Episode 17 MasterChef

So far, in knockout week,

the contestants have felt the heat

of their first professional kitchen...

This one's a bit burnt, so you're going to have to get another two on.

This is more difficult than I could ever have imagined.

..and faced the scrutiny of one of the UK's most respected chefs.

-That's an outstanding plate of food.

-Really?!

Now the final ten are back

to fight for a place in the semifinals.

Today, my expectations are sky-high.

But I tell you what - in a room full of great cooks,

you're going to have to properly shine.

I think light the touchpaper, stand back and watch the sparks!

All that separates you from a place in the semifinals is one dish -

your dish, your showstopper.

Do us proud. Show us how good you really are.

Show us how exciting a cook you truly can be.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour and 30 minutes. Let's cook!

Feels great to be in the final ten of MasterChef.

Yeah, I'm confident in my dish today.

I hope that it's a day where John and Gregg go,

"Wow, that's incredible."

What is your showstopper of a dish, Jamie?

Loin of lamb. A pulled shoulder of lamb with an anchovy crumb,

Parmesan pomme puree, and a lamb jus.

My girlfriend loves when I cook this dish.

She sort of... This would be her favourite dish of mine, I think.

Yeah, it means a lot to me, this dish, actually.

Do you want to know how much I enjoy lamb

-with the saltiness of anchovy?

-How much?

-That much?

-That much.

Jamie's emotion, when he talks about this dish, fills me with joy.

Anybody who's emotional about a plate of food

means that they really care about it and care means great food.

So far in the competition,

Steve has impressed with his technical ability.

This last sort of few days, you can see the standard's very high.

I think today is going to be a very telling day.

-What are you making?

-Confit cod loin,

or sous-vide cod loin,

crab cannelloni with squid ink pasta.

I'm making a prawn stock.

I'm going to make a slightly spicy tomato sauce.

This is the kind of food me and my wife eat at home.

Obviously, I'm going to do it slightly different,

elevate that a little bit out of the home cooking thing.

-Steve, this sounds good, mate. Very good.

-Cheers.

Steve is putting lots of technique on show. Absolutely.

Sous-videing his cod.

He's making a prawn sauce, he's making cannelloni,

he's making a mayonnaise, but I tell you what -

it sounds really very, very good indeed.

Saliha's unique cookery influences have so far captivated the judges.

My showstopper today is a trio of Indian desserts.

I don't think this is something that they'll ever have tasted before.

I'm hoping that they like it because it's flavours

which are quite familiar to me from my childhood...

..just a little bit modernised and made a little bit more British.

Doing something rough, tough and manly, are you?

-Yeah, just like me!

-THEY LAUGH

-What are you making?

-Firstly is something called mishti doi,

which is a baked yoghurt. I'm doing a blackcurrant coulis.

I'm doing almond and blackcurrant kulfis.

Kulfis are like hard ice cream - together with jalebis,

so it's like an Indian apple fritter.

I like your fusion style of cultures.

-I think it's the future.

-I hope so!

She's taking classic Indian desserts and she's adding to it

the flavours of classic British desserts -

blackberries and apples.

Wow! What a great celebration that is.

SHE GROANS

Faye has stood out with some rustic, flavoursome cooking.

I'm definitely not ready to leave the competition

and I just hope they like this dish enough

and they like the flavours enough

and can see that I'm putting my all in, to put us through.

Today, I'm going to do a rabbit dish -

loin wrapped in Parma ham.

I'm going to braise down the legs, serve it with some pearl barley,

pea puree, some carrots cooked in Marsala.

Was it your time with Shaun Rankin that's inspired this rabbit dish?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

What we did there was really, really exciting.

I could see it being able to transfer

from the stuff that I do at home

in putting it together and making it a different kind of dish.

What about this competition now?

I mean, you're that far away from a semifinal.

Oh, it's just so exciting.

I can't even tell you.

It's really properly exciting.

Faye's taken the lessons from the last round

and she, right now, is going full steam ahead.

-It's hot!

-SHE LAUGHS

Really hot!

She's gone back to her roots - brilliant!

25 minutes gone!

An hour and five minutes left, please.

Alison's unique flavour combinations

have proved a hit from the very beginning.

Alison's got pigeon.

She's serving that with a barbecue glaze...

..and a sweetcorn puree with some parsnips and coriander oil.

Amazing! It's sort of this Tex-Mex modern French pigeon dish

that comes from who knows where.

I love cooking with game

and I think pigeon's just, like, a really intense, unusual flavour

and you can put some quite exciting things with it.

