Original subtitles

Knockout week continues on MasterChef.

After five weeks of intense competition...

Oh!

...45 home cooks have been whittled down to the best 14.

It was brilliant being in knockout week,

but now you've got that taste and that buzz,

you just want more of it.

I'm not a loser. I'm a fighter.

So I will fight my corner.

I will try my very best, that's for sure.

I'm here for it now, you know. I want it.

I'm here to the end. You can't get rid of me!

I just can't wait to start knocking people out, to be honest.

Like, they all seem like nice people,

but it's time to get rid of them.

Last time... Woo! ..the first group of seven returned

and Miles and John were sent home.

Tonight, it's the turn of the second group,

who will also cook off for the chance to work

in their first professional kitchen.

I know the pressure's on.

We are busy, but we need to pick up the pace, please.

We are now going to really push them.

We're going to really test them

and they're going to have to be on form.

Welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen

and congratulations, you seven,

you are in knockout week.

You may notice there's someone missing.

Sadly, Gregg is unwell.

So we have invited in a special guest to help me judge.

Somebody who knows this competition back to front.

Ladies and gentlemen, could you please welcome...

...chef, restaurateur and MasterChef Professional judge...

...Monica Galetti.

I hope you're all excited to be here.

I know I am.

John has really hyped you guys up.

Today, I want to see you cook a dish

good enough to put on YOUR restaurant menu.

Good enough to go into your own cookbook.

Good enough for you to even put in a pop-up restaurant.

No pressure!

Ladies and gentlemen, 1 hour and 30 minutes.

At the end of this, sadly, two of you will be leaving us.

Let's cook.

That smells amazing. Off to a good start.

A bit starstruck. I imagine

it's what normal people are like when they meet Beyonce or something!

Oh, my God! I almost passed out when she walked in!

I was like, I can't believe I see her in real.

To have someone who usually judges the food of professional chefs,

that's crazy!

I want to be surprised. I want to see some confidence.

I don't know their background.

It's all about the dish they cook today.

It's a pressurised task as it is, but seeing Monica here,

yeah, unreal pressure.

Jack, our sports journalist from London,

every dish has had bags of flavour,

whether it be stir-fry beef and noodles or pistachio souffle.

And it's got elegance. It's exciting.

A dish that would go on my restaurant menu, that kind of brief,

it just made me think of the food I love to eat when I go out.

It's got to be strong with flavours, all the stuff I've done before,

but have like a level of detail that is fit for a restaurant.

Monica, I'm going to tell you about Jack

because Jack's a flavour monster.

So my flavours are good,

but hopefully I've got a lot more to prove.

What's the dream? A cookbook would be great,

but the more I go, I don't know,

I would like to maybe get into the restaurant business, maybe.

Food critic. Or a food critic!

Brilliant. watch it! You watch it yourself!

What are you cooking today?

Prawn and crab raviolo with, like, a shellfish bisque.

Well, it sounds like you've done well so far, so I can't wait

to see you deliver this. Thank you. Hopefully, you like it.

One raviolo on a plate with a bisque is a bold statement.

You've got nowhere to hide.

I'm just checking for any rogue pieces of shell.

I want everything to be as perfect as it can be.

There is quite a bit of risk here.

The pasta is very important, the thickness of the pasta.

My first pasta, though, was too tight,

so I'm making it again.

It's going to be a lot more stressful than I had planned.

Lots to do today.

The pressure always gets to you in the MasterChef kitchen.

Anurag, our accountant from Essex, is inspired by his Indian mother.

It's cooking with real heart and it's got real flavour.

But everything's planned to the absolute last detail.

My beautiful spreadsheets are giving me good support.

So my style of cooking is changing today a bit.

I'm just bringing out some more techniques,

which is not necessarily Indian cuisine inspired,

or what judges have seen in the prior rounds.

Anurag, you're the one that's been making all the noise

in this kitchen. What is going on?

I'm making prawns on a bed of squid ink pasta,

which goes with spicy, fragrant, coconut curry sauce.

So the dish today, is that inspired by your mother?

Because you've got squid ink pasta,

there seems to be something quite unusual here.

No, no, it's living in Europe for such a long time.

So I can't just miss out on the beauty

of European food and ingredients.

Bring those together and open a high-end restaurant.

Anurag, I'm really intrigued with the way

that he's mixing up the food that he enjoys from India

with the squid ink pasta.

Hopefully, the judges will be able to appreciate it.

And it tasted nice, when I tried it, how it tasted to me.

I just hope that this fusion doesn't make confusion.

Just a bit rushed here. I talk too much!

I'm not tense at all, I'm loving it.

Adam is a bricklayer from Bristol

and he's shown us lots of different skills.

Whether it be making pasta into cappelletti

or whether it be making fried chicken and a waffle,

he's actually cooked really well.

But he's also learnt in this competition

not to sacrifice the look of the plate for the flavour.

I think the judges need to see a little bit more refinement from me.

I've made a couple of mistakes.

I'm going to go in there and just smash it.

Adam, what are you making?

I am making maple-glazed pork belly,

duchess potato, black pudding croquettes

and apple sauce and charred hispi cabbage.

It's a Sunday lunch done nice, hopefully.

Where's your dream going to, Adam? First restaurant might be classic.

Second restaurant might be something else.

I just want a complete... run the board on restaurants.

You want restaurants plural? I want restaurants, plural, yes.

Yeah, good luck with that!

