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00:01it's the master chef the professionals semi-finals and only the best six chefs remain
00:10tonight their challenge is to impress one of britain's rising culinary stars
00:19before battling it out for a place in the final five the competition is really heating up but i'm
00:27here for the whole ride and i'm not ready to let that go i know it's going to get tougher
00:32but i don't
00:33want to go home i want to stay longer there's going to be an incredibly tight hot crucible of
00:40talent in there all we can do is head down do the best we can it's not going to be
00:44easy
00:44a faint heart has never won the competition our chefs have got to keep challenging and rising to
00:49the occasion show that you mean business show that you want to lift this trophy
01:16welcome back to our kitchen you six have set the semi-finals on fire
01:23and you're going to have to continue that we have got an amazing challenge for you guys today
01:29it's going to really enhance your food and your cooking style to the next level
01:34please welcome a very special guest chef one of the uk's rising talents the extraordinary john
01:42chantrasak
01:52john chantrasak is redefining modern thai cuisine in the uk
02:00i was born in liverpool my parents are from opposite sides of the world so my father was born in
02:06bangkok each year my dad would take us to bangkok and see our family my grand my aunties they would
02:13take us to the markets and i think that early food memory dictated my interest in thai food
02:25in my teens i was in a band i went touring in america the ambition was to become an international
02:31rock star it didn't quite wash out that way but one of the takeaways of that six-month trip was
02:38i became interested in hospitality
02:42and how its connection was to everything in life
02:47on a whim john went on to train at the prestigious le codon bleu culinary school in the thai capital
02:55i kind of felt like it might have been the last roll of the dice for me to do something
02:58creative
02:58with my life so i really poured everything i had into those 18 months and absolutely loved it
03:04after graduating john went on to work under renowned chef david thompson at the legendary thai restaurant
03:11nam the restaurant was a number one restaurant in asia at the time and david it was through his
03:18tuition and his guidance that i picked up thai food in a fine dining way and that was kind of
03:24the
03:24beginning of the story for me having honed his craft for nearly two years in thailand john headed back
03:31to the uk to showcase his food style through pop-ups in the capital in 2024 he opened anglo thai
03:41in london
03:44the ethos of the restaurant is heavily inspired by the cuisine of thailand but the focus is to use
03:51predominantly british ingredients for example if we're cooking green curry we're only using it in the summer
03:58months because green chilies only grow in the uk in the summer months you would associate rice with
04:04the cuisine in thailand we don't serve rice on our menu instead we reach for heritage ancient british grains
04:12citrus is very hard to come across so we look at rhubarb gooseberries sea buckthorn
04:18and in doing that there's some classic examples that have become main staples of our menu
04:25john's unique take on thai british fusion instantly gained recognition
04:31and within three months he was awarded a michelin star
04:39that for me was probably the most proud moment of my career
04:43and really cemented in me that if you drive for your goals and your success that you can get there
04:51hello chefs i'm really excited to give you the bold innovative flavors that i am passionate about
04:56with my restaurant in london so today i'm going to cook a couple of my dishes for you guys but
05:01to
05:01see those dishes you're going to have to follow me outside
05:07john's master class starts with one of his most popular restaurant dishes
05:11that centers around crab coconut and caviar this is actually a dish that first graced pop-up menus
05:19about four years ago and i've been refining along the way and everyone seems to love it on the menu
05:25we take whole crabs and we cook them over a charcoal grill it's very traditional in thai cooking and in
05:30southeast asian cooking to cook over charcoal and wood
05:35in the restaurant we also fresh press our own coconut cream having that ingredient set us apart from
05:40other restaurants in the uk the fresh coconut cream is combined with a marinade made from british green
05:47chilis galangal mandarin juice and honey from glastonbury
05:57that is really really good the spicy sweet salty oh my god crabs at the temperature we want it to
06:03be
06:03now the delicately picked white crab meat is then combined with a spicy coconut cream dressing
06:12and we serve that with caviar from xmoor hello and then for the other half of the ramekin we're going
06:18to cover it with the red oxalis leaves it has like sour flavor profile to it that again is just
06:23going
06:23to like balance out the dish thai food is sweet salty spicy and sour and it's about balancing those
06:31four flavor profiles together to create something harmonious oh that looks stunning the final element
06:41is a coconut ash cracker chef they're looking beautiful thank you very much okay guys so this is
06:49the finished dish and i invite you to come taste it it was really delicious you could taste every
06:56individual ingredient and for such a small thing it packed such a big amount of flavor in there so tasty
07:02but also he's managed to keep that delicate crab in there as well it's just really balanced so well
07:09okay guys so we're going to cook our second dish so the main course is a lamb dish we're actually
07:15incredibly proud to focus on using lambs from a farm in dorset we try and champion all cuts of the
07:21lamb
07:22we're actually using hoggett so like mature sheep i think has a much nicer more prominent flavor
07:28the hoggett is served alongside a lamb red curry sausage this is inspired by our sausage called
07:34sayua in the north of thailand we're just smoking all the meats now just to give them that like
07:38deeper like more complex flavor profile this is shoots bellies that we've braised pressed together
07:44and that forms like this terrine we also take inspiration from a dish called ging om in thailand
07:50which is a rural style curry that actually doesn't have coconut cream running through it curries that
07:56are cooked with stock rather than coconut cream makes them a little bit more light a little bit more
