Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...

..the week started off with incredible highs.

(APPLAUSE)

JOCK: That is how you feature coffee.

But then, in a pressure test from Alla Wolf-Tasker...

HARRY: We needed to follow something from our memory, perfectly.

..Minoli gave it 110%.

I'm going down with a bang. I'm giving it everything.

But she had to say goodbye.

I've got the conviction and the guts to go out and now take on the world.

And in a two-round elimination...

Banging out a dish that's gonna have maximum flavour in a short amount of time.

..their clocks were ticking.

Do I go with the time or do I go with the flavour?

But Jenn's redemption dish was the end of her MasterChef dream.

Tonight...

MICHAEL: I feel like something big is going to happen in the kitchen.

..the competition is changing for good.

# '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. #

ALVIN: It's a bad sign. The magpies are out.

MICHAEL: Four Fans have gone and four Favourites have gone.

I've got a strange feeling

this might be a big moment in the competition.

Alright, here we go. Sare, now, don't freak out. You'll be fine.

SARAH: What is it gonna be, Michael?

(JUDGES APPLAUD)

Morning. Come on down the front.

Oh, there's a box at the front.

Oh, gosh, there's something under there. What is going on?

Hello, everyone. G'day. Hello.

You see this cloche up here? Yes.

Whatever is under it

is going to drastically change the competition for good.

Oh...

You started this journey as Fans versus Favourites.

Two teams of strangers and old friends.

You put your hearts and your souls into making some incredible food

alongside each other.

But... Here we go.

..as of this moment,

it's every cook for themselves.

(ALL CHEER)

Whoo-hoo!

DANIEL: The teams are finally combining.

I'm giddy as.

I'm like a duck on a hotplate right now. I'm excited.

That's sick!

Having the opportunity to cook with, like, Julie Goodwin.

Like, Mum's gonna be so proud of that.

And it's gonna be awesome.

Thank you. These are sick.

I like it! Oh, my God!

This is so good.

Oh, and it's so cute. Look at all the bling in it.

Look, at that, mate. Yeah. Expensive taste.

Do we get to mix up? Yeah, mix it up a bit. Come on!

(ALL CHEER AND TALK AND LAUGH)

I've never seen a happier group of people.

Aldo, this is a real milestone in the competition this year.

Are you pleased to have made it this far?

Well, I'm actually impressed with myself.

You know, when you come into this competition,

you know that anything can happen.

And it just takes little, small things to send you out of the door.

Yeah.

What about you, Ali?

Has the starstruck factor kind of worn off now,

or are you still a little bit like, "It's Julie! It's Mindy!"?

Oh, no, there's none of that anymore. No?

(ALL LAUGH)

Ooh!

That went ages ago!

Just so you know!

This is a monumental step.

Up until now, you've been able to rely on your teammates

to support you.

But now that safety net is gone.

Your success in the competition rests solely on your shoulders alone

from here on in.

OK, this cook - it's a big one.

Mel, Jock, do you want to do the honours?

I'd love to. Totally.

DANIEL: What are they gonna do?

What could it be?

Oh, God.

Oh! Very cool.

Ahh...

Since we've combined the teams,

now we want you guys to make some combinations of your own.

Oh, OK.

On this table, there's 18 cuisines.

We want you to select two

and combine them into one dish.

Are you going to combine Chinese and Italian

or Australian and Spanish?

It's completely up to you guys.

If ever there was a challenge that you guys want to win,

it is totally this one.

(LAUGHTER)

Because the winner today will win

the biggest prize that we've ever given away

at this point in the competition.

It's a whopping $10,000.

ALDO: Yes! Whoa! Aldo's excited!

(LAUGHTER) Money, honey!

KEYMA: 10K.

Maybe it can just pay the tickets to the Caribbean

and start my research for my restaurant.

"Research"?

You know, wink, wink.

ANDY: Yep, that's right.

$10,000 of cold, hard cash money.

(LAUGHTER)

And if you didn't think that that was good enough, there's more.

I've also got, to give away...

..this shiny immunity pin.

(APPLAUSE)

Daniel, what would 10 grand mean for you, mate?

Oh, man. It'd mean the world.

Like, maybe get myself a little food van

and go on a little travel around Australia and...

I love it! 10 grand would be perfect for that.

That's what I'm talking about. Yeah.

Alright. Is everybody happy?

ALL: Yeah! (LAUGHS) Great.

You have 75 minutes to bring us a dish using your two chosen cuisines.

Great.

The pantry and the garden, of course, are open.

And with the biggest prize ever up for grabs,

we cannot wait to see what you create for us.

Good luck.

Your time starts now. Go.

Aah! (LAUGHTER)

ALDO: Today it's all about fusion.

Like, it's mixing heart and soul of two people in just one,

which sometimes happen in a marriage.

I picked Italian and Japanese,

'cause Italian is who I am,

Japanese food, it's what I love.

So, I can rely on the simplicity of both cuisines.

So, I am going to do a play around doing a risotto

with shiitake mushrooms.

And I hope that I'm going to deliver.

What do you need, mate?

I'm gonna pinch some saltbush off you, mate.

Go for it, yeah. Sharing's caring.

I've got a few fresh ones here, if you want 'em.

We've finally merged.

Yeah, I'm really excited about it, hey.

Finally get a chance to sort of work with the Favourites a little more.

Hello. This is fun. Hi!

We've got so much to learn from them.

There you go, mate. Oh, thank you, mate. You're a legend.

That's probably the most exciting part about the whole experience.

Beautiful.

The dish that I'm cooking today

is combining Thai and Australian flavours.

So, I'm going with, like, a tom yum-based soup.

And I'll be using paperbark barramundi

for the piece of meat on top.

