NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
..Cath and Declan were in a prickly situation.
JOCK: Bring us a dish that is a fiesta, not a siesta.
They fought for the final spot in tonight's immunity cook.
ANDY: Declan, that is where it's at. You've done it really, really well.
Then the Three Amigos cooked with cactus
to win a secret advantage.
Got bloody prickly pears in me. Oh, no!
Hopefully all those needles aren't in the dish.
Loved the presentation.
The little pops of the strawberry cactus
was a really smart way to use it.
Brent, congratulations. Good job.
Thank you.
Tonight... THEO: Wow.
..a location like this...
DECLAN: Wow!
..can only mean an epic battle for immunity.
(ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC)
BRENT: Wow! THEO: God.
RHIANNON: I wonder how old it is.
CATH: Yeah.
Oh, it's been an incredible week,
you know, touring around my beautiful state of Victoria.
We've been to All Saints Estate,
we've been to Cactus Country, which was way out of left field,
and, yeah, I've really enjoyed myself this week.
DECLAN: It's huge!
This is where they make Grain Waves.
What about Vita-Weats?
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
I could make Vita-Weats today.
Oh, you can make Vita-Weats today, Theo.
(LAUGHS) I wonder what's inside.
BRENT: Oh, wow! Oh!
Holy dooley!
Oh, what?!
Wow! THEO: Wow.
BRENT: It's out of control, the size of this place.
It's monstrous. Kind of reminds me of Bunnings Warehouse, you know?
Us three tradies are in there
every weekend and during the week, you know,
so I feel at home.
It actually feels like it's never-ending.
RHIANNON: Oh, I'm getting puffed.
ANDY: Nearly there. Come on.
(THEO CHUCKLES)
Wow. Alright.
Whoo! Jeez.
Hey, how cool is this? It's awesome.
Welcome to the Stick Shed here in Murtoa.
This is the only remaining emergency grain store
and it was built in World War II.
It's a heritage-listed cultural icon.
This incredible structure used to store
all types of locally grown grains.
It's over 200 metres long. Wow.
And it's almost 20 metres high.
(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM) Oh, man!
And today it's where we will decide which of you three...
..will become the first contestant into Finals Week.
Whoa! Yep!
Theo, end of a big road trip. How are you feeling?
Yeah, I'm excited. This is an epic setting.
Reminds me of my dad's shed on the farm that he keeps all his stuff in,
just, like, half the size, I reckon.
Oh! Half the size.
Yeah. That's a big shed.
Wow, big Greek shed. It's not that big. (LAUGHS)
(CONTESTANTS AND JUDGES CHUCKLE)
Declan, I'm getting you didn't think that you'd be top 5.
(LAUGHS) Absolutely not.
Even hearing that's giving me goosebumps,
um, but, yeah, just seeing sort of how I've evolved over time
and how much I've learned
and the knowledge that I've grown on,
it's amazing
and I'll be able to carry that with me throughout my life.
Nice.
Brent, man, you are literally this far away from Finals Week.
Yeah. Have you thought about that?
Yeah, look, I think about it a little bit,
but it's still, you know, for me, it's just next cook, next cook,
so I try not to get wrapped up in going right down there,
but, yeah, I'd love to get to, you know, Finals Week.
Well, gotta cook one good dish - that's all it could take.
Yep.
Well, looking at that beautiful but massive dining table down there,
you might have guessed today's a Service Challenge.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to cook and dine in this amazing space.
This service, it'll consist of an entree, a main and a dessert.
Each of you, you'll cook one of those courses.
Nice.
And your course must feature one of the ingredients
underneath the cloth behind us.
Should we find out what they are?
Yeah, let's do it. Yeah?
No surprises here.
It's grains.
CONTESTANTS: Ooh!
These are some of the ingredients that were once stored here.
We've got chickpeas, wheat, green lentils,
fava beans and pearl barley.
Now, Brent, yesterday, you won a massive advantage.
Do you wanna hear what it is? Yeah. Tell me.
You'll get first pick of both which grain you have to feature
and which course you feature it in.
(RHIANNON AND CATH LAUGH) Entree, main or dessert.
CATH: Good one. That's a nice advantage.
You'll be picking dessert, won't you?
Sure. Can't wait.
Go on, let's pick a grain first, mate.
OK. Wanna come and have a look?
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go with green lentils.
Already? Yeah.
ANDY: Hoo! Straight in. OK. Which course?
Entree, main or dessert?
I'm gonna go with entree.
Alright, Brent, so you're cooking an entree featuring green lentils.
