Episode 20 MasterChef

It's the MasterChef semifinals.

Last night's challenge sent pulses racing.

Three minutes, first plate, please.

Whoa!

I need some help.

At the end of which, Faye was sent home.

-Thank you, thank you very much.

-Sorry, hon.

Now just seven hopefuls remain.

I think there is a huge amount of pressure today.

Someone has to go and everyone is really good.

I need to make zero mistakes and be the best out there today.

The final seems achievable

whereas you couldn't say that a couple of rounds ago.

I've still got a lot of energy and drive in this whole

process, I've not given up.

-Tonight...

-Whoops!

..they'll be thrown in at the deep end...

Move, move, move!

..cooking for experts at the historic Fishmongers' Hall...

I'm on it like a bonnet.

..before returning to the MasterChef kitchen to fight for their place.

Our seven have turned up the heat.

We are in the middle of a red-hot semifinal.

It's ridiculously early. Like, it's not the morning.

This is the middle of the night.

While the city sleeps,

the semifinalists are on their way to one of the capital's oldest

food trading establishments.

Billingsgate Fish Market.

Originally an open-air market,

Billingsgate dates back to the 17th century

and was the epicentre for London's booming fish trade.

Today, it covers an area of 13 acres

and 25,000 tonnes of seafood are sold through its merchants

every year.

Good morning. A nice early morning.

And welcome to Billingsgate Fish Market.

Today is obviously a celebration of fish and seafood.

You are going to cook a lunch.

The guests at this lunch will include members of the Company of Fishmongers,

one the oldest livery companies in the City of London and

leading chefs and restaurateurs.

This should be wonderful.

Before you cook your lunch, you need to go and get your ingredients.

I suggest you get going.

Off you go.

The contestants have each designed a course for the 20 VIP guests

at today's lunch.

-Morning.

-Morning.

-Morning.

-Hi.

-Morning.

But they must first source their ingredients from the 300 traders working in the market.

If you come to the market, you can buy practically everything.

These are the large wild tiger prawns.

These ones here are farmed from Mexico.

There's nowhere else in the country where you can get such a variety of fish.

-Oh, my God!

-Look at the size of that.

125, 150 different species on a daily basis.

Which ones would you recommend for a curry?

-For a curry? These ones.

-The little ones.

-Yeah.

It's a one-stop shop, really.

Can I have the biggest ones you've got, please?

Well, Billingsgate is a wholesale market

but it's also open to the public.

How are you doing? Just after some clams.

So all these guys will have turned up anywhere between midnight

and two to set up their stands.

They are not fishmongers, they are fish merchants,

so they will sell you a lobster, a John Dory, a sea bass,

they'll sell you a box of sprats.

You need to know how to prepare them, though.

If any of them are opened, I just chuck them out, yeah?

Yes. If you see any open ones, if you bring them back,

I'll try and refund your money,

but I think my boss might have a bit of a problem!

With all their ingredients selected...

-Here's your change there, love.

-Cheers.

..the contestants now have to travel to today's prestigious venue to prepare lunch.

Standing proudly on the north bank of the River Thames

is Fishmongers' Hall.

Headquarters of the Fishmongers' Company.

So, the Fishmongers' Company is one of the ancient guilds of the City of London.

Traces its roots back to 1272.

All the guilds had a hall where they met.

It's where the membership gather

and it's where we conduct our business with the fishing industry.

The size and the elegance of this building gives you a real idea of

how important the fish industry was and still is.

The thing is with fish, there is a right way and a wrong way,

there is no middle ground, and with an audience like today, who

understand what it should be like, it's got to be absolutely perfect.

Today, you're cooking lunch for 20 people and I'll be running the pass.

It is going to be fast, it is going to be furious,

you'll be done table by table, order by order, and we will be on time.

At the end of this,

the diners today will choose their two favourite dishes from the menu.

Those two cooks will be safe,

the other five will need to cook off against each other

to stay in the competition.

Find your stations and off you go.

The contestants will have 90 minutes' prep time in the main kitchen

before they have to transport the food upstairs to the finishing kitchen.

Service will be split into three courses.

It is going to be pretty intense, I think,

obviously to cook for people who love fish

and know so much about fish, there's a lot of pressure there.

Lorna and Steve are each responsible for a dish in the first course.

We'll be grand, Steve, we'll be grand.

We'll be grand, don't worry about it.

Steve's first job is to prepare 60 prawns

for his take on one of Britain's favourite seafood dishes.

So, I'm doing a take on a prawn cocktail.

Obviously not putting it in a wine glass!

I'm going to do a bit of avocado puree, sweetcorn puree, cucumber ketchup.

The whole point of this dish is it needs to look good,

so it's not just a prawn cocktail

that you get round your auntie's house on Christmas Day,

sort of thing, in the '70s.

Meanwhile, Lorna is filleting eight plaice

for her Mexican-inspired dish of

crispy fish tacos with mango salsa and a smoky hot sauce.

