Episode 8 MasterChef

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

-Come on.

-Oh!

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

Don't, don't, don't. Oh, no!

Each week, 16 new contestants

battle for a place in Friday's quarterfinal.

It's a masterpiece.

Only the best will make it through to the final challenges.

Don't slow down.

Everybody, pudding!

Absolutely beautiful.

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.

These eight amateur cooks all aspire to become MasterChef champion...

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

I'm really nervous. But who isn't?

You'd have to be a bit of a robot, not to be nervous for MasterChef.

I think this would kind of confirm to me that I'm not that bad

at cooking, I'm actually quite good at cooking.

As long as I feel I've done

myself proud, then I'm happy with that.

Hashtag - "of course I want to win!"

Welcome to MasterChef, a chance for you to indulge in a real passion.

Show me and Jon what you're capable of.

Just through those doors is the MasterChef market,

and it's full of the most amazing produce from all round the world,

and all we want from you is one extraordinary plate of food.

And it's important, this round...

..because at the end of it, three of you are going home.

You'll have ten minutes to collect your ingredients.

Off to market you go.

Today's market ingredients include

chicken wings,

quail,

pancetta,

brown shrimp,

salmon,

and smoked haddock.

There's also a range of cheeses, grains and pulses.

Let's see what we can do. I've got a few ideas in my head.

I'm hoping for the best.

There's a good selection of stuff.

Never had a purple carrot before, so that'll be new.

That is an Aladdin's cave of ingredients

waiting for a magic spell to be put on them.

Stay calm and just try and cook as if I was at home.

It's no different than coming home from work

and seeing what's in the fridge.

It's just what everybody else can do, that's the problem.

-JON:

-There we are.

You've got one hour and 20 minutes, ladies and gentlemen.

Just remember, at the end of this, three of you are going home.

-Let's cook.

-Go. Go, go, go.

Great.

23-year-old Adam comes from West Yorkshire

and sells insurance for a living.

A lot of my previous

work experience has been working as a waiter in restaurants and cafes

and that's where my love kind of lies.

I used to get in trouble a lot cos I'd be waiting at the pass,

like, asking the chefs, "What are you cooking?

"How are you doing that? What are you chucking in there?"

Adam, you were in and out of that market like a rocket.

Yeah, I wanted to get my hands on something good, I suppose,

I picked a quail and I've never cooked quail before.

So, if you've never cooked a quail before,

what are you going to cook it like?

Like a chicken, but smaller. Probably a third of the time, maybe?

And then I'm going to serve that with some champ,

which is just mashed potato with some spring onions in.

-Keep at it, mate.

-Thank you.

Love champ, really, really do,

but somehow, Adam's got to make that plate look fantastic,

cos he's promising beautiful things.

32-year-old Ajith learned to cook

watching his mum make traditional Indian food.

My mum always tells me that I've got a good taste for flavour,

so I think my taste buds are quite up there.

If you think it's good, I think other people will like it, too.

What are you doing here on MasterChef?

I've got family and friends back at home who think I can

whack up a dish now and again.

I'm going to make you a chicken tomato-based curry

with spiced potato and basmati rice.

-Curry time?

-Curry time.

He's cooking the chicken inside that tomato sauce.

My concern is that the skin is a little bit flobby.

29-year-old Giovanna comes from a family who all love to eat.

My parents worked really hard, they worked full-time

so they'd work quite late.

I often would cook when I got home from school

for me and my brother and sister,

cos we'd be really hungry, we didn't want to wait!

Giovanna is promising us a roasted quail,

which has been first marinated with honey and spring onions.

She's serving that with a caponata, which is a classic dish

of aubergines, celery, tomatoes and raisins

and then she's going to serve the whole thing with a dukkah -

nuts which have been roasted, served with some cumin, as well.

It's an interesting combination

and I'm not quite sure how the dish holds together.

I'm named after my Italian grandmother, my nonna.

She's 96, going strong.

And have you ever cooked with her?

Oh, yeah. My nonna she doesn't cook any more but likes to pass comment.

-She's very critical.

-Is she?

-Yeah.

25 minutes gone, all right?

Glasgow-based Lynda has dined in some of the world's finest

Michelin-starred restaurants.

I'm nowhere near that kind of level when I'm cooking at home,

but I do try, kind of, difficult recipes.

I like buying kitchen equipment, sadly enough,

so I've got a sous-vide machine at home, a food processor and stuff,

so I use them pretty much every day.

