Episode 18 MasterChef

It's the MasterChef semifinals.

After five weeks of intense competition,

only the nine best cooks remain.

Can you believe it? Semifinals already.

The cooks are getting better, the dishes are getting amazing,

the challenges are about to get a lot tougher.

Over the next week, they will face some of their most daunting challenges.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.

I think there will be food out,

but it's going to come with a huge slice of panic.

It's just mouthful after mouthful of just pure joy.

I can't believe I'm a semifinalist on MasterChef.

Can I say that? I can now.

Am I? Yeah.

'It has got harder and harder'

as every round has gone on and everyone has got so much better.

Everyone's food is good, it's just who nails it.

No jagged edges anywhere, just perfection on a plate,

that is the target.

'You know what you really, really want,'

but you're just a little bit too scared to dream for it, really.

Our nine best cooks all fighting it out because one of them is going to

be our champion.

Welcome to MasterChef semifinal.

You should feel very, very proud, congratulations.

In front of you is your favourite ingredient.

Your job is to elevate your favourite ingredient into an

extraordinary plate of food.

At the end of this, one of you is going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, 90 minutes,

let's cook.

Lorna has a great repertoire.

She is full of enthusiasm for the food of Great Britain.

When I started off, it was just a bit of fun.

And now, it's just completely taken over my life.

What's your favourite ingredient?

My favourite ingredient is rhubarb.

I love it, I love the taste, I love the smell, I love the texture.

I have rhubarb everything at my house.

I love rhubarb.

Love rhubarb! What are you making?

Kind of a set custard and I'm serving that with a ginger crumble,

some honey-roasted rhubarb,

a rhubarb and ginger puree, rhubarb jelly,

some rhubarb crisps and a rhubarb and custard shard.

I don't think I've ever seen rhubarb used in that many ways.

Lorna is using champagne rhubarb,

it's very, very light and sometimes can be a bit too sharp.

The thing is - you also don't want it too sweet.

She has now got to elevate rhubarb and custard into something

absolutely special.

Steve is definitely our technical cook.

The last round, that cod and the prawn sauce, oh, my!

So, I'm doing rhubarb today.

Not rhubarb, that's what she's doing!

I've got it stuck in my head, I've been listening to her go on about

-it for the last ten minutes!

-No!

You said it now, you have to cook rhubarb.

You have to do it now!

-Right, Steve, what is your favourite ingredient?

-Beetroot.

-Ah! Why?

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to have a little vegetable patch in

my back garden and thought I would try my hand at growing some veg and

actually the only thing I managed to grow was beetroot.

I had tonnes of the stuff, so I was making beetroot pickles,

beetroot curries, beetroot risottos, beetroot you name it,

I made it with beetroot.

What Steve is talking about is making a risotto and adding to that

a vegetable puree. He is making it with golden beetroot,

serving it with roasted beetroot, he's got an apple jelly.

I hope it's not too much like baby food.

30 minutes gone.

One hour left.

Giovanna loves the food of Italy and that's the food she does best, John,

cooking with Italian ingredients.

Getting everything right is the most important thing.

You cannot mess up now, there is no room for error at all.

Giovanna, favourite ingredient.

-Fennel.

-Oh!

I love fennel. My mum used to put it in loads of stuff and I put it in everything.

I think it's really versatile, so I'm using the bulb, the stalks,

the fronds, the seeds and fennel pollen today.

-And what's your dish?

-So, I'm making a fennel panna cotta.

I'm making a fennel pollen tuille.

I'm compressing the greener parts of the stalk and making a blackcurrant curd.

I can't wait to try a fennel panna cotta.

-Good.

-I hope your wobble is splendid.

I hope that too.

Fennel is a bulb and therefore it's a bit damp and very, very earthy.

As a dessert, does it really work?

I'm not quite sure.

I think I've definitely exceeded expectations.

I've done a few things that the judges gave me great comments on,

the last dish in particular,

but then immediately your mind just goes in to -

"How do I do better than that?"

This was actually really tricky,

like, I had 100 different ideas and I ended up settling on lamb.

I'm using the loin, I'm going to serve that with

some shaved fennel, aubergine,

caviar and a mint yoghurt and I'm also going to do a lamb neck pie.

-Whoa!

-Yeah.

How do you make sure that's cooked properly?

I have to cook it in an hour and a half but I'm using a pressure cooker.

Pie top and bottom or just pastry case top?

-Top and bottom.

-Get you!

Are you going to get this done?

Hopefully, yeah.

The biggest risk factor is probably the pie.

That whole process will easily take an hour and 15 minutes,

so I have very little margin for kind of error.

45 minutes left, please.

Jamie loves the classics from all around the world and when he gets it

right, it is absolutely brilliant.

