Episode 6 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.

Come on, we've got to move now.

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.

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

I'm nervous. I think everyone is nervous when they enter something like this.

You've got to take a deep breath, keep your feet on the ground

and just do your best.

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

I've watched too much MasterChef to not be a bit scared.

I'm an Aries, they're headstrong and get what they want.

And I will get what I want.

We produce in this kitchen the best amateur cooks in the country.

This is the invention test.

One dish.

One hour. Ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.

Today's ingredients include,

lamb, spinach,

lentils, curry leaves,

mango,

potatoes, butternut squash, and chilli powder.

My job is a sales manager. I'm able to problem solve

and help and pressure isn't an issue.

I have a good palate. I taste to check everything's seasoned properly.

I love, eat and breathe food. I cook every day. So, yes,

I do feel I can win it.

-What are you cooking?

-I'm going to do roasted butternut squash

with lamb and some spices. I may use some of the chana dal as well.

Are you used to cooking with spices? Is that your style?

No, my style is more French, to be honest with you.

But I've cooked most things here, so I'll give it a good bash.

I know John likes spices, so...

Don't worry about John. He's not the most important judge.

I know. You both are.

Sophie's got all sorts of wonderful things to flavour those lentils with

to make that dal really tasty, it's whether she does that.

Or we could have something that's just lamb and bland lentils with some butternut squash.

You've had ten minutes already.

Ten minutes gone.

My mum was a cookery teacher and so she's my biggest critic.

She will critique anything I cook, especially when it's

one of her things I've done slightly differently.

Toby, you looked a little bit scared.

LAUGHS

I was a little bit scared. Still am a little bit scared.

Cooking is my relaxation. So being in an environment where cooking is getting through to the next round

-is alien to me.

-Do you have pressure in your work?

-Yeah.

-What do you do?

-I'm an intensive-care doctor. Anaesthetics.

-Are you?

How's the life support? Is it a decent heartbeat or are we flatlining?

It's a bit fast at the minute. It will be all right.

Being a bartender, I like to think I've got a good palate, yeah.

I enter the cocktail mixology competitions.

And, hopefully, that'll stand me in good stead for going into the kitchen.

-What are you going to serve up?

-I'm roasting the lamb.

I've got two sauces on the go, I'll decide which one at the end.

I've got a mango and chilli one or a stem ginger with capers.

-Do something sweet to balance the lamb, hopefully.

-Very interesting.

-Are you inventive and creative?

-I like to think I am, yeah.

Leon works in a cocktail bar. A world of experimentation.

I think, with Leon, it's going to be absolutely brilliant

or we are going to hate it.

25 minutes. You're almost halfway.

People tell me I'm a good cook.

I think my skills are fairly broad. I can turn my hand to most things.

I've been cooking for a long time.

I've had a long time to develop those skills.

Why MasterChef, Jill?

I've loved cooking all my life.

I wanted to have the opportunity to learn.

I think this is the best way to learn.

-What do you do?

-I stopped working two years ago. I'm retired.

My youngest daughter's just gone to university,

so I've got the time to do what I want to do for a change.

Jill, I don't know why but you fill me full of confidence.

-Ooh, that's good.

-Yeah, don't disappoint.

-I'll do my best.

Jill took a long time to make a decision. I like that approach.

I wanted her to plan, to get excited about the ingredients.

I hope she'll make it glorious.

I love molecular gastronomy.

I like to experiment and play with things.

It's a fun element of food and it is toys for the boys.

There must be a good reason why you've got twice as many pans as any other contestant.

LAUGHS

Yeah, I'm a bit of a messy cook, Gregg.

-Are you?

-Yeah. I like to bring as many elements to a dish as possible.

And, obviously, give a, hopefully, full tasting experience for you and John.

Paul could be interesting. He seems to be bounding around the place.

He may be a good cook but right now I'm not quite sure.

Last five minutes.

Last 30 seconds.

That's it. Stop! Your time's up.

First to face the judges is sales executive Paul.

He's pan roasted the lamb and served it with wilted spinach,

sauteed potatoes,

a squash and chilli puree

and a lamb veloute.

What you're showing us, Paul, is you've got some skill.

