Episode 6 MasterChef

It's the MasterChef quarterfinal and this week's best amateurs are back.

It gets more addictive.

The more that you get, the more that you want

cos you just don't want to go home.

I know the level will be very high today

and I know that only the best will do, so I need to back up my ideas.

End of the day, it's a competition,

and competitions are there to be won.

Tonight, they will face just one challenge -

to cook an exceptional dish from a brief set by

renowned restaurant critic Charles Campion.

Oh!

-You don't like it?

-No.

You can't rest on your laurels.

You have to bring it to the table every single round.

Quarterfinal day - big test, big step up in quality and skill.

We've invited Charles Campion in here today to help us judge -

highly respected food critic.

And he has given you one ingredient to cook with.

That ingredient is brill.

You are cooking for a place in Knockout Week.

We will only take the best cooks with us.

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

The thing that we always long for is intelligent simplicity.

The brill is the perfect ingredient for showing this up.

It's in the turbot family, so it's one of those big flatfish.

There are skills in filleting it, there are skills in cooking it

and what do you put with it?

Caron loves beautiful-looking dishes.

She also loves the flavours of the Caribbean.

We've said to her, keep the presentation but a bit more punch.

I hope today we get the punch.

-Caron?

-Yes?

-Are you happy to be here? Are you nervous being here?

I've got smile ache, I can't sleep,

my husband's sick to the back teeth of eating brill.

But, yeah, I'm loving every minute of it.

What are you going to make for us?

Pan-fried brill with a langoustine sauce, wilted asparagus,

caviar and edible flowers.

-I'm guessing you've never cooked for a food critic before?

-No!

Only my husband. I'm really looking forward to it, actually.

I am and I'm not. It's almost like a kind of... You know. You know.

I'm a bit like that. I don't know. Shall I, shan't I?

-But, yeah, it'll be great.

-Listen, I liked your Caribbean flavours.

-Thank you.

-I'm looking forward to your European flavours.

-Thank you.

Caron's gone classic. Don't know what the sauce is going to be like

but I'd like it to be shiny, I'd like it to be silky,

and every time you get a bite, I want to be able to taste

the little flecks of langoustine with that beautifully cooked fish.

It's all about the sauce.

I'm pushing myself on getting the flavours right

but I feel good about it.

But again, you know, you never really know what's going to happen.

Tom loves to cook for his family,

and his dishes are crowd-pleasing plates.

The less glamorous parts!

Nice to see that Tom's filleted that fish

but there's a lot of stuff going on that plate.

We've got a shrimp sauce, tomato, pepper and basil salad

with fennel, and we've got a chorizo and Parmesan crumb.

I just hope that it's not too much

and the brill gets lost in the jungle of other ingredients.

We haven't seen you cook fish before, have we?

No, it's not something I cook a lot of.

It's not something that we eat a lot of. Yeah, but, the theory's there.

I tried it the other day. I managed to find one.

It's quite hard to find brill, in Rotherham, at least! But we did it.

-It was all right, so we'll see.

-You actually filleted the fish yourself.

-Yes.

-If you don't cook with fish very often,

where did you learn to do that?

-The internet.

-Cheers, mate.

-Cheers.

So far, I've, you know,

tried techniques that I've only read about. Today's the same.

I'm going to put the fish in a water bath, mainly

because the biggest thing with fish is not cooking it correctly.

Having not tried water-bathing fish,

it's going to be a bit of an experiment to see what happens,

but if it works for the top chefs, then it should work for me!

We both admire Stuart

because of the quality of the dish in the calling card.

I mean, that was exceptionally good.

And the guy obviously has knowledge, skill and technical ability.

His food looks amazing and it tastes amazing.

So today, I'm pan-frying the brill.

I've got a salt bake celeriac puree, braised fennel

and a little bit of celeriac slaw.

I'm trying not to do anything too complicated today but,

of course, doing that, I've not given myself anywhere to hide,

so everything needs to be just right.

Best of luck.

I have no idea where his mind's going to.

I have no idea how this is going to look.

But if history repeats itself, we're in for a real treat.

I take a little bit of the celeriac off to make the slaw,

obviously, but the rest of it gets covered in a salt

and egg white crust and baked in the oven.

It goes really soft

and it just really intensifies the flavour of it.

30 minutes have gone. You've got an hour left.

Pedro came in here with a swagger and his food's got a swagger.

I like it.

He's got a fresh approach, he's got an exciting approach.

A lot of people don't expect a 22-year-old to show

so much understanding and knowledge of food

but I feel like youth is definitely an advantage, in my opinion.

