Episode 20 MasterChef

-It's the MasterChef semifinals. Last night...

-Come on!

-..the tension reached new heights...

-Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Argh!

..and Jen was sent home. Now only seven remain.

It's just so strange, you being one of seven people,

and the winner is going to be one of us lot.

You're not expecting any weak links and there aren't any

so really got to be on my game to make sure that I progress.

You can never, ever, ever prepare yourself for how hard it is.

It'll all be worth it to get over that finishing line.

-Tonight, they will have to pull out all the stops...

-Whoa!

Who opened their pressure cooker?

..cooking for some of the world's most celebrated restaurateurs...

On the trolley, please. Let's go. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick!

We've got to go, we've got to go, we've got to go.

..before returning to the MasterChef kitchen to fight for their place.

We are smashing through the semifinals.

It's no good just staying safe. You've got to stand out.

It's early morning in London's fashionable Chelsea

and the contestants are on their way

to one of the area's most celebrated landmarks - Bluebird.

Built in 1923, this Art Deco masterpiece originally housed

one of the largest motor garages in Europe

and was transformed into a dining hot spot in the late '90s.

Today, the contestants will be taking full control of its kitchens.

-Good morning.

-Morning.

-Good morning.

A certain John Torode used to be in charge of the stoves here.

Big challenge for you today.

We are building a MasterChef pop-up restaurant here on the King's Road.

We have invited 12 of the best restaurateurs in Great Britain.

These guys can make careers happen.

Today, Gregg is hosting lunch.

I've got to run the pass.

We asked all of you to describe a menu that you would cook

should you open a restaurant

and you presented us with three courses.

You will each be cooking only one of those courses.

Billy, Juanita - you'll be responsible for starters.

Jack, Stuart, Liz - main courses for you three.

Annie, Jane - the finale, dessert.

Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest you get to it. Off you go.

Oh! Nice big challenge! Nice big challenge to get their teeth into!

I'm feeling really nervous about this challenge.

I was OK with it until I found out who we're cooking for

and now I just want to be sick!

It's a ridiculous opportunity.

At the same time, it's hugely nerve-racking.

I'm just going to try and treat it a bit like a restaurant service,

hopefully not make John angry.

Just so that you know - you've got two hours down here.

After that, you're packing everything up,

-we're going up to the service kitchen, everybody. Get it?

-Got it.

Yes, Chef. Thank you very much.

On the menu today will be a choice of two starters.

The first is being prepared by property surveyor Billy.

I'm doing southern-fried quail with a bacon waffle, potato foam

and a beurre noisette confit egg yolk with some savoury maple syrup.

You know me - I don't like to do anything by the book,

so yeah, something slightly different again.

Quail and waffles - interesting combination. It's adventurous.

It's quite trendy at the moment to cook meat and waffles together.

I just hope people order them.

There's a few different elements going on,

some elements that people may not be expecting to be

tucking into as a starter, but I think it works really well,

working on sweet and savoury notes.

Keep on working and talk at the same time.

Don't worry about the cameras today. I don't have time for cameras.

Just work. Come on. Let's go. Work! Seriously, go! Go!

Keep on talking to me at the same time.

Personally, I have a really big headache

because what's happened is I've been thrown in here with seven cooks who've got their own recipes.

I have no idea whether they'll be able to do it on time or not,

so right now, I'm feeling a little bit tense.

The other starter option has been created by web producer Juanita,

who's making a hare ragout to be used as the filling for ravioli.

I'm just trying to get my hare into the pressure cooker to get that on

cos that takes the longest time to cook, and once that's in,

I can go onto my pasta dough, so just trying to get this going.

There's quite a long period of cook where I can only just be doing prep.

And then, for the last half an hour or so, I'm manically going to be

making sauces, making raviolis, doing all those bits.

So it's a bit of time pressure,

just because the first bit takes so long to cook.

To tenderise the hare, Juanita's stewing it in chicken stock

and white wine for an hour.

I'm feeling really under pressure. I feel like I should be

in the pressure cooker cos I'm so much under pressure!

Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Who opened their pressure cooker?

-Leave it!

-Get a cloth. Get a tea towel.

-Here.

-Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Oh, no, no, no!

Sorry!

I know not to open a pressure cooker. I don't know why I did that.

Panic, I think.

Guys, it is 11.55.

You've got one hour and 30 minutes before we go up the stairs.

The first of a choice of three main courses

is being prepared by project manager Jack.

What I'm cooking today is hot smoked haddock, Jerusalem artichokes,

pickled samphire, clam veloute and deep-fried oysters.

It's quite refined, in a way, and hopefully in the way I present it,

but ultimately, it's a big, tasty, big smile-on-your-face dish.