08:02aromatic this looks amazing i can't wait to get started eating this this looks absolutely incredible
08:09hopefully it's quite like big bold flavors quite rich in itself as well
08:13that was delicious thank you very much chef thank you thank you so much
08:18the challenge next you are set to cook from a lot of my ingredients that i have chosen and what
08:24i'll be
08:25looking for in your food is big bold flavors that's what i really find attractive about thai cooking
08:30and i hope you'll find like inspiration from the food that we've had today off you go thank you thank
08:36the contestants now have 90 minutes to create a thai inspired dish that showcases british ingredients
08:45chosen by john and embraces traditional thai cooking methods over coals
08:53there's a real spectrum of ingredients there's chicken pork john dory sea bass crab oysters we've got
09:02beef heart barleys and spelt lemongrass galangals fresh chilies and i really hope that they'll be able to
09:10reach deep into their repertoire and think about how they're gonna best showcase their flavors hopefully we
09:15can make chef john proud you know come up with good ideas a bit worrying but after seeing chef john
09:22i'm
09:22going to try to use what we have learned in the master class and try to put that on a
09:26plate
09:34finally getting to use the barbecue today so hopefully going to make some really strong use out of it
09:40dublin-born chef patron mark has a passion for american barbecue and has shown versatility with
09:47dishes and flavors from all over the world when i came into the competition i probably hadn't intended
09:52to cook as widely as i have but has struggled with refinement i think after the first couple of
09:59challenges i realized how intense it was going to be how much i would have to push myself today i'm
10:04just
10:04going to make sure that everything that goes on the plate is like there for maximum impact maximum
10:08taste mark thai flavors are these ingredients that you're used to using no not at all i've never
10:14really cooked thai food before so really excited today to try and bring a little bit of spin to it
10:18so what dish are you cooking today mark we're going to be grilling chicken and then i'm going to make
10:22an
10:22infused crab oil that i can baste the chicken with jasmine rice a little pickle salad of mooli and
10:28potato with lots of herbs through there i'm also going to do a green curry sauce sounds adventurous for
10:32sure you're going to get that all done i'm going to work my butt off to try and get it
10:36all done in
10:37time love the idea of the crab oil which is infused with basil mint and some lemongrass there's going
10:44to be buttering that over the top of the chicken but i really want to taste that crab flavor the
10:49green
10:49curry sauce is about a great curry paste hopefully some ginger and garlic in there with some chilies and
10:55some lime leaves and coconut cream i want a curry sauce it just really embraces those beautiful flavors of
11:01thailand chefs 20 minutes of cooking time has gone yeah i've got a lot going on it's quite a bit
11:08daring but if i can pull it off it should be tasty
11:13private chef gareth has made it this far with playful takes on classic dishes showing impressive
11:19technique i've definitely developed as a chef the further i get through the competition the more
11:27confident i'm becoming in myself i really want to be in the final just have to get over a few
11:33difficult challenges before that it looks like you've got some pretty adventurous ingredients in
11:40front of you right here yes chef i'm going to do ox heart and cook that over the fire i'm
11:45going to glaze
11:46that with a black garlic glaze then i've got some farro that i'm cooking in beef stock i'm doing a
11:53thai
11:54sauce similar to how you showed us today so i'm cooking that with stock as opposed to with coconut
11:59milk and there's going to be some pickled daikon in there for acidity you asked us to give you some
12:03big bold flavors and that's what i'm going to try and do gareth he's making ox heart skewers
12:11but the ox heart is a very big muscle can be tough so he needs to be very careful when
12:17it cooks on the
12:18grill farro is a grain and he's going to finish it off with some beef fat which he's rendering from
12:25the fat of the heart his sauce is a rustic style sauce with lots of gallon gallon running through
12:30it so it's going to have a little heat and sweetness to it he's made a thai curry sauce before
12:35in the
12:35competition it's absolutely delicious junior sous chef georgia has shown her strengths line classic french
12:42techniques and mediterranean flavors but she struggles when she doesn't have a plan this looks a little
12:49hectic yes i'm sorry you're right oh gosh i've been trying to take each challenge as it comes because
12:56otherwise i do get quite overwhelmed doing an invention test that is what i'm finding most daunting
13:01hopefully won't be running around like a headless chicken in this challenge
13:07so where are you going with this dish i am going to do a take on some of my favorite
13:11thai
13:11food i really love chicken satay skewers and i really love prawn sesame toast so i'm going to
13:17attempt to make chicken satay skewers and chicken liver sesame toast don't think i've ever encountered
13:23that before like a cut like liver and then trying to introduce it into a very well recognized dish
13:28yeah i'm still kind of working out the elements of my dish it's a bit all over the place yeah
13:33okay
13:33should we stop talking sorry okay no worries
13:39georgia is definitely looking a little bit flustered in the kitchen i don't think she's got a
13:43real clear picture just yet of the dish she's chosen the chicken and she's doing the satay style
13:48skewers the chicken liver toast is inventive none of us have had that before but this is not about
13:55taking just little bits that georgia enjoys about thai food she has to create a cohesive dish here
14:03chef's you're halfway okay halfway dad of four and head chef luke's bold flavors and stylish plates
14:10have stood out in the competition i think i've had quite good feedback
14:17but i want to keep learning and i'm hoping that they can see that as well
14:26luke how are you a little bit stressed right now i love to eat thai food but it's not something
14:30i've
14:30cooked much with so i'm going to do a john dory which i'm going to lightly smoke on the grill
14:35i'm
14:35going to serve that with thai green curry sauce pickled daikon a little daikon that i'm going to cook
14:40on the char grill just trying to use the flavors as well as he did john dory is one of
