Episode 7 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.

-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 quarter-finalists.'

In terms of competitiveness,

I don't trample over other people to achieve goals

but I certainly would love to win.

I don't think I've ever felt so determined

to make sure I do something well and not let everybody down.

I'm incredibly nervous but I'm ready for that kitchen.

Welcome to MasterChef.

This is an amazing opportunity to make the right sort of impression.

This is the invention test. Your job is to cook for us just one dish,

whether it be sweet, savoury, brunch dish, lunch dish, picnic.

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

'Today's ingredients include Dover sole,

'pear, almonds,

'spinach, filo pastry,

'potato, grapes,

'chilli and vanilla.

'Andrew works as a local government officer in Poole,

'and lives with his wife and daughter.'

Having worked in an office for most of my adult life,

you don't get a sense of achieving something on a daily basis.

Cooking gives me that pleasure.

-Tell me about you and food.

-About ten years ago, I had a heart attack.

Eating a lot of processed food and doing a lot of bad things.

And so food was a way of recuperating from that,

cooking a daily meal, and so it's grown from there, really.

-That's a brilliant story!

-Thank you very much.

-What are you making now?

-Pear and ginger frangipane tart.

-There are many similarities between me and you, baldy.

-There are.

Put these on and say, "It doesn't get tougher than this."

It does not get tougher than this.

-Yeah.

-Ho-ho!

All right, son. Good luck.

Andrew is promising us a ginger and pear frangipane tart with a vanilla cream.

It's either going to be something completely majestic...

..or we're going to have pear and almond crumble.

You've had ten minutes.

'Bank worker Martin uses food to connect with his Italian heritage.'

I'm half Italian and half Scottish.

The Italian side of my cooking definitely plays more of a part in what I cook.

Martin, you look excitable in a sort of happy but scared way.

Very pleased that I've just taken a fillet off my flat fish,

because I've never taken fillet off a flat fish before.

I think it's going to come down to some kind of crispy potato, nice buttery, winey sauce.

-How good are you?

-I wouldn't have entered if I didn't think I had a shot.

-Whoa! Go on, boy! Like to hear it. Thank you, Martin.

-Cheers.

Martin has decided to walk into MasterChef and give himself the challenge of,

"Can I fillet a flat fish?"

He says he's going to pan-fry it. It's going to take a minute, at the most, to cook.

If you cook that lemon sole for any longer than that, it's going to be dry.

'Masseuse Sophie learnt to cook with her dad and grandparents,

'who used to grow their own food.'

I think I've got a good palate but also quite a creative imagination.

So I like to take food

and spin it on its head and do something really different with it.

Sophie, you look like you have a very clear idea where you're going.

Yeah, yeah, I do. I'm poaching pears in wine.

I've toasted the almonds off. I've cut up some grapes.

I'm going to stuff that into the pear and then I'm going to wrap it up in the pastry.

What sort of cook are you, Sophie?

I'm a very traditional cook. I like British produce.

-Fabulous!

-Thank you.

Sophie's really, really nervous and I hope for her sake that dish works, cos I quite like the idea of that.

Ladies and gentlemen, you are halfway. 30 minutes left.

'Car salesman Kieron loves to forage for seasonal food.'

Growing up in Australia, my mum and dad have been big fans

of cooking local food. I guess I've just carried that on.

Kieron, tell me what it is you're making?

Sole with smoked fish sauce with spinach, pear and red grape salad, with crushed, toasted almonds.

I love seafood. As a concept of cooking a fish, I'm pretty happy with it.

-So I thought, "What could possibly go wrong?"

-Kieron, why are you here?

The line of work I'm in at the moment, it's my own business, going well,

but I'm bored of it, really,

and would love to open my own little restaurant somewhere

-and follow my cooking dream.

-Cheers, Kieron.

-Thanks very much.

Kieron has just asked the question, "What could go wrong?"

Well, he's just about to find out.

Who wants to eat fish with pears? Nobody.

'28-year-old Farhana's mother

'has been her strongest foodie influence.'

My mum is from Bangladesh. I grew up watching her. She's a really good cook.

I think when she was born,

she was born with a wooden spoon in her hand, to be honest.

How are you feeling?

A bit nervous, really. I think all over the place at the moment.

-What are you going to make, then?

-I'm going to make a really hearty soup with carrots and spinach.

