The Big Family Cooking Showdown (2017–2018): Season 2, Episode 12 - Episode #2.12 - full transcript

-Let's go.
-[bell rings]

[Angellica]
The Big Family Cooking Showdown is back.

Brilliant! Perfect!

We are bringing to our kitchen
16 foodie families

ready to take each other on
and prove their cooking is best.

I wake up thinking about food,
I go to sleep thinking about food.

We're either gonna prepare something great

or we're gonna give
the judges food poisoning.

They come in different combinations,
from in-laws...

If I hear that word "chilled" again,
someone is going to get hurt.

...to grandparents.



Nan, these are going horribly wrong.

-Twins...
-Oh yeah.

...to teenagers...

-Bit of salt and pepper in there?
-Yes, Mother.

All right, only asking.

But what they all bring is
their very own brand of family cooking...

...perfected over years,
sometimes generations.

In India, this is like
the nation's favorite snack.

Food is at the very heart
of these families' lives.

That's enough.

The ingredient that binds
each family together.

The family that cuddles
together, stays together.

Watching and judging their every move
will be Tommy Banks...

Dropping bombs.



...Britain's youngest ever
Michelin-starred chef

and owner of his own family restaurant.

-Good?
-I could eat that three times a day.

-Okay.
-It's a great piece of cooking.

Go, go, go, go, right stop.

And, me. Angellica Bell.

I've written family cook books,

and know just how important
home cooking is for family life.

It's delicious.
My granddad would just love that.

Yes. Angellica!

We're not looking for
fancy restaurant cuisine...

but we are expecting
the very highest standards...

Smashed it!

...as we search for the families
that make ordinary food extraordinary.

-I just feel overwhelmed.
-Just take your time, Daddy.

This has gone so wrong.

[glass shattering]

It's the semi-finals
of Family Cooking Showdown.

-Everyone's oven's on.
-Oh, okay.

Last time one family left and now
our three remaining families face a day

of challenges set personally
by Tommy and me.

The three families are...

The Whitakers from Lancashire.

Hotel owners Andrew and Qidi along
with their 17-year-old daughter Jasmyn

lived in Southeast Asia for 25 years.

Their cooking is a flavor fusion
of both east and west.

As a Chinese cook in the family...

we're probably little bit different,
so we want--

We're gonna be a bit different
to everyone.

Yeah, we want use
that little bit different to stand out.

The Whites
from Hampshire are country dwellers

William, his daughter Molly,
and son Jack.

Maggie!

All three are passionate about cooking
and championing local produce.

Well, British produce
is the most important thing to us

because it's-- it's fresh, um, we get it
locally, and it's the most healthy option.

Yeah, most-- most things we try
and buy British.

-Difficult to get British bananas.
-Um...

Finally, it's the Mistrys from London.

Husband Mitesh, his wife Prachi,
and nephew Anup,

draw on their Indian heritage
to create exciting new flavors.

As a trio we enjoy
lots of different dishes,

so Indian food, then we like doing
a lot of Western food as well.

And trying to fuse the spices together
to give us, like, Indo-Western food.

All I'm gonna say is think unconventional.

-Okay.
-Unconventional. Outside the box.

Morning!

-Hello.
-Morning.

Congratulations and welcome
to our second final's day.

We are now down to three families.

Now, I know
yesterday was quite an intense day.

The Whitakers, you brought your A-game,
but will you be able to do it again?

The Mistrys, consistency seems
to be your main ingredient,

but will you be able to wow us?

And the Whites, you traveled a bumpy road,
but will it be a smooth ride?

Now I need you all to listen carefully.

As I said, we're now down
to three families...

but tomorrow,
only two families will be cooking.

But that's not bad news.

Because today's winner
will go straight through...

to the final showdown.

That means the remaining
two families will be back here tomorrow

to have a cook-off to decide
who will take that final place.

[Tommy] As ever, they'll be two rounds
of cooking today.

And the first one is very special to me.

In the boxes in front of you are all
the ingredients that I like to cook with.

But more importantly, most of them
have come from my farm as well.

So let's take a look.

Each box is filled with an array
of garden-fresh vegetables

from Tommy's family farm,
and a special herb-fed chicken.

And as it's the semi-finals,
we've made this challenge

even tougher by restricting
the spices and condiments in the larder.

Our families will have to get creative

with some of Tommy's
more unusual ingredients in the box.

So these are oyster leaves.

So...

a plant that tastes just like oysters.
Quite bizarre.

This is sweet woodruff.

Now, this grows wild in all the woods
around the UK, but it tastes like vanilla.

Tonka bean, it's quite an exotic flavor.

And then some preserved
ingredients as well.

We've got a kimchi
which is made out of fennel.

An oil which has been infused
with elderflowers so it's really fragrant.

These are wild garlic seeds,
which have been pickled to preserve them

so they're like a caper,
but with a really punchy, garlicky taste.

I'm very interested to see
what you're gonna come up with.

I want a delicious plate of food.

You have one hour and 15 minutes
to come up with something creative

and inventive. Good luck. Let's go.

Okay, let's go guys.

Fast, fast, fast.

Right. Any thoughts?

What's the plan?

You-- you said something roasted.
Casserole. Whatever it is, right?

First idea is chicken burritos,
with the potatoes, and veggies.

We roast the chicken,
then we do like a herby dressing.

-Yeah, I think that is--
-Then we do tomato salsa to go in that

and on-- on the side
I'd either do a summer salad

with the fresh herbs,
or I can do a soup with this.

-Yeah, yeah. I think that-- that is it.
-Um, and then...

I am so excited about this challenge.

All these ingredients are
from your farm, yeah?

Yeah, well, I am,
'cause these ingredients I use everyday

But these guys are gonna do something
totally different,

so I'm just really excited to see
what they do.

-Yeah.
-And a lot of these cooks,

they like to use spices and
we don't have the spices for this course.

They've got to get enough
seasoning into it,

then use the herbs to get a nice fragrance
and the garlic seeds, I think.

