Episode 17 MasterChef

It's the MasterChef knockout week.

After five weeks of heats,

the ten best amateur cooks have been split into two groups.

Tonight, the second group of five is back

to fight for their place in Friday's show.

For the first time they'll be thrown into a professional kitchen.

Two trout, now! We go! We go!

I'm not going under. I'm not letting the nerves get to me any more.

It is absolutely crazy.

Then they will return to MasterChef HQ

to face their biggest challenge so far.

At the end of today, one of them will be going home.

As excited as I may be, our cooks have to perform

and now is the time for them to impress.

Any slip up now, you're dead. Dead!

Welcome back.

There are great cooks left in this competition,

and you are five of them.

This is where it gets really interesting.

Now, for the first time you are going to cook in a professional kitchen.

You've got to do us proud, guys.

You've got to grab hold of it and you've got to run with it.

Now go and get your chef's whites on. Go on. Off you go.

Cooking in the MasterChef kitchens is really daunting.

Cooking in a professional kitchen

just takes it to a whole new level of scariness.

Angela does flavour. That girl can cook.

Her chicken with tarragon sauce was absolutely superb.

Robert entered the competition and he was a daring cook,

but as the competition's gone on, Robert's got more and more clarity.

Those livers with the onions, they were absolutely delicious.

The whole thing is going to be a lot of pressure,

but that's why we're all here.

We're here because we want to be tested.

Luke is so good in my opinion, I have never seen anybody in

the inventions test make cubes out of tofu and cover them in sesame.

There's a lot of pressure involved with this challenge,

cooking for paying public. That's worrying.

Dani's a classic cook, but inspired by Spain.

He gives himself huge amounts of work to do,

and we doubt he can get it done,

but he does, he achieves it.

I can't wait. I'm so excited for this one.

I just can't wait to get in there.

Sophie's got real style. Her food is gutsy and it's bold.

We saw that with her calling card - Sardinian pasta

and those clams running through it, which were absolutely wonderful.

In a professional kitchen, I think it's going to be incredibly tough.

It's early morning in King's Cross

and the contestants are heading to the Grain Store.

This 150-cover restaurant is the brainchild of chef Bruno Loubet.

One beef. One large risotto. One rabbit.

Classically trained and Michelin star awarded, he's now pushing the

boundaries with dishes focusing on the vegetables rather than the meat.

The food at the Grain Store is quite different.

I mean, it's an idea I had for many years.

The veg is the star on the plate basically,

which means there is a lot of prep.

The meat, it come in second place.

It's a different approach

and obviously chefs have to adapt to that.

Even with professional chefs in the kitchen, I'm very hands-on,

so when I'm around, they know I'm around

and they know things have to be done right.

It's a pressure, but this is a healthy pressure.

Service.

Good morning, guys. Welcome to Grain Store.

We are very busy for lunch.

Here we do a lot of prep with the vegetables,

so I suggest we crack on.

Although they will have sous chefs standing by,

the five amateurs will be responsible for every dish on

the lunchtime menu, during both prep and service.

Pub manager Dani is making one of the two starters -

butternut squash ravioli with deep-fried sage, rocket

and mustard apricots,

served with beurre noisette and pumpkin seed oil.

What do you think? Well seasoned?

Good?

So what we're looking for is for you to make these beautiful...

little ravioli, really plumpy. We want a nice bump on the top.

During the service you will have to time your pasta properly.

How you are with your timing?

-You good with timing?

-Must be, in a few hours.

-Have you done a lot of pasta dishes before?

-I've done pasta once.

-Once?!

-You only have a few hundred to do this morning.

-Fine.

By the end you should be a pasta master.

One of the biggest worries I've got is with the ravioli.

I've made pasta once, but they never looked like them.

I mean, the ravioli he's just shown me,

probably the best I've ever seen.

Today you're going to be in charge of this dish, which is the starter.

You will have quite a lot to do.

Pre-school teacher Sophie will have to make the caramelised pork belly

and grilled leeks with pickled walnuts, apple salsa,

pork skin crisps and a pork jus.

The particularly of this dish is the use of the leeks.

What we do, it sounds bizarre,

but basically we burn them in a wood-burning oven

and then we take out the first two layers and we end up with this.

So that's what you have to do during your prep.

Then we have this lovely pork skin which has been cooked in a stock

and sliced very finely and bake.

So during the service you will have to put them under

-the grill a bit to crisp up even more.

-Brilliant.

I'm feeling terrified.

That's going to be so much to do.

But I want to get cracking and get started

and give it a really good go, but I am really scared.

Lindyhop dancer Robert is cooking one of the three mains -

a trio of root vegetable purees, braised beef cheek,

wood roast onions and a beef jus.

This dish is so honest that it needs to be presented perfectly.

The three purees make a beautiful, nice, plumpy,

generous quenelle on the plate.

Robert, it's really important that you start off with your beef straightaway

cos it will take a long time to braise.

What we want is to cook it slowly so it's nice and moist.