14:45my favorite fish
14:46hope you're going to do it justice probably not a good time to tell you i've never cooked one before
14:53so luke is using a fish he's never filleted before so he needs to be very careful
14:58i filleted plenty of fish before so i'm hoping that i can just use my knowledge from that luke
15:03wants to smoke it this is why he's going to cook it on the higher tier of the barbecue i
15:08like this
15:09daikon is the radish what it'll do is it'll bring freshness to the plate we've got some pickled daikon
15:14and then he's also got another one that he's cut into thin slices and he's rolled it up and then
15:18he's
15:19put down to the barbecue and then just baste it with that lovely seaweed butter i'm going to attempt
15:23to make coconut milk to have john done and i'm going to use that as the base of a thai
15:28green curry sauce
15:30thai green curry sauce it's got to have a huge amount of heat running through it coconut flavor
15:33lemongrass ginger galangal it's got to have big big big flavors brazilian-born private chef caroline
15:41has wowed with meticulous and ambitious classics but often pushes herself right to the wire
15:50i'm aware that pressure for me is always tiny
15:54but you really want to go into that kitchen and give it your best
15:59so i'm doing a wild sea bass that's going to be cooked in the barbecue i'm doing a pea puree
16:05with thai
16:05basil and coconut cream my intention is to pick up the white crab meat and to make it into a
16:12croquette
16:12with like chili going through it okay how are you going to bind the crab together for the croquette
16:17filling it's a good question i'll have to figure that out i didn't get there yet and the sauce will
16:22be a red curry sauce okay caroline there's a lot going on in this dish and you always cut it
16:28fine
16:29yeah are you going to be able to pull this off i hope i'll do my best i love the
16:35sound of this
16:36she's gone for the sea bass she's cured it with kombu seaweed so i hope we get to taste some
16:41of
16:41those flavors of the kombu running through it she's making a crab croquette but she hasn't decided how
16:46she's going to bind this croquette which is the key thing about holding this together we've also got
16:53pea and thai basil puree looking for big flavor great color nice and smooth achieving a great
16:59thai red curry sauce is about getting the spices cooked off there's red peppers and some tomatoes
17:05and then coconut milk to bring it together it's not sauce you want to rush in the last 10 minutes
17:12guatemalan-born private chef sel has delivered with his innovative and often daring combinations
17:18showcasing flavors deeply rooted in his heritage the competition definitely has gone well but we have
17:27to push ourselves more get more creative how does the cooking from guatemala compare with the stuff that
17:34i was showing you today we can use the same flavors like coconut is something that you just drink also
17:39i have never really cooked thai food before so this is for me so i'm trying to refer to what
17:44i learned from
17:45today pretty intrigued to see how like everything's going to come together for sure makes two of us
17:49yeah yeah me too
17:53sel not really cooked thai style flavors before but he's taking the pork and he's going to cut those
17:58into chops and just finish those on the grill i'm really surprised that he's not going to add
18:03any thai flavors onto those pork chops at all which i find quite incredible because pork could carry those
18:08flavors beautifully well we've got white asparagus coconut basil puree quite an unusual combination
18:13especially the white asparagus can be quite stringy get a little bit on the bitter side as well
18:19we have grilled broccoli and a coconut sauce that's got chilies the limes and galangal ginger so he
18:26is trying to infuse thai flavors through his cooking but i just see a lot of different things here
18:35and i hope he's thought about how he's going to put this all together
18:41chefs you've got 30 minutes until the first dish is served john and i are going to head out to
18:46the
18:47dining room very much look forward to uh trying the dish
18:56it's a pretty big ask i think isn't it to take chefs out of their comfort zone
19:01if i was in their shoes i would be quite intimidated by it but i've encouraged them to try and
19:06be really
19:06bold with the flavors that they're working with from looking at everyone's benches they do have
19:10a set of ingredients that they'll be able to achieve that with if they go down the right avenues with
19:15them just starting to do my chicken mark is first up and he's in familiar ground because mark does a
19:21lot
19:21of american barbecue the great thing about charcoal grilling is it's a really really dry heat
19:25so you can get really really crispy skin i love the thought of that smoky barbecue chicken spiced crab
19:32oil could be inspired yeah depending on how he carries it off what's this so that is a herb brush
19:39with spiced crab oil i'm going to put it into the pizza oven now for a few minutes just to
19:43make sure
19:44that it's cooked all the way through and then we're done oh sizzle sizzle
19:51and he's got a sort of pickled daikon salad i think he was going to make mark you've got five
19:57minutes
19:57left happy with the chicken yes very happy with the chicken thai green curry is like one of the
20:05spiciest so i don't know whether he knows that or not but i'll be looking out to see whether he's
20:09like
20:09gone down that kind of authentic route do you think he's going to be hitting the big bowl flavors that
20:13john's looking for yeah i think so yeah thank you good luck thank you chef chef chef how are you
20:22very
20:23well thank you very much enjoy thank you very much thank you chef
20:31looks very appealing very fresh so i'm quite excited to try this
20:35i think it went pretty well i'm trying to pack a lot into the time limit so yeah i hope
20:40it's
20:40not enough to stand out the chicken of mine's like nice and moist and juicy still that crispy smoky
20:47skin is delicious i do think the crab oil does add something like in the background something umami
20:53this green curry it's not adventurous with the chili heat it feels a little bit more sri lankan with that
20:59like rich coconut flavor but i do like it the pickled daikon salad i think is delicious for me it's
21:04the
21:04nicest thing on the plate it's a nice plate of food it's just lacking that extra punch
21:09that i expect with thai food need to throw a bit of chopped chili on there maybe yeah
