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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
21:28so this is the first day i'm going to do thisают
21:32gareth's ox heart skewers for me sounds very very exciting
21:38this is a first for me beef heart on a barbecue on a lemongrass stick he's going to quickly flash
21:44it over the charcoal which is exactly the kind of cooking that ox heart benefits from really
21:50i'm going to glaze them with black garlic and then they should get a nice amazing caramelized glaze
21:56on back when they go back on the barbecue i like the idea of the farro with the beef fat
22:00running
22:01through it i think like the beef fat and the ox heart there's a good sort of synergy in the
22:05dish
22:07gareth's a minute or two left what is that pickled daikon so gareth is doing a chili and galangal
22:15rural 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 i don't know about you but i think this
22:45just looks like a very accomplished plate of foods it was a tough cook but i was pushing myself but
22:53i
22:53think that's what the challenge was about and i loved that i've got to say this ox heart cooking
22:58is sublime it's super tender the black garlic i'm picking up that little bit of sweetness that's
23:04picked up all the smoke i think that's really enhanced this the sauce for me there is a nice
23:09roundness to it i'm really a fan of the ancient grain as well it's like beefy it's got nice like
23:15chewy texture to it i love the little bit of pickled daikon with it as well it's just beautiful i
23:20can't
23:20really fault that plate the ox heart is beautifully cooked the sauce is big and rich and you've got a
23:27lovely heat behind it if you're talking about big bowl flavors this is it in a bowl this is fabulous
23:32for me it's one of gareth's top dishes i'm really enjoying it i don't get on the barbecue very often
23:40anymore but i do really enjoy it usually george has got barbecue satay skewers which sounds delicious
23:50yep i'm going to face these skewers with my satay sauce with some of my curry paste in it i'm
23:57going
23:57to finish this off inside i think georgia you've got about four minutes left the chicken liver inspired
24:05by prawn toast not sure how that's going to come together i hope it's going to work on the brioche
24:11if she pulls that one off could be delicious okay georgia so you've got about 30 seconds left
24:17so you want to think about sending your plates soon she's got an asian floor i've kind of muddled
24:23through this so god knows what it's going to be like i think it's a bit rushed off you go
24:28thank you
24:31she looked unhappy she looked confused that was not great for her she didn't enjoy that and it
24:36shows on the plate i think i just really struggled to control my nerves i'm just not very good when
24:43i don't have a plan and i'm kind of winging it i just hope that the flavors are there and
24:48that they
24:49enjoy the taste of the dish the chicken skewer is pretty tasty and it has got nice flavor but
24:56unfortunately i think one of my pieces of chicken here is actually not quite cooked through the
25:00salad it doesn't really bring anything it's not really pickly enough and the curry sauce is quite
25:05nice it feels a little bit like a peanut satay it does have a little kick in the background i
25:11quite
25:11like that the toast the bread has got really oily and wet i don't think it's quite worked out for
25:17her
25:20the satay chicken skewer mine is slightly undercooked the sweet brioche
25:25and then there's chicken liver that's weird it's a combination that doesn't work i'm not enjoying
25:30that so luke was faced with this magnificent john dory he's never cooked before he's never filleted
25:39before first time cooking fish like this on a barbecue as well the coconut on the flames is to
25:44get it smoking yeah lovely flavor get some smoky flavor through the fish luke's never filleted a john
25:51dory before and i have to take my hat off to him he did it really well i like the
25:55fact that he is
25:56gonna baste the john dory with seaweed butter which i think will really enhance the flavor
26:02the barbecue daikon actually i've done it before and it gets quite sweet and it loses some of its
26:06bitterness so i think it's a nice choice so luke you've got about three minutes how are we literally
26:11just finishing the cooking with a blowtorch green curry sauce hope that he's adventurous with the
26:18chili 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
26:44the john dory is flaking apart really moist still i think the seaweed butter that he's basted it in
26:49has like a sort of smoky barbecue flavor to it which is nice i really like the green curry sauce
26:54actually i think it's very vibrant has nice acidity to it and the fact that he's made his own coconut
27:00cream that's impressive given the time frame the fish the two types of daikon and that
27:06delicious sauce there's a lot of positives there i have to say for a chef that's never filleted or
27:12cooked john dory before that's perfectly cooked it's brilliant there's a little bit of hate in the
27:17thai green curry too which i like he's taken on the challenge and delivered a great dish
27:22oh smoky caroline 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 i really want the skin to be charred
27:40but it also needs to be cooked nicely and not over she's got grilled vegetables tomatoes for some
