Episode 5 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.

We've got to move now!

Six minutes left!

Oh!

Cooking does not get tougher than this!

MasterChef quarter-final. The day when we hope to find some real talent.

We are going to get some wonderful food today. It's a celebration.

Today I really hope I bring it all together

and make a dish that they love, absolutely love.

I'm getting so much out of this competition.

I'm being really stretched in terms of the challenges.

I really love it.

I've still got a bit of nerves today.

I hope they don't get the better of me.

Welcome to a MasterChef quarter-final.

It's a great achievement to get this far,

but I know nobody wants to let go of the competition right now.

You are cooking today not just for me and John,

but for three past MasterChef champions.

Only the best cooks are going to make it through to the next round.

So, here we go.

Your two courses. One hour and 15 minutes.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook!

Solicitor Rukmini's beautifully presented dishes

have excited the judges.

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

What you've done is demonstrated you've got skill.

This competition has completely taken over my life.

I've made

gourmet food for dinner for the last four weeks.

We're desperate to eat some beans on toast at some point,

but we can't, cos I've got to practise!

-What are you cooking for us?

-I'll start with a three-way mackerel dish.

I'm going to smoke it with some ginger, I'm going to serve it in a ceviche with lime and chilli

and then grill it with a coriander, lime, ginger and chilli dressing.

And for dessert?

Dessert is a peach and lavender arlette.

If I've not got it wrong, it's puff pastry rolled out really finely

with lots of icing sugar to caramelise it

and you bake it under something heavy so it stays nice and thin

but with lots of very fine layers in it.

You have got some very interesting flavours. Dairy things, lavender with peaches,

and the mackerel, scotch bonnet chillies,

smoked, raw and also a piece of grilled mackerel,

you're dicing, aren't you, here? Dicing with the dangerous.

Hopefully it will all come together and taste really beautiful.

How much more pressure is it, cooking for previous champions?

It's a lot. They got really far in this competition

so they can expect a really high standard from us.

-They did get really far - they won it!

-Exactly.

-Yes. Really, really far!

-As far as you can go.

-Yep!

You know what? I'm really excited about this.

Look!

I just hope she's got one eye on the pan

and one eye on her watch, cos that is a lot of work.

That's where the issue's going to be.

It's either going to be great, or it's going to be completely messed up.

Kitchen designer Claire impressed with her classic dishes.

Ta-da!

Great tart. That'll do for me, Claire.

I like the way you cooked. I like the gloss and the shine of it.

Two courses, four plates of each course.

What are you cooking for us and for them?

I'm cooking halibut

served on top of crushed potatoes with a tarragon creamy sauce

and fennel, braised fennel.

And for dessert I'm cooking an Amaretto chocolate mousse

with an almond and orange tuile.

How much of an achievement is it, to reach the quarter-final?

A massive achievement for me.

You're always told by friends and family that they like your cooking,

but till you do something like this, you don't really know for sure

whether you are good enough. But yes, massive achievement.

-Do you want John and I to like it?

-Of course I do, yes!

I'd be over the moon.

I'll let you into a secret now, between you and me,

I love the sound of this.

Thank you.

Claire's main course, halibut with a really light fish, acidic cream sauce flavoured with tarragon.

Wonderful.

Chocolate and Amaretto mousse, she's making, John.

That is fabulous!

My dessert is served in a cocktail glass.

I'm worried about spilling it, knocking it off my plate,

dropping it and not having any spare. And going to pieces.

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

Graphic designer Ollie has shown an adventurous palate.

I said there's no way it's going to work.

I love the oily strength of that mackerel

and I get the crunch of the fennel.

The sweet but sharpness of the rhubarb is a lovely match to it.

I really like it.

What are your two dishes today, Ollie?

Roasted coriander and turmeric monkfish,

a celeriac almond and coconut puree

with a mussel curry broth

and then a classic tarte tatin with Chantilly cream.

Classic tarte tatin using pears?

Classic tarte tatin using pears, yes.

How do these things come about? They're purely you.

Do you sit down with a pen and paper or..?

Uh, no. No.

