It's knockout week on MasterChef.
After five weeks of intense competition...
This is sad.
..58 home cooks have been whittled down to the best 16.
It's the greatest food competition in the world.
Who wouldn't want to be here?
There's not a lot of people left.
It means it's getting serious.
This is a once in a lifetime experience,
so I've got to step up and show what I can do.
Just do it. Don't panic.
That's my advice to myself.
Tonight, the first group of eight return to fight for the right
to cook in their first professional kitchen.
How long on this five cod?
Right now, we're about to truly test them.
Just when you thought this kitchen couldn't get any hotter.
Welcome back.
You are the first eight of 16. Well done.
You've got to keep cooking now like you want to win the competition.
We have an amazing challenge right now,
an old-fashioned invention test.
Some of you have done an invention test before, haven't you?
But some of you haven't. You've got to think on your feet.
We've filled a larder over there with ingredients from all
around the world, from fruit and vegetables to fish and poultry
to sauces to syrups, which means that you can make whatever you want.
You'll have 90 minutes to cook us something truly delicious.
At the end of this, three of you are going home.
Let's cook.
There's just so much that could be anything.
We're about to find out who's got a repertoire
and who's run out of ideas.
I'm really hoping that I get some inspiration in a minute.
Who can walk into our larder today and create
something truly delicious?
Take half of it each? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
We've gone for the duck and we're just going to wing it.
Louise, our farmer from Exmoor, has shown us real style
and sophistication, and she takes a few ingredients and makes
them the star.
I do think my food is changing as the competition progresses.
I'm trying really hard to refine it more.
I've still got a lot more to give and a lot more to show.
Louise has decided that she's going to go almost completely plant-based.
She's going to roast some pumpkin, which she's spiced with paprika.
Underneath that, we are having a pumpkin sauce.
Around the outside of that, we've got crispy artichoke crisps,
some mushrooms, some buttered cavolo nero.
So we're going to get lots of texture and flavour.
It could work really, really nicely.
Louise, why all veg?
Oh, because I think vegetables are the most fun things to cook.
You can take something that looks really ordinary and elevate it
by cooking it in a different way or just adding
really simple ingredients.
I don't think you've done an invention test before, have you?
No. But, you know, I do this every day at home.
There's always someone coming into the kitchen wanting feeding.
But to do it with all the pressure of this,
I'm nervous and a bit stressed.
But, yeah, the fact that I'm here still keeps the idiot grin going.
Lee, his food is based on his love of takeaways.
He's got a sense of fun, but he can properly cook.
Definitely want to show that I'm not just a one-trick pony.
I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve,
so hopefully it pays off.
Lee has decided to actually change his style completely
for this round.
We have got pan-fried duck breast.
It's being served with a red wine sauce.
We've got a cauliflower puree. We've got roasted carrots.
Classic dish.
He's got to make sure it looks smart and everything
is cooked absolutely perfectly.
This is a style that you know, that you cook at home?
No, not really. No?
No. Wow. OK. I'm just stepping out of the comfort zone.
I want to try and show you that actually I can do the spices
and the bold flavours, but I also can do fine dining-esque as well.
He just burnt the skin off his duck.
Not great, is it, really? I'll be honest, I'm a bit overwhelmed.
Now, he's taken the skin off the duck.
The problem with that is, of course, it could dry out
really, really quickly.
Mary has been in this competition before.
She's what we call a comeback contestant.
I think she's an absolutely fabulous cook.
What she lacked before was a little bit of presentation.
The last time Mary was in the competition,
she went home in this round.
There's one bit of liver on here that isn't cooked
and it's inedible.
With the invention test, it's really difficult
because you might be tempted to try and do too many things
and then overdo it.
But there again, if you don't do enough, then you're kind of not
making enough effort.
Mary's also doing duck.
We are being promised pan-fried duck breast.
That duck breast needs to be lovely and crispy on the outside,
and then pink, a river of pink running through it.
Served with a port and blackberry sauce.
We've got a crispy potato.
We've got crispy kale, and we've got a crispy duck bonbon.
My concern right now is moisture.
The sauce is going to be all important here.
Last time you were here, you got this far. Mm-hm.
Does that make you more determined? I really want to go further.
But it's kind of... I've got to get over this sticking point
and cook really well this time.
What have you got to improve on?
My presentation, always, cos it's always a struggle to me.
30 minutes gone, everybody.
30 minutes gone.
Abi works in sales, lives in Leeds, and she takes inspiration
from Asian flavours.
Her food is smart, elegant, full of technique.
She's got proper style.
I'm 21. I'm probably one of the youngest people
in the competition left. So people probably don't take me
too seriously, but they've got to watch their backs.
Abi's going with fish, and she's taken a whole bream.
She's filleted it, she's pin-boned it, and she's done
a very, very good job indeed.
That piece of bream needs to be cooked so that we've got a nice
crispy skin on the outside, and the flesh just cooked.
Abi's also made for us creamed fennel with tarragon.
Then we've got lentils with tomatoes and anchovies.
Anchovies, cream, fennel and lentils
all going with a piece of fish...
Mm. Not quite sure.
Where's the inspiration for this?
My mum bought me a fish and wanted me to fillet it to prove
that I could do it.
And then I made her a whole dish out of it and she absolutely loved it.
Is Mum a good cook?
