MasterChef: The Professionals Season 7

Monica Galetti, Gregg Wallace and new judge Marcus Wareing begin their search for a 2014 winner as five ambitious chefs cook to impress, hoping to secure a quarter-final place.

Monica Galetti, Gregg Wallace and Marcus Wareing search for a culinary star as five more chefs cook to impress, hoping to secure a quarter-final place.

Monica Galetti, Gregg Wallace and Marcus Wareing search for a culinary star. In the first quarter-final, the chefs must produce a two-course menu for a panel of restaurant critics.

Monica Galetti, Gregg Wallace and new judge Marcus Wareing put five new chefs through their paces including preparing a woodcock for roasting and recreating Marcus's custard tart.

Monica Galetti, Gregg Wallace and new judge Marcus Wareing put five new chefs through their paces, challenges include preparing a pork belly for roasting in just 20 minutes.

It's quarter-final day. Two Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing, the formidable Monica Galetti and MasterChef's seasoned diner Gregg Wallace push the professional chefs to the limits as they hunt for Britain's next culinary superstar. The chefs' first challenge is the Invention Test - this one will push them to their limits. Whilst the chefs are used to cooking with the finest ingredients, they are instead faced with the kitchen scraps and trimmings, from which our judges expect them to create one course that truly impresses.

It's the third week of the heats, and five ambitious chefs from across the country begin their bid for the title with the first challenge - the Signature Dish Test. The professional chefs have just one hour to cook a stunning plate of food that truly showcases their talent. This could be their only chance to impress the judges as after the test, one chef will be sent home. Next, the remaining four chefs face Monica's Skills Test. Monica and Gregg ask each chef to showcase their pastry skills by making Monica's version of the French pastry, millefeuille. They must use their culinary skills and knowledge to first create caramel tuiles before using them to build a perfectly formed millefeuille with crème patissiere and raspberries, all in just 20 minutes.

Two Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing joins perfectionist chef Monica Galetti, and MasterChef's seasoned diner Gregg Wallace to seek out up-and-coming culinary stars. Five more ambitious chefs from across the country begin their bid to be crowned Professional MasterChef 2014 by facing three daunting tests. Their first challenge is the Signature Dish Test. The five chefs have one hour to cook one plate of food that showcases just what they can do.

Two Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing, the formidable Monica Galetti and MasterChef's seasoned diner Gregg Wallace seek out up-and-coming culinary stars. The week's best chefs return for the quarter-finals and this is where the battle really begins. Their first challenge is an Invention Test - but this one has a twist. The quarter-finalists must create an exceptional plate of food from the kitchen offcuts and trimmings. Gone are the selections of quality ingredients they are used to cooking with. Instead, the judges ask them to make their dishes from kitchen scraps, including bones and offcuts, fish skins, overripe fruits, cheese and stale bread. It's a daunting challenge and the price is high - after judging their dishes, Marcus and Monica will decide who is worthy of continuing in the competition.

It's the last week of the heats and five ambitious chefs from kitchens across the country begin their bid for the title when they face their first challenge - the Signature Dish Test. With just one hour to cook a stunning plate of food that truly showcases their talent, the professional chefs must pull out all the stops to impress the judges. After this test, the judges must send one chef home. In the feared Skills Test, Monica asks the remaining chefs to prepare and deliver a cuttlefish dish in just 15 minutes.

In the final heat show, the last five ambitious chefs plucked from kitchens across the country begin their bid to be crowned Professional MasterChef 2014 with three daunting tests. Their first challenge is the Signature Dish Test. The five chefs have one hour to cook one plate of food that showcases just what they can do. They must impress the judges from the off, because after this round one chef must leave the competition. The pressure mounts for the remaining four chefs with Monica's feared skills test. The chefs have just 15 minutes to prepare three canapes - one blini, one crostini and one vol-au-vent. Monica demonstrates how she would approach the test to the viewers, and then it's the turn of the professional chefs.

The week's best chefs return for the quarter-finals and this is where the battle really begins. Their first challenge is an Invention Test - but this one has a twist. The quarter-finalists must create an exceptional plate of food from the kitchen offcuts and trimmings. Gone are the array of quality ingredients they are used to cooking with. Instead, the judges ask them to make their dishes from kitchen scraps, including bones, trimmings, fish skins, over-ripe fruits, cheese and stale bread.

