Episode 6 Junior MasterChef

It's Junior MasterChef

and the hunt to find the country's most exciting young cook is back on.

From thousands of applicants,

24 hopefuls have made it through to the heats.

Now, judges John Torode and Donal Skehan have to decide

who will be good enough to win the title

of Junior MasterChef Champion 2014.

Exciting day in the kitchen today.

We have four cooks aiming to get that last place in the semifinal.

Two tough challenges.

I want food that tastes good. I want food that looks good.

I want somebody who can become our champion.

First, they'll have to create the ultimate soup and soda bread,

before cooking their own incredible dishes.

Competing in today's heat are Ethan, Barney, Aatqa and Yaa.

I think I can make it to the finals if I put my mind to it.

I'm going to give it my all and do my best.

I obviously really like cooking

and I want to show other people how well I can cook.

It's quite an exciting experience.

I just can't wait. I just want to go.

Our four cooks are coming into the kitchen and they're going to make

the ultimate soda bread and the ultimate soup but before they do,

-we're going to give it a go.

-Do you know how to make soda bread?

-I've a vague idea.

-Good. Let's do it. Wash your hands.

-You wash your hands.

-Wash your hands.

-I'll wash my hands.

To create the ultimate soup and soda bread,

the contestants will be given four trays of ingredients to choose from,

one for the soda bread, one with vegetables to make the soup base,

another tray with fish, pasta and lentils

and finally one for the garnish.

The important thing in this challenge is that they get the soda bread

straight into the oven cos it does take a little bit of time.

Soda bread originates from Ireland and is made by mixing buttermilk,

wholemeal flour, plain flour and bicarbonate of soda into a dough.

The thing is with soda bread, you don't have to knead it so much.

Now, to finish off I'm putting a cross straight across the top

and that's traditionally to let the fairies out.

-Is it really? That's brilliant.

-Yep.

Right, soup time. What are you thinking?

I'm going to make a smoked haddock and potato chowder.

-I'm going to use leeks and shallots to flavour my broth.

-Right.

-I'm going to poach my haddock in milk.

-It sounds great.

-What about you?

-I'm making that Italian classic, minestrone soup.

Chunky with vegetables, rich and sweet with tomatoes

and then I'm going to thicken it with this baby pasta.

For me, this is proper comfort food right now.

Soda bread time, I think.

The best way to know that it's done is to take it out,

tap it on the underside and if it sounds hollow it's ready to rock.

HOLLOW TAPPING

Sounds good.

-Oh, look at that.

-Very good.

-It instantly reminds me of being a kid.

-Oh.

Wow.

Smoked haddock and leek soup, soda bread and butter. Aussie-style.

-That looks really good.

-What do you got?

I've got minestrone soup which I've sweetened with carrots

and tomatoes and in through that minestrone we've got some baby pasta,

-served it up with a good Irish soda bread.

-I love it.

-It shows what you're able to do with the ingredients.

-Yep.

I think it's time to get our four in and see what they can do.

-I'm excited.

-Let's get 'em in.

Hi, guys. Welcome to the Junior MasterChef kitchen.

Your first test is to make

your ultimate bowl of soup and soda bread.

Ladies and gentlemen, 50 minutes.

Let's cook.

Remember, if you try this at home

make sure you have a responsible adult with you.

Ten-year-old Yaa got her passion for cooking from her mum

and she loves to try new things in the kitchen.

Now I'm as obsessed as she is to cook cos it's fun

and I really enjoy doing it. I just got obsessed with it.

-Why did you enter Junior MasterChef?

-Because I love cooking.

-And what about cooking do you love the most?

-Tasting the food.

What other hobbies do you have?

I like to do ballet and I like to sprint as well.

How much faster are you than Usain Bolt?

About a couple of metres away from him.

-That's not bad! That's pretty good going. Wow!

-Good news.

Are you like that?

That's very good, wasn't it? He's good at that.

The soup she's making - salmon, tomatoes and mushrooms.

Bit of strange combination but I'm excited to see what she does.

If she can present her food as happy as she is,

I think we'll be in for a treat.

With 15 minutes gone, everybody has their bread in the oven,

that's a great start.

Ten-year-old Barney has just returned from France

where he lived for eight years.

He is fluent in French and would one day like to be an actor or a chef.

Every time when I'm cooking it feels like an adventure for me.

Barney. You've got a big smile on your face, mate.

Tell us what the difference is between living in France

and being inspired by food there and living in England.

In France they cook snails

and here I don't really see a lot of snails being cooked.

-He eats snails for his lunch every day.

-Ew!

I think it's wonderful that Barney's been inspired by living in France

because he's seen lots of things that many people may not have.

Right now Barney is going to make a ginger and tomato soup

and he's going to put through it smoked haddock.

