Original subtitles

Previously, on MasterChef Australia...

It's the team relay!

(CHEERING, SHOUTING)

..this MasterChef favourite was a true test of teamwork.

Good luck!

It is so difficult picking up after someone has cooked.

It was chaos in the kitchen.

(JUDGES CHEER) I don't know!

Come on, Mimi! Pressure from the pressure cooker!

(CHEERING)

But they made dishes worthy of a podium finish.

SOFIA: Unbelievably tasty.

POH: A very more-ish bowl of food.

JEAN CHRISTOPHE: That is something special.

And the Blue Team was the runaway success,

winning immunity from tonight's elimination.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Come on down, everybody!

Cloches!

Oi, oi, oi!

Oh, is that a durian, dude?

A durian? (CHUCKLES)

First and foremost,

it's an elimination day.

So, the end of an extraordinary week calls for an extraordinary guest.

And they just so happen to be the chef behind this selection

of beautiful ingredients.

At just 23 years old, he opened his first restaurant.

Now, his empire, it spans the globe.

He is an international chef

and an Aussie national treasure,

known for taking Vietnamese cuisine to the next level.

Yes!

Oh, everybody's getting the juices flowing.

Please put your hands together for Luke Nguyen!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Oh! (CHUCKLES)

Oh-ho! Yes!

Hey, everybody.

Coming into MasterChef, my ultimate dream was to meet Luke Nguyen.

Wow.

Paving the way for my passion for food

was my dad and Luke Nguyen, both, hand in hand.

I really can't believe that he's here right now.

Oh, thank you so much, guys.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Wow.

I'm so happy to be here, and I'm really looking forward

to spending more time with you, hearing your stories

and tasting your food.

Now, friends, these are a collection of my favourite Vietnamese

South-east Asian ingredients that are vibrant,

aromatic and fragrant.

Let's see which ones you guys get to cook with.

(EXCLAIMING, LAUGHTER)

Right, take a token out of the bag, and stand in front of the ingredient

that you get assigned.

What are you?

Five. Six.

Coconut. Oh, you got lucky!

My ingredient is coconut!

Don't know why I'm doing this.

God help whoever gets the bitter melon.

What is seven? One, two, three, four, five, six...

Oh, I got bitter melon. Oh, great.

Now, today, is a two-round cook.

In round one, you can either cook with the ingredient you can see,

or you can take a gamble...

..and use the ingredient that you can't see.

Wow! That's interesting.

Whatever you choose, if you fall into round two,

you'll be cooking with whatever you didn't pick in round one.

Bloody hell.

Oh, it's a big decision.

Let's start with Harry.

Harry, what's the plan?

The lemongrass or the cloche?

My first thoughts are, "Do I take the gamble and save

"the lemongrass that I'm more familiar with,

"in case I get into round two?"

I'm gonna go with the cloche. ANDREW: You're gonna go cloche?

(OTHERS EXCLAIM) Oh.

You ready? Yep.

Round one, you'll be cooking with...

Oh, OK. ..lotus root.

Well, Sumeet, what are you thinking?

You got pomelo.

Let's do the cloche.

You're gambling as well! I love it! Do it!

Round one, you'll be cooking with...

..star-anise.

Ah!

Two from two. The gambles have paid off.

Sue, you're up. Anchovy paste?

I'm going to stick with my ingredient.

Juan?

I got the salted soy beans,

but I have no idea how they taste.

I'm hoping that the ingredient under the cloche is better.

Cloche. He's gambling!

(WHOOPING)

Lime!

(LAUGHTER)

Juan, you got limes. Yes!

Lachy, fish sauce. Staying with it.

Nat, coconut.

Not being risky today. OK. Locked in.

Steve-o!

Are we gambling?

Going to go for...

..the cloche.

In round one...

..peanut!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Thank God!

Sav?

I'm going the cloche. You're going the cloche?!

Are you excited by...

..chilli? (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Yes! Yes! Yes!

David, are we cloche-ing?

I think today I will.

Ah, it brings out the best in everyone!

Tamarind!

OK.

I'm looking around and it seems like everyone

loves their ingredients.

And I got a durian.

Darrsh, you know your way around a durian?

I've never even smelt a durian. (LAUGHTER)

Oh! No way!

Are you going to cook with durian, or are you going

to be a gambling man?

I'm picking the durian.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Righto, Mimi, how are you feeling about mustard greens?

I feel like it's Gamble Day. Yeah?

Yeah, go big. Round one, you'll be cooking with...

..black cardamom.

Ooh!

Gill, you've got rice wine, here.

Rice wine is the ingredient that I got, and it's always

in my pantry, so I know that I can cook with this.

I'm pretty confident with rice wine vinegar.

So, Gill, you are staying with rice wine.

Staying with rice wine. Not gambling.

No. I can't believe that.

I thought we might have got a couple,

but seven out of 12 of you took the gamble.

Let's hope it pays off.

You've got 75 minutes.

The cooks who bring us the five least impressive dishes

will have to go to the next round.

(SIGHS) Oh, God.

Your time starts...

..now! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Let's go, go, go, go, go, go!

Oh, my God. Where's my brain?

Do we have kaffir lime? Yeah.

Any kind of coriander.