-I wanna see them in there.
-Yeah.

-That's quite nice.
-Yeah.

Smell that.

Oh, Christ.

Sweet.

-Sweet... woodruff.
-Sweet like you.

-Woodruff.
-[groans]

As well as using unusual ingredients...

there is another challenge
our families face.

If they decide to use the large chicken,

they'll have to find a way to cook it
in just one hour and 15 minutes.

One thing that you mentioned to me,
there's a way of breaking this open.

-Can you do that first?
-We don't need to cut the whole chicken.

we can just do two thighs.
That's all we need.

-The breast cooks faster than the thighs.
-Yeah, but thighs is better meat.

The breast cooks faster.
The breast cooks faster.

Do you want to serve something
which is not cooked,

or do you want to serve something
which is cooked?

Someone who isn't messing around
with their bird today... is Qidi.

Today we're making rusty house chicken.

-No. Rusty house.
-[Jasmyn laughing]

-House rusty. Whatever. Rustic.
-Not a rusty house. Rustic.

-Today-- today we're making rustican--
-Rustic.

With their east-meets-west
culinary heritage

the Whitakers are going European

with their honey and mustard
chicken casserole

and tomato side salad,

but are heading east
with two vegetable stir-fries,

including fried potatoes with onion,
and tomatoes with egg.

What do you think of my ingredients, Qidi?
You're very busy.

-This is disaster!
[Tommy] My ingredients are a disaster?

-You don't like them?
-No, they're great.

They do. They're nice.

I try to think, get my head around
and see what I can do.

What-- So when you heard that
we've sort of mixed things up a bit...

and that one family can go straight
through, what did you think? Come on.

-The game got more interesting now.
-We definitely wanna be in the final.

Why? Why is it important to you?

Because otherwise
my wife's gonna divorce me.

I divorce you anyway.

Jasmyn... Jasmyn, don't listen.

No comment. No comment.

[Tommy] The Whitakers,
they're cooking on the bone.

It's a really good way to cook meat,
it keeps it nice and moist and tender.

Their broth is going to be flavored
with sweet woodruff and bronze fennel.

They're certainly being creative
with these new ingredients.

In the Mistry kitchen,
Prachi has a more urgent approach...

to cooking than her nephew Anup.

Fast, Anup.

You don't need to say it
every 30 seconds.

Because I'm reminding you.

I think we have different personalities.

Um, I-- I like to work faster in the start
and then relax in the end.

So I have, uh, the loudest voice,
uh, or maybe the shriekiest voice,

so I make full use of that.
And, uh, when things go out of hand,

I just make use
of my shrieky voice. And I'll--

I'll be like, "No, stop!" And...

Everyone gets my attention
and they're like...

-Yeah.
-..."Okay, we need to stop."

So I can say that, you know, um,
I can't say I'm-- I'm-- I'm kind

I'm kind of the boss, but, uh,
I would love to say that, I guess.

Can I do with the peeler?
I'll-- I'll just quickly do it.

I think I'm better
with the peeler, this one.

I think she can be bossy sometimes,
but in these environments it's good

as it helps to motivate the team
and get us going,

and make sure we, uh,
get everything done in time.

In the prepare challenges
the Mistrys tend to use Indian flavors,

but without their usual spices
they're gonna have to use my herbs

to get some flavor into their
dish.

Taking a risk to secure
a place in the final,

the Mistrys are hitting Mexico

with home-made burritos filled
with a herb-infused chicken,

elderflower oil oven-roasted vegetables,

and jumping to Spain
with a squash gazpacho.

-Did you add oil or butter?
-Um...

-Um, man. Anup.
-Anup, come on, think. Brain on, brain on.

We've given our families just
an hour and a quarter for this task

to really test them.

That's fine, Mitesh. Just stick it in.

Yeah, I'm getting in now.
Last bit of pasting.

By spatchcocking their bird,

the Mistrys' chicken will cook quicker
than a whole bird,

but it's still a risky strategy.

Our other families are
perhaps more time-aware.

-What are we doing?
-So I think

-we should do a honey-glazed chicken.
-Glazed chicken.

What, just roast the whole chicken then?

-Don't have time.
-It's dangerous.

I think we need to take off the breast
and roast two breasts and do it that way.

What about the rest?

Make stocks, then we could do
something interesting with the potatoes?

Yeah, what're we gonna do
with the potatoes?

It sounds like the Whites are making
a roast dinner,

a dish so close to this family's heart
that they even take it abroad.

We were just on a ski holiday,
um, with my girlfriend's family,

and Dad is sort of known for doing
his roast on one of the Sunday evenings,

and he turned up and he had
brought his own potato peeler.

We could pan-fry the potato in butter.

We're gonna pan-fry the potato in butter.

You're just like our granny, your mum.
She actually packed,

I think it was a cooked ham, in her
suitcase to Lanzarote once. A cooked ham.

-Yeah.
-So, yeah.

-Not quite the same, but getting there.
-Not quite, but in a few years.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

What should we do with these--
What about the legs?

-Do the legs.
-What should we do?

Do the legs. I would just put them all in.

Should've just done a roast chicken then.

Shining a light
on their favorite home-grown produce,

the Whites' speedy version
of a Sunday lunch

is a summer roast chicken

in a honey and mustard marinade.

Alongside, they'll serve pan-roasted
potatoes and a purple truffle mash.

-Hello.
-Hello.

-Hello.
-Hey.

So where are we-- where are we
with excitement levels?

-Very excited. Massive.
-Very excited. Yeah.

We're gonna do our best today,
and I hope-- I hope that we--

Hope that we get through.

-[Tommy] Where's the chicken?
-It's been brutalized.

Oh, so it has.
Did you do anything with the legs then?

-Yeah, I think we'll do something.
-We've haven't quite--

-Haven't quite worked it out yet, though.
-When're you gonna think about that, then?

[William]
Probably when you stop to talking to us.

[Tommy] The Whites, they're keeping things
quite simple and traditional.

