Episode 2 MasterChef

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

Come on.

-Ooh!

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

-Don't slow down.

-Everybody, pudding!

Absolutely beautiful.

It'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.

Eight aspiring amateur cooks.

Each of them think they've got what it takes

to become MasterChef champion.

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

I'm really excited about cooking for Gregg and John.

I just hope they're going to be kind.

I cannot tell you how much this means to me.

I'm on it. I'm not even that nervous.

But a few seconds later, I'm going to have a heart attack!

Welcome aboard.

Your first test is the market test.

Through those doors is a market full of wonderful produce.

Meat, fish, vegetables, sweet, savoury,

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

You'll have one hour and 20 minutes to cook it

and you'll have ten minutes to go and select your produce.

At the end of this, three of you are going home.

Ladies and gentlemen...

go and get your ingredients.

I can't believe that.

The contestants now have ten minutes to plan their dish,

but can revisit the market at any time.

A lot of pressure, especially with three people going home at the end.

It's go time, really, isn't it? Yeah, sink or swim.

In today's meat section are poussin, rack of lamb,

duck breast and pork belly.

In the fish section are mussels, prawns, crab and rainbow trout.

What's this one?

There's such an array of ingredients to choose from,

they can go in any direction they want.

For me, this test is intriguing,

because it tells me a lot about the cooks.

By the way they work, whether they're organised or not,

trying to spot the champion amongst them.

The first 30 seconds, white panic.

But then once you start looking round, you think, "Yeah,

"there's a bit of that, yeah, I can do this."

Ladies and gentlemen...

One hour, 20 minutes.

At the end of this, three of you are going home.

Let's cook.

When not cooking for her husband and three children in south Wales,

Sinead works for the council in the waste department.

People get really angry.

If your bin isn't collected, we do get some grief, unbelievable grief.

So I'm sure I won't get offended by any critique on this show,

because I have a bit of a thick skin.

Sinead, what are you making?

I'm doing a raspberry bread and butter pudding.

I'm keeping it simple.

Are desserts a speciality for you?

My husband, he loves a dessert

and he loves this bread and butter pudding.

That's why I'm doing it. It wouldn't matter how many times I cook it,

he'd say, "Ginge, is the bread and butter pudding ready?"

-What's your husband's name?

-Steve.

-This is a Steve pud, is it?

-Yeah, Steve pud.

Sinead's intentions are great.

A bread and butter pudding is a fine dessert.

It should be lush, it should be wonderful,

but it still needs that crispy top,

it still needs to be lovely and spongy inside.

35-year-old Bernice lives in Essex and works as a flight attendant.

A lot of people say that when I'm nervous, I don't look nervous,

but that's probably because that's what I have to do in my job.

I might look OK on the outside, but inside, I'm like dying.

BERNICE LAUGHS

Oh...

-Bernice.

-Yeah?

-Have you cut two fingers already?

-Er, yeah, I have.

-BERNICE LAUGHS

-How did you do that?

-Erm, chopping up some vegetables,

believe it or not. I can cook, don't worry!

What are you making for us?

Well, I'm going to make the poussin.

I've stuffed it with thyme, garlic and lemon and rubbed it in butter,

so I'm going to roast it

and then I'm going to do some roast potatoes, as well.

I'm sticking to quite, sort of like my normal cooking.

I really like the sound of this.

-Yeah?

-How good a cook are you?

I'm good. I hope so.

Bernice, she's got roast chicken, but she's got stuffing inside.

I love stuffing inside chicken, cos all the juices from that poussin

flavour the stuffing.

The thing that Bernice is going to have to do now

is take that roast chicken dinner

and make it look beautiful on a plate.

-Can you make custard with ordinary flour, then?

-Don't know.

-Oh, cornflour. There you go.

-Oh.

-It was hiding.

-GREGG:

-15 minutes gone, ladies and gentlemen.

So you've got an hour and five minutes left, OK?

28-year-old Jason is a mortgage advisor

and dreams of opening a gourmet food truck.

Jason is cooking us a classic rack of lamb with a fondant

potato and some spinach, which I think sounds wonderful.

And he's going to add to that some South American flavours.

Well, as long as it works for the lamb, I'll be fine about that.

There's going to be ground coriander, cumin, paprika,

and there's going to be a bit of citrus in there, as well.

Is that your style, spice?

So, I travelled Australia and New Zealand

and a lot of the friends I made were South American,

so Argentinian, Chilean.

They love cooking in groups, so you'd always go round,

they'd have big meals, erm...

Ever since then, really, I think the flavours have kind of stuck with me.

My mum is a huge fan of MasterChef.

That probably was part of the reason why she was poking me to go on it,

more than the fact that I'm a good cook.

Maybe she's set me up massively.

But I suppose there's only one way to find out.

Just biding time, waiting for it to come together now.

