Catch up TV

Series 22: Episode 16

It’s semi-finals time, and the eight remaining cooks are ready to battle it out for a chance at victory. As Anna and Grace ramp things up with their biggest challenges yet, each of the contestants aims to keep their track records in check and stay on course for MasterChef stardom. Sadly, it will mark the end of the road for one, leaving just seven still in the race.\n\nFirst up, it’s off to the National Rail Museum in York, where they are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway. There, a banquet is being held for 100 railway staff, volunteers and enthusiasts. Anna and Grace have arranged for the event to be catered for by the eight semi-finalists, but fine dining on this scale for 100 guests is beyond anything they have faced before. Success comes down to detailed planning and some serious graft.\n\nTo add extra pressure, the celebratory menu has been designed by Anna, who is also running service, and the amateurs work in teams to deliver an exceptional starter, main course and dessert for the banquet. It goes without saying that each of Anna’s dishes is packed with demanding technique and elements that require the utmost care. Anna won’t be pleased if any of the expensive produce, including venison loins and cod fillets, goes to waste. Much like the railway network, everything must run like clockwork and be on time. \n\nEvery move the semi-finalists make is scrutinised by the judges. At the end of the challenge, Anna and Grace decide which team was the strongest, and they head straight through to the next round, leaving the other two teams with one final chance to impress. \n\nBack at MasterChef HQ, they battle as individuals to keep their place in the competition. Anna and Grace’s brief is an Invention Test - they ask the semi-finalists to cook one dish that celebrates one of the three main ingredients used at the railway banquet: cod, venison and rhubarb. However, they cannot use the ingredient they worked with previously. They have just 90 minutes to deliver a flawless dish that wows the judges. Can the amateurs think on their feet and deliver a dish packed with enough skill and flavour to stand out from the pack?\n\nAnna and Grace then have a tough decision on their hands, as one of the cooks is heading home while the rest move forward in the race to become this year’s MasterChef champion.

Source: BBC 1