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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
00:33don't want to go home i want to stay with thong god there's going to be an incredibly tight hot
00:39crucible of talent in there all we can do is we head down do the best we can it's not
00:43going to be
00:44easy a faint heart has never won the competition our chefs have got to keep challenging and rising
00:49to the 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
02:43and 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
03:31back to the uk to showcase his food style through pop-ups in the capital in 2024 he opened anglo
03:40thai
03:41in london the ethos of the restaurant is heavily inspired by the cuisine of thailand but the focus
03:51is to use predominantly british ingredients for example if we're cooking green curry we're only using
03:57it in the summer months because green chilies only grow in the uk in the summer months you would
04:03associate rice with the cuisine in thailand we don't serve rice on our menu instead we reach for heritage
04:09ancient british grains citrus 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 see
05:01those dishes you're going to have to follow me outside john's master class starts with one of his
05:09most popular restaurant dishes that centers around crab coconut and caviar this is actually a dish that
05:18first race pop-up menus about four years ago and i've been refining along the way and everyone seems
05:23to love it on the menu we take whole crabs and we cook them over a charcoal grill it's very
05:28traditional
05:29in thai cooking and in southeast asian cooking to cook over charcoal and wood
05:36in the restaurant we also fresh press our own coconut cream having that ingredient set us apart from other
05:41restaurants 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 spicy sweet salty oh my god the crabs at the temperature we want it to
06:03be now
06:05the delicately picked white crab meat is then combined with a spicy coconut cream dressing
06:12we serve that with caviar from exmoor and then for the other half of the ramekin we're going to cover
06:18it with the red oxalis leaves it has like sour flavor profile to it that again is just going to
06:23like
06:24balance out the dish thai food is sweet salty spicy and sour and it's about balancing those four
06:31flavor 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
06:49is the finished dish and i invite you to come taste it it's 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
07:02tasty but also he's managed to keep that delicate crab in there as well it's just really balanced so
07:08well okay guys so we're going to cook our second dish so the main course is a lamb dish we're
07:15actually
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
07:34saiyua in the north of thailand we're just smoking all the meats now just to give them that like deeper
07:39like more complex flavor profile this is sheep's bellies that we've braised pressed together and that
07:45forms like this terrine we also take inspiration from a dish called ging om in thailand which
07:51is 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 and a little
08:00bit more aromatic this looks amazing i can't wait to get started eating this this looks absolutely
08:06incredible hopefully it's quite like big bold flavors quite rich in itself as well that was delicious
08:14thank you very much thank you thank you so much the challenge next you are set to cook from a
08:22larder
08:22of my ingredients that i have chosen and what i'll be looking for in your food is big bold flavors
08:27that's
08:28what i really find attractive about thai cooking and i hope you'll find like inspiration from the food
08:33that we've had today off you go thank you thank you the contestants now have 90 minutes to create a
08:42thai
08:42inspired dish that showcases british ingredients chosen by john and embraces traditional thai cooking methods
08:50over coals there's a real spectrum of ingredients there's chicken pork john dory sea bass crab oysters we've
09:02got beef 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 uh a bit worrying but after seeing chef
09:22john
09:22i'm gonna try to use uh what we have learned in the master class and try to put that on
09:26a plate
09:34finally getting to use the barbecue today so hopefully going to make uh 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
10:04today i'm just going to make sure that everything that goes on the plate is like there for maximum impact
10:08maximum taste 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 infused 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 to
10:44be buttering that over the top of the chicken but i really want to taste that crab flavor the green
10:49curry
10:49sauce is about a great curry paste hopefully some ginger and garlic in there with some chilies and some
10:55lime leaves and coconut cream i want a curry sauce it just really embraces those beautiful flavors of thailand
11:02chefs 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 private chef gareth has made it this far
11:16with playful takes on classic dishes showing impressive technique i've definitely developed as a chef