Coriander. Coriander. Yeah, I need coriander, as well.

Am I seeing things or not seeing things?

Where's coriander?

Oh, I've got a whole bunch.

Ah!

Of course Nat would take it all.

(LAUGHTER)

How's the real estate here, Darrsh?

Sorry, bro. (LAUGHS)

Today, my gamble was different.

I went with the ingredient that I could see.

This durian is just like me - all spiky on the outside,

and a lot to love on the inside.

My hands are going to get stinky.

Yeah, they are.

I actually really like the smell of them.

I don't...I don't mind the smell.

It looks bad, but the taste is actually amazing.

It's really custardy.

It's creamy.

It's also fruity, as well.

So, I'm gonna impress the judges with the world's stinkiest fruit

and put up something amazing.

Darrsh. Hey, guys. Hey, Luke.

I'm so happy you chose durian.

Oh, it's awesome.

What are you gonna do with it? That's the question.

Very custardy, obviously.

And I'm gonna lean into that, so I'm gonna do a trifle.

Cool.

And kind of lean to, like, coconut and durian flavours.

I really do like the idea of a durian trifle.

Yeah.

Just make sure that durian is still there.

Yeah. You're an expert in it.

When you cook it out, sometimes it can get cooked out.

Absolutely. And I can already smell vanilla notes, caramel notes.

So, I'm really looking forward to this durian, awesome dessert of yours.

Yep. Don't let us down.

OK. Sure thing, mate. Thank you. So happy that you chose it. Please.

Good luck, mate.

POH: Sav? Yes.

Have you got a big chilli smile on your face or...?

I have a big... Do you know what?

I've been wanting to make a Sri Lankan crab curry for a while

because it's, like, our Sunday lunch.

We're expecting big things. Don't let us down.

I'm expecting big things, too, so... (CHUCKLES)

Hey, Sue. Well, hello. Sue.

So, you've got anchovy paste.

I'm going to be doing some homemade rice-paper rolls

with a dipping sauce.

I'm super excited about this.

Dessert!

It is a dessert, yes.

I'm making a spice star-anise and cardamom cake

with cardamom cream.

That's exciting. Yes.

(JUAN HUMS)

Yes, yes. Boom!

Juan. Guys, how are you?

From salted soybeans to limes. Yes.

You couldn't have had any more luck on your side, I reckon.

It was a beautiful change of ingredients.

Um, what cuisine are you going, first?

Actually, I'm going, uh, real fusion between my heritage and Vietnamese.

I thought a turmeric tiny taco slides with a tuna ceviche.

OK, where's the Argentinean flair?

Latin American with the tacos.

I'm adding all the flavours from Vietnam

with the fish sauce and sugar. Yeah.

The coriander, chillies. I love it.

Have you done this kind of little fusion dance before?

Not specifically this dish.

But I try the ceviche, the Vietnamese version,

and I love it.

I think tacos with that goes so well together.

Awesome. Good luck.

Balance, balance.

It's really out of my comfort zone, like changing for a cuisine

that I normally don't cook.

I feel confident with ceviche, but I never made a Vietnamese one,

so hopefully I can translate those flavours

into a different cuisine.

No stress. It's all good.

You have one hour to go! Come on!

MAN: Damn.

This time is flying already.

How?

Let's go guys. Come on, team.

let's do it. Let's do it. Whoo!

So I ended up with, uh,

lotus root after a gamble.

Today, my strategy was to take the gamble and save the lemongrass

that I'm more familiar with.

Because, you know, if I do end up in round two,

I want to cook with an ingredient that I know really well.

Harry. Hello, gentlemen.

Harry. What's going on?

So, I've just steamed my mud crab.

I'm about to fry up some lotus root.

And how is that going to be served with the crab?

Just like a little garnish, or...? Uh, no.

So the crab is going to be served with a dashi broth and some

katsuobushi and some furikake on top.

And then the aioli and the chips will be on the side.

So the idea is you, you know, get a bit of crab, a bit of the aioli

and scoop it in with the chip.

OK, so the lotus root is a side dish.

As a chip.

JEAN-CRISTOPHE: Wow, this is beautiful colours.

Do you mind if I step in? Yes. Go for it.

Let's see this.

Is this spicy?

You'll see.

How's it taste?

(CLEARS THROAT)

(COUGHS) (CHUCKLING)

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

WOMAN: Go, Steve-o. WOMAN 2: Go, Steve-o.

Oh, my ingredient is peanuts. It's right here.

There it is. I'm OK with peanuts, actually,

It's something I can get around and work with.

I've eaten peanuts, which is good.

Steve. Steve.

Hey. How are you today? Good, mate. How are you?

Yeah. Good, mate.

You must have been a happy man when you saw those peanuts.

Very happy. Yeah.

Definitely got a lot of peanuts there.

Yes. I want to get a few peanuts in there.

What's the dish?

Deep-fried pork and peanut dumpling.

So, the last restaurant we went out to with my wife before I came

on this show was the Fat Noodle.

Oh, amazing.

Is this inspired by that?

Yeah, I was, yeah, I actually had a, um, a spring roll

which had a similar sort of filling in it.

It came out with the lettuce and the herbs,

and you wrap it all up and eat it and the dipping sauce.

