This week's five celebrities have been battling it out
to become MasterChef champion.
It's so much more pressure than I ever thought imaginable.
Last time, professional dancer Dianne Buswell went home.
DIANNE FAKE CRIES
Now, the remaining four are back to do culinary battle.
Tonight, they must step up and enter the world of the professional chef...
Literally singeing. Keep going, keep going.
Thick and fast. Let's have it!
He's got the Fire Brigade on speed dial.
Argh!
..before cooking for their place in the quarterfinal.
Serve those by the dozen because they are absolutely delicious.
MasterChef is taking over my life.
I've become quite obsessive about it.
I cook cos I love it.
Need to just enjoy myself and chill out.
I've gone from cooking bagels to now wanting to win MasterChef.
I'm deluded.
Constantly heading into the unknown...
It's like driving into the dark, you know.
We have had a glimmer of what they're capable of.
It's time, Gregg, to strip away the celebrity
and see the cook beneath.
Hello.
Morning. Morning, guys.
Ooh!
Red?! I'm a Tottenham fan, unfortunately.
We now want to test your teamwork and your communication skills,
and this test we call the Pairs Challenge.
Amy and Luca, you're the Red Team.
Michael and Apl, you're the Blue Team.
Hey, Apl. What up, Mike.
And today we are celebrating brunch.
Would you please reveal your ingredients?
OK.
Each team today is going to be tasked with cooking a dish -
two portions of a dish - and those two portions we would like to look
and taste exactly the same.
However, only one member of each team has a recipe.
Oh, no!
UNDER HER BREATH: Right.
The person with the recipe will need to communicate
with your team member exactly what to do and how to do it.
One hour, let's cook!
NARRATOR: Each team leader has been given basic instructions
for a different dish...
Oh, this is good.
Right. So we should get started, hey?
Never done any of these before so communication is key right now.
..with separate trays of ingredients for every element.
Oh, yeah? Luca's such chill vibes and he's, like, the opposite of me.
As leader of the Red Team,
it's up to actor Amy to guide reality star Luca
through their brunch dish, rosti Benedict.
JOHN: Amy and Luca have got a reinvention of eggs Benedict.
I know how to cook poached eggs. Happy days!
They've got a potato rosti topped with a poached egg,
served with hollandaise sauce and asparagus.
So the first stuff - do you know how to make a rosti?
Don't even know what it is. A rosti is like a hash brown-type thing.
You have to grate the potatoes. Grate the potatoes?
Grate them on a cheese grater.
Whatever you tell me to, boss.
I like being the boss of you.
I think Luca will be more than happy
for Amy to be the team leader, as long as Amy holds her nerve.
You've put a good pair together because his chill vibes are already
rubbing off on me and making me enjoy myself more.
Luca? Yes, boss.
Squeeze it out until nothing more comes out.
Just literally squeeze this, yeah?
This is what it'll be like.
There's a lot of water in there. Yeah, there's loads.
She's doing amazing.
Couldn't ask for a better instructor.
OK...
Oven gloves.
Actor Michael is leading the Blue Team.
I'm directing. There's a lot of guesswork.
I've not cooked this before, which makes it exciting.
He will be instructing Black Eyed Peas star Apl.
It says, combine the oats, nuts, salt and cinnamon.
What I'm not sure about is how much.
Ah!
They need to make two identical portions
of Japanese souffle pancakes,
served with a poached pear, home-made granola and a fruit syrup.
The granola - how long do we cook it for?
Oh, it doesn't say? Doesn't say.
Most people think granola comes in packets, but actually granola
is made up from many different ingredients, nuts and oats, spices.
There's real texture and real flavour.
Hey, Apl. Yeah?
Does it mean all of it, do you think?
Instincts, just trust your instincts.
Do we put in the maple syrup? I'm not sure on that.
For Michael, granola's a real task.
Do we bake the maple syrup?
The granola's only got five ingredients.
The pancakes have got nine.
Pour in the maple syrup. All of it?
I'm just going to see. OK, this is maple.
15 minutes have gone. 45 minutes left, please.
We want brunch.
Right. We need to crack on, I think, a bit. Yes, boss.
NARRATOR: Amy and Luca's rosti potatoes are grated
and ready to be shaped and fried.
Fry in the pan so it goes golden brown on the outside but cooked
long enough that it's cooked all the way through and it doesn't burn.
I've gone, like, halfway. Tiny bit less. All right.
So have you pulled the ring off? Yeah.
Oh, and it came off fine? Yeah.
Oh, he's smashing it.
Their next job is to melt some butter, which will be combined
with egg yolks to make their sauce.
I have made hollandaise before.
Over the years, I've tried and failed.
Never made hollandaise in my life.
Just listen to Amy.
Get this pan. Yeah.
And then this bowl size.
There is really good communication between Amy and Luca.
They are not only talking to each other regularly,
they're also showing each other.
Mine's like that.
It's going really well.
But it's another story on the Blue team.
OK, are we ready to put it in the oven?
Let's do it. Their granola's made it to the oven...
Into the middle shelf,
ten minutes. ..but they've still not made a start on their poached pears.
How do we poach pears?
I don't know. Do you bake 'em as well? I don't know.
You need to get on with it,
otherwise you're going to run out of time.
What Michael's got to do is make a decision.
He's dithering. Making a decision's really important.
Don't dither, make a decision.
Lurking underneath the fluster is this sort of temple
of nonchalance. Apl...? Uh-huh? We peel the pears, and then we're
going to put them in there with water.
You need to take that core out. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
I'm just doing every task as quickly as I can.
Have you cored the...? Oh, I cut 'em in half.
