ANDY: This season has given us some of the best cooks
that we've ever seen,
and one of them will claim the title of MasterChef 2024.
POH: This is the wildest combination for a Grand Finale ever.
I think Nat and Pez are such a classic case of natural talent
versus just hard yakka.
It is game on!
JUDGES: Whoa!
We have Nat, who clearly showed so much potential on day one.
I never, ever thought I would have kangaroo as delicious as that.
You're already thinking like a chef.
I'd be scared of you.
She's got this wildly youthful energy about her,
and that's how she approaches her cooks.
Good vibes going on.
It's OK. I've got this.
I've got a little something-something for ya.
But she's a little thrill-seeker, and that's gotten her into trouble.
Absolutely cooked it.
Alright. I'm playing my pin.
Take one last look at it!
What I love about Nat's cooking
is that every plate of food has got some personal connection.
On day one, it was just like, "There's my sick food, now eat it."
Whereas now you really want to talk about it,
where it came from and why it's so special to you.
Her food tells a story
and when you hear the story, you're in.
I was so lost for so long
because I felt so torn between two cultures.
But this experience has changed me so much.
While cooking in this kitchen,
I found that I was able to tap into my Thai heritage.
My mum, uh, created her own version of satay sauce
that everyone used to just, like, froth on.
So I'm going to serve it with pork skewers.
What you've done is brought this incredible wave of flavours.
This experience has really connected my mum and I together.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: You work like a chef.
You're so focus.
You're growing fast.
You're very, very dangerous.
I want to show my mum that I am built for this industry
and that I'm ready to be a chef.
Sorry, mate, I'm sweating like an old mule.
JEANÐCHRISTOPHE: I did not see Pezza in the final.
I'm just going to wing it.
I swear, I thought he was going to be
the first one to be kicked out.
And he's there!
Don't have these in Tasmania.
He was struggling.
Let's go, Pezza! Let's go, Pez! Can't stop shaking.
And then Darren Purchese pressure test...
DARREN PURCHESE: Look at that!
..is where I saw Pezza changing.
He tried to be more composed...
POH: Take your time, Pez.
..to be more precise... Yeah, Pezza!
..making less mistakes.
You've smashed that out of the park.
I think Pezza is a worker
but also is someone who cares.
I come in this thinking I don't stand a chance.
I think, because of that, I probably was in the shadows,
but I started getting some really good feedback.
Hats off, man, that's banging.
You know, it's light, fluffy - great sponge.
I've soaked it in and I've taken everything in
and I've started to just cook with confidence.
Service, please!
I have slowly just got better and better and better.
She's another dessert from Pezza today.
Pecan and bacon tart with, uh, eggnog ice-cream.
So, something a bit different.
I'm not just the meat-and-three-veg guy from Tassie.
You don't look like a butcher at the moment.
(LAUGHS) Don't I? You look like an artist.
I've gone up that next element.
I've cooked some really fancy dishes.
SOFIA: The Pezza who is sitting opposite us today
is absolutely not the Pezza who walked in
on day one of this competition.
I love this new guy.
It's just unbelievable!
I can see it in myself, and I believe in myself now
that I am good enough.
I deserve to be here and I could win this.
(CHEERING)
NAT: Let's go. PEZZA: Yeah. Let's just love it, eh?
Look at 'em! Here they come, here they come, here they come!
(CHEERING)
Come on!
Check you two out, eh?
Loving that fresh kit.
And I'm so pumped to be saying this.
Welcome to the Grand Finale of MasterChef 2024!
(CHEERING)
Pezza, Nat, tonight's winner will have their name carved
into that trophy...
..claim the title and take home a whopping ¤250,000.
(CHEERING)
But that's not all.
They'll also be given the opportunity of a lifetime.
And, trust me, guys, you have never seen a prize like this.
(ALL GASP)
This week, one of you will be the next resident chef
at Alumni Restaurant, Crown Melbourne...
..and you'll be serving your signature menu!
(APPLAUSE)
You've worked incredibly hard to get to where you are...
..but you couldn't have done it without some very special people.
Aww... Here we go.
So welcome to the MasterChef kitchen...
..your loved ones!
Yes!
(CHEERING)
Oh! I'm so proud of you.
Come on up, guys.
We want to meet you all.
I can't believe it.
Pezza, do you want to introduce us to your family?
Yeah, for sure. This is my lovely wife, Jennifer.
My lovely daughter, Soph.
My boy, Austin.
So that's Ogger.
And this is my oldest boy, Isaac.
Nat, who have you got here?
I've got my dad, Han.
Um, I've got my brother Nathan,
my other brother, Narong.
And then my mum, Natsiri.
Missed you, too, bub.
Austin, is your dad an alright cook?
Yeah. He's not too bad.
(LAUGHTER)
He does a pretty good, uh, steak at home.
Yes.
He does a pretty good steak here, too.
Yeah. We know!
Jen, was there any doubt in your mind that Pezza would make it to the end?
To be honest, I didn't think he'd get this far,
but, um, as he's gone, I've known he's grown
and very, very proud of him.
Thanks, bub.
Pezza, what's it like having everyone here?
Oh, I'm super stoked. I've missed them.
We're always together.
And, um, you know, I've talked about it,
but I guess now today, you can see it.
They're my life.
ANDY: Natsiri, how do you feel
about Nat being right here in the Grand Finale?
Like, this is the biggest cooking competition in the world!
I don't know what to say, you know, because I saw Nat cooking,
but sometimes it's not really serious at all.
She just put this and this and this and this...
You know, anything in my kitchen, she just put, put, put, put, put,
then become nice and tasty.
So I copy her now.
(LAUGHTER)
I copy!
That is the identical answer my mum gave
when she was in that position.
Well, I can definitely say for sure you have inspired her so much
to cook the food that she cooks in this kitchen.
I'm proud of her,
really, really, really proud of her.
I know, I know. No, I know.
We've always been close, but this has just...
We're so much closer.
Like, nothing could have gotten us this close.
Are you OK?
Aw!
Oh... (SPEAKS THAI)
I've never seen my dad cry, I don't think.
Oh.
Families, thank you so much for allowing Nat and Pezza
to follow their dreams in the MasterChef kitchen.
