Rupert Rowley Yes Chef

Four of Britain's best chefs are searching

for their perfect home-cook partner.

And those home cooks are here to prove they have the talent to be

paired with the best in the business...

-Oven!

-..for the cooking experience of a lifetime.

Whip the cream!

Whip it!

Every day, one of the nation's top chefs will select

their ideal partner from three gifted home cooks.

This is what I do when I'm trying to impress people.

At the end of the week,

the four pro-am teams will compete in the Friday final,

cooking for culinary royalty Pierre Koffmann.

What impresses me with food is the end result.

The taste is the most important.

The chefs' reputations are on the line.

It's the work of the devil. I can't stand it.

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

This is Yes, Chef.

Hello, and welcome to Yes, Chef.

Let's meet today's home cooks.

First up, it's Jonathan Foan,

a social media content manager from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

Sorry! People describe my cooking as a bit chaotic.

It's not really doing it. I'm really excited about having someone that

knows what they're doing, like, looking at my cooking.

Jean Williams is a professor of sport

from Woodhouse in Leicestershire.

Strength in the kitchen - generosity.

The chopping on the tomato would be what Mary Berry would call informal.

My weaknesses are finesse.

Starting to panic a bit, yeah.

And, finally, Nick Jones is a medical sales rep from Ormskirk in

Lancashire.

My style of cooking's a bit caveman-y.

Big dishes, lots of stuff going on in the ovens,

feeding lots of people.

Dinner isn't a dinner without any meat on it.

"Keeping my head above water" side is coming out.

Our home cooks are ready to go, so let's meet today's chef.

Rupert Rowley has been the head chef at the Michelin-starred Fischer's at

Baslow Hall in the heart of the Peak District for the last 14 years.

His menus are inspired by the seasons.

OK, check on. Two AGs, one monkfish, one asparagus, one pork, one carrot.

Having trained under Raymond Blanc and Gordon Ramsay,

he knows exactly what it takes to be at the top of the game.

Looking for somebody who's going to do what they're told.

A big pet hate is when you show somebody how to do something,

and then you look round and they're doing it a different way.

Fish on, Steve, yeah?

It would be nice to get one over on the other chefs

and win the competition.

Welcome, everyone, to Yes, Chef.

Now, Rupert, you're looking for your perfect partner

in this week's Friday final. What will you be looking for?

Well, we're looking, I think, really, for people to have fun,

enjoy what they're doing and just really cook from your heart,

and if we can work together,

cos that's what we're obviously aiming for in the end.

So, round one, you've got 45 minutes to create your best dish for Rupert.

Now, he will be watching your every move in the kitchen to see how you

cope. Let's get on with it.

Good luck, because your time starts now.

So, the cooks are off, and they're pulling out all the stops to impress

Rupert with their signature dishes.

I cook lots of different types of food, but of late I've been cooking

a lot of Indian food.

Today, Nick's making a chicken curry with home-made flatbread and raita.

I thought it would give a chance to try different flavours.

So, hopefully, that comes through to produce something that's quite nice.

Over at the green station,

Jean is making a fillet of pan-fried salmon

with a spicy crab and mango salad.

When I found out that I was coming on the programme,

I've maybe cooked this six times in the past few weeks.

She's hoping to win the day with her fresh and healthy ingredients.

I've played around with the seasonings,

played around with the dressing,

so, yeah...

Creating a dish for a top chef is a nerve-racking experience and demands

real flair and confidence.

Today, Jonathan is showing off his creative side by cooking a

chipotle-smoked rump steak, creamed corn risotto,

red pepper salsa and crispy Padron peppers.

I'm quite competitive with my cooking, but it's mainly

bragging rights for my mates

and my little brother, who likes to cook, as well.

-Hi, Nick.

-Hello.

Hi, Nick. How are you doing?

-Er, OK.

-You all right, yeah?

-Yeah.

-So, tell us what you're planning.

So, we're doing a chicken curry.

-Right.

-Making curries is your favourite thing, isn't it?

University in Birmingham helped with the love of curry.

-Yeah.

-What's going to make your curry stand out

-from any other curry?

-I make them sweeter by adding some mango,

or make them spicy by adding a bit of chilli, and that brings it up or

down, depending on what you like. Do you like a bit of heat, or...?

-Not too much.

-Not too much?

OK, that's good. Good to know now.

-Yeah!

-Well, good luck.

-OK. Thank you.

-We'll let you get on.

Cheers. Thank you very much.

-Hi, Jean.

-Hi, there.

-How are we getting on?

-Yeah, all right, thank you.