Ah! No? No. Perhaps I didn't make that clear.
OK, well, as you cut it in half... We all make mistakes,
and I'm the leader. My bad.
So I'm going to cut mine in half. OK.
Woo!
The Red team are still working on their hollandaise sauce.
Good pinch of sea salt.
And then whisk. Yeah.
With hollandaise, melt some butter,
and then, with a bowl over some steam, add the butter
to the egg mixture. The first time
anybody tries a hollandaise, I should imagine
it'll take 'em three or four goes to get it right.
Mine's really, like, fluffy now. Yeah, exactly.
They've got one chance. Ooh!
Do I add the butter now, then? Take it off the heat.
Yeah. And then the tiniest bit...
..that's it. And then whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk.
Is it becoming like a hollandaise that you recognise?
Is that what we're going for?
Yeah. All right, sweet.
Nice. And your rostis, how's that looking?
I think I'm going to flip mine now, you know? Right.
Nice and golden. Ooh, ooh, ooh!
NARRATOR: With their pears poaching,
the Blue team can now turn their attention
to the batter for their Japanese souffle pancakes.
"Whisk together your milk, your egg yolks, vanilla and the mayo."
These Japanese pancakes are really, really fluffy, but, oddly,
have Japanese mayonnaise in them, which will hold the whole thing
together and keep it lovely and moist.
This is going to be interesting.
Once you've made your pancake batter,
a meringue is made with egg whites
and a little bit of sugar, and folded in to the pancake batter,
so it sits up in a mould and puffs up.
NARRATOR: Their pancake batter is under way,
but the Blue team have forgotten the key component.
You haven't put the flour in there yet.
OK. Apl, you're absolutely right. We've missed a step.
Michael is so stressed, he's not reading the instructions properly.
OK... Panic is setting in.
We'll take a sieve and we're going to put in the flour, the cornflour
and the baking powder.
# We're making the pancakes, we're making a Japanese pancake! #
LAUGHTER
Mine's a bit lumpy, yours looks great.
It's a bit of perseverance, I guess.
JOHN: Right, guys, you've only got 18 minutes left to go.
With their rosti and hollandaise made... I think that's nice.
..the Reds can now move on to their garnishes.
Get your pan to a boil.
Chuck your asparagus in, let's go.
He's bossing ME around now.
Also, babe, let's get our bacon on.
Bacon going in.
OK.
Bacon, do you want it crispy or do you NOT want it crispy?
Whatever it is, it can't be greasy.
Your asparagus is going to be nearly done.
Are you sure, babe? Trust me.
Fine. OK, I trust you.
LAUGHS: Shall I show you how floppy they are? Yeah.
They look about the same level of flop, don't they?
This all sounds great,
but I could be, like, chancing my arm here and everything could
go to hell in a dust cart really quickly.
But, right now, I'm pretty optimistic.
Back on the Blue team, Michael and Apl are preparing
to cook their pancakes.
JOHN: The recipe says to cover the pancakes with the lid
so they steam and they puff up.
Drop of water in the pan?
Yeah. And then when it comes up to the heat, I guess that's
when we'll put the things on.
They've got the pancake mix in the rings,
but they're frying them.
They're supposed to have a lid on the pan and a little bit of water
in the pan to steam them.
If they carry on, we are going to get a pancake mix which is burnt
on both ends and raw in the middle, and who wants one of them?
How long have we got left?
You have less than ten minutes to go!
NARRATOR: With their brunch dish almost complete,
the Red team have one final element to get right.
Me and poached eggs have a love/hate relationship,
I've gone through a lot of drama with them.
Poaching an egg? Every day. You poach an egg every day?
Yeah, three, usually, do about three every morning.
What's the secret to a good poached egg?
I'll put a bit of this in it,
the white wine vinegar. Just usually helps it hold together.
All right, shall we go in with the eggs now?
What do you want to do, babe? Do you want to crack them into the ramekin?
Just crack it. Shall we? Yeah. Show our skills?
Yeah. Famous last words, there ARE no skills.
Right.
I'm very, very interested about Luca's poached eggs.
I'm not sure how long to poach the pears for.
These pears are probably done.
Oh, God, they're well done!
However, c'est la vie. Take 'em out? Yeah, we should have done
that about, I'm guessing, 45 minutes ago.
That is a disaster.
They are in danger of disintegrating.
Hopefully, they'll hold up while they're still on the plate,
but they look pretty fragile to me now.
Without equivocation, these are
a biblical, terrifying,
awful mess.
Knackered beyond redemption.
How are your pancakes? Did you not put a lid on them?
I don't know. It says, "Use the lid to help them rise."
Is the magic elixir to the dish, which, of course, I didn't see.
Are we supposed to flip the pancake?
Yeah, we do need to flip 'em.
We do? Yeah.
Oh!
HE LAUGHS
Oh, my goodness! It's overcooked.
Be careful, turn them, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick.
Oh, BLEEP!
Quick, quick.
SIGHS: Oh! We're in the car park of culinary comedy.
We're going to give it another try.
You have three minutes, so whatever you got, we've got to get
it on a plate, please.
Yeah, let's start plating. Yes, boss!
So there are two hash browns, one in the middle, and then one propped
up against it. Three of your asparagus.
All on track, we're just trying to get the plating right.
Oh, no!
Cos I don't think it's cooked.
Time to plate up, Apl.
# You can do it, you can do it. #
I'm going to put my egg on.
Are you showing me them cos you're impressed with them? Yeah, I am.
They are great poached eggs.
That's it.
How much time have we got? You got a minute!
APL GROANS
Oh, my goodness!
Put your pear on the plate.