I'm baking a beetroot and fennel salad to go along with the salmon,

which I'm going to pan roast

and along with some new potatoes,

a white wine and cream sauce with some dill.

-Who do you cook for at home?

-My son, who's 17.

What does he think of Mum's cooking?

Well, he thinks it's great.

-Good.

-Whose mum's not a great cook?

Salmon and cream? Oily fish and cream?

It sounds to me like the cream sauce

is going to be the foreigner on the plate.

40 minutes have gone. That means you're halfway.

36-year-old Lyndsay travels the globe as a drummer and DJ.

If you're travelling all the time,

do you actually get a chance to cook as well?

No, it tends to be either I'm travelling

and then I'm eating out

or I'm at home and in my downtime, or if I'm gigging in London

in the evening, I've got all day to play around

and I find food really relaxing.

You've got cutlery earrings.

-You noticed.

-You've got knife and fork earrings.

I do, yeah. That's how I remember which side to eat with(!)

Very good.

Lyndsay has used some smoked haddock,

she's got some salsify,

and she's going to make us a celeriac puree, a lentil puree,

and then make a herb butter to go across the top.

It could be really, really delicious.

My approach to a lot of things is

don't let the fact that you can't do something

not let you have a go at it.

I mean, it's never going to kill anyone -

if it looks a bit weird, just don't eat it, you know.

Healthcare assistant Catherine credits her mum, dad and gran

for her passion for food.

My timing isn't the best,

I have to say. I cook at a leisurely pace,

so I have to speed it up a little bit more, I think.

Yeah.

Catherine's making a brownie, and it's not just any brownie,

it's triple chocolate brownie with marshmallows and pecan nuts.

She's serving the whole lot with an Amaretto and cherry cream.

They're the things that dreams are made of.

What is it you love about a brownie?

I just think you can just chuck everything in.

It's like the equivalent of an omelette, for baking, I think.

Fine, fine, OK.

How good a cook are you?

I'm all right. I have my off days. I'm an OK cook.

I don't like to blow my own trumpet.

-You know I love a pud.

-Yeah.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

23-year-old James has been responsible for cooking family meals

since he was 15 years old.

Just sitting with the contestants today

and seeing what everyone's cooking really makes me want to do well

and I want to be the best.

I'm making egg yolk ravioli with mushroom ricotta inside, egg yolk,

and that's going to be served with pancetta.

I love breakfast, so this is almost a little take on breakfast -

bacon, eggs and mushrooms.

James is also doing a white wine sauce with it.

I think that white wine may be a mistake.

It may be too harsh and too acidic to go with the egg yolk.

Time's flying. You've got 15 minutes left.

Just 15 minutes, please.

Motorbike fanatic Jo

likes to compete with her husband in the kitchen.

I think the worst critic is the dog.

He's very fussy. You can't give him a chip

without ketchup on it - he won't eat it.

You can't give him a cracker

without butter on it - he won't eat it.

At least Jon and Gregg seem to tuck in regardless!

We've got sticky chicken wings in the oven with soy sauce,

which is a really, really lovely way of cooking the chicken wings.

Then we've got a frittata, which is a large omelette,

with bacon, eggs, turnips, potatoes and brown shrimp.

On the side of that, we've got a vegetable salad.

My concern is the three things don't belong together.

-Who do you cook for?

-It's only me and my husband at home now.

All of the kids have grown up and left.

We had five between us.

-You had a house with five kids in.

-Yeah.

-Did you cook every night?

-Yeah.

-Wow!

Generally seven different dishes, as well.

-Why?

-Because they're so fussy.

You have two minutes to finish that dish, please. Two minutes.

60 seconds.

Time's up. Thank you. Well done.

That looks nice. Well done.

First up is insurance salesman Adam,

who has served his roasted quail

with champ potatoes,

roasted carrots and beetroot,

crispy Parma ham,

and a mushroom shallot white wine sauce.

Your quail is lovely.

Lovely, soft flesh. I really like that.

Your champ, in my opinion, needs more seasoning.

However, you've put salty, crispy ham across the top,

so possibly there's your seasoning.

Acidic cream around a mushroom wouldn't match anything,

in my opinion - it's not a good sauce.

I think you've got some good technique,

I think you just need to find a way of amalgamating your ideas.

But good on you for being ambitious, Adam.

Thank you. I thought I'd made a dreadful dish.