So, this dish is a family favourite?

It's the sort of thing that we like to cook,

and normally we would barbecue the salmon,

but for the purposes of this,

just doing it in the oven. So I just have to be really careful on my

-timings.

-Yeah, nice. Now, you come from a big family, don't you?

Yeah. Originally, we were from a farming family and then the extended

family lived on the farm, so...

-Oh, wow! Really big family.

-Christmas Day was, like, 25 people.

-So, yeah, chaotic.

-A fair few.

-Well, we'll let you carry on.

-OK, thank you.

-Good luck.

When I cook for my mum, she has to say that she likes it.

Whereas, he doesn't. So...

Hi, Jonathan.

-Hi, Jonathan.

-Hiya.

-How are we getting on?

-Yeah, all right, I think.

-Yeah?

Already made a bit of a mess with my coffee beans.

Now, you got into cooking because you were trying to impress a girl at university, weren't you?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

-And it went horribly wrong?

Yeah, I did what every 18-year-old boy does,

and lied trying to impress a girl.

And I tried to make dauphinoise potato,

but I didn't chop the potato thin enough.

So it was just lumps of raw potato and runny cream.

-Ah, nice.

-And she pretended she liked it as well.

-Aww!

-That's OK.

-That's sweet.

-So it all worked out all right in the end.

This looks good, so you've marinated your steak.

-Yeah.

-What's on there?

That's just a little bit of smoked paprika with some smoked chipotle

chillies, and some coffee blended up.

-And then just a little bit of oil to form a paste.

-OK.

-Good luck.

Thank you.

Trying to do too many things at once.

Cooking under the scrutiny of Rupert is making our home cooks anxious.

I feel quite nervous.

In fact, earlier, I forgot about the crab in the crab salad.

Normally, when it's by myself,

I can just put some music on and zone out, and it's quite relaxing.

But it's slightly different when you're doing it for a top chef.

The timing, and I didn't realise that time is running away

and the chicken might be a little bit

charred on one side.

Let's start with Nick.

He's making a curry, not too spicy.

Yeah, not too spicy.

Certainly looks quite impressive -

he's got a lot of spices out on his table.

Confident when we started off, he's making a naan bread.

But it's just... It's a curry, isn't it?

He seems quite confident in what he's doing.

-Which is good.

-Yeah, you know, we'll see.

These are going in the oven now for ten minutes on a quite high heat.

OK, let's move on to Jean.

It all sounds really nice.

My only worry, really, is, was the crab meat in that?

Because she's got quite a lot of brown crab meat.

I think brown crab meat's the work of the devil.

-It's not...

-What do you mean? Why?

I can't stand it. When you're talking about flavours like salmon,

-mango...

-Fresh.

-Fresh, lovely, acids, things like that.

Then to put brown crab meat in there could destroy the whole thing.

Jonathan's menu does sound quite busy.

Flavours that you like to eat?

The steak with the coffee and the spices on, yeah, we'll see.

It's not something I've eaten, so...

Yeah, he's ground down the coffee beans, hasn't he?

-Yeah, yeah.

-I'm just trying to figure out how well to do the steak,

-which I'm not very good at.

-You know when you get to the bottom

-of your coffee, and you get the bit...

-Grainy.

You have to drink it through your teeth.

-You don't want a grainy crust.

-You don't want it like it's just been dipped in soil,

do you know what I mean? It doesn't want to be that kind of crunchiness.

-OK.

-So we'll see.

It's getting there. Pray and hope.

Cooks, there's just ten minutes left.

Ten minutes left, guys.

We're on the home straight now, I think.

The bread's just gone in, so I just need a few minutes on either side.

The curry's pretty much done. Just a few more minutes, then plate up.

It should be ready.

Nick is sailing through.

But Jean's worst fears have just been realised.

It's overcooked.

You could tell because the white protein's come out of the fish.

Not only has Jean overcooked the salmon,

in her panic, she has also forgotten to add the crab to the crab salad.

Just doing the finishing touches on the salad,

just a shame about the fish.

Meanwhile, Jonathan's having his own problems.

The moment of truth.

I'm very worried about the steak,

cos it's a lot thicker than the one I normally cook.

Yeah, the steak's definitely going to have to go back in

for a little bit, cos it's pretty raw still.

Right, cooks. You've got three minutes left.

Three minutes to go. So start thinking about plating up.

Just enough butter.

I think what it looks like on the plate's really important.

Rupert's looking for a partner who can stand the pressure,

and Jean's ever the optimist.

I'm just hoping that the flavours in the salad will carry me through.

We should be OK. He says.

