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.
I relish pressure.
I am full of anxious energy, and I want to use some of that.
This is a massive opportunity.
I've two chefs to beat.
I'm just going to go and do what I do.
I never do anything like this before.
I believe I can make it to the final.
I need to prove it.
I've got to a good place in my career,
and I'm proud of the skills I've built up.
I think I'm ready to give it a go.
We're looking for daring and delicious food.
Who are we going to discover this time?
Skills test. Come on! Ready to go?
That is a beautiful-looking fish!
And I've got confidence in you. What is the skills test, please?
I would like our chefs to cook plaice, pan-fried,
with a beurre blanc sauce that's finished in the style
of tartar sauce, with shoestring fries.
20 minutes, Chef. Show us how it's done.
The start is the filleting of the fish,
taking off all four fillets, skinning it, cutting one portion.
Filleting a flatfish, Gregg, it's just straight down the middle bone.
Just keeping the knife nice and close
to the carcass of the fish.
Beautiful. Have you done this before?!
I've done a few!
I think filleting a fish is a skill that, unfortunately,
we don't see a lot of it out there at the moment,
because a lot of fish comes in prepared.
Protein is so expensive now, and you're paying everything
by the weight.
Quite a few restaurants find it easier to just buy in the fillet.
So there we have it.
That's the carcass. That can be used for a fish stock.
Right, now I'm just going to take the skin off.
Without any pressure.
Just let the knife do the work.
The skin's got to come off of them. You won't crisp that skin up.
Well, the fish isn't thick enough.
And so by the time you even attempt to get any crispiness on the skin,
it's going to be completely overcooked.
So I do want to see them trimmed up.
That's my portion of fish.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Shoestring fries. I've got my... the slicer here.
Nice and thin.
I'm just going to julienne them up.
It's a great test, that, for knife skills.
This is one of the very first cuts I ever cut in a college.
The julienne.
Just putting my spoon in there. Just breaks them up a little bit.
So you're just looking for not too much colour.
Not darker brown?
No, because they stay nice and crispy, nice and light.
Pinch of salt.
I've also got some parsley and some capers,
which I'm also going to deep fry.
Lid on. Stops it from spitting at you.
Just a little garnish. That's optional. It's up to them.
Right, so on to my beurre blanc.
We start off with some chopped shallots, garlic, peppercorns,
a little bit of oil, and a touch of dill.
So, a beurre blanc - classic sauce.
And then you're going to add the flavours of a tartar sauce.
So you're going to add some gherkin, some sharpness to it?
A little splash of white wine vinegar.
A little white wine.
Start that reducing down.
Cream.
The butter.
That's what we call monte-ing in the butter into the sauce.
Beurre blanc, definitely one that you learn as a chef.
We used to make litres of the stuff first thing in the morning.
Squeeze of lemon.
So as soon as the last bit of butter goes in, I'll turn the heat off.
I'm going to pass out all of the shallots.
There we go.
Now I've left the fish right to the very last minute.
It's not going to take long at all.
Not too hot.
My sauce.
Gherkins, capers, herbs.
Little knobs of butter.
It's such a thin fillet of fish.
It's so easy to overcook it.
It will just break apart.
OK. That's it. Minute and a half. Beautiful!
What I've just seen here is age-old classic cookery skills.
From the knifework, to the fish work, to the fish cookery,
the beurre blanc. It's lovely to see.
There we have it. Beautifully sauteed piece of plaice.
Beurre blanc tartar sauce. Shoestring fries.
Mm!
So much skill here. The fish cookery,
just what you expect from you, Marcus.
Shoestring fries, really fine. Nice little bit of seasoning.
That beurre blanc with the tartar sauce finish,
buttery, creamy.
Finishing with that gherkin sharpness.
Absolutely delicious!
Monica, I know you're going to watch this with great interest
from the other room. See you in a bit, all right?
I'm looking forward to this challenge, and I very much hope
and expect to get dishes comparable to this.
Let's get the chefs in. I'm ready.
First to face Marcus's test is 31-year-old head chef Michael.
He grew up in Brazil and currently works in a fine dining restaurant
at a brewery in Sussex.
I've had a really, really diverse upbringing.
I've been in the Middle East, I've been in South America,
surrounded by different nationalities.
So I've been exposed to food from all over the world
for my whole life.
I'm really looking forward to feed judges food
that they may not have had before,
to put strange and unusual products in front of them.
You only get one opportunity to enter this competition,
and I intend to put everything I can into it.
Michael, welcome to MasterChef. Thank you very much.
Hi, Michael. How are you with fish?
Uh, fine.
20 minutes, Michael. Off you go.
Thank you very much.
He looks confident with his fish filleting, which is great to see.
So, how long have you been a chef?
Coming up now on I think 12 years.
I left university early and decided that I did not care
about my chemical engineering degree.
I wanted to peel onions for a living instead!
So, yeah. So I became a chef.
How would you describe your style?
Me, as a chef, is the least important piece of the puzzle.
Without good produce, I can't do what I do.
So the produce is the most important part.
