Episode 1 MasterChef

MasterChef is back.

Hundreds auditioned and now the best 60 amateur cooks are through.

I'm not that mad, wait until you hear what's in me dish.

It's burnt! No!

We call that enthusiastically crisp.

Each week 12 new contestants battle for just four places

in Friday's quarterfinal.

It's so raw.

Only the strongest will make it to the final challenges.

Not as lovely as your pear!

I love it. Ha ha.

Happy anniversary, 10 years!

Three wives but only one co-judge.

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this.

These six amateurs all think they've got what it takes

to become MasterChef.

But at the end of today's heat,

only two will become quarter-finalists.

A very warm welcome to MasterChef,

the start of a brand-new competition.

Our tenth.

Any one of you could, of course, go all the way.

That is if you can cook.

To begin with, we want you to cook your own dish

and this dish will be your calling card,

it will give us an idea of what sort of cook you are.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour, let's cook.

How we show our love in our family is that we cook for people.

It's about getting friends together and eating together and I love that.

This bench smells really nice.

I'm making a lamb and chickpea curry

with some couscous and roasted veg.

I come from a Pakistani/Indian background.

Whenever I used to go to my friends houses they'd always have

very bland, boring looking food

whereas my mother's was just beautiful, it was fantastic

and it was colourful and that's kind of where I got my love from.

I trust her spicing because her mum has taught her.

Well, I hope, her mum's taught her.

Whatever I cook, I like to make something of my personality into it.

I like to take a recipe and then twist it a little bit.

Robert, can I ask you why you've got something I haven't seen

since I was a child, instant mashed potato?

Well, weirdly I was in a restaurant in Italy,

a Michelin two-starred restaurant

and they'd made potato pasta which I thought was delicious

and since I got back from Italy I've been trying to recreate it

and I thought, "Instant mash", and I just tried it

and it just softens the pasta a little bit. I don't know,

it'll be up to you to judge as to whether it works or not.

Why have you got a tin of apricots?

Because apricots and mushrooms, especially porcini,

just meld together so well as tastes.

Best of luck, you're intriguing. See you later.

Pasta made with potato is not an unusual thing at all.

Using instant mash on MasterChef, today it's a first.

Holly, what does cooking mean to you, what's it all about?

I used to love cooking at GCSE level,

kind of noticed I was slightly ahead of everyone else that

was cooking cupcakes and I'm doing stuffed vine leaves, for example.

And then I think once I hit 18 and got treated to a nice

Michelin star dinner, I thought, "This is what I want to do."

Holly is being quite ambitious.

We have got duck with orange and chocolate and cabbage.

Holly's showing us she's a daring cook

and she wants to try big flavours, but can she do it?

That's the issue.

You don't want your first dish to sort of blend into the background.

I know it's going to be a challenge working with such strong flavours

but I do think they go really well together.

You're nearly halfway.

It's racing.

Four children, 17-year-old right down to four,

so the house is always very full,

lots going on, lots of food to prepare.

James is promising something really sophisticated.

Partridge cooked two different ways and he's going to serve it with

chocolate, redcurrants, cabbage and beetroot.

Right now James is trying to demonstrate as much as he possibly can.

Hello, James. Hello. Why MasterChef?

My family says, you know, "You should go for it," so here I am.

How good are you?

Pretty good.

Can I say that? You just did!

Oh, yeah, OK.

You've got just over 20 minutes left.

Hello, Kristyn. Hello, Gregg.

Oh, I can't trace your accident. Where are you from?

I am Canadian. Canadian! Canadian, yes indeed.

My husband's British and I wanted to come in and join the UK.

What do you do now?

I am a research and development scientist

for a global snacks company.

Wow! Yeah.

So you're a research scientist... Yes.

And you've come to Britain, and you're on a MasterChef.

You really do love an adventure, don't you? I do, yes.

It is an adventure for me, every day's an adventure.

Quite excited to start cooking my first dish,

it's something that I would do at a dinner party.

And I hope it brings, like,

contentment to people, just like a big warm hug.

Kristyn's doing a stuffed pork loin filled with mushrooms

and lots of crispy sage and crispy potatoes.

It sounds like a good dish.

It's a bold dish as long as she's brave with those flavours.

Rob, it appears to me

like you're making some sort of beef Wellington here. Exactly that.

It's a deconstructed beef Wellington so it's cooking all the individual

components separately and bringing them together at the end.

Impressive. If you'd done beef Wellington properly

the pastry on the bottom's never quite right,

it's difficult to get the beef perfect, this way you can control everything.

There's a chef mate of mine not far away

who I reckon could do a beef Wellington perfectly.

OK, well, I'm looking forward to his feedback!

