It's the Professional MasterChef quarterfinal.
These four skilful chefs triumphed in their heats.
Tonight, they'll be judged on two tough challenges
designed to test them even further.
The game plan today is to push.
You start being in gear one, gear two,
and go into gear six, mate.
I feel like if you're not bringing your A-game,
then it's going to be, "See you later."
My legs are shaking, but I just can't wait
to get back to the kitchen and cook.
I think emotionally, I'm feeling a lot of different things.
I mean, I would be a therapist's dream right now.
First, they will need to create a standout dish
using a mystery ingredient...
I'm not going to let it go until I've eaten it all.
That's how good this is.
..before going on to cook for three of the country's top
restaurant critics.
This is one of those dishes that can change minds.
Only the very best will make it through to knockout week.
It's time now for our chefs to step up, take some risks,
think on their feet.
What is it that's going to put them up front?
This is where they need to stand out.
Chefs, welcome back. Welcome to your quarterfinal.
You've now settled into the kitchen.
But we want to see some fireworks now.
We want to see you elevate your cookery to new heights.
This is an invention test.
This is about you being creative,
thinking on the spot.
Under the box in front of you is an ingredient
that has to be at the centre point of your dish.
It's got to be part of the main event.
Chefs, lift up your box.
There it is. Garlic.
So familiar to all of us.
Behind us are some fabulous ingredients.
We are going to give you ten minutes to come up and choose
your ingredients, 70 minutes to cook and serve.
As well as the bulbs on their benches, there are other
forms of garlic the chefs can use,
from tangy black garlic to delicate wild garlic and its edible flowers.
Plus there's an array of additional ingredients, including seafood
and meats, as well as fruit, vegetables, herbs, and spices.
Working with garlic needs a chef with a very good palate.
Different types of garlic have different strengths.
We know how easy it is to overpower and destroy one dish.
It'll be nice to play around with a few different types of garlic.
Still thinking as I go along.
This is not going to be unfamiliar.
It's how you use it, what you do with it.
Their imagination can go wild,
but it still has to have garlic at the centre of their dish.
We want to be adventurous and try to push boundaries.
I love the flavour of rhubarb,
so I just want to try and see what comes out.
I'm nervous, I'm not going to lie.
But, yeah, I'm super excited.
The fact that I'm stood here right now getting the chance
is just blowing my mind, so I'm going to give it everything.
Chefs, your ten minutes is up.
You have 70 minutes to cook one dish celebrating garlic.
Good luck.
At just 20 years old, junior sous-chef Jordan from Birmingham
is the youngest chef in the competition.
Despite a basic error in the heat...
Your potatoes, they're not cooked.
..the judges were hugely impressed by his skills and ability.
My goodness, junior sous-chef at 20 years old.
Can't wait to see you when you're hitting it at 25.
Being a young chef in this competition takes you
out of your comfort zone.
Obviously, I haven't got as much experience as a chef
who's twice my age, maybe, who I might come up against.
But whatever age you're at, you know, you're still learning
as a chef every single day.
Here we are in the quarterfinals. How are you feeling?
Excited? Nervous? Equal?
Bit of both. A bit more anxiety coming into this round.
So, Jordan, what is your dish?
So it's roasted chicken, taken off the crown,
potato fondant and maitake mushroom, which is confited in a garlic oil,
and wild garlic stems through a chicken sauce.
You brushed the chicken with the garlic, like, under the skin?
Just the top. So I really want to get garlic in the dish,
but not too much because I don't want it to entirely taste of garlic.
So any lessons that you've taken from the last round?
Attention to detail.
Like you both said to me, paying attention to the small things.
So Jordan's doing chicken on the crown.
I've just seen that come out of the oven.
The chicken itself was the perfect opportunity to fill the cavity
full of garlic and herbs, maybe a bit of garlic under the skin,
and he hasn't done that.
I'm going to take it off the crown and then cover it with roasted
yeast, which has been cooked in a confit garlic and a bit of butter.
We've also got potato fondant, beautifully coloured in butter.
He dropped some garlic into that as well, which is great.
We also have some little wild garlic stems that he's using on the dish.
I'm just going to use the stems and pickle them.
So we've still got the wild garlic flavour, but it's not as harsh.
That's just going to go straight through the sauce
once it's finished.
So we've got the chicken, we've got the mushrooms,
and we've also got the fondant potatoes.
All of these will carry the garlic flavour beautifully.
Garlic, garlic, garlic...
Originally from Shanghai, 35-year-old Gail moved to the UK
to train as a chef just five years ago and is now senior chef de partie
in a modern Japanese restaurant.
In her heat, she had a disaster with a main element in her dessert...
Unfortunately, that's not going to be edible.
..but won the judges over with her unique
and daring flavour pairings.
Your menu is the one that caught my attention,
just for the sheer excitement and the difference
of what you're bringing into this kitchen.
I've never really done anything like today's invention test before.
I have very, very few experiences creating dishes on the spot.
I can feel there is a tiny mouse running all through my body!
And I'm just preparing myself and calming that little mouse down.
Gail, you haven't been a chef for many years,
so inventing must be quite difficult, I'm sure.
It is extremely difficult for me.
Yeah. So I try to stick with something I'm most familiar with.
And what is that?
A dumpling, and the filling will be prawns and mushroom
and wild garlic.
And I also want to make a light broth,
so I'm going to use rhubarb.
A rhubarb broth that you're going to pour into it?
Yes.
With black garlic puree.