He is doing well.
Can you quickly tell me your plan for making this sauce, please?
Sure. So I'm reducing white wine and some vinegar with some shallots.
I'm going to add a touch of cream just to stabilise it.
And then add in the capers,
lemon zest, a little lemon juice to finish,
and emulsify some butter in.
Michael, you seem to know your way around classical cookery?
I did an intensive classical French cooking course
and then went into a classic French bistro in Putney
and was there for two years and beurre blanc was very much a staple.
This is muscle memory now!
I'm really impressed.
Right, Michael, you're halfway.
Your fries are in the fryer. Your sauce is under way.
Your fish is filleted. You're in a good place!
Mm!
He really knows what he's doing.
How's the sauce, Michael? We're getting there.
We're going to emulsify a little bit more butter in there.
All right. Let's get some fish cooking going.
Back home in Brazil, what was the food that you cooked?
I left when I was really little,
but my mum brought that heritage back with us.
But my real inspiration was her mother.
My grandmother was an absolute powerhouse in the kitchen.
She would single-handedly cook for 30 people.
How's that sauce? Really nice.
A little pinch of salt. A pinch of black pepper.
It's good to see him taste his sauce. He's doing so well.
How much time have I got left, please? A minute.
Nice colour.
That's it. Your time's up. All done? Absolutely.
Good on you, Michael!
That was great to watch. Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Hope you enjoy eating it as well! So do I!
Michael, good job. Good fish filleting.
The potatoes are beautiful, crispy.
The fish has got a lovely colour on it. Beautifully cooked.
And you've delivered something really delicious here.
Good effort. Well done.
Your sauce making, you made the reduction,
I like that. I'm loving the capers, the gherkins and the herbs.
Great start. Thank you very much.
It's a lovely piece of soft fish.
Fries crispy, seasoned. I'm really happy.
Well done, you. Thank you. Thank you.
Well, he's made you two happy. That's a very good start.
Look at that. Smiles all round!
After a strong start, I definitely have a point to prove
that I'm not a one-trick pony.
I'm not a flash in the pan. I'm a long braise!
Last to face Marcus's skills challenge is 36-year-old Lauren,
head chef at a bar restaurant in Ballygawley, Northern Ireland.
As the head chef, I think it's important
that I do my fair share of the cooking.
And I'm not just here to take part, I'm here to take over.
This wee place is a pub, but I definitely wouldn't say
that we do traditional pub-style food.
We're definitely pushing boundaries, fine dining sort of everything!
I'm going to smash the skills test! Probably.
Hello, Lauren. Hello, Gregg!
Oh! Hello! Welcome to MasterChef.
Thank you so much. Hello, Marcus. How are you? How are you? Good.
So I'd like you to make for us pan-fried plaice, shoestring fries,
and a beurre blanc tartar sauce.
How do you do shoestring?
How do you do that now?
THEY LAUGH
I love how she's asking Marcus how to do the fries!
20 minutes. Thank you.
Are you familiar with that fish?
Not in a while, but, yeah. Good.
Seems fine.
Do you have a food philosophy?
I love cooking everything, to be honest.
You know, I think it doesn't matter what you're cooking,
as long as you cook it well.
So she's cut herself.
We'll get you a plaster. I'll survive, I'm sure.
Yeah, that's my girl!
You're all plastered up? Yep. Off you go.
Good to see Lauren trim up the sides of the fish.
Ooh! Slowly.
Went a bit too fast on that one.
What's your reasoning for coming in here on MasterChef?
I really feel like I'm ready this year.
If you had asked me a couple of years ago,
I wouldn't have done it.
But I feel like I've got really good knowledge of food now.
And so I thought, "Why not?"
And have fun as well.
Are you having fun? I am having fun.
Well, apart from this bit, which I absolutely butchered.
So that's fish filleted. Yep.
I'm going to make the sauce now.
What was the inspiration that led to you being a chef?
My mum was not a very good cook, so as soon as I was old enough
to take over the kitchen, I did.
I loved food. Like, I was such a greedy child!
Get some wine in.
Lauren hasn't put any vinegar in, but she can always finish it
with some fresh lemon juice.
Well, she's figuring out her shoestring fries,
because she didn't know earlier.
This is the Irish way to do the shoestrings!
That's everybody's way of doing it! Oh, thank God!
Going to put the cream in now.
Any passions outside of the kitchen?
I love exploring old buildings.
Ireland's just filled with, like, abandoned wee houses
that somebody used to live in. Like anything historic.
The sauce is reducing. She's not making a lot,
which is fine.
I'm just going to let the butter emulsify in there.
She's put the butter in, but you do need to sort of whisk it in.
OK, so you've got six minutes left.
Very good.
Finishing her sauce with a touch of vinegar.
OK.
Oh, careful!
OK. Not bad, not bad.
Oh, don't use your hands, Lauren, to pick up fish.
All right? Sort of, yep.
Time's up. Well done. Thank you.
It got a bit rough at the end there, but she did a good job.
How are you? Good. Good watching there. Thank you.
