From across the UK...
...32 up-and-coming chefs...
...are putting their reputations on the line in a battle...
...to become professional MasterChef champion.
Tonight, four new hopefuls compete to impress
MasterChef Judge Gregg Wallace,
renowned chef Monica Galetti,
and Michelin starred Marcus Wareing.
This is the biggest thing I've ever done.
I'm excited, but I'm also terrified.
Doing this is like being under a microscope, you know,
and you're exposed.
It's the right time to push myself in this level of cooking.
Stick to the game plan - it should be all good.
Who has got the talent to rise to the top?
It's time to discover our next culinary superstar.
Right, four new chefs and they are going to have to face a skills test.
Some doing yours, some doing yours.
Monica, I do love a parsnip. What are you going to do to it?
Gregg, I would like our chefs to cook us a parsnip,
served with pickled pears
and a miso pumpkin seed sauce.
I do like the sound of it.
It sounds really intriguing cos plant based cookery
is very popular and very familiar at the moment.
Right, 20 minutes. Show us how you put them together.
First thing I want to do is to get my parsnip cooking.
They can take some time to cook.
I'm leaving the core in. We don't throw that away any more.
We're using the tops, the roots, the cores.
We're finding ways to use everything.
So, hot pan. I'm caramelising the parsnip. I want it nice and golden.
Sprig of rosemary.
I'm going to add a bit of stock into it as well.
You want to pay so much attention to this as the key part of the dish.
I think the challenge with this is, can they cook it in time?
In this pan here, I'm just going to quickly cook parsnip crisps
for better texture. It's a really clever dish.
I'm also going to do some capers to go with it.
PAN SIZZLES
This is one of the first skills tests where I don't actually know
what the end dish is.
Well, there's no classic dish of this.
They can do whatever they like with this as long as we get
a really good plate of food. Absolutely.
I'm going to make my pickling liquid.
Some white wine vinegar,
got a bit of caster sugar,
some peppercorns,
the rosemary.
And, literally, just bring that up to the boil.
So I've got my pears, which I'm going to pickle.
So, thinly sliced pears.
You've got pickling liquid.
You have to be very careful when you're pickling fruit
that you don't overdo it.
Miso sauce, pumpkin seeds in,
and then the veg stock.
So in goes the miso. Quite a bit of it I'm using.
Miso, it's fermented soya bean.
Just going to bring this up to the boil.
It's lovely.
BLENDER WHIRS
As you pureed it up, so the seeds have been pureed
and it's turned it into thick and spreadable.
So, I'm just letting it back out.
I want it almost like a glaze.
And then the last thing I need to do is to toast off some sprout grain,
some hazelnuts, and then we plate.
It's about making plant based food appealing to everyone.
The parsnips are cooked, which have been caramelised and then gently
cooked through in stock.
And now we're ready to plate.
I've got a feeling our chefs are either going to light up with glee
at the creativity or look incredibly bemused.
And there we have it - our caramelised cooked parsnips
with a miso pumpkin seed sauce and pickled pears.
That is the prettiest parsnip dish I have ever seen.
Can't believe how well that parsnip is cooked in that amount of time.
That is soft all the way through.
I want to see great cookery of the parsnip.
It's the key ingredient here.
Plant based food can be tasty, delicious, and look good.
This is a great opportunity for our chefs to show their imagination.
This is modern cookery.
Cookery that is pushing the boundaries.
Brilliant dish. I can't wait to see what the chefs make of it.
Marcus, you're going to keep a closer eye in the back room
on the monitor.
Let's get them in. Come on. I really can't wait. Come on.
VOICE OVER: First up is 33-year-old Nigerian born Ola.
Head chef of a member's restaurant at a large sporting venue in London.
I love being a chef.
I've tried other things.
And nothing gives me the adrenaline, the rush, the excitement.
Obviously, my wife can't hear this...
The first time I stepped in the kitchen, I was 16 years old.
I was a waiter, and I got asked to come and help in the kitchen.
And I never left because, well, they just wouldn't let me go.
I am ready for the competition.
But is anyone ever ready for anything?
Welcome to Professional MasterChef.
We want you to enjoy yourself. This is a skills test.
This one was set by this incredible chef, Monica.
How are you, Ola? Very good, and scared.
I would like you to make us a parsnip dish,
served with pickled pears and a miso and pumpkin seed sauce.
OK, Chef. You have 20 minutes. Good luck.
He looks a little bit confused.
You've got to get that parsnip on straight away.
OK. It looks like he's getting on with his pickling.
I want to get the basic piccalilli core out of the way
and let that sit.
And what are you thinking to do with the parsnip?
I'm going to take half of it,
cook it slowly in my stock and butter. Nice.
That's the basis of a good plan, Ola.
I hope he gets some colour onto the parsnip.
So much more you can do with parsnip than just boil it.
That's one way of doing it, I suppose.
OLA SIGHS
QUIETLY TO HIMSELF: Come on, Ola.
You've got a nice slice of parsnip in the pan with some stock
and you are finally dicing another bit of parsnip.
What are you going to do with that?