27:48freshness asparagus are not far which is good how's it looking i'm very worried about my crab
27:55why i won't be able to do croquettes like i wanted to you've got six minutes still so you might
28:00be able to
28:01break the crab blood serve something we should we've got jasmine rice she's got a puree i think
28:08you missed out the uh fried enoki mushrooms and i missed out the fried enoki mushrooms so another
28:13element yeah they're looking good just need to finish something here i love the idea of the crab croquette
28:21but how she's going to bind this crab croquette together she had no idea yet that's a mystery up until
28:26this point really i did pick the crab meat and i'm serving it fresh with some chili and radishes
28:34i'd like it to be different but well you did have a lot to do i didn't surprise surprise
28:40red curry sauce what are you looking for in that there needs to be that chili heat running through
28:44it to balance out the fact that it's got coconut cream in caroline how's it looking final touches now
28:50this is pea and thai basil puree we're gonna have to go a bit quicker now with chef it is
28:56a lot i
28:57definitely feel like she's bitten off more than she can chew you're over time now yes so you're gonna
29:03have to hurry up caroline you're done three minutes over yes let's explain what you've done with the
29:11crab meat okay indeed chef caroline was up against it there yeah and a lot more work than she needs
29:17to
29:17do as usual again just always doing too much i wanted to do a croquette but i did pick some
29:24of
29:25the claw meat with some fresh chili through it go and take a break thank you thank you thank you
29:32it was very intense obviously i was very annoyed not to be able to have the crab croquettes the way
29:38i wanted them but 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
29:51to it i'm loving the red curry sauce it's got a bit of kick to it i do really like
29:55that little crab
29:56salad i think it's delicious with the fish i feel like those elements work really well together and i
30:02wish you'd just maybe pulled back a little bit on some of these extra garnish which aren't really that
30:06necessary the fish is nicely cooked 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 much
30:28so he's giving us a very simple no frills pork chop i'm just trying to get some caramelization i
30:35would probably have liked to have seen him marinate it or at least talk about basting that or something
30:40while it's on the grill what about a white asparagus coconut and basil puree i actually love white asparagus
30:46pairing it with coconut cream you can bring out a nice sweetness from it as well remind us what
30:52we've got here on the side we've got black rice which i finish a little bit of cashew nuts and
30:56then
30:56i put some enochemotion on top i feel like it's quite busy if i'm honest i don't necessarily see why
31:03he needs all of these different vegetable garnishes but he might present us with something that's really
31:08outstanding what's in that sauce the base is coconut and some chilies happy yeah i mean with the time
31:16given i think i'm so basic of me choose your best plates 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
31:25broccoli and think why is it there me too go and take a break thank you and put your feet
31:31up for a bit
31:32thank you sir i tried to catch as much as i could earlier in the master class
31:40i just did the best i could with this dish the pork i think is actually cooked quite well i
31:47do feel
31:47like it could have had more char on the barbecue to get that kind of caramelization but all of the
31:53garnishes just don't really make any sense to me we've got a bit of broccoli that just tastes like a
31:58bit
31:59of broccoli and this white asparagus and basil puree with the coconut it's neither sweet nor bitter the
32:05coconut sauce has no real depth it's got a very kind of muted flavor to it almost like thai flavors
32:13for
32:13beginners there is not much about this plate of food that i am enjoying it's rough bit rustic just
32:23not quite hitting the mark i think it's been a great day in the kitchen some people really took it
32:30in
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 tuile 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
34:45this is actually my first ice cream i've ever made fig leaf just the most beautiful pungent aroma the
34:51fig 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
35:14is something that i've managed to practice a little bit luke we haven't seen many desserts
35:19from you so far in the competition how do you feel about this i'm quite excited to do a dessert
35:23the
35:23whole dish is based around pistachios and what is about this dessert that you find so spectacular
35:28the cake element in particular is what i did for my first ever chef competition about 12 years ago
35:33i won that it must have been a good cake luke yeah well pierre kaufmann thought so he was judging
35:39the
35:39competition and by the time i plated up he'd eaten all of my trimmings of my cake guessing the best
35:46out
35:46of pistachios is very difficult we've got a pistachio and olive oil cake it's the slowest olive oil ever
35:53let's get out the cake has got to be light i want the nutty flavor of pistachio to come through