A little bit of detail near the end there, but you got it done.
Yeah, I got it on the plate!
I think to sum up the way you work is you're just a little rough
around the edges.
Your fish filleting, you need to slow down.
Take your time when you're skinning it.
Your shoestring potatoes, there are some bits
that are not quite cooked,
because they're still all stuck together. Mm-hm.
But you have an understanding of the cookery that you're doing.
You just need to just home in on details and skills.
The cooking of your fish, when you turned it over, it stuck.
Your sauce making, you've got the butter and the egg,
the gherkins. You knew what you were doing.
Didn't make a lot, which is fine. We only needed one portion.
OK. I've got a nicely cooked piece of fish.
It's firm enough, it's soft enough, and I've got seasoned crispy fries.
I'm OK. You're always happy! I'm OK.
We're looking forward to seeing you in the next round.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
It wasn't as bad as I thought.
I definitely was a wee bit nervous and rushed a wee bit,
but I got everything done in time, so, yeah.
Plus even cutting my finger.
Right, we've seen two of the chefs, so we've got two to go.
Monica, your skills test.
What are you going to get them to do, please?
I would like our chefs to cook us a lamb neck dish
with a pea, broad bean puree,
a lamb sauce with charred leeks.
Come on then, Chef. This I really want to see.
20 minutes please. Off you go.
So, really quick cooking for me on this. I want a hot pan.
Monica, I can see you trimming it.
How do you know which bits of fat to take off and which to leave on?
There's just a bit of sinews there on the end of it which I don't want.
But all of that is going to bring so much flavour to this,
so I'm not taking off too much.
The key to the lamb neck cookery is cooking it so that it's pink.
If it's undercooked, you're chewing away at it.
Chefs are now taught to use a thermometer to get
the right cooking, but they don't have that option here.
This is about classical cookery. It's about skills.
So it's all going to be about the touch.
Did you have lamb neck growing up? We'd have it in a stew, yeah.
Traditional Liverpudlian stew, actually! Pan Scouse.
So I've sealed my lamb neck nice and golden all over
on a very high heat. In with some butter, some herbs.
And now I'm going into the oven for about four or five minutes.
I've just put on some water to the boil to quickly
blanch the leeks off. Bit of rosemary in there.
And these are only in there for a minute,
because I want to finish them on the grill.
So... Ah, OK. That's a good idea.
Really quick way to make a puree for me is I've got some cream,
I've got the broad beans, peas, garlic.
I'm going to add a bit of thyme to that.
And of course the main point of the puree is not just to be
smooth, but also to retain the colour? That's right.
And it has to be done very, very quickly.
So I've just taken my leeks, they're nicely charred.
My peas and broad beans with a cream that's come up
to the boil, that's ready to go into the blender.
And that's it. Puree done. Beautiful.
Vibrant green.
Let's go there.
So while the lamb is resting, I'm going to make my sauce.
So in this pan...
Got some shallots.
Got a bit of garlic, bit of the rosemary in there.
I want to deglaze the pan that the lamb was cooking in.
What's that? Sherry? This is Madeira.
So it's quite sweet. Works wonders with lamb.
Let it reduce, let it reduce.
I'm going to add back the fat from the lamb.
Mm!
There's a couple of things here that I think are really good.
Monica is using the pan that she cooked the lamb in
for the base of the sauce.
But not only that, add in any of the fat,
so nothing is lost. Nothing is wasted.
It's all going to be on that plate of food.
That's it. Lamb neck's rested, the leeks have been grilled,
and the puree is good to go. I'm ready to plate up.
Are you able, when you touch that piece of meat,
to translate to me what it is you're feeling?
It's firm, but it's also giving at the same time.
It's just perfectly pink.
Ta-da! There we have it, guys.
Lamb neck with a pea, broad bean puree, charred leeks,
and a lamb sauce. Beautiful.
There wasn't a lot of ingredients on your table,
but there's a lot of flavour in that dish.
And that takes skill.
And that's what this test is all about.
Full of classic cookery technique.
And I love my lamb and I really hope they get it
absolutely bang on!
Key skills that I'm looking for with our chefs here
is the handling of the lamb neck and how they cook it.
And of course sauce making.
Marcus, hopefully you'll be back here to taste more delicious lamb.
In the meantime you're going to be watching it on the monitor.
Cheers, mate. See you soon.
The chefs are ready to come in.
I'm pretty sure they've cooked lamb before.
Have they cooked lamb neck?
Facing Monica's skills test is 39-year-old Lucy,
senior sous-chef at a modern European restaurant in London.
I've only been a chef for five years,
but I've packed a lot into those five years.
I trained for a year at culinary school.
I've worked in some of London's best restaurants,
including Michelin star places.
I'm in a good place for the amount of time I've been a chef,
and I'd still fancy my chances against someone
who's been in the kitchen for 15 years.
I think I've got what it takes.
My biggest food influence growing up was my grandma,
and when she passed away, she left me some money,
which allowed me to go to cookery school.
And I'd really like to do her proud and do really well
in the competition.
