It's the MasterChef The Professionals final.
Tonight, George, Chiara or Dan will be crowned champion.
When it comes to achievements, this is well up there.
But you've got to fight for this now.
We've all got the cake in front of us,
we just need to put that little cherry on top.
It feels huge.
There's only three courses between me and the trophy.
I can't just rest on my laurels.
So much hard work is yet to come.
This is beast out of the cage, full guns blazing.
I'm going to give it absolutely everything I've got to be able
to touch that trophy, and I'll probably be crawling
out of that kitchen by the time I've finished.
Are you ready?
This is Judgment Day.
We have some of the finest three chefs we've had in a final ever.
Bring it on.
Let's taste some spectacular food.
We've seen some amazing chefs come through this MasterChef kitchen.
But this year has been absolutely exceptional.
I feel like I've been doing this forever!
I am liking the look of those.
Mm, mm!
That's where it's at, man. Yes!
A lot of sweat and tears and passion
has gone into this for all of our chefs.
Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick!
Three minutes. Want a bit of space!
Definitely not good. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
That doughnut's not right, you're in big, big trouble.
We pray right now.
They've had their ups and downs in the competition.
Oh, no!
But they've all kept that flame alive.
This is outrageously good.
This is a bowl of delight.
This is one of those dishes that can change minds.
That was absolutely sensational.
I want to marry it!
You are our final three chefs.
Congratulations!
Wow, what a journey it's been.
I can't help but smile when I think of our final three chefs.
I think they're really special.
I was born in Burnley, but I grew up in a little village
just outside of Burnley called Barley,
with my sister Lydia, my dad and my mum.
As a baby, he was horrific.
Didn't sleep for the first year, but he was a lovely boy
growing up, he was one of the kids who would just have a go
at anything.
We'd always go out.
My dad would take me fishing, and then me and Lydia would, like,
go clay-pigeon shooting with my dad.
Pull!
What a shot! Get on!
The competition between me and George has always been rife.
No!
Yay!
Aaah!
We both give each other stick.
Miles off!
But we give each other as good as we get.
Hey! All right? I come bearing gifts! Are you all right?
Hi. Yeah, I'm fine. There you go. A bit of baking.
When I was quite young, my mum used to make me bake.
I always cooked from fresh for the kids.
Couldn't get away with palming them off with anything, really.
They'd complain about it.
Do you want me to set the table, George? Yeah, you can do.
Make yourself useful. There you go.
We'd do, like, big hampers together and stuff.
And then after that, I just started really enjoying it.
I started in a local family butcher's.
And then school slowly went on the decline
and cooking became my priority.
What are you doing?!
I'm being supportive!
Me and Samira have been together for just over three years now.
My part of the prep is done now, so I'm just waiting for you.
As always!
I would describe George as like a shining light.
As a chef, he works really, really hard.
Rex! Come on.
And I hope that at the end of this competition,
he realises how good he is as a chef.
From a young age, I've always watched MasterChef.
I was just like, you know what? Give it a go.
And I just didn't think for a million years
I'd be sat here right now at this stage.
George always wanted to be a chef.
I'll give you the best spots. Then you've got a chance.
He knew how to cook pheasant and mushroom risotto
at eight years old.
No idea how he knew that, but he did.
I'll go and fire the barbie up, and it's sausage butties for us!
Yeah. Come on.
I always knew he'd do well, because he is so determined.
You can smell them.
Inside, he's absolutely fighting for this.
Without a doubt.
You know I'm proud of you.
I always knew you'd get this far.
It were written in the stars, it were.
It means a lot.
Here's to MasterChef champion!
Let's do it.
George takes the classics,
he makes them bigger, makes them bolder.
That's what George is all about.
It is absolutely delightful.
This is my kind of dessert.
The filling is gorgeous.
Divine.
He cooks a lot of fish,
because he went fishing with his dad.
Razor clam is spot-on. Very easily could have come out of my kitchen.
Just about the highest praise I can give.
Yeah!
But George is the one chef that's had the most setbacks.
The curd is too liquid.
The chocolate on the top is too liquid, which is a real shame.
The seaweed is so salty, it's actually knocking
the celeriac out in every way.
Hating life right now.
Oh, George!
Not great to be cooking again, to be honest,
this is my third time cooking again.
But George is a chef that when you've got to pick yourself up,
get on with the service, he can do it.
Oopa!
Astronomical is the only word to sum up this trip.
Hot! Depeche-toi!
It's just astonishing.
I could eat this every day.
Bloody lovely! Bloody lovely!
George is at his absolute best when he couples his classic
cookery technique with real passion, real heart.
Often around somebody that he loves.
I think it's a fabulous dish.
Could you tell your girlfriend and her mum thank you from me?
I will indeed.
That's your best dish to date.
I like his spirit. I like his fight.
If George cooks from the heart today, there's every chance
he could walk away with that trophy.
The thought of winning blows my mind,
but it'd definitely mean that all the hard work had paid off,
for sure.
I was born in Bologna, northern Italy.
I grew up with my mum and dad and my sister.
My dad used to take us kite surfing.
I've always loved the sea and being adventurous.
