Previously, on MasterChef Australia...
Please welcome Josh Niland.
..four culinary masters...
Pull your blade through like this.
Wow.
..who perfected their craft...
Are you having
a spiritual experience right now?
I want to bathe in it.
..inspired our contestants to go above and beyond.
That is off-the-charts good.
It's actually perfect.
It's fantastic.
The most smashing dish today.
I'm calling it now. That's dish of the day.
Oh! My God!
Thank you. Well done.
But the steaks were too high for Bella.
Give it up for Bella, everybody!
And...
Oh, my God!
..Kirsten Tibballs's chocolate iris
got the better of Grace.
I'm leaving this competition with so much love,
and really ticking a bucket-list box.
Tonight, our top ten take on the wall,
as we kick off Knockout Week.
There's a mystery box over the wall.
Oh, no.
You are kidding. You have got to be joking.
Oh, my God.
I'm walking into the MasterChef kitchen,
and I am like, "That wall is way taller than me,
"and what the hell is going on right now?"
A few of them look like they want
to turn around and walk out.
What the hell?
The room's looking very different.
I think I've seen a challenge like this before.
I think I know what this is.
A stitch-up.
Welcome back to a brand-new week.
Congratulations.
You are the top ten!
Yeah, top ten is huge, and it's such a big achievement.
But I've seen this wall before,
and I know exactly what this means.
Well, for top ten,
it is only fitting that we dial things up.
Oh.
So, this is...
..Knockout Week.
Oh? Ooh.
You must survive three challenges
in order to stay safe.
If you cook a bottom dish on any day,
you'll be knocked straight
into the elimination at the end of the week.
Ooh. Jeez.
We're gonna have to
keep cooking to keep safe.
And I feel like the pressure's always going to be on this week,
so it's going to be intense.
We can't hide the first challenge from you,
thanks to the giant wall down the centre of the kitchen.
Today is a MasterChef favourite.
It's the twins challenge.
You'll be cooking in teams of two,
completely separated by a wall,
while trying to communicate
so you can create two identical plates of food.
This is going to be crazy.
I've seen this one.
I've watched these on TV, and they are hilarious.
And to now be part of one, I'm like,
"This is gonna be so fun."
Your ingredient selection is a mystery box.
The person who chose the ingredients,
she has a long history in this competition,
having spent more than 150 days competing.
Ooh Oh.
She now forms half of a MasterChef power couple.
Oh!
And they know all about the challenge of twins.
Yes, it's Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary!
Shush, shush, shush, shush!
Sh! Sh! Oh, what?!
Oh!
No way!
Hello.
Oh, look at this.
Look at this. This is where Mummy and Daddy met.
Hello.
Thank you.
Hello, Charlotte or Claudia.
Yes. Hello.
Sarah, can you please introduce us to the twins?
Yes. This is... Is it Claudia? Charlotte?
I don't know.
No, I've got Claudia. This is Charlotte.
Yeah. And they are just so adorable.
They are identical twins.
We're so happy. It really does feel like a full-circle moment.
I think this kitchen has changed my life
in so many ways.
And this one's the biggest, for sure.
Big stretch.
And they're checking everyone out right now.
That's a big stretch.
This is wild that they both were
on Back To Win and met and fell in love and have twins!
Like, that is the cutest thing.
That is the most beautiful story I've ever heard in my life.
Yeah.
Is there anyone in our comp
that could be future Sarah and Declan?
I'm not allowed to say.
Hello. That's Auntie Poh.
Deckers, Deckers, I need to say, I think these are the most
consistent choux buns you've ever made.
Look at them!
Declan, tell me, how is the dad life?
Oh, it's the absolute best.
I think I was put on this planet to be a dad.
Um, especially a twin-girl dad.
And, um, they're just so precious.
I just wake up every day feeling blessed.
Hannah, bringing back some memories here, or what?
Oh, yes. Definitely bringing back some memories.
The fact that you two are standing
with your eyes open
with 11-week-old twins is actually quite a miracle.
It's insane.
Well, it's about to get very loud in here.
Declan, if you don't mind, we're going to keep Sarah,
and we're going to say goodbye to you and the twins.
Alright. Yes.
Hand her over. Oh.
Come on. Come to... Daddy Dec.
Come to Daddy. Congratulations again.
Thank you, guys. Good luck. See you.
Ultimate MasterChef trophy.
Thanks, bye. Bye.
Sarah, it's time to reveal
what mystery box ingredients you've selected.
I have been very generous today,
and I'm hungry as well.
I really want you to make something beautiful,
so I've chosen my favourite ingredients,
and they're great ones to cook with.
So, let's do it.
Luxurious.
There are so many things. There's a lot of things there.
There's a lot.
We have a Chateaubriand here.
This is one of my favourite cuts.
It's really luxurious.
A little nod to that French classical side of mine.
Of course, fish - King George whiting
for my baby daddy.
And got to have a good crab.
They're just really beautiful proteins,
need to be treated nicely and delicately,
but really easy to work with.
I absolutely love chilli.
We've got bhut jolokia, which is the ghost chilli.
So, super spicy. Hot!
I love it.
We've also got beetroot, black garlic, which I love.
We have dashi.
I love cashew nuts.
Green apples,
parsnips,
mustard greens,
thyme, bronze, fennel.
I think just really simple ingredients
that can bring your dish together.
Seeing what's in the box,
it's pretty good - there's a lot going on.
There's some huge flavour bombs,
like black garlic and ghost chillies.
Truth be told, there is no excuses for us today.
There's a lot of ingredients to work with,
and we're also going to have
a friend across the wall to help us out.
For this challenge, we'll need to get you into teams of two.
So, take an apron from the bag.
Oh, this is a nice colour! Oh, this is beautiful.
I think I work pretty well in a team.
Ooh. Ooh.
Yellow.
I don't think I've won a team challenge yet, though.
Yes! Patty!
But I am so keen to work with Pat - I love Pat.
Ooh, yeah.