Nervously.

Just 30 seconds left.

That's it. Step away from your plates.

You've done all you can.

It's time to taste.

First to take the taste test is Jonathan,

with his chipotle-smoked rump steak, creamed corn risotto,

red pepper salsa and crispy Padron peppers.

How did you find the challenge?

I think it went all right. The steak was a bit stressful.

But apart from that, I think...

I'm pretty happy with what's on the plate.

-Cool. Ready?

-Yeah.

-Have you sliced it and put it back in the oven?

-Yeah.

Yeah, I think you should not have done that.

I'm not convinced the whole steak and risotto thing, to me, really,

is a good combo. The little salsa thing is very nice, that's lovely.

I think that with steak is really nice.

-Yeah.

-And I think that with the risotto is really nice.

-Yeah.

-But I'm not convinced about all three together.

-OK.

-There's real issue with doing risottos.

They end up looking like baby sick.

-Yeah.

-They taste nice, but they look like splodge.

Well, thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

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

-Cool. Thank you.

-See you soon.

-All right.

I'm kicking myself about the steak,

cos I just bottled it and fried it again when I didn't need to.

I think the risotto's gorgeous.

And I'd eat these until I've popped.

-He looks a little bit disappointed.

-He's obviously quite competent,

because it's quite an adventurous thing to cook.

He was quite nice about how I cooked everything,

so I take some positives from it.

Next to take the taste test is Jean,

with her pan-fried salmon,

and spicy mango salad.

How was the challenge for you?

Yeah, tougher than I expected, to be honest.

Towards the end, I lost a little bit of focus.

-Aww.

-So, some of the items that should've been on the dish

-are not there.

-And what did you leave off?

The crab didn't make it on to the plate,

and the peanuts should've been toasted and added on to the plate.

All right. Tuck in?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? OK.

The salmon, it was over...

-You overcooked it.

-Yeah.

But you know, we all overcook stuff.

I do it most nights, you know?

The salad, the taste of the salad's lovely.

Really up my street, that. Because I like sweetness.

-It's really fresh.

-Yeah. If you'd have to put the peanuts in it,

it would've again taken it up a notch.

-I can see where you're heading.

-Just didn't get there!

-We just didn't quite get there!

-That's OK. Things happen.

That's part of cooking, I think.

-And you've got another challenge to go.

-Lovely. Thank you.

-All right?

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

-Yeah.

-..we'll see you shortly.

-Thank you.

Totally overlooked the crab, and left the peanuts in the oven,

so it was not a good day in the kitchen for me.

-Lovely flavours in that salmon.

-If you remember to put the crab on,

it does go beautifully with crab.

Bless her, she was really disappointed about her salmon.

Yeah, yeah, she was. And she was very nervous about the whole thing,

I think that really sort of set her back.

So hopefully, she'll up her game for the next round.

-Yeah, yeah.

-It couldn't have gone much worse, to be honest,

unless I'd managed to burn the salad.

And finally, it's Nick,

with his chicken and spinach curry

served with flatbread and raita.

-Hi, Nick.

-Hello.

-Did you enjoy the challenge?

Perversely, yeah. Yeah, it was nice. We'll see what you say afterwards.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Let's have a taste.

Lovely presentation. The curry's really nice.

If I'd had that, I'd be more than happy.

-Yeah.

-You know what I mean?

But whether that really shows what you can do with another round,

-do you know what I mean?

-Yeah.

-Cos that, within what it is,

it's a great dish. But I think it's got its limits within how far you

-can take it.

-OK.

-OK.

-Thank you so much.

-No, thank you.

-All right.

-Well done, Nick.

-Cheers.

-We'll see you very shortly.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

He said he liked my food, and he'd eat it,

so I've never had a chef say that to me.

So yeah, I'm pleased with that.

I could eat my body weight in this curry, I think.

It was a pleasant dish.

Yeah, it was a nice plate of food. What he showed, you know,

with the rice and the turmeric in there was quite cool.

-And the bread he made...

-And the bread was nice, yeah.

-..by himself.

-Yeah, yeah.

-That shows good skill, doesn't it?

-So we'll see.

-I'm not sure if I've done enough to impress.

Time will tell. There's obviously other challenges.

-We'll see.

-Is anyone standing out at the minute?

-Maybe two of them. Let's see the next test.

-Well, yeah.

-We've got your skills test now.

-We'll see how we get on with that.

-Yeah.

-OK, well, let's go and do this.

-OK.

Rupert can only choose one home cook to be his partner in this Friday's

final and has just one more round before the first cook is eliminated.

