Episode 12 MasterChef

MasterChef is back.

Hundreds auditioned,

now the best 50 amateur cooks are through.

Let's cook.

Get your pudding spoon out and man up.

You either stand out or you're knocked out.

Each week, ten new contestants...

..battling for a place in Friday's quarterfinal.

I don't want to eat it!

-I already feel nervous for them.

-This is just... bang!

Only the strongest will make it to the final challenges.

We've got to move now!

You've got six minutes left.

Agh!

Cooking does not get tougher than this!

These five amateurs all think they have what it takes

to become MasterChef Champion.

But at the end of today's heat, only the best will become quarterfinalists.

I'm not sure I've got what it takes to actually win MasterChef,

but I am a quick learner so we'll see how it goes.

I think you will see a competitive side to me.

I'm a Leo, so they're very competitive.

I am going to do my utmost best

because I really want to go as far as I can.

Welcome to MasterChef.

Here you are, the MasterChef kitchen!

This is the Invention Test. You have in front of you a set of ingredients.

We're going to ask you to cook for us one dish.

Please cook us something delicious.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have one hour.

Let's cook.

Today's ingredients include haddock, mussels,

rice, leeks, curry powder,

samphire, raspberries, strawberries and puff pastry.

HR advisor Louise

only seriously started cooking four years ago.

I'm nervous about being here today because it's the start of the competition,

but I'm really excited and raring to go.

Hello, Louise. What have you decided on?

A strawberry and raspberry tatin with a creme Anglaise.

A bit unconventional for a tatin, but why not?

How in love with cooking are you?

I got brought up on oven food, nobody taught me to cook,

and I went to a really nice restaurant five or six years ago

and it just taught me, "Wow! Food can taste really lovely."

Ever since, everywhere I go, it's all about the food, whatever hotel I book.

Good to hear it, Lou. I'm as nuts about food as you are.

Louise has thought outside the box and we have a strawberry and raspberry tart.

She's also making creme Anglaise, or custard.

She's demonstrating some skill. It could be really, really delicious.

Philosophy student Guy

currently works part-time in a hotel.

I am quite competitive.

I remember in school, I was entered into a bake-off

and I lost because they thought I'd bought the cake,

when I'd spent all night actually baking it.

-How are you feeling?

-A bit nervous, a bit excited. It's good.

-What are you cooking now?

-I'm cooking a fish curry with rice.

How did you first get into cooking?

My mum always used to buy ready-made sauce for pasta Bolognese

and I wanted to know how to make it from scratch. I started to cook it and it tasted much better.

And then I said, "I want to make pasta from scratch" so one thing led to another.

-How good are you?

-Good enough to go far in this competition.

-Really?

-I hope so, yes.

Guy's making fish curry served with rice.

The one thing we know, though, is that on the bench

he's only got curry powder, he hasn't even got a chilli,

so how he's going to make that curry vibrant, I'm not quite sure.

You've had 20 minutes. 20 minutes has gone.

38-year-old Saira is a mum-of-two.

I've been cooking for years, since I was a teenager,

mainly with my mum, who's a fantastic cook.

I've spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen

and learnt everything I know from her, really.

-How are you doing, Saira?

-I feel great. It's very exciting.

It's great to be here.

My children wanted me to come on. They reckon I could do it.

They said they liked my food and they want me to give it a go.

What are you going to make for us now?

I'll just simply pan-fry the fish and do some cream leeks.

I haven't decided if I've got time to do anything with that potato, but I might do something with that.

-What sort of food do you cook?

-Indian food is the thing that I really love to do.

That's what I learnt with Mum and I cook it quite a lot.

-If you go further, will we get a bit of food of India?

-You'll definitely get some curry.

-Nice talking to you.

-Cheers, Gregg.

There's 35 minutes to go.

Saira's fish is in the pan, cooking already.

It's definitely going to be cooked!

29-year-old Natalie was born and raised in east London.

The bit I'm most scared about is what John and Gregg's going to say.

I'm going to put, like, 200 percent, 300 percent into it.

How are you feeling, Natalie?

I'm feeling a bit nervous but I'm excited at the same time.

It's something I love doing and I want to prove I can do it good.

Where did this love of cooking come from?

When I was young, with my nan, we used to make fairy cakes

and it reminds me of happy times, the family all being together.

-What do you do right now?

-I work in finance and I also DJ.

-So, in the daytime, you've got a boring office job?

-Yes, crunching numbers.

-At night you're a cheesy Quaver, a bit of a raver?

-I'm a bit of a raver, indeed.

-What sort of music?

