It's Comeback Week on MasterChef.
For the first time ever,
ten previous contestants have been given a second chance
to compete for the MasterChef title.
They were good last time. Have they got better?
Can they go further than they did before?
Last time, Farokh and Lyndsey went home.
Take care, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Tonight, five more familiar faces return to redeem themselves
in the MasterChef kitchen.
I can't believe I've been asked to come back.
And it's like another chance to, you know, try and win it.
Am I excited? Of course I am.
This is a dream. Can't you see my smile?
I actually feel more nervous than last time I was on it
because I know what to expect.
Anything is possible. So, come back,
try and try again, really.
I feel a bit, um, scared, nervous, but excited.
But I'd love to go all the way this time.
It's their second chance.
They've come in here with a real point to prove, John.
It's going to be mega competitive.
I say - bring it on!
GREGG LAUGHS
Oh, how wonderful.
Great to see you back here in the MasterChef kitchen.
Welcome to Comeback Week.
You know what this competition is all about.
I remember we fell in love with your food last time.
Can you make it even better?
Can you go one stage further?
Now, this, your first challenge,
is to cook for us two courses -
a main course and a dessert.
Now, those two courses should show us something about you as a cook.
But also, it may be a chance for you to make up for the mistakes
you made that knocked you out of the competition last time.
Redeem yourself.
We wish you the very best of luck.
Two great courses, please.
One hour, 45 minutes.
Let's cook.
Coming back in here, it was actually really nice.
I'm obviously bricking it, but it was really nice.
36-year-old Natasha works in fashion
and delighted the judges in 2020...
I think, for a home cook, this is really, really interesting,
and actually quite exciting.
..with her unusual flavour combinations...
That carrot and chocolate puree, I love.
Well, I never.
..narrowly missing out on a semifinal place.
The first thing I get is mango, and then I bite into venison.
I don't think it belongs.
She is definitely a talent and she is definitely daring.
But that daring used to border danger.
This time round, I don't think I have any specific tactics.
I just will continue to be myself.
Completely just...just be me.
Natasha, lovely to see you again.
What have you been up to since we last saw you?
Well, I actually got married two weeks ago.
Hey, congratulations. Thank you.
And I've got an 18-month-old little girl now,
so she's been my little tester running around.
Now you've got two courses. We've got a dessert and a main course.
What are your two courses?
It's my Tasha's Bit Of Turf And Surf.
So veal chop with a prawn.
That will be with gnudi.
So gnudi is a form of gnocchi.
But it's made from ricotta rather than potato.
And a paprika and cream sauce.
We've got a veal chop, which she needs to pan-fry nice
and crispy on the outside,
but still be lovely and pink through the middle.
All I hope is that the prawn has still got a bit of a snap
to it almost, so it doesn't go cotton woolly and fluffy.
On the side, we've got gnudi.
That's going to be flavoured with lemon.
Lemon and veal - lovely.
Lemon and prawn - perfect.
I hope it doesn't fall apart.
Fingers crossed.
Dessert from you?
Coffee and coconut mille-feuille
with a pistachio, dark chocolate and apricot crumb.
Do a big portion, Natasha, could you?
I think it might be, to be fair.
Natasha is trying to improve upon that dish
that I was so impressed with the last time she cooked for us.
The mille-feuille is superb.
I think it's an absolute delight.
That's a lot to live up to.
In between the layers of buttery puff pastry, we've got coffee mousse
and we've got coconut mousse. Mate, come on.
Bring it on. That's beautiful.
Right now, I'm almost passing out with anticipation.
Oh, my God. I'm...I'm nerve-racked, to be honest.
How do you cut stuff when you're shaking so much?
Medical secretary Linda from North Wales competed in 2023...
Hello. Hi, Linda.
Lovely to meet you both.
I'm a big fan.
..and reached Knockout Week with her Middle Eastern-inspired
savoury dishes...
Nice cookery, Linda. Thank you.
..and classic desserts.
Dib-dab, that's fab.
LAUGHTER
Linda, what a wonderful personality.
Big smile on her face. Full of grins. Full of giggles.
Have you...? Oh!
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
The thing is, right at the last minute, she slipped up.
To me, this is just sardines on toast that I might have on
a Saturday afternoon while the rugby's on. OK.
What I want from Linda now is a little bit more elegance.
When I left the competition last time, I was devastated.
I knew in my heart I hadn't done enough.
So I want to do better this time.
What have you been up to since we last saw you, Linda?
I made some food for charity, but it was more I was doing
a calendar - a naked calendar.
LINDA LAUGHS
Me and 16 women did a naked calendar for breast cancer.
You know, it's not like really everything out for show.
You know, it's subtle. You are extraordinary.
Oh, thank you. You've got a great smile on your face.
So brilliant to have you back. Thank you.
So, what are you going to cook for us?
So I'm going to cook sea bass with a chorizo crumb,
some courgette puree and a fennel veloute.
I wanted to cook fish because of my disaster of sardines,
which my husband will never hear the end of, because it was his idea.
And for dessert, I'm going to do an orange blossom cake
with some cream cheese and an orange gel.
Fantastic.
Now, main course, we've got steamed sea bass, which is going to be quite
soft, in a veloute, which is going to be velvety, with a puree,
which is also going to be soft, with some pickled cucumbers,
which is just going to have a small bite to it.
The little bit of spice we've got is a chorizo crumb.
It could be really, really elegant. I hope it is.
Texture is my main concern.
Oh, you're joking me.
They've burnt.
I thought it was off, and it was on.
I'll have to do it again.
