Original subtitles

It's the battle for the ultimate culinary prize.

WHIMPERS

60 of the country's best home cooks... I need to stop shaking.

..all with their hearts set...

Not really sure what I'm doing!

..on the coveted MasterChef trophy.

That is a cracker of a job. This is absolutely banging.

12 extraordinary amateur talents...

GASPS

..battle for a place... Yum, yum, yum. Oh, wow, that's hot.

..in the quarterfinal.

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.

Concentrate. I cannot stand it!

I like it. I love it.

We've found some amazing cooks so far

but we're looking for a few more.

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

to become MasterChef champion.

But at the end of today's heat,

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

LAUGHS

The last time I had a feeling like this was when I was 18 years old,

sat on a train, going to join the Navy.

Daunting but exciting.

Cooking fills my soul because I find it very therapeutic.

But I don't think it's going to be like that in MasterChef kitchen.

LAUGHS

HOARSELY: Welcome to MasterChef.

Forgive me, I've had a cold. I'm a little hoarse.

You have one job - make us fall in love with your food.

Ultimately, maybe lift a MasterChef trophy and change your lives.

Behavioural coach Michal was inspired to cook at a young age

by her mum, and now enjoys making tapas-style plates

of many different cuisines.

Chicken, and I'm making a chicken ballotine with a chicken reduction,

carrot puree and a parsley oil with chicken skin.

No, I have got many dishes up my sleeve, I think,

because I have been around the world many times.

I used to be cabin crew.

Using my first pair of chopsticks at 19 in Japan.

Once, I was on a short-haul flight

and I had the privilege of serving Michel Roux.

I was slightly starstruck. And I remember he asked me

for something and I just replied with, "Oui, Chef."

31-year-old Harry grew up in Scotland,

and his competitive nature in the kitchen

has been spurred on by his foodie family.

My brother is a very good chef indeed,

so it's always been a little bit of a competition between the two of us.

So that's where I picked up my initial inspiration and drive

to want to cook.

My basic ingredient is tomatoes today.

I just love how kind of versatile they are.

So what's your dish that's going to elevate your tomato?

So today I'm making poached lobster tail with a tomato consomme,

roasted tomatoes, marinated tomatoes,

and a little bit of basil oil to finish. Whoa!

Can I ask you what you do for a living? I'm a fishmonger.

I started about December last year now, yeah,

after years in a sort of creative agency role.

Harry, why? I found it very stressful. I wasn't very good

at dealing with the stress as well. Did you walk into the fishmongers

and say, "Give me a job"? It was as simple as that.

It was a good old-fashioned print off ten CVS,

walk into every fishmongers in London and say,

"Can I have a job, please?" And, luckily, one of them gave us a shot.

Award-winning fashion designer Mojgan

undertakes work for high-profile clients

and likes to elevate the presentation of her dishes.

I create clothing to make people look good,

but now I want to sort of feed people

and to make them happier in life and healthier inside.

Could you help me with the pronunciation of your name, please?

It's Mojgan. Great name. It's an arrow that can reach the sun.

Is that what it is? I'm Persian.

Is your food Persian origin? Yes.

Persian food is such a beautiful old cuisine.

And it's time for Britain to taste that.

42-year-old plasterer Darren served in the Navy for six years.

He grew up in Leicester and enjoys cooking classic British dishes

for his partner and their three children.

I am very much an armchair critic

and I do think you've got to put your money where your mouth is

and put your hand up and see how it goes.

My basic ingredient is mushrooms,

so I'm making a mushroom arancini ball with a parsley pesto.

Why do you like mushrooms? My friend owns a mushroom farm.

So they've got lion's mane mushrooms,

all sorts of woodland mushrooms, so, yeah, pretty cool.

Any hobbies outside of cookery?

Rugby. I've got moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears.

I'm lucky enough to have got two caps for England deaf team.

It's pretty good.

We're getting there. We're getting there.

19-year-old Munopa

recently finished her A-Levels and taught herself to cook online.

She follows classic French techniques

and dreams of one day opening a luxury safari hotel.

My mum is treating this like I'm going to win, like,

the Nobel Peace Prize. She's like, "Listen, this is a really big moment

"for you," and it's really good

to see that. You know, my sister, my brother,

everyone's on my side, yeah.