Pork belly. Across the top of the pork we've got maple syrup.

It could be quite sweet.

We've also got classic duchess potatoes.

I'm so happy with these.

They've kept their shape, nice and golden.

I think they're going to like them, hopefully.

I want to taste some of that black pudding

that he's got in a croquette.

And also, does he have a nice sauce to finish this dish with?

It can't be wishy washy.

I really want to impress Monica Galetti, yeah.

Even saying her name is so strange.

Like, she's actually here in the room!

Terri from Northern Ireland is an accountant

and aspires to be a fine-dining chef.

She loves the flavours of Asia, alongside classic dishes.

We've seen miso with duck, nori with creme fraiche and cod,

and we've seen Vietnamese rice crackers.

Coming off the back of the last round, where I did quite well,

there's almost an expectation now to keep that going.

I'm hopefully going to come in with a bang.

I'm feeling up for it. I'm ready for the challenge.

Hi, Terri. How are you? Terrified!

Does he always have that effect on you?!

Yeah, it's definitely John. That's the reason, yeah!

So I'm making you lemon tart. The inspiration almost comes from

a lemon meringue because that's my favourite dessert.

Rather than doing like a pastry, I'm doing a sable biscuit base,

but I'm doing French meringue, an Italian meringue,

yuzu gel and black sesame brittle.

What sort of restaurant is it? Fine dining encompassing my style.

That classic style of cooking

with a little bit of something different.

I'm looking forward to this.

I love the flavours. No pressure, then!

The flavours of classic lemon tart

are being paired with black sesame seeds,

sesame in meringue and Japanese yuzu.

Interesting combination.

And with that, we've also got a sesame tuile.

It tastes nice, but it's not quite going as hard as I wanted it to.

It should kind of snap. But it might harden up, we'll see.

I hope she is going to be confident enough

to deliver the complete dessert.

I want Monica to think that this is a man

who knows what flavours he likes

and is confident putting them up on the plate.

Josh from Stratford-upon-Avon works in recruitment.

He just takes everyday things and makes them really special.

We've had venison with pearl barley,

bananas from the barbecue

with chocolate running through the middle of it.

They're crowd-pleasers. However,

in the last couple of rounds there's been a few errors.

One of the major lessons that I learnt

is you can taste the love that's put into food.

You can also really taste the stress.

Try and really enjoy what you're cooking.

Yeah!

And if you're happy with what you've put up

at the end of the day, that's all you can do.

Josh, you've got sliced cheese.

I do. Explain the dish to us, please.

Today I am making for you guys macaroni cheese

with a barbecue short rib, some jalapeno corn bread

and a nice pickled slaw.

So mac and cheese is my favourite food in the world.

It was the first dish I learned to cook.

My nan used to make it for us.

So if I was going to write a recipe book one day,

I realised that would have to be in there.

What makes your mac and cheese so special?

I don't use a bechamel OR a roux.

Oh! I use a bit of a different method

involving evaporated milk and fake cheese.

I'm really intrigued about the way he's making his mac and cheese.

Hopefully, it's not going to be too dense and heavy.

Just some bits of mozzarella

that will add like a bit of a stretch to that later.

He's got big bits of beef short rib there.

If he doesn't cook it enough, it's going to be really tough.

Beautiful beef.

SINGSONGY: That's what we like to see.

I'm just getting my head down today.

Quite a lot to be getting on with.

Omar from Barnsley is a toy developer

and he's creative, inventive and really willing to take a risk.

We have seen dumplings based upon a cheeseburger.

We've also seen lamb shanks with chocolate and gochujang.

He's not scared of combinations that may be controversial.

Coming into the competition, I was definitely worried

people wouldn't really understand my type of cooking.

I know my food can be quite polarising,

but now I know the judges like it,

it's a really good pat on the back just to keep going

and maybe push the envelope a little bit more.

Today I'm doing a lamb curry congee,

so a bit of an Indian-Chinese hybrid.

Congee is rice porridge. Rice porridge, yeah.

I've travelled quite a lot around China. You come down to the hotel

every morning, there's a big, steaming bowl of congee.

I've just started playing around with flavours that I love

and brought this lamb saag curry that we eat quite a lot as well

and kind of brought the two together.

And they work generally? Yes,

I've made this before. Yes, I've practised this. It's not just today.

Congee is a wet rice porridge. A lamb curry is a wet dish.

I don't know how this works.

It sounds like a bowl of lamb curry soup.

It just seems very wet.

And I'm hoping there's going to be different textures.

Pressure cooker's on, spinach puree's going.

Juggling all the different pans today.

Trying to stay organised and clean.

I have made this.

And then this drawing with the dish and everything.

Apart from this, Gregg is not well.

The only time I've drawn him, when he's not well. Oh, dear!

Chart ya is a coffee roaster from Hampshire,

born in northern Thailand

and her food is influenced by that upbringing.

She loves the detail.

Every single thing has to be absolutely perfect.

It's sophisticated and it's delicious.

I love showing off!

Especially when you're good at something,

you might as well show off!

And the only thing I'm good at is cooking, I think.

Hi, Chart ya. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

I love the ingredients you have on your table here.

This is the northern Thailand food that I always cook at home.

This is my mum's recipe. It's originally from Chiang Mai.

Khao soi noodles.

It's like a coconut curry with home-made noodles.

I'm going to make it with grilled chicken, with lemongrass,

and also on top of that I want to make a lotus tuile.

