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MasterChef: The Professionals - Season 18 - Episode 01
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00:01From across the UK, 32 up-and-coming chefs are heading to the MasterChef kitchen in Birmingham
00:13in a battle to become professional MasterChef champion.
00:20Tonight, the first four hopefuls compete to impress
00:25MasterChef judge Matt Tebbett, renowned chef Monica Gulletti, and culinary legend Marcus Waring.
00:37I'm feeling electric.
00:39The plan for today is not go down in the skills test and not to become a meme.
00:44Yeah, just remembering how to use a knife.
00:47A long time ago, I sent my application and everything comes so fast.
00:49One of the biggest moments in my career, and the day has come, and it's happening now, right now.
00:55I'm very prepared and confident.
00:57You only get a chance to do it once, so if you put your all into it, crack on.
01:02It's very important for me to impress the judges.
01:05It's time now, let's get it over with you.
01:09Who's got what it takes to set this competition alight?
01:13It's time to discover a new culinary superstar.
01:35Good to see you both.
01:36New competition, new kitchen, and we have a new judge.
01:39Welcome, Matt.
01:40Thank you very much. Great to be here.
01:42Great to be part of the MasterChef family.
01:44What sort of judge do you think you're going to be?
01:45I'd like to see myself maybe as the nice guy of the outfit.
01:49You know, I've run kitchens before on my own.
01:52I know the pressure that these guys are under.
01:55Strap yourself in, Matt.
01:56This is going to be a journey.
02:00First part of the competition is the skills test.
02:03And we've invited some of our previous finalists and winners to step in and create the skills test for our
02:10chefs.
02:14College lecturer Gary McClain won MasterChef The Professionals in 2016.
02:21It has come from any three-star Michelin kitchen in Europe.
02:24It's absolutely outstanding.
02:27I remember almost every second of my time on MasterChef.
02:31I absolutely loved it.
02:33Walking up to the bench with Marcus and Monica standing there is probably the worst part.
02:38When it came to the skills test, I was under a bit more pressure.
02:41I was teaching people how to cook every single day.
02:45And the biggest fear was walking on and not knowing what was expected of us.
02:51Since winning the competition, my life has been an absolute rollercoaster.
02:55I'm National Chef of Scotland, which takes me into hospitals, prisons, schools.
03:00I'm also Executive Chef at the City of Glasgow College.
03:03Remove the limbs.
03:06When I won the show, one of the important things was to stick in education.
03:10I'm now working in a team that recruits internationally and works at building teams around the world.
03:18Four years ago, Gary opened a seafood restaurant in Edinburgh, followed by a deli.
03:24To be asked back to set the skills test is an absolute dream come true.
03:31My main advice for the competitors, enjoy the moment.
03:34Cook with a smile.
03:35The food will always be better.
03:37This is an amazing experience.
03:39You're really lucky to be here.
03:41And it can be life-changing, as I've shown.
03:46Gary, welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.
03:49Well, it feels like I've been back at home.
03:50How long has it been since you won the competition?
03:52It's been nine years.
03:54Nine years.
03:55My goodness.
03:56We haven't changed at all, have we?
03:57No.
03:57Marcus has got a bit greyer.
03:59Have we built it myself?
04:01So, Gary, you've got two skills tests for us today.
04:04What's the first one?
04:05What I'd like our chefs to do is to prepare this beautiful saddle of roe deer
04:09and serve that with a chasseur sauce and a tarragon and parsley gremolata.
04:14And the core skill is the butchery of the venison, the trimming it, and the cooking, and then the two
04:19sauces.
04:20Yes.
04:2020 minutes.
04:21Cheers.
04:22How's that?
04:24So, the first thing I'm going to do is own the roe deer.
04:27There's two beautiful loins.
04:29The spine runs right through the middle.
04:32In college, we use the skills test as a teaching tool.
04:34So, when it's on TV the night before, the students will all come in and they'll compare who did what
04:39and how did they do it.
04:41I absolutely love roe deer. It's everywhere where I live. Really healthy, really lean, high in protein.
04:48And you'll notice that little ridge. If you don't get up and round that, you can end up losing quite
04:52a lot of the loin.
04:53So, it's really important to get a clean finish on the venison, yeah?
04:55Yeah.
04:56Less western, which is what we want to see.
04:58When removing the sinew, you want to take as little of the flesh off as possible.
05:04If our chefs leave any of the sinew on, it tightens up in the pan and makes the meat very,
05:08very tough.
05:09Completely.
05:10So, that's our loin fully trimmed and I'm going to start on our chasseur sauce.
05:15So, the classic ingredients of a chasseur, bacon, mushrooms, baby onions, tomato and tarragon.
05:22Classic French hunter sauce.
05:25Legend has it, hunters used to go out, get their game, collect the mushrooms, create this beautiful sauce.
05:31Very, very rich, but rustic sauce.
05:34You could slice the mushrooms, but for body, I quite like to keep them fairly big.
05:39So, you want to put the mushrooms in first?
05:41I want colour on the mushroom.
05:42Sealing the flavour?
05:43And more flavour, yes.
05:44Gary, how many times have you had to teach the making of a chasseur sauce?
05:48Forty, at least.
05:49So, you're very comfortable right now?
05:51I probably would be if I wasn't standing in front of you's three.
05:54I've added the bacon.
05:56Next thing I'm going to add is some chopped shallots.
06:00This is really quite interesting. You've almost done it back to front.
06:03I think we're always taught onions and garlic in the pan first.
06:06I actually put garlic in at the end.
06:07If you put the garlic in at high temperature and it burns, the dish is ruined.
06:13And the sauce, I'm going to finish with reduced stock, pre-cooked baby onions and these lovely little cherry tomatoes.
06:23The sauce is looking good. I'm going to move on to the venison.
06:27It's important that the chefs get the venison on quite early. They will need that time to rest.
06:31So, Gary, this is not going to take much time to cook at all, is it?
06:34No, we're talking minutes here.
06:37Nice and rare in the middle?
06:39I always think it should be kind of medium rare.
06:40Medium rare?
06:41Yeah.
06:41I'm going to add butter and a little bit of rosemary.
06:46Mmm.
06:47Smelling great in here, Gary.
06:49While we're waiting on the rest of the venison, I'm going to make that beautiful cremalata.
06:53You've got flavours of lemon, you've got garlic and parsley.
06:57And tarragon.
06:58So we don't want too much oil in here. We still want this to kind of hold up a little
07:02bit.
07:05It should be big. Big, big flavour.
07:08Mmm.
07:16That looks beautiful, Gary.
07:21And there we go.
07:23Panciadrodea, Chassure sauce and a tarragon cremalata.