I'm going to fry the fish to get a bit of colour. I'm going to garnish it with the chilli later on,

-so it will have a bit of kick to it, as well.

-This isn't a European style of food, is it?

-No.

It's a mix of both, really. Yeah, mix of East and West.

It sounds nice. Will you stop being nervous?

-Give me a high five.

-Thank you.

-There, should make you feel better.

I just hope you guys like it at the end.

If she can get bags of flavour in that soup,

and make something really delicious and spicy, ooh, I don't know, I quite like it.

As long as she doesn't put anything like cream anywhere near it, I'll be happy.

You've got just eight minutes, contestants, eight minutes left.

A big variety of dishes today. I'm actually really excited.

We've got some desserts. Got some soups.

We've got things actually happening here. Some adventure!

This is your last two minutes, your last two minutes.

Right! Stop!

'Farhana has made a spicy vegetable broth,

'topped with pan-fried sole fillets, chillies and pouring cream.'

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

It's a bit frightening. I'm not quite sure what's underneath it.

Right. OK.

I don't think it's quite right,

but there's some very interesting pearls and gems in your dish.

I think it's very creative, I think it's really inventive,

-I wish you hadn't put the cream in because that's really disturbed it.

-OK.

I actually like the sole in there, but not placed across the top in a fillet.

However, broken up into pieces,

floating in the broth, is quite pleasant.

I thought it was OK. But I could've done better.

'Bank-worker Martin is serving pan-fried fillet of sole

'and sauteed potatoes on a bed of garlic spinach

'and a beurre blanc sauce.'

Martin, you actually might be a decent cook but you've got to calm down a bit.

Piece of fish like that with its skin on,

by the time you crisp the skin up, your fish underneath is overcooked.

Your crispy potatoes

are no longer crispy because they've been draped with a piece of fish,

and that has now made them soggy potatoes. Your beurre blanc consistency, brilliant.

But it's too sharp with lemon. It's a little bit too much.

However, your spinach is wonderful.

Your food is well seasoned. Your beurre blanc is well made.

I think I've shown them that I can put a plate of food together

that's got a number of good flavours in it and it all works together as a dish.

'Masseuse Sophie has stuffed a poached pear with grapes and almonds,

'wrapped it in filo pastry

'and served it with vanilla cream and pear liquor.'

-It's lovely. It's really lovely.

-Thank you.

Little bits in here, Sophie, that I really like. I like your invention.

The almonds and the grapes spilling out of the inside of the pear,

it's like a surprise bonbon. Your pear is poached really nicely.

Your syrup needs to be a lot thicker.

There are mistakes in here but I quite like the fact that you've done what you've done.

OK. Thank you.

I'm really impressed by your skill, your invention,

and some of the flavours in there are delightful.

Thank you very much.

I just can't tell you how proud I feel.

They've tried my food, and overall they seemed fairly pleased.

'Car salesman Kieron has cooked the whole Dover sole

'and served it with a smoky fish sauce

'and a spinach, grape, pear and almond salad.'

I've got problems. Your fish is really overcooked.

Really overcooked.

The sauce isn't very nice.

It's smoky and it's acidic.

It's not all over. But you've got your work cut out now.

The sauce, it tastes of stewed fish, and it's very potent, which is not pleasant at all.

The salad doesn't work with the dish. I'm sorry to tell you that, Kieron, but it's not right.

That went terrible. To have them look at your plate

and say it's not worked is heartbreaking.

'Andrew has made a pear and ginger frangipane tart,

'served with sticky lemon sauce and vanilla cream.'

I think it's great. That lemon sauce I absolutely love.

I think it's brilliant. And the sweet, crumbly pastry

with that vanilla cream is a really lovely thing.

You can cook. And I'm quite excited by you, Andrew.

For an hour invention test, that's very, very impressive.

-Well done, Andrew.

-Thank you very much.

It went from blind panic to producing some food on a plate for John and Gregg to taste,

which I'm delighted about. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks very much indeed. Off you go.

Listen, for me, the best cooks were the pud cooks.

That's big Andrew and Sophie.

Great skill. Great skill, good flavours.

If Andrew continues on the road

that he's started driving down, I think we might be in for a gem.

This is the palate test, maybe one of the most important tests in the whole MasterChef competition.

What we're going to do is cook them a dish, ask them to taste it.

Today's dish is crumbed venison cutlets, beetroot jalapeno relish,

and skordalia, wonderful potato puree with lemon and garlic and olive oil.

