for breakfast.

Probably lunch and dinner as well.

Let's meet today's chef.

Galton Blackiston is owner and chef patron of Morston Hall in Norfolk.

You got your sharp boning knife?

He's a huge champion of local produce,

which he uses to create classical dishes of the highest quality.

Presentation, has to look good,

but it's what it tastes like is the most important thing.

Aged just 17, he set up his own market stall.

A career in the kitchen followed,

which saw him travel the globe

before returning to his beloved Norfolk.

I'm quite a calm character in the kitchen,

but when it's time to be serious I'm deadly serious.

He's held a Michelin star for an incredible 18 years

and is no stranger when it comes to competition.

He knows exactly what it takes to stay at the top of the game.

I want to choose somebody who's got that competitive spirit about them -

otherwise what's the point? I'm going to smash it.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Yes Chef.

Now, Galton, you're going to be picking one of our three home cooks

to be your partner in this week's Friday final.

What are you going to be looking for?

Well, guys, first and foremost, enjoy it.

Cook simply, tidily.

Apart from that, have a laugh.

Brilliant. OK, well, let's get on with it.

Right, cooks, you've got 45 minutes.

Good luck, because your time starts now.

So our cooks are off.

They're going all-out to win over Galton Blackiston with their

signature dish.

Today, Rob's chosen coriander chicken with ginger,

garlic and Greek yoghurt, spicy rice and a lime,

cucumber and tomato relish.

I've done it a few times before, so I'm hoping nothing will go wrong.

But you never know.

Rob might be well practised at home,

but with just 45 minutes on the clock,

he must work fast to make sure his dish delivers on flavour.

One part of it is spicy, one part is a bit more creamy,

so I've got to make sure I get the spicing right.

Beauty clinic owner Jason is unfazed by the competition.

Feeling very confident at this stage.

He's making venison with a butter and thyme infused potato stack,

heritage carrots and roasted beetroot.

The key part of this today is getting the venison correct.

That's the star on the plate, the venison.

Also the sauce is quite complicated in the sense of getting the

reduction just so, so that it's a nice syrupy texture and finish.

Over at the green station, Lucy has opted for a family favourite

of chicken and spinach curry,

served with yellow rice and a side of vegetable pakora.

This is a dish I like to cook at home quite a lot.

The kids like it cos it's not too spicy.

But sticking to her plans under the watchful eye of an award-winning

chef will be a real challenge.

It's quite intimidating, but hopefully

he'll enjoy what I'm cooking.

-Hi, Jason.

-All right, Jason?

-Hi there.

-How you getting on?

Yeah, I'm pretty much on target, I think.

-Good.

-And I'm just about to take the potatoes out of here, parboil them,

season it, in the oven, give it a bit of a crispy texture so that

-we've got textures on the plate.

-Yeah. You love cooking,

-you love taking over at people's dinner parties, don't you?

-You've heard.

-Yes, I've heard.

Absolutely, I do. I'm kind of known for it.

There's people in our village - we go around and we cook.

They may be doing Sunday lunch

-and I walk in and out take over in the kitchen...

-Can't help yourself.

It's now at a point where our friend literally walks out the

kitchen as I walk in.

And I do take over, it's an embarrassing thing.

-I need to get on.

-OK.

Oh, we'll go.

Thank you. Good luck.

Thank you.

-Hi, Lucy.

-Hiya.

-Hi, Lucy.

-Hiya.

-How we getting on?

-Fine, thank you.

-All smelling good, isn't it, in this corner?

-It does smell good!

-It sure is.

-A family favourite in our house at the moment.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-You've got two kids, haven't you?

-I've got two kids -

-Ben, who's six, and Amy, who's nine.

-Yeah. And were you a trained nurse?

I was beginning to do my nurse training, yeah.

-And then you decided...

-I had a bit a midlife crisis and a total career

-change. Yeah.

-So what do you do now?

I have my own little farm shop and deli in the Yorkshire Dales.

-Oh, lovely!

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Lovely.

-So I spend my life with food basically,

which is what I wanted to do.

Yeah, so how are you feeling?

-Are you feeling confident?

-OK, yeah.

The curry's on. The pakora's next.

-We're getting there.

-What do you think, Galton?

-No, good.

I'm heavily into curries, actually.

Looks good. Looks good.

