Episode 1 MasterChef

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

Come on!

You can't say it's got chilli in, and not make it chilli.

Don't, don't, don't, don't! Oh, no!

Each week, 16 new contestants battle for a place

in Friday's quarterfinal.

It's a masterpiece.

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

You don't slow down.

Everybody, pudding!

Absolutely beautiful.

It's an incredible piece of cooking.

They want to realise one dream, and that's become

the MasterChef champion.

Kid in a sweet shop, that's me.

Let's find the stars.

These eight amateurs all think they've got what it takes

to become MasterChef champion.

But at the end of today's heat,

only three will make it through to Friday's quarterfinal.

Cooking for John and Gregg scares me a little bit.

If I can put a smile on their face, that would absolutely make me day.

I might not be up to their standard, but I want to test myself,

and see whether I can cook or not.

I think I'm like a swan, you know.

Nice and calm on top, but my legs are going ten to the dozen

underneath the water.

I believe I'm good enough to win MasterChef.

I can do it. I will do it.

Welcome to the MasterChef kitchen.

Welcome to a brand-new competition.

A fantastic opportunity for you to indulge what I hope

is your greatest passion.

This could be the start of something truly amazing.

Your first test is the market test.

We have done something very special this year.

We've built you a market...

..and it's stocked full of extraordinary produce.

All we want you to do is to go to the market, collect some ingredients,

and come back and cook for us one dish.

One great dish that shows Gregg and I you've got the potential to go

further in the competition.

Ladies and gentlemen, select your ingredients, off you go.

The contestants now have ten minutes to plan their dish,

but can revisit the market at any time.

Today's ingredients include

pork mince,

chicken breasts,

pancetta,

halibut and mussels.

There's also a range of cheeses, grains and pulses,

and a selection of fruit and vegetables.

There's too many ingredients to choose from.

There's absolutely loads, so, I just don't know where to start.

It puts you under the pressure, that's for sure.

I guess it shows that you're a cook, if you can come up with something.

We're about to find out whether they can really cook or not.

They need to think outside the box.

Be bold, be brave.

-That's it.

-You can't play it safe.

It's the variety that catches you off-guard, having so much to pick from.

You've things going through your mind that you've never thought about.

But, here we are, we're going to make it happen.

I know how to do sweet pastry,

and I think everybody else is going savoury.

So I want to do something a bit different.

Right, we hope you've chosen well.

You have one hour and 20 minutes to cook for us one dish.

At the end of this,

three of you will be going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

Travel agent Richard lives in Rochdale

with his wife and three children.

Cooking for John and Gregg, yeah, it's a bit nerve-racking.

But then, I have three little critics at home, you know,

so it'll be a bit different.

If they like my first dish, it'd be amazing.

I'd be on cloud nine.

Today I'm doing a mushroom ravioli...

..with a sage butter.

You're comfortable with making pasta?

I am, yeah, I make it a lot at home.

I make it with the kids, so...

If it all goes to plan, like it does at home, then it should be OK.

But I've not got the kids with me today, throwing stuff in.

Only three component parts.

The pasta, the filling and the butter sauce.

Which means all three things have to be absolutely perfect.

31-year-old Solomon is a retired professional footballer

and now coaches for a living.

My love of food always came from when I was younger.

My mum was a single parent, she was out working all the time,

so I had to really cook for myself.

And I really enjoy it.

What are you going to cook for us, now?

I'm going to cook a pasta with a tomatoey sauce, herby,

and I'm going to get some herby chicken on top of it as well.

As you know, as footballers, we've got the pre-match,

and that consists of pasta and chicken.

It's probably the most boring food.

It becomes boring because you eat it so much, but you need the energy.

But I'm having to kind of

make it look a bit more glamorous than I do at home.

But I'm going to go for it.

What he wants to do is to take his boring, everyday fodder -

his chicken and pasta - and zhoosh it up.

Great. But he's not even making pasta, he's using dried pasta.

At least Solomon's cooking something he knows.

30 minutes are gone.

As well as learning to become a pilot,

web developer Lewis loves to experiment with his food.

I think I'm going to try and do a mix of classic cooking

and also throwing in some elements here and there that are, yeah,

I guess, testing the brief.

