Episode 7 Celebrity MasterChef

We've got 16 celebrities

battling it out to win the Masterchef crown.

No messing about today. It's all go, go, go.

These celebrities have already made a name for themselves

-in their own professions.

-But can they cut it in the kitchen?

I feel like I'm just chopping and throwing it in the pan.

I feel like, "Aaaaargh"!

Right now, I hate Gregory Wallace.

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this.

These four celebrities are taking on the challenge

to become the next Masterchef champion.

But at the end of the week, only the best cooks will gain a place

in the final eight.

We now know quite a bit about our celebs, but for them now,

a massive challenge. Something on a mammoth scale.

We are just about to unleash them on an unsuspecting public.

Today, the celebrities face their first major cooking challenge

in the outside world.

Let's just hope it's not, like, five-year-old kids.

That would be my nightmare!

Too-ra-loo!

That's huge!

Welcome to the Royal Holloway University. Queen Victoria

herself was here for the grand opening in 1886.

And today, you are preparing lunch for the people at this university.

You have got a tough challenge, and you are working together.

It is...

Girls versus the boys!

CHEERING

Bradford versus the world!

We want from you, 50 portions of a main course,

40 portions of a vegetarian

and 60 portions of a dessert.

Ladies and gentlemen, good luck,

we'll see you for lunch.

Bye.

I think the most people I've ever fed in one go is six,

so this is a step up.

I'm really pleased I've got Gareth.

We're Bradford boys,

-we have an empathy already.

-The boys are going to nail it!

Royal Holloway College in Surrey

was one of the first colleges in the UK to accept women.

Today, it has a strong reputation

for music and theatre.

In charge of the canteen

is head chef, Carol Vallejo.

Welcome to my kitchen.

It's an award-winning kitchen, we've got very high standards here,

so I hope you'll cook to those high standards.

You're going to be cooking for 180 today.

Lunch is served at 1'o'clock,

you'd better get cracking!

The teams have two and a half hours

to design and cook a menu

from ingredients including chicken,

lamb, aubergines,

leeks, potatoes,

herbs and spices,

apples and plums.

We know how good they can be,

we also know how bad they can be.

Today, we have no idea what is going to happen, but we do know one thing,

they've got to make sure that lunch is ready on time.

I'm worried that they're a bit too matey. Someone has to take charge.

-OK, have you decided your menu?

-We have, yes.

We're going to do Moroccan chicken with couscous.

-And then we're having a chickpea curry with rice.

-Yeah.

-For pudding, we're going to do an apple and plum crumble.

-With custard.

-Which we've never made before.

-Sounds very nice.

We can't wait to go! Come on! We're losing time here!

Excuse me.

-Excuse us, boys.

-Are you starting? We're having the chicken!

-We've got work to do.

-Mind you don't trip, Emma!

-We were thinking...

-Lamb casserole.

Yeah, or stew with mash.

Vegetarian lasagne.

For the dessert, we're going to go with

bread-and-butter pudding.

-Bread-and-butter pudding, yeah, that's right.

-That sounds good.

I like your menu, it's very good, but a lot of work,

-so you really need to get cracking.

-Let's go.

-OK.

Laila and Emma have now started to prep

for their Moroccan chicken and chickpea curry.

Of course, if you do all your prep, then

the theory is that once you actually start cooking, it's actually

quite straightforward and quick.

Cutting up chicken takes so much time, you just want to get cooking.

You're doing a brilliant job, just keep going.

I'll get all the veg prepped, don't worry.

No messing about today!

It's all go, go, go.

SHE LAUGHS

Gareth and George's three dishes

must be in the oven within the hour.

So prep needs to happen fast.

George is attacking the veg for the stew,

while Gareth is peeling the potatoes for the mash.

-We're doing this for Bradford.

-Bradford!

-And its dignity.

-Exactly!

I'm doing it by instinct, because I've never cooked on this scale.

I normally cook by instinct anyway, I never seem to have any plan!

Have you ever seen anyone peel a potato as fast as that, eh?

It's 30 minutes in, and the boys are still prepping their veg.

One of you might want to get on with the dessert,

-so it's already cooking slowly in the oven.

-Yeah.

-Let's get on with it.

-Could I have...

-You make the sauce.

-... the eggs. Eggs, right.

Gareth starts prepping the bread,

but he's never made the egg custard

and needs George to do it.

