Episode 2 Junior MasterChef

The competition to find the best young cook in the country is back.

From over 1,000 applications, only 32 cooks have made it to the heats.

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.

Junior Masterchef,

we've got four cooks who are all really passionate about cooking.

They are going to be keen to impress

but it's down to whose food tastes the best.

They're going to face two tough challenges.

First, a masterclass from me.

I'm going to teach them how to make pain perdu with poached figs

and spiced cream.

Stick your nose in that.

Oh, it's sweet.

And then, the pressure is on because they'll be cooking

their two favourite dishes for us.

Boom!

Competing today are Laura, Tom, Aisha and Guy.

I watched Junior Masterchef last time and it was amazing,

and look, here I am now.

I'm pretty competitive, I want to get through.

I want to get as far as I can.

I'm just excited, I'm not nervous at all,

cos I've got so much confidence in me.

I'm definitely ready for the competition today.

Bring it on.

Only one can become the quarter-finalist,

and I know it's going to be a tricky decision.

G'day and welcome to Junior Masterchef.

Today our masterclass is pain perdu, poached figs and a spiced cream.

The first thing I'm going to do is poach the figs.

-Have you all eaten figs before?

-Yes.

-Yes.

So, you take a fork, and I'm just going to puncture the outside

of the skin so the figs cook from the inside and not just the outside.

A good amount of raspberries go into the poaching pot at the same time.

Sprinkle sugar across the top of your fruit so it's even

and then cover with a little bit of cold water.

Onto a high heat.

Now, if you're going to do this at home make sure that you've got

a responsible adult with you.

That's going to cook for about three minutes.

Now, this here is a panettone, a very, very sweet Italian bread.

Cut it in half, open it up and look inside there,

that's an amazing thing.

I think it smells kind of nutty.

Fruity.

Find yourself a cutter and cut into our bread.

And then spread with butter.

Place our discs onto the tray

and then sprinkle the whole thing with some soft, brown sugar.

Next, John takes the figs out of the poaching liquid,

he leaves the juice in the pan to reduce or boil down

so it's thicker and stronger in flavour.

-They look wonderfully tender.

-A little bit of brown sugar

and that'll melt into the syrup as it's in the oven.

When you're putting anything in the oven, always use a cloth.

And away we go. Now we're going to make the spiced cream.

Cardamom is a spice and all spices need to be heated before using them.

-Does anyone know what this is?

-It's a vanilla pod.

-It is.

Inside this wonderful casing, there is a black,

sticky mixture, which is the actual vanilla flavouring.

Our cardamom pods have now roasted.

Add some sugar and little bits of vanilla that we scooped out.

And that's going to be mixed to make our spiced cream.

Stick your nose in that.

Oh, sweet.

And then whisk it together.

Meanwhile, the fruit syrup has reduced down.

It coats the back on my spoon and I know that's ready to go.

Right, time to put it on a plate.

Remember - always hold the tray with a cloth.

Place it on to the plate.

And then our syrup. And last but not least, our spice cream.

So there it is, pain perdu with poached figs and spiced cream.

-It looks amazing.

-Do you think you can do it?

-I hope so.

You're going to have 40 minutes to cook this dish

and I hoped you've listened and you've learned.

Good luck, guys, and try and make it as good as John's.

They'll be all right. Yeah, they'll be all right.

First of all, wash your hands.

Nine-year-old Laura is from West Sussex where her family

keep their own sheep and pigs.

I started cooking when I was about three or four.

I cook on the weekends, every day.

Something will be cooked.

-Laura?

-Yes.

-How are you finding doing this recipe?

It's OK, yeah, I'm enjoying it so far.

Laura, what you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a paediatrician. If I can't, I would love to be a chef.

-OK.

-I like to cook and I think that kind of helps me

to be a doctor, with all the scientific things.

Wow!

Nine-year-old Guy is from Hertfordshire.

He started cooking aged four and recently helped cook

for ten people at a dinner party.

I love to cook because I make people happy.

My main inspiration is my mum and I also watch cooking programmes on TV.

What are your favourite kind of things to cook?

Pasta, and I do sauces and I do chicken.

-So more savoury than sweet?

-Yes.

-Guy, we wish you the best of luck.

-Thanks.

OK, cooks, you are halfway.

You've had 20 minutes, you've got 20 minutes left.

12-year-old Aisha is from Lancashire

and loves to experiment with spicing in her cooking.

My family are really proud of me for being on Junior Masterchef.

All my aunties, all my uncles, and my mum and dad, like.

