VOICEOVER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
You'll be tasting all of them blindfolded.
..put their tastebuds to the test.
Is it cabbage?
That's a cherry.
Is it a leek?
The senses are on point.
In Round 2, they engaged all their senses...
Uh! Panic.
..to create sensational dishes.
SOFIA: So beautiful. That's a 10.
Incroyable. Spectacular.
But Lily saw her MasterChef journey come to an end.
Tonight, they're heading for a mystery box
with a foreign flair.
(CONTESTANTS CHATTER EXCITEDLY)
Such gorgeous trees. Wow.
Today we're going on a road trip.
We just arrived to Bendigo. Oh, my God, that's so good.
Wow!
I've never been in, like, the countryside of Victoria.
I'm so happy.
Hey, there you are. Art gallery. Hey!
We're going to be painting today.
(CONTESTANTS CHATTER EXCITEDLY) Look at the colours of this.
ANDY ALLEN: Hello!
Morning!
SOFIA LEVIN: Hello!
Welcome to Bendigo!
(CHEERING)
Firstly, we acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung peoples
as the traditional custodians of the land that we're on today
and we pay respects to their elders, past and present and emerging.
Bendigo is Australia's first designated
UNESCO City of Gastronomy,
with cellar doors, hatted restaurants
all just a couple of hours away from Melbourne.
This week we are showing you a true taste of what Victoria
is all about and we're starting here in Bendigo Art Gallery.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Harry, news for us, mate?
Ah, yeah. Married. He's a married man!
Huh?
Where did you find time to do that, mate?
Oh, mate, I don't know, it's been a whirlwind,
but I'm actually stoked to be back.
How was it? Oh, it was the best weekend down in Tassie.
Perfect food. Perfect company.
Mate, how lucky are you? Now you get to spend your honeymoon with us"!
Bendigo, honeymoon! (CHEERING)
So this town is bursting with creativity.
World-class art exhibitions are held right here every year.
In fact, there is an exhibition on right now.
It's called Paris: Impressions of Life.
Oh!
(LAUGHTER)
Is it giving you a little hint on what today's mystery box is?
Something French?
Jean-Christophe. (CLEARS THROAT)
CONTESTANTS: Ooh!
Ready? Yes.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Et voila!
Yep, you got it. It is French themed.
# Allons enfants de la patrie... #
Well, next step. Should we see what's inside? Yes.
ALL: Un, deux, trois...
Et voila!
(ALL GASP)
Unbelievable. What's the one in the back? Mussels?
We've got mussels, shallots... Yum.
..locally sourced apples, Dijon mustard,
peas, croissant...
Yeah.
..duck leg... Duck leg!
..prunes, bouquet garni...
LOURDES: What's that? Bouquet garni. Herbs wrapped up. Oh.
..and French apple cider.
Oh, wow.
I really like French cuisine.
I think French cuisine seems to be a lot of a base
for modern fusion food,
and it revolves around a lot of technique.
Yeah, I'm super excited for it.
You know what? I'm so in love with my country,
and I'm proud to be French.
And I'm proud to be a French chef.
So what I'm saying is, welcome to my world.
Welcome to my family.
When I was a kid, I remember I used to make far Breton with the pruneaux
you know, with the prunes, croissants in a bakery.
I used to pretend to put the bread in a vitrine, you know,
inside the shop and then making sure the boss doesn't look at me.
I used to stuff myself with croissants.
Le canard, le canard.
The leg of duck is fantastic.
Nice and juicy.
You've got plenty to choose to express yourself.
So good luck. Bonne chance.
Alright, now for the rules.
You'll have 75 minutes.
And you can cook any dish you like, but you must use at least
one ingredient from the French box.
You do have some under-bench staples with a local twist.
CONTESTANTS: Ooh!
We've got plain self-raising and double zero flour from Laucke.
Ah!
Salted and unsalted butter from Long Paddock Cheese.
Yes!
Milk and pure cream from Inglenook Dairy.
Salute olive oil and Harcourt apple cider vinegar.
The bottom four dishes will send their makers
into tomorrow's pressure test, where somebody will be eliminated.
Right.
Obviously, we can't cook in this gallery,
so we're heading off to Bendigo Town Hall.
Ooh!! Ah, cool.
On your marks, get set...
..Bendigo!
(CHEERING AND LAUGHTER)
Look at this place!
Here we go, here we go.
