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00:02It's the MasterChef quarter-final, and this week six best cooks are back.
00:09However far I go in the competition, just getting this far, I'm really amazed.
00:14Pat on the back.
00:16It's been terrifying, but probably the best thing I've ever done at the same time.
00:21Tonight, they face two demanding challenges designed to test them even further.
00:28Very big day. Enormous day.
00:32First, they will have to invent an exceptional dish from scratch, inspired by the seasons.
00:39Spring is in the air, and a little touch of autumn too, I can smell.
00:43I'm feeling the stress again. What are they going to make us try to cook, and will I be able
00:48to do it?
00:49Not knowing what I'm going to be walking into does make me nervous.
00:53The pressure's there, but it's how I deal with it now.
00:58Then they'll have to cook a dish to a brief set by renowned restaurant critic, William Sitwell.
01:05I mean, I want to eat that every day of my life.
01:07I feel like I haven't done my homework, and I'm heading into an exam where I haven't done enough revision.
01:14As long as I don't go out, I'm great. I want to keep attending the party.
01:19Six fabulous cooks. This is going to be one heck of a fight.
01:25I'm really expecting to have my socks blown off me today.
01:48These are all looking very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
01:51Huh?
01:51Feeling the positivity coming off yous?
01:55Welcome to your quarter-final.
01:59Now you've impressed us a great deal so far, but this is when the pressure really cranks up.
02:08You are now cooking for a place in knockout week.
02:13So your first test is an invention test, but it's an invention test with a theme.
02:20This is all about thinking on your feet.
02:23We want you to create a dish that embodies either spring or autumn.
02:28So when it comes to spring, you're thinking of something that is refreshing and vibrant.
02:34When it comes to autumn, we want an earthy complexity.
02:37Choose one season and celebrate it through flavour, texture and presentation.
02:44Now, you're going to need ingredients.
02:46So luckily, we're going to let you enter into the MasterChef Market.
02:56Your dish can be sweet or savoury.
02:59It just needs to embody spring or autumn.
03:03Ten minutes to choose your ingredients and then 80 minutes to cook your socks off.
03:09Come up and select your ingredients.
03:16They have so many things to choose from.
03:20They've got fish, meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds.
03:26There's so much choice, there's nearly too much choice.
03:29Spring and autumn, my brain's frantically trying to figure out what's in season.
03:35I want the lightness and the freshness and the newness of spring,
03:39but if they choose autumn, I want something hearty to feel loved and warm.
03:46This is a bit of a challenge. It's uncomfortable.
03:48I think I'm going to go down to my Bangladeshi roots.
03:51Have they got the knowledge to create a dish under this pressure?
03:55It's really going to test them.
03:58As soon as I started venison, the dishes started coming into my head.
04:05Obviously not having prepared, I hope I will relax a bit once I start cooking.
04:1280 minutes to create us some spring or autumn magic.
04:17Let's go.
04:25Tony loves classic flavours, but he never plays it safe.
04:30He pours love and passion into it and somehow transforms his dishes into something quite incredible.
04:37He really does throw everything at it.
04:40Tony, that's pork six ways.
04:44I feel like I'm celebrating a new national holiday, pork mass.
04:49MasterChef has become my life.
04:52I've almost moved into the kitchen at home.
04:55Awake, asleep, it's just a constant thought in my mind.
05:03Tony, which are you cooking, spring or autumn?
05:06Autumn.
05:06I'm quite relieved when I went in there.
05:08Venison jumped straight out at me.
05:11So it's going to be roast venison loin, celeriac fondant, some cavalo nero.
05:16And then to go with it is a Madeira and cherry sauce.
05:19Oh, and some parsnip crisps.
05:20I do cook quite a lot with venison because my daddy's a keen hunter.
05:24So I butcher a lot of it, which my son finds absolutely fascinating.
05:29My girlfriend, not so much.
05:34Tony's dish sounds like it's going to have the feeling of autumn.
05:38Celeriac, very abdominal.
05:40Same with the cavalo nero.
05:42But venison loin is a very lean meat.
05:44So it's really unforgiving if you overcook it.
05:49And I need to see balance in this sauce.
05:52Madeira is very sweet.
05:53It's going to add cherries to it.
05:54They're going to be very sweet.
05:57Celeriac can be a bitter, troublesome vegetable.
06:01He's got a fondant in.
06:03Needs to be succulent, sweet and cooked right through.
06:11Kristin has shown us that she passionately loves Thai flavours.
06:15Dishes bursting with complexity.
06:18That ceviche with coconut milk and the granita showed us some really great skill.
06:24I am absolutely blown away.
06:28There is a confidence in her that has come from her travels.
06:33I love to cook Indian.
06:34I love to cook Thai, Japanese.
06:36My husband's American, so we tend to have a lot of Mexican as well.
06:39And so I feel like I've got a lot to draw on when it comes to the flavours that I
06:43use in my food.
06:46Kristin, this is a whopper of trout.
06:48It's huge.
06:49Are you confident about handling this?
06:51Yeah.
06:52We've got some beautiful fish in Australia that I would have grown up cooking.
06:55And there's no fish sauce or soy sauce in the pantry.
06:58So I'm trying my luck with a bit of European.
07:00What are you cooking?
07:01I'm going to take you from winter into spring with pan-seared trout.
07:06Cuy lentils with some lovely onions and carrots and celery flavours.
07:10And then I'm going to do a nice herby salsa verde, I want to say, green sauce.
07:14There you go.
07:14Maybe it's the first time you've sat outside for your dinner or your lunch or something.
07:18So I think you've still got some of the crunchy leaves on the ground.
07:21And so the warmth of the lentils paired with the fresh seafood and the herbs, I hope, will give you
07:26that sense of transition.
