MasterChef: The Professionals 2018 – Knockout Week Two

Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace, Chef Monica Galetii and two-michelin-starred Marcus Wareing have come together yet again to find the Uk’s finest culinary dining skills.

Knockout week continues and only ten outstanding chefs remain in the competition. They have been spilt into two groups of five, where the first group are set two daunting challenges by Marcus and Monica to test them even further. The professionals must show they can work together as a team to create a three-course fine dining menu for special guests at Trinity House. The chefs have two and a half hours to design and cook three exceptional courses for the deputy master Ian McNaught and his five VP guests, which include former mayor of London and powerboat champion Shelly Jory Leigh.

Let’s see how the chefs got on in episode 14..

Matthew & Michelle are taking charge of the starter which is based around quail.

Matthew’s first job is remove the legs which he will confit and slow cook in oil, whilst Michelle starts with making the port and chicken liver parfait.

Signature Dish: Herb scented roasted quail with a quail pastier, spiced confit leg wrapped in pastry, beetroot three ways – glazed, raw and pickled, dill oil and a port and chicken liver parfait served with a ciabatta.

Ian & VIP guests honoured the fact the chefs had made the ciabatta downstairs in the kitchen and said ‘its was warm, fresh and absolutely super‘

Monica was happy with the lovely ‘pink centre’ of the parfait and said it went very well with the ‘warm and fresh bread they had made‘.

Marcus said that there was ‘a lot of detail and a lot of skill‘, and the chefs had really put themselves ‘under pressure‘ but ‘it was all worth it‘.

Oli & Alex tackle the main together.

Alex starts work on prepping the main element of their course, the Hake. While Oil is making a gnocchi, flavoured with wild nettles.

Signature Dish: Roasted hake served with nettle gnocchi, tempura muscles, pickled muscles, charred leek, borage flowers and a muscle and dill oil veloute.

Ian & VIP guests said it was very ‘minimalist‘ and was wandering were the ‘rest of it‘ was, but praised very highly of the hake and sauce.

Marcus thought it was ‘simple and striking‘ with not a lot to show, but holds a ‘huge amount of flavour‘.

Monica was happy that it was a ‘really nice light main course to follow the starter‘.

The responsibility of the dessert has fallen entirely onto London based sous chef William.

He is making a dessert centred round poached peaches in sugar, mint and lavender stock.

Signature Dish: Dark chocolate and rum cremeux on a praline base, topped with a poached peach, cherries filled with peach puree, raspberries, lavender wafer, elderflowers and a peach and lavender consommé.

Ian & VIP guests said it was the ‘best dessert he had all year‘ and it was the ‘showstopper‘ of the three-course fine dining.

Marcus simply said ‘theres no two ways about it, it taste good‘

Monica liked a lot about the dish including the ‘beautifully cooked peach‘ and the ‘dark dense chocolate‘.

Finally, the five chefs return to the Masterchef kitchen where they face the judges as individuals once more. The chefs have 90 minutes to create a dish that is exceptional enough to get them into the penultimate week. only 4 chefs will make it to the semi-finals and which chef will have to face going home.

Lets see how the chefs got on..

Matthew is the youngest chef in the competition, he’s food is interested, inventive and creative.

Signature Dish: Poulet en vessie, chicken breast cooked in a pigs bladder topped with black truffle shavings, served with pomme Anna, asparagus, morel, peas, lemon gel, pea puree, truffle and madeira sauce.

Marcus started by saying that the ‘presentation is beautifully refined, its a piece of art’. He really loves the flavours and said ‘they are off the scale’.

Monica was shocked that this was ‘the first time in 10years that a chef has been brave enough to cook this dish’ and she ‘really appreciates’ the flavours and ‘can’t fault it’.

‘that is off the scale divine’ Gregg said, and again could praise the combination of flavours enough.

William puts himself under a huge amount of pressure and has such a strong personality that shows through his cooking.

Signature Dish: Roast cannon of lamb topped with a potato crumb, served with crispy sweet breads, a morel mushroom, Parisian potato topped with a black olive mash, truffle shavings, lemon puree and a jus made with rosemary and vin jaune – a red wine similar to dry sherry.

Monica loved the cookery of the lamb and crispiness of the potato, but unfortunately she couldn’t taste the olive as there isn’t enough of it.

Gregg liked the sharp jus, but agreed with Monica and there was flavours he couldn’t taste ‘I don’t know where the potato and olive is’.

Marcus said ‘there is a lovely flavour to the sauce, really nice. I’ve enjoyed the alcohol you’ve used, it’s different something I’ve never had before‘ but went onto say that there was ‘so many things he was looking forward to on the plate‘, but couldn’t taste them.

Michelle has really grown in the competition and she’s at her best when she cooks from her roots.

Signature Dish: Jerk chicken breast infused with smoked spiced oak chips, a chicken oyster in a ginger crumb, fried plantain, coleslaw with a mint mayonnaise, carrot shavings, pickled scotch bonnet gel, crispy chicken skin and a chicken jus.

Gregg was happy with the flavours and said ‘that is jerk chicken in flavour and something completely different in presentation‘ and called her dish ‘genius with a delicious plate of undoubted Caribbean flavours‘.

Monica loved the jerk chicken breast with the sweet plantain and said ‘it was delicious‘.

Marcus thought it was a ‘Caribbean royalty on a plate‘ and wanted the recipe for her scotch bonnet gel. He told chef that ‘she had really nailed this one‘.

Alex has so much knowledge of classic cooking skills for a young chef with a lovely modern touch with it through his presentations.

Signature Dish: Duck breast topped with 5 spice puff rice, served with a dark and hazelnut sausage, rhubarb chutney, rhubarb and pomegranate gel, blanched cauliflower and a duck and juniper sauce.

Monica ‘loved‘ the texture on top of the duck, but would of liked the sausage more smooth and more body from the sauce as it had spilt.

The sauce is disappointed by the sauce and said ‘its a nice dish, but not a knockout dish‘.

Marcus said the sauce sits well but needs it to be ‘bigger and bolder‘, but believes there’s ‘another element missing, another garnish or vegetable missing to make this dish really work‘.

Oli is a chef that loves to use ingredients where he is living and is a very big park of cookery which he does very well.

Signature Dish: Dexter beef fillet in a BBQ and wild garlic emulsion, head of the wood mushrooms, wilted wild garlic leaves, wild garlic crisps, pickled ransom buds, beef jus served with a side of spiralised potato filled with a beef tartare, pickled mushrooms and crispy shallots  topped with grated frozen bone marrow.

Marcus enjoyed the flavours, cookery and the amount of skill of the dish.

Gregg enjoyed the ‘sweetness, bitterness and sharpness‘ from the pickled ransom buds ‘bringing a real point of difference to a beef dish‘.

Monica really enjoyed that chef gave them a ‘side dish reflecting the same ingredient, yet in a very fresh way – absolutely delicious‘.

The judges all agreed that the 4 chefs going through to the semi-final would be; Michelle, Matthew, Oli & William.
Unfortunately saying bye and good luck for the future to Alex.