Original subtitles

It's the battle for the ultimate culinary prize.

Hmm...!

60 of the country's best home cooks...

I need to stop shaking.

..all with their hearts set...

Not really sure what I'm doing.

Flaming brilliant.

..on the coveted MasterChef trophy.

This is the sort of stuff that dreams are made of.

That is a cracker of a job.

This is absolutely banging.

Yes!

Each week, 12 extraordinary amateur talents...

..battle for a place...

Yum, yum, yum.

Ow! Wow, that's hot.

..in the quarterfinal.

I think it's delicious.

This is a revelation. Congratulations.

But only the best can earn their passports

to the ultimate cookery showdown.

A British culinary icon is just

about to enter the MasterChef kitchen.

Are we ready for this?

Concentrate.

I cannot stand it.

I like it. I love it.

21 years of MasterChef

and every year, our expectations get higher and higher.

Light the stoves, get yourself a clean apron.

Let's find some talent.

The MasterChef heats continue.

And six more ambitious home cooks

are about to take their shot at becoming this year's champion.

But at the end of today,

only three will make it through to this week's quarterfinal.

It feels incredible to be part of the competition.

You know, I've dreamed of it for so long.

So for it to finally be here, it feels unbelievable.

Food means a lot to me.

It's just my safe place and I love it.

I have no idea how I'm going to cope with the pressure.

I might laugh, I might cry.

I think on my best day,

I'm certainly in with a shot of going all the way.

Hello, and a very warm welcome.

This is day one of what could be an incredible MasterChef journey.

We are very much looking forward to tasting your food.

This first round we call Basic to Brilliant.

We want you to take a basic ingredient -

something you may find

in your shopping basket every single week -

to absolutely brilliant.

And at the end of this round,

Gregg and I will choose our two favourite dishes.

The people who have cooked those

will get themselves an apron and go straight through.

The remaining four will have to cook again.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have one hour and 20 minutes.

Let's cook.

MasterChef. It's everything, you know?

So let's go. Let's do this.

46-year-old teacher Mickael grew up in the West Indies.

He cooks the dishes of his Caribbean-French heritage

for his wife and two sons.

I am from a

very traditional Caribbean family.

I've got seven sisters,

three brothers.

We had big gatherings, whether at home or by the beach.

So I think I've learnt a lot

and hopefully I'll be able to showcase it on MasterChef.

Mickael, what's your basic ingredient, please?

Sweet potato. When I was young, I didn't like it.

The only way I liked it is when my mum used to do the dish

I'm going to make today.

So it's a smooth, silky soup

with the sweet potato, pumpkin,

pan-fried prawns with the crostini as well.

What do you do for a living?

I'm a teacher.

I teach French and Spanish.

How do I say good luck in French?

Bonne chance.

How do I say good luck in Spanish?

Buena suerte.

Both of those.

Gracias. Merci.

GREGG LAUGHS

Prawns, sweet potatoes and pumpkin.

All cooked together like a smooth soup.

He's taking the prawns, roasting the shells to make a bisque -

a sauce of types - which is going to flavour his soup.

Not too sweet, not too sharp, not too chilli hot.

He's got to get that flavour absolutely right.

A bit of salt.

29-year-old Gabriel from north west London

learnt to cook with his Greek-Cypriot grandfather,

who was a chef.

He now cooks world cuisine at home for his wife.

My cooking style, I try not to put myself in one bracket.

I try to make

as many different cuisines as possible.

Just need to stay calm.

Nice, deep breaths and focus on the task at hand.

Gabriel, good to meet you.

What's your basic ingredient, please?

Corn.

I think there's nothing better than corn on the cob.

What's your dish today?

Corn tortillas, which I'm going to make from scratch.

A little bit of grilled beef with corn salsa, avocado puree.

And then I'm going to do corn ribs on the side.

What do you do for a living?

I'm a personal trainer.

What part does food play in your life?

I'm careful 60% of the time, but I love eating good food.

Today I'm giving you a bit of healthy but tasty.

Gabriel's using corn in three different ways.

He's making tacos, so he's using cornflour.

He's making a corn salsa, and then he's making corn ribs -

cutting it into four pieces

and frying it so it goes nice and crispy.

He's using bavette beef inside the taco.

He needs to cook it so it's slightly pink.

If he cooks it too much, it's going to go very, very dry.

30 minutes gone, guys.

Half an hour gone.

Financial management consultant Fay was born in Tunisia.

She loves creating the dishes of her heritage,

fused with flavours from her time living in Asia.

I started messing around with my grandma's spices

when I was about,

like, three years old or something.

I'm looking to showcase Tunisian flavours.

Nothing is going to be traditional the way my grandma makes it,

just because that's...that's me.

What's your basic ingredient?

Chicken.

My dish is inspired by a Tunisian classic called jelbana,

which is a pea stew.

So I'm going to put the peas and the artichokes

inside the chicken and stuff them into ballotines,

and you're going to have a little bit of Asian flavours

in the jus with some fresh turmeric,

coconut and soy.

This dish... Yeah. ..just defies geography.

Yeah, and that's probably

the best way to summarise me and my life.

It's me on a plate, really.

Fay's making a chicken ballotine.

The chicken needs to be lovely and soft.

The stuffing inside - peas, globe artichokes,

which are quite sharp.

She's doing crispy chicken skin,

Jerusalem artichokes served with soy sauce,

and then we've got a chicken sauce flavoured with turmeric.

This is fascinating.

Can she make all these flavours work?

50-year-old advanced podiatrist Emily

lives in Port Talbot in Wales

and enjoys cooking her own childhood favourites

for her three kids.

