It's the MasterChef quarterfinal.
And this week, six best cooks are back.
Being put through to the quarterfinal has made me
want to win the competition more than ever.
Obviously once you get a taste for that honey,
you want to go as far as possible.
Oh, sorry. I've just cut my finger.
This competition has been full of drama,
but I'm loving it because it's a full-on roller-coaster.
I won an apron,
I made it to the quarterfinal.
Stay calm and carry on.
The competition is really, really tough.
But, you know, they have to knock some people out.
I'm just going to go in there and just give it my all.
I'm really surprised about how hard it's been -
the nerves, the stress -
but I'm glad that I'm here today
and I can fight to stay in the competition.
I feel excited, I feel nervous, but I have my game face on,
so we'll get there.
Tonight, they must cook one exceptional dish set by TV chef
and restaurateur April Jackson.
Big day in the MasterChef kitchen.
And we are going to put them to the test.
At this stage, they step up or they step on the bus home.
Welcome back, and huge congratulations.
You have made it to a MasterChef quarterfinal.
You're not just cooking for John and I today.
You are cooking for a fantastic chef.
It gives me great pleasure now to introduce you
to one of the most creative and innovative chefs I've ever met,
who has set you a brief.
Ladies and gentlemen, April Jackson.
Hello, April. Hi.
Today, I want to see a dish from you that celebrates cheese.
It's an ingredient we all know and love,
and I'm hoping that this challenge is really going to push you
to step out of your comfort zone
and create something that is MasterChef worthy.
At the end of this, three of you will go through to Knockout Week.
That does mean that three of you will be leaving the competition.
90 minutes, ladies and gentlemen.
Let's cook.
I'm excited by cheese. I'm not going to lie.
It's my favourite food.
I genuinely love cheese.
I used to sell it on television.
I have eaten my fair share.
Each cheese is so different
and translates completely differently to a dish.
You could go savoury, you could go sweet.
It's the smell when the cheese is slightly burning to bring
that nutty flavour that keeps you coming back for more.
It's the melted cheese - seeing that stretch.
It is the ultimate comfort food.
I want it to be a dish that, long after this moment,
I'm still thinking about it.
Louise is proud of her Jamaican heritage and she wants to show off
those flavours - big, bold and brash.
Louise, that's delicious with a capital D.
Louise is never ruffled.
I think she's going to really cook to impress.
I absolutely love cheese.
Hard cheese, smelly cheese, soft cheese.
So I'm hoping I'm going to smash it.
What's your dish, please, Louise?
So I'm making a rough puff pastry blue cheese tart with pear,
honey-roasted pecans and a pear gel.
That sounds amazing.
Pear and cheese is a classic combination. Yeah.
But it can be quite polarising.
Are you nervous about getting that balance right?
No, I'm not, because I know that when you have a cheese board,
you always have something sweet and savoury,
so it will just help to balance out the flavours.
What do you want April to think of your cookery?
Give me a job.
Ooh!
Love it! LAUGHTER
I personally could eat pear and blue cheese all day,
but if she's not got the balance right
we could go too much either way.
Also, when we're making any kind of tart, particularly
when we're filling it with melted cheese, it runs the risk
that the pastry could be soggy.
It's all about the pastry today.
We don't want a soggy bottom.
JOHN: I'm sure she can make this look beautiful.
Three individual tarts on a plate, some garnish around the outside.
Fantastic.
Charlotte. She's a plant-based cook.
So far we've had big, bold flavours and great-looking food.
Love how brave you are with your flavours.
That is hot.
Charlotte has just got to keep that momentum going.
I have always loved cheese, and it was the hardest thing
when I went vegan to give up.
But luckily there's some amazing companies
developing incredible stuff these days,
so I don't have to look too far to fulfil my need for lots of cheese.
I'm making a cheese board.
OK. So you can actually get loads of different kinds of vegan cheeses.
These are all plant-based and they're in the style of
things like a camembert and a brie and a goat's cheese
and a blue cheese. So I've got some whipped blue cheese,
brie and camembert croquettes,
smoked cashew and celery puree,
fig and pickled walnuts, grapes,
and then over the top there's a port jelly veil.
Do you think that doing a vegan dish is going to be an extra challenge?
I think it could be, but I hope to show that these can stand up
against any kind of cheese.
I think that Charlotte has a great opportunity to show us
about her vegan cheeses.
