Episode 17 MasterChef

This is MasterChef Knockout Week.

After six weeks of competition,

the best seven amateur cooks are left.

Tonight,

the only thing that stands between them and a place in the semifinals

is one show-stopping dish.

DRAMATIC MUSIC

This, I think, is the most exciting cook-off we've ever had.

This is properly the Clash of the Titans.

What can they do with ingredients?

The flavours they can create, John!

My stomach's got butterflies in it all the time.

I'm nervous, but I hope the nervous energy carries me through.

Today, this one dish is what's going to get you through

so there's quite a lot riding on this.

I want to see the looks on their faces when they eat the food.

Today is a massive day for me.

To get into the semifinals would be absolutely amazing.

It's the biggest day so far in the competition.

One of the biggest days of my life.

You are the best seven cooks from our heats.

When I see you all together in one kitchen,

I realise just how good this competition's been.

Your own dish, your own invention, your own ambition.

One plate of food, one and a half hours.

At the end of this, four semifinalists.

Ladies and gentlemen,

let's cook.

It's incredible to think that just one plate of food

separates these seven from a semifinal.

They've got to fight for the right to stay in this competition.

They've got to cook like they've never cooked before.

Saira's an Essex mum, John. I love her food.

We know Saira does spicing really well.

It's an absolutely sensational dish.

The flavours on that plate are absolutely stunning.

From Saira today, I want to keep those flavours!

They're beautiful!

Make it smart. Make it sexy.

How big is today for you?

Today's huge. I've got one dish to show you what I can do

and show you what I love about this food.

What is this food?

Bengali street food is what you're getting today.

Pakoras, stuffed paratha, I'm going to do little lamb kebabs

with a coriander dipping sauce and some tomato chutney.

I'm going to serve the whole thing with some spicy masala tea, which you'll love.

So when you walk along the street and smell this food,

-what does it do for you?

-It evokes so many memories.

It'll take you to the hustle and bustle of the Indian subcontinent.

You've got the colours, the smells, the flavours!

I want to take you there.

What I'm trying to show with this dish is my love of food.

I don't want my food to show people how clever I am.

I want my food to make people happy.

Saira's given herself a huge amount to do.

That lady's been cooking like that for her family for years.

She knows how to organise herself.

My only concern is, how on earth do you present street food and a cup of tea?

15 minutes have gone already. Come on! Focus!

Ollie delivers big, bold flavours.

I love the turmeric and the lime leaf and the ginger!

That is fabulous.

Today, give us something which is clean and crisp.

It's the show-stopper round. We're now down to the final seven.

I've got to go all-out. I've got to prove to John and Gregg and myself that I can do this now.

-Ollie, what are you cooking today?

-Partridge in a pear tree.

We've got partridge three ways, with a little crispy skin,

and we've got a mulled claret sauce.

We've got some leaves, a parmesan parsnip basket, quail's egg

and a lovely bit of pear and hazelnut running through the middle.

How is it, being through to the final seven?

It's incredible. I've loved every single stage

and I love being in front of this kind of platform here and cooking.

Ollie's got a breaded tenderloin of partridge,

a piece of breast and then a confit leg.

He's serving that with pears, hazelnuts, some crumb and a sauce.

But for me, it doesn't sound like there's a huge amount of definition in the dish.

Rukmini has had some real ups and downs.

She's also delivered some of the best dishes I've seen in this competition.

It's a delight! It's an absolute triumph.

Rukmini is blowing my mind here!

I'm so excited about this dish!

I'm feeling really happy to cook my own dish.

I feel, in this competition, I've done the best

when I've cooked things that I've prepared beforehand.

Rukmini, what are you going to cook for us?

Partridge, pear, walnut gorgonzola. I've done three kinds of pear, three different ways.

I've done the partridge three ways.

I'm serving it with a gorgonzola mousse

and walnut and rocket moss.

And I've got a nice red wine sauce.

What do you think you've got to do today to make it through?

I want to show you that I can get a really good balance. It's a classic flavour combination,

but I'm doing something a bit different with it

and, hopefully, it'll balance really nicely.

It sounds like a wonderful, wonderful dish, but it is a lot to do.

It should be stunning to the eye.

It's now got to be stunning to the taste buds.

You are now halfway! 45 minutes left!