You can make a veloute, you can make a good puree,

and you cook lamb really well.

For all the ingredients you've got on this plate,

there's not a huge amount of flavour or definition or texture.

There's a puree and a veloute,

both of which should be in some sort of quantity. But they're not.

I like your sauces. I like the sweetness of the squash.

I like the thick stickiness you've got of that veloute.

I really like them. But that is far too dry.

It could have gone better.

But there are definite margins for improvement.

Sales manager Sophie has also roasted the lamb

and served it on wilted spinach with spicy lentils and a spicy jus.

Hah! It's... It's... Hah! Got a lot of chilli powder in there, Sophie.

The chilli powder in your lentils

is literally stripping the back of my throat. It's so hot.

It's on the front of my lips, the back of my throat.

As for the rest of my mouth, I can't taste much. It seems to have gone.

LAUGHS

The lentils are a problem because they're hard.

They're not cooked and there's too much chilli.

-Yeah.

-I mean, that is ferocious.

I wasn't very happy that I used too much spice in my dish.

It wasn't my best. Little bit disappointed.

Intensive-care doctor Toby

has made roasted rump of lamb

served with spinach, taka dal and a mango and mint salsa.

Love this sauce with the mango and mint. That's a beautiful sweet addition to the saucy lab.

Also like your lentil dish, lightly spiced with curry leaves.

And, again, a bit of sweetness.

Um, there's good things on here.

There's good flavour combinations.

I think the crime for me here is that your lamb is close on

cremated. For me, the whole thing doesn't join together.

I don't believe the sauce goes with the lamb.

I don't believe the mango sauce goes with the dal.

Can I say, the views expressed by the Australian chef

aren't necessarily shared by the whole judging team.

-All right?

-Good.

It didn't go as well as I'd have liked. I overcooked my lamb. Then I split the judges.

John annihilated it.

Bartender Leon has made roasted rump of lamb

served with roasted butternut squash,

bacon, onions and capers and a mango chilli sauce.

Mango and capers combination I've never eaten before.

OK.

I feel like I've entered Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

And I'm eating mango-flavoured fudge

topped with garlic lamb and a salty caper.

-It's really confused, Leon.

-Yeah.

It's a sweet and a savoury on the same plate.

All the things you can see on the plate

you can taste but I don't know how it mixes together to create a dish.

I went for something, didn't quite work out.

But just got to be positive and think about the next challenge.

Retired civil servant Jill has served her roasted lamb

with beetroot fondant, mashed potato,

spinach and a red wine and mint jus.

-That's perfectly divine.

-Thank you.

-Absolutely lovely. Lamb's cooked OK.

It's still pink. The mashed potatoes buttery. But that sauce

is stunningly good, strong and sharp and sweet with a bit of mint.

-I love it.

-Thank you.

It tastes a lot better than it looks, Jill.

That wonderful richness of the mint

with the woodiness of the beetroot and your lamb is a wonderful thing.

You presentation, Jill, you need to sharpen up a bit.

Your food is tasting good.

-Great.

-Thanks, Jill.

-Thank you.

I think I did do myself justice, yes.

I could have made it look prettier. All in all, I think I did an OK job.

Thanks very much indeed. Off you go.

-I really like Jill.

-Jill I'm impressed with actually.

It tastes great. It tastes great.

I liked Toby even though you don't. You're not sure about his.

The combination of mango and mint sauce with lentils and lamb

is confused.

-Leon I'm concerned about.

-It was like eating a sweet with lamb stuffed in it.

Sophie's got a lot of work to do definitely.

And Paul, I don't know, good puree, good veloute.

That's a pretty good start from them.

The next challenge should help sort them out a bit.

This is the palate test, which we know is so important.

Because if they haven't got a good palate, they ain't going to be a good cook. No way.

Need to test their palate. How are you going to do it?

I'm going to cook pappardelle or thick strips of pasta

with meatballs in tomato sauce.

Pappardelle, I love pappardelle.

We'll ask contestants to taste this dish, write down the ingredients they think are in it.

And then ask them to cook it for us.

So, bacon and onion first. Then a really good array of herbs.

Fresh oregano, fresh thyme, fresh sage.

The sage is one that is prominent, they should be able to smell.