But of course, that means everything
on their plate has to be absolutely right.

The Whites are now roasting
the chicken legs with the breasts,

but different parts
of a chicken need different cooking times

to ensure they're moist, not dry.

-We should really honey glaze the chicken.
-Yeah.

So should I just take that stuff off
with a-- with a...

Yeah.

Thinking we're doing roast-- roast chicken

and I forgot that we were doing
honey roast chicken, so...

I'm now removing the herbs.

Halfway through the task
and all three families are using

a wide variety of vegetables
and flavorings from the box.

But it's the cooking of the chicken
which should concern our families.

Mitesh, can I tell you a thing?
Can you not put this in the...

No. It's fine, it's cooking.

-No, because-- You know why?
-Why?

Opening the oven 10 times,
the chicken won't cook.

-Okay, fine.
-Yeah?

But the Whitakers seem to have
their bird in hand.

So we've decided to take
the skins of the chicken

before it goes in the casserole

'cause the-- the skins are quite--
Probably quite oily,

and more difficult to eat,
so we're gonna take them off.

-[Qidi] Do you think this too big?
-Yeah.

It's a whole new Whitaker team today.

We had a-- we had a debrief last night
and decided that going forwards

we gotta be more-- more organized,

take time about what we're doing,

and, uh, no arguments.

-So let's see--
-No arguments?

-Let's see how the rest of the day goes.
-You sure?

Everything happens
in the kitchen in our family.

And it can get a bit hot
in the kitchen sometimes.

[Qidi] I'm the head chef, of course,

and Andrew,
of course, is the manager, right?

He manages the restaurant
and I wait on tables in the restaurant.

-Yeah. And they call me chef.
-And they call you chef, yeah.

I've made the executive decision
to make a fresh tomato summer salad...

with our casserole.

So I'm just gonna try
with the elderflower oil,

and a tiny little bit with a bit
of the, um, honey as well,

and, um, some of the herbs
to see what it tastes like.

I would say I'm quite experimental.
Ooh! It's purple.

Jasmyn might be experimental,

but it's her mother's
traditional side dish

which is proving controversial.

-Jasmyn?
-Yeah?

-Tomatoes, please. Now.
-Dad, move! Dad, move!

[Qidi]
This is the national dish of Chinese.

It's called tomato fried eggs.

And it is the same color with our--
as our national flag.

-The-- The egg you always do...
-Hmm?

...is always overcooked.

Leave me.

-Qidi, it's cooked.
-Potato.

-Cooked.
-No, it's not.

This is Chinese way.
This is not your English egg.

Leave me.

It's not an English egg.
It's a Chinese egg.

It's an English egg,
but it's the Chinese way. Leave me.

However, Qidi's eggs aren't
the only side dish that could go wrong.

These truffle potatoes are
quite funny looking.

-Once you get underneath?
-Yeah, they're kind of purple.

[Jack] They almost look
like a beetroot.

At least you don't need
a pig to find them.

-That's true.
-True.

-[Jack] Slippery little suckers.
-Yeah.

All three families are using
the truffle potatoes...

but the Whites are the only ones
planning to mash them.

[Tommy] The black truffle potatoes are
a bit of a curve ball.

I don't think any of the families
have cooked with them before.

They're really good for boiling
as a new potato,

but try anything else with them?

It doesn't really work,
they're so full of starch.

However, the Whites have also made
some pan-roasted white potatoes

for good measure.

[Jack] Those potatoes look lovely,
they don't need much longer.

Shame we don't have like a sauce

to do a dipping sauce
or something for them.

Could we not make a quick, um, stock
for the chicken to pour on it?

-A quick reduction of some sort?
-Have got enough time? Yeah?

With all their sides
now planned or prepared,

our families can refocus
their attention on their chickens,

and some problems are
coming home to roost.

For the Whites,
it's the different cooking times

for the breast and legs.

-How does it look?
-Looks nice.

Okay.

-So I'll just put them back in.
-Yeah, okay.

[Jack] Another 15 minutes,
I think that'll be fine.

-How's the chicken looking?
-Looking brilliant.

-Is that you-- Just you playing with me?
-Yeah, no.

-It's looking rubbish?
-No, it is good.

-It's all right? Okay.
-Yeah, it's fine.

Suitably soothed,
William can concentrate on his gravy.

It's gonna be a stock of some sort,
um, just in a little pouring jug...

we thought, with strainer off.
Um, but I'm still thinking it through.

Over at the Mistrys',

the spatchcocked chicken is finally
out of the oven.

-[Mitesh] Still cooking?
-[Anup] No, it's still raw, that.

Right, this is not good.
The Mistrys' chicken is raw.

They're gonna have to improvise,
and quickly, and find a way to cook this.

Otherwise, Angellica and I are
gonna be having a vegetarian burrito.

There is ten minutes left now.
Ten minutes.

With ten minutes to go,
the Whites' gravy is on the boil.

Blow on it.

But in your own time.

That's so hot. Why did you rush me?

The Whitakers' casserole hasn't
been boiling enough...

But we've split the dish into two.
So... because it was--

it wasn't cooking fast enough.
So we're gonna--

We've split into two so it cooks faster.

...and the Mistrys have had to start
pan-frying their raw chicken.

[Prachi] Yeah, add it in. Yeah.

[Mitesh] Beautiful. I think it's perfect.
There we go.

-No. Make it crispy, no?
-Okay.

-[Jack] Whoa, that's a weird color.
-[Molly] Yeah.

It's like a well-chlorinated
swimming pool.

Yes.

-Jasmyn, stop eating.
-These potatoes are really good.

Do you wanna taste a bit of this?
Ooh, it looks a bit...

Come on.

That's really nice.

Tissue paper. Where's tissue paper?

Mm. Anup, salt. Salt is, like, really...

Prachi to-- You put salt. You put salt.

-I'll-- I'll do it. It's fine.
-Okay.

Prachi, you do it. You do--
I-- I trust her to do it. Do it.

