All language subtitles for MasterChef (UK) The Professionals S17E07

From across the UK,

32 up-and-coming chefs

are putting their reputations
on the line

in a battle to become professional
MasterChef champion.

Tonight, four new hopefuls compete
to impress MasterChef judge

Gregg Wallace, renowned chef
Monica Galetti and culinary

legend Marcus Wareing.

This is amazing.

I've got my name on my chef
jacket and I'm seeing

all the bright lights.

I want to shake up my skillset,
my environment.

It's all about me and my
personal growth.

I love getting pushed
out of my comfort zone.

I'm here to prove that I can compete
in a competition like this.

Nothing can prepare you,
but I'm ready to rock and roll.

We're looking for daring
and delicious food.

Who are we going to discover
this time?

We are well into our competition.

Brand-new group of chefs waiting
to do their Skills Test.

Monica, we're kicking off with you.

What is your test, please?

I would like our chefs to cook us
five-spice duck breast

served with a duck heart skewer
and a orange sauce.

Beautiful. Classic French.

Bit of classic Chinese there.

Fantastic blend.

20 minutes. Chef, off you go.

So the key skills for our chefs
is to remove a duck breast.

The first bit of butchery
in the competition.

Just taking the wings off.

Great to use in a sauce
if they want.

It's pretty straightforward.
It's the same as a chicken.

Keep it close to the bone.

It's also very important to remove

the sinew,
cos if you do leave that on,

it does tend to make
the duck breast tough.

I'm going to just score it
a little bit cos I want

the spice to sort of
soak into the duck breast.

I've got five-spice.

Do you know the five spices
in five-spice?

I reckon we can do it together.

Cloves. Yeah. Szechuan pepper.
Fennel seeds.

Cinnamon. Star anise.

Oh, you're good. Hey!

So I've got a cold pan here,
and I'm just going to bring

that up gently.

If you use a very hot heat,
it will burn the spice

before that fat renders down.

I want to do that for about four,
five minutes.

They've got to get that breast
off the duck really quick,

get it in the pan quick. Yes,

if they're going to do what Monica's
doing, which is rendering the fat

down. You're going to need
all of your 20 minutes to get

this done properly. Absolutely.

You don't want to rush the cooking
of the duck, and also allowing

it to rest.
So I've got my hearts here.

There's a bit of fat, so very
simple, just cut that off.

Duck hearts, I love. I've had them
in France and they put them

through the salads. Just delicious.

Hearts are quite a delicacy,
and I'd imagine a lot of chefs

have not cooked many hearts.

I'm going to skewer them
on the griddle.

Got to get the cooking just right.

Undercooked, you're not going to
eat it.

Overcooked, it's going to be chewy
and rubbery.

Just going to turn it over.

It's gently roasting

on the griddle pan there.

I'm just going to get
this in the oven.

I'm going to give it three, four
minutes and then out to rest.

So I've given our chef some
pak choy that they can use

for some garnish. It works really
lovely with the spices.

I'm going to make an emulsion,
which will just cook the pak choy

very quickly.

Chicken stock.

Foaming butter in stock,
look at that.

I'd sling anything in there.

Duck breast,

I'm just going to let it sit here.

A rule of thumb with meat is I tend
to rest it for the amount of time

I'm cooking it.

I've got my pan that the duck

was in, and I'm going to use

this to make a quick sauce.

I've got some brown sugar.

Squeeze some fresh orange juice
onto it.

Touch of soy sauce.

We have some orange liqueur.

Just letting the sauce reduce.

It's nice to see chefs
making a sauce a la minute,

of the pan,
where the juices of the duck

have been sitting,
it's what cookery is all about.

And that was really quick as well.

I've got pak choy.

Ooh, come on.

That smells good, really good.

The duck looks beautiful.

It's the time, it's the detail,
it's the resting.

The process has to be done properly.

There we have it, guys,

my five-spiced duck breast

with duck heart skewer
and orange sauce.

The cooking of the duck is sublime.

It's like butter
melting in your mouth.

The spice is coming through.

The time you've taken over it.

Lovely combination of the sticky
sweetness of the orange.

But it's the breast
and heart cookery.

It's all soft and juicy.

Absolutely delicious.

Marcus, it's lovely to have
a lunch of duck with you.

You're going to have to go
in the other room to watch

the chefs perform. I'm off.

Great dish, great challenge.

It will really test our chefs.

Let's see what they can do.

First in is 30-year-old

Portuguese-born Rachide,
senior sous-chef

at a London restaurant serving
modern interpretations

of classical Mediterranean dishes.

Food was a massive part
of my childhood.

My mum used to cook a fusion

of Portuguese and English food,
I guess.

One day, spag bol, the next day,

pastel de natas
or bacalao com natas,

so I think that's where
my passion for food comes.

I've been fortunate enough to see
the world through this job.

I've lived in Singapore and
Switzerland, saw a different style

of food, different way of cooking.

I get asked the question,
"What is my style of food?"

The truth is, I don't actually
really know at this point,

but, hopefully, through the process
of this competition, I'll be able

to find out and have more clarity.

If I could show my personality
through food,

that'd be the most important thing.

Hello, Rachide. Hello.

Welcome to MasterChef.

This is the Skills Test.

This particular test was set

by none other than Monica.

Rachide, I would like you
to make for us

a five-spice duck breast

served with a duck heart skewer
in an orange sauce.

I have worked with duck before.
Brilliant.

20 minutes. Good luck.

Thank you. Right, we're under way.

Nice and clean.

Oh, should take these off first.

God, this is so nerve-racking,
innit? Yes.