-It does. Well, good luck.

-Thank you.

-We'll let you get on.

Thank you.

Come on, reduce.

-Hi, Rob.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-I'm good.

Good. Calm and relaxed?

-Fairly, yeah.

-Hey, you seem it.

-As much as you can be, I guess.

-Yeah.

Slightly different to your sort of average curry dish, I suppose,

because I'm spicing up the rice a little bit

and I'm contrasting that with the chicken.

So the chicken's going to go in a sort of coriander sauce.

And is curry something that you love cooking at home all the time?

Yeah, well, I'm from Birmingham, so there's a lot of curries

going on in Birmingham. We go out quite a lot for curries

and I just like playing with the spices a little bit.

So you like a little bit of spice, not a...

not a blow your...

Erm, well, I suppose I like a lot of spice,

but I don't like it to the extent where I can't taste the heat of the

-rest of the ingredients.

-Yeah. Well, good luck.

-Thank you.

-We'll let you carry on.

-Thank you.

-And we'll see you soon.

It's good. It's a little bit tart.

But that's good for the sauce. I'm happy with that.

So let's start with Jason.

-He's doing venison.

-Mm-hmm.

-What do you think?

-I like the idea of cooking venison.

This thing gets hot and cold, hot and cold.

It looked a very, very simple dish to me.

There's the roasted carrot and there's a bit of beetroot.

You know, if you're going to do something simple,

the elements have all got to work properly.

-They've got to be excellent, haven't they?

-Yeah.

-He's got to get that venison right.

-Mm.

This pan's just not getting hot.

Let's move on to Lucy.

She's making chicken curry.

Yes, I like the idea of that.

She's obviously doing something that's in her comfort zone as well.

So that's lovely. Just wanted a little bit more seasoning.

I'm always a little surprised that people will use breast.

Generally, you'd want chicken thighs, which are much more

forgiving and don't dry out as much.

-Mm.

-So if they can achieve that with a chicken breast...

-Yeah.

..then that's good.

Last but not least, Rob?

-I liked the way he is calm.

-Yeah.

I liked the way he is tidy.

I liked the idea of a little salad going with the curry.

-Yeah.

-He spiced up his rice.

-He's put some raisins and sultanas...

-Yes, he has.

It looked delicious actually.

So hopefully they will turn out OK.

-Yeah.

-All right.

This pan is just not getting hot.

It's just like boiling it. Just need a bit of colour on it, that's all.

Because the pan wasn't hot to start with, I don't think it's...

I think it's going to be a bit on the rare side.

You've got ten minutes to go, guys.

There's just ten minutes left.

With time quickly running out, each one of our home cooks are trying

their hardest to impress Galton

and it looks like everything's ticking along nicely for Rob.

Everything's cooked as I like it, so it's all going according to plan.

But over on the green station,

Lucy has left it until the last few minutes to cook her pakoras.

Yeah, it's a messy job, you've got to get your hands stuck in.

It's a bit of a messy job.

Lucy, are these going to be proper Yorkshire portions?

They certainly are, there's nothing wrong with that.

No, no, no.

For her pakoras to be crispy,

it's essential that Lucy deep-fries them in a very hot oil.

That's just going to mush.

And it seems she's struggling for space.

It's usually done in a big

pan and I can't have two big pans on the hob at once.

So they're all falling to pieces.

-Pan won't get any hotter.

-SHE SIGHS

It's got some heat under it now.

The temperatures I wanted a little bit higher but that's all worked out

now, so that's good. I'm trying to reduce this down.

Yeah, it's all coming together nicely.

So, Jason's successfully rescued his venison and it looks like Lucy's

transferred her pakoras into a new pan.

So, fingers crossed we can get some pakoras cooked.

One minute left.

One minute to go.

Should be nice and brown. That'll do nicely.

-They're OK.

-All right.

They're perfect now.

A bit of pressure does everybody the world of good!

SHE LAUGHS

As the first challenge comes to an end,

Rob is first to turn his mind to presentation.

Closely followed by Jason.

But using every last second to impress Galton

with her curry is Lucy.

Ten, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two,

one. That's it.

Stop cooking. Step away from your plates.

You've done all you can.

First into the tasting room is Rob.

He's made coriander chicken with ginger, garlic and Greek yoghurt,

served with spicy rice and a lime, cucumber and tomato relish.