I've never cooked quail before.

So I'm really happy that you both liked how I cooked the quail.

Thank you, Adam.

Ajith, up you come.

Business manager Ajith cooked his chicken wings

in a tomato curry sauce

and served them with chilli potatoes

and basmati rice.

Your sauce around your chicken wings is so ferociously hot

and the chicken wings have been boiled for so long

they've gone really tough.

All the fatty skin has gone all soggy around the outside of it.

They've got to be crisped up.

I bet you're disappointed now, aren't you?

Yeah, very disappointed, cos I can cook a lot better.

So many things I could have done differently.

I stuck to it. Never mind.

Music teacher Giovanna marinated her quail in honey

and served it with a caponata

made with fennel, celery, shallots and aubergines,

dukkah of hazelnut and almonds

and a garnish of pomegranate, parsley, dill and mint.

I like the flavour of your quail, I like the seasoning on the outside,

I'd like the skin a little crispier.

I love the herbs and the mint

and the sharpness you've got.

I really like that.

-I find your medley of aubergine and tomatoes over-reduced...

-OK.

..and going too sweet and too strong.

I like some of your flavours.

-I think your cooking can be polished up.

-Yeah.

But I don't think it's going to be very hard to do that

cos I think you've got a really good foundation.

I'm really pleased.

I didn't embarrass myself

and they said some really nice things and...

I can just get better now, hopefully. That's the idea.

Management consultant Lynda's pan-fried salmon

has been served with crushed potatoes,

beetroot puree, carrots,

and a creamy thyme and white wine sauce.

Your salmon and potatoes are cooked really, really nicely.

However your salmon skin is all...

Yep. Soggy.

..flobby and soggy.

Cream and salmon doesn't work for me.

The whole dish needs a bit of spice,

-it needs a bit of acid, it needs a bit of life.

-OK.

-The carrots and the beetroot aren't setting it alight.

-OK.

However there's some decent cooking of the fish and the potatoes.

Thank you.

I would say more disappointed than happy with the dish

cos I feel as if I can cook better

and I feel as if when I do cook, I can get the flavours right,

and clearly I didn't get the flavours right today.

DJ Lyndsay has served her smoked haddock

with salsify, chicory,

purple broccoli, leeks,

lentil and celeriac purees,

and a brown shrimp and parsley sauce.

Smoky fish flavour, salty little shrimp flavour,

nice creamy purees that are seasoned.

You've got bitter chicory.

That may well be that best piece of salsify I've tasted

-in a long, long time.

-Oh, thank you.

I am really impressed.

Squeeze of lemon away from absolutely unbelievable.

That's amazing. I really appreciate that.

-Thanks.

-Thank you.

-Cheers. Bye.

Yeah, great.

To hear that, first time, I mean, "apart from a squeeze of lemon"...

I'll take that. That's not too bad.

Healthcare worker Catherine

used white, dark and milk chocolate to make her brownie,

which is filled with marshmallows and pecans

and served with an Amaretto cherry cream

and berry compote.

You've made for us now a chocolate cake.

It's still quite moist in the middle,

it is crusty on the outside and I quite like that.

I particularly love the Amaretto flavour in the cream

with the cherries - I think that's a delightfully warm,

very boozy but fruity flavour.

Very, very good.

-What's troubling me is that you set out to create a brownie...

-Yeah.

..which you haven't made.

The whole thing is very sweet and very sticky

but there's nice bits of work here.

I just believe it could do with a bit more elegance.

Yeah. OK.

I'm feeling very, uh...confused

cos the reviews was quite mixed.

Cosmetic sales manager James

filled his ravioli with mushrooms, ricotta and egg yolk,

and served it with a white wine and pancetta sauce.

So we're looking for a nice oozy egg yolk as we cut through.

-Fingers crossed.

-Good.

JON CHUCKLES

There's bits on here, James, I really like.

I'm very impressed that you made your own pasta

and you have a lovely egg yolk sitting in the centre.

But the bit of sauce you have around the outside

is very, very salty and very, very sharp.

OK.

To make your own pasta, make a ravioli and cook it

so that the egg yolk is still soft shows a good touch,

shows a good timing.

I think you've got some skill.

I think I've shown them a glimpse of what I can do and, fingers crossed,

if I go any further in the competition,

I can show them a little bit more.

Last up is registered nurse Jo...