That's all right. Could have been a
bit closer, but that's not too bad.

Take us through your plan, Chef.

So, I'm just going to cook the duck
with the five-spice over it,

and do, like, a little rub.

So, scoring the fat, that's good.

I meant to put it in a cold pan.

Hey, there we go. Come on, then.
You know what you're doing.

Yeah, I do, I do.

He's got the cold pan aspect,
which is good.

Hope he remembers the five-spice,
which is really important.

All that fat around the outside,
he needs to trim that off.

You can see the sinew's left.

That'll just tighten up
when it's cooked.

So, what's on your duck right now?

Currently, nothing at the minute.

Yeah. I'm just going to get it
going a bit, and then I'll add

the rub onto it. OK.

He's left the sinew on it,

a little bit of fat on there.

That's not how you prep a heart.

So, duck breast is in the pan,
hearts are in the pan.

Yeah, I'm going to cook this,

and then with all the juices
off the back of this, I'm just going

to make the sauce. I might even add
the duck legs in.

That's the thing.

You've had 12 minutes,
you've got eight minutes left.

This better hurry up.

Completely forgotten
about the five-spice.

Are you relaxing into this
a little bit more now?

Yeah, but I feel like if I get
too relaxed,

things might go sideways.

Orange juice.

Squeezes his oranges,
good, for his sauce.

Have you got a cookery
ambition, Chef?

It would be nice to have,
like, a family run business.

My sister, she does, like, pastry.

But the question is whether me
and her get along enough

with each other.

LAUGHS: Yeah. To work together? Yes.

Tell me about your sauce,
what's in there so far?

Just, like, the duck bones
and the chicken stock.

Orange juice in there as well.

I'm just reducing it down
just to intensify the flavour.

Orange liqueur is what's missing
in the sauce.

This is the first time you've added
the five-spice, right?

Yep.

It should have gone on
at the beginning. That's OK,

it's going in there now.

There's plenty of it, which is good.

Let's get that in the oven.

What's the griddle pan for?

I'm going to do the bok choy in it.

He's got his veg on.
He's getting there.

I need this duck breast
to cook. Yeah.

How long do I have left?

You've got three minutes left.

Three minutes? All right,
well, this is not good.

I cooked the whole breast instead
of cooking parts of it.

You're supposed to cook
the whole breast,

what are you doing?

No, no!

What's that? Sugar?

Monica's not going to be
impressed with that.

How long do I have left?

Two minutes. Two minutes.

All systems go. A bit of soy sauce.

He's just throwing everything at it.
Not good.

All done. You can breathe now.

Oh, my gosh, that is bad, innit?

Tell me it's good, please.

Hey, Rachide. Hiya.

The butchery of your duck,

you took the breast out
quite neatly,

however, you didn't trim
anything else after that,

which was a bit careless.

The cooking of it, you started
to render it down, and it went in

the oven. Comes out...

SHE CHUCKLES

..it's raw.

It all went very wrong after that.

You cut it up into a pan with sugar.

You just sort of started
to lose it at the end.

And then the duck hearts,
mine are overcooked,

so they're quite tough now.

Some of your methods are unusual,

but I've got that little tingle
of five-spice.

I've also got a sweet, sticky sauce

tasting of orange.

Overall, everything
was on the plate,

and also five-spice got onto
the duck, which is really good.

that was one of the key elements.

Big round next, we'll see you then.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

I was making mistakes
that I wouldn't normally make.

I was just rushing things
because of the time.

The next round's critical.

NARRATOR: Next to face Monica's
test

is 22-year-old Cristina,

originally from Rome,

and a self-taught cook.

She now works
as a chef de partie in London.

Being a chef is very demanding,

not just physically,
but very, very

much mentally as well.

It requires quite a lot
from a person - your time,

dedication, passion.

I work in a fine-dining restaurant.

British cuisine, but is influenced
by the Caribbean.

I feel like I have
a very creative mind.

I've got passion for music, I DJ,

I love painting,
I love colours and food.

I love living life fully.

That's definitely something
I'm going to show in the competition

because that's what I am.

Hi.

A warm welcome to professional
MasterChef. Cristina,

I would like you to make for us
a five-spice duck breast

with duck heart skewers
in an orange sauce.

OK.

I'm not sure if that's a look of
confusion or a look of confidence,

she doesn't give much away.

20 minutes. Good luck.

She's prepping the duck down
very nicely.

Right, duck breast is off the bone,
which is good.

More trimming up would be good.

Now she's on the duck heart,
but she'd be really better

off getting that duck scored,
five-spice rubbed onto it and get

it in the pan. How long have you
been cooking for?

I've been cooking for
three years now.

I'm from Italy. I moved to the UK
just three years ago.

I didn't have a classic training.

I've always tried to, like,

push myself and learn
in different kitchens.

And then I fell in love
with the fine-dining cuisine

and I just never left ever since.

You've had five minutes already.

She's put the oil in the frying pan,

so it means she's going to be frying
the duck rather than cold pan, dry

and just let it come up
to temperature.

She certainly doesn't need
the hearts in there just yet,

they don't cook at the same time.

There's no seasoning,
there's no five-spice.

I'm curious as to where

the five-spice is going to come
into this.

You, Chef, are halfway,

you got ten minutes left.

Ten minutes left, yeah, thank you.

I'm going to make my sauce.

What's in there, please?

Soy sauce and sugar.

There's a little bit of demi-glace
in there.

Trying to reduce it down with
a chicken stock and orange juice.

She's got liqueur on the bench, she
could be reducing some of that down.

What's your favourite type of food?
I love Italian food.

I've got a West African background,

so I love to cook that as well.