I've just gotta grab some...

..stuff.

Today's cuisines are Vietnamese and Mexican.

I'm making a banh xeo, so banh xeo in the form of a taco.

And I'm going to try to add very Mexican elements to it.

ALVIN: I'm combining Malaysian and French today.

It's a dessert that I'm making

based on a breakfast meal called kaya, on toast.

I'm excited that it's no longer Fans versus Favourites.

It's like adopting eight new kids, really. That's how old I feel.

But I do not have a favourite.

Ali.

Um...

Oh, and Harry.

They're all my favourites!

(LAUGHS)

Are you gonna use the deep-fryer? MICHAEL: Yeah.

I'm making prawn toast, boy.

I've got to have it for prawn toast.

So, I've picked Mexican and Chinese.

I'm gonna have a bit of fun with this.

Two of my favourite snacky things are prawn toast and tostadas,

so I'm going to make prawn tostadas.

The base will be the prawn toast

and then, on top of that, lots of briny,

pickly, bright Mexican flavours.

So, it'll be a fusion of two great, great dishes, I think.

It'll be... It'll be a bit of fun.

Oh.

Poo tube.

I've never made this dish before,

but, um, that's never stopped me in this kitchen.

I think, for me, that's when I do my best cooking.

Probably my weirdest cooking, too.

That's why I love MasterChef so much.

Chilli!

Because it makes me think outside the square.

And, um, yeah, today, we're definitely outside the square.

We're well...well and truly away from the square with this recipe.

I'm really pushing the boundaries today,

but I need to make sure I don't go so far that I miss the brief.

So, I'm going to make sure this is the best Mexican prawn toast

the judges ever tried.

SARAH: So, I chose French and Indian.

And I am making a butter-poached lobster

with a spiced bouillabaisse, with curry-leaf, mustard-seed aioli.

I'm actually really excited about this challenge

because it is kind of two of my loves.

To have an opportunity to bring that together is really exciting.

Outside of this competition,

combining French and Indian is the direction I want to be heading in.

But I've been so nervous to cook something

that is really my personal style.

It feels like I'm being quite vulnerable

and showing a side to me that is my own creativity.

I just so badly want to nail this dish.

It's something I feel so passionate about.

And if the judges hated it, I would be devastated.

(JUDGES APPLAUD)

(STEAM HISSES) Ooh! She's hot.

ALVIN: If I win the 10K and the pin,

well, first of all, I'll get a whole new set of glasses

and the pin will make me safe for at least another round.

So, I'm very excited.

KEYMA: I'm making Caribbean-inspired bao buns.

Combining Chinese and Caribbean cuisines.

I'm using the bao bun technique and the concept of it,

and I'm using, uh, Caribbean flavours.

Jerk spice, so sweet and spicy,

will go well with the bao flavours.

It looks like a bao,

but inside, I want that kick

of Caribbean to come through

with the pork and jerk sauce.

I have so much to do, but there's not much time.

I think I'm being a bit ambitious

to be able to make bao in such a short time.

But today, I really hope I can produce a dish

that is actually good enough to win the pin and the 10,000K.

JULIE: This is great! I love being merged! It's exciting!

My former competition is still my competition, my darling.

Yes, today we are.

(BOTH LAUGH)

But that's OK. But I still love you, Julie!

That's why we're here, right? That's why we're here.

Today, I chose to merge Indian and Lebanese cuisine.

I'm making an eggplant biryani with all Indian spices.

I'll be doing it with a Lebanese hummus

and some beautiful Lebanese rice accompaniments.

I've never seen an Indian-Lebanese restaurant.

I've never seen an Indian-Lebanese dish.

But there's a first time for everything.

So, for biryani, it's a beautiful Indian rice dish.

It's going to take the longest to cook.

So, I rush out to the garden and get some beautiful fresh eggplants

and tomatoes and chillies.

Oh, a big spider there.

Sorry, dude.

I know the flavours are going to be beautiful.

But I'd like to prove to the judges today

that I'm not just stuck on classic dishes that I've seen before.

I'd like to be able to demonstrate

that I can take a challenge like this and I can meet the brief.

Oh, gonna need another bowl!

I've chosen to do American and Chinese,

and I'm just going for, like, a kid's, like, best dream ever.

So, I'm going to be doing fried milk,

which is traditionally a Cantonese dessert.

And then I'm making it into an American, like, hot-fudge sundae

with apple pie filling.

If you're going to do dessert, you do dessert properly.

And I think this is one of those kind of dishes.

Whipped cream, chocolate sauce.

And then I'm also incorporating

a lot of the Chinese flavours into it as well.

10 grand and the pin today.

It's wild. It's a wild time.

Living in share houses, living on minimum wage,

that 10 grand could do so much for me right now.

I'm not a big dessert person,

but today's the day to experiment and push myself

and, hopefully, I can impress the judges.

I've picked French and Indian.

I'm doing a white chocolate mousse,

but it's spiced with cardamom, cloves, black pepper and vanilla.

I'm doing a mango coriander sorbet as well.

It felt very nice to have the pin

for the short time that I did have it,

but I'd love to win it again.

It would be very handy, given that we've all merged today

and everyone's fighting for themselves.

STEPH: I am making a miso and Vegemite dessert,

so I'm combining Australian and Japanese.

It's going to be a Vegemite custard at the bottom.

There will be a honey and macadamia tuile

and a miso gelato on the top.

MINDY: So, I've got Australian and Japanese.

So, I'm going to be using native indigenous ingredients

fused with Japanese kind of flavours and techniques.

I'm doing a beautiful steamed barramundi.

It's going to be done in a kombu dashi stock.

I'm going to be doing it with native succulents.