Bristol-based Sophie cooked for her student friends

all the way through her law degree.

I like cooking for people, I think cooking's a very social thing to do.

The art of, like a good dinner, is lost on my generation.

Sophie, I can't see any meat or fish.

I cook a lot of vegetarian food,

like a lot of my friends are vegetarian or vegan,

so I'm going to do a vegetarian dish.

Do you have a style of cookery?

I like cooking with really fresh ingredients.

I only graduated last year, so I've had a year of non-student cooking,

which has been eye-opening for me. No more tins of stuff or whatever.

Sophie's cooking as she would do for all her mates.

All the food goes down the middle of the table

and they choose what they want to eat themselves.

We've got roasted courgette, roasted pumpkin, with some flatbreads.

Then she's got two salsas.

There's nothing really to hold the whole thing together.

But maybe Sophie's got a trick up her sleeve we don't know about.

Right, you're halfway!

Marketing consultant Alison is originally from Ireland,

but now lives in London.

I grew up in Dublin.

My dad was a publican, so he was like hostess with the mostest.

They were into just really, really good food,

and making that quite a kind of social occasion.

Alison, I can't work out what it is you're making.

Poussin with a wild rice, pistachio, orange and apricot salad.

Where does this influence come from?

It's just flavours that I love.

I kind of cook with this Middle Eastern,

Lebanese kind of style flavours quite a lot.

I think they're my flavours of the month.

Sweet glaze on top of a piece of chicken, could be wonderful,

with a salad of wild rice and apricots,

which is heady with a bit of spice.

And now she's making some hummus, as well.

You have 30 minutes to go.

Anna comes from a large Cypriot family

and dreams of opening her own Greek cafe.

Food's always been a really, really big part of our family.

We've done Greek barbecues, which we call souvlas.

We've done them in the snow, we've done them in the rain.

Weather doesn't stop us.

It's just how you bring a Greek family together, food and snacks.

-Anna.

-Hi.

-You're very focused.

Yes, I'm trying to make sure I stay in time.

So I've got my game face on.

-Are you on time?

-Er... I hope so.

-ANNA LAUGHS

-What are you making?

I'm making an amaretto, orange and frangipane tart.

How long's it going to take to bake?

It should, hopefully, only take about 20 minutes.

-Fine.

-So they should be done within the next five, six,

-and then that'll go on top.

-Pastry, is that your love?

Yeah. Well, I like eating it.

To be honest, normally I tend to do savoury,

just because you're not going to sit... Well,

you could sit down and eat a cake all day, but...

Yeah, I probably could do that, actually.

Anna, with all her confidence, was quite slow to get off the mark

and it took her 20 minutes to get her pastry in the oven

and that means that her tarts are going to be just on the cusp.

I think she's right up against it, Anna, right now.

They're going to be ready in about...

-BEEPING

-It's going to beep, cos I didn't set it right.

ANNA LAUGHS

Imran runs a food blog

and enjoys hosting dinner parties at home in Cardiff.

What are you making for us now, Imran?

I'm doing, er, harissa-spiced duck breast...

-Ooh.

-With cauliflower puree,

saffron and turmeric mashed potato,

and all freshened up with some pickled beetroot.

Real leaning on spice here. And pickle.

-Yeah.

-What job do you do, please?

I'm a dentist, for my sins.

-Are you?

-Yes.

-Cos, look...

-All out, I'm afraid!

-IMRAN LAUGHS

Imran's dish sounds like a flavour sensation.

The thing that I want to make sure from Imran is that duck is cooked

really nicely and there's not too much fat and it's not too greasy.

I am a competitive person.

Anyone that says that they're not really,

I'm not sure I trust them so much!

Guys, you've got 15 minutes.

David sells classic car spare parts for a living

and has been a keen cook for over 30 years.

I really like to challenge myself with new dishes all the time.

I'm known as being the cook and the go-to person if you want

to ask a recipe. All that's about to be tested, though.

David's cooking classic French food.

We've got duck, fondant potato.

But within the carrots, we have orange juice.

And then we have a cream sauce.

I'm a little bit worried about that combination.

As for the rest of it, I think it sounds brilliant.

Far be it from me to get between a man and his duck.

-Bold man, indeed.

-What is it about cooking that you love, David?

Just the creativity and the flavours and the senses.

And the occasion, really.

Everybody sits round the table, they spend time together,

which otherwise there's not that many opportunities in life

to actually sit down and spend quality time.

-Yeah, sure.

-My preference is to do lots of small courses

and keep people sitting there for a very long period of time.

Listen, you have only five minutes.

IMRAN LAUGHS QUIETLY

ANNA STRAINS

30 seconds!

That's it, guys! Time's up. Stop, please. Stop.

Do you know what I need?

-Are you OK?

-It's wild, right?