A lot of my influences

come from Ireland and Irish food.

I'm classical, probably.

And sometimes you don't

have to do very much and just let the ingredients sing.

You just magic that flavour out of them.

Emily, you're the only one in the room doing a pudding.

Is that good or bad? I don't know.

Depends how good the pudding is.

This is going to be like a hug in a pudding.

What's your basic ingredient, please, Emily?

Bread. So I'm doing bread and butter pudding.

Brown bread ice cream.

I'm doing a caramel whiskey sauce.

And I'm going to do a fuchsia -

edible flower from West Cork - cream with it.

Is that where you're from? Yeah. West Cork.

The best ingredients, best people, best pubs.

Yeah. I am totally in love with Irish food.

I'm hoping when you eat it, you'll feel that as well.

Emily's making a bread and butter pudding with raisins

she's soaked in Irish whiskey.

Crispy across the top,

and then a lovely soft custard sitting underneath.

Undercooked and it could be like a milkshake.

Overcooked it could be like scrambled eggs.

We've got a whiskey and caramel sauce.

That's great.

And then we've also got an apple and blackberry compote.

Brown bread ice cream, soft brown sugar,

brown bread, into a flavour of vanilla ice cream and then churn.

There's lots of skill on show here if she can make this work.

Staffordshire-born Peter has been cooking for 20 years.

He dreams of starting his own street food business

and touring the UK festival circuit.

Cooking - I'm pretty much self-taught, most of it.

I take a lot of inspiration from what my mum used to cook.

People have told me before that really,

you should try something like this.

So I'm going to give it a go and just see if I'm hopefully

as good as I think I am.

Peter, you've got some lovely ingredients here.

What's your basic ingredient, please?

Rice.

Just dead versatile. You can make it luxurious,

comfort food, whatever you want.

And hopefully we're going

to be erring on the side of luxurious with this one.

What is your dish, please?

Porcini risotto.

Some wild mushrooms served with pan-fried pigeon breast.

A champion - game. We don't use enough of it.

It's fantastic produce.

What do you do for a living, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm a floor fitter.

How are your knees?

Broken.

Any similarities between laying floors and cooking?

Erm, no.

Peter's rice dish is going to be a risotto.

And he's making a stock using wood pigeon

and some porcini - dried mushrooms.

That rice needs to be cooked all the way through.

It can't be too hard, and it can't be falling apart.

And then we've got pan-fried wood pigeon breast.

He needs to cook that all the way through,

but still have a little river of pink running through it.

39-year-old Nick hails from Essex.

When he's not watching

all things football,

he cooks elaborate dishes

with his wife and two sons.

It's going to be so different

having other people taste my food rather

than just my family or friends.

They're all quite nice to me about my food,

so I've got to get used to people maybe critiquing

it slightly more than they do.

Nick's ingredient of choice is mushrooms,

and he's using them in five different ways.

He's making mushroom Wellington by making a mushroom pate,

which needs to be nice and dry.

We want that puff pastry to be golden

and cooked all the way around the outside.

He's doing a mushroom and Stilton bon bon,

crispy outside, salty Stilton all the way through.

Mushroom crumb, mushroom sauce with red wine, using porcini.

And then he's also doing pickled oyster mushrooms.

There's a lot going on the plate here,

and I hope it actually delivers in flavour.

What do you do, Nick?

I'm a personal carer

for young adults with severe learning difficulties.

Are you? Yeah.

It's an amazing job to do.

I feel very lucky to try and help them just...and push them

as well and challenge them, not just accept that that's it.

Are you a family man, Nick?

Yep. Yeah. Wife and two children.

Yeah, I got my card from my eldest with his MasterChef good luck.

That's brilliant.

Nick, I wish you the best of luck.

You're a big man with an even bigger heart.

Thank you muchly. Good luck, mate.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

You've got eight minutes, everybody.

Just eight minutes.

Conscious of time. We will get everything on the plate.

I'm just worried the mushroom Wellington's

not going to be cooked.

What will be, will be.

Praying for ice cream at the moment.

You've got a minute left.

You have just one minute left, please.

I said stop!

Whoa!

Mickael, if you would, please.

Language teacher Mickael has made a French-Caribbean

soup with his basic ingredient of sweet potato, with pumpkin,

prawn stock, tiger prawns and a crostini.

Love the colour. It's like a Caribbean sunrise.

You've got a lovely, sweet,

velvety smooth soup here flavoured with sweet potato.

A little bit of that pumpkin which is slightly nutty,

but it needs some more bits.

Loads more prawns, probably chopped up, and then crostini -

a big pile of them on the side.

There's quite a bit of garlic in there,

and then you pick up the sweetness of, almost like a prawn bisque.

I wouldn't mind some more prawns.

However, I think that's a really attractive dish

and I am really enjoying the flavours there, Mickael.

I should have maybe served

a bit more crostini on the side and maybe put more prawns,

but they liked the flavours in there so I think it could have been worse.

Personal trainer Gabriel's Basic to Brilliant ingredient is corn.

He's served seared steak

in a corn tortilla taco with a corn salsa,

avocado puree, and a side of paprika-spiced corn ribs.

That taco...

There's a lot of garlic on that beef.

The beef is tender.

I love these ribs of corn. Naturally sweet.

You've got, like, a smoky paprika on there and chilli.

I think your dish is too small,

but I think your flavours are absolutely fantastic.

I'm not quite as enamoured with the taco as Gregg is.

Corn salsa could be roasted a little bit more, so it goes nutty.