It's once-in-a-lifetime.

-Aisha, how often do you cook?

-I cook every day, basically.

I really like cooking.

I love that you can experiment with all the different types of flavours

and spices and you can just make your own dishes up, and be yourself.

I haven't really done anything like this before

but I do enjoy baking and things, so that's one of my specialities.

11-year-old Tom is from Gloucestershire

and spends most of his spare time reading cookery books

and experimenting with recipes.

I love cooking for my family and I love the end product.

When the end product comes, I feel really proud about what I've done.

-Tom, how are you feeling?

-I'm feeling fine.

I've got everything from the oven so I can stop worrying about that.

They're reducing so I've just got to do my cream now.

What do you love about cooking?

I love just how you can invent new things

and how you can be really creative and do whatever you want.

You feel really free when you're cooking.

Do you have any idea about what you'd like to do in the future?

I'd like to be a chef, that's probably the main thing.

Five minutes to go. You should be now starting to plate up.

Last 60 seconds to finish off your dish, please.

It's now judgement time.

Is the baked bread moist yet crispy on the outside?

Is the fig and raspberry syrup sticky?

And is the cream flavoured with enough cardamom and vanilla?

Laura, let's try yours first.

I like that all your figs are standing upright

and being proud on top of that wonderful piece of bread,

which is crisp on the outside and soggy on the inside.

Your syrup is reduced to absolute perfection

and your cream is wonderful and mellow and fragrant with your spice.

-It's very good indeed.

-Thank you.

You've got that lovely sweetness in there, the cream really cuts through

any of the tartness from that syrup, it's very, very tasty.

I think this is a really well executed dish, so well done.

I'm amazed. I actually got it right.

Good.

I feel over the moon that it actually went well.

And I'm really glad. Yeah.

Aisha.

The figs are ripe and tasting of roses.

The raspberries are sweet and yet sharp, and there's

a flow of vanilla coming through the background of the cream

and your use of spicing is extraordinary,

because that background of cardamom is wonderful. The bread...

I love the crispy outside,

but the inside I wouldn't mind being a bit soggy.

That's because there's probably not enough figs on there.

Those wonderful spices in there, you've really got it right.

If you'd cut that bread just a tiny bit thinner,

it would've become a little bit more soggy.

'My dish went really well.

'The judges said some really nice things,'

so I'm really happy about that.

Guy, let's give yours a go.

I especially love your presentation.

It's really beautiful, with all those little dots.

The cream is beautiful and you get that lovely cardamom coming

through, but the bread is done just a little bit too much

-and you're getting a little sense of the burntness in there.

-Yes.

You put lots of syrup on your bread and it's made it really soggy.

And I like that!

Well, I'm pleased with what I've done,

because I've never tried it before and...

they liked it!

Tom, looking good. Can we try it?

Yes, go on. Go ahead.

I really like this dish. It's very, very rich.

It's quite caramelised, I love that the figs are perfectly cooked.

Tom, the way your dish shines and shimmers, saying,

"Look at me, eat me,

"I'm delicious." And it IS really delicious.

The bread is soggy and crispy on the outside,

your figs are poached beautifully, but the funny thing is, you've

-reduced your syrup almost down to jam - look at that.

-Yes. I...

And you know what? I really like it.

Really sticky and sweet.

I think that's brilliant.

I might even change my recipe, Tom.

Yes, I didn't think he was going to like the jam,

but then he'd said, "About the jam...

"I loved it!" And then I was really happy.

It was a big weight off my shoulders, that.

Round one, done.

Thanks again. Off you go.

I thought he was saying, "You shouldn't have done that,"

but then he went, "But I LIKED it!" And I went, "Oh, right!"

They liked my presentation.

I'm really excited, because I think we've got four very good cooks.

It'll be interesting when we finally see them cooking their OWN food.

Welcome back, guys.

Now we are really looking forward to seeing the sort of dishes

YOU like to make, but remember, it's a competition

and we can only take one person forward to the quarter-final.

You've got one hour. Good luck to all of you.

Let's cook.

Here in the Masterchef kitchen, our cooks have us to help them out,

but if anybody is doing this at home,

please make sure you have a responsible adult with you.

Aisha, you have the most extraordinary array

of ingredients on your bench. What are your two dishes?

I'm making my shepherd's pie surprise.

I just love cooking with spices and I love cooking with meat and I just

-thought why not mix them together, to make something creative?

-Amazing.

My starter is going to be some chicken kebabs with a mint

and coriander chutney and a tomato salsa.

-What made you choose these two dishes?