Hopefully, I'll fly the flag for the young people!

Pedro, have you any idea how tricky a customer,

-Charles Campion, can be?

-Yeah, I've seen it over the years.

He can be a tricky boy!

But I feel like he likes simplicity, and if the flavours

sing for themselves, I think that'll make him a happy man, so...

-Have you cooked brill before?

-No. Got a funny story, actually.

I went to Portsmouth to buy brill especially, bought the brill,

came home, obviously, like, started prepping it and what not,

filleted it, put it in the fridge,

went to my mate's house to finish off the dinner,

had everything ready - octopus, all this stuff -

forgot the brill in Southampton and I was all the way in Kent.

-And I was just, like... Ah!

-And the funny story you've got?

-Brilliant, yeah.

-Is the funny story coming as well?

-No, it's not coming any more.

-OK.

-It's about driving and forgetting the brill?

-Yeah.

-OK. Cheers, Pedro.

-HE LAUGHS

Pedro's doing a piece of brill.

He's serving it with chorizo and clams, a Vermouth sauce

and some samphire. Do you know what? It sounds great.

You've got to bring the mash together,

put through all the herbs into the mash here.

And then the sauce - I've still got to do my sauce.

And that's really the key element of my dish.

I feel like the sauce is going to be vital. Butter in there.

Halfway, ladies and gentlemen. Halfway.

Julie captured my heart with the quality of her desserts.

But she can do savoury and, I believe, just as well.

Julie's dish is mussels, saffron, a broth

and then the piece of brill,

and the whole thing served in Julie's generous way -

with a loaf of bread.

Some may say it's not complex enough but

if the balance of saffron is right, it could be a great, great thing.

I'm hoping they clear the plate!

I want to see them wipe it round with the bread.

And just to see nothing left of the dish would be amazing.

What is the essence of a great fish dish?

It's just simplicity - just keeping it nice, clean flavours.

That's why I'm doing what I'm doing today.

-It's just letting the fish talk for itself.

-Do you know what?

I'm with you here. I'm going to make this a faff and flounce-free zone.

-No faff, no flounce.

-No, that's it.

One hour gone. You've got 30 minutes left.

Chris - he is a man who cares about his diet

but he also cares about flavour.

It's punchy, it's big and it's really exciting.

-It's not a day for playing safe, is it?

-No.

I want to show you that I've got something else in my repertoire.

So we're going to do brill with a cardamom cauliflower puree,

cauliflower pakoras, some potatoes in spiced butter

-and some pickled shallot rings.

-Why go Asian?

-I cook a lot with spice.

I've got a big spice cabinet, doing curry, spicy dishes,

so hopefully, we should be able to bring out

-the flavour of the fish a bit more with the spices.

-Good luck, mate.

-Thank you.

I like Chris' idea.

We've got this sort of celebration of brill and cauliflower,

which might sound quite strange, but that earthiness of that cauliflower,

all the spice and the brill could be a lovely, lovely thing.

Ultimately, going on MasterChef,

if you play it safe all the time, you're probably not going to

progress as far as you'd want to, so taking a risk is potentially

going to pay off for me really well today.

Last 15 minutes.

-15 minutes to go, Pedro. You've cooked your fish already?

-Yeah.

-How long does it take to cook?

-Three minutes on each side.

Three minutes each side?

I'm cooking it gently so maybe a little bit longer.

I just want it nice and golden.

-It can go back in the oven if it needs to warm up.

-Eurgh!

Don't do that!

The celeriac wasn't quite done,

so I've had to boil that a little bit, just to sort of actually puree.

Um...

But fingers crossed, it'll be all right.

Under control, if I can find another spoon. Where did my spoon go?

It's just doing a lot of things at the last minute at once

but that's cool.

You have just ten minutes left. Come on!

Hope it's not too simple.

Oh!

-No!

-Whoa!

-Did you just drop it?

-Yeah.

That's it. Stop, everybody. Stop!

-Looks nice.

-I put far too much puree on there. It's swimming in it.

Well done.

Ladies and gentlemen, restaurant critic, food writer Charles Campion.

-Welcome, Charles.

-Good to see you, Charles. Stuart, come and join us.

Bring your brill.

First up is research chemist Stuart,

who's served his fillet of brill on a bed of braised fennel

together with a celeriac remoulade, tomato and fennel relish,

roasted purple carrots and a celeriac puree.

I think it looks very elegant.

I like the fact that you can look at that plate

and you know exactly what the focus was - it's the fish.

And that's very, very good.

Congratulations.

By a hair's breadth, you have a nicely cooked piece of fish.