No, you just kind of... You're on a bus or on a train

and you're thinking monkfish and you think,

"Wouldn't that be great with colour? Turmeric in there.

"Then celeriac, and it goes almond and star anise and coconut.

"Then you've got mussel broth." In your head, it seems to work.

Ollie, best of luck.

I love a pear tarte tatin.

But Ollie's choice of flavours,

it's a journey of discovery.

You don't know until you get there.

I look at John and Gregg's eyes and it's "Aghh, run away!"

But under pressure, you can't think about it.

You either take it on or you run away. It's live and die.

I'm looking for a dish which is well constructed

and the techniques are simple but done to perfection.

At this stage, you need to be strong on your basic delivery of flavour.

That's what I want to see.

I'll cut the guys a bit of slack.

It's not that long ago I was here myself.

I already feel nervous for them!

Claire, five minutes before your first course goes out.

I've been cooking fish since I won MasterChef.

Halibut, I think, is quite forgiving.

I think the balance of how strong the tarragon is

is going to be the big one.

If you overdo the tarragon, it could be tricky.

But yes, a good platform to do well on.

Two minutes left, Claire. Will you be on time?

Yes.

Stop shaking!

Looks great, Claire.

OK.

OK.

-That's it. Are we ready?

-Ready.

-Bang on time.

-Bang on time. Off you go.

-Well done. Get back for your biscuits, OK?

Yep.

-Hi.

-Hi.

For her main course, Claire has cooked halibut fillets on crushed potatoes

with braised fennel and a white wine, tarragon and cream sauce.

The fish was cooked perfectly.

The skin was really crispy, the fennel delicious.

The fish is great. No real issues with that.

But the sauce is just not there.

I'm not getting a big punch of flavour.

If there is tarragon in there, it's very, very mild.

All the elements are there, but it just hasn't delivered in the way I was expecting.

The fish is cooked nicely. The potatoes are buttery.

But that sauce is not flavoursome enough.

It's not thick enough. It's far too wishy-washy.

I don't care in a way about the sauce because I think there's promise in this dish.

That piece of fish in fantastic!

PETER: Chocolate mousse and a biscuit. What could be easier for a dessert?

But it isn't. We know it isn't.

Because to get the mousse light and airy is very difficult.

Six minutes till your dessert. The mousse is ready.

-We're talking tuiles, now.

-They're coming out in three or four minutes.

In the nick of time is good enough.

Tuiles are always slightly tricky. I've had many tuile disasters in my kitchen before!

Are you happy with them?

They're not quite the shapes I was hoping for.

-Will they curve?

-They should do.

You're panicking, Claire, you're panicking.

I know.

Got to go now, yeah?

Her tuiles haven't worked.

Claire's pudding is an Amaretto chocolate mousse

with an almond and orange tuile.

I just feel a bit sorry for my tuile.

It's a little bit soggy.

How are your tuiles? Oh, gosh!

If you're sorry for your tuile, mine might need counselling!

The chocolate mousse is actually pretty good.

It's nice and smooth. It's light.

Melts on the tongue.

The mousse is delicious. The tuile, unfortunately,

you shouldn't have bothered putting it on the plate.

I'll surprise everyone and jump in in defence of the tuile.

I think it's really nice. I don't mind soggy pastry.

It's got a lovely orange note to it.

My tuile's all gone. It was great.

The mousse is great. I really like this pudding! It's super!

It's not a tuile. It's a shame, really.

That's a good mousse, John.

It's a good mousse. It's not too sweet.

It's really creamy, it's luxurious.

I could eat two or three mouthfuls of that

and there's no way I could eat all that.

Man up, Torode! Get your pudding spoon out and man up.

I didn't get my mixture done for my tuiles before I dished up my main course.

Which I needed to have done.

So I didn't get long enough for them to cool

so they fell back out of shape.

Four minutes, Ollie. Will it be out on time?

Yeah. I'm good.

-SHELINA:

-I'm intrigued by Ollie's main

of monkfish with broth and the curry flavours running through it.

The only thing that worries me

is the amount of spicing that's going on here.

