Episode 10 MasterChef

MasterChef is back.

Searching for the country's best amateur cook.

Come on!

-Oh!

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

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.

-Don't slow down.

-Everybody, pudding!

Absolutely beautiful.

That's an incredible piece of cooking.

They want to realise one dream,

and that's to 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.

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

I'm competitive in my job, I always want to be the best.

I'm the same if we play a game of Monopoly,

I'm not going to be any different here, I want to win.

I don't really have any huge, great expectations.

I'd like a compliment, a compliment would be really nice.

I am feeling really nervous, and quite honestly,

a little bit terrified.

Welcome to the MasterChef kitchen,

a chance for you to do what you love to do at home, and that's cook.

Through those doors is the MasterChef market.

And it is stacked full of the greatest and finest produce

from around the world.

Be it sweet or savoury, whatever you like,

it's through those doors.

What we want you to do is cook for us just one plate of food.

At the end of this, three of you will be going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, ten minutes to collect your ingredients.

Off you go.

-Oh, my God!

-Wow.

Um...

In today's market meat section

are bone marrow, beef mince,

oxtail, poussin,

and chicken livers.

In the fish section are rainbow trout, prawns,

mussels, and crab.

My mind's just gone blank, I just can't even think about

what I can cook. Um...

I think I know what I'm going to cook.

Because there's so much, though, I can't find it,

I'm not in my local supermarket where I know where everything is.

It's going to come to me in a second. I'm confident of it.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour 20 minutes.

Let's cook.

Police officer Alex dreams of a career as an organic farmer.

-Alex.

-Yes.

-You look a little bit scared, mate.

-I am a little bit,

I wasn't expecting this first thing but there we go.

-What are you making?

-I'm going to do a pasta,

hopefully tagliatelle, spaghetti sort of pasta,

with a nice chilli, herby tomato sauce,

with some shellfish and some nice trout.

-How good are you right now?

-I don't know, but we'll find out.

Pasta marinara, fantastic!

A nice, light tomato sauce, made well.

Good pasta made beautifully.

All the seafood cooked properly, I'll be very, very happy.

The oddity is a piece of trout sitting on top of the pasta.

Outside of her job as a risk manager in a bank,

Lynda cooks regularly for her family.

I think my daughter puts me in good stead for this

because she's my biggest critic, she will tell me if it's awful.

So I'm hoping she's, you know, put me in a good place

to stand up to any sort of critique they might give me.

-But we'll see.

-SHE LAUGHS

Lynda, what sort of stuff do you cook at home?

I've got two children and three grandchildren,

so I'm kind of a family cook.

Yes, three grandchildren.

-Three little girls.

-No way!

-Yeah.

-And today you're cooking...?

-I'm doing leeks.

-Which is the emblem of Wales.

-Absolutely.

-What are you making for us?

-Chicken with tarragon sauce,

mashed potato and some braised leeks.

It's about the finesse from Lynda.

Chicken, crispy skin, please, moist flesh.

Tarragon sauce, strong with tarragon,

a little bit of white wine, not too much.

Mashed potatoes, silky and smooth

and no lumps, please, it could be lovely.

15 minutes are gone.

Oops, that's too much.

27-year-old Fumbi was born in Nigeria...

That's there...

..and lived in Austria and America before settling in the UK.

I've been cooking since...I must have been four or five, really.

I love home-cooked food.

That, to me, is the essence of perfection, really.

-Fumbi, you're doing something sweet.

-Yes, I am.

It's the first thing that came to mind.

There's so much good stuff in there,

but I just had to go with something I know, something I've done before

and something I'm comfortable with, so I'm making a chocolate tart.

Probably put some salted caramel in there, maybe amaretto

chocolate sauce on the side, some cream, something along those lines.

Fumbi, I'm really impressed. Well, I'll be more impressed if it's nice.

I'll be impressed if it's nice.

This is an absolute disaster.

What am I going to do to salvage this?

25 minutes gone, 55 minutes left.

Oh, this is going a treat(!)

Hayley used to work as a waitress,

and now loves cooking for her husband in Nottinghamshire.

Food is just all I talk about all the time,

I think I get on people's nerves at work.

What I'm having for lunch, what I think I'm going to have for tea.

They're like, "Just shut up!"

Hayley, so, how did you feel when John said,

"We want you to go into the market and choose things"?

I just couldn't think of anything that I knew how to cook,

-my mind just went completely black.

-Are you OK now?

I think so, hopefully.

OK. What are you making?

I'm going to do something with this chicken,

I'm not quite sure yet, I think I'm going to

try and infuse some rosemary into it.

-I'd better get it in.

-Yes!

Hayley still hasn't made up her mind.

What we do know she's going to do is a potato fondant,

and something to do with chicken and maybe some honey-glazed carrots.

Hayley needs to commit.

You're halfway.