This tells me what sort of person he really is

and what sort of cook he really is. He wants control. Well, good,

if he's got control of his food, he's going to produce a good dish.

I eat out a lot at really nice restaurants.

That gives you great ideas and thinking, "That was delicious."

But, the judges, they've eaten hundreds of beef Wellingtons

over the years, but they've never had one quite like this.

You have 15 minutes left.

This is a great demonstration of what sort of cooks there are around this country,

cooks from all walks of life, different styles.

That's what MasterChef is all about,

finding a great cook amongst this lot.

For some reason the pasta recipe that I've used

time and time again just doesn't seem to want to work.

It looks as though that instant mashed potato

is drawing all the liquid out of the dough

and the whole thing is all crumbly.

I'm fearing at the moment he's not going to get the ravioli done.

Robert, four minutes my friend.

Time's up.

Canadian-born Kristyn's calling card is mushroom stuffed pork tenderloin

on creamed leeks with roasted potatoes,

tomatoes and crispy sage.

I like the flavour in your leeks.

Thank you. But, I don't know whether

you have vampires roaming around the woods of Canada.

Too much garlic and far too much sage.

The way you've cooked the pork, it's lovely and pink and still moist.

Your stuffing is still sweet.

It may be a little bit over the top with the sage,

it may be a little bit over the top with the garlic

but what it does do is it tells me you're a bold cook

and I like that. Thank you.

Father-of-four James has chosen to cook partridge two ways -

breast and confit leg -

on Savoy cabbage and a beetroot fondant

with a chestnut and chocolate rissole and a redcurrant puree.

I'm concerned about the raspberry milkshake colour.

I totally agree, it turned a lot pinker than I thought it would.

Your bird is cooked really well, lovely gamey flavour.

Despite that sauce being shocking pink

it's actually fruity and lovely.

There's earthy beetroot there, I love the rissole you've made.

Mate, you cook. I'm impressed.

Thank you.

I think it's really delicious.

You're showing all your skills on one plate.

James, good job.

I knew also that that pink sauce was going to be a sticking point

but the comments were amazing.

I'm really, really happy. Couldn't be happier at this stage.

Training manager Sumera's dish is spiced chickpea and lamb,

roasted vegetables and a lemon couscous

made with caramelised grapes.

I like the idea of your presentation

but it most certainly needs tidying up. Yes.

Your lamb stew is OK

but the flavour you have in your couscous

and your vegetables is outstanding.

Outstanding. Thank you.

The stew is a bit heavy and dense. OK.

But you've got some really good touches,

you've got some really lovely flavours.

You obviously know how to use the spices very, very well,

but the most impressive thing for me is that couscous,

I've never seen it done before and it's absolutely delicious.

Gosh, when the professional says to you,

"You know your way around some spices",

I was like, "Oh, you think that? Great!"

Management consultant Rob is serving a deconstructed beef Wellington -

fillet steak and a mushroom duxelle,

topped with a puff pastry sliver

with parsnip puree and carrots

and a red wine and blackberry sauce.

To take a grand classic

and take it apart is a really game thing to do

and now what we've got is a steak with mushrooms and a pastry straw.

It doesn't have the same impact.

Let's go.

Your sauce turns your pastry soggy, your meat soggy,

your puree soggy and your mushrooms soggy.

That's the wonder of a beef Wellington,

everything is wrapped up. Do you know what a beef Wellington is?

It's the poshest pie in the whole world.

And it's a pie.

I like the way you've cooked the beef,

I really like your sauce but I wouldn't ever try and deconstruct

a beef Wellington. Leave it alone, it's done nothing to you, Rob.

Pretty intimidating. Normally people are quite polite,

they sit down and say, "This is nice, this is lovely."

It's pretty rare to get somebody who's sitting there

actually trying to find fault with your dish and pick holes in it.

22-year-old Holly has cooked five-spiced duck breast

with carrot and orange puree,

red cabbage, watercress

and grated chocolate.

I've never had chocolate and carrot before.

Unfortunately, the skin of your duck is burnt.

You've got the spicing on the top of your duck,

your veggies are crispy and got flavour.

I don't believe you need chocolate. OK.

I understand why you're doing it,

because you're trying have a point of difference

but there's not enough chocolate on there to make an impact.

But pretty good. Thank you.

As an introduction to your cooking,

I've now realised you have a decent palate

but you still have some technical lessons to learn.

Lindy Hopper Robert's calling card

is instant mashed potato pasta ravioli

with a porcini mushroom filling

and an apricot and hazelnut salad with truffle dressing.

I have to say I admire your resolve

because with 10 minutes to go

you were still putting pasta through the pasta machine.

