And so unto the final heat of MasterChef: The Professionals 2015!
The three chefs joining their predecessors into the knockout round battled through thick and thin to get to this point - and in our round up, we go over the skills tests which contributed to seeing Scott, Mark and Bobby through to the knockout round.
Beginning with Michelin-starred, Marcus Wareing's skills test, he wanted chefs to fillet a whole plaice, then steam one portion and serve it with a mushroom cream sauce. Unfortunately for Scott, Marcus failed to specify how big this portion should be. The sous chef from Hertfordshire speedily cut the fillets off in just over 60 seconds, and thought that the judges would appreciate having a small, neat, square of fish. Commenting on Gregg's large appetite, Monica and Marcus quickly dove in to have the first taste before letting Gregg attempt to put the whole lot in his mouth.
Jamie, a senior sous chef from Devon, had worked in Michelin-starred kitchens for two years prior. He ticked the first box by using fish stock to steam the plaice, which Scott had been pulled up on in the previous test. Monica complimented the sauce, saying his reduction was strong, but unfortunately it didn't have enough mushroom flavour, for a mushroom sauce. The biggest pitfall for Jamie was his 'wasteful' filleting, as the chef left too much fish on the bone for Marcus' liking.
Monica, who seems to favour pastry based skills tests in this series, whipped up what seemed to be Gregg's favourite dessert, Crêpe Suzette.
Winning over the chefs early on, Mark from Worcestershire, with six years Michelin experience. Mark impressed Marcus while explaining his process of pouring orange juice into his caramel to intensify the flavoring, and he definitely got on the good side of both Gregg and Monica, who made excitable noises at the idea of having a pancake each to taste.
Trying to flambee his pancakes whilst the sauce was cold didn't work out so well for Mark, but soaking them in booze probably held him in good stead during the taste test. Monica's next skills test didn't ask for much... just for the chefs to hurriedly prepare and cook langostines, and serve with a Marie Rose sauce made from fresh mayo. Taking the bull by the horns, or the langoustine by the claws, was Ryan from Dundee. With nerves getting the better of him, Ryan flew through the task, forgetting to add mayonnaise to his sauce.
Nothing had been seasoned, and Ryan presented the judges with nothing more than a 'ketchup sauce'. What was quite impressive about Ryan's dish was that it actually made Marcus speechless. In the end, only Gregg had the courage to taste the dish. 
Welcoming the most polite chef Masterchef The Professionals has ever seen, Bobby attempted to take on Monica's challenge whilst thanking them between every breath. Monica liked that Bobby both blanched and pan fried his langoustines, but didn't like how he prepared them, cutting along the back like they were prawns, losing him some points no matter how many times he thanked her for the criticism.
The dish was flat, and the sauce was masked by the garnish on the plate. The langoustines were under cooked, and Bobby got a good scolding. Quite unfairly, the next wave of chefs were lucky enough to walk into Marcus' skills test, which was so easy that it almost felt like a trap. Make a burger.
Yep, no strings attached, literally make a cheeseburger in a bun.Tough luck for those who were scrambling around trying to crack open a langostine while receiving stern glances from Monica in the last test.
Tom, a senior chef de partie working in a 3 rosette restaurant in Berkshire, thankfully, cooked burgers recently. Otherwise he would have been unprepared to tackle that monumental task... However, what Tom produced was a fairly unimpressive burger, on a sesame seed bun due to burning his first choice of bun under the salamander. He didn't utilise all of the ingredients available to him on the work surface, therefore his burger was criticized for lacking flavour, alongside being overcooked and dry.