Lucy. Yes? I would like you to cook for us,
lamb neck with pea, broad bean puree, charred leeks
and a lamb sauce. OK. 20 minutes, Lucy.
Good luck. Cool.
I'm just going to slice these shallots.
I'm going to sweat them down a little bit.
Some garlic, some herbs, and then I'm going to reduce some stock.
Getting the sauce under way is a good start.
With the reduction.
So what's your plan for your lamb neck?
I'm just going to trim this up a little bit here.
Take some of this fat off.
Sauce, sauce! Or something.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
She's going to cut it into medallions rather than cooking it
whole, which is absolutely fine. It's quite a rustic piece of meat.
It can take being broken down, coloured, seared.
Rest it, most important.
Get the vinegar in there.
You've had eight minutes, so you've got 12 minutes left.
I'm just going to get a bit of heat into the broad beans and peas.
I'm going to blitz them.
So she's dropped the peas and the broad beans into the pan.
She's now taking them off.
They've only been in a second.
I'm not sure what the reason for that is.
We'll see how they turn out.
Have you always been a chef, Lucy? I haven't, no.
This is actually a second career for me.
I used to do an office job, so then five years ago,
I decided that I just loved food.
And all I used to think about was, when I was at work,
coming home, cooking.
So I decided to take the plunge and become a chef.
And then my friends kind of egged me on to apply for amateur MasterChef.
And I didn't actually end up getting onto the competition.
But it was a really great experience and I thought,
"Do you know what? This is actually what I want to do with my life."
So...so I did. Yay!
Soon as, get the leeks on.
Get those charred.
You've got four minutes. OK.
Lamb, it's almost there.
All right? Yeah. So, puree needs a bit of work?
Puree needs a bit of work. Lamb needs a bit more cooking?
Yeah. Lamb sauce needs a bit more reduction?
Got a bit of work to do in the next three minutes! Yeah.
Puree. Not a lot in there.
Leeks, some are cooked, some are not.
Some are black.
Her lamb's out. It needs to rest.
Lucy, 30 seconds.
Putting the leeks on whole.
Shet's not check the lamb. Put the burnt leeks on the plate.
There we go. All done?
Yes. In the nick of time. And breathe!
Lucy, the lamb neck, though you tried to trim some down,
you did leave like the bigger parts of the sinew on the side,
and it's not pleasant to eat.
And the puree, it's gritty. It needs cooking through.
There's a flavour of rosemary going through that sauce,
but that sauce is just not thick and sticky enough to coat the lamb.
You know, Lucy, it's a tough environment.
It's very, very different. Don't feel too down.
Draw a line under it. Thank you, thank you.
Not a great start from Lucy.
We're not ready to write her off. See what she comes back with.
Yeah, that wasn't great!
It definitely didn't go as well as I hoped it would have done.
But, yeah, I think the environment just, like, totally threw me.
So, yeah. Tough one, definitely.
Next up is 26-year-old William,
junior sous-chef in a fine dining Chinese restaurant in London.
I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia.
When I was 17 years old, I went to China to attend
the Chinese culinary school for three years.
My professionality is more about Chinese cuisine,
especially the Sichuan cuisine.
But I love to cook, bringing some Indonesian flavour into the food.
When I was child, it was one of my dreams
to attend the MasterChef UK Professional.
Yeah, very exciting to be here.
William, I would like you to cook for us the lamb neck
served with a pea and broad bean puree,
charred baby leeks, and a lamb sauce.
All right. 20 minutes. Good luck.
Have you cooked with lamb neck before?
Yeah, we cook like with the Asian cuisine.
We grill it or we cook on the wok.
So how are you going to prepare and cook it now?
So, cut the lamb neck first into the slice
and then just marinate with salt, some olive oil.
How long have you been a chef, William?
I started from 2016 when I was in China,
and then I go back to my country, Indonesia.
And then I used to work in Dubai, Kuwait,
and then now I'm working in London.
Fabulous.
Is that for your puree?
Yes, I pour the double cream inside and then I will blend it together.
OK.
So he's got all the right things in.
Got to make sure it's the right consistency.
Make sure it's seasoned nice, and then into the blender.
What got you into cooking, William?
I love to create anything new.
And then I love to make something art.
Did you always want to be a chef?
Yes, actually,
because I love to go and travel around.
With the chef, I can travel around the world to work in the kitchen.
I put some butter.
The butter will enrichen the puree.
It could also make it greasy as well, if he's not careful.
You have 11 minutes left.
Put the lamb trimmings in the pan. We're at the start of his sauce.
Cooking down now. Good.
Just pull a load of stock in the pan. No Madeira.
Now he's going to hopefully get that cooked down,
get a bit of body into it.
You'll have to get those leeks cooking. Yes.
Chef, you've got five minutes left,
so you've got to cook this lamb as well, right? Yes.
I think William is treating this now like a Chinese dish.
Stir fried lamb with shallots and garlic.
William, you've got a minute to finish that sauce
and get it and the lamb on a plate.
Happy?
