Original subtitles

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, the last four hopefuls compete to impress

MasterChefjudge Gregg Wallace,

acclaimed chef and restaurateur Anna Haugh

and Michelin-starred Marcus Wareing.

Cooking for the judges, honestly, I cannot wait.

It's a huge opportunity.

I'm ready.

I'm very competitive.

Definitely, my aim is to get to the end.

Really nervous because I don't know what's going to happen.

We want dedication, the desire to impress,

but above all, we want delicious food.

The risks are high, but the opportunity is enormous.

Well, we've seen a lot of chefs come through here

and this is our final four.

First of all, of course, they've got to face a skills test.

What are they going to have to do, please?

I would like our chefs to prepare a pigeon,

cook it on the crown,

serve that with a Madeira sauce and baby leeks.

Ooh, I love a pigeon.

It's not quite gamey, but it's almost there. It's lovely.

If the chefs have handled poultry before,

they might feel like they know their way around a pigeon,

but when it comes to cooking it, it's not the same.

20 minutes. Marcus, over to you, chef. All right.

So, the first thing, you've got the pigeon to butcher down.

Remove the claws.

Just take off the wing lets...

...the neck bone. Cut that off.

Aah...

just cut off the carcass.

That's our pigeon breast which has been broken down.

And that's that, ready to go.

Just want to get that into this little pan.

It's like a pot, rather than just a big, shallow frying pan.

Get as much colourisation on there as possible.

Get all your ingredients in there, your garlic and your thyme.

Cooking on the crown - why?

It just really helps the meat itself.

You get maximum flavour out of the carcass.

Ancl you protect the under-part of the flesh from overcooking.

Mmm. I want to pop it into the oven.

How long in the oven?

I'd say maybe ten minutes,

because you want to leave time to be able to rest it.

I've got the legs here, and the wings, I'm going use to make my sauce,

and I've also got the liver and the heart.

You look very happy, Anna. They've got loads of flavour,

and I think it's a real shame when chefs forget to use them.

In here, we've got shallots, we've got some garlic, thyme, rosemary.

These chefs are going to really have to think about how they approach the sauce.

By simply chopping those bones up, caramelising them off,

they are on the right road to impressing us.

Flavour it with some brandy.

GREGG CH UCKLES

Burn off all the alcohol.

Do you know what? There was a moment during these skills tests

when I was worried we wouldn't get some sort of flambe.

Now bring it right down so we get that lovely sweetness out of it.

Of course, now for your Madeira, because this is a Madeira sauce.

Just works a treat with pigeon.

If Marcus had put the two alcohols in at the same time,

you get a different flavour.

He's layering the sauce flavour.

Ancl then just a little bit of this stock...

I love making sauces.

Such an art, and you don't see a lot of chefs doing it much these clays.

You know you've reduced it because it's become jam-like.

That's the concentration of all the ingredients that you put together into this pan.

My liver and heart here.

So the offal of the pigeon has only been in there for a couple of minutes. Yeah.

Doesn't need long.

Pass the sauce...

For me, I like to draw on memories, memories of great sauces.

Your gran's gravy or your mum's gravy,

it was always a flavour that you always remember.

Sauce is good to go.

I'm just going to leave that just to rest.

You don't want to rush these leeks,

you just want to let them take up that lovely charred flavour.

Now we can take our pigeon breasts off the crown.

Cut through the wishbone...

And gloriously pink. You see the pink all the way through -

that's a sign of even cookery.

So we're good to plate.

Look at that beautiful thing.

Ancl there we have it - pigeon cooked on the crown,

Madeira sauce, baby leeks.

I think that there's plenty of elements that can go wrong.

I'll be interested to see how the chefs handle that bird.

Anna, you're going to leave us for a few moments,

back for the tasting, right?

I'm really hoping they're going to show us some skills.

This is classic cookery.

Let's get 'em in. Let's see what they know.

Taking on Marcus's skills test first is sous chef Ollie.

After working in some of the UK's best kitchens,

he's now taken his fine-dining experience back home

to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Lancashire.

I've lived and worked away for the last, sort of, ten years,

so coming back to my family means a lot.

I've moved from Michelin star restaurant to Michelin star restaurant,

one, two and three-star, so quite a variety.

I've always wanted to be a chef,

from a really young age, watching TV.

You see the buzz of a professional kitchen,

it got hold of me.

I've never actually done a competition before,

but I've been cooking at a high level for a long time now.

There's no point entering to come second. If you're not first, you're last, aren't you?

Right, Ollie, I'd like you to prepare the pigeon,

cook it on the crown, serve it with a Madeira sauce and a leek garnish.

Cooked a bit of pigeon before? Yeah. Plenty.

20 minutes, over to you.

Ollie looks like he means business.

He's doing a good job there.

So I'm just going to get the pigeon on early,

just to make sure it's cooked in time to rest.

I'm going to sear it off in a frying pan,

get a nice bit of colour on it and then get it in the oven.

He's got his pigeon in the pan nice and early.

That's a lovely caramelisation.

You've got 15 minutes to go.

Perfect. I'll work on the sauce.

