All language subtitles for MasterChef.S21E08.1080p.WEBRiP.x264-DARKFLiX

It's the battle
for the ultimate culinary prize.

WHIMPERING

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

I need to stop shaking.

..all with their heart 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...

GASPING

..battle for a place...

Yum, yum, yum. Oh, 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.

These six passionate home cooks
all think they've got what it takes

to become MasterChef champion.

But at the end of today's heat,

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

To be in the MasterChef
competition is really like

a dream come true for me.

It just feels surreal
to be here, finally.

I'm here to see if I am as good

a cook as everyone's been telling
me I am.

I'll be very upset if I find out
today that I actually can't cook.

I feel like I need to do
about ten star jumps before I go in,

but once we get in there,
we'll be good.

Welcome to the MasterChef kitchen.

Your job is to cook like
an absolute superstar,

and our job is to discover talent.

This round we call
Basic To Brilliant.

We've asked you to take

an everyday ingredient
and elevate it to

the absolutely fantastic.

At the end of this, Gregg and I
will choose our two favourite dishes

and the people who cook those will
get themselves a MasterChef apron.

That does mean there'll be four

of you who will have to cook again
for the last two remaining aprons.

Ladies and gentlemen,
one hour and 20 minutes.

Let's cook.

24-year-old Elisha lives
with his family

in Kingston upon Thames

and currently works
as a delivery dispatcher,

but hopes to open his own Mexican
street food pop-up restaurant.

Food means the world to me.

I grew up in Zimbabwe and we grew
a lot of corn, sugar cane,

a lot of vegetables,

so I really gained an appreciation
for ingredients that way.

Elisha, what is your humble
ingredient?

Pasta.

So my dish is
a raviolo single

of watercress with mascarpone,

and a egg yolk in the middle.

And I've got a celeriac puree with
a fricassee of wild mushrooms,

some crispy parsnips
and some Tenderstem broccoli.

Fabulous. And what do you want
from this experience, my friend?

What I want is to showcase to a lot
of young men that cooking is fun.

Raviolo, a singular large parcel
of pasta.

We need pasta to be nice and thin.

Egg yolk ravioli, notoriously, into
a pot of boiling water

bounce into each other,
they explode. And if they explode,

he doesn't have
a pasta parcel at all.

He's got scrambled-egg water.

London-based vegetarian Sophie works

in post-production for film
and television.

She dreams
of one day creating recipes

and writing her own
cookbook celebrating

the plant-based food
foods she loves.

When I was younger, I used to beg
my parents to stay up

and watch MasterChef,

and my dad would always cave
in and go, "Oh, go ahead."

I lost my dad about seven years ago.

He's definitely a big part of
the reason why I'm doing this today.

Sophie... Mm? ..what is your basic
ingredient

you hope to take
to brilliant? Mushrooms.

These are my staple.
I don't have steak or chicken,

I have oyster mushrooms instead.
So what dish are you making, please?

A wild mushroom tortellini with
a mushroom and cashew puree,

white wine and cream foam,
with a chive oil.

What are you hoping
for from MasterChef?

I'm just hoping to push myself.

I love cooking, I love dancing
and making some good food.

Sophie's going completely
plant-based,

and she is even making her
pasta dough without any eggs.

It's just semolina, which is quite
a thick flour.

She's also got plain flour and water
and salt. That's it.

Now, this will be interesting to see
if this holds together.

NHS worker Yen now resides
in Cumbria

after growing up in Southeast Asia

with her Vietnamese mother
and Thai father.

She likes to cook
the food of her heritage

and combine it with
the best of her local ingredients.

My strength in the kitchen
is probably time management,

so she says!

Here is the first step
of hopefully transitioning from

a home cook to doing this more
professionally.

Yen's basic ingredient is
crab.

The white meat, she's taking
the claws

and she's going to dip them in
a tempura batter and deep fry them.

All the brown meat she's going
to make into a custard mixture,

and she's going to steam that in
the shell.

That's going to be served with
a broth, which is rich

with crab shells and prawn shells
and pork.

We're also going to get prawns
and sliced belly pork,

all wrapped together with shiso leaf

and lettuce leaf,
inside a little wrap.

Yen has around about 35 different
ingredients on her bench.

If she can't take something

from basic to brilliant
with 35 ingredients,

then there's going to be an issue.

How many places
in the world have you lived?

God. OK, so born in Vietnam.
My dad is Thai.

Laos, Cambodia, Macau, Singapore.

How did you go from
Hanoi to Cumbria?

Well, by my husband.

We worked together in Singapore
for about eight years.

And then we decided sort of
four years ago to move back here.

It's nice to get started.

Trying to ignore everybody else
and everything else.

Chartered surveyor Mark was inspired

to cook at a young age by
his parents.

Having lost his wife suddenly
in 2022,

his ambition is to help other people
who need to learn to cook

for themselves by launching

a cooking platform
for other widowers.

She would be very proud.

Losing Jane is the only reason
that I am here.

I would not be here were it not
for the fact that I lost her.