-House and techno.

-HE HUMS TECHNO BEAT

-Yes.

All the glow sticks and everything.

-What are you going to make for us?

-I'm going to pan-fry the haddock

and make a really nice mussel broth

with some white wine and a load of garlic in it.

I'm excited by Natalie. She sounds like she's very confident,

she really enjoys it

and I just think there's something about her.

I guess I'm nervous about the unknown

and being given something which I've never seen before.

I just want to get started, really. Get a crack on.

Drew, you took a long time to make your mind up.

I wanted to do fish, and I haven't cooked mussels before

so I thought I'd better get stuff down on paper

to prevent madness later.

-What do you do?

-I'm a bookseller.

So you have time to thumb through recipe books.

I do. My bookshop has a really great cookery department

so I often hang out there.

Is there a particular cuisine that you love?

I like to cook with slightly more unusual stuff.

My ambition is to have a pig's head and to do pig cheeks or something like that.

-If you get through, will we see a pig's head on your bench?

-That'd be great! Yes, sure! Why not?

-Nice talking to you.

-Cool. Thank you.

Drew's never cooked mussels before so what he's going to do with them, I'm not quite sure.

How the dish will come together, I'm also not sure

but I hope he gives me something nice to eat!

Ten minutes left.

Just under two minutes left. Finishing touches, please.

That's it!

Time's up, please. Thank you.

First up is mother-of-two Saira.

She's made pan-fried haddock

on a bed of mashed potato and samphire,

served with a creamy leek sauce.

You could've been more gentle with your fish. It's slightly too firm.

Apart from that, I really like it. You've got really nice buttery, creamy potatoes

and you've got salt coming out your crunchy samphire.

Decent. Very, very decent job for an invention test, Saira.

Right, thank you. Thanks very much.

Your fish is overcooked.

Your mashed potato's OK and your leeks are all right,

but they're a bit sharp and sour from the white wine.

I think the thing you need to do now is to just plan a little bit,

not rush and make every aspect of it absolutely perfect.

I'm really relieved to get that out of the way.

It wasn't too bad and the comments were pretty good

so, er, I feel relieved more than anything.

Philosophy student Guy has made a haddock and potato curry

on a bed of rice.

You're halfway there.

I think your fish is cooked really nicely

but you have got a massive bowl of rice.

You need a lot more sauce and the presentation needs to be thought about.

Everything's cooked. The problem is,

you're struggling to get flavour out of that curry!

You're in there, your brain goes into panic mode and you think, "What can I do?"

Now I'm thinking, "Was that the best thing to do?

"Did I do it the best?" I don't know.

HR advisor Louise

has cooked a strawberry and raspberry tarte tatin

with a creme Anglaise.

-Look at that.

-Very good custard.

It's sweet, it's not too sweet, it's vanilla,

it's mellow strawberry, slightly sharper raspberry.

The pastry's a little bit flabby.

-Yes.

-But, hey, it's very inventive, creative and nice flavours.

Inventive in an invention test. Brilliant!

Louise, your custard is beautiful.

Rich with vanilla, sweet, lovely consistency.

It's perfect, absolutely perfect.

-Your tart doesn't quite work.

-Yes.

I don't care

because one of my favourite things in the world is a roasted strawberry

and that is a really wonderful flavour.

I am feeling really great after the Invention Test.

I got some really good comments so I'm really happy with that.

Bookseller Drew has pan-fried his haddock

and served it with mussels and samphire

on a bed of rice.

Drew, for somebody who's never cooked mussels before, you've done a really good job.

Your fish itself is overcooked. It's starting to go a bit dry and chalky.

Your rice needs some seasoning.

The big problem there is, the dish is completely bland because there's so much rice.

You're just getting mouthful after mouthful of bland rice.

I thought it looked good, but they weren't so impressed

so that's obviously devastating!

Part-time DJ Natalie has also pan-fried the haddock

and served it with samphire and a mussel broth.

I love the look of it. I love those colours.

I think that's a wonderful, wonderful-looking plate.

I like the texture coming from your samphire,

the little mussels, lots and lots of onions and garlic.

It is still very salty of the sea, but you've got the wonderful sharp vibrancy of fresh lemon juice.

It's not bad at all.

I really like that.

I love the bouncy fish,

the sweetness from the mussels, I love the bit of acidity in there.

That's really good.

-Natalie, we're happy. Are you happy?

-I am now you're happy.

-Good.

I think I've shown John and Gregg this is the start of what I can do,

but I can push myself a lot further and be a lot better.

Thank you very much indeed. Off you go.

-They're pretty good.