I have tried my hand at chocolate lasagne...

..and the "chomelette", the chocolate omelette.

Both of which, I would say, have not been repeat meals.

Have you got a dish in mind?

Gnocchi in a gorgonzola and bacon and mushroom sauce,

and perhaps some pickled mushrooms, depending on how they come out.

What's in this mushroom? Apple and...?

Apple, vinegar,

sugar, a bit of olive oil.

I think it'll come together, hopefully.

Does Gorgonzola and gnocchi really belong with a pickled mushroom

and some apple?

I'm not quite sure.

35-year-old Kelly works as a call-centre manager

for the Inland Revenue.

Competitive, everyone who knows me would say ridiculously competitive.

It doesn't matter whether it's a board game, a card game,

whether it's a computer game.

Anything, I like to win.

Kelly, you've got a nice smile, are you enjoying yourself?

No, it's a nervous smile.

And I'm having a bit of a hot sweat at the minute.

What are you making?

Erm, chicken and bacon risotto.

That's the plan.

Which rice are you using?

Well, I got that,

because although I had chicken and bacon risotto in my head,

-that's what I was going to use.

-Risotto from Italy, and this rice,

with Spanish writing on, is risotto rice?

-I'm hoping so.

-I think that may well be paella rice.

Now, the problem is, risotto is about adding stock to rice,

and stirring it and stirring it,

and all the rice plumps up and it becomes wonderful.

Paella, on the other hand, is about baking the rice,

and all the water being soaked up without being agitated.

If you stir paella rice, it turns to mush.

Is there, like, no risotto rice at all?

I still wanted to do risotto.

I don't know whether to get...

I don't know.

So, is she going to make a paella,

or is she going to try and risk making a risotto with paella rice?

I'm just going to stick with me gut.

I think it tastes all right,

but whether he's going to have an issue with the rice...

You've got 30 minutes left, all right?

Timers are beeping, it's all a-working, it's all a-go.

The MasterChef kitchen is alive once more.

29-year-old Jamie works in marketing,

selling wines from all over Europe.

I think my palate is going to stand me in good stead,

because I've tasted wine for six, seven years,

and you start to think about the complexities of flavour,

and I think it's really transferable.

Jamie's a champion of wine, and he's championing wine, that's for sure.

He's got half a bottle of Rioja poaching one breast of chicken,

and I think that sounds good.

I'm going for, I guess, a sort of Spanish coq au vin thing.

You could call it a "Rioja coq", actually.

Just trying to capture the flavours of Spain, really.

When you eat, you should just be in the moment,

you should be lost in those flavours.

American-born Maria splits her time between London,

New York and Thailand.

Why do you love to cook?

Because it's an art form, for me.

I'm an interior designer, I'm an artist,

I design jewellery, clothing.

So, just for me, it's another art form.

Would you say you had a style?

The world is my style.

I've gone for halibut, which I've cooked before many times,

but I've gone Thai-style.

I spend lots of time there, in Thailand, in Samui,

because my boyfriend lives over there.

So I love their flavours

and they've influenced my cooking a lot.

There's little gems floating in the pan there, of garlic, chillies,

spring onions, lemon grass - beautiful.

Is it a broth? I'm not quite sure.

The intention, I think, is great.

You have 15 minutes left.

Tariq's love of cooking started when he got a pasta machine

for Christmas, aged 11.

I haven't really got one favourite style of food,

I love cooking all styles, all different cuisines.

I did quite a bit of travelling last year, so,

I went to India and south-east Asia,

so now that's a big influence, as well.

Tariq has decided to do us a Thai dish.

A Thai dish which includes minced pork, aubergines,

tomato ketchup and honey.

There was just so much choice in that pantry,

I didn't know what to choose.

Was there anything left in the market?

No, not really, not after I'd been in there!

Bristol-based Leanne works for the NHS,

negotiating contracts for the blood and transplant teams.

My job is very demanding, but I really enjoy what I do.

So when I get home, the chance to cook is really my detox,

my relaxation.

Leanne's plan is solid.

A tart case, a lemon curd in the middle,

a blackberry sauce.

As long as everything is flavoured well, it's going to be fantastic.

-Who do you cook for?

-Mostly my husband.

