Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...

..it was a pressure test that was sink or swim.

(GASPS)

JOCK: 99 ingredients. ALDO: Oh, my God.

143 steps.

(INHALES)

13 pages.

Oh, my God!

All three cooks made a massive effort...

This is like multi-tasking to the next level, this dish.

..and everyone was shellshocked when Montana had to say goodbye.

MONTANA: The cook that I was at the start of this competition

is a completely different person from who I am now.

Tonight - a very special service challenge...

DANIEL: It's probably the most nervous I've been in this kitchen so far.

..delivers the biggest surprise yet.

# '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. #

ALDO: Let's go.

No jumping, no skipping, no doing anything silly.

(DANIEL LAUGHS)

JOCK: There they are.

(LAUGHS) MINDY: Maybe... Ooh.

What's that? SARAH: I don't know.

Yesterday, Montana left,

which means Keyma and I are the last remaining Fans.

Definitely feeling the pressure a little bit more

and it's gonna only get tougher

but we've worked hard to get here and we're gonna keep fighting

and try and make it to that finish line.

Hello, everybody! ALL: Hello!

Welcome to the marvellous MasterChef kitchen garden.

You might be wondering why we're out here and not in there,

well, it's not just to enjoy the scenery.

Tonight will be a service challenge.

ALL: Ooh.

And you're gonna be highlighting some of the incredibly special produce

grown right in this very garden.

JULIE: I'm really excited by this.

I love service challenges

and I love cooking from the produce in the garden

'cause anything that's freshly harvested is at its peak.

First things first, let's get into teams.

MINDY: Here we go. MEL: Alright.

Take an apron out of the magic bag.

Don't look.

ALVIN: I pull out an apron and I've got aqua

and I'm cooking alongside Sarah, Keyma and Julie.

It's a good team.

Sarah's got a lot of restaurant experience,

I know my flavours,

Keyma is the dark dessert horse...

(LAUGHS)

..and Julie is the classic home cook that knows how to mass-feed.

I can see you all eyeing off the goodies

that this garden has to offer

but before you decide on anything,

you should know that today's service is all about herbs.

Ooh.

(CHUCKLES) In a moment, a member of both teams

will peruse the MasterChef garden

and select one herb each.

WE will then pick a third.

You'll use one herb in the entree, one in the main

and one in the dessert.

Both teams will have to cook with the same three herbs

across their entire menu.

But they can choose which course they go in.

So decide who's going to be your team's herb picker.

ANDY: Chief herb picker! SARAH: Yes. (LAUGHS)

Keyma and Daniel.

Alright, off you go.

Peruse the garden, choose a herb.

ALDO: Have a good sniff around.

I'm picking the first herb for the green team

and I'm having a quick look around...

MINDY: Something that's really aromatic.

Pick something that's lots of... Yeah.

Something that's aromatic.

Don't know what to pick.

ALVIN: Good choice, Keyma.

I see that Keym's gone straight for a herb.

ALDO: Come on, pick a good herb.

Herbs are good anyway, they're delicious. Do not sabotage us!

Loads of flavour.

And then I see the Thai basil.

I love Thai basil. It grows like a weed in Darwin.

And I know Mindy loves it.

It's aniseedy so Billie could use it in a dessert, perhaps.

So I go for the Thai basil. I think it's a good choice.

MEL: OK, so chief herb pickers have done their job.

Keyma, what have you chosen?

I've chosen coriander.

Fantastic. And Daniel?

Thai basil. Thai basil.

Alright, Jock, would you like to go an pick a third?

Why not. I think I might... rumble it up a little bit.

(ALL EXCLAIM AND LAUGH) JULIE: Course you will! Shake it up!

BILLIE: Of course.

ANDY: Don't be nice.

Curveball! Top eight.

ALDO: What are you picking?

Ooh, yes! (CHORTLES)

Tarragon? JULIE: Uh-huh.

So the three herbs that you're cooking with today are

coriander,

tarragon

and Thai basil.

Tarragon. It is so different to coriander and Thai basil.

But it wouldn't be MasterChef if we didn't spice it up a little bit.

Wouldn't be.

Right. You know WHAT you'll be cooking with...

..but, not who you'll be feeding.

These diners, they're some of the harshest critics

that you guys will ever meet.

They're ruthless.

They're thorough.

And they will be watching everything that you do today.

Right from the very first second...

(SIGHS)

..right to the minute that they receive their food.

Good thing for you guys...

..is that...

..they're also your number-one fans.

ALVIN: No. JULIE: Can't be.

Oh, my God!

My God.

(CRIES)

(TEARFULLY) Running towards me...

..are my boys.

My husband and my three sons.

And I can't even tell you

how happy I am to see them.

I miss those people so much.

They're the guys that are making a sacrifice for me to be here.

So their support is so incredibly special to me.

(CRIES)

ALDO: Oh, Mindy!

MINDY: Oh, my God. (LAUGHS)

Oh, Mindy. (CRIES)

My mum, my dad and my Aunty Ros have just walked around the corner.

I haven't seen my family since Christmas.

Hello.

It is just everything that we've needed right now

to keep pushing us and keep spurring us on in this competition.

Oh, stop.

(LAUGHTER)

(TEARFULLY) No, I can't. I can't.