Yep. So, they're off the table, guys.
Yep.
Declan, Theo, to make the next choice,
I think it's about time we played
the old-fashioned rock, paper, scissors, don't you?
(CONTESTANTS LAUGH)
Look, love a bit of rock, paper, scissors.
As long as I don't get dessert, I should be alright today.
I'm gonna go three and then you guys go, OK?
Yeah. One, two, three.
(GRUNTS) (LAUGHS)
You picked rock. Yeah.
You picked paper. You win.
So, Theo, you can either choose which course you'd like to cook
or which grain you would like to use.
Theo, what are you picking?
I'm gonna pick a main for my course.
Declan, that means you have dessert. Yep.
But it also means that you get to choose one.
What's it going to be, mate?
Um... Remember, you're cooking dessert.
Yep. Um...
I am absolutely stumped.
Without a doubt, dessert is gonna be the hardest course
to feature your grain in.
Like, it is a bit of a disaster.
I'm pretty stressed out.
I'm gonna go the pearl barley.
I feel like if I can somehow turn this pearl barley into dessert,
I may be in with a chance.
Theo, the last choice is yours, mate.
For main course, what are you choosing?
Um...
I'll take chickpeas.
Alright, mate.
For today's Grain Service Challenge,
we have Brent on entree with green lentils,
Theo on mains with chickpeas
and, Declan, you're on dessert with pearl barley.
Each cook will have three hours
before the dishes need to start leaving the pass.
The start time of each course will be staggered, of course,
to allow for service to flow smoothly.
Each of you will be feeding 25 diners as well as the three of us.
Of course, you have access to a fully stocked pantry
and the best course will win the final immunity of the season,
securing your spot in finals week and the top 4.
Oh, what a prize. You all want that.
Oh, man. Come on, guys.
It's time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Good luck, Brent. Your three hours starts now.
(ALL CHEER)
BRENT: I'm pumped.
This whole road trip,
it's all been leading up to this Service Challenge,
so this is massive.
I would love to take the win today
and be the first person into Finales Week.
I'm not gonna let these wallys win.
I've got the advantage, I got to pick what I wanted
and I'm just gonna, you know, put up a really delicious dish.
So, today, I'm doing, like, a Sri Lankan dhal
and then I'm gonna have, like,
this flaky, hot-smoked rainbow trout on top
with some beautiful fresh herbs and then a nice little temper oil.
I know for a fact that time is gonna be my enemy today.
I've got 25 hungry diners that want to get their entree on time.
OK, let's get... Good.
Alright. Got them.
So, I'm gonna do 10.
I believe I'll get about four people per one.
I know how delicious a hot-smoked rainbow trout is,
but I also know there's a lot of work
from butterflying it, curing it and then smoking it.
I'm gonna do a quick dry cure on it.
I'm curing the rainbow trout with salt and sugar,
which just draws out the moisture.
And then after they're cooked,
I've got a mammoth task of getting all these bones out
and there is hundreds in a rainbow trout,
so it's a fine line between, you know,
it's delicious, but there's a lot of work involved.
They'll just sit and cure while I get onto the dhal.
I saw your face drop when there was no hibachis, so...
(LAUGHS) Same as you, buddy.
RHIANNON: Go, Brentles! You're looking good, buddy.
CATH: Brentles with the lentils.
Wow! Look where we are. We're in The Stick Shed.
What a beautiful moment in the kitchen.
It's just mind-blowing. 20 metres high.
We had a bit of a competition about how many poles were in here.
I said 320, but there's about 500-odd,
so just a beautiful historical site.
Looking good, Brentles. Keep it up, buddy.
Come on.
JOCK: Brent! ANDY: Entree.
What's the dish?
So, the dish is sort of a Sri Lankan dhal...
OK.
..and then on top of that will be a flaky smoked trout
and then I'll make a temper oil
with curry leaf and ginger and garlic,
and zesty, herby salad full of, you know, vibrance
to just lift everything up.
Sounds good.
If you can nail this, that's a cracker of an idea, for sure,
and I think, you know, you've got a mission on you with the fish.
Yeah. Trout's got a lot of bones.
You're gonna have to be really careful
because 25 diners out there plus us three...
Yeah.
..every plate needs to be the same, not one bone in any plate.
You just have to get the trout right.
Yeah.
I'm excited. Can't wait. Yeah, same.
Awesome. Thanks, guys.
Better be good, mate, 'cause big Theo's coming in.
Oh, I'm coming for you.