Shivi, when she delivers, she delivers extraordinary food.

Sea bass, saffron polenta, sauce vierge and mussels.

I mean, magical, magical food!

I'm really excited about cooking my own dish. I hope they like the presentation.

I really want to wow them, so it is show-stopping

from the first glance to the last bite.

-What are you making?

-I'm making venison two ways.

And then I'm doing a savoury mille-feuille,

which I'm using the plantain as my pastry.

Then I'm doing a celeriac puree,

salt-baked beetroot and cassava.

-Where's the inspiration?

-Being brought up in two parts of the world and I love both types of food,

the gamey flavours that I love eating myself

but also with the Caribbean bits.

It's kind of what I've been trying to show you as my style, really.

Shivi continues to surprise me.

We've got salt-roasted beetroot, blackberries, truffles, plantain, venison.

We've got so many things going on

I'm concerned we're going to have a clash of flavours.

The best rounds for me

have been when I've been able to cook my own food.

Precise cooking, elegant cooking.

Beautiful presentation!

Yes! This guy has got some mad skills!

The inspiration behind my dish is to do with how I enjoy food at home.

I entertain all the time - for the boys, for my family.

It's going to stop the show when they know I'm cooking a burger!

Dale, what are you going to cook for us?

Trying to have a bit of fun to show you a different side of me.

I'm jointing a chicken up, making some nice crackling out of the skin,

a burger out of the breast, some lollipops out of the legs.

I'm making a mayonnaise, a barbecue sauce, coleslaw.

-What's at stake?

-It's one of the biggest moments of my life.

Sometimes my focus comes across as a lack of passion,

but it's because I'm in the zone and I want it so much.

Some of your food's been really precise and intricate,

and now we're talking about a burger!

-How beautiful can a burger be?

-I can make a burger look pretty.

You want to get through to the semifinal by making us a burger. Good luck!

I tell you what, Dale, good on you!

How he's going to present that burger I'm not quite sure,

but I hope it's absolutely fantastic.

You have just over 15 minutes left. That's it.

I think the Asian food I've done has been the best received.

I think there's some real beauty in this dish,

in its flavours and also its precision.

You can taste a lot of distinct spices.

It's packed with flavour, isn't it?

With this dish, I'm trying to prove

that I'm willing to take risks

and I'm not a one-trick pony.

Larkin...

You've got smokers, chorizo, black pudding, two different types of rice.

We only want one dish, mate!

-What are you cooking?

-I'm going to try something different.

I'm going to do a guinea fowl and lobster smoked paella

with a citrus air.

I'm glad you're speechless because I'm the same!

This is amazing!

I think I've just been given the confidence

to go for something a bit crazier.

Larkin's got big, bold flavours -

smoke, citrus, woodiness, allsorts of things going on,

and he's got to get that balance absolutely right.

My worry is, for all the trickery, for all the wizardry,

he's going to be left with a bowl of rice.

Natalie walked in here and she really impressed us with her flavours.

I love the bouncy fish. I love the bit of acidity. I think that's really good.

Her food has clarity. Her food has flavour.

I just think the flavours is my trump card today.

I think, if it all goes to plan,

it should hopefully be a really good dish.

-Natalie, what are you cooking for us?

-I'm cooking pigeon, roasted,

with orange braised lentils,

griddled chicory, hazelnuts

and it's going to be on a bed of celeriac puree.

It'll look pretty, I promise you.

-You're loving this, aren't you?

-I am. But you're my guinea pigs. It's the first time I've cooked it.

First time we've ever been called that!

Any component parts of this you've cooked?

I've practised it three times but I've never fed it to anyone, so you are my first critics.

-Who ate it before - the guinea pig?

-Myself.

I had it for breakfast.

Natalie is doing us pigeon with a celeriac puree, chicory

and orange braised lentils.

I think if Natalie gets that right,

it's going to be clean, crisp and concise.

You've got just over five minutes!

-What's happened?

-What, to the mayonnaise?

-Yes.

I split it in a blender.

That's it! You have to stop.

Saira's dish of Bengali street food

consists of pakoras, stuffed paratha and lamb kebabs,

served with a coriander dipping sauce, a tomato chutney

and a cup of spiced masala tea.

I would happily eat your food all day long.

