MasterChef is back.
Of the thousands who applied,
only 45 of the country's best home cooks have been chosen.
Whoo!
Each week, nine will battle for a place in the quarterfinal.
It's going to be a tight ride.
Ooh!
JOHN: Whoa!
Yeah, it's pressure.
I'm shaking like a leaf.
Wow! Steam up.
But they must first audition to prove their worth.
It's really, really nice.
Those that make it will embark
on the culinary adventure of a lifetime.
So we need to pick it up. Let's go, guys, yeah? Go.
Guys, I need these desserts!
I need them!
The wheels have come off. Let's get some energy in here.
I mean, that is a glorious plate of food.
As they compete for the title of MasterChef Champion 2022.
This is our last group of new contestants.
Today is a day for something special.
It's early morning and nine new amateur cooks are arriving
for their MasterChef audition.
So surreal.
I don't live far away,
so I've been practising the walk down the canal.
That's really sad, isn't it? I shouldn't say that, um, but I have.
People have told me I'm amazing at cooking
and I really want to prove them right.
And there's people that have told me I'm not,
and I want to prove them wrong.
I'm ridiculously competitive.
Whether it's board games, card games...
..I have to win.
Congratulations on making it to the MasterChef Kitchen.
You are this year's last heat
and we need to tell you the standard this year is pretty good.
This, your first round, is an audition
and we have asked you to cook for us your signature dish.
Instead of Gregg and I wandering around the kitchen
and watching what you're doing,
we'll be through those doors in the brand-new tasting room.
We won't know what sort of cook you are, whether you're tidy,
whether you're good with knives - we won't be able to see any of that.
We'll only be able to taste the food,
so you've got to deliver something fantastic.
We will choose our favourite three dishes,
and the cooks of those dishes will get themselves an apron.
The six cooks left, you will get a chance to cook again
and hopefully grab one of the last four remaining aprons
in this year's competition.
We wish you the very best of luck.
We look forward to tasting your food. Very much. Good luck.
They look scared.
Oh, dear.
Can I cry now? So nervous!
Surprised, but it's MasterChef, so you've got to expect the unexpected.
JOHN: Our nine's first time in the MasterChef kitchen,
and you and I are not there to calm their nerves or to reassure them.
If they like it, happy days. If not, bus fair home, innit?
I'm like a duck on water.
I sort of paddle above, but I'm calm underneath.
So upside-down duck, that's me.
I'm the duck paddling like mad underneath.
I'm not an upside-down duck.
I don't want to go home.
I'm definitely going to go above and beyond to take that apron.
Yeah, I think it'd look good on me.
The contestants will audition in groups of three...
Dinner time!
..and have one hour and 20 minutes to cook their signature dish.
I hope they've really practised these dishes.
The only way to get through an audition is to make sure
you know your lines.
First up will be Dean, a 41-year-old full-time dad
and public speaker from Edinburgh.
I've a crazy house, all boys,
smelly feet and loving football and boxing.
We kind of cook what we see on the telly.
Dean - here's a classic cook, if ever you've seen one -
pan-roasted venison loin,
pancetta and black pudding crumble - I like that -
marsala wine and a blackberry jus.
This could be beautiful.
This is my son Michael's favourite, one of his favourite things to eat,
so a little hat tip to him, plus it tastes nice, so...
it shows a little bit of skill.
Fondant potatoes - dun duh-dun dun daaah!
They're not looking too bad, are they?
If there has been an Achilles heel with this competition,
it's been the fondant potato.
Not bad. I've not embarrassed my kids yet.
Dean is setting us up here for a fine-dining experience
and his dish has got to match it, it's got to look the part.
So, back in 2012, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,
which left me feeling a little bit vulnerable, a little bit scared,
and I decided, right, OK, I've got to get up and give it a doing.
Giving it a doing is a Scottish term for beating something up.
I've done seven marathons. I've done a triathlon,
so I'm hoping to draw on some of that
and make it work for me in the MasterChef kitchen.
Dean, just smash it, mate. Smash it. Thank you very much, thank you.
Be an absolute Scottish gangster and smash this.
My son Michael told me if I don't get an apron,
don't bother coming home,
so I could be homeless after today.
HUMS TO HERSELF
23-year-old Radha is a law graduate from Bradford.
University, I basically just lived off cheese toasties
but, since lockdown, since being home,
Mum and Dad have been teaching me to cook.
Over the last few months, cooking's literally been everything.
My mum's Indian and my dad's English,
so a lot of the food I eat is Indian food.
I'm making phaldari koftas,
which are basically like a vegetarian meatball.
It's got a sweet filling
with, like, cheese and cranberries and everything.
We've never had a phaldari on MasterChef before,
and that excites me.
Then you've got this makhani sauce.
It comes from the Punjab, with butter and cream,
very, very rich with tomatoes.
Pilau rice is going to be quite bland.
Roti is also bland.
Whatever this kofta is, it's got to have loads of spice.
I don't like spice. I really do not like spice.
So...I'm not a really good Indian, am I?