To mix with my sauce just to have that raw parsnip taste
and the crunch.
Raw parsnip through the sauce - interesting.
Ola, what made you become a chef, my friend?
I was the youngest of a seven
and I was always hungry.
No-one wants to cook because there's a rule in my house -
when you're cooking, you don't cook for one person.
You cook for everyone. You cook for everyone.
Fried pear.
Interesting, as Monica didn't ask for two types of pears.
Pickled pears are done.
Halfway, Chef, you've got ten minutes left.
We need this sauce on as well, don't we?
It does not look cooked, that parsnip.
It's not ready, so I'm just going to slice it.
He's made it thinner.
He's then put it back into a frying pan, which means it's still
sticking out of the stock.
He needs to get it submerged if he wants it cooked.
I've got the miso in the butter that I just used.
Ola, there's a couple of minutes left,
so you've got to start thinking about plating.
Two minutes left and he's still going at the same pace.
He really needs to speed up if he's going to get this done.
We've got a minute, Ola, so let's get it on a plate, please.
Come on.
My goodness me.
There you are. Time's up.
You've done it. Well done.
Good morning, Chef.
You looked like that was a bit of a struggle.
Yes.
I wanted you to make us a parsnip dish,
served with pickled pear garnish, miso pumpkin seed sauce.
It was very unsure, your whole method.
You've cooked the parsnip down.
It's still not quite cooked through.
The diced parsnip was still raw.
You're getting really salty miso
because there's a lot of miso in this.
Not a great start.
Hopefully, you'll be a bit more confident in your own cooking
in the next round.
There's some odd textures in the dish.
The main part, the parsnip, isn't fully cooked.
We've got raw parsnip. We've got pears with skin on.
I want to see you deliver the basics right.
Yes, Chef.
All the tasks done.
It's not a great dish, but you got all the tasks done.
That's the pressure of a skills test.
We look forward to seeing you in the next round.
See you soon. Thank you. Thank you.
He never seemed to have a clear idea of what his dish
was going to be all the way through.
I had a plan in the first 30 seconds.
I think after two minutes I lost track.
It just got better off me, but...
...it's not over yet, is it?
Next to face Monica's skills test is 29-year-old James.
He runs his own street food business alongside working
as a freelance chef.
I cook what I like to eat, essentially, so it's a crazy mix
between a lot of South East Asian flavours,
a lot of Far East Asian flavours with fantastic British produce.
My path to cooking was far from classical.
I like to think I've got a little bit of flair,
so what I lack in classical experience,
I make up for in something a bit fresher, something a bit different.
Kind of try new things which a classical mind
might not necessarily think to do.
I'm excited to see what I can do against other chefs.
Give it a good old crack, I think.
James, welcome to Professional MasterChef. Thank you.
You actually look quite happy and quite calm. Keep it up!
Doing my best.
James, I would like you to make us a parsnip dish,
served with miso pumpkin seed sauce, and pickled pears.
How's that sound?
Give it a whirl.
20 minutes and good luck.
Thank you very much.
Talk us through your plan.
I am going to sear these guys off
and then I'm going to do little ribbons of pickled pear.
And then a miso sauce -
just going to toast off the seeds, blend them with the stock and miso.
That's a plan.
We'll get there.
Have you always been a chef, James?
Got a job as a pizza chef when I was road tripping with a friend
when I was about 18 and then quickly realised I could travel and work
and not have to get a real job.
Needs to be very careful cos he's got good colour on them,
but he's also got a bit of black on the back of one of them.
So, what sort of kitchen are you working in now, James?
I currently have a street food business.
We serve loaded hash browns, which is quite good fun.
And then I do a bit of private cheffing as well on the side.
So, a hash brown - what are you loading them with?
Believe or not, the top seller Is a mac and cheese,
which is kind of carb heaven.
So, you've got your pickling liquid on. Yep.
And then you've got your parsnips cooking in foaming butter.
You've caramelised them nicely,
so you just need to get your sauce on, really, yeah?
So, slicing the pears up, which is nice - it's what Monica did.
Six minutes gone. You've got 14 minutes left.
So, James, you're just over halfway.
You've got your sauce on now?
Oui. OK.
BLENDER WHIRS
Chef, you've got five minutes. You're doing all right. Yeah? Oui.
Thank you, Gregg.
Are you done?
Oui. Well done. About a minute to spare.
Thank you.
Hello, James. Chef.
That was good to watch back there.
You looked very much in control. Well done. Thank you.
This tasted really good.
A vegetable like parsnip is going to take time to cook,
so you had it in foaming butter.
You were caramelising it and it was good to see.
I like you put hazelnuts through your sauce as well.
The way you work was very professional.
Thank you, Chef.
James, apart from the darker bits of the parsnip at the end
that you can see here, that was a great start to your competition
and that was a delicious plate of food. Well done.
Thanks, chef.
Beautiful, buttery, sweet, soft parsnip
and a really sharp pickled pear.
It's delightful.
Great start. All we ask is that you keep it up.
See you in the next round. Thank you. Thank you.
EXHALES
Ah, happy days.