(CONTESTANTS CHATTER EXCITEDLY)
(SQUEALS) Exciting!
Bonjour! Hello!
Look at you! Smells good!
Bonjour, chef. Comment ca va? Hello.
Comment ca va? Hello. Bonjour.
Hello. Salut.
I cannot believe it.
I feel like I'm in a really posh house in Downton Abbey.
And I'm in the kitchen cooking for someone very important.
We haven't been bench mates before, have we?
No. Yeah, first time for everything.
Alright.
I'm really excited to see the French flags
on that mystery box,
because I'm thinking this is a really good opportunity for me
to pull out some of my French technical cooking skills.
I do have a few French tricks up my sleeve.
I'm making a craquelin au choux.
I'm using the apples and the thyme from the bouquet garni,
and I'm going to make some thyme-infused creme pat.
Yum.
I don't get an opportunity
as often as I would like to be able to cook French dessert,
so I am so looking forward
to showcase my French cooking skills.
A-ha!
This is epic.
Like, the setting here in the town hall in Bendigo is unreal.
Not only do they have the French ingredients,
their pantry basics are beautiful local ingredients also.
Jean-Christophe, this is your baby. Yeah, it is.
What are you looking for? It is. I'm very honoured.
I want everything done...
Whatever they are doing here has to be done properly. Yes.
With quality. It has to be consistent, even if it's simplified.
But it's got to be, like, immaculate.
And if they can use some techniques, I want un petit je ne sais quoi,
Yeah.
Which is?
Uh, a va-va-voom or...
Finesse. Ooh-la-la.
Finesse. I want something special.
I want something which is, like, really demonstrating
what French cooking is about.
Yeah. Vive la France! A-ha!
I'm a romantic man.
I love love.
They say France is the country of love.
And I think the romantic side of a dish has to be present, too.
So the romanticism in a dish, the food.
It's a lot of love into French food.
Oh, light.
So I'm making a spiral ravioli with duck, apples and ricotta...
..topped with a beurre blanc sauce.
Yeah.
So that's my French touch to my pasta.
Beautiful.
I'm using those herbs that we got.
I'm using a lot of thyme, actually, into the filling.
And some shallots and ricotta to round the flavour.
But most important ingredient from this challenge
will be a lot of love.
That's the key to a good French dish.
Ooh la-la!
Yoo-hoo! OK.
Harry, Harry.
Sometimes when I'm lying awake at night, I still think
of your lobster bisque.
Oh, really? Yeah.
Wow. Excuse me, he's a married man.
Oh, yeah. You're married now. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
It's just me and the bisque.
But we know you can do French. Yeah.
So where are you at?
I thought I'd bring, um, like, a little bit of Australia
and British food to the French cuisine.
So I'm doing a mussel pot pie. Pot pie, yeah.
Yeah, now I'm doing a veloute with the mussel juice and some cream.
So that'll essentially be the pie filling.
There's going to be some peas. It'll blanch. And some mussels.
I guess for me the thing that is the pressure point
is getting the mussel cooked right.
Yeah. So, voila.
Tiny little things. They're still nice and plump. Yeah.
You need to eat this butter. How good's the butter?
Oh, my God! It's almost like cheese. See you soon.
Although there's only two elements at the end,
the filling and the crust,
there's a lot of different elements in this dish that are important.
I am making a classic French-style sauce.
Bloody hot, eh?
I've got mussels that can't be overcooked.
Even the peas. No-one wants a mushy pea in a pie.
Then also nailing this puff pastry,
especially considering how hot it is in here.
JUAN: It's so hot! Oh, man, you're sweating.
I'm in a pool. Yeah. (LAUGHS)
There's so much pastry in here today.
Makes me very, very nervous.
I don't know what's gonna melt first, my face or the pastry,
but for the dish's sake, I hope it's me!
So I'm making olive oil ice-cream sandwiches
with salted caramel and croissant crisps.
Out of the mystery box,
I'm using the prunes, the croissant, and that's about it.
Yeah, I'm not using as much.
I am using the, um, olive oil from the staples, which is local,
which I think is really nice, so I'm excited to use that quite a bit.
I've made this olive oil ice-cream before,
but I usually do that with setting it overnight.
(SIGHS)
It is a little bit of a risk setting it today because right now
in Bendigo it's boiling.
Oh, my God. Hot, hot, hot.
