NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia,
was a trip down memory lane.
MELISSA: Under these cloches are our favourite childhood ingredients.
Round 1 got the creative juices flowing.
ANDY: Come on, guys!
Roast pumpkin coated in a Vegemite crumb.
That's just so intense!
JOCK: Ooh, risotto. Hello!
Your meat and one Veg...emite dish,
that is delicious.
JOCK: The sponge was beautiful.
I loved it.
MELISSA: Nice work on the chicken.
Beautifully cooked, really succulent and tender.
NARRATOR: Then the bottom three
gave us a glimpse into their own past.
I really feel like this plate of food does show us who Robbie is.
But in the end, Andrea said arrivederci
to the MasterChef kitchen.
JOCK: Andrea, everybody! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ANDREA: This experience
makes me so much stronger that it's unbelievable.
Tonight, it's the first mystery box of the season...
WOMAN: We're all just freaking out!
..from one of our very own homegrown heroes.
(BRIGHT MUSIC)
(CONTESTANTS CHATTER)
Alright, Robbie, it's a good day. I reckon it's gonna be a fun day.
It's a good day, it's a fun day.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Let's have fun. Let's have fun.
Yay! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JOCK: Morning. Morning!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Hello, mystery box.
Mystery box!
Oh!
I have always loved watching the Mystery Box challenges from home
when I'm sitting on the couch...
Hello! CONTESTANTS: Hello!
..watching how these awesome home cooks
put together some of these amazing dishes.
Ooh!
I cannot wait to see what flavours and ingredients
are gonna be under this box today.
Welcome to a brand-new week in the MasterChef kitchen.
As you can see, a couple more contestants are missing today.
COVID strikes again.
But in lighter news, you guys have survived your first elimination!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And right in front of you is your very first mystery box.
To add to the excitement, every day this week
we are bringing back our most successful past contestants
to impart a little bit of their wisdom.
Far out.
That's right.
They're going to share their MasterChef secret to success.
(LAUGHS) Oh!
And what better way to kick off the week
than with a very special guest
to set this mystery box right in front of you.
She has been a part of this competition
since its very first season,
and she's back to show you how it's done.
No way.
Please welcome the one and only...
..Poh Ling Yeow!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Hi! (LAUGHS)
Hello!
Poh's wonderful.
I have watched a lot of her shows.
I've read her cookbooks.
Hello, hello, hello!
I also know she is the pastry queen.
Hello! JOCK: You look amazing.
I just need to learn how to cook like Poh. (LAUGHS)
MELISSA: So nice to have you here. You know what?
Whenever I'm in here, it's so electric.
JOCK: It's not a bad thing.
Like, I can just cut it with a knife, yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
Poh, this season is called Secrets & Surprises.
This week... Yes.
..is called the Secrets to Success.
So give us a couple of secrets to your success,
because it all started here.
I think the thing that is most important is to really soak up,
like, every minute you have in this kitchen.
OK.
You will never have an opportunity
to be away from all the distractions of life
and be able to entirely focus on food like you are right now.
I think if you tap into something that is totally authentic...
Yeah. ..it's there forever, you know?
Yeah.
It's not external, it's internal.
And if something doesn't go right,
you have to be ready to just shift gear,
and I think that's one of the secrets for sure.
You've stayed true to yourself.
Like, the Poh that we've seen in season 1
is still the Poh that's standing in front of us today.
Still looking in the oven. (LAUGHTER)
You know what, to this very day... (LAUGHS)
..if anyone's got something in the oven right up until the last second,
it's called 'doing a Poh'.
A Poh... The Poh-sition. (LAUGHTER)
Poh really inspires me.
She is such a talented woman.
She has done so much with her career post being on MasterChef Australia.
So I really admire everything she's about.
Alright, everybody,
Poh has set today's mystery box.
There's a thread through my cooking,
and the thing that floats my boat the most
is food or dishes that basically speak
of the industriousness of old matriarchs,
food that you can make out of not much.
So that's what today's challenge is about.
My mind is going crazy.
Contestants, lift your lids now.
(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM)
Oh, gosh. (LAUGHS)
WOMAN: Whoa.
Lifting the box, it's just staples. (LAUGHS)
Whilst this underbench staple is all, you know, beautiful...
(LAUGHS) ..what am I gonna do with it?
Poh, what are we looking at?
You're looking at pantry staples. (LAUGHTER)
(LAUGHS)
Oh. Oh, my goodness.
That's right, it's the underbench staples, guys.