Never filleted any kind of fish before, if I'm honest.

Looking a little bit ropey, but hopefully towards fish eight,

it will be better.

Lorna is making an enormous statement,

taking a piece of plaice and turning it into a taco.

I'm doing a rubbish job.

The only concern I've got with Lorna is that her dish is still elegant.

Keep your knife down.

It seems almost like you're cutting it into the bone.

That's fine, cut into the bone, even harder down,

that's it, there you go.

Taking charge of the second course are Giovanna...

That's really nice. If I do say so myself!

..and Brodie, who is busy making a Taiwanese-inspired dish -

steamed buns called bao,

with mackerel fillets and Asian coleslaw.

I'm just getting the batter going.

It's going to take a while to rise.

It's time-sensitive,

so it's the first thing I've got to get cracking on with.

With his bao buns under way,

Brodie can turn his attention to preparing the mackerel fillets.

I guess it is a learning process,

you've got to learn as quickly as you can on the job.

Practice maketh perfect.

Do you not think you should have done something more traditional

in such glorious surroundings?

Perhaps. But I guess, for me, all through the competition I've been

playing around with different cuisines

and I didn't want to stop here just because

of the surroundings, I wanted to be true to the way I have been cooking.

Is it basically a mackerel in a bun?

Basically, it is a mackerel in a bun! Yeah!

The centrepiece of Giovanna's dish is octopus.

The thing you have to do with octopus is get it really tender,

because no-one wants a chewy octopus.

There are loads of different ways, how to get it as tender as possible,

the Greeks bash it against a rock,

but generally you just have to boil it for quite a long time, which is

why I need to get it in.

First, she has to make the stock to cook the octopus.

Using the whole bottle?

Yeah, I'm going to put loads of water in as well.

-Let me show you something.

-Go on, then.

-Centrifugal force.

-Spin the bottle around.

-That's clever.

That's how you did it at uni, isn't it? That's how you got drunk!

To the wine, onions, lemons and water are also added.

My grandmother also puts the wine cork in the pot.

So you put corks from your wine in the pot?

Apparently the cork itself tenderises it.

The third and final course is down to Alison, Jamie and Saliha.

I'm making a prawn curry, a swordfish curry and a cod kofta.

I'm trying to shell and devein these prawns as fast as possible

because I've got a lot to do and not very long to do it in.

Saliha, you seem to have given yourself more work than anybody else

by doing three dishes instead of one.

I've got a plan, a cunning plan, and I'm quite good at multitasking,

so I'm positive about getting everything done on time.

Of course I want to be the one who gets the pass to go through to the

next round, that is the ultimate aim. I'm going to try my best.

Meanwhile, Jamie is getting to grips with his hake,

which he is serving with chorizo, tomatoes and aioli.

I've never filleted a fish this big before,

but it seems like it is going OK so far, so fingers crossed.

So, I'm doing pollock,

with clams, and a red pepper puree,

courgette and seaweed gnocchi.

Seaweed gnocchi, I can't wait for seaweed gnocchi!

-How did that come about?

-I've used seaweed in a dish before.

Seaweed and red pepper is kind of an unusual combination

but it works really well. I haven't seen anyone else do it,

but I tried it at home and it works.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

Steve and Lorna, you are an hour into your cooking already.

There is just 30 minutes of prep time left

before Lorna and Steve need to relocate to the finishing kitchen.

That smells nice, mate. Lovely.

Steve's cooked his prawns in smoked paprika

and has moved on to prepping his avocado.

Steve, you going to be on time, mate?

Just trying to get this mandolin right.

These avocados ain't perfect, to be honest.

I might do it by hand, just might be safer.

Steve, how much of a prawn cocktail is it, really?

Well, we've got the prawns for the prawn cocktail,

that will be with the Marie Rose sauce, and then to present it,

wrap the avocado around the prawns, place that on a plate.

-So, no iceberg lettuce?

-No, iceberg lettuce, I'm afraid, no.

-Not today.

-Feeling under pressure, aren't you?

Definitely so. I think today we're against the clock,

we don't have a lot of time left.

I need to get really get on and get these sliced.

Everybody loves a prawn cocktail.

But you're not doing a prawn cocktail.

I am, I'm stuffing it in a bit of avocado, though!

Steve was very calm at first and now he's realising that actually

he's got a lot more to do.

Also, I think prawn cocktail is going to be very popular.

After struggling to fillet her fish for over an hour,

Lorna is behind making the tortilla mix for her tacos.

Honestly.

And with prep time running out, the pressure is beginning to tell.

SHE SNIFFLES

What's wrong? Having a bad day?

-Yeah.

-Right. OK. It's all OK.

I want you to do me a favour.

I'll sort this out. I'll wipe it down.

It's OK. You've got flour in your eye, though.

Go and find a bathroom.

Wash your face. I'll see you in a second.

Be back in five minutes, please. Quick, quick. Go, go, go.

Go, go.

Lorna has had a bit of a tough day so far.