This is the start of our meatball mix?

-Yes, it is.

-Herbs used individually are easy to pick out.

Mixed together, not so easy.

My meatballs use half beef mince, half pork mince.

For me, just beef by itself goes a bit dry and grainy.

Just pork by itself is too powerful.

Put the two together and they work very well.

We might find with people with just beef, we might find people with just pork.

In go the breadcrumbs.

With most people, breadcrumbs will go into the mince bowl.

-And what's that going to do?

-Dry out the meat.

-Very good.

This is the mixture. Half of it I'm going to blend.

The other half I'm not going to blend.

So we've got two different textures.

Then an egg yolk to bind.

You can see flecks of herbs running through it.

I'm going to colour the meatballs, fry them off first, get the flavour and crispiness on the outside.

Now the sauce. Chopped fresh tomatoes.

Then the meatballs go straight back in.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

Then we're going to add to that sauce some red wine, some tinned tomatoes

and some water. I would leave the meatballs to cook gently, slowly.

Now I'm going to roll out the pasta for my pappardelle.

We're going to give our contestants pasta ready made.

All they have to do is roll it out and cut it.

I don't expect any of them to struggle with rolling out pasta, I really don't.

A minute and you're done.

As with all pasta and sauces,

the sauce and the pasta have to come together as one.

What I don't want to see is the pasta on the bottom and the meatballs and sauce plonked on top.

No.

Some parmesan cheese over the top for saltiness. Pappardelle meatballs.

This I'm looking forward to. Get them in.

I've cooked you one of my dishes.

What we would like you to do is to taste this dish

and identify as many ingredients as possible.

And then write down the ingredients on the piece of paper next to you.

There you go. Please taste.

It is tricky. There are pitfalls in there.

It's a lovely plate of food.

I think I'm doing reasonably well.

Not sure I've got everything. I'm not sure about the herbs.

I think this challenge is very interesting.

I wasn't expecting to be treated, to be cooked by John.

I think I've done quite well.

Underneath the cloth on your bench are all the ingredients

that go into making up this dish.

Plus some others that didn't go in that dish.

At the end of this task, two of you are going home.

We're going to give you 50 minutes to cook us

John's dish.

Off you go.

The contestants have been given pork, beef, chicken and lamb mince

but only pork and beef are correct.

There are also ingredients to flavour the meatballs

and make the sauce.

And the ingredients to make their own pasta if they wish.

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

-What have you got in the bowl?

-Pork mince and veal mince.

-That's what you think you've got?

-That's what I think I've got.

Toby's put pork and veal on his list, so close,

it's actually pork and beef.

My issue is that Toby's identified the lamb mince as being veal mince.

You've had ten minutes. Ten minutes have gone.

What's in there, Paul? There's chicken, lamb, beef

and pork mince with the bacon.

Meat lovers' fantasy this, isn't it?

Yeah, but I've never known chicken in meatballs before but...

-So, why have you stuck it in?

-I don't know. Blind panic, I think.

Paul has tipped every meat into the bowl and he's making meatballs

with everything he can lay his hands on including chicken.

Which worries me now that could go completely dry.

Sophie's using chilli in those meatballs.

I hope it's not as powerful as the last time we tasted her chilli.

Leon is now rolling his pasta by hand.

He hasn't put it through the machine. I think he's struggling.

I've never made pasta but I've made meatballs.

So, hopefully, the meatballs will be really tasty and I'll get a nice thick sauce.

And then the pasta will be all right on the night, I hope.

Of the five contestants, Jill is the only one making her own pasta.

The others are having trouble rolling the pre-made.

My pasta's a disaster.

John's pasta is so beautiful. I'm not sure I can live up to that.

Last 60 seconds.

Finish. Time's up. You're done.

The dish we wanted to recreate was pappardelle with meatballs.

Start with you, Jill. You made your own pasta, really impressive.

You cut it really well. It looks great. You haven't mixed the pasta and meatballs together.

I think your pasta's made really well. I really like it.

Your meatballs are a little bit grainy because

you've only used pork mince. And it's become

more like sausage meatballs. Not a terribly bad thing.

But it doesn't have the texture you want from a good meatball.

I like the flavour you've got in your meatballs.

