VOICEOVER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
Please welcome Guillaume Brahimi.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
..it was a dish worthy of royalty.
(GASPS)
GUILLAUME BRAHIMI: It's a dish made for the King of France.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow.
They impressed the Frenchmen...
You're too good. Oh, my God!
Ah! Stop it!
..and used painstaking precision...
HARRY: I'm freaking out right now.
I feel like I'm doing heart surgery on a bee.
..not just once, but five times.
Magnificent job.
It's delicious.
But it was the end of the MasterChef journey
for Darrsh.
DARRSH: This competition has just lit such a fire in me...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ..and I'm just excited
for what the future brings.
Tonight, it's a monumental moment
for our top five.
(EXHALES HEAVILY)
(SNIFFS)
MIMI: Top five! HARRY: This is insane.
SAVINDRI: It's just not sunk in, to be honest.
Can you believe it, Pezza? PEZZA: (LAUGHS) No, I can't.
NAT: Let's get this!
Hey!
Let me officially welcome you
to the top five of MasterChef 2024!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
How good?! Well done.
Hey!
Well done, guys.
Top five - can you...? I... Can you...? Can I believe it?
And there were five.
You've all grown so much
since you first walked through those doors,
and we couldn't be prouder.
One of you is going to win this competition.
The title is within reach for every single one of you.
PEZZA: That trophy is just shining and would look good
with "Josh Perry" written on it, I'm sure of that.
Now it's up to you to make every cook count.
Especially today...
..because this is the last immunity
of the competition.
Oh, God, that gives me goose bumps!
That means the winner of today's challenge will go
straight through to Finals week. Oh!
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
This is the most important immunity of the competition.
Game on.
Right then, let's get this challenge started.
Head to your benches.
MIMI: Woo-woo-woo!
I see little wooden boxes on everyone's bench.
It's giving, like, 'treasure chest'.
Something interesting is going to happen.
It's a very small box.
The key to that coveted spot in Finals Week,
it is right in front of you.
OK.
You can open your chest now.
(GASPS, SIGHS)
NAT: Oh, so cute.
When you first applied to be part of this competition,
you named someone that you considered to be your food hero.
And all of you...
..you named a family member.
For me, although I loved growing up on pine-burgers,
unfortunately, it's not my mother.
But it's our late, great mate Jock.
The time that we spent cooking in this kitchen and creating
an energy where people like you could just reach for the stars
and succeed with everything you do...
..I learnt so much about that from Jock.
Um...
..and he taught me so much more, probably, about being
a good husband, being a good son,
um, and hopefully, one day, me being a good dad, so...
..I miss him a lot.
POH: Pezza,
what does that person in your photo mean to you?
Uh, well, I guess, without Nanna Marg... (CHUCKLES)
This is not good.
(CRIES)
(SNIFFS)
Yeah, I guess I'm not as big and strong as I think I am.
But, yeah, Nanna Marg,
she was a lovely nan and showed me a lot of cooking,
so she was one of the best cooks I knew.
Makes the best sponge cake, as yous got to try, so...
Ha-ha! Can confirm.
..she was really great.
She was like a little old lady off the Golden Girls,
and she used to give me the bird all the time.
But when she did, she went like that because she wasn't...
..she wasn't...uh, she didn't want to be rude, so she'd say,
"You little mongrel!" And like that, she'd go, old Nan.
(LAUGHTER)
She was a funny old duck.
Yeah, but really always felt fulfilled once you went
to Nan's table, you know, and you had a feed.
Sounds like she was a massive inspiration for you.
It's nice to hear.
Sav,
tell us about your photo.
Um...I've got my mum.
It's actually a picture of her cooking,
and... (SNIFFS) ..I took this photo in 2016.
And I remember this meal so well.
She's in everything that I do.
The hand that guides me is my mum.
The energy that moves through me is my mum.
All the good in me is my mum.
Yeah, I just miss her.
I miss her an awful lot,
and it doesn't get any easier.
I think your mum would be so proud of how you've conducted yourself
in the competition, in terms of just being open
and honest and vulnerable.
Thank you.
Harry, who's your person in the photo?
HARRY: Nonna.
I love her a lot.
And, uh, I've been thinking about her, you know, the whole time
I've been here.
(VOICE QUAVERS) You know, a lot of my memories about food
come from with her.
Well, you know, like, finishing school
and, like, if she'd pick me up, it was just all about food.
Like, "Why haven't you eaten? Eat some more."
And just, like, classic Italian nonna,
just, like, constantly feeding me, so... (LAUGHS)
She's an amazing cook, but just an amazing woman.