21-year-old Sam has been cooking since he was nine,

and is inspired by molecular gastronomy.

I've been looking a lot at the previous years' MasterChefs

and comparing myself to their style of cooking.

I think my style's a lot more modern compared to most of them.

So I'll hopefully bring something new to the table.

What are you making, Sam?

I'm starting off with a tomato salad with tomato water

and a piece of trout. And the rest of it is yet to come.

-Are you struggling to think?

-I am.

I've come in there, they're unfamiliar ingredients to me,

I'm not used to cooking with stuff like that.

-Mate, there's everything in there.

-Not my...

What were you hoping to find in there that you didn't find?

I fancied a big piece of beef.

Erm, Wagyu, possibly.

-HE LAUGHS

-How do you cook at home?

Um... Really modernist.

Spherification, water baths. As much science as I can, really.

Couldn't you make spheres for us here today?

I could have, I'm still debating whether I turn

-the tomato water into spheres.

-Yeah.

Sam said the ingredients in our market

weren't the ingredients he's used to cooking with.

I mean, I don't know where he's shopping, is he shopping in Mars?

There's plenty of stuff in there to make a wonderful dish.

You have just 25 minutes left.

22-year-old Lorna works as a copywriter

for a field-sports magazine,

and writes a food blog in her spare time.

When I was, like, 16, 17, I really wanted to be a food writer and

I didn't know whether to go down the professional cookery school route.

I decided to do a journalism degree

so now I'm kind of trying to incorporate

the food with the journalism.

Lorna, what are you making?

Prawn linguine, with some parsley

and white wine and chillies and garlic.

Where did you learn to cook, Lorna?

Growing up, my mum is a completely useless cook,

and she won't mind me saying that.

So I just had to combine flavours and see what works

and see what doesn't work and cook for her instead,

it's a bit of role reversal.

-And do you still cook for Mum?

-Oh, yeah, yeah, all the time.

The key to that dish is going to be the sauce.

Because prawns themselves make the pasta nice

but you need the richness of the sauce.

-It's an absolute nightmare, John.

-HE CHUCKLES

-You haven't got time to do a backup?

-No.

-Like a chocolate mousse or anything?

-No. No chance.

HE SIGHS

NHS manager Kenny started cooking at college

and now regularly sends meals and sauces

to his two children at university.

Sometimes it's quite hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Techniques change quite significantly

and sometimes you think, you know, how do you keep up with that?

I was using an ice-cream maker for the first time about four weeks ago,

and what a mess I made of that the first time.

Kenny, why are you here on MasterChef?

It's my daughter's boyfriend's fault.

Apparently I make the best sausage and mash so they always come to us

for sausage and mash, and onion gravy,

and it was him that talked me into it.

What are you making, Kenny?

Something that we have quite often, pasta,

with a sort of beef sauce with a wee bit of chilli in it

and fresh tomatoes.

What would you like to get from MasterChef?

It's the first round, so I don't know yet.

Put your foot into the unknown, you don't quite know where it'll go.

It might stop today, it might not, who knows?

I'm really happy that Kenny's actually making

something he makes at home.

He's making spaghetti bolognese.

Making his own pasta, he's making a big beef ragu

with lots of red wine and tomatoes in it.

It's not going to be very refined,

but I bet you any money it tastes great.

-What's gone in that oven?

-That's a cheese scone.

-How long does it take to cook?

-Ten minutes.

-You've got 11.

I need to crack, how long has it been in there?

It's been in there only 15 minutes.

Social worker Natalie would like to run cookery classes

for people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

The bits I'm not so much looking forward to are the competitive bits,

I'm not a competitive person in any way.

I'm pro-human rather than against it.

I'm making a nut-crusted trout

with Korean spiced sweet potatoes and a mango salsa.

Have you been to Korea?

No, but I lived in China, and...

-Yeah.

-Did you?

-I did.

-Why?

I taught English for two years, and then I went to South America.

-Now I understand why your food is as geographically eclectic.

-Yeah.

Great. Why MasterChef?

Cooking's a massive part of my life, food, healthy diet, healthy mind.

I thought this was a challenge, just to push yourself,

and be told my food's really bad by famous people.

I like the concept of a pistachio-crusted piece of trout.

I like the concept of sweet potatoes baked with

a chilli sauce across the top of them.

I like the concept of the mango chutney.

But I don't know if all those things are going to work together.

Five minutes left!

-Oooh...

-That's too short. The pastry is falling to bits.

-What a disaster.

-HE SIGHS IN EXASPERATION

Three minutes, guys, it should be getting on your plates. Natalie!

I'm coming.

-Not sure it's cooked.

-90 seconds!

-That's loads of time.

Are you hoping that scone cooks in time?

I'm hoping it's going to cook and jump out the oven for me.

-It's not, is it?

-It isn't going to work.

Last ten seconds.

You got a plate to serve it on?