Poh, would you like to show these guys
what you did with that underbench plus one lemon?
Mm-hm.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
ANDY: Ooh, yeah, I remember that one.
Ooh.
This is my lemon meringue cloud cake.
That's crazy.
So we now know what Poh's capable of with just one ingredient
plus the underbench staples,
but you guys are very, very lucky today
because you get double that.
You get to choose two ingredients.
Love that!
..from our delicious pantry!
No way! Awesome!
And we're also gonna give you 75 minutes today.
We're just looking for the best dish.
And whoever cooks that,
they'll go straight into this week's Immunity Challenge.
So there's no bad news, but we want to see some delicious dishes.
That means reaching for the stars.
Alright, guys, you have 75 minutes.
And your time...
..starts...now.
Go!
(NERVOUS LAUGHTER AND EXCLAMATIONS)
WOMAN: Go, go, go!
I'm still kind of formulating what I'm gonna do.
I mean, Poh made that cake with just one lemon.
Hm.
I'm loving being inspired by her,
but I realise these two ingredients are just so important to get right.
Is there cinnamon myrt... Uh, cinnamon myrtle?
I see the cinnamon myrtle on the shelf
and I think that would be perfect.
I'm gonna...gonna be self-sufficient and get it myself.
It would be that cinnamon flavour,
but also a little bit earthy and beautiful.
But I'm not quite sure what's gonna work with it,
so I'm going through my options.
Ooh!
Well, first-ever mystery box for the season,
and, Poh, I reckon you set them a hard one.
Yeah, I know, but I think it's a good tone to set.
Because I feel like, over the years,
everyone's run away with fancy, and we need to get back to basics.
It is a little bit of a luxury that they do get to choose
their own two ingredients.
It's not just two from the mystery box,
so you can be a little bit strategic about it
if you go in there with a clear head.
Any speculations on what we'll see? I think we'll see some pastas.
It's been a bit of a trend, like, this crop of contestants,
they are pretty pasta savvy.
I see Phil there doing a...
He's got the ice-cream machine out. Oh!
We haven't seen a... Well, we saw a tiramisu from him.
But, yeah, we haven't seen an ice cream from him yet,
so I'm pretty...pretty keen to see what's going on.
Definitely knowing today that the chance to cook in the immunity cook
is one in seven is a massive confidence boost,
because it's only six other dishes you gotta try and get ahead of.
They did give us two ingredients to go with,
so I'm gonna grab some chocolate and some vanilla from the pantry
and I'm gonna make a chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream.
I've just got to get motoring, get this ice cream on,
get that in the churner as quick as possible,
then get the brownie done
and get that in the oven,
'cause that's gonna take some time to cook.
And then I'm gonna figure out what I can add to the dish
to elevate it and balance it out as much as possible.
Oh! I squeezed myself! (LAUGHS)
You OK?
Yeah, I just squeezed orange in my eyes.
Oh, no! (LAUGHS)
Malissa. Hello!
This is Poh.
So nice to meet you! So nice to meet you too.
I was at the markets a few weeks ago,
and you were sitting on the bench eating something.
My boyfriend's like, "Just go say hello to her."
And I was like, "I can't. I'm just gonna stare at her instead!"
But now you're officially acquainted.
Now we're friends, so that's fine. Now we're friends.
May I ask, inquiring minds wish to know,
you've chosen, I can see, mascarpone and oranges there.
What's the dish? I love those ingredients.
I'm gonna make cannoli with the mascarpone in the centre.
Ooh!
It's all about that really beautiful crunch.
Yes.
And the structural integrity of being able to hold
those beautiful fillings.
And light. And light.
Yeah, light, crispy, crunchy.
They're all the things I'm aiming for today,
so I hope I can get them right.
Beautiful. I want to impress to you today.
I want to impress you, yes.
Also gotta say, I love your shoes, Mel.
They are great!
(WOMEN LAUGH)
GRACE: I'm feeling excited, actually.
I feel like often at home you're cooking
and you don't have too much in the pantry,
you do have to be creative, so I really do like this challenge.
I'm gonna do a savoury waffle.
I'm gonna be adding salmon roe and chives
as my two extra ingredients that we can pick from the pantry.
This is how I would normally make my waffles at home,
but given that this dish is quite simple,
I'm trying to do as much as I can to just fill the blanks
of what we don't have in that underbench pantry.
Ooh, chives. Yum. hello!
So I go for the really aromatic chives,
and bring a beautiful flavour to those waffles.
The salmon roe, of course,
brings this really interesting and unique texture to the dish.