-How was that?

-Wow.

It was good, it all went according to plan so I'm hoping it's going to

-taste nice for you.

-Looks great.

-It does look great.

-Looks great.

-I'm looking forward to this.

-Yes, same. Let's tuck in.

The rice is super tasty.

That is a curry I'd be happy to eat at home.

Very nice.

-And the chicken's nice and tender as well, isn't it?

-Mm.

I noticed he cooked it with about 15 minutes to go.

-That's right.

-Very nice.

Nice and zingy, the salad, isn't it?

I think it's all very clever.

Well done. It's all different and contrasting.

-I like it.

-Thank you.

Well done. If you'd like to go back to the waiting room,

we'll see you shortly.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Rob.

-Thanks, guys.

-Thank you.

I was really happy with how the cooking went and also the comments

afterwards so, yeah, really pleased.

That rice is delicious.

I'm quite taken with that.

The spice was the rice.

-Yeah.

-The flavour was the chicken

and a lovely, fresh, tangy little salad.

I think that works a treat.

-Yeah.

-I really do.

-Really very nice.

-It's delicious.

I'm really desperate to impress and carry on the good work so I really

want to do well in this round.

It's Jason's turn next.

He's serving venison with a thyme-infused potato stack,

heritage carrots and roasted beetroot,

topped with a blackcurrant and port jus.

-Hi there.

-Hi.

-Jason.

-How was that for you?

-Good. Interesting. I didn't run out of

-time...

-No, you didn't.

-..which I thought I might do, so I was quite

-pleased with that.

-OK, let's tuck in.

-Go on, go on.

The venison's cooked nicely.

I saw you having one or two problems with getting the pan hot enough to

seal off properly.

It didn't get hot enough too quickly so it was more boiling than searing.

Very tasty and the sauce is nice and sweet.

-Good.

-I like a sweet sauce, I must say.

Mmm.

You know, it's a tasty, really tasty plate of food.

It is tasty. It was good.

Really good. I can't knock it too much.

-Brilliant.

-Good, thank you.

-Happy with that?

-Very happy with that.

-Good. Well done, Jason.

OK, well, if you'd like to go back to the waiting room,

-we'll see you shortly.

-Wonderful, thank you both.

Thank you very much. Well done.

I think it went really well.

I'm happy. I'm happy with that.

That's really good.

-Nice dish?

-Yeah, nice dish.

It is a mistake on Jason's part that he didn't get his pan hot enough to

-seal the meat off properly.

-Right.

-It didn't seal it.

-Mm.

-It sort of stewed it a little bit.

It feels amazing to have a Michelin star chef try my food and to hear

the feedback, the positive feedback, fantastic.

And finally, it's Lucy with her dish of the day.

She's made a chicken and spinach curry with some yellow rice,

yoghurt, coriander and a side of vegetable pakoras.

-Hiya, Lucy.

-There you go.

How was the challenge for you?

-Wow.

-Interesting. I really enjoyed it, yeah.

Lovely. Go for it.

Let's taste.

-I'm going to have a pakora.

-Mm, yeah, go on.

Mm, nice.

They're spicy but not too spicy.

-Mm, just nice.

-Yeah.

Now then.

-Oh, nice flavours.

-Mm.

-Really nice flavours.

Thank you.

I have to say, Lucy, I was worried that using chicken breast,

-that it would be dry, but it's not.

-Yeah.

-It's very tasty. The spice is just right, for me.

-Yeah, yeah.

-It's a nice plate of food, really nice. Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-If you'd like to go back to the waiting room,

-we'll see you very soon.

-Thanks a lot.

-Thanks, Lucy.

-Thanks.

It went really, really well.

I really enjoyed it and can't believe how quick

the 45 minutes went.

I thought the pakora was really nice,

I thought the dip which it went into lacked a little bit.

No seasoning, no lime juice.

-Really nice bit of tomato coming through.

-Yeah.

Perhaps a little too tomatoey for me.

-Right, OK.

-I think we need to impress in the next round,

all of us. It's a tough competition.

We've got to really give it our all.

So, having tasted all three dishes,

is anyone standing out at the moment?

Yeah, I have my eye on one in particular but I'll tell you,

it can all change in my 15 minute challenge.

It's a challenge for me, let alone them!

Well, let's go and do it.

