Episode 4 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 quarter-final.

-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.

-Come on, we've got to move now.

-You've got six minutes left.

-Oh!

-Cooking does not get tougher than this.

These five amateurs all think they have what it takes to become MasterChef champion.

At the end of today's heat, only the best will become quarter-finalists.

I'm really looking forward to meeting John and Gregg. I think I might be like a little schoolgirl,

so if you see me grinning quite a lot, please excuse me.

I could make an absolute fool out of myself.

Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that.

I think if I keep my head

and it all goes well, I think I could win it.

Welcome to MasterChef. You've got to show that you've got the skill to go further in the competition.

This is the invention test.

With the set of ingredients you've got, we'll ask you to cook a dish.

It can be anything you want. Just make it delicious.

You've got just one hour. Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

Today's ingredients include:

chicken livers, black pudding,

brioche, cream...

..potatoes,

cabbage, rhubarb,

apples and oranges.

Growing up,

my dad hated food -

garlic, onions, everything,

then I left and literally discovered how to cook for myself,

rather than beans on toast which is what he taught me to cook.

Jemma, you look very calm to me.

Do I? I'm really nervous.

-What are you making for me and John?

-An apple and orange bread and butter pudding

with a sea salted caramel sauce and an orange Chantilly cream.

Whoa-oa! Are you really?

-I am, yeah.

-How can you make custard without vanilla?

I've used orange zest instead of vanilla, so it'll be a slightly different take on a custard, I hope.

Now I'm just working on my caramel which I think I might be burning.

Bread and butter pudding is lovely as long as that bread's been soaked up with lots and lots of custard

and it's cooked all the way through.

15 minutes gone already. How about that?

Toby thrives on cooking banquet meals on a budget for his friends and family.

That whole concept of refined food is a challenge for me,

but it should be fun finding out whether I can do it.

Toby, what are you going to make for us?

I'm doing some of the chicken livers with crispy sage and cabbage.

-You know what you're cooking. You just don't know how it's going to...

-Turn out.

-You don't, do you?

-No.

You're trying to take the chicken livers and build a dish around it.

Pretty much. That's what I'm heading towards. Whether I get there or not, we'll see.

Those chicken livers take about five minutes to cook.

They should be pink inside. If you overcook them, they go grainy and nasty.

You are halfway.

I thought about going to cookery school and just changing career,

but "am I good enough" is the thing that goes through your mind,

so I'm here.

-What are you going to make for us?

-I'm going to attempt to make a rhubarb creme brulee, I think.

-Have you not yet decided?

-Maybe I should do something with the brioche.

-You're all over the place.

-What do you do for a job, Zara?

-I'm a project manager.

-Surely you can handle a MasterChef kitchen.

-My nerves are a bit more just because I'm normally prepared for everything.

-Calm down. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Zara talked about making a rhubarb creme brulee, but now she's changed her mind.

She's doing a rhubarb pot topped with meringue. I think Zara could be a good cook if she can calm down.

Web developer Scott began cooking seriously just five years ago.

I like to try and come up with lots of different ideas

and try ingredients that you might not expect in dishes.

They don't always work.

-Scott, how are you feeling?

-A bit nervous, but I think I've got that under control.

-What are you making?

-Today, I'm making fried chicken livers

with a reduction of chicken liver and a bit of cream and a black pudding colcannon.

-What do you want from MasterChef?

-I see it as a potential to change my life.

A good colcannon is a wonderful thing. It's mashed potato with buttery cabbage mixed through it.

Not from Scott. No, no.

We're taking potatoes, then mixing them with some cabbage, black pudding and some butter.

It's brown, it's nasty.

It's sloppy. It's really awful. I don't want to eat it!

You've got just 20 minutes left.

Kitchen designer Claire began cooking her family's evening meals at the age of ten.

I had to look in the cupboards and figure out what to do

with what we've got, so I'm hoping I've got a good palate.

I've been practising for a lot of years.

-Claire, I've been watching you with real interest. What are you making?

-A rhubarb and apple tart

with a sugar basket sitting over that, but I'm going to just have a second attempt.

Claire, why a dessert?

I've really got into baking. I used to do a lot more on the savoury side. I want to show you what I can do.

If you were good at savouries and now you've mastered puddings,

-does that make you an all-round fantastic cook?

-I'm hoping so.