NAT: It's so hot in here! I know, dude, it's boiling.
Why did I wear long sleeves? Yeah.
What are you making today, Stevo? STEPHEN: I'm making duck leg.
I've done a trip through France.
I went there with my wife, Gillian.
We did a bit of a food, wine and sightseeing trip.
So we ate in a lot of restaurants in the cities,
and then in the countryside
we just tried to pick random restaurants
out in the middle of nowhere and just experience
what the French people would experience.
My knowledge of French food is not bad and French styles isn't bad.
I would not say I'm, you know, like a professional French cook
by any stretch of the imagination,
but I use a lot of the French ingredients
in my cooking, so it's reasonably good.
I can't speak any French. My French is limited to...croissant.
I'm gonna cook off the duck leg, and I'm going to make a sauce
with the mixture of the cider and the mussels.
So I'm going to actually break down
a bit of mussel meat and put it into it.
So use it as a bit of
an umami flavour, you know?
What am I going to call it?
I don't know, duck by the sea, maybe.
Hi, Steve. Hey, Steve. Good morning.
How are you two? Comment ca va? What's going on?
So I've done my duck leg.
So I've put a bit of, um, butter and a bit of prune inside it.
And mussels too, with your duck? And mussels.
I'm actually going to use a mussel-flavoured sauce
to go with the duck.
A little bit different, I know. Duck and mussels?
Have you had much... Uh, you know what? Never. No?
Wow. Yeah.
(WHISTLES) Wow. Ooh la-la.
I'm actually going to use
a mussel-flavoured sauce
to go with the duck.
Duck and mussels? Have you had much...
Uh, you know what? Never.
No?
When you get
a Michelin star chef tell you that he's never heard
of that flavour combination before.
Obviously, that can rattle your nerves a little bit.
I mean, you'd be crazy if it didn't.
Oh, mate, I'm sweating.
But hopefully I can impress Jean-Christophe today.
Attention! Attention, madames et messieurs!
Quarante-cinq minutes! 45 minutes left!
45! Allez, allez!
What?! Sugar! That's tasty.
That is bloody tasty.
Phew! Yes, it's just pastry and pasta.
Phew! It's OK.
It's good. It's actually good to see everything up here.
Hear ye! Hear ye!
(THEY LAUGH)
(CORK POPS) Ooh! Yippee! You having a drink already? (SMACKS LIPS)
Lourdes. Hi.
I'm going to assume you're doing sweets. Of course.
You know me. Absolutely.
I'm doing a olive oil ice-cream sandwich
with salted caramel and croissant crisps.
Hm! OK.
Doing ice-cream today, you are very brave. Oh, my God, it's so hot.
I'd rather be doing ice-cream than pastry.
Um... Oh, I agree, a puff rough sounds scary.
Poh does not agree!
Poh and Sofia question whether it's a good idea
to be cooking ice-cream in this heat.
I'm starting to freak out a little bit.
So hot.
Right now in Bendigo it's probably 30 degrees,
something like that.
Oh!
And my ice-cream has finished churning,
but it's still not set.
This is ridiculous.
You alright, Lourdes? Yeah.
My ice-cream isn't setting. Just scary.
I mean, you can't have an ice-cream sandwich
without properly set ice-cream,
otherwise it'll just turn into a milkshake.
So I need to get it in the blast chiller immediately.
Just hope it sets in time.
How are you doing there, Snez? Going good.
You're going sweet? Yeah, going sweet today.
Nice job. Yeah.
When I saw the croissant, it made me think of a dessert that I had back
at home in the Gold Coast.
I had an ice-cream with caramelised croissant
and pickled rock melon.
They pickled it under a vacuum chamber.
I didn't know that you could pickle fruits that way.
And so today I am making rosemary ice-cream
with pickled apples and croissant cubes.
I've never tried the vacuum-sealed apples before,
so currently I'm running an experiment
with two different types of pickled apples,
one that's vacuum-sealed and one that's not vacuum-sealed.
Where's the measuring cups?
I'm making a standard pickling liquid
with apple cider vinegar, water and sugar,
and I also spiked it with thyme.
I think this dish is classic gastronomy
where French bistro meets gastronomy.
But this is an experiment with the apples and I hope it works.
First crepe's always a fail, so that's fine.
Hey, Sav. Hi, Andy. How's it going?
Yeah, really good. Bonjour.
Comment ca va? I'm well. How are you?
