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VOICEOVER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
Come on, guys.
..a team relay challenge was a mad rush to the finish line.
Hey, tell me, what's the hero ingredient?
Chilli.
45-second handover. Was it enough? No.
They all tried to turn up the heat...
The pickled chillies just give it that zing.
but in the end...
Yes!
..the grey team triumphed.
Tonight, it could be a record-breaking night of immunity.
WOMAN: What is going on?
But first, they'll have to beat one of Australia's best chefs.
# 'Cause you're hot then you're cold
# You're yes then you're no
# You're in then you're out
# You're up then you're down
# You're wrong when it's right
# It's black and it's white
# We fight, we break up
# We kiss, we make up
# You're hot then you're cold
# You're yes then you're no
# You're in then you're out
# You're up then you're down
# You're wrong when it's right
# It's black and it's white
# We fight, we break up
# We kiss, we make up
# You # You don't really wanna stay, no
# You # But you don't really wanna go-o
# You're hot then you're cold
# You're yes then you're no
# You're in then you're out
# You're up then you're down. #
(LAUGHTER, CHATTER)
Are you excited for this cook?
I am.
No, I'm scared, actually. (LAUGHS)
Just get it over with.
Keen beans over here.
It is an immunity cook today.
And I'm the sole representative here today from...
..from the Fans team up against just a solid team of Favourites.
So I'm excited, but with trepidation.
MAN: Here we go. Oh...
WOMAN: Ooh...
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
There's a croquembouche under there, Julie, for sure.
(LAUGHS)
Better not be.
Why is it so tall?
What is this? MAN: These cloches, yeah.
I walk into the kitchen and there are all these gold cloches
and this other...thing covered up.
Is that a sewing cushion under there?
It's like, what is it?
Good morning, everybody.
ALL: Morning.
Well, it's immunity day, and I can see a lot of happy faces.
And I'm going to make them even happier.
You're playing for these.
(GASPING) MAN: Oh, my God. Really?
Whoa.
MAN: Seven. There's seven. JULIE: What?
Why are there seven of them?
That's so good.
This could change your future in this competition.
WOMAN: They're all able to get a pin.
Damn! Seven pins.
Today, there are seven pins for the seven of you.
MAN: Seven?!
And each of you could walk away with one of them.
All seven from me. Sorry, guys.
This wouldn't be MasterChef if we made it easy for you, would it?
To secure a pin,
you'll have to go up against one of Australia's best chefs...
..in a classic Beat The Chef Showdown.
WOMAN: Oh, no!
What the hell?
He's arguably the leading chef in sustainable Australian dining.
He's the executive chef at Harvest in Byron Bay.
Far out.
Give it up for Matt Stone, everybody.
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
ALVIN: We have to beat this chef, Matt Stone,
who is world class, in my eyes.
His philosophy and cooking is all about, you know,
farm-to-plate type thing, no waste,
to really making every produce sing and respecting it.
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
What a lovely applause.
How are you, fella?
Oh, come on! Mwah!
So nice to see you. So good to see you.
It's been a while.
Welcome back. Thank you. Great to be back.
After the success of Future Food System,
what have you been up to?
Ah, I've moved to Byron Bay.
You're looking more Byron Bay every time I see you too, mate.
Those locks are... They'd be fitting right in.
How has your time been at Harvest so far?
It's good. It's a beast, but it's a really historic place.
And it's just great to be working with wild foods
that I've never seen before.
Fruits and vegetables that I've never really cooked with.
And it's just a whole new category of flavours to work with.
Yeah, the Northern Rivers is some of the best produce we've all seen.
Yeah, absolutely. Mindy?
(LAUGHTER)
Mindy. Mind you, I wish I was downstairs.
I just thought you'd be down here. Seriously I'm missing out, huh?
You're from Byron. You'd know the produce field. Yeah.
You just let the produce sing, right?
Absolutely. Don't have to do much to it to let it shine.
Righto, Matt.
This is Beat The Chef.
In front of us, there's six ingredients
that people find a little controversial.
They either love them or they hate them.
So we're cooking today with controversial ingredients.
I think Vegemite might be there. That's pretty controversial.
Either love it or hate it.
It'd be quite hard to cook with that.
We have...
..licorice.
Ugh...
That's what I think about licorice.
Ugh... Like... No, not a fan. Not a fan of licorice.
