Episode 8 MasterChef

MasterChef is back.

Searching for the country's best amateur cook.

How long does a pigeon normally take? Until it's cooked. SHE LAUGHS

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 become MasterChef.

Cooking is my life's work.

I feel, well, I know it's what I was born to do.

Everything about ingredients and food just excites me,

because it's a never-ending journey.

If they like my food, I don't think

you'll be able to keep the smile off my face.

SHE LAUGHS

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

This is your first round.

This is your calling card.

One dish that tells us what sort of cook you really are.

Show us something exciting, demonstrate some skill.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour and 15 minutes.

Let's cook.

I'm completely obsessed with cooking.

I think about food constantly, I think about eating constantly.

plan my holidays about what I'm going to eat and where,

so it is just the thing I think about more than anything.

How did you get into food?

My dad's a really good cook.

Um...so he does Sunday dinner every single Sunday

for my whole of my life.

And he's a feeder, so he loves feeding people.

And I think it just rubbed off a bit on me.

And what do you like to cook?

Love pies, love my puddings.

Love making anything sweet, I've got a proper sweet tooth.

Oh, that's good. Well, what are you making now?

I'm making an apple tart.

It's going to be spiced with cinnamon and cardamom.

I'm making a vanilla creme anglaise and then I'm doing

just an almond praline for a bit of texture.

What a lovely idea.

As long as the tart pastry is thin and buttery and crisp,

and the creme anglaise is not curdled and full of vanilla,

that's great.

But Jen's using Bramley apples.

And they are sharp.

The biggest thing that's going to stand out is the flavour.

I am big on flavour.

I just want for them to not even say,

but facial expression, to be like, "What is this?"

Like, "This is so good!"

That reaction.

To be shocked in a good way.

Noma's got for us short ribs.

She serving with sadza.

And it's just cornmeal, but it's got no flavour at all.

And that, in itself, I think it's a big risk.

She's going to serve all that with creamed mushrooms and spinach.

And at the same time, she also has on her bench a butternut squash

and she's got some carrots frying.

Where they're all going, I'm not quite sure.

How good a cook are you?

I believe I'm excellent and there is room for improvement.

You're excellent but there's room for improvement?

Yes, there's always room for improvement. So not quite excellent.

So not quite excellent. So, good!

THEY LAUGH

So, I'm good, but I'm getting better.

I believe I have a gift, cooking is my gift.

So, I've come here to be the master of that gift and to develop it

and harness it and make it flourish.

25 minutes gone.

Surgeons generally are quite competitive people,

even though sometimes we maybe don't admit it.

But I think a lot of my friends would probably say that!

Why would a surgeon come on MasterChef?

Erm, I've always enjoyed cooking.

It's something that I do to relax to kind of de-stress from work.

And the knife skills are...translatable, should we say?

SHE LAUGHS

What are you cooking now?

Today I'm doing spiced poached plums with a sabayon,

a ginger tuile and a ginger crumble.

I'm intrigued to see how surgery translates into dessert.

Kath's are very, very British.

Really British, a celebration of plums and ginger,

all the lovely things with spice.

Exciting, interesting, as long as it's got texture.

My family all love cooking.

It gets competitive sometimes.

We have to, like, split out meals and each do a course.

We can't all be cooking at the same time.

Jacob, you have got stuff everywhere.

Yeah. That bench, this bench.

I've never seen a bench that looks like this, ever.

What is going on? This is how I cook. Erm...

It's a creative process.

What is it you're making?

So, I'm making like a Tunisian couscous

with a vegetable stew that goes with it.

Griddled chicken and a roast garlic yoghurt.

It's the kind of cuisine where you fill the table with lots of different dishes

and kind of assemble it yourself, so we'll see how it works as a dish.

So, are you going to serve it on lots of different plates or...? No, I've gone for a...

I've lost it now, but there is one plate somewhere.

I'm not surprised you've lost it, Jacob! HE LAUGHS

Look, I love a couscous-cum-tagine-cum-style of spicy vegetable thing.

But right now I don't think Jacob actually knows what

the finished dish is going to look like. BLENDER WHIRS

You would think he'd come in here with a plan!

You have 15 minutes left.

More mess than I've seen in a playground.

But anyway, it's smelling good.

