NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
...it was a cheesy finish to Nostalgia Week...
Roquefort.
Emmental.
I'm gonna guess Gruyere.
...with a suspenseful elimination cook.
Yeah, baby!
ROBBIE: Hey, I'm having a go and taking a risk.
I love you, Robbie. Oh, no!
(SHRIEKS) Mal, get it in the bowl!
This has been the most stressful cook of my life.
And...
JOCK: This is the perfect interpretation of what we asked for.
ANDY: I could eat that all day.
MELISSA: I think this is a raging success.
...it ended with an emotional exit for Robbie.
Been great to meet all the family over here.
One day I'll take you to the bush, teach you about real life.
Youse'll know about it. (CONTESTANTS LAUGH)
Tonight, a new week begins
with new surprises...
GRACE: It is crazy having these pro chefs in the kitchen.
...taking the competition to the next level.
RHIANNON: You excited about today? RUE: Um, I don't know.
I love surprises. Do you?!
Yeah! Bring it on. Oh, my gosh!
Wonder what this week is gonna be.
This week's gonna be exciting.
Rue, let's go, let's go!
CONTESTANTS: Ahh! Hey!
Oh, hang on! There's only six!
ADI: Oh, stop it. There's 12 of us. Stop!
JOCK: Morning, everyone.
Couple of interested looks as you were walking past the mystery boxes.
Looks a bit different today.
CONTESTANTS: Yeah! We'll get to that in a moment.
But first, buckle up because we've got two huge surprises for you today.
Oh! Ooh!
Surprise number one.
This week...
...only one of you is going home.
Oh! ANDY: They like that one!
Nice! Nice.
Now to surprise number two.
(EXHALES STRONGLY) This week is a little different.
Oh! OK!
You're gonna be split into teams of three.
Ahh!
Each day this week, one team will be taking on
some of the country's best chefs
in Home Cooks vs Pro Cooks Week!
(ALL CHEER)
BRENT: Genius! Genius.
Wow! Oh, man!
If your team beats the pro cooks,
all three of you will be immune from Sunday night's elimination.
Oh!
Pretty good, huh? Yeah.
That's cool, but scary. (LAUGHS)
Now, Grace, as a result of missing the last elimination,
whatever the outcome of your team challenge is,
you will still be in Sunday's elimination.
Yep. Sure.
Rhiannon, does the thought of facing
a professional kitchen team worry you at all?
No, I'm stoked!
I'm, like, any professional cook in the kitchen's exciting.
You? Stoked? No!
(CONTESTANTS LAUGH) No, I'm SO stoked!
We are kicking off this week with a mystery box.
And as you can see, there's only six boxes on display.
So three are for today's team of you guys
and three are for the team of chefs that you guys are up against, right?
So to decide who's cooking in today's Mystery Box challenge,
I've got a little sack of goodies.
So in here are three green tokens.
Obviously if you pick a green token, it is game on today.
First one, put my hand into the bag...
Ohh!
(ALL LAUGH)
...and I pull out a green token.
Oh, they're all green. No! (LAUGHS)
Can I put it back?!
Only Grace so far. THEO: What?
Still only Grace so far!
The odds are shortening.
The odds are shortening!
Eh! Ohh!
You've got the green shirt, yeah!
Where is it?
Ohh!
I've pulled out a green token. I'm, like, so excited!
I'm like, "Oh, my God! I really wanted to cook today."
(LAUGHS)
We have a team. Now let's find out who you're versing.
These three chefs are the cream of the crop.
They're part of a team behind one of Sydney's hottest hatted restaurants
which recently opened an outpost right here in Melbourne.
Oh! Lord.
This restaurant champions innovative international cuisine.
Please welcome from NOMAD,
Jacqui Challinor and her team!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
I've been to NOMAD before and the food is freaking amazing,
so I'm a bit scared.
Wow!
Jacqui, so good to see you! Welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.
It's been a while. It's been a long while!
Thank you for having me back. Who'd you bring with you?
Head chef NOMAD Melbourne Brendan Katich.
And Lakhan Bhounsle, who is our
senior sous chef at NOMAD Sydney/ pastry chef extraordinaire.
Ooh! Oh-ho!
RALPH: OK!
