Original subtitles

an elimination that celebrated spirits...

JULIE: It's just a bit of a juggling act.

..was a challenging cook... (SIGHS)

..for everyone.

Oh, no! That's hot oil!

I've just overcooked my fish massively.

Oh, crap!

I run to the pantry and I have to use the squid.

The top five were distilled down to four...

JOCK: The whole dish tastes like a gin and tonic, doesn't it?

Well played, Daniel.

..when Julie was the one to go home.

JULIE: I will always be thankful that I said yes to this.

Give it up for Julie Goodwin, everybody!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Tonight...

BILLIE: I wanna do everything I can to win today.

..they're fighting for the most powerful prize 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. #

DANIEL: Oh, we're back!

BILLIE: Oh. Back in the garden.

It's looking fresh, anyway.

SARAH: We're back in the MasterChef kitchen today

after such an incredible trip to Tasmania.

Good morning.

Morning. Morning.

God, there's only four of us.

Yesterday, Julie went home and...

..that reminds me of just how real this competition is now.

Ooh. What?

Wow. (JUDGES CLAP)

This is fancy.

Ooh, they're so pretty.

It is pretty, isn't it? My gosh.

Kind of reminds me of breakfast.

Welcome home, you four.

Thanks. Thank you.

I'm sure you're all a bit surprised

'cause the MasterChef kitchen looks a little bit different than usual.

Yeah. Very different.

But the surprises don't stop there, my friends.

(ALL EXCLAIM) No, no, no, no.

(LAUGHS)

Hopefully, your time away fired you up enough to tackle today's challenge

because it's gonna be a big one with an even bigger reward.

(EXHALES) (CHUCKLES)

The winner of today's challenge

will see themselves straight through to the semifinal.

Whoa. (EXHALES)

That's big.

(EXHALES)

SARAH: Being the first contestant in the top three of the semifinal

would be such a huge advantage at this point in the competition.

We've been cooking for a long time now, and to get that spot,

I mean, it would be incredible.

That means that you'll have a one-in-three shot

of being crowned the winner of MasterChef 2022.

Sound good? Mm. Sounds great, amazing. Course it bloody does.

Billie, you're pretty close to taking the title out a second time.

I honestly didn't think I'd get this far...

Oh, come on. No, I didn't.

All the way through I thought, "There's no way in hell

"that a winner could win it again."

I just thought no way. But coming...

Like, getting this far, it feels like...a little more close.

Daniel. Yes, Jock.

Yesterday, mate, you had one foot in the distillery

and the other foot out.

How's it feel to be standing here today?

That was the hardest cook I've gone through, I think, for sure.

I just...

I think the biggest thing I felt was how much it means to me.

Alright, guys. Huge stakes, they call for a huge challenge.

SARAH: Oh, scared. Takes place over two rounds

and it's exactly what this competition is all about.

We call it 'home cook to pro cook'.

Round one will happen right here

in these four small home cook kitchens.

This round defines where you all started all those years ago,

or just earlier this year...

..in your own homes as fans and just food lovers in general.

These kitchens, they're stocked with common household appliances,

utensils and ingredients.

The kind of equipment that you find in homes across the country.

There's no hibachis, no water baths, no liquid nitrogen,

none of that fancy stuff.

Just the basics.

Your job is to cook us a banging dish

using everyday equipment and everyday ingredients.

The best two dishes here, they'll progress to round two

where home cooks turn pro.

Picture your dream kitchen.

It is just behind that curtain.

Oh, wow.

Nail it here and you'll get to cook there.

In this round, you will have 60 minutes.

What you have in your individual kitchen is all you have.

The pantry and garden are closed.

We might want humble, but we don't want half-baked.

We want delicious homecooked food from a small kitchen.

OK.

Only the cooks of the best two dishes

will be battling it out for a spot in the semifinal.

Good luck. Your time starts now.

Ooh! (BOTH LAUGH)

(LAUGHS)

DANIEL: Argh! Everything's gone missing!

SARAH: Something for rind.

We don't have that in a home kitchen? (LAUGHS)

(MUTTERS)

Um...

So I'm gonna need some of these blokes.

I even love the tea towels.

Wonder if this will work better.

Ooh, it does!

God, it hurts!

(LAUGHS) What is happening here?

It's the... That's a crap whisk!

These are great.

They went away, like, about 15 years ago! I've still got some of these.

Oh, come on! (CHUCKLES)

Even got different bins today.

I'm excited about this challenge.

It does kind of just feel like we're in our home kitchen.

Which is kind of strange for the MasterChef kitchen.

Looking in the kitchen, there's quite a few spices in the pantry.

We've got some different canned ingredients too

and a few proteins in the fridge.

We've got some chicken breast, some mince,

and I'm kind of thinking to do a boudin blanc,

so it's basically a... Kind of chicken sausage

but it's something you can achieve with everyday appliances.

Yeah, it's kind of Indian/French twist today.