There's sage in there and plenty of seasoning. I like those.

All round, Jill, I'm convinced you are a bit of a cook.

I had some quite nice feedback.

And some not so good feedback. But I'm hoping I've done enough.

Sophie, let's try yours.

Your pasta is too thick, too heavy, but it's cooked all the way through.

You've cooked it really well. Your meatballs

are soft, they're moist, they've got loads of sage in them.

But you've got big chunks of garlic in there, which is slightly too powerful

Right.

I agree with Gregg. Way too much garlic.

Thankfully, I can't taste the chilli, Sophie.

-This time.

-Good.

My second challenge wasn't perfect.

I didn't do the dish how John produced his.

But I had a couple of good comments so

50/50.

-Toby, let's go for yours.

-OK.

You have used two different types of mince within your mixture.

-On your list, you've identified veal and pork, you wrote down.

-Yeah.

-Um...

-I used lamb by mistake.

-You knew there was two different textures. That's impressive.

OK.

You used fresh tomatoes in your sauce with onions, which is very tasty

but it's not really what the dish was all about.

There's not the richness to it, there's not the body to it.

I like your pasta a great deal.

It's light and perfectly cooked. I think your meatballs

are a little too heavy and I would like tinned tomatoes in your sauce. Can I say,

this whole bowl is bursting full of flavour.

Very good use of those herbs.

It's hard to tell how well I've done.

I didn't cook the same dish that John turned out. So we'll see.

Paul, your turn.

I like the texture of your meatballs.

Because you used different minces, there's not enough herbs and seasoning

on that bench to make sure the meatballs are full of flavour.

Yeah.

Your sauce is over-reduced and going far too sweet.

Your pasta could be a little thicker, although it is cooked.

It's not a disaster. Not by any stretch of the imagination

-But it's a far cry from John's dish.

-It is.

I'm still feeling good.

I think it's going to be close between all five of us.

Your turn, Leon.

Leon, you've invented a new pasta shape.

It's like a shrunken sheet of lasagne.

I've never seen pasta squares outside of a ravioli.

Um...

On your list, you've got for your meatballs,

pork, chives, egg whites, salt, pepper and thyme.

You used just egg white in that mixture, haven't you, with the pork?

The egg white has overcooked and it's turned to liquid.

So it was quite wet inside.

I like the seasoning in your meatballs.

I like the fact you've put herbs in there.

Your pasta, unfortunately, isn't cooked.

In both tests, I don't think I've performed to my full potential.

I could've done a lot of things better.

But I have put things on the plate that are tasty

in their own way.

We've got a judging job to do because two of you are leaving the competition.

Thank you very much. Off you go.

Thank you.

Jill had the best invention test, she's now had the best meatballs and pasta test.

I really like her pasta. She made it herself.

Meatballs were well flavoured with lots of herbs.

That's enough at this stage to put her through with flying colours.

Toby's dish was nothing like my dish but I liked the taste of it.

At least the guy used a combination of two different minces.

Well, I liked Toby from the first round with his lamb

because I liked the flavours that he made with mango and mint.

I think he had the most flavoursome bowl of food on the bench.

-Jill and Toby are the two strongest cooks.

-Sure.

Leon didn't have a good invention test. He needed a strong round here.

We've got meatballs the texture of nothing I've had in my life.

They're all soggy and wet and the pasta are squares of pasta sheets

thick enough to build a road out of it.

I think that signals the end of Leon's MasterChef campaign.

Paul struggled with his pasta. His pasta disaster.

His meatballs were just a bit bland.

I don't known what to make of Paul. There was good stuff in his invention test.

His pasta's not a right-off. I worry about his lack of experience

with pasta and meatballs, they're quite basic.

Sophie's an interesting case because the meatballs themselves

are really heavy with raw garlic and lots and lots of herbs.

Her pasta was a little thick but she'd cooked it all the way through.

It's actually the quality of her invention test which is worrying me.

I needed Sophie to have a very good round with this pasta.

-She had a decent round, I'm not sure it's good enough.

-I agree with you.

Who takes the third place? Sophie or Paul?

We only have three places in the next round.

The first person leaving us...

-..is Leon.

-Thanks, Leon.