SHE EXHALES
Dessert, she's going to make us an orange blossom cake
because the last time she cooked with orange blossom,
we couldn't taste it.
I'm not getting any flavour of orange blossom.
I want to be able to taste the orange blossom.
Let's just shove it in and hope for the best.
And then the cream cheese. I get that. Very much the tartness,
the sourness you get in a cheesecake. And then an orange gel.
That's really going to show some technique,
because that's not easy to do.
See, why is that one on?
SHE LAUGHS
You've had 25 minutes.
Right. What the hell am I doing?
Personal trainer Cliodhna faced the competition in 2023...
This could be my chance at redemption.
It's just I need to make sure I really work hard now, like, keep
to the time constraints and pull it all off.
..impressing with her twists on the classics.
I've got to tell you. I'd pay for that in a restaurant.
Oh, thank you.
What I did admire about Cliodhna is her ability to keep soldiering on
when things were going wrong.
SHE GASPS
She had a chocolate tart that did not work out
how she wanted it to.
But she persevered.
Right, come on. I can put one good plate of food together.
That sort of attitude can take you a very, very long way.
I was absolutely gutted to not get a quarterfinalist place last year.
It was within touching distance, but unfortunately I just didn't do
enough on the day.
So, hopefully, this year I can redeem myself and get there.
Cliodhna, you've got two courses to cook for us.
Yeah, so I'm doing smoked salmon and spinach-filled pasta with
a lemon and garlic reduction, dill oil and samphire.
And then, for my dessert, I'm doing my infamous chocolate tart
that burst all over the microwave last time I was here
and sent me home.
You stood in that room as the tart literally collapsed in your hand
and it came across your hand,
and you didn't even shed a tear.
No. So chocolate tart for redemption? Yes.
What are you hoping to show us now that you didn't show us before?
Two portions of dessert, definitely.
Cliodhna is doing a filled pasta, and they're technically challenging.
I don't know why I signed myself up for this again.
I can't breathe.
Inside that, she's got a mixture of salmon that's lightly smoked
and ricotta and spinach.
She's got to be gentle with it, gentle when she works it, gentle
when she cooks it. When we cut in,
that needs to be beautifully smooth.
If that's grainy, she's overdone it.
Come on.
So we've got our chocolate tart. We've got our pistachio cream.
But she's going to jazz it up a little bit more
and she's putting cherries in with that chocolate tart.
Chocolate, cherry and pistachio.
Oh, yes, please. I love those flavours.
Just got to hope that two of those little tarts
are both perfect. Fingers crossed for her,
because she had a nightmare with one before.
SHE EXHALES
You are halfway, guys!
Halfway!
It's great to be back in the kitchen.
It feels like it's home. I'm glad to be back.
Born and raised in India, 46-year-old head of customer success
Ajay brought his South Indian flavours
to the MasterChef kitchen in 2019.
I love the creamy coconut milk sauce that you've got.
It's really well spiced, it's really well seasoned
and I like it a lot.
When we saw him last time, it was the influence from his mum,
who was the cook at home. He has got what it takes.
He's flavours are wonderful.
Lots of chilli, lots of fruit, lots of coconut - fabulous food.
The last time I was in the competition, I made it
to the quarterfinals.
Your farfalle is just a little bit dense.
I am absolutely back here to win.
No questions about that.
What have you been doing in the five years since...?
The first year was quite interesting.
I did plenty of supper clubs, a couple of private dining events,
and then Covid came,
my day job got really busy. But occasionally I do
a cooking lesson or a small event here or there.
How has your cookery changed?
So I think I'm a lot more confident.
I think I know what I want, and I really want to showcase
South of India. That's my passion.
So for the main, I'm doing a rack of lamb with a black pepper sauce,
stir-fried coconut rice, and a coconut chilli
and onion sambal.
Ajay, I don't want to scare you, but we've had some lamb catastrophes
in this competition. This one's going to be brilliant.
We've got a rack of lamb, which he's first poached
in lots and lots of spices.
Then he's going to render the fat, get the skin nice and crispy,
and then roast it.
Black pepper sauce - that should be quite vibrant
and really, really strong.
I think that should be delicious.
Sambal on the side.
Almost like a cross between a sauce and a chutney.
Bring it on, Ajay.
You make it as hot as you like, mate, because that's how we like it.
I am a feeder.
When I was in college in the US, I cooked for all my roommates,
and they all called me Mummy because I fed them.
I want to take now my new recipes and feed all of the UK.
Dessert from Ajay,
we are getting purple carrot and beetroot halwa.
Very, very classic Indian dessert of carrot and beetroot cooked
down with brown soft sugar, which is then wrapped in
a wonton skin. He's baking those and he's serving that with
a white chocolate and cardamom mousse enriched with mascarpone,
and then toasted pistachio nuts across the top.
This mousse... John, I mean, it's rich and it's sweet.
I mean, it might even be too sweet for me.
You have 25 minutes left.
OK?
I'm an excited guy. Calm, excited guy, I like to say.
I've been watching this programme for nearly 20 years.
So, again, it's like reliving the dream all over again.
So it's fun-time Freddie.
Insurance MD Tigi made it to the quarterfinals in 2022.
I remember Tigi made a massive impression as soon as he walked
into this kitchen.
It's, um...
It's a dish that my dad loved, so that's why I made it.
And he passed away three years ago.
Well, I've got to say, mate, I reckon he'd be really proud,
because I think that's absolutely fantastic.
I mean, his food is influenced by West Africa, and that is big
and it's bold and it's exciting.
This is so wonderful and so accomplished.