How are you going to get this sauce full of flavour?

So I've got shallots and garlic sweating off here.

I'm going to get Madeira in,

reduce it down and then add some stock.

If we had more time, I'd probably roast the bones off and get them in, as well.

Do you not think you had enough time to roast some of those bones off, there?

Those little pigeon bones? Yeah, perhaps. For flavour?

How long have I got left? 11 minutes, Ollie. 11 minutes left.

Come on, Ollie...

...push yourself.

That's it, give it a little squeeze...

Ollie, have you travel led much with your cookery?

Yeah, actually, I was lucky enough last year,

I went to Mexico with Formula One. Wow.

To be honest, it's not quite as glamorous as it sounds.

Cooking in a tent for two weeks and watching it on the telly,

you might as well be at home.

Splash of stock, and hopefully the roasted bones...

Got a little bit of colour.

You need to get those bones into the stock now.

Ollie, you've got four-and-a-half minutes left. Yeah, absolutely.

What are you going to do with the leeks?

I'm probably going to char them off. Good. Let's get that on then.

You're going to have to speed up now.

HOW'S your pigeon?

It's probably slightly under. Right.

So more cooking for those breasts, yeah?

Yeah.

Right, you've got a minute left. Let's get some food on the plate.

Time's up. You all clone?

Er, yeah.

SH E EXHALES

Your pigeon preparation was good.

I'm really pleased that you eventually got the legs into the sauce,

because you have got time in 20 minutes. The sauce is very nice,

you've got a lovely shine to it,

but could have clone with just a bit more body in there.

It needed brandy and it needed more Madeira.

Really pleased that you took the pigeon off the bone

and noticed it wasn't quite cooked enough.

For some people it may be under, but for me, that's perfect.

Well clone. Thank you.

Really impressed with the speed you worked

and the way you browned the bird, got it in the oven.

I'm more than happy with how that's cooked.

Ollie, it was a joy to watch you prep your pigeon.

The leeks look beautiful, they're soft and slightly charred.

You've handed up a delicious, lovely plate of food,

but if you'd caramelised those bones off and got them into the stock

and added a bit of time, this could have been amazing.

That's a pretty good start. Very much looking forward to seeing your own dishes in the next round.

Thank you, chef. Off you go. Thank you.

I thought that was a good start.

I mean, I've got to be happy with what they said.

It's pretty nerve-wracking walking in there,

but as soon as I saw a pigeon on the side, I was actually quite relieved.

I've prepped plenty of pigeon before.

Yeah. Bit of a confidence boost when I saw that.

Pigeon, round two.

Next in the MasterChef kitchen is Matthew.

He spent ten years working in restaurants

before becoming a private chef for a fleet of super yachts.

We travel around the world to make exquisite food

every single day.

If somebody wants poached eggs,

you'd put three poached eggs in, use the best two - that kind of level.

Whatever they want, the answer "no" does not exist.

One day, we could be making a cheese to as tie,

but then the next day we're using the finest Japanese Wagyu meat that the world's got to offer.

I love the pressure, the heat... The busier it is, the better.

Cooked a bit of pigeon before?

Yep. Prepped it before? I have, indeed.

I'm sure you've made a sauce. Yep. Yes! 20 minutes, then. Over to you.

A big knife like that, you're going to really struggle...

...to remove the wishbone and the neck.

What position do you hold at the moment, Matthew?

So, I'm currently head chef in the super-yacht industry.

You've probably cooked with the best of everything, I'm sure.

It's phenomenal. Do you ever cook them a shepherd's pie or anything like that? Yes, absolutely.

Do you? A fish finger sandwich.

He likes them. If you're going to make a fish finger sandwich,

just make it the best fish finger sandwich you've ever made.

I'm going to save all that and I'm going to use that to make the sauce at the end.

I hope he doesn't forget to clear out the neck.

I'm going to lightly brown the pigeon.

OK, so what I'm going to do now is saute off all the trimmings.

Good.

When you're caramelising food,

a cold pan makes me really disappointed.

Right, Matthew, you've got seven minutes.

OK, thank you. You need to get a bit of a move on, I think. OK.

Turn up the heat.

Matthew, would you feel more comfortable if we rocked the kitchen from side to side?

I'm holding on for dear life...

...like I would on a boat, anyway.

All right.

Just going to cover it with tin foil for a little bit.

Tin foil, it will actually stop the heat getting into the bird

in such a short period of time.

Perfect.

Can you take me through the processes you're using to make your sauce, please?

I've sauteed off lightly all the trimmings from the pigeon.

I'm going to add some shallots.

I'm going to use a little bit of brandy...

But also remember I asked for Madeira sauce.

OK.

Time to get that brandy in there.

You're running out of time, Matthew.

You've got a couple of minutes left, you've got to get the pigeon breasts off the bone,

you've got to get those leeks cooked and you've got to finish your sauce. OK. Matthew, hurry up.

Yep.

What are you doing there? What have you got in there?

So I'm just going to saute this liver off.

He's got to get that off the bone.

Right, come on. Nearly there.

I'm going to just cook it for one more minute, let it rest,

then going to carve it straight off the bone...