Very good. I like the sound of the prawns,
I like the sound of the dumplings.
Give it a bit of a Gail factor.
Gail force nine!
She's very nervous, but I think she's done the best solution, to do
something that she is familiar with.
I love a prawn dumpling!
Mm.
We know garlic goes beautifully well with prawns,
so I really want to taste it in this dish.
I'm quite happy with the dough.
It's started getting elastic.
She's going to pan-fry them,
and once they've got the colour that she's looking for,
a bit of stock, lid on,
and that's going to give her that beautiful, shiny, sauteed look
that we just love about dumplings.
You've got the prawn head oil, a little bit of garlic in there too.
We've got black garlic puree as well.
Better.
But unsure about the rhubarb element.
So I've never made this rhubarb broth before.
Very, very long time ago, rhubarb came from China,
and we normally use it as a dry ingredient.
I'm questioning whether rhubarb really does work
with a prawn dumpling.
I'm not so sure.
Chefs, you are halfway.
At 33, Ritchie is chef patron at a vegan restaurant
he runs with his wife in Nottingham.
Although Monica was disappointed by his aubergine skills test...
The way you cooked it, it was just so rough.
..he secured his quarterfinal place with his exciting and ambitious
plant-based plates.
Quality cookery.
Very, very good indeed.
I'm really looking forward to today's test,
just thinking on my feet and going back to basics
and seeing what happens.
I'm going to try and do the plant gang proud. Yeah.
Ritchie, what is your dish?
And what sort of garlic did you go for?
Three different types of garlic.
I'm using a bulb garlic to confit down.
I'm going to be folding that through roasted aubergine.
It's almost going to be a bit of a puree,
which is going to be the base of the dish.
Then I'm going to be glazing maitake mushroom, lightly poached
in a black garlic stock.
I'll reduce that down so I've got a lovely glaze.
Finally, a nice light wild garlic oil, pickled fennel,
and I'm going to drop the wild garlic flowers into there as well.
You had an aubergine in the skills test.
Didn't go too well, did it?
It didn't, Marcus.
I've got a lot to prove with my aubergine cookery today,
especially with yourself, Monica.
As soon as I saw an aubergine, I was like,
"Do you know what? Bring it on."
I think he's got a point to prove, and I like that about Ritchie.
He's got the aubergine baked down, he's got some spices running
through it, and he wants to sit that on the base of the plate.
Almost like a chunky pate.
And the beautiful maitake mushroom that he's cooking
in the black garlic, which is going to work a treat.
Dunked in the fryer until they're nice and crispy.
He's also doing a crumb of sesame and almonds,
then finish his dish with wild garlic oil.
But it sounds like Ritchie's just taking different ingredients
and just hoping that they're all going to work.
There might need to be another sort of starchy or carby element
to the dish, so I'm going to do some really nice little
garlic-roasted celeriac fondants.
So a little bit more work to do, but I just don't want to fall short
at the last hurdle when I've got to this stage.
29-year-old Dan lives in Lancashire with his partner and newborn son,
and is a senior sous-chef in a gastropub.
Despite lacking in confidence, he delighted the judges in his heat
with his minimalistic but perfectly executed dishes.
I'm really, really impressed with you. Well done.
The competition has always meant a lot to me.
It was a very brave and big step for me to enter.
But now I've got to this stage and I've got this far,
I just hope it don't stop now.
When you told your family that you were in the quarterfinal,
was there a big celebration?
Yeah. I went home, gave my little boy a cuddle,
and had a really good night.
He slept away all the way through, so that was even better!
Yeah, result! Yeah. Let's celebrate that.
Exactly, chef, yeah. Definitely celebrate.
So where are you sitting with your dish? What are you thinking?
I'm thinking, if I start off with a nice wild garlic veloute.
I'm roasting off a whole bulb,
brushing that over the prawn.
Going to make a black garlic emulsion out of mayonnaise,
And I'm going to pickle some of the wild garlic stalks.
You got rave reviews of your last dish.
Can you cook to that standard again? Because that was a great dish.
Yeah, I really do believe I can.
Erm, yeah, 100%.
What I'm seeing on his bench looks really good, but veloute
is at the core of it, which is a really interesting idea,
because that's going to be all about garlic.
Roasted garlic, shallots, ginger, lemongrass, wild garlic,
white wine, chicken stock, and just a bit of double cream.
But there is a possibility that there could be garlic overkill
if he's not careful.
Dan's making mayonnaise with black garlic and wet garlic.
The black garlic has a balsamic sweetness to it.
The wet garlic will bring the normal garlic flavour that you want.
I'll add a bit of vinegar, a bit of mustard, maybe,
and some oil, just to finish off.
Chefs, you have 15 minutes left,
and I see there's still a lot of work going on.
Took the chicken off the crown.
Potatoes are cooked. So pretty good.
Is that a traditional way of doing the dumplings?
Yes. Frying from raw? Yes.
So far, so good, I believe.
You see, you never know until your food gets eaten, so...
So this is the veloute.
How long?
Right, chefs, you've got three minutes left.
Oh, my God.
Anyone listening?
ALL: Oui, chef!
That's better.
Make sure everything's really nice.
The stew needs a bit of seasoning.
Interesting.
You have just 60 seconds left.
Yes, chef. Oui.
Oops!
Gail, you really need to finish your plate.
Yeah, come on.
Time's up. Stop cooking.
Junior sous-chef Jordan has served roast chicken breast
basted in garlic oil, topped with toasted yeast,
a roasted maitake mushroom,
and a potato fondant,
decorated with garlic flowers,
with a chicken sauce containing pickled wild garlic stems.