Your lamb kebab is firm yet still moist.

These stuffed paratha are just heavenly!

They have got to be the most moreish snack in the world!

That tea is like a cinnamon spiced milkshake.

It is divine!

Your food is full of love and flavour!

But you can't really put your food in a paper bag for MasterChef, can you?

The main thing is that you love the food.

I can work on the presentation. If you like the taste, I'm happy!

You're smiling so I'm happy.

You've got this wonderful sweet tomato chutney with onion seeds running through it,

which is powerful and tastes of onion and goes beautifully with your lamb.

Your other one, the coriander pickle,

which is really acidic with the lime juice and hot from chillies,

goes beautifully with your bread and with your pakoras.

The pakoras, I like,

but I don't love them.

They're not crispy and they're not, for me, smoky enough.

I disagree with Gregg about the presentation.

You're demonstrating the fact that you've got skill, you can cook

and you're trying.

You're trying to endeavour to do something new

and I think that's really impressive.

-You're enjoying our little competition.

-I'm having a ball.

I feel 20 years younger!

I don't know that I have done enough to get through to the semifinals.

I tried to do something different and I took a risk.

I'm not entirely sure that it worked.

Ollie has served partridge in a pear tree,

a confit leg, tenderloin and breast of partridge

on a pear puree, with kale and a quail's egg in a parsnip basket,

finished with a mulled claret sauce and chopped hazelnuts.

I really like that breast and your little crumb fillet,

which is wonderful and sweet,

but also very, very dark game meat, almost like liver,

against the sweet but sharp pear.

But the thing that really disturbs me

is the egg yolk with pear and a bit of partridge.

Egg yolk and pear is not something I really want to eat again.

I appreciate the work that's gone in and the amount of effort you've put in there,

but I'm just not overwhelmed by it at all.

Egg yolk and pear is slightly odd.

Pear and kale is slightly odd.

Maybe just take it back a bit, focus on fewer things

and just make them absolutely delicious.

Larkin has cooked a smoked paella

with breast of guinea fowl, lobster, black pudding

and a citrus air.

Larkin, I reckon your lobster's a little bit overcooked.

But the rest of it's bloody great, mate! That is so clever.

I have got the wonderful, comforting flavours and textures of paella,

smoky, sweet guinea fowl,

with the flavour of paprika from that chorizo running across the top of it.

The fact that you've actually used all those gadgets makes a difference to the dish.

Larkin, you clever boy.

Not only is that meat cooked absolutely beautifully and really moist,

I got smoke, I got citrus, I then got paprika,

I then got beautiful shellfish.

The flavours in there are extraordinary enough

without the citrus zing and the smoky feel, as well.

I don't like clever for no reason

but I fall in love with clever that delivers beautiful-flavoured food.

It was a really, really big risk for me to do that dish today.

It's not something I fully practised before,

but hopefully that risk has paid off today.

Rukmini's dish is pan-fried breast,

confit leg and rillettes of partridge

on a pear puree,

with a pear and pink peppercorn relish,

gorgonzola mousse, caramelised pears,

a walnut and rocket moss

and a partridge and red wine sauce.

Do you have any idea how close I am

to jumping the bench, grabbing hold of you

and saying how fantastic that dish is?

It's so close to being absolutely fantastic.

But your breast of your bird is not cooked enough.

It's too underdone.

But as for the rest of it,

Rukmini, it's stunning!

I think the sharpness of the pink peppercorn

with the sweet caramelised pear

and your shredded little bit of meat, the rillettes,

is absolutely beautiful.

You have got some extraordinary flavours on that plate.

It's really quite unusual but really quite delightful.

But the main bit of your plate, which is that bird, is not cooked.

I would send that bird back if you served that to me.

That's not cooked.

I'm really disappointed with myself.

Dale has made a chicken burger

with coleslaw, fries and barbecue sauce,

served with chicken lollipops and crispy chicken skin.

The thing that really sings for me is your barbecue sauce. That is brilliant.

With those salty, well-cooked crispy chips and then your crispy chicken leg,

I think it's great.

You made mayonnaise, great chips, barbecue sauce,

crumbed, boned, battered, pureed, built...

It's a great example of how versatile you are as a cook.

From really precise and intricate, to fun and really exciting and crowd-pleasing,

I think this is really good.