I wish you sold that by the jar, because I would buy it.
So I left the competition on a dish which was a jerk
sea bass with broccoli and a sweet potato and swede stack.
Unfortunately, it ended up being a swimming pool.
The broccoli, unfortunately, is waterlogged and washes away
all the lovely flavour of the jerk, which is a shame.
And then the stack is not cooked enough.
So my whole situation around now is really changing up that dish
and see what I can do with it and maybe impress upon it.
Tigi, welcome back.
Nice to see you and your scotch bonnet back
in the MasterChef kitchen.
I always bring them with me everywhere I go.
They're like my little friends. I have one on each shoulder.
Why have you come back?
For the last two and a half years, all I've got is abuse
from friends going,
"So you went on MasterChef, and you couldn't cook broccoli."
It's a little bit awkward.
Coming back gives that opportunity to kind of push that to the side.
What are going to make for us? First course,
because I did jerk sea bass last time, I've changed it
so I haven't got my sweet potato and swede stack, so I'm going to do
some sweet potato croquettes instead.
And then on top of that, I'm doing callaloo at the bottom instead
of those swimming-in-water broccoli.
And the sauce? The sauce.. The jerk sauce, same again.
But I've changed it a little bit and made it a little bit tangy
and obviously put some more heat in it as well. Great.
I like the sound of Tigi's fish. Sea bass.
We want crispy skin. I want to see it scored.
Don't let it stick to the pan. Don't burn it.
Don't curl it.
He's going to give us a jerk sauce. Lovely.
Peppery, flavoured with thyme, lots of seasoning, beautiful flavours.
And he's got callaloo underneath the fish, which,
of course, is a strong spinach.
Lovely flavours. Do you know why they're lovely flavours?
Because they are tried and tested famous flavours in the Caribbean.
Did you do any sort of celebration about MasterChef? Yeah, I did.
So obviously, as you can tell, I do like a tattoo occasionally.
So I got a MasterChef tattoo on my leg.
Hang on. Hang on. Is it...?
Is it the M or...? It's the M, yeah. It's not me and John?
No, it's not. That would be weird, wouldn't it?
A little bit weird.
Dessert from Tigi - we're getting a key lime pie.
He's using digestive biscuits to make a buttery biscuit base.
Nice and sharp, almost like a lime custard inside a tart.
He's also making a ginger curd to go on the side, and then shavings
of coconut, which he's going to toast to go across the top
of the whole thing.
Cleverly, he's making little individual key lime pies.
So there's no reason why, as long as that base is nicely set,
that he can't be able to bring them out and they should hold together.
HE SIGHS
OK! Listen, you've got 15 minutes left.
You're going to put that in the pan?
Yes, because I want to baste it and I want the pepper sauce on it.
OK, there we go. Let's get the butter in there.
I've forgotten something in the cake.
I can't believe it.
Butter.
Oh, well. What can I do now?
I can't make another one!
I knew there was something wrong with that cake.
Oh! Linda!
Well done, you, with those. I don't want to scare you.
You've got three minutes. Everybody, three minutes, please!
Oh, no. What's happened there?
It's stuck to the bottom.
Nightmare.
Oh!
What a nightmare.
You've got 90 seconds.
There's a couple of you here are in a bit of trouble.
90 seconds. Let's go, go, go, go, go.
SHE EXHALES
Final touches, please.
Stop! Time is well and truly up.
Well done, everybody.
Linda, please.
Last time, medical secretary Linda was knocked out on a fish dish.
Looking to redeem herself,
she's cooked steamed sea bass,
topped with a chorizo crumb,
served with a courgette puree,
pickled cucumber, fennel veloute
and dill oil.
Your fish is going a little bit over, but I wouldn't send it back.
The crumb across the top, I think, is absolutely delightful.
The courgette puree.
I love the vibrancy of the colour, but I feel it could do with a little
bit more seasoning, maybe a tiny bit of acid. OK.
I think the dish is too wet, and I'm happy to have both sauces.
I think we could just do with half the amount.
But your fennel veloute is absolutely delicious.
Oh, thank you. Really, really creamy.
A little bit of the aniseed from the fennel, but more aniseed
sweetness coming from the dill oil.
Nice touches.
Not perfect.
Let's go to dessert, shall we?
Reinventing her orange blossom dessert from 2023,
Linda has served orange blossom cake with mascarpone cream,
topped with orange gel.
Oh.
Your sponge is a little bit dense, a little bit dry.
What's happened? I forgot to put butter in.
You forgot to put the butter in? I can't believe it.
I get the orange blossom coming through the sponge.
I do. I think that's really quite delightful.
I think the amount you've got in there is absolutely right.
The orange gel, which is sweet orange, like orange juice.
And then the top, the rind, with that orange marmalade flavour.
I think that's great.
The sponge is too dry. You know that.
You haven't put the butter in.
But I love, love, love that cream cheese with that orange gel.
Because you've deliberately not made it too sweet at all.
It's almost refreshing.
What a lovely combination to put on a sweetened sponge.
Relief that that's over, to be fair.
There was parts of it they weren't too happy with, but on the whole
I got good feedback, so...
Garmin technician Natasha's main is pan-fried veal,
grilled paprika prawn,
gnudi - a fried ricotta and lemon dumpling - sauteed
in seaweed butter,
kale, parsley crumb,
served with a buttermilk and smoked paprika sauce.
Your veal is beautiful.
You've got some texture on the outside.
It's still pink in the middle. It's absolutely lovely.
Your prawn at one end is cooked, the thinner end. The thicker end
needs more cookery. We're talking about a minute.