With the haddock portioned, Jack checks on his artichokes,

which he's salt-baked in their skins to intensify the flavour.

Never done this before.

I've seen it done. I've eaten it.

It's quite key that this works otherwise it's just going to

be fish and sauce, which no-one wants to eat.

Competing on mains is company director Liz, who's making

dauphinoise potatoes to be served with lamb prepared three ways.

My lamb belly is in.

I need to go and check on it but it's started

and the necks are steaming away.

This'll be the time-consuming things that take a lot of time to cook.

I've got to get this in like, now, basically.

-Here you go.

-180.

-IN HER ACCENT:

-180.

Come on. Get these other bits of lamb on at the same time. Let's go.

As well as serving the neck and belly,

Liz has to flash-fry the loin, ready for service.

It's enough. Enough, Liz. Enough, enough, enough, enough!

Turn it over. Quick! Enough! Liz, it's enough. Turn it over!

Turn it over.

And off the heat. Off! Off! Off!

The final main is research chemist Stuart's,

who's gone for beef cheeks

served with potato cakes and a mushroom ketchup.

There's a lot to do in the time that we've got

but I'm feeling all right at the minute.

I suspect, as we get closer to service, I might get a little bit

more red-faced and flustered, but I'm organised at the moment.

I think the main issue with this is getting

the balance of flavours right cos there's not too many flavours

on the plate, so I need to make sure each one of them stands out,

and particularly with the mushroom ketchup,

I need to get the sweet, sharp balance of that just right

or else that could really ruin the whole dish.

OK. Guests are arriving. They look very important and quite hungry.

These restaurateurs are at the forefront of dining trends...

..and have paved the way for culinary excellence.

Arkady Novikov controls an empire of over 50 restaurants

around the world.

David Loewi's portfolio of over 30 restaurants includes Bluebird

and brings in revenue of over £100 million a year.

Yeah, we are professional restaurateurs.

I'm sure it's a huge challenge but when they go into

the real world, every day is a real challenge.

David Moore and Will Smith

both run Michelin success stories in central London.

They're coming from an amateur background.

They've got to turn that cooking at home for friends and family,

who will normally coo and woo and say, "Wow, what fantastic dishes!"

to be critiqued by people who are going to say,

"Yeah, it's a great dish, but..."

Aldo Zilli is a restaurant veteran who launched

one of the country's most iconic restaurant chains.

We know what we're talking about, we know what we're looking at

and, as long as they keep it simple and tasty, they'll be fine.

Back in the kitchen, actor Annie has made pastry cases for a dessert

of raspberry curd tarts, which will be served with pistachio ice cream.

I'm just working on the creme anglaise based on my ice cream

at the moment, so I need to move to get it chilled and churning.

But I'm doing all right.

You're putting flour into ice cream?

I'm just making a custard base.

A custard base for an ice cream

-is usually made without flour or cornflour.

-OK, OK.

-It's just used with egg yolks, so it's a creme anglaise base.

-OK.

-So I should do creme anglaise, then?

-It's up to you.

-It depends what you're making.

-Pistachio ice cream.

-Er...

-Well, if you've got a recipe already with flour and stuff in it, then do that.

-Well, I haven't.

It's just a custard recipe that I was adding pistachio paste to.

That frightens me.

You're going to make ice cream without an ice cream recipe

and hope it's going to work out?

No. No, not a good idea. Not a good idea.

I just had a mind blank and so John probably thinks I'm an idiot.

The bright green stuff is pistachio paste, so it hopefully will

make a nice green ice cream that tastes delicious!

Competing with Annie on desserts is mum-of-four Jane.

I am making today a shades of gin pudding,

so I'm doing a lemon parfait with cardamom crumb,

a damson gin syrup, gin and tonic jelly and a frozen sherbet.

It's the first time that I've had the courage of my convictions

to actually put something totally my own creation on a plate.

If it doesn't work, there's no-one else I can fall back on.

This is my palate that's in question.

Just used a whole bottle of gin! It's going to be boozy.

If you say it's going to be gin, it's got to be gin, hasn't it?

-Are you OK?

-Shut up!

-ARE you OK?

-Shut up!

-You're not, are you?

-No!

HE PRETENDS TO CRY

I'm old! I used to be able to do this. 15 years ago, I was fine!

When you taste food, you have to be able to say,

that's better than I could do at home,

and I think that's what you need to create in a restaurant

and hopefully what we'll taste today.

Whilst you can be creative

with the food you're putting in front of people, I think

you need to have a thread running through it all,

a creative concept behind what you're actually trying to do.

The mark of a good chef, a confident and competent chef, is knowing when

to stop and knowing when to let the ingredients speak for themselves.

There's less than an hour until service.

Over on starters, Billy's quail is prepped

and he's now making his buttermilk and bacon waffles.