I think that's enough.

Okay. God, this is really sticky.

With little time remaining, everyone needs
to bring their dishes together.

Will the juices not all go on
to the plate? Can we...

-It doesn't matter. It--
-...pat it-- Oh... Pat it off?

-Doesn't matter.
-Can we get a kitchen roll?

-Kitchen roll, Jack. Come on.
-It's fine. We've got time.

-Dad, it's honestly fine.
-Yeah, fine.

Tastes great.

That needs to be more over. Hang on.

-It's fine. It's fine.
-Look, can we just get it on the plate?

-We're done.
-[Tommy & Angellica] Three and two.

-One. Okay, we are done.

Well, that was close.

I have nothing to say.

I'm glad I took the chicken back out

and then we pan-fried it. It was raw.

After a frenzied first task, our families
certainly deserve a minute to relax.

Oh, what a challenge.

How did you guys find that?

I-- I think we were relatively happy,
or certainly happier than yesterday.

Well, I did not see some
of the things ever before,

But... it smells good.

But thoughts for place
in the final are on everyone's mind.

I'm actually quite happy
about the whole thing.

About one person-- One family
being able to go through to the finals.

-To be honest, I think...
-I want to be--

-...gonna be them.
-Yeah.

-Right? Agree? Yes.
-Agreed.

I just can't get enough of her,

-so I wanna be in another cook-off.
-I have my fingers crossed.

I hope it is us,

but, uh, the competition is quite tough,
so I can't say anything.

It's time to judge our families' dishes.

First up, it's the Whitakers

with their rustic honey
and mustard chicken casserole

along with four sides, including a honey
and elderflower dressed tomato salad...

and the traditional Chinese tomato
and egg stir-fry

I like the way you've presented it
in the nice little bowls.

There's a lot to go at,
so, uh, feels like a bit of a feast.

Yeah, I really like your
presentation. It's clean.

And you know, a lot of color,
and you thought about it.

And it's nice that you've used
as many ingredients as you possibly can.

It'll be interesting to see
what your broth is like, the centerpiece.

I think I start with the casserole,
'cause I think that's the main part.

The stock's well-flavored, you know.
Well done.

It's not a long time
to make a chicken stock,

and make a really good base for a broth.

Good flavor. What's interesting is,

you've put the golden beetroots in,
and they're incredibly sweet,

and that's actually
really sweetened the broth.

I quite like that.

The chicken, good idea to marinate it,
get some flavor into it, but...

I think that the breast doesn't work
that well in the casserole.

It's quite-- The breast can be quite dry.

Now I was lucky enough to have some thigh,
which was really juicy,

really tasty, and was cooked really well,

but like Tommy said,
he had the breast and so sometimes

you have to think about which parts
you're gonna put in which things,

and which meals, or cook them differently.

The little tomato salad,
Jasmyn, is delicious. Really good.

The honey's really enhanced the flavor
of the tomato, and that works really well,

it feels very floral, very summery.

The little onion stir-fry
I think's really nice,

and the garlic seeds work really well
on there.

I'm not a huge fan of the egg
with the tomatoes.

I think once you've tried
this lovely tomato salad,

I don't think we need another one.

I don't mind the scrambled egg
and tomatoes

but I do think it does overpower
the tomatoes a little bit.

You know,
it's a nice little dish in itself,

but the tomatoes were meant
to be the star.

So I think it's a pretty good effort.
There's some good flavors in there.

Maybe do something different
with the breast next time

'casue it's dry in a casserole.

-I think it's good. I enjoyed it.
-[Andrew] Okay.

[Whitakers] Thank you.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

Next, the Whites with their honey
and mustard summer roast chicken

served with fried potatoes,
purple truffle mash,

and a selection
of roast vegetables and gravy.

It feels a bit sort of meat and--
meat and veg.

But... that's
what you had in the box so, uh...

let's see.

For me the chicken...

is overcooked on this plate,

whereas the chicken on this side
is a little bit more tender.

Legs take longer to cook
than breast, so...

you can't put them on the same tray
at the same time

and think they're gonna be great.
So I think it's just that understanding.

The purple truffle potato has
a great taste to it,

but I think it's stodgy.

Maybe, if I was gonna do
something like that with a truffle potato,

lightly crush it with a fork,
and you could've got more flavors into it.

A really waxy potato like that doesn't
really like being manipulated too much.

The red skin potato lends itself
really well to roasting.

I could eat a bucket of those.
The season gives it a lovely crisp,

nice and soft in the middle,
they're brilliant.

I think your gravy is good,
but you started cooking that a little late

and that could've been reduced
down a bit more.

Um... so these are things I know
you can do really well...

but I don't know if it's been
executed well today.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

Thank you.

Finally, it's the Mistrys

with their chicken
and roast vegetable burrito...

served with a buttermilk dressing,
various salad sides...

and a bowl of squash gazpacho.

Well, when we started
with that box of ingredients...

and knowing you as cooks,
I was not expecting

a burrito and a gazpacho.

In terms of presentation,
it-- it looks really clean and neat.

I like, you know, the gazpacho,
and you used elderflower oil over that,

just to give it that sort of,
you know, chef finesse.

And I like
that you've done something different.

[Tommy] Right. Let's try it.

-Get bit of everything in here.
-Yeah.

When you looked at that box of ingredients

you didn't think burrito, 'cause there was
none of the ingredients of a burrito,

there's no other spices, there's no rice,
there's no beans, but actually...

you've supplemented that

with all the vegetables
that's given it a real body.

And the herbs have kind of took over
and it-- and it becomes...

Yeah, it tastes like a burrito
from the garden...

from my farm, you know,
and that's really impressive.

Yeah, there's not much more I can add
to what Tommy has said,

but that gazpacho is absolutely beautiful.

And the elderflower oil on the top
just finishes it off.

It's really lovely,
really fresh, not overly creamy,

and you can still taste
the vegetables in that.

I think this is an absolute triumph.