21:17mark's chicken has definitely got the flavors of the barbecue running through the chicken
21:23but that crab oil is slightly lost and i think his thai green curry could have had a much bigger
21:28kick in it
21:32gareth's ox heart skewers for me sounds very very exciting this is the first for me beef heart on
21:40a barbecue on a lemongrass stick he's gonna quickly flash it over the charcoal which is exactly the kind
21:46of cooking that ox heart benefits from really i'm gonna glaze them with black garlic and then they should
21:53get a nice amazing caramelized glaze on by when they go back on the barbecue i like the idea of
21:59the farro with the beef fat running through it i think like the beef fat and the ox heart
22:03there's a good sort of synergy in the dish gareth's a minute or two left what is that pickled daikon
22:12so gareth is doing a chili and galangal rural style curry sauce i think everyone else was
22:18reaching for coconut cream but he's kept it quite clean and using animal stock like the version i
22:23did today you're done yes chef good stuff off you go take your two plates well done thank you
22:32that's definitely him pushing really hard yeah that looks great
22:38yeah smells good thank you very much thank you chef
22:44i don't know about you but i think this just looks like a very accomplished plate of foods
22:48it was a tough cook but i was pushing myself but i think that's what the challenge was about
22:55and i loved that i've got to say this ox heart cooking is sublime it's super tender the black
23:01garlic i'm picking up that little bit of sweetness that's picked up all the smoke i think that's
23:06really enhanced this the sauce for me there is a nice roundness to it i'm really a fan of the
23:12ancient
23:12grain as well it's like beefy it's got a nice like chewy texture to it i love the little bit
23:17of
23:17pickled daikon with it as well it's just beautiful i can't really fault that plate
23:23the ox heart is beautifully cooked the sauce is big and rich and you've got a lovely heat behind it
23:28if you're talking about big bowl flavors this is it in a bowl this is fabulous for me it's one
23:34of
23:34garris's top dishes i'm really enjoying it i don't get on the barbecue very often anymore but i do
23:41really enjoy it usually george has got barbecue satay skewers which sounds delicious yep i'm going
23:52to face these skewers with my satay sauce with some of my curry paste in it i'm going to finish
23:58this
23:58off inside i think georgia you've got about four minutes left the chicken liver inspired by prawn
24:06toast not sure how that's going to come together i hope it's going to work on the brioche if she
24:11pulls that one off could be delicious okay georgia so you've got about 30 seconds left you want to
24:17think about sending your plates soon she's got an asian slaw i've kind of muddled through this so
24:24god knows what it's going to be like i think it's a bit rushed off you go thank you
24:31she looked unhappy she looked confused that was not great for her she didn't enjoy that and it shows
24:36on the plate i think i just really struggled to control my nerves i'm just not very good when i
24:43don't have a plan and i'm kind of winging it i just hope that the flavors are there and that
24:49they enjoy
24:49the taste of the dish the chicken skewer is pretty tasty and it has got nice flavor but unfortunately
24:57i think one of my pieces of chicken here is actually not quite cooked through the salad it doesn't really
25:02bring anything it's not really pickly enough and the curry sauce is quite nice it feels a little bit
25:06like a peanut satay it does have a little kick in the background i quite like that the toast the
25:13bread
25:13has got really oily and wet i don't think it's quite worked out for her the satay chicken skewer mine
25:22is slightly undercooked the sweet brioche and then the chicken liver that's weird it's a combination
25:28that doesn't work i'm not enjoying that so luke was faced with this magnificent john dory he's never
25:37cooked before he's never filleted before first time cooking fish like this on a barbecue as well the
25:43coconut on the flames just to get it smoking yeah lovely flavor get some smoky flavor through the
25:47fish luke's never filleted a john dory before i have to take my hat off to him he did it
25:53really well
25:55i like the fact that he is gonna baste the john dory with seaweed butter which i think will really
26:00enhance the flavor the barbecue daikon actually i've done it before and it gets quite sweet and it loses
26:06some of its bitterness so i think it's a nice choice so luke you've got about three minutes how are
26:11we
26:11literally just finishing the cooking with a blowtorch green curry sauce hope that he's adventurous
26:17with the chili heat that's it luke your time is up i have to say it looks good thank you
26:25thanks very much thank you thank you
26:31i think luke's done a really good job here looks really appealing quite minimalist but i like that
26:37it was tough i was out of my comfort zone but under the circumstances i am happy with what i
26:42put up
26:44the john dory is flaking apart really moist still i think the seaweed butter that he's basted it in has
26:50like a sort of smoky barbecue flavor to it which is nice i really like the green curry sauce actually
26:54i think it's very vibrant has nice acidity to it and the fact that he's made his own coconut cream
27:00that's impressive given the time frame the fish the two types of daikon and that delicious sauce
27:06there's a lot of positives there i have to say for a chef that's never filleted or cooked john dory
27:13before that's perfectly cooked it's brilliant there's a little bit of heat in the thai green curry too
27:18which i like he's taken on the challenge and delivered a great dish oh smoky
27:26caroline she's wrapping her wild sea bass in kombu she's going to take that off and barbecue it
27:33it should impart that sort of seaweed saline flavor into the fish
27:37i really want the skin to be charred but it also needs to be cooked nicely and not over
27:45she's got grilled vegetables tomatoes for some freshness asparagus are not fire which is good
27:51how's it looking i'm very worried about my crab why i won't be able to do croquettes like i wanted
27:58to
27:59you've got six minutes still so you might be able to break the crab blood serve something we chef
28:05we've got jasmine rice she's got a puree i think you missed out the uh fried enoki mushrooms
28:11i missed out the fried enoki mushrooms so another element yeah they're looking good just need to