She's so supportive of all of her kids,
but all of her grandkids, as well, you know, and whatever
we're passionate about or, you know, want to do with our lives,
she's just, you know, all for it.
So, yeah, it's fitting that it's under the lid here.
Nat, tell us a bit more about the person in your photo.
It's my mum, and she's holding my two favourite fruits,
some mangosteen and some rambutan.
She's honestly the strongest woman I've ever met.
Just seeing how much my mum has done and sacrificed - like, she worked
and had a restaurant for 30 years,
and all her love is just expressed through food.
It's so hard for her to, like, sometimes cuddle me
or, like, show affection, but she shows it through food.
And the reason I am the cook I am today is definitely because of her.
What's been the chat since you've been
in the MasterChef competition with your mum?
Oh, the chat has changed so much.
We used to be so distant, and we've been talking a lot more.
She's just been loving, like, sharing all these old,
ancient recipes,
um, like, all the foods she grew up eating as a kid.
I've never seen her so proud of me.
Like, she's never really said that, ever.
Like, she's never been able to verbalise it.
But she has been now.
Um, Nat,
I just wanted to say something.
Uh, after I was on MasterChef,
it was, like, one of the first times my mum had ever expressed
that she was proud of me. (CRIES)
And I think that's why when I'm in this kitchen,
I am very emotional because it affected so much
of my life, outside of cooking.
And, um, cooking became that thing that bonded us
because we did have that...
..uh, very Asian thing of having trouble expressing our love.
So, like, it's just so amazing how this kitchen connects us
in so many different ways.
Mimi, who in that photo has inspired you?
MIMI: This is a very old photo
of me and my mum
and my mum's mum. (CRIES)
My grandma is my hero because...
..um, there was a large portion of my life
where she became my second mum,
and even though she didn't speak a drop of English,
she, without knowing how to communicate with us,
just picked up what we liked to eat, what we didn't like to eat.
That's just...
..everything to me.
It's so nice hearing all of you cooks talk
about your family members as your food heroes,
but it's...it's in quite a different way
to my family food hero,
who is my mum.
Um...
(SNIFFS) Oh, I thought I was doing so well.
You've got this. You've got this.
Um...
Oh, Sofi.
Uh...
Um, food in our lives has, um, changed quite a lot
because my dad's not able to eat anymore.
So... (SIGHS)
..yeah, mum's taught me all my enthusiasm and sharing love
through food, but just eating together as a family,
it's something we've always done.
And I think, with the change in...in our lifestyle, um,
we want to all be together.
But it's harder to come together around food
when one of you can't eat.
So, that's been an incredibly difficult time for everyone,
but especially my mother.
So, when this all wraps,
I'm very much looking forward to taking her out for dinner,
at least weekly.
Love you!
(WHISPERS) That was beautiful.
Your stories are fundamentally...
..touching.
Everyone's speech, all of you, you know.
And what is important is to understand
that we are all the same.
It doesn't matter where you come from.
It doesn't matter what language you speak.
Food is the biggest currency,
the most global currency around the world.
It's, for us, a way to express ourselves.
Well, today, those loved ones are going to be your inspiration...
..because we want you to bring us a dish
inspired by your food heroes,
the people that helped ignite your passion for cooking,
but also inspired you to follow those food dreams.
You'll have 75 minutes,
and you can cook anything you like,
but make sure it tells us a story.
Whoever brings us the best dish will win immunity
and be the first person that goes to Finals Week.
(WHISPERS) It's OK.
Your time starts now.
(APPLAUSE)
Good luck, everybody.
Prawn.
Porky eye again.
Straight out. One chook. Nothing else.
I just didn't want to, like, carry the chook around, so...
(LAUGHS)
PEZZA: Family's everything to me.
That's me, in a nutshell.
Big softie at heart.
And today, I'm doing one for Nanna Marg.
Last immunity up for offer.
Allez, Pezza! Come on, Pezza! Go, Pezza!
Let's bring it on.
Nope. Eggs.
I should know where the eggs are by now.
So much emotional charge that is going through this kitchen.
So, I need to really, really turn that emotional charge and energy
into something good.
So, this dish is going to be inspired by my mum,
and I'm going to channel
her ability to turn scraps into beautiful,
beautiful plates of food.
HARRY: Bloody olive oil,
it needs a bigger spout.
Non obviously taught me so much about Italian cooking.
So, the inspiration is prawn pasta that Nonna taught me.
But then, I'm going to put my own flair on it.
So, I'm going to do Italian prawn tostadas.
Mimi, I know you've got prawny hands,
but I just really wanted to do this the whole time we were up there.
Oh, hi. How are you going?