It's going to have a little bit of chilli, but not too much.
And how's this vegetarian Indian dish coming on?
I forgot to put my potato in these so I'm going to redo them,
but I think I've got enough time, so it should be OK.
Listen, you're smiling, so that's a good sign.
If I'm not smiling, I'm crying, so...
Right, you've got this, son.
Next up is Martin, a 50-year-old vintage wholesaler
and marathon enthusiast from the West Midlands.
I am very competitive,
I've got to admit. I'm not going to lie.
I do Boston Marathon, New York Marathon.
I'm not a world-class runner, but I'm not half bad.
I've tested myself on the road and
thought, "Why not test myself in the kitchen
"with some spoons and a hob and see how it goes?"
What are you making, Martin?
Caribbean sweet chicken thighs... Ooh! ..with basmati rice,
Jamaican gravy and cucumber, red onion salad to go with it,
if it gets a bit too hot. Ooh, sounds yummy.
Martin's Jamaican sweet brown chicken thighs -
there's probably brown sugar in there.
That chicken's got to be lovely and crispy on the outside.
Got to get the gravy on the go.
I'll be using this pan here because obviously it's a waste
to get all that great flavour off the chicken
and not stick it in the gravy.
So that is the plan of action.
The gravy is very close to giving that boom-boom sensation.
Hopefully, John and Gregg will go, "Yeah, give that man an apron now."
OK, so, I've tasted that. I'm liking that. Hopefully they will.
Full-time dad Dean has just ten minutes to serve up.
Perfect, thank you.
About another four or five minutes, I think.
MARTIN: Dean!
You nearly ready to plate up?
Almost. I thought I was about to set it on fire a minute ago,
but we're all right. OK. Happy days.
Hm!
Yes, Dean!
Yeah, I'm quite happy with that. Oh, that venison looks great.
Is it good? Ooh, look at that.
Go on, Dean. Looks amazing. Looks great.
Hey! Hey, Dean.
How are you doing?
Hey!
Full-time dad Dean has served pan-roasted venison loin,
fondant potatoes, carrot puree
and a pancetta and black pudding crumble,
with a marsala wine and blackberry jus.
Your food smells great.
That's a start, I suppose.
And it looks great.
Your venison, it's cooked very, very nicely.
I love that black pudding crumb with the pancetta.
You've really cooked the black pudding
and got it to go nice and crispy. That's great.
Your sauce is very rich and could probably be a little bit less thick.
But, if this is what you're doing at home
and you're teaching yourself,
I'm really impressed.
Thank you.
We've had many, many raw fondant potatoes
in the competition this year. Yours are perfectly soft.
Well done.
This is decent work, mate. Thank you.
Not bad at all.
Keep an eye on you. Thank you, Dean.
Cheers, guys. Have a good one.
BIG SIGH
The concept is great,
the presentation is fantastic.
Brilliant, yeah.
The comments were unbelievable, so I'm kind of really buzzing.
To be honest with you,
I've come out of there feeling on top of the world.
I'm pretty chuffed.
Do me a favour, don't make it too good cos I want one of those aprons.
Ah, yeah. OK? Yeah, yeah.
Radha, you got five minutes.
OK, thank you.
I think it's all going, OK.
Everything tastes good, so hopefully it'll all taste good together.
Go, Radha!
Oh, wow, that looks good. That looks good. It smells good.
Just nail it!
Hello. Hey. Oh, wow.
Law graduate Radha has cooked phaldari,
vegetable and potato koftas filled with paneer and Cheddar cheese,
sultanas and cranberries,
served with pea pilau rice, coriander,
pomegranate seeds,
and a makhani tomato curry sauce with a roti on the side.
I'm loving these koftas.
They are light, they've got a crispy coating on the outside.
They're quite mild with cheese.
And then you get the sweet sharpness of cranberry in there
and your sauce matches it all perfectly.
There's a slight sweetness to that, and heat, and real creaminess.
You'll be pleased to know
I think your food tastes absolutely lovely.
Would you have been happier if I didn't like it?
No, it's just a shock, isn't it? That somebody likes your food?
Yeah.
Your rice is cooked really nicely, I like the fact you've actually
boiled those pieces - they're lovely and soft.
I think your breads are really nicely made.
They're lovely and crisp and they taste great.
I'd like some more spice in that sauce, just to make it really
come to life a bit, but I think it's a good dish.
Thank you.
I think what we're seeing is a young cook developing.
Yeah. It's exciting to see how far she can go.
Oh, I don't even know if I can put it into words
how I'm feeling right now - there's so many different emotions.
I was pleased with all of the flavours.
That's how I would have personally served it.
But, obviously, everyone's got a different taste palate.
Right. Bang, bang, that's done, that's done.
Yeah.
Martin, got two minutes. OK, cool. Thank you very much.
Be ready to serve it up.
Yeah, I'm happy with that.
That's good, man. Trust me, that's tasty.
Oh, good luck. Thanks very much.
Going to smash it. I'd like to think so.