You've brought the big dogs with you, eh?
We're here to compete, aren't we?
So... (CONTESTANTS LAUGH)
OK, this is how today's challenge is gonna work.
You'll have 75 minutes
to cook us whatever you want
using at least one of the ingredients under the mystery box.
You'll also have access
to the under-bench pantry staples.
We are only looking for the top dish.
If that dish is cooked by any of our contestants,
all three of you guys
are immune from Sunday's elimination.
Except Grace. Except for Grace.
Except for me.
Alright, guys. Head to your benches.
(CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
You may lift your lids... now.
Ooh! Oh, my gosh!
(GASPS)
Ah. OK.
We have pork chop.
Sand crab.
Beautiful pineapple.
Some fennel.
Watercress.
Betel leaves.
Rosella.
A jar of jerk beans.
And my favourite - Hello Panda biscuits.
(CONTESTANTS LAUGH)
So many possibilities.
Bring us a variety of dishes.
Play to your strengths.
Your 75 minutes...
...starts now.
Come on, guys!
Ooh, this is gonna be tough.
We could bash it in a mortar and pestle
and do, like, a saucy...
Like your parsley sauce vibes, potentially.
We've got a mystery box
and only one person can win in the whole six of us.
So if one of us win,
we actually get to be safe from elimination!
And if the pros win, then we go to an all-in.
So we need to come up with a strategy that plays to our strengths.
What are you thinking? Um, maybe a pineapple sorbet.
Antonio's really good with sweet
and Grace is really good with savoury.
They're both amazing cooks.
I'll brine the pork, I think, and then maybe a sticky glaze
and then on the hibachi.
Antonio and Grace both have great ideas.
My strength is I know how to balance bold flavours
as well as spice.
I'm gonna do the crab.
I'll take a little bit.
I'll take a few legs off, maybe do a bit of a butter.
I can do olive oil and rosella parfait.
Ooh, jeez!
And a rosella cream on the bottom.
Just do something you're so confident in nailing.
Yeah, I'm worried you're... Are you stitching yourself up?
I don't wanna get in your head, though.
Do what you feel you're comfortable to do.
100%, the pressure's here.
I don't really know what I wanna cook with.
It's not hot but I can still feel the heat.
(CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
Let's go!
Spoons. I've got you spoons, Antonio.
Oh, good work, Gracie.
I've been a chef for...16 years now.
10 of those will be at NOMAD this year.
Long-service leave coming up.
(LAUGHS)
I love crab.
I think it's the king of the ocean.
I'm gonna do a little starter,
almost like a little bit of a pickled crab salad.
Bit of a fennel puree base.
And, like, different layers of crab, different layers of fennel.
And I might do, like, a little vinegary-sharp
dressing with the pickled beans.
Jacqui Challinor! Hey, Jacqui!
Hello.
You had a little chat before about what everyone was gonna cook.
Was there any like, "You do this 'cause that's your jam"?
Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna do a starter.
Brendan's doing the main and Lakhan's doing the dessert.
Right.
Brendan's dish is really similar to
a dish that we've got on the menu at NOMAD,
which is a bit of a signature.
So I'll be cooking wood-roasted pork chop
with barbecued pineapple and fennel.
This is just a little pineapple sort of salt rub for that pork chop.
Go on.
Lakhan's a bit of a wildcard, but I like that.
JOCK: How badly...
...as the boss,
do you wanna take this home today?
Oh, look, I'm not NOT trying to win, but... (LAUGHS)
That's all we needed to hear. She's going for it.
I'm competitive, OK? Yeah.
Just don't run out of time. I'll be fine.
Stop distracting me, then!
Today I'm cooking on the same bench as Jacqui.
She's pretty intimidating.
We're making completely different dishes,
but at the end of the day, our team just needs
one top dish to win.
I like doing desserts, so I think I'm playing to my strengths,
but... I don't know, we'll see.
I'm starting off with a fennel and pineapple sorbet,
with a watercress crumb.
I've definitely done sorbets before,
mostly raspberries,
but today I'm gonna try pineapple and see how that goes.
We're going against professionals, so this has to be the best
pineapple and fennel sorbet the judges have ever had.
I want the combination of flavours to have that wow factor.