Because of the way I grew up and not really having a really great cook

in the family that I could learn from, it was down to me.

And as such I've just tried to absorb as much as possible

in the time that I've been cooking.

Mark.

The contrast with your bench

and other people's benches, like Jacob's, is quite...quite startling.

It is. Isn't it just?

Simple is best, maybe.

Do you think so? Yeah.

Let's focus on a few good flavours rather than lots.

We're going for a nice cut of beef there,

just fried to about a medium-rare, flavoured with garlic and thyme.

A horseradish mash. I'm doing crispy kale, parsnip crisps.

And then we are doing a sauce of marrowbone and beef stock.

What do you want from MasterChef?

I'm getting it already. The experience.

I want other people outside of my family to actually try my food

and tell me whether I'm any good.

Cheers, Mark.

Mark, I feel, is making a very bold statement,

because he's keeping it really classic.

The beef's got to be cooked absolutely wonderfully.

There's got to be the right amount of horseradish to give punch

in that mashed potato.

And the sauce, the sauce is the thing that makes it all.

It's got to be rich, it's got to be deep, it's got to be dark.

10 minutes left, OK?

WHISK WHIRS

This isn't going to work.

I may start again. SHE TURNS WHISK OFF

The chickpeas didn't cook the first time through,

but they're in the pressure cooker again.

The other elements are there, I think,

unless I've forgotten something.

Or lost something.

Yeah, there's not a lot of space, I think.

Two minutes!

Put whatever's going on a plate on a plate now!

Right.

Stop!

That looks amazing. I had a complete disaster. My tuile's broken

and my sabayon is completely flat.

It looks gorgeous, that looks spectacular.

I hope it tastes better than it looks.

Kath, pud time, please.

First up is surgeon Kath.

Her calling card is a dessert of spiced poached plums,

topped with sabayon, ginger crumble and a ginger tuile.

Your flavour's very good.

Spiced plums, there is a hint of ginger in there as well.

However the sabayon is not a sabayon, it's not light like a sabayon,

it's become mousse texture.

It's made it a little thick and a little bit too sweet for me.

I don't mind the sabayon being that thick at all.

A sabayon really can be, you know, a little bit creamy,

but plums, sabayon, ginger, crumble and a biscuit.

I think that's brilliant.

I am unsure, but John loves it. You wouldn't expect that from a pudding, would you? No!

SHE LAUGHS

I know I could have done it a bit better,

but, you know, the comments are encouraging.

Overall, fairly pleased.

Software consultant Mark has served his fillet of beef with

horseradish mash, crispy kale and parsnips,

and a bone marrow sauce.

Your beef is beautifully cooked for me.

And you've got some browning on the outside.

it's just like blowing me away with pepper and salt.

However, I love the flavours you've created.

Thank you. Absolutely ace.

because of the bone marrow in the background, which is wonderful.

And I love your bravery of a piece of beef with mashed potato.

Yeah, I'm happy. I...we'll...

Yeah, I'm proud of the dish I made.

GREGG LAUGHS

Management consultant Jacob has served a stew of chickpeas,

carrots, celery and pumpkin,

together with chicken flavoured with pomegranate and red pepper paste,

with preserved lemon, roast garlic yoghurt, home-made couscous

and a cabbage, sesame and date syrup salad.

It's very difficult to get form and shape and presentation

when you're putting on to one plate what is normally half a banquet.

Mm-hm.

Your chicken is, it's got a sort of bitter smokiness which goes

really nice with the rich creaminess of the yolk with the garlic.

Your spicy sort of vegetable soup-cum-tagine-y

type of fare here is lovely.

Really, really addictive and smoky with pepper paste.

It's a really interesting plate of food. Really interesting plate of food.

There's subtlety where it needs to be, there's real strength and punch

where it needs to be - it's like an Aladdin's Cave of flavour wonders.

You could dip in and out wherever you wanted.

Plate is messy.

On the whole I'm pleased with how it went.

I'm kicking myself a bit for working a bit chaotically

and not giving myself enough time at the end.

Nutrition student Noma has made beef short ribs with carrots,

pepper and chilli on butternut squash puree with creamy spinach,

mushroom and courgettes, topped with sadza.

The flavour on your beef is superb.

and smokiness as well, really good.

