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00:02It's the MasterChef quarter-final, and this week six best cooks are back.
00:10However far I go in the competition, just getting this far, I'm really amazed.
00:14On 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.
00:44I'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 that'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.
01:08I feel like I haven't done my homework, and I'm heading into an exam where I haven't done enough revision.
01:13As 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.
01:51What?
01:52Feeling 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.
02:24We 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.
02:57Your dish can be sweet or savoury.
02:59It just needs to embody spring or autumn.
03:0310 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.
03:30Spring 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 start venison, the dishes start 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.
04:26Tony 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.
04:48The faster chef 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, venison 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 autumnal, same with the cavalo nero.
05:42But venison loin is a very lean meat, so it's really unforgiving if you overcook it.
05:49And I need to see balance in this sauce.
05:52Madeira's very sweet. It'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 here.
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, I 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.
06:49Huge.
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.
07:06We 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,
07:25I hope will give you that sense of transition.
07:30It's really exciting to see that Kristin is going to Europe this time.
07:36Pan seared trout.
07:38They expect lovely, crispy skin, nicely seasoned, pink in the centre.
07:42I 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.
07:57But 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.
08:13Bengali 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 Jehan, yeah.
08:21She'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.
08:41I 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.
08:58You 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,
09:14which is garlic roasted in the butter and then it's poured over the lentil soup after.
09:18This 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.
09:52With curries, you know, you cook the sauce for quite a while.
09:54So, it's going to be the very last thing I take off.
09:57She's comparing this to student food.
09:59So, 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 palate.
10:18He brings his Japanese heritage, layering flavours with umami 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.
10:37And then the centre, medium to medium rare.
10:40He's stuffing cabbage leaves with walnuts and morel mushrooms.
10:44And then adding mascarpone cheese to it.
10:47Not 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
11:08is giving an assembly to the whole 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. I don't really know what I'm doing.
11:27I don't believe you, Matt.
11:29But it made me feel good. I 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.
12:01Neptune's and cod does sound a little bit weird. I love a 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.
12:16It'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! Well, 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, but if it all goes away,
12:42then 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.
13:22I've abandoned the machine. I've gone for the knife.
13:32Adam's heart and soul is delivering us the tastes of Northern Ireland.
13:36How much whisky's in this syllabub?
13:38There's a lot of whisky in the jazz.
13:40Buckets of skill.
13:41It's just 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 and you can't get it done the
14:01time.
14:01So it's a, it's a happy medium.
14:07I'm going to go with spring.
14:09So I'm doing strawberries, meringue and cream.
14:13Strawberries is something we would have quite, quite often at home.
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 and bring it in some different flavours with
14:23a black pepper meringue.
14:24I've got chards and wee meringue kisses, a vanilla bean cream, a 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?
14:35Yeah. So 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.
14:44I hope so.
14:49He's the only person making a dessert.
14:51I've got the raspberry coulis made. It's in the fridge. The black pepper meringue is 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?
15:05I'm going to find out.
15:09There's a lot of processes here.
15:11Adam's first Italian meringue didn't work out, so now he's on to his second one.
15:15For the 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.
15:25Okay guys, five minutes left. You need to be plating your dishes.
15:41That's kind of how I want it. It looks nice and pink, not overdone.
15:48Lovely crust on the outside of it. But again, just that nice blush on the middle of it.
15:52That medium rare sort of consistency.
15:5560 seconds. You need to be adding your final touches.
15:59Definitely fine, Zoe.
16:09Pasta worms and courgette mush. I should be on children's MasterChef.
16:17So that's time up now. Move 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 of roasted loin of venison on braised cavallonero,
16:41celeriac fondant topped with a parsnip crisp, roasted asparagus, and a cherry and Madeira wine sauce.
16:56Your venison is beautifully cooked, caramelised on the outside, pink in the centre.
17:00But the star of the show for me is the sauce.
17:04Cherries and Madeira in the wrong hands could be very sweet.
17:08You 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, you'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 with 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?
17:48No.
17:49First time that I've done an invention test and I'm on cloud nine, to be honest.
17:53Feedback were brilliant.
17:56Showcasing the transition from winter to spring,
17:59Communications Director Kristen has cooked pan-seared trout,
18:03topped with crispy onions and capers,
18:05pui lentils flavoured with onions, carrots and celery, pickled radishes and a herby salsa verde.
18:14Very colourful and beautiful.