-They are good.

I quite like Natalie.

I thought that broth with those mussels and the fish

was really, really good.

My favourite has got to be little Lou with her strawberry tart.

It'd be nice if Louise can carry on being that little bit different and stand out.

I also really like Saira,

the mashed potato with the fish on top and the leeks.

Guy's a little bit all over the place.

More sauce, less rice.

Drew has got a lot of work to do.

Drew needs to work on the things he can do, not the things he's read about.

The next round's not going to get any easier.

The next round is not easy at all.

This is the Palate Test. Very interesting and very important

because we need to discover whether our contestants have a decent palate.

Today's dish - beef stir-fry with choi-sum and peanuts.

I'm going to make a red curry paste, which is going to coat the beef.

Garlic, shallots, dried red chillies, which I've soaked in water,

lemongrass...

..and some galangal.

It's very similar to ginger, except it's got to be cooked.

Some shrimp paste goes into a processor.

Coriander seed, cumin seed, some white peppercorns.

They've got to be roasted first to bring out the flavour.

Then into a little spice grinder.

I'll be really impressed if they pick out these spices.

Very impressed.

That's my paste. I'm going to cook this with a bit of coconut milk and lots and lots of sugar

and turn it into chilli jam.

Add to that a decent scoop of thick coconut milk...

..and sugar. That really infuses the flavours together.

Even if they don't recreate this, we could get some tasty stir-fries.

You're absolutely right.

Two types of Chinese vegetables - gai-lan and choi-sum.

Not widely used in the West. It's a clever cook who identifies them.

So now the beef...

Mm.

Add to that our lime leaves and our chillies.

Cut the greens, drop the stalks in,

now stir it over.

And then a really good spoonful of paste.

I like that! That smells fabulous.

Coriander, mint and basil at the last minute.

And then serve it onto a plate.

Mm...

And then sprinkle the top with some peanuts.

Stir-fry beef, choi-sum and peanuts.

-Stunning dish. Stunning dish.

-Thank you.

But lots of exotic ingredients.

I hope somebody gets this almost spot on. I'll be really impressed.

Let's get them in.

This is the Palate Test.

I've cooked you a dish

and we would like you to taste that dish

and then write down what you think is in it.

Taste.

It's from another side of Asia than the one I'm used to

so I'm trying to work out what might be in it. It's very complex.

There's clearly a lot of stuff in here.

I'm not really used to cooking Thai food

so it's a little bit difficult.

I'm just trying to get to grips with the base of the sauce.

I think I'm fine with everything else.

I think there is coriander in there, yes.

I'm still thinking, "Is it pork? Is it beef?"

It's a challenge.

Now you've eaten it, we want you to cook it.

Under the cloth on your bench

are all the ingredients that went into making that dish.

But there's also some under there that didn't.

At the end of this, two of you will be leaving the competition.

We're going to give you 45 minutes. Off you go.

The ingredients have been separated into three groups -

those to make the garnish,

the sauce

and the protein - beef or lamb.

But with no recipe, they'll have to rely on their palate and skill.

When I saw the ingredients, I knew what I was going to use

and they weren't too dissimilar to the ones I wrote down, which is good.

So now it's just a question of trying to use the right amounts and get it to taste good!

Saira's list is not too bad - beef, peanuts,

she talks about lime leaves and Thai basil.

It's whether now she can recreate that dish

because she's used to making Indian curries.

What ingredients have you used?

I've gone for ginger and garlic,

some coriander, some pepper, chilli.

Oh, and I've used the palm sugar, a bit of lime.

-There's quite a lot in there.

-It's all wrong but it smells lovely.

Thanks, Gregg!

The pressure's on. Definitely, the pressure's on!

I was like, "Is it pork or beef?" and they've got them both.

I haven't decided between the pork or the beef.

When Guy was tasting,

he wrote down that the dish was pork and changed his mind and wrote beef.

He's now cooking with the lamb because he thinks that's pork.

-He thinks the lamb's pork.

-He does!

I thought there'd be peanut butter but there's nothing on the bench.

I'll give it my best go,

but this one's going to be a tough one.

Natalie doesn't cook this sort of food very often,

but at least she's making a paste.

You're halfway!

Halfway.

I'm slightly panicking a little bit now!

There's a lot more ingredients in the sauce than I put down on my sheet

and I'm not quite sure how to put them all together

to get that really lovely sauce that John's got in his.

Louise doesn't look comfortable. I hope she gets it together soon

because I loved her food in the Invention Test.

10 minutes left. What we need is some stirring and some frying.