And how well does he think you'll do on here?

The rule was, I'm not allowed to cry or drop anything,

that was the...

SHE GIGGLES

That was basically the pep talk, don't cry or drop anything,

and it'll be all right.

What is that?

Some kind of mushroom jelly.

Five minutes left.

I'm not completely happy whether the flavours will come through.

30 seconds.

Time's up! Stop.

I did a risotto with paella rice.

-Did that not work?

-Well, I've done it but it's just...

First up is travel agent Richard.

His home-made ravioli has been stuffed with mushrooms

and ricotta cheese

and served with a sage butter and truffle shavings.

I like that a great deal.

Your pasta is really fine and light and thin.

Strength of mushroom, truffle, cheese, slippery,

butter sauce. Well done.

Technically, really good.

Flavour, perfect.

Thank you.

I couldn't stop shaking.

But, yeah, I feel great.

I got good feedback so that's what I wanted.

Well done, that's brilliant.

Football coach Solomon's tagliatelle

has been served in a tomato and basil sauce

with chicken and bacon, alongside garlic toast.

It's a shame you've used dried pasta because I'd have liked to have seen you make your own pasta.

I don't like the sauce, I have to say, I find it strong and sweet,

like tomato puree.

What you've done here, Solomon, I think, is made a crowd pleaser.

It's what people cook at home all the time.

The question is, has it demonstrated enough skill on MasterChef?

I think the situation caught me off guard.

I wanted to go for something I knew instead of trying to be too...

Show too much razzmatazz.

Scrutiny. I'm used to being scrutinised, though.

Web developer Lewis has made potato gnocchi served in a Gorgonzola

and bacon sauce with a pickled mushroom jelly and wilted spinach.

That gnocchi and the Gorgonzola is really, really tasty.

It's salty, it's rich from the cream, loads of parsley,

crispy bits of bacon, and the really lovely chewy bits of gnocchi.

You've got a salty, strong mushroom flavour in a jelly texture.

That's about as crazy as it gets.

But I kind of like that, that sort of inventiveness.

Thanks.

So elated that that is over.

That was something else, going in front of them,

just an amazing experience and, er...

Yeah, phew!

Civil servant Kelly stuck to her guns

and used paella rice to make her chicken and bacon risotto.

I think what you did is you found a dish in your head and you went,

I'm making risotto and the thing with risotto,

you need the risotto rice, that's a big thing.

Paella rice starts to fall apart and become very, very starchy.

Mm.

The problem I've got is the flavour you've got in there tastes a lot like white wine.

It's very sweet and it's quite acidic.

That's too strong of white wine.

Wine marketer Jamie poached his chicken breast in Rioja

and served it with tomatoes, spring onions,

crispy chicken skin, croutons,

pomme puree and a red wine sauce.

You've got lovely citrus flavour on the chicken

but the sauce is so strong and powerful of red wine,

it's completely smashed any citrus flavour on the chicken.

Your mashed potato puree is full of butter

and really delicious

but I don't want mashed potato with the crunch of a crouton.

I think you've shown lots of skill,

I think you've tried to do lots of things but it hasn't resulted

in a delicious plate of food.

I guess neither of them were completely sold on what I was doing.

Yeah, I take something good out of it and I take some bad out of it.

Designer Maria oven baked her halibut

and served it on a bed of spinach with cubed potatoes,

mussels and a broth made from coconut milk,

lemon grass, chilli and ginger.

Your fish is cooked really, really nicely.

Your sauce has good intent but it needs more power.

Cos the fish can stand up to it.

OK.

In my humble opinion,

there is no place for those sweet tomatoes and those potatoes

in that dish. The rest of it, I think is an absolute triumph.

Thanks.

I feel pretty good. I did pretty much what I was planning on doing.

Of course there were some minor things and I realised after,

"Oh, my god, what did I do?"

But, yeah, it wasn't a bad result.

Yeah.

Account manager Tariq

flavoured his pork mince with soy,

lemon grass, ginger,

tomato ketchup and honey

and served it with aubergines,

basmati rice and crispy fried egg,

topped with chilli and spring onion.

It's a big, bold, courageous dish.

The pork is cooked well but honey and ketchup and soy?