She's going to be really offended!
She's a great cook, but just a recipe follower.
I'd like to say I'm a better cook than my mum.
Vera, I think, has got real style.
I think she can invent flavour combinations in her head.
Imagine taking a piece of cheese, dipping a strawberry
in it and it tasting fantastic.
I think so far the judges haven't always been convinced
by what I've done in the competition, but I've managed
to prove them wrong to date.
So I'm going to try to continue to experiment and push myself.
Vera has decided to create a dish which sounds actually quite unusual.
It's based around her love of vongole - clams.
The clams are being cooked in a mixture of tomatoes, carrots
and white wine. That mixture is then being reduced to make a sauce
which has got cream going through it.
Then she's got pan-fried sea bream.
Then with that, we've got sliced courgettes,
potatoes and beetroot cubes.
Unusual.
Let's see.
If you have to work on one aspect of your cookery, what is it?
Not overdoing it. Trying to do like 50,000 elements
and then being short on time,
but just to be a little bit more planned.
Tom, our car salesman from Scotland,
loves Scottish ingredients and does food of the people.
Tom, you're the only one in the room doing something sweet.
Seen the eggs
and I just had a bit of a feeling inside,
and I thought, "Today's the day."
So I'm making a creme brulee with a home-made shortbread
and a raspberry sauce.
Shortbread - you couldn't get more Scottish if you tried, right?
No. It was my gran's recipe.
So it's been passed on a few hands, so I hope I do it proud today.
Who's your biggest fan at home?
That'll be my wife.
Did she offer you any words of advice?
Yeah. Believe in myself.
I had my family and friends saying that I was a good cook,
but I wasn't sure if they were just being nice about it.
But, to be honest, now I've turned that around,
I've put a lot of practice in,
and I've got a right to be here.
Tom's dish sounds fantastic.
Creme brulee, set-baked custard with a lovely crispy brulee
top of sugar. Shortbread from his grandmother
and a raspberry sauce.
But Tom's just dropped one of his creme brulees and he's put
another brulee in the oven.
How long do they take to cook?
How long's left? Half an hour.
29 minutes.
Come on. Come on, come on!
Ecrin has lived and worked all over the world, but her parents
are Turkish and I think it's that wonderful Turkish style
that she leans heavily on.
She can take the most humble of ingredients and turn them
into something truly delicious.
I definitely need to show cooking skills and techniques
because sometimes when I get nervous, I forget about it
and then I'm like, "Oh, wait, I know how to do that."
Ecrin seems to be staying with her style - just taking a few humble
ingredients and making a dish out of it.
She's just got mushrooms, some pasta and a bit of cream,
and she's going to make a dish.
Now, this could be very, very clever
or it could be, questionably, too simple.
Ecrin, why this?
Because I love pasta, I love tortellini. I like ravioli.
I like anything that's stuffed, to be honest. I love mushroom as well,
so why not try to combine those?
Do you invent dishes at home?
I do invent dishes at home because sometimes you don't know
what to cook. And then you go to the supermarket
and then you just grab something and you're like, "Oh, why not?"
15 minutes left, everybody, please.
Just 15 minutes.
Aaron, our recruitment consultant from London, loves a process.
He wants to show off as much as he possibly can.
Aaron loves to play with Asian flavours,
allied with his brilliant, brilliant technique.
I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, but I do think
I'm quite good at putting together random ingredients
and producing a nice dish.
Aaron has taken minced beef.
He's making a pot of minced beef stew with carrots
and a Korean chilli paste called gochujang -
quite a strong, almost sweet chilli paste.
With that, we're getting coconut rice.
Aaron is putting apple in the beef.
A lot of Koreans grate apple into minced beef to tenderise it.
But my concern is if Aaron puts too much apple in there
with that beef, it's going to be really sweet.
You like a bit of this Asian style, my friend.
I do. The bold flavours, the chilli and the heat,
and the sort of sweet and sour flavours.
Did you say "bald" flavours?
Bold. Bold flavours. Bold flavours.
Yeah. I wasn't implying anything.
Five minutes left, you lot.
Five minutes left.
The duck is slightly overdone. I burnt the skin.
And now it's all gone Pete Tong.
I'm pleased with it so far.
I can't believe I spilt one.
60 seconds, everybody.
Last touches. Come on, guys.
I think all the things go together nicely.
That's it. Stop. Everybody, stop! Well done.
It's not exactly how it was meant to be.
First up is financial analyst Vera,
who is serving pan-fried sea bream
with yellow courgettes, accompanied by clams in a cream sauce,
butter-poached potatoes, beetroot cubes and parsley oil.
Nicely cooked fish. Crispy skin, flaky fish underneath.
Naturally sweet salty clams.
I've got one issue. My courgettes are over-seasoned.
They're really salty.
It is an odd combination. Beetroot, fish, clams, courgettes.
The beetroot is a little bit hard.
The courgettes I'm finding a bit wet.
The difficulty is with the dish, I'm eating bits
and I'm finding it quite challenging to enjoy.
This is the first time that I'm pretty unhappy
with what I've delivered.
I wish I would have just made it work better
together as a whole dish.
21-year-old Abi is serving a fillet of sea bream,
tomato and anchovy lentils, and creamed fennel with spinach,
finished with a chive cream sauce.
