All language subtitles for MasterChef.S21E01.1080p.WEBRiP.x264-DARKFLiX

It's the battle for the ultimate
culinary prize.

Mm...

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

I need to stop shaking.

..all with their hearts set...

I'm 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...

Oh!

..battle for a place...

Yum, yum, yum!

Ow. 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.

It's early morning, and the first
six home cooks in this year's

competition are heading
to the MasterChef kitchen.

Externally, I'm very calm,
but inside it's hectic.

I've always kind of been known
as a go-big-or-go-home person,

and I think this is relatively big.

I've just turned 40.

I'm in the MasterChef kitchen.

This might be my midlife crisis.

Welcome to the MasterChef kitchen.

This is the start of
a brand-new competition.

This first round we call
Basic To Brilliant.

We would like you to take
an everyday humble ingredient

and elevate it
to absolutely brilliant.

But that ingredient has to be
the star of the show.

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

The cooks who made those dishes
will get themselves

a MasterChef apron and go straight
through to the next round.

The remaining four will need to
stay and cook again,

so don't hold back.

One hour and 20 minutes,
ladies and gentlemen. Off you go.

It's so weird!

This is weird.

It feels surreal.

It still doesn't feel like
I'm here, but I'm here!

Digital marketing manager Shaun's
chef dad and bakery-owner mum

encouraged him to cook
from an early age.

Making his first spag bol
at nine years old,

he's been obsessed with food
ever since.

When I'm working, I like to keep
a notebook at my side,

and I'm writing down recipes,
ideas of stuff that I can cook,

as well as watching videos
at lunch break,

just kind of find something,
cook it the next day

and see what happens.

Shaun, welcome to MasterChef.
Thank you very much.

What's your basic ingredient,
please? Chicken.

I'm very much inspired by
Asian cooking.

So the dish that I'm making is
a Hainanese chicken rice.

I'm taking the chicken,
putting it into a stock.

I can use the stock for the rice.

I can use the stock as well for some
of the sauces that you'll be able

to taste, and hopefully have a hint
of chicken in every little bite.

Where did you learn to cook?

I watch a lot of content online,
documentaries.

I'm like, "Oh, that looks
easy to make."

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't!

Hainanese chicken rice is one
of the most well-known dishes

throughout Malaysia and Singapore.

It needs really moist chicken.

It needs lovely free-flowing rice
cooked with chicken stock.

He's then going to take some of
that stock as well to make a lovely

sweet soy sauce,
a ginger and spring onion sauce,

and then chilli sauce.

I think this is tough.

If he gets it right,
applause to him.

Righto...

Off we go.

Yum.

New Zealand-born Penelope grew up
on the family farm,

and after a varied career in acting,
PR and sheep-rearing,

she now enjoys cooking for friends
in her cottage in Dorset.

Yeah, I'm planning on setting
the place on fire!

SHE LAUGHS

Penelope, what is your basic
ingredient, please?

A hogget shank.

Why hogget? Hogget is between
lamb and mutton, right?

Yes. My father was a farmer
and a lamb buyer.

Hogget was what we had every day.

What do you want from this
competition? Why are you here?

I'm 70.

I want to prove that you're never
too old to do anything you want to.

Hogget shanks.

Penelope is using a pressure cooker,
which means she won't know

if her shanks are cooked or tender
until such time

as she opens the lid
of that pressure cooker.

Go!

It's got to fall off the bone.

Pray!

She's also got chervil
with a black pudding crumb.

We've got a sauce made with butter
and tarragon as well.

The whole thing is being promised
on top of semolina gnocchi.

Penelope has given herself
a mountain of work.

These are my mum's pearls
and she'll probably find out

where they are when she watches TV,

so hopefully it's my lucky charm.

Born in Thailand, finance recruiter
and kickboxing instructor Gon

is keen to showcase the flavours
of his heritage.

My dish is going to be using
chicken thigh.

My mum inspired this dish actually
because she ate this

in Thailand all the time.

There's going to be a really strong
smell of chillies and garlic

in that kitchen. It's going
to light it up.

Gon is making us kaprao.

A classic dish here of fried rice,
chicken, all together with

a little bit of chilli,
ginger, and saltiness of soy.

But he's going to serve that
with an egg yolk.

There's a danger point -
because he's curing egg yolk

in soy sauce with seaweed.

But that means that yolk
will go quite firm.

I want a runny egg yolk
and so does Gregg.

How old were you when you came
to the UK, Gon?

Seven. So I was only a little bubba.

My family, they were street-food
vendors in Thailand.

So my nan would bring home
grilled catfish on a stick

with a nam jim sauce
and sticky rice,

and I used to eat that for breakfast
before I went to school.

So going from that to Weetabix
was definitely a little bit

of a culture shock, but...

GREGG LAUGHS

Yeah, I made it work.
I made it work. I'm still here.

You have 40 minutes left, OK?

OK.

28-year-old Thea grew up in
Shrewsbury cooking with her family.

Now a marketing coordinator
in London, her dad still

sends her weekly recipes.

I'm feeling quite nervous,
if I'm honest.

I've chosen this dish because
the process of cooking it

I find really therapeutic,

which I think would serve me quite
well in a stressful environment

like MasterChef.

Thea, good to meet you. Hello.

What's your basic ingredient?

It's arborio risotto rice.

So I'm going to do
a Gorgonzola risotto.

Why have you picked risotto rice?

It was just something that
I've always grown up

doing with my dad.