First up is client relationship manager Anna.

She has cooked an amaretto and orange frangipane tart,

with cinnamon and amaretto-spiced cream.

That is sound.

Thank God.

It's delicious.

You've got crispy pastry, your frangipane is lovely and soft.

A hint of orange in the background.

I think that's great.

OK.

I LOVE that cream.

You've obviously got a decent touch,

you've obviously got a decent palate.

I hope you do savoury as well as you do sweet,

cos I really, really like that.

When Gregg cut that open, I was like, "Oh..."

My heart was like... Is it in my mouth or in my stomach?

It was in one of them.

Cardiff-based dentist Imran

has pan-fried a harissa-coated duck breast

and served it on a cauliflower puree,

with saffron and turmeric mash and pickled beetroot.

OK.

Upon that plate, there is harissa, pickled beetroot, saffron,

and all those things are really big, heady flavours,

but the whole thing is a bit bland.

It sort of promised a lot and I didn't get very much.

OK.

Textures, colours, process, I believe you're a decent cook.

The issue for me is that skin isn't crispy, so you don't want to eat it,

and that's where you've put all the harissa.

I...thought I was on the right track.

And it's the worst thing you can hear from someone,

saying that your food is bland.

You are too tough on yourself.

-I fluffed it. Absolutely fluffed it.

-You didn't fluff it.

Mortgage advisor Jason has cooked cumin and coriander rack of lamb,

with potato fondant, garlic mushrooms and spinach,

and a South American-inspired chilli and herb lime sauce.

Highly unusual to have lamb served with lime,

chilli and mushrooms with garlic. It's very strong,

it's very, very powerful. I like it.

-Thanks.

-There's nothing wishy-washy about you, mate, is there?

You pack a punch.

I'm not a fan, I'm sorry.

The reason is, lamb I think of being very, very sweet, but that sharp,

citric flavour of lime against the lamb, I find a little bit too much.

I just think the combination's not right and your lamb is overcooked.

Yeah. I tried to keep it warm, in the end,

by placing it back in the oven.

When you roast a piece of meat on a bone and you rest it,

-it will hold its temperature for about 20 minutes.

-Mm.

So just let it rest,

rather than trying to put it back in the oven again.

-Lime gravy?

-One of my uncle's favourites, that was.

You think doing an invention test is going to be hard,

and then you realise that it's a lot harder

than you thought it was going to be.

You can try and practise as much as you want,

but there's no practice you can do for that.

You did ace.

Marketing consultant Alison has served poussin,

with an apricot jam and butter glaze,

a salad of black rice, apricots,

pistachios, chillies and mint,

with roasted butternut squash and hummus.

Yum!

Super yum!

Really, really nice!

Lovely, lovely dish! It's North African, Middle Eastern,

you've captured the flavours brilliantly.

I think you've showed a really good touch here and understanding of flavours.

-Thank you.

-I like it.

-It's super.

-Ah...

And I tell you what's made it, it's the hummus.

Because hummus has become the sauce underneath,

it's the glue to hold the whole thing together,

and as far as a market challenge goes, yeah, it's really impressive.

Great.

-That was awesome.

-I can breathe now.

-INDISTINCT SPEECH

-Yeah, I know, I know.

-Well done.

-Thanks.

-Well done...

-INDISTINCT

Refuse worker Sinead has cooked a raspberry bread and butter pudding

and served it with custard.

Trying to make a bread and butter pudding look good

is always difficult, cos it's a big, family pot of sharing stuff.

You've managed it here, a little individual one.

It's a tasty pudding, a tasty pudding.

I think it could probably be a little bit more special,

but it's a tasty pudding.

Thank you.

My issue in eating it is that I find it too sharp.

-Right.

-And, actually, not sweet enough.

Not enough sugar on the raspberries.

-Right, OK.

-Not enough sugar in the custard.

-Oh, right.

Sinead, thank you very much.

-Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks.

-Thank you.

The judges probably thought it may have been a little bit safe, but,

you know, it's who I am.

so, we'll just wait and see.

It's nerve-racking.

Legal assistant Sophie has made coriander flatbreads,

served with roasted squash and courgettes,

a tomato and pepper relish,

and a sweetcorn and pomegranate salsa.

Piling it together in one mound, the salsa and the veg,

is going to make it wet and mushy.

Yeah, it's a bit of a muddle.

The things are cooked well. You've seasoned well.

But it is a salad with a dressing.

-Great.

-I like it, so...

Flight attendant Bernice has roasted poussin stuffed with lemon, thyme,

sage and garlic, topped with crispy ham, with Savoy cabbage,

roast potatoes and a red wine sauce.

I'm not a fan of your presentation.

-Mm-hm.

-I don't like it piled up like that.

-OK.

-And you seem to have ripped the chicken to bits.

-Mm.