I hope you know how to cook 'cause I don't.
You got your pair. Go and stand next to them.
Who's B1 and who's B2?
You can be B1, mate.
Your challenge is to cook with your partner
to create identical dishes.
You can yell and scream all you like.
Communication is key.
The pair who cook the dish least alike in look and taste,
will go straight to elimination at the end of the week.
You will have 75 minutes to cook -
sweet or savoury.
You're gonna have a couple of minutes
at your bench to plan.
That time...starts now!
What are you thinking, Petro? What are you thinking?
I'm thinking... Oh! Oh.
Oh, no.
Team Yellow today with Petro, and I'm stoked.
Petro is an absolute weapon.
Well, I was thinking steak on the hibachi.
Yeah?
We could make a parsnip puree and a black garlic glaze.
Oh, yeah, I like that.
Pretty excited. We both love the hibachi
because of the flavour it imparts on the dish.
I think keep it simple. Yeah, I think so too.
Petro's come up with a nickname for us today - P1 and P2,
obviously Pat and Petro.
So, we've got the yellow on today.
A couple of bananas. Let's go.
I'm thinking this is silver,
but it's not going to have the big, rich flavour.
Beetroot!
Oh, my gosh, this mystery box is so generous.
But I have Annabel...
Oh, yes.
I see black garlic.
I think I know exactly what is going to happen today.
Black garlic ice-cream.
You can weigh it out to taste... Yes.
..to see... Because I put it in...
Not too hard on black garlic
so it's, like, nice and kind of mild...
Yep. ..but still, like, we can taste
the garlic flavour. Yep.
Sarah Todd is, like, famous
for her funky pairings of flavours.
I think cashew... Cashew crumb.
..crumb.
It is quite a basic dessert,
but we're leaning on really crazy flavours,
and hopefully that will allow us to stand out today.
I don't know how to do crab. I've never cooked crab.
Boil it, smack it, and then you get the shells, like, broken,
and then, you squeeze the crab out.
Yeah, Aaron is taking the lead for this dish today.
Usually use a hammer to smack it.
I actually have never cooked mud crab before,
but as he starts
explaining his dish,
it is sounding really, really good.
I was thinking, like, with the crab, we could
make the crab-shell sauce with the anchovies.
Yeah. And then, what? You're doing, like, linguine, like...
Linguine, just roll it up. Yeah, yeah.
And we can serve it in there.
Oh, in the...in the head! In the head.
Yeah. Head on the plate.
It's definitely a bit of me and a bit of him in this.
So, I'm kind of keen,
but this challenge is a really big risk.
I'm gonna have to learn how to cook a mud crab
from someone yelling over a wall,
with every other person yelling as well.
Now we're talking. Now we're talking.
So, I was thinking we could do remoulade
with the apple and the kohlrabi.
What the hell is remoulade? It's like a slaw.
It's like a fancy slaw. OK.
60ml water, 60ml vinegar.
60 is going to be our golden nugget.
Yeah, 60. Cool. Alright, planning time over.
Your cooking time starts now!
Hannah, can you hear me?
I can hear you. Yep. Great.
Annabel, can you hear me?
Alrighty, Patty. Let's go, mate.
Alright, Em?
Do you wanna do this ice-cream first, Hannah?
Wait, wait, wait.
Hannah!
Luke, wait!
Ice-cream first? What's that?
Do you wanna do ice-cream first or cake?
I'm pretty excited today to be cooking with Hannah.
Get your ice-cream on, then get onto your cake.
I definitely see her as a little bit of Mama Hannah
in this competition,
but I get the feeling it's going to be really difficult.
So, my idea today is an upside-down cake.
We can choose the same tin,
we can put in the same amount of filling,
and we can cook it for the exact same time.
And if we do all those things right, it has to come out
looking the same.
Lucky I don't need cashews, hey?
We're also thinking of doing a thyme ice-cream,
and we have different recipes that we normally use.
Luke?
Yep.
Put about... Hello? Hannah?
How much thyme? How much thyme?
Hello.
How much thyme are we going to put in?
Time for what?
The energy in this room right now -
it's manic, it's fun, it's crazy, it's chaotic.
In the ice-cream. Oh, uh...
Throw it in. We'll just have to go to taste.
Normally, I would just smash the ice-cream in
because I know what I'm doing, it's my recipe, boom-boom-boom,
but because I have to communicate...
50, 50. 100. 100.
..you can't quite get anything done.
It's like being at home with kids.
I can't...I can't hear you.
200g.
Sarah, as much as we love Deckers,
I'm glad he's gone with the girls
because it's suddenly gotten very loud in here,
thanks, of course, to the twins challenge.
Yeah. But we've combined it
with a mystery box today as well.
Have you got a thick tray in the blast chiller, chilling?
I know just how difficult this challenge is,
and it's top-ten week.
Technique is going to be key.
You know, simplifying every method that's in the dish.
I think there's a couple of home runs here
with the proteins, especially the Chateaubriand.
The priority will be something that they both like together.
Beef will probably be the best one, I guess,
because, imagine, you and I over there,
and then you leave one bone with the fish...
Yeah. That means I would
have to do the same, no? Surely.
-Alyona! -Yeah.
What? Caramel - four, two, one, yeah?
Today, I am teamed up with Alyona,
and it is so loud.
Hannah!
I've got Luke on one side and Vinnie on the other.
-Aaron! -Yeah?!
How much butter?!
These two booming-voiced boys.
Salted or unsalted?!
And I'm like, "Alright, I need to turn this up a notch."
Alyona! Huh?
I have just got a basic custard on.
What? I'll put some
in the blast freezer. Yeah.
I've got a basic custard on.
Today, Anabel and I are making black garlic ice-cream,
cashew crumb, pickled green apple
and some beetroot caramel.
I've added 7g of black garlic...
Yeah. ..and a bit of salt.
The texture should be really smooth,
beautiful, delicious ice-cream.
But the garlic should be a hero
but not super overpowering.