He was the one doing all the cooking
when we were growing up.

So it's a comfort food, really.

Thea, good luck.

Thanks.

Oh, God, that was stressful!

A great risotto can be
a fantastic thing.

Stock and rice become one,

and it's lovely and soft.

Not wet, not sloppy.

Not hard, not chalky.

She's going to enrich that
with Gorgonzola cheese

and then Parmesan.

Parmesan, though,
is quite rich and salty.

She's going to have to be
really, really careful

it doesn't become too salty.

Head of business development Gemma

discovered a passion for cooking
at university

and now dreams
of travelling the world

making food-based social media
content.

So my basic ingredient is mackerel.

My inspiration has come
from Malaysia's national dish,

which is nasi lemak.

So I've gone for nasi lemackerel,
to try and be funny.

Nasi lemak traditionally
is fried crispy anchovies,

a spicy sambal, chillies, tomatoes,
lemongrass, and rice with coconut.

But her version is with mackerel.

That mackerel's got to be
cooked all the way through,

but she's only using a blowtorch.

She's not curing it in any way
at all.

Her take sounds interesting.

I just hope it does work.

Gemma, where did you learn
this style of cookery?

I was born in Hong Kong and
I grew up in Singapore and Malaysia.

But basically when I came here
for uni, I was like,

"Oh, my God, I can't eat this food!"

So that's when I started
to learn how to cook.

It smells good.

I've cooked this so many times.
It feels like it's the first time.

But I'm OK.

Vocal coach Beth started cooking
in her 30s in order to relax,

and now has aspirations of
opening a restaurant

serving a musical-theatre-themed
menu.

Building towards a performance

is exactly the same as

putting together a recipe,
getting all the ingredients,

putting it together, and then
the performance is the final dish.

This is the first performance.

Beth, you're making something sweet?
Yeah!

What's your basic ingredient,
please? Oranges.

Why do you think you're doing
a dessert and nobody else is?

I love citrus. Anything citrus.

And I knew I was coming to meet you.

Those two things together
equal a chocolate orange dessert.

Beth's making
a chocolate orange ganache tart -

it needs to have a good amount
of bitterness coming from orange -

served with a cream flavoured
with orange gin.

And then across the top
we've got candied orange peel.

Almost the flavour of marmalade.

This could be fantastic.

Let's just hope it all goes right.

It's all about the ganache,
now setting.

So that's where my fingers
are crossed.

Guys, you have just 15 minutes left.

Oh!

Stuck my face right in there.

Surprisingly on time!

Usually I'm all over the place.

I'm just trying to get some moisture
out of the rice at the moment.

This wasn't on the recipe.

I'm feeling all right, weirdly.

But I don't want to say anything
too soon.

We have seven minutes.

Oh, God.

Haven't checked whether the ganache
has set, because I'm afraid to,

but that's the next thing.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, my goodness me!

You've got about three minutes,
all right?

I am happy with my ganache.

I'm still going to put them
back in the fridge

for a couple of minutes.

90 seconds, everybody.

Guys, your time is up.

Stop, stop, stop!

Shaun, if you're ready, please.

Digital marketing manager Shaun's
basic to brilliant ingredient

is chicken thigh.

He's used it to make
the Malaysian street food

Hainanese chicken rice.

Poached chicken thigh
with ginger and garlic,

rice cooked in chicken stock
with crispy chicken skin,

and a trio of
chicken-stock-based dips -

sweet soy,

garlic, onion and ginger,

and chilli oil.

Can I ask you where you've eaten
this dish before in your life?

I saw it in a video and then
I thought, "I can make it."

And next thing you know...

And you'd never tasted it before?

No.

Chicken thigh - beautifully cooked.

It's moist.

The rice - cooked perfectly.

Crispy chicken skin across the top,
extra texture.

And dips that
I'm finding incredibly moreish.

I can't find fault
with your dish, Shaun.

Shaun, if you've never eaten
this dish before

and you're just cooking this
from what you're learning online,

that astounds me.

Thank you.

It's delicious.

I practised that many, many times

and luckily it ended up
being perfect that time.

So super happy.

Look at you!

Writer Penelope chose hogget shank

and is serving it
on semolina gnocchi slices

with a white wine, tarragon,
star anise and butter sauce,

and a black pudding,
chervil and lemon zest crumb.

Your hogget's cooked beautifully.

It's lovely and soft, falls apart.

That's delicious.

The gnocchi itself,
crispy on one side.

It's nicely made.

The butter sauce, I think,
is a slightly unusual choice

with a big piece of meat.

It's making it a little greasy,

and there's a lot of aniseed
in there.

Star anise and chervil.

It's an odd concoction.

You have a very good touch,

but the flavour choices,
I'm not convinced by.

I think my style of cooking
is confusing Gregg.

But it was good.

God, guys!

And it had all the elements
of things that were me.

Finance recruiter Gon has used
chicken thigh to make his version

of the Thai street food kaprao.

Diced chicken stir-fried
with chilli, garlic, soy sauce

and Thai holy basil,

Thai jasmine rice topped
with a soy-soaked egg yolk,

crispy chicken skin

and fried egg white.

That chicken is wonderful

with sweetness, saltiness
and then raw chilli heat.

I am really, really enjoying this.

Love the texture of the egg yolk
across the top of the rice,

the lovely fragrance
of the aniseed Thai basil

running through the whole thing.

It's got style, it's got elegance

but the flavours match it
completely as well.