You are the first person to come onto this competition in 10 years

and bring in a tub of instant mashed potato,

and somehow or another, you've pulled it off.

I admire your technique cos your ravioli

and the way in which they have been rolled out are brilliant.

Your filling is strong,

but now I understand why you want the apricot, because the apricot

knocks that strength of that dry porcini out a little bit.

Good job.

This is your calling card, really, to MasterChef.

I now know you have skill and I also realise you are flamboyant.

I hope they see something in me that's going to take me forward.

I think I made an interesting impression,

I'm not sure whether it was a good one!

Well, that was a good start.

An amazing insight into you as cooks.

But that's it, fun time is over.

When we get you back in, the gloves are off.

Off you go.

That was so quick! I couldn't get my pasta to set. It was crumbly.

Now, this is the sweet or savoury invention test.

The blue box contains the ingredients to make a sweet dish,

the green box has got the ingredients to make a savoury dish.

Before the contestants attempt it,

would you like to have a go? OK.

You've got to choose.

I'm going to take the savoury. Righto.

John will now have an hour to create a dish from lamb mince,

an aubergine,

a pomegranate,

heritage carrots,

tomatoes,

feta cheese,

yoghurt, cumin seeds,

spring onions,

parsley and fresh mint.

He also has a basic larder.

Right, good luck.

What are you making, John?

I'm going to try and make a little Imam Bayildi,

which is an aubergine salad

and little flatbreads stuffed with spiced lamb.

But the only spices I've got are cumin, black pepper

and a bit of mustard so I've made a spice mix up out of that.

Warm water, little bit of sugar,

some yoghurt and flour.

Good old-fashioned flatbread recipe.

I might actually just do three different types of flatbread.

John's now talking about making three lots of flatbreads,

one with mince...

..one with feta and one plain one.

Flatbreads three ways.

And one of them's a flatbread!

Enjoy yourself, let your creativity just flood out!

Well done.

From the savoury box, John has made three flatbreads -

one plain,

one with spiced lamb

and one with feta cheese -

with a feta and mint salad,

a carrot garnish

and a spiced aubergine Imam Bayildi.

John, you would demolish the whole thing.

Good!

But I think the next round is a very, very big step up.

Inventiveness in the hands of a novice can be terrifying.

Let's get them in.

The blue box contains the ingredients to make a sweet dish.

The green box has got the ingredients to make a savoury dish.

We're now going to give you 10 minutes to design your dish.

Everybody now choose.

The green savoury boxes contain the same ingredients that John cooked with.

Yes, I think I'm a bit more of a savoury girl.

I'm pretty sure I can put something together

that's going to be more than edible.

Feeling OK, maybe I should have gone with the sweet box

but I've got some great ingredients here so let's see what I can do.

Only Kristyn has chosen to do a sweet.

Her box contains figs,

stem ginger in syrup,

mascarpone,

rosemary, pine nuts,

puff pastry,

apricots, lavender

and three extra eggs.

I have an idea about what I'm going to do.

It's just trying to make it work with things I haven't used before.

Time's up.

This is a very important round because at the end of this,

two of you will be leaving the competition.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour,

let's cook.

Holly, you seemed to come to a conclusion pretty quickly.

We did a barbecue and I did some lamb burgers then

and, sort of, the ingredients I've got here

are the kind of ingredients I was using when I did the barbecue so...

Just a quick conclusion.

Are you deconstructing a tomato, Rob?

No, no, this is going to be very traditional.

I want to show you that I can do something slightly more sensible,

slightly more normal.

20 minutes gone.

Sumera, have we got enough spice on this bench for you? No!

What do you think your mother is shouting to you right now to cook?

"Make a bloody kebab, girl!"

Brilliant. Thank you.

Half an hour gone.

You are halfway.

As you may have gathered, I do like to use lots of processes

but this one, concentrate on the flavour.

I think you'll find people are doing similar things, you know,

kebabs, mixed minced dishes and I just want mine to stand out.

How do you feel about being the only person to choose the sweet box?

I'm kind of happy about that, actually.

You don't think you're missing out on not making another meatball?

No, exactly!

I'm a little disappointed, I don't mind admitting,

that there's only one dessert in the room.

Her food is going to be very different to the other five.

This is your last 60 seconds, you have one more minute.

Guys, that's it, your time's up.

From the savoury box, Rob has made lamb koftas

with aubergine three ways -

crisped,

baked

and chipped -

a tomato and carrot chutney

and a mint raita.

Rob, I've got to be honest with you, it doesn't say, "Come and eat me."

Your meatballs have got some herbs through, a little bit of spice,

not a huge amount,

so they taste of lamb but nothing much else.

Your carrot and tomato chutney for me tastes more like a jam -

it's a little bit too sweet.