It's the semi-finals. Two Michelin-starred Marcus Wareing, formidable chef Monica Galetti and MasterChef's seasoned diner Gregg Wallace step up the pressure in their search for a culinary talent exceptional enough to take the coveted title. After four weeks of fierce competition only the 12 best chefs remain, and the battle is on as they come together for the first time to cook off against each other. Their fate now rests in the hands of the infamous Invention Test. The 12 chefs have an abundant selection of meat and fish, fruit and vegetables and herbs and spices to choose from, but this time all the modern machines have been removed from the MasterChef kitchen.

It's the semi-finals. Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti send the first two talented semi-finalists to Mayfair's Connaught Hotel to experience service in the two-Michelin-starred kitchen of exceptional French chef Helene Darroze. With a successful Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris already, in 2011 Helene brought her acclaimed food across the channel, and is now one of only nine establishments in the capital to hold two stars. The semi-finalists must quickly adjust to cooking at the highest level in Helene's concentrated and largely silent kitchen, as they each take responsibility for one of the unique, precise dishes on her lunch menu.

It's the semi-finals. First up, the chefs head to London's Knightsbridge to cook for the formidable French chef Pierre Koffmann. With a fearsome reputation and over 50 years of experience, he has trained a generation of great chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, Michel Roux Jr and Tom Kitchen. The semi-finalists face the daunting task of a lunchtime service under this culinary superstar. Each is responsible for a Koffmann classic from the lunch menu, and they must immediately get to grips with his back-to-basics, instinctive approach to cooking. And if that wasn't intimidating enough, after service they must each cook Pierre one of his own famous signature dishes.

It's the semi-finals. Firstly, Marcus and Monica send the semi-finalists to London's Knightsbridge to work in service under one of the country's greatest fish chefs - Nathan Outlaw. Nathan earned his first Michelin star at the age of 25 and now holds three in Cornwall and one at Outlaw's, where the semi-finalists must deliver. First, Nathan shows each chef a dish from his menu, which they must take charge of in the lunchtime service. Their cooking skills, timing and judgement must be absolutely spot-on if they are to do justice to the delicate modern seafood dishes that have earned Nathan his award-winning reputation.

It's the semi-finals. First up, Marcus and Monica send the semi-finalists to Hibiscus in London's Mayfair, the two Michelin-starred restaurant of the formidable chef Claude Bosi. Opened in 2007, Claude has earned his reputation with a food style that experiments with the classics and the chefs don't have long to master his dishes before they are thrown into a relentless three-hour lunch service. With the restaurant full, they must work fast while Claude watches their every move.

It's the last of the semi-finals. The two remaining semi-finalists head to the Michelin-starred Wild Honey in London's Mayfair where they face a frenetic lunchtime service under chef patron Anthony Demetre. Anthony has been a pioneer in the trend for an informal approach to fine dining, first with Arbutus in Soho and more recently with Wild Honey. Now the chefs have just a few hours to adjust to the standards and speed of his kitchen, as they each take charge of a dish for the busy lunchtime service.

Five talented chefs have cooked their way to a place in Final Week and the chance to take part in the amazing culinary adventures that lie ahead over the next three nights. The remaining chefs must battle against each other for the once in a lifetime opportunity to cook for 25 of their peers at the Chefs' Table. Only the four best finalists will get this chance, as after the opening cook-off the judges will send one more home. The judges begin by setting the five finalists an invention test with a difference - they must create one dish without any meat, fish or poultry.

The four remaining finalists battle it out to make it to the last three and the chance go on the trip of a lifetime to cook in one of the world's most creative restaurants. Their journey begins in the MasterChef kitchen, where they have two hours to simply cook a stunning plate of food for the judges. Nothing but their greatest dish will be good enough as after tasting the dishes, one chef will be sent home.

It's the final, and for Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace, the search for a culinary talent exceptional enough to be crowned champion is almost over. Over the last seven weeks, 40 of Britain's most ambitious chefs have fought for the competition's coveted title and only the three best remain. As they cook for the last time, just three courses remain between them and the title of Professional MasterChef Champion 2014.