So there's a lot of textures and a lot of flavours in here.

Have you got any other questions? Yeah. When are you opening?!

Watching Chart ya talk about her food, her mum's recipe,

you can feel she wants to do it justice.

Khao soi is a really classic Thai curry.

Creamy, sweet coconut sauce, shrimp paste,

and then you've got that heat coming from chilli.

It should be banging.

With that, we're getting bits of chicken she's going to marinate

and thread them on to lemongrass sticks.

When you grill it,

you have this aroma from the lemongrass in the chicken.

On top of that, we're getting the crowning glory of a lotus flour,

which is actually a tuile.

I'm going to deep-fry them. This is like a snack.

Sometimes I just have a whole bowl of it by myself.

If it's not the right texture, that batter,

the whole thing just falls apart.

How much time?

Contestants, you have just five minutes.

Are you OK?

Running late. I'll have to remake my pastas. Go, go, go.

Plating on and out together, and we're good.

Oh, thank God!

Houston, we have short ribs.

You have two minutes left.

I need to breathe. Keep myself calm.

Need to be... Don't panic.

I think I'm just going to make it, just about.

Last 30 seconds, please.

That's it, guys. Time is up.

All done.

Smells amazing.

Are you happy? Yeah, I think so. Mate, it looks amazing.

Jack, come and join us.

Sports journalist Jack's restaurant dish

is prawn crab and ricotta raviolo topped with caviar,

served with asparagus and peas in a vinaigrette dressing

and a shellfish veloute.

I like the simplicity of your presentation.

It looks confident.

The pasta is beautifully made. It's nice, it's thin.

The filling, we've got the crab,

we've got the sweetness of the prawns.

It hasn't dried out and I think

that's a great thing to achieve here.

What you've done here has showcased quite a bit of talent there.

Thank you.

The flavour of that sauce is the lovely flavour of the prawns.

Tomato going slightly sharp and sweet.

Underneath there, I've got refreshing, sweet peas.

I'm surprised you got it all done because you were in a right panic.

So I'm really pleased.

It tasted nice. It looked really nice.

I think you COULD see it in a restaurant.

Hopefully I've done enough. I hope so, yeah.

Accountant Anurag's dish is masala prawns,

squid ink pasta in an Indian spiced coconut sauce

with coriander oil, mixed stir-fried vegetables

and a semolina cake.

I have to tell you, your sauce is just delicious.

I love that creamy, rich coconut, which is slightly sweet,

and then it creeps up with this wonderful smokiness

coming from turmeric and other spices.

And that oil that runs around the outside is also beautifully vibrant.

I'd be happy without the pasta.

OK. But you're showing skill.

The cooking of your prawns are spot on.

They're beautiful. They're tender. The pasta is beautifully made.

Your crispy semolina is so wonderful to keep dipping into the sauce here.

I'm just going to keep dipping.

Yeah, I'm pretty thrilled, like, just getting that feedback today.

Monica, she just kept eating!

It's very, very humbling. Very humbling.

Bricklayer Adam has cooked maple-glazed pork belly

with an apple sauce, charred hispi cabbage,

duchess potatoes topped with crackling,

black pudding croquette, leek puree

and a cider sauce.

The pork belly is for me a bit disappointing.

It's sort of dried out. It's a little bit tough

and it's very sweet and sickly with the maple syrup glaze.

Love hispi cabbage. It's a bit on the watery side.

If you're going to char something, char it, Adam, don't hold back.

Your sauce is too loose.

It hasn't got any depth of flavour to it.

I definitely need more of those beautifully made duchess potatoes.

They're really, really beautiful.

The croquette itself, the black pudding is too dry and too hard.

And, Adam, the next time you feed somebody,

could you please not give them a fingernail of crackling?!

Yeah. That is... I mean, that's almost criminal.

Yeah, that was brutal.

But you make mistakes on that plate, they're going to call it out,

and there were a lot of mistakes on that plate!

Accountant Terri has served a lemon tart

with a sesame sable biscuit base,

lemon curd, French meringues, Italian meringue,

yuzu gel and black sesame brittle.

It's a very neat-looking plate of food you've got there.

Thank you.

You've got some really nice touches here.

I like the black sesame sitting underneath in that sable biscuit.

Your curd's lovely and sharp

and flavour of lemon, I think that's really good.

I can't taste any yuzu on the plate, which I think is a bit of a shame.

Your tuiles, your brittle of sesame seed, are very thick.

I think it's a pretty good dish, but I think technically,

maybe just little things will make the difference for you.

I think your meringue is beautifully made.

Even to make the perfect Italian meringue,

a lot of chefs can't do that.

So don't just focus on the negative,

you've got good things happening on this plate, too, OK?

I'm a little bit upset

that all of the elements didn't turn out quite how I wanted.

But I'm still very happy. I feel good.

I just can't send the tears back in.

Once I start, it's like opening a tube of Pringles! That's it.

I just can't stop crying.

Recruitment consultant Josh has made barbecue short rib

marinated in barbecue sauce, topped with crispy shallots,

mac and cheese, jalapeno corn bread and pickled slaw.

Your slaw looks a bit chunky to me.

I think when you get to this stage of the competition,

finesse is really important.

Josh, doing a short rib that quickly in the time you had,

it's dry and it's chewy, it hasn't worked out.

Your mac and cheese, I would like that to be a little bit more creamy.