What's he doing? Lamb?
(CONTESTANTS LAUGH)
Brent, you've had 45 minutes,
which means, Theo, your three hours starts now.
ANDY: Go, Theo!
Today I have got laser vision. I know what I'm gonna cook.
I ended up picking chickpea
and I am cooking the main dish today -
chickpea stew with a slow-roasted lamb shank,
and it's gonna have Moroccan vibes in it.
I'm going for something kind of like
what you would maybe serve to the workers that were here,
but in a more refined way.
The first thing I'm starting on is getting my chickpeas on,
getting that stew ticking away.
For the base, I've got my onions with my garlic, carrots and celery,
and before I do that, I'm gonna add all the spices.
I have literally every single spice known to man in here.
I'm gonna build that flavour that I want.
I wanna get this prep knocked out so fast
that I have plenty of time to balance and, you know, refine the dish.
That's the most important thing today.
DECLAN: As I'm waiting to cook, I've still got no idea what I'm gonna do.
Like, dessert and pearl barley.
Um, my mind is blank right now,
so I really need to come up with something.
I'm like, "Alright, we're going to start from ground zero."
Yeah, but that's alright. Yeah.
Yeah, you've got this. Oh...
Yeah. Hope so.
Probably the most important cook in the competition so far.
Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is.
This is gonna be tough. This is gonna be very, very tough.
Come on, Theo! Looking good, mate! Come on, Theo! Come on, buddy!
Get that stew on!
So, you're just gonna get that on and then get your shanks in?
Yeah, correct. Yep. Nice.
You on track? You're just frying your onions and stuff and spices?
I think so.
I think I'm on track, yeah. Yeah.
So, the way I'm picturing this Moroccan-inspired chickpea stew
is I want it to be more of a thicker consistency
and give it a really rich flavour -
something that's really hearty and heavy.
Yeah, Theo! Come on, mate.
Everything just needs to work in harmony
and I think if I present it in a way
that doesn't look like it's just a bowl of stew,
then I think I can get the win.
JOCK: Theo. Hey, guys.
How are you, mate? Yeah, good.
What's on the menu, mate?
We have Moroccan-inspired chickpea stew with lamb shanks.
On or off the bone? Off the bone, I'm thinking.
Good.
Just little flaky pieces to go with the stew
because I don't want to overpower it.
I think that's great. Talk to me about the chickpea stew.
Saucy number?
It's gonna be, like, a jammy sort of number.
Jammy? What's jammy mean?
Uh...
Is it a chicken stock or is a tomato base? What is it?
It's a chicken stock. Chicken stock base.
I don't want it to be, like, just like a soup.
How are you gonna get that?
Because if you've just got chicken stock, onions
and chickpeas in there... Mm.
..it's not really gonna go, from what I can gather,
what you want it to be.
If I just leave it as it is and let it tick away for the whole time,
it's still gonna be a soupy stew, which is not what I want.
Now I'm starting to second-guess myself.
I don't know if it's gonna work.
If you've just got chicken stock, onions and chickpeas in there,
it's not really gonna go what you want it to be.
OK.
Uh, I'll have a think about it, then.
Hurry up. OK.
I'm looking at this Moroccan-inspired chickpea stew
and, you know, if I just leave it as it is
and let it tick away for the whole time,
it's still gonna be a little bit of a soupy stew,
which is not what I want.
So, in my head, I'm thinking, "What can I use to thicken this up?"
I'm looking in the pantry for ideas and it hits me.
Oi! Something just fell.
What better thing to use than the chickpeas themselves?
I'm gonna remove some of my chickpeas,
I'm gonna blitz a few of them down so that I can thicken up the sauce.
I'm adding them back in and then I'm mixing it up
and then it's like this moment
where I see it change consistency and it puts a smile on my face.
This is exactly where I want this stew to go.
Mm. Really good.
Stole all the spices. What did you take?
I'll bring it back. Yeah, but what is it?
Turmeric. OK.
He thinks I'm gonna give it back, but, nah, not today.
So, two hours left. My rainbow trout are curing.
So, now, darl, I'm onto the dhal.
This is familiar territory now, so I'm just ripping in,
cutting up all the aromatics.
Look, the judges are always telling me,
"Brent's punchy flavours,"
and that's what they're expecting every cook now,
so this dhal is very much my own take -
very heavy in curry leaves.
There's onion, tomato, fenugreek, turmeric,
little bit of cardamom, cumin and coriander.
When those ingredients get together and party,
yeah, it's gonna be singing with flavour.