As soon as I picked up that drumstick, what you call a lollipop,

I got moist flesh and I got real salty crispiness on the outside.

Your great big fat tear-into-me burger -

that's still moist and nicely flavoured - mate, it does it for me!

Well done, son.

How does that feel, Dale?

You nearly saw a grown-man cry, but I held it back!

Shivi has cooked venison two ways

with roasted venison loin,

rissoles, a celeriac puree,

a plantain mille-feuille,

salt-baked beetroot, glazed carrots,

scented cassava and a chocolate tamarind jus.

There is sweetness across the whole of your plate

that I actually really, really like.

The only thing I don't like the taste of

is the celeriac puree with chocolate and tamarind sauce.

It's sweet, sweet earthiness,

and I can't get it to sit happily.

Everything on your dish is cooked beautifully.

Your venison is wonderful and soft,

your celeriac puree is wonderful and creamy.

Your beetroot's melt-in-your-mouth, the crispiness of your rissoles,

which are crumbed on the outside and really lovely on the inside...

But the thing for me is, it all needs a little bit more seasoning.

The venison needs a decent of crunch of salt and pepper on the outside

to give it some... just a little bit more flavour!

Natalie has cooked pan-roasted pigeon breast,

served on a celeriac puree,

with orange braised lentils, griddled chicory

and roasted hazelnuts.

Your flavour notes in there are bold and big

and actually bordering on dangerous.

You've got very sweet, nutty lentils from the orange,

you've got woodiness coming from your celeriac, the bitterness of the endive.

I'm taking myself into Italy, where it's really strong food.

And then the livery-ness from your pigeon...

I find it really interesting.

I find it really exciting. I find it really delicious.

John really likes it. I tell you what I get,

I get the creamy, earthy sweetness of celeriac, a flavour I love,

I then get the gamey pigeon, which is cooked really, really well.

Right at the end, I get a hint of bitter chicory

and a hint of orange sweetness.

It's delightful. I really like it, as well.

I think that's really lovely.

Don't do that to me. I said I wanted emotion and you've done it to me, as well!

You're the first ones I've cooked it for, as well,

so to get them comments...

When you walked in here today, did you think you'd get that sort of accolade or applause?

No. Because it was just my thoughts and no-one else's.

My mum wouldn't eat it. When she thinks of pigeon,

she thinks of the one in Trafalgar Square, so she won't eat it!

But for you to say that, I'm over the moon.

We only have four semifinal places.

Thank you. Off you go.

A culinary extravaganza, I think we can call it today.

We've got really good cooks

and far too many for the number of places we've got.

There's some dishes here that would've happily graced a MasterChef final.

Some fantastic cooking, unbelievable imagination

and incredible technique.

One of the people that goes through today is going to be our champion.

Who has the ability and the skill,

to be able to fight and actually win the competition?

A tough decision for us, really tough decision,

because you seven, I've got to say, have been incredible.

The first person leaving us is...

..Ollie.

I've been on an incredible journey. I've enjoyed every single moment.

I said throughout that I always have to be involved in food and I always will be.

I'm going to keep pushing at it.

The second person leaving the competition is...

..Shivi. Thanks, Shivi.

I'm really proud of myself because I've made it this far

and it's just the start of something else for me.

The last person leaving the competition...

..is Rukmini.

I'm really pleased to have got this far in the competition.

It feels like a respectable level to have got to.

I'll just keep cooking and keep improving.

Welcome to the MasterChef Semifinal.

UPLIFTING MUSIC

I know what's coming up is going to be so intense...

..but, I imagine, an amazing experience.

I'm really, really chuffed I'm at this stage.

This competition means a huge amount to me. I could change my life now.

This could be the start of something completely different for me

and that's really exciting.

MasterChef finalist - it just feels overwhelming

and really on the money.

It's unbelievable, the feeling right now.

I feel like I'm going to wake up from some dream.

It's probably the best thing that's ever happened in my life.

Next week, it's the semifinals,

and the four remaining contestants face their toughest challenges yet.

I've done many things on MasterChef. This is by far my favourite.

Bang, bang, bang! Let's go!

Three minutes on the first table, please.

-Three minutes?

-Three minutes.

Only three of them will become finalists.

The contestant leaving us...

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