All language subtitles for MasterChef (UK) The Professionals S17E08

From across the UK...

..32 up-and-coming chefs
are putting their reputations

on the line...

..in the battle to become
Professional MasterChef Champion.

Tonight, four new hopefuls
compete to impress

MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace,

renowned chef Monica Galetti

and culinary legend Marcus Wareing.

I can't wait to start
cooking for the judges.

100%, I can win the competition.

I'm feeling nervous.

There's been a lot of sleepless
nights, but I'm ready to take on

a challenge like this
and hopefully go all the way.

As a younger chef, I want to show
that experience isn't everything.

I'm going to be giving
the competition all my energy.

Hopefully, I come out winning.

This is my prime, optimal time
in my career to really showcase

my style of cooking.

I've practised nonstop
relentlessly for a month.

Hopefully, it works out.

Who's got what it takes to set
this competition alight?

It's time to uncover
a new culinary superstar.

Ready to go?

We've seen some
outstanding talent.

I'm pretty sure we're
going to see some more.

First up, they're going
to face the Skills Test.

Marcus, this is your Skills Test.

Please tell us what it
is you're going to do.

I would like our chefs
to make us a blue cheese gnudi

with a vibrant broccoli soup.

A gnudi is very much like
gnocchi but, where gnocchi

is potato and flour,

this is semolina and ricotta.

I'm very much looking
forward to this

because I'm not sure people
will know what gnudi is.

So off you go, Marcus.
20 minutes. Will do.

Get the soup under way first.

So a bit of oil in the pan,

sliced onion,
bit of salt, bit of pepper.

Lovely.

I want them to use
all of the broccoli.

So we'll cut the head
of the broccoli down first

because that's where
all the vibrant green is.

That can go in at the end.

And the core of it,
I'm going to slice down

and get that cooking away first.

I'm really happy to see you
using the stem of the broccoli.

I think too many people
throw it away.

By slicing it thin like this,

it just gets it cooking
a lot quicker.

So just get that in there as well.
They're making a soup.

They've got limited time.

So, for me, it's really important
that they do break it down

and not just chop
the whole thing up and put it in

and just hope for the best.
I want to taste the broccoli.

I don't want watery soup.
And also we want to see some colour.

It's a broccoli soup.

Now we can put it in the top.

Mm!

And put in our vegetable stock.

The broccoli is all cooked down.

I'm just going to put
in a good splash of cream.

Bring that up to the boil.

And then I'm going to turn it off
and just let that just cool down

for a little bit
before I put it in my blender.

So the gnudi, very, very simple.

We've got ricotta cheese, egg yolk.

Normally, the gnudi
is just ricotta cheese,

but I'm adding blue cheese as well.

Just makes this dumpling just that
little bit more interesting.

In with the semolina.

Mix those up.

Is it the same texture
as a potato gnocchi?

It's actually a little bit
firmer, but it's got really,

really good flavour.

The challenge with the gnudi
is they need to be able to feel

the texture of it and know
when it's firm enough to be shaped.

They can roll them up
whatever size they like.

My water's come up to the boil.
It's seasoned.

I'm going to just drop
the gnudi into that.

They'll take about
two to three minutes.

If they continue just cooking them,
it's going to go really,

really, really hard.

I'm going to take them out
and dry them,

and then I'm going to
saute those off.

So I've just put a little bit
of sage leaf in,

just to enhance the flavour
of the butter.

A little grated pine nuts.

Toast those off. Very, very nice.

Right, out they come.

So, soup in.

So we put a handful of the spinach
in there too.

Give it colour again?
A bit more colour.

Absolutely stunning colour.

We are ready to dress.

Drop your little dumplings in.

Little bit of nutmeg.

That's beautiful! Beautiful.

There we have it. Blue cheese gnudi

with a vibrant broccoli soup
with a little finish of nutmeg,

sage and pine nuts.

Wonderful.
I'm really loving those gnudi.

Dense, firm dumplings
with their salty hints

of blue cheese to finish.

Broccoli soup packed
full of broccoli flavour.

It's not just a bowl of soup.
It's so much more than that.

And I'm expecting the chefs
to create something that has got

deliciousness to it
but also looks amazing too.

Monica, we're going to say goodbye
to you for a little while.

You're going to watch
on the monitor.

Come back for the tasting
and the chat. Right?

Ooh!

Great challenge.
Are we ready to meet our first chef?

Let's get them in.

Chef patron Dani has been cooking
professionally for 12 years...

..and opened her own fine
dining restaurant in 2020.

We've been open
for three and a half years.

The food style here is very
seasonal, very light, very fresh.

I would say that travelling
has definitely influenced my food,

especially living in Norway.

The fish and the shellfish
is so good over there.

Not only that, like,
it's very heavily influenced

with a lot of Chinese and
Japanese culture over there.

I applied to MasterChef
because I wanted to push myself.

I'm kind of ready for like an
extra challenge on top of running

a restaurant
to see what I'm made of, really.

Dani, hello. Hello.
Welcome to Professional MasterChef.

Thank you. You look pretty confident
and ready for action.

No! No? Looks can be deceiving!
Right. OK.

I would like you to make for us
a blue cheese gnudi

served with a broccoli soup.
Heard of that before?

Yeah. It's a ricotta
gnocchi type thing.

I don't think I've ever
made one, but... Wow!

I said Chef was ready for action!
Yeah! 20 minutes.

Over to you. Off you go.

So I'm going to use the onions
and garlics to sweat off first

for my broccoli soup.

How long have you been a chef, Dani?

I think it's like 12, 13 years now.

And can you remember the spark
that got you into it?

I used to cook a lot with my nana
when I was younger.

Stirring a lot of gravies
and making a lot of jam tarts.