I mean, that's really sweet - really, really sweet.

The whole thing is slightly confused

and I think if you are going to be cooking Asian food,

and you've got the ingredients in your market, use them.

I think I just went for too many elements maybe

and mixed up fusion a little bit too much.

It would be nice to get a second chance and show them what I can do.

Last up is NHS worker Leanne

who was the only contestant to have made a dessert.

A lemon curd tart with poached blackberries

and a Mascarpone cream.

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with

absolutely love that pudding, when can we eat it?

Your pastry is lovely and fine and buttery.

Your berries have still got a crunch but the jam round the outside works

very, very nicely. Yeah, very good, great first round, Leanne.

Thank you ever so much.

Your curd is just divine.

The blackberries in the jam are absolutely delicious.

Super job.

Super, super job.

I think it worked really well.

They seemed to really enjoy it so I'm really pleased.

Yay!

That's a pretty good standard,

bearing in mind that they had no idea what they were going to cook.

I think we've got a couple of standout cooks here.

I really like Leanne.

John, it was faultless.

Delicious.

Delicious. What a great cook.

Yes, many may say you're biased because you like a pud,

but I have to say that Leanne's dish was the best of the day.

Leanne goes through.

Well, Leanne goes through for sure. For me, then, it's Maria.

The piece of fish was cooked beautifully.

Really beautiful. And then we got a really lovely plate of ravioli

from Richard and he got every single part absolutely right.

I really liked the gnocchi from Lewis.

I like the creativity, I like the ambition,

I'd like to see Lewis cook again.

As to the other four, three are going.

From Kelly, we got a rice-porridge risotto,

paella, chicken-bacon thing.

And it wasn't very good.

Solomon's chicken was nicely cooked but that's where it ended, really.

So that means Kelly and Solomon go home

but then we've got Tariq and we've also got Jamie.

We have to take a gamble on one of them.

If I do go through,

I'll be wanting to impress them a lot more than I have done today.

So fingers crossed, but I don't know, we'll see what happens.

The positive side of me would say,

you've got enough good stuff to maybe sneak through

and the other side of my brain says, it's not good enough.

Three of you are leaving us.

The first person leaving us...

is Kelly.

-Thanks very much, Kelly.

-Thank you.

The second person leaving us

is Solomon.

-Thanks very much, Solomon.

-Good luck, guys.

-Thank you.

The third person leaving the competition...

..is Tariq.

-Thanks very much, Tariq.

-Thank you.

I'll probably beat myself up for quite a while but I've enjoyed it.

You've only really got yourself to blame when you know the standard that's out there.

I should never have went as safe as I did.

I think at the end of the day, the nerves just completely,

completely got the better of me, so...

Now, you've earned the right to cook your own food.

Food that you've had a chance to practise.

But it's not as simple as that.

You're not just going to cook for John and me,

you are going to cook for last year's final three.

The winner, Jane, and the two runners-up, Billy and Jack.

Two courses in one hour and 15 minutes

and four plates of each course.

Your choice, whether it's a starter and a main course

or a main course and a dessert.

Get it right, you become a quarterfinalist.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

I don't think I can improve much because I think I did really well.

I just need to... You know, I've raised the bar for myself

and I need to try to keep it as high as I can, you know?

-Richard.

-Yes?

-Lovely bit of fish on your bench.

What are your two courses?

A herb-encrusted baked cod with a pea puree and mashed potato.

For dessert, a lemon baked tart.

Is it not a gamble at this stage of the competition to actually bake a

tart, then bake the filling and then hope it's cool enough to cut it into portion size?

-Yeah.

-In an hour and 15 minutes?

It is. You've got to push yourself, haven't you?

My go-to is white fleshy fish and something green.

And that's definitely what I'm doing,

something white and something green.

My first course is a warm mushroom Asian salad

and my main course is a baked hake with a miso sauce and sushi rice.

What's MasterChef all about for you?

I think it's a continuation for me, a continuation of creativity.

If I make it to the end, which I will,

I think the options, they're endless.

The big thing I want from Maria is I want punch,

because her food just needs to sing a bit louder.

Being in this, it's like having a superpower,

it's your brain switching on your nerve endings

so you're ready for the fight.

