It's the Finals Week on Celebrity MasterChef,
and only the four best cooks remain.
Getting to the final four is real delicious validation.
It feels like my chickens are coming home to roost.
Now I've just got to kill 'em, butcher 'em and roast 'em!
LAUGHTER
The competition has got so intense
that I'm not getting any sleep right now.
This is the most important round of all.
The nerves are, like, through the roof,
but it's very close, isn't it?
It's one last push to get into the Grand Final.
It's not quite as tough as playing a Test match,
but it's definitely up there.
Tonight, four must become three
as they fight for the chance to cook at Chef's Table,
under one of the UK's most exciting culinary talents, Liam Dillon.
Right, guys, listen up.
Our guests have arrived, so let's get a move on now.
That is pretty impressive.
You wouldn't know, would you... No.
..that this has been done by a celebrity?
Sparks are going to fly in this kitchen today.
It's so exciting.
We want fireworks, we want tears, we want laughter.
I don't care what it is. I just want it to be fantastic.
Welcome back, you fantastic four.
This is the biggest day of the competition so far.
You have to deliver something truly fantastic.
A mistake could cost you a place in the final three.
Your brief today is to cook us a dish dedicated to someone special.
This is someone who has inspired you, loved you, cherished you,
maybe turned your life in a different direction.
This is a chance to cook from the heart.
At the end of this, three of you will be going through to the final.
Sadly, one of you will be going home.
One hour, 45 minutes.
Make it fantastic.
Fill it full of emotion.
Let's cook.
Yeah, a big round today.
I'm actually really excited to cook today.
It's an important round, to get down to the last three.
Everything's at stake, really.
Dawn's food style is big, kind of eccentric, whimsical,
full of imagination.
There's always a story, there's always inspiration.
That's why this round could be Dawn's.
I'm fighting for a place in the final three
and I'm making a kebab!
I mean, when I say it out loud, it doesn't sound like enough.
But I've elevated it, it's going to look spectacular,
and I'm dedicating it to a really special night in my life,
so I think I'm fitting the brief.
You're doing a kebab for the final three?
I am. Look, I think delicious food is delicious food,
and kebabs are delicious.
It's a design classic.
I don't think I've ever eaten one sober, though.
That's the thing. Right. I'm dedicating it to my husband Chris,
who first told me he loved me and asked me to be his girlfriend
in a kebab shop, and we sat in there and ate this kebab
and drank champagne out of a blue plastic bag,
and it obviously changed my life. So it's quite a significant kebab.
This is full of emotion for you. This is really special.
For Chris's wedding present, I got a tattoo of the word "munchies"
on my bottom, cos that was the name of the kebab shop.
Such a beautiful... I got it done a week before the wedding
and I had to hide it from him for the whole week.
Dawn's kebab is made up of layers of chicken and lamb,
which have been marinated with garlic and rosemary and thyme.
Look at that!
Da-na! I know.
Dawn's biggest issue here is, she's using different types of meat,
and they all need to be cooked perfectly.
This can't be shoe leather, and none of it can be raw.
It's kind of like a Tudor feast.
Well, you are our queen. Thank you.
We have got a chilli sauce, which has got pineapple going through it,
which is sweet but sharp and sour.
Loads and loads of chilli powder, hopefully quite hot.
To give us a little bit of a sour note,
we're also getting pickled cabbage.
I want to taste the pickle. We need the sharpness.
Great bread should be nice and soft, but at the same time,
we should be able to wrap the filling inside that bread.
This is a very happy dish to cook and it's full of great memories,
so I'm just going to put my heart into it.
Celebrities, 30 minutes gone, one hour on the clock.
Alfie Boe, classical singer.
His style of cooking usually packs a punch.
He's given us great show stoppers,
and he's always been inspired by the food of Italy.
When he puts on a show, he puts on a proper show.
HE SINGS OPERATICALLY
Oh, my God.
Today, I'm baking a cake that consists of two cakes.
One is parkin,
which was my father's favourite cake growing up in Lancashire,
and the second is a joconde cake,
which is actually also called les miserables.
And my dad used to encourage me a lot to fulfil my dreams,
and one of my dreams was to be a singer.
And I took part in Les Miserables,
so I thought the two go hand in hand.
I'm so proud of Alfie Boe today because in another round,
Alfie didn't manage to serve his cake properly.
Oh, it's leaking, sorry.
And he was crestfallen.
But here we are at one of the most tense parts of the competition,
and he's cooking a two-layered cake.
I've dedicated this dish to my father.
I lost him 28 years ago.
He was somebody that inspired me
and told me that it'll always be all right.
So, I'm making this cake for him in his memory...
..and I'm filling up, sorry.
No, it's a big deal. Yeah. Yeah.
Just before I walk on stage,
I say a little thing in my head to my dad, "Give us a hand, Dad."
Today, I asked him as well.
We will have layers of parkin -
think of Christmas pudding without any fruit in it -
flavoured with lots of ginger and spices, quite dense.
Then a layer of coffee buttercream.
Then a layer of joconde, le miserable cake.
It's very, very light with a light flavour of almonds through it.
Can I get some more eggs, please?
I mixed my sugar in with my eggs.
I should have put the sugar in with the water.
So, I'm going to have to start this mix again now.
He's got to be really careful here that we get a lovely
construction of cake. If they're not even,
the whole thing will topple like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
I love to eat this thing that I'm making today,
and my special person is very special to me
and I know that they would love to eat this as well.
We can't help but be in love with drag artist Ginger Johnson.
Her food is full of ingenuity and twists and excitement.
She takes the ordinary and she makes it extraordinary.
I'm making Christmas dinner.