You definitely need more avocado on top of that taco,

but your corn ribs are fab.

I'd rather the comments be

that it wasn't enough rather than the flavour wasn't there.

So I'm happy with the flavour and I've just got to try and put

a bit more food on the plate.

Hello.

Financial management consultant Fay chose

to showcase chicken with

a ballotine stuffed with peas and artichoke,

flavoured with soy and turmeric, served with pea puree,

Jerusalem artichokes in soy, crispy chicken skin,

and a chicken, coconut and turmeric jus.

You have a really nicely made ballotine.

Wrapped around there is this lovely pea mixture which is really vibrant

with artichokes and a little bit of sharpness as well.

Amazing buttery rich turmeric smoky chicken sauce.

Lots of technique on show.

Thank you.

Crispy chicken skin.

That puree is really herby.

I think this is quite extraordinary.

Yeah, I'm very happy with the comments.

Getting an apron the first round would be just amazing.

Like, I feel like I would jump.

Floor fitter Peter has served his basic ingredient

of rice in a porcini mushroom risotto

with wild mushrooms topped with pan-fried pigeon breast.

I really like that mushroom risotto,

with the little bits of thyme running through to give it

that sort of highlight of almost a comforting roast dinner flavour.

But it's all a little bit too dry.

The pigeon breast I would have slightly rarer, but good flavours.

Good understanding, making your own stock,

I think you prepared the mushrooms nicely as well.

It's definitely high pressure, the first experience,

but I've enjoyed it.

Take those comments on board

and just keep trying to improve.

Personal carer Nick has cooked his basic ingredient

of mushrooms inside a Wellington

with a mushroom and Stilton bon bon,

asparagus, asparagus puree,

pickled oyster mushrooms,

asparagus and porcini crumb,

served with a red wine and porcini sauce.

You've done mushrooms in five different ways.

I think that's really clever, Nick.

Your mushroom Wellington -

crispy puff pastry around the outside.

Slightly nutty.

The bon bon's salty with Stilton,

crispy all the way around the outside.

Your porcini and red wine sauce -

I like the flavour of the porcini in there

and the sweetness of the red wine.

Your asparagus puree - clearly get the flavour of asparagus.

That's great.

Your crumb is really addictive.

There's a sweetness in there as well.

Peppery mushrooms.

The nuttiness plays in the Wellington.

It plays on your crumb.

There's a good technique here.

It was a brilliant experience.

Not too bad with the feedback.

So if I got an apron

it would just do so much for me personally,

my self-esteem.

Advanced podiatrist Emily has made a bread and butter pudding

to highlight her basic ingredient of bread,

with brown bread ice cream, blackberry and apple compote,

whipped cream with fuchsia flowers,

and a salted caramel and whiskey sauce.

Emily, your bread and butter pudding is great.

Lovely, rich custard in the bottom, the crispiness across the top.

And those raisins sweet with whiskey as well.

But I'm finding the whole thing is very, very sweet.

The only respite I've got is

the sharpness of the blackberry and apple.

I don't think you've got the presentation just right,

but your use of the bread in the ice cream is

absolutely lovely because it gives a little chew.

I love the whiskey in your sauce,

but you haven't taken the sugar

far enough to make it dark.

I was aware of the caramel sauce not being quite caramelised,

so, yeah, a bit disappointed about that.

That was a really cracking opening round, guys.

We've got two favourites and those two people are getting

an apron and going straight through to the next round.

First person getting an apron is...

..Fay.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Our second contestant getting an apron is...

..Nick.

Fay, Nick, get your aprons.

Very well deserved.

Well done, you two.

Thank you so much.

Congrats!

Well done. Amazing. Well done.

I'm so happy. This is the best day ever.

Yay!

Oh, it's incredible. I feel so amazing.

My children, they won't be able to believe it.

There is absolutely no reason right now to be disappointed.

You have a job to do.

Four cooks here. Only two aprons.

Only two of you will be going through to the next round.

This we call the Mystery Box round.

In front of you there is a box.

And inside that box there are three common ingredients.

Please reveal your ingredients.

Chicken livers,

parsnips,

and strawberries.

We want you to create

for us two portions of a dish using

one, two or three of those ingredients

alongside anything you like from the larder over there.

Whatever ingredients you choose from your Mystery Box

need to be the star of the show.

You will have just 45 minutes to cook the dish.

Let's cook.

There's a lot to choose from.

Just trying to keep your mind focused

on just a few things, I think.

A mystery box. They've got to think on their feet.

I hope they plan.

Because without a plan, this is not going to work.

The mind's gone a bit blank.

I've got a plan. Yeah.

I think we're going to be OK.

You've got three very versatile ingredients there.

And I right now am really excited to see what we're going to get.

Mickael, what ingredient have you chosen?

I'm using the strawberries. It's a bit risky.

I'm going to make a souffle.

A souffle!

I have to find a way to incorporate the strawberries in there.

I'm still thinking about that.

You've got to find a way of making those strawberries

the star of the show. Yes, yes.

Mickael is making a souffle.

And that is really skilful.

It seems to me he's doing a vanilla souffle

with strawberries going across the top.

What I don't understand is, why he's not adding

strawberry coulis to that mixture

and making it into a strawberry souffle.

15 minutes, guys.

You've got 30 minutes left, please.

Peter, you've got three ingredients under that box.

Which ones have you chosen?

So I've gone with the parsnip.

I'm going to do a parsnip lightly curried soup.

And then I'm thinking, with the pistachios,

a bit of crunch on the top to give it a bit of texture.

Fantastic.

You want one of those aprons?

