It's the Professional MasterChef quarterfinal.
These four talented chefs stood out in their heats.
Tonight, they will be judged on two challenges
designed to test them even further.
I'm feeling good, feeling excited.
The nerves aren't there any more, which is a good thing.
Erm, I'm just ready.
I think everyone will push their boundaries,
so I want to push my boundaries as well.
The pressures of the MasterChef kitchen is intense, but, yeah,
it's good pressure. It gets you amped up.
Getting through this far is a great achievement,
but it does take a lot for you to keep a cool head,
so, yeah, it's not going to be a walk in the park.
First, they will have to devise a dish from scratch,
featuring one key ingredient...
Absolutely delicious.
..before cooking for three of the country's most discerning
food critics.
This is flamboyant food at its finest.
Only the best will earn a place in the semifinals.
Every round, we push our chefs a little bit further,
and this quarterfinal is no exception.
This is an opportunity like no other to stand out and be noticed.
Chefs, welcome to your quarterfinal.
Every time you step back in this kitchen,
we expect a little bit more of you.
The bar goes a bit higher.
Why? Because you are showing a lot of potential, a lot of skill,
we know what you can do.
In the box in front of you is a key ingredient
that we want you to use in your dish today.
Chefs, reveal your ingredient.
As you can see, you've got mustard.
I absolutely love mustard,
and I hope you do too.
Through those doors is an array of mustards
that we have chosen for you,
alongside other ingredients.
We have fish,
we do have some meat,
we have vegetables,
we have potatoes, rice, pulses.
Chefs, we're going to give you ten minutes to plan your dish,
60 minutes to cook and serve.
As we know, certain mustards have certain degrees of heat
and sharpness through them.
I'd like to see them use different types, maybe the herbs,
even the seeds,
just to bring a little kick and a little bite to dishes.
They can use it in a marinade, they can use it as a rub,
they can put it into their sauce.
We want them to be bold,
we want them to push themselves and show some of their imagination.
It's thrown me a bit, because I don't really like mustard!
I never really eat it, because I don't like it,
so it's a challenge today to try and come up with a dish
in just ten minutes!
As soon as I walked in, I went straight for the sea trout.
It's a very delicate flavour.
People think mustard is quite an overpowering thing,
but it can be used in quite a subtle way.
I'm really enjoying using mustard.
In Sri Lankan cuisine, we use a lot of mustard in some of the dishes,
so, yeah, I'm just trying to use some of the pork belly.
Mustard can be overpowering, so I'm just going to have to make sure
I balance the dishes, as well as maximise each ingredient.
Right, Chefs, you've got your ingredients,
you've made your selection of mustards.
Let's get down to business.
60 minutes. Off you go.
26-year-old Aaron is a classically-trained chef,
with over five years Michelin experience.
He currently works as a private chef in Oxfordshire.
So far, he's proven himself to be a strong all-rounder,
with great flavour, technique and creativity.
I do like creating off the cuff, so when I started to cook,
my dear mother would cook sausage casserole religiously.
It would be sausage casserole on a Monday, chicken casserole
on a Tuesday, and then casserole surprise on a Wednesday.
So that led me into the cupboards, and into the fridge,
to try and come up with something else for dinner.
Aaron, how are you finding our challenge of mustard?
Very nerve-racking.
It's not an ingredient that I've used heavily,
but I feel like it can be used as a spice and as a seasoning.
So I'm replacing it into recipes and dishes that I know work.
And my dish is going to be confited sea trout.
I'm going to be making a mustard beurre blanc,
using the Dijon, and a little bit of the English mustard,
to give a little bit more kick.
Erm, I'm going to be using the mustard seeds, erm,
in some pickled onions,
and then the mustard powder to go through a watercress mix,
which is going to stuff a courgette flour.
Why the sea trout?
I feel like it's a nice, delicate flavour.
I feel like it will, it will complement the mustard.
Mustard can be overpowering, erm,
overbearingly bitter and harsh.
Hopefully, these subtle things will work together,
with the addition of lemon and dill and some herbal notes going on.
But mustard's not subtle.
It's not, but we're going to try and... Subtle it down?
Yeah, make it not take over, hopefully.
A good, hot mustard will work in a beurre blanc,
and it will certainly work with a confited sea trout.
It's all about quantities, getting the balance just right.
The Dijon mustard has a heat to it, but the English mustard is hotter.
Do they complement each other when you put them together?
Well, we'll soon find out.
31-year-old head chef Jamie started out in Michelin kitchens,
but has since moved into events catering,
where he has more freedom to develop his own dishes.
His risky use of salsify in his signature dessert
made him stand out from the crowd.
I do like a sense of drama.
I do like to put a lot of effort and a lot of flair into my dishes.
I know there's going to be some tough competition,
but we'll see who comes out on top.
Jamie, what do you think about our challenge?
It's interesting. I've got a lot to do.