-Looks sensational.

-Think you can do that?

-I hope so.

-Well, I hope so as well.

-Wow.

The food looks fantastic.

As long as I can cope with the prep and get the beef braised in time,

then it's literally just plating, I think.

Angela, today you're going to be responsible of this dish

which is a main course.

Businesswoman Angela's dish is a wild mushroom,

celeriac and trevisse salad,

topped with a fried quail marinated in buttermilk and rosemary.

-You have to be careful with your timing.

-Yeah.

The quail need to fried at the same time as your mushroom is going on.

-And how long does that take, the quail?

-A few minutes.

-It's not long, is it?

-No, not long.

OK. That looks really difficult.

No, it's not.

-A bit of love, and it just happened, you know?

-Yeah, OK.

I'm really excited and really nervous as well.

It's going to all be about timing and working calmly

and not getting in a fluster and... Yeah.

Robotics engineer Luke has the final main on the menu -

a Vietnamese salad topped with sea trout and seared squid.

In this dish, obviously the salad play a big role in the dish,

so we want everything to be shredded nicely. Everything thin.

So it all come together with this beautiful fragrant dressing.

That's very important.

The trout, as I say, you can cook it nice and slowly

and have good control.

And your squid, you can give a bit more heat because it's quite wet,

otherwise it will boil in the juice, which we don't want.

Do you have any concern about the dish?

Or do you think you'll be able to cope during the service?

I'm really looking forward to it. This is brilliant.

This is exactly my kind of thing. I've been very fortunate.

I'm really excited. I can't wait to go.

Yeah, it's going to be brilliant.

The timing's going to be interesting because it doesn't take long to do

the actual cooking, but if I can get on top of that, I think I'll be OK.

There are three hours of prep before service starts at midday

and the restaurant is expecting around 60 covers.

The food we're doing here is not only about the service,

it's also the attention you give to the product beforehand.

To make a pork jus to Bruno's standard,

Sophie needs to braise the bones perfectly.

Put a little bit more oil on this, otherwise it's too dry and...

That's olive oil.

Oh, that's what I've used! That's what I've used.

It's all right. It's OK.

That's vegetable oil.

I'm feeling quite stressed.

There's a lot do to and there's just not a huge amount of time.

Across the kitchen, Angela is struggling with bones of her own

as she has to prep 20 quail.

Make sure before you go down, you always know your fingers are away.

-Yeah.

-So look, my fingers are here.

Now I can go.

-OK.

-The same here.

-I may try the little knife first.

-OK.

Really difficult.

I've never done anything like this before,

which is slightly daunting, but...

..I'm going to do it.

Robert's under pressure to prep the beef cheeks

as they need to slow cook for three hours.

The first job, I'm just caramelising off the meat, browning it,

getting some flavour in it.

It needs to braise for a quite a period of time.

I just need to get on as quickly as possible

so it goes in the oven and hopefully it's going to be ready on time.

This is my absolutely favourite type of food. I love slow-cooking.

I'm relishing it.

Over on the starters, Dani has already begun to make the ravioli.

This is the pasta dough.

I've just mixed it up in the blender,

now I need to bring it together.

The butternut squash ravioli, this is quite a technical dish.

Pasta dough have to be the perfect consistency.

If it's too dry, it will crack when you make the ravioli

and obviously during the cooking, that will be a big problem.

Pressure's on at the moment just to get this pasta done.

Once I've got the dough done, I'll be happy.

It's an hour in

and Robert's managed to get the beef cheeks in to slow cook...

Three hours' time, we'll have some lovely beef.

Which will be an hour after service starts.

-Well, we'll have some ready.

-Wonderful.

But Sophie still needs to blacken the leeks

-for her pork and leek starter...

-I'm scared.

..which will be one of the first dishes to go out.

They've got to be burnt on the outside

so the juice of the leeks start to steam the leek on the inside,

so the leek is actually cooked all the way through.

And then we'll lose the burnt exterior

and then we'll just have lovely smoky, soft, perfectly cooked leek.

Having boned the quails, Angela needs to get the marinade made

so that it has time to work.

You put straightaway on your quail so they have the time to marinate.

It's very important because you tenderise them as well.

Not only season them, but you tenderise them.

-Does the buttermilk do that as well?

-Yes.

So it's quite important to put the marinade there

so they have a bit of time.

I'm quite good at seasoning normally.

Because it's big quantities, you think, "Is that enough? Is that not enough?

"I don't want it to be too salty, but I want it to be nice,"

but, yeah, I think it's good.

Angela seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing.

Now she just start to pick up speed, so we see her develop.

I was really nervy, and now I'm in here I'm really enjoying it

and I'm just getting on with it, so yeah,

I feel better now that I'm here.

It's halfway through prep

and Luke's almost finished all the veg for his Vietnamese salad.

The particularly of this dish is all the veg has to be prepared

real nicely in the morning.

They have to be washed, they have to be sliced, they have to be cut

very thinly to a style we call in chefy world "julienne".