I do love the smoky paprika coming through that cream sauce.
It builds up that flavour.
It's subtle, which is lovely, but the sweet smokiness
and the pepperiness... You can tell in my voice. It's catching me now.
Your gnudi are quite firm.
In fact, they're very firm.
A real gnudi literally dissolves in your mouth.
It's literally ricotta with a little shell around the outside.
But the softness of the veal, the crunch coming from that kale,
I think that's great.
I think you've done a pretty good job. Thank you.
Hoping to build on the success of her mille-feuille last time,
Natasha's dessert is puff pastry filled with layers of coffee
and coconut mousse,
topped with a pistachio, apricot, chocolate
and coconut crumb.
Lovely, thin puff pastry.
And in between that, the creaminess
of bitter coffee and then mellow, sweet coconut.
And I am so very happy.
Really well made.
Beautiful textures. Beautiful flavours. Well done, you.
Thank you.
The bit across the top, the dried apricots, pistachios, the chocolate
and the coconut, tastes to me like a thing that is supposed
to be really good for you, but you actually know is
a little bit naughty.
And I quite like that.
The dessert is as good as it was last time, so thank you very much.
Thank you.
It was no easier the second time round.
If anything, it was harder because you're trying
to prove a point.
I had to focus, bring my A-game. And, yeah, some minor faults,
but we're all human. I'm happy.
Head of customer success Ajay has served South Indian spiced lamb
chops, coconut rice, a chilli, coconut and parsley sambal,
and a black pepper sauce.
Ajay, it gives me great pleasure to announce to you
I think your food is stunning.
That lamb is perfect.
You've got colour on the outside and it's juicy pink in the middle.
That sambal really took me by surprise.
It starts off citrusy, sharp, and then it went coconut-sweet.
And then bits of chilli kept coming in, and I couldn't leave it alone.
Thank you.
I'd pay good money for that main course.
Thank you. I really would.
Your black pepper sauce has the wonderful texture and flavour
of a steak and black pepper sauce when it hits right in the back
of your throat.
Your rice is cooked beautifully.
You've got all these different seeds and flavours.
There is nowhere to hide in this
from spice. It is spiced right to the hilt.
And I love you for it.
I think that's just absolutely fantastic.
Thank you.
For dessert, Ajay has made beetroot and black carrot halwa wontons,
served with a white chocolate and cardamom mousse
and toasted pistachios.
I love your flavours.
I really like that beetroot carrot halwa inside.
But those wonton skins are a bit too hard.
They're a bit too chewy.
And I feel as though the whole thing could do, like, a nice little syrup
on the side to make it really come alive.
I love your mousse.
A little bit of chocolate. Not too sweet. A lot of cream.
Hint of cardamom running through there. With pistachios,
all good. Flavours are great.
The texture of that wonton...
..I'm not in love with. OK.
I've definitely shown the judges that I'm a much more mature cook.
Last time, I went out in the quarterfinals, this time
they want to pay for my food.
So, hey, that definitely shows I've gone a long way.
In 2023, insurance MD Tigi's sea bass dish sent him home.
To show his improvement,
he's served sea bass, cooked in a jerk sauce, with callaloo
and sweet potato croquettes.
Your fish cookery is perfect.
I mean, it is buttery, soft, and it's flaking.
Your sweet potato croquettes are an inspiration.
I've never had them before.
It's got a really nice soft texture.
With the crispy outside, I think that's lovely.
Thanks.
Good news is everything on that dish is cooked really, really well
and seasoned beautifully.
Callaloo, I love.
It's strong, it's got lovely, sweet
notes going through it and a little bit of spice.
Your friends can no longer give you a hard time about broccoli,
or about soggy sweet potato - your sweet potatoes are ace.
Bad news is...
..it needs jerk.
You made the sauce - you had a big pot of it. Mm.
It's not there, which is a real shame.
Tigi's dessert is a key lime pie -
a digestive biscuit base...
..topped with a lime custard,
served with a ginger curd.
Didn't all go to plan, did it?
No. Unfortunately, the desserts...
..they, er, stuck to the cases,
so I couldn't get them off.
We've got a buttery biscuit base, we've got a slightly sweetened
and cream, slightly citrusy.
But what's really making it for me
is the quality of that curd,
because that's not just ginger, tickly heat - that's also
sharp lime as well...
Yeah. ..and I find it absolutely delightful.
It's not the dish you intended, obviously... No.
..but I like your flavours and your textures.
Tigi, your flavours are fantastic.
The biscuit's great.
It's not too sweet.
Love the sharpness of the lime in there.
A little bit of sweet sugar coming through it.
It's a shame it crumbled.
I'm actually feeling OK, to be fair.
I think I've done about 475 key lime pies in my whole
entire life, and I think that's
the first one that's stuck to the dish.
Literally. Never seen it.
Such is life.
These things are brought to test us.
Yes!
For her first course,
personal trainer Cliodhna has made
smoked salmon, spinach and ricotta-filled pasta,
served with a dill oil,
samphire and a lemon and garlic reduction.
Your pasta is made really, really well. I like it a lot.
Your filling itself - nicely seasoned.
When you open those little parcels up, you get the smell of that smoked
salmon, richness of spinach,
the creaminess of the ricotta.
That's great. It's just...
It's a little bit dry. Right.
It needs a sauce.
But that bit of reduced stock
and the lemon is delicious.
Slightly meaty, slightly citrusy.
And I've got to congratulate you on your pasta work.
Well done. Thank you.