Wine has been a huge part of my life over the last ten years.

If there was one thing that I was going to get to eat or drink for the

rest of my life, Sauturnes would be up there.

It's an expensive bottle, this, I've only ever had it to drink,

I've never had a dessert made with it.

-What are you going to do?

-I'm going to take the four flavours that you

classically find in a Sauturnes, for me, which are apricot, orange,

saffron and caramel, and I'm going to make an apricot tarte Tatin with

an orange and saffron ice cream,

a little orange and saffron cream on the side and a poached apricot.

I share your love of this ingredient,

and I am keeping my fingers crossed that you get all of that done.

Thank you.

Jamie has cleverly taken his favourite ingredient and then pulled

it apart into flavour profiles.

Very, very clever. Or it could be very, very dangerous.

Cos is he actually showcasing Sauturnes or is he just showcasing his skill?

HE EXHALES

I absolutely love Faye's style,

I think her best food has come straight from her farmhouse kitchen

and I love it.

My favourite ingredient is pork.

I'm very lucky enough, we can produce a lot of our own pork at home.

Why do you love pork?

It's so versatile.

You can have a bacon sandwich, you know, and anything in between.

How are you going to use the pork today?

I have got a pork tenderloin, a little Scotch egg, some little

black pudding bonbons, I have got belly in the oven.

Mate, this is a real celebration of the pig.

It certainly is, yeah.

I'm confident in the flavours.

I'm not confident about the presentation of it.

But it is a nice dish.

So we will just have to wait and see.

SHE GIGGLES

This is the most horrible job.

Why did I decide to do this?

30 minutes left.

Very few cooks I have seen are as exciting and creative as Lyndsay.

Her knowledge is incredible.

She crams twice more cooking in than most contestants you will ever meet.

I have certainly noticed that the critique from the judges has got a

lot more severe.

It was really hard to start with and it's just getting harder.

My favourite ingredient is seaweed.

I love, love, love Japanese food.

Sushi and Japanese food is quite healthy.

It's really good before you do a big gig and you've got to play lots of drums.

What's the dish you're making with seaweed?

Some seared tuna on a seaweed salad,

with courgette flowers stuffed with scallop, crab mousse.

I'm making a sort of dashi broth

and I'm doing a little bit of crispy seaweed on top.

Can I ask you, do you like Japanese food?

I love the food of Japan.

I think it could be really, really wonderful.

But will there be enough seaweed amongst that broth,

is there enough seaweed on show?

You have 20 minutes left, all right, mate, 20 minutes.

20 minutes, please.

Saliha has a style I have never seen before.

It is the food of Pakistan and the food of North Africa coming together

and it is absolutely fascinating.

I already feel a lot more confident today,

because I've got my spice box.

So as soon as I get my turmeric and my chillies, I'm in heaven.

I'm like - "OK, now I'm sorted."

You've used so many ingredients in this competition already,

I'm scared to ask you what your favourite one is.

Cauliflower is my favourite ingredient.

You're featuring cauliflower yet you've got a mango on the go.

What is your dish?

Basically a trio of cauliflower-based Indian canapes.

One is a cauliflower paratha with a curry,

the other is cauliflower rice

with dhal and a cauliflower pakora.

And the third is a potato and cauliflower tikki,

which is like a croquette. And I am serving that with mango chutney and coriander chutney.

So again, we've got an array of stuff.

We have an array of stuff but this time everything in one

will match the other.

We've got a mixture and a feast of cauliflower spiced in many different

ways. The thing for Saliha is we know she spices really well,

we know she flavours really well,

but how is it going to look on a plate?

The last round, Brodie showed us he's got technique,

he's got style and wow, has he got one amazing palate.

But he needs to be able bring a plate together.

I really like my dish today.

How are they, actually? I haven't tried them.

I have confidence in it.

But ultimately,

it's down to the judges and you've got to hope that they concur.

Brodie, you did it, mate - from the kidney curry to a semifinalist.

I know, it's quite remarkable, really.

-How did that happen?

-Brodie, what's your favourite ingredient?

I've chosen ginger because it's not synonymous with a savoury or a sweet

dish. It's a mainstay in my flat, where I'm always using it for Indian

curries, Thai curries and I'm using it in a pudding today.

-What's your dish?

-I'm doing a ginger pudding with a butterscotch sauce,

gingerbread ice cream and a ginger crumb.

You had a dessert before with four bits

and managed to get three of them up.

Yep. And I'm doing four again and I'm running out of time.

Are you repeating the same mistakes as last time?

Hopefully not. I thought I had a good amount of time but I

really need to get this on now.

I think he's got a great dessert ready to go.

Really nothing could go wrong with this except for Brodie.

The problem is that Brodie and timings are not very good friends.