07:29I love the fact you've got that rich sauce, that rich classic sauce, but also with a tarragon, that cremalata.
07:34It's fresh and vibrant at the same time.
07:36It's really clever.
07:38It's fabulous.
07:39That's a great skills test.
07:42So, Gary, you're going to keep an eye on things from the back room, and we will see you back
07:46here for the tastings.
07:46It's brilliant.
07:49Right, it's time to meet our first chef.
07:51Let's do it.
07:57First up is 38-year-old head chef, Mario.
08:01Originally from Seville in Spain, he now lives in London and currently runs the kitchen at an open-air woodland
08:08restaurant.
08:09I love working outdoor.
08:12Everything's cooked over the fire.
08:13Yeah, it's like coming back to the old days.
08:16Before I was a chef, I was selling televisions.
08:18I was building kitchens in houses.
08:21But since I moved to London in 2014, that's what I've been doing all the time.
08:25Like restaurant, pubs, contact catering, and now here outdoors.
08:30Judges, I think they're going to be looking for something different, something new, something fresh.
08:35You will see a lot of my Spanish heritage recipes I've been eating in my family home, so it's all
08:41about sharing for me.
08:44Mario, welcome to MasterChef.
08:47We have a previous winner of the professionals who set the skills test for you.
08:52We would like you to prepare and cook this roe deer, served with a tarragon gremolata and a chasseur sauce.
09:00Anna?
09:00Chasseur sauce.
09:01Mm-mm.
09:02French sauce, hunter's sauce.
09:04I'm surprised he doesn't know chasseur.
09:06Look at the ingredients in front of you.
09:07I'm sure you can make a great sauce of what you've got there.
09:10That's right.
09:10This will be interesting.
09:1220 minutes, Mario.
09:13Off you go.
09:18I've never seen anyone take the sinew off first.
09:22Problem is, he's taken too much of the meat away with the sinew.
09:27So, Mario, what's the plan?
09:29So, I'm getting the meat out of the saddle and the loins.
09:32OK.
09:33And then I will pan fry them.
09:38They should really be cutting down the spine.
09:40Just too much left on the bone.
09:43Tell us, why MasterChef?
09:45I always have imposter syndrome because I never went to cooking school.
09:49And I think this was a good way for me to prove that I'm actually a good chef.
09:54He's done better on that second side.
09:58What about food growing up, Mario?
09:59I would say my mom is the best chef I know.
10:02I learned a lot from her.
10:06What's next in your plan?
10:08Mushroom sauce.
10:09Have you managed to work it out?
10:10I'm guessing by the ingredients I have on the bench.
10:14It looks organized.
10:15It's working with pace.
10:18Would you say you're quite an instinctive cook, Mario?
10:20The way I learned to cook, it was without recipes.
10:23OK.
10:23One of the things I asked my mom for Christmas was a recipe book.
10:27All the recipes she created over the years.
10:29She's creating this book for you?
10:31Yeah, she is.
10:32Let my brother also ask for it.
10:33I think everybody's trying to get a piece of the knowledge.
10:37I did it the other way around, but because he sliced the mushrooms, he's probably correct to put the pancetta
10:43in first.
10:45Got five minutes left.
10:46I'm going to quickly do the gremolata.
10:50What have you got in your gremolata sauce?
10:52I got tarragon, I got parsley, I got garlic.
10:54It's got two big cloves of garlic in there.
10:56It's going to be too galley-y, I think.
10:59I don't think I saw any lemon getting in there either.
11:03How's the sauce, Mario?
11:04Looking not too awry.
11:06I think he needs to get the heat down in that sauce.
11:08It's just blasting away there.
11:10You've got three minutes left.
11:12You might want to start thinking about bringing it together.
11:17It's moving good.
11:18It's clean, tidy.
11:2130 seconds, Mario.
11:23I'm not happy with the sauce.
11:24It's more like a garnish.
11:26I hope you guys like garlic.
11:27The gremolata is really galley-y.
11:29Time's up.
11:31You can breathe now.
11:35It'll be relieved.
11:36That's over.
11:38Joining us now is the chef who actually set this skills test.
11:42Pass winner, Gary McLean.
11:50How are you there?
11:51Hi.
11:52Mario, it was great to watch you.
11:54How did you feel it went?
11:55Er, ish.
12:02Mario, the venison is lovely and tender.
12:04It is pink.
12:05The chasseur sauce does have lovely flavour too,
12:08because you've caramelised it really well.
12:09But it is missing the jus.
12:11I appreciate it.
12:13The butchery, there is a bit of waste there.
12:16Gremolata, it's just tarragon and garlic.
12:18You had other things there.
12:19Just, you know, take a few seconds
12:21and look at what else you've got in front of you.
12:24I appreciate it.
12:25Mario, I've been in your shoes,
12:26and I know exactly how you're feeling right now.
12:28And to be fair,
12:30I know you didn't know what the sauce was,
12:32but under pressure,
12:33I think you've done really well.
12:37Mario, confident, good start.
12:39See you later.
12:45He moved like a chef, didn't he?
12:46I think it's potential.
12:47I like the way it works.
12:48Confident, professional.
12:50He's got the get-go of a chef.
12:52That I like.
12:53However, he needs to slow down a bit.
12:56It was good.
12:57I think it was going to be like where it was.
12:59I'm happy.
13:00But I enjoy it.
13:01I could do another one.
13:05Next to attempt Gary's skills test
13:07is 39-year-old Terry,
13:10who grew up in the Wirral
13:11and is now head chef at a gastropub near York.
13:15I love what I do.
13:17I'm very passionate about fresh local ingredients.
13:20Primarily, I cook fish,
13:22and then towards the end of the year,
13:23we go really gamey.
13:24So we get locals bringing us pheasants,
13:27guinea fowls, deers.
13:31I've been a chef for 20 years
13:33and I've been a head chef for 18 of those years.
13:37I've got probably just over 2,000 cookbooks.
13:40I like reading through
13:41and I find a lot of my inspiration through them.
13:44I've always tried to push myself further and further and further
13:47to try and make something of myself,
13:49make people proud of me.
13:50I'm going to put my heart and soul into it, yeah.
13:55Right, Terry,
13:56we'd like you to prepare and cook the roe deer,
13:59serve it with a tarragon gremolata
14:01and a chasse sauce.
14:03Yeah.
14:04Have you done any deer preparation?
14:05Stepped out a whole deer before, yeah.
14:07You've done the whole thing before?
14:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:09This shouldn't be a problem then.
14:10Yeah.
14:11Good.
14:12Excellent.
14:13What about the chasse sauce?
14:15My mum used to make it for us when we were kids.
14:17Did she?
14:18Fancy.
14:18Was it good?
14:22That's a no.