11:25the further i get through the competition the more confident i'm becoming in myself
11:30i really want to be in the final just have to get over a few difficult challenges before that
11:37it looks like you've got some pretty adventurous ingredients in front of you right here yes chef i'm
11:42going to do ox heart and cook that over the fire i'm going to glaze that with a black garlic
11:47glaze then
11:49i've got some farro that i'm cooking in beef stock i'm doing a thai sauce similar to how you showed
11:56us
11:56today so i'm cooking that with stock as opposed to with coconut milk and there's going to be some
12:00pickled daikon in there for acidity you asked us to give you some big bold flavors and that's what i'm
12:05going to try and do gareth he's making ox heart skewers but the ox heart is a very big muscle
12:14can be tough
12:15so he needs to be very careful when it cooks on the grill farro is a grain and he's going
12:21to finish
12:22it off with some beef fat which he's rendering from the fat of the heart his sauce is a rustic
12:29style
12:29sauce with lots of gallon gallon running through it so it's going to have a little heat and sweetness to
12:32it he's made a thai curry sauce before in the competition it was absolutely delicious
12:38junior sous chef georgia has shown her strengths line classic french techniques and mediterranean
12:44flavors but she struggles when she doesn't have a plan this looks a little hectic yes i'm sorry you
12:51all right oh gosh i've been trying to take each challenge as it comes because otherwise i do get
12:57quite overwhelmed doing an invention test that is what i'm finding most daunting hopefully won't be
13:03running around like a headless chicken in this challenge so where are you going with this dish
13:08i am going to do a take on some of my favorite thai food i really love chicken satay skewers
13:14and i
13:14really love prawn sesame toast so i'm going to attempt to make chicken satay skewers and chicken liver
13:21sesame toast don't think i've ever encountered that before like a cut like liver and then trying to
13:25introduce it into a very well recognized dish yeah i'm still kind of working out the elements of my dish
13:31it's a bit all over the place yeah okay should 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 real
13:43clear picture just yet of the dish she's chosen the chicken and she's doing the satay style skewers
13:49the chicken liver toast is inventive none of us have had that before but this is not about taking
13:55just 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
14:21and i'm hoping that they can see that as well luke how are you a little bit stressed right now
14:28i love to
14:28eat thai food but it's not something i've cooked much with so i'm gonna do a john dory which i'm
14:33gonna
14:33lightly smoke on the grill i'm gonna serve that with thai green curry sauce pickled daikon a little daikon that
14:40i'm gonna cook on the char grill just trying to use the flavors as well as he did john dory
14:45is one of my
14:45favorite fish i hope you're gonna do it justice probably not a good time to tell you i've never
14:49cooked time before luke is using a fish he's never filleted before so he needs to be very careful
14:58i've filleted plenty of fish before so i'm hoping that i can just use my knowledge from that luke wants
15:04to smoke it this is why he's going to cook it on the higher tier of the barbecue i like
15:08this
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
15:18going to put down to the barbecue and then just baste it with that lovely seaweed butter i'm going to
15:23attempt to make coconut milk to have john done and i'm going to use that as the base of a
15:28thai green curry
15:29sauce thai 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 the pressure for me is always timing but you really want to go into that kitchen and give
15:57it
15:57your best so i'm doing a wild sea bass that's going to be cooked in the barbecue
16:03i'm doing a pea puree with thai basil and coconut cream my intention is to pick up the white crab
16:09meat and to make it into a croquette with like chili going through it okay how are you going to
16:16bind the crab together for the croquette filling it's a good question i'll have to figure that out i
16:20didn't get there yet and the sauce will be a red curry sauce okay caroline there's a lot going on
16:26in this dish and you always cut it fine are you going to be able to pull this off i
16:31hope i'll do my
16:33best i love the sound of this she's gone for the sea bass she's cured it with kombu seaweed so
16:39i hope
16:40we get to taste some of those flavors of the kombu running through it she's making a crab croquette but
16:45she hasn't decided how she's going to bind this croquette which is the key thing about holding this
16:51together we've also got pea and thai basil puree looking for big flavor great color nice and smooth
16:58achieving a great thai red curry sauce is about getting the spices cooked off there's red peppers
17:04and some tomatoes and then coconut milk to bring it together it's not sauce you want to rush in the
17:08last 10 minutes guatemalan-born private chef sel has delivered with his innovative and often daring