I'm just going to try my hardest and do the best I can.
My dish is mustard cured and confited sea trout,
with a mustard dressing,
with the slight sourness of the German mustard,
but the heat of the English.
Celeriac remoulade with some wholegrain mustard through that.
I've also got a watercress oil and a whipped ricotta.
Nice. Very nice.
I remember quite a quirky dessert you made for us in the last round.
Are you bringing some of that into this challenge today?
I am. I've got a water cracker, just for a bit of texture,
and a few ingredients that might be a little bit surprising.
I personally quite love remoulade, a wonderful, fresh celeriac,
wrapped with mayonnaise and wholegrain mustard.
And I think that'll work very well with the sea trout that he's using.
I'm sure there's enough mustard through the dish.
The only thing is to make sure that it's balanced.
Don't add too much.
25-year-old Eleanor was inspired to cook
by her late Italian grandmother,
and now works as a chef de partie in London.
She reached the quarterfinal
delivering refined cooking with visual flair.
Getting a place in the semifinals, it will be,
it'll be amazing, I would never have thought I'd be able to get that far.
It just shows that I should have a bit more confidence in myself
to do well.
Mustard.
What does that mean to you?
It doesn't really mean a lot, because I don't really like it!
Oh! Eleanor!
Oh!
Er, but I understand the flavours of mustard,
so I'm just going to go with what works with it.
So I'm going to do a pork, erm, with mustard,
and then I'm going to do a pork and mustard sauce,
and a celeriac and mustard puree,
with some asparagus and, erm, some charred radicchio leaves.
What type of mustards have you chosen?
The wholegrain mustard I'm going to use in the puree,
and then the English powdered mustard I'm going to use
in the sauce. I have some Dijon mustard as well on the pork loin.
Well, it seems like you know what you're doing
with an ingredient you don't like very much,
and that's a good thing.
It is a good thing.
Mustard and pork will work very well,
celeriac we know works very well with mustard, that's great,
but don't be shy with the mustard.
The pork can take that strong flavour.
It's delicate, pork loin, but it does work with mustard
very, very well.
Chefs,
15 minutes left.
34-year-old Charith grew up in Sri Lanka,
and came to the UK in 2010 to follow his dream of becoming a chef.
Dishes inspired by his heritage have so far been a hit
with the judges.
As a chef, you can do anything you want.
I have really good ideas about Sri Lankan food,
mixed with the British ingredients,
so I think I'm going to keep doing it,
and, yeah, I think I will be able to impress them.
Charith is making a pork curry.
He's chosen lots of spices,
and he's got a selection of mustards to go with it, too.
We've got a dahl, we've got some steamed rice,
and we've also got an onion salad.
Love the sound of this dish,
but what's going to be the ultimate flavour?
Is it going to be the spices,
or is it going to be the mustard?
In Sri Lanka, we use mustard quite a lot, in the curry powders,
and even when we make the curries, we use the mustard
in a different way, like a paste.
So I'm using a wholegrain mustard, English mustard,
and I'm using some of the black seed mustard as well.
It's smelling amazing on your section,
and I love that you're bringing some of your Sri Lankan, erm, heritage
into your food today.
Does your family, your parents cook?
My mother, she cooks all the time.
When I was back home, I never cooked at home,
so she does all the cooking!
She never let me to cook in her kitchen, so...!
If you win this competition,
do you think your mother will let you into the kitchen?
Er, I hope not, no.
You hope not?! No!
Because you love Mum's cooking, because you love mum's cooking!
Yeah! So I don't want to cook at home, actually!
Right, Chefs, you've got five minutes left.
I'm just a bit worried about my pork,
because it's still in the oven and there's five minutes to go.
I'm really happy with how it's come together.
It's almost as I planned.
I haven't made the watercress oil,
but all the other elements are ready.
So far, so good.
60 seconds left.
Let's go finish these dishes.
I think it's OK.
Concerned that the mustard wasn't the champion of the dish,
so I've added a little mustard dressing on top of the trout,
ready to marry that and bring that through.
Right, Chefs, stop cooking. Time is up.
What did you go for?
Pork. JUST cooked!
First up is private chef Aaron,
who has served his confited sea trout
in a Dijon parsley vinaigrette,
with courgette flower, stuffed with a blend of watercress,
spinach, cream and Dijon,
with pickled onion shavings, mustard seeds,
and a beurre blanc, made from Dijon and mustard powder.
The trout, which you've confited, is just melting away when you cut
into it, it's beautifully cooked, and then you've got the little bit
of the vinaigrette on the top, with a bit of mustard in it.
It's very light, but you can taste it there.
Where the mustard really comes into this is in this beurre blanc,
and it actually works very well with this trout,
but it's not overpowering it.
Thank you.
The courgette, beautifully cooked,
with the little mustard seeds on top.
The pepperiness of the watercress, the warmth of the mustard,
the cream holding it all together,
and that stunning beurre blanc.