Let the hollandaise fall the left-hand side... Over the egg.
And bacon sat on the top.
Right, 30 seconds, finish the dish! Less is more.
APL: Imagine that looking like a syrup.
Right, that's it. Stop.
Ooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!
Red Team, come up, please.
You all right?
Yes, it's perfect. Yeah?
That is remarkable.
In fact, as far as I can remember, they may be the best two dishes
I've ever seen in these rounds ever.
LAUGHS: My God!
Where are we starting, Mr Wallace?
Here, with Amy's.
Oh, yay!
Woo! Get in there!
Mm.
The rosti is cooked nicely, it's cooked all the way through.
Still a little bit of texture in the middle of it. With that,
you've got a good hollandaise, maybe a touch more lemon juice to give it
a little bit more acidity, but otherwise, great.
It's a very, very good dish.
Salty bacon, a perfectly poached egg, perfectly cooked asparagus.
I have not got an issue!
Luca, let's have a look at yours.
Oh, my friend,
you've made edible art there!
You have a really good rosti, done properly.
Asparagus cooked very, very well, great runny egg.
There's a little tiny bit of lemon juice across the bacon.
It's got a lot more sharpness to it and spice to it. I like it.
Luca, yours is every bit as fabulous as Amy's,
which is no surprise cos you were following each other step-by-step.
I'm very happy with this.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
We smashed it, didn't we? Yeah.
The comments we got, I don't think we could have done much more.
Nothing short of remarkable!
For Gregg to say that it was one of the best-looking dishes
he's ever seen in that challenge,
jaw to the floor moment.
I'm going to hang on to that forever. In fact,
I might even have it engraved on my gravestone!
SHE LAUGHS
Blue team. Come on, guys, up you come.
All right. Yeah, it looks good.
The pancakes, it all started to go a little bit wrong, didn't it?
Terror will do that to a guy.
You actually both burnt your pancakes, which means
that you both made the same mistake.
HE LAUGHS
Yeah! That's right!
Where are we going to start, Mr Wallace? Here, with Apl's.
The pancake is light, fluffy, almost has a vanilla flavour to it.
But, of course, what I'm getting is the burnt charcoal-y bitter.
You ripped it in half, pulling it out, which saved
you from having TWO burnt ends!
Your pears are going a little bit
soft, but besides that, your granola's great.
It's got a crunch to it with the nuts and the oats all together.
You're almost there.
Shall we go for yours now, Michael?
Bingo! Ooh, really? Yeah!
Bit dark on that side,
but that's absolutely perfect, look at that! Wow!
Your pear is soft.
Don't boil them, just gently cook them.
But the taste of orange juice and lemon juice, a little bit of spice
and the natural honey sweetness of a pear.
That's really, really good.
I can taste slight differences between yours and Apl's.
Your granola isn't as sweet,
your poaching liquid is thicker and more reduced.
But, Michael... Mm. ..have a bit of
self-confidence and take a deep breath,
cos you are a good cook. Thanks.
I feel all right.
Me and Mike are kind of the same,
like, free-flowing, but sporadic...
It was all right, wasn't it?
..maybe easily stressed.
HE LAUGHS
My pancakes should have had a hump.
I did misread the recipe, and I hold my hands up for that.
In the consequence, it was my bad.
A few hiccups, but I thought we did OK.
Honestly, I thought we did OK.
That was a test of your teamwork and your communication.
You are going to need that where you are going next, I promise you.
Off you go.
Well done, guys!
Well done, guys! Me and my boys.
It's day two, and the four celebrities have been split
into pairs once again.
Well, where are we going?
They're about to get their first taste of working a lunchtime service
in a professional kitchen.
The unknown!
APL LAUGHS
There's too many unknowns.
Apl and Amy will be cooking at Hoppers in London's Soho.
Running the pass is co-founder Karan Gokani.
So our food comes from Sri Lanka and South India.
For me, smelling curry leaves is like going back home.
This is our first restaurant, which we opened in 2015.
We've slowly grown but still very family run.
We like to think, you know, it's like coming to dine at our homes.
Agh! I think is it! Here we go!
Apl will be in charge of a traditional
Sri Lankan main course, kothu roti.
This is one of my favourite dishes.
In Sri Lanka, you come back from a big night out, you open your fridge.
Think of it as leftovers.
The dish is made up of chopped roti bread, tossed with cabbage, egg,
and bound with a silky lamb curry, all cooked together
on the hotplate.
Onions. You've got the paddles. Give them a quick flick.
And the most fun bit is obviously the roti.
You want a little crunch in there, right? Absolutely!
Next, a little bit of the greens and we go in with egg.
It just makes it all a little richer, a little more unctuous. Mm!
Scramble it up, give it all a good mix.
# Scramble it up, scramble it up, scramble it up. #
The most important thing is getting the balance of ingredients right,
cooking each ingredient perfectly. Give it all a good mix,
and then, finally, that lovely curry sauce.
Nice chunks of meat in there.
The right amount of curry to not make it soggy.
The key is it's called kothu, kothu, which means chop, chop. Chop, chop.
In Sri Lanka, the way you find the best kothu roti is wandering
the streets and listening out with your ears,
not with your eyes and your nose.
PADDLES CLATTER RHYTHMICALLY
# Hey, hey, hey! #
I have guests coming to the restaurant... There you go.
..and they hear the sound coming from the kitchen,
"That's a kothu," and they get really excited about it.
But you can bang out whatever tunes you like.
Get it nice and high, and spring onions.
Nice!
This is your dish.
You're not going to mess this up. Are you all set?
Yes. Let's do it. Let's do it.
Feels like there's a lot of steps, but we're ready.
Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.