Yeah, I do, very much.

We need one of those aprons.

A great parsnip soup should be not too thick,

not too sweet, right balance of spice,

a little bit of chilli heat.

But is it enough? Does it show enough skill?

I'd like to see something else, as well as that.

What about a flatbread?

What else have you got that can show us some cookery skill?

Gabriel, what did you learn from the last round?

I learnt that I've got to give you more food.

What ingredient did you choose?

I chose strawberries, so I'm going to do strawberry cheesecake,

I'm going to do some macerated strawberries on top,

with a little bit of mint.

And then, if I've got time, I might do, like,

a little strawberry syrup on top as well.

What's the secret to a great cheesecake?

Creamy cream cheese, lots of sugar,

making sure it's sweet,

and then making that topping sing.

I love strawberry cheesecake,

but it's not the most challenging dish in the world,

so it's got to be a beautiful cheesecake.

How many different ways can he prepare those strawberries?

Macerated, compote, syrup, sauce?

What are we going to get?

You have 15 minutes left, everybody.

Emily, how are you feeling about this round?

Ooh!

Um, it's kind of...

Well, it's mad, but exciting.

What ingredient did you choose?

The liver.

Ooh!

I'm going to pan-fry those livers very quickly.

I'm going to do a colcannon cabbage and spuds, mashed with brandy sauce.

How much do you want an apron, Emily?

I want this apron more than anything in the world.

My kids would kill me.

A big concern for me is

the chicken livers need to be cooked all the way through,

but you don't want them rubbery in the centre.

She's promising us colcannon.

Buttery, peppery mashed potato with the cabbage added.

Unfortunately, she's picked the cavolo nero,

which we know has a real rubbery texture.

She's still got the stalk in it,

and right now she's only fried it in the pan.

You have five minutes.

Just five minutes, please.

Two and a half minutes, everybody. Two and a half minutes.

Gabriel, get that on the plate right now.

You are living on borrowed time.

That's it, your time's up! Stop! Everybody stop!

Tough job, man. Tough job. Oof!

NARRATOR: Peter used parsnips to make a curried parsnip soup,

topped with sauteed mushrooms and crushed pistachios.

I love the sweetness of the parsnips.

You've cooked them down till soft.

But you've left them a little thick.

I like the mushrooms. They're salty,

and that contrasts nicely with the sweetness.

Yeah, there's that world between puree and soup,

and it's puree rather than being soup.

But I really like the way you've spiced it.

Across the top, the pistachio nuts - I get that sort of lovely flavour

almost of the Middle East with all that spicing.

I feel as though you could have done something else with it,

whether it be crisps - or flatbread would have been fantastic.

That was a tough one.

Maybe I should have called it a puree, not a soup, but,

yeah, no, I'm happy.

Let's see what happens next.

Emily chose chicken livers from the mystery box.

She's pan-fried them and served them

with cavolo nero colcannon, balsamic red onions, roasted asparagus,

and a bacon, mushroom and brandy sauce.

Most of my chicken livers are cooked really well.

There's one slightly under.

That mashed potato - so much butter.

It's absolutely delicious.

But I've got hardly any cavolo nero.

It's definitely chewy.

You've got the stem of the cavolo nero in there as well.

It's, like, really, really rubbery.

The red onions are going slightly bitter because you've charred them.

Bits of salty pork and mushrooms to make your sauce -

that's good.

But you've also given me inflatable asparagus...

..and somehow somebody's let the air out of it all.

It's cooked so much that it's no longer asparagus.

I'm feeling a bit deflated, actually.

I'd love to have the time back again

and would do some parts of it totally different, yes.

Mickael chose strawberries,

and has cooked a vanilla souffle served with a strawberry coulis.

You made a souffle, but it's a vanilla souffle.

Maybe just chopped up strawberries in the bottom of the dish,

a little bit of strawberry coulis running through the actual mix

to make your souffle.

It's quite an eggy pudding.

It's not very sweet.

It is more like a Yorkshire pudding in flavour.

It's not really a souffle mix.

It's like a light batter mix.

And it's not particularly sweetened.

Your strawberry coulis, on the other hand, is lovely.

That is sweet and mildly sharp.

I'm not happy with what I did,

because I should have incorporated

the strawberries in the souffle itself.

I had the components there.

I just had to...put them together.

Gabriel has made a vanilla cheesecake,

topped with his chosen ingredient of strawberries,

a strawberry and mint compote, a strawberry cream, biscuit crumb,

and a strawberry liqueur syrup.

You've got the biscuit base that is buttery.

You've put a little bit of salt in there as well to give it contrast.

You've got the tang of the cheese.

There's a load of vanilla running through it.

You can see the flecks.

It tastes all right, mate.

We have a light,

fluffy strawberry cream here with a strawberry liqueur.

That's good. We have the really

quite rich strawberry compote across the top,

with a little bit of mint running through it.

And then we've got a really thick, sticky,

sweet strawberry syrup here.

You've definitely displayed the strawberry.

GABRIEL SIGHS Heart rate is going a little bit,

but I'm feeling good.

The competition is tough.

I hope I've done enough for a MasterChef apron,

but it's up to John and Gregg now.

John, that was nervy.

Who do we think has got

what it takes to go further in the competition?

Two of them are going to join Nick and Fay in the next round,

and two of them are going home.

From those, I'd pick Gabriel as the cook of the round.

Gabriel wanted to show off the strawberry.

He did three different ways.

It wasn't the prettiest dish, but it tasted good.

Gabriel's got himself an apron.

Wow, OK, good.

We have an ambitious cook in Emily.