Oh. It's so overwhelming, seeing Mark.

Hello. (LAUGHS)

Guys!

Been so long and without his support,

I wouldn't even be able to last the first week.

Yeah, I'm surviving. Surviving.

For him to actually experience this - physically be here -

it's truly, truly special.

Oh, my leg shake's come back, man.

Oh, you can see that we ALL won't be here

if it's not for the love and support of our family.

(SQUEALS)

My baby!

Oh, my God.

How are ya?

Dan!

DANIEL: I see the... My missus, Kassie, running round the corner...

Oh, God, I haven't seen her for so long.

This is so cool. Like...

I can't help it, I'm, like, tearing up and getting all bloody emotional.

Oh, no way!

Then I see Mum and Dad and my two brothers

and I just can't bloody believe it.

(CHUCKLES) It's just incredible.

How are you, mate?

Oh, my old man's like the typical old Aussie bloke -

no emotions, no feelings, you know, "How you going, mate?" and handshake.

So I've even gone in for the awkward handshake and there's a cuddle

and, you know? (LAUGHS)

Hello, beautiful. Love you.

G'day, mate, how are ya? How are you?

You know, like, I wanna really show them what I can do.

Oh, God, I'm shaking.

Oh, my love. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God! Phoenix!

Phoenix!

Oh, my God.

Oh, shit.

ALDO: (LAUGHS) Everybody's family is coming in.

It is very exciting.

Oh, my God.

(LAUGHTER)

But at the other end, I'm start to think

my family is on the other side of the world

and I got just my husband here.

Aldo...you ready for this?

(SNIFFS)

Oh, Aldo.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

Oh, that's my mum!

(LAUGHTER) That's my mum and sister!

Mum!

I can't believe it.

Is just so...overwhelming, actually.

And it's been nearly three years that I haven't seen my mum

thanks to COVID and it's been so hard.

And they're gonna see me cook in this crazy environment.

It's just so good.

Hello. Hi, guys. How you going?

Aldo, introduce us to your family, mate.

Well, I got my niece, Ginevra. Hi.

Hi. Nice to meet you.

And I got my younger sister. Hi, everybody.

Hello.

Then, my mum.

Hi, mum.

(LAUGHTER)

How long has it been since you've seen your mum?

November 2019.

(ALL EXCLAIM) Wow.

My family's on the other side of the world. And it's...

That Facetime phone call, it's never gonna be enough.

A hug from my mum today that I haven't seen in ages...

Hey, I think you missed somebody.

(LAUGHTER) My husband as well!

My husband, sorry!

Sarah.

So it's my mum, Lorraine. Hi, mum.

My two brothers, Matthew and Steven. Nice to meet you.

And then this is my son, Phoenix.

And my nephew Jackson, who also comes everywhere with me.

So he's like, yeah, my second child.

(LAUGHS)

Phoenix, what about Mum's cooking?

I love it. You love it?

(LAUGHTER) Course you do.

Keyma?

This is my son, Osvaldo.

Hi. Bella is my daughter.

Bella, nice to meet you. And Eugene, my husband.

Hi. Hi.

You guys must be pretty proud of Mum.

Yep. Absolutely.

We've been encouraging her to go into the show for years

and seeing her now, here, it's unreal.

(CHUCKLES)

Billie, why don't you introduce us to your family?

Sure. This is my husband, Haydn.

This is my nan, Sheila.

Hi, Nan. (CHUCKLES)

My mum, Alison, and my dad, Dave. Hi, Alison. Hi, Dad.

(SIGHS) Oh!

(CHUCKLES)

Dave, the last time you were in a MasterChef kitchen,

Billie was holding the trophy above her head, right?

Proud moment for you? Very, mate, yeah.

I didn't think I'd get emotional this time, but, uh...

(LAUGHTER) It's, uh...

When she started, I started, so...

Daniel, we've got the whole of the Northern Territory here,

by the look of it. (LAUGHTER)

Who have we got?

So this is my lovely mother, Trina. Hi, Mum.

Old boy, Steve. Hi, Dad.

Um, my older brother, Cameron, younger brother, Hayden,

and my beautiful girlfriend, Kassie. Hi.

Alvin?

This is my partner, Mark, and these are my friends Mel and Dan.

Mindy, introduce us to your family.

This is my mum, Brenda, my dad, Gary, and my Aunty Rosie Sten.

Julie Goodwin!

Mick, 14 years later,

Julie decides she's coming back to the MasterChef kitchen.

Do you think it was a good idea? Yeah. I did, actually.

Just changed our life in such a positive, amazing way.

It's given us so many experiences as a family

and so, it was really a no-brainer.

Julie, what do these boys mean to you?

I mean, you guys look super tight.

They're my babies. (CHUCKLES) My little babies.

And this one's given me another little baby girl, so, um...

Yeah, they're the reason for everything.

They're the reason...I cook.

They're my favourite people in the world

and the nights where we get to sit around the table together

and eat together are my favourite times in my life.

Um, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Do you reckon Mum can do it, 14 years later?

150%.

There we go. 150%! I like it.

MEL: OK, well, we know this is a service challenge

for the most-loved people in your lives.

Your three courses today must feature

the three herbs in front of us.

Coriander,

Thai basil

and tarragon.

You will have 2.5 hours

before your entrees need to start leaving the pass.