Just done my last batch of waffles and that's it.

I've got to somehow find a vac pack machine for my egg yolks,

so we might have to change tack on those if it's not working.

So, um...such is life.

Meanwhile, Juanita's hare ragout is ready

but she's only just started to roll the pasta for over 25 ravioli.

-OK. Here we go.

-I'm rolling, all right?

-Go, go!

-Thank you so much, John.

-Go, go, go, go! Go!

Quick. Move those ones out of the way.

Ravioli's fine thanks to John's help.

These are my last final five to seal.

Everything else is ready to go, so, yeah, good.

Over on mains, Jack's made the fish stock for his clam veloute

and has added applewood chips to the stovetop smokers,

which will flavour the delicate haddock.

It literally is about five minutes in a smoker

and then, when we're at service,

I'm just going to pop it under the grill, quickly heat it through.

If the fish is undercooked, that's it, game over.

-Sorry.

-Wow! Not too strong, is it?

-No, that's fine.

-That smokes like crazy!

-Yeah.

-They're fine, they're fine, they're fine.

-Wow!

These smokers are a bit... topsy-turvy, so...

These are a bit overdone.

These are all right. I'll rescue some of these.

The ones in the middle should be absolutely fine.

With 45 minutes left, everyone is racing to get all their prep done

before they transport everything upstairs to the service kitchen.

Liz has finally managed to get her lamb neck cooked

but she still has to keep an eye on the roast belly.

I've never cooked it in one of these things before.

Just checking that it's all OK.

Should be all nice and crispy, as it is.

Ouch! Ouch!

On track. Tick!

Liz, are you all right with your dauphinoise?

A little bit overdone.

Luckily, I've done a couple of portions,

so we'll have enough that are just right.

Just about everything's prepped now.

I just need to get everything into bottles, pans, etc,

just so we can take it all upstairs.

The final thing on Stuart's list is a bone marrow butter

to accompany his ox cheeks.

It's tight, it's tight.

There's not a lot of time left, so, yeah, I need to get on, sorry.

On desserts, it's the moment of truth for Annie's ice cream recipe.

That looks kind of ice creamy.

Next, she has to build her raspberry tarts.

The only thing I've got left to do is just get

everything into bowls, ready to go upstairs,

then I've just got to finish the mix for my tuile by adding

two egg whites to it and then I'm going to bake those upstairs.

So everything seems to be OK.

Five minutes, everyone. Five minutes to pack up.

-Hello?

-EVERYONE: Yes, Chef.

Thank you very much.

With minutes to spare,

Jane checks on the cardamom crumb for her gin-inspired dessert.

There's just a tiny little bit caught in the bottom of the oven

where I put it to the hotter one and I don't want that

going in my crumb, so I'm just going to take that out.

My gin and tonic jellies are a little bit too set.

They're a bit frozen, but they're actually defrosting now,

so hopefully by the time I get them to the pass, they'll be OK.

-What's defrosting?

-I left them in the blast chiller a bit too long.

-What are you scaring me about, Jane?

-Sorry?

-What's defrosting?

My jellies have got a little bit...

Well, Jane, just make sure they are a jelly,

-cos I don't think they will be.

-OK.

No, it's jelly. It's definitely jelly.

Phew!

I want to see clean flavours.

I don't enjoy so much

hundreds of different elements on the plate.

You want consistency, performance.

One bad meal out of the week and you've lost a customer.

It's not burnt.

It's the molasses in the sugar that's turned it that dark colour.

There's an awful lot of technique here,

a lot of culinary muscle going on.

They're all trying to show what they can do.

That's fine, as long as they deliver.

We're moving out in two minutes.

On the trolley, please, let's go. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.

The eggs are working. I didn't use a vac pack in the end,

I sort of pushed all the air out manually

and made sure the eggs were under the water so they're cooking.

There, there, go. There, there, go.

Good, good.

-Right, let's go, guys, please. Go.

-Hang on, wait.

Slowly, quietly. Come on, come on.

Come on. Let's go. Go, go, go.

I've got... I've just got these eggs...

Let's go, mate, we've got to go.

-We've got one minute 13.

-For what?

-For the eggs that are precooked.

And then I'm going to hold them upstairs.

So I said you were going to go at half past, it's now 20 to two.

I've got everything else upstairs ready to go.

There was a problem with the vac pack machine, so... Oh, he's gone.

BEEPING

-What's in there?

-Egg yolks.

-Oh, well done. They're done.

HE SIGHS IN RELIEF

Upstairs, the diners are about to order their choice of starter.

Obviously you want to get orders in, but I don't want to get all 12!

Half and half would be nice.

I'm going to start with Juanita's hare ravioli.

This is more my kind of food. This is almost a marriage made in heaven.

