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MasterChefThe Professionals Season 18 Episode 17
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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 a bit longer there's going to be an incredibly tight hot
00:39crucible
00:39of talent in there all we can do is head down do the best we can it's not going to
00:43be easy
00:44a faint heart has never won the competition our chefs have got to keep challenging and
00:49rising to 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 semifinals on fire and you're going to have to
01:24continue that we have got an amazing challenge for you guys today it's going to really enhance your
01:31food and your cooking style to the next level please welcome a very special guest chef one of the uk's
01:38rising talents the extraordinary john chantrasak
01:54is 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
02:06each year my dad would take us to bangkok and see our family my grand my aunties they would take
02:13us
02:13to 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
02:33it didn't quite wash out that way but one of the takeaways of that six-month trip was
02:39i 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 with
02:59my 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
03:11naum 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 beginning
03:24of the story for me having honed his craft for nearly two years in thailand john headed back to
03:31the uk to showcase his food style through pop-ups in the capital in 2024 he opened anglo thai in
03:42london
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
03:57the summer months because green chilies only grow in the uk in the summer months you would associate
04:03rice with the cuisine in thailand we don't serve rice on our menu instead we reach for heritage ancient
04:09british 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
04:44and 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
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 raced 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
05:36in the restaurant we also fresh press our own coconut cream having that ingredient set us apart
05:40from other restaurants in the uk the fresh coconut cream is combined with a marinade made from british
05:47green chilis 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 exmoor hello and then for the other half of the ramekin we're
06:18going to cover it with the red oxalis leaves it has like sour flavor profile to it that again is
06:23just
06:23going to like balance out the dish thai food is sweet salty spicy and sour and it's about balancing
06:31those four flavor profiles together to create something harmonious the final element is a coconut ash
06:43cracker chef they're looking beautiful thank you very much okay guys so this is the finished dish
06:50and i invite you to come taste it it's really delicious you could taste every individual ingredient
06:57and for such a small thing it packed such a big amount of flavor in there so tasty but also
07:03he's
07:03managed to keep that delicate crab in there as well it's just really balanced so well okay guys so we're
07:10going to cook our second dish so the main course is a lamb dish we're actually incredibly proud to
07:16focus on using lambs from a farm in dorset we try and champion all cuts of the lamb we're actually
07:22using
07:22hoggart so like mature sheep i think has a much nicer more prominent flavor the hoggart is served
07:30alongside a lamb red curry sausage this is inspired by our sausage called saiyua in the north of thailand
07:36we're just smoking all the meats now just to give them that like deeper like more complex flavor profile
07:41this is sheep's bellies that we've braised pressed together and that forms like this terrine we also
07:47take inspiration from a dish called ging om in thailand which is a rural style curry that actually
07:53doesn't have coconut cream running through it curries that are cooked with stock rather than coconut cream
07:58makes them a little bit more light and a little bit more aromatic this looks amazing i can't wait to
08:04get started eating this this looks absolutely incredible hopefully it's quite like big bold flavors
08:11quite rich in itself as well that was delicious thank you very much chef thank you so much
08:18the challenge next you are set to cook from a larder of my ingredients that i have chosen and what
08:24i'll be looking for in your food is big bold flavors that's what i really find attractive
08:30about thai cooking and i hope you'll find like inspiration from the food that we've had today off you
08:34go thank you thank you the contestants now have 90 minutes to create a thai inspired dish that showcases
08:44british ingredients chosen 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 going to best showcase their flavors
09:15hopefully we can make chef john proud you know come up with good ideas
09:20a bit worrying but after seeing chef john i'm going to try to use
09:23what we have learned in the master class and try to put that on a plate
09:34finally getting to use the barbecue today so hopefully going to make uh some really strong