07:30It's really exciting to see that Kristin is going to Europe this time.
07:36Pan-seared trout.
07:37They expect lovely, crispy skin, nicely seasoned, pink in the centre.
07:43I love free lentils.
07:44You can get lots of flavour into them.
07:48But if she cooks them too much, they will turn to mush.
07:52The salsa verde is the taste of springtime.
07:56But it needs to be full of herbs, lots of acidity in there just to lift this dish.
08:0430 minutes gone.
08:0650 minutes left.
08:10I love Anisha's cooking style.
08:12Bengali flavours, Turkish flavours melded together.
08:16I'm combining both of our cultures in this dish.
08:19What's your husband called?
08:20His name's Jahan, yeah.
08:22She's really brave when it comes to creating dishes and flavour combinations.
08:26I would love to eat her food every day.
08:30To be a MasterChef quarter-finalist is absolutely nuts.
08:36I feel like I'm just ready to do, like, a million star jumps.
08:40I don't know.
08:41Like, I'm just so excited.
08:42I've got so much energy.
08:44But, honestly, it's just really motivated me more to kind of up my game and bring more skills to the
08:51table.
08:55So, I'm taking you to autumn.
08:57You know, at the end of summer, you get excited about the comforting meals, the meals that warm up your
09:02belly.
09:03So, I'm going for a chicken and red pepper curry with a red split lentil dal, which will be topped
09:12off with a garlic butter toka, which is garlic roasted in the butter and then it's poured over the lentil
09:17soup after.
09:17This is where it started for me when I first moved to uni.
09:22The first thing I made was a red split lentil dal and a chicken curry.
09:26Did you cook for people in your flat or in your hall of residence?
09:29In a Bengali home, you never cook for one person. You cook for, like, ten.
09:33So, all my flatmates loved it.
09:36We've eaten Anisha's curries before and they are nothing short of delicious.
09:42I want a delicate balance of silky and smooth and sweet and hot.
09:48All the different herbs and spices coming.
09:51With curries, you know, you cook the sauce for quite a while.
09:54It's going to be the very last thing I take off.
09:57She's comparing this to student food, so I hope Anisha's not playing it safe with her dish.
10:02I really want to see her push the boat out when it comes to the flavours and the presentation.
10:13Matt has shown us that he has precision, he has skills, he's got an incredible palette.
10:18He brings his Japanese heritage, layering flavours with amami and sweetness.
10:25I would pay good money for this in a restaurant.
10:29Matt is giving us autumn on a plate. He's cooking rump of lamb.
10:33I would like that lamb really nicely caramelised on the outside and then the centre, medium to medium rare.
10:39He's stuffing cabbage leaves with walnuts and morel mushrooms and then adding mascarpone cheese to it.
10:46Not going to lie. Sounds delicious.
10:52He's also going to do roasted butternut squash puree and a masala sauce.
10:58Matt, Matt, Matt.
11:00It's a lot of work.
11:02I was a maths teacher for nine years.
11:04The only thing that sort of compares to the pressure of the MasterChef kitchen is giving an assembly to the
11:09whole school.
11:10All on you to deliver.
11:12But still not quite as daunting.
11:16Matt, we asked you for autumn or spring, but your shirt is giving us, well, summer in Hawaii.
11:21That's a confident man. Are you feeling confident today?
11:24Don't judge a book by its cover.
11:25I don't really know what I'm doing.
11:27I don't believe you, Matt.
11:29But it made me feel good. It made me feel good about myself.
11:31So you haven't leaned into your Japanese flavours this time?
11:34When I was in the market, this is just kind of what made sense to me.
11:36And there weren't that many Japanese ingredients for me to lean on.
11:38Hopefully I can pull off.
11:43That's 15 minutes remaining.
11:45Come on, let's get cracking.
11:48Spring is in the air and a little touch of autumn too, I can smell.
11:53Rebecca so far has showed us flashes of creativity and that she is versatile in the type of food that
11:59she likes to cook.
12:00Nectar beans and cod does sound a little bit weird.
12:03I love the weird combination, so I'm totally here for it.
12:05She's an inventive cook and that's what we need for this round.
12:10I'm going for spring.
12:11I saw the courgette and I was like, I used to grow them myself.
12:15It's just a perfect ingredient.
12:16So I'm going to make fresh pasta spaghetti with courgette and there's going to be parmesan in there.
12:22When I've done this before, I usually just grate the parmesan, but I'm going to try and do a parmesan
12:28sauce.
12:28Are you an accomplished pasta maker?
12:31Yay!
12:32Well, no.
12:33I've usually just cut it by hands, but it might be quicker on the machine.
12:37It might be a little bit more refined from a presentation point of view.
12:40But if it all goes away, then I will do it myself.
12:47I really hope that she absolutely nails the pasta.
12:51She just needs to get it nice and thin.
12:53If it's too thick, it's going to be kind of claggy and heavy.
12:56I want lovely, long strands.
12:59I do like creating dishes on the spot, but I am a little slapdash.
13:04Oh, yeah.
13:05A little chaotic like a mad scribble on a page.
13:09Yeah.
13:10Bit of a disaster on the pasta maker.
13:12I've just got to take some deep breaths, believe in myself and step up.
13:19It got stuck in the machine.
13:22Abandoned the machine, I've gone for the knife.
13:31Adam's heart and soul is delivering us the tastes of Northern Ireland.
13:36How much whisky's in this syllabus?
13:38There's a lot of whisky in it, yeah.
13:39Buckets of skill.
13:41Just top, top quality. You don't get much better, really.
13:44Classic dishes, but presented in quite a slick and modern way.
13:49It's a great honour to cook for the judges, but it's nerve-wracking as well.
