Episode 16 MasterChef

It's MasterChef, and knockout week continues.

Come on! Parfait! Faster!

Last night saw the first group battle it out in a pro kitchen.

Look at those! Nice!

Jacob was sent home.

Tonight, the second six are challenged

to cook for the paying public for the first time.

-We're going to get slammed in a minute. Come on!

-Where's the...?

Cooking in the MasterChef kitchen is one thing,

but going to a professional? Nah, different ballgame.

It's going to be seriously tough.

It's incredibly daunting to be cooking for members of the public.

All they're seeing is the food,

and if it's not up to standard they're going to sling it back.

A whole lunch service with just the six of us,

it's an enormous amount of pressure.

-What's the worst that can happen?

-HE LAUGHS

Then Marcus Wareing returns.

Oh, my God!

I like the dish, I like the flavours,

and I think you've executed it very, very well.

At the end, for one of them,

their competition will be over.

It's early morning

and the contestants are being sent to their professional kitchen.

Today, they'll be cooking lunch service

at L'Anima in the City of London.

This award-winning modern Italian restaurant

is run by head chef Antonio Favuzzi.

HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

ALL CHEER

Antonio started his career

at a luxury five-star hotel in his native Sardinia.

Fregola is ready.

I would describe my food as very rustic,

using southern Italian ingredients with a modern twist.

He arrived in London in 2003,

after perfecting his craft in some of Milan's best kitchens.

Perfect line.

Service.

It's a busy kitchen, I've got 20 chefs.

I've got a bit of military discipline during my service.

Everything has to go out in time.

Service!

I've got big reputation in this part of the city.

I would like to keep it.

-Buongiorno. Good morning. How are you?

-ALL:

-Buongiorno.

Good. Today, we're expecting a big day, guys. OK?

We've got six different recipes. I want you to listen to me.

Probably today you are going to find a bit of challenge, OK?

So, let's go, guys. Get ready.

The contestants have four hours

to prep each of their dishes for service.

There will be three starters on the menu today.

Jane is in charge of the octopus with smoked aubergine caviar,

charred lettuce, Romano peppers

and ricotta mustia - a Sardinian smoked cheese.

So hot pan, as you can see.

-We want to get aggressive on the octopus, OK?

-OK.

-A nice golden colour in it.

-Yeah.

-OK?

As well as frying the octopus,

mum-of-four Jane will have to fry the ricotta,

heat up her aubergine caviar,

and char the baby gem lettuce.

-Easy. Easy.

-SHE LAUGHS

Hola! We ready to go.

Some lovely peppers.

Crumble the cheese on the side.

-OK?

-Looks beautiful. It's stunning.

Jane's first job is to cook the octopus,

each one almost a metre long and weighing in at three kilos.

Cooking octopus is not easy.

We don't want to overcook that, but we don't want to undercook,

cos otherwise it's going to taste not right.

-What do you think?

-Done.

-Done? OK.

I know from experience it can go so rubbery and so...horribly wrong.

Oh! No!

I'm confident...at the moment.

Ask me after.

-OK.

-SHE LAUGHS

Actor Annie is making a prawn-filled ravioli

with a spicy lobster broth.

-You're going to start boiling some pasta.

-Yep.

They're probably going to take around three minutes.

In the timing, we want the prawns nice and gold

-and not overcooked.

-Yep.

-It's really important.

-Yeah.

-30 seconds each time.

-Yep.

-OK?

So we've got five in number.

You've got your prawns.

You need to clarify your broth. It's going to take around two hours.

-I've got some ready for you to show you.

-Uh-huh.

-OK?

-Slightly spicy.

-Yeah.

-So you need to get the balance

-of the spice-ness, of the chilli.

-Yeah.

-It's good.

-Lovely, yeah?

-Yeah.

Annie's first job is to roll out the pasta to an exact thickness.

Then she must fill and shape her prawn raviolis.

I gave them a little Asian shape but with Italian ingredients.

Quite difficult to do that.

I've just been told about 30 portions, so a lot.

150 pieces of pasta. Yeah. Erm... Ha-ha!

The final starter will be cooked by mortgage adviser Jen -

beetroot tortelli filled with smoked burrata and ricotta cheese,

pickled golden beetroot,

beetroot crouton, and a sage-and-pistachio butter.

You're in charge of one of my signature dish of the menu,

beetroot pasta. We put about 20g of stuffing. OK?

After that, you need to put together, like that.

Actually, it's not bad.

Well done. We're going to blanch them in the water

and we're going cook about three minutes.

-The butter is ready.

-Yes, Chef.

Is brown not burnt. OK? And we finish.

Lovely balsamic vinegar on top.

-Looks beautiful. I like it a lot.

-Fantastic.

I'm excited. I'm never had beetroot pasta before.

If I can make mine look like that, I'm going to be really happy.

There's a lot of a assembly to do, and it needs to look perfect.