This is a very, very tough test. Very tough test.

So, first off, the beetroot relish,

frying off some shallots and some beetroot with some walnuts and some parsley stalks and coriander stalks.

-That's going to cook for about 15 minutes.

-There's no way any of the contestants will get beetroot wrong.

Now, the next process is to get the skordalia on.

Skordalia is really a mash or puree.

Cover the potato not with water,

-but with equal quantities of olive oil and milk.

-Right.

Two big cloves of garlic.

They could be in trouble there with that potato.

They must taste the garlic and realise there's olive oil in it.

OK. So, now my relish.

I've got some nice colour and the herbs have cooked down.

To this I'm now going to add some sherry vinegar,

some sugar to sweeten it.

And so now it's time to puree the relish, to make the relish.

So I want a loose puree, because now it's going to go back in the pot,

I'm going to cook it very slowly to make it more of a jam.

I'm going to add parsley, chopped parsley.

So there we have it. Now we're going to puree the potatoes.

So it's almost like a potato soup.

-They're all going to be using a pack of butter to make that.

-And then add some lemon juice to it.

The skordalia is the most difficult one out of the lot.

Potato is now ready. We are now going to crumb the cutlets.

So, flour first. Then the egg.

Then the breadcrumb. Tarragon, sage and chervil.

Beautiful golden brown.

What I don't want to see is burnt breadcrumbs and raw venison.

-That would be a crime.

-Absolutely.

And now we need to dress the plate. Take my potato...

What I would like is a really lovely, clean plate,

creamy potato, the cutlet crusted on the outside, still pink in the middle,

and that beetroot relish sweet but also spicy from the jalapeno

-and woody from the walnuts.

-Great dish. Let's get them in.

Because you guys cooked for us this morning,

I've cooked something for you.

All you have to do is eat that dish

and write down what ingredients you think went to make that dish up.

Right. Off you go. Let's have a taste.

I'm under so much pressure to get this right.

My palate's all over the place at the moment.

It's a real effort for me to identify these different flavours.

It's a very difficult test.

I wouldn't say I was brimming with confidence. Hoping for the best.

You've got to make the right decision. You've got to figure out what's in there.

I think with the panic, I could make a mistake.

I'm just trying to go with my gut instinct.

I can probably identify maybe 60 to 70 percent of what's going on in there.

I'm feeling very nervous.

If you here a big noise, it's me passing out on the floor.

Nobody has got the meat right.

Not one person in the room has identified that as a venison cutlet.

Some people say it's lamb. Most people put down beef.

Under the cloth on the bench are all the ingredients that went into making this dish.

But there are some others under there that didn't.

What we'd like you to do, of course, is cook it.

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

'The ingredients have been separated into groups.

'Those to make the crust,

'the potato skordalia, the beetroot relish,

'and a choice of venison and lamb.'

Last round we had five cooks,

this round we've got five very scared rabbits in some headlights.

I panicked a little bit with the meat.

Probably haven't got it spot on. But just tried my hardest.

The meat I'm quite confident about.

So I'm just going to make something that tastes good.

'Everyone has chosen to cook a venison cutlet,

'apart from Andrew, who's using the lamb.'

How you feeling now then, Kieron?

I just want to get on with it now and do the job

because I know I can cook and I want to prove to you I can.

Go on, boy. Get amongst it.

I believe Sophie's a good little cook, John. She's so nervous, so nervous.

She's cooked the potatoes in the milk, which is a good start. Nobody else has done that.

The sauce is an absolute disaster. I have no idea what was in it or the method used to make it.

Martin thinks the skordalia, that lemon, olive oil and potato, is like an egg sauce.

He's trying to make a potato hollandaise type idea.

Andrew is stirring a bowl of brown stuff and adding butter. He's not sure what he's making.

You've got ten minutes.

Farhana is the only person cooking that beetroot relish.

She's released that it's not a raw relish.

Do you know what I like about you?

You are tasting and tasting and tasting. What are you doing?

I don't know. I don't know.

-You're doing OK.

-Yeah.

-There is nothing on this bench that worries me more than you.

You've got under two minutes.

That's it!

Your time's up. Stop, please.

What I'd cooked and what we asked you to reproduce

was a herb-crusted venison cutlet.

Served on skordalia,

and a spiced beetroot, walnut and jalapeno relish.