While Apl works on his roti bread...
Ooh! ..slicing it into thin ribbons for service...
Chopping it up, chopping it up, making the roti.
..Amy is working on two types of sambol, a traditional Sri Lankan
condiment. Pol sambol, a coconut and chilli relish...
It's so heavy! Do you know,
my pestle and mortar at home is that big.
..and seeni sambol, a caramelised red onion and tamarind blend.
Yeah, it IS hard work.
I've not worked for a while.
I've been off having a baby, playing.
The dips will be served alongside the restaurant's signature creation,
a Sri Lankan pancake, and the one the restaurant was named after.
Amy, you have a huge responsibility on your shoulders.
Gosh! You're making hoppers. I know!
This technique, we've got some time to practise,
but in service you're on your own. That is your hopper pan.
A hopper is made with a rice and coconut batter.
You grind it and you fermented it overnight until it gets
really nice and bubbly.
Think of it a bit like a sourdough, so it's living.
The key here is getting the pan to the right temperature
when the batter goes in. It's too cold, it's going to stick.
If the pan's too hot, it's going to burn.
So the key is just that nice, soft sizzle.
It's like a song.
Take your time, go all the way round and then coat the middle.
Now we get a lid on.
It's going to give you a really lovely, spongy middle
and crispy edges.
Oh, wow! So, now, at that stage, get underneath there.
Wow. Look at that!
SHE GASPS
Not only will Amy have to master the wok technique for the plain
hoppers, she will also have to get to grips with a second version,
the egg hopper.
Centre it nicely and then lid on, because that's what's
going to steam your eggs. How long are we cooking that egg for?
I like it runny. You just want that little bit of white to set.
Yeah. No-one likes a snotty egg white.
HE LAUGHS
Exactly!
Wow! The key for you, Amy, is we're going to have to focus on speed.
Yeah. Are you ready?
Yeah. Hell, yeah! Let's do it!
It's so technical, and I think you don't really realise it,
so, yeah, I'm slightly freaking out.
Across town in London's Shoreditch, Michael and Luca are arriving
at Temper... After you. ..a high-end barbecue restaurant famed
for its cookery over fire.
They will be working under chef director, David Lagonell.
Flavour profile of Temper restaurants specialises
in Latin-American cuisine.
Open-fire cooking is definitely a major challenge,
it's about how to control and manage the fire. If it's too hot,
you're obviously going to burn something. If it's too cold,
you're never going to get the service out,
so it must be done correctly.
I hope they take away the fact that they are cooking
with charcoal and wood.
Well, I hope the chef's temperament is not the same as the logo.
It's a skill to master.
I hope they bring a lot of energy with them,
they are definitely going to need it.
This is kind of heaven for me because I actually love a fire.
Michael will be responsible for the restaurant's ultimate
crowd-pleaser, the cheeseburger taco.
Freshly pressed tortillas topped with beef patties, smoked cheese,
pickled onion and two sauces - a green sauce made with coriander
and lime, and a cheeseburger sauce.
Last year, we sold 25,000 portions of this. Wow!
During service, Michael's first challenge will be to correctly cook
the tortilla on the hotplate.
How intense is this heat now?
About 400 degrees.
If it's too hot, you're going to burn the tortilla.
He will also have to master cooking over charcoal to ensure his beef
patties are seared perfectly.
Do you cook burgers at home on the barbecue?
Last time I did it, it was a disaster. Right.
So I'm hoping not to repeat that catastrophe.
I'm hoping so, too.
No pressure, then.
Place the patty face-down.
As long as you control the temperature and cook the patty
the way it should be cooked, you should be home and dry.
OK. OK?
So we start with the green sauce.
You just want to cut that in half. OK?
That's what you're looking for. Lovely. Still moist.
The burgers are topped with smoked cheese...
Smoked raclettes. ..and dropped into the charcoal oven to melt.
I don't want to let you down, that's the thing.
Yeah, I don't want you to. No. No.
This is the best-selling dish we have. So no-one ever sends this
back, everyone enjoys it, everyone loves it.
This is melted, ready to go.
So a little bit of burger sauce on either side,
pickled red onions, and then
a couple of slices of chilli, and then finish
it off with a lime, and that's basically your dish.
It's heaven!
What really is quietly terrifying me is that in seven years and 25,000
of these, not one has ever been sent back.
While Michael makes a start grinding and shaping his patties...
This is rather fantastic.
Less speed, more haste.
We've got to get this prepared.
If we're not ready, we're in trouble.
..Luca is busy preparing a complex green curry sauce.
There's so much that I've never cooked with that I'm cooking with.
I don't think any ingredient today
I've cooked with before, other than butter.
The green curry sauce is served with mussels and paratha bread.
Have you got experience cooking mussels? Not really. Just sold 'em.
Interesting. Well, you're going to be on the other side now.
The mussels are first steamed
in a pan to order on a hotplate over the fire.
Place another pot on top just to make sure
that the steam is helping you burn the mussels a lot faster.
You don't want to leave them there for too long
because when they overcook, they get rubbery.
You see how it doesn't take long at all? Yeah.
Nearly all of them are open.
Once steamed, the mussels are warmed through in the green curry sauce.
Four ladles, that's a correct recipe. I can smell it.
You going to let them cook for a little longer. Into the pan?
Keeping one eye on his mussels,
Luca will also have to make fresh paratha bread on the plancha.
So you do this while the mussels are cooking behind you.
A little bit of sauce on top.
Yeah. That's the paratha nearly done now.
You can see how it pops up. Yeah.
Amazing.
And that's basically your dish there.
It looks unbelievable.
How long does it take you to cook this?