Beautiful looking plate, and that sauce with the shine on it -
really lovely.
Thank you.
Your chicken is so soft and tender.
And the fondant, I mean...
..beautifully cooked.
It's just breaking away when you cut into it.
Best fondant I've had in the MasterChef kitchen.
Thank you very much.
But I think you've missed the chance to get more garlic in it. Yeah.
You could've had garlic under the skin of the chicken
with the butter, let that soak through it.
Put lots more of those pickled stems into your sauce.
Don't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone.
Oui, chef. Thank you.
Beautifully cooked chicken, beautifully cooked fondant.
Lovely sauce.
Where's my garlic?
This was the dish to put it in.
Honestly, Monica's right.
We say we're going to set a garlic challenge,
let's go for it, yeah? Oui, chef. Yeah?
Get off your moped and get on to something a little bit faster.
Oui, chef. All right?
Good dish, though.
I feel it went OK.
Thank you.
Feels good to receive that kind of feedback about my fondant.
She said it was "the best I've ever tried in the MasterChef kitchen,"
so I'm pretty stoked about that, I guess.
You got a spare fondant?
I'm feeling confident going into the next round, but the only
thing I'm feeling nervous about is, you know, the other chefs.
How did it go?
Just needed more garlic.
THEY LAUGH
More garlic!
Senior chef de partie Gail has created wild garlic and prawn
dumplings with a poached prawn and clove of pickled garlic,
steamed mushrooms, and wild garlic flowers,
accompanied by a rhubarb and garlic broth
and a side of infused prawn head and garlic chilli oil.
You had quite a large pot of black garlic on your bench. Yes.
What happened to it?
I didn't have time to put it on the plate.
OK.
That's a shame.
It's very interesting because it's the pink rhubarb-coloured broth
that's quite unusual, but it's absolutely delicious.
The rhubarb broth is that lovely sour flavour that sits
underneath the delicious dumpling.
I just want more garlic.
And maybe that black garlic puree that's still on your bench
could have just completed this dish.
Your dumpling is beautiful. It's so delicious.
I love dumplings done this way.
You've got a lot of wild garlic in here, but it's very mild.
I like that I can still taste the prawn.
Love the chilli oil, but I'm not getting enough garlic in there.
I think you want to be hitting that with the garlic,
and you can add more into the dish.
You were rushing. You need to start organising yourself properly,
because you give us delicious food.
And I'd start working on a time plan. Yes, chef.
Because when you're cooking for critics,
you've got to get it right.
Yes, chef.
Every time, I feel the cooking is like a roller-coaster.
Today is another roller-coaster.
Well done, chef.
Well done.
I wasn't very happy because in the end I didn't have enough time.
My black garlic is still sitting there!
For the next round, will definitely work much harder on the time plan.
SHE EXHALES SLOWLY
I cannot be late.
Vegan chef Ritchie has served celeriac fondants with black garlic
and soy glazed maitake mushrooms,
pickled wild garlic flowers and fennel,
topped with a toasted almond and sesame crumb,
on a roasted spiced aubergine
and tahini and garlic puree split with wild garlic oil.
It looks busy. It looks nice.
I like the little green colour around the base.
It just looks like there's a lot happening in there.
Sure.
I'm slightly struggling a little bit with this dish
because of the aubergine puree at the bottom of it.
I find like I'm just eating a lot of puree.
The celeriac is beautifully cooked, the mushroom as well.
But I'm not getting garlic, and everything is just
sitting on top of each other. We're both going in here like,
"Where's the garlic? Where's the garlic?" Mm.
And it's not there.
The cooking of the aubergine, I think you really could have
stuffed some garlic in there and then made your puree.
Aubergine can take it.
I am concerned you have so many great ideas
you want to show off...
..but less is more.
You know what this is crying out for?
Some garlic bread.
I knew I'd get it in there somewhere.
That's the way I would like to eat it.
What you've got to do is put yourself in the customer's seat
and stop trying to show us everything on your menu
all in one dish.
How was that?
All right.
I don't think it was that bad.
I'm not going to beat myself up about it.
I know what I did wrong, and they just identified
what I did wrong, so... C'est la vie.
Finally, senior sous-chef Dan has presented roasted garlic-brushed
prawns, green tomato and garlic stem salsa,
black garlic mayonnaise, fried pastry nests and garlic flowers,
finished with a wild garlic veloute.
I love the vibrant green of the veloute.
I loved that.
Really enjoyed this veloute.
The amount that was on there, you think,
"Wow, that's going to be really strong."
It's so mild because of the way you've cooked the wild garlic out.
We have the prawns, naturally sweet.
You've got salsa-like pickled garlic stems,
which is giving that crunch.
I think it's very easy to suddenly just keep adding things.
You stayed very refrained.
You take what you've got and you really focus on those flavours.
Great.
You've chosen some really delicious garlic,
and you've just taken them to a beautiful place.
It's delicious in the garlic essence.
You've got the little flower on top,
and of course you've not just put black garlic piped on -
you've got a little mayonnaise there so it's a little bit lighter.
I'm standing here talking to you, staring at that, and I'm not going
to let it go until I've eaten it all. That's how good this is.
It's fabulous, Dan.
I don't know how much I've got to praise you to get
a smile out of you.
Here we go. Let it out. Let it out, fella!
There we go.
This is what it's about. It's about emotion.
Food makes you happy.