What French-inspired dish are you going to be creating today
with these beautiful French ingredients?
I'm making a Sri Lankan dish. Sorry, what?!
With French ingredients.
So there's something called a little pan roll in Sri Lanka,
which is essentially a deep-fried, almost like a croquette.
But it's got a pancake wrapped around it with a filling.
Right.
So I'm making a crumb out of the croissant.
And I'm using the duck for the filling. Like Sri Lankan chiko?
Yeah! Right.
Our version of a chiko with an apple mustard chutney. So I'm excited about that.
Good luck. Thank you.
Bonne chance. Thank you.
Comment ca va? I'm doing a shallot tarte Tatin.
So it's in the oven already. (WHISTLES)
Very classic French dish. Yeah.
The most French dish that I could. Go and have a look.
I know you want to, go on. A shallot tarte Tatin.
Go on, go on, go on! Alright, alright! Go on!
Where are we? Let's have a look.
It's looking superb.
(CORK POPS)
Gee willikers!
Today I'm making steamed mussels
in a sort of, um, manie sauce,
which is like a classic French white sauce.
Making a duck broth to put in the sauce as well.
And then I'm going to make
a roasted shallot butter with a flatbread.
I know that there's butter in the staples.
It's a beautiful local butter.
I want to taste this.
It's actually really, really salty.
And I've used it in the broth as well as I'm going to use it
in my cook for the mussels.
So it seasons my dish beautifully.
But I also want to heighten my skill set
by creating my own butter for the rest of my dish.
I've never, ever made my own butter.
But I'm so determined to stand out today.
I'm sweating, brother.
What, you too? It's so hot.
I don't know much of French language.
I know je t'aime, that it means I love you.
But, yeah, you have to know that
in a couple of languages, you know?
Spiral ravioli is very tricky
because you have to make one big piece of pasta.
Yoo-hoo! OK.
You have to make it super thin.
You have to make it in a way that it doesn't break
and it keeps together when you boil it.
So, yeah, it is a tricky, tricky, tricky dish.
And I'm making only one raviolo.
So if that breaks,
I don't have a dish - that's the only element.
So, yeah, all my bets are on this big ravioli.
Whoo-hoo!
SUMEET: Alright.
So I've got my choux pastry in the oven
for my craquelin au choux.
Oh, my God.
And now I'm working on my thyme-infused creme pat.
So I've tempered the mixture and I'm adding it in here.
And I'm going to kick in my creme pat now.
Sumeet. How are you?
Bonjour. Bonjour.
The choux's already in the oven. How are you going to fill your choux with?
I'm going to fill it with some thyme-infused custard
and some caramelised apples.
You know what? The creme pat - look. Yeah.
It's split.
Yes. It's not cooked enough.
Yes. Yeah? OK, chef, yeah.
We would be liars if we say how great you are. Of course.
This is not going to go into the choux. It's too liquid.
I do not want to go into the pressure test tomorrow. So you still have time.
The small mistakes may send you into the bottom four.
Yes. It's not cooked enough.
Yeah.
So, this is a beautiful dish.
Yes. But the technique has to be on point. Yes, Chef.
Can't be a grainy creme pat. Yeah.
Small mistakes may send you into the bottom four.
I don't want to be there. The choux are fantastic!
There you go! Andy!
We can't open the oven anymore.
I've already done that. All this thing came up.
They are sublime. Ah!
You know what they are? What? Fantastique!
They are! See? Incroyable!
So you only have to make sure you rectify the creme pat and that's it.
OK. Thank you, chef.
There is pressure today because Jean-Christophe
has a lot of pastry skills.
I mean, that's his first love.
So if I don't get this creme pat perfect,
it could be a really big issue.
Oh, my God.
So I'm making sure that I'm cooking the flour through
because that's priority number one.
And once that's done, I'm chucking it
into the blast freezer.
I need to bring the temperature down so that then I can emulsify
the creme pat and get it to be OK again.
I've just got my all my fingers crossed and hope it works.
Attention, attention!
You have to grant trente, that is 30 minutes left!
Hey, hey! (CHEERING)
Romeo! Juliet.
You definitely nailed the force as much butter as you can
in any given ingredient French part of the brief,
which is very French.
They're nailing that brief. (FRENCH ACCENT) Oh-ho! Oh-ho!
(BOTH LAUGH)
Oh, my God, mussels take so long to clean!