It is quite a simple dish,
but I'm really hoping that the flavours all work together well.
The two ingredients that I've chosen are miso and lemon.
I'm going to make a miso pepper pasta.
This is my first time making pasta
in the MasterChef kitchen,
so I hope it's good. (LAUGHS)
Feeling good.
The mystery box is some of the ingredients
that I use when I'm at home just to make up a quick meal,
so I've decided to choose two ingredients
of parmesan and reggiano
just so that I can use that to make my cacio e pepe.
I'd be nervous 'cause Poh's in the house,
and it's 15 minutes down, one hour to go!
(WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE)
MELISSA: Come on!
So far in the competition
I've been really afraid to do dessert,
but I'm really inspired by Poh.
It'll be good with some sugar.
So today I want to push myself to make a dessert.
Hi, Adi. Hi, guys.
Hi, Poh! Hi!
How are you? I'm Adi. It's nice to meet you.
So nice to meet you too. What are you making today?
Oh, look, I'm not a dessert girl,
but I'm doing Portuguese custard tarts.
(GASPS) They're my favourite!
Yeah, I love them. I love eating them.
75 is a pretty tall order
to be making Portuguese custard tarts.
You do need a lot of time. Yeah.
How are you going with everything so far?
So far, OK.
I've infused it with cinnamon myrtle and star anise.
OK, so those are the two things you chose.
Great. It all works in theory. (LAUGHS)
How long would you normally leave to make a custard tart like this?
Um, probably... Yeah.
I'm gonna be honest. I haven't nailed my Portuguese custard tart yet.
(TENSE MUSIC)
Yeah.
But the thing that I would worry about with this
is that you want it to be super crisp.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Right?
So I'm starting to have some misgivings about my whole dish now,
because dessert is not my area at all.
Any confidence that I had in my cook has gone out the window,
because if Poh can't pull this off, then I cannot pull this off.
So now I'm sweating.
I can see a lot of the pantry basics
doing some hard work here.
Yeah.
What's this I'm hearing about miso pasta?
Yeah. Good news is it's gonna stick out.
It's good, isn't it? (LAUGHS)
I'm starting to have some misgivings about my Portuguese custard tart.
Because if Poh can't pull this off, then I cannot pull this off.
Five, four, three and a half.
Just looking at the clock, there's not enough time to faff around,
so I just need to keep going forward.
Please cook.
OK.
What sauce are you doing? Carbonara.
I've got bacon and the parmesan cheese.
So, making carbonara.
Having Malaysian background, the Aboriginal, the TI,
so, we do lots of stir-fries and stews,
but I've never done any of this sort of stuff before.
So I think back home they'll be laughing at me,
like, "Come on, now, what are you doing?
"You're an Asian cook
"and you're going making pasta."
Hey, Maliss. Yeah?
It's not coming together. It's not coming together?
Put a little bit of water.
Lucky I had a real good friend behind me, Malissa. She can cook.
She's a very, very good cook.
She's very intelligent and she listens.
Maliss, Maliss,
how long should I let that pasta sit there for?
Did you wrap it?
She's gonna be a threat for this whole competition.
Malissa's the one that I'm more worried about
than anybody else, 'cause she's been at the top
since she's....we've been here,
and she can do different dishes.
I think it's the Italian in there, I think.
Yeah, put them in. They'll only take about 3-4 minutes to cook.
Alright?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Anglaise is done, in the ice-cream machine, churning.
And I feel like a real MasterChef contestant
now that I have ice cream in the churner.
Just waiting for it to churn.
So fingers crossed that comes together in time as well.
It should be OK. It's the brownie I'm worried about.
The brownie, it's gonna take at least 40 minutes to cook,
and I'm gonna have at least 10 minutes to get that cool
before I can cut into it.
So this has got to get into the oven in the next 3-4 minutes,
or I'm in serious trouble.
(MURMURS)
I don't think I'm gonna have any time to taste everything together.
I've got to get the ice cream into the freezer so that's ready to go.
I'm gonna have to wait till the last second,
pull this brownie out, cut it and put it on the plate.
Ohhh!
You have 40 minutes to go!
Whoo! Come on!
Whoo!
Go, guys!
I'm just getting my cheese mixture,
and I've already toasted off my peppers
and crushed them for my cacio e pepe.
I've made this a few times.
Very quick to make and always delicious.
I'm going for, like, a miso-pepper kind of, like, kind of vibe,
and then some nice thick pasta.