It just sings on your palate.
That, for me, is an outstanding piece of cookery, Aaron.
That's a mustard masterclass.
The comments from Marcus were really, really positive.
Well, they were amazing.
I feel really elated to get that from him.
I think, yeah, it's great, it's banging!
Head Chef Jamie's confited sea trout has been cured in English mustard,
topped with a pickled mustard seed salad,
of fennel, cucumber, radish and baby beetroot,
accompanied by celeriac remoulade,
made with English and wholegrain mustard,
with whipped ricotta,
a water cracker, coated in English mustard,
and a German, English and Dijon mustard dressing.
The trout is beautifully cooked, and there's just the light mustard,
you know, going over the top of it, and then this refreshing garnish
of the pickled salad works so well.
The remoulade celeriac on the side has got the mustard seeds
and that brings, you know, the mustard flavour into this dish.
You've got a little mustard cress going along the top as well.
Your ricotta is refreshing.
The cracker - great addition.
It brings texture to the plate.
You could have put a little bit more heat into that.
You could have done the same with the trout as well.
You're a very good cook, Jamie, but I think you can take it
a touch further now.
I'm feeling good. I tasted everything and I knew
it was going to be good,
but, yeah, there are a few tweaks I could have made.
It's hard not to play it safe under the pressure, so I'm just glad
they liked it.
Chef de partie Elena has served her Dijon mustard pork fillet
with celeriac and wholegrain mustard puree, asparagus
and a mustard powder pork sauce.
The pork's beautifully cooked.
You've got some mustard around the outside. Sauce is delicious.
You've got a lovely little flavour
there of mustard powder going through it.
That's nice. You maybe could have taken a grain mustard just to go
with it, just to lift it up a little bit further.
Your celeriac puree - you've got some grain mustard in there,
but you could have used a few more or a bit more or a lot
stronger-flavoured mustard.
If the main event is mustard, then give us mustard.
I know you don't like mustard, and I feel this is showing.
Everything else is done well. The way you've cooked the pork -
it's pink, it's beautiful,
it was rested well. The asparagus - lovely.
The puree - it's smooth,
it's just not packing the warmth -
what we want from the mustard.
Elena, how are you feeling? I'm feeling good.
I thought that I put a decent amount in because when I tried it
it tasted of mustard, but because I don't really eat it
maybe my palate is sensitive to mustard.
Still positive.
Last up is senior sous chef Charith,
who has glazed his chilli pork
with English, wholegrain and powdered mustard, and served it
with a black mustard seed and spinach dhal, chilli and
wholegrain mustard, heritage tomato and onion salad, rice and a garnish
of mustard cress.
Charith, your glazed pork belly with mustard and turmeric
packs so much heat, it's so tender
and it works so well in this.
I love your mustard seed in this dhal with a bit of spinach
inside it, and then you have the tomato salad, which brings a bit
of freshness and you think a bit of relief -
and then you get a hit of a little more mustard and a bit
more chilli in there.
Delightful.
I have a massive problem with this dish...
..and that's the fact I have to stop eating it.
The mustard you've used is the spice.
You've used it as the seasoning.
You've used it very, very well.
Thank you, Chef.
Absolutely delicious.
Wow.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I'm really happy because I did some of my Mum-inspired cooking, so,
yeah, I'm really glad they enjoyed it.
Probably now I'm probably getting the opportunity to cook for my mum
in her kitchen in future.
Hey, chefs, there is always room
to learn, to grow and be better.
Jamie, we want a chef that shows
off his personality and isn't afraid
to do that on his food.
Aaron, you found your stride.
You are setting the bar high for yourself.
Elena, you are also a very talented chef.
Don't be afraid to bring more personality into your cooking.
The little magic touches that is unexpected.
Charith, today you've shown us a confidence in your cooking.
You need to keep that going.
Chefs, go and take a very well-earned break.
We'll see you back in the kitchen. Off you go.
That was excellent. I mean, really, really good.
I just hope they can keep it going. Me too.
I hope they can impress our critics like they've just impressed us.
Of course they will.
Chefs, welcome back into the kitchen. You're now cooking
for a place in our semifinals.
Not only are you going to be cooking for Monica and me - you're going
to be cooking for three of the leading food critics
in this country...
..Grace Dent, William Sitwell
and Tom Parker Bowles.
Food critic royalty.
You've got to gather your thoughts, keep it together
and do what you do well.
At the end of this,
we will be taking on board their feedback.
Two courses, one hour and 15 minutes.
Off you go.
I know it's going to be tough, but it's the point of the competition
where I need to make the most, try my hardest and get through.
Jamie, how are you? I'm good, I'm good.
I've got quite a lot to do, but I'm feeling confident.
For starter, I have a miso butter poached lobster with an ajo blanco.