Looking for redemption on the tart that sent her home,
Cliodhna's dessert is a dark chocolate tart
filled with chocolate ganache,
cherry jam, and a cherry liqueur,
topped with pistachio cream.
Cliodhna...
..I love it. Oh, thank God.
Thin, lovely, dark...
..rich, chocolate pastry.
Across the top of that, a rich chocolate ganache,
lovely and creamy and smooth.
And then a pistachio cream
that tastes of pistachio.
I don't have a complaint about it at all.
Thank you so much.
I think it's delicious.
Those flavours are absolutely divine.
And that cherry is so sweet.
It's like a bubble gum.
It's like a cherry bubble gum.
It is so delightful.
It's divine.
So, it's taken me a full year to redeem myself
for the mistake I made.
I just think I'd got in my head that I couldn't do it,
and then even when the world stood
there telling me all this lovely stuff, I was...
..I was just taken aback.
I am absolutely loving Comeback Week.
Five contestants who I think are really, really brave.
They're really good cooks, Gregg.
I should have brought a debit card machine and...
..made John put his money where his mouth is
and pay for that food, you know?
LAUGHTER
There were some quality cookery in here, John.
But there were a couple of little mistakes.
Mistakes that are brought on by the pressure of the competition.
I think they just had a sharp reminder of how tough this can be.
I got good feedback, but it wasn't perfect.
I think everyone smashed it.
I think if I was looking at a group of five people, I'd say, you know...
..how can I get an Uber?
And in the next round, we've got three quarterfinal places.
I tell you what, it's going to be a fight to the bitter end.
Welcome back.
You are now cooking for a place in a quarterfinal.
What we want from you are dishes that you would serve
from your own food truck.
What inspires you?
What street food from anywhere
in the world would you like to serve?
In this round, you have to impress
not just Gregg and I, but a specially invited guest
who's going to taste the food with us and help us make a decision.
There are only three quarterfinal places up for grabs -
the last three quarterfinal places
of this year's competition.
Ladies and gentlemen,
90 minutes.
Let's cook.
Whoo!
Vinegar.
I've done this quite a few times... PAN SIZZLES
so I'm confident in what I'm doing.
I'm not going to check a recipe
at the moment, which is a good feeling.
I've gone with the Mexican theme just because I feel like
it suits the brief.
I've not shown John and Gregg my spicy side yet, so I think
it's about time that came out -
and hopefully blow their socks off.
Cliodhna, you've got a food truck.
What food is it serving?
I'm making tacos for you guys today.
So, we've got pulled beef brisket
served in a pink taco shell
with taco gravy,
cos I had to bring a bit of the North down here as well
and just show off that.
We've got a red jalapeno and tomato salsa,
whipped guacamole...
..and there's a bit of cheese
on there as well, just for good measure.
What is this? Mexico City meets Lancashire, is it?
Basically, yeah.
It's really good, though.
So don't knock it till you try it.
Paint a picture for me of your food truck, please.
My food truck - really good music,
loads of margaritas, amazing tacos
and just all-round good vibes.
Cliodhna's food truck is going to be selling us...
..pink taco?
Fascinating.
I like the process - using beetroot juice
to be able to get the pink colour in the taco.
I think that's a really nice idea.
The jalapeno and tomato relish needs to be nice and fiery
and really, really hot.
The taco gravy, being the juice that's coming off
the braising liquid.
We've got chipotle paste, coriander
seeds, garlic powder, all sorts
of things going in there,
so it should be lovely and flavoursome.
But...braised pulled brisket
of beef in just 90 minutes?
I hope Cliodhna's done her timing - because that concerns me.
Oh, my sour cream.
Sour cream...
I love eating from street food
trucks myself, and I love
just being able to have a quick fix.
This dish reflects my style
of cooking because it's combining two
smaller dishes that probably
you wouldn't have normally together.
But they do work well for this brief.
Natasha, what food are you serving, please?
So, today it is a mix of Bajan cuisine and some home comforts.
So I've got a fried chicken skewer
with pickled cucumber.
And then the other side is
a saltfish buljol on a flat bread.
It's a mix of saltfish that's
cooked with some peppers, carrots, very fresh...
The breadfruit, where's that going?
That is some breadfruit wedges to go on the side.
So it's like a pick and mix,
a combination of the dishes to make the one.
Will your truck be Caribbean-themed?
It wouldn't be truly Caribbean-themed.
It's my style.
So, again, a bit of fusion,
something that might not be on your typical
Caribbean truck, but have the touches that I love.
I love fried chicken.
Fried chicken needs to be crispy on the outside, using thighs
cooked all the way through.
What's the sauce on that?
It's a scotch bonnet and honey glaze.
A little bit of rum.
Natasha's making what she calls a saltfish buljol.
We've got peppers, onions, some grated carrot, lime juice,
all going together with some saltfish.
And as the name suggests, it's salty.
And then on the side of that,
we've also got fried breadfruit.
Breadfruit is quite sort of chalky.
She's going to fry it, then she's going to bake it
with some spices.
This is so very Natasha.
Lots of things which may not
necessarily belong together
in the normal world, but belong together in Natasha's world.
And actually with her combinations - they usually work.
Let's see.
30 minutes gone, everybody.
You've had half an hour.
# Shoo-be-do! #
MIXER WHIRS
It's fun, this, isn't it?
The inspiration behind this dish is that it's one
of my actual personal favourites.
My mum makes it for me all the time.
My mum still makes it now, and I'm 48 years of age.
It's from my heritage.
It's something I've eaten my whole entire life, so hopefully I can do
it justice today.