I need to concentrate and make sure I get it right.

-As soon as you see your hand...

-Oh, yeah. So that's actually OK?

-Yeah, it's actually done.

-OK.

-OK?

-Lovely.

-Go for it. Well done.

-Thank you.

The other three contestants will be on mains.

Voila!

Recent graduate Pedro's dish

is black-ink gnocchetti Sardi with Scottish langoustines,

Romanesco broccoli and bottarga.

The first thing for you to cook is the langoustine. Get the brandy.

We're going to blanch.

Just add a bit of broth to it and let them cook for one minute.

So...pasta ready.

Make sure you grab some liquid,

-and you're going to help to create a lovely sauce.

-Yeah.

Full of colour.

This is bottarga, very famous in Sardinia.

-It's like Parmesan for fish, isn't it?

-Yes, correct.

PEDRO LAUGHS

A challenging dish. I think it's all about it coming together at the end.

I think a lot of the work's in the prep.

If I get the prep done, it'll all be fine.

So, erm, need to crack on.

Pedro's first task is to roll out and shape the squid-ink pasta.

This is a Sardinian kind of gnocchi.

Very challenging during the preparation,

because they need to use a special board

and they need to create the shape of this pasta.

I'm very proud to have this dish on the menu.

Hopefully, they get the job done.

It's taken ages to get through, there's so much we have to do.

You never see this behind the scenes when you go to eat in a restaurant.

Company director Liz

is making a start trimming the prime Angus fillet

and portioning it to exactly 200g.

Ohh! That needs a bit of trimming.

Her dish is a Scotch beef tagliata,

topped with pickled onions and buffalo blue cheese,

marrow bones and salsa verde.

So we start with the meat in the pan.

Make sure you achieve the cooking requests, OK?

In this case, I'm going to do medium rare,

because that's my recommendation, OK?

I think I would be disappointed, as a customer,

if I ordered my meat rare and I get a medium one.

It has to be right.

So we've got two different marrow here,

one is pure, as it come,

and this one is stuffed with potato and cheese.

Salsa verde.

OK?

I think I'm going to be the busiest.

Steak's always really popular, there's going to be tons of orders.

SHE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

I'm most worried about different requirements on the beef.

I don't want to burn anything.

Yeah, you know, the whole thing, basically.

The final main on the menu will be cooked by Stuart -

marinated black cod in prosecco and paprika,

served with purple mash potato,

turnip tops and clams.

-You got your cod under the grill?

-Mm-hm.

We toast the garlic to open the clams. OK?

A splash of white wine.

Make sure your fish is cooked.

What I want to achieve is a bit of burnt colour to it, OK?

-Paprika bread toasted on top.

-Mm-hm.

-Always.

-Always.

-Olive oil at the end.

-What do you think?

-Ah, absolutely beautiful.

-Fantastic.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Enjoy.

All right...

Stuart makes a start on filleting the Alaskan black cod.

It's a hell of a piece of fish.

The biggest difficulty on this dish is the preparation -

when you need to fillet the fish,

when you don't want to have too much waste.

This particular dish, I think, is quite challenging.

I've done a sea bass before, but nothing this sort of size.

It needs to be really neat,

cos obviously that's the bit you see on the plate.

I need to get this...spot on.

There's just one hour of prep time left.

Come on, guys, time is running out.

Annie is still trying to fill and shape 150 prawn ravioli.

-Are they OK?

-Be careful on these.

-Yeah.

-Be careful on these.

-We want to look pretty, huh?

-Yeah, of course.

-Like you. Please.

-Thank you.

Can't panic, I've just got to carry on doing it.

Pedro is also under pressure to finish off his gnocchetti Sardi.

-How are we doing, man? Make sure you make the nice shape.

-OK.

-All like that, all the same, right?

-OK.

-Thank you.

Got a lot more pasta to do and not a lot of time to do it.

On the other side of the kitchen,

Stuart is struggling to fillet the Alaskan black cod.

Ah, I'm making a right hash of it. Sorry.

-Stuart, please, don't push the knife, slice it.

-OK.

There's loads of bones all along here.

You don't want anybody to find a bit of bone in theirs,

get it sent back. Nobody wants that.

After wrestling with her octopus,

Jane has finally moved on to prepping her veg.

It's horrendous how quick that time goes by.

I'm just desperate to get everything finished,

so that I'm ready to go and I'm not trying to do this during service.

It's going to get mental, isn't it, the minute service starts and...

and everything gets going.

In just a few minutes the amateurs

will have their first experience of service in a professional kitchen.

First customer is coming in.

Make sure you are in place and ready to go.

-OK? Let's go.

-ALL:

-Yes, Chef.

We've got big pressure, we've got a busy restaurant today.

I hope nothing goes wrong and, you know, everyone will be happy.

This restaurant is full.

All our guys in there are good cooks, we know that,

but they won't be used to this sort of pace.

They've never done anything like this before.