Your sadza doesn't taste of anything.

It's not supposed to, it's purely there as a texture

to mop up everything else, a bit like rice.

Norma, this is good. Thank you.

I like your spinach puree with the mushrooms,

but I feel as though the creamed spinach doesn't necessarily

belong with my short ribs. OK.

But the flavour is fantastic.

First thing he said, the flavour, I was just like, "Yes! The flavour, yes!"

So, I think they have now...

a rough idea of what my cooking's about.

Last up is mortgage adviser Jen.

Her calling card is a cinnamon spiced apple tart

with an almond praline and a vanilla creme anglaise.

It could be tidied up a little bit.

Yes.

Your pastry's good. Firm.

The apples inside are sweet and we all know apple and cinnamon,

it's like a cuddle to me, a cuddle on a plate.

You've put sharp Bramley across the top, which is controversial,

because it's a cooking apple.

However I love the contrast with the sweetness of everything else.

There's definitely a cook about you, Jen. Thank you.

For me, the issue is about the amount of cinnamon.

It's almost medicinal.

But great little tart.

Yeah, good job.

It didn't go as well as it had when I'd been practising, but it wasn't

all bad feedback, they did have some nice things to say about it, so, OK.

A great round, I think.

Five very different cooks, five very different plates of food.

The deal is that we're going to choose our favourite cook

and those two cooks will go straight through to the next round.

My favourite dish...

..was cooked by Mark.

Congratulations! Straight through.

My favourite dish...

...was cooked by Noma.

So, Mark and Noma, thank you very much indeed.

You guys can leave us, thank you.

I'm happy enough. I'm ecstatic.

It felt like a weight was lifted off me as soon as my name came up.

I went, really? Is there anyone else called Mark in this?

You are now cooking to stay in the competition.

This is an invention test.

Under the cloths in front of you, there's an ingredient

to make a savoury dish or ingredients to make a sweet dish.

Reveal your ingredients.

The contestants must now choose whether to make a savoury dish

using guinea fowl, or a sweet dish using ginger.

Your choice, but you must showcase that main ingredient.

You'll have one hour to cook us one plate of food.

At the end of this, one of you is leaving the competition. Let's cook.

I think I could turn out a very good plate of food that is flavoursome

and hopefully enough to get me through.

I'm quite excited.

I like improvisation.

I'm going to give myself a lot of time at the end

to make the plate look nice.

Probably do a bit less.

So, how do you pick yourself up?

How do you motivate yourself in the second round?

This partridge, pheasant, I don't even know what it is,

but it's quite exciting to cook something different. Guinea fowl.

Guinea fowl, yes.

I've got the legs in here, I'm going to try

and make some sort of ragu.

I've got a sage pasta in the fridge.

I'm not even sure what the dish is going to be in the end yet

but we'll work that out.

Where's the fig going? That's a good point.

I haven't worked that one out yet!

Figs work in sweet and savoury dishes, they absolutely do.

However, fig and pasta? That's the problem.

Pasta bolognese, pasta ragu, absolutely. Pasta and figs? No.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

25 minutes gone. You have 35 minutes left.

Kath is making us a chocolate and ginger tart.

She's serving it with a ginger cream and a praline.

I like Kath's ideas. It's just whether she can execute it.

Why did you go for dessert again and not savoury?

I know you're a pudding man

and I know you didn't think that my dessert was necessarily

up to scratch the last time and I wanted to try

and prove to you that I can do a good pud.

I thought it was good, though.

Hopefully this will be better than good.

You have 20 minutes left.

Jen's making us a pear and ginger cake with poached pears,

walnuts and a ginger cream.

She's made the ginger cream from the ginger biscuits,

which I think is a lovely idea.

The thing is now that we are going to have a hot cake

and if she puts the ginger cream on top of that,

it will melt everywhere.

I think she's going to have to think about her presentation really fast.

Jen, you've gone for puddings again? Yes. Why?

So, when you announced the challenge,

I was convinced I was definitely going to do savoury

and then when I lifted it and it was ginger, I absolutely love ginger.

It's one of my favourite things to eat and cook with.

I've had some amazing ginger puddings,

so it just seemed like I've got to do it.

Have you over-whipped it? I think so. You think so?