And of course, you don't only need to feed us,

but also, you need to feed your family and friends.

The winning team today goes into tomorrow's immunity cook

to vie for safety from Sunday's elimination.

And we all know herbs are a family of plants

used to take food to another level.

With your families here, let's hope they can do the same.

We'll give you a few minutes to catch up

and then as soon as you step into the MasterChef kitchen,

your time will start.

Good luck.

Lovely to meet you all! Hey!

(APPLAUSE)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Having my family here is so incredibly special

and the idea that they're not just here to watch...

I'm gonna say, "Mum, what you cooking?"

"What you cooking?" (LAUGHS)

..they are here to dine in the MasterChef restaurant today

and they're here for us to cook for them.

I cried all my make-up off and I had to put it back on.

Now I've cried it all off again.

It's just a gift that I am so grateful for.

Good luck, guys. Bye!

Oh, my God.

Well, green team and aqua team, that was a bit of fun,

but now we're down to business.

Your 2.5 hours starts now.

JOCK: Let's go, guys.

BILLIE: OK. What's...? MINDY: So, our three herbs.

Does anyone have a preference in terms of what they would like to use?

What an incredible team challenge today.

We have to feature herbs throughout three courses in our menu.

How about we do a really nice eggplant Thai basil curry?

Our family and friends are here

and we're just about to cook for them.

We've somehow got to, like, pull all that energy back and refocus

because we've got to serve them up some delicious food.

I want tarragon, if you're alright, guys. Is that alright?

Yep. I would like...coriander. Coriander?

Yep. Beautiful. You want coriander?

Yeah, I want coriander. Amazing.

Is that alright? So, I guess we've got Thai basil.

Alright, so... Is that alright?

Well, I'm just... I'm just calling it out.

Billie, are you happy to do dessert? Yeah.

That's where I was going with it. OK. OK.

Dessert. Dessert all the way. OK.

As a team, I think we're gravitating towards certain flavours.

We know we're going to play to our strengths.

Just a given that Billie's going to be on dessert.

She is a queen of desserts.

And she's doing a spider dessert featuring coriander.

So, I want to go on the light side.

Normally, tarragon goes very well with everything - meat or fish.

Tarragon for Aldo works perfectly with European flavours.

He's happy to take the entrees.

Pan-seared scallops, gorgeous sauce with tarragon.

Let's go, guys. Let's go and have a look.

That leaves me on mains with Daniel,

and I'm all vibing for this.

Alright, let's do this! Yoo! Let's go.

We love our South-East Asian food.

Grab 'em all.

We're doing a beautiful Thai basil curry with coral trout.

Hey, have you seen the tarragon?

Glucose.

I'm just gonna be running out there with a bucket of eggplant...

(SARAH LAUGHS) ..like an absolute numpty.

Alright, here we go.

JOCK: It's been a while since we've had a full gantry.

I know. Wow!

ANDY: They are going to be brickin' it today.

I know.

The energy raining down on this service is going to be huge.

Go, Aldo!

JULIE: Huge fish. (LAUGHS)

What kind of fish is it, Jules? Kingfish.

Kingfish? OK. Yeah.

Aqua team, who's leading the charge here?

Oh, Julie. How are you? (LAUGHS)

Well, we kind of worked out

that these three were on a course each

and so I'm the main...shouter.

Dr... Yes. I love it.

Our entree is a beautiful coriander kingfish.

Yep.

And then Alvin's in charge of a Thai basil curry,

and we're going to do that with eggplant.

And then we've got a pineapple dessert.

So, we've got pineapple with tarragon syrup,

we've got tarragon ice-cream,

we've got a crumb with some cashews and tarragon through that as well.

OK.

Tell me, immunity challenge -

that spot has gotta be something that you want.

Oh, look, it is.

And immunity - obviously, every time you get immunity,

it's one more day in this kitchen.

But, for me, I'd like that proud moment for them.

I'd like them to see that. (CHUCKLES)

Oh, I mean, I cook for my boys all the time,

but not here, and not like this.

So, hopefully, I just take the inspiration of their love

looking down on me, and turn that into good food.

ALDO: This is a tarragon sauce that I made at home.

Beautiful. Sounds fantastic, bro.

My mum, she doesn't eat pretty much anything except Italian food.

Yeah. (LAUGHTER)

I'm in charge of the entree course.

The dish that I'm making, it is pan-seared scallops

with salsa al dragoncello.

A northern Italian sauce, which means 'tarragon sauce'.

More tarragon? More tarragon, yeah.

I'm just adding a little bit at a time.

I'm picking scallops because this is something that my mum loves.

Oh, my... I seriously can't believe

that my family's here from the other side of the world,

I finally got a beautiful, warm hug from my mum,

and that's it, that's what I was aiming for, to get so far.

(SPEAKS ITALIAN)

Mum is already crying.

Aww!

(CLEARS THROAT) I'll go here.

Mum! What are you making?

I am making fish cafreals, just for you guys.

Yay! (CHUCKLES)

I am working on the entree,

pan-seared, marinated kingfish with cafreal sauce.

How much chilli can you guys handle today?

Lots! All of you. Chilli? (LAUGHS)

Julie's assisting the butchery of the Kingfish

and I'm going to get started on the cafreal sauce.