I know, I just...I can't stop it when it starts.
When I first saw that photo, it was emotional because my grandma,
being a solo parent,
she obviously struggled, but she always managed
to find her way to serve us food that we enjoyed.
So, today, I'm making a noodle soup dish
that is prawn-based,
and I'm doing a prawn and pork ball that's fried on the outside, on top.
So, this whole dish hangs on the flavour and intensity
of the broth, yes? Yep. Yep.
Good luck, Mimi. Thank you. Good luck, Mimi.
Key to executing this dish is that the broth needs
to be full of umami flavours,
but I don't actually know what the ingredients are.
To be honest, my grandma's version just has whatever.
Like, it's a fridge raid for her, but every...it slaps every time.
She used to cook this, every Chinese New Year,
for every person in the family.
So, I'm just trying to recreate the flavour profile
from that memory.
I'm actually just gonna take...
I want some clams to make sure
I get that broth extra fishy and delicious.
And she always puts meat and seafood together.
So, I'm gonna put in a bunch of chicken wings
and chicken feet to make sure I get that meatiness in there,
and then into the pressure cooker for as much as I can leave it
in there, with some toasted spices
to bring more depth and body into the broth.
Hopefully I've picked the right ingredients
to replicate that broth.
What an emotional start to this cook.
I'm so proud of these five because they just open up.
We can feel the love in the room, and I think we're very blessed
because they're going to give us probably the best meal ever, so far.
The meal was touching them.
It's so interesting because you're normally cooking
for immunity, to save yourself.
I feel like this is so much more.
You're cooking for immunity to propel yourself into Finals Week.
POH: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think that's why we're going to see some all-time food today.
They're cooking to win now. Mmm.
One hour to go!
Let's go, all! Come on. Allez!
(APPLAUSE)
You OK? Hi, Chef. Yeah. I'm OK.
You're fantastic way of mixing spices together,
is it coming from your mum?
It's 100% my mum. Yeah.
That's something I learned from her from a very young age.
Very emotional morning today.
The story behind the photo,
that was one of the last times that my mum cooked for me
before my mum was diagnosed with cancer.
You don't realise something is happening for the last time
when it's happening.
It's... You know, hindsight's 2020.
Cooking a dish that's an ode to my mum means so much to me,
and I want to do my mum proud.
Hi, Sav. Hello.
What are you doing today?
Um, I'm actually making the dish that she's making there, which...
In the photo?! Yeah.
So, she's making chicken curry and tempered potatoes.
I want to capture the soul of what she's done
and what I've grown up eating.
Yeah. Yeah.
Uh, so what it is, is my version of chicken curry.
I really want to go for the chicken breast.
Why chicken breast?
Um...
Just remember this is your ticket to Finals Week.
Breast is notoriously the hardest part to get right.
Yeah.
I am feeling an insurmountable amount of pressure,
cooking my mum's chicken curry.
Good luck. Thank you.
I just want to honour the memory of my mum today,
more than anything else.
But now I am sort of second-guessing myself.
I'm just thinking, "What can I do?"
Poh has voiced concerns about the chicken breast,
and I completely get it.
It is a hard part of the chicken to cook, but the reason
I am committed to the chicken breast is because that's what I remember
from my mum's original dish.
And for me, that's such a strong memory,
like, eating those breast pieces that were just so full of flavour.
And I know I can make that chicken so nice and juicy and tender.
So, yeah, I'm going to stick to my guns, but I don't want
to do just a traditional chicken curry, because, to me,
that's not reflective of my growth.
I want to make a modern version of my mum's original dish.
I don't even want it to look like a curry.
And I believe, that with everything I've learned in this competition,
I can knock this out of the park.
Perfect.
Happy with that.
I'm getting started on my curry sauce.
Cumin.
There's going to be a lot of love going into my sauce.
It's going to have the spice mix
that I'm going to, essentially, curate by hand now.
Ooh, that's about to get very, very in-your-face in a second.
Um, don't inhale that.
(COUGHS) That's got to be Sav.
It's Sav.
(COUGHS) Oh, what is that?
Sav. Chilli powder, from here.
Jesus. What's everyone dying from? (COUGHS)
Whoops.
Is this a strategy?
I have no idea what you mean.
Growing up, it was pretty hard.
My mum and dad were always working, like, big hours to look after us.
My mum is literally the strongest person I know.
She's so resilient.
She never wasted anything.
They didn't throw anything out.
She was cooking leftovers for dinner, the lot.
She produces the most amazing food out of nothing.
Scraps into gold.
I think that is so, so inspiring.
So, I'm making roasted bone marrow...
Whoa! That's a big, chunky boy!