It's not a very successful dish, Rob.

I have to say, apart from the chutney,

I find little to commend this dish,

I'm sorry to say, Rob.

Cheers.

A little disappointed.

I thought it was a better dish than that.

But Gregg and John know what they're talking about.

Sumera has cooked spicy lamb koftas with fried aubergine and potato.

A honey, carrot, tomato

and pomegranate salad topped with feta crumble and mint parsley raita.

I like the look of it. So do I. Hey! Let's eat.

I find your meatballs a little dense,

apart from that, I like everything else that you've put on the plate.

Very, very good indeed. Thank you.

It's cooked very well. It's seasoned very well.

And I like it because it is you. Thank you so much.

I'm really glad because that is my personality,

and it's so great that they saw that.

Robert's meatballs are cooked in a spicy tomato sauce

with fondant potatoes and a roasted aubergine and carrot salad.

Well, the good thing is, Robert, we won't run out of food.

Right, OK.

I do really like your meatballs.

Well cooked, soft inside, crispy on the outside,

and beautifully made big fondant potatoes

that are luxurious and buttery.

You can cook different bits that can go on different dishes very well.

Thank you.

You do have a decent palate, you are a decent cook.

Stop chucking so much at a plate, Robert.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Crikey!

I perhaps rushed it at doing it.

Went straight into it without properly thinking about it.

James has also made lamb koftas

and is serving his with tomato salsa and fried aubergine.

We got tomato sludge, and that's sitting on top of aubergines

which are wet and the meatballs aren't crispy, they're a bit mushy.

So the whole thing's a bit mushy and wet.

It's a striking contrast with your last dish, it's worlds apart.

Yeah, I possibly played it safe, I will fully admit that.

Thank you. Thank you.

I think if I hadn't had such a good morning

and I was coming out of the comments I just had,

then I would probably be a little bit more worried.

Holly's lamb burgers are served with a feta, tomato and mint salad,

fried aubergine and a pomegranate and balsamic reduction.

You've got two things on a plate here,

very good salad with pomegranate syrup and some burgers,

which I don't particularly like.

They're hard, they're dried out from breadcrumbs

and those onions need to be cooked before they go through.

Feta, tomato, pomegranate

and balsamic is a work of somebody with a very good palate,

but it's obvious you're lacking a little bit of experience,

so I don't quite know what to make of you, Holly,

and that's the honest truth. Thanks.

I actually thought I did better than I actually did.

I'm feeling a bit unsure at the moment, to be honest.

Finally, it's Kristyn with the only sweet.

Caramelised fig crumble made with lavender-infused pastry

and a lavender-infused mascarpone cream.

It's a bit dry.

The figs on top don't sit very comfortably.

They seem to be more a rock of figs rather than a pillow.

And I'd rather put my head on a pillow than a rock.

I loved your lavender-infused cream.

I think that's wonderful, but putting sugar on the figs

and baking them was a big mistake.

It's made the skins of the figs almost inedible.

I do wholly agree with the judges' comments.

I'm definitely not the furthest along,

but I'm definitely, I think, not at the bottom.

Two tough tests, six amateur cooks, all in all, not a bad day.

I don't think Rob's strong enough for this competition.

I don't think so either.

It didn't quite work for him in the first round,

but now the invention test, we had aubergine three ways,

all three ways not very nice.

We had dry meatballs and some yoghurt with some mint in it, that was it.

Short-lived, but Rob goes home. Do you have anybody who you love? Yeah.

Go. Sumera.

That lady obviously cooks and I want to see more of her cooking. I totally agree.

I think both rounds we saw brilliant flavours, vibrancy in her food,

actually, it's a great place to start for an amateur cook.

I think this morning when I came in I was just like,

"Yeah, I'll do my dish and see what happens."

Now I'm like, "Actually, I'm going to stay now."

Robert - he can make pasta, he can make a good fondant potato,

a good meatball and a good tomato sauce.

He's demonstrated far more than most of the people in this room.

You realise you're keeping somebody in the competition

who brought in with them a jar of instant mashed potato?

Yeah. He didn't make mash with it though, did he?

That leaves us now with James, Kristyn and Holly.

James had a really good first round with his partridge dish,

but a very disappointing invention test.

I know it's early in the competition, but an invention test

tells more about the cook than a practised recipe does.

You can see Holly's inexperience and her lack of technical ability.

But I still believe Holly has a good palate,

I think she's demonstrated that over two rounds,

and that for me is paramount in making a good cook.

OK, what about Kristyn?

The one thing that Kristyn has done is demonstrated more technique.

Pastry with a tart, which didn't quite work for her

with those bits of fig on top, but there are little things that do work.