It's going to have really subtle but beautiful flavours

of...of the bush, of country,

and also Japanese elements with the dashi kombu stock.

Matt. Hello, Jock. How are you?

American-Chinese. American-Chinese.

What we doing? I'm gonna do cheeseburger won tons.

Stop it.

Yeah.

You know the thing I hate about, uh, dumplings?

What? There's never enough.

(LAUGHS)

So, if you bring... Noted.

If you only bring three of these up,

I'm going to be the angriest judge on the panel.

Alright. Alright? Burn, mate. Bring 'em.

Let's go. Good luck.

Sarah Todd. Hi.

French-Indian. Yes.

The, uh...the only question in my mind

was what else was there going to be, apart from Indian.

So, it's French. I know.

I should change things up, but...

Oh, look, you're playing to your strengths.

And there's a very nice, shiny pin...

There is one of these. ..and $10,000 on the line.

Stop. You're teasing me. So, why wouldn't you?

But what are you actually making today

with this particular configuration?

So, I'm making a butter-poached lobster

with a sort of, like, bouillabaisse-type-based stock.

French! Spices.

And then a curry leaf aioli. OK.

So, French dish.

Yeah. Indian feeling.

Yeah, exactly. ANDY: I dig it.

I like it. I really like it. Yeah, I reckon...

It scares me when you dig it 'cause it's, like...

Yeah, there's an expectation there, and it's high.

Well, I-I love that you are getting the bravery

to really step outside of the pack. Yep.

And this dish could see you do it. Let's hope so.

ANDY: That's what you want.

Mel and Andy like my dish.

But I'm already putting a lot of pressure on myself

to do well today.

And this has taken it to another level.

I need to make sure I deliver a dish that will meet that expectation.

ALDO: Yes, Mindy! You good?

Yeah, yeah.

I'm cooking a beautiful risotto with shiitake mushrooms

and lots of Japanese flavours.

Today, it's all about hitting the brief,

bringing Japanese flavour into an Italian classic.

This challenge, it is very important to me.

I really want to be top dish.

You good? Good, brother?

Beautiful.

Going well, brother? Yep.

Mate, I want to go home.

I need those 10 grands. (LAUGHS)

$10,000, it is a ticket back home to Italy.

I have been missing home from the past three years.

I've just got the need of having a big hug from my mum,

a big hug from my nonna.

So, this dish needs to be a perfect combination

of Japanese and Italian.

I'm making a classic dashi broth,

which is where all the Japanese flavour,

they're going to come in play.

I got too big fingers to open up the lid!

I'm comfortable cooking risotto.

So, for me, it's the balancing of this broth

with the classic sauces that are going into a beautiful broth,

which is soy, mirin and rice-wine vinegar,

and making sure that that's going to be bang-on.

Min, you gotta smell.

I still need to balance it off.

It's delicious.

If I'm achieving that, then, in my mind,

it's going to be a winning combination.

Perfect.

ANDY: Big day! Big prize!

45 minutes to go.

(JUDGES APPLAUD)

JULIE: To choose Indian and Lebanese,

I kind of went a little bit outside

what's comfortable and what's obvious.

And I think the challenge of combining two cuisines is...

Well, obviously, if you choose things

that don't marry nicely together on a plate,

it...it can be bad.

Hey, Jules. Hello.

Of all the combinations, I think Lebanese and Indian

is probably the...the least, you know...

Obvious. (BOTH LAUGH)

The hummus is Lebanese, the biryani's the Indian.

And I'm going to bring to that Indian dish

all the sort of pickly fresh pops that you get

in a Middle Eastern dish. Yeah.

ANDY: I think great concept.

Now you've just really got to drive this thing home.

You've just got to concentrate on bringing us

the best fusion of these two cuisines.

I think that making a biryani and hummus dish,

I feel like it's going to work.

But because palates are all so individual and all so subjective,

when I present it to the judges, they might just think it's weird

and that it doesn't work.

MICHAEL: Let's go, lads.

What's that?

Just trying out some, um... Mushroom?

No, chipotle, so I can make a little chipotle powder,

to bring a bit of bitterness to my life.

Which is... You know how bitter I am already.

I do. Just accentuating my bitterness, my man.

Michael. Hello, Josh.

What have we got? Mexican-Chinese! Mexican-Chinese.

What are you doing? We're gonna go a prawn tostada.

So, prawn toast - tostada.

No way! Yeah.

Mel loves prawn toast. Does she?

Oh, well, I better get it right.

So, I'm thinking like a nice, big, round prawn toast

to look like a tostada. Yeah.

Roll the bread a little bit flat, so it's not, like, super puffy.

So, it'll look like a prawn toast... A tostada.

It'll look like a... Well...

Yeah, it'll look like both. It'll look like both, right?

I guess. Yeah. So, is there stuff on top?

Exactly. Yeah, I'm making a coriander mayonnaise.

So, a really bright green mayonnaise. Some pickles.

I'm excited for this one. Bit of fun, eh?

Good luck. Just gotta get it done.

Yeah. Alright.

Eggs.

Salt.

For my coriander mayo I want to make it look almost like guacamole.

So, I'm going to use bright green coriander oil

and then emulsify that into an egg yolk,

just like you would mayo,

and then get a really beautiful green-coloured oil

that should look really nice on top of our tostada.

And then cover that in loads of different Mexican ingredients -

some pickles, some avocados,

with some herbs to make it really fresh and bright.

For me, there's no doubt that I've picked

the right dish to hit the brief.

But looking around the kitchen, there are some really amazing cooks.

Whether or not Mexican prawn toast is going to be enough to win it,

I'm not sure.

But I'm having fun.