What is your basic ingredient,
please, sir?

My basic ingredient today is rice.
I am making nasi goreng.

Nasi goreng is Indonesian
for fried rice,

with prawn and spicy
chicken, a cucumber

Indonesian salad, and an omelette on
the top.

Where have you learnt Asian
cookery, Mark?

Well, it was my father
that taught me, as he spent

a lot of time in the Far East at

the back end of
the Second World War,

because he was a pilot over there,
and he had his own recipe book,

which he created and I now have,

with the original
nasi goreng recipe.

That's an extraordinary story.

Nasi goreng is a dry fried rice.

It doesn't have a sauce in it
as such,

but it needs something with it
to make it lovely and saucy.

He's using satay sauce.

Grilled chicken on the side,
which has got lots of spice,

including huge amounts of turmeric,
garlic and chilli.

He's taken the skin off the chicken,

so it needs to be still nice
and moist.

Gosh, time just disappears,
doesn't it?

It sounds quite simple,

but there's lots and lots

of different processes
going on here.

25 minutes left.

32-year-old tax adviser
Gabriele grew up in Genoa,

Northern Italy, and was taught
to cook by his grandmothers.

I hope I have the opportunity
to show my Italian heritage,

taking the judges to the place
where I was born,

using a traditional Italian food.

What is your basic ingredient?
It's mussels,

because when I was super young,
my grandma always cooked mussels.

Have you got one of
Nonna's recipes now?

Correct. Yeah. It's tortelli
filled with mussels

in a cannellini beans broth,
with tomatoes confit

and roasted broccoli. How much
cooking do you do?

Basically every single day

because my wife doesn't
like cooking, so...

Does your wife think you are a very
good cook?

Actually, I haven't got
a ten on ten from her.

The pasta needs to be nice and thin,

and then it needs to be cooked
all the way through.

Mussels, tomatoes, beans -
lovely combination.

But in a pasta dish?
This is unusual.

Mortgage broker Hannah spends most

of her time in the kitchen cooking
for her three-year-old son, Albert.

Her dream is to create her own
online cooking brand

and share recipes with
her followers.

Cooking is how I express myself.

So if I cook for you,

then I love you.

Hannah, what's your basic
ingredient, please?

My basic ingredient is sugar.

So I'm making
a spiced apple sponge cake,

whisky caramel and vanilla
ice cream.

And a praline tuile.

You're the only person doing
a dessert.

I've always been quite confident
with sweet dishes.

I make a lot of cakes for birthdays
and things like that,

so I thought I'll stick
to my strengths today.

Any cooks in your family?
My mum's a very good cook.

She was a dinner lady at my school,

which was mortifying
when I was growing up.

Hannah's using sugar
in many different ways here.

She is making for us
a praline tuile,

which is made from sugar.
She's making a whisky caramel sauce,

which is made from sugar.

She's making us an apple spice cake,
which has got sugar in it.

I hope nothing goes wrong for Hannah
because it sounds fantastic.

Everything's coming together
how it should.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

You have just five minutes,
please. Get it on a plate.

What's left to go on there?
So we've got foam, mushrooms...

You've got about 60 seconds.
I would do it right now.

Everything right now, if I was you.
Everything right now, got it.

That's it. Everybody stop!

SHE SIGHS

Delivery dispatcher Elisha's basic
to brilliant ingredient was pasta.

He's made spinach, mascarpone
and egg yolk raviolo

with a wild mushroom fricassee,
Tenderstem broccoli,

celeriac puree, parsnip crisp

and a mushroom and watercress foam.

The pasta is cooked nicely.

And inside there you've got

the creamy mascarpone and you've got
the iron-rich spinach there,

and the egg yolk is enriching it.

And that's worked absolutely
brilliantly well.

But I'm not convinced it
all goes together as one dish.

This very pretty ensemble on
the side here,

I'm not sure it's an accompaniment
for the raviolo.

You've got fantastic
crisp parsnip crisps.

You've got really lovely
smooth celeriac puree.

Mushrooms cooked beautifully,
broccoli seasoned very,

very well. I like what you're doing,
but this doesn't work together.

They were impressed by the cooking
techniques and everything.

It's just two separate meals,
which is quite disappointing.

Assistant colourist Sophie
is showcasing mushrooms and has made

a plant-based dish
of wild mushroom tortellini

with cashew and mushroom puree,

and a white wine foam,
split with chive oil.

Very good use of the mushroom.
Really well-made pasta.

I'm getting really nice flavours
throughout this of woody mushroom.

There's a little bit of acidity
that's coming from your foam,

because it's got the white wine,
and it's showing

a fair amount of process and skill.

The cashew nut puree is quite rich
and very, very thick.

I think you've done a very good job.
I think it's a really pretty dish.

Good on you, Sophie. Thank you.

I think I've done well,
but everyone's looked so good,

so we'll just see.

Combining her upbringing

in Southeast Asia
and her Cumbrian home,

Yen has used her basic ingredient
of Cumbrian brown crab to make

crab, tomato and pork belly noodle
broth,

tempura crab claws,

a set crab custard with tofu,

and a pork and prawn spring roll.