..with a jeow som, which is a Lao and Thai dipping sauce,
a pomelo green salad,
and I'm also going to do khao jee, which is a sticky-rice patty
that you would charcoal on the hibachi after it's cooked.
I chose bone marrow and sticky rice because those are the things
that we had left over quite often, when I was a kid.
So, this dish is an ode to my mum for teaching me
we shouldn't be getting rid of, like, leftovers.
We should be eating the leftovers.
I'm not letting my mum go today.
I'm 100% channelling her, channelling her energy.
I want my mom to see this,
and she's just going to be like, "Wow,
"I can't believe you made that."
You've only got half an hour to go.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Allez!
Hey, Pezza! Hey, chefs. How are yous doing?
So, what is the dish?
Nanna Marg, I think, was really...
She always cooked Poppa a meat and veg, you know?
And I've done that at the start of the competition,
but it's time for me to lift it to the next level.
So, I'm going to do a venison backstrap today.
I'm going to crust it in some parmesan and panko,
serve with butternut pumpkin,
and then finish it with a nice, rich blackberry jus.
Wow.
Sounds like this is all going to come down
to the cook of that meat.
Yep. Exactly right.
Game that's very lean is notoriously tricky to cook.
Yep. It has to be perfect.
Yep.
Nan always burnt and cooked the ring out of hers,
You know what I mean?
I know that sounds bad, but that's how older people done.
Yeah, yeah. But I really want to see
that nice pinkness and medium rare.
It's got to be medium rare, if not rare,
for game to taste yummy. Yep, yep. Beautiful.
You look really energised and vibrant.
I think what you guys have been telling me is starting
to sink in... Great! Yep.
..that I deserve to be here, and...and if I'm here,
might as well have a crack at it and really enjoy it...
Absolutely. ..because this is a once-in-a-lifetime.
Good luck. Thanks, girls, Appreciate it.
Did your nonna show you how to make pasta?
Yeah. Egg pasta, yeah. I can see the way...
We'd make raviolis every Christmas. I can see the way you...
(CHUCKLES) Yeah. Good teacher, obviously.
Yeah. Thanks, Chef.
Non obviously taught me so much about Italian cooking
and pasta making.
But today, I'm going to make, um, a bit of a creation
and put my own flair on the traditional Italian side
of my heritage, and then my love of seafood and progressive cooking.
So, I'm going to do Italian prawn tostadas.
A tostada is sort of like a cracker.
So, my plan is to transform my pasta dough into a tostada.
I think that will just be the perfect vessel
to hold some saucy prawns in a nice, fresh salad.
That looks epic.
Hey, fellas. Hey, mate.
How are we? A lot riding on this one.
Oh, yeah. There's a heap riding on it.
So, are you making, like, a pasta tostada?
Yeah, so, I'm gonna, um...
..obviously roll the pasta dough out.
I'm going to cut them into, you know, circles.
I'm going to deep-fry some, like,
tostada, you know, chips, essentially.
So, it'll be the tostada, then the prawns,
then a bit of the salad.
OK.
Um...
..it's a little strange for me. OK. Yeah.
Yes, it's creative, but it needs to have the same soul
as the family meal that you talked about.
Yeah.
Good luck, mate.
Andy's got concerns that my dish might be too strange,
but I want to use what I've learnt in this competition
and my freedom to sort of be creative.
Plus, I think Nonna would be really proud of this weird, wacky idea.
Woo!
So, I'm gonna back myself.
High risk, high reward.
MIMI: Yeah, baby.
Feeling good!
Sorry.
This looks very inappropriate.
To go with my broth,
I've made a pork and prawn stick
that I will set in shape in the freezer
before I slice it beautifully, on top of my noodle soup.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Mimi. What are you working on?
Working on the noodles.
How are they going to be? They...
I want them to be the best noodles I've ever damn made in this kitchen.
My grandma taught me how to do noodles,
so I just really want to get the noodles right
and do my food hero justice.
I'm into this. I'm definitely into this.
Good luck. Well done.
Good luck. Thank you.
My egg noodles are
eggs, flour and salt. That is it.
But it's a feel thing.
I'm happy with the texture of my dough,
but in the back of my mind I'm worried about the broth.
The broth is supposed to coat every single noodle beautifully,
and that's what you get when you slurp it all up.
For me to replicate the broth from memory is a risky choice.
And also, on top of that, my broth is simmering away
in the pressure cooker, so you don't taste it until it comes out.
So I can only hope that I've pulled it off.
I'm really excited because it feels like
everyone is channelling all of their emotions
and sort of embodying their family members
to bring us some really tasty food today.