I think I always tell myself that if I'm having fun in this kitchen,

my food's going to be really tasty.

I love this challenge.

Yeah. Right?

Because we've got cooks that have very clear ideas

of what a dish is from a certain country,

and they're combining, the ones that I've seen, beautifully.

I'll give you a great example. Please.

Michael is doing a prawn toast tostada.

Ooh! I know how you love a bit of prawn toast.

Love a prawn toast! So, how does that one work?

That one's gonna work -

it's gonna look like a tostada and a prawn toast at the same time.

Right. 'Cause it's a combo of both.

It's just that it's fried on the top.

Something on top? Yeah, yeah.

We got a couple of purlers up the front, too.

Yes. Sarah Todd. Yeah.

She's going to do a butter-poached lobster

and then she's going to make, basically,

like, an Indian bouillabaisse-style thing

with a curry-leaf aioli over the top.

Brilliant.

I think that the incentive of winning today

has made sure

that almost everyone has really hit that brief, very, very strong

in terms of representing both cuisines

that they want to sort of showcase today.

It's Sunday. We're giving away 10 grand in cash.

We're giving away an immunity pin, I feel all out of sorts.

What's in there?

So, that's got, like, your tom yum ingredients.

So, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime...

Yeah. ..shallot chilli, garlic.

I'm just going to spend some time balancing my broth.

So, I'm really going heavy on the Thai here.

And then everything else is gonna be the Australian element.

So, it's going to be the paperbark fish,

and I've got a lemon myrtle oil and an aniseed myrtle oil.

I'm really excited the way it's coming together.

Um, it's a hazelnut dacquoise.

Yeah. That's the toast.

And then I've got two types of coconut.

So, there's coconut custard and then caramelised coconut milk

and a tempered chocolate on top.

Flying the nyonya flag. Yes! Always.

With French technique. I love it. Always.

TOMMY: Today's cuisines are Vietnamese and Mexican.

I'm making a banh xeo taco.

Mexican flavours in this salsa rosa that I'm making right now -

you know, just blended-up tomatoes, garlic, onion, some chillies

roasted up with some fish sauce,

just to give it that Vietnamese flavour still.

I was gonna use that one.

ANDY: No, you weren't.

KEYMA: My dough is resting for my Caribbean-inspired bao.

And I start searing the pork.

I have to hurry up. I know.

At this point, I had it in my mind

that the pork will be already going

and I had all this time to work with all the elements.

But I'm just falling behind.

I still have so much to do.

I still need to finish the paste,

close that pressure cooker,

bring it to pressure,

shred the pork,

make the salad of the pickles.

I have a lot to do.

I need to move quickly if I want to get top dish today.

Keyma, regroup.

It doesn't matter where in the world you've chosen to go -

you've only got 30 minutes to go.

ANDY: Come on, guys!

SARAH: I am making a butter-poached lobster with flavours of India.

I've got my bouillabaisse cooking.

A bouillabaisse is this beautiful soup.

It's loaded with spices, seafood, tomato-based,

to really bring flavour to this stock.

While it's reducing, I want to reinforce those Indian flavours.

So, I want to make a mustard-seed and curry-leaf emulsion.

This emulsion is really important to tie this whole dish together.

I'm mixing my curry leaves and my mustard seeds into my emulsion.

It's just split.

And it's split.

SARAH: Um...

There's so much on the line today.

And then, on top of that, combining French and Indian cuisines

is the direction I want to be heading in.

So, the dish without the emulsion just won't work.

I'm mixing in my curry leaves and my mustard seeds into my emulsion.

It's just split.

Um...

And it's split.

If I serve the dish without the emulsion, it just won't work.

So, I have to start again.

Eggs. Egg. Eggs.

Eggs!

I'm not going to let this throw me off my game.

I need to focus and get this right.

I'm making an apple-pie fried milk sundae.

So, the centre for my fried milk is done and in the freezer.

The next thing I need to move on to is my chocolate sauce.

So, I'm infusing some Sichuan into my chocolate

to reinforce kind of the Chinese flavours throughout.

My focus has to be,

"Is this enough American and is this enough Chinese to meet my brief?"

It feels really funny to be cooking a dessert today.

OK. I need a peeler.

It's something that I used to do a lot when I was younger

and I've kind of steered away from as I've gotten older.

I want this dish to be really fun and really playful.

You good? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What are you frying? Milk.

Something that's just yummy, childlike, joyful food.

So, I'm trying to think of ways

to add a little bit of theatrics to this dish.

So, what I'm going to do is have my whipped cream in the canister

and do it in front of the judges.

Fried milk? Is this a tester?

Yeah.

It's malted milk powder.

ANDY: Oh, did you get a tester? Did you get a tester?

I ate it whole. (LAUGHS)

What's new?

Now that we're all together and it's every cook for themself,

I'm pushing myself because today is the perfect time to show

that I can do more and that I can cook amazing food.

MEL: You're entering the last, crucial stage of this cook.

15 minutes!

(JUDGES APPLAUD)

Prawn tostadas.

This is gonna be a good tasting, eh?

You're gonna have fun, yeah. It's gonna be a very good tasting.

Yeah, I reckon.

It's time to start frying off my first prawn tostada.

I've made a little coating.

So, traditionally, you'd have breadcrumbs and sesame seeds,

but I've added cumin seeds to really hammer home that Mexican flavour

and add that nice pop of vibrancy that cumin brings.

Prawn mixture into here.

Do a little prawn dance.

And then straight into oil, prawn side down,

and let it fry till it's golden all over.

Whenever food's fun and playful and deep-fried,

it's always very enjoyable, right?

I've never done a prawn toast tostada before, but...

No. ..I like it.

I don't imagine...