You've raised expectation incredibly
with this presentation.

Your crab custard, there's a little
bit of graininess coming from

the brown crab meat and the tofu,
but seasoned well,

that's a wonderful thing.
The broth is good, but it's very,

very subtle.

I love your tempura.

I think you've made
those brilliantly well.

This little spring roll with
the chewy pork,

with the firm prawn,
I love that. And that shiso.

But I'm not sure about
all these rocks and sticks,

and I think I'd rather you
focused on food.

I wanted to make a good impression

in terms of the presentation,

and perhaps I might
have overdone it.

Chartered surveyor Mark
has used his basic ingredient

of rice to make a nasi goreng -

Indonesian fried rice with prawns
and chicken,

topped with an omelette,

served with cucumber salad
and a satay sauce.

These prawns don't look cooked,

and I think the undercooked prawns
are going to be joined... Oh, no.

..by a bit of undercooked chicken.

The rice, smoky with turmeric,
sweet red onions,

good amount of chilli -
that's really, really good.

And then a nice omelette
across the top.

It's just a shame
the rest of it is not cooked enough.

The issue isn't one of lack of
cookery skill.

It might be the lack of
a wristwatch.

MARK CHUCKLES

I've never done anything quite
so stressful in my life.

The very fact that I'm probably
going to have to cook again,

I'm not fazed by at all.
In fact, I'll enjoy it.

Tax adviser Gabriele
is showcasing mussels,

and has made garlic
mussel-filled tortelli,

confit baby plum tomatoes,

and chilli-roasted broccoli,

served in a mussel and cannellini
broth, split with herb oil.

I really like that broth, subtle
with the flavour of mussels.

A little bit of mealiness coming
from those cannellini beans,

a little bit of herb oil running
through it.

I really didn't expect

those flavours from
that little innocent-looking broth.

I really like that a lot.

The mussels are naturally sweet
and naturally salty,

and you can clearly
taste them inside that pasta.

I find the pasta too thick. I can
also clearly see

white lines across the edges
there of uncooked flour. Thank you.

I don't have any regrets,

but obviously there's room
for improvement.

Mortgage broker Hannah,
who wanted to hero sugar,

has made spiced apple cake,

topped with a whisky
caramel sauce,

almond praline tuile,

and diced apples, served with
a vanilla ice cream.

I'm really, really enjoying this.

That's a nice sponge.

A moist sponge with a crust
around the outside.

There's a little bit of cinnamon,
a little bit of nutmeg.

That whisky sauce is phenomenal.

I like it a lot.

Ice cream - fantastic.
Smooth as silk,

rich with vanilla.
Great tuile on the side.

You've used sugar everywhere
except for the apples.

I think it's very, very good indeed.
Thank you.

Oh, God!

SHE SIGHS

Never expected to get feedback
that good.

Thank you very much
for all your hard work.

We have chosen our favourite dishes

and those cooks are grabbing
an apron.

Our first contestant getting
an apron is...

..Hannah.

The second contestant getting
an apron is...

..Sophie.

Congratulations.
Oh, my gosh! Thank you.

The pair of you, get your aprons.
Well deserved!

Oh! Oh, my God!

I can't believe it.

Oh, God!

That's amazing.

Apart from my son being born,
that was, like,

the best moment of my entire life.

I'm absolutely buzzing.

I've got my white apron on,
so I guess it's go time now.

Put any disappointment behind you.

You now have a job to do,

and that is to grab yourself
one of these aprons.

This is the mystery box round.

In front of you all there is a box.

And inside that box there are three
common ingredients.

Could you please all reveal your
ingredients?

Coffee, chocolate and plums.

And what we'd like you to do for us,
please, is cook for us a dish

using any one, two or three of those
ingredients.

But whatever you use needs to be
the star of the show.

Alongside whatever ingredients
you choose,

you can use whatever you like from
the larder over there.

There are only two aprons up for
grabs, and that does mean

at the end of this, two of you
will be going home.

45 minutes. We want two portions of
your dish.

Let's cook.

My thoughts are, uh, we'll see
how we go.

Erm, not decided yet.

But just sort of taking it all in.

In this round, they have to plan.

They can't just chuck it in a pot,
and stir and hope for the best.

Coffee, chocolate and plums together
in a pot is not going to work.

I'm just trying to see how they
actually come together.

If I use one element well enough,
it could work.

What are you going to use from
the box?

I'm going to use the plums.

I'm making a deconstructed
cheesecake

with poached plums, pureed,

with a blackberry compote,

a hazelnut tuile, as well.

I'm kind of winging it, but...

Mate, you are risking everything
here.

A deconstructed cheesecake?

I don't know why we don't just have
cheesecake.

I suppose with deconstructed,
you can get more presentation.

Can he make this a coherent plate
of food?

Mystery box - what ingredients
are you going to use?

So, plum in two ways.

One is a sauce.

The other one, the slice of plum,
duck breast.

