Episode 14 Junior MasterChef

It's Junior MasterChef,

the competition to find the best young cook in the country.

From over 1,000 applications,

only four cooks have made it to the finals.

Now top chef John Torode

and food blogger and TV cook Donal Skehan

have to decide which cook is good enough

to win the title of Junior MasterChef.

Josie, TJ, Jamie and Tom

are on the biggest cooking adventure of their lives.

Today our four cooks face their penultimate challenge.

All four of them have the ability to win the competition.

It's up to them.

Junior MasterChef has just been absolutely amazing.

I just don't really want it to end.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was thinking about the title.

I'm generally feeling really proud of myself

that I've made it this far.

It's the last challenge before the final.

If I don't impress, I won't be the champion.

Today our four cooks are cooking

for the stars of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical.

They have to deliver their most show-stopping performance yet.

And they've got me on the pass to contend with.

Just five more minutes. It's got to be on this pass in five minutes.

If it's not good enough, it's not going to the dining room.

If they do well today, it will hold them in great stead for the final.

Who has it in them to become the champion of Junior MasterChef?

Welcome. Today, you're going to be cooking for four special guests -

the stars of Roald Dahl's record-breaking Matilda The Musical.

Today, this room becomes a working kitchen,

and I'm your acting head chef, and I will make a judgement

as to whether it's good enough or not, to go to the table.

Each of you today will be cooking a two-course tasting menu,

inspired by dishes from around the world.

Get your chef's whites on. We've got 1.5 hours to cook lunch. Off you go.

# When I grow up

# And when I grow up

# I will have treats every day

# And I'll play with things that mum pretends

# That mums don't think are fun

# And I will wake up ... #

The Royal Shakespeare Company's record-breaking production

of Matilda The Musical is playing to packed audiences

at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End.

The title role is shared by four actresses.

# When I grow up

# We are revolting children living in revolting times

# We sing revolting songs using revolting rhymes ... #

Cooking for the four Matildas is going to be really exciting.

It's going to be tough, but I think we'll pull it off.

It is quite important that I impress the four Matildas today.

They're like really big superstars at this age.

THEATRE APPLAUSE

You see your ingredients. You've got your recipes.

Tom, you're off to Asia.

Josie, Italian for you.

Jamie, the Middle East.

And TJ, Britain.

One and a half hours. Let's cook!

These cooks have us to help them in the MasterChef kitchen,

but at home they would need a responsible adult with them.

Josie's menu is Italian-inspired.

She's making a beef cannelloni and roasted vegetable salad

served with focaccia, an Italian bread.

You and I admire the bounding energy of Josie as a cook.

Today we're going to challenge Josie with Italian food.

It's about simplicity - it's about clean flavours.

I'm much more nervous today than with any of the other challenges.

When I take my first plate up to John's pass,

I think I'll be very nervous.

Josie, the two dishes you're cooking - confident?

-I'm not sure, because I've never done them.

-OK.

So I can't really say that I'm confident.

I need to get all of the skills that you need to see in there. Yeah!

We're going to have four happy Matildas today, Josie!

Hopefully! They're actors - so they're probably hard to impress.

-Get to it!

-I will.

-Good on you.

She's got cannelloni to make. It's wonderful when it's done properly.

There should be a lovely, light white sauce,

a really well-seasoned filling,

and little tubes of pasta holding the whole thing together.

That focaccia bread has to be light, airy. It can't be doughy and stodgy.

It's all looking good, guys. Keep on pushing.

Tom is making Asian-inspired dishes.

He's doing a starter of pork and prawn spring rolls

with sweet chilli sauce,

followed by a Thai green chicken and sweet potato curry and rice.

Tom's got Asian food,

and his challenge today is to get the balance absolutely right.

Sweet, sour, salty and hot.

It's got to bring your palate alive.

I really hope they like my food. It's really important that they do.

My main tactics are just to keep organised, stay focussed

and just work hard, I guess, yeah.

Tom, what is most challenging about these two dishes?

Getting everything done in time.

How important is it to get these dishes right today?

It's really important - I really want to impress the Matildas.

-Think you can do it?

-I think I can do it.

-Good on you.

-Well, the best of luck.

-Thank you.

Those spring rolls have to be crispy on the outside and full of stuff.

If they're not rolled up tight, they just blow apart.