..who's served soy and honey chicken wings,

alongside a brown shrimp, pancetta, potato and turnip frittata,

with a courgette, caper and shallot salad.

I've got soy sauce, sweet, Chinese-flavoured chicken wings

on top of a vegetable salad with capers in, which is salty and sharp,

and then I've got a frittata which is overcooked,

with turnip and brown shrimp.

Doesn't all belong on one plate, Jo.

You've got to have a finished dish in mind before you start.

What they said was absolutely right.

There was three different things going on.

But it's done now. There's nothing I can do about it now.

You and I, I think, agree upon one thing -

the standout cook today is Lyndsay.

Lyndsay, head and shoulders above the competition at the moment.

I think Adam has actually got promise.

He was game enough to take the quail.

Didn't like his sauce.

However I've seen enough from him to want to see some more.

Another one I'd like to chuck in the mix is James.

Agreed. To serve a ravioli with an egg yolk,

perfectly cooked and soft so it runs out, that shows skill.

Anybody else in the room you really like?

Yes, there is somebody I'd like to talk about and that's Giovanna.

The caponata didn't work, it was over-reduced,

but I think that she's got cookery skill.

I've got a couple here that stand out for the wrong reasons.

Jo the nurse, with the shrimp, turnip and potato frittata,

alongside sticky wings.

I can't see how we can put her through.

You didn't like Ajith's dish at all

and I found those wings really challenging.

Ajith and Jo go home.

That leaves Lynda and Catherine.

One of those is going home.

I just want that opportunity to show that I can do much more

and that I'm quite a versatile cook.

You kind of know that you can do better.

That's what's disappointing, isn't it? But...

Just have to wait and see.

Three of you are leaving the competition.

First person leaving us...

..is Jo.

Thanks, Jo.

The second person leaving us...

..is Ajith.

Thanks, Ajith.

The third person leaving us...

..is Lynda.

Thanks, Lynda.

I think probably a bit too safe.

I do feel as if I kind of let myself down.

-JO:

-To actually be in that kitchen and cook in there,

at least I can say I've been there and done that.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose

and today, I've lost.

You've now earned the right to cook your own dishes.

Tough call today,

because you're not just presenting your food to Jon and me -

you will serve the winner and finalists from 2013.

That's Saira Hamilton,

Larkin Cen,

and of course, the champion, Natalie Coleman.

One hour and 15 minutes, two courses.

At the end of this, two of you will go home.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

I think I've shown them that I'm quite calm in the kitchen.

I think I've showed some good technical ability

by making ravioli.

Now I've got to really execute my next two dishes

to the highest standard.

James is cooking us a piece of roast cod.

He's serving it with a squid ink risotto and a caper butter.

Could be very, very delicious.

Dessert is profiteroles. I love profiteroles.

I remember eating them as a kid.

I remember making them as an apprentice.

I remember making them when I was growing up.

They can go wrong very, very easily.

-You making your own choux pastry?

-Yes.

-James, get you!

Get you, you flash cook!

Can you do all this in time?

I'm hoping so. I think profiteroles are quite a complex dish to do

so fingers crossed I can get that right for you.

I feel excited to be doing my own dishes

but I feel nervous because

I know not everybody would enjoy the way I put flavours together...

..and I think that's why it could go either way today, so...I'm not sure.

Minute steak, avocado, cream, caramelised onions across the top,

and then a corn with Parmesan and lime.

Never had it before, but the smile on her face gives me confidence.

For dessert we've got roasted plantain,

salted caramel, pecans and a rum and raisin ice cream.

There's probably lots of people

who think plantain as a dessert might be unusual.

It's a banana. At the end of the day, you know what?

Why not as a dessert?

-This is taking flavours from all over the world.

-Mm.

Tell me how this comes about.

It comes about cos I think I have a lot of friends and families

from different cultures.

You can't help but to be influenced by that.

Have you got presentation nailed as well, do you think?

-No.

-It's not you, is it?

-I'll be honest, that's not me.

Giovanna's food, roasted partridge on the crown,

served with a wet polenta,

a sourdough crumb around the outside,

and loads and loads of herbs and some Little Gem lettuce.

She's got to squeeze every inch of flavour out of that partridge,

cos polenta itself is bland.

Does your nonna like this dish?

What she'd say is she hates anything that's too dry.

-She will tell me immediately...

-AS HER NONNA:

-"It's too dry."

-So...

-She's Russian?

-I was going to say!

She's Russian Italian!

She's Italian.