She's pushing herself really hard.

Emily picked the chicken livers.

I had one underdone.

The mashed potato for the colcannon she made was delicious.

But the cavolo nero in the colcannon needed more cooking.

And then two bits of overcooked asparagus down the side.

I think the pressure of the competition got to Mickael today.

He didn't really know what to do with the strawberries,

and that's the whole point of the challenge.

The souffle wasn't fantastic, sadly.

Peter's got a really good palate,

and he dares to be a little bit different.

He didn't do a plain parsnip soup, he did a curried parsnip soup.

I thought the soup was slightly too thick,

but he did flavour it well.

We have got a decision here.

Who do you think's got that little spark,

that little something extra?

I'd like to think I've done enough.

I have done my best,

and I don't think I've let myself down at all.

It's in the lap of the gods now.

If my journey were to end today, I would feel sad.

Obviously, you don't come to go that early.

I would do anything to have an apron and bring it home.

It would be amazing.

The standard is extremely high, so we'll see.

Well done, the four of you.

You just learned how tough

and nerve-racking MasterChef really can be.

We have made a decision.

The first person taking an apron

and joining Nick and Fay in the next round is...

..Gabriel.

Congratulations.

Mickael, Peter and Emily, we have just one more apron to give.

The second person getting their apron is...

..Peter.

Emily, Mickael, thank you very much. Fantastic day.

Thank you.

The positives I'm going to take away -

you can do brave things in life,

and it shouldn't ever stop you from trying.

I've learnt a lot in the competition.

I still have a lot of work to do.

I will definitely continue cooking,

but I will need a bit of a break first, though.

Well done, mate.

Good job.

Peter, Gabriel, come and collect your aprons, please.

Congratulations.

I've loved every second of it.

It's been stressful,

but now that I've got an apron, it feels like I'm ready to go.

I feel proud. It's been a tough day.

Very much out of my comfort zone.

But this is... This is great. I'm really pleased.

We are now ultimately looking for MasterChef quarterfinalists.

You're going to be serving your food today,

not just to us, but to special guests in the dining room.

Winner from 2007 Steven Wallis,

semifinalist from 2018 Nisha Parmar,

and champion of 2020 Thomas Frake.

Two courses - one hour, 15 minutes.

And there are just three quarterfinal places.

That does mean, at the end of this, one of you will be going home.

Let's cook.

Getting an apron has definitely made me more determined

to show what I can do.

It's going to be a big challenge to prove that I'm worthy of it.

Nick, two courses for our esteemed guests.

What are you going to cook for us?

For starter, I'm going to make paprika popcorn chowder

with fondant potatoes and charred baby corn.

Why popcorn chowder?

I just wanted to add a little bit of a fun element to it

and add some texture to it, as well.

And the main course?

A pork tenderloin with crackling,

black pudding crumb, a celeriac puree.

Pork is one of my favourite things to eat,

and I think the crackling is usually the best bit.

Sweetcorn chowder - a soup.

Not too thick, not too thin.

Within the bowl we're going to have little fondant potatoes,

bits of chorizo around the outside, and some chive oil.

This popcorn is the little twist - with a little bit of smoky paprika.

I'm loving the sound of that.

Oh, we got pork and crackling, John!

Pork tenderloin - there's very little fat on that.

I don't mind a hint of pink,

but it can't go grey and dry.

Crackling - will he get it properly crackly?

With that we've got a celeriac puree,

lovely woody, nutty veg, black pudding crumb,

some honey carrots and an apple cider sauce.

Has Nick actually got time to complete all of these things?

I do hope so.

Just like cooking at home.

I've usually got Gregg and John on the TV,

and a pint of beer, so it's a bit more calmer than this.

What inspired my main course is my student days,

because I lived in China - I went to university there -

and I used to make my mum's recipes with Chinese ingredients,

so I can't wait to share that more with them.

What are you making, please, Fay?

A Tunisian-Chinese fusion main course.

Cod and mackerel,

Tunisian pickled peppers, with spicy fish stew,

and then Chinese tofu and morning glory.

What do you want our guests to think of you as a cook?

I want them to go and try it and say,

"Oh, I've never had something like this before."

For the first course, she's doing the flavours of Tunisia

in what she calls a stew using harissa.

She's then going to flavour this with Chinese bean paste.

I'd like the mackerel with that skin crispy

and that cod cooked all the way through, so it's not chewy.

We've got morning glory on there as well -

really nice Chinese crunchy vegetable.

And we've also got some tofu that she's going to flavour as well.

There are things like capers and pickled chillies.

We've never had anything like this before,

so I'm really excited about it.

Dessert is an orange cake made with some almond flour.

It should have so much orange juice through it that it almost feels wet,

but still firm.

That's going to be served with

the custard flavoured with cardamom and star anise.

Be careful with those two big spices.

Don't overpower it.

A caramel sauce,

then we've got some oranges cooked with orange juice and pastis.

A really strong aniseed flavour.

Lovely idea.

I think I've got a lot to prove going forward.

I've really got to strive now

and take it up not just one level - I think we've got to go further.

Peter, two courses - what are you going to cook for us?

Pan-fried loin of venison, pommes puree,

crushed peas with rosemary, and a red wine and port jus

with a little blackberry running through it.

Dessert is apple and blackberry crumble with custard.

Why are you looking at me? You're looking at me...

Why'd you look at me and raise your eyebrows when you said that?

Because you thought I might like it?

I'm hoping so.

Peter's two courses are very, very classic.

Loin of venison, which he's just going to pan-fry,

hopefully nice and dark on the outside.