Was Nana a good cook? Yeah.

Hopefully, she'll go back and
use the stem of the broccoli.

There's so much flavour in there.

And if she's going to
put it all in like this,

she should really cut it down.

So I've got a little bit
of butter added.

Then I'll put the stock in,
reduce it down a bit,

a little bit of the cream,
and then when I'm blitzing it

I'm going to use the spinach

so it keeps a little bit more
of the green colour in there.

Nice.

You've had six minutes.
You've got 14 minutes left.

Can you tell me your plan
for making the gnudi?

I think I'll start with the ricotta
and the blue cheese together,

add in the yolk and then
the semolina last to get it

to the right consistency. Well done.

What consistency
are you looking for?

I don't know, really.
I've never made it before.

I'm aiming to go the same
as what I would do with a gnocchi,

to be honest.
She's doing really well.

I really like how calm she is.

You are halfway.

You've got ten minutes left.

Where have you been
with your career?

So I started up
in the Lake District,

and then I went to Oslo, Norway,
and stayed there for five years.

I cooked at a few restaurants there,
and then I came back home

to open my own place.

So you're a restaurant owner.
Why have you come into MasterChef?

I think it's good
to challenge myself.

I mean, I might be regretting
it now, but I thought it'd be fun!

Right. You've got about
six and a half minutes left.

Your soup is still in the pan,
I assume, almost ready to blitz.

Yeah. Your gnudi is
waiting to cook. Yeah.

You need to get things moving,
then. Yes, Chef.

She needs to finish her soup.

She was going to put
some spinach in it.

What's the butter for?

I was just going to fry off
the gnudi a little bit.

Not really sure if that's
what you do do, to be honest.

She's got some sage in there.
That's great.

Right, you've got about
a minute left. Yes, Chef.

Where's the rest of the soup?

Put it in the bowl!
Give us more soup!

Oh, right, OK!

Sorry! Well, it's up to you,
but it's a soup! Yes, Chef.

The soup looks good.
Looks thick. Great colour.

Looks smooth.

Hey!

She's doing really well.

All right. You done? Just in time.

Well done! Well done, Dani.

That was good to watch!
Good start to the day.

Dani, are you feeling good?
Yeah, I feel better now.

The soup, I would like to have
seen you use the stem or the core

of the broccoli because
the stems really do carry

quite a lot of flavour.

But I'm really pleased
that you knew what the gnudi was.

You've boiled them,
you've fried them.

You did exactly what I did.
You know, you've got the sage leaves

and the pine nuts as well. You're
not a million miles away here!

You've never made a gnudi before
but you've made gnocchi,

so you just felt your way around it.
You didn't panic.

To be able to perform in this
kitchen for the first time

the way you did is very impressive.

Dani, there's big smiles over here.

Really looking forward
to you in the next round.

Off you go
with a smile on your face!

It went better than I thought
it was going to go.

They said some reassuring stuff
at the end, so I feel very relieved.

Next up is 21-year-old junior
sous-chef Evan...

He looks so young!

..who works at a Michelin star
restaurant in Birmingham.

I sort of fell into being a chef.

I was just looking for a job,

and then I turned up to the back
door of a nice, high-end restaurant

and threw myself in there.

I do enjoy plating.

You've almost got the freedom
on the plate to do what you want.

I'm very happy that I've found
a job that I want to do

for the rest of my life.

I've entered the competition
to get my name out there

while I'm young
so everyone knows who I am.

How are you, Evan?
Yeah, good, thank you.

I'd like you to make
a blue cheese gnudi

and serve that with broccoli soup.
You look slightly nervous.

Yeah, a little bit.
Do you know what a gnudi is?

No! Any ideas? I ain't got a clue.

It's almost like a gnocchi. Oh, OK.

20 minutes. Over to you.

What's the plan?

Get the broccoli on first
so I can get it blending

to make the soup.

Oh, no, Evan!

Not a fan of broccoli stems, Chef?

No, not really.

Evan just charged into it.

Just broccoli into the water.
But he's just let it boil.

It's just going to taste of water.

Onions, I'm going to sweat
them down with the garlic.

All those flavours
need to come together.

You don't boil the
vegetables separately.

How old are you? I am 21.

I started off cooking
since I was 16.

So you've been in the industry
a good five years now, then?

Yeah. Good five years now.
Nice one.

Any chefs in the family?
Your mum and dad in catering?

Um, my grandad was a chef
when he was younger

but went to the food safety side
of it when he was a bit older.

Ten minutes left. Nerves calming
down now you're working?

No, not really!

Come on, Evan! He's a bit nervous.

So what are you thinking now, Evan?

I'm going to roll out the gnudi,
just to get the shape

to what I want, and fry it off
and get the soup made.

It's quite a big gnudi.

That broccoli is just
going to go to mush.

Ah, he's draining it.

Thank goodness for that.

He's just going to blend it all

so it'll mean that
the flavours haven't developed.

So you've boiled up the broccoli
and then you put that in the blender

with some fried onions,
garlic and stock? Yeah.

It's like making a broccoli smoothie.

You have five minutes left.
Soup's made.

Your gnudi need to be cooked. Yeah.

Oh, he's not going to blanch them.
He needs to blanch them first.

It could cook this way, actually,
if he leaves it in there enough.

Evan, you've got two minutes. Yeah.

Start thinking about getting
this dish together, all right?

Yep.

Are you done? Yeah.

That was tough. That was tough.

Evan. Hi there. Hi.

Guess it's been a while
since you've made soup. Yeah.

Evan, the soup,
there's just no real flavour.

Making a soup is about letting
it simmer and everything

coming together with the onions,
the garlic, your broccoli in there.

And then we blend it up. But you
cooked everything separately.

You threw the stem
of the broccoli away.