So, yeah, I'll get that fish in in the next five minutes.
I've got to wash the brine off.
I've got a good idea. I'm glad of that and I know where I'm going.
What's on the bench over there?
Is that a smoking thing on the bench?
RHIANNON: Yeah.
DECLAN: Look at that. Looks amazing.
Declan, you've been waiting a while.
Yeah.
But your three hours, mate, she starts now.
Come on!
Waiting for my turn, it's been real stressful.
Let's see what I can do here.
I really want to have that pearl barley shine through in the dessert.
Sugar, coconut milk and my aromat.
(MUTTERS INDISTINCTLY)
So, I've been trying to think
where grain has featured in a dessert throughout my life.
Let's have a little look at what I can do here.
I've had plenty of rice puddings growing up as a kid
and I'm just sort of going down that route.
(TIMER BEEPS)
Rice is a grain, pearl barley is a grain,
so if I can somehow turn this pearl barley into the rice pudding
that I remember eating growing up,
I may be able to create a dish that's gonna wow the judges.
The trickiest part of this dish
is getting that consistency of the pearl barley pudding.
You know, you don't want to overcook it
and it be too gluggy and coagulated in the pudding.
You don't want to undercook it and get, like, a nutty crunchiness to it.
So, hopefully I can pull it off.
Boom.
JOCK: Declan. Andy, Jock, how are you?
Good, mate. What's cooking?
I've got a pearl barley pudding... Yeah.
..with a fresh salsa on top.
Kind of like you would with a sago pudding or a rice pudding.
Exactly, tapioca puddings, exactly. OK.
The concept of the pudding sounds great.
Yep.
How long are you gonna cook the barley for?
What texture are you going for?
I still want there to be a bit of bite in that barley.
I know you want a bit of bite,
but it still stays quite savoury until it releases.
OK.
You definitely need to make sure it releases.
What Andy's trying to say, and I agree with,
is the consistency, it needs to be the way a rice pudding is.
Yep.
Yeah. Mate!
Yeah.
Who'd have thought, mate... I know.
..that getting into Finals Week... Yeah.
..could come down to you making a dessert?
That's it. Out of pearl barley.
This is a weird but could-be-wonderful dessert
and the consistency and the texture of the barley
is gonna be the most important part of this dish,
so I need to pull off the cook on that perfectly.
Hey, Deccy. Yeah, what have you got for me, mate?
You just be careful with your dessert,
you don't give 'em all 'barley' belly.
(LAUGHS)
JOCK: Things are heating up in here.
Brent, you've only got one hour till service.
Let's go.
Look, I'm getting there.
My dhal's in the pot, simmering away.
A fair bit to do.
I've still got to get my temper ready
and then start my little salsa on top.
Alright.
I check on the trout.
I can see the edges are starting to sort of look opaque
and just a little bit set,
but in the middle, it's still raw.
It's gonna need another 10 minutes.
Yeah, look, the fish, I still need to pull the bones out,
pull off the skin, get it into portions,
so, yeah, I'm gonna be pushing it.
RHIANNON: Smells good.
It's got all those smells, hasn't it?
Yeah, all the smells. Yeah, yeah.
The good part about being in such a rustic environment
is that I'm inspired to cook some rustic food,
and this is definitely my sort of style of food, which I love.
So, I've got my chickpea stew ticking away.
The flavours are absolutely peaking and this is exactly what I want.
I'm just browning off my meat for my lamb shanks
and I'm gonna get them in the pressure cooker right now.
As I'm searing off my lamb, I can smell the aromas.
I've also got some spices toasting off in a pan.
Everything's going into these pressure cookers
'cause I'm packing in that flavour like the judges want.
OK. Cool.
(EXHALES)
(TIMER BEEPS)
Finally, the timer goes off.
I pull the trout out. I'm a little bit nervous.
But it is perfect.
Concentration level right now is through the roof.
I just can't have bones through this trout
and the bones are sort of not really...
Oh, there it is there. Swapped sides.
Brent, fish cooked? Oh, they look good, mate.
ANDY: Yeah, that looks epic. What about the bones?
Yep, I have to get all the bones out.
You're gonna have to watch your time with this
'cause it's gonna suck the time.
You've got about 20... Less than 20 minutes to go.
You've got to start looking at finishing your dhal,
balancing your little temper.
Yep.
This is such a good dish. Yep.
It's just down to the trout and the time.
Yep. Thanks.
Oh, my God.
I know I've got so much to do,
but the worst thing is a bone in a fish.