It means so much to us.
Alright. Head on up to the gantry.
(CHEERING)
PEZZA: I'm so happy to see them all here.
And they say they're proud of me
and that sort of, I guess, makes me feel proud.
So it's a really, um...
It's a happy moment, there's no doubt about it.
(APPLAUSE)
Alright, let's do this.
The Grand Finale will take place over two rounds.
Wow.
Your fate in Round 1 will be determined by these ingredients.
Fennel...
(AUDIENCE OOHS)
..lemongrass...
(AUDIENCE OOHS)
..black peppercorns...
(AUDIENCE OOHS)
Interesting.
..mint...
Mm.
..and baby leeks.
OK, OK, OK.
Of course, it's not as simple as picking what you want to cook with.
Yeah.
Instead, you'll each take it in turns to pick an ingredient
you DON'T want in the mix.
Ohhh.
Lucky I didn't say what I wanted!
(LAUGHTER)
Whichever ingredient is left over must be used
in both your dishes.
Come and grab a token to determine who picks first.
Strategy for Round 1 is to knock off the ingredients that Nat wants.
That's the way I'm thinking.
If it's me and her against something that she's more familiar with,
I don't stand a chance.
Pezza, you're up first.
Which one of these five ingredients are you taking off the table?
Take the lemongrass off the table.
(APPLAUSE)
I feel like there was a bit of strategy straight up there, mate.
I just don't cook well with it.
Oh, yeah?
Yes.
OK. Lemongrass is gone.
Nat, your pick. Leeks.
Leeks... I didn't even finish.
Baby leeks.
Pezza, we're back to you, mate.
Fennel.
Oh!
Fennel.
Why are you removing this?
I think I can come up with a nice dish
with either-or of those two.
Whoa.
Two ingredients left.
Nat, you have the last decision to make.
There's mint and pepper.
And, for me, I'm going to pick something
that will give me a chance to score
as many points as possible in Round 1.
I'm going to get rid of mint.
OK.
Yeah.
Locking it in. Getting rid of the mint.
Yeah.
Wow. The mint is gone.
Pepper's very level playing field.
I don't know if I should say it,
but that is what I wanted to cook with!
(APPLAUSE)
So you both pretty much got what you wanted.
BOTH: Yeah. Oh, yes, it is game on.
Mm-hm.
You'll have a total of 75 minutes.
(EXHALES)
You've got to bring us a Grand Finale-worthy dish,
whatever that means, totally up to you.
But you must use black peppercorns.
Round 1, there's a total of 40 points on offer.
Remember, every single point counts.
Jean-Christophe, would you like to do the special honours?
Oh, oui, bien sur.
Good luck.
Your time starts... (LOUDLY) ..now!
(CHEERING)
Peppercorn, we've got to use.
Ooh, is that karkalla?
I've got this. Woo!
You know what's really interesting?
We had a very levelling ingredient.
We had chicken, me and Jules, right?
And I went for more chicken-y
and she showed more technical improvement.
(CHEERING)
He's got his favourite ammunitions - meat.
Got a bit of Tassie in here,
and that's what we need in this place.
I'd better show them that I've learned something
while I've been away and they've had the shop going.
I'm just so proud to have the wife and the kids over top of me today,
so I'm really channelling them in this dish.
The butcher! He can do that like breathing.
I'm pumped. I'm really pumped.
I'm going to do a ribeye with a peppercorn sauce.
That's where the peppercorn is going to come into it
with some Brussels sprouts.
The boys love ribeyes.
They're butchers and they love their steak.
Wife loves the peppercorn sauce.
The daughter loves Brussels sprouts.
No kids like Brussels sprouts.
So we're going to do the Brussels sprouts
a bit different today, I'm going to actually puree some.
Then I'm going to cut some in half
and roast them and put them on top of the puree.
And then finish it all off with a nice little potato fondant.
You might think simple, but it's me.
It's got all the flavours I love.
I'm a butcher, I love meat.
I've just got to put a little bit of a spin on the vegies,
and that's why I'm doing the Brussels sprout puree.
And then the hero of the dish
is going to be that black peppercorn sauce.
You've got it, Pez! Let's go, Pez!
It's the brief. It's our main ingredient.
So it's going to be one of the main components of this dish.
Watching you, Pezza!
Round 1, I'm gonna stay true to what I believe in,
the way I cook, and just put up a dish that's a real ripper.
(CHEERING)
Go, Nat! Go, Nat!
Do you know what she's making?
I think I have an idea.
Have you got an idea? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah?
I want to make a classic pub meal, but make it Thai.
Ooh, eggs.
She's got shrimp paste.
My whole entire family,
if we're not eating at home, we'll go catch up at the pub,
and we would take chilli oil with us
to eat with whatever we're eating.
The smell...
Mm, made me hungry already.
Nat! Hello!
Grand Finale! Family watching down.
It's pretty wild! What's the dish?
So, today, I'm making a sai ua Scotch egg.
Wow! Thai sausage. Scotch egg?!
Do you want to know why I have my concerned face on?
Yeah. Go on.
Scotch eggs are hard... To pull off. Yeah.
Hard to pull off.
There's so much pressure to get that perfect cook on the yolk.
How do you want the yolk? I want the yolk to be runny.
OK. It needs to be runny.
Black pepper, where's that in the dish?
Black pepper is going to be bang-on straight into the sai ua mix
which is a northern Thai sausage.
There's a lot of chilli. There's a lot of turmeric.
There's a lot of galangal. It's quite spicy.
I have to balance it so that the black pepper shines.
You've got a mission! Thank you. I am on a mission.
Come on, Nat!
Good luck.
(CHEERING)
Pezza. Hi, chefs. How are we doing?
Good, mate. How are you? I'm good.
How's a bit of Grand Finale energy going?
Yeah. No, you've sort of hit me every way today.
Brought the family in, I was excited.
Go, Dad!
Back in your happy place? Back in my happy place.
Round 1 - such an important round
when it comes to someone lifting that trophy up.
Yeah. What are you gonna cook?
Today's the day to stick with what I know.
So I'm going to do a ribeye,
some potato fondants...
..with a peppercorn sauce.
