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, the next four hopefuls compete to impress...
..MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace,
renowned chef Monica Galetti...
..and culinary legend...
..Marcus Wareing.
This is the time I should go for it,
and I can feel it in my bones that I have to do it and I can do it.
I think I always look to make my children proud.
I do everything for them.
I'm going to win it for them.
One thing I have noticed is that I'm probably the oldest,
so I think experience might play into that,
so hopefully that will give me the edge.
The other chefs, they look like they know what they're doing,
but I think I might do better.
The competition is on.
Time to uncover a new culinary superstar.
Welcome back.
We have four brand-new chefs to meet.
First, the Skills Test.
Two of them are going to do your Skills Test, Marcus.
Monica, you're kicking off.
What's your Skills Test, please?
I'm going to get our chefs to make us popcorn clams,
a mussel fritter served with a Bloody Mary mayonnaise.
Quite a few skills.
Clam cookery, mussel cookery,
making a mayonnaise.
So I'm asking our chefs to make two types of batter.
We're doing popcorn clams. Right.
So a buttermilk batter.
Like you would, you know chicken popcorn.
But I'm using clams.
The fritter's like a pancake mix. Oh.
20 minutes, two lots of shellfish and the mayonnaise.
Show us how it's done.
Right, first things first.
I'm going to get the shellfish cooked off.
Sweat off the shallots and the garlic
just to impart some flavour.
Then I'm going in with the clams.
Hot pan is the key to everything.
They need to cook quickly.
If they're too cooked, it's going to be tough,
it's rubbery, we don't want that.
What is it that you like about clams?
I love clams. Back when I used to live in New Zealand,
I used to go with my friends
and literally sit on the beach as the tide was going out
and just dig into the sand and get handfuls of them.
I'm using vodka instead of wine here
because I want to reduce it down,
and I'm going to add that to my mayonnaise.
In go the mussels.
Can you cook the clams and the mussels at the same time?
Yes, you can, but clams you find the shells are much thicker,
so they will take a bit longer to steam.
I think that's great - got yourself a big hit
not only of vodka, but also of the shellfish as well.
Of course, the vodka in with the shellfish
because it's vodka that makes up the Bloody Mary mayonnaise.
So there's not a lot there of the cooking liquor.
That is going to be so strong.
I want to make sure I pick out the best of my clams
and, of course, the mussels.
So the next thing I'm doing, guys, is the batter for the popcorn clam.
I'm going to season it with some paprika.
And I'm using buttermilk.
It makes a really thick batter.
It'll be interesting to see
whether or not they can actually think of the two different batters.
The next batter is for the fritter.
So it's almost like a pancake mix,
but we want it nice and fluffy.
I've got the mussels which will go into the batter.
So, guys, I want to make the mayonnaise.
So in the bowl I've got the reduction
of the shellfish with vodka.
I've got two yolks, a bit of mustard and a bit of tomato paste to start.
I think making a mayonnaise, all our chefs should know.
There's no machine.
So we are going to have to see a little bit of skill on show.
So Bloody Mary I think a little bit of vodka, heat, alcohol,
the sweetness of tomato,
the proper pepperiness of the Worcester sauce -
they're the flavours I imagine.
I want it quite thick.
I'm going to finish seasoning it with Worcestershire sauce
and some Tabasco. Yes. OK?
That's our mayonnaise done.
So I'm going to now cook my fritters.
So just a dollop in the pan.
OK, the clams in.
So deep frying.
And of course pan frying as well.
Yes. Mate, loads of skills.
So I'm just moving them around so they don't stick to the side.
Just floating up.
Have a little look at these.
So you see they're slowly puffing up.
Just want it crispy and crunchy.
Beautiful. There you go.
The little clams on the side here.
Oh, get out of here.
I love the way they've puffed up. Great.
And there we have it.
Popcorn clams, mussel fritter
and a Bloody Mary mayonnaise to go with it.
Beautiful, beautiful.
It looks great,
but it's full of skill.
Right, we've seen you do it.
Now it's the chefs' turn. You ready?
I'm so ready.
Marcus, you are going to watch from the back room on the monitor.
And, of course, you'll come back here for the tastings. All right?
See you in a bit.
Here we go, first contestant in.
Facing Monica's Skills Test
is 29-year-old Beth,
a senior sous-chef
at the UK's longest retained
Michelin-starred hotel restaurant in Rutland.
I've been here eight and a half years now,
and the reason I've probably stayed in this job for such a long time
is the beauty of what's around us.
The game here in Rutland is probably the best in the country.
Also, we have a kitchen garden.
I could never not be a chef,
and creating something out of nothing
is the best part of the job.
Skills Test.
I've done most things.
When I get told, "Go make this,"
I overthink it and then panic about it,
but I'll just go for it.
Very warm welcome to professional MasterChef.
This is a Skills Test set by Monica.
No pressure, then! Gosh.
Beth, I would like you to make us popcorn clams
with a mussel fritter
and a Bloody Mary mayonnaise.
The smile just slightly disappeared there.
Beth, 20 minutes.
Good luck. OK, thank you.
So, Beth, you're starting with your mayonnaise. Yes.
Out of interest,
do you sip the odd Bloody Mary?