Not really!
Almost happy?
You're doing OK. Come on.
Got to finish now. Get the sauce on.
Finished?
All done. Thank you, William.
I think that was a stressful experience for William,
but he's done it.
Let's go and say hello.
Hey, William. Hi. How are you? Good, thank you.
It's a very different dish to the one that Monica cooked,
but I'm really enjoying it. I like that lamb.
I like the fact that you've cut it really thin
and cooked it really quickly.
The puree has got texture to it, but beautifully seasoned.
And I love the fact that you put butter through everything.
I think the flavours that we're getting are butter,
but I can live with that!
William, I completely understand this is not your style of cooking,
so I admire that you adapted in the way that you worked.
And that, for me, shows a lot about your character
as a chef in the kitchen. Thank you.
William, I think all of us actually think you did OK.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
Thank you, William.
I think this is one of the most nervous time in my career.
The judges haven't seen my best, but there's still next round.
I will do it my best.
One more round of skills tests complete.
I think we've uncovered some real talent with our chef Michael.
He was very, very good indeed.
Lucy, shaky start. She's got some ground to make up. Yeah.
But Lauren, she's showing some skill.
I'm very interested in William.
Couple of little points here and there, but overall good, good.
It's their own food next. And as we know, anything can happen.
Chefs, welcome back. Good to see you.
Now you've got the skills test out of the way,
hopefully the nerves have been put to one side.
Now's the chance for you to shine,
to show us what your food is all about.
Signature two-course menu, a main course and a dessert.
Chefs, I wish you the best of luck.
At the end of this, we will be losing two of you,
but two of you will be going through to a quarterfinal.
90 minutes. Chefs, off you go.
There's everything riding on this next challenge.
At the end of the day, every challenge, it could be your last.
And I have no intention to bowing out on day one.
Hey, Michael. What have you decided to cook for your signature dishes?
So main course today is a faggot filled pappardelle
with confit egg yolk, some summer vegetables,
a little bit of raw rhubarb and a whey and chicken butter sauce.
Wow!
Michael's making a pasta dish.
We've got faggot style pappardelle.
Faggots, he's got pork meat, he's got heart in there.
And he's got liver as well.
These are really good, hearty, earthy flavours.
Michael's making his own pasta dough.
It's like a long strip of pasta,
but he's going to pipe the filling of the faggot inside
and then fold it over.
And then you twist it into what forms like a ribbon.
We've got a whey butter sauce using whey, a by-product of cheese.
And it's going to bring sort of a sharpness to it,
quite earthy as well. Sounds delicious.
Dessert is a fig-leaf mousse
with timut pepper macerated strawberries,
a little strawberry and rose sorbet, and sable biscuit.
What's "timid" pepper? Is it pepper that's a bit bashful?
Yeah, it's not very brave!
It's a type of pepper somewhere between Szechuan pepper
and pink pepper. What's inspired both of these?
I've got inspirations from all over the world,
from people I've worked with, met.
So there's no one particular style I stick to.
You're a magpie! Exactly. A little bit less kleptomaniac-y,
but, yeah!
Michael's desert - fig leaf is the key here for me.
It's a delicate flavour, but it all depends on how you infuse it.
Can you get more flavour out of it?
And then a rose and strawberry sorbet.
That sounds lovely, but I find rose can be really overpowering,
so I hope it's only a little bit of the rose water that he's using.
The potential potholes are my mousse not setting in time.
So priority number one,
get mousse in fridge so that everything can start chilling.
Lucy, how are you feeling after that skills test?
Because you didn't have the start that you wanted.
No, not at all. But it's happened now.
I've just got to get on with it. Just try and do my best.
For my signature main, I'm cooking lamb again.
This time lamb rump, which is going to come with a carrot puree,
a carrot fondant, and then a pickled red cabbage puree,
braised chicory with anchovy and a herb crumb,
and then a lamb sauce to bring it all together.
Lamb rump, it's got texture to it.
So Lucy's going to make sure she seals it lovely, golden.
Hopefully baste it with lots of butter and herbs,
and gets it into the oven quickly, because that lamb needs to rest,
beautiful and pink.
Carrot fondants, she's going to have to put those on really early.
I question whether or not the carrot will absorb
that lovely buttery flavour.
Fresh chicory is a bitter vegetable. Got to be cooked nicely,
braised is always soft. If i's braised and it's crunchy,
she's not doing the right job.
Pudding, I'm doing a chocolate orange mousse cake
with some pistachio honeycomb and some whipped creme fraiche.
I'd like to know the inspiration behind these two dishes?
The lamb dish kind of came from me being out eating Turkish,
where I live in East London, and just thinking how nice
pickled red cabbage and grilled lamb are together.
Dessert wise, I just love chocolate orange.
It's like one of my favourite sweet things to eat,
so it was always going to be what I'd do a dessert around.
Lucy's making what she calls a mousse cake.
But the recipe reads like a sort of rich dark chocolate cremeux
with flavours of orange running through it.