Where in West Africa?

Nigeria.

It keeps going crazy right now.

Lift it up, lift it up, yeah?

Five-spice should be on the duck.

You got three minutes left, Chef.

Yeah. Cooked my duck.

That duck's not going to be cooked.

Try to make it rest.

Two minutes to let it rest.

No, she doesn't look happy at all.

Her hearts are maybe
a little bit rubbery.

So you've got a minute left,

all right, so you've got to get
stuff on a plate now, please.

What about the duck -
what are you going to do with that?

I'll just leave it to rest
for a little bit.

That's not enough time to rest
a duck breast, that's for sure.

Can you put everything on a plate
now, please? Yeah.

OK, here we go,
the moment of truth.

I'd be very, very, very surprised
if that duck breast is cooked.

Sorry, how long have I got left?

You've got 30 seconds.
30 seconds, yeah.

Is that duck not cooked?

Not as much as I want it to be.

Time's up. OK.

It's all over.

Well done. Thank you.

There's one big thing missing here,

and that's the five-spice.

I can't taste the five-spice.

Whenever we say we need
something in the dish,

that's what we're looking for.

The heart skewers.

You've cooked them whole,
which is fine,

but they're raw in the middle.

You really need to treat it
like proper protein, you know,

baste it and maybe
get it into the oven.

The sauce, it's been reduced
and reduced and reduced,

but it's so salty.

When I made my sauce, I used the pan
that I cooked the duck in.

I deglazed it
with some of the alcohol.

But all of these things,
they come with experience

and I'm sure you could do
a better sauce

if we were to give you
another try.

The key to success for duck cookery
is the resting.

As soon as you cut that breast,
we could see the blood on the board

and, of course, it's gone
into the dish as well.

But you've got a plate up.

And, surprisingly,
your duck is cooked

which is the biggest shock
of all for me!

I'm hoping you are going to bring
something exciting in here

with your own food.
We'll see you in the next round.

Thank you. Off you go, Cristina.
Thank you.

I am definitely feeling relieved
that I've done the Skill Test

but a little bit annoyed at myself.

I can't wait to show all the love
I've got for food in there,

my own style of cooking.

Monica, we've seen two chefs
do your Skills Test.

We're going to meet two more.

Marcus - eagerly awaiting
your Skills Test.

What is it going to be, please, sir?

Can you work it out?

I actually can't.

The cheese and the plums
is really confusing me.

I've got no idea what that is.

I want our chefs to make us
Welsh cakes with poached plums,

plum syrup, and some cheese.

Ah, OK.

Cheese, fruit, Welsh cakes -
flavours of a cheese platter

but still keeping it sweet.

It's a little twist,
let's say.

20 minutes, chef, let's go!

First thing, they've got to get
the Welsh cake mix made.

I've got all the ingredients
weighed out for them.

What they need to do is
to work out the process.

It's a short pastry.

They're like scones. They're done
in a pan instead of the oven.

Teaspoon of baking powder, and
a teaspoon of mixed spice. Right.

So all the dry ingredients together.
Nice.

Equal quantities of butter and lard.

The key is to make sure
you've got the fat rubbed in evenly

and bring it together as a dough.

It's a scone mix with fat in it.

There are different variations,
aren't there, all over the country?

Yeah. Lancashire - griddle cake.

In the north east, singing hinnies.

It also reminds me of something
my nan used to make.

She used to call it flour bread.

We just used to eat it with butter
and golden syrup. It was lovely.

I've just added my currants.

Add one egg.

Just bring that together.

That took no time at all
to bring that together.

I'm guessing you roll it out
and then use a cutter, do you?

Yeah. You don't want to roll it out
too thin. Nice and evenly.

Ooh, that looks lovely.

Now, poached plums
with a plum syrup.

These are really firm.

They're perfect for poaching.

So we can get them nice and soft
and get a lovely flavour.

My dad used to grow them.

My family had trees in New Zealand,

and I'm just used to
just picking them off

and running off to play.
Yeah. Is that right?

I've got some Cognac, orange juice,
a little bit of sugar,

cinnamon stick and star anise.

That's your poaching liquid there?
This is my poaching liquid. Right.

The key here is poaching the plum
beautifully well.

I'm just looking for a really tasty,
sweet, seasoned syrup

with all these lovely spices.

It's going to go on to the plate.

I'm going to leave those
just to come up to the boil,

and we'll let that simmer.

I've got some lovely soft
cream cheese. Mm.

Oh, this is absolutely yummy.

And I've got a little bit
of goat's cheese there too.

I think plums are particularly well
suited to the saltiness of cheese.

So, my cream cheese ready to go.

Get on to these Welsh cakes.
There we go.

Let's take a little bit of butter...
Ooh! ..into our pan.

Let them do their thing.

They're lovely, aren't they?

You want them to have that
lovely colouring on both sides.

A bit like a fruit toast
the way it's been cooked.

There's no time with these. You've
just got to just try them out.

They're ready to go.
Check these plums.

Mm. Wow!

All right. We are ready to dress.
Come on.

Oh, how lovely.

A little bit of Cheddar cheese
there.

That syrup looks fab, doesn't it?
Mm. Mm.

A little bit of coriander grass.
And there we have it.

Welsh cakes, poached plums,
plum syrup and cheese.

Bravo.

Absolutely beautiful.
I'll go and make a pot of tea.

Cheers.

The cake itself isn't too sweet.

The sweetness comes from that syrup

with a lovely hint
of cinnamon in it.

It's absolutely wonderful
against the salty, creamy cheese.

This is a great test.