A minute, a minute and a half.
It is some heat, innit? It's like Dubai on steroids.
Going to get hot. I'm sweating right now, and I haven't done anything,
so I might just go work for the bar.
It's midday.
Diners are arriving at both restaurants...
Argh! Scared! ..and service is about to begin.
First check on. Amy, I'd like two hoppers. Yes, Chef.
Plain hoppers. And can I have two kothu rotis?
Are we ready?
The pressure is on for Amy... Argh!
..to get the perfect wok temperature...
Literally singeing the hairs on my fingers.
..without her batter sticking to the pan.
First one on. Argh!
I'm already flapping.
Quite pleased with how it went around the edges, but I don't know
if I've burnt it underneath.
Right, Amy, I need a hopper in here, please.
How's that for my first one?
That's fantastic. Very well done.
Excellent. Oh, thank you.
First one not too bad, but I'm just waiting for the six-at-a-time one,
and I'll be screwed.
Just across the kitchen,
orders are also flying in for Apl's lamb kothu roti.
# Cookin' it up with my girl, Amy Woo!
# Tryin' to flip it up with a kothu roti. #
THEY CHEER
OK, but now get cooking! Come on!
My man, it's good.
# Kothu, kothu, kothu, kothu... #
Hey! Going well, so far.
Glued to the hotplate, Apl must work on serving a consistent portion
of each element.
Let's get a little more hight on.
OK. Let's get a little more greenery on. Be generous with the onions.
OK. Well done. Keep going.
It's pretty hard work, but once you got the routine down, makes
it a little easier.
With diners piling in, orders for Amy's hoppers are stacking up.
I need nine plain hoppers, so keep going, keep going.
I've got the curries waiting now.
OK, OK, OK.
Quickly, Amy, quickly, please, thank you. Yep.
Is that OK, Chef? That is perfect. You're doing really well.
I'm sorry about the burns, but you'll remember us.
SHE LAUGHS
I'm really enjoying it, believe it or not.
I want to get, like, a perfectly circular-edged one,
but at the moment I'm just glad to be not scalding myself
or burning the bottom, so I think I'm doing all right.
This, Amy, is perfect. Woohoo!
This is exactly what we want. Well done! Well done, Amy.
Apl, are you tasting the kothu roti when you make it?
Just to make sure the seasoning is right.
Gotcha. It's very easy to over-season. OK.
Gotcha.
I think they're both doing well,
given the number of checks we have on pass.
But the only thing I'm upset about Apl is I'm not hearing
any tunes.
# Roti, yeah, yeah, yeah...! #
HE LAUGHS
More, more, more, more!
# Yo, it's Apl.de MasterChef celebrity. #
Over in Shoreditch, service is well under way.
Right, check on, one cheeseburger taco.
That's better.
Orders for Michael's cheeseburger tacos are flooding in.
Make it four all day, four. Four all day? Yes, Chef.
He's juggling searing burgers...
Michael, that one is perfect as it is. Well done, carry on.
..watching them in the oven, and frying tacos
for multiple orders.
God almighty, it's boiling!
He's got the fire brigade on speed dial.
Oh, for BLEEP!
OK, that went down. Let's make another one.
Dropped it on the floor!
Going to need one more cheeseburger taco when possible.
Yeah.
How's that, is that too burnt?
Let's have a look.
No, that's perfect. Keep going.
Nice crust.
Why is this so fiddly?
OK, so call service, then. That's wonderful. That is beautiful.
That's what we're looking for. Is it? That looks amazing.
Hardest thing of all is keeping track of how many
burgers you've got. I've already dropped one
and burnt my fingers!
HE CHUCKLES
Luca is also off to a flying start.
All right, check on, one mussels. Another mussels?
Three all day, Chef. Three? Four.
Four?! I ain't got enough pans for four!
You've got five mussels all day, five mussels all day.
Now the butter is going...
Five all day... Another one?
Five portions all together, unfortunately, it happens sometimes.
Let's get it, five orders.
Luca, are you tasting everything, yeah? How is that looking?
Thick and fast. Let's have it!
Have you got enough parathas on?
But with so many dishes to plate, his parathas are suffering.
You've got to watch this, Luca, this is burnt, we can't use it.
The plancha's far too hot.
He's choosing the wrong spot to cook the bread.
Move it over to there. Right, can I get a cloth to clean this?
Very messy.
But he's getting there, though. The flavour is great,
the cooking is perfect.
It's crazy. The way they get these orders out of the door,
and the quality they do it in,
I've never seen anything like it.
Not going to need a sun bed after this, am I?
Back in Soho, the pace is showing no sign of slowing.
That's for table three.
Just as Amy is getting to grips with the cooking technique
of her plain hopper... The last one you made was fantastic.
..she has an order of both versions of the dish.
Now I need one plain hopper, one egg hopper.
Oh, my God, are you joking?
I've never even done the egg hopper.
I AM panicking.
Argh!
She needs to get the batter right, she needs to get the heat right,
and she needs to crack that egg and cook it perfectly.
It's burnt a little bit.
Argh! Let's take it off and have a look.
Amy, I don't think I can send this one out. No, I know,
it's caught. I think it's a little burnt. Yeah.
It's so hard!
It's, like, the simplest thing, but it's so hard to get right.
New check, a roti, please.
Ow!
I need one more. One more?
The fast pace is also catching up with Apl.
How are we doing, Apl? I need two kothu rotis now!
Coming up, coming, coming! Have you tasted it?
Yup. We need one more, Apl, I need one more lamb kothu roti.
One more? Woo!
The things is hot!
As well as focusing on serving a balanced dish... Woo!