14:23We are going to give you 20 minutes.
14:25Ready?
14:25Yeah.
14:26Off you go.
14:29Terry, you said you broke down a whole deer.
14:31Yeah, I've done it a few times, actually.
14:33So this is familiar ground for you?
14:35Yeah.
14:35Yeah.
14:36Sense of relief?
14:37A little bit.
14:39Yeah, he's got good skills.
14:41He's done that before.
14:47Yeah, he's got that nice and clean.
14:51So, Terry, you're five minutes in now,
14:53feeling a bit more confident?
14:55Probably not.
15:02Oh, Terry's not developing any layers of flavour here.
15:06Everything's just getting bunged in.
15:14Um...
15:14Terry, are you all right?
15:16Yeah, yeah, fine.
15:17Yeah, yeah.
15:17I know it's a lot to try and think on your feet.
15:20Yeah.
15:21Trust your instincts.
15:23So, he knows he needs colour, but he's just not done it at the right stages.
15:33Benison's looking great.
15:36Terry, you've got five minutes to go.
15:38Cool.
15:39You've got to get that Benison out.
15:40Sauce finished and a tarragon gremolata made.
15:43Yeah.
15:44All right.
15:45Are you familiar with gremolata?
15:47I can't remember it, to be perfectly honest.
15:52Too much lemon.
15:53That's a lot.
15:54God.
15:55Terry, think about flavour.
15:58Terry, you've got two minutes left.
15:59You want to start thinking about putting this together.
16:01Yeah.
16:02Cool.
16:06It would be nice if he had half the tomatoes.
16:08He's not going to get any cooking in there or any heat in there at all.
16:15How's the Benison looking?
16:16Cooked the way you want it?
16:17Yeah.
16:18Just slightly pink, yeah.
16:20Terry, that's a proper northern portion you've got there.
16:22It is, yeah.
16:26Why, why, why?
16:28You've just covered the most amazing bit of road here.
16:31Wow.
16:33Terry, you finished?
16:35Yeah.
16:35Good, because your time's up.
16:37Well done.
16:38That's been a tough shift.
16:55So, the butchery of the road here, you managed to get the fillets off really well.
16:58You clearly knew what you were doing.
17:00Yeah.
17:01But halfway through, you just lost your confidence a little bit.
17:03Yeah, that's true, yeah.
17:05And you didn't think about the processes of what's going to end in the pan.
17:08You almost had a moment where you just went blank, just throwing tomatoes set on the top of your sauce
17:14at the end.
17:14You sort of weren't connecting.
17:16Yeah.
17:16It's all there, but it's just missing that finesse.
17:21The gremolata sauce, it's just a taste of lemon.
17:24Can't really taste the herbs and all that lemon juice is sort of running into the sauce.
17:27Yeah.
17:29I think if you get over your nerves, you'll be able to really, really finesse.
17:33Yeah.
17:40Sometimes the skills test gets rid of nerves.
17:43Sure.
17:43And we see a different chef in the next round, and that's what I hope Terry can do.
17:49I feel like I've been beaten up a little bit.
17:52I just expected better of myself, really, but hey, hopefully I can pull something out of the bag on the
17:57next test.
18:01Gary, we've got two more chefs waiting in the wings.
18:04What's your second skills test?
18:06King oyster mushroom katsu curry with a radish apple slaw.
18:10Like that.
18:11Katsu curry in Japan, you can use pork or chicken, but you're using king oyster mushrooms.
18:15I am indeed.
18:16And the reason I chose them is you still get the same texture.
18:20They're very, very meaty.
18:21You like a katsu curry, don't you, Marcus?
18:23I don't mind.
18:23I like my chips with some curry sauce from time to time.
18:26You know what I'm talking about.
18:27You know exactly what I'm talking about.
18:3020 minutes.
18:30Do you want to take it away?
18:31Yeah.
18:32The first thing I want to do is to make the katsu curry sauce.
18:36Katsu sauce is generally always served alongside something that's breaded and deep fried.
18:40That's traditionally what it is.
18:43The base of the sauce is onion, carrots and ginger.
18:48I think a lot of people are surprised when they find out that a katsu is made with carrots.
18:52You need a sweetness, right?
18:53Yeah.
18:54When you think about making curry sauce, you tend to start off with your spices in a dry pan.
18:58You've started with carrot and onion.
19:00This is where you're going to get a depth of flavour by cooking them and softening them down.
19:04I'm going to add curry powder.
19:11Wait till you smell this.
19:12Just in seconds, it just comes alive.
19:15I love your enthusiasm.
19:17You love cooking, don't you?
19:18I do, yeah.
19:19I think if you put a little bit of love in your food, it definitely comes out.
19:22Yeah.
19:23And then flour.
19:24It's going to help hold that sauce together.
19:26A little bit of stock and some coconut milk.
19:29Bring it down.
19:30Just let it tick away.
19:34So the next thing I'm going to make is the radish and apple slaw.
19:38So we've got a big old daikon here.
19:41It's got a really sweet crunch and I think it really complements the curry sauce.
19:46You're not going to give them a mandolin, I see.
19:47You want this by hand.
19:48Definitely.
19:51What I'm looking for is great knife skills.
19:54So we've got lovely crispy apple.
19:59Would you say winning MasterChef changed your life a little bit?
20:02Absolutely, without a doubt.
20:03Every day I open my emails and there's something amazing.
20:06One of the recent emails was, come and do the skills test at MasterChef.
20:10That's been the best one.
20:13You've got the daikon, you've got the apple, you've got chilli.
20:16What's going in next?
20:17I'm just going to add some sesame seeds.
20:20Again, just for a little bit of colour, a bit of crunch.
20:23It's also a massive skill, because salad is one of the hardest things to continually balance.
20:28Yes.
20:30You'll get really big flavours here.
20:32The wrong amount of acid, the wrong amount of sweetness here is going to throw everything off.
20:36We're now moving on to the king oyster mushrooms.
20:38When breadcrumbing, always start with flour.
20:40It's a classical combination, the flour, egg wash, breadcrumbs.
20:44There is no other way of doing it. It's that way round or not at all.
20:47Our chefs are really going to have to move now, aren't they?
20:49Yeah, they definitely are.
20:50Believe it or not, I was considering making this a 15-minute skills test.
20:53Oh, you should have.
20:54You're my favourite test.
20:57We're just going to deep fry.
20:59And what are you looking for? A nice sort of golden brown?
21:01Yeah, nice, crunchy.
21:03Whilst the mushrooms are frying, I'm going to blitz and then finish the sauce.
21:10And there we go.
21:12Mushrooms are ready.
21:14Those mushrooms look perfect.
21:21And there we have it.
21:22King oyster mushroom katsu curry with a radish apple slop.