The smokiness, that's the unusual element here

and I'll be really interested to see how it all works together.

Guys, you're halfway! 25 minutes gone!

25 minutes left!

12-year old Aatqa grew up in Scotland.

She loves to help her mum in the kitchen

when friends and family come for dinner.

I like cooking for my family and my sister because my sister is

quite fussy and then when I actually feed her I feel quite proud.

Aatqa, tell us about the food that you've grown up with.

Well, my parents are Pakistani so I've grown up with that

Indian subcontinent type of food so I'm quite good with my curries.

-Besides cooking, cos you obviously love to cook...

-Yeah.

..what else do you like to do?

I play football and I'm quite academic, too,

-cos I want to be a doctor when I grow up, so.

-Wow.

-Great ambition.

-Yeah.

-Wonderful. Aatqa, we wish you very good luck.

-Thank you.

Aatqa has promised us a carrot, potato and lentil soup.

She's making notes, she's checking out ingredients,

she's trying things. I like that attention to detail

and I think it's going to shine through in her cooking.

11-year old Ethan is from Stockton-on-Tees

where he lives with his mum, sister and dog, Bailey.

I first started cooking when I was seven, with my sister,

and I thought, "Oh, I'm quite enjoying this.

"I want to take this on more."

So, Ethan, what's the big dream?

Where do you want to be in 20 years' time?

I want to be a chef when I'm older,

so I think this would be a good opportunity to get started.

Great idea, becoming a chef. It's a good job.

Good luck, mate.

Ethan's got a vegetable soup on with butternut squash and courgettes.

It's whether all the vegetables are cooked enough so that

when he purees it, it becomes lovely and smooth.

Final five minutes, guys! You've got five minutes left!

Finishing touches, please! 60 seconds!

That's it! Time's up!

Well done. Tough task.

It's now judgment time.

To go with his soda bread,

Barney has made tomato, ginger and smoked haddock soup,

garnished with thyme and parsley.

I feel that tomato soup should have been cooked a little bit more

before the haddock went in.

Stew your tomatoes down with onions, then add your liquid to it,

puree that and then finish it off with the fish.

But your soda bread is really good. Nice crunchy crust on the outside,

nice and squidgy in the middle and really, really tasty.

I really enjoyed it. The bread they found delicious

and I thought it was going to be a horror movie.

Ethan has made a hearty vegetable soup with butternut squash,

carrot, courgette and cumin.

Ethan, I think you've got a decent bowl of soup there.

I think the textures are absolutely right.

It's slippery and it's warm and it's soothing.

-Your bread is cooked really, really well indeed.

-Thank you.

Ethan, that is a brilliant bowl of soup and I love that you've added

that cream over the top because as you swirl that through it just gives

you a kind of silky, smooth taste. I think you should be proud of that.

When I first tried it I thought, "This isn't very nice."

So I added a bit of cumin to give it a bit more flavour and it works.

Yaa's soup is made up of salmon, tomato, mushrooms and carrot,

all blitzed together and flavoured with turmeric.

When you do a soup like this I think what you need to do is maybe

just flake your salmon through at the last minute rather than

pureeing the salmon cos the salmon's going a little bit grainy.

-Have you tasted it?

-Yeah. But I didn't really like it.

You didn't really like it? OK.

First time making soda bread,

I like that you've gone for two little dumplings.

It's got crunch on the outside and it's nicely cooked through.

It was really fun and I really enjoyed it.

Just, like, cooking in the kitchen was inspiring, really,

and I was really excited.

Aatqa has made carrot, potato and lentil soup with a base of onions,

garnished with coriander.

You've got all the elements of a good soda bread

and I think it's a really great bowl of soup.

I think you've got really interesting layers of flavour

-and I love your use of spices.

-Thank you.

I like the vibrancy of it. I like the texture of the lentils.

It could probably be just a little bit thinner.

It just needs some more stock in it so it's more of a soup.

I think it went quite well

and I'm really looking forward to the next challenge

because I've got a bit of confidence now that they like the food.

Now things get really interesting because in this round you're going to

be cooking two dishes that you know and love, for us.

Remember, this is a competition.

We can only take one through to the semifinal,

so you are cooking for that semifinal place.

You've got one hour.

Let's cook.

They now need to showcase their best dishes

because at the end only one of them will go through to the semifinal.

There is big, bright flavours on each of the benches of our cooks.

Really, really exciting stuff.

-Ethan, is that cola I spy on your bench?

-Yeah.

Are you just thirsty or are you going to cook with that?

I'm going to cook with it.

I'm making diet cola chicken with rice and a chocolate goo pudding.

Wow. What do you think of the rest of the competition?

They've got a good chance of winning

but I think I'm better than all of them.