Apl, maybe a little more sauce in that. Looking a little dry.
Apl, I didn't hear that, are you all set?
Yep, coming up.
..he's also struggling with portion sizes.
Oh, here's a big one!
Apl, I think you've gone a bit
too heavy on the spring onions on that one, OK?
But the colour is nice, the texture looks perfect.
Well done. Let's go, table 12.
Across town, there is no let-up,
and Michael's struggling with the intense heat of the kitchen.
Oh, great, that fell apart.
Oh! We can't use it. No.
Yeah, it's really quick, you can't
take your eye off the ball for a second.
I think they're overcooked. Look at that. They're rubbery now.
Yeah. Far too gone, it's dry.
I want you to start again. One, two, three, four, five.
Yeah, you got five portions.
That's not going to work.
Coming up.
Wait, start again.
Michael was doing excellent until those portions, but, you know,
he's got to pick himself up and then just deliver again.
With Michael wrestling orders, in an effort to keep
up with multiple checks... How are we looking there?
..Luca is allowing standards to slip.
That's a very messy plating, let's plate it again.
Can I have more plates, please?
Bread, bread, bread, bread, bread, bread.
That's going to burn again. Yeah, it's burnt. Come on, then, Luca,
you have three of them all burnt, you have to start all over again.
Take your time plating it. The dish is beautiful.
You got the flavour correct, you're doing everything right,
but when it comes to plating, it's just going too fast.
OK. Yeah, that's it. That's when you take your time.
Just a little bit slower.
I tasted one, it's absolutely beautiful.
You're doing the right thing.
In Soho, service is drawing to a close.
Nearly there, Apl.
Yeah!
Then are we going to the pub? Ha-ha!
Amy has one last chance to perfect her egg hopper.
IN SOUTHERN DRAWL: One egg hopper coming up!
Let's get a little colour and let's pull it off.
OK, yes, Chef!
Woo, all right! This is ready to go with that. You want to come up to
the pass with that? Look at that. Amy, are you happy with this?
I am, actually, That's the best I've done. I am thrilled.
Let's go, service! Kind of feels so good.
Goodbye, my little baby. Well done! Thank you!
Apl, this is your last kothu roti of the day, let's make it count.
OK, cool. Let's do it, let's make it the best one yet.
Do it!
All right! Apl, come on, bring it on.
Woo!
I'll tell you what, you got the balance spot-on.
Really well done, Apl, I'm very proud of you.
Over at Temper, the last checks are in...
This one's falling apart.
..and Michael is still trying to catch up on his taco orders.
I'm not happy with that at all.
The reason why this is happening is because it's not seared enough
to create a crust for it to hold together. Understood.
God, it's so easy to forget what you're doing. So easy.
There's one last chance for him to impress Chef David.
Yes. No, that's the one.
Beautiful. Are you getting the hang of it? Slowly, slowly.
Looks very presentable. Very beautiful.
Well, with style, finishing on a high.
Here we go. Well done!
Service. Louder.
Service! Louder.
SERVICE!
It's now down to Luca to prove he can perfect the complete dish.
OK, last one, and then we're home and dry.
That bread is looking amazing, that's what we're looking for.
Finally! It has to wait until the end.
It has to be perfection at the end.
Plating is spot-on, really nice and neat.
Slow down a bit, finish it off nicely.
That's the best one you made so far.
Yeah, because you were watching.
Beautiful.
Well done, mate. Service, please!
I'm proud to serve that.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Nice to see you.
I'm on a buzz. You know what, I live for environments like this.
I like the chaos, the pressure, and,
yeah, it wasn't too bad in the end, I enjoyed it.
Literally been my dream to work in a professional kitchen. I got
to be a part of it in Soho, in an amazing restaurant
that I already can't wait to come back and eat at,
so, yeah, it's been a really good day. Very happy.
I can say unequivocally this has been the experience
of a lifetime, and I feel a sense of achievement.
Ta-da!
I know there's a lot of hard tests coming up...
Woo! ..so I'll be back
in my hotel. I've got a kitchen, so I'll be practising.
Peace.
Oh, well, we did it.
I'm going to sleep well tonight.
Yeah, that was fun, right?
That WAS fun. Woo! Woohoo!
Yeah.
And breathe.
Hello!
Welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.
We want you to open a food truck
in a market and sell to us your idea
of great food.
You can be inspired from anywhere around the world, we don't mind.
We just want something that you think is absolutely delicious.
There are three quarterfinal places up for grabs.
That does mean that one of you is going to be leaving
the competition. One hour, ladies and gentlemen, let's cook.
I LOVE this round. It's not supposed to be posh,
it's supposed to be gutsy and full of soul.
HE GROANS
Make our decision tough, you guys.
Oh, my God, I'm so excited to be here!
I think I'd love doing my own food truck, really targeted towards
hungover people on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
"Oh, shall we have a hair of the dog?
"Ooh, shall we have some fried food?
"Ooh, what could I eat? Chicken and chips."
What's your dish, Amy?
So I used to work in a Japanese restaurant in between acting jobs,
and I just fell in love with the cuisine.
So this dish is Karaage chicken, Japanese fried chicken, with salt
and pepper chips.
What will your food truck be called?
So it's a chicken and chip van, but with a twist.
And I'd like to call it Coq In Van.
Out of the famous French chicken dish?
Yeah, coq au vin.
But this time, it's Coq, C-O-Q, In Van, V-A-N.
Chicken Karaage, thighs of chicken, marinated with things
like soy sauce, mirin. Lots and lots of ginger.
You roll it in potato starch,
so the starch becomes like a crust, and dropped into a deep fryer.
Oh! To quote Pretty Woman,
"Slippery little sucker."