Did you say 5g of garlic in total?
I've just added a bit more.
I'm checking with Annabel.
She said, "I'm starting with, like, 7g of garlic.
"I'm..." I don't know if it was 7g.
I think it was 7g. What if it's not 7g?
This is going to be actually pretty hard.
10g total.
Em, can you hear me?
Emily? Yes.
How big are you making the steak?
I can't find my ruler.
Em and I decide that the less elements, the better.
So, we're going to go for the steak on the hibachi,
with a bit of apple and kohlrabi salad
and a black garlic parsnip puree.
Em... Yeah.
..how much does your steak weigh?
Give me a sec.
This is definitely not going to be my favourite cook.
I don't like yelling.
I got two pieces - one is about 260,
and the other one's about 240.
Casper is trying to be very precise.
Alright, I've got 250 on my second one.
Did you say 250?
250 on my second one.
250 with silver skin on?
But sometimes I can't hear him...
With the silver skin on?
..and I have to double-check what he says.
Season the steak as well.
Wait, are you saying season the steak now?
Yeah, season the steak now. Actually, wait.
Aaron, no, no, no, no. Aaron, Aaron, Aaron, Aaron!
All I can hear is Vinnie's voice next to me.
Casper, are you cutting up your parsnip really small
for the puree? I'm doing, like, small cubes.
Aaron, don't do that. Don't do that.
Do... I'm going to do just, like, half moons.
So, cut the parsnip down the middle,
and then we'll just do moons... Wait.
You've got to speak louder. I can't hear you.
It is extremely difficult to hear Casper.
Let's do moons, like half moons.
It's like a little whisper, you know,
that comes over the thing,
and I'm very worried right now.
Em, once they're all chopped, we'll weigh them out.
OK? What did you say?
It's quite difficult,
and I don't know if I can get him to be louder.
Em... Hey, Casper.
Em!
Casper!
-Hey, Pat? -How are you going?
I'm just salting the steaks now, Pat.
Silver's skin's been taken off.
It's a twins challenge today,
and the hero of our dish is the steak.
Shall we do the glaze next?
Ah, yep.
But Orange Team's cooking the chateaubriand
on the hibachis as well,
so to add a point of difference,
we are going to make
a black garlic and ghost chilli glaze.
How many cloves of black garlic?
At the moment, four cloves.
Alright. I'm just making it. One second.
No worries, I'll...I'll hold.
Yeah, I love black garlic.
It's got a caramel flavour.
It's very rich.
And I just think, over this prime cut of meat
and over the charcoal,
it's just going to be a flavour bomb.
Four cloves of black garlic, Pat.
Alright. Got it.
-Vinnie. -Yeah.
Get a bowl of iced water, as well, for the crab.
Bowl of iced water? OK.
Is your water boiling? Yeah, boiling.
Alright, ready? Yeah.
Three, two, one.
Aaron's taking the lead today, which is really good.
It means we'll stay on the same page.
Hey, Vin. Yo.
Um, pasta with the food processor?
Uh...I've never done it like that.
OK.
I'll just blitz it a bit, and then we'll have, like, 100g
to three egg yolks.
Today, we're making mud crab linguine,
and we're making
pasta dough a little bit different than I normally would.
Alright, Aaron.
So, blitz it up until you get, like, a little sand.
And then we'll knead it out and let it rest.
I've been making pasta for a long time,
probably before I could even see over the bench.
But I love learning new things.
Aaron. Yo.
How's your dough? Dough's resting.
Oh, resting. Mine's still... I'm still kneading it.
It's still a bit dry.
OK. Uh, Vinnie, crab out into iced water.
Crab out of the water?
Yep. OK.
Hannah?
Hannah? Hannah?!
Luke.
I'm gonna put the ice-cream in the churner.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Get it in. Mine's in.
OK.
My thyme ice-cream's done.
Um...
I'm checking in with Luke.
He feels, like, a little bit behind me,
but, like, being a mum of four, I don't mind it.
Hannah! Hannah!
Luke's energy reminds me, sometimes, of my own children.
Hannah! I'm here.
What are you doing for your sponge?
What do you mean? It's done.
Awesome. How did you do it?
Uh, one, one, one, one. Yeah. Awesome.
Two cranks of salt.
Yeah. Awesome.
I'm definitely having fun cooking with Hannah.
There's a lot going on,
but I'm young, and I've got booming lungs,
and she's got the mum voice, which she's...
..she's used on me a few times, actually,
so I'm pretty used to hearing it.
You got to get that cake in soon.
Hannah! Hannah!
Yeah, yeah. Wait, wait up.
Petro, are you happy with the kohlrabi?
Annabel, for crumb, did you use unsalted butter?
Yes.
So, I have my black garlic ice-cream churning.
I'm making the crumb at the moment,
which I need to discuss with Annabel.
Annabel. Alyona.
I'm starting on a crumb.
Or what are you making?
Hi, Annabel. Hey.
How are we? Good.
Annabel, what are you doing now?
I'm just talking to the judges. Sorry.
What are you making?
We're going to be doing a black garlic ice-cream.
We're gonna do a cashew nut crumb
on the bottom.
Ice-cream. Some, like, pickled bits
of green apple, and then a beetroot caramel on top.
They're some pretty doozy flavours
to put together.
Yeah, I feel like I've watched you do
a few crazy ice-cream flavours in the past.
Yeah, I have.
Have you ever made a black garlic ice-cream?
I have actually made one once. You have! OK.
But I couldn't work out what to pair it with.
Yeah. And so, I feel like
mystery boxes are really good 'cause you're just, like, forced
to pair things with things... Yes.
..you'd never try before.
Experimenting is great. Yeah.
But when you're experimenting, you always need to adjust.
Yes. You know?
And that's gonna maybe make this challenge even harder for you.
Yeah. Every adjustment you make
has to be... Has to be... Yeah.
What temperature, sorry?
And then, yelled over Luke's voice, too.
So, which is adding an extra... Is he drowning everything out?