Anything else going with it,
any starch or anything?

Uh, no.

Cos, uh, if it's cooked well,
then I will be satisfied.

Gabriele is doing a duck breast
with a plum sauce.

Great, that works.

But with what?
That's only half a dish.

25 minutes gone, everybody.

I'm using the coffee and,
indeed, the plums.

So, tell us what your dish is.

It's a lemon coffee posset.

And then on the side you've got
a fruit salad?

And there may be something else
as well, if I can figure out

what else to do with them.

You haven't quite worked out
the dish, have you?

I'm not a puddings person,
I've got to admit.

So I'm learning fast.

I've never had a lemon coffee posset
before.

The coffee posset works and it sets,
fantastic.

Fridge?

But Mark is making up the recipe
as he is going.

So, I'm going to use the chocolate
and the espresso powder.

I love both, and I think they will
be great in any dessert.

Brilliant. What are you making?

So, I'm making one of my favourite
desserts,

which is the mille-feuille.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Where did you learn to do this?

Uh, from books!

I really enjoy baking
since I came here,

so it's kind of a new-found hobby.

Puff pastry has got to be cool
before she assembles

the whole thing -
that's the important bit.

Otherwise, the warm puff pastry
will melt the cream.

Sorry, how long left?

Two minutes left. Two minutes, guys.

Uh...

A bit softer than I would have
liked it,

but it will work.

Uh, I think this is the right point,

75 maximum temperature inside, so...

Should be good enough, hopefully.

That's it, your time's up.
Stop, everybody, please.

Well done. Well done, everybody.

Gabriele chose the plums from the
mystery box.

He's made sliced cooked plums,

a plum peppercorn sauce,

and a blueberry and red onion
reduction,

served with pan-roasted duck breast.

You've cooked the duck flesh
very well,

and the plum is a really good
addition to it.

You've got lovely sharp sliced plums
underneath,

which have got
a bitterness coming from the skin.

You've got a sweeter plum sauce,

which is slightly spiced with
peppercorn.

It's a very small portion.

So I thought there might be
something else on the plate,

showing more skill.

I found the invention test quite
challenging.

They told me that I should do
something more.

I think that it was fair.

Mark has used all three ingredients
to make a lemon and espresso posset,

with a plum fruit salad,

raspberry coulis,
and chocolate shavings.

Lemon and coffee is an interesting
combination.

It tastes odd.

However, your raspberry sauce,
which is quite sweet and sour,

with the coffee, is good.

That is really good
creamy-but-thick texture.

But the lemon and the coffee is
a tough one to take.

I'm relieved that it's over.

But, nevertheless, I got something
for them to critique -

and that's fine -
instead of nothing at all,

which was a possibility at
one point.

Elisha chose the plums.

He's made a deconstructed
cheesecake,

with a vanilla mascarpone cream,
plum puree,

salted biscuit base,

and fresh plums and blackberries
soaked in an amaretto liqueur.

I've got that tang of the cheese,

I've got sweetness of sugar
and vanilla,

I can taste the plum throughout
as well.

And you have got a crumbly biscuit
buttery base in there

with a little hint of salt.

Yes.

Good use of the ingredients,
plums in different ways,

different spicing, different
textures, different flavourings.

Yeah, it's good. Thank you.

It would mean a lot for me to
get that apron, so I can show

how much potential I have throughout
the competition.

Yen has used the coffee and dark
chocolate to make a mille-feuille,

with chocolate ganache,
a Marsala mascarpone cream,

fresh raspberries and blueberries
layered between puff pastry,

and a coffee creme diplomat sauce.

Yen, I think you've done a
pretty good job here.

Your chocolate underneath,
that's really bitter.

And in the cream diplomat, again,
coffee is bitter.

So, the whole thing for me could be
a little bit sweeter.

But I admire all the work.

I like your use of the chocolate
and the coffee.

You've got some decent ideas.

I'm intrigued by you.

I feel all right, actually.
I think the comments are fair.

So, yeah, I'm really glad.

Two of them are going to get aprons
and join Sophie and Hannah

in the next round, and two of them
are going to go home.

Elisha had what he called
a deconstructed cheesecake.

It had the tang of cheese,
it had vanilla.

It was great.

It tasted good.

Let's put Elisha through.

Mark made us a lemon posset,
flavoured with coffee.

I'm not convinced.

It just didn't quite work.

Gabriele - we did get good duck
flesh.

I thought the use of the plums
was good.

John, it was a minuscule
little plate.

Was a small dish, and I would have
liked to have seen something else

from him to show me a little bit
more skill.

Yen, huge amount of work.

It probably could have just been
a bit sweeter.

A puff pastry mille-feuille,
that is ambitious.

Getting an apron, I think it will
make me feel incredibly proud.

I hope I've done enough.

Obviously I really want that
white apron.

But I think that apron is
a destination -

I really enjoy the journey.

I would be disappointed if I were
to go home now,

and I think I would only improve
if I were to progress.

We only have two aprons,
which does mean, sadly,

two of you will be going home.