This dish is so simple, I need it to be perfect.

The salad has got lots of different elements to it.

You've got the carrot, the cucumber, the mooli,

the Chinese cabbage, the spring onions, the peanuts,

the sesame seeds, the mint, the coriander and then the dressing.

So it's getting the balance and everything right with that.

That is a lot of ingredients.

Everybody listen, please.

We have to look professional, as professional as possible.

You work in a professional kitchen now, so let's be professional.

Well, they're looking quite burnt, which is a good thing,

but I think some of them could do with being a bit softer.

This is uncharted territory.

So I'm reckoning...

I'm reckoning that's done.

-Chef, is this OK?

-Yes. The leeks look beautiful. Perfect.

Soft inside, lightly burned on the outside. That's good.

Great. Thank you.

-How are you doing?

-Yeah, OK.

Vegetables took a lot longer to chop than I was expecting.

With an hour till service starts,

Luke turns to filleting 20 portions of sea trout.

I have filleted fish before, never trout, never anything of this size.

Hopefully I'm doing all right.

-We're getting a little bit rough.

-Yeah, a little bit.

It's like we've bruised it slightly. You've worked with it too much.

If you're overworking the fish,

they get loose and you're going to get a really squashy, sludgy fish.

-OK.

-It's not what we're looking for at all.

Remember, we only have half an hour. You need to push now.

You need to go because in half an hour I'm going to come down on you.

With service approaching and Sophie's starter first to go,

time's running out to finish her apple and walnut salsa.

Quite a lot to do and I'm just frustrated cos I know that

if I were a professional chef I'd be going...

And I just don't have the knife skills,

so I'm feeling like a bit of an idiot right now, it's annoying me.

Dani's under pressure too as he has the other starter

and needs to finish over 100 ravioli.

So much prep. You just don't realise how much prep's involved.

If they look great, they will cook very well.

If they look a bit flat

and the filling is oozing a bit on the side then things will go wrong.

Yeah, I'm happy.

The pasta didn't break and they've got height

and there's no air in them.

That looks good. Just some air bubble in there, but it's not bad.

-For a first go, it's good.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Oh. I didn't realise you cut them already.

-No.

-Just use...

-Oh, you push too much.

-They are cut already.

-I've just been pressing them...

With the wrong side. So they are cut.

We may have an issue then.

-They should be...

-Yeah, I completely understand.

-And then you cut...

Let's try one. It may work.

It won't look fantastic, but at least we try, quickly.

We may have a little issue there. Maybe they're going to burst.

Apparently I pressed them too hard cos I thought that was just

the way they were going to cut out, but can never be too confident.

-It's going to be all right.

-It's OK, Chef?

-Yeah.

-Sorry about that, Chef.

-That's all right.

At least we managed to save it.

-It's fine. Just go because we need to go a long way still.

-OK, Chef.

We're back on track. I'm just glad the pasta never broke.

Robert is calmly prepping his purees.

I've got three purees to make. Mash to do first.

There's no sense of panic... but perhaps there should be.

-You have to go faster.

-OK.

-Pan. Milk. Go.

Now it feels quite tense.

There's a sense of something's coming and it's coming soon.

With ten minutes to go, these amateurs are about to experience

their first professional service

and they will have the added pressure of being visible to the diners.

I think it's a lot harder cos it's an open kitchen

because everyone can see them.

They're going to be even more self-conscious.

If you burn something, people are going to know,

but hopefully that won't happen.

Come on, let's get set up! Anyone here? Hello?

FAINT RESPONSE FROM STAFF Come on!

It's dawning on us what's happening

and the chefs are getting a bit shouty now.

OK, for the starter, the pork and the ravioli. It will go first.

I'm feeling slightly nervous for lunch.

When you start, you better be ready.

Can I have the grilled leeks and pork belly.

Can I have the butternut squash, please.

OK. An order.

-One pork. One ravioli.

-Yes, Chef.

-Yes, Chef.

Bruno wants his diners served in minutes,

so Sophie and Dani have to work quickly.

Three ravioli. Two pork.

Sophie has prepped the leeks, but she still has to caramelise

the pork belly and crisp up the pork crackling.

Dress your leeks the time this cook. You put your leeks on the plate

and by that time your pork will be ready.

We finish this one. Quick.

Dani's ravioli must also be cooked to order and the salad assembled.

This is intense.

Scary.

-There you go, Chef.

-OK, thanks.

That's good. Service.

-One ravioli. One pork belly.

-Yes, Chef.

Dani and Sophie are the only ones making starters

and the orders are now rushing in.

-Four pork. Four ravioli.

-BOTH:

-Yes, Chef.

I don't know what I'm doing.

After this ravioli, you do three pork belly and two ravioli, Dani.

Yes, Chef.

I'm completely stunned. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thank goodness Chef is telling me what's coming up next.

Fast, fast. Push, push. Come on.

-I can't work fast enough.

-Can I get some more Parmesan, please.