13:53You have to, you know, really push yourself and try and elevate your dishes,
13:57but not push yourself too much. You give yourself too much to do,
14:00and you can't get it done to time, so it's a happy medium.
14:07I'm going to go with spring.
14:09So I'm doing strawberries, meringue and cream.
14:13Strawberries are something we would have quite often at home, yeah.
14:15If there's nothing left for Sunday lunch, for dessert, you have strawberries and cream.
14:19I'm going to try and make it quite refined on the plate,
14:21and bring it in some different flavours with a black pepper meringue.
14:24I've got chards and wee meringue kisses, a vanilla bean cream,
14:29a raspberry coulis and glazed raspberries.
14:31And I might try and do Italian meringue as well.
14:33You're going to do a French meringue and an Italian meringue?
14:35So one will be baked crispy and the other one will be left soft.
14:39Excited for the wee meringue kisses.
14:41Hopefully we'll be giving you chef kisses when we try it.
14:44Oh, I hope so.
14:48He's the only person making a dessert.
14:52I've got the raspberry coulis made, it's in the fridge.
14:54The black pepper meringue's good to go.
14:56Never had a black pepper meringue before.
14:59I hope that I get peppery bitterness and sweet, crisp sugar.
15:03Do these two things go together?
15:05Well, I'm going to find out.
15:08There's a lot of processes here.
15:10Adam's first Italian meringue didn't work out,
15:12so now he's on to his second one.
15:15The first batch just took my eye off the sugar.
15:18Looking better.
15:19I hope he doesn't mess this one up.
15:21Fingers crossed this one's going to be fine.
15:25OK, guys, five minutes left.
15:27You need to be plating your dishes.
15:41That's kind of how I want it.
15:42It looks nice and pink, not overdone.
15:47Lovely crust on the outside of it.
15:49But again, just that nice blush on the middle of it.
15:52That medium rare sort of consistency.
15:5560 seconds.
15:56Do you need to be adding your final touches?
15:59Definitely fine, Zoe.
16:09Pasta worms and courgette mash.
16:11I should be on children's MasterChef.
16:17So that's time up now.
16:19Move away from your benches.
16:23Hug each other if need be.
16:28Tony, come and talk to us.
16:32Dairy factory worker Tony chose to cook an autumnal dish
16:37of roasted loin of venison on braised cavallonero,
16:42celeriac fondant topped with a parsnip crisp,
16:45roasted asparagus,
16:47and a cherry and Madeira wine sauce.
16:56Your venison is beautifully cooked, caramelised on the outside,
16:59pink in the centre, but the star of the show for me is the sauce.
17:03Cherries and Madeira in the wrong hands could be very sweet.
17:07You just got that balance completely right.
17:09You are the sauce king. You are excellent at them.
17:14I'm a little bit let down by the celeriac fondant.
17:16Although you have got it cooked all the way through,
17:18you've got so much caramelisation on it,
17:21it is a little bit bitter on the plate.
17:23But that parsnip crisp is outstanding.
17:29Really earthy.
17:31It's heavenly.
17:33If you'd made me an entire plate of parsnip crisps
17:36with some Madeira dipping sauce,
17:38I would have been a happy woman.
17:40Autumn on a plate.
17:43Are you emotional, Tony?
17:45No.
17:46The Yorkshire men don't do that, do they?
17:49First time that I've done an invention test,
17:51and I'm on cloud nine, to be honest.
17:53Feedback were brilliant.
17:55Showcasing the transition from winter to spring,
17:59Communications Director Kristen has cooked pan-seared trout,
18:03topped with crispy onions and capers,
18:06pui lentils flavoured with onions, carrots and celery,
18:09pickled radishes and a herby salsa verde.
18:14Very colourful and beautiful.
18:22I think your trout's great, love the skin, nicely cooked.
18:27It's soft, but your salsa verde, very acidic, tons of herbs,
18:33it's just ever so slightly overpowering.
18:36There is layers and layers of flavour here.
18:39Pickled vegetables, the sweet, crispy onions, lentils are cooked really nicely.
18:44There's a really good zing to the dish.
18:47Spring has sprung.
18:49Maybe just a little heavy on the acidity.
18:54Even though the balance was a bit thrown on the sort of vinegary side of things.
18:59I thought it was really fun, it was such a good round.
19:01I mean, to get to go into the MasterChef pantry, I mean, whew, that's it, that's exciting.
19:08Digital engineer Anisha has served a chicken and red pepper curry with rice,
19:13and a red split lentil dal spiced with turmeric and chilli, finished with a roasted garlic butter.
19:26It's Friday night and I have come in from the cold.
19:31And this beautiful plate of autumnal colours with a real heat is restoring me.
19:38Your curry, there's cardamom and green chilli to the sweetness of the red pepper, packed with flavour.
19:46This is definitely you cooking within your comfort zone.
19:48But is it wonderful? Yes.
19:50Your dal has got a real lovely creamy flavour to it, with red lentil, turmeric and butter.
19:58I think I'd like a bit more of the garlic.
20:00But your presentation is really quite pretty. Well done.
20:05Thank you so much.
20:09You want nothing more than your curry to be enjoyed,
20:13and just the judges really enjoying the taste of my food.
20:15I think that means the most to me.
20:17More than anything, it's honestly the best feeling.
20:21PhD maths student Matt's autumnal-inspired dish
20:25is roasted rump of lamb with cumin, clove and chilli-spiced butternut squash puree,
20:30topped with mushrooms and radicchio, roasted squash, pan-seared cabbage leaf stuffed with mascarpone,
20:37braised walnuts and dried morels, and a masala lamb sauce.
20:48A really attractive plate of food.
20:50I love your lamb. I think your lamb is delicious.
20:53Your squash puree is so fantastic, packed with cumin, clove, chilli and pepper.
