All language subtitles for MasterChef.S19E12.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

It's the MasterChef quarterfinal.

And this week's four
best cooks are back.

Being in the quarterfinals,
it's absolutely amazing.

It's kind of a blur
of excitement and stress

and, you know, more excitement
and a bit more stress.

It's just unbelievable
to get this far.

| really enjoy cooking
for John and Gregg.

It just feels unreal.

Everyone here is absolutely
hungry for it.

I'm as ready as I can be.

Tonight, their toughest
challenge so far...

Oh, God. Where's my tea towel?
There it is.

...stands between them
and a place in knockout week.

Rushing. I am rushing.

That is delicious.

The competition this quarterfinal
is absolutely ferocious.

I'm loving this. I think this is
going to be an absolute beauty.

Welcome to
a MasterChef quarterfinal.

We want you today
not just to impress us,

but to really impress guests
we've invited into the dining room.

You have a finalist
and two champions of MasterChef -

Alexina Anatole, Dhruv Baker
and Thomas Frake.

I need to tell you, we can only
take the best cooks with us.

You know what you've got to do -
deliver, impress,

get yourself a place
in knockout week.

Ladies and gentlemen, one hour
and 15 minutes, two courses.

Your first course in one hour.

Let's cook.

We've seen a tart inspired
by breakfast cereal.

I find that delicious, my friend.

We've seen a lemon tart,
beautiful and elegant.

In between that, he gave us a
savoury dish we weren't sure about.

Well, he's got two dishes today
and they've both got to be perfect.

I am determined to stay
in the competition

and do my dish proud today.

And I think most importantly,

put a little pinch
of nostalgia in there.

Robin, happy to be in the
quarterfinal? I'm incredibly happy.

What are you going to cook for us?

So today I'm cooking two courses
with the theme of corn.

Fried chicken with a fondant potato

and then a corn veloute, which
is split with some chorizo oil.

For my second course, I'm making
a corn cereal steeped panna cotta

with a corn cereal crumb

and a little bit
of butterscotch sauce.

You like breakfast
cereal then, Robin?

I do like breakfast cereal.

I just realised it's a theme
running through my dishes!

He's going to do
buttermilk fried chicken.

It needs to be crispy on the outside and the
flesh still needs to be lovely and moist.

Sweetcorn veloute, a lovely,
velvety sauce rich with sweetcorn.

It could be delicious.

A fondant potato. John, we've seen
loads of them fail in this competition.

When you put your knife through it,
there shouldn't be any give at all.

Dessert's a panna cotta
flavoured with a corn cereal.

Great idea.

We want a perfect, lovely,
wobbly little tower.

Let's do this, guys.

Oh, go back in there.

Chart ya, our coffee roaster
of Thai origin, is truly ambitious.

Oh, my God. This is really good.

She's really keen to show loads
and loads of technique

and knowledge in every dish.

I still have a lot more to come.

There's a lot more in my pocket
that I want to show them.

Today I'm bringing you to Bangkok,
have some street food there.

We're going to the
pork meatball stall.

You know the grilled pork meatballs
on the skewer? Yeah.

Served with sweet chilli
dipping sauce.

And then we're going to go
for larb gai.

It's like a spicy chicken salad.

Why do you love these dishes?

This is the dish that I've been
eating since I was young.

This is actually Thai food
in another level,

in the MasterChef level.

I want to feel as though
I'm being transported into Bangkok.

We have pork meatballs first.

That pork has to be
wonderful and moist

and it's got to have a lovely
charring on the outside.

Then she's making larb gai,
a minced chicken salad.

A larb is ferociously hot.

Oh, it's going to be really hot..

...for sure.

She's serving it with fried rice,
with chilli jam.

So we got chilli chicken
on chilli jam.

I don't think these are dishes that
Chariya's dreamed up for MasterChef.

I think these are dishes that she's
been cooking for many, many years.

And that fills me
with absolute confidence.

Chris is a performance artist

and there is the flamboyant
and the theatrical in his dishes.

I think this is restaurant worthy.
Oh, thank you.

Chris today has got to wow the
guests as much as he has wowed us.

I'm going to make for you today

pan fried cod loin, crushed
new potatoes with garlic chives,

a butter sauce with some chive oil
going through the butter sauce.

And at the same time, you've got to
do a dessert. What's your dessert?

Asian pear poached in mulled wine.