I'm not a Bloody Mary fan.
I'm more of a Porn Star Martini.
It's a good start, getting the mayonnaise done.
That will give her the opportunity to think about the rest of the dish.
How long ago did you first learn to make mayonnaise, do you think?
Oh, back in college,
so that'd be 15 years ago now,
but it's been a while since I've made it by hand.
Hopefully it doesn't split out.
A lot of oil in that mayonnaise.
So why are you a chef, Beth? Of all the things you could have done.
My mum's a big food TV fan.
She can't cook, but she's a she's a fan of food.
Saw the passion and the drive of chefs on TV
and I wanted a piece of that
and I just fell in love with food, really.
Put a little bit of vodka in that.
If you want it to cook quicker put a lid on.
There you go, lid's on. Good.
What's she doing?
Don't wash them off.
She's basically just washed all the flavour away,
which is such a shame.
So you've cooked your mussels... Yep.
..and now you're cooling them down in water?
Er, yeah.
Not good.
Just over halfway, Beth.
I'm going to make both my batters
and then get them fried off.
And that batter, is that the fritter or the popcorn one?
That's the fritter.
The popcorn one I'm going to use with the buttermilk in.
Shaky hands.
She's got water in the clams, and it's absolutely ridiculous.
You've got eight minutes left.
I'm going to make this popcorn a bit thicker
than I would the fritter batter.
For the clams? Yes.
She's moving the clams around to get a nice even colour.
Beth, it's just your mussel fritters left to do, yes? Yeah.
OK, so she's putting both in the deep fat fryer.
Three minutes left, Beth. I think I'll be all right.
So nervous about what this would be today.
I've been practising everything.
You can hear them spitting.
You can hear all of the water coming out into that fryer.
You've got 30 seconds.
Let's get them on a plate, please.
All done? Yes.
In time, well done. Thank you.
I bet you're glad you got that over and done with.
Yeah, I can breathe now.
Beth, the cooking of the seafood, great.
I like that you added a bit of the vodka to it.
However, you then dumped everything under cold water.
Just washed all those beautiful flavours that you had in there
and let them sit in the water.
The popcorn batter you can see is holding.
The batter for the fritter, because the mussels were so wet,
it's not held and the batter
just sort of flaked off in the deep fat fryer.
You made the batters quite well.
It's just you've cooked them differently than we expected.
You've put them both into the deep fat fryer,
making them incredibly similar.
You've given us a mayonnaise, it could be thicker.
Bottle of oil, far too much.
It could have a little bit more flavour of the Bloody Mary.
But you've got good shellfish cookery.
You put the vodka in, the lid on top, which was great.
Beth, thank you very much. Off you go.
I made a silly mistake washing the mussels with water.
I don't know why I did that.
I've never done that before.
It's nearly there, but she didn't quite get it.
I want to see better from Beth in the next round.
Hello, Chefs.
Next up is 34-year-old Rohit.
Born in New Delhi, India,
he's now a sous-chef in an Italian restaurant
at a private members' club in London.
Life as a chef is amazing,
because for me, it's like a fun park.
There's different rides, you just get along and you just enjoy it.
So for me, my style, I'll say, is mostly worldwide.
If I don't do Indian food, I'll definitely do something Italian.
But apart from that, I love French cuisine,
I love Japanese, I love Mexican.
There is no limit.
My strengths lie in all the sections you can say,
like meat, fish, even vegetables,
but I always stay humble.
Service.
Rohit, welcome.
20 minutes, good luck.
Thank you, Chef.
Rohit, where does your love for food come from?
I've been cooking along with my mother from the age of six.
So you were brought up with foods of India?
Yes.
And is that the style of food that you do now?
Uh, not really, because mostly I've worked in Italian kitchens.
Need to get a lid on them.
See, by not putting a lid on the shellfish,
and what's happening is they're opening so slowly
you end up overcooking them.
So he's making his mayonnaise.
He needs to whisk those egg yolks a little bit more.
Little bit of tabasco.
Worcestershire sauce.
So he's putting all the right ingredients in.
Neat vodka into the mayonnaise, a bit heavy, bit sharp,
bit too strong personally.
You don't want the mayonnaise to taste of vodka.
Can I ask you what made you apply for MasterChef?
To show people like the decision I made ten years ago wasn't wrong.
Because I came here to finish my engineering in 2012.
And then I changed my profession,
and my parents were totally against it.
So why the change of career
if you spent so long studying engineering?
Because I always wanted to be a chef.
Mayonnaise, there you go.
It certainly looks too wet to me.
We've got batters to make, we've got a fritter to fry.
I'm making a popcorn batter first
and then I'm making a tempura batter - fritter batter, sorry.
That batter looks a little bit on the thin side.
What are you thinking for your mussel fritter?
For my mussel fritter, I'm going to use the plain flour.
I'm going to use the baking powder and the buttermilk.
Is he getting confused with his batters?
His popcorn and his fritter.
You've got five minutes left. Yes, Chef.
They're the clams, right?
Or are they the mussels?
Mussels. They're the mussels, right.
Mussels in the popcorn batter.
Clams in the fritter.
He's got all the shellfish mixed up here.
Rohit, you've got three minutes,
so you're really going to have to move it now.