Farhana, shall we start with you?

Your cutlet's cooked really well. I love the crispy outside,

and the herbs coating it are wonderful and vibrant.

Your potato was lovely and lemony. Your beetroot relish, not bad at all.

Look, it's not perfect, but you know what? It's good.

-Thank you.

-Look at me. This is lovely.

-Thank you.

-That cutlet is crunchy on the outside, still lovely and moist inside,

-that's a lovely combination.

-OK.

I think it went better than the last round.

Your meat's overcooked. Breadcrumbs are crispy but there's little flavour. They taste of breadcrumbs.

I don't understand that potato at all, it's got the taste of cheese.

The beetroot, though, is heavenly. It's sweet and it's really strong with chilli.

It's dry. It should have a lovely flavour of herbs,

but it doesn't, there's not enough herbs in there. But I like your relish.

It was great fun but just really difficult.

Kieron, let's give yours a go.

It's a bit crispy.

And it's raw.

I'm not sure I can eat that.

Look, there's pink and then there's not cooked.

And that is not quite cooked. And the outside is burnt.

Your beetroot relish lacks loads of seasoning. The potato is good, Kieron.

That cutlet is undercooked for me,

and also overcooked on the outside.

I'm really disappointed with the way it all turned out.

I've just had a really bad day in the kitchen.

Martin, your turn.

I'm going to call you Spudless.

Mashless. What happened, mate?

It didn't work. The whole thing was just a sludgy mess.

There's no herbs within that breadcrumb, there's a tiny bit of rosemary but not enough.

Then your beetroot relish is really under-seasoned, it needs more vinegar, it needs sugar.

-You've got the beetroot and that's it.

-There's mistakes here, mate.

Thanks, Martin.

That was car-crash cooking.

I got a bit flustered over my sauce and then it all went wrong, really.

Andrew, let's look at this.

I need to ask. What is that?

Potato-crusted lamb cutlet on some beetroot puree.

I don't like that. I don't like that at all.

Dill on lamb is not nice at all. The beetroot is very, very sweet.

I can't recognise this from the cook whose food I enjoyed in the last round.

I think you completely lost the plot on this.

Why you didn't do breadcrumbs I'm still not quite sure.

That went, I think, spectacularly badly.

It was not my finest hour.

We only have three places in the next round. And that means that two of you will be leaving the competition.

Thank you very much. Off you go.

It's right to say this was a very tough challenge

because there were processes here which were really quite unfamiliar.

Farhana seems to have done a pretty good job, really.

The venison cutlet, cooked really well.

-I think that Farhana had the best dish in the room.

-Yeah, by a mile!

Kieron did not have an enjoyable time at the invention test.

He's not had a great time here with the palate test.

He's overcooked the outside of the meat, he's undercooked the inside of it.

He needed a strong round this test, he didn't provide one, he's got to go.

Shall we talk about Sophie? Cos Sophie also had a very, very good invention test.

I don't think Sophie's cutlet was that bad.

I think her invention test was fantastic.

I think Sophie deserves to go through.

I think this is a toss up between Martin and Andrew.

I feel slightly embarrassed. Cos I said to you after the invention test,

Andrew is the man to watch.

And then Andrew comes in and cooks us a rack of lamb, not even a cutlet,

with a potato and dill dough covering thing on top. He got it completely wrong.

But his invention test was very impressive.

I would love to stay in this competition. I know I've made mistakes in the second round.

I'd love the opportunity to prove that I'm better than that.

Now, Martin had an interesting invention test.

He had a decent sauce with his fish.

Martin's disappointed me because I thought he was full of promise,

and now he's had a terrible next round.

No potato on his plate at all.

He's managed to burn part of it and it's greasy.

I know that I can cook well and I just had an absolute disaster hour.

I would be so frustrated if that sent me home.

We've narrowed it down but who's it going to be?

As good as Andrew's invention test was, in this palate test,

he gets a complete fail. But at the same time, so does Martin.

Three places in the next round. Two of you are going home.

The first person leaving us

-is Kieron.

-Thank you.

The second person to leave us...

-..is Martin. Thanks very much, Martin.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I'm feeling absolutely gutted.

I just had an absolute shocker in the second round and it came back to bite me.

I had a bad day. My food didn't come up to scratch.

But that's not going to stop me cooking and loving food.

We are now going to send you to a professional kitchen.