That chicken is really moist and it is coming alive

with the flavour of herbs. Potatoes are well-seasoned.

Listen, you have good flavours and good textures on there.

That's very much let down by your presentation.

-I mean, you've ripped that chicken apart.

-Sorry.

-Yeah.

I agree with Gregg.

It's a moist piece of chicken that you've pulled apart.

A lovely breast and a piece of leg on a plate,

it would be a gorgeous, gorgeous-looking dish.

-It's good.

-OK.

But it could be a little bit better.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

I'm happy with the comments, really happy.

I know my presentation was a bit shocking, but, yeah, so, we'll see.

-Going well.

-Thanks. Thank you.

Last up is classic car specialist David.

He's served pan-fried duck breast with a cream mushroom sauce,

fondant potato, carrots in orange and thyme,

fine green beans

and roasted tomatoes.

It's sound. I mean, really sound.

That mushroom sauce,

it takes me back to a time as a kid and it's really, really comforting.

Your potato fondant is lovely and soft,

your carrots are cooked, your beans are cooked,

your duck is cooked just enough, it's seasoned well.

It just deserves to probably come out of 1975

and into 2017.

It's good, old-fashioned, classic French cooking

and it tastes like it.

Put a smile on an old man's face. Well done.

I just enjoyed it.

And, you know, having got some decent,

good comments and some good steers on how to improve,

just want to do it again. Absolutely, yes.

Some good food in this round, I think.

We've got some very, very good cooks.

One in particular stands out for me.

-And who's that, then?

-Alison.

Yeah, I agree.

Alison's dish, I doubted, cos there was so much going on.

But it really worked.

The most surprising plate of food today, for me, came from David.

Cos David's presentation was definitely 1975,

but his food tasted great.

His cookery knowledge is obvious.

-Yeah.

-He makes tasty food. I'm happy to put David through.

Anna made a very good tart.

Very good palate. Obviously knows pastry.

Anna looks very promising.

Sophie was very, very disappointing.

Neither you nor I could work out what Sophie's dish was.

It didn't taste very good.

I think Sophie leaves us.

I think it's difficult for Sinead to advance,

doing something quite basic,

like a bread and butter pudding. I don't mind if it's a beautifully

flavoured bread and butter pudding, but I didn't find it sweet enough.

It's called a sweet for a reason.

I found Jason's dish to be a bit disconcerting.

Lamb and lime is not something I really I want to eat together

and the lamb was really overcooked.

I mean, right now, big question mark hanging over Jason,

-cos I liked it and you didn't.

-Imran?

Imran gave us what I thought was a very colourful, very different,

very attractive plate.

But it tasted of very little.

Let's talk about Bernice for a moment, OK?

I didn't like the way she hacked around at that poussin.

But the poussin tasted lovely.

We've got two more places to give, one more person needs to go home.

Bernice, Jason and Imran.

There's our three candidates.

Who stays and who goes?

There was some great food.

And for us, there were three outstanding cooks.

And those three outstanding cooks are...

Alison,

David

and Anna.

You three are safe.

Thank you.

The first person leaving us...

is Sophie.

The second person leaving us...

-Sinead.

-OK, thank you.

So that now leaves you three.

Jason, Bernice and Imran.

The third person leaving us...

is Jason.

-Jason, thanks very much.

-Thanks a lot.

I feel a bit disappointed,

but I kind of expected it, cos I knew I could've done a lot better

than that, and the other people that have gone through are really, really good, so I'm proud of them.

I didn't want to be the first out, but, erm, you know,

there was some good cooks there and all the best to them.

Definitely not going to stop cooking,

otherwise my girlfriend would starve.

So I'll have to keep going for her more than anything.

Welcome back.

This, today, is a step up.

You are cooking for the final three from 2015.

Tony Rodd, Emma Spitzer

and the winner, Simon Wood.

Two courses, one hour and 15 minutes.

Let's cook.

Try not to cut myself today.

I work as cabin crew in the summer time,

so I'm quite used to remaining calm,

so I'm going to have to be my best today.

Just got to be 100%.

I hope.

Your two courses today, Bernice, are what?

I'm doing, erm, tuna steak,

with anchovy, basil and tomato, like salsa,

and then I'm doing a almond and vanilla sponge

and white chocolate meringue,

it's crushed up meringue, with the pistachio and the almonds...

You've got to smash up something, don't you?

-You've got to rip something apart.

-Well, I've got to rip something apart today!

How do you feel about cooking for the final three on MasterChef?

Oh, it's nerve-racking.

I'm so excited about meeting them, but I just,

I really hope they like it. So...

I've got confidence in Bernice today, cos she's got her laugh on.

BERNICE LAUGHS

She's doing two dishes she cooks at home all the time.

But those two dishes have to come up a level.

So, I'm a bit pushed, but I'll be all right.