Galton can choose only one of these three home cooks as his partner for

Friday's final.

And he has just one more round to see everyone in action.

Right, well, Galton has now set you

a challenge to see who's got the skills

looking he's for. So, Galton, tell us what we're doing.

Right, very simple.

We're going to boil quail's eggs for two minutes 35 seconds precisely.

Wrap the quail's egg in potato string, fry it, season it, serve it,

so hopefully the egg is nice and soft in the middle and the potato is

cooked round the outside.

-All right?

-Let's get on.

-Right, so make sure your water is

nicely boiling, OK?

So, that's about right.

So we're going for 2 minutes 35 from now.

Check my watch.

Now, peel the potato.

Take your time with it cos you want to get it right.

Like so.

Potato onto there.

The quicker you do it,

the longer your strands are.

And you want long strands of potato.

That's it, OK?

It makes it easier to wrap round the egg.

Now then, I think I'm looking pretty good on this.

So, straightaway into ice-cold water.

OK?

Whilst that's there, don't waste the water.

Straight in with that, OK?

Right, gently...

..try and peel them.

Quite a fiddly thing.

Take your time with it.

Cos I can feel this is a nice, soft egg in here

and I don't want to break it.

You do have to carry spares because you will break some.

Right, now then, the tricky bit.

To be fair, this is quite good, I've surprised myself!

I've done them quite well.

Right, so now...

..we wrap.

And we wrap.

-A few times round.

-It's fiddly.

It's very fiddly.

-Gosh, that is fiddly.

-It is a skills test, it's a real skills test.

Like so. OK, so you end up like that.

OK, let's try and see if I can keep it on.

Slot it in.

That's how you want it.

OK? Like so.

-Phew!

-Lovely. SHE LAUGHS

-Go for it. Take one.

-Thank you.

-They're great for vegetarians.

-Yeah.

-Beautiful.

-What do you think?

-Lovely.

-Lovely.

-Yeah. I think it's a tough challenge for a 15 minute challenge.

-I'll give you an extra five minutes...

-Good.

..and we'll see how we go.

Are you feeling confident, guys?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Good, OK,

well, if you'd like to make your way back to your work stations,

we'll begin.

For the chef's challenge, Galton is looking for a crispy potato shell

wrapped around a gooey centred quails egg, all in just 20 minutes.

The home cooks have three eggs each and must replicate the method from

memory, but Lucy's already identified

a potential stumbling block.

I've never used a spiralizer before but we'll give it a go.

Hopefully it should be OK. Looks tricky, though. Does look tricky.

Our home cooks are aiming for long strands of potatoes.

If they're too short,

wrapping the potato round the egg will prove tricky.

-How you getting on?

-Good. Eggs are in.

-Good.

-Spiralized the potato.

Nice long strands?

-Yeah, very good indeed.

-Good.

-Quite happy with it.

-Good, good, good.

-Excellent.

-Obviously waiting for the eggs to come out.

-Yup.

Pop the eggs in the ice water and the potato straight into the pan.

-Good.

-Brilliant.

Good luck.

TIMER BEEPS Eggs out.

That's it.

-You OK?

-Yeah.

-Nice spirals there.

Yeah, I hope so.

-How you getting on?

-How you doing, Rob?

-OK, pretty good.

I've just taken the eggs out

-and I've spiralized my potato.

-Good.

-I'm just going to

put that in there and just give it a couple of minutes.

-Good.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

Whilst Lucy gets her potatoes on to boil,

Jason's first to start shelling his quail's egg...

..closely followed by Rob.

It's really, really fiddly so... There's lots of bits of shell.

Really, really tricky.

But Lucy, who's been busy concentrating on her potatoes,

is playing catch up.

This one's lost half the white.

Those two are pretty OK.

I can get the potatoes out now, I think. They've had long enough.

So far, so good?

Yes, interesting, isn't it?

They all put their quails eggs in.

Only one put them all in one fell swoop, which is what you should do.

-And that was Jason?

-And that was Jason.

The others put one, one, one and what that does

is that the last ones that go in are probably five to ten seconds later

-than the first one that went in...

-Yeah.

..which'll mean when they're peeling them they'll be harder to peel,

-cos they haven't had

-2

-minutes 35 seconds.

-Yeah.

So it'll cause them a problem.