21:26Beautiful.
21:30I love that.
21:31You've got that density of the mushroom.
21:33It's really meaty.
21:35The salad is delicious, it's fresh, it's vibrant.
21:37Great combination.
21:39The katsu curry, so much flavour.
21:42You've got the spices, but then the sweetness going through, the saltiness there.
21:46Works so beautifully.
21:48Could you make me another one?
21:49Of course.
21:50I'm excited.
21:51Can't wait to see what the chefs are going to do with this.
21:53Yeah, let's get the next chef in.
21:57First to face Gary's second skills test is 40-year-old New Zealander, Emma.
22:02She's been a chef for 23 years and is the head chef at a hotel restaurant in Edinburgh.
22:08I've got the best job in the world.
22:11I love fast-paced environment, the buzz of a service, the camaraderie.
22:17I wake up every morning happy to put the white jacket on.
22:20My food style is what I've learnt throughout my career.
22:24A little bit of Asian, French, European cooking as well.
22:28I'm really excited to be a part of the competition.
22:30Nervous, but excited.
22:32I've never really put myself out there before.
22:35Any type of feedback, regardless what it is, is like golden nuggets.
22:40So I've just got to take it on the chin and listen and keep pushing myself.
22:45Emma, we would like you to make a king oyster katsu curry
22:50with a green apple and radish slaw.
22:53How do you think about that?
22:54I haven't made a katsu curry before, but I've made a curry,
22:57so I'm just going to hopefully let my natural instincts guide me on that one.
23:01The sheer fact that she's never made a katsu, she still looks very confident.
23:0520 minutes, over to you.
23:10I'm going to start by making my sauce base first, my katsu curry.
23:15Will she use the carrots? That was a big question.
23:19I want to sweat off my vegetables first.
23:21There we go.
23:22I'm detecting an accent there. Where did you grow up?
23:25Originally grew up in New Zealand, and when I was 19,
23:27I got my chefing degree and then left there and set sail for Australia.
23:33OK.
23:34She started a little bit of vegetable stock to lift the flavour from the bottom of the pan.
23:40So why MasterChef?
23:42Why put yourself through this?
23:43I recently had a big birthday, and I thought, you know,
23:46I'm going to try a few new things in life,
23:48so recently taken up Pilates and badminton,
23:51so I thought, why not MasterChef?
23:52I mean, they go hand in hand, right?
23:57Just tell me about your panne station you've got there, your crumbing station.
24:01I've got some egg, I've got some milk, and I've got some flour.
24:04I'm just going to add a little bit of spice to the flour.
24:10Great.
24:10Thinking about flavour.
24:13What order are you doing that in?
24:14So, the flour, the egg, then the panne.
24:19Amazing.
24:20Very calm, very confident.
24:24You're over halfway.
24:26Just under ten minutes left.
24:34How are they looking?
24:35They are looking golden and hopefully crispy, Chef.
24:39Emma, you've got three minutes left, and you need to make a slaw.
24:42Yes, Chef.
24:43I don't think she's going to get the slaw done, unfortunately.
24:50There's a bit of speed.
24:51Not much time.
24:56Good knife skills here.
25:00Brilliant.
25:01Season it up, and I think you're ready to plate.
25:06Let's go, let's go, let's go.
25:17You done?
25:18All done.
25:19Excellent.
25:19Well done.
25:21That's impressive.
25:22Well done, Emma.
25:29Emma, that was outstanding.
25:31At the end, we had seconds left.
25:33You didn't lose your cool.
25:34Thank you, Chef.
25:40Emma, great confidence in the kitchen.
25:42Lovely and crispy king oyster mushroom.
25:44Good flavours in the sauce.
25:45Nice and creamy with the coconut milk.
25:47Doing the slaw in less than three minutes was quite impressive.
25:50Your cutting skills and speed was fabulous.
25:53But also, when you look at the slaw, it's evenly cut.
25:57The cut to curry, it's a shame that you were adding all the ingredients,
26:02but left most of it in the sieve.
26:04Get some of that out, or, you know, just blend it and serve it as it is.
26:07It's a rustic sort of dish.
26:10I love the dish, especially the mushroom.
26:12Your thought process and flavour and taste, texture was all there.
26:16I think you did amazingly well.
26:18Emma, that was a good start.
26:20I look forward to seeing your food in the next round.
26:22Thank you, Chef.
26:28I'm really impressed.
26:29Thinking about flavour, thinking about texture, she did really well.
26:32I'm actually excited to see Emma's cooking.
26:34Yeah.
26:34And she even gave you a little wave at the end.
26:36Oh, no, that was nice.
26:39I think I enjoyed it.
26:42Yeah, still processing.
26:44There's definitely some things that I would change.
26:49You're your worst critic, aren't you?
26:54Last up is Ismail.
26:57Hello, Chef.
26:58Who moved to the UK 16 years ago to study business, but chose a career in catering and is currently
27:04the head chef at a London gastropub.
27:08I grew up in a small city in Bangladesh called Rajshahi.
27:11Food is everything there.
27:13I do miss a lot of street food and my mom's home cooked meal.
27:19I try to create similar things.
27:21Sometimes I achieve, sometimes I give her a call and I say, okay, tell me how you did it.
27:29When I cook a plate of food and anybody tried, customer, one of my colleagues, my wife, the smile I
27:37see in their face, what makes me happy.
27:39I have skill, I have positive energy, and I think I thrive under pressure.
27:46I'm going to be your next master chef.
27:51Ismail, welcome to MasterChef.
27:53Welcome to your skills test.
27:54How are you feeling?
27:55Feeling excited, a little bit nervous, and happy to be here.
27:58What we'd like you to cook is a king oyster katsu curry served with a green apple and radish slaw.
28:05How does that sound to you?
28:06I'm familiar more with Bangladeshi curry or Indian curry.
28:09I try a lot of thyme katsu curry, cook a couple of times, so I'll give my best.
28:14Ismail, you've got 20 minutes.
28:16Good luck. Off you go.
28:21So, Ismail, what's your thought process right now?
28:24I'm going to make a paste with onion, garlic, ginger and a bit of chilli.
28:28Then when the sauce is getting ready, I'll pan in the mushroom and make the sauce.
28:32Okay.
28:33It's going to blitz it all and then cook it down.
28:36So, he's making it in a completely different style.
28:39Is this how you would traditionally make a curry?
28:41It's how I would make Bangladeshi curry.
28:44Okay.
28:45Sorry, I don't know why I'm shaky a little bit.
28:47Well, it's nerve-wracking.
28:52You've had seven minutes already.
28:54Okay.
28:59So, you were making your paste in the blender?
29:01Yeah.