20:59With the sauce and the lamb, it's an autumnal delight.
21:04Cool.
21:05The highlight for me of this dish is the cabbage leaf.
21:09Love the walnut, love the mascarpone.
21:12The earthiness of it.
21:13It's absolutely delicious.
21:15Cool. Thanks, guys.
21:18I think I've shown that I can work while under pressure.
21:20I think I've shown that I can put a good plate together that reflects the brief.
21:24I was definitely happy with it.
21:26Executive assistant Rebecca has made grated courgette, lemon and basil spaghetti, topped with a parmesan cheese sauce, served with heritage
21:37tomatoes, marinated in salt and basil oil.
21:47Pasta, a disaster.
21:51Very chewy, very thick.
21:54Wormuleti, this is what I'm now calling it.
21:57Your courgettes, however, are very nice.
22:02I'm tasting that lemon zest and the basil oil.
22:06Tomatoes, well, these are just chopped tomatoes.
22:11I can't taste anything other than the tomatoes, but they're very pretty on the plate.
22:16The idea of this dish says spring, but the way you've kind of cooked it and presented it, it feels
22:22similar to autumn.
22:24It's heavy and it's rustic.
22:26The parmesan sauce for me has too much parmesan.
22:29It's just overpowering.
22:30I like where you were going, but I think along the way there was a few hiccups.
22:36That round was as tough as my pasta tasted.
22:41My food is usually a lot tastier and a lot lighter.
22:44Finally, it's business student Adam with his spring-themed dessert of macerated strawberries and glazed raspberries.
22:54With vanilla cream, black pepper French meringue kisses and shards, torched Italian meringue and a raspberry coulee.
23:02Your talent for plating up is quite extraordinary.
23:07This is like something I want to wear as a hat to a fancy wedding.
23:16I love your little black pepper meringue kisses.
23:22They've got a real punch, not getting a lot of vanilla off the cream, but fruits done in sweet ways.
23:28This is spring, but we can certainly see summer on the horizon.
23:33You embarked on making an Italian meringue. That didn't work out and you went back again and repeated it.
23:39And I'm very grateful you did that, that it's a beautiful Italian meringue.
23:43They've got the sweetness of the meringue, nice acidity of your berries, your lovely coulee, could have even sprinkled a
23:50bit of black pepper in with your strawberries.
23:52But all in all, I think a great dish showing skills.
23:59You're going into the unknown, you try to show something a bit technical, but I'm pretty happy with that.
24:05I think we should surprise them a little more often than we had some really good food today.
24:09Those cooks hit the spring-autumn brief. I was transported into both of those seasons.
24:15The competition is stiff. There's still one more challenge that could turn it all around.
24:20And this is the toughest one yet.
24:43Guys, welcome back.
24:45This competition, she's a cruel mistress.
24:49It just keeps getting harder and harder.
24:52We're going to ramp up the heat now.
24:57We've invited a very special guest, not just to set you a task, but to taste your food too.
25:05Please welcome the esteemed restaurant critic, the very opinionated, William Sitwell.
25:16Well, hello.
25:18Welcome.
25:19Nice to see you.
25:20Welcome.
25:21Hi, everyone.
25:23Can you tell the cooks what your brief is?
25:26I want you to cook me some soup or broth with some well-executed protein or a fabulous star vegetable.
25:35Every single nation on this planet has a soup.
25:38That soup says so much about the country from which it comes.
25:42I want to see you using your skills to elevate this humble dish and take it to MasterChef levels.
25:50You have 90 minutes to cook the best dish you've ever cooked in your life.
25:55At the end of this, three of you will go through to knockout week and three of you will be
26:02going home.
26:03Start cooking.
26:12It sounds such a simple challenge, but actually a good soup or broth can be something of amazing sophistication.
26:19Soup comes in so many different ways.
26:22A beautifully made consomme soup from Asia or a crisp piece of fish lying in a really flavourful broth.
26:31I want to have some texture as well, a bit of crunch.
26:35I have teeth and I'd like to use them.
26:37There are endless possibilities.
26:40I'm hoping for some magic, but as we know, sometimes tricks go wrong.
26:48Most home cooks should be able to make a good soup.
26:53But it's much more difficult to make a wonderful, inspiring, exciting soup.
27:01It's all about a delicious stock, layering flavour to create something that is complex, interesting.
27:11Very big day. Enormous day. The biggest day.
27:17The level's gone up massively, even just in one round.
27:22I think it's a really cool brief, but William Sitwell is renowned for being very honest.
27:28I just really hope he likes what I cook.
27:31Seeing Mr Sitwell, I didn't think he'd get more surreal doing this competition.
27:34I mean, he's mostly nice.
27:36Well, it depends on the dish. If a dish is nice, I'm nice.
27:40What's cooking? Is this a soup or a broth?
27:43It's a consomme. I don't know which one of those you call it.
27:45So I'm making a duck dashi, basically, that I'm going to clarify it.
27:50There's some duck necks, duck wings, a duck leg, some ginger, carrot, kombu.
27:54I'm going to serve that with duck breast, morel stuffed with a duck liver fast,
27:59and like a crispy yakki onigiri, which is like a toasted rice ball.
28:02What's the inspiration? Is this a family dish? Where's the idea from?
28:06One of my earlier food memories is making onigiri with my granddad.
28:09The combination of like toasty rice and some sort of dashi is to me like a very comforting thing.
28:14I've cooked a lot of Japanese ingredients so far in this competition, but I've not made any Japanese dishes.
28:19So I'd say this is my first Japanese dish. I think it's a winner, hopefully.
28:22Good luck. I'm excited by this, Matt. Thank you.
28:25Thank you, William.
28:28What's tricky about a consomme is once you've made your stock, you're going to clarify it.