You know, the missus, she loves the peppercorn.
I'm going to do the Brussels sprouts two different ways.
I'm going to have a roasted Brussels sprout
I'm going to cook on the hibachi to give that real little glaze.
Oh, yeah. And then I'm gonna puree them.
Brussels sprout puree? Yep.
Never pureed them before in my life. So...
Very interesting to see what's going to happen.
What happens when you cook Brussels sprouts for a long time?
They go dark and they smell. They smell.
Yep.
Is today the day to be pulling something out of the bag
that you've never done before?
We'll see.
Come on, Pezza!
PEZZA: The judges are really worried about the Brussels sprout puree,
and I know they're worried because I've never done it before.
But I'm still going to stick with the same idea
that I had to start with.
Are you sticking to your gun?
I am at this stage. (LAUGHS)
Sorry, mate.
It's the Grand Finale.
And I'm sick of coming second.
I'm always second.
I've coached a lot of footy
and I've been in, I reckon, 10 grand finals
and we've lost every time.
And you work so hard
and I think it's about time Pez is ready for a change.
Bring this baby home.
I think if I pull this off,
this could set me above Nat, and that's what we need.
Good, Pez?
Yeah!
Now we're getting there.
I'm really happy with it. It tastes really nice.
Ooh. That's a good colour.
Better.
I just hope the judges think the same way as I do.
Now it's time to get on to this beautiful black peppercorn sauce.
Perfect.
She's got so much, like, heat-packing, hey? Yeah.
She's got poblanos, green chillies and red chillies as well.
Yeah, that's... And then she's gonna use pepper.
(CHEERING) Go, Nat!
That's really spicy.
So the nam phrik num is done,
which is a Thai roasted green chilli dip.
And I'm getting my eggs ready to boil.
Whoo!
While the eggs are boiling,
I'm making my curry paste for my pork mince.
My black pepper is going to be in mince.
But she must use the black pepper?
Yeah, she must use the black pepper.
Where's the pepper?
There's so many flavours in this curry paste.
Turmeric, galangal, kaffir lime, chillies,
shrimp paste, fish sauce, lime juice.
I haven't said black peppercorns yet.
I have to get the black peppercorns
to be competing with these ingredients.
You got it, Nat. You got it.
Mum, how do you think I'm doing? Good?
Yes, good.
It's better than me now.
She's got a little sous-chef in the gantry.
Are you going to copy this dish, Mum?
She looks unsure.
Yeah. Don't worry about me, Nat!
Just cook!
Now I need to get on the eggs
and I have to wrap it, coat it, deep-fry it.
It's a lot to do in a small time. I know.
But if there's anyone that can do it, it's Nat.
Nice, Nat. Whoo!
They look like dinosaur eggs.
(IN FRENCH) Attention, attention, mes amis!
15 minutes to go.
Allez!
Come on, Nat, let's go.
Come on, mate! Let's go, Dad!
Got the fondants in the oven.
The prosciutto's done.
I've got my Brussels sprout puree ready to go.
Come on, Dad.
The ribeyes look perfect on the hibachi.
Time to get them off now and put them into the oven.
Now it's time to put all my love into this peppercorn sauce.
Today, he seems so cool. Yeah, right? It's amazing.
It's so great to see. Yeah.
The hero of the dish is going to be that black peppercorn sauce.
It's so rich.
They're only going to want a little bit, don't get me wrong.
It's probably going to leave a tingle down their throat,
but that's what I want.
Nice, Pez, come on!
Mm.
Beautiful.
ANDY: Yes. Fried eggs. Yeah, Nat!
It is very hard to get a runny yolk with a Scotch egg
because you're cooking it twice.
My eggs have been deep-frying for about four minutes.
The eggs, they can't be over at all.
They have to be oozy.
Holy macaroni.
Why would you make something that you can't cut open?
I keep coming back to the egg.
Back and forth, back and forth to check.
My cooking intuition's kicked in.
Nice, Nat! Oh, they look good.
That's beautiful, Nat. Thank you.
Yum!
The trophy is on the line.
Three minutes to go.
(CHEERING)
Time to cut this steak.
What do you think of the cook on Dad's ribeye?
Done alright.
A butcher's way of having a steak.
Butchers know best! So he keeps telling us.
I'm just going to put a nice, generous dollop
of this Brussels sprout puree
with these charred, roasted Brussels sprouts
sitting up to the top.
And then that nice little prosciutto crumble.
Put two little bits of this ribeye across the plate.
Finish it with the two fondue potatoes.
Yum. Yeah, Pez!
Looks beautiful mate. Wow, Pez!
I'm happy with this dish.
I know that black peppercorn sauce is so rich
and so full of peppercorns.
You can just smell it.
It smells so good.
I just hope that sticking with this Brussels sprout puree
was a good idea.
I look up and my oldest son, Isaac,
I can just see him shaking his head, like,
as if to say, "You're the man.
"You're the man, Dad."
Come on, Natty!
Yeah. I reckon it's good.
I'm plating up and I'm putting my Scotch eggs on there.
It's really hard for Scotch eggs, a classic pub food, to look good.
Right, I'm gonna run to the garden.
Go, Nat!
Forage flowers. Forage flowers.
She moves so fast!
She used to be a sprinter at school! Yeah.
(CHEERING)
So I'm gonna add caviar, mayo, finger lime, nam phrik num,
and some pretty flowers.
I really hope that the black pepper is going to be there
and the eggs are perfectly runny.
Loud as you can, gantry!
10...
ALL: Nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four,
three, two, one!
Look at that!
Let's taste your dish, Nat.
(APPLAUSE)
Nat, what have you made us?
I've made a sai ua Scotch egg
with nam phrik num.
Nat, I love how, right to the end, you've been the risk-taker.
And up till now, we do not know
how those eggs are cooked on the inside.
Yeah...
Shall we find out? Yes, please.
Oh, I'm nervous for you.
I'm nervous as well.
I don't even know if I want to watch.
Whoo! I'm sweating.
Oh, my God, I'm actually so nervous.
Oh! Oh!
Yeah, girl!
(APPLAUSE)
She's definitely gooey.
Two for two, Nat!
It's gooey. It's a good start.