Cafreal is a beautiful, green, vibrant, coriander-forward sauce.

Cooking this will be tough if it's too thick like that.

Yeah, try that, and I'll just weigh it.

We've been cooking in the MasterChef kitchen for a long time now,

so, honestly, seeing my family walk through today, I'm in tears.

Last time I did MasterChef, Phoenix was just a baby

and he doesn't remember any of it.

This is for your fish.

Oh, to put it in? Yeah.

One of the reasons why I came back to this competition

was to show him that you can do whatever you set your mind to.

JACKSON: Aunty Sarah, you need to win this one!

I know. Yeah, for us!

Thanks for the pressure. (LAUGHS)

I think everyone wants to prove to their family

that they're the best.

(LAUGHS)

So I think I need to ruffle things up a little bit.

Hey, Jackie and Phoenix! Yeah?

Are you allowed to be our snoops,

and see what they're doing, and tell us?

Or not? OK, sure.

(LAUGHTER)

Are you training them to be spies, Sarah Todd?

(LAUGHS)

They are your harshest critics, and the ones you love the most.

And you've only got 90 minutes to feed them!

(CHEERING)

Keep pushing, Aldo!

Is there any open spots?

Dan! What are you making?

Uh, I'm on Mindy's team, and we're making the curry together,

so I've gotta fillet all the fish.

I am on the mains course today with Mindy,

and we are doing Thai Basil Curry with coral trout.

Alright, let's have a taste of this quickly.

Colour's good. Yeah.

So, this is the oil?

Alright, we need more Thai basil in there.

Yep.

Mindy's been working on the curry sauce.

My main job is the fish.

Filleting a fish with my family watching, it's, um...

It's probably the most nervous I've been in this kitchen so far.

(LAUGHS)

I love cooking with fish,

but today I have to make sure they're all perfect

because I've got Dad watching.

He's going to be a bit tougher on me than I think the judges are.

Dad takes his filleting quite seriously.

Oh... (LAUGHS)

So, when we were kids, we were always fishing, 'cause Dad loved it.

We always caught it, Dad would to fillet it,

and then we would have fish for however long we had it.

STEVE: I'll be... I'll be watching him.

No pressure at all, eh.

The bloke can fillet a fish really well, I'll give him that.

I was never that good at it.

Alright, Dad, what do you reckon?

Yeah, you're learning.

I thought you were struggling there for a minute.

SARAH: Peeling garlic is the worst job in the world.

Yes. Can you do me some?

(BOTH LAUGH)

No.

I'm going to make the main dish with Thai basil.

I'm very comfortable with Thai basil.

I use it quite a lot.

MARK: Alvin, what are you cooking?

I'm making a Thai basil eggplant curry.

Yum! Oh, yum!

The curry is essentially a cross between a red and a green curry.

So, like, green chillies, you know, lemongrass,

a bit of cumin, shallots, ginger, and a whole heap of Thai basil.

Mark and my friends would love the curry

because I think they're just... they're spice queens.

Green curry.

Green curry, Aunty Sarah!

Green curry? BOTH: Yep.

OK. (LAUGHTER)

Little Jackie's a bit chatty.

(LAUGHS) Oh, he's very chatty.

Mindy and Daniel are also doing a Thai basil curry,

and I'm up against two of them,

who know flavours, and who can really sort of pack a punch.

So, if I'm going to win this, I really need to make sure

that my curry is fresh, is zingy, and it's Thai basil forward.

Bit of belachan.

ALDO: So, the tarragon sauce, it's nearly finished.

So, time to take it out. Good timing, to remember myself.

I'm working on the entrees today.

Now I'm working onto the pangrattato.

I just want to add a little bit of texture to this dish,

so the pangrattato needs to give that crunch at the end.

It's very easy - the bread needs to dry out

and then it needs to be tossed through olive oil, anchovy

and garlic, just finely minced.

JOCK: Um, can I taste that?

I need to finish that one.

There's not enough salt in the breadcrumb, in the pangrattato.

Yeah. I mean, it's just, I'm having difficulty with the texture of it.

You've got really delicate scallop.

You've got a really smooth sauce.

And then you've got, like...

..real chunky.

Jock thinks that this pangrattato, it's too rough,

doesn't go together with the refined scallops and sauce.

I'm just slightly confused.

MARK: What are you going to do?

I don't know. I'm thinking.

I'm thinking.

ANDY: The last thing you want to do is let your family and friends down.

You've got 45 minutes to go.

What are you going to do? I don't know.

I'm thinking. Guanciale?

I'm thinking.

You're wasting time.

Just. Just. Just think quickly, bro.

They say you got a very chunky pangrattato.

How are we going to dress it up a little bit, then?

I don't know. That's the thing.

Maybe go a little bit finer with the crumb?

With the crumb? So it looks really delicate.

Blitz it, make it a real little beautiful, like, crumb.

Crumb, yeah. It's not as abrasive.

Yeah.

Mindy comes over and say, let's blitz it.

And I can't believe I actually didn't think to do that.

Alright? It tastes great, babe. Done.

Just because I'm too stressed.

And also the overwhelming having my family around.

There you go.

That's it. Yeah. Go, Aldo!

Bravo!

It may have taken you a while, but you finally got the hint!

The answer!