09:39use out of it dublin-born chef patron mark has a passion for american barbecue and has shown versatility
09:46with dishes 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
10:07impact maximum taste mark thai flavors are these ingredients that you're used to using no not at
10:14all i've never really cooked thai food before so really excited today to try and bring a little bit
10:18spin to it so what dish are you cooking today mark we're going to be grilling chicken and then i'm
10:21going to make an infused crab oil that i can baste the chicken with jasmine rice a little pickle salad
10:27of mooli and potato with lots of herbs through there i'm also going to do a green curry sauce
10:31sounds adventurous for sure you're going to get that all done i'm going to work my butt off to try
10:36and
10:36get it all done in time i love the idea of the crab oil which is infused with basil mint
10:42and some
10:43lemongrass there's going to be buttering that over the top of the chicken and i really want to taste
10:47that crab flavor the green curry sauce is about a great curry paste hopefully some ginger and garlic
10:53in there with some chilis and some lime leaves and coconut cream i want a curry sauce that just really
10:59embraces those beautiful flavors of thailand chefs 20 minutes of cooking time has gone yeah i've got a
11:07lot going on it's quite a bit daring 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
11:34challenges before that it looks like you've got some pretty adventurous ingredients in front of
11:41you right here yes chef i'm going to do ox heart and cook that over the fire i'm going to
11:45glaze that
11:46with a black garlic glaze then i've got some farro that i'm cooking in beef stock i'm doing a thai
11:54sauce
11:54similar to how you showed us today so i'm cooking that with a stock as opposed to with coconut milk
11:59and
11:59there's going to be some pickled daikon in there for acidity you asked us to give you some big bold
12:04flavors and that's what i'm going to try and do gareth he's making ox heart skewers but the ox heart
12:13which is a very big muscle can be tough so he needs to be very careful when it cooks on
12:17the grill
12:19farro is a grain and he's going to finish it off with some beef fat which he's rendering from the
12:25fat
12:25of the heart his sauce is a rustic style sauce with lots of galangal running through it so it's
12:31going to have a little heat and sweetness to it he's made a thai curry sauce before in the competition
12:35it was 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
12:48this looks a little hectic yes i'm sorry you're right oh gosh i've been trying to take each challenge
12:55as it comes because otherwise i do get quite overwhelmed doing an invention test that is
13:00what i'm finding most daunting hopefully won't be running around like a headless chicken in this
13:04challenge so where are you going with this dish i am going to do a take on some of my
13:10favorite thai
13:11food i really love chicken satay skewers and i really love prawn sesame toast so i'm going to attempt
13:18to make chicken satay skewers and chicken liver sesame toast don't think i've ever encountered that before
13:24like a cut like liver and then trying to introduce it into a very well recognized dish yeah i'm still
13:29kind of working out the elements of my dish it's a bit all over the place yeah okay should we
13:33stop
13:33talking sorry yeah okay no worries georgia is definitely looking a little bit flustered in the
13:41kitchen i don't think she's got a real clear picture just yet of the dish she's chosen the chicken
13:47and she's doing the satay style skewers the chicken liver toast it's inventive none of us have had that
13:52before but this is not about taking just little bits that georgia enjoys about thai food she has to
13:58create a cohesive dish here chefs you are halfway okay halfway dad of four and head chef luke's bold
14:08flavors and stylish plates have 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
14:25luke 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 gonna do a john dory which i'm gonna lightly smoke on the grill i'm gonna
14:35serve
14:35that with thai green curry sauce pickled daikon a little daikon that i'm gonna cook on the chargrill
14:41just trying to use the flavors as well as he did john dory is one of my favorite fish i
14:46hope you're
14:46gonna do it justice probably not a good time to tell you i've never cooked one before so
14:53luke 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 that onto 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 i'm going to use that as the base of a thai
15:28green 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 that pressure for me is always timing
15:54but you really want to go into that kitchen and give it your best so i'm doing a wild sea
16:01bass
16:02that's going to be cooked in the barbecue i'm doing a pea puree with thai basil and coconut cream
16:07my intention is to pick up the white crab meat and to make it into a croquette with like chili
16:13going
16:14through it okay how are you going to bind the crab together for the croquette filling it's a good question