Tom for his main course is doing a chicken and sweet potato curry,

it'll be smoky from the aubergine, sweet from the coconut milk,

but very spicy from the green chillies.

50 minutes gone, 40 minutes left.

Jamie is cooking Middle-Eastern inspired dishes.

He's making a main course of lamb kofta kebabs,

served with hummus, pine nuts and pitta bread.

For the dessert he's making baklava -

filo pastry filled with honey and nuts,

spices, and served with poached quince, honey and yoghurt.

Jamie is a skilful cook, and today he's got Middle-Eastern classics.

Those classics have to be vibrant. They've got to be alive.

They've got to be powerful with spice.

You've got now about 20 minutes before serving, OK?

I was thinking, John might be under pressure,

because he's, like, in charge of everything.

Me? I'm not all right! I'm frantic. This is crazy. It's madness!

Four kitchens working at once, people who've never cooked things before.

Generally quite critical,

but yeah, hopefully I'll get the dishes done in time.

-Jamie - a lot of pressure today.

-Well, I've made kebabs before,

but no, I haven't really cooked with quinces.

-Everything under control?

-It's gone pretty well.

I just hope I can get all this done in time

and make sure my dishes are perfect.

-Are we going to have four happy diners today?

-Yes, we are!

-I hope so - yes, we are!

-OK. The best of luck!

-Thank you.

-Jamie, you OK?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Good.

He's tasked with producing wonderfully deep and earthy

Middle-Eastern flavours, and he has to deliver.

You've got just 15 minutes left.

TJ is making two British classics.

His main course is Beef Wellington,

followed by a raspberry and elderflower jelly served with cream

and decorated with gold leaf and edible candied flowers.

TJ is the king of spice.

He comes in here and delivers big, gutsy, punchy food.

TJ's job today with British food is to bring it alive.

It's really important that I nail it.

I want everything to go good with my meals.

Hopefully, just fingers crossed that I do well.

TJ, proper British classics. Have you cooked these dishes before?

No, I've never cooked any of these dishes before,

but I'm hoping to learn something from them.

What about this competition -

what's the best thing you've learnt so far?

About the restaurant business.

That's awesome, and cooking for critics.

Now I'm cooking for Matilda, so it'll be pretty cool.

-What will you impress us with?

-The flavours and taste of my food.

I'm going to show you I can do it in record time.

-Best of luck with it.

-Thank you.

TJ's got one of the greatest British classics of all time -

the Beef Wellington.

It's a big piece of meat. It's roasted.

It's got to be crispy pastry on the outside.

That Wellington has to be cooked properly, otherwise there's

going to be juice running all over and the pastry'll be soggy.

He's got a raspberry and elderflower jelly,

which he's going to put flecks of gold leaf through.

He has to make sure it sets in time to serve up to those Matildas.

Come on, guys. Let's go, please. The Matildas have arrived.

These ten-year-old actresses understand pressure,

each performing twice a week to an audience of 1,200 people.

They have just one hour and a half for lunch,

before they have to return to the theatre.

I'm really excited about them cooking for us,

because I know they're going to be really fantastic.

I think it will be pretty nice.

I think all the food will be really nice.

I'm looking forward to tasting it all.

We've got 15 minutes, OK?

15 minutes, young man, we've got to be ready to go.

I like the look of Tom's menu, because I love spring rolls -

they're really nice.

Come on, Tom. Let's go, go, go, go, go!

I'm a bit worried on Tom's starter of prawns,

cos I don't normally eat fish.

Just five more minutes.

Really, it's got to be on this pass in five minutes.

I've never tried green Thai curry.

I like chicken and I like sweet potato, so I think that'll be nice.

-Tom?

-Yes?

-I've got to go now, please. I'm two minutes over.

That's fantastic. That looks amazing. Tom, off you go - quick!

Tom has made a starter of pork and prawn spring rolls

with a sweet chilli sauce.

Mm!

I really liked the spring rolls,

because the pastry was very crunchy, and also the chilli was really nice.

I wasn't sure about the prawns, but actually they tasted really good.

I like prawns from now on!

I think Tom did a very, very good job with the spring roils.

The tastes and textures in Tom's spring rolls are spot-on,

and that dipping sauce knocks your socks off with heat.

Fantastic, and beautiful sweetness as well.

Tom's main course is Thai green chicken

and sweet potato curry with rice.