Anyone has? ..that's happened much around the world.

Yeah. But, yeah. Sure.

It's nice to be a world first.

Hopefully, it's going to be a trend

and we'll see prawn tostadas take over Tik Tok or Instagram some day.

MINDY: I've got Australian and Japanese.

I've got my barramundi steaming in paperbark.

I've got my native kombu on.

So, what I've got in there is kombu, I've got dashi,

I've got a little bit of white soy and a little bit of mirin -

really a match of all those beautiful ingredients

and, hopefully, they all come through.

I'm really happy with the miso gelato.

I have a miso caramel that I just want to amp up the miso flavour.

I've done my Vegemite custard.

Um...actually, I think I have all my components done

and I just need to pull it all together.

MATT: I am just finishing off my cheeseburger dumplings.

Then I need to make my burger sauce as well.

Do you know, out of all of them,

Jock was looking forward to this the most?

I know he is. Yeah.

BILLIE: I'm making a white chocolate mousse

with a sorbet and a white chocolate crumb,

infusing flavours of an Indian spice blend, garam masala,

and putting those spices all through the dessert.

So, to make the white chocolate mousse,

I infuse cream and white chocolate

with some cardamom, clove, black pepper and vanilla.

I want the mousse to set in the bowl

so that it's scoopable, not too heavy

and has a nice, light texture.

Hi, Mel.

Hey. How is it all coming together?

I basically did, like, a French-style...

Yeah. Yeah. ..white chocolate mousse.

And then the flavours and spices in garam masala.

Yeah, you're kind of exploding out the flavours in the garam masala

and then kind of adding them in a different way. Yeah.

I like it. I think you're leaning into your strengths

with really strong French technique. Yeah.

You're really showing how

you can interpret the flavours of Indian cuisine

in a way that still feels like you. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's a really smart way to go with it.

Mel seems pretty happy with my idea for the dish.

I'd love the judges to taste the flavours of India in a French dish,

and hopefully, I have a chance at winning that immunity pin.

I think a pin used is a pin used wisely,

so I just want another one so I can use it again.

ALDO: I got my risotto cooking away with the beautiful stock that I made.

And now for me, there is not much more to do.

Oh, no, actually, the mushroom. I need to cook the mushroom.

Corro! Corro! Corro! Corro! Corro! You got me on the run!

JOCK: Alright, Aldo.

I'm good. I'm very good, actually.

Japanese/Italian. Risotto, obviously.

Are you gonna be perfect?

'Course you are.

Has to be perfect, otherwise I wouldn't serve it.

Tell me the exact texture you want it to be.

Has to be nice and creamy. Yep.

It has to be very glossy. Beautiful. I'm all about it.

(SIGHS AND CHUCKLES) Good luck, mate.

Jock is not gonna have a dry risotto.

He's not gonna have a slop on the plate.

When you bite into the rice,

you're just gonna have the memory of drinking out of a ramen bowl.

JULIE: I think of all the cuisines in all the world,

I don't know if anyone would ever have put

Indian biriyani with Lebanese hummus.

So, I'm standing, looking at this plate like it's a blank canvas...

..and just waiting for inspiration to hit...

..of how to make this dish look pretty.

I don't want it to feel like I'd served two dishes

but just jammed them together.

But over all the years that I've been cooking,

finesse is not something I have developed.

I never know how to make food look nice. (CHUCKLES)

Let's face it, my family normally eats it out of the pan

before I even get to make it look nice.

So, I'm not well-practised at it. (LAUGHS)

Oh, the hell with it,

I'll just make it look like a beautiful shared plate of food.

Our trip around the world starts in 10 minutes!

C'mon! ANDY: C'mon, guys!

(JUDGES APPLAUSE) 10 minutes!

10 minutes to go, the pressure cooker is with the pork still going

and the baos are not cooked.

I have to put the baos straight into the steamer.

They take 10 to 12 minutes.

(INHALES) I'm crossing my fingers I finish this on time.

And I haven't released the pressure of that pressure cooker,

so...I'm gonna do that now and see how's that cooked.

I don't... I have no idea.

I really wanted to pull out this cook.

I really... I want it so bad.

(EXHALES)

But time is just... slipping away from my hands.

I don't know where the time went.

MICHAEL: My prawn toastadas are exactly how I wanted them to come out.

Which is pretty good seeing I've never cooked them before.

It's now up to the judges

and hopefully, they like them as much as I do.

At stake, we have 10 grand but more importantly for me, an immunity pin.

That's something that I would like to have again.

It's a fun dish, I think. Which is what I was going for.

So, yeah, pretty happy.

SARAH: I am feeling so relieved.

My second mustard seed and curry leaf emulsion has worked

and now I need to get this dish done.

I'm tasting and my bouillabaisse has got so much flavour in there.

I'm also finishing it with butter

so it has a really luxurious silky finish.

I have finished cooking my lobster.

I'm also serving it with Indian pickle cucumber.

What have you done to the cucumber?!

I just need to put it on the plate.

How are you going?

Everyone's gonna bring their A-game today, that's for sure.

I want this to be plated really carefully.

It has to look delicate and beautiful.

I'm happy with my dish but I'm so nervous because this is my style.

This is what I love cooking but I've never built up the courage to do it

until today.

So...it would mean a lot to me if the judges like it.

I don't mean to freak you all out

but whatever's going on your bench could be worth $10,000!

Five minutes to go! (MEL WHOOPS)

(JUDGES APPLAUD)

HARRY: Let's bring this dish together.

I'm putting my apples at the bottom of my plate.

I've got my fried milk balls

that have been rolled in the sugar and spices.

There's a little bit of theatrics to this dish as well.

I just wanna make it fun and, you know...