What I like very much so far, on Pezza, is this lovely
reduction with blackberry.
It's very, very fruity,
so it's a lovely core, and it's not even finished yet,
so I can imagine it's going to be... it's going to be even better.
POH: Sav is actually cooking the dish that's in the photo.
The one thing that I'm a little bit worried about is she's wanting
to use breast, but I'm not sure if that's the right choice.
However, I'm really keen to see her reflection
on what she feels she's learnt.
I'm pretty keen to see how Nat's dish comes together.
Yeah! Like, you know,
she's taking a memory of the dish that her mum used to cook
with all of the leftovers, after a family feast.
Remember, this dish is done with leftovers.
Leftovers means the rice is already cooked.
You're probably using last night's protein.
She has to do all of those.
I'd back her in that, but I just hope that she can get this done.
This is the most important cook yet
because it's their last shot at immunity,
and whoever gets it is going straight into Finals Week.
Finals Week, baby!
NAT: My bone marrow is in the oven.
Alright, let's prep these bad boys.
For the cook on the bone marrow, I want it to be silky smooth,
basically, like a custard.
You're just getting, like, that fatty,
like, lip-smacking fattiness.
I take them out,
and they are looking damn good.
Perfect.
I have the sticky rice khao jee in the pressure cooker.
I need to mould it into little balls and flatten them into patties.
But I am trying to refine a leftover dish,
so I'm also gonna chuck it on the hibachi.
I'm hoping for that to make them golden, with a few, like,
dark brown bits, adding so much more flavour than there usually would be.
OK.
Hey, Nat. How are you going?
I'm good.
It's been an emotional ride... Oh, yeah.
..but, you know, that's part of MasterChef.
What are you making?
So, I'm making a roasted bone marrow
with jeow som
and khao jee,
which is a sticky rice patty.
These are all things that my mum makes,
and I really want to show my mum how much she taught me.
And I want her to be proud that something
that could be leftovers can literally be, hopefully,
in, like, a five-star restaurant.
Um, so that's what I'm trying to do. That sounds amazing, Nat.
Good luck, Nat. Keep going.
Thank you.
I definitely didn't realise this, but being in the MasterChef kitchen
has shown me I'm completely inspired by my mum.
And she's just taught me so much.
15 minutes to go!
Come on!
(APPLAUSE)
Fry time? Uh, it's prawn-cook time
and fry time. OK.
So, I've still got to fry off the tostadas, finish the sauce,
cook the prawns.
I've tasted the sauce, and I think I've seasoned to perfection.
It's got heaps of depth.
It tastes exactly like Nonna makes it.
And now, I've got to get frying the pasta-dough tostadas.
I've never made these fried tostada shells before,
but I think it'll fry up pretty nice if I do it at the right temp.
I've just done my first one.
(TOSTADA CRUNCHES)
Thin, crispy.
A little bit chewy, as well.
Um, it's gonna be a perfect vessel for the sauce.
I think I'll fry it just a little bit hotter so it gets
a little bit crispier,
um, but I'm really happy with it.
It's a ballsy move to reinvent Nonna's classic prawn pasta,
especially on a day like today, but I just want to show the judges
that I've come such a long way, in terms of my ideas and creativity.
And I feel like I've done that in this cook.
(CLAPS) Yes!
You're doing it for the people in those photos.
Eight minutes to go!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good luck.
My blackberry jus is coming along quite nice.
It's glossy, it's got that really, really nice taste.
Pumpkin's looking really good.
Nice and caramelised, which was what I was after.
But now, it's the moment of truth with this venison.
I've rolled it in that beautiful parmesan and panko crumb.
Now it's time to slice it, to see what it's like.
Venison is a very hard protein to cook,
and my whole chance at immunity is riding on this venison
to be cooked to perfection.
It's the hero of the dish, the venison.
Think it might be the wrecking of me, to be honest with you.
I'm not sure what's going to happen.
Let's do this.
My heart is just pumping, 10 to the dozen.
The venison has to be spot-on for me to have a chance
to get straight through to Finals Week.
It's so beautiful and pink.
I'm really pumped with the cook on this.
It's time to start putting this venison on the plate
with the butternut pumpkin and the sauce
if I want to have plenty of time to make it look pretty and elegant,
to really show how I've grown.
It's funny, but I don't think, back in them days,
Nan would have went to a gourmet restaurant.
I don't reckon she'd ever eaten anything like that,
and so well presented,
but I think, Nan, she'd be so proud of me.
Six minutes, everyone.
Six minutes!
Come on! Allez!
Oh!
Um, I'm running out of time so fast.
I turned my sticky rice patties, and they are looking damn good.