-Spicy, definitely!

-Spicy, very spicy.

Spicy!

Spicy!

I thought Tom's curry was very nice.

I loved the chicken, and I thought it was very sweet and spicy.

It was really, really spicy, but I think it gave it a nice kick to it.

The rice had a nice texture to it, which made it very, very tasty

and he did a really good job.

Fantastic heat here.

Tom has been really brave and gutsy with his flavour.

Rice is perfectly cooked. He is really looking good.

I'm really pleased with the dishes I've just produced.

They were really great. Spring rolls were amazing.

I've never made spring rolls before, they were really cool.

And the curry looked really nice.

At the moment we are so far behind, it's unfunny.

I like the look of Josie's menu, cos her starter looks really nice,

cos I love olives and garlic bread, and I love roasted vegetables.

Josie, you've got two minutes to get that cannelloni on the plate.

-You're now running out of time.

-Yeah.

I like her main of beef... cann-ell-oni.

Cannelloni.

We've got about a minute and a half left.

I would not like to be in the shoes of our cooks today.

-There's serious pressure.

-Come on, Josie. Let's go, go, go.

He is shouting orders from that pass.

Quick, quick, quick. We've got to go.

And I'm a little bit scared myself!

We're supposed to be going now. That's it.

Great. In the bowl. Mix it all up nicely.

Bread on.

Josie, I've got to go. I've got to go.

-Argh! What was that!

-Er... wrong?

-No, no, no! Throw that away!

Start again, that salad.

No, no, no! You've just poured vinegar over it, haven't you?

Take those two. We'll sort that one out later. Get those two. Go.

The rest of them are lovely. Let's go, go, go, go.

Good job, Josie. I'll eat the messy cannelloni

and the salad with the vinegar. Those look fantastic. Off you go.

Josie's starter is vegetables

roasted in rosemary, thyme and olive oil

and served with home-made focaccia.

Beautifully presented dish. And then at the last minute

she buckets on a whole load of white wine vinegar! Disaster!

But John caught it just in time, so it's only on one of the dishes.

Unfortunately it's the dish I'm going to taste,

but the rest of them went out beautifully.

I really liked Josie's roasted vegetables.

They were cooked really well, and they were really delicious.

The bread was nice. It didn't have enough garlic, I don't think.

I think a bit more garlic in it would have been a bit nicer.

I think Josie's done pretty well.

Josie's main course is the Italian classic, beef cannelloni.

-Smells delicious.

-Smells really good.

-Have to see what it tastes like.

-Can't wait to try it.

Josie's cannelloni is really good. It tastes a lot like lasagne.

The meat is lovely, and it's all just really nice. It's very cheesy.

It was a bit too cheesy for me.

I thought it was quite good,

but I just think there was a bit too much cheese.

The only thing I'm worried about is the presentation.

She could have done more with this. All in all, the tastes are good.

That challenge was quite hard,

because it wasn't a recipe that I'd ever done before.

And it was under John.

-Jamie, I've got five minutes to get that food out.

-OK.

In Jamie's menu, I like the lamb kebabs, because I love lamb.

And then you've got hummus and pitta bread, which I love.

We're almost there, mate, almost there.

His dessert, honey and yoghurt, I really like.

-Jamie, how much longer?

-Two minutes.

I've never really tried quince before,

but I really can't wait to try it.

-Looking great. Come on.

-OK, done.

-Up you come.

Really lovely. Hey, look at that! You made that! How cool is that!

-Pretty cool.

-You should be really proud. Right, let's go.

Jamie's main course is Middle-Eastern lamb kofta kebabs

served with hummus and pitta bread.

-This is gorgeous. Really nice.

-This is really, really good, isn't it?

-Mm.

I think the kebabs are very well cooked.

They're tasty and the texture is really nice.

The kebabs have a lovely taste to them.

They've got a nice kick with some onions in there.

The hummus and roasted peanuts with the pitta bread is really nice.

Tastes much, much better than normal hummus does, actually,

and he's done really well.

Really impressive work from Jamie today.

I am actually quite blown away by this dish.

Jamie's dessert is baklava served with poached quince,

which is a cross between an apple and a pear, and yoghurt and honey.

That's really, really, nice.

The baklavas - they were really nice.

They were really crunchy, and they were nice and sort of sweet.

It stated of croissants.