Time's up.

-I've panicked so much.

-I think I've lost a stone.

I don't think my heart rate's gone down since we've walked in.

Lynda, come on.

First up is risk manager Lynda.

She's cooked thyme-infused poussin

with roasted leeks,

mashed potato, glazed carrots,

and a tarragon cream sauce.

With a cheese scone on the side.

Your mashed potato is smooth and buttery.

You've seasoned everything very well and your sauce is knockout.

I believe that you are a very decent cook,

-with a lot of good knowledge.

-OK.

-Your cheese scone is delicious.

-Thank you.

For me, the chicken is cooked just enough.

There's bits on here which I think are just delicious,

and I would probably eat the whole lot

as long as I didn't have to eat that raw leek.

Good feedback, like not serving raw leek.

Um... But, yeah, pretty much I feel quite good at the moment.

-Well done.

-Aw, thank you.

Thank you.

Policeman Alex has made a seafood tagliatelle,

with a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce,

topped with rainbow trout.

I'm sorry to say, I don't like it a great deal.

The pasta's too thick, the sauce has been cooked too long.

The prawns, I think, have been cooked too far as well.

Oh, mate, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Alex.

Yeah, we've got some problems here, Alex.

The prawns are overcooked, your mussels are undercooked.

Good concept, bad follow-through.

Annoyed. Quite annoyed with myself, really.

I can cook it a lot better than that.

Just nerves, really.

Food blogger Lorna also made fresh pasta.

And flavoured hers with saffron.

She's served it with fresh prawns and a prawn butter, tomato,

chilli and garlic sauce.

There's some really lovely bits about your plate of pasta.

I really like the chilli,

I really like the flavour of the prawn butter.

-I think it's very tasty.

-Thank you.

-You make really nice pasta.

And you've got a very good palate.

I like your bold flavours, I like your touch.

I think when you're put under that kind of intense pressure,

it's kind of fight or flight,

and it's hard to get your brain into gear and decide what you want to do.

But, yeah, I'm happy.

SHE LAUGHS

-Well done.

-Thank you. Phew!

NHS administrator Hayley has roasted a poussin and served it with

fondant potato, honey glazed carrots and a chicken cream sauce.

-Your sauce is very thin, Hayley.

-Yes.

Fondant potato is crispy on the outside and soft, I like that.

Your chicken is cooked nicely. So there's nice bits on here.

But it's not a very imaginative dish.

It's not jumping up and singing at me,

or grabbing hold of me and making me feel excited.

I sort of feel like I've had a bit of chicken and some roast potatoes.

OK.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Social worker Natalie has cooked pistachio and Parmesan

crusted trout, served with spiced coated sweet potatoes

and a mango and coriander salsa.

The mango salsa and the sweet potato chips work really nicely together.

The fish and the sweet potato chips work really nicely together.

-The fish and the mango salsa are weird together.

-Mm-hm.

-Some of your ideas are great, some of them are bordering scary.

-Right.

I'll take that.

A little bit of me is surprised that they liked...what...

any element of it, really, and my style of cooking, because I

appreciate it was completely different from everybody else's.

Pleased, really pleased at the outcome, yeah.

Cheers. I'm so sweaty.

THEY LAUGH

Tiler Sam is serving a fillet of rainbow trout with

a heritage tomato salad, horseradish cream and some tomato water.

I think your fish is cooked nicely. But what we've got is tomato salad.

-Yeah.

-And it's really hard to judge someone's tomato salad.

-Yeah.

You said there wasn't the ingredients in the market for you to use.

We make sure it is stacked with everything a MasterChef

contestant needs. And that's where my sort of conundrum sits right now.

You can cook a piece of fish,

and you've got a very nice eye for presentation. And colour.

-What I'd like to have seen from you today is just some more cooking.

-Yeah.

They are quite tough to please, but they said some good things.

Hopefully the good feedback is enough to see me through.

HE LAUGHS

Aerospace engineer Fumbi has made the only dessert,

a chocolate tart with salted caramel,

a chocolate and amaretto ganache

and sweetened cream.

-It's a bit rough and ready.

-Yeah, slightly.

But to make this without a recipe at all,

at this stage of the competition, is truly impressive.

Because it's delicious.

Come in here, round one MasterChef,

and you attempt some really difficult, technical cooking.

And it tastes great. It tastes great.

For a second I thought I was going to lose it there, to be honest.

I pulled the baking paper off the pastry and it was stuck to

the baking paper after I blind-baked it, and I just thought,

"My God, this is... This is going to be an absolute shambles."

-That was clearly incredible.

-Cheers. I'm slightly surprised.

NHS manager Kenny has made beef ragu and tagliatelle,

served with garlic bread.

It's not a very complicated dish.

-But it's really tasty.

-Good.

A nice spike of chilli in the background.

The meat is really well seasoned, the pasta is really well made.