They're so golden, they're so crispy looking.
Mwah! Amazing.
It's just, like, buttery, eggy.
You eat it with the roasted bone marrow.
The bone marrow is perfectly custardy and fatty.
And what's going to cut through that is the sauce and a salad.
If my mum's leftovers get me into Finals Week,
I think she would be very proud of me.
But the thing I'm worried about
is I'm serving a leftover plate for the judges.
You know, there's nothing pretty about bone marrow.
There's nothing pretty about this whole, entire dish.
So, I need to put extra thought into plating,
to a point that it's fine-dining worthy.
I want the plate to tell a story,
and for it to be beautiful,
to reflect how beautiful...
..our family is.
SOFIA: Stunning.
What do you do with the end of that, Mimi?
Just asking for a friend? Just asking for a friend.
That would be me. (LAUGHS)
My pork and prawn stick looks so good.
I take my noodles out,
and these noodles are the perfect texture,
and they have beautiful size and length.
I think they are the best noodles I've ever made.
They look stunning.
And I'm hoping that I've made an umami bomb with this broth,
because my waipo used to cook this
with whatever she found in the fridge.
I just had to guess, based on the flavours,
which is one of the most risky things to do in this kitchen.
It's not quite there, and I don't know what it is.
Come on.
This dish represents my grandma.
My waipo.
I need to do it justice.
So, I need to fix this broth.
I immediately get it onto the stove so I can start adjusting seasoning.
Uh, I'm just waiting for my chicken breast.
Gonna check it.
It's looking quite juicy.
It's actually cooked perfectly.
Happy with that.
I want to have a really pretty, tidy, colourful plate.
I've got my potato puree.
I am getting my little leafy salad dressed.
My curry sauce is a bit more mellow.
It's a bit more refined than my mum's.
Visually, it looks pretty good.
However, there's also a part of me that just goes,
"Should I have just done a classic, traditional ode to my mum?"
That is weighing on me.
But either way, it is an absolute honour to be able to give the judges
a seat at my mum's table
and at my table.
Well, we cannot wait to try all your food,
but there is one minute to go!
One minute!
One minute to just go into Finals Week!
HARRY: Today, I've taken a really creative approach
to transform my prawn pasta into a tostada.
It's prawns, it's garlic, it's chilli, white wine.
Like, it's a winner.
But even if I don't win...
..I'm definitely going to make these for my nonna one day.
For the first place in Finals Week,
10...
JUDGES: Nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four,
three, two,
one!
(APPLAUSE)
PEZZA: Yeah, I think Nan would be proud of me.
She'd be proud of where I'm at in the competition.
So, I thought I'd just, uh, give them something to look down on
and see a little bit different.
They're going to be saying, "Boy, that venison!
"You're going to get in trouble today."
I just hope Nan's with me today and gets me over the line.
My mum would say that does not look like a chicken curry. (LAUGHS)
She'd be like, "What is that? That is not chicken curry."
There was this feeling, constantly, through the cook,
"Should I have just, you know, stuck to the traditional version?"
It was a huge risk for me,
but you don't know till you try.
I think she would be proud of me on that front.
The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to...
..Pezza!
(APPLAUSE)
My dish looks really, really pretty.
I'm really proud of it.
Going up to the judges, I just hope that they're as excited as what I am
when they taste it.
Ooh!
Looks bloody lovely.
Tell us what you've made.
A Parmesan And Panko Crumb Venison Backstrap
with Butternut Pumpkin Two Ways
and a Blackberry Sauce.
I've seen the photo of Nan today,
I just thought, "I'm going to cook a nice bit of game,
"if there's something in there, and I'm going to do it,
"just jazz it up a little bit."
What do you reckon Nanna Marg would think of that though?
Nanna Marg would definitely say the venison is underdone.
(CHUCKLES) She'd want to put it back on the stove and give it a...
She wants it like a bit of boot leather.
I'm pretty dying to get into this.
It looks very inviting.
Wow.
You've smashed that out of the park.
The cook on venison, when it's done well,
makes it taste like the perfect steak.
Your cook is so meticulous that you can see the different rings
of colour in the meat,
where it started to caramelise and change.
You've got a really clever dish here.
I just think it's...it's such a good reinterpretation,
through the generations of your family.
And it's ended up with you, here, in the MasterChef kitchen.
Venison needs flavour because it is so, so lean.
And wrapping it in that little crispy,
crunchy parmesan and panko crumb,
it gives it texture, but it also gives it seasoning.
The sauce is where the money starts to roll in for you.
The fact that the berries are there, and just humming
in the background, and just giving it that slight,
little bit of acidity, it is spot-on.
