All language subtitles for MasterChef.S21E06.1080p.WEBRiP.x264-DARKFLiX

It's the MasterChef quarterfinal,

and this week's
six best cooks are back.

It's crazy to think

"Sam, quarterfinalist".

It has a nice tone to it!

I've put a lot of effort in.

I want to stay this much.

The emotional roller-coaster,

I thought it'd be easier,
but it doesn't stop.

The further I go into
the competition,

the more it means to me.

Can't get away with making

what you make for your mates

on a Friday night. It's got to be
such a high standard now.

I'm very determined.

When I signed up, I signed up
to be a MasterChef champion.

Tonight, they face
just one challenge -

to cook exceptional food from

a brief set by celebrated
restaurant critic Grace Dent.

It's a huge day and
a load at stake for our six.

I'm smiling, but it is serious
pressure for our quarterfinalists.

Welcome to your
MasterChef quarterfinal.

You've got a brief.

That brief was set by
a very special guest

who is going to help us decide
who goes through to Knockout Week.

It gives me real delight

to introduce you
to restaurant critic,

food writer, podcaster...

Ladies and gentlemen,
the one and only Grace Dent.

Hello!

Welcome, Grace.

So, today I'm asking you
to create a fabulous picnic.

I want two savoury items,
one sweet item.

Time is going to be tight,

but I want you to surprise me
and make me delighted.

There are just three places
in knockout week.

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

Ladies and gentlemen,
90 minutes.

Picnic time. Let's cook!

Grace Dent... I'm buzzing.
I've watched her quite a lot,

and she's super glamorous,
which I love.

I love a picnic. I feel excited
and incredibly nervous.

I think that some of
the happiest times in my childhood

were my mother opening
the boot of her Austin Princess

in the Lake District and getting out
large plastic boxes of sandwiches

and fairy cakes and sausage rolls.

It was always raining,
but always fun.

Go on!

I want somebody
to put bells on a pork pie.

I want somebody to blow my mind
with sandwiches.

And I want someone to give me

something I've just
never eaten before.

This is going to be
the greatest picnic in the world!

Trevor is a cook, for me,
who is easy to love.

He likes fine technique.

He likes robust flavours.

This is for me what taking
basic to brilliance is all about.

Good on you.

What sort of picnic
are we going to get from Trevor?

When I first heard the brief,

I was a little bit shocked.

We like picnics,
but normally we just buy the food,

so it's just the cheat's picnic!

HE LAUGHS

I've got the Scotch eggs
in my pockets!

Trevor, hello. What are you
cooking for me today?

Chicken satay with
a satay peanut sauce,

a black pudding Scotch egg,
and I'm cooking Bakewell puddings.

What's the difference between
Bakewell pudding and Bakewell tart?

A Bakewell tart normally
comes with a shortcrust pastry,

but I'm using puff pastry
because it's a little bit lighter.

What do these three items mean?
Why are you making them?

The first holiday I went on
with my wife in the Peak District,

and we had a picnic,

and we actually bought the puddings
from Bakewell itself,

so this is a homage
to our first holiday together.

I love Bakewell flavours.

A combo of almonds
and black cherry jam.

It has to be sticky and sweet
and nutty and satisfying.

Trevor's doing us a chicken satay.
Small pieces of chicken,

nice colour around every
single piece and a smokiness to it.

A little bit of spice here.

Crispy Scotch egg.

I love this idea!
It's romantic, it's wonderful.

Gabriel was brought up
with Greek food,

but so far we've seen
a Mexican taco...

I think your dish is too small,

but I think your flavours
are absolutely fantastic.

..American cheesecake
and two Italian dishes!

This is a really
voluptuous plate of food.

Today I knew straight away
that I was going to do Greek food.

We used to picnic loads
when we were younger.

A big part of my childhood,

and Greek food in itself
is very picky,

so it's perfect for a picnic.

Oof! This is going to be
a fishy one.

Gabriel's doing us taramasalata.

It should be rich with
the flavour of that cod roe,

usually with a little bit of
lemon juice to give it

some sharpness,
but it also should be very smooth.

My grandfather used
to have Greek restaurants in London,

so the taramasalata is his recipe.

And then I'm going to be
making a spanakopita,

which is filo pastry,

and that's got spinach
and feta inside.

Spanakopita.

The filo pastry has to be
crispy on the outside,

but when we bite into it,

the cheesy creaminess of
that feta cheese

with the richness of spinach
should fill us with joy.

It shouldn't be dry
and it shouldn't be soggy.

