Original subtitles

That is a cracker of a job.

Yum, yum, yum.

This is a revelation. Congratulations.

A British culinary icon is just

about to enter the MasterChef kitchen.

Concentrate. I cannot stand it!

I think this year has been an absolutely brilliant competition.

I'm very competitive. I don't like to lose.

It's going to take me out of my comfort zone,

but I just want to get on with it and show what I can do.

Welcome to the MasterChef kitchen. We now know the standard

of this year's contestants is pretty high.

But that's not to say you can't match it.

Who knows? Maybe even better it.

Mm.

Henry, you look like a bit of a cook to me.

Are you?

What is it about cooking that appeals to you?

What do you love?

Any other hobbies?

What is your basic ingredient?

What is your basic ingredient, please, Gabi?

What a lovely memory. So what is your style of cookery?

So what's inspired this love of fine dining?

What's your dish, please?

Ooh!

30 minutes are gone.

Dan, what do you do for a living?

Any burning desire to teach children to cook?

What is your basic ingredient, please?

Why a chicken breast?

Great. What's your dish, please, Dan?

How's that sauce, Chef?

25 minutes left, please.

Michael, what do you do for a living, please?

Brilliant!

What's your basic ingredient, please?

Anjeza, what's your basic ingredient, please?

Do you know the Albanian word for beans?

It's very similar to Italian.

Listen, you have an important job.

Do you have a cookery dream or cookery ambition?

What's that say on your apron?

Two minutes, please!

We've got some good food in here.

That's it. Your time's up. Stop! Well done, everybody.

Henry, we would like you to join us, please.

It's well-made pasta. It's thin and it's held together.

Inside, you've got the creamy tartness of ricotta,

you have the green freshness of spinach,

and of course it's making up the stripes of your pasta

as well, so it does feature very heavily.

It's a fine dish.

Very well-made pasta. You've managed

to get mushrooms through that as well.

Your filling is creamy, but perhaps an inclusion of

a herb like tarragon may have given it another dimension.

Your chicken skin isn't quite crispy enough...

..but I think your chicken is cooked beautifully.

That rice is cooked really well. There is a natural sweetness

coming from the peppers and a hint of smokiness.

Your sauce - chicken stock,

put tarragon in there, giving it an aniseed flavour,

and that Marsala sweetness, absolutely divine.

Your chicken breast, again, a little dry,

but I'm absolutely convinced you cook.

Happy?

That very simple-looking pile of beans,

the flavour is sweet and salty.

Spanish ham, tarragon,

giving that aniseed flavour, and then chilli at the finish.

It delivers a flavour punch way above its rustic look.

Well done, you.

The first person getting a MasterChef apron...

..Anjeza. Congratulations.

Second contestant getting an apron...

..is Henry. Congratulations.

Please, come forward, get your well-deserved aprons.

Well done.

Shrug off any disappointment, you have now got a job to do.

There are two aprons here up for grabs.

I want to see a little bit of finesse, John, it's the MasterChef

kitchen. I want to see more than a midweek

"stick it in a pot and stir it".

Gabi, were you disappointed not to get an apron?

What are you making?

Gabi, you've got a plan, make sure you get it all done on time.

She is going to cook the breast.

She's also got some crispy salted chicken skin.

She's going to make a pomme puree.

She's got a piping bag out now.

So we're going to get a posh mash, if you like.

Dan, how are you feeling about this round?

Why is that?

What's the dish, please, Dan, that's going to get you an apron?

What have you learned from the last round?

And then it gets a little odd.

We have a side of asparagus with capers.

However, I will be impressed if, on the second attempt,

he does give us a beautifully moistly cooked chicken.

You are halfway.

But what's the dish? He doesn't know yet.

The time's pressing.

He needs to know what he's going to put together.

60 seconds. On a plate, on a plate, on a plate.

Guys, that's it. Time's up. Stop, please.

Gabi, are you ready?

Very nicely cooked chicken. Carrots,

I like the sweetness on them.

Wonderful, smooth mashed potato. Mustard through there,

really quite tangy. Very, very good indeed.

The breast is nicely cooked,

and I love the coating on the outside.

There's almost a sweetness to it, there's a nuttiness to it.

And then, this time, of course, you have used that Scotch bonnet.

You'll be pleased to know this time your chicken's cooked

really, really well. You kept it on the crown, you kept the skin on.

Absolutely fabulous day of cooking.

The odd mistake, as you would imagine.

Dan's going through.

But she burnt the chicken skin. She didn't serve it,

but, obviously, then we didn't get that crispy saltiness.

The sauce, well-flavoured but needed thickening up.

Michael, I love the flavourings that he got around that chicken.

The mashed potato was glorious.

I'm not sure if I've done enough.

But wait and see what will happen. I'm hopeful.

Our first contestant getting

an apron, joining Anjeza and Henry...is

Dan.

Good cookery.

Chicken redemption, we're calling it.

The second contestant getting an apron is...

..Gabi.

Very, very well done.

Michael, sorry you're leaving us. Thank you so much.

Dan, Gabi, come and get your aprons.

Well deserved.

Well done.

This is a big challenge for you right now.

You are cooking for a place in a quarterfinal.

And we have invited three guests

to taste your food and help us make a decision.

Runner-up on MasterChef, Tony Rodd,

and two previous champions,

Simon Wood,

and Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed.

What's your dishes, Henry?

Why these two dishes?

This so-called sambal intrigues me.

Mango and coconut and samphire?

It's a green chilli roux. And it's salt, so that's it.

So how that interacts with mango and coconut, I'm not sure.

We've got lamb and beef meatballs.

They get baked in the oven, and then a load of yoghurt gets added.

That's a seriously rich, creamy dish.

The texture's going to come from a piece of toast on the side.

What's troubling me, is there enough cookery skill on show?

Coffee-flavoured creme brulee,

what a lovely idea.

But she's putting sesame seeds across the top.

I like the idea of that. Sesame seeds,

fragrant, slightly nutty.

Oh, my word.

about six processes on one dish...

For crying out loud, Dan.

We've got a potato fondant, a butter sauce,

a beurre blanc, and then a pea puree as well.

Chocolate fondant, I think, is a scary, highly risky thing to do.

I think he's pushing himself a little too hard.

I hope I'm wrong.

What's a Coquilles Saint-Jacques?

Potato fondants, we know take

a long time, so you've got to get that on quick.

For me, this is the most difficult round that they're going to have.

If they get through today, it should give them huge confidence

to really press on and do well in this competition.

Henry's making us prawn, coconut and tamarind curry.

I love tender, juicy prawns. Tamarind,

I love the sourness it brings.

You got two minutes, Chef.

Thank you.

It's so yummy.

The samphire is amazing in the sambal

because it's that sea salty kind of element that's matching

really nicely with the mango and the coconut.

That sweet mango, nuttiness of the

coconut, salty samphire actually works.

I think that's really, really clever.

Dessert, we've got a roast nectarine,

which is going to reduce those sugars,

caramelisation, sweetness is going to come out.

And then you've got mascarpone, and cardamom will give

you some fragrant umami notes to the dish.

Come on, Henry, keep your nerve, don't crumble now.

Yay! Well done, H.

It does look just so pretty, doesn't it?

The mascarpone is nice and smooth.

Could do with a little bit more cardamom,

but I think it was a very delicious dessert.

I'm loving the whisked mascarpone, and it's got cardamom.

I think that's really, really clever.

Just 15 minutes, please. Are we OK?

Tave kosi's traditionally, like, a traybake

which has rice and yoghurt and lamb inside it.

I haven't seen it with sourdough

and brown butter, but I think that'll be lovely.

Thank you.

The meatballs are very juicy, the yoghurt-y sauce is very,

very salty and savoury, but I love that,

particularly with the sourdough bread.

I'm not sure I could finish it all, it's very, very rich,

and there isn't a great deal of cookery skill on show.

Anjeza's dessert is

an espresso creme brulee with black sesame crumb.

Thank you.

The Creme brulee was a little under-set, but I still enjoyed it.

I like coffee, I like sesame.

Oh, no, that's not worked, has it?

That's a lovely flavour. Deep, rich coffee, and the sesame

seeds on top do give it a nuttiness.

Dan, is this the most stressful thing you've ever done in your life?

Come on. Come on.

Has it worked?

I can't believe you've got this done, I'm really impressed.

The fondants are cooked nicely, and I like the flavour in the puree.

That fish is beautiful.

He's got the skin crispy, the flesh is soft.

That fondant is great. That's good cookery.

15 minutes. If you can get

a perfect fondant out, we might be at the races.

A chocolate fondant is a thing

of unparalleled beauty...

..so I really, really hope he does a good one.

Hey!

Yeehaw!

I'm so impressed with this.

Are we going to serve it or not?

Aw, thank you.

It's super-rich. I feel like, is it

Bruce Bogtrotter from Matilda, right now?!

Like, it's so chocolaty.

Lovely crust on the outside.

Soft sponge, oozy middle.

Shame we haven't got the Chantilly, but it's a good fondant.

Gabi, 14 minutes.

It's tricky, so let's hope that they get it right.

The crisp was a nice touch on the side, I enjoyed that.

The scallop's cooked, it is right

amount of cheese for me. It's rich, it's tangy.

Smooth, buttery mashed potato round the outside, I'm happy.

Herb-crusted lamb, we want the fat rendered,

which is tricky to do with a crust,

and we want the meat nice and pink.

Mm. That's good.

Ready to go?

The fondant was nice and soft

and seasoned and quite nice and salty.

I enjoyed that.

The fondant, absolutely perfect. That sauce is nice,

it's just too runny. And there's a lot of pea puree,

it's making it almost into a pea stew.

That aside, she's pulled it off.

Good standard in here today. A little chaotic at times,

but, John, there were some great cookery.

The curry with a bisque-type sauce

that he'd made out of the shells of the prawns,

I thought that was great.

I like Dan. He worked his socks off, that fellow, today.

Really good sea bass.

It was very rich.

Creme brulee, beautiful flavour. but the creme brulee didn't set.

The lamb rack was cooked well.

The fondant potato she got absolutely right.

But the sauce wasn't thickened. Puree, too much of it.

We can see fault with it. We can also see the ambition.

The contestant leaving us is...

..Anjeza.

It was a very close-run thing.

Yes!

You're scaring me.