The first one, I was a bit heavy-handed with so the yolk's come

out of that one, so number two,

I'm going a bit more cautiously this time.

You've got to be so careful.

-You know, it's a tough challenge, isn't it?

-It is a tough...

-Tough challenge!

-..fiddly challenge.

-Yeah!

Uh, I think I'm doing OK, but it's getting the whole egg covered.

You can feel the tension in the room.

Five minutes left, guys, you've got five minutes.

With two out of his three quail's eggs successfully wrapped,

Rob starts to deep fry.

'But on the green station, Lucy's still working on her potato.'

They look good.

'And the pressure is causing mistakes.'

-So, this one, I've squeezed it too hard.

-SHE GASPS

Right, OK.

So, with two eggs deep frying,

Lucy needs to work fast to complete the dish on time.

Ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

That's it! Time's up!

Step away from your eggs.

It's time to taste.

It's crunch time.

One of our home cooks will be leaving the competition at the end

of this challenge and, keeping their performance from round one in mind,

Galton will be judging their potato-wrapped quail's eggs

to firm up his decision.

-Shall we have a...

-Shall we?

-..test?

-Right.

I'll just break this one.

-That's quite nice.

-Good, thank you.

And this one, yeah, little bit better done but...

overall, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Nice.

Now, then.

Thank you.

Again, nice, soft yolk.

I hate eggs!

I can't believe you've done an egg skills test and you hate eggs!

I'm joking! No, it's nice.

I love them. I'm happy to eat them.

Shall we have a look at this one?

-Oh, what's happened there?

-Cos the yolk's gone down the side there.

-Oh, it's split, OK.

-OK?

Wow.

-You see the different contrast in those?

-Mm.

That one's perfect.

-The other one was a bit better done, wasn't it?

-Mm.

All very good.

-Happy?

-I'm very happy.

OK, well, well done, all three of you.

If you'd like to go back to the waiting room,

we will see you shortly, but thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

The home cooks have done all they can,

so Galton has a tough decision to make.

They all did it well.

They did it very, very well.

I've never done anything like that before.

The fiddliness of it, the peeling of the eggs, not to break them,

I was really pleased to finish it, to put something on the plate.

Jason's first dish, for me,

-was average.

-Uh-huh.

-But he excelled on...

-Yeah.

-..the potato and quail's egg dish.

He was very on-time. He was on it.

It looks like I didn't do as well as the other guys,

so I might have fallen a bit behind there,

but, you know, we'll have to see how he feels about that.

So, I've got my fingers crossed.

-Rob, his first dish, I thought, was delicious.

-Yeah.

But his task with the quail's egg and the potato,

he wasn't good at.

Not an easy challenge at all, though, those eggs -

you've got to be really delicate.

Now, then, Lucy, for me,

her main dish was quite good.

Her quail dish,

they were good, so she's sort of sat in the middle there.

I've pulled all the stops out, so fingers crossed,

but one of us has got to go.

-It is who is going to work well with you on Friday.

-Hmm.

I've got an idea, I have to say,

but it's a really close run thing.

Well, would you like a couple more minutes to think about it?

-Yes, yes.

-All right, OK, well, I'll leave you for a bit.

-Yeah.

Galton must pick the perfect partner for the Friday final.

He can take only two cooks through to the next round.

I know you've made it really tough for Galton

to pick one of you to leave,

but he has made his decision, so it's over to you, Galton.

Thank you. You did, all of you, brilliantly today.

And it's a tough, tough decision.

You all had your strong and weak points.

The one I'm choosing to go home just lacks a little bit of confidence.

-And it's Lucy.

-OK.

-I'm s-... OK?

-Aw, Lucy.

-Thank you.

Thank you so much, but you've been brilliant.

I'm gutted to be going home and not through to the next round,

but there's two great competitors in there - they've done really,

really well, so good luck to them both.

No, no, it's fine, don't worry. Well done.

So, just two home cooks remain.

Beauty clinic owner Jason...

I'm amazed that I've got through,

following my first dish this morning,

but I think the eggs dragged me through, so I'm absolutely thrilled.

..and strategy analyst, Rob.

I didn't do the best second challenge,

but really pleased to get through on

the strength of my first bit, so, yeah, really chuffed with that.

It's now time for our third and final challenge.