29:02I'm frying the onion, a bit golden colour.
29:04Then I add a bit of curry powder.
29:05Before it's burned, I'm going to go with the paste.
29:10He's left the carrot on the bench.
29:12And he's going to miss the sweetness from that.
29:16When you're off, when you're at home, do you do the cooking?
29:19At the moment, I got a newborn baby.
29:22So, I'm helping out my wife, make sure my wife is fed so she can feed the baby.
29:28I'm panning the mushroom.
29:31I'm panning the mushroom.
29:32You have got five minutes left.
29:33Your mushrooms are in the fryer.
29:34Your sauce is cooking away.
29:36You're cutting up your slaw.
29:39I'm going to slice some carrot, just for the colour and texture as well.
29:44Good scale.
29:46Yeah.
29:49How's it feel?
29:50I feel a little bit better than before, but I need to push a little bit harder so I can
29:54get everything done.
29:56Oh, just watch the salt.
30:00Now it's a bit salty.
30:01Can you fix it with something?
30:03Yeah.
30:03We need some sweetness.
30:07Oh, he's got a bit of honey in there.
30:10Ismail, you've got one minute.
30:11Let's put this on a plate.
30:15Goodness, what are we doing?
30:19Come on, come on, come on.
30:20You've got a few seconds left.
30:25That's it.
30:26Time is up.
30:29And relax.
30:39You're missing a few of the elements.
30:40One of the most important ingredients in there is the carrot.
30:44Yes, we've got a curry sauce, but unfortunately it's not a katsu.
30:48It's made the king oysters.
30:50They're delicious.
30:51It's got a nice, crunchy bite to it.
30:53But the salad you can make really sing with the ingredients that are on the table.
30:58Unfortunately, the way you've plated it, it's all lost into the sauce.
31:02Everything tastes the same.
31:04We've got a curry sauce, we've got the mushrooms breaded, but your seasoning's not great.
31:09And I'm not sure about the presentation.
31:10Just dumping the sauce on the plate and putting everything on top of it.
31:13The jug was there.
31:14That's where we'd like to have seen the sauce.
31:17Mixed bag, but don't be disheartened.
31:19We very much look forward to seeing what you have for us in the next round.
31:22Thank you, Chef.
31:30A little bit disappointed.
31:31I know I could do better.
31:32I just need to pull everything together.
31:35What I put on the plate on the next round is going to be delicious.
31:38I know it's going to blow their mind.
31:45We've just seen our first four chefs of the competition.
31:47I thought it was okay.
31:48I thought it was a great first day.
31:50I think there was one standout.
31:52That was Emma.
31:52Cool, calm, collected.
31:54I thought Mario did a good job.
31:56He got the venison off.
31:56He made a nice sauce.
31:57He didn't quite get the jus right, but good overall cooking.
32:01You could see that Terry was very, very nervous when he came in.
32:04Didn't really plan out his dish.
32:05And the gremolata, too much lemon juice in there.
32:07And it just wasn't quite coming together as a dish.
32:10Ismael struggled a little bit.
32:12Katsu curry made a different type of curry.
32:14And as the clock ticked, you could see the pressure build.
32:17He was forgetting all those fundamental basics over seasoning and things like that.
32:23Gary, it's been fabulous having you back in the MasterChef kitchen.
32:26It was my pleasure.
32:26Thank you very much.
32:27Thanks, guys.
32:34I think in the next round, they're going to be cooking their own food,
32:36so I think we'll see very different chefs.
32:39Absolutely.
32:39It's when their confidence really starts to sink.
32:42Looking forward to this.
32:56Signature dish is a dish that tells us all about you as a chef.
33:00Your style, your flavour, it's your cuisine.
33:04At the end of this round, two of you will become quarter finalists.
33:08That does mean two of you are going to be leaving the competition.
33:13One hour, 20 minutes.
33:15Off you go.
33:25I'd like to have priced my signature dish a little bit more
33:28after having the skills test I've just had,
33:30but I'm quite confident I'll be able to show a bit more finesse.
33:34I'm going to go all out for this.
33:35One more chance, so hopefully it'll work.
33:44Terry, how are you feeling?
33:46A little bit nervous, but I'm all right.
33:47Good stuff, good stuff.
33:48What's the name of the dish?
33:49Hay smoked lamb noisette.
33:50It's wild garlic and used curd.
33:52Wow.
33:53OK, so what's your style of your signature?
33:55Used a lot of forage stuff.
33:56OK, so you love foraging, you love a bit of...
33:58I love foraging, yeah.
33:59So where did you learn to forage?
34:01So my grandfather used to take us foraging through the woods and stuff
34:03when we were really young and when we were off camping in North Wales.
34:06Right.
34:07What's cooking your destiny?
34:08It's always something I've wanted to do,
34:10because when I was really young, we had a stool in front of the stove,
34:13and as soon as I was able to stand on it, I'd be cooking my own tea.
34:16Really?
34:17Terry, you crack on.
34:18I love the sound of this dish.
34:19Thank you very much.
34:20Cheers.
34:22Terry is cooking hay-smoked lamb rolled in wild garlic.
34:26It's quite important that the lamb is cooked to perfection, to be fair,
34:29so it's nice and soft in the middle.
34:31Tell me the process of the lamb cookery.
34:33I've smoked it in hay.
34:34You've done that already?
34:35I've done that already.
34:35That's quick.
34:36Well, it only needs a few minutes,
34:37because I don't really want to take too much of the flavour of the lamb away.
34:39OK.
34:40I'm just going to water bath, and then I'm just going to pan roast it at the end.
34:42OK.
34:43And serve pink?
34:44Serve pink, yeah.
34:45Put it into a little bit of a smoker,
34:46but I don't think there's going to be enough of that smoke on it,
34:49because it wasn't in for very long.
34:51I will say that he has to be really careful.
34:54I noticed when he was rolling it, the fat content was quite thick.
35:02We've got wild garlic puree, we've got a wild garlic lamb jus,
35:05we've got wild garlic running through the potatoes.
35:09Put the potato on the spiraliser, put wild garlic in them, rolled them up.
35:13It's a little potato roulade, essentially.
35:16He's cooking it in lamb kidney fat, so it should be crispy.
35:21Ooh, I am liking the sound of this.
35:24Looking all right, to be fair.
35:27Terry's looking much cooler and calmer now.
35:30I think he's much more in control, and I really hope he brings it together.
35:34How long's left?
35:3625 minutes gone, OK?
35:38Oui.
35:38Oui.
35:42I'm hoping the judges will love my food.
35:44I'm pretty sure they will.
35:46I'm very confident about this.
35:47After the skill test, I'm way more, like, chill now.
35:56Mario's dish is steamed turbot.
