www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. TVNZ Access Services 2011 It's day four of Cookery School. Now only five students remain. Today is about learning to make Indian food. Richard has invited chef Arun Kapil to teach the students two specially created spicy recipes. Poussin Oudhi with okra and ginger kari, pilau rice, spiced pomegranate and mint raita. Followed by pot-roast pheasant with faggots, Bombay game chips and buttered crumbs. With Gizzi away ill, Richard takes over as mentor. Arun, I have to ask you one question. Arun, I have to ask you one question. Go on, sir. What's an Englishman of Indian background doing in Ireland? I was in a different industry, I used to work in London and did the Ballymaloe cookery course and I fell in love with Ireland. Arun Kapil now runs a company specialising in spices. He will teach the students the Indian mastery of adding flavour using spices. His first dish of the day is: It's all about flavour, texture, taste, to create beautiful dishes. Your senses are really needed. I think we've found our spice guru here! I mean, you know, we can get him on a carpet and we sit down and he can just talk to us about spices. It's what I've grown up with since the age of two or three, going over and being kicked out of the kitchen - men aren't supposed to be in the kitchen in India. But I've just been intrigued by the masalchis grinding the spices, all these beautiful fragrances. We're going to do a couple of dishes. The first is a version of butter chicken. Rather than using a chicken, we'll use a poussin. It's about fresh spices and how to use them to make the best of the ingredients that we're using. First, de-bone the poussin - a young chicken also known as a spring chicken. Take your scissors and just cut close to the backbone as you can manage and go all the way through to the back. Then we're doing a similar thing here. So that now is the backbone that's removed, which you can see has opened up the bird. Now, we're not going to get too fussy on this, Indian food is all about beautiful flavour, so all we're going to do is simply open it up, pop it onto its front and with the palm of your hand, just press it down to open it up there. And then remove the wings. And you'll see there's a joint. If you move it gently, you can see where the connection is, a joint, and that just cuts through very simply. These can be frozen, or used in a stock - don't throw anything away. So, there we are, dead simple, nothing to it at all. Trim the skin and remove excess fat. And place into a small baking tray. You want a snug fit. Not too big, because when the marinade goes on, the marinade will go all over the place and burn. And not too tight, otherwise the poussin won't cook. I like how you boned it. I would have done it the other way. I like that. I like that. Brilliant, thank you, Richard. Ah, you see? Lovely. To the poussin, add grated lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon. Allow to infuse. I've made a cartouche, which is a bit of greaseproof paper, so that just fits wonderfully well. So, pop that aside. No seasonings, no salt or nothing? No, our seasoning today is will be the spice blend within the marinade. To create the marinade for the poussin, into a bowl, add Greek yoghurt and ghee. Always in Indian food, I would highly recommend using ghee. Ghee, before it's churned into a butter, has yoghurt added to it, churned to a butter, then clarified. That yoghurt adds lovely, beautiful, sweet fragrance. Then pour in cream and grate in ginger and garlic. Add a third of a de-seeded, finely chopped hot chilli and coarsely grated paneer, an Indian vegetarian cheese. Is that a speciality of India, the paneer cheese? It is, yeah. It is, yeah. It looks like a light Cheddar. Absolutely. There's not so much flavour, no salt in the paneer. I always say, like an Emmental. For this recipe, Arun adds his own spice blend, made up of green cardamom, mace, turmeric and salt. I love things like this. I can imagine that on a piece of lamb as well. Absolutely, works perfectly well. What we're looking to do is to get it into the little crevices here and obviously on the underside as well, of the poussin. It's such a sophisticated cuisine, isn't it, really? I mean... The sophistication is all in the flavour and the different layers from the spice blend. Cartouche goes on top, keep all the moisture in. So it's almost like steaming in there. So it's almost like steaming in there. It is almost, absolutely correct. Then place the poussin into the oven for 25 minutes at 180 degrees, removing the cartouche for the last five minutes. Are you writing this down? Are you writing this down? I was watching, they're all in that dish, so I'll just fill that