Original subtitles

VOICEOVER: Previously on MasterChef Australia,

French cookery is the simplicity of one recipe done perfectly.

MAN: It's not my style of cooking at all, so I'm terrified.

The winning entree went to the Favourites...

That, for me, is the definition of French cuisine.

..and the main course went to the Fans.

That may be the best puree I have ever eaten.

Then it was a case of deja vu...

Simplicity and perfection.

..when the Fans' dessert was dish of the day.

Ooh, two for two! (LAUGHS) So stoked.

Tonight, there's something about this mystery box...

JULIE: This is the main event.

..that brings emotions to boiling point.

# 'Cause you're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down

# You're wrong when it's right

# It's black and it's white

# We fight, we break up

# We kiss, we make up

# You're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down

# You're wrong when it's right

# It's black and it's white

# We fight, we break up

# We kiss, we make up

# You # You don't really wanna stay, no

# You # But you don't really wanna go-o

# You're hot, then you're cold

# You're yes, then you're no

# You're in, then you're out

# You're up, then you're down. #

We've got a quick pace over here.

You've got long legs up there. I know.

TOMMY: Alright, come on, guys. Pick it up. Pick it up.

Competition has been going pretty well so far for me.

I haven't had too many terrible cooks.

I've started to build some kind of momentum, and I really hope

I can just keep building it and maybe get to the end.

Everyone's keen to get in there. Mm.

Let's go!

(ALL CHEER AND APPLAUD)

Mystery box!

I'm going right to the centre.

Come on in! Come on down! Pick a bench.

Now the race is on.

Come on!

Come on!

I'm always aware of the huge privilege

that it is to be in this kitchen.

But that doesn't mean it's easy.

The potential to end up in another pressure test -

I'm just...I want so desperately for that not to be my pathway

through this competition this time round.

MELISSA: Hello, everyone. ALL: Hello.

Hey! (LAUGHS)

it's mystery box day. (APPLAUSE)

And as you can see, Shannon is still with us.

And Tommy's back.

Give it up for Tommy. MAN: Tommy's back.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Oh, mate!

Well, you're standing here today because things didn't go

quite according to plan yesterday.

But today's a new day, you need to shake it off.

Because with Shannon setting a mystery box,

it is not going to get any easier.

So, Shannon, without giving too much away,

what can you tell us about what they can expect?

There's a couple of doozies in there.

Ooh. One or two.

Good.

But everything else is sort of what I cook with on a weekly basis.

It best represents my fridge at home.

TOMMY: Look, I'm a little bit worried

because Shannon's mystery box might not be ingredients that I'm used to.

I would love to say fish sauce, lime and chilli in that mystery box,

but I honestly doubt Shannon would put that in his mystery box,

so who knows?

What about you, Jenn? What's always in your fridge?

Whatever's on sale.

(LAUGHTER) The bargain hunter.

That's a really practical thing, I think.

Yeah, you've got to be smart.

Billie, if you were to hazard a guess right now

about what might be in Shannon's fridge,

what would you guess?

Duck, maybe. Maybe some nice cheeses.

Yeah, I don't know. A bit of wine. (LAUGHTER)

I could throw that in.

So a pretty bougie fridge, then.

Yeah!

Well, let's see if there's any duck, cheese or wine under there.

You may lift your lids...now.

Oh.

Oh, yeah. What's that?

MONTANA: Jenn, what's in front of the pawpaw?

A lettuce.

No. Behind.

I actually don't know.

ALI: That's sweetbreads.

There's a couple of surprised faces out there.

What you see before you, as Shannon described,

are the things that are usually in his fridge.

Righto, Shannon, let's take a closer look, one by one.

What do we got? Alright.

We've got iceberg lettuce hearts.

Then we've got a little bit of chickpea miso,

tarragon, kohlrabi.

We've got a chicken leg.

Brazil nuts, spanner crab,

papaya, or pawpaw - a bit of debate.

Of course there's a little bit of turmeric there as well.

And then the doozy for me is the veal sweetbreads.

(MUTED EXCLAMATIONS)

They're so delicious.

Shannon's fridge has sort of a personality disorder.

There's some weird stuff going on here.

Kohlrabi - that's not an inhabitant of my fridge.

And sweetbreads aren't either.

Anyone looking at the sweetbreads?

Ali! I kind of thought that might be the case.

Have you cooked many in your time?

No. OK.

(LAUGHTER)

What? Oh, my God.

Well, I look forward to it.

Righto, here's some rules.

All you've gotta do is cook us a delicious dish

using just at least one from Shannon's fridge box.

The MasterChef pantry and the garden, they're closed,

as you'd probably know by now.

You can use those under-bench staples at your disposal.

And the four least impressive dishes

will end up in tomorrow's pressure test...

..where someone will be going home.

You've got 75 minutes.

Your 75 minutes...

..starts now.

(CHEERING)

Tong-tong-tongs. Where are some...

Jules, I'm gonna borrow that crab.

Go for it, love. Thank you. You're the best.

I'm only the second-best, Tommy.

Today, I'm hoping to make an egg-net sort of version of san choy bow

using chicken, using kohlrabi, and also

a nice little deep-fried sweetbread on top.