17:17combinations showcasing flavors deeply rooted in his heritage the competition definitely has gone well
17:26but we have to push ourselves more get more creative
17:31how does the cooking from guatemala compare with the stuff that i was showing you today we can use the
17:36same flavors like coconut is something that you just drink also i have never really cooked thai food
17:41before so this is for me so i'm trying to refer to what i learned from today pretty intrigued to
17:46see
17:47how like everything's going to come together for sure makes two of us yeah yeah me too
17:53sel not really cooked thai style flavors before but he's taking the pork and he's going to cut
17:58those into 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
18:07pork could carry those flavors beautifully well we've got white asparagus coconut basil puree quite an unusual
18:13combination especially the white asparagus can be quite stringy get a little bit on the bitter side as
18:18well we 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
18:47the
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
19:16them
19:16just starting to do my chicken mark is first up and he's in familiar ground because mark does
19:21a lot of 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 it's going to be hitting the big bold flavors that
20:14john'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 trying to pack a lot into the time limit so yeah i hope it's
20:40not enough
20:40to stand out the chicken of mine's like nice and moist and juicy still that crispy smoky skin is
20:48delicious 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
20:59that like rich coconut flavor but i do like it the pickled daikon salad i think is delicious for me
21:04it's the nicest 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 but that crab
21:24oil is slightly lost and i think his thai green curry could have had a much bigger kick in it
21:32gareth's ox heart skewers for me sounds very very exciting this is a first for me beef heart on a
21:40barbecue on a lemongrass stick he's gonna quickly flash it over the charcoal which is exactly the kind of
21:46cooking that ox heart benefits from really i'm gonna glaze them with black garlic and then they should get a
21:54nice amazing caramelized glaze on back when they go back on the barbecue i like the idea of the farro
22:00with the beef fat running through it i think like the beef fat and the ox heart there's a good
22:04sort of
22:04synergy in the dish gareth's a minute or two left what is that pickled daikon so gareth is doing a
22:14chili and
22:14galangal rural style curry sauce i think everyone else was reaching for coconut cream but he's kept it
22:20quite clean and using animal stock like the version i did today you're done yes chef good stuff off you
22:28go take your two plates well done thank you that's definitely him pushing really hard yeah that looks
22:35great yeah 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 garlic
23:02i'm picking up that little bit of sweetness that's picked up all the smoke i think that's really enhanced
23:07this the sauce for me there is a nice roundness to it i'm really a fan of the ancient grain
23:12as
23:13well it's like beefy it's got nice like chewy texture to it i love the little bit of pickled
23:17daikon 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
24:07toast not sure how that's going to come together i hope it's going to work on the brioche if she
24:11pulls
24:11that one off could be delicious okay georgia so you've got about 30 seconds left you want to think
24:18about sending your plates soon she's got an asian slaw i've kind of muddled through this so god knows what
24:25it's going to be like i think it's a bit rushed off you go thank you she looked unhappy she
24:33looked
24:33confused that was not great for her she didn't enjoy that and it shows on the plate i think
24:39i just really struggle to control my nerves i'm just not very good when i don't have a plan and
24:45i'm kind of winging it i just hope that the flavors are there and that they enjoy the taste of
24:50the dish
24:52the chicken skewer is pretty tasty and it has got nice flavor but unfortunately i think one of my
24:58pieces of chicken here is actually not quite cooked through the salad it doesn't really bring anything
25:03it's not really pickly enough and the curry sauce is quite nice it feels a little bit like a peanut
25:08satay it does have a little kick in the background i quite like that the toast the bread has got
25:14really
25:14oily and wet i don't think it's quite worked out for her the satay chicken skewer mine is slightly
25:23undercooked the sweet brioche and then the chicken liver that's weird it's a combination that doesn't
25:29work i'm not enjoying that so luke was faced with this magnificent john dory he's never cooked before
25:38he's never filleted before first time cooking fish like this on a barbecue as well the coconut
25:43on the flames is to get it smoking yeah lovely flavor get some smoky flavor through the fish
25:49luke's never filleted the john dory before i have to take my hat off to him he did it really
25:54well
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
26:05loses some of its bitterness so i think it's a nice choice so luke you've got about three minutes