She's making these cheese bonbons, which is basically taking cheese,
rolling it in some sort of breadcrumb and frying it.
Then we've got ourselves a whipped blue cheese mixture.
It's made from sweet potato, cashew nut, soya milk and tapioca.
And a port wine veil.
So a little thin jelly of port wine set to go across the whole thing,
which should make it look quite elegant.
I'm worried that her dish is a little bit safe.
I ask myself, "What is she actually cooking?"
James is a classic cook.
What he loves is French bistro food.
You are showing a really good touch.
It's absolutely stunning.
I can't fault it.
I think this is his round.
What can a classic cook do with great cheese?
I love goat's cheese, I love potatoes,
and I thought, together, they could make a great pie.
Hi, James. Hi.
How are you feeling?
I'm really nervous.
I can feel it. I just want to give you a hug.
Oh, that'd be very kind! It's going to be OK.
That'd be very kind. What is the dish?
A cheese and potato pithivier. Ooh.
With tomato coulis and ratatouille.
Have you made a pithivier before?
A couple of times.
And they turned out well?
OK!
A pithivier is a very difficult dish for any cook,
let alone an amateur chef.
I want to see some pattern work in that pastry.
Normally you use a knife and you score the pastry
so that you can almost get leaf detail.
If James simply covers his potato and his goat's cheese
with plain pastry, I will be a little bit disappointed.
JOHN: He's serving with it some ratatouille.
Then on the side of that we've got a tomato coulis and basil oil.
My concern right now is, is there enough cheese?
This is a cheese challenge.
And right now I've got a potato pie with a little bit of cheese in it.
George wants to really push himself.
And we've seen food influence from all around the world,
from a Vietnamese summer roll all the way through to a bowl
of pasta with mushrooms.
It looks like something you'd get in a restaurant.
There's absolutely no doubt George can cook.
Personally, I think that Italian cheese is the king of cheese,
especially Parmesan, especially mozzarella.
This is actually the first dish I cooked for my wife,
and we had it regularly throughout our camper van travels
through Italy.
George, what are you making for us today?
So I'm going to make you an aubergine parmigiana.
I'm also going to do a Parmesan collar around the stack,
and cheese croquettes with an aubergine puree
and a basil salsa verde.
And why have you chosen to do two dishes on one plate,
it sounds like? I want to show that I can work with cheese.
My mum's a cheese specialist.
She works in a supermarket and she sort of helps to choose the cheese.
She's judged in the World Cheese Awards a couple of times before.
Has she judged this dish?
She's judged a photo of this dish. OK.
But she was quite a harsh critic,
so hopefully it will live up to her standards.
I think George has a really interesting dish.
Aubergine parmigiana is usually made with crispy aubergine, cheese
and a lovely sumptuous tomato sauce.
And making those Parmesan collars is quite challenging
because they can break.
We're getting an aubergine puree, and on top of that we're getting
a croquette made from sundried tomato, mozzarella and scamorza -
a smoked cheese - with a basil salsa verde
as well as a basil mayonnaise.
This is powerful.
It's a powerful beyond powerful day.
Ecrin was brought up in Holland. She's got Turkish parents.
And she has experienced many different food cultures,
and her food represents that.
Can I please have the recipe?
Yes, of course.
Because that is ace.
What's she going to do today?
So far, the judges have been loving my food.
I just want to prove to everyone that I can be better than just
a home cook and that I am capable of trying new things.
I'm going to make a deconstructed kunefe cheesecake.
Did you say kunefe cheesecake?
Kunefe, yeah. What does that mean?
It's usually with filo pastry that's, like... Oh.
..really thinly shredded.
I've made, like, bird's nest with it, and then you will get
the cheesecake base, so the crumbs, and then you'll get the cheesecake.
And what cheese are you using for this dish?
I'm mixing ricotta and cream cheese.
OK. Yeah. I don't like cheese.
GREGG GASPS You don't like cheese?
No, I actually dislike it.
Is that all cheese?
Yeah. So what did you think when you got this brief, then?
Honestly? Yeah, I wasn't happy,
but I thought, "I can make something with it."
APRIL: Whenever I hear people make deconstructed anything,
I'm a bit nervous.
I always wonder, "Is this just going to be something that you're doing
"because it looks cute, but is it going to deliver in flavour?"
We're going to get the cheesecake topping made from
the cream cheese and the ricotta.