I like the way you've cooked your fish. It's flaking apart.
That's great.
I am enjoying the fennel. I've got a creamy sauce.
I've got a rich lentil, flavoured with tomatoes and anchovies.
And I would like any one of those things with my fish.
All three together is a little overpowering and a little rich,
but I still stand here impressed by what you're able to do.
What you've done with those lentils is really good. Almost like a pate.
So it's a lovely sort of thick coating.
And when you put that on your fish, that's absolutely delicious.
I even like the crunch of the fennel that sits underneath.
Some good ideas, some good cooking.
Thank you. Cheers, Abi.
It is annoying that they thought it was a bit too much because, like,
I've made it all before, and I really liked it.
And my mum really liked it, so cheers, Mum! Liar.
Farmer Louise is serving spiced roasted pumpkin
in a pumpkin puree,
Jerusalem artichoke crisps,
garlic mushrooms, chilli-spiced cavolo nero,
and a chive oil.
Louise, you decided to celebrate the vegetable. Mm-hm.
But what you're doing here, I think, is showing a huge amount of skill.
And I think you've got a really interesting balance of flavours.
Big wedges of pumpkin with a little bit of spice.
Pumpkin puree, silky and smooth,
and it tastes like autumn.
I like it a lot.
Thank you.
That is absolutely delicious and has actually really taken
me by surprise. The contrast of the flavours,
the contrast of the textures and the quality of the cooking.
Extraordinary.
It was a bit of a gamble.
I had a vision, but I didn't know if they'd like it.
And they did!
Auto engineer Lee is serving roasted duck breast,
topped with a fried cauliflower crumb, a cauliflower puree,
a pickled carrot and fennel salad,
roasted carrots, and a red wine reduction.
The duck itself, because it doesn't have the skin on it,
it's gone a little bit tough.
Your sauce is lovely and rich, but your pickle is ferocious.
The daintiness of the duck, it doesn't quite work.
Your puree is grainy.
Your carrots need peeling
if you're going to go near some fine dining.
This is completely different
to anything you've cooked in the competition so far
and we've got some issues with it.
I think in the moment and the time and the pressure,
I think I just crumbled. Got the better of me today.
Retired company secretary Mary is serving pan-fried duck breast
in a blackberry and port sauce,
a duck leg and liver bonbon,
crispy cavolo nero, and a ring of crispy roasted potatoes.
I think it looks great. I really do. Thanks.
Your duck cookery is fantastic.
Crispy skin. Beautiful, buttery, soft flesh underneath.
Brilliant. The bonbon, soft duck leg with an iron-rich liver
running through it as well is wonderful. Great cookery.
Your sauce is what's holding it all together.
Sophisticated flavour of port,
which is sweet but also sharp, and blackberries, which are great.
The potatoes are lovely and crisp, with just the right amount of herbs
across the top. But the star of the show is the duck.
That is so good.
I love it.
I feel so elated that they've acknowledged my presentation
because I have worked hard at it, and it doesn't come very naturally.
Customer success manager Ecrin has made tortellini
filled with chestnut and porcini mushrooms,
Parmesan and creme fraiche,
accompanied by a mushroom, garlic and cream sauce.
I like this dish. Nice pasta work.
Not too thick.
And I was going to complain that the mushroom inside wasn't seasoned,
but the sauce itself is really quite peppery,
so there's your flavour. You don't want the peppery sauce
and a seasoned inside. That's a very, very nice pasta dish.
Thank you.
For me, I think it could just do with a little bit more -
a bit more herbiness, a bit more sort of vivaciousness,
a bit more filling inside. 90 minutes is a long time,
so I think you've got the chance to fine-tune it.
I have done pasta cooking three times in my life, so, yeah,
it was a bit of a risk. I'm not sure if the risk paid off.
Recruitment consultant Aaron is serving gochujang-spiced beef mince
flavoured with apple,
topped with a fried quails egg, coconut rice,
garlic pak choi, pickled radish and ginger.
Like your pak choi - crunchy, juicy. I'm picking up garlic, ginger.
I'm getting chilli out of that bowl as well.
I don't like how sweet that mince is. OK.
It's a little too sweet for me.
The issue - it's not wet enough.
Something with rice, you need sauce with it,
so it doesn't come together as a dish.
Looking back now, I probably could think of some more dishes,
but at the time, I guess the pressure
is part of the show, right? And that's how you've got to perform.
Last up is car sales manager Tom.
He's serving a vanilla creme brulee topped with a caramel brittle,
Scottish shortbread and a raspberry sauce.
It's not the perfect brulee.
It is slightly curdled, but absolutely delicious.
You've made your raspberry sauce nice and tart
because you wanted to go with that sharp, sweet sugar top
on top of the brulee. It's a good job, Tom.
Thank you.
The shortbread is fantastic.
A bit of creamy brulee on that lovely short biscuit
with some tart sauce, I think is wonderful.
I felt confident in making a dessert.
The flavours were there. The taste was there.
Fingers crossed for the rest.
As far as invention tests go, that was an absolute beauty.
We can only take the five best cooks with us, and it does mean
that three of them are going home.
What a reversal of fortunes for Mary.
Last time she was in this round, she was one of the first to go.
Perfectly cooked duck breast, and a sauce so deep and rich.
I mean, a beautiful piece of work! It was a great, great dish.