The ajo blanco
I am using almonds and blend it with some sourdough bread
and aji emulsion,
and I'm also doing a jalapeno emulsion and I am making a saffron
tuile just for a bit of texture.
OK, aji? Aji is a Peruvian pepper, which is bright orange in colour.
It's got quite a lot of sweetness and a little kick of spice,
so it works really well with seafood.
Where's the inspiration for this dish come from?
So, I love Nikkei cuisine, which is Peruvian Japanese.
I love to eat out quite a lot and this is my take on the cuisine.
What's your main course?
Fenugreek-brined guinea fowl, a hay and smoked buttermilk sauce,
which I'm also going to smoke underneath a cloche
in a nest of hay.
I can actually sort of picture everything that you've got going on.
You know, there's a lot of theatre involved in it as well.
Are you confident you can get it up on time?
Today means everything to me.
I've got faith in these two dishes.
They're very me - very my personality -
so I just hope they love it.
Jamie looks so calm and confident because he's doing something
that he really knows well,
and I like that.
He's making a sauce
with the almonds, which is like a white gazpacho.
Marry that with the lobster -
perfect - and then he's also using watermelon, a ceviche style,
so there's going to be a bit of vinegar running through that.
Fabulous sounding dish.
This starter's going to be really hard to get right.
I've got to balance the flavours, I've got to balance the textures.
Also, make sure the dish isn't too spicy because, if it is,
they're going to hate it.
Jamie's main course is a guinea fowl, and he's got a little bit
of brine with a touch of fenugreek as well.
I'll tenderise the guinea fowl and it will impart great flavour,
so I'm interested to see
how it works with all the other ingredients.
He's going to confit an egg yolk.
It sort of thickens it when you confit it.
He's going to serve that in a crisp potato nest and in a smoked hay
and buttermilk sauce, which he's going to serve in the egg shell.
I really like the amount of thought that Jamie's put
not just into the ingredients that he's using -
but the whole presentation.
He's got one chance to impress the critics.
Why not do it now?
There's a lot of elements that need balancing, flavours, textures,
so, yeah, it's going to take it all out of me to get
it done today.
I'm confident in my dishes, and I feel like I can pull it off,
and if I pull it off it will be amazing and, yeah,
I have to pull it off.
There's no... There's no I can't pull it off.
For the main I've chosen beef fillet
with confit potatoes,
butternut squash puree with a peppercorn sauce.
And for dessert, I'm doing a caramelised apple crumble.
When I was little, my grandad
had loads of apple trees and every
day after school there would always be an apple pie or a crumble.
I like a crumble. Steak and pepper sauce, whoa!
But your food is... You've got quite a style.
It's very precise.
It's quite focused.
It's going to look quite fancy, isn't it?
For today, I've decided to do a bit more rustic.
The dessert is going to be quite rustic.
I would like you guys and the critics to eat
it just with a spoon, just to feel comfort.
I'm going comfort food today.
Did Nonno get to try your cooking?
Yeah, my nonno did get to try my cooking.
He was more home comforts.
Didn't really like me doing too much to it, making it fancy.
He didn't really like it.
Elena says her apple crumble is going to be a bit more rustic,
which is the side we haven't seen yet, but it's not
your "typical" apple crumble.
She's serving it with apple granita.
She's got pickled apples to go with it and custard foam.
There's quite a bit here, and I don't think it's as rustic
as it sounds.
Fillet of beef, I like it medium rare. You want a good caramelisation
around the outside, good seasoning.
Peppercorn sauce needs to pack a punch.
The squash puree - silky smooth.
There's nowhere to hide.
She's got to get every single element just right.
I have cooked for critics before, but within a restaurant team...
..so being up there on my own is a pretty
nerve-racking experience.
My first course is going to be mackerel.
I've called the dish It's A Long Way From Swanwick.
It pays homage to mackerel fishing.
Me and my grandfather used to go
on the pier at Swanwick and then take the catch back and barbecue
it that evening.
It's going to be charred mackerel
with a coriander and ginger marinade,
some apple that's compressed
in verbena, verbena apple puree,
turnip and cucumber salad at the bottom as well.
So quite fresh and quite, yeah, raw.
Mackerel packs a punch.
It's a very strong flavour and everything you put with mackerel
it needs to complement it.
I've got a fair few elements to do.
I don't think I'm doing anything for no reason,
if that makes sense. Everything on there should sing.
The sharpness and the citrus notes
of verbena works very well with this fish and as we know,
apple and mackerel are classic.
The inspiration behind the second course is duck a l'orange.
It's a dish that my grandad
used to eat every Thursday.
I've tried to modernise it slightly. Done away with some of the orange
components and brought in apricot - try to pull it
into the 21st century.
It's got flavours of apricots.
Not a bad idea. I like that.
We've got a vanilla and almond liqueur that he's using to compress
some beautiful-looking apricots.
He's also got a little bit of apricot puree, which I think he's
going to put into the duck sauce to make his apricot and duck jus.