Good boy. Good lad. Very good.
Oh...
Phew!
Made a plan, stuck to it.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
It's as much as I could have hoped for, so, yeah, happy.
Marcus, your skills test.
Two chefs waiting to come in. What are you going to get them to do?
I would like our chefs to make a dish of poached haddock,
cauliflower cheese,
and serve that with two other cauliflower garnishes.
Oh, great test, Marcus - poaching a smoked fish.
And, of course, bechamel is a great sauce technique
that I think chefs need to know.
20 minutes, Chef, please.
So, first thing I'd like them to do
is to get their poaching liquid on.
Milk. It's going to have the flavour of poached haddock,
and I'm going to use that to make my bechamel. Ahh!
So, an onion, bay leaf, cloves.
So, cauliflower three ways.
It's very simple. I'm going to poach some.
I'm going to make some crispy cauliflower, too,
and then I'm going to use these little leaves as a little salad
to garnish the dish.
So, virtually no waste at all.
No.
So, looking to how they break the cauliflower down -
I'm just going to break it into three or four florets.
They're going to be for the cauliflower cheese.
So, that's cauliflower number one.
I love cauliflower cheese.
It's sort of like my rescue remedy after a heavy night out.
Is that right? Yeah!
MONICA LAUGHS
I'm making one of my two cauliflower garnishes,
which is my cauliflower crumb.
It's an alternative to breadcrumbs, which is something that you do get
on top of cauliflower cheese, but we've not given our chefs any bread,
so I'm hoping they'll think of something like this.
I love that. That's a little clever technique there.
So, that's my three cauliflower garnishes. Cauliflower crumb,
cauliflower salad, and my poached cauliflower in there.
Our chefs can make a puree. They can poach it.
They're going to have to use their imagination.
So, my haddock...
I don't need all of this. I want the chefs just to trim it up.
I've just cut off two pieces.
I've kept the skin on cos I want them just to sit and poach
into the milk, and then I'll just flake off the fish,
but I really don't want them to serve the skin.
So, now the bechamel. Melted butter into the pan.
I'm going to add a couple of spoons of flour.
Cook the flour out.
Start to add your milk to bring that smoky, fishy flavour
to my bechamel.
You've got to keep moving it around.
You stop tasting any flour and it's at the right consistency,
that's when you know your roux is cooked out.
The making of a roux is a great base for so many sauces.
Dijon mustard.
Cheese.
Just whisk that in.
My cheese sauce is made.
My cauliflower is in the water here, which I'm going to take out.
If your cauliflower is too wet, it dilutes the sauce,
so you really want to give it a good drain.
Right, take out my haddock and we're ready to plate.
They look lovely.
I think that may be the poshest cauliflower cheese
anybody's ever seen.
The haddock.
Yeah!
Cauliflower crumb.
That looks great.
Salad.
And then to finish it off...
...a bit of grated nutmeg.
There we have it.
Poached haddock, cauliflower cheese and cauliflower garnish two ways.
That looks lovely.
There's nothing here that's going to faze them,
but how do they take something that is humble
and make it restaurant presentation smart? Yep.
Monica, you are going to watch proceedings from the other room
and we'll have you back here for the tasting.
See you in a bit.
I think a fascinating challenge, Marcus.
Let's get the chefs in, see what they can do.
First to attempt Marcus's skills test
is 26-year-old Welsh born leuan.
With experience in Michelin starred restaurants,
he is now a sous-chef at a gastropub in Wiltshire.
I'm very passionate about what I do. To me, it's an art form.
I like to make art.
Just like an artist making a painting,
I'm putting food on a plate.
I would say my food style is a mixture of pub style
and fine dining.
I have done multiple competitions in my time.
They've helped me progress forward to be where I am now.
Master Chef's my biggest one.
I think the skills test, everyone's nervous on that.
If I control my nerves and I direct them in the right way, it'll work.
Welcome to Professional MasterChef. Thank you.
This skills test was set by Marcus Wareing.
Cool.
I'd like you to make for us poached haddock, cauliflower cheese
and two other cauliflower garnishes.
OK. 20 minutes, over to you.
EXHALES Got to calm down.
I'm really nervous all of a sudden.
That's quite understandable.
He's not used the leaves.
You're shaking.
You are literally shaking.
I don't know why - I was fine.
Take a breath. You'll be all right.
Yep - panicking.
Remember to breathe.
What's your other two garnishes going to be?
I'm going to knock out a quick cauli puree
and some florets or something.
Mm. Cauliflower puree sounds nice.
That's your roux, yeah?
Yes, my basic roux.
You've had five minutes, so you've got 15 minutes left. Cool.
You're get off to a racing start there, Chef.
What sort of chef are you, would you say? Have you got a style?
The chef I am now, it's like going back to my roots where I started,
just doing really good pub food.
So, you've got your cauliflower poaching,
you've got your puree working,
and you've got your bechamel in the pan in front of you. Yep.
He's got a lot going on now.
We are just over halfway.
The grill...
You seem like you've calmed down a little bit now, have you?
I realised all I'm doing is cooking.