-Cheers, guys.

-Thanks very much. Take care.

The second person leaving us is...

-..Sophie. Thanks very much, Sophie.

-Thank you.

I'm feeling gutted. You would lie if you said you weren't.

But it's just been a brilliant day. I have really enjoyed it.

And I'm glad I took part.

I was really excited about the competition.

To go out at such an early stage is a massive disappointment.

Well done to all three of you.

Now we're going to send you to a professional kitchen.

Toby, Jill and Paul have been sent to One-O-One restaurant in Knightsbridge,

where the style of food will challenge the amateur's presentation skills.

-Morning. ALL:

-Good morning.

My name is Pascal. I am the chef of this restaurant.

Very busy today. Full restaurant. We have to deliver, no choice.

-OK. You follow me and we'll get to it. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Lunch service is in just three hours.

Retired civil servant Jill is in charge of the tuna carpaccio starter,

which is served with roasted pork belly, herb salad,

basil mint jelly cubes and a balsamic hazelnut dressing.

First, we'll do the pork belly. When the pork is caramelised gently,

we start to dress the carpaccio tuna at the same time.

Jill, who has struggled with presentation,

has to plate the ten different components on this intricate dish.

-Just nicely peel it.

-Yep.

-Look at that.

-And there.

-Yeah.

That's a little jelly with balsamic.

-Crumble.

-OK.

-It's a French crumble. Just on the edge.

So we're nearly there. OK. You've got your pork belly.

Look at that.

-On the top of that.

-Yep.

-Look at that.

And you put that in there, OK?

-And this is yours.

-Fantastic.

-Do you like that?

-That looks beautiful.

-That's what you have to do for lunch.

-OK.

It's so beautiful and so many elements I've got to get right.

A lot of it has to be done last minute,

so it's going to be quite full on.

Sales executive Paul is responsible for the red king crab raviolo

served with a crab bisque, parmesan foam and a parmesan crisp.

King crab is the king of the shellfish.

One of the most expensive shellfish in the world.

So we have to be careful what we do with it, OK?

OK, Paul, this is the ravioli, we have to cook them now.

In the water with salt inside. 3 minutes 45 seconds, OK.

It's very important. The pasta will just be soft with a little al dente.

Take your ravioli, very gently. Look at that. Beautiful.

OK. You can see, nice and firm.

-Yep.

-OK. So now we're going to dress it.

Then your sauce. A beautiful sauce. Nice. OK.

-Then we go for a parmesan espuma, cream of parmesan.

-Yeah, yeah.

-The onions to give texture.

-Yep.

-This on top, so different texture again.

Then you put chervil.

Yeah. And a bit of lemon dressing just to give it zing.

Presentation, no cooking, is about...

When the customer sees your food coming, "Wow!"

-Yeah.

-You already start salivating.

I'm feeling slightly nervous.

But, hopefully, I'm going to do a good job.

Intensive-care doctor Toby is cooking breast of duck with a confit leg,

served with pak choi, sweet potato and carrot puree

and an orange sauce.

You have to watch carefully.

The real challenge of this dish is the complicated presentation done at the last minute.

-Take the back of your spoon and drag it out.

-OK.

Then what we need to do, put your duck there.

OK, that's good. And then just a little up.

Phew! That looks incredible.

I'm a bit worried about the presentation today.

I've got clear instructions, clear directions.

Hopefully, with concentration, I'll get there.

The service can be very busy and I do not want my customers to be disappointed, not even one.

So not one plate is going to go badly in this restaurant.

One tuna carpaccio. Jill! Yeah?

-Yes, chef.

-Ah, bub-bub-bub! Gently like that. Pick it up like that.

Flat it down a bit very gently. OK, that's good. OK.

All right, darling. Here.

-Salt and pepper.

-I'm just remembering all the different things.

-Exactly.

-Tuna carpaccio.

-Jill, yeah. I think it's spot on.

-Thank you very much.

-It goes in now. I think it's good. Another table coming in.

-Thank you.

It's trying to remember everything and making sure you get the right quantities. It's very delicate.

But so far no disasters.

-One crab ravioli.

-Yes, chef.

Come on, Paul, let's go.

Two orders!