Well done, Nat.
One other big question that we need answered...
..but we'll only know that when we taste it.
Where is the black pepper?
Nat...
If you asked me to advise, I would say please don't do it.
Garlic. Chilli. Shallots.
You went for the full-on big-time ingredients.
Where, to one point, I said to myself,
"There's no way on Earth
"that we can possibly get the black pepper
"out of your dish."
And I was wrong.
Because it doesn't come at first, but it comes after.
Thank you.
It's really, really, really good.
You're so clever with flavours.
That nam phrik num,
you can taste all of that chilli heat in there.
And just when you think it's about to blow the absolute crap
out of your head...
..the pepper comes in from your sai ua coating
on your perfectly oozy egg, and it sort of takes over.
I can really taste the galangal in there.
There's still so much Thai in this dish,
even though it doesn't look typically Thai.
Nat, it is so delicious.
At first, I thought, "I don't really need the mayo."
I thought that was a little bit of a superfluous thing.
But I think it works.
Sometimes it needs something that's weaker
to act as a foil to bring out
the flavours in something that's stronger,
and that's what the mayo has done.
And that is very, very clever cooking.
You pull out a Thai Scotch egg with finger lime, caviar, mayonnaise
and a nam phrik num that would blow our heads off on a day like today.
And then you make that have a fight against black pepper,
which is meant to be the star of the show.
For the record, I don't think they're fighting.
I think they're making love.
I love that.
That is why we love you.
That is why you're so good.
That is why you look so normal in chef whites.
And that is why I will be coming to your restaurant
to order this dish off the menu
and have the best time and be like a proud, proud dad.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Pezza...
(APPLAUSE)
Pezza. Round 1, Grand Finale.
What have you made?
Today, chefs, I've made for you a ribeye steak,
peppercorn sauce, Brussels sprout puree
with some roasted Brussels sprouts
that I've topped with prosciutto and a maple syrup glaze.
Pezza, you've stuck to your guns.
You've stuck to who you are.
The ribeye...
It's perfect.
Perfect blushing medium rare,
beautiful char,
hint of smoke in there,
and you couldn't have done it any better.
This is Grand Finale food.
But the puree, the Brussels Sprout puree...
..it's just a touch grainy.
(EXHALES)
I think that you did the best you possibly could.
Because any more,
and the flavour just would have been all out of whack.
You would have lost that beautiful, sweet earthiness.
But the flavour, which is where it matters, is there.
The sauce...
I could smell how spicy it was.
That was just ringing with that black pepper.
When you taste it, it's almost slightly bitter
with the peppercorns,
but I love that.
One of your little weapons has been sauce making,
and you can see and taste the love in it.
And I love that this whole plate are little nods to your family.
What you've done time and time again, Pezza,
is shown us and shown everybody else
you can take something from everyday household
to hatted restaurant, and that's what you've done today.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Your steak, it is brilliant.
The cuisson...
You could even cook it closing your eyes.
Your mash -
how you dare doing sprout mash on the final?
Are you mad?!
So it's light, it's tasty.
It matched with the steak,
when you get your steak to it, and your fondant.
And that is superb.
It's what you are.
You've done what you believe
and what you've become from MasterChef here in a final.
Well done.
Nice work, Pezza! (APPLAUSE)
What a brilliant start.
Let's see how you scored.
Nat...
Chef.
..your scotch egg was...
..superb...
..and I gave you
9 out of 10.
(CHEERING)
You can add that dish to your menu.
I gave it...
..9 out of 10.
(CHEERING)
I scored you...
..a 9 out of 10.
High-risk, high reward...
..9 out of 10!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
So, Nat, that means for Round 1,
that's a total score of 36 out of 40.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, Pezza...
..that sauce was packed with punchy peppercorns.
I gave you...
..an 8 out of 10!
I gave it...
..an 8 out of 10!
(CHEERING)
I give Pez...
..an 8 out of 10.
(APPLAUSE)
I gave you...
..9 out of 10.
(CHEERING)
Which means, for Round 1, Pezza, you scored 33 out of 40. Well done.
(CHEERING)
Oh, I'm really annoyed with myself.
I'm three points down and it's hard to come from behind.
I definitely don't want to be second. I'm always second.
One down, one to go.
That's just how I've been in life.
Sorry.
I just hope that I can get my head around it
and do myself and the family proud.
One round down and one to go.
Round 2 is a pressure test.
And because it's your last cook in this kitchen,
it's a dish set by an absolute phenomenon.
Oh.
This one's proper, guys.
(CHUCKLES) Oh-oh!
This chef has been trained by the best of the best.
Who could it be?
A weapon honed by Gordon Ramsay himself.
She went on to become the first and only British female chef
to be awarded three Michelin stars for her restaurant in London.
Her second restaurant in Sydney is one of the few
that have earned an astounding three Hats.
Put simply, she is one of the greatest chefs in the world.
From Core and Oncore,
please welcome
the formidable Clare Smyth!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Oh, my God, in the flesh!
We have a three-Michelin-star chef in the kitchen.
It is so insane.
I'm worried for them.
There have been some difficult pressure tests,
but this one is 100% going to take the cake.
Clare, welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.
Oh, it's so, so good to be here.
I'm so excited for today.
How's things going at Core and Oncore?
Yeah. Great. Great. Very lucky.
Very, very fortunate.
Two amazing restaurants on other sides of the world,
you know, the sister of each other.
This dish sits on both Core and Oncore's menu, at the moment.
It does, yes.
Three-Michelin-star, here we come.
(GANTRY EXCLAIMS WITH ANTICIPATION)
This dish is probably our most celebrated
and favourite dessert from our customers.
Wow.
It's incredibly technical,
but it should be something that is quite familiar to you.
You'll recognise the flavours.
Are you ready to find out what it is?
Yep. Yes!
Today, you will be making my...
(GASPING)
..Core Teaser.
Whoo-hoo!
Wow, Pez!
Wow!
PEZZA: I was feeling a little bit down after Round 1,
but pressure test, dessert -
I feel alright, that's what I was hoping for.
Because I've done well in pressure tests before,
especially the sweet ones.
(EXHALES SHARPLY) Nat, your face just said it all!
