Episode 5 MasterChef

MasterChef is back, searching for the country's best amateur cook.

-How long does a pigeon normally take?

-Until it's cooked.

-I need some spoons. Two spoons, please.

-Bingo!

Each week, ten new contestants battle for a place

-in Friday's quarterfinal.

-I think it's magnificent.

Only the strongest will make it through to the final challenges.

-Argh!

-Can I just say, that's not frightening at all.

So clever, so brilliant.

That's what it's all about - great cooks, great food, great endeavour.

I've lost some weight. I'm ready to get fat again.

These five amateurs all think

they've got what it takes to win this year's MasterChef.

It's adrenaline, isn't it? It's your fight or flight.

Go with it or you go the other way.

There's a little competitive edge to me.

No bones about it. I am here to win.

I'm nervous, excited.

I'd love to see the Gregg Wallace happy face.

But at the end of today's heat, only three will become quarterfinalists.

Welcome to MasterChef. Try and hold your nerve.

This is the calling card round. It's your own dish.

It's a dish that you've practised,

one that you do at home, ones your friends and family like.

This is your opportunity to show Gregg and I

the real cook that exists within your heart and soul.

At the end of this round,

Gregg and I will each choose our favourite dish.

Those two cooks will go straight through to the next round.

The remaining three will have to cook off against each other

for their place in the competition.

One hour and 15 minutes for something truly delicious.

Let's cook.

I'm Portuguese, so I've got a Mediterranean influence.

Mum taught me to cook. If I try and add some jazziness to a dish

that's traditionally Portuguese, she will grill me.

She's like, "Why are you doing that? That doesn't go."

-Hello, Pedro.

-You all right?

-What is your dish?

This dish was actually inspired when I went to the market.

I just picked up a sea bass, walked around what was seasonal.

-Beetroot bang in season, got them.

-Right.

Got some couscous, got home, made a dish, liked it, thought,

-"Let me do it on MasterChef."

-And how good ARE you?

We'll see, we'll see. Let's not talk too much.

Mate, if I don't talk, I'll be out of a job.

On Pedro's bench, it's not just beetroot, couscous and sea bass.

There is a whole cauliflower, there's a butternut squash,

there's loads of spices, there's loads of condiments,

so it's not going to be a simple dish.

I've always wanted to do MasterChef, just to prove that I can do it.

Hopefully, I can make everybody proud, back in Barnsley.

-Julie, you're doing a dessert.

-Cos I know you like desserts.

-Is that why?

No, it's because I love cooking.

It's a pear and almond tart with creme fraiche,

flavoured with pear brandy.

Shall I just tell the others not to bother cooking?

It'll do for me, it'll do for me.

A pear and frangipane tart needs a couple of things.

The pear's got to be soft and delicious,

the frangipane has got to be light and taste of almonds,

-but not overpowering.

-And fingers crossed.

That creme fraiche has to have the biggest whack of brandy

you've ever tasted in your life

because it's got to set that tart to life.

Half an hour gone. 45 minutes left.

I love cooking. It gives me a bit of a buzz.

My calling card is fillet of sea bass

with buttered roast potatoes, pea puree.

Should be really good, hopefully.

How much cooking do you do, Stuart?

I cook for myself, my girlfriend, friends, family.

I find it really relaxing.

It de-stresses me at the end of the day.

-What do you do as a day job?

-I work as a research chemist.

I, specifically, make little molecules which go into your DNA

and we can use it to look at what's happening inside of your cells.

Yeah, I know that stuff(!) I know all about that.

Stuart's food, from my point of view, is precise.

He filleted his sea bass quietly but beautifully.

He's got his fish stock - amazing -

his little potatoes all cut around the edges.

What he's got to do now is make sure it's precise in flavour

and if he gets that right, I tell you what,

I think we've got a hot contender for the competition.

-30 minutes left. All right, nurse?

-Yeah.

I like to think I'm fairly OK at cooking.

I get good reviews from my wife,

but then she's supposed to say good things about my food.

Having said that, the kids are probably the harshest critics.

They just chuck the food on the floor if they don't like it.

Gavin is making a piece of poached chicken

with a chicken croquette and some leeks.

It sounds really good but quite simple.

Gavin, you look reasonably chilled and relaxed.

-What do you do for a job?

-I'm training to be a GP.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

-Well, there's a nurse behind you.

-I know.

We're fine if there's any accidents.

So, you're a GP - why are you here on MasterChef?

I like a challenge, Gregg, I think.

I really love food and I'm just here to push myself, really.

You've got just 20 minutes. 20 minutes.

I really feel quite nervous cooking for John and Gregg, yeah.

Nervous would be an understatement.

I'm obsessed with cooking.