It's great. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I wanted the flavours
I knew and love

and the reason why I fell in love
with food to be on the plate,

and I think I managed to
capture that today.

I can't believe it.

Marketing coordinator Thea
chose arborio risotto rice

and is serving
creamy Gorgonzola risotto,

topped with roasted tomatoes,
crispy sage,

shaved Parmesan
and a Parmesan crisp.

The rice is cooked really well.

You've added the stock properly,
stirred it around.

But Gorgonzola is salty.

Parmesan is salty.

You're in danger here
of over-seasoning it.

You've added cream to this risotto.
Mmm.

Cream and a lot of cheese
is making it very rich.

A little too rich for me.

Next time, probably wouldn't
put cream in.

It really didn't need it.
I don't know why I did.

But you live and you learn.

Head of business development Gemma

has used mackerel to make her play

on Malaysia's national dish,
nasi lemak.

Blowtorched mackerel on coconut rice

with a tamarind, tomato
and lemongrass sambal sauce,

garnished with hazelnut, chilli
and sourdough crumb

and soft boiled quail's eggs.

Your mackerel is cooked
fantastically.

Little bits that sliver
off the side.

Lovely, soft quail's egg.

I like this crumb.

Just delicious.

The rice is tasty.

There's little bits that are
in there which are crunchy.

Whether that's by design or not,

it could be perceived as being
not quite cooked enough.

I could dunk bread into that sauce
all day.

Sweetness like a pepper sweetness,
and then real sharp tamarind.

And it finishes with heat.
I'm really happy to eat all this.

I'm glad that one's over.

There were some good positives

and hopefully now I can kind of come
out swinging with some other dishes.

Vocal coach Beth has chosen to
showcase oranges

in an orange and chocolate
ganache tart,

topped with orange gin
Chantilly cream,

candied orange peel, and pecans.

Your chocolate ganache is perfect.

It's still soft in there,

but firm enough to hold up.

But you've got to be some
serious chocoholic

to get through that much chocolate.

I couldn't eat all of that. OK.

I've got a bone to pick with you,
Beth.

That's a chocolate tart -

flavoured with orange subtly -

but it ain't an orange dessert.

OK.

It's chocolate. And gin.

OK. Well, you still... Now you're
getting rid of more oranges!

Don't bury yourself on this one,
Beth. OK!

My comments were positive overall,
I think, which is great.

SHE EXHALES

However, in terms of
bringing the orange out more,

I think it's in the balance.

Great inspiration,
fantastic technique.

You six have made our decision
really difficult,

but at the start of this, we did say

there were just two aprons
up for grabs in this round.

And that does mean that four of you
will have to stay and cook again.

Our favourite dish
was cooked by...

..Gon.

Congratulations.

Somebody else we think
deserves an apron...

..Shaun.

Congratulations.

Shaun, Gon, grab your aprons.

Well done.

Getting the apron,

I can't believe that
I'm sat in one right now.

And I'd be lying to you if
I told you I didn't want more.

I'm just going to let MasterChef
marinate a little bit

and then come back refreshed.

So, yeah, I'm in marinate mode
at the moment.

Getting the apron makes me feel
a lot more confident

and ready for the next challenge.

It's hopefully going to
stay nice and clean,

but I'm sure there will be a mess.

But the mess will be worth it.

Look, there are still two aprons
here up for grabs.

In front of you,
there is a mystery box,

and inside that box there are
three common ingredients.

Please reveal your ingredients.

Trout, chocolate and beetroot.

Oh!

Now, we want you to make for us
two portions of a dish

using either one, two or
all three of those ingredients

alongside anything you like
from the larder over there.

You have just 45 minutes
to create and execute

a dish good enough to get you
a MasterChef apron.

Off you go.

These four now know what
this competition is all about.

It's time for them
to think on their feet.

No idea what I'm going to do with it
yet, but it's going to be the trout.

SHE LAUGHS

They've got to be brave.
They've got to be bold.

They've got to deliver.

You fail, you go home.

I'm not sure about this
at the moment.

I might do trout
and stuff it with something.

All four of them have gone
for the fish. We have a trout-off!

Who can cook their fish the best

and with the best accompaniment?

Agh!

Oh, man.

Come on, Beth.

Beth, have you decided what
you're going to make?

I'm going to fillet the trout.

And then I'm doing pommes Anna

with roasted tomatoes and a
butter sauce to bring it together.

Beth, I like the sound
of what you're doing. Yeah?

I'm a bit concerned about how long

the pommes Anna is going to take.
Amen.

Beth's filleted the trout
beautifully,

and she's going to pan-fry those.

That's great.

Pommes Anna, layer upon layer
of potatoes.

Plenty of butter in there.

We want the potato's underneath
layers to be soft,

but you want the top
to be a bit crispy.

And I'm just not sure
she's got the time.

Stay calm.

Come on. What have you decided
to cook for us?

A whole baked trout
stuffed with some herbs and spices.

I've done a sauce
with fennel, anise, wine.

I'm reducing that down with cream.

Then I'm going to be
boiling these potatoes,

and I'm going to fry them.

And some Savoy cabbage
and some peas in there as well.

That's kind of where my head's at
at the moment.

Gemma's given herself
an amazing amount to do

in a very short space of time.

However, if Gemma can actually
cook that fish whole,

make a good sauce to go with it,

take the fillets off gently,

I think she's proving quite a bit
of technique and knowledge here.

Guys, you're halfway. Halfway.