I've eaten sweetbreads, I love sweetbreads,

but I've never cooked with them before.

MAX: The mystery box is quite a friendly one.

There are definitely, as you said, a few doozies today,

like the sweetbreads.

I've eaten them once, never cooked with them.

So I'm not going to touch them today. I'll leave that for Ali.

So I'm going to make a take on, like, a surf and turf

tagliatelle with crab.

I'm going to try and push it a bit further today, try and get myself

towards the top of the competition, hopefully, which will keep me safe.

Today, I'm going to cook a crab salad vignette,

especially a fried choux pastry

with a poached crab salad through some tarragon mayonnaise.

Maybe a bit of pickled kohlrabi on top.

That's about it.

11 mystery boxes today, and the stakes have slightly changed

because we're normally looking for the top dish

to go through to immunity.

But today, we're looking for the four least impressive dishes

to go through to the next round of the elimination.

So it's going to be interesting to see

if that kind of sways how people are going to cook.

Changes the mindset. Yeah.

You know, every single ingredient in this mystery box,

you chose them, what are you hoping to see out there today?

Look, if someone did a confit chicken leg

and served it with a kohlrabi remoulade,

I could sit down and have lunch.

Yeah. Definitely, yep. Nice, very nice.

I think there are so many great ingredients in that mystery box.

You only need to pick one... Yeah.

..and use the under-bench and produce something super delicious.

A little bit off the back of yesterday,

simple things done really, really well

is probably the name of the game today.

Exactly. Yeah.

Go, Billie.

Plan A is to cook some little popcorn sweetbread

in a kohlrabi taco with a miso mayonnaise.

I'm bravely going to go for the sweetbreads.

Even though I've never cooked a sweetbread before in my life.

I don't know why I'm doing this, but I kind of feel like I can make

it work because my mum was quite kind of brave

with her choice of kind of offal.

So growing up in Scotland, my mum had to be very creative

with her budget, and so we did eat a lot of offal.

You know, we'd have heart, we'd have liver, we'd have kidney.

And I think I'm probably drawn to it due to having that upbringing

where that type of food was very common.

I think Mum would be really chuffed at me picking the sweetbread

because it's a bit more of a challenging thing to cook.

I just soak it in some milk.

I'm sort of treating the sweetbread

in the same way as I would do for a fried chicken.

It's always what my mum did, it's what she taught me to do.

Whether it's appropriate or not, I don't know.

I'm just kind of risking it for the biscuit,

but I'm going to try.

Back in the kitchen, and I'm loving it.

Look, mystery boxes are so fun.

Like, you know, you've gotta think on the fly.

And right now I'm just thinking on the fly

and I'm just cooking what I love to cook most.

Today I'm making a crab and chicken broth

with some turmeric oil maybe on top, pickled kohlrabi.

Definitely never made this dish before,

but, you know, there's always a first.

Tommy, it smells great, man.

So, I'm doing a daikon and miso steak with a jus.

I'm going to exercise some restraint today. I'm excited.

I'm doing a dish very similar to a crab rasam.

We call it nandu rasam in my language.

So the main component for that is crab, turmeric and pepper.

I'm gonna make a brought out of it, serve it with a chicken,

a bit of papaya and maybe kohlrabi salad, maybe.

Our dear friend Shannon has gifted you the ingredients.

All you've gotta gift us is a delicious dish.

One hour to go. Come on, guys! Come on!

Julie?

I tried not to scare you then. Thank you. Thank you.

SHANNON: How are you, Julie? Yeah. Good, thank you.

What are you cooking? I'm doing a chicken sausage.

Like inside its skin chicken. A roulade?

Yep. Yeah, nice.

And then kohlrabi remoulade.

We were just talking about this. That was basically the dish that Shannon said he wants to see.

Oh, really? Yeah. (LAUGHS)

Oh, God! (ALL LAUGH)

I think the only thing that could go wrong

is just overcooking the chicken. Yep.

So have you only got one? Yeah.

You've only got one. Only got one leg.

(CHORTLES)

High risk...high reward. High reward. (LAUGHS)

Sounds delicious, Julie. Good luck. Cheers.

When Shannon says, "This is essentially what I wanted to do,"

oh, the pressure is so enormous.

I have so much admiration for Shannon Bennett

as a chef and as a human being.

He's such a nice guy.

And I just want for him to love my dish.

So I get started first of all on my little chicken roulade.

Julie, that's awesome.

I think that one of the variables in this dish

and one of the pressure points is the poaching of the chicken.

This is one of those kinds of cooking where it's all wrapped up

and you can't kind of check it and then go back to it.

You've gotta leave it in the pot and hope that when you take it out,

it's cooked enough but not cooked so much

that when you put it back into the pan, you dry it right out.

CHRISTINA: John, what are you making?

Still going in my head.

Being back here today in this kitchen, it means the world to me.

After MasterChef, I continued flying

and I also started a chocolate business.

The business kicked off really well but then the pandemic hit.

I stopped flying

and I had to put my business aside.

It's been really hard.

So a couple of years ago, I started working with my partner, Dave.