-I'd like the hare ravioli, please.

-Yep.

My head says the hare is the dish to have,

but I'm going to go for the quail. That's very ambitious.

Very delicate with those eggs, yeah.

Why I decided to do that is beyond me.

-I love the thought of a bacon waffle.

-Yeah.

That's inspiration for me.

I'll start with the quail.

May I please have the southern fried quail?

Salute.

After two hours of intense prep,

it's now crunch time for Billy and Juanita.

Thank you very much.

Table one, three quail, two ravioli,

-seven minutes to pass, please.

-Yes, Chef.

The diners have shown interest in both starters, but Billy's quail

and Juanita's ravioli must hit the pass at the same time.

Four minutes to pass, guys, please.

-What else has got to go on that plate?

-Er...

-potato foam, egg, quail.

-Right.

-Sauces.

-Fine.

Two minutes on the quail.

-Right, she's going now.

-How many ravioli am I doing next, John?

-One.

But it's not for a long while.

-OK, 10 seconds on that quail coming up, Billy, please.

-Er...30...

Well, all right.

Come on, quick, quick, let's go. It's going to go cold. Let's go.

Juanita's ravioli are ready to go,

but Billy still has to plate the fragile eggs.

Go, go, go. That's it.

All right, thank you.

-Oh, I was just having a 'mare.

-Come on, Billy. I need to move now.

I dropped one of the egg yolks, annoyingly,

but the other two are OK, I think.

-Oh, that was horrible.

-Thank you. Table one, service, please.

-I don't think it looks wonderful.

-Maybe too much breadcrumbs.

We'll try. Interesting.

OK, Juanita. Let's go. Two ravioli, make sure your sauce is nice.

Coming, chef.

Pass the ravioli, please.

With fewer orders, Juanita is on track,

but Billy is under yet more pressure.

-Billy, what can I help you with?

-Three plates down, please.

Three plates.

-So two bits of waffle on each?

-Two, yeah.

-Is there anything else I can do, or not really?

-No, it's not...

-OK.

I'm annoyed with myself.

There's not enough room on there to balance the egg yolk.

Billy, come on, come on. Let's go.

-Juanita.

-Yes.

-Can you put those two other bits of quail on?

-How many bits do you want on each one?

-One breast, one leg.

OK, let's go, potato foam, egg yolk, let's go now, please.

I need this up.

The ravioli's going cold, I don't want to have to redo it.

Come on, go, go, go. Quick.

-Oh, I've popped that one as well.

-Come on.

Service, please. Thank you very much. Good. Starters gone.

A mixture of emotions, but just really happy and, yeah...

Very different from how I was feeling three hours ago.

I'm a perfectionist.

I would like to have got seven out of seven plated perfectly,

I didn't. So a little bit disappointed.

But, yeah, hopefully it tastes really good.

Seven of the restaurateurs chose Billy's southern fried quail

served with bacon waffles, potato foam,

confit egg yolk,

mustard maple syrup and thyme oil.

The egg white, which isn't a egg white, which is the foam,

is really clever.

From a presentation perspective it's interesting and exciting.

The quail is cooked really nicely. There's just too much sweetness.

I think they've just gone overboard with the sweetness,

with the whole dish.

I'm sure if he tried this back in the kitchen

he would realise that it's more a dessert than a starter.

There's a lot more technique going on here than meets the eye.

Someone's put a lot of work into this dish, and it's playful,

and it's made me smile.

Juanita's hare ravioli has been served with the loin,

together with a sage butter and a hare sauce.

The pasta is perfect thickness. I think it's slightly bland.

It could have a little bit more seasoning.

The loin in it is delicious,

but the flavour doesn't come through in the ravioli.

For an amateur, this egg is cooked to perfection.

Nice and rare, but not too pink.

It's pretty stunning.

There's a nice sharpness in the sage butter.

There's a little bit of acidity, which works quite well.

With the starters out of the way, Liz, Stuart and Jack

take centre stage.

I'll take the hot smoked haddock.

It's stressful, it's intense, but I feel like I'm in my element.

You've just got to concentrate, get your head down and cook.

Main course please, ox cheek.

The ox cheek is the dish that I'm going to have, for sure.

It ticks all the right boxes for me.

It's going to be a heavy lunch, but that's the kind of mood I'm in.

The second potato cake's falling apart.

It's just not going to look very neat on the plate.

I need to have a think about how I'm going to do that now.

I think lamb three ways is much more of a cheffy type of dish.

-And the expression "three ways" as well.

-Exactly, it's three ways.

It's not enough to show off one way,

-you've got to show off three ways.

-Precisely, yeah.

-It looks very dry, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

OK, five minutes till the main courses, please.

Five minutes first table.