-I love to cook this food

and it's what we love best as a family.

A shepherd's pie surprise. I just wonder what that's going to be!

I don't want to ask, because I want it to be a surprise.

I'm making poached eggs, asparagus with a tarragon and butter sauce

and then pan-fried trout with potato rostis, roast vine tomatoes

and chorizo and green beans.

-Wow. Where do you get these ideas from?

-I don't know,

I just heard that it was quite a challenging thing

to do, quite a technical thing, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I love the sound of Tom's menu.

A poached egg, asparagus, tarragon butter sauce. Brilliant idea.

Poaching an egg.

He's really putting himself under a bit of pressure there

to get it right.

Guys, we're at the halfway mark now.

Guy, whacking great smile on your face, you look quietly confident.

What are you going to cook for us?

Potato gnocchi with a pesto sauce

and a chocolate and orange mousse with a chocolate crisp.

How often do you make gnocchi, Guy?

Not often! I've made it once before.

-OK, and it was good?

-Yep.

Chocolate and orange mousse...

You've got to be very brave to do dishes like this.

I want to try and get to the quarter-finals,

because I love cooking and I'd like to cook for you again.

Potato gnocchi is hard to get right.

Little tiny dumplings of potatoes and they've got to be really soft,

cooked very, very well and then

serve it with rich pesto made with basil

and pine nuts, garlic and lots and lots of olive oil.

Wonderful if he gets it right.

And a chocolate mousse with orange - there's nothing better.

You've got just 15 minutes of cooking time left.

Laura has given us moules marinieres,

a French classic way of cooking mussels.

It should be rich with cream and those mussels should be sweet

and plump and flavoured with onion. Delicious!

I'm cooking moules marinieres

and then for pudding I'm cooking strawberry and cream roulade.

Tell me about moules marinieres and why you decided to cook it today.

I love fish and I love cooking fish

and I love what fish does to your body, the oil in the fish.

It helped the tissues of your brain and helps you

in school work, so I decided to cook it today.

-What did you think when you first tried a mussel?

-They were fabulous.

I really, really enjoyed it.

But it's different from my brother and sisters,

because they don't like it.

Five minutes to go.

Stay focused.

Just under a minute to go.

Guys, your time is now up.

Laura has made a main course of moules marinieres,

a classic French recipe of mussels in a cream and garlic sauce.

Those wonderful, plump, salty mussels sitting in that sweet,

but yet soured sauce, I think it's an absolutely delicious bowl of food.

-Thank you.

-The mussels are cooked perfectly.

They're nice and plump,

-and you've got that wonderful taste of the sea in there.

-Thank you.

For her dessert, Laura has made strawberry roulade -

rolled sponge filled with cream and strawberries.

The roulade, rich with vanilla and sugar,

it's a wonderful casing for the little tiny bit of cream which

is going with those beautiful strawberries. I think it's good.

I do think maybe that roulade needed to be cooked a little bit longer.

What I love about it the most is that wonderful freshness

from those strawberries. It really sings.

I feel really, really happy.

I'm just really, really, really pleased that they enjoyed my food.

Guy's starter is fresh gnocchi -

Italian dumplings made with egg, flour and potato,

traditionally served with a pesto sauce and Parmesan cheese.

Boom! Absolutely spot on.

Little, tiny, soft dumplings of potato, well seasoned

and on top of that, salty Parmesan cheese, really delicious.

-Well done, Guy.

-Thank you.

The flavour of that pesto is wonderful!

It's got that fantastic saltiness from the Parmesan,

-this is a fantastic gnocchi.

-Thank you.

Guy's dessert is chocolate and orange mousse.

We've got very, very bitter, dark chocolate mousse,

little gratings of orange rind on top... It's got simplistic elegance.

I...love it, because it's not too sweet,

but for some people, it may not be sweet enough.

It's really grown up.

It has that wonderful, rich, dark chocolate flavour

-and the orange really has a citrus blast in there.

-Thank you.

'It was so good, I can't believe it.'

I was amazed what the judges said about my dishes.

I think I've got a good chance.

Tom's starter is poached egg and asparagus on a crostini

with a tarragon and butter sauce.

Everything is cooked really well - your asparagus is lovely and soft

with that wonderful iron-rich egg yolk running across the top

and then your wonderful crunch from the bread.

It's really good, Tom. Really, really good.

Tom, the egg is beautifully cooked.

You've got that lovely yolk trickling in amongst

the asparagus and that crispy crostini.

I think you've got this perfectly spot on.

