Episode 12 MasterChef

It's the quarterfinal

and the four heat winners are back to face two more daunting tests.

I haven't come here to get to the quarterfinals.

I've come here to win it

and that is what I'm going to do.

I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm a little bit scared as well.

This isn't real life, is it?

It's literally mind-blowing.

I don't think I've been through anything like this in my life.

I'm really competitive, so, I want to go as far as I can.

I'm here. So, I must've done something right.

Quarterfinal day.

Many cooks have tried, but we have found the best four.

Today, this competition gets serious.

This is the palate and skills test.

Today, I'm going to cook crispy skinned chicken, herb gnocchi

and a mushroom sauce.

It's about understanding how you can take a chicken thigh

and cook it and keep it moist, making light fluffy gnocchi

and a mushroom sauce which is rich and delicious.

So, chicken thighs.

I want this chicken to be moist. So I'm going to cook it twice.

Poaching it in stock first

and then I'm pan frying it with some paper and a little bit of oil.

I find it unlikely that the contestants will work out

to poach the chicken first.

Now, the gnocchi only has potatoes, flour and a little bit of salt

and some pepper and I'm going to put some herbs in.

And I'm hoping that our four will identify the tarragon and parsley.

It's paramount you work with the potato whilst it's still warm,

otherwise, the starch comes out and it doesn't work.

Hmm...

And then, with the fork, you roll it and roll it.

-And then you get a little gnocchi.

-Ah-ha!

After five minutes' poaching,

the chicken is put under a plate to flatten it.

The sauce is made from dried ceps, morels and chestnut mushrooms

softened with shallots and garlic

before adding stock and creme fraiche and blitzing.

Then you've got a mushroom sauce that goes back into the pan.

Now, to cook the chicken and assemble the plate.

Skin side down onto my paper

into a cold pan

and now turn the heat on.

But, surely, that won't crisp the skin.

-Erm, it will.

-Ooh!

So, whilst my chicken cooks,

I'll mix my gnocchi with the sauce.

That's crispy enough.

That chicken is out of this world.

The mushroom sauce is divine.

Good.

Everyday ingredients, some intricate techniques and away you go.

I say, get them in!

John's made you a dish.

We want you to taste it,

write down what you think is in it.

Ten minutes, guys.

Good luck!

It's very nice, but I don't eat... I just don't like mushrooms.

Oh, dear!

My concern is, I'm picking up some of the headline stuff,

but I'm worried there might be a few subtleties woven through it

that I might be missing.

The meat...

I think it's...not chicken, but it's something similar.

I think it might be guinea fowl. I'm not 100%.

Right! Your ten minutes are up.

Now's the fun bit.

You have one hour and ten minutes to make that dish.

Good luck!

Let's cook.

The ingredients have been separated onto three trays.

For the protein,

the gnocchi,

and the sauce.

But not all of them were used in John's dish.

I'm worried for Theo because when he wrote down how to make gnocchi,

he said put a whole egg in it.

Now, there isn't an egg.

What I love the most is that Luke doesn't even realise

-that it's chicken...

-Guinea fowl.

-It's either partridge or guinea fowl.

If I go out for some food and it's something I like, I will try

and work out what's in it.

And try and recreate it back home,

but who's to say if I got it right or not?

Luke, we know, takes the humble, the everyday

and elevates them into gems of beauty.

We know he's got a great imagination and can create, but can he copy?

Luke, how are you with gnocchi?

I've never made it before,

but I think I've got a good idea how to make it.

It's sort of a combination of potato and pasta.

There's tarragon, I think, in the gnocchi

and just incorporate the flour and hopefully, everything will be fine.

You trust your feelings on this one?

At the moment, yes!

It's a quarterfinal.

They should all know how to make a sauce, cook a piece of chicken

and make gnocchi.

But there's gnocchi and then there's gnocchi.

Theo is an outrageous cook with lots of different processes

and lots of different flavours.

We've seen food from Cyprus.

We've seen food from the Mediterranean

and we've seen food from Asia.

He's only got three things to do.

I think Theo may do all of this in ten minutes

and have nothing to do and then maybe set light to the kitchen.

Well, I'm a quarterfinalist.

So, I can, sort of, hold my head up high

and if I get booted out today, you know, I've not done bad,

but I'd be gutted.

I want to go to the semifinals.

I want the finals.

Don't tell anyone, but I want to win as well.

-You all right, Theo?

-Yeah, very well.

A couple things I'm not 100% on, but I think I'm getting there.

Tell me what's bothering you.

My gnocchi. Whenever I've made gnocchi in the past,

I've put egg in it and this hasn't got any eggs.

And these are not feeling like the right consistency

to what I normally make them.