Claire is going traditional baking, which I think is brilliant,

but Claire's sugar work is not working. She's trying to do sugar baskets and they're all collapsing.

She doesn't really know what she's doing.

Five minutes. Start getting it on a plate.

That's it. Time's up. Stop!

First up is make-up artist Jemma.

She's made an apple and orange bread and butter pudding

with orange cream and salted caramel sauce.

It's all right up to a point, but it's too sharp.

The Bramley apple is a sharp apple.

You've also got orange zest in the cream.

You've also got orange juice in the dessert. You need more sugar.

What we've actually ended up with is a bit of a mish-mash of ideas.

Look, at least we now know that you understand a bread and butter pudding.

You can make an apple puree and you've got a nice, fragrant cream.

It's not... It hasn't set me alight.

I just thought "bread and butter pudding" and afterwards I was regretting it.

And yeah, it didn't go to plan.

Kitchen designer Claire has created a rhubarb and apple tart,

topped with sugar work, served with a rhubarb compote and double cream.

Ta-da! Great tart.

That is sweet and it's sharp and the pastry is crispy.

That's lovely. That'll do for me, Claire.

-The pastry is beautifully made.

-Thank you.

It's lovely and buttery, sweet and still a bit salty. It's beautifully thin and really well done.

I'm happy with what I've done, but I definitely need to get better.

Toby's savoury dish is pan-fried chicken livers with crispy sage, cabbage and black pudding.

Your livers are cooked beautifully.

I like the liver with the black pudding and the sage and that wonderful seasoning on it.

Your cabbage is really greasy.

But it doesn't mean you don't cook, that's for sure.

You have a good touch, but what IS that dish?

This is the work of a man who started a project without any idea of how it was going to finish.

In the next round, I've got to show more skill. I need to up my game.

Project manager Zara's dessert is a rhubarb meringue pot

with a brioche pudding and an orange caramel sauce.

Your sharp rhubarb with that wonderful meringue on top cooked perfectly is a very good thing.

Thankfully, you've got a sweet brioche pudding which gives you some sweetness.

The orange caramel sauce I don't get on with, but there are some really good things there.

That rhubarb with that meringue is delightful.

Delightful.

You've got the sweetness and sharpness balance absolutely right.

I'm a bit nervous of the way you cook, but you've got a great palate for pudding.

I'm just amazed. That's amazing. I'm sorry. I'm...

-That's OK.

-Thank you.

Web developer Scott's creation is pan-fried chicken livers

with a black pudding colcannon and a pepper cream sauce.

-Scott, I'm scared of it.

-You're scared?

-It had better taste good!

It's fair to say my ears are ringing and I have sweat on my brow.

Cream sauce with liver? Uh-uh.

Really not a good idea. I found it difficult to swallow that.

-I think you must have had better days in the kitchen.

-I'd say so.

No-one's going home. You've got one round to redeem yourself.

I'm feeling like I've got work to do. I won't let it get me down. I'll just go in there and try even harder.

Thank you very much indeed. Off you go.

Today was always going to be tough. With that set of ingredients there wasn't anything really obvious.

-Jemma has still got a point to prove for me.

-Doing a bread and butter pudding is a really difficult thing.

-It wasn't quite right.

-She needs to have a good round now.

I really, really like Claire.

Anyone who has a go at pastry this early in the competition, I think, "Good."

Toby, I think actually might be a decent cook

because his seasoning was good, but he just had brain freeze.

I like Zara,

but, John, she's a little skitty.

I like Zara's creativity. She can cook. She's got really nice ideas.

It's been a very long time since I've been so scared of a dish as I was with Scott's.

I thought a reindeer had been sick on the plate. I really did.

He's got to have a very good round or he's destined for the door, John.

This is the palate test and one of the most important tests we do.

We need to know if our contestants have a decent palate.

We give them a dish. They'll write down the ingredients they think are in it, then they'll cook the dish.

I'm making a glass noodle salad with chicken and crab, served with roast rice.

-I've never had roast rice.

-You have. I've cooked you roast rice.

-I love roast rice.

Our first job is my roast rice.

Then some boiling water over the top of it.

Next we soak the glass noodles in some warm water.

-They don't need cooking? You just soak them?

-Yeah.

Now you've got to leave them and let them sit in that water.

And now the chicken that goes into the salad. A good amount of chilli powder in with the chicken.

Then you drop the chicken into the boiling water.