16:19i'll have to figure that out i didn't get there yet and the sauce will be a red curry sauce
16:24okay
16:24caroline there's a lot going on in this dish and you always cut it fine yeah are you going to
16:30be able
16:30to pull this off i hope i hope i'll do my best i love the sound of this she's going
16:36for the sea bass
16:37she's cured it with kombu seaweed so i hope we get to taste some of those flavors of the kombu
16:42running through
16:42it she's making a crab croquette but she hasn't decided how she's going to bind this croquette which is
16:48the key thing about holding this together we've also got pea and thai basil puree looking for big
16:56flavor great color nice and smooth achieving a great thai red curry sauce is about getting the
17:02spices cooked off there's red peppers and some tomatoes and then coconut milk to bring it together
17:07it'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
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 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 first so i'm trying to refer to what i learned from today pretty
17:46intrigued
17:46to see how like everything's going to come together for sure next 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 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 is
18:27trying to infuse thai flavors through his cooking
18:31but i just see a lot of different things here and i hope he's thought about how he's going to
18:37put
18:38this all together chefs you've got 30 minutes until the first dish is served john and i are going to
18:46head out to the dining 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 a set
19:11of ingredients that they'll be able to achieve that with if they go down the right avenues with them
19:16just starting to do my chicken mark is first up and he's in familiar ground because mark does a lot
19:21of american barbecue the great thing about charcoal grilling is it's a really really dry heat so you
19:26can get really really crispy skin i love the thought of that smoky barbecue chicken spiced crab oil could
19:33be inspired yeah depending on how he carries it off what's this so that is a herb brush with spiced
19:40crab
19:40oil i'm going to put it into the pizza oven now for a few minutes just to make sure that
19:44it's
19:44cooked all the way through and then we're done oh sizzle sizzle
19:52he's got a sort of pickled daikon salad i think he was going to make mark you've got five minutes
19:57left
20:00happy with the chicken yes very happy with the chicken thai green curry is like one of the spiciest
20:05so i don't know whether he knows that or not but i'll be looking out to see whether he's like
20:09gone down that kind of authentic route do you think he's gonna be hitting the big bold flavors that john's
20:14looking for yeah i think so yeah thank you good luck thank you chef chef chef how are you very
20:23well
20:26thank 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 done
20:40enough to 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 this green
20:54curry it's not adventurous with the chili heat it feels a little bit more sri lankan with that like rich
20:59coconut flavor but i do like it the pickled daikon salad i think is delicious for me it's the nicest
21:04thing on the plate it's a nice plate of food it's just lacking that extra punch that i expect with
21:10thai
21:11food 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
21:46of cooking that ox heart benefits from really i'm gonna glaze them with black garlic and then they should
21:53get a nice amazing caramelized glaze on by when they go back on the barbecue i like the idea of
21:59the farro with the beef fat running through it i think like the beef fat and the ox heart
22:03there's a good sort of synergy in the dish gareth's a minute or two left what is that pickled daikon
22:12so gareth is doing a chili and galangal rural style curry sauce i think everyone else was reaching for
22:18coconut cream but he's kept it quite clean and using animal stock like the version i did
22:23today you're done yes chef good stuff off you go take your two plates well done thank you
22:32that's definitely him pushing really hard yeah that looks great
22:38yeah smells good thank you very much thank you chef
22:44i don't know about you but i think it just looks like a very accomplished plate of foods
22:48it was a tough cook but i was pushing myself but i think that's what the challenge was about
22:55and i loved that i've got to say this ox heart cooking is sublime it's super tender the black
23:01garlic i'm picking up that little bit of sweetness that's picked up all the smoke i think that's really
23:07enhanced this the sauce for me there is a nice roundness to it i'm really a fan of the ancient
23:12grain as
23:13well it's like beefy it's got a nice like chewy texture to it i love the little bit of pickled
23:17daikon
23:18with 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 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
23:34gareth's top dishes i'm really enjoying it
23:38i don't get on the barbecue very often anymore but i do really enjoy it usually