I cook this at home, so it's a bit of a house fave.
(LAUGHS)
I'm just getting my mascarpone whipped cream ready,
and then I just have to roll out my cannoli shells and then fry them.
So I'm looking good for time.
Just got to make sure I get them done.
Malissa. Hello.
Hello! How's it going? First question.
Yes. Do you like my shoes?
They are beautiful! Thank you.
You got a good sneaker collection. Now we got that out of the way...
Now we got the shoe out the way... Cannoli.
Yeah, I'm making cannoli, yes.
So I've done a mascarpone whip for inside.
I like a loaded cannoli. Yes, so do I.
And I think a lot of the time, the sort of...
The nice, right, the classic nice? Yes. Yeah.
Which is great. But I love being surprised, right?
So, like, something that's hidden in amongst that mascarpone
that's like, "Whoa!"
Makes...like, makes us pay attention. Yeah. And secret too.
Yeah. A little secret surprise.
Ooh, a little secret!
But that's how, if you want to stick out in the crowd,
classic's probably not gonna cut it.
Yeah. Yeah. OK.
You got it. Beautiful.
Thank you.
Jock is talking to me about secrets and surprises
in the cannoli shell.
And at this point I'm thinking,
"How can I to do something like that?"
Like, I need to get thinking.
Gonna make this all happen. (LAUGHS)
(GASPS) Ooh!
She's got a smile on her face. GRACE: Yoo-hoo! (LAUGHS)
It's waffles. Waffles.
Took chives, obviously, and salmon roe.
Chives and salmon roe. Hello. (LAUGHS)
Bold move. Yeah.
I would never have gone for them, but I'm glad that you did.
But also I don't think we've seen anyone make waffles
with the underbench either.
No, virgin waffle experience. Oh, hello! (LAUGHS)
That's pretty good. Thank you.
You're sticking out already.
Yeah, I'm having so much fun. That's good.
This is, like, I love that... I-I cook basic food at home.
Cook basic food at home? Yeah!
Someone's... Yeah, I'm like...
I'm like, "Ooh, I'm not paying for the shopping. Hello, salmon roe."
(LAUGHS) How are you gonna present it, then?
Because are you gonna keep these, like, quite large?
I'm gonna do some ricotta on top, and salmon roe, chives.
I love this idea. This is great. Sounds great.
Thank you. Make enough for everyone.
Yeah, I will, thank you.
Nobody has ever cooked them waffles in the MasterChef kitchen,
and I'm hoping that it works out in my favour.
Oh, yum!
How's the brownies coming along?
Yeah, it's still going, mate.
It's gonna be tight. It's gonna be tight.
Thanks, mate.
(SPIRITED MUSIC)
JOCK: I think, like, forcing them to use the underbench pantry
and think about it is one thing,
having you in the kitchen to inspire them,
I think, is bringing the best out of them.
POH: You think? Yeah, I do.
Totally. Look at Grace on the back bench.
Waffles. Come on! ANDY: Yeah.
I don't think...
We've never seen anyone make waffles with the underbench pantry.
No. So I'm like, "This is good!"
MELISSA: Yeah, savoury, waffles, bit of caviar on top.
Delicious! Colour... Bougie brunch.
MELISSA AND POH: Bougie brunch. Yeah.
Order up. I'm in for that. Sounds good.
What else are we loving? Portuguese tarts.
Will love them if they're amazing. If they're amazing.
Yeah. I...
Like, Portuguese tarts are hard to do.
I can't do them. They're hard to do.
Yeah, yeah. It is so difficult.
You know what happens to me all the time?
The custard explodes. (LAUGHS) Yeah.
Watch for exploding custard. (LAUGHS)
Speaking of difficult pastries
that, if executed well, can be winners, cannoli.
I love a surprise in a cannoli because I've eaten so many of them.
I used to like doing that, hiding things.
For my extra two ingredients for this Mystery Box challenge,
I chose mascarpone cheese and orange.
Originally, I was gonna try and candy some oranges,
but I've decided I'm gonna make an orange curd.
Jock wants a little surprise.
My surprise is gonna be my orange curd,
which I'll put in the centre of my cannoli.
Hopefully, that's a nice surprise. (CHUCKLES)
Listen up, you've had 45 minutes, 30 to go.
ANDY: Come on, gang! Come on, guys.
Got this! Got this!
Whoo! Let's go!
My tarts in the oven, like, please cook, please cook.
If my tarts go as badly as everyone thinks they're going to,
then I'm gonna need to have something else
that I can serve to the judges.