Lots of cheese across the top.

And a bit of garlic bread on the side to boot.

Thank you.

What concerns me is you're not showing me a great deal of

cookery skill, apart from the pasta, because a bolognese,

of course, as you know, is putting it in a pot and stirring it.

Absolutely.

When I walked into the larder, I didn't have my glasses.

And I couldn't actually see some of the labels,

so I started to formulate.

I could see beef and I could see plain flour.

"OK, I'll go with some sort of pasta."

For both of us, there was a star cook today, and that was Fumbi,

-for sure. Chocolate tart, without a recipe.

-He marches through, right?

-Marches straight through.

-Alex was nervy from the start.

And nervous cooks don't make good dishes.

It's a shame, but that's how it goes.

I want to make the case for Lynda.

She knows how to cook, she knows how to flavour.

It needs a bit of finesse, and she needs to learn how to cook a leek.

But I would like to see Lynda cook again.

You like Lynda, I like Lynda. Lynda's through.

Hayley made us some roast chicken with a potato fondant and

a cream sauce with some carrots and honey.

Yeah, that's not enough, that's not enough.

Lorna made us a bowl of prawn pasta.

Really nice pasta, made very, very well indeed.

-I thought her flavours were superb. I think she's got something.

-Good.

I find Natalie's concoctions quite scary.

-But also, I find her quite exciting.

-I'm very happy to give it a go.

-Are you really?

-Yeah, happy to give it a go.

The decision now to be made between Kenny and Sam.

Kenny made us a bowl of pasta with a really good meat sauce.

The question, of course, is it special enough for MasterChef?

I liked the look of Sam's dish,

I think he's got a good eye for presentation and colour.

He just didn't show enough cooking.

Neither Sam or Kenny looked particularly adventurous, to me.

But I know which one's dish I preferred to eat.

So do I.

I may not have done the greatest dish I've ever created,

but hopefully other people...

Hopefully other people haven't done as well as me,

because that's how I'm going to get through.

This is just a totally unknown journey that could end today,

it could end whenever, you just don't know.

We have made a decision.

Fumbi...

Lynda...

Lorna...

Natalie...

Well done. You're going through to the next round.

HE LAUGHS

Alex...

Hayley...

I'm sorry, guys, you're leaving us, I'm afraid.

-Thank you, guys.

-Thanks very much.

-Cheers.

Right, that leaves Kenny...and Sam.

The third and final contestant leaving us...

..is Sam, I'm afraid.

-Kenny, well done. Sam, I'm sorry.

-Thanks, Sam.

I'm happy I got this far.

I just wish there was another dish I could have cooked to

show them that I am better than what I put on the plate today.

I'm angry with myself because I know I can cook a lot better.

It was just the nerves, I think.

I know my food's better than what I produced today.

I'm going to carry on cooking, it's something I really enjoy,

so I'm never going to stop cooking.

You've earned the right to cook your own food.

However, you're not just cooking for me and John this time,

you are actually going to cook for three previous MasterChef champions.

Matt Follas, Peter Bayless and James Nathan.

We only have three places in the quarterfinal.

You have one hour and 15 minutes, two courses.

Ladies and gentlemen...let's cook.

HE SIGHS

Kenny, what are you going to do today?

I'm doing some sea bass with sea vegetables, with some celeriac mash.

-And a little bit of a red wine sauce.

-You've got a dessert for us?

It's a panna cotta with some shortbread and some raspberry coulis sauce.

Do they have raspberries and shortbread in Scotland?

-I think they might do.

-Er, I think so.

It's just the panna cotta we're not quite sure about.

It's the panna cotta's the risk.

-THEY LAUGH

-Kenny, why these two dishes?

It was things that I like and I know the family like.

-So that's why I've gone with it.

-That'll work.

The three guys you're feeding today,

-they've actually won MasterChef.

-Oh, that's quite scary, isn't it?

That's quite intimidating. You know, you've got to make sure you're getting flavours to them,

and if it all goes wrong with them, then you're stuffed, aren't you?

The panna cotta is the one that worries me,

just because of the time factor.

-Putting that in the fridge or the freezer?

-The freezer.

Hopefully the shortbread goes all right.

My mother tells me my shortbread's all right, so we'll see.

I am very determined to do really well today. I'm excited.

This menu's great. If I nail it.

Natalie, what are you making?

I'm guessing something I might think is a little crazy.

Actually, I think you'll be quite surprised.

My main reads as a pan-fried sea bass with

a summer ratatouille base, and then a fennel salad with

a basil pesto, which is quite classic, really.

That's not as crazy as I thought it was going to be.

-No, I know, yeah, I thought you'd be surprised.

-Dessert?

Dessert is a chocolate mousse...

made with sweet potato,

coconut cream and chocolate.

There's the left-field of Natalie coming in.

SHE LAUGHS

We've had chocolate mousses made with avocados.