Look at it, you can tell it's over-whipped. Well, yeah.

You got enough to do some more? I'm going to do some more. Yep.

Because of the biscuits, I couldn't tell until it had split.

You have just ten minutes. Ten minutes.

I'm worried that I got water in the last lot of pasta

so I'm making another lot.

I don't know if I'll have time.

If I can get it in the pan in the next minute, I'll be happy.

You've got two minutes left.

60 seconds!

Put it on a plate. Quick!

OK, stop. Thank you very much.

Well done. Time's up.

Jacob chose to cook with the guinea fowl

and has made a ravioli stuffed with leg meat,

served with wilted spinach and sage, alongside slices of guinea fowl

breast with a fig chutney and a red wine and chocolate sauce.

We've got two main courses on here on one plate.

I like your ravioli with ragu, and the sauce and the spinach

and the sage. I think it's a nice thing.

Then I jumped to the other side of the plate

and I've got this really sharp, very, very sour

sweet fig tomato chutney with my piece of guinea fowl.

The two don't belong together.

Right.

It slightly confuses what the dish is.

And you put yourself under so much pressure doing it.

But you've got skill.

At some point, you'd have to give a plate of food

and stop giving a banquet, at some stage.

It could have gone better, it could have gone worse.

Maybe I tried to do too much.

It's just, did the two halves come together?

Kath went for the sweet option and has made a chocolate

and stem ginger tart with spun sugar and a ginger cream.

It's a bit rough. Yeah.

I really like the heat of the ginger in there.

I like the flavour of your ganache, even though

it hasn't got the smoothest of finish. I like your pastry.

It just needs to be a little bit smarter.

Either fill the tart right up to the top and get a hot knife

and run it across the top to give it a sheen.

It just needs to be elevated a bit more.

I think that chocolate and ginger

is quite a well recognised combination that works.

and has served a pear and ginger cake with ginger cream

and chopped walnuts,

diced poached pears and a ginger syrup.

I had planned to cut the cake in half,

pipe the cream in the middle and then pipe it on top as well.

Yeah. But it would have melted, so I had to rethink.

Because the cake was hot? Yes. I understand.

Soft, well made cake.

Poached pears on the side, walnuts and the cream,

It tastes really good to me.

Really good.

I like it.

Again, I'd like it to look better

but I understand why you couldn't decorate a hot cake.

I get it.

It wasn't perfect.

They did have things that I can improve on,

but, overall, I'm pleased with how it went.

It's been a good round. A really interesting round.

One of you is going to be leaving the competition.

We'll have a conversation.

We will call you in as soon as we possibly can.

Thanks very much indeed.

Do you know what the big problem is here?

Those three can cook.

I think Jen's combinations of ingredients was absolutely lovely.

I mean, that sponge that she made with the pear inside was beautiful.

I thought it was a tasty, tasty thing.

All of us had good points and bad points.

I think it's really hard to judge at the moment

but I just hope that I showed enough skill,

that they think I deserve to go through.

I've never seen anybody cook like Jacob.

Jacob cooks in a very, very unusual way.

He is like a magpie.

Comes around and picks bits up

and he puts them all together on one plate.

And then trying to think about a fig and tomato sauce with a ravioli.

Uh-uh uh-uh uh-uh!

However, he's got skill. He's very, very creative.

He's very, very adventurous.

I think, when I get the result,

I'll know if I'm pleased or not.

It's very hard to tell which way it's going to go.

Kath is showing good skill. Good cookery skills.

Be able to make a chocolate ganache, be able to make pastry.

You didn't like the chocolate combination with ginger.

I thought it was really good.

I think that it was just a bit rough and a bit rugged.

And I think, with an hour in an invention test,

a tart with some chocolate ganache

could be a sexy thing if you want it to be.

I'm just beginning to kind of get into my stride

but I am a bit concerned that the one going home could be me.

In this round, because it's been so strong,

it's a bit of a shame we've got to lose one of them.

Wow. What a day.

What a day!

And I tell you what,

it was as close as that.

As close as that.

The person leaving us...

..is Kath.

Thanks, Kath.

It's not like I crashed and burned.

You know, I didn't have a disaster.

There were just people that perhaps showed a little bit more skill.

I think it was a fairly close-run thing.