That's confidence. I like to hear that.

Cola chicken is an interesting one because I've heard of cola ham

and it works because of that combination of salty and sweet.

Chicken, as a meat, isn't that salty,

so he's going to need to make sure that he seasons the rest of his dish.

He gets these two dishes right, we're in for a really good treat.

Yaa, you have an almost rainbow spectrum of colours upon your bench.

-Yeah.

-Tell us what you're going to cook for us.

Well, it's called the holiday menu.

So I'm cooking jerk chicken skewers with rice.

-And for your dessert?

-It's a blueberry and banana smoothie.

I always loved making smoothies when I was younger

and I like jerk chicken because every time we have a barbecue

my uncle makes it and I always get excited.

Yaa is all about sunshine food and she brings that to the fore

with her use of spices and colours and vibrancy.

I cannot wait to see what this jerk chicken is like.

Yaa is doing a blueberry and banana smoothie. Very, very good.

It's just about the quantities.

I don't want it too banana-y and not too blueberry.

-It's OK?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

Barney, tell us what you're going to cook.

I'm going to cook my mother's recipe,

cheesy figs wrapped in bacon with a gorgonzola sauce.

For a main course, it will be calves' liver,

wholegrain mustard gravy,

spring onion mash

and wilted spinach and pine nuts.

The most difficult part is the calves' liver,

to try and get it cooked right.

You've got a lot of work to do. Take care.

Barney's menu, I think, is very, very sophisticated.

But I think he's got a big job on his hands.

I've had bad calves' liver and when it goes bad you get tough,

rubbery, leathery and grainy meat.

It is not a thing I want to try again.

Aatqa, can you tell me what your two dishes are?

I'm making kofta curry served with boiled rice and vegetable pakoras

served with mint sauce. These are both Pakistani-based dishes,

-so, yeah, I'm going with my comfort zone kind of.

-OK.

So what is the most difficult part of these two dishes?

-Getting it done on time.

-Right.

-Yeah.

And how do you think you're doing timing-wise so far?

So far I'm doing a lot better than I did in practice.

-Will you be on time?

-Yes, I will.

-Yes, I will be on time.

-Good on you.

-Good luck.

I love pakoras. They've got to be crispy on the outside,

the onions and all the vegetables inside have to be cooked just so.

Then we've got a kofta curry,

little chicken meatballs in a curry sauce served with rice.

I haven't had many kofta curries in my life

so I'm really excited to see what hers is like.

Last two minutes, guys! Last two minutes!

Last 30 seconds!

That is it! Step away from your benches! Stop cooking!

Nice job, guys. Well done!

Ethan's main is chicken cooked in cola with peppers,

mushrooms and onions, served with basmati rice.

Ethan, this is a really clever dish.

What you get left with as that cola cooks down is this dark caramel,

almost slightly bitter tones,

so you're contrasting that bitter and the sweet and it works

really well wrapped around the chicken and I really like this.

Thank you.

I would use chicken on the bone because the chicken on the bone

will stay lovely and moist with that cola as it cooks down,

cos your chicken breast itself is starting to dry out.

-The rice is cooked really nicely.

-Thank you.

His dessert is a chocolate goo pudding with strawberries.

Ethan, I've never seen anything like this before.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

A goo pudding I sort of think to be more of like a pudding,

a cake, but this is more a foam.

Interesting, Ethan. Very interesting.

It's definitely not something I've had before, but I like it.

-I kind of... I'm intrigued by it.

-Thank you.

I feel relieved that it's over now and I can relax

but I'm also, like, feeling really happy.

Aatqa has served a starter of vegetable pakoras, potatoes,

onions and spinach, cooked in a spiced chickpea flour batter

with a minty yogurt sauce,

garnished with a tomato flower and sliced lemon.

Lovely, crispy pakoras, crispy on the outside,

soft vegetables on the inside.

Your sauce underneath it, sour, sharp and refreshing with mint.

-Lovely.

-Thank you.

I think the sweetness of the onions throughout is what really sings.

All in all, this is a really nice little starter dish

-and I'm very excited to try the main now.

-Thank you.

Aatqa's main course is kofta chicken curry,

spicy minced chicken meatballs in a sauce of tomatoes, onions,

coriander and chilli with white basmati rice.

-Whoa.

-Are you OK?

-Whoa.

-Do you need a minute? A glass of water? You OK?

He'll be OK in a minute.

They might look like little innocent chicken meatballs

but they are fiery and ferocious.

Aatqa, you are the spice queen in the Junior MasterChef kitchen today.

What's lovely about it is that you get to taste all those other elements

and then the chilli grabs you by the ears

-and shoves you into the plate and I love that.

-Thank you.

-Aatqa, thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

-Whoa.

-You going to be OK?