If somebody got this absolutely right, I'd be really happy.

Then strain that off.

Now the rice is soaked, flatten it out on a tray, then it goes in the oven and it'll go crunchy and brown.

I wonder if any of them will ever have roasted rice?

We'll find out.

So the dressing now is for me the really important part. Garlic and shallots first.

And you pound it.

Take the coriander stalk, the chillies go in...and the palm sugar.

Now the addition of fresh lime

and fish sauce.

It's got to be very difficult to get that balance right, John. Such big flavours.

-So there's the dressing.

-I like that.

Now we start to assemble our salad.

Some shallots...

as well

and now we need a bit more chilli.

It's got to be fiery, the chicken,

and now some fresh crab meat.

-I'm hoping they can taste crab.

-Then I add coriander, our mint and our Thai basil.

So the rice needs to come out. Quite nutty and quite brown.

Then you just pound it and crack it open. So that's that.

Now to the soaked glass noodles I'm going to add the dressing. Oh, I love this salad.

Oh, baby, that's lovely!

So there you have it - glass noodle salad with crab and chicken.

I can't wait to see what they make of this. Let's get 'em in.

I'm giving you one of my favourite dishes to taste.

And what we'd like you to do now

is write down what is in it.

Go ahead and taste.

After the last round, this one is instilling a little bit more confidence in myself.

I love Thai food, so hopefully this will play to my advantage, but who knows?

It has quite an unusual consistency here which has thrown me off a bit.

Under the cloth on your bench are all the ingredients that go into the making of that dish

and some ingredients that don't.

We're going to give you 45 minutes

to re-create that dish to the best of your ability.

Off you go.

The ingredients have been separated into groups -

those to make the Thai paste,

garnish, a choice of noodles

and a selection of proteins, only one of which is right.

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

There were a couple of things I could kick myself over that I missed when we were doing the taste testing,

but pretty much I think I got about 90% of it, so I'm happy with that.

Two people, Toby and Jemma, said there's chicken in that salad. How are they going to cook it though?

I know pretty much what went in the dish, so I'm just hoping I've got the paste right mainly.

Jemma, how she's tasting lemongrass and ginger, I'm not quite sure. The spiciness is from the chillies.

I missed a couple, I think, but I got a fair few, I think. I'm semi-confident, yeah.

I couldn't tell it was chicken. I could taste the crab.

I thought, "This is not the right consistency for crab.

"There's something else." It was chicken. I feel really stupid now.

Scott has even identified there's toasted rice on top of that dish.

It seems to me he may have made something like this before.

I'm hoping to re-create the dish, my version of it. Hopefully, it will be as good.

-How are you finding this?

-I'm finding this not too bad.

I cook with Asian flavours a fair amount, so I'm reasonably happy.

-Good. Well, I have high hopes then.

-Cheers.

I tell you what, Scott has gone from having a disastrous first round to a pretty good...this round.

Claire's frying off chicken with her paste, then I'm not sure if she's going to put crab in it.

The only thing I cooked was chicken and I just boiled it.

Everybody's got frying going on all over the place. We've got people making stir-fries.

Jemma shot herself in the foot as she said she loved Thai food.

I don't know how much she loves cooking it. She's put lots of oyster sauce in with the other ingredients.

It'll be sticky and nasty and a blacky-brown colour.

You've got just 12 minutes.

The only person who's got enough dressing right now is Zara.

But she doesn't seem to be able to make a paste out of those ingredients.

She's got bashed ingredients, but she hasn't got a paste.

Last five minutes.

We're not going to get a salad, are we?

They might be decent fried noodles, but they ain't going to be that.

-No, that's cos you've eaten all that.

-Yeah, and I've eaten all of that as well.

That's it. Your time's up.

Stop.

The dish I made for you was a crab and chicken glass noodle salad.

It's got to be mellow, but still spicy enough to make your heart thump.

Zara, let's start with you.

You had all that lovely dressing left in your mortar and pestle and we've got these noodles, look.

-They've got nothing on them at all.

-I got too stressed out, yeah.

It's so badly put together, it shouldn't work at all,

but you've got wonderful, intense flavour in that dressing.

You've got fiery heat from chilli, sourness from lime, saltiness from the fish sauce. It's not bad.

You have sweetness and flavour on your crab and your chicken,

but your noodles aren't coated in anything, so what you pick up there is lime and chilli.