Found it really tough, got a bit emotional.

I don't mind that. At least it means she cares.

All right? Good. Your dough is there.

Yeah.

I had a bit of a 'mare.

I think it's just the stress and the pressure and obviously being here,

and it's something I've never cooked before.

-You don't cook a great deal of fish?

-No, I don't.

-Is that making you nervous?

-So nervous, yeah.

Really, really nervous.

Mate, you know you got to the final seven of MasterChef, don't you?

-I know.

-Do you know what that says about your cooking credentials?

You're going to be fine.

Do you know what? If it was anybody else, I'd be worried.

-But I'm not worried.

-Thank you.

Neither should you be.

Thank you.

On the second course,

Giovanna has started work on her octopus accompaniments of black rice

and nduja sausage.

Nduja? What's nduja?

It's really soft Calabrian sausage.

-I know this.

-It's very spicy.

Yeah, it's got lots of chilli in it.

To enhance the flavour of the rice,

she's cooking it in a stock made from prawn shells.

Do you think you're being bold and brave here,

it's not everyone's cup of tea, is it, a big lump of octopus?

Hopefully, if I cook it well, they'll like it.

You know you're cooking fish for a room full of fish experts?

Yes, a room full of fish aficionados.

Giovanna is as sound as a pound right now.

She knows exactly what she is doing and all she has got to do now

is make sure that octopus is lovely and tender,

her rice is cooked all the way through.

I think Giovanna has got it well planned.

I'm always worried at this stage because there's so many long

cooking times in mine that I sort of have to hope it's going to be ready.

But we still have half an hour, so it should be fine.

Lorna is still here. As soon as Lorna goes, I'll panic.

All right?

Also on the second course,

Brodie is starting to slip behind

with the making of his Taiwanese buns.

Basically, I need to get my bao dough rolled,

that's quite a time-consuming thing.

Each bun needs to be individually shaped and left to prove before

being steamed to give them a light, fluffy texture.

Hopefully, I will steam these buns down here, at least some of them,

but I might have to finish steaming them upstairs.

I need to make my mayo and adjust my coleslaw a little bit

and then plate up.

Brodie lives in his own world.

It's slow, it's quiet, and it's a little bit scary.

And he's got all those bao to make,

I'm like that with Brodie right now.

Ah! It's nothing.

With just 45 minutes before service begins,

the lunch guests are beginning to arrive.

They include senior fish inspectors from Billingsgate,

the President of the National Federation of Fishmongers

and the Prime Warden of Fishmongers' Hall,

as well as some of the country's leading chefs and restaurateurs.

Taking some fresh fish and just cooking it very simply

and allowing it to speak for itself, that is the art of cooking fish.

I've had some of the best meals - outside of my wife's cooking -

here at Fishmongers' Hall.

I definitely want to see some excellent execution of the fish.

But also, I'd really love to see

some creativity and some really fantastic bold flavours

coming through as well.

I think the contestants today are going to be really nervous.

You've got a whole bunch of people who really know their stuff

about seafood. They're in a strange kitchen.

If I was them, I'd be really nervous.

We've got about 15 minutes before we go upstairs.

Then we have got 15 minutes up there and then that is it, we're going,

we're serving.

-Steve?

-Yep.

-Yep?

-All fine.

-Good.

With prep time almost over, Saliha is on track

with her trio of curries.

Her base sauces are made and she has moved on

to her Kashmiri cod and potato koftas.

So far, everything is looking OK,

I've just got to run left right and centre

because there is a lot for me to do.

But, I'm on it like a bonnet, yeah.

To go with his hake, Jamie is making a tomato and chorizo sauce.

It's a bit of a race against time,

scary to think how soon we're going to be going upstairs.

I've got to absolutely pick up the pace and keep going.

I'm just prepping my fish.

I'm going to sous vide it.

Hopefully that saves me a few minutes later on,

not having to cook them each to order.

That is the plan, although I've never sous vide anything before!

So, we'll see how it goes.

Alison seems really calm, which frightens me,

because Alison so far has cleaned her fish

but I haven't seen any gnocchi, and that concerns me.

Because gnocchi take longer than cooking the fish.

Yay!

This is so slow, I thought it would be literally be like zoom, done.

Guys, we are going upstairs in two minutes.

They have got some of the best fish from the market today,

so if they could cook it to perfection,

we'll have a fantastic lunch.

Steve and Lorna are first to head upstairs to the service kitchen.

Little bit of a last-minute rush.

Are you ready to go, Lorna? Steve, let's go, please.

Looks fabulous. I'm excited.

Go, lift there, go.

Go, go, go. I'll see you up there.

Well, I think for amateur chefs, I think it's a very creative menu.

I've got an eye twitch. You know when you get a tired eye twitch?

And quite ambitious, I think, as well.

Considering the guests they've got to feed today.

Something's happened to the puree in the lift and it's just gone

everywhere. There's not going to be enough there for 12 people now.

Well, there's still half a pot of it left downstairs.