You're balancing some very interesting flavours here

-with this pigeon. Good luck.

-OK, thank you.

I've practised it quite a few times...

..but I've never been great for, like, knife skills and butchery...

..so I need to make sure I don't hack the little thing to bits!

Lyndsay's creativity has made an impact on the judges...

..especially in the last round cooking for Tom Kitchin.

It's only really been in the last 24 hours, I think,

that I've started to get

this tiny, tiny bit of confidence now.

But, ultimately, you are only as good as your last dish.

You've got some lovely stuff on this bench. What are you making?

I'm doing this beautiful bit of beef fillet

with an oyster sabayon, crispy oyster in some filo pastry.

I've got pommes Anna and some salsify.

How did you feel once Tom had discussed your dish?

I'm just worried - can I reach the same heights?

Cos what he said was so nice

and I think all you really want is just a nice plate of tasty food.

-Hallelujah!

-SHE LAUGHS

Giovanna has wowed the judges

with food inspired by her Italian background.

Giovanna's cooking us lamb.

She's serving it with a Jerusalem artichoke puree,

lamb sauce going across the top of it.

On the side, little sweetbreads,

which need to be crispy on the outside

and soft and juicy on the inside.

I really want to do well today.

I like being ahead of the pack. I don't like being in the middle.

I definitely don't like being at the bottom.

I'd really love to assert myself,

but I'm sure that's true of everyone!

Lamb and lamb sweetbreads is my idea of heaven.

-That's a good start.

-Giovanna, you look nervous today.

I know there's a lot of amazing food going out today,

so I just have to do my absolute best

and, hopefully, that'll be enough.

Imran's dishes have been noted for their presentation,

but he only just scraped through the last round.

There's a lot of great cooks in this competition,

but you just can't think about that because the moment you do,

you're second-guessing yourself

and there's already a lot of that going on anyway!

What are you making?

A loin of venison with a smoky pomme puree,

cavolo nero with smoked duck

and a chocolate red wine sauce and blackberry puree.

Ooh! I like a bit of smokiness, Imran.

-Fantastic.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

The issue right now for Imran is

blackberries and chocolate with a piece of venison...

..may be one step too far.

Lorna has shone with her passion for British food.

So, today, I'm making a grapefruit posset with

an Aperol Spritz gel, some pink peppercorn shortbread...

..candied grapefruit peel and some little meringue kisses.

This is one of my favourite desserts that I make

and it's my mum's favourite pudding, as well.

Lorna's taking that grapefruit and turning it into a dessert.

But grapefruit is bitter as well as sweet...

..and that, in itself, is a challenge.

You've got a very good idea about how all this looks at the end,

-have you?

-Yes, yeah. It's very pink!

So far, Brodie has made an impression

with an eclectic range of dishes.

I am sort of pushing the boat out,

but I figure it's the showstopper,

it's a chance to be in the semifinal.

If you don't sort of go for it at this stage in the competition,

chances are you'll be near the drop.

Brodie, you seem to be in a bit of a mess.

-Yeah, I've made a wee bit of a mess.

-What are you making?

I'm making a poached pineapple, chocolate cone,

chocolate mousse, chocolate crumb and a passion fruit ice cream.

Does that mean there's three desserts on this plate?

There are three major elements on the plate.

Seriously, can you get all this done?

It's going to be tight, but I'm going to hopefully give it a go.

He's being adventurous. He's trying something new.

I hope now that Brodie gives it enough time

to get it on the plate with some elegance.

I just can't get the Sellotape off the plastic.

And it's a little bit malleable.

Last four minutes!

Two minutes, please! Two!

OK, time's up. Please stop.

Alison's showstopper dish is pigeon breast with a barbecue glaze,

parsnip crisps, parsnips, sweetcorn puree,

a pigeon, prune and bacon croquette,

bacon jam and coriander oil.

-I think it looks delightful.

-Thank you.

That pigeon is absolutely perfect.

Cooked by someone who's got an absolute expert touch.

To then get sweet bits of sweetcorn, a little bit of coarse coriander,

little sweet, salty bits from that bacon jam -

that's just absolutely delicious.

THAT is great cooking.

What I love about it - there's your identifiable style.

It's seasoned well, it tastes great, it looks great, it smells great,

it really, really works.

I'm so happy. Yeah, I'm absolutely delighted.

Great work.

It was definitely my favourite thing

out of everything I've cooked so far.

I'm just so relieved. I'm so, so happy.

Imran's dish is loin of venison,

smoked pomme puree, cavolo nero with smoked duck breast lardons,

blackberry puree and a chocolate and red wine sauce.