18:22I think your trout's great, love the skin, nicely cooked, it's soft, but your salsa verde, very acidic, tons of
18:32herbs, it's just ever so slightly overpowering.
18:36There is layers and layers of flavour here.
18:40Pickled vegetables, the sweet crispy onions, lentils are cooked really nicely, there'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 and this beautiful plate of autumnal colours with a
19:35real heat is restoring me.
19:37Your 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.
19:51Your 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 and just the judges really enjoying the taste of my
20:15food.
20:15I think that means the most to me, more than anything, is honestly the best feeling.
20:21PhD math student Matt's autumnal inspired dish is roasted rump of lamb with cumin, clove and chilli spiced butternut squash
20:30puree,
20:30topped with mushrooms and radicchio, roasted squash, pan-seared cabbage leaf stuffed with mascarpone,
20:38braised walnuts and dried morels and a masala lamb sauce.
20:48A really attractive plate of food. I 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.
21:05The highlight for me of this dish is the cabbage leaf. I love the walnut, love the mascarpone.
21:12The earthiness of it. It's absolutely delicious.
21:15Cool. Thanks guys.
21:19I think I've shown that I can work well 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.
21:27Executive assistant Rebecca has made grated courgette, lemon and basil spaghetti,
21:33topped with a parmesan cheese sauce, served with heritage tomatoes, marinated in salt and basil oil.
21:47Pasta, a disaster.
21:51Very chewy, very thick.
21:54Wormeletti, this is what I'm now calling it.
21:58Your 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,
22:20but the way you've kind of cooked it and presented it, it feels similar 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.
22:45Finally, 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,
23:00torched 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.
23:17I love your little black pepper meringue kisses.
23:22They've got a real punch.
23:24Not 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.
23:36That 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,
23:48your lovely coulee, could have even sprinkled a bit 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,
24:02but I'm pretty happy with that.
24:05I think we should surprise them a little more often,
24:07and we had some really good food today.
24:09Those cooks hit the spring-autumn brief.
24:12I was transported into both of those seasons.
24:15The competition is stiff.
24:17There's still one more challenge that could turn it all around,
24:20and this is the toughest one yet.
24:34There's still one more challenge that could be.
24:36There's all this.
24:45There's a 데� dafür on and is a gentleman who pushed everything pro to help.
24:48These changes must work hard if he had to be.
24:52But sadly, he can get called back to each other.
24:52We're going to ramp up the heat now.
24:57We've invited a very special guest,
25:00not just to set you a task,
25:03but to taste your food too.
25:05Please welcome the esteemed restaurant critic,
25:10the very opinionated William Sitwell.
25:16Oh, 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
25:29with some well-executed protein
25:32or 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
25:45to elevate this humble dish
25:47and 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
25:59and three of you will be going home.
26:03Start cooking.
26:12It sounds such a simple challenge, but actually, a good soup or broth can be something of amazing sophistication.
26:20Soup 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.
26:32I want to have some texture as well, a bit of crunch.
26:34I have teeth and I'd like to use them.
26:37There are endless possibilities.
26:40I'm hoping for some magic.
26:42But 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.
27:04Layering flavour to create something that is complex, interesting.
27:11Very big day.
27:13Enormous day.
27:14The 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.
27:32I didn't think he'd get more surreal doing this competition.
27:34I mean, he's mostly nice.
27:37Well, it depends on the dish.
27:38If a dish is nice, I'm nice.
27:40What's cooking? Is this a soup or a broth?
27:43It's a consomme.
27:44I don't know which one of those you'd call it.
27:45But so I'm making a duck dashi, basically.
27:48I'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?
28:04Is this a family dish?
28:05Where'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.
28:15I'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.
28:21I think it's a winner, hopefully.
28:23Good luck.
28:23I'm excited by this, Matt.
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.
28:40When 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 flavor.
29:01So the essence of that stock has really got to pack a punch.
29:05Knitting the flavor on this and the seasoning is key for the whole dish.
29:12Smashing away through the prawns?
29:14Yeah.
29:20So I'm doing a prawn bisque, pan-fried scallops, butter-poached prawns, pickled apple and fennel,
29:27and on the side, a 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
29:40very 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 and grind it all.
29:47So you're baking that bread?
29:48Yeah.
29:48Amazing.
29:49Have you got some nice butter?
29:50I do indeed, yeah.
29:51Good.
29:52Salty butter?
29:53Salty butter, yeah.