You're going to have to be quick. OK.

Right, going to let that rest. That's got to get prepped now.

OK, perfect. Right now.

Come on, get it on the plate.

It's lovely.

Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick...

Sauce, sauce, sauce. Let's go.

We're going to call time.

Are you clone?

Just a little leaf...

There's liver there which is raw.

That's not good, is it?

Ooh...

You missed a bit of the butchery.

This is undigested food from the gullet, from the neck. Yeah.

The pigeon's undercooked, I think I'd struggle to eat that.

You started off really well.

You decided to throw all the trimmings into the sauce.

You got your Madeira in, you flamed it, you did so many things right.

Yep. I tell you what, I'm not going to taste this sauce,

cos there's a bit too much blood in there for me,

so I'm going to have a little look in here... Looks good.

That's not half bad.

The way you prepped that bird and the way you went about making your sauce

makes me believe that, actually, you do know what you're doing.

Argh! I'm a little bit frustrated.

You must be angry with yourself right now.

This is not an ideal plate of food,

but through your mistakes, I can still see that you have some skills.

Thank you very much.

You've got a great opportunity to turn things around in the next round.

Matthew, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Whew!

There was just little errors in there

I should have picked up myself,

but you don't because you're rushing.

In the next round, I just need to make sure it's perfect.

This is the last skills test of the whole competition.

Our last two chefs of the competition.

What are you going to get them to do, chef?

I'm going to ask the chefs to make me a filo pastry Mille-feuille

which is layered with tropical fruit and served with piped coconut cream.

You've got all the great ingredients there for a great dish,

but I do like a Mille-feuille.

What a way to finish.

So, this is not a traditional Mille-feuille.

Mille-feuille is normally puff pastry. Very good.

I would assume the chefs have used filo pastry before.

This is a completely plant-based dish.

Yeah.

If they don't work with filo pastry fast enough,

it will dry out, it will crack and you won't get an even, elegant-looking Mille-feuille.

Typically, we would use clarified butter,

but I'm going to use coconut oil.

I'm going to be quite generous as I put it on.

I'm dusting this generously with icing sugar,

but only half of it, so then I fold over the top...

...and the reason is, is that I want to be able to get maximum amount of sugar

to increase the snap in the pastry.

It's a simple technique,

but it's quite important if you want to execute this well.

Desiccated coconut on top.

Last but not least, another generous dressing of icing sugar on top.

Ancl this will sweeten our pastry...

...and it will give a lovely snap.

These are tonka beans,

and they are often used as a replacement to vanilla.

I love tonka bean. I think it's a lovely flavour.

Coconut tonka bean - great.

Right - time to cut the filo.

Completely uniform, very symmetrical.

They have to be, because they have to go one on top of the other. That's it.

Filo, of course, very, very thin.

Few minutes to cook and that's it, right? That's it.

Next, we're going to move on to our fruit.

So we're going to go with two layers,

and what I would expect, both layers have their own personality.

Your fruit cutting is all relative to the shape of the Mille-feuille, isn't it? Absolutely.

It looks simple, but how do you make them look good

without just chopping them up and mixing them all together? Yeah.

When it comes to fruit, maceration is the addition of sugar and acid.

Ancl I'm adding in my passion fruit seeds...

...which will be quite acidic,

and what I want to do is create the flavour of the passion fruit and the pineapple first...

...and now, I'm going to add my mint.

So I'm going to have pineapple and passion fruit on the bottom layer

and then mango on the top layer.

Ancl then we're going to go with our kaffir limes.

Quite acidic. Lime traditionally goes really well with mango.

So my fruits are macerating,

so my filo pastry is clone now.

I'm just going to leave that on the side,

so they can slowly take on the residual heat

and become lovely and crispy by the time I'm about to use it.

We'll move on to my coconut cream.

You need the thickness so that sits on top of the fruit

and doesn't just run off. Absolutely.

I'm really interested to know how you turn that into a cream that you can pipe.

So I'm going to add my icing sugar and then a little bit of tonka bean.

Give it a good whisk...

So you're dealing with that coconut cream the same way as you would double cream?

That's right, yeah.

So, now, we're pretty much ready to start dressing.

Tell you what - mango, pineapple, lime, passion fruit and coconut...

...we've got an edible pina colada going on here.

That's exactly what we've got, Gregg.

A delicate touch goes a long way.

A little bit of fresh mint on top...

Brilliant!

So there you have it - filo pastry Mille-feuille

with layered tropical fruit and a piped coconut cream.

PASTRY CRACKS AND CRUNCH ES

SHE INHALES

It's a fantastic skills test.

If they get anything close to this, we have got some stars in the kitchen.

Brilliant. We'll see you back for the tasting.

Shall we get 'em in?

First to tackle Anna's skills test...

Right, who have we got here?

...is senior chef de partie Charlie, originally from Dorset.

At 23, he's already worked in two of the capital's best restaurants.

I moved up to London when I was 18.

It was a big step.

Missing family, working in a big restaurant

but now, without being biased,

I think I'm doing all right.