So, yeah, just playing on those flavours.

I think the judges are going to be expecting a lot.

It's the last immunity cook of the season.

They're gonna want to see something a little bit special.

I so badly wanna be in the semifinal. I'm so close.

It, uh, needs to happen now.

God, look how much I've changed. I'm, like, brunoising stuff.

Home cook to pro cook.

It sounds like a cool TV show or something, doesn't it?

Or like a book. (LAUGHS)

I think this is a really cool challenge, hey?

I think... I love the concept of it, you know?

Like, we're right there at the end of the competition

and, um, it's like a little throwback, I suppose.

I'm excited at the idea of trying to make a sick dish

that reminds me of home that is good enough for MasterChef.

Uh, I'm gonna do a cottage pie.

Yeah, we've got some nice beef mince there,

we've got our classic, like, vegetables -

onion, garlic, carrot and celery.

So, it's who I am

and that's just where I'm gravitated towards, I suppose, so...

I love it.

I've got to get this on the rip straightaway

and get my mince in there, cook it down as soon as possible.

So, soon as that's done, throw my stock and every other little bit

that I need in there and just cook the mince a lot longer.

It might sound simple, but to pull this off in 60 minutes

is quite a tough challenge.

If I'm making a cottage pie in top four of MasterChef,

I've got to try and make it a ripper.

I've gotta try and figure out a way to make it interesting

for me to have a chance to cook in that kitchen.

Otherwise, yeah, I pretty much kiss my chance goodbye

to go straight in the semifinal.

(GROANS)

Nearly there.

OK.

Lot of whisking. I'm doing apple crumble and ice-cream.

I'm sort of taking inspiration from the average home kitchen

and what my kitchen, you know, usually has in the pantry at home.

But yeah, I guess showing that you can do MasterChef-style desserts

in this kitchen.

So, to elevate this apple crumble,

I'm just gonna put a bit more effort into each element.

So the stewed apples,

I'm gonna flavour those with oranges,

with a bit of balsamic vinegar,

just lift the flavour up another level.

Same thing with the crumble.

I want extra texture, extra flavour in there.

And then, for the ice-cream, I can't make an ice-cream today

because we don't have an ice-cream machine

but I'm thinking, if I make a parfait instead of the ice-cream,

it will be a little bit fancier.

So I've put my, um, orange, brown sugar parfait mixture

into the freezer.

Just gonna do another one in case.

Haven't got the blast chillers today, so...

..hopefully, they work.

SARAH: Do we have scissors in a home kitchen?

Maybe not. (CHUCKLES)

What are you cooking, Sarah?

I'm making a boudin blanc.

What's that? (CHUCKLES)

Sausages. Oh, right. Yep.

(CHUCKLES)

So, the filling for my boudin blanc is done.

Now it's time to start rolling them.

So annoying - my fingers are slippery.

Boudin blanc is a little bit difficult to make and to get right.

The rolling technique, it's just...

You can't have any air bubbles in it.

You want it to be nice and tight, beautiful long sausage.

Sarah. Jock.

How do you like your bougie little home kitchen?

I love it. We are pretty spoiled in the MasterChef kitchen

and have everything that we need

but it's nice to just get a bit grounded again.

What are you cooking in round one?

So, I wanna do just a take on homestyle sausages.

I'm gonna poach these and then finish it off in the pan...

So it's like a boudin blanc. Yeah. Exactly. That's what it is.

Alright! (LAUGHS)

So bougie sausage. What will the dish be then?

You've just got one of those, two of those?

I actually just wanna have one in the centre. Right.

Just, you know, keep it simple plating, classic.

Yep. Sauce on the bottom.

Just sausage and sauce? Nothing else?

Yeah. That's what I'm working on. (WHISTLES)

What else do you think? (CHUCKLES)

Normally, there's like a bit of mash or there's something going on.

I've never had a boudin blanc sitting on its own.

Yeah. 'Cause it's kind of like...

Yeah, bangers and mash, isn't it?

Something to think about. You wanna be...

You want a guernsey in round two? I know.

You wanna go behind the curtain, don't you?

Yeah, I do. So badly. C'mon then. Up the game.

Sausages and sauce might not be enough to get me into second round.

OK. What else? (SIGHS)

Gonna have to find a way to really elevate this dish.

Normally, there's like a bit of mash or...

..there's something going on.

Like, I've never had a boudin blanc sitting on its own.

Sausages and sauce might not be enough to get me into second round.

(SIGHS)

Gonna have to find a way to really elevate this dish.

OK. What else?

Looking at the pantry, I see lots of beautiful beans,

there's some bacon in the fridge, onions, lots of spices in there.

I think I can use these to create a nice cassoulet.

OK.

A cassoulet is a beautiful bean-based dish, and spices, onions,

lots of beautiful flavours.

So I'm thinking sausages and sauce might not get me into round two,

but boudin blanc and a cassoulet might just do the trick.