Mm, apricots sound great with duck.
It's food that I've picked that's close to my heart.
My grandad's been a massive part
of my career, so trying to pay homage and do him proud.
He was the one who made the phone call to my first employer, got me
on as an apprentice, so he opened the door for me there.
He's just been a great taxi service
and all the rest of it along the way.
Is he a taxi driver? Not by trade, no,
but he does give me lifts every now and again.
Well, I'm not a taxi driver, but sometimes I do feel like one
when it comes to the kids - I know exactly
what Grandad feels like.
I just hope I can get it all done,
or, yeah, I might find myself going home, which I don't want to do.
Charith, what is your menu?
So I'm going to do it scallops and rambutan ceviche.
Rambutan is one of my favourite foods.
It's like a lychee, but it's like a bigger version.
When I was back home, my uncle
used to have like five, six rambutan trees in the garden,
so I used to climb the tree and sit on the roof, and I used to eat
rambutan, like, 50, 60 per day.
So you didn't eat five or six - you ate 50 or 60.
Maybe more than that.
And I'm going to marinate the scallops with the kithul treacle.
What is that? So it's a kind of maple syrup in Sri Lanka.
That sounds incredible. Wow.
So what about your main course?
So, main course, I'm going to do a spiced butter-poached lobster
with saffron, and lunu miris.
Lunu miris is like a chilli and salt paste.
And then I'm going to serve
with the tempura claw and chilli
and coconut lobster sauce.
How long has it been since you've been home or seen your mom?
I haven't been to Sri Lanka for, like, 11 years now.
OK. I want to bring that culture into here as well.
I think even that's why I want to do a ceviche,
because ceviche is not very popular in Sri Lanka, but I want to, like,
get imagination that you're sitting on a beach.
You have, like, a really nice ceviche.
You've got, like, a lager in your hand.
So, yeah, it's quite nice.
Charith does need to be very careful, though, with the ceviche,
that he gets the balance.
I'm going to add some fish sauce and some green chilli,
red chilli - there's a lot of chilli - and a lot of lime.
You're going to have the flavour of the kithul coming through
and you've got the rambutan
served with a crispy papadum
and crispy curry leaves.
So we've got a melange of flavours
and different textures
going on with the beautiful scallops.
I can't wait to try it.
The lobster needs to be gently poached, and then he's taking
his chilli mayonnaise and folding
that through the potato salad -
that's inspired. That sounds delicious - and then
a coconut and chilli lobster sauce to bring it all together -
and I'm looking forward to that tempura claw.
I hope we get one each.
I'm really proud about my country,
so, yeah, looking forward to get some good feedback from the judges
and the critics.
Chefs, 15 minutes before the first course is due to be served.
I have a good idea how the chefs feel today,
because, as food critics,
we see that fear in their eyes.
Every day we see them go ashen.
That's what's happening right now.
I don't know why - we're actually very nice.
I mean, it's a hard brief, because we want to be inspired and we want
to be taken to a slightly new gastronomic dimension,
but we don't want to be pushed too far.
Something really exciting about MasterChef The Professionals
is discovering new talent.
This could be the beginning of one of the great chefs of all time.
Be quite nice if we were here tasting it first.
Happy days, boys and girls.
Cheers, guys. Cheers.
Right, Jamie, you've got four minutes left.
How are you getting on?
I still have quite a bit to do on the main course,
so I'm going to plate the starter
and then I'm going to jump straight on that. Right.
I love the idea of lobster poached in butter - it keeps the succulence.
Miso you're getting that umami, you're getting that Japanese feel
and you want the chillies to sing.
We're not timid beasts here.
We need heat.
So in the bowl, I have the aji emotion and also the jalapeno
emulsion, and the ajo blanco just on the side there.
Looking very under control. You pleased with everything so far?
I'm pleased with everything so far, yes.
What is that going on now?
This is the miso butter. That you poached the lobster in?
Yes. Nice.
The watermelon ceviche - that needs to be the sharp citrus thing
that cuts through everything else that almost should hold
the dish together.
Wasn't there a tuile?
Yes, there is a saffron tuile as well. I haven't made that yet.
So saffron tuile you've forgotten?
Yes. Jamie! Not good.
So, here we have a miso-poached lobster.
This is served with an aji and jalapeno emulsion, a watermelon
ceviche and an ajo blanco sauce.
The saffron tuile sadly didn't work,
so I've left it off the dish.
Thank you very much.
I'm almost kind of through habit
trying to get my phone to take a photo of it.
It's gorgeous.
That's really good. Yeah, it's really good.
It's... That lobster is beautifully cooked and it's just succulent.
Good heat from the chilli, a creaminess from the ajo blanco.
It looks beautiful and it all comes together.
The watermelon is absolutely perfect.
It's a citrus, refreshing palate-cleansing slice down the side
and also beautiful.
The saffron tuile that didn't work -
who cares?