It's the one thing where I'm truly present,

I'd say. Truly present.

And it's nice to not be thinking about the past or the future,

just enjoying the moment.

-What's your dish, Mali?

-I've titled it Oodles of Noodles.

So, it's noodles with like a ramen broth

with a fillet of beef Cantonese style and a marbled egg.

What's a marbled egg?

A play on the tea-stained eggs you get in China.

-It'll have beautiful veins of purple on it.

-Splendid.

-If it works!

-Are you making your own noodles, Mali?

-Yeah.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

Mali is obviously an inventive cook

and we have what she calls Oodles of Noodles.

Its influence is from Vietnam, Korea, Japan.

It could look amazing but the important thing is that broth.

That broth has to be super strong.

It's got to be able to flavour the noodles.

You've got ten minutes left.

Whoa.

The MasterChef kitchen today is alive with real enthusiasm.

There's chemists, doctors, nurses

and I think we're in for a big treat.

It's not working. It IS working. I'm panicking. It's all right.

Oh, that's not cooked.

Just two minutes. Get it on a plate now.

Pedro, you've got five seconds.

Stop.

Phew, that was hard.

-Is that roasted, that beetroot?

-Yeah, but it didn't cook in time.

I don't know if it's cooked, that's the only problem.

Pedro, up you come, please.

Languages graduate Pedro's calling card is pan-fried fillet of sea bass

on a cauliflower puree with couscous

and roasted and pickled beetroot, topped with edible flowers.

I love the pickled beetroot effect,

the sweet and sharpness you've got there.

It's cooked very, very well indeed.

Your fish is wonderful and I like the little notes of flavours

you've got through that very well-seasoned couscous.

That's a great dish.

A young fellow out of his kitchen, cooking like that, I'm impressed.

For me, I'd like to have that couscous with the vegetables

as a first course and then, after that,

I'd like to follow on with this piece of sea bass

with that cauliflower puree and the pickled beetroot.

Maybe you've got two calling cards instead of one.

I didn't get grilled. There was a few faults, cool.

There's room for improvement but I didn't get grilled,

so I can be proud about that.

28-year-old Mali has made her own noodles

in a spicy ramen beef broth

with fillet of beef, Cantonese style, and a marbled egg.

Anyone who's made a noodle dish knows that it lives or dies

by the quality of its broth. Your broth is very, very good indeed.

There's a delightful fusion going on on my tongue right now,

little dancing flavours of heat, sweetness and spice.

I like that, Mali, I really like that.

That would do for my lunch. I'd wolf the whole of that lot down.

-Thank you.

-I'm really impressed you made your own noodles,

you made your own broth. I think, maybe a bigger bowl,

show us some noodles, show us some more vegetables,

show us a bit of beef and show us the work you put into the dish.

-OK.

-Be proud of it!

-Thank you.

-Well done, Mali.

-Thank you.

Stuart, up you come, please, sir.

Research chemist Stuart has cooked pan-fried sea bass fillets,

served on a pea puree

with Savoy cabbage and leeks

and fondant potatoes.

It's finished with a fish stock reduction.

I'm impressed with the presentation.

It's got to deliver on flavour in the same way it delivers to the eye.

And I hope it does cos that's exciting stuff, Stuart.

Your fish is cooked brilliantly.

The sweetness coming from that pea puree is incredible.

I've got butter, I've got depth in the fish sauce,

I've got lots of good seasoning.

That is restaurant standard cooking, Stuart.

-Thank you.

-What I like about you, you're understated.

There was no sort of, "Oh, look at me."

You obviously love food, it's cooked really, really well

-and it's seasoned really, really well.

-Well done.

-As good a start as I've seen on MasterChef.

-Thank you very much.

Good start. Well done.

Oh, yeah.

Over the moon right now. It's the, yeah, best possible start, I think.

Brilliant.

Trainee doctor Gavin has made poached chicken breast,

served with crispy chicken skin, panko-coated chicken croquettes,

leeks and a chicken jus.

I'd like a bit of colour on there. That's a celebration of beige.

Your chicken breasts are cooked very well indeed.

However, your sauce is too salty.

It's got all the Friday fun bits on the plate.

Crispy bits of skin, salty sauce, sweet leeks,

chicken and crunchy croquettes.

A glass of white wine, I'd eat the whole lot, Gavin.

-I think it's really cool.

-Thank you.

Oh, exhausted, relieved.

Just pleased that that first bit's over, really.

Nurse Julie is serving a pear and almond tart

with a pear puree, poached pears

and a pear brandy cream.

Your pastry is buttery and soft and really well-cooked.

The whole thing just comes apart in your mouth as you eat it.

Those wet, juicy pears with frangipane flavour,

sweet almond flavour - very, very good indeed.