same dish... Do me a favour, write down the recipe, please. It's not like no-one writes it all. It's not like no-one writes it all. Next we need to do the pilau rice. Pilau is a style of cooking. To soften onions, add aged basmati rice, chana dhal... Chana dhal is a pulse, you may have seen the chick peas themselves, this is a relative. Then add vegetable stock and garam masala. The garam masala, what's in there? > It's a blend of spices, garam meaning hot. The heat is only coming from black cardamoms and black pepper. There's 17 different spices, it's a mixture. Add turmeric powder and stir through. Cover and place in a hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Once cooked, remove and stir through. Add sun-dried rose petals and shelled green pistachios. We're not going to go too mad and put it all through, because we want to be able to see them. For the okra and ginger kari dish... Next, a really quick little dish using okra and tomatoes and ginger. Now, have you seen these before? Have you worked with okra before? Ladies' fingers. Good man, perfect. > Into a hot pan, add oil. Stir-fry the okra at a high temperature. Then add cherry tomatoes. Grate in ginger, add a touch of sea salt, then turn down the heat and cook until the tomatoes split. You're just looking for them to gently burst through. It's a dry vegetable dish, it's not supposed to be covered in sauce. Next, the raita, a yoghurt-based dip. To natural yoghurt, add creme fraiche, garam masala, the zest of a lime and chopped fresh mint. Finally, add the seeds and juice from a pomegranate and stir through. Make it ahead of time and pop it into the fridge so it also has a physical cooling effect to it. And with this, we get not only the intrinsic cooling effects of the yoghurt and the mint and the lime, but also the physical cooling effect. Simple as that. To serve, chop the poussin in half, coating in the excess marinade. Garnish with coriander and lime. Serve with the okra kari and the raita, garnished with coriander. Finally, the pilau rice. Fabulous. There we are, guys. Poussin Oudhi with our lovely marinade. We have the very simple okra and tomatoes in ginger. We have the beautiful, authentic pilau rice and we have the lovely pomegranate raita. What are you looking for from the rice dish? > We want the rice to remain whole, a good bit of seasoning, not over-seasoning, that's up to you with the seasoning, you do want a good colour, but don't over-work it so that the grains then break up. OK. Arun, you are our spice guru. OK. Arun, you are our spice guru. Thank you, sir. Students, you have one hour to prepare this magnificent recipe. Get cracking. It's day four of Cookery School. The students now have to make Arun's spicy poussin dish. After running out of ingredients yesterday, Natalie is making sure that it doesn't happen again and has removed all the spices from the table, leaving Keiran missing some of his. No, the spices, it's all half, you have to take a half. > Oh, everyone's got them. < Can I have some more garam masala, please? I think some people have taken more on purpose. I think some people have taken more on purpose. Probably. Ryan is making steady progress, wowing the judges with his flavours and his passion for every recipe. Are you going to impress us with this dish? Are you going to impress us with this dish? Hopefully, yeah. A bit of pressure on everyone. A bit of pressure on everyone. Exactly, yeah. A lot to do, a lot of components. You're down to five now, huh? You're down to five now, huh? Definitely. Pressure's on. Are you hungry enough? I definitely am, yeah. In every sense of the word. Enjoy. Keiran has a chaotic approach to cooking, which is now causing the judges to question his ability to improve. What are you making? I'm just ripping that out and then I'll... I'm just ripping that out and then I'll... Give me the greaseproof. I'll show you something, come here. OK? A cartouche. It's just a round piece. We'll just put it into that. Put it into a square again and then just... Well, that makes it a hell of a lot easier. And you look at the size of that. So that's from there to there, yeah? And then you just... OK? That's a lot easier. Doesn't that look a bit more elegant? Doesn't that look a bit more elegant? Yeah, a lot more. It's all about elegance! Come on. Cool. The students need to coat their poussin with a spicy marinade, making sure they've followed Arun's instructions. Natalie is a self-taught cook, who has produced great flavoured food during the advanced course, but she can also lack discipline. So Natalie, how are we doing? > Not too bad. Am I using all of this cheese? 