And you are going to cook lunch for paying customers.

The thing that most worries me is letting the chef down, I suppose,

and being really shouted at.

'Andrew, Sophie and Farhana

'have been sent to One Twenty-One Two restaurant in Whitehall,

'where they'll be working under executive chef Ben Purton.'

Morning, guys. 40 customers booked in for lunch today.

We've only got a couple of hours to get ready. Our customers know the standard of food we have.

So we're going to get you started, show you exactly what you need to do for today. Let's get on with it.

'Lunch service is in just three hours.'

The contestants can expect from service today to be really put through their paces.

We're really going to find out which ones can hack it and which ones can't.

'Farhana is cooking a yellow and purple beetroot and caramelised goat's cheese salad,

'with baby coriander and watercress and crushed almonds.'

At the beginning, you're just going to start by the normal beetroot on the bottom here.

Spread it across. Little bit of the golden one on.

Do exactly the same. I'm just going to turn the gas on a little bit.

Softens down the goat's cheese, brings out some really nice flavours.

Two pieces over. They're slightly warm.

And then just to finish off...

So this is your ground-up almond.

It's kind of a rustic drizzle.

So quite simple to put together,

and it's getting every single plate looking exactly like that

-every single time it goes out.

-Wow! No pressure.

I'm most nervous about the timing more than anything,

and I hope that everything comes together.

'Sophie is cooking pan-fried sea bass on a couscous cake,

'with baby courgettes, aubergine, a beurre blanc sauce

'and a red wine reduction.'

We want to keep the skin nice and crispy, but the centre of the fish needs to be really nice and soft.

-If this starts to get overcooked, we won't be serving it to the guests. OK?

-Yeah.

So, for your couscous cakes, golden brown on both sides.

We're just giving it a nice crust and a nice base for the sea bass to sit on.

So, when it comes to plating up, you've got your baby courgettes,

which have just been sauteed off in a little bit of olive oil. Your couscous cake goes in the middle.

Your sea bass fillet. Baby aubergine and baby courgettes.

And then we garnish with a little bit of chervil before it goes.

-That looks delicious.

-So, just like that, 20 or 30 times in about 20 or 30 minutes,

and me and you are going to get on really well.

-I'll try.

-Happy?

-Yes, definitely.

-Good. Easy.

This dish is really, really delicate. Lots of different aspects.

The couscous cake, really delicate, could fall apart quite easily.

At the moment I'm feeling a bit petrified.

'Andrew is cooking cheese, olive and sun-dried tomato stuffed chicken breast

'on a bed of spinach with mashed potato, braised chicken leg,

'mustard cream and a spinach foam,

'topped with crispy chicken skin.'

So we're looking for a nice crispy skin. Turn it over and cook it for a couple of minutes on the other side,

pop it in the oven, be in the oven for about seven to eight minutes.

It needs that little bit of extra time in the oven cos it's got the stuffing in the middle.

-Does it stay in the pan in the oven?

-It does.

So, mash in the middle of the plate.

On one side of your dish, the sauteed baby spinach.

On the other side of the mash, braised chicken legs.

So the sauces for this, a little bit of mustard cream...

..some spinach foam, we stick that right in the middle.

And then as a nice finishing touch,

the skin, pan-fried till crisp...

-..in the middle of the mash before it goes out.

-Fantastic.

-All right?

It's about being really quick, really clean,

and you can't undercook the chicken and you can't overcook the chicken.

I'm really looking forward to cooking this dish.

Lots of different parts to it. Just keen to have a go.

We're just about to go for service. Feeling a bit nervous for them.

They have to get it right and there's no going back.

OK, guys, loosen up. New order.

You've got one beetroot followed by one chicken, one sea bass.

-Yes, chef.

-Yes, chef.

-OK, Farhana, you've got one beetroot, yes?

-Yes. Yes, chef.

A little bit further away from it, and then gently go in

-and get a nice speckling. Otherwise this bit around here is pure white.

-OK.

-How long, one beetroot?

-Ready, chef.

-Ready?

-Yes.

-Happy with that?

-No, no, no, no.

-Happy?

-Happy.

-Good. OK. Take it out to the first table, please.

-So, your first food that went out looked fantastic.

-Brilliant.

Keep an eye on your goat's cheese and don't forget the crumb. You seem like you're going to forget that.

It was good. Could have been better.