Our first contestant getting
a MasterChef apron is...

..Elisha. Congratulations.

Second contestant getting an apron
is...

..Yen.

Mark, Gabriele, you are leaving us.

Thank you very much indeed.
Thanks very much, gentlemen.

Thank you. Great to meet you.
Take care. Thank you.

It was a great experience,
an amazing journey,

and I enjoy every single second
in the MasterChef kitchen.

So I will miss it.

Life is all about experiences,

and what an experience this
has been,

leading up to it and being
part of it.

Wonderful.

Elisha, Yen, come up and get
yourselves an apron.

Congratulations. Very well done.

Thank you.

Oh, I worked so hard for this.

This is a great beginning,

and I really hope to be able to go
as far as I could.

I will just give it my best
each time.

I've got the cooking bug right now.

I just want to go again, and again,
and again, and again.

This is a big challenge.

You are going to be presenting your
food today, not just to us,

but to guests who know all about
this competition,

because they were in it.

The winner and runner-up from 2021,

that's Tom Rhodes and
Alexina Anatole.

And you've got the winner from 2018,
Kenny Tutt.

There are just three quarterfinal
places up for grabs.

That does mean, sadly, one of you
will be going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, two courses
in an hour and 15 minutes.

Let's cook.

Getting an apron in the first round,
I thought I'd be quite chilled.

But I am not chill,
and I'm really excited,

and I just want to keep going.

What are you making, Sophie?

Tarte tatin.

And I've got baby leeks
with some chamomile,

some agave and plant-based
feta cream.

For my main, a Middle Eastern-style
stew.

It's charred aubergine and
blistered tomatoes,

with pulled oyster mushrooms,

and that'll be on a bed of whipped
tahini.

What do you want the dining room
to think of it?

I want them to think that it's
creative and it's taking some,

like, basic plant-based ingredients

and just elevating them with loads
of punchy flavours.

This leek tarte tatin intrigues me.

The leeks, I mean, they're a hardy
little vegetable.

They've got to cook down.

If not, they're going to be really,
really chewy,

and they need to be slippery.

She's also got agave, which is like
a honey. I get that.

The one I'm not sure about is
the camomile.

That's a powerful flavour.

Main course, we've got what
she calls a stew.

If we've got aubergines,
which are wet,

tomatoes when they cook down,
which are wet,

tahini, which is sesame seed paste,
which is wet,

the whole thing could be
a little bit too wet.

So, today I'm making a mushroom
spring roll

with truffle honey, blue cheese
sauce for starter.

And then, for mains, I'm making
risotto with pho spice.

Pho is a Vietnamese broth.

It's got cinnamon, you've got black
cardamom, you've got fennel,

coriander seeds, cloves as well.

Usually it goes with a kind of
rice noodle.

I'm serving it with beef marinated
in pho spice,

Asian herb dressing and pea sauce.

This is very fusion, Yen.

Yes, Vietnamese is my roots,

and Italian is something
that I really love.

Yen's two courses sound really
fascinating to me.

They really are fusion.

Those spring rolls need to be really
crispy on the outside,

the filling needs to be ample.

Honey and blue cheese sauce?

Truffle blue cheese?

All together, that's a lot going on.

Main course, we've got a piece of
steak flavoured with pho spice.

Then she's got risotto,
which is the flavours of pho.

And around it all, a sweet pea
and mint sauce.

This is very eclectic flavourings.

This is risky, in the sense that if
I'm not doing a dish that has been

tried and tested in the kitchen,

I hope people will enjoy it as much
as I did.

Getting an apron is a feeling
I will never forget.

I'll remember it forever.

I'm nowhere near ready to leave
the competition.

I have a lot more to show.

What are your two courses?

So, my starter is a sweet potato
chaat,

some tamarind chutney, mint chutney,
sweetened yoghurt,

and a papri.

It's almost like a cracker.

For the main course, we've got
a black pepper chicken fry.

So, it's a curry from South India.

Paired with that,
we've got a basmati rice.

In the last couple of rounds,
you've cooked predominantly,

really, European-style dishes.

So, I like to do, like,
a world tour of food.

So, what I'd like to do for you guys
is give you a world tour

of different cuisines.

His first course,
he's doing sweet potato chaat -

a chaat being a street food snack -
with different types of chutneys.

He needs soft sweet potatoes,
but not mushy.

And on the side of that, he's making
a crispy piece of bread as well,

something he calls a papri.

I've never had a papri before.

He says he's going to fry it.
I hope it's not greasy in any way.

For his main course, got a
Keralan pepper-fried chicken.

That has got to be moist chicken,
that has got to be a spiced sauce,

and that rice has got to be light,
fluffy and perfect.

I really want to show my son
that it's never too late

to follow your dreams.

I'm hoping that, one day, you know,
when your friends sort of talk about

your mum's cooking, he can be like,
"Well, my mum was on MasterChef!"

I'm doing cod poached in curry sauce

and fragrant rice,
with pineapple pickle,

tamarind chutney and a coriander
chutney.