I think you could make the dish better

with a little bit more booze in the cream.

The booze would have taken that from being a very good frangipane tart

to being something really quite exciting.

Oh, I'd love it if I didn't have to cook again.

I'd love it, but the competition is so tough,

so we'll just have to wait and see.

I have to say, a brilliant, brilliant calling card round.

I'm really pleased. My dish of the day...

..was Stuart.

-Fantastic, Stuart.

-Well done, Stuart.

-Very, very impressive.

Interesting, because, Stuart, you were also my favourite dish,

so I'm now going to tell you

who my second favourite was and that person will join you.

The cook that cooked my second favourite dish was Pedro.

-Well done, cookie.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Stuart and Pedro, off you go.

Oh!

My heart was going, man.

I was like, when Gregg was going, "Dish of the day is..."

I was like, "Uh, uh..."

To get favourite dish from both of them, I'm over the moon.

-Really, really happy.

-All right, Stu.

-Sorry!

-I'm joking, I'm joking.

You are now cooking for your place in the competition.

This is an invention test.

Under those cloths are two trays.

One tray contains the ingredients for a sweet dish,

the other tray, the ingredients for a savoury dish.

Ladies and gentlemen, reveal your ingredients.

The contestants must now choose whether to make a sweet dish

from the fresh and dried figs and the fig liqueur

or a savoury one with the sardines.

Make your decision, sweet or savoury.

One hour, ladies and gentlemen. Let's cook.

The savoury version, sardines. The sweet version, figs.

Although they look really exciting,

you've got to understand what to do with them to bring them to life.

-You've picked the fish.

-I have.

-The sardines.

-Yes.

I'm going to simply grill the sardines,

although it's not a fish I've cooked with very much.

Pancetta chunks are going to be involved somehow.

-I haven't figured that one out yet.

-Right.

Maybe I'm flying by the seat of my pants a bit with this one.

Gavin is not quite sure what he's making for us, to be really honest.

He's going to grill some sardines.

He's making a salsa which includes basil and parsley and capers

and some couscous.

How that's coming together with some pancetta added into it,

I'm not quite sure and he's not quite sure.

All right, nurse?

-You've gone for the figs, so you're going for another dessert.

-Yeah.

It's a rose water rice pudding with Earl Grey infused dates

-and like a fig compote with a shortbread biscuit.

-Right.

If you were a patient right now, where would you be -

-comfortable, critical?

-Not critical. Maybe recovering.

Not quite ready for discharge.

THEY BOTH LAUGH

Julie's doing a huge amount.

She's doing a rice pudding flavoured with rose water,

she doing dates she flavouring with Earl Grey tea,

she's doing a compote of figs and she's making shortbread.

A huge amount. And we know what happens then.

The more you add to a dish, the more confused it becomes.

30 minutes left.

-Savoury last time.

-I know.

-You've picked fig this time.

I know. I love figs.

So, I've got some figs with Chantilly cream

-and almond and cinnamon palmiers.

-What's a palmier?

They look like elephant ears.

They're the little puff pastry biscuits that twizzle out.

-Looking forward to these figs. Best of luck, Mali.

-Thank you.

Palmiers with figs in lots of rich, rich syrup could be a lovely thing,

as long as it's done in time.

You have got just 15 minutes left.

Just 15 minutes. That's all you've got.

The fish isn't as nice as I'd like. It's sort of falling to bits.

I suppose, in the last 15 minutes, I could try making another one,

maybe in the pan instead.

What?

Just two minutes left.

Whatever you're doing has got to be finished in two minutes.

Winging it.

That's it. Ladies and gentlemen, please stop.

-That looks gorgeous.

-Oh, I wish I'd done a dessert now.

I hate those fish.

Gavin chose the savoury option

and cooked sardines served on a bed of couscous with fried pancetta,

a tomato, red onion and caper salsa and a herb dressing.

Couscous is cooked well, fresh tomato, onions and capers,

sharp and sourness of lemon. I think it's a really good thing.

However, it's a messy plate.

You've got a good palate, you understand flavours.

-Unfortunately, you plate up with a shovel.

-Yes.

I went for a savoury over a sweet,

because I took one look at the figs and thought,

"I haven't got a clue what to do with those."

Although, in fairness, I wasn't 100% sure what to do with the sardines.

Julie chose the sweet ingredients

and made a rose water rice pudding, topped with walnuts,

and served with shortbread biscuits and a fig and date compote.

-Tell you what, you're showing a good eye for presentation.

-Hmm.

The rose water and the figs,

it just takes me back to the stories of Arabian Nights.

-It's beautiful flavours, honestly.

-Thank you.

I think they're very well-made shortbread

which, with fig compote, is a nice thing.