I'm really hoping it's a winning dish.
Let's see if we can bring it home.
Pretty simple - we're only looking for the best dish today.
15 down. One hour to go.
(ONLOOKERS CHEER)
Let's go, guys! Come on! Go, Rhi!
RHIANNON: I just keep forgetting all my equipment. It's terrible!
Lakhan. Hello.
What are you making?
I'm making an olive oil and betel leaf parfait.
Are you worried about anything at all?
Um, I just need to get cracking
and get this parfait in the blast freezer as soon as possible.
So once the cream's done,
the parfait's gonna go in and hopefully,
she will be... set.
Time. Time runs out. Yes.
Super quick. I know.
Before you know it, we'll be giving you a 10-minute countdown.
Your parfait's not set, there's a bit of pressure...
See, now the pressure's building. Now the pressure's building!
Welcome to MasterChef! Good luck!
I need to get my parfait in the blast freezer
but I'm infusing this betel-leaf flavour in my cream.
And that needs to cool down completely before I whip it.
I feel the stress. I feel the pressure.
It all feels real now.
How's it feel to be back down there, Rhiannon?
Oh, great, mate!
My strategy is to go big on flavour.
And I'm going, "I can't think of anything else but pineapple!"
It's just, like, pineapple, pineapple, pineapple.
I'm, like, going troppo. (LAUGHS)
So I'm like, "I'm gonna go sweet with this one."
And you know what? I'm not even a sweet person.
Rhiannon! Rhiannon!
Hey, guys!
You're going down Sweet Alley as well, looks like.
Yeah, I am, which is really weird.
Yeah. Yeah, it's really weird.
You know, like, desserts aren't generally something I will go for.
What are you cooking?
I'm doing a fennel ice cream
with an upside-down caramelised pineapple cake
with some candied fennel
and maybe some fresh pineapple.
I'm just gonna wing it and see how I like the flavours.
It's not 1980. (LAUGHS)
I'm still stuck in Nostalgia Week!
Upside-down cakes are so retro.
I'm pretty sure I've been eating these my whole life,
and I'm... old.
What am I doing?
ADI: This week is Home Cooks vs Pro Cooks Week.
Yeah, tough challenges ahead.
(TIMER BEEPS)
Why is this going up?
You can tell that the pro chefs are pros
because they are calm, they are collected,
they know what they're doing, they've done it a thousand times before.
But the pro cooks have not cooked in this kitchen before,
they don't know where everything is.
LAKHAN: I am a bit nervous.
Just the pressure, working in a new space.
I can really feel the pressure.
Like, I can feel it in me now.
I actually think that the home cooks have a chance today
because just one of them needs to have the top dish.
It's round about this time that you start realising
just how much you've gotta do.
You've only got 45 minutes to go.
ANDY: Come on!
ADI: Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!
Let's go, guys! Looking good!
(LAUGHS) THEO: Oh, no!
Hit it on the bench. Tap it on the bench.
(LAUGHS)
(POP!) Hey!
Hey!
Good job, Grace. Good job.
JOCK: Grace. ANDY: Hi, Grace.
Hi! How are you? Very good.
What's cooking?
Um, so I've got some pork brining. Yep.
And I've juiced some pineapple and I've got the rosella in there.
Cook that down into...
Into a bit of a sticky sort of sauce.
Yep. Yep.
And then the plan is actually to tempura some betel leaves,
slice the pork and sit it inside with a little bit of pineapple,
fennel on top.
The whole thing's tempura-ed?
No, so, like, a little cup to sorta, like...
Like a taco. As a vessel.
A little vessel. Just the betel leaf?
Yeah.
Is it gonna be stable enough? I hope so.
You're gonna have to get it, like, super crispy.
Yeah.
Really interested in this dish. Same.
(LAUGHS NERVOUSLY)
Good luck! See ya.
Either way, I'm gonna be in the elimination cook,
so it's an all-or-nothing day for me.
Oh, gosh!
To actually be here is very...
...very strange experience, but exciting.
I've watched quite a bit of MasterChef.
It's just great to see other people
that really love food...
Yum!
...the possibilities involved with food and the beauty of it.
I couldn't resist cooking the pork chop today.