Smelling good.

KEYMA: Stock...

I'm cooking... (CHUCKLES)

..a take on a Caribbean spiced curry with chicken.

It's a home cook so it doesn't matter if it's rustic.

I feel like being just...

..stepping away from my home cuisine quite a bit

but that's what I cook for my family.

Uh, being in a bench that reminds me of my home kitchen,

that what immediately I thought of.

This dish, I make it all the time for my kids, is my son's favourite.

And I'm just feeling really nostalgic today

and I feel this is the dish for me today.

So, at the moment, I'm just cooking my curry base,

um, until it is kind of caramelises a little bit.

And then I'm gonna just deglaze with some tomatoes and coconut milk

and let it cook so it develops flavour.

So, the challenge today,

I don't have all the spices I normally have in my house.

Basil...

I'm just working with the ingredients I got given,

which is basic pantry.

So, yeah, I need to be really careful

to taste all throughout the cook so I'm sure I'm balancing the dish.

I feel...I feel really comfortable, actually.

I'm just trying to not get in my head with the MasterChef thing

because I've been kind of making a huge effort

to MasterChef everything.

And...I do really want to

probably show a little bit of that home-cooking style

I haven't shown so far.

So, this dish is honouring my family

and without them, I wouldn't be here in the competition,

without their support, without their loving words all the time

of encouragement.

So I'm just doing this for them.

Round two, half of you will get to cook behind that curtain.

And you've only got half an hour to go.

JOCK: Let's go!

Alrighty.

So I've got my mince bubbling away, doing its thing

and I've got my potatoes cooking.

Aagh!

Now I've gotta try and figure out a way to make it interesting

in the short amount of time that I have.

That could work.

I see some bacon in the fridge and I'm like,

"Well, bewdy, I can use that anyway."

Ooh, yeah, that'll be nice.

I saw the Vegemite sitting there on the bench.

Vegemite, it's a little secret flavour bomb, in my opinion.

Why don't I make it very Vegemite-forward?

'Cause that'll work well with the potato, that'll well in the gravy.

I can add cheese to it too, then I've got a Vegemite-cheese cottage pie.

I can't help it, but I'm excited.

That sounds sick to me.

(CHUCKLES) Um...this guy.

BILLIE: So, my parfait is setting in the fridge

and the stewed apples are finished.

They taste really good, it has that edge of balsamic vinegar

and a bit of orange juice as well.

The next thing I need to move onto is the crumble.

This is the best part of making the apple crumble -

that, I reckon, is, like, one of the tastiest things ever.

It's sugar, flour, butter. Doesn't get much better than that.

So, to elevate this crumble,

I'm caramelising some Rice Bubbles

to give the crumble a caramel flavour

but also, that really crunchy, crispy texture of Rice Bubbles,

and adding in quite a lot of cinnamon, ground ginger

and ground nutmeg.

I did the Kirsten Tibballs pressure test, and she used Rice Bubbles,

which I thought was pretty cool.

So, they do have such a good crunchy texture

and that kind of fun Rice Bubble action in a crumble.

KEYMA: This cook today is actually making me really happy.

I haven't cooked like this for a while.

I'm just kind of reconnecting to home, I guess.

At home, I have music on, all the time. (CHUCKLES)

And I'm normally like, "Whoo! Whoo!"

But there's no music in the MasterChef kitchen.

I've been suggesting that for a while but nothing happens.

(LAUGHS)

So I've finished my curry paste.

Now I'm just caramelising my chicken really heavily in the pan

before I put it into my curry mixture.

ANDY: Keyma, chicken curry? Chicken curry.

Yeah? Yep.

Homestyle chicken curry? Kind of.

Oh, kind of? I'm just going a step further

and then just caramelising the chicken thighs...

OK. ..you know, separately.

But then I'm just going to cook... finish them in the curry base.

Right.

And, yeah, I have just a steamed rice and probably a cucumber salad.

OK. So everything is about boosting flavour here.

Yep. Got a bunch of spices there.

Y-y-yes. They the same as you'd use at home?

No. It's less than what I normally use.

Rice? Rice.

Have it here. OK.

Chicken curry, rice,

it's literally got to be the best chicken curry and rice

'cause you wanna get behind that curtain and cook in round two.

I really want it.

OK, make it the best chicken curry.

If you wanna get into round two,

you need to do it in the next 15 minutes. Let's go.

SARAH: Butter makes everything better. (LAUGHS)

I feel like I'm in a pretty good place.

My cassoulet's on the go, loaded it with my spices -

cumin, paprika, ginger, and the beautiful bacon from the fridge.

This is just gonna bubble away, let all those flavours infuse nicely

and thicken up.

They're...alright.

It's not as tight as I would have hoped.

With my first boudin blanc, there's air bubbles that are in there.

I'm just not getting the right firmness that I'm looking for.

So I'm gonna have to poach another one.