This is one of those dishes that humbles the loquacious
restaurant critic because it's an absolute triumph.
Lobster is beautifully cooked.
The miso poaching liquor's very sweet, but it's then evened out
with the heat of the chilli sauce.
I think the watermelon is a real winner on this dish.
It refreshes the palate.
I like his flavours and I like his thinking.
Oh, look at them little beauties.
All right, Jamie, you've got four minutes left to go.
How are you getting on? The nests have just come out.
They're really crispy.
I've just got to season them
and then I will be plating the sauce
next and smoke in there.
This course involves a lot of technique.
Brining is obviously... It's supposed to make the guinea fowl
or anything more succulent.
Smoked hay and buttermilk sauce -
that kind of sings for me.
You haven't forgotten anything this time? No.
No? Got everything ticked off?
Everything's ticked off this one. Well done.
If the asparagus is al dente,
if the egg yolk is deep and rich,
it's always a great thing.
Jamie's punching high. I hope he lands his punch
in the right place.
If that was me I'd be on fire by now!
Right, done. Happy? Happy? Good, good, good.
Watch those eggs.
We have a fenugreek-brined guinea fowl served with some British
asparagus, a potato nest,
confit egg yolk
and, on the side, a wild garlic oil
and smoked hay emulsion. Fabulous.
Thank you.
Mm!
The actual cooking of the guinea fowl -
brining makes it succulent.
You taste the fenugreek.
Technically, it is tiptop.
Once you bring the egg yolk
with the potato nest and that lovely,
beautifully-cooked asparagus,
it's a dish that keeps on giving
in a really clever technical way.
I would cross mountains for that smoked hay
buttermilk sauce with the wild garlic sitting on the top.
There's something about this that tells me
that we have a serious contender. Yeah.
Guinea fowl is nicely cooked.
Overall, the flavour is good.
The buttermilk sauce is delicious.
The egg yolk nice and creamy.
A great standard from Jamie.
Very confident.
It went well, it went well. It's tough.
I, purposefully, with these two dishes,
didn't do too much because I knew
the first round when I did too much didn't go well,
so I'm chilled, I'm chilled.
Seven minutes left to go. Yep.
Beef is resting over there. Yep.
Sauce is made. Yep.
Looking good. So far!
Elena's fillet of beef -
it's basically beef and potatoes,
which - at this point of the competition -
comes as a real joy and delight.
Who doesn't like a peppercorn sauce? Peppery and it's rich,
a lovely deep jus.
It can be a wonderful thing.
Elena, you've just got a couple of minutes.
Are you happy? Yeah.
The beef was the main concern, but I like the way it's cooked.
I'm proud of this dish.
I think all the elements are good.
Go for it.
You have a beef fillet
with butternut squash puree,
confit potatoes,
fried girolles, crispy onions and a peppercorn sauce.
Thank you very much.
The fillet steak - it's still moist,
it's not delicious, really.
Am I wrong?
Well, it's over-seasoned.
The potatoes - they're not very crispy
and they're not very seasoned either.
On the plus side, the peppercorn sauce shows the skill
of a real classical chef.
There's not a single peppercorn in there, but it's still
got a kick. It's still feisty.
I like that.
I think she's got potential because there's nothing on this dish
that's supremely wrong,
but she needs to push herself
and think bigger.
Dream big.
The beef is beautifully cooked, the butternut squash has a bit
of sweetness running through it - works so well.
It just lacks the wow factor.
I find the sauce just a little bit on the bland side.
Elena, again, looking very much in control.
We're on time?
Yeah, we're on time. Brilliant.
Well done.
She is taking one of the greatest things ever invented - apple crumble
and custard - and she's putting it in little bits in order to help me
lose the will to live.
I just love custard, and it has to be beautifully fragrant
and a drinkable crumble, very, very buttery.
Just the granita and that's it? Yep.
Let's go, keep your head up high.
I think this is where Elena is going to pull it out of the bag.
For dessert, you have a caramelised apple, pickled apple
and custard foam with apple granita, a tuile and a crumble
with apple caramel sauce.
Thank you.
I'm feeling good. I'm proud of my dessert, but I wasn't quite
happy with the tuile because it was the first time
I did it and it was a bit too thick.
I can't really do anything else, thought. It goes so quick.
The crumble isn't a crumble - it's a sort of glued together
granola, but it's got apple, it's got crunch, it's got sugar
and it's got custard,
so it's not all bad.
I love the generosity of it.
Caramel apple sauce - that's really good.
I would drink that quite happily by the pint.
I don't think the granita has a place there, but where it
really falls down is the tuile.
The tuile is like... Like a really, really hard, crisp bread.
She's a bit deflated.
She's not happy with a couple of things in here, but it
does taste good.
I don't think it needs a tuile and I don't think it needs the granita.
Just lacks refinement, which is a shame.