It's in no way unpleasant.

I'm gutted I made all this dressing and I didn't put enough on,

but I think I've proved that I've got a reasonable palate, yes.

Jemma, let's give yours a go, shall we?

I don't like everything thrown on top like that. That's a big mistake.

Because there's no dressing on the noodles, they've gone very dry and as soon as you pick them up,

all your other bits all just drop out.

At least you've got some roast rice on top.

-The noodles taste really salty. What have you put in there? Fish sauce?

-Yeah.

Loads and loads of fish sauce.

Yeah, that's nothing like the dish you tasted.

I just messed up again with things.

The nerves just get to me so much.

Yeah, it wasn't great, I don't think.

Scott...

That's the closest-looking one to John's in the room.

The dressing needs more substance. It needs the sharp sweetness of those shallots and the garlic.

It also needs sweetness as well as the spice because at the moment it's fishy.

Your preparation processes were really, really good,

but the finished article does not live up to the billing.

I think I've got a lot more to prove and show.

It wasn't a great reflection on what I can do.

Toby, shall we have a look at yours?

Mate, I don't know what you did, but it looks all right.

Well, you've got to taste it yet.

I can get coriander, I can get Thai basil, I can get chilli, I can get a little bit of citrus.

You have all the right flavours there. They're just too subtle.

Too many noodles,

because you've got the right quantity of dressing and chicken and herbs.

You've just got too many noodles. It's really well-balanced though. Well done.

The second test was definitely better than the first. There were still some errors, but I hope I've done enough.

Right, Claire...

Claire, what you've almost made here is a Pad Thai -

stir-fried rice noodles with sharp from lime juice, a little bit of chilli heat, quite sweet.

It's not my Thai salad, but it's not bad.

-You've got flavour in there. It may be the most flavoursome dish on the bench.

-Thank you.

In a Pad Thai competition you would have won.

It's thrown me out of my comfort zone already. I wish I'd put all that flavour into a salad, not a stir-fry.

It's been a tough day, a really tough day.

For us too, trust me. I tell you, some of that food, oh, my goodness!

We can only take three of you through to the next round and two of you will be leaving the competition.

Thanks very much. Off you go.

You're going to have to sharpen your ideas up, son, because nobody liked this dish very much!

Can I tell you who I like?

-Don't tell me. Claire?

-Claire has managed to get flavour and technique into both rounds.

Claire's is the most flavoursome plate in this palate test.

They're the wrong flavours, but it's good, it's well-balanced.

Scott got off to a terrible start.

His invention test was awful, but he got closest to your processes

with his noodles.

But the flavours are completely wrong. It's dull and tastes of fish.

It's a shame. I thought he was going to redeem himself and he just hasn't.

There's a question mark over Toby.

The one thing we knew from tasting his food was he knows flavours and how to build flavours

and he's actually confirmed that with this noodle dish.

I'm hopeful that I've possibly done enough and I'm scared that I probably haven't.

Jemma had a really good plan for the invention test and she almost got it right.

Jemma probably had the worst noodle dish in the room.

If you cook lots of Thai food, you make it hot, you make it tasty,

and unfortunately for Jemma, her noodles are none of those.

I'm nervous to hear what they're going to say because I don't think it's going to be good, but who knows?

I think Zara had a very imaginative and flavour-filled invention test.

This round, not that wonderful.

But in a test where nobody covered themselves in noodle glory,

you can't say that Zara was a failure.

It'd be amazing if I stayed in the competition. I'd then think, "What have they got in store for me next?"

We've made our decision. We know who's going home.

We only have three places. Two of you are leaving us.

The first person to leave us is Scott. Thanks very much, Scott.

The second person to leave us is...

..is Jemma. Thanks very much, Jemma.

I didn't perform to my best at all. I mean, I know I can cook really well.

I still love food despite what Gregg and John think!

I do feel it was the mistakes made in the first round that sank me.

But that's the breaks. You make a mistake and somebody's better than you.

The next time you cook, it's going to be really important

because we are sending you three to a professional kitchen.

Oh, my God!

Definitely a lot of nerves.

Yes, it could be... it could be an interesting day.

Toby, Zara and Claire have been sent to The Mango Tree...

..a large, pan-Asian restaurant in London's Belgravia.

They'll be working under chef Babu Nair.

We are really busy for lunch. We have more than 120 customers booked,

so you guys have to be focused while you're doing your job. Best of luck. Guys, this way.