Nat, Nat, Nat. Hello.
What are you cooking? French, or... I am cooking very French.
Ah! Yes, I'm terrified, but...
What is it? It's, uh, moules a la Normande.
OK. Vol-au-vent croissant patisserie.
That's what's in croissants? Yeah.
Vol-au-vent with the croissant.
Never done it before. You're mad.
You're absolutely bonkers. I love it. That's very clever.
We're rooting for you. Thank you. Alright.
MIMI: Challenging myself today, cooking something French.
I'm making a duck pie. Braised duck pie.
(CORK POPS)
I think I've got to taste this.
Cheers.
Hey, Alex. Hey, Sofia and Poh.
Hey! What are you making?
My two favourite ladies! Yeah!
Out of the four judges. (LAUGHTER)
I am doing a fettuccine with mussels.
A creamy cider of sauce.
You just need to make sure your pasta is perfect.
I know, I can't stress enough! Perfect!
But how much longer do we have?
Less than half an hour left,
and I feel like I haven't done a lot of where I need to be right now.
I need to clean and prepare those mussels as well as cook them,
finish my duck broth as well as fry my flatbread.
Whew!
And I still have to make the butter from scratch as well.
That's going to go with the flatbread.
I've never done this before, but I know that, essentially,
to make butter you need to overwhip the cream itself.
I'm second guessing myself.
This looks like it's too watery!
I truly am thinking I should have just used this local butter,
and then that would have cut out so much time
in making my own as well.
What an idiot.
LOURDES: So for my ice-cream sandwich, I've got my biscuits
with the salted caramel ready.
My croissant pieces are crispy and golden brown.
Every few minutes,
I keep going back to the blast chiller
and checking my ice-cream
and it's just not setting.
Ice-cream sanger. Ice-cream sanger, yes.
Excited!
And then croissant crisps. You know how much of an ice-cream fiend I am?
Oh, boy. I'm an ice-cream fan too, so hopefully I live up to your standards.
Where is it? Can I have a look? Maybe don't open it.
It's not...
It's not setting in the way I want it to, so I'm worried.
Are you trying to keep a secret from me? Maybe.
It's like...it's a little bit wet. Trying to keep a secret from me!
You can't keep secrets from me! Don't open that. Don't open that.
So... I'm keeping that in there till after.
OK, is there a plan B?
It's gonna be a really wet biscuit if it's a plan B. OK.
We'll see, we'll see.
Oh, God.
I'm starting to think adding olive oil to the mixture
maybe changed how quickly it's set.
If my ice-cream doesn't set, I'm going to be in big trouble.
So, my rosemary ice-cream has finished churning and it looks good.
Yeah. Good.
I'm happy with it, man.
The rosemary came instantly, but it wasn't overpowering.
It wasn't too little, which I was a little bit worried about.
And I'm really happy with the taste and texture
and it just put a smile on my face.
I've got the prunes ready.
I've got my pickled apples
going away, and I'm going to try and test them later.
And I've got another batch there.
I'm just doing the croissant element and uh, yeah, pretty, pretty happy.
The name of the game is to make Jean-Christophe go, "Ooh-la-la,"
not "YOU La-la."
Come on, 15 minutes! Allez! Allez!
SUMEET: I'm still working hard on my creme pat.
Yes. Come on.
After chucking it into the blast freezer, I have been able
to emulsify the creme pat and get it to be OK again.
Oh, mate.
Oh, thank God for small mercies.
Time to get my choux out of the oven and it is looking beautiful.
I can see that the craquelin is really looking crunchy
and well cooked on top of the choux.
The choux has risen, which I'm really happy with,
and it's nice and crispy and crunchy and light,
which is what it needs to be.
I've also got to make my caramel sauce,
which I get on to.
Breathe, Sumeet, breathe.
I've got my apples all chopped up and ready to go.
So all my elements are just coming together.
JUAN: I really like French cooking.
I know a few techniques,
like French kissing and...
I'm really happy with the looks of the raviolo.
It didn't break. It's all in one piece.
It's looking good and it's well cooked,
so I'm happy with this.
Hoping Jean-Christophe will be, "Ooh-la-la. Sacre bleu."
(SPEAKS FRENCH)
They smell fantastic! Five minutes to go!
(CHEERING) Come on!
SNEZANA: It's going to work.