So I try to embrace it. If I'm not nervous -

hey, that's scary because it means I don't care.

Why so many onions, Jamie?

Well, onions are in both my dishes.

I'm a fan of onions, what can I say?

So, my two courses are a shallot tarte Tatin

and then my second course is roast duck with pea,

mushroom and onion puree and a Madeira sauce.

If you're making a tarte Tatin, that means those onions have got to

go in the oven with some pastry and if you don't get them in soon, mate,

-you're going to run out of time.

-Yeah, exactly.

So, I would hurry if I was you, young Jamie.

In the lead up to the competition, I've been trying lots

of new recipes, different techniques.

Some things have gone really well,

some things haven't worked out so well.

Leanne's cooking cod and chorizo.

Yeah, that works, I get that.

And then potatoes cooked in oil

flavoured with saffron

and a butter lemon sauce.

If she can amalgamate those four big flavours, I'll be very impressed.

Dessert, frangipane with ginger and apricots is going to be fantastic.

Sticky, sweet ginger,

a little bit of warmth in the back of your throat.

Fluffy up bits of frangipane beside a crispy pastry base.

Mmm.

Why these two courses, Leanne?

I love chorizo.

I think it's a beautiful flavour and I especially love it with

the fresh sweetness of cod.

I think it's a marriage made in heaven.

And I absolutely love ginger -

it's one of my favourite ingredients, as well.

I feel like I need to stick to my creative side

but hopefully I can excite them more than I can scare them.

For my main course, I'm cooking steak with cubed potatoes,

a mushroom foam and celeriac puree with a red wine reduction.

And for my dessert,

I'm cooking custard ravioli with an apple coulis and pecan crumb.

-Custard ravioli?

-Yes, indeed.

-Ravioli full of custard?

-Yep.

-With apple puree?

-Yes.

-Do you make the ravioli in exactly the same way

you would savoury pasta?

Yes, but I cook it in a very light sugar syrup.

What does that do to the flour and eggs mix?

I'm not entirely sure!

I tell you what I'm not doing with his ravioli -

-I'm not grating Parmesan across the top.

-Let's just hope he doesn't.

You've had 40 minutes.

40 minutes gone.

Since leaving MasterChef, me and Billy have joined up,

done a couple of supper clubs which have gone down really well.

We've been cooking for the public, which is fantastic.

I think we did for 37 last time,

so no small feat to cook for that many,

which we found out - plating for 37 is a pretty tall order.

So we don't cut ourselves much slack.

I've gone from a stay-at-home mum to doing foodie festivals,

writing a lot of recipes.

I've been teaching and some charity work, as well.

I mean, you couldn't ask for more, really.

I just remember how nervous you were when you have to stand there and tell people what you're cooking.

-Well, we're nice, aren't we?

-Yeah, hopefully.

-Well...

-Well.

We'll see what they serve up!

You've got five minutes, my friend.

-Five minutes.

-OK.

Fish cooked?

-Almost.

-How almost?

One minute almost or five minutes almost?

About one minute.

A herb-crusted baked cod with pea puree, mashed potato and dill.

-It all sounds really lovely.

-Yeah.

Obviously, the cooking of the cod is absolutely key.

Mashed potato, I hope there's a lot of butter.

I love a buttery mash.

Come on, mate. Make your decision, quick.

-The fish looks great.

-Thank you.

As long as it doesn't break up, you'll be fine.

Two minutes left, Richard.

Very nice.

Here we go.

What else has got to go on the plate, Richard?

Just a sprinkle of the dill.

Right, let's go, then.

-OK, done.

-Go!

-Looks very good.

-Yeah.

OK, guys, I made you a herb-encrusted cod loin,

baked with a pea puree -

one smooth, one a bit coarse -

and some hopefully creamy mashed potato.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you very much, Richard.

I think the main event, the cod, he's done OK.

I mean, mine's flaking quite nicely.

The herb crust on the top is crunchy, it's seasoned well.

I don't know why you have two pea purees because, to me,

they taste pretty similar and they're both not entirely pleasant.

I agree with the pea purees, they don't really pack the punch.

And the mash is a little lumpy and grainy and needs some more butter.

To me, the whole dish is crying out for a sauce.

The fish is cooked OK.