And then to go with that,
I'll use some of this beautiful fennel, make a puree,
and then we'll probably do a little
barbecued pineapple sort of salsa.
And then some of those sliced-up beans as well
just for that real acidity to go with the creamy fennel.
Did you say I could take the base of the fennel?
Yeah. You're not using it?
You want the tops, yeah? I'll just use the green stuff.
I think today's more about
paying respect to that produce
and sort of just complementing it where we can.
MELISSA: Gentlemen, some good dishes?
JOCK: I don't think there's a bad dish out there today.
Nah. Antonio up the front, he's gonna do his pineapple sorbet.
And that's really the only element that he's, like,
super committed and set on.
Jacqui, a crab salad.
She's got the crab cooking, she's gonna reduce
the liquor in there, which will give her the dressing.
So it's gonna be a salad that's crunchy and full of texture
and it's very NOMAD.
I would expect nothing less from her.
You know, they're a well-organised team.
And all three of them sound like they could take the win out.
They're gonna be tough to beat today.
I mean, I think they're showing off a little bit.
(JUDGES LAUGH)
How you going? Good, how are you?
Good, thanks! What's cooking this side?
Um, got some fennel ice cream happening.
Ooh! What about you?
I'm doing a betel leaf and olive oil parfait.
Yum!
I've got Lakhan next to me making a parfait
and I'm doing an ice cream, and I'm kinda going,
"Oh, he's a pastry chef, I'm a home cook.
"There's a big difference."
And to make it even worse, I've never made fennel ice cream before.
Can you taste the fennel? A little bit.
But, you know, fennel and pineapple have always been great mates.
Chuck it in a creamy, beautiful ice cream,
they're gonna love each other.
I'm gonna work as hard as I can
to get this dish full of flavour.
I'm gonna really give it my all.
I would love to just prove why I'm in this competition.
Today's the day. I wanna beat these pros!
If I can pack enough flavour into this retro pineapple cake,
I reckon I can take Lakhan out.
I need to get on with my parfait.
I infused betel leaves in my cream, so it was a bit hot
and then I had to chill it down completely.
But it's still a bit warm.
I'm a bit stressed.
The cream's not whipping fast enough.
I need to crank the speed up.
I feel my heart sinking a bit at this point.
The parfait's not in the freezer. My cream's not whipping.
I'm really feeling stressed and under the pump.
Oh!
Um, a situation.
My cream's split.
BRENDAN: Oh, I love you! You're the drama!
My cream has split. I'm just looking at the bowl, wondering what to do.
I don't know what to do at this point.
Are you alright? Uh, my betel leaf cream split.
I literally ran to grab a spoon.
I'm gonna pivot. I am dropping the betel leaf completely.
I don't have time to do it again.
I look at the rosella. It's got a beautiful colour.
And I see pineapple.
So now the dish is just an olive oil parfait
with candied rosella in it with pineapples,
some diced pineapples tossed in some rosella syrup.
But I'm still gonna play to my strength
and hopefully this makes the cut.
ANDY: Parfait in the fridge yet? No.
(CHUCKLES)
I know I have to get my parfait in the freezer ASAP.
She's getting together. She's whipping.
Sounds like today's tasting is going to be spectacular.
30 minutes to go!
(ONLOOKERS CHEER)
DECLAN: Let's go, Grace!
Mmm!
I'm gonna be serving a fennel and pineapple sorbet.
Sorbet's looking really good.
I'm happy with my watercress crumb.
Hi, Antonio! Hello, hello!
I just candied a little bit of, uh, the rosella,
'cause I've never tried them before, and they're so beautiful.
I really like the colour and they just taste amazing.
I think I wanna make now
a little jammy or maybe syrup.
That sounds like a fantastic idea.
Vibrant colour, beautiful flavour,
they really do add a lot of beauty to the dish.
Just leave yourself enough time to bring this dish together.
OK. Thank you.
I've never cooked with rosella flowers before,
so I'm not entirely sure how long should I cook them for
to make a really nice jam.
It sort of tastes like raspberry,
so I'm gonna treat it exactly like that
and they cook down pretty quick.
RALPH: Look at you, sir! Oh, Antonio!