I got three at the moment.

I know there's probably about 16 of them, but I've got three.

-That's how many he wants now.

-Come on, come one, come on.

Thank you. Be careful, it's getting a bit smaller.

Make sure you keep the size.

Table 16.

18, quick.

17, please.

Speed is a bit slow, I mean,

usually we work quicker in an environment like here.

It's really lovely flavours. I love the crackling, it's great.

And it just really worked well as a dish, I thought.

It's gorgeous. It's really lovely.

It's so soft and the pasta's so thin.

It's delicious.

Thank you so much.

With service in full swing, there's no let-up for Sophie and Dani.

-Two pork belly. Two ravioli.

-Yes, Chef.

-Yes, Chef.

-You have to start to accelerate.

-Yes, Chef.

-We have to go quicker now.

I'm not going under. I'm not letting the nerves get to me any more.

-Push, push, push. Faster, faster.

-Yes, Chef.

We have a lot to go now.

I'm just a bit slow and the Chef's getting a bit cross.

And under the pressure,

Sophie takes her eye off the grilled pork crackling.

Just got to focus and do better.

Service.

-Come on, guys. We have only two tables to go now.

-Yes, Chef.

-Serving, Chef.

-Thank you.

OK, three pork and we finish.

-Do you want me to give you a hand?

-Uh...OK.

-How many slices?

-Three.

OK, thank you.

That's table 2.

Table 2.

-Wow.

-Wonderful. I'm jealous.

I like the look of that. Thank you very much.

Really well-cooked dish here from Sophie. Really well presented.

There's a lot of things going on this plate.

I love the fact that the pork is crispy on the outside.

The leeks are lovely and soft. It's really lovely. Really like it.

Dani's starter is lovely. That ravioli is perfectly sealed.

He seasoned it brilliantly with the Parmesan cheese.

And the sweetness of that apricot is lovely. Really lovely.

Well done, guys. That was good.

The starter was really good, so that's the first thing.

Was a bit slow, you have to really get up and go with it to deliver.

The starter was pretty good, so well done.

-Thank you, Chef.

-Have a little rest.

Thank you, my love.

I think I did OK.

I just want to go back in. I just want to go back in and help.

It was very hot and very fast...

and quite scary.

With all the starters away,

orders for the main courses start to come in.

Can I have the beef, please.

I'll have the squid, please.

Now the pressure moves on to Robert, Angela and Luke.

One beef. One sea trout.

One beef. One trout. Away. Yes?

-Yes, Chef.

-Can you answer, please.

-Can you answer?

-Yes, Chef.

Luke and Robert need to time their dishes to arrive at the pass together.

When will yours be ready?

Well, my beef is pretty well warm, so it should only be a few minutes.

I can be ready in five minutes.

-We go. One beef. One trout.

-OK.

Luke needs to dress his salad,

but first must perfectly cook the trout and squid to order.

I'm cooking things here that can be overcooked very easily.

You've got a hot plate here, it's different temperatures all over.

It's a challenge. It's good, though.

Come on, guys, you have to go fast. Start to dress.

With the beef cheeks cooked,

Robert's main challenge is plating up.

This one here is probably the hardest bit - the quenelle.

You have to be plumpy, it's about the veg.

Remember what I said this morning?

Garnish become a very important part of the dish,

so we want nice, plumpy quenelle.

OK. Is that the best you can do with your quenelle?

I think it probably is.

-Are you happy with that going out?

-No, I'm not.

-We need to do another one.

-OK.

That's better. You're getting there.

OK, that's fine. Yes.

Service.

Could have been a little bit tidier on the plates.

I ordered the squid. But the fish is very nice, very crispy.

And the vegetables are nice and well seasoned.

-Two trout. One beef. One quail.

-Yes, Chef.

It's Angela's turn to deliver - she must batter and deep-fry her quail,

as well as cook the celeriac cubes and mushrooms to order.

It's hectic. Very busy. Trying to keep it all together...

and get it all done in time.

Can we hurry up with the quail, please.

Come on, you only have one quail to do.

Do the salad first.

OK, go on with the quail.

OK, come on, come on. We need to go.

That's table 16, please. Service. Thank you.

I had the sauteed mushrooms and the buttermilk quail.

I thought it was really beautiful, actually.

Each element seems really well cooked.

If I was going to give it a down point it would be on

the presentation, but taste-wise, absolutely perfect.

It's over halfway through service

and orders are flying in for all three main courses.

Come on, guys, you have to push, you have to push.

You have to go quicker.

Come on. Put a bit more mash in there. You haven't got enough.

On the beef dish, Robert's still trying to perfect his quenelles.

Ah!

Quenelling isn't easy. It's a nightmare.

-I do this one and you do the next one.

-OK.

Start the beef.

Yeah, I think I have to step in because he's taking a bit long

and we have quite a few orders to come out.

OK, you finish your plate. Onions. Go.

-Trout nearly ready?

-Yeah. Two minutes.

-Come on.