My parents always worked really hard.
They didn't really have too much time to spend in the kitchen.
So on a weeknight, my sister and I would take turns cooking,
and sometimes we'd even take little videos of ourselves.
We made it really fun and it's a really lovely memory.
Ciao, ciao!
My mum's grandma and grandad, we used to always gather
at their house for Christmas and have a massive feast.
Making pasta with my great-grandmother,
that's probably why I like cooking so much.
I left my family behind in Italy when I was 16.
I moved to the UK.
I wanted to learn English.
In my third year at university,
I started making ready meals from my one-bed flat.
And the word kind of spread very quickly.
I was making hundreds of meals a day.
From that came lots of private chef inquiries.
Then I moved down to Devon. So, there was a job going,
and I've not looked back since.
My boyfriend Connor and I run the kitchen.
He's head chef, I'm sous-chef, and we met at work.
Have you seen this one? It's huge, isn't it?
Wow! Wowzers! Look at that! Oh, my God.
Chiara's got this fantastic energy.
When she sets her mind on something, she goes for it.
You know who will love these outer leaves?
The chickens. The chickens.
All right, chickens. I give you cabbage leaves,
you give me eggs, all right?
She's very creative with food.
They love it!
She hasn't been bound to classical cookery.
Still warm!
So she's a free bird in that sense.
Cheers. Cheers.
"Peas" bring home the trophy! Easy peasy!
Chiara has a style of her own.
That has really come to the forefront with absolute gusto.
Fire!
Your flavours are wonderful.
It's inventive, it's creative, and I love it. Well done.
What impresses me most is the courage,
the daring to be different.
My first-ever experience of a skeleton was good!
Daring and dangerous is good, as long as it's delicious.
Pig's blood has brought the chocolate
to a really interesting level.
It's fabulous. It really is.
But sometimes she's pushed that creativity a little too far.
Fruit and fish. Too unusual for me.
I thought it was a bit weird!
But wow, how did she grow!
Nature's paintbrush!
At every single stage and challenge we gave her,
she just got better and better.
The idea for the dish came to me in a dream. Really?
Delicious. Delicious, delicious.
The execution was pretty much flawless.
This is an absolutely sensational piece of cookery.
You smashed that.
It has been one of the best desserts I have had in a very,
very long time. Honestly, I've got goose bumps.
We have a very special, special chef in this kitchen.
The lobster is absolutely beautiful.
She has a natural palate and confidence in what she does.
It's in your gut.
You're born with something quite special.
The fact that I have less experience has always been quite
a big insecurity.
But I'm really glad you're happy with everything else.
Smashed it!
The competition's definitely given me lots of validation
and confidence.
It's taught me so much.
But ultimately, winning would just be the cherry on top.
I was born in Worcestershire.
I grew up with four brothers.
I'm the oldest.
Growing up with five boys, of course, it was chaos.
We were all into wrestling.
So a few broken beds, a few broken bones.
I wouldn't have liked to be my mum!
She was a single parent who didn't work.
We didn't have a lot, but we all loved each other.
Well, you can pot any one you want, as long as it's black!
Oh, mate!
No, no!
Growing up, he loved socialising.
That was a big thing for him.
He was always out with his friends, always on his BMX.
Oh! Yes.
I was a little bit of a naughty boy.
I didn't really go to school that much!
I needed a job, so I did some pot wash work at the local hotel.
I started to pay attention to what the actual
main kitchen were doing.
I fell in love with fine dining.
The one thing that hospitality will give you is you can come
from absolutely nothing.
You can really make yourself something.
You don't need qualifications.
You don't need to be academically clever.
All you need is hard work and love.
Unfortunately, my dad got attacked when I was very young.
Which left him with permanent brain damage.
So, you know, I lost my dad, mentally.
He did pass away when I was 17.
I lost my mum when I was 22.
My grandparents raised me, pretty much.
And then I lost them a couple of years after.
I struggled.
I lost my self-confidence.
I lost all of that.
There's been a lot of death in my life. But I've brought life,
so that's what matters.
BABY CRIES Yeah!
HE CHATTERS
Dan is an amazing dad.
He's 100% hands-on.
Ernie, he is perfect.
We've got our own bubble now in the world, which is great.
He's not had an easy time.
He's had a lot of loss in his life.
This competition has really, really helped bring out
a more confident side of him.
Reignited his passion for cooking.
Got some scran!
I've told Dan I expect him to win.
After all this, he has to win.
Just believe in yourself, breathe. Just do it.
Oh, he's been sick!
Dan came in here very shy.
Not a great deal of confidence.
I've had a bit of a struggle over the past year,
do I want to do this any more?
But from when we first met Dan, he let his cooking do the talking.
I love it, I absolutely love it.
It's skills in many, many different ways.
I'm really, really impressed with you. Well done.
Dan's food is precise. It's technical.
It's incredibly creative.
It is fantastic. It's phenomenal.
This is a piece of art, and I will never maybe experience
this art again.
I am buzzing!
Watching that chef grow in stature, in confidence,
has been a wonderful thing to witness.