Two of each, two haddock, two ox cheek, two lamb.

Five minutes to pass. Yes? Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef. Thank you.

The three cooks must coordinate their timings

to keep service on track.

Jack's haddock is first to the pass.

Followed by Stuart,

who has hidden the broken potato cakes under the beef and kale.

Can I get to my meat board?

-Come on, Liz, we've got to go.

-My lamb's a little bit under.

Jack, give Liz a hand, please, on these first two plates.

-What do you want me to do?

-Could you get my lamb out of the oven, please?

OK. Watch your head. It's there, Liz.

We've got to send this table. Go, please. Table one.

You've got to help Liz out. You've got to help her out.

-What shall I do?

-You've got to help her out.

-Um...

-Are you good?

-I just need little bit of jus.

-Come on, come on, come on. Let's go.

-I need the tables gone.

-Got it.

-The rest of the table's gone.

-Two lamb away.

-You do it, you do it. Got it?

-Done?

-Sorry, yeah.

It looks great.

I think it's slightly over-charred.

It looks nice.

Two lamb, all day. Three haddock, all day, three beef, all day.

Burnt potatoes, all day.

-Are they hot, Liz?

-They're warm.

-They're not hot, then.

Put them in the oven.

-How long, Stuart?

-Um...

Two minutes, chef, to plate.

-Liz, are you all right with that?

-Yep.

That's better, Liz. Nice, good.

-Where's the piece of fish?

-I'm just cooking it off, chef.

-Come on.

-Jack, are you ready to go?

-Service, chef.

Thank you, give them to me, please.

-Three beef cheek, John.

-Thank you.

Lamb now, Liz, please.

-Table two.

-What's next, John?

-That's it.

-That's it?

-Service done, thank you, well done. Clean down, please.

-Oh, right.

That was seriously intense.

-I was just starting to get into my stride and we stopped.

-That was...

That was ridiculous.

The diners have shown equal interest in all three main courses.

Jack's smoked haddock has been served

with crushed Jerusalem artichokes, a clam and bacon veloute,

deep-fried oyster and pickled samphire.

I think I have done myself justice today.

I think the food is good, I got it out. I think it looked all right.

Yeah, you're just happy when you get the plates out, to be honest.

Mmm.

Garlicky, fishy, smoky, creamy, wine-y veloute.

-It ticks boxes for me.

-There's definitely potential here.

This is quite an accomplished dish. Getting fish just right.

A lovely skill in making that veloute. It's very good, yeah.

I absolutely love this dish.

The fish was cooked absolutely perfectly.

The deep-fried oyster was also amazing.

Stuart has served his ox cheeks with a potato cake, bone marrow

on toast, sauteed mushrooms, mushroom ketchup,

kale and a beef jus.

Under the pressure of service,

when you've got John shouting down your neck

to get the plates out, sometimes it's hard to keep under control.

But no, I'm happy with what I put out.

It looks as if it's sort of fallen onto the plate.

There's a feeling of casualness about it and a feeling of confidence

about it which is making me feel confident about eating it.

The cheeks are cooked well. The sauce, for me, fantastic.

Really. Very, very good dishes.

It's what we want to eat as restauranteurs in our restaurant.

Stuart's ox cheek was nothing short of absolutely superb.

We all had a taste of it and we all got smashed into it.

Liz has served her lamb neck and loin together with lamb belly

coated in molasses alongside dauphinoise potatoes, spinach,

a garlic puree and a redcurrant and onion relish.

I needed a bit of help with the first plate of food to go out,

which annoyed me. But I'm really, really hoping...

..really hoping, that they liked it.

I think it tastes great.

Everything's lovely on it.

The only downside is the crispy belly that's a bit burnt.

The loin's not cooked very well, and it's still quite tough.

The dauphinoise is beautifully prepared. The relish is lovely.

So it's a well-balanced dish. Just overexcited on the carbonising.

For pudding, the raspberry curd tart, please.

I'm a bit perturbed as to why I feel organised.

All I've got left to do is assemble my tarts and cook my tuiles.

I'm going to try Jane's shades of gin.

The parfaits have got slightly defrosted on the way up

from the kitchen downstairs.

I did have a momentarily panic second.

I was like, "Ah!" But I can't do anything about it now.

It's in the freezer, I've just got to leave the freezer shut

for as long as I can and hope it resets.

I'm going to go with the lemon parfait

because I like a gin and tonic.

Table one, three raspberry tarts, two gin, please. How long?

Yes, um...

-I'm ready when Jane's ready.

-Four minutes.

-Four minutes.

With Annie's tarts already assembled,

all she has to do is scoop the ice cream.

But Jane's complex dessert has six elements,

including the troublesome parfait.

-Are you happy with them now? Are they set?

-I hope so.