I'm not sure whether the boys actually know who's in charge

and how they're actually going to split up the labour.

It's all very friendly, but they've got to get the lunch out.

They really should have their dessert in the oven by now.

George.

-Yeah, I'm coming.

-He's back!

I'm coming to you now.

With George finally concentrating on dessert,

Gareth can start on the vegetarian lasagne.

I'm used to making little foods

that taste great, but also look great.

This is very different. We've just been thrown in here.

I feel I'm just chopping and throwing it in a pan.

I just feel like, "Aaaargh"!

Meanwhile, Laila and Emma have almost finished

all their main prep.

Done.

Home-run. Now, I'm just going to marinade this.

Get the flavour into that chicken.

I've never worked with pans like this before. They're big.

And Emma's halfway through her dessert.

We're delighted that we've got the crumble,

because between you and me, it's the only pudding we know how to make!

-I'm prepping plums.

-Right.

-For the crumble.

-Yeah. Take the skins off.

-Take the skins off?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So in boiling water...

-No.

-To get the skins...

No, it's not a tomato!

Greg, what do you do with your plums?

SHE LAUGHS

Right now, I hate Gregory Wallace.

I hate him for telling me I had to peel the plums.

90 minutes are gone,

but George is nowhere near finished with the bread-and-butter pudding.

-Hold on one sec!

-No.

-I want to help out. See, you've got bits this big...

-It's George's scatter approach to presentation, is that.

-Oh, please!

I've been working on presentation. I spent about £50 on books!

I'm sorry, George. See the grater, right?

-There's a big hole at the bottom.

-But it's not coming through...

It is if you use that side, which is the zester bit.

-It seems to work better.

-Absolutely.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

You should take it up professionally, you should.

I just ran with a knife, don't tell anyone.

Finally, the pudding's finished.

But now, George needs to find an oven.

-Hey, mate!

-I'll go round here.

Watch you don't spill it! Oh, he's spilt it! He's spilt it!

Beautiful Bradford bread and butter pudding. I was weaned on it!

Now the pressure's on Gareth.

I'm in major trouble, I need to get my lasagne in now or we're stuffed.

There's no way there's 40 portions of lasagne there!

I'm hoping that there is.

-What do you mean, you're hoping? I'm telling you, there isn't!

-Right, OK.

I'm actually hoping that there's not many vegetarians.

Are you joking?

This is a university! It's full of vegetarians!

With no time to make more,

Gareth bulks up his sauce with tinned beans.

I've never seen beans in a vegetarian lasagne.

It's our adaptation of it.

Have you got the cheese grated?

No.

I'm allergic to cheese,

and so I've never made a lasagne with cheese.

There you go. Cheeseless, beaney lasagne! Brilliant!

You two need to talk to each other or you ain't going to get lunch out.

You've only got 35 minutes. Your mashed potato is not on,

-your lasagne's not built.

-Right.

-The team seems to have broken down!

-This is dreadful.

I'll sort out the lasagne, you sort out the mash.

This needs to go into the oven.

Look at that. Brilliant!

We've got very busy students here who work hard and play hard,

and they look often to the lunch service as the main meal of the day,

so there's a very short window in which to deliver the food.

The standard of the food we get here is quite high,

it's very diverse, there's a lot of good, healthy things around.

They've got a bit to live up to.

15 minutes, guys! You should be getting ready for service now!

While Laila finishes off the Moroccan chicken,

Emma gets the couscous and rice into the steamer.

Rice is on, couscous is on. Crumble's in the oven.

Blimey, it must be hot if you think it's hot!

SHE LAUGHS

Fabulous, the best I've ever made.

Maybe a little bit of seasoning?

-Have you tasted it?

-Yes, thanks.

-I think the sauce...

-Fine, then!

-OK.

I'm ready to serve this now.

I just want to get it out of here before there's no sauce left.

-Laila, is there anything I need to do?

-Coriander!

-Chopped coriander.

-Coriander!

-Can I get a massive bunch of coriander, please?

-Yes.

It's all right.

I need another tray, Carol?

This looks good, Laila!

Hey, Gareth! Bread-and-butter pudding,

-We've got the bread-and-butter-pudding, but no mash!

-It's coming now!

With time ticking away,

the boys still need to mash their potatoes.

This is going to be beautiful.

-That's not enough.

-There's nothing else we can do.

-The mash...

-Is lumpy.

It tastes lovely, but we've got to do it faster.