I work in a French restaurant using British ingredients

plated in a modern, natural way.

I applied to MasterChef two or three years ago,

but I stopped the application because I wasn't ready.

But each restaurant I've been in, I've had strong chefs.

I've been trained to handle the pressure.

Hi, Charlie. Today, I would like you to make a filo pastry Mille-feuille

with layered tropical fruit and piped coconut cream.

Cool. Yeah. You've 20 minutes - off you go.

Thank you.

He's very quickly cut the filo pastry.

It's almost like little batons.

Charlie, have you ever worked on pastry before?

Not much, to be honest.

He's taking coconut oil and he's spreading it on.

Ancl now he's sprinkling it with icing sugar.

That'll work.

Pastry's in.

What's your plan now?

Now I'm going to make my cream which is going to go inside.

I've put a bit of the icing sugar, bit of the coconut,

and I'm going to grate some of this... I'm not sure exactly what it is,

but it smells very fragrant.

It's a tonka bean, Charlie.

Is it? I've never used tonka bean, so...

He needs to whip this cream up a little bit more.

It's a bit wet.

You've had five minutes,

so you've got 15 minutes left.

So, what's the plan for this dessert?

So I have my cream ready, my pastry's in the oven,

and after I'm going to build with the fruit, with a bit of zest of the lime,

and the cream within the Mille-feuille, as well.

So he's seasoning the pineapple with the passion fruit seeds.

Mint going in...

To be fair, he's using a little bit of everything.

Which is good.

What position do you hold in the kitchen at the moment?

I'm a senior chef de partie.

Right. I've done all the sections. But not pastry? Yeah, exactly.

Unfortunately.

So how long have you been cheffing? For about ten years now, I think.

Since you were 13? Yeah, yeah. Nine, ten years, yeah.

So I started as a pot washer, and from there they started saying,

"Do you want to start doing the canapes?"

Little things on a Saturday,

and then from there I did an apprenticeship and...

...and now, yeah, I'm a chef. Good for you.

OK, here's the filo.

Might be a bit soggy.

How long do I have left?

You're halfway there.

Maybe I can do something else.

What are you doing with the pineapple, there?

I just want to bring a bit more of a caramelisation, sweet part of the dish. It's not very sweet yet, so...

I'm not sure where this will sit on the plate, though,

because that's not going to fit in between the layers of pastry.

The problem is going to have now,

he's going to pull heavy, wet fruit on top of a cream

that's not very well whipped.

You have six minutes left.

I think you're almost near finished.

I am, yeah. I thought I was going to be running like a legless chicken, but I'm not.

I think you mean headless.

Maybe that... Is that the phrase?

Where's that fried pineapple going to go?

Are you done? I am, indeed.

Mate, you've got five minutes to spare.

Let's see if it tastes OK. Yeah.

Your Mille-feuille looked grand,

but the top layer is crunchy and the rest of it is quite soggy.

If you had layered up your filo with sugar,

it would have had a lovely...snap

and not just absorb all the moisture.

You've delicious pineapple, delicious mango,

delicious passion fruit and lovely limes there,

so of course those flavours together should taste quite nice,

but you just kind of diced it up and kind of threw them all into a bowl.

You didn't show any finesse.

I don't think I've ever had soggy filo pastry before.

Too much oil on the tray. You needed to dry it out.

The cream's not whipped, there's no body to it whatsoever.

You had a Mille-feuille, but there are errors here, Charlie.

Pastry's not your thing,

and I bet when you leave here, you'll think up 1,000 ways of doing that better.

Thank you very much indeed. We'll see you in the next round.

I was dreading pastry.

It isn't my strongest point and I think that's shown.

I can definitely do better.

Our last skills test.

Finally, it's Swedish sous chef Theres...

...who's now working in London cooking Scandinavian fine-dining cuisine.

I grew up on a farm, so I saw my mum cooking everything.

When we come home from school,

we always have home-made cooked food.

We was going out and picking vegetables in the garden

and everything was fresh.

The restaurant I work in is a fine-dining restaurant.

We're cooking everything on the fire.

Kitchen between Sweden and UK is so different.

Couple of ingredients I never seen in Sweden.

For me, it's going to be important to show the Swedish cuisine...

...bring over the Swedish taste.

Hi, Theres. I would like you to make a filo Mille-feuille

which is layered with tropical fruit and piped coconut cream.

OK. Have you worked on pastry before?

A little bit. You've 20 minutes,

off you go.

Er...

Er... I have to think a little bit here.

Urn... Make a plan.

Yeah.

I don't really exactly know what I'm going to do.

I don't really remember exactly what this is.

Have you ever had a Mille-feuille before?

Er, I don't know. I'm not the pastry person,

SO...I'IO.

Normally, with a Mille-feuille, it's puff pastry,

it's normally oblong, two or three layers,

and it's got the cream and the fruit in between. OK.

Hm. Very tricky.

So how long have you been in the UK?

Two years. OK.

Sweden has a very vibrant cookery scene. Yeah,

fermented, pickled... Is that the style you cook at over here?

Yeah, and lot of fire.

Fire? Yeah.