Yeah. Yeah, right.
Good luck, Annabel. Good luck.
Thank you. Thanks, guys.
Hey. You alright, Alyona? Yeah. More of the crumb.
Are you using the little brown blender to blitz it?
What? For the crumb.
OK, so there's two separate steps to the crumb,
and we need to make sure that we're using
exactly the same technique.
We're going to do crumb separately -
the cashew nuts roasted really well...
..and then we're going to combine them
when we start plating them.
Annabel! Yeah.
How fine are we blitzing cashews?
Um, are yours toasted first? I just blitzed them.
I'm gonna roast them now.
180.
I've taken my cashews out, but I put them in
about five minutes ago at 180.
I'm trying to communicate with Alyona the process.
So, roast the nuts and roast the crumb separate.
Combine them at the end,
when we give them a little quick pulse
in the food processor.
Jean-Christophe!
Oui! Ca va? Salut! How much time is left?
Huh?
How much time is left on the clock?
Say in French.
Two minds, one dish and 45 minutes to go!
-Luke. -Two seconds!
The most important thing
in this upside-down caramel cake is the layers.
Got the caramel on the bottom, then the pieces of apple on top.
They need to be defined,
and they also need to be perfect.
Hannah! Yes!
Do you think it'll cook in time?
Do you think we should make the tin smaller?
Um, I think going into the springform tin.
I'm starting to run out of time.
So, Hannah and I have decided we're going to change cake tins,
and we've got a smaller tin.
It should cook quicker.
Sadly, when you cook a smaller cake,
there's more danger of it being dry,
and there's more danger of it being cooked inconsistently.
But I think that's just a risk
we're going to have to be willing to take.
Luke. Yeah?
The apples don't fit in the tin.
You're gonna have to cut off one third of the bottom of them.
OK.
Oh, my goodness.
These apples!
Like, the apples are the bane of my existence right now.
I've got to get these apples perfectly into this tin,
but the tin's now shrunk.
Luke! Yeah?
My cake just went in, and I put 170g of batter in.
My cake is ready to go.
Steaks are done and seasoned, Petro.
On to the parsnips?
Yep. What texture do we want?
Like, slight... Like the hummus just the other day?
Um...
Petro, mate, what's cooking?
You've got a smile on your face.
Yeah, always. Always.
Yeah, well, I mean, it's a fun challenge.
Um, what are you gonna make? Pat and I are going
to do steak today.
At the end of cooking the steak, we're going to start glazing it,
and get a really nice black garlic glaze
that's got a little bit of the chilli.
Just a hint of it.
Just to...just to add a bit of spice to it.
That looks like more than a hint.
Well... Is that all in there?
The rest of this thing? In the glaze. In the glaze.
I've taken all the seeds out. There's no seeds in it.
Yeah, it'll add a little bit of excitement.
So, how are you planning to cook the steak?
Medium rare.
And we'll be using the hibachi.
And is the hibachi setting on low, medium or high?
So, um... It was a trick question.
Yeah.
There's no way the hibachi has settings.
Yeah, but I'm probably going
to get a good sear on the steaks.
Right. And then,
probably take out a few of the coals.
Does Pat know how many coals you're going to take out?
Um...
How many degrees will each coal take out?
Uh...
Leaving a lot of guessing work, mate.
Alrighty, Patty, let's rumble.
Steaks going on. Yep.
The success of our whole dish is really going
to come down to the cook on the beef.
Alright, my steak's on.
So, we end up coming up with a way
of cooking the steak to make sure that we're kind of
creating a really even crust.
Are we flipping every minute, or what are we doing?
Um, let's do the minute. Alright.
And then, once it reaches 40 degrees,
we're then going to start glazing it.
Five, four,
three,
two, one.
And flip the steak! Flipping!
This is the only synchronised steaking
I've ever done.
But, um, it's a bit of fun, and we'll see how we go.
The biggest concern is getting this steak done
to the same doneness
and also getting the glaze similar.
I've just set up a bit of a cooler zone for mine.
Um, especially once I start
to get that glaze on, I don't want it to burn.
Uh, Aaron,
how are we building this sauce?
Annabel! Annabel!
Annabel!
Alright, guys, I was just watching
from up on the gantry. It is mayhem in here.
Yes! It really is.
I mean, both Orange and Yellow teams
are using chateaubriand.
And we know this
is the prime cut of beef. Yep.
I think that they've chosen a method of cooking
that is difficult for both of them to nail.
Yep.
You have to be pretty experienced to get
an amazing chateaubriand cooked on the hibachi.
Yeah. I'm just going to cut you off there,
because I can see a steak
pretty much on fire... Yeah.
..uh, over on the Yellow team's bench.
And let me see if there's fire on this bench.
No fire on this bench. No fire.
Aaron, no seeds, yeah?
I'm loving Vinnie.
It's like he's in an Italian household,
just, like, going for it.
No, because we might have different salt in our water.
This is actually his level of volume.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Are there any desserts out there?
The Pink team. So, Luke and Hannah are doing
an upside-down apple sponge cake
with a thyme ice-cream.
Yeah, but I think the apple's on the bottom.
If that plops out looking... Yeah.
..just a little bit different... Yeah.
..it's such an instant visual issue.
I don't know.
Yeah. The other dessert is from Alyona and Annabel.
It's kind of on the savoury end.
So, they're doing a black garlic ice-cream.
They've got a cashew crumb and a beetroot caramel as well.
So many earthy flavours in there.
Yeah. Yeah.
When you're dealing with something earthy
from nature, it can be quite inconsistent.
Yeah, I think the tweaking
is just going to take so much time.
Annabel, have you started on your caramel?
Yeah, it... My caramel is just caramelising.
Uh, the cashew crumb's in the oven,
and I'm starting on my beetroot caramel.
Sometimes caramel can be tricky
because it's sugar, and if it's not...
It can take one second
to go too far.
Mine's quite amber.
I've taken it to the edge, Alyona.