I want crispy chips, fluffy on the inside.
Let's see how this goes.
And she's got a spicy mayo.
Let's hope that's right.
She has all the combinations of a winning dish right here,
but it's the execution.
SHE SIGHS
It's so hot, why did I wear a jumper?
15 minutes gone.
Where has the other one gone? Here we are.
Michael, what are you serving us from your truck?
A vegan red Thai curry.
We've got peppers, mushrooms, mangetouts, little mini sweetcorns,
and a whole bunch of deliciousness for the paste.
Is it going to be a plant-based food truck?
It's going to be a plant-based food truck,
and it's going to be outside the exit to Wimbledon Centre Court,
and it's going to be called Thai Break. Brilliant! I LOVE that.
HE WHISTLES
A Thai curry is all about the paste...
Where's the measurer?
..which is made up of shallots and garlic and ginger
and chillies, first blended together to make a paste, then fried till
it's really, really fragrant.
# Ba-da-boom. #
Oh, that's not right, that's completely wrong.
I put oil in the pan.
It's supposed to dry-fry.
I suppose it's a basic schoolboy error is a polite way of putting it.
He's going to add to that, agave syrup.
It'll give it a sweetness.
And then he's going to cook his vegetables with coconut
milk and stock.
Thai curry is about the sauce being soaked up by whatever else
is within that curry.
But vegetables don't soak up flavour.
Feels to me as though it needs something else.
OK, hob, you're new to me. Please don't screw with me.
If I got through to the quarterfinals, of course,
that's going to be a bit of an achievement.
Where's the vegetable stock?
Smoosh this in. God, I hate these pans.
They're expecting us to ramp it up a notch.
That's easier said than done.
I'm cooking a Filipino dish, so it means a lot to me.
Very proud of my culture.
Hopefully, I get it right and make my kababayans proud.
I've got to say, the smells on your bench are amazing.
What are you cooking? Another Filipino dish called afritada.
So afritada is basically chicken cooked in tomato sauce,
and the idea is turning them into meatball sliders.
Little burgers? Yeah.
And I'm going to use these famous Filipino bread called pandesal.
Do you like street food?
Yeah! It's an LA thing, they're everywhere.
After the club is, like, the best time, you know what I mean?
You're like, "Oh, man, I need salty stuff right now!"
THEY LAUGH
I like Apl's Filipino flavours. He's done it once before,
and it was good, it got him this far.
Nice, my friend. All right.
He's taking the chicken meatballs,
he's then finishing them off in the sauce.
Remix!
He's got cheese on his bench.
That's some tough cheese.
He's got a little bread roll, which is a famous bread roll
from the Philippines.
Hey, get you!
We're getting chips.
He's only going to fry them once.
SIZZLING
Oh! Did I get you? Just a little.
Sorry, bro!
THEY LAUGH
Crispy chips and a slider.
Fantastic. As long as that chicken is nice and moist.
Right, boys and girls.
When my friends or family see some of the stuff I've been doing,
I think they're going to be really shocked.
Look at that egg yolk. Ooh!
And I want to keep shocking people.
Oh, no!
And I still believe I can do better.
Whip that, baby!
Luca, I spy you're cooking fish.
I'm not too bad with it when it's in batter,
I can stomach it, so I've actually tried this dish.
Fantastic! Good start.
Tell us what your dish is.
Basically, in Napoli,
there's a fishmonger that sells fresh fish in the day.
Anything he has left over, it turns into, like, a little hut overnight.
And you get a queue of people just waiting for the fish.
So what mix of fish and seafood have you got?
We've got prawns, haddock, seaweed doughballs and a courgette.
I've called it Bish'n'Mix.
Yeah, you have it in a cone and go down the beach and eat it.
Luca is giving us an old-fashioned Italian fritto misto,
things fried up in batter.
# Dun-dun-dun-dun... #
This is great, as long as everything inside that batter is cooked.
The wetter your hand is, the less it sticks.
And as long as the batter is crispy and not greasy.
And he's making a tomato arrabbiata sauce, sharp and really chilli-hot.
Please do not splash. Ooh!
Lovely.
Never had a seaweed doughnut before, but it sounds absolutely fantastic.
I hope he's got enough time to make sure they're cooked
the way through.
LUCA GROANS
Nothing worse than a doughnut that's not cooked all the way through.
Celebrities, your food trucks open in ten minutes,
just ten minutes!
SIGHS: Oh, God!
It reminds me of working in the Japanese restaurant!
I've left something out here. That's what I've forgotten,
I knew I'd forgotten something. Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!
Less is more.
Oh, my God, your prawns look insane!
Just right on time.
You have just two minutes.
SOUTHERN DRAWL: Right, yeah, boy,
what is not to like?
Less is more.
You are gettin there, Apl. Keep going, my friend.
Ow!
Cook all right? Yeah.
Good. Finishing touches, please, you've got just 30 seconds left!
It's not bad. Hey!
Woo!
Time's up! Well done, everybody!
All done? Yeah.
Fabulous effort!
Amy, come on, please.
OK...
Amy's food truck dish is Japanese Karaage chicken with salt and pepper
chips and spicy mayonnaise,
garnished with peanuts, crispy onions, chilli and pickled radish.
That chicken is fabulous!
It's cooked beautifully inside, it's a really crunchy, crispy coating.
It's salty with soy. Oh, that's absolutely lovely.
You have good chips which are cooked all the way through underneath.
In there is a really good amount of Chinese five spice.
It tastes like I'm having a Chinese duck.
A good amount of chilli
in your mayonnaise, but more fresh chilli sliced across the top,
and I really like it.