35:57We've got mussel and turbot croquette.
36:00We've got morel stuffed with mussel mousse,
36:02as well as asparagus and a nori twili.
36:08Mario.
36:09Hello, chef.
36:09Why this dish?
36:10Tarbo is the fish that I always have with my family when I go on holidays.
36:13Restaurant on the beach, with my feet on the sand,
36:16eating tarbo cooked on the fire.
36:18Mario, is your mum a big fan of your cooking?
36:21She followed me on Instagram.
36:22She likes everything I post, but she hasn't tried much so far.
36:26Does she even know that you're here?
36:27No, she doesn't know.
36:28Oh, really?
36:29Nobody in my family knows.
36:30I will tell them when I finish.
36:34Mario is very well organized, beautiful fish mongery.
36:37He's cut the fillets into strips, and then he's rolled them into what we call little poppiettes.
36:41Yeah, it's looking good.
36:42Put a skewer through them, and he's steamed them.
36:44Tarbo, you know, it's a flat fish.
36:47Over-steaming this can cause this fish to dry out, and that's not what we want.
36:52It's one of the most expensive fish you can get.
36:56I'm really curious about the fish heads you've got boiling here.
36:59I'm going to use the stock for the veloute, with the mussel stock.
37:02I'm going to do the roux first, and then ta-ta-ta, charlotte.
37:05Okay.
37:08I'm using the mussel stock for the veloute, and then the mussel meat I'm going to use it for the
37:12croquette,
37:12with the fish trimmings from the tarbo.
37:14And then I use the mussel to do a mousse with double cream, and charlotte, and parsley, and lemon, to
37:18serve the morels.
37:21So we've got mussels in the mushroom, in the croquette, and we've got mussel stock in the sauce.
37:26And the most important thing, that the mussels are beautiful and clean.
37:30You don't want any grit in those mussels, because it will affect two big elements of his dish.
37:36So the veloute is like a really classic recipe from Spain, parsley and garlic sauce.
37:40As we know from the skills test, Mario loves a punch of garlic.
37:44Hopefully he's tempered a little bit.
37:46I would tell this time not to use as much garlic.
37:49Mario has a lot of work to do.
37:51He is running around this kitchen, but he's got to keep focused.
37:56You're already halfway through.
37:58Oui.
37:59Time flies when you're having fun.
38:01Oui.
38:04I'm definitely looking forward to cooking my own food for the judges.
38:07It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
38:11My signature dish today is going to be a little bit of a play on a traditional-style cooking method
38:18that we use in New Zealand called a hangi.
38:24So we would dig a hole in the backyard, fill it with volcanic rock and stone.
38:28Usually we'd put a whole side of lamb in with some root vegetables, cover the pit with some earth,
38:34have a couple of beers, some wines, and then dig it all up in the afternoon and hopefully have a
38:38good time.
38:39I love a hangi.
38:40You know, memories of celebration, that's what it is back in New Zealand.
38:43Yeah, it's very, very close to my heart.
38:46So how are you recreating that here?
38:48I'm going to be doing a settle of lamb.
38:50I'll be smoking the lamb under the cloche.
38:52I'm doing a lamb tartare and a brick pastry cigar with some sheep's curd, wild garlic and honey emulsion over
38:59the top
38:59with some kumara potato on the plate.
39:02Kumara is sweet potato, is what we call it in New Zealand.
39:06I'm very excited.
39:06This is my first hangi, so I very much look forward to trying this.
39:09Hopefully we can take you to New Zealand.
39:11Oh, 100%.
39:14So with the lamb, I'm going to be pan-searing it and that will be finished in the oven and
39:18then smoked under the cloche.
39:21Hopefully she has it quite strong because you want some of that smokiness to permeate through the flavours of this
39:27dish.
39:28With the lamb sauce today, I'll be roasting off the bones, getting a nice caramelisation.
39:35You want to get so much flavour into the sauce, reduce it.
39:38There's a bit of Madeira in there as well, so a little bit of sweetness.
39:41And also quite a few spices.
39:43I've got some cumin seed, I've got some cardamom and a little bit of fennel seed in the sauce today.
39:49And of course some pinot noir, lamb pinot noir.
39:53It's a vibe.
40:00Emma is making a crispy pastry.
40:03She's using brick pastry.
40:06She's wrapped it round a tube.
40:08Sheep's curd is going to be going inside.
40:10And then she's taken a little bit of the lamb saddle.
40:12She's chopped it up for the tartare.
40:14Going to sit on top, but she needs to make sure the cylinder is nice and crispy, but also cold
40:18before she puts the ingredients inside and on top.
40:21Sheep's curd is native to New Zealand, but also known as sweet potato.
40:25With the kumara today, we're just going to be roasting that off in the oven, since I can't dig a
40:30hole in the backyard.
40:31That would just be finished like a little puree on the plate.
40:37Chefs, you have 30 minutes left.
40:42The skill test didn't go as smooth and nice I wanted to be.
40:46I think they could tell I was nervous, but this round I have to think clearly.
40:50I need to push to absolute limit to show the judges I am the chef they're looking for.
40:57Ismail, you're looking much more sort of cool and calm.
41:00Absolutely.
41:01Can you tell us what your dish is?
41:02Beef Buna with potato fondant, burned lime and coriander yoghurt, served with cumin and mustard seed rice and cucumber and
41:10pickled onion salad.
41:11What's a Beef Buna?
41:13Beef Buna is cooked in a sauce for a longer time.
41:16Sauce thicken and all the flavour becomes concentrate.
41:18Why are you cooking your Beef Buna?
41:20When I was a kid, growing up back home in Bangladesh, we couldn't afford beef every week.
41:24So every time my mum would cook this Beef Buna.
41:27And I would come from school up in the main door and I would feel this aroma and I used
41:31to get very happy.
41:33And this dish takes me back home.
41:35Does your mum know that you're cooking this dish in her honour?
41:37She does.
41:38I spoke to her and she was very happy and proud and also she told me, don't let me down.
41:44Can you cook it as good as your mother though?
41:46I'll try.
41:47You looking forward to this?
41:48I am.
41:48Very excited.
41:49Sounds fantastic.
41:50Good luck.
41:50Brilliant, Chef.
41:54Short robe, you need it to be tender.
41:55It needs to just fall apart.
41:58Normally that would take at least two and a half, three hours.
42:00And I have only an hour and 20 minutes.
42:02That's why I'm pressure cooking it.
42:05Very nice.
42:06He's got the beef rib cooking in a little bit of juice, put all of the spices and he's got
42:10the sauce on the side.
42:12And I tasted the Buna sauce and it was hot.
42:16Is that hot to you?
42:18Very hot.
42:18I thought so because I thought it was just me.