And so I start making another bit of custard
that I can quickly get into the blast chiller,
and hopefully make a creme Catalan.
Adi. Hi.
That was such a, like, a despondent 'hi'.
What's happening? It's in the oven.
Oh, you're doing the Poh-sition? I'm doing the Poh-sition.
(CLOCK TICKS)
Freaking me out. That's actually looking pretty good.
I think it looks...
I think it looks promising. Thank you.
We'll see.
(TENSE MUSIC)
PHIL: Ugh!
My brownie is in the oven.
And I'm not sure it will have enough time to cook.
(CLEARS THROAT)
And I've got my vanilla and cacao-infused ice cream
in the churner.
I've added the cacao and vanilla mixture.
But I don't really have that flavour that I want in the ice cream
that's really gonna cut through the richness of the chocolate brownie.
I think maybe there's just some way I can elevate this a little bit,
but unfortunately, I can't pick more ingredients
'cause I've already chosen two.
(SIGHS)
I don't know how I'm gonna save this ice cream.
So, the plan is to make a vanilla and cacao-infused ice cream.
(SIGHS)
But I don't really have that flavour that I want in the ice cream.
That's really gonna cut through the richness of the chocolate brownie.
Like, where can I get flavour?
But unfortunately I can't pick more ingredients.
Ugh!
My brain is going a bit all over the place.
But I'm thinking, like, smoke and fire.
Straight down to the equipment shelf, grab the smoking gun,
get some wood chips in there and pump it into the ice cream.
(TENSE MUSIC)
ANDY: Vanilla and smoke. Don't know.
Second-guessing myself now.
Like, is this the right ice cream,
is it the right flavour, is it gonna work?
And I can't taste it all together until the end.
Getting there, getting there, getting there.
I'm feeling pretty confident.
I've got 20 minutes to go, my pasta's drying,
so once you get close to time,
just need to boil the pasta and put the dish together.
Looking good! Oh, thank you!
I'm excited to show them the miso pasta dish.
What I'm going for is, like, a peppery, umami, lemony...
Just yummy. Yummy goodness.
I never made pasta before, so learning new techniques today.
For the carbonara, I've made fettuccine
and I felt a bit proud of myself.
I was like, "Wow, you know, I've done it."
I started warming up the bacon
to get the warmth and the flavours of the oil,
mixing the egg and the parmigiana.
At this stage, I'm really happy about it.
Guys, hope your plans are well underway!
You have 10 minutes to go!
(JUDGES YELL ENCOURAGINGLY)
ANDY: Come on! 10 minutes!
PHIL: It's gonna be tight, it's gonna be tight.
Oh!
Honestly, Portuguese custard tarts,
you need to have really flaky puff pastry,
and that custard needs to be almost charred in black spots
on the top.
If it doesn't look like that,
it doesn't look like a Portuguese custard tart.
I need to pull them out with about two minutes to go
so that I can plate up,
but I'm just trying to give them as long in the oven as I can.
How's it looking? I'm a bit worried about the pastry.
It hasn't exploded. No, it hasn't exploded.
I'm getting the spots on top.
But I'm a bit worried that the pastry's gonna be blond.
We are Poh-ing. Wow!
Mel comes and joins me. Andy comes and joins me.
Everyone is assuming the Poh-sition. Yeah, I know, the Poh-sition.
I think you did the right thing by cranking.
I want to see the top of the custard get those charred black bits,
and the tart pastry needs to be fully cooked through.
Hopefully, you know, I've got six minutes.
ANDY: Come on, gang!
Top dish! Top dish!
(TENSE MUSIC)
Crunchy. (LAUGHS)
So I taste the waffle that I've cooked
and I can taste all the flavours that are in there.
Hello, expensive treat.
It's got enough salt in it
that I'm being careful to not off-put with the salmon roe
that's about to come on the top of it.
Good? Mm.
I'm feeling happy with how it's coming together.
Grace. I'm just in time.
Can we have a little, uh... GRACE: Yep.
..a little preview? Are you happy?
Yeah, I mean, it's like a very expensive
little treat I'm eating here.
(LAUGHS) Ooh, thank you.
I'm excited about this one, Grace.
I'm excited about it. Thanks, Jock. Appreciate it.
Is it gonna be our top dish? Yes!
Look at the confidence. I love it. (LAUGHS)
I know. I love it.
Don't say anything. Let's go.
Tell me everything with your eyes!
(LAUGHS)
I mean, Poh's got the most beautiful,
delightful smile on her face,
but it's not giving me anything.