..what can you imagine better as a kid than getting a bowl of fried food

and then somebody with a huge whipped cream cannister,

just, like, piling it on, drowning it in chocolate sauce.

Like, what a dream.

BILLIE: I'm really happy with the flavours of this dish

and I feel like it is balanced.

To finish off my dessert, I'm frying off some more curry leaves.

I'm making those into a bit of a crumble.

And they'll just be a little garnish

to reinforce the Indian part of this French dish.

10 grand at the end of this challenge would be amazing,

but that immunity pin is the ticket

to the next step in this competition.

I want the pin.

ALDO: I'm feeling happy with what I produced today.

Bewdy.

I think that I give justice to the Japanese flavour

and if I don't, please forgive me, people.

There is my heart in this dish as well

so I feel like that I got a chance to win this today.

I would really like that cheque of 10 grand to go back home

so I hope that I've done enough.

You should be getting your dishes on the plate,

you've only got one minute to go.

C'mon! ANDY: Let's go! C'mon!

KEYMA: 60 seconds to go.

No resting baos.

I'm so sorry. (CHUCKLES) Just take them out.

This is so hot.

Oh, my God, this is so bad!

I start tasting the pork.

And it tastes great.

I'm so happy with all the flavours.

But...I'm worried about the bao.

Here we go! 10!

ALL: 9, 8, 7,

6, 5, 4,

3, 2, 1!

That's it! You're done!

Well done, everyone.

Great job.

I think it's a really, really yummy dish.

Why not? You know? Why couldn't I win with this?

I feel like a lot of people have done some really incredible savoury dishes,

which is really intimidating 'cause I always do savoury,

but a banging, fun, yummy dessert could do it.

I've never thought of combining... (CHUCKLES)

..Indian and Lebanese food before but it's amazing to me

how many of the flavours are common to the two cuisines.

There's cumin and coriander, there's fresh mint.

There's obviously onion, um, and garlic and lemon,

so hopefully, they've made a really cohesive dish.

At the start of the day, we combined the teams

and then we asked you guys to combine two cuisines

to create a dish that is gonna win you 10 grand plus an immunity pin.

That's worth playing for

and I got a feeling we're in for a pretty good tasting.

The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to...

..Aldo. (APPLAUSE)

ALDO: I had a great day and I combined two beautiful cuisines.

So I really hope that the judges are gonna love it.

(HUMS FANFARE)

Righto, Aldo, couple of questions.

Your two cuisines were? Italian and Japanese.

Nice one. And you made...?

Shiitake mushroom risotto.

I wanna just give justice to the Italian side with the risotto

and to the Japanese as well. Cool.

You've really been able to produce flavours that fit the brief.

You're torn between both cuisines, which is nice.

And I think it's the buttery richness

vs the umami and the dashi in there as well.

So, you're gonna be in the mix for sure

and I'm really happy for you today

'cause I know it would have been a challenge.

I can't fault you, mate, it's a classic,

well-cooked style of risotto with a nice bite in the rice.

The texture's beautiful.

Mate, it's delicious. Well done.

Thank you.

Shiitake, shiso miso, oh, my.

You really met the brief in terms of blending these two countries

in a way that you can see and you can taste in the difference.

You've used what you know, you've taken what inspires you

and you've created a successful dish.

ALL: Thanks, Aldo. (APPLAUSE)

Let's...taste Julie's dish. (APPLAUSE)

JULIE: I kind of went a little bit outside what's comfortable and what's obvious

to choose Indian and Lebanese today.

And I think it works together...

..but that doesn't mean the judges will.

Indian and Lebanese.

Righto. And what did you do to fuse those together?

It's an eggplant biryani with hummus and crispy onions...

..and things.

When we came around your bench, you said you'd never even thought

about putting these two things together before.

No. Was it just 'cause you had to?

Pretty much, yeah. Yeah?

Healthy portion. (LAUGHS)

It's a family dinner. (CHUCKLES)

JOCK: Julie.

Uh, biryani...

Brilliant.

Great depth of flavour. Rice is cooked beautifully.

It's so more-ish.

Hummus is beautiful.

A generous amount of crispy fried onions on top.

And the pickles and the yoghurt, obviously, on the side

are fantastic.

Tomatoes and fresh parsley

adding that sort of Lebanese... that freshness.

It is wholesomely delicious.

Great dish. Well done. Thank you.

I think it was a really smart choice to pick these two cuisines,

because they do coalesce beautifully.

What I love about both Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines

is such a heart-warming sense of generosity, love,

and just a depth of feeling.

And you really feel that throughout the dish,

and that's what makes it such a success.

Well done.

Well done, Julie. No worries. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I am so stoked with the feedback from the judges.

I feel like I've pulled it off

and I may be in with a chance.

The next dish we want to taste is Mindy's.

MINDY: Alright!

Australian... Yep.

..and Japanese.

I did a paperbark-smoked barramundi

with a kombu dashi broth and native succulents.

The broth - you can tell that you've done that so many times,

'cause it is the perfect perfume,

like, right at the death of that broth.

It's really, really well done.

Please enjoy.

Tommy. Vietnamese and Mexican.

And I made banh xeo tacos.

Concept - bang on. Like, bang on.

This salsa roja, it is reeking of Mexico.

I know you've got fish sauce in there,

but it's like this play on it and it works really well.

Next up, it's Daniel.

DANIEL: Well, I made what I want to call the Mindil Sunset -

tom yum inspired broth,

a paperbark barramundi,

aniseed myrtle chilli oil.

What you have shown us is fantastic.

The broth is delicious.

Billie! Let's go.

ALDO: Go, Billie!

Billie, what two cuisines did you have?

I had France and India.

And what did you make?