Blue cheese.
MAN: Yes.
So happy with that.
Next up...
..it's brussels sprouts. Bleugh!
Can't stand 'em. Next up...
Coriander. Yeah.
Do you reckon coriander?
It's coriander.
Love. Delish.
And the fifth controversial ingredient is...
..oysters.
Oh, stop it.
Oysters. Yum.
If you don't want your oysters, I'll have them.
And finally...
..it's...
..pineapple. (LAUGHS)
Oh! On a pizza, maybe.
Well, weirdly enough, that's why pineapple is there
is because of the controversy over
whether or not pineapple should or should not be on a pizza.
No. No.
You will never go to Italy and eat a pizza with pineapple.
It's a big cross. They don't belong.
Should we go over some ground rules?
You got 75 minutes to cook us a dish that features
just one of these either love or hate ingredients.
The garden and pantry, they are fully open.
We'll be scoring all of your dishes out of 10, including yours, Matt.
OK.
So that means there's a possible 30 points up for grabs
for all of you and Matt.
Any dish that scores higher than Matt's
will win their maker one of those bad boys - an immunity pin.
No pressure.
And also, no pressure.
Cooks and Matt, your time starts now.
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
MAN: Push, push, push, push.
Pineapples?
I've got a feature one of the controversial ingredients,
and I'm choosing blue cheese.
Jam. Thank you.
I have no idea how I'm going to beat Matt Stone.
But I definitely want a pin.
It would mean a lot to get a pin at this stage.
I think it'd be very validating.
MAN: Yes, Mel!
Let's do this, Mel! You can do it!
Last night, I had some wine and cheese with the girls,
and then I saw the cheese up top,
and I just couldn't think of anything else.
So I'm going to make a cheese board choux pastry
with, like, blue cheese cream, a smoked crack pepper cream,
and a pear jam.
Cheese, it is.
Can someone... Can you grab the cayenne pepper for me, please?
Thank you. No worries.
For the challenge today,
these are all quite strong-flavoured ingredients
and they're certainly polarising.
There's a lot of people that don't like them.
MAN: Oh, Billie! Whoo, whoo.
So I think the key to doing a good job of this
is to cook something that the judges may not have had before.
Just to showcase that flavour in a different way.
She's doing something with dessert, but I don't know what.
MAN: That coriander?
Ordinarily you would think to use coriander in a savoury dish,
but I want to use it in a dessert.
Billie. Hi.
How are you doing, Billie? What are you making?
I'm doing a coriander panna cotta with a coriander seed biscuit...
Yum. ..and just a passionfruit.
That sounds delicious. A sweet savoury.
Yeah. Or savoury sweet, I should say.
Yeah, I like that kind of thing.
Coriander in a dessert is unusual.
You looking to stick out from the pack a little bit today?
Eyes on the pin?
Eyes on the pin. Yes.
Yeah, I'd love one.
Not lying. Love one.
Good luck. Thank you.
I would love to stand out today because I've been struggling
with my confidence.
I'm a little out of practice, I think.
Yeah, I've probably pulled back a little bit the last couple of years.
Having a baby has probably been the major reason for that.
So I've certainly not been in the kitchen creatively
as much as I used to.
So it is hard returning to the environment
of cooking under pressure.
I had a pin in my previous season,
and, yeah, it was quite the trajectory.
So I really hope that I can win this immunity pin today.
Good work, Billie.
What about this?
# Ohhhh! #
Seven pins, I mean, all in one place at one time.
We've got seven great cooks.
What do you think the chances are? Like, literally, what are we...
I mean, Matt's a phenomenal cook.
Phenomenal, and undefeated in this kind of challenge.
But he's playing away, right?
He's not used to this kitchen. These guys are.
A little game. Fun game. Mm-hm?
Pick a number.
How many of these guys do you think will go today?
Oh...
I think we might give away three.
I'm going to say one.
ANDY AND JOCK: One? Mmm.
You?
One.
Jeez. Shall we find out?
Here we go. We watch the maestro.
MATT: So I've decided to cook with oysters today,
because a lot of people have this really weird, funny thing
about raw oysters.
But if they're cooked rather than raw, it's got really great flavour.
And I think it's a great way to change
that sort of hate side of the love/hate
when it comes to an oyster.