Drew has got to have a good round because I think he's got a bit of catching up to do.

A few minutes to go, Drew. How are you feeling?

I'm not feeling great.

It just didn't go quite as I'd have liked.

It's kind of gone quite fatty and... I don't know.

So we'll see how it goes.

You guys have got just one minute left to finish!

One minute to finish, please.

Time's up! Stop.

We asked you to cook us a dish - stir-fried beef

with peanuts and choi-sum.

-Saira, shall we try yours?

-OK.

It smells good, you've almost got the colour right.

It looks good.

Best-looking dish on the bench, actually.

I really like the flavour of your sauce.

I like the peanuts, the crunchiness of that,

and the herbs and flecks of chilli going through it.

Your sauce is really good.

Citrus, lime, heat from pepper, heat from chilli

and the lovely Thai basil, that aniseed flavour.

That's not bad at all. I'm quite pleased with you.

I hope I've done enough to get through to the next stage.

I'd love to come back again and push myself and see how far I could get.

OK, Natalie,

let's go for yours.

-You had no idea where to start, did you?

-Nope. Not a clue.

It's not spicy enough, it's not sweet enough,

but actually, you've got really interesting flavours in here.

I'd like some more sauce, but really not a bad job at all.

Thank you.

I like your base sauce.

I'd like to see more of that sauce

-and less meat.

-Yes.

It went a bit wrong, but not too bad

because they said it was quite decent,

even though it was nothing like John's.

Your turn, Drew.

There's a glint of oil on there

-which make me worry it may be greasy.

-Yes.

Drew, as insipid as your meat looks, actually, it's quite tender.

But my issue is, there is not enough roundness to the sauce. There's no body to the sauce.

There's no real chilli background, no chilli heat at all,

but the big thing about it is, it's really salty.

You get garlic, you get a little bit of coconut creaminess,

but it's missing chilli!

It didn't go as well as I would've hoped

and I felt the judges' comments were fair enough.

I think I'm up against some stiff competition.

Louise...

You've got that wonderful shrimp saltiness in the background, and smokiness, which is good.

Your vegetables are lovely. I really like the crispness of those.

You've got the richness of the beef and then your lovely Thai basil and coriander running through it.

The meat's cooked well, the vegetables are cooked well.

There's nowhere near enough sauce but I really like the sauce.

It's ticking boxes for me.

I'm happy with how it looked, how it tasted.

I feel good.

Guy, your turn.

Were you trying to replicate my dish or do one of your own?

I did try and replicate your dish.

I don't know what possessed me to choose pork because I wrote down beef.

Just so that you know,

that's lamb, not pork.

You get bitterness,

it then goes into sweetness with plum

and finishes with a tiny hint of chilli,

which isn't a bad accompaniment for the lamb,

but the texture is too greasy.

I like the fact that you've got ginger running through it,

which is really vibrant with that very sweet plum sauce.

Guy, it's nothing like my dish

but at least you've served something which is edible.

I thought it was pork. It turned out to be lamb.

I don't know, that's probably going to haunt me.

How can you mistake pork for lamb?

Gregg and I need to have a conversation. Thank you very much.

Off you go.

It's been a good day, with some decent cooking.

It's not been bad, actually.

Let's be fair, the most impressive person in the Invention Test was Louise,

and her beef stir-fry wasn't bad at all.

-Louise is my pick of the bunch.

-Therefore, Louise is in.

I really liked Saira's Invention Test.

Really good-looking dish, nicely flavoured.

She'd had experience in spicing her food.

In my opinion, probably the closest to my dish on the whole bench comes from Saira.

There's only one person who seemed to struggle, and that's Drew.

We know with Drew's Invention Test, it was completely out of proportion.

With the Palate Test,

we've got slivers of beef in a thin sauce,

with hunks of garlic and onion.

Drew, I don't believe has got what it takes

to go further in this competition.

Guy had an up-and-down Invention Test.

The sauce needed a little bit more punch and it needed more of it.

My concern with Guy more than anything

is that he doesn't know the difference between a piece of beef, pork and lamb.

My mishap with pork and lamb

might send me out of the competition.

It's just a waiting game now.

Natalie - I was really impressed by her Invention Test.

I loved that mussel broth.

As for her beef stir-fry, hm...

She hasn't cooked Asian food at all.

It's not fantastic, but it's not awful.

So question marks over Natalie.

Based on the last challenge, I'm not sure if I've done enough to stay in the competition,

but I think I did all right in the first round so that might save me.

I think we both know who should go through.

The first person leaving us...

..is Drew. Thanks, Drew.

The second person to leave us...