I did a French-style dessert with flavours of garam masala -

so, a white chocolate mousse

with cardamom, clove, spice, cumin, cinnamon,

and then a mango and coriander sorbet.

It is a spice riot, in such a good way.

Beautiful cardamom flavour. I mean, white chocolate.

It is fantastic.

I love it. I love all the flavours that are going on.

What about the curry leaves?

The sugar-coated game changers, as we call them?

To really think about garam masala in a reverse-engineered kind of way

and then infuse it into all of the elements,

it comes together so beautifully and so harmonically.

This is exciting cooking.

You can see just by the body language

that we're sort of fighting over the last bites of it.

Thanks, Mel. It's a great dish.

Well done, Billie. Thank you.

I'm going to keep eating it, 'cause its good.

I was gonna do the same!

Harry!

Come on!

HARRY: Today, I've done a dessert, which I wouldn't usually do,

but I think it's great,

and I feel like it could win me a pin and the money.

But competition is so fierce -

the dishes that have come up so far are really impressive.

Hello. Hello.

Please sauce and foam.

Sauce and foam.

Shake it!

More! Harder!

(JUDGES LAUGH) Whoa! Oh, no!

Oh! It was all going so well!

(LAUGHTER)

Brilliant.

This has just, like, gone from being, like...

..could've looked kind of decadent

to now just being like...

..a mess!

My dish is American and Chinese,

and I made an apple pie fried milk sundae.

What's in the chocolate sauce?

Sichuan. Oh, right.

There's a lot going on.

Am I clean?

Yeah, you're good.

Harry, the main event, which is the fried milk,

I like the texture - it's more of a gooey one than a super firm one.

Very playful.

It kind of ties in with the weird whippy cream.

And, you know, I get the American apple tart thing as well.

I think you've hit the brief.

It has that decadent 'let's throw it together' kind of vibe,

and I really like it, because it is overindulgent.

It is...it's crunchy, it's fatty, it's rich.

It's got a lot of spice.

It was delicious. It was fun. It was a little bit silly.

And it shows your personality through and through.

Thank you. Well done, Harry.

(LAUGHS)

I'm stoked with that feedback

and I really hope that I'm in with a chance.

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

KEYMA: Today, all the dishes look amazing.

I'm confident with the flavour in this dish.

But the bao worries me.

Could you be Australia's next MasterChef?

Applications for next season are now open.

Go on! Get on it!

Righto, Keyma, you launched yourself at the Caribbean tag.

And what'd you put it with? Chinese.

Chinese? Lovely.

And what did you make?

Some Caribbean-inspired bao.

So, inside the bao, you have some pork shoulder with jerk seasoning.

You were under the pump, weren't you, this cook?

Yeah, yeah.

I embarked myself in a huge task today,

believing that I could make pulled pork and baos at the same time...

All in 75 minutes. (LAUGHS) ..in 75 minutes.

I was really ambitious to do that today.

Keyma, I love that you keep pushing the boat out

and you're really challenging yourself

to take on more skills and show what you can do.

The pieces of pork that I had were a lovely flavour.

And what I love about this sauce is it's so rich with allspice and clove

and all of those beautiful flavours that celebrate the Caribbean.

Love the pickles, love the flavour.

Your let-down is the...is the bao.

The bao themselves are very, very tight.

They're not light and fluffy.

That part of it's a flat-out fail, unfortunately.

Keep smiling, because I think

there's a lot to smile about in the dish.

It's one element that hasn't gone to plan out of...

..a lot.

You just bit off so much today in 75 minutes.

And you should have, because you...

..you want to win this, and you want to win the 10 grand.

So if there's any time to push the boat out, it's today.

Unfortunately, one of your elements hasn't worked,

but I would still call this cook a success for you.

You're moving forward, which is good to see.

Thank you, guys.

I really thought they were going to stitch me for the baos,

but I feel they're seeing the progression, and me taking risk.

Now it's everyone by themself

and I definitely want to go far in this competition.

So it just gives me an extra boost to continue with my cooking.

From all the way down the back, it's Matt!

MATT: I have fused American and Chinese,

and I've made cheeseburger wontons.

I'm a big fan of the flavours that are going on,

both in the special sauce and inside the wontons themselves.

But nothing about that pastry says 'wonton' to me,

particularly texture.

Alvin! Alvin.

ALVIN: Malaysia and France.

and it's a kaya on toast.

Alvin, I dig the flavours.

It's just lacking a little bit of finesse with the textures.

I think if those textures were fixed

it would have been a pretty top chance of being up the top.

Next up, it's Steph! (APPLAUSE)

STEPH: Australian and Japanese.

I've made miso and Vegemite - so, misomite.

I feel like you needed to be 25% to 30% less on the Vegemite.

But it's super interesting.

That's the kind of dish that you develop in a restaurant.

But this version - just not quite there.

OK. Thanks, Steph.

No worries.

We would like to see your dish, Michael.

ALDO: Go, Michael!

MICHAEL: Now that there's no Fans and no Favourites,

it's everyone for themselves, the competition's going to gear up.

So, my prawn toastadas are bit of a risk.

Whether it's fancy enough...

I just have to cross my fingers and hope.

He's got beers and everything!

Beers and everything.

Wow.

Michael, your two countries were?

Chinese and Mexican. Chinese and Mexican.

And what have you made us? I've made you prawn toastadas.

Prawn toastadas! So, prawn toast tostadas.

Mate, you look pretty happy with it.

I had a lot of fun, you know?

I don't often cook snacky beer food for you guys,

and I quite like eating it and cooking it,

so I thought I'd do something different.

I remember giving Hayden heaps of grief on my season

for taking up beers with one of his dishes,

so I'm eating my words now,

but it's kind of the beer food that I like.