There's no oil there, there's no sugar there.

Unfortunately, when it's completely dry,

it will curl up...in the oven.

Let's see if she's worked with coconut cream before.

She's mixing it up, which is good.

Better with a whisk.

Theres, seven minutes gone. Yes.

What have you got going on here? What's your plan?

I baking the filo now in the oven,

then I'm going to make mango compote,

roast coconut.

I'm going to taste this coconut cream up with a little passion fruit.

I think she's just making a dessert.

Are you a fan of coconut, Theres?

Not so big fan. Not the Swedish ingredients.

SHE LAUGHS

Tropical fruit and coconut cream is about as far removed from Swedish food as we can imagine, right?

Yeah, it is.

You're halfway.

Yeah.

What's next on the agenda?

Now I'm going to start to think how I'm going to plate.

Right, let's have a look at this pastry.

So you see, they're all distorted.

Interesting to see how she's going to build this.

What are you thinking?

I'm trying to find a picture in my head, how it is looking.

And you can't do it yet? No, I can't do that.

You're allowed not to know what the dessert is,

but you have to show us as a chef what you CAN do. Yeah.

Theres, I have to say,

that's not like any Mille-feuille... No, it's not. ..I've ever seen.

It's not.

I bet you're glad that's over.

Yeah.

I can tell. Yeah.

You weren't sure how to handle filo pastry or what to do.

You went with the shards on top.

You have got your whipped coconut on the plate,

but if you'd used a whisk,

you could have gotten a bit more body into it.

Your mango, I liked the idea of doing a compote,

but it does not have enough sugar in it.

I'll be honest with you, there wasn't a lot that you did there that impressed me.

Could do better.

You are going to come across pastry in this competition.

Could be a pretty rough ride.

I mean, what you have here is a relatively nice dessert

that you would put together if you had these ingredients.

But it's not a Mille-feuille.

Theres, we'll see you in the next round. Thank you. Thank you.

I have heard a Mille-feuille before,

but I cannot remember how I make it.

I did the best I could

and served some dessert, but on my way.

I want to say, I think the stand-out chef from the four skills tests was Ollie.

He knew what he was doing. He executed it very well.

I think the adrenaline got the better of Matthew.

I tell you what I've learned from this skills test

is just how difficult a lot of chefs find a pastry challenge.

I just think it all comes to life when they can cook their own food.

And that's when you start to see fireworks.

Should make for very good competition in the next round.

Mm.

Chefs, welcome back.

Now, it's all about your food,

your signature, two-course menu.

One main, one dessert, make it count.

At the end of today, two of you are going to be leaving the competition.

You're never going to get another opportunity like this.

Do it. Nail it. Smash it.

One hour and 30 minutes. Off you go.

Skills test was hard.

I didn't think I showed who I really was as a chef.

But it is what it is. Now, I need to come back stronger.

Charlie's two beautiful-sounding dishes, but my goodness me, he's got a lot of work.

Pan-fried turbot wrapped in wild garlic -

this is a delicious idea.

I love fish. I fish a lot in Dorset.

Look at that bad boy.

Nice.

If he knows how to break down the turbot and cook the turbot correctly,

this will show that Charlie has skills.

Sauteed asparagus, pickled asparagus, asparagus shavings,

wild garlic oil - delicious.

Champagne sauce, this goes so well with the rich, meaty turbot.

I like the idea of using all the remains of the sauce,

all the trimmings of the asparagus,

the white wine, the champagne.

Ancl then he's going to blitz all those ingredients together,

so you're getting more and more asparagus on the plate. Great idea.

Charlie's dessert, lemon tart - love lemon tart.

My gran at Christmas, she always does lemon semifreddo.

It's very, very sharp in lemon, but everyone goes for it

and everyone loves it.

That's, sort of, my dish around lemon tart.

One of the most important things that Charlie needs to get right is the balance of lemons.

He's got to make sure he gets his pastry thin and crispy,

get an almond sponge ready,

AND a meringue.

There is a lot for him to worry about here.

What's the inspiration behind these dishes, Charlie?

Home, I would say. I love Dorset. I used to go fishing on my weekends all the time.

Country walks, foraging...

Yeah, Dorset's the best.

Dorset's where it's at. Yeah, it is. It really is.

30 minutes have gone. You have one hour left.

I've never actually cooked both dishes together...

...in the right amount of time.

It's all well and good doing it on your day off when you've got no pressure on you.

I'll have to find second gear make sure I get it in on time.

Ollie - passions outside of cookery?

It can't be all-consuming, can it?

Big rugby fan. Before I became a chef, I played a lot,

and then as I started cooking, I never really had time to do both.

You two finished talking about rugby? Can we talk about food?

Sorry, chef. Yeah. Sorry, chef. Yeah, it's not a rugby show.

What's your menu? Main course is a saddle of lamb,

some pea puree, smoked pancetta,

and some white asparagus.

A sauce? Yeah, lamb sauce.

Dessert, chef? Vanilla panna cotta with poached rhubarb,

almond and oat crumb and rhubarb puree.

Have you been looking at Gregg Wallace's favourite ingredients?