And then I'm going to be
doing for dessert thaktila,

which translates to "fingers".

So it's going
to be deep-fried pastry

filled with cinnamon,
almonds and sugar.

That is my grandmother's recipe.

She made 1,500 of these

for my mother's wedding
40 years ago.

So if I can't do nine for you today,
I'll be disappointing her.

Gabriel is making items
that really mean something to him.

There was a sense of pride.

There was a sense of emotion.
Really looking forward to it.

You've had 35 minutes, everybody.
35 minutes gone.

Hazel has worked really,
really hard to get here.

That's one of the best cooked racks
of lamb I've seen in this kitchen

for a long, long time.

There probably just needs to be

a little bit more
confidence from Hazel,

and she could be
something pretty special.

I grew up going to the seaside
a lot in Devon with my family,

and we would always have picnics,
pack sandwiches, pack flasks.

The sandwiches were always
a bit dodgy,

but we still had a great time!

So I'm trying to replicate

a classic, which is
a ham and cheese baguette,

a cup of tea and a bit of cake.

I'm trying to elevate it for you,

so I'm doing
a ham and cheese palmier

and a tomato consomme with a warm
cream mixer as your cup of tea,

and then a yuzu and vanilla
Battenberg for your cake.

This is about the ordinary,
everyday, but with surprises.

Battenberg cake.
Two coloured sponges.

The white one is going to be yuzu,
citrus fruit from Japan.

Then the pink one's
going to be vanilla.

She's then going to make
ham and cheese palmiers.

She's making her own
rough puff pastry,

and inside that we've got
cheese, ham and salted beef,

rolled up, sliced quite thinly.

A huge amount of technique
going on here.

I go for so many fancy meals
in restaurants where the chefs are

taking you on flights of
imagination,

and Hazel's doing that.

The tea is actually consomme,

and the sandwich isn't a sandwich,
and the Battenberg cake,

boo! It's not really
Battenberg cake. Love it!

Sam grew up in northern Thailand,

and his love of Thai food
has shone through so far.

That pork is nothing
short of majestic, Sam. Oh!

Wow, that's spicy.

It's perfect.

Can he turn that into a picnic?

Because if he can,
he's a clever cook indeed.

I have a lot more to show.

Today I'm making, like, a Thai

mixed with a British
and with some Vietnamese,

Chinese as well, so

a lot of practising
and a lot of research.

Today I'm doing a sausage roll,
but Thai version,

so I put a lot of spice, like
a curry paste into my sausage meat.

And for my second savoury,

I'm doing mackerel summer roll

with my own version
take of spicy peanut dips.

And my sweet item is a bao bun

with a Thai flavoured custard
inside the buns.

You're making lots of
delicate things

where the wrappings and you know,
the bready, the bun things,

they all have to be really bang-on.
That's a lot of pressure.

I want to go further
in the competition,

so just pushing my boundary
and see how far I can go.

Who doesn't love a sausage roll?

It's got heat, it's got spice,

it's got meatiness. Wonderful.

Sam's second savoury is
a Vietnamese summer roll.

A rice paper skin. On top of that,
he's going to lay lettuce,

mackerel and then
roll the whole thing up.

It should be opaque.

We should be able to see
all the lovely bits inside.

Sam's sweet item is
just irresistible.

He's making me a custard bao bun.

Now, I hope that
he's making me several.

I think I could eat
a dozen in one sitting.

And I will prove this.

You have just 30 minutes,
everybody. 30 minutes.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Nick, we know,
has plenty of ambition.

He loves ingredients
and to play with them.

I quite like the popcorn
in the soup.

It's a texture like a crouton.

I'm loving that cider sauce.
It's reduced and sticky.

I like this.

The picnic thing,

it's something I really love.

Whether it was as a kid going
or taking my boys,

it kind of epitomises.
what I love about food.

It's the kind of the friends,

the family and
the sharing element of it.

We know you're a family man. Yeah.
Do you take the kids for picnics?

All the time, whether it's at
the woods or the beach.

We love a picnic.

The boys' favourite thing to eat
is picky bits.

Three items. What are they?

A cheese and tomato sandwich.

I'm doing a Scotch egg
with a watercress mayonnaise,

and then rhubarb and
custard tart for dessert.

Alarm bells did go off

when Nick told me he
was bringing me a sandwich,

a Scotch egg and some kind of tart.

But that sandwich
is actually very complex.

I'm actually going to make
a savoury meal for you

in the shape of
an old-school sandwich.

And I'm going to do a cheese custard
with a tomato chutney.