So, I'm doing a festive baked salmon with roast potatoes,
Yorkshire puddings and a shaved sprout salad.
Hang on, no turkey? No, no turkey.
Salmon is the classy way to go for Christmas for me.
I like to spend the second half of Christmas Day
dancing around the living room to lovely records,
and you can't do that when you're full of turkey, can you?
Who are you cooking this for? It's for someone special.
This is for my dad.
My dad is the one that really inspired my love of food and eating.
He used to cook the most amazing things when I was growing up.
And also, Christmas dinner was normally his job.
So, this time, he's putting his feet up,
I'm going to make us a delicious spread.
My dad has always made me feel safe and loved.
He's also been really supportive through my journey in drag
and performance and all of the things that I've done.
I know that there are a lot of queer people that are not as lucky as me
to have such a supportive family,
and I count myself incredibly lucky for that.
We are getting a baked salmon,
which is going to be covered with a sour cream and dill mixture,
cranberries soaked in orange juice, alongside pomegranates and almonds.
This is an unusual Christmas dinner by anybody's means.
We've also got roast potatoes,
hopefully really well seasoned and nice and crispy.
Yorkshire puddings, which need to be light and fluffy
and crispy on the outside.
And with that, we've got a posh Christmas coleslaw.
Brussels sprouts, shaved very, very thinly
with a walnut dressing on the outside of it.
Ginger's going to give us surprises, twists, turns
and a playful look at some of these things that we know really well.
It's never loads of time. It's only loads of time
if you don't give yourself enough to do!
Alun Wyn Jones' journey during this competition has been remarkable.
We've seen him go from quite a timid, subdued person,
and now he's grown into someone who strides in in a cape with a sword
and throws down the most intricate dessert, which really wowed us.
He's focused, he's precise,
and his food's becoming more and more delicious.
Are we going to Wales today?
We are. This is a Welsh surf-and-turf, really.
We've got lamb, we've got cockles, we've got laverbread, leek.
So, a bit of everything in a few different ways.
Who's inspiring the dish?
Probably about three million people that supported me
the first 20 years of my former career,
but specifically my father for the laverbread.
It was a staple for my dad on his Welsh breakfasts.
And my wife for the lamb,
because we had a rack of lamb on the wedding day.
The three million people who supported you
through your early part of your career, how challenging was that?
Oh, I think Wales is a small place,
but the support means a lot to people. Erm...
Ah...
I have been chopping onions as well.
I'm fiercely proud of where I come from,
and I was supported by a nation,
so I'm probably feeling the pressure more
because of what those people mean to me and, you know,
the fact that I wouldn't be here without them.
The road to ruin in the MasterChef kitchen
is littered with racks of lamb.
Feels like an easy thing to do,
but you can end up with pink, unrendered fat
and slightly tough meat.
Dauphinoise potatoes with layers of laverbread,
that lovely, salty seaweed.
There needs to be lots of creaminess and decadence.
There is nothing worse than half-cooked dauphinoise potato.
It's going to be served with carrots, which have been
cooked in carrot juice, so they're intensely flavoured.
We've also got cockles, deep-fried, so they go really, really crispy.
Those leeks need to be buttery and soft.
That sauce needs to be lovely and shiny, rich flavours of lamb.
He's got nowhere to hide here. Although it sounds understated,
this is one of those dishes where anything can go wrong.
There's 13 minutes left, everybody.
Detail, detail, detail.
It's Christmas. It's got to be gorgeous.
And beauty takes time.
Butter everywhere.
It's all going really well. The meat is looking epic.
I'm so happy with it.
Look at that!
Celebrities, you've got just five minutes left. Five minutes left.
Oh, Alfie!
Go on, you can do this. Yeah.
Do you want to flash it in a pan, or what do you want to do? Yeah.
Whatever you're going to do, you've got to get it on really fast, OK?
Hello, kebab of my dreams.
Blue plastic bags with bottles of fizz.
You absolutely fascinate me.
That's what I'm here for.
60 seconds, everybody. Just 60 seconds.
That's it, guys. Time's up. All done.
Step away from your benches, please. Ginger, you done?
Yeah, I've just got nine Yorkshire puddings to eat now.
Ginger.
Hello.
Inspired by Christmas with her dad, drag artist Ginger has served
festive baked salmon with a sour cream and dill sauce,
topped with cranberries, pomegranate and toasted almonds,
served with chilli, garlic and basil roast potatoes,
a sprout coleslaw with a mustard and walnut dressing
and a Yorkshire pudding.
I think your fish is absolutely bang-on.
Seasoned, soft.
They are some good roast potatoes.
They're all beautifully burnished and crisp
in this concoction of chilli and garlic.
They're so delicious.
It's a tiny little delicate Yorkshire pudding.
I like its kind of fluffy, plump lusciousness.
I really get this feeling that I'm at yours, it's Christmas Day,
and it's the one day that we're allowed
to just take our eyelashes off. LAUGHS: Yes.
The sprouts, I think they're ace.
It's a fiery coleslaw mixture with walnuts.
You've taken that piece of salmon and dressed it with this real
surprising mixture of sour cream, which is sharp,
and then sweetness coming from cranberries and pomegranate seeds.
It's fun, it's exciting, and it's definitely Christmas.
Thank you.
My dad is going to be really proud of that food.
I do have that post-Christmas lunch feeling.
Well done! I feel full, weirdly, even though I didn't eat anything.
Rugby legend Alun Wyn's dish, dedicated to his late father,
his wife and his Welsh fans,
is lamb cutlets on buttered leeks,
with carrots cooked in carrot juice,
deep-fried cockles, served with dauphinoise potatoes
layered with laverbread, and a lamb sauce.