Oh, you bougie boy! Pulling out the big guns!
(LAUGHS)
I'm just gonna get the crab meat picked.
CATH: Oh, she's getting...
DECLAN: Getting the meat out. OK, yep.
You don't get much meat out of one, do you?
No! Bloody hell!
At this stage, I've only sort of tasted things separately.
My next step is just putting it all together
and seeing how it comes together in one mouthful.
Hopefully I've built up layers of crab and fennel.
It's all coming together and I'm loving it.
There's the flavours of that beautiful
creamy, silky puree down the bottom,
the crunch from the fresh fennel
and the beautiful soft, silky crab.
It's layered up and it eats well. That was the intention.
Jacqui - I understand why she's the boss.
She is just doing her job so effortlessly.
I hope the contestants can do enough to beat Jacqui.
I'm sorry, but how can you compete against
a crab salad being served in its own shell?
You know, like, that's next level. (LAUGHS)
Cakes look good. They're soft and fluffy.
Rhi's doing a sweet today, which is not normally her forte.
So I'm quite proud of her for, you know, going outside of the square.
RUE: Oh, looks good, Rhi.
RHIANNON: Yeah, it tastes really good too.
Yep.
I was concerned about the fennel flavour coming through,
but I ended up adding a bit more.
Pretty happy with it.
Do you have any brine left, Gracie?
Yep, a little bit.
How much do you need? I just need a tiny bit. I only...
Here, I'll leave that with you, babe.
Are you gonna need that? Um... save me what you can.
I'm pickling my pineapple here.
I'm adding the brine from the bean liquid
to put a bit of chilli into my pineapple.
I have to put chilli in everything.
You know, who doesn't love chilli?
So I'm on track,
but, I mean, the cooks from NOMAD are crazy ridiculous,
so I'm gonna go as hard as I possibly can.
LAKHAN: I am a big fan of MasterChef.
That was a big lockdown project for us,
to sit at home, watch every single episode during dinnertime.
I could feel the stress sitting on the couch, just like,
"Get the ice cream in the machine NOW!"
I don't wanna be that person, but... I am that person today.
I feel the stress, I feel the pressure.
It all feels real now.
No parfait, no dish, so... I'm hoping that the parfait sets.
Let's see!
BRENDAN: Oh, you got a big old chop. (GRACE LAUGHS) Yeah!
I've got my pork on the hibachi.
When you are limited to your ingredients,
you need to be creative with how you bring
more flavour, and so
there's nothing better than that smoky fire flavour
that you get from the hibachi.
But I do notice
just to my left...
...Brendan also has his beautiful cut of pork
on a hibachi.
Feeling right at home right now.
The crux of what we do at NOMAD is all centred around
cooking over the open fire.
There's something very simple about cooking over fire,
and there's nowhere to really hide.
Perfection for me is just a nice, juicy piece of pork.
So just gotta nail the cook on this.
It is the battle of the pork chops up this back bench.
I mean, I'm a little bit nervous.
Obviously we've got the pros over here.
I don't think he's got a single care in mind.
He looks like he's just in his element.
Don't let that burn.
These guys cook with fire every day. It's what they do best.
So I wanna make sure that my idea is different in order to stand out.
I'm gonna do the betel leaf tempura
and I'll, like, serve three little betel leaves
with slices of the pork.
Inside? Yeah. Yeah.
Hopefully I'll have enough time
to play around with this tempura batter.
I've never done a tempura-ed betel leaf.
I don't want the betel leaf to break when the judges eat it.
That tempura batter needs to be really crispy.
If these betel leaves don't work,
I'm not sure how it's gonna work out for me today.
The pressure is on.
Time to make those all-important final decisions.
You've only got 15 minutes to go!
Let's go! Let's go!
(CONTESTANT WHISTLES)
Let's go, guys, let's go! Come on!
How you going?
Stressed. Stressed? (LAUGHS)
Just trialling out my tempura betel leaves at the moment.
Yeah, hopefully it works out!
I want the betel leaf to just be the perfect vessel
for the beautiful pork.
Oh, that looks amazing!
I think it's working!
BRENT: Is it crunchy still?
Yeah, it's OK! Good?
Yeah!