Well done, Martin. Thank you.
Business owner Martin has made his take
on Jamaican brown stewed chicken.
Chicken thighs marinated in brown sugar,
scotch bonnet chillies, paprika and soy,
served with basmati rice,
a cucumber, red onion, coriander and lime salad,
and a spicy Jamaican chicken gravy.
This may well be one of the best bits of chicken I've ever had.
And it is so moist.
A couple of chews and it's dissolving on my tongue.
The glaze has got saltiness, the glaze has got a little bit
of sweetness and the glaze has a creeping heat.
Your rice is nicely cooked.
The salad's very interesting.
Lots of coriander, a little bit of lime to make it refreshing.
I'm really interested in you.
Your chicken is beautifully cooked and sticky on the outside,
reminds me of chicken yakitori.
Your gravy, I'm finding too salty. OK.
But I have to tell you, if that wasn't quite so salty,
I'd be in raptures about this dish.
That chicken is beautiful. It's great chicken. It's beautiful.
Yeah, it's great. My word.
Ooo...
Wow. I really was genuinely standing there, really gobsmacked.
They were still eating the chicken when I left,
so that's not a bad sign. That's not a bad sign!
Back in the kitchen, the next three competitors are hard at work.
I hope this is an Apron winning dish, yeah.
31-year-old childcare worker Angela, from Yorkshire,
enjoyed foraging as a child with her family.
My mum used to take my brother and me walking and I just remember her
being like, "Gather all these nettles."
Then we took them home, and then she made this amazing soup.
I just loved it, and I went and told all my friends at school the next
day that I'd eaten nettles. They thought I was crazy.
Angela, she's cooking pan fried sea bass
served with nettle gnocchi in pesto.
Pea puree, vegetables with garlic and pancetta,
and a Parmesan crisp.
I love gnocchi, my children love gnocchi,
and nettles is like the key to my childhood,
so I wanted to add to that element and just make something
that's kind of like a hug on a plate.
Nettle's a lovely ingredient.
Tastes like a stronger spinach.
The only time consuming thing here is the gnocchi.
Everything else can be done in minutes.
But gnocchi is difficult.
You have to do it really, really fast
otherwise it goes too hard.
Texturally, it has to be right.
So, yeah, wish me luck.
EQUIPMENT CLANKS ON FLOOR
LAUGHING
Also competing for an apron is Mauritian-born Zizi,
a 56-year-old business analyst from Oxfordshire.
My dad is my biggest influence.
He's Mauritian, so I started doing Mauritian cooking
and writing down the recipes when he was doing the cooking at home.
And I kind of took it from there.
I'm in the zone.
I'm not in the zone at all!
Zizi's doing us a Mauritian rougaille
with celeriac steaks, coconut chutney,
coriander chutney and little chilli bites.
We know the food of Mauritian islands.
It is bold. It's fusion.
It's brought together from various places around the world.
Each Mauritian family have their own rougaille recipe.
This one that my dad used to do, it's onions, garlic, chilli, ginger.
All right.
I'm going to the fryer.
Little chilli bites.
I bought them in the street in Mauritius,
and they're like a little doughnut,
like a little beignet, but with chilli in them,
and they're delicious.
John and Gregg, I hope they're kind.
That's a nice one.
I don't want them to push the plate away going, "What is that?!"
People say I'm a good cook.
Or are they lying? We'll soon find out.
Sorry, this noise is horrible.
32-year-old Amedeo is a marine officer
regulating the British fishing industry out of Lowestoft,
who enjoys recreating his Italian family's recipes.
I come from the south of Italy, Naples.
I grew up in a very large family.
Family gatherings were all around food.
On a Sunday, we'd go to my nan's house
and she was really good with us.
She will always encourage us and give us little jobs.
I think that's where it all started.
I'm going to have to go out there and absolutely nail it
if I want to get that apron.
Right, let's do this.
Amedeo. Eastern lobster risotto with garlic,
cherry tomatoes and parsley
served with a basil and parsley puree.
I'm going to try to make a stock out of the shells,
and then with the actual tail, I will try to do a nice carpaccio.
If it looks like it looks in my head,
I think I'm going to make a good one.
I've talked my talk. Now it's time to walk my walk.
Angela, you've got 15 minutes. OK, I can do it.
These are my dishes. They're actually terrariums.
Got them from the garden centre.
Cook!
How's it going, Angela? Just hoping I can get these gnocchi
crispened up a little bit more in time.
Fingers all crossed for you.
Oh, please crisp up, crisp up, crisp up!
SIGHS HEAVILY
I think I've cocked it up.
Time to plate.
Hoo-hoo!
OK, I'm done.
Oh, that's great. Good luck, Angela. Thank you.
I loved that.
Aye-aye!
Childcare worker Angela has served pan-fried, lemon infused sea bass
with nettle gnocchi in pesto,
pea puree, vegetables cooked in wild garlic oil
and a pancetta and Parmesan crisp.
It's highly unusual.
Why do something usual and boring?