HE LAUGHS

Fork, I need a fork.

Trolley and a fork.

Trolley and a fork, trolley and a fork.

-We need to get it out.

-That's it.

Now we need every bit of mash. Don't leave anything. We're running short.

-Get it out in service as quick as possible.

-Right.

This is the worst mash I have ever seen in my life.

-I like it a bit lumpy.

-You like...?!

Oh, I tell you what...

It's one o'clock. Are you ready to go?

-See if the pasta's cooked.

-Excuse me.

Cos at the moment, you can't tell - there's no cheese.

It's soft.

Open the door!

Well done, well done!

Just need a glug of water. I'm dying.

-Are you ready to serve?

-Yes, chef!

Emma and Laila have made Moroccan chicken with couscous.

And chickpea curry served with cucumber, yoghurt and rice.

Gareth and George have made lamb stew with mash

and a vegetarian lasagne.

Anyone who wants Moroccan chicken or chickpea curry, come on down.

Come on! Come on down!

Hello, what would you like?

-Chicken.

-Thank you. Everyone's for you, Laila.

-Chickpea curry or...?

-Chicken.

-My friend will assist.

The girls' Moroccan chicken is selling fast,

with the chickpea curry trailing behind.

Curry and Moroccan chicken down this way!

I'll have the chickpea curry, please!

Yay!

Thank you very much. Chickpea curry?

Anyone for chickpea?

Chickpea?!

Coming right up!

This is Laila and Emma's Moroccan chicken with couscous.

I like the chicken.

I think the chicken's great - it's nice and spicy.

Plenty of tomato, plenty of chilli.

The chicken is still wonderfully moist.

Even the flavour of that lemon running all the way through it.

It's really, really good.

The couscous is awful.

It's claggy, it's stuck together,

it's got no seasoning in it.

It's just not nice at all.

Tell you what - Laila understands Moroccan flavouring.

Really understands it.

I love that lemon with the chicken. Love it.

I thought it was fantastic. The chicken was really tender, moisture was still there.

Thought it was superb. Really enjoyed it.

It was really nice, really tender, but the chicken was really still nice and moist.

This is Laila and Emma's vegetarian course - it's a chickpea curry.

It's soft, it's spicy, full of flavour. There's a tang of mint,

there's a real heat of chilli in there, as well.

It's soft and it's actually Moorish.

She's conjured up the flavours of North Africa

and it's actually pretty decent.

I'm really pleased, actually, cos when I tasted that chickpea curry

in the kitchen, it was very hot,

but because it's with the rice and the yoghurt, it's starting to cool down.

It's still got a nice bit of spice to it -

so the smokiness of paprika, the sweetness of the chickpeas.

It's well seasoned. The rice is really well cooked.

It's not a bad job, actually.

I like this, John. I actually like this.

And I'm a confirmed carnivore.

The curry is really good.

It's got a lot of flavour, it's nice and hot, spicy.

I think it'll appeal to a lot of people here.

The only thing is, it's just a bit on the dry side.

There was some flavour in there.

I might have preferred it slightly hotter, but yeah...

..very nice.

-Right, guys, we have lamb stew here.

-Lovely lamb stew.

It's beautiful.

The boys' lamb stew and vegetable lasagne

are given the hard sell.

-Vegetarian mash.

-Gareth will buy you all a glass of champagne in the bar afterwards.

Gareth, sing a song while you do it.

This is not mash - this is Bradford's crushed...

-..potato.

-Yeah, potatoes.

Lamb stew. Treble portion today!

-Go on, then.

-There you are, sir.

-Put a bit more on there for him.

-Bit more?

-Yeah!

A bit more potato.

Absolutely!

-That's our problem.

-That's our problem.

-You're running out of potatoes.

-We are, rather.

This is George and Gareth's lamb stew.

That mash isn't mashed.

It's partly mashed and partly boiled potatoes.

The problem at the moment with that stew is,

there's no thick sauce coating the meat, so the meat's gone a bit dry.

All they had to do was put a load of potatoes into that stew,

potatoes would have boiled down, thickened the sauce,

and it would have been delicious.

The lamb sold OK. It's cold and wet outside and it's a stew.

But they've run out of mashed potato.

They'd nowhere near enough mashed potato.

They didn't have enough vegetables, either. Everybody got one piece of carrot - look.

All the stew - you get a mushroom, you get a carrot.