I feel like I'm in a good place. And as his confidence has built,
his dishes have just got better and better and better.
Sensational!
Oh! Bring me more!
That chocolate. Oh, my God. That is just total melt in your mouth.
I'm really, really impressed.
It's something I would serve in my restaurant.
I see Dan's cookery as fine dining at its very, very best.
Very nice.
I think it's outstanding.
This guy has brought his game to the table.
Walking out of here with my head held super high.
I'm really proud of myself.
This is a turning point in Dan's career.
I think this has been a turning point in Dan's life, and from here,
I think he just gets bigger and bigger,
and stronger and stronger.
This competition has changed everything for me.
It's made me realise that I am talented,
I am good at what I do.
To get this trophy now,
it's going to be a fairy-tale ending to an incredible journey.
My word, you three.
What a journey you have had in this kitchen.
Whatever happens, I am so proud of what you've done.
What sits in front of you now is your final Cook Off.
You know what's at stake. At the end of this,
one of you is going to be crowned our champion.
Three hours to present three unbelievable courses.
Whatever happens next is down to you.
Chefs, off you go.
Sorry! I didn't think I was going to be nervous today,
but then I walked in, all of a sudden it just went boof!
The fact that there's only these three dishes separating me
from holding that MasterChef trophy is so scary.
Ooh!
I'm going to just go in there, run around,
get some food on a plate, and hopefully it's perfect!
George, if there has ever been a chef that's had nine lives
in a competition, it's you!
It definitely has built me up to not give up and carry on,
and it's made me so much stronger.
The inspiration behind these three dishes,
what is it, my friend?
I really wanted to just show you guys today me on a plate
and what I've learned throughout the competition.
George is kicking off his three courses with a luxurious-sounding
lobster dish.
I love lobster, it's such a premium ingredient,
and you can also utilise every single part of it,
which is what I'm going to try and do today.
I'm doing a glazed lobster tail with lobster claw
dressed with finger limes, caviar,
the spiralised turnip on there as well,
and then finished with a lobster hollandaise.
The hardest lobster in the world!
The lobster tail is going to be marinating in mirin
and ginger, garlic and lemongrass.
I've got a real love for Asian flavours,
so I wanted to just tie that in with this dish which I'm cooking.
We're going to have the claw cut up like a salad,
with spiralised turnip.
Turnip is really peppery.
I'll be interested to see how much of that he actually uses.
We've also got the lobster hollandaise.
He's adding the lobster coral into it so you get maximum
flavour and colour.
Then he's going to finish it with a delicious-sounding
lobster bisque.
Did you get it turning orange? But he's got to make the bisque,
then he's got to wait for it to really cool down
before he puts that anywhere near a hollandaise.
You put anywhere near a hollandaise something hot,
it's going to split.
George's main course,
he wants to celebrate the British countryside where he spent
many happy years foraging, hunting.
He's an outdoors country boy and he wants to bring that
to his plate today.
I'm doing a roasted venison loin.
I'm going to quickly seal it to get some colour and some caramelisation.
Cook, baby, cook!
I've got some venison flank, nasturtium pesto,
and then a venison sauce finished with blackcurrant leaves.
He's marinating the venison flank in an oil of garlic,
parsley and berries.
I'm slicing it thin and flash-frying it and serving it in slivers.
Is it going to be tough?
It's quite a working joint, so I'm curious.
The big surprise here is a nasturtium pesto.
Nasturtium flower, we don't normally see it made into a pesto.
It is like a grind of pepper, so that's big.
I'm going to finish it with some really rich
Yorkshire pecorino cheese.
So it's going to just mellow it out, give you that nice mouthfeel to it.
The finished dish, a good classic venison sauce.
And in there we've got blackcurrant leaf.
We've also got sloe gin.
He's staying true to traditional venison flavours,
but he's adding a little bit of his own touch.
And that I think sometimes is cookery at its best.
The dessert which I cooked at Dede's,
dedicated to his daughter, was such an elegant dish.
I just really wanted to take something from it.
George's dessert, we've got blackcurrant leaf parfait.
I've made it with a blackcurrant leaf oil,
which is why it's super green. It's really cool.
And what flavour do we get from the leaf?
You get almost like a blackcurrant cordial sort of flavour from it,
which I find really interesting.
George's parfait, I want to taste the blackcurrant,
and I want it perfectly set.
It's the main element of the dish.
If I don't get it on now and get it set, I won't have a dessert.
He's got a lemon verbena meringue.
And in the sugar he's infused lemon verbena.
You're going to have that lovely floral flavour.
I'm super happy with these. I've done plenty as well,
so if they break, I'm all good!
Coming through!
To finish, you've got blackcurrant granita
in the style that Ahmet taught me.
I'm going to drop pearls into liquid nitrogen,
so you get these perfect balls when you're eating the dish.
It's very precise, but there have been issues
with George's desserts in the past.
Today, there can be no such thing.
It needs to be absolutely perfect. It's the final.
So anything less than perfect is not good enough.
If you did win it, George, what would you do?
I'd cry!
I said I never would, but I probably will do today,
to be honest, after this!
Chefs, we have one hour gone, two hours left.