It's like nothing I've ever done before.

Just making sure the skin's crispy and the palms of my hands.

Two trout, now.

We don't want any burnt skin, yeah?

Can we go or not?

This one is on the limit. No, we don't go. Turn another one.

With multiple orders on the go, Angela's struggling with the pace.

I've got a few more minutes on my quail, it's not in yet.

Everything's done last-minute.

It's just trying to get everything done at the same time.

Very slow.

I'm not used to so slow.

Now we're going with three quail. One beef. Three trout.

Yes, Chef.

Make sure your last plate is perfect.

This is the last chance to get it right.

This is the most beautiful plate you ever dress.

-You have to finish...

-Finish in style.

You're looking slightly better than the beginning of the service.

It's all about confidence.

-Three quail, yes?

-Yes, Chef.

How many am I doing? Three.

Come on, guys, we're nearly there. We go all together as a team.

You cook for your friend, you cook for your family.

-Cook for love.

-Yeah.

Can you finish the trout, please, quick.

-We need now. Quick. We're waiting.

-Yeah, sure.

It is absolutely crazy.

Quick, quick. We have to go quick now.

Service.

-Marvellous.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Marvellous stuff.

-Fantastic, thank you.

This is Luke's squid with the trout.

Look how light and delicate that is, John.

The squid just needs a little bit less time,

but I like the sea trout, I like the vegetables.

Lovely crust, really lovely crispy skin. I like the dressing.

It's really nice, really refreshing.

That was exhausting. It was pretty intense.

Well done, Angela.

That quail - crispy on the outside, beautiful, and really moist inside.

Dish of the day for me.

That was one of the most exhilarating experiences

that I've ever had. It was fabulous.

Robert hasn't quite mastered how to do a quenelle,

which is a shame, really.

But the carrot and the beetroot puree are perfectly made.

The beef is lovely.

It's falling apart, it's sweet and it's sticky.

Incredible buzz. Just a really exciting thing to do.

OK, guys, service over.

Now we clear everything, we clean the place.

The standard was good. The delivering a bit slow, you know?

I think Dani was very confident during the service.

He seemed to be in control and aware of what's going on,

and he's definitely a team player, which I like.

I want this, you know? This is what I want to do.

It's just intense, but I love it, you know? I just love the pressure.

Sophie, she was all right, but she seemed to think

everybody is waiting for her or something, you know?

She didn't seem to work as a team.

I found it absolutely impossible to keep track of how many

I was meant to do for the next order.

I was just slow. Slow.

Angela, she seemed to understand the whole concept of the dish.

On the whole, she's done a very good job,

but a bit more pressure and we will have a lot of problems.

I thought I'd crumble under the pressure of it.

I did better than I thought I would, and I really enjoyed it.

Robert was doing the beef.

We did have a bit of an issue with the presentation.

It seemed to be a bit clumsy.

I loved everything, apart from my big stumbling block,

was the dreaded quenelle.

And I think I'll be dreaming about them tonight.

Luke probably had the easiest dish,

but I believe that even if he had a dish a bit more complicated

he would have done quite well.

It was really good fun.

I knew it was going to be intense, I didn't realise quite how intense.

It was a great day.

That was a really great day.

The food that came from that kitchen was extraordinary.

We finally gave our five amateurs the opportunity that they wanted -

to work in a professional kitchen.

But now they've got a tough test.

I think this lesson will hold them all in very good stead.

Welcome back from your first big MasterChef adventure.

I really hope you got inspiration from your time in the kitchen.

And I'd like to see that inspiration now.

Today we're going to ask you to do just one thing.

Invent for us one exceptional dish.

Ten minutes to create that dish and then 80 minutes to cook it.

Come and get your ingredients.

Today's ingredients consist of a variety of meats and fish,

including grouse, squab pigeon, lamb, gurnard, sole and oysters...

..a selection of fruit and vegetables...

..as well as an extensive larder.

You've got just 60 seconds to make your mind up.

Luke, you need to make a decision, quick.

This is an important part of the competition.

It's getting serious.

So serious we've actually invited somebody in today

to taste your food with us.

Two-starred Michelin chef Marcus Wareing.

Today is really important, and I hope you've chosen wisely.

Because at the end of this, one of you is leaving the competition.

You've got 80 minutes.

Over to you. Off you go.

Exciting day here, but very, very nervous cooks.

Our five heard "Marcus Wareing" and literally all froze.

To be honest, I try not to think about who I'm cooking for.

Obviously, it's an extra level of pressure which I don't need,

so I'm just ignoring it.

-Luke.

-Yes.

You selected your ingredients

as if you were making five different dishes.

Put things in the box, took things out of the box,

put things in the box, took things out -

have you decided what you're going to cook for us?

I have decided now, yes. I'm cooking profiteroles.

They're going to have an orange cream inside,

and there's going to be grated chocolate on top of that.

I'm making a salted caramel sauce.

Then I've got hazelnuts to garnish and, yeah, that's where we are.