It's quite dry. As you can see, the macaroni is starting to fall apart.

I am really enjoying the corn bread.

I love the jalapenos going through that.

The slaw is very sharp.

Some of these pieces are just too big.

Ambition is great, but you have to be able to deliver it. Mm.

It's a real shame because

I really wanted them to love my mac and cheese.

I'm just kind of going to have to keep moving forward with it.

Are you OK? They liked bits, didn't like other bits.

Yeah. I'm definitely in the bottom at the moment.

I'm definitely in the bottom at the moment.

Toy developer Omar has cooked a lamb curry congee,

served with spinach puree, pickled carrots, pickled chilli peppers,

crispy curry leaves and a pistachio crumb.

The congee itself hasn't overcooked.

I am enjoying the flavours of the curry.

I like that there's the pickled carrot, the coriander.

But the pistachios, it's a bit too fine.

I would like a bit more of a texture.

The bit of lamb shoulder,

it's soft, it's moist, it's really well flavoured.

But I've got this soupy, wet rice mixture

with quite a wet lamb mixture,

so it's all sort of slightly wet and it's very, very rich.

That was OK.

It just had a bit of a mushy texture.

They were completely right,

there wasn't those pronounced textures that I wanted,

so I totally take that on board.

It could have been worse.

Yeah, it could have been worse.

Last up is master coffee roaster Chart ya.

Hello.

I'm so nervous. I'm going to faint in a second, no, sorry!

Her dish is grilled chicken thighs on a lemongrass skewer,

served with egg noodles, crispy noodles and a lotus tuile,

with a Thai khao soi curry soup.

This looks fab and just this tuile on top is so impressive.

The cooking of the chicken is beautiful,

the flavours of the lemongrass just slightly running through it.

The texture of the noodles that you've made, really impressive.

I absolutely think you've nailed it.

I'll be first in the queue when you open your restaurant.

This is a joy.

The sauce, there's just a tiny amount of coconut milk,

just enough to be able to make it slightly sweet.

Lots and lots of chilli in there.

The coconut little wafer of yours is sweet.

Really sweet.

I think this is delicious.

I think I smashed that one.

You have no idea how happy I am, really.

I cooked for my idol and she loved it.

So...

...that was very intense. That was tough.

I feel like I've just been

on MasterChef: The bloomin' Professionals!

That was like, next level scrutiny.

I had a great day.

I think the cooks we had in here

delivered on the brief. Some great plates of food.

We've got to make a decision.

Five of them are going to go through to the next round

and two of them are going to be leaving us.

Do you have a favourite, Monica? I do have a favourite.

I absolutely loved Chariya's dish today.

She wanted to get the heart and soul of the dish,

but she also wanted to give it a bit of elegance. And I think she did it.

Chariya's got herself a place in the next round.

Oh, she sails through.

There's another person who really made my palate sing

and that was Anurag.

Prawns cooked really, really well,

covered with that lovely garam masala.

I think he deserves to go through, John. I totally agree.

Jack. That pasta was nice and thin. That sauce, brilliant.

I'm with you. I think Jack's got himself a place.

There's one other person I think I've got to hold my hand up to,

and that is Terri for her bravery on her dessert.

There were a couple of mistakes,

but actually when I look at the amount of work she puts in,

I think that Terri deserves a place.

We've got Josh with his beef rib.

That mac and cheese was really hard.

The beef short rib was not cooked enough.

Adam, with his belly pork.

The sweetness of that maple glaze was too much.

And Omar with his lamb congee.

It was all so wet.

Which one of those is joining

the other four and going through to the next round?

And which two are leaving the competition?

I really hope I've done enough to stay in the competition,

but it's a bit up in the air at the moment.

I think there's a chance I could stay.

I didn't have overwhelmingly negative feedback.

I've just got to take that

and hold on to it until they announce the results.

I just think someone should just

put a good word in for me behind the scenes.

That would be perfect. I'll have another day of cooking, please!

What a day. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Whatever happens, keep your head up high and be proud.

Chart ya...

...Anurag...

.Jack...

.Terri...

...great job. You've got yourself a place in the next round.

Josh...

...Omar...

.Adam...

...sadly, two of you will be leaving us.

The first person leaving us is...

.Josh.

Josh, thanks very much indeed. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

The second person leaving us is...

.Adam.

Thanks very much for everything. Thank you.

Thanks for all your hard work. Take care, everyone.

Yeah, I'm absolutely gutted.

You don't know how much you want to be in this competition

until you're not allowed to be in this competition any more.

But I'm super proud.

I wouldn't change anything.

Except for my dish today!

Not feeling great, obviously.

I hoped that I'd showed kind of enough promise,

but all I can do is walk out with my head held high

that I made it through to the quarterfinal

and wish the rest of them all the luck in the world.

Congratulations, all five of you. What an extraordinary round.

Next up, we're sending you to a restaurant

where you'll work in a professional kitchen

and cook for the paying public.

It's early morning and the five remaining contestants

are about to face the intense pressure

of their first professional restaurant service...

...at the Piazza Restaurant,

located inside London's iconic Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

It's going to be hectic, for sure.

Maybe I'll love it or maybe I'll hate it.

You don't know, but I'm really nervous.

You're cooking for paying people who have a level of expectation,

so that is absolutely petrifying.

This is the business end. Can you cut it in this environment?

So do your job, execute it. That's what I've got to do.

