Episode 17 MasterChef

It's the final round of Knockout Week.

We're going to get slammed in a minute.

The contestants have felt the heat of their first professional kitchen.

Ooh! No!

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

-I...I'm so lost.

-Now!

-No,

-yes, Chef. Right now!

It is just out of control.

And cooked for one of the world's most respected chefs.

I can't fault it. I think it's fabulous.

Now, the final nine are back to fight for a place in the semifinals.

I don't know how they learned to cook the way they do,

-but this is an incredible competition.

-Today excites me.

You and I are in for a great day and at the end of it,

a really tough judging decision.

Welcome back.

There's only one thing in between you

and a place in the semifinal and that's this dish.

The dish has got to show skill, it's got to be beautiful,

and it's got to taste amazing.

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

Don't let it be you.

Ladies and gentlemen, 90 minutes. Let's cook.

The cooks we have in this competition started in a good

place and they've just got better and better.

Oh, Billy! Wild, dangerous, pushes it!

Cooks on the edge, but it can be and it regularly is incredible.

-Are you going for this, Billy? Are you going for this competition?

-Yeah, massively.

Absolutely, I'm a competitive chap at heart anyway,

-so I wouldn't enter a competition if I didn't think I could win.

-Wow!

-So, we're here, last nine, so why not?

-Why did you choose to do a dessert today?

I just thought I should show you that I can cook desserts,

I'm not just a meat and two veg chap.

Billy, I don't think by any stretch of the imagination I would ever

have you in the bracket of meat and two veg, son.

What is your dessert?

A pear frangipane tarte fine with poached pears, almond tuile,

and a sherry vinegar ice cream.

-Really?

-Really, yup.

-Looking forward to it.

-Cheers.

'The ice cream is my nemesis.'

I've tried to do an ice cream previously in a competition

and it failed to set, so fingers crossed it comes out OK.

A sherry vinegar ice cream, something I've never had before.

I just hope that that sherry vinegar doesn't curdle the milk.

Please work.

We love Jane's food, but she needs to raise it up,

she knows that, but she's struggling to find a style.

The last round with Marcus Wareing, I just thought it was

an incredible learning experience for me and hopefully,

I made a few errors on there that I won't be doing again.

When I see a Jane smile,

-I realise everything's all right in the MasterChef kitchen.

-I wish. Yesterday, I thought

about what the dish was going to look like, not what it tastes. And I'm usually all about the flavour.

-And it was a big learning curve and I really took it on board.

-So what do you do now?

This is a dish that I love, it's roast pheasant breast with chestnuts and apple.

-What's a snapple?

-Chestnuts AND apple!

SHE CHUCKLES

-I thought you said a chestnut snapple.

-No!

-SHE LAUGHS

Jane's done a lovely rich woody cider sauce, roast potatoes,

some kale, and apples and rosemary and chestnut puree.

Sounds good.

20 minutes gone. You've got an hour and ten left.

Jack takes an idea and turns it completely on its head.

He's clever, he's inventive, he's very, very interesting.

I practised this dish, I think, three times and each time,

I've swapped and changed.

It finally is coming together, I think. Hopefully.

What are you making?

I'm going for big, gutsy flavours today, so I'm doing pork belly,

pig cheek tortellini, butter beans and a whipped lardo.

Excuse me one minute.

Back in the room.

-Keep going, Jack.

-Will do. Will do.

Jack obviously has a plan. And there's nothing crazy on that plate.

It's pork and beans.

But how that dish is going to come together, I'm not sure.

Natasha is a very gifted pastry cook.

Her desserts are incredible.

-You're sticking with puddings?

-I'm sticking with puddings.

-Why?

-I love a pudding.

-So I'm going to stick to what I know and what I like.

-What are you making today?

I'm making a hazelnut praline semifreddo with a baked

chocolate ganache and a chocolate crumb.

-Oh, Natasha. I do like you and a pud, mate. I so do!

-Thank you.

We've got sugar going into caramel to make a hazelnut praline,

we've got a caramel sauce, we've got a backed chocolate ganache.

I've never heard of so much sugar.

That's sweet.

Guys, you're now halfway. All right? You've got 45 minutes left.

I find Stuart slightly frustrating in that I know he can be brilliant.

And I know he can slip in to average.

He's got to deliver one of his knockout dishes today.

No, there's no margin for error at the moment.

The pressure is immense because you're in, you've

got your 90 minutes and that's it, there's nothing else quite like it.

-Stewart, when you're good, you are exceptionally good.

-Thank you.

Can you find consistency, do you think?

Today, I'm really happy with what I'm doing,

so I need to get everything that's on my plate just spot-on and deliver

bags of flavour and something that looks incredible as well.

I just want you to cook like I know you can, mate.

-I will do my very best, Gregg.

-I'm sure you will.