What are you thinking? Oh, I'm thinking dessert...
Gosh!
Oh, my God, I'm freaking out.
I have not done a dessert pressure test yet.
My first one is about to be in the grand finale.
I'm screwed.
Do you want to come in and have a look? Yeah.
No!
I thought it was going to be wow,
but this is wowzers.
This dish looks epic and unbelievable.
But it looks so beautiful,
like a big Malteser.
(CRUNCHING)
Oh, hoo-hoo-hoo!
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow, look at this.
Oh, my gosh.
CLARE: So, you'll have the malt puff,
which is sitting on the base,
which kind of like lifts the actual Core Teaser up.
Then we have a hazelnut ice-cream.
We have some milk chocolate feathers.
There's a crisp feuilletine base with chocolate.
Then you have a chocolate cremeux.
In the centre, you've got aerated dark chocolate,
and then on the top, you've got a malt mousse.
That then is obviously sprayed in chocolate.
It's five things in one tiny thing.
Are you ready to taste? Yeah.
Can't wait for this, 'cause it is insane.
(CRUNCHING)
Wow.
Oh, my God, it tastes like Maltesers. It tastes like...
It really does! It tastes like Maltesers!
Oh, it tastes so good!
I have never had a Malteser like this before.
It's just so complex in flavour.
You get, like, layers of hazelnut
and then you get layers of chocolate,
and then you get layers of, like, beautiful malt.
It's so delicately done.
It's going to be hard to pull this off.
So, the aerated chocolate,
you want it to be as light as possible.
If you over-inflate it, it will collapse
and you'll have to start again.
Same thing with the malt puff.
When you're souffleing it up,
you're making a giant Malteser, basically,
and it's going to be, like, this big ball of air.
So, again, you need to be super careful.
There is actually 113 steps.
Doesn't surprise me.
She's going to be a big cook and, uh, yeah, very, very daunting.
I've done this before.
I know I can do this.
It has never been more important to mirror both the look and the taste
as accurately as you can,
because, at the end of this cook,
one of you will be our winner.
The recipe, equipment and ingredients that you need
are at your benches.
You'll have...
..four hours to complete your dish.
Oh, that is so tight.
Each of us will score your dish out of 10.
That total,
it will be added to those scores from Round 1,
and that will determine our winner.
Clare, do you want to do the honours?
I wish you the very best of luck.
And your time starts...
..now.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MAN: Let's go, Nat!
WOMAN: Go, Pezza!
Let's go! Woo!
This will be the first time that I'm looking Nat cooking sweet.
Really? Oh, wow. Hmm.
Big day. Hmm.
NAT: Pezza definitely has an advantage,
because he's done two dessert pressure tests.
He's done some of the elements before
that are on Clare's plate.
I literally haven't done any of these elements.
My desserts in the kitchen have not gone well.
Oh.
Jenga!
It's not set. I'm not doing it.
I think for the desserts I find it really hard
because everything needs to be to temperature,
everything needs to be to the gram.
There's no room for error.
And I don't have to do that with savoury dishes.
So this is gonna be so hard.
I'm terrified. I'm genuinely terrified.
So, I'm gonna go with what I know best,
which is have a list.
For me, I work really well going through all the different elements.
And I have a timer for everything, just to make sure I know,
I guess, like, where I'm going.
The first element I need to do is my milk chocolate cremeux,
which is inside the bottom half of the entremet.
Clare's milk chocolate cremeux was so, so light
and the flavours were beautiful and silky.
I've never made anything like this.
I haven't even made anything close to this.
So this is all new.
Milk...
..cream.
Milk, cream, milk, cream, milk, cream.
NATSIRI: Good, Nat. Step by step.
AUSTIN: Let's go, Dad.
PEZZA: I know I'm three points behind Nat,
but I love pressure tests.
I think I can bounce on top here.
MIMI: Hustle, Pez.
I love reading recipes.
WOMAN: That is consistency. That is oozing out.
He's nailed it.
And I've been really good in pressure tests.
POH: It's pretty good. Pretty good!
You've got to relax and you've got to just let it flow.
That's where I've been at my best in these ones.
What's up, Pezza?
Hey, chef. You're looking good now.
You've changed. I can see you're going for it.
Thanks, chef. Come on.
Starting to lift, chef.
Excellent.
All the best, Pezza. Thank you.
I've done my little chocolate, uh...
..creme...cream, or whatever that word is.
And now I'm on to the malt mousse,
which is the top layer of the entremet.
It's just got its beautiful, silky texture.
It was that real Malteser flavour.
Right. Here we go.
I've got three types of cream that I've just got to whip
and fold through my malt mixture
to give it that light and creamy texture.
I finish off my malt mousse, and I'm really happy with it.
And now it's time to move on to the chocolate base.
SOPH: Doing good, Dad.
(READS TO SELF)
After 15 minutes...
I feel super stressed right now,
because it feels like I'm learning a new language,
and it's, like, a three-Michelin-star language.
(READS TO SELF)
(MUMBLES TO SELF INDISTINCTLY)
..once it's hot, slowly pour over the eggs,
whisking continuously.
Wait a minute.
I'm working on my malt mousse,
but I've not even made a mousse before,
and this is so crucial to the entremet.
11.6 is done.
80g of fresh cream.
I've got the cream in.
There's two parts of the cream that goes into this malt mousse.
DARRSH: I don't know why she's doing it like that.
I'm folding the cream in with the malt mix and...
Goddammit!
Cream - whipped double cream.
I just realised I forgot to put my double cream
with my whipped cream.
(EXHALES STRONGLY) OK.
That is not good.
And I can't just add it in now, so I have to start again.
What?
I basically have only done two elements
and I've already done a massive mistake.
God, not a great start.
There is just three points between you
and you've got three hours to go.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Go, Nat! Let's go, Nat.
Cream - whipped double cream.
I'm working on my malt mousse,
and I just realised I forgot to put my double cream in.
(SIGHS)
I have to start again.
This is such a crucial part of the entremet. I have to do it.
This is the grand finale.
Everything needs to be perfect.
But I'm going to lose time here.
What am I doing next?