How many times in your life have you
had cod and pineapple?

I just discovered it.

And I have pickled pineapple on
everything at the moment.

And it does go really well, I think.

That fish has got to fall apart in
thick, slippery, almost slices,

without cutting, comes away in
flakes.

Pickled pineapple on the side?

It's like someone stuck a kipper
in me pina colada,

and I'm not quite convinced.

We saw a great dessert from you in
that last round.

Have we got more dessert?

You do.

I'm doing deconstructed lemon
and ginger cheesecake.

So, I've got lemon and ginger syrup
on the bottom,

and then I'm making a cheesecake
cream,

Chantilly cream, lemon curd,

a biscuit crumb and a tuile.

The beauty of a cheesecake is you go
from the top,

which is lovely and creamy,
into the bottom,

which is nice and crunchy.

And when you eat it, those two
textures come together.

Deconstructing it and making it
more crumbly,

you don't get that elegance.

Going to be really sharp.

Yep.

Oh...

You've had 25 minutes, Sophie.

You've got 35 minutes on your
first course.

Always such a joy to be back at
MasterChef.

Certainly a lot more relaxing
and more enjoyable

on this side of the table.

It's so easy to try and over-impress
in this round.

This is a round to nail the
flavours, keep it simple,

and do a few things really, really
well.

There's nerves,
there's exhilaration.

Sweating, sometimes crying,
sometimes laughing.

Good to be back. Always.

At the end of the day,
just carry on.

Keep calm and carry on cooking.

Cheers. Cheers. Yeah, lovely to see
you. Thank you very much.

You have got nine minutes on your
first course.

OK?

I'm on time. I'm on...

I'm telling myself I'm on time.

Sophie's starter is baby leek
tarte tatin,

with camomile and agave.

The thing I'm slightly unsure about
is the chamomile and the agave.

I'm like, I'm not sure whether
we need more sweetness,

cos the leeks are inherently sweet.

And the camomile, I'm like, oh,
is that going to add something?

Are we going to be able to taste it?

Hey! Yay!

Come on. Three more.

At least with the feta cream, you're
going to get that sort of seasoning

that's quite salty.

Maybe it needs that just to sort of
lift the dish

and give that seasoning naturally.

Happy with that? I'm happy.

You sure you've got everything
on it? All good.

Great. Off you go.

Thanks, guys.

She did well.

Hiya! Hello.

Hi, Sophie.

Hiya. How are you guys?

Good. Very well.
Looking forward to this.

I've made a leek tarte tatin.

It's topped with pistachios,

and that's finished with
a feta cream.

Thank you. Enjoy.
Thank you, Sophie. Cheers.

Beautifully cooked pastry.

You can see it flaking all over
the plate,

which is what I absolutely love.

The camomile, it is complementary
flavour.

There's lovely sweetness coming
through the dish,

but it's not too sweet overall.

That feta cream really does help
to sort of bring it back.

Sophie's really balanced this well.

It's really, really tasty,
and I would definitely finish it.

It's got a good balance of the sour
sharpness of the cheese,

the butteriness of the puff pastry,

and also that lovely bite of those
leeks.

Flavours are good,
I really, really like them.

Right, 15 minutes for this Middle
Eastern stew.

Right? Let's go.

Sophie's main course is a
Middle Eastern-inspired stew,

with charred aubergine,
blistered tomatoes

and pulled oyster mushrooms,
on a bed of whipped tahini,

served with za'atar and sumac
flatbreads.

There's not a lot of texture within
the stew, so I want a flatbread

that's going to add a little bit
of textural contrast.

Is a stew enough for this round of
MasterChef?

How do you make a stew look
beautiful?

Ooh, nice. That looks good.

Well done, you. Off you go.
Thank you.

Hello. Hello. I'm back.

Thank you.

I have made for you a
Middle Eastern-style stew

on a bed of whipped tahini.

And we've got some za'atar and sumac
flatbreads to go with it.

Enjoy, guys.

Looks great.

I feel overwhelmed,
but I got them out.

Well, I'm going to start with the
flatbreads, cos I loved those.

They are pillowy soft,

delicious with za'atar and the sumac
over them,

they've got a nice char.

So Sophie really nailed that.

The mushroom, the pulled oyster
mushroom, such a meaty texture.

Then you've got that warmth coming
through there as well.

I really like the tahini,
adds that sort of creaminess.

It's super smooth as well.

Absolutely delicious, spectacular,

beautiful plant-based food.

It's stew-like in texture.

But it's not wet in any way.

And that sauce is not bleeding into
that tahini.

It's holding itself really nicely.

This bread's cooked.

This is nice.

Really nice.

Yen's starter is mushroom spring
rolls with black truffle,

truffle honey and a blue cheese
dipping sauce.

Spring rolls, which obviously is
a Southeast Asian element,

but then we have truffle, which is
in a lot of Italian cuisine,

and we have the blue cheese
dipping sauce,

which is kind of reminding me of
the US.

Are they going to come together?

Are you happy? I am, yes.