She's going to put that in the mould, bake it, take it out,
pipe more mix in, put it back in the oven and bake it.
So she's got two different textures.
If it goes right, a bit of kind of fudgy texture at the bottom,
and then kind of mousse-like in the middle,
and then kind of a crispy top.
This dessert all rests on this mousse cake.
I can't wait to see the different textures.
Guys, you are halfway.
It's flying, isn't it?
I'm going to start multitasking now, you know?
My sort of pressure point with the signature cook
is getting everything done on time,
so I'm really just going to have to tunnel vision, you know?
And fingers crossed that I can show them who I really am.
Lauren, what are you making for us, please?
I'm making quick cured lamb loin with some smoked nettle salsa.
And I'm going to confit a parsnip and I'm going to top it with
like a hazelnut crumb, some pickled pear and some smoked black pudding.
Why are you curing the lamb?
It just penetrates, you know, a wee bit more flavour
into the lamb, so it does.
Lauren is going to rub her lamb in fennel, some olive oil,
some salt and pepper.
But she's got to make sure she cures it long enough,
because I want to taste that cure.
We've got a confit parsnip. So you want to taste the parsnip,
but you want it to be cooked all the way through.
We've got smoked nettle and anchovy salsa.
Trying not to get stung!
Really interesting use of ingredients here.
I personally love anchovy with lamb.
I'm most worried about getting stung by the nettles,
because that's happened every time that I've practised the dish!
So...!
I actually managed that without a sting!
Lauren's dessert, black sesame and miso panna cotta.
Ooh, that sounds nice!
Sesame seed tuile for texture. Cherry sorbet.
Beautiful fresh, sweet cherries. Nice and smooth.
Chocolate crumb to also brings some texture onto the dish.
The most important thing with panna cotta is get them made,
het them set, get them into the fridge,
get the sorbet mixture made and get that frozen down.
You want one frozen and the other one set.
Very important that they get on with that straight away.
What are you hoping to demonstrate through these?
I would like to think that my flavours
are a smack in the mouth, you know? So that's...
..that's really what I'm going for.
They smack you in the mouth, you know?
Smack you in the mouth! Yeah!
Chefs, you have 20 minutes left, please.
In Indonesia, we always love to eat seafood.
And I used to work in a lot of Chinese restaurants.
So I just want to prove that I can make something fusion
between Indonesian and Chinese.
I'm making the king prawn and dumpling two ways.
I poach the prawn, and then I make the dumpling with the prawn.
And then the Indonesian prawn sauce,
we'd serve fried courgette with a touch of the coriander.
I'm really happy to have William with us in the kitchen.
Something different and exciting and true to what he does.
William was making his prawn dumplings and I asked him
to show me. It was such a quick method.
Can I do one? Yes, please.
That's so cool!
That's the best way to roll them. Yeah.
I love that he's teaching ME something!
That's my one.
William's Indonesian prawn sauce, he's using the shells of the prawns.
He's got lemongrass in there, chilli, lime leaf.
And then he's blending it up.
He's adding the coconut in and then back on the heat
to cook it down. And then he'll pass it at the end.
The dessert will be the coconut, coconut semifreddo.
And then there's a coconut crumble.
And then there's a coconut palm sugar sauce.
And then there's also the caramelised pineapple.
Wow! You're making pina colada!
I love coconut!
He's got coconut semifreddo, which is like an ice cream.
It's got a chocolate shell.
So he's going to paint the shape of the coconuts in chocolate.
So it has a little crunch when you crack into it.
But he's got to make sure that the chocolate shell is thick enough,
because you go to remove it and it can snap,
and the mousse will just fall out.
Are these are your panna cottas?
They went into the blast freezer, not the blast chiller.
They're frozen. They are, frozen solid.
Panna cotta is supposed to be wobbly. I know.
Chefs, we have ten minutes, and there's some of you here
that are really, I think, up against it.
I didn't cut my sable deep enough.
So it has cracked. Shards it is.
OK? Slightly under.
You have just five minutes left.
The mousse hasn't set,
so it's going to be a fig leaf ganache, unfortunately.
It's so embarrassing.
Right, time's up. Stop.
That didn't go to plan!
Oh, God.
Head chef Lauren is serving lamb loin, cured with fennel
and olive oil, topped with smoked nettle and anchovy salsa,
and smoked black pudding, served with confit parsnip
topped with a hazelnut and caraway seed crumb and pickled pears.
This is very rare for me.
I'm so sorry, chef. I would actually send this back.
Lauren, you play with some very interesting ingredients.
The smoked nettle with the anchovy,
I love that salsa verde, but I'm not sure it works with black pudding.
I think they're clashing, and I can't escape that lamb,
I'm afraid. The crumb on top with the carraway seeds is nice.
I love the pickled pears. The black pudding is delicious.
Um, but it's made for you. You haven't done a great deal for it,
you know.
I love the idea of marinating it in fennel.
But the lamb is undercooked.
And this parsnip with the crumb and the pears,
when you say it's confit, it has to be as soft as possible.
And it's not completely cooked all the way through.