Who stays in the competition and who accompanies Rob on the bus home?

We have now made a decision, two of you are going to leave us.

The first person leaving us is Robert.

Disappointed to be going home early,

but I think I cooked some good food, so I can hold my head high.

The second person leaving us is...

..Kristyn. Thank you very much.

I am a little bit gutted to be going home now.

I think it's early. It's a bit disappointing.

Now we ramp up the pressure.

You are going to be cooking for three champions

and finalists of MasterChef.

Alex Rushmer, Thomasina Miers and James Nathan.

Today, it's going to be like a service.

You'll have one hour to get your main orders out

and then another 15 minutes after that to get your dessert orders out.

At the end of today, two of you will become quarterfinalists.

Let's show them what you've got. One hour.

Let's cook.

It is a bit daunting because they are past winners.

I think they will be good at spotting potential.

I'm just wondering whether they're going to be pretty hard.

You look nice and happy and relaxed? Yeah.

A bit of meditation in the morning, calm the nerves a little bit,

so I feel good, actually. What are we going to get today?

You're going to get murgh akni.

It's a traditional dish that my mum's cooked

ever since I was a kid, and I love it.

And all of these spices are going in there? Indeed, they are.

Sumera! Sumera! What's the dessert?

I'm doing a polenta cake,

but I'm going to put the flavours that I know into it.

This is all the flavours that I love about my childhood

and I think I'm able to bring it all on one plate.

Good luck. Thank you.

I think it sounds great. Yeah. I hope it looks good and it tastes good.

Thank you.

I can't wait to get stuck into Sumera's food.

I love the chicken, cooking in rice in that great big pot

with all of those spices and flavouring she's got.

Sounds absolutely delicious.

I think today what I want to try and show the judges is a little bit of

the spark that they saw in that first round.

So I hope I can do that with two dishes. I'm confident.

What James have I got cooking today?

Have I got the James that did that lovely partridge

or have I got James that did the invention test?

It's not James who did the invention test.

It's pan-fried sea bass with an apple and fennel sauce

and roasted vine tomatoes.

The sweet is chocolate brownie with raspberry coulis

with a vanilla and tarragon cream.

So that...is for your sea bass? Yes, it is. OK.

And you've just chucked a load of tarragon into some cream

which is going to be for your chocolate brownie. Yup.

I think if you're going to put something in front of people,

you want to raise questions,

they're going to want to have a little surprise

and I think this works.

But I'm willing to put it in front of them. Good man.

I think James is going to deliver four very, very good dishes.

The thing is, whether they taste good.

I'm doing a pan-fried sea bass in five spice on a sweet potato

puree with figs, spring onions and flaked almonds.

You're doing fish with the figs. What are you doing with the peaches?

Cardamom and rose water rice pudding with poached peaches.

I think this may be the only time

when I've seen a contestant's main course be sweeter than its pudding.

Well, I'm here to be a little bit different.

Hopefully it's impressively different. Or it could be...

Perfectly wrong, I know.

We've put Holly through here because we said she had a great palate.

And she's now about to challenge that by serving up sea bass and figs.

It is a very dangerous game.

You've got to stand out from the other contestants,

and I'm hoping this is how I'm going to do it.

I've done barbecues for large numbers of people.

I've done dinner parties for 12 people, maybe five, six courses.

So doing two courses for four people shouldn't be that intimidating.

However, I haven't been cooking for the level of people

that I'm cooking for today.

Robert? Yes. What are you going to cook for us?

It's going to be rabbit livers on pomme puree

with a pancetta crispy slice

and onion, tarragon and Marsala gravy.

What are you making here?

This is going to be trio of profiteroles,

with three different toppings and three different fillings.

Now we know you like to chuck lots of things in plates.

Well, I don't think this is throwing lot of things on a plate,

this is quite a simplified menu.

Liver and onion simplified served with

profiteroles three different ways with three different fillings.

Absolutely. That's simplified? Well, the dessert is not that simple.

Do you want to stay in the competition? Absolutely.

That's why I think this is the menu to do it.

I think Robert's dessert is really inventive cos he's actually

showing skill and I think doing three different fillings is good.

I think this is a seriously nerve-wracking stage of the competition.

If I was a contestant right now I would not want to be cooking

for MasterChef champions.

Thomasina Miers was MasterChef's first ever champion.

Gosh, I can cook! Almost a decade on,

she's just opened the eleventh branch of her restaurant in London.

When we first opened we were pretty green, to say the least.

We knew nothing. Didn't sleep at all, lost loads of weight.

We were just working our butts off.

It was terrifying, exhilarating, incredible.

But the whole experience of doing MasterChef stood me in

really good stead, that gave me huge confidence.