It'll wreck the experience.
RHIANNON: Go, Brentles! CATH: Come on, Brent. Let's go.
So, yeah, time is my enemy right now.
ANDY: Oh, this is gonna blow things up.
(JUDGES AND CONTESTANTS CALL OUT OVER EACH OTHER)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
DECLAN: So, I've had my pearl barley bubbling away
with a bit of cinnamon and some star anise.
Now I'm adding the coconut milk
to start building that rice pudding consistency.
I'm thinking it should take about 45 minutes until it's cooked.
Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!
And I'll be serving the pudding with a salsa element.
Plummies, plummies, plums.
I think, for a fresh element,
the plums, it's got that sour tartness to it
that could go well in this salsa
with maybe some of the peach.
That might work.
I'm thinking, "How else can I elevate this dish?"
So, I'm gonna make a dashi syrup
with some dried shiitake mushrooms and palm sugar...
Ooh! Dashi water!
..to give that depth of umami to the salsa.
Alright.
There is a lot going on in this tiny dish,
but I think it's all gonna come together well.
THEO: How you going, Deccy?
Yeah, it's coming along, mate.
Who would have thought? Barley in a dessert.
I'm surprised that you didn't do a fish for dessert, to be honest.
(CHUCKLES)
I've got my Moroccan-inspired chickpea stew ticking away,
my lamb shanks are in the pressure cooker
and I'm making a flatbread as well.
What I'm gonna do, I've got some really beautiful flour here
and I'm gonna be adding some fenugreek seeds
and then some preserved lemon,
which is gonna add just an element of freshness to the bread as well
which is gonna be really nice,
and then serve some lemon rind on it to just elevate it a fair bit,
so it's gonna be nice.
I want it to be the spice factory today.
In the back of my mind, I'm thinking,
"Flavour, flavour, flavour,"
and I'm packing it in every single element
so that there's never a dull moment in this dish.
Can't afford to take my foot off the accelerator, that is for sure,
but if I keep this pace up, I'm good.
Look lively, fellas, because your diners are arriving.
CATH: Come on, Brent! Come on, mate! RHIANNON: Come on!
It looks stunning. It looks so glossy and beautiful.
BRENT: So, it's almost time for service.
I've finally finished deboning these rainbow trout.
Just needs pepper.
Right now, I've got so much to do.
Uh, yeah, just mayhem trying to get everything done.
I've still got to balance that, get my temper ready.
OK, that needs salt.
My temper oil will help really bring out the spice in the dhal.
The mushrooms, chilli and the mustard,
they're gonna add another layer of umami.
It's just gonna take just a little bit longer,
but it'll be all worth it.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Service starts in 10...
ALL: 9, 8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Let's go, mate.
(PEOPLE CHEER AND CLAP)
DECLAN: Time for entree service
and I'm looking over at Brent and he's running a bit behind
and he really looks a bit under the pump over there.
Right now, I am going like
a one-armed bricklayer.
I am absolutely hammering.
I'm tasting, tasting, seasoning.
So, this, you know, really needs to be in the face of the judges,
flavour galore.
The dhal with the temper, it tastes good,
but it's almost just missing that final thing
to just elevate it massively,
so I'm making a last-minute vinaigrette
just to give that final little kick of acidity.
Mmm. Mmm. Wow.
So, I've just let 'em wait a little bit longer.
I really wanted to get that balance.
Those extra little things, it's better off doing that
and being just a touch late.
Everything's done. It is now plating time.
I'm laying a couple of spoonfuls of that dhal
down in that bottom as that base,
the beautiful smoked rainbow trout with those zesty herbs through it,
that goes on top,
and then that vinaigrette so every spoonful is dhal, trout, vinaigrette.
Mwah! Delicious.
Aye-aye, service, please.
MELISSA: Thank you. JOCK: Thank you.
Thank you.
Our entree from Brent -
Sri Lankan dhal with hot-smoked rainbow trout
and tempered oil.
Smells nice.
Smokiness. It does. It smells stunning.
As you can see by my empty bowl, I rather enjoyed that.
The dhal, let's talk about that first.
He's taken a lot of care in both this level of spice
and also the blend of spices that he's used.
There isn't any one that particularly sticks its nose out
more than the other.
Consequently, it is a beautiful foundation
for that hot-smoked trout that he's done,
which is cooked absolutely beautifully.
Stunning, delicate, fall-apart, lightly smoked trout.
He's dressed it with this temper
which almost sort of uplifted the smokiness in the fish
and tied beautifully in along with the dhal.