However, there's not a great deal of flavour of this plate.

It's all very bland.

That's his main course and I'm concerned about his dessert

because that tart's just come out of the oven.

You have about seven minutes, Richard.

Here we go. Whoa!

I mean, a well-done lemon tart is a fine thing.

Is that set enough to cut?

-I think so.

-You think so?

-Yeah.

The moment of truth.

-Is it OK?

-No, it could have done with a bit longer.

Here we go.

Now cream.

-Can we go?

-We can go.

-Go!

OK, guys, you have a baked lemon tart with a Mascarpone cream

with some popping candy and a raspberry coulis.

I have to say, I'm a bit nervous about this.

-I've got scrambled egg, guys.

-I know you have.

The tart filling is obviously scrambled and he's had a bit of a nightmare, hasn't he?

It's unfortunate.

I really feel for Richard with this, it just has not worked at all.

The tart is the texture of porridge and it's far too sharp,

far too sharp. No, that's a disaster.

The lemon baked tart really let me down, really disappointed with that.

Hopefully they'll appreciate what I've tried to do in the time.

-Maria, are you going to be on time?

-I think so.

-You think so?

-Yes, I am.

Warm Asian mushroom salad.

Yeah, it's not giving anything away.

I presume there's mushrooms in it!

I mean, it's all about the spicing on this and making sure it really

tastes intensely of mushrooms.

-Happy, Maria?

-I'm happy.

I'm done in time and I think it'll taste the way I want it to taste.

Let's go, come on.

Hello. I've made you a warm Asian mushroom salad.

Enjoy.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the taste.

You're getting the sesame, you're getting the garlic

-and the soy coming through.

-I do like the flavours very much.

It's a very lovely thing to eat but by the same token,

I think it's just missing a trick somewhere.

There's no textural element, there's no freshness to the plate.

I think she could have been braver.

That is chop it up, put it in a wok and shake it.

It's a tasty put it in a wok and shake it.

There's not a lot to it but she's got the balance just right.

I need a fork.

Hake is not the easiest fish to cook, but if you nail it,

I find it delicious.

Right, OK.

If she does it well, then it could be the standout dish of the day.

And then is it just rice in a ring?

Rice in a ring.

Thank you, Maria.

I've made you baked hake on a bed of vegetables

and with a miso sauce

and a sticky sushi rice.

I feel pretty good, let's hope they feel pretty good.

I think the hake is cooked brilliantly,

I think that's cooked really well but there is just an overriding

sweetness throughout. I don't get any of the miso.

Miso's salty, it's supposed to hit you with that salt

and I don't get it.

I actually quite like this dish.

Oh, Jack.

It is slightly sweet but if I had that on a Friday night with a...

So what you're saying is she should start a takeaway?

Do you know what? If she started a takeaway,

I'd be there every day because I think the two dishes she's done

for us have been solid, if not spectacular.

In there the blend of Japanese goodies of miso and soy sauce

is a rogue ingredient. It's called honey.

And it's made it too sweet.

However, the second time Maria has cooked a lovely piece of fish.

Wow. Tarte Tatin.

If it is caramelised and if the pastry's crisp,

it will be an amazing thing.

Yeah, I reckon we could be in for a treat.

-How's that tarte Tatin?

-They're looking good, actually,

and I'm quite happy with those.

Nice.

I might be nuts for doing this, but we'll see.

That's it, I think.

Go on, son. Well done, Jamie.

That pastry looks like it's not cooked, to me.

Thanks very much.

Thank you, Jamie.

So, what I've got for you today is a shallot tarte Tatin with a whipped

goat's cheese and some macadamia nuts and some crispy onions

and some balsamic.

-I hope you enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Cheers.

For a dish that visually promised so much,

actually, what I've got is a pile of raw shallots and raw pastry.

Which is a shame because it had the hallmarks of a really good dish.

I like the macadamia with the goat's cheese.

I like the sweet, crispy onions across the top.

I even like the reduction of balsamic vinegar.

I think this dish has great promise.

What it's lacking is time.

Roast duck, Madeira, mushroom, onion and peas.

I'm looking for that to be, you know, cooked properly.

I want that pink in the middle and I want everything else to

really kind of make that duck sing.