Because I'm a lover of Christmas.

These dishes seem pretty
conservative for you.

None of the flamboyance
of previous dishes.

These are family favourites.

I've cooked these for family
and they've loved them.

Crushed potatoes, butter sauce
and a piece of cod.

The fish has got to be cooked so that
the skin is crispy and then fall apart.

Crushed potatoes,
you've got to get right.

They've got to have lots and lots
of butter going through them.

I love an Asian pear, not as sweet
as a standard Conference pear

that we would get,
but much more juicy.

He's got mulled wine
going on in there.

It should have the smell
and possibly the flavour

of cinnamon and star anise,
the flavours of Christmas.

Chantilly cream.

Mate, you can't go far wrong
on a Gregg Wallace dish

if you put a great big
dollop of Chantilly.

Delicious.

I'm ready for a new change.
I'm ready to cook.

I really want it. It's there.

It's in my reach
and I've just got to get it.

This means everything.

I can't fire breathe
for the rest of my life,

so this is my other passion.

# We love your food. #

Thank you.

I think Josh has got
a really good palate

and a really, really good touch.

He takes everyday ingredients
and gives them real style.

Top marks for theatre, Josh.

All is going to plan.

This competition is
the single most intense thing

I've ever done in my life.

Oh, God. Where's my tea towel?
There it is.

You do it at home
and you're well within time.

And then your challenge starts
and you look at your timer

and 20 minutes is already gone
and you've just peeled a potato.

Josh. Hello.

What are your two courses?

My starter is going to be
an egg yolk and ricotta ravioli.

The idea is you cut into the ravioli
and it almost kind of sauces itself.

Great. And then for my main,
I'm doing a chicken breast,

carrot puree, king oyster mushroom

and some crispy chicken skin
as well.

What's your backup if your ravioli
doesn't work?

There is no backup.
There's not time for a backup.

There's nothing that can be done.
I just have to nail it.

Josh is playing with fire on that
first course, an egg yolk ravioli.

He's got to make pasta first.

He's got to then fill the actual pasta and
seal it without the egg yolk busting open.

I'm not overly happy with my pasta.

It's servable,
but I'm not thrilled with it.

Chicken breast sous vide,

cooked in a water bath
to keep the breast moist.

On top of a carrot puree.
Very, very classic.

He's got to be absolutely
bang-on with his cookery

because it's hardly a surprise to me,
you and the guests in the dining room

and they are going to focus
on the technique.

You are halfway
on your first course.

Every year, the standard just gets
higher and higher and higher.

And as such, we as judges keep
luckily expecting more every year.

I do feel nervous for the
contestants in this round.

It is a challenge
trying to get the balance

between doing something impressive,
but also giving yourself enough time

to really deliver
to a high standard.

But I'm excited to see
what they produce today.

I don't want to see plates
that are trying too hard

and trying to over impress.

I just want to eat well today

and just taste some really
well executed plates of food,

where you get an idea
of what the cooks are about.

Cheers, guys. Good to see you all.
Cheers. Cheers.

Here's to some cracking food.

Right, Robin,
you've got four minutes.

Robin's main, Corn Meal Part 1.

I'm intrigued immediately.

Smelling good.
Smelling really good.

We obviously want a lovely,
crunchy,

almost crispy outside
to that buttermilk chicken.

Hopefully, he's used something like
thigh, so it's lovely and juicy in there.

Whoa, looking good.

Fondant potatoes, very risky.

Never tried them myself on MasterChef, because
I've seen too many of them go wrong before.

Veloute. Where's that going? In
between the middle to make a pool.

Veloute is kind of like a rich, smooth soup,
buttery and kind of comforting in flavour,

but you also want plenty
of corn flavour coming through.

Well done. Well done. Thank you.

They look spectacular. All right?

Hello there.

The first course is fried chicken
with a fondant potato

topped with some roasted broccoli,
bits of chorizo

and that's accompanied
with a corn veloute,

which is split with chorizo oil.

I really hope you enjoy it.
Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

The flavours of this dish
are really good.

They're really well balanced.

You've got the slight smokiness
from the chorizo.

The chicken is well cooked,
it's moist in there,

but you've got that really
crunchy, crispy coating.

The fondant is soft, I think
it perhaps could have done

with a little bit more butter and a little
bit more seasoning to really bring it to life.

The veloute was creamy, it was
packed full of that corn flavour.