26:10how are we literally just finishing the cooking with a blow torch green curry sauce hope that he's
26:17adventurous with the chili heat that's it luke your time is up i have to say it looks good thank
26:22you
26:25thanks very much thank you thank you
26:31i think luke's done a really good job here it looks really appealing quite minimalist but i like
26:36that it was tough i was out of my comfort zone but under the circumstances i am happy with what
26:42i put
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
26:55it's very vibrant has nice acidity to it and the fact that he's made his own coconut cream that's
27:00impressive given the time frame the fish the two types of daikon and that delicious sauce there's a
27:07lot of positives i have to say for a chef that's never filleted or cooked john dory before that's
27:14perfectly cooked it's brilliant there's a little bit of heat in the thai green curry too which i like
27:19he's taken on the challenge and delivered a great dish oh smoky caroline she's wrapping her wild sea bass
27:29in kombu she's gonna take that off and barbecue it it should impart that sort of seaweed saline flavor
27:36into the fish i really want the skin to be charred but it also needs to be cooked nicely and
27:43not 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 you've got six minutes still so you might be able to break the crab blood serve something we
28:05we've got jasmine rice she's got a puree i think you missed out the uh fried and
28:10knocky mushrooms so another element yeah they're looking good just need to finish something here
28:18i love the idea of the crab croquette but how she's going to bind this crab croquette together
28:23she had no idea yet that's a mystery up until this point really i did pick the crab meat and
28:31i'm serving
28:31it fresh with some chili and radishes i'd like it to be different but well you did have a lot
28:37to do i did
28:38surprise surprise red curry sauce what are you looking for in that there needs to be that chili
28:43heat running through it to balance out the fact that it's got coconut cream in caroline how's it
28:48looking final touches now this is pea and thai basil puree we're gonna have to go a bit quicker now
28:54with
28:55chef it is a lot i definitely feel like she's bitten off more than she can chew
29:01you're over time now so you 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
29:14caroline was up against it there yeah and a lot more work than she needs to do as usual again
29:18just always
29:19doing too much i wanted to do a croquette but i did pick some of the claw meat with some
29:27fresh chili
29:28through it go and take a break thank you i'll see you later thank you it was very intense obviously
29:35i
29:35was very annoyed not to be able to have the crab croquettes the way i wanted them but i'm pleased
29:41with
29:41the flavors i tasted overall i'm happy i think the sea bass is beautifully cooked i'm definitely getting
29:49that salty seaweed kombu taste to it i'm loving the red curry sauce it's got a bit of kick to
29:54it i do
29:55really like that little crab salad i think it's delicious with the fish i feel like those elements
30:00work really well together and i wish you'd just maybe pulled back a little bit on some of these extra
30:04garnish 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
30:13lovely it's got good heat to it right spices it's a dish that has great things on it but it's
30:18just too
30:19much it's not very hot this yeah this is actually hotter so he's giving us a very simple no frills
30:31pork
30:31chop i'm just trying to get some caramelization i would probably have liked to have seen
30:36him marinate 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
30:52and
30:53on the side we've got black rice which i finish a little bit of cashew nuts and then i put
30:57some enoki
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 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'll just keep looking at the broccoli
31:26and
31:26think why is it there me too go and take a break thank you go and put your feet up
31:32for a bit thank
31:32you sir i try to catch as much as i could earlier in the master class i just did the
31:41best i could with
31:42this dish the pork i think is actually cooked quite well i do feel like it could have had more
31:49char on the
31:49barbecue to get that kind of caramelization but all of the garnishes just don't really make any sense to
31:56me we've got a bit of broccoli that just tastes like a bit of broccoli and this white asparagus
32:00and basil puree with the coconut it's neither sweet nor bitter the coconut sauce has no real depth it's got
32:08a 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 pushed themselves to be outside
32:39of their comfort zone and for that i really applaud all of them for doing it
32:43our chefs have got one more opportunity to prove themselves and keep themselves in this
32:47competition 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
33:06you are now back in here to fight to stay in our semi-finals we have set you a brief
33:12and that
33:13is to create one spectacular dessert something that is going to wow us blow us away at the end of