There's five minutes to go,
and it's time to take my mussel and pea pot pie out of the oven.
Look, I'm happy with it. I think it looks great.
It looks rustic as.
Oh!
The puff's perfect
and I can see the pie filling bubbling away in the hole
that formed from the heat.
So I think it's going to be tasty.
LOURDES: My ice-cream sandwich.
Got my biscuits with the salted caramel ready.
I've got the croissant crisps on the side, ready to garnish.
Um.... Alright. The clock is ticking.
So, ready or not, I have to take the ice-cream
out of the blast chiller.
My ice-cream is so runny.
Oh, my God, it's so melty.
It is not set.
Um... I'm worried.
Uh...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Hello. Here we go, here we go, here we go!
Oh!
Nice job, Sue.
That is not what I was expecting it to look like when you were describing it,
I'll tell you that much. It looks better? (LAUGHS)
STEPHEN: I'm doing the plating. I looked down at my dish.
It looks really good.
I mean, it looks like restaurant-quality food.
It's got a beautifully prepared duck leg
that's sitting on this beautiful pillow of peas.
They're bright. They're vivid green.
I've got this sauce sitting in a jug. It's glossy.
So I'm really happy with the way I've treated this food.
But Jean-Christophe has never heard of mussels paired with duck,
which is my biggest concern, so hopefully I've pulled it off.
GILLIAN: At this point in time, I'm not even thinking
about how my dish today looks.
I'm not even thinking about the work of art that I was,
you know, earlier on, inspired by
and wanted to have so much time to think about this.
Argh! (GIGGLES)
30 seconds! Whoa!
(APPLAUSE)
I pour my mussels onto the bowl.
Don't have time for this.
Throw the apples onto the mussels as well.
And then I'm just pouring this duck broth into the jug
to make sure I've got it there.
Butter, butter, butter!
(SPEAKS FRENCH) Dix secondes!
Neuf, huit...
JUDGES: Sept, six, cinq,
quatre, trois,
deux, one...
Zero! (CHEERING)
Hugs. Oh, sweetie.
Oh, Lachy.
That looks amazing.
SAV: Bro, that looks amazing.
No, it doesn't!
Well... That butter!
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God.
Today we gave you a stunning box of French-inspired ingredients,
and from the smells in the room,
I think you might have risen to the challenge.
The first dish we'd like to taste is Sumeet's.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
So, Sumeet, what have you made?
SUMEET: Craquelin au choux with some caramel apples
and thyme-infused creme pat.
Yeah.
ANDY: They look good. Yeah.
Oh, wow.
(SINGS LA VIE EN ROSE)
# Je vois la vie en rose... #
This is absolutely fantastic.
Fantastic. It is. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Well done. Oh, thank you, sir.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
This is very a French profiterole boudoir-style.
And your salty caramel.
Ooh la-la.
Merci beaucoup.
That's it.
When I bit into that profiterole, it's really...it's crunchy
on the outside and then on the inside, it's nice and tender,
which is exactly what you want.
You know we talk about something being simple but perfect?
Yeah.
That's it right there.
And it's something done so classically,
but then with a slight twist with what you've been given
in our French mystery box.
This is your time to shine. Well done, Sumeet.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Fantastique!
Oh, dude! Oh, dude!
David!
DAVID: Hello.
SOFIA: Wow.
Very neat and tidy.
Wow, David, tell us what you've made.
Uh, I made
a rosemary and prune ice-cream
with pickled apple and croissant cubes.
I love it. Have you alternated the colour of the apple skin on purpose?
On purpose?
Uh, I did two different pickles as an experiment,
and so one was vacuum-sealed and one was not vacuum-sealed.
And I tasted them and it tasted different.
And I tried them together.
I liked it, and so I layered them differently.
OK, cool. Yeah. Beautiful.
David...
..make more desserts, man.
Thank you. That's awesome.
Thank you.
Velvety soft, creamy ice-cream that carries that rosemary.
You've got the acidity, that lift
from your beautiful armadillo dragon scale apple pickles.
And then that croissant - buttery, compressed, crunchy.
Almost like all the best bits of an ice-cream sandwich,
but really elevated.
Even just the ice-cream, mate, the texture of the ice-cream
on a stinker of a day like today is so good.
Then I thought, "Oh, he's made it look like a little armadillo
"because he's cute and that's cute."
But no, you actually need the apple in every bite.