With the guests about to order their first course,

Steve makes a last-ditch attempt to salvage his sweetcorn puree.

Not a lot left, so not much I can do, really.

Hardly worth running down, wasting the time, to be honest.

Steve will just have to hope there's enough, as the orders are coming in.

I'd love to try the prawn cocktail, please.

I'm going to have the crispy plaice tacos, please.

-Prawn cocktail for starters.

-Yes, ma'am.

Guys, your first order's in.

-Three prawns and four plaice.

-Yes, Chef.

-OK.

-Eight minutes, guys.

We're going to go at 20 to exactly.

You need to hurry.

We're going back to my time here, prawn cocktail.

Be interesting how they present it,

because you can actually do a lot of twists on it now.

There were some very bad ones in 1976, so we'll see.

Or crispy plaice tacos with red slaw.

Guacamole and mango salsa, served with smoky hot sauce.

Let's go.

It just looks very, very different.

I quite like the idea of plaice with a smoky hot sauce.

Steve, she's got the stuff up already, lets go.

-30 seconds.

-Go, go, go. Yeah, 30 seconds too long.

Go, go, quickly.

You've got two prawn, three plaice coming up next. New table, please.

Three more prawn and two plaice, please.

-Yep.

-Thank you.

Service. Go.

Hello, thank you very much. That's the prawn cocktail.

Thank you. Go.

No, I was not expecting this at all.

That's great.

-Looks fantastic, doesn't it?

-Yeah, looks absolutely superb.

-Three plaice on.

-Yep.

-Straight after that another two, please.

-Yep.

-That's five, all day. Come on, let's go on these.

With the first table served, the orders keep coming.

I think I'm going to try the crispy plaice.

-Yeah.

-And Lorna's fish tacos are a popular choice.

You've got five more on order after this.

-OK.

-And you've only got...

Is that all you've got? There's not another bundle of them somewhere?

Six and three is nine and you need 15 pieces.

-I think you miscounted on how many tacos you wanted.

-This is all I have.

Take one off each of those and make them bigger.

-OK?

-OK.

-And do two,

because otherwise you're not going to be able to serve everybody.

-You're going to run out of orders.

-I don't know what's happened here.

-I don't either.

Right, let's go, get on those three.

-OK.

-Steve, two up.

Last table, guys. Come on. Come on, Steve, let's go, let's go.

Service, please.

Right, clear down, please.

We've got the next lot of people coming up.

Oh, this looks fabulous.

My starter looks absolutely amazing.

Lorna's crispy plaice tacos are served with guacamole,

red cabbage coleslaw, mango salsa, sour cream and a smoky hot sauce.

I quite enjoyed service after all of that!

It's been a pretty tough, emotional, stressful, long day.

But, yeah, I think a good end to it, at least.

The plaice is well cooked, it's nice and moist.

It's not overcooked at all, so very good.

Very soft, very delicate, and the hot sauce really kicks in.

It gives it a great new bite.

This is quite an exciting flavour, actually.

The mango and the guacamole,

I just think is a sensational combination.

Superb. The fish is lovely and light, and you can taste the fish.

Steve's take on a prawn cocktail is spiced paprika prawns in

a Marie Rose sauce, wrapped in avocado with sweetcorn puree,

tomato salsa, baby flowering cucumbers, and a parsley gel.

It was touch-and-go down there to the last second, you know.

But other than that, they seem to be OK.

So hopefully people enjoy it as well.

I think the prawn cocktail is absolutely delicious.

It has got a little bit too much of a kick to it, though.

The prawn cocktail was a letdown.

There was no crisp, no crunch to anything.

Trade descriptions need to get involved with that,

calling that a prawn cocktail, really.

This isn't a prawn cocktail. However, it's a decent dish.

Slippery avocado with soft prawns is a nice idea.

He's been a little heavy-handed with the spice.

It's a little bit harsh.

It's got a very nice flavour, but its not a prawn cocktail.

Come on, we're going now! Five minutes, we're serving food!

With the first course over,

it's now Brodie and Giovanna's turn in the spotlight.

Oh!

Giovanna checks the cooking of her octopus.

The octopus is still really chewy, which isn't ideal.

I don't really know what to do about it.

Guys, it should be in the lift by now.

Brodie, we've got to go, mate.

I just need to get this mayonnaise...

Brodie, you've got 30 seconds exactly.

Move, move, move!

They're looking all right. I just hope they're cooked through,

it's kind of hard to tell at the moment. But they've risen.

They smell good.

The steam bao buns with mackerel, Asian coleslaw,

I think is a really interesting dish.

Octopus is people's favourite ingredient these days.

There's lots of chefs using it, and if they do it right,

it could be pretty spectacular.

First order in, please.

One bun, four octopus straight up.

-Yes, Chef.

-Follow that straightaway, please, on table two,

with four buns and two octopus, please.

Yeah.

Steam bao buns - like, I love Asian food.

Mackerel, I love it.