Tigi, have you got big pan of jollof rice there?
I have got a big pan of jollof rice on today.
Ooh! So, what's...what's your food?
It's like a Gambian dish.
So, it's called a benachin, which is normally a one-pot dish.
So, it's jollof rice, char-grilled corn...
..and a thigh of chicken cooked
in sweet paprika and all the other bits and pieces and niceties.
If you did have a food truck, paint the picture for me.
What does it look like? It would be called Waaw,
which in Wolof, which is a language spoken in Gambia, means yes.
I'd also employ my mum to help me,
because I feel that she'd love that.
How good have you got to be now to grab a quarterfinal place?
Because you had you had a real mishap the last time. Yeah.
Well, looking around this room, I've probably got
to be triple A-plus to get anywhere near a quarterfinals place
because there's some really good cooks in this room,
but hopefully I can get there.
Jollof rice -
he's got a pot of rice on there with some tomatoes going through it,
loads and loads of different spices,
including chilli powder and paprika.
And he's got a whole scotch bonnet -
so that's going to be nice and hot.
PAN SIZZLES
Tigi's taken basil, garlic and onions and chillies and tomatoes,
and he's going to bring that down to make
what he calls a gravy.
This is the sort of stuff that would sell from a food truck.
However, he has got no movement in this round.
He's got to absolutely nail it.
You are halfway, guys.
The marketplace is beginning to fill up.
I was born in Madras, just by the ocean.
I went to college in Rhode Island - by the ocean.
And the place that we love to go to a lot is Cornwall.
So, if I had a food truck,
it would be by the sea.
This dish is an ode to the seaside.
What I'm serving you today is
seared scallop with a corn puree
with samphire and sea fennel pakoras.
And to brighten up the day and give you a little jolt,
a very spicy crab rasam,
which is a broth.
You've got scallop and you've got crab -
this is a very expensive food truck.
It's a fancy food truck in Cornwall.
It's a summer experience that you don't want to miss.
Ha-ha!
Listen, you're good at cooking -
you're an even better salesman.
I'm buying into this.
We have got ourselves a really posh food truck.
Pan-fried scallop - hopefully
nice and well coloured.
And it's going to be served on
a peanut mixture made from dried
chickpeas, curry leaves, chillies...
..all ground up to this amazing dust,
and be quite sweet and fiery.
That rasam needs to be nice and sharp and sour.
There's loads of chilli here,
and he's flavouring his with crab.
Then we've got a sweet corn puree as well.
That sweet corn puree has got loads
and loads of green chillies in it,
so that's going to be quite fiery and hot.
It's a spicy dish, mate. Spicy dish.
And then our pakora on the side, which will be salty
but also quite sweet.
It sounds delicious.
Because my friends call me Mummy,
it's going to be called
Mummy's Seafood Vanti.
And vanti means cart in Tamil.
So, Mummy's Seafood Vanti.
Mummy's Vanti. Mummy's Vanti!
Mummy's Vanti. Brilliant! Yeah!
So, my inspiration has come from...
..making a lot of cheesecakes,
and I wanted to tweak it a bit
and make something slightly different.
So I've come up with something
that I think would definitely sell
in a food truck.
Linda... Yes.
..what are you serving from your food truck, please?
It's a brownie on the bottom and
then it's got chocolate ganache,
raspberry coulis, and then it's got
cheesecake on the top covered
in a chocolate dough.
So, what would your food truck be, then?
A pudding truck?
A pudding truck, yeah.
In the place I live, Prestatyn,
I could put it in the high street.
Lots of people are always asking me
to set up a food truck.
If you had this food truck,
would you do any calendar shoots from it?
Yeah, might serve it naked.
Naked cheesecake.
We are starting off with a base
of a chocolate brownie - nice
and crispy on the outside and squidgy in the centre.
Almost when you take the centre out,
you can almost spread it with a knife.
Then we've got a raspberry coulis going through there.
Well, raspberry coulis, you put ganache across the top of that.
That's just going to disappear.
What did I want the piping bag for?
SHE GASPS
The ganache!
She's going to have to make sure that raspberry is
thickened up a little bit.
Then on top of that, we've got a cheesecake.
Cheesecake has to be set really, really well.
She's going to make a chocolate-tempered dome
and then that's all going to be
compiled and layered together.
I think this sounds like
quite a creation, but this is two desserts,
if not three, together on one plate.
I'm waiting for me ganache to set.
It's not having it.
There's a lot of work here.
How long have we got?
You have ten minutes left.
Ten minutes. Come on, guys.
Feel like crying.
Do I chuck it key back in?
Yeah, I'll chuck it back in.
Hell fire!
Oh, my.
Cooked it too quick, I think.
Oh...
Come on.
Just five minutes.
Five minutes left.
It's not set as much as I want,
but I'll just try and get it on.
Should've done it first.
Er...I'm plating?
I'm happy, but...!
Then, all of a sudden,
it'll be one minute!
Please come out.
Come out. Come out, come out.
Yes! Look at that!
Just 60 seconds.
One minute - finishing touches.
That's it. Stop! Time's up.
Well done.
Now, we did promise you a guest -
someone who is going to taste
your food, give you a bit
of professional feedback.
Can I introduce to you now
a seriously talented chef...
..and winner of Professional MasterChef 2019...
..Chef Stu Deeley.
Welcome. Hello. Are you all right, Chef?
Yeah, very good.
In 2019, Birmingham chef Stu Deeley
set the MasterChef Professionals competition alight...
It's delicate and it's light and it's absolutely delicious.
..winning the title...