-..is Guy.

-Thank you.

I feel pretty gutted, I guess. Yes, disappointing.

It's just one of those things.

A bit sad because I did want to get a bit further.

It's perhaps not my scene, all the pressure.

Very, very well done. Big achievement.

Tomorrow you are, all three of you, working in a professional kitchen.

-SAIRA: Oh, my gosh!

-NATALIE: Professional? Brilliant!

The thing I'm most worried about is slowing down the service.

You've got to get it to perfection so I don't want to make a pig's ear of it.

I'm not too bad at being given orders,

but we'll have to see. I depends how scary they are!

Today they will be cooking at The Rib Room in London's Knightsbridge.

Good morning, ladies. My name's Ian Rudge, I'm the head chef here.

We've got about 70 booked for lunch, so a busy day ahead of us.

If you want to get cracking, that would be great.

Lunch service begins in just three hours.

The customer standards are astronomically high here.

They know what the standard should be and if it's not that standard, they will let us know.

Part-time DJ Natalie is cooking slow-roasted Cotswold chicken breast

with a sage and onion hotpot and baby carrots,

served with cumin and carrot puree.

The first job we're going to do is cook the chicken breast.

We're going to slowly roast that in the pan there. At the same time, cook some vegetables.

This is the sage and onion hotpot.

We've got some confit chicken leg, a sage and onion stuffing.

Put that in the oven. It takes about 15 minutes at 180.

We're pretty much there. We're just waiting for the hotpot.

We'll get this chicken finished and then get ready to dress the dish.

Start with the carrot puree...

..like that.

Then we follow it with the three bits of chicken.

And finish with a few baby carrots.

We're going to serve a chicken jus on the side

and then a chicken hotpot, with the sage and onion stuffing and the confit onions.

I want to get all the presentation because it's a beautiful dish.

I don't want to disappoint Chef. I don't want plates being sent back.

HR advisor Louise is cooking a roasted rack of Launceston lamb

with a caper crust, curried lamb neck,

artichoke puree and a shallot compote.

This is your braised lamb neck, OK?

It's cooked. We've vac-packed it with curried jus.

I'm going to put that in warm water, just to get it hot through.

At this point now, our lamb rack's ready to go.

Put it that side down, in the pan, like that. OK?

Try and get a nice even colour all the way around.

Whack that in the oven, OK?

The lamb neck's been in the water for about four minutes so we're good to go with this.

Just turn it out.

Reduce down that jus slightly and get that nice sticky glaze.

Now we're good to go to dress the dish.

Start with this lamb neck.

Jerusalem artichoke puree here.

We get a little pinch of the curry crust,

just put it on your lamb like that, yes?

When you carve the lamb, nice long strokes of the knife.

And serve a bit of curry sauce on the side.

OK, Louise, there's your finished dish.

It looks amazing. It looks really delicious.

I absolutely want Chef smiling at what I'm putting in front of him.

I think I'll be able to do it.

Mother-of-two Saira

is cooking wild halibut fillet with baby artichokes,

broad beans and a razor clam and cockle broth.

This is your wild halibut fillet, which is raw.

It's vac-packed. Just drop that in your water bath.

We're just starting to get a bit of colour there, yes?

And next, seaweed.

We've got some sliced razor clams, cockles and brown shrimp.

Place them on the bottom of the grill to gently warm them through.

-Lastly, we've got some fresh broad beans.

-Yes.

There's your halibut, cooked, out of the bag.

-I think we're pretty much good to dress.

-OK!

A few spring onions.

Take your halibut...

Bit of shellfish.

-And there's your dish.

-Lovely.

It's gorgeous.

This is way out of my comfort zone. It's just a beautiful dish.

I just want to make it as nice as Chef did.

Lunchtime gets very busy around here. People want to be in and out in a short amount of time.

It's going to be a busy service.

-OK, two chickens!

-Yes, Chef!

Start doing your chicken now, yes?

I'm getting ready to plate my first two chicken dishes,

so I'd better crack on otherwise Chef will shout at me!

Two chicken coming, yes?

Yes, Chef!

With Natalie's chicken cooked,

she must now concentrate on the elaborate presentation.

-That's rubbish.

-Right. I'll show you.

-Ready?

-Yes.

Ah-ah!

Yes? Better.

I think I need to work on my carrots.

The further we go during service, hopefully I'll perfect it.

You need to have more confidence with the plate and your own ability. You are getting it, though.

Let's go.

OK, next up, two lamb - pink.

Yes, Chef!

Where's... Turnips? Where's my turnips?