We've had it made with potatoes, we've had them made with all

sorts of bits and pieces, and this is the first time with sweet potato.

Really interesting to see how it turns out.

I'm so sweaty.

I'm a bit of a whirlwind in the kitchen.

I create a massive trail of destruction.

So, that today... that today is my biggest challenge.

Fumbi, you are tense, you're running around like crazy.

Why are you putting yourself under so much pressure?

-Because I've got a lot to do.

-What are your two dishes?

I'm making a Wiener schnitzel, which is a traditional Austrian dish,

with a traditional Austrian potato salad. With some cranberry sauce.

And for dessert, I'm making a chocolate brownie

with, again, some salted caramel and a cardamom cream.

This all seems doable to me. What bit of this is bothering you?

An hour and 15 minutes for a two-course dish is a lot

for me, I'm a bit of a slow cook.

So getting all this done in the allocated time is going to be a bit tricky.

I love a schnitzel, love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.

Wafer thin, really big and crispy all over.

The problem is he's only got the small hob and he's got to be able

to cook four schnitzels at the same time.

He's got to get it absolutely on time

or he's going to be in the schnitzel.

This is too thick, this is too thick.

30 minutes on your first course, please.

My granddaughters are always hungry as soon as I walk through the door.

I'm always having to produce things quite quickly for them.

'However, I don't think I do it with the cameras around me...'

The pressure that feels...

you know, you can feel in that kitchen,

so that will be the main difference.

Lynda, what are you going to make for us?

I'm making you some little crab cakes

with a sweet dipping sauce

and then I'm going to do you pan-fried sea bass

on a bed of mash with chorizo and a laverbread butter sauce.

-We're going from Asian-flavoured fishcakes...

-Yeah.

..to Spanish-flavoured mash with a French-inspired sauce.

I'm taking you round the globe, minus a few continents, obviously.

Can't fit it all in in a day, can we?

Love laverbread, love it, love it.

It's seaweed, and cockles and crispy laverbread

is a famous mainstay Welsh breakfast.

I'm excited by Lynda's dishes, because it's food I'd order.

Done properly, John, they're winners, absolute winners.

You've got 20 minutes on your first course.

Lorna, you are a busy bee.

Lots to do, yeah, lots of different stages today.

What are your two courses, Lorna?

I'm cooking a venison carpaccio, pickled blackberries,

toasted hazelnuts, parsnip crisps.

And then for my main I'm making a roast grouse with a bread sauce,

game chips and little roasted plums and some cavolo nero.

A lot of my daily work is handling game and it's something that I love

cooking, so I thought now would be a good a time as ever to showcase that.

-How do you want those grouse to be?

-I want them to be nice and medium.

-Blushing pink.

-OK.

-I'm serving them whole, though.

-Are you?

-Mm-hm.

Fantastic.

Lorna's got a very, very surprising menu,

it's all based around game and I like it a lot.

But grouse is a really hard thing to get right, they dry out really,

really quickly, and if they're undercooked they're like jelly.

I know chefs who can't cook grouse properly.

'They're not the kind of things that I would make for, like,

'a Tuesday-night dinner,'

but you don't want to come here and

make bog-standard chicken and veg, do you?

You want to show off what you can do, and if I was to go out to

a restaurant or something, then that's what I would order.

-Still a bit of cramming to do.

-Yes, a lot to do.

-Oh, they're falling apart, they're falling apart.

-Um, right.

Oh, gosh, it's a long time since I won.

'Getting on for 11 years as a chef,

'so I'm way past retirement age,

'but there's no chance of me retiring'

as long as I can stand up at a stove and cook.

And I'm enjoying it.

Oh, my life has changed remarkably since winning MasterChef.

My restaurant is down in Cornwall and I've always had

a real passion for seafood and all things Cornish.

'I'm just surrounded by all that natural beauty of Cornwall,

'all the produce,'

it's just a dream come true.

'The opportunity with this competition is huge.'

I've had highs and lows,

I've had a great business, I've lost a business.

'I've now got a little cafe,

'I look forward to going to work,'

I love what I do.

Are you on time, Kenny?

-Yeah.

-Is that pan on with the veg?

It was on.

-No, it's not on.

-It was on.

-It's not on.

Kenny is doing the sea bass celeriac puree, sea veg and red wine sauce.

Sea bass - nice, delicate fish, and that's quite a heavy sauce to

put with it. That's going to be the real test for him, I think.

Three and a half minutes, Kenny.

Oh, gently, Kenny, gently.

-I'm rushing though.

-Are you happy with it, Kenny?

No, not at all.

-Well done, well done.

-Good job, Kenny.

-Very good job.

-Good afternoon, hello there.

-JUDGES: Hello.

-There we go.

What I've made for you is sea bass with some sea vegetables with

a little bit of bacon, celeriac puree and a bit of a red wine sauce.