So I'm going to have to try and multi-task right now,
set a timer for my malt and my milk on the stove
and start on the anglaise for my hazelnut ice-cream.
I just have to read carefully.
I feel like so many things are not going
the way I want it to right now.
Double-check, double-check, double-check.
Go, Pez!
HARRY: Keep moving, mate. You got this.
I need a beer. Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
I've done my chocolate cream and the malt mousse.
I've done my little chocolate base,
and I've just started on my hazelnut ice-cream.
Clare's hazelnut ice-cream was
one of the best ice-creams I've ever had.
It was so intense with that roasted hazelnut flavour,
and it's so creamy and luscious.
That's what I'm going for.
JUAN: Nice? Tastes really yum.
My hazelnut anglaise tastes like Clare's.
I'm really happy with it.
Now it's just time to put it into the blast freezer
and to move on to the chocolate aerated disc.
This aerated chocolate disc sits in the middle of the entremet.
Clare's was so beautiful and bubbly,
like, it just disintegrates in your mouth with nothing.
Your dad's turned into Willy Wonka.
(LAUGHTER)
AUSTIN: Does that make us your Oompa Loompas?
(LAUGHTER)
I put the chocolate in the canister...
..aerate it up,
and I've got to zig zag it across this sealed vacuum container.
The recipe says to use all the mixture,
and I need to let the chocolate double in size
so I have enough to work with.
I've done a few tie-down straps before.
Tied the young fella's motorbike on the back of his bus.
But that's about all I've got going for me in this.
It's definitely different.
I'm just hoping that, when I put it in the vacuum machine,
it comes out beautiful and bubbly.
Come on.
It comes up beautifully and quick.
I'm straight on to the button.
It's stayed up where I want.
It's got to go into the blast freezer to set
before I cut those little discs out.
Yeah, Dad!
(CHEERING)
Woo!
I've never tempered chocolate like this before.
This is crazy.
SAV: Yeah, Nat, work that chocolate.
Yes, Nat, straight in tempering chocolate.
How are you going?
Um, this tempering chocolate situation is taking way longer
than I thought it would. Yeah.
Dessert, pressure test, grand final.
This is really hard.
Clare, how's the tempering looking to you?
Yeah, I mean, it's looking good.
I'm about to put this into a...
Whoo-hoo! ..siphon gun!
Yep. Remove 500ml.
(MUTTERS TO SELF)
So I don't need to start again.
There's a lot of bubbles in there, but that's OK.
Is that because I'm whisking? I have no idea.
Nat, who are you speaking to?
I'm talking to myself. Just checking.
Yeah. Well, Nat, keep it up.
Working quickly. I've got to work quickly.
Thank you.
I feel very overwhelmed trying to get all the elements done.
God. NATSIRI: Slow down.
Slow down, Nat.
It's alright, Nat.
Leave that in there, just in case.
In the recipe, it says it needs to double in size.
I think it's aerated enough,
so I need to let it set in the blast chiller.
Grand finalists, you're halfway through.
Two hours to go!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Let's go!
Let's go, Pezza! Let's go, Pezza!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PEZZA: I take the aerated chocolate out of the blast freezer.
I'm so happy with it.
Nice, Pezza.
I just can't believe I'm in the grand finale
and everything's going really, really well.
So I'm feeling really good,
and now it's time to cut it into its little disc.
It's going to take some doing, isn't it?
I think we can get a centimetre out of it.
Yeah, Pezza. (APPLAUSE AND ENCOURAGEMENT)
ANDY: Let's go.
Loving it!
Ooh, hers hasn't aerated enough...
I'm a bit worried about Nat's aerated chocolate.
She didn't use all the chocolate.
I mean, half of it's still left in the bowl.
Well, that's...that's a good 200-300g.
Uh-huh.
Oh.
I'm struggling quite a lot to cut this aerated chocolate.
(GASPS)
And it's starting to crumble.
Gentle. Gentle, gentle.
MIMI: What is she doing? LILY: Oh, God.
Oh, God.
Oh, sugar!
NAT: I'm, like, terrified right now.
Oof.
Oh, my God.
I'm struggling to cut this aerated chocolate.
And I'm freaking out.
Watching this just gives me so much anxiety. I know!
NATSIRI: Gentle.
It's literally crumbling apart.
See how much chocolate's left in the bowl over there?
Yeah. That's what's gone wrong.
Does it say to use all of the chocolate?
Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow.
And I don't know how to save it.
Oh, my God.
And this is the second element I've struggled with.
Oh, I can't believe it.
It's just not working.
I'm just so disappointed in myself.
Even though I'm three points ahead,
I can feel the trophy slipping away.
For most of my life,
I never felt like I'd fit in anywhere.
But coming onto MasterChef...
..has made me realise that I belong here.
I know now that I want to become a chef.
So I can't just give up.
I need to pull myself together and get this done.
I need to try as hard as I can, because I want to win.
(ENCOURAGING SHOUTS AND APPLAUSE)
I am just gonna have to use what I've got.
And I'm hoping for the best.
Now I have to start on my milk chocolate feathers.
OK, mes amis, we are in the final.
It's a lot to do,
and it's the best moment of your life.
One and half hour to go, please!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Come on!
You got it, Nat!
PEZZA: I've finished my chocolate feathers.
Things are looking good.
Everything's starting to come together.
I'm on to assembling the entremet,
so that's the main thing.
It needs to get in. It needs an hour to set before I spray it.
The entremet needs to be perfect.
The balance and the flavours have got to be exactly the same
as Clare's.
You want 50/50 of the chocolate and the malt,
and plus you've got to get that aerated chocolate disc
in the middle,
plus the base on there.
It's one of the most important parts of this dish.
I want to do it justice,
and I want to do it really, really well.
Yeah, whoo! Well done, Pezza!
Well done, Nat! Yeah!
But there's no time to rest.
Because now it's time to go onto the malt sugar puff.
The malt sugar puff is the thing that sets this whole dish alive.
It gave the dish all the height,
it gave it the look,
and it just tastes like the inside of a Malteser but better.
So if it's not perfect, it's going to let down the whole dish.
NAT: I'm starting on my malt puff.
And the first thing I need to do is make a caramel
with the malt powder.
Five more!