So really excited to see what they do with that.

-Brodie, how long?

-Um...

-How long on one bun?

-45 seconds.

How long on four octopus?

-Two minutes.

-Right, let's go then, please.

Cooking octopus, you've got to make sure that it's tender.

Peppers and a vinaigrette, I think, should go very, very well with it.

Service, please. Four octopus, one bun, please, table one.

I think the presentation looks really good.

The colours that come up are really good.

But it's all in the eating.

The presentation looks lovely, but the bao bun does look very big.

Order on, table four, two more buns, three octopus.

So now you've got six octopus all day, please.

Yep.

Giovanna's getting lots of orders,

but she's not happy with how her dish is turning out.

John, my octopus really isn't good.

-I don't...

-Mate, I don't know what you're going to do,

-cos I can't change it.

-I know, but I don't know if I should serve it.

It just didn't tenderise at all.

And it's just not great at all.

-Four buns now.

-Yes, Chef.

Thank you.

Service, please.

Still to go to table two, please.

OK, last order, please.

Three octopus, two buns.

-Yes, Chef.

-One more bun to come, please.

There's no more octopus, that's it.

It's all in this pan here.

Fine, then make it stretch to six portions.

Service, please. Table four, two buns.

Three octopus, go.

Brodie has served mackerel in a bao bun,

with a spicy mayonnaise and Asian coleslaw.

That was nuts. We seem to be, like,

going steadily along fine and then suddenly it was just like

bam, bam, bam.

I thought the mackerel was absolutely delicious.

I mean, it was really, really flavoursome, juicy, fantastic.

The bun, there was just too much of it.

A fresh coleslaw is great in its own right,

but spicing it up with some Asian spices

has just given it that complete wow factor. I think it's great.

The mackerel was nice and it works really nicely with the slaw.

I could probably just ditch the bun.

The bao bun, I think, is too stodgy, but the fish was cooked superbly.

Giovanni's octopus is served with black Nerone rice,

nduja sausage,

grilled red peppers and a parsley vinaigrette.

The presentation was fantastic, the rice was very nice,

as was the parsley vinaigrette.

The octopus was just not quite as tender as I would have liked it to have been.

The octopus was quite chewy. It was much chewier than I imagined it was going to be.

The rice has got a nice texture, the peppers are great.

But the main event is not great.

It just didn't go how I wanted it to go.

It was a bit of a disaster, to be honest.

The star of the dish is the octopus

and it just wasn't cooked well enough.

I'm just really disappointed with myself and I'm just...

I just feel like I've let everyone down.

With two courses served,

Jamie and Saliha are ready to go in the finishing kitchen.

Where's Alison?

I have to make about 40 gnocchi.

I'm not sure if I'm going to get it all done.

And then I'm going to go for the hake fillet.

I'm going to try the trio of curries.

I just need to deep-fry my gnocchi, but everything else is done.

Course three, I'm going for the pollock and the clams.

-Yes, of course.

-Thank you very much.

-They all sound really good.

-Yeah, they do.

First table in. Three hake, two curry, one pollock.

Thank you very much. Six minutes the pass, please.

Jamie has to bake his fish to order,

so that it hits the pass at the same time as the others.

I'm a big fan of hake.

If it's cooked nicely and simply, it should be fantastic.

Saliha's challenge is to bring together all eight elements of her dish.

Come on, come on, let's go.

I'm going to try, definitely, the trio of fish with curries with saffron rice.

Sauces shouldn't overpower the fish,

so it'll be an interesting balance.

Right, let's go.

I'm going to go for the pollock and clams.

I like gnocchi, and I think it's going to be very good.

Second order in, please.

Two hake, two curry, two pollock.

With multiple orders coming through,

Jamie is struggling to keep up with the pace.

Come on, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Come on, go, go, go, go, go.

Two more in the oven, quickly.

I need to get these off to use this pan.

Go, go, go, quick, quick, quick.

Hold back, please, Alison. Hold back, Saliha, please.

Hold back, guys. Just waiting on Jamie.

Right, Jamie, can we go on these other plates now?

Yeah, we're going.

Service, please.

Come back for three fish.

If it tastes anything like it looks, then we'll be fine.

What you can't see is what we're smelling, which is extraordinary.

I mean, it is extremely aromatic.

-Ready?

-Yeah. Done.

-Service, please.

The plates are very hot.

Bit concerned at the water running out of the tomato, there.

But, yeah, looks great.

Jamie has served baked hake fillet with chorizo, aioli,

and a tomato and chorizo sauce.

Yeah, it was full-on, it was tough, it was quick,

it was hard to keep control and make sure the plates are really good,

while John was shouting.

But it was good fun.

The hake is beautifully cooked.

The chorizo, it's quite a powerful flavour and the aioli,

so there's quite a lot going on, which slightly

overwhelms the hake. But it's extremely good, very tasty indeed.

The sauce is a little bit thin.

I'd like it...a much more thicker, tomatoey sauce.