The base of the cheesecake has been turned to a crumb.
We're going to get this little nest made from the kunefe -
very, very fine pastry.
I think the same texture, the outside,
like a baklava. That crispiness, that's what we want.
And then on the side of that we're getting pomegranate caviar,
bits of basil, white chocolate shards.
There's a huge amount going on here.
I hope it all works together.
You have 25 minutes left!
Vera has German parents.
She has travelled all over the world,
but she was brought up in Italy.
We've had filled pasta - really good.
We've had squid ink pasta - absolutely fabulous.
Vera absolutely smashed that one.
That is proper peng.
I think she's got great foundation.
I think she's got great flavours.
I think she's one to watch.
I found the brief quite tricky.
My imminent thought with cheese is always savoury, but I wanted
to show my creative side. So hopefully today goes well.
Hi, Vera. What are you making with these beautiful cheeses
I see on your desk?
I wanted to represent cheese both as a sweet and savoury,
so I'm making ricotta lemon cake, reminiscent of the cheesecakes
my mum used to make as a kid.
Germans love baked cheesecake.
And then I made a little trio
of savoury cheese desserts on the side.
Wow. Why are you doing so much, Vera?
A, I want to impress you guys.
But then, B, it would be wrong of me to just get on the competition,
do something that I could make at home and not take advantage
of it, so... Wow.
You have got so much to do. Good luck, Vera.
Yeah. Thank you very much.
We have got a Parmesan tuile, which is going to be filled
with a mixture of gorgonzola and mascarpone.
We've then got strawberries dipped in a caramel-flavoured
Norwegian cheese, and the Norwegian cheese is sweet.
And she's made almost like a fondue, which she's dipped
the strawberries in.
So it's going to be a little sort of play around with the mind.
And she's promising us a beetroot stack with cheese in the centre
of it, which is also going to play with your mind.
Now, does it all belong together?
We're about to find out.
I love that Vera's dish seems to be based on a memory of
her mother making beautiful cheesecakes for her.
My concern is, is she just trying to do too much?
You have just 15 minutes left.
15 minutes, ladies and gentlemen.
Just need to start plating up.
What's done is done!
We have 90 seconds. Very, very last touches!
That's it. Stop, everybody.
And breathe.
Stressful.
But I managed to get everything on the plate.
So fingers crossed the judges will like it.
Dr George's cheese-inspired dish is aubergine parmigiana
topped with mozzarella, wrapped in a Parmesan collar,
served with a smoked scamorza cheese and sundried tomato croquette,
topped with a basil salsa verde,
on a smoked aubergine puree with a basil mayonnaise.
A parmigiana melanzane is a big, wet, sloppy dish.
You've made it into a stack as best you can so it's not
as wet as it would be, but you're capturing the flavour.
Your aubergine is cooked. Your tomato is sweet, slightly acidic.
I'm picking up a little bit of garlic as well.
And it's that bounciness of mozzarella that you've got in there.
Your basil salsa verde across the top of your croquette is great.
I like the aubergine puree.
The flavour inside the croquette of the sundried tomatoes
and the smoky cheese is very, very good.
I think you're demonstrating lots of skill here.
George, your little Parmesan collar is everything
that I love about cheese.
It has that saltiness, it has that crispy crunch.
It reminds me of when you make a toastie and it's a little bit burnt,
and those are the gems.
You have used different types of cheeses in different ways,
and I think that you have done a really, a really good job.
I definitely feel like I hit the brief, got three different
sorts of cheese in there.
I worked my socks off in that kitchen, I didn't stop.
So hopefully I've done enough to get through.
Admin officer Louise has made a blue cheese and pear pastry tart,
served with honey-roasted pecans, a pear salad and pear gel.
I admire the fact you made rough puff in the time you had,
but that pastry right in the middle of it
was just not quite cooked enough.
It just needs a bit longer.
I don't think you've got enough of that blue cheese in there.
I can get the sweetness of the pear,
but not enough salty gooeyness of that cheese.
The nuts are great. They taste great.
And your little dices of pear, fabulous.
I think the cheese that you have chosen is actually quite mild
for blue cheese, and I think that you could've pushed the boat
a little bit further, maybe also introduced another cheese element,
just because this is a cheese-focused plate of food,
and at the minute the other elements - which are great -
they're singing a little bit louder.
I'm happy that it's done, but I think I was a bit wary
because I wasn't too sure how much people like blue cheese.