Now, our home cooks have been given all the ingredients to one

of Galton's dishes.

They'll have one hour to identify all the ingredients,

and to create a dish of their own, so for you at home,

here's what Galton's chosen.

Galton's chosen

quail, grapes and coriander,

cauliflower and potato,

shallots,

chicken stock and double cream,

goose fat, Tabasco,

sunflower oil,

quail's eggs and Worcester sauce,

white vinegar and curry powder,

Dijon mustard, tomato ketchup

and caster sugar.

Easy enough for a Michelin-starred chef,

but what will our home cooks think?

So, Galton, any tips for our cooks?

Well, gents,

I would say, cook confidently.

Be excited about what you see underneath here,

because there are lots of ingredients,

and enjoy the experience of everything.

-Good. Right, cooks.

-OK?

-You have one hour.

Reveal your ingredients because your time stars now.

Good luck.

Mm.

Quail's eggs again.

I'm fairly sure it's kind of a gamey sort of bird,

so I've got a little bit of an idea what to do with that.

Even though I'm not 100% confident which one it is!

Whilst Rob's still investigating his ingredients,

Jason quickly formulates a plan.

It's a little bit hit and miss at the moment, but I'm doing the quail.

With that, I'm going to be doing a cauliflower puree.

I don't know where the grapes come into it, so I'll be leaving those

to one side.

-Hi, Rob.

-Hi.

How are we getting on?

We're getting on all right. So, I've got the quail.

Um, I've pan-fried those. I'm going to make a sauce,

gravy-type sauce,

maybe with some of the Worcester, Tabasco sort of thing.

So, what about the grapes, have they thrown you?

They have thrown me, yes, so, um,

-I'm not sure whether I'll use them.

-What's this here?

Do you know what this is?

Oh, it's either curry powder or turmeric.

It's curry powder, I think.

So, overall, are you feeling quite confident?

I think I'll get something on the plate,

-and hopefully it'll taste good.

-Perfect.

-Yeah, OK.

How are we getting on?

Good, good. You know, we've got the quail's eggs here,

they'll be staying there!

After this morning! But, yeah, I won't be using all of these -

it's clearly the ketchup, that's a mystery to me.

I've got the cauliflower off over here.

Are you steaming it? What are you...?

Steaming it, then I'm going to puree it down.

-Yes!

-Well, good luck.

-Thank you.

-Good.

I kind of know what I'm doing, but it's nice to have a

defined idea of what you're going to do before you start,

rather than starting without an idea, so.

-Let's start with Rob.

-Yeah.

-He seems a little unsure of some of the ingredients.

-He does, he does.

-Things are on that table for a reason.

-Yeah.

-Those grapes need to be used.

-Yeah.

I don't want to see them not used.

I'm surprised none of them have said,

-"Oh, I'll do a quail egg wrapped in potato."

-Yeah, why not?

-Why not?

What I need to keep an eye on is the, uh,

the reduction, the gravy, the sauce as it were.

I need to get that right.

Let's move on to Jason.

-Jason was right in it, right from the word go.

-Yeah.

So, he's got a plan.

Letting the birds rest now,

carve the breast off the bone.

They should be nice and tender still.

He's rested his quails whole with the coriander in the cavity.

Quite nice.

Our two home cooks are trying their hardest to impress Galton,

and in an attempt to make his dish stand out,

Jason's decided to take the legs off his bird

and concentrate on serving the roasted breast.

A little bit pink maybe, I'm hoping.

15 minutes left.

15 minutes, guys.

I'm just going to put a bit of mustard,

a bit of Worcester, to create a little bit of a zing on the sauce.

Hopefully that will make it nice.

Galton wants a partner who shows a natural gift with flavours,

and he's keeping a close eye on Rob, who's plucked up the courage

to go for the grapes, and has added them to his sauce.

The sauce is the kind of key part,

that's going to bring it all together.

Hopefully, the taste and flavours there will go well with

the quail and the other ingredients I've got.

Meanwhile, Jason's making good progress with his dish.

But Galton's concerned he might be playing it a bit too safe.

Jason, how's it going?

-Yeah, it's going OK.

-Quite a lot of ingredients not being used?

Absolutely. I didn't want to complicate things.

I didn't know how to use some of them. It's just using ingredients

-for ingredients' sake, and that's maybe not the right thing to do.