There's so many elements to this dish, I just need to be more consistent with everything.

Main course is two sea bass.

You got all your garnish for your sea bass coming up? Got two going away now.

Wahh!

-Do I need a little bit more on that one?

-Yeah, a tiny bit more.

You need to really work on that drizzle.

-I know. Sorry, that's useless.

-Service! Ready on table five.

-Yes, chef.

Dishes are looking really nice. They need to come together a lot quicker.

But they look fantastic. So, done. Move everything else out the way.

The elements of the dish were good.

A bit more improvement on speed, we'll be fine.

-OK, guys, listen up. Three chicken.

-Yes, chef.

I feel like chicken tonight.

Plenty of orders on and plenty of cooking to be done.

Once you split the chicken breast open, if it looks a little bit dry,

-get the sauce on the chicken.

-My hands are shaking, yes.

Main courses, table one. One chicken, one sea bass.

Try and calm the nerves down a bit, cos that's going to go all over the place with the sauce.

You've got about 15, 20 coming up, so that all over again.

Guys, go, table one, please.

The chicken was dry on quite a few of the ones we've served,

so we're now having to put the sauce over the top, we can't start cooking the chicken breasts again.

'Halfway through lunch service and the orders are piling up.'

-Three beetroot followed by three sea bass, one chicken.

-ALL: Yes, chef!

New order. Two beetroot to follow one chicken, one sea bass.

Yes, chef.

She's got a lot on at the minute.

It'll be interesting to see how she manages with the last few dishes before they go out.

You have to remember everything, every element that goes in,

you can't forget anything.

Farhana, how long for those two?

-Erm, ten seconds.

-Ten seconds. Much better.

-And don't forget the crumb.

-OK.

-The goat's cheese is looking really good. Nicely glazed.

-Thank you, chef.

There's a few little bits where you go awry with the crumb.

-Apart from that, they look really good.

-Thank you very much.

The more you do, the more consistent you get.

So I think I've done OK.

I had the goat's cheese and beetroot salad. It was really lovely.

And I thought the presentation was really pretty.

-I need two sea bass, please.

-Yes, chef.

-Five sea basses on order, yeah?

-Yes, chef.

Two sea bass under there and now I've got three more orders to go.

-So it's all a bit manic!

-You got one sea bass coming up?

-We got a proper drizzle out of you.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Much better on the drizzle.

-Thanks, chef.

-Table 24 away, please.

-Yes, chef.

-Thank you.

-I can safely say that's much better.

-Thanks, chef.

-Pleasure.

My plating up speed has picked up. It really is just all about confidence,

just being confident enough to put everything on the plate. You learn that the more you plate up.

I have to say, it was absolutely perfect.

Sometimes people overcook fish and it was just very tender and sweet in the middle. Absolutely gorgeous.

-New order. Two beetroot, main course, two chicken.

-Yes, chef!

'With service coming to a close, this is Andrew's last chance

'to prove he can cook the chicken properly.'

Try and control the shakes a little bit.

I think the shakes are still there. But I'm working with it.

-Two chicken, table seven.

-Yes, chef.

-So, a bit better. Still slightly dry outside the stuffing, but much better than the last one.

-Thank you.

I had the chicken. It was beautifully cooked. Wasn't dry.

And I ate it in about 30 seconds.

Went down really well. Fantastic.

OK, guys, that's it, we're all done.

Everyone's been in, everyone's been fed. Thank you very much. Great service.

-Well done, guys.

-Thank you, chef!

Service was really, really good.

I've got three guys in my kitchen that have never been in this environment before,

I got 45 happy customers. Very happy.

Farhana did really well. She had a few issues with the caramelisation of the goat's cheese.

Towards the end, she was flying. She did very well.

I feel great. It was so intense at times.

But I stayed calm.

Sophie was good. She got a bit muddled with timings and speed,

but again, towards the end, she was producing the dishes exactly as we asked her to do.

I feel amazing. I feel like I'm on an absolute high right now.

Andrew had a little bit of a panic in the middle. His chicken came out dry.

Once we'd showed him that was a problem, he managed to fix it, which was really good to see.

It was hot, hectic, lots of jobs to do, lots of people to keep happy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good to see you back.

You're cooking your own food. I love that. It makes me excited.

You know what you've got to do, your two courses.

Two places in the quarter-final up for grabs.

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

These three today have to prove that they can hold their nerve and be consistent.