35:58but also the flavor of oil it's about the balance and we've also got an ice cream made from pistachio
36:05as
36:06well we've got italian meringue italian meringue is about cooking the sugar and pouring it onto the
36:10egg whites getting it to the right temperature and that's got to be nice and firm i'm pretty
36:15confident in doing meringue i've done it many times but you know this is the place that i'm
36:18going to screw it up so luke's got a raspberry and rose water jelly rose water that has got to
36:25be
36:25really really carefully used otherwise it is just too perfumed and it's completely overpowering luke's got
36:32a lot of jeopardy going on with his pistachio twills so you need to mold them whilst they're hot that's
36:36going to wrap around the cake i'll be quite quick with these ones because as they cool they literally
36:40go to brittle my concern is the dryness of this dessert you've got a twill it looks quite thick and
36:47you've also got a cake as well so i'm a little bit worried with 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
37:15leaf 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 the danger that you know it might just melt too quickly and i don't i don't want that
37:31caroline'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 sugar
37:45and froze it down and i'll just let it very slowly drip we've also got blackberry sorbet we've got a
37:54little sablé biscuit as well it's got the essence of almond running through it so what's inspired this
37:59peaches are one of my favorite fruits and blackberries when i was a kid my mom used to take me
38:04and my
38:05brother for a walk and she let us just go and pick them and have them fresh and we would
38:09come home like
38:10covered so it's fun memory from them she's doing an awful lot but if she gets it right it'll look
38:17incredible chefs 45 minutes cooking time has gone definitely gonna 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
38:36mark what are you putting together here so a peanut butter and jelly sandwich it's like one of
38:41the first things a lot of kids learn to make i want to like take those kind of flavors and
38:45like
38:45elevate it into like a really amazing dessert so i'm making for you today a peanut butter and jelly
38:49cheesecake what part is the jam the jam is going to bourbon cherry gel some poached cherries that's
38:54going to bring that kind of sweetness that little bit of acidity to it we've got a salted pretzel base
38:58and then some burnt honey meringue over the top peanut butter and jelly cheesecake it sounds delicious
39:07it's got a little bit of goat's cheese in there for the acidity i love the pretzel base
39:14but peanut butter being strong quite cloying flavor so he's gonna need enough of that cherry gel
39:21to really cut through it all we've got a peanut brittle twill a burnt honey meringue
39:27basically making italian meringue but instead of using a normal sugar syrup i'm using burnt honey
39:31and then piping that into beautiful little matchstick strips he's also giving us a caramelized puff pastry
39:38ice cream which is a new one on me i've caramelized puff pastry and infused it into an anglaise base
39:45okay i'm then going to turn that into ice cream interesting the ice cream you don't want to over
39:51churned and grainy and i want to taste the caramelization of the pastry this is a great
39:56idea but this food can be rustic on the eye i'd like to see mark refine that today with his
40:03dessert
40:04i 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
40:22today i took inspiration actually in a forest as a kid we used to wander around like with the dogs
40:27and
40:27you 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 uh 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
40:43big very big flavors okay adventurous it's just time to take risks
40:48we'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 locks we also have a matcha moss so it's
41:09a cake
41:09batter that's been cooked in the microwave it pops up which 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
41:32cell is throwing himself out there because his flavors are slightly mad
41:39i'm taking you to the sunny and healthy 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 georgia is a chef who's very happy when she's cooking
42:31dessert but
42:32there's a lot riding on this for georgia because a simple lemon tart is a very complicated thing to do
42:40you need it to be just set if she overcooks it it's going to crack if she undercooks it it's
42:47just going
42:47to be soft and it'll melt away onto the plate it's got to be perfect
42:51a limoncello curd cream is about the curd being cooked out just right of course the limoncello
42:57being quite strong vibrant the cure so that in the cream should be delicious oh it's looking okay
43:03so far we've got lemon sorbet i'm just filling my little lemon shells with my lemon sorbet now that
43:10it's ready we have basil and lemon curd but there's a lot of lemon going on in georgia's dessert i
43:17think
43:17where you've got to balance this dish is the acidity of the lemons running through everything but also
43:23the sweetness as well chefs 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 managed to put everything on 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 plate 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
45:10the 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