My leg is shaking like a rock still, which is weird.
Did you say your leg was shaking like a rock?!
Ha-ha! But it's more like an earthquake.
I'm going to prep my fish.
He needs to be careful that he doesn't leave the bones on there.
He's taken the skin off.
He's got to be careful now because without the skin,
the fish can just flake apart.
You're doing all right, leuan, but you've got five minutes left.
BLENDER WHIRS
So, puree's done, cauliflower's roasting,
your fish is in the pan poaching,
and your cauliflower is in the oven.
Well, she's bubbling, so it's working.
Just hasn't got as much colour as I'd hoped on it at the moment.
Right. You've got two minutes left. Yep.
Right, you've just got your fish to go, yeah? That is correct.
Let's hope she doesn't break.
Are we done, leuan?
I believe so.
Well done, my friend.
Thank you. Well done.
Have you stopped shaking like a rock?
I have.
That was a very nervous start, wasn't it?
It was a very nervous start indeed.
For the first few minutes of your skills test, I was convinced
that you would not get this done,
but you got those nerves and the shaking under control.
The fish is beautifully cooked.
The cauliflower cheese is absolutely delicious.
The cauliflower florets blanched beautifully.
You made a puree - brilliant. Well done. Thank you.
I know you were nervous. Just be careful.
I can forgive one fish bone on there, but there's a whole row
of them on the plate.
But I'm impressed that you managed to do this.
I was really worried for you.
Mate, we could clearly see you were visibly shaking.
Once you started cooking, you were fine.
That's a really good skills test. Well done.
See you in the next round. Thank you very much.
They saw what I can do a little bit,
but, hopefully, in the next round they'll see everything I am.
Last in is 31-year-old Jeany.
Senior sous-chef at a fine dining restaurant in Belfast.
Life as a chef can be very stressful.
Kitchens can be a bit hectic,
but I do thrive on the adrenaline.
I've done fine dining, I've done barbecuing,
and I've done gastropubs.
I'm still sort of finding myself as a chef, so I'm still trying
to find what style of food is me,
because I just love it all.
I feel like now is the time to find myself,
to see what type of chef I am.
I do have what it takes to impress the judges.
I hope that I can think outside the box and bring something new
to the table that will really impress him.
BELL DINGS Service.
Welcome to Professional MasterChef.
Try and enjoy it if you can!
I would like you to make for us poached haddock with cauliflower
cheese and two other cauliflower garnishes.
OK. 20 minutes.
Off you go.
You OK?
Yeah, I don't know, my head's going all...
Don't worry. It's normal.
Just get your chef's head on. Focus on the cooking.
Don't worry about anything else.
Take a deep breath and get through it.
I'm not going to lie, I'm very nervous.
Should have left the butter melt a wee bit more first.
Has it not melted? It's melted now.
Used to make quite a lot of bechamels a couple of years ago
for cauliflower cheese, funnily enough.
It's all coming back to you now, isn't it? Yeah, it is.
What sort of kitchen do you work in?
Quirky, fine dining.
We do themed menus.
The themes can go from different movies or TV shows.
You've had about seven minutes so far,
so you're going to need to get a bit of a move on.
Need to get the fish on.
You got two other cauliflower garnishes to do.
Do you know what they're going to be?
I'm going to floret and slice some cauliflower
and then a cauliflower couscous.
OK. Love it. Yep.
OK. You are halfway.
Jeany really needs to pick up the pace.
Put your cauliflower into what?
Into the... The sauce? Yep.
Is there any cheese in there at the moment? No?
I'm going to put the cheese in now. Should've done that beforehand.
Could do with speeding up a little bit.
Not sure if the bechamel is cooked through enough.
You've got six minutes,
so you've got to think about the other two cauliflowers.
Her fish is out.
She has to remember to take the skin off.
You've got three minutes left. You need to start speeding up.
What's that pan doing at the front, that's smoking?
Brown butter - it's definitely burnt now.
Just put it on the back, that's it.
This is just sheer panic now.
Got about one minute. You start plating up.
All done? All done. Well done. Thank you.
Jeany, I'll bet you're glad that's over. 100%.
That was a tough watch.
Yeah.
The bechamel sauce wasn't right.
You've got to get that flour cooked out, which you haven't done.
The garnishes threw you a little bit.
Let's put it down to just nerves and not a great day in the kitchen.
The fish is cooked...just about.
Please take the skin off before you serve it.
I know, and I'm sure you know, you can do a lot better than this.
Jeany, it is very clear that your fear took control.
So, come back in the next round,
bring that energy and show us what you can do, Jeany.
Thank you, Chefs.
Disastrous.
Terrible.
when | walked in, my mind just went blank.
It was very, very nerve-racking.
Interestingly, I've got a perfectly symmetrical fit here.
Your skills test - we had one really good one, one shaky one.
Your skills test exactly the same. One really good one. One shaky one.
The chefs that are feeling quite deflated right now
need to turn it around.
They need to come back in here with energy
cos they still have a fighting chance.
Skills test is done.
The nerves, hopefully, have disappeared.