-Hope so?!

-Don't do that to me.

-I know. I do it to myself, I tell you.

You might have to use a hot spoon and scoop them out.

-Right, how are you doing there, young lady?

-Yep, almost ready.

-I've just got to get this...

-Thank you.

-There we go.

Let's go, those two parfaits, please.

I've just got to get my sorbet on.

How long?

-Er, one minute. 30 seconds.

-Thank you.

Go, let's go, let's go. Thank you very much. Good.

Service, please!

Thank you.

Jamie, are you happy with them?

They are as good as they can be, love.

The parfaits are a bit messy, but...

It's melted a lot on its way here,

and it feels a little too rustic.

It looks over-decorated, gaudy and totally unappetising.

Despite having twice as many orders,

Jane's keeping up with the pace.

-One...

-HE GASPS

Gently, come on.

-Don't swerve the plate all over the place.

-Sorry.

Right, three more shades of gin, one more tart, please.

-Jane, let me know when you're one minute away, OK?

-OK, will do.

-Why are you shaking, Jane?

-I don't know, John.

-Stop shaking, Jane.

-Annie, I'm just putting the sorbet on.

-Right, go for it, Annie.

-You ready to go?

-Yep, ready.

-Thank you.

-You do like your colours, don't you?

-I do, I do.

-Just sauce on plate.

-Oh, you've done it. Thank you.

-Job done?

-Yep.

Thank you.

Well done, ladies.

-Well done.

-Ah, wow.

Nine diners chose Jane's gin-inspired dessert

which includes a lemon parfait, sherbet sorbet, gin and tonic jelly,

orange segments, cardamom crumb and a damson gin syrup.

I was pleased with the flavours.

I think I really nailed the flavours today,

but I wasn't overly pleased with my plating.

It didn't look as nice as I know it could.

It's very sweet, the damson, but it adds a little complexity to it.

And then you get a little bit of sherbet at the end, which is

unexpected and it makes it exciting.

I'm calling the Office of Fair Trading. Where's my gin?

Although, for my sweet tooth, I enjoyed it.

The flavours worked really nicely together.

So the presentation, not so great.

Execution I think is actually very good.

Annie has made a raspberry curd tart topped with pistachio mousseline

and praline crumb, together with a pistachio ice cream and tuile.

I'm really happy.

I think the thing with desserts is either they work, or they don't.

And it worked. It was very green and very pink though.

The taste of cream is very, very good.

That sharp raspberry with the pistachios, a nice flavour.

However, the pastry was far, far too hard. And those colours!

What was going through her mind?

The pistachio crisp here is a little bit soggy,

but that's picking at something that was a really great effort.

APPLAUSE

Everyone round the table

and in the room today share an inherent passion for food, and that

passion was clearly evident in all of the dishes, so congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

You've all done an amazing job,

and I look forward to you coming to start working for us very shortly.

LAUGHTER

Well done.

That's quite a room. Come here. Bring it in. Bring it in, everybody.

It was great up here. Really, really great up here.

To see amateur cooks serving dishes with this much ambition

-was fantastic.

-I'm proud of them, really, really proud of them.

Some of them are still giving themselves too much to do.

But I like the adventure. I like the style.

We've asked all the restaurateurs in the room to vote on their two

favourite dishes.

We're going to add them all up

when we get back to the MasterChef kitchen,

and the two most successful will go straight through.

The rest are going to have to fight it out.

You must be tired. You put so much into that. Very, very well done.

Now, look, we asked all the restauranteurs their two

favourite dishes.

The contestants that cooked those two dishes will go straight through.

Those dishes were cooked by...

..Stuart...

Well done.

..and Jack.

Well done. You two are straight through to the final six.

Off you go. Well done.

-Well done, guys.

-We'll see you all in a minute.

-Good job.

Go on, bring it here. Bring it here.

-Ah, mate.

-That's amazing.

-Seriously.

All five of you will be cooking another dish

from your restaurant menu.

Should you have cooked sweet, you will now cook savoury.

Should you have cooked savoury, you will now cook sweet.

And of course, you are cooking for your MasterChef life.

Because at the end of this, one of you is going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, two hours...

let's cook.

Liz cooked main course in the professional kitchen.

Now she's doing her dessert, a cherry crumble tart.

She's doing it with a cherry anglaise.

She's going to take that dessert,

which could be like a cherry crumble at Sunday lunchtime,

to a wonderful thing that graces the table of a restaurant.

Liz, you're upset.

It's just really disappointing not to be in the top two

and to be in a situation where I might go home.

-I really don't want to go home.

-Do you want a hug?

I think that might make me worse.

-Give me some tough love, tell me to man up.

-All right.

I didn't skip into this thinking it was going to be a walk in the park

or anything, but it's just so draining in so many different ways.