60g is in the recipe, so brilliant. > So, 60g is what it is. So, 60g is what it is. Yeah, I don't really follow. It'll be interesting to taste... It'll be interesting to taste... With this stuff, no. Well, hopefully, like I say, if you want a bit more, you could add a bit more. if you want a bit more, you could add a bit more. < Yeah. You've got quite a bit of garam masala there. Be careful with your use of garam masala. > I didn't want to dirty a bowl. So I thought I'd take that. I didn't want to dirty a bowl. So I thought I'd take that. Perfect. Lovely, excellent. Keiran, how are we doing? I'm doing all right, to be fair. I'm doing all right, to be fair. Very good. A very posh cartouche you have there, sir. A very posh cartouche you have there, sir. He showed me how. Oh, did he? Oh, Richard! Ssh, don't say that! > Are you happy about the spices that you're using, are you? that you're using, are you? I am lacking some garam masala. that you're using, are you? I am lacking some garam masala. Ah. There weren't enough left on the thing when I got round to it. There weren't enough left on the thing when I got round to it. Ah, well, maybe there's too much on other people's stations. Well, we need to get some garam masala to you, absolutely. > There you go. There you go. Ah, lots of garam masala! There you go. Ah, lots of garam masala! I share! You see, sharing. So did I yesterday! So did I yesterday! Sharing is caring, very good. > The garam masala. Perfect, you have that now. > A good bit in there. Don't be afraid to use a good bit of marinade. Natasha is a passionate foodie, who loves eating out at top restaurants. How are you getting on? Is this your type of recipe? How are you getting on? Is this your type of recipe? I love Indian food. Do you? Do you? I love it, yeah. You don't cook it? Not really. Do you think this would motivate you to do it? Do you think this would motivate you to do it? Definitely, definitely. Hurry up! Yes! Ashleigh is a skilled technical cook, who wants a career in food. Everything's OK? > Confident that you know where you're going? Confident that you know where you're going? I hope so. I'm just following your demonstration closely. Brilliant, very good. Getting your hands in there, > lovely to see. The marinade has gone well, lovely. I don't need to use all of it, because I think... I don't need to use all of it, because I think... Well, if you're happy, then I'd say that's fine. then I'd say that's fine. OK. then I'd say that's fine. OK. It's a shame to waste things, but this could always be frozen. Even if you cook the sauce off, it's still fine to cool down and freeze. So it won't ever be wasted. Perfect. Ryan, going very well. Your poussin is in the oven? > Poussin's in the oven. Poussin's in the oven. Good man. I'm just sweating off my onions. I'm just sweating off my onions. Brilliant. I'll probably make the ratia right now, just to give it time to... just to give it time to... The RAITA? To cool it down. < Yeah, yeah, raita. Sorry. The yoghurt dip, yeah. The yoghurt dip, yeah. < Yeah, yeah. So get that in the fridge, because like I say, it helps to have the physical cooling as well. Definitely, yeah. Definitely, yeah. Brilliant, brilliant. With the poussin in the oven and the raita made, the students cook their rice, carefully adding the stock and the turmeric and garam masala, before placing it into the oven. Damn it! Time is running out and in a rush to remove her poussin, Natasha faces a disaster. My chicken's fallen down the back of the oven! Help! Help! You disappeared! > < That was scary! Natasha, we're doing a smoke effect. You're creating the dry ice effect, add a bit more drama to the food. I pulled the top tray out and the thing just slid out, round down to the back. Not to worry. < Luckily, I saved it. The last step is to rest the poussin and finish off their okra dish. Oh, great! It's not even cooked, this is ridiculous. Who's going to eat that? The ginger and the salt is in there as well? The ginger and the salt is in there as well? Yeah. Do you think the tomatoes are cooked enough, though? Go a little bit further. Try and get a bit of colour on the okra and ideally allow them just to melt to fall apart a bit. OK. OK. But, yeah, looking good. BELL RINGING Time is up! It's not done, they can't possibly taste it. Raw chicken! . Ryan is a hearty home cook who has a lot to learn at the advanced level. Okra and tomato is delicious, really nicely seasoned, the ginger's in the background. Rice, perfectly cooked, delicious. The chana dal have a lovely bite to them. The chicken is absolutely delicious. It's lovely and tender, but still moist. It's lovely and tender, but still moist. I'm very happy here to... ..pick away and taste your cooking, Ryan. It's really gorgeous! It's really gorgeous! < Lovely. Thank you. Thank you. < Well done. Well done, thank you. 