This is your time and your chance to shine and show us
how good you really are.
Focus. Cook your hearts out,
because at the end of this, we will be losing two of you.
This is your signature two course menu.
One main, one dessert.
90 minutes.
Chefs, off you go.
This is the moment. There's no going back.
Everything is riding on this Signature Challenge.
I think I have an enormous task to do actually do myself justice.
The judges have not seen an accurate representation of me.
Ola, how are you feeling?
Still terrified. Still terrified?
Still terrified cos, well, this is it.
Ola, you've got some interesting ingredients here. Yes.
What meat is that, please? That's goat meat.
I'm doing a canon of goat meat
with some rolling pistachio spiced crumb
and then some yam chips served with carrot puree.
And then I'm going to make a faggot of liver, kidney.
Alongside that, I'm doing goat sauce and then parsnip.
THEY LAUGH
Ola is cooking parsnip.
He's braising it.
He's making crispy parsnip for texture.
It sounds wonderful.
Got to make sure that parsnip is cooked perfect.
I'm not allowed to get it wrong, basically.
Ola is making a canon of goat.
You don't really get much goat in the MasterChef kitchen,
and you certainly don't usually see the canon.
I grew up in Nigeria. You have goats everywhere.
Almost everybody has a goat.
I think it doesn't get eaten enough.
The faggot, he's going to wrap it in core fat.
You want to make sure you render all of that fat away.
You don't want big chunks of core fat.
What are you cooking for dessert? What are you making?
I'm making a frangipane, but I'm taking out the almond
and I'm using ground ugu seed.
Ugu seed is a gourd pumpkin seed.
We use it for savoury, but it can also be substituted for almond.
And then I'm making a dark chocolate cremeux with creme pats
and some macerated strawberry and celery.
You've got a lot of work there. Yes, Chef.
Ola is making a frangipane dessert.
He's finishing his dish with egusi flake,
so it's almost like a toasted almond.
That will be absolutely delicious.
He's got dark chocolate cremeux, which is a beautiful,
rich chocolate mousse.
He's making vanilla creme pat, as well.
He's got strawberries with a celery syrup - I like that.
Ola's dishes sound great, but he's got a lot of work to do here.
He's going to have to really move it to pull this off.
I am worried about time.
I'm giving myself a lot to do
but I cannot come to MasterChef and play it safe.
This is the frangipane. OK.
That's the equsi. I'm just trying to pass it... Not going through, is it?
Yes, it's...
I think the key is just getting it done and getting it in the oven.
Yes, Chef.
So, I'm pushing myself,
but I believe I can do it.
IEUAN: I think I'm in my zone again now, which is good.
Every day, even in work or on a competition,
I just want to push. I want to show who I am.
I want to come up with a dish. I want to do something different.
You look much calmer now. Yeah, a little bit.
Feel a bit more, now I'm doing what I want to do.
Tell us about your menu.
I'm doing a pan roasted loin of hogget with lamb and kidney pie
with beer gravy and some wild garlic and mint salsa verde.
That sounds amazing!
On top of the pie, doing a potato hay,
so that's my starch element to it.
Potato what? Hay.
I'm just thinly grating some potato, washing it off,
and then deep frying it so it's like a crisp element, I guess.
Like, kind of pub classics.
That sounds like a fancy pub classic!
What part of this menu doesn't scream delicious?
He's got a loin of hogget, which is a yearling lamb.
It's got more developed flavour to it.
I hope it's served lovely and pink.
We have got a beer and kidney pie, which is topped with potato hay.
This is my pastry for the pie.
It's one of the longest jobs.
I want that little pie to pack a load of flavour.
We've also got a beer lamb gravy as well.
You've got to be very careful with beer because when it's reduced,
it can be incredibly bitter.
My dessert, I'm doing a rhubarb and vanilla Swiss roll
with a rhubarb sauce.
Your food just sounds delicious. Yeah, mate!
Please, please, please, get it all done on time. Trying.
Good luck. Thank you very much.
A freshly made Swiss roll for me, it's just delightful.
It's comfort food at its best.
A Swiss roll is about joconde sponge,
which is a very, very light sponge.
It's got to be beautifully cooked to the right consistency.
You want it to look good as well as taste good.
This is a young chef who really does want to showcase what great food
is in a pub and why not?
I'm pushing myself without hopefully going over the top,
something I can actually do and achieve in the time that I've got.
Chefs, you're halfway.
You are halfway.
JEANY: In the next round, I'm going to try and give it 110%
because I would like to redeem myself,
just from the last skills challenge and show that I actually can cook.
Jeany, are we a bit more settled now?
A little bit more settled now.
Did you give yourself a talking so in the break? I did, yeah.
I told myself, "You do this every day,"
so it shouldn't be any different.
But, yeah, I'm going to try my best to pull through.
What do you want from this round now?
What would be a brilliant outcome?
To hopefully get two dishes on in the correct time frame.
I'm hoping to showcase what I can do and what I'm about
and flavours that I enjoy.
Jeany's main course is a monkfish,
which she's going to water bath in a brown butter.