28:16finish something here i love the idea of the crab croquette but how she's going to bind this crab
28:23croquette together she had no idea yet that's a mystery up until this point really i did pick the
28:30crab meat and i'm serving it fresh with some chili and radishes i'd like it to be different but
28:36well you did have a lot to do surprise surprise red curry sauce what are you looking for in that
28:42there needs to be that chili heat running through it to balance out the fact that it's got coconut
28:47cream in caroline how's it looking final touches now this is pea and thai basil puree we're gonna have
28:53to go a bit quicker now with chef it is a lot i definitely feel like she's bitten off more
28:59than she can
28:59chew you're over time now so you're gonna have to hurry up
29:07caroline you're done three minutes over yes let's explain what you've done with the crab meat okay
29:11indeed chef caroline was up against it there yeah and a lot more work than she needs to do as
29:18usual
29:18again just always doing too much i wanted to do a croquette but i did pick some of the claw
29:25meat
29:26with some fresh chili through it go take a break thank you thank you it was very intense
29:34obviously i was very annoyed not to be able to have the crab croquettes the way i wanted them
29:40but i'm pleased with the flavors i tasted overall i'm happy
29:46i think the sea bass is beautifully cooked i'm definitely getting that salty seaweed kombu taste to it
29:52i'm loving the red curry sauce it's got a bit of kick to it i do really like that little
29:56crab salad
29:57i think it's delicious with the fish i feel like those elements work really well together and i wish
30:02you'd just maybe pulled back a little bit on some of these extra garnish which aren't really that necessary
30:09the fish is nicely cooked all but you've just got the barbecue flavor on there the thai sauce is lovely
30:14it's got good heat to it right spices it's a dish that has great things on it but it's just
30:18too much
30:21it's not very hot this
30:26that's actually hotter so he's giving us a very simple no frills pork chop
30:32i'm just trying to get some caramelization i would probably have liked to have seen him
30:37marinate it or at least talk about basting that or something while it's on the grill
30:42what about a white asparagus coconut and basil puree i actually love white asparagus pairing it
30:47with coconut cream you can bring out a nice sweetness from it as well remind us what we've got here
30:52on
30:53the side we've got black rice which i finish a little bit of cashew nuts and then i put some
30:57enoki
30:57motion on top i feel like it's quite busy if i'm honest i don't necessarily see why it needs all
31:04of
31:04these different vegetable garnishes but he might present us with something that's really outstanding
31:10what's in that sauce the base is coconut and some chilies happy yeah i mean with the time given
31:16i think i'm so happy as they can be choose the best place and off you go
31:22there's a lot going on a bit rough around the edges isn't it i just keep looking at the broccoli
31:26and
31:26think why is it there me too go and take a break thank you and put your feet up for
31:32a bit thank you sir
31:35i try to catch as much as i could earlier in the master class i just did the best i
31:41could with this
31:42dish the pork i think is actually cooked quite well i do feel like it could have had more char
31:49on the
31:49barbecue to get that kind of caramelization but all of the garnishes just don't really make any sense
31:55to me we've got a bit of broccoli that just tastes like a bit of broccoli and this white asparagus
32:00and
32:01basil puree with the coconut it's neither sweet nor bitter the coconut sauce has no real depth it's
32:08got a very kind of muted flavor to it almost like thai flavors for beginners
32:16there is not much about this plate of food that i am enjoying it's a bit rough bit rustic just
32:23not
32:23quite hitting the mark i think it's been a great day in the kitchen some people really took it in
32:30their stride and produced some really amazing cooking and others i think they just had a little
32:34bit of an off day in the kitchen but you can clearly see that they push themselves to be outside
32:39of their
32:39comfort zone and for that i really applaud all of them for doing it our chefs have got one more
32:44opportunity to prove themselves and keep themselves in this competition it's all to play for
32:59chefs i hope you enjoyed your time with john there was some outstanding food on show today well done
33:05you are now back in here to fight to stay in our semi-finals we have set you a brief
33:12and that is to
33:13create one spectacular dessert something that is going to wow us blow us away at the end of this one
33:21of you will be leaving the competition make this count you have one hour and 45 minutes give it
33:29everything you got
33:38the pressure of today's challenge is huge everything's riding on this dessert but i want
33:45it to be one that you talk about for years after that's what i'm going for
33:52my family my mum my dad both my sisters lived in trinidad and tobago for a long time they came
33:58back to
33:58sunny carlisle before i was born but we visited and those flavors and that culture has always sort
34:04of been around in our lives so i'm cooking for you a cumbrian classic with a caribbean twist
34:11gareth's dessert is about elevating the sticky toffee pudding and he's going to serve it with
34:16flavors of the caribbean we have a banana cream diplomat which is like a whipped out mousse i'm gonna
34:21whip up some cream with a bit of rum and fold it through to make like a light banana and
34:25rum cream
34:26gareth is making a rum and lime gel but he has to be careful we've had a gel from gareth
34:32before
34:32it was a very smoky whiskey gel and it was just too strong we've also got a twill which is
34:38making
34:38out of pecans uh banana sherbet just for a little bit of sugary finish then we got a fig leaf
34:44ice cream
34:45it's actually my first ice cream i've ever made fig leaf just the most beautiful pungent aroma the
34:52thick leaves have come from my mum's garden and my mum she always cooks the best sticky toffee puddings
34:58so hopefully i can deliver something as good as what she would do
35:04the pressure will be back on now need to get everything perfect because obviously pastry
35:09there's not much room for error but i'm feeling a little more comfortable doing this dish there's
35:14something that i've managed to practice a little bit luke we haven't seen many desserts from you so