Now that I've tasted the betel leaf
and I'm seeing that it's holding its shape,
I think that this might actually work.
Oh, yum!
That's good.
Yeah, that's good, Grace. Clever.
I've also got some pickled fennel in the fridge.
I've prepared a little salsa number with my pineapple
and my pickled green beans.
I've got a sauce reducing now to glaze over the top of my pork.
And I'm just working to have
everything ready to go
for when I wanna plate.
CATH: Good job, Grace!
It would be so cool if I could save my team
and bring home the victory today.
BRENDAN: My burnt pineapple salsa's done.
The fennel puree's made.
It just all comes down to that pork.
So the pork's the star of the dish.
I'm looking to have a beautifully cooked piece of pork.
Nice colour on the outside but still tender and juicy on the inside.
As soon as I see that pork, I know I'm in a happy place.
I'm just hoping that that balance of the salsa
and the richness of the puree can really top off that pork nicely.
I'd love to get the top dish today.
Be a nice little feather in the cap to walk back to NOMAD with.
But there's definitely some stiff competition out there.
Five minutes to go!
ANDY: Come on, five minutes!
Lakhan, is your stuff frozen, bro, or what?
LAKHAN: Hopefully.
This is the moment of truth.
No parfait, no dish.
And it's a success. Whew!
But I still feel nervous.
I don't know if the judges are gonna like it
because it started off as something
and it's not the same thing on the plate.
RHIANNON: It's time to start building the cake.
You've just gotta put it upside down.
Oh, that looks awesome!
Beautiful chilli pickled caramel. Pour that over the top.
I've tasted it all and I like it.
For me, it's definitely up my flavour alley.
But Lakhan's is so beautiful.
It's, like, the prettiest thing I've ever seen.
I don't know whether my retro cake's gonna be good enough.
Just on looks alone, I don't think my chances are good! (LAUGHS)
JOCK: One minute to go! Come on!
Come on!
Come on, guys! Come on!
What is she doing?! One minute!
Get it on the plate!
Just keeping on my toes!
JACQUI: When I finish the crab salad
with the burnt butter over the top,
I'm really, really, really stoked with how it's all come together.
ANTONIO: For the plating, I want each scoop
to grab some of the watercress crumb,
some of the jam and some of the sorbet,
so that way, when you scoop it in,
you're actually grabbing all three elements at once.
ALL: 10, 9, 8,
7, 6, 5,
4, 3, 2, 1.
That's it!
(ONLOOKERS CHEER)
Well done! (LAUGHS) Nice work.
Good job. Well done, buddy.
I'm really hoping the judges love the flavour.
That's where I'm bankin' on.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I'm glad I did it.
In the battle of home cooks vs pro cooks,
who handled the mystery box best?
We're looking for the best dish today.
JOCK: The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to...
...Rhiannon.
(CONTESTANTS CHEER) ADI: Whoo! Go, Rhiannon!
Rhiannon, what have you made us?
I've made a pineapple upside-down sponge cake...
...with a fennel ice cream...
...and a pickled caramel pineapple.
Dessert. I know!
What's going on?
I just saw the pineapple and instantly, I just went, "Pineapple."
I'm tropic North Queensland.
You get pineapples on the side of the road everywhere, you know?
- Yeah. - So for me, that was really familiar.
Cool.
ANDY: Rhiannon...
Oh, my God. Flavour! It is... out of control.
Like, what you've done really well is
the little kind of pickled pineapple
versus the roasted pineapple
versus the aniseed in the ice cream.
The thing that's going on there is absolutely dynamite.
You're a master of flavour. Oh, yes!
You love cooking with chilli, you love always sort of
inserting that into the narrative wherever you can.
And I think it was really clever of you to kind of
balance sweet and savoury and sour and bright into this one dish.
Flavours - brilliant.
And that top part of the cake,
you get just a slight lick of the chilli in there.
It's tender and it's full of flavour
and it's got a really nice mouthfeel.
Well done. Thanks, guys.
I'm stoked. Thank you.
CATH: Awesome, Rhi!
Good job! Thanks, buddy.
Standard's set.
Next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Lakhan.
Whoo-hoo!
CATH: Wowee!
Whoo-hoo!
What have you made us, mate?