You know, poaching fruit sometimes
is a skill that chefs get wrong

when they're under stress.

They've got a little bit of bite
but a huge amount of flavour.

That's what we're looking for here.

Monica, we'll see you back
for the chat and the tasting.

See you in a bit.

Come on, let's get them in.

First to tackle Marcus' Skills Test

is 31-year-old
freelance chef Pippa

who has spent five years running
her own eco-friendly restaurant

on the Isle of Man

before moving to Sheffield.

My style of food is really,
really simple yet quite bombastic.

I really like working with plants
and weeds and herbs

and turning not much
into something great.

Food allows me to be myself

and as someone with ADHD

that constantly wants to do
different things,

it just suits my personality
really well.

I'm always excited
by new experiences

and I don't see many
neurodivergent women

at the forefront of the industry,

which I think is a shame
because we have a lot to give.

I am a bit bish-bash-bosh,

but all chefs are very,
very different, and that's OK.

Hello, Pippa. Hi.
Welcome to MasterChef.

I would like you to make for us
Welsh cakes. Wow, OK.

Served with some poached plums,
plum syrup and cheese.

I think I'm familiar with it.

Some kind of spicy,
fruity scone thing.

So you've just pretty much
identified it, so that's great.

And the Welsh cake recipe
is everything that's on that board.

20 minutes.

Off you go, Pippa.

You are underway.

I've never, ever done it before,
so...just make something, hey?

Come on, Pippa.

I think she's put the spice
into the egg yolk

but she could just make the mix
like you would a scone mix,

everything in.

My fingers aren't going fast enough.

I'm not super-technical
in the pastry department

but I like to focus on flavour.

I'm also one of those
neurodivergent women as well

that can't do more than one thing
at once.

OK.

I'm having super-bad
sensory overload right now.

That mix looks soft.

You've had six minutes.

Uh, yeah...

She hasn't got anything else on.

She needs to think about
poaching those plums as well.

What was your route into cookery?

I didn't train to be a chef.

I fell into it,

studying classical music
and theatre and things.

Are you musical?

Yeah. I like to drum.

But I just love the...the artistry

and the theatre of good food
and stuff as well.

So how's that Welsh cake
getting on there?

It feels very messy everywhere.

Really need to get
some kind of plums cooking.

Oh, she's going to get
her poaching liquid on. Good.

Toast this off a little bit.

She's got lots of sugar,
cinnamon, some cardamom,

star anise in the pan.

Oh, that smells like
I really would like to have a sip.

The sugar is now hardened
in the bottom.

She needs to boil that hard
to get that dissolved.

You have nine minutes left.

So I'm just going to cook
a few of these.

That's a lot of flour
on those Welsh cakes.

It's going to burn
before it cooks.

When you see the butter
just leaking out of there

because it's just hasn't been broken
into the dough properly.

How are you going to bring cheese
into your dish?

I'm going to...

..just loosen a little bit
of the goat's cheese.

A little bit of this.

She's going to have to think about
getting those plums in

her candied sugar alcohol mix
with spices.

A bit of honey.

And just loosen it down a bit.

I don't know why you'd put milk
into the cheese.

Oh, she's cutting her plums up.

They'll definitely cook
as she's cut them up so small.

You have five minutes, Chef, OK.

MONICA GASPS

They're so very burnt.

Are they? Yeah. They're...

Yeah. Definitely not good.

Can you do some more?

Oh, she's going to put
another one on. OK.

Got a couple of minutes.

I'm just going to quickly
strain off this syrup.

A bit hot.
It's nowhere near thick enough.

Because the sugar did not
caramelise properly.

Don't burn the other cake.

GIGGLES NERVOUSLY

Thank you.

Too late, Gregg, it's burnt.

Right. Are you ready to plate up?

I'm going to have to.

Your time's up. You're done, Chef.

Hi.

Unfortunately, the Welsh cake
is burnt, and does taste burnt.

Yeah. Very embarrassed.

You've got some very soft
poached plums.

You had a little bit
of cream cheese,

a bit of honey in there as well.

And that would have been really nice
if it had been just a bit thicker.

I think this is just a classic case
of you just not finding your rhythm.

So you made a syrup,
you added spices into it

but that sugar did not caramelise
before you added the alcohol to it.

Then you poured water into it.
That's not how you make a syrup.

Lovely amount of cinnamon butter
is going on in the Welsh cakes.

But, of course, you burnt them.

Twice.

There's a big round coming next,
and that's your food.

We'll see you soon.
Thank you very much. Thank you.

Pretty mortified.

I was distracted
left, right, and centre.

But it just all went wrong.

Finally, it's 33-year-old
head chef and father-of-two Ian

who runs the restaurant kitchen

at an award-winning wine estate
in West Sussex.

It's all about pairing the wines
with the food.

There's so much on our doorstep,
it's absolutely incredible

and I've got
a beautiful kitchen garden

that we can take
some of our produce from,

so, from spring through to summer.

I'm quite a zero-waste approach
to everything,

so, even the peelings
and stuff need to be used.

I didn't start with a passion
for food, I really didn't.

As a child, I think
I genuinely had a food phobia.

I used to have a real problem
with textures

until the day that I became a KP.

Then I was scared into
trying new foods

and it was a light-bulb moment.

Cooking my own food and having
to taste it just lit a fire in me.

Ian, welcome.
Made a Welsh cake before?

Never. So this could be fun.

20 minutes. Over to you, Ian.
Thank you.

Is there lard as well, is it?
Yeah. Lovely.

So I'm just going to rub
my butter into the flour

just to get a slightly sort of,
sort of breadcrumb consistency.