And using the stem of the broccoli
is the key to its real core flavour.

Your gnudi, I have to say, I've
never seen it made like this before.

You blanch them in water
to cook out the flour,

which is really important.

The gnudi isn't cooked,
which is such a shame.

I should imagine you will learn
a valuable lesson from this.

I think you may have a point
to prove. Yeah, definitely.

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

Yeah, I'm feeling down,
disappointed.

Just the nerves getting to me
as well as not knowing what it was.

Hopefully, I can show them
what I can actually cook

with my own dishes.

Two chefs down.
We're about to meet some new chefs.

And, of course, a new
Skills Test, Monica.

This one is yours.
What is the test, please?

I would like our chefs to make us
citrus cured sea bass tacos

served with a vegetable garnish
and crispy fish skin.

What's the difference
between citrus cured and ceviche?

It is very similar to a ceviche.

It's going to have all
the citrus through it.

But I'm adding in coconut milk,
which is how we have it

where I'm from
in the Pacific Islands.

It's a Skills Test
with a difference.

20 minutes. Monica, please show us.

All right, we'll get started.

First thing I want to do
is prepare my lovely sea bass.

So you want to see the mark
along the spine of the fish,

just above the fins here.

And then, as you gently open it up,
just let the knife do the work.

The key is getting the fillets
off beautifully and the carcass

with hardly any meat on it.

I think it's a good test
of our chefs' skills.

There we go. Everything off.

So sea bass,
there's not that many bones,

there should be about five or six.

But they've got to make
sure they take them out.

I'm taking the skin off.

Using the skin to crisp up.

You make that look so easy!

I've got a pan here, a bit of
greaseproof paper on the bottom.

Fish skin goes in.

I thought they might try
and do it in the oven.

They could do it in the oven.
You can. Yeah, absolutely.

So I've got my fillet
and then I'm dicing the fish.

But they can do it however they want.

If they want to slice it, they can.

This is where we're going
to have to be precise

because you don't want big bits,
little bits,

all different shapes and sizes.

You want an even curing
when you're adding

all the other ingredients,
which is really important.

So, onto my tacos.

We're giving them the dough made.

Just check the size.

What I want is a taco that I can
serve the cured fish on top

and you can just pick it up.

So pretty good. Happy with that.

So a hot pan. As long as it
starts to speckle a little bit,

then that's ready to be turned.

So literally a couple of seconds
each side? That's it?

Yes. For the garnish of my
cured fish, I want to make sure

all my vegetables are ready.

I like it to be kept
as uniform as possible

so it all looks so good when
it's mixed through with that fish.

Very light, very healthy.

We have red onion.

We've got the cucumber, spring onion.

We've got the chilli
and tomatoes in there.

So what I want to do now
is take my fish, limes and a lemon.

You want your fish to stay
as fresh as possible.

The minute the citrus gets
into it, it's starting to cure,

it's going to start to cook it

and it's going to have a
completely different texture.

That's why Monica
is doing it last minute.

So I'm adding in coconut milk.

I don't expect them to
use the coconut milk.

But I'd like to see them
maybe try it.

Everything goes in.

I have a feeling they won't do that.

I think they'll put the coloured veg
on the top of the taco.

We'll see.

We're going to put our tacos
onto the plate.

And then just breaking
over the crispy fish skin

for that texture.

And there we have it, guys.

Superb. Citrus cured sea bass,
tacos and crispy fish skin.

Wow.

That is really light,
sharp and delicious.

You make it look incredibly simple
because it's your dish.

But under the pressure
of the Skills Test,

this is a task that's going
to really push our chefs, I think.

Marcus, we've demolished this!
See you back in a little bit.

I want to know if our chefs
have done any fish curing.

I'm really interested in this.

Come on. Are we ready?
Oh, always ready!

First up is 26-year-old
senior sous-chef George,

who works at a Michelin
star restaurant in York

and takes huge pride
in using ingredients

from the farm it's located on.

The restaurant which I'm currently
at, we've got a huge kitchen garden.

We have our own cattle, sheep, pigs.

It's like a chef's dream,
living around here

and being able to use
these ingredients.

I want to do MasterChef
because this past year as a chef

I feel like I've just matured
and matured and matured.

I'm confident at the minute.

I just want to get in there,
put your chef's head on

and go for it.

Hello, George. Hi, Gregg.

Welcome to Professional MasterChef.

This is a Skills Test set by Monica.

George, I would like you to make
for us a citrus cured sea bass

served with tacos
and crispy fish skin.

How does that sound? Yeah, good.
I've worked with curing fish before.

I've made a taco before.

It's just putting it together
and trying to do it in the time.

Brilliant. 20 minutes. Off you go.

Straight down the back. Good start.

Do you like handling fish?
I do, yeah.

I do a lot of fishing myself.

I've fished since I was
about four years old.

Used to go to Ireland,
salmon fishing. Yeah. OK.

That second fillet is not
as good as the first.

Look at all that meat
left on that bone.

Any other outdoor pursuits?

I do a bit of shooting.
Game birds when it's the season.

Too much flesh left on that skin.

He's going to need to take that off
if he's going to get crispy skin.

I'm going to just pop the skin

between two bits of greaseproof
paper and pop it in the oven.

That will never get crispy.
Never, never, never, never, never.

Six minutes gone, George.
Six minutes? Wow.

Yeah, mate. You are racing!

He's got some salt on a tray
so he's going to cure the fish

as a whole piece.

Wow, that's a lot of salt!

This is not what Monica wanted.

Citrus cured sea bass, not salt.

I think he's just realised
he has not pin-boned it.

I'm annoyed, I've just not
took these out. There we go.

He should have done
the pin-boning earlier.

You are halfway. Halfway?

You've had ten minutes.