29:54Good, good.
29:55Give 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.
30:07I 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
30:27really 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've some brilliant fish, brilliant shellfish, and I'm trying to, you know, do it proud today and do it justice.
31:0025 minutes have gone.
31:06It's so 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 sea bass on top and a fondant potato made with
31:26turmeric and 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.
31:38So taking that rasam as the inspiration, I think it goes really nicely with sea bass.
31:41And I think adding that potato, which you get inside the dosa, which has got the turmeric and the onion,
31:46to really kind of give you that anxiousness 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?
31:52Yeah, 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.
32:32I really like the idea of it, that it is quite brained.
32:36That fondant potato's got to be cooked properly.
32:38It's got to be crisp on the outside. It's got to be soft in the middle.
32:41It 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 loin, finished with a crispy prawn head and a prawn head
33:21oil.
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.
33:36So tomium soup, this is a very famous, very spicy soup from Thailand.
33:41I'm excited by these little bird's eye chillies.
33:44They'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 sweats 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!
34:40Tony'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 about to do.
34:53OK, guys, you only have 35 minutes left.
35:00I'm a little bit behind, but I'm getting there.
35:06Contour me, it'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
35:31with two different Japanese dashes.
35:33So I'm combining one with shiitake mushrooms
35:37and 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,
35:48hen of the forest, smidgee and chestnut.
35:51If she binds them all into the pot together,
35:53they will fight for the attention.
35:59How do you separate the flavours of the mushrooms?
36:01Because it's hard enough to get the flavour out of one.
36:04You've got one, two, three, four, five, at least six varieties.
36:09I'm doing some roasted mushrooms
36:11and then I'm going to pan-fry some mushrooms for you as well.
36:15There's some pickled mushrooms
36:16and hopefully it'll all come together in harmony.
36:19I've worked out the ratio for my palate.
36:21It tastes quite nice.
36:22Your palate? What about my palate?
36:23Well, I'm hoping that they're quite similar,
36:26though yours is a lot more superior.
36:32Sometimes mushroom soups like that,
36:34the mushroom can be balls of rubber
36:36floating around in some rather uninspiring water.
36:41She's really going to have to give us mushroomy flavour, of course,
36:44but distinct flavours and the texture of mushroom.
36:50That doesn't look like enough soup for three people.
36:54OK, only 15 minutes left.
36:58It's going to be 15 minutes here,
37:00so 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, right?
37:09Yeah, but it's not very much,
37:12but...
37:14At this point in the competition,
37:16I definitely feel really happy and really pleased
37:19with the feedback I've got so far,
37:22but I definitely want to ramp it up
37:24and 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.
37:38So a laksa is a Malaysian-slash-Singaporian noodle soup
37:43flavoured with coconut and an array of different spices.
37:48So today I'm going to be making a laksa
37:51with shrimp balls, pan-said sea bass,
37:55tofu puffs, some rice-stick noodles.
37:58You've got about 35 ingredients in this dish.
38:00What are you hoping that I'm going to get from this?
38:02I want it to be a flavour bomb in your mouth.
38:05Mm-hm.
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
38:14and it reminded me of home
38:16because as a Bangladeshi person,
38:19we have a lot of dried shrimp in our food.
38:21That was the first time I tasted something and thought,
38:23mm, this tastes like home and it smells like home.
38:25Working away from home doing what?
38:27So I'm an engineer,
38:28so I work in the nuclear plant industry.
38:32I'm a 3D mod lab.
38:33So you model nuclear reactors?
38:36Yeah, yeah, concrete slabs.
38:41I'm expecting this dish to really pack a punch.
38:44Not only has she got lots of kind of chilies and spice
38:46in her laksa,
38:48Anisha's going to blitz her prawns,
38:50shape them into little balls
38:51and then poach them in the laksa broth.
38:53Delicious.
38:55She's given herself an enormous amount of work.
38:58She's got to make sure her fish cookery
39:00is absolutely on point.
39:02But then we've got noodles.
39:04They cannot be sloppy.
39:06They've got to be sort of slightly al dente,
39:08not overcooked.
39:10There's a lot of technique there
39:11and there's quite a lot of things that could go wrong.
39:13But if it works,
39:14it'll be an absolutely beautiful dish.
39:17You're quite in control?
39:19I think so.
39:20Yeah?
39:21Maybe.
39:28I hope you're happy with that.
39:31That looks under that one, definitely.