What needs to be done?

Dave's actually a drag queen

and we started a business during the pandemic,

doing costumes and basically just making wigs

for drag queens, for cancer patients, for people with alopecia.

And when they wear our wigs, they're a new person

and that gives me so much joy.

But coming back to this competition has reaffirmed my passion for food.

And my dream is actually getting my food business

up and running fulltime again.

So it's very important to do well in this challenge.

Ooh. It's too hot.

When I've made this dish before, it's been a hit.

My friends and family have loved it.

Should I roast it all? Not roast it all?

But today, I'm using ingredients that I haven't used before.

I'm actually really nervous.

I know this dish, it's very experimental.

Hey, John. How you going? How are you? Good.

Hey, John. How are you, Shannon?

I'm good, mate. Yeah.

What I'm doing is a ajo blanco. Oh, right.

I'll be serving that with the roasted kohlrabi,

which I've got a miso glaze through that

so I want to get sort of nice and soft

with a nice char on the outside as well.

Is there enough in the dish? Like, you've got...

You've just got a creamy soup...

Yep.

..with some baked kohlrabi.

Kohlrabi, yeah. That's it?

I'm worried about how much flavour's gonna be in this thing.

I think that's kind of what you're getting at as well.

OK. It's a...

I'm interested to see how much flavour you can get in the soup.

Then you've got your kohlrabi, which, I mean,

it doesn't have heap of flavour going on.

No. I get the miso over the top.

Yep.

I'm just trying to figure out how you're gonna make us go,

"Ooh, that's delicious." 'Cause that's the name of the game, right?

Yep. Yep, definitely, yeah. How's that gonna happen, you reckon?

Like, where is the 'oh, delicious' moment gonna happen for us?

Um...

how you're gonna make us go, like, "Ooh, that's delicious."

'Cause that's the name of the game, right?

Um...

Have you made this before? Or something like this before?

I've done it with an almond base.

OK. OK.

Yeah. And I believe it works. Yeah, good.

OK. (LAUGHS)

Good luck, John.

I don't wanna risk being in the bottom four and going home

because I'm not ready to go home.

Gosh, it's so hot.

But I'm just gonna keep going

and make sure that the flavours that I've got on my plate

are the flavours that I love.

Ooh, yum.

I'm not used to standing still.

You're doing well. In one spot.

Breathe. Enjoy it.

(LAUGHS) I know.

How is everything going so far?

This crab picking is giving me hell, absolute hell.

No shells in there.

Just double-checking and I found a little crab shell

and that's why you double-check. OK.

SASHI: The crab, turmeric and pepper broth is good.

I'm just gonna add a bit of butter.

It will have a nice gloss to it later.

JENN: The bottom four go into the pressure test.

That's quite a few of us, so I want to avoid that at all costs.

I need to push myself hard today.

I need to push myself to my limit

'cause I need to show the judges what I've got.

So today, this box is quite savoury-forward.

But I want to take a bit of a risk.

HARRY: Are you doing pawpaw sorbet? Parfait.

Parfait. Yeah, yum.

So I've decided to do a dessert.

Putting a spin on something unknown and challenging myself.

Hey, Jenn. Hello.

How are you going? Good.

That's good. (CHUCKLES)

What are you gonna make? You're going sweet?!

Yeah, I'm doing dessert today. You're going sweet.

I know. I haven't really cooked much dessert on MasterChef...

I would say none. Have you cooked any?

No, I don't think so.

I'm interested to hear what dessert you're gonna do.

'Cause there's a bit of a...

You've set a high bar with your savoury.

(LAUGHS) Yeah, so, I'm thinking some sort of parfait today.

I really, really like pawpaw. Parfait?

I've had a really yummy pawpaw gelato in the past. OK.

And definitely want to use the kohlrabi. I love kohlrabi.

And I'm thinking I'm gonna marinade it in the miso

and make it like a toffee kohlrabi.

Toffee? So like a toffee apple,

a toffee kohlrabi, as one of the elements. OK.

There's a lot of firsts here

because I've never had kohlrabi in a dessert. Have you?

Neither. Yeah, I haven't

so I'm gonna have to do some testing...

YOU'VE never had... You've never had kohlrabi... Nup.

Wow.

I thought you would have done this. (LAUGHS)

When you said it, I'm like, "She's done this before with the kohlrabi.

I can imagine it. "She's gonna teach us something."

There's a lot of... Yeah.

..obscure ingredients going into the one dish.

Yep.

It's gonna be interesting to see how all these...

..you know, ingredients go together. Yep.

Hopefully, it works. (CHUCKLES)

This time call isn't a doozy - 45 minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BILLIE: What, what, what?

ALVIN: No, I just need to calm down.

You'll be right. You got this.

JOHN: Minoli, that smells amazing!

Oh, thanks.

Real butter! (LAUGHS)

Billie, on the hand whisk.

Turmeric...anglaise?

Gonna make a turmeric miso semifreddo

with a kohlrabi and papaya salsa.

Tarragon syrup and... see how we go from there.

If there was probably anyone else here in this group

that was saying this, I'd be like, "You're mad."