42:22Oh, what have we got here?
42:23Ah, so you've got the potatoes in there.
42:25Ah, a bit sneaky.
42:27He's taken the fondants from the frying pan and put them into the pressure cooker to impart some of that
42:31flavour.
42:32I think that's an absolute genius thing to do.
42:36I just need to start working on the rice.
42:38I know from first-hand experience, rice can go wrong on you.
42:41It's very easy to overcook it, to undercook it.
42:44Cumin and mustard seed rice, you want to taste the cumin and mustard seeds.
42:49We've also got a lime yoghurt.
42:51A bit of freshness to cut through all the spices, just to help clean the palate a bit.
43:00It's cooking a dish that's just wafted all over this kitchen, full of spice.
43:06And I am excited.
43:09So what have you just added?
43:11I just did some yoghurt.
43:12But you're still keeping it on the same flavour as mum.
43:15Yes, chef.
43:16Got to.
43:19Chefs, you've got just under ten minutes, all right?
43:21Oui, chef.
43:22Yes, chef.
43:26Fish is ready to steam.
43:28What else have you got left to do?
43:30Fry the croquets.
43:32Critical moment.
43:34Please don't break.
43:36I'm doing my workout today, yeah?
43:40I'm just going to roast this lamb.
43:42I'm just going to render some of the fat down.
43:44Are you happy?
43:45We'll see.
43:47What do you think?
43:48I'll tell you later.
43:52How are you doing, Emma?
43:53I need to start building.
43:55All right, stay on it.
43:56Yes, chef.
43:57This is the cigar that's going to be stuffed with lamb tartare.
44:01Come on.
44:05The beef, you need a little bit longer, and then I'm good to plate up.
44:09Chefs, you have four minutes left.
44:12How are they?
44:13I'm happy.
44:14I think I've got you under control, surprisingly.
44:17Little poppy eggs.
44:18Very nice.
44:23Emma, are you going to be all right?
44:25Yes, chef.
44:28I couldn't get the mousse ready for the morels.
44:31I didn't emulsify as I thought, so I just put in the belute.
44:35Can I have timing, please?
44:37Guys, 60 seconds left.
44:39Yes, chef.
44:40Wait.
44:41Wait.
44:44I'm happy with the beef.
44:45Yes, chef.
44:46Things are looking great in here.
44:47Smells good.
44:48I hope you will get them up on time.
44:51Emma, we really need to get some food on your plates.
44:55Yes, Emma.
44:56That's it.
44:57Right to the last second.
45:00OK, chefs, time's up.
45:08Mario, would you like to come up?
45:11First to face the judges is head chef, Mario, whose signature dish is steamed turbot with a nori tuile, a
45:19mussel croquette, morel mushrooms, and asparagus, served with a garlic and mussel veluté, split with parsley oil.
45:30I thought you were stuffing the morels.
45:32Yes, that was the idea.
45:33I couldn't emulsify properly and get thick enough, so I just added it into the belute.
45:38So there's no stuffing inside the morels.
45:45Mario, croquette, I'm really enjoying.
45:47Well-made, crunchy, great flavour.
45:49I love the turbot cookery.
45:51Steamed fish is something you don't see a great deal of, but you've done that very, very well.
45:55Thank you, chef.
45:55The veluté, for me, has got a real punch of mussels.
45:59I love the garlic element to it as well, and it brought all the dish together.
46:03The tuile is very good.
46:05It's got that good nori, kind of fishy taste to it, so it deserves a place on the plate.
46:10Thank you, chef.
46:11It's great to see you fillet that fish beautifully done.
46:14You're a chef that goes 100 miles an hour, but when you're going at that speed, go back over it.
46:19When you were taking the fillet off, it has caught some of the bones.
46:23And be really careful with that detail.
46:27I was looking forward to the stuffed morels, but in saying that, what I have here, it's well done.
46:33I wish, yeah.
46:38Well done.
46:39Well done.
46:40Yeah, I'm feeling great.
46:41I'm feeling great.
46:42I have a nice feedback.
46:44I couldn't make the mousse with the morels, but I had the only sauce, so at least the flavour was
46:48still there.
46:50I will check everything if I go forward, but I will slow down because I need to go fast.
46:55Time flies in here.
46:57Terry, come on up.
47:01Head chef Terry has presented hay-smoked lamb noisette, rolled in wild garlic, with pickled wild garlic capers, alongside yew's
47:11curd and a wild garlic puree.
47:13A potato rose stuffed with wild garlic and cooked in kidney fat, with asparagus and a lamb jus.
47:26Terry, I love your ideas.
47:29Love that garlic puree.
47:30I think that's got great flavour.
47:31More of that, please.
47:32And your potato.
47:33The way you've wrapped it up, you've got the garlic running through it and you cooked it with the kidney
47:37fat.
47:37But there is two things here that are glaringly obvious for me.
47:41The one is the smoking.
47:42I'm not tasting it.
47:43And I have to say, the level of rendering of the fat.
47:45That's just a little bit on the underside.
47:49The asparagus is very good.
47:51I love the curd.
47:52I think that's a really welcome addition.
47:53But the strong overriding flavour on this plate is that sauce.
47:57It's far too reduced.
47:58And it's just too overpowering.
48:00OK.
48:01But everything else, very good.
48:04The lamb, which is beautifully rolled, but just some parts in the middle where the fat is quite thick, needs
48:10really rendering down.
48:11But the flavours are wonderful.
48:13Then there's the pickled garlic capers, and they're delicious.
48:16It's a little surprise I wasn't expecting.
48:19But like Matt, I find the sauce really too strong.
48:23Maybe just a touch, too much reduction there.
48:27Thanks very much.
48:31Just a few things I probably could have done slightly better.
48:34Cheers.
48:35But it's life, isn't it?
48:37Once you've done something, it's not all you can go back on, really.
48:40I'm not going to get dragged over the coals for my lamb fat as well.
48:43Don't worry.
48:45Next up is head chef Emma, who's smoking her dish to replicate a traditional New Zealand hungi.
48:52She's made saddle of lamb and wild garlic, lamb tartare, and sheep's curd in a pastry cylinder,
48:59topped with wild garlic emulsion and black garlic honey dressing, sweet potato puree, charred roscoff onion, and lamb sauce.
49:11This is a dish inspired by a traditional hungi, hence the aromas of the smoke.
49:16I think it would have been lovely to actually get some of that into the food, you know, smoke the
49:22sweet potato properly or in the oven.
49:25Your lamb here, which has been seared, it's wonderful, it's pink.
49:28I do like the fat on it, but I just think it needs to be rendered down just a little
49:32bit more.
49:33Each individual element, I'm enjoying.