Yum, yum. So that's what I'm doing.

Except I'm doing my twist on it. Which is?

What do you have in there? Uh, similar flavours.

So I've got the black mushroom, pork mince, vermicelli and peanuts

because I've got to use the peanuts.

Yeah. I've got some spices in there.

It is looking a bit dry. Mm.

Your dish lives and dies by what's in this bowl.

Let's bind that together. Yep. I will.

Alright, mate. Good luck. Thank you.

Andy's made a comment about the filling.

It's got to be not dry.

And I'm thinking, well...

..yeah, I agree.

Uh...

SNEZANA: Steve-o, are you good?

This filling, it's not playing the game.

So I put a lot of my wet ingredients in there.

I put the egg in.

I put the fish sauce in, I mix it up.

The filling looks good now, and it was looking a little dry,

but now it's looking good.

The one thing I want to avoid

is cooking with the bitter melon in round two.

Who wants to use bitter melon?

I mean, even the name.

What is it, a melon called bitter?

I mean, what are they thinking?

SUMEET: Oh, my God.

It's making me nervous standing here watching.

I can't, it's too exciting. I can't stand on the sidelines.

I just want to eat everything and see what everyone's doing.

Nat, oh, that looks good! What's that?

I'm making a steamed bread fish curry.

Uh, like custard. Yeah.

So it's steamed in here. Yeah.

Very cool. Smelling amazing. Great use of the coconut.

You just got to execute.

Thank you. Good luck.

Lachy.

Fish sauce is very different all over the world.

Yeah, I'm gonna do bo nuong la lot, which is usually, um, like a mince

wrapped in betel leaf, but with a short rib.

What do you think? Ooh-ooh-ooh!

I think that tells it all!

It's all about impressing this beautiful man right here.

You've got 30 minutes to go. (WHOOPING)

You've got 30 minutes.

Good job, everyone.

Salty, this cooking wine.

My core ingredient is rice wine and I'm actually stoked.

Oh!

I'm so excited to cook today.

I'm so, so lucky that I get to cook for Luke Nguyen.

Hey, Gill. Hey.

I brought a little friend. Hey.

What an honour, honestly. It feels so surreal still.

So I'm in awe of you and your cooking and everything.

Thank you so much. You're too kind.

What are you cooking? Yeah.

Uh, today I'm making, like, a sweet-and-sour prawn.

My dad used to make these beautiful tamarind prawns.

Um, except I'm bringing a different level and I'm going to have

a spicy bisque, which is going to have the cooking wine.

And I'm going to incorporate the cooking wine into the actual cook

of the prawns as well, the marinade.

Mmm, OK. Um, yeah.

And then I intend on doing crispy prawn heads as well

that are going to be stuffed with pineapple and the prawn.

So lovely balance of flavours there.

A bit of sweet, sour, salty.

Yeah. You got tart as well.

Yep, yeah.

Prawns look amazing, by the way.

Thank you. Thank you.

Don't ever cook them. No.

Thank you so much. Good luck.

Seeing Luke, my heart is full.

See him in the flesh,

that's just incredible. I know.

(CHUCKLES)

Luke was always on the TV

if I was watching a cooking show with my dad.

I lost my dad six years ago,

and it was the hardest time of my life.

I was brought up with my dad cooking the most tasty, delicious food

in our household kitchen.

He, you know, he was the one that taught me

the most about cooking.

So stepping into this challenge, I really want to cook the best

that I absolutely can for Luke today,

for myself and to make my dad proud.

Today's challenge, it's a round one of elimination,

having to use the durian.

And I really don't want to go into round two 'cause I have no idea

what's under the second round cloche.

Cooking with a durian,

it's a massive risk because I've never tasted it before today.

I've never cooked with it before today.

So it almost doesn't even need thickening up, eh?

No, it definitely doesn't.

I'm working on my durian custard layer for my trifle.

Yum. The taste is incredible.

It's so good.

It's like so strong with durian.

And that's exactly what I need.

Alright, uh, start whipping the cream.

Uh, I still need to do my coconut cream, which is the top layer,

so I'm about to work on that now.

I've got coconut cream and both thickened cream.

Yeah. And then it's just moving on to...assembly.

Let's hope it's lucky for some, 13 minutes to go!

(WHOOPING) WOMAN: 13 minutes!

Shit.

My main ingredient is limes

and I'm making a ceviche with the limes.

I got all lime juice in my eyes already, so I'm, like, crying.

So, yeah, it's a Vietnamese ceviche with tacos.

Mmm! MAN: De La Cruz.

You alright, brother?

Oh. Best ceviche ever!

(LAUGHTER) Yeah, baby.

Now I need to finish the dough for my taco shells.

With these taco shells, I'm expecting a thickness

that will hold the ceviche.

Oh, you're kidding me?

MAN: You alright, Juan? No. No, I'm not.

Uh! OK, mate.

But I'm rolling my dough, I can see that this is wrong.

This...this is not working.

Ah, Dios.

I'm really stressed now. I'm very stressed.

I don't think that things are going my way today.

No!

(GROANS)

WOMAN: Wow. MAN: Yeah, nice, Nat.

Coconut.

And it's got a fish curry in it steaming.

I really hope that's working!