'I really feel confident today,' I had a good day yesterday, a good dish today. I don't want to get ahead of myself or too cock-sure about things, I'm just keeping my cool and getting on with the job. Accomplished cook Natasha struggles with pressure, but can produce great flavours. Mmm. < Delicious. Now, it is absolutely gorgeous, but to be hyper-critical, the rice, < I would use a little bit more garam masala. The poussin cooked deliciously well, still moist and tender. Love the raita, it's beautiful, it's lovely. Thank you. I don't think you've pulled off all the spicing in this, it seems a little bit flat, know what I mean? There were lots of spices there, to give it a bit of fire. But, listen, it looks great, it's something you'll improve upon, so well done, you. Thank you. Beginner Keiran shows impressive natural talent, but is the most inexperienced and makes basic mistakes. < How was this dish? < How was this dish? I loved it. > Did you? This is definitely close to my heart. > < Lovely. The chicken marinade is delicious. That really is good. I actually think that is very good. I like the seasoning in that, not only the spices, you've got a bit of the salt as well, so there's a good bit of blend in that, gorgeous. Raita. Delicious. I love the mint, you've got that nice, clean finish. Beautiful. Really lovely seasoning as well, with the salt. Your seasoning is brilliant, lovely. < My palate is dancing with happiness! Beautiful. Thank you, Chefs. > We're really impressed with this. We're really impressed with this. It's lovely. Superb. Superb. It is, lovely. 'I definitely think Chef's starting to see something in me and believing that I can do what he's asked,' because I don't want to go home, no-one does. Ashleigh's technique and presentation win high praise, but her flavouring often lets her down. < Ashleigh, lovely, very nice indeed. Maybe the chicken has been slightly underdone on some of the legs there, < it could have done with a bit longer. Rice is almost there, possibly gone a little bit further and allowed it to cook a bit longer. Beautiful presentation. Beautiful presentation. Thank you. > The raita looks fabulous. The raita looks fabulous. It does. < Love the pomegranate juice on the top, absolutely, eye-catching brilliant. absolutely, eye-catching brilliant. < Nice stuff. But looking at that Ashleigh, you know what I mean, that's not a nice experience of the chicken leg. You can't eat it. Yeah. All the flavours are there, just if it got a bit more heat, what magic could have happened. just if it got a bit more heat, what magic could have happened. Yeah. Well done. Thanks. Self-taught Natalie can produce great-flavoured food, but she can lose focus and make mistakes. I must confess about the chicken, something went wrong with the marinade. What went wrong? > I put a wrong sauce in there, creme fraiche. I think that's why it didn't brown. You used the creme fraiche instead of yoghurt? Well, yoghurt as well. I added the creme fraiche thinking it was something else. The creme fraiche wouldn't make a difference. We don't have an awful lot of the marinade, so we're not getting the beautiful spices. < I would suggest this hasn't worked out the best for you. < I would suggest this hasn't worked out the best for you. No, it hasn't. The rice is similar to the chicken in terms of seasoning, in that it's lacking slightly there. We could have cooked it a bit further to get it fluffier. We could have cooked it a bit further to get it fluffier. Yeah, I agree. This isn't your best effort. I thought you'd have cracked this. You love spice. I do, it were the chicken thing, the extra sauce that I did. It just went downhill from there. Yeah, not only that, but it's pretty undercooked as well. I know. I know. Yeah. That doesn't look like you got 20 minutes in the oven. I don't understand, I did it longer, so I don't know if... Oh, whatever. Anyway... I did ask you during the demonstration to take notes thoroughly, because you were watching them and you got a bit, "I don't need to, I'm watching". No, I did. Are you writing it down? Are you writing it down? I'm writing it down. > Well, I had to remind you. < Thank you very much. < Thank you very much. Thank you. 