To know that the pastry was undercooked and I had a bit of time
is a bit frustrating.
Retired software engineer James has cooked a goat's cheese
and potato pithivier, served with a tomato coulis,
ratatouille and basil oil.
James, when you said you were doing a pithivier, I did envision
this beautiful detail on your pastry, which we haven't seen.
The top of your pastry is still not quite cooked enough.
You haven't put the cheese evenly through your pithivier.
Some mouthfuls are a little bland.
Others are glorious in really quite salty, almost peppery,
slippery goat's cheese and soft potatoes.
I think that your work on the vegetables is perfect,
and your tomato coulis is lovely and bright, but unfortunately
I am just not getting that comforting cheese flavour that
I am so, so hoping for.
Much as I love a potato pie, this is a cheese brief.
I don't feel we've got enough cheese in here.
The judges' comments were fair.
The pie wasn't cheesy enough,
and as cheese was the brief, I didn't quite meet it.
Customer success manager Ecrin has made a deconstructed cheesecake -
ricotta cream cheese flavoured with vanilla, biscuit crumb,
white chocolate shards, crushed pistachios and pomegranate caviar,
served with a kunefe-spun pastry bird's nest
soaked in a sugar syrup.
Ecrin, I think that the plate that you have presented is beautiful.
It has textures, it has different flavours coming through.
Your cream cheese mixture for your cheesecake is really lovely.
White chocolate, I think it's great
because it's really lovely and sweet.
I think what you've done here is you've combined
a cheesecake with baklava.
What I'm getting is a buttery biscuit base
with a mild cheese-like cheesecake.
And then I'm going into this syrupy crunch of a good baklava,
and I'm really enjoying it.
The little spheres of pomegranate are showing skill,
as is the chocolate work.
Not a huge amount of cookery,
but I think this is really, brilliantly clever.
I made a good dish, in my opinion, with an ingredient
that I don't like.
So, yeah, I'm happy.
IT programme director Charlotte has served a vegan cheese board -
vegan goat's cheese, vegan camembert and brie croquettes,
smoked cashew nut cream, caramelised walnuts,
pickled pear ribbons, fig and grape slices
and rosemary oatcake crumb,
covered in a port jelly blanket.
That's the goat's cheese style one? Mm-hm.
That's the cashew cream? Yeah.
And where's the blue one?
I forgot to put the blue cheese on there.
I've kicked myself 100 times since.
So the goat's cheese is very, very sharp and quite sour,
and I like that.
The croquettes, I really like.
They remind me of a mac and cheese croquettes.
Your smoked cashew nut cream,
I'd like some more smoke in there.
I'm sad the blue cheese isn't on there because you would've got
this sort of lovely saltiness that went with that blue cheese.
What I get is a complete array of different cheese textures
and flavours going from soft to dry and crumbly, tangy,
slightly smoky, as well as the bitter oil from walnuts,
figs and grapes.
But as delicious as this is, there's not a great deal
of cookery going on.
I would like to have seen a little bit more.
Unfortunately for me, I wanted the veil to taste a little bit
more of port. And plant-based cheese, whilst it tastes great,
like Gregg and John have said, I'm struggling to see
what you've really cooked.
CHARLOTTE: I was disappointed to hear about the thinking
there might not be enough cooking.
But the dish still tasted good, and I was happy with what I put up.
Financial analyst Vera has made a lemon ricotta baked cheesecake,
topped with a rosemary and honey mascarpone cream
and caramelised walnuts,
served with layered beetroot and goat's cheese,
strawberry marinated in a Norwegian brown cheese toffee,
and a Parmesan tuile filled with gorgonzola, mascarpone,
grapes and walnuts.
Your cake is absolutely fantastic.
The ricotta is light. There's loads of vanilla in there.
There is a lemon flavour in the cream, making it refreshing.
And you've got some little candied nuts as well.
Strawberry and cheese.
Who knew?
You've got a slight caramel, almost salty tang
that blends really nicely into super-sweet strawberry.
I think that's really quite clever.
Your Parmesan brandy snap, I think it's a really good idea.
It's very, very rich and salty on the outside with Parmesan.
The blue cheese through the centre is really strong and delicious.
I like the strength of it.
The beetroot and the cheese is subtle.
Sweet beetroot, a little bit of goat's cheese - nice.
That's good. And the strawberry tastes really, really good.