33:21this one of you will be leaving the competition make this count you have one hour and 45 minutes give
33:29it
33:36everything you got the 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 sunny carlisle before i was born but we visited and those flavors and that culture has always
34:04sort of been around in our lives so i'm cooking for you a cumbrian classic with a caribbean twist
34:11garris 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 up mousse i'm
34:21going to whip up some cream with a bit of rum and fold it through to make like a light
34:25banana and rum
34:25cream gareth is making a rum and lime gel but he has to be careful we've had a gel from
34:31gareth before
34:32it was a very smoky whiskey gel and it was just too strong we've also got a twill which is
34:38making out of
34:38pecans uh banana sherbet just for a little bit of sugary finish then we got a fig leaf ice cream
34:45it's actually my first ice cream i've ever made fig leaf just the most beautiful pungent aroma the
34:52fig 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 there's
35:09not much room for error but i'm feeling a little more comfortable doing this dish is something that
35:15i've managed to practice a little bit luke we haven't seen many desserts from you so far in the
35:20competition how do you feel about this i'm quite excited to do a dessert the whole dish is based around
35:24pistachios and what is about this dessert that you find so spectacular the cake element in particular is
35:29what i did for my first ever chef competition about 12 years ago i won that it must have been
35:35a good cake
35:35luke yeah well pierre kaufman thought so he was judging the competition and by the time i plated up
35:41he'd eaten all of my trimmings of my cake guessing the best out of pistachios is very difficult
35:48we've got a pistachio and olive oil cake it's the slowest olive oil ever let's get out the cake
35:55has got to be light i want the nutty flavor of pistachio to come through but also the flavor of
36:00oil
36:00it's about the balance and we've also got an ice cream made from pistachio as well we've got a
36:07tali meringue tali meringue is about cooking the sugar and pouring it onto the egg whites getting it to
36:11the right temperature and that's got to be nice and firm i'm pretty confident in doing meringue
36:16i've done it many times but you know this is the place that i'm going to screw it up so
36:20luke's got a raspberry and rose water jelly rose water that has got to be really really carefully used
36:27otherwise 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 and it's going to
36:36wrap around the cake i'll be quite quick with these ones because as they cool they literally go to
36:41brittle my concern is the dryness of this dessert you've got a twill it looks quite thick and you've
36:47also got a cake as well so i'm a little bit worried for it oh god
36:54my hand is so sweaty i have done a dessert as my signature dish at the beginning and i had
37:00a very
37:00very good feedback so i think i have very big shoes to fill
37:08caroline you looking as busy as ever yes chef a lot to do the main element of dessert is the
37:14fig leaf
37:15and white chocolate parfait which is then spraying with white chocolate but the frozen parfait is obviously
37:20going to heat up so she needs to do that really really quick if i don't move fast it's a
37:24danger
37:24that you know it might just melt too quickly and i don't i don't want that caroline's using a verju
37:32which
37:32is made from grapes to marinate her peaches so there'll be a bit of sweetness in it we also have
37:38a peach
37:39consomme i blitzed some fresh peaches with a little bit of sugar and froze it down and i'll just let
37:47it
37:47very slowly drip we've also got blackberry sorbet we've got a little sablé biscuit as well it's got
37:56the essence of almond running through it so what's inspired this peaches are one of my favorite fruits
38:01and blackberries when i was a kid my mom used to take me and my brother for a walk and
38:06she let us just
38:07go and pick them and have them fresh and we would come home like covered so it's fun memory for
38:12them
38:13she's doing an awful lot but if she gets it right it'll look incredible chefs 45 minutes cooking
38:21time has gone definitely gonna be pretty busy today i've got a lot of stuff to get on and moving
38:25for
38:25this yeah show-stopping dessert a lot of work to live up to it demands ambition and i think i've
38:32tried
38:32to bring as much ambition to this dish as i possibly can mark what are you putting together here so
38:39a
38:39peanut butter and jelly sandwich it's like one of the first things a lot of kids learn to make
38:42i want to like take those kind of flavors and like elevate it into like a really amazing dessert
38:47so i'm making for you today a peanut butter and jelly cheesecake what part is the jam the jam is
38:52going to bourbon cherry gel some poached cherries that's going to bring that kind of sweetness
38:55that little bit of acidity to it we've got a salted pretzel base and then some burnt honey meringue over
39:00the top
39:04peanut butter and jelly cheesecake it sounds delicious it's got a little bit of goat's cheese