39:33Yeah.
39:34I just put the prawns back
39:35just to make sure they're not under.
39:38Five minutes left.
39:39You should be plating your soups.
39:43I've got everything done that I want to get done.
39:45It's just about getting it on plate.
40:07And your potatoes, they're cooked.
40:09They are cooked.
40:1160 seconds.
40:19That broth looks pretty good.
40:23It's doing good.
40:26Are they just going in there?
40:28Er, yeah, I might have to go without them.
40:30Make sure it's seasoned
40:31and it's worth going on the plate.
40:32Otherwise, lose it, yeah?
40:33Yeah, yeah.
40:35Fish is looking good.
40:36It's just how I like it.
40:39OK, right, we are nearly there.
40:48OK, time's up.
40:50Step away from your benches.
40:55Are you happy?
40:57Yeah.
40:58I got halfway through
40:59and I was like,
40:59I'm not going to get anything out of this thing.
41:05First up is Kristen
41:07with a South Indian rassam broth
41:10flavoured with tamarind, tomato, chilli and curry leaves
41:13served with pan-fried sea bass,
41:17a turmeric fondant potato
41:18and a coconut chutney.
41:28You have repeatedly shown us
41:30you understand layers of flavour
41:31from Thailand to Europe
41:33and now you've stepped into India.
41:36Your broth,
41:37it's got a great balance
41:38of the sourness of the tamarind,
41:40the warmth of your spices,
41:42a little kick of heat.
41:44It's extremely confident
41:46and mature cooking.
41:48I think your sea bass
41:50is cooked beautifully
41:52and you're so good
41:53at getting fish skin
41:55crispy and seasoned.
41:57You've knocked it out of the park.
42:00I just love the fact
42:01there's a potato
42:02sitting at the bottom of this.
42:03It's nicely charred,
42:05soft in the middle
42:06and they've held their shape.
42:07The broth itself
42:08is an absolute triumph.
42:10You know, I asked for soup
42:11and you've produced
42:12this sort of extraordinary meal
42:13of fish,
42:14but chutney,
42:15tomatoes.
42:16This is exactly
42:17what I would hope for
42:18from a brief like this.
42:19I think that's a really
42:21memorable dish.
42:22I love it.
42:26To hear William say
42:27all those positive things
42:28about my food,
42:29oh my God,
42:30I have no words
42:31to describe it.
42:32I mean,
42:33I'm shaking
42:33and I feel like
42:34I might throw up,
42:35but underneath all of that
42:37I feel absolutely amazing.
42:40Adam's twist
42:40on a French classic
42:41is pan-fried scallop
42:43with butter-poached prawns,
42:46pickled apple
42:47and fennel
42:48with samphire
42:49and a prawn bisque,
42:52served with stout
42:53wheaten bread
42:54and salty butter.
42:55Adam, you know,
42:56it's a real gift
42:57to be able to
42:58dress a plate like this.
43:07Really tricky
43:08when it comes
43:08to shellfish
43:09and leaving something
43:10to the final minute.
43:11My prawns could be
43:12more cooked,
43:13but there's a nice
43:14sweetness to it.
43:15Your scallop
43:16is lovely.
43:17It's nicely caramelised
43:18on the outside.
43:18There's buckets
43:19of scale
43:20that has gone
43:21into this dish.
43:23I go to Nice
43:24in the south of France
43:25and I have bisque.
43:26For me,
43:27that is more beautiful.
43:29I can taste
43:30the white wine
43:31and the fennel.
43:32It's rich
43:34and comforting
43:35and impressive
43:36plate of food.
43:37It's hard
43:38to create
43:39a fish stock
43:40from your prawn shells
43:42in that limited time,
43:43but I think
43:44you've done
43:44a really,
43:44really good job.
43:45There's a lot
43:46of richness
43:46in that broth.
43:48This bread,
43:49I mean,
43:49that is unbelievable.
43:51I mean,
43:51I want to eat that
43:52every day of my life.
43:53It's an absolute classic
43:55with your salty butter.
43:57I mean,
43:57I didn't ask for this,
43:58but thank you very much.
43:59I mean,
43:59it's literally
44:00a gift from heaven.
44:01It's wonderful.
44:04I was disappointed
44:05by the prawns,
44:05but, you know,
44:06there was some
44:07good feedback there
44:07as well.
44:08The bread
44:09was a triumph.