Since John gave me his comments,

I've put a lot of thought into how to change the plate round.

I think if I had a bit longer, I could improve it further still,

but I've certainly got some positive ideas on how the plate will look

a lot more 21st-century, John.

Marked difference in you today, David.

Your hands are shaking.

Yeah, I've realised the length and breadth of the challenge

I've just thrown myself down.

I've got some lamb cutlets, I've got a port and rosemary jus,

I've got some colcannon with kale.

-Dessert?

-Peaches with amaretto

and Tuaca-flavoured mascarpone and a tuile biscuit.

Are you sure you've got time to do all this?

No, but I've timed it and it worked,

and so if I really get a shift on, I should be OK.

-You didn't realise we were going to come and talk to you?

-No, I didn't.

-You've never seen the programme?

GREGG LAUGHS

Absolutely nothing wrong at all, in my opinion, with David's menu.

Only I'm not convinced he's got the time to do everything.

30 minutes left.

DAVID EXHALES DEEPLY

Being in the last three wasn't the nicest feeling in the whole world.

It was obvious I was very disappointed, so, yeah,

I feel I have a point to prove today.

What are your two courses, Imran?

Loin of lamb on a smoky aubergine puree,

hopefully some crispy lamb crackling,

a salsa verde and a butternut squash fondant.

Dessert is what?

Roasted peach with pistachio crumb.

One of your mates over there is doing lamb and peach.

Does that put you under more pressure?

Considering that he was one of the exceptional cooks from last round, yes.

Imran's promising me a plate of really lovely things.

The thing is he's going to have to make sure there's a huge amount

of flavour in that aubergine.

That aubergine is the source of the dish.

And if he has listened and he does season, I'm going to be a happy man.

It means so much for me to keep going in this competition.

I have the ability to go quite far in this,

so I would be so upset if this didn't go my way

and I got sent home.

So, the starter is a squid and fennel salad

and then I can just move straight onto my main,

which is chicken breast stuffed with chicken livers

and porcini mushrooms on a bed of polenta.

All the effort's going into the main, isn't it?

The starter is designed to get done quickly.

Yeah, but it's really tasty, the starter.

-It better be.

-I like it.

Otherwise you're out.

Great, OK!

Alison's being very tactical.

She knows she's got to do two courses

and she's worked out her menu accordingly.

That's great, as long as her dishes are really delicious.

I genuinely thought I was going home in the first round,

and to not and be here today, it's kind of a bit like,

"Oh, I hadn't planned for this."

To give you an idea, I only brought, like,

one pair of socks.

Are we going to see any food from Cyprus today?

-You are.

-Yes! What are we going to get?

For my starter, I'm doing feta cheese saganaki.

It's feta cheese in a sesame crumb, and that's fried,

and I'm going to serve that with a honey drizzle

at the bottom of the plate,

and then it's got some balsamic glazed figs in.

My main dish is from Cyprus.

They're called keftedes, which are Greek meatballs

in a tomato and aubergine sauce. I'm hoping that everybody likes it.

It's something I've been eating since I was a child.

I know that my palate likes it,

but I'm hoping that's not just cos it's something I've always eaten.

But can you present it in a grown-up way?

I hope so, but I guess the next half an hour will tell.

I'm really concerned about presentation.

It could be really tasty,

but I think it's going to be really hard to make it look smart.

15 minutes.

Since MasterChef, my life has changed an extraordinary amount,

actually, in a really, really good way.

I've been doing some catering, I've been doing some teaching,

I've been doing the odd supper club here and there.

Doing what I love, which is cooking,

but I'm actually getting paid for it, so that's a great thing.

The scale of my life is just so different

from where it was to where it is now.

I've got a book, I've got a restaurant,

I'm the executive chef at a football club.

I cooked dinner for Billy Ocean a month ago.

It's life-changing.

I didn't want to be a cook when I entered the competition,

but now I'm running a restaurant in Shoreditch.

Get recognised on the streets and my food's got better,

so, yeah, life has completely changed.

The round that these guys are going to go through today

is the hardest one in the entire competition.

It's the day that still haunts me now.

Even now, with all the training and everything I've achieved

since winning MasterChef, I would not want to go back and do this day.

-Cheers. Good to see you, boys.

-Cheers.

Bernice, you have just five minutes left.

-Oh, God.

-Are you going to get this up?

Hopefully.

So, Bernice is cooking us yellowfin tuna steak with anchovy,

basil and tomato salsa on a bed of green vegetables and butter beans.

-Sounds good.

-I think she's been quite clever here.

I think it's classic flavours,

but I don't think there's that much to do.

-You've got three minutes, Bernice.

-OK, right.

-Tuna OK?

-Yeah.

-Ready to go?

-Just about.

I just want to get a bit of colour on it.

-Happy with it?

-Yeah.