In charge is executive head chef Richard Robinson,

whose passion for cooking is in his blood.

Service, please.

My grandparents ran a very successful catering business.

My two uncles were also amazing chefs.

So cooking was always going to be the route that I would follow.

I applied to work at Tom Aikens.

I worked as hard as I could.

I was always prepared to be the first one in, last one out,

and it really took me to a different level.

In 2021, he took over the Piazza,

focusing on modern British dishes using London's local market produce.

I'm sure the contestants are going to be so nervous,

but at the end of the day, this is my name, it's our reputation,

and I want the food to come out of that kitchen

at the standard that I expect.

Perfection is key.

Good morning. Today, guys, we're going to be cooking five dishes

from our current a la carte menu. It's going to be hard.

It's going to be quite complex. It's going to be quite difficult.

But if you listen to what I say, we will have an awesome service.

We've got lots to do, so we're going to crack on.

Let's get in the kitchen.

The contestants have three and a half hours

to prepare each of their dishes for service.

Jack is responsible for a vegetarian pulse soup and ricotta starter.

So you've got me doing the little delicate starter, then.

Yeah. I just thought, you know, you're quite a small kind of guy!

So for you to do this might work quite well.

When I made this dish,

it was about making a lovely, autumnal, winter, harmonious soup.

But how do we take a soup to the next level?

So we're going to start with the barbecued chicory.

Just three of them, yeah? Correct. Just three.

We will then go with some sourdough croutons.

We're creating the curve,

so then the soup will be based here and not flooding the plate.

Before the hot soup is served, Jack will have to carefully plate

the chilled lemon and Parmesan flavoured ricotta

and pickled onion garnishes.

We want that height, we want that presence of the dish.

Then we come to the soup. The base of the soup is a yellow split pea.

And, Chef, that is the warm pulses with ricotta,

barbecued chicory and fig leaf oil.

Wow. Happy? Happy, yeah. It looks lovely.

Right, we've got a lot to do, Chef, so let's crack on. Yes.

Very, very delicate dish that I've been given.

And there's no room for error here.

So I've got to make sure all those little details are bang-on.

Jack's first job

is to gently simmer 300g of yellow split peas for the soup.

They take 45 minutes, so that's got to get on straight away.

Just got to keep an eye on it. It can catch.

If you warm it too quickly and too fast,

the split pea burns and you've got to start over again.

It's not familiar at all, this dish.

I think I might have made a dhal once upon a time.

My nan was renowned for her dhal.

Maybe I should have taken a bit more advice from her.

I don't know, I've never got involved with it.

Also on starters is Chart ya...

I feel fine!

...who is responsible for a dish titled Duck Hash.

Chart ya, welcome. Do you like duck? I love duck. That's good news.

Yeah. OK. So we're going to have a little bit of the con fit duck leg.

We salt and marinade the legs

and then they are then slowly cooked down

and then we add equal quantities of red wine jus to the duck

to make that lovely kind of hash base.

The duck hash is served with diced con fit potato...

I'm going to give five per portion.

...and sliced duck breast.

During the service, these will be cooked to order.

If we don't get the cooking temperature right

as the tickets come through, this could be challenging.

And then we're going to finish it with a lovely slow-cooked duck egg.

It's all about cooking that perfect duck and cooking that perfect egg.

Beautiful. Are you happy, Chef? Absolutely.

OK, let's get on with it, please. Thank you.

Oh, my God. That dish is stunning.

I don't want to let Chef Richard down,

but, yeah, I'm really excited to cook that dish.

Chart ya gets straight to work,

confiting the duck legs for the hash,

as they will need an hour to marinate.

There's a lot of ingredients in here,

but I've already put some salt in there,

rosemary in there, thyme in there.

And then now I'm going to chuck some of these bay leaves in.

If they're not salted enough and cured enough

before we start the cooking process,

you will not get that punch of flavour,

which is desired to come out.

As long as I stick with the recipe to the letter, I should be OK.

Terri is in charge of a complex hake main course

that will need to be steamed to order during service.

We will set the timer on two minutes.

OK?

Back to the section.

The hake is served with three other key components.

We have the mouclade sauce.

The flavour with the mussels stock and the fresh mussels is beautiful.

We then take our fish and we place it to the left of the dish.

It's topped with a curried apple dressing

and served with a roasted pumpkin wedge.

Bringing all these elements together at service

is going to be a challenge.

We have a warm sauce, a warm dressing, cooking the fish,

we are steaming the pumpkins to order and plating.

It could be a disaster.

It looks beautiful.

Most important thing, remember those timings in your head

and the dish will come together really easily.

I hope so. Thank you, Chef.

I do cook a lot of fish at home.

I don't normally steam fish or make mouclade sauces

or anything that fancy.

It's going to be a big ask today, but I'm looking forward to it.

Terri first needs to fillet and portion the whole hake.

I've never prepped a fish this size before.

An amateur chef preparing a whole fish, it's going to be a challenge.

I don't actually really know what I'm doing, to be honest.

Do I take them off?

They have to make sure that they clean that fish correctly

without leaving much waste on the bone.

It's going to be tricky.

That's fine. You see that line there, you want to go slightly

above it and try and use as long a motion as possible,

going all the way down the fish.

Anurag is butchering a whole loin of pork for a meat main course.

I haven't carved pork loin, but I've cooked with lamb loin,

so I feel kind of confident handling the meat itself.

Each pork chop is barbecued to order...