Thank you.
It's slightly bittersweet today. It feels a little bit
like the last day at school.
Chiara, you are the least experienced in the competition.
So what is it that you've got, do you think, that's got you here?
I've got freshness. I've got willingness to learn.
And lots of energy. Too much energy!
Tell me, what is the inspiration behind your three courses?
What's the big picture?
The big picture is simply to blend all the memories of Italy
and all my time that I spent there, growing up there by the sea,
with my now Britishness and my time in my garden in beautiful Devon.
Chiara's starter is using the red prawns from Italy, Gambero Rosso,
and she's turning that into a tartare.
I think these prawns are the single most delicious type of prawn
that you can get your hands on, and it's something
that when I spend my summers in southern Italy,
we used to eat straight off the boat, raw.
Prawn tartare,
it's normally on its own with a little bit of citrus.
She's adding quite a few things to this.
We've got a confit quail yolk.
It's going to sit inside the tartare for its richness.
Quail egg is incredibly small, but the yolk is even smaller,
so I hope she's going to be doing a few extra ones
just in case they break.
I'm going to do three more.
I'm compressing golden beetroot in sea buckthorn juice,
which is a forest berry that grows abundantly in Devon,
where I live now.
Sea buckthorn is quite acidic, but it's also very tropical.
So I think it'll marry really, really nicely with the prawn
and the sort of fattiness of the yolk.
And then she's using the prawn heads to make her sauce.
In the sauce you've got yellow tomatoes, cream, yuzu as well.
So lots of flavours running through there.
We're doing OK for timing so far, I think.
As long as everything works out, I should be looking good.
My concern is the delicateness of the tartare.
The red prawn is a very delicate, light, sweet flavour.
You have to be very, very careful with the ingredients
you put around it.
Inspiration behind my main course is I really love pairing
quite luxurious ingredients like monkfish and quite humble,
super sustainable ingredients like seashore vegetables
and kohlrabi, which grows really, really well in my garden.
Chiara's main course is a confit barbecue monkfish.
That's a tough fish to cook well.
Once it's come out of the confit, she's going to brush
black garlic, black lemon and a sourdough miso on there.
It's umami on top of umami.
This is all going to char and go really sweet and barbecuey
and beautiful.
I'm making tagliatelle out of kohlrabi and it's very tasty.
So... Let's not tell my grandma that!
Kohlrabi is a root vegetable.
It's like a great big, mild turnip.
She's cutting it into strips so it looks like pasta.
And then she's folding seaweed butter and a bit of cream
so it will resemble a pasta on the dish.
I'm liking the sound of this.
We've got a samphire sauce as well.
We've got flavours of mussels, lemongrass and saffron.
Lemongrass and mussels, that's almost Asian.
Samphire, really, really salty.
Saffron as well. I tell you what, this is brave in the extreme.
I'm going to be serving that with a tart on the side
full of a monkfish liver and onion pate.
Ooh!
This dish is all going to be about balance and execution.
Chiara's dessert - sheep's yoghurt mousse with the flavours
of bay leaf in there.
Bringing bay leaf, a savoury herb, into the dessert
is what Chiara is all about - doing things differently.
I'm intrigued and only time will tell whether I enjoy it or not!
She's got meringue shards with blackcurrant leaf,
which she's making into a powder and dusting over it.
This is going to get dehydrated and then I'll make some semicircles
and hopefully they'll turn out nice.
We've got blackcurrant coulis.
We've also got a pine nut praline that's got blackcurrant in it
and a blackcurrant sorbet.
That's tasty.
She's got a huge amount of work to do.
She's going to be cooking right to the very last second.
It's going to be about holding your nerve.
I'm trying to not tell myself that this is the biggest cook
of my life, but it definitely is.
It's the final cook in this kitchen, so I'm going to make it count.
Chefs, you have just an hour left.
Thank you. Wait, wait.
Of course I'm feeling the pressure.
It is the final, so all guns blazing.
Today is huge.
But I needed to save a little something in the bag
for the final cook, and I think I have.
And I'm going to give it absolutely everything I've got.
Dan, final Cook Off. How are you feeling right now?
Obviously I'm nervous, a lot's on the line,
but I'm just happy I'm here.
We've seen you start to open up during the competition.
Now you seem a very different, more relaxed Dan.
My food's definitely got a lot more confidence
because I've got along.
I think it's almost the validation part.
The fact of like, actually, you know what, I am good.
I'm all right. You know, I can do this.
Dan's menu is all about the inspiration of what he's learned
about his cooking throughout this competition.
For my starter, I'll be doing a scallop cooked over a barbecue,
something what we learned in Ireland.
Just looking for a nice smoky flavour with the scallop.
I want it nice and tender.
I don't want it cooked all the way through.
He's making a sumac, paprika and a Turkish pepper paste...
..that he's going to brush over his scallop.
I really fell in love with pepper paste when I met
Chef Ahmet in Ireland.
I really wanted to use it in my final dishes.
If he can use those Turkish flavours as lightly and as skilfully
as Chef Ahmet in Ireland did, we're on for a winner.