(LAUGHS)
(TENSE MUSIC)
PHIL: The ice cream should be done churning.
I'm just working on my caramel sauce now at the minute.
Unfortunately, I can't speed up what's happening in the oven.
Oh! Nice?
Lovely. You like it?
Oh, it's yummy. Oh!
That's all that matters to me, Robbie.
As long as you like it, mate. I like it. (CHUCKLES)
I like it. (TIMER DINGS)
That's all you gotta worry about, brother.
Buzzer goes off, I jump over to the oven quickly to check the brownie
and it's cooked.
Just such relief, such excitement.
I take it out and get it onto a wire rack, shove it into the fridge.
I can't cut into it at this stage
because it's still too hot.
I need to give it those couple of minutes to cool.
ANDY: Come on!
Been the best cook ever. I love this.
MALISSA: So I've made this orange curd.
But now I have
so much to do in so little time.
I need to get my cannoli shells cooking.
Will they be crispy? Yes, they will.
I hope so. You know you've only got 4 minutes?
I know. It's OK. A couple more minutes.
Is there a plan B if you don't get these finished?
Um, we'll be good. We'll be fine.
(LAUGHS NERVOUSLY) Trying to stay positive right now.
I am stressing out. I've got 4 minutes to go.
I have nothing on my plate.
I don't know if I'm gonna get this dish finished.
ANDY: Three minutes! Come on! JOCK: Let's go!
MALISSA: Oh, my gosh. Oh, gosh.
The vanilla and cacao-infused ice cream has finished churning.
Pop it open, let the smoke clear out and give it a taste.
Just that smoke is front and foremost and that's all I can taste.
MAN: Oh, come on!
The caramel is in the jug, ready to go.
I have to get the brownie out of the fridge, cut out a nice square,
get it on that plate and that it is, we are done.
I didn't have that time to taste it all together.
Just hope to God that when the judges taste it, it's gonna be right.
It's just that ice cream that I'm really, really worried about.
You've got one minute to go!
ANDY: 60 seconds! JOCK: Come on, now!
Come on. Top dish.
ADI: I don't like desserts. I don't like doing desserts.
How are the tarts looking? So it's not gonna explode.
I pull the tarts out of the oven.
I've made five. I need to serve four.
I'm pretty happy with them.
I just hope that it fully cooked through.
I'm coming! I got my cannolis ready.
JOCK: Malissa! Yes?
Are the cannolis cooked? Yeah, they're cooked!
(LAUGHS) Hurry it up! They're cooked!
I think they're nice and crispy.
So I pipe a little bit of that curd and the cream into the centre.
I haven't managed to get four cannolis.
I've only got three,
which I'm disappointed about.
So I'm hoping it's enough.
Alright, here it is.
10.
JUDGES: 9, 8, 7,
6, 5, 4,
3, 2, 1.
That's it! ANDY: You're done!
GRACE: Yes! Well done!
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
That looks yummy!
ADI: It's OK.
PHIL: Good job, mate.
Mmm.
JOCK: Well done, everybody.
ANDY: Nice work.
Well, your first mystery box of the season
was set by none other than queen of the kitchen Poh.
(LAUGHTER)
We're looking for the top dish to progress into immunity.
The first one we'd like to taste?
Let's go, Grace.
(APPLAUSE)
GRACE: At the beginning of the cook,
I had this strange savoury waffle in mind
and I'm looking down at my plate
and it's exactly what I envisaged and I'm really happy.
MELISSA: What have you made us today?
So I've made some chive waffles
with a whipped ricotta,
salmon roe and some chives on top.
Wonderful.
So the two ingredients that you chose,
plus your underbench pantry staples were...?
So I chose the salmon roe and the chives.
Wonderful.
So, savoury waffle - I don't know that we've ever had a savoury waffle
in the time that we've been here, so that's pretty cool.
(TENSE MUSIC)
Grace, I really liked it.
You leaned into using the underbench staples
and you produced something that made sense to you.
Anyone who's capable of producing a cracking dish
with just the underbench staples
really holds themselves in good stead for the competition.
POH: What I love about what you've done
is that it's very cohesive.
The ricotta's beautiful. It's really, like, seasoned very beautifully.
And I think you picked your two ingredients very wisely.
Well done.
Flavour-wise, I'd be surprised
if that's not the best thing that we eat today.
You nailed it, so well done. Thank you so much.
JOCK: Good work. Well done. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PHIL: Good job, Gracie! Thank you!