I didn't have any carrots today, which I was a bit upset about.

Everyone else seemed to have carrots but it was quite good.

It was quite nice, the potato.

There was only a little bit on it. Could have been more.

It was nice overall.

This is the vegetable lasagne

-by the boys.

-I'm going to interrupt you.

That is not a vegetable lasagne.

That is a layer of vegetables

including beans, peppers and aubergines,

covered with pasta,

and a white sauce.

No cheese, because Gareth's allergic to cheese.

I quite like the vegetables.

The vegetables are sweet and tangy.

And soft.

But this layer of pasta

with a solid bechamel

is completely bland

and it's not good, it's not good.

The onions are sweet.

The predominant flavour

is the richness of that tomato, quite acidic,

and the sort of smokiness coming from the capsicums.

There's a little bit of woodiness coming from the aubergine.

The pasta itself is OK.

The white sauce is pretty well seasoned.

I just think it could have been a lot more saucy,

and a bit cheesy.

Like a lasagne, you mean?

Like a lasagne. And it's not quite there.

Very dry

and a bit sort of crusty,

and very, very bland.

There were loads of vegetables

and it's really nice to see some colour on your plate as a student.

The only thing is, the top was quite odd.

I think it was a bit overcooked.

Maybe a few more layers would have been nice.

It was quite thin.

For pudding, the girls have made

an apple and plum crumble with custard,

whilst the boys are serving bread and butter pudding with cream.

Bread and butter pudding and cream.

With lovely cream.

I tell you, you are going to love this.

-Cream?

-Yes, please.

-Bread and butter pudding?

-Yes, please.

-With cream?

-yes, please.

-Are you a big eater?

-Yes.

Thank you.

With lunch service nearly over,

both teams' puddings are selling well.

It's going faster than we can serve...

..basically.

-Crumble's coming!

-Crumble's coming.

This is the girls' dessert.

This is a plum and apple crumble and custard

and really, this is mostly Emma's work.

This was a massive seller.

Mwah!

It's just perfect!

It's not too sweet. There's so much cinnamon

in there, and it's crunchy on the top.

You've got sweet apples.

That, to me, is it.

It's the epitome of a good pudding.

Curry followed by crumble. A British institution, both of them.

I enjoyed it. The custard was a bit runny,

but in terms of the actual crumble, it was all right.

I liked it - bit of cinnamon in there. Nice.

I've been looking forward to this all day.

This is George and Gareth's bread and butter pudding,

flavoured with a little bit of orange and some runny cream.

The baked custard between the layers of bread -

instead of being wonderful, rich and creamy, it tastes a bit like egg,

so it's not been sweetened enough.

I was really looking forward to this bread and butter pudding.

It hasn't quite delivered.

There's a hint of orange and the raisins give it depth,

but it so needs to be sweeter.

And there is a back taste of egg,

which is unfortunate.

I thought I ordered bread and butter pudding.

I think I got scrambled eggs.

But it did actually taste quite nice.

It was OK, but I'm not converted

to have it again.

Well done!

Well done!

-Bradford!

-Yeah, Bradford.

I think the girls have won this

absolutely hands down.

They got the best vegetarian, the best meat, and the girls have got the best dessert.

Laila's come out of her shell today and I'm really pleased.

She actually knows what she's doing.

When she cooks food she's comfortable with, it's very good.

I feel like I'm getting my confidence back, in a way,

and I'm kind of looking forward to tomorrow.

Emma today was a very willing sous chef.

I don't know what you do to wipe the smile off her face.

She's got boundless energy,

and that grin is infectious.

The atmosphere was electric.

I just hope that I can keep on going.

I think the boys actually lost sight

of what each other was doing.

For some reason, they disappeared to different sides of the kitchen.

Neither of them actually worked together.

Today was hard work, I thought.

We had our ups and downs.

However, by the end, we managed to pull it together

by the skin of our teeth.

I've never cooked on that mass scale before.

Tomorrow, new tasks. We don't know what it is, but I can't wait to see.

They are learning really quickly. I don't think they realise how fast they're learning.

They are going to have to stay on the top of their game,

because we will lose one of them in the next round.

At this stage, anyone's game.

Tomorrow night, the battle to stay in the competition continues.

What on earth is that?

What's happening out there?

You are this far off one of the most glorious dishes I've eaten in a really long time.

For one of the celebrities, the dream is over.

The person leaving us is...

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