Where's a whisk? Need help? (CHUCKLES)
Here. Oh. Thank you.
Um...
But cooking in the MasterChef kitchen is...
There's a lot of pressure.
You don't know where things are.
You don't have your back pantry of flavours.
And there's some really great cooks doing some really great stuff.
So it is a bit nerve-racking.
Yeah, so I know a couple of the contestants today
through previous seasons
and other bits of work that we've done over the years.
So, i's a pretty big challenge.
A bit more of a challenge than I thought I was going to face today.
MAN: How are you feeling, Matt? Ah... A little bit nervous.
Hey.
It's kind of rattled me a little bit,
but I just need to get a clear idea of...of what I want to do.
WOMAN: Going out to the garden.
He's going to the garden already.
Knowing that the garden is in play is a really big thing for me,
because that's intuitively how I mostly cook
is with...with the freshest ingredients,
with what's growing, what's abundant, and what's in the area.
I love being able to pick ingredients,
work with what we have, working with the seasons,
is really great.
That sort of initial panic
of everyone running around getting ingredients,
just to sort of get your hands in the soil
and sort of connect a little bit
is a really...a really calming thing for me.
Borage flowers are really good
because they kind of have a bit of an oystery flavour.
And I feel myself just getting a bit of clarity
around what I want to cook.
Whoo-hoo! Go, Matt. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
Oh, wow. (LAUGHS)
ANDY: He emptied the... MELISSA: Got the whole garden.
What did you get? What DIDN'T you get?
Some native yams, a bit of horseradish leaf,
some G wax, lemon myrtle,
some little allium flowers, saltbush.
Beautiful. JOCK: Smells beautiful.
Aroma's amazing, right?
While we're here, mate, what are you cooking?
I'm just kind of making this dish up as I go, really.
I'm going to do some roasted oysters on the grill.
Yep. Pop them out.
And I'm going to make a really fresh, acidic juice
of cucumbers, vinegar, finger lime,
and then just a few little touches of some oils
and some fried things and...texture.
Yum. Yum. Yum.
Still coming together in my head, but I've got a good idea.
There's a lot of great cooks out there, right?
You cannot drop the ball today on your dish,
otherwise we're going to be flying out pins.
Yeah. Absolutely.
Are you bringing that? I'm doing my absolute best.
Come on, man. Absolutely.
Good luck, buddy. Thanks, guys.
Oh, my God. I love it. So nice to watch him cook.
Matt is just like a magician in the kitchen.
He's going for oysters,
but he's just raided that amazing garden out there,
and he's got a lot of native, which I'm really excited about,
so can't wait to see what he pulls together.
It's 7-v-1 in the MasterChef showdown with one hour to go!
ANDY: Come on!
JOCK: Come on, guys. One hour to go.
WOMAN: Go, Alvin.
Today, it's all about conversion.
I'm going to convert Jock to love brussels sprouts.
Jock hates brussels sprouts,
and a lot of, you know, children,
they would have had either a bad experience, you know,
an overcooked brussels sprouts, or just bland.
But I know what to do with them properly.
Jock's favourite vegetable.
I genuinely hate brussels sprouts.
Well, I hope I open your mind.
What's the dish? I'm dying to know what it is.
I'm making brussels sprouts mapo tofu.
So I'm going to make a soy milk tofu.
Yeah?
And then that's going to sit on top of it.
I hate... Can't stand them.
Yeah, I hope I make the brussels sprouts sing, and convert you.
So, I reckon you're going to get one of two scores today.
It's either going to be a 1 or a 10.
It's a 1 because I hate brussels sprouts...
You can't say that to me now. ..and it'll just be rubbish.
Or you're going to convert me and it's going to be a 10.
It's a 1 because I hate brussels sprouts...
You can't say that to me now. ..and it'll just be rubbish.
Or you're going to convert me and it's going to be a 10.
OK. Challenge accepted.
Bye!
Brussels sprouts is a very meaty vegetable,
and mapo tofu traditionally is a tofu drenched in meat sauce.
So I wanted to Alvinise my dish, so to speak,
and I'm going to replace that meat sauce with brussels sprouts.
WOMAN: Taste good?
I think so.
The beauty of brussels sprouts is
when you char the brussels sprouts,
the whole vegetable itself sort of changes in textures,
and the flavours become sweeter.
That's done.