Do you not think it's a bold fellow that serves a profiterole

-up in front of a Michelin-starred chef?

-Yeah.

It is what it is. You've just got to elevate it to the next level,

and hopefully I'm doing that.

-What can go wrong with this dish?

-I've got to nail the pastry.

I can't have soggy profiteroles.

The presentation's going to be important.

Hopefully I can take some of what I saw in the professional kitchen

and apply that kind of presentation to what I'm going to cook today.

Luke, good luck.

Thank you.

Luke is making us profiteroles.

Timing's getting fun now!

Right now he's on his second batch of choux pastry,

cos the first one's gone a little bit awry.

And if that second batch of choux pastry doesn't work for Luke,

bam!

It's going to be a sad day.

To cook for Marcus, it's just like - boom.

I mean, that is it - you've hit it, haven't you?

A chef with two stars.

They don't come much bigger, do they?

-El Dani.

-How you doing?

Are we going to get something Spanish?

No, I'm going for game.

I've never done it before, but I'm going to do it three ways.

I'm going to do a roasted breast, a game and prune sausage,

and I'm trying to confit some legs, here.

Then I want to do a sauce with the pancetta and prunes,

sprout puree and - yeah, that's where I'm up to so far.

I may have said this before - wouldn't it be better

if you did less things and gave yourself some more time?

And we're calmer.

Yeah, I don't know - it's just the way I am.

I've always been like this, I'm a bit all over the place.

I just need to show you I can go all-out.

Why do it one way when I can do it three ways?

Because one day you may not have time to go all-out,

and you'll end up just being out.

Yeah, well, hopefully being in the restaurant has shown me

how timing's so important,

and everything needs to come together at once,

and it was just a great day, I learned so much off Bruno.

What about Marcus?

As long as I just get some sort of positive, you know,

on something I put on the plate, then I'll be happy.

Dani, as always, is going for lots of different ingredients

and putting them all together.

I hope for Dani that he delivers something which looks fantastic,

and it has clarity,

and it has enough dignity

that Marcus doesn't string him up by his ankles.

You're halfway.

40 minutes to go.

Agh...

That was hot.

Burnt my whole hand.

I'm really looking forward to this test -

apart from the Marcus Wareing bit at the end.

Right at the last minute, in comes the nasty sting in the tail,

and that is really scary.

Angela's doing Angela food.

She's got a roasted pigeon with a sweetened sauce made with Marsala

and the legs of the bird.

Yummy, and Angela can do it.

But not if she doesn't believe she can.

-Are you scared of Marcus?

-Absolutely petrified of him.

I've seen him, you know, completely pull dishes apart.

Hopefully I'm going to get the nice side of him.

-Well, there's one way to get the nice side of Marcus...

-Yeah.

..cook him something delicious.

Just 30 minutes left, guys.

30 minutes.

I never thought in my wildest dreams

I would ever cook

for Marcus Wareing.

I'm just going to try

and produce some food that he can't argue with.

I've got to make sure that it is absolutely full of flavour

and cooked to perfection.

How are you feeling?

-I think I'm OK.

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

So, I'm going to do the roast rump of lamb.

I've done some cannellini beans,

I've got some slow-roasting tomatoes in the oven

and I've done a salsa verde.

Have you given thought to how you're going to present this?

I'm not going to overdo it.

I have an idea in my head of what I'm going to do on the plate,

but I've got good colours and I've got good flavours.

It helps me a lot if I think about cooking the food I love

for the people I love.

I just have to pretend that I love you guys and Marcus right now.

That's not difficult.

I love the sound of Sophie's lamb with the salsa verde

and those cannellini beans.

That lamb rump has been pan-fried,

it's going to take about 12 or 15 minutes,

but it needs a good ten minutes to rest, so that the meat's not tough.

I'd be disappointed if I went home today.

I would be very disappointed.

These are the times when you've got to pull everything out of the bag

that you've got, put it in front of the judges,

and hope for the best.

Dessert, Robert.

A dessert, absolutely.

-Why?

-I just felt like the ingredients spoke to me, really.

When the ingredients spoke to you, what did they say?

-They said to me, an apple almond treacle tart...

-Oh!

..with some poached apple, praline crumb, hazelnut brittle,

Chantilly cream flavoured with brandy

and blackberries with a coulis round the side.

-Sounds ace, mate.

-Well, we'll see what it tastes like.

Aren't you tempted to Robertise this

and stick something on the dish that's unnecessary?

I think everything is pretty standard on this one.

It's very much classic flavours and classic tastes.

It sounds absolutely delicious.

Robert's got one issue, and that is making sure that tart is set.

Cos if that tart isn't set in the middle, then the whole game is over.

He's left with some Chantilly cream and some blackberries.

Your final six minutes.

If I'm asked to judge, I take it very seriously,

and if someone's upset me, I'm going to say it.

Two minutes.

But equally, if something tastes amazing, it will make me smile.

I'm looking for the chef that can put a smile on my face.