Their own two courses and I want something knocking on the door of special.

Cooking my own food, it's a great opportunity, isn't it?

I'm quite excited, actually.

I'm not just cooking for anybody, I'm cooking for John and Gregg.

Farhana, can you tell us what you're going to cook for us?

Cucumber noodles with salmon balls and tamarind sauce.

-And then the other course, the main course is?

-Pan-fried duck seasoned with garam masala,

butternut squash to go with my raspberry chutney and savoy cabbage tempura.

It's all my own creation. It's got a flavour of East and West.

It's got my love, my passion, my heart and soul, everything in it.

Everything I'm putting on a plate for you guys to try.

I do like the sound of Farhana's food.

Those little salmon fish balls that she's frying.

I think that sounds delightfully light and flavoursome.

15 minutes has gone.

I feel confident about cooking my own food for John and Gregg.

I think I understand how the favours should work, and I hope that comes across to them.

What are your dishes today?

Mushroom stroganoff with the basmati rice

and then follow that with some duck in a plum reduction with some mashed potato and sauteed spinach.

-Why would you pick these two dishes?

-Duck is my particular favourite.

The basmati rice dish is a family favourite mid-week staple.

Look, we know you've got a bit to prove after the palate test.

-We took a risk on you. You're not going to let us down, are you?

-I'm certainly going to try not to.

We know that duck goes very well with fruity, tangy sauces.

But you've got to get the right balance of sweetness and tanginess.

You are halfway.

I've tried to take the cooking that I love doing at home,

and really take it up another notch.

So I'm really testing myself with my dishes.

Two courses, Sophie. What are you going to cook that's going to wow us, knock our socks off?

Well, I'm going to make you a pulled ham hock fritter,

with piccalilli and quail's eggs.

And for my main, I'm going to make you a posh fish and chips.

It's fish and chips with a twist. I'm not battering the fish

and I'm also making a minted pea puree for it all to sit on. But it will look really different.

-Quail's eggs, what are you going to do with them?

-I'm going to hard-boil them so they're still soft inside.

Have you given yourself enough time to be able to peel the eggs?

Oh! Goodness knows. Fingers crossed.

We've seen Sophie be creative and inventive before, we saw that in the invention test.

Now how successful is she going to be at being inventive with these traditional British ideas?

Just five minutes.

This is your last three minutes.

If you don't get the food on the plate now, we'll call time

and you'll be crying your eyes out. Move it!

Time's up! Stop. Stop! Stop! I kept... How many times did I call it?

-What's got to go on there?

-Tempura and the sauce.

Put it on and be very, very quick, please. It is cooked.

OK.

'Farhana has made salmon balls on a bed of cucumber noodles,

'with a sesame and tamarind sauce and crispy salmon skin.'

Farhana, I really like that sauce,

sour tamarind sauce with a smokiness coming from the tahini, that sesame seed paste.

Your salmon balls are a very, very interesting texture.

They sit quite nice on those strips of cucumber. But they're a bit dry.

I love the skin, the crispy skin with salt, I think that's a lovely texture.

I've got an issue with this cucumber because it releases so much juice.

It's making everything wet and slushy.

You'd have been better off with just noodles.

'Farhana's main course is pan-fried duck with spiced butternut squash,

'savoy cabbage tempura and spicy raspberry chutney.'

We let you carry on after we called time.

Really we should be only tasting the duck and the squash.

Around your butternut squash you have a collection of spices,

and it's all smoky and it's warming and there's chilli, and that's what's holding this dish together.

Your duck is cooked beautifully. It's got a lovely crispy skin on it.

And then you've got the sharp, sweet, raspberry relish, and it's really tasty.

I even like your cabbage tempura.

I think your flavours are vibrant, I think it's a really interesting dish.

Thank you. Made my day.

The tempura has burnt bits around the edge, so it tastes bitter.

Other than that, I really enjoyed it.

Both of my dishes, I think I pushed the limit with timings, with skills,

with flavours, with everything. I hope I've done enough.

'Sophie has made pulled ham hock and breadcrumb fritters

'with a piccalilli sauce, garnished with micro herbs.'

-What's missing?

-I didn't have time at the end and I had the shakes

and I couldn't get the shells off the quail's eggs, so they're missing. I'm sorry.

I really, really like that.

I get a slight crisp texture and then it's really soft inside,

well seasoned, and that lovely piccalilli sauce is so sharp.