It's really close to being underdone but it kind of works.

I like the combinations of flavour.

It's pulling together, it's pulling together. It's a good plateful.

Your fennel is delicious. I love that fennel.

The way that it bounces off the fish, it comes together

and make something quite whimsical. I like that.

There's far too much puree. It's almost got celeriac soup.

But it's a good plate of food.

Because there's so much sauce, I'm finding that too rich.

And no texture at all.

Anyway, nice flavours, good flavour combinations.

Thank you.

I knew there were things that were wrong with it but...

All the comments were absolutely fair

but I'm just glad they enjoyed the flavours of the plate.

That was the most important thing for me.

Caron, your turn, please.

Management consultant Caron pan-fried her brill

and topped it with langoustines, caviar

and edible violas accompanied by shaved asparagus, peas,

chervil and a langoustine sauce.

I like how you cooked your brill.

I love the sweetness of the peas

and the natural flavour of the asparagus with it as well.

I even like the saltiness that I'm picking up from the caviar.

The sauce, although you've managed to get depth into it,

most certainly - it's sweet. It's almost like caramel sweet.

-It's too sweet.

-It's a very nice piece of fish and it's well done.

-Thank you.

-I pine for carbohydrate.

-OK.

I know I'm unreconstructed and very, very old but I do think,

you know, maybe a crisp chip, something like that.

-The fish is cooked beautifully.

-Thank you.

-Really beautifully.

It's just that sauce - it is like having caramel with your fish.

I really hope that the sauce kind of can be overlooked a little bit,

hopefully. You never know. So, yeah, fingers crossed.

Tom, bring your brill.

24-year-old Tom chose to sous-vide his brill

and topped it with a chorizo

and Parmesan crumb alongside a tomato,

fennel and pepper salad, roasted garlic tomatoes

with chanterelles, samphire tempura and a shrimp sauce.

Ooh! I'm sorry to tell you...

..I would send that fish back, I think.

It's still flapping.

Tom, I'm sorry. I've got errors here.

The biggest error, obviously,

is that your fish isn't cooked properly.

And that's the fault of the water bath.

A piece of fish like this lives by grilling and roasting.

If you roast a whole brill, it's fantastic.

I think the other bits on the plate are very nice.

The crumbs are particularly fine and I think a nice piece of brill

-with the crumbs under a grill would be much nicer.

-Yeah.

There's just too much going on. Chorizo in cream - not quite there.

-Tempura in cream - no. I'm sorry, Tom, it hasn't worked.

-Yeah.

I'm gutted, really.

I tried something that I'd read on the internet,

as far as the water bath and the fish, and it just didn't work.

Oh, well. It's all right, man. It's all right.

Pedro, up you come, please, sir.

Languages graduate Pedro's pan-fried brill has been served with

clams, chorizo, chive mash, samphire and a Vermouth and lemon sauce.

-Nice-looking dish.

-Bon appetit!

Your fish...

..is cooked really nicely.

Your mashed potato was creamy and lovely.

I liked your clams and your smoky chorizo on the outside.

I think that's great.

But the sauce, for me, just a little bit too agrodolce -

-sweet and sour, all at once.

-Everything is absolutely lovely.

The sauce is making it uncomfortable.

-However, I have to admire the cookery skill.

-It's brill!

-You like it?

-Very much. Nice piece of fish, not messed about too much.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

My sauce let me down but, yeah, I'm in with a fighting chance

and it's very pleasing to hear someone like him,

who eats all over the place,

and he enjoyed my food and he enjoyed my fish,

so yeah, happy with that.

Julie, up you come.

-Whoa!

-Ooh, nearly went!

-Nearly dropped it.

-An adventure.

Ward sister Julie's brill has been served with clams

and mussels in a broth flavoured with saffron, Tabasco

and lemon juice accompanied by soda bread and a parsley garlic butter.

Your bowl of saffron broth with the mussels is lovely.

It's sharp, it's smoky with the saffron, it's sweet.

-But all of it together, with that fish - the fish is just lost.

-Right.

The salty butter on that soft bread dipped into that broth is

-unbelievably beautiful!

-Thank you.

-I've been through that all day long.

I love the big flavours.

But the fish is drowning in it - literally drowning in it.

But hey, you do do big!

Fair enough. I'm very fond of anyone who does big!

But the brill gets second billing to the soda bread.

Really disappointed with myself, but hey-ho! It's done now, isn't it?

Chris, would you bring your brill up, please?

Last up is personal trainer Chris,

whose brill has been served with cauliflower pakoras,

cumin butter potatoes, pickled shallot rings

and a cauliflower puree.