When you cook good food, we're happy, you're happy.
I think that's great. It's knockout.
Thank you.
Well done, you.
Garlic brief, tick!
I am buzzing!
Well done, mate.
You can breathe now.
That's such a huge compliment.
It's huge.
I'm probably going to cry in a minute.
The bar's set high.
Oh, mate.
Trusting my instinct just shows that I am doing right
in what I believe in.
So, yeah.
I enjoyed that. I thought it was excellent.
There was a few points of no garlic, a little bit light in flavour
in areas, but I have to say there was some really good cooking
on show there today.
I think we all did good, man.
I think we all cooked really well.
But they need to realise when we set a brief they have to hit it. Mm.
That could've cost a few of them today.
They're going to take lessons away and come back even stronger,
ready for the critics.
I just want to say, best of luck for the next round, chefs.
Welcome to the Critics Round.
You are going to be cooking for three of the biggest food writers
in our industry.
Grace Dent,
William Sitwell,
and Jimi Famurewa.
This is your opportunity to impress.
At the end of this, we can only take three of you through
to Knockout Week.
One of you will be leaving today.
Chefs, two courses, one hour and 15 minutes.
Off you go, and good luck.
I want to do myself proud and my family proud.
Being here, doing this opportunity gives me the chance to,
you know, constantly be in an upward trajectory, you know,
and to change the course of my life.
Jordan, you're looking very calm.
What two dishes have you come up with?
Poached lobster tail
and sweet and sour cherry tomatoes.
They're sour because of the sherry vinegar.
The sweetness comes from vanilla that I'm using.
And then at the end there's a tomato tea which is seasoned
with some koji, dashi vinegar, soy sauce.
So it's like an umami flavour to bring it all together.
And your second dish is?
Second dish is Anjou pigeon with celeriac puree, glazed cherries,
peppercorn sauce,
and maitake mushroom that's been pickled with some shallots.
The restaurant that I cook at, you know, is classically French,
using flavours that work together, pigeon with fruit.
Not many 20-year-olds cook for critics of this level.
Yeah. A little bird tells me that you're 21 tomorrow.
I am 21 tomorrow.
Oh, happy birthday for tomorrow.
Thank you very much. It should be a terrific gift!
If you got through.
Your 21st MasterChef birthday depends on you.
Yeah, it does.
You've got this. Cheers.
Jordan's got a lovely sounding menu.
Two fabulous key ingredients for both dishes -
lobster and pigeon.
The cooking of this lobster is essential.
You don't want the lobster to be overcooked.
It will become tough.
We've got tomatoes three ways.
Marinated.
We've got a tomato emulsion.
And we've got a tomato tea.
Just passing it through.
It's literally just blended beef tomatoes.
Jordan tea's got koji, dashi, and mirin in it.
Didn't see those ingredients sort of on this dish,
and question why they're there.
Jordan's main course - the pigeon's cooked on a crown.
I think it's the best way to cook it.
It doesn't dry out.
He's taking the legs of the pigeon,
he's going to cook them separately.
And he'll make a cherry glaze,
and he'll brush that over the legs.
I like that technique.
Good pigeon sauce with the green peppercorns in,
that'll give the dish a little bit of heat.
There's some sherry vinegar. Reduce that down,
then I can add the brandy flambe.
Freshness from the cherries,
earthiness from the celeriac.
Sounds like the making of a great dish.
Time is flying by, so just getting the sauce done.
Nicely reduced.
On track, but still quite a bit to do.
GAIL: Today, I'm going to cook my dishes for the biggest food critics
in this country.
I'm super excited to show them what my home food flavours are.
I can show everyone Shanghai style.
Gail, how are you today?
Great. I've prepared my time plan.
My goal is to get everything on the plate and serve it on time.
Good. Tell us about your two dishes.
So my starter is a Shanghai-style drunken prawn with soya bean
and Chinese stem lettuce.
This gives a freshness and the crunchiness.
What's a drunken prawn?
Drunken prawn is a Chinese fermented rice wine sauce.
And I assume a lot of alcohol?
Yes. That's why it's drunk.
What's your main course?
Shanghai-style fried pork with handmade rice cake
and soya and Worcestershire sauce.
What I'm really loving, Gail, is this confidence.
And you've got a time plan. Yeah!
And on that note... On that note. ..we'd better let you go.
Thank you.
Gail's first course, the prawn dish, has got a lot of ingredients
with a lot of flavours.
She's making a marinade with different alcohol.
We've got whisky, we've got rice wine,
and then the prawns just soak up all of that mix.
And that's why they're called drunken.
I'd be seriously drunk too if I had that amount
of alcohol going in.
These prawns, they're delicate,
so you don't want them over-marinated.
But in Chinese cookery, the flavours of the sauces in the ingredients
do tend to be the powerful elements of the dishes.
Gail is doing a pork main course.
She's taking the pork and she's going to batter it out.
And then she's got a beer batter, and she's going to deep-fry it.
The batter has to crisp up,
and the meat inside hopefully is still a little bit pink.
Gail's rice cake is cooked rice mixed up with blended rice
so she makes a puree.
As a kid, I really, really loved rice cakes.
She puts that into a steamer until it becomes solid,
and then she fries that off.
It's actually a quite long process and it's quite complicated.
Loving the sound of the Shanghai-style soy sauce.
I'm just curious if Gail is going to pour the sauce over
or serve it like a dipping sauce on the side.
There's actually a lot of work, so Gail has got to really move it.