44:12Matt's
44:13Japanese-themed dish
44:14is pan-fried
44:15duck breast
44:16with a yakki
44:18onigiri
44:18crispy fried
44:19rice ball
44:20topped
44:21with a morel
44:22mushroom
44:22stuffed
44:23with a duck
44:23liver pâté
44:24and a duck
44:25dashi
44:26consommé.
44:35I know you had
44:36trouble with your
44:37broth,
44:38with your
44:38consommé,
44:39but I think
44:40this is
44:41absolutely perfect.
44:42It is a clear thing.
44:44You've got this
44:45wonderful mushroom
44:46stuffed with duck
44:48pâté.
44:48Love the texture
44:49texture of that.
44:50This is a refined
44:51dish.
44:52It's different,
44:52original,
44:53and I think
44:54well executed,
44:55so well done.
44:58You've got this
44:59wonderful,
45:01perfectly judged
45:02piece of duck.
45:04It's pink,
45:06but it's
45:06beautifully cooked.
45:08Then there's the broth.
45:09It's got hints
45:10of duck fat,
45:11but then it's also
45:12got an umami
45:13underbelly.
45:15Your rice
45:16so perfectly
45:17cooked and seasoned
45:18with that
45:18crusty,
45:19crunchy top.
45:20Your consommé
45:21didn't work out
45:22the first time
45:22you clarified it,
45:23so you sacrificed
45:24the amount you had
45:26to go back again
45:28and clarify it.
45:29I think this is
45:30a beautiful plate
45:31of food.
45:32I can feel
45:34that you have
45:34poured every single
45:36ounce of yourself
45:36into this.
45:38Almost emotional
45:39to eat,
45:39if I'm really honest.
45:40This is you
45:41in a bowl,
45:42you know.
45:45I'm delighted.
45:46I'm so happy.
45:47It was everything
45:48I wanted them
45:49to taste and feel
45:50about me
45:50and about my food.
45:51You can't ask
45:52for any more
45:53than that.
45:55Anisha is serving
45:56her take on
45:57a Malaysian
45:58laxer noodle soup
45:59and has cooked
46:00pan-seared sea bass
46:01topped with
46:02crispy kaffir lime
46:04leaves and chilli
46:04oil on rice
46:06noodles with
46:08deep-fried tofu
46:09puffs and
46:10battered prawn balls
46:12in a coconut,
46:13coriander,
46:14galangal
46:15and lemongrass
46:16laxer.
46:23The noodles
46:24have become
46:24a kind of
46:25big solid mass.
46:26You know,
46:27if you run
46:27out of concrete,
46:28you could use
46:28these to build
46:29the walls
46:29of your nuclear
46:30reactor.
46:31However,
46:32the laxer
46:32is so gorgeous.
46:34It's warm.
46:34It has a building
46:35spice and heat
46:36to it.
46:37And I just wish
46:38I had a bowl
46:39filled with it.
46:40You've just
46:40given me a sauce.
46:42The noodles,
46:43they've actually
46:43ended up being
46:44under.
46:45They are really
46:47chewy, but I
46:48love your tofu
46:49puffs.
46:49And thank you
46:51for making
46:51chilli oil.
46:53You didn't have
46:54a lot of time.
46:54It's given
46:55another pleasant
46:56hit on top
46:58of the chilli
46:58that is in
46:59the laxer.
47:01Your fish
47:02is just cooked.
47:03The lime leaves
47:04on top of the fish
47:05are very nice,
47:06but the prawn balls
47:07don't do it for me.
47:08They're just a little
47:09bit stodgy.
47:10You gave yourself
47:10a huge amount
47:12of work to do here.
47:13I just wonder
47:14if you'd stripped
47:14back a little bit.
47:16We could be really
47:17having something
47:18that was perfect.
47:22I'm feeling a little
47:23bit deflated.
47:24I've made all
47:25of these elements
47:25before and they've
47:26been perfectly fine.
47:29Inspired by her
47:30recent trip to Japan,
47:32Rebecca is showcasing
47:33king oyster,
47:34shiitake and enoki
47:35mushrooms with
47:37pickled radish
47:38and carrots in a
47:40roasted shimeji,
47:41hen of the woods
47:42and chestnut mushroom
47:43soup, flavoured
47:44with dried shiitake,
47:46salty seaweed and
47:47a bonito dashi stock.
47:56I can get a
47:58mushroom flavour
47:58from the broth.