I know and you know that you had problems with the lamb.
The fat needs to be rendered down.
It's maybe not as delicious as it could be.
However, this dauphinoise is...just happiness.
It's soft and it's creamy with laverbread.
I think it's a fantastic addition.
Your sauce has got a lot of depth.
You cooked this for your wife, you cooked this for your father,
but you cooked this for Wales.
And this is Wales. Thank you.
Listen, I've seen chefs cook lamb a lot less than that,
but I would have liked that fat to be rendered just a little bit more.
However, those cockles, they've gone really crispy on the outside,
still salty from the sea.
Your leeks are really well buttered.
The carrots taste of a carrot.
I think you've done a pretty good job, Alun Wyn. Thank you.
Oh, it was obviously a mixed bag, but I'm still pleased.
I'm still proud of it.
I'd like to think Dad and my wife are proud,
cos, you know, ultimately, I'm representing them.
Broadcaster and author Dawn's dish is inspired
by a date night memory with her husband Chris -
a lamb and chicken kebab marinated in garlic, rosemary and thyme,
with roast potatoes, garlic sauce, pineapple hot sauce,
pickled cabbage slaw,
a cucumber and herb salad and caraway and mace spiced flatbreads,
served with champagne concealed in a plastic bag.
That was quite a sight.
That was literally like watching a boa constrictor swallow a goat.
The meat is fantastic.
It's cooked all the way through, crispy on the outside, still really
lovely and moist, and all the juices have gone down those potatoes.
Good, hot, ferocious chilli sauce,
and the garlic sauce being rich and creamy.
Breads are lovely and fluffy, which is great.
I'm really, really happy indeed. Thank you.
I really like your slaw, because it's got this whack of vinegar
that cuts through everything else.
I feel like it's 1998 and I'm on the 73 bus coming down Oxford Street
at two o'clock in the morning and I've lost a shoe in a nightclub.
This is fabulous. Thank you, Grace. Love, love, love, love. Thank you.
I'm so happy. I'm so happy! I'm so happy.
It was very bold, I think,
to cook them a kebab at this stage in the competition,
and they loved it.
Cheers.
I think Chris will have loved all of that.
I think he'll feel really well represented and really loved.
Hello. Hello.
Finally, it's classical singer Alfie
with a dessert dedicated to the memory of his dad -
layers of Yorkshire ginger parkin, coffee buttercream
and les miserables cake,
an almond joconde sponge
topped with ginger and cinnamon poached apricots.
The les mis part of it is undercooked.
Yeah. And because of that, it tastes a bit of eggs.
Mmm, OK.
But the parkin is just incredible.
Ah.
And it's gingery and it's satisfying.
And I love your coffee buttercream. Thank you. Love it.
The apricot works beautifully with that syrup
going through the whole thing.
But we have an issue with the amount of buttercream that's in there.
There's just not enough of it. And it means it's quite dry.
You know what? I'm feeling all right.
I'm accepting my mistakes.
I know my dad would have been proud.
I know he would have had a laugh about it,
which would have been good.
Four extraordinary celebrity cooks.
There was great intention. There was lots of invention.
They are cooking from the heart.
They are flooded with emotion.
I hate this bit, because we all feel really morose,
but we have to remember that we are the last four,
and that's amazing.
We've got a decision to make. We only have three places to give.
This round showed Dawn O'Porter at her very best.
Lovely big stand of meat,
perfectly cooked, bits of chicken and lamb.
We asked people to wear their hearts on their sleeves,
and, wow, did she!
Ginger and her celebration of Christmas -
perfectly cooked salmon
with cranberries, pomegranates and almonds.
And it was delightful.
Ginger cooked one of the greatest roast potatoes
I've ever eaten in my life.
Dawn and Ginger have got themselves a place in the final three.
That means we've got a conversation about Alfie and Alun Wyn.
Alfie Boe certainly faced his fears today.
I loved his parkin, full of ginger and nutmeg.
And his coffee cream was sweet and creamy.
His other cake, his le mis cake, wasn't quite cooked enough.
We didn't have the right amount of buttercream
to keep it lovely and moist.
It was just a bit dry.
Alun Wyn cooked for us a classic dish, and he had nowhere to hide.
Those dauphinoise potatoes were heavenly.
He judged perfectly the level of laverbread there.
But he had a hiccup.
The lamb was cooked, it just didn't have that lovely
flavour of the rendered fat that great roast lamb should have.
Letting someone go at this stage just feels heartbreaking.
If I got a place in the final three, I would have to ask
John and Grace why, first of all! I wanted to push myself.
That was something my dad always used to say -
"Face your fears and go for it."
And I did and made a really nice parkin!
I don't know whether that's good enough to make the final three.
I think I was a bit of a schoolboy with the meat.
I'd still love to get through and have a chance to win.
I got a plate out and everything was there, and it's not up to me now.
Celebrities, sincerely, thank you.
We asked you to cook with your heart on your sleeve,
and you did just that.
There are only three final places to give.
That does mean one of you is leaving the competition.
The celebrity leaving us...
..is Alfie. Yeah.
No, it's good.
Love you.
Thank you so much.
Alfie, you've been a joy. Thank you. Thank you, God bless.
This has been quite precious.
These moments in life that come about are very special.
I'm super proud,
and happy to be going home as a Celebrity MasterChef finalist.
Congratulations, you're the final three.
That was so emotional. I know, I know. What?
I did not see this coming, but come it has and here I am.
Wow, this competition,
I never thought I would have been in so deep.
What do I need to do to win? Well, beat Dawn and Ginge.