This is an excellent dish. It's a dish of elegant complexity.
The spices are playing so beautifully together.
There's a really lovely harmony about what's going on there.
And what I love is this was light, it was refreshing,
and it was a really personal take
on some very familiar flavours and textures
as only Brent can do.
I think this has shown Brent's maturity in cooking.
He knows when to just drive the flavour,
but then he knows when to pull back.
How he treated that fish was exceptional.
The cook on it, the smoke on it, the quick brine on it - unreal.
I think he did extraordinarily well. Mm.
RHIANNON: Come on, Theo! CATH: Yeah, come on, buddy!
It smells beautiful!
THEO: I can see Brent's dishes are going out.
I am so close to serving my food.
He didn't give me the turmeric back.
I was worried in the beginning
about getting this Moroccan-inspired chickpea stew to the right thickness,
but it is exactly how I want it to be.
Tastes so good!
So, the moment of truth. I've got to have a look at these lamb shanks.
(STEAM HISSES)
The smell - bang! - hits me.
The shanks are, like, perfect.
Oh. Yeah, that's punchy.
This is a hearty stew.
You've got another hearty meat on top of that,
so now I'm gonna add some freshness to really lift this dish,
so I'm mixing parsley, mint, some preserved lemon.
That'll add some brightness to this dish because that's what it needs.
ANDY: How's it looking?
Yeah, good. Yeah?
And then I'm just gonna load that on top.
OK. What have you got in here? Mint, parsley and preserved lemon.
I just picked up a handful. Yeah.
No preserved lemon. Yeah, OK.
Rethink this so that in every bite,
you'll be able to taste each component.
Yep.
I think this dish hangs on the seasoning of that
and how this comes together.
Yep.
My herb salad's not working, so I've got to try and fix it,
but I am running out of time.
This is not where I wanna be.
I just picked up a handful. Yeah.
No preserved lemon. Yeah.
Rethink this. OK.
I think this dish hangs on the seasoning of that
and how this comes together.
OK. Thanks, mate. Cheers.
I'm looking at the clock. I am running out of time.
I need to dig deep and think and think fast.
OK. Now...
This dish needs a fresh element,
so, you know, I've already got this beautifully chopped salad
and I don't want to waste it, so I decided to make it into
more of a salsa, more of a chimichurri sort of vibe.
So, I'm now adding some oil, adding loads of lemon,
so it's gonna be, you know, really nice and punchy
when hits your palate,
instead of being kind of like just, like, herbs going in, so...
It's like this...this slap of lemon,
the mint, the parsley,
and it's gonna be perfect for this dish.
Mmm, yum.
Service, please.
Hoo!
The last plates have gone out and it's a big relief.
Holy dooley.
That was massive. Big push. Big tin shed.
Yeah, I'm so relieved.
I'd be lying if I said that, you know,
I didn't come back to this competition
to, you know, show that I'm strong and I can make it all the way.
You know, that's the end goal,
so hopefully today, you know, catapults me into it.
DECLAN: So, I'm ticking off my elements.
My peach and plum salsa with the dashi syrup is ready for service.
This is gonna go in the fridge.
Alright, toasted caramel.
And just to elevate my dish as much as I can,
I'm incorporating toasted barley into my caramel
so that pearl barley flavour is front and centre.
Yeah, that's more than enough caramel now.
I check on my pearl barley for the pudding,
but it's still not soft.
I've really got to keep working on this barley cook.
This is the make or break it for the dish.
I thought max 45 minutes, so, yeah, it's crazy.
Just add coconut milk. I'm going to add one more cup.
This pearl barley has been cooking for nearly two hours.
I'm starting to worry that it may not cook in time.
You know, I just want this coconut milk to reduce down
and soak into those barley pearls.
RHIANNON: Come on, guys! CATH: Come on, let's go!
Looking good, guys!
THEO: Now it's time to plate up.
Mmm!
I'm putting a ladle of my chickpea stew on the bottom,
my flaked lamb on top of that.
I hit it with a little bit of that beautiful liquid reduction
that the lamb shanks have been cooking in.
I then put that salsa verde on top,
dot some yoghurt all around.
I add my flatbread.
(CHUCKLES)
This is exactly the way I wanted it to look.
Service, please.
Thanks. Thanks, guys.
JOCK: Thank you.
Well, well, well.
MELISSA: Well, here's our main from Theo.
Chickpea and lamb stew,
spiced flatbread and yoghurt.
Wow.
Can I just say, how good does this smell?