All this started in that studio in that first day.

Without MasterChef...

who knows where I'll be now, but it's definitely put me

on an incredible journey that I'm still on.

After winning the title in 2008, criminal barrister James Nathan

gave up his career to work in other people's kitchens.

Last year he opened his first restaurant.

It was time to do something for myself.

It's great to feel that, actually, I've arrived.

The eagle has landed, I've got a restaurant.

If I put my hand on my heart,

I know there's been some quite dark moments.

It's not a well paid profession and it's very long hours, it's very gruelling.

But being a criminal barrister, you never made anyone happy.

For me, cooking is making people happy.

2010 finalist Alex Rushmer opened a restaurant with his friend chef

Ben Maude just a year after the competition ended.

We opened and that first three or four months was

the swiftest learning curve you can possibly imagine.

We had to learn everything.

I didn't have a day off for seven, eight months.

It was insane and mad, but a huge amounts of fun.

Almost immediately, their food began to receive critical acclaim.

I opened my second restaurant this year.

You should be under no illusions that it's an easy ride.

Even as a MasterChef finalist, that brought people through the door,

what's my job is to make sure they come back.

You have got 17 minutes.

You happy? Yeah. Can you show us that?

Thank you.

So Holly's main course, pan-fried fillet of sea bass

with sweet potato puree, figs and five spice,

it's just sounding really sweet.

I love sweet potato, I love figs,

I'm just not sure if I'm going to love it with a piece of sea bass.

Don't play with your bass. Let it cook.

The more you muck around with your fish,

the more likely it is to fall apart. Yeah.

You're doing really well. You've got about two minutes left.

Thank you.

Good job, you. Right on time.

I can't carry them all.

I've done a pan-fried sea bass fillet on a sweet potato puree,

with figs, spring onions and flaked almonds

and a little drizzle of balsamic syrup.

Hope you enjoy it.

It looks absolutely beautiful.

I literally want to stick my head in it and eat it.

It smells amazing. It really does.

This is a really delightful dish to eat.

The figs - looks beautiful on the plate but taste great.

Contrary to what we thought,

everything here sits in perfect harmony.

Everything's really well-cooked. It's very well-balanced.

There's loads and loads of texture,

loads of flavour, lots of contrast. I love it.

It was rubbish and that's why I demolished the entire plate

in 30 seconds flat.

The fig, I really don't like it with the fish, I'm sorry.

If you just take the fig away, that's a very decent

and accomplished sea bass dish.

Dessert to go. What are we going to do for your dessert?

Poach my peaches.

So for dessert, Holly's doing us a cardamom rice pudding with

poached peach, rose water and crushed pistachios.

It sounds like a dreamy dessert.

It's got the floral thing going on.

If it's badly done, it tastes like a mouthful of potpourri,

I always find, which is a crime.

Keep on stirring that, what's going to happen to the rice?

It's going to get horrible.

You've got to do something, don't you, Holly?

You've always got to do something.

You can always wash the dishes if you need something to do.

I do enough of that at home.

Make sure you don't have any fingerprints.

Make it all shiny, you've got lovely little bling-y bits in the middle.

Make it as bling as possible. Don't drop it, please don't drop it.

I've done a rice pudding for you with rosewater and cardamom.

I've poached the peaches,

and then it's got pistachios and edible rose petals on top.

You just want to dive into it.

It's like a wafting pillow of loveliness.

It's just... It's just great.

The rice is slightly undercooked, so it's slightly crunchy.

But the crunch of pistachio is delicious with it.

And the vanilla just comes through from that rice pudding.

I love this. I think it's really, really good.

The rice is al dente, but I really like that.

I think the smell was phenomenal. I think the flavour was too strong.

It doesn't eat as well as it smells.

The rose petals on that warm rice pudding are making the whole

thing smell like a rose garden. It's lovely.

The issue for me is the rice is undercooked.

She's got a great palate, but she's got a few techniques to sort out.

This is how I cook at home. I just hope they like it as much as I do.

You've got ten minutes. Yes.

So James is giving us a pan-fried fillet of sea bass with an apple

and fennel sauce and roasted vine tomatoes.

Fish and fruit again. Maybe this is a common theme this year.

Happy? Yeah.

I will be when this is blended. It looks a bit wet.

It's... Yeah. Don't worry.

I do worry, James.

It's my job.

Five minutes and your fish is not on yet. Wahey.

Is that the texture you wanted, James?

No, I'll be honest with you, it wasn't. Yeah, it's too wet.

Hopefully the flavour will carry me through.

Last bits now. You've got to go.

I think that fish deserved better.

Oh, yeah.

OK, what we have is a pan-fried sea-bass fillet with an apple

and fennel sauce and vine tomatoes.