Stuart's dish intrigues me. Grouse, parsnips and beetroot.

But he's making a sauce from the beetroot, he's making a puree from the parsnip.

The grouse leg, he's taking and he's braising and turning it into a little bonbon,

which has got a crust on the outside.

It's daring, it's inventive, it's interesting and quite exciting.

I like Annie because she is brave enough to keep her food simple,

because she has worked out that the most important

thing about a dish is what it tastes like.

Boys and girls, watch out for Annie.

-How much are you enjoying this competition?

-I'm having a great time.

-You really are as well, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-What are you making today?

I am doing pan-fried sea bass with mushrooms three ways -

mushroom puree, roasted mushrooms, and pickled mushrooms.

And I'm serving it with sprout tops and broccoli stems.

And a caper butter sauce.

-Sounds a little unusual, but by now, I trust you.

-OK. Good.

Annie is full of surprises. And this dish from her is a real surprise.

It sounds more like the scraps of leftover challenge than it

does actually a dish which has been created for this.

Mushrooms and fish. Yes, it works.

I made it yesterday and ate it in about 60 seconds,

so I think that's a good sign.

30 minutes left and it's going to fly.

Juanita could be one of the best cooks in the competition.

If she finds consistency.

What are we going to get today?

I have no idea and I'm waiting for it anxiously.

I feel more pressure than ever today cos

I just really want a place in that final eight, so I'd be so happy.

How have the last couple of rounds been for you, Juanita?

Professional kitchen, not a good day.

-The last round with Marcus Wareing, amazing.

-And his feedback to you? How do you feel that went?

Really well, though I have to be honest, I was kind of just looking into his eyes. I'm not really sure

-I heard everything that he said, but I think it was good, yeah.

-What are you making today?

Pan-fried halibut with lots of textures of cauliflower,

all tied together with curry oil

and I'm doing a lardo crisp to add a bit of naughty fatness to it all.

Juanita, when you're good, you're very, very good. Fingers crossed.

Thank you.

Halibut, a thick piece of fish, meaty as you like.

Get it right, it's a wonderful thing.

Get it wrong, overcooked, it's like cotton wool.

Undercooked, it's flabby, chewy, horrible thing.

I've always seen Jen as a classic cook, as a safe cook.

She has started to break out of that.

Perhaps Jen is getting a little bit more daring.

I feel excited about today. I've practised my dish I'm doing

several times, so I just really want to make sure that

I do it right today and get into the semifinals.

-Jen, you're making a pudding.

-I am doing a pudding.

Chocolate, cherry and almond brownie with chocolate

-and almond macarons, a cherry sauce and Amaretto cream.

-Why this?

-Why a brownie?

-The key thing here is the flavours.

They're all flavours that are some of my absolute favourites.

And the brownie just gives a really lovely texture.

Oh, I'd love to eat it with a great big spoon.

I just don't know how you make it pretty. That's over to you.

Hopefully I'll do well.

Chocolate brownie at this stage of the competition!

It better be a good brownie.

It needs to be crispy on the outside, stodgy in the centre

and cooked properly all the way through.

The lowlight of the competition so far was what happened with Marcus.

There are errors all over this plate.

That is the phrase!

It chills me to the bone. Really does.

-Liz, I'm almost scared to ask you how you feel.

-No, don't be.

It's all OK. I feel good. I feel good today.

How did you feel after you'd cooked for Marcus?

Someone who you respect so much and not impressing them

is really hard to hear.

You know, I've had to go away and take it as a positive

-and turn it around and come back swinging.

-Go on, Liz.

-Cheers.

-Back in the ring.

-Oh, yeah.

Liz is giving us pork belly served with a fig and apple syrup,

roasted apples, black pudding and a sauce made from the pork belly.

I hope those apples are lovely and sour and sharp

because those figs are really sweet.

Listen. You've got 15 minutes left.

Oh, what a day.

There's this steely silence in here as nine cooks beaver away

at their one dish to try and get a semifinal place.

I have to tell you, the smells are fantastic.

I think I've cooked the fish right,

so hopefully it all works together as one.

You have six minutes left.

TENSE MUSIC PLAYS

Everything is cooked how I want it. The sauce is good.

The grouse is...just good.

TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES

Last 60 seconds.

Quick, quick, quick!

That's it. Stop.

HE SIGHS

-A big plate of food, isn't it?

-Big boys.

-Looks lovely.

-Stunning.

-Tuiles have collapsed a bit.

First up, company director Liz has made pork belly with

a pistachio crumbed black pudding bonbon, roasted fennel,

a fig and apple puree, baked apple and roast potatoes with

crackling spears served with a pork and apple balsamic sauce.

I really like this. I think it shows a much simpler

style from you and I applaud it.

You're definitely going in the right direction.