That's not hot enough, don't put that in, don't put it in.
Don't put it in.
He's got the mussels in the fryer.
You've got a minute and a half. Yes, Chef.
There we go.
They're starting to pop up a little bit, I think.
You're going to have to be quick.
You are running out of time very quickly. Yes, Chef.
OK.
All done? Yes, Chef.
Just in time.
I'm glad I put something on the plate.
That was a bit of a tough watch back there.
We got there in the end, though.
So, Rohit, I think you got a bit confused
with the types of batters that were needed.
I wanted the popcorn batter to be quite crispy
with the buttermilk
and I think you've used that for the fritter.
We wanted popcorn clams.
We've got popcorn mussels.
We wanted a mussel fritter.
We've got a clam fritter.
The popcorn batter here
is not crispy at all.
It's not even cooked.
And then we've got a fritter here that went into cold oil,
so it's greasy.
I'm so sorry.
When you're cooking your shellfish,
you need to make sure you steam them very quickly, get them out.
You just left them cooking there and cooking there and cooking there.
They are like really chewy little bullets.
The quality of your mayonnaise, you can see, is too liquid.
Um, it's actually too strong with the vodka.
It's not enjoyable.
We will see you in the next round.
Thank you very much indeed. Thank you, Chefs.
Right, he's got a point to prove, right?
Mm. Absolutely.
I just mixed up everything.
And it was a big mix-up,
and...would have been definitely better.
It's your turn now, Marcus.
What's the Skills Test?
You have a lot of ingredients on there.
I'm going to ask our chefs to make a cheeseburger.
I've got a selection of meats
for our chefs to choose for their patty.
I've got pork, beef and chorizo sausage.
They've got a tomato relish to cook.
And, of course, the most important thing is the mincing of the meat
itself, combining it.
We've got a selection of different seasonings here from tomato paste.
We've got an egg, we've got onions, paprika.
Interestingly, they can be as artistic, creative as they want.
It's entirely up to them.
But we want a beautiful burger.
Right. 20 minutes, world-class burger. Marcus.
I'm using the pork because this is one of my favourite burgers.
I can't remember ever having a pork burger.
I'm also using chorizo as well.
Chorizo and the pork going together at the same time,
so it's naturally mixing. Yeah.
So I'm also going to just drop it through again.
Why? If it's not minced fine enough,
and depending how much ingredients they're going to add to it,
the burger will just break up.
So there we have it.
That's our mince, nice and fine.
Right, I have got some paprika,
a little bit of ketchup in there too.
Mm.
Also a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.
But no hard and fast rules.
They put in whatever they want.
This is about chefs' imagination
with the beautiful ingredients. I'm giving them.
A little bit of egg...
..and of course some breadcrumbs.
Tell me, please, what the breadcrumbs do for the mix.
Soaks up all the delicious fat.
So I'm just going to mix it in.
Just get my hand in there.
That's it.
It's so important to form a ball, almost like a dough.
And just by using his hands,
he knows that it's going to hold together.
To make a good burger or a good patty,
you want it to be nice and firm.
Nothing worse than a burger hanging out of the bun,
flopping everywhere.
OK, burger's on.
So, tomato relish.
I'm looking for a nice zingy tomato flavour, but also sweet.
Onions into our pan.
So you get your tomatoes, you get your onions in there,
nice and hot.
So a good spoon of tomato puree.
Spoon of mustard.
Get some sugar into your relish
and that's where you're going to get that lovely sweet and sour flavour.
Lovely!
So I just want this all to break down.
A little bit of butter in there.
Wahey!
That's a luxury burger that is, isn't it? Look at it.
All right, let's get this burger out of this pan.
Onto this little tray...
..and I'm going to put that straight into the oven.
You're going to need at least eight or nine minutes to get this cooked.
And because of that thickness it's not going to cook,
it's just going to burn in the pan.
Just going to put my cheese on top and then just let it cook away.
Now our chefs can start thinking
about how they're going to build the burger.
I've got some little pickled cucumbers here,
my bacon, my relish.
I've got a little bit of lettuce here.
Could you hurry up? I'm starving and that smells fantastic.
That's got my name on it.
Mm-hm. Right, so everything's ready.
So I can start to bring this burger together.
There you go.
Look at that.
The smell of that burger is driving me to distraction.
Oh, wow.
Couple of bits of the cucumber.
There we go.
Look at that, look, oh!
There we have it. Get in there!
Pork and chorizo burger
with a tomato relish.
No fighting, you two.
I'm so taking you out for that burger.
Mm.
Oh!
The tomato relish, it's broken down.
It's got the sweet and sour which works so well
with the fatty flavours of the meat.
It's delicious.
We just want to see them perfect a classic burger.
Yeah, it's straightforward,
but you want that lovely wow factor when you eat it.
Monica, you are going to watch proceedings
on the monitor from the next room. We'll see you in a minute.
Back to the tasting. I'll take this with me.
Take it with you, enjoy. I will.
First to face Marcus's test
is 30-year-old head chef Gareth,
who currently works at a fine dining restaurant in Cardiff,
where he was born.
I always liked cooking.
I always thought as a 14- or 15-year-old boy
that that was the best way to get a girl!