Aaron, you've got four minutes left
and you look like you've picked up the pace a little bit.
You've been doing a bit of running
around the kitchen. Yes, Marcus. Everything all right?
Yeah, just, nearly fell over,
but I'm all right.
Aaron's first course is charred mackerel.
You've got the sweetness of the mack,
you've got this tartness of the apple,
and, again, with the verbena puree,
nori mustard adding another level
of kind of bitterness.
Aaron, you're starting to feel the pressure here.
You're shaking again. Yeah, I am.
It's looking good, though.
Thank you, Chef.
There's just so many flavours.
This is the apple and verbena puree.
It's either absolute orchestrated genius
or it's wrong,
and I'm hoping it's the former.
Aaron, time's up, are they ready now?
Yeah, they're good to go. Happy? Yeah, very.
Let's go.
Hi, guys. Hello.
This is a dish of charred mackerel
with apple verbena puree,
some marigold-compressed slices of apple under there, a turnip
and cucumber salad.
It's just had some coriander and then a little bit of nori mustard
just hidden in the mix.
Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
It's mesmerizing.
There's a sleek artistry to it,
and I'm fascinated to eat it.
I think the mackerel is delicious -
showed real talent, real finesse.
I think you have it with the verbena, which becomes very fruity,
and then you have the apple underneath that is quite nice
and sharp, and the mustard comes in like a swinging ball,
you know? It's an unusual sensation
that I can't say I enjoy.
As you're eating it,
I've suddenly got this warmth of the nori mustard, which I think
is delightful - works very well with the mackerel.
I like the apple puree with the verbena - delicious.
Are we OK with the next course, Aaron? Yeah, all good.
I've just got to caramelise this chicory quickly
and then carve the duck.
Apricot and duck is not a thing that I've had before. I've never
seen it on a menu.
I've never seen it in a cookbook.
There's a lot going on here.
The apricot puree - just if we didn't get the apricot point,
a duck and apricot jus.
What I worry about here is too much sweetness.
Who knows?
It might be astonishing.
You're almost there. This is the last bit.
The duck's cooked nicely. Just don't want it to bleed out.
Sauce in and that's it? Yeah.
Looks good. Go for it.
So, you've got a roasted duck breast
finished with some cumin, coriander,
lavender, salt and honey, vanilla
and amaretto-macerated apricots,
an apricot gel and charred chicory, and then a duck, apricot
and orange sauce.
It is a good bit of duck, but the fat
hasn't been rendered enough.
There's no question Aaron makes a really, really good sauce.
It's infused with duck and delicious in texture.
It's rich.
The chicory - it's al dente, it's well charred.
He's got this wafer thin,
beautifully steeped in booze apricot,
but it doesn't go with anything. Just apricot overload.
Too much sweetness.
Not enough balance.
The dish is just missing a touch of acidity for me just to help cut
through the sweetness of the sauce,
but the apricots really do work with this.
It's complementing the beautiful flavour of the duck,
which has been nicely cooked.
Chicory is fabulous cooked this way.
Brilliant cooking from Aaron.
Feeling good. I'm happy it's over.
Definitely nothing like... Nothing I've done before.
I was running the whole time.
I did a run through of the dishes
and I was running in the run through and, yeah, I was running
again today, so...
This is looking good. Thank you, Chef.
Is it how you wanted it to be? Yes, Chef.
Scallop ceviche, I think, is a noble, wonderful dish,
and that with the green chilli and coriander really gets me excited.
There's lots of things in here that I absolutely love.
Torched avocado I haven't seen for a while - very '80s -
but the rest is exciting stuff.
Rambutan - sweet, slightly fleshy fruit.
I'd be really disappointed if it doesn't thrill.
Just a crushed chilli.
That's a lot of chilli.
Off you go.
It's going to be a hot afternoon.
So, you have here a scallops and rambutan ceviche marinated
with the kithul treacle, served with crispy curry leaves, papadums
and torched avocado.
Hope you enjoy. Thank you.
Thank you.
Hmm. Ah!
Phwoar!
My lips aren't tingling there, so it's OK.
Are yours on fire?
My lips? Yeah. My whole mouth's on fire.
This is hot, but I really like it,
and I can still taste the scallop
underneath all those flavours.
The sweetness of the rambutan -
that's certainly coming through in this dish,
so the use of that fruit - perfect.
These scallops are in good hands.
I think our critics will love this.
I think that's the hottest, spiciest thing I've been served
on MasterChef ever,
but then there's also lime,
it's sweet,
it's salty, it's herby.
The scallop is perfectly done.
And this rambutan - there's a little burst of acidity.
Everything about this dish is wonderful. And the little fried
curry leaves, adding that extra bit of crunch.
I mean, this is flamboyant food at its finest.
Charith, we have four minutes before your main course is due.
How are you looking? I'm good, Chef.
I will be on time. Yeah?
In a lot of ways, Charith's main looks quite hearty.