And then a nice river of pink running through the middle.

Not jelly-like in the centre.

We want mashed potato that's nice and smooth,

seasoned really, really well.

He's making sauce with port.

Then he'll reduce it so it's thick and sticky.

He's adding blackberries to that as well.

I think that's lovely.

Dessert of apple and blackberry crumble, served with custard.

We've all had them before.

Your custard has got to be completely lump-free.

Plenty of vanilla in there as well, please.

And I would like the ratio between fruit and crumble just right.

It feels very surreal cooking for past finalists of MasterChef.

They've been in our shoes before,

so they know the pressure.

I just need to stay calm today,

and just make sure that I let the food do the talking.

My starter is going to be grilled peaches,

stracciatella - a very creamy cheese - rocket, Parma ham on top.

And then my main course, I'm going to make my own tagliatelle

with a pea and broccoli pesto, guanciale,

which is the meat inside the pig cheek,

and then that's got a mint oil.

Why the Italian inspiration?

I spent a lot of time in Italy with my wife last summer.

We went to Sicily and Puglia.

I think Italian cooking,

they take simple ingredients and they elevate it.

So that's what I've gone for today.

Gabriel's got a peach that he's going to cook.

I'm hoping he's going to

get some brown stripes across that peach.

That'll be attractive.

He's serving that with crispy Parma ham,

really quite stringy cheese.

There are some lovely ingredients,

and if he presents that right, you've got some glorious colours.

His main course, he's making his own tagliatelle.

He's got to make the pasta perfectly.

It's going to be cooked for a matter of minutes because it's fresh pasta,

and he's making a pesto from broccoli and peas.

He's going to put pine nuts into it as well,

give it a bit of oil,

and hopefully quite a liberal amount of Parmesan cheese to make it salty.

30 minutes. Got half an hour gone, Nick, yeah?

Yeah.

It's always good coming back to the MasterChef dining room.

Since winning MasterChef,

I've opened a pub doing good classic, great British food.

I'm excited for lunch because every single year,

there's something new, something different.

Quite often we do get some incredible stand-out dishes.

I think definitely this is one of the hardest rounds.

It's two courses in a ridiculously short amount of time.

Food for me is so sort of deep and emotional,

so I hope some new food memories are created for me.

It's 17, 18 years since I won.

Steven.

It's such an honour to come back every year and judge.

I want to see who's cooking with their heart.

You know, who's cooking from a place of love?

Just do not over-experiment at this round - period.

Cheers, all. Cheers. Lovely to see you. Great to see you, Thomas.

I'm very hungry.

Right, young Nick, you've got about four minutes, my friend.

Okey doke.

So, we're kicking things off with Nick's popcorn chowder.

Those mini fondant potatoes in there,

hopefully they're lovely and buttery and soft.

So, in a normal chowder,

you'd want it to be quite silky and comforting and velvety.

JOHN: That looks lovely, that chowder.

Thank you.

NISHA: Hopefully the popcorn gives it that texture.

I'm quite interested to see how that is intertwined in this.

Look at those colours, Nick!

They're beautiful, mate!

Hi there.

There we go. Thank you.

OK, so, for you,

I've made a sweetcorn chowder with spicy chorizo,

charred corn, mini fondant potatoes,

paprika popcorn.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. It looks beautiful. Thank you.

It smells great. Yes.

There's some really beautiful fragrance coming off this dish.

Mm.

The fondant potatoes were buttery and soft, corn was tender.

the veloute was very smooth.

Delicious.

It's actually really comforting. It's really beautiful.

It's silky.

I like that textural element of the popcorn.

I could feel some sort of paprika on there.

I think it was a beautiful dish.

It's a well-made chowder, John.

It's thick and it's smooth and it's slightly sweet.

The smoky hot paprika through it as well.

I think it's really, really well made.

I love the flavour of that buttery, salty potato.

And I quite like the popcorn in the soup.

It's a texture, like a crouton.

Nick. Yeah.

You've got 15 minutes on your next course. OK.

Pork cooked the way you want it. Nice. Lovely. Pink tinge.

NISHA: We want that pork tenderloin to be so juicy,

the celeriac puree to be extremely velvety-like.

JOHN: Crumb, crackling, sauce.

NISHA: We want that pork scratching to be crunchy.

These are all classic pairings.

I just think there's a lot going on.

Thank you, guys. Well done, you.

Hello again. Hello. Hi!

For you, I've made a pork tenderloin

with a celeriac puree, black pudding,

pork scratching and a cider apple sauce.

Oh, and some honey carrots as well - sorry. Amazing.

Enjoy, guys. Thank you.

I feel proud that I've done it.

I'm happy with what's on the plate.

And it was a privilege to cook for the ex-contestants.

The pork - just about pink,

but I think it probably needed a good basting and some butter.

It's such a refined, pretty looking plate.

The carrots, while so beautiful, sadly,

they are quite undercooked.

I think the star of the show - that lovely crackling was so crunchy.

And I really wanted to break a tooth on it.

NISHA CHUCKLES

You know, to make the point, because it was so good.

That pork is lovely and tender.

The celeriac puree - nice and smooth,

and the flavour of nutty celeriac, that's great.

I'm loving that cider sauce.

It's reduced and sticky,

and there's plenty of butter in there.

I like this.

You've got ten minutes, Fay.

Ten minutes on your first course.

Yes.

Fay's cooking us a cod and mackerel with Chinese morning glory,

silken tofu and Tunisian and Hunanese sauces.

I'm really excited about this.

JOHN: What else to go on the plate now, after the mackerel?