My next favourite has to be Louise.
It was a clever, clever piece of work.
There were lots of different layers in there.
That's quality cookery.
Mary and Louise are going straight through to the next round.
Lee decided he wanted to go fine dining, and unfortunately
things went wrong. The duck was dry and tough.
We had a puree that was grainy.
He showed a great deal of perseverance,
but it actually, as a dish, wasn't great.
Aaron cooked for us what he called a Korean-style beef mince.
And for me, that mince just wasn't wet enough.
When you have rice and spice, you want sauce.
And it was too sweet.
Lee and Aaron are going home.
That leaves us four to discuss.
Abi filleted her fish perfectly.
She cooked us lentils very well. Nice fennel.
Made a really good sauce. I didn't like everything all together.
But you've still got to admire technical ability and skill.
Tom was brave enough to do a dessert, a creme brulee.
There was a slight bit of curdling, but the flavours were good.
The shortbread was beautiful.
I don't know right now about Vera.
I can't see a lot wrong with her fish cookery.
But then there were mistakes.
The beetroot probably could have done with a bit more cooking,
the courgettes a bit wet and slightly over-seasoned.
It just seemed to be a bit all over the place.
Ecrin made for us a mushroom tortellini.
Really well-made pasta
and a lovely, lovely broth.
Ecrin, I think, produced a good plate of food.
But did she do enough?
I do think I could have done better.
It's just that it also depends how the others did.
And they did really well, though. We'll see.
I didn't deliver the best plate today.
So if I go home, then I should have just done better, to be honest.
Nothing I can do about it now.
I've put out my plate of food.
If it's my day, it's my day.
I've put so much time and effort into this.
All I want to do is cook, so hopefully it's all worth it.
A fabulous start to Knock Out Week.
I mean, that was an invention test and some of the cooking
was just off the scale.
It is with a heavy heart that we have to say goodbye
to some of you.
Lee, Aaron,
gentlemen, I'm sorry, you're leaving us.
Thank you very much for everything. Thanks a lot. Cheers, guys.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Abi, Ecrin,
Vera and Tom,
one of you is going home.
The person leaving us...
..is Vera. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Take care. Thanks, Vera.
I've had a great time. It's a shame it's come to an end,
but I'm really happy that I got to take part.
I took a risk today, didn't pay off.
But I'm very proud of myself for getting this far
and I can walk out of here with my head held high.
I'll look back on my MasterChef experience and see it overall
as a really fun time.
You're under a lot of pressure, but it's been worth it.
Well done, all five of you.
No time to rest on your laurels.
Next up, we have got a massive challenge.
You are going to have your first taste of a professional kitchen.
We'll see you there.
Oh, what?
Wow.
It's early morning and the five remaining contestants
are about to face the pressure
of their first professional restaurant service...
..at Nessa, on the ground floor of 1 Warwick Members' House
in London, Soho.
This is for people who are paying.
The last thing you want is for them to send something back.
I think it's going to be really stressful, but just got
to stay calm.
There is no room for any errors.
It has to be perfection.
In charge is executive chef Tom Cenci.
Tom learned his craft at a young age working at Cliveden House
in Berkshire before joining Michelin-star restaurant
1 Lombard Street in London.
I worked for Herbert Berger, who was a very classical, trained chef.
He taught me a lot about hierarchy and structure in the kitchen.
Cheque on. Crudo, small tartare, panzanella and a sirloin steak.
CHEFS:Oui!
At the age of 20, moved to Paris and I worked in
a two-Michelin-star restaurant there called Restaurant Laurent,
which is on the Champs-Elysees.
One of the things to do back in the day - working in France.
Jumped on that bandwagon.
Moving from Paris, Tom had other stints internationally,
in Istanbul and Canada,
before returning to the UK to continue honing his craft.
I've taken influences from France, from Turkey, from Canada.
Combining that with my Britishness, it's kind of like, yeah, it's shaped
the food style that I cook today.
In 2023, Tom took up his current executive chef position.
Nessa is a British bistro with a twist.
Every dish that we do, we try to put an originality onto it, try to make
it slightly different from something that you might recognise,
but make it not too unrecognisable.
Hi, guys. We've got a busy service ahead of us,
so it's about concentrating, listening, and us working
all together as a team.
I'm here to show you what to do,
and hopefully we'll have a good time. Let's start cooking.
The contestants have three hours to prepare their dishes
for today's lunch service.
Mary has been tasked with cooking Tom's take on an Italian classic.
The first starter is the celeriac carbonara.
Obviously, a carbonara, a traditional one, has pasta.
Instead of pasta, we've got celeriac.
This is one of our iconic dishes.
It's been reviewed by Giles Coren, Fay Maschler.
It's gone viral on social media for us.
And so I think almost every customer that comes into the restaurant
orders this dish.
The first thing we want to do is let some of the fat
come out of that pancetta. Take your celeriac,
let that kind of start to wilt just a little bit.
We want to keep the carbonara as original as possible in the sense
of the flavours, but then we wanted to create something different.
You don't want this too hot because what we're going to do
is we're going to cook the celeriac in this cream sauce now.
What you don't want is that it just dries up
and you end up with split sauce.
Cheese is added to bind the dish together.
Traditionally, you'd use Parmesan. Yes.
We're using a British cheese.
So now we're going to plate.