35:20far in the competition how do you feel about this i'm quite excited to do a dessert the whole dish
35:23is
35:24based around pistachios and what is about this dessert that you find so spectacular the cake element
35:28in particular is what i did for my first ever chef competition about 12 years ago i won that it
35:34must
35:34have been a good cake luke yeah well pierre kaufmann thought so he was judging the competition and by
35:40the time i plated up he'd eaten all of my trimmings of my cake guessing the best out of pistachios
35:47is very
35:47difficult we've got a pistachio and olive oil cake it's the slowest olive oil ever let's get out the
35:54cake has got to be light i want the nutty flavor of pistachio to come through but also the flavor
36:00of oil it's about the balance and we've also got an ice cream made from pistachio as well
36:06we've got a tally meringue tally meringue is about cooking the sugar and pouring it onto the egg whites
36:11getting it to the right temperature and that's got to be nice and firm i'm pretty confident in doing
36:15meringue i've done it many times but you know this is the place that i'm going to screw it up
36:18so
36:20luke's got a raspberry and rose water jelly rose water that has got to be really really carefully
36:26used otherwise it is just too perfumed and it's completely overpowering luke's got a lot of jeopardy
36:32going on with his pistachio twills so you need to mold them whilst they're hot that's going to wrap
36:37around the cake well i'll be quite quick for these ones because as they cool they literally go to brittle
36:41my concern is the dryness of this dessert you've got a twill it looks quite thick and you've also
36:47got a cake as well so i'm a little bit worried with it oh god my hand is so sweaty
36:56i have done a dessert
36:57as my signature dish at the beginning and i had a very very good feedback so i think i have
37:03very big
37:04shoes to feel caroline you're looking as busy as ever yes chef a lot to do the main element of
37:14dessert
37:14is the fig leaf and white chocolate parfait which is then spraying with white chocolate but the frozen
37:19parfait is obviously going to heat up so she needs to do that really really quick if i don't move
37:23fast
37:24it's a danger that you know it might just melt too quickly and i don't i don't like that
37:30caroline's using a verju which is made from grapes to marinate her peaches so there'll be a bit of
37:36sweetness in it we also have a peach consomme i blitzed some fresh peaches with a little bit of
37:44sugar and froze it down and i'll just let it very slowly drip we've also got blackberry sorbet we've got
37:54little sablé biscuit as well it's got the essence of almond running through it so what's inspired
37:59this peaches are one of my favorite fruits and blackberries when i was a kid my mom used to take
38:04me and my brother for a walk and she let us just go and pick them and have them fresh
38:09and we would
38:10come home like covered so it's fun memory for me she's doing an awful lot but if she gets it
38:16right
38:16it'll look incredible chefs 45 minutes cooking time has gone definitely be pretty busy today i've got a lot
38:24of stuff to get on and moving for this yeah show-stopping dessert a lot of work to live up
38:28to
38:30it demands ambition and i think i've tried to bring as much ambition to this dish as i possibly can
38:37mark what are you putting together here so a peanut butter and jelly sandwich it's like one of the
38:41first things a lot of kids learn to make i want to like take those kind of flavors and like
38:45elevate
38:45it into like a really amazing dessert so i'm making for you today a peanut butter and jelly cheesecake
38:50what part is the jam the jam is going to bourbon cherry gel some poached cherries that's going to
38:54bring that kind of sweetness that little bit of acidity to us we've got a salted pretzel base and
38:59then some burnt honey meringue over the top
39:04peanut butter and jelly cheesecake it sounds delicious it's got a little bit of goat's cheese in
39:09there for the acidity i love the pretzel base but peanut butter being strong quite cloying flavor so
39:18he's going to need enough of that cherry gel to really cut through it all we've got a peanut brittle
39:24twill a burnt honey meringue basically making italian meringue but instead of using a normal sugar syrup
39:30i'm using burnt honey and then piping that into beautiful little matchstick strips
39:35he's also giving us a caramelized puff pastry ice cream which is a new one on me i've caramelized
39:42puff pastry and infused it into an anglaise base okay and then going to turn that into ice cream
39:48interesting the ice cream you don't want to over churned and grainy and i want to taste the
39:53caramelization of the pastry this is a great idea but this food can be rustic on the eye i'd like
40:01to
40:01see mark refine that today with his dessert i want it to look good as well as taste good but
40:07this is
40:07about pushing the boundaries today so i'm really pushing the boundaries with the flavors i'm confident
40:14on my dish because it's very unusual but i know it works the most important thing here is just to
40:20keep
40:20focus today i took inspiration actually in a forest as a kid we used to wander around like with the
40:27dogs
40:27and you know like just collecting stuff in this case i'm trying to uh recreate like a fallen tree
40:32like a log what is the log the log is filled with a matcha mousse and then on top i'm
40:38gonna add
40:38chocolate cremeu to create like the bark of the law then i have a white purple ice cream big flavors
40:43wow big very big flavors okay adventurous it's just time to take risks
40:52we've got a frozen matcha mousse which is inside a chocolate shell they're frozen that was my biggest
40:56worry with this if they wouldn't freeze on time then he's making a chocolate cremeu and he's putting
41:02that on the outside trying to make them look like little locks we also have a matcha moss so it's
41:09a cake
41:10batter that's been cooked in the microwave it puffs up it just makes it very light and fluffy yes
41:17ha we've got truffle ice cream i have to say out of everything that's on this plate truffle is the
41:22one thing that concerns me the most it's big and bold and sometimes can be slightly overpowering
41:28i just hope that the truffle ice cream is mellow enough to complement everything else
41:32sel is throwing himself out there because his flavors are slightly mad
41:39i'm taking you to the sunny amalfi coast today i've got my
41:43bandana in my hair wishing i was on holiday rather than in the kitchen