Brunoise on top.

So, made of both chillies and peppers.

So this is kind of like the Chinese touch,

and then the sauce is the Tunisian one.

THOMAS: Very interesting to see how she marries

two very spicy cuisines,

and brings them into something that works and stands up on its own.

So much good food!

Thanks, Fay. Look out! Thank you! FAY CHUCKLES

Hi! Hiya!

THOMAS: Thank you very much. That looks so colourful.

Lovely. Thank you.

FAY: On the main plate, you've got morning glory,

mackerel and a cod topped with a brunoise,

which is pickled chillies and peppers topped with fried capers.

The sauce is Tunisian spicy fish stew,

and it's served with a side

of tofu seasoned with Tunisian harissa.

Enjoy! Thank you. Thank you.

THOMAS: Wow.

This smells incredible and looks so appetising.

I cannot wait to get stuck into this.

The fish is beautifully cooked.

That Chinese sauce is punchy.

It's got so much soul in there.

This has made me quite emotional.

I can really see her personality, her heritage come through.

The side dish with the tofu - the depth of flavour in that sauce!

It's just an inspired plate of food.

Fay has really melded

two actually quite very distinctive cultures together.

I actually think this is one of the most exciting plates

of food I've ever had in all the years of judging.

It's the sauces I'm loving.

And the pickles that she's put over the top -

a little bit of heat, but a lot of sharpness.

I think these flavours are lovely.

Interesting fusion. A huge amount of work here.

Fascinating dish.

Done.

You've got about 15 minutes for your cake. Yes.

Fay is making us orange cake with custard.

This sounds delectable. It sounds so good.

We need to start serving, please. Thank you. Ooh! Ooh!

Everything is done.

I just need to put it all together. Come on, then.

Well, that's part of plating. Yes. FAY CHUCKLES

Very nice.

Hopefully, this is a lovely, rich, warm,

heady, floral cake.

Right, what's next? FAY: The orange.

CUTLERY CLATTERS

Oopsie!

THOMAS: The caramel sauce - very sweet.

Very well done.

And the olive oil to hopefully bring it all together.

Well done, you. Well done, you. Thank you.

I'm looking forward to eating that.

Hi again. Hi.

There we go. Lovely.

So, I've cooked for you an orange cake

with a custard that was flavoured with star anise and cardamom.

I have poached the orange in pastis and some orange juice.

Served with a side of a sesame tuile,

caramel and a little bit of olive oil.

I hope you like it. Enjoy. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

FAY EXHALES, CHUCKLES

I don't think I have any regrets, to be honest.

I'm very happy and very proud of

the plate of food I put in front of everybody.

I think I've done what I had in mind, and what I wanted to present.

THOMAS: That cake was so moist, so floral, almost,

with that orange, loads of custard,

and even that olive oil added just another little depth

to that dish that was inspired.

She's got a caramel sauce to bring that sweetness.

It's really fragrant. This girl can cook.

I absolutely love that.

This is a sort of comforting, mellow portrait of citrus.

And I'm... I'm in love with this food.

The cake is lovely and soft and spongy. I like the tuile.

A little bit of nutty sesame.

I think that tastes good.

I'm enjoying it.

Four minutes please, Peter. OK.

So, Peter is giving us pan-fried loin of venison.

I absolutely love venison.

Happy?

They could do with being in a pan just for a couple of minutes.

Needs to be well seared on the outside,

nice and pink in the centre.

I'm admiring his confidence.

It reads really simple.

Peas and sauce.

Ooh, nice colour. You kept good colour on that.

Well done.

The thing with simplicity is that you've got nowhere to hide,

so it needs to stack up.

Go on, Peter. Well done.

Hello, guys.

Thanks very much.

Today I've done you a loin of venison with a pommes puree,

crushed pea with garlic and rosemary,

and a port and red wine jus with some blackberry. Thank you.

STEVEN: It looks great. Your apron looks good, too.

THEY ALL LAUGH

My venison, as much as I like it pink,

is kind of raw in the middle rather than rare, I'd say.

I'm loving the use of blackberry and port in the sauce.

The berry flavours really work.

I especially like those peas - the rosemary running through there.

Slightly rare on the venison,

but overall it's been really nicely done.

It's classic British country fare.

The sauce could do with a little bit more thickening up,

but you can clearly get the port in there.

My concern for Peter right now is that some of the venison that went

in the dining room looked a lot rarer than ours.

So, custard and crumble - 15 minutes. You got this, brother?

I think so.

So, Peter's dessert is

a blackberry and apple crumble with custard.

The crumble's got to be perfectly caramelised and buttery.

Blackberries and apples - not overcooked.

You OK? You happy? Yeah.

Did you want them more full up?

Yeah, I probably did, really, but the flavours will be there.

And that custard has got to be perfectly smooth

and heady with vanilla.

So, basically, this needs to be the world's best crumble

if this is going to be, you know, worthy to be on this table.

Go on, Peter. Well done.

It's all broken down, and it's taken the roof with it. Yeah.

All right, guys.

So, for dessert, you've got apple and blackberry crumble with custard.

STEVEN: Thank you. Thank you so much.

PETER: Thank you.

I feel like I've only got half a crumble in the bowl.

It looks like the tide's gone out.

Relieved it's done. I'm exhausted.

That's a task - task and a half.

But I got it done.

The tartness is nice on there, but the crumble, sadly, for me,

is quite raw-tasting.

I'm just crunching on granulated sugar.

I don't like that feeling.

There isn't enough fruit and there isn't enough crumble.

The custard is a bit floury.

It's a bit overly sweet.