Yeah. But then it's the symphony just gets in sync.
Do more of this stuff. Thank you.
Spot on, spot on, spot on.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Harry, let's go!
HARRY: I've got you
a mussel and pea pot pie.
The filling is a apple cider and mussel juice veloute.
I'm going hard. (LAUGHS)
Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry.
I don't know how you've done it, but the two mussels
I had weren't overcooked.
Cooking the mussels and then heating them through a sauce
should overcook them.
But I think you've just been really delicate
in slowly bringing them up to temperature in that sauce,
which the sauce is delicious.
Your sauce is the perfect thickness. Creamy.
Really quite seductive as a dish.
I mean, just like... Ooh, Harry.
I keep saying this. I know you've just got married.
He gets married, now he's seductive. He's a married man!
This is... This is... This could be a honeymoon dish.
I mean, I just want to keep eating it and I'm going to.
And the only thing it's really missing, I think,
is a nice glass of crisp white wine.
It's the type of dishes you will find in Auberge.
Driving, park the car. You just want one dish.
THE dish, you know? And that's what it is.
Well done, well done. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Thanks, guys. Thank you so much.
Salut!
So good.
Let's go, Alex.
ALEX: Mussel fettuccine with a cider cream sauce.
SOFIA: Mussels are really perfectly cooked.
Still juicy, still got their freshness.
As for the pasta, I think there's a bit of room for improvement.
OK.
For this, I found myself really trying to chew
a little bit more than I would like.
OK. Thanks, Alex. Sorry, Alex.
Let's bring it, Nat.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
NAT: I made a Normandy-style mussels with a croissant vol-au-vent.
ANDY: The croissant part,
I thought it was creative and I still do think it's creative.
But do I think it's better than a vol-au-vent?
Probably, no. Thank you so much.
Next up, Lourdes!
Oh, sugar. Sorry. It's gonna be messy.
Sugar, sugar, sugar.
Oh, it's dripping, Lourdes, I hate to tell you.
Was meant to be
an olive oil ice-cream sandwich with salted caramel
and croissant crisps, but my ice-cream didn't set.
How are we going to eat this. With a straw.
So when you put them into the freezer,
did you have your moulds already waiting in the freezer?
No. I should have.
I should have. Yeah. You would have saved 10 minutes.
Yeah, that would have been really smart.
Anyway, it's a shame. Yeah.
Thanks, Lourdes. Good luck, yeah?
OK. Next one. Gill.
I'm taking it up knowing that it's not how I would have
loved to present the dish.
I've never done a pressure test before
and I'm not about to try and send myself there.
But if the judges don't like this dish today,
I know that's where I'm going to be.
I've made steamed mussels with pickled apples, a duck broth,
flatbread, and roasted shallot butter.
I made the butter as well.
Butter from scratch? Yeah, yeah.
ANDY: Oh, no!
Is that a beard? That's a big old beard.
Sorry.
So, the butter,
you've been busy doing something like this,
which I admire you, of course.
Well done.
But it was not necessary. Yeah.
You've been given some butter, a local butter, which is superior.
You should... Huh!
Really applaud you for doing the butter
and making the bread.
But, unfortunately, the bread is very cardboardy.
Also, um, it's not really quite the kind of bread
you'd put butter on.
You know what I mean? OK. Yeah.
It's also not the kind of bread you dunk into broth.
Yeah.
Like, the beards in the mussels, they can't be.
No.
The mussels were nicely cooked though, so that's a plus.
But this just seems like all of these weird things
that have tried to come together on a plate.
Yeah, 100%. And it hasn't.
Yeah. I appreciate your feedback.
Thank you. Thanks, Gill.
Thank you so much. Thanks, Gill.
Good luck.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Oh!
Can we taste your dish, please, Juan?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
How are you?
Ravioli-ish? Ravioli-ish.
You know what?
Before we start plunging into this, it looks very artistic
for you to be able to make a pasta shape
and to keep that shape.
How the hell did you manage that?
I don't know. Is it plastic or what?
Bendigo magic!
Wow.
Your pasta work is impeccable.
It is so thin.
And I can't believe you had that long sausage and managed to roll it
all together without it popping.
Like, it's incredible.
Beurre blanc, really, really good.
Texture was amazing.
Balance, I thought was really good.
Keep pushing yourself.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Next one, Sue.
SUE: Apple tarte Tatin,
salted caramel sauce
and a prune and apple cider ice-cream.