Come on, little guy.

Work for me.

Just wanna serve one.

But...

..I want it to be perfect.

How long are you poaching for?

I'm just gonna bring it up to the boil and then turn it off.

Right. And then finish it in the pan.

OK. It's a tough one, isn't it, the boudin blanc?

Like, it's... It is.

To get it so, so perfectly right and not squeaky is a mission. I know.

Your cassoulet mix, spice mix,

I think you could do that with your eyes closed... Yeah.

It's all gonna come down to how those sausages are cooked.

I know. I know. It's not an easy one.

Biggest worry is definitely the boudin blanc.

I need to make sure I get it perfect.

Um, OK. So...

I've decided to pipe on my mashed potato onto my cottage pie.

'Cause I wanna try and make it as Gucci as I possibly can, you know?

I wanna try and make it as flash as possible with what I've got.

My piping bag.

So I don't have a piping bag in the kitchen today

but I've got a pea bag. That'll work fine as a piping bag.

(IMITATES GLADIATOR) Is this not entertaining!

JOCK: You said it was gonna look bougie.

It's working. MEL: Looks great!

Oh, it's coming out the... (JUDGES LAUGH)

It's sick!

Whew!

Hey, it worked. Funny that.

I'm actually really happy with the way it worked.

It's the best I could have done with what I had today.

He's gonna end up getting a spoon in there and flattening it all off.

You watch. Yep, I guarantee it.

Oh, Jock, give me a rest! (CHUCKLES)

So then I throw it under the grill and give it as long as I can give it

so that it sort of cooks on top.

I want it as crispy as possible, but I'm a bit worried

because I don't have much time left.

Hustle, guys! You've only got five minutes!

Hustle, hustle! Come on!

BILLIE: So, I've only got a few minutes to go

and I'm a little bit scared to check this parfait

because I haven't got a blast chiller today -

I've only got your standard freezer.

Oh. So close! (CHUCKLES)

Close.

Still unset in the middle.

Oh, God.

This parfait is a very important part of this dish, so it needs to be set.

So yeah, I'll just have to leave it in there

right until the very last minute.

ANDY AND MEL: Billie... Parfait set?

Oh, you... You haven't taken it out yet?

No.

Oh...

I think I'm cutting it pretty fine.

You wanna make it to the pros, you've got to give us a top-two dish,

and you got three minutes to go.

JOCK: Let's go.

Only a few minutes left, and my pickled cucumber salad's done.

So I taste the curry.

I'm really happy with the flavours. I think it tastes delicious.

Let's see, is this cooked?

But then I realised...

Ah, shoot.

I've been so focused on balancing my curry,

I forgot about my rice completely.

(SIGHS)

I can't believe it.

It's completely overcooked.

I'm not happy with the rice.

I can't serve overcooked rice to the judges.

(SIGHS HEAVILY)

I'm not happy with it.

So I'm going to have to leave it out of the dish.

Oh!

DANIEL: Get my pie out of the oven,

and it's just got that caramelisation on it.

It could have gone for a little bit more.

It's at least melted the cheese

and it's given that sort of firmness to the potato that I was after.

So now I've just got to splot on a few of my little bit of bacon bits,

and I'm just going to top it with some of the curly pasta that we got.

It tastes yummy. Yeah, I'm liking it.

I get some spices.

It's not, like, crazily spicy,

although I have got a high spice tolerance.

In this cook, I've tried to incorporate those French techniques

with the boudin blanc

while using some of those beautiful Indian flavours.

And I'm just crossing everything, hoping the judges like it.

BILLIE: I'm very quickly running out of time.

I need to get my parfaits out of the freezer.

ANDY: Is it set?

Um...

Whoa. It's bloody close, I'll tell you what.

I'm shocked that the parfait has set almost all the way through.

It's just the centre piece that's a little bit wobbly still,

so I'll just go with that.

(SQUEALS)

JUDGES: Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one!

That's it!

Oh, my God!

(SIGHS)

OK, in round one, it was back to the good old days of

cooking in your home kitchen

with limited equipment and limited ingredients.

First dish we'd like to taste...

..belongs to Sarah.

(APPLAUSE)

BILLIE: Good luck, Sarah. Thanks.

It looks beautiful.

Sarah, what have you cooked us?

I have made a spiced boudin blanc with a cassoulet.

Whether you want to call it a boudin blanc with a cassoulet

or a sausage and beans...

..it's bloody delicious.

(LAUGHS) Very, very tasty.

The cassoulet particularly - a lot of flavour in there.

And it's that trademark Sarah set of spices

that are just lingering in the background there.

Do you know what I mean? You're able to sort of just touch that cassoulet

with your touch, and it's beautiful.

Thank you.

I'm glad you're having fun today, because you can tell on the plate.

Once again, you can balance spice in the most sophisticated of curries

or the most, you know, kind of home style of cassoulets.

Nice work.

This is the food that we wanted to see today.