Ollie's dishes are classic and they sound delicious.

He's taking the lamb off the saddle.

He's got it in a water-bath now, and when he's ready to serve,

he's going to caramelise it before carving.

Pea puree, I expect it to be silky smooth.

I'm going to use a record player to hopefully make a perfect circle on the plate...

...which will hold the sauce in and keep it nice and neat.

Good, good, good.

We've got lamb sauce, peas and pancetta.

They are classic combinations.

Come on. Don't let us down. I know you can do this, Ollie.

Panna cotta, I expect it to be set, with just a gentle wobble.

Poached rhubarb, trickier than it sounds.

If the rhubarb is undercooked,

it will be crunchy and unpleasant.

If the rhubarb is overcooked, it will be mushy and lose its beautiful colour.

We've had these two dishes many, many, many times.

There's nowhere to hide.

How long have we got?

Chefs, you're halfway.

Yep? YEP-

The skills test, obviously, I'm kicking myself.

But yeah, going into the next round,

I'm going to take it serious and I'm going to run like hell, that's for sure.

Matthew, his main course, we've got poached Dover sole,

we've got some poached clams.

We've got Parisian potatoes, which are going to be cooked in beef fat,

so you'll get that meaty flavour when you're eating the dish.

OK, that's that.

Come on...

With the lemon butter sauce,

I'm expecting this to be buttery and unctuous

and a really nice emulsification.

For dessert, I'm going to be making a strawberry mousse, set in the shape of a strawberry.

Pipe it into some strawberry moulds and then I'll blast-freeze them

and then we pop them out, they'll look like a strawberry,

and then we glaze them in a strawberry glaze.

Timing is crucial.

He will not be able to do the next stage of the dessert unless it's frozen.

Matthew is making a crispy, basil sponge

and then he squeezes it into cups and cooks in the microwave for a minute or two.

This is very clever. He doesn't have a lot of time...

Come on.

...so he's used a technique that is very quick to cook.

Come on...

Matthew you've got a lot of work to do. Yes, I certainly do.

Why have you put yourself under so much pressure?

You get given the you know the opportunity once, so just go for it.

But what if you've given yourself so much to do that you can't complete it?

That's not going to happen.

How long, please? You have 30 minutes left.

Theres, how do you feel? Um, feel...good.

Yeah. Always comfortable when I come in a kitchen.

Feel really excited for cooking my food.

I want to bring the Scandinavian touch

and the flavour's going to be some of the Swedish ingredients, too.

Theres, her menu, Scandinavian. Why not?

Baked cod, hay-smoked cream, asparagus with horseradish crumb -

lovely flavour combination here.

She's put the cod into a brine

with lots and lots of fennel.

She's then going to bake it in the oven,

take it out and put a blowtorch over it for a little bit of colour.

Like the sound of that.

Her cream is going to be smoked.

This is a genius idea to give more flavour to the dish.

Now it's going to be a little bit fire.

GREGG: Fire!

I'm fascinated to see what that tastes like.

Theres's dessert is peppered with lots of technique.

Steamed meringue, sorrel sorbet,

pickled pine berries,

cardamom creme anglaise.

She's going to split the anglaise with a lemon verbena oil.

Never had a custard with oil on top of it.

Steamed meringue is not simple.

You need to get your sugar and egg-white balance spot on.

If you overcook your meringue, it will puff up and then collapse.

If you under cook your meringue, it will collapse.

Are you the only chef in the family?

It's two more chef in my family.

Two brother. How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Four brother and one sister.

Out of six children, three of you are chefs? Yes.

Are you the best chef in the family? Yeah.

Of course!

What's time? Chefs, you've got ten minutes.

Oh, yeah, I've still got quite a bit to do.

I'm feeling it a bit.

My biggest concern is getting that fish cooked perfectly.

Looks good, my friend. Thank you.

Ollie, what about this lamb?

Yeah, it's going on now.

There is undoubtedly some fantastic food in here.

You've got five minutes to finish.

Matthew is really running around the kitchen.

He just needs to slow down, take a breath and control what he's doing.

It's set, but not quite what you wanted, was it? That's it.

Come on, you have to get a move on, you're cutting it a little bit fine.

This really is final touches. Yeah, that's OK.

Whoa!

That's it! Stop.

Well done.

HE SIGHS

How did you do, all right? Yeah, everything went as well as it could. You?

Yeah.

You, Ollie? Yeah, time ran away pretty quick.

Yeah. Really quick.

Theres's Scandinavian-inspired signature menu

starts with cod, brined in salt water and dill,

white asparagus wrapped in horseradish and breadcrumbs,

with a hay-smoked cream infused with Swedish vinegar

and a dill oil.

GREGG: I really like the look of this.

Looks very modern and looks very Scandinavian.

The cod is perfectly cooked.

It's just seasoned and it's absolutely flaking away. I love it.

The crunchiness of the asparagus and the horseradish together is really delicious.

Wow, what a plate. Incredible.

That cream is delightful. Sharp like a lemon and proper smoky.

I am loving this.

You just set the bar incredibly high

for the three people standing behind you.