-Good.

Good job, Bernice.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-It's lovely to meet you.

-You too.

-There you go.

-Ladies first.

-Thank you very much.

Today I've made for you tuna steak with an anchovy,

tomato and basil salsa on the top,

mixed greens with some butter beans and balsamic.

I hope you like it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much. Thanks.

My tuna is really over,

so it's actually gone a little bit dry,

and I don't feel there's enough of the sauce to make it not so dry.

I find it a little bit on the bland side, actually.

It's not great, but it's certainly not a disaster.

The central part of that tuna is cooked really nicely,

but one end is overcooked, the other end is undercooked.

-15 minutes before you serve dessert, yeah?

-OK, yeah.

I think she's got a lot to do with the dessert.

She's got a sponge, she's got white chocolate meringue,

she's got a raspberry liquor sauce and whipped cream,

all in an oven she's never used before.

She's got a lot of work to do there.

-You're really going to have to push.

-OK.

Cos you've got about three minutes left.

Good luck, go on.

OK.

There we are.

Sorry.

Come on.

-Bit wet.

-Yeah.

-Can't stop my hands from shaking.

-Right, your time's up.

-Done?

-Yeah.

-Happy?

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Hi again.

-Sorry about the wait.

-That's all right.

Thank you.

I've made for you an almond and vanilla sponge

with some whipped cream,

some crushed white chocolate meringue

and a raspberry sauce.

It was supposed to be a bit thicker

but didn't thicken enough in time, sorry!

-It's all good. Thank you very much.

-Thanks.

-Thanks.

I think it's absolutely brilliant.

Pure and simple. I would like a little bit more cream to go with it,

then I could finish the entire plate. Spot on.

I really like it.

I think she's got such a lovely, light touch with this dessert.

It's properly tasty and she's got that sponge cooked perfectly.

I'm really enjoying her sweet light sponge with the sharp,

sweet raspberry across the top.

I'm also enjoying the sweetness of the meringue.

It tastes nice.

I tell you what, give me a planeful of, like, 200 people,

screaming children, people moaning any day over that,

cos that's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life.

So, David's main, lamb cutlets.

I did something similar in this round

so I know that he's up against it with that.

There's a lot of elements. You've got kale,

you've got colcannon, some potatoes there,

then the endives, as well as a port and rosemary jus.

It's a lot to balance.

If David pulls this off, I'll be buying him a pint later.

He's done really well.

Take your time, David, you've got plenty of time.

-Three minutes, David.

-Thank you.

You got it all done, mate, didn't you?

-Did it all, chaps.

-You've got it all done.

I like your presentation.

Wow!

-You've got to go now.

-OK.

-Good afternoon.

-Hiya.

-Hi.

Thank you.

Today I've made for you lamb cutlets with a port and rosemary jus,

colcannon with leek and kale,

thyme and orange glazed carrots,

some caramelised endives and some roasted tomatoes.

-I hope you enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

You don't need the carrots, you don't need the tomatoes.

If he'd just stuck with the endives,

the lamb and the colcannon, seasoned properly,

I think he'd have had a really good dish.

It's showing through that he's given himself too much to do.

Too much, mm.

The lamb is cooked beautifully, it really is lovely and soft.

It's perfect. Yeah, I mean, it's just short of a really,

really tasty dish. Having said that,

I'm finishing that lamb cos it really is the star on the plate.

Love the pink lamb, love it,

and I love that sweet jus he's serving,

flavoured with rosemary. Some really nice touches there.

15 minutes and then dessert goes, yeah?

Thank you, yes. Right, here we go.

So, dessert - baked peaches in Vin Santo with crushed amaretti,

fresh raspberries, Tuaca mascarpone and an almond tuile.

-JOHN:

-So, you're confident now?

-I'm happier now, yeah.

What about tuiles? What's happening with tuiles?

-I'm behind on the tuiles, I'm afraid.

-BEEPING

-EMMA:

-I like the idea of the fruit with the texture of

the crushed Amaretti biscuit and, obviously, love mascarpone.

If he gets the tuile right, I could be sold.

-Two minutes, David.

-Come on.

-What else needs to go on this dessert?

-Just the cream.

HE GROANS

We are done.

You have got through a remarkable amount of work.

Right, let's go.

For dessert, I've prepared for you a roasted peach

with amaretto flavoured with Vin Santo,

a Tuaca-flavoured mascarpone cream,

a tuile biscuit and some raspberries.

-And I hope you enjoy it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Lovely.

TONY CHUCKLES

You know what? This looked awful.

But I don't care what it tastes like if it tastes like this.

I'll eat it all, thanks very much.

Yeah, happy, really happy with this one.

That topping is so delicious.

I'm loving the texture contrast between the crunchy top,

the delicious cream. Really tasty, really tasty.