Saliha's trio of curries include a prawn Malabar curry,

a Kashmiri cod kofta on warm kulcha bread with an almond sauce,

and a fenugreek and swordfish curry with saffron rice.

I'm feeling good. I had a lot to do today,

but overall I think I did a fairly good job

within the limits of the task.

Every single flavour is different on this plate.

They're light, they're mild, you can still taste the fish.

I can't knock it, it's great.

I thought the flavours were absolutely fantastic.

Spices were great, but not too overtly spicy.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

A really satisfying plate of food.

Alison's pollock is served with clams, seaweed gnocchi,

courgette ribbons,

red pepper sauce and basil oil.

It was so much fun. It wasn't absolutely perfect,

but it was done on time, and I think it was tasty.

So yeah, I'm really, really happy, yeah.

Very, very nicely cooked piece of fish.

Not overcooked, really well done.

I like it, it all seems to work OK.

I've loved this. The pollock is perfectly cooked, it's delicious.

It's nice and moist, the sauce goes well with it,

the gnocchi is really nice, it works well with the dish.

I thought they done a brilliant job. I felt it was absolutely great.

It's not easy for professionals, let alone amateurs doing it.

So for what they actually put on the plate and the presentations in some

of the dishes, it was superb.

Cooking fish is not an easy thing to do,

but you've done it so brilliantly

and with such amazing global influences.

We thoroughly enjoyed what we had today and well done to you guys.

The food you've produced has complemented the splendour of this room.

Thank you so much, and we couldn't have enjoyed ourselves more.

APPLAUSE

Apart from an early, cold start in the fish market,

I've had a wonderful day.

This was a fantastic lunch.

At times, it was like going up the Thames against the tide.

Now it's all done, they're understanding how well they've really done.

We're going back to the MasterChef kitchen.

We're going to count up everybody's favourite dish.

Two of them are safe.

Five of them, they are going to have to cook again.

Welcome back. I thought yesterday's challenge

at Fishmongers' Hall was fantastic.

The two most popular dishes from yesterday's lunch were cooked by...

..Alison.

No way!

-Cool.

-Congratulations, well done.

Such a shock.

And Lorna.

Well done.

Ladies, you're going straight through to the next round.

Off you go.

Good luck, guys.

Oh, my gosh!

-That's nuts!

-Oh, my God!

That is insane.

-Well done.

-Well done!

So you five now are cooking for your MasterChef life.

We've reopened the MasterChef market.

And what we want from you is one extraordinary plate of food.

You'll have one hour and 15 minutes to cook it in.

However, in the market, there is no meat nor fish.

Ladies and gentlemen, go and select your ingredients.

Off you go.

We've reopened the MasterChef market and it's time for our five to really

show what they've got.

At this stage in the semifinals,

I want them to present food to me that I'd be happy to pay for.

It's a tricky one. I mean, you have to think outside the box.

Some great fruit out there, and for me, that's a shout at dessert.

They look a little concerned, they look a little stressed, to me.

There's some great dessert stuff there,

but I think I'm going to go for some good old mushrooms.

I like vegetarian food and it lends itself well to Indian kind of cooking.

So I'm thinking of something different.

Time for business. One hour and 15 minutes.

One great plate of food.

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

Let's cook.

Feels like years ago that we were in the first round.

To get this far and to have this much experience,

is an absolute thrill.

And I desperately want to go on.

Jamie, how was yesterday's challenge?

Cos, personally, my end of the room, it was fantastic.

-How was it for you?

-I wasn't thrilled with the way that I handled

the pressure in the kitchen. There were a couple of little mistakes on

the plate and my head went a little bit, so I fully expected to be back here cooking.

What are you making, Jamie?

So I'm making a strawberry dessert, a sort of take on a strawberry cheesecake,

a strawberry sort of cheesecake mix.

There's various different strawberry elements that are going to all sing

in harmony and feel good in the mouth.

You're a bit nervous, mate, aren't you?

Yeah... A little bit nervous.

I think if you're not nervous, you don't care,

and right now I think we all care, so nerves are to be expected.

Jamie, for the first time in an invention test, is doing a dessert.

Is it cheesecake?

Is it a shortbread?

Is it a shortcake?

I'm not quite sure, I don't think Jamie's quite sure.

I think I've really developed in the last couple of tasks.

I've really taken the criticism that I've gotten

and tried to make myself better.

I just don't want that to end, really.

I want to be able to excel even more.

What are you making? Is it going to be a trio of something?

It's not, actually!

-No trio?

-No trio.

-What are you making?

-Some Indian street food, and it's called a chaat.

So what's in this chaat?

A little lentil patty, samosa, chickpea and onion salad,

two chutneys and yoghurt.

I think I've got something new and different to show you.

Saliha is planning on delivering a sort of Indian vegetarian meze feast.

Crispy samosa, lovely soft, spicy filling.

A lentil patty, which has to be crisp on the outside

and soft on the inside.