It's whether he can get all those things coming in together.

Come on, son. Get amongst it!

Steady hand. Steady hand.

-Ollie, happy with it?

-Yeah, I am.

Just get these mussels out and we're good.

This looks good, Ollie.

You got it? He's been a waiter!

Looks good.

Ollie's first course is turmeric and coriander monkfish

served on celeriac and coconut puree

with mussel broth and coriander leaves.

It looks terrific. It really says, "Eat me!"

I want to dive in right now!

The monkfish is particularly well cooked.

I'm really impressed with that.

But monkfish can exude a bit of water.

The sauce is getting watered down.

I'm pretty surprised by the spicing, actually.

Sometimes, people can be quite timid and he's really gone for it

and I love that.

Some really powerful flavours that completely compliment the fish.

The puree itself is a really creative combination,

but the broth, rather than a sauce, doesn't quite work.

The flavours are great. I love the turmeric and the lime leaf and the ginger.

But the monkfish and the sauce, it's all too wet!

The broth just needs to be thicker and we'd be jumping up and shouting, "Hallelujah!"

Ollie, just 15 minutes before we expect your tarte tatin.

Yep.

Pear tarte tatin with creme Chantille. A classic dessert.

Nowhere to hide. Let's hope he gets it right.

The tarte tatin is one of my favourite desserts.

-Come on, it's like a Christmas present. You don't know what you'll get!

-No!

Let's just stop for a quick photo opportunity!

Go, go, go. Knock 'em dead, son!

Thank you.

For his dessert, Ollie is serving a pear tarte tatin

with salted caramel and a Chantilly cream.

-This looks delicious.

-Wonderful.

The smells are incredible!

-The vanilla coming off is tremendous.

-Absolutely beautiful.

I want to eat it now!

The pear really comes through, which is terrific. A real pear taste.

It's perfectly cooked. Wonderful flavour.

Then this rich caramel sauce

and lots of lovely vanilla running through it.

The pastry is nice and crisp and the caramel has the right amount of sweetness.

It's a very, very nice dessert.

Pear, soft, giving juice

into flaky pastry flavoured with cinnamon

and soothing cream that's got vanilla going through it.

When I go, I want that to be the last thing I ate!

That is fabulous.

It was pretty nerve-wracking and they know what we went through.

It doesn't matter who you're cooking for,

as long as you're delivering the best plate you can every meal.

Oh, Rukmini, what are you doing?

Three-way mackerel. It's a dangerous one!

Mackerel is very oily

so it can take these flavours she's talking about.

But all together with samphire and potato salad?

I don't know. It's really frightening me!

You've got five minutes left, OK?

Thanks.

Go, go, go. Well done, you. Get straight back to that dessert.

Hello.

Thank you.

Rukmini has cooked her mackerel three ways.

Ginger smoked,

grilled with a coriander and chilli dressing,

and ceviche, served with samphire, potato salad and chilli sand.

I'm really impressed by the way it looks. It looks really refined.

It's the first top restaurant quality plated piece of food we've seen.

That's a real hit, isn't it?

That's freshly chopped Scotch bonnet.

And it's fruity, but it's spicy!

This grilled bit is very fresh tasting. The coriander coming through is delicious.

That, to me, would be a great dish by itself.

Rukmini is blowing my mind, here.

And I'm not just talking about chilli.

I'm so excited about this dish.

I think it's wonderful.

You've got this smokiness, a quite unusual smokiness.

You've got this sharp, zinging ceviche.

I've had mackerel dishes before and they're so samey.

And this is just, "Bang!" I'm really excited by Rukmini's food. It's fantastic.

Mmmm!

That ceviche is so strong with that Scotch bonnet chilli.

Lovely. And then the grilled mackerel is flavoured with coriander

and the flesh is so soft.

That smoky one is real smoky strength

before the oily fish inside.

That is stunningly good. Stunningly good!

The problem is, how does somebody top that?

Rukmini's dessert. Arlette with poached peaches

lavender cream, peach and lavender sorbet

and crystallised lavender.

I don't know what Arlette is.

It always worries me when I don't understand what I'm going to be eating!