39:09in there for the acidity i love the pretzel base but peanut butter big 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
39:30syrup i'm using burnt honey and then piping that into beautiful little matchstick strips he's also
39:36giving us a caramelized puff pastry ice cream which is a new one on me i've caramelized puff pastry and
39:43infused it into an anglaise base okay and then going to turn that into ice cream interesting the ice cream
39:50we don't want to over churned and grainy and i want to taste the caramelization of the pastry this is
39:56a great idea but this food can be rustic on the eye i'd like to see mark refine that today
40:02with his
40:03dessert i want it to look good as well as taste good but this is about pushing the boundaries today
40:09so i'm really push the boundaries with the flavors i'm confident on my dish because it's very unusual
40:16but i know it works the most important thing here is just to keep focus today i took inspiration
40:24actually in a forest as a kid we used to wander around like with the dogs and you know like
40:28just
40:28collecting stuff in this case i'm trying to recreate like a fallen tree like a log what is the log
40:34the
40:35log is filled with a matcha mousse and then on top i'm gonna add a chocolate cremeux to create like
40:40the bark of the law then i have a white purple ice cream big flavors wow big very big flavors
40:45okay
40:45adventurous 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 cremo and he's putting
41:02that on the outside trying to make them look like little logs we also have a matcha moss so it's
41:09a cake
41:10batter that's been cooked in the microwave it pops 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 so
42:23this is
42:23me on a plate so i had to do it
42:29georgia's a chef who's very happy when she's cooking dessert but there's a lot riding on this
42:34for georgia because a simple lemon tart is a very complicated thing to do you need it to be just
42:42set
42:43if she overcooks it it's gonna crack if she undercooks it it's just gonna be soft and it'll melt
42:49away onto the plate it's got to be perfect a limoncello curd cream is about the curd being
42:55cooked out just right of course the limoncello being quite strong vibrant the cure so that in the cream
43:00should be delicious always looking okay so far we've got lemon sorbet i'm just filling my little
43:07lemon shells with my lemon sorbet now that it's ready we have basil and lemon curd but there's a
43:14lot of lemon going on in georgia's dessert i think where you've got to balance this dish is the acidity
43:20the lemon's running through everything but also the sweetness as well
43:26chefs you have just seven minutes left
43:32i've got a lot going on i need to start moving so why are they not connected maybe i should
43:38have
43:38measured them differently so they look gorgeous i'm really happy with the top
43:44my 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 was too wet it's dense it's dropped
44:01oh chef it's all melting it's all melting melting and it's not nice which is not ideal okay
44:10chefs you got 60 seconds left come on let's get it on a plate it looks like a donut on
44:14the plate
44:15it's horrible oh oh no like what you can and us to keep these maybe in the freezer until it's
44:23time to
44:23serve or don't give up chefs 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 sauce
44:49served 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 kick of alcohol
45:24it's lovely the fig leaf ice cream is absolutely delicious and when you eat that with the ever so
45:32slightly salty miso caramel it works perfectly that pecan twill also has a hint of banana running
45:39through it i think it's very clever you did a banana sherbet and and dusted that with it
45:43it's a delicious dessert and i'm loving that fig leaf ice cream thank you
45:50i 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
46:08topped with an italian meringue and rose water and raspberry jellies and a pistachio and olive oil
46:14ice cream
46:19the pistachio sponge is lovely i love the lightness of the meringue sitting on top
46:23you're twill around the outside it is slightly overcooked i question why you cut the length of it
46:27it's shorter than it needed to be they should be connected they should be together the sponge is
46:33delicious it's got a really good flavor of pistachio but for me there's not enough sharpness of raspberry
46:39i really want more of that if you're dealing with something like pistachio which is oily you need
46:45something to cut it a bit the ice cream flavors of pistachio yes i definitely have that but when you're
46:52using something like pistachio like matt is saying you know having pistachio pistachio pistachio where's
46:58the point of difference and it has to be there
47:04it was terrible it's definitely my worst round so far and at the stage in the competition it's
47:10it's not a good place to have it caroline intended to serve a fig leaf and white chocolate parfait
47:16what went wrong temperature chef by the time i sprayed it started melting quite instantly
47:23it'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
47:53really wonderful your sablay biscuit is slightly overcooked but your blackberry sorbet i love the flavor