And a chutney, which is powerful, sharp and sour.

Good luck. If she does it, fantastic.

I think you just have to put bad days behind you.

Everyone has bad days.

In life, that's what happens.

But you just have to pick yourself up. There's no other way through it.

You have to be a fighter in this competition.

Giovanna, are you OK, no fish and no meat?

I cook a lot with fish and meat,

but I've done a lot of desserts in the competition and they've mostly

been quite successful, so I was quite happy to go with a dessert.

-What are you going to make?

-I'm making some pistachio madeleines,

with some rose and raspberry ice cream.

I've done some macerated raspberries.

I'm going to do some candied pistachios and a bit of raspberry and rose curd.

Why would you do all these things? Why this?

Well, cos it's getting close, getting down to the wire.

You need to show what you can do.

I don't have to put everything on the plate, I need to make sure that it all works.

We don't have very much time.

I wanted to give myself a full arsenal of items.

Giovanna, well done, very brave.

-Thanks.

-Go for it.

Giovanna's madeleine and ice cream could be absolutely delicious,

but it's down to that madeleine.

That madeleine has to be the right texture,

lovely and crispy on top, but soft in the centre.

Guys, you've got 30 minutes.

One of my strengths in the competition has been cooking puddings,

which is something that I didn't think I could do,

but actually some of them have gone down really well.

So that was a surprise for me.

Brodie has decided to play to his strengths.

He's doing a dessert.

Bread and butter pudding, flavoured with cardamom,

and then he's going to do us a coconut ice cream on the side.

Great. At the moment,

he's got a big dish full of bread and butter pudding.

How's he going to make it look smart?

So the lack of meat and fish didn't bother you at all, Brodie?

It did initially, but then I thought

maybe it's a sign I should do another pudding.

Brodie, one of you guys is going home.

Yeah, we'll all just have to cook our hearts out and hope that we're on the right side of the judging.

I don't think there's anyone that's particularly stronger than anyone else.

Everyone's had good days, everyone's had bad days.

Just have to make sure I nail it.

-What are you making?

-Mushroom and egg raviolo.

I'm going to serve that with a spinach and cream puree and some Parmesan, pan-fried mushrooms.

I'm trying to do some pickled garlic as well.

Why would you pick a raviolo at this stage?

You know, I know I can do good pasta, I think it looks good, it's simple.

I think sometimes less is more.

Steve is promising us one, single, large raviolo.

The thing is - he's only got one chance,

cos if that raviolo explodes when it's in the water, the game is over.

I've put all my eggs in one basket.

This is your last five minutes.

I'm not happy with how it looks.

60 seconds!

Get it on a plate, now!

And stop.

Steve, please, up you come.

Steve has served wild mushroom and egg yolk raviolo,

topped with black truffle, with a spinach and Parmesan cream,

pickled girolles and garlic, pine nuts and watercress.

Good.

I don't know why you've put some sort of pickling flavour with

the mushrooms around the outside,

cos it now tastes of pickling liquid rather than mushroom.

However, the raviolo is a thing of complete yummyness.

The flavours are one of quite heady truffle and almost meaty mushroom.

The egg yolk gives it real richness.

That's a yummy, yummy thing.

You season things very well, you have great technical ability.

Don't get lost in the fads.

Pickles around a lovely raviolo is a fad.

Yeah, it was obviously a bit mixed.

I mean, I'm glad the main part of the dish worked.

I keep doing it in the invention tests.

It's just that one extra thing that didn't need to be on the plate that

sort of lets it down.

Saliha has made an Indian chaat -

a street food dish consisting of kachori -

a deep-fried lentil dumpling -

potato and chickpea samosa, date chutney,

green chutney and an artichoke and chickpea salad

with sweetened yoghurt.

I think you've done a good job of presentation.

You've got height, you've got colour.

I think if that was put in front of somebody in a restaurant,

I think they'd say, "Yum. Looks great."

I watched you make your kachori.

I was fascinated and I think they're delicious.

Absolutely delicious.

They're flavoured really nicely, quite mellow,

but they've got a lovely bit of spice in the back of your throat.

I like your samosa,

powerful with potato and a little bit of spice in the middle of it.

The rest of the stuff on the outside,

-pack it with flavour the same way as you did with the kachori.

-OK.

I like it. I'd munch my way through it.

Love the dumpling.

The other bits, like the samosa, they don't bring a great deal to me.

I'm a bit annoyed that I made some mistakes,

but happy at the same time that some of the things that I did did turn

out all right and that they liked my presentation, for once.

It didn't look like it was from a takeaway shop!

Jamie's dessert is strawberry shortbread,

with a strawberry cheesecake topping, strawberry caramel tuiles,

freeze-dried strawberries,

strawberry praline sauce and toasted almonds.

Doesn't look quite yet finished.

It looks like some ideas.

I really like the lightly sweetened cream on top of that very well made

and sugared shortbread biscuit.

That, I like. I don't care much for the rest of it.