Right.

Penelope, how are you
with invention?

It's OK. It's the sort of thing
I do at home,

going, "Oh, well,
I've got that, that and that,

"and I'll just put it all together."

What's your dish going to be,
please?

A trout stuffed with
coriander-spiced couscous

in a coconut Asian broth
with a bit of chilli.

Penelope seems to have a plan,

but her plan is an unusual one.

Can couscous-stuffed trout
with a coconut broth work?

That's a big question.

What's going to happen if you
put the couscous into a broth?

I don't get it.

Mate, that's trout
with coconut porridge.

What do you like
in an invention test?

There's not much I like
in an invention test, if I'm honest!

No? On the fly, it's a bit tricky.

Can you tell us the dish
you've got in mind?

Pan-seared trout in a burnt butter

with a tomato, garlic
and chilli salsa.

There's nothing else
going with the dish? No.

Well, you've got time in case
you decide to change your mind,

haven't you? Mm-hm.

Thea can't just serve the fish
and the salsa.

We need something to go with it.

Is there couscous anywhere?

Thea's going to the larder
to get some couscous.

Couscous with that trout
could work.

Let's see what she can do
to make that dish fantastic.

You have five minutes, everybody.

Just five minutes.

Nope.

Back in until the last minute.

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

Guys, listen,
you have just two minutes.

You've got to be quick, Gemma. Yeah.
You've got to get it on a plate.

Oh...

It's your final 60 seconds.

Come on. Come on.

Time's up. Stop, please.

SHE EXHALES

Hopefully the flavours are there,
but it looks...

..bad.

Gemma, if you would, please.

First up is Gemma,

who's serving baked trout

in a white wine cream sauce

with potatoes in a herb crumb,

and Savoy cabbage, peas and chilli.

With two minutes to go,
there was still nothing on a plate,

so you're unlikely to
master presentation.

The fish is cooked well.
Really, really well.

Love your herby potatoes,

but your cabbage needs more cooking.

Your creamy sauce is too sharp.

Like, vinegary sharp. Mm.

I think a little bit too much
ambition here for 45 minutes. Yeah.

The sauce, I don't mind too much,

but the fish has been hacked
to bits.

You've only had two minutes
to get it onto a plate.

But it definitely tastes
better than it looks. Good.

Thanks, Gemma. Thank you. Thank you.

The invention test just kind of
got to me in the moment.

I definitely just did too much.

We'll see what happens!

Beth has pan-fried the trout fillet
in butter and chilli

and is serving it with pommes Anna
and roasted tomatoes.

Beth, your fish has been
cooked well,

filleted well.
I don't have a bone anywhere.

And what's brilliant is that
when I finish the dish,

I can go and do breaststroke
in all the butter.

You got butter in your potatoes,

butter sauce with your fish.

A little bit too much butter for me.

But I like your flavours.

The pommes Anna, in a short space
of time, is cooked,

the texture of the potatoes is good.

They are going a little crispy
and they are soft underneath.

I've got good flavours here
and I can see real promise.

The use of butter in my food
is a thing,

but hopefully it was tasty.

You know,
they didn't not want to eat it.

Penelope is the only cook
to serve her trout on the bone.

She's stuffed it
with coriander couscous

and served it in
coconut and lime broth.

Your trout is cooked perfectly
on that bone.

So well, actually,
it just comes away from the bone

and I've still got the ribcage.

The flesh is lovely and flaked.

The couscous in the centre,
rich with coriander.

It's an odd combination,
but I like it a lot.

I like your broth.

Sweet of coconut,
really sharp with lime.

Couscous and coconut broth?
I'm not sure.

What I've now got is a lime
and coconut flavoured porridge.

But you are very intriguing,

with very good timing
and a very good touch.

Thank you.

I am really pleased because
the fish was cooked perfectly,

and that's the thing
I was worried about the most.

I'm thrilled with the comments.

Finally, it's Thea,

who's serving
pan-fried trout fillets

in a ginger butter

with tomato, garlic
and shallot salsa

and lemon couscous.

I'm happy to tell you

that is a perfectly cooked
fillet of fish. Really soft.

You haven't crisped the skin up.

If you don't want to crisp
the skin up, take it off. Mm-hm.

The salsa is a nice idea,

but I would like to see more
from you.

I like the couscous,

but this dish needs something else
to make it come alive.

It's a big thing, MasterChef,
isn't it?

People don't realise.

The pressure is a lot.

It's enormous. Mmm.

I didn't realise how stressful
the MasterChef kitchen is,

which I'm currently learning.

Not worth a cry over, perhaps,

but it's fine. It's fine.

All four of them chose the trout.

And that actually, in a way,
gives us a level playing field.

You're right.

That was really intense.

Yeah. That was really, really tough.

Exhausted and relieved.

Oh, I'm going to cry again. Damn it!

Let me talk about someone who is

shocking me and delighting me
in equal measure.

And that is Penelope.

Amazing cookery with the hogget.

Incredible cookery with that trout.

Look, Penelope's got interesting
combinations of flavours,

but she's demonstrated
a huge amount of skill.

Now, Thea in the first round made
a decent risotto. Cooked it well.

But that in itself doesn't
demonstrate

a great deal of daring.

Thea in this round showed
that she could fillet a fish.

But besides that, we got
a tomato salsa and some couscous.

I just wanted to see
a little bit more from Thea.

Beth gave us an orange and ganache
tart.

She may have missed the brief,
but that chocolate tart tasted good.