Rosella and olive oil parfait...
...with grilled pineapple...
...and fresh pineapple with bronze fennel
and candied rosella.
On a scale of 1 to 10,
how nervous are you right now?
I am a bit nervous,
because this wasn't what I was originally planning to do.
I wanted to do a betel leaf and olive oil parfait,
but the cream split and I had to pivot
and do something with what we had.
I could definitely feel your nerves.
I think that little bit of self-doubt creeping in
to go, "Can I commit to this new dish
"and will this new dish be a success?"
I can imagine that that must be playing on your mind at the moment.
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I'm nervous.
I don't know if the judges are gonna like my parfait.
I'm very happy to say the texture of the parfait is sublime.
It has a beautiful silky, velvety texture to it.
That slight fruitiness from the olive oil
really comes through.
The olive oil parfait, it is beautiful, mate.
Like, I was so worried for you because you had a few other problems
while you were trying to get the parfait in the freezer,
and I was like, "Is that gonna rush him
"on getting the perfect parfait mix together?"
But I really, really dug it.
It's such a good anchor
for everything that you've loaded on top.
The fresh little pineapple-rosella salsa -
dynamite.
The grilled pineapple that you basted
with the rosella syrup - dynamite.
Great result, mate. Thank you.
The flavours are excellent.
A touch more acidity, for me,
just to cut through that rich fattiness of the parfait,
would have been all that was required.
But I can see why you're a cherished member of the NOMAD team, mate.
That's a very smart dessert in terms of flavour,
and it also looked the goods.
Well done, mate. Thank you so much.
(ONLOOKERS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
Good job. Good job.
The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Antonio.
(ONLOOKERS APPLAUD) Whoo!
Go, Antonio!
ANTONIO: There's been a couple of good desserts already.
I really, really want immunity
so I need to deliver.
Antonio, what have you made today?
I made you a pineapple and fennel sorbet,
a rosella jam
and a watercress crumble.
JOCK: Antonio...
...as always with you, great flavours going on.
Pineapple and fennel sorbet, well balanced.
And then the jam - great flavours,
but a terrible texture.
It just hasn't been cooked out enough.
Rosella flowers, you really need to cook them. They take a lot.
You know flavours so well
and I think conceptually, this is a really great dish.
Even though rosella as a flavour and ingredient to use
is unfamiliar to you,
I really commend you for taking that on.
Great effort in terms of trying to play with new flavours,
but I just think you need to keep on working.
Thank you.
Jacqui.
(APPLAUSE)
JACQUI: I think it looks beautiful.
I think it eats really beautifully.
I think we're in with a shot.
What did you cook us today?
A crab and fennel salad.
I'm happy with the dish. I'm confident with it.
So, you know, may the best man win.
Jacqui, great flavours. Very impressive.
Beautifully cooked crab.
And I think the delicious part here is making it somewhere between
rich and decadent with the brown butter
and sort of zingy, sharp edge with the vinegar from the jerk beans.
It is light, it's refreshing, it's full of flavour.
The grilled fennel just finishes off
that sort of smoky sort of flavour -
a trademark of NOMAD.
Even in a blindfold, I could have picked that was your dish.
I thought it was excellent. Well done.
Thank you. Thank you.
Jacqui, stunning presentation,
as would be expected of a chef of your calibre.
It's just such a lovely bite of food.
A wonderful way to start a lovely meal.
Thank you.
Jacqui, I think you really showed off your skill today.
To just kind of prod along and do elements
and then to be able to put them all together
and create greatness,
that's so hard to do,
and you've absolutely nailed it.
It has layers upon layers upon layers.
Thank you!
I think you've made a serious play for the win today.
Oh, she's happy now!
Next up, Brendan!
I'm hoping this dish really represents me.
It's just about beautiful produce
and some really simple flavours to complement it.
Brendan, what'd you cook, mate?
I cooked a barbecued pork chop...
...with a burnt pineapple salsa...
...and a fennel puree.
Nice.
Brendan...
...Jacqui said you know your way around a pork chop.
You can definitely tell with what you've done there.
It was perfectly cooked.
It's really beautifully seasoned.
The fennel puree with the watercress through it.
I love that touch of watercress.