49:36The sauce I really like, because you've had lots of spices in there, lots of strong flavours, but it wasn't
49:40overpowering.
49:43Roscoff onion's good, your sweet potato puree's lovely, but I think you should have made it more of a feature
49:47out of the lamb tartare.
49:49I think it's a great idea.
49:50The black garlic and the sweetness of that.
49:53I love it, but I don't taste the tartare.
50:00I love it.
50:03A little bit of mixed emotions at the moment.
50:08There was some positive feedback, but then there were definitely some valid feedbacks as well.
50:13So, yeah, mixed bag, I think.
50:21Esma, what would you like to come up?
50:25Finally, head chef Ismael has made beef short rib bunah, topped with crispy shallots, a potato fondant, burnt lime and
50:36coriander yoghurt, served with cumin and mustard seed rice, and a cucumber and pickled onion salad.
50:43Ismael, this looks wonderful, really beautifully presented bunah, very modern, and extra bits that make you feel spoiled.
50:57Ismael, your beef bunah, it's like having a beautiful spice crust wrapped around this braced bit of short rib, falling
51:06apart.
51:06I like that you didn't trim all of the fatty bits off of it, because in a curry, that's what
51:10really makes the meat that goes into it.
51:12But my biggest surprise was this bowl of rice here.
51:17Instantly, I was taken back to a childhood memory when my siblings used to put butter through hot rice.
51:24And as I'm eating that, you've got this fat on the rice and this hint of mustard seed.
51:30I'm really enjoying this.
51:32The spicing is really well done.
51:35It's not too much.
51:36It's not underdone.
51:37It's got enough heat behind it, and they're lingering spices.
51:40My only criticism is the burnt lime and coriander yoghurt.
51:43I love this.
51:45I want more of it.
51:46It's delicious.
51:46Give me more.
51:48The fondant is soft and delicious.
51:51And there was something that you did today that I was so pleased about.
51:54Because you took those potatoes and you put them into the pressure cooker to absorb all of that flavour.
52:00This little salad on the side is lovely and fresh.
52:03Lovely heat of the mustard oil.
52:05This is what I was hoping for.
52:06It's delicious.
52:07It's fantastic.
52:08It's got all the flavours that I want.
52:10Well done, you.
52:11But is it as good as Mum's?
52:14In your opinion?
52:15My mum does it better.
52:16If Mum's is better than this, I would love to try it.
52:19For sure, chef.
52:22I wasn't expecting that much good compliments.
52:26I'm really, really happy.
52:28Nice one, Mum.
52:29Smash it.
52:30Well done, bro.
52:31Everything they say was positive and everything was amazing.
52:34Nailed it, man.
52:35It was amazing.
52:35It was amazing.
52:36Comment like that from all three judges.
52:41Chef Marcus say he wants to meet my mum to try, and that makes me feel really happy.
52:51I don't know about you two, but I think that was a great start to the competition.
52:58Lovely ideas.
52:59Some good cooking on show.
53:00So who is the standout chef for you guys?
53:03I think actually all of us.
53:04Ismail is the chef that really stood out.
53:07Beef Boona, inspired by Mum's cooking.
53:10Really impressive.
53:11He cooks with such heart, and that really, really shone through.
53:14That was a big nostalgic dish for him.
53:16I thought you absolutely nailed it today.
53:18I really did.
53:19Ismail really turned around after his skills test.
53:22He deserves to go through.
53:23Couldn't agree more.
53:24That leaves us with Terry, Emma, and Mario.
53:27Three chefs with things we liked and things we didn't like.
53:30Terry wasn't that confident in the skills test, but he came back fighting.
53:35The lamb cooking was great.
53:37However, the fatty part on the outside, some of it weren't quite rendered enough.
53:41The sauce, I found, too, was reduced.
53:43It was really strong for me.
53:46Mario gave us beautifully steamed to turbot.
53:49However, there were some bones on there.
53:52My concern for Mario is he just needs to slow down just a little bit.
53:57I thought the sauce was delicious, and the croquette was very good.
54:00A few things to improve, but overall, not bad.
54:03Emma's lamb dish, for me, it was Missy.
54:06The smokiness.
54:07I love the flavour of the bit of tartare, just not enough of it.
54:10I mean, there was a good amount of skill on that plate,
54:13but the lamb fat wasn't rendered enough.
54:16That was far too fatty.
54:19Now we've got three chefs with strengths and weaknesses.
54:23Who else is going to join Ismail in the next round?
54:30Hopefully, I've done enough.
54:32I'll be ecstatic.
54:33If I got food for the next round, to be fair.
54:37Yeah.
54:40I really want to keep going and go to the next stage, obviously.
54:45If I need to leave the competition, you know, at least I did my best.
54:51I'm hoping there's enough skill on the plate
54:53that they can look past those small mistakes today.
54:56My fate is in the Chef God's hands now.
55:10Chefs, I'd just like to say,
55:11after many years of judging this competition,
55:14that was a fabulous start.
55:16Some great cooking on show.
55:19Well done.
55:22Sadly, two of you will be leaving us today.
55:26The first chef through to the next round
55:31is Maui.
55:33Congratulations.
55:34We all enjoyed your cooking today.
55:37You keep that up.
55:40Our second and final chef through to the next round is...
55:57Mario.
55:59Thank you, Chef.
56:00Remember, take a moment.
56:01Yes.
56:04Terry, Emma, thank you very much.
56:06But unfortunately, you are leaving us today.
56:10Thank you, Chefs.
56:17A bit disappointed.
56:19Never amazing when you go out on the first day.
56:22But I feel like I can walk away from this with my head held high.
56:27And I've enjoyed every minute of it.
56:31The pressure wasn't what I expected, if I'm honest.
56:35It's a tough competition, isn't it?
56:38If it wasn't for me nerves,
56:40I probably would have been a bit more relaxed through it.
56:43I'm happy with how I've done.
56:47Congratulations, you are MasterChef quarter-finalists.
56:50That's my man.
56:52Feels unreal.
56:54Like a dream.
56:55A dream that'll become true.
56:57It's good to be fast, but not so fast.
56:59Slow down, I'll be thinking twice, breathe.
57:01Definitely ready for more.
57:02I can't wait for more.
57:03I'm very, very excited.
57:05I can't wait to tell my wife and my daughter.
57:08Cooking in a MasterChef kitchen is one of the toughest things I've done in my life.
57:11Five, three judges love my food.
57:13I can take a deep breath now.
57:19Next time, four new hopefuls fight for their place in the quarter-final.
57:29A bit like cough syrup.
57:31Under pressure, but under control.
57:34It just works beautifully.
57:37Honestly, this has blown me away.
57:40I absolutely love it.
58:09But I'll see you next time.
58:09You
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