The sweetness of Madeira going lovely with the duck,

the other three elements, you don't know what guise they'll come in

so I'm quite intrigued about how that's going to be presented.

-Happy with the duck?

-I am happy with the duck, yeah.

What needs to go on there now?

Just some duck leg which I've roasted off.

Sauce in jugs and we're in business, right?

Yeah.

-Good job.

-Let's go.

Thank you, Jamie.

So, what we have here is some roast duck with some onion puree and some

mushroom, peas and some Madeira sauce.

I think it's a definite improvement from the first course.

Absolutely, it is. I think the duck is cooked well, it's succulent,

it's juicy. The Madeira sauce is sweet enough, it goes with the duck.

It eats well and I think if he carries on cooking like this,

he could go a long way in this competition.

Very sophisticated flavourings.

Jamie has finally been successful in producing a coherent,

very tasty dish.

My tarte Tatin was a little bit underdone, unfortunately.

I just didn't have enough time to keep it in the oven.

But, hey, I gave it a good crack.

I thought the dishes were OK.

You've got five minutes, all right?

Until this fish goes out.

-Yes, that's great.

-Are you going to be OK?

-Yeah.

Great flavours.

I love cod, I love chorizo, I love samphire and a lemon butter sauce.

If it's done well, then I'll be a happy boy.

Confit potatoes, please, nice, soft and melting.

Yeah, lovely. Lovely.

-Hey!

-Saffron chips.

-Cod good?

-Yeah.

Is the cod going on top of the samphire?

-Yeah.

-So we can't do anything until...?

-Can we put the lemon sauce on?

-No.

It's coming now. It will literally be 30 seconds.

Nice. Very, very nice.

We've put fish on, we've put sauce on, we go?

Yep.

I love the colours.

Go with the cod.

Well done, Leanne. Well done, well done.

So, I've made pan-fried cod with chorizo, samphire

and saffron potatoes,

with a lemon butter drizzle on the side.

I think the cod's cooked beautifully,

the potatoes could maybe do with being a bit crispier

but they taste good.

The lemon butter sauce is overly acidic but if you take little dabs

of it with everything else, it's actually quite refreshing

and cuts through the richness of the chorizo.

So I think it does work.

What you want is really solid, tasty food

and Leanne has delivered that in bucketfuls.

Leanne has cooked a perfect piece of cod - flaky, soft.

Those potatoes cooked in saffron with the chorizo,

paprika floating all over it.

-I'm bowled over by that flavour sensation.

-It works.

I love a frangipane tart if it's done well

but there are pitfalls there.

We know there's not much time today.

They're still really damp in the middle and I don't know if it's

from the apricots, or that the frangipane hasn't cooked,

so I'm going to give them as long as I can.

I want the ginger to come through,

I want there to be that heat from the ginger.

That might work really well.

Hey...

Two minutes and we're going, Leanne.

I like those.

Oh, we are grown-up.

Here we go. Here's our ginger.

Look at all the vanilla in it. Look at that, lovely vanilla and ginger.

Go on, Leanne.

Go get 'em, kid.

-Go get 'em.

-Happy?

-Yeah.

-Good job.

It looks good. I hope it tastes good.

Thank you.

-Here we are, Jane.

-Thank you, Leanne.

So, today I've made apricot, ginger frangipane tart

with just a creme fraiche and a ginger and vanilla syrup.

-I hope you enjoy.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

This smells divine.

-It really does.

-I want to just plant my face right in there.

We can make that happen if you want!

This pastry is beautiful,

it's so crumbly and buttery and light and it's just perfect for this

dessert. Hats off to her at this stage of the competition.

I just think it's lovely.

Lovely bit of sweetness and vanilla from the syrup.

You've got some little crystallised ginger inside as well which I wasn't

expecting. I love crystallised ginger and then

the soft apricot on the top.

I really like it. I think it's a good dish.

A round of applause for Leanne, she's done exceptionally well.

She should be very proud of herself.

I agree.

For me, so far, dish of the day.

I'd eat the whole lot.

She's a good cook, John. She looks solid as a rock.

Do you know what? I really tried my best.

I put everything into those dishes so I hope they're good enough.

Steak and Friends.