I was worried that there wouldn't be enough to keep you occupied

and you might get bored.

Well, no, I've had to do the sauce a couple of times.

The gnocchi I've done a test run with.

So, you know, it's kept me on my toes more than plenty, to be honest.

Best of luck, mate.

Thank you very much.

You're halfway.

You've got 35 minutes left.

Anna, I love her food. And up till now her food has been big.

It's been hearty.

It's been generous.

This is a lot more refined.

I don't think food has to be flash to taste really good.

I think you can take simple ingredients and as long as

you put them together well, then I think you can have an amazing dish.

Anna, this didn't seem the happiest of benches a little while ago.

-It wasn't. No.

-Why?

Because I've never cooked gnocchi before and I don't like mushrooms.

So, how are you going to taste it and know it's right?

I've done it more on smell.

That mushroom sauce needs to be smoky.

It needs to be rich and it needs to be a little bit creamy as well.

And just cling to the outside of that gnocchi.

And it can't be too strong.

Joe, we know, loves classic food, classic technique.

And it doesn't get more classic than this.

I'm hoping for good things from Joe.

I'm getting more and more confident

that other people actually like my food and I'm not just deluded.

I'm just so excited that people want to eat more of my food.

They're going to get some real treats from me.

How do you feel about Italian food, Joe?

I love eating it. I love cooking it.

Have you made gnocchi before?

One of my daughter's favourite dishes, actually. So...

Now, it wouldn't be you if you didn't use butter.

How much butter have you put in there,

a whole pack, two packs, three packs?

No, not even a quarter of a pack yet.

"Yet" being the operative word.

Your final ten minutes, everybody.

Just ten minutes left.

Sauce, gnocchi, chicken.

Got to put creme fraiche in my sauce.

My chicken's in the oven.

It's almost there.

Then hopefully it will start coming together

unless I've completely messed up and left something out.

But...hopefully I haven't.

Finishing touches, guys, please.

Time's up!

That's it. Stop.

Luke.

Your gnocchi are nice.

Really quite soft and a lovely flavour of tarragon.

Your chicken is moist.

However, the skin on the chicken isn't crispy

and your mushroom sauce isn't thick and creamy.

The prominent flavour on that dish is tarragon and chicken.

Not bad,

but not a voluptuous feast.

I guess, it is the sort of the first bit of negative feedback I've had,

but it was going to happen, you know, at some point.

Anna.

Textures here are brilliant.

Great chicken, great gnocchi.

The flavours are a little lacking.

You need seasoning, you need tarragon.

And that mushroom sauce is too strong.

You need a lot more tarragon in your gnocchi.

And you definitely need to go and touch the pepper pot.

Mmm.

Yeah, I think I did make the best of a bad situation.

Not too bad. Maybe I'll become a lover of mushrooms one day.

Joe Joe.

Your dish is subtle, Joe, and it shouldn't be subtle.

It should be bold.

I think the mushroom sauce just needs to cook a little bit longer.

And you need a lot more tarragon in your gnocchi.

But not bad.

I don't think you're that far away, actually.

Your chicken is moist. Your gnocchi are light.

The mushroom sauce does have enough strength.

Almost.

Well, I'm feeling pretty up beat.

Some really positive comments.

And I really am getting my groove on, so to speak.

Theo, in your sauce...

..what is it? Cos it's definitely not the sauce that John made.

It looks to me like you've got gnocchi in chicken gravy.

That's what it looks like.

Your chicken is nice and moist,

but your gnocchi are too dense.

I agree with Gregg. But what I'll tell you I'm really impressed about

is the flavour of that sauce.

Lovely and rich with mushrooms

and actually it's a really nice sauce with the chicken which is moist.

I didn't really create what John made,

but I think it tasted pretty good. So...

Yeah, I'm sort of really torn on it. Really torn. 50-50, really.

Nobody going home at this stage of the competition,

but one more test to go.

They have to cook one exceptional dish.

And we've invited Jay Rayner, the restaurant critic, to taste with us.

I grew up in a very noisy, Northwest London Jewish family.

Not religious at all, but I was a Jew by food, basically.

We communicated over the dinner table

and restaurants were quite a big thing, too.

The moment I stepped foot inside restaurants, I thought,

"This is fantastic! This is like theatre with nibbles."

So, it was always a big part of my life.

I've been reviewing restaurants, now, for almost 15 years.

Coming across someone that very few people have heard of,

who can really cook, well that's fantastic.

Best feeling in the world!

We want one exceptional dish in 80 minutes

and, at the end of that,

only two of you will stay in the competition.

Off you go.

Luke, you seem to be bouncing around happily.

Yeah, I love making this dish.

Tell me what it is exactly you are making.