JULIE: I think the team's going great.

Taste now, Julie.

Sarah has done a wonderful job on the green coriander sauce.

Steady hands, steady hands.

And a bit of a pickled fennel salad.

The fish is marinated, ready to cook.

JOCK: How are we looking for the cook on that fish?

Perfect.

You do have to be careful because kingfish can go dry.

Seriously dry. Yes.

So we will have to be careful with the cook.

Good luck. Thank you.

Sarah is pretty confident with all the components of her dish,

so I need to make sure the fish is cooked perfectly.

Fish is going in. No pressure, Mum.

Ha ha! Thanks, Patty.

Can count on you, bud.

Pan sear it till it's got a beautiful golden colour on it.

Hot!

Tray goes into the oven, and I want to make sure

that it is not a degree over

or a degree under

what I want it to be.

Mum, what are you working on?

I'm making a dessert and I'm making tarragon ice-cream.

Tarragon crumb.

Some grilled pineapple.

Sounds cool.

Today I'm thinking tarragon as a sweet herb instead of a savoury.

For me, it tastes almost like an aniseed flavour.

I'm invading on your space, guys.

After my sour cream and tarragon ice-cream is in the churner,

I'm moving next to the crumb.

I'm using tarragon, sugar, flour, butter and a bit of salt.

I haven't done a whole course by myself in any team challenges.

This is the first time.

A few months ago I was just cooking for my family at home

and now I'm facing against Billie.

She is a dessert queen.

Can you wish me luck?

Yes. Good luck. You're the best.

Thank you.

But my family's here. I need to just step up.

I've grown so much, and the only way I can show them

is by cooking for them.

The crumb's looking nice, Mum.

You're almost at the aromatic finish line.

15 minutes to go.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE FROM GANTRY)

So I'm on the dessert course. Surprise, surprise.

I tend to go a little bit wacky with dessert.

And I'm going to go a little bit wacky today again and make

a coriander spider.

Spider is obviously the ice-cream with a fizzy drink.

This is sort of bringing it into restaurant territory.

I've done the coriander apple sorbet

and I've made the coriander parfaits.

OK. So many things.

This meringue is looking pretty amazing.

Yeah. Talk me through.

Where is coriander featuring in your dish?

The base is a coriander seed vanilla lemon parfait.

Yep.

Sitting on top of that is the apple coriander sorbet.

Love it.

And then this will be coriander meringue shards

which will sit on top again

and then poured around the outside

will be the fizzy coriander, apple, bit of gin, bit of lemon...

Yeah. A coriander praline.

I want, like, something sweet.

Good luck, mate. Thank you.

So there's a lot to balance here.

And if I don't get it right, it's just going to taste strange.

But I want to take risks today because I want to impress my family.

You're happy? Yes, I am happy.

OK. I think we're good, Sar.

Yeah.

What's the plan for service?

I'll do sauce and fish, and Sarah will do the pretty bits on top.

Excellent. Yep.

Good. Good.

I got a feeling these diners don't want to wait for their food.

You got 5 minutes to go.

When I start to cook them now, it's very important

that they're going to be very perfectly cooked and the plate up,

which nearly finished over there.

So it's very quick and easy. It's going to be out.

OK. Olive oil.

Where is olive oil? It is here.

Beautiful.

I'm putting them clockwise, which means that one is the first.

First one there, yeah.

One and then this way to put them around, OK?

I want it quickly pan-seared on just one side,

just flip on the other side for 20 seconds,

because the residual heat from

the side that have been very hot, caramelised,

it's going to keep going through.

Mindy, if you can start to take them out, grab a spoon, please.

A spoon to take them out, please.

Take them out? Yes.

Listen up, you've only got one minute to go.

Here we go. Come on!

Like one tablespoon. Yep.

Julie and I are working on entree service,

and I think it's going really smoothly.

Maybe one and a half. I'll do that, you do the salad.

Plating my dish.

I've got that beautiful pan-seared kingfish on the right of the plate

and a good amount of that sauce going on the left

and topping it with the pickled salad.

I've been waiting for this all day, gantry. Let's do it.

Ten!

Nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one.

Time is up! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Let's go eat.

We've finished.

We're done, we've done them.

This has been crazy.

I am slightly worried about the pangrattato

and the cook of the scallops.

I hope that they're perfect.

And OK, we bring... Oh!

I'll go on your right. Always on your right.

So we got tarragon emulsion

with pan-seared scallop and pangrattato.

Enjoy. Thanks, Aldo.

And OK, we... Ooh! Aldo.

On your right, always on your right.

So we got tarragon emulsion with pan-seared scallop and pangrattato.

Enjoy. JOCK: Thanks, Aldo.

Well, what do we think of the looks?

It's thick.

It is. I can see that he's rectified that pangrattato.

It was very, very clumpy earlier on.

So he's firmed that up a little bit.

This scallop's beautifully cooked. Mine too.

Nice and opaque in the centre.

You know, I was definitely hoping that he would just bring us

a classic dish today,

and he's just done that.

Scallops. All nine of them were perfectly cooked.

Beautiful crust on the outside, still just set on the inside.

The sauce. Great tarragon hit.

So, box ticked there.

The pangrattato was nice.

But...was still quite chunky.

I thought he was going to go finer.

So did I. Yeah.