-You can make a dessert, that's for sure.

-Thank you.

I just hope I've done enough to get through.

I'll just have to wait and see.

Mali also took the sweet route

and created a dessert of figs in a ginger syrup,

finished with Chantilly cream and fresh figs,

served with almond and cinnamon palmiers.

I like the flavours. I like the ginger and the mint and the vanilla

and the flavour of the figs

and I love the cinnamon and almond in the biscuits.

But it's pretty wet.

That's a sweet, sticky, nicely flavoured fig drink.

-It's not an enjoyable dessert because there is no texture.

-OK.

I feel a bit deflated. I just didn't think of the texture.

SHE SIGHS

Some great food today.

The simple fact is that two of you will be joining Stuart and Pedro...

..and one of you will be leaving the competition.

Step outside whilst we make that decision.

I think this shows the mile of difference

between doing a dish on here that you had a chance to practise

and doing it just off the cuff and only the best cooks can do it.

And the best cook was Julie.

I loved her rice pudding in this invention test.

Julie's in, we know that.

There are now, however, question marks over Mali and Gavin.

Gavin created good flavour on both dishes. However, to my mind,

he had presentation issues with both dishes.

There was no colour at all with his calling card round.

It was just a celebration of beige.

The second one, that fish dish, was just scruffy.

I totally agree with you about his invention test.

Gavin's flavours are bold, with all the herbs, the lemon,

but it was scruffy - no real style or finesse about it.

The invention test, I found really stressful.

I felt a bit like a headless chicken.

Mali, we both really enjoyed her noodles in the calling card.

Spicy noodles, with the beef and the ginger and the chilli.

I really feel that Mali has let herself down.

We've gone to a very unusual, and not particularly nice,

glass of fig juice.

But she did make biscuits as well.

If I was to go home today, I think I'd be...

Well, I KNOW I'd be gutted.

I'm going to have to ask myself two questions.

One - can Gavin actually present smart-looking dishes?

Two - who is the real Mali, the noodles or the figs?

Well done, you three. I very much enjoyed today.

I hope you have as well.

I think all three of you have done very well.

One of you is going.

Two of you are going through to cook with Stuart and Pedro.

The person leaving us...

..is Mali. Mali, thank you very much indeed.

Very good to have met you, Mali.

Their dishes are incredible and so, hats off to them.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

-JOHN:

-Congratulations.

-Doctor and nurse.

-Doctor and a nurse. Who'd have believed it?

You are cooking for a place in the quarterfinal.

Today, you need to prove your worth, not just to Gregg and I,

-but to three specially invited guests.

-Mmm.

Shelina Permalloo,

Sara Danesin

and Jackie Kearney.

Those three ladies are incredible cooks and they proved it,

here on MasterChef, but they've also gone on to have very good careers

in the catering industry.

These are not easy to impress, these ladies.

Two courses in one hour and 15 minutes,

flour plates of each course.

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

Let's cook.

The pressure's definitely on to really deliver.

I'm quietly confident but not cocky, I think, after the previous round.

What are you making?

Today, we've got pork tenderloin, stuffed with sage, black pudding,

and a really creamy mash to go with that.

-Ooh, and a cider sauce.

-And for dessert, Stuart?

Date sticky toffee pudding with a coconut toffee sauce

and bit of cardamom creme fraiche, to take the edge off the sweetness.

What about the ladies we've invited in to taste your food?

-What about cooking for them?

-Obviously, quite nervous about that.

They're obviously expecting a delicious plate of food,

so I need to make sure that everything's just right for them.

Are you hoping to tickle the ladies with your food

as much as your curly moustache?

That's the plan, Gregg, that's the plan.

The pudding from Stuart,

he's serving with a sauce that I've never ever had before.

Toffee and coconut sauce.

That sounds absolutely divine, if balanced properly.

I need to show that I can do savoury food,

so hopefully to impress John and Gregg.

-What are you going to cook for us?

-I'm doing roast loin of venison

with a celeriac and wild mushroom Wellington

-with a nice chocolate, red wine jus.

-Big, rich flavours, Julie.

And that's why I'm having the panna cotta,

nice and light, to finish the meal off.

It sounds very exciting, but it sounds really complex to me.

Well, we'll just go on and wait and see.

-You can do it.

-I know.

I really trust Julie, when it comes to desserts.

The main course, however, is troubling me slightly,

because she's got venison, truffle, chocolate, red wine,

she's got a pie. It's a lot of work.

I'm just trying to do my country proud, man.

When everyone thinks Mediterranean food,

they think Italy, France, Spain,

but Portugal kind of just gets left alone,

so I'm here to fly the flag and show that Portuguese people can cook.

-Pedro, how are you doing?