It had sweetness. I love the thought
process behind the dish and the execution.

I think it's lovely.

The coating on the chicken
is really crispy.

The fondant potato is soft, buttery.

It's a great way of taking
a crowd pleaser

and turning it into something
very modern and quite interesting.

15 minutes until panna cotta.
Yeah. I'm going to check them now.

So part two of Robin's corn meal
journey is a cereal milk panna cotta

served with cereal crumb
and butterscotch sauce.

I quite like the sound of this.

Two and a half minutes, Robin.

Pana cottas, you know, it has to
be light, it has to be wobbly.

Oh! That's a relief, isn't it?!

I think this is panna cotta where
it's been infused with the cereal.

It's like the milk that you'd get at the bottom
of your cereal bowl, which is always delicious.

I think the cereal crumb sounds
great. It's going to bring texture.

There you go.

And then the butterscotch sauce, the
risk is that it could become very sweet.

Look at that!

Beautiful thing! Well done, Robin.

Thank you very much, guys. Yes!

Yum!

So for your second course, I've made
you a cornflake steeped panna cotta

with a cornflake crumb and a tiny
drizzle of butterscotch sauce.

I hope you enjoy it. Yeah.
Thank you.

It's perfect.
It's absolutely perfect.

That is delicious.

Perfect wobble, not too sweet.

And then the sauce and the crumb
just give it that texture.

There is maltiness and creaminess.

I love it.

I'm going to be dreaming
about this pudding

for probably at least
the next few weeks.

I'm slightly speechless about this.

It's probably one of the most
memorable dishes

I've had in this dining room.

It's just a sensational,
sensational pud.

This is an example
of a perfect panna cotta.

It's creamy, it's light,
it's delicious. He is on fire.

It was mega stressful, but I think
I got it to an acceptable standard.

I'm really happy with it.

Everything's so far, so good.

Still on time and stressed.

Cooking and tasting at the same time
to make sure the flavour's right.

Chariya's starter,
Thai pork meatballs

served with a sweet chilli dipping
sauce and pickled cucumber salad.

I love the sound of this.

I kind of want this to have that balance
between all those wonderful flavours.

Chilli, salty, sweet, sour.

I think the key for this really is just going to
be about maximising and amplifying those flavours.

I think a little bit of sugar
and a little bit of salt.

We want it hot, we want
it sour, we want it sweet.

And it's all got to be dialled in
for this to really sing.

Are you happy with that, Chart ya?

Yeah, I think it's as good
as I practise at home.

Great, fresh, clean looking plate.
Are we ready to go?

Yes, ready. Chart ya! Come on, kid!

Show them your food.
Show them your food, be proud.

Thank you.

I'm bringing you to Thailand.

This is my favourite street food.

Thai pork meatball
with chilli dipping sauce

and then the cucumber
pickle salads.

Hope you enjoy. Thank you.
Thank you.

I think this is a very authentic,
honest Thai dish.

Sweet chilli sauce is lovely
and spicy and sweet.

And that pickled cucumber on the
side helps cut through that heat.

The meatballs have been cooked well.

There's a almost ferocious
heat from that chilli sauce.

This actually kicks
like it means it.

It's sort of a moreish
start to a meal.

That sauce is beautiful,
it starts sweet

and it's really quite peppery,
quite hot.

It tastes great.

15 minutes to the main course.

I've got all confidence in you,
you know that? Yeah.

Chariya's main is the Thai larb gai

and I absolutely love
a hot and spicy larb.

Lovely chicken mince
that's full of hot, spicy chilli.

I've had ones that have
made my mouth go numb

and I really hope
that this does the same.

The mint yoghurt should cool
things down.

Rushing. I am rushing.

What's that?

This is the rice paper boat.

Lovely!

Finishing touches now, please.

Well done, Chart ya.

Well done. Thank you.

So I have cooked you larb gai.

It's the Thai spicy chicken salad
with the chilli jam fried rice,

and then some charred baby
gem and a little bit

of a mint yoghurt sauce.

And I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

I can't do any better than that.

Really happy.
I love it, as you can see.

Can you see me smile?
Yeah, exactly. Really happy.

I quite like the larb.

You've got the depth and the savoury
note from the fish sauce.

There's heat.
The rice I just don't get.

That sort of sweet chilli fried rice
is just a bit heavy and cloying.

The larb itself is really good.