The second round, Beth gave us
a nicely cooked piece of fish.

Pommes Anna,
cooked all the way through.

The issue was, it was just
almost swimming in butter.

Now, Gemma's been really ambitious
with both rounds.

In this round she was really
panicking towards the end

and didn't give herself enough time
to get the presentation right.

The fish was cooked well,

but we got a sauce that you thought
was OK. Didn't work for me.

And then undercooked cabbage.

We've got just two aprons.

Who's got the skill?

Who actually shines
that little bit brighter?

If I did get an apron,

it would be, like,
by the skin of my teeth.

But I'd love to show off
what else I can do.

You bet your arse!

I want that apron.

I hope I've done enough.

If I was to go home, I'd probably
feel a little bit disappointed.

I know my face doesn't show it now,
but...

..it's been a great day.

Oh, my God!

Anything beyond
walking in that kitchen

and meeting John and Gregg, etc,
is a bonus,

but I would love a MasterChef apron.

It's been a great round, but sadly
two of you will be leaving us.

Our first apron goes to...

..Penelope.

Congratulations.

Our second apron goes to...

..Beth.

Congratulations.

Very well done.

Thea, Gemma,

thank you very much indeed.

Obviously really upset,
but I've learnt that I'm really good

at leisurely cooking.

SHE LAUGHS

And that maybe I should
stick to that.

It was something that was
wildly out of my comfort zone.

So, yeah, just proud of myself,
really.

Whilst also crying.

SHE LAUGHS

Congratulations! And you.

Thank you.

Beth, Penelope, come up and get
your very well-deserved aprons.

Congratulations. Thank you!

Well done, the pair of you.

I'm really happy.
I'm thrilled to bits.

How could you not have a good day
when you end up...

..with this?

Oh!

There's so many emotions.

One, relief. Of course I'm happy.

Slightly scared.

But I'm really excited
for what's to come.

Welcome back.

You are cooking
for a quarterfinal place.

You are going to be presenting
your food

to three very special guests
in the dining room -

the final three
of last year's MasterChef.

Louise, Chris
and reigning champion Brin.

Two courses,
1 hour and 15 minutes.

There are only three
quarterfinal places.

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

Ladies and gentlemen,
we know you can do this. Let's cook.

I'm feeling fine,

but I have to be focused, and I
have to be able to turn this hob on.

That's fine.

You're good.

Having John and Gregg
like my food the way they did

still hasn't sunk in.

Today, I have a little bit more
Gon up my sleeve.

I'm excited to see how it goes,
in all honesty.

What are you going to cook for us?

I'm going to go in a different
direction to last one.

I want to take two classics
and put my little stamp on it.

So I'm going to add Thai flavours
to your classic beef tartare.

Beautiful. And the main course
is what?

A tom kha flavoured risotto,

topped with river prawns.

Why this fusion of styles?

I was very much raised in England.

I love my Thai heritage,

but I also want to showcase
a mix of kind of my story

and everything I've done so far.

Gon's taking a classic
steak tartare

and mixing the flavours of larb,

which is a classic Thai salad,

chilli, lime juice and fish sauce.

He's got to make sure
nothing's too overpowering.

Main course - mushroom risotto.

Instead of having sort of
European flavours in the stock,

we've got tom kha, which is usually
a coconut-flavoured soup

with lemongrass,
lime leaves and galangal,

with the risotto.

Can he make those two work?

We're about to find out.

Fish cookery is where
I found my love of cooking.

I love fishing

and I love the bold flavours
that you can put with fish.

So I hope that that shines through
in my dishes today.

My first course is marinated gurnard

with a salad of fennel,
apple and nuts.

Gurnard isn't everybody's
cup of tea.

No. Gurnard I think is
underrated, underused.

And then my second course
is Indonesian king prawn curry.

So lots of chilli, cumin,
coriander and turmeric.

And there's also some
shrimp paste in here.

Wow.

Indonesian curry, yeah!

Get all those spices moving.

Prawns as well.
I think that could be delicious.

That's a crowd-pleaser.

OK. Well done, Beth.

I'm not so sure about that
gurnard starter from Beth.

Pickled fennel, apples
and the gurnard together?

I've seen apple
with many, many things,

but fish and apple? Mmm...

Yum, yum, yum.

I'm doing a starter of
goat's cheese and sorrel mousseline

with a watermelon and wasabi
ice cream.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa.

You've got a savoury mousse
and ice cream? Yes!

Brilliant.
I like mixing up sweet and savoury,

and I've been doing
this for a long time.

It's just kind of fun.

A mousseline -
a lighter, airier mousse -

that she's flavoured with sorrel.

Sharp, almost like lemon.

That could work.

But then we've got
watermelon wasabi ice cream.

OK. Ice cream. Here we go.

Wow!

I'm holding judgment
until I taste it.

Main course - she's promising us
a cream cheese pastry tart

with a frangipane
made with celeriac and almonds,

served with a cannon of lamb
across the top.

Wow. Never had anything like it
before.

Then we've got
orange and mint sauce.

I tell you what, this lady,
Penelope, is right out there.

I'm quite a competitive person,

so this means
the absolute world to me.

As much as I love cooking, it's also
the competition part of it as well.

I'm in here to win, and I've got
to have my A-game on today.

So the first dish is
a Japanese fried-chicken karaage

with a Japanese mayonnaise

and a gochujang spicy ketchup,
just for that extra kick in there.