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

Smoky pistachio nuts, peppery rich black pudding, sweet fig,

but yet sharp from the apple.

Your sauce is rich and not too sticky to go with the fat

sticky pork belly, but you can push it.

Just a little bit more salt, a little bit more pepper

because besides that, in my opinion, it's faultless.

I could be wrong, but I think John Torode just told you to push it

with salt and pepper.

LAUGHTER

-I think he did.

-Push it real good.

-BOTH:

-Push it real good.

# Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da

# Da-da-da-da-da. #

Right.

Liz, I think it's yummy, it's moreish, it's cooked really well

and it tastes great.

-Happier?

-Yes, yes, yes.

Really, really over the moon with that.

It's a lot of relief in there, as well,

but it's mostly just happiness at the moment.

Juanita's dish is pan-fried halibut

with textures of cauliflower -

cauliflower puree, toasted cauliflower,

pickled Romanesco cauliflower and cauliflower fritters.

It's finished with a lardo crisp, a curried almond crumb

and a curry oil.

Every single mouthful, there's a different experience.

There's a sharp sensation coming from the pickle with raw

cauliflower and a piece of beautifully cooked fish.

Then there's a cauliflower fritter almost like a bhaji with

a bit of lard and a piece of nicely cooked fish

with a piece of smoky curry oil.

It's fascinating, but I don't feel as though I've been comforted by it.

OK.

You've cooked the fish well.

You've got some interesting bits on there,

but they are just little bits.

I think I tried to be a bit too wacky, so maybe it was a bit,

not, you know, big and yummy enough.

Billy's sweet dish is a pear frangipane tart fine served

with cider and blackberry poached pears, salted candied almonds,

an almond tuile and a sherry vinegar ice cream.

Not a huge fan of this one, Billy.

Your pastry needs to be cooked longer

and it needs more pear to make it juicier.

However, love that sherry vinegar ice cream because you say

vinegar ice cream and you expect it to be really, really sharp.

It's not. What it's done is it's taken on the lovely depth

and sweetness of sherry.

I'm not as disappointed as Gregg is.

I like your jewels of poached pear and blackberries and the tuile.

I think they are really delicious,

especially with your sherry vinegar ice cream.

Weren't really the comments I was expecting, in all honesty.

I thought the criticism was going to come in the ice cream,

so it shows what I know.

Mortgage adviser Jen's dish is a chocolate,

almond and cherry brownie with chocolate filled macarons,

Amaretto cream and a cherry sauce.

Your sauce is like one of those medicines you had as a kid

that you really liked.

It's got that sweetness that makes you feel good inside

but I question whether a brownie and a macaron with a sauce

belong on one plate as a dessert.

Like your macarons. Really nice.

They're crispy on the outside, spongy in the middle.

Your chocolate brownie is dense, but I like the flavour of that

as well, especially with cherry and cherry and chocolate I like.

I don't like this sauce. I find it far too sour.

That dish needed to be perfect and they didn't love it,

so I don't know.

Jack has made his take on pork and beans.

Pork belly with the whipped lardo pig cheek tortellini,

butter beans with a smoked garlic and butter bean puree,

Parmesan crisp, crackling and paprika crumb and a chorizo oil.

Almost.

And all you had to do was take the cooking juices from your pork

belly and bathe those tortellini in them because that pork belly

and those tortellini need sauce, because the rest of it is delicious.

You cooked your pork belly well, I like your wafer, your cheesy wafer.

I think the pig's cheek tortellini with the little crispy

crumb of chorizo is inspired.

All for a couple of tablespoons of sauce, basically,

so kicking myself, yeah.

Natasha has made a hazelnut praline semifreddo with baked chocolate

ganache, hazelnut crumb, a cocoa nib tuile and a warm caramel sauce.

MUSIC PLAYS

Love the semifreddo with that caramel sauce across the top.

That's wonderful - but the ganache, for me,

is far too heavy, far too dense.

That may even make a thud if I drop it.

THUD

You made your own praline, you made a semifreddo.

There's a load, a load of work in here,

but the addition of chocolate for me, just a bit too far.

It's just a bit too sweet for me, Natasha.

I'm a little bit disappointed they didn't love it as much as I do.

I like the ganache, but it's not for everyone.

Actor Annie has made pan-fried sea bass with mushrooms three ways.

Roasted wild mushrooms, pickled chestnut mushrooms and a mushroom

puree with broccoli stems, sprout tops and a brown butter caper sauce.

MUSIC PLAYS

Your fish is just a little bit overdone.

As to the combination of roasted mushrooms, capers, mushroom puree,

pickled mushrooms and sea bass with broccoli stems, it's a revelation.

What links everything together for me, is the use of caper.

That salty acidity that runs throughout the whole dish.

