It's the first week of the MasterChef heats.
Last time, nine hopeful home cooks auditioned for a place
in this year's competition.
That's got a kick. Woo!
Absolutely nothing would stop me demolishing that plate and asking
for another one.
I like your ambition a lot. I really do.
Thank you.
Only seven earned themselves a MasterChef apron.
Every cook-off is scary because it could be your last.
The talent is really high.
I was hoping that there'd be a few wrong 'uns
and make it easier for me.
I just feel like I want more. I want more. I want to go further.
Tonight they face two demanding challenges.
First, they will have to cook a dish to a brief set by one
of the country's top food critics...
This is a dish that I'll remember, you know? I love it.
..before cooking off for a place in this week's quarterfinal.
Very clever. Very skilful.
I like it.
I think it tastes really good.
Only the best will make it through.
They've got their apron.
They've got their place in the MasterChef competition.
Now they've got to keep that place!
That means they have to perform.
There's no second chances.
Welcome back,
and don't you look terribly smart in your aprons?
Very well done. All gleaming white.
Now you've got to get them grubby.
You have been set a brief.
That brief was set by a renowned restaurant critic,
someone who has honestly seen and tasted it all.
The one and only William Sitwell.
Welcome, William. Hello. How are you?
Yeah, very well, thank you. Hungry.
Very simple brief.
I want you to cook a dish inspired by your favourite celebrity chef.
We've grown up with these people.
They've transformed and basically created the culinary landscape
that we live in today.
But don't disrespect the honour of these guys.
We don't want Keith Floyd turning in his grave.
You don't want Gordon Ramsay on your back.
You don't want to disrespect Delia or Nigella or Jamie.
Let's not humiliate John Torode.
Your job now is to keep your place in this year's competition.
At the end of this, we will only take the best cooks with us.
Let's cook.
My brief today - quite a simple-sounding exercise,
but, in fact, I think it can reveal
quite a lot about the contestant.
It will tell us not only about their background as a foodie,
a would-be chef, but also it really will show us their skill
because are they going to be able to honour or dishonour their
sort of fantasy mentors?
Crack on!
I'd love a five-star review. Who wouldn't?
As long as I know that I've cooked from the heart and I've cooked
the dish that I want to cook, I should be good.
I really should.
33-year-old project manager Matthew from Wolverhampton was taught
to cook by his grandad.
He earned himself an apron with a dish from his Caribbean heritage.
This is the best ackee and salt fish I've ever eaten.
I can't put into words what their feedback meant to me.
It feels amazing.
I don't think the smiles are ever going to go now.
Lovely!
Cooking for a food critic, as well as John and Gregg,
it's... Yeah, it's going to be another amazing experience.
What are you cooking, then?
I am cooking a jerk chicken with my version
of macaroni and cheese, and pineapple coleslaw.
OK. Inspired by who?
The one and only Ainsley Harriott. Right.
I grew up watching Ainsley with my grandad and my sisters,
so I used to, with them, interpretate the show
and pretend to be a chef.
I need an Ainsley impression from you right now.
Right now! Right now!
AINSLEY IMPRESSION:Put the salt in, I can say lovely!
Was this sort of your take on some of his classic food?
So it's incorporating my own ingredients as well,
just to kind of change it up a bit.
But it's taking inspiration from his jerk dishes.
So, I'm really pleased that Ainsley Harriott is being represented here.
Jerk chicken, mac and cheese,
pineapple slaw and plantain chips.
There's a lot of complexity within that array of ingredients.
The plantain chips have got to be crisp. The mac and cheese
has got three cheeses.
We want some fire in the belly of the jerk chicken.
31-year-old tech product trainer Jonny enjoys cooking with Asian
flavours and dreams of one day owning a food truck.
He impressed so far with some daring and playful food.
Brilliant!
I don't know what I expected, but I did not expect that.
We've seen Korean-inspired food and then we've seen
a sort of American-cum-British dessert.
What are we going to get in this round?
Getting my apron is an absolute dream.
It just gives you the affirmation that what you're doing is good,
so hopefully I can continue to deliver.
Jonny, who inspires you? For this particular dish,
Roy Choi is fully my inspiration.
Roy Choi essentially made his name making kogi tacos,
which are Korean barbecue in taco form,
and that's basically what I'm doing.
He's making his own taco shells with masa.
On the inside of that,
we've got bits of belly pork which he's first marinated,
and those have been roasted.
With that, we have some corn which he's going to put with some
more chilli flakes and some sesame.
And then topped with these bad lads,
cos they're just delicious. They're a well-known crisp, right?
They are, yeah. What flavour?
A flaming hot spicy snack.
In my day job, I don't see these crisps very often,
so... No, I give him credit for having a bit of fun.
When a chef has a passion and also brings a sense of humour
to the plate, it's very exciting.
36-year-old Vanessa from South London loves to travel
and has visited over 50 countries.
She blew the judges away with some unique flavourings
in a classic British crumble.
This creme anglaise with coconut milk and lime leaf is stunning.
I think my style of cooking is different from the other people
in the competition.
I think it's very out there.
Flavours are quite bold and it's always a risk
when you do that.