Might as well surprise you with a terrarium full of gnocchi!
I like your fish cookery.
You have managed to crisp up a bit of the skin,
but you've ripped it, but the flesh underneath,
I am happy with.
Really like your Parmesan tuile. Really, really lovely.
I don't taste a great deal of nettle in your gnocchi. Yeah.
They've soaked up a lot of oil,
so they're really greasy, which is a shame.
Just too much going on here for me.
I've got little baby asparagus, mushrooms, pea puree, pea shoots,
gnocchi, bacon, fish.
Right now, I feel like I've walked through the wood
and trundled across a fish,
and it's sort of... it's slightly incongruous.
It doesn't quite make sense. Yeah.
It is the first time on MasterChef
I've ever been served food in a terrarium.
Could have gone better but it could have gone worse.
There's room to improve.
Definitely feel like they've got my personality,
if not anything else.
Zizi, you've got five minutes.
Cooking is a calming thing, normally.
Not at the moment!
Got to give them equal portions.
I hope this is going to get me an apron.
We'll soon find out.
Zizi, it looks really pretty, so good luck with that.
Oh, thank you.
I'm going to need it!
Here we go.
To win her apron, Zizi's dish is Mauritian tomato rougaille
with celeriac steaks,
served with a yellow split pea chilli bite,
coconut chutney and coriander chutney.
I really like these chilli bites.
They almost feel like falafel. They're almost nutty and crunchy.
I like those. And lots of spice.
I love the coconut underneath
because it's got chilli running through it as well, which is great.
I like that sort of very meaty, quite woody piece of celeriac.
But it doesn't work with the rougaille.
There's big chunks of onion in here.
It's gone watery, unfortunately, it hasn't cooked down enough.
It needs to be more intense
and be cooked down more to get more concentration of flavour.
It's just too watery.
Oh, dear!
I won't be surprised if I'm cooking again.
A good risotto needs to be al dente.
That's the first thing.
Second, you want it to be, like, wavy.
So if you can get it to move like a wave of the ocean,
you've got it right.
Amedeo, three minutes.
I'll whip it until it gets to, like, proper creamy.
And I think it should be just al dente.
Right, let's do this.
Good luck! Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Marine officer Amedeo has served lobster and tomato risotto
with lobster carpaccio,
marinated in lemon zest, and a basil and parsley puree.
You've obviously made a fair bit of risotto in your time.
It's a lovely texture.
It's nice, it's creamy.
The rice has got a little bit of give.
It's very salty.
The carpaccio, the raw lobster, it's beautiful and it's sweet,
but on top of a hot risotto, I'm not convinced.
It doesn't feel right to go from cold to hot.
I appreciate all the work you've done by making a stock
using the shells of the lobster, that's really good, but right now
these big hunks of uncooked lobster, it's too big and too hard.
And when you've got that lovely, soft, pillowish risotto underneath,
it's unusual.
A bit of a mixed bag of emotion.
What I've learned from that tasting is, don't always have to push it,
but that's just who I am.
I was never going to come here and play safe.
The spotlight is now on the last group of auditionees.
I'm in onion...heaven?
Liverpudlian Hannah is a 27-year-old food supply manager
living in London.
Always remember cooking as a child.
I was a saddo.
I used to watch, like, Delia Smith and Nigella on TV
rather than cartoons.
All my friends thought I was a right weirdo.
Hannah has named her dish kedgeree haddock.
Poached haddock, pea puree,
confit onions, curry veloute,
coriander oil, pea shoots and deep-fried poached egg.
Wow!
Kedgeree was my favourite dish my mum cooked when I was a child.
This is mostly the same ingredients,
just a slightly more refined dish than a bowl of rice.
Not that there's anything wrong with a kedgeree bowl of rice,
but I need to get an apron.
This says to me she likes classic flavours,
but she wants to play around and be adventurous.
And actually, it could be exciting.
This is curry veloute. There are debates as to whether
kedgeree should have curry in or not, but my mum's always did.
So mine does. And I love curry and smoked haddock together.
I think it's just the nicest.
Win-win, win-win.
Hooray!
Iranian born Farokh is a 36-year-old drama lecturer from London.
I think I'm an inventive cook.
I don't like things
that you can expect.
I think food should make you go, "What?"
I've done a lot of weird things with food.
Dried tapioca in the microwave.
I've cooked chocolate with a hairdryer.
I've dropped burning red charcoal into stews,
which works!
Farokh.
Spiced monkfish, served with cauliflower steak,
pickled walnut curry?!
Yoghurt sauce, sweet pickles and a walnut cauliflower crumb.
This could be exciting, Gregg.
Really exciting. Food I've never seen before.
He's not a copycat. He's actually going for it.
Simple, but not simplistic.
Complex, but not complicated.
That's my motto.
If the vacuum machine doesn't hate me,
and vacuum machines usually do,
I will be fine.
Oh, seasoning!
I forgot to put the seasoning in it. LAUGHS
The final amateur to audition today is Mark,
a 34-year-old accountant from London
who takes pride in his Filipino heritage.