You've only got ten minutes left, guys.

As you can see, it's not quite ready, but that was just a test.

You wouldn't want it overdone, would you?

(I'd just like it done.)

BRODIE CHUCKLES

You have only four minutes.

Time's up. Stop, please.

Stop.

How are you doing, sweetheart? I love your plate.

My things fell down.

It was standing up and as he went, "time" - they went, like...

Faye's dish is pork loin...

..braised belly, black pudding bonbon

and Scotch egg.

Served with apple puree, cider and chorizo sauce,

and charred baby leeks.

There. Look at that.

SHE SIGHS

Your fillet of pork, beautifully cooked, still pink.

Your sauce is fantastic.

The cooking is sound as a pound.

Thank you.

Your Scotch egg is meaty and spicy.

The pork belly is absolutely divine.

It's easy to see that you love to cook pork,

because this is absolutely delicious.

Really nervous coming into the round,

just because there is so much pressure now.

That couldn't have gone any better for me.

I'm really, really pleased.

Lyndsay's dish is a seaweed salad

with sesame-seared tuna, ikura gunkan,

or salmon roe sushi, a courgette flower stuffed with scallop mousse,

and asparagus.

Served with a dashi broth.

The tuna is nice.

The seaweed salad is nice.

But there's nothing wow in it.

I feel as though it needs more layers, more contrast,

both in texture and also in flavour.

I find myself craving a flavour explosion,

whether that be heat or sharp pickling.

I think it's very, very pleasant.

I don't think it's setting the world on fire.

I don't think I've done amazingly well.

They didn't say, "Oh, it's all perfect", and stuff like that.

But you know... Dunno!

SHE CHUCKLES

Saliha has celebrated her favourite ingredient, cauliflower.

By making a cauliflower stuffed paratha with Banarasi,

cauliflower and tamarind curry,

cauliflower rice with dhal and cauliflower fritters.

And a cauliflower croquette with mango chutney and hot green relish.

Delicious. Every single tiny, little bit is delicious.

What I love about it is that the cauliflower is done in so many

different ways. And every single bit has been matched with a sauce or a

flavouring absolutely perfectly. Saliha, magical.

Oh, thank you.

The flavours across this plate are delightful.

They punch above their weight,

yet the whole dish is so light and so delicate.

Oh! So excited!

You feel like you're a school kid who's done something really good and

is given - a teacher gave them a sweetie, or something!

Steve has made beetroot risotto,

with roasted baby beets, curd cheese,

beet crisps, apple gel

and beetroot and balsamic puree.

Beetroot, goat's curd, radishes, apple, apple gel,

a beetroot puree down the centre, I think it's absolutely delicious.

My issue is the risotto.

It has the texture of baby food.

But you've got puree running through the rice, which means it's very,

very loose. You know how to plate up a dish, that's for sure.

That looks amazing. Absolutely amazing.

That earthy beetroot with the creamy goat's curd -

absolutely delightful.

That risotto is going to take some getting used to.

It was a bit mixed, wasn't it?

Obviously the risotto was meant to be the main bit,

and they didn't really like that. So I'm a bit gutted.

Alison has cooked loin of lamb and a lamb neck pie,

served with aubergine puree, roasted tomatoes, fennel shavings,

olive puree and mint yoghurt.

I love, love, love, love, love the lamb, the olive, the fennel,

aubergine puree, and that yoghurt underneath is sensational.

Why there's a pie on the side, I'm not quite sure!

For me, that buttery puff pastry just doesn't work with the rest of

the dish.

I think your pie is magnificent.

I can't find anything on that plate to match it.

I'm desperate to dip it into something.

And everything I dip it into is too strong for it.

I just felt so obligated to have another bit of lamb on the plate in

some form. Yeah, now looking back,

it just seems silly, really.

Yeah.

Giovanna has made a fennel panna cotta, compressed fennel,

a fennel pollen tuile...

..a fennel crumb

and a blackcurrant curd.

The fennel as a dessert...

works, absolutely works. It's liquorice.

And with that real hit of blackcurrant, it's a lovely match.

I love that.

So you sort of go from sort of grown-up Dutch salty liquorice,

into an absolute kidtastic bag of sweets, stuck your hand in,

shove as many Liquorice Allsorts in your mouth as you possibly can,

all-at-once type treat!

Mm!

I'm literally on top of the world

to get those comments at this point.

SHE SIGHS

Jamie has made an apricot tarte Tatin.

An apricot poached in Sauternes,

A Sauternes orange and saffron cream.

An orange mascarpone ice cream

and a Sauternes caramel sauce.

I don't pick up the flavour of that beautiful famous dessert wine.

However, I do pick up a fair slice

of delicious throughout your dessert!