-OK, guys, first check coming in. Octopus brodo tortelli.

-Si, Chef.

Communication, guys.

First orders are in for Jen and Jane's starters.

Service is all about precision and coordination.

Erm, three minutes, Chef.

-Three minutes, Jane, for two octopus?

-Yes.

Three minutes you've got.

They must make sure they get their starters to the pass

at the same time.

Jane has to cook the octopus until it's golden...

while heating the smoked aubergine

and charring the ricotta and the lettuce,

while Jen has to fill, shape and cook her tortelli to order.

Char-griller. Where's the...? Where's the blowtorch?

OK. How are you doing with your octopus, Jane?

-Jane?

-Yes?

-How long table 20?

-Two minutes.

-Quick, quick, though.

Quick, quick.

Jen's pasta is ready to plate, but Jane's behind.

All done. All done, my dear. She's not ready. One sec.

-Do you want it under the hot light?

-No, you're going to blanch again.

-Blanch it again?

-She's not ready. One sec.

-Si, Chef.

You need to communicate, guys, otherwise it's a mess, OK?

-Si, Chef.

-Thank you.

Jen must now make another batch of tortelli from scratch.

I was ready on my last order, but I've had to start it again

because another starter wasn't ready, which has set me back a bit,

but it's all right. I'm going to get it together and it'll be fine.

-Is that OK, Chef?

-I'm sure the flavour is there, it's good,

-we need to work on the presentation.

-OK.

-The next has to look prettier.

-OK.

-OK?

-Sorry, Chef.

With Jane's starter plated, it's now Jen holding up the pass.

One tortelli at the pass when you're ready. Now.

One of them's split. I'm just going to do it again.

-I was ready on the other one and now I'm having to do it again.

-Don't worry.

You need to be at the pass. Jen, please, go with the tortelli.

Well done. Well done.

Just make sure you put this equally,

-so there is some space between them.

-Si, Chef.

Come on. A bit more. A bit more.

-Don't be shy. Are you missing something in this dish?

-Oh.

Don't forget to put all the ingredients. It's very important.

-Si, Chef.

-Thank you. Be focused.

Service. Out.

I think I need to get a bit more of a rhythm.

And it's just communicating with the others

so I know how long they need... would be helpful.

The tortelli was really well cooked,

the filling was really well seasoned

and it was just a really combination of flavours.

-Mmm.

-The pasta's made really nicely, lots of filling,

and I like the sharp sourness of that balsamic vinegar.

I think Jen's done amazingly well with this.

New check, guys. Four minutes, I want two octopus

two tortelli and two broth.

-Si, Chef.

-OK?

-Three section, yeah. Communication, guys, please.

-Si, Chef.

-Annie?

-Yes?

-Table 31, four minutes?

-Four minutes? Yes, fine.

-Are you sure? Do you need longer?

No, four minutes is fine.

Annie's is first order is in for her ravioli in spicy lobster broth.

-So I've got ten pieces of ravioli but only two plates?

-Yes.

-Yes.

I've got plates ready for you there.

-Make sure you don't forget the brunoise.

-OK.

-Good luck.

Quick, quick!

Her dish relies on every element

meeting Antonio's exacting standards.

Yeah. One, two, three.

-Have you tasted your broth?

-I have, yes.

-Yeah?

-I think it's missing a bit of salt.

-Yeah.

-Quick, quick, because it's going to get cold, yeah?

-Yeah.

He said the broth maybe needed a little bit more salt,

-so I've just added a bit and tasted.

-Annie, I need those two broth.

-Coming now, Chef.

-Right now. Right now.

-Well done.

-Yeah?

-So this is all going in one, for two people, yes?

-Yes.

-Go on. Come on. That's it. Perfect. Well done.

-Thank you.

-That looks good to me.

-Yeah.

-Service.

Out.

-Phew!

-SHE LAUGHS

Oh, grazie.

The broth was fantastic.

Very clean tasting, very light, very delicate touch.

Really impressed.

Look how clear that broth is.

Look how beautiful those ravioli are.

Annie's done a good job. Pasta, filling, broth,

little brunoise of vegetables. A lot of work in here.

Guys, four octopus.

With the kitchen in full swing,

Jane has another chance to master the presentation of her octopus.

Very, very, very busy and a bit scary.

SHE GASPS

-That's the colour you need to achieve, yeah?

-OK.

-Please, all the time.

-Yep.

So make sure your plates looks similar. Yeah?

Especially when they go on the same table.

Put a bit of dressing on top of the octopus as well.

Yes, correct. Well done.

-You're making better presentation now.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

It's non stop from the minute you get in the kitchen. I - silly -

thought we might have a little break in between, but, no,

just - boom! - from one to the other.

I had the octopus. It was fantastic.

And it was very well presented. I really enjoyed it.

Get in there, Jane.

I like the smoked ricotta with the aubergines,

and the octopus is cooked beautifully.