Well done, Yen. Looks great.

Go, Yen. Well done, you.

Fusion express on its way.

Hello.

Hey. Hello.

I've made you mushroom spring rolls,
with truffle,

drizzle of honey with truffle.

I know it sounds like a lot of
truffle.

And then you got the blue cheese
dipping on the side.

Thank you.

The filling is pretty nice, I think.

You get a good umami richness from
the mushrooms.

The blue cheese, I don't
think it really adds anything.

And the truffle, I just don't think
they sort of work too well

together in harmony.

Nobody can say that Yen didn't
pack in the flavour.

I'm just trying to decide whether
or not I would order it again.

This is playing with flavours.

This is like one of those really
funky packs of crisps you get.

Blue cheese, vinegar, beef
and honey.

No.

You've got 15 minutes. Yep.

OK? Yep.

Yen's main course is pho-spiced
risotto,

with marinated pho-spiced
ribeye steak.

I'm really interested to see how she
blends those Vietnamese flavours

with kind of what seems like
more-Italian-based cooking

with the risotto.

But give me a perfect risotto, give
me a perfect steak, I'm happy.

Yen, she's a real fusion cook.

It's exciting,
I can't wait to try it,

but it also makes me a little bit
nervous.

Let's go, let's go, let's go.

Hello. Hi again. Hello again.

So, for the mains, I've made you
risotto in pho broth,

with steak marinated in pho spice.

And I promised pea veloute,
but it's more of a pea sauce.

Thank you. Well done. Thank you
so much, Yen. Well done.

It wasn't perfect, but I hope the
guest judges would appreciate

what I am trying to do.

I hope people get what I'm trying
to do.

The steak, I thought, was cooked
really, really nice

and had a nice seasoning.

I love pho, and it's usually
a beautifully clean light broth.

And we've put it in a risotto.

There's some dairy in there,
and it all feels kind of muddied.

And, for me, the rice is
a little undercooked,

so it's still a little chalky.

The veloute is pretty nice,

it's got a nice pea and mint
flavour.

But I don't think these three things
go together.

The rice is obviously undercooked.

The pea sauce itself is too liquid.

And the steak is undercooked.

Fusion food should be big, bold
flavours from different parts,

that have come together as a
marriage -

and this doesn't.

Going all right.

I'm going to blowtorch.

Two minutes on your first course,
please.

So, Elisha's starter is a sweet
potato chaat, with tamarind chutney,

mint chutney and sweetened yoghurt,
with papri.

Chaat is a delicious thing.

It usually has a wonderful
combination of sweet and sour

and tangy and salty flavours.

Which I'm hoping we're going to get
those all through really clearly.

I love a condiment, so the fact
that we've not got just one,

two, but three condiments here,
I'm very, very happy.

I love those colours.

Done? Done. Here you go.

Hooray!

Come on. Go, go, go.

That's it. Well done, you.

Hi. Hello, hi. Hello. How are you?

Good, thank you.

There you go. Thank you.

So, I've made for you a sweet
potato chaat with tamarind chutney,

coriander and mint chutney,

sweetened yoghurt
and some little crackers -

they're called papri.

Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Thank you.

Wow, does it pack a punch!

You've got that sweet,
sour tamarind,

real kick with that
coriander chutney,

the kind of yoghurt kind
of brings it back down.

The sweet potato's cooked
really well.

It's soft and sweet,

but then you've also got
a bit of char on it, which is nice,

that knocks back the sweetness.

When you put this on a little bit
of the papri,

you get that lovely little sort of
street food snack that you're after.

So, yeah, I think he's done
a really good job.

Just delicious. I mean, you look
down at that bowl

and you don't expect very much,

and what it delivers is just
way above expectation.

He's delivering everything he said
he was going to deliver.

Right, you ready? 15 minutes.

You've got to get that chicken on
sharpish.

Yes, I will. Yeah.

So, Elisha's main is
Keralan chicken pepper fry

with basmati rice and an
Indian salad.

With the time you've got,

it's about how you're going to get
that spicing into the chicken.

I mean, is it just that little bit
of coating around the outside,

or has he managed
to sort of penetrate the meat?

With basmati rice,
we want it beautifully fragrant,

nice and fluffy, separated grains.

Hooray! Perfect. Good.

Go, Elisha. Good work. Well done.

Hello.

Right, so, I've made for you
a chicken pepper fry

with fragrant basmati rice
and an Indian salad. Enjoy.

Yes, I'm feeling quite happy with
myself.

I got eight plates done.

HE SIGHS

Oh, my God.

Nothing like I've ever done
before in my life, ever.

This guy is not scared of flavour,

and I am a fan, because there
are whole spices in there.

Lovely, moist chicken thigh.

Perfectly cooked rice,

nice and fluffy. I think this is
a very successful dish.

Then you notice little bits,
like his little tomato concasse,

his knife skills with the onion.

There's a chef here.

That's a proper, proper spicy gravy
wrapped around that chicken.

I'd be very, very happy
to pay for that.

Nothing's in the oven, but it is on.