And then I was a tearaway little teen
getting kicked out of school,
and I joined a very military style one-star kitchen
where it instilled discipline in me.
And that's it, I love the kitchen now.
I do like to put a twist on classic dishes
that are recognisable when you eat them,
possibly not when you look at them.
I'm not a good loser, but to be honest with you,
I don't think that's an issue because I don't intend on losing.
Hello, Gareth. Welcome to professional MasterChef.
This is a Skills Test set by my friend Marcus.
I'd like you to make a cheeseburger with a tomato relish.
20 minutes. Over to you, Gareth.
Lovely, let's go.
So I'm going to go for the beef,
and then I'm going to add some of the bacon
to add a nice fat content to it.
I like that Gareth is putting the fat of the bacon
through his beef burger.
OK, why the beef then?
It's just a classic, isn't it?
You make burgers at work?
Not at work, no, but I've got two children,
so burgers are always a firm favourite.
How old are your kids?
My little girl is seven and my little boy is three.
And my little girl is actually vegetarian, though,
so it's not often we get to have a beef burger at home. All right.
What's the secret to a good burger, Gareth?
For me, it's fat content
and also the seasoning in there.
So is he seasoning with some salt?
Some pepper.
Ideally, you want to have a binding agent in there,
some breadcrumbs or an egg.
This is the start of your relish, there.
Yes, Chef. You started off with some sauteed chorizo?
Yes, Chef. OK.
So, do the little ones at home know you're here?
They do indeed. They're my biggest fans.
I spoke to them first thing this morning before they went to school,
and all I could hear was them screaming good luck to me.
I want some nice smoky flavours going through there,
so we're going to use some of the sweet smoked paprika
and some of the sugar.
We'll bring that to a caramel in there
and then we'll deglaze it with the red wine vinegar.
I think Gareth's kind of forgot it's meant to be a tomato relish.
You've had nine minutes.
Better get that burger on, then.
I hope that doesn't crumble.
So there should be a tomato relish.
And I don't think he's got any tomatoes in it.
Do you think we know enough about the Welsh food scene
this side of the Severn?
I don't, I think that people forget about how good the vegetables are.
The fish is amazing, we're on the coast.
Burger's a bit crumbly.
He's going to have to be careful.
It's going to start to finish my relish.
And I'm going to do that with a bit of tomato ketchup in there.
Where's the tomatoes, though?
We'll get some cheese on the burger.
Nobody ever said no to double cheese.
Gareth, why MasterChef, my friend?
I've turned 30 this year and I'm really trying to prove myself.
Now is my time just to see...
..if I'm as good as I really think I am.
Looks good. You're thinking about building it now, aren't you?
Yes, Chef.
How's your relish? I like it.
It's nice and smoky, sweet.
There's a touch of sour.
GREGG LAUGHS
Now what are you thinking?
If I was eating it...
..I'd want a gherkin.
Are you done, Chef? Yes, Chef.
Gareth, what you've given us is a cheeseburger.
By no means a gourmet burger.
It could have crumbled, there's no binding agent in there -
but a good burger.
Your tomato relish is more like a, um, jam.
Because I believe you left the tomatoes on the bench.
Chef. I like the texture of your burger itself.
I like the smokiness of the chorizo
that you put through that very, very sweet relish.
I'm actually enjoying it.
I think you could have done a lot more with that minced meat,
and just put more flavour that you've got on your bench
into it to make it interesting.
I think it's very homely.
You could do better than that, I think.
Gareth, no embarrassment, you got the job done.
We're looking to see more from you in the next round.
Off you go, Chef. Thank you, Chef.
Disappointed with myself,
but it was never something I ever could imagine being a Skills Test.
It's not something I practised - but it is something I should know.
And, yeah, I should have done better with it.
Last to face Marcus' skills challenge
is 37-year-old Callum,
head chef at a modern British brasserie in Herefordshire.
First time in the kitchen I knew I loved it from the beginning.
It's just home for me.
You spend more time in the kitchen than you do in your house.
You get up first thing in the morning,
you're here, you're doing it.
You're doing it to an unreasonable hour in the evening.
You couldn't work this hard and not enjoy it.
Done Michelin star restaurants, two-star restaurants.
I've worked in Gastropubs.
I've done a lot of sort of catering jobs.
Yeah, a real sort of broad spectrum.
I think the skills I've honed over the last 20 years of my career,
I think I've got a pretty good arsenal,
things I can pull out on the day, yeah.
Hello, Callum. Hello, Gregg.
Well...
Welcome to MasterChef, Chef.
Made a burger before? Once or twice.
20 minutes, over to you. OK, thank you.
You've got two lots of meat on there. Pork and beef.
What are you going for? I'm going to go for some beef.
I was going to put some pork through for a little bit of fat,
just to keep the moisture.
Good.
He needs to pass half of that mix through the mixer again.
It would really help sort of bind the burger together even more.
What made you become a chef, Callum?
When I was younger, I was looking at a career path in the military,
and it was actually my mother that talked me out of it.
I was quite unruly growing up,
so I needed a career that would take up a lot of my time.
So I decided a career in hospitality would do that for me.
How long have you been a chef?
Just over 20 years.
I know I look young!
So the burger has only just been minced.
Bit of pork in it, a bit of beef.