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you.

The sauce has taken me by surprise

cos it's not anything like what I was expecting.

The sauce is a little wishy-washy.

I can't taste any apple at all, and only the tiniest hint of fennel.

My fish is cooked, actually, really well. It's moist.

I love the dill on it.

That, in isolation, I think is great.

It's just there's nothing else to bring it all together.

I want some delicious potatoes to soak up all that flavour.

I really disagree with you both.

I find the fish really creamy, the sauce is delicately flavoured,

I can just taste the apple and the fennel.

The more I eat it the more I'm enjoying it.

I'm going to finish.

'This dish is a disaster'

because that sauce is not a sauce, it's a soup.

It's too runny.

It looks horrendous. That's ghastly.

OK. Calm yourself. Yep.

Get ready to do your dessert.

James's dessert is double chocolate brownie with a raspberry coulis

and a tarragon and vanilla cream.

Are these flavour combinations just complete naivety

or is there real talent there?

You happy that you've got everything you need?

Yeah, happy with the brownie. Good.

That looks nice. Well done.

A minute and a half.

You like the threes, don't you? I do like threes.

Three meatballs yesterday and three bits of aubergine.

Now three tomatoes and three raspberries.

OK. Let's do it, then, James.

What we have here is a chocolate brownie with a raspberry coulis

and a vanilla and tarragon cream.

I wish he'd chosen a smaller plate.

Just chuck it on there, yeah?

I love that brownie. It's dark, it's gooey in the middle.

It's really delicious.

I can't taste any tarragon at all, which I think is a shame.

That flavour really does actually work with it,

there's just not enough of it on the plate.

He's promised that and not delivered it,

which is a shame because the brownie itself is incredible.

Really don't quite understand that tarragon cream.

I feel like someone's painted my tongue with it.

Blimey.

I tell you what? It hasn't been James's finest hour.

It was a mixed bag.

I'm disappointed with the way the sauce came out for the main.

But really happy with the pudding.

By no means a complete disaster,

whether it was enough to get me through...

HE GROANS

I wish I knew. I wish I knew.

For mains, Sumera is cooking us a chicken akni with raita

and fresh onion salad.

I love spicy food.

I hope she's not shy with the chilli and the spicing on that.

How long, honestly, do you think that's got to cook in that pot for?

Honestly?

20 minutes. You've only got ten minutes for the main course. I know.

You can't serve raw rice. No, no.

I'm going to be separating these, putting them into a bowl

and putting them in the oven.

What about two frying pans with a larger surface area

so that we cook the rice faster? Yep.

Careful, it smells like it's burning at the bottom.

Yeah, it does. Quick, quick. See? That's smoke, not steam.

Quick, get it off.

That's smoke.

Ooh, yeah. That is.

You've got three minutes.

I know that you're stressed but I've got to push you. Yep.

GREGG SIGHS

I don't know how she got in that tizz. She seemed so happy and calm.

Because she seemed so happy and calm.

It's murgh akni, which is basically chicken.

You've got a raita there, done to my mother's recipe,

and then an onion salad.

It looks inviting. I want to start eating it.

It's a real shame, because for all that spice, I think it's under-seasoned.

We're kind of getting chilli heat, but no real flavour, it seems to me.

It is quite flat. When that is the main element in the dish

and that's the thing that's supposed to be really wowing us,

it's not doing it.

For me, she's lacked the confidence to really go crazy with those spices.

All I can taste is tomato and cumin. That's it.

She hasn't managed to master that beautiful spiced flavouring

she had before.

Mm.

OK? Yep.

Right, 15 minutes, and then pudding goes out. OK, yep.

Sumera's dessert - rose, pistachio and saffron polenta cake,

with honey mascarpone.

That's one for me, I think.

That looks fantastic.

I love the cake.

Two and a half minutes, Sumera.

Take your cake.

Well done, you.

This is rosewater pistachio and saffron polenta cake.

Then it's got mascarpone with a bit of honey. Hope you enjoy it.

Thank you very much. You're welcome.

It is just what a pudding should look like.

The voluptuousness of that honeycomb just sat there next to that

mascarpone is just really inviting.

The cake is beautifully cooked.

It's got this deliciously crunchy outside.

A lovely, light nutty filling. I really love it.

It's a very technically accomplished cake.

It's really nice and light. I'm just not a huge fan of saffron.

That's the totally dominant flavour in the dish.

It should be stickier and sweeter and nowhere near as much saffron.

That's my opinion. John, you're entitled to have the wrong opinion.

I love the heavy amount of saffron in it.

You do do a bit of cooking, but nobody eats as many cakes as I do.

That's really nice.