Should I play it safe? I'm not sure.
It's not really me and I really want to stay true to myself.
What are you cooking today?
Porcini ragu.
It's based on Ixta Belfrage's porcini ragu recipe.
And she uses sort of her heritage and her life experience living
in Italy, Brazil, Mexico.
I'm putting in a bit of my travel experiences and my adventures.
The chef that inspires you actually cut her teeth
with Ottolenghi, didn't she? Correct. Yeah.
And like you, she pulls flavours from all over the world.
Yeah. The dish is a mix of porcini
and morel mushrooms
with a LOT of black pepper,
a tiny bit of dark chocolate,
tagliatelle and blueberries.
Does it really work? I think it works. Really?
I think that the sweetness of the blueberries really sort of
enhances the earthiness of the mushrooms.
Vanessa is inspired by Ixta Belfrage.
Her world of food is something quite different and flavour is
what she's all about.
What Vanessa is doing right now is really risky.
But, hey, you know what?
Sometimes you've got to dare to be different.
If I saw it on a restaurant menu, perhaps I'd ask the waiter to come
over and say, "Can I have it without the blueberries?"
You are halfway.
Yeah.
Originally from Northern Ireland, 30-year-old accountant
Terri was taught to cook at just five years old by her chef father.
Terri looks to have real style and real knowledge.
Made us a beautiful crab tortellini with a veloute.
I'm expecting her inspiration to be somebody classically French.
This dish is inspired by Gordon Ramsay.
Roasted duck breast with a roasted cauliflower puree,
asparagus, Hasselback potatoes,
a blackberry gel and a miso sauce.
I grew up watching all of his TV shows, had his books.
I think the first time I ever cooked duck was off the back
of a Gordon Ramsay recipe.
A Ramsay bar is higher than a pole vault,
and many people crash
and burn long before they even make it to the runway.
I've seen as many duck go awry on MasterChef as I have souffles
that haven't risen.
Can you hear him? A little bit. Can you hear sweary Gordon
when you're cooking? I'm trying not to hear him today
or I might go into a complete flap.
So this is quite classic fine dining.
It's kind of my style, but I like to do a little bit of a twist,
so I haven't seen this kind of dish served with miso before.
How are you making your miso sauce?
It's going to be like maple syrup, soy sauce, miso, all kind
of reduced down, so it's going to be really sweet, really sticky.
This is a sauce that you've dreamed up on your own?
This isn't a sauce you've picked up out of a Gordon book? No.
No, this is an invention, so fingers crossed.
That sauce is risky.
Salty miso, salty soy, sweet strong maple syrup
with some classic flavours of Hasselback potatoes,
asparagus and duck.
Let's see.
Born in Venezuela,
31-year-old delivery driver Nickolas now lives in Darlington
and loves to cook for his young family.
So far, he's showcased both food from his heritage
and classic French technique.
What he's got to do is just calm down a little bit
and deliver full-on big flavour with a bit of elegance.
Yeah, I was looking for it. I thought it was still in the pan.
It's time to make sure everything is 100% spot-on and show
that inside of me there's a talented chef that just wants to burst out.
Today I'm doing a bouillabaisse, and it's inspired by Keith Floyd.
He honestly was my favourite chef.
I love his character, his flamboyancy, and the way
he showcases traditional French cuisine,
which is what inspires me to cook.
Keith Floyd was famous for his fish cookery and especially
for his bouillabaisse.
Lovely bits of fish floating in a soup which is full
of fish flavour.
He's serving the whole thing with rouille, hot with garlic
and really strong with saffron.
I used to watch him on that channel that showed
all the old cookery shows, cos I'm
a bit of a geek when it comes to cooking shows.
And also he did like a glass of wine, so...
Well, you know, he is one of the...
He's the original TV chef. We used to drink along,
my brother and I, as he drank. Oh!
What's your life, Nickolas? What do you do?
Do you want to be a chef?
Being a chef and getting into the cooking career is something
that I dream of. I work as a delivery driver.
It's just 12 hour days, six days a week
and I don't get to see my daughter grow up.
I'd rather do 12 hours with something I have a passion for.
Good luck, Nickolas. Cheers.
A lot can go wrong with this dish.
When it's done right, it's one of the most beautiful things
you can eat.
Let's hope he does the memory of Keith Floyd justice.
30 minutes left!
Based in Bristol, 41-year-old Woei moved from Malaysia to the UK
13 years ago.
After under-cooking his chicken in the first round...
There is a pink tinge inside my bits of chicken
which are putting me off.
..he redeemed himself with a flawless mackerel noodle broth.
Today I'm going to cook Taiwanese braised beef noodle soup.
So, yeah, this dish is inspired by Ching He Huang.
It's one of the celebrity chefs I love so much.
She's from Taiwan, so all the dishes she cook, I think it's like...
It make me feel like home.
There's a plume of steam that's dominating this kitchen.
Oh, yeah. What's in your pressure cooker? Got a beef brisket,
some beef bones as well,
chilli bean paste, cinnamon sticks, bay leaf,
and give it all the spice.
What is your dish, please?
It's a Taiwanese braised beef with handmade noodles.