Yep. Somehow, Billie has this knack...

Yep. ..of being able to tie

the most unique flavour combinations together.

I trust you, so good luck.

Thank you. Trust your palate, see how it goes.

Yeah. Thank you.

Shirt keeps riding up.

(ALVIN LAUGHS) Tell you what.

I'm happy with the texture of the semifreddo, it's creamy and smooth.

So I pour my semifreddo mix into the moulds

and get them into the blast chiller.

I start moving on to the other elements.

ALVIN: I like working next to Billie

because for a person that's usually quite stressed,

like me in the kitchen, you look across and you see Billie,

who's not stressed but still looks like she's, you know,

like, has five arms, sort of working around...

Yeah, she's a big inspiration.

But it's intimidating because you're competing against these legends.

So my dish today is miso chicken and egg net with pickled kohlrabi.

And I'm going to play around with the sweetbreads as well.

So to make the egg net, you whisk the eggs and you start sprinkling,

really quickly,

so you get these fine strands onto the pan.

That's.... Oh, it's freaking me out! Pretty.

Until you form this lovely, intricate net.

And when it does sort of happen well,

it's literally like a piece of art.

Man's a Pollack.

That's abstract art, that's what that is.

That's really cool, Alvin.

Oh! Yes, Alvin!

I love it.

This appeals to the perfectionist in me. I'm happy.

But the standard in this competition is really high

so you just need minor flaws in your dish

and then you could slide to the bottom four.

Sell me in ten seconds, what is this dish?

It's essentially crab tagliolini... Yep.

..with a chicken and crab broth.

I hope the best for you. Thank you. Thanks, Mel.

Today, I'm gonna be using the crab, the chicken Maryland, turmeric,

kohlrabi, miso and tarragon.

I'm gonna use most of those ingredients

to make this beautiful, unctuous sauce that's gonna coat the pasta

and should marry really well with the crab as well.

As with any protein, making sure the cook is correct,

making sure that there hasn't been missed shell

or anything else with that crab is gonna be paramount.

MATT: My choux dough is finished.

I've put them aside to cool down a little bit.

I'm gonna start working on my crab salad.

Oh, God.

I've never pulled apart a spanner crab before

and it's a bit of a task.

Oh, I've taken the whole bloody thing with it.

It is a risk of getting shell throughout your crab

so I need to be really delicate.

Today, I'm aiming for perfection and simplicity.

Otherwise, you're gonna end up in the bottom four.

JULIE: I generally cook my chicken roulade in the pot

for 8 to 10 minutes.

And so today, I go with 9.

CHRISTINA: Thanks for the hack, Julie, with the tea towel.

I like that, the tea towel to weigh it down.

Oh, yeah. Keep it in the water. It's great. Going well. Genius.

So the chicken's bubbling away in the pot

and now, I've gotta make this kohlrabi remoulade.

I guess the way I would describe a remoulade is kind of like coleslaw -

crispy raw vegetable with a mayonnaise dressing.

And I'm gonna put tarragon through it to tie the dish together.

Mayonnaise is generally an emulsion where you drip the oil in slowly

and whisk and whisk and whisk.

Well, ain't nobody got time for that.

My method is you put everything in together,

you blitz it with the stick mixer and it emulsifies in seconds.

Tarragon mayo made there.

I keep tasting the mayo,

I keep adding tiny little bits of more things

until I am really, really happy with the way it tastes.

So now, I just need to brown this chicken.

I like what I see, you've only got 30 minutes to go, though.

(ALL CALL ENCOURAGEMENT)

SASHI: Still developing. That's all I need to know.

Yes.

Whee.

JENN: The star of the ingredients today

is going to be pawpaw and turmeric.

I've made parfaits in the past,

but never a turmeric/pawpaw-flavoured one.

It's quite an interesting flavour combination.

It's not something I would just go out and do.

It's only because that's the ingredients I've been given.

This is definitely a very creative cook.

I'm doing a fair bit of experimenting

just to see if things actually work.

They work in my head,

but that doesn't always mean they work in real life.

I'm juicing my turmeric and I moosh up my pawpaw flesh.

I mix it through the parfait mixture and I have a taste.

I can taste a tiny hum of turmeric.

I don't know if I like it or not,

but I do know that this parfait doesn't have a lot of taste right now,

so I'm going to put more flavour in this.

Otherwise, I'm going to have a parfait that tastes like nothing.

I'm actually a little bit freaked out.

Hmm...

Time is just disappearing.

I need to get my parfait into the freezer.

God knows if it's going to set on time.

I'm having a little bit of a panic attack inside.

I'm thinking, have I bitten off more than I can chew?

JENN: I'm juicing more turmeric, mashing it all up into the parfait.

I taste again.

It definitely tastes like turmeric.

I just don't know if I like it.

There's no time to go backtrack.

I have less than 30 minutes, so I'm going to just have to run with this.

Now I need to get my parfait into the freezer.

I don't know if it's going to set in time,

but I need to get cracking on to my second main element,

which is my sable biscuit.

OK. So, today's all about a bottom four, not a top four.

So, who are we worried about?

We've got to whisper here because they're pretty close to us.