Growing up, cooking is a very big part of my family.
Creating memories, celebrations and events.
I want to champion Filipino food, but also have a bit of a twist.
I'm making adobo.
Adobo is a sauce from the Philippines.
It's soy sauce, vinegar and garlic,
but I'm putting a Japanese twist into it.
Instead of vinegar, I'm using sake.
Mm! That's it.
Normally adobo,
we use pork belly or chicken thighs.
But obviously, this is MasterChef.
I have to take it to another level.
So I'm using peppered steak.
I love peppered steak.
It needs to be cooked well, so all the fat melts through it.
That's where the flavour comes from.
Just want to make sure that this steak is cooked rare
to medium rare.
What I envision it to be.
Cavalo nero is an Italian cabbage.
Parsnip puree is a French design.
So we're going all over the world.
My repertoire is quite eclectic,
but I always go back to Asian flavours.
Hannah? Three minutes.
Hannah's poached haddock, that's got to be smoky and be flaky.
HANNAH SIGHS
Excellent.
Deep-fried poached egg.
Could be very, very good,
but when you cut into it, the yolk's got to come out.
I would be utterly mortified if I served John and Gregg
a solid poached egg.
I mean, I could never go back to work
or even go back out in public.
I should just get off the planet.
Good luck, Hannah! Thank you.
Food supply manager Hannah has named her dish kedgeree.
Poached haddock, topped with a deep-fried poached egg
on pea puree, confit onions,
pea shoots and a curry veloute.
You've got a real sort of biscuity, crispy texture
on the outside of the egg, the egg yolk running all the way through,
and the haddock, you cooked really nicely so it flakes apart
and it's slippery. That's great.
It's when I put everything together. I'm getting a lot of sweet notes.
Your curry sauce is sweet.
Your onions are sweet.
I've got peas, which are quite sweet, and I feel as though I want
something a little bit more sharp in there somewhere.
But I think it's a really interesting dish.
It's a very difficult thing to do, fry a poached egg.
You've got John's absolutely right.
Your timing on mine was slightly under.
You've created all the flavours of a kedgeree,
but I think what makes kedgeree lovely is the rice.
I'm not sure it works as a dish.
Gregg's egg white was a bit flabby, which was really annoying
because I hate flabby egg white.
Right now I need a very large wine.
And probably a lie down!
Farokh's up next with his spiced monkfish
and a pickled walnut curry sauce.
Oh, wow!
I am in love.
Farokh, you've got one minute.
I need to just blend this.
That is what I'm looking for.
Actually a bit nervous.
Farokh, you're a couple of minutes over now.
The fish goes in for, like, five seconds.
My hands are shaking.
Good luck, Farokh. Let's hope I don't drop it.
Ooh!
Drama lecturer Farokh has served spiced monkfish
with a cauliflower steak,
walnut curry sauce,
yoghurt flavoured with dried mango powder,
walnut and cauliflower crumb,
and a pickled walnut puree.
You're a very interesting cook doing quite unusual things
and some things I've never had before.
Yoghurt sauce, which has got dried mango powder in it,
which is sharp like sherbet,
and I really like that cauliflower and that yoghurt sauce together.
I think that's great.
And then underneath that, this spicing,
which is really quite strong,
this pickled walnut curry.
Fish for me is undercooked.
However, I love this curry sauce.
It has got the sharpness of pickling in it.
It has got the heat of a curry powder and it's nice.
You are obviously an original thinker with some very nice ideas.
This tastes good.
Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!
I definitely showed the judges what I'm about.
GROANS
I think that dish is definitely me.
I wish I'd cooked it a little better.
Mark's up next with influences from the Philippines.
It's on the rare side.
I'm a bit nervous with the steak, but we'll see.
Right.
Accountant Mark has made peppered ribeye steak
with a Filipino adobo sauce
flavoured with garlic, soy, honey and Japanese sake vinegar,
Cavalo nero, roasted chickpeas,
figs and a parsnip puree
served with a shot of sake.
I love your presentation.
Very, very attractive indeed.
Steak which is really, really lovely and pink
and quite soft and succulent.
The cabbage, because of the way you've cooked it with the adobo
and the sake almost tastes like seaweed.
When you drink the sake after you've had it all,
it's quite warming on the back of your throat.
I think it's interesting, sophisticated and delicious.
Thank you.
Your adobo is sweet, but it's got the sharpness of
a little bit of sake in it as well.
Parsnip puree is beautifully sweet as well.
Mark, I like it, mate.
It's beautiful, the detail's great.
Somebody who really cares.
To get my food translated into
something that Gregg and John understood,
it went amazing.
We've seen all nine cooks, we've tasted their dishes.
I mean, a great array of different cookery styles, that's for sure.
They've all worked really hard.
On the whole, I think the food was really good.
Now, there's only three aprons.
I have to say, we are really impressed.
There was one person who, in a crowd of decent cooks,
absolutely stood out.
Mark, take a bow.
That was fantastic.
You've got yourself an apron.