28:34When you clarify a consomme, you whip up your egg whites and then you whisk them in cold.
28:39When the egg white floats to the top, it sits on top of your stock, a little bit like a
28:44raft.
28:45So you must keep stirring the stock before the raft is formed.
28:49But if you stir it too late, you smash up the raft and you won't get a crystal clear consomme.
28:55A consomme, even though it's a clear broth, has got to be rich.
28:59There's got to be loads of flavour.
29:01So the essence of that stock has really got to pack a punch.
29:05Knitting the flavour on this and the seasoning is key to the whole dish.
29:12Smashing your way through the prawns?
29:14Yeah.
29:20So I'm doing a prawn bisque, ham fried scallops, butter poached prawns, pickled apple and fennel and on the side
29:28a stout wheat and bread.
29:29Ooh, nice.
29:30So it's made with a stout and treacle, so it's quite sweet.
29:34A treat for us growing up was prawns and wheat and bread and this dish brings it together in a
29:39very different way.
29:40In Northern Ireland you can't have soup without bread, so you can sort of, as we would say at home,
29:45mop it all up.
29:46So you're baking that bread?
29:47Yeah. Amazing.
29:48Have you got some nice butter?
29:50I do indeed, yeah.
29:51Good.
29:52Salty butter?
29:53Salty butter, yeah.
29:54Good.
29:54Give the man what he wants.
30:00Adam is going traditional French classic.
30:04We've got a bisque, something that I would always order in a restaurant, I just love it.
30:09But to make a good bisque, you've got to have a good amount of time to really cook down the
30:15prawn shells.
30:16So you've got that lovely gutsy flavour of prawn that will be at the heart of it.
30:21And I think to have a bit of Irish bread with some classic French broth, that to me is a
30:26really lovely combination.
30:30Scallops, I want them golden brown on the top and a lovely just delicate translucent centre.
30:36And I love a prawn poached in butter. It brings out the creaminess in a prawn.
30:43The seafood in Northern Ireland is a bit unsung.
30:46I grew up in a small village called Killilay on the shores of Strangford Lock.
30:51We have some brilliant fish, brilliant shellfish, and I'm trying to, you know, do it proud today and do it
30:58justice.
31:0025 minutes have gone.
31:06So exciting to cook for William as well as Grace and Anna again.
31:09What a special opportunity.
31:13I am cooking a South Indian rasam, which is that real tamarind sour broth.
31:20And it's going to have a piece of pan-fried sivas on top and a fondant potato made with turmeric
31:26and a coconut chutney on the side.
31:29On a Saturday after football, my boys and I go for a dosa and it has a rasam broth, usually
31:36as part of the dosa.
31:37So taking that rasam as the inspiration, I think it goes really nicely with sivas.
31:41And I think adding that potato, which you get inside the dosa, which has got the turmeric and the onions,
31:46to really kind of give you that unctuousness with the broth.
31:48This looks like a dish that would take someone about two days to cook.
31:51Do you think you've got enough time for this?
31:53Yeah, I think we're good. I think we've got the tamarind and the fish in here.
31:56The broth is coming on. We've got some potatoes they've got to go in.
31:59Got some chutney to make. I reckon I can do it.
32:06Kristen has a great wizard-like ability to extract flavour from everything she touches.
32:13She has lots of beautiful aromas going in here, like curry leaves and cumin and ginger, some chilli.
32:21So I'm expecting that broth is going to have a real sour kind of kick of spice.
32:29A whole potato sitting in a bowl. I really like the idea of it, but it is quite brave.
32:36That fondant potato's got to be cooked properly. It's got to be crisp on the outside.
32:39It's got to be soft in the middle. It can't get all mushy in the soup.
32:44I really hope it works.
32:47I've never made fondant potatoes before.
32:49What I was trying to do was show that it's a classic technique that you can really apply Indian flavours
32:54to.
32:54And I think part of the challenge will also be to get the cook on the sea bass just right,
33:00so that when you pour in the broth, again, it doesn't make it all soggy and fall apart.
33:05Lots to get through.
33:12So I'm going to be making a tomium soup.
33:15That's going to be served with a steamed cod line,
33:18finished with a crispy prawn head and a prawn head oil.
33:23Whenever we go to a Thai restaurant, I can't help but get tomium soup.
33:27But it's got to have a perfect balance of sweet, acidic and the heat with it as well.
33:35So tomium soup. This is a very famous, very spicy soup from Thailand.
33:40I'm excited by these little bird's eye chillies. They're going to create some heat, yeah?
33:45Yes, it's going to have some kick to it.
33:48I've tried this dish out on a few people and the feedback that I've got
33:51is that it's better than what they have in the local Thai.
33:54Very good, very good.
33:55It's fighting talk. You're not going to be able to go back in there again, are you?
34:02Tony's face as he spoke about this soup, it really sparkled.
34:06There's something so passionate about Tony as a cook.
34:09He's got galangal in there, lime leaves, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, lots of big, bold flavours.
34:18Over the years, I've been promised spice and heat and sweat in the MasterChef kitchen.
34:24And the sweat comes from pressure rather than the chilli.
34:27I really want to have some heat in that tomium soup
34:30that's going to really transport us to Thailand and give us a really authentic flavour.
34:35It's looking at me, Tony!
34:39Tony's got prawn heads in the deep fat fryer.
34:42They've still got their eyes on. They were glaring at me.
34:46I love his sense of adventure with this dish.
34:49Last thing you said, give them something they've not seen before.
34:52So that's what I'm trying to do.
34:53OK, guys, you only have 35 minutes left.
35:00I'm a little bit behind, but I'm getting there.
35:06Consommet's not clarified as I want it to,
35:08so I'm hoping they'll give me enough time to give it another go.