Dessert is a poached pear served with a ginger crumb

and lemon mascarpone cream.

Not a lot of cooking going on.

Italians don't tend to have very rich desserts.

We just had fruit after a meal, that's all we ever had.

So I quite like my desserts to be quite clean

and quite relatively fresh.

I don't like a lot of heaviness.

So I think this dessert really shows that.

James is in a bit of a pickle.

His first batch of profiteroles hasn't worked.

Right now we've got flat profiteroles.

He's on his second batch.

That's what you call a MasterChef disaster.

I am sort of worried somehow

because what they said in the last round was just so nice.

I'm really scared that I can't keep this up!

I'm going to do a ballotine of crocodile.

It's minced crocodile, cos it quite hard to get hold of crocodile here.

With a kind of homage to the food chain,

it's going to be crocodile surrounding chicken,

surrounding some herbs.

I like a bit of fun in my food as well.

And I'm serving it with some leek and some cavolo nero.

Do you know how many crocodile ballotines we've had on MasterChef?

It's a cliche, I know, isn't it(?)

Crocodile is a great meat cos it's very, very lean

and it's really the same as using

a sort of mixture of chicken and fish.

Her dessert sounds fantastic.

Thin slices of pineapple made into cannelloni wrapper

and then inside is sweet ricotta.

She's going to serve that with some raisins, some pine nuts,

and little bits of mint.

We've also got coffee pearls.

Pineapple and mint and a cup of coffee?

I don't know, I think the coffee is a bit out there somewhere.

I can't remember ever seeing anything this daring

this early in the competition.

There's no way she's going to get it all done.

What are you going to make that's going to impress today?

Pan-fried sea bass and I'm doing it with a soy dressing,

which is infused with ginger, lemon grass, coriander, lime.

Yeah, it's going to give it that Asian influence to the dish,

with some pak choi.

-And a dessert?

-For dessert,

I'm doing traditional Yorkshire parkin.

It's almost a treacle sponge cake

with oatmeal and a little bit of ginger.

I'm going to be serving it with some cinder toffee,

which I've got bubbling away here,

and some treacle toffee sauce,

and some creme anglaise as well.

So it kind of an ode to Bonfire Night,

cos that's a big part of my childhood.

A few worries with the dessert.

It might not rise, I might overcook it,

I might undercook it.

It's my grandma's recipe, so fingers crossed it'll be good,

cos hers is delicious.

-I didn't put egg and milk in.

-Quick, quick, in a bowl. Quick.

Adam forgot to put the eggs in his first batch of parkin.

He's saved it, he's saved it,

but I just hope he's got enough time.

Yeah, pressure's on.

Since winning MasterChef in 2013,

Natalie Coleman has written a cookbook,

runs her own restaurant kitchen

and teaches children how to cook.

And then chop it up, yeah?

I think my advice for today's contestants will be stay calm,

work cleanly and neat,

and just cook what you really like eating,

cos I cooked what I liked eating and it worked.

Life after MasterChef doesn't get a lot easier really quickly.

If you want to do something about it, you've got to work hard,

decide what it is that you're good at

and what you really want to do and then you get on and do it.

So I'm a chef now, full-time,

and people even pay me for it - it's amazing.

2013 runner-up Larkin Cen left the world of law

and now runs his own restaurant in Newport.

I much rather being this side of the table.

Everyone's an armchair critic, so I'm no different.

-Cheers, guys.

-Cheers. Nice to see you.

-Cheers.

-And you.

-Four minutes, James.

-Thank you.

-Are you ready to go?

-I'm just waiting on my cod.

-NATALIE:

-I think the dangers with the dish is the cooking of the fish,

cos you don't want it to go flaky and dry out.

But also the risotto, you don't want it too al dente,

-cos we do want to keep our teeth.

-Yeah.

-SAIRA:

-I mean, on the surface, it's quite a simple dish

but actually, there's nowhere to hide, is there?

He needs to do everything perfectly.

OK, James, they're waiting for you now.

Hiya.

You've got a pan-seared piece of cod

on a squid ink risotto,

topped with samphire that's been cooked in

an anchovy and caper lemon butter.

-Cheers, mate.

-Thank you.

I think he's cooked the fish really well.

It's absolutely juicy and delightful.

Yeah, could have done with a bit more seasoning,

but it's a very, very nice piece of fish.

I think the risotto itself is lacking in flavour.

It doesn't, like, wow me.