Home-style food, rustic food.

But then when you put the cassoulet there and you put the technique

of the boudin on top of it,

then it's like, now you're looking at top two.

You should be stoked. Thank you so much. Thank you.

See what happens when you're having fun?

Yeah. Thank you.

KEYMA: Well done, Sarah.

Thank you. Good on you.

Oh, it's amazing.

Next up to the tasting table, it's Daniel.

(APPLAUSE)

KEYMA: Go, Daniel. Crush it.

Daniel...what have you cooked?

I made a Vegemite and cheese cottage pie.

Thank you.

Daniel, I loved where it went.

You know, I love where your mind was going

with the savoury application of Vegemite.

I think it's a great idea, and it's a sure-fire way to get max flavour.

And I think it worked, to an extent.

There are some great flavours going on there.

I love the gloss on the gravy and I love the way your brain works

to understand that umami, the salt is there in the Vegemite,

so why not use that instead of, you know,

developing flavours in other ways?

It just wasn't quite enough time to do it justice.

You know what is really great, is that flavour that's inside it.

There's that really beautiful residual heat there.

You know, it's very fulfilling.

Mate, you had a good crack at it.

Will it get you behind that curtain today? Maybe not.

Yeah. Alright, thanks, guys. Thank you, Daniel.

Next up to the tasting table - Keyma.

KEYMA: The curry tastes delicious.

I like all the elements and how all of them play together.

Here you are, guys.

But I'm not 100% whether the whole thing is going to work out

because my rice didn't work.

Keyma, what did you cook?

I have a chicken spiced curry with a cucumber salad.

Keyma...

..it was good.

I think you did really well.

Beautiful cook on the chicken.

Pickles are nice, refreshing.

To be honest, it doesn't feel like a complete dish

without the rice.

Yeah.

But, yeah, look, good.

But is good enough to get you on the other side of that curtain?

I don't know.

The curry itself had some nice nuanced flavour to it.

I think you did quite well in 60 minutes to be able to generate

lots of layers of flavour,

given that you didn't have the entire spice cupboard

that you would normally use at your disposal.

The chicken was beautifully tender.

I think the body of the sauce was really good as well.

So, well done. Thanks, Keyma.

Thank you, guys.

DANIEL: Good on ya, Keyma. BILLIE: Well done, Keyma.

OK, Billie, you're up.

Pretty nervous taking my dish up to the judges.

Will I do this now? Yes, please.

I'm really, really hoping that the parfait, its texture is perfect.

Uh, so, I did apple crumble and a parfait.

It's just so homely. It's so well done.

And it's like proper, old-fashioned perfection.

(CHUCKLES)

The texture of the parfait is gorgeous - it's silky, it's rich.

Beautiful orange blossom flavour coming through,

which just lifted up the stewed apple and your caramel sauce.

An elevated, sophisticated take

on something we all have such a warm place in our hearts for.

The stewed apples are the heart and the soul of a dish like this,

and I think that that was really genius,

that you kept that component

as old-school as it possibly could have been

and then played with everything else around it.

Billie, this is what you're very bloody good at.

You take memories and then you just transform them into masterpieces.

And that's why we're all so happy here.

There is that level of nostalgia.

We've had so many good versions, so many bad versions

and everything in between.

This is right up there. Great! Thank you.

Well done. Well done, Billie.

Ohh!

Alright, so, round one,

we gave you a basic kitchen.

In return, you gave us some brilliant food.

I think that you know that we know that you know

that there are two clear winners here.

It's you, Billie and Sarah.

Congratulations - you're into round two.

SARAH: Well done, you.

Alright, Keyma, Daniel, head up to the gantry.

Righto. Good luck. Thanks.

You've got Vegemite on your face.

Yeah, I was saving it for later.

(CHUCKLES)

Billie, Sarah...

..to earn your fast-track ticket into the semifinal...

..it all comes down to what you cook in the kitchen

behind that black curtain.

You wanna see it? BOTH: Yes.

OK. Drop the curtain.

Let's see the kitchen.

(BILLIE LAUGHS)

Ooh! Oh, cool.

Ohhh! (WHISTLES)

Very fancy. It's like a fancier version of the service...

Very fancy!

Wow.

It has all the bells and whistles that you could ever wish for -

combi oven, vacuum sealers, even blast chillers.

Billie, they're back. Ooh! Yay!

She doesn't need that. Yeah, true.

We want you guys to use what's in here...

Uh-huh. ..to bring us something topnotch.

In this round, the pantry and garden are open.

Yay! That's nice. That's good.

And you'll have a full 90 minutes

to cook us a perfectly polished plate of food.

(WHISTLES)

Cool.

The best dish here sends its maker straight into the semifinal.

So give it all you've got.

Your time starts now.

DANIEL AND KEYMA: Good luck!

OK.

Wow. There's a lot of equipment!