-Good. These are two Portuguese dishes.

Carne de porco a Alentejana, which is pork with clams.

-OK, dessert is?

-Dulce de leche mousse, called baba de camelo.

-What does that mean?

-Translate it?

-Yeah.

-Er, literally, "camel's drool".

-Camel dribble?

-Yeah, camel dribble.

-Nice(!)

-You came to the MasterChef competition with a swagger.

-Yeah.

-Lots of confidence.

-Yeah.

-Still confident?

The food speaks for itself.

I'm not lacking confidence in the food,

it's just whether or not it will all work on time.

-Have you timed it before?

-I have.

-And it didn't work?

-Hour and a half.

-Hang on, so you timed it at home and it took and hour and 30.

-Yeah.

-And you know you've got an hour and 15.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Am

-I

-mad or are YOU mad?

-I think we're both mad here.

His dessert is the drool of a camel.

That makes you smile, the thought of somebody making up

the name of a dessert from camel's drool.

We are getting Portuguese home cooking.

Pedro's dishes have got to taste delicious

because they're relatively simple.

I need to show John and Gregg that I can make things look a bit prettier.

Whether that translates into reality later on remains to be seen.

Two courses. What are they?

The first course is rack of lamb, served with some minted pea puree.

-What's for dessert, Gavin?

-Whisky panna cotta crumble

and a shortbread biscuit on the side. It's quite nice.

I took on board what you said the last time

and I'm going to try not to just shovel it on the plate.

However, within the time limits,

I just want to get a plate of food out that tastes good

and if it looks quite good as well, I'll be really happy.

Gavin is really nervous

about getting all the work done on time and understandably,

cos the dessert's going to take up a huge amount of it.

Making panna cotta, stewing apples, baking shortbread

and then assembling the whole thing.

30 minutes gone. 30 minutes till the main courses go out.

-You going to get it done?

-We'll just have to wait and see.

'I get this sense of anxiety when I'm back in the studio.'

I kind of feel that I'm back in competition mode,

so I start getting tense and nervous.

This part of the competition is really hard going.

I was very nervous cooking for previous winners.

I remember my lamb was raw.

You can't serve raw lamb. You cannot serve raw lamb.

There was definitely a different sense of anxiety.

It wasn't just for John and Gregg, you know,

the expectations other people have of your food as well.

'Cooking for previous winners -'

it does make you make mistakes,

mistakes you wouldn't make in your own kitchen.

Not yet, I haven't called it.

Listen, I don't want any food on the pass,

-unless they're coming together.

-Ah...

Only people who go through this process

understand that kind of pressure

and trying to cook food under that kind of pressure.

'The advice for me is to put your head down'

and cook well,

so no panic station, no drama.

If your heart is on that kitchen, you'll do fine.

-Exciting.

-It is.

-Julie.

-No.

-You've got five minutes,

you're main course is supposed to be up.

-Just running out of time.

-Watch your sauce.

-Why do I keep doing that?

Julie's main - Wellington, truffle mash, kale, venison.

I don't know if she worked in the military before,

but I don't know how they're going to get this done in an hour.

If she manages to do this, yes, I will be impressed,

because I wouldn't do it on MasterChef.

Wellingtons done?

These plates should be delivered now,

-so you're going to have to get a wiggle on.

-Yes, sorry.

Tongs, tongs, tongs. Thank you.

Yummy!

-If this is delicious, we'll forgive you being a bit late.

-Yeah.

Get the chestnuts out.

Three minutes over. Come on. Let's go, let's go! Come on!

Hello.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Today, I've cooked a roast loin of venison,

celeriac and wild mushroom Wellington,

with chestnuts and truffle mash, and a jus with dark chocolate.

Thank you.

The meat looks good.

This venison is fantastic. I really like it.

The kale just feels like it's just kind of sitting there.

It's not been crisped up.

The heart of the dish is really the venison.

Considering she's only had an hour,

I think she's done a really good job, so fair play, Julie.

The venison, in my opinion, is cooked beautifully.

I like the sauce. It's rich with red wine, with port,

a bit of chocolate in there, which is great.

The pastry of that Wellington could be slightly more cooked.

However, that dish remains a good dish

with decent cookery skill and some very good flavours.

God.

-Listen, 15 minutes.

-Yeah.

-And dessert goes, yeah?

-Fine, yeah, no problem.

Orange blossom yoghurt panna cotta with pistachio tuile.

So, that's all of my favourite things.

But I just think Julie's got her work cut out there.

Five minutes.

Have you got time to do these tuiles?

If they come out, they come out.

Tell you what, Julie's really pushing it

and I think she is in a bit of trouble.

-She's only just got her tuiles in to go with dessert.

-Oh.