Tom's main course is pan-fried trout with chorizo, roast vine tomatoes

and green beans on a potato rosti - a baked grated potato cake.

This dish is all about texture.

The trout is cooked beautifully,

the crunch of the potatoes and then you've got that washing of tomatoes

that explodes in your mouth and the crunchiness of chorizo sausage.

Everything has wonderful texture.

The fish is cooked beautifully. Those green beans on the top,

the presentation is fantastic.

Tom, if you've designed these dishes yourself, I am literally blown away.

'I hope I've shown them my full potential.'

But...

it's just very tense.

Aisha has made a starter of spicy chicken kebabs with a mint

and coriander chutney and a tomato salsa.

These chicken kebabs have a wonderful build of spice

in there and you get that wonderful heat in the back of your throat.

-It's not overpowering, it's just the right amount.

-Thank you.

I love your chutney, which is fragrant with mint

and also coriander. The chicken itself tastes fabulous

and then the sweetness of the tomatoes all helping just to

bring the whole thing together to become something really delicious.

Thank you.

For her main course, Aisha has made shepherd's pie surprise,

served with a green leaf salad.

The surprise, of course, of that shepherd's pie is twofold -

one is that it's spiced really heavily,

the other is it's got a hard-boiled egg in it.

I think it's a really delicious pie.

I really like the spicing,

the richness of the egg running through it

and even the crispy potato on top, but for me,

your pie needs a little bit more sauce.

Aisha, the lamb you have in here is beautifully spiced,

there's that earthiness of the cumin in there. I think

I'll have to take that recipe!

I feel I've definitely achieved what I wanted to achieve

and my hard work, I think, has definitely paid off.

What an incredible day.

I'm absolutely amazed how skilful they are as cooks.

-LAURA: Happy, proud.

-TOM: It's amazing.

LAURA: Lost for words, really.

I was really taken aback by the dedication

they all put into their dishes.

I really think we saw some classy cooking today.

Now, we've got to find ourselves a quarter-finalist.

Guy was really bold, coming in here and making gnocchi, making pesto.

Salty with the Parmesan cheese, rich with the herbs and then,

of course, we had that chocolate mousse.

It was rich, it was dark, it was chocolatey

and everything I wanted from the mousse.

I heard some other comments and they were good,

so I have to just wait and see.

Laura today showed us that she is a competent cook.

Her moules marinieres were fantastic.

Really rich, really creamy and they were cooked perfectly.

Then, we had that roulade, filled with lovely,

fresh strawberries and it was really the taste of sunshine,

but could have been in the oven a little bit longer.

I really, really want to stay in the competition.

I think I could get my food up to the standard that

Junior Masterchef is pushing for.

Aisha was really the queen of spices today.

She had them all spot on.

Those chicken kebabs with yoghurt dip was absolutely stunning.

The surprise of the spicing and the egg was a great idea.

Who knew an egg in a shepherd's pie was going to work so well?

The only quibble really was over the amount of sauce in that

surprise shepherd's pie.

I'd love to stay in the competition,

because cooking for John Torode has just been the best experience.

Tom's got style and he's got class.

I think his food is really very clever indeed. It's sophisticated.

Asparagus, poached egg, tarragon butter - really big,

big flavours coming together.

He showed as he could cook fish

and he showed us he had a really good handle on strong flavours.

Those rostis were amazing. He really pulled it off.

It's tense because I don't know what's going to happen now,

so I think it's going to be a tough competition for the judges.

Every one of them came in and produced really good quality food.

Every one of us did 110%.

We've all done really well.

I'm proud.

And good luck!

But for me, there was one person in this room who absolutely

shines as bright as a beacon.

You showed us that you were passionate about cooking.

You had the skill

and you really produced tasty dishes.

But we only have one quarter-final place to give.

Our quarter-finalist...

-is Tom.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Well done, Tom.

Oh, it's really great, I'm really happy!

LAURA: Disappointed, because I didn't get through to the quarter-final,

but I don't mind that, because I had fun.

I tried my best.

I did what I could. I've had so much fun cooking and meeting everyone.

I'm quite happy as well, because I got this far.

And the judges really liked my food.

I think Tom will go quite far in the competition.

I'm really happy for him.

TOM: 'I'm really proud of myself.

'It's amazing to get this far and now'

I just want to go on and...win it!

Tom will be back for the quarter-final, where he'll compete

with three other heat winners for the title of Junior Masterchef.

Yes!

If you'd like to make John's masterclass dish,

visit CBBC's Junior Masterchef page for the recipe.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd