Original subtitles

Knockout Week continues on MasterChef.

After five weeks of gruelling competition,

60 home cooks have been whittled down to the last 16.

Being in Knockout Week is making me feel a bit scared.

The name "Knockout Week" makes it real.

I have loads of nerves.

Let's just see if they inspire me or control me.

I have to keep shaking myself and be like,

is this actually happening? But it is, so...!

When you ask me if this kitchen is stressful,

it is stressful, but cooking next to my mum is another level of stress.

Last time, the first group of eight returned,

and Paddy, Fay and Shaun were knocked out of the competition.

Tonight, it's the turn of the second group,

who will cook off for their chance

to work in their first professional kitchen.

They've got to be calm, confident and deliver deliciousness.

Can these eight set the competition on fire?

Welcome back and congratulations for making it

all the way through to Knockout Week.

You've been given a brief, and that brief is to cook for us

a dish that you would proudly put on your own restaurant menu,

you'd put in a cookbook, you'd sell to the public,

something which people would pay for.

And it has to be amazing because, at the end of this,

five of you will go through to the next round.

It does mean that three of you will be going home.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Let's cook.

Harry, our fishmonger, and his love of the fruits of the sea

has shone through in the competition.

When he cooks seafood, to me, it's majestic.

More of the same, please, Harry.

If that's your style, just go for it.

The brief today is a bit of a dream to cook on MasterChef.

You know, your one dish that you would love to have

in a restaurant or a cookbook.

There's a lot of creativity

that can come out of a brief like this,

but there's also a lot of pressure that can come with it.

Harry, I do hope you're doing fish. I am indeed, yeah.

I thought I couldn't not, so I'm cooking a poached Dover sole fillet

and that's going to be topped with mussels, a bit of dill oil,

some pea puree and broad beans,

finished with a nice beurre blanc sauce, some lemon gel.

And then I'm serving that with some Pommes Anna and some braised leeks.

Wow! Very, very classic. If you were going to cook professionally,

what would it be, Harry? What's the dream?

The idea of doing a sort of fishmonger by day,

fish-and-chip shop by night

might be quite a nice little idea,

so it's definitely going to have fish at the heart of it.

He's taking his Dover sole. He's rolled it into a sausage shape,

and then he's going to poach it.

And he has to make sure that is poached

all the way through before he unwraps it,

otherwise the whole thing could just spring apart.

And, with that, we're getting Pommes Anna,

crispy bits of potatoes with just butter and salt and pepper.

Lots of process, lots of technique on show.

This is what Harry loves, though.

He wants to push himself.

You don't think this is a bit too posh for a fish-and-chip shop?

It might be a little bit too posh but, I tell you what,

it'd make a banging special.

I mean, I guess it's go hard or go home.

So, we're going to go hard, hopefully.

Sophie is a vegetarian,

and she's absolutely brilliant cooking with plants.

She has given us a meat dish,

but we know where her heart is.

Her heart is in plant-based - and I love it.

I think I've managed to deal with the pressure somewhat.

I've pushed my boundaries so much in this experience...

Really misjudged how strong I was.

..but I think I've put on a brave face.

Just smile through the pain.

So I am making a vegan-style pork belly ramen with a miso broth.

So, what takes the place of the pork belly?

I am making a fake pork belly using TVP,

which is textured vegetable protein,

and it's kind of like dehydrated soy.

I'm rehydrating that, and then I'm going to make some layers of fat

out of some starches and some coconut.

So, it will have the effect and hopefully look and taste like meat.

If you were going to work professionally,

where would you be? Where's this dish?

Maybe a restaurant, who knows? See where it takes us.

Sophie's making us a vegetarian ramen.

She is making her own noodles.

She's also going to make plant-based pork.

I've made it a few times for some people, and they're like,

"Shut up, that's pork belly!" And I'm like...

..nope. So...

Let's just hope it tastes delicious.

I'm feeling OK for now, so let's hope it continues.

Munopa, the youngest contestant in this year's competition,

at just 19 years old.

Zimbabwean heritage, but a love of Asian flavours...

..but also somebody who's shown off a huge amount of skill.

Can she keep it up?

Today means everything.

I want to work in food and this is a step to getting there.

So, you know, not to put more pressure,

but my entire future is riding on this.

My dish is sea bass with mussels in a champagne sauce,

warm spring salad,

which is going to have a seaweed oil and vinegar dressing,

and then a herb-infused rosti and pickled cucumbers.

Do you fancy being a professional? I do fancy being a professional.

I'd like to own a safari restaurant. Brilliant!

But a culinary safari lodge, that's the twist.

I've now lived away from Zimbabwe for ten years and, you know,

it might be time to go back someday.

Munopa is going fine dining.

Caviar, champagne, sea bass, that spells opulent -

and it's got to look beautiful.

See if I can flip this without breaking it.

Agh!

I'm very nervous. My hands are shaking.

Naomi, she's shown versatility, she has given us savoury dishes

but, John, we know where her heart is,

and that is in the world of pastry.

She makes people smile with her food.

There's just, like, a little fire in my belly

that I want to go out there and want to do well.

And what this competition has taught me

is that, like, I should actually believe in myself.

Naomi, what is the dish, please? A Scottish beef fillet,

a beef cheek ragu tartlet, with carrot puree, baby carrots,

beef-dripping roast tatties and a beef-cheek gravy.

If this was going to be on a menu or a cookbook somewhere,

where would it be?

I entered this competition not quite sure what I was capable of,

but I think a restaurant would be the real dream.

Naomi is celebrating beef.

A fillet of beef, roasted till it's medium rare.

The sauce for the whole dish

is going to be all the cooking liquid from those beef cheeks.

So, if anything goes wrong in any way inside that pressure cooker,

we don't have a sauce.

Guys, you have an hour left. One hour left.

Gon, a passionate cook, and he loves all things Thai.

He's taking the classic flavours of Thai dishes

and giving them a modern twist.

Today, I'm doing pad thai goong.

Goong is prawn in Thai.

And I'm just going to elevate that,

and I'm going to serve it to you with the prawn head and prawn shell.

We're doing all of it.

What's the difference between a good one and a bad one?

What makes the difference?

Good, sweet, sticky pad thai, the texture of the noodles.

Everything - I just want to transport you

to your little holiday to Thailand today, hopefully.

Everyone knows what pad thai is. It is our national dish,

so there's really no room for error with this, which is fun, I think.

We've got people in the room making their own noodles.

I'm surprised that Gon's not making his own noodles for this pad thai.

He's going to use all the prawns - the prawn flesh,

which we're going to have within the noodles themselves,

the prawn shells, which he's roasting down with salted peanuts,

and then he's grinding them down to a powder...

..and then we've also got a prawn head,

which is going to be deep-fried.

Knowing Gon, I would think we're not going to just get

a pile of noodles on a plate,

that we should get a sense of elegance here

and a little refinement in the presentation.

Do you fancy a restaurant or a cafe? What do you fancy doing?

God, you know what? I would love a food truck,

and I've already got a name.

I'd call it Gone Thai,

because you've gone to eat Thai food and Gon's serving you.

Trevor takes the basic, the everyday,

and he elevates it to something quite brilliant.

He does classic dishes, whether it be a Scotch egg,

Bakewell tart, sausage and mash -

but it's skilful.

It is refined. It's just big.

I've had to elevate my game

as I progress in the MasterChef kitchen.

I'm trying new techniques, ingredients.

You have to make sure that you bring your A-game

each and every time you turn up.

The dish that Trevor's cooking us, brill, a lovely flat fish.

He's serving the whole thing in a prawn bisque.

He's serving that with prawn tails on the side.

He's got a courgette flower,

which he's going to fill with a mousse from the brill trimmings

and the extra bits of prawns,

which should be lovely and smooth and silky.

Lots of stuff that could go wrong here.

I hope it's sophisticated, with flavour, and has a bit of finesse.

What's inspired this dish, please?

Well, it's a dish that I used to enjoy with my best friend, Darren,

and he was a great foodie like myself,

and we used to love a lobster americano dish,

which was in a thick, rich, tomato-ey bisque sauce.

I just wanted to do something that sort of plays on that,

but using prawns, so hopefully I'll do it justice.

My friend sadly passed away a couple of years ago to cancer,

and it means a lot to sort of present this dish to John and Gregg.

Olivia, full of the passion of Italian cookery.

That's where her heart is. That's where her heritage is.

Beautiful, simple-looking dishes, but she brings a twist to it.

She's a clever cook.

I'm really putting 100% of Olivia in this competition,

and this is what I want to show,

myself, who I am, and how important cooking is for me.

I'm making Parmesan cheese, liquid filling ravioli.

I'm braising some beef here,

a bit like a beef bourguignon sauce, and black truffle.

Wow! Do you have any dreams of professional cookery?

Cooking is what really makes my heart happy,

so I would like to show it to people,

and I would like to cook for a bigger audience one day.

Olivia is going to give us a ravioli,

which she says is going to have a liquid Parmesan cheese centre,

a sauce which has the flavours of beef bourguignon,

rich red wine beef stew.

It's taking a huge risk because, if that filling doesn't work,

we don't have a dish.

Anything can happen, you know.

Guys, you have 20 minutes left, please. How many?

20! 20. 20 minutes left. I thought you said 15.

Victoria, our legal eagle from Hull. The food is full of flavour,

it's full of classic technique...

..but she wants to achieve the world in minutes.

I've definitely not taken the easy route with this dish.

We're at the knockout stage now, so the dishes have to be good.

They have to stand up and sing and dance.

For this dish, I've taken inspiration from Hull Fair.

It's a huge part of the whole culture.

It's just, from start to end, food stalls,

so it's candyfloss and toffee apples and hot dogs,

everything you can imagine.

Have you been going to this fair all of your life?

Yeah, I don't think I've ever missed a fair, ever.

Victoria, as always, is really pushing herself.

We're getting a cheesecake, whereby she's even making

the biscuits to make the biscuit base,

a coulis made from figs and citrus, cinder toffee,

which some might know as honeycomb.

We're getting mini toffee apples,

candyfloss and a brandy snap tuile.

There is lots and lots of sugar on this plate.

I just hope that the flavours are defined.

Five minutes, everybody.

Time...is going so fast.

Plating - I'm trying to get a pretty plate.

Yeah, you can't argue with that, that's for sure.

You have just two minutes, please.

Stay calm, keep collected.

Oh...!

Very, very last touches. 60 seconds.

I'm trying my best.

That's it! Stop!

Time is up. Well done, everybody. Well done. Great work.

Olivia, if you would, please.

Talent acquisitions manager Olivia

has made ravioli with a liquid Parmesan filling,

a bourguignon sauce and fresh black truffle.

Perfectly made pasta - it's really thin, slender and soft.

Inside there IS liquid,

but it's the unmistakable salty tang of Parmesan.

Tastes wonderful, and there's a fair amount of work in there.

The inside of that ravioli is really rich and creamy

with Parmesan cheese.

The sauce with the red wine, rich and lovely, flavour of beef,

a little bit of truffle. I think it's a lovely dish.

They liked the dish. I had very good feedback.

I've always had good feedback so far.

There's a lot of technique in the dish,

so I think that it will get me through.

Project manager Trevor has served brill, topped with caviar,

with samphire, courgette flower filled with a prawn and brill mousse,

butter-poached prawn and a prawn bisque.

Love your bisque. It's lovely and shiny,

it's creamy, it's rich, and the flavour of the prawns prevails.

That's wonderful. Your brill is slightly over,

but I'm really impressed with the technique.

My favourite is that courgette flower with that mousse inside,

just soft and almost sweet.

You're showing extraordinary technique for an amateur cook.

Feeling pretty good, to be fair.

The feedback I received from John and Gregg was really constructive,

but overly, I think, positive, so, happy.

Fishmonger Harry has made poached Dover sole,

topped with mussels, broad beans, pea puree and salty fingers,

Pommes Anna topped with a braised leek, a lemon gel,

dill oil and a beurre blanc.

It's a really elegant looking plate of food. Thank you.

I think your poaching of that fish

is absolutely beautiful. It's soft as butter.

That beurre blanc, absolutely perfect,

and Pommes Anna, buttery, crispy,

and I wouldn't be surprised if a top chef actually handed this to me.

I think that is absolutely stunningly gorgeous. Thank you.

Boom!

Fan-tastic.

Skilful, stylish, delicious.

I'd pay good money for that. Thanks.

Oh, it's just absolutely amazing

having that feedback from Gregg and John.

To hear that they liked it was just... It was such a relief.

Munopa, please, if you would.

19-year-old Munopa has served sea bass with a potato rosti,

a salad of pickled cucumber, asparagus,

courgette and hispi cabbage,

and a mussel and champagne sauce with caviar.

Your fish is beautifully cooked,

mussels wonderful, crispiness on the outside of that rosti

giving real texture to the dish.

Don't know if you need the spring salad.

Salad on the side, maybe,

but I don't really want a salad

with my champagne sauce and piece of bass.

The creamy sauce is very rich.

Your salad, I love the sharpness

and there's a strong flavour of aniseed.

I like that, but I don't think that matches up very well

with the creamy sauce.

I'm happy that my fish was cooked well,

but I definitely understand the critiques.

But I'm proud of the technique.

Financial recruiter Gon has served a prawn pad thai,

tamarind-glazed prawns with flat rice noodles,

deep-fried prawn heads

and a prawn shell, peanut and chilli crumb.

Gon, your prawn tail's cooked really, really nicely.

The prawn heads -

I like the fact they're crispy on the outside.

It needs more sauce. The noodles just don't have enough flavour.

I've got prawns slightly over here

and I find the noodles very, very chewy, I'm afraid to say.

Main thing is I'm kind of just disappointed in the flavour.

It's the most important aspect of my food.

Post-production colourist Sophie has served a plant-based ramen,

vegan pork belly, made from textured vegetable protein,

bean curd and coconut milk, with handmade noodles,

shiitake mushrooms glazed in oyster sauce, and pak choi,

all in a vegetable miso broth.

Perfect noodles, nice little bite to them.

That broth, rich with vegetables and miso, slightly salty.

This pork belly thing of yours, I didn't understand it.

It's fan-tastic.

It actually feels in your mouth like pork belly.

Not only is it clever, it tastes great.

Thank you.

I really didn't think they were going to like it,

but they loved it, so, beaming!

Teacher Naomi has served her fillet of beef

with a beef cheek ragu tartlet,

carrot puree, baby carrots,

beef-dripping roast potatoes and a beef-cheek gravy.

Steak cooked nicely, lovely colour on the outside.

Potatoes are great, lovely and crisp.

That tart could do with a good amount more seasoning,

and your carrot puree definitely needs more seasoning as well.

What this dish needs is that gravy all over it,

but you've made it too gloopy, so it just won't pour.

That's what I think the dish is missing.

I...feel good, because it's over.

That was so stressful - but at least I got something up.

Finally, it's lawyer Victoria.

She's made a cheesecake from goat's cheese and thyme

and a biscuit base, served with a fig and citrus coulis,

honeycomb, brandy snap tuiles,

a toffee apple and candyfloss.

It's like eating from a cheeseboard.

You've got a goat's cheese, quite sticky, flavoured with thyme.

Underneath that, you've got a light fig chutney,

that you'd get on a cheeseboard.

I like the candyfloss on the side.

Your brandy snaps are more brandy bendy than brandy snaps,

but I'm really enjoying this.

I find that very sweet.

Your brandy snaps are sweet, because they're made from sugar.

The honeycomb - that's quite sweet.

The toffee apple definitely is sweet.

Huge amounts of work.

I think you're dividing the judges here.

The comments were really interesting.

They couldn't have been any further apart.

Oh, God, I've got really mixed emotions right now.

Eight very, very talented cooks. I've got to say, as amateurs,

I'm really, really impressed.

We've only got five places in the next round.

That does mean three of them are going home.

There's one absolute top cook here right now and that's Harry.

Mate, the guy's cooking like a pro!

Harry is through to the next round.

Sophie made her own noodles,

but the star of the show was a vegetarian pork belly.

And it tasted like a pork ramen.

I thought it was absolutely wonderful.

Sophie's got herself a place in the next round.

Olivia, there's somebody who's really being adventurous,

somebody who's being inventive, but delivering great taste.

It's a simple-looking dish that tastes divine

and actually hides a fair amount of technical ability.

Is she going through? Olivia's going through.

There is one person, I believe, whose competition is over.

As much as I admire the work from Gon with the prawns,

we had a pad thai with not enough sauce,

there wasn't enough flavour,

and he didn't even make his own noodles.

It didn't work, John. It just didn't work.

Gon's competition is over.

Now, we've got four others to talk about -

Victoria and her cheesecake,

Munopa and her sea bass and champagne sauce,

Naomi and her beef with a beef shin tartlet,

and Trevor with his brill and his courgette flower.

Two stay, two go home.

I'd love to stay more than anything.

It's addictive, and I don't want that to stop.

I think I'm feeling...

..probably more deflated than I have in previous rounds,

but I think it's beyond my control.

I can't call it. I don't feel like I've bagged it.

I don't feel like I've bombed it. I've just got no idea.

Everybody put their best foot forward today.

I just don't know if I'm at that level,

so we'll wait and see.

There were two people today we believed were outstanding.

Harry, Sophie - congratulations, guys.

Fantastic!

There was one other person that we believe did enough.

Olivia, congratulations.

It is a competition,

and that does mean we can't take all of you with us.

Gon, thanks very much. Sadly, you're leaving us.

Munopa, Victoria, Naomi, Trevor...

..two of you are going through,

and two of you are leaving the competition.

Trevor...

..Munopa...

Congratulations, you're going through to the next round.

Naomi, Victoria, thank you so much.

This competition has shown me actually what I'm capable of.

If you'd told me two years ago I'd be sitting here right now,

having achieved what I've achieved... Oh!

No, I would have said it was impossible, so it means a lot.

I'm really proud of myself.

This competition has just confirmed to me how much I love cooking,

and I'm going to continue that

and I'm going to continue to improve.

I've learned so much about myself and cooking.

It's fuelled my love for cooking so much more.

It's fuelled my love for my heritage so much more.

That for me is priceless, almost, so, yeah, an amazing experience.

Well done, all five of you.

You have won the right to do your first-ever shift

in a professional kitchen.

Get some rest. You're going to need it.

It's early morning,

and the contestants are about to face the intense pressure

of their first professional restaurant service...

..at Dovetale, situated in the five-star 1 Hotel

in the heart of London's Mayfair.

It's definitely going to be a different type of pace

in a professional kitchen,

but I relish the challenge.

Cooking for the public is definitely a high-stakes situation.

People could send back plates, and that's the last thing I want.

I am sitting here telling myself that it can't get much more intense

than the MasterChef kitchen,

but I'm sure that will change.

Running the pass is executive chef Tom Anglesea,

who spent his early career

training under some of the greatest chefs in the industry,

including Gordon Ramsay, Nuno Mendes and Rene Redzepi.

When you look back at where you've been,

it's incredible to have the opportunities

and the variation of restaurants in which I've worked, as well.

In 2023, he was approached by his old friend,

two Michelin-starred Tom Sellers, to be part of his latest venture.

Tom and I, we met when we were both very young

at a three-star Michelin restaurant

where we trained in New York called Per Se.

Together, they created Dovetale,

an impressive 130-cover restaurant serving traditional European dishes

with a contemporary edge.

My reputation is always on the line.

I work for Tom. You know, I have to uphold those standards

he's set for this restaurant.

So, yeah, we're under pressure.

I think all the chefs will tell you I'm very calm, cool and collected...

..90% of the time.

Hello, chefs. ALL: Hi.

Welcome. Don't look so nervous.

It's going to be fun. It's going to be a great day.

We've got a lot to do to get ready for lunch, so let's get going.

The contestants have three hours to prepare each of their dishes,

ready for service.

Sophie will be working the starter section.

The first dish today is a beautiful Roscoff onion tarte tatin.

Traditionally, you would see it on the dessert menu -

apple tarte tatin, pineapple tarte tatin.

We wanted to kind of switch that and serve it as a starter.

For the service, you'll have your tarte tatin ready in these pans,

and then you're just going to loosen the caramel

around the outside of the tarte tatin.

When you can feel it starting to move...

Sliding about a little bit. Yeah.

You can kind of see that it's ready to pop out.

Tart tatins are notoriously temperamental.

..and then you're just going to quickly...

That caramel has to be just right. Can't be too dark.

Can't be too light.

If the onions get caught to the pan, it's going to be a disaster.

So you've got your beautiful caramelised onions here, OK?

You're going to chop it in half.

Quick movement... Yeah.

..so you don't disturb those nice caramelised onions.

That goes on one side of the plate.

The savoury tart is topped with a sherry vinegar gel...

So that's going to give a real nice acidity.

..frisee salad...

That sits on top of the onion.

..and is finished with a goat's cheese foam.

Oh, wow. Foam. That's it.

Perfect.

So, have you done much pastry work before?

Um, I actually made a tarte tatin for one of my dishes.

Amazing. So... Oh, right, right. And it was a savoury one.

I'd done baby leeks. Oh, well, you're going to be a pro.

Fantastic. Yeah. We'll see!

This is a different level. This is like...

..yeah, level up times ten. The pressure's on,

but I'm really looking forward to it -

and at least I've got a little bit of an experience of tart tatin.

Sophie's first job...

I'm going to have mascara running down my face.

..is to slice five kilos of onions for the 15 individual tarte tatins,

which need to be pre-baked ready for service.

Apparently, if you don't breathe through your nose,

you're less likely to cry.

Joining Sophie on starters is Olivia.

I'm feeling well. It's the first time I do this.

This is very delicate,

and you don't want to waste an inch of this.

Her scallops will be served with a roast pumpkin puree

and a brown butter sauce.

This dish holds quite a lot of nostalgia for me,

as pumpkins was one of my favourite vegetables growing up.

My father used to cook an amazing pumpkin soup.

And scallop - one of my favourite fish.

So, Olivia, have you cooked scallops before? Never?

Well, there's no time like the present to learn.

You can see we're starting to get some nice colour on here.

Overcooked scallops - disaster.

And then we're just going to tilt the pan.

Put some of that delicious foaming butter on top of the scallops.

They become rubbery. They become tough.

Not nice at all.

The velvety pumpkin puree has to be smooth and rich.

Two scallop.

This one we're going to cut in half.

And then we're going to finish with our sauce.

This is one of the most popular dishes on the menu.

It's a very nice dish. Thank you. Yeah? Yes.

It smells like Italy.

The dish is quite technical. I have never cooked scallops.

I don't know. We're going to see.

With 45 scallops to clean and prep ready for service,

Olivia has a big job on her hands.

Lots of scallops to get through.

It's lots of pressure, but look how beautiful this is.

Trevor will have to master the art of pasta-making

for one of the main courses -

potato and truffle-filled agnolotti.

I've never seen so many yolks in one pan or dish.

It's unbelievable.

Agnolotti literally means "pillow case".

This is one of the first pasta shapes

that both Tom and I learned when we were in New York.

A stock made from roasted potato skins

is the base for the sauce.

Just going to start slowly adding the butter.

If you keep boiling it, it's going to split out...

Yeah, yeah. ..and then you're going to be in trouble. OK?

Going to add a healthy amount of chopped English black truffle.

Trevor, have you cooked a lot of pasta or made fresh pasta before?

I've made fresh pasta a couple of times,

but I do cook with pasta, but normally dry pasta.

OK, so now we have to plate pretty fast and finish it.

The dish is finished with a Parmesan foam...

Wow.

..and more black truffle.

Looks amazing.

I just need to make sure that the pasta

is absolutely perfect, being the star of the show.

These hands aren't built for that type of work,

so it'll be interesting to see how I get on.

Trevor now has the challenging task of making enough pasta

to create 200 individual agnolotti parcels.

With all pasta work, all the focus is in the prep,

making sure that pasta is correct.

I'm feeling quite nervous about it.

It looks quite simple, but it's... the timing is very precise.

Harry is tackling

a whole lamb saddle for another main course...

It's a lot trickier than I thought.

..rack of lamb with crispy sweetbreads.

So, nice hot pan. We've scored the skin now,

which is going to help that fat render down.

This is one of the dishes

that we first put on the very first menu in Dovetale.

Now you can see you've got some really nice colour on there.

The contestants are going to have to roast that piece of meat perfectly.

We're going to put it in the oven. OK.

We're going to get the rest of our garnishes ready.

So this is your sweetbread - paned.

We're going to deep fry this.

You're just looking for golden brown, OK?

This is acidic goat's curd.

You're free to have a little bit of poetic license here.

A little bit of lamb sauce.

Mint oil.

Sweetbread.

The chefs are going to have to bring this piece of meat

to around 58, 60 degrees before they carve it.

OK. Beautiful lamb.

For this dish,

it all boils down to that perfect cooking of the lamb.

And our beautiful lamb.

There's a lot going on. It looks fabulous.

I think the most challenging element

is going to get the...getting the lamb right.

You really don't know

whether you've got it right or wrong until you've cut into it.

So, could be some nervous moments.

In order to perfectly prep the lamb racks,

Harry has to meticulously remove all the meat from the bones.

It's a lot of food. Normally, I think, you know,

the biggest dinner party that I've done

is maybe about six or eight people.

I'm going to be serving a lot more than that today.

For the first time in the competition,

Munopa will be making a dessert - the restaurant's signature souffle.

OK, Munopa. You're going to be in charge

of our very famous fig and pistachio souffle.

One of the most technically challenging desserts

that you can do in a restaurant.

So I'm going to leave you in the very capable hands of Alex here.

He's one of the best souffle makers in the whole of Mayfair.

You want to start making your soft meringue.

You see that the egg whites, they start to foam up a little bit?

Yeah. So we're going to start adding some sugar.

Very important with a souffle is to be super delicate with your mix.

If you treat your souffle good...

..before you put it in the oven,

the souffle will treat you good during the service.

When Tom Sellers and I were first talking about the menus here,

Tom expressed that he always wanted to have

a souffle on the dessert menu.

The souffle moulds need to be perfectly lined

with sugar and pistachio powder.

The souffle is going to come up,

it's going to coat all the nice sides.

Souffles are notoriously tricky.

There's a lot of steps to get right.

The oven needs to be on the right temperature.

You can't open the oven too soon.

It's all very last minute, and once it's in the oven,

there's no going back.

The souffle is finished with a tonka bean ice cream.

Today's dish is definitely the most technically challenging

out of everything I've cooked so far.

Definitely going to need a soft touch.

No shaky hands today.

Before she can work on the all-important souffle mix...

There's loads of figs here, so it's a lot to prep.

..Munopa needs to prepare a fig and candied pistachio garnish.

I am definitely outside of my comfort zone,

but, yeah, it's a good opportunity to learn.

There's an hour and a half until service, and on starters,

Sophie's onions are finely chopped and ready to caramelise.

Right, get that on.

She now has to make 15 individual caramels for the tarte tatins...

It's a lot of pans to have eyes on.

..which she'll need to assemble and bake before service.

I kind of feel like I'm in a little arts and crafts thing as, like,

a kid, cutting out little circles.

I've got 15 of these to prep, so I've got one down.

Also on starters,

Olivia is just finishing up the scallop prep.

This is a very delicate shellfish, and a quite expensive one,

so you don't want to mess them up.

So we're aiming for perfection today.

And she can now move on to the garnish.

So we're making pumpkin puree. We have roasted the pumpkin.

Now we're blending it with some spices.

It's the most important bit

because we're making sure that this is nice and smooth.

You know what I'm struggling with? That I want to eat it.

Trevor's also at a crucial stage of his prep.

Getting to the crunch point of actually making sure

we get the pasta rolled out to the correct thickness.

If that pasta is too thick, it's going to be chewy,

not going to be very pleasant to eat.

I need to be an octopus when you do this.

The length of it...

And if it's too thin, as soon as it hit the water,

they're going to explode. But the texture...

It almost feels like silk.

Pasta rolled...

Very delicate.

..Trevor can now start the laborious task...

I've never made this type of pasta before,

or this level of intricacy before.

..of hand-shaping 200

individual potato and truffle-filled agnolotti.

Got a mountain to climb. We've got loads to do,

and obviously we can't let the pasta dry out as well,

so I've just got to keep making sure it's perfect.

Also making progress

with his extensive prep list is Harry...

We've got the lamb sauce on the go,

so we're going to add some reduced lamb stock to that in a minute.

We're just warming up our pickle for our pickled onions,

and then we've got our halved red onions,

which are just poaching

and then come out in about two minutes or so.

..but with the clock ticking, he's still got a lot to do.

The sweetbreads have been steamed,

so I'm just removing the membrane before they go into the marinade.

In theory, I'm trying to neaten it up,

but I don't know if I'm making it worse right now.

Back in pastry, Munopa's fig garnish is good to go...

Yay!

..and she can now get started

on the most critical element of her dish.

I'm measuring out the milk for my creme pat.

Need to get that done

because it's the base for the souffle.

A lot of arm work. Definitely a lot more tiring than you'd think

to make such a dainty dessert.

All right, chefs, one hour till service.

Guests arriving in one hour. Yes, Chef.

Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef.

We've got quite a lot to do before service.

It's going to be a bit tight, but we'll get it done.

Sophie's been busy making a sherry vinegar gel...

Lots of technique on show. Just hope I can nail it.

..but she needs to get her tarte tatins assembled

if they're to be ready for service.

It's really hard because you want to keep them looking nice,

but you also want to move really quickly.

These are going to go in the oven for 45 minutes.

They should have been in the oven five minutes ago.

My scallops look beautiful. The pumpkin looks beautiful.

Until now, everything is going well.

Wait until the service and then you ask me again how I am, OK?

I think we've got about 100 more agnolotti to make.

With only half of his agnolotti made...

So 100 down, 100 to go.

..Trevor's running behind -

and he's also got his sauce to make.

So I'm just actually making the potato skin stock,

which I've never heard of. So just put the aromats in.

Just making sure that everything comes to a simmer

and we get a real flavoursome stock.

On the other main,

Harry's onto his most important prep job.

So just searing the lamb, just to give it a nice colour

so that I'm ready for a busy service, basically.

Going to have to sear it.

One thing you don't want with lamb is for it to be overcooked.

Some are cooking much quicker than others, obviously.

It is tricky.

You've got to work quickly because this plancha is very hot.

Very hot indeed.

Munopa's still trying to perfect her first attempt of the souffle mix...

Definitely a lot of precision.

So that's a bit different to my style of cooking.

The mix needs to be correct. For something like a souffle,

everything's got to be right.

..but as it won't hold long, she'll have to continue

to make fresh batches throughout service.

I'm just most worried

about getting those souffles to rise during service.

Probably time to really pick up the pace, I think.

It's midday, and the diners are arriving.

For our five, it's race day.

Up until now, it's been a warm-up,

but right now it's their culinary marathon.

They have to be on form.

I'm slightly nervous for them because as good as they are,

this is food at a different level.

All right, team, everyone ready?

So eight minutes,

we're going three tarte tatins and three scallops.

Yes, Chef.

The first checks are in...

Oh!

..and Sophie and Olivia are in the spotlight with their starters.

So I have eight scallops in two pans.

And, yeah, it's my first check.

Having never cooked scallops before...

Oh!

..Olivia is under pressure to get it right first time.

I mean, I think that the temperature

of the pan is right.

I think... No, maybe not.

Yes, it is.

Sophie's tarts are baked...

It's hot.

..but her biggest challenge now

is turning them out at exactly the right moment.

OK. Nice and gentle. Don't rush them.

Too early and the onions will stick.

The tricky part is flipping them

and making sure they come out of the pan nicely.

But you have to be really patient,

and you just want to try and pry them out.

And you can't. You need to just wait.

They look great, Chef. Oh, thank you, Chef.

Scallops cooked, it's now time to plate up -

but Olivia has realised there's a problem.

I am missing one scallop. You're missing one scallop?

Yes. Miscount.

Hurry up. Get it in.

Yeah, I was missing... Yeah, I miscounted.

So I was missing the scallop. Yeah, two dishes

had three and one dish had two. This is me with numbers, guys.

It's the moment of truth

for Sophie's first onion tarte tatin.

These tarte tatins look great, Sophie.

A little bit more foam.

Happy? Happy. Yes. Great. Good job.

I'm really happy. I'm really pleased.

It went smooth. Touch wood, I can keep that up.

With mains up next...

All right, guys. Two pasta, two lamb.

BOTH: Yes, Chef. Picking up in six minutes.

..it's time for Trevor and Harry to prove themselves.

So we're just getting the lamb nicely seared.

Harry's biggest challenge

is making sure his lamb is cooked to perfection.

I'm just scared of cutting into them now.

They seem to be the right temperature,

but who knows until you cut into them?

Trevor finally has enough agnolotti for service -

but before he can cook the pasta...

It's daunting, you know,

thinking about the amount of pressure

that's getting these dishes up,

but it's such a privilege as well to be here.

..he has to master emulsifying the potato skin sauce.

That's it. A little bit more butter. This is looking good, OK?

Yeah. Thank you, Chef.

It's amazing, the amount of butter that goes in.

All right. Two minutes out now. Yes, Chef.

Drop in the pasta.

OK. Nice, Chef. Let's get it carved.

Look at that lamb. Beautiful. Happy?

Oh, it's just the most unbelievable relief seeing it pink.

If it was grey and dry, I think I'd cry.

Let's go. Starting to plate, pasta in the butter.

With two orders each for the same table...

Looking really good.

..it's imperative Trevor and Harry make it to the pass together.

How long, Trevor? Two minutes. Two minutes.

All right, guys, straight behind that,

we're going two more of each. OK? Two pasta, two lamb.

Yes, Chef. Going to pick up in four minutes.

Both dishes need to come up together, OK?

So you guys need to talk to each other as well.

Are you both ready? I'm ready in four or five seconds. OK.

Great. Ready, Chef. OK, let's go on the pass.

Good teamwork. These look great, OK?

Trevor, well done. A little bit less sauce next time, OK?

Yes, Chef. You can leave a little bit in the pan.

So put the pasta in, a little bit of sauce and then foam.

It was good. Yeah, just a little bit too much sauce.

But next time I'll just make sure I don't...

I'll do the right amounts.

Yeah. Not bad, actually. On the medium side of medium rare,

which is what Chef wanted.

So, yeah, looking good. Hope they all look like that.

Away. Two souffle. Yes, Chef.

It's a nervous time for Munopa...

First two plates in the oven? Yes, Chef.

Confident? Trying to be, Chef!

..as she won't know if her souffle mix is correct

until she sees it rise.

Key is the temperature, not opening the oven.

Keeping an eye on it. Yeah, a lot of keys, actually,

not just one, so...

So relieved that they're rising.

Wasn't a guarantee,

so definitely super happy to see them rise.

OK. Looking great. Take your time. That's it.

Nice and gentle.

Yeah. Looking good.

Souffles cooked, she now has to work fast

to get them to the dining room before they collapse.

Amazing. Happy? Let's go. Hands, quickly.

Fantastic.

OK. Let's go. Let's go.

First ones went well. Rose.

So I'm happy.

Getting the second batch in now.

So, yeah!

Back on starters...

Right, starting to get busy now, guys, OK?

..the orders for Sophie's onion tart...

I forgot the...the sherry vinegar, but...

..saved it. Saved it.

..and Olivia's scallops are mounting up.

We're waiting on those four scallops, four tarte tatins.

Have lots of order. I have 12 more scallops to cook

at the same time, so I'm busy.

You've miscounted the scallops again. You need one more scallop.

Yes, yes. Yes, Chef. Nice.

It's a loud kitchen

so you can't really hear what the chef says,

and you can mess up with the numbers, like I did.

With so many orders, Olivia isn't the only one feeling the pressure.

Sophie, this one's got no shallots. Oh. Er...

I need to work on my presentation.

I think it wasn't quite tight enough last time,

so we'll nail it this time.

Better. They're looking better.

OK. Let's plate.

OK. One minute, guys.

We're running behind on this table now.

These look fantastic.

Yeah, it's going better.

I'm getting the point of the scallop better than the beginning.

It's lots of pressure. Like, it's very,

very different than what we do in the MasterChef kitchen.

The pressure is really on, and it hasn't actually stopped.

With service at its peak...

All right, check on - two lamb, two pasta.

..Harry and Trevor...

Check on again. One lamb, one pasta.

Yes, Chef.

..are drowning in orders.

Selling a lot of lamb and pasta today.

The most difficult thing

is just keeping track of all the timings.

Just make sure there's not as much sauce on a plate.

It's fast paced,

and the precision you need at pace is just unbelievable.

How these guys do it day in, day out, I don't know.

Nice slice. Lovely.

Put this back down. Lamb needs to go the same way.

OK? Yes, Chef. Wipes and go.

Beautiful. Is that the right amount of truffle?

It's great.

So far, they've been keeping up...

Guys, main away, table 46. Main away, table 40.

..but the orders keep coming.

Two pasta, three lamb. Eight minutes.

Thank you, Chef.

It's just immense, you know, the pressure that you get under.

So behind this, You have five more pasta. OK?

HE EXHALES

In the pastry section...

They look amazing.

Thank you, Chef. Right. Happy? Yeah. Hands, please.

OK. Straight away. Four more. Four more.

..Munopa is having to send multiple tables at once.

These are all the checks I've got today.

Some of the tickets have more than one souffle on,

so it's going to be a real test to get four desserts out at a time.

I think I'm on schedule. Chef hasn't started shouting, so...

Two more souffle behind that. So you've got six on all day now.

Yes, Chef.

It's three hours into service,

and the end is in sight for Sophie and Olivia on starters.

Two of your best tarte tatins for the judges.

Yes, Chef. Timing's a bit better now.

I think once I'm, like, getting into the swing of it.

Don't forget the shallots in that salad, Sophie.

Yes, Chef.

BEEPING

All right, that's the timer. We should be up.

Best till last.

Pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure -

but I kind of don't want it to end, a little bit.

OK. Last two tarte tatins. Happy? Yes, I think so.

You should be. Well done. Thank you so much, Chef.

Oh!

I feel knackered.

I think the adrenaline will wear off in a minute.

Oh, look at that. Thank you.

The bitterness of that caramelisation

around the edge of the pastry, the sweetness of those onions.

That's actually quite delicious. I think that's great.

Good on Sophie.

So this is the last one.

Hopefully this will be the best of the service.

So I'm feeling happy. My hands are totally burned,

but I'm feeling happy.

OK. Final scallop coming up. Are you happy?

Yes. I'm happy. Happy is a big statement.

Well done, Chef. Clean down your station. Yes.

Service!

Mm.

That is a perfect, perfect scallop,

and a gorgeously rich pumpkin puree.

Beautifully smooth. We know Olivia's passionate,

and you can actually taste the passion in that.

Back in the kitchen...

Looking good.

..it's the last of the mains for Harry and Trevor.

Cut it too thick and thin. OK, let's do another one.

Get it in the oven, quick. Yes, Chef. Yeah, yeah.

You can react, yeah? You can fix it.

All right, Trevor, last two pasta of the day.

How long would you like? Four and a half minutes?

Perfect. I'll give you three. Thanks, Chef.

You're a diamond.

This is the last two.

So this is for the judges, as well. So it better be good.

I've done a few of these now,

so I'm finally getting into the swing of things.

Exactly what the Chef wants to see.

Come on, Trevor, let's go, let's go. Yeah. Hot pasta. Hot pasta.

A little bit more. OK.

OK.

Happy? I'm very happy with that, Chef. Thank you very much.

Well done. Thank you.

Feeling really chuffed to bits, to be honest.

It's just such a good feeling.

I just hope everybody likes the food

that I served them and they're happy.

That's all I could ask for.

Perfectly made little pasta parcels, the agnolotti.

In there is smooth potato puree.

The truffle adding just something special to the whole thing.

I think this is fantastic.

Perfect.

OK. Last lamb, Harry. Thank you, Chef.

Yeah. Happy? Happy. Jeez. You did a great job.

Thank you!

The lamb rack is beautifully cooked.

I like the crispy fat on the outside. Rendered very well.

Little hint of sharp mint

and a really lovely, sticky, well-reduced sauce.

That is glorious.

The last dessert orders are in...

It is a bit of pressure,

but I can't let that get into my head too much.

..and it's up to Munopa to finish service on a high.

Souffles are actually looking amazing.

Very consistent. Keep it up, Chef. Thank you, Chef.

OK, last two.

Pretty good for never making a souffle before.

I know!

I'm feeling good. They're rising.

OK. Last two souffle for the judges.

Happy? Very happy. Picked out the two best?

I hope so. OK. Let's go. Well done. Thank you, Chef.

Munopa, all the prep, everything that went in beforehand

was all really good and solid,

which meant you had a great service, so you should be very happy.

Thank you, Chef. Well done. Thank you.

Inside that souffle, it's so light, but also so creamy.

It's fantastic.

This is Munopa's first dessert in the MasterChef competition.

What a way to make an entrance.

Maybe desserts are my new thing.

I'm glad it's over, but it went really well.

All five of them showed great tenacity.

The service was, you know, a little bit slow at times,

but they dug in deep and managed to get all the food out in time.

It very much exceeded my expectations

of a professional kitchen.

You just have to have, like, eyes and ears in the back of your head.

But I loved every second of it.

It was such an amazing experience. It's a little bit addictive.

Like, you kind of want to go in and do it again.

I'm feeling tired. I'm feeling still with lots of adrenaline going on,

and I would really appreciate now to sit and have a glass of wine.

JOHN: Our five, I think, have done a grand job.

I don't know how they feel right now,

but I dare say they're exhausted.

I am hoping that they walk away

full of enthusiasm and full of new knowledge.

They can't afford to take their foot off the pedal.

The pressure continues. Massive round next.

We are looking for semifinalists.

Next time, the ten best cooks are back.

I'm rushing now.

Just one challenge stands between them and a place in the semifinals.

Very happy with it.

It's all about the crispy skin.

Not quite how I want it.

I think that's a very, very good dish.

I love it.