LACHLAN: I've got to make a fish sauce caramel,

seeing my ingredient was fish sauce,

for my short ribs wrapped in betel leaf.

This could go wrong in the time frame

if these short ribs don't get done.

So I've, uh, I've got to keep cracking.

You have nine minutes to go. Nine minutes. Let's go.

WOMAN: Let's go, guys, come on! Whoo!

Whoo!

It's hot, man. It's getting hot in here.

WOMAN: Juan. I'm melting!

I am melting.

The taco shells are in the oven.

I'm not happy with the tacos

because they look like they are very thick,

but I'm not gonna have time to fix them.

I need to move to the next element.

I'm putting the fluid, coconut, ginger, and lemongrass gel

to the bottle to give a fresh flavour to the ceviche tacos.

How long I have?

I think I can make it.

Given Luke's feedback on the lotus root

for my mud crab dashi and lotus dish,

I decided to just poach a couple of the slices of the lotus

in the dashi.

I'm really happy with the lotus chips too.

They're crunchy.

I'm excited about the flavours.

It's going to be subtle, but I think it'll be special.

WOMAN: Go, Hazza! Whoo!

Guys, I can taste your dishes in five minutes. Let's go!

(WHOOPING)

WOMAN: Let's go, guys. Come on!

My feeling is I'm not going to get it done.

I'm totally stressed out because I spent way too long

on the filling and the dumpling dough,

and now I got to make, like, 10 dumplings and get a sauce done.

I've got no hope.

Stephen, I'm a little bit worried about you.

I know. I'm all over, mate.

It's not.... They're not coming together like they should.

Just focus on what you have.

You need something on the plate, yeah?

Bloody hell. I'm running out of time.

It's coming down to the wire.

You have two minutes to go!

(SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY) Two minutes!

Holy guacamole!

DARRSH: My durian trifle,

I put in my coconut and lime sponge at the bottom.

I layer in some of that durian custard,

finish it off with some coconut cream on the top

and then sprinkle on some fresh mango.

MAN: Good, Darrsh. SNEZANA: Darrsh, durian match.

Just playing around with it. This tastes really good.

WOMAN: Go, Gill.

GILLIAN: Yum. Oh, my goodness.

Really happy with it. The prawns are beautiful.

I know that I can taste the rice wine

and that is the ultimate goal today.

Your dishes need to be ready in 10...

ALL: Nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one...

(WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE)

GILLIAN: I'm feeling incredibly proud today.

Yeah, it hits hard. Yeah.

Mm.

Wow!

Amazing.

When Luke walked through those doors,

weirdly enough, it's like my dad walked in.

It was a huge wave of emotions.

I'm unbelievably proud,

but I feel unbelievably honoured to be here

and share a kitchen with Luke - it means the world.

And my dad would be... (SNIFFLES)

..yeah, he'd be so proud.

Now, guys, I was blown away and super impressed

with what I saw today.

The first dish would love to taste belongs to...

..Gill.

(APPLAUSE)

Come on down, Gill.

ANDY: Yeah, Gill!

Gill, what do we call this dish?

Um, this is my sweet-and-sour prawn with a bisque

and stuffed prawn heads.

POH: We'll start.

Incredible.

(PRAWNS CRUNCH)

(PRAWNS CRUNCH)

I have never, ever practised this before in my life.

(PRAWNS CRUNCH)

(CHUCKLING)

This is so cool. (LAUGHS)

It's definitely crispy. Mmm!

Honestly, the rice wine for me is the star of that dish.

Ah, yay!

It's so well used. Ah, thank you.

There's just that subtle perfume,

sweetness and savouriness to that dish

that doesn't happen without the application of the rice wine.

Thank you. So you have nailed the brief.

The prawns are really plump, perfectly cooked, really sweet.

So I really think you nailed the balance of flavour

really, really well. Yeah.

And that's from, you know,

years and years of your father sitting behind you and saying

"A little bit of this, a little bit of that," right?

Yeah. Super proud of this dish.

Because rice wine is quite a difficult ingredient

to nail in a dish like this, and I think you did really well.

Aw, that means a lot. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Gill.

What you've done today is remarkable.

This is the perfect meli-melo of sweet-and-sour.

Introducing very beautifully cooked prawns.

Thank you.

So I would like to say well done!

(CHEERING)

I'll give her a cuddle. I'll give her a cuddle.

(CHEERING CONTINUES)

Darrsh, we're so intrigued about what you've done with the durian!

WOMAN: Let's go, Darrsh! Whoo!

He made...he made two.

We love that you've done two, Darrsh.

Nice. Tell us what you've done.

Uh, we have a tropical durian trifle.

I have never had durian in a trifle before.

Neither have I! (CHUCKLES)

I am worried.

I'm worried because I might think that this tastes incredible,

but it's a durian at the end of the day,

which a lot of people don't like.

And it could 100% send me to round two.

POH: Darrsh.

I thought I would love the idea of the trifle.

And I really, really

do love it. (LAUGHS)

(CHEERING)

SOPHIA: You had me there as well.

You have got the balance of the amount of cake,

the coconut and the mango so well balanced

they completely complement each other.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Darrsh.

Initially when I saw it,

it was an attraction.