Jenn. Wow.

Concept or delivery?

(SHANNON AND ANDY) Both. Wow. OK.

Jenn's basically taken all the ingredients

and tried to put them into a dessert, which she had never done before. OK.

She's got a turmeric and papaya parfait.

Miso kohlrabi? Yes.

Like a toffee apple. Yeah. Toffee apple.

And then a Brazil nut biscuit.

That's a lot. Yep.

And then probably John. John.

BOTH: Yeah. Oh, OK.

John's doing this milk cream, Brazil nut chilled soup.

And then he's going to do a miso kohlrabi and a tarragon oil.

OK. OK. So, not sticking to his strengths.

I thought he would have gone pastry for sure.

Yeah.

He's got it in his mind that he's cooked this dish before, and it's going to be great.

Look, honestly, I'm just hoping it's going to taste great.

ALDO: John, what are you making? Ajo blanco.

So, I'm reducing down my milk and my cream.

Chicken skin taken off?

Chicken skin, I'm going to use that as a texture element on top

and I'm going to use some of the chickpea miso.

It's good. Yeah.

I never seen it before. What's it taste like?

Like miso. It's good. Interesting.

So, my Brazil nut's ready. It's beautifully roasted.

I blitzed some and I put it into the milk.

I just want to infuse that nutty flavour into the milk

and let that steep.

I taste it and it's missing a few sort of flavour profiles

that I was actually after with this ajo blanco.

It's quite sweet.

So, I needed to balance all the other elements

to make sure they're not as sweet.

And I'm hoping I can pull it off, get this right.

ALDO: Go, John.

JULIE: It's time to check the chicken.

I've only got one chicken roulade.

So, this is the main event.

I'm shaky when I unwrap it

because this is a point at which it can just unroll.

And instead of a roulade you've just got, I don't know,

a shredded chicken thigh and some mince.

I look at it... DANIEL: That looks awesome, Jules.

..and I'm really happy with it.

So, I'm just going to brown it

and make sure it's cooked all the way through.

I am hovering over this little roulade.

It looks so good. (CHUCKLES)

just turning it very, very regularly.

I want the outside to be perfectly evenly browned.

Smelling good in here, isn't it? Whoo.

Smells so good down this end.

If I burn this on one side or overcook it, it's game over for me.

So, I'm coddling it like it's a little baby bird or something.

Julie's the master.

Whoa. Too long.

Yeah. Good boy.

Look at the colour she has on her jus.

Holy Minoli. I would eat it.

Go. Alvin.

It's time to fix your problems and focus.

You have 15 minutes to go.

ALDO: Go, Tom! You've got time.

Go! Go! Go!

Go, Ali!

ALI: The sweetbreads are ready and prepped.

I've got the oil on in the deep fryer.

I'm ready to start doing my sweetbread test.

No, it should be cooked all the way through.

MICHAEL: Yes, but, like, just set. Just.

Yeah, so you don't.

You don't want to overcook it because I go a bit dry. Yeah.

But you do want to cook them through. Yeah.

Have you got time to do a tester?

I get on really well with Michael and I really trust his opinion.

He's very knowledgeable.

He said "just cooked".

Just to set it.

They need to be cooked perfectly so I don't end up in the bottom four.

Yum. Sweetbreads are sick.

If you need a taste tester, Ali, you've got a couple up here.

(CHUCKLES)

JENN: This is a very stressful cook for my first dessert.

I've got my sables in the oven.

I know I've rushed the process.

I don't have time to dwell on that.

Hurry up, Jenn. Like, hurry up. Don't think. Just do.

Jenn. Hello.

I was told there's a lot going on on your bench.

And it certainly seems that way.

How are you going with it all?

I had a little bit of a panic moment, like, 10 minutes ago,

thinking I wasn't going to have enough time to do everything.

Have a strategy, just in case you need to pare it back. Yes.

So, I'm trying to create just a few more elements. More?

Just in case I have to drop my parfait.

I got it in the blast freezer quite late.

I had a look at it and I'm a little bit worried

it's not going to freeze in time. OK.

You only need one ingredient out of the box

to produce a great dish and keep yourself out of the bottom four.

That's all you're aiming for today, right?

Focus on that. Yeah, for sure. Thank you, Mel.

Mel's advice that take a step back,

think about what's going on your plate,

I think she's right.

She has convinced me to drop the toffee kohlrabi element.

Goodbye, toffee kohlrabi. Not happening.

But I need something else just to tie everything together.

I've got a bit more pawpaw left.

I think I can use that

to help reinforce these pawpaw flavours on my parfait.

I'm going to just toss it through a little bit of miso,

a little bit of sugar, just to macerate it a little bit.

And I think that would just be

a really nice, savoury, sweet refresher.

Minoli, are you going to use that butter to finish off your jus? Yep.

The kohlrabi steak looks beautiful. It smells really delicious.

And the sauce is tasting really nice.

I feel like I would eat this dish,

and I feel like that's my marker now in the competition

and hopefully that's enough.

TOMMY: That's my crab and it's exactly how I want it to cook.