The fish is well cooked - a point, you know. Er...

-It's an interesting combination.

-Do you like it?

-No.

If you went to an Indian restaurant and had a nice curry or

a cauliflower pakora or whatever, that's kind of one thing.

You wouldn't then pick brill to lob into the middle of that.

I admire your ambition. It hasn't worked out how I would have liked!

Right, OK.

I'm going to be slightly provocative here in the fact that I think

it's almost there. I would love a stronger piece of fish on show.

I think it is actually masking the flavour of the brill.

But it is meaty enough to cope with the other textures. But I like it.

-I like your cooking.

-Thank you.

I love the spicing you've used on here. I think it's a delight.

There's textures on there that are changing all over the place -

from soft puree to meaty fish to the crunch of the pakora.

I think it's very good.

I thought that it worked quite well.

Obviously, Charles disagreed, but John and Gregg were quite happy

with it, so I think, on the whole, I think it's quite a good day.

Good round - lots of hard work, lots of very, very interesting ideas.

You're going to take a break now.

We need to have a serious, serious chat.

We are only going to take the best of the cooks through. Off you go.

Take a break.

Charles, you always set a very interesting brief.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, Charles.

-Thank you.

All in all, not a bad round.

I've got to say, I think we're in for a tough decision here,

-Mr Wallace.

-Tom had a bad day. He really tripped up.

None of us liked the concoction that he put on the plate.

And more damning was that fish was almost raw. I think Tom knows it.

He's cooked his last dish on MasterChef, unfortunately.

Pedro's fish was definitely the best piece of fish in the whole room.

Could you forgive his sharp sauce? I think you can. I think you have to.

I liked it, you liked it, Charles loved it.

It was the dish of the day here. I think Pedro should go through.

Ah, I tell you what! Julie's got great flavours.

It's just a matter of how they come together as a plate of food.

Let's face it - that broth would have worked as a spoonful of sauce.

It didn't work with that fish sitting in it.

It was far too strong.

There were some amazing dishes again out there,

so we'll just have to, again, see what happens.

Chris' brill dish was a celebration of the flavours of India

-and cauliflower.

-I really liked his spicing.

I thought it was lovely - sweet and a little tangy.

You liked them as well.

Charles, though, thought it was a little heavy-handed.

Maybe they are right about the spices.

Maybe I should have cracked out the spices another day

but it's a risk.

You've got to take the risk otherwise you're not going to go through, are you?

Caron's interesting because, you know, we ask her for flavour and

she gives us flavour, but sometimes, they're just little bit left-field.

We've had cheesecakes with blue cheese in them,

and today, we've got a sauce which tastes of caramel with her brill.

Everything's crossed at the moment.

You just don't ever really know but very, very hopeful. Yeah.

Stuart's concept of the dish was good.

I loved the flavour of the fennel with the fish stock. I thought it was absolutely delicious.

-Liked the flavours, didn't like the textures at all.

-Far too much sauce.

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

The standard's so high in this round.

The others have all cooked really, really well.

Obviously, a few errors here and there, but you don't know

until you're stood up there, facing them at the end.

Well done, everybody. And I mean that. Very well done.

We have made a decision.

Three of you are going through to Knockout Week,

which means that three of you are leaving the competition.

The first person through...

..is Pedro.

Thank you.

Cheers.

The second person going through to Knockout Week...

..is Chris.

The third person going through to Knockout Week...

..is Stuart.

Well done, mate.

Julie, Caron, Tom - so very sorry. Thank you very much.

Well done, guys.

It'll be hard going back to normal

because you've had a taste of this competition and you kind of still

hope, in the back of your mind, ooh, how far am I going to get through?

But then again, going back to normal's just part of...

part and parcel of it.

It's just been amazing. It's just been a truly wonderful journey.

It really, really has. Yeah. Well proud of myself.

Where are all the duds? Why aren't they in my group? What's going on?

It's not right, is it? Oh, I'm so disappointed. Hey-ho.

Congratulations. What about that?

I'm absolutely buzzing. I like this. I like this interview.

I don't want to do a loser interview,

so if we carry on doing this, I'll be a happy boy.

I couldn't believe it when he called my name.

They said three people going through.

I thought, that's definitely my time done. But I...

-Absolutely over the moon.

-Ah, I'm just ecstatic.

Just was not expecting to go through today. That's...

Yeah, Knockout Week, here we come! Can't believe it.

Next week,

ten new contestants battle it out for a place in the quarterfinals.

Oh, for crying out loud!

I'd eat this every day of the week. Not a problem.

This is why I love our job.