It's the food I eat growing up,
like the Chinese food, Cantonese food.
And I like Taiwanese food as well.
And is this one of Ching's actual recipes?
It's inspired, because I think everyone got their own recipe
for the braised beef.
When you came over here and you saw her on the television,
what did you think?
The first time when I saw her on TV, I think she cooked one
of her like sweet and sour dishes.
This remind me when my dad bring me to the local hawker store
to eat that, exactly the same sweet and sour pork dishes.
That brisket needs to be wonderful and tender.
It's got a lot of fat in it and it takes a long, slow-cooking process.
But in Woei's recipe, he's going to use a pressure cooker which
is going to cook very, very quickly.
If this works, it could be delicious.
You have just 15 minutes left.
15 minutes to finish off your masterpiece!
26-year-old Zoe works for a tech start-up in Aberdeenshire.
Her food is inspired by her Italian boyfriend and summers spent
on the Isle of Skye.
We're getting truffle emulsions, we're getting bisques.
She is definitely one to watch.
Today I'm switching it up a little bit for
the celebrity-inspired brief.
This is the kind of food that I like to cook
when I have all my friends around at the weekend.
We like to have lots of little bits, instead of like
one put-together dish at the table.
What I'm making is very much, I think, probably more me.
So, you're going to get a blanched cabbage leaf.
And inside that's going to be a slice of maple-glazed celeriac.
On top, you're going to have date jam,
you're going to have a flavoured garlic and chilli oil on top.
And then on the side, you're going to have some spicy corn ribs
with the chipotle mayo.
This is inspired by Ottolenghi.
He champions the veg and it's very much the kind of food
I eat on a daily basis.
We don't eat a huge amount of meat and fish at home.
And I love what he does with vegetables.
He makes them exciting.
Not what I expected, but fascinating. Good luck. Thank you.
That cabbage leaf has to be just blanched that you can fold it,
but firm enough it's still got a crunch.
And inside that, we're going to get a bit of celeriac
which has been roasted, then glazed with maple syrup.
I hope that's cooked really well.
On the side, we've got corn ribs, which is a very trendy thing to do.
Really moreish, really delicious.
A real crowd-pleaser.
You have three minutes left.
I am having to motor to get this ready, but I think I'm good.
Nothing is running late.
Plate it up, make it look sexy, so there we go.
Are we happy? Are you not happy?
Which one's undercooked?
Almost there.
You have a minute.
Time pressure is getting to me.
Very, very final touches.
You've got a couple of seconds to finish off.
I've got to get a wobble on. Absolutely.
We're out. Stop!
Time's up. Stop.
HE EXHALES
It honestly feels like you're in some sort of like another planet
where there's a different time going on.
Terri, please, up you come.
Accountant Terri is first up with her Gordon Ramsay-inspired
roasted duck, served with Hasselback potatoes, sauteed asparagus,
cauliflower puree, blackberry gel,
and a maple syrup, miso and soy sauce.
Hmm.
My duck breast, I'd just like it cooked a little bit more.
Some people might like it. I find that becoming chewy.
But Hasselback potatoes
I think are great, lovely and crispy.
The smoothness of your puree I really like. The asparagus is
cooked very, very well.
I like the sauce with the soy and the maple syrup,
but I think it's really bombarding the other bits
that are on the plate.
My duck, beautifully rested, still pink inside.
I can totally see the finesse and the inspiration
of Gordon Ramsay, because you've done so many things
on this plate, and I think you've basically got them
all bang-on correct.
The non-Ramsay element of the dish is this sticky miso soy gravy,
which I think is amazing.
And I don't mind the fact that it sort of infuses itself
aggressively with everything else.
I think it's showing a very decent level of skill.
To get great accolades, you need to please everybody.
John's unsure. I like it. So does William.
Well done. Thank you.
The man eats for a living,
so for him to say he liked my food is just...
I wish I could just bottle that feeling.
Fusion cook Ixta Belfrage was the culinary vision
behind anti-piracy manager Vanessa's chocolate, blueberry,
porcini and morel mushroom ragu tagliatelle,
seasoned with black tellicherry pepper,
and served with a Parmesan crisp.
We've got blueberries and chocolate in our pasta.
I've got to say, you're brave.
Your pasta is nicely made.
You have been very, very daring with your ingredients.
I don't mind the blueberries too much.
You must have known when you were putting this together
it was different. However, it's very, very peppery.
And you're losing the morels in here, which I think
is a terrible shame.
The addition of blueberries is purely that. You know,
when extraordinary chefs bring two unusual ingredients together
and they marry, they create something new.
This isn't quite doing that.
Is it better just to be like everybody else?
In my world, it's better to be talked about cos I think
that's really clever, because we've got almost like this meaty
ragu with chocolate running through it, which is used as the richness.
The mushrooms have disappeared to become almost like a texture,
which I sort of get completely.
And, of course, you're going to divide the crowd.
But for me, that should be applauded.
How are you feeling?
Um, emotional.
I'm glad you liked it in some form.
I can see how I divided the crowd, but it's not great
when two out of three don't like your dish.
In homage to the late Keith Floyd, delivery driver Nickolas has cooked
a bouillabaisse of turbot, red mullet and langoustines,
served with croutons and a garlic saffron rouille.