'But at the same time, if you were to say to me,'

"Do you want to get out of this, do you want to stop all this?"

I'd just say, "Absolutely not, no."

20 minutes have gone.

You've got an hour and 40 left, but it's going to fly.

What are you cooking?

I am doing a braised feather blade of beef

with a lovely red wine sauce,

crispy bone marrow, pomme dauphine and buttered cabbage.

I think it's all stuff that's really hearty and nice,

and as long as I feed you well along the way, that's all I'm happy with.

Would you be happy if I told you your stock was boiling over?

-Ooh, yes, I would, thank you.

-I'll be here if you need me, Annie.

OK, great, lovely. Thank you.

Never before have we seen anybody do pomme dauphine. Never.

A mixture of mashed potato and choux pastry.

Choux pastry, which you make chocolate eclairs with,

but you mix the potato and the choux pastry together

and it puffs up in a beautiful, big potato doughnut.

That's what it is, it's a crispy potato doughnut.

A thing of wonder when it's done right. I love it.

If I get everything right, I think it's delicious.

'And it's a plate of food that you want to keep eating.'

Hopefully that's what they'll do today.

You are halfway.

An hour gone, you've got an hour left.

Jane is doing a butter poached lobster

with a sweetcorn and chilli panna cotta.

I've never had chilled panna cotta

with a warm thing on the side.

This is not what we've seen Jane before, and I love it. I love it.

I think it's risky as hell.

When I first came in I played it safe with flavours

that I knew worked, and tried and tested combinations.

What I've done in these two rounds with my gin dish and with this one,

this is me stepping outside my comfort sign and evolving, I feel,

as a cook.

The lobster, if you're just a few degrees out cooking it,

it's horrible.

'And the panna cotta, that's got to be set perfectly.

'It's getting those two things right, absolutely key.'

Real precision measurements and things, which again,

is something I never would have dreamt of doing before I came into

this competition, measuring things down to the tiniest gram.

I forgot to put the gelatine in, so I'm going to bring it up to heat.

You forgot to put the gelatine in? In all of it?

-I'm having a real blonde moment.

-Right.

I did realise as soon as I'd done it.

40 minutes left, all right?

This dish would be on your restaurant menu? What's the dish?

It's a passion fruit and lime cheesecake.

-You don't do cheesecakes, Billy.

-Well, you'll have to wait and see.

Tell me what it is.

So it's a citrus crumb with a creme fraiche cheesecake,

a passion fruit glaze, a lime and lemon gel,

passion fruit and orange gel, an orange tuile and a lime ice cream.

Oh!

Righto, son. I'm partly excited, partly intrigued, partly nervous.

Me too!

Billy has to be careful here, that it's not just about trickery,

it's about food that people want to eat.

'I'm backing it. I think that it's good and I think when they see it'

it'll be different to what they're expecting. I hope.

It's not just a slice of cheesecake on a plate with your standard base.

You've got 15 minutes left. 15 minutes.

I'm doing my dessert. It's based on a strawberry patch.

'White chocolate parfait with dark chocolate soil,

'a little strawberry salad.'

I'm doing a strawberry sugared tuile.

'I'm going to do some little meringue kisses.'

Pretty, aren't they?

And then I've got some little flowers and herbs and stuff, so when

it's presented, hopefully it looks like a little strawberry patch.

It's complex, it's new, exciting, it's in a modern style.

I'm quite excited about Juanita's dessert, really excited about it.

It's going to be tight to make sure that my tart's cooked

all the way through.

Last 10 minutes.

Waiting game for you, is it?

I'm worried.

-It's suddenly rising, thank God!

-SHE LAUGHS

You got three minutes, please, three minutes!

60 seconds, finish off, that's it!

That's it! Done.

To secure her place in the competition,

Jane has made a main course of butter poached lobster,

served with a sweetcorn and cherry panna cotta, popcorn, red pepper

and a lemon butter.

That looks fantastic.

The creamy panna cotta, the butter giving it richness,

your lobster is naturally sweet of the sea.

It is a beautifully cooked piece of fish.

I think you've balanced flavours and textures really, really well

that show such imagination, such creativity.

-I think that's a real, real triumph.

-Thank you.

I'm so impressed with the flavours, the texture. It's a great move.

-Thank you.

-A great move at the right time. Well done, you.

I really appreciate it, thank you.

You're sort of laying yourself bare when you put that food out, and

to get someone say they like it is really just a wonderful feeling.

It's very special, actually.

Annie's restaurant inspired main is braised feather blade of beef

accompanied by dauphine potatoes, crispy bone marrow,

buttered cabbage,

honey glazed carrots, onion puree and a red wine sauce.

That beef is falling apart.