I'm hoping this ice water cools it down really fast

because that's exactly how I want it

and I'm really, really happy.

The broth is almost ready,

the chicken, I've prepared.

I'm almost there.

You don't want to be in that bottom four today.

And you've only got five minutes to go.

(CHEERING FROM THE GANTRY)

MATT: Spanner crab's taken a while,

so it's a little bit more time pressure.

Now I've got to focus on getting these beignets right.

If you don't mind me saying so, you look a little flustered.

Are you OK?

Just trying to get it right. Yep.

Piping it out right. Yeah.

If the pastry isn't perfect, we don't have a dish. Exactly.

You can't just serve the crab salad without that beautiful element.

So, yeah, that's it.

It's leaving it a little bit slim to do too much of a test.

So I've just got to hope the beignets come out perfect.

JULIE: I take the roulade out of the pan.

I cut into the chicken.

It's not overcooked. It's not dry.

It's just right.

I feel like I've cooked a good dish.

But what matters is how happy the judges are.

I don't want to end up in the bottom four.

Start thinking about your final touches. Three minutes to go.

Come on!

(CHEERING FROM THE GANTRY)

JENN: It's so stressful.

We're down to, like, the last minutes, praying to the parfait gods,

"Oh, please set my parfaits."

I look down.

They're set, which is wonderful.

So, I'm grabbing a little bit of everything

and just chucking it in my mouth.

I've got a lot going on.

Original cooking.

It's an interesting, weird flavour combo.

Let's put it this way. I know it's not terrible.

There is nothing else I can do. It's in their hands now.

ALVIN: Very happy with the cook on my egg net and my sweetbreads.

But the standards in this competition is really high.

It's really easy to be the bottom four.

And I'm hoping that this dish will beat the rest of the Favourites.

ALDO: Yeah, like that. Go. Keep going.

What's this called, Aldo? That's keep tossing.

The sauce is really well reduced.

The pasta looks beautiful. The crab's done.

And I've just got to finish it.

I'm confident that this dish has gone the way I wanted it to.

If that gets me through, that's good enough.

BILLIE: Everything sort of worked out how I wanted it to.

The semifreddo is really smooth,

tarragon sauce has worked well.

It's a bit of a strange dessert, I guess, but yeah, I'm happy with it.

Come on, guys, bring it home.

JOHN: The dish that I've got now

is basically what I imagined from the beginning.

ALDO: Go, John.

All the flavours work well together.

I've got the beautiful creamy ajo blanco.

I love the flavour that the miso put into the kohlrabi

and then I've finished it off with the sweet and salty praline.

I know this dish has quite a strong flavour.

It is a bit of a risk.

I'm just hoping that the judges will love the dish.

ANDY: And here we go.

Ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

(CHEERING AND CLAPPING FROM THE GANTRY)

Good job.

JULIE: I'm relieved that that's over.

Look, I know this is tasty food,

but, you know, it's not just what it is by itself.

It's what it is compared to everybody else's food.

So, you know, I've got hefty competition around here.

My nerves won't go away until I hear the verdict, I suppose.

So, fingers crossed.

Well, the legendary Shannon Bennett set the mystery box today

with ingredients that you'd find in his fridge or pantry.

We're looking for the bottom four today.

The first dish we want to taste belongs to

Julie Goodwin!

I think the pressure for me

having Shannon Bennett as one of the judges today

is that I've done a dish that kind of plays right in his sandpit,

so it needs to be good.

Hello.

Julie, what have you made us?

It's roulade and remoulade so...

And everything went according to plan throughout?

It did. It did. Yeah.

Why do you look so shocked? You're like...

Yeah. It's shocking.

(LAUGHTER)

Come on, Julie. You had to know that was good.

Julie. Julie.

What's not to love about it? It's simple, but it's perfect.

It's what we've come to love when you walk through those doors.

Chicken cooked perfectly, generous stuffing in there of the Brazil nuts

and then the remoulade.

It was perfectly done. It wasn't just thick with mayonnaise.

It was delicious. It had a great crunch.

And the whole thing that you loved about chicken and tarragon,

it's sung throughout the whole dish.

It's so pleasing to see a roulade

when the skin is brown all the way around it.

The meat is really succulent, perfectly seasoned,

lovely contrast of textures and perfume with the nuts

and the tarragon within.

Julie, you've shown that you do rustic, simple well,

but now you also show us

with a dish like this that displays such technique,

that you also do refined and simple well as well.

So, you should be so pleased with that.

Yeah. Well done, Julie. The remoulade, you nailed.

I really like it.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Well done, Jules.

It doesn't hurt my confidence

to have Shannon Bennett say that I cooked good food.

That's what I'm going to put in my pocket

and pull out every now and again and just look at.

Yeah. That's good.

Next up, it's Billie.

Billie, what's the dish, please?

I did a turmeric and miso semifreddo

with a papaya, kohlrabi salsa.

In terms of execution, how are you feeling today?

Um... Yeah. Alright.

It's beside the point, though.

I think it's you guys that need to like it, so...

I like it. But, yeah.

Well, I'm looking forward to tasting it.

I mean, the texture looks pretty great, so...