Guys, how are we doing with main course? You're going to be next.

-ALL:

-Si, Chef.

Be ready, yeah? We're going to start very soon.

Guys, new check coming up. New check.

I need one cod and one gnocchi.

-Si, Chef.

-Yay! Thank you.

Pedro needs to fry off and blanch the langoustines in brandy...

..then cook the gnocchetti,

before adding it to a broth to create the sauce.

-Are you OK with three minutes, Pedro?

-Yes, sir.

First pasta. Come on, hurry up!

As one of Antonio's favourite dishes,

the pressure is on for Pedro to get the gnocchetti right.

A much bigger challenge than I expected.

But I don't know what I expected, to be fair, so...

-It is what it is.

-Pedro, coming!

You've got one at the pass now.

Let's do it, man.

-Not too much sauce, yeah?

-Not too much sauce.

-It's slightly a bit too much sauce, OK?

-OK.

-Get back to the pan,

-cook and heat it.

-Yeah.

-Make sure you get less sauce. It's too much.

-We specialise on pasta in this restaurant, yeah?

-OK.

-Please.

-I give you one minute, yeah?

-Yes, sir.

-I want you at the pass.

Quick, quick.

-You OK?

-Yeah.

-Burnt?

-Too much sauce.

-Coming, Chef.

-Hurry up!

-Ten seconds.

-Chef?

-Yes.

Much better.

Go on. Go on. Go on. Quick.

Make sure you clean the plate. Put the langoustine on top

-and don't forget the bottarga. Come on, Pedro.

-Yes, Chef.

I know you can do it. Come on.

Service.

It took about a minute to remedy, so it's not a problem.

I've got this, it's all good. Loving it. Absolutely buzzing.

I had the gnocchi.

I like the texture, I like it was extremely...mouthful,

and very, very, you know, pleasant.

Very well-made gnocchi.

Lovely sauce.

Langoustine very well cooked. Good work.

Very good work from Pedro.

We've got two cod, plus one gnocchetti.

Right.

Stuart's first orders of black cod are in,

but he's struggling to find his feet.

I'm lost. I've a very difficult...

Oh, I'm so lost.

-Wey...

-With time ticking,

Stuart must fry off his clams,

his turnip tops,

and cook the cod to perfection.

Stuart, are you coming to the pass in one minute?

Er, yes, Chef.

Off! Off!

Stuart, hurry up. Come on.

-Now!

-Now? Yes, Chef.

-Right now!

-Yes, Chef.

-Sorry, Chef. Yes, Chef.

-In the middle.

Good. Good. Hurry up.

This one around. Come on.

Go for it.

-Not too much mess on the plate, yeah?

-Hmm.

-Fennel pollen?

-Fennel pollen you should put already in the pan.

-OK. Yes, Chef.

-Yeah?

Looks good, but, please, be less messy. OK?

-Look at that. Please.

-Yes, Chef.

-Service. Quick, quick.

It was all right. I missed a couple of little...little touches on that

that I can't afford to miss again this time.

Table 40! Table 3!

We're going to get slammed in a minute. Come on.

Liz's main is also proving popular.

She needs to leave plenty of time for the beef to rest before serving.

-Are you OK with two tagliata to come?

-Two tagliata? Si, Chef.

-Now.

-Now? Yep.

-Let's go. Come on.

-Are you ready one minute?

-No.

-How long you need?

-Four minutes.

-Why four minutes, my dear? It's ready.

-Just to collect...

No, you've got one minute. Trust me.

One minute, yeah? Ready at the pass. Come on.

They need to rest.

Having not allowed enough time to rest her beef,

Liz is now running behind.

-You late.

-I'm late, yeah.

-Too late. Crazy.

We go out in three minutes, OK?

It's as full on as I expected, but a little bit more on top.

Hurry up! We need to be more fast now.

Service is slow. Come on.

One on top, one on the bottom. Fantastic.

-You're missing something. Focus.

-Erm...

-Onion.

-Oh!

-Come on.

Service.

Thank you.

I had the beef with the blue cheese and the marrow bone.

The steak was really, really tender, really easy to eat,

the blue cheese was really, really, subtle as well.

Yeah, lovely dish.

There's a sweet sauce, hint of blue cheese,

giving me a little bit of salty tang,

and that beef is succulent and juicy.

Favourite of the day. Well done, Liz.

With service going at full tilt,

Pedro and Stuart are struggling to keep up with their orders

and each other.

Me and you got the same table, yeah? One black cod, isn't it?

I need two portion in total. How long you got?

-I've got two minutes, Chef.

-Two minutes - too much, yeah?

-Please, hurry up.

-How long, Stuart?

Stuart, how long on the cods?

With communication breaking down,

Pedro decides to assemble his dish,

but in the heat of the moment forgets one crucial element.

Are you going to finish this or you want me to send it?

-Sorry, sorry, sorry.