I think maybe it could do with a little bit more, for me, anyway -

like, a big punch of flavour.

The lemon butter and capers with the samphire, I think, is lovely.

The piece of fish is overcooked

and it's starting to fall apart,

and the risotto underneath is not cooked enough.

We've all had profiteroles go wrong, haven't we?

Let's hope he doesn't cave to the pressure.

-GREGG:

-They look good, mate.

-Thank you.

-They look good.

-Two-and-a-half, James.

-OK.

Good job.

For dessert, you've got home-made profiteroles

and they are filled with a strawberry cream,

white chocolate on top and a few pieces of strawberry.

-Well done. You did it.

-Three times lucky.

He's done quite well. I mean, he kind of let slip, didn't he,

that he'd had a bit of a profiterole meltdown.

But he's got them out and they're all cooked really well.

There's fresh strawberries on there, there's fresh cocoa,

the cream's nice.

What's not to like about it?

This is just dry.

It's a dry pile of shells

filled with some cream and very, very sweet set white chocolate.

Mentally exhausted.

That must have been the hardest thing I've ever, ever done.

Yeah, it definitely got to me today.

Catherine's cooking us minute steak,

so it really does only have to be cooked for a minute, doesn't it?

Otherwise it's going to get overcooked and tough and chewy.

-NATALIE:

-Cuban... I think it's going to have, like, a sweet

but also sort of, like, a spice going through it as well.

It sounds like a bit of a carnival, really.

You've got three minutes, OK, Catherine? Then we need to go.

There you go.

Is that the last thing to go on the plate?

-Yeah.

-Very good.

-Thanks, Catherine.

-Thank you.

Hi.

So I made a pan-fried minute steak,

topped with caramelised onions and an avocado cream,

with spinach and tomato, sauteed,

topped with lime, Parmesan, roasted corn.

It's not the prettiest plate I've ever seen.

The steak, which is obviously the main event,

is cooked really well, it's still nice and pink.

But would I necessarily choose all these other things to go with it?

Personally, no.

Got a bit of Cuban mixed with a bit of Italian.

I just think, together, it's just not right.

There's an unusual sweetness and spiciness to the steak

that, although not unpleasant, I find unusual.

The corn with the lime and the Parmesan cheese

on top of the tomato stew is inspired.

But that fat isn't very nice.

Roasted salted caramel plantain, pecans, coconut,

rum and raisin ice cream.

It's kind of like a really jazzed-up pina colada, almost, isn't it?

Ice creams can go a bit wrong, can't they?

It could be grainy.

There are obviously dangers there.

-GREGG:

-Catherine, you've got three minutes for that dessert.

-OK.

-What do we need to do now?

-So just plate up.

-Are you happy with everything, Catherine?

-Not really, but...

It smells good, Catherine.

Yes. That's half of the battle.

I'm just hoping it tastes as good as when I make it at home.

-Are we ready to go?

-Yeah.

-Be confident.

-OK.

-Well done, Catherine.

-Thank you.

So I've made a coconut, rum and raisin ice cream,

salted caramel and pecan plantains topped with some rum.

So, enjoy. Thanks.

The plantain's really tasty.

I love it with the pecan nuts as well.

I could eat that all day.

There's plenty of flavour in the ice cream.

It has split a bit, so it doesn't look the best,

but when you eat it all together, it tastes good.

It's a big, thick, sweet, sticky, nutty thing.

I don't know. I like the ice cream.

The texture puts me off.

It's grainy.

It was tougher than I imagined it would be,

cos I've practised it at home and everything went perfectly

but when that added pressure of the timeframe is added on,

everything just goes out of the window.

She's got roast partridge with green polenta, partridge jus,

which is right up my street.

I do like a game bird.

Obviously I've had polenta.

Green polenta? I don't know about you guys, but I've never had it.

But let's see.

What's left to do, Giovanna?

Just plating, really. These need to go for a couple more minutes.

Everything else is done.

Very, very nice.

Let's get these crumbs on and go.

-Let's go.

-Nice.

I've made for you today

a roasted partridge breast

with a green herb polenta,

a griddled baby gem,

sourdough and pine nut crust and a partridge jus.

I think Giovanna has done a really good job here.

The partridge is cooked nicely.

The polenta, which I wasn't actually looking forward to,

that's really worked well.

The actual flavour inside of it is actually really good.

This dish is the best so far.

This one's probably the most complete.