Ravioli of pancetta, potato and asparagus.

Inside that there's going to be not one, but two quail's yolks.

So, it's like a double yolk-er ravioli.

You want to stay in the competition?

Oh, yeah! Yeah, I love cooking in the kitchen!

The stress of it is sort of like...it's brilliant!

Best of luck, mate.

Thank you.

I'm making my own pasta.

I have a flour to egg ratio.

So, the first thing I'll be doing is weighing out my egg

and dividing by 0.47

and that will tell me how much flour I need to use.

Luke's doing sums and multiplications and all sorts of things,

but he's not doing science to create something weird and mysterious.

He's using precision to take everyday ingredients

and make them really special.

It's really quite exciting!

-Hello, Joe.

-Hello.

What is the dish that all your hopes are riding on?

Pan-fried fillet of pork

with a glazed pig's cheek.

I've got some truffled swede,

carrot puree and spring greens.

You've got ceps there as well.

Yes, I forgot about them. With ceps as well.

What have you got to do today to make sure you go through?

Make sure them pig's cheeks are cooked.

If they are done, everything's going to be fine.

Joe has got an extraordinary array of things on his plate.

Now, add to that flavours of truffle, paprika,

cider all those things come together...

I think we are in danger of throwing too much at a plate.

The competition has been very hard work physically and mentally,

erm, and emotionally as well.

But it's pressure to perform at the best of your abilities

and that's what I'm here for.

30 minutes left.

Just 30 minutes.

What are you making?

I'm doing pork chop with parsnip dauphinoises, red cabbage,

some pork and sage bonbons.

What's a pork bonbon?

It's... You know, when you were kids and you had those little sweets?

It's like that but with pork.

We wanted exceptional.

-Yes.

-Is it?

Yes, I think so.

I think people think when they hear that I'm doing a pork chop,

they're a bit surprised,

but, actually, I think this will prove

that I can cook every day food, but really well.

It's all about the oxtail.

This gorgeous filling for my ravioli.

There's nothing else really to show off.

So, if the oxtail doesn't work, I am kaput.

We've seen you start cooking in Greece.

You, then, took us to Asia.

Today, Italy.

Erm, this dish really came about...

Cos if it was me at home,

I would have a big, slow-cooked bowl of oxtail,

bottle of wine, a bit of bread and I'd devour the lot.

My wife isn't keen on sitting

and having a big bowl of oxtail with nothing else.

So, I came up with taking that meat

and that flavour but packaging it

in something that's pretty and nice and civilised

that my wife would like.

How good is it going to be?

It's going to be awesome!

-Happy?

-Chuffed.

Quarterfinal day, two egg yolk raviolis...

..and two pork dishes.

Who would have thought?

Crazy, but you've only got 15 minutes left.

When John and Gregg talk about the food,

they generally have contestants in front of them

and reasonable manners kick in

because we're all normal human beings.

But there's no point in having me in there,

if I'm going to soft-soap them.

If the dish hasn't worked,

I'm going to have to say

cos that's what I'm there for.

Not quite there. They're not a disaster,

but they're not as soft as I want them to be.

Last three minutes.

That's it! Stop!

Because this is so important,

we're bringing in somebody else to taste with us.

Someone who is brutally honest about what he thinks.

Restaurant critic Jay Rayner.

Good to see you.

John.

Luke, could you bring your plate up, please?

Luke has served ravioli filled with pancetta, asparagus,

mashed potato, Parmesan

and two quail's egg yolks.

They're topped with brown sage butter and panko breadcrumbs.

Are you hoping they're liquid, yet, egg yolks when we cut into them?

I'm really hoping so, yes.

Oh, yeah!

The yolk is running.

That is very hard to get right.

Congratulations on the pasta.

It's not easy to make thin pasta on something this size.

My one question would be,

there's mashed potato in there as well?

Elements, yeah.

Yeah, so, you're, sort of, carb-squared,

but on all the technical stuff,

on getting an egg yolk to run, on making pasta...

That's a pretty damn good job!

The ravioli is just stunningly beautiful.

As light as you can get.

The pancetta is the smoky saltiness,

but we need more.

Flavours are slightly lacking.

I agree. I think it could probably do with a little bit more flavour,

but I think what you've got here is

the nucleus of absolute brilliance.

So, it's nearly all the way there.

Just, erm, just improve on that flavour.

Oh, I hope this isn't the last time I'm sat in Big Bluey!

It's ravioli day!

Theo's ravioli are filled with a poached quail's egg

and slow-cooked oxtail flavoured with star anise.

they're served on spinach and Parmesan puree with caramelized shallots

and buttered leeks, topped with walnuts.

Ah...

..I'm afraid that one is set.