It's nerve-racking!

They really draw it out!

I have to level with you,

this is a big step up.

We've invited some guests in to try your food.

The first three winners of MasterChef with me and John,

Thomasina Miers,

Peter Bayless,

Steven Wallis.

Your two courses - first course in one hour,

15 minutes later your dessert.

Let's cook.

Cut yourself?

Elevate your hand.

Are you all right? Yeah, I'm fine. Sure? Yeah.

I just want it to stop bleeding and I want to carry on.

Go and have a rest.

He's cut himself quite badly

so he's presently just stepped out of the kitchen

to try and calm himself down

and, hopefully, he's going to be OK to continue cooking.

Jen's doing a very, very classic mini rack of lamb

with a minted pea puree, potato fondant and a port sauce.

And dessert is a chocolate fondant with raspberries.

The pitfalls are massive

because everybody has an expectation.

It's... There's just nowhere to hide if I do anything wrong

but I'm hoping that all the practice that I've done

is going to pay off and I will do well.

Jen, how does it feel to be here?

It's a bit nerve-racking.

I absolutely love Thomasina Miers

so I think I'll get a bit starstruck seeing her

but, you know, they've gone through this process

so, hopefully, you know, they understand what we're going through

to try and get everything done in the time that we've got.

Noma, you made a great splash with your short ribs. Yes, thank you.

Are we getting a similar style today?

No, today is completely different.

I want to show you a different side of me.

I am all about African food and food that I grew up cooking

but, today, I'm making herb-dressed steak

with potatoes stuffed with wild mushroom, creamy sauce.

And, for my dessert, I'm making a fruitcake.

I never order dessert when I go out

so this is not my strongest point

but I love making muffins, so this is like a muffin mix,

just made in a very stylish and pretty version.

I thought, if I try and really push the boat

and do something I don't know how to do, I think I'm going to flop,

so I just thought,

"Let me just combine things that I think will taste good."

When she said fruitcake...

It's a banana and a carrot cake with raisins in it,

served with a berry coulis.

It sounds quite out there.

My mind is open.

Hey, you all right? I'm all right.

You sure? Great boy. Well done.

Mark's now started cooking his two courses

and I'm really pleased he's here

because it's touch and go whether he actually came back or not.

The main course - spaghetti vongole.

One of my favourite bowls of spaghetti in the whole wide world.

Salty, lovely clams, a hint of chilli,

lots and lots of parsley, a little bit of garlic

and the water that you cook the spaghetti in

coming together to make the lovely rich sauce,

taking up the flavours of the sea.

I love eating it but where's the skill?

Where's the enterprise? Where's the endeavour?

The dessert... I have no idea.

Disc of biscuit,

Chantilly cream,

some chocolate ganache,

a peanut butter caramel sauce

and then a lemon verbena.

Lemon verbena is a really strong herb.

It sounds really interesting.

and that the main course, as beautiful as it may be,

is relatively simple in comparison.

Yes, I've got two children with very sweet teeth

and they love to have a good moreish dessert

and it's a great finish for a dinner.

It's all tactical?

Yes.

I spent all last night sat in my pants on my bed

pretending to make this dish.

Just trying to work it all round, getting all my timing right,

getting all the different aspects in place.

I must have looked ridiculous if anyone saw me through the window.

So far, I think the judges can see I can work with flavours

and can get quite a bit done.

I think what I need to show now from the feedback

is that I can put a bit less on the plate and be a bit more in control.

Tell us what you're going to cook for us.

So, for the main, I'm making sea bream fillets with cavolo nero,

borlotti beans and salsa verde,

and then, for dessert, I'm doing this kataifi pastry

with caramelised peaches, a nectarine-pear-pomegranate salad,

halva and caramelised pear ice cream.

I don't want to open it now because it'll dry out

but it's kind of almost like hair

and, often, you get baklava made from it.

Are you only doing one dish on each plate?

So far, yeah.

Jacob is undertaking a huge amount of work.

He's filleting his own fish.

He's cooking the borlotti beans properly in a pressure cooker.

He's making his own ice cream.

He's making his own halva.

Sesame seed paste, boiling sugar, mixing the two together

and then he's got to hope it's going to set.

It will be miraculous if he gets it finished.