I can't believe it!
I just feel so proud of myself.
I'm going to drink some champagne out of a blue plastic bag
with my husband tonight and order a kebab!
You have now earned the right to cook at Chef's Table.
Hold on tight, ladies and gentlemen, you're in for a ride.
Nestled in the heart of rural Staffordshire
lies an exquisite culinary destination,
The Boat,
led by one of the UK's most exciting and innovative chefs, Liam Dillon.
This is where it really counts.
Now they are cooking with a chef for chefs.
Our celebrities will be encountering ingredients
they've never even worked with before.
These are specialty ingredients with techniques
which are usually reserved for the most professional chefs,
and they've got to master it in three hours.
Growing up in the Midlands,
Liam's journey into the culinary arts began aged 16.
I didn't know what to do at school. I was lacking that team spirit.
I was craving a kind of unity. Teamwork, I think.
I was looking at the RAF and the Marines and things like this,
so it was very different to cookery.
And I went to an open day at the College of Food
in Birmingham and I just felt right.
It clicked, it worked, and I really enjoyed it.
After graduating, Liam's career took off
when he went to work for culinary legend Marcus Wareing.
Bit of a baptism of fire, should I say,
coming straight from college into his kitchen.
But I wouldn't be where I am now if I hadn't done that.
The way you work, the way you conduct yourself,
you pick up on these things as you go through your career.
He went on to refine his craft
at some of the world's most-celebrated
three-Michelin-starred kitchens -
New York's Eleven Madison Park
and the world-renowned Noma.
My time at Noma in Copenhagen, another eye-opening restaurant,
and the way they worked and how they treated ingredients,
with all these things, it was kind of building
how I wanted to eventually cook and have my own restaurant.
Table four, thank you.
In 2017, Liam returned to his hometown of Lichfield
and transformed a humble roadside eatery
into a gastronomic sensation,
with sustainability at the heart of every dish.
I always wanted to have produce on site because we have the space.
Now we have our own little micro farm.
We have chickens, two fish tanks, our own bees, my own apiary.
We have our own pigs, Betty and Peggy.
Each year, we're improving it,
expanding it to hopefully one day be self-sufficient
with as much produce as we can.
Within just three weeks of opening,
his restaurant was featured in the Michelin Guide
and has since earned three rosettes.
My style and the style of The Boat is modern British,
celebrating what the UK has to offer.
When the celebs come in, I think they'll have a bit of a shock.
You know, it's my reputation. We do have high standards.
GRACE: This is a whole new level of stress for the celebrities.
This is fine dining.
This is like nothing they've done before.
Liam's a proud chef and he is not going to let anything
out of that kitchen unless it's absolutely perfect.
Good morning. Morning.
Welcome to The Boat, welcome to my kitchen.
Today, you're going to be cooking a dish each
from our current menu for six amazing chefs -
Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Sat Bains, Paul Ainsworth,
Dave Taylor, Chet Sharma and Chantelle Nicholson.
Between these guests, there's five Michelin stars.
So the pressure's really on. Ready? Yeah, let's do it.
Let's do it. Lots to do, so let's get cracking.
The celebrities will have three hours to prepare
and cook their dishes.
Dawn will be kicking off today's event with an intricate starter.
Have you cooked quail before?
I haven't cooked it myself, but my auntie used to
roast us a whole quail each. Amazing. Yeah. I love it.
Her dish is a roast quail breast
with a quail leg terrine topped with toasted seeds.
In a lot of my cookery, I try not to waste.
But what I like is to use every part of the ingredient,
whatever it may be.
First of all, the quail has been poached.
Then we're going to start to roast it.
And get a lovely colour on the side of the quail.
Get it nice and golden all the way round.
With the quail, you want a nice pink look to the flesh.
If it's undercooked, it's not nice at all.
So, we're going to rest the quail
while we bring the rest of the dish together. Smells amazing already.
As well as cooking the quail on the crown perfectly,
her second key component uses another part of the bird.
And we take all the leg meat and make a little terrine with it.
They're also going to take the bones
and they're going to make a little pan sauce.
Just make sure it's nice and light.
If it's over reduced, it'll be too strong,
and it'll just ruin the dish.
The critical moment for Dawn will be to precisely carve
the quail breast from the crown just before service.
And just come down this way here. Sort of like a little chicken.
Quail's a very delicate meat.
It's fiddly, it's small.
They've got to be quite precise with their knife skills.
The dish is finished with pickled carrots,
a smooth carrot puree and the quail sauce.
Oh, it looks so pretty.
Happy? Yeah. Obviously, now I've got to learn how to make the sauce,
which is where I'll have a breakdown. You'll be great.
You'll be great.
I've just got to have a delicate hand and not burn the quail.
What could possibly go wrong?!
So, step one of this dish is to butcher six little quails,
which is a dirty business.
Oh, my God, what is that?! Little nubbin in there!
It looks like Alun Wyn's doing some sort of DIY project over there.
Is he making dinner or building the table we're going to eat off?
Who knows?
Alun Wyn's dish also requires butchery,
as he's taking on a whole lamb saddle for today's main course -
lamb loin with crispy sweetbreads and barbecued asparagus.
This dish, again, it follows the using everything of the animal.
The lamb they'll be using is the lamb that was grown
on this land here. So, they need to be careful.
My pride and joy, my girls. I was feeding them every day.
So they need to make sure they give them a good send-off.
Lovely parcels of lamb loin with a mousse around the outside,
flavoured with lots and lots of herbs.
Firm to the touch, but not hard in any way.
So, we're just going to gently seal it here.
I think a classic error is,
it's not roasted well enough in the pan before it goes into the oven.