So, Rupert's set you a challenge now to see who's got the skills he's

-looking for.

-OK.

So, we're going to do crepes Suzette,

or pancakes in orange sauce,

depending on how you want to say it.

So you've all made pancakes?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

Good. Should be easy, then.

-Come on.

-Right, OK. So we're going to do a couple of things at once.

So we just chuck the butter in there for our pancake mix.

Just get that melting, and we're going to put our sugar

in our other pan, and we're just going to start that caramelising.

Pancake mix, basically a Yorkshire pudding mix.

It's the same thing, yeah?

Just whisk your yolks up. That's melting down.

What sort of skills will this show?

Timing, cos you've got to do two things at once.

I think it's just a good dish.

There's a bit of presentation involved in it.

-A bit of everything.

-Yep.

-You know what I mean?

So, we're going to add a touch of butter to that,

OK? Once that starts

stiffening up, just start adding in your milk.

Just to give it a bit of leeway.

So that's our mix. OK.

So then for our orange sauce.

Orange zest is really important cos that zest is what's really got

the great flavour.

-You know, that's what you're looking for.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

Right, so we're going to very quickly segment the orange.

Go round it.

Then just either side of the white, you don't need all of this,

-but I'm going to do it all.

-This is starting to...

So the sugar is starting to go. You can see quite clearly with this what

colour that sugar is.

So we've got some butter.

Just start mixing that in.

Add your Grand Marnier.

-And then just tip in...

-Just the juice?

Just the juice.

So that's looking great now. It's got a bit of thickness to it.

So we'll just take that off. Yeah.

So now we'll chuck our segments in.

OK? And we'll chuck our brandy in there now.

Ooh!

So fold your pancakes like that, OK?

Just fold them over and put them back in the sauce.

Ooh. OK.

-Nice.

-Then we want them...

-Drenched.

-Drenched.

So pick that up.

Don't want to cramp him.

-Gorgeous.

-OK? OK?

-Brilliant. Thank you.

-OK?

-Right, guys.

-If you'd like to have a taste.

-Amazing.

-What do they taste like?

-Epic.

-Epic?

-Epic.

-Gorgeous.

-How're you feeling? Confident about it?

Hopefully, I can get it to look close to that.

Well, if you'd like to make your way back to your stations, we'll begin.

Our cooks are against the clock as Rupert has given them

just 20 minutes to follow his instructions to the letter

and create the perfect crepes Suzette.

All seem confident with the traditional pancake,

but this saucy twist has really given them something to think about.

Pancakes I should be OK with, but the sauce is new to me,

so I just have to wait and see how that works out.

I think the most difficult part

is going to be juggling the caramel sauce

at the end with all the extra ingredients that go in it.

I've make pancakes before using the normal recipe,

not with the melted butter.

Rupert will be watching the cooks progress across all challenges,

taking their every move into account.

I want to make up for my first round,

so I'm putting a lot of effort into trying to get this one right.

Much harder than it looks.

I thought I was OK under pressure,

but when the clock's ticking, it's completely different.

-Hi, Nick.

-Hello.

-How are you getting on?

-Hi, Nick, how are we doing?

You just caught me, like you did in the first one,

just at a crucial moment.

Sorry.

-We've been waiting.

-I've got one which is a bit thick, I think.

So you're going to go a bit thinner?

I'm going to see how many I can get done and then choose the best,

-hopefully.

-OK.

-Good luck, Nick.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

-Cheers.

For all three cooks, there seems to be one very sticky sticking point.

That sugar is going quicker than I thought it would so I'm trying to

keep an eye on that and make sure that doesn't go.

I can't get it to combine.

-Hi, Jean.

-How are we doing?

Yeah, I left my caramel on the side

because I thought it was going over,

and I've just tried to add the butter,

and I think it's not really warm enough.

Is this what happens when it's...? It will go too stiff?

-It will be fine.

-Put it back on the heat, you think?

-Yeah.

-All right.

-It smells good, doesn't it?

Yes, it does, it smells lovely.

-So, how are we doing?

-All right.

I think I did the same thing as Jean where I let it harden up on the side

so I'm just trying to heat the caramel back up.

It's sugar, it's going to melt in the end.

-OK, well, good luck.

-OK.

I'm just going to leave that one and see how it goes.

Time is ticking and all three cooks have reached a crucial stage.

Jean is taking no chances.

That was just my first test one.

The sauces all look quite good.

They're a bit panicky with the caramel and whatnot.

I think it just starts clogging together and then they panic.

-Just leave it?

-Just leave it, have a bit of confidence

in what you're doing and see.