A little bit of a flash in the oven so that glaze sticks nicely
to the scallop.
You've got a ragu that's got rice running through it, fennel, onion,
and some of that Turkish pepper paste as well.
Finish it off with a little bit of chilli, some roasted garlic
and smoked butter. It's delicious.
I like the sound of this.
And then I'm going to finish it off with one of my favourite sauces
of all time, which is a red Thai curry sauce.
Oh, mate! I can make a good curry sauce.
Great flavours here.
But this is about making sure the scallop's not lost
with the abundance of flavour that's on the dish.
So the main course is an ex-dairy cow which has been aged
for 60-plus days.
I've really got a love for ex-dairy cow.
I used to use it in one place where I worked before
and the flavour from it, I feel like it's a lot more rich
than your average breeding cow.
Really interesting to see that he's using the dairy cow.
Bigger flavour than your normal beef,
but it's got a little bit of chewiness to it.
I've never understood why we use a certain cow for just milk
and not consume it, so I want to use that dairy cow.
He's going to cook it in the water bath
but he's also adding beef fat,
which is just going to deliver more flavour.
And then he's going to finish it on the barbecue.
Yeah, man.
Exactly what I want.
Ooh, ah!
To bring a bit of luxury to his beef dish,
we've got mushrooms and truffle ketchup.
Just a hint of truffle in there?
Just a little bit, Chef, yeah.
HE LAUGHS
Oof! I'm going to need to lie down after this menu.
He's got a beef sauce that he's going to finish with bone marrow,
so more delicious flavour.
That just sounds like chef heaven to me.
And then on the side you'll have a smoked butter and beef fat
hash brown, which will be topped with a dairy cow tartare,
beef fat mayonnaise and then grated truffle on top of that.
Beef fat hash browns,
the beef lover's delight.
Oh, and who doesn't love a hash brown,
especially a beef fat hash brown?
Come on!
Dan's dessert, inspired by time with his grandfather.
When I was younger my grandad had a blackcurrant shrub
in his garden, and I used to pick all these blackcurrants.
I just think it's an incredible flavour, and every time I eat it
it does remind me of my grandad,
so my last hurrah to the big man himself.
He's making a cassis mousse, using blackcurrant and
the creme de cassis alcohol.
It should be so light, the mousse.
The weight of the spoon should be enough to take yourself a portion.
He's got a yuzu curd.
It's got to be beautifully set.
They're looking quite good...
..I think.
I want to taste the citrus flavours of the yuzu through it.
Also on his dessert we've got clotted cream pearls,
which he's dropped into liquid nitrogen.
You look like a villain like this.
I feel like one, Chef. LAUGHTER
You're going to get that lovely ice-cold cream pearls.
When you eat them that burst of rich clotted cream is going to come in.
There is so much work across Dan's three courses,
but that's what you'd expect from Dan.
Everything needs to be absolutely perfect.
Head down, sleeves rolled up and just grafting.
How does it feel you're so close to lifting that trophy?
Yeah, it is very surreal and I don't think it's quite sunk in yet.
I'm just cooking with love.
You know, hopefully it's good enough.
DRAMATIC MUSIC
Whatever you have left to do, Chefs, you need to do it in 30 minutes.
CHEFS:Oui.
I'm getting there. I'm just doing my last finishing-off jobs.
I'm going to wipe down and start plating.
Make every minute count.
Chiara, how are we doing?
We're doing all right. Just quite up against it now.
Right, keep it together, OK?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm very happy.
I mean, look at the inside of that.
How can you not be happy?
George, are we doing OK?
Very happy with this.
It's exactly what I wanted.
Mm. How long have we got left?
We've got just ten minutes. Ten.
It's getting a little bit more tense in here.
Oui. Oui. Yes.
CHIARA:Just a very light touch, a little kiss of smoke.
Lovely day for a barbie.
My monkfish is looking very nice.
I'm very pleased with that.
Dan, happy with the cooking of the beef?
Yeah, the cooking of the beef is lovely.
You look very under control.
It might not be that in my head, but...
LAUGHTER
It looks good. Looks good. Thank you. Thank you.
Chefs, five minutes.
And now the nerves start kicking in and I'm shaking!
Oh, last push!
We are running out of time.
You've got to get it on a plate right now.
Finishing touches, please.
Your time is up.
Well done.
That's it.
It's over.
Chiara, please.
Chiara, I really like the look of these dishes. I really do.
Chiara's final menu starts with an Italian red prawn tartare,
confit quail egg yolks and trout roe,
served with golden beetroot compressed in sea buckthorn juice,
Amalfi lemon emulsion
and a prawn head, yellow tomato and yuzu sauce.
The prawn tartare is beautifully seasoned.
I love the richness of the little yolk just covering
the tartare here.
The trout roe brings wonderful texture as you're eating this.
It all works really well.
The little golden beetroots with the little touch of acidity
running through the Amalfi lemon and the sea buckthorn,
the floral essence of it,
very, very delicate,
very well balanced.
I thought that the prawn sauce would be bigger than the dish itself,
and it isn't.
It sits just perfectly well.
It's nice, it's sweet, and it just has a lovely
flavour of the prawn.