I think the biggest fear in service is that they're going to get behind.
They have to cook each dish in a single pan when they've got
multiple orders on, and they're having to balance out
the different timings of each dish.
It's easy to undercook or overcook it.
And then the piece de resistance.
Confit egg yolk.
Quite a tricky thing. If it breaks,
you're going to have to do the dish again.
And there we have it.
Getting the egg so it doesn't break worries me.
I just hope I can do it justice.
Mary gets straight to work prepping the dish's key element - celeriac.
You have to turn it into a pasta shape,
making the strands the same.
Oh, God.
This is really not as easy as it looks, is it?
If they're all different sizes, they're going to cook
at different times.
That one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's it. OK.
Ah, got that. Oh, gosh!
SHE LAUGHS
Bingo!
This is more time consuming than I thought it would be,
but I'll get there.
Louise is also on starters.
Pan-seared cod with a parsley sauce, and we serve it
with Pink Fir potatoes and caviar.
This is kind of a play on fish, parsley sauce,
kind of like an East End dish, with potatoes.
And we've elevated it with caviar and sea vegetables.
And so it's something that's quite humble but yet refined.
Put oil in the pan, not the fish.
Just in. You can hear that little bit of that sizzle.
We're just going to let that colour on that side. While that's cooking,
you're going to get potatoes in.
Next, we're going to heat the parsley sauce.
So you've already premade this.
As you can see, it's super bright green. OK, so it's quite firm.
If you heat it too much, it starts to lose its colour.
And so it's about really getting this the right temperature
during service. If they start to overcook this,
they're going to have to do it over and over and over again.
Oh, look at the colour.
So next you've got to plate, and in with the parsley sauce.
It's really making sure that the fish is not overcooked
whilst balancing out the intricacies of, like, the parsley sauce,
the sea vegetables, and then bringing it all together.
They're going to really have to be on their timing with this dish.
It's a lot of work.
It's very delicate, and that's going to be a challenge.
Oh, good grief. It's vast!
Have you ever prepped a cod before?
Uh, no.
OK. Over to you.
Just take your time.
That's the way. Yeah. Nice. Really nice.
I don't think I've taken a breath yet.
It's almost perfect.
For a first crack of the whip, it's absolutely fine.
It was quite daunting when I first saw it.
And I'm really pleased that, you know, that looks good.
Abi is responsible for the first main course.
We have a rump of lamb served with creamed spinach
and an au poivre sauce.
The inspiration from this dish comes from the steak au poivre,
a very classic bistro dish.
We try to elevate that. And instead of actually beef with it,
we've used the lamb rump.
So it's kind of changing it, but it's still recognisable.
So using a water bath we've slow-cooked it, we've chilled it.
Yeah. The first thing when the cheque comes on
is you need to get your lamb cooking because it's time-consuming.
After being coloured in the pan, the lamb is finished in the oven.
So we leave that for about five to six minutes. OK.
But when you've got multiple orders,
there's going to be different timings with it.
So you've got one lamb in the pan, one lamb in the oven,
one lamb coming out. It's just going to be a complete mix.
You might have two, three, four, five, six lamb on at a time. Yeah.
As well as keeping on top of the lamb, Abi will have to juggle
her creamed spinach and sauce.
The au poivre sauce is something that you kind of make to order.
You cook the meat in the pan, and then you have to deglaze
that pan, something that's going to be quite tricky for them.
We've got some brandy.
Just burn that off, take it off the heat straight away,
and then you've got your steak au poivre sauce.
You don't want any more heat on this now, because otherwise
it's going to split.
And now we're ready to carve and plate. Cool.
Steak sauce.
This is the big moment, where they slice the lamb,
and if it's undercooked or overcooked,
there's no going back.
Unless it's perfect, we cannot send it.
Just follow the timings and you're going to have pink lamb.
OK. Thank you. Stay calm and enjoy it.
I'll do my best! Yeah.
I'm not great at multitasking. There's so much going on,
and obviously service hasn't started yet.
I'm so worried.
Abi now needs to prep her lamb rump ready for the water bath.
With that rump, it's really important that it's uniform.
And so when they're cooking, they're cooking to the same consistency
and not having one piece of meat that's taking 10-15 minutes
to cook and another is five.
Yeah. Really good.
I've been doing this at home.
I did, like, one per bag.
Didn't realise you could put more in one, so that's good to know.
Tom is in charge of a chicken main.
My butchery skills are all right at my own house. You know,
a little bit of tearing or a little mistake now and again,
I'm all right with it. But here there's none of that.
Still got all my fingers, no blood.
His greatest challenge will be to cook all his dish's components
over live fire.
So it's about trying to find the hot spots and utilising that.
Going to get a really nice colour onto that skin.
It's a different style of cooking. It's very temperamental.
It's not a stove where you can turn up the gas or turn it down.
This is living. It's breathing.
Whilst that's charring,
we want to get our garnish working.
The chicken is served with seasonal vegetables.
So we're going to take some of the peas, some gem,
some of the shallots, place that straight onto the embers.
If the vegetables or the meat are too close to the fire,
they're just going to burn. If they're too far away,
they're not going to char, they're not going to get the taste
that you need. And so it's going to be really, really tricky in service.
If you turn away for a second, you turn around,
the whole thing's burnt, you've got to start again.