I think it looks quite good. They're all going to be good.

-Tough for you.

-I wonder whether I should have made it a bit harder!

Cooks, you've got just three minutes left.

Three minutes to go.

Splashed a bit of sauce into my pancakes!

I think it's all right. The sauce has worked out all right,

I'm happy with that.

They look good, Nick. Are you pleased?

-Yeah. They taste nice as well, I think.

-Good.

Come on, Jean.

Right, that's it.

Step away from your crepes.

You've done all you can.

It's time to taste.

It's the moment of truth.

One of our home cooks will be leaving the competition

after this round.

Rupert has their crepes Suzettes to firm up his decision.

So, how was that for everyone?

-Educational.

-Yes.

-A bit stressful?

-Yeah, cos you're multitasking,

so trying to think of two things at once.

Yeah. Well, you've all done well.

Time to taste? Yeah?

OK. Start with this one.

So nice.

-It's tough, this.

-Yes, so tough, the hardest job in the world here!

-Quite hard, isn't it? Cos they're all pretty good.

-All tasty.

So, Nick, I think your pancakes were the best.

I saw that when you were cooking them.

A nice even colour, nice thickness.

Jonathan, yours, I think the orange segments are just right,

they've just started to break down a little bit, like mine were.

I think the pancakes were good, the sauce is nice.

Maybe a little bit more oomph with the sauce.

It's maybe a little bit sweet.

Jean, your sauce was my favourite.

It's got that alcohol taste to it.

I think your pancakes were a tad thick.

There's a bit of a... You've sort of got better pancakes,

better sauce and then this one is a good all-rounder, really...

Oh, that's going to make it tough for you, then.

..if I was going to be honest.

Well, well done, all three of you.

-Thank you.

-If you'd like to take

your crepes back to the waiting room,

we will see you shortly.

Only two people can be taken through to the next round,

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

-They all did really well.

-Yeah, they did do well.

I'm being a bit hyper-critical.

-But there were faults in each one of them as well?

-Yeah.

I've got no idea whether I've done enough to stay on to the next round,

but I couldn't call it between the three of us at the moment.

The other two are both very good cooks.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if I was the one to go home.

Because I didn't have a great first round.

Hopefully, I don't go home after that.

I'd like to get through to the next round

and see what the next challenge is.

So, obviously,

it's that time where you have to say goodbye to someone.

-Yeah.

-Have you got an idea of who that person might be?

-Yes.

-Oh, you do?

-Yep.

-OK.

-All right, well, let's go tell them.

-OK.

Sadly, we do have to say goodbye to one of you now,

and Rupert has made his mind up. So, Rupert, it's over to you.

So, I based it really on confidence

and who I think can deliver obviously on Friday.

There's quite a lot of pressure.

I'm afraid it's you, Jean, who's going.

I think you... unfortunately,

your nerves got the better of you a little bit and you had a couple of

errors with the ovens and whatnot.

I've really enjoyed it, thank you.

I enjoyed working with you this morning so that's great.

And the crepes Suzette was brilliant.

Not surprised, to be honest.

I didn't have a very good first round and then everybody

was very strong on the second round.

Jean, well done. And congratulations, guys.

Ready to cook again are medical sales rep Nick...

Depending what the challenge is, it will be an interesting afternoon,

I guess.

..and social media manager Jonathan.

I'm quite good at making recipes out of what's left over in my mum's

fridge, so hopefully I'll be able to create something slightly different

when it's a Michelin-starred chef's ingredients.

Right, it's now time for our third and final round.

Now, our home cooks have been given all the ingredients

to one of Rupert'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 Rupert's chosen.

A fillet of turbot and Welsh mussels, chorizo,

white wine and vermouth,

samphire, coriander, butter,

double cream, broccoli,

pasta flour and eggs, shallots and garlic, and saffron water.

All make the perfect dish for Rupert,

but what will our home cooks make of them?

So, Rupert, what advice have you got for our home cooks?

I think it's to look at each ingredient and think about

how that needs to be cooked, what's best for that,

and then try to marry all of that together to create your dish.

You've got one hour.

Reveal your ingredients, because your time starts now.

Jonathan and Nick have been thrown by Rupert's ingredients.

Neither of them are familiar with what's on show.

It's weirdly quiet in here, right?

It's some kind of plant extract.

-The milk's cream.

-What did you say?

The milk is cream.

Jonathan is first to take the plunge.

I don't know which fish it is that we're cooking,

which means I don't know how best to cook it.

Which is always a challenge when you're cooking for a chef.

The fish is on his menu, right?