He is poaching lobster
in curry spices and butter
and then a coconut lobster sauce.
I want that kind of sweet hit
of coconut, but then the heat
of the chilli.
I want a spicy mayonnaise wrapping those saffron potatoes.
I want chilli everywhere.
I want chilli just up and down all over the place, just like, "Raaar!"
How's it all going, Charith?
It's all going well, Chef.
I don't know how long, how much time I got.
Just about a minute.
Yeah, I'm almost there. You should be OK.
You're on time. Yeah, I think so.
That's great. That's looking good.
It's done.
You ready? Yes.
Here you have a spiced butter poached lobster,
lunu miris and saffron potatoes,
tempura claws and chilli and coconut sauce.
Hope you enjoy. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you.
It was tough, actually.
I'm a little bit worried about the lobster - lobster tail -
because I was quite rushed to do the prep and everything,
so it's, like, 50-50.
The lobster itself is generous
and juicy and beautifully spiced,
so it's got a really lovely texture.
Beautifully executed tempura claw potato salad cooked by someone
that knows what they're doing with enough heat that from the very first
taste of that, you know it means business.
The coconut sauce is incredibly spicy and coconut-y.
Absolutely wonderful.
The dish has balance, it has flavour, and it's got
texture, it's delicious.
I can still taste the sweetness of the lobster.
Two very good plates of food here from Charith.
These four chefs have given us a great quarterfinal.
Now we've got to make a choice.
We want to take our best chefs through to our semifinal.
I think we've eaten some phenomenally good food today.
I've got two favourites.
I loved Jamie. I thought he was absolutely fantastic
and then Charith. Oh, Charith!
He was very, very strong too,
so two, for me, that were unforgettable.
The critics loved Charith's two dishes, and rightly so.
It was an intriguing menu.
It was full of delight and great combinations and some
very interesting flavours,
and there was without doubt a lot of heat in both his dishes,
but I did enjoy them.
In the first round,
the mustard challenge, Charith really knocked us over
with that course, and he's come back into this kitchen
even more confident.
In the first round, Jamie gave us a sea trout dish, and we just felt
we wanted to see more of that personality in his cooking.
I thought today he did that.
The critics were really impressed with Jamie today.
Interesting ideas, beautifully cooked.
In fact, I liked both of his dishes.
What we were looking for from Elena was to give her food
and her dishes a little bit more conviction, some more energy.
The beef I thought was stunning.
The butternut brought a bit of sweetness to it.
It was a nice main course, but I wanted more of that peppercorn
to sing through that sauce.
To take on an apple crumble -
interesting idea -
but, for me, it certainly didn't need the tuile and it didn't need
the granita as well.
Surprisingly, our guests didn't enjoy Aaron's starter
as much as we did.
They weren't as keen on the combination, but, overall,
I like the bold flavours that he was bringing into the kitchen.
His two plates of food were sharp,
they were clean, beautifully executed. In the mustard challenge
round Aaron absolutely smashed it.
That's a dish we won't forget.
Staying in this competition would mean a lot to me. It's really helped
develop me as a chef so far, and I want to carry on seeing
how far I can take it.
I'm pleased with what I put up.
Personally, I don't think I did enough,
but we just have to wait and see.
I'm becoming more competitive, so if I get through probably
I'm going to give my 200% in the next few rounds,
and the judges will see some different Sri Lankan food
in a different level. I don't want to leave the competition.
I've put a lot of hard work in and this isn't the right time
for me to go.
What a fantastic quarterfinal, and I have to say that you have made
that a very, very tough judging.
Unfortunately, we cannot take all of you through to our semifinals.
The first chef leaving us is...
..Elena.
Thank you so much, Elena.
I'm feeling OK, but it's quite hard leaving because you put as much
effort as you can into it and then all of a sudden it's gone,
but I've enjoyed the experience.
It's mentally and physically exhausting,
but, yeah, I've enjoyed it overall.
This is where it got really difficult.
You're all very talented
and it hasn't been easy to reach this decision...
..and we have decided...
..all three of you are going through to the semifinal.
Well done, guys.
Chefs, congratulations,
that was a fantastic quarterfinals. Well deserved.
Well done.
I'm feeling amazing.
Massive sort of anxiety standing there and not knowing
whether you were going to go or not,
but, yeah, it's a brilliant feeling.
I'm really happy - can't wait to tell my missus.
Semifinals of MasterChef is huge, so yeah, I've put a lot into it,
and I'm just going to give even more now.
Definitely going to celebrate tonight. Maybe a few tipples.
It just feels really great to be in the semifinal,
but I don't want to stop here. I just want to keep going
and push myself and get into the final three.
Next time, four new hopefuls... Ah!
..fight for their place in the quarterfinal.
Oi, oi! Holy heck. Ooh!
I've got myself a bit in a muddle.
That was an excellent skills test. Chef's head.
It is delightful.