It's not avant garde, it's not trendy, it's just a crowd-pleaser,

and that's the point of it. David's making food that people want to eat.

It's the sort of dish you look down and realise you've eaten it.

That was a challenge. My goodness, that was a challenge.

-Happy with that, Imran?

-Yes.

-Ready to rock?

-Yes, sir.

Good. You've got three minutes.

I need to make sure I don't dribble on this menu

when I read out what Imran's making.

A lamb loin, smokey aubergine puree,

butternut squash fondant,

braised baby leeks, crackling. Lovely!

Really, really nice flavours on there.

Really, really quite excited by that one.

Right, go on, then. Two minutes to go.

Got to get it up.

Come on, come on.

Leeks... Ah, crackling.

You've got 60 seconds left, so I think you are just about there.

OK, that's it.

-Hello.

-Hi, there.

How's it going?

-There you go, Emma.

-Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

I've made for you today loin of lamb on a smokey aubergine puree,

baby leeks, butternut squash fondant

and a salsa verde.

-I hope you enjoy it.

-Thank you.

-No worries.

I think Imran's done a really good job.

It looks good and it tastes good too.

The lamb's cooked beautifully and these little bits of lamb crackling,

it's great. I really like it.

I think this is fine dining, this is good.

I think this is somebody who really, really understands flavour

and how to put it all together. Really good.

I find so much to admire in this.

The soft squash, the lovely pink lamb.

I want twice as much food on my plate.

Am I right in thinking you've done nothing for your dessert yet at all?

-Yes, sir.

-You haven't started your dessert at all?

-Nope.

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

-Yes, sir.

So, Imran's doing peach, pistachio, rose and cream.

That's very clever, not telling us what he's cooking in case

something doesn't work out.

Imran, are you sure these peaches are going to cook?

Cos you've got about four minutes left.

I'm going to be over.

I think it's going to be a really good dish.

I'm looking forward to this.

I need to push you, this should be going out in one minute's time.

How are they looking?

They're not fully cooked, they're not fully cooked.

How much longer do you really think, Imran, they're going to be?

I reckon they might take another ten minutes.

I think they're going to take that long,

so I think I'm just going to serve them now.

Five minutes over.

All done? Come on. Brave face.

Hi. Terribly sorry I'm late.

Peaches took slightly longer to cook than I'd hoped.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

This is roasted peach,

a rose cream with rose water in there and some vanilla.

-Hope you enjoy. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I'm sorry, but I really don't like it at all.

My peach is quite hard.

The flavour balance is all wrong.

It tastes like a bar of soap.

This was an afterthought, and if he's tried that and he likes it,

I'd be very surprised.

Tactically, had a very, very simple dessert.

And all he had to do was put those peaches in the oven

15 minutes prior and it would have been on time

and it could have been delicious.

The pressure in there, it is unreal,

especially when you've got John and Gregg just there.

-Five minutes, Alison.

-Yeah, that's fine.

Alison's starter - squid and fennel salad.

There really is no hiding place.

If she gets that right, it's going to be brilliant.

If she gets it wrong, she could be going home.

Really going to have to push, my friend,

cos you've got three minutes left.

Once you've done that, is that it?

Yep. Well, just a little garnish.

-OK.

-Can we go? Let's go.

-Hi, guys.

-Hi.

Today I've made for you a fennel and squid salad

on a piece of toasted sourdough. Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

We've got three ingredients here.

Every one of them superbly complements the other one.

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

-The best thing I've eaten today so far.

-Mm.

I would like to give Alison a really big hug right now.

And just say, keep cooking, cos that is just really good.

The combination of the squid, the fennel, the chilli and the dill,

with all that lime juice, it's fantastic.

It's not a complex starter in any way at all, but it's very,

very clever and it's very, very tasty.

Alison, you have just four minutes.

-Yep.

-All right? Are we going to get this out?

Yeah, we are. I just need to finish my sauce and plate up.

So, yeah.

With Alison's main, she's keeping it pretty simple

and she's working on flavour combinations that really work,

so hopefully she's going to be able to absolutely nail it.

But any mistake, we're going to really see.

-You've got about two minutes left.

-Yeah.

Sorry, guys. One minute, 30 seconds.

I've tasted a lot of food and that just looks delicious to me.

Go get them.

-Hi again.

-Hi.

There you go.

Guys, today I've made for you polenta

with a stuffed chicken breast

stuffed with livers and porcini mushrooms,

-served with girolles. Enjoy.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I don't want to say, "Yeah, I'm delighted,"

and I don't want to say I'm, you know, upset,

cos I just have no idea which way it's going to go.

They could love it, they could hate it...

I'm kind of at a loss.

I think the chicken that's stuffed with the liver

and the duxelles of mushrooms is beautiful.

I'd just eat this in front of a warm fire with a big jumper

and I'd be very happy. This is a stunning dish.