I like the partridge. It's soft and it's buttery

and I'm picking up the vibrancy of the herb.

However, I do not like that polenta.

It's really quite strong with aniseed.

I have to disagree with you on that polenta.

I love that polenta.

For somebody out of their own kitchen, an amateur,

I think that's a pretty good plate of food.

-Just three minutes, then we've got to serve these pears.

-Thank you.

-NATALIE:

-It's simple, but the simple things in life are always the best.

-What goes on after this cream?

-Just the crumb, and then that's it.

Off you go.

So I've cooked you a poached pear,

poached in sweet wine,

with lemon mascarpone cream and a ginger crumb.

-Thank you.

-Have a good day.

The pear is nice and soft,

but the ginger crumb, that's quite...quite strong.

But when you mix it with the pear and the mascarpone cream,

it balances in harmony for me.

Your mouth fills up with this extraordinary flavour of ginger

and the heat of the pear.

That's a rather grown-up, lovely set of flavours and textures.

It's so little time.

It's really tough.

When you go back in and it's like, "15 minutes to do another four"...

You've got ten minutes, Are you going to be on time?

Probably not.

Ballotine of crocodile.

Well, that's not something I was expecting to come and eat today.

Bet it'll be a pretty big ballotine...

Any crocodiles I've seen.

Going to have to push, Lyndsay, cos you're running out of time.

-She's a bit late, then.

-Yeah.

-Bring me a crocodile sandwich, and make it snappy.

-Ba-dum-tsh!

I'm really sorry.

-OK, are you going?

-Yeah.

-Go.

Wow, that's late.

-Thank you.

-I am SO sorry for the delay.

What I have cooked for you is a ballotine of crocodile

with crispy chicken skin,

tarragon white wine sauce.

There's some cavolo nero in there and some leeks,

and a bit of mash.

Enjoy. Hope you like it.

The texture of the crocodile and the actual taste of crocodile

reminds me a bit of sausage meat.

And the sauce, it packs a punch with the tarragon.

I taste the wine and cream in it.

I like the charred leeks, the crispy skin, really nutty, really crispy.

I'm pleasantly surprised with that. It's nice.

I'm sorry, guys. I don't like that.

-What?

-I don't like the crocodile at all. It's kind of weird.

She's given herself so much to do. The timing is awry.

Those leeks are too well...

But I tell you what, the main piece,

that ballotine of crocodile, chicken and chicken mousse,

is absolutely delicious.

-SAIRA:

-Pineapple and cheese and coffee?

I don't know. I mean, if it works, great.

But, yeah, I'm a bit worried.

You've got four minutes.

What have you got to do? You've got to roll this...

-Yeah.

-And then what else has got to go on there?

It's just basically just plating it now. I've made everything.

Nice. They look good.

-Lyndsay, we should be going now.

-Yeah.

-Well done. Knock 'em dead.

-I'll leave that one for you.

Thank you.

For your dessert, I have made for you

some pineapple cannelloni stuffed with some ricotta,

pineapple and vanilla soup with some coffee caviar,

toasted pine nuts, raisins, mint and some flowers.

The pineapple is just so refreshing, isn't it?

It's sweet. I think my favourite thing on that plate

is the pineapple soup.

It's gorgeously sweetened,

but it still retains that freshness of pineapple.

I think it's got a lot of potential.

I think she's showing off a lot of understanding of different flavours.

I think it's a really accomplished dessert, and I'd pay for it.

I love that. Amazingly, it's not too sweet at all.

In fact, it's very refreshing.

And that coffee, actually, with that warmth of the pineapple

and the warmth of that cheese, which is slightly sugared,

is just fantastic.

I'm pleased with the food I put out.

I think they know I took on a lot.

It's up to them whether I took on too much and that was a mistake

or whether I took on too much and they'll forgive me being late.

-NATALIE:

-With sea bass,

it can go 30 seconds over and you've ruined it.

-LARKIN:

-Love the way he's actually infusing the soy

with some ginger and lemon grass

just to make it a bit more interesting as well.

-How long do I have left?

-You've got 60 seconds left. You're all right.

Keep pushing on.

-What are you doing with that?

-Some of these weren't crispy.

Give it a bit of colour.

Time is now up.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Oh, look, three plates.

Look at you.

See, past experience as a waiter helps.

Thank you.

What we have today is a pan-fried sea bass

with tempura squid tentacles.