Where you're working,

are they supportive
of you being here?

Very supportive.

My boss,
he's been my number one helper.

He's been in every weekend
trying my dishes.

Hey!

Tacos are good.

Now needs to concentrate
on the vegetable garnishes.

I'm going to make a little salsa
with onions, cucumbers, pepper.

It's a little chunky salad
he's got there.

That fish, I'm going to just do
some nice thin slices of it.

It's going to be too salty.

Please wash that fish.

What am I doing?

I'm just going to quickly rinse
it off so it's not salty.

Thank goodness for that!

Ooof!

Sorry, how long have I got left?
Three minutes now, Chef.

No need to worry about the skin.
That's definitely not cooked.

He's running out of time. Come on.

Is it crisping?
It's not as crispy as I'd like it.

I don't really want to serve it,
to be honest. No, all right.

You've got about 30 seconds,
so we need to finish the plate.

Oui.

The most important part of this dish
is the citrus dressing.

And it's not there at all.

Right, your time's up.
You all right, George? Yeah.

Hi, George. Hi, Chef.

I have to say, that was a pretty
interesting watch back there.

The taco's slightly undercooked.
The fish, you left a lot

of the protein on the skin,

hence it was never
going to crisp up in time.

The curing of the fish,
you did a salt cure.

I was hoping you would do
a citrus cure.

Monica, her citrus cure was
squeezing the citrus into a bowl

and making a lovely dressing with
oil and seasonings and coconut milk.

There's no citrus. The citrus
there right in front of you

is calling out,
"Squeeze me, squeeze me!"

That's the point of difference.
Yeah, Chef. You look bashed up.

Don't be too tough on yourself.

There's a big, big,
important round coming.

Off you go. See you soon.

I'm not happy with it at all.

It's not even a scratch
on the standard which I work to

on a day to day basis.

The pressure's on now, yeah.

It's go hard or go home
at the end of the day.

Last in is 40-year-old
senior sous-chef Dairo.

Originally from Colombia,

he discovered his love for cooking
when arriving in the UK in 2009.

In Colombia, I am a PE teacher.

I come to London
just to study English.

Now I end up in a different
world, in a kitchen.

I've been working as a chef
for 12 years now.

I really like it.

I am a competitive person,
always trying to challenge myself.

In the future, I would love
to be having my own restaurant,

showing my own cuisine
from Colombia.

And I want to really show
to the world how exactly Colombia

is in the gastronomy side.

Dairo, I would like you to make
for us a citrus cured sea bass

served with tacos and
a crispy fish skin garnish.

Perfect. 20 minutes. Good luck.

Dairo, do you have much
experience with prepping fish?

I am from Colombia, so we go
very familiar with the fish.

Seems to know his way around.
Very nice.

So, growing up in Colombia,
you must be familiar

with dishes like ceviche?

Yes, we love ceviche in Colombia.

And we eat a lot of ceviche.

So he's cleaning the skin down.

At least he's remembered
that we need a crispy skin.

My dad, he was the first person
to make me try what ceviche is.

He's got his skin cooking away
there. He's removing the pin bones.

It's good.

So he's now slicing the fish
into little slices.

It's good. That's what Monica did.

You've got 12 minutes left.
Now I'm going to attempt the tacos.

You look like you've made them
before. Are they a family favourite?

Yes, we love it.

And I've got one of these
at home as well.

Still got a lot of work to do.

He's got the marinade to make.
He's got some garnish to chop up.

And he's got to get the tacos
cooked and cooled down.

I will apply the citrus
to marinate the fish.

What's going to go in the marinade?

The marinade,
I will make it like quite citrus.

And I will fill it with maybe
a little bit of coconut milk

and chilli peppers.

Got a little kick as well
with the Tabasco.

I can see that's nice.

Dairo, you've got
about five minutes left.

That's not necessary.

He's just going to slow
the cooking of the tacos down.

Just remove it. It's preventing
any colour on the tacos.

Now there's some heat there.
Turn them over!

Whoa!

He's removed the burnt taco,
which is nice.

Dairo, you've got two minutes left.

The biggest problem he's going to
have is that those tacos are warm,

just out of the pan, and he's
going to put raw fish on top.

Speed it up a little bit, please.

He needs to get a move on.
He's going to run out of time.

Put the fish skin on the plate?

OK, stop.

Fish skin tacos.
Time just got the better of him.

Let's go say hello.

Hello, Chef. Hello, Marcus.

Your cured sea bass
using the citrus flavours,

I like that you wanted to
use the coconut milk.

That's how we make it
where I'm from.

The crispy skin,
I used it more for texture.

Just like broke it up into it.

I think just take a bit more time
on the detail of your chopping,

but it's a good start.

I think the tacos
could have been on a lot sooner

so they had time to cool down
because you don't want a warm,

hot taco with a cured fish.

But I have to say, you've got
all the little bits and pieces

on show there and it's
a very, very good effort.

I think that's perfectly yummy!
I would have liked a whole one!

But you only served two
because you burnt the other one.

Uh, yeah. Sorry about that.

Dairo, thank you very much.
We'll see you in the next round.

Yeah. Thank you, Chef. Thank you.

The time goes very quickly.

You open and close your eyes
and then the time is gone.

But I feel very good.
They enjoyed the two tacos

they'd got left,
so that made me feel happy.

Overall, guys, I think we've got

quite a bit of promise
in the kitchen.

Dani, who did your soup,
looks absolutely fantastic.

Good job. Very close as well.

Young Evan, I think the pressure
got the best of him.

George didn't manage to get
the citrus or the citrus cure.

He just didn't connect.
Dairo did a great job.

He knew how to make it,
it's something he does,

and good skills on show
as well, which I thought

was really good to see.

Let's see what they're
going to do next.