So the idea is to sort of do that,
and then it will be a lovely sort of charred flavour
through the mapo tofu sauce.
I am determined to convert Jock...
..to love brussels sprouts.
You've got time. You've got time.
WOMAN: Go, Jules.
I know mostly what Julia's doing.
I think she's going pretty Asian. MAN: Yeah.
Aldo is doing like a pasta.
Michael is the only one I don't know what he's doing.
MICHAEL: In the last couple of weeks,
I've cooked dishes that I sort of know, but...
..I haven't done them any justice.
So, yeah, maybe it's cool to throw something out of the box
and do something a bit different and see what happens.
Michael. Hello, guys.
How you going, mate? Good.
What ingredient did you choose? Pineapple.
I'm going to play up to the ham and pineapple that people don't like.
So I'm going to make a little ham and pineapple broth or sauce...
Yeah. ..to go with some barbecue coral trout.
I want you to go, "That's a ham and pineapple broth."
Kind of like the idea of that. Yeah.
Is it a pin winner? Yes or no? I think so, yeah.
Although, I love Matt, and he's such a good cook...
Is it a pin winner? Yes or no? Yes, it is.
Yes. Good luck.
Bye. Thanks.
I've never made or heard of a ham and pineapple broth before.
And I want it to be ideas and memories
of a ham and pineapple pizza.
Maybe a pineapple curry, do you think?
Maybe.
So, definitely one of the weirder ideas I've had in this kitchen,
but in my day-to-day job, I'm a development chef,
and that's all about experimenting
and trying to find new and interesting flavour combinations
to get people excited about food.
I think this dish is actually a lot closer to how I like to cook
than how I've been cooking so far in this competition.
MAN: Smells good, man.
MINOLI: I've picked pineapple today
because, frankly, I do love cooking with pineapple.
And I'm hoping that I can do a dish that beats Matt,
because I really want to win that immunity pin.
I'm going 150% because he's such a good cook.
And I feel like if I don't give it everything I've got,
then I'm not in with a chance.
I'm up against Matt Stone.
I need to try and kind of win with punchy flavours,
and smoky eggplant with pineapple and mango chutney and duck skewers
on the hibachi -
I think that will be a delicious plate of food.
(HUMS) WOMAN: How are you, Aldo?
Good.
(HUMS)
I'm using the controversial blue cheese,
which is not that controversial, actually.
I'm going to re-create a dish that's very close to me.
It's a dish that we're eating pretty much with my friends
every Sunday on the beach when I was in Italy,
and it is agnolotti with blue cheese.
And I'm going to make a beautiful mussel sauce
to go with the agnolotti today.
So I'm going to just lay back and enjoy it, enjoy the ride.
# Because it never began for us... #
(BLENDER WHIRRS)
I'm quite afraid to look in that direction.
I think I'll just keep looking in this direction
for the time being.
Today, I'm cooking with coriander.
Coriander lends itself to
a whole heap of beautiful south-east Asian dishes,
and Thai food is one of my favourite things to cook.
(SOFTLY) Julie!
Oh, no. (LAUGHS)
You good? I'm good.
I feel like you're the poor person
who has to stare down the barrel of Matt Stone.
I mean, there are worse things... (BOTH LAUGH)
What are you going to cook to try and get one of those pins?
I'm going to make some Thai fishcakes with two dipping sauces.
And, yeah, just served on a little leaf
with lots of herbs, things like that.
Good luck. Thanks, Andy.
Kind of only just got the dish fully done in my head.
So for my dish today I'm going to do grilled oysters, caramelised cream,
with a fresh juice of cucumber and jalapeno.
It's got a bunch of nice flavours. There's a good base here.
Then I'm on the right path, I think.
WOMAN: Cool as a bloody cucumber.
We've been doing a dish at Harvest with some charred cucumbers
that we turn into a juice to marinate some fish with.
So I'm kind of playing off that same sort of idea here today.
Charred cucumbers,
it just brings like a bit more of a depth of flavour
and a bit of texture by charring them up a little bit.
The cream's just going to bring a nice bit of fat to the dish,
a sort of...
Fat carries flavour really well.
So it'll just bring it all together, I think.
His dish is going to be so beautiful.
Yeah, for sure.
I think Matt's going to be so hard to beat today.
He just knows ingredients so incredibly well.
He went straight out into the garden at the start of the cook
and came back in with so many things.