-OK.

-OK, yeah.

-So, yeah, all looking quite good.

-Organised.

-Thank you.

These last few minutes are crucial,

but Rob's still not convinced about his menu.

Potatoes in the oven.

Oh, your chips? Roasted, not chips.

-A little bit of...

-Yeah.

-..curry powder in there.

Hopefully, that goes with the sauce.

-At the moment, I'm not too sure.

-Good lad, good lad.

Two minutes left, guys.

Two minutes to go.

So, both cooks get their birds onto the plate,

but whose quail will secure them a place in the final?

That's it, time is up.

Step away from your plates.

First into the judging room is Rob.

He's chosen to serve pan-fried quail

on a bed of cauliflower pure,

and a side of curried chips with a spiced grape sauce.

-A-ha.

-A-ha.

How was that?

It was tough.

-I worked with the ingredients that I knew...

-Sure.

-There we go.

-Right, let's tuck in.

-Now, then.

It's nicely cooked.

-Very moist. The legs will be quite under.

-Yeah.

With your breasts like that,

the legs take a little bit longer to cook.

And you've used the grapes, good.

-You puree's a bit grainy.

-OK.

You could have cooked it longer to make it smoother.

Right.

The chips are tasty.

But overall,

it's a dish that you're not confident with.

It's not a confident dish.

There's nice flavours, absolutely nice flavours,

but a big no-no to serve that on the bone like that.

-OK.

-And the cauliflower puree could have been smoother.

-Well, thank you very much.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

Not the best comments from him

as I hoped.

A little disappointed?

Yeah.

It's not something I cook everyday, so I'm kind of happy with my effort.

-Sure.

-It's a no-no, you want to take it off the bone.

-Yeah.

-The chips, well, they're just curry chips.

-Mm.

-Yeah.

So. I expected a bit better from Rob, to be honest.

OK.

In hindsight, I probably would have done it differently,

but we don't have hindsight all the time, do we?

And finally, it's Jason.

He's opted to serve breast of quail

with a side of cauliflower puree,

sauteed potatoes and an onion gravy.

-Hi, Jason.

-Hi.

There we are.

-How was that?

-Good.

I enjoyed it. I'm familiar with, uh, I cook with a lot of game at home,

so I'm similar with the product there.

I'm pleased you took off the bone.

Very pleased. Let's go for it.

-The quail's nicely cooked.

-Thank you.

The big question, why didn't you use the grapes?

-I-I...

-Quail and grapes, that's a classic combination, you know?

Your puree is nice and smooth.

-Thank you.

-Nicely seasoned, actually.

-Good, yeah.

-You used the goose fat to cook the potatoes in...

-Tasty.

..that's not a problem. Well, that's good.

You should have used the quail's eggs.

-OK.

-But overall, I'd eat that.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

I was pleased with the way that it went.

I had ideas straightaway on what I wanted to do.

-A pleasant dish?

-Yeah, pleasant dish.

Lots of elements that should have been added, and could have

been added, that weren't.

-That's really nice.

-Thank you.

-Very nice, well done.

-Thank you very much.

-They're totally contrasting dishes.

It's going to come down to who I think I can work with,

-at the end of the day.

-Mm.

Who's going to listen to me on Friday?

At the moment, I'm still

-in between.

-OK.

-I'm not sure.

-OK, well,

you don't have to reveal who you're going to take through yet,

-because we're going to see what you make with those ingredients.

-OK. OK.

Come on.

All right, guys, this is the best bit, because you get to put your

feet up, and we get to see what Galton does with those ingredients.

-So, Galton, tell us what you're doing.

-Right.

So, we're doing the quail, obviously, the roast leg

and breast of quail.

We're serving it over a Bois Boudran sauce,

which is a tomato-based sauce, with ketchup, shallots,

Dijon, herbs.

We're doing pickled grapes with it.

We're going to make a caramelised cauliflower puree

to go underneath it.

-Cone on, then, Let's go.

-Right, first and foremost, take the quail.

Chop the legs off.

Like so.

OK. So, you end up with a crown like that and the two legs.

OK. I'm just going to seal off the legs.

Right, whilst they're in there like that,

then pickled grapes.

White wine vinegar.

Goes in there.

And sugar.

OK. And what I've done with these,

these were red grapes, but we just take the skins off them, so,

it's just a... It's a classic combination, quail with grapes.