OK! That looks luscious! Amazing!
OK, so I want to smush my face into that.
Yeah, I'm pretty close.
The ice-cream is, - oh! - where is it?
Yeah, can we have some more ice-cream? Where can I lick some more?
Yeah, I wanted, like, six more scoops. The ice-cream's good.
This is a delicious Sunday lunch in France.
Tarte Tatin. Whee!
Et voila!
Sav.
SAV: Duck and apple pan roll and a little dipping sauce,
that's very mustard and apple cider forward.
You get a roll, you get a croissant crumb that's crispy.
You get the crepe inside that's another layer there.
Delish. Thank you.
Hey, Snez, let's see what you've cooked.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
What have you made?
SNEZANA: So I made apple cannoli
with some mussels, peas, beurre nantais.
The sauce I loved it, I thought it really linked the mussels
to the sauce.
That salinity from the mussel juice really ticked it off.
Thanks, Snez. Thanks, guys. Thanks.
Josh!
JOSH: Chiffonade shallot tarte Tatin.
Prune and cider glaze over the top.
Your shallots are so delicious.
OK!
They're, like, really jammy and chewy, which I love.
Thanks, guys. Cheers.
Mimi's.
Hello.
I made an apple cider-braised duck leg pithivier.
Oh, that smells good. That smells really good.
Mimi, ripper of a pie.
Absolute ripper. It is rich. It's got guts.
It's like super chunky and delicious.
You know it's duck, which is great.
I actually got me a little bit nostalgic from my electrician days.
(LAUGHTER) Thank you. Mimi. Well done.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Give me a hug. Come on.
The next one, and I believe the final one, is Stephen.
STEPHEN: Jean-Christophe is a French chef
that's cooked probably every French dish there is,
and he's never had mussels paired with duck.
So if Jean-Christophe says the mussels don't work
with the duck, I am going to be 100% in elimination.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: What, what, what, what, what?
I made duck by the sea.
POH: Ooh! Duck by the sea?
Yeah, so... I love that.
So if I understand, you've mixed a mussel or shellfish with a duck,
which is very unusual.
Duck and mussels. Yeah, hence "duck by the sea."
Alright, let's have a look.
Stephen...
..I think you're turning into a little bit of a saucier,
because that sauce is spot on.
It's got just enough seafood flavour in it.
And who would have thought? Duck and mussel.
It is delicious.
The sauce, like, spot on.
Like, you're really starting to kick goals there.
And, like I've said, if you can cook protein,
you can make a good sauce, you're winning the battle, really.
This is...
(CLICKS TONGUE)
..delicious.
You did something I never, ever, ever did in my life.
And it's the right richness.
So I just gave you my... (CLICKS TONGUE) things, yeah?
So you stay there one minute for 30 seconds, I just come back.
Because... No-one knows.
..because it's a French theme, I thought from now, from now,
I want you to take this in your kitchen...
(LAUGHTER)
..and enjoy.
Because what you've done there is fantastic.
Aww. Aww, he's blushing! You've gone a bit red there, mate!
Well done. Bye-bye.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Unbelievable. I nearly had tears in my eyes.
It's fine. Me too.
I'm nearly crying with him! Yeah.
STEPHEN: I'm just, like, stunned and blown away.
I can't believe it. Huge moment for me, that. Massive moment.
Was probably the highlight of my cook so far.
The taste of France in the heart of Bendigo.
Ooh la-la!
Jean-Christophe, what do you reckon? They make you proud?
Well, how well you did.
Honouring French ingredients today was magnifique, and vive la France.
POH: Great dishes aside, there is a pressure test tomorrow.
And four of you will be cooking in it.
If I say your name, please step forward.
Lourdes.
Gillian.
Nat.
Alex.
Unfortunately, the four of you are in danger
of going home tomorrow.
It's not all doom and gloom because we're back on the road
for your pressure test.
We're going to be exploring more of the gorgeous Goldfields Region.
We'll see you soon. See you tomorrow.
(CHEERING AND LAUGHTER)
VOICEOVER: Tomorrow night
on MasterChef Australia,
the road trip continues.
The surroundings are beautiful,
but it's bittersweet
because it's a pressure test.
And someone's journey...
Oh, my God.
I'm just a hot mess. There's no way I can do this.
..will come to an end.
(SOBS)
Captions by Red Bee Media