Well done. Cheers. Congratulations.
..with his inventive dishes based
on growing up in the Midlands.
I think you nailed it...
..absolutely to perfection.
Since winning, he's gone on to
become chef director of Smoke,
a restaurant at the luxury
five-star hotel Hampton Manor.
As a chef, I'd describe myself
as someone who likes
just a fun kitchen.
I like the inventiveness of dishes.
I like bringing inspiration
from food that I like to eat,
whether that be the food of Birmingham
or whether it be takeaways.
The food business is a great way for people to put
on a plate their identity.
So I'm really excited today to see
some real personality in the plates.
I want to see spiciness.
I want to see big flavours.
It's all about just making it tasty,
and that's all I care about.
Are you a fan of food trucks?
Oh, big time, yeah.
I mean, it's delicious food, isn't it?
Ajay - please, my friend, up you come.
First up is Ajay.
His seaside-inspired
food truck dish
is pan-seared scallops
on a peanut and chickpea crumb...
..spiced roasted corn and corn puree...
..served with samphire and sea fennel pakoras,
mint chutney
and a crab rasam -
a spiced crab, tamarind and tomato broth.
Great cooking on the scallops.
They're cooked to perfection.
They're seasoned really nicely.
I've never seen anyone do a samphire pakora,
so I really liked that twist on it.
The rasam - again, delicious.
Nice amount of spice.
Great with the crab in there.
Would you see your everyday food
truck doing something like this?
No. Do you stand out?
Yes.
So there's a bit of a battle there for me.
Your chutney is electric...
..with a bit of mint and a bit of coriander - absolutely delicious.
That puree - bit of sweetness from corn and then the heat of chilli,
it's just heavenly.
That scallop dish, I think is probably
one of the best scallop dishes I've ever eaten in my life.
Wow. Beautifully cooked.
They've got a lovely colour on the outside of them.
That peanut crumb - you had this lovely sweetness
in there and the flavour of curry leaves as well.
And then added to that, that roasted
corn with a bit of lime and chilli
on the outside, I think is absolutely fabulous.
This would sell for a lot of money.
This is not going to be your normal festival.
This is probably a selected few in the VIP area.
I think I absolutely achieved what I wanted to do.
Every element was there.
Everything was cooked perfectly.
Fun round.
Cliodhna's Mexican food truck creation is a pink taco...
..filled with pulled beef brisket,
Cheddar cheese, whipped avocado,
garlic, sour cream and red jalapeno and tomato salsa...
..served with taco gravy.
Your pulled beef, your brisket -
I think it's great.
It's a nice little strand.
There's still some good texture.
You made your own taco shells.
I think they're very, very good.
Cheese in the bottom, which is nice and salty.
That's great.
Commercially, I think it's very, very clever and I think you'd sell
a load of them.
To me, it tastes just like lunch in a Mexican restaurant.
You've captured all of those flavours.
I think it's lovely.
I'm picking up sweetness of tomato,
I'm picking up a bit of chilli, a bit of coriander.
I love that gravy!
It's salty and smoky.
There's Mexico City meets Lancashire Mill.
The beef's cooked really well, given the time limit.
You get that nice punchy acidity,
a little bit of creaminess
from the avocado, but that thing that just brings it all together
is the gravy.
Every Sunday lunch is having Mexican gravy on it now.
It was amazing cooking for Stu.
Obviously, he understands the pressures of the competition.
So to get the comments that I got
from him was just unbelievable.
I'm really happy with it.
SIGHS: Oh, that was good.
Natasha's Caribbean fusion...
..is scotch bonnet and honey-fried chicken skewers
with pickled cucumber,
breadfruit wedges...
..spiced flatbreads topped with saltfish,
tomatoes and smashed avocado...
..served with a sour cream and chive dip
and a rum punch.
Natasha, for me, I really enjoyed the chicken with the batter.
The batter is so crispy
and it's so tasty.
The chicken's cooked perfectly.
The saltfish - again, tasty.
All that citrus from the coriander
is coming through - it's lightening it all up.
The bread is great.
And the rum punch -
I'll take that with me.
I've got some more in the fridge.
Perfect.
Your fried chicken - I loved the pickled cucumber with it.
I like the sweet chilli sauce around the outside.
The breadfruit, they are dry,
and I feel as though they could probably do with
a bit of seasoning on the outside of them.
But I like the sour cream dip.
Thank you very much.
Those little flatbreads there are yummy.
That's exactly what I would expect
from a really good food truck.
I'm really, really enjoying this.
I think my main worry was the breadfruit.
Because last night I did them,
and I literally smothered them in my seasoning.
But, yeah, overall, they seemed
to love all the other flavours and components
of the dish, so I'm happy.
From his West African food truck,
Tigi has cooked his take on Gambian benachin stew,
jollof rice with char-grilled corn
and sweet peppers,
topped with roasted chicken thighs,
served with a scotch bonnet
and basil gravy.
Your chicken thigh - lovely, crispy skin,
moist meat underneath,
and your gravy is almost sweet
compared to the pepperiness of the rice.
I like that.
I've had jollof a few times in the past... Mm.
..and I was expecting, like, blow your head off.
But fortunately - for me - it's not.
It's perfectly balanced.
The chicken was delicious.
Like, perfectly seasoned.
So, well done. Thanks, mate. Cheers, thank you.
If you pick that rice up, you can
smell that you've burnt your pot.
Obviously, what's happened is the smoke has gone
through and smoked your rice.
Maybe you could call it smoked rice, Tigi, but I don't think
you'd probably get away with it.