We need really lovely crispy pastry.
That custard can't be too runny,

but it needs to have
the flavour of tomatoes as well.

He's making us a Scotch egg,

but this is a quail's egg
Scotch egg.

It's going to be very fancy.

And we've got rhubarb
and custard jam tarts.

That pastry needs to be cooked
all the way through,

the jam nice and thick,
and the custard thick enough

to hold across
the top of those tarts.

There's some great flavours here,
but a huge amount of work.

OK. Alors...

Fay has burst into this competition
like a hurricane.

I think this is quite extraordinary.

An upbringing in Tunisia

and ten years spent studying
and working in China.

Bringing the two together.

This girl can cook!
I absolutely love that.

John, it's really exciting.

I don't think I've had a picnic
in the UK yet,

so this is going to be
my first British picnic.

But I was thinking about
what we do back home,

and I tried to get inspired by a lot
of, like, happy memories in the sun.

So my first item is going to be
brik a la japonaise.

So it's a Tunisian...
basically spring roll,

but I'm going to stuff it
with a Japanese tuna tartare

and serve it with
a side of egg yolk.

And my second item is
a savoury doughnut

that I'm going to take
and stuff with prawns

and some pickled cucumbers.

Wow. Yeah, that feels like
a real flavour punch.

And the sweet thing?

A raspberry muffin
with flavours of home.

So we used to grow
thyme and rosemary.

Never has anybody ever put thyme
on a raspberry for me...

Really? ..in all my years. It's
one of my favourite combinations.

No flavours are ever off the table,
but raspberry and thyme,

it's not a standard one.

So...fascinating.

There's a really
interesting mix here

of techniques and flavours going on.

A Japanese flavoured tuna
with soy sauce, wasabi, some sesame,

inside this little deep-fried tube
of pastry so it's nice and crispy,

and also flavours of prawn cocktail
inside a doughnut.

The dough needs to be cooked
all the way through.

Fay's items are the most
random factors of the day.

It's either going
to be wonderful...

SHE EXHALES

Deep breath, deep breath.

..or puzzling.

You have just
ten minutes, everybody.

Just ten minutes left.

Oh, gosh!

I'm so far behind.
I don't think I'm going to get

anything at the moment,
to be honest.

Come on!

I'm happy with it. I'm pleased.

It's going well so far.

Aargh!

Oh, get out!

On the plate, on the plate.

You have three minutes, everybody.

Have you got anything
plated at all yet?

No, I'm just about to
start that now.

I'm plating it like
a Tunisian fast food, you know?

How long have we got, please?

You have got 30 seconds.
Last touches, please.

And stop! Time's up. Well done.

It's not what I wanted.

Nick, if you would, please.

First to serve his picnic spread
is personal carer Nick,

who's made quail's egg Scotch eggs,

cheese and tomato mille-feuille,

pastry and cheese custard layers
topped with tomato chutney

and rhubarb and custard jam tarts.

Are we supposed to have
mayonnaise with our Scotch eggs?

Yeah, we were supposed to have
mayonnaise, but I ran out of time.

The sandwich...

Not a lot of finesse in the pastry
and the way that it's put out,

but that chutney is good,

and it's a great cheese custard.

I know that you're upset...

..but there are good things here,
and I want you to remember that.

Thank you.

Love your Scotch egg.

Peppery sausage meat,
lovely soft egg in the middle.

Your rhubarb and custard tart
tastes good and looks shocking.

Sorry, Nick! Because you've
literally just kind of

chucked it in as fast as you can

because we were going to
ring the bell on you. Yeah.

Everything's there, but look at it.

Yeah.

Tough day at the office, Nick.
Yep, just a bit.

It didn't quite go to plan,
but it's tasty. Thank you.

Feeling really rubbish
at the moment, actually.

I feel really disappointed.

I just know I could do
so much better.

Just gutted that it looked
how it did.

It's quite embarrassing, really.

Project manager Trevor's
picnic items are

chicken satay with
spicy peanut sauce,

black pudding Scotch eggs
with English mustard mayonnaise

and cherry Bakewell puddings.

How many people are coming
to the picnic, Trevor? Just three.

Three of me!

GREGG CHUCKLES

Mate, what a feast! Mmm.
It's technically really,

really good, but it's, like,
proper and hearty.

Your Scotch egg -
that yolk is sticky,

and you've got the peppery
black pudding around it.

and you've got a nice crust.

Love the mustard mayo.
That is really singing to me.

The satays - lovely bit of marinade,

but you blowtorch them
so they go slightly charred.

That little detail
makes me so impressed.