Making sure that that pork is cooked to perfection

will be a challenge. Absolutely.

...and served with two purees.

We have the burnt apple and the black garlic.

The dish is finished with an apple and caper dressing

and charred hispi cabbage.

The pork and red wine sauce, this is to season the cabbage.

And this is our final plate.

Of course, the main star of the show is the pork, how you cook the pork.

It should be just nice and tender and the fat should be rendered.

And then the puree should be nice and silky smooth.

Chef, can you help me, please, with this? Perfect.

If they've not done whole joints of meats,

yes, it's going to be a challenge.

Keep going down the bone. That's it. So go underneath it. That's it.

That's it. Keep going.

Chef, you've done it. Perfect. Happy? Yeah.

Very happy, thank you. Perfect.

For the first time in the competition,

Omar will be making a dessert.

Dessert is definitely not my forte.

But, yeah, everything feels like a bit of a worry at the minute.

Chef Richard's technically demanding raspberry and lime tart.

This is one of our most popular desserts on the menu, OK?

So this will be a challenge through the service.

We make a beautiful, sweet-crust pastry base.

We fill that with a diplomat,

which is a lovely white chocolate cream.

So it's pretty much to the top, right? Pretty much to the top.

OK. We then go for the raspberries. In.

Not pushing them too far in, just kind of...

Just so they hold their shape.

OK, perfect. OK?

We then need to fill each raspberry individually with the raspberry gel.

It is challenging. It's very delicate, isn't it?

The tart is then topped with raspberry jelly

and fresh lime zest.

What you're looking for is just little notes of zinginess.

Omar's other challenges on the dish

are a perfect quenelle of mascarpone cream...

You look nervous, Chef. Yeah. This is the bit I've been dreading.

Quenelle is difficult.

If the spoon is too cold, then the mix won't come off the spoon

and it will look a mess.

...and a sugar tuile.

This will be cooked to order through the service.

How do you feel?

Intimidated, but excited.

Over to you, Chef. Brilliant.

I'm worried about everything on the dessert, if I'm honest.

This is very precise, so it's going to be using

a different part of my brain today.

The only times I've ever made shortcrust pastry

was once with my nan when I was about six

and then once a few weeks ago.

So it doesn't bode well.

There's 90 minutes until service.

On the vegetarian starter,

Jack's split pea soup is on the boil...

Split peas are about five minutes away.

Then I'm going to add in onion, garlic and salt.

Another 30 minutes, then it's ready to blend.

...and he's moved on to flavouring the ricotta garnish.

I had a bit of ricotta in the ravioli I did yesterday,

but not that much.

It's got honey, Parmesan, lemon zest, that kind of stuff.

So it's just got to be balanced perfectly.

Not one thing can outweigh another.

You've got to really make sure that it sings.

Chariya's marinated con fit duck legs for the hash

have only just gone in the oven

and they will need to slow cook for just over an hour.

I'm not good at chopping shallot.

It's going to make me cry.

She's now working on the red wine sauce that,

combined with the slow-cooked leg meat, will form the duck hash.

If they don't get that done on time,

you're not going to get that full punch

and that lovely acidity and what you want from a lovely red wine jus.

Chart ya, how are you getting on, Chef?

I still need to prep the duck breast and I still need to prep the...

Oh, potato! That's a lot of potato that I need to prep!

So we just need to crack on, Chef, OK? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Chef.

On the fish course, Terri's finished filleting the hake...

Wow, fish. You've done that on your own?

I have, yeah. Very impressed, Chef.

...but she still needs to portion it into exact 150q fillets.

Just getting the right weight is difficult.

And that one's too small. I need to make my portions bigger.

It's a little bit worrying, yeah.

I've still got a lot to do in a very short space of time.

Anurag's pork chops are prepped...

Lots to be done.

...but he still needs to tackle the two key purees for the dish.

So I'm making black garlic puree.

I've never worked with black garlic ever before, but it looks amazing.

It smells great. It looks like chocolate, to be honest.

I'm prepping for the caramelised apple puree,

so this is quite technical.

So sugar has to be just caramelised, apple juice and vinegar,

to get that lovely flavour and saltiness to it.

On dessert...

Getting into it now. Starting to get some pace and moving faster.

...Omar's making good progress with the components of his tart.

I've got my pastry in the fridge,

I've got my creme diplomat warming up,

and then we're just starting the raspberry jelly.

He's now racing to make the raspberry gel garnish,

which needs to be set before service,

as well as starting his prep for his all-important tart cases.

I've still got to roll out the pastry.

And then blind baked in the oven.

So trying to find the perfect thickness for this pastry

so it doesn't crumble, but it's not too thick.

Trying to do it all at once is intense.

Guys, listen up. We've got 45 minutes until service.

OK? Doors open. Are we all good for that?

Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.

Jack's dish's main component is almost ready to go...

The split pea soup has come out lovely, yeah.

Really nice consistency. I've just got to keep an eye on it now

so it doesn't overcook when I'm keeping it warm.

...but he still needs to tackle his two main garnishes -

the sourdough breadcrumbs...

Just taken the crusts off the bread

and then I'll have to fry them down in a bit of oil.

He needs to make sure those croutons are not burnt.

They need to be nice and crispy and caramelised.

...and the chicory.

He needs to make sure that the chicory isn't overcooked.

Quite a lot to do, actually. Feeling the heat, absolutely.