Louise doesn't have a lot of orders

but is already struggling.

-Right, Louise, how long on this lamb?

-Erm...

-Be honest. If you don't know, say "I don't know"...

-I don't know.

..and we'll reassess where you're up to.

Is that one portion? You've got two lamb on order.

I've got two lamb. I need to get another lamb in.

-Don't wait. As soon as you hear it, put it on, OK?

-All right.

-Really important.

-I need another pan!

Watch this pan. Don't boil them!

Just gently. Remember, gentle. Control the heat.

Gently. If you boil them like that, it's going to break apart.

She must now make sure her lamb is cooked to perfection.

I don't know if I am happy with that, actually. One second, let me show Chef.

This lamb isn't right. We've got an overcooked outside and a raw centre.

We need to get another working as soon as possible

-because you cannot serve this as a pink lamb, yes?

-Yes.

It's certainly intense, absolutely.

I need to take my time a bit more and really concentrate.

Perfect.

Right, let's go.

OK, two chicken, two halibut.

Saira's halibut has been poaching in the water bath for 16 minutes.

This is the really delicate bit.

It's such a beautiful bit of fish, I just don't want to damage it.

I've got to make sure I get all the Clingfilm off! I don't want to give anyone Clingfilm!

Whoo-hoo! It's done!

Concentrating on her presentation, Saira has forgotten her fish.

-Feel it here. What does it feel like?

-It's not warm enough.

-It's not warm.

-Get your plates dressed.

-OK.

-Then put your halibut on.

-Yes, Chef.

-We really, really need to push on now, yes?

-OK.

Put the razor clams and cockles on top.

These people are paying for this food.

If you had a ham sandwich and they said, "I didn't have time to put ham in,"

-what would you say?

-I wouldn't be happy.

-You wouldn't.

I'm still getting tips from Chef so I'm obviously not doing it perfectly yet.

But they're not looking too bad.

Service is coming to an end

but the kitchen is still in full swing.

OK, next up, girls,

one halibut, one chicken, one lamb.

Natalie is still trying to perfect her presentation.

Chef, is this one OK?

That one there's better, but let's just keep it up.

-As long as each one gets better, you're on the right path.

-Thanks, Chef.

OK, final table away, guys.

Two lamb - pink - one halibut, one chicken.

-It's the last table of the afternoon, guys, let's make it a good one, yes?

-Yes, Chef!

These are the last two to go out so I'm quite relieved to be at the end of service.

It's been quite hot! Hot and bothered!

I'm going to make sure these last two are perfect.

That's looking much better. It's a lot cleaner on the plate.

-Get your chicken on...

-Thanks, Chef.

-..your shoots. Let's go.

Last table. Very good.

-It looks like it's done by a professional. Well done.

-Thank you.

-OK. Credit.

Louise, you've got five minutes to get the lamb up to me, yes?

Yes, Chef!

-How many lamb have you got on order?

-I've got four -

-one ready, another one and then two.

-You're all over it. Good girl.

I want to get these next ones absolutely perfect, presentation sorted.

-How long? Give me a time.

-I can go in two minutes!

Thank you. Let's go, then! Two minutes!

Let's just look at your lamb.

That's 10 out of 10. Superb. Perfect.

I've never really cooked lamb before so really made up with that!

-Let's get your halibuts finished. Two halibut. I want it up on the pass in two minutes.

-Yes, Chef.

I want them to be absolutely perfect so I can finish on a high.

These artichokes are perfect.

Nice golden brown, good glaze, lovely and hot. Perfect.

Couldn't have done them better myself. 10 out of 10.

That garnish looks beautiful. Really well done. Perfect.

That's it, girls. Lunch is finished. What a brilliant effort.

Thank you very much for your help.

-We survived.

-I'm sweating.

That was the toughest service we've done in a long time.

But credit to the girls. There were some rocky moments for each of them at certain points.

Towards the end, they were all producing good dishes.

Louise did a good job. She struggled with the cooking degrees of the lamb, some were undercooked,

but she got herself back on track and that takes determination.

I am feeling absolutely shattered but I'm over the moon.

What a great experience. I think it went really well.

I think Saira was very good. She cooked with good control.

Towards the middle, a couple of silly mistakes with cold food

and she got maybe a bit complacent.

She almost took it on too calmly.

I feel pretty proud of myself. I think I coped.

I'm not sure what Chef thought.

He didn't strangle me or say anything too horrible, so I think I did OK.

Natalie did a good job. Where she struggled most was with the plating.

She was hard on herself.

Towards the end, I think her dishes were the best of the bunch.