Yeah, fair enough.

I'm a big fan of oxtail and in the time you've had

I think you've done a pretty amazing

-job to get lots and lots of flavour out of that.

-Thank you.

The ravioli is a bit heavy around the edges,

but the essentials are all there.

Your ravioli is majestic.

I mean, that sticky, chewy oxtail flavoured with aniseed

from star anise, that is just fantastic!

I don't see the point of anything else at all

that you've put on that plate.

Oh, wow! OK.

The thing is with this, Theo, is you're demonstrating skill,

but your chucking too many flavours at the plate.

You said that your wife didn't like a big bowl of oxtail

-and a glass of red wine.

-Yeah.

Well, I think it's time for you to swap wives, mate.

Or marry me it's fine.

They polished off all of the ravioli.

They just didn't eat anything else.

So, yeah, I don't know.

Joe has served pork fillet with bacon, crumb and truffle,

slow-cooked glaze pig cheek,

spiced carrot puree,

braised baby leeks, spring greens,

truffled swede and ceps

and a cider sauce.

That looks fantastic!

Thank you.

The great thing about pork is it's full of fat,

but the pork fillet, that's the one bit of the pig that isn't.

So, you've got to have done a really brilliant job

to get flavour out of that.

And the cheek hasn't really been cooked for long enough.

So, it's, sort of, sadly, it's not doing it for me.

There are some beautiful flavours on there,

but I'm not convinced that they all belong together.

Believe in that little bit, that gem,

that beautiful bit of swede and truffle with a piece of pork.

-That's all you need.

-Yeah.

Didn't go as brilliantly as I thought it was going to,

but it wasn't an absolute disaster.

So...

..it's on a knife edge. I think 50-50.

Finally, Anna has cooked a pork chop

with parsnip gratin,

braised red cabbage,

pork and stuffing bonbons

and an apple cider and sage sauce.

So, the pork chop on end...

If it stands up like that, I feel it should be there.

I like a bit of height in my dish.

Maybe, that's how they built Stonehenge.

If Stonehenge was built out of pork chops,

I would have gone to see it years ago.

This is basically a Sunday lunch in high heels.

But there are some things that are, kind of, off.

So, your dauphinoises is just a little under seasoned.

The pork I'm afraid it's pretty damn dry.

Bud I do like your pork and sage stuffing balls.

You can call them bonbons, if you like.

Some great ideas. There's stuff here that I really like.

Your crackling is great. It's crispy and salty.

Love the idea of parsnip dauphinoises,

but the parsnips need to be a bit softer.

Your red cabbage, I think, is lovely and tasty with the crackling

and your tasty bits of parsnips.

But it does need a sauce

and that pork chop needs to be cooked properly

and be lovely and moist.

I think that was one of the weakest things that I've cooked.

I needed to really up my game in this round and I just didn't.

Jay, it's been great.

Thank you for inviting me to your table.

See you soon.

For me, there's one person in here,

who stands out like a sore thumb, in a very good way.

Luke's an amazing cook.

Just seems to have endless knowledge and endless technique.

But I want his food to taste good, John.

And today it was a little lacking.

Anna's food is from the heart and from the soul.

Pork, parsnip, apple sauce, red cabbage and stuffing...

It should have tasted of Christmas and it didn't.

It, sort of, felt a bit short of that, which is a shame.

Joe put a lot of work into his food today.

I mean, he really did.

That puree of swede with the truffle and the ceps was delicious,

but the cooking was not quite where it should be.

Theo made me really lovely oxtail ravioli.

And for reasons best known to himself,

he stuck three pyramids of enormous leek

and some pickled onions.

He just keeps on putting stuff on the plate that doesn't actually belong.

The ravioli was stunning.

We have to make a decision.

We have to choose two.

Fantastic quarterfinal.

You really have done yourselves proud.

Two of you are going through to the next round.

The first person going through...

..is Luke.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Our second cook...

..is Theo. Congratulations.

I am feeling a little bit of relieve at the moment.

But it has been an absolute brilliant experience.

Everyone's been so lovely

and it's been fun as well.

I'm out of the way I performed.

Would have liked to have gone further,

but ultimately it wasn't meant to be.

Oh, I'm dancing off the walls!

I can't believe it! Is it wrong if I ask you to slap me right now?

I feel like I need a reality check.

Here's to ravioli.

It's just the best feeling in the world. Absolutely brilliant.

Erm, today was tough again.

The standard was ridiculous.

I really thought I was going home.

This tastes amazing right now.

It's definitely the best glass of champagne I've had in my life.

Next week, the last 12 battle it out

for a place in Friday's quarterfinal.

Whoa!

I don't get it. I've been cheated.

This is really orgasmic.