I'm really, really looking
forward to the next round.

Now it's about your signature
two course menu.

The food that you love.
One main course, one dessert.

I'm really looking forward to this.
Make sure you do it well.

At the end of this,
two of you will be going through

to a quarterfinal.

Two of you, sadly, will be
leaving the competition.

90 minutes.
Grab yourself a quarterfinal place.

Off you go.

The judges haven't seen me
at my best yet.

I chose both these dishes
because they taste really good

and they look amazing on the plate.

Evan, how are you feeling
after your Skills Test round?

I'm feeling a bit nervous
after the Skills Test

because it didn't go
to plan as I wanted.

Tell us about your two dishes.
For the main course,

I'm doing sea bream with a shellfish
sauce with double cream at the end

to finish it off and courgettes
with a dashi gel. A dashi gel?

Yeah. Interesting.

Where did that bit of Asian
flavouring come from?

So from my workplace, showing a
bit of Asian flavours in it,

and I've sort of brung
it into my cooking.

Did you always know
you were going to be a chef?

I used to love cooking when
I was younger, but my dad,

he teaches golf,
so he wanted me to be a golfer,

but really didn't
turn out like that!

Evan, he's got bags of nerves,
but he's keeping them under control.

It's all going well.
All going to plan.

You've got a sea bream, lovely
round fish, two fillets on it.

You've got to take it off
beautifully, pin bone.

But don't leave it
too long in the pan.

Courgette, sea herbs.
We've also got a shellfish sauce.

He's got lobster shells through it.

It smells so fragrant.

But if he reduces it too much,
it can get very salty.

So this sauce is a key part
to the dish.

Very flavoursome.

It brings the whole dish together.

The dashi gel is a nice touch.

You want to taste the dashi stock,
which has flavours of the sea,

and hopefully he remembers
to put enough of that gel

so it doesn't get lost in the sauce.

For the dessert, it's going
to be a bit like a mille-feuille.

Instead of using puff pastry,
I'm using brioche

and I'm going to do
apple marigold cremeux in the middle

of that with fresh strawberries
and strawberry sauce.

These dishes have been practised?

Yeah, I've been practising
these dishes throughout service,

after service, on my break.

As we're talking to you, so
your confidence seems to be...

Yeah, it comes out eventually.

I was very quiet as soon
as I came into the kitchen.

Didn't come out of my shell.
Now I don't shut up at work, so...!

Evan's dessert is a toasted brioche
layered mille-feuille.

So I've frozen the brioche
to make it easier to cut.

I'm going to put it in the oven
to toast off.

Overcooked, and it'll be bitter
and just crumble away

and be too dry.

We're going to have
apple marigold cremeux.

That sounds delicious.

I do love the flavours
of apple marigold,

the herb that actually
is very fragrant

and does have essence
of apples running through it.

We've got apple marigold gel,
strawberry sauce,

but a mille-feuille
is about the presentation.

The perfect layers with the filling
looking absolutely brilliant.

I've made sure today that
I wasn't too overambitious.

Just to make sure that I can 100%
get everything on the plate

and it tastes perfect.

Careful.

Glass bowl, Chef.
That's what we've done.

Careful, careful.

Whoa!

What's in there?

It's apple marigold gel.
Why is there a glass bowl in there?

I've never used a glass bowl
in the kitchen before.

So why did you put it in there then?
I didn't think it would shatter!

I really did not think that
it would shatter like that.

Evan just had an accident.

He put a glass bowl
with a hot liquid

inside the vacuum pack machine.

Of course, once he switched
it on, the bowl exploded.

So he's had to throw all that away
and start all over again.

I'm not going to vac-pack
it this time.

I've chosen these two dishes

because it's food
that I like to cook.

I think they eat really well

and they show something
about my flavours.

So I just hope that the
judges do too, really.

Dani, tell us about your two dishes.

So I'm cooking a hogget loin
for my main course,

with a celeriac puree,
some roasted maitake mushrooms

and some lemon thyme pickle gel.

You don't see a lot of hogget.
I love hogget.

That's the middle between a lamb
and a fully grown sheep.

Why are you using that?

I prefer the flavour
than sometimes I do lamb.

Yeah, I just thought
it'd be something good to use.

We don't see hogget very often,
but we do like it.

It's that beautiful flavoured lamb
that's just a little bit aged.

Lovely sort of fat content
just sitting on the top.

Just perfectly caramelised.

And, of course, pink.

You never know until you cut
into it, but it feels OK.

Your celeriac puree,
cooked down beautifully

in milk or cream, seasoned,
blended so it's nice and smooth.

We've got onion petals,
crispy shallot.

And I've just dusted them in some
flour now and then just crisping

them up for a little bit
of texture on the dish.

We've got the maitake mushrooms
which she's going to pickle.

And then afterwards she's going to
toss them through in some butter.

And a pickled lemon thyme jam.

That sounds delicious.

For dessert, I'm doing a posset
set with grapefruit juice

and lemon juice.
Grapefruit segments,

a couple of little dots
of salted caramel,

some fresh wasabi
and a celery and apple granita.

Did you say wasabi
is on the dessert? Yeah.

So just a little bit grated
over the last minute,

just to give it a little bit
of like heat and freshness.

You talked about your food being
influenced by your time in Norway.

Food is very light
and very fresh there.

So, with the dessert,
I've tried to aim around that.

Something to cleanse your palate
with after.

Dani's dessert, posset.
I love posset.

And she's not only doing a lemon
posset, she's adding a little bit

of grapefruit into it as well.

Posset is a set cream,
so Dani's got to make sure

she gets that in the fridge
as soon as possible.

So I'm just setting my possets
now in the fridge,

so hopefully they'll be set in time.