SHE EXHALES
I think that was my best cooking, probably, so far.
I feel like a different person.
I don't know who that person was, but let's leave her behind.
SHE LAUGHS
Michael has cooked a vegan red Thai curry - peppers, mushrooms,
mangetouts and baby corn
in a lemongrass chilli and ginger sauce served with jasmine
rice and nigella seeds.
That's a nice curry sauce. Lemongrass, citrus and then a little
bit of heat as well, contrasted nicely
with the crunch of the baby corn in there.
It's vegetables in a flavoured broth,
and there's nothing wrong with that,
but it doesn't set the world on fire.
I think your rice is cooked really, really well.
I like those nigella seeds around the outside.
Your Thai curry sauce,
I don't think it should be as sweet as this.
There's way too much agave.
You have got some sort of dried spice in the background here.
They haven't really been fried off properly.
They're very, very dusty.
I felt I cooked that dish the way I always cook it.
I'm more than happy with it.
But I completely respect that someone goes,
"You know what, it's too sweet for me." I get that.
Apl has served a take on Filipino afritada, a chicken meatball slider
cooked in a tomato sauce, topped with Cheddar cheese inside pandesal,
a Filipino bread roll, served with fries and a spicy mayo.
Chicken mince is notorious, it goes dry.
But yours didn't, it stayed really, really moist.
I do like that. I love that bread.
You've toasted it as well to give it a little bit of crispness
on the top. The chips are a little bit dark.
I haven't got an issue with that. They're crispy, they're cooked
on the inside, they're very, very well-seasoned.
Your little mayonnaise dipping sauce for the chips,
it's distinctly flavoured of Tabasco, but it's not boiling hot.
It sits on your tongue and dances around because of the smoothness
of that mayonnaise. Your afritada,
I would like you to serve those by the dozen
because they are absolutely delicious.
Whenever you're happy, you move, you dance.
Have you always done this?
Yeah. It's kind of like when you're eating something you really like
and you start dancing.
LAUGHS: Yeah.
I think that went pretty well.
Yay!
I want to try it.
It feels good to be able to introduce something new...
Yeah!
..to share classic Filipino food.
Yeah. Food-trekkin' the future, baby!
Inspired by trips to Italy,
Luca's food truck creation is Bish'n'Mix,
beer-battered king prawns and haddock, a seaweed doughball
and tempura courgettes, served with a tomato and basil
arrabbiata sauce.
Your prawn, even though it's a big prawn,
is cooked really nicely. The crunch
of that flesh, and it's got a natural sweetness to it as well.
The courgette is cooked inside there.
That haddock is very, very good.
You do have a crispy batter.
I'm enjoying it, but it's a little greasy.
Put it out on some paper towel, let the excess dry off. OK.
But everything in there is cooked properly.
The arrabbiata sauce, it has got the sweetness of the tomato
and it has got a little bit of chilli heat in there as well.
These seaweed doughnuts, I've never seen before.
I didn't expect them to be that soft.
The seaweed is more of a texture rather than a flavour,
but you get that little bit of saltiness of the sea,
which is good. I like it, Luca, I like it a lot.
I want to try that prawn so badly.
Relieved the cooking's done for today.
The dish was related to my heritage, my family.
I'm happy with the dish I picked.
We've had some great food,
and I've got to say, on the whole, I thought it was delicious.
They took us from the Philippines to the south of Italy,
to Thailand...
GREGG CHUCKLES
..to bits of Japan.
Well done, all four of them.
Apl took an afritada and made it into a burger slider.
I think it's really tasty. It's new, it's interesting,
it's exciting.
I feel optimistic.
Yeah, feeling the vibe.
Amy, I think, was really, really ambitious.
I loved Amy's Japanese-style chicken, and I thought
it was absolutely gorgeous.
I mean, everyone deserves a place. It's anyone's game, I guess.
I've got to say, Luca worked really, really hard.
His seaweed doughnuts, they were great!
He cooked the vegetables, and particularly the fish, perfectly.
You know, that's clever cookery.
I want to get further and further. My head's already
planning for the quarterfinal, and I want to be there
and I want to show what I've learnt.
Michael made vegan Thai red curry, really vibrant from the vegetables.
The issue for me was that sauce, it was dusty and very, very sweet.
Of course, no-one wants to be booted off.
It's been unexpected in so many varied ways.
That performance for me could be summarised by that movie
called Gone Baby Gone.
LUCA LAUGHS
Your fish dish...
That was like a movie as well.
Grease.
THEY ALL LAUGH
There was some great food, full of heart, full of passion,
and a great deal of fun.
But there are just three quarterfinal places left
in this year's competition.
The celebrity leaving us...
..is Michael.
This has been such a pleasure.
I've had so much fun with my compadres,
and I can't thank you enough. Thank you.
Mike! Love you.
Obviously, I would not be human if I weren't disappointed,
but it is what it is.
I shall look back on MasterChef with tremendous fondness.
It's been a wonderful experience.
Congratulations, you guys are all quarterfinalists.
THEY CHEER
Well done, guys!
It feels great to advance and to keep pushing the boundaries,
keeping my culinary imagination going, you know?
Yeah, I'm buzzing.
I don't think my mum will believe me when I go home and tell her,
but MasterChef quarterfinalist - yeah, I like the sound of it.
When things go right and those judges enjoy your food,
it's literally the best feeling in the world.
Next time, it's the quarterfinal,
and Luca, Amy and Apl are back
to fight for their place.
These are great!
Let's have it!
IN EXAGGERATED AMERICAN ACCENT: It's a ris-o-tto!
Risotto? Look at that! Come on!
I...am...in...food...heaven.