Then I'm going to add all my spices,

my baking powder, my sugar,
and probably an egg to bind it.

Ian is cracking on
with his dough already.

Butter and flour. Lard.

What made you become a chef?

For me, it was either cheffing or
acting, really. Cheffing came first.

Bit of a show as well, you know,

like, performing for people
and doing nice food.

Do you do any acting now?

No. No acting now. No time.
Not with two kids.

How old are the children?
Five and two.

They both actually like to cook
with me, which is quite sweet.

I'm going to make a light caramel.

Put my plums in,
add some spices to it.

Let them cook down. Take them out
and then reduce the sauce.

Seems very competent.

I'm going to use all this juice
that comes out as well.

You've had five minutes.
You've got 15 minutes left.

These plums are not my friend
at the moment.

Ian is having real problems in
getting the stone out of the fruit

but just cut it into four.

So, MasterChef - why?

I think I needed
to challenge myself.

And I'm in a position where I can
take time away from the kitchen.

I've got a good team.

Yeah? I didn't feel like
I was abandoning them.

That pan could be a bit hotter.

The lumps of the sugar
are not melting in.

All right, so I'm going
to place this one in first.

Did he just put it in whole?

Get some spices in there.

So what's going on, on there?

So I'm going to try and
roast them and poach them

in this light caramel.

And then I'm going to add a bit
of brandy, a splash of water,

and I'm going to keep turning them

so they're both poaching and basting
in their own sauce. What, whole?

I'm going to do that one whole

and I'm going to do these
unfortunate halves.

Why would you put them
skin-side down first?

Smell incredible.

That's going to blister.

Caramel has now started setting.

Oh, my goodness.
It's a bit of a sticky mess.

I've never seen poaching
done this way.

Now I'm going to get on to my cakes.

I'm going to make them quite thin
so they cook evenly on both sides.

I don't want to do them too thick.

Nice. Looks good.

You've got six minutes left.

Are you happy with these, Ian, these
cakes? Yeah, I'm quite confident.

So how are those plums looking?
Terrible. Sorry.

They're looking a bit more
like stewed plums.

Too doughy, too raw, I think.

Two soft. Careful, careful. Gentle.
Just leave them! Just leave.

Just leave...leave them!

You've got three minutes.
Yes, Chef.

A bit too sweet.

Are you OK?
Get a bit of colour on them?

Yeah. Colour is not the problem.

The actual inside being too doughy
is the actual problem.

He's not happy.

You've only got a minute, Ian.
Right.

You're going to have to think about
plating up.

I hope they cook through.

He's got some nice colour on them,
at least.

Cheese? Yes, Chef.

I like that he grated
the Cheddar like it was Parmesan.

Your time's up. Take a breath.
Thank you.

Your Welsh cake's not cooked,
which you identified.

You were cutting them out,
and then you were working it.

The more you keep kneading it,
the tougher it becomes

which means it's a little bit
more difficult to cook.

The plum cookery isn't right.

How do you cook plums
in so much sugar

and retain the sourness of the plum?

They're so sour!

And you can grate as much cheese
over that as you like,

that ain't going to make it...
It's covering it up.

..it ain't going to make
an ounce of difference.

The syrup to make a caramel,
you can do that.

But you put the plums in

and then straight away the caramel

just set around the plum.

You had to poach them.

It wasn't a poaching liquid.

But you kept your cool.

You didn't panic, all right.

Now that can take you quite a way.

Look forward to seeing you
in the next round. Thank you, Ian.

Thank you.

It could have gone a lot better

but the game plan now is
to blow them out of the water

with the stuff that I like to cook.

Got to try and pull it back somehow.

Nobody actually smashed it. No.

Everybody had some issues.

It's their food next.
Dig deep and have no fear.

Chefs, welcome back.
Great to see you again.

There were issues in the skills.
That's to be expected.

Leave that aside.

This is where the competition
really kicks off

and when you start to fight
to stay in it.

This is your signature
two-course menu,

your chance to really showcase
your talent, your style.

At the end of this, two of you
will be leaving the competition

but two of you will become
MasterChef quarterfinalists.

90 minutes. Off you go.

I'm hoping to showcase flavour swaps
and alternatives

with things that are
on our doorstep,

changing thoughts and attitudes
around sourcing food.

This is Alexanders,

a weed introduced into the UK

in Roman times
from the Canary Islands.

But now it's so aggressive
and invasive

that it's absolutely
taking over everywhere.

But the stalks you can use
just like celery in your cooking.

The leaves taste just like parsley

so I'm trying to show it off.
Fascinating.

Pippa's food is all about the ethos.

She's someone who wants to eat
locally as much as possible.

Pippa's main course -
glazed celeriac

which she cooks as fondants.
Interesting.

Applewood-smoked celeriac puree.

She's basically made the puree,

and then she's just putting the
smoke into a bowl of the celeriac.

We want to taste the smoke.

Pippa is using the Alexander weed
to deep fry

to bring some texture
to her dish...

This is going to be like a little
translucent garnish for my celeriac.

..as well as to decorate it
with some oil.

Very earthy, parsley-like flavours
through it

and that's going to work wonders
with her celeriac.

And the dessert is strawberries
and cream, but gone wild.

Why? So, there's, like,
a meadowsweet cream.

So I'm using meadowsweet
instead of almonds

because I love almonds
but they don't grow here.

I'm doing a coconut oil but it's fig
leaf because we've got no coconuts.

I'm doing a granola-ish -
quinoa, hemp, oats

and then there's strawberries
in the bottom. OK. Yeah. Wow.

It sounds delicious.
The granola hopefully has got

great texture to it
which will work well

with the cream and the strawberries.