I don't know if he's done enough to, you know, wow us.

Sharp filling.

He has got a toasty top.

However, that sunken roof is not a good look.

That deserves to look better.

This is proof that going classic can be dangerous.

It's a shame it doesn't look right.

Gabriel's starter is grilled peaches with stracciatella di bufala,

Parma ham, rocket.

That is yummy.

This is like an essay in classic Italian starters.

It's very simple. It's about the textural flavour contrasts.

Love the colours. Absolutely love the colours.

Beautiful ingredients.

And I hope they are just treated with the utmost respect and care.

I'm ready to go. Well done.

Colours of summer. Get you!

Hello. Hi. How are you?

Really good. Good. How are you?

Very well, thank you.

So, I have served for you, stracciatella di bufala,

grilled peaches, grilled Parma ham on there as well.

You've got a little rocket salad,

and then there's a little crisp bread.

Enjoy. Thank you. Thank you.

The peaches are grilled nicely.

They've got a lovely, almost buttery texture and taste to them.

They are very nice.

That stracciatella just works so lovely with those peaches,

and the Parma ham and the pepperiness of the rocket.

These little crisp breads are nice.

They do have a little bit of herbs running through there.

This is a really voluptuous plate of food.

It's really unctuous and creamy,

and it's really a sort of homage to Italian produce.

You've got a juicy, sweet peach, you've got the creamy cheese,

salty ham.

Then the sharpness of balsamic vinegar

and the pepperiness of the rocket.

It's a tasty dish.

Yay! OK, my friend? Good. 15 minutes till the pasta goes.

Yep.

So, I'm expecting this tagliatelle to be wonderfully thin,

not cooked so much so it's stodgy and all congealed.

We've got the pea and broccoli pesto,

which is wonderful with the tagliatelle.

Guanciale for a bit of saltiness.

Oh!

LAUGHTER

You are the messiest cook!

I think it's going to take quite a light touch to bring all this

together into one delicious plate of food.

You're on time. Let's go. Thank you very much.

Hello.

Thank you very much.

So, I've made my own tagliatelle,

and that is served with a pea and broccoli pesto,

pan-fried guanciale,

whipped ricotta, topped off with a mint oil.

Thank you. THOMAS: Thanks very much.

A colourful plate of food.

I mean, it's easy on the eye.

What I love is the verdant green colour of the pesto.

But I think the key area of focus has to be the pasta,

and I think it could have been thinner.

This pesto is very thick and silky,

but it really needs a punch of Parmesan or salt.

It's missing something for me.

JOHN: I really like the ricotta, making it lovely and creamy.

The salted guanciale is fantastic.

I'm happy with the pasta.

I really like the sweet pea flavour.

It tastes good.

GABRIEL SIGHS

The pressure was incredible.

I've never done anything like that before.

I'm happy with what I produced.

Whether that's enough, let's see.

We got the feedback from the dining room,

and now we need to make a decision.

And for one of these, it's the end of their MasterChef journey.

The dining room have cast their vote,

and their Cook of the Day is Fay.

The salt cod and the mackerel was really, really flavoursome.

I thought the dessert was fantastic.

She's a quarterfinalist.

There's one other person I think has done enough, and that's Nick.

Me, you and the dining room really liked his chowder.

Not a perfect pork dish.

There was some criticism from the dining room.

But his pork - a bit of pink through it, good sauce on the side.

Anyone who crisps up crackling like that

is always going to be a winner in my book.

Fine, Nick goes through.

So, that means we are debating the fortunes of Gabriel and Peter.

Peter did for us venison,

mashed potato and peas with rosemary.

The dining room had lots of venison that wasn't cooked enough.

It was too rare.

The dining room were quite negative about Peter's crumble.

I thought it tasted good.

However, it's got to be majestic, and his had sunk.

Gabriel's two courses, I think, were a game of two halves.

The peaches with the stracciatella was a nice dish.

He made his own tagliatelle pasta for the next dish,

and he made a pesto.

And we enjoyed the flavour of it,

but the dining room thought it was very thick.

It would mean everything to stay in the competition now.

It's still the early stages, but the quarterfinal would be a dream.

I definitely have the bug.

At the start, I was nervous,

whereas now, I just want to go and go and go,

and keep pushing on in this competition.

Thank you very much for all your hard work.

As you know, there are only three quarterfinal places.

That does mean, sadly, one of you is going home.

Our first quarterfinalist is...

..Fay.

Thank you. Very, very well done. Thank you.

Our second quarterfinalist is...

..Nick.

Congratulations, big fella. Thank you.

Gabriel, Peter, one of you, sadly, is leaving the competition.

Our third and final quarterfinalist is...

..Gabriel.

Congratulations. Well done.

Peter... No worries. Thanks, guys. ..you're leaving us, my friend.

Great to have met you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

It's bittersweet to be leaving.

Proud to have got an apron.

Life goes back to normal now.

Congratulations, you are MasterChef quarterfinalists.

Well done. Well done.

Being a quarterfinalist doesn't seem real just yet,

but that's cool - I'll take that.

Over the moon.

I've just about squeaked through for the last two rounds,

so I definitely need to get better.

I don't want to make a habit of it,

but either way, I'm very happy to be getting through.

I mean, it's so exciting.

I think I definitely have a lot more to show,

so I can't wait for the next challenges.

Next time - it's the quarterfinal,

and Nick, Fay and Gabriel...

Come on!

..will be joining Hazel, Sam and Trevor,

cooking for one of the UK's best restaurant critics.

So far behind.

This is outstanding.

Mate, what a feast!