35:11Feeling good about this challenge.
35:15I was really lucky recently to have a trip to Japan.
35:18I travelled there on my own and it was just such a wonder of a country and of a culture.
35:23And I had some of the best broths and soups while I was over there.
35:27So my soup today is a Japanese-inspired mushroom soup
35:30with two different Japanese dashes.
35:33So I'm combining one with shiitake mushrooms and then one I'm using sea kelp and bonito flakes.
35:42She has lots of mushrooms going on here.
35:45She has shiitake mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, hen of the forest, smidgee and chestnut.
35:51If she binds them all into the pot together, they will fight for the attention.
35:58How do you separate the flavours of the mushrooms?
36:01Because it's hard enough to get the flavour out of one.
36:04Yeah. You've got one, two, three, four, five, at least six varieties.
36:09I'm doing some roasted mushrooms and then I'm going to pan fry some mushrooms for you as well.
36:15And there's some pickled mushrooms and hopefully it will all come together in harmony.
36:18I've worked out the ratio for my palate. It tastes quite nice.
36:22Your palate? What about my palate?
36:23Well, I'm hoping that they're quite similar, though yours is a lot more superior.
36:32Sometimes mushroom soups like that, the mushroom can be balls of rubber floating around in some rather uninspiring water.
36:41She's really going to have to give us mushroomy flavour, of course, but distinct flavours and the texture of mushroom.
36:50That doesn't look like enough soup for three people.
36:53OK, only 15 minutes left.
36:58I've got about 15 minutes here, so it's tight for time, but I'm getting there.
37:03I think it's looking pretty good.
37:05I mean, it's looking clear, eh?
37:09Yeah, it's not very much, but...
37:14At this point in the competition, I definitely feel really happy and really pleased with the feedback I've got so
37:20far.
37:22But I definitely want to ramp it up and show a lot more skill.
37:26So I'm going to work with different ingredients.
37:29We're taking the judges to a different part of the world.
37:37So a laksa is a Malaysian slash Singaporean noodle soup, flavoured with coconut and an array of different spices.
37:48So today I'm going to be making a laksa with shrimp balls, panseed sea bass, tofu puffs, some rice stick
37:57noodles.
37:58You've got about 35 ingredients in this dish. What are you hoping that I'm going to get from this?
38:02I want it to be a flavour bomb in your mouth.
38:05Anisha, laksa is one of my favourite comforting soups.
38:09I also love laksa.
38:11First time I had it was when I was working away and it reminded me of home because as a
38:17Bangladeshi person, we have a lot of dried shrimp in our food.
38:21That was the first time I tasted something and thought, hmm, this tastes like home and it smells like home.
38:25Working away from home doing what?
38:27So I'm an engineer, so I work in the nuclear plant industry. I'm a 3D mod lab.
38:33So you model nuclear reactors?
38:35Yeah, concrete slabs.
38:41I'm expecting this dish to really pack a punch. Not only has she got lots of kind of chillies and
38:46spice in her laksa, Anisha's going to blitz her prawns, shape them into little balls and then poach them in
38:52the laksa broth. Delicious.
38:55She's given herself an enormous amount of work. She's got to make sure her fish cookery is absolutely on point.
39:02But then we've got noodles. They cannot be sloppy. They've got to be sort of slightly al dente, not overcooked.
39:10There's a lot of technique there and there's quite a lot of things that could go wrong.
39:13But if it works, it'll be an absolutely beautiful dish.
39:17You're quite in control?
39:19I think so. Maybe.
39:28Hope you're happy with that.
39:31That looks under that one, doesn't it?
39:33Yeah.
39:34I just put the prawns back just to make sure they're not under.
39:37Five minutes left. You should be plating your soups.
39:42I've got everything done that I want to get done. It's just about getting it on plate.
40:07Now, your potatoes, are they cooked? They are cooked.
40:1160 seconds.
40:18that broth looks pretty good
40:23feeling good
40:26are they just going in there
40:28yeah I might have to go without them
40:30make sure it's seasoned and it's worth going on the plate
40:32otherwise lose it yeah
40:34fish is looking good
40:35it's just how I like it
40:39okay right we are nearly there
40:48okay time's up step away from your benches
40:55you happy
40:56yeah I got halfway through and I was like I'm not going to get anything out of this
41:01first up is Kristen
41:07with a South Indian rassam broth
41:09flavoured with tamarind tomato chili and curry leaves
41:13served with pan fried sea bass
41:16a turmeric fondant potato
41:18and a coconut chutney
41:28you have repeatedly shown us you understand layers of flavour from Thailand
41:32to Europe and now you've stepped into India
41:35your broth it's got a great balance of the sourness of the tamarind
41:40the warmth of your spices
41:42this is a little kick of heat
41:44it's extremely confident and mature cooking
41:48I think your sea bass is cooked beautifully and you're so good at getting fish skin crispy and seasoned
41:57you've knocked it out of the park
41:58thank you
42:00I just love the fact there's a potato sitting at the bottom of this
42:03it's nicely charred soft in the middle and they've held their shape
42:07the broth itself is an absolute triumph
42:10you know I asked for soup and you produce this sort of extraordinary meal of fish but chutney
42:15tomatoes
42:16this is exactly what I would hope for from a brief like this
42:19I think that's a really memorable dish
42:21I love it thank you
42:26to hear William say all those positive things about my food
42:29oh my god I have no words to describe it
42:31I mean I'm shaking and I feel like I might throw up
42:35but underneath all of that I feel absolutely amazing
42:39Adam's twist on a French classic
42:41is pan fried scallop
42:43with butter poached prawns
42:45pickled apple
42:46and fennel
42:48with samphire
42:49and a prawn bisque