-You need to finish your dish.

-Sorry.

Come on. Quick, quick.

Quick, quick.

Stuart is finally to the pass, but is still making mistakes.

-Don't put too much sauce.

-OK.

-Yeah?

-So this is too much sauce on that one?

-Yes.

-Please, can you re-plate.

-Yes, certainly, sir.

Service.

-STUART SIGHS

-Hectic. It's the most hectic thing I've ever done, I think.

You've got to listen to the time counts. It's really intense.

Really intense.

I had the black cod. It was fantastic. The paprika really came through and was quite spicy.

I mean, I like a bit of that, so it was very nice.

That black cod is dense, but cooked very, very well.

I like the salty clams and then bitter leaves.

Stuart's done a decent job.

There's almost like a curry-leaf flavour going through that.

I think that's very, very good indeed.

Guys, pay attention, please.

I've got a table of ten. Here's the last check.

Liz, Stuart, Pedro,

you need to communicate.

-Come on, guys.

-BOTH:

-Si, Chef.

As service draws to a close,

it's their last chance to impress with their dishes.

-Are you checking the meats?

-I am.

-Those are medium, medium rare, rare.

-OK. Let's go.

Quick, quick. Pedro, well done. Thank you.

Come on, Liz. Last! Last!

Fantastic.

Thank you.

For Stuart, it's his final attempt to perfect his presentation.

Hurry up.

Much better now.

-Stuart, well done.

-Yes, Chef.

-Thank you. Service.

Well done. We finish. Thank you.

HE SIGHS

After two hours of intense cooking,

service is over.

We put our six cooks into a very, very busy kitchen.

The fact is, they got through service.

And, look, this room was packed.

Six of them, they were really good,

they were struggling with communication, but it was not easy.

So they've done it and they've done it quite well.

So, well done to them.

It was the most stressful thing,

but it was definitely an experience worth remembering.

The first couple of tickets, the communication wasn't quite there,

but I think after that we did really get it together.

It's really surprised me just how much I liked the team hustle.

Today's been amazing. It has boosted my confidence.

To be able to get that food up to those people

was a wonderful experience.

There's nothing like it.

What they do is incredible.

Every day they come and they do this.

Yeah, it's been amazing.

That was intense. I knew it was going to be hard,

but I didn't know it was going to be this hard.

They're back in the MasterChef kitchen next.

They've got one more dish till we make a decision on who leaves.

Welcome back.

We hope you've been inspired.

We hope you've taken on a few lessons,

learned a little bit if not a lot,

because you six are about to do

a MasterChef invention test.

We want from you a plate of food

that could grace the table of a restaurant.

At the end of this, one of you is leaving us.

One hour 20 minutes. Let's cook.

The contestants have a wide range of ingredients to choose from...

..which include game birds - partridge and pigeon -

a selection of seafood - oysters, freshwater prawns and red mullet -

and an array of vegetables.

I think the invention test is probably one of the most scariest tests.

The reason is, they can't practise.

If they can't practise it, they get scared.

But all these six know the basics.

What they've got to do now is build on them.

It's a bit addictive, this whole thing, isn't it?

You want to do it again and you want to do it again.

You return to being a child almost,

looking for somebody to say, "Oh, that's good. Well done."

Pat on the back.

-Big smile, Jane.

-Yeah, always.

-You've got to smile when you're in a kitchen.

-You haven't done an invention test before?

-No.

I'm not a cook that plans every day, I just buy what ingredients I like and then put them together.

How do you feel about the competition now? Cos you had a wobble.

I had a real wobble and I think I've got something to prove to you today.

I didn't present food that I was proud of last time and I hate doing that.

So, therefore, today, I just want to go out and show you what I can do

and give you a really good-tasting plate of food.

Jane's cooking us a piece of red mullet, mashed potato,

lemon-butter parsley sauce, beetroot and baby carrots.

Interesting. Really interesting.

It could be yum.

The stakes are very high today.

You can sense it as well amongst the contestants.

Everyone's a little bit on edge,

everyone's a little bit, you know, nervous.

I don't intend on going home any time soon.

That final's got my name on it.

Pedro, what are you going to make today?

So I'm going be making for you a very simple

wild mushroom fricassee,

smoked duck egg, and mushroom ketchup just adds a bit of acidity,

and some garlic toast.

-You're in knockout week of MasterChef and you're going to do egg on toast?

-Yeah.

Yeah, I'm doing egg on toast.

-You cook the egg and then you smoke it?

-Yeah.

-How do you cook it?

It's in the egg shell. You sous-vide it.

It comes out, you smoke it for maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

-You've never sous-vide'd an egg before, right?

-No.

Whoo! Pedro, you scare me.

I love you, but you scare me.

What Pedro is doing is really, really risky.

Pedro has got three elements to his dish - the smoked duck egg,

garlic toast and mushrooms.

If one of those elements doesn't work, we don't have a dish.