Overall, the flavour is really, really nice.

I think a couple of textural issues

really could've taken it to another level.

Tarragon's shining through, no question.

You know, hit the brief. Absolutely.

It was a good dish. Just not a great dish for me.

There's a lot to really like about this dish.

I mean, those scallops could not have been cooked any better.

They were absolutely beautiful.

I think where the problems lie are in that pangrattato.

You're sort of distracted by that,

whereas it should feel a little lighter,

a little bit more effortless.

And I didn't get that today.

Yes! JULIE: Service, please.

Service! Hey! Alright!

Yeah! Go Julie!

Hello.

MAN: Oh!

SARAH: I'm really happy with how the dish has turned out,

'cause I think coriander is really forward in the dish.

Don't fall down the stairs, Sarah.

But I hope the cook on the fish, consistent across the board,

and the judges love this dish.

Hi.

JUDGES: Hi.

There you go.

That is cafreal with marinated kingfish.

ANDY: Beautiful. JOCK: Thank you. Enjoy. Thanks.

This looks tasty.

It looks inviting.

I immediately want to stick my face in it.

It smells amazing.

Shall we stick our faces in it? Yeah.

Let's do it.

My hope this fish is cooked perfectly.

Mm. Look at that fish.

Ohhh! Look...look how perfect it is. MEL: Beautiful.

That, my friends, was how you do an entree.

How good was that?

What about the hum and the heat that's in that sauce?

The white pepper coming through.

The coriander is bright and shiny here.

Obviously, they've hit the brief.

The fish was cooked perfectly.

I love the little side hustle with the fennel, with the raw onion,

little pomegranate seeds.

You put all of those things together in your mouth

and you are having one hell of a time.

It's hitting all the heights.

The way that the spices work with the coriander, with the cafreal,

is really beautiful.

And then you have the acidity of the pickles and the pomegranate

just to kind of fill in the edges.

What an entree should be.

An absolute belter. Winner, winner, fish dinner.

Yeah, look, it doesn't get any better than that.

Like, you can go to any restaurant around the world,

you get that bowl of food, and you are just happy as Larry.

That green sauce is the perfect element to put on a dish

where you need to hero coriander, because that was flawless.

So we're going to tog them all the way through skin side down.

Kiss them. And then portion. Totally. Great. Sounds good, mate.

Let's do it.

Entrees are pretty much finished.

Mindy's been working on the curry sauce.

It's complex.

Like, it's deep.

It's, like, Thai basil flavours, like, punching through.

And I'm digging it, and I know that that's going to work beautifully

with the fish if I nail it.

That's the main pressure point of today.

If the fish isn't cooked properly, if there's a bone in it,

and if the skin isn't crispy,

it's not going to be enough to take us home, I don't think.

Let's do it. Let's take it home, hey?

It's like the last sort of 10 minutes in a footy match, you know?

It all comes down to this.

So you've got to dig deep and make sure your fish isn't undercooked.

I'm going to have to watch it so that the cook of the fish

goes up nice and evenly until it's 80% done.

Yep.

And then going to have to flip it and just give it under a minute.

I let it rest flesh side down so that the heat

just sort of takes it up to that beautiful temperature.

All the juiciness stays inside the meat.

And that's how I got to do it.

(FISH SIZZLES)

I just want the seal of approval from Dad.

It's good. Happy with that.

Good to go, right? Service, please.

With the final entrees going out, it's showtime for me.

Yum. It's good curry, right?

Yum. Yeah.

The curry - that's nice and developed.

The eggplant - I'm gonna deep-fry the eggplant.

So the batter's done.

Three per person? I think so.

You can't have two and... No, two's weird.

..if you have more, there's gonna be five. Yeah.

We're plating it on a...on a sort of like a bowl sort of plate

and then the curry is at the bottom and then the eggplant piled high.

Because this is going to be a Thai basil challenge,

I wanted to make sure that it's pretty obvious

that there's Thai basil through it.

Smell this.

It's Thai basil salt. That's lovely.

So I've done a Thai basil salt, so that's going to coat the eggplant

after it's been fried.

And that way it will sort of elevate the curry.

So do you want to put one ladle of the curry? Yep. Yep.

Then we start the pass for the curries.

The curry will sort of sit at the base of a bowl.

And then on top, like, just three or...not two.

Not more than three. Yeah.

Alright.

Service, please. We're ready for service.

Watching the plates go out the door.

It's quite surreal.

Like, we're going to feed our families.

Ugh. I just want to show off to my family.

This one, right? Yes, please.

I'm happy with my dish.

I think I have ticked a Thai basil element,

but I'm up against Mindy and Daniel's curry.

I hope the judges preferred mine.

Hi. ANDY: Hello.

MEL: Hi!

Eggplant and Thai basil curry with Thai basil oil

and some rice to go with that.

Hi!

Eggplant and Thai basil curry with Thai basil oil and some rice

to go with that.

Beauty.

Enjoy. Thank you.

Thank you.

I feel a little bit conflicted about this one

because there are some really, really good flavours going on

in that curry sauce.

But it doesn't feel complete to me.

You know, having these battered and then fried eggplants

sitting on top of the curry, I don't know.

It just sort of feels like two separate dishes.