Thank you.
There was one other contestant we feel did exceptionally well.
Dean? Well done, my friend.
You got yourself an apron. Brilliant.
Now we have one apron left to give.
This was a really tight call.
Our third apron...
..goes to Martin.
Er, thank you!
Mark, Martin, Dean, can you please come and collect your aprons?
Well done, good work, guys.
Fantastic, well done. Fantastic.
Looks sharp, eh? Looks great, mate.
It suits you. Definitely, man.
Not too bad.
I told you boys it'd look good on me, didn't I?
Turned out well. Very proud.
Only the beginning. It certainly is.
GREGG: Shrug off any disappointment.
You have got a job to do.
In the last audition,
you all chose to cook your savoury signature dish.
In this round, therefore, we want your sweet signature dish.
Four MasterChef aprons left in this year's competition.
That does mean that two of you will be leaving us.
One hour, 20 minutes.
Let's cook.
Today is not a day for a bowl of crumble and custard.
Today is a day for something special.
Give me fruit, give me cream, give me caramel, give me sugar!
I'm going to be cooking pineapple upside down cake
with a salted rum caramel sauce.
I went to boarding school.
It's a classic boarding school sort of dessert
that we always got served,
and my dad loves rum, so I thought, right, let's put the two together.
Try and make a dessert out of it.
Radha, do you like puds?
I like eating them, but I've never sort of done an entire pudding
from scratch and plated it up.
So this is quite a new experience.
So is this the first time you've made a pudding?
Yeah, probably.
So fingers crossed I can get everything done.
Radha said this is her first-ever dessert.
I mean, how brave is this girl?
How does it work?
Oh, never mind.
My concern for Radha right now, it's the actual cake itself.
It takes time to cook.
And if she doesn't get it in the oven quick enough,
we are going to end up with a raw centre of that cake.
And then we've got a problem.
Angela's making a dish inspired by lemon meringue pie.
It's what goes with it which is really fascinating for me.
Hogweed coulis with raspberries, hogweed being a herb,
which is very, very strong.
And then we've got a blooming tea.
Who knows what a blooming tea is?
As long as it tastes blooming good, I'll be really happy.
I just love cooking with things that are wild, natural
and locally sourced.
I live in the countryside,
so I've got like an abundance of things around me.
I don't know. It just feels kind of like my little magic shopping trip,
because I go out with a little basket and I come back
and everyone else has gone to the supermarket and I've got mine for free!
30 minutes have gone, everybody.
Zizi's making a bread pudding.
Inside, we've got sultanas, grated orange, eggs and sugar and vanilla.
She's got mango, she's got lime in it,
and then we've got some Chantilly cream.
You're bringing a little bit of Mauritian sunshine
to a British pudding. Yes, rum!
Do you like rum? Oh, I love rum. Yeah.
How much do you like rum?
I could have a little tot of that now. I wouldn't mind.
I'm concerned about the skill going into that dish.
However, it could taste delicious.
Today, I'm making a proper traditional panna cotta.
Panna cotta is risky.
Made it plenty of times before, but I've never made it in an hour.
So, yeah, borderline, borderline.
Why a panna cotta? Panna cotta is pretty much what brings me back
in the good days of my upbringing.
So we used to wake up, usually on a Sunday morning
with the smell of Mum preparing the panna cotta,
and we always used to get upset
because we couldn't eat it straight away.
It's something that I always liked since I was child,
and if I had to do a dish that represents me,
I would want the panna cotta to be it.
Panna cotta. We know what we want.
It's got to wobble. It's got to move.
It can't be too hard.
Yes! If it's too hard,
there's too much setting agent.
I'm also going to put a little of that blackberry sauce
into the white chocolate when it's melted.
Will it be the white of the chocolate with the blackberry
running through it?
That's how I picture it in my head.
If you put something wet in chocolate, what happens is
chocolate seizes up.
So I don't know how a blackberry coulis in chocolate
is going to work. If it works, I'll be amazed.
They say the proof is in the pudding,
so I'd better back it up today.
Cinnamon, cinnamon? Cinnamon, cinnamon.
Cinnamon is a cuddle in a bowl. It is, isn't it?
Well, this is my nan's pastry recipe, so I've made it a lot
and I've practised it a lot, so hopefully it will go to plan.
What are you making? A whiskey poached pear
and brown sugar frangipane tart.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whiskey poached pear?
Yes. I've never had a whiskey poached pear.
No? Interesting.
There is a whiskey caramel, some fresh blackberries
and a vanilla ice cream. No way!
Yes way. What is it with you and whiskey?
My boyfriend loves whiskey, so he's like,
"Can you do something with whiskey?"
He's been happy to eat it on many, many occasions.
What Hannah is attempting to do in an hour and 20 minutes,
most people take about two hours.
She's got to make pastry first and then she's got to blind bake it.
She's got to get the ice cream on and it's got to be churned.
Then she needs to make the frangipane whilst the pear
is being poached. But it sounds delicious.
It's warming, it's comforting.