They have just two hours to learn and prep their dishes before service will begin.

Toby will be in charge of the beef and ginger stir-fry in a soy and oyster sauce gravy.

-This is the hottest part of the kitchen. You have to be really careful, OK?

-Mm-hm.

Take some garlic and ginger.

Add your beef. You are cooking the beef medium.

Then you can add your peppers.

This is the time to add the sauce, OK?

This is a combination of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper.

You've got to make sure your stir-fry is very hot all the time.

If it's not hot and you try to cook something, it will stick and burn. Now you plate it up.

Make sure the vegetables go down and the beef goes on top.

You have to show the customer you are serving the beef.

-Make sure you do it properly. I don't need complaints.

-Yeah, I know.

These are really hot, fiery flames and nothing that I've ever seen before,

so controlling that temperature will be a nightmare. It'll take some getting used to.

Project manager Zara is in charge of the Thai spiced lamb cutlets, served on salad leaves

with a tamarind and oyster mushroom sauce.

So, Zara, we have three pieces per portion,

so you have to put it on the grill...

Just turn it sideways, so you have good criss-cross marks on it.

If it is rare, just bang on the plate with the presentation and it goes.

So we have to do it medium. Put it in there.

Or the oven. It's up to you, how busy is the service, how fast you can do it.

Medium, three, three and a half, well done, five minutes.

While that's getting finished, do your sauce. You have to add some oyster mushrooms.

Just grab some of the green salad. Take your lamb rack.

You have to make sure the bones are upright and criss-crossing each other, so they don't fall down.

So take some of the mushrooms, put them on top,

a bit of sauce just over it.

That's your lamb rack.

OK.

Make sure the lamb is cooked properly. Check the ticket. Is it rare, medium or not?

It looks really nice. It looks really tasty.

I've got to do rare, medium-rare, medium, well done on a professional grill

and a professional oven.

Not knowing them and the heat and the temperatures and under the time pressure,

I don't know how it will turn out.

Kitchen designer Claire will be cooking the duck Thai red curry,

served in a pineapple and garnished with chilli, Thai basil and coconut milk.

So take two spoons of the red curry.

Add some of the duck to the dish. All the fruit, add to the curry.

You have to make sure the pineapple is hot. You can put it in the oven or on the grill.

But on the grill, you have to make sure that it does not get burnt. It's sweet, so it can caramelise.

-It's up to you how you do it, how fast you are.

-OK.

This is the plate where you will present the dish.

Put the pineapple on the top. Make sure it's hot.

Just put the duck inside.

There should be a good amount of sauce inside.

Add some sweet basil, some chillies for garnish.

You can add more chillies if the customer needs more spice.

Close the pineapple lid and it's all ready for service.

I am up for it. I'm ready to go. I'll tell you how I feel later.

-The service is going to start, so be prepared. Are you ready in your sections? Say "yes"!

-Yes!

Make sure everything is to the standard. I don't want my standards to fall down.

Thank you very much. Back to work.

The rack of lamb.

Zara, I need two lamb rack medium. Away, please, now!

Zara's first order is in and she must make sure her lamb is cooked medium,

exactly to the diner's specification.

Zara, you have to keep an eye on your racks here. It's getting burnt.

Medium lamb.

The oyster mushrooms are not cooked. It's not cooked.

You have to take the mushrooms and cook the sauce. For example...

-That's what I was doing.

-Why is it not cooked then?

-I don't know.

You can't say, "I don't know." Let it boil.

OK.

Are they done?

Let it go.

-Yes, please!

-Sorry.

-Toby, you have table 19. You have two beef ginger medium, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah.

Toby, the pan is too hot. Make sure it doesn't burn. Be careful.

-I don't want the dish getting burnt.

-Yeah.

Catch your wok spoon like this.

Don't catch it like this.

Right. OK.

OK, good. That's better.

-That's better.

-OK?

Using the wok is a new technique. I'm learning new stuff. Hot and heavy!

-How is it going, Toby?

-I'm just plating up now, chef!

Chef, medium.

Toby, it's good.

-Thank you.

-You need a little bit more sauce.

-A bit more sauce?

-A bit more sauce.

-But it's cooked to medium, perfect.

-Yes, chef.

-I need it to improve next time, yeah?

-Thank you. Yes, chef.