(LAUGHS) MALISSA: Well done!
Thank you. That's amazing.
I fancy some Portuguese tarts, Adi!
(APPLAUSE)
Adi, obviously, you made...
ADI: Portuguese custard tarts.
What were the two ingredients you took from the pantry?
I took cinnamon myrtle and star anise.
Amazing.
How about when all of the judges were, like, looking in your oven?
Like, "Oh, God!" (LAUGHS)
It means we're interested.
Yeah! We're invested.
I...I was touched that you were so invested.
Adi, not altogether successful.
Obviously, pastry is undercooked. Yeah. Yep.
But from a flavour perspective, it's really nice.
The spice really comes through. Yep.
The cinnamon myrtle is such a beautiful flavour in there.
I think it's great.
If you were to ask any chef anywhere to make a Portuguese tart,
I reckon 9 out of 10 would fail.
Am I right, Andy? 100%.
Yeah, it's just such a hard thing to make
let alone to do it in the MasterChef kitchen in 75 minutes.
You're a crazy woman.
POH: It's interesting you should say that
because these are exactly how mine look.
(LAUGHTER)
They are exactly how mine look.
But the flavour is delicious
and actually if you eat the edges where the pastry's caramelised,
it's really yum.
And I love that your custard isn't too sweet
and it's beautifully infused with those spices, so well chosen.
Adi, the outside is delicious.
It has a really lovely, buttery, flaky quality to it.
And you're right - the exterior caramelised bits of custard
have a lovely flavour to them.
So continue to push forward with that same amount of bravery
because the law of averages,
the more you learn and the more you continue to be the way that you are,
it will be a success, so just stick around for it.
Thank you, Adi. Thanks, Adi.
Thank you so much, guys.
Oh, well! Gave it a go. (LAUGHS)
Taken a risk. Well done!
Took a risk. Oh!
Thank you.
The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Phil.
I'm happy with the brownie.
It's come out exactly how I wanted it to come out.
My only concern is that ice cream.
Please sauce it.
I didn't have time to taste it all together, unfortunately.
I am so worried right now.
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Phil, what have you made us today?
PHIL: I've made you a chocolate brownie ice cream.
POH: Wow. That looks decadent. JOCK: Mmm.
Tell us about the two ingredients that you chose from the pantry
and how did they work for you today?
So I chose some chocolate, 70%,
and also some cacao-infused vanilla.
Yep.
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS)
I'll start with the brownie.
I liked it.
The crust on top, chewy corners,
and then that fudgy goodness in the middle, I thought...
I like my brownie like that, so tick of approval there.
Um, the ice cream,
there's problems in flavour.
Remember how at the start of the day
Poh was like, "Pull back with ingredients,
"pull back with, like, techniques
"and doing things to those ingredients
"to try and make them something that they may never be"?
And I think that's what happened with the flavour of the ice cream
and the smoking as well.
OK.
Phil, I think the main issue is you didn't taste any of this together.
It is so important to taste
because if something's not going right,
that's when you readjust and go to plan B or omit something.
Mm-hm, yep.
Separate your processes as much as possible
so that you can recover if something goes wrong.
But, um, I really applaud you for just going all out.
I think it was a really, really ambitious effort.
Thanks, Poh.
MELISSA: Thanks, Phil. ANDY: Nice one, Phil.
Appreciate it. Thanks, guys. MAN: Good job, man. Good job.
ADI: Beautiful. Good job. I just knew. I knew, I knew. Yeah.
The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Robbie.
ANDY: Yeah, Robbie!
(POH WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY)
Mate, what have you made us?
ROBBIE: Carbonara. Beautiful.
Yeah, are you happy?
First time, I guess I'm happy with it.
The bacon's in there and the parmesan cheese
and I think that's what it's supposed to taste like.
Is this the first time you've made it?
First time I've made it, yeah. Stop it!
It's the first time I made it.
(TENSE MUSIC)
I would expect nothing less of you.
You are a brave man
to come here and make carbonara
on a day where you've never made carbonara before.
I mean, that's brilliant.
That's exactly what we hope for, is to see you pushing yourself.
The bacon beautifully rendered out so that it's crispy.
You've used the fat through the pasta, which is really great.
That's exactly as it should be.
Keep making pasta.
The more you make pasta, the better you're going to be at it
and I can't wait to see how you progress on that journey.
(CHUCKLES) Yeah.
Robbie, I thought your pasta was really, really good.
Such a good job of getting the pasta into the oil,
the fat from your speck
and covered that first before you put your egg mix in.