And if that pear's cooked properly, it should be really good fun.
You have 17 minutes left.
Excellent.
Farokh, what are you making for us, please?
Iranian ice cream flavours, which is rose and saffron
and pistachios, in a sponge cake, essentially.
It's going to look exactly like a kitchen sponge.
So what inspired this, please?
Someone had made a sponge cake that looked like a kitchen sponge
by colouring the tops and bottoms.
And I was thinking, "Oh, well,
"saffron is yellow and pistachio is green."
So I took that idea and ran with it.
I will always cook a dish that you don't expect.
And I think that's a good thing!
Farokh is making us a sweet flavoured sponge cake
but in the shape of a kitchen sponge
with some lime foam on the side of it.
Could look like a washing up sponge,
which has just come out of the soapy water.
OK. Could be really fun, but it's very complex and very unusual.
And unusual doesn't always work. But I'm excited.
Just ten minutes, please, to finish your beautiful dishes.
Happy with the curd.
Are you learning how to make a splodge? Splodge/quenelle.
Yeah, it's a splenelle!
It's not working, is it?
Scrap it. Chocolate is gone.
Oh, well.
Sometimes things are not meant to be.
Right. I've now got to take this off,
which is going to be disastrous.
How long have we got? Last touches, final touches.
Last steps.
Right, that's it, everybody stop.
Whew! That experience was stressful.
I didn't get everything right.
I've got quite a bit of adrenaline.
I can't stop smiling.
We'll have to see now. It's all out of my hands.
HE EXHALES DEEPLY
To secure one of the last four aprons,
law graduate Radha has served pineapple upside-down cake,
ginger tuile basket, stem ginger ice cream,
cinnamon roasted pineapple,
and rum-soaked pineapple pieces with a salted rum caramel sauce.
I think it's an incredible amount of work,
and I think it's a great-looking plate of food.
Beautiful, super creamy ice cream with itchy bits of ginger.
Lovely sponge with pineapple.
Your beautiful caramel sauce has got a little bit of heat from rum.
You are a superstar.
That is a knockout pudding.
It's sensational.
There is cinnamon dancing around on the little tiny bits of pineapple,
which really bring them to life.
Your ice cream's creamy. Your tuile is crispy.
Your sponge is perfect. It tastes great. It's fantastic.
Thank you. I absolutely love it.
Amazing! APPLAUSE
Thanks! Get in there!
I'm feeling really, really good.
There was a lot of elements to get through,
but I managed to do them all, and I think I showed them
everything about me, so...yeah.
SHE SIGHS
Childcare worker Angela has served lemon meringue tart,
raspberry, sloe and hogweed coulis,
candied rose hips, baobab seeds,
and a pot of jasmine and mango tea.
You use many ingredients I've never seen before.
Fascinating stuff.
Your baobab, I'm loving it because it's like a sherbet.
Your hogweed jam, I like.
It's a little bit of sharpness, like a raspberry,
but it's also mild and fruity, like a strawberry. Yeah.
I love this tea. Oh, good. It smells like a ripe mango.
The lemon meringue pie - your pastry's a little bit thick.
The actual meringue hasn't cooked,
so we've got raw whipped egg white in here, and you can see it's raw.
It fascinates me, what you're doing.
We have a lot of technical issues here, though.
I think that they enjoyed my creativity and my uniqueness.
I just have regrets that my brain froze
and I suddenly forgot how to make a meringue,
which I've made ten million times.
Business analyst Zizi has baked Mauritian-spiced rum bread pudding
with sultanas,
served with a mango coulis and Chantilly cream.
Your bread pudding is nicely made.
It's got a nice crust on the outside.
It hasn't dried out. It's moist enough.
I love the mango coulis
and I like the fact that the cream isn't too sweetened either.
Not a huge amount of technique on show here,
but I am enjoying eating it.
Oh, good.
I really like bread pudding, but I'm crying out for rum.
I'd like more rum so that the mango and the rum works together.
At the moment, it's slightly disparate,
and that's a real shame.
Are these crystallised bits of sugar that the rum sauce...?
You might have rum in that! THEY CHUCKLE
On reflection, maybe I should have upped my game a bit,
done something differently,
but the fact that they enjoyed it, I'm happy about that.
Marine officer Amedeo has made vanilla panna cotta
with a raspberry and blackberry sauce
and a garnish of amaretto biscuits.
Tell me what happened to the white chocolate you were doing.
It didn't turn out to be the way that I wanted it to be,
and I just scrapped plan B, really.
Amedeo, I think your flavours are absolutely right.
I really like that almond, strong flavour
of the amaretto biscuits.
I like the fact I can see all the vanilla flecks
running through your panna cotta.
I've got an issue here, though, with the firmness of this panna cotta.
It should have a wobble. This, you've actually got to chew it.
HE SIGHS
All the flavours are absolutely right,
but that is too firm.
That's not even melting under the heat of my fingers.
Yeah, quite disappointed.
Well done.
I think I overdid the gelatine,
based on the fear of the panna cotta not setting, so...