30 seconds.

Stop.

Ladies and gentlemen...

..Chef Marcus Wareing.

-How are you?

-Good.

John, good to see you.

Angela, bring your plate up.

Angela has roasted the pigeon

and served it with Jerusalem artichoke crisps and puree,

wild mushrooms, cavolo nero and a blackberry and Marsala sauce.

I think the presentation's horrible.

-Do you?

-Yes.

It's not very good.

There's some good news and bad news.

OK!

-The good news is, actually, it doesn't taste too bad.

-OK.

It's not a disaster, it doesn't taste as bad as it looks.

But there are fundamental, massive errors in the execution.

The pigeon could have been cooked better.

The sauce, I like. It's got good flavour.

The puree is lumpy.

Apart from it looking like a dog's dinner,

it has good flavour.

The pigeon, you can see what's happened.

You roasted it, you cut it down the centre,

you opened it up and put it back in the oven.

And you can see the scar of that - it's almost bruised,

it's been battered.

But I've got to say, I like the texture of the crisps,

I like the mushrooms, and I love the sauce.

Your sauce is sweet, not too sweet. There's good seasoning on there.

Tastes divine, looks really scruffy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thanks very much.

-Thanks, Angela.

-Yeah, she can cook.

-Mm.

She can.

What I cooked is my kind of food,

so I should have been able to do it perfectly.

I'm really pleased they liked the sauce, though.

Luke.

Your turn.

Luke's dish is orange cream-filled profiteroles

sitting on hazelnut caramel, topped with chocolate shavings

and served with a salted caramel sauce.

Caramel, or toffee, is a colour.

And this is not toffee nor caramel in colour.

-Yeah, I should've taken it further.

-It smells more like butter.

Luke, it's not a dessert for me.

-OK.

-There are glaring errors there.

The sauce is completely wrong, the profiteroles don't look right to me.

For me, it's a choux bun, it's not a profiterole.

A nice, average flavour. It's pleasant.

But I think it's a little safe and basic.

Argh! It is disappointing.

It's edible, it's pleasant.

You've picked your moment, haven't you? To trip up.

- Yeah. - I mean, you really have.

If there was anyone that was flying through this competition,

-it was this young fella.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I can't believe what I'm seeing in front of me, Luke.

This is not great, this is disappointing.

-I wish you had gone savoury.

-So do I!

Sorry, mate.

Yeah, no. Fair enough. Thanks anyway.

-Thank you, Luke.

-Cheers.

It wasn't good. The comments were completely fair.

Agh! Very frustrating.

Dani, your turn, please.

Dani's made a trio of grouse -

roast grouse breast,

confit grouse legs resting on a hollow bone

and a grouse, prune and bone marrow sausage wrapped in pancetta

with potato fondant, Brussels sprout puree, carrots,

and a prune and red wine jus.

Have you brought us a note there, Dani?

Er, no, it's a gel pack.

-What have you done to this?

-Roasted it.

-From raw?

-Yes.

Why?

-Don't know.

-No reason why?

-No reason why!

-Seriously?

-Yeah.

OK.

Do you think an artichoke should be cooked that way?

-I don't know.

-Why did you do it, then?

It's a very confusing dish, I must say.

It doesn't come together.

The best bit, for me, I think, was the sausage.

But there's things that are there that don't need to be there.

That being one of them.

The legs are just completely annihilated.

To me it looks like you've put them in the deep fat fryer

and then put them in a hot plate for 24 hours.

Those are just a complete disaster.

I don't think you've done a good job of that at all.

Erm, not sure why the prunes are there.

Carrots don't really feel right on the plate.

The artichoke's badly cooked.

It's just too much, badly executed.

Trying too hard, and that's probably why you burnt yourself.

Your breast is nice, the sauce is lovely,

the bone marrow sausage is lovely,

but I'm pretty sure I've stood in front of you before

and said, "Why are you attempting so much?"

There's some flavours on there which are all right, Dani,

but I've gotta say, it's just...

You've done some over-the-top dishes before,

but this is just way over the top. Too much, mate.

Thank you.

It's a bit of a hard one, isn't it?

You know, you're in MasterChef and you just want to prove yourself.

But it's not the right thing to do.

You need to concentrate on a plate of food that they're going to eat,

you know, it's not putting a buffet on one plate, is it?

I completely respect what they said. All I can do is take it in board.

Sophie, please, could you?

Hm.

Sophie's made roasted rump of lamb topped with salsa verde

on cavolo nero and a cannellini bean mash

served with roasted tomatoes and a lamb jus.

I'm kicking myself about the presentation.

To me, it looks like a plate of food that I'd serve my children.

What I cannot get my head around is opening a tin of beans.

I just don't get that. And I don't get that.

-Have you noticed no-one's eaten one?

-No, I know!

-Do you know why?

Cos we all know what they taste like.

It's a tomato that I'd normally have with my brunch.

It's uneventful, it's boring.

I think it's a very weak attempt at a dish.