She's got to make sure she rests the monkfish really well,
otherwise she'll just have water seeping all over the plate.
It could ruin her presentation.
We have potatoes and asparagus.
She's using nettles and a veloute of watercress.
Also using nettle in the pesto.
The key to nettle is that you've got to get it blanched first
before you can eat it.
It takes away all the spiky prickliness about it.
What is it about you and nettles?
I have a dog and I love walking through forests and stuff
and so I like to see what's coming in the season
and nettles are currently in season at the minute.
What's the dog's name? Stormy.
So a dish inspired by Stormy the dog.
Stormy the dog, yeah, we'll go with that!
And dessert?
Dessert is a dark chocolate tart.
Cherry sorbet, amaretto soaked cherries with pecan nuts.
Ohhh!
Sorry. Excited much?
I like the sound of the tart, yeah!
The filling for Jeany's tartlet is a chocolate ganache,
so it's going to be rich and dense chocolate.
Jeany is making short pastry.
It's got to be buttery.
I hope it's cooked nicely.
That pastry case needs to be cooled down
before she puts the chocolate ganache into it.
There's a problem with the pastry?
When I tried to roll it, it was too soft. Ah!
I left it out too long so it started to fall apart.
Going to have to go pretty quick.
You've got maybe 20 minutes left, if that. Yes, Chef.
JAMES: I think we're so far so good.
I definitely can't take it easy yet.
Got to stay focused.
Putting yourself out there on a plate
is a big thing to do at the best of times.
What are your two courses, please, Chef?
The main course, I've got a nori turbot with a prawn mousseline,
wrapped in a sheet of nori, almost like a ballotine.
Smoked mussel sauce, split with a chive and nori oil
with some trout roe.
A mix of classic French cooking
and some flavours that I really enjoy cooking with.
Have you timed all of this? I have, yes. I have indeed.
Steamed turbot with a prawn mousseline - fantastic.
Mousseline is a mousse and if it's overcooked
it does seep out a lot of juice.
It could be quite firm, almost sort of like a rubber ball.
It's got to be cooked to perfection.
James is making a dashi base for the sauce,
a mix of dried fish flakes and nori.
And then he's adding to that the cooking juices of the mussels.
Delicious!
I love the little twist. I love the classical elements.
I'm really looking forward to tasting this dish.
I think this main course is in good hands.
Dessert, we've got chocolate cremeux and then we've got a coffee syrup,
miso caramel, and then two different types of tuiles.
What are these two dishes all about?
Big flavours, I think. I like a main to be big and oomphy.
I like a dessert to be a dessert, not a palate cleanser.
James's dessert - got two types of tuiles here.
Coffee and black sesame tuille.
And we've got a vanilla and white sesame seed tuille.
So that's going to be about a contrast in looks
as well as flavour.
Chocolate cremeux - you don't want it too firm.
You want it to be nice, smooth and velvety.
The miso caramel is also going to have some saltiness
throughout which will work so well with the chocolate here.
And then, of course, a bit of bitterness from the coffee syrup.
Great flavours.
Feeling good, I think. Just got to get it all the on plate now.
Guys, 15 minutes.
Jeany, are you going to be able to do that in 15 minutes?
Er, unsure.
I don't think the pastry is working out for me.
How long will it take to bake? Seven minutes and then I need
to bake the chocolate in the tart itself. And then how long?
Another ten, 12. So, 20 minutes? Yeah.
Keep going.
Jeany's had to make the tart case again.
It didn't work out the first time. The pastry was too soft.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of time left.
I just hope she can get it done in time.
I don't know.
I've messed this one...
You've got about eight minutes to complete two dishes.
You're all making me very nervous.
I'm making you nervous?
Ignore me. I'm not here.
Does it help?
NERVOUS LAUGH
Is there anything missing on your two dishes?
Things are going wrong.
Is that your frangipane? Yes, Chef.
It's not cooked, is it?
Are you going to get finished or do you have to rethink your dish?
I am rethinking everything as I'm going now.
Unfortunately, the frangipane hasn't cooked and it's the main element
of his dessert. It's possibly game over.
Couple of them in big trouble here.
What's really interesting, you got two chefs on this side
who are starting to plate up and looking pretty confident.
And then I've got our far two chefs on the other side,
who look a long way away from getting anything near a plate.
Should we be concerned? I think, yes.
It's a lot of stress over there.
I know your dessert might not be ready, but let's put everything
you've got left into this main course, all right? Yep.
Both Jeany and Ola are having massive problems
with their desserts.
I just hope that they can put something on the plate.
Ten seconds and we're done.
Final touches.
That's it. Stop! Time's up.
Jeany, are we all right with the main? Yeah.
Have you got any dessert? Nope. None at all?
I'm so annoyed at myself.
Don't worry. It happens.
It happens.
VOICE OVER: Senior sous-chef Jeany has only managed to serve
a main course of sous vide monkfish tail,
topped with trout roe caviar,
served with asparagus,
and finished with a nettle and watercress veloute.
GREGG: It's not the dish you wanted to present. It's not.