We've also got red grapefruit
as a garnish, salted caramel.

But this is the most
interesting bit.

It's the fresh wasabi which she's
going to be grating over the top.

Now, having it with lemon and
grapefruit, that's a first for me.

Personally, I think
the wasabi really works

because it cleans your palate out.
I don't want to put too much on.

That's the whole point of it.
That's why they put it on sushi.

It's trying to find
the balance of it.

We've also got celery
and apple granita.

Celery and apple, you would eat them
on a cheese board together.

So they do work together.

Points of detail and imagination
running wild here.

Chefs, you're halfway.

There's no time to take it easy.
There's no time to relax.

Why are you doing that?

The heat, it made the coconut
flesh to get out quickly.

Soon, I start breaking it out.
Oh, yeah?

This is all or nothing.

This is a good opportunity for me
to show what Colombia is about.

Dairo, I'm really excited
by the ingredients on your bench.

What are you making, please?

I got one dish from the
Pacific Coast of Colombia

and I got another
dish from the Caribbean.

So Colombia has got
the Pacific Ocean side? Yes.

And it's got the Atlantic Ocean
side with the Caribbean? Yes.

Yeah! From the Pacific Coast,
the dish is called encocado.

What's encocado? Encocado
just means that we serve it

like in a small bowl with prawns,

monkfish, yam puree, corn,

and we fill it with peach palm.
So that comes from a palm tree?

That's the one.
And what do they taste like?

They taste quite natural,
coconut flavour. Wow!

Dairo has got some
incredible ingredients,

but he's also got a huge amount
of work to do as well.

His monkfish
needs to be perfectly cooked.

Carabinero prawns, some
of the best prawns you can buy.

So you've got to treat them
with delicate hands.

They don't need much cooking at all.

We've got fried plantains.

We've got yam puree, peach palm.

I don't think I've had peach palm
before, but I can't wait to try it.

Corn on the cob.

I mean, there's so much.
I'm really concerned.

He's also got a coconut sauce,

but his coconut sauce
has already boiled over.

You close your eyes and
then the milk has just evaporated.

So I have to really keep an eye
on the...on the milk.

That's the dish
from the Pacific side? Yes.

So what's the dish
from the Caribbean side?

From the Caribbean,
we're using cassava, coconut.

And then I will make a cake
with those two ingredients.

And then we finish with a
goat cheese mousse... What?!

..to go on top of the cake.

And then we've got feijoa ice cream.
I used to be a greengrocer.

I used to sell feijoas.

They're like the taste
of like an apple and a lime.

Yes. I'm excited, Chef. I am too.
Really excited.

Thank you. No problem. Good luck.

Cassava and coconut cake,
it's just unusual.

Cassava are a type of edible shrub
with a slightly woody root.

Let's see what it brings
to the party.

We've also got a goat's cheese
mousse as well. Interesting.

A goat's cheese mousse,

it's almost like an addition
of a whipped cream,

but I think the acidity will
bring a different flavour.

We've got a cashew honeycomb,

got coconut and rum gel,
and crispy sweetcorn.

Already, my taste buds are blown,
so I have no idea

what to expect from this.

Colombia, we eat a lot of sweetcorn.

And we use it in savoury
and the sweet as well.

We've got feijoa ice cream.

I love feijoas. It's a fruit
of my childhood from New Zealand,

but I've only ever
had feijoa as a sorbet,

not in an ice cream,
so I can't wait to try this.

Chefs, we have 25
minutes left, please.

I was definitely not happy
with my Skills Test.

And I've got absolutely everything
to prove going into this last round.

George, how are you feeling?

Better now I'm in here
and I've got going. Good.

What are you going
to be cooking for us?

I've got a monkfish main course,

which I'm just going to
really simply pan roast.

I'm going to serve it with
a fricassee of courgettes,

some pickled courgette ribbons,
some coriander yoghurt

and then a really fragrant like Thai
sauce with loads of kaffir lime.

I really enjoy cooking food
like this.

I love curry, I love fish.

You talked about your father
taking you fishing.

Is that, do you think, where food
started to get into your soul?

Yeah, that, and then from
then I did lots of baking.

My mum just used to
force me to bake.

As I got a little bit older,
I grew to love it.

And then that got me into cooking.

George is cooking for us
a monkfish main course.

He is salting his fish
like he did with the Skills Test.

But a monkfish,
it can do with a salting.

It draws out that excess moisture.

We've got courgette ribbons,
slightly pickled for acidity.

We've got a coriander yoghurt
and a curry sauce with coconut,

ginger, lime leaf, chilli.

I like to cook with Asian cuisine,

but I'm very like
classically trained.

So I like to pan roast
a piece of fish,

but putting that with
an Asian, Thai sauce.

You see monkfish a lot in curries.

What we're going to need
is perfect cookery

for it to sing and for it to dance.

For pudding, I've got
a layered dessert,

so I've got three-biscuit tuiles
I've made from chicory roots.

We grow it from the garden at work.

Really makes like the biscuit tuile
really nice and bitter.

Then a dark chocolate cremeux,
then a vanilla mascarpone.

Hidden in the centre,
a berry compote,

and then finished
with some chocolate shards on top.

I want to get this nailed and put
up something which I'm proud of.

Make sure it's a winner!
Cheers, Chef.

George's dessert is layers
of biscuit tuiles

which he's putting
chicory root through.

It's the root of the chicory plant
which we dehydrate, toast

and then blend into a powder.

So there's going to be
hints of coffee.

So that bit of bitterness.

Sounds so interesting, so different.

With a dark chocolate cremeux,
we want it rich and intense

and chocolate and smooth.

We've got a lot of bitter notes
going on here,

but we've also got a bit
of sweetness added into it.

Blackcurrant compote
and mascarpone flavour.