Billie, you managed to traverse sweet, savoury, salty

in a really harmonious way.

You were constantly discovering something new and different

as you had a little bit more of it,

from the surprise sauce in the centre,

just to the way that the texture of the pawpaw

really played against the velvety smoothness of the parfait.

There was lots of contrasting flavours and textures.

It's tantamount to a really balanced and considered plate of food.

And it looked gorgeous. Thank you.

Texture of the parfait, like, you're the parfait wizard.

It's, like, spot on.

Good hit of turmeric in there, but not too much.

For me, the success

is the fight between the turmeric, but also that pawpaw puree.

It was really well done.

The turmeric was the first thing that hit me

and it was like, yeah, OK, it's defined what it is

and the texture was great.

And then the caramel, that that little praline hit,

is just so welcome in that dish,

and the biscuit is just nice and delicate.

I really enjoyed it.

It would sit nicely in a really good East meets West sort of bistro.

You've come through with the goods, like, well done.

Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, far out.

They were all worrying.

Next up, it's Tommy.

What have you cooked?

TOMMY: Chickpea and miso crab noodle soup with turmeric oil

and pickled kohlrabi.

Yeah. That's a different Tommy bowl of food.

That is clean. It is really skilful.

Thanks, guys. Thank you. Well done.

Sashi, you're up, mate.

I've made a turmeric-salted, grilled chicken with crab broth

and also some pickled papaya, lightly pickled kohlrabi.

Wow, Sashi. That's beautiful.

Thank you. Great techniques in there.

Great dish.

You ready, Minoli?

Miso kohlrabi steak

with a chicken jus

and lightly pickled kohlrabi.

Flavourwise, it was spot on. It was delicious.

All three elements played such a nice role.

All good stuff.

Next up, it's Jenn. Yeah, Jenn.

I think I've plated up a yummy dessert.

I know I'm trying to tie together some weird and funky ingredients.

I'm just a little bit stressed

because I have no idea how great it tastes.

Jenn, what's the dish, please?

Um...

Jenn, what's the dish, please?

I've made a turmeric pawpaw parfait

with a little bit of miso pawpaw in the centre.

A Brazilian nut sable dusted with some salted Brazil nut snow.

Wonderful texture on the parfait.

I like the play of sweet and salty.

The turmeric flavour itself,

I don't know. I'm finding something difficult to consolidate

in terms of the balance.

Papaya is sort of quite, quite aggressively salty.

The ideas are there.

For me, I think the execution is what it comes down to today.

I don't know that this came off the way that you might have hoped.

Thank you.

In your savoury dishes, the best thing about the dishes

is, like, there's just this boxing match of sweet, savoury, sour.

In your sweet dish, it's exactly the same,

but it's not in a pleasant way when it's a sweet dish.

Flavourwise, it was a little bit of a fail.

If I put my knife into a sable, it should just dissolve.

It should just break apart. Yeah.

It's just not delicate enough. Yeah.

From all reports, you are one of the most talented cooks in the kitchen,

so there's a bit of learning to take from this.

OK. Thank you very much. Thanks, Jenn.

Next up, it's Ali.

ALI: I think I've got a quirky little dish.

There's my kohlrabi taco and popcorn sweetbreads,

pickled papaya with miso mayonnaise.

I've cooked with something I've never cooked with,

and hopefully I've got it right.

Picked a great day for dark lipstick, huh?

(SHANNON CHUCKLES)

Nailed it.

Well done. Thank you. Thanks very much.

Overall, I really like that. I like the idea.

I like the inventiveness of it. Thank you.

The sweetbreads are really moist.

Texture of the batter is really interesting.

I think from someone who hasn't cooked sweetbreads before,

it's really brave to take that on.

The composition was...was on point.

Sweetbreads cooked absolutely perfectly.

For your first time, you've nailed it.

You should, honestly, you should do it more often.

Then the papaya.

The papaya was the lift that it needed.

You should be really proud of yourself.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

I love to be appreciated for my thoughtfulness, my creativity.

It's who I am, it's, you know, at my very core.

So, for people to see that in my food

is really...it's a big one for me.

Yay! (LAUGHTER)

Next stop, we'll go with Matt.

Go, Matty!

Righto, Matt. What did you make?

I've made a spanner crab salad with tarragon and Brazil nuts,

and a beignet. Nice.

And so, the idea you want us to basically rip it apart...

Break it open, spoon some inside and eat it like a snack, I think.

Cool.

Matt, the spanner crab mix was lovely.

I really enjoyed it.

Hint of tarragon in there.

I enjoyed the toasted Brazil nuts.

They gave an extra kind of fat to the mix.

My beignet was a touch doughy on the inside.

Sure.

Because once you load your...which you've given us a nice crab portion,

..load it up, the beignet just gets a bit lost.

The mix could save you.

The beignet might put you into the bottom four.

Thank you.

Nice one, Matt. Thanks. Thank you so much.

Could be safe, could be bottom four.

And that to me is a worry.

Max.

I've made crab tagliolini with a crab and chicken broth.

The sauce has a lovely flavour.

It's rich and buttery with a fragrance of tarragon

just to lift everything.