'They were fair comments, you know,' Kind of kind, to be honest. From Chef, I expected a real grilling about the chicken, so I think he's in a good mood today. So, they were fair, you know? Natalie undercooked her chicken, as did Ashleigh, and both go to the bottom of the class. Natasha got mixed results, but Ryan did very well and Keiran produced an excellent dish. He is top of the class. It's annoying when things aren't complete, especially when you've got all the symptoms of cold and flu. Lemsip All in One is designed to help a chesty cough,... headache, fever, blocked nose and sore throat. It's our most complete remedy ever. So you get all the help you need. Available in hot drinks or convenient capsules. Combine NZ's trusted brands so you don't lose a day. The students are being taught two flavourful Indian dishes by chef and spice expert, Arun Kapil. His next recipe is... So it's a very classic English recipe? That's what I'm trying to say - spices are all about intensive flavour. They're about seasoning. It's not about Indian food. We're trying to use flavours that work and marry very well. And, Arun, why a pheasant? It's an Indian chicken - quite appropriate. First, the spices. So, we have the fennel seeds - bright green, beautiful, anise-flavoured fennel seeds. The cubeb pepper, the cubeb berries, that looks like black pepper with a little tail on it. We have the wonderful, large juniper berries - a heady sort of fragrance. Really fruity flavours to them. And the little red flecks, they're Sichuan pepper. It's more of a Japanese/Chinese ingredient, indeed, the Japanese would call it Sansho pepper. It has a totally crazy sensation when you're biting into it - a citrus, almost numbing effect, a real cleansing effect. Remember how we want a clean finish with our food? That adds a clean finish to this blend. OK, we're going to pop these spices in. OK, so... Once blended, mix into softened butter. Next, we're going to prepare our pheasant. Really simple. First, to make carving easier, take out the wishbone. With these little birds, you can run your finger up and down, until you start to loosen. There we are now - look. And just pull. By pulling it, the wishbone will then come out. Brilliant. We get our butter, smear all our beautifully spiced butter on there - really fragrant - but we just want it on the breast. We have to be very careful with the breast. That's the part we're looking to protect. Next, cover the breast with streaky bacon and secure with string. We'll be using the bacon later for presentation, so you want to be relatively careful with it. We're going to be crisping that up later. Then, into a hot pan, pour rapeseed oil and sear the pheasant on all sides. By searing it, it's going to keep the flavour - the juice - within the bird. So that's what we're trying to do. You see how that was literally a matter of 30 seconds or so and you get the brown colour already? OK, so our pheasant is now wonderfully browned. And the bacon has a little colour as well. Add lightly browned shallots and pancetta to the cooking juices and place the pheasant on top. Into another pan, pour the Armagnac and flambe. All you do is gently tip it over and see how quick you get the flame? Then we're going to pour that lovely Armagnac over. What this is doing, this is burning away the alcohol. Then pour in light chicken stock, white wine and the juice and zest of a clementine. Such a delicate meat, it's so likely to dry out and we would hate that. We're trying to protect it, so we'll cook it on its leg and flip it over. Ten minutes on the other leg. Cover the pheasant with foil and place into a hot oven for 20 minutes... turning the pheasant after 10 minutes so it doesn't dry out. Keep the heat in your oven. When you take out your casserole, close that door straight away. Why use the tin foil if you're putting a lid on top? Why use the tin foil if you're putting a lid on top? To create a moist atmosphere. Again, the foil cartouche is helping that. OK, so we've popped it over onto the other leg, popping the lid back on. That's the other ten minutes. Yeah, perfect. Another ten minutes on that other leg, absolutely. Next, the faggot - a type of offal meatball. A faggot is a good way of using up leftover, cheap cuts of meat. Every single part of the animal should be used. Into a blender add chopped streaky bacon, pheasant offal, breadcrumbs and pulse. Then bind together with half a whisked egg. Add sweated-down shallots, clementine zest and quatre epices. Quatre epices is a French spice blend. Quatre - four. Epices meaning spice. There's actually six spices in this. We have the beautiful mace, the lovely, fresh ginger powder, wonderful nutmegs. Cloves - really heady sort of menthol notes. White pepper - quite a dominant amount - and a little black pepper. Add parsley and chopped pork belly. Mix through. Then line a mould with blanched and de-veined cabbage leaves and fill with the faggot mixture. And again, you see how it's quite stiff. Don't be adding too much egg or liquid to it. You're looking for quite a stiff mixture. I've carefully layered over the cabbages leaves. Press those down gently and it'll hold itself together - perfect. Then place the moulds into a bain marie. Cover with damp