I'm communicating to Alyona we need to take this caramel
as dark as it can go
without turning it into that toffee phase.
But darkness with caramel
is actually quite subjective, I'm realising.
And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to take it
right to the edge, but, I guess, what's my edge?
What's her edge?
Yikes.
If you want to dominate, you must communicate!
30 minutes to go!
Luke, get a quenelle spoon.
Em, I'm gonna weigh out my apple,
and I'll tell you how much I have, OK?
I am feeling very rushed right now.
I have 30 minutes left,
and we've only basically done the puree,
started chopping the salad.
But we still need the steak to get straight onto the hibachi
because that is the main element on this dish.
Alright, so on the...
Are you putting it on with a little bit of oil?
Yep?
Sorry, Em, Em, say that again. I can't hear you.
I'm getting a temp probe, and I'm putting it in.
You have a temp probe?
And I reckon we take it off at 45.
Say that again. Happy with 45 in total?
He's very quiet, isn't he?
I know. He's very quiet.
He's doing his best.
Cooking on the hibachi is very intuitive.
And when neither of us can see
what the other person is doing and how it is cooking,
it's definitely a bit of a recipe for disaster.
Do you want to do another flip over,
or do you want to do the edges?
I'm to 34 degrees.
Me too. OK, sick.
OK. Do you want to flip it to the other side
to get more crust on the other side?
I've flipped mine already. OK, cool.
No, the second time?
Oh, OK. Yep.
OK.
My temp's nearly at 40, Pets.
My big piece is only at 30.
There's so many things to think about
when using a hibachi.
How thick is your meat? What temperature is the meat?
Do you fan it? Where is your hot spot?
Where is your cold spot?
And I'm realising that my coals
are probably not as hot as Pat's coals.
I'm taking off my grill. I get all the soot off my coals.
Give it a fan, put my steak back on,
and now we are cooking.
How many anchovies should I put in there?
I don't know. We'll taste it.
So, crab's chilling, out in the ice bath right now.
And I'm trying to build the flavours of the sauce.
Maybe go, like, a little bit more vinegar.
A little bit more vinegar. Yeah. One more spoon?
Yeah, one more spoon.
I want it to be quite rich
and earthy from the dashi powder in there,
a bit of anchovy in there,
the chilli, the black garlic.
And now, it's just getting all those shells in there
with the head and the innards of the crab
to just really, like, cook down with all those aromats.
Alright, Aaron? Yeah.
We're doing the crab now, yeah? Yeah.
So, get a mallet and a tea towel.
Take the claws off.
I think I'm doing pretty well, actually.
I'm taking the crab-claw meat out.
Um, it's cooked really nicely, actually,
so it's really soft and supple.
And we're going to use these shells here
to put into the sauce with the guts of the crab as well.
Um, Vinnie. Yo.
Add the shells from the claws into the sauce as well.
Are we gonna crush them up at all, or just whole in there?
Um, I have them in, like, pretty big chunks.
They're, like, you know, the size of a 50 cent piece.
You're only using the big claws, yeah?
Don't worry about the little ones.
And then, when you rip off the head,
turn it upside down, yeah?
'Cause the guts will fall into the shell of the head.
Yeah.
The only other part of the crab we're going to use is the head.
Actually, the shells act
as the carrier for the pasta on the plate.
Aaron. Yeah.
So, I've taken the head off. Yep.
We start adding in the crab shells into our sauce
to really reinforce the crab flavour.
Now we're putting all the...all the shells -
the head shell, the arm shells
and the tablespoon of dashi in that pan?
I didn't put the head shell.
Huh?
You're putting the crab head in there too, right?
I didn't put the head shell.
Um...
And then, I realised
I've just destroyed our vessel for service.
Uh, Aaron? Yeah.
I kind of broke the head, Aaron.
I kind of broke the head.
It's Knockout Week, so really don't want
to be the bottom dish today.
I'm really worried now.
Uh, Aaron? Yeah.
I kind of broke the head, Aaron.
I kind of broke the head.
Well, then, we won't serve it in the head.
We'll still use the same plate, yeah?
Um...
We were gonna serve the pasta in the head of the crab,
but I accidentally just broke it all,
so we won't be doing that anymore.
It's not loud enough in here!
Ten minutes to go!
Come on!
What was that, Pets?
And a bit more salt, Aaron.
Do half your jug of caramel sauce.
Um, Em! Em. Yep?
I think my parsnip puree is a bit too thick.
Wait.
I think we need to add just a little bit more cream or milk.
I can't hear you.
Ten minutes to go -
we have the steak going on the hibachi.
We're seasoning the salad,
preparing the parsnip puree
and discussing plating.
There's a black plate.
Let's plate up with our salad and our sauce on the plate, OK?
Yep. Give me a sec. Getting a plate now.
To get the plating as identical as possible,
we're communicating as much as we can...
Do you want to go and get a ring mould?
..because that is one of the things
- that the judges have asked for - they want twin dishes.
That is 8cm.
Say it again.
8cm ring mould.
Ring mould? Yeah, ring...
So we can put our...we can put our salad in the ring mould.
I'm spending so much time
quite literally talking to a wall.
The circle ring mould on the shelf.
Oh, shit.
And I'm getting pretty frustrated.
8cm ring mould.
Wait there.
Casp, I've got to watch the steak.
Pardon? Have you taken the steak off?
'Cause the steak's going over temp.
Em, come and talk at the wall.
I can't hear you. Oi, the steak is beeping.
It's over temp. Mine? No, it's not mine.
Oh, wait. Mine was at 50.
Sorry.
Oh, like... Oh, straightaway
I look at the steak on the hibachi, and I realise
that it's actually gone over where we wanted it.
Now I'm just hoping that it's not too far off.
But for all I know, Emily's steak
might have gone over, too.
So, we'll just have to wait and see.
Alright, Emily,
have you done the ring mould on the top yet?
Pets, my steaks are off.
Let's also give it a glaze, off heat, right at the end.