I don't know whether I've been spoilt by your previous triumphs,

but this, this is decent

but it hasn't reached, for me,

-the heights that you did before, I'm afraid.

-OK.

A bit frustrated because I knew that things weren't right

and I just put everything on the plate and I shouldn't have.

Yeah.

Stuart has made roast grouse breast on red wine spelt risotto

with a confit leg meat bonbon, parsnip puree, roast parsnips,

roast and pickled beetroot and a beetroot and red wine reduction.

You've cooked that bird very, very well.

Your puree's well made and I like the sweetness with it

and I like the spelt. Really interesting, that.

I don't like it. I'm sorry.

I don't like sweet parsnip with sweet beetroot and a very,

-very strong, gamey grouse. I just don't like it.

-OK.

Really odd. That one has completely divided us.

Bit deflated, obviously.

It would have been nice to get good comments from both of them,

but I'll take 50/50.

Mum-of-four Jane's dish is pheasant with chestnut and apple,

roast pheasant breast, chestnut puree, pickled apple,

cavolo nero, a bacon and chestnut crumb and a cider sauce.

-Lovely looking dish.

-Thank you.

-Lovely looking dish.

MUSIC PLAYS

Well, that pheasant is beautiful.

Brilliantly cooked and your combination of flavours,

in my opinion, is nothing short of absolutely excellent.

My sort of dish, that is. That's absolutely lovely.

Thank you so much.

You've done it.

All I've asked from you is a bit of polish

because your food has always been delicious.

You're a generous cook, you cook from the heart and you've done it.

-You've jumped the big hurdle. Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-I did it! Finally, I did it.

-Well done, that was so good.

Really, really happy.

I couldn't have asked for better comments

and I just went back to cooking what I love and it worked, so, yeah,

I can't be more happy really.

Oh!

Thanks very much, everybody.

We'll call you back in as soon as we possibly can.

MUSIC PLAYS

Well, Mr Wallace, the end of knockout week.

After this decision, we'll have our eight semifinalists.

I believe three of them cooked very well today.

I've got three standout dishes.

My favourite dish was Jane's.

-I just loved that pheasant.

-I'm with you. Jane's a great cook.

Liz, I thought, had an exceptional round. Absolutely nailed it.

Well done, Liz.

Jack, really skilful, real artistry.

Lovely flavours.

We're down to six very good, very talented cooks

and we're going to lose one.

Can we quickly talk about Stuart, because you didn't like him

-and I did.

-I didn't like the flavours on the plate.

However, everything was cooked very well.

Annie.

Actually, that wasn't her best dish, but it was still a good dish.

You were right about the capers.

The capers were the thing that made the whole thing work.

Juanita, I thought it lacked a little bit of flavour, however you

can't ignore the amount of work that went into it.

If you take a cauliflower and try and turn it into five

different things, that's what's going to happen.

Billy.

I was disappointed by Billy's tart. The pastry needed more cooking.

It needed more pear, however, he made me a vinegar ice cream

and it was delicious. Absolutely delicious.

I liked Jen's macaron.

I liked Jen's brownie with the cherry.

-I really didn't like that sauce.

-I liked that sauce!

Do you know why I liked that sauce?

It was sour and sweet at the same time.

Natasha, I think the hazelnut praline semifreddo was

a lovely thing, but the addition of chocolate? Far too rich.

It was as heavy and as dense as you like.

You know what's coming up. Who isn't going to make it through?

PIANO PLAYS

When we line up, I'll be concerned

that I'll be the one they call out, but we shall see.

I've put a hell of a lot of work in, so it would be great

if I could stay, but not a guarantee right now.

Semifinals are so close.

I'd be gutted if I went out today.

PIANO PLAYS

What a fabulous end to knockout week.

For us today, there were three cooks that we believe to be

outstanding.

-Jane...

-Thank you.

..Liz...

..and Jack.

Congratulations, you three. You are semifinalists.

One of you is leaving the competition.

The person leaving us...

..is Natasha.

-Thanks, Natasha.

-Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone.

MUSIC PLAYS

Yeah, I've had a great time. It's been brilliant.

I'm really proud of what I've done. Really proud of what I've achieved.

Congratulations. Absolutely fantastic.

Feels very surreal.

I was convinced I was on the way out.

Words cannot explain what this is like.

It's the strangest sensation, but it is absolutely brilliant.

I think it's going to take tonight to sink in. I am so over the moon.

Oh, it's brilliant, it's fantastic.

MasterChef semifinalist. That's the dream, right there.

Next week... It's the start of the semifinals.

The contestants will be pushed beyond anything

they have experienced before.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

ALARM SOUNDS

Fire, fire, fire.

Ah!

I hope that's a drill and not one of our ovens.

I thought that was smashing. Proper restaurant quality food.

This is worth the highest standard.

At the end of the week, only six chefs will remain.