It needs to get to 128 degrees,
and then I need to put it onto some silicone mat.
Can you flick me some, Nat?
Oh, I wish.
SUE: Hers is a bit thicker.
It looks creamy. SNEZ: That's interesting.
At this stage, both of them are working on their malt caramel,
and they look completely different.
Why are they doing completely different things?
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
SNEZ: Pezza's malt mix, it's light in colour,
it's very thin.
Nat's is a bit more thicker and darker,
and it looks like quite different texture.
Same recipe, different results.
I'm so confused.
SNEZ: This element is so crucial for this dish
because it needs to puff up like a ball.
And I don't know who's right.
I don't know who made a mistake.
They both look completely different.
What can happen there, when they go to actually do the puffing?
I mean, ultimately, it just won't puff up.
And you know it's the most important part of the dish, right?
It's that crunch.
It's that texture.
It's the Malteser part of the dish. ANDY: Yeah, the three-star element.
Yeah. It's everything.
We don't know who's doing it right. We don't know who's right.
Who's right and who's wrong.
Oh, my God, this is so stressful.
My heart's beating so fast right now.
It's agony.
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, wow! ALL: Whoa!
Go, Nat!
I'm so happy, but it looks like an alien.
Not good, not good.
Definitely not good.
Not anywhere near what I want.
Something's gone wrong with this malt sugar puff.
It shrunk. It hasn't worked.
And I just can't believe it.
I'm really gutted now.
One of the key elements in this dish,
my favourite element in this dish,
has just gone pear shaped really quickly.
He's struggling.
You're not going to get much out of him now.
No.
Why today? Why today did this have to happen?
I've already probably taken defeat.
I think I'm done.
Because I feel, like, lost again.
I'm always second.
That's just how I've been in life.
And I just hate that.
I feel like just walking out.
But that's not the person I am.
Go, Dad!
I haven't got time to do it again,
but I'm going to try and save it.
Keep going! Keep up, Josh!
You got it.
Do not give up, Josh.
I'm thinking if I put it in the fridge,
it might make it hard enough so I can crumble it
and then go on to the next step.
15 minutes to go!
Yes, Nat!
15 minutes left of the cook,
and I need to get my entremets out of the mould to spray.
That's it. Come on. Yes.
It comes out and it looks beautiful.
Oh, my God.
And now I'm ready to spray my chocolate all over my entremet.
(CHEERING)
Come on, mes amis, please hurry up!
10 minutes to go, please.
Looking good!
I finished spraying the entremets.
I'm really happy with it.
And now it's time to go back to the malt puff.
I've taken the malt sugar puff out of the fridge.
This is my last chance to get this right
because I'm running out of time.
I really hope it works.
It's not working.
It's no good.
I think I'm just gonna have to leave that one off.
Hey, come to terms with it. Move on.
Nail the rest of the components.
Keep pushing, Pez.
I'm just so gutted.
It still hasn't worked.
I don't know where this is going to lead me.
Almost there. Don't lose it in the last bit.
Thanks. Come on, Dad. Keep going.
Come on, Dad, you're doing good!
(IN FRENCH) Attention! Attention!
You have three minutes left to go!
I have every element for Clare Smyth's Core Teaser dish.
That is crazy.
Come on, Nat. You got this.
That was an insane cook.
You know, I had to remake a couple of elements,
but it's all there,
and I'm very, very happy.
Wow!
I can't believe I just made a three-Michelin-star dessert
in the grand finale.
Yeah, Natty!
SOFIA: For the final time...
10...
ALL: Nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one!
(CHEERING)
Sorry, bub.
Love you.
(SOBBING) I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry. We're proud of you.
(CHEERING)
It's alright.
We're proud of ya.
So proud. We're proud of you.
Nothing went to plan. It's OK.
It's all good.
Righto, you guys.
Come on. So proud.
So proud!
Thanks, guys.
You got this.
Chefs.
Pezza.
How are you really feeling?
Yeah, I'm just a bit flat.
Yeah.
I just feel like I've let the family down today,
and you guys.
To not, um...
To not complete the dish,
that's what really hurts.
(HOLDS BACK TEARS) Oh, shit.
I just want you to do something.
I want you to look down at the M
and then look next door,
and then look where you are.
There are many ways that a bloke can let his family down,
but this ain't one of them.
This is not one of them.
Thank you.
I think the flavours are definitely going to be there,
and I'm proud of what I've put in front of you guys.
Well, Pezza, we love you, and that's never going to change.
For the final time, we're going to taste your dish.
Thanks, Pez. Thank you.
SOFIA: Thanks, Pezza. It's been a good ride.
Missing a couple of bits, but I hope you enjoy, guys.
Thanks, mate. Well done. Thank you.
POH: Thank you, Josh.
Well, look, I mean,
obviously, it's missing the malt part.
But the actual main part of the Core Teaser itself
looks really sharp.
Mm.
That entremet looks pretty epic.
The spray he's got on that dome looks so good.
SOFIA: Alright, I reckon we should give it a taste.
I'll go...
It looks pretty good! Look at that.
Looks pretty good layers in there.
That is...near perfect. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Look at it.
Yeah, look, I mean, it looks great on the inside,
and look at that chocolate.
(WHISPERS) Oh, my God.
Wow. Oh, my God.
I mean, I think that's delicious.
You know, he has nailed the flavour.
The texture, it's light,
you have the crunch of the chocolate, the base.
The hazelnut ice-cream -
just the flavour, he's absolutely nailed it.
And even, you know, those feathers, they're tempered.
You know, they've got a...
They've got a crunch.
I'm seriously impressed.
It's delicious to eat.
I mean it's a shame it's missing the malt,
but he's done such a good job.
The ice-cream, I've smelled it 10 metres away.
And it delivered exactly what I smelled.
That lovely nutty flavour.
Just perfect! Malt cream.
To replicate Maltesers' flavours to a sweet like that
with so many different components,
and having this chocolate cremeux,
they're both equally giving that flavour,
which is unbelievable.
It is just such a shame
that he didn't quite get that malt sugar puff right,
because that is such a joyous component of the dish.
I was there when the devastation of that malt puff deflated,
and Pezza turned to me, and it was just a look of defeat on his face,
and he could have easily fallen to pieces then.