It's got a really good hit
of chilli heat.

We didn't need these tomatoes.

Give me the larb -
lettuce, the mint and the herbs.

Delicious! Absolutely nailed it.

Everything else just detracted
from this dish.

I think that Chart ya has really
captured the flavours of Thailand,

absolutely.

That larb is really delicious.

I'm not a fan of its presentation,
but it's a lovely thing to eat.

It's addictive.

Keep your nerve here, Chris.
You're doing really well.

I like the sound of this main.

This sounds like classic
bistro/brasserie fare, in a way.

Perfectly cooked, flaky cod
with a lovely, decadent,

rich butter sauce.

Cook on the cod. If it's over,
it sort of becomes very dry.

If it's under, the flakes
don't come apart.

Well done.

The butter sauce can split.

As simple as that reads, there's
a lot that can go wrong here.

Look at that! That's a pretty thing.

Anything else?
No, that's great. Good.

Knock 'em dead.
The show must... Go on!

Today, I've made for you pan-fried
cod loin with wilted samphire,

crushed new potatoes, a butter
sauce and a chive oil.

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.

It's such a big bit of cod, it's
difficult to cook to perfection.

The cod itself feels slightly over.

What's slightly off is the potato's
a little bit underdone.

The sauce is very good.
There's depth of flavour.

There's a hint of sweetness,
which I'm guessing is from shallots.

Great effort, just fell short
of it being very well executed.

That sauce is joyous - lots and
lots of rich, salty butter -

and it goes perfectly
with that piece of cod.

I've got two issues.
I've got slightly overcooked cod.

I've got slightly undercooked
potatoes.

15 minutes for this pear. Yeah.

You chilled? Absolutely. I got it.

That pear has got to be poached
to perfection.

Too far and it's mushy.

Under and it's hard and difficult to
get the spoon through.

For me, I think this is going
to live and die on the execution

of those poached pears.

Oh, mate!

That is very festive.

That's very Christmassy.

For dessert today, I've made
for you a nashi pear,

poached in mulled wine, a lemon
thyme Chantilly cream

and a shortbread crumb.

Thank you. Thanks, Chris.

I feel good about what
I cooked today.

I really tried to keep it
in check and keep calm.

So, I mean, there's some
great flavours in there.

I hope they got it.

Unfortunately, my pear isn't cooked.

Not even vaguely cooked, is it?

The crumble was delicious.

The cream wasn't overwhelming
with that lemon thyme flavour.

Sweet, heavy with that spice

but I think, unfortunately,
the dish hasn't worked

because of the firmness
of that pear.

I really wanted to love
this because the poaching liquor

is Christmas and, you know,
it's delicious and spiced.

Some lovely flavours running
through here,

but that is a firm pear.

I'm chasing my pear around the plate
because it's not cooked enough.

That cream is sweetened

and I like the lemon thyme
going through it.

The pear is still hard.

Seven-and-a-half minutes, young man.

My first pasta was too thin,
so I kept some spare dough

for this exact purpose.

Josh, right now, he's struggling.

He's now decided to make a second
batch, and that worries me.

He's panicking.

I don't want raw pasta.

Josh's starter is
an egg yolk ravioli

filled with truffle oil and ricotta,

served with caramelised onions,
lardons and a Parmesan crisp.

There's plenty of rich Italian
flavours going on in here.

With an egg yolk ravioli,
there's not a lot of room to hide.

That's got to be absolutely perfect
and hopefully will give way

to a lovely, rich, delicate egg yolk
that will coat the dish.

I like Josh's
level of ambition here.

He's kind of going all guns blazing.

Second lot - you're happy
with those?

Happy with them.

Josh, you've done brilliantly well.

Mm! Done. Off you go, then.

Back for your chicken. Thank you.
Seriously, well done. Thank you.

I've made you a raviolo,
which is filled with ricotta

that's been flavoured with some
truffle oil and lemon zest

and an egg yolk,
which should hopefully be runny,

bacon and caramelised onions
and a Parmesan crisp.

Hope you guys enjoy. Thank you.

This is a very refined, presentable
plate of food, I think.

We cut in and there's a perfectly
runny egg yolk to give us our sauce.

Oh, look at that!

There's technique here insofar as
he's made his own pasta.

It's held that lovely egg yolk well,
and the egg yolk was perfect.

And you've got delicate flavours
of ricotta and truffle.