Underneath that, there's some pak choi,

there's some pea, coriander, lime puree on the side,

some purple sprouting broccoli, and on the side,

there is a ginger and lemon grass soy dressing as well.

-Thank you very much. Enjoy.

-Thank you.

Sea bass, cooked perfectly.

The tempura was very, very nice, very, very crispy.

The purple sprouting broccoli, slightly charred,

so it had a little bit of smokiness.

The puree was lovely.

The dressing just brought everything together.

That's a really, really clean plate of food.

He's done good. The boy's done good.

Refreshing.

Bags and bags of flavour,

bags and bags of colour, and bags and bags of texture.

-It's clever.

-And food that people want to eat.

Seven minutes you've got, Adam.

Two sauces, custard, parkin,

honeycomb, all ready to go?

Just about.

I've not heard of this before

but it sounds like it's going to be banging.

I think it's like a sticky toffee pudding, it's that sort of thing,

so really, really sweet,

and all those, you know, bonfire toffee and cinder toffee...

It's going to be really yummy.

Adam, we're ready, let's go.

Take your parkin to Larkin.

So what we have here is traditional Yorkshire parkin.

It's topped off with a treacle toffee sauce and some cinder toffee,

and on the side, there's some creme anglaise as well.

-Cheers.

-Thank you.

The texture of the sponge is great.

Cinder toffee sauce is lovely.

I mean, that sort of real, slightly almost burnt flavour.

But then it pulls it back with the vanilla custard.

And the custard's so light

with little flakes of vanilla going through it.

You couldn't ask for more on a winter's day.

He's been the cook of the day for me.

Get in there, son. That is lovely.

Proper old-fashioned British pud.

Lovely.

I feel like...

I don't know, a bit buzzing.

It feels good.

I think I did as best I could.

In fact, it actually went even better than I planned.

I feel good.

I feel really good.

Can I talk about somebody that not only surprised me,

but absolutely delighted me,

and made a big impression on our guest diners?

And that was the young man from Yorkshire.

-Adam.

-Yeah.

I think he had an outstanding day today.

It's good cooking

and takes him straight through to the quarterfinal.

-Right.

-Giovanna stuck to her roots with her two courses.

We had partridge with lots and lots of herbs in it.

I loved the whole dish.

I didn't enjoy the flavour of the polenta.

However, you did, and so did all three of the guys in the other room,

so what can I say?

I've got to bow to public opinion.

As for her dessert, we both loved it.

That now leaves us with Lyndsay, Catherine and James.

We're saying goodbye to two.

Catherine has little things on her plates

which are really, really tasty.

However, the execution of the dishes wasn't good at all.

James got himself in a bit of a panic,

but at least he pushed forward, he kept on going.

It wasn't a majestic dessert.

What bothered me was the cooking of the risotto.

Lyndsay divided the guests, that's for sure.

Saira didn't like the crocodile main course.

The other two really did.

She's attempting things that amateur cooks hardly ever attempt.

I'm just going to send them some good vibes

telepathically or something.

I think what I've shown is that I'm a battler and actually,

in adversity, I've come through.

I think you need that in MasterChef.

Words would fail me if I make it through this round.

I don't think anyone could be happier than me.

Our first quarterfinalist...

..is Adam.

-(Thank you.)

-Congratulations, my friend.

Thank you very much.

Our second quarterfinalist...

..Giovanna.

Well done.

Our third and final quarterfinalist...

..is Lyndsay.

Well done.

Catherine, James,

well done for getting as far as you did.

I've had a lot of fun.

I mean, I'll cherish those memories.

It's just a learning experience for me.

I was one of those people screaming at the TV, saying, "Oh, that's easy!

"Why don't you do that? Why don't you do that?"

I won't be one of those people any more cos I understand

what they're going through.

Congratulations, you three. You are quarterfinalists.

THEY CHEER

I'm just pretty relieved.

I'm a quarterfinalist. There we are. Yeah.

I've got more to give, definitely.

I don't think that's me peaked in the competition.

It's just going to get harder, isn't it?

But I really hope I go further.

I've got hopefully some other stuff to show.

Hopefully I'll get better. That'll be great.

-EXCITED SQUEALS

-Well done.

Tomorrow night, it's the quarterfinal.

Lyndsay, Adam and Giovanna will join Richard, Visha and Lindsey

to fight for their place,

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

Come on.

It's subtle, sophisticated. I really, really enjoyed it.