Yeah, as much as the sauce is beautiful,

I think the Thai basil has got him,

because that Thai basil salt that is...that is on there makes...

I don't know if it was just mine. Oh, there's some on mine. Yeah.

But...and I think it's an addition

to try and boost up the Thai basil flavour in that curry sauce,

but it makes mine really salty.

Yeah.

The sauce. Knockout. Beautiful. Delicious. Well-balanced.

Alvin's great at balancing a sauce.

He's great at bringing a punch of flavour.

It definitely sings of Thai basil.

I just think as a dish, as a main course?

Yeah. It's a tough one.

MINDY: How many portions you got?

Four. That one's ready to be cut up.

OK, alright. Just double-check the...

Just double-check the temp and she'll be sweet.

Got a bit of a production line going so that it's just off, rest, serve,

off, rest, serve,

so that it's the freshest, well-rested piece of fish

that we can get.

It's just looking perfect. I'm stoked.

Lovely one for you.

Oh, beautiful, brother. Nice.

Mindy's curry sauce. It's sick.

But for me, it's not nailing one piece of fish

that you would normally do on a challenge.

This is 20 plates and a lot of fish to cook perfectly.

And I just hope that, like, I've done that.

Your main has arrived. Ohh!

Your Thai basil fish curry.

Thank you so much, Mindy. Thanks, Mindy.

JOCK: Thanks, Mindy.

Would you look at that?

Crispy. I got crispy. Did everyone else get crispy? Yeah, crispy.

Fish, nicely cooked.

Very nicely cooked.

I'm relieved.

I really enjoyed that. Me too.

Mm. Really enjoyed that.

The curry sauce has a slight perfume of Thai basil,

but then when you get it with the Thai basil oil

and the fresh Thai basil,

it just gives you dimension after dimension after dimension

of Thai basil.

So, well played there. Mm.

My fish.

Lucky enough, for once in my life...

No bones.

No bones. Yeah!

Perfect skin. Wow.

Perfect cuisson. Nailed it.

Thank you very much.

The right amount of char. Yeah.

Versus the right cook time on the flesh.

This is a resounding success.

The fish, cooked so beautifully. The lick of smoke.

Perfect cuisson. Lovely, bubbly, crunchy sort of skin on top.

That is a crowning glory to a very successful curry.

I, too, loved it. This really was all about the Thai basil.

Mindy knows what she's doing with these flavours.

She knows how to balance it.

Almost perfect, for me. Almost perfect.

You know what that means? Mm.

One all. It's all on for desserts.

Whoo!

(MINDY LAUGHS)

Oh, I'm gassed, man. Hey! Great work.

Not easy to do. And you did it. Whoo!

Great.

We'll go do dessert. OK.

Keyma, what do you need me to do?

We have tarragon everywhere.

There's tarragon in the crumb.

There's tarragon in the ice-cream, in the tarragon syrup as well.

Tarragon everywhere.

JULIE: Pineapple looks beautiful. I like it.

I'm just thinking. Let me try one and see.

I'm making a taster to see how is the tarragon

throughout the whole dish.

I'm tasting tarragon.

I'm just not sure if the dish is completely balanced.

It needs acidity.

I feel that it's a bit sweet with the caramelised pineapple.

OK, Jules, I need you to try my dish.

Absolutely.

Of course it makes me nervous

to know that Billie is on the other side of the room cooking dessert.

You right, Billie? Yeah, I'm good.

But then I need to just focus on what I'm good at,

which is to be able to understand flavour.

I'm thinking if we add some fresh pineapple as well.

Yeah, I actually don't disagree with that.

Pineapples - they're sweet,

but if we make like a kind of a salsa salad,

it will tie the whole dish together with that little bit of acidity.

Just see how you want to plate it,

because this might be one where we need a few hands on deck.

Yeah.

ALDO: Billie, stunning.

BILLIE: I only want a little bit of this on there

because it's more about the ice-cream, right?

That's beautiful. Let's just use these little ones.

Great, let's do it. Go.

I hope that's busy enough.

I love that.

Ooh. Oh, my God.

Do you like it? It tastes like a spider.

Yeah.

I am happy with the flavours.

It's refreshing and kind of childlike.

But I'm a bit nervous that it's kind of wacky.

It literally tastes like a spider. Yeah, it is like a spider, right?

Coriander's quite savory, so it's definitely a risk.

Just gotta plate 'em up now. Get 'em out.

Guys, all hands on deck for this.

Let's do it together.

So to plate up, we put the parfait in the bowl, put some praline

on top of that, the sorbet on top of the praline and meringue shards

around the outside.

And then we pour the fizzy coriander juice into a jug

and we'll serve that at the table.

Alright, cool. Those ones are ready. OK, let's go.

I've got coriander in all the elements,

so I just hope that it's balanced.

Mel. MEL: Hey!

ANDY: We're pouring it. Yeah.

ALDO: One, two, three.

Missed an episode of MasterChef?

enjoy another serving, or savour past seasons,

at:

Here she is.

Mel. Hey!

We're pouring it. Yeah.

One, two, three.

So it's a coriander spider.

So there's a coriander seed and vanilla parfait on the bottom,

there's a coriander praline,

an apple coriander sorbet,

coriander meringue,

and finished with a gin, coriander and apple fizz.

All good. Thanks, Billie.