That's a nice golden colour on the base.
And it's very difficult, because you can't see how well it's cooked
until you cut through that lamb.
GRACE: Alun Wyn is a perfectionist and has rarely put a foot very wrong
until the last round, when he messed up his lamb.
This is his chance of redemption.
LIAM: You cook much lamb?
Don't ask. Right, OK. Didn't go too well?
I've had better days, shall we say. OK. All right.
Well, today's a better day. Yeah. Yeah.
While the lamb roasts in the oven, Alun Wyn will need to juggle
two crucial garnishes - deep-fried lamb sweetbreads...
There's no timer on the deep-fat-fryer, though, is there?
It's up here. OK.
Essentially, once it's golden, it's ready to go. OK.
..and barbecued Lichfield asparagus.
The dish is finished off with a vibrant herb emulsion
and a lamb sauce with capers.
Simple as that.
Thank you, Chef.
Using every part of the lamb, Alun Wyn must butcher down the loins...
Did you see that? Two bang on 100.
..the trimmings for his mousse, and the bones for a sauce.
The chef made it look far too easy.
I like the simplicity of the plating,
but I think there's a lot more that goes into it.
Hopefully I can nail it today and Chef isn't shouting at me.
Ginger is working on a coffee parfait
for an unusual dessert with eight technically challenging elements.
This is the only time I've been in the kitchen
where a five-inch heel would actually really have helped me out.
The coffee parfait will be paired with flavours of chocolate,
hazelnut and artichoke.
This dish was inspired by my time at Noma in Copenhagen,
using a lot of savoury in sweet dishes.
So the coffee parfait is going to be one of your first jobs...
OK. ..cos that needs to go into the freezer and set.
And then it's going to be sprayed with white chocolate. OK.
We've got a chocolate ganache.
We're going to pipe these on the plate.
The desserts require someone that's precise and a steady hand.
We have some Pedro Jimenez sherry jelly.
So, these needs to get to the plate, Ginger, right, not...
I was going to say. Have we got some spares? Yeah.
Ginger will also have to deliver
a praline and dark chocolate feuilletine
and Liam's signature artichoke ice cream.
So you call this a rocher. OK.
You scooped ice cream before? Erm, not like this.
Scoop like this... Wow.
The ice cream's not heavy, heavy artichoke.
It's got a lovely subtle flavour running through it.
You made that look really easy.
Yeah, that needs to go into the ice cream machine...sharpish.
Yeah, easy.
LAUGHS: If you say so!
Ice cream, parfait, jelly.
That means lots of setting.
Her biggest problem with this is time.
I don't know enough about the things on that plate
to say which one's going to be the hardest to do.
It's all a bit of a mystery to me at the moment.
A parfait, a mousse which has been set.
It needs to be lovely and soft, but still slightly firm.
I'm excited about my task today.
Its very detail-orientated, isn't it?
For me, fine-dining restaurants live and die by their dessert course.
This isn't just putting some sticky toffee pudding out
and a jug of custard. This is art.
Freezer. Let's go.
Great.
The celebrities have just two hours left before service.
On the starter, Dawn's only just finishing off her quail butchery.
I feel like I'm slightly getting the hang of it now, five birds in.
But it's not a pleasant job, that's for sure.
She's also got the bones on for her sauce
and is making a start on the terrine.
Dawn's terrine is made up of the leg meat of those quails,
which have been cooked slowly.
There's a chicken mousse, which will be used to bind the quail leg meat.
It's really hard work, and it's also just slippery and raw
and disgusting. Yeah, raw chicken is really, really lovely!
If that mousse splits,
it's undercooked, it's not going to work.
It's under my nails and I think it will be for some months.
The reality of being inside a fine-dining kitchen
is maybe sometimes a little bit unpleasant.
Not for the squeamish.
Her mousse prepped, Dawn now needs to get her quail sauce on the go.
A good amount of Madeira,
nice stock reduced down so it's going lovely and glossy.
It can't be too thick, like jelly.
It can't be too thin or it's going to be watery.
That is so good.
It's the kind of gravy you make on a Sunday
where you have to text everyone you know and tell them about your gravy.
Maybe it's just me that texts everyone I know about my gravy.
Over on the lamb dish, Alun Wyn is also working on a complex sauce.
So we've got fennel, carrots, rosemary, thyme,
mint, garlic, coriander seeds.
So, it's just the base before we add the alcohol.
So, the sauce has got to be lovely and light.
It's got to complement the lamb. It can't be sticky, claggy.
Timing is the art form, I think,
so I've just got to make sure it doesn't stick or burn, so...
If it's over reduced, it's not going to taste very good at all,
and it's going to look horrible on a plate,
and it'll end up being like lamb tar.
It's like being in a sauna, where you're putting alcohol on the coals.
With his sauce reducing,
he can move on to the all-important lamb mousse that will top the loin.
So, it's got the lamb in there, egg white, cream,
a little bit of seasoning, blitzed it,
and now we've put it through the drum sieve.
Getting this mousse smooth, it's a pivotal part, really.
The showpiece, isn't it? Yeah.
And if that's not right, then the whole dish falls apart. Exactly.
I just want to make sure that's right.
With her parfaits in to freeze,
Ginger's tackling the next time-critical element
of her dessert - the vegetable ice cream.
I've never seen an artichoke with its clothes off before.
Normally it's a beautiful little green thing.
They look like little angry potatoes that have gone wayward in life.
The surprise in that ice cream, of course,
will have the flavour of that nutty root vegetable,
Jerusalem artichokes, but they go brown.
So, Ginger's got to be careful that she gets them
in milk really quickly so they stay lovely and white.