Chart ya also has a huge workload left.

I love scoring the duck skin. It's very satisfying.

She's got her duck breast prepped,

but has only just started on the potatoes for confiting.

Confit potato, I haven't made it before.

So this is the first time. First time for everything, eh?

Those potatoes have to be perfectly diced and cooked.

If they're overcooked, it's not going to hold the eqgg,

it's just going to fall apart.

But we still have quite a lot to do on that dish.

Terri's also feeling the pressure,

as she's yet to start her mouclade sauce.

We need to get that on because it does take time to get on and reduce.

That mussel sauce, it has to be full of flavour.

Lots of ginger in there, lots of onion, lots of garlic.

It needs to be cooked and treated really carefully.

The onions and spices are sweated down,

so I just need to get my mussels in

and get it really reduced before I can blend it to a smooth sauce.

While her sauce reduces, she gets to work on the pumpkin.

So the pumpkin, I need to get it

into nice wedges so it sits up on the plate.

So I need to get them in the oven pretty sharpish.

I'm not sure there's going to be quite enough time

to get everything done, but we'll get there.

Having made both his purees, Anurag's almost finished his prep.

I have started prepping these giant cabbages,

so I need to prep three cabbages ready for the service.

Feeling the nerves now, but I need to just get going.

On dessert, Omar is nowhere near ready.

His pastry cases have only just finished blind baking...

...and must be delicately removed from the tart tins in one piece.

Yeah, it feels quite crucial to make sure they're not stuck.

Hence the vigorous tapping that I'm currently doing.

I've spent hours prepping all of this.

I don't want to just mess it up at the last minute.

I feel like a proud dad!

It's 12:30pm...

...and the diners are arriving.

There's a real buzz in this dining room, a real sense of excitement.

That means there's high expectation.

Every single order has to be done on time.

Our five have to deliver.

And with service just moments away...

Good. It's so tender.

Look, it's come off the bone just like that.

...Chart ya has finally managed to get her dish's main component finished.

Duck hash. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you.

Right, guys, listen up. We've got three duck hash and one pulses.

Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef. Service has begun.

Let's do this, guys, please. Yes, Chef.

The first orders are in for both Jack and Chariya's starters.

Are you watching your ducks? Yeah. Just be careful.

Get it nice and caramelised on the skin. Yes, Chef.

While Jack heats each portion of his split pea soup,

he needs to plate the chilled chicory and ricotta elements.

That's not good, is it?

You've got your plate too warm, OK?

The chicory, put it into a new plate.

Fresh ricotta and use the same onions, please. OK. Yes, Chef.

You can see, we can't have ricotta on a hot plate.

That's not going to work. So just a quick re-plate,

but hopefully I can get it up in time.

Eggs in the pan.

Meanwhile, Chart ya is attempting to juggle frying the eggs...

Watch those eggs, Chef, yeah? Just be careful.

...with plating her duck hash...

...and con fit potatoes.

We need to be quick. It's a hot food. I don't want it to go cold.

Eggs.

Just watch the yolk on that one. You've broken it.

You need to be ever so careful.

So 30 seconds on your first one, please, Chef. Yes, Chef.

OK, sauce, let's go.

After these three, we've got another six away.

Six, Chef. Service, please.

Not perfect. One of the egg yolks, I cut the edge of it,

but we managed to save it.

Jack...

Sauce, breadcrumbs, oil, yeah? Yes, Chef.

...is still on his second attempt at plating his split pea soup.

Let's go. A little bit quicker, please.

I'm doing all right. I just need to be a bit quicker.

But it's very intricate, this, and I haven't got the smallest of hands,

but I think I'm getting there.

Let's go, please. Up on the pass.

Service, please.

You've got the finesse. We just need to gain on the speed.

Jack, after this one I need three at the same time, please. Yes, Chef.

Food is ready when it's ready at home. Not here.

It needs to be ready five minutes ago.

I need these three ASAP, please.

That's the story of my life, though, needing to speed up.

Service, please.

Oh, hello. Thank you very much.

There's this amazing balance of flavour here

with sort of sharp and sweet, rich and creamy.

And then there's a smoothness that comes from the puree

with the crunch of the breadcrumbs.

Really accomplished dish from Jack.

With multiple orders on for Jack's soup...

Nine all day. Another nine?

Yeah, it's a popular dish.

...the checks are also piling up for Chariya's duck.

Eh, I'm OK, I think! A bit slow but I'm getting there.

Oh, that one slide off.

Shall I replate this? Carefully, carefully!

Slide off.

Just need to be a little bit more careful

on these duck eggs, Chef, yeah? Yeah.

We need to move a little bit quicker, please. Yes, sir. OK?

Yes, Chef.

Nice, nice. Red wine sauce.

Let's go. Coming up. Coming up, sir.

Service, please.

Are you hiring, sir?

Am I hiring?

Are you hiring? I love it! You're not even finished service yet, Chef.

Sorry!

Sometimes it's not perfect,

like my eggs is cracked and broken.

You need to do it again. But that's fine.

The duck leg is lovely and soft, a lovely rich sauce inside it,

and that's going really nicely with that lovely, silky, smooth egg

yolk that runs across the top.

Potatoes are nice and soft.

It's really good.

Ow, ow, ow, ow, Ow.

Ooh, that's hot.

Anurag and Terri are up next with main courses.

I need three hake and one pork.

Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.