42:51served with stout
42:53wheaten bread
42:54and salty butter
42:55Adam you know it's a real gift
42:57to be able to
42:58dress a plate like this
43:07really tricky when it comes to shellfish
43:09and leaving something to the final minute
43:11my prawns could be more cooked
43:13but there's a nice sweetness to it
43:15your scallop is lovely
43:16it's nicely caramelised on the outside
43:18there's buckets of skill that has gone into this dish
43:22I go to Nice in the south of France and I have bisque
43:26for me that is more beautiful
43:28thank you
43:29I can taste the white wine and the fennel
43:32it's rich
43:33it's rich and comforting and impressive plate of food
43:37it's hard to create a fish stock from your prawn shells in that limited time
43:43but I think you've done a really really good job
43:45there's a lot of richness in that broth
43:48this bread
43:49this bread I mean that is unbelievable
43:51I mean I want to eat that every day of my life
43:53it's an absolute classic
43:55thank you
43:55with your salty butter
43:56and we didn't ask for this
43:58but thank you very much
43:59I mean it's literally a gift from heaven
44:00it's wonderful
44:03I was disappointed with the prawns but you know there was some good feedback there as well
44:08bread was a triumph
44:12Matt's Japanese themed dish is pan fried duck breast
44:16with a yakki onigiri crispy fried rice ball
44:20topped with a morel mushroom stuffed with a duck liver pate
44:24and a duck dashi consomme
44:26I know you had trouble with your broth with your consomme
44:39but I think this is absolutely perfect
44:42it is a clear thing
44:43you've got this wonderful mushroom stuffed with duck pate
44:48love the texture of that
44:49this is a refined dish
44:51it's different original and I think well executed
44:55so well done thank you
44:56thank you
44:57you've got this wonderful perfectly judged piece of duck
45:04it's pink but it's beautifully cooked
45:08then there's the broth
45:09it's got hints of duck fat
45:11but then it's also got an umami underbelly
45:15your rice so perfectly cooked and seasoned
45:17with that crusty crunchy top
45:20your consomme didn't work out the first time you clarified it
45:23so you sacrificed the amount you had to go back again and clarify it
45:29I think this is a beautiful plate of food
45:31I can feel that you have poured every single ounce of yourself into this
45:37almost emotional to eat if I'm really honest
45:40this is you in a bowl
45:45I'm delighted
45:45I'm so happy
45:46it was everything I wanted them to taste and feel about me and about my food
45:51you can't ask for any more than that
45:55Anisha is serving her take on a Malaysian laxa noodle soup
45:59and has cooked pan seared sea bass
46:01topped with crispy kaffir lime leaves and chilli oil
46:05on rice noodles
46:06with deep fried tofu puffs
46:09and battered prawn balls
46:11in a coconut, coriander, galangal and lemongrass laxa
46:23the noodles have become a kind of big solid mass
46:26you know if you run out of concrete
46:28you could use these to build the walls of your nuclear reactor
46:31however the laxa is so gorgeous
46:33it's warm
46:34it has a building spice and heat to it
46:37and I just wish I had a bowl filled with it
46:40you've just given me a sauce
46:41your noodles
46:42they've actually ended up being under
46:45they are really chewy
46:47but I love your tofu puffs
46:49and thank you for making chilli oil
46:52you didn't have a lot of time
46:54it's given another pleasant hit on top of the chilli that is in the laxa
47:01your fish is just cooked
47:03the lime leaves on top of the fish are very nice
47:06but the prawn balls don't do it for me
47:08they're just a little bit stodgy
47:10you gave yourself a huge amount of work to do here
47:13I just wonder if you'd stripped back a little bit
47:16we could be really having something that was perfect
47:19thank you
47:21I'm feeling a little bit deflated
47:24I've made all of these elements before
47:26and they've been perfectly fine
47:29inspired by her recent trip to Japan
47:31Rebecca is showcasing king oyster, shiitake and enoki mushrooms
47:36with pickled radish and carrots
47:38in a roasted shimeji, hen of the woods and chestnut mushroom soup
47:43flavoured with dried shiitake, salty seaweed and a bonito dashi stock
47:56I can get a mushroom flavour from the broth it does taste of mushroom but it's really lacking in seasoning
48:03it doesn't have the complexity of two dashis going in there plus bonito flakes ginger and garlic
48:10so this should have had serious layers of flavour
48:14it isn't there
48:16love your mushrooms
48:18you've caramelised some
48:19you've pickled others
48:21love the crunch of the radish
48:23what is letting it down is your broth
48:26I'm not tasting that umami scents that I need
48:30if I need some mushrooms to be carved and sliced and presented beautifully I know where to come
48:36sitting in there like these little eager beavers waiting for this amazing broth to be poured onto it
48:41which ended up being like a sort of rather tasteless sort of pond water
48:46you have some very immaculate knife skills
48:48you need to work on your soup skills
48:54pond water
48:56I thought the pond water was a little bit of a harsh critique
49:01but I think my palate needs to improve slightly because my lack of seasoning is not up to standard at
49:07the moment
49:08so not up to par
49:11Tony has cooked cod topped with a freeze-dried tomato crust and a deep-fried prawn head
49:18with sautéed prawns and charred tomatoes
49:22finished with a Thai Tom Yum soup
49:25flavoured with chilli, lime, fish sauce and lemongrass
49:31I really love your presentation
49:33the colours are really exquisite
49:41you have cooked that cod perfectly
49:43it's soft, it's flaky
49:44the soup itself is very refreshing
49:47there's a bit of gentle heat
49:49but this is not the hot and powerful taste that I think you wanted to deliver
49:55but it's as pretty as a picture and I think the component parts are very well cooked
50:00thank you
50:00I really enjoyed the crispy prawn head
50:03nicely seasoned, soft on the inside