47:59It does taste
48:00of mushroom,
48:01but it's really
48:02lacking in seasoning.
48:03It doesn't have
48:04the complexity
48:05of two dashis
48:07going in there
48:07plus bonito flakes,
48:09ginger and garlic,
48:11so this should have
48:12had serious layers
48:13of flavour.
48:14It isn't there.
48:16Love your mushrooms.
48:18You've caramelised
48:19some, you've pickled
48:20others.
48:21Love the crunch
48:22of the radish.
48:23What is letting it
48:24down is your broth.
48:25Hmm.
48:26I'm not tasting
48:28that umami scents
48:29that I need.
48:30If I need some mushrooms
48:32to be carved and sliced
48:34and presented beautifully,
48:36I know where to come.
48:37Sitting in there
48:37like these little eager
48:38beavers waiting
48:39for this amazing broth
48:40to be poured onto it,
48:42which ended up being
48:43like a sort of rather
48:43tasteless sort of pond water.
48:46You have some very
48:47immaculate knife skills.
48:49You need to work
48:49on your soup skills.
48:54Pond water.
48:56I thought the pond water
48:58was a little bit
48:59of a harsh critique.
49:01But I think my palate
49:03needs to improve slightly
49:04because my lack of seasoning
49:06is not up to standard
49:07at the moment,
49:08so not up to par.
49:11Tony has cooked cod
49:13topped with a freeze-dried
49:15tomato crust
49:16and a deep-fried prawn head
49:18with sautéed prawns
49:20and charred tomatoes,
49:22finished with a Thai
49:24Tom Yum soup
49:25flavoured with chilli,
49:27lime, fish sauce
49:28and lemongrass.
49:31I really love
49:32your presentation.
49:33The colours
49:34are really exquisite.
49:41You have cooked
49:42that cod perfectly.
49:43It's soft,
49:44it's flaky.
49:45The soup itself
49:46is very refreshing.
49:48There's a bit
49:48of gentle heat,
49:50but this is not
49:51the hot and powerful
49:52taste that I think
49:54you wanted to deliver.
49:56But it's as pretty
49:57as a picture
49:57and I think the component
49:59parts are very well cooked.
50:01I really enjoyed
50:02the crispy prawn head.
50:04Nicely seasoned,
50:05soft on the inside.
50:07I think it was
50:07a really brave addition
50:08to your dish.
50:10The Tom Yum itself,
50:11I know you've got lime
50:12in there,
50:13but I almost want you
50:14to push me over the edge
50:15with sourness a bit further.
50:17However,
50:17I love the freeze-dried
50:19tomato dust across the top.
50:20It's giving it sweetness
50:22but a little bit of crunchiness.
50:24Wonderful.
50:27It's the first time
50:27that I've cooked fish
50:28in this competition.
50:29They really like the fish,
50:31but I really wanted
50:32to produce a soup
50:33that blew their heads off
50:35and I didn't deliver
50:36on that aspect.
50:39I've been coming here
50:39for over two decades
50:40and I was so impressed today.
50:44There was new flavours,
50:46new dishes.
50:47It was a real adventure for me
50:49and I know that you've all
50:50put your heart and soul into it,
50:52so 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
51:07a one heck of a test.
51:09You got their minds
51:10kind of going into places
51:11you wouldn't expect.
51:12There's real talent here.
51:13I love seeing how differently
51:14everyone cooks.
51:15It's inspiring.
51:16You haven't just made it hard.
51:16You've made it almost impossible.
51:19Skip 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.
51:28We had soups today
51:29which wouldn't look out of place
51:30on a restaurant menu.
51:32It just makes it so difficult
51:34to send three of them home.
51:38Kristen delighted us
51:40with 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.
51:54Another person who really nailed
51:57the brief today was Matt.
52:00His duck was beautifully cooked
52:02and his duck broth
52:03had really great dashy notes through it.
52:06So much knowledge
52:08and layers of flavour to that dish.
52:11So are we agreed
52:12Matt and Kristen are going through?
52:15Yes.
52:17A good mushroom soup
52:19is a thing of beauty.
52:21But Rebecca had a tough time.
52:23It ended up being very weak,
52:26very watery.
52:27It tasted of mushroom
52:28but it was under-seasoned.
52:29I could get no dashy notes
52:31off that mushroom broth.
52:32I think it's the end
52:33of the road for Rebecca.
52:36Anisha.