I really love the idea of
the fig leaf oil,

the meadowsweet being
the replacement for almonds.

It's just beautiful ingredients,

and I think we're going to be in
for something really different.

You've had 20 minutes.

Everything's riding
on the next cook.

But I don't want to aim for
something that is not achievable.

I want to be able to create
something, execute it really well.

If it's done right,
it's going to be really good.

Rachide, how are you feeling now,
Chef?

Er, feeling fairly confident.

I've got to keep on moving.

Are you a naturally cheery soul?

Yes, I am. I always smile as well
when I'm under a lot of pressure.

What are you cooking?

It's chicken cooked on the crown

with gnocchi, in a wild garlic
sauce, and morel mushrooms.

The flavours work really well

and I'll be happy for you guys
to try this.

Cooking the birds on the crown,
as we know,

is a great way to do this because
it just retains all the flavour,

all the moisture.

We have potato gnocchi.

The potatoes need to be baked. He's
got to make sure they cook properly.

It needs to be a smooth texture.

You don't want lumps through it.

The most important thing
about morels is make sure

they're perfectly washed.

They do hide lots of little grit
on the inside.

Wild garlic, vibrant.
Want to taste the flavour.

Little bit of cream in there.

Of course, these flavours work
beautifully.

It's just execution
is going to be the key.

And my second dish
is a cranachan tart.

Cranachan is a Scottish version
of an Eton mess

and I'm putting it in a tart form.

I would imagine there would be
a few Scottish people

very upset that you called it
a Scottish Eton mess.

Well, er, that would probably
be an interpretation.

What are you doing to it?
So, raspberry jam at the bottom,

set honey custard.

A Scotch whisky vanilla Chantilly.

And then, I'm doing, like,
an oat and nut praline.

In a pastry case? Yeah, I wanted to
do, like, a nice take on something

that was known rather than
try and reinvent the wheel.

I haven't been to Scotland
to try the cranachan

but I have Scottish friends and
they say lovely things about it.

So it's a raspberry tart.

It's no longer a cranachan.

But I do like the sound of
this dessert.

Flavours of cranachan -
custard, whisky, raspberries.

Rachide's got to make sure
the custard is cooked

and set in the tart

because if that's not set,
there could be an issue.

Chefs, you're halfway.

You've got 45 minutes left.

Rachide has made his first batch of
pastry. He's not happy with it.

He's had to start again. I hope
that's not going to set him back.

How long would they normally
bake for? 45 minutes.

Right. So you are right to the wire.
Yeah.

How confident are you
we're going to get a dessert?

Oh, I'm confident
you're going to get a dessert.

I am slightly concerned.

I'd really like to, yeah,
go quite far in this competition.

I just want to make my kids proud.

I think that's just a cliche thing
that a dad can say.

But, no, to make my family proud
would be... Would be good.

Ian, tell us, what are you making?

My first course is
a hake with cauliflower veloute,

burnt cauliflower puree,
fennel and curry oil.

And then my dessert is
a baked toffee apple

with bacon and hazelnut crumb
and blackberry ice cream.

Why are you adding bacon?

It just brings a saltiness to it.

I think it works really well.
It's been well received.

Why these two dishes?

I think it's flavours
that I like to eat, basically.

Cauliflower and curry
is a match made in heaven.

And I really like apples
in a dessert.

Apples and blackberry
go hand-in-hand, I think.

Ian's hake main course,

flavours of cauliflower and curry.

CLICKS TONGUE

One of my favourites!

Hake is a very fragile fish.

Overcook it, it will fall apart.

Cauliflower is a great carrier
of flavour

so it's the right choice
for the hake.

Puree - a beautiful, smooth, velvety

veloute, almost soup-like in a way.

Ian nearly made toffee plums
in his Skills Test

but now he's making
a toffee apple for dessert.

He's cut the apples top and bottom.

Letting them absorb the caramel
as they're cooking through.

Bacon and hazelnut crumb!

Hopefully it is just the saltiness
that he brings to it

because too much bacon
could ruin this dessert.

30 minutes remain.

Cristina's menu is
flavours of Nigeria.

A hot pepper soup which is slightly
smoked, which is more like a broth.

My grandma always made this for me.

When I went to Nigeria,

I wasn't very used to eating
Nigerian food

because I was born in Italy
and raised in Italy, obviously,

so it has a lot of flavours inside.

Got lemongrass, lime leaf,
some veg

and a lot of spices.

She always used to use this soup

to make me kind of get used to
the kind of African food.

She's doing catfish, which I don't
think I've had before, pan-fried.

Steamed plantain, yam.

The three of them are going to come
together to be wrapped in nori.

And then she's pouring on
the pepper soup.

There's over 25 ingredients
just in this soup.

That excites me.
I love trying new food.

My dessert is going to be
a chestnut puff-puff.

Puff-puff is a kind of doughnut.
It's a very Nigerian dessert.

We have that normally
during a celebration.

A puff-puff filled in
with Camembert and walnuts

because I like a little bit
of cheese in my dessert.

Then I'm going to have some white
chocolate and coconut on the side -

coconut and chestnut sorbet.

I hope you do manage to get it
all done

because it sounds like
a lot of work.

I'm going to push myself
a little bit more

to show you that I can have
a little bit of experience

but I have got a lot of
passion for food.

It sounds very interesting
and quite unusual.

I love the idea of puff-puff.

She's made a batter,
it's going to aerate,

and then she's going to cook
those off in a deep fat fryer,

cool them down before she fills them
with the Camembert and walnut.

Cristina is making a chestnut
sorbet and a coconut sorbet.