OK, OK. It's very busy.

It's really hot, intensely hot. I can hardly breathe at times. But it's good.

One green curry chicken, one red curry duck!

-How long, Claire?

-Four minutes, chef.

-Make sure your pineapple are hot, yeah?

-Sure.

At the moment the pressure is definitely on.

I've burnt that one. I forgot about that one.

-Use another one.

-Sorry about that, chef.

You can put it in an oven. If you put it here, you should have one eye here all the time.

-Can I use the oven now?

-Yes, you can use it.

Excuse me.

I forgot about the pineapple. I'll put it in the oven this time, so I don't char it on the bottom.

-How long for the red curry duck?

-Just plating up, chef. One minute.

-Put some chives. Make it look nice. Yeah.

-I've got that, yeah.

Yeah, let's go.

It's definitely harder than I thought it would be. A little stressed, I must admit.

This restaurant serves more than 100 covers at lunchtime

and Zara must keep up with the demand for her lamb dish.

-One lamb rack medium, one lamb rack well done.

-One minute for medium, three minutes for well done.

Lamb rack away!

-Well done?

-Well done. Three minutes?

-Two minutes. Put it on the grill.

I'll show you. Put it on the grill, make it faster.

Start plating your thing, yeah?

Yeah, the plate's done.

Your lamb rack is burning.

Yes, I think so. It's almost ready.

-Oh, what have you done?

-Sorry, sorry.

-You've put it in the coconut milk.

-Sorry.

-Get a new piece. Come on.

-Zara, you have to concentrate. Come on. Now the whole table has to wait a long time.

-I know. Sorry.

Take one of the medium-rare. Make it well done fast. Use the smallest first. Put it here.

Yeah, that one.

The lamb rack fell in the coconut milk. I can't use that.

Lamb rack well done, I want it right now. It will take three minutes.

Plate it out fast.

-Plate it out?

-Yes, plate it out.

-Another lamb rack is coming. Well done, yeah?

-Yeah.

Well done lamb.

It's more than halfway through service

and Toby's been coping well with his stir-fry.

New order. One beef ginger medium. I need it urgently!

Thank you, chef.

It's a tough one to judge because the flame is just so fierce.

You have to keep it moving. It will catch and burn really quickly, so you've got to keep on top of it.

-Is your beef ginger coming?

-Yeah, plating up right now, chef.

Beef ginger medium.

-Toby, it looks good.

-Thank you.

-Close to perfection.

Woo-hoo!

Claire is just completing the last few orders for one of the restaurant's most popular dishes.

-I've got two red curry duck, then three red curry duck.

-Thank you.

Too much!

Chef, two pineapple and duck.

-Excellent job, Claire.

-Thanks, chef.

Slow down.

-Good job.

-Thank you. I'm happy about that, chef.

-Zara, you have a lamb rack medium. It's the last order. I need it perfect.

-Yes, chef.

-Please.

-Don't drop it in the coconut milk.

-I'll try not to.

I hope chef will be happy with it.

Lamb rack medium.

Lamb rack.

-OK, the lamb rack is cooked well, but it should be more hot. The plate is not hot enough.

-Right, OK.

Bugger, bugger.

OK, guys, good job. The service is over.

-You have survived and I'm pretty much happy with you guys. You have done a good job.

-Thank you.

Zara, she was a bit nervous.

There were some ups and downs, but if you give her more time, she might do a good job.

There was always just one niggly thing that wasn't correct,

which is really, really disappointing, to be honest.

Toby, he was doing it for the first time, stir-fry. Stir-fry is not an easy job to do.

It was hard to handle the wok, but gradually, he did a good job.

I really enjoyed it. I'm happy with how I performed. There were no major disasters.

I thought that Claire was good. What I needed, she gave me.

She had a smile on her face all the time. If she's happy, the food is happy and the customer too.

Today was an amazing experience, a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I'm really pleased I got the chance to do that.

Welcome back. Now is your chance to really show off.

Wow us.

Make it impossible for us not to put you through to a quarter-final.

One hour, two courses. Let's cook.

I'm really excited about cooking my own food.

I'm a bit worried about plating everything up on time.

I think I can do it. It is stretching myself, but not to an extent where I just completely fail.

-What are your two courses, Zara?

-Glazed salmon on a bed of pak choi, asparagus and spinach

and a soba noodle salad,

and pancakes with salted caramel and chocolate sauce.