Hannah's main course is cod fillet
poached in curry sauce,

fragrant rice.

How long have I got? Two minutes.

Poaching a piece of cod,

cod can dry out really quick
and go like cotton wool.

Just needs to just sort of
be just done and fall apart.

I really like the pickled pineapple.

The tamarind date chutney should be
giving you nice sweet-and-sour

vibes, little pops of flavour.

Let's go, let's go, let's go. Looks
good. That's great.

Hi! Hello. Hello.

Thank you.

So, today, I've made for you a cod
poached in curry sauce

with a fragrant rice,
pickled pineapple,

a tamarind chutney
and a coriander chutney.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you. Cheers.

My fish is just about cooked.

The sauce is really nice.

It's really fragrant,
coconutty and gentle.

The rice is nicely cooked.
I love the little green chutney

and I love those elements
of pickled pineapple.

To have that kind of sing through

that kind of rich, creamy
curry sauce is great.

I really applaud all the hard graft
that's gone into the dish,

but it's just the cod,
which is the star of the show,

hasn't quite hit the mark.

The fish could do with
a little bit more cooking.

It is just done.

That pineapple actually works for me
because it's got a sharpness to it,

which is nice.

You've got two minutes, Hannah.
Yeah.

Hannah's dessert is a deconstructed
lemon and ginger cheesecake

with Chantilly cream and a tuile.

We've all had a cheesecake,
right,

but let's just hope, being
MasterChef,

there's just a little bit
more to it.

How are they going to elevate it
to the next level?

JOHN: It's got to go.

You did it all. Come on.

Hi! Hello. All right?

Thank you. So, I have made you

a deconstructed lemon
and ginger cheesecake.

I hope you enjoy. Awesome.
Thank you very much. Cheers.

I'm so relieved that is over.

I really hope I've impressed
the guest judges

and that I've done enough to stay.

I really like the flavours of this.

There's this lovely little syrup
in the bottom that's really punchy

with ginger and a bit of lemon.
The crumb is also yummy.

I get the real warmth of ginger
through that.

And I really love the fact that
the lemon is, like, super-lemony.

It's really, really tangy.
Perfectly elegant leaf tuile.

Really nice, light,
refreshing dessert

with every element executed
perfectly.

I'm enjoying the flavours.

Curd's delicious. Sharp
lemon - that's really good.

The cream rich with vanilla -
that's great.

The cream cheese mixture -
slightly sweetened.

That is fantastic.

Some very good cooking,
some unusual combinations,

and the odd little mistake, right?

The dining room's cook of the day
was Elisha, and we agree.

We started off with
a sweet potato chaat.

It delivered
in flavour on bucket-loads.

That chicken pepper fry,
absolutely delicious.

Mate, he's a star. Elisha has got
himself a quarterfinal place.

There's also another star
in the room for me,

and that is Sophie.

That tarte tatin
with the baby leeks in,

with the vegetarian feta, we liked.
But it was the stew.

I think it was a marvellous
Middle Eastern-themed dish.

Good dishes and we all enjoyed them.

Sophie's going through.

Conversation now about Yen
and about Hannah.

Yen cooked for us a fusion of ideas.

Spring roll in filo pastry
with four types of mushrooms,

truffle honey across the top,
and a blue cheese dip.

I couldn't quite get on with it.

That risotto needed a bit
more cooking.

The steak needed a little bit
more cooking.

For me, didn't taste like it was
a fusion dish.

Hannah - there is a slight issue
with the cooking of that cod.

We would have all liked it
cooked a little bit more.

Good flavours nonetheless.

The dessert - the vanilla through
the cream,

the lemon through the curd,
the ginger through the biscuit,

the flavours were perfect.

Now that I'm here
and I've experienced it,

I just want to keep cooking.

To cook in that kitchen
is just amazing, yeah.

I hope that I've done enough to get
myself a place in the quarterfinal,

but let's see.

We've got a decision to make.

Who's joining Elisha and Sophie
in the quarterfinal?

Who's going home?

We only have three quarterfinal
places.

That does mean, sadly,
one of you will be going home.

We have made a decision.

The person leaving us is...

..Yen.

Thank you so much. Thank you.
It's been really memorable.

Thank you so much. Well done.

I have absolutely no regret.

I think all the dishes
that I did were dishes

that I really enjoy cooking,
I enjoy creating,

so it's all good.

Elisha, Sophie, Hannah,
do you know what you are?

You are MasterChef quarterfinalists!
Congratulations.

THEY COO AND EXCLAIM

Well done, well done.

I couldn't have wished
for a better feedback or response.

It's a dream come true.

It's been really tough,
but it's all worth it.

The rush that you get afterwards
is so good.

I'm gobsmacked. A quarterfinalist!

I did not think in my wildest dreams
that this would happen.

Next time, it's the quarterfinal,
and Hannah, Elisha and Sophie...

Uh-oh!

..will be joining Naomi, Michael and
Victoria,

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

Ooh! The stress!

The flavours are big.
They're enticing.

You've done a great job here.