MasterChef: The Professionals Catch up, Series 18: Episode 2 on BBC 2

MasterChef: The Professionals

Series 18: Episode 2

Four more professional chefs arrive for their heat, and two challenges stand between them and a place in the quarter-finals. Getting there will be no piece of cake. Their first stop is enough to rattle the most experienced chefs – the skills test. Former winners and finalists are using their own recipes to challenge the contestants, and in this round, 2016 champion Gary Maclean is back. Gary owns Creel Caught, a seafood restaurant and soup and caboodle deli in Edinburgh. He's hoping for great things from the first two chefs as they prepare steamed razor clams served with Jerusalem artichokes, pickled fennel and a beurre blanc sauce. Clams cook in just 30 to 40 seconds, so the chefs need their wits about them if they are to avoid a rubbery dish. Gary even uses the clam stock to make his beurre blanc – a detail like this may just set the chefs apart. \n\nThe next two contestants then take their turn, and this time it’s pastry –with a Scottish twist. The request is for a molten chocolate tart served with an oatmeal crumble and cranachan cream, and the chefs have just 20 minutes to deliver their dessert. As usual, the professionals have the ingredients provided, so even if they’ve never heard of cranachan, they should find the oats, whisky and raspberries needed to make the cream. \n\nHaving survived the skills test, the contestants have one more chance to prove their worth as they are asked to deliver their signature dish, with the aim of cementing their position in the competition and leaving the judges with no option but to put them through. Their creations include flavours from Guatemala and the return of a French classic, so there is no shortage of variety. \n\nMarcus, Monica and Matt then decide which contenders have done enough to stay in the game. Those selected will then go head-to-head with the two successful chefs from the first heat in the first quarter-final of the series.

Source: BBC 2

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