-Hi, Nick.

-Hi, Nick.

Look, we have come again at a critical point.

We have! So have you managed to identify all of the ingredients?

This is fish.

SHE LAUGHS

Do you know what fish it is?

I don't. I'm going to...

It's sea bass.

Could be right, I don't know.

OK. So, what is your plan?

-Have you got a plan?

-Erm...

-I'm still...

-He's still thinking.

-I'm still thinking, come back to me.

-All right, well, good luck.

-Let's let him think.

-Hi, Jonathan.

-Hi.

-Hi, Jonathan.

-You all right?

-Yeah, all right.

Yeah. What are we planning?

So...

With Nick, I'm not quite sure what the fish is,

but I'm slightly happier that it's fish than he is, I think.

I'm going to start off by making a base with the chorizo, the onions,

the garlic and some butter, just in the pan.

And then I'm going to put some white wine in that and steam the mussels.

-Mm-hm.

-But I think there's a plan.

-Good.

-So I'm going to try and stick

-to that, and hopefully something will come out of it.

-Good.

-Good.

-All right, well, good luck.

-Thank you.

-OK.

Haunted by a smell from childhood,

Rupert's ingredients contain Nick's worst nightmare, fish.

I grew up in a house with people who eat fish, and yellow fish,

and the whole place stunk of smoked yellow fish from time to time,

and it has just put me off.

Jonathan's got more than just Rupert to impress.

My dad worked in a fishmonger's when he was a teenager,

so he's going to be really annoyed that I don't know how to do this.

You've had half an hour, you've got half an hour to go.

Time is ticking and Nick still seems reluctant to commit to a dish.

Plotting, still.

Half an hour in.

OK, let's start with Nick.

-Fish.

-Yeah.

-Doesn't eat it.

-He doesn't eat it and doesn't... Yeah.

-But weird, that, I think.

-I suppose if you don't eat it, though,

-you're not going to cook it, are you, at home?

-Yeah, I know.

-But then he might pull it off.

-Yeah.

Now, Jonathan has got a bit more of a plan.

We've got a stunning piece of turbot there, so it would be a crying shame

-for them...

-Yeah.

-..to destroy it.

He's probably sitting in the other room just pulling his hair out,

watching me slaughter this fish.

I think the ingredients they have got,

it is very easy to see what to do.

-Well, easy for you.

-Yeah, easy for me. Yeah.

I've changed my plan. I'm going to...

I think I'm going to batter the fish after looking at how it's come out,

cos it looks pretty cod or haddocky.

Nick's back in the room and has finally got a plan.

The mussels are going in the white wine with a bit of garlic,

bit of cream at the end of that.

I'm going to cook the fish in the frying pan,

I'm not going to batter it.

See what I can get out of that.

-Hi, Jonathan.

-Hiya.

-Hi, Jonathan, how are we doing?

-Yeah, all right. All right. I've changed my mind.

-Oh!

-Twice.

-That's all right.

-Go on, so what have you decided to do now?

I'm going to batter the fish.

-Oh, are you?

-All right.

Cos I think it's similar to something like haddock,

-but I'm not sure.

-You're not going to change your mind again?

-I hope not.

-No!

-Ask me again in five minutes.

-OK.

-Good. Good luck.

-Hi, Nick.

-Hello.

-Hi, Nick, how are we doing?

What are you going to do with your fish?

So, the fish is just going to go

-into the pan cooked with the shallots.

-OK.

-What have you put in with the mussels?

-So that is...

-That herb.

-THEY LAUGH

-OK.

-Garlic.

-So you've put "that herb" in there.

-Garlic, butter, a little drop of oil.

-OK. All right.

-Good.

-Carry on.

Thank you.

The race is on to get the seafood cooked to perfection.

Cooks, you have just five minutes left.

Five minutes to go, guys.

Nick's taken an interesting approach to his fish.

I was trying to think what I'd do with chicken.

And I'd probably pan fry chicken in something like that.

All right, I'm happy with that. It doesn't taste overcooked.

As the cooks head towards the finish line,

their thoughts turn to presentation.

Well, there is no turning back now.

The plan is executed.

I reckon you smashed it, Nick.

-I smashed something.

-JONATHAN LAUGHS

It doesn't look as bad as I thought in my head.

Rupert said he wanted more sauce, so I'm going to go more sauce, I think.

That's it. Time's up.

You've done all you can, it is time to taste.

First up, it's Nick, with a pan-fried fillet of turbot,

battered broccoli and a mussel and chorizo chowder.

-Glad that's over?

-Yes.

-Did you enjoy it?