A chestnut sorbet, white
chocolate...hm. Camembert?

It's quite a lot of flavours that
you don't necessarily see together.

I'm a little bit unsure.

These are the dishes that are
very, very close to my heart

but show technique and
obviously taste at the same time.

You have just five minutes.

I'm a little bit behind right now

but I'm going to push in
as much as I can.

I think it's OK.

You've got to get stuff on a plate.
You've got nothing right now.

Bring it all together now.

Everybody, you've got a minute.
Get it on a plate right now.

Those tarts are no good.

I'm just going to do a cranachan -
not on a tart.

That's it. Stop!

Time's up, everybody. Well done.

First up is freelance chef Pippa

with a signature main course
of roasted celeriac

caramelised in apple port

with smoked apple puree,

pickled celeriac,

vintage Cheddar sauce,

Alexander leaf crisps,

Alexander leaf oil,

and a cheese crumb.

The cooking of the celeriac
is spot-on.

A little bit of texture
with the smoked puree

and that cheese,
the tanginess of it,

I'm really enjoying it.

The Alexander, I think
you could have been more brave.

Pack it full of that stuff so we can
taste it and it makes a difference.

But a good start. Thank you.
Thank you.

I really like the woodiness
that you've got from that celeriac

with the sweetness around it
that is like apple.

And I get a little bit of pickling.

I get a little bit of
burnt flavour as well.

It's a very, very enjoyable
and fascinating dish.

OK.

I like the combinations,
I like the flavours,

I like the textures,
I like the acidity, the crispness.

You have a very unique
philosophy with food

and that's a very enjoyable story.

I appreciate that.

Pippa's dessert is her take
on strawberries and cream -

wild strawberries infused

in fermented elderflower

with a five-seed granola,

meadowsweet cream

and a fig leaf oil.

That was absolutely sensational.

The strawberries are delicious.

The meadowsweet cream

I absolutely adore.

And I think the salty little granola

base at the bottom is just fabulous.

I'm really impressed.

The star of it for me is getting

some of that fig leaf flavour.

I love that kind of coconut,

almost vanilla mix

and I think it's wonderful.

I am thoroughly enjoying that.

It's a really tasty bowl

of strawberries and cream

with the oats here, and there is

very much a great representation

of the style of food that you do.

That's what signature dishes
are about.

Thank you.

I'm really grateful they understood
what I was trying to portray.

That means the world.

There's a lot more
invasive weeds out there!

Senior sous-chef Rachide has served

roasted chicken breast

with gnocchi in a wild garlic sauce,

braised morels, and asparagus.

The chicken's got nice seasoning
across the skin.

Gnocchi - I like the little bit of

Parmesan you got through there,

giving that saltiness.

But those luxury mushrooms

are gritty.

Morel is one of the tricky mushrooms
to get right

because it has little hidden pockets
where it holds in

grit of the soil, and
they become very unpleasant to eat.

It is rushed.

The gnocchi has not got that lovely

texture we so love about gnocchi,

and that's just a shame.

The sauce isn't right.

It's not binding together.

It's a bit runny and wishy-washy.

There is so much potential here

but you should just calm down a bit.

Rachide's dessert is based on

a Scottish cranachan.

It's missing a vital element.

I basically didn't get
the tart case right.

He serves set vanilla custard,

raspberry jam,

Scottish whisky Chantilly cream,

walnut and oat praline,

and fresh raspberries.

I'm sorry you didn't get it
into your tart case

because that was the dessert
you wanted.

That doesn't work for me
because it's just too sweet.

I do get the heat of whisky

but praline, custard,
and the raspberry jam,

it's just getting sugar
on sugar on sugar.

The custard, the cream,
the raspberry puree at the bottom.

There's no texture to it whatsoever,
in a sense,

it's just lost, unfortunately.

That tart case,
I saw it in the oven and I thought

you were going to smash it up
and make that into your crumble

but you just swapped your head.

You have to turn it into a positive

especially when you've got

the opportunity to do it there.

I kind of choked under pressure.

I definitely let myself down.

Head chef Ian's main is roasted hake

with a burnt cauliflower puree

and toasted buckwheat,

Savoy cabbage,

poached fennel, cauliflower veloute

and a curry oil.

My fish is nicely seasoned.

It is just flaking away.

The burnt cauliflower puree

has got the bitterness

and it works really well with
the buckwheat you've got on it.

The fennel, there is still texture

to it. It's tasty.

I've got a really nicely
cooked piece of fish.

Cauliflower underneath
that's well made.

The oil, a little bit of spice.

It's good brasserie cookery.

You know what?
You can get good food in brasseries.

For me, this is exactly
what that dish is.

Your fish is nicely cooked.

The oil is nice and vibrant.

But your fennel is not peeled.

It's big, it's chunky.

The cabbage definitely needs
a little bit more cooking.

There's refinement missing
within it.

For his dessert,

Ian has baked a caramelised apple

and served it with

a bacon and hazelnut crumb,

pickled blackberries

and a toffee sauce.

Are we missing something?

It's missing
the blackberry ice cream.

The apple is beautifully cooked
and caramelised.

You took a lot of time and care
to caramelise that.

I watched you in the oven. You kept
turning them over, basting them.

The blackberries on top, they work.

One thing I was really looking
forward to is the bacon.

It was in the crumble and
I can't really taste it at all,

which is a shame.

It reminds me very much of

an apple and blackberry crumble.

That oaty kind of nutty crunch

and the soft apple. It's lovely.

I very much wish

I had the ice cream as well.

You have great flavours
on this dessert.

I love the toffee sauce you've got.