23:46georgia's got barbecue satay skewers which sounds delicious yep i'm going to base these skewers with
23:54my satay sauce with some of my curry paste in it i'm going to finish this off inside i think
24:00georgia you've got about four minutes left
24:03the chicken liver inspired by prawn toast not sure how that's going to come together i hope it's
24:09going to work on the brioche if she pulls that one off could be delicious okay georgia so you've got
24:15about 30 seconds left you want to think about sending your plates soon she's got an asian slaw
24:22i've kind of muddled through this so god knows what it's going to be like i think it's a bit
24:27rushed
24:27off you go thank you she looked unhappy she looked confused that was not great for her she didn't
24:35enjoy that and it shows on the plate i think i've just really struggled to control my nerves
24:42i'm just not very good when i don't have a plan and i'm kind of winging it i just hope
24:47that the
24:48flavors are there and that they enjoy the taste of the dish
24:52the chicken skewer is pretty tasty and it has got nice flavor but unfortunately i think one of my
24:57pieces of chicken here is actually not quite cooked through the salad it doesn't really bring
25:02anything it's not really pickly enough and the curry sauce is quite nice it feels a little bit
25:07like a peanut satay it does have a little kick in the background i quite like that the toast the
25:13bread has got really oily and wet i don't think it's quite worked out for her
25:20the sauteed chicken skewer mine is slightly undercooked the sweet brioche and then the chicken
25:26liver that's weird it's a combination that doesn't work i'm not enjoying that
25:32so luke was faced with this magnificent john dory he's never cooked before he's never filleted before
25:40first time cooking fish like this on a barbecue as well the coconut on the flames is to get it
25:44smoking
25:45yeah lovely flavor get some smoky flavor through the fish luke's never filleted a john dory before
25:51and i have to take my hat off to him he did it really well i like the fact that
25:56he is gonna baste
25:58the john dory with seaweed butter which i think will really enhance the flavor the barbecue daikon
26:03actually i've done it before and it gets quite sweet and it loses some of its bitterness so i think
26:07it's a nice choice so luke you've got about three minutes how are we literally just finishing the
26:12cooking with a blowtorch green curry sauce hope that he's adventurous with the chili heat that's
26:19it luke your time is up i have to say it looks good thank you thanks very much thank you
26:27thank 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
26:55think it's very vibrant has nice acidity to it and the fact that he's made his own coconut cream
27:00that's impressive given the time frame the fish the two types of daikon and that delicious sauce
27:06there's a lot of positives i have to say for a chef that's never filleted or cooked john dory before
27:13that's perfectly cooked it's brilliant there's a little bit of heat in the thai green curry too which i
27:19like he's taken on the challenge and delivered a great dish oh smoky caroline she's wrapping her wild
27:28sea bass in kombu she's going to take that off and barbecue it it should impart that sort of seaweed
27:35saline flavor into the fish i really want the skin to be charred but it also needs to be cooked
27:42nicely
27:43and not over she's got grilled vegetables tomatoes for some freshness asparagus are not fire which is
27:50good how's it looking i'm very worried about my crab why i won't be able to do croquettes like i
27:58wanted to you've got six minutes still so you might be able to break the crap i want to have
28:02something
28:02we chef we'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
28:31serving it fresh with some chili and radishes i'd like it to be different but well you did have a
28:37lot to do surprise surprise red curry sauce what are you looking for in that there needs to be that
28:43chili heat running through it to balance out the fact that it's got coconut cream in caroline how's
28:48it looking final touches now this is pea and thai basil puree we're gonna have to go a bit quicker
28:54now
28:54with chef 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 know how to hurry up
29:07caroline you're done three minutes over yes let's explain what you've done with the crab meat okay
29:11indeed chef caroline was up against it there yeah and a lot more work than she needs to do as
29:18usual
29:18again just always doing too much i wanted to do a croquette but i did pick some of the claw
29:25meat
29:26with some fresh chili through it go and take a break thank you i'll see you later thank you
29:32it was very intense obviously i was very annoyed not to be able to have the crab croquettes the way
29:39i 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 combo taste to
29:52it i'm loving the red curry sauce it's got a bit of kick to it i do really like that
29:56little crab salad
29:57i think it's delicious with the fish i feel like those elements work really well together and i wish