Yeah, I've got a little bit left.
Yeah, I think the steaks look alright.
My glaze is a little bit on the spicy end.
I'm hoping Pat's has a similar heat.
It's kind of hard because each chilli
has a different amount of heat, too.
So, yeah, we'll just see how that plays out.
Moment of truth, Pets. Are we slicing or whole?
I reckon let's go whole.
Well, I think three quarters of a cup of puree.
Yep. Just off-centre.
I reckon in, like, a smear.
Yes, big pressure today.
I really would like to avoid bottom dish
and going straight into the elimination.
It's all going to come down to the cooking of the protein
because that's where a lot of the variables will be.
Does it feel like your babies are in sync with each other,
or do they...? Yeah. Definitely.
They do everything...
Even if they don't poo for three days,
they poo on the same day.
It's so wild.
You've got to twin it to win it!
Five minutes to go!
Whoo!
Hey, Pat, how much puree again?
Hannah?
Do you want to put a sprig of thyme in the ice-cream?
Just for you, I will.
Five minutes to go,
my cake's just come out of the oven.
I'm happy with it.
So, fingers crossed that Luke's looks the same
as well.
Hannah, how's your cake?
My cake's cooked.
Mine just needs a little bit longer.
Hannah's saying she's already pulled her cake out of the oven.
Mine isn't even ready to come out of the oven.
I'm just gonna leave mine in for a tiny bit longer.
Chuck it as high as you can.
I'm really starting to freak out.
I've checked it once or twice, but because of the caramel
and the apples and the liquid from the apples in the bottom,
it needs to cook a lot longer than I thought.
Once I take it out, what should I do?
Make sure your sauce and your ice-cream
are already ready.
Are your sauce and ice-cream ready, Luke?
Luke? Luke?!
So we need to do a ring of crumb on the bottom.
I feel really confident with our plating up
because we discussed it so early on,
and we were both pretty clear.
We're gonna have this ring of crumb,
some pickled apple in the middle,
but quenelle of that black garlic ice-cream on top,
and then we're gonna drizzle that beetroot caramel over it.
35g of crumb on my plate, and I'm putting it in a circle.
How much apple? Let me tell you in a sec.
The risk in our dish today comes from balance
and intensity of flavours across each element.
The flavour of the black garlic, the level of the caramel.
I think we underestimated, actually,
how difficult this was going to be at the start of the cook.
This week's Knockout Week, so fingers crossed it pays off.
Otherwise, we will definitely
be in the elimination at the end of the week.
You don't want bottom dish.
Two minutes to go!
Come on!
Vinnie, I'm using the blue plate.
VINNIE: OK.
Um... So, we had this,
like, idea of, like, having this crab shell
with the pasta inside.
It's all out the window now.
We're gonna spoon the pasta,
twirl it up, spoon it onto the plate?
I was thinking, like, spiralling it like a log.
We're trying to figure out how we want to plate this thing,
but it seems like getting closer to the end we go,
the more noise there is.
And I'm using all the crab meat, yeah?
Yep.
Thank goodness Vinnie has a loud voice,
'cause I can still hear him.
And the rest of the sauce in the jug?
White sauce pot!
The what? White sauce pot!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Make your twins like mine - identical!
One minute to go!
I've left this cake in the oven until the very last minute,
but I don't have any more time.
The cake's come out of the oven, piping hot,
and the vibe in the kitchen is crazy.
Luke,
cut the bottom of your cake just slightly so it's flat.
OK!
I'm channelling my cricket, my footy.
I'm even bringing out the teacher voice.
I haven't really perfected it yet, but here goes nothing.
Luke. Yes!
Cut the bottom of your cake... I heard you!
..just slightly, so it's flat when you flip it.
Yes, Hannah!
OK, so the ring mould,
like, 1cm away from the top.
Where on the plate are you putting the ring mould?
I cannot hear anything Casper's saying about plating.
6:00 position. Yep.
Put 50g of the puree.
Spread it out, just a bit bigger than the steak itself.
Cutting into the steak, I am rushing,
and the only thing I'm happy about
is that it is medium rare,
but I need to get it on the plate because...
Ten...
..the ten-second countdown is here.
Nine, eight, seven,
six,
five, four,
three, two, one.
Oh, my goodness.
Holy moly. That was nuts.
Oh, my God.
Far out. I'm so stressed.
It was really actually hard to hear the plating
in what was going on.
And my whole brain was like, "What the hell is going on?"
It was hard.
The first dishes we'd like to taste
belong to the Yellow team.
Feeling pretty in sync with Petro today.
Walking our plates up,
we pop out from the wall at the exact same time.
Wahey! Not bad.
Cute.
Nearly step for step.
I'm pretty confident, partnered up with Pat.
Good synchrony, guys.
But, you know, there's so many things
that we could have done differently,
so I'm a little bit anxious.
Pat, take it away. What is it?
We've done a chateaubriand with a black garlic glaze,
parsnip puree and kohlrabi slaw.
The steak definitely is the biggest worry for me,
the biggest concern.
It has to be medium rare.
Did you guys cook the steak by feel? By time?
By temperature?
Temperature.
Pat, you're wearing a little, uh...
..a little bit more of the dish on your apron.
Yeah, he was calling us B1 and B2,
so I'm just a more ripe banana, mate.
Today, actually,
we're P1 and P2.
P1 and P2. Sorry, mate.
Come up, and let's see.
Let's see if they're exactly the same.
Oh, God.
Lads, how similar will these look?
Exactly the same.
Yeah!
Yes, Pat, I like that. Come on!
Let's go in three,
two, one.
You ready?
How identical are they? Exactly the same.
Righto. Let rip in three,
two, one.
Not bad at all. Wow.
OK. How do we feel about this?
I'm pretty happy. Yeah.
I think, overall, it's not a bad job.
They...
..they look fairly similar.
Let's see how the steaks are cooked.
Oh, my God.
Petro...
..you were going for...?
Medium rare, ideally.
