MasterChef 2014 semifinal has reached the second day and the cooks that survived the EastEnders, Albert Square challenge, will have to shine once again if they are to move further in the competition.

In the kitchens of Hever Castle, home to Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife Anne Boleyn, the remaining semi-finalist – Jack, Angela, Michael, Like and Ping – must cook a menu that will push them to their limits.

Under the watchful eye of John Campbell, a chef who has held Michelin stars in three restaurants, the semi-finalists have to cook an extremely difficult menu. Each of them takes on one of five courses designed by John to really test what they can do.

The cooks have four hours to prep and serve, and in that time they must master elements of cooking they’ve never attempted before. The menu will be served to an elite group of historians and academics – eminent historian Mary Beard, who is professor of classics at the University of Cambridge; author Terry Deary, who is best known for the gruesome detail in his Horrible Histories tales; and Dr Lucy Worsley, the curator of Britain’s Historic Royal Palaces.

The responsibilities for the menu are as follows:

Ping is responsible for the first starter, pumpkin soup.
Jack is charged with the second starter, flamed grill mackerel with beetroot.
Michael is responsible for cooking the venison main course with six vegetable cooked in five different ways.
Angela gets the first dessert, sultan almond ice cream.
Luke’s dish will close the feast with the second desert, a de-constructed apple tarte tatin.

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Afterwards, it is straight back to MasterChef HQ where the five remaining amateurs have a challenge that put their skills to the test once more. They face an invention test, but this time their choice of ingredients consists of some scraps, leftovers and trimmings, including chicken giblets and skin, bones, a pig’s ear, fish heads and bones, roes, potato peelings, vegetable offcuts, stale bread and cheese rind.

The cooks will have to rely on their ingenuity rather than quality cuts to push their dish to the forefront.