I remember the day that they told us,

"You've got the critics coming in."

It wasn't... Of course, in those days, it wasn't past winners

because there was only one past winner when I did it.

It was all a bit of a scary and frightful business.

I think it's a completely misconceived dish

from start to finish, I'm sorry to say.

I had cooked for lots of people at various times

but never under that kind of pressure,

so it'll be tough for them.

When I look back, I wasn't organised for this.

I didn't really have the thinking down.

And I know Charles Campion, Kate Spicer, tore into the food.

I would expect to see this

I can understand that they'll be nervous

because it was... I remember being absolutely petrified.

It's tricky.

I mean, with food, you can't please everyone all the time.

Even if you think your food is great,

some people might think there's a clash of flavours.

I like the stew

and I like the fact that it's got a good belt of chilli to it

And I kind of like the mash.

But I would never put the two together.

It's how you use seduce people with how the food looks,

how it smells and then how it tastes.

You know, there are multiple challenges

you're throwing up at these guys.

Better being on the side, isn't it?

Yeah, definitely better being on this side.

Honestly, I think there's some real technical challenges,

Good job. Thanks.

Pomme fondant can be hard.

Quite tricky to get that... You know, really pull off that well.

You're doing well.

Pea puree, got to go.

Look at the colour, there, look.

Beautiful!

Come on, then.

Well done. Thank you. Well done.

Good. Very good.

I've made for you a herb-crusted rack of lamb,

which is served with a pea and mint puree,

a pomme fondant and a port jus.

I hope you like it. Thank you.

It actually looks jolly nice.

The meat is beautifully cooked.

That crust is a...

Really beautifully seasoned and brings everything together.

Pea puree is delicious. The fondant is well cooked.

The only thing that's a bit of a disaster is the sauce.

Hasn't had enough time to reduce it

and it's a little bit like just wine on a plate, really.

But I think it adds some lovely colour

and I think it actually works really well.

I think she's done an exceptional job.

Oh, yeah!

It's a nicely cooked dish and I'm really pleased.

I was concerned about it and I'm really pleased it turned out.

OK.

Chocolate fondant, I think, historically in MasterChef,

has been the nemesis of far too many contestants.

Get it right and it's fantastic.

Get it wrong and...

Ergh.

TIMER BEEPS

How are the fondants looking? Are they going to be all right?

I think so. I might just give them 30 seconds

but they're still a bit wet on the top.

Come on.

Please work!

Yes!

Go on!

Ergh!

Oh, my God.

Oh!

Crying out loud!

Please don't drop this one.

Oh!

Sorry, force of habit.

That's it. That's it done. OK, go.

I've made a chocolate fondant for you with a raspberry coulis

and then just a raspberry ripple cream, as well. Thank you.

Lovely, thank you.

Oh, yes.

Mmm.

It's really deep, deep, deep chocolaty flavour, which is

what I want.

This cream, I think it's very clever.

The way that she's put that little ripple through, it's very, very nice indeed.

It's not over-sweet either. Mmm.

I think she's a real star. I think there's some brilliant cooking here.

Oh-ah!

Good, isn't it?

Lovely. This is the second good dish from young Jen.

It is.

That was tough. I've never... I'm never normally that messy, but I left the place in a state.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm just really annoyed at myself for dropping that fondant.

But as I said, it meant I could see it was, like, soft in the middle,

so there is a good side!

I love a steak.

A herb-dressed steak, it feels quite '70s.

Creamy mushroom-stuffed potatoes feels quite '70s.

There's nothing that's really screaming "delicious" to me.

You've got two minutes to get this out, Noma.

Yes, I think I'm probably on time.

Were you concerned about those steaks?

Yes, I wouldn't have them that rare, but...

NERVOUS BREATHING

Hopefully they'll be fine.

Very nice.

Oh, steady!

Oh, yum.

Right, can we go? Yes.

Let's go.

What's that, mustard and parsley? Yeah. Nice.

Come on. Let's go, Noma.

Lovely, thank you.

I've made herb-dressed steak, sirloin steak,

served on a bed of warm courgette salad, and stuffed potatoes,

stuffed with wild mushrooms and parsley.

I hope you enjoy it. ALL: Thank you.

The steak is actually beautifully seared on the outside

and it's got a lovely tenderness in the middle.