Pancakes with chocolate sauce? It's a bit kids' party, isn't it?

I'm just cooking things I like.

-Do you think your food's too easy?

-I don't know.

That's my worry. I have to cook everything to perfection.

I listened to Zara's menu and I wasn't inspired,

then I looked to Zara and I realised that neither was she. She's worried it's too safe.

Pancakes for a quarter-final place? They'd better be very, very good pancakes.

You've had 20 minutes.

I'd like to think with my two-course menu that I'm pushing it with the ingredients.

I'm deciding to go for a little twist on classics,

so this, hopefully, makes it a little bit different and stand out.

Claire, you've got a complete bench of spice. What are you doing?

Scallops on sweet red onions with a hazelnut dukkah.

-What's a dukkah?

-It's a Lebanese mix of spices, so it's hazelnuts,

sesame seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds.

-What's the next dish?

-Moroccan lamb on a sweet potato mash with a Moroccan barbecue sauce.

-And the butter?

-Yeah, I probably don't need that much.

-Three-quarters of a kilo of butter?

-I'm not going to use all of it.

So it's a very rich, quite opulent, celebratory dish.

-Is your aim to celebrate entering a quarter-final?

-I really hope so.

It's good to see Claire being very excited about her food

and it's good to see her bench covered in spices and flavours.

My concern is that she overpowers those wonderful scallops and overpowers that wonderful lamb.

But then we've got a sweet barbecue sauce on top of a sweet potato mash.

I won't know whether to stick my fork in it or a Flake in it!

In 25 minutes, we want your quarter-final-worthy dishes.

In terms of cooking my own food, I'm nervous because they haven't been tried and tested to a wide audience.

I'm not really sure how good they are, but we'll find out when John and Gregg taste them.

-How exciting is it to be here?

-Really exciting. I just want to do well and do myself proud.

-What are you cooking for us?

-Spiced prawns and scallop with parsnip puree, parsnip crisps

and a courgette salad,

followed by peppered duck with fondant potato, carrot salad and a blackberry and red wine sauce.

How much of this now is Toby time?

Hopefully, if everything comes together, it should be a pretty good Toby party, I think.

Toby has decided to take us on a trip around the whole world.

We have spicing coming from India. We have scallops, we have prawns, we have parsnips and courgettes.

That's just on ONE plate.

I don't know what we'll get, but I'll tell you what you won't be and that's bored.

Last five minutes.

One minute.

Zara, we're going to call time and it's going to have to be up. Let us taste something, please.

That's it, guys. Time's up.

Zara, put something on a plate right now. Right now.

That's enough. Stop. Stop, stop, stop.

-All done?

-Yeah.

Zara's main is teriyaki glazed salmon

with pak choi, spinach and asparagus on a noodle salad.

There's the crunch of the vegetables, then you've got sweetness of honey.

You've got chilli in there as well and you've got the taste of sesame.

The salmon's not cooked enough and it's a real shabby-looking dish.

Your salmon is not here nor there because there are so many other big flavours,

especially from that rich asparagus and quite powerful cabbage pak choi.

It's not really refined. It's all a bit big and bulky.

Yeah.

For dessert, Zara has cooked pancakes with chocolate sauce, served with salted caramel.

You know, a quarter-final, pancakes?

There's not a lot you can say about it.

I'd actually eat it, you know, but it's not a fine specimen of culinary art and skill, is it?

You are not the first person to feel the pressure of MasterChef and to get their timings wrong.

-All right?

-Yeah.

Thank you.

I messed things up.

I'm really annoyed at myself because I don't know what happened, but...

For a starter, Claire has made scallops on sweet red onions

with a hazelnut dukkah.

Your dukkah with the nuttiness of the hazelnuts and all the bits of roasted spice running through it

is wonderful and vibrant but very, very subtle because your onion is big and bold,

then the scallop which is beautifully cooked is getting lost a bit.

You've got a nice touch. The scallop is nicely cooked and I like the spice in that dukkah.

-I don't like the onions with the scallops.

-OK.

Claire's main is Moroccan style lamb with sweet potato mash and a honey barbecue sauce.

You've got all these wonderful spices on the crust of the lamb,

then you've got this massive, sticky, sweet, really bold, rich sauce.

What is getting slightly lost in there is the taste of the lamb, but I like the way you've cooked.

-I like the gloss and the shine of it.