The chicken, as you can see, look, it's starting to caramelise. Yeah.
Starting to get some really nice colour onto it now. Nice.
Now I'm happy with this now. It's wilted, you've got some colour
onto it, just colour onto the peas. All that flavour is in here now.
And we're just going to take that breast and the leg off
to separate it, and then what we do is we're going to just cut
this leg up. Spread that out on the bottom of the plate.
And then we're going to go around with the garnish.
The dish is finished with a chicken butter sauce.
And there you have it.
That looks ace.
The heat's the worry.
You can't take your eye off it for a period of time.
Almost like you need eyes in the back of your head.
Dessert was due to be tackled by Ecrin.
I started feeling really bad this morning, already,
before I arrived, and then when I arrived I was still unwell.
I wanted to give it a go, of course, and push myself.
I'm super disappointed, of course,
but I just can't carry on like this because I'm really not well.
There's just 90 minutes prep time left.
Let's concentrate on those big jobs that need to be done and just make
sure we're set for service. OK? Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.
I've always wanted to say, "Yes, Chef."
On the starters,
Mary's just managed to finish off spiralizing her celeriac.
Next, I'm going to prep the cream sauce.
So now add the white wine and get this reduction on.
Yeah. Excited to have a slurp of that.
I'm hoping that I'm on schedule. I really am enjoying it so far.
Ask me in an hour.
No wonder it tastes so good.
On the other starter, Louise is still on cod prep.
Don't want to mess it up now!
This is a deep breath moment.
Like, can't talk, can't breathe.
It's a really important job, and I just want to make sure
I nail it.
Ready? Yeah. Let's see it.
Yeah. You can almost see through it. You've nailed that.
All right. Moving on.
What we don't want is a lot of wastage.
Can they portion it into the right sizes?
It's really important that they pay attention to that detail.
It's going to go into this brine, salt and water
for about ten minutes.
This was the most daunting job on my list,
so it feels good to have this done and ready and looking OK.
On mains, Abi's making good progress.
Her lamb cooking gently in the water bath,
she's working on the finer details of her creamed spinach garnish,
weighing out nutmeg.
0.5g and I still haven't managed zero.
I was feeling fine, but now this is having a joke on me.
I've got 2g. Oh, 3!
5g. Woohoo.
I've still got to do the green oil, mix my cream cheese,
blanch my spinach, and then I should be ready,
so I'm feeling good on my prep.
It's just a bit nerve-racking to actually cook it.
Tom's chickens are all butchered,
and he's working on his vegetable garnish...
How you getting on, Tom?
Uh, good. Just trimming up the gem here.
..but has overlooked one crucial process.
This chicken, we need to get it cooking. Right.
Just got to get this in the water bath,
because we need to get it cooked and cooled down,
ready for service. Cool.
I'm not sure if this is... MACHINE SQUEAKS
I got a bit of a jump the first time there.
OK, guys, you've got 45 minutes till service.
Let's get everything ready for the beginning, OK?
Yep - yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.
With service fast approaching,
Mary now has to tackle the most difficult element of her prep.
I'm just waiting to do my confit egg yolks now.
MARY HUMS NERVOUSLY
It's very delicate.
They have to heat the oil to a certain temperature
and put the egg yolk into this.
That's done.
What you don't want is coming into service
and you've got 30 to 40 broken eggs.
It's going to be quite time-consuming,
because it's a bit of a delicate operation.
Also taking her time is Louise.
Potatoes are on.
I'm just doing the shallots for the parsley sauce.
I've got garlic to go in there too.
So let's get that on, because it's quite critical.
I'm feeling quite calm at the moment.
I know time is ticking on,
but I want to make sure the chef's really happy.
Meanwhile on mains, Abi's raced through her prep list
and it's almost complete.
I've just done the cream cheese.
I need to add some salt and pepper to it.
My peppercorn sauce, it's just reducing now.
And the lamb - it's all cooked? Yeah.
Yeah, lovely. Look at that.
Nice. Lots of flavour in there,
so that's going to be ready for service.
Calm down here,
but as soon as I get up there, it'll be pure chaos and panic.
But hopefully I'll just do what we're doing and stay calm.
While Abi is under control,
Tom's got behind, and is only just starting his chicken butter sauce.
He's kind of making what's traditionally known
as a beurre blanc, which is quite a difficult sauce.
So this is going to be quite challenging,
because if they don't get this right,
it's going to split and then it'll be really difficult
to then get ready for service.
Lots to do with hardly little time.
I just don't want to let anybody down.
It's midday and the restaurant is filling up for lunch.
With 15 minutes until service,
the contestants are racing to finish their prep,
and the pressure is on for Louise.
She hasn't quite made her parsley sauce yet.
A little bit worried that she might not be ready and set
in time for service.
I just want to focus,
make sure I really concentrate hard.
Our contestants now, I think will be feeling quite nervous.
Nothing they would have done before could have prepared them for this.
LOUISE:There are customers coming in.
The adrenaline is just through the roof now.
Yeah, a bit more intense.
Everyone's panicking a little bit, I think.
Bread crumbs, truffle, Spenwood cheese.
Oh, where ARE my crumbs? I don't think I've decanted them.
This is going to hit them hard and fast.
I've not even starting cooking yet and I'm already flushed.