The pasta was super-thin.

It had that lovely elasticity.

There's a little bit of bite to it.

I'd happily eat that again.

I've finished my plate.

I think it was a really delicious
plate of food.

Rich, slippery egg yolk, definite
smack of truffle around the lips,

salty bacon, technically
challenging.

I think he's pulled it off.

15 minutes till the next course.

Good lad.

Josh's main - chicken, carrots
and mushrooms.

What's not to love?

The puree needs to be smooth
and silky and well seasoned.

The chicken needs
to be perfectly cooked.

That's probably the biggest risk
here, because chicken breast

has a tendency to go dry.

Everything has got to be cooked
to perfection for this dish

to really work.

Right, you've got two minutes.

Wahey! Go the Josh!

Good job. Right, yeah.

It's done? Done.

Good lad. well done. Well done.
See you later.

I have prepared for you a chicken
breast, caramelised carrot puree,

king oyster mushroom, which I've
basted in some sage butter,

and some crispy chicken skin

with a chicken gravy to drizzle
over the top.

It smells great. Thank you.

The flavour on this dish
for me is outstanding.

The chicken that's been cooked
to perfection...

By itself, that caramelised carrot
puree is quite sweet

but then, against the smokiness,
it kind of balances.

I think it's really delicious and
everything's seasoned properly

and I really enjoy it.

The chicken's moist.

The seasoning reminds me
of good old-fashioned roast chicken.

I like that carrot puree,
I really do.

It's buttery and it's sweet.

Crispy, salted chicken skin
across that mushroom,

of course, that gives texture
and seasoning.

That's great.

It's done.

Little bits here and there that,
you know, I wish maybe with a bit

of extra time could have gone
better.

However, I've got everything
I wanted on the plate

and I was pretty happy with
every element,

so in their hands now.

We were both excited
for this quarterfinal.

Quite honestly, John,
it lived up to its billing.

We got extraordinary food.

We've got a big call to make, mate.
We have.

Robin today, I've got
to say, truly impressed.

The first course, absolutely
delicious - crispy chicken,

fondant cooked beautifully.

Then a panna cotta that
you and I were in raptures about.

Not just us,
but the dining room as well.

As far as I can see, he's got
himself a place in knockout week.

I have to fly the flag
for one other cook.

Josh has done himself
a great service.

An egg yolk raviolo, really
difficult, and he got it right.

The chicken and the quality
of the carrot puree

actually added up to a pretty
decent dish.

He goes through.

We know there's two cooks
going through to knockout week.

Do we take one more?

Chart ya - those flavours of Thai
street food, absolutely wonderful.

Those little tiny meatballs,

it looked quite simple,
but it had lots of complex flavour.

The larb - wasn't keen
on the presentation,

but it was good to eat.

Chris decided to go really classic.

That butter sauce
was really luxurious.

That piece of cod, slightly over.

We had potatoes, really well
seasoned.

Some of them were not cooked enough.

That was a bit of a shame.

The dessert tasted great,
but the pear wasn't poached enough.

What are we going to do?

I'm really worried about whether
my dish is good enough

to get me through to knockout.

I don't want to go home, though.

Not going home today.

Don't want to.

I did my very best.
I can't do it any better than that.

I'm loving every second
in that kitchen.

I'm not making it up.

I'm loving it.

It's been an absolute honour
to have you guys in here.

Your food has been delicious,

and I thank you very much indeed.

We did say that we would only take
the best cooks with us.

We have made a decision.

One of you is leaving
the competition.

The contestant leaving us is...

...Chris.

You walk out of here with your head
held high and believe in yourself

because your food is great.

I've loved my time at MasterChef.

It's been an amazing experience.

But to lose out against those other
three cooks, it's absolutely fine.

I'm in knockout week, really?

I couldn't believe it.

You put a lot of pressure
on yourself to get quite far

and, um...I'm just really thankful.

I'm so ecstatic.

I am going to try and allow myself
a bit of time to celebrate

before I go to knockout week

but I'm straight back in the office
tomorrow,

so that's going to be a bit surreal
after doing all of this.

Next time, nine new hopefuls...

Now it feels real.

...audition for the right to wear
a coveted MasterChef apron.

Argh, chronic!

Let's go to the fire.

That's good.

That is gross.

A bit brown, but everyone knows
brown food tastes better.

I could bury myself in that really
happily and have it all afternoon.