Langoustine tails are cooked beautifully.
Your turbot is just cooked.
Your red mullet, I really like. It's lovely and strong.
But your rouille hasn't worked.
You've got the raw garlic, you've got the saffron,
which is nice, but you don't have that lovely thick sauce.
And I'm sad it's not there because the flavour of some
of your rouille is good.
You know, the thing about Keith Floyd is that he was an exceptional
cook, a man of extraordinary flamboyance.
And for me, this is a bit of a pastiche of him,
because while you've cooked the fish really well,
your soup is just a bit too watery.
I can taste the fish.
I can taste the aniseed of the booze you've used to deglaze.
The only issue I have is that your rouille isn't
thick like mayonnaise.
Apart from that, I am really, really enjoying your dish.
It wasn't 100% perfect, but the three of them liked it.
So I can't ask more than that, really.
Ooh!
Influenced by Taiwanese chef Ching He Huang, supermarket manager
Woei has cooked spicy braised beef brisket noodle broth,
flavoured with star anise, cinnamon and a chilli bean paste.
Big, bold, generous.
It's one of those dishes that I just can't wait to delve into.
What you've made here is a bowl of yummy. And well done.
Thanks, Gregg.
That beef is so soft.
It's lovely. There's little bits of fat in there as well,
making it sticky. Really good.
Noodles are really well made.
The bite of spring onion,
the crunch of pak choi,
good dish. Thank you.
Woei, this dish is kind of seeped in the essence of hospitality.
It's really meaty, earthy, beautiful.
But then you've got all these other sort of Asian flavours
that are coming through.
The flavour of that broth with that star anise running
through it and that lovely bean paste with lots
and lots of chilli is good.
Thank you. I'm going to say congratulations to you
because you've done something
which everybody else has failed to do, and that is unite the three
people in front of you, cos I think that's great as well.
Thank you. That mean a lot. That mean a lot for me.
William is one of the hardest food critic to please.
To get a compliment out of his mouth is...
Wow.
What can I say?
Korean chef Roy Choi was the influence behind tech product
trainer Jonny's corn tacos,
filled with pork belly, marinated in Korean
spice paste, a kimchi salsa,
onion and coriander salad,
served with Mexican corn in a Japanese mayonnaise,
topped with flaming hot corn snacks.
You ran out of time cos it does look as it is - chucked on at the end.
I really like the flavour of your pork.
There's a lovely marinade, and there's this creeping heat
sitting on the back of my tongue with all that lovely
Korean spice paste.
But if you're going to keep the skin on, I don't want the hairs left
on my pork.
Your tacos,
I don't mind that they're slightly burnt, but they are a bit too thick,
so you get too much of a dryness on there.
Corn husks, there is not enough mayo in there because you need
a bit of wetness to help the whole plate go down.
Your kimchi salsa is lovely.
It feels like chipotle to me. It's slightly sweet,
it's hot and it's smoky, but we need a lot more of it.
Your pork meat is fine,
but the pork skin cannot be eaten in a taco.
You had crispier, smaller bits on your table.
Yep. Your execution isn't great.
It didn't taste how I wanted it to taste.
It didn't look how I wanted it to look.
Honestly, I am so disappointed in myself.
Like so disappointed.
Honouring his childhood culinary hero Ainsley Harriott,
IT project manager Matthew has cooked jerk chicken
with macaroni cheese, served with plantain crisps
and a pineapple slaw.
Looks really appetising.
On the outside of that chicken,
you have got a coating with Scotch bonnet, some thyme,
some allspice, brown sugar.
It's gone sticky and lovely, and the chicken
underneath is still wonderful and moist. I like it a lot.
Maybe a little bit more moisture in your mac and cheese,
but from me - great.
I'm a big fan of plantain.
Yours is nice and crispy.
Well done. Love the pineapple coleslaw.
I like the sweetness in that. I like the juice in that coleslaw.
What I love is it's Ainsley all over because he's a man
of great joie de vivre and energy,
and you sort of put the man on a plate.
This is a dish that I'll remember, you know? I love it.
Job well done, right? Thank you very much.
Thank you, guys. Thanks, Matthew.
WHISPERING:Well done. Well done, mate.
Well done. You feeling OK?
I did one of my idols proud, so happy days.
Finally, influenced by veg champion Yotam Ottolenghi,
Aberdeenshire-based Zoe has cooked cabbage leaf tacos,
filled with roasted celeriac, roasted tomatoes,
date jam and feta cheese...
..served with corn ribs and a chipotle mayonnaise.
I think your corn is moreish.
I love the spicy mayo.
I could really keep dipping the corn into that forever and ever.
And I think your bits of feta and chilli
are really, really tasty.
But I don't really want to eat raw cabbage anywhere,
and I don't think as a vessel for something,
it's as successful as, let's say, a lettuce leaf.
A big piece of celeriac is quite a challenge.
I think it's really original, but I can't finish it.
The taco itself,
cabbage quite difficult to chew and eat
if you're going to pick it up as a piece, cos it's got quite a bit
of fibre in it. I like the way in which you've cooked the celeriac
and I like the little bit of the date jam with the feta cheese.
