Westhoughton’s Kirsty through to semis in BBC’s Masterchef

Kirsty took on the pressure cooker that is the Masterchef kitchen, nailing the quarter final with fantastic marks from judges Grace Dent and Anna Haugh despite a shaky start.

There were six hopefuls, but it was Kirsty who was named the outstanding chef of the night.

On last night’s episode, the chefs had to create two dishes – the first had to be based around fruit, with Kirsty cooking up an Eve’s pudding with spiced cinnamon and ginger custard.

“Your sponge is cooked quite nicely and there’s a lovely sugary custard bit on the bottom, and the custard has a real elegant touch of the spice,” said judge Anna Haugh.

“But for a fruit invention test we need more fruit Kirsty! Where’s the pear and where’s the apple?”

Fellow judge Grace Dent agreed: “The reason you’re in this group of six is because you are good and you do have potential – stop playing it safe and give us everything!”

Kirsty reflected: “I do wish that I’d shown them more today.

“I didn’t push myself today – putting a little fruit salad at the side to give it a little more visual appeal wasn’t nearly enough, and I knew that really.”

But Kirsty was not the only one who struggled on the fruit test, with the other five chefs failing to make an impression on the judges.

“There was no real shining star from that challenge,” said judge Haugh.

For the next challenge, the judges were joined by a guest judge – the famous food critic and broadcaster Leyla Kazim.

MasterChef (Image: BBC/Shine TV)

Leyla offered the episode’s second challenge – to construct a dish based around an ingredient the chefs hated at kids.

This is where Kirsty really began to shine, choosing burgers as her hated childhood dish.

Her burger patties were stuffed with gouda and seasoned with egg, mustard Worcestershire sauce, and paprika.

She then braised beef ribs and pressure-cooked them alongside all the ingredients from a Bloody Mary – tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and vodka.

The burgers were served with shoestring fries, garlic mayo, and a Bloody Mary cocktail.

“The burger is so well seasoned and succulent,” said judge Kazim.

“It’s got this great acidity to it, full of flavour, the meat is soft – like, give me a whole bowl of it!

“It’s such a delicious interpretation of the thing you used to hate.

“It’s really lovely, well done!”

Judge Haugh agreed: “You’ve got it just right with the quantity of cheese – it’s not too much cheese.

“Your bacon and chilli and tomato chutney is really really nice.

” You have absolutely shown us that you really want to stay in the competition – well done!”

Judge Dent was concerned that the fries were too salty and that the garlic mayo had too much garlic but had high praise for the burger.

“I am ecstatic about this beef short rib,” she said, “this is a great dish!”

Kirsty was singled out for specific praise from the judges, who called her the outstanding chef of the quarter final.

Kirsty will appear next week for knockout week, where she will be cooking in a professional kitchen for the first time.