Looking at this kitchen,

we've got all the coolest equipment

that any pro chef would absolutely love.

It's a lot for 90 minutes.

I know.

This kitchen is pretty fancy.

Stovetop...

There's a lot of equipment in here.

There's a packer jet, there's a steam oven, there's a spray booth,

we can use liquid nitrogen.

This equipment - first thing I think of is dessert.

(BOTH LAUGH)

OK.

Oh, too much to think about!

There's to many things. My brain!

Oh, my gosh.

Come on. We've got this, Billie. (LAUGHS)

Yeah! Billie, yeah! Let's go, now, Billie! Come on!

I don't know where to set up. It's too big.

Come on, Sarah!

Go, girls!

(CHUCKLES)

God, it's... There's just too much room!

So, I'm doing a dessert.

It's a bit of a nod to cakes that my nan makes, and has made forever.

She does these little jelly cakes called peaches.

They're little round butter cakes with a cream filling,

and they're covered in a raspberry jelly with coconut on the outside.

These little peaches are really close to me.

They remind me of home.

They remind me of Nan.

And I just want to sort of do that memory justice.

This is the nan that was here for the family day.

Hi!

(LAUGHS TEARFULLY)

Because this is quite an involved dessert,

there's a lot of steps that I need to make sure I get done

before I actually assemble this dessert.

You don't usually get 90 minutes in the usual challenges.

So I'm utilising the time and equipment

to do a dessert that I wouldn't usually be able to do.

Winning in this cook is so important today,

and I really, really want it.

It's a ticket straight to top three and semifinals.

I want to do everything I can to win today.

Nice, Billie.

Aagh!

It's actually such a big kitchen to run around in.

I know! I miss the little bench.

Oh, sieve.

Oh, my Lord. So much!

So much stuff, Sarah! I know.

Looking at this kitchen,

my mind instantly goes to French and fine dining,

something really refined.

I am actually thinking of a scallop dish,

so I'm going to play around with the flavours

of apple, cucumber, scallops, lots of herbs.

It's a good opportunity to experiment

with a couple of sauces.

So, I want to make a compound butter and green herb sauce,

just play around with those flavours.

I want it to be really finessed this time.

So, less sausages and beans... (LAUGHS)

..a little bit more fine dining.

Aagh!

So, my cherry centres are in the blast chiller,

and the next thing I need to do is make the saffron mousse.

Hey, Billie. Oh. Hi.

You loving life? Uh, yep. (LAUGHS)

Looks like the kitchen's TOO big for you. It's a big kitchen!

I know. I think I actually prefer the little benches.

Oh, we... Do you want to go back up?

No. No, I don't. OK.

I'm liking all of the, um, equipment. What's happening?

What are you making?

It's a re-creation, sort of thing, of a cake that my nan makes...

Cool.

..taking sort of inspiration from that and making a dessert.

The cake part of it will be a saffron mousse.

Inside is a cherry jelly. OK.

It'll be coated in, like, a white chocolate coating,

which I'll colour pink.

That'll be served with a coconut sorbet.

There's a lot of flavours. There's a lot of work.

Candy... She's gunning for the semi spot!

I like it. Yeah, so...

Even though it's inspired from something simple...

Yeah. ..it sounds very complex,

like a very restauranty kind of dessert.

Well...yeah.

Top four.

Get it, Billie! I'm here for it.

Digging it. OK. Cool.

Yeah, good on ya, Billie.

I love cooking food that stems from a memory.

I want the judges to experience, hopefully,

a really tasty plate of food.

But also, I hope they can sort of understand where the dish comes from

and where I'm coming from.

We've given you everything that you could possibly need

to create the dish that's sending someone into the semifinals.

One hour to go.

Whoo! Let's go!

Come on, Billie and Sarah! (WHISTLES)

SARAH: I have compressed my apples and my cucumbers

in the cryovac machine...

..and created a vinaigrette for my cucumbers.

I want this to be a tangy, kind of acidic element

that goes into the dish.

I want to confit my scallops today in the combi oven.

Confiting is cooking something slowly in an oil.

The scallops have the most delicate flavour when they're cooked this way.

JOCK: Sarah! What's happening? How are you? Cooking away.

What's the dish? So, I'm doing confit scallops.

I've got some compressed cucumbers, some apples.

Yep. Playing around with those flavours.

I'm going to make a compound butter...

Mm-hm. ..that I'm going to finish

and make a really beautiful, vibrant green sauce.

Talk to me about that, then - the green, vibrant sauce.

Yeah. Basically, just want to make a really herby, beautiful sauce.

I'm going to use some of the prawn shells

to get some flavour into that as well.

So, what kind of sauce is it? It's um...

I'm just struggling to get to the bottom of what the sauce is.

Just like... I get it's vibrant green.

It's got some prawn shells on it. Yeah.

Yeah, like... Sort of like a beurre blanc.

Compound butter, green sauce or beurre blanc - what's it closer to?