Considering that was the first time you've made carbonara,
I'm pretty impressed, mate.
Appreciate it. Thanks, everyone.
Just walking back, it was like, "Oh, how good's that?"
And, uh, everyone sort of liked my meal, which was very good.
I was quite pleased with myself for the first time around.
Well done! ADI: Well done, Rob.
ANDY: Next up, Ralph.
Your dish is...? Cacio e pepe.
The pasta work was great, the hand-cut thicker pasta.
Love how aggressive it is on the pepper.
You're really starting to put some back-to-back pastas together.
Amy.
Today I've made a miso pepper pasta.
It's a beautiful lemon, peppery, zesty pasta
with a really nice texture.
Really, really good work. Thank you so much.
Thanks, guys. ANDY: Nice one, Amy.
Next up, Malissa.
MALISSA: I am feeling really nervous
because I want to impress Poh.
I'm not happy with the way my plate is looking.
I really wanted to have one cannoli each.
I don't know if I've done enough today.
I've made a citrus cannoli.
So cannoli with mascarpone and... What's going on there?
There's a little orange secret inside.
Bit of an orange curd in the middle.
MELISSA AND POH: Mmm... I'm just doing the maths.
(LAUGHTER)
Sorry! Yep, and I'm right.
There's three of them and four of us.
Oh, sorry! You're gonna have to share one.
That's OK.
You have not taken your eyes off these things, Poh.
Yeah, you know how I love a bit of caramelisation.
I love the colour on those. I think they're really spot-on.
Nup.
Melissa.
I bloody loved it.
It was great. Oh, yay!
The caramelisation on the pastry, it stays nice and crispy.
It hasn't soaked up lots of oil.
The cream was delicious.
But most importantly of all, the secret -
honestly, that's what made it for me.
Beautiful. It was really, really good.
Well done. Yay! Thank you!
POH: I love the pastry. It was perfect.
The texture's beautiful. OK.
I really...I really love it. Thank you so much.
Well done. Thank you.
Melissa, I liked this. Oh, yay.
I liked it because the pastry was hard-caramelised,
it was crispy, flaky and delicious.
I love the flavour throughout the mascarpone.
Really simple, but beautifully done.
The texture of it was silky as well.
All in all, I think you did a cracker of a job today
and you're starting to put some runs on the board pretty consistently,
so you should be pretty proud of yourself.
Thank you so much. Thank you. Well done, Malissa.
Thank you!
Yay! PHIL: Smashed it!
Thank you. Good job.
ADI: Well done! Yay!
(BOTH SPEAK INDISTINCTLY)
WOMAN: Nailed it.
Today was all about making the most of what you had,
but also making it delicious.
Poh, how do you think they went with their first-ever Mystery Box?
I think you guys did so brilliantly.
There wasn't a single bad dish.
Always listen to each other's critiques,
learn from your mistakes
and just keep that fire in your belly alive.
Poh, you've been a joy to have in this kitchen again, as always.
Thank you for having me.
And we can't wait to continue watching you
thrive outside this kitchen as well.
So give it up for Poh!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ROBBIE: Thanks, Poh!
Now, as you know, immunity this year is major.
Not only is it immunity from the next elimination,
but a chance to get your hands on that elusive immunity pin.
And we're about to give one of you that very chance.
After tasting all of your dishes, two stuck in our minds.
Those dishes belonged to...
..Grace...
..and Malissa.
Malissa, holy cannoli! (LAUGHS)
Grace, it was a savoury delight in one bite.
Both of your dishes, they were delicious.
But only one of you can go straight into Thursday's Immunity Challenge.
And that cook is...
..Malissa.
Ohh! (LAUGHS) (APPLAUSE)
Oh, my God!
Yay! (LAUGHS)
Great work, you lot.
And, hey, good news.
You've all got the day off tomorrow. ANDY: Yeah!
The other contestants are back
and they've got an elimination to get through.
So get on out of here. Go home.
Thank you! Thanks, guys.
Wow. (LAUGHS)
'Bye! (ALL CHATTER AND LAUGH)
ADI: Well done! Yes!
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...
Emelia Jackson, everybody!
ALL: Ooh!
..it's elimination number two.
You don't want to be in round 2.
Bloody oath I don't.
And with inspiration from a pastry queen...
Hello, Declan. Hey.
The only 'shoes' I've heard of in the past
are the ones you wear on your feet.
..you'll be amazed at their creativity.
EMELIA: You've nailed the choux.
I think you did an amazing job.