..yeah, I'll pay the price for that, so...
Food supply manager Hannah
has served whiskey poached pear and brown sugar frangipane tart
with whiskey caramel and blackberries,
served with vanilla ice cream.
I'm a big pear fan.
I've never had it with whiskey. I think it's glorious.
Good vanilla ice cream, packed full of vanilla, well made.
I think this is delightful, delicious,
and when no-one's looking, I think I'm going to finish the whole plate.
Your tart base around the outside here
is perfectly thin. Congratulations to your grandmother.
A fantastic recipe.
The actual sauce itself with that whiskey,
I think it's really fascinating, I think it's really interesting.
It's risky, and I like it. Fab. Thank you.
I am really happy.
I mean, I wasn't planning on just making boozy puds the whole time,
but maybe that's the key.
Finally, it's Farokh.
Inspired by the flavours of Iranian ice cream,
he's made a saffron sponge
with a frangipane and pistachio biscuit base
topped with a lime foam,
frozen cream shards, rose gel,
and a grey cardamom and sugar dust.
I have never been served a kitchen sponge on MasterChef before.
So, the black crumb underneath it,
and then you've used the sponge to wipe away the dirt. Exactly.
As you do with sponges.
Technically, I think you've got it right.
We've got a gel which is slightly slippery.
The frozen cream on the side has got a crunch to it.
Your sponge is really lovely and light and tastes of saffron.
I really respect what you're doing. Thank you.
I really love that saffron sponge. That's just beautiful for me.
I really like your crumb with the amount of cardamom in it.
I really do. And it's sweet.
I like your creative, theatrical mind. I really do.
I wanted to show the judges that I cook surprising things
and I know how to take the taste buds on a journey.
And I think part of that really worked.
We have uncovered some serious talent here, John,
haven't we? This is very exciting.
We have to discuss Radha.
John, that pastry work was exceptional.
It tasted amazing. It looked fantastic.
I've got to say, a class act.
For me, Radha's got herself an apron.
There's somebody else, I think, who also deserves an apron.
That's Hannah. Very impressed with Hannah.
Love the use of whisky with the poached pear.
Really good pastry work.
Hannah has got talent, no doubt about it.
Farokh made edible conceptual art -
a sponge on a plate where he used a black dusting on it
so it looked like he'd actually cleaned the black dust away.
He's adventurous, he's individual, he's artistic,
and he's willing to take a risk.
I have to say, I believe there's one contestant
whose competition is over, and that is Amedeo.
That panna cotta wasn't right. It was hard.
It had no wobble at all. It wasn't creamy. It was firm.
Amedeo is leaving us.
That leaves us with two people to talk about.
Zizi didn't show us a great deal of technique.
We're talking about a bread pudding, mango and cream.
We were supposed to have a rum syrup, as well,
which crystallised and just became rum-flavoured sugar lumps.
So, not a huge amount of work.
However, we actually quite liked eating it.
Angela's quite exciting because
she's bringing in ingredients that I haven't seen before.
She's attempted a lot, but it hasn't paid off.
Thick pastry, meringue across the top not cooked enough...
My head is on the chopping board, as it were.
If I just rein it in and don't flap, and if they give me another chance,
I feel like, every time, it's going to get better.
I'd be disappointed if I went home at this stage.
There's a lot more dishes that I can do,
erm, so, yeah.
I just want to say thank you to all six of you.
Fantastic dishes.
A great deal of creativity, inventiveness. Well done.
One cook today truly impressed.
Radha, congratulations, you've got yourself an apron. Thanks.
There were two other people that Gregg and I recognised
of having great talent and real ambition.
Hannah, Farokh,
congratulations, you've got yourselves an apron.
The first person leaving us?
Amedeo. Thank you.
It's been lovely having you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Well done, all.
I tried to give everything that I had.
Sadly, I couldn't deliver. But I did enjoy the experience -
the level of emotions, ups, downs, ups, downs, adrenaline -
so no regrets.
We have one apron left. Angela...
..Zizi...
..the final apron of this year's competition...
..is going to...
..Angela.
Thank you, Zizi.
I could have given it so much more,
but it's always with hindsight, isn't it?
I will look back with very fond memories.
It has been a hoot. It really has.
Congratulations. Oh, my God!
Would you like to come up and collect your aprons?
It's amazing to have a MasterChef apron.
I can't believe it!
It's just like... I'm just so, like, tired
and I just can't believe it cos it's exhausting,
but I'm really, really happy. Mm-hm.
I'm very excited.
I have got all sorts of weird and wonderful things lined up,
some of which live in the darkest recesses of my brain.
I am so happy!
Best be a very large glass of wine in my hand
as soon as I get in the door!
Next time, this week's best cook's
return to face two demanding challenges...
My mind's going crazy at the moment. Ooh!
There wasn't really much of a plan, so time will tell how we do.
..and fight for a place in the quarterfinal.
This is jolly good work.
Could be famous for being on the menu of a restaurant.
That's an amazing achievement.