When I taste it, I think it's a revolution.

The custard is unctuous.

It's thick enough.

It's sweet enough.

Well done.

The flavours worked really, really well.

The lime and the Malibu and the mango and the coconut

was really, really perfectly executed.

I'm so happy that you created this and you chose durian.

Thank you, Luke. I'm very happy.

I'm so happy right now.

(APPLAUSE)

Sumeet.

Oh, OK.

My dish is a Ras malai-inspired cake cup.

The beauty and the sophistication in this is the balance of that.

It is so well done.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, Sue.

SUE: I brought you prawn and pork rice noodle rolls

with a South-East Asian dipping sauce.

The fact that you pushed yourself today, it's amazing.

The rice rolls are epic.

Nice one, Sue!

(CHEERING)

Sav.

SAVINDRI: I've made a crab curry and to go with it,

a fiery coconut sambal.

The chilli has been used really beautifully, but I also love

that there's some textural elements. A really, really beautiful dish.

Thank you. Thank you.

Let's see what you've got, Juan.

POH: What are they?

JUAN: Little Vietnamese tacos.

Let's try it.

Juan.

There are parts of your dish, Juan, that I really liked.

I liked the way the individual tacos were presented.

The tacos themselves were...were too thick.

I was left with a lot of that dryness in my mouth.

Juan, concept - I loved. Thank you.

But I think the execution has let you down.

Whenever you have a vessel with a ceviche, it is wafer thin

because really, it's all about the balance

and the lime just falls away.

And we all know it was about the lime today.

So the lime, I think, was your downfall.

Yeah.

Juan, I think at this point,

if you're serving something that has a raw element into it,

you have to put quite a lot of thought into it.

Yeah.

And I actually really loved your taco shell,

unlike everyone else. (LAUGHS) I thought it was fine.

But I think what you could have done

to match the robustness of that shell

was to really elevate the filling.

So you could have absolutely gone nuts with that flavour,

but it was just kind of like

middle of the road.

So I'm a little bit worried for you today to be honest.

Thanks, Juan. Thank you, guys.

(APPLAUSE)

Next up, Rocky.

A beef short rib Bo La Lot with a fish sauce caramel.

The meat is dry.

It could have been so good and your intention was 100% there,

but that meat just let you down.

Thanks a lot, man.

Nat.

(APPLAUSE)

Thai red steamed curry with coconut.

I would have liked a bit more flavour

in the red curry paste.

Where it lets you down is the seasoning.

I think you just needed a little bit more fish sauce,

and I think you could have... You could have saved it.

Thanks, Nat. Thank you.

Harry, come on down.

HARRY: So I've made for you today mud crab dashi

and then lotus chips.

And the lotus is also steeped in the dashi broth.

Um...

My main problem is using a lotus root as a scoop

makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I'm a bit confused by the dish.

All the elements are really lovely.

That prawn and crab meat is delicious,

the lotus root fried perfectly,

but when you add the mud crab and the dashi,

I feel there becomes a disjoint.

I just would have loved the dish

to have more incorporation of the lotus root itself.

And you took the gamble. Sure.

Yeah. But you had a strategy.

Hmm.

What if I don't do very well in this dish?

Then I can fall back on the lemongrass.

Yeah. So maybe your strategy was good.

Alright. Thanks, guys. Thanks for the feedback.

Come on down, Steve-o.

STEPHEN: I'm walking up to the judges.

I look down at my plate. I'm not happy with it.

I know in my heart that it's not right.

Alright, Stephen, what have we got here?

I've made pork and peanut deep-fried dumplings.

Stephen, the dumplings were not pretty,

inconsistent.

The filling just wasn't seasoned.

They weren't fried for long enough.

Nothing worked in harmony together.

I'm really sorry. Steve-o.

This dish is not one of your best. No.

And of all the dishes you could have picked,

you used peanuts.

I felt like it was a strange decision to put it into something

where it was going to be wet inside,

'cause it's crispy and toasty.

Yeah.

Thanks.

There was so many good dishes today, but we're at the stage now

where good may not be good enough.

If I call your name, please step forward.

You're going into round two.

Juan.

Steve-o.

Lachy.

Harry.

And lastly...

..Nat.

The rest of you are safe

and can join the others on the gantry.

ANDY: Right, you five.

Time for round two.

You need to cook with the ingredient that you didn't choose in round one.

So, Harry, you know what you got?

Yep. Lemongrass.

Unfortunately, I'm in this position, but when life gives you lemongrass,

you've just got to stay in the comp.

Juan, you'll be cooking with...

..salted soybean.

OK.

Steve, you know what you got?

Bitter melon. Bitter melon.

Now, Lachy, in that you didn't take the gamble,

so you don't actually know what's under those cloches

and is awaiting you in round two.

Lachy...

..in round two you will be cooking with...

..wing beans.

Yum.

And lastly, Nat, ready for it?

Yep. Let's go.

You'll be cooking with...

..betel leaves.

Yeah.

I am happy with that.

I love betel leaf.

In this round, you'll have another 75 minutes.

You can cook anything you like,

but you must include your ingredient in your dish.

Unfortunately, the cook that brings us the least impressive dish

will be going home.

Your time starts...

..now.

(CHEERING)

Let's go, guys!