45:31ever so slightly salty miso caramel it works perfectly that pecan twill also has a hint of banana
45:39running through 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
46:12and 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
46:32the sponge is delicious it's got a really good flavor of pistachio but for me there's not enough
46:38sharpness of raspberry i really want more of that if you're dealing with something like pistachio
46:42which is oily you need something to cut it a bit the ice cream flavors of pistachio yes i definitely
46:51have
46:51that but when you're using something like pistachio like matt is saying you know having pistachio
46:56pistachio pistachio where's the point of difference and it has to be there
47:04that was terrible when 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
47:23it's accompanied by compressed peaches in verju an almond sablay caramelized white chocolate peach gel
47:32blackberry 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
48:01the lemon coming through there and your little peach water with the oil running through it is lovely
48:05and i think what you do have is the makings of a really good idea but it's quite obvious to
48:10see
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
48:27it's 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
48:52peanut brittle burnt honey meringues and a caramelized puff pastry ice cream
49:02i 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 issues
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
50:02cell's dessert is a dark chocolate log filled with matcha mousse and coated in a milk chocolate creme
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 creme i like that the cherry works very well with dark chocolate but white truffle oil is such a
51:11big 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 brave thing to do a lemon tart the simplicity and the purity of a lemon
52:03tart but you've nailed it the lemon tart mix is wonderful i love the basil and lemon curd i'm really
52:09sort of getting that basil i like the meringue it's very sweet these amaretti biscuits are cute and
52:16actually it's needed if you're going to have that much meringue on there that sorbet is a star it's
52:20just got a lovely hit of citrus in it i love this the tart is beautifully lined the lemon itself
52:27i love
52:28the texture of it and if you've got too much sweetness going on you just go into your little
52:32lemon and basil sorbet on the side here and you just freshen up the palette this is a cracking dessert
52:37georgia in every way for me you've done 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
53:07it i think some of our chefs struggled today who in this room really stood out i say georgia for
53:17me i thought her dessert was the best of the six chefs today it was full of flavor full of
53:21life
53:22it was vibrant it was delicious and what a turnaround from the last challenge she's come back fighting
53:28gareth gave us the sticky toffee pudding with the miso
53:32caramel sauce sponge he just didn't quite get it right but overall it's hitting the right notes and
53:38that ice cream 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
53:48saline meringue was on top but there wasn't enough pop from the raspberries just to take it from
53:53just being pistachio the twill wheel know there are issues with it and i think luke knows that as well
54:00mark'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 i really
54:11enjoyed the cherries i wanted more of it so the matcha mousse i didn't mind but once i got into
54:17the truffle ice cream i could not taste anything else it was just overpowering and had no place
54:24on being on this plate he does come up with different ideas he's made them work before but
54:28with 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 it'd be very sad
54:50to go
54:50home but i've struggled with the challenges today so let's see if it was the end of the competition
54:57i'd be guided but i didn't do great so it's what it is isn't it honestly at the moment i
55:03don't know
55:03where i stand but i might still have a bit of chance i think i'm on thin ice
55:12do they had too much white truffle for me to go home we will say
55:31chefs 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 cell sorry so so your time in the kitchen has been fabulous you've brought some great stories
56:07some fabulous dishes and of course some very different combinations thank you so much indeed
56:13thank you so
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 master chef but it's not the end of the road for me as
56:28a chef
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 the final five is a big deal definitely feel the pressure
56:51racking
56:51up you've got to be better practiced and then really just hope for the best
56:56honestly 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 but now i'm here yeah i'm
57:09in it
57:09let's go next time it's the last of the semi-finals and the remaining five face the heat of a
57:26two
57:26michelin star kitchen yeah it's tough you need to start going like the clappers now all right okay
57:31before battling it out for a place in finals week i think it's really out there and i think
57:38it's really brave when we talk about next level cookery this is it
58:08you
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