You took a box of ingredients,

not a lot of time,
and you come all out with something

which I wasn't expecting,
and I'm very pleasantly surprised.

[Mistrys] Thank you.

We've now reached the halfway point
in today's two challenges.

So, how are our families faring so far?

Who would've thought that the Mistrys
would make a burrito

out of that box of farm ingredients?
And it was really tasty.

Really good. Then we have
the Whites and the Whitakers,

who weren't as successful. Both of them
had good elements with their vegetables,

but both their chickens were really dry.

And that's unforgivable.

But with a pass
all the way to the final at stake,

all three families have
everything to play for,

and now have a final opportunity to shine.

The last challenge was set by Tommy,

but it's now my turn to put
your cooking skills to the test.

So, I want you to put your own creative
flair on two of my favorite desserts.

The carrot cake, and the great
British pudding that is the trifle.

Now, you've all been practicing at home...

so we do not wanna be disappointed.

You've got two hours, starting now.
Let's go.

-Let's get going, team come on. Good luck.
-Right.

What's the temperature of the oven?

-180.
-180.

[Anup] How many carrots?

[Mitesh] Uh, three.

Go for four.
If it's that size, go for four.

-So... your challenge.
-I know. I am so excited.

Carrot cake, I just love.
It's one of those desserts

that have grown and grown in popularity.

And it's-- it's really technical as well
because you need to get it--

Make sure it's moist.
That's what I think, what I'm looking for.

What do you look for in a trifle?

Oh... good layers.

Layer-rich. Yeah.

Layer-rich. A nice thick custard.

Have I converted you?
We're both dessert fiends now.

-Oh, I was already a dessert fiend.
-Yeah.

At 17, performing art student Jasmyn

is the youngest person left
in the competition.

-Which one are you doing it on?
-It was on that one. You said that one.

-Are you sure?
-Yeah.

Normally, I'm controlling in the kitchen,
but today, Jasmyn's my boss.

I am controlling the kitchen today
so everyone better watch out.

After a good first round,
and under Jasmyn's watch,

the Whitakers are returning
to their far east roots

with both their carrot cake and trifle,
featuring exotic fruits.

I hate carrot cake, normally.
Normally. It's dry.

Well, is this one dry?

You'll just have to wait and see,
won't you?

-Hmm.
-Hmm.

I mean, if-- if Jasmyn--
Jasmyn has made it so...

And the sass level is right up there.

Yeah, it is. Yeah, you can tell
who's the boss today.

Yeah.

No more being bossed around,
I am the boss today.

She's gonna-- "You do the egg yolk!
Oh, you measure that."

-"All right, we go then."
-[Angellica] We'll follow orders.

This is what it feels like to be me.
Welcome to my world.

Mango and passion fruit, two fruits
go really well together

in the base
of a fairly traditional trifle.

-Sounds delicious.
-Yeah.

Don't see that as much of a risk.

I wanna know what they're doing
with this carrot cake.

It looks like Jasmyn's using a trick
I use at home to keep carrot cake moist:

Tinned pineapple.

-Got it?
-Yeah.

-Can I help you, Anup?
- Uh, no.

Yeah. I can do it fast
because I'm not doing anything.

The Mistrys are also in the tropics

with the passion fruit jelly layer
of their trifle.

I think that's it, don't add more.
That's it, Mitesh. That's it.

After a storming first challenge...

the Mistrys are off to a Moroccon souk

with their ras-el-hanout
spiced carrot cake,

and their rose-flavored trifle is based on
an Indian layered dessert called falooda,

which has some rather unusual ingredients,

including a type
of vermicelli called saviya,

and the seeds of Thai basil.

So this is called a sabja,
this is the basil seeds.

And once you soak them in water,
they all puff up,

and you'll see the color change now.

I don't remember my mum baking
or anything, but...

we have a very famous, um...

dessert sort of a drink called falooda.

On really hot days and when there are lots
of guests in the house,

my mum would make it for everyone.

Whenever we used to go to India,
to Gujarat,

we always used to have it outside.

It was always a really nice,
refreshing drink to have.

Things went well for the Mistrys
in their last savory challenge...

but when it comes to desserts,

Prachi and husband Mitesh could be
at a disadvantage.

-Oh.
-Look at this.

A beautiful array of sweet things.

In the last four and half years we've just
had one pack of sugar in the house.

[Mitesh] We've only been through
one pack. Ever.

We've never refilled our sugar.

Yeah. Seriously.

-What do you have for dessert?
-Yeah.

Just plain ice cream, that's it.
Like... yeah.

-Oh, so you buy it ready-made?
-Yeah.

-Ice cream has sugar.
-Oh, okay. That's all right. Oh, right.

Yeah, fine. I thought you--

You have a sweet tooth,
after all, it's fine.

The Mistrys are adding an Indian twist
to a classic British dessert.

This tactic has worked well for them
in the past, but pasta in a trifle?

I'm not sure. Ras-el-hanout in a carrot
cake though, that sounds delicious.

In the Whites' kitchen
it's keen baker Molly taking the lead.

-[William] Molly.
-Yeah?

How much would you put in?

-Just a teaspoon.
-Teaspoon?

[Jack] Look all right, Mol?

Yeah.

-Should I put the timer on?
-Yeah.

I did 20 minutes.
It's a lot thinner, isn't it?

-I'll do 25.
-The Whites.

-Twenty. Okay.
-I'd do 20.

Twenty? Is this-- is this
a critical moment, Jack?

Yeah. We're working with a different tray.

-My second-ever cake is in the oven.
-So have you just adapted

-the timing for your cake then?
-Yeah.

'Cause we're using a bit of a--
a wide-- Uh, a bigger tray...

-Yeah. It's a lot thinner.
-...so it's much thinner, so that's--

So it's shallower,
so what are you doing?

-Putting it for shorter-- Less time, yeah.
-Less time?

'Cause we actually cooked it
too long last when we practiced it.