And then for the main course,
I've got dan dan noodles

with five-spice fried pork.

The dan dan is a sesame-style paste
with some chilli in there,

some extra flavours that kick,

and I'm going to add
some Sichuan pepper in there.

It sounds absolutely delightful.

Main course - we've got
dan dan noodles,

Chinese sesame seed paste,
same thing, and the noodles -

pork mince, soy sauce,
garlic and ginger.

But what I really love is
he's doing scissor-cut noodles.

Is that our noodles?

I thought they'd be like spaghetti.

No, cut shells. Ahhh!

Gotcha!

You just snip.

Beautiful. Could you just...
a little bit off the...? Yeah!

Shaun's starter - chicken karaage,

Japanese chicken,

first marinated with sake and ginger
to give flavour,

cornflour on the outside,
and deep-fried.

We got fried chicken, mayonnaise
and ketchup, Mr Wallace.

What's not to like?
It should be delicious.

MasterChef was, without a doubt,

one of the biggest things
to ever happen to me.

It's changed my life.

I've been doing a fair bit
of private dining,

a lot of food-content creation

and a lot of exciting projects
in the pipeline.

This round was a bit
of a stressful one for me,

so I'll be nice to them today.

I'm absolutely giddy today
to be back.

There is an element of me that wants
to be in the kitchen cooking again,

that adrenaline rush,

but, no, I'm really excited.

It's a tough round to create so much
food in a short amount of time.

I'm just looking forward
to some really good flavours

and something different.

Gon, you've got just 13 minutes.

Actually, now you've got 12.

Time is going fast.

Yep.

I'm a huge fan of a beef tartare,

and a Thai-inspired one
sounds delicious.

I'd expect it to have
a bit of heat in there.

But by the same token,
we need to find the beef as well,

so that's going to be
a tricky balance to get.

What's left to do now?

Lettuce, crushed vermicelli
in the middle.

There's not a huge amount
of cooking,

so the flavours have got to be
pretty bang-on.

Happy? Happy? Yeah.

Gon, you're on time. Absolutely
fantastic. Well done, you.

Don't shake. You're all right.

Hi. Hello. Hi.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

This is my Thai-inspired
beef tartare

with crispy rice vermicelli

and just plain lettuce
that you use as a wrap.

Thanks, guys.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Thanks.

It's got a lot of flavours
of Thailand.

A great balance of chilli.

I've still got some heat
left in my mouth.

The lettuce is crispy.
He's done well with the noodles.

They're not overcooked at all.

When you bring everything together
as he wants you to,

flavours are great,
textures are great.

I think he's done really well.

I love the flavours and it finishes
in a really nice heat.

There's sensation,
there's flavour, there's texture.

It's a good dish.

Prawns, mushrooms, rice.
15 minutes gone.

15 minutes.

Gon's really going for it
with the fusion style.

We've got Italian risotto,
mushrooms,

and then we've got the lovely
tom kha flavours.

Prawns.

WOK SIZZLES

It looks super exciting,

but building flavour and depth
into a risotto in that time

could be difficult.

Rice cooked? I believe so.

It is going to be all about
the cooking of the risotto rice,

making sure it's perfect.

Looks good. Let's go.
Thank you very much. Well done.

I've made you
a mushroom tom kha risotto

topped with a wok-fried
garlic river prawn.

JUDGES: Thank you!

Bye-bye. Thank you.

I'm getting flavours of the tom kha
in the background but, for me,

it feels a tiny bit bland.

The prawn is a highlight.

That was nice. The rice is certainly
not overcooked.

But I feel like maybe risotto
isn't necessarily the one

to take on flavours
like those you find in tom kha.

Rice is cooked.
There is a sweetness of coconut milk

and there's a little bit
of seasoning.

But it hasn't quite delivered
the flavours of tom kha,

which is a shame.

I'm feeling relieved now John
and Gregg are not staring at me.

Ah! I can't wait for a nap
or a glass of wine.

I'm not sure which way it's going
to go, but we'll find out.

Beth, you've got four minutes
before we go out with your starter,

yeah? Gurnard done?

Yes. That is going to be ready.

For Beth's starter,
we've got pan-fried cured gurnard

served with fennel,
apple and walnut salad.

That's a new one for me.

I'm really pleased to see
she's using gurnard,

something
that we don't see that often,

but that fish has got to be prepped
and cooked perfectly.

SHE SIGHS

That's it. Calm yourself.
You're doing fine. Thank you.

That's a nice-looking dish.
Thank you.

Unusual ingredients,
but a nice-looking dish.

Come on, let's go.

Chef Beth. Chef Beth... On it!
..on the march!

Hello. Hello, everyone.

I have made for you an apple,
fennel and walnut salad

with a fillet of marinated gurnard
in chilli and citrus.

Beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks a lot. Enjoy!

I love the salad and, separately,
I really like the fish.

I like the little bit of chilli
on there.

My fish is cooked beautifully,

but I just don't know
that both of them go together.

I think the salad is delicious.

The aniseed that the fennel brings,

it just gives a bit more excitement
than just a bog-standard salad.

I do struggle with the textures
from the fish to the crispy apples,

but I feel it's quite
an interesting dish.

I like the way she's cooked things,

I like the way she's flavoured
things but, for me, the fish

and the apple salad
should never be coming together.

Beth, 15 minutes. Thank you.
Indonesian curry.

We're going to do it? Oh, yeah.

Good answer, Beth.

Perfect.