Yeah, unbelievable. Doesn't it?
Yeah, I'm dying to get into this. Looks epic.
This is it. He did it.
The chickpeas, again, are the star of the show.
The spice of the cinnamon and the cumin
and the smoked paprika that he talked about
are just singing in the background.
The lamb. Like, can you cook a shank better than that?
No.
Just pulling it and then elegantly, you know, placing it over the top
of that beautiful chickpea stew.
Yeah.
And I'm so glad he got to where he did
with the herb kind of preserved lemon sauce, because, you know,
it gives it the freshness, it gives it the zing that it needs.
And then flatbread. You know, we knew that that was gonna be...
(LAUGHS)
Folding some fenugreek through the dough
has really just linked it to that chickpea stew.
Look, it's an extraordinary plate of food
when the chickpeas are the star of the show
and lamb, which is almost always the crowning glory on a plate,
is second fiddle,
because the stew itself is extraordinary.
He's evolved this into a dish
that really speaks to the authenticity
of who Theo is becoming as a cook
and it's truly wonderful.
Amazing. This is a dish fitting of this room.
If you think, the chickpeas, they were cooking until...
Just then. Just then.
(LAUGHS)
So, you know, his choice to leave them just ticking over
until just the right moment, that's the entire cook.
He didn't lose his bottle. He just kept going.
And then he chose to actually get the sauce from the lamb shanks
back in a pan and reduce it even further.
He then used it to fold in together all the shredded lamb.
For me, this was the genius part about it.
That move there meant that the lamb didn't disappear
into the chickpea stew.
And then, you know,
this sort of parsley, preserved lemon sort of guy
that he's just put a little bit of that in -
delicious.
What a day to do it.
How you going, Theo? THEO: Good, mate.
Getting it out on time? Yep.
Good stuff, brother.
Maybe another 15 minutes on this
so I get that texture of the barley that I'm after.
I am up next and this pearl barley pudding
is taking a lot longer to soften up than I thought.
Far out.
It's still not ready.
The texture that I'm going to finish with on the barley
is the most important part of this dish.
I'm aiming for the consistency of that rice pudding I had as a kid.
I'm not gonna know till the final minutes if this has worked out,
so that is a bit stressful
because if it isn't right, it's too late to fix the dish.
Stream full episodes of MasterChef Australia now on 10 play.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
THEO: How many have I done? I don't know. Service, please.
Thank you, guys. Thank you so much.
Oh! Man, that was, uh... That was intense.
(STIRRING MUSIC)
Like, it just sort of hit me, you know, top 5,
everything I've done,
all the love, all the blood, sweat is in that dish today,
and I'm so proud of it.
DECLAN: Cream, caramel, whisk.
All my elements are pretty much done.
I've just been waiting for my pearl barley to soften up.
Um, look, I think it's been about two hours.
Stressing out big-time.
Finally, it's cooked.
It's all sort of moulded together by the beautiful coconut milk.
I wanted this barley to still have a bit of texture to it,
like, a little bit of chew.
It's soft, but it's definitely got texture to it
and the coconut cream and barley are as one,
so I just hope when I present it, it's everything that I was hoping.
Now's the moment of truth.
First up for service, I get my pearl barley pudding in a nice circle.
And then I'm adding a spoonful of that fresh plum salsa...
..with some more dashi sugar syrup around the outside.
A little bit of this.
And then I'm finishing it off,
sprinkling over some toasted barley and coconut flakes with it.
So, um, we'll go up to the diner, we'll place it down
and it's just a rich, thick caramel
and we'll just go back and forth.
Alright, thanks, guys.
As these plates are going out off the pass,
I'm happy they're leaving...
..and that I featured that pearl barley not only in the pudding,
but in that caramel sauce.
I do like the taste of it,
but, like, it's quite unusual,
so I hope that the judges and all the diners will enjoy it.
Hello!
Thank you.
Our dessert from Declan - pearl barley coconut pudding,
peach and plum salsa and pearl barley caramel.
Look at the colour on it.
I have to say
that is a sensational dessert.
So good. Wow.
The cook on the pearl barley in the pudding is excellent.
He stirred that pot every two minutes for three hours
and if he hadn't, it would have burned in, what, two minutes?
Yep.
There's then the right amount of that salsa been put on top of it
and some of the juices from the salsa pooled around the outside.
I think what he's been very clever to do, though,
is actually accentuate more of the pearl barley
through this amazing caramel.
It is roasty, toasty, nutty pearl barley
in comparison to the luxurious, velvety, coconut-y version
that we see in the pudding.