But I'm not finding it addictive as if I want to rush back
and have another mouthful of it.
It's good. It's just not my favourite thing.
I think your dish is fantastic.
Thank you. Your date jam, almost treacly across that nutty
celeriac, I'm loving.
You also then get a little bit of saltiness from the feta.
Good. And if Ottolenghi himself would have given this to me,
I wouldn't be surprised. That's how good I think it is.
Thank you.
Gregg, in particular, he really, really liked it.
So, yeah, I was so chuffed.
It's been an emotional day and a very moving day, actually.
And I really felt you cooked from the heart.
It's been wonderful. Thank you.
As we said at the start of this, we can only take the best
cooks with us.
You step outside, we'll call you back in as soon
as we've made our decision. Thank you.
From an early round in MasterChef,
that's a pretty hot standard.
Lots of technique, lots of flavour,
lots of artistry, and a few daring
dishes here and there.
Woei did risk it with his pressure cooker brisket
and I'll tell you what, it paid off.
That meat was cooked beautifully.
The flavours of the broth where the meat had been cooking in
were delicious. Slight aniseedy, bit peppery.
John, you can't fault it. We all loved it.
Woei is through to the next round.
Matthew cooked for us jerk chicken.
It was sweet, sticky, peppery, spicy. Chicken was cooked
perfectly. Crispy plantain.
He's going through.
You and I absolutely loved Nickolas's dish.
That bouillabaisse with the fish.
He made a small mistake. His rouille was too runny.
But the bouillabaisse itself, the broth, he really worked hard
to get flavour into there. And great fish cookery.
Nickolas is staying in the competition.
That now leaves us with four cooks who didn't actually nail
their dish completely.
Vanessa, she made decent pasta, she made a ragu,
and it was made quite nicely.
But I wasn't convinced.
William wasn't convinced. However you liked it,
and you stood up for her bravery and her difference.
Zoe gave us a veg dish.
I loved it. But you and William weren't quite sure.
For me, food is about you wanting to dive back and eat more.
And I didn't want to. Saying that, there wasn't a mistake
on the plate as far as her intentions were concerned.
Terri, I thought it was a good-looking plate of food
and nice Hasselback potatoes.
But I have an issue with that duck.
Mine wasn't cooked enough for me.
For you and William, it was cooked enough.
I really enjoyed eating it.
William really enjoyed eating it.
Jonny pushed really, really hard.
The flavours were good.
The pork was good.
But I had pork skin which had hair on it.
I had a dry taco.
The thing is, he gave himself so much work to do.
He's got plenty of passion and great ideas.
He ran out of time.
I'm still not ready to go home. I'm really not.
But it's just the timing.
And you know what? Timing I can work on.
Like, I can always chop quicker. I really can!
I really want to continue. I'm really enjoying myself.
I feel like I'm getting into the swing of things now.
If I go home now, I go home with an apron
having fed a food critic and him loving my food.
So, you know, I go home happy if I go home today.
I really want to stay in the competition.
I want to better myself.
Yeah. This is my competition, and it's a learning journey.
We want to congratulate you
because William was really impressed.
We were really impressed.
We said at the start of this we would only take the best
cooks with us.
We've made a decision and one of you is leaving us.
The person leaving us is...
..Jonny. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Thank you very much indeed. Jonny, you're leaving us.
Thank you. Thank you, my friend.
Just wasn't meant to be.
You know, the dream doesn't die
just because I haven't gone on and won this. It certainly
still reaffirms that some of the ideas that I've got are good.
Yeah, plenty of good things to work from.
Congratulations. You have got talent.
Yeah! Yay!
Woo!
The competition is getting a bit harder.
They've ramped it up a notch, but I'm just hoping that I get used
to the stress and don't crumble under the pressure too much.
It's always difficult when you have mixed reactions
from judges, but I'm glad I did something right and I stayed.
I still feel like I'm blagging it a little bit, really, and that each
round is a little bit of a fluke, but I'm super chuffed.
Now we are ultimately looking for quarterfinalists.
We have got ourselves some brilliant talent.
With every round our expectation goes up, which means
they have to deliver.
I won't pretend I don't want a place. I do.
I want to get to the quarterfinals.
I'm driven, I'm determined, and I think I've got the talent.
I just need to show it on the plate.
I need to show good technical ability
and I think I need to cook from the heart.
I can't wait to step out in that kitchen to do more.
Yeah, just very, very excited.
Your job today is to cook us a dish with layers.
Think trifle. Think sponge cake. Think lasagne.
As long as it's got layers.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Four quarterfinal places up for grabs.
That does mean that two of you will be leaving the competition.
Let's cook.
I know what I'm doing. Just need to get cracking.
They say you're only as good as your last dish,
so going into this challenge today, I am just going to try
and bring the same energy.
I want to showcase more of my skill set.
What is your dish, please?
Coconut and mango mille-feuille.
The coconut is my grandad's favourite fruit
and the mango is mine,
so I'm incorporating like Caribbean fruits with this.
It's going to have three layers.
Well, four, including my brandy snap on top.