Sugar.

Shrimp paste.

That'll do. (CHUCKLES)

Come on! Come on!

(CHEERING)

I'm feeling quite confident with round two

because I'm familiar with betel leaf,

because it's a leaf that you can get everywhere in Thailand.

The dish I'm making today for round two is Miang kham,

which is a Northern Thai street food.

This dish is like everything in one little parcel.

It has toasted coconut, peanuts, caramelised sauce, lime, chilli,

ginger, crispy shrimp, prawns.

Yeah, all the flavours.

You know, I can't even list them, there's just so many.

In round one,

it's not like me to lack in flavour.

So I need to make sure that it's going to be perfect.

First time I've actually handled bitter melon,

so I've got to have a little taste.

What's he doing?

(SPITS)

It's very bitter.

Not good.

Still bitter about it.

Right now I've got a bit of a blank.

Like, I don't know what I'm going to do

with the bitter melon.

How I'm going to make it edible I've got no idea.

Very slim chance I'm going to pull this off.

STEVE-O: Rightio.

Running out of time.

Round two, I've got bitter melon.

And my brain has gone a-blank.

But if I don't make a decision on what to cook,

I'm going to fall too far behind.

(GROANS)

I start having these things go through my head

about how I can cook it.

I'm going to fall back on my knowledge of spices and flavours.

Come on, Steve-o.

Yeah, Steve-o. Go on, Steve-o.

I'm just going to make a sweet red curry-style sauce

that'll work with the bitter flavours.

Steve. Steve-o. Steve-o.

Hey.

How are you going with your mate, bitter gourd?

Oh, yeah.

I, um, had a taste.

Like, it's really bitter.

You know, like... Bitter melon's bitter?

Yeah. Pretty bitter.

What have you done to it?

Well, I've cut it up.

I've cut some rings out.

So basically, I'm going to stuff those with some prawn meat.

OK.

So I'm going to cook up a curry.

And then near the end of the cook,

I'm going to pop those into the curry.

And then cook them off in the... In the curry. Yeah.

Just sort of, you know,

get the flavour through them as well.

Where'd you get these ideas from? Its very creative what you're doing.

Uh...

Just out of my head, really. So... Yeah.

Yeah, I'm going with my gut on this one.

Really need to leave yourself lots of time...

Yeah. ..to balance and fix things

if they need to be fixed. Alright?

Yeah. Good luck.

Thanks, guys. Thank you.

This sauce is the key to making the bitter melon edible.

It needs to be exactly right to offset that bitter flavour.

I spent way too much time in the pantry.

Definitely running behind here.

(SIGHS) Far out.

ANDY: I hate to break it to you. You've got one hour to go.

(CHEERING)

MAN: Let's go, guys!

WOMAN: What's that, Haz? Shrimp paste.

Yeah. Nice. I think.

Yeah.

My dish is like an Asian-inspired seafood chowder.

And then I'm going to do

some lemongrass and cardamom Jasmine rice.

I'm gonna do pan-seared kingfish with wing bean, green mango pickle

and a sauce to go with that.

WOMAN: Oh, yum. Yes, Lach.

Go, Juan!

Yes, Juan!

WOMAN: What's cooking, Juanito?

Um... empanadas.

I'm going strong. I'm going with what I love to make.

Juan de la Cruz. Yes, guys, how are you?

Tell us what you're making.

So I'm making orange and soy-glazed chicken empanadas.

Empanadas? Empanadas? Very good.

How is the salted soybeans going to play a role in this?

The salted soybeans are playing the role, um,

as the savoury and umami into the orange glaze.

It's a very strong ingredient.

Yep.

Make sure it just works, please.

In harmony. Alright? Thank you.

Thank you, guys. Good luck, Juan.

Thank you. Good luck.

I never cooked with soybeans

and this is one of the...

It's salty.

Extra salty. OK.

We'll have to balance that out.

I'm so determined to not overpower my empanadas with the soybeans,

I'm thinking about balancing the saltiness of the beans

and making it sweeter by adding orange juice.

Mm. That's good.

Well, this is very exciting

because we have Lachy, Stephen and Juan

who've never tasted their ingredients

they've been assigned.

So it's going to be very interesting to see how they use

their instincts completely.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: I mean, bitter melon,

what can he do with that? Yeah.

You can pickle. You can deep-fry.

You can also use it as a vessel. Yeah.

You know, you can... You can stuff things in there.

You can steam it with the stuffing.

Something fatty. Yeah.

So there's a lot of interesting... That's you.

(ALL LAUGH) Yeah, yeah.

On the other hand, you've got Nat.

Nat knows the betel leaf like the back of her hand

so I've got high expectations for her.

Me too.

And then I think you look at Juan. Like, salted soybean,

it is really salty.

So if he doesn't get that right,

then it could be trouble for Juan.

Yeah, obviously this is an elimination.

Somebody's going home at the end of this.

Love the colour, Harry.

Leave it green, Haz. Yeah.

Yum! Yum, yum, yum!

Yum!

POH: Nat. Hi.

Are you feeling very sure of yourself? It's a...

It's a familiar ingredient, obviously.

It's very familiar.

I am making a Miang kham,

which is a Northern Thai betel wrap.