Remember, don't overthink-- Don't look
into Tommy's eyes trying to find something

Now I'm thinking,
should it be on for longer?

No. Don't overthink anything.

So we going-- Are we going traditional?

Are you just gonna let, you know,
let your hair down

and do something really
hell-raising for us?

Come on, you know the answer to that.

The Whites are letting their hair down
with a touch of coconut in their cake.

But traditional British flavors rule
with their trifle.

It all sounds very manageable...

but the Whites have past form.

It's probably gonna be one of those things
where we have a bit of a--

Bit of a dash at the end.

-Dad loves that.
-Yeah. Dad absolutely loves that.

I can hear you, you know.

Dad can get quite stressed, quite quickly.

-No, let's focus on positives.
-Oh, positives.

Yeah. Excuse me. Um...

I think maybe do a layer of custard.

Do you-- do you think it
or do you know it?

-I'm organized, so...
-Yes, Dad's organized.

-Organized is a better word.
-I'm the saddo that'll print out a recipe,

so that we've got it just to remind
ourselves and,

you know, keeping us on track,
timing-wise, but, yeah.

-Organized...
-Organized.

Oh, yeah, I was gonna say efficient.

-Yeah.
-Maybe...

Yeah, you can be efficient.

Yeah, efficient. Organized and efficient.
Dad is.

[William] I'm gonna have
a flippin' coronary in a minute.

It's like we never--it's like
we never practiced this.

Well, the Whites are giving us
a real traditional British trifle.

-What else did you expect from them?
-I know.

But I hope they execute it well.

Yeah, as ever with the Whites' foods,
it is quite sort of simple,

so therefore everything has to be
absolutely perfect

'cause we know
exactly what we're going for.

There's no marks
for ras-el-hanout in your carrot cake,

'cause there isn't any there.
So it's got to be spot on.

But will the Whites' custard hit the mark?

-Jack?
-Yeah?

Just have a taste of this 'cause I don't--
I can't taste any vanilla in there.

No. That needs more. Definitely.

-Okay. We're going in.
-Just very creamy.

-Don't go mad, that is strong.
-No, I know.

[William]
I'm going very, very gingerly with this.

Right. That's there. That's there.

I would still put more in but if you're
not happy putting more in, then don't.

Alright. One more.

[Jack] I thought baking was a fine art.

The custard, it's a disaster.
It's way too vinegary-- Um, vanilla-y.

I've over-- I've over
vanilla-ed it completely.

It's disgusting, isn't it?

Can you start again?

-I think you should start again.
-Now I have to get some more cream.

-I don't know actually. I don't know--
-Well, let's just-- Let's just-- No.

-No, I think it's fine.
-Really?

I'm fine, Mitesh, don't worry.

-Good? Let me try.
-Very.

Both the Whites and the Whitakers
are using a cream cheese frosting

to cover their cakes.

But the Mistrys have chosen a more
technically demanding Swiss meringue.

In this dessert, this is likely
to go wrong.

Pressure is definitely on for me
getting this right.

If I mess this up, then Angellica
will be having a dry carrot cake.

Okay. Does everyone agree
this is stiff peaks?

-Stiff peaks?
-Yes, yes.

-Stiff peaks? Stiff peaks?
-Yes.

-Stiff peaks?
-Yes, we're there.

One hour has gone,
so you have one hour left.

Halfway through the challenge,
carrot cakes and trifle sponges

are getting hot in the oven...
cooling down in the fridge...

or getting a dressing down.

I'm just poking some holes in it,

and then I've made like a dark sugar
and orange zest glaze.

So I'm gonna just spread this on top

and then hopefully
it'll make it extra moist.

But the Mistrys have one less cake
to worry about,

as they're using a shop-bought one
for their trifle.

So in a certain respect they may think,
"Fine, you guys didn't make the cake."

But we're putting so many twists
on the trifle that our energy is focused

-behind cooking those right.
-But--

Tukmaria, the vermicelli--
And getting those things correct.

The reason we're adding Madeira cake

is because Mitesh read
a definition of a trifle,

and he said that it's not called a trifle

unless it has, like,
a little Madeira cake inside,

which I don't agree to. I think
the seviyan is our own twist...

but he just, uh, is not budging.

There's so much going on in
the Mistrys' trifle. I'm not too bothered

that they're using shop-bought sponge,
but everything else has to be perfect.

English. English is like my worst enemy.
Why did you read that definition?

-It's okay.
-Calm down.

Wobble it, and see if it wobbles
in the middle.

No. It's freezer.

That won't be pipeable.

Go a bit more, two seconds, three seconds.

-Yes. Stop.
-Stop.

Yeah.

Three seconds is all it took...

to make the whipped cream
how Molly wanted it.

I was looking forward
to having another go of it.

Continuously in this competition,
people over-whip their cream.

I do not want butter icing on the top.
I want nice, light whipped cream.

-Maybe done at the last minute...
-Yeah.

-...just dropped on.
-No, I'm totally with you on that.

Andrew, have a look at this.

-For inside there.
-It's enough.

-It's gone too much.
-It's gone too much, that's what I said.

-Make it again.
-Make another lot. This is too much.

-Have you got more cream?
-No.

You over-whipped it.

Quick! This cannot use for much.

-I'll get some more.
-Get some more double cream then?

This-- this-- Gonna throw away.
Too much. This already turned to butter,

cannot use.

It looks like this task is turning into
the three C challenge:

Cream, cake, and custard.

While the Mistrys have theirs in hand,

adding another layer of flavor
to their trifle...

So the pink syrup here is
the Rooh Afza syrup.

That's the secret ingredient.
It has hints of rose and other essences.

Yeah, it's-- it's quite floral and nice.

...the Whitakers' is a cause for concern.

My custard is not thick enough...

so I tried to mix some
little bit cornflour to thicken it.

I really love making dessert.

No.

When it comes to home cooking,

the Whitakers tend to stick
with all things savory.

[Andrew]
Western desserts are a challenge,

because generally,
Asian people generally don't eat desserts.