I think you should be pretty happy with that.

I did get a little bit of shell, which is a shame

because you've produced a delicious bowl of food.

Will two little flecks of crab shell

be what puts you into the bottom four?

We'll wait and see. Yeah. Thank you.

Nice one, mate.

Alvin.

I made a miso chicken and sweetbread egg net

with pickled kohlrabi.

I commend you for the bravery in that dish

because egg nets aren't easy to make.

It was a little bit plasticky, the egg net.

The sweetbread was a little bit dry,

a little bit overcooked.

It's the techniques are there, but you've made a few errors.

Next up, we'd like to taste a dish from John.

I'm putting everything that I have on that plate.

I'm just hoping it was worth the risk.

What I've got for you is ajo blanco, with roasted kohlrabi

finished up with the tarragon oil.

So, I actually do this in a version

where I use roasted pumpkin and almonds.

And I thought that just made sense. Kohlrabi, I'll try it with that.

I feel like without even tasting it,

that it's either going to be, like, the dish of the day

or down the bottom.

I don't reckon this one's going to be in the middle.

Please be on top.

When you cook at your best,

you're one of the most talented guys here.

But unfortunately, I think you get this tunnel vision that goes on.

And sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

For me, unfortunately, everything just doesn't go together.

It's just a totally different dish

with the ingredients that you've had in the box.

I wanted this to be dish of the day.

I've got to say, for me, it's probably going be down the bottom.

OK.

I think it's a dangerous game to play

when you start substituting from a dish that you know works

to what might work in a situation where you have limited ingredients.

I felt like the sweet elements

kind of were a little bit too overpowering.

It didn't quite come off today.

Yeah. Sorry, John. It's just doesn't gel for me.

Good on you for trying.

Thanks. Thanks, John. Thank you.

Oh, well.

Just don't... I can't.

I don't...

(WHISPERS) Stay here for a second. I'm leaving.

(SOBS)

JOHN: Today is the first time I've felt as if I was a failure.

I just feel like...

I still feel like I don't belong in this competition.

John.

Come and sit down and talk to me. Come on.

Take a breath in and count to three.

I hope he's alright. Yeah. Me too.

I don't actually want to be here anymore.

Oh, hon. Why?

It's just not...

I just feel like everything I do is not hitting the...

Look, I'm not...

That's not... You're not liking the dish.

Oh, hon...

You definitely don't need to be here. You have a wonderful life.

But think about how many people love you

who are barracking for you to be back.

I guess I'm thinking about my fiance, Dave,

because he...

..because he loves my food.

Have you stopped to entertain the thought

that the best of what you can do is still yet to come in this kitchen?

You're still here.

Always tells me, "Just don't... don't give up."

Yeah. Um...

I definitely have a lot more to show.

If I walk out of the kitchen, I know that I'll regret it.

Shall we go back in?

I started a business after my season.

And with this whole COVID difficult road

of trying to keep that business, I just couldn't.

And I think this competition

will sort of help me realise that dream again.

You can do it. You can. Thanks, Mel.

I think I just need this to sort of push me that I can do it.

I can...get to the end.

Thanks, Mel. You OK?

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

It's going to be a tough competition

because the people that are in this kitchen are so talented.

Come on, John. Come on, John.

I just want...I want to move on.

And I actually want to make everyone around me that loves me proud.

Well, well, well.

I don't think anyone expected to see those 10 ingredients

in anyone else's fridge, bar Shannon Bennett.

(CHUCKLES)

Your job was to take those ingredients

and turn them into something

that would keep you out of the bottom four

and out of tomorrow's pressure test.

Before we go any further,

please, let's thank Shannon Bennett

for stepping in at a moment's notice. Thank you.

Thanks, guys.

OK. Now for the tough part.

If I call your name, you're in the bottom four.

Jenn.

While your parfait was smooth,

your flavour balance got a little bit rocky.

John.

Unfortunately, the dish as a whole

didn't quite come together as you had planned today.

Alvin.

Your dish was full of flavour.

Unfortunately, your sweetbreads were overcooked.

The fourth place in tomorrow's elimination is between two Fans...

..Matt...

..and Max.

Matt, your crab salad was great,

but the beignets were a little bland.

Max, your pasta was safe and tasty.

But there was shell in the bowl.

And I'm sorry,

Max, you're in tomorrow's a pressure test.

John, Jenn, Alvin and Max.

I'm sorry, but tomorrow you'll be cooking

for your place in the competition.

Go home, clear your heads

and come back fresh and ready to tackle whatever is waiting for you

back in this kitchen.

Good night. See you, guys.

JENN: I expected it. MAX: It's completely fine.

I'm just more happy that it was a good dish.

Thanks, Aldo.

I'm just going to go home and just reflect on what's happened today

and just be ready to face elimination

and just do what I love doing, and that's cooking.

VOICEOVER: Tomorrow night, on MasterChef Australia,

they face an epic pressure test.

Please welcome Reynold Poernomo!

Who will conquer Reynold's masterpiece?

JOHN: I can do this.

ALVIN: I just hope that I live to cook another day.

And who will be sent home?

Captions by Red Bee Media