The butternut squash, your two ways,
the colours are very rustic, very authentic.
You've managed, with your big fingers,
to deliver this crispy little shallot.
It's just...
..perfect.
Pezza, this is a stunning dish.
It is so well thought-out,
and I hope you can remember what you first served up,
and just have a look at what you've done here
and the way you're thinking.
It's completely transformed.
(LAUGHS)
Well done. Thanks, Pezza.
I'm really excited.
I don't want to be too confident,
but I'm feeling like I could be the first one going into Finals.
Well done, cobber. Thanks, brother.
Alright.
Next, we'd like to taste the dish from Mimi.
(APPLAUSE)
Literally always pick the most dangerous thing to carry.
Careful.
(LAUGHS)
This dish is my gift to my grandma.
I wouldn't be the person that I am without her.
SOFIA: Woo!
I could not be prouder of the dish I put up.
I could not be prouder to celebrate my family food hero, my waipo,
and I really hope that I've done her justice.
VOICEOVER: In the mood to cook?
Grab your aprons and try these delicious
MasterChef-approved recipes on 10Play.
Mimi, tell us what you've made.
This is my version of Spicy Pork and Prawn Noodles,
with a Pork and Prawn Roll and Prawn Chilli Oil.
Alrighty, let's have a taste.
You're like the umami queen in here.
(LAUGHS) Let's face it.
That broth is, like, so magical.
You get those little funky bits of dried shrimp
that are a little bit sort of jerkied.
There's just lots of lovely little textures and little pops
in your mouth that you discover with every mouthful.
It's just a really delicious, comforting bowl of soup.
And I don't know your waipo,
but it definitely feels like a bowl of love
that your grandma would have served to you.
Mimi, the way you did the noodles was spec-ta-cu-lar.
Neat, quick - it's amazing.
And they are tasty.
Anchovies, the ginger, the dried shrimps -
everything is very well balanced.
Well done.
Mate, those noodles, like, they could possibly
be the best noodles we've ever had in the kitchen.
Like, they...
Honestly, the texture of those...
..is perfect.
It just goes to show, like, how much of an art it is,
the amount that's going on here to still have that textbook texture.
It's incredible work.
The prawn stick,
it was delicious in flavour.
I just thought it could have been a little bit tighter.
I just would have liked a little bit more bounce.
That would be my only negative on what would be a bowl
that I would happily pay money for.
Very, very cool Mimi-style food we got today.
Do not stop. (LAUGHS)
Well done, Mimi. Thank you.
It is fantastic.
Ah, yes!
She's just gone and done it, hasn't she?
The broth that I have worked so hard to get right is perfect.
My grandma would be so proud to see what I've done.
Next up, Sav.
(APPLAUSE)
SAVINDRI: Choosing to do this today, for me, was a step forward
in taking something that means a lot to me, and then refining it.
My mum would be immensely proud of me
for pushing myself out of my comfort zone.
Can you tell us what is your dish?
I've made my version of my mum's Chicken Curry,
Potatoes and Leafy Green Sambal.
I've tried to capture all the things that I love about the original dish
but change how I approached it.
It doesn't look very Sri Lankan.
It does not look Sri Lankan at all.
If my mum saw that, she would say, "That is not chicken curry."
(JUDGES LAUGH)
Shall we?
Sav, this is by no means a bad dish.
What it is, is the very first crack at the R and D of a new dish.
Yeah.
I love the flavour of those potatoes.
Like, that...that turmeric, the colour of them,
but they are a bit gravelly.
Yeah.
I thought the sauce was delicious.
Could have done with a little bit longer.
The chicken is really tasty, but it's kind of like...
I know you...you've said you refined it,
but it's kind of 'chicken dinner, not chicken dinner'.
Like, it's a chicken breast on a plate with mashed potato
that, in some ways, is actually pretty dated.
Today is the final shot at immunity.
Were it an elimination, just because of the standard,
you might be in trouble.
Sav, I really empathise with where you're heading
with this dish, because when I was in the competition,
I was always trying to figure out,
"Do I cook a traditional dish in its original form?
"Do I try and modernise it?"
And for that reason, I really applaud you for making this dish.
I think when you're working with traditional dishes,
they actually need a lot more R and D than, like, a modern dish.
All the parts were there, but it definitely just suffered
from time and a few little glitches.
So, I would definitely keep working on it.
This was always going to be your hardest cook
in this competition.
With everything that you've been through,
to open that box, and then, not only that, but for you to try
and recreate the dish that was in that photo,
cooked by your mum that you've got so many memories attached to -
that is 55 out of 10 difficulty.
That's what your mum would be proud of.