Paul's got the raviolo cooked but now he has to plate it perfectly under pressure.

Yep, yep, that's it, that's it. Good, good, good. OK, now finishing.

Beautiful.

Beautiful. Let's go, please.

-Service!

-Beautiful.

No major catastrophes yet.

I'm enjoying it. It's going good.

With the restaurant getting busy, the pressure's on for Toby.

-Four ducks, please.

-Yes, chef.

Butter there, yeah?

-Go a bit faster, Toby.

-OK, OK.

-Come on, come on, come on.

Yeah, perfect.

Toby must now master the technical presentation.

Come on, come on, come on.

OK. Don't worry, don't worry.

-Back of the spoon.

-Drag it round.

-OK? Go.

Faster, faster, please.

-Ooh la-la-la-la!

-Sorry.

-OK.

-Not everywhere. You have a nice lot here.

-Then you go round, OK.

OK. Allez! Come on. We have to go faster.

-This is not fast enough.

-Yeah, no problem.

Go, go, go, go, go.

-Service these four ducks.

-Four ducks for table 16.

-Yes, chef!

-Really understand the plate, OK?

-OK.

-Please, please. It's very important.

-Yeah.

It's halfway through service

and Paul and Jill are both being hit hard with orders.

All right guys, king crab raviolo.

-Yes, chef.

-And one tuna carpaccio, Jill!

-Yes, chef.

Can I have some more crumbs, please?

-Two more carpaccios, Jill.

-Yes, chef.

How many have you got on the go now, Jill?

-Three.

-Brilliant.

-How long for the ravioli?

-It's coming.

-How long?

-30 seconds, chef.

OK.

-You OK, Paul?

-Yes, chef.

-Very nice, Paul.

-One minute.

-Go on. Make sure it's nice sauce.

Get enough sauce on the plate.

Allez! Come on, Jill. Let's go. All together now.

Yeah. Yeah, perfect.

Not just oil, not just oil.

-One tuna carpaccio.

-Great. Let's go.

-Yes, chef.

-Service!

-Let's go. Beautiful.

Meanwhile, Toby's duck is still proving popular.

-OK, Toby, listen to me now. You have four ducks on order.

-Yeah.

-Two ducks, two ducks.

Six. Eight ducks together.

Yes, chef.

I'm determined to get it right this time. It was a bit slow last time.

-That needs to come up perfectly.

-OK.

-Come on, Toby.

Ah! OK.

Not bad. Not bad. Not bad. Not bad. Again.

Yeah. Not bad. Not bad. Not bad. Not bad.

Toby's forgot a bit but he's really focused on it now.

He needs to understand the concept of the dish, the presentation and everything.

Better.

The presentation and plating up is hard. Finding it quite tough.

I'm very determined to nail it by end of service.

-Weh! Beautiful!

-Thank you.

-See? Much better.

-Thank you, chef.

Beautiful.

Guys, allez! Over there.

I hope I get the sauce right and we don't have to redo the quenelles.

Beautiful, Toby.

-That's much better.

-Thank you, chef.

-Perfect. Let's go.

-Where, chef?

-Table 20.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much, chef. Thank you.

I never want to see a quenelle ever again in my life.

-OK, guys. Well done. Great service.

-Chef.

I'm happily surprised. It went very well. The customers loved it.

I have to say a big congratulations to everyone.

That was really intense.

I had quite a difficult plate to do, I think. A bit drained.

Very hot. Quite sweaty.

Toby struggled with the presentation. But he pushed hard to get it right.

So, overall, very happy.

I think Paul did quite well, actually.

He understood the cooking of the pasta. He enjoyed doing that dish. I could see it.

I'm feeling ecstatic from the first restaurant service. Pascal is an absolutely amazing chef.

And I really have learnt a great deal.

Jill did very well. I can see she's very meticulous about what she does.

She listened when I showed her the dish.

I hope chef was impressed by what I've done today.

He certainly didn't shout at me too much. That's got to be a good sign.

I've got to say, I like this bit because I get to taste your food,

the food that you love to cook.

Quarterfinal place up for grabs. We are only going to take the best cooks with us.

Your two dishes, one hour, impress us. Let's cook.

This is a tough competition. These guys will have to cook at the top of their game.