Indonesian curries have so much
flavour and so much depth.

They're normally really fragrant,

so I want to smell it
before she even walks into the room.

I'm a bit confused with the garnish.

Charred leeks and green beans.

I don't quite see where it fits in.

You've got two minutes here.
Thank you.

Nice amount of sauce.

Breathe, Beth, breathe!

I'm a singer! I should know
how to do that.

Done? Yes.

See you later. Good dish.
Well done, Beth. Thank you.

Thank you, Beth. Thank you.

Hello again. Hello.

I have cooked for your main

Indonesian king prawn curry

with a side of basmati rice,
burnt leeks and green beans.

Thank you.

Well done. Thanks.

I don't know where the last
hour and 15 minutes went.

This smells amazing.

It's just a whirlwind in there!

But to do all of that,
I'm really proud of myself.

We'll see what the diners
think of them.

The prawns are cooked perfectly
for me.

The sauce has lots of layers
of flavouring going on,

which is really nice.

And then this rice is a revelation.

I had no idea how
she would manage to do

the charred leeks
and the green beans,

but they really do add to the rice.

This is absolutely sensational.

I really think it's delicious.
It's really hearty and comforting.

It's a real joy to eat.

That Indonesian curry sauce
I'm enjoying very much.

The prawn on top is cooked
really, really well.

The rice is good.

It's really tasty.

Ooh-ooh, look at those!

Oh, the mousselines look nice.

I think the ice cream's
turning into a sauce.

Penelope's starter
is deeply unusual.

I love goat's cheese and sorrel,

but I can't say I've ever
had it with lime vinaigrette,

watermelon and wasabi.

Penelope? Yeah?

I reckon you're going to be OK.

Oh, my God!

SHE LAUGHS

Right, get your mousseline out,

let it churn for the rest
of the time. Go, go, go.

Penelope's got a lot of work
to do with the mousseline

to make sure it's smooth
and to not split it.

Yes! Beautiful.

The hot lime vinaigrette should
really cut through the cheese.

Just the ice cream now?
Yeah, just the ice cream.

Mate, you've done it.
Great work.

Hello. Good afternoon,
dinner party guests!

JUDGES LAUGH

I have cooked for you

a goat's cheese
and sorrel mousseline

with a hot lime vinaigrette

and a watermelon and wasabi
ice cream.

Enjoy! Thanks.

The first thing that
you can't shy away from

is the overwhelming hit
of vinegar smell.

The mousseline,
I think it's starting to split.

I get a slight flavour
of goat's cheese,

but not an awful lot of sorrel.

The ice cream,
it's like an acidic cream

with a subtle flavour of wasabi,

so I'm not getting
much enjoyment from that.

I really admire the fact
that Penelope has tried to push

flavour boundaries, but I don't
think she's hit the mark.

The sorrel mousseline
with a little bit of citrus to it.

The sauce itself is really sharp

and the ice cream
is just out there, mate.

How the three are supposed to go
together, I don't know.

Penelope?
So you've got lamb to cook? Yep.

I've got to finish the sauce
and take my tarts out.

And how are your tarts doing?

Tarts are doing brilliantly.

I think the cannon of lamb
is going to be lovely,

so long as she cooks it
slightly pink but not raw.

The celeriac and almond tart,

the flavours I think are nice, but,

you know, you just don't want
a Bakewell tart with your lamb.

You've got just two minutes,
Penelope. I know.

Are they ready?

Not as ready as I'd like them
to be, but we will get there.

You are taking liberties
with the clock.

I know, I know, I know.

OK, just a sauce to go? Yep.

I do struggle to get my head around

white wine, mint and orange sauce.

All right, we are ready.

And isn't it pretty
on the pink plates?

You're three minutes over,
Penelope, well done.

I hope you're still hungry.

PENELOPE LAUGHS

I have cooked you
a cream cheese pastry tart

with a celeriac
and ground almond filling,

and cannon of lamb cooked pink,

and an orange and mint wine sauce.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

I don't think I've ever done
anything quite so mad!

I've cooked under pressure before,
but this was quite something.

SHE GIGGLES

I'm still laughing!

My lamb was cooked
really beautifully.

The edge of the pastry
is really nice and crisp and short.

Unfortunately,
the bottom's gone a bit soggy.

The celeriac and almond,
I actually don't mind the flavour.

Louise, your lamb looks incredible.

Mine,
if I was still working as a vet,

I could probably get
that bleating again.

The mint and white wine,

I'm not getting any orange,
but I'm not too gutted about that.

I do see where she's tried to go
with the flavour of the whole thing.

I just think it's all been
piled on top of each other

and it's just blended
into one thing.

Some of the bits of lamb
need a bit more cooking.

The celeriac I really think's
wonderful. I like the sauce.

The big failing here
is the tart case.

The tart case hasn't cooked enough.

Looking great.

The first batch has just
finished their second fry.

It's nice and crispy.

Shaun's starter -
karaage fried chicken

should have a nice,
thin coating to it

that's going to give it
a bit of crispiness

to take up that gochujang ketchup.

Two minutes, Shaun. You all right?

The mayonnaise is split,
so I'm just having to redo that.

It's a little bit tight on time.

I'll be impressed if
he makes his own mayonnaise

and that that comes through.

Thick enough?

Um, I think so.

Let's go. Well done, you.

Amazing what you can do
in 30 seconds, isn't it?

Look at these!

Everything done? Yes, yes.

Shaun, off you go. Well done.