It doesn't matter how many times you walk through them doors -
it does not get any easier.
The further you go, the more you've got to give.
It doesn't matter what you've done in the past.
All that matters is what's on that plate today.
Dan, how are you feeling, cooking for our critics?
I'm very nervous. But I think that's sort of my thing now.
So... Have critics had your food before?
No, never, so it'll be good to get more established people's opinions.
Besides us?
Yes, chef. Yeah.
LAUGHTER
Dan's first course is lobster.
He's got a lobster tail. He's going to blanch that off,
and then just gently cut that in half and torch it.
We've got salad with chopped-up claw and mango.
We've got a warm Thai green curry sauce.
Green curry is one of my favourite things to eat.
Used to eat it religiously every single Sunday
after a hard week of work.
Oh! Really?
Yeah. What's wrong with a roast?
Whether or not the Thai green sauce works with a lobster salad,
I'm not so sure.
That's your starter?
Yes, chef. Yeah. Followed by?
Brill topped with a brill chive mousse.
And I'll be doing a KFB - a Kentucky Fried Brill -
with different variations of asparagus and a yuzu kosho sauce.
I love using Japanese products, so it's definitely something
that I would like to try and bring into my style of cooking.
Brill is a beautiful fish, but if cooked too harshly,
it can dry out very quickly.
The brill mousse is about cutting the trimmings,
passing it through a drum sieve.
The mousse is going to go on top of the brill.
It's all wrapped up in one cylindrical shape,
so timing is crucial here.
Too long in the water bath and the mousse could split,
or you could have it the other way where the mousse is perfectly cooked
and the fish is undercooked.
He's also going to take the trimming of the brill and is going to make
what he's calling KFB.
We know what that stands for.
It's deep-fried.
It's going to have a lovely spicy finish to it.
But I like the way he's using the throwaway bits of the brill.
So it's using the skirt.
A bit of fun here from Dan, and I like that his confidence
is starting to grow and he's willing to show some of that fun side
in his cooking.
To get to Knockout Week is something that I've dreamed of
since I was a kid.
Actually dreamed about it last night.
I am as ready as I could possibly be to smash these courses out.
I need to push on, and it's got to be my best work yet.
Ritchie, tell us, what are you making there?
So every year there's a funfair in Nottingham called the Goose Fair,
and the tradition is getting stuck into mushy peas, mint sauce.
So I'm trying to create a sense of what the atmosphere is like
at the fair. So my main course is a pea mousse shortcrust tart.
There's some lovage in there too, with smoked pomme puree,
a truffle cream sauce split out with a mint salsa.
So you celebrate mushy peas and mint sauce?
Yeah. I mean, it's an odd one.
It's a real Notts classic.
Have you ever had that?
No. No, not where I'm from.
Ritchie's menu, of course it's plant-based.
He's making a tart inspired by a festival from where he comes from
in Nottingham, where they celebrate mushy peas and mint.
I love that.
His first course is pea, lovage and mint tart.
So a very short pastry.
Made with a substitution for the dairy element.
And of course you want the perfect thickness to take the amount
of the filling that Ritchie will put into it.
It can't be too thin, can't be too thick.
He's making a truffle cream sauce split with spearmint.
And there's hints of mint throughout.
It's a slice of... almost like a quiche,
so he's going to really have to make sure that these flavours
are really working for him.
My dessert I've called the beaten mess.
It's using beetroots, some fresh berries
and that sort of thing, shortbread, a beetroot chutney,
Italian meringue, which is going on top of that,
and served with raw tart rhubarb.
Beaten mess. I love the name of it. It's quite fun.
As opposed to Eton mess.
It's a plant-based meringue, so how firm is that going to be?
He's using aquafaba, the liquid from beans.
He's going to make sure the aquafaba is really whisked up
to help it hold.
Ritchie's also talked about a bit of shortbread for texture
and for flavour.
The shortbread is going to sit underneath with the blackberries
and some beetroot, but he's also going to add some raw rhubarb,
which I'm finding quite unusual,
because that is a very tart, sour note.
It could work.
The question is, will it work?
We've seen the great and good of the British Isles
come through this door.
We've eaten every food ingredient known to man,
but they still have to impress us.
Oh, here we are.
We are expecting a really high standard of cooking.
You know, it's the professionals. This is the Premier League.
I don't want to come in here and just see a bunch of dishes
that I eat day in, day out, week in, week out.
You've got to stretch your talents.
You've got to take a risk.
But you have to be careful, because when you take a risk,
you might fall off that cliff.
Cheers.
Jordan, you've got five minutes. There's no plates out.
You're still clearing up.
I think you need to get a little bit of a move on, OK?
Oui, chef.
Jordan's starter is poached lobster, sweet and sour tomatoes,
tomato emulsion, and coriander with a tomato tea.
The lobster has got to be beautifully poached and not rubbery.
Just delicate, just soft enough.
Are you happy with how your lobster is cooked?
Very happy with the cooking of the lobster.
And then the different tomatoes?
Yeah.
GRACE DENT: Serving the same vegetable three ways is always
a risk on this competition.
Tomato and olive oil.
Can he make all those different types of tomatoes sing
in their own way?
Jordan, you've got about a minute left. Yeah.
If it all comes together, this could be a really,
really beautiful starter.
Is your tea ready? Yep.
OK. Well done.
Good afternoon. Hi. Hi, Jordan.
How was it in there?
Intense. Yeah.