Today, they've got an opportunity to demonstrate some skill but also show us their flair, their individuality.

What are your two dishes today, Toby?

I'm doing lamb with lentils and a green herb sauce.

For the starter, I'm doing crab agnolotti with a virgin mary sauce.

-Toby, we saw your lamb dish last time, little mistakes.

-Yeah.

I made lots of stupid errors, basic mistakes in important things.

I'm going to concentrate and stop those happening.

The lamb will be nowhere near an oven for some time.

The most important thing is they taste great. I know they taste great.

I've got confidence in the flavour. It's getting them completed in time.

And getting them looking pretty enough.

How is Toby going to make lamb on lentils

and pasta with tomato sauce look smart?

You've had 15 minutes.

Paul, you're running around frantic.

-You are really frantic.

-I'm pushing myself.

Hence the panic and the franticity, if that is such a word.

Franticity?

-Franticity's brilliant.

-Anyway, what are your two dishes?

Pan-fried scallop with textures of apple.

Apple jelly, apple caviar.

And some apple syrup.

My main course is monkfish with an asparagus risotto, parmesan cream

and a basil oil and foam.

These are dishes that I would do at home, that I enjoy doing.

You would do textures of apples at home? Come on, Paul.

Well, if you speak to my missus, she'll tell you I do this sort of stuff at home.

I'm really pushing myself. It is going to be very tight.

Hopefully, I get them all out on time.

I admire Paul for his bravery. He is pushing himself but it is risky.

It's risky because he's given himself so many processes to do.

He's also juggling with some enormous big flavours and textures there.

You're halfway. 30 minutes left.

-What are your two dishes, Jill?

-Pan-fried sea bass

on a fennel salad with a pastis beurre blanc and some pomme puree.

My dessert is a shortbread layered with apple puree and hazelnut and breadcrumb

-sugary layer.

-What's the biggest worry?

-I'm worried about the sauce

splitting, the beurre blanc.

And I'm worried about getting the fish cooked just right.

What Jill's promising sounds beautiful. I think it's wonderful.

But for her, technically, it's very difficult.

Beurre blanc, my favourite sauce in the whole world.

But it's got to be done really well. She's got to keep her nerve.

It's very important that I get these two dishes right.

I really want to stay in the competition.

I'd be very disappointed if I mess up in any way.

Just seven minutes to get yourself into a quarterfinal.

-Too rare?

-Too rare.

Toby's lamb is raw. He took it out of the oven and realised it's not cooked at all.

He only roasted it for ten minutes. We've seen overcooked lamb,

now we're seeing lamb sashimi.

Two and a half minutes. It's got to go on a plate now.

That's it. Your time's up. Stop, please. Stop.

For her main, Jill has made fillet of sea bass on a fennel salad

served with potato puree and a pastis beurre blanc.

Every part of your dish is beautifully made.

Your potato puree is wonderful. Your fish is beautiful, crispy skin, cooked all the way through.

Beurre blanc is one of my favourite sauces,

your one with aniseed pastis is lovely. I think that's really good.

I so admire the skill in your fingertips.

-Thank you.

-And I really have enjoyed that beautiful fish

with the beurre blanc and mashed potato very much.

Thank you.

Jill's pudding is a hazelnut, cinnamon and apple shortbread stack

with calvados Chantilly cream.

What is that? That doesn't look right at all.

That's a crumbly fallen over dough thing.

It didn't have long enough time in the fridge to set.

The sweet hazelnuts and the butter crunch I really like.

Your shortbread is rich with cinnamon. It's really good.

Your apple puree is wonderful and sharp. The cream on the side

needs a lot more booze in it.

I feel like a toddler rather than having a grown-up dessert.

I agree with John. There's not enough booze in the cream.

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

It needs another big contrast to that powerful sharp-sweet apple.

OK.

It kind of collapsed. They were very nice about my main course.

I'm hoping that's enough to get me through.

Paul's starter is scallops served on celeriac and truffle puree

and textures of apple,

an apple syrup and slices.

Tell us about the apple jelly that should be on here.

The apple jelly didn't set in time.

I love the scallop against the creamy celeriac with the sharpness of apple.

I particularly like your apple syrup.