greaseproof paper and place into a hot oven for 25 minutes. Done, simple. > We have two elements done of the dish. There's another couple of elements to finish it off. A classic thing to be serving with pheasant, I think I'm right in saying, is game chips and buttered crumbs. Game chips are like home-made crisps, really. Thinly slice potatoes. Pat dry and place into the deep-fat fryer for two to three minutes. When cooked, remove and sprinkle with a spice blend of garam masala and salt. We do it straight away, because we want the flavours to cling on. So in the hot oil, it's just about roasting the spices, toasting them, therefore rounding the flavour. So on they go. Would you add a little bit more on there? Would you add a little bit more on there? Yeah, absolutely. Don't be afraid of the seasoning. Remember what we were saying? Don't be afraid of the seasoning. We shouldn't be smothering it, but don't be afraid. Simple as that. They're ready, looking lovely. For the buttered breadcrumbs, rub garlic onto a pan. Add butter and melt. Tip in breadcrumbs and cook until golden brown. I'm going to pop these on the side to cool down. Get it out of the pan as soon as you can, cos the pan is retaining heat, so it'll keep cooking. By putting them on the side, yes, there's oil that's going to carry on cooking, but you're cooling them down. Next, our delicious pheasant, which has been cooking away. So here we are. Place the pheasant onto a clean board. Remove the string and the bacon. Place the bacon onto a baking tray and return to the oven to crisp. Leave the pheasant to rest. What we have here now is our saucy parts. > So we're going to, first of all, strain all the juices. Keep the shallots and pancetta for a garnish. Then to the strained juices, add Grand Marnier and whisk in butter. Simmer. Once reduced, add a dash of cider vinegar and clementine segments. Dealing with the pheasant. We're going to joint the bird. Around the leg of the bird, we'll follow its own shape. The thing is to allow the knife to do the work. Start to push it away from yourself, and you can see how it comes apart. Then we get our knife and go round. See how gently I'm using the knife - hardly touching it at all. Because we've taken it away, we're seeing where the joint is as well. And that is just going to simply come apart there. All I need to do is cut along here. Next is the breast. I know we're quite used to this from earlier with the spatchcocking. Cut down from the backbone. Cut down from the backbone. < Nice and gently, not hard. The great thing, how we removed the wishbone earlier. By removing the wishbone, you can see how I can get my knife and the cut can go right down to the back. Just gently push it away. See how it's coming apart from the bird. This will keep the lovely integrity of the shape of the breast as well. To serve, place the pheasant onto a plate. Slice the faggot in half. Add breadcrumbs. Pour the sauce over the meat. Garnish with crispy bacon, then add the shallots and pancetta and place the game chips on the side. This is the pot roast pheasant with juniper and green cardamom. We have the buttered crumbs, the pheasant faggot and the beautiful Bombay game chips. Yum! The overarching theme is spicing. It's a gentle use of the spicing. Lots to be thinking about, just think carefully. It'll be simple for you, I'm sure. Give it a good go. Students, a fabulous recipe. Pure poetry. You have one hour and 20 minutes to prepare it, now get cracking. The students now need to show they can reproduce this challenging recipe. Financial analyst Ryan had a great start to the day. My, my, my, you have moved quickly, haven't you? Yeah, putting the bacon on now. Yeah, putting the bacon on now. What do you think of the recipe? Yeah, lots of elements to it. You loved the flavour, didn't you? You loved the flavour, didn't you? Yeah, it's beautiful. I like the crisps as well, the chips. Something you can, hopefully, pull off? Hopefully. If there's enough time. Get cracking. Are you asking me to move on quickly? Are you asking me to move on quickly? Yeah. (LAUGHS) Good. Well done, you. I'm going to stay and annoy you for another ten minutes, OK (?) Earlier, carer Natalie didn't pay attention in class. She now needs to show she wants to stay in the competition. With your shallots and pancetta, do you know how you're doing this? Top and tail the least amount as possible and just take the skin off. Top and tail the least amount as possible and just take the skin off. Yeah. And then I'm frying that off with my...? With your pancetta. With that, what you're looking to do is just this sort of size like that. just this sort of size like that. OK. Have you worked with pancetta? Yeah, I kind of know what pancetta is. I