-I enjoyed it because it's things I've not

cooked before. I'm glad it's over.

-Ready to taste?

-Yeah.

Fish is nice, it's a little bit over.

Well, not a little bit, it is over.

And you took the skin off yours as well.

Yeah. I was debating when I saw it whether I'd put in the pan

skin down or take it off.

Would've been more than happy with it...

-Yeah.

-..with the skin on. When you've cooked your mussels,

mussels need to steam, so you need a lid on it.

-Right.

-Which I don't think you did.

-No.

-This one here is not cooked, it's not opened.

So they have to be really open.

What you want them to do is to just open and then stop it.

Now you know what you have to do if you do cook them again.

-Yeah.

-Good.

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

for the last time, we'll see you really soon. Thank you.

-Thank you, cheers.

-Thank you very much.

I don't cook fish and I haven't cooked mussels, so I didn't expect

it to be a perfect dish.

I was just happy certain things were cooked right.

Nick's never cooked fish before, ever.

No, it's hardly like it's an out-there ingredient.

-No.

-And I think that's a bit worrying.

-It's turbot.

-Oh, is it?

-It's turbot?

-Yeah.

-I'm going to pretend I knew that.

Isn't that the king of fish?

I'll start chopping things cos they are going to need to be chopped,

and a plan was still forming as I was chopping.

Next to take the taste test is Jonathan,

with a battered turbot served with samphire,

broccoli and mussels in a chorizo cream.

There you go.

Lovely. How was that for you?

Yeah, that was all right, I think.

I felt better about that than I did about the technical challenge.

-Oh, really?

-OK.

-That's good.

-Yeah, I thought cos I had a bit more time,

-I felt calmer and I could...

-Yeah.

-..plan ahead.

Once I had a bit of time to sit back and think about what I was going to

do with it, once I'd taken the skin off,

-I thought the best thing was to batter it.

-OK.

-OK.

-Yep.

-Yeah?

-Let's go.

It looks nice.

-The presentation is lovely.

-Did you know what the fish is?

No, I was completely wrong until Nick told me in the other room

that it was turbot, not haddock.

-I'm really sorry.

-It's all right.

-That's quite embarrassing.

Yeah. Yeah.

That was nice.

I think you've got the right...

right idea of a dish, you know what I mean? There's a nice sauce.

You've done your broccoli and samphire,

that's cooked nicely underneath.

It's hard to tell, but I think you might have put too much salt

-in that. Have you seasoned that up...?

-Yeah, I think I did.

-Yeah, I think with the samphire.

-On the board and in the pan.

-Yeah.

I don't think you've seasoned your fish.

You could've done with nothing on the samphire and then...

-Yeah. Sure, yeah.

-..a bit of sea salt on the fish,

or something like that.

The sauce is quite nice and you've done a neat presentation.

I think it's a crying shame you battered the fish.

When you said, you know, "The fish, da-da-da,

"I'm going to simply pan fry it," that was spot on.

-With the skin...

-You should've stuck with your original plan.

I'd have had no issue with the skin being on there,

just cut a wedge off...

-Yeah.

-..and shove it in a pan.

-OK. Well, if you would like to go

-back to the waiting room for the last time...

-Yeah.

..we will see you very shortly.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, Jonathan.

I don't feel good about battering the fish.

If I'd known it was turbot, I wouldn't have done it.

My old man used to work in a fish shop,

he's going to be very annoyed at me when I get home tonight.

I think he'll be kicking himself now that he didn't pan fry that fish.

Yeah, I think that was a bit of a daft thing to do.

-Did he like your mussels?

-I think he thought they were all right.

I think they were slightly under.

Have you got any idea of who you think you'll take?

-Yeah, I think...

-Oh, you do?

-Yeah, I think I'm sorted.

Oh, OK. Well, you don't have to tell us yet because we're going to see

what you do with those ingredients.

-Yep.

-Let's go.

-Come on.

Right, guys, this is the best bit,

you get to sit back and relax and watch the master at work.

So we are going to do pan-fried turbot

with home-made linguini

and then we are going to do with mussels and chorizo

and coriander.

-Simple.

-So, put your fish right on the edge, OK?

Just angling the knife down, just work your way along,

and we just trim off the skirt.

So we've got a nice portion there.

-OK?

-Perfect.

-The next thing we'll make is the pasta.

-So, flour, you put a pinch of salt.

-Flour, pinch of salt,

tiny bit of oil, three egg yolks and one whole egg.

That's our whole egg.

So then we have got saffron water, purely for colour.

I'm going to add two spoons.