I never thought I'd get this far.

I kind of aimed low, so that I would be pleasantly surprised.

Which is amazing, but the further I go, the more I want to stay.

-Annie, are you all right?

-Yeah, I'm really good.

-You haven't done an invention test before, have you?

-No. No, no.

-I've been practising at home.

-How do you that?

I ask my boyfriend to bring back a selection of things from the supermarket

-and then just make something with it.

-Has it worked?

-It has, yeah!

-All right, what are you cooking now?

-I'm making a mushroom ravioli

with a sage-and-butter sauce,

crispy bacon and crispy sage leaves.

I learnt how to make pasta in the restaurant and loved it.

-And it will be good, I hope.

-Annie, I don't know why,

-but you make me happy about food.

-Cheers.

The great thing about Annie is she's honest to herself

and she keeps to classic combinations of flavour.

It could be delightful,

but it may be conceived as being a little bit too simple.

40 minutes have gone, which makes you six halfway.

The invention test's the unknown.

A bit nervous, but I'm quite confident.

I think I'm quite a creative chef,

so, hopefully, I can show the judges some of that today.

-How did you find the restaurant?

-I loved the buzz, I loved the intensity of it,

but it was exhausting.

A whole new respect for people who do that job day in, day out.

What are you making for us today?

Some red mullet with a braised artichoke heart,

a little bit of tomato-and-chilli salsa,

some confit potatoes and a brown shrimp sauce.

-Stuart, I like it.

-You can't rest on your laurels, especially at this stage.

-There's so many good cooks...

-Oh, yeah.

-..that if you mess up, you're going home, I think.

I'm not sure whether a chopped raw tomato salsa from South America

goes with a French dish of red mullet, artichokes and shrimp.

On our last dish, Gregg said to me, "You don't want to be a safe cook."

And I am definitely going to try not to do that today.

I'm going to try to do something maybe they've not had before,

really flavourful, and it is exciting for them to try.

So I'm doing a Nepalese dumpling, which is called a momo,

and I'm making a tomato achar to go with it, which is like a chutney,

and then I'm making a coconut soup to go alongside it.

It's kind of going to be a mix of Thai and Nepalese flavours.

Where have you learnt about Nepalese dumplings?

My little brother went trekking in Nepal for a month

and he came back from Nepal and the thing he was raving about was momos.

So I learned how to make them and I really like them.

OK, Jen. You look happier and more confident than I've ever seen you.

Good.

Jen has decided to go completely left field

and be inspired by the travels of her brother

This could give us the wow factor.

I just hope she hasn't gone too far off piste.

I've been worried about the invention test,

because it's not really playing to my strengths.

I put loads of work into each dish.

I'll do every single one seven, eight, nine times.

Yeah, not having a lot of time to prepare is, erm, a bit of a worry.

-What are you making?

-Partridge breast, roasted.

I'm doing a confit leg,

I'm doing potato fondant, roasted sprouts with a little bit of bacon

and a lovely marsala sauce.

-Have you roasted a sprout before?

-I have, yeah.

-I've never had a roasted sprout.

-Well, you're going to have one in a minute.

-You're a MasterChef first, Liz.

-Oh, dear.

Liz is going down the classic route, and it has to be absolutely right.

That partridge breast has to be soft and moist,

the skin's got to be well coloured, loads of butter in the sauce.

The marsala's got to be sharp and sweet, but still rich with game.

I think it's a really risky dish.

You have nine minutes left. Nine!

I'm looking for good cookery, good skill.

A good choice of ingredients is really important for me.

It's a tough environment,

and I just hope that these cooks can cope with this sort of challenge.

I'd like to feel that they'll be delighted to see me.

Oh, no!

HE SIGHS

I don't really know what to say at the moment.

Yeah, this is not ideal, to be honest with you.

I'm kind of freaking out.

You've got 90 seconds, and that's all you've got.

Quick, quick, quick. Come on, last bits. Quick, quick, quick. Come on!

Right, stop. That's it. Stop.

HE EXHALES

-What's wrong with it?

-The egg, I didn't smoke it.

-It didn't end up... It didn't work.

-Well, it looks good. It looks good.

We're at a very important stage in the competition.

Today, we have somebody joining us

whose food credentials are incredible.

Please say hello

to two-starred Michelin chef Marcus Wareing.

NERVOUS LAUGHTER

Oh!

-Marcus.

-Good to see you, Gregg.

Annie, please, up you come.

Inspired by her dish in the restaurant,

Annie has cooked mushroom-and-caper ravioli

with crispy pancetta, sage leaves and a butter sauce.

Annie, I think that is a very well-executed plate of food.

What was fabulous in the centre is that little caper.

That little touch of vinegar

just going through those mushrooms was very good.

Beautifully well-made pasta, butter sauce.

I like the dish, I like the flavours,

-and I think you've executed it very, very well.

-Thank you.