prefer my streaky bacon. We're using both, cos they have different flavours. We're getting two different elements. Next the students have to make their faggots, using the heart, liver, stomach and trimmings of the pheasant. Designer Natasha's first dish today got mixed results, so she needs to concentrate on getting all the elements of this dish right. You're using the innards of the pheasant there. You're using the lovely back bacon, and you're just going to chop the pork belly through to add the texture. Ryan is preparing the pheasant's stomach for the faggot blend, removing any stones. Brilliant you noticed the stomach, chopping it and noticing the stones. Birds tend to digest by eating the stones. It's churning up the food. Great that you've removed those. Well done. Very, very good indeed. Well done. Very, very good indeed. Cheers. You're thinking, brilliant. Natalie has found herself at the bottom of the class. Are you putting 100% into this? Yes, I am putting 100%, even extra, because of this morning. So, yes. You were disappointing again this morning. I know, I were disappointed with myself as well, Chef. I know, I were disappointed with myself as well, Chef. Brilliant. After poor results yesterday, today shop assistant Keiran is focused, and his earlier dish put him top of the class. Put that onto your board or something, Keiran, just to rest. Now be careful not to bruise the meat at this stage. It goes onto your board. Well done. Drain it. Good man. I put extra butter and herbs inside. I thought why not? Exactly, you're very good. Flavour from inside as well as the out. I'll leave that on there. I'll leave that on there. All good? Brilliant, well done. Ashleigh, do you know if this one's Armagnac? No, that's wine. See, what do I...? South African Ashleigh undercooked her poussin. Now she needs perfection to stand a chance of keeping her place. And your crumbs, are you watching them, yeah? And your crumbs, are you watching them, yeah? Yeah. OK, golden brown. You determined to stay? I am determined. Let's see. BELL RINGS Time up, students. It's day four of the advanced course and time for the final tasting. Richard and Arun are joined by food critic Richard Johnson. Ryan has already produced a great-tasting dish today. Just saw you, you might think you were a 'slop it on, pile it high' kind of fella. You're not like that, at all. You were balancing your plate before we came round. That shows in every mouthful, it's lovely. I tend to agree that there's a lot of love with your cooking - that's brilliant, Ryan. That's a great trait I think. The pheasant's superb, nicely cooked, lovely flavours, nicely balanced. The faggot is not quite as light as it possibly could be. Breadcrumbs superbly cooked, lovely shallots. < And, I must say, the Bombay, the game chips, superbly seasoned. So, no, superb job I'd say. Looks great, love the pheasant. You're working cleaner, tidier. Messy Ryan is now organised Ryan. Cheers. Thank you. Cheers. Thank you. (ALL) Well done, thank you. Earlier, Natasha's food got mixed reviews. She needs a good result from this dish. < Natasha, lovely, absolutely lovely. Lovely plate of food. This is just fresh, exciting, there's all sorts of different combinations - totally different mouthfuls. A slight issue with the game chips, in that they're not crisp. < Presentation is definitely one of your fortes. Game chips, soggy, but the flavouring is there. Lovely seasoning again, superb. Love this gravy, love the cooking juices, they really have worked. Lovely. Lovely flavour. An incredible, sophisticated, piece of cooking. If I had that in any restaurant, I would be the happiest bunny in the world. Absolutely cracking, I like that plate of food a lot. Thank you. Very good! Keiran's first dish wowed the judges and he got top marks. Hmm. Not a good sign. > What's that? What's that? What the birds use to help digest their food, the stones, they eat stones and it helps to grind the food, it's a natural peristalsis as it goes down. it's a natural peristalsis as it goes down. So...hmm. (ALL LAUGH) < Yeah? Is that his fault? Is there anything Keiran could have done, or... No, it's something that was a little trick to catch and that's the thing, the first two chaps, they managed to cut the tummy and the gizzard in half and exposed the grain and the stones. That's to do with learning as you go with cooking. That's to do with learning as you go with cooking. Yeah. In fairness, it wasn't shown at the demo... In fairness, it wasn't shown at the demo... Absolutely. ..and that's fine. For me, it doesn't have the sumptuousness of the other two. There's nothing very luxurious about it. It's the fact the sauce hasn't napped, it hasn't got that lovely glossy texture, rather than