I think more of it would be great
because it's so delicious

and it just brings it all together.

And I think that puree
would have also just really

enhanced the use of your blackberry.

Yeah, just frustrated.

I think I just needed to
refine it slightly.

A lot tougher in that kitchen
than I thought it would be.

Finally, inspired by
her Nigerian heritage

is chef de partie Cristina

who is serving a terrine

of pan-fried catfish,

steamed yam and plantain

wrapped in nori seaweed sheets

topped with steamed crab

and caviar and finished

with a hot pepper broth.

I cannot stay away from that broth.

That almost honey sweetness that

very quickly gives way to pepper

which very quickly gives way to

chilli, is absolutely delightful.

Plantain and yam, I've had them
many, many times in this kitchen,

but I've never had them
as good as this.

And wrapped in the seaweed,

I think that's a really lovely idea.

The fish is sort of
getting lost in there

so I think maybe
a bigger piece of fish within that

would make this even better.

But the crab and then the saltiness

of the caviar on the top there,

it is quite delightful.

Cristina's dessert is
a chestnut puff-puff

with Camembert and walnuts,

white chocolate and coconut

dipped in a charcoal glaze,

and a sherry and chestnut sauce.

Inside that doughnutty affair
is cheese. Yeah.

No, I've put the cheese on the side.
I wasn't able to put that in time.

I was supposed to have
a coconut sorbet as well.

I don't like this.
It's texturally all wrong.

You've got a very, very heavy dough,

and then you've got this very,
very heavy cheese and walnuts.

And the sweetness of the dish
is just very, very confusing,

which is a shame.

I'm struggling here.

I can dip the doughnut into

the coconut and white chocolate,

but the sauce with
sherry and chestnut,

you can taste the heat of alcohol

and that definitely
wouldn't go with coconut.

They're not working for me together.

I think the only thing
I've enjoyed on here was

the nuts and the cheese
on its own on the side.

You're missing a sorbet

but I don't think that could
rescue this dessert for you.

Sometimes you just need to
pare some things back

and no need to push it so much.

I'm feeling a little bit
disappointed about my dessert.

Maybe my ideas didn't come together
because I was missing some elements.

I still feel proud of myself.
You know, you never stop learning.

A lot of stress in the kitchen
today.

A lot of timing issues.
Recipes didn't go quite right.

But we have one chef that stuck true
to how she likes to cook.

Yeah. Pippa brings something
very, very different

to the MasterChef kitchen,
doesn't she?

Her celeriac and cheese dish,

I wanted more of the Alexander,
the weed,

but I really enjoyed the flavours
of it. Celeriac was cooked nice.

Her dessert was delightful,

her take on strawberries and cream
with the fig leaf.

The dish of the day for me.
I thought it was excellent.

Pippa goes through.

I had high hopes for Rachide
after the Skills Test.

I really liked his attitude.
There was a spring to his step.

Chicken, yeah,
that was nicely coloured.

Nice crispy skin on the outside.

But morels, come on! Gritty.

We know where it went wrong
with the dessert

but the pastry was there.
It could have been used as a crumb

and it desperately needed
a texture.

I could find very little wrong

with the cookery
on Ian's main course.

Overall, yeah,
I liked the cauliflower puree.

I thought the fish
was nicely cooked.

Oil around the outside
was delicious.

Pudding - apple, nicely caramelised.
The fresh berries on the plate.

He left off an ice cream.
That's a real shame.

I really loved Cristina's dish
with the crab and the caviar.

Absolutely lovely.

I think the broth was good.
It was hot. Sweet at the same time.

Vegetables were beautifully cooked.

But dessert - ohhh, yeah.
Really disappointed by that.

That was not a doughnut.

Thick and stodgy like that.
Not great.

We didn't get a sorbet
up on the plate.

It was just all too many levels
of wrong on that dessert for me.

My mum always tells me to just
remember at the back of my mind

that she's very proud of me.

To get through and
become a quarterfinalist

would be very big to me
and to my family.

I would like to 100%
go through to be able to show

what I'm about,
to show how good I can cook,

rectify what I haven't done right.

I feel like I've got something
more to prove now.

I'll be a teary, happy mess
if I do get through, but...

we shall see.

That was, without a doubt,
a tough day.

But we appreciate that you come in
here, show us what you're all about.

It's not easy.

We can only take our best two chefs
through to the quarterfinal.

And we have made that decision.

The first chef leaving
the competition is...

..Rachide.

Rachide, good to meet you.

The second chef leaving
the competition is....

..Cristina.

Thank you. Thank you very much.
You've got promise.

Obviously, I'm going to feel a
little bit disappointed with myself

but, at the same time,
I'm quite young in my career

and I've got a lot ahead of me

so I'm very happy
about the experience.

The whole thing was
a dream come true.

I'm so upset.

The hardest part about it, I feel
like I never got to show the judges

what I am able to do.

You know, I had high hopes
for myself. But that's life.

Ah... I'm about to cry. Jesus.

Phwoar.

Congratulations, the pair of you.

You are going through to
a quarterfinal. Well done.

THEY LAUGH

Whoa! Get in!

Have some of that!

I feel really proud of myself
just for completing the task,

let alone getting through.
So that's really cool.

That's so mad!
A quarterfinalist of MasterChef.

I'm really looking forward to
ringing my wife and my kids.

They're going to be really proud.

Happy tears! Happy tears.

Next time, four new hopefuls...

Oh, no!

..fight for their place
in the quarterfinal.

Definitely up against it.

My timer just didn't go off
and my tuile's burnt.

This is absolutely sensational.

It's possibly one of
my new favourite things.