Your pasta is thin,

the filling is packed full,

I like the thyme with the mushrooms.

I think it's a really tasty, well-made bowl of pasta.

I think you've absolutely nailed it.

You've got a serious cook on your hands here, gentlemen. Great job.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Annie.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you, Annie.

-Well done!

-THEY WHISPER

Argh!

That was crazy!

It is like the highest point of my life,

having Marcus say those comments.

Erm, that was an incredible thing to happen.

(Thank you.)

Stuart's dish is red mullet served with confit potatoes,

braised artichoke, tomato salsa, and brown shrimps in butter.

It looks a bit dry.

As far as things that are cooked on the plate,

you can't really fault it. I think your fish is cooked really well.

I like the artichokes, I think they're tasty.

But it doesn't go, "Whoosh! Wow! That's wonderful!"

It's a little bit lacklustre, it's a bit boring, and I just

don't think it packs the punch that these flavours could have.

It's missing something to bring it all together.

It's pleasant enough. You do better than pleasant, my friend.

You often open the door to delicious. Not today.

I guess that's the perils of the invention test -

trying to come up with something on the fly

and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I think today it was a little bit of a letdown for me.

Liz, yes, please, up you come.

Liz has roasted partridge breast

and served it with a confit leg wrapped in sprout tops,

potato fondant, potato crisp,

roasted sprouts,

with bacon, mushrooms and a marsala sauce.

I very much like all the ingredients you've put together on that plate.

I think they match brilliantly. I like your soft, buttery potato.

I like the way that your bird is cooked.

However, I want the confit to be softer.

I want the bacon bits to be crispier.

I want the mushrooms to be trimmed.

Liz, I think you need to start

thinking about refining your cookery.

There are errors all over this plate.

This sprout top is not cooked.

The potato is burnt.

We, as chefs, just want it to be sharper,

and it's not, unfortunately.

It's not.

When you present a dish like this, you create expectation.

What you've done here is given us great promise.

And your delivery, unfortunately, is just below expectation.

You're upset because you care. And you can't buy that - it's priceless.

Seriously, in cookery, that's priceless.

Thank you. Thank you.

I think they were right.

You know, I think doing

so much in an hour and 20 minutes was probably a bit of a step too far

and it's really hard to think that today, of all days,

I didn't do it right.

Jane's cooked red mullet served with mashed potato, baby carrots,

a parsley-butter sauce, garnished with gem lettuce and brown shrimp.

Your fish is a little bit overcooked, unfortunately.

Your mashed potato could do with a lot more butter

and a lot more cream. It could be a lot richer.

I think the whole thing needs to be richer.

-The carrots and the mullet just don't seem to work together.

-OK.

The dish just lacks a little bit of depth

and it's like you've tried really hard to impress us

with the fabulous decoration, all the decoration.

It doesn't quite work for me.

It doesn't pack the punch that red mullet should have.

And the lettuce, for me, doesn't have a place.

I like your mashed potato.

I like your sauce that's buttery

and it's got loads of parsley and lemon.

I'm really happy about that. I think you've got the heart

and soul of a decent dish there,

and I think you missed the point with what you're adding to it.

OK.

As soon as they said "carrot" and "lettuce", I thought,

"What the hell were you thinking? You wally!"

Oh, anyway... We'll find out.

Pedro, it's your turn.

Pedro has cooked wild mushroom fricassee with mushroom ketchup,

garlic and herb butter on toasted ciabatta, and a duck egg yolk.

Pedro, unfortunately, you haven't executed this very well at all.

And as a result, what I've got, predominantly, is sherry vinegar.

I can't even taste the mushrooms themselves,

and it's just disappointing. I'm sorry.

I actually don't mind the herb butter on toast with salt

and the rich egg yolk and the sweetness of the mushroom ketchup.

My issue is, I look down and I think, where's the cooking?

What's Pedro cooked? And all I can see, really, is some ketchup, mate.

This dish doesn't work because it's in the wrong hands, unfortunately.

What we're missing here is a little bit of knowledge and skill.

When you take these ingredients and you put them

in the right hands, they can become mind-blowing.

You need to focus on just good, hearty cookery that works well.

Cheers. Thank you.

Not only have I had a bad day at the office,

but then a two-Michelin starred chef is going to come

and eat your food, and to not show what I really am capable of,

yeah, not really much else I can say at this point.

Jen, up with your momos, please.

Jen has made spiced Nepalese momos filled with carrot,

cabbage and shallots, served with a tomato achar, pickled carrot

and a Thai coconut soup.

I've never had a momo before. Never in my life before. I really like it!

I'll tell you what, I bite into that, which seemed to be quite heavy dough,

and inside was an absolute powerful big snog of Asian flavours.

I like the pleasantly oily, thick, coconut-based soup

that's got lime in it, as well, and also a bit of heat.

-I find the whole thing very, very flavoursome.

-Thank you.