I don't think the flavours of how my mum makes it is there.

I don't think it's the best I can do.

Yeah.

Young Robert. Hello. You have 15 minutes for your main orders, please.

Lovely.

Robert's main course is rabbit liver on pommes puree with pancetta slices,

onion and Marsala gravy, accompanied by braised lettuce and peas.

I've got to say, wow.

Robert, obviously going for gold.

Six minutes. Hopefully that'll be fine.

Try not to use those words in the same sentence, then.

We are officially over time.

Good boy. Let's go.

My apologies for the few minute delay.

Mm.

It's rabbit livers on pommes puree, with pancetta crisps, onion,

tarragon and Marsala gravy, and braised lettuce and peas.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Oh, I just want to get into it.

I think it's really, really good.

The rabbit liver is a revelation to me. I've never had it.

It's really well balanced,

it's been cooked by somebody who understands food.

What's really lovely about this dish -

it's got simplicity singing through it.

And it feels original. It feels like it's from his heart.

He loves cooking. I can feel that.

Best thing I have eaten today. Get in, Robert.

You know what's great about this dish from Robert?

There's nothing weird on the plate.

This is just making liver and mash.

Oh, bless him.

Quick clean down and then you've got 15 minutes to do your profiteroles.

OK.

Robert's dessert - a trio of profiteroles.

It's not a dessert that I would attempt,

certainly not in the time that he's got.

The potential for disaster here is huge.

Eight minutes to melt three different types of chocolate,

fill up profiteroles and get them on to a plate.

That's exactly right. Let's go.

Well done, brother.

You've got two minutes left.

You've got to do a bit of dipping and a bit of chipping. That's fine.

New bowl in, old bowl out.

Anything else going on the plate? That's it.

Right, well, let's go, then.

This is a trio of profiteroles.

There is a lime and ginger profiterole with dark

chocolate topping.

There's an orange and orange liqueur profiterole,

with a milk chocolate topping.

And there is a coffee cream topped with white chocolate.

My apologies for the split chocolate. Thank you.

Hope you enjoy. Thank you.

The fact that he's actually got them on the plate is a complete miracle.

I don't know what he was thinking. He's got well-risen profiteroles.

That in itself is a good skill.

It's just a real shame he's lost his chocolates and split them.

I don't think it matters about the split chocolate.

They all work individually,

but then they all work together as a dessert as well.

It's brilliant. The profiteroles themselves are really light,

it's really thin, it's really crispy.

It's everything that it should be.

He's just totally blown us away with his food.

Do you know what? Robert's had a good day.

I think technique-wise and I think flavour-wise, I delivered.

May not have been 100% successful on the dessert.

So, we'll see.

I thought it was a great day.

We have found ourselves some great cooks.

Now, two go home, two stay.

Robert - I mean, that man has got skill and passion and energy,

all things you need to advance in MasterChef.

He knows how to cook, mate. I agree with you.

Robert dances through into the next round.

I'm actually really, really enjoying the experience

and I want that experience to continue.

Now, technically James is sound.

He cooks his food really, really well.

But it's what goes with it. He's trying to be too adventurous.

The apple and fennel sauce that went with this fish

was watery and ghastly.

Then tarragon cream that he served with his chocolate brownie

was also ghastly.

Sumera today let herself down. She ran out of time, got in a tizz.

Her chicken akni was a little bit disappointing.

I, however, loved her cake.

But, you didn't.

I really don't want to go home, no.

No, I really don't.

I still believe that Holly is inexperienced.

That showed by putting figs on the fish and her rice was undercooked,

but Holly can taste food really well, she can season really well.

The other thing I like about Holly's food is you can smell it.

It was really aromatic.

I've already learnt from the first round, so I hope I've shown

more technique today than they initially thought I had.

It's always the questions, isn't it?

But who's got what it takes to go further in the competition?

Unfortunately, we only have two quarterfinal places.

Our first quarterfinalist is Robert.

Our second quarterfinalist...

..is Holly.

SHE MOUTHS

I know my mum's going to be screaming at me.

It's the shame of not being able to do a dish that I should have

been able to do considering it's from my heritage, you know?

I totally messed it up.

The whole competition has just been a whirlwind experience

that I'll never forget.

I'll still come away enjoying cooking.

That's going to continue, so...

HOLLY: I feel like I'm about to sort of combust.

If it gives me this feeling getting through,

then I want this feeling again and again.

I want to get through as far as I can.

So many things that I've achieved professionally -

I've been the UK Lindy Hop Champion, danced on Top of the Pops.

This is well up there with any experience I've had in my life.

Really good.

Tomorrow night, six new hopefuls will battle to earn a place

in Friday's quarterfinal.

That is really, seriously good.