That venison's not cooked enough.

As a diner, I would probably send that back.

I like your blackberry sauce.

I like the sauce that you've made with the chocolate, as well -

how it gives it a sweetness and a bitterness.

I'd rather the venison was cooked some more

and that cavolo nero,

because of the salty smoked duck, is now too salty.

OK.

I think your potato is lovely. It's lovely and smooth. That's good.

But the important thing is

that central bit of venison is not cooked enough.

-OK.

-Erm, I don't like it, Imran.

-Sorry.

-Don't apologise.

Didn't exactly go to plan.

Yeah, not great.

I gave it my shot. I gave it my shot.

Faye has served loin of rabbit wrapped in pancetta,

crispy rabbit kidneys, braised rabbit legs,

on top of a pearl barley risotto,

pea puree, and carrots cooked in Marsala.

Your touch is fantastic.

I mean, the soft rabbit inside the crispy Parma ham

is an absolute delight.

The little kidneys - delicious.

The rabbit legs that you've got on the pearl barley - beautiful.

Your flavours, I love.

The way you've cooked your rabbit I think is fantastic.

I even like your presentation,

but I want your carrots cooked a bit more,

and your pearl barley is hard.

-That's good.

-That was OK.

-It was good. No, it was good.

Be positive. You're not going home, don't worry.

Jamie's dish is loin of lamb, shredded lamb shoulder,

anchovy crumb, Parmesan pomme puree,

pea puree, Parmesan crisps,

braised gem lettuce and a lamb sauce.

Your plate's too crowded,

but its textures and flavours I find highly, highly enjoyable.

Nice, big, meaty plate of lamb with salty and sweet undercurrents.

You've got the right idea.

I think you can afford just to leave a couple of bits off the plate.

Thanks.

I thought I cooked everything quite nicely,

so, yeah, I was happy with how it went.

Steve has served sous-vide cod loin with crispy cod skin,

crab cannelloni with squid ink pasta,

spiced tomato sauce and a squid ink mayonnaise.

I'm tempted to stick a frame round it.

-HE CHUCKLES

-Look at it! Stunning piece of work!

-STEVE GROANS

-What have you got?

That bit of crab claw is about a foot long!

How did you miss that?

Gregg's got crab shell in his cannelloni.

Saying that, I think this is fantastic, Steve.

The fish is cooked beautifully -

lightly salted, finished in the water bath, and it falls apart.

I love those crab cannelloni

and then the sharpness of your mayonnaise underneath.

That's lovely. That's absolutely fantastic.

So brilliantly designed, so well cooked.

Mate, you are a talent. You are a real talent.

Please don't let something as silly as this happen ever again.

I'm gutted about that, to be honest.

I'm just kicking myself for doing that. So silly.

But obviously that was pretty... pretty good feedback otherwise.

Giovanna's rump of lamb is served with crispy lamb sweetbreads,

Jerusalem artichoke puree

with girolles, farro, black garlic puree and a lamb jus.

The sweetbread with the artichoke puree

and the mushrooms and the farro and all the sauce together is fantastic.

I'd feast on those sweetbreads all day long.

-The lamb, it's getting lost.

-OK.

I'm happy with it.

The only thing that's missing for me is a glass of red wine.

-Could have been so much worse.

-It was good. It was good.

Thanks, babe.

Lyndsay's fillet of beef

is topped with an oyster wrapped in filo pastry

and served with pommes Anna, charred cabbage, salsify, girolles,

bone marrow and an oyster sabayon.

-How do you want that beef cooked?

-I do like it black and blue.

That's what you did - black and blue.

Love your pommes Anna.

I think your pommes Anna is really, really lovely.

The rest of the dish is really confused.

I can't taste the oyster in the sauce at all.

And the cabbage -

I'm not a fan of burnt cabbage, I'm sorry to say.

-Sorry.

-There are things I like. I like the oyster sauce,

like the pommes Anna, I love salsify.

I find the mushrooms slightly overcooked

and I don't like the discs of bone marrow on their own.

-Sorry.

-There's positives and negatives there,

but I suppose you wanted positives and positives, didn't you?

'Ugh! Yeah, a bit gutted after that.'

I mean, it wasn't all bad,

but it definitely could have been a lot better.

-Not too bad. Not too bad.

-What?! It was terrible!

Brodie's dessert is poached pineapple with rum caramel,

chocolate mousse topped with chocolate crumb

and passion fruit ice cream.

You're looking kind of glum, Brodie.

Yeah, that's because I was supposed to have a tempered chocolate cone,

which didn't work.