It went horribly wrong. There's quite a lot of elements missing.
I lost complete concept of time.
I'm really disappointed about it.
I've got a perfectly lovely,
juicy piece of meaty monkfish here,
absolutely perfectly cooked.
I've got a lovely, shiny, deep green veloute
that's got a pepperiness of watercress.
It's absolutely lovely.
I don't doubt for a minute you can cook.
What happened to you under pressure, I don't know,
but what's on here is the mark of somebody with a really good touch.
Jeany, I love the colour of the sauce.
My fish is perfectly cooked.
I like the bit of saltiness from the fish that you have on there.
Now, I know things haven't gone to plan.
Your pastry started to soften.
It threw you completely.
I'm disappointed for you.
But what you've done so far, that made it on the plate,
was very good. Thank you.
This fish is beautifully cooked.
Your sauce is nice and green and vibrant.
Your asparagus has got colour and bite to it.
You have just been sort of suppressed by the pressure
of this kitchen, but don't give up.
I won't.
I am feeling absolutely devastated
that I brought up no dessert
and that my main course was incomplete.
You just underestimate the pressure.
Unfortunately, this was not my day in the kitchen.
VOICEOVE: Head chef Ola has cooked a pan fried cannon of goat,
and a liver, heart and kidney faggot,
served with roasted parsnip, parsnip crisps,
cardamom and carrot puree,
and a goat and Madeira jus.
GREGG: We can clearly see that the timing went to pieces
cos you haven't completed the dishes the way you wanted to,
and we also haven't got a dessert at all, have we?
No.
Do you want to tell us what's missing?
There's a spiced crumb that's missing that's supposed to go
around the goat meat, and then there's the yam chips.
So many good ideas - a really brave dish to do.
I've got a really nice piece of goat, well-seasoned.
My parsnip is soft.
It's nice.
There's too much cardamon in the puree.
And you can clearly see here the faggot is too dry,
but that iron rich liver is delicious.
It's a great dish in the making.
You lost your way. The execution isn't what you wanted.
If we let you do this ten times in your own kitchen,
it'd be perfect every time.
The best thing on here for me is my piece of goat.
My one's been cooked nicely,
but the faggot is too dry, the sauce is so sweet.
Disappointed for you because it had great potential
and I loved the way your menu was sounding.
Ola, I feel for you, I really do. You lost your way.
You're not the first chef to stand here
and have a bad day in a kitchen
and you will certainly not be the last.
Take the experience, draw a line under it,
and move forward, OK?
Can you do that?
Yes, Chef. Good man.
Nothing went to plan.
It has the potential to be a great dish.
The idea is out there. I just need to work on the execution.
Freelance chef James has cooked nori wrapped turbot filled with a prawn
mousseline, topped with mussels in a lardo veil,
on a bed of sea herbs and trout roe.
Finished with a smoked mussel sauce,
split with nori and chive oil.
GREGG: I think that looks fabulous.
And as long as that tastes OK, that's showcasing a lot of skill.
The turbot is beautifully cooked. Mousseline is lovely and soft
and light and just carrying a delicate flavour of the prawn.
The sauce has got a lovely amount of smokiness running through it.
I love the split herb oil on top.
Love the little bit of lardo with the mussels,
but the whole thing, when you eat it, it's just too salty.
Mousseline, really smooth and creamy.
Love the sauce and the use of the sea herbs, I do.
You've got a lot of sampbhire here, which is salty.
You've got the roe, which is salty,
and the nori, it's on the edge of over seasoned.
So, not quite perfect, but very impressive.
Thank you.
Your turbot with the prawn mousseline in the middle
is so smooth. It's well made. It's held well.
The cooking of the fish was spot on. It's great.
James's dessert is a whipped chocolate cremeux
with miso caramel and coffee syrup
topped with tuiles of coffee and black sesame
and vanilla and white sesame.
GREGG: You've got a really smooth, creamy, shiny chocolate mousse.
In the middle you've got a coffee flavoured puddle
which is turning the whole thing into, like, a mocha.
And then two different flavoured wafers, one sweet with nutty sesame,
and the other one darker, kind of almost black coffee flavour.
I am so into that. I think that is fantastic.
Coffee, chocolate and in textures - delightful.
I love the miso caramel.
My one complaint is, I'd like more of it.
Delicious. I love the cremeux.
Great texture. Absolutely fantastic.
Beautifully executed.
For your first dessert in the competition, well done.
Thank you, Chef. Great job. Great job.
I think feedback was positive.
A couple of things to improve on
but I think they enjoyed it.
I just wanted a "phwoar" off Gregg, so |'ve come away happy, I think!
Last up is Welsh sous-chef leuan
who has cooked a pan roast loin of hogget,
served with a beer and kidney pie topped with potato hay.
wild garlic and mint salsa verde,
peas, broccoli,
and a beer lamb gravy.
Nice presentation. Dish looks colourful. Thank you.
Starts off with your little pie here. Great idea.
Pastry is nice and short - it's delicious.
Like the idea of the potato on top
but when you're going to do anything like this,
it needs to be packed full of flavour.