As well as steaming the hake to perfection,

Terri has to heat up her three garnishes.

A bit stressed now. I've got some plates to get up,

but it's going to plan.

Anurag is also under way for several orders of his pork.

Yes, it looks like amazing barbecue.

Hopefully it tastes good.

If that pork's overcooked or undercooked, we're going

to have massive problems.

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

I think this is the most challenging part

is plating everything up and getting it ready last minute

to go out when the checks come in.

Let's start laying the pumpkins.

30 seconds on there.

Three hake, please. Yes, Chef.

The fish is cooked to perfection, and those pumpkin wedges

aren't falling over. That's good cooking.

Three more, please. Enjoying it?

Yeah, I'm enjoying the pressure. Yeah?

Let's go, please. Chef. Caramelisation OK?

Perfect, perfect.

With the chef happy with his pork...

We need to just move that a little bit quicker, please, yeah?

...Anurag must now plate the dish flawlessly.

This is pretty intense, but I'm loving it.

Make sure your dressing for your pork's ready,

make sure those sage leaves are nice.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Chef, one pork coming in.

Meanwhile...

Can I get these three fish right now? Yes, Chef.

...orders for Terri's fish are piling up.

Right, let's start dressing this fish.

You want every customer to eat the same plate of food.

So, yeah, that bit's quite tricky.

Let's finish with a little bit of the smoked rapeseed.

Chef, this is beautiful. You've done it justice, Chef. Well done.

Thank you, Chef. Service, please!

The quality that I'm seeing going out is tremendous.

So we've got nine more fish to go after this.

Whoo!

Ah, thank you very much.

Such a buzz, like a rush to be up at the pass delivering dishes.

The adrenaline kind of takes over.

What time's dinner service?

Fish is cooked beautifully.

I really like that little crispy bit of onion inside the batter.

The curry leaves across the top giving it a real lovely oomph.

The sauce, that's really good.

It looks really pretty. I really like the look of it.

Chef, three more pork.

Let's keep it going. All right?

Service is at its peak and Anurag is feeling the pressure.

They're not cooked. OK. Yeah?

It just needs a little slight longer.

So you're just waiting for your pork to cook?

Now make it as good as what you've been doing all day. Chef.

Pork is done.

Yeah, nice. A little bit around the plate. Yeah?

Bit more. Bit more.

Perfect. Yep.

Service, please.

Well, what to say? It was fantastic.

I loved it.

I hope I was able to do justice to the flavour in the dishes,

what they have designed over years, I'm sure.

This is technically absolutely brilliant.

Everything's cooked really well.

Pork chops - lovely and soft.

The purees are wonderfully smooth. Really lovely.

Omar, first ticket in.

Two raspberry tarts, Chef.

The focus is now on Omar and his dessert.

It's the first time I've ever made a tuile.

Learning as I go.

Making sure it all kind of goes under the grill

and that's my kind of timer to then start everything else.

So it's just making sure they're not burnt as well.

With the tuile baking, he has just minutes to get

the intricate tarts plated.

He needs to keep one eye on the oven

or the tuile will burn in seconds.

My hands are shaking a little bit.

It's very dainty.

It's just deadly quiet.

You can feel all eyes on you as you're plating up.

Just getting ready to do my quenelle.

I know it's difficult, but try and keep that nice, neat shape.

We need to be a little bit quicker,

otherwise it's going to overheat and all that hard work

will be for nothing, Chef.

Right, Chef, go and grab your hot tuile as well.

Remember, these set really quickly.

Right. Shall we go with our first tarts up? Yes, Chef.

Perfect. Right, let's go with another three, please, Omar.

Yes, Chef.

That shortbread tart base, which is lovely

and golden, cooked beautifully.

A portion of lovely rich cream in there with the raspberries

is a really lovely balance.

First time he's had to do a dessert,

not the sort of thing he's used to, but it's really delicious.

I might just be a dessert convert.

I know the pressure's on.

We are busy, but we need to pick up the pace, please.

Looking good, Chef. Looking very good.

Look at that. Natural! Are you happy?

Yes, Chef. They're looking great.

OK, let's go. Service, please!

Last table.

Chef. Thank you, Chef. You smashed it, no?

Loved that. Thank you so much. Well done.

It definitely took it out of me today.

The pace was insane, but I loved every minute of it.

I'm so surprised I did.

So if you can do this, like the sky's the limit.

The amateurs' first restaurant service is finally at an end.

It was tough, I'm not going to lie,

obviously having five amateurs in the kitchen, but I've spoken

to most tables in the restaurant, and the service today

was very, very, very, very good.

Overall, I'm generally very happy.

Today has been amazing.

The adrenaline just takes over.

It's definitely up there with one of the best days

that I've ever experienced.

Oh, my God. It's amazing!

I really enjoyed every minute in there.

Actually, I did ask Chef Richard, I was like,

"Um, Chef, are you hiring?"

SHE GIGGLES

I definitely want to work in a kitchen again.

I've picked up a few techniques and stuff and just realised how high

the attention to detail has to be to cook at this level.

What an adventure knockout week has been so far.

Our five have had a baptism of fire.

But next up, it's all to play for, Gregg's back and they are cooking

for a place in the semifinal.

Next time, the final ten are back.

OK, this is the hardest one. Steady hands for this bit.

Just one challenge stands

between them and a place in the semifinals.

That's genius. I'd pay for that.

Mate, I'm delighted by the food you're serving me - again!