And it's going to have... Filled with mango and coconut cream
inside, and it's going to have a coconut crumb
around the outside, and a brandy mango sauce as well.
What's inspired this dish?
My first-ever school trip was to France and I remember trying
a mille-feuille then, and I did fall in love with it, but I wanted
to incorporate my own favourite flavours.
I think Matthew's taken on a huge amount of work here,
and I'm concerned he's not going to be able to deliver
everything he promises.
We have got mango, coconut, brandy, cream,
white chocolate and caramel sauce
between puff pastry, and then a brandy snap.
Matthew is going to use shop-bought puff pastry cos good puff pastry -
eight, ten, maybe twelve hours to make.
Vanessa is cooking for us a biryani.
Classically rice and chicken usually mixed together,
sometimes layered.
We have red onions, rose petals,
pomegranates, mint,
all going together in different layers.
This sounds really fascinating.
When I was about six, my dad taught me his version of a biryani,
and although mine bears no resemblance to his, I'm kind of
using the techniques that he showed me and also ones
that I've experienced all around the world.
Why do you think the biryani is so popular?
It is a pot of, like, love.
There's the rice, there's the meat, there's the onions,
there's the depths of flavour.
It's delicious, in my opinion.
This is the first time I've seen you this animated and this happy
about a dish. I'm cooking food from the heart.
I'm cooking food I like to eat, in the way that I like to eat it.
Are there any blueberries going in it? No way.
I'm scarred for life!
I'm hitting the brief physically because I've got layers of chicken,
rice, all the bits in between.
But I also think there's an element of like layers of flavourings.
25 minutes gone.
I went a bit rogue on the celebrity-inspired dish.
And today I'm like really stripping it back.
I'm going back down the Italian route.
I am doing an open seafood lasagne,
so I'm doing that with crab and mussels.
I'm doing some pickled fennel, some slow-roasted Heritage tomatoes,
and topping that off with a nice seafood sauce.
How many times have you cooked it?
I've done this dish twice before.
Successful both times? Yes.
Roasted tomatoes are going to be wet.
Fennel is going to be wet.
Those mussels will have to be wet,
and crab is not particularly dry.
So, how are we going to have these layers? I'm not quite sure.
I've tried it before and it hasn't turned into a mess.
But this is the MasterChef kitchen so, you know, anything can happen.
I want to prove to the judges that I'm versatile,
so I'm doing a dessert today.
I know Gregg's partial to a dessert.
I am making a mille-feuille with pistachio creme patissiere
and a vanilla creme patissiere,
with a rose wine and raspberry coulis.
What's the secret to a top mille-feuille?
What I want from it is when you're sat there, you put your spoon
in it, the pastry is thin enough that you can go through both layers
and get both creams,
and it's got that lovely... SQUELCHING SOUND
What happens if I get... DRY SOUND
Messed it up, didn't I?
He's doing us a mille-feuille with two different types of custard
in the middle of it. He's doing a vanilla custard
and he's doing a pistachio custard.
Nickolas is using pistachio nuts, not pistachio paste.
Actually, just doing pistachio nuts in a custard can sometimes be risky
where you get a colour, but you don't get any flavour.
I'm going to fold the pistachio in after.
As soon I found out today's challenge is a layer,
what's coming in my mind is like very English dishes.
Cottage pie. I think I probably do a few twists on it, like
put some Korean influence on it.
It's a creamy gochujang beef cottage pie.
Whoa, whoa. What's gochujang?
Korean chilli paste.
With potato and beef?
Yes. What else is going in?
I've got like a mozzarella cheese.
Some grilled aubergines. Grilled courgettes.
My daughter love it. My daughter don't like vegetables,
so I try to just sneak it in and she can have some vegetable as well.
Did you invent this dish for your daughter?
Yeah. Yeah. 100%.
We've got creamy mashed potato,
white sauce, mince, courgettes,
aubergines, mozzarella cheese and chilli flavour.
It might have defined layers, but is it going to be harmonious?
You have 20 minutes left, everybody.
20 minutes, please.
You've burnt your roast tomatoes which was one of your layers. Yes.
You've got about 20 minutes. You've got to get some more roasted.
You can do this. Go, go, go.
I really like the dish that I'm cooking today.
I'm doing a savoury mille-feuille with pear and goat's cheese,
a balsamic glaze and a basil ice cream,
which might be quite risky.
Why this? It's unusual.
It is unusual, but I haven't got a very sweet tooth,
so when it comes to desserts, I love the idea of a mille-feuille,
but I prefer it in a savoury version cos there's nothing
that pastry doesn't work on, in my opinion.
I've made my own rough puff pastry, which I think usually takes at least
two hours, but what I've done is I've cut down the cooling time
by using the freezer rather than the fridge,
so I'm hoping you still get the layers.
There are three mille-feuilles in the room.
You're the only one doing her own pastry.
Does that make you brave, talented or slightly foolish?
I'm not quite sure. We'll find out!
We've got pears with ice cream and mascarpone and yoghurt.
Terri, I think, is taking a massive risk here cos she is actually
making a savoury mille-feuille, which sounds almost like a dessert.
Three minutes.
Come on, you bad boys!