I'm feeling pretty knackered now,

but it's something I've always wanted to do.

Welcome back.

Now your chance...

..to secure yourself a place in our quarterfinal.

One hour,

your two dishes...

Let's cook.

I'm more confident about cooking my own food,

the dishes that I know really work and I've had great feedback on in the past,

so I'm very excited about that.

Saira, a plethora of ingredients upon your bench.

I'm going to do you some masala lamb chops,

spiced crushed potato with a homemade fresh mint and coriander chutney,

and then for your second course, chicken dopiaza, some dhal and some rice to go with that.

-What's a dopiaza?

-Dopiaza means "double onions".

This is proper home cooking. This is what I grew up with and I love cooking it for my family.

I really hope you'll like it, too.

Your food has put a smile on my face.

You've just got to keep that smile there.

-OK! I'll try!

-Thanks, Saira.

-Cheers. Thanks.

Saira has shown us she knows European food and Asian food.

She's just about to bring them together.

I'm really looking forward to it.

You've had 15 minutes. All right? 15 minutes.

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

If I get them just right, it should impress them.

Natalie, your two dishes today are?

Pan-fried scallops with beetroot puree,

beetroot wedges and samphire.

My other course is pan-fried duck, with a carrot and cumin puree

and mini potato fondants.

Why would you pick these two dishes in particular?

I love scallops. I think they're beautiful. And duck's my favourite meat.

-Are you feeding us dishes that you'd like to eat yourself?

-I am indeed, Gregg.

I've been trying to get my cooking better and better

and make it more refined over the years.

What looked like a slop on a plate is starting to look a lot prettier!

Scallops, beetroot, orange and samphire -

a combination I've never had before. It's going to be a balancing act.

You're halfway!

Possibly halfway to a quarterfinal.

I'm absolutely pushing myself with this menu.

It is a bit of a risk. Hopefully, it will pay off

because there's some great skills on show, great flavour combinations.

-Louise, you are running furiously from one end of the bench to another.

-I am! I have a lot to do.

-What are you cooking for us?

-Scallops with a butternut squash puree

and a sage and pine nut butter sauce.

And then for main meal,

I'm doing a duo of Sri Lankan curry,

a chicken curry - the spicier one, and a milder okra curry.

A duo of Sri Lankan curries? Where did that inspiration come from?

I went to Sri Lanka on holiday and I cooked with the locals.

I cooked these dishes and it inspired me.

It's not the sort of food that I would do

so it's got to be good if I'm going to give it to you.

Louise is really pushing herself.

Lots of preparation but also lots of last-minute cooking.

My worry is, she's pushed herself a little bit too hard!

You've only got ten minutes left!

That's it! Time's up. You have to stop! You have to stop.

Louise has cooked scallops with butternut squash puree

and a sage and pine nut butter sauce.

Your first course, your scallops, looks amazing.

I love it.

I really like that. Really nice, bouncy, soft scallops.

My first flavour was butter. My second one was sage.

Then in comes nutty sweetness of that butternut squash puree.

That's a beautiful starter.

When you mix the pine nuts and the butternut squash puree together,

it's like chestnuts, it's like Christmas.

Chestnuts, sage... I'm thinking about stuffing, comforting...

And then there's the lovely subtleness of the scallop.

I think it's really very, very clever.

Louise's main course is a duo of Sri Lankan curry -

a chicken curry and an okra curry

with steamed rice.

I'm not sure about all these sticks sitting in there.

There's nearly as many sticks as there are bits of food.

Always a big risk, taking on very, very complex spice dishes.

You used a pre-mixed curry powder.

You've got to build those spices up.

Don't rely on somebody else to mix your spices for you.

You've used chicken breast and that's dry.

Use thigh meat instead.

The okra itself is not cooked enough.

I admire your bravery

but I'm not in love with your Sri Lankan curry.

I don't like the okra at all

-because it's still really gelatinous.

-Mm.

The sauce with the chicken is nowhere near strong enough.

Rice is a bland thing. Anything you serve with rice has got to be powerful.

I've gone from the sublime

to the slightly dull.

I feel a bit gutted.

The curries were something I wouldn't normally do.

It was a risk. It didn't pay off.

I really wish I'd stuck to what I'm good at doing.

Saira, which one of these is the main course and which one is the main course?!

-Oh, yes!

-There's a lot of food here!

-I didn't think about that!

-You'd never leave my house hungry.

-You'd never leave your house, I don't think!

Saira's starter is masala lamb chops on spiced crushed potatoes

with a mint and coriander chutney.

That is super yum.