POH: Yeah!
But he's created an entremet, which really
I don't have many complaints about.
No.
I've only got good things to talk about.
This challenge absolutely comes down to what looks and tastes
the most like Clare's dish.
So that missing malt puff is a really significant minus.
That's the thing - if you're going to miss an element,
you always need to make sure what you've got on the plate
is executed to the highest degree,
and that's what he's done.
We've got to wait and see what happens.
ANNOUNCER: In the mood to cook?
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and try these delicious MasterChef-approved recipes
on 10Play.
Hey, Nat. Hey, Nat.
OK.
Hello.
You just achieved
your first-ever dessert pressure test...
Yep.
..which was a three-Michelin-star dish
in the grand finale.
How does that feel?
Feels pretty crazy.
I just feel very honoured to have done this dish
on the grand finale.
Definitely did not realise what I was going in for, though.
I had so much trouble.
Um, I was just like...
I felt like I was slowly drowning.
Yeah, it was...it was hard.
So, Nat,
we only have one thing to do.
Yeah.
It's to taste your dish.
(JUDGES EXCLAIM)
Thank you, and good luck to you. SOFIA: Thanks, Nat. Well done.
Yeah. I mean, she's got all the elements there.
I mean, you know, she's got the wow factor
and the height of the dish and the drama.
Alright, here we go.
Moment of truth.
I just want to take a...
I want to take a bite out of the top.
(CRUNCH) Ooh!
ANDY: Had that same sound.
Good noise.
There it is. Looks good.
Look, Nat has to get huge points on getting that malt puff up...
..because that was the most technical part
of this dish.
And then I think the flavours of the entire dish
were pretty bang on.
But I got a big piece of gelatine in my malt mousse.
POH: (GASPS) Really? Like a monster. Yeah.
SOFIA: That's chunky.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: And the same for me. I got two pieces there.
Oh, my God. On a small bite, yeah.
And that's the malt mousse that she made twice.
So obviously, on the second go, she just rushed it.
I think so, yeah.
She hasn't dissolved the gelatine through the base.
So, flavours are good, textures are off.
Yeah. I mean, she achieved the dish...
Yes. ..in the time, for sure.
Everything is there.
The layers looked good.
They were precise.
The aerated chocolate in the middle was good.
You know, it's got enough air in it just to be light and cut through.
And you've got all that lovely sort of crunch.
But, yeah, there were...there were faults also in this dish.
POH: It almost just evaporated.
Even before you had time to think about it,
it was gone.
And this one definitely reads more heavily on the palate.
For me, it comes down to appearances, texture and flavour.
And when we look at Nat's dish on appearances...
..that feeling of electricity that ran through my body
when I saw that dish,
I was like, "Yes, girl, go!"
Flavours for Nat - also really, really strong.
She gets the nuttiness of the hazelnut
throughout her ice-cream.
But the mistakes that she's made on the textures
are actually really affecting the way I'm tasting the dish.
For me, it's a lack of refinement.
It's a final.
This is...the gelatine was not melted enough.
On one hand, you've got a dish that
what was on the plate was near perfect,
but it was missing like the jewel in the crown.
That malt part.
On the other hand, we've got a completed dish.
Looks beautiful, but with faults.
So it's a tough one for us to separate.
Mm.
I'm...
I'm really...
Flabbergasted?
Yes. Uh-huh.
There could not have been a more epic conclusion
to MasterChef Australia 2024.
That pressure test was insane.
With 113 steps and no room for error,
every minute was mayhem.
We are so proud of you.
You wanted to make our decision as difficult as possible.
And, boy, did you do just that.
Pezza, we'll start with you.
Your dish was missing a key element.
And it completely changed the look of the dish.
But...
..what did make it onto the plate...
..was delicious!
Those flavours were identical to Clare's.
It's just such a shame that malt puff wasn't in the mix.
Because of that,
I scored you...
..a 7 out of 10.
Yeah, Pezza! Go, Pez!
I gave you...
..7 out of 10.
I scored you...
..7 out of 10.
I gave you...
..7 out of 10.
Monsieur Pezza...
..I gave you...
..7 out of 10. Thank you, chef.
Yes, Pezza!
So, Pezza, that's a score 35.
That brings your total score to 68.
Doing the maths, Nat? Yep.
That means that you need at least 33 points from us
to take the title.
Yep.
You had everything on the plate.
It looked incredible.
But...
..when we ate it...
..surprisingly, there were textural flaws.
So I gave you, Nat...
..7 out of 10.
Nat, I gave you...
..7 out of 10.
Nat.
I am going to give you...
..a 7.
Nat, your dish differed from Clare's, texturally.
Thankfully, you made up for it in flavour.
I gave you...
..a 7 out of 10.
Nat.
You did it!
(CHEERING) Congratulations!
You're the winner of MasterChef Australia 2024!
Nat, you have just won ¤250,000!
And, of course,
starting this week,
you'll be serving your signature menu
at Alumni Restaurant, Crown Melbourne.
Nat!
How are you feeling?
I'm exhausted!
(LAUGHTER)
We are exhausted!
You came up early on.
You had a mission.
You gave everything you had,
competing against such a man like Pezza,
who is such a good cook.
How do you feel?
I feel so good.
This is... This is crazy.
It feels like a dream but it's not.
It just happens.
I just won MasterChef.
I just won MasterChef!
Pezza, how are you feeling, mate?
I'm happy. Top two of MasterChef.
Biggest cooking show in the world.
Poh got second, and look what she's done!
So, if the wife comes with me,
we might do something really special,
and hopefully you guys can all come and eat there one day.
And we're not paying for the food. (LAUGHTER)
Well, Pezza, got some good news for you.
For coming in second place...
..we're giving you ¤40,000!
To help jumpstart your next adventure.
Whatever it is, we know you're going to smash it, mate.
And we can't ignore third place - Sav.
For whatever you choose to do next,
you're getting ¤10,000!
Nat, congratulations.
We are beyond proud of you.
It's finally time.
The moment you've been dreaming of.
Go collect your trophy, girl!
The winner of MasterChef 2024, Nat!
Captions by Red Bee Media