Tick of approval.
It's close.
Pressure. Righto, Pat.
It's on you now, Pat.
What do you think, Pat? Medium rare.
He's... Mate, he's confident today. I like it.
He's just throwing down with everything.
"Is it perfect?" "Yes."
It's pretty close, mate.
Happy with that. You're even standing the same.
It's weird.
This is Pat.
Oh, mate,
you cooked that steak perfectly.
Back at yourself, mate.
Alright, Petro, it's time for yours now.
Pat and Petro...
..they're bloody delicious.
The steaks are, like, within a degree or two.
Petro, yours is just a tad more cooked.
The glaze on it is really what sets this dish apart.
It's really sucked up
that sweetness and umami from the black garlic.
And there is that hint of smoke running through
the Chateaubriand, which is absolutely delightful.
I think you did a really amazing job.
I love the separation of flavours on your plate.
The black garlic in particular,
using it as a glaze was so clever,
and it really was wonderful hibachi work you did.
It tasted almost, like, char siu-ish, but on a steak.
I taste everything.
I taste the bronze fennel.
I taste the parsnip puree.
I taste, you know, every single element
that you put on that plate.
And it shows me that it's really balanced.
You guys are totally giving twin vibes
both in person... Not looks.
..and in the dishes.
Great teamwork, P1 and P2. Thank you.
Thank you so much, guys.
Yeah, P2! Thank you.
OK. Blue team.
Ready, Vin?
Ready. We're walking?
Oh, you guys are looking sick.
Are your hearts pounding?
A little bit. Yeah.
Aaron... Chef.
..and, Vinnie,
what dish did you make?
We've made a crab linguine.
So, how did you manage to communicate?
Yeah, Vinnie's got a really, like, booming voice,
so it's actually really easy to pick him out.
You went full Italian, didn't you?
"Aaron!"
I could see his hands just waving from the top.
It was like, "Yeah, that's Vinnie."
Full Italian, yeah.
It's involuntary, you know? If you want to make
an Italian shut up, you've got to tie their hands together.
OK, guys, are you ready?
Three, two, one.
Yours is bigger than mine. Why is it bigger than yours?
Um, Aaron, so did you, uh,
tell Vinnie to make the entree-sized portion,
and you made the main portion today or...?
I think we were just thinking of each other.
OK.
I was thinking of a Vinnie-sized portion.
Vinnie was thinking of an Aaron-sized portion.
Right, OK.
Right, Aaron and Vinnie.
They do look very similar...
..from very far.
I have to say, your pasta work is very good...
..and nearly identical.
So well done on that.
The crab, on both sides,
has been cooked very similarly and plucked very similarly.
I'm going to say I love both.
The pasta work is identical.
It is fettuccine, but it is identical.
Then, we get to the sauces.
Aaron, yours is more mellow.
It's got that mushroomy, gamy flavour going on
from the black garlic.
Vinnie, yours is classically more robust.
I think, because you've cooked your sauce in a pan, Vinnie,
like, a flat pan, and Aaron's done his in a pot,
it's actually changed the flavour
of the sauce significantly.
It's a really nice dish,
but this feels like
one twin's eating all the food.
It's still a twin.
Have you seen that movie twins, with Danny DeVito and Arnold...?
That's the one! Yeah!
That's what you did today.
Good luck. Thank you.
Good luck.
Next dishes we'd like to taste is Orange team.
Ready, Em? Let's go.
Hey! Hey!
I am so nervous right now,
walking up there with this cloche.
The final two minutes of this cook,
like, it wiped me out,
and I can't remember what I was doing.
I'm really worried because I have no idea what...
Like, I can't even see my dish anymore,
and I'm worried about what it looks like,
whether or not it's identical.
Casper, Emily, what did you make?
We did the chateaubriand
with a black garlic and parsnip puree.
And then, we did a little salad of kohlrabi,
green apple and the bronze fennel.
How identical do you think these dishes are?
I think plating was really difficult.
I could not hear him.
So, if he can't speak so loudly, could you hear at least,
so you could, you know...?
Not really, no.
It was a bit hard to hear it a lot of the times, too.
Yeah. Yeah.
Alright, guys, come forward and reveal your dishes.
And...
Oh! I knew it.
No! I left the ring on.
Yeah. Damn.
The most obvious difference is probably that,
Emily, we can't eat this ring.
I know, I know.
If we both had a metal ring, we're twinning.
But, like, unfortunately, you know, it's just me.
I think you've definitely gone down that track
of a really classic dish,
with simple elements on the plate,
and I think there's positives in both.
I think your puree is really silky and smooth.
Then, it has a really nice mouthfeel.
But then, your salad is perfectly cut.
I mean, the way you've julienned it,
it's absolutely perfect.
The flavour of your salad has a sweetness
and a tanginess to it.
And then, look, the steak -
if you're going to cook on a hibachi,
then you really want that char on the outside
to really shine through.
Otherwise, that time could have been taken
to put into another element
that is going to add a bit more value.
Um, OK, so portion sizes, they're pretty spot-on.
You know, same amount of steak,
albeit cut a little bit different
and cooked a little bit differently.
Um, same amount of puree, same amount of salad.
Then we get into the steaks.
I think, Casper, yours is definitely medium -
yours is medium rare.
I would've liked a little bit more seasoning on those steaks.
You've got to think, it is the chateaubriand,
which is, yeah, the Rolls Royce of the fillet,
but, you know, it doesn't have a heap of flavour.
The steaks, they are clearly not the same cooking point.
They've been sliced with a different knife.
You can see that clearly.
The puree, very tasty
on both sides.
But I get more black garlic from Casper's than you, Emily.
That's it. Good luck.
Thank you.
Look, yeah, there's an issue with the cook on the steak,
and probably means that we will find ourselves
as the bottom dish.
Pink team, you're next.
Strut! Strut! Strut! Strut!
Hannah and Luke, what did you make?
We made an upside-down apple and caramel cake,
with a thyme ice-cream and a caramel sauce.