Well, let's hope that these are good friends.

-Lewis, you've got four minutes.

-OK.

-Plenty of time.

-Are you OK?

-Yeah.

-Keep your nerve.

Where's your mushroom foam?

It's coming last minute.

-Where's your red wine sauce?

-That's coming last minute.

This is the last minute, Lewis.

I like the idea he's doing a foam and I love that but so many times you get disappointed with them -

they're weak and they're watery.

I think it will be a mushroom sauce instead.

Right. Right, let's go.

-Oh, sorry.

-Thank you, Lewis.

Today, I'm serving for you a sous vide steak,

potato cubes with celeriac puree,

a red wine reduction and what should have been a mushroom foam

but, unfortunately, it's a mushroom sauce.

-Thank you very much, hope you enjoy it.

-Thank you, Lewis.

That mushroom, I'm really glad it's not foam because it packs a punch in

flavour. The steak's cooked, the potatoes are lovely and fluffy,

crispy on the outside.

It just feels like it needs a little bit more love to bring it together.

The elements were all there. I think he's just over-thought it.

-He's second-guessed himself.

-Yeah.

Everything's done really well.

The sauces are made well, the puree's fine,

the steak's cooked really, really well,

it's the presentation that's all bonkers.

Custard ravioli.

Wow. I don't think even I'm mad enough to try that at this stage.

It's incredibly out there and I applaud his bravery.

I just hope that it shows in the dish.

Are you pleased that you've done this?

I had to try.

Gently, gently, gently.

-Is that it now?

-Yeah.

Go on, Lewis. Off you go with your ravioli.

Good luck.

So, we have custard filling inside ravioli

with an apple coulis and some nuts - scattered nuts. Thank you.

I was worried about this on the menu when it was written.

I think I'm even more worried for it now!

Unfortunately, I've got no custard in my ravioli

and the actual pasta itself is not very good.

It's really hard and thick and quite unpalatable.

I mean, it has a decent apple sauce if you've got a lovely bit of

Sunday pork, a bit of crackling, delightful.

Not quite sure what it's doing there with some pasta and nuts.

This hasn't worked. But dishes don't work all the time.

This is at the experimental stage.

He hasn't quite yet refined it.

I think that's true of all of his cooking.

Pretty devastated, yeah.

I think I didn't do as good as I could have.

I guess I got a bit complacent towards the end of my main

and I found myself struggling to get the main out

and then struggling to get the dessert out.

Decision time.

Two have to leave us.

I've got a star, someone that you and I liked

and somebody who also impressed our guest judges.

And that was Leanne.

She's a solid, solid contestant.

She goes straight through.

Richard impressed in the first round with his ravioli.

Unfortunately, his two courses let him down in this round.

I think Richard has actually run his race.

-I'll tell you who I'd like to see stay.

-Who?

Jamie. If he carried on making mistake upon mistake,

I'd be doubtful, but the quality of his duck, I thought, was solid.

But that then puts Lewis and Maria against each other.

From my own game, I just really hope that they can see I did try a lot.

Right now I'm, at best, borderline to be going.

If I could make it to the next round,

I'll prove to them that I can keep on going

with all the challenges that I'm given and dealing with the pressure.

Our first quarterfinalist...

..is Leanne. Congratulations.

Very well done.

Our second quarterfinalist...

..is Jamie.

Wow.

Flipping hell.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Our third and final quarterfinalist...

..is Maria. Congratulations.

Richard, Lewis, very good to have met you.

Thanks, gentlemen.

I have no-one to blame but myself, really.

I just tried to do too much.

It's sad but I'll live.

It's a completely different ball game than cooking at home.

It's a lot of pressure but a lot of fun.

Quarterfinalists, well done.

Wow! I'm very surprised and I'm delighted.

This experience, I'll already never forget and now I get another go

so I'm thrilled.

A little bit scared about what's to come so basically I'm going to go

home and read a lot of recipe books.

Tomorrow, eight more cooks battle it out for a place in the quarterfinal.

Oh, I can't believe that.

My first 30 seconds, white panic.

A bit pushed but I'll be all right.

You haven't started your dessert at all?

You've got 15 minutes, it needs to be out the door.

For me, that's a massive ten out of ten.