I like the sound of this.

Definitely not holding back
with this dessert.

There's a lot to it.

If something goes drastically
wrong, it'll be to the wire,

but you just have to move faster
if any mistakes happen.

My timer just didn't go off
and my tuiles burnt.

George has burnt the tuiles.

I hope it doesn't unsettle him,

he just cracks on and
gets another batch on.

The only way is up and I need
to just absolutely smash this.

Ten minutes, chefs, please.

Happy with the cooking?

I'm just going to flash it
through the oven.

Still needs a little longer.
Last minute?

Definitely up against it.

I think it'd be weird
if I wasn't, really, so, yeah.

I'm getting there.

I'm better than I was
ten minutes ago, so I'm happy.

A little bit struggling.

But I'm trying to manage to
put everything together.

Chefs, you've got two minutes.

Are you going to be able
to complete this?

Yes.

Dairo, when you look at his
bench and see the way he's working,

it's really...

..pressurised, I have to say.

The most important thing is
putting up two dishes. OK.

If little bits are missing,
then that has to be. OK.

HE SIGHS

Chefs, time's up.

Dairo, your time is up but we want
to see you finish your dessert,

so as quick as you can, but you're
actually officially out of time.

That's it. Stop. Thank you.

Junior sous-chef Evan has
cooked pan-fried sea bream

served with a dashi gel,
pickled courgettes,

sea herbs and a creamy white wine
and shellfish sauce.

What a stunningly pretty dish.

I don't know whether to eat it
or put a frame around it and

put it on the wall.

Your fish cookery's great.

I also like your dashi gel -

seaweed saltiness and
a real sharpness to it.

You can still get
the slight sweetness of

the natural courgette here.

The sauce is beautiful.

The flavour of the lobster, it sings
through and yet still holds back

enough that it doesn't override
the whole dish.

Brilliant.

The dashi gel, salty, fishy,

so when you bring the sauce
and the fish together

it all starts to beautifully work.

Delicious plates of food, Evan.

Thank you. Well done.

Evan's dessert is toasted
brioche served with

a white chocolate and
apple marigold cremeux,

apple marigold gel,
fresh strawberries

and a strawberry sauce.

Evan, another really pretty dish.

You've got an eye for this.

You've got the lovely crunchy
brioche toast and there's hints

of flavour from the apple,
the marigold, of course

the natural freshness of really
delicious fresh strawberries.

It's a very well executed but
also a very well thought-out dish.

Very interesting, I have to say.

It is all very sweet
with the brioche, with the coulis.

But then come the strawberries,
which are still quite sharp,

and it cuts through that sweetness
and it makes it really delightful.

Oh, my word, what
a triumph of a dessert!

And I'm floating away right now
on a cloud of sweet

apple and strawberry.

That is just delicious!

Yeah, I'm feeling really happy
about my two dishes.

I've shown the judges that I can
cook tasty food and that

the Skills Test was just
the nerves getting to me.

For her main course, chef patron
Dani has cooked hogget loin

in garlic and rosemary,

served with pickled and
roasted maitake mushrooms,

crispy shallot rings, celeriac puree,

onion petals, pickled lemon thyme gel

and a lamb, red wine and port jus.

The hogget is delicious and
it's been seasoned perfectly.

I love the amount of fat
you've left on there.

You've seared it so well,
it's got a texture to it.

Your celeriac is beautiful,
smooth, creamy, nutty.

I like these mushrooms.

They are woody but
they have a sharp finish.

Absolutely lovely.

I think the hogget is great.

The meat's beautiful and tender
and I love the counterbalance

of the sweetness of the gel.

No-one puts cream into
lamb and hogget sauces,

but you did and it works.

I like the port element of it.

This is absolutely sensational.

Dani's dessert is a lemon
and grapefruit posset

topped with fresh grapefruit
and wasabi,

salted caramel and grapefruit zest,

served with a celery
and apple granita.

I love the wasabi on the grapefruit.

It just brings your palate alive.

I think the salted caramel on
your well-made posset is inspired.

I like going through the saltiness,
going into the sweet sharpness.

To bring celery into it,
in a water granita, for me,

is a very odd thing to do,
but I really think it works a treat

because the celery savoury notes
works with the posset.

I love this.

I really, really do.

Lemon, grapefruit, salted caramel,
wasabi, celery and apple.

It's possibly one of
my new favourite things!

I'm really enjoying it.

Thank you.

My palms were very sweaty
and my heart was going

while I was watching them.

But it went a lot better than
I thought it was going to do.

Senior sous-chef Dairo has served
Colombian encocado,

poached monkfish tail topped with
a carabinero prawn,

fried plantain and a yam puree,

and finished with
a coconut, Thai parsley

and coriander sauce.

What else was supposed
to be on here, Chef?

The palm peach.

You just ran out of time?

Yeah, disappointing on that side.

The monkfish, mine is well cooked,

but it's actually quite bland.
It has not been seasoned.

The sauce, so you've got
coriander running through it.

It is tasty, I have to say.

But your dish, it was rushed
and it's not complete.

The prawn to me is a little
bit over, but I love

the sweetness to it.

Your plantain should be crispier,

but your yam puree, it starts
quite buttery and it's got

a proper bitter finish.

I'm really enjoying it.

The coconut in your sauce
is fresh and delicious,

and I really like that.

You've got fascinating flavours.

You've just not executed them
as well as I think

you could've done.

I think you can cook
better than this.

Dairo's dessert is a cassava
and coconut cake

spiced with star anise and cinnamon,

served with crispy sweetcorn and
a Brazilian feijoa fruit ice cream.

What else should be on there?

The rum gel, goat cheese mousse,
cashews and honeycomb.

We're missing two thirds
of the dish.

I love this bar!