So, you both had the cauliflower.

Finely, finely chop it.

It's just literally cauliflower and a knob of butter.

Pop that back on. Over a moderate heat,

until it starts to caramelise.

What we've got here is hot duck fat,

or goose fat.

Pop them in.

Right?

-So, this is called confiting...

-Sure.

-..so I'm just going to confit

those legs.

Now, gents, I have got this,

the potato string again!

And you guys did brilliantly on these, you really did.

-I can't praise you high enough, actually.

-Yeah.

There we are.

Now, I'm quite pleased with that.

Yeah, that looks good.

SHE CHUCKLES

Now, then, this is the pickling liquor, yeah?

Now, this won't over-base it.

You know, by the time I want those,

they'll be just pickled but not,

"Oh, that's the only thing I can taste."

Now, the jus.

Just fry off a bit of chopped shallot, like you guys did.

A little bit of curry going into it,

a little bit of chopped herbs going into it, OK?

I'm now going to add a bit of stock to it. I don't go mad.

And I want that then to reduce down, OK?

Now, whilst they're doing, Boudran sauce.

Dijon, ketchup.

A massively important ingredient, that ketchup.

Massively important!

Tabasco.

Worcester sauce.

Olive oil.

With A lot of shallot going in there.

Now, that's going to go in the oven,

so into there for eight minutes.

Now, back onto this.

Let's have a look.

Into our machine.

Now blitz it, and we'll see what happens.

This hasn't gone as smooth as I would like it but, hey,

you'll still get the gist of it.

There you are.

OK, so, just about ready to plate up.

So.

Perfect.

And like that. Little tiny bit of the Boudran sauce.

Everything I do is in moderation, gentlemen.

At the end of the day, I want you to taste the quail, OK?

Like so.

Grapes.

See, you're getting quite a lot of different flavours going on in here.

OK?

There we are.

But again,

I don't go mad at it.

Coriander. You both used the coriander,

which was pleasing to see.

Roasted quail, cauliflower,

pickled grapes, quail's egg

and a Boudran sauce.

-Go for it, gentlemen.

-I'll go for the grape!

-Good?

-Mm! Really good.

-Yeah.

-I see what you mean about the cauliflower now,

-so it's lovely.

-Yeah.

-Thank you so much.

-Oh, it's a pleasure!

-Now, before you declare your winner...

-Yeah.

..and let us know who's going to be your partner

in this week's Friday final,

let's have a quick recap of what our cooks made earlier.

In the first round, Jason impressed Galton with his venison.

He made three perfectly wrapped quail's eggs in round two,

but he left out quite a few ingredients in the final challenge,

opting to play it safe with breast of quail and sauteed potatoes.

I would love Galton to pick me. Clearly that's why I'm here, to win,

but obviously it might not be that way. We'll see.

Meanwhile, Rob stole the show in round one with some well-balanced

flavours. He scraped through the second round

with just two potato-wrapped quail's eggs.

But did his decision to serve his quail on the bone

prove costly in the final round?

Always put everything into my cooking.

I'm very competitive, I want to get through.

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

It's been a great day.

-Thank you.

-But, sadly,

Galton can only take one of you through to the Friday final,

and he has made his mind up, so, Galton, it's over to you.

Right, gents.

Whoever I take through has got to listen to me.

We've got to work well together.

I can only really go on what I've tasted from you, really, today,

and I've seen the way you guys work.

I've made my decision.

I'm going to take Jason through.

-Wow.

-Well done!

I'm amazed. I'm shocked.

I'm surprised.

Your quail should have been taken off the bone, Rob.

Thought so.

I'm really disappointed, but I kind of understand the reasons for it,

so a few lessons learned.

So, Galton, any last tips for Friday for Jason?

Right, Jason, we work as a team.

We work constructively.

You listen to me. We'll be all right.

We'll be all right.

He has to listen to me.

You know, I know what tastes good,

and I think I know what will impress Pierre.

We'll be all right.

I'm going to go in with a positive attitude

and just see what we can get out of it.

Tomorrow on Yes, Chef...

Three more home cooks go all out to impress top chef Frances Atkins.

-Three minutes, you can get a fish in a pan.

-Yep.

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

Cheers!

But only one could become their partner in the Friday final.