I'm just a little bit worried that it's, you know...

It looks simple, but it's not when you eat it.

It's like the idea is that it's a flavour bomb.

I kind of predicted that you'll make this dish.

You did? I did.

There you go. Is it gonna be enough, though?

I really hope it is enough, because it tastes so good.

Gotta remember, this is an elim.

Yeah, I know. Yes.

This is the moment. Yeah.

So make sure you get that balance perfect this time round.

Yeah, OK. I will.

Good luck. Thank you so much.

I've got so much to do.

And I need to get every element perfect.

I'm definitely, yeah, freaked out for sure.

Let's make this cooking count.

You've got 30 minutes to go.

(CHEERING)

Looks healthy, Juan.

Super healthy. Yeah. (CHUCKLES)

I can just feel the calories coming off.

This is my happy place, making empanadas.

I need to try my filling the chicken with the orange and soy bean

to see if they're balanced enough.

What do you think, Juan?

Oh, no!

Oh, my God! My filling's too sweet.

These things play in my head now that I had to remove the saltiness.

And then when I'm trying it, it's not salty enough.

I don't know what to do.

Get inspired by our fabulous home cooks.

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Oh, no!

Oh, my God. My filling's too sweet.

I had to remove the saltiness.

And then when I'm trying it, it's not salty enough.

I have to balance the salty element.

So I'm going to get one more use of the beans.

So I'm thinking that if I can dehydrate them fast enough,

I'm going to get these crunchy bites.

Go, Juan.

Keeps playing in my head - cannot be too salty.

So I only want to add a couple of the soy beans.

I'm hoping that by doing this, that I can get the balance right.

That's better.

Happy with the flavour profile of my red curry sauce.

I think the flavours are balanced really well.

So now I need to get the prawns ready, because I need to get

the bitter melon into the curry mixture and start getting it cooked.

Beautiful, Steve. Yeah, Steve-o.

I don't know how long the bitter melon takes to cook.

I've got no idea whether it takes five minutes or 20 minutes.

I just don't know if they're going to get ready in time.

(TIMER BEEPS)

NAT: That's my timer to plate and I don't have the time.

Sugar. Sugar. Sugar.

The judges need to taste an explosion.

Literally, like, taking some popping candy

and just for it to just explode in your mouth, you know?

It needs to just shoot fireworks.

I put the caramelised palm sugar in

and then I put a line of shallots, ginger, toasted coconut,

peanuts, dried shrimp, chilli, lime.

And then I'll get some prawns in there.

Good job, Nat. Oh, go, Natty.

That is just next level.

It looks good, but it's taking me like three minutes to do one

and I need to make five of them.

You have six minutes to go.

Breathe, Nat, breathe.

You've got this.

So yummy. (CHUCKLES)

My seafood chowder,

I think it's got a nice lemongrass kick to it.

Yeah, I'm happy.

I don't want to go out not cooking seafood,

so we'll just see how we go.

Oh, stunning work, Lach.

You're happy with the flavours?

I think so.

Um, I've got my winged bean pickle done.

That's flavourful.

So now that's just got to sit on top of a pan-seared piece of fish

with some coconut rice.

Hopefully, I can pull everything together.

Oh, look at the beauty!

(FELLOW CONTESTANT LAUGHS)

Yeah, Juan. Just caught, freshly caught.

They look beautiful. Let's see if they taste.

I need to try at least one with all the elements.

The moment of truth.

I'm sold 90% with the balance, but I have no time to correct.

Let's go with it and hope for the best.

Only one minute left.

Go, Nat. It looks beautiful.

I'm pretty well about there with the balance of the sauce.

The prawns are nice, you know.

I just don't know with this bitter melon if it's cooked well or not.

So I'm not sure.

This is it.

We've got 10, nine, eight,

seven, six,

five, four,

three, two, one...

(CHEERING)

Boom!

Well done, brother.

Hectic. Mental.

Bitter melon - very, very hard ingredient.

Um, I tasted it, but I don't know.

Does it taste alright? I don't know what it's supposed to taste like.

So I've got some serious doubts about this dish.

I'm really excited for this tasting because I think from what I saw,

we've got some pretty good food coming.

So I'm looking forward to this tasting.

Can't wait.

Go, Nat. Good on you, Nat. Good luck.

Thank you.

I can't believe I finished my dish.

I just hope that these betel leaves are a flavour bomb.

Hello.

Please take a seat.

What did you make?

I made miang kham, which is a Thai betel leaf herbal bomb.

Betel leaves? You must have just been like, "Oh, yes."

Ah, yes, and no. Why?

I feel like I have made my ancestors mad

for accidentally telling, saying that it's a simple dish!

Because once I started making it, it was not simple at all.

Thanks. We'll taste it now, Nat. Thanks.

Good luck. Thank you.

Yeah, grab one.

Whew.

I think that's just about as high voltage as a mouthful gets.

In the first round, it was lacking some flavour there.

This time she...she brought it on.

This, for me, is like a petit petard.

You know, tiny little firecrackers!

(LAUGHTER) They make a huge explosion.

Yes.

That's remarkable. Absolutely. Yeah.

Lachlan.

winged bean pickle with pan-seared kingfish.

I think it's an excellent use of the main ingredient, the winged bean.