Lavender, if used too much, ends up tasting like soap.

And there's a lot of lavender on here!

Yeah. Look. Wah!

It looks fantastic.

Ready?

Yes.

-Go on.

-Well done.

Hello.

Thank you.

Rukmini's dessert is an arlette with poached peaches

and lavender cream,

peach and lavender sorbet and lavender syrup.

It's the most lovely presentation, so delicately done.

I can't wait to eat it. It looks great.

I was waiting for a real punch of lavender,

but it's actually very subtle.

This, to me, is absolutely sensational.

Everything works so well together.

We've got so many different textures

all blending together really beautifully.

You can really taste the peach.

It's not overpowered by the lavender.

It enhances the peachy flavour even more. Somehow.

This girl's got some mad skills.

If you're going to follow a strong, mackerel, oily fishy dish,

with anything, this is the pudding you're going to do it with.

It's great!

-That is beautiful.

-Yeah, beautiful.

What is in here is the most extraordinary amount of skill

from somebody who's done mackerel three ways

and then built a dessert like that and did it all in one hour 15 minutes!

I think that's really impressive.

This is the start of the competition, Gregg.

That stuff makes my heart thump!

Rukmini, take a bow.

-Two wonderful dishes.

-Wonderful.

I'm really nervous now. There's nothing you can do except sit and wait.

But obviously you really want to go through,

so sitting and waiting and thinking you might be sent home

is a little bit nerve-wracking.

Thoroughly enjoyed today. Really did. Good standards throughout

and some real competition highlights.

Let's not beat about the bush.

Rukmini is an absolute superstar,

and there's no-one in this room to touch her.

In fact, she now, as far as I'm concerned,

is the pace-setter for the competition.

She is now the benchmark.

Sensational. If she keeps on producing dishes like that,

she will be a force to be reckoned with.

Claire cooked a piece of halibut beautifully. Absolutely beautifully.

Unfortunately, the sauce was a little wishy-washy.

The dessert, her tuile didn't work,

but that was a beautiful mousse.

Smooth, creamy, light, full of flavour,

not too sweet.

Very, very good cooking from Claire,

but not without the odd little mistake.

Orange and almond tuiles, great idea,

but Claire didn't leave herself the time.

I'm really frustrated about that

because I think she's a good cook.

I've cooked that loads better than I just did,

and I've cooked it a lot of times.

I'm really annoyed at myself for getting that wrong.

Ollie's a good cook. We know he is. He throws lots of flavours at a plate.

Today, by doing that, his fish dish worked.

The problem was, it was all a bit wet.

For me, it was almost like eating a seafood chowder.

Whatever issues Ollie may have had with his main course,

let me say I found his pudding absolutely divine.

A pear tarte tatin cooked to absolute perfection

with a fine balance of sweet, sticky, natural pear juice

and Chantilly cream!

John, for me, that's it. That's it.

An end of a meal doesn't get any better.

I've no idea what my chances are of going through.

The other two are brilliant chefs.

I've seen their menus, and it looks awesome.

So I'm worried!

We've got two people in our room who've cooked a piece of fish

with a puree, with a sauce,

both having issues with their dishes.

Who stays, who goes?

You guys today cooked your socks off.

Thank you very much.

One of you, unfortunately, will leave us.

Two of you will go further in the competition.

The contestant leaving us...

..is Claire.

The experience has been amazing. I'm definitely pleased I've done this.

It's given me a confidence boost to think I actually can cook now!

I just wish I could have gone further.

Oh, my God.

Wow.

Wow!

It's been a huge, huge relief right now.

I've still got goosebumps. I'm still trembling a little bit.

Just from the shock of getting through to the next round.

I know the standard goes up at each stage, so I hope I can match that and better it each time.

I feel great. I feel really excited

and just euphoric!

Ollie and Rukmini will be back for the semi-finals.

Next week, another ten amateurs compete for their chance

to become MasterChef champion.

We've got a nicely sharp, sweet, cinnamon, nutty-flavoured splodge.

Ahh! It's h... It's got a lot of chilli powder in there!

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