Ice cream under way, her next technically challenging component
is the sherry jelly, which also needs time to set.
So, we use a Pedro Jimenez sherry to go in the jelly.
It can't be boiled, because you'll boil off the lovely sweet flavour.
Hello, Ginger, how are you doing? Hello.
This is another situation of lots of different
pots of slop that will hopefully turn into something delightful.
I think the problem is going to be putting it all together, isn't it?
Yes. Everything has to be in the right solid or liquid state
for it all to happen.
I feel like you're starting to become at home
doing these fancy puddings.
I'm beginning to trust the process a lot more.
I'm just casting that doubt to one side now.
That doubt's none of my business.
1...50.
Ginger has so many things to keep her beautiful lashed eyes on.
Unless everything's completely set and done properly,
Ginger doesn't have a dessert. She's got herself a milkshake.
I think we're in good shape. No-one else seems to be panicking.
I'm not going to panic!
Half the prep time has gone.
Right, guys. Dawn, you're first up in 90 minutes.
Yes, Chef. Thank you. ALUN WYN: Yes, Chef!
Yum...
Over on the starter, Dawn now has the fiddly task
of picking the quail leg meat for the terrine.
Good Lord.
It's much easier to get the meat off the bone with your teeth!
If I could bite this off...
She has to check through every single bit
to make sure there's no bones.
And we are talking about the smallest piece of bone.
Nobody wants to find bone in something which should be
a lovely smooth terrine.
Chefs have got asbestos hands.
He was like, "Just take all the meat off that chicken." It's so hot!
Having raced to get the quail meat picked,
it can now be combined with the chicken mousse and put on to steam.
I'm getting into it now. I feel good about being in this kitchen.
It's quite an overwhelming recipe cos there's so many elements to it.
It's just really technical.
So I'm just hoping I'm going to get it out on time.
The problem with chicken mousse is that if it gets too hot,
the proteins start to change and it becomes very, very grainy.
The chefs will know exactly what they're looking for.
That chicken mousse can't be grainy in any way at all.
Also with a mousse to contend with is Alun Wyn,
who's only just finished making it.
It keeps the loin tender,
because there's not a lot of fat in the loin,
so you kind of replicate where the fat is
and you're covering it with mousse to keep it nice and moist.
You use a crepinette to hold it all together.
I think it's the stomach lining of a lamb.
Yeah. So, it's interesting stuff, isn't it?
It's just relatively delicate.
I am going to tear it, though.
Complex? Yeah. Technical.
Do you know, it's... It's nice being in an environment,
a little bit of pressure, you achieve something, and there's
elements here that I've never done, and that's what I'm enjoying.
The prep that has gone into the mousse has just been mind-boggling.
Flipping heck, I just realised we've got so much more to do.
Quite a few things to do on the main course. Yeah.
Alun Wyn, he's put himself a little bit behind it,
but he's picking up the speed a little bit.
He knows he's got a lot to get on with.
Sweetbreads, the gland from inside the neck of the lamb.
They're quite delicate, quite small.
Never done sweetbreads before.
I've got to take the membrane off now,
and then I've got to panne them, ready to fry them.
Right, Alun Wyn, you've got an hour, yeah?
Crack on and you'll be sweet. You'll be there. Yes, Chef.
Liam is proud of his produce.
That means that Alun Wyn here is under real pressure.
He has to keep his eye on the clock as well.
He can't afford to run behind.
Those diners will want their food, and they'll want it to be exact.
On pastry, Ginger is also up against it.
Hello. Welcome to Ginger's whisking corner.
If you stand still long enough, I will whisk you as well.
She's rushing to make another integral element
that needs time to set.
A ganache made with lots and lots of chocolate and cream
so it whips up and becomes really creamy.
I've now got to beat a load of butter into it
until I get to ganache texture.
This is hard work!
Keep whisking.
Whipped too long, it could curdle.
Not whipped long enough, it could be grainy.
So, push it all down, give it a twist.
With so many elements to juggle,
she's yet to finish a vital component.
So, I'm adding the artichoke puree
into the milk and egg and cream mixture.
A crucial part of the ice cream - getting it up to temperature.
Now I'm just waiting for this to get up to 84,
and then I'm going to pour it over the bowl of ice.
Yeah. And then we'll be good to go into the machine shortly, I think.
Ginger has only just got her ice cream on to churn.
That really only leaves her about an hour to make sure
that ice cream is churned and properly set.
If anything goes wrong with that ice cream, there's no coming back.
This is really trying very hard to become ice cream,
and it's not got long to get there.
So, come on, you can do it.
I believe in you.
I'm feeling confident, but it really could all go south very quickly,
I think, in the next half an hour.
Today's guests are six of the UK's most-respected chefs.
The reputation of The Boat is amazing,
and the expectations from Liam will be through the roof.
He'll want these celebrities to absolutely do his menu justice.
So, Liam and I worked together many, many years ago.
So, it's nice to be able to see how far he's come since that time.
Liam's very inspirational in his philosophy,
his best of being quite local.
He's a phenomenal chef and I think, you know, we'll get
some really good food out today if they can execute it well.
I think they've got a challenge on their hands, really.
You know, roast quail, sweetbreads, parfait, ice cream.
So, loads of technical issues.
I've been cooking for 20 years,
and I would look at this menu and think
it could go wrong pretty quickly.
So, I'd be quite daunted as a complete amateur,
let alone as a chef.
Liam's been making waves in the area for a long, long time.
This is all going to be delicious, great food and excited to eat it.
Right, guys, listen up. Our guests have arrived.
You've got exactly 30 minutes left. OK? So let's get a move on now.