It's exquisite.

Really is.

It's simplicity at its very, very best.

I hope that you can keep this going if you continue in this competition, because this is delicious.

Thanks.

For dessert, Theres has served steamed meringue

with pickled white strawberries,

a cardamom creme anglaise split with verbena oil

and a sorrel herb sorbet.

The steamed meringue, beautiful.

This has got a little bit of body to it, and I like that.

It's brilliant.

The sorrel sorbet is incredible.

You've absolutely PACKED so much sorrel into it.

The lemon verbena oil is a little bit light in its colour,

but listen, I'm trying my hardest to find a problem here,

and I'm struggling, so I'm going to shut up.

I just want to carry on and eat this.

Well clone, you. Thanks.

I love those white strawberries, quite sharp.

The creme anglaise is creamy, smooth, sweet.

You get a little bit of sharp lemon going through it,

and I think it's great. Thanks.

Each element all tastes delicious on its own,

but the great cooking is when you combine all the ingredients together and they taste incredible.

Thanks.

Do you want to see my "I like your dessert" dance? Yes, please.

How do I say "thank you" in Swedish?

Tack. Well, a big "tack" from us.

Thank you very much indeed.

Well done. Well clone, chef.

Thanks. Brilliant.

Happy now. Yeah.

I was really nervous.

Well clone, that's great.

Oh, my God.

But all the words from the judges,

cannot be more happy.

For his main, Charlie has made turbot wrapped in a wild garlic leaf

with sauteed, wild, pickled and shaved asparagus,

burnt breadcrumbs, and an asparagus mash

made with the remains of the champagne sauce...

...which is split with a wild garlic oil.

I really like your presentation.

Sharp clean, very, very good.

I'm here to taste your dish. I don't have to eat it all,

I'm eating it all because it is knock-out, out-of-this-world delicious.

And if you give me another one, I'd eat it again.

Creamy sauce with a little bit of wine acidity

and a little bit of hints of wild garlic.

Asparagus, just the right amount of crunch.

I've never seen anybody have a burnt bit of toast

and scrape it across like an ashen crumb giving bitterness.

What a brilliantly delightful idea.

Mate, I'm loving this.

My fish is perfectly cooked and that shows real skill.

I think the asparagus tastes delicious and it's crunchy.

I think you did a great job.

To take what is effectively the remains of the sauce

and put that back on the plate with the flavours that you've added into it,

is just absolutely sensational.

I've never seen that before. It brings a lovely freshness to the dish.

It's almost salad-like in itself. It's sharp, it's lovely.

I like it a lot.

For dessert, Charlie has made a lemon tart filled with an almond sponge,

lemon curd, and topped with meringue,

dried black lemon, lemon balm and finger lime.

The flavour is delicious.

The balance is perfectly executed.

It is not too sour. The meringue is crunchy and perfectly cooked.

The pastry is crunchy and perfectly cooked.

When you said that you were going to do an almond sponge at the bottom,

I was worried that you wouldn't get it clone in time but fair play,

yeah, you did. Ancl it's lovely and moist.

I'm really, really impressed.

All that citrus takes me to the edge of almost eye-watering,

and then rolls me back down again with sugar. Boom! It's lovely.

It's brilliant. The flavour of everything is fantastic.

But the lemon curd, put it on toast, put it in a tart,

put it wherever you like. It's delicious.

Two lovely dishes.

Well clone. Thank you.

CONTESTANT: Well clone.

I'm very haw'!-

Yeah, good comments.

When they were eating the dishes,

I was trying to read their faces, but couldn't read anything.

So when I did receive it, yeah, it was a big relief. Big, big relief.

Ollie's main course is lamb saddle cooked sous-vide

with rosemary, garlic and thyme,

white asparagus, a pea puree and a smoked pancetta and lamb sauce.

That lamb is just beautiful. You've got colour on the outside,

it's pink in the middle, it's juicy, it's lovely.

Your sweet pea, as well. Lovely crunch of the asparagus.

I don't know what my chef friends think of it -

I'd eat it by the bowlful, chef.

That sauce, Ollie, that sauce is the kind of sauce

that got me out of bed when I was young and wanted to be a chef.

The flavours that you've packed into that are...delicious.

But the asparagus,

I don't particularly enjoy that with the dish.

The saddle of lamb, you've cooked it beautifully well.

I'm just struggling with the texture of your white asparagus.

It's just too crunchy, too bitter,

and it's a little bit sinewy. just needed peeling down even more.

For dessert, Ollie has served a vanilla panna cotta

topped with poached rhubarb, an almond oat crumb,

apple marigold cress, and a rhubarb puree.

You've given us Sunday roast,

followed by rhubarb and custard.

Pretty much.

Ollie, fabulous wobble.

That's what I want to see when I shake a panna cotta.

It's creamy and silky.

The oats give a nice crunch but they are quite salty.

My pieces of rhubarb are not cooked enough.

That's a shame.

I think that is stunning.

For me, the stalks of rhubarb, they are crunchy and sour.

The crunchy oat on the top is kind of almost turning it into a crumble type-affair.