That's for sure. It's almost deep with orange and caramel sauce.

This is not a Sauternes dessert.

The whole thing is a celebration of apricots and orange.

But a very, very well-made dessert at that.

You know, they liked the dessert.

They enjoyed that.

So that was the one positive I can take.

Brodie has made a ginger pudding,

with a ginger crumb,

gingerbread ice cream and butterscotch creme anglaise.

You set out to highlight ginger.

You have most certainly done that, mate.

Most certainly done that.

You've made a good sponge, you've made a very good custard.

Your ice cream is absolutely divine.

I love the ferocity.

And that, with the sticky sweet custard across the top of it,

is lovely.

All I've wanted from you is a completed, coherent plate of food.

And Brodie, that's it.

I've been looking to try and pull one of those out of the bag at some

stage. Yeah, really pleased.

Lorna has made a dessert of set custard...

..with rhubarb jelly...

..rhubarb gin and tonic gel, gin-compressed rhubarb...

..a ginger and walnut crumble...

..and a rhubarb and custard shard.

Rhubarb is the devil's work when it comes to sweetening it properly,

because every batch of rhubarb is going to be different.

When you get the balance of sharp and sweet absolutely right,

that just sends me into raptures of joy.

And I find that in the gel,

but I don't find that in the other bits of rhubarb.

I really love the promise of this dessert.

I don't think it's quite there.

But I'm really blown away that somebody like you is actually

inventing stuff like this set little custard.

As a rhubarb lover, I want more rhubarb, I want more juice,

but I want more of that...

HE SUCKS NOISILY

..rhubarb.

Yeah, that was the best that I could have done.

I couldn't have done any more than that.

So you can't really ask for much more.

If it wasn't good enough, then it wasn't good enough.

The start of our semifinals and what food we got!

I tell you who I think had strong performances.

Faye with her pork.

She cooked it four different ways and every single way was beautiful.

Giovanna did well.

To turn a vegetable into a dessert, that is one thing.

To turn it into a delicious dessert, well, that's just clever.

Then you've got to talk about Brodie.

Because he's a man who showcased ginger and we loved it.

Today I thought he got it spot on.

Saliha celebrated the cauliflower.

I've got to say, I loved that dish.

I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

I didn't particularly care for Steve's risotto, flavoured with the

beetroot, as it was, made it very sweet for me.

The bit where he celebrated the beetroot, I absolutely adored.

I thought it was wonderful. Alison didn't quite hit the nail on the head today.

And the reason I believe it didn't quite work was buttery puff pastry.

I don't think the pie matched the rest of the dish!

But it still remained a very good pie.

Jamie is an interesting case.

He picked Sauternes to highlight

and he made us apricot, orange and saffron.

None of them tasted like that celebrated dessert wine he'd set out to copy.

Now, Lorna made us a set custard with rhubarb in many different ways.

I wanted to be able to taste the real rhubarb sweet, juicy,

lovely soft bits, as well as all the dainty bits around the plate.

That's my issue with Lorna.

Lyndsay's dish, I think, looked lovely.

And there was definitely a lot of seaweed in there.

It just tasted a little ordinary to me.

The flavour of Lyndsay's dish was one which was just flat.

LYNDSAY: I knew this might be a bit of a sink-or-swim dish.

But if I do go home today,

at least I'm going home on food that I was happy with,

that I'd certainly eat.

ALISON: Hopefully I've done enough.

And if I do go through, no more random pies!

JAMIE: Look, it tastes of apricots, it tastes of oranges, it tastes of saffron.

They sort of used that as a negative.

That's exactly what I wanted the dish to taste of.

So that's where the massive frustration comes, for me.

LORNA: There's a strong chance that I could be the one going today, after that.

But...who knows?

STEVE: It's very unsure. Obviously there was positives,

and they did like quite a lot of the dish.

They didn't like the other half.

If that's the only dish they didn't like, then, you know,

what am I going to do, you know?

We said at the start of today that we would be losing one of you.

The contestant leaving the competition...

..is Lyndsay.

No worries.

Oh, don't be silly!

SHE CHUCKLES

What we've been doing is so

worlds away from anything I do in my normal life.

It's going to be the weird to

sort of go back to sort of normality.

And then there were eight!

THEY SHRIEK

Well done, honey.

I thought I was toast.

Final eight? What the hell.

It just keeps getting more and more surreal.

Definitely a big relief.

You know, that was so close.

An amazing day.

An amazing day. Fingers crossed the next ones will be like this as well.

Next time, the semifinals continue.

I've got to make this ASAP.

As the final eight contestants are split into teams.

-Whoa!

-I'm just trying to get this first lot of fish on.

Come on, Steve.

And one more amateur cook...

SHE SQUEALS

..will be leaving the competition.