'Cause you just said three different things.

I mean, it is...

Um, are you confident in this dish?

Yeah... I'm sensing doubt in your explanation.

SARAH: I'm just really struggling to articulate the idea.

And I think, you know, whenever I'm not clear in explaining my idea,

it usually comes through in the plate,

so it's making me a bit worried.

I really need to make a decision

on what this sauce is going to be, and fast.

ANNOUNCER: Enjoy another taste of MasterChef

MEL: Whatever you do, make it professionally polished.

45 minutes to go!

(CHEERING, SHOUTING)

SARAH: I've got my scallops confiting in the combi oven

and I have a couple of sauces on the go.

So, I want to make a compound butter and green herb sauce.

Just trying to zone in and think about

which one is going to add value to this dish and not take away.

I just am thinking scallops are quite a simple flavour,

so I want to really load up more flavour into the sauce.

I decide to emulsify them into a bit more of a beurre blanc.

I think I can really elevate it

and use some of those prawn shells

and develop beautiful prawn flavour.

It's so quiet.

It's weird.

(LAUGHS) It's very strange.

Time's really bloody flown in this challenge.

Billie will have something up her sleeve.

Yeah.

So, I've made the saffron mousse and the cherry centres,

and the next thing I need to do is get onto the crumb.

So, the crumb will just be sitting at the base of the dish.

It provides a bit of texture,

but also that nice caramelised white chocolate flavour.

So, I've made a crystalised chocolate crumb,

but I'm not happy with the texture of it.

It's usually really crispy and really crunchy,

but it's a little bit soft.

Hm.

What's happening with the crumb?

It's just a bit wet, so I'm just making another one.

OK. Which reminds me.

Which reminds me, it's, uh...

..burning?

Yeah, it's burnt. Burnt.

Start again. Start again.

I'm having a shocker in here.

The crumb is an important part of the dish.

It needs to be perfect.

Gonna try a, um, maltodextrin one.

The semifinals are so close you can taste it.

You've only got 15 minutes to go.

Come on. Let's go, ladies.

I've had my prawn shells simmering away,

roasting off with my chicken stock.

I'm trying to get as much flavour out of these shells as possible.

Now that it's gotten to a nice, syrupy consistency,

I strain off my shells and reduce this down.

MEL: Sarah. Yes.

The boys were trying to tell me what you're making.

Yes. They weren't 100% sure.

So, scallops, are confiting. You're happy with those?

Yes. Yeah. So, scallops - check.

So, the sauce - I've got my compound butter there.

I'm reducing this down a lot, just to add a lot of flavour.

So you're emulsifying these two together,

the herbed butter and your beautiful prawn jus.

Exactly. Alright.

So, I just want a little bit

of the flavour of the prawn coming through, just to...

A prawn herbed butter sauce, confited scallop, and compressed...?

Compressed cucumber... Cucumber.

..apple, so classic flavours. OK.

I think that what you're doing

is creating some really lovely components.

Yeah. I'd try it all together and kind of work it out.

As we know, there's not much time left.

Use it well. You know, be smart. Yep.

It's all about smart decisions right now.

Yeah. You're right. That's what wins you competitions.

Good luck. Yes. Thank you.

Being the first contestant in the semifinal

would be such a huge milestone.

I've been in five immunity cooks.

I've never won.

Surely today has to be my day!

Two more degrees.

BILLIE: So, my third attempt at this white chocolate crumb...

..has worked.

Oh! Such a relief.

It's tasty and it looks good.

Oh, God. DANIEL: Whoo!

Yeah, Billie! Yeah!

Come on, Billie! Come on!

I've just gotta take my spheres out of the blast

and get them pressed together so they make one whole sphere.

So, all of the elements for this peach are made.

The next thing I have to get done is the assembly.

So, I grab two of the half-dome moulds

and sort of sandwich those together with a bit more mousse.

And then dip it in my white chocolate-cocoa butter mix.

OK.

Time to hustle! Three minutes to go! Come on!

(ALL SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)

I'm almost there.

The beurre blanc looks stunning.

It's a beautiful, vibrant green.

I love the flavour. Lots of that shellfish coming through.

I check my scallops in the combi oven.

They've reached 55 degrees and they look perfect.

Now, onto my plating.

I finely julienne my apples

and place them to the bottom of the plate,

and then I start to layer around my scallop and rolled-up cucumbers.

One of those things where you think of, add more elements,

but does it need any more elements? Probably not.

Just focus on what I have done so far,

balance it out, and make it tasty.

So, my spheres are assembled.

I've made the white chocolate crumb,

and the last thing I have to do is put it all together.

Ten! ALL: Nine! Eight! Seven!

Six! Five! Four! Three!

Two! One!

That's it! (APPLAUSE)

KEYMA: Whoo! (DANIEL WHISTLES)

(WHISTLES)

Well done.

I am happy with the flavours.

I think they all work well together.