Are they done? Yeah, they're done, they're done.

They're done, they're done.

Aye-aye. What's the chance of them tuiles being ready?

A good chance. I'm just going to get them out now.

Oh! Disaster.

-Recovered.

-30 seconds and they should be going out, Julie.

Doh, doh, doh.

-Whoops-a-daisy, whoops-a-daisy.

-There you go! Yay!

-Thank you.

-Hey, hey, hey!

This is a orange blossom and yoghurt panna cotta,

passion fruit juice and a pistachio and orange blossom tuile.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, thanks.

-Soggy tuile.

-Oh!

-She only needed another two minutes.

That was pretty much all she needed

cos it's kind of, like, nearly there.

The orange blossom's got lost

because there is a very dominant flavour of passion fruit.

I don't think it's sweet enough for a pudding.

I think it's really delicious. I really like it!

That dessert is like something I have for breakfast.

It's more like a pot of yoghurt, set yoghurt, than it is a panna cotta.

I think that's delightful. I love that. That makes me go, "Mmm".

Oh!

A couple of disasters along the way

but, hopefully, it all panned together.

Five minutes, five minutes on your first course, please.

Stuart. We have pork loin, black pudding, sage, cider,

shallots and mashed potato.

All classic combinations, so I think the main thing

is making sure the pork's not really dry and not overcooked.

-Pressure.

-Come on, come on.

-Hey.

-Carrots and shallots.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-You've got a minute.

-What's left to go on? Just the sauce?

-Just the sage and the sauce.

You're on time, you're on time.

-That's ready to go.

-Go on, then. Let's go.

Go on, boy. Let's go.

-Wow!

-Ooh, sorry.

-Thank you.

So, today, you've got stuffed and roast pork loin fillet,

stuffed with black pudding, apple and sage, Parma ham,

creamy, buttery mash,

roast carrots, roast shallot, crispy sage leaves

and a cider and pork reduction.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

Everything looks like it's cooked really well.

There's been attention to detail and that's lovely to see, actually.

Literally, the only fault that I have is the carrots are al dente.

The pork is fantastic. I really like it. It's well-seasoned.

Just packed with flavour, well-seasoned food.

Just takes it to another level, really, doesn't it?

And to present it like that, the boy done good.

The mashed potato's lovely, the sauce is really delicious.

The carrots could probably do with a couple more minutes' cooking.

Stuart has put together some very, very good flavours there indeed.

The dessert, sticky toffee pudding, is a classic.

I don't know, really, why we need the cardamom creme fraiche.

I just don't know how it's going to work.

I may be amazed and be, like,

"Oh, my God, it was the best combination."

But I'm thinking it feels like a lot.

You've got three minutes.

-What's left, mate?

-Just the sauce.

-The coconut and toffee sauce?

Very impressive timing. Go on, mate, that's lovely, that's lovely.

-Hello, again.

-ALL: Hi.

Ooh, one for you.

We have sticky toffee pudding with a coconut toffee sauce

and some cardamom creme fraiche.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-It's a very nice cake that tastes of coconut.

-Mm-hm.

My problem is that this is not a sticky toffee pudding.

There's no need for the creme fraiche.

That can just go somewhere else.

Do you know what, he hit such a high bar with his main course,

I think it was going to be difficult for him

to hit that bar with his dessert.

Very good, in some ways, and in other ways, odd.

The cream is sour. I don't like it.

The addition of coconut in that toffee sauce

has made it very rich indeed.

I could probably do about two more mouthfuls and that's it.

HE SIGHS

I was quite intimidated, at first, cos they're all past finalists.

There's a lot of pressure on you to deliver good food,

which, hopefully, I have.

But, er... Yeah, I'll wait and see.

Gavin, you've got two minutes before you've got to serve. Come on, mate.

I think it needs a flash in the pan, unfortunately.

-Quickly in the pan?

-Yeah.

So, Gavin's main. Rack of lamb with anchovy crust, potatoes, pea puree.

Sounds delicious. I absolutely love the sound of it, if done well.

So, as long as the rack of lamb is cooked really, really nicely.

They're not doing anything new there,

so they've got to make sure that it's absolutely delivered perfect.

-That's a very vivid green.

-Just trying to make it not beige.

-Watch your lamb.

-Ooh, yeah.

-There we go. Sauce.

-Very good, very good.

Three minutes over. If it tastes delicious, they'll forgive you.

Yeah.

-Hi, guys. Sorry to keep you waiting.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So, you've got a rack of lamb with a minted pea puree

and a herb crust, and you've got some roast potatoes round the side

and some shallots and a bit of sauce.

-OK.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thanks a lot.

Where's my roast potatoes?

-You can't call that a roast potato.

-No.