OK, guys, the first cheque -
we've got one cod and three carbonara.
Yes, Chef.
It's great to get started.
Right away, Mary's carbonara is proving popular.
It's not practical to cook three in the same pan,
because it overloads and then it doesn't cook evenly enough.
With several batches on the go,
she needs to keep an eye on the temperature of her pans.
You don't want it too hot.
If it's too hot, you're going to split that cream, OK?
Yeah.
Cheque on, guys.
Two more cod, three more carbonara.
Yes, Chef.
Cheque on again. You've got four carbonara.
Flippin' heck.
OK, that's good.
Tiny bit more sauce in here, and let's bring it up. Looks good.
She's got her first three cooked and to the pass,
but if she can't plate the egg yolks whole, the dishes will be ruined.
That's it, Mary. Great job.
It's such a delicate job, isn't it? Yeah, it's all right.
Keep it going, OK? Don't slow down.
I know. We need five now. Yeah - no, six.
So I was pleased, really. I didn't panic too much.
Orders are also already piling up for Louise's cod dish.
You got seven cod all day, OK? Yes, Chef.
So you've got two now... Two now.
..and then how many does that leave you with?
Then another two, then another three.
Perfect. Very good, yeah.
She has three key elements that must all be perfect.
Keep an eye on the fish,
make sure the potatoes are warmed through,
heat the sauce, but not too much.
Then dress the potatoes and take it up for plating.
I'm just making sure it doesn't overheat.
So, you're coming up on two cod, please, Louise.
Yes, Chef. On the way.
So, pasta sauce.
It's hot? Hot.
Let me just try.
No, heat it again.
It's not quite hot enough.
It's really delicate.
You can't boil it, so I'm... Clearly I was too cautious.
So just put caviar around.
That's it, lovely. Very good.
Start two more. Service, please.
Yeah, it went well. The chef was happy!
I'm happy.
First orders are now coming in for Abi and Tom.
Two lamb, two chicken.
We're away, we're away.
Two chicken, straight up.
My biggest concern is probably not burning the lamb,
keeping on top of everything, making sure it's plated pretty.
It's very loud in here, as well. It's so stressful.
As well as cooking the lamb correctly,
she needs to heat up her creamed spinach garnish.
Just keep it on top of everything's pretty difficult,
if I'm honest.
The lamb cooked, she now has to deglaze the pan
to make the peppercorn sauce without it splitting.
There's no spinach, there's no sauce,
and you're already slicing your lamb.
Oh, I need to slice it after I've put that on? Yeah.
Spinach, sauce, lamb... Yeah.
..and then garnish.
OK, that's it.
Sauce, nasturtium and then herb oil.
The lamb's the last thing you slice, OK?
So it just stays nice and hot. Yeah. OK.
Thank you. OK, service, please.
I got the order of plating wrong, so I'm a bit stressed out about that,
but next time I'll learn from it and I'll do better.
On the chicken main,
Tom's battling with the heat of the charcoal grill.
Vegetables need a good char to them.
Sauce is warming.
It's just almost there.
Just, like, a little bit more wilted. Sure.
But let's just get a little bit more colour on that skin.
Fine line between a nice char and a burn.
It's pretty intense, the heat.
His first dishes are cooked, but now he has to plate.
Hot, hot, hot.
OK, this one needs to be more in just like...
Just kind of a bit more rustic, OK? Yeah. Just replicate that.
It's very messy - it's all over the plate.
So, we didn't carve the breast, did we?
We just put the breast straight over. Oh, sorry, man.
It's OK, we're going to have to go with it now.
I can't wait any longer for this. Two chicken up.
OK, service, please.
Tom needs to make sure he's slicing the thigh and not the breast.
Presentation was a bit too rough,
and so he just needs to make sure it's a little bit more refined.
It's challenging - keeping your ears open,
making sure you don't burn yourself.
Juggle, juggle, juggle, juggle.
With service at full pelt,
the orders are still flooding in for Mary's carbonara.
Four and two.
Yeah, these are four, and then two. Yeah, and then two straight away.
Keep going, Mary. Yeah.
MARY CHUCKLES I'm just having a really nice time.
God, YOU'RE having a really nice time.
I'm really loving this.
But she's taking it in her stride.
Two carbonara straight away, OK?
Yeah, two straight away.
So, two now. Two now. Let's go.
There's your carbonara. Oh, look at that.
Unsurprisingly, it tastes just like a carbonara.
Rich, nutty celeriac, lovely slippery, creamy sauce
and little tiny bits of bacon in there.
I think it's a really difficult dish to get right.
It's really very, very good.
Across the kitchen,
Louise is also trying to keep up with multiple cheques.
Five on the go at the moment,
so two and three all up at the same time.
I've got to make sure it doesn't break up.
It's a delicate little dish to get right.
How long on this five cod?
Three minutes. OK, yeah.
You all right?
This one - just over.
The others are fine.
Louise is just cooking too many at once.
We can't serve it overcooked, so we had to send it back.
Abi and Tom are also under pressure.
Four more lamb, four more chicken. Yes, Chef.
Four more lamb, four more chicken.
How many lamb you got all day, Abi? Seven in total.
Yep.
We've got six chicken all day, but just slow it down.
Yeah. She needs at least seven minutes for all the cooking, OK?
Yeah.