-Thank you.

-JUDGES: Thank you. Thanks, Kenny.

I think the flavours work well together,

I think the red wine sauce is not overpowering.

The flavours I find absolutely delightful.

There is a sweetness underlying everything.

I think he's done really well.

-GREGG:

-I find the combination

of the earthy celeriac, the sweet red wine,

the fish and the vegetables really nice.

It's not perfect, not by any means,

but it most certainly is going in the right direction.

-You all right, big fella?

-I'm all right.

-Right, 15 minutes, yeah?

I'm too old for all of this, I have to say.

The dessert - vanilla panna cotta, shortbread, raspberry sauce.

Yummy, yummy.

Let's hope he has luck with the panna cotta.

Have you got an issue with those panna cottas?

-Yeah. They gave me three sheets...

-Ah.

-So I used one and a half.

-Not enough gelatine?

Not enough gelatine.

I'm going to give them another minute and then see how they go.

It may be a runny goop that goes onto the plate.

Kenny, three minutes!

-Are they set?

-I don't think so.

Right, what are you going to do?

-I'm going to see if this comes out first.

-Fine.

Oh!

-So close.

-I know. I'll go with it like that, there's no point.

OK.

You've got a minute to go, I think you're going to get there.

-It's a cream custard.

-There you go.

All he had to do was to put it in a bowl.

The problem is, once you put it on

a plate like that, you expose it, don't you?

I do apologise, it was an absolute disaster with the panna cotta.

Thank you very much.

I was supposed to be serving you a panna cotta, but I think you've

now got cream custard with some raspberry sauce and shortbread.

I hope the flavours are OK,

but I apologise you don't have any wobble.

-Don't apologise.

-Thank you, Kenny.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

-Cheers, Kenny.

-Do you know what? He wasn't far off.

-No, he wasn't.

It's time, it's time.

This has no seasoning.

I think the shortbread has got nice flavours, but the panna cotta

is missing seasoning, I'm not enjoying it, I'm sorry.

I hate being like this,

because I know how difficult it is out there, we all do.

I can praise the shortcake, but the panna cotta,

where is the flavour? It's just like a little sort of

slightly sweetened cream.

It's a panna splodger or a panna pud.

It's a bit of a shame.

I'm quite surprised at how disappointed I feel.

'My panna cotta not setting'

was just a disaster, something that, you know,

usually I don't have any problems,

so it's quite surreal.

Natalie, you've got four and a half minutes, please.

Yes, thank you.

Well, Natalie, we've got sea bass again, which is going to be nice,

because we've got an immediate comparison.

Served with ratatouille and fennel salad and a basil pesto.

Doesn't sound like an awful lot,

but there's a huge amount of work there.

It will be fascinating to see what her dish comes out like.

What are we waiting on? Just for the fish to cook?

Yeah.

-Need to move now, because we've only got about two minutes left.

-Yep.

Oh, bring the pan over to you, Natalie.

-There you go.

-Thanks, Natalie.

-Thank you.

So, I have made for you a summer ratatouille with a pan-fried

sea bass, a fennel salad and a basil pesto in the jug. Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

There are quite a few things about this dish

that I actually enjoy very much.

Sadly, I don't enjoy them all together.

I actually really like the ratatouille

and the fennel and cucumber salad is nice.

There's a really good dish here

that doesn't require the sea bass, in my opinion.

I like the ratatouille, I like that fruity flavour,

I like the cleanness of the fennel salad.

I've got a hot one underneath, a cold one on top,

it's not quite working.

It's not bad cooking, actually,

I'd probably eat the whole lot, to be fair.

-Natalie, you've got 15 minutes on your dessert.

-OK. Yeah.

-And I noticed your mousse is still in the blender.

-Yes.

Natalie's dessert is chocolate mousse, toasted coconut,

cinnamon crumb with kirsch coulis.

She's jumping around lots of sort of consonants there.

Until it's been put in front of you,

you don't know if it's a gamble or not.

You've got about four minutes left.

Everything is ready, I'm just waiting on that to be set.

You're ready, you're just waiting for the mousse to set?

OK.

Is that the consistency you want?

No, it isn't, not at all. OK. OK, OK, OK.

Well done, off you go.

I have made for you a chocolate dessert

with a kirsch coulis and a coconut cinnamon crumb.

Inside this mousse, I have used sweet potato and coconut cream.

-I hope you enjoy. OK.

-Thank you, look forward to it.

If I put the crumb and the kirsch and I mix it all together,

it's actually quite nice, the mousse itself,

it's got a little bit of graininess to it,

it's just... Yeah. It's not yummy.

I really don't like the mousse, in fact,

I'd go as far as to say it isn't a mousse.

Quite simply isn't, mousse should be light.

This is just a sort of solid chocolate pot, really.

-GREGG:

-The flavour of the chocolate and the sweet potato

works particularly well.