50:06I think it was a really brave addition to your dish
50:10the Tom Yum itself
50:11I know you've got lime in there but I almost want you to push me over the edge with sourness
50:16a bit further
50:16however, I love the freeze-dried tomato dust across the top
50:20it's giving sweetness but a little bit of crunchiness
50:23wonderful
50:24thank you
50:26it's the first time that I've cooked fish in this competition
50:29they really like the fish
50:30but I really wanted to produce a soup that blew their heads off and I didn't deliver on that aspect
50:38I've been coming here for over two decades and I was so impressed today
50:44there was new flavours, new dishes
50:46it was a real adventure for me
50:49and I know that you've all put your heart and soul into it
50:51so thank you so much
50:53you guys go and take a break
50:55we have a very tough decision to make
51:05well done everyone
51:06I thought it was a one heck of a test
51:08you got their minds kind of going into places you wouldn't expect
51:12there's real talent here
51:13I love seeing how differently everyone cooks
51:14it's inspiring
51:15you haven't just made it hard, you've made it almost impossible
51:18skip off and leave the hard work to us
51:20yeah, you've got to make the decision
51:21William, thank you for coming
51:22thanks for having me
51:23see you
51:27we had soups today which wouldn't look out of place on a restaurant menu
51:32it just makes it so difficult to send three of them home
51:39Kristen delighted us with that wonderful tamarind broth
51:43with the sea bass perfectly cooked
51:45sitting on a turmeric fondant potato
51:48she understands complex flavours
51:51it was just fantastic
51:53another person who really nailed the brief today was Matt
51:59his duck was beautifully cooked and his duck broth had really great dashy notes through it
52:06so much knowledge and layers of flavour to that dish
52:11so are we agreed Matt and Kristen are going through
52:15yes
52:17a good mushroom soup is a thing of beauty
52:21but Rebecca had a tough time
52:23it ended up being very weak, very watery
52:27it tasted of mushroom but it was under seasoned
52:29I could get no dashy notes off that mushroom broth
52:32I think it's the end of the road for Rebecca
52:36Anisha
52:37I thought relaxa absolutely had a great flavour
52:41but if you're going to give me a broth or a soup
52:43I should be able to drink a bowl of it
52:46it was like a sauce
52:47noodles were under and those prawn balls, they were too stodgy
52:50we've seen some wonderful stuff from her
52:53but today there were stronger dishes
52:56Anisha and Rebecca are going home
52:59that leaves us with Adam and Tony
53:02I think we saw a different cook in Tony today
53:06Tom Yum soup with a nice chunk of cod
53:09and I think the stroke of genius was the deep fried prawns head
53:13but Tony promised us heat
53:16it lacked a little bit of punch
53:20Adam cooks with an astounding maturity
53:23I love bisque, I order it whenever I'm in the south of France
53:27I thought that he gave some of those chefs a real run for their money
53:32He didn't manage to get those prawns fully poached
53:36but there was a real sweetness from it
53:38the scallop was really nicely cooked
53:40and then, like that wasn't enough
53:42he served it with homemade wheat and bread on the side
53:45he's got a lot of skill
53:49I would love to carry on
53:51I really would
53:52I really enjoyed the competition
53:53I've loved every minute
53:54it's a great honour
53:56I feel like I'm growing as a cook
53:58and I just want to push it and push it
54:01I don't want to go now
54:02I'd love to make it into knockout week
54:04I've got a lot more to achieve
54:05Adam, Tony
54:07Who are we going to go with?
54:08This is impossible
54:10That was an incredible, unforgettable round
54:28You took William's brief on board
54:32and you truly delighted us
54:36There was two cooks that we thought really stood out today
54:41Matt
54:42Kristen
54:44Congratulations, you're through to knockout week
54:50There were also two cooks that we thought struggled today
54:55Rebecca
54:57Anisha
54:59I'm sorry
55:01You are leaving us
55:02Thank you so much
55:04Good luck guys
55:05All the best
55:14I can't lie
55:15I'm a little bit gutted to leave
55:17but I'm not going to kick myself for it
55:19I got to compete on MasterChef
55:21that in itself is amazing
55:23one of the biggest milestones that I've done in my life
55:29I gave it my best shot and I'll look back incredibly fondly
55:34and I would advise anybody out there to give it a go
55:38I feel very honoured and privileged to have been chosen to take part
55:46Adam and Tony
55:48This was really tough
55:51Both of you have created two very interesting, delicious soups
55:57Not without error
56:02But we have made our decision
56:11Both of you are through to knockout week
56:14Oh my god
56:17Yes
56:18Oh my god
56:21We couldn't choose
56:22You're amazing
56:24I thought I was gone
56:27It's unbelievable
56:28This competition has lit a fire within me
56:31and all I want to do now is give it everything
56:34and leave nothing in the tank
56:37Very, very shocked
56:38Oh, it's unbelievable, it really is
56:40The judges must see something in me which is brilliant
56:44Fair thing is the proudest I've been
56:46But it's scary thinking about how good you're going to have to cook to stay in the competition
56:51This is a wild ride
56:53It feels really addictive
56:55and I can't wait to get back for knockout week and keep cooking
57:04Next time
57:06Six more contestants
57:08Duh, small turn
57:10Compete for the right to wear a Masterchef apron
57:14Oh no!
57:15I dropped it
57:17Before battling for a place
57:20You're giving me a heart attack
57:21in the quarter-final
57:23I don't think they're ever going to have seen anything like this before
57:27So
57:28I don't know
57:28I'm going to have a little one
57:40You're going to have a little one
57:53That's why
57:53You can't wait until you get two other ones
57:54I'm going to have a sandwich
57:55You're going to have a little one
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