May I say, this looks beautiful. It looks unreal.
It looks pretty good. Yeah.
I'm so happy for him.
This is a perfect symphony of flavours going on.
There's this deep, savoury, rich, decadent quality about this dessert,
but it's still refreshing and therefore perfect.
You're tasting the mint, you're tasting the lime,
the coconut, the plum.
It's all there.
There is just so much complexity and it's all discernible,
but together it's just a magical bite of food.
It's insanely good.
I feel like Declan's whole competition
has kind of led him to this dessert right here.
He's been the guy who's super laidback, you know, loves a joke,
doesn't like to take anything too serious,
never really lets on how much he wants it,
but I really feel like as soon as he got dessert today,
it was game on.
Yeah. You know?
He knew it was gonna be a challenge.
He knew that he wanted to do, you know, our surroundings justice.
Um, and I think he really just drew a line in the sand and said,
"I wanna win this."
Alright, service, please. Last two.
How good is that? I'm done.
It was bloody exhausting.
I didn't really know what to do when I got given dessert and barley,
but I knew I had to make it work
and I'm really proud of what I put together.
This has given me a great amount of confidence
if I were to make it into that Finals Week.
Wow, wow, wow! (LAUGHS)
What a meal!
Three amazing dishes and what a fitting place as well
for them to produce the best food that they've ever produced
in this competition.
Yeah, they really did these grains justice.
They're battle-ready for Finals Week, all three of them,
but we have to pick one.
(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC)
Well, what better way to round off our road trip -
with a once-in-a-lifetime meal in a truly spectacular location.
This building that was built to house grains
became the setting to celebrate them
and celebrate them you did.
All three of you really stepped it up today.
Picking the winner today was so challenging,
but it's the kind of challenge that we love,
so we'll start with entree.
Brent, you got to choose your grain and course
and you used that advantage to great effect.
Your trout was expertly cooked, as were the lentils,
and the spice mix was masterfully balanced.
But your last-minute vinaigrette
was the star of the show.
It took the dish from good to great.
Thank you.
Well done. BOTH: Well done.
Over to the mains, and, Theo...
..your chickpea stew was flawless
and it was the star of the show,
which was surprising because the lamb was so tender,
beautifully cooked and full of flavour.
It was your best dish in the competition so far
by a Victorian country mile!
(BOTH CHEER)
Well done.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
Declan, you were really handed the short end of the stick
by drawing dessert.
And creating a dessert that makes pearl barley shine is no easy feat,
but we can't overstate how impressive you were today.
You dedicated yourself to the task and you smashed it out of the shed.
Thank you so much.
The pearl barley pudding was luxurious,
the salsa was stunning,
but that caramel, it was complex, it was interesting
and it was an intelligent expression of pearl barley
in the most exciting way.
Thank you.
And what you brought us was a perfect 10,
which is why, Declan, congratulations, you're the winner!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER) You're kidding me!
Oh!
You're kidding me!
(UPLIFTING MUSIC)
What a dessert!
Declan, you are the first contestant into Finals Week
of MasterChef 2023.
(MELISSA, CATH AND RHIANNON CHEER)
(UPLIFTING MUSIC CONTINUES)
That was one helluva cook.
And getting dessert and barley at the beginning of the day,
I didn't know what the hell I was gonna do,
so I really had to switch on,
and I'm going up against, like, such wonderful cooks,
like, the best cooks in Australia right now.
Um, it's emotional, but I really put those emotions behind me today
coming into the cook,
and I think that helped me execute every element.
I think today, for us, it was not the first time,
but it was the most obvious that we've seen you switch on.
Yeah.
Like, as soon as the challenge was set,
as soon as the time started,
you were zoned in.
And, come Sunday, mate, you'll be sitting pretty up on the gantry
while the rest of these guys battle it out
for the last three spots in Finals Week.
Well done. Well done, boys.
Well done, mate.
NARRATOR: Sunday night on MasterChef Australia...
RHIANNON: I'm gonna fight for this
and I'm gonna get into Finals Week straight up.
..it's a black-apron battle for survival.
THEO: I've got a lot more in the tank.
I feel like I can go all the way.
Will it be their final cook
in the MasterChef kitchen...
MELISSA: It needs to be
crowning glory kind of stuff.
..or a ticket into Finals Week?
CATH: I'm not going down
without a fight, I tell you.
BRENT: There's one more secret weapon
up my sleeve.
This is the thing that could send you home.
Captions by Red Bee Media