Those are called fragments.

Yeah, those are like the kind of scrapings.

Now, the lamb is cooked really well.

I'm not keen on that pea puree.

I can't taste the mint, I think it's a bit underseasoned.

Lamb's cooked and Gavin is thinking about presentation.

I don't know what he's put in the peas

to make it go that sort of lime green.

However, it's tasty. It's tasty.

-15 minutes.

-Thank you.

Very minimalist but I like it.

Just waiting for my puddings to set, Gregg.

So, dessert.

Whisky panna cotta with apple puree, served with cinnamon shortbread.

-I love whisky very much.

-I'm just a bit concerned.

Sometimes when you add alcohol to panna cotta, it doesn't set.

Gavin is huffing and puffing

and has got himself in a bit of a state over his dessert.

The panna cottas weren't quite set,

so I had to put them in the blast chiller.

Fingers crossed, I'll get away with it.

-You've got two minutes.

-Right, let's go.

Have they set? They haven't set, have they?

No, no, no, no, that's not set.

Hmmm, I think you're all right.

We're back to beige. We're back to the comfort of beige.

-I've got some purple for you.

-Right-oh.

Ah, that's pretty.

-Go on, Gavin, well done.

-Well done, Gav.

-Cheers.

-Very well done.

Thanks.

So, you've got, here, whisky panna cotta with a crumble topping,

some cinnamon spiced apples and a shortbread disc.

-Thank you. Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Gavin.

The alcohol has stopped it from setting perfectly.

Am I going to taste the whisky?

Ooh, hello, whisky! Cor!

That is not giving me any whisky.

You can't taste the whisky cos you drink a gallon of it at night.

-This sable biscuit is...

-Burnt.

-..burnt.

Crikey!

Good amount of whisky punch in there.

However, that panna cotta isn't set enough for me. That's too liquid.

You can't even pour it out the glass - that's not liquid!

Turn it upside down, see what happens.

-Look.

-Look, perfect(!)

Oh, God.

'There's so much pressure from all sides.'

That is unbelievable.

Yeah, wow.

-Five minutes for your main course.

-Good.

-All done? Shall we go?

-Yeah.

-Shall we plate?

-Let's plate up. We're on time, we're on time.

I'm kind of envisaging something really homely, like a stew,

a Portuguese stew, and if it's that, then I'll be really happy.

I've never been to Portugal

and I don't think I've ever had Portuguese food,

so I'm looking forward to tasting that.

Are you going to try and pronounce it again, John?

Alentejana, Alentejo.

Yeah, Alentejo's the region, Alentejana's the style.

It's funny, because we simply say "stew".

Yeah, all right!

-Happy Pedro?

-Yeah, happy Pedro.

-It's done.

-All right.

-You're done, come on.

Looks like he's forgotten the potatoes.

So, this is a Portuguese dish.

Pork and clams Portuguese style with a paprika kind of sauce

with some garlic crostini

and some lemon and some fresh pickles at the end.

-I hope you enjoy it.

-Lovely, thank you.

-Thanks.

-Thank you.

Wow, that smells amazing!

-Did you have potatoes?

-Oh!

-What are you going to do?

-I'm going to tell them.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, course it is. Go, go, go.

-Sorry to bother you, I've forgotten the potatoes.

-Oh, bless him.

-You must have potatoes.

-You need it, you need it.

We NEED the potatoes, that's for sure.

-I'm so sorry this isn't normally...

-No, that's all right.

-It's all right. It's like Mamma does.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thanks, Pedro.

That smells so good and, actually, I was hoping for a lovely rustic bowl

-and I smell garlic and lemon and...

-Yeah.

-Oh.

The clams are so...fat.

Mmm.

Buono.

I'm liberal with my garlic and Pedro has garlicked me out, I reckon.

-It's delicious.

-He's absolutely nailed it with this dish.

I like the honesty of it.

It's supposed to be a big, hearty stew,

with clams and pork and potato, and that's what it is.

It's a home-cooked, hearty, well-flavoured dish,

but there's no finesse to it, there's no style.

My almonds aren't toasting. Oh, no, they ARE toasted.

I have to say, the dessert - "Camel's drool", he's named it.

He needs to learn that using the word "drool" in a menu

is probably not the way to go of selling things to people.

But the description sounds lovely.

Caramel, delicious, with almonds and whipped cream.

I don't know why the camel is there.

-Uh-oh.

-This is just to distract from all the sweetness.

Do you want that to come out...? Wey!

It's not working. Come on.

All right! Here we go.

I tell you what, if I was a camel right now, I'd have a dry mouth!

PEDRO LAUGHS

Oh, like, I've burnt these nuts.

Everything's burnt today. Poor camels.