Can I ask who kind of drove this idea?
It's sort of my idea,
but I think Han cracked the whip when she needed to.
Yeah. It was the mum card.
Mum card. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, why don't you come and show us what you've done?
OK. Are you ready? Three...
No, they're going to count. OK.
How close do you think these will look?
Pretty close. I hope pretty close.
Like Sarah's-baby identical, or two strangers...
..two strangers waiting at a bus stop?
I'm hoping we're going more for the identical.
Yeah. Let's see.
Ready?
Go!
Ooh!
Oh, you've even gone a little off-centre.
Now, that was risky. We did. There we go.
Oh, there's a tiny sprig of thyme
on top of Hannah's, but none on Luke's.
Where's your little garnish, Luke?
Wow. Very close. That's a story.
You can tell her. Except for...
He told me to, and I was like, "For you, Luke, I'll do it."
And then he didn't do it!
Stitch up!
Because we spoke about it, and then we talked
about the size, and I just completely forgot.
And then, it just got loud, and...
Yeah. ..it just...
So funny.
Very minute. I think your strategy to bake something
and use a mould to make it in has paid off.
It definitely looks like we ordered
the same thing on the menu.
Let's see if it tastes like that.
Hannah and Luke...
..very difficult to tell them apart.
And the ice-cream,
both of them were really nice and creamy.
The cook on the apples is really lovely.
There's still a little bit of crunch,
which I actually really enjoy
because you can still taste the sourness of the apple.
The butter cake is really beautiful.
It's moist, and I think that's nice.
You coated it with that beautiful caramel.
I'm a sucker for caramel.
It's got a crunch to it
and a really silky-smooth ice-cream.
I absolutely love the strategy behind this.
I think you really were smart about it, and choosing a tin,
choosing a way to plate the dish that you know
that you can get it exactly the same as each other.
You guys are definitely twinning as well.
Hannah and Luke, real twins nail the high five.
Can you? Oh.
Look at the elbow. Look at the elbow.
Oh!
Well done, Pink team. I think you did a pretty good job.
Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys.
Oh, well done. Good job.
Yes!
The next dishes we'd like to taste
were cooked by the Green team.
The risk in our dish today
comes from balance
and intensity of flavours across each element.
That will be where we really need to make sure
that we're on the same page.
Alright, the A team -
Alyona and Annabel. Mm-hm.
What did you make?
You go. We made
a black garlic ice-cream...
..with a beetroot caramel,
a cashew crumb and some pickled green apple.
I love it.
It excites me.
It's such a Sarah dish. I'm very excited.
Excellent.
You know, it's experimental. It's fun.
If we can pull this off,
like, we'll be really stoked with ourselves
that we've made this crazy black garlic ice-cream
work in a dessert.
Alright. Do you want to reveal your dishes?
We do. Yes.
I feel excited about putting this dish up for the judges.
We just need to make them look and taste identical.
Have you got sweaty hands? Yeah.
Lift those lids...now!
Ah.
Interesting.
Oh. Damn.
Look, you can... You can definitely tell
they're the same dish,
but there are some obvious discrepancies.
Um, guys,
100% for guts and creativity.
I just want to give you props for that.
Um... I think they do eat quite differently.
I think just the ratios of yours, Alyona,
was just immediately thrown by the size of your quenelle.
And also how far you took that caramel.
The crumb is also quite different.
Annabel...
..yours has the cashews and the actual biscuit crumb
more even and incorporated,
whereas, Alyona, yours is chunkier.
It's a beautiful dish.
You really pushed the boundaries.
It's salty. It's got that really savoury notes
and flavours in there, but also it tastes like dessert.
It's just that today's challenge is about being identical.
It might be that you guys have chosen
the wrong dish to cook in this particular challenge.
Thanks, ladies.
I'm sorry.
No! You did well.
Well, it seems delicious, so...
Sarah, we know your hands are more than full these days,
so thank you for coming back
and bringing Deckers and the twins, as well.
Thank you. I've loved it.
We have no doubt that your little girls
will be cooking as soon as they can reach the kitchen bench.
They definitely will.
So,
we got them a little gift.
Oh, what? Oh, my God. Oh!
What? What do we have here?
Oh, stop, I'm gonna cry.
You've got to open it up. OK.
Oh, my God!
That is so amazing! Aw!
Thank you.
Oh, I got teary.
That's so nice. Yay! Yeah.
Their first little MasterChef apron.
That's so cool.
Ready? Are you ready for this, guys?
Watch out, MasterChef, season 36!
So cute!
Oh, I love it. That is adorable!
That is amazing.
Oh, thanks, guys.
I love that. That's so good.
Put your hands together for Sarah Todd, everyone!
OK.
It's the first knockout round,
which means that whoever the bottom team is
will be going straight
into the elimination at the end of the week.
But first,
a shout out to the team that did such a good job -
even with the hibachi being a risk,
you leant into your strengths,
and it truly paid off.
Well done, Patro!
Good stuff, buddy.
Good stuff mate.
But there was two pairs...
..who did not get it right.
Annabel and Alyona...
..even though we've enjoyed your dishes,
they were not the same in flavours.
Emily, Casper, you went for a simple dish.
They were not identical.
Unfortunately, you were the bottom dish...
..Orange team...
..which means you go straight to the elimination
at the end of the week.
The rest of you, well done.
You'll be cooking tomorrow.
So, thank you and good luck.
See you, everyone. Great day today.
Tomorrow night, knockout week continues.
You'll need to decide which fridge full of ingredients
you want to cook with
before we show you.
Oh! Oh!
They need to choose a fridge...
Ooh!
..and make a knockout dish...
You never know, when you walk into this kitchen,
what curveball they're going to throw at you.
..to keep them safe
from elimination.
The competition
is definitely heating up now,
like, to the max. Hey!
It's kind of like the calm before the storm.
Yeah, that's not right.
I could be in some serious strife.
Captions by Red Bee Media