Original subtitles

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.