-Can we go? Well done, mate. On time.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-That's all right.

So, I've made baba de camelo, which is a dulce de leche caramel mouse.

So, does that mean "camel's drool" in Portuguese?

Yeah, so supposedly, the camel drools into your plate

and then you eat it. Translated, it doesn't sound as good.

Keep it in Portuguese, I say.

Baba de camelo with passion fruit cream

and on the side, to cleanse your palate, a little raspberry and lime.

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Mmm.

That is enormous. Have you felt the weight of it?

That's enough pudding for four people.

Mmm.

It's not my kind of dessert, I have to say.

I'm not sure about the texture of the crumb

going into what should be the mousse,

because it's giving me a bit of a sawdusty feeling in my palate.

This is really not my cup of tea.

But the little palate cleanser's good.

It's just too much cream. There's a lot of cream.

I would have loved to have seen more fruit, you know.

That would have been lovely.

It just doesn't match the same quality as the main dish, really.

The taste of caramel, nuts, biscuits and cream.

It's like somebody dropped the shopping, ran over it

and then you've eaten the contents of the bag.

That's far too thick, sticky and rich to finish.

I'm concerned by the amount of skill it takes to make this.

HE SIGHS

There was a lot of running around aimlessly but I think, in the end,

I put out four dishes I'm proud of.

Some very nice ideas, some good cooking and we ate some good food.

It's very close, this.

Julie obviously has bags and bags of experience and knowledge.

The yoghurt panna cotta, I really loved it.

She can do savoury dishes just as well as she can do desserts.

That's now obvious. Her venison was well-cooked. Very, very nice sauce.

-I loved the flavours.

-I think Julie's got great potential.

I don't want to beat myself up.

At the end of the day, I did my best and hopefully,

it's going to take me through to the next round.

Stuart, I think, has got real talent.

I think he's got great skill.

He's a man who likes technique and he likes presentation.

Main course of pork fillet, wrapped in ham,

with a stuffing of black pudding and apples - beautiful.

-I think he's a good cook in the making.

-I agree,

-most certainly agree.

-I'm happy with how it all tasted.

Hopefully, that's enough.

Gavin got himself in a bit of a tizz. Very, very nervous.

A rack of lamb, pea puree. The lamb just cooked enough.

Dessert, we had an apple panna cotta with lots and lots of whisky.

I just didn't think it was set well enough.

Maybe the use of that much whisky's a bit of a problem.

I quite like Gavin as a cook. He may be a diamond in the rough,

but he cooks me food that I want to eat.

Gosh, I don't know if I've done enough to get through.

Um...I, I really felt like I struggled.

One of the most successful and tastiest dishes in this room today

was made by Pedro and that was that pork and clam stew.

We liked it, the ladies in the dining room liked it.

The dessert, the camel drool -

that glass of thick, sticky caramel flavour - was virtually inedible.

You just can't eat anything that big, rich and sweet.

Pedro's an interesting conundrum

because his confidence could take him a long way in this competition.

It's just whether he's got enough under his culinary belt

-to be able to continue.

-I've done what I could. I've done my best.

It should see me through.

If the other guys have had absolute worldies and three great rounds,

then, yeah, OK, I'll go out, but I'm proud of myself.

A good day. We had high expectations of these four.

-Nobody perfect, though.

-If it wasn't perfect today, that's fine.

It looks pretty good for the future. What's not good right now,

is having to make a decision about sending one of them home.

You four cook really well

and this was a really difficult decision to make.

Three quarterfinal places up for grabs.

It means one of you is leaving the competition.

Our first quarterfinalist...

..is Stuart.

Well done, mate.

Our second quarterfinalist...

..is Julie.

Oh, my God.

-Well done.

-Thanks, Gavin.

The third and final quarterfinal place...

..is Pedro.

-Well done.

-Cheers.

-JULIE:

-See you later, sweetheart. All the best.

Thanks, guys.

'I'm gutted to be leaving today.'

I think I can be proud of what I've achieved today

and I'm going to leave with my head held high.

Congratulations, all three of you.

Quarterfinalists, you are. You live to cook another day.

Well done. Well done.

JULIE: I could eat you!

You're chuffed, aren't you? Did you not think you were going to go?

'I'm just elated. Obviously chuffed to go through.'

Excited for the next round and we'll see how it goes.

'Right now, I feel amazing.'

Really elated, just really relieved as well.

'MasterChef quarterfinalist.'

Yeah, it's got a nice ring to it, yeah.

THEY CHEER AND LAUGH

Tomorrow night, it's the quarterfinal,

and Julie, Pedro and Stuart will join Caron, Tom and Chris

to fight for their place,

cooking for one of the country's top restaurant critics.

Ooh!

-You don't like it?

-No.