It might be a little rare for some people, it isn't for me, I love it.

There are some lovely rich flavours, a lovely tang

that cuts through that meatiness really well.

The courgette salad, it's silky, it's soft,

again it's full of punchy flavours.

And the idea of taking a new potato

and stuffing it with creamy mushrooms is really quite inspired.

I can't have the creamy mushrooms and the salty parsley,

it's a bit confused.

What are you talking about?

Mushrooms, parsley, cream, they all belong together with the steak.

However, why we've got a potato handbag

the mushrooms are going into I'm not quite sure.

You've got three minutes, Noma. OK.

My mum makes fruitcake for Christmas, it's sort of...hmm.

Berry coulis and cream, it's just a little bit boring,

but if it's the best fruitcake we've ever eaten, it will be wonderful.

Is that strawberry and blackberry, that coulis?

Strawberry and blackberry.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Cake on? Yeah.

Look at that.

Lovely looking dish.

Thank you, that's lovely.

I've made, um...a fruitcake

with strawberry and blackberry coulis and Chantilly cream.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

It's just rich, it's warming.

The sauce is wonderful with it.

The colours are amazing.

It's just delicious.

It's beautiful.

I mean, it's such a lovely use of spices, she's very confident.

I just think it's miraculous to pull that off

in such a short space of time.

They got a delicious berry coulis with some nicely whipped sweetened

cream, but I think they are actually masking a pretty dull cake.

You hope that your best was good enough,

but that was not even my best, you know, so...

Hmm.

SHE SIGHS

I'm a mess.

Three minutes on your main course, Mark.

Mark is doing for us spaghetti vongole with a garlic crumb.

Got to be an all-time favourite.

If he gets that right, it's just going to be a real crowd pleaser.

Nice plate. Nice plate.

All right.

You should be going now, Mark. Right.

Let's go!

Hi. Good to see you, Mark.

Thank you.

Here we have a traditional vongole, which is

clams in a spaghetti with chilli, garlic, lemon and parsley.

I've made a crumb on there as well to add a little bite to it.

Bon appetit. Thank you. Thank you very much.

My pasta's beginning to look dry.

Yes. Mine too.

I think the garlic is really overpowering. Mmm. Mmm.

But I think the balance of the lemon, the herbs, is lovely.

What it doesn't taste of at all is vongole.

I can't taste the clams.

So, for me that is a bitter, bitter disappointment.

It doesn't demonstrate a lot of skill.

But I've got to say, it eats really well.

I don't question the quality of the eating of it,

what I question is the skill that went into it.

Chocolate peanut butter sugar puff cookie. Phew.

Well, that sounds pretty wonderful and it sounds pretty tricky to make.

What's in there, Mark?

So, in here we've got raw jasmine rice that's been toasted.

I intend to grind it into a really fine powder.

It should be really good.

All right? One minute.

Hey!

No wonder the kids like it.

What about the caramel sauce?

The caramel sauce is there, that's just got to go on now.

This is a skillet cookie with cream on top, they say.

A chocolate ganache, a peanut butter caramel and then this toasted

jasmine rice just to give you a sort of nutty, buttery finish to it all.

Enjoy. Great. Thank you.

My instinct is just thinking, "I'm not sure I really want to eat that."

My cookie is squidgy in the middle, but the caramel is undercooked.

It's too sweet.

And I just find the ganache it's just detracting.

And the cream just looks like it's congealed.

I really don't find this at all appealing.

HE LAUGHS GLEEFULLY

It's lovely!

HE LAUGHS

I mean, look, whatever the fella is or what ever it does,

he does tasty food.

I don't like it.

I don't like it at all.

I actually got through it.

There was a time where I thought, "You know what?

"I've come to the end of this, I've chopped half my body off.

"This is the end now," but, you know what?

I've actually got it all together.

Jake, you've only got seven minutes before the main course goes out. Yeah.

Pan-fried sea bream with cavolo nero, borlotti beans

and salsa verde.

I mean, this just screams "delicious Italian food" to me.

There is nothing about that that I don't want to eat.

Why have you got the saucer in the middle of the plate?

Once I've got a plate done,

I can go like that...

..and have a clear-ish circle.

I see. Nice idea.