It's the sort of thing I'd eat in a restaurant, and I think I'd want
another one because it's just so delicious.
I love raw prawn, and then to add other flavours in as well,
big flavours, like Amalfi lemon, beetroot, earthy and sweet,
that's a very brave thing to do.
I think that's a wonderful, wonderful light dish.
A brilliant way to start a meal.
For her main course, Chiara has served barbecue monkfish
brushed with black garlic and sourdough miso,
served with kohlrabi pasta in a creamy seaweed butter,
topped with lemon zest and black garlic,
and a smoked mussel, samphire and lemongrass sauce,
alongside a monkfish liver and onion pate tart
topped with sea purslane and a black
garlic and black lemon ketchup.
The monkfish cooking is so tender, so soft.
I like the slight bitterness from the barbecue
that you've seared it on,
and of course the black garlic that's had a little bit
of sweetness in it.
The creamy samphire sauce is finishing with lemongrass,
making it almost an Asian dish,
and it's really lovely.
Kohlrabi pasta.
If you said to me that was pasta, I think I'd believe you.
It looks amazing.
It tastes delicious.
I love the texture of it.
Very clever.
The little tartlet on the side with the monkfish liver,
brilliant. It's so smooth, but yet so much flavour.
A little bit of herb on there, plus black garlic.
My only one minute criticism is the darkness of the tartlet.
It's a little hint of bitterness on my palate.
But that is it.
Apart from that, that's very, very good.
For dessert, Chiara has made a bay leaf and sheep's yoghurt mousse
filled with a bay leaf and blackcurrant coulis,
topped with blackcurrant leaf French meringue shards,
macerated blackcurrants and blackcurrant and pine nut praline,
served with a blackcurrant sorbet.
The sheep's yoghurt mousse is tasty, but I was so looking forward to
bay leaf and I'm just not tasting it.
But, having said that, the flavours that are coming through
in this dessert is so fantastic.
The blackcurrants and the meringue on top are fabulous.
Exquisite. Beautiful.
I'm really enjoying the blackcurrant sorbet.
It isn't overly sweet.
There's a little bit of sharpness in it, which makes it
my kind of dessert.
The sheep's yoghurt mousse is so refreshing, so light.
But the bay is just lost on the plate.
I want to taste more of it.
The pine nuts really surprised me.
When I bite down on it, nuttiness, yes, of course,
but it's almost a floral note
and I've never considered it in a dessert.
It really, really works for me.
Chiara, your food is all about who you are.
A free spirit who cooks from the heart.
Don't ever let someone set boundaries in your cooking,
because the way you cook is actually very special.
You've had a cracking competition.
Thank you.
It seems so surreal to have started from that skills test to now be
sat here with you eating and enjoying my food.
I'll just take it with me forever,
so you'll forever be part of my story
and I really appreciate your time and energy and care.
Thank you.
I'm so, so pleased the judges got what I'm doing with my food,
with my cooking, with my ethos.
And the fact that they get that is such a pleasure to hear.
That was amazing.
It's really... Well done.
Well done. Well done. Thank you.
George, please do come and join us.
I think your dishes are absolutely beautiful.
Thank you.
For his starter,
George has served lobster tails in ginger, mirin and lemongrass glaze
topped with caviar, served with diced lobster claw,
pickled turnip ribbons, lime fingers,
whipped buttermilk in lemon juice and zest,
and a lobster bisque and coral butter hollandaise
finished with lobster oil.
The lobster tail on the side here, with the salty caviar, of course,
has got a little bit of mirin in it, a bit of sharpness,
but it's also got ginger in it -
it tastes like an Asian-style lobster.
It's delightful, it's rich, it's exquisite.
The claw salad there, it's got a little sharpness
running through it.
I love the touch of the finger limes inside this.
And of course you've got the turnip almost lightly fermented.
It's so delicate, yet full of flavour.
Really well done.
The coral that you infused into the clarified butter
to make the hollandaise,
I've never seen that before. Very, very clever.
Then to make a bisque, to add it into your hollandaise,
just to take it up another notch, is absolutely fabulous.
That's a cracking dish.
It's started rather well, Chef.
Yeah!
George's main is roasted venison loin
served with pan-seared venison flank,
nasturtium leaf, Yorkshire pecorino cheese and pumpkin seed pesto,
red and yellow beetroots cooked in white wine vinegar,
garlic and thyme, pickled candied beetroots
and a venison, sloe gin and blackcurrant leaf sauce.
Beautifully cooked piece of venison, which has really held its flavour.
And the little flank on the side there, I thought that was going
to be tough and it's not, because it's nice and thin.
Love the sloe gin in the sauce.
The sauce is massive.
It's hitting really huge notes, which I think is very clever.
Very clever.
Nasturtium pesto, I think, is a stroke of genius.
You've used pecorino in there, the sheep's cheese -
gives it saltiness, gives it a tang.
Mate, I'm eating out today with your dishes.
The venison, you can clearly see that it's been cooked to perfection.
And your sauce is fantastic. Look how shiny it is.