It's just a shame because I think you've got great ideas.
For dessert, Lauren has cooked a black sesame and miso panna cotta
topped with sesame tuile shards, and ruby chocolate crumb,
served with a cherry sorbet.
You had a silly error with your panna cotta.
What did you do? Instead of the blast chiller,
I used the blast freezer.
I'm starting to get the flavours of the panna cotta
that you're after.
The sesame oil almost tastes like peanut,
and the miso, it almost takes it savoury,
and I'm enjoying those flavours.
It's not the light, bouncy texture you want,
but then you froze it accidentally.
Lauren, it doesn't look great.
And this crumb, there's chocolate in there, so it's very sweet,
but also it's very fine.
So it just sort of melts and it's powdery.
Sorbet, I'm not enjoying,
because it's texturally wrong and very, very sweet as well.
Tuile, just another texture.
I'm really disappointed for you.
I'm going to put this down to just a tough day.
I'm feeling a wee bit sort of mixed emotions, really.
A few mistakes were made.
All I can do is hope for the best.
Head chef Michael's signature main
is pork and offal stuffed pappardelle,
topped with a confit egg yolk, sat on a bed of summer vegetables
including asparagus, courgette, and raw rhubarb,
and a parsley and chive salsa verde green sauce
served with a whey butter sauce.
I'm concerned this isn't cooked.
It's offal in there, and it's making me very nervous.
What I have here is a pasta that's beautifully made,
the way that it's been wrapped and filled.
And so appreciate the skill it takes to do that.
The confit egg on the top, I get the idea of that.
But because the white sauce is too light
and doesn't have enough body, it's not coming together as you wanted.
The best thing is the green sauce that sits underneath.
That's delicious. But you've got this spring-like
vegetable concoction that's got a lot of bite
and a lot of rawness to it.
And then you've got this meaty faggot that's gamey,
and I would agree with Gregg, slightly undercooked.
That raw bits of rhubarb I get, with that sharpness,
I do like that.
But this offal, I'm not going to eat it.
That's how nervous it's making me, Michael, I'm really sorry.
I'm really, really sorry.
For his signature dessert, Michael has made a fig leaf mousse
with a timut pepper and strawberry compote topped with a fig leaf
and strawberry sherbet, sable biscuit,
and served with a rose water and strawberry sorbet.
What's happened, Michael? My mousse didn't set.
This tastes like a really thick custard, flavoured of fig leaf,
and it's delicious.
And I'm enjoying the flavours of the strawberry on the side.
So it tastes, thankfully, so much better than it looks.
Your biscuit's like oaty with a crunch,
and then sharp sherbet that almost rocks you back on your heels,
it's so sharp. And I'm loving your sorbet.
Rose water running through that.
It's like a freezing cold Turkish Delight!
Not the dessert you wanted to present to us, I know,
but it tastes lovely.
Yeah, the flavours are there,
but you can't salvage it when it's not set.
Which is such a shame, because you've not really achieved
what you wanted to achieve.
It was definitely tougher than I was expecting,
but I have a lot more to give.
If I get given the opportunity to do so,
I will grab it with both hands and run.
Senior sous-chef Lucy's signature main course is roast lamb rump,
served with braised chicory topped with an anchovy,
wild garlic and rosemary crumb,
carrot fondant, carrot puree, and a pickled red cabbage puree
finished with a lamb sauce.
I like the coloured dots, I think... I think it's great.
That lamb is a little under for me.
My lamb, a bit better than Gregg's. I would eat that.
The carrot puree, the orange one is nice and sweet,
but your pickled red cabbage puree is very grainy
and it is really sharp.
I'm loving that sauce.
You finished it with a little bit of vinegar.
Well, for me, that's like the vinegar sharpness
in mint sauce, and mint sauce and lamb is something
I've loved since I was very little.
So really enjoying your sauce.
Your chicory is fabulous. I love the little anchovy.
The vinegary-ness of it and the cooking of it is beautiful.
Beautiful. But I think the dish is lacking in the lamb cookery.
Certainly the fondant cookery.
It's a little slice of carrot that's been boiled.
For dessert, Lucy has made a chocolate orange mousse cake
served with a pistachio and coriander seed honeycomb,
whipped creme fraiche, and fresh orange segments.
I've never seen a mousse cake, but I'm very much enjoying this.
It's soft, sticky, bit gooey, not too sweet.
Lots of cocoa.
Hint of orange in the background, I like that.
And of course, the sourness of the creme fraiche
is a nice contrast to it.
There's no mousse in this for me.
It's a cake, but the chocolate orange is the inspiration.
And you do get that chocolate orange flavour,
which is what we're looking for. You've ticked that box beautifully.
I like the fresh oranges, but I don't understand why
they're so tiny. This, um, honeycomb,
it's a bit too crunchy and it's catching.
But I love the flavour of the coriander
that you have running through that. So some nice ideas.
I just find the execution of them just haven't really
come to the forefront here.
I could feel better, definitely.
But there were some nice comments. It wasn't all bad, so...