Yes, Chef!
# It's getting hot in the kitchen! #
On the starter, Dawn's in full flow
with the first stage of her quail cookery.
I'm just poaching my quail.
There's a sentence I didn't think I'd ever say.
That's a really key part of the dish.
If she hasn't poached that correctly,
then it's going to be undercooked or overcooked.
While keeping one eye on the quail,
she's still got three carrot garnishes to prep,
the first being a puree.
So cooking carrots in carrot juice and adding some chicken stock.
It's so vibrant. Orange!
The puree needs to be cooked well.
It can't be split, it can't be grainy, with nice glossy colour.
Sometimes you make a puree too wet and then it just falls on the plate.
Can't have any of that.
So indulgent.
And silky.
So beautiful.
Oh, my God.
I'm so clever.
As service approaches, this is when the pressure is on.
This is when you'd really rather be an octopus with several arms
because you're going to have six pans on the go.
If you miss something off that plate,
it might be seen as a disaster.
Despite multiple elements to her dish, Dawn's on top of her prep,
but she now needs to portion the all-important quail leg terrine.
Oh, God. Wow!
There's a massive piece of bone in there.
Just under 15 minutes to go before service,
and Dawn's discovered a bone in the terrine for the starter.
Oh, no! There's another bone in there.
That could be a problem.
You OK, Dawn? There's quite a big bit of bone in it,
which I'm really confused about.
I don't want Sat Bains eating a quail bone.
I can completely appreciate that. No-one does.
While Dawn rushes to rescue her terrines,
over on the main, Alun Wyn has caught up
and is checking on his sauce.
That needs a bit more acidity.
Get a nice big spoonful of capers in there.
Yeah, great. OK.
He now needs to face his nemesis and seal off his lamb.
Turn them, cos you want that contact to the pan with the lamb.
Alun Wyn can't afford a mistake like last time he cooked lamb for us.
He can't overdo it and he can't underdo it.
And then when you've done the ends, then into that tray,
we'll pour over all the aromats and then into the oven.
The lamb's in with the mousse and the covering,
so hopefully it stays intact.
Yeah, I've got the big man's reputation in the palm of my hands,
so I'm trying not to drop it.
LIAM LAUGHS
On dessert, Ginger is yet to finish all eight of her components.
This is the fanciest Rice Krispie cake you've ever made in your life.
This might actually never make it into the food.
I might just have to have this as a second breakfast.
With the feuilletine cooling, it's also a race against time
for her coffee parfaits that need to be sprayed with white chocolate.
Get out of there.
I've got to move quite quickly cos obviously I don't want them to melt.
SHE CACKLES
I wish I could do my make-up with this.
I'm tempted to try.
Put it all in a blender, stick it in here and see what happens.
Ginger's parfaits could start to melt,
the chocolate crust around the outside could break.
She's got quite big hands and we're talking about delicate work here.
OK!
So, here's to a delicious lunch, guys.
Cheers. Cheers, everyone. Good to see you all. Yes.
OK, Dawn, it's go time. OK, let's go.
It's crunch time for Dawn as she's the first to face service.
It's all about getting the lovely golden colour all over the quail.
Roast quail, heritage carrot, leg terrine, quail sauce.
I mean, immediately, for me, it's a real celebration of quail.
Turn it round using the contours of the pan.
Beautiful. Oh, yeah, that looks great. Yeah? Lovely.
There's a fine line with the quail cos it is such a delicate meat.
Quails roasted, she now has to carve the breasts perfectly.
Beautiful. Lovely colour, yeah? Yeah. Great.
OK. So, the quail on, lovely.
Delicious.
Terrine, you have to make sure the leg meat
is cooked all the way through.
It's such a fine line between it being really tough
and then being nice and tender.
What's left to go on there now, Dawn? Some blobs.
I'm actually interested to see what happens with the carrot.
Is it going to bring enough life and acidity
and sweetness to the dish as well?
Oh, look at that. That's gorgeous.
I think it's all going to come together last minute.
So it's controlling the nerves to make sure that they get
the plating absolutely beautiful.
Let's start going please, Mitchell.
Oh! Thank you.
Well done. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. That was amazing.
I'm really happy with how that went.
It was all so pretty, and I made it.
Dawn's starter is roast quail breast,
with a quail leg and chicken mousse terrine
topped with toasted seeds,
served with pickled heritage carrots,
carrot flowers,
carrot puree and a quail sauce.
My quail breast, the cooking is absolutely perfect.
It's tender, it's pink.
Love the carrot puree. The sauce kind of brings all together.
It's got some real depth of flavour in there.
The terrine was really well seasoned.
And I think that extra balance of texture with the crunch
on top of the terrine just kind of finished the whole thing off.
Little pickled elements of the carrot that came through
and really cut the richness of the sauce.
Yeah, they should definitely be proud of themselves.
It was a lovely, lovely plate of food.
It's a really solid plate of food.
The flavours were great, but unfortunately,
just as I took my last bite, I found a bit of bone in the terrine.
That is just remarkable.
Still pink.
I think the terrine is probably my favourite part.
It's so soft. Our quail terrine - absolutely perfect.
However, one of the chefs at table got a little bit of bone. Ah.
But otherwise, I think it's pretty well spot-on.
The shine on the sauce is just perfect.
Love it. It's delicious.
I feel quite emotional when you see how far Dawn has come.
This is how fine dining should be.
Next up, the pressure is on Alun Wyn to deliver the perfect main course.
When they're nice and golden, we'll slice the lamb
and then we're onto the pass.
Lamb can go a few different ways.
Getting that cooked down, that's not easy.