No. South Asian eat, but China--

China, they don't have desserts.
They'll eat fruit.

[Qidi] Fruit is our dessert.

-Could be the weak point.
-Don't give us desserts please.

Yeah.

I will put them in the wok, I don't care.

I don't know why it's not working,
when I make at home it's working perfectly

Do you want a hand getting that on?

I need to flip it over.

Oh, no! My cake has broken.
I don't know what I'm doing now. Oh.

Do you want a hand moving that
on to the top?

Yeah, but I need to flip it over.
How am I gonna do this?

Spatulas.

Too much cornflour,
doesn't taste of custard.

It literally tastes starchy.

-Tastes of lemon.
-Does not.

While cake and custard calamities have hit
both the Whites and the Whitakers...

in the Mistry kitchen everything seems
to be as smooth as buttercream.

Okay. Time for some DIY time.

There is just ten minutes left now, guys.
Ten minutes.

With cakes baked and custards cooled...

our families need to assemble
their trifles

and create those all-important layers.

-Right, these-- Is this your next layer?
-Yeah.

It won't go in.

I'll put a finger over the end
and just go like that.

Okay.

-[William] I can't do that.
-Do you want me to do it?

Yeah, you do it.

Do we have any of those other piping bags?

The-- the plastic ones?
This just isn't gonna work.

Well, what about taking some out...
so it's not so full?

-Yeah, okay.
-Then get a good...

Okay. Let me just wash my hands.

-Let's do the brushing--
-We need to-- Brushing first.

No way, the Mistrys are making
trifle with noodles.

Okay. Let them make the trifle
with the noodles, do I care?

-I care mine now. I'm very stressed.
-She doesn't care.

I don't think we've got enough now.

Dad, did you chuck all that
that cream away? 'Cause--

-Yeah.
-Well, we can still get

-some out if you want.
-Okay. Let's-- Yeah.

Oh, God.

-Are you giving us cream from the sink?
-I beg your pardon?

No, not at all.

Whoever invented these things is...

-terrible.
-Ready? It's going in, one dollop.

-That should...
-That's fine.

One tiny bit more.
That's your absolute lot.

Two minutes to go.

That one's gonna fall.
That's gonna fall.

Yeah, I got it. I got it.

This-- this is the most stressful day
I have so far.

Okay, get-- get the next strawberries on.

-Okay. We've got enough time now.
-We haven't. I just want to see it done.

-This is classic.
-You stick those on.

Bit more biscuity.

Where's my mint? Where's my mint?

Your mint is here, my lady.

-No.
-What?

-It's a tree.
-It's a tree. Small little bit.

-Do you actually need to do that?
-Yeah, I do.

Okay.

You know, I'm just thinking,
if you bloat anymore on there,

it's either gonna fall off or-- Right.
Can we say we're finished?

-Five.
-Four.

-Three.
-Two.

One.

Stop.

They all so good.

Rice vermicelli  is not something
that they expect in the trifle.

-No, it'd be nice. I liked it.
-But that's like our twist, isn't it?

After two hours of trifles and bakes,

our families can have a well-earned break.

-I'm glad that one's over.
-At least we can relax now.

Yeah, finally.

When I look around,
you guys doing amazing job.

I just felt like rushing around so much,
spent half the time getting at Dad.

Considering Jack's 24, going on 25,

um, he still knows exactly which buttons
to press to make me fairly mad.

You know what? Literally, I was
on the verge of punching Mitesh.

My trifle is gonna have vermicelli,
that's what brings, like,

takes me back to my childhood,
and that's what bring memories.

With a place in the final up for grabs,
which family will get their just desserts?

First up, it's the Mistrys

with a Moroccan spiced carrot cake
topped with a Swiss meringue,

and their Indian-inspired
trifle layered with vermicelli.

[Angellica] Firstly, you've thought
about presentation.

You sliced your strawberries, you've tried
to create some layers with your jelly,

your sweet basil seeds,
and the strawberries here cut round.

It's really beautifully presented.
And has a, you know, vibrant color to it.

[Tommy] The cake-- I think you could've
chopped the edges off.

You're trying to impress Angellica,
it should be looking neat and-- and petite

and lovely. It doesn't look
a particularly refined dessert.

But of course... you filled it
with ras-el-hanout, so I wanna taste it.

How're you gonna fit that
in your mouth?

What are you doing to me?

Okay, we're gonna go for it.
This is the vermicelli.

We're gonna start off with the cake.
It's got lots of spices through there,

which you can taste... which I quite like
in a carrot cake.

I think that's a personal preference,
some people like it, some people don't.

But I do think
the cake is a little bit dense.

And then you've got this Swiss meringue,
which is really sweet...

and I don't think it balances well
with the cake.

Traditionally, with a carrot cake
you would serve, like,

a cream cheese sort of icing,
or sour cream or something like that.

That acidity in the dairy just makes
that a little bit less sickly...

and much easy to eat more of it...

and that meringue's very sweet
and I find that that makes

the whole thing quite sickly.

Then we move on to your... trifle.

There is so many sensations going on
in there and some many flavors.

At the bottom we have this lychee jelly

Then you get this sweet basil seed,
which has this bizarre texture.

I don't know whether it's tapioca.
I mean, it does look like frogspawn.

And I have to get my mind through that.
And then we move on to this sort of, like,

rose custard, and then you hit me
with this vermicelli pasta,

but I don't know if I'm ready for all
these flavors, and to have that as well?

This is something that
I will never forget tasting.

We thought so.

The jelly's good, and that's set
really well, and that does offer

a real layer to it, and the lychee flavor
gives it a freshness,

but I think the whole thing's
just a bit too sweet.

And I find that actually,
whist we do have a layer at the bottom,

the rest of it does sort of become one,
and the vermicelli's really hard to eat

when it's coated in custard.
I-- I find it thoroughly bizarre.

Um...

I'm not a big fan
of the basil seeds either.

So I think that one's bombed.