To get into top three, into that semifinal challenge,

to cook, like, right here,

would be very, very cool.

OK. Good luck, Billie.

Thank you. I'm going to need it.

Yeah. No.

Oh, yikes.

Hi, Billie. Hi.

Billie, what have you made us?

This is a saffron mousse

with a cherry sauce

and some white chocolate crumbs, so...

OK, thank you. Thank you.

ANDY: Nice one, Billie.

Shall we? Yeah, let's do it.

(SHELL CRACKS)

Hello!

I thought that was delicious.

The flavours are brilliant.

It's light, it's airy.

There's just enough saffron in there.

It's rich, really rich. Mm.

I love the snap of the cocoa butter shell on the outside.

It was a great texture and a great flavour

that really worked well with the mousse and the cherry.

And then the flavour of the crumb -

little bit of fresh lime zest in there,

you've got that sort of caramelised chocolate, sugary, crunchy

kind of number around the outside.

I loved the theatre of the peach.

The technique is definitely there.

The thinness of that cocoa butter shell

that, you know, you sort of crack into -

there's a little bit of Ice Magic joy going on there.

And then it sort of opens up to this velvety, very grown up,

very sophisticated, saffron-scented mousse.

The texture was just sublime.

I think we noted when we went around,

they're not easy flavours to balance.

No. And it is done so expertly.

There's a whole lot of ticks that she's got on this scorecard.

OK. Good luck, Sarah.

Thank you.

I took a huge risk today with this dish.

I'm just hoping that the judges love it.

Hello. Hi.

I have made confit scallops with a herb beurre blanc.

Happy? Yes, I'm happy.

Thanks, Sarah. Thank you.

MEL: Thank you. JOCK: Thanks. Thanks.

The scallops were cooked nicely.

I thought they're actually nice and slippery

and still on that more raw side than cooked through, and I enjoyed that.

It was a beautiful texture in the mouth.

Flavour combination here -

I think that the herbs has definitely detracted

from that bright, you know, light nature

of what she was trying to achieve here with this dish.

The herbs have kind of cooked out, and you're left with

what is quite a heavy, prawny butter sauce, beurre blanc.

For me, it just...it just takes away

from the main event, which is the scallop.

It looks quite lovely, and it's smooth, it's glossy -

she does definitely know what she's doing.

But I agree with you.

I think, because of the delicacy of the flavour of the scallop,

you have to be very careful what you pair with it

in order to really lift it up, rather than completely drown it.

The texture was really nice,

and the flavour of the herbed prawn beurre blanc

was sort of nice in and of itself.

I think, at the end of the day,

this comes down to the choices she made in plating it.

If you could have imagined loads of scallops tucked all in there,

loads of the microherbs, and then just a drizzle of that sauce,

it would have been a different dish. Yeah.

If she'd put that together in a different ratio,

that would have been a great dish.

Billie, Sarah,

one of you is about to be the first member of our top three,

AND our first semifinalist for 2022.

ANDY: Yep! (DANIEL WHISTLES)

(BILLIE LAUGHS) Crazy.

So, let's see who's done enough to take out the win today.

Sarah, the texture of your scallop, it was beautiful,

but your dish was dominated by that beurre blanc.

And there was so much of it on the plate

that it overpowered the flavour of the scallop.

Billie...

..your dish...

..was a masterclass in technical cooking.

On top of that...

..the flavours? They were brilliant.

Which is why, Billie... No way!

..you are our first semifinalist for 2022!

Congratulations. DANIEL: Good on ya, Billie!

KEYMA: Good one, Billie! Unbelievable!

Aww! Congratulations. That is not where I thought that was going.

No, you deserve it. You deserve it.

I'm not so sure about that.

Billie! How's that feel? (LAUGHS)

Yeah. I... Yeah. Surprising.

I can't believe that.

That is amazing.

First one into top three? Holy crap.

Well, you get to do it all again, Billie,

because you are into the semifinal.

Wow!

Wowser! Congratulations. Wowser!

Oh, my God.

Keyma, Daniel and Sarah,

Sunday is judgement day for you three.

One of you will be going home.

The other two will progress to the semifinal.

But don't let that weigh on you for too long.

Because tomorrow is our last MasterClass of the season,

and it's one you don't want to miss.

Get a good night's rest.

We'll see you back here tomorrow for plenty of fantastic food.

Goodnight! SARAH: Thank you.

See ya! See you tomorrow!

DANIEL: Good one, Billie. Congratulations, Billie!

Thank you.

Oh, my God!

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...

You're going to be helping me judge Jock and Andy.

Yes!

..the tables are turned in the final MasterClass of the season.

When you're re-creating a classic, it has to be better, right?

Be better.

And when it's contestants versus judges...

It's on.

BILLIE: I do want to take Jock and Andy down.

They've given us hell for the last three months.

..who will come out on top?

MEL: May the best menu win.

Captions by Red Bee Media