I think that's great.

Rhubarb is a matter of taste.

What I had on my plate was just the right consistency.

Hey, I've enjoyed your food today, Ollie.

Thank you.

That seemed to go OK.

Few little bits and pieces that I could have tweaked or got better.

It's great to hear good feedback, but my chef mind comes into place

and just constantly thinking about the negatives,

but, yeah, the positives were great, as well.

Matthew has served poached Dover sole

with clams, potatoes cooked in beef dripping

and asparagus with a lemon butter sauce.

Fish it on the firm side, but I'm happy with that.

Beurre blanc, nicely-made butter sauce.

Love those potatoes, but I'd like a little bit of seasoning across them.

But there's nothing at all that would stop me eating all of this dish.

The clams, very well cooked, nice and clean,

you've got lovely flavours to those.

Asparagus, just the right bite.

I agree with Gregg on the potatoes, certainly need some seasoning.

But overall, what you've got here is a very well-balanced plate of food.

Not bad at all, well clone.

All-in-all, I think a pretty dish,

just needs the little final details to make it perfect.

For dessert, Matthew has served a strawberry mousse

with elderflower butter cream, fresh strawberries and a basil sponge,

topped with a sweet tuile.

Can you explain to me, Matthew,

cos this wasn't what you set out to do, was it?

Strawberry mousse should be in a shape of a strawberry,

but just unfortunately, the mousse didn't set in time.

I see. Right, OK.

There's a couple of things on the plate I'm struggling with.

The mousse itself is too bouncy,

and I understand the element of the sponge,

but you've dried it out.

It's like it's been left out for a couple of clays and it's just gone stale.

The basil flavour is subtle in there, which maybe is a good idea.

For me, it is the butter cream that's an issue.

It feels like the middle of a cake.

I think it should be in between two slices of thin sponge.

This little tuile is lovely.

But I have wild garlic flowers on my plate?

Elderflower. That's... That's wild garlic flower.

The main dish, I think was great.

Maybe with the dessert, I was trying to be a little bit too clever.

If my strawberry would have set, then I think it would have been a totally different result.

What a way to finish the last of the heats, right?

Yes, four fantastic chefs driving at such a level

that you don't see very often from four chefs in the same heat.

I ate far more than I should have done. Brilliant.

Now, there was one chef that not only delighted but surprised me.

Theres is not only gifted, but different.

She is brave, but she is confident.

She believes in herself.

And her food showed that today.

Two super dishes. She's going through, right?

Yeah.

Matthew's main course was classical in every sense.

The butter sauce was good, the fish was well cooked,

but his dessert was just completely no-no. It was wasn't right.

In a group of chefs like this where the standard is so high,

the errors, I'm afraid, are sticking out like a sore thumb.

I just think his dessert was too technical.

He couldn't get it clone in time,

and as a result, he couldn't pull back from that.

Matthew is leaving.

Now, we've got one more place to give - Ollie or Charlie?

I mean, we had some tasty food from both of them, didn't we?

I saw two sides to Charlie today.

I saw one in his skills test, and I saw a completely different chef

when it came to his two-course menu.

Wow. Didn't see that coming.

That turbot with the asparagus and the champagne sauce,

I ate it all and then started eating Marcus's.

It was just divine.

That lemon tart that Charlie did, that was incredible.

I know that Charlie's a talent.

I also believe Ollie has got talent.

He basically gave me the flavours of my grandmother's roast lamb,

but in a beautifully refined way. Then the dessert,

great panna cotta.

I thought the rhubarb was too crunchy for me,

but I quite like that both of you enjoyed it,

you know? It's what kind of makes the judging interesting,

is that we don't agree on everything.

Look, we ate well from both chefs.

What we have here is a problem.

It's definitely give me a boost.

But still, I messed up on the skills test.

So I'm still incredibly nervous.

Don't know the result.

OLLIE: I'm hoping the judges can see past the small errors,

and they can see the potential.

But the other contestants were also very strong,

so I think that the judges have got quite a tough decision to make now.

The four of you cooked with so much heart, so much passion.

Sadly, only two people can go through to the next round.

Ancl we have made our decision.

The first chef leaving the competition...

...is Matthew. Thank you very much.

I'm feeling a bit wounded from it.

But at the same time,

I came, gave it my all.

The second chef leaving is...

...is Ollie.

Well done, guys. Thank you.

Gutted, to be honest.

It was tough.

But I think all four contestants were really strong,

so it was always going to be difficult.

After this, I'll just go back to the kitchen and perhaps stay there for a while!

Good, good. Next step, now!

Ecstatic. Yeah, very happy.

I came here to find out who I am as a person

so to hear the judges say that my food's good

is a good start in the competition, for sure.

Good one. Yeah, it was amazing.

Ream; HAPPY-

Oh...

I'm going to give more of me.

More of my cooking and more of the Scandinavian food.

Next time, it's the last of the quarter-finals.

And this week's strongest chefs return to face two tough challenges.

The main element of the dish, absolutely delicious.

Only the best will earn a place in the semi-finals.

I honestly think this is the best expression of those flavours I've ever had.