There's a little bit of bitterness from the use of the blackcurrant
leaf in there, and I like how that's working with the peppery notes
of your nasturtium.
Two great plates so far for you, George.
For dessert, George has made a blackcurrant leaf parfait topped
with lemon and lime verbena gel, lemon verbena meringue sticks,
fresh verbena, wood sorrel,
and frozen blackcurrant granita pearls.
Oh, my word.
I think that looks fantastic.
I really do.
The flavour of the parfait has a bit of bitterness
from using the leaf there,
also herb-like, almost savoury-like.
And then the hit of the blackcurrant pearls is just so sharp.
Eating it together, it's an absolute joy.
Your parfait, it's really bitter.
But because you've got those blackcurrant balls
it numbs your tongue, and then when they dissolve
it's a proper big, sweet, sharp hit of blackcurrant.
I think the use of the blackcurrant leaf in the parfait is fabulous.
You've got the lemon verbena gel around the outside that brings
the sweet citrus flavour.
Texturally, I think it's fantastic because you've got the crunch
of the meringue, but I'm just loving the explosion of the blackcurrant
on this dish. Wow.
Talk about save the best till last.
My goodness me.
George, when things go wrong you come back with this look in your eye
that you're ready to fight to stay, and then come back even stronger.
And that's a wonderful attitude to have,
not just with your cooking - in life in general.
Three outstanding, delicious, well-thought-out plates of food
at the very, very highest level.
Congratulations. Well done, George.
I really just want to thank every single one of you for every second
of your time, every ounce of feedback you've given me,
good or bad.
It's honestly developed me more than what a year in a kitchen
has done, doing this competition, and it really has been
an absolute pleasure.
I'll never forget this experience at all for the rest of my life.
Thank you all.
Hey.
You've done it.
Speechless after that.
Them comments were...
They've just blown my mind.
Well done, pal.
Really well done. Fully deserved.
Never in a million years did I think I'd get to the final,
let alone put up three faultless dishes.
I'm so proud of myself for that.
Dan, if you would, please.
They look great.
Very, very clean, as always, and precise.
For his starter, Dan has served barbecued scallops glazed in
a sumac, chilli, paprika and Turkish red pepper paste,
served with pickled cucumber
filled with roasted garlic and lime yoghurt,
a tomato, red pepper and fennel ragout,
gooseberries, finger limes
and a red curry sauce spiced with cumin and lemongrass
split with a parsley oil.
I love the look of this. Absolutely fantastic.
Beautiful scallop, lightly seared on the barbecue.
For me, the cooking is spot-on.
Around the scallop, you've brushed it with sumac.
You've got paprika in there.
There's chilli and it's delightful.
And I like the little gooseberries here because it's a bit of citrus
that would work really well with the scallop.
Really quirky and fun.
Beautifully done.
That Turkish pepper that you learnt from Ahmet in Ireland is wonderful.
Little bit of heat, little bit of smokiness,
little bit of sweetness.
It's on the scallop, it's in the ragout.
Love the cucumber - a little bit of sweetness to go with the sourness
of the yoghurt there.
A dish of real contrast and real sophistication.
Well done, you.
The ragout, you've cooked it so well with the spices.
It's just made it really, really delicious.
I can imagine that being wrapped around some pasta
as an alternative idea.
Love the curry sauce, lemongrass flavours in there, and of course
a little bit of parsley oil.
You've taken away the best bits of Ahmet's kitchen
and you've put them into your dish.
I think it's a very brave thing to do, but it's certainly paid off.
Thank you.
Good start, Dan.
One down, two to go.
Yes!
Dan's main is ex-dairy beef cooked in beef fat and smoked butter,
served with maitake mushrooms glazed in black garlic,
pickled shimeji mushrooms, pickled shallots,
caramelised grelot onion, truffle and mushroom ketchup,
and a beef and bone marrow sauce alongside a beef hash brown,
topped with dairy cow tartare, beef fat mayonnaise, grated truffle
and a dashi and mushroom powder.
Beautiful beef.
You've charred it - there's a bit of smokiness in it.
The sauce, you've used the beef fat so it is just thick with flavour
of beef, and so rich.
Through that richness it's cut with the pickling of your mushroom.
It's just wonderful.
I have fallen in love with your truffle ketchup.
It starts sweet and then it holds the truffle flavour
for quite a while.
I think this is a new ketchup I'll be dipping my chips
into for many years to come.
Dairy cow, I love the flavour of it.
Hash brown on the side, fantastic.
Absolutely fantastic.
Crunchy. Lovely raw beef.
Love the beef fat mayonnaise.
Everything about this dish is what good cookery is about.
Another good dish.
Thank you.
Finally, for dessert Dan has made a blackcurrant cassis mousse
topped with yuzu curd, wood sorrel,
a honey tuile dusted with blackcurrant and sherbet powder,
and grated macadamias, finished with frozen clotted cream pearls.
Oh, that looks so fun,
especially when you put the frozen clotted cream on top.
Your cassis blackcurrant mousse, really sharp.
The yuzu curd on the top,
very, very sharp again.
But when you put your little pearls of the clotted cream in there,
it really dilutes the sharpness.