being a bit watery and buttery. The sauce could have been worked further through, and a bit more flavour going in. The faggot is lovely. I tasted a piece, it was really good. I love the way you've crisped your bacon. I like your pheasant, I like it a lot, but if you had a little bit more spice in it, I think it would have been fantastic. But where's the gravy? I know I did miss the liqueur in the, kind of, like, gravy. A complicated recipe. I think you should be proud. < Great. Thank you. On her first dish, Ashleigh disappointed by undercooking her poussin. Oh, no! Ashleigh, I don't think it's fair to take this against you, or Keiran, so, I'm going to ignore the fact that I have a slight exposed nerve in that back left molar. Sorry. But anyway, it's not your problem. It's between me and my dentist. That is the best looking plate of food. Yes. I think it's beautifully cooked. I think that the meat was juicy, it was succulent, though it's a little bit pink, I don't have a problem with that. I think it's just as it should be. I absolutely love this, well done. Thank you. Thank you. Pheasant - really delicate and really nicely cooked. I love the fact it's pink. Pheasant should be pink, I'd say, Chef. The faggot is superb, I think the seasoning is the best. You can really taste the quatre epices and a bit of zest coming through there. Superb seasoning on the game chips. Presentation fantastic, beautifully cooked shallot. Presentation fantastic, beautifully cooked shallot. Hmm. Beautiful pheasant, absolutely delicious sauce, bringing everything together. You're definitely putting heart and soul - if not a few stones into your food! So, well done, you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Earlier, Natalie also undercooked her poussin. Natalie, I was fully expecting to come and pull this dish apart, because I'd seen you work and you didn't seem to care a great deal, we're talking about the love for the food, there wasn't love, I felt, going into what you were doing here. In fact, that's a really decent plate of food. Yeah. I think that the pheasant is done quite nicely, I think that the faggot...there isn't the pleasing texture to that. More gravy, please. I know, it disintegrated. I would have liked the gravy, the sauce, to have been thicker and certainly a bit more of it. Again, the faggot, yes, the texture's not quite there, but the flavour is lovely. Very good, it's a difficult dish. You've managed to cook a really good pheasant - missing a little bit of that extra spicing. < A real pity on the game chips. They're still soggy and soft, which they needed more time in the fryer. It's more like a potato wedge. Potato wedge, indeed! Oh, yeah, that's true. < Listen, you've put a nice plate of food up, you should be proud of yourself. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Students, it's now time for your appraisal. Starting with you, Ryan. > I think you should be really, really proud of yourself. At last, you've risen to the high table of food. I'd be absolutely gutted if I went home tonight. Definitely in it to win it now and want to be here to the final, hopefully win it! Ashleigh, your plate of food was so good, I will forgive you the crownwork that I'm going to need to do. That was lovely, it was really lovely. And as you get more and more competent and passionate about what you're doing, it's really exciting - just don't lose out those tiny little details, just keeping an eye on everything. Natasha, your food looks terrific. The only thing is, there's still a little bit of panic. Try and get your head in gear before you start work. Keiran, today was an excellent day for you. You do struggle, you find things difficult, but who wouldn't? You should be proud. If I went home, I'd be devastated. For the fact that you've learnt so much here and it's, just, you don't want to go home - especially in the semi-final! Natalie, I don't know what to make of you, I really don't. There's something missing. That's the free, loving, spirit of food, which you're not getting. I see four smiling faces in Cookery School and there's you, like a sour-puss on the end. That's your opinion. 'Sometimes, yeah, I am miserable and I have got a face on us,' but I do want to see it through, I am trying to get to the final. It does mean a lot. There's one more day of semi-finals before the students learn which of them will be going home and which four will make it to the finals. Students, you're all going through to tomorrow. But tomorrow is a major day, one of you will be sent home. You will be cooking your own recipes, three courses each, who is going home tomorrow? You are now excused from Cookery School. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. TVNZ Access Services 2011