I think Alison has nailed it today.

I think, again, we've got that just right balance of everything.

I'm a big fan of this.

It's one of those great, addictive dishes that you just want to keep on

going back to and back to and back to.

And you and I are both sitting here just eating it.

-You've got just over three minutes, Anna.

-Yeah.

Fried cheese - no-one's going to argue with that.

We've got figs, which are sweet -

not sure if we need the honey as well.

Fried cheese, yum. I mean, come on.

Come on, Anna.

What else has got to go on to here?

I just need to put a bit of this drizzle on.

-Can we go?

-We can.

-There you go. There you go, Anna.

-Thank you very much.

-Hello.

-Hello.

I have made you feta saganaki with sesame in a honey glaze sauce

with balsamic honeyed figs.

-Thank you.

-I hope you enjoy it.

-Thank you.

I mean, I think this is just too sweet, even for me.

I have an extraordinarily sweet tooth.

Just too big and it's just too overpowering as a starter.

At the end of the day, these things come down to flavour and for me,

it's not quite right for the dish that's been served.

-GREGG:

-Don't particularly like the look of it.

It looks like a wheaty breakfast brick.

I think it lacks a little ambition.

Keftedes in tomato and aubergine sauce with bulgur wheat.

I love that.

This is the kind of food that I grew up with

and my mum can cook it really well.

So Anna, she must be able to cook it as good as my mum,

otherwise there's trouble.

-You've got three minutes left.

-Three minutes? Thank you.

That's not the neatest-looking.

You're going to kill me on this!

Your time's up. That's OK, cos you've only got

-a couple of slices of bread to put on, right?

-Yep.

-Go on.

-Thank you.

-Hello.

-Hello again.

-Sorry.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I've made you keftedes meatballs in a tomato,

aubergine and onion thick sauce with bulgur wheat on the side

and a little bit of bread just to mop up

-all that sauce at the end.

-Thanks very much.

Thanks very much.

It's highly flavoured, but it's almost a little bland.

The bulgur's very, very bland.

Yeah, I think that my family recipe still holds out strong.

I understand the intention, I really do,

but that tomato sauce with the aubergine

is really reduced and going acidic.

I feel like I've just been hit by about six million buses in one go...

..and also just awesome.

The five cooks we had here today are very different

in their style and approach,

which makes it a little bit difficult to judge.

Alison's food today, two courses, brilliant.

She's got a repertoire, that's for sure.

Do you know what? I think she's got potential.

Oh, she's most certainly got potential.

The amount of work that David got through today gives me great hope,

because not only does he get through the work

but he also delivers food that you want to eat.

Everything he puts on a plate is cooked well and it tastes good.

Anna disappointed me today.

Anna surprised me today. I'm a bit sad about it.

I was disappointed, you were disappointed,

the guys in the back were disappointed.

I think Anna may have seen her last dish on MasterChef.

Now we have to make a very difficult decision between Imran and Bernice.

Bernice kicked off with a piece of tuna with some vegetables

and a salsa across the top.

It was a really big plate of food.

I really didn't like that tuna. Neither did the three guests.

However, they liked her dessert.

You and I can't quite agree on Imran.

We agree that his plates look stylish, look smart.

You think it lacks in flavour, I think it's lovely.

Our guests thought his dessert was bordering on a disaster.

Both of them didn't quite get two courses up that everybody liked,

that's the problem.

If I left, I would still be proud of what I did,

because it really is quite difficult.

Saying that, I don't want to go.

I'd love to get through to the next round,

but let's just see how it goes.

I don't know, I really don't know.

I've always said that this round

is one of the toughest rounds in MasterChef.

And we've had a tough decision,

cos we've only got three quarterfinal places.

Our first quarterfinalist...

..is...

..Alison.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Our second quarterfinalist...

..is David.

-Well done, sir.

-Thank you very much.

Our third and final...

..quarterfinalist...

..is Imran.

Well done.

Well done.

Anna, Bernice, terribly sorry.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, thank you.

I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't get through,

but I actually feel OK, yeah.

I feel really chuffed to have made it this far, so, yeah.

-Well done, man.

-Yeah, well done to you too.

Gutted that I'm not going to be cooking again,

but relieved that I don't have to do this again.

Yeah, it's been good.

Unbelievable!

Congratulations.

Wow.

To be a MasterChef quarterfinalist

is a sentence I never thought I would utter.

I am absolutely delighted.

Yeah, I'm going to definitely have a massive glass of wine.

It's a surreal feeling, when you hear your name called

as a quarterfinalist.

That's just an amazing feeling, it really is.

Tomorrow night it's the quarterfinal,

and Alison, Imran and David

will join Leanne, Jamie and Maria

to fight for their place,

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

It looks very good and I'd be very, very happy

to pay for that in a restaurant.