My basic ingredient is tomatoes,

and I picked them because I grew up in Zimbabwe.

We used to grow tomatoes on the vine. And when I was little,

I used to go up to the vine and eat them like apples.

Pan-fried cod

in a tomato water broth

and a tomato butter brioche with roasted tomatoes.

I'm a bit nervous, but it's...

It has to be.

Born in India, 30-year-old data scientist Vishal

has lived in Glasgow for six years.

Growing up, he bonded with his mother

cooking the food of his homeland.

I do speak to my family every day.

We get, like, a ten-minute video call almost every day at 4pm.

It's a thing that my mum has asked all of us to be on a call.

So it's a rule in our house.

My basic ingredient is yoghurt.

So I'm planning to do an Indian chaat called raj kachori.

Supposed to be king of all chaats.

It's a puffed Indian bread.

And in goes veggies and different chutneys.

We have a green chutney which needs to have, like,

a lot spiciness to it. But there's also tamarind and red chutney,

which will have a lot of sweetness to it. And yoghurt

will bind everything together

because there's so many flavours in it.

You have just five minutes, everybody.

A watched pot never boils.

Ooh!

Get it on a plate now.

That's it. Guys, stop!

Well done. Well done, everybody.

Harry, if you would.

Fishmonger Harry's Basic To Brilliant ingredient was tomato.

He's used them three ways -

marinated in lemon and basil,

roasted,

and a tomato consomme

served with steamed lobster tail and samphire.

You've got very good sweetness in the marinated tomato with basil,

roasted tomato intensifying the sweetness.

Absolutely love it. Too much samphire.

Samphire is really, really salty.

That's an aside. Lovely flavours.

Glad that it's over.

It's the silence when they're eating it that you just start trembling,

but overall good.

Data scientist Vishal

has made raj kachori, a puffed flatbread

filled with a chaat of mango-flavoured chickpeas

and turmeric potatoes,

served with his basic ingredient of yoghurt,

chilli and coriander chutney and tamarind chutney.

An absolutely wonderful collection of flavours.

Fresh mint and coriander.

A little bit of texture of potato. A little bit of texture of chickpea.

My issue is it's a very wet dish.

Maybe not to the brim as I have filled it.

I'm feeling a little relieved.

Maybe I could have used a little bit less yoghurt,

but apart from it, I think I'm quite happy with the flavours.

19-year-old Munopa chose to showcase tomatoes

with her dish of pan-roasted cod

with tomato water broth,

chive oil, roasted tomatoes,

pickled fennel and chilli,

served with a tomato butter brioche.

Thank you. Beautifully cooked cod.

Just coming away in nice, thick, slippery flakes.

That brioche - light, fluffy, slightly sweet.

It is just wonderful.

You should be very proud of yourself. Thank you.

I am over the moon. I did get a "boom" out of John,

so I think it's a good thing to get on the first day, yeah.

Plasterer Darren has used his basic ingredient of mushrooms

to make deep-fried arancini rice balls with chestnut

and dried shiitake mushrooms,

served with a parsley pesto.

What you have made is absolutely excellent arancini.

Thank you. Crispy on the outside.

You have packed that thing full of mushroom.

That's well-made. I'm enjoying that.

Cooking in the MasterChef kitchen,

the pressure is so much more intense than at home.

But I did my best in there. And, you know,

I can hold my head up high, I think.

Fashion designer Mojgan

is serving her basic ingredient of peppers stuffed with turmeric,

spiced lamb and beef mincemeat,

wild rice, tomatoes, prunes and saffron

with a cucumber yoghurt dip.

That heady saffron is wonderful.

There's also a smokiness of turmeric inside there somewhere,

but there's nowhere near enough yoghurt.

I just wanted to know what would they say about my cooking?

And it was positive. And that's, for me,

I just feel a deep joy.

I'm just delighted, really.

Behavioural coach Michal is showcasing chicken,

using the breast to make a ballotine,

stuffed with sumac-flavoured chicken leg,

wrapped in bacon, served with carrot puree,

crispy chicken skin and a chicken sauce.

You've kept the chicken very moist indeed.

You have begun to crisp up the bacon around the outside.

Your carrot puree, you've captured all the sweetness of the carrot.

It's creamy, it's well-seasoned. Well done, you. Thank you.

I'm still in shock.

I've watched John and Gregg for many years,

and hearing them say great comments about my food is just amazing.

Well done!

How have we managed that, then? I'm so shocked.

I've got no idea. I'm in shock.

It could have been anyone, so when they called my name, I was like,

"Maybe I'm having, like, auditory hallucinations,"

but it actually was me!

I am feeling on top of the world.

It's a dream come true.

Goodbye, red apron. Hello, white one.

You now have an important job to do.

You need to get yourself a MasterChef apron.

We wish you the best of luck.

Going to have to go for something that I've not done before,

but let's give it a go.

Nervous, but excited.

Vishal, did you learn anything from the last round?

Yeah. Don't put too much yoghurt in the food.

LAUGHTER

Is there any yoghurt going in this food?

There is, but I'll keep it very less.

Which ingredient did you decide to use from your box?

So, mainly the lamb. So I'm cooking burrito.

Vishal's going Mexican.

So he's going to make a burrito.

He's cooking the mince.

He may put some squash in there.

Harry's making minced lamb kebabs. I like the sound of that.

Vegetables, that he's pickling, there goes your sharpness.

Yoghurt as well. Mate, that's a winner.

My mum and my brother are very good cooks,

and I think when we all got locked down a few years ago,

I just spent so much more time in the kitchen. That's when I started,

you know, focusing a lot more on technique, I think.

Mojgan, what ingredient have you decided to use?

So I've managed to use them all. So, yes.

So I'm making Persian cutlets here

which is minced meat with onion, garlic,

potato and the herbs. I'm roasting a fig,

and I'm making a squash sauce at the side of my cutlets.

So we're going to have the minced lamb, then we've got a sauce

made from butternut squash and fig.

We need an accompaniment to complete that dish.

I've gone for the lamb mince,

so I'm going to try and make some meatballs

and some pasta and a tomato-based sauce to run through it.

I cook every weekend at home. One of the boys will ask

what they want, and that's what we go ahead with,

so it's pretty wing it and see.

If you do them too big, it's really difficult in a pan

to get the heat all the way through to the middle of the balls.

Quite happy with it at the minute, so, hopefully,

we're on for a winner.

Have the bread to not go dry, and I'm already burning something.

CHUCKLES

It's looking all right.

Vishal has used two ingredients from the box

to make a burrito stuffed with chilli and cumin-spiced minced lamb,

white rice, yoghurt and roasted butternut squash,

served with a guacamole.

I can't pick out the butternut squash,

but I do like the spicing on that lamb, finishing in chilli,

and your quite conservative use of yoghurt. Well done.

Their comments were totally fair.

I forgot to season the rice, so it lacked the flavour.

Harry chose the lamb

and made cumin-spiced lamb koftas

served with cumin-flaked flatbread,

chilli, yoghurt, fresh tomatoes,

and red onion and cucumber pickle.

I like the yoghurt creaminess, I like the sweetness, a little bit

of sharpness that the pickling of the vegetables has given it.

Well done.

It made me a bit emotional at the end.

It's just so lovely to hear someone who's tasted thousands of dishes

over the years say that your food was good.

Mojgan used all three ingredients

to make Persian lamb cutlets

filled with potato, parsley and shallots,

served with butternut squash and fig puree,

topped with pistachio

and glazed figs.

Your cutlets, the meat inside is soft. Colour on the outside.

I'm really pleased the potatoes inside are cooked.

I've never had squash and fig together.

It's really nice. It's like a jam.

I'm wondering what's missing from it.

Is it rice? Is it bread?

I managed to use the three ingredients,

but I did that purposely because I thought that would give me advantage

and I'm hoping it will.

Darren chose the lamb mince to make meatballs,

fresh pasta, and a tomato chilli sauce.

Well-made meatballs. Moist inside there,

little bits of crunch on the onion, I'm more than happy with that.

Really well-made pasta.

Thank you.

I'm feeling OK. You know, a few little things

but they didn't hate it, which has got to be...

Got to be a good thing. So it was... It was pretty good.

Harry's kofta with his own flatbreads

was the dish of the challenge.

Mojgan's a good cook, but that lamb cutlet needed something else.

It needed a bread or some rice.

I enjoyed eating the meatballs and the cookery that he did was sound.

The rice was bland and there was a lot of it.

I do want to stay in the competition now.

I want to see what it unpacks.

So, let's see. Fingers crossed what happens.

Getting a MasterChef apron will be truly a dream for me.

I'll be devastated if it all ends now.

I know I couldn't have done any more, so I'm hoping that's enough

and I hope I can continue to enjoy this competition.

Oh!

EXHALES

I'm gutted. I'm really upset.

But to take part in MasterChef,

it's been a great achievement for me to inspire.

Even though it was short.

I feel a bit sad to go home,

but I'll just go home and make myself another dinner.

LAUGHS

THEY LAUGH

INDISTINCT CHAT

As you know, it fits. Just feels...

Feels like a lifetime of hard work has led up to this.

Wow, this feels amazing. Absolutely bouncing.

To stand here with this, I'm in shock. It's awesome.

Today, you are not just cooking for us.

You have to impress the final three from 2023.

Winner Chariya Khattiyot,

finalists Omar Foster

and Anurag Aggarwal.

This is my dream,

you know, I want to be in food for the rest of my life

and that quarterfinal is a step in the right direction.

What are you making?

Marinated king prawns in a peanut and coconut sauce

with a dressed cucumber and apple salsa.

For my main, I'm making potstickers in beef consomme

and confit egg yolk.

What's inspired this move towards an Asian-style cookery?

My dad's an engineer and we spent a lot of time travelling.

He was doing work out in Guangzhou in China.

Dumplings, especially, really spoke to me

because we don't have anything like that in Zimbabwean food culture.

You know, we're not a very big bread and dough type of people.

Prawns cook in minutes.

Don't overdo it. They will go all cotton-woolly.

Floating on that's going to be a confit egg yolk,

cooked in oil in a lower temperature.

Everything's going wrong!

My dough hasn't worked the way it usually does at home,

so it's sticking to everything.

Time is slipping away from me.

Producing eight plates in an hour and 15 minutes is so daunting,

but hopefully I'm just a little bit better than one other person.

What are you making, my friend?

Fillet of steak with potato fondants, carrot puree, asparagus,

and a bone broth and mushroom sauce.

And then I'm going to make a lemon souffle, I hope!

Whenever we eat at home, I always ask the kids to mark my food.

What marks did you get at home for your souffle? An 8.5

because it needed a little bit more lemon, apparently.

The souffle, it either works or it don't. I'm scared for him.

So I'm not cooking fish today. I think I wanted to make sure

that the judges know that there's a few other strings to my bow.

Harry. Yes. What are you making us, please?

Seared beef sirloin with a beef shin bon bon,

a celeriac puree, tenderstem broccoli

and a tomato jam. I made oxtail bon bons as a canape once

for a dinner party and just went down so well,

so it was about how I could turn that into a dish.

Harry's got a big piece of beef there.

He's got to cook it properly, but he's also got to let it rest.

That bon bon. So he's going to take that shin, cook it down,

then it's got to be dry enough but still sticky enough

so he can make it into a ball and breadcrumb it and fry it.

around Paris with my girlfriend

and seeing all the patisseries,

and the mille-feuilles just looked so beautiful.

It was just something I wanted to perfect over the years.

Getting that MasterChef apron in the first round,

it's put the pressure on enormously,

and I hope I can do myself proud today.

We are doing seared mushrooms

with confit egg yolk and crusty bread,

and then beef cheeks with horseradish mash.

I recently was in San Sebastian,

and that's where I got the inspiration from.

I had beef cheeks on day one

and then had it every day after because I loved it so much.

We've got, basically, mushrooms on toast.

It sounds far too simple, but she's making her own bread.

That beef cheek would normally take a lot of time to cook.

There is a danger here that the fat

won't be rendered down in that cheek,

and there's also a worry from me that she won't get

all the horseradish flavour into the mash.

15 minutes, your potstickers. Yeah.

I've got all confidence in you.

Mm.

An hour, 15 minutes -

it's gone, like, just like that, I swear.

In there,

the time runs quicker than the outside, I think!

CHUCKLES

Lovely to see you again. Shall we do a little cheers?

SHE WHIMPERS GENTLY

Oh, my God, this is a flipping nightmare!

Peanut and coconut oil? That sounds more like a satay.

Yeah.

Um, just some...garnishes.

Nice colour.

Well done, Munopa. You got it out, you got it done on time.

Come on, let's go.

Hiya.

So, I've made marinated king prawns,

a prawn head, coconut and peanut sauce,

and a dressed apple and cucumber salsa.

I love it! It's really tasty. My prawn is perfect.

I really enjoyed it. Can I take some home?

That salsa's really nice.

I quite like she's kept it quite chunky,

which balances out really nicely.

She should be really proud of this.

Ooh, nicely cooked prawns. There's a little hint of chilli.

15 minutes. Your potstickers, your consomme. Yeah.

Main course is potstickers

in beef consomme - mm - with confit egg yolk.

So, for me, beef, perfect consomme, it has to be as clear as water.

But the flavour is still really nice and rich.

We are making one giant dumpling.

Yeah.

I think the dough was just a bit too wet.

I don't even know if there's any point in putting that on.

That's just like... What's the matter?

They're overcooked. They're just, like, hard.

You don't want to serve them? No. OK.

Yeah.

I've made a beef potsticker in beef consomme.

And there was meant to be a confit egg yolk,

but that unfortunately didn't make it to the plate.

I know I could have done better.

But I tried my hardest.

I think the consomme is lovely and nice and clear.

Having a confit egg yolk,

it might add another dimension for the dish.

She has shown understanding of flavour.

I think she has performed really well.

It's not the dish that I expected,

but it hasn't made for an unpleasant dish.

I will be. Three minutes, I'll be ready.

The fillet steak, for me, has to be nice and medium rare.

GREGG: Is that medium rare?

I hope so.

If you overcook that,

that's it - ruin the fillet steak.

I do indeed.

I think it's great, mate. Come on! Well done.

Thank you. Well done. Thank you.

Hi, guys. I've made for you a fillet of steak with fondant potatoes,

a carrot puree and some asparagus,

and I've made a bone broth and red wine sauce for you.

Thank you.

Mm! My steak cooked perfectly,

fondant potatoes cut through like butter.

Delicious.

The mushroom and bone broth sauce, he's actually reduced it really

nicely. I feel like he's done a good job.

The potatoes are really well-cooked,

and that is a nice piece of beef.

Darren, have they gone in too early, those souffles?

Cos they've risen up now.

My recipe says 20 minutes so, fingers crossed, I'll be OK.

Lemon and raspberry, it's nice and fresh with a little bit of sugar.

I think it's going to be absolutely delicious.

It's a raspberry cream and it hasn't quite worked.

It's curdled, hasn't it? Yeah.

Decided not to serve the cream. I'm really not happy with it.

Wahey! Look at that!

I'm happy with this. I'm going to go with this.

Thank you, guys. Wahey! Look at that.

I've made for you a lemon souffle.

I've decided to keep the cream off because it didn't go to plan.

So, I hope you enjoy. Have a good day, guys.

I'm not 100% happy with how it came out

so, if they said it's edible, that's a good thing.

The good thing is he put raspberry powder on top,

which should give us a little raspberry flavour,

isn't it? It's tasty. I eat it.

Flavours are really good. Outside crust is good, I think,

but it's overcooked in the centre.

It's a nice, subtle lemon flavour. It's not too sharp.

Mushrooms are just about cooked.

Bread is... ..done.

Michal's starter, there's only three elements on this dish.

It's wild garlic mushrooms, confit egg yolk and crusty bread.

Crusty bread - hopefully she'll show a lot of cooking skills in that.

Hopefully that confit egg yolk is beautiful

and just bursts and acts as the sauce.

Bread and then truffle salt, and that's it.

Well done. Thank you. Go, go, go.

I have made for you some seared wild mushrooms with confit egg yolk,

some crusty bread and some truffle salt.

Thank you.

The confit egg yolk is absolutely perfect.

It's runny, it's tasty. Delicious. I love it.

But this dish is really simple.

There's only three things on this plate.

It's nice, crusty bread,

woody mushrooms, egg yolk enriching it.

It does taste good.

STEAM HISSES

is on.

I like the sound of this dish.

Braised beef cheeks with horseradish mash.

Beef cheek is a very tough meat to cook,

and I think I believe she will use a pressure cooker.

Otherwise it won't be tender on time, isn't it?

This could be a real winner if she gets this right.

The cheeks. And sauce.

Love them.

Yeah. You can smell it, can't you?

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

That's a lot of work.

I have made for you beef cheeks on horseradish mash

with a parsley oil.

I'm feeling slightly disappointed, but it's done

and I'm just hoping it's enough to get through.

My one is burnt and then it kind of ruined the dish for me.

Unfortunately, lack of any kick in the mash.

She promised horseradish and I can't taste much.

The texture of that beef cheek is fantastic, but it's burnt.

The sauce is reduced, it's sweet,

but again, it's got that burnt flavour.

And then you top that with some lumpy mashed potato.

We've got issues here.

I feel like there's a lot for Harry to do here.

Those beef shin bon bons should be lovely and crisp.

When you cut into it, that beef shin should be so lovely and tender.

Unfortunately for Harry,

beef sirloin is my favourite steak, so he'd better get this right!

There's a lot of work in there, Harry. Well done.

Come on, let's go.

Hiya.

Today, I've cooked a beef sirloin with beef shin bon bon,

tomato jam, tenderstem broccoli with flaked almonds,

celeriac puree and a red wine jus.

Thank you. Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

Tomato jam, flavours are absolutely amazing.

Celeriac puree has amazing nutty flavour.

I really love it.

Sauce, the flavour was good. I like it. Delicious.

That beef is cooked really well.

You all right, H? All good, as good as can be.

Right, we've got 15 minutes on the mille-feuille. OK.

Look for a light and creamy pistachio cream,

and acidity from fresh raspberries.

It will be delicious.

The layers have to be distinct, and I should feel

I am sitting in a French patisserie.

Go on.

Hi there.

So, for dessert, I've made

a pistachio and raspberry mille-feuille.

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you.

Time has never passed so quickly in my entire life.

But, yeah, I'm very happy.

Pastry, nice and thin and crispy.

I definitely get pistachio flavour in there. It's really good.

I don't have a massive sweet tooth, so this is actually perfect for me.

Yeah, I'd say this was a hit for Harry.

Nice, thin, crispy layers of puff pastry,

sharp raspberries and that pistachio cream.

It works.

I thought there was a great deal of ambition in this room today.

The dining room thought she was absolutely excellent,

and she's their cook of the day.

Munopa deserves a place in the quarterfinal.

What Harry did today was incredibly ambitious.

The bon bon, really well-cooked piece of beef.

It tasted great. That's challenging technical skill right there.

Yeah, the nice crack of the puff pastry,

it was lovely. The nut through the cream, very well done.

Darren, we had a nicely cooked steak,

fondant potatoes cooked all the way through.

Dining room liked it.

That beef cheek had started to burn.

The mashed potato itself was lumpy.

Not enough horseradish.

There's issues there.

I just hope I've done enough to get through.

It means so much to me that I really hope I don't go out at this stage.

To get a place in the quarterfinal right now,

it would just be magical. So, fingers crossed.

It's a tough one.

The person leaving us is...

..Michal.

Lovely to have met you.

You've had a great competition. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you for the experience. Thank you.

It's a shame to be going home,

but my love of cooking is still going to be there.

I'll just keep carrying on in my home kitchen.

THEY EXCLAIM

Oh!

LAUGHTER

I need to learn more. I want to be better.

I need to be better.

But this is just the best feeling ever.

When I left home, I said to my parents,

like, all I want is to get to the quarterfinal.

And I'm emotional for one, but I'm just so happy.

Oh, wow.

Next time...

..another group of contestants compete...

WHIMPERS

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

Oh, wow. That's hot.

It's a fine dish.

..before battling for a place in the quarterfinal.

It's so yummy.

THEY CHEER