He hasn't really added much to it.
And your other pan has got your tomato relish in?
Yeah.
What about the tomatoes?
Why MasterChef?
I just think that reaching this stage of my career
would just be something nice to have to show for it.
How's this burger looking?
Sealing it now.
Just going to bang it in the oven.
Bang it in the oven. Yeah.
He's got vinegar in the pan.
Maybe tomatoes?
Tomatoes, well done. Yay!
You have seven minutes left, Callum.
He's working very quickly.
You work really quick.
How many people do you normally feed in a day?
So, Sunday lunch, we look at doing about sort of 200 people.
So, busy little outfit.
Three minutes, Chef.
Bring it together. Thank you.
Just thinking of things I can put in there to enhance it.
Personally, I love a bit of onion in there.
I think it gives a real nice earthiness.
Cheese can be a bit more melty.
Oh, on goes the burger.
Oh, do you know what?
I do love a cheeseburger with my bacon roll.
THEY LAUGH
I'll take that.
You've got 30 seconds, Chef. Let's get it on a plate.
If you can make it balance.
Are you all done, Chef? I'm done.
Hi, Callum. Hey, Monica.
It's a leaning tower of cheeseburger.
Yeah, I'll take that.
Finesse is the one thing I think that you're lacking.
It's certainly got some height to it.
That's going to take some eating.
The burger, it needs double mincing.
It needs refining, it needs flavour.
You've got an egg yolk there, you've got some breadcrumbs,
you've got great seasoning.
I want something really, really delicious.
And it's not.
The relish, you added the tomatoes too late.
You needed to get them in and cook them down,
which is just odd, because you were going very fast
and then sort of just didn't quite bring the heart
of the cooking into it.
The cheese isn't melted because you put the gherkins
between the cheese and the burger.
I'm pretty sure you can do this a lot better than this. Thank you.
He actually looks angry with himself.
I think if he just slowed down a bit and took his time
to really season what he was doing and taste,
it would have been a bit better.
I just sort of crumbled under the pressure, really,
just made silly choices and tried to do it too quickly.
I'm definitely better than that.
I haven't seen anybody shining in this round, that's for sure,
but neither have I seen any disasters.
Yeah, I think you've got four chefs
who are potentially kicking themselves.
Guys, you know what's next - it's their own dishes.
So they should have been practised and they've got to be spot on.
It's going to be an exciting round.
Welcome back. The first round, the Skills Test, is behind you.
Well done.
Get rid of your first-round nerves.
You now have the opportunity
to showcase your signature two-course menu.
A main and a dessert.
The two dishes you're about to cook for us is going to tell us
a little bit about what you are and who you are as chefs.
I wish you the best of luck.
At the end of this, two of you will be leaving the competition,
but two of you will become quarterfinalists.
One hour and a half to showcase your skill,
your passion.
Chefs, off you go.
These two dishes have been the only thing on my mind
for countless weeks.
Confident in the food.
Whether or not I can execute it to the level I want
might be a different story.
Gareth, how are you doing? I'm good, Chef, yeah.
I'm going to give you a fish and chips
with a slight twist on it.
A piece of baked cod topped with a...deep-fried sourdough scraps,
and a warm buttermilk tartare sauce
with some beautiful little sea veg
and some sea lettuce powder that me and my daughter foraged.
And your dessert is?
My dessert is going to be a salted milk panna cotta
topped with a sourdough and hazelnut crumb,
a chocolate cremeux and extra virgin olive oil.
You've got bread appearing in both dishes.
I used to be a baker
and I think there's bread running through my veins.
Do you think with the cookery of this cod, you mustn't overcook it?
It must be cooked gently.
This is a take on fish and chips,
but the batter is not around the fish.
It's going to be sitting on top
with some scraps made from sourdough.
It'll be a bit greasy still, Chef, before you try them.
Gareth's dessert is salted milk panna cotta.
So I'm really interested to see how the salt
and the milk really balance out,
but a good panna cotta is all about the texture.
It's also got a chocolate cremeux,
so two soft textures
and then a sourdough crumb.
We also have olive oil being drizzled onto it,
which will bring a real earthiness and bitterness.
Savoury notes in puddings done well are fantastic.
I actually am intrigued by his dessert.
20 minutes gone, 20 minutes gone.
These two dishes are definitely very close to my heart
because that's what I grew up eating with my parents
and that does make me emotional and make them proud.
Rohit wants to take Indian cuisine that he is familiar with
and sort of bring a European twist to it.
Lamb rack coated in yoghurt and spices.
I want to taste the lamb.
I don't want it to be overpowered in the spices.
He's also got his espumas going on.
He's making a crumb to go on this dish here.
We've got confit potato and a kofta to go with it.
If Rohit can achieve this, this is going to be outstanding.
Any of these flavours that really taste of home?
Yeah.
These are the flavours I grew up with.
So it's just the modern interpretation of that.
Has your mum tried these dishes?
My parents have tried it as well and they liked it.
They just came this year to see me as well.
Are your parents still with you at the moment while you're still here?
Yes, still here. Does mum still want to cook for you?
She's still cooking for me.
I come from work and the food is ready.
For the dessert what I used to eat in home is a phirni,
which is similar to rice pudding.