The only thing I would have liked is, like, some sort of vinaigrette
to kind of break through the pork,
the puree and bring it all together.
But, mate, there's some epic cooking on the plate.
You should be super proud. Thank you.
Some very confident cooking and I would expect nothing less from you.
I think the beans were a really smart move.
A really confident cook can look at something that is a pre-made product
and know how to integrate it into a dish in order to elevate it,
and I think you did that to great success.
For me, the pineapple with the jerk beans is...
It's just the perfect accompaniment for pork.
I thought it was brilliant, mate. Really, really, really well done.
Thank you. Nice one, Brendan.
(ONLOOKERS APPLAUD)
And lastly, Grace.
(ONLOOKERS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
GRACE: When I walk this dish up to the judges,
they are either gonna get it and love it
or it's gonna be an epic fail.
I really wanna impress the judges.
I need this betel leaf to be crunchy
and a hero in itself.
(GRACE WHIMPERS)
ANDY: Grace, there's a bit going on. What have we got?
So we've got tempura betel leaf
with pork, a pineapple and rosella sauce
and a salsa.
(CRUNCH!)
(CRUNCH, CRUNCH!)
(CRUNCH!)
Grace...
Oh, my God.
You've nailed it.
Oh, thank you!
The tempura betel leaf. Two things going on.
One, you've mastered tempura.
What it's also done, in cooking the betel leaf
rather than having it raw as we normally might,
it's just allowed the oils to seep out...
...and kind of perfume the inside of that tempura batter.
And so you get this amazing
perfume and flavour of betel leaf as you're eating it.
The pork is beautifully cooked.
And did you marinate that in the juice of the...
The pickle... Yeah, you can taste it.
It's so good.
You are on fire!
Absolutely amazing.
It's just a really wonderful bite of food.
Lots of considerate textures.
Beautifully, beautifully balanced.
And it's as happy as you are, which is...
The best we can hope for is
translating how you're feeling right now onto the plate.
It's true. Thank you.
It's the second faultless dish that we've got today.
I mean, you are right up there.
It all starts with that tempura.
We were interested in the concept,
but we were somewhat doubting
whether you could achieve what you wanted to,
and you have done that and some.
And then it is all about the goodies on top.
You've really thought about "How can I make this pork cutlet
"even better than it is?"
You should be so stoked! I'm so happy!
Like, you are going up against some absolute weapons
in the NOMAD crew
and you are right there with them.
So, well done, Grace. Thank you!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
(GIGGLES HAPPILY)
Well done!
Today, we were on the hunt for just one top dish.
And so we narrowed it down to our favourite dish
from each team.
From Team NOMAD,
leading by example,
that dish was cooked by Jacqui.
Whoo!
The crab salad was decadent,
it was beautifully balanced
and unmistakably yours.
And from our contestants,
that dish was cooked by Grace.
(ONLOOKERS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
It was an ingenious vehicle carrying the most delicious cargo.
Textural, vibrant,
and surprisingly successful.
Great work, Grace. Well done. Thank you.
Both of your dishes were technically flawless
but one dish excited us more.
And that dish was cooked by you, Grace.
Ohhh!
Oh, my God!
ANTONIO: Good job!
Oh, my God!
Man!
Well done! Well done.
Ohh!
Grace, rarely in this kitchen does a dish composed of
such unlikely ingredients
converge into such a resounding success.
Even though you may not have been able to save yourself today,
you successfully saved your teammates,
Antonio and Rhiannon, from Sunday's elimination.
So bittersweet!
Yeah, I know!
Jacqui, Brendan, Lakhan,
our commiserations.
Our kitchen is better for having had you in it.
Give it up for the NOMAD team, then!
Thank you!
Thanks, guys!
As for the rest of you, we'll see you tomorrow.
Congratulations. Oh, my God!
Well done. Well done!
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...
It's Khanh Nguyen!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
...home cooks and pro cooks take on a three-course Pressure Test
from a master...
MALISSA: Khanh's entree is
the most beautiful dish
I've ever seen in my life.
...that blows everyone away...
Hoo! MELISSA: You ready?
Oh, no!
...even the professionals.
Oh, no! My God!
I stuffed up! Ooh!
Captions by Red Bee Media