I thought I was going to be stuffed, but I've just cranked the heat up
and they're looking good.
I'm happy with my pastry.
It's got good layers, so I think I'm happy.
It's looking authentic.
90 seconds. 90 seconds.
If you're good, I'll give you a minute and a half.
Piping could be better.
And that's it! Your time is up.
Stop, everybody. Well done.
First up is Terri, who has made a savoury mille-feuille,
Layers of rough puff pastry, filled with balsamic poached pear
and goat's cheese mousse,
served with a balsamic glaze, roasted walnuts,
and a basil-infused ice cream.
Whoa. Layers!
Very clever, very skilful, making your own pastry.
You've got juicy pear.
You've got salty, soft, strong goat's cheese - tangy.
And then you've got almost the bitter oil that comes from nuts.
That, wrapped up in crumbly pastry with the sweetness of balsamic,
really, really works.
It's quite shocking because it's in no way sweet at all.
It's very, very savoury.
I like it.
I'm going to completely disagree with my learned friend
cos I actually think that's more of a dessert than a savoury dish.
Oh, isn't that interesting?
And even your ice cream with the tinny aniseed flavour of basil
is quite sweet. But it's all that balsamic vinegar underneath.
I'm impressed with your pastry.
It's flaky and it's lovely, and I like it...
Thank you. ..as a dessert.
I've done my absolute best, so that's all I can do.
I can't compete with shop-bought pastry, but, you know, the fact
that they liked mine... Yeah, I'm buzzing.
Zoe has cooked an open lasagne,
pasta sheets layered with crab,
fennel and roasted tomatoes, with mussels,
served with a langoustine sauce.
I think your pasta is made really, really well. I like that a lot.
I think your mussels are cooked very, very nicely.
Your crab meat running through it, very, very sweet.
Your pickled fennel I think is really good.
But your tomatoes, cos they have been fast-roasted,
are really quite wet. Yeah.
The juice of that tomato, which is quite acidic,
is taking away the beauty of that crab.
We've got a sauce made of langoustine, not just the shells.
You've actually got the sweet langoustine meat in there.
That's a luxurious dish.
Those tomatoes are too strong for it,
and the crab and even the mussels are fighting to be heard.
It's just really frustrating that the most simple element
of my dish is the element that let my dish down today.
So, yeah, a little bit angry about that. But...
Woei has made a creamy gochujang chilli and beef cottage pie,
layered with sliced aubergine, courgette, mozzarella cheese
and a bechamel sauce,
topped with piped mashed potato,
served with a Japanese coleslaw with honey and bonito flakes.
Have you got layers? Not quite,
because there's lots of wet stuff in there.
It is so unusual, but I'm finding myself really enjoying it.
There is a sweetness inside of there and there are the crunch
of gently cooked vegetables.
But there is a creaminess that comes from mozzarella and a bechamel.
I can't taste the mozzarella in there because of the gochujang,
the strength of that chilli, but I can feel it
adding to the creaminess of the inside.
You may be a kind of mad professor of cookery. Who knows?
Woei, your mashed potatoes are made really, really nicely.
I like the way that you piped it across the top.
The rest of it, I'm not a fan. I'm sorry.
The flavours are just really confused.
The coleslaw I find really unusual because I've got sweet
honey flavour and then bonito, which is the flavour of tuna,
with my coleslaw. So I've got honey and tuna.
It's just too many different things going on.
Thanks, Gregg. Thanks, John.
Vanessa has cooked a chicken biryani with dried rose petals,
pomegranate, mint, crispy onions
and aromatic rice,
served with a yoghurt and mint raita.
What looks like a beautiful amalgamation of ingredients
but not layers.
You do have layers of spicing, though, so there is metaphorical
layers in there as well. Brilliant!
We most certainly have layers of flavour.
We've even got layers of personality, but we ain't got
physical layers like stripes in the plate.
However, it's a gloriously majestic dish
which is so addictive
I'm struggling to keep my spoon out of it.
It's a beautifully flavoured dish. That rice is really light.
There is a hint of turmeric, almost dustiness.
That chicken is really salty on purpose.
It's also spicy. And it's also peppery.
Free-flowing bits of rice, bejewelled with bits
of pomegranate and crispy shallot,
giving you crunch and texture. Throughout the whole
thing is the flavour of mint.
Lovely spicy heat.
I think it tastes really good.
I'm feeling super happy.
I'm so glad that I didn't divide the judges.
I think the only one negative is that they couldn't physically
see the layers. But, I mean, like the best things in life,
you have to search a little bit for them, so I'm OK with it.
It's fine.
Matthew has made a puff pastry mille-feuille,
filled with mango and coconut creme patissiere,
topped with a brandy snap,
and served with a caramel mango sauce and coconut crumb.
That's a scruffy mille-feuille, but it tastes fantastic.
Creamy mango, creamy coconut in pastry
is really working for me.
I think your flavours are great. You haven't over-sweetened it.
It's again Caribbean flavours.
You are bringing the sunshine into this kitchen.
I think that's great.
I think it's really good.
We've got a brandy snap,
you've made a coconut crumb, which I really like.
I'm amazed you got it all done, cos I thought
you were really pushing it.