41:48i didn't feel like myself in the last round i felt so nervous but i feel a lot more confident
41:56i know what i'm doing i want to show the judges that i can keep my cool a little bit
42:02more
42:05we're seeing lemons limoncello basil this seems like your happy place it is lemon is my favorite
42:12thing and it's in all of my cooking basically so i'm doing a classic french lemon tart some italian
42:16meringue on the side and lemon sorbet is this worthy of keeping you in our semi-finals i hope
42:22so this is me on a plate so i had to do it georgia's a chef who's very happy when
42:31she's cooking dessert
42:32but there's a lot riding on this for georgia because a simple lemon tart is a very complicated
42:39thing to do you need it to be just set if she overcooks it it's gonna crack if she undercooks
42:47it it's
42:47just gonna be soft and it'll melt away onto the plate it's got to be perfect a limoncello curd
42:52cream is about the curd being cooked out just right of course the limoncello being quite strong
42:57vibrant the cure so that in the cream should be delicious oh it's looking okay so far we've got
43:05lemon sorbet i'm just filling my little lemon shells with my lemon sorbet now that it's ready
43:11we have basil and lemon curd but there's a lot of lemon going on in georgia's dessert i think where
43:17you've got to balance this dish is the acidity of the lemons running through everything but also the
43:23sweetness as well chefs you have just seven minutes left i've got a lot going on i need to start
43:34moving
43:35so why are they not connected maybe i could have measured them differently so they look gorgeous
43:42i'm really happy with the top my parfait has defrosted i don't know what to do
43:51chefs this is your last two minutes i've managed to put everything in the plate
43:57i'm really not happy with my cake the mix is too wet it's dense it's dropped oh chef it's all
44:03melting it's all melting melting and it's not nice which is not ideal okay chefs you got 60 seconds left
44:12come on let's get it on a plate it looks like a donut on the plate it's horrible oh no
44:17plate what you
44:19can and ask to keep these maybe in the freezer until it's time to serve or don't give up
44:28chefs that is it time is up step back
44:38gareth
44:43gareth's show stopping dessert is a caribbean inspired sticky toffee pudding with a miso caramel
44:49sauce served with a pecan tuile dusted with banana sherbet caramelized banana lime and rum gel
44:57banana and rum creme diplomat and a fig leaf ice cream smoked in a cherry wood aroma
45:11the sticky toffee pudding sponge it's not lifted to the heights it should have done the mix wasn't
45:16quite right you can see that little thickness at the bottom but having said that it's still
45:19delicious i like the diplomat cream that's very nice and of course the gel big cake of alcohol
45:24it's lovely the fig leaf ice cream is absolutely delicious and when you eat that with the
45:31ever so slightly salty miso caramel it works perfectly
45:36that pecan twill also has a hint of banana running through it i think it's very clever
45:41you did a banana sherbet and and dusted that with it it's a delicious dessert and i'm loving that fig
45:46leaf ice cream thank you i had bad juju with the sponge the mix didn't seem right
45:54but overall i think it was pretty positive if it's enough to get me through that'd be great
46:02luke's dessert is a pistachio and olive oil cake wrapped in a pistachio tuile topped with an italian
46:09meringue and rose water and raspberry jellies and a pistachio and olive oil ice cream
46:19the pistachio sponge is lovely i love the lightness of the meringue sitting on top
46:23your twill around the outside it is slightly overcooked i question why you cut the length of
46:27it's shorter than it needed to be they should be connected they should be together the sponge
46:33is delicious it's got a really good flavor of pistachio but for me there's not enough sharpness
46:38of raspberry i really want more of that if you're dealing with something like pistachio which is oily
46:44you need something to cut it a bit the ice cream flavors of pistachio yes i definitely have that but
46:52when you're using something like pistachio like matt is saying you know having pistachio pistachio
46:57where's the point of difference and it has to be there
47:04it was terrible and it's definitely my worst round so far and at the stage in the competition
47:09it's it's not a good place to have it caroline intended to serve a fig leaf and white chocolate
47:16parfait what went wrong temperature chef by the time i sprayed it started melting quite instantly
47:22it's accompanied by compressed peaches in verju an almond sablay caramelized white chocolate
47:30peach gel blackberry and lemon verbena sorbet and a peach consomme with fig leaf oil
47:42the parfait it hasn't set we all know that you know that but the peaches or the verju has got
47:48a
47:48freshness to it it's sharp it's delicious and with the white chocolate flavors of this parfait it's really
47:54wonderful your sablay biscuit is slightly overcooked but your blackberry sorbet i love the flavor of that the
48:01lemon coming through there and your little peach water with the oil running through it is lovely and
48:05i think what you do have is the makings of a really good idea but it's quite obvious to see
48:10what's really
48:10wrong here the peach consomme with the fig oil i think is a showstopper and i know you're disheartened
48:18but you like marcus said have got the makings here of a fantastic dessert
48:26is the way i wanted it to be no it's not but at the same time i'm happy the flavors
48:34worked together
48:35like it made sense inspired by a peanut butter jelly sandwich mark has made a whipped peanut butter
48:44and goat's cheese cheesecake with a salted pretzel biscuit base topped with poached cherries and cherry
48:51bourbon gel peanut brittle burnt honey meringues and a caramelized puff pastry ice cream
49:03i don't like your presentation i think it's messy in your piping peanut butter cheesecake it doesn't
49:08even taste of cheesecake to me i can't get that cheesy sourness with the goat's cheese that's in
49:13there but i love your burnt honey meringue i think that's fabulous i love the pretzel base as well there
49:19are things in here that i do like and there's bits that i'm looking for that aren't there it's not
49:23your
49:23best plate there is so much richness and so much sweetness going on in your cheesecake i love that
49:30toasted sort of caramelized puff pastry ice cream oh that's really clever i've never heard of that before