What I'm really pleased about
is that sauce is really, really good.
Loved the little bit of aniseed from the basil coming through,
but with a chilli flavour going through it.
You make good sauces - be generous with it.
Give us a big bowl of it.
OK. Thank you.
The food I was cooking from my African heritage,
so therefore having kind comments said about it is really good for me.
Do I think I've done enough?
I produced the dish I wanted to produce,
so I couldn't really do much more than that.
Linda has made a chocolate brownie cheesecake dessert -
dark chocolate brownie topped with
chocolate ganache, raspberry coulis,
vanilla cream cheese and a tempered chocolate dome.
The dome of chocolate across the top
of the cheesecake is thin,
thinner than an Easter egg.
The cheesecake itself doesn't
have the firmness of a cheesecake,
more of a sort of fluffy vanilla cream.
Underneath that, the rich ganache, which is dark,
thick, sweet chocolate.
For me, I think that that raspberry
should be more like a jelly or a jam,
so you've got that little bit
of a texture issue, and I think
there should be more of it.
I think the cheesecake, you could go
with a bit of booze or something
in there just to make it a bit
different and just to pack a bit
more acidity into there
because it is quite chocolate-heavy.
It's very skilful.
I mean, that dome across the top there,
it's got a proper crack to it as well.
It's very, very delicate.
So well done, you.
I find the brownie a little dense.
A little heavy. OK.
Flavours - beautiful.
Skill - amazing, on that dome.
Brownie - slightly heavy for me.
OK.
With the brownie,
it was just a bit too dense.
It's usually oozing a bit more.
Obviously, you don't want to hear them comments.
I was hoping it would all be well,
but you know, it is what it is, isn't it?
So, just wanted to start off by saying thank you,
because that was some real great cooking.
And to be honest, for me, I think
you guys are at the same level
as the professionals.
We've got a big job to do now.
We've got to decide who goes through to a quarterfinal.
Off you go, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
Cheers.
Stu, again, thank you very much
and your continued success - congratulations.
Thank you very much. Lovely to see you again.
Nice to eat food with you, Stu.
Yeah, you, too. See you later. Take care. Thank you.
The last heat of this year's competition,
and what a heat it truly was.
We have a decision to make because we've only got three
quarterfinal places, and that does mean that two of them
are leaving the competition.
Ajay stretched the brief right
to the limit, but that is one
of the best scallop dishes
I've ever eaten in my life.
That fella is a proper, proper cook.
We have got to put him through.
I think you're absolutely right.
There's one other cook I think really deserves a quarterfinal
place, and that's Cliodhna.
A pink taco and...
..a taco-inspired gravy.
She'd captured all the flavours
of a Mexican taco dish,
but it had a little bit of character, didn't it?
We've now got one place left.
Oh!
Tigi needed a strong round - we know that.
We had great chicken,
a really good sauce on the side.
My concern was that we actually
had a taint of burnt from that rice.
Natasha - what a brilliant, eclectic cook.
I thought the crispy chicken with
honey and chilli was delightful.
And I liked the salted fish on her bread.
The breadfruit chips - they needed some more seasoning.
Linda's food truck delicacy...
..was a brownie with a cheesecake.
I mean, the work that went in there,
making ganache, doing the tempered
chocolate, great combination.
But it didn't please all of us.
Skilful? Yes.
Chocolate and cream - wonderful.
I thought the brownie was a little dense.
I'm hoping I've done enough to stay in the competition.
You know, you must be mad,
but you want to do it all over again.
I don't know what it is.
It's so addictive.
I came here to get further than I got last time.
Last time, I got to the quarterfinal.
I'd hope to get to the quarterfinal again -
and if I did, I'd be really proud of that.
I'd be gutted if I was going home
because it would be a short
but sweet experience.
But, yeah, we'll see what they decide.
Over two rounds,
you have been nothing short of phenomenal.
Very, very well done, all five of you.
It's been a really tough decision.
Our first quarterfinalist...
..is Ajay.
Congratulations.
Thank you. Thank you.
Our second quarterfinalist...
..is Cliodhna.
Wow, thank you.
OK.
Natasha, Linda, Tigi -
we've only got one quarterfinal place left.
Our third quarterfinalist...
..is Natasha.
Very well done.
Linda, Tigi - thank you so very much.
It's been an absolute pleasure having you back.
Thank you very much indeed. You're leaving us. Thank you.
Well done. Thank you.
I feel OK to be going home.
A bit sad, but there's lots of good cooks there,
so, you know, stiff competition.
It's a massive experience.
And I've loved every minute of it.
A massive experience, with an element of joy.
Because one thing is, I get two aprons, which I can now put
on my wall in my kitchen.
So, yeah, it's been great, honestly - fantastic.
CHEERING
Congratulations, you three -
you are my chef quarterfinalists.
Well done!
I've never done this before.
THEY LAUGH
MasterChef quarterfinalist - I can't believe it.
I'm very, very happy with getting this far, but I'm definitely
going to push myself and see how much further I can take it.
100%.
We all knew it was going to be really tight.
It was a really tough round.
Everyone was on such a high level.
It's just...relief now, though.
The journey for me has just started.
I'm confident. I'm happy.
I'm looking forward to the next round.
Next time...
It's the last of this year's quarterfinals.
An Ajay, Cliodhna and Natasha...
Whoa-ho! Look at you!
..will be joining Chris, Mary...
..and Matthew...
It's a bit hot in the kitchen!
..cooking for one of the country's top restaurant critics.
That went fast. OK, please start plating up now.
You've absolutely delivered - it is cranked to 11.
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