Your potatoes are light, crunchy round the outside.

Love the strength that you've got into that onion.

I'm completely and utterly sold on that dish.

What I'd like is to spice it up a little bit.

Whether that be a little bit of nutmeg in with those potatoes,

it just needs to come up one more stage where there's more flavours

going in to enhance what you've already got.

But I think it's cooked very well and I think it's tasty.

I completely understand John's comments.

That being said,

he still said everything was cooked really well, so I think he liked it.

Phew!

Liz has made a cherry and pistachio crumble tart

served with a cherry creme anglaise.

Your pastry itself is lovely and crumbly.

The inside of the pistachio and almonds is a little bit heavy.

I'd like it to be a little bit lighter.

You have encapsulated and captured

wonderful flavours that work together.

It does lack the bells and whistles, the show-off effect.

I think I took a bit of a risk doing something so visually simple.

And I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do.

Billy's made a lemon cheesecake topped with citrus crumbs

together with two gels, lemon and lime, and orange and passion fruit,

served with a lime ice cream and orange tuiles.

-The look of this dish? I think it's awesome.

-Thanks.

-Billy, I'd like the cheesecake to be a bit firmer.

-Yep.

As for the rest of it, I think it's fantastic.

The crumb at the bottom is more soggy than the crumb at the top.

There's little bits of gel, things you chew on,

things that dissolve in your mouth. I think it's great.

I can't knock it.

It would come up to me, I'd love it, I might even take photos of it.

I'd demolish the whole lot.

But I think you've done a lot of work here,

and you're not delivering different citrus flavours.

-Orange is the dominant flavour.

-Do you reckon?

The competition is so good, you've got to be a bit different.

You can't really play it safe.

Last up is Juanita's strawberry patch inspired dessert

which includes white chocolate parfait on a bed of chocolate soil

with strawberry meringues, gel, sauce and tuiles

and a strawberry, tarragon and mint salad.

I have to tell you, the look of this dish, it's extraordinary.

That is ace. Properly, properly ace.

There's the little texture of the strawberry from the tuile.

There's the crunch of the meringue,

there's a really rich dark chocolate biscuit,

a lovely smooth ice cream.

It looks amazing, it tastes amazing, and it's comforting and delicious.

-Thank you.

-This is as good a dessert as I've eaten anywhere, ever.

I'm not kidding. That is exceptional.

-JUANITA SIGHS

-'I'm feeling really relieved.

'Everyone got such good comments before me,'

so I was convinced that they were going to hate it.

But, yeah, absolutely amazing.

I'm still a bit in shock.

Some great food, really great food.

Thank you very much indeed. Thank you, well done.

The quality of these five is extraordinary.

For me, the standout dish of the day

has to have been delivered by Juanita.

-I was just stunned by it.

-Yeah, it was great.

-Almost stunned to silence.

-Jane came up trumps.

There's somebody who has changed through this competition.

There's somebody who listens

and there's somebody who's coming up with some extraordinary ideas.

Billy's dish divided you and I.

My only criticism was I got citrus flavour, and that, for me,

swallowed the flavours of passion fruit.

The five dishes in there, you can't really pick between them,

I don't think, so it's really tough.

Annie's beef dish, it was a nice bistro-style dish,

but I want restaurant style at this stage of the competition.

-You, however, loved it.

-It's hard to tell.

Everybody's done amazingly well, so we'll just have to wait and see.

But I have a feeling that Greg will probably fight my corner.

I enjoyed the flavour of Liz's dish.

My concern is that she may not be showing the same level of ambition

as the cooks around her.

As much as I want to win, it's not an expectation of winning,

you know, it's a hope.

And I just really hope that I've done enough today.

Do you know what I think? I think there's one cook here

that's actually struggling to keep up with where the others are going.

I have to say, the food today was outstanding.

There are only four places in the next round joining Stuart and Jack.

The contestant leaving us right now...

..is Liz.

You've had an incredible competition.

I'm sorry to see you go.

'You know, I've made absolutely no secret about the fact

'that I was here to win.

'And to be honest with you, I really felt that I had it in me.'

So yeah, I'm just massively, massively gutted and disappointed.

Well done.

'Really emotional!'

I thought I was going home today.

'It's just so unbelievable, it's just...yeah, amazing.'

A bit startled at the moment, but happy.

To get that validation is awesome, it really is.

I'm so pleased, and so proud.

'It's just a really surreal feeling.'

I'm really happy to be stood here in the final six of MasterChef.

Tomorrow night, it's the last of the semifinals...

Just calm yourself down.

..and the remaining six must cook

for the UK's most renowned restaurant critics.

-Oh, it's tense, isn't it?

-It's really tense.

It's marvellous.

I don't understand, Charles, where you're coming from.