I feel like that cream and biscuit deserves some better bedfellows.

What this plate needs is more.

More of the strawberry caramel sauce,

more flavour inside that cream,

more of the biscuit on the plate.

Technically, I don't think there's very much going on here.

Shortbread and a fool across the top,

there's nothing that I really love about it.

A little disappointed, to be honest.

I was pretty happy with the flavour combinations.

To get sort of negative comments, or not great comments, was...

Yeah, it was a little disheartening, actually.

Giovanna has also made a dessert.

Pistachio madeleines with macerated raspberries, raspberry curd,

candied pistachios and a raspberry and rose ice cream.

Your ice cream is as smooth as silk and absolutely delicious.

Your madeleines, crispy on the outside, as they should be,

soft on the inside.

Your raspberry curd sitting underneath,

velvet on your tongue, fantastic.

Do they go together? No.

The problem is that crispiness of the madeleine,

as soon as you put it in your mouth, the ice cream,

it turns to soggy cake.

-Yeah.

-But your ice cream's fantastic.

I like absolutely everything on that plate.

I just don't believe they belong together.

Eaten individually, they're a joy.

I don't think it's all doom and gloom.

I think it was mostly good.

It's just the whole dish itself didn't necessarily work.

Finally, it's Brodie.

His dessert is a cardamom and saffron bread and butter pudding,

with apricots, sultanas and blackberries, cooked in ginger wine,

and a coconut ice cream.

I'm impressed that you've actually got some form to that plate,

some shape to the plate,

considering where you were with about five minutes to go,

struggling trying to turn out a bread and butter pudding.

Your coconut ice cream...

is fabulous, I love it.

The texture of your bread and butter pudding, very, very firm.

I don't mind that at all.

This is just silly.

It's burnt.

I like it. I really like it.

Bread and butter pudding and ice cream,

and you've presented it in a way

that makes it almost look like it belongs in a restaurant.

Most certainly, the textures and flavours, to me,

appear like they belong in a restaurant. Well done, mate.

I'm feeling...

all right.

I'm annoyed at myself for not chopping the top off.

By and large, I've got to say I thought it was a good round.

And let's just remember one thing - this was an invention test.

Steve's plate was full of skill.

Ravioli, a runny egg yolk, spinach sauce,

and for some reason he threw some pickled garlic and mushroom across the top.

Who wants pickled mushrooms with it?

He hasn't learnt when to stop.

It was a reasonable dish.

Obviously not perfect. Could be down just to that one little mistake that

you could be gone.

We'll see!

I've got to admire Giovanna's skill today.

I think technically, she did very well.

Madeleines were really delicious.

The ice cream was fantastic.

She made curd. But they didn't belong on the same plate.

I completely agree.

-Completely agree.

-To be honest, I think everyone's had mixed comments.

So I'm not distraught.

I just think that I could have done better.

Saliha's flavours are good, they've always been good.

I loved the plump dumpling, I thought that was absolutely divine.

The samosa was great and crispy and spicy,

but it all needed to be a bit more powerful.

But Saliha has finally got it right on presentation.

I hope that it's not the end of the road for me.

But you know, who knows?

Everybody's a really accomplished chef here.

I have to say, joy and disappointment in equal measure from Brodie, for me.

Joy that he produced a dish which looked great and a very,

very delicious coconut ice cream,

and disappointment in the fact he had burnt bits that he tried to hide

underneath it.

His flavours were great.

Serving a burnt bottom at this stage?

It's foolhardy in the least.

I'd be devastated if I go home.

I don't want it to stop, really enjoying it,

and I think that that's coming across in my cooking.

Jamie's plate was all about shortbread and strawberries.

We had a really nicely made shortbread biscuit

-on top of a light, fluffy cream.

-The rest of the bits and pieces,

I didn't really understand and I didn't understand the point of them.

It seemed to me as though Jamie had an unfinished dish,

as if he ran out of time and ran out of ideas.

At this stage, you've got to make sure everything's absolutely spot-on

on the plate, so it's not looking great.

Thank you very much indeed for a strong round.

As far as an invention test goes, incredible.

The person leaving us...

..is Jamie.

-Jamie, thanks very much indeed.

-Thank you, mate.

Yeah, I'm disappointed to get kicked out, but, you know,

there was a sense of inevitability about it today.

To get to the final seven has been just an incredible experience.

It's been so much fun, met some amazing people.

Really glad I've done it.

-Well done, guys.

-Well done. Very good.

So relieved just to be going through.

I can't tell you.

Final six. Yeah, feels amazing.

It's a good feeling. Yeah, you know,

it would have been nice if it was a bit more smooth.

I am so, so happy. I actually can't believe it.

I thought that that might be the end of the road for me.

I feel great right now.

Try and not drink too much and get an early night

and get back in the kitchen.

Tomorrow night, the remaining six cooks are pushed to their limits,

as they battle for a place in finals week.

Right.

That gratin looks a little wet.

I just want to make noises.

Mmm.

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