Thanks!

She said "coriander" ten times then!

I think she's hit the brief!

I love this meringue.

It almost tastes like sherbet.

It does.

So...

Hm!

It's very interesting,

but it does make you think, it does make you work.

I enjoy dishes like that.

I love the floral elements, and the sorbet,

and the fizzy coriander juice,

but the bitterness of the coriander seed is a little too much.

It's an interesting one... Mm.

..I just don't know if she nailed it.

Hm.

It's a balance, right?

I think each individual component was nice.

You've got the coriander meringue, in isolation,

is nice.

The sorbet, again, on its own, delicious.

It's fragrant, as well as being sort of acidic and fresh and light.

You've got the praline on the top,

it adds sweetness,

which I think this probably needed a little bit more sugar in it...

Yeah, I agree. ..in the dessert.

As a whole dish,

it needed more sweetness,

if all of those components were going to work together.

Mm.

Currently everything!

I'm so proud of myself.

All of the concept is there,

and it was just all me.

OK. Let's do this.

Alright, service.

Thank you, Richie.

But I've seen Billie's desserts go out,

and they look amazing,

so, yeah, I'm nervous that my dish is not good enough.

Good luck, Keyma! Whoo!

Whoo! Go, Keyma! Yes!

Thank you.

OK, she's going to the judges.

Good luck! Go, Mum!

You guys, hello, guys.

Hi. Hello.

The dish is tarragon ice-cream,

tarragon creme, tarragon and lime syrup,

caramelised pineapple and fresh pineapple salsa.

Nailed it. Thank you, Keyma.

Yay!

Enjoy, guys! Thank you.

That was a solid high five. Did anyone else get a solid high five?

It was solid. Yeah, she leant into that one.

OK.

Very interesting dessert.

The little pineapple salsa - beautiful.

The tarragon crumb is biscuity, is crumby,

does its job, which is a break-up from the thick richness

of the ice-cream.

I love the grilled pineapple, and she's really, really, really

pan-fried that, and got us a roasty, toasty, charred,

and it was that bitterness that played off the sweetness

and the acidity from the pineapple, the richness from the ice-cream.

There's a great balance between all the flavours.

Delicious.

I think the thing about herbs is that they blend

so much to a dish,

and they are as multidimensional as any other, you know,

fruit, vegetable, meat, whatever you're cooking with.

What she said she loved about tarragon is that,

almost anise kind of quality to it,

and you can see that in this dish,

because that's the dimension that she's teased out of the herb,

and so this is a really delicious, tropical vibe of a dish.

For me, I just gotta, I gotta hand it to her, like,

she has nailed the tarragon element

and made it sing throughout all the other elements so well.

You know, we're seeing people start to show their true colours.

It's skills like that that win MasterChef.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Just before we disappear,

I wanted to say a big thank you for coming to dinner this evening,

and please give your top eight another huge round of applause!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

You know, obviously we see her cook at home all the time,

but seeing her cook in a team environment

just shows how skilful, like, she really is and stuff. Yeah.

And seeing her lead the team, as well, like, taste things,

check out what other people are doing and having people come to her,

and she's just thriving here.

She nailed it.

Oh, it was crazy! Them looking and asking what I was doing.

Normally they just, you know, run away from the kitchen.

They're too busy, really, at home,

but then today, just looking at me was just, ah!

It was crazy.

your team had to put together a three-course menu

that featured herbs from this very garden.

Let's run through your dishes, course by course.

For the entree,

there was a clear, standout winner.

The dish was phenomenal.

The protein was beautifully cooked.

The sauce sang of the chosen herb.

That dish was cooked by...

..the aqua team.

Oh, wow! Oh, my gosh!

Well done, Sarah. Thank you.

Thank you. Oh, my God.

Wow.

Phenomenal. Really.

Well done. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, the main.

This main,

the protein was perfectly cooked,

and the hints of Thai basil in every element made this dish

multi-dimensional.

Mindy, Daniel,

green team, you smashed it.

What a dish!

Beautiful. Well done.

Thank you.

And so, as it often does, it came down to the final course,

the dessert.

Keyma versus Billie.

Two very interesting desserts.

Both of them really made us think.

Billie,

every element on your dish was incredibly well executed.

But when they found themselves on the same plate...

..they didn't quite work together,

and all of us agreed the dish would have benefited

with a lot more sweetness.

OK.

Keyma,

the tarragon, it was loud, proud, and expertly used in all your elements.

It was a delicious dish.

Well done. Thank you.

Which is why the team going into tomorrow's immunity cook

is the aqua team.

Whoo! Well done!

(APPLAUSE)

Amazing!

Oh! You should be proud of yourself!

Aqua team, green team,

hopefully seeing your loved ones has given you that extra boost

of confidence that will spur all of you onto the finish line.

Keyma, Julie, Alvin, Sarah,

tomorrow is going to be another big day for the four of you.

Well done today.

See you all tomorrow.

Thank you! See you, guys. Well done.

(APPLAUSE)

NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia,

it's well and truly the pointy end of the competition.

They've made this challenge almost impossible.

But how will they save themselves...

It looks menacing.

..from a very prickly situation?

(SOMETHING DROPS TO THE FLOOR) Oh, my God!

Oh, my good God!

Captions by Red Bee Media