You've used what we normally
see as crisp, the cassava,

flavoured with coconut
and so much cinnamon

it's almost antiseptic!

It's like a protein bar
that you get at the health club.

I'm actually enjoying it, in a way.

The elephant in the room
is the sweetcorn.

It's like the veg section has
got involved with my dessert.

It shouldn't be there,

not without all the
other ingredients.

The ice cream, I love feijoas -
a hint of pineapple, a bit of lime

through it. And it's the
best thing you've got here.

But I'm disappointed for you
and for us too that we didn't get

to try the dish
as it was meant to be.

Well, that was disappointing.

The time just got me,
when you want to realise this.

That was my big mistake.

Last up is senior sous-chef George.

He's cooked pan-fried monkfish,

served with pickled
courgette ribbons,

a green and yellow courgette
fricassee, coriander yoghurt

and a kaffir lime and
lemon verbena curry sauce.

Very, very nice presentation.

The monkfish is beautifully cooked.

I like the subtle heat
in your curry sauce.

It has almost a floral
sweet note to it as well.

Very clever.

Thank you, Chef.

Lovely monkfish.

It's buttery. You can tell it's
been given some love as well.

Your courgette ribbons, you've
had that in some sweet pickle

because there's a sweetness
that's coming to that.

It's absolutely delightful.

Love the texture of the
little chopped courgettes

around the outside.

The sauce is absolutely knockout.

The kaffir lime, the ginger
running through there,

the curry as well - I'm really,
really enjoying that sauce.

I'm very happy with this.

Very, very happy. Thank you.

Thank you, Chef.

George's dessert is layers
of chicory biscuit tuiles,

whipped vanilla mascarpone
in a dark chocolate cremeux,

filled with a blackcurrant compote
and topped with chocolate shards.

The chicory is in the bitterness
of your biscuit here.

I am enjoying the bitterness.

The blackcurrant, it's like a dense
blackcurrant jam in the middle.

And it's got a sharpness
to it so it's not too sweet.

This is my kind of dessert.

Going through those fine tuiles
into the slightly sour mascarpone,

into the very sweet and sharp
blackcurrant, is lovely.

It's reminiscent of
a Black Forest gateau.

I think that's great.

I love chocolate cremeux, I love
mascarpone and I love a tuile,

but the fruit for me is what's
singing through this dessert

beautifully, but it just carries
on - it's like a fine wine.

After the Skills Test, it was quite
clear that you had a point to prove.

And, George, well,

you've done just that.
Well done. Cheers, Chef.

I feel so much better.

I needed that 110%
after this morning.

The comments were phenomenal.

I'm happy with them. Very happy.

That was great.

I think we were tasting dishes

that we'd normally eat
further down the competition.

We have some talent in this kitchen.

There's one chef that unfortunately
had a real timing issue,

and that was Dairo.

There was parts of Dairo's
menu that I did enjoy.

I loved the sauce with the
coriander running through it

and of course that feijoa ice cream
on his dessert.

There was just too much missing
from both plates.

Unfortunately for Dairo,
it's the end of his competition.

We've now got a big issue

because we know we've got
three real hot talents.

Evan. That fish and courgette
and the dashi gel.

The quality of that sauce,
like a bisque. Mate!

His dessert - brioche, the marigold
apple, the fresh strawberries

and that sauce executed brilliantly.

Dani. She's an exciting cook.

Hogget - so full of flavour.

The way she cooked it, even the
fat had a crispy texture to it.

I loved the sauce, really delicious,
and I loved the sweet and sour notes

that ran through the gel as well.
And the mushrooms were delicious.

That posset. She served it
with salted caramel,

wasabi grapefruit,

and a celery and apple granita.

Who does that?

But, more importantly, who dares
to do it and pulls it off?

I thought it was genius.
Really enjoyed it.

I believe George to be
a proper talent.

The main course, it looked
very delicate, very simple.

But when you ate it,
you got really clever flavours.

The dessert. Wow!

Beautifully stunning,
lovely biscuit cookery,

but the blackcurrants
that sat within it were magical.

We know how good they are.

How do you separate them?

We need to make a call.

It's a big call,
but we have to make it.

If I go home after today,
I'll be absolutely devastated.

I feel like I could find my flow

if I managed to stay
in the competition.

I'm still feeling nervous,
not knowing if I'm through or not.

It would mean a lot to stay,

to keep on showing the judges
that I can cook really good food.

The standard's been really high
in the kitchen today.

Hopefully, I've done enough,
but we'll see.

Chefs, firstly, I want to say
thank you for a brilliant cook-off.

You all came in here with a mission
to set this kitchen alight.

And you did.

We did say, at the start, we can
only take the best chefs with us.

The first chef
leaving the competition...

..is Dairo.

Dairo, you're a good chef.
Your timing just let you down today.

Sorry to see you go.
Good to have met you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Disappointing, because you don't
want to get out of the competition

at this stage, that early.

But I have to move on and take
the feedback as a positive

and keep improving.

Now, you three caused us
all sorts of issues.

The reason is, the three of you
are really talented.

We have made a decision.

We have decided that
all three of you

will go through to a quarterfinal.

There is far too much talent
in this kitchen.

Buzzing that I got through.

I can't wait to text my mum
and my partner.

I've probably got about 50
missed calls at the moment.

I'm really happy about myself today.
Standards are really high.

I'm going to have to bring
something better than the dishes

what I brought today.
I'm sure I can.

Relieved.

So relieved!

I want to hit the
quarterfinals head on.

No messing. Just get better
and better and better.

Next time, it's the quarterfinal,

and this heat's most talented chefs

return to face two tough challenges.

Come back again.

Fingers crossed.

Only the best will earn their place
in knockout week.

This main is outrageously good.