49:36the peanut butter cheesecake you do need more of the cheese running through it it is a little bit too
49:42sweet i like the cherry with the alcohol running through it but i want more of that so there are
49:47issues
49:50here the feedback was pretty mixed it felt like kind of all over the place and i really didn't have
49:56time to really plate to the level that i would have liked to have played it so yeah tough
50:02cells dessert is a dark chocolate log filled with matcha mousse and coated in a milk chocolate cremeux
50:09sat on a cherry puree served white truffle ice cream matcha moss raspberry and blackberry compote
50:17chocolate walnut soil and a chocolate twill
50:26the matcha mousse i like the bitterness of this because of the cherry puree underneath that works
50:32very nice however this truffle ice cream once i had that i could not taste anything else on the plate
50:39it is so strong it is overpowering so the balance of this overtakes the whole dessert
50:46so i've just taken a slither of the matcha mousse i've taken ever so tiny amount of the truffle
50:53weirdly that combination it's not unpleasant it's the amounts of white truffle in that ice cream and
50:59the sheer amount of that ice cream on the plate which is just offsetting the balance of everything here
51:06the cremeux i like that the cherry works very well with dark chocolate but white truffle oil is such a
51:12big big big big big big flavor it's an essence and it's very strong i know you love unusual combinations
51:17but it's too big for me on a plate like this
51:26upset i knew i was taking a bit risk but sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't
51:33last up is georgia she's made a lemon tart served with torched italian meringue lemon basil curd
51:41limoncello cream amaretti biscuits and a lemon and basil sorbet served inside a frozen lemon skin
51:51presentation great thank you
51:58brave thing to do a lemon tart the simplicity and the purity of a lemon tart but you've nailed it
52:04the
52:04lemon tart mix is wonderful i love the basil and lemon curd i'm really sort of getting that basil
52:11i like the meringue it's very sweet these amaretti biscuits are cute and actually it's needed if
52:17you're going to have that much meringue on there that sorbet is a start it's just got a lovely hit
52:21of citrus in it i love this the tart is beautifully lined the lemon itself i love the texture of
52:28it and
52:29if you've got too much sweetness going on you just go into your little lemon and basil sorbet on the
52:34side
52:34here and you just freshen up the palette this is a cracking dessert georgia in every way for me you've
52:39done it very very well thank you thank you i felt a lot more confident going into that round
52:52i'm just much better if i've been able to practice and prepare
52:55and plan so i'm really really happy with that really happy
53:04that was a horrendously difficult challenge for sure it was not an easy round
53:09i think some of our chefs struggled today
53:13who in this room really stood out i say georgia for me i thought her dessert was the best of
53:19the
53:19six chefs today it was full of flavor full of life it was vibrant it was delicious and what a
53:25turnaround from the last challenge she's come back fighting gareth gave us the sticky toffee pudding
53:31with the miso caramel sauce sponge you just didn't quite get it right but overall it's hitting the
53:37right notes and that ice cream was fabulous that's georgia and gareth through after that it gets a little
53:42bit trickier luke i think the pistachio cake with the olive oil was good i was quite surprised at how
53:47light the salad meringue was on top but there wasn't enough pop from the raspberries just to take it from
53:53just being pistachio the twill we all know there are issues with it and i think luke knows that as
53:58well mark's presentation was a little bit clumsy i didn't think the cheesecake had the cheesiness
54:05flavor that i was expecting for the pretzel crumb at the bottom was good loved the ice cream
54:10i really enjoyed the cherries i wanted more of it so the matcha mousse i didn't mind but once i
54:17got
54:17into the truffle ice cream i could not taste anything else it was just overpowering and had
54:23no place on being on this plate he does come up with different ideas he's made them work before
54:28but with this dessert it didn't work caroline the peaches marinated in verju were really lovely
54:36blackberry sorbet it was sharp not too sweet that peach consomme with the fig oil was good it would
54:42have all been wonderful had it not been for the parfait not setting such a shame
54:49it would be very sad to go home but i've struggled with the challenges today so let's see
54:56if it was the end of the competition i'd be guided but i didn't do great so it's what it
55:00is isn't it
55:02honestly at the moment i don't know where i stand but i might still have a bit of chance
55:08i think i'm on thin ice do they have too much white truffle for me to go home i will
55:16say
55:30chefs two massive rounds we have made a decision we can only take our strongest five chefs through
55:41the chef leaving the competition today
56:01it's sal sorry sal sal but your time in the kitchen has been fabulous you've brought some great
56:07stories some fabulous dishes and of course some very different combinations thank you so much indeed
56:13thank you it's not a nice feeling uh it's a competition so i understand but this has been a great
56:23experience it's the end of the road for mastership but it's not the end of the road for me as
56:28a chef
56:34chefs massive congratulations you are our final five
56:41i don't even really know what to say i can't believe i'm still standing
56:45i need to let it sink in i think final five is a big deal
56:50definitely feel the pressure racking up you've got to be better practiced and then really just hope for
56:54the best honestly i thought it was going to be me going home but it really feels very special i'm
57:02very
57:02glad to be here i was super proud of myself i never imagined myself in the final five but now
57:08i'm here
57:08yeah i'm in it let's go
57:17next time it's the last of the semi-finals
57:21and the remaining five face the heat
57:25of a two michelin star kitchen yeah it's tough you need to start going like the clappers now
57:31all right okay before battling it out for a place in finals week i think it's really out there and
57:38i
57:38think it's really brave when we talk about next level cookery this is it
57:45so
57:56so
57:58so
58:10Transcription by CastingWords
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