Thank you, Sav. Thank you.
Next up, we'd love to taste your dish, Nat.
NAT: To just serve the judges leftovers is risky.
They might think that that's a little bit weird,
but I think that this is the perfect representation of how I would
thank my mum for everything she's done.
I think would be very proud of me.
And I am proud of her.
Whoa! What the hell?!
OK.
Oh, my gosh. I think this is a... Whoa!
Oh, smell it!
OK! Oh-ho!
Far out.
Tell us what you made.
I've made Roast Bone Marrow
with a Pomelo Salad,
a Jeow Som
and Khao Jee.
Let's eat, let's eat.
(WHISPERS) Gonna go all in.
Nat,
that's a special dish.
It's got so many layers behind it.
Throughout this competition, you've changed so much
that you just...you're so open with your memories.
And I don't think we saw that on day one.
On day one, it was just like, "There's my sick food - now eat it."
Whereas now, you really want to talk about where it came from
and why it's so special to you.
The dish itself - it's fun,
and the bone marrow was so well cooked.
Like, Sofia didn't leave me much, but...
..but what was there was like...
It slid out like it was on a little slippery slide,
and then just landed on my rice cake.
It was perfectly done.
I love the chewy, crunchy, charred bits of glutinous rice.
I LOVE glutinous rice.
And I also love that you're teaching us the way
that you grew up eating.
Your mum, she's going to be incredibly proud.
Well done.
Your sticky rice - I love that.
Your dressing and your little salad - phew! -
10 out of 10.
You work like a chef.
You're so focused.
You're very, very dangerous.
You've got a lot to offer.
I can see in your eyes.
You're growing fast.
Nice one, Nat. You're special.
(APPLAUSE) You are special.
NAT: I really poured my heart into this dish.
My mum would be so proud of this feedback.
Now, I really want that immunity,
way more than ever.
The next dish we'd love to try...
..belongs to Harry.
Yeah! Come on, Harry. You're next. (APPLAUSE)
I'm interested to see what these look like.
It was a risky call to reinvent my nonna's pasta dish,
but I'm stoked with what I've come up with.
I think it's a new interpretation of prawn pasta
that I've never seen before.
JUDGES: Oh!
(SIGHS)
Harry, what have you made?
I've made you Garlic Chilli Prawn Tostadas.
Oh, they smell great. Mmm.
Alright, let's dive in.
Hands for this one? Yeah. Yep.
Hear that, Harry?
Is that a crunch? You got the crunch, mate.
(TOSTADA CRUNCHES)
Harry, the only way your four surviving grandparents
wouldn't eat this is if they had dentures.
(LAUGHTER)
The crunch on that, I could feel it in my brain.
It's unbelievable! It's so good.
And I think what's brilliant about this dish is you've taken
those comforting flavours of, like, a warm, big,
generous bowl of pasta,
and you've made it quite light and summery,
but it is still comforting.
It smells like Italy.
It was a joy to eat.
Thank you, Harry. Thanks, Sofia.
Harry...
..Nonna,
..us...
..would be very, very satisfied with that, mate.
That is ripping.
The 'tostada', as you're calling it, is epic.
You had the nous to just watch it like a hawk, press it down,
make a few air bubbles so that it did compact
into an edible bite.
The sauce, it's just got that beautiful sweetness,
the beautiful depth from the prawn oil.
This is just a different side of you,
just shows how far you've come in the competition.
Just keep cooking like this.
Nice one, Harry. Cheers.
SAVINDRI: Well done, mate. Thanks, mate.
Very proud of you.
This was your last chance to win immunity.
And with standards this high,
we really had to drill down on the tiny details.
We came up with two dishes we almost couldn't choose between.
Pezza...
..and Nat.
We were splitting hairs.
But with situations like this,
it comes down to which dish we'd dive into again
and again and again.
And that dish was yours...
..Nat.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Yay! (CHUCKLES)
Oh, my God.
Well, Nat, congratulations.
You have just guaranteed your spot
in Finals Week!
Wow-wee!
Everybody else...
..Sunday, one of you will be, unfortunately,
leaving the competition.
So, you've got to be ready for this one.
Well done, everybody. Great day.
VOICEOVER: Sunday night, on MasterChef Australia,
Finals Week is looming.
POH: Today decides whether
you're heading to Finals Week
or heading home.
Oh, my gawd.
But to get there,
they have to survive... Urgh!
..an extreme elimination. Oh-ho-ho! Ugh!
SAVINDRI: It's awful.
I don't like it.
That's wrong on so many levels.
(RETCHES)
It's time to tame this beast.
Captions by Red Bee Media