You have truly challenged me and you have won
because I've never heard of caramel cheese.
And I'm going to need us all to learn about it so that I can take
that trick with me away from here.
That gave me everything that I wanted from this brief.
I'm feeling super relieved.
I was super nervous before walking up to the judges,
but in the end it turned out really well so I'm super chuffed.
A brilliant day in the MasterChef kitchen.
I think a really tough brief, actually.
Some people played it more safe than others,
but there were some great-looking dishes.
I think they did a great job and I don't want to be the one
to make the decision. April, it's been a pleasure having you.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
I've got to say I thought it was a great quarterfinal.
On the whole, I thought the standard was very, very high.
But we've only got room for three of them in Knockout Week.
There was one person who really impressed all three of us
and that was Vera.
We had a strawberry coated in caramel cheese.
Never had that before, and it actually worked with the cheesecake.
And then a beetroot stack with goat's cheese, which was delightful.
Put her through!
There's one other person I think actually deserves
an automatic place here, and that's George.
Taking what is normally a very, very wet dish
of slippery aubergines, tomato and mozzarella,
managed to get it in a stack with a circle of Parmesan.
And I love the croquette.
Yes. There was plenty of technique. You're absolutely right.
George has got himself a place.
That means we've got four cooks left and there's only one place
left in Knockout Week.
Louise made for us a pear and blue cheese tart.
There definitely was not enough cheese.
It wasn't powerful enough.
That pastry wasn't cooked, Gregg.
You have to deliver when it matters. I think Louise is gone, John.
Do you know there's somebody else who actually almost has exactly
the same issue?
Undercooked pastry and not enough cheese.
And that's James.
I'm really sorry, but I think James is gone.
I found Ecrin's dish absolutely beautiful
and fantastically delicious.
We had that lovely creamy mixture of the ricotta and the cream cheese,
spherification from pomegranate, the little kunefe nest.
There could've been a little bit more cookery on show,
but I don't believe she's the only person in the room who actually
needs to show us a little bit more process.
Charlotte's dish looked great.
This sort of veil of port across the top.
Underneath there, we were supposed to get different types of cheese.
She missed out on the blue cheese
and there wasn't a lot of cooking going on.
It was chopping and stirring and mixing things together.
I really want to stay in the competition
so I'm really nervous about the judges' decision,
but what will be will be.
I'm not sure if I did enough.
I would love to have a place in Knockout Week.
But, yeah, we'll just wait and see.
We really value the hard work you put into that.
Well done.
That was a great quarterfinal.
The first person going through to Knockout Week is...
..Vera.
Congratulations.
Thank you very much.
The second person going through to Knockout Week is...
..George.
Lots of skill on show,
and you definitely hit the cheese brief, George.
As you know, we can't take all of you with us.
James,
Louise,
I'm sorry. You're both leaving us.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
Bye, guys. Thank you. Well done. Thanks so much indeed. Thank you.
Charlotte, Ecrin,
one more place in Knockout Week.
The third person going through to Knockout Week is...
..Ecrin.
Charlotte, thank you so very much.
It's been a real pleasure having you.
Sadly, your competition is over.
I felt gutted to be going home.
It's been great to be in this competition and just put myself
under that kind of pressure. It's amazing.
It's an experience like no other.
I feel disappointed.
But, you know, I'm almost 70.
I made it to the MasterChef quarterfinal.
Far more than I expected.
To be going home is going to be great because I can relax!
But it's also bittersweet.
This is not going to stop me cooking.
I love food and I'm just going to continue my journey.
THEY CHEER
You are going through to Knockout Week.
Congratulations.
I was worried.
I didn't think I would go to the Knockout Week.
I was even mentally prepared that I was not going.
But, yeah, here I am.
Just absolutely ecstatic.
I can't wait to tell my wife.
Oh, I'm going to cry!
Ohh.
I'm just so happy to be here.
Now that I'm here I definitely want to make it to the semifinals,
finals, at the very least.
So, yeah, I'm here to win it now.
Next time, it's Comeback Week,
and five past contestants...
Oh!
..return to the MasterChef kitchen...
Argh!
..where they'll face two demanding challenges...
Oh... Ooh!
..for another chance...
Agh!
Oh!
..to battle it out for the MasterChef title.
Go, go, go, go, go.
Hmm.
Agh...
Woo! Yes.
I think that's absolutely fantastic.