-My sort of food, that is. I really, really like that.

-Thank you.

Your fritters themselves are interesting.

I'm not as in love with them as Gregg is.

I think it's a little bit stodgy for me. But interesting.

'For her main, Sophie has made posh fish and chips,

'pan-fried pollock with minted pea puree,

'pommes Parisienne, capers and a tartar vinaigrette.'

Whoa! Sophie, your fish is not cooked.

-You've got so many nice ideas. What a terrible shame.

-I know.

Crispy potatoes with nicely-cooked pollock,

we'd have been asking you where you want your quarter-final invitation sent.

As it is, we have got seriously undercooked fish.

But what is delicious is that pea puree spiked with the saltiness of those capers,

and the sharp sourness of those wonderful gherkins.

It's a delicious thing. I might even nick that idea.

I like it that much.

I might cook my fish a little bit better than you and I'd make somebody lots of chips.

I think I chose the right dishes.

I just don't think I cooked them well enough.

'Andrew's first course is mushroom and tarragon stroganoff

'with rice and peas.'

I'm sorry, that dish isn't working.

It's not working because the mushrooms have a texture of greasiness,

it splits or something's gone wrong with the sauce.

Your sweet peas in the rice I think is great, but those mushrooms are not vibrant enough.

I like your rice and your peas,

but I don't like the mushrooms. I don't like the taste very much.

'Andrew's main course is pan-fried duck on a bed of spinach

'with mashed potato, poached plums and a plum sauce.'

Your duck's undercooked.

I like your plum sauce. It's spicy, it's thick.

And your mashed potato, wonderfully smooth.

I think the whole thing works really, really well together.

Now I want to jump across the bench and strangle you because you didn't cook your duck properly!

The duck's undercooked so you can't eat it,

but the plum sauce is an absolute star.

So is the spinach, so is the mash.

You are a couple of minutes away from a real champion dish there with that duck. It's such a shame.

I don't think it went as well as I'd hoped.

To undercook the duck was disappointing.

We've only got two quarter-final places to give.

Thank you. Off you go.

A day full of invention and creativity. But you know what?

We wanted consistency and we did not get it.

We had some exciting cookery and some really fresh idea,

but we also had cooks who'd stupidly took their eye off the ball.

Farhana gave me one knock-out duck dish that I really enjoyed,

but the salmon starter, I could take it or leave it, John.

The problem is, you can't ignore Farhana's skill,

not with the spiciness of that duck, not with the invention test, not with the palate test.

Farhana is a very interesting cook,

-and despite her mistakes, I think she's the most accomplished.

-I totally agree.

I believe Sophie to be a wonderfully inventive cook, John.

I really like her ideas.

Her ham fritters, I thought they were fabulous.

The fish and chips was a really good idea. But the fish wasn't cooked!

-She ran out of time!

-We know Sophie's really inventive.

What she needs to do now is stop making the silly mistakes,

get her timing right, concentrate.

I just think to get through to the next bit

would just be absolutely incredible.

Really interesting ideas from Andrew.

Mushroom stroganoff and the rice, I've got to say, it didn't work.

Those mushrooms were overcooked, bitter, burnt.

I liked the rice and peas, but is that enough?

The duck dish, you know, was so well made.

I mean, the star of that dish was the luxurious, beautifully spiced plum sauce.

Very good mashed potato. Duck undercooked from him.

Oh, Andrew!

A place in the next round would mean the absolute world.

We've all made mistakes. It really is on a knife edge, absolute knife edge.

Andrew or Sophie? Which one are we going to take the risk with?

Because I think both of them are a risk.

I don't know. It's a big call. We're talking about a quarter-final.

Unfortunately, one of you is leaving us.

The contestant leaving us is...

..Andrew. I'm sorry, Andrew.

Oh, my God.

I'm tired. I'm happy to have taken part.

No regrets. I certainly gave it everything I've got.

That, of course, makes you two quarter-finalists.

Congratulations. Very, very well done.

I'm so happy!

I'm kind of starting to believe

maybe I can make it happen.

I'm absolutely over the moon.

I don't think I've ever had such wonderful news in my whole life.

'Tomorrow night, Sophie and Farhana will join previous heat winners Jill and Paul

'as they fight to stay in the competition.'

-Come on!

-Mm! That's really nice!

-I really didn't like that at all.

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