I don't think it's very skilful at all.

I don't think you've pushed yourself, either.

I've got nicely cooked cabbage, I like the sauce, I like the seasoning

and I like the saltiness on the outside of the lamb.

It's never going to set the competition on fire.

That's the issue.

I think the combination of salsa verde, cavolo nero,

lamb and white beans is OK.

I'm with Marcus.

I think you played a bit safe here.

It was a risk I took, but it was the wrong idea.

And I don't know if I can afford to have the wrong idea at this stage.

Robert, your turn.

Last up is Robert,

who's made an apple and almond treacle tart

with poached apples on a praline crumb,

topped with a hazelnut brittle,

brandy Chantilly cream and blackberries.

Do you know the funny thing about this, Robert?

-Yes?

-Do you notice how we're all going back for more?

I really like that.

Really do.

I think the cream, the Chantilly, tastes delicious,

and I like the fact that you can taste the brandy.

The treacle tart, I think it's cooked beautifully well.

Fantastic cooking, great case.

Beautiful and moist in the centre.

I think the blackberries are fantastic.

You've got the sweet and sour just right,

and I like the apple on the side, there.

I think it's great.

-Really, really enjoyed that.

-Thank you.

You have got some fantastically flavoured things on the plate,

you really have. That is delicious.

I've known Marcus for a number of years,

and I've judged with him, now, for a few years as well,

and rarely have I heard him say, "I really, really like that."

-Fantastic.

-Nice job.

So, we've got an apple puree treacle tart.

And I've got to say I think it's fantastic.

And on the invention test, Robert,

this, I think, is close to awesome.

I think you should be really proud of this.

-Thank you very, very much.

-Really good.

-Thank you.

-Delicious.

Good job, buddy.

What can I say?

Amazing. Amazing comments. Phenomenal.

I've got to be honest and say that's the first dish

that I've really put in front of the judges

that I was pretty well 100% happy with.

We've got to judge this now.

Off you go. Thank you.

-Marcus, the standard this year?

-I've really enjoyed this year.

You know what's really nice about it?

I can walk away with a smile on my face

thinking I've had one fantastic-tasting dish.

And you didn't make one contestant cry.

I know.

-Thank you, John.

-Thanks, Marcus.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Bye-bye.

Apart from Robert, I think we've got four disappointed

and scared contestants.

In the invention test, Robert did amazingly well.

I mean, that tart was - perfect edging, beautifully cooked,

the sauce was good, the Chantilly cream was good.

You've got to say,

that, for an invention test, was pretty cool.

I'm on an astounding high.

You know, the challenge now is to keep that up.

I've got to agree with Marcus - Angela's flavours were really good.

I think they were defined.

Angela ended up throwing the ingredients at the plate,

and the consequence was it looked a shambles.

But I thought Angela's dish actually tasted beautiful.

I did get some nice comments, but, you know, I made mistakes today,

so...I don't know if they'll forgive those mistakes.

Young Luke. What on earth happened to Luke?

He tried to invent something.

It wasn't very good.

There's still decent touches to it, but it's way below his average.

I should've just gone with the first thing that came into my head.

I took too many risks today. It was really, really poor.

With Sophie, actually, what we had was very safe food

with few techniques and not a great delivery.

There is no doubt about it -

Sophie, today, showed a real lack of ambition.

If you are going to go for simple processes,

you've got to make damn sure it's delicious.

I know I can do better, and so I would hate to go out now.

I'd hate to go out on the back of that.

Dani frustrates me, because I know he can cook.

Because he cooked the breast of that grouse brilliantly.

He made a wonderful sweetened sauce.

But at what point does he suddenly think,

"Maybe somebody has told me

"I shouldn't stick 27 processes that I haven't got time for

"and run around the bench until I hurt myself,

"and I shouldn't be doing it."

Marcus said, "You've done too much,

"and that's probably why you burnt yourself."

I'm just nervous, now, because I've not exactly had

the best of comments, so I could be going home.

One of them's going. Who's it going to be?

Marcus was impressed by a couple of you.

One in particular.

We've made our decision.

The contestant leaving us...

..is Sophie.

-Thank you, Sophie.

-Thanks, Sophie.

I'm not that surprised.

I made the wrong choice today.

But I am proud to have got this far.

I will look back on the whole MasterChef experience

as being a really brilliant adventure.

I'm really pleased I've done it.

And it's been great.

-ROBERT:

-It was a fantastic day - for me, anyway.

It's a bit sad for all the people who got a hammering,

but great for me.

I thought I was a goner!

Just to go out now would have been absolute devastation.

I feel very, very, very lucky.

I had a disaster today.

That is amazing, to be in the final eight.

I mean, amazing!

Tomorrow night the eight best amateur cooks in the country

come together for the first time,

as they battle for a coveted place in the semifinals.

Today they've got a point to prove.

Can't play it safe here, now.

You've got to absolutely go for it.

Too much on a plate.

Whoa!

Very, very clever, and I like your style.