I managed to get it all on a plate.
HE LAUGHS
I'm happy that they liked it. That's the main thing.
Finally, Nickolas has also made a mille-feuille
of puff pastry layers,
one with pistachio creme patissiere and raspberries,
the other with a vanilla creme patissiere and raspberries,
served with a rose wine and raspberry coulis.
There's not a lot of coulis on there, is there?
Yeah, I think I was trying to be careful with my presentation.
I should have been a bit more generous.
Love your thin, crispy bits of pastry with
the dusting of icing sugar across the top.
The sweet juice coming from that raspberry, slightly sharp
and sour, but sweet. It's great.
Your creme patissiere, the pistachio one,
you've used pistachio nuts
and I don't have the flavour of pistachios.
And that usually comes from pistachio paste.
The nuts don't deliver the real flavour.
The little bit of coulis I've got is nice.
I like it.
John's got a couple of issues with it, but I really like getting
a mouthful of icing sugar that almost makes me cough,
followed by loads and loads of sweetness afterwards
of vanilla creme pat and raspberries.
I'm into it. Thank you.
I'm like a plant in the sunlight.
Like, every time I get good feedback, I'm just like...
I just want to grow, grow, grow, grow!
We've got six contestants and they're all good.
But we've only got four places in the quarterfinal.
We've got a really tough decision.
Terri's mille-feuille with the pears, the basil ice cream -
slightly unusual.
I thought it was actually more of a dessert,
but it was well made. There's no two ways about it.
Terri produced a dish that we both enjoyed, and she's the only one
in the room that managed to make her own pastry.
She's good.
Terri should have a quarterfinal place.
Another mille-feuille that really worked very well was Matthew's.
Coconut, mango, white chocolate, caramel,
all on one plate, a coconut crumb.
Huge amount of work he put into that.
It tasted great.
Put him through. Put him through!
We got two absolute certs through to the quarterfinal,
then we've got four. Where do we go here?
That biryani cooked by Vanessa I think was probably the tastiest
dish she's made in the competition so far.
She did do a layer of rice, a layer of meat, a layer of rice, a layer
of meat, then the rice across the top.
It definitely had layers, but you couldn't see them.
I mean, that was restaurant-quality food, let's be fair.
Woei, I think, is skating on very thin ice right now.
I liked the flavour of his dish.
I did. And the coleslaw.
You really did not like it.
Gochujang Korean chilli paste with cream and mince,
courgettes and aubergines.
I'm really sorry. It just doesn't belong together.
Zoe made for us a layered lasagne with crab and mussels.
We know she can make pasta. We've seen that before.
Tomato and crab inside the lasagne was always going to be
a difficult one to pull off.
But the tomatoes really overpowered the whole dish.
It's fair to say that I enjoyed Nickolas's dish a lot
more than you did.
Some really fine pastry.
A creme pat, one that was packed full of vanilla,
the other one that was subtle of pistachio.
Raspberry and rose coulis, we got two little drops of it.
It tasted wonderful. He needed to have more of that.
But the work was good.
I might have like selective hearing, but I feel like what I heard
was positive and enough to get me through.
If I can go into the quarterfinals, yep, I'd be very happy.
If I'm going home, I've got no regret.
I'm feeling nervous about the decision, yeah.
I just want to get it over with and out the way now, and find out.
I didn't come here with, like, a competitive mind-set,
but it's, like, I really enjoy cooking in that kitchen.
I don't want to go home!
Can I just say to all six of you, thank you very much indeed.
You are a talented bunch.
Some great food.
We thought two of you were absolutely outstanding.
Terri...
..Matthew, congratulations,
you are MasterChef quarterfinalists.
WHISPERING:Well done.
Vanessa.
Now, you know what we said about the layers.
However, it was a gloriously majestic piece of work.
You're a quarterfinalist. Congratulations.
Thank you.
The first person leaving us is...
..Woei.
Thank you very, very much indeed.
Good luck, guys. Thanks, Woei.
The second person leaving the competition is...
..Zoe.
Zoe, sad to see you go.
Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Well done, guys!
Thanks very much indeed. Take care.
It's been so amazing.
I'm just really grateful to have had the opportunity to cook
in the MasterChef kitchen.
But I'm probably going to go out for dinner a lot and stay away
from the kitchen and give myself a break.
I've got an apron, so, yeah, I proved myself.
I'm a part of the MasterChef, and I remember my journey
to the MasterChef has ended,
but my passion for food is just beginning.
You four are MasterChef quarterfinalists.
How about that? Yeah!
Oh, my God!
I just can't believe it.
I want to show them that I can be a finalist, not
just a quarterfinalist.
I can't put it into words. It just... It feels unbelievable.
Definitely be some celebrations tonight, yeah.
I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful.
Just to hear that I was in the top two again is like...
I'm just really, really happy.
I never in a million years thought I'd be good enough to get here.
Next time, it's the quarterfinal...
Woo-ooh!
..and Matthew, Vanessa, Nickolas and Terri
return to face their toughest challenge yet...
Boom!
..as they battle for a place...
It smells great. ..in knockout week.
I mean, I'm doing my happy dance. I can't stop smiling.