Jordan has served poached lobster tail with marinated tomatoes,
a tomato emulsion, and tomato tea flavoured with koji,
mirin, and dashi vinegar.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Jordan.
This is a beautifully presented, summer wedding,
high-end, spend food.
This is a very pleasant, elegant dish.
The lobster's firm but also soft.
And you've got the sweetness of tomato.
The only thing is the individual tomato flavours are not coming out.
William, I have to take issue with you.
I think this is really very good.
Those sweet and sour tomatoes, they carry the whole thing.
The tea, it's such an unexpected flavour in that dish.
He has put together something that's quite sophisticated.
My feeling was pleasant rather than spectacular.
But he's done really, really well.
Everything's nicely cooked.
Everything tastes delicious.
It all works together.
It's a very, very nice plate of food.
The koji and the mirin in his tomato tea there,
I think the saltiness and a little bit of sharpness is lifting
this dish and bringing it together.
Tasty plate of food.
JORDAN SIGHS
You've got 15 minutes.
Yes, chef. All right.
Jordan's main is a cherry-glazed pigeon breast...
Yes, nice and pink.
..a confit pigeon leg.
They're not an easy bird to cook.
Ah...
They're can be tough and rubbery.
Wahey.
You've got three minutes. How are we looking?
Looking OK.
I just really need to get this puree
if not passed then on the plate.
OK. So it's literally just the puree that I'm worrying about, really.
Don't lose it now. Yes, chef.
Celeriac puree with a green peppercorn sauce.
This sounds absolutely delicious.
Where cherries go in a green peppercorn sauce,
that worries me.
Right, as soon as that's in, off you go.
That, I think, is the danger zone in this dish.
So for your main course, you have an Anjou pigeon with its leg,
which has been confited, pickled maitake mushrooms with some
shallots, glazed cherries, celeriac puree, and a peppercorn sauce.
Thank you very much. Brilliant.
Thanks, Jordan.
I really like his artistic style.
You know, it's a proud presentation of this great bird, pigeon.
The worries that we had about how well the cherry flavour
and the green peppercorn would get along were completely unfounded,
and we didn't need to worry about it.
It's kind of like an elevated game roast.
The celeriac puree, he's given us kind of a squirrel's teacup of it.
LAUGHTER
But it's delicious.
It is a standard-bearer, a masterclass in pigeon cookery.
The pigeon breast is rare, but it's soft.
There's a crisp skin.
I'll remember this for a very, very long time.
Ah!
This is why we come here. Mm-hm.
We come into this room not to find the failures, to find the successes.
I get up in the morning to eat food like this.
MONICA: The pigeon is beautiful.
The cherries, the sweetness -
really delicious flavours here from Jordan.
I'm enjoying the beautiful cherries with the pigeon.
That goes well. When you bite down on the green peppercorns,
there's a beautiful flavour, but it's still very, very hot
and maybe they could've been chopped up, slightly crushed,
and it would've been perfect.
It was the hardest challenge so far.
Whether you're 20 years old,
25, 35, 65, it's hard, mate.
It's a push. I'll tell you that.
I hope that they're, you know, impressed and pleased with me.
Gail, 15 minutes.
Make sure everything is right.
Yes, chef.
So Gail's starter is drunken zao prawns,
soy beans, and Chinese stem lettuce.
Drunken zao prawns - that suggests the addition of some alcohol,
maybe some rice wine.
When something's drunk and sozzled,
I like the idea of that.
Oops. Are you almost ready?
Er, yep.
Well done. You're on time.
Off you go.
Hi.
My starter is drunken zao prawn
with green soya bean
and Chinese stem lettuce.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, thank you.
I love the bold presentation of this.
I love it when dinner is looking back at me.
But I don't know where to start.
I don't know how to eat it.
I don't know where to put my hands.
Wow.
They are drunk, aren't they?
I expected the booze to be kind of tempered by something,
but it isn't.
It's a big hit of fumes.
You have the lettuce, which is kind of seeping there underneath.
There's not masses of flavour in that.
You have to kind of take the soy beans out of their pods.
Look, a really interesting dish, but not one that I'm kind of
crying out to try again, I've got to say.
This dish on paper had real promise,
but it was clumsy to eat.
It's just not delivered.
Wow.
It's an interesting little dish.
You've got to get your hands involved,
you've got to get the prawn shell out your mouth.
But, if I'm honest, I was actually expecting a slightly bigger flavour.
More of that stock in that dish would have been really good.
I just think that it's not all coming together.
You've got all the little bits on it, but you're tasting them
separately as opposed to everything in the bowl.
You've got 15 minutes for your main course.
Oh, my God. All right, let's go.
I could not be more up for Gail's main, honestly.
Shanghai-style fried Iberico pork,
I'm so up for that.
Served with handmade rice cake.
Phew!
You deep-fry it?
Yes. So outside is crispy, inside is chewy.
Gail, you've got two minutes.
Yes.
Served with a soy and Worcestershire sauce.
OK, off you go.
Good luck.
WILLIAM SITWELL: Heavy, salty sauce with pork,
which sounds quite nice.
Oh, wow.
My main is Shanghai-style fried Iberico pork with handmade rice cake
with Shanghai-style sauce.
Thank you.
I wanted to present very simple but very delicious Chinese food.
It is very simple.
I hope it's delicious as well!
I got lovely, crispy batter and quite a thick piece of pork.
It felt like a kind of comfort food that Gail is incredibly passionate
about and that means a lot to her.
I love rice cakes and I especially love these ones.
They're very difficult not to love.