With both mains going to the same table,
it's vital Abi and Tom communicate to deliver their dishes together.
Abi, how long for the first two?
Uh, seven minutes.
Seven minutes for the first two? Yeah.
The next two are going to be about eight and nine.
I need to slow down - sorry. Yeah, it's just you're going too fast.
Yeah.
Abi's got quite a lot of lamb on. It's taking its time in that oven.
Tom's a bit too quick with the live fire.
They've just got to find a balance of, like, not being too quick
and talking with each other.
Whilst Abi and Tom struggle to synchronise,
Louise has managed to get her fish re-cooked.
OK, yeah, that's good.
Turn the heat off.
You don't want to cook it any more than that.
Lovely. Much better. Much better with this cod.
Yeah, that's good - and then the green oil.
OK, service please.
Stressful, without a doubt.
There's a lot to think about.
The fish looks beautiful.
Nice colour on the outside,
fish cooked beautifully.
I really like that sauce,
and all those sea vegetables giving it spice and flavour.
That is bordering majestic.
Back on the mains, Abi and Tom's timings still aren't in sync.
Abi, how long? For the first one?
Yeah. Um, three, four minutes. OK.
I've got three minutes of my time.
I need to make this sauce, I need to plate,
so probably about three minutes.
Abi, are you ready to plate the first two? No, not yet.
I still need another few minutes. OK, go on two. Go two by itself.
And then the next two, do with Abi.
So I can dish these two straight away, yeah?
That's it, yeah.
To keep things moving,
Chef has no choice but to send two of Tom's chicken orders.
OK, yeah, that's good.
Much better with the chicken.
OK, let's go. Service, please - table 52.
Mm.
That chicken is nothing short of superb.
I mean, it is buttery-soft under there - properly succulent.
There's enough good, crunchy vegetables.
And cooking the chicken over flame, that's challenging.
The last two plates were, like, much better than the first two plates.
Finding a little bit of rhythm.
The pressure is now on Abi to get her lamb orders plated fast
and in the correct sequence.
This is me attempting to try and not make so much of a mess.
Let's finish with the nasturtium, and we're good to go.
That's it, keep it up. Well done, Abi.
Service, please.
OK, we're going 76. Three lamb.
It's not really a buzz. If anything, it's just pure chaos.
It's fun.
That is beautifully cooked lamb.
And look how beautiful and pink and moist that is in the middle.
I love that pepper sauce.
It builds up intensity.
I think Abi's done a really good job.
Service is almost over.
Mary. Yes?
That's your last two. After that, you've got nine more, OK?
OK. Let's make it perfect. Yes.
So, this is my last two now, and I'm a bit gutted, really.
I like the excitement of it - the buzz, the challenge.
Ready.
So, Mary - really impressed.
The composure she had, and she's really embraced the dish.
Um... Oh, eggs.
This experience is something I've always wanted to do
for years and years.
This has really just been the icing on the cake.
Service. Table 52, please.
ALL: Yes, Chef! CHEF CHUCKLES
Great job.
Thank you so much for letting me do that.
That was amazing. I loved it. CHEF CHUCKLES
Your last two cod. Make them good, OK? Yes, Chef.
Thank you.
I didn't know if I'd enjoy the pressure
but I surprised myself that
I've sort of remained vaguely calm and collected.
Louise, she did really well.
Throughout service, the plating got better and better and better.
You're happy with it? I'm thrilled!
OK, let's send it. Service, please.
I'm done!
I'm like, choking, tearing up.
I'm really sad it's over.
It's a happy tear. LOUISE CHUCKLES
Sorry.
ABI:I can't believe it's my last two plates. It's gone so quickly.
But, yeah, I've been absolutely chaotic.
I think I've improved as time's gone on.
Great cooking on this lamb.
A lot more things to think about than I thought,
like communicating with people - I didn't even think about that.
OK, beautiful. Really good.
Great presentation there. Thank you.
Two lamb - table 52, please.
It's not easy, so, yeah... Thank you.
..congratulations. Well done. Thanks.
I could definitely see myself doing this as a job,
but a bit more training first.
This is the last stretch now. Last stretch.
You're doing really well. Keep it up.
I've learnt so much today.
100% tougher than I thought it was going to be.
Just the chicken on top and you're good to go.
The heat from that grill's just something else.
That's literally like working in a sauna.
Thank you.
To work on live fire, that's not an easy task.
That's one of the hardest dishes to do today, so well done.
Thank you, Chef. Cheers, cheers.
Definitely ready for a lie down, yeah. Somewhere cold!
TOM LAUGHS
Service is finally over.
The standard's been really high.
An amateur coming into a kitchen, never been in one before -
so, yeah, hats off to them.
I'm really, really impressed.
What they've just achieved is not easy.
What they've got to do now is learn from the experience
and take that on the journey with them.
I'm sad we didn't get dessert.
We lost Ecrin because she wasn't well.
But let's hope Ecrin is well enough to come back
to the competition later on.
Next up - our second group of eight,
and they're going to have to fight it out for the right to cook
in a professional kitchen themselves.
Next time - the second group of eight are back...
I'm, like, going, "Urgh." ..to battle it out...
What are you doing? Come on, come on!
Played your cards really well.
I think it's very, very good indeed.
..for the chance to work in their first professional kitchen.
Need to push now and be focused, OK?