Perfect. To put it into that pickle, serve it over the fish

with that curry sauce, I think excellent.

Hi, Harry. Hello.

What have you made, Harry? Asian-inspired seafood chowder.

I think the dish looked really lovely.

Lemongrass everywhere.

The scent of lemongrass is still in the air.

I think this could be almost a restaurant-quality dish.

Go, Steve-o. Thanks, mate.

I've cooked with something that was totally unfamiliar for me.

I don't know whether the bitter melon's cooked too much, not enough.

Very slim chance I'm going to pull this off.

Steve-o. Hey.

Steve, describe to us what it is.

Bitter melon stuffed with prawn with a curry sauce.

You've designed this dish entirely based on instinct, yeah?

Yeah. Basically, yeah.

How are you feeling right now?

Oh, pretty nervous.

Both of these cooks have been the toughest for me in the competition.

Not because they're technically difficult,

only because it's just completely out of my, you know...

Knowledge, yeah.

Thank you, Steve. We're gonna try your dish now.

Thank you, Steve. We can't wait to taste it.

The flavours and the concept are absolutely spot on.

The chances of him having the instinct

to hollow out the centre and stuff it were like one in a million.

Honestly.

Then he did the sauce. The sauce is perfect.

It's got just the amount of acidity, sweetness

to counteract that bitterness.

But the bitter melon was almost entirely raw.

Unfortunately, cooking it into the sauce itself

was not long enough.

I would have loved it if he maybe steamed it slightly.

The guy knows how to cook.

We know he knows how to cook.

Um, in this instance, though, instinct may not have been enough.

You got this, man. You got this, de la Cruz. Good luck, mate.

The salted soybeans really played against me in this cook.

I don't know if I got the balance right or...

I'm a little bit nervous.

Hello, guys. JUDGES: Hi, Juan.

How are you? Good, mate. You?

I'm good, I'm good.

So I made orange and soy chicken empanadas.

So, obviously, you have never tried the salted soy beans before?

Never before.

It's a really nice element,

but it's really overpowering if you use it a lot.

So I was kind of scared because my, my initial plan

was to make it really obvious everywhere.

And then I reduced like in the, in the elements.

So it's there but it's not just soy beans.

Gotcha.

Thanks, mate. We'll taste now. Thank you, Juan. An honour and a pleasure.

Thank you.

Look, for Juan,

I think it's pretty much full points on presentation.

I loved the little crunchy soybeans.

I thought that was really clever

and sounded like a last-minute idea from him.

In fact, I like them so much,

I wish there were more of them in his filling,

and I think that's because the filling was surprisingly sweet.

The empanada itself, I think for me the pastry was good.

Then the filling - such an odd combination.

And I think in all of Juan's attempt to tame the soy, the salted soybean,

in each of these elements,

he probably could have amped up the salt.

Because for me, everything is to the sweeter end of the scale.

I was like, where is the fire?

You know, the punch, the pizzazz that we're so used to seeing

with Juan's dishes.

It just wasn't there for me.

It missed the mark by a fair bit, unfortunately.

This is quite underwhelming, you know?

Um, I think that what he tried to do was really focus on

not making the salty soybeans too salty or too dominant,

but lost track of all the other important parts.

This was a very one-dimensional dish.

I think there's definitely a bottom two for me.

Um, and it's gonna...

We're gonna have to really nut it out

to see which one we're going to send home.

Guys, I think you've done incredibly well.

You've been so brave

and embraced Vietnamese and South-East Asian ingredients.

It's been really lovely to experience.

So thank you for that. Thank you. I've had an amazing time.

Put your hands together for Luke Nguyen, everyone.

(CHEERING) Thank you. Thank you, guys.

There were two dishes that landed at the bottom of the pack today.

Juan...

..and Steve.

Juan...

..in an attempt to balance out the salted soybeans with sweetness,

the flavours were out of whack.

Steve, your flavours were bang on

but the bitter melon was undercooked.

It came down to which dish we would order at a restaurant.

And that would be yours...

..Steve.

I'm so sorry, Juan. You're going home.

It's OK.

Well, mate, you really are 'Juan' of a kind,

it has to be said! (LAUGHTER)

You're sad, everyone's sad here

because whenever you walk into this kitchen,

you light up the room with that smile, that energy, that passion.

And we're going to miss you, man. We're going to miss you.

This, I could tell, one of the best experiences of my whole life.

Um, from the moment the doors opened

and we get inside this kitchen.

And I'm gonna miss you. I'm gonna miss you a lot.

Mate, I speak for all of us, we wish you nothing but the best.

Thank you, mate. Thank you.

But, unfortunately, it's time to say goodbye.

Yeah, Juan!

This is a dream.

And when your dream is something beautiful,

you don't want to wake up.

Keep being amazing, alright?

And I love cooking, sharing...

..and smiling! (LAUGHS)

(APPLAUSE)

This week on MasterChef Australia...

Vincent Yeow Lim!

(CHEERING)

..things are going viral...

Holy crap.

..and the challenges are so hot...

..they're cool.

Wow us with something that we've never seen before.

Phenomenal.

I think you've done a freaking good job.

It's a perfect dish for me.

Captions by Red Bee Media