-Okay, thank you.
-Thank you.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

Next, it's the Whites,
who stayed traditional

with a strawberry and elderflower trifle

but added a touch of exotic coconut
to their carrot cake.

[Tommy] Let's start with the cake then.

I think it tastes like Christmas.

It's really sort of spicy,
and it does remind me of festivities.

I think it's the lightest
it could've been,

but you've put a lot of syrup on there,
and that's really kept it moist,

which I think's a good thing.

I think the cake's too sweet.

Now, because you've got
such a sweet buttercream,

I would not have put the glaze on
because that was just more sugar.

So if you'd have tasted the icing,
maybe put a bit less in-- less syrup,

I think this could've been really good,
but for me, overall, it's just too sweet.

The trifle. The cream's nicely whipped,

and the ginger biscuits
on the top work really well.

I like the custard,

I like the flavor of it a lot.

To make a really good trifle,

you need a few things
to balance that out.

If it had a bit more booze in there,

or maybe a good layer of sort
of acidic fruit jelly,

or bit more of a fruit compote, that type
of thing would've brought it together...

but I don't think it's bad effort at all.

It's tricky because--
because you've used a sponge,

which I don't think is robust enough...

and there's lemon syrup in it,

that's really sweet, then you've put
elderflower in the custard as well,

so I can't really differentiate between
what I'm eating.

So I know that a lot of hard work
has gone into it

and you are good at dessert,
but just think about the elements

and how it balances it out so that
the whole thing works as whole.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

Finally, it's the Whitakers,

who went totally tropical
with a mango and passion fruit trifle...

and a carrot and pineapple cake.

Your cake is beautifully presented,

but I have never seen a slice of
carrot cake that long in my whole life.

'Cause it's a sharing cake.

-[Angellica] Footlong cake. Yes.
-For sharing with family and friends.

It's funny, there's-- there's so many ways
you can make a carrot cake,

and this is why this challenge
was good,

because it was each of the families'
interpretation of what they wanted.

Obviously it's one of the things
that I love to make...

and one of the things I always put
in a carrot cake is pineapple.

'Cause I think it adds moisture and...

and keeps it light.

And I think this is the best carrot cake
we've got here today.

It's moist...

it's soft...

it's got a lovely cinnamon flavor to it.

You can taste the carrots,
there's texture to it.

So I think this is a fantastic job.

The icing is the perfect partner
for it as well.

The sourness that you get from the dairy,

from the cream cheese,
from the sour cream...

really brings the whole thing together
and balances it.

That's the perfect companion
for a carrot cake

and I think that is a wonderful dessert.
Very well executed and perfect.

-I know that this is your cake, Jasmyn.
-Yeah.

Um, youngest person here,
and the best cake here,

-so congratulations on that.
-Thank you.

Then to move on to your trifle...

You know, we-- you know we were talking
about saving yourself stress.

Okay, your custard wasn't setting...

and you put too much cornflour in it,
so all I can taste is flour.

It's not funny, Qidi, I had to taste it.

And so...

because you were rushing,
you didn't give enough time to cook down,

and maybe you should've just
had a bit more faith in what you had,

and let it set a bit more,

because
you can't really taste the custard at all.

I'll commend you for the creams,

I know you had issues and you fixed it.

And that's probably the best bit,

so you know, well done for fixing that.

But the cake is a bit dry,
but also, mango and passion fruit,

I think of them as such big, strong,
exotic fruity flavors...

and they don't really come through,
this whole thing is very, very sweet.

Got a lot more acidity
from that passion fruit,

and it needed that to bring it together

and stop it from being a big bowl
of sort of cream and custard.

So that was a bit of shame, but...

You're smiling.

-Happy.
-Yeah, well, take some kudos

for your carrot cake,
'cause it was very good.

Thank you.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

I mean, the two rounds you've had today
have really stretched you,

and it is difficult to do desserts.

And now Tommy and I have to go away

and make a decision about who will go
straight through to the showdown final.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

If we take the Whites, I can't name
one thing that they excelled at today

so they have to come back tomorrow.

Hmm... So that leaves then the Mistrys
and the Whitakers, it's one of them.

The Mistrys,
they were brilliant this morning,

but they tanked this afternoon.

Their trifle and their cake were not good.

And then the Whitakers, you know,
they did an okay job this morning,

they weren't brilliant,
but they came back this afternoon...

their trifle was not good, mind you,

but then Jasmyn excelled with
their carrot cake.

Normally, we are the bearers
of bad news, but for today,

for one family, we will bring good news.

The family going straight through to cook
in the Family Cooking Showdown final is...

the Whitakers.

The Mistrys and the Whites,
we will see you here again tomorrow.

Well done.

Thank you.

I can't believe.

The Whitakers, their carrot cake
won them a place in the final.

And who would've thought it, Jasmyn,
the youngest person in the competition,

came through and saved the day.

Jasmyn! You are the star!

-So Jasmyn saved the day. Well done.
-Yes, Jasmin.

-Thank you. Yeah.
-So, we get a day off tomorrow,

-we can practice a bit more.
-Yeah.

-Come back to the final.
-We do that. Yes!

Yeah. And it's not Qidi style
anymore, it's...

[all] Whitaker style!

-We expected the results.
-Yeah. I don't-- I don't--

Don't think we're surprised.
We didn't have our best day today,

so we're just looking forward now
to getting on,

doing better tomorrow, I think.

We got them to taste something really new,
and I don't think they'll forget that.

Well, one billion people in India love
the falooda.

I am pretty sure
Tommy will someday love it.

He will.

So what is it that makes
a good trifle then?

Pasta, of course.

And frogspawn.

Next time, our two families battle it out
for the last place in the final.

One family will be joining the Whitakers,
and one family will be going home.

-Well, that's disgusting.
-What's disgusting, Dad?

The gravy, Jack.

Unexpected things come
from me, you know that.

Could you just do it?

[Anup] Done.

Why have we cut out
a hole in the top layer?

The family going through
to the final is...