However, that's grainy. The texture is not great.

'It was daunting.'

It's amazing how much food you can make in such a short space of time.

-Fumbi.

-Yeah?

You've got four minutes to cook the last two schnitzels...

-Excellent, mate.

-..and plate up, mate.

Fumbi is cooking the Wiener schnitzel and kartoffelsalat.

You've got the classic Wiener schnitzel, I love it.

And it's just got to be cooked well, you know.

No idea what the end bit is there.

I know I like Wiener schnitzel,

send me a salad with it, great, just make it tastier.

Two and a half minutes.

That's as good as it's going to get today, isn't it?

I'm not sure I've even tasted this. It's a bit late now.

Minute and a half.

This is not hot enough, come on.

Right, you're going to be a little bit over time, mate.

Just a little.

-Done?

-One more thing, one more thing.

-I'm done. Yeah.

-Yeah? Breathe.

Hi, guys, I've made you a Wiener schnitzel with an Austrian

potato salad and a traditional red wine and cranberry sauce

to go with it, enjoy.

ALL: Thank you. Thank you very much.

I don't think the dish LOOKS good enough for MasterChef,

but goodness it tastes good.

You've got this lovely succulent meat with that lovely crispy outer

and that nice tart sauce with it

and then that really fennel-y potato salad.

That doesn't even look that good, but it tastes nice, you know?

I think it's good, it's my sort of food, I like a good,

honest, punchy, rustic dish.

I like the schnitzel, crispy breadcrumb around the outside,

all soft bits of pork inside.

I even like the cranberry, sweet and yet sharp, it's really good.

Right. 15 minutes.

Fumbi's dessert - brownies, salted caramel, cream,

classic, classic, classic.

It's something I serve at my cafe,

it's delicious, and it better be done well.

-You've got three minutes, Fumbi.

-OK.

Never seen a shaking quenelle before.

I would've thought you would have seen many

a shaking quenelle on this show.

-Well done.

-Can we go?

-Yes.

You're on time!

I've made you a chocolate brownie with a caramel sauce,

roasted chopped pistachio nuts and a cardamom cream. Enjoy.

-OTHERS:

-Thank you, thank you very much.

I think it's a really good dessert, you know.

It's rich and chocolate-y, it's warm like a fondant,

it's really delicious chocolate.

Absolutely delivers what it promises.

I really haven't got anything negative to say at all.

This is lovely. It's absolutely lovely. Really, really good.

Whoa. 'Eight plates of food'

in an hour and 15 minutes is a real ask.

'Yeah, yeah,'

real tough.

Lynda, you've got five minutes on your first course.

-You're in a bit of a pickle, aren't you?

-Just a tad.

I absolutely love crab cakes, so, you know, that's a really great dish.

There's great ways to get flavour into a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce,

all those interesting fragrant things that come from that part of the world.

So, yeah, I'm really interested to see how she does that.

-About three minutes left.

-OK.

-Right, you happy, Lynda?

-No, not really.

Let's go.

-If I could just put that there.

-Lovely.

I've made you a Thai fishcake and a sweet and sour dipping sauce.

-Thank you.

-Thank you, hope you enjoy.

My main comment is, "Ouch, my mouth is hurting."

There's a lot of nice flavours in there,

but the chilli's overpowering and the crab cake's raw.

I like that insane chilli heat, for me it's just a shame she's

let it down on presentation, because I think it's absolutely delicious.

Really lovely flavours of chilli

and coriander and crab through the crab cake.

The problem is you can't eat the middle, cos it's not cooked,

the outside is a bit scorched, that sauce is really strong.

That's so strong I've broken out in a sweat.

You've got 15 minutes on your main course.

Sea bass with butter laverbread sauce on chorizo mash.

I'm not sure about that. I'm not a fan of laverbread, I have to say.

Flavours are doing that, I'm not sure

it's going to come together very well.

It's certainly intriguing, you know, and full marks for having a go.

Lynda, the mash is made, right?

-Yeah.

-Is your butter sauce made?

-It's getting there.

-And your fish aren't cooked yet.

-Yeah.

-And you've got five minutes.

-I know, I'm working hard.

What can I say?

You've got two minutes.

That's good. Where's my spoon gone and my whisk?

Just get out of there.

I've just given myself a bit too much to do today.

Are you happy now, Lynda?

No, cos my skin should have been crispier.

So, I've made for you today pan-fried sea bass

on a bed of mash with chorizo and a butter and laverbread sauce.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, hope you enjoy.

If I'd had that piece of fish with the laverbread sauce,

I actually quite like that combination.

I don't like the combination with the chorizo,

I think it kills the fish stone dead.

This sauce is actually delicious, but with mash and chorizo,

I'm just not understanding it. It's just really bizarre.

The sea bass with the laverbread sauce and the mashed potato

is really, really lovely.