-That's really hot.

-It is hot.

I'm really, really happy.

I'm just slightly scared that the spices might have been

a bit too much for John

and I think I should have maybe toned them down a bit.

Yaa's main is jerk chicken and sweet pepper skewers, turmeric rice

and a barbecue sauce.

I just want to tell you before you try it,

it's not as spicy as I thought it would be.

Yaa, you promised us a holiday menu and you've totally delivered.

This is sunshine on a plate.

On those skewers you've got sweetness from the peppers and the onions

-and the perfect combination with that sweet chicken.

-Thank you.

I don't really get the jerk seasoning.

It's not that spicy, as you've said already,

-but saying that, nicely done.

-Thank you.

Yaa's dessert is a blueberry and banana smoothie made with milk

and ice cream, topped with hundreds and thousands.

The one thing for me is that I want it to be just a little bit thinner

because it's hard to drink through that straw.

However, that aside, I love that there's ice cream in there,

that gets me a little bit excited, but best of all,

hundreds and thousands on the top.

I am on my summer holidays! Happy days! I like it.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, it's a nice drink.

It's nice and refreshing after your barbecue.

I think my two dishes went very well and that now I know

what I need to improve on and I'm just really happy.

Finally, it's Barney. His starter is figs stuffed with gorgonzola cheese

and wrapped in maple-cured bacon,

topped with Parmesan crisps, spiced with hot cayenne pepper,

with a rocket and walnut salad and a gorgonzola and bacon sauce.

Barney, this is a really grown-up dish.

I mean, it's got those big flavours like salty smoky bacon, it's got

the sweetness of figs, it's got that real hum of blue cheese around it.

It's a dish that makes my mouth excited.

That little crisp of yours is demonstrating skill, absolutely,

but I think you just need to take back on the cayenne a little bit.

However, I think it's a really good dish.

I like the fact of you being daring and adventurous.

I like your presentation as well. Good job.

Barney's main is calves' liver, spring onion mash,

wilted spinach with pine nuts and a wholegrain mustard and onion gravy.

The calves' liver is really tender, velvety and tasty.

That sauce is genius and I love that you've used wholegrain mustard

so you get these little pops of flavour.

But altogether this is really good.

Your spring onion mash, I think, is wonderful,

going very well with your well-cooked liver. I really like it.

I found it very nerve-racking but I was so happy with the comments.

Over the moon.

The cooking is over and now the waiting begins.

-Oh, that was exhausting.

-Yeah, but it didn't...

At least it was edible, that's the plus point.

Who will take the one remaining place in the semifinal

of Junior MasterChef 2014?

Today, I think a very exciting day. Four very distinct styles.

Ethan gave us two dishes I have never, ever tasted before -

cola chicken. Really interesting.

I felt it needed some more vibrancy. It was a bit brown.

The goo pudding. I don't know quite what to make of it.

I think I like it.

I want to stay in the competition enough,

like to go to the moon and back.

Yaa gave us a summer holiday menu and she totally delivered.

Real sunshine food.

I would have liked a little bit more spice in there,

but all in all, a really well presented dish from Yaa.

The smoothie was more like an ice cream milkshake,

lovely and refreshing after her jerk chicken.

If I was going home today I would be really, really upset

but I'll have to understand that,

you know, you don't always get what you want.

Barney had a bit of a rough start in the soup round but his cooking style

really came to the fore when cooking his own dishes.

Barney's the sort of cook that excites me.

He's demonstrating skill and knowledge

and sophistication of flavour, which is great.

If this is my last day in the competition I would be sad

but I would feel so proud of myself.

I really liked Aatqa's cooking and the reason I liked it was cos

she went with the sort of ingredients that she was familiar with

and she did them serious justice.

I think that Aatqa's done a great job.

Pakoras, mint yogurt, really lovely.

The chicken koftas with the sauce, what a great idea,

but for me a little bit too ferocious.

I want to stay in the competition so much I actually can't explain it.

I just want to keep cooking in this kitchen, that's all I want to do.

One semifinal place. That's all we got. Who's it going to be?

Welcome back, guys.

You've left us with a really tough decision.

Really, really exciting cooking today.

You should be so proud of yourselves.

We have made our decision.

Our semifinalist...

..is Barney.

Congratulations. Well done.

I feel really proud of myself.

It's just been a great experience.

I've enjoyed a lot of things on Junior MasterChef

and I've made lots of new friends, so that's really nice.

This really has been amazing.

I'm, like, really happy that I got this far.

I feel so proud.

Junior MasterChef semifinalist feels incredible.

Barney will be back for the semifinals.

Next, the six semifinalists team up to go wild at London Zoo...

TIGER ROARS It's a nightmare!

..before cooking for survival with their own culinary creations.

Whoa!