My first flavour in there was mint,

then, bit by bit, in came more and more spice,

some sour notes, some sweeter notes.

Nice. I really like it. I really, really like it.

-Saira.

-Yes?

-I totally agree with him.

-Oh!

I love the spicing around the lamb.

Your sauce is really creamy and rich and fiery hot with chilli.

-The potatoes themselves are quite bland.

-OK.

And, actually, I don't mind that because it gives me somewhere to go.

But I think it's really tasty. Good on you.

Saira's main course is a chicken dopiaza curry

with tarka dhal and lemon basmati rice.

The chicken is just fantastic. It's soft and it melts in your mouth.

It's been cooked in a wonderful, gentle manner

but absorbing all the spices and the sweetness of the onion.

I think it's really beautiful.

Your lentils are buttery and slightly sweet.

But the real star is this chicken.

-I really, really like it, honestly.

-That's fantastic.

I feel brilliant. It went really well.

All the comments were really positive.

I just feel fantastic at the moment!

For her first course, Natalie has made pan-fried scallops

on a bed of beetroot puree, beetroot wedges

and an orange vinaigrette with samphire and micro coriander.

I like the look of your food. I think it's neat.

I think it's quite trendy, actually.

There's flavour combinations here that I've never had before.

Beetroot puree with orange juice, I really like.

Coriander on top of that is a bit too much.

Do you know what? I just don't know what I think about this.

It's left me in a state of flux.

The first mouthful is definitely very, very strong with the scallop,

but as you start to eat more of it,

you get the sort of orange background with that sweet but sharp beetroot

and these micro herbs of coriander start to bring the whole thing alive.

It's very, very interesting.

Natalie's second course is pan-fried roasted duck breast with a redcurrant jelly,

fondant potatoes and carrot and cumin puree.

Natalie, I can tell from here your duck is not cooked through.

-I love the look of it, though.

-Thank you.

Your main course, I think, is really well seasoned.

I love your soft potatoes.

Your carrot puree - really sweet, but it tastes of carrot, a bit of spice in the background.

I even like your redcurrant jelly.

But the thing is for me,

-it's all a little bit too sweet for my palate.

-OK.

It's not too sweet for me.

I really like your carrot puree. It is naturally sweet.

-Your duck has a lovely crispy skin but it isn't cooked enough.

-Yes.

You've got some very original thoughts,

but you've got tiny little mistakes.

I'm feeling quite happy with the comments. They were fair.

There was some mistakes, but then there was some good stuff.

I think they think I've got some interesting ideas,

but there's a lot of work to be done.

We can only take the best cooks through to the quarterfinal.

We'll get you in as soon as we've made a decision. Thank you. Off you go.

Good cooking today. Each one of them really pushed themselves.

Saira had a great day.

I love her food, her East-meets-West combinations.

I loved the lamb, loved the fiery relish she made. Absolutely brilliant.

As for the pots of curry - vibrant and delicious.

-Saira's got to go through.

-Now what do we do?

We have got Natalie and we've got Louise

and both of them are not without fault.

Natalie is an adventurous cook.

I've never had a combination of beetroot, orange, samphire and scallop before.

That came out as something really good.

The duck dish - there was that sweet redcurrant sauce, sweet carrot.

Her potato fondants were really well cooked.

These are all good ideas. The problem is,

-we had undercooked duck.

-There's our issue.

To get through to the quarterfinals would be a dream come true. I'd be floating on the clouds.

It's everything I've dreamed for and it could potentially be life-changing.

Louise - the scallops and that butternut squash puree,

it was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Then the curry... The chicken was really dry,

the rice wasn't seasoned enough.

Okra that wasn't cooked properly...

I started eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant

and finished in a working-man's cafe off of Camberwell!

I'm feeling a little bit resigned at the moment

because the girls did fantastic.

I am expecting to go home but I will be gutted.

We both feel they have something

but we both know they've made mistakes.

We have seen bags of potential in all of you today.

Very difficult for us to actually make our minds up.

We have, however, made a decision.

All three of you will go through to the quarterfinal!

-THEY LAUGH & GASP

-Oh, my God!

-Well done.

-Congratulations.

Buzzing on top of the world right now! I'm still shocked.

It's been a good day. It's been a tough day but a good one.

I feel amazing. I can't believe I got through to the quarterfinals!

I'm feeling so elated. Just... I'm in shock, really.

I'm just so happy!

Tomorrow night, another group of five amateurs

battle to earn a place in the quarterfinal.

That mashed potato is awful.

Your pork - beautiful.

That's quite a remarkable and astonishing-tasting plate of food!

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