The sauce - a nice bit of zing
going through the back.

Trevor, I love it.
Thank you.

The Bakewell pudding, it's so soft
and delicious and jammy.

Exactly the right amount of
almondy paste for me.

Sometimes people are stingy,
but you don't know the word stingy!

This is outstanding.

I'm feeling really
emotional at the moment,

and I never thought
I'd be this emotional.

But, yes, I'm happy!

I didn't think I'd be crying.

Yeah! Crying on national TV!

THEY LAUGH

Personal trainer Gabriel's
Greek Cypriot-inspired picnic

is his grandfather's taramasalata
with flatbreads, spanakopita,

filo pastry parcels
filled with spinach and feta,

and thaktila - pastry fingers
filled with almonds,

cinnamon and sugar
in a rose water syrup.

For me, the star of the show
is the taramasalata.

It's pungent, it's silky
and it's smooth, and I love it.

I can see this is memories
of your family on a plate.

Thank you. Your spanakopita -
crispy filo on the outside.

They are a little bit greasy,

and I believe that filling
could be a little bit more ample.

Mm-hm.

Love the flavour of these fingers!

You've got crunchy nuts.
You've got a lot of cinnamon.

But I think this pastry
needs more cooking.

They need to crisp up a bit.

I'd still eat them, I think.
Yes.

There was a lot on
that picnic table

that meant a lot to me.

I think there's a couple of things
I maybe could have done better,

but all in all, I'm happy.

Full-time mum Hazel's twist on
a traditional picnic and cup of tea

is cheese, prosciutto and bresaola
salted beef palmier pastries

and yuzu and vanilla
Battenberg cake

accompanied by tomato consomme
with a tomato cream.

The palmiers are crispy.

I love the saltiness that's coming
from that salted beef,

as well as the Gruyere cheese
and a little bit of Parmesan.

I think they're really well made.
And you made your own puff pastry.

That's amazing in the time you had.

I love a Battenberg cake.
The yuzu is citrus,

and you've definitely got citrus
in the yellow sponge,

you've got vanilla in the pink one.
I think that's a cracking job.

When I was a little girl,
whenever I had tomato soup,

my godmother used to always
put milk in it at the end

to make it feel posher. Yeah!
And that's what I feel.

Good, I'm glad!
Seriously, it's really took me back!

That is delicious. You've brought
the spirit of a picnic,

but then you've also brought
the spirit of MasterChef.

Thank you.

Having Grace Dent taste my food

and liking it was
a bit of a game-changer.

Like, I just feel
even more amped up now.

For her Tunisian-influenced picnic,

management consultant Fay is serving

savoury doughnuts
filled with prawns,

a prawn head and sumac paste
and pickled cucumbers,

brik a la japonaise -

Tunisian pastry rolls
filled with tuna, wasabi tartare -

with confit egg yolk,

and rosemary muffins filled with
a thyme and raspberry cream.

I love the look of this,
and being a practical man,

I'm wondering how I'm going to get
the confit egg yolk to a picnic.

In a little jar.

The savoury doughnut texture,
I think, is really good.

The filling of the prawns is great.

The actual paste that's in there
is really strong.

Prawn heads, the sumac. It seems to
be overpowering everything,

including your pickled cucumber.

It is like you've got
a fish paste in there.

That's lovely! It's strong.
I really like it.

I think the whole lot's great.

We've got little crispy
spring roll affair

with the most lovely
slippery chunks of tuna,

and I'll dip it in
the egg yolk with soy

and it makes the whole thing
rich and creamy.

The little muffin -
never in a million years

have I tasted anything like that,

the way the herbs
go with the raspberry.

Glossy, sweet, moreish.

This very clearly
tastes of your home.

I feel really proud.
I came here to, like,

share my food and my passion
and I feel like I've done it.

Finally, vocational trainer
Sam's picnic is made up of

Thai spiced sausage rolls
with sweet chilli dipping sauce,

Vietnamese summer rolls filled
with pan-fried mackerel,

lettuce and carrots
with a spicy peanut dip,

and bao buns filled with
Thai tea-flavoured custard.

The sausage roll is just lovely.

Lemongrass, galangal, lots of spice,
good amount of chilli in there.

Both these sauces, which I think are
vibrant and fresh and exciting,

go really nice with it.

Your little clear roll here with
the mackerel and you've got the dip.

I find mackerel and peanut
an unusual combination,

but once you get
through the nuttiness,

there is some proper chilli
in there! It's ferocious.

Your bao - that custard is thick,

but it's almost got, like,
a lemon tea flavour.