52:37I thought relaxa
52:39absolutely had a great flavour
52:41but if you're going to give me
52:43a broth or a soup
52:43I should be able
52:44to drink a bowl of it.
52:46It was like a sauce.
52:48Noodles were under
52:48and those prawn balls
52:50they were too stodgy.
52:51We've seen some wonderful stuff
52:53from her
52:53but today there were
52:55stronger dishes.
52:57Anisha and Rebecca
52:58are going home.
53:00That leaves us with Adam
53:01and Tony.
53:02I think we saw
53:03a different cook
53:05in Tony today.
53:06Tom Yum soup
53:07with a nice chunk of cod
53:09and I think the stroke of genius
53:11was the deep fried prawns head.
53:13But Tony promised us heat.
53:16It lacked a little bit of punch.
53:20Adam cooks
53:21with an astounding maturity.
53:24I love bisque.
53:25I order it
53:26whenever I'm in the south of France.
53:27I thought that he gave
53:29some of those chefs
53:30a real run for their money.
53:32He didn't manage
53:33to get those prawns
53:35fully poached.
53:36But there was
53:37a real sweetness from it.
53:39The scallop was really
53:40nicely cooked
53:40and then
53:41like that wasn't enough
53:42he served it with
53:44homemade wheat and bread
53:45on the side.
53:46He's got a lot of skill.
53:49I would love to carry on.
53:51I really would.
53:52I really enjoyed
53:53the competition.
53:53I've loved every minute.
53:54It's a great honour.
53:56I feel like I'm growing
53:58as a cook
53:59and I just want to
54:00push it and push it.
54:01I don't want to go now.
54:02I'd love to make it
54:03into knockout week.
54:04I've got a lot more
54:05to achieve.
54:06Adam, Tony.
54:07Who are we going to go with?
54:09This is impossible.
54:22That was an incredible,
54:26unforgettable round.
54:28You took William's brief
54:31on board
54:32and you truly delighted us.
54:36There was two cooks
54:38that we thought
54:39really stood out today.
54:41Matt,
54:43Kristen.
54:44Congratulations,
54:45you're through
54:45to knockout week.
54:49There were also
54:50two cooks
54:51that we thought
54:52struggled today.
54:55Rebecca,
54:57Anisha,
54:59I'm sorry
55:00you are leaving us.
55:03Thank you so much.
55:05Good luck, guys.
55:05All the best.
55:14I can't lie.
55:15I'm a little bit
55:16gutted to leave
55:17but I'm not going
55:18to kick myself for it.
55:19I got to compete
55:20on MasterChef.
55:22That in itself
55:22is amazing.
55:23One of the biggest
55:24milestones that I've
55:25done in my life.
55:29Gave it my best shot
55:31and I'll look back
55:32incredibly fondly
55:34and I would advise
55:35anybody out there
55:37to give it a go.
55:38I feel very honoured
55:40and privileged
55:41to have been chosen
55:42to take part.
55:46Adam and Tony,
55:48this was really tough.
55:51Both of you
55:52have created
55:53two very interesting,
55:55delicious soups,
55:57not without error.
56:02but we have
56:03made our decision.
56:11Both of you
56:12are through
56:13to knock out week.
56:14Oh my God!
56:16Oh!
56:17Oh!
56:18Yes!
56:19Oh my God!
56:21We couldn't choose.
56:22You're amazing.
56:24Oh my God!
56:24I thought I was gone.
56:27It's unbelievable.
56:29This competition
56:30has lit a fire
56:31within me
56:31and all I want
56:32to do now
56:33is give it everything
56:34and leave nothing
56:35in the tank.
56:37Very, very shocked.
56:39Oh, it's unbelievable.
56:40It really is.
56:41The judges must see
56:42something in me
56:42which is brilliant.
56:45Today I think
56:45is the proudest of me
56:46but it's scary
56:47thinking about
56:48how good you're
56:49going to have to cook
56:49to stay in the competition.
56:51This is a wild ride.
56:54It feels really
56:55addictive
56:55and I can't wait
56:56to get back
56:57for knockout week
56:58and keep cooking.
57:04Next time,
57:06six more contestants
57:10compete for the right
57:11to wear a MasterChef apron
57:18before battling
57:19for a place
57:21in the quarterfinal.
57:23I don't think
57:24they're ever going
57:25to have seen
57:25anything like this before.
57:56I don't think
57:57I don't think
57:57would love
57:57because
57:57and we're
57:57to have
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