Junior sous-chef William's signature main course
is poached king prawns served with prawn,
ginger and coriander dumplings,
mussels and courgette ribbons,
finished with an Indonesian lemongrass and chilli prawn sauce.
Some lovely flavours there. Your little dumplings,
you've got a little bit of ginger in there,
but I enjoy dipping it into that sauce, which I love.
The prawns, they are delicious. Courgette, bit of freshness.
The mussels, they're beautifully cooked.
They work really well here.
I love your sauce making. It's got a lot of saltiness in it.
It's really hot in flavour.
I would have loved a lot more of that.
I think it's very good, though. Thank you.
William's dessert is coconut semifreddo
encased in dark chocolate, served with caramelised pineapple,
dark chocolate and coconut crumble, and a coconut and pandan syrup.
That outside does look like the outside of a coconut.
Well done.
The semifreddo is very, very light.
It's certainly got the right flavour of the coconut.
I think the chocolate on the outside is lovely.
It's crunchy, it cracks. Great. The shell, the way you brushed it
on the outside is a lovely little bit of skill there, William.
Thank you.
I am really enjoying it.
And though your crumb has caught quite a bit,
I'm enjoying the bitterness of it.
Pineapple, it's caramelised pineapple.
But, you know, you had me at coconut!
That pandan syrup there is just delightful.
It's almost like a mellow vanilla. Maybe a hint of banana.
That is just a lovely walk through the tropics!
I feel very happy because of the good comments.
Well done. You did really well. You did well.
Yeah, I hope I can go to the next round.
Fingers crossed.
Two are going through to a quarterfinal.
Two are leaving the competition, and we need to make a big decision.
We had chefs with errors, and we have to find the potential.
William has been the strongest chef of the four today.
The little dumpling, I loved the texture of the filling inside.
The prawn, it was cooked beautifully
and I loved, loved, loved that prawn sauce.
He really focused on the dessert. The chocolate cracked really nicely.
Beautiful execution, lovely skill on show.
Not one of us has got a reason why William shouldn't go through, right?
No. Michael, that main course, he had a spiralled pasta.
Great idea using the offal in there.
Yet the filling was slightly under, the sauce wasn't the right sauce
to bring it together. His dessert, I mean,
it defied description when it came to its appearance,
but it was delicious!
I think the ambition is there.
Great creativity and cookery in the skills test.
But then the next step, was it just a step too far?
Lucy gave us lamb. Mine was slightly under.
I liked her sauce. And that chicory was delicious.
The chicory was good. The dessert... Mousse cake.
What she had was an orange flavoured brownie.
But I did enjoy it. We had creme fraiche on the side.
Really odd little bits of orange. Just disappointed.
Lauren uses different sorts of ingredients and does
some very unusual pairings.
Again, I had lamb that wasn't cooked enough.
We had parsnip with the pears and caraway.
Although the flavours were nice, that parsnip was solid.
The dessert, panna cotta flavoured with miso and sesame.
I enjoyed those flavours. But this texture wasn't nice.
That crumb was so fine.
It was so uncomfortable to eat.
Lauren had a tough day in the kitchen, it showed on the plate.
Two are leaving.
One is joining William in the quarterfinals.
Who is that going to be?
I hope the judges do give me a chance to come back.
I think they sort of got what I was about.
So...
I definitely didn't showcase myself today to the chef that I am.
I have a lot more to show.
I hope to get that opportunity to continue.
I think there were some flashes of potential that the judges saw,
but I'm slightly concerned there are a few too many mistakes.
Fingers crossed. Let's see what happens.
Oh, chefs! The skills test left us with high expectations
because we saw so much potential in all four of you.
Today hasn't worked out the way you planned and the way we expected.
But with the skills test in mind and your own dishes here,
we have made a decision.
Our first quarterfinalist is...
..William. Well done, my friend.
Our second quarterfinalist is...
..Michael.
Yeah! Well done, Michael.
That's all right.
Lucy, Lauren,
very much hope you enjoyed your experience here with us
in the MasterChef kitchen. Sorry to see you go.
Thank you. Cheers. Thanks, guys.
A bit disappointing, but, you know, I think anyone who knows me
knows that I can do better than that.
So it's not the end of the world. But, yeah, it would have been...
..it would have been nice to leave on a higher note, for sure.
I'm feeling a wee bit let down, but I had a great day.
This is really only the tip of the iceberg for me.
I can't wait to keep pushing and see where it takes me.
You are both now MasterChef quarterfinalists.
Well done. Well done, man.
Thank you.
The fact that I got through by the skin of my teeth,
I have to bring my A-game next time.
And I fully intend to do so.
Yeah, I feel like fantastic.
I can release all the stress.
It's really an amazing experience.
Yeah, I'm ready for more.
I need to push myself, and then I need more pressure.
Next time...
The last four hopefuls...
..fight for their place...
I feel like I've been doing this forever!
Oh, my goodness, it's burning.
..in the quarterfinal.
Right. Keep your head. OK.
Whoa! You've got some huge flavours.
I think it's delicious.