Hello. Hello!

Thank you very much.
There you go.

So I've got for you guys -

chicken karaage with a home-made
Japanese mayonnaise,

as well as a spicy gochujang
ketchup. Hope you guys enjoy.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

I like that he's used chicken thighs

because it's nicer to have that
extra little bit of fat and flavour.

The gochujang sauce
has a really lovely heat to it,

and when you have a bit
of crispiness

with the creamy mayonnaise
and the spice, that's yummy.

The flavours are fantastic.

I mean, I would eat this happily
after a big Saturday night

just in front of the telly.

I don't have many pieces
left on my plate.

I think it's really delicious.

Nice crispy coating.

Meat - soft inside.

Mate, that is great!

Shaun's sticking with
an Asian-themed menu.

Scissor-cut dan dan noodles served
with fried five-spice pork,

crushed peanuts and spring onions.

Hopefully, he's given us
a nice sauce

that'll bring all that together.

Are your noodles
going in with that sauce?

So the pork is going to go
on top of the noodles.

I just need to do the sauce. Ah!
You haven't got the sauce made yet.

No, not yet. Just finishing off.
Quick, quick, quick.

I love the fact that Shaun
is doing scissor-cut noodles.

It's really brave to do something
like that from scratch.

You've got just three minutes now.

You're panicking, aren't you? Yeah.

Just peanuts and spring onions,
yeah? Yeah.

Bingo.

Done? And all done, yeah.

Hi! Thank you very much.

What I've got for you is
scissor-cut dan dan noodles

topped with some fried pork
and five-spice, some onions,

as well as some peanuts.

Thank you so much.
Thanks very much, guys.

The noodles are quite bouncy.

I don't mind that there's
a little bit of a bite to them.

The pork is delicious.

There's crispy bits,
there's soft bits,

The slightly anaesthetic
quality of the Sichuan pepper

is just amazing. I love that.

The peanuts give
a really nice crunch.

I want Shaun to be the mate
that comes and cooks for me

when I'm not feeling very great.

It's really comforting food
that I can't really stop eating.

I think it's a really good
attempt at a noodle dish.

I have to say it's working for me.

I've got a sweet coating
on those doughy noodles.

They're almost like gnocchi.

There's so much Sichuan pepper
in there,

it's now making my tongue fizz.

I like his style.

Very relieved.

75% happy with how it went.

Not fully happy,
but it's...it's done.

I have to say, I had great
expectations from these four

and we had some
really exciting food,

but we also had some food
which divided the crowd.

One of these contestants goes home.
I don't think this is easy.

Well, the dining room
have cast their vote

and their cook of the day is Beth.

We both agreed, the cookery
of that gurnard

was absolutely perfect.

She gave us a really nice,
interesting salad.

I think she might have given us
two separate starters there,

but they were both lovely.

The dining room absolutely loved
the Indonesian prawn curry.

They couldn't fault it.

John, Beth's going through.

I've got a cook of the day,
and it's Shaun.

That chicken, I could have,
and probably did, eat about a kilo.

A well-flavoured noodle dish.

What he does is make crowd-pleasers.

Gets himself a quarterfinal place.

Penelope has great technique
and great knowledge.

Her flavour pairings, John,
are right out there.

Everybody agreed watermelon
wasabi ice cream didn't work

with that mousseline,
which was a shame.

The main course - I would
have preferred the lamb

to be cooked more.

The tart case obviously needed
more cooking.

With Gon,
I loved the steak tartare.

I thought it was spicy,
it was sharp, it was well done.

I liked the crunch
of the lettuce with it.

The main course was where
the issue was. Yeah.

The risotto - the flavours
weren't bold and big enough.

If I was to stay in the competition,
it would mean the world to me.

I think there's so much potential
there for me to grow, but now

it's up to the judges.

Obviously I'd be sad to leave,
but so far I've done the best

I possibly can, and that's all
you can ever ask of anybody.

Well done, all four of you.

That is a really,
really tough round.

Three of you are going through
to a quarterfinal.

One of you, sadly, is leaving us.

Our first MasterChef
quarterfinalist is...

..Beth.

Congratulations, my friend.

Thank you!

Our second quarterfinalist is...

..Shaun.

Well done, you.

Our third and final
quarterfinalist is...

It's Gon.

Penelope... Thank you.

I have had a wonderful time.

Thanks, Penelope.
Thank you guys very much.

And thank you, everybody.

Sad, but I've just had a great time.

I've really enjoyed it.
It has been an adventure.

I'm definitely going to take on
the feedback I've received,

but I'm not going to change
my way of experimenting

because that, to me,
is the joy of cooking.

Beth, Gon, Shaun, you are MasterChef
quarterfinalists.

Oh, mates!

Being a quarterfinalist
does not sound real yet.

Super ecstatic. Can't wait.

I lost about two inches
off my hairline!

You reckon?
Is my hairline still there?

Yeah, no... A bit? Just...OK.

Happy to be here. Definitely happy
to get another shot.

I need a tequila, really,
but I'll be fine after that.

I feel fantastic.

I'm going to give myself just
a couple of hours of celebrating

and then, afterwards, yeah,
it's knuckle-down time.

Next time...

We're cooking now, we're cooking.

..six more home cooks compete
for the right to wear

a MasterChef apron...

I need to stop shaking.

That's great, mate.

It's a joy to eat.

..before battling for
a place in the quarterfinal.

Mm! Come on.

This dessert is stunning.