They're sticky, carby vessels to dip into something.
And that sauce is exactly what it says on the tin.
This is food of heavy industry.
It's big and noisy.
And that sauce, a thick gravy with a spice that envelops you.
I sort of quite liked it.
It was intriguing and interesting.
The pork is so tender. It's delicious.
I love the little crunchy coating batter on the outside.
The sauce - really, really love that. Delicious.
This is as rustic as you would get it, but on the flavour profile
and textures, Gail has really knocked it out of the park.
Oh, my God.
Right, Dan, you've got five minutes left.
Yes, chef.
Dan's starter, poached lobster topped with a preserved lemon jelly,
mango puree, choy sum, shallot petals,
with a green curry sauce.
This is just his starter!
How many arms has Dan got?!
He has to make sure above all that he's poached the lobster delicately.
Let's start getting this dish together. Yes, chef.
So just the sauce will go on the side?
Yes, chef.
The green curry sauce could wreck the whole thing.
Or it could be the most amazingly dancing little flourish.
Well done. And off you go.
Hello. Hello.
I've made for you a poached lobster tail,
lobster claw with some nice mango salad,
Thai green curry sauce, and a preserved lemon jelly.
OK. Great. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I think this is very pretty.
The star of the show for me is that green curry sauce.
It is fantastic.
It's phenomenal.
It anchors everything.
It makes everything pop and sing.
Beautifully poached piece of lobster.
Gorgeously done.
Beautifully prepared.
It is delicious.
I really like the spring-like piquant mango salad.
The heart of this dish, which is the two main fundamentals,
the lobster and the green curry sauce,
are absolutely fantastic.
I love the sweet notes of the mango.
Beautiful lobster tail, perfectly cooked.
I don't think I've had a Thai green curry sauce,
warm, with a cold lobster salad.
Absolutely delicious.
Really, really good.
Brilliant, brilliant dish.
Wow. Well done, Dan.
Well, how was that?
Yeah, scary.
HE LAUGHS
How are we looking on the main course?
I've just got the finishing touches to do. 15 minutes?
Yes, chef.
I love the idea of KFB.
A beautifully, delicately cooked piece of fish with really moreish,
deep southern fried seasoning and breading around it.
And that is just going to be extraordinary.
He's literally making us a dipping sauce for that KFB.
Buttermilk and yuzu and chilli,
something creamy and dippable.
You've got two minutes left.
Yes, chef.
And brill mousse as well.
You want to have the flavour of the fish in there.
But you don't want it to be overwhelming.
How's the fish look?
The mousse has split.
Oh!
Have you took it all off?
Yes, chef.
Everything else you're happy with?
Er, yes, chef.
All right. Keep calm.
Oui.
This man can poach. He can dress, he can pickle.
He can compress, he can mix.
He can fry!
You're almost there.
Can he defy gravity?
Deep breath.
I have made for your main course
a poached brill KFB,
textures of asparagus,
and a yuzu, koshu and buttermilk sauce.
Unfortunately, I noticed that the mousse was split,
so I took all the mousse off to make sure that you had
a beautifully cooked piece of fish.
Thanks, Dan. Thank you. Well done.
My God.
The KFB was so good.
The crisp on it, to achieve that under that pressure,
really impressive.
He hasn't managed to do all the elements.
We worried about that for him.
But this white buttermilk, yuzu and chilli sauce is fabulous.
I mean, it's got a great texture, and you get the acidity of that,
of the yuzu.
A lovely piece of brill,
poached beautifully.
Asparagus done other ways.
Every single one felt different.
And I can't stop eating because I think this is a piece of art,
and I will never maybe experience this art again.
So I have to go and do it, I have to eat it, one little bit.
Dan, for me, has done it again.
The mousse didn't make it on the fish, but what I've got here
tastes fine without it.
What I love about the two courses, there's a lovely warmth and heat
running through, yet delivering very unusual big flavours
that is the point of difference.
That is what is making Dan's cooking so delicious and so exciting.
I've done them 1,000 times over and it's like,
you know, it's...
It hurts when it don't go to plan.
But hopefully the judges and the critics can see
what type of chef I am.
Well, Ritchie's been locked in a room with some Victorian cookbooks.
Pea and lovage mousse tart, lemon and elderflower caviar,
smoked pomme puree. There's nothing wrong with that.
But there are some technical hazards, I think, throughout this.
The tart has got to be bang-on.
It's a really challenging thing to make with limited time.
He's made caviar with lemons and elderflower.
Ingenious.
Right, you've got a couple of minutes left, Ritchie.
Yes, chef. Thank you.
Shaky hands.
You're doing all right.
We don't see cooking like this very often.
On one level, it's the destination dinner that you fly to
some foreign country and have a four-week waiting list.
And then on another level, it's 1915 and I'm in the Lake District.
Hello. Hi, folks.
So today I've made a dish inspired by my hometown, Nottingham.
Shortcrust tart with lovage, a little bit of lemon
and pea mousse, a caviar made from lemon and elderflower,
and then we've got a nice pomme puree on the side
which has been lightly smoked, truffle cream sauce,
and I've kept a mint salsa in there.
And everything that you're eating today is completely plant-based.
I really hope you enjoy.
Thank you. Thank you.
It's from the heart. It's passionate.
It's about his hometown.
But what he did was, you know, he kind of made pie and mash.
And who doesn't like pie and mash?
There's real technical proficiency.
The pastry is beautifully short and buttery.
Those little lemon and elderflower caviar,
they do give you nice little pops of tartness.