-OK.

You've got a good touch because you cooked a rack of lamb really well,

then you have served it with sauce that is so sweet,

it wouldn't be out of place on a Christmas pudding.

That's too sweet for lamb.

I just wish I hadn't put quite so much sauce on to my lamb. I hope they see enough in me to put me through.

For a starter, Toby has made spiced prawns with parsnip crisps,

a chilli scallop on parsnip puree and a courgette salad.

-It looks like you've put on a plate lots of things that you like, rather than one dish.

-Right.

I tell you what I love.

That tomato dressing with your prawns with those fried curry leaves are a lovely, lovely thing.

-The rest of it, frivolous.

-Yeah. Yeah.

Sweet scallop on top of sweet parsnip puree I can manage,

but then with red chilli as well, they clash on my palate.

The courgette is bitter, tastes heavily of coriander, and I find that unpleasant.

For his main, Toby has cooked peppered duck with fondant potato,

a julienned carrot salad and a red wine and blackberry sauce.

Ah, that potato's not cooked.

Whoa, Toby!

-Toby, I'm really sorry. I've just got a catalogue of issues.

-Yeah.

The red wine sauce hasn't worked. It's sweet, but it's still far too bitter because of the wine.

The duck's not cooked enough. I reckon I could resuscitate that duck.

-Probably.

-One thing I will say to you

is you've got a vibrant flavour of the carrots with those onion seeds

and a wonderful sharp pepperiness from the seasoning on the duck. Even the duck skin is crispy.

-Toby, I don't know what to say about this main course.

-It's a disaster.

There's no point in sugar-coating it. It is.

That's it. No use sugar-coating it. It's a disaster!

It's a mess and I did it, so...

In terms of how I'm feeling, it's sad tears and happy tears, really.

I'm disappointed with what I did,

but I'm kind of happy with the overall competition.

Next up is a quarter-final.

We can only take the best people through. Thank you very much. Off you go.

I think there's been some success in the room, but also I think a number of disasters.

Claire has proved to me that she's got a good touch.

She cooked the scallops really well. She then went on to cook a rack of lamb with real skill.

We now know that she cooks with really big, bold flavours. I think Claire's quite a good cook.

-You're not worried about how sweet her food is?

-No, I'm not because you can see the potential in Claire.

If we agree, Claire's got a quarter-final place.

We've got one more to give, but we'll only take the best cooks.

Zara and Toby, it's up to us whether they stay or they go.

When Toby cooks, you get something where you think, "That's it, mate."

You and I, with his starter, both admired the prawns, but he's never consistent.

The execution of that duck, John - duck undercooked, sauce not made, potato not cooked.

I'm trying to be kind.

What do you do when you know that those things are wrong just by looking at it?

I wish that I could do it all again.

I know what mistakes I've made, but whether I've done enough at this point, we'll have to wait and see.

What was Zara thinking? Cooking for a quarter-final and making pancakes?

Maybe she was trying to play it safe in the hope that somebody else would really mess up.

Instead, she messed up with the simple things.

Her salmon noodle dish wasn't a bad concept, but I'd have liked the salmon cooked a little bit more.

-There were mistakes because she got her timing wrong.

-The asparagus and pak choi were really overpowering

and there wasn't any subtle notes at all.

My question still remains with Zara - is she good enough to become a quarter-finalist?

I'd be absolutely gutted if I left, but if I got through, it would be absolutely amazing.

Someone's got to have really messed up if I've got through.

Are you willing to take a risk on either Zara or Toby?

Look, a quarter-final place, it's a tough decision.

-Claire, we think you're good enough for a quarter-final. You're staying with us.

-Thank you.

So now the decision,

Toby and Zara...

I'm sorry, guys, but you're both leaving us. Thanks very much.

The experience that I'll take with me is a positive one.

It proved to me that I like working in a professional kitchen environment,

so that's what I'll be doing now.

I'm sad that I'm leaving,

but I've had such an amazing time.

And I want to take away all the positives from the experience

and concentrate and focus them into my cooking.

Well done, Claire. Very, very well done.

I am proud of myself to have got this far.

I honestly didn't expect this and it's great.

Next time, Claire will join heat winners Rukmini and Ollie

as they fight to stay in the competition.

This is just...bang!

Stop shaking.

Get your pudding spoon out and man up.

That sort of stuff makes my heart thump.

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