Your momo filling, the flavour of the ginger,

the turmeric and lemon grass, I really like with the tomato.

Big departure for you, Jen. Completely different style of food.

These are not cuisines that I've ever studied,

so as a chef I look at them from a flavour point of view,

and I think I would thoroughly enjoy eating both of these dishes

at the same time if I was in a restaurant.

This is the type of dish that normally is something that

you do in your own signature dish,

not in an invention, so ten out of ten for bravery!

Thank you.

I like it. Great job.

Thank you.

-<

-Well done, Jen!

'I feel really good.'

Getting such good feedback from Marcus Wareing was absolutely amazing.

It was the highlight of the competition for me.

(It's amazing!)

-(It's Marcus Wareing!)

-(Marcus Wareing!)

Thank you very much. Really interesting round. Thank you.

Thank you for your input.

You absolutely terrified our contestants

when you first walked in,

but at the end of it, I think they will thank you for your feedback.

-Thanks, Marcus.

-My pleasure.

-Thank you.

-Thank you. See you soon.

Oh, we had some ups and downs today, didn't we?

Let's remember that every one of these six cooks cooked without

a recipe in an invention test. That's pretty good.

The fact is, we have to make a decision

because one of them is going to leave the competition.

-My favourite cook today is Annie.

-Yep.

Annie is not scared of a simple dish, because she is confident

she can cram it full of flavour, and that's what she does.

-She executed the dish very, very well.

-Clever Annie. Very good.

Jen's dish, I think the flavours were good.

Her soup - sweet, sour, salty and hot.

I loved the turmeric and the ginger

and lemon grass inside the dumplings.

We said we wanted a dish that people would be happy to pay for in

a restaurant, and that's exactly what Marcus said about Jen's food.

I would like to go through. Obviously, I don't

want any of the others to do badly, but it'd be really nice to stay in.

I really enjoyed Jane's red mullet on mashed potato. That was lovely.

What the carrots and the lettuce leaves were doing on there,

-I don't know.

-It was just the fact the dish was confused.

It has no clarity, no real plan.

I just hope they see more than the errors on the plate.

I hope they see the good things about it.

I tried really hard, so that's... that's all I can do.

Liz, we know is ambitious. Liz puts herself under pressure.

Marcus picked up faults, you picked up faults with her dish.

Liz's partridge was cooked really well.

She made a great fondant potato.

But there were all the additions on the side

because she wanted to show so much more.

She wanted to show what she's learnt along the way,

and it didn't quite come off the way she wanted it.

I'm really worried about going home, and if that is how I leave

the competition, on such a low, I think, you know, it will just be...

I'll just be devastated.

You could see where Stuart was going with that dish today.

You could see the experience of the professional kitchen

rubbing off on him. I think he got the presentation right.

Loved the way he cooked the fish.

I don't believe he packed enough flavour into the rest

of the goodies on that dish.

It needed a sauce. There was no glue to hold the dish together.

I've loved my time in the competition here, I've absolutely loved it.

Um... I don't want to go home, but...I hope that I've done enough.

Don't know what happened to Pedro today.

He went off in a direction I've never seen before.

The idea of poaching an egg in a water bath and smoking it -

that's not the sort of food that Pedro's been doing,

and it resulted in a dish that we ALL criticised.

What Pedro tried to do was execute a dish that a professional chef

will have trouble doing, and he tried to do it in an invention test.

I mean, if they look at my overall competition, you know,

I might get a free pass.

If they judge me on that dish, I'm out.

I think it's a tough decision.

Which one of these are you starting to get a little bit nervous about?

You've worked incredibly hard.

We've seen some amazing dishes from all six of you.

That's why you're here.

Sad to see one of you go.

The contestant leaving the competition...

..is Pedro.

-Come here, Pedro.

-Cheers.

-Great to have met you, mate.

-All right.

Good to have met you.

I'm pretty gutted to be going home at this stage.

I feel like I had more to give and more to offer.

But I'm proud of what I've done and what I've produced.

So...que sera sera, as they say.

Very well done! It's getting tougher, isn't it?

I'm relieved to be here.

It was the skin of my teeth, to be honest.

It was a tough day.

Relief that I'm coming back.

I'll go away, lick my wounds, turn it into constructive criticism.

You know, I'm certainly not a quitter.

I think I'm feeling a bit like the cat with nine lives. I'm ecstatic.

I'm just pleased and thrilled to be here.

I really am. I can't tell you. It's a dream.

To get to this point it feels great. There's so few of us left now,

so it does make me feel really good about myself and my cooking ability.

Unbelievable. I can't, like... Yeah.

Not only did I get to meet Marcus Wareing today, but he liked it.

A lot. Which is insane!

Tomorrow night it's the final challenge of Knockout Week.

All that stands between the last nine

and a semifinal place is one exceptional plate of food.

-Excuse me one minute.

-FEET STAMP

I think it's really, really very, very good.