The most difficult part of it is generally getting this to work.

Just to start bringing it together.

All I'm doing is pushing it together, trying to make it smooth.

-Just put that in the fridge now.

-Yes. I'll do that.

-Till we're ready.

-Shallots...

-So, shallots. Garlic.

So, just slice them up, just a little bit of oil in the pan.

Oh!

Just a splash(!)

Some of the coriander stalks.

Coriander stalks are great.

And we'll just get our broccoli ready.

And now we are going to add white wine into that,

and Noilly Prat vermouth into that,

roughly equal amounts.

So they all go in, in there.

Just put that on there.

So we're just going to cut a little dice of this.

We are not going to worry too much about doing it too neat.

So, there we go.

So now... You can see now they're pretty much open,

so we tip that out into there.

We will put our mussel stock in there,

we'll start that reducing down.

Pick the mussels.

I'm just picking out the bigger ones cos that is all we really need.

We can see they are all open and the meat comes out fairly easily.

-Easy. What do you want to prep for?

-Roll the pasta out.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. OK.

So a little bit of flour on there.

-So good.

-That's my Christmas present sorted.

-Yeah!

-It doesn't go through this nicely.

OK.

Like that, and that's the one I want.

-Perfect.

-Yeah. So, double cream, OK?

Into that. Diced chorizo in that.

So we'll just start to warm that up.

We'll take our pasta, OK?

We'll drop that in there.

This really doesn't take that long to cook.

That'll do.

OK?

So we'll take that out of there.

We'll chuck our broccoli in first cos that'll take longer to cook.

Samphire, really just in and out, not long at all.

Then we are going to put our sauce on, and we are just going to pass

that through a muslin,

just to get any bits of sand or anything out of that.

So we'll just take all our veg out.

Season the fish, just really a little bit of salt.

OK? That goes on. There we go.

Looking for a little bit of colour,

nice colour on one side and then we are going to flip it over.

We'll just warm our pasta back up.

Finely sliced coriander, so we'll just chuck that in with the mussels.

Into our sauce. And we would just warm them up.

-Yeah?

-Lovely.

-That's what we're looking for. So we just add...

a little bit of butter just into that pan.

That just sits in the middle. So then we've got our veg.

Put our fish on. We've got our mussels.

Put the samphire over the top.

Coriander cress.

We've got our chorizo.

And then we just finish off.

-Look at that.

-Fab.

-Fantastic.

-OK?

That looks brilliant.

Right, OK, let's taste.

The colours are fantastic.

Oh, wow! It's definitely batt... not battered.

That pasta's really nice.

OK, Rupert, it's time to declare your winner.

-Yeah.

-But before you do,

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

In the first round, Nick's curry was Rupert's favourite dish.

His crepes were also the best of the bunch.

But he struggled cooking the fish and mussels,

presenting an undercooked dish to Rupert.

I guess there were some skills he's wanting to see,

and if he's going to produce a dish on Friday which is a fish dish,

then I guess he wants someone who knows how to cook fish.

Jonathan overcooked his steak in the first round.

In the second, his crepes Suzette was deemed a good all-rounder.

And the final round saw him present a solid, flavoursome dish

with well-cooked fish and mussels.

I don't know whether I've done enough to win or not.

I think I had a lot to make up with from the earlier rounds,

so I've done my best, and that's all I can hope for.

Well done to both of you.

It's been a brilliant day, but sadly, only one of you can go

through to the Friday final. So, Rupert, it's over to you.

I think you've both produced some great dishes,

but, really, one person has just kind of edged it.

So the person I'm going to take through is going to be Jonathan, OK?

-Cheers.

-Did you enjoy yourself, Nick?

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Well done. Congratulations.

I can't wait to tell my dad that I got through on a fish dish,

that even though I got the fish wrong

and I made a bit of a mess skinning it,

I think the fact I've managed it is something I'm pretty proud of.

Disappointed but, I'm pleased

for him cos he did really well today, so...

So, Rupert, any final tips for Jonathan on Friday?

We'll have fun, we'll enjoy it, and I think just do what you are told.

THEY LAUGH

-And we will see how we get on.

-Brilliant, OK.

-Well done.

-All right.

-Well done.

I think Jonathan showed the better understanding of food,

and his food was more... They were more complete dishes.

After the dish I pulled out this morning and the comments I got on my

signature dish, to be able to come back with that final fish dish,

I'm really happy with it.

Tomorrow on Yes, Chef...

Three more home cooks go all out to impress top chef Theo Randall.

Everyone is taking it very seriously.

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

Go on, Danny boy.

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