You don't want it to be too stodgy.
You certainly do not want it undercooked either.
Rohit is topping his rice pudding with what he calls tutti frutti,
something he used to eat as a young child.
He's taking a chayote, a fruit used a lot in Nepal,
which has a very mild flavour.
He's making two different stock syrups,
one raspberry and one mango,
and he's going to cook the chayote in both of those.
I like the addition of the tutti frutti,
but hopefully there's a bit of sharpness in there,
a bit of contrast,
otherwise, it's all just very sickly sweet.
Rohit has given himself a lot to do here. I hope he can do it.
I'll use every single second I'll be given.
I don't run on my spare time,
but I can be fast if I have to.
Guys, you're halfway.
You are halfway.
Time flies.
If I want to show the judges who I actually am,
my dishes need to be perfect.
So I need to go in there and ace this.
So we have poached lobster tail
with a lobster claw and scallop mousse
in a yellow and green courgette so it looks like a bit of a cannelloni.
And then I've made a lobster bisque.
OK. Dessert, we've got a passion and chocolate cremeux.
We've got a passion pate de fruit jelly
which is going to sit around it hopefully if it sets.
Caramelised hazelnuts,
and then I've made a caramelised hazelnut tuile, as well,
and caramelised bananas.
Wow, dark chocolate,
passion fruit and banana together?
These are my own inventions.
I know they're classic dishes, but this is my version of that.
You've been at your job for quite a while. Yeah.
You went in and you've risen through the ranks, is that right?
Yeah, it's a place that I love working.
Also, my other half works there.
She's a waitress, so...
I don't think she enjoys working with me that much.
Are you better to socialise with than you are to work with? Yeah.
Yeah, no-one likes being told what to do, really, do they?
It sounds very classic. We've got a lobster bisque,
we've got cannelloni.
She wants to modernise them.
We've got a lobster tail which she's blanched.
Where this dish can fail or succeed is the cooking of the lobster tail.
It's got to be absolutely perfect.
We've got a mousse that she's put inside,
almost like a little courgette cannelloni
which is scallops and the claw.
It has got to be lovely and bouncy.
Can't afford for that to split out, either,
because if your lobster mousse isn't right
then this dish does not work.
The bisque for me is about the flavours of the lobster.
I just hope she reduces that right down
to get some intense flavour through it.
Beth's dessert, dark chocolate cremeux.
The cremeux has got to be rich and smooth in texture.
Caramelised banana, hazelnut tuile,
cremeux itself, pate de fruit,
a lot of techniques, a lot of elements you've got to get right.
The passion fruit, well, there's the twist.
There's the bit that's the point of difference.
Passion fruit and chocolate?
We'll see.
It's a tough competition and I need to remember that
and just bring my best.
15 minutes left, guys.
15 minutes. I told you, it goes quick.
I've got enough to do, but I think I've left adequate time.
I practised these dishes at work,
but it's a whole different ballgame here.
I mean, for one, you haven't got the likes of the judges
breathing down your neck at work,
so, yeah, it just completely changes it altogether.
Now you've had your first taste of this competition,
how are you feeling about MasterChef now? Ooh-la-la.
Yeah, it was a bit of a baptism of fire, yeah.
What are your two courses, please?
I'm cooking a treacle cured fillet beef.
And we're making a pea and wasabi croquette,
a little charred broccoli puree.
And we're finishing that with a little aromatic broth.
Nice, nice fusion.
Can you handle it all? Oh, time will tell.
Callum is a chef that runs around quite a lot.
He is really motoring.
We've got some beef that he's got treacle wrapped around it,
which is interesting.
Treacle is going to bring a molasses-style flavour.
In fact, the treacle could actually take over the flavour of the beef.
That's what concerns me.
Croquette, crispy on the outside, soft in the centre.
I want to taste the peas and, of course, the wasabi.
It's got to be balanced, you do not want it too hot.
But a crispy croquette with a broth?
Mm.
I've got a funny feeling that that just might go soggy.
You've got classic European technique here with Asian flavours.
Where does that come from?
Just working with people from different countries.
We've all sat down and come up with dishes, with our influences
and what we'd like to do, and it's just stemmed from there, really.
Callum's dessert, salted chocolate delice, sounds delicious.
He's got whipped mascarpone on it.
There's an espresso gel as well.
The delice is very similar to a cremeux.
It's the same sort of mix, so it's got to be very smooth,
and, of course, you want to just put your spoon through that.
Chocolate, coffee, salt, espresso -
it's almost tiramisu-esque in a way.
I like the ideas and we know that these combinations work together.
Tell me the inspiration behind your pudding.
So a delice was one of the first desserts I actually learned to make
back when I was 16, and it's just changed over time.
So it's just something I know I can execute to a standard.
Guys, don't want to upset you.
You've got ten minutes. Going to get it done?
ALL: Yes, Chef.
"Yes, Chef." Wow. Get me.
Whoa! Got some smells over here, Chef. Thank you.
Have they got to be cooked? Yes, Chef.
You've got about five minutes left. Yeah.
Ooh, this is on a hot plate. Quick, quick, quick.
You have one minute 60 seconds.
That's all you've got. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Oh, mate, you are taking this to the absolute wire.
Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
OK, that's it.
Everybody stop!
Oh!
Are you OK, man? Good? Oh, yeah.
I don't think I breathed for an hour. No.
Head chef Gareth's signature dish
is his take on fish and chips.
Baked cod loin topped with gherkin brine mayonnaise
and deep-fried sourdough scraps
seasoned with malt vinegar powder,
served with foraged sea vegetables
and a warm tartare sauce.
I'm wondering where my portion of chips are,
but it's an elegant, smart-looking dish.
Your fish is really nicely cooked.
I like the texture of the sourdough scraps.
I would have thought it was exactly what you got
in the fish and chip shop.
The mayonnaise, you got herbs.
It just all works so well with the fish.
I really like your take on the tartare.
It's got the sharpness and saltiness of capers,
and there's a little bit of shallot in there as well and it's herby,
but it's lighter.
I want that fish to sit on a pile of pomme puree or mashed potato,
or I want something else.
But what you've put on the plate tastes great.
The sauce is delicious.
The fish is perfectly cooked.
It's a good dish, I like it a lot.
Thank you.
For his signature dessert
Gareth is serving a salted milk panna cotta
topped with dark chocolate cremeux
and a sourdough and hazelnut crumb,
finished with olive oil.
Salt and olive oil on a panna cotta and chocolate.
Yes, Chef. OK.
The panna cotta is beautifully set.
I love the saltiness of it.
It's almost neutral-esque.
And then to just finish it with oil?
Oh, brave.
But it works.
That's a cracking pudding.
Extraordinary piece of work.
Great use of bread.
There are little bits of sweet crumb around the nut,
and you don't know when you're going to get them.
And of course the chocolate is sweet,
but the rest is savoury.
All that saltiness just enhances the sweet notes.
Absolutely delicious.
It's really a dessert that's quite moreish,
and you just keep going in for more.
You've caught my attention.
Well done.
I doubt my head will fit through the door when I leave
because that's incredible.
Sous-chef Rohit is serving a take on flavours from his childhood.
Turmeric and ginger marinated lamb cutlet
served with confit-cumin potato,
lamb mince and offal kofte,
topped with lamb fat pangrattato,
mint, lemon and coriander espuma
and a lamb curry sauce.
The cookery of your lamb is fantastic.
I love the cumin smokiness on the potato.
I love your liver kofta -
there's almost a sweetness to that.
And the crispy breadcrumbs you got at the top are getting luscious
because you cooked those in lamb fat.
So, well done. Thank you.
What I've got left is a little spice a little bit of heat.
But I've not lost anything that I've eaten on this plate
and that takes some doing.
It's very easy to overpower what you've got on the plate
with the heat in here,
and I think you've got that nicely sitting on the palate.
I think the yoghurt, espuma, the coriander and the lemon there
really does just calm the palate down.
These are the childhood flavours that you brought
into the MasterChef kitchen.
You've obviously eaten well growing up. Thank you, sir.
Your mum must be a great cook.
For dessert, Rohit has cooked saffron and cardamom rice pudding,
topped with a tutti frutti of chayote,
flavoured with mango and raspberry sugar syrups
and crumbled pistachio nankhatai,
or Indian cookies.
I think you've got some work to do on your presentation.
But the flavour of the base, the rice itself,
I do like the levels of saffron and cardamom that you've got in there.
It's a lot softer than I was expecting.
I like that a lot.
I really am intrigued by what you've done with that chayote,
which is not used that much, especially in dessert.
You flavoured it different fruit syrups.
It's quite juicy, I like it.
I like the textures of the crumb and of course the sweetness
of the raspberry and the mango.
I just find there's just too much of that sweetness on here.
But I have enjoyed the dessert.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Chef.
I'm feeling a big relief after that feedback.
What they said about the dessert,
I totally agree with that.
But I gave it everything I had, to be honest.
Senior sous-chef Beth's signature main course is poached lobster tail,
served with cannelloni of courgette,
stuffed with scallop and lobster claw mousse,
finished with a lobster bisque.
I love the cookery of your lobster tail.
It's buttery and it's soft.
I like this little zucchini cannelloni.
And you've made a mousse from scallops.
That's clever cookery, which I think is delicious.
The lobster tail curled up
so when you have taken the lobster out of the shell underneath,
it's all broken up.
And the cannelloni, the chopped up claws inside
could have been refined a little bit more.
This dish has huge potential,
but its execution here is what's let this plate of food down.
The bisque, for me, there is an overpowering sweetness,
possibly too much of the orange juice.
Other than that, you have shown some great skills on here.
For dessert, Beth has made a passion fruit and chocolate cremeux,
encased by a passion fruit pate de fruit jelly,
topped with caramelised bananas and hazelnuts
and a hazelnut tuile.
The cremeux is rich and smooth
and that's lovely.
What I'm finding too overpowering is the amount of passion fruit jelly
and the sharpness that has.
It's too much for this chocolate dessert.
The pate de fruit - it's too dense. It's too heavy.
The hazelnuts - maybe a little bit more work on those,
a little bit more creativity.
And the banana - same thing.
This little tuile isn't snappy.
It's too bendy.
But the banana isn't too sweet,
and you've used it sparingly.