30:02you'd just maybe pulled back a little bit on some of these extra garnish which aren't really that necessary
30:09the fish is nicely cooked all but you've just got the barbecue flavor on there the thai sauce is lovely
30:14it's got good heat to it right spices it's a dish that has great things on it but it's just
30:18too much
30:28so he's giving us a very simple no frills pork chop i'm just trying to get some caramelization i would
30:35probably have liked to have seen him marinate it or at least talk about basting that or something while
30:40it'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
31:09outstanding 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 as happy as it could 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 think why is it there me too go and take a break thank you 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
31:44this dish the pork i think is actually cooked quite well i do feel like it could have had more
31:49char on
31:49the barbecue to get that kind of caramelization but all of the garnishes just don't really make any
31:55sense to me we've got a bit of broccoli that just tastes like a bit of broccoli and this white
32:00asparagus
32:00and basil puree with the coconut it's neither sweet nor bitter the coconut sauce has no real depth
32:08it's got a very kind of muted flavor to it almost like thai flavors for beginners
32:16there is not much about this plate of food that i am enjoying it's a bit rough bit rustic just
32:23not
32:23quite hitting the mark i think it's been a great day in the kitchen some people really took it in
32:30their stride and produced some really amazing cooking and others i think they just had a little
32:34bit of an off day in the kitchen but you can clearly see that they pushed 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
33:06you 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
33:22you will be leaving the competition make this count you have one hour and 45 minutes give it everything you
33:30got
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
34:04sort of 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 up 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
34:52fig 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
35:09there's not much room for error but i'm feeling a little more comfortable doing this dish it's
35:14something that i've managed to practice a little bit luke we haven't seen many desserts from you so
35:20far in the competition how do you feel about this i'm quite excited to do a dessert the whole dish
35:23is
35:24based around pistachios and what is about this dessert that you find so spectacular the cake element
35:28in particular is what i did for my first ever chef competition about 12 years ago i won that it
35:34must
35:34have been a good cake luke yeah well pierre kaufman thought so he was judging the competition and by the
35:40time i plated up he'd eaten all of my trimmings of my cake guessing the best out of pistachios is
35:47very
35:47difficult we've got a pistachio and olive oil cake it's the slowest olive oil ever let's get out the
35:54cake has got to be light i want the nutty flavor of pistachio to come through but also the flavor
36:00of oil it's about the balance and we've also got an ice cream made from pistachio as well
36:06we've got a tally meringue tally meringue is about cooking the sugar and pouring it onto the egg white
36:11getting it to the right temperature and that's got to be nice and firm i'm pretty confident of doing
36:15meringue i've done it many times but you know this is the place that i'm going to screw it up
36:18so
36:20luke's got a raspberry and rose water jelly rose water that has got to be really really carefully
36:26used otherwise it is just too perfumed and it's completely overpowering luke's got a lot of jeopardy
36:32going on with his pistachio twills so you need to mold them whilst they're hot that's going to wrap
36:37around the cake i'll be quite quick for these ones because as they cool they literally go to brittle
36:42my concern is the dryness of this dessert you've got a twill it looks quite thick and you've also
36:47got a cake as well so i'm a little bit worried for luke oh god my hand is so sweaty
36:56i have done a dessert
36:57as my signature dish at the beginning and i had a very very good feedback so i think i have
37:03very big
37:04shoes to fill caroline you're looking as busy as ever yes chef a lot to do the main element of
37:14dessert
37:14is the fig leaf and white chocolate parfait which is then spraying with white chocolate but the frozen
37:19parfait is obviously going to heat up so she needs to do that really really quick if i don't move
37:23fast
37:24it's 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
37:44sugar and froze it down and i'll just let it very slowly drip we've also got blackberry sorbet we've got
37:54a little sablé biscuit as well it's got the essence of almond running through it
37:58so what's inspired this peaches are one of my favorite fruits and blackberries when i was a kid
38:03my mom used to take me and my brother for a walk and she let us just go and pick
38:08them and have them