The yoghurt tasted really, really nice with the honey.

I think Jamie's quince is really nice.

I'm going to eat it more often now.

This is a wonderful dish. Not only is it beautifully presented,

but it tastes absolutely fantastic.

For someone who's never cooked those ingredients, he has nailed that.

I'm feeling really awesome, that just went really well.

I'm really ecstatic and happy, all the same time.

-TJ, how's your jelly?

-I'll go check on it.

Erm...

-It's, sort of, still like water.

-Just put it back in there.

TJ is running out of time.

If he doesn't get this done, John is going to go crazy!

It's just got to set, that's the issue.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Let's just hope it's cooked in the middle.

I think it might be quite rare, but that's OK. Go, go, go! Beautiful.

-Lay them out. Perfect. Wow! Very good, TJ!

-Thank you.

I like Beef Wellington. It's really nice.

-And I love broccoli and lemon beans.

-Now your desserts please, out.

Yes, sir.

I love jelly and cream on his dessert, so that sounds really nice.

I'm not a great fan of jelly, but I will give it a try just to see

if it's different from normal jelly.

We've got to go, mate. We've gotta, gotta go, go. Let's go. Well done.

Brilliant. Right, you can go with those. Excellent. Well done.

It's such a shame they've not set.

TJ's main course is beef Wellington

served with broccoli and lemon beans.

-That looks really nice, actually.

-It does.

-Mm! That's nice!

-That is some good pastry!

The meat was cooked really well, really juicy,

and the pastry was crisp and delicious.

The broccoli was really well cooked.

It was kind of juicy and crunchy at the same time.

The lemon beans - the lemon really stood out.

The pastry was really nice and crisp.

I thought TJ did a really good job!

Wow! TJ's dish looks really good.

Fantastic presentation, nice and simple, and beautifully cooked meat.

I'm going to try it.

TJ has totally delivered on a British classic.

Beautifully cooked, rich meat. Fantastic. This is really good.

I think he's got to be pleased with this.

TJ's dessert is raspberry and elderflower jelly served with cream

and decorated with edible candied flowers and gold leaf.

Hm! Something went wrong here.

Because I'm pretty sure jelly's not supposed to be liquidised.

Mm!

TJ's presentation was really good.

It's nice, but it's just liquid. It's not jelly.

I still did like the jelly,

but I would have liked it a bit better if it had set properly.

His main course was delicious but his dessert was very disappointing.

I'm totally gutted for TJ, because there's that wonderful

sweetness from the elderflower, that lovely floral note from it.

I'm just so annoyed he didn't get it set!

It was pretty cool, cooking under John. I found it amazing.

I think I dealt with the pressure OK.

There wasn't any major problems apart from the jelly not setting,

but apart from that everything went smoothly.

-I'm exhausted. Really properly exhausted.

-What a day.

Tom was faced with the most extraordinary array of ingredients,

many he'd never seen before,

and suddenly we ended up with a Thai feast.

There was a lot for Tom to take in today and he did really, really well.

He was a little bit over time, but he got there.

Josie today was doing really well, and suddenly we had panic,

and the cannelloni which looked beautiful on the tray

suddenly hit the plate and went bleugh!

And this beautiful roast vegetable salad was suddenly doused in vinegar!

Thankfully you got in there before she served that up to the Matildas,

the two dishes that went out were perfect.

The way Jamie worked today was incredible. The Matildas loved it.

-Did they?

-They loved it. The Matildas loved that food.

Both dishes beautifully presented

and the flavours and tastes were incredible.

TJ was faced with British classics today

and he seriously delivered with that beef Wellington.

I was really impressed with what he produced.

I just wish TJ had let that elderflower jelly set.

The beef Wellington almost made up for the unset jelly.

I'm really proud of our four. It's incredible what they've achieved.

-Really incredible.

-I am so excited for this final,

because now we are really going to see some amazing cooking.

I am quite sad that Junior MasterChef is coming to an end.

I think I'm prepared, but yeah, just have to see how things go.

I feel really excited, but also a bit nervous.

I've had so much fun on the way. But it's been a great journey.

My tactics for the final is keep calm, keep cool, and carry on.

I'm going to work so hard to win Junior MasterChef,

because the class of everybody else is so high,

I think anyone could win it, to be honest.

Tomorrow, it's the final.

Our Junior MasterChef champion is...

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