But it's just a lot of softness.
I don't like mushy peas.
But, hell, I love a lovage and pea mousse
on a really flaky pastry.
This is one of those dishes that can change minds.
This is the best vegan dish I've ever eaten, and I loved it.
The pastry is incredibly short.
Some really fascinating, fresh, garden-style flavours
coming out here.
The main focus here is mushy peas and mint,
and that's what you get.
You've got 15 minutes. Are you going to be able to be on time?
I think I will, chef, yeah. OK. Good job. All right.
Ritchie's dessert is a BEATEN mess.
Beetroot chutney with shortbread.
The shortbread's folded through the mix.
I love meringue.
This is something that's going to smack us about the face.
I'm just going to fill in the gaps.
I think I'm happy with how this dessert is looking.
It's got a few extra elements just to go on top.
Of course you do. It wouldn't be you otherwise.
Going to be adding raw rhubarb coated in beetroot powder.
But raw rhubarb doesn't exist. LAUGHTER
It is not a thing, right?
Just adding a little bit of earthiness.
There are some things in this world that you need to cook
before you eat them.
Not according to Ritchie.
Happy? I'm as happy as I can be right now, yeah.
I hope they enjoy it. Yeah, me too.
I'm excited.
I'm intrigued.
And I can't wait to see William's face when he eats the raw rhubarb.
Mm, yummy, yummy!
We have got a twist on a British classic, the Eton Mess.
A base of some salted shortbread, beetroot, apple and rhubarb chutney,
and on the top of that, an Italian meringue,
raw rhubarb, and then a hit of lime zest,
and I hope you enjoy. Thank you.
I rather like this.
I thought that the meringue was really delicious.
The beetroot is jammy and reduced.
This is an imaginative, innovative dessert.
Did someone around this table say they were worried
about raw rhubarb?
I've always said that raw rhubarb was a thing.
And it really is.
I think this is devastatingly good.
I love raw rhubarb.
That raw rhubarb totally works.
It adds something interesting and unusual, and the fact
that it's plant-based, and that's a part of who Ritchie is,
and he's expressed it and shared it in the most beautiful way
is an amazing thing.
I'm really enjoying this.
The beetroot with the berries - really nice touch.
Very clever. Fun, too.
It's a very brave, bold chef that comes in and cooks plant-based food.
And it's really good to see Ritchie starting to flourish.
Really, really good.
I'm really pleased for him.
Today I tried to execute, contrary to my usual crazy mad style
of loads on a plate.
I'm obviously hoping the critics are bouncing round the room
about my food.
I've done my best today.
Brilliant day in the kitchen.
Our chefs coming in to cook for the critics,
it's always one of the most stressful times they have here.
Dan for me is my chef of the day.
I agree. I think Dan did a great job.
The lobster starter, oh, delicious.
Even though his main course had the mousse missing,
I didn't feel like I was missing the mousse. Absolutely.
Dan is our first chef through to Knockout Week.
The last time Ritchie cooked, we told him to do less,
"Pull back a little bit - you're trying too hard."
And he did just that,
yet his two courses were full of complexity.
His tart with a take on mushy peas and mint -
overall, a good starter.
And then the dessert - our critics all fell in love
with that beaten mess.
He is a chef that's really getting stronger.
I think he deserves a place in our Knockout Week.
That leaves us with Jordan and Gail.
Gail gave us flavours from Shanghai.
Sadly, the critics weren't sold on Gail's starter.
I wasn't a big fan of the starter.
I loved the idea. I felt that it slightly lacked in flavour,
but the main course, I thoroughly enjoyed.
That beautiful sauce reduced down with light and dark soy sauce -
that was sensational.
For me, the main course was just comfort food at its best.
Jordan gave us the tomato and lobster dish.
I really liked the dashi and the mirin through that sort of
gazpacho-like tea that he made with the tomato.
On the main course, I think the peppercorns should have
been chopped up.
Pigeon - perfectly cooked.
It's one of the nicest pigeons I've eaten for a long time.
We've got two chefs here who are very young in their careers.
Which one is going to be able to take on board what's coming next?
I really wanted to have another chance to prove
I can really be creative and not just cook Chinese food.
I did my all.
See what the results are.
If I'm giving all my effort in that past round just then,
I have to stay in.
You've cooked some fabulous food today, all four of you.
Great stories, great ideas.
Huge amount of passion.
However, only three of you can go through to Knockout Week.
And the chef that is leaving us is...
..Gail.
You're only a young chef in your career.
I can't wait to see what your cooking is going to be like
three, four years from now.
You keep going.
Thank you. Thank you.
Well done, chef. Well done.
It is absolutely a once in a lifetime experience.
I have the reason to believe myself, and I hope after this,
more people would like to try some Shanghainese food.
Chefs, congratulations.
We'll see you in Knockout Week.
Thank you. Well done.
It's a bit surreal. Feels amazing.
You know, to be in Knockout Week is a massive deal.
I can't wait to tell the missus
she's not going to see me for, you know, a little bit longer.
It's amazing.
It's what dreams are made of.
Those tears were little bits of joy and also just a...
..absolute relief.
What a day.
21 tomorrow.
Nice birthday gift.
The celebrations are starting now, mate!
Next time - four new hopefuls...
You've got three minutes left.
Three minutes?!
MONICA GASPS
Definitely not good.
..fight for their place in the quarterfinal.
Bring it all together now.
I think it's OK.
That was absolutely sensational.
That's what signature dishes are about.