Chocolate and passion fruit, I'm finding absolutely delightful.
The dishes I did, I am proud of.
There's, like, a few things I could have tweaked,
but I think that was just the pressure that got to me.
Head chef Callum's signature main course
is a treacle-marinated fillet of beef,
served with a pea and wasabi croquette, charred broccoli puree
and oyster mushrooms...
..finished with a chilli, beef and ginger broth.
My beef is cooked wonderfully,
but I can't taste the treacle that you had put around it.
It's not really there.
What you've got here is a really nice, beefy broth
with flavours of lemongrass and a bit of ginger and a bit of chilli,
and it's lovely,
but obviously to do a croquette that's supposed to be crispy,
put it sitting on slippery mushrooms and a puree,
it's going to make it wet.
Pour a broth over it, you've made it even more wet.
The croquette is beautifully seasoned.
I can taste the wasabi. I can taste the peas.
But broth doesn't go on a plate.
It's like a soup.
So, there's good and there's bad.
I'll take that. Thank you, Chef. Not at all.
For dessert, Callum is serving a salted chocolate delice,
topped with whipped mascarpone, roasted hazelnuts.
coffee gel and caramelised white chocolate wafers.
I like that - tiramisu-esque.
Coffee, white chocolate, burnt chocolate,
not too bitter, alongside the fruity chocolate
that sits underneath it as well.
Proper coffee bitterness in there,
amongst the chocolate, that's not too sweet.
Well done. Creaminess and almost saltiness of the mascarpone.
That's a lovely, lovely combination.
Really, really like that.
It's a great dessert. I think the delice, the cremeux is so smooth.
You can see it when you put your spoon through that.
And I think it works so well with the bitterness of the coffee
and textures of hazelnut.
Yeah, obviously, I took the criticism on board
about my beef dish, and I think I would go back and change that.
I think that cost me a little bit, maybe, but I got some good feedback.
So, yeah, ultimately, all good.
I thought a very decent level of cookery here.
There were issues, but some great personalities starting to shine.
And certainly a lot to discuss.
Who's our top of the tree?
It's Gareth, isn't it, from Cardiff?
Main course of a perfectly cooked piece of cod.
I think he's a very, very good cook.
Loved the little crispy scraps on top.
Tartare sauce was delicious.
Now, that dessert really stood out.
The sort of panna cotta
with the chocolate cremeux over the top.
Oil that we poured onto it - very clever.
I loved the twists and I like the dishes that he put up today.
Can we put him through? Yeah. Absolutely.
Beth. The lobster, I thought, was cooked very well.
I liked the cannelloni with the yellow and green courgettes.
But I didn't like the execution of the lobster.
Mine was all broken up when it came out of the shell.
That bisque, I found, was too sweet.
And then the dessert.
On its own, passion fruit pate de fruit like that is lovely.
It was too strong. It completely destroyed the chocolate cremeux.
Rohit's spice cookery is excellent.
Lamb was beautifully cooked.
Of course, the mint and coriander espuma
with the yoghurt was delicious.
Just the use of spicing throughout was really good.
I was impressed.
The dessert - loved the texture of the rice pudding.
What I liked was there were the textures of the crumb,
but I didn't like the overpowering sweetness
of the mango and raspberry chayote.
So, a bit disappointed with the dessert,
loved that main course.
Callum, the beef was beautifully cooked. Mmm.
I didn't think the treacle brought anything to the plate itself.
There was just no business having a broth to pour over a croquette,
because then it all just got wishy-washy.
Dessert - loved the chocolate delice with the hazelnut.
Flavour of tiramisu. Very good dish.
A lot tougher than I expected,
but got some good praise as well.
So, yeah, hopefully I could have pulled it off.
I'd love to be able to come back and show the judges who I really am,
because I don't feel like I executed everything perfect today.
I guess I've done enough to get through but, then again,
there is always someone better than me so,
if they have done better than me, I wish them all the best.
Great signature round from all four of you.
There were dishes there that we really did enjoy.
So, Chefs, well done.
We have made a decision.
Two of you are going through to a quarterfinal.
Two of you are leaving the competition.
Our first quarterfinalist is...
..Gareth.
Well done. Thank you.
Congratulations, my friend.
The chef joining Gareth and going on to a quarterfinal is...
..Rohit.
Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.
Congratulations.
If it's any consolation, it was very, very close.
You did very well. Thank you.
I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I didn't do my best today, but I'm still a young chef
and I'm finding my style the more I cook.
So, watch this space.
I feel a bit disappointed,
but I think I went out to better people, so I'll take that.
Yay!
Thank you. Congratulations, the pair of you.
Really good job. Same. Well done, you two. Well deserved.
That is exciting.
I just can't wait to get home and tell my kids.
I think, if they don't cry, I will.
I can't wait to make them proud.
It feels really great.
It feels like over the cloud now, to be honest.
Going to quarterfinals is a massive, massive milestone in my life.
Next time, it's the quarterfinal,
and this week's most talented chefs return to face two tough challenges.
I am liking the look of those. Mm-mm.
Yeah, you need to get a move on. You've got less than 60 seconds, OK?
Yes, Chef.
Only the best will earn a place in knockout week.
Looks gorgeous.
I want to marry it.