The chorizo and the laverbread sauce is not nice at all.

'I think it's a bit of a rollercoaster.'

You kind of go from, "I'm OK," panic, "No, I'm OK," and then panic.

So, I think that's what it's felt like today.

-Are you ready to go?

-Yes.

-OK.

Lorna's menu sounds really, really interesting to me.

Autumnal venison carpaccio.

Now, carpaccio to me means it's raw, so the interesting thing there

is whether there was time to chill that wonderful piece of

meat sufficiently to be able to carve the slices wafer thin.

-You've got about four minutes to get all of those on the plate.

-Yeah.

Nice, yeah. Like it.

-Go!

-Take it away, boss.

-Good afternoon, gents.

-Hello.

There you go.

So, today I've made for you a venison carpaccio,

served with some pickled blackberries,

toasted hazelnuts, parsnip crisps and Parmesan cheese.

Thank you very much.

I'm really impressed with this.

I think the flavours work together incredibly well,

those blackberries, just slightly pickled, just delicious.

Well, if Lorna does this with her first course,

I'm seriously looking forward to her grouse dish. Can't wait.

Mm.

That salty flavour of Parmesan and the herby flavour that she's got on

that sauce as well, that's really good.

That might be my favourite dish today.

-Seven minutes on your main course.

-Yeah.

Roast grouse with bread sauce, fried bread, game chips,

cavolo nero and plums, this sounds amazing.

Good luck with executing all of that, that's a lot of prep,

and there's a lot of things that can go wrong,

so I'm really impressed with Lorna.

Probably the most challenging dish on the menu to get right.

I think my sauce is way too sweet.

So how can you sour it?

I don't really know. What am I doing? Yeah.

Worth a bash.

You've got two and a half minutes,

-I think you're going to do it, mate, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-Are you done?

-Yes.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

So, for your main course I've made you a whole roast grouse

with a bread sauce, game chips,

butter grilled plums and some cavolo nero.

-Lovely.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks.

The grouse is well cooked, there's obvious skill here,

I think probably more skill than most of the contestants we've seen.

It's taking on a big challenge.

She's done a big, bold dish of food.

This has got elements of greatness.

Bread sauce is seasoned really, really well, peppery and then the

flavour of nutmeg, the bird itself is cooked absolutely perfectly.

That grouse is dish of the day.

'I hadn't thought about cooking for three previous winners'

when I was making my two dishes,

until I carried the plates through and then they're sat in front of you

and you think, "Oh, my gosh,

"you've been there, you've done that, you've won."

So I just hope that they like my food.

Some very good food in this round, some very, very good food.

Oh, Lorna, just fantastic today.

Everything was seasoned really well. It was delicious.

John, we loved it, they loved it, she needs to go through.

I can think of another quarterfinalist in the room straightaway.

Fumbi in the first round was impressive,

in this round was also impressive.

Fumbi is looking like quality.

There now I am stuck.

All the three remaining cooks had one good course

and one course not quite so successful.

Who will understand what they've done wrong and rectify it quick

enough to be able to catch up with the pace?

'I made quite a lot of mistakes,

'that potentially means the end of the journey.

'But it did make me think'

that I would quite like to keep going.

'If I was to get a place in the quarterfinals, firstly I'd be truly'

amazed. And then I did promise that I would run around the kitchen,

so I'll probably have to keep my promise.

'I hope I've done enough to stay and cook again.'

I've definitely done enough to make myself proud.

We've made our decision.

Our first quarterfinalist...

..is Lorna.

-Very impressive.

-Well done, honey.

-I'm all emotional.

Our second quarterfinalist...

..is Fumbi.

You have been hard on yourself,

but I tell you what, you make food that people want to eat.

Our third and final quarterfinal place...

..is Natalie.

-Well done.

-Oh, what?!

-Lynda and Kenny, guys, thank you so much.

-No, thank you.

-Thank you.

You'll be fine.

-Oh, it's just emotions.

-I know, I know.

'I made too many mistakes'

today so it wasn't a big surprise and, hey, that's life,

you know, been a great experience.

So much adrenaline pumps through you.

In a way, it's a bit of a relief as well as gutted,

it's kind of a bit of a mixed bag.

But at the same time, gutted.

-Well done.

-Excellent work, excellent.

-Well done.

-I should stop shaking now.

What?!

'I feel so emotional,'

I feel so happy.

'To say that you're a MasterChef quarterfinalist at the age of 22'

is...it's not bad.

What a day. What an absolute day. I can't be any happier.

Wicked, I'll take that.

'I've never had a quicker hour in my life.

'The fact it was edible'

was just a bonus.

Tomorrow night, the heats come to an end

as the last group of eight cooks battle for a place

in the quarterfinal.

-That is a stunning bit of work.

-All right.

That's right up my street.

-I like it.

-Oh, go away. No.