Looks good, huh?

ANDY: Michael...that's bloody tasty.

I think it's a great concept, too.

I think you've executed it, in my opinion, really well,

so I dig it hard.

What I love about a great piece of prawn toast is that crunch.

And not only have you done that just with the beautiful fry on it,

but with the extra consideration of the crispiness on top.

All of the pairings bring that Mexican kind of vibe,

but you've managed to balance both cuisines really well

in a dish that also feels inherently like you.

So I really liked it. Oh, thank you. Thanks.

Michael, soon as people see this on TV,

they're going to go, "I'm having a crack at that."

Easy to do. It's quick, it's delicious, it's big flavours.

This is a great example of a good decision on a day like today.

Well done, mate. Thank you very much. Good stuff, Michael.

Thank you, Julie. (CHUCKLES)

The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Sarah.

Go, Sarah!

SARAH: The standard of cooking in this competition is really high.

And today, there's just a lot more pressure

because combining French and Indian

is the direction I wanna be heading in.

Shall I pour it? Yeah.

OK, Indian and...?

French. French, OK.

And the dish?

Butter-poached lobster with flavours of India.

Ooh. (CHUCKLES)

Your two loves being Indian and French,

is this dish something you've been waiting to bring out?

Coming in to this competition this time round,

this is the direction that I would like to head in.

I'm a bit nervous to, you know, serve these kind of dishes.

Why are you nervous to serve these kinds of dishes? Yeah.

Um, just because it's putting my spin and it's a little bit more...

..nerve-racking because it's like art, it's subjective.

Whereas if I do something classic Indian, I'm like,

"Well, it's kind of hard to not like it because I know it works."

Do you feel more vulnerable because you've found your thing

and, therefore, you're revealing yourself?

Mm-hm.

Um, as far as the taste of the dish goes and did you meet the brief,

does it cover off the two cuisines that you chose,

French and Indian?

SARAH: Thank you.

But...does it taste good?

That has all the refinement of a three-Michelin star dish.

It has got all the beauty and elegance of a Michelin star dish.

Don't know why I'm getting emotional again. Why?

It feels like there's a lot more on the line for you with this dish

than a pin and... Mmm.

..and 10 grand. Yeah, there is.

It's just, um...

Yeah, I'd like to go down this path, for sure, but it is scary.

What is in that bowl is an exhibition of someone

who is very good at their craft.

The butter-poached lobster is cooked absolutely perfectly,

you couldn't have done it any better.

And then the flavours of India.

Like, the flavours are extraordinary.

You intuitively know how to get that balance

but you've fused it so very well with French because that is your passion.

MEL: That plate of food not only looks

like magazine cover-worthy food

but the depth of flavour

and also the retention of soul in it is just as impressive.

I know that this is scary for you

but fear drives invention

and it pushes us forward into a place that we need to be

in order to be our very best selves.

Thank you so much.

This stuff is the stuff where we really kind of step back and go,

"She's here to play."

There is a special talent there,

both on the technique but also, the flavour combinations that just sing.

Like, my palate is still singing.

This is, like, such a breakout dish for you, like, in so many ways,

and I know how much it means to you but you've just gotta remember

that it doesn't happen without getting out of your comfort zone

and really being vulnerable.

Well done. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Very good dish.

Good on you.

Scary.

Well, this day will certainly go down in MasterChef history.

So let's find out who will be walking away with $10,000

AND an immunity pin.

Overall, we were very impressed with your cuisine combinations.

There were some great flavours out there and some very promising dishes.

But...

..there was one dish...

..that was head and shoulders above the rest today.

Not only nailed the brief...

..but it was a success on every single level.

I think...you all know who it is.

Congratulations, Sarah. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

So happy.

I really was scared of this day.

Where I finally cooked the food that I wanna be cooking

and to hear that I am on the right path,

this really is my food dream

and to be able to go in this direction means everything.

Sarah, over the last couple of weeks,

you've been threatening to bring us a dish as good as that

and now you finally have.

And because of that,

you not only have won yourself that shiny immunity pin,

but you're taking home $10,000! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Sarah, it feels like a bit of a weight off your shoulders

and now you've shaken off the curse, winning dish of the day.

How does that feel? Oh, gosh, I can't even explain it.

I...I just feel like through the competition,

I haven't quite been getting there

and I just wanted a day that I shined and it finally came.

So I just feel so overwhelmed and relieved.

Well, what an incredible way to kick off

the next phase of the competition.

So go home, make yourselves a cup of tea, put your feet up,

be kind to each other and we'll see you back here tomorrow.

Bye.

(ALL CHAT EXCITEDLY) I didn't think it was gonna be me!

Oh, my God.

That is crazy. (CHUCKLES)

ANNOUNCER: Still to come this season...

JOCK: Welcome to Tasmania!

ALDO: So beautiful.

BILLIE: Look at this place.

..jaw-dropping challenges...

(ALL GASP)

ALL: Ohhhh!

TOMMY: No way. BILLIE: What the hell.

..and the biggest celebrity chefs...

(APPLAUSE) ANDY: Josh Niland.

MEL: Dave Finch! Kirsten Tibballs!

Maggie Beer!

It's Peter Gilmore! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Rick Stein!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

..will inspire our cooks

to create dishes that are out of this world.

JOCK: Please welcome... Marco Pierre White!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Allow your palate and your imagination to be ignited.

11 out of 10.

MEL: So funky, in the best possible way.

ANDY: It's gutsy and it's delicious.

That's a belter right there. Well done.

Will previous experience

be the secret ingredient

or will an exceptional home cook

be the one to lift the trophy?

Captions by Red Bee Media