But it's just flat.
The hogget, the meat's cooked OK.
My fat here is raw,
so you've not butchered it down very, very well at all.
Your mint puree, your peas are beautifully cooked.
Your broccoli's nice.
You've got a great presentation.
You've got a lovely idea,
but for me, there are errors through this dish.
I really like it.
There is a bitter finish to your sauce.
It's like a pint of beer. I really like that.
That salsa verde with the mint in it, is fabulous.
It's not perfect, but I really love your style of food.
I really like your choice of ingredients.
There is lots for me to admire and enjoy.
Thank you.
I love how your main course was served. It looks wonderful.
The salsa verde with the hints of mint - love that.
The meat itself - the fat here is the issue.
But I do like the way the actual meat is cooked.
Ieuan's dessert is a forced rhubarb and vanilla butter cream Swiss roll,
served with poached rhubarb,
Chantilly cream,
hazelnut and honey granola,
gold leaf and a warm rhubarb sauce.
I really like the way you presented your Swiss roll.
Definitely the fanciest Swiss rolls I've seen.
I love the flavours of the rhubarb, but the Chantilly, for me, could do
with a bit more of the vanilla running through it.
Your joconde sponge just needs a bit more cooking,
literally like three or four minutes more.
But great concept, great idea.
I also like that you've done this texture with the granola.
I love that you haven't sweetened the rhubarb.
I think that's great.
However, I do think the dish itself needs a little bit
more sweetening, maybe through the Chantilly.
I do like your sweet granola. I think it's lovely.
Allin all, I think it's a very attractive,
very, very decent dessert.
I like your ideas. I like the way you think as a chef.
I love the way you work around the kitchen.
The joconde sponge isn't cooked enough. It's too gooey.
It's all about detail.
All about the detail.
This could be better.
I feel like I have a lot more to show.
Clearly, I have a lot more to prove.
We use this as a way to learn and adapt and become a better chef.
What can you say? A tough round for some of our chefs.
I mean, that was hard.
It takes courage to come in here.
It's a tough competition and sometimes it just gets the better
of some chefs.
Ola actually looked slightly nervous when he first came in.
With the skills test in the signature round
he really lost his way.
I mean, he didn't get us a dessert up.
I'm willing to bet he's much better than he's shown us today
and I'm thinking right now he must be bitterly disappointed.
I think his timing was a bit overambitious with the amount
of work he set himself out to do.
Jeany seemed to have a bit of a meltdown in here,
and it was when she started the pastry for her dessert.
That didn't go right and then everything went into a tailspin.
She didn't get us a dessert up.
But although the main course wasn't complete,
I had a beautifully prepared piece of monkfish.
I'm happy we got something from her.
And what was on that plate was pretty good.
Ieuan, you talk about nerves, I've rarely seen a chef walk
into this kitchen quite as nervous as leuan.
His signature dish, hogget with a pie, sounded delicious.
I liked the pink meat of it, but the fat had touched the pan.
Has dessert, the rhubarb Swiss roll, I like the idea of it.
However, the joconde sponge needed another five minutes cooking.
He is a chef that works in a pub.
He wants to elevate pub food.
If he could just home in on all the little points of details,
we could have a little star on our hands here.
James, I think may be the pick of the bunch today.
James did great on my skills test, so I had high hopes for him
and he delivered in the signature round.
He didn't drop the ball all the way through both tests.
His dessert, the chocolate coffee and the tuille...
Mate, we just wolfed it down, didn't we?
Of all the years of us judging, I can't remember a single moment
when two of the chefs failed to get both their dishes up.
Some decisions are easier than others.
I think today is quite clear.
Chefs, I know some of you have had a tough time in here.
That is the pressure of the MasterChef kitchen.
Keep your head up high.
Bad days in the kitchen - they happen.
You pick yourself up, you keep going.
We have made a decision.
Two of you are going through to the next round.
Two of you are leaving the competition.
Our first chef going through to the next round is...
...James.
Congratulations.
Thank you. Congratulations.
The second chef going through to the next round is...
...leuan.
Congratulations, sir. Thank you very much.
Jeany, Ola, thank you so, so much.
I hope you can take some positives from it.
It was great to meet you. JEANY: Thank you.
Feeling a bit deflated,
but I understand that the right decision was made.
I'm just going to take this with me and sort of learn from it.
This doesn't define me as a chef.
Hopefully, I can come back from this and, yeah, do better.
I feel sad, disappointed with myself,
because I know what I'm capable of.
I haven't put my...
...best out there.
Well done, the pair of you.
Keep it up. Keep growing.
Keep learning. Keep pushing.
It's been a roller-coaster, but it's been a great day
and I'm very excited to come back and prove myself.
Very happy. Very happy indeed.
I've got more to give, so I'm looking forward to it.
VOICE OVER: Next time, four new hopefuls...
Can I swap? Yeah, do it again.
Wow. ..fight for their place...
You've absolutely nailed it.
...in the quarterfinals.
GREGG: Let's go, let's go, let's go. Quick, quick, quick.
That is absolutely banging.
You have set the bar high.