48:01of that the lemon coming through there and your little peach water with the oil running through it is
48:05lovely and i think what you do have is the makings of a really good idea but it's quite obvious
48:10to see
48:10what's really wrong here the peach consomme with the fig oil i think is a showstopper and i know you're
48:17disheartened but you like marcus said have got the makings here of a fantastic dessert
48:27is the way i wanted it to be no it's not
48:31but at the same time i'm happy the flavors worked together like it made sense
48:39inspired by a peanut butter jelly sandwich mark has made a whipped peanut butter and goat's cheese
48:45cheesecake with a salted pretzel biscuit base topped with poached cherries and cherry bourbon gel
48:53peanut 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 there
49:14but i love your burnt honey meringue i think that's fabulous i love the pretzel base as well there are
49:19things in here that i do like and there's bits that i'm looking for that aren't there it's not
49:23your best plate there is so much richness and so much sweetness going on in your cheesecake i love
49:29that toasted sort of caramelized puff pastry ice cream oh that's really clever i've never heard of that
49:35before the peanut butter cheesecake you do need more of the cheese running through it it is a little bit
49:42too sweet i like the cherry with the alcohol running through it but i want more of that so there
49:47are
49:47issues here the feedback was pretty mixed it felt like kind of all over the place and i really didn't
49:56have time 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 cremeau
50:09sat on a cherry puree served white truffle ice cream matcha mousse 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 very
50:33nice 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 the
50:59sheer amount of that ice cream on the plate which is just offsetting the balance of everything here
51:06the cremeau 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
51:25upset 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 and 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 star it's just got a lovely hit
52:22of 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
52:45i 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 who in this room really stood out i say georgia for me
53:17i
53:18thought her dessert was the best of the six chefs today it was full of flavor full of life it
53:22was
53:22vibrant it was delicious and what a turnaround from the last challenge she's come back fighting
53:28i think the first one gareth gave us the sticky toffee pudding with the miso caramel sauce
53:33sponge he just didn't quite get it right but overall he's hitting the right notes and that ice
53:38cream was fabulous that's georgia and gareth through after that it gets a little bit trickier
53:43luke i think the pistachio cake with olive oil was good i was quite surprised at how light the
53:48italian 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
54:14so the matcha mousse i didn't mind but once i got into the truffle ice cream i could not taste
54:21anything else it was just overpowering and had no place on being on this plate he does come up with
54:26different ideas he's made them work before but with this dessert it didn't work caroline the peaches
54:33marinated in verju were really lovely blackberry sorbet it was sharp not too sweet that peach
54:39consomme with the figure was good it would have all been wonderful had it not been for the parfait
54:46not setting such a shame it would be very sad to go home but i've struggled with the challenges today
54:53so let's see if it was the end of the competition i'd be guided but i didn't do great so
54:59it's what it is
55:00isn't it honestly at the moment i don't know where i stand but i might still have a bit of
55:07chance
55:08i think i'm on thin ice do they have too much white truffle for me to go home i will
55:16say
55:17i'm on thin ice do they have too much white truffle for me to go home i'm on thin ice
55:33do they have
55:33massive 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
56:07great stories some fabulous dishes and of course some very different combinations thank you so much
56:18it's not a nice feeling but it's a competition so i understand but this has been a great experience
56:25it's the end of the road for mastership but it's not the end of the road for me as a
56:28chef
56:34chef's 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 bill
56:50definitely feel the pressure racking up you've got to be better practiced and then
56:54really just hope for the best honestly i thought it was going to be me going home
57:00but it really feels very special i'm very glad to be here
57:04i was super proud of myself i never imagined myself in the final five
57:07but now i'm here yeah 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 of a two michelin star kitchen
57:28yeah it's tough you need to start going like the clappers now all right okay before battling it out
57:34for a place in finals week i think it's really out there and i think it's really brave when we
57:39talk
57:40about next level cookery this is it
58:04so
58:12you
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