So I think it's going to be really interesting to see
how he manages to get those flavours in
as...like, subtle add-ons to the oysters
and don't overpower them in the end.
If you want one of these pins, you've only got 45 minutes to do it.
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
MAN: Let's go, guys. Come on.
ALDO: I just got to roll the pasta out.
MAN: How's it tasting, Michael? Yeah, good.
The pineapple's coming through, so...
Going to roast any or toast any pineapple?
No, I don't think so, because I'm going to char the fish
so they have the smokiness.
So, yeah... I don't... Got some pickle. I'll serve some...
I might char some hibachi. We'll see.
I've never done this dish before.
I've never cooked a ham and pineapple broth.
I don't think many have.
So it's definitely a risk.
Whoa!
MAN: Your little chilli's falling out.
And the chilli up in there, too.
That one?
No, no, no, no. All good.
But I'm starting to have fun.
I think when you start having fun in this kitchen,
you start cooking good food.
I think it's what I want.
MAN: Let's go, Billie.
BILLIE: My coriander panna cotta is progressing nicely.
The coriander flavour isn't huge, but it's there.
So I can get that now into the mould and into the chiller.
Oh, soz. That's OK.
(LAUGHS)
Stay in your lane.
Billie! Yeah.
Coriander. Yeah.
Dessert? Yeah.
Wow. So it's a coriander panna cotta, is it?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Whoo. OK.
And I was going to do a coriander seed biscuit
and then a passionfruit syrup.
Do you reckon all this is going to work?
Um... Yeah.
Might take risks. Yeah.
Can't sort of stick to the boring stuff, I suppose. Yeah.
You're not going to win immunity, if it's a boring old panna cotta. Yeah.
The thing is, you're not going to win immunity
if these things aren't, like...
Yeah.
..to the gram on the plate together so it's perfectly balanced.
You're playing with some heavy hitters here
and you're playing some unusual heavy hitters
in a dessert on the same plate.
I believe in the technique, because you're a wizard at it,
but it's how everything comes together on the plate.
(SPECTATORS CHEER)
Bloody hot mussels.
Oh, yum.
There's probably a bit of added pressure in today's cook,
knowing that there's seven people that are giving it their all
to get the immunity pin.
So it's definitely kind of seven times the pressure.
They're cooked really well, actually.
I'm pretty happy with the oysters.
How many plates do we have to put up? One.
One plate? Just one. Just one, mate.
But one for us as well. (LAUGHTER)
So I've got to pop the oysters, season the dressing,
cut up some vegies,
I've gotta make another trip to the garden to get some garnishes.
So, a bit on.
I'm going to make a really fragrant flavoured oil
with the herbs from the garden,
and it'll sort of be the final seasoning for the cucumber juice.
He's going to use, like, all of the native stuff
as, like, oils and toppers.
Finding balance in a dish like this is really important,
and I think my oil will really start to meld those flavours together.
Wow. That's your kind of mise en place.
Look at it. It looks absolutely gorgeous.
Are you happy? I'm good now.
It took me a while to fully get everything together in my head.
But I'm feeling OK now, yeah.
This looks absolutely gorgeous.
Such an expression of beautiful Australian produce,
and we would expect no less.
Thank you. Uh, can't wait to try it.
Thanks.
Alright, I'm just going to run to the garden again.
Go, Matt.
That was...so lame.
Typical. Typical fangirls.
Come on, Aldo.
Sorry! Don't run me over! (LAUGHS)
Kaffir limes could be nice.
Looks alright.
Matt... How you going, Chef?
..I love your restaurant.
It's going along well.
Like, I'm OK for time.
My tofu is sort of steamed.
The sauce of the mapo tofu is done, and I'm happy with the balance.
And I'm doing the final sort of charring of my brussels sprouts.
So it's just a matter of trying to see
what other elements I can sort of add
to make sure the brussels sprouts spring and...sing.
And I've just got an idea.
Pickling!
I'm going to add more brussels sprouts
because if you're going to convert a person,
you might as well go all the way.
How you going, mate?
Good. Good.
Looking for vinegar.
Can't wait to be converted, Alvin.
I hope so. I...
(CHUCKLES)
I thought what would be nice
is to have some pickled brussels sprout leaves
just sort of laid on top,
and that would actually counter the richness of the sauce as well