Beautiful. Look at that. Stunning, mate.
Lamb is a very intense flavour, so is the asparagus able to stand out?
You want to, like, try and get loads of little char marks.
It is all about the balance.
Lovely dressing of the rapeseed oil over the top. OK, brilliant.
Sweetbread is amazing, and that's a tricky thing to do.
Get that beautiful exterior, but still nice and peaky in the centre.
What's left to go on, Alun Wyn?
Just the emulsion and then the sauce.
It's looking very, very good.
And I think that sauce is going to be key. Not too cloying.
Nice and light and fresh.
How's he done, Liam? Brilliantly well, from start to finish.
Yeah, thank you. How gorgeous.
LIAM: Well done, mate. Thank you very much.
Cheers, appreciate that. Thank you.
Excellent.
Enjoyed it. I like the flow.
I like once you're into the zone, as it were, you can focus.
So, I'm just grateful to have the opportunity to put it out there.
Alun Wyn has cooked lamb loin encased in a lamb mousse,
with crispy lamb sweetbreads,
barbecued asparagus and a herb emulsion,
served with a lamb sauce finished with capers.
That lamb loin cooked perfectly right,
the sweetbread, nice and crispy on the outside,
and that grilled barbecued asparagus just works really well.
I think that's delicious. I think the mousse is incredible.
Very light, perfectly cooked.
You know, I like those little caperberries in the lamb sauce.
That is pretty impressive.
Yeah, I can't really fault much from it,
which is pretty phenomenal, given their level of experience.
That's probably one of the loveliest pieces of lamb I've ever eaten.
To see Alun Wyn come back from that last round,
where he made a bit of a mess of lamb,
has really got me in the heart.
Well seasoned, well flavoured, lots of skill.
I think Alun Wyn should be very proud of himself.
Finally, it's Ginger,
who needs to bring together all eight elements
of her technical dessert.
So, the dessert sounds really interesting.
I think within this is quite a balancing act.
Right, then, parfait out.
Coffee parfait can be such a powerful flavour.
Getting the texture right of the parfait -
you don't want it too frozen.
With the coffee and a bit of chocolate in there,
it should be a great kind of pairing.
Go, go. Lift up, lift up. Go, go, go, go, go, go.
That's it. And then one about there.
Yep. Go, Ginger. Brilliant.
What's left to go on after the ganache? Sherry jelly.
I've got crispy, crunchy things that I can't remember the name of.
Sherry jelly. Put them in the gaps. Here, here, here.
I think it all reads really well,
it's whether or not it can deliver on the palate.
To finish, it's the artichoke ice cream.
So, nice posh scoop, rocher.
Yeah. I'm going to give it a go. Good.
If they're going to do a quenelle with the ice cream,
obviously that's going to take a bit of practice.
Go again, go again. Back in. Where shall I put that? Back in.
Back in? That's it. Yeah.
Rotate now, round, and lift it up. OK, yeah.
Will the artichoke flavour still stand through in the ice cream
once it's gone through the cooking and freezing process?
That's perfect.
Hands, please.
Well done, Ginger.
Stressful day? Yeah, that was a journey.
It was a journey, but we got there at the end.
Absolutely. That was brilliant. You've done really well, so...
Thank you so much. ..congratulations. Well done.
You can relax now. Thanks a lot.
Well, after you've cleaned down! Let's go.
I would never have believed that that was something
that I was capable of a few weeks ago.
So, yeah, I'm really pleased.
For dessert, Ginger has made coffee parfait
sprayed with white chocolate, sherry jelly,
a chocolate ganache topped with roasted hazelnuts,
served with an artichoke ice cream,
chocolate feuilletine and pulled-chocolate tuiles.
Technically, it's probably one of the best desserts I've had
for a very, very long time. The balance is perfect.
The softness of the coffee's not too harsh.
It was like an adventure.
The artichoke ice cream was a winner.
You know, it's silky smooth,
but a great artichoke flavour coming through.
I love it. Yeah, yeah. Fantastic.
The chocolate's lovely.
It is an absolutely beautiful, well-executed dessert.
You wouldn't know, would you...
No. ..that this has been done by a celebrity?
I love the ganache. I love the Pedro Jiminez jelly.
This little bullet of booziness.
This dish is packed full of technique.
I think that Ginger's done a great job. Yeah.
APPLAUSE
Chefs, congratulations. What a great meal.
I don't think any of that food stuck out as something
that wouldn't have been prepared by a professional chef.
So you should be very, very proud.
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to cook for you.
ALL: Thank you! Bye!
Oh, my goodness. We did it. I know. We did it.
It's been a great day overall.
They've come in with good attitude, been focused
and they've just gone with it, which is all you can ask.
It was really nerve-racking cooking for Michelin-starred chefs,
but I feel like I rose to the occasion.
So, yeah, I'm feeling really, really good about it.
That's a very thrilling group of people to cook lunch for,
and I learned loads as well.
The next challenge is the big one, and I'm sure the intensity
and the stress levels are going to go right back up.
Well done, guys. Ah...
I'm full of emotion talking about our three finalists
because we've seen them come so far.
We're amazing. All the lessons are over.
It's back to the MasterChef kitchen because there's three cooks,
and only one of them can be our winner.
One more to go. One more cook. Three courses then home.
Next time... Agh!
..it's the Celebrity MasterChef final.
Don't panic. Don't panic. Ohh...
And Dawn...
Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.
..Alun Wyn...
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
..and Ginger...
OK. OK. Things are happening.
..go all out to take the title.
I'm just trying to keep a calm head.
I'm very, very up against it.
You've smashed this out the park.
I don't have any notes other than...wow.