Ooh! JOHN GASPS

That's all right.

Still got it.

That's a nice dish.

That's a nice-looking dish.

Go! Go, go, go. Well done. Very well done.

Afternoon. Hello.

Thank you.

I've served you a pan-fried fillet of sea bream on a cavolo nero salad

with rose borlotti beans and a salsa verde.

Enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

It's elegant, it's restrained, it's modern.

Looks really great. I think we should tuck in. Mm. Mm-hm.

I actually love the way the fish is cooked.

The skin is lovely and crunchy, adds that lovely texture.

Borlotti beans, beautiful, succulent, soft.

Wonderful, wonderful sauce that comes with them.

The salsa verde, beautifully made.

All on the money. Spot on.

I'm impressed. I'm impressed. All well seasoned, all well cooked.

This is simple Italian food, but this is demonstrating skill.

Aye-aye! It's hair for you! Thank you. Right, that's you out.

He's got halva, he's got peaches, they're caramelised...

He's got a salad, he's got an ice cream.

For me, it all seems a bit kind of jarring.

It sounds like such a HUGE amount of work to do

in such a short space of time.

You've got five minutes. Enough time?

Yeah.

Lovely.

Lovely!

Look at that.

Let's go. Well done. Good lad.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I've made you caramelised white peaches with a...

yellow peach-pear-pomegranate salad with halva,

caramelised pear ice cream

and a kataifi and pistachio nest.

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you.

How original. Mm. Isn't it just?

Mmm.

That's so sublime.

This pastry is ethereally kind of thin and buttery

and just tastes delicious.

All those elements come together and just sing on the tongue.

It's a delight, a sheer delight.

Mmm.

I'm amazed by the amount of work.

Some of those flavour combinations, texture combinations are very nice,

but it's very different.

Although there was a bit of a struggle,

I managed to get the plates out on time, which was a relief.

I tried to be a lot tidier,

so hopefully the judges might like that.

I tell you what, lots of endeavour, lots of creativity

and I think it was fun.

Jen had a pretty fault-free round.

On time, rack of lamb, perfectly pink, chocolate fondant, very good.

We enjoyed both courses.

In my opinion, she goes straight through to a quarterfinal.

As for the other three, I think they're all up for debate.

I enjoyed Mark's vongole, you did as well

but I was a little bit surprised by the simplicity of it.

And the dessert, I think I may be the only person in the building

that enjoyed that biscuit.

It's just incredible.

If I could live this every day,

I wouldn't live very long but I'd love it.

I liked the flavours on Noma's main course.

For me, the steak was undercooked. You were fine with it.

I would've sent it back.

Noma's dessert, a strange combination.

I liked the fruity flavour of the coulis.

It was the banana carrot cake on top which didn't quite match.

I was not in a comfort zone at all.

I hope it's good enough.

The pair of us have been really impressed by Jacob's ability

to do load of processes and get so much work done.

I thought the dessert was a little unusual.

Nothing particularly wrong with it.

What was impressive from Jacob was the quality of his main course.

It would be fantastic to get through to the quarterfinals.

Let's see what the judges say!

We have three quarterfinal places and one of you is leaving us.

Our first quarterfinalist...

is Jen.

THEY WHISPER

Our second quarterfinalist...

is Jacob.

Well done.

Our third and final quarterfinalist...

is Noma.

Mark, terribly sorry, mate.

Thank you so much. Thank you... Thank you. Good to have met you, my friend.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough on the day, but...

somebody's got to go out, and...

I'm just happy I was able to take part, I really am.

GREGG LAUGHS

Well done.

MasterChef quarterfinalist is an amazing feeling. I'm so excited.

The next round, obviously I've got to up the game.

But I think I can keep going for a good while.

I'm happy, I'm so happy, I'm happy, I'm happy and I can't wait.

To be here and just, er, continuing,

unwrapping my gift and seeing what else I can do.

Tomorrow night, it's

and Jen will join Juanita, Sarah and Jack to fight for their place,

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

It's like being on an obstacle course, drunk.

That gets my erogenous zone, mate. LAUGHTER

I love it. I love it.

Now on BBC One...

Ooh, where's he off to?

Got to do something about it, you know. I don't...

HE RINGS BELL Don't miss my big new show!