All three of those things are delicious,

but they don't all go together.

I can't see me dipping a pineapple into a chocolate mousse

and putting a splodge of ice cream across the top and...

I can't see that happening, but all three of them are delicious.

HE CHUCKLES

Love the ice cream. Smooth, absolutely delicious.

Your chocolate mousse is light as an angel.

The pineapple - sugary and sweet - cooked all the way through.

Absolutely wonderful.

The problem is we've asked for one showstopper, and this isn't.

I like your cooking, but it's confused.

I'm pleased that they liked my cooking.

It's just the combinations that were not quite there.

Saliha's trio of Indian desserts includes mishti doi,

a baked yoghurt topped with pistachio and almond,

kulfi, an Indian ice cream with almond and blackberry,

and a traditional fritter called jalebis,

that have been flavoured with apple,

all served with a masala chai.

You have your own individual style and I praise you for it.

The fritters - I find the apple a little bit sharp.

Your yoghurt is grainy for me.

So, I don't mind the flavour, but it's grainy.

I do, however, like

the flavour of the kulfi.

I like that fruit going into almonds and it ends almost savoury.

OK.

I like the colours, actually. I like the colours a lot.

And I like your ambition.

Saying that, it needs more flavour of the roasted pistachios.

It needs more flavour of rose-water.

Mm. I did tone it down

because I thought you might think it was too much.

It didn't go quite as I wanted it to.

I really wanted them to enjoy it, but unfortunately they didn't.

Finally, it's Lorna with a grapefruit posset

topped with scorched grapefruit, candied grapefruit peel,

Aperol Spritz gel, candy-striped meringues,

pink peppercorn shortbread and toasted almonds.

I love pink grapefruit and I like the texture of the meringues

when they explode in your mouth and I want more of that,

but the posset itself is very, very, very sweet.

It's too sweet for me.

There's not enough bitterness to balance all that sugar,

and I've got a real sweet tooth!

There's nothing on that plate that I was disappointed with.

I'd happily eat it, so if they don't like it, tough!

Some great dishes in this round and some not so great.

The question is, who's not quite up to the mark?

Who's struggling with the pace?

A couple of star dishes today.

Alison absolutely nailed it

with that pigeon and the sweetcorn puree and parsnips,

and Steve nailed it with his cod with the cannelloni of crab.

I'm willing to overlook the fact he nearly had one of me dentures out!

Those two have got to march straight into a semifinal.

For me, there's two other people who should go straight through

to the next round - Jamie and Faye did very well indeed.

Faye is, and always has been, a fantastic cook.

Jamie with his lamb and his Parmesan potatoes.

Absolutely loved that lamb.

Loved the flavours, loved the Parmesan running through the puree.

Are we going to put Jamie through?

Jamie goes through to the next round.

-What about Giovanna?

-Giovanna's good enough.

Giovanna's got style, she's growing in structure

and her food's becoming more and more sophisticated.

For me, Giovanna goes through.

Can I just put a hand up for Brodie?

He didn't manage to get his tempered chocolate cone on a plate,

however, the three things individually...

The pineapple, the passion fruit ice cream was lovely,

and his mousse was superb.

We've got six through. We now have a discussion about four.

Saliha with her desserts...

..Imran with his venison and cavolo nero,

Lyndsay with her fillet of beef

and Lorna with her grapefruit posset -

all of those dishes had issues.

Who stays and who goes home? We're going to lose one right now.

I definitely don't feel completely safe at all.

There's a definite chance that I could be the one going home today.

I don't want to go through banking on somebody else messing up.

I want to go through because I've done a good job.

I'm quite worried. I think it might be the end of the road.

I hope it's not

because I really want to be able to show a little bit more.

It would be rubbish to go home,

but I don't think I'm going to be top of the class today,

unfortunately.

We said at the beginning one of you would be leaving us.

We've made that decision.

The person leaving us...

..is Imran.

-Imran, thank you very much.

-It's all right. It's all right.

Well done, guys.

Bizarrely, oddly relieved.

It's been fantastic. I was in the last ten.

I'm really proud of that. I've had a blast.

Oh, it's such a relief!

It was literally by the skin of my teeth today, I think.

I can't believe it! I'm a semifinalist!

Honestly, this is the most surreal feeling in the entire world.

I cannot wait. I'm so excited to see what's coming up in the semifinals.

Next week, it's the semifinals,

and the contestants will be pushed

beyond anything they have experienced before.

Action!

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!

It's a sensational combination.

This is one of the loveliest things I've ever eaten on this show.

This is a brilliant dish...

in about three hours' time.