Sweet lemon tea. That, I like.

It's a picnic, it's the end
of the day, and I'm saying,

is there any of those bao buns left?
Pass me the box!

HE LAUGHS

They're just edible clouds.

You know, this is a lot of work.
You did yourself proud.

Thank you.

It's great to hear
the feedback from Grace,

because she's obviously
one of my favourite critics.

So I'm really happy to hear that.

Grace, thank you so much.
It's an absolute joy.

So much emotion in here today
and stories of their life.

There's some cracking
cooks out there.

You know what the best bit
about that is?

I don't have to make the decision!

Thank you, Grace. Bye!

SHE LAUGHS

What I love today was,

I've got, really, the heart of
a British countryside picnic

with flavours and influences
from all over the world.

But we only have three places
in knockout week.

That does mean that
three of them are going home.

Well done, everyone.

Trevor absolutely nailed it.

Yeah. And he's showing
proper heart, and hearty.

Trevor's got himself
a place in knockout week.

I loved Hazel's picnic.
It tasted delicious

and there was skill.
I think she's got real class.

Hazel's got the right
to go through to knockout week.

Nick had what we call a shocker.

He only had two minutes to go
and there was nothing on plates.

I think his flavours tasted nice,

but the presentation
was non-existent.

Nick's competition is done.

I find Fay's style almost addictive.

Love the brik with the tuna.
A muffin with rosemary in it?!

That muffin blew my mind.

For me, the doughnut with the prawns
had inside it a sauce

which was so strong,
I couldn't get on with it.

It was just so powerful.
But that divides the crowd.

Gabriel cooked us Greek food.

Taramasalata was
very, very good indeed.

But there were mistakes.
Little greasy on the spanakopita,

and also those little fingers -
that pastry needed more cooking.

Sam gave us
a Thai-flavoured sausage roll.

The flavours were
really, really good,

and his bao bun -
absolutely delicious.

The issue I did have
with the summer roll is

mackerel and peanut sauce.

I did struggle
a little bit with that.

If my competition is over,

I won't regret any single minute
of it, because I'm already proud.

If I don't go through,

I think I've not gone through more
on the quality of the other chefs,

and they're all fantastic.

So if that's the reason
I don't go through, I'm happy.

It would be the saddest thing
in the world for it to stop now,

but it's a competition, and, like,

you never know what's going
to happen. So we'll see.

Well done, all six of you.

Congratulations on an absolutely
fantastic quarterfinal.

We said at the start of this

that three of you will go through
to knockout week.

We can only ever take
the best cooks with us.

There are two people today
who were just truly impressive.

Trevor...

..Hazel...

Congratulations. You two
are through to knockout week.

Well done.

Sadly, it doesn't always go to plan.

Nick, you're leaving us.

Thank you, Nick. Thanks so much.
Thank you. There's nothing wrong

with your cooking a wristwatch
wouldn't put right! I know.

Sometimes our decision has to be
down to the finest detail.

Gabriel...

Sadly, you're leaving us.

Thank you very much.

I'm obviously a little bit upset,

but the people that I went out to
were just that much better than me.

I'll take a couple of
days off cooking,

a couple of takeaways,

and then I'll be straight back
in the kitchen on Monday.

Um, I'm obviously
feeling disappointed,

but actually, on reflection, like...
didn't deserve to go through today.

Now I can go back to
not cooking with a timer any more!

Sam,

Fay...

This is where the decision
becomes really tough.

Our decision is...

..you are BOTH going through
to knockout week.

THEY LAUGH

THEY LAUGH AND CELEBRATE

Well done, well done!

We were over the moon.
It's just unbelievable.

It's just like a dream come true,
really is.

I feel amazing about being
through to knockout week.

It's definitely worth
a celebratory wine tonight!

Yeah, not too much, because I've got
to go back to work tomorrow!

Absolutely elated.
I'll go home and, you know,

give my little girl a big cuddle
and just hopefully

not wipe the smile off my face
for the rest of the evening.

The competition mean a lot to me,
but I don't believe my food before.

But I'm now starting to believe
with my food more.

So watch out, guys!

HE LAUGHS

Next time...

I'm simply stressing!

..six more contestants...

Yum, yum, yum!

..compete for the right
to wear a MasterChef apron...

Listen, I thought all this
was a good idea,

but now I'm not so sure!

That is a cracker of a job.

..before battling for a place...

We need to start to move.

..in the quarterfinal.

I am very, very happy
with this dish.

God, I'm in heaven!

Yay!