It brings in all the creaminess, and it really, really works.
Clever, clever, clever, Dan.
The cassis mousse underneath, the rich, dense flavour of it
is fabulous. But the bit that makes this really interesting from
a textural flavour point of view is the clotted cream
that you've dropped into liquid nitrogen.
It delivers a real point of neutral deliciousness and richness to it
because who doesn't love clotted cream?
Dan, I just can't help but smile
because that's just what your food does.
Thank you.
Really enjoying this.
You have been one of the most humble chefs I've seen walk in here.
Very reserved, quite unsure where he stood,
maybe not just in the kitchen but in the world.
Yeah. Yeah.
I almost feel like this has been a bit of a haven for you
to rediscover your love for your craft and for yourself.
Whatever life goes to throw at you,
maybe think back to this moment and the highs
that you've had and you've given us.
Really, take my word for it.
We see something great in you.
I can't say enough to you three.
You just sparked something back in me
what I felt when I was 17, when I first-ever walked
into a fine-dining restaurant.
I've really fell back in love with food.
It's life-changing. It really is.
This whole competition is life-changing.
Thank you.
Come here.
Ha-ha! You did it.
I'm feeling elated.
Oh, mate. I'm so proud of you.
They touched my heart. They really did.
It's fantastic.
Oh!
Oh.
Well, that were a final, weren't it?
Ooh!
Oh, my God.
What a lovely final. And I mean that.
Wonderful.
Proper, proper event, as it should be.
When you think you've seen it all from these chefs,
they just come back with more.
Brilliant.
Hardly a mistake.
Hardly a foot set wrong in this kitchen.
I'm proud of all three of them.
Proud of all three of them.
Chiara today was true to form.
I mean, a mixture of ingredients that shouldn't work that do work.
From the starter to the dessert,
there was always a little twist.
You're almost now looking for it, you expect it.
She's in her own world, she's doing her own thing
and forever delivering the lovely surprise in her food,
which has been so delicious.
I think today we saw the real George.
Proper quality young chef.
Today was cookery of the finest ingredients executed beautifully.
Honestly, what a time to pull it out of the bag, when it really counts.
You look at the beauty of Dan's dishes.
What's behind that is an incredible amount of technical knowledge
and an absolutely perfect touch.
Layer upon layer of flavour,
layer upon layer of skill.
Exceptional cookery.
When he steps into this kitchen,
my goodness, he's got so many tricks up his sleeve!
I don't think Dan realises how good he is.
We've all proper done ourselves proud.
And no matter who wins, I think we're all going to celebrate
that win as for each other.
I love you both. Bring it in!
Come here.
Aw! I'm going to miss you both.
I'm going to miss you guys.
MUSIC: All The Little Lights by Passenger
# We're born with millions
# Of little lights shining in the dark
# And they show us the way
# One lights up every time you feel love in your heart
# One dies when it moves away... #
That was an incredible final Cook Off.
The level that you cooked at today
was nothing short of exceptional.
For me, I think the best final I've been in.
But as you know, there was only ever going to be one champion.
# We're born with millions
# Of little lights shining in our hearts
# And they die along the way
# Till we're old and we're cold
# And lying in the dark
# They'll all burn out one day
# Yeah. #
The professional MasterChef champion 2024 is...
..Dan.
MUSIC: Somewhere Only We Know by Keane
The most deserved champion ever.
# This could be the end of everything... #
Oh!
George and Chiara, wow.
Please, please do not walk out of this kitchen and feel
that you've failed, because you haven't.
I love you, bro.
Thank you so much.
I'm so unbelievably proud of myself.
I wanted to give myself a challenge,
so I jumped on this MasterChef thing.
And I'll just cherish it forever.
No bad feelings whatsoever.
I've met some incredible people and cooked some incredible food.
Dan is such an incredible chef, a friend for life,
and I honestly couldn't wish this for anyone other than that man.
Oh...
This, I believe, is yours. Congratulations.
Thank you so much, honestly.
I think you need that.
Chef, thank you so much.
You did it.
Aw. So well deserved. Thank you so much, Chef.
To walk away as MasterChef champion, it means the world to me.
There's not been that many times where
I've been proud of myself in my life.
But I've hit the pinnacle, ain't I?
Dan's food has been blowing us away,
not just in this final but for round after round.
Dish after dish of absolute beauty.
The kind of cooking he's doing,
it takes years to get this right.
We have a star.
The guy is shining.
I tell you what, guys,
I can't wait to see what this chef is going to do in the future.
This whole competition has completely changed my life.
I'm always going to remember this, no matter what happens.
No matter where life takes me.
I'm forever grateful, man.
I can't wait to get back to the missus and to the baby, and just...
..just have a Chinese, and just enjoy myself.
We'll see what's round the corner, I suppose!
# Somewhere only we know... #
MUSIC: Dream On by Amy Macdonald
# Live on and dream on
# I'm on top of the world and I'm on the right track
# I'm on top of the world and I won't look back
# Live on and dream on
# I'm on top of the world and I'm on the right track
# I'm on top of the world and I won't look back
# I was living for the weekend
# The drinks are on me... #