But there needs to be more apple flavour on there because of the strength of that creamy celeriac

-and there was supposed to be.

-Yep.

The scallops were perfectly cooked.

I liked the caramel salty sweetness on the outside.

Paul, I'm impressed. I didn't think you were going to get any of that done.

Paul's main is monkfish served with asparagus risotto and a parmesan cream.

Paul, you promised us basil oil and basil foam.

-What happened to basil?

-Again, didn't get time to make those.

It's really wet. You've got a starchy creamy risotto.

You've added cream to it as well that's flavoured with string parmesan cheese.

Asparagus itself releases juice.

Your main course lacks all of the cleverness and subtlety of your first course.

It's as if they've been done by two different cooks.

I think the flavours of parmesan cheese with asparagus is a good one.

I think with the rice and the monkfish a little bit too much.

You're playing with really big flavours on both your dishes.

Your first course - successful. Your main course - not so.

I think that my MasterChef future is hanging in the balance.

But my glass is half full rather than half empty.

Toby's starter is crab agnolotti

with a virgin mary sauce and basil oil.

You've shown skill in making that pasta. That is well made.

That sauce is the flavour of a really well-spiced bloody mary.

Then we've got the crab fighting to survive and it's not surviving.

The Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and all those flavours should be in the crab not in the sauce.

What happens is, a pillow opens up and that's what bursts in your mouth with the crab.

I can't quite get on with it, I'm sorry to say.

Toby's man is lamb rump with lentils and a green herb sauce.

It's massive, Toby. It's really big and it's really ugly.

You averted a disaster and your lamb's cooked well.

You've got some wonderful sweet salty outside of the land.

It's really tasty. You know what, I'd probably eat the whole lot.

The flavours in those lentils are incredible.

They're so soft. The fatty lamb is a lovely flavour.

And you've got real sharpness

and minty loveliness inside that green sauce.

Good flavours. As ugly as sin.

LAUGHS

I've still got more to give and I would learn a lot by going through.

But I'm not sure that I'll do that.

Thank you very much indeed. Off you go.

I think Jill gets the award for the most outstanding dish in the room.

Jill's sea bass was cooked to absolute perfection.

That flesh so tender, the skin crispy

with a really well-made beurre blanc.

Almost clinical precision to her food.

Her dessert. You can't argue with the flavours

of apple, cinnamon and nuts. But it didn't live up to expectations. I think Jill's got what it takes.

So, are we going to say Jill gets a quarterfinal place?

Paul promised us celeriac and truffle puree with scallops on top and texture of apple.

He failed to deliver the jelly.

But what we did get was a sour but sweet apple syrup,

raw apples on top of beautifully cooked scallops, which when eaten together was a lovely thing.

But where he got off on that risotto, I have no idea.

That was a watery risotto with loads of asparagus

and a cream flavoured with parmesan cheese. What was that?

If I made it through to the next round I would be overjoyed.

I still feel I've got a lot to offer in the competition.

Toby served us agnolotti in a virgin mary sauce.

A real bad error of judgement.

Nothing would have survived that sauce, John, nothing.

But his lamb and lentils with that sharp herb sauce, I thought was delicious.

I loved it. It looked like a dog's dinner but it tasted divine.

I got my merits and produced some really good food.

But I've also produced some less good food.

So we'll see.

-Who's it going to be?

-Hah!

Who deserves a second chance? That's what it's all about.

We only have two places to get into the quarterfinal and we have made that decision.

The contestant leaving us is...

..Toby.

Thank you.

Obviously, I'm disappointed to have gone out.

A tinge of sadness for going out but hugely happy to have got this far.

I've had a great time.

Well done, you two. Quarterfinal place beckons.

-BOTH:

-Well done.

Thank you very much.

I'm overjoyed. I honestly didn't think that is was going to be me.

I thought it was a very close call.

I can't believe I'm in the quarterfinal. I really can't.

I thought I was doing well when I got on to the show.

It's amazing. I'm just loving it. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Tomorrow night, another five amateurs

will battle to earn a place in the quarterfinal.

Time's up. Stop. Stop. Stop.

How many times did I call it?

It's looking like something that was served at an Indiana Jones banquet.

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