38:08fresh and we would come home like covered so it's fun memory for me she's doing an awful lot but
38:15if she
38:15gets it right it'll look incredible chefs 45 minutes cooking time has gone definitely be pretty busy
38:23i've got a lot of stuff to get on and moving for this yeah show-stopping dessert a lot of
38:28work to live
38:28up to it demands ambition and i think i've tried to bring as much ambition to this dish as i
38:34possibly
38:34can mark 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
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 being strong quite cloying
39:18flavor so he's gonna need enough of that cherry gel to really cut through it all we've got a peanut
39:24brittle
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 i mean 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
39:50cream you don't want to over churned and grainy and i want to taste the caramelization of the pastry
39:55this is a great idea but this food can be rustic on the eye i'd like to see mark refine
40:02that today
40:02with his dessert i want it to look good as well as taste good but this is about pushing the
40:08boundaries
40:09today so i'm really push the boundaries with the flavors i'm confident on my dish because it's very
40:16unusual but i know it works the most important thing here is just to keep focus today i took
40:23inspiration actually in a forest as a kid we used to wander around like with the dogs and you know
40:28like just collecting stuff in this case i'm trying to recreate like a fallen tree like a log what is
40:34the log the log is filled with a matcha mousse and then on top i'm going to add a chocolate
40:39creme
40:39to create like the bark of the law then i have a white purple ice cream big flavors wow big
40:44very big
40:44flavors okay adventurous it's just time to take risks
40:52we've got a frozen matcha mousse which is inside a chocolate shell they're frozen that was my biggest
40:56worry with this if they wouldn't freeze on time then he's making a chocolate creme 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
41:32cell 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
41:53but i feel a lot more confident i know what i'm doing i want to show the judges that i
42:01can keep my
42:01cool a little bit more
42:05we're seeing lemons limoncello basil this seems like your happy place it is lemon is my favorite thing
42:12and it's in all of my cooking basically so i'm doing a classic french lemon tart some italian meringue on
42:17the side and lemon sorbet on is this worthy of keeping you in our semi-finals i hope so this
42:23is
42:23me on a plate so i had to do it
42:29georgia's a chef who's very happy when she's cooking desserts 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 going to crack if she undercooks it it's just going to be soft and it'll
42:49melt away onto the plate it's got to be perfect a limoncello curd cream is about the curds 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 oh it's 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
43:20of the lemons 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 could
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 is 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 my deal 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 horrid 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
44:42gareth gareth's show stopping dessert is a caribbean inspired sticky toffee pudding with a miso caramel
44:49sauce served with a pecan tuile dusted with banana sherbet caramelized banana lime and rum gel
44:57banana and rum creme diplomat and a fig leaf ice cream smoked in a cherry wood aroma
45:11the sticky toffee pudding sponge it's not lifted to the heights it should have done the mix wasn't
45:16quite right you can see that little thickness at the bottom but having said that it's still
45:19delicious i like the diplomat cream that's very nice and of course the gel big 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 it's a
45:44delicious dessert and i'm loving that fig leaf ice cream thank you i had bad juju with the sponge the
45:52mix didn't seem right but overall i think it was pretty positive if it's enough to get me through that'd
45:58be
46:01great luke's dessert is a pistachio and olive oil cake wrapped in a pistachio tuile topped with an
46:08italian meringue and rose water and raspberry jellies and a pistachio and olive oil ice cream
46:18the pistachio sponge is lovely i love the lightness of the meringue sitting on top your
46:24tuile around the outside it is slightly overcooked i question why you cut the length of it shorter
46:28than it needed to be they should be connected they should be together the sponge is delicious
46:33it's got a really good flavor of pistachio but for me there's not enough sharpness of raspberry i
46:39really 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
46:57where's the 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
47:17what 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 sablé 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 sablé biscuit is slightly overcooked but your blackberry sorbet i love the flavor of that the
48:01lemon coming through there and your little peach water with the oil running through it is lovely and i think
48:06what you
48:06do have is the makings of a really good idea but it's quite obvious to see what's really wrong here
48:12the peach consomme with the fig oil i think is a showstopper and i know you're disheartened but you
48:19like 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
48:42mark has made a whipped peanut butter and goat's cheese cheesecake
48:46with 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 issues
49:50here
49:51the feedback was pretty mixed it felt like kind of all over the place and i really didn't have time
49:57to really plate to the level that i would have liked to have played it so yeah tough
50:02cells dessert is a dark chocolate log filled with matcha mousse and coated in a milk chocolate cremeux
50:09sat on a cherry puree served white truffle ice cream matcha moss raspberry and blackberry compote
50:17chocolate walnut soil and a chocolate twill
50:26the matcha mousse i like the bitterness of this because of the cherry puree underneath that works
50:33very nice however this truffle ice cream once i had that i could not taste anything else on the plate
50:39it is so
50:40strong it is overpowering so the balance of this overtakes the whole dessert so i've just taken a
50:50so tiny amount of the truffle weirdly that combination it's not unpleasant it's the amounts of white truffle in
50:58that ice cream and the sheer amount of that ice cream on the plate which is just offsetting the
51:03balance of everything here
51:06the cremeux i like that the cherry works very well with dark chocolate but white truffle oil is such a
51:12big big big big big big flavor it's an essence and it's very strong i know you love unusual combinations
51:17but it's too big for me on a plate like this
51:25upset 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
51:40curd limoncello 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
52:10basil i like the meringue it's very sweet these amaretti biscuits are cute and actually it's
52:16needed if you're going to have that much meringue on there that sorbet is a star it's just got a
52:21lovely hit of citrus in it i love this the tart is beautifully lined the lemon itself i love the
52:28texture of it and if you've got too much sweetness going on you just go into your little lemon and
52:33basil
52:33sorbet on the side here and you just freshen up the palette this is a cracking dessert georgia
52:38in 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
53:09i think some of our chefs struggled today
53:13who in this room really stood out i say georgia for me i thought her dessert was the best of
53:19the
53:19six chefs today it was full of flavor full of life it was vibrant it was delicious and what a
53:25turnaround from the last challenge she's come back fighting gareth gave us the sticky toffee pudding
53:31with the miso caramel sauce sponge you just didn't quite get it right but overall it's hitting the
53:37right notes and that ice cream was fabulous that's georgia and gareth through after that it gets a little
53:42bit trickier luke i think the pistachio cake with olive oil was good i was quite surprised at how light
53:48the
53:48saline meringue was on top but there wasn't enough pop from the raspberries just to take it from just
53:54being pistachio the twill we all 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
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
55:01honestly at the moment i don't know where i stand but i might still have a bit of chance
55:08i think i'm on thin ice do they have too much white trouble for me to go home we will
55:16say
55:30chefs two massive rounds we have made a decision we can only take our strongest five chefs through
55:41the chef leaving the competition today
56:01yes sal sorry sal sal 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 it's not a nice feeling uh it's a competition so i understand but this has been a
56:23great
56:23experience it's the end of the road for master chef but it's not the end of the road for me
56:28as a chef
56:34chefs massive congratulations you are our final five
56:41i don't even really know what to say i can't believe i'm still standing
56:45i need to let it sink in i think final five is a big bill
56:50definitely feel the pressure racking up you've got to be better practiced and then really just hope for
56:54the best honestly i thought it was going to be me going home but it really feels very special i'm
57:02very
57:02glad to be here i was super proud of myself i never imagined myself in the final five but now
57:08i'm here yeah
57:09i'm in it let's go
57:17next time it's the last of the semi-finals
57:21and the remaining five face the heat
57:25the heat of a two michelin star kitchen yeah it's tough you need to start going like the clappers
57:31now all right okay before battling it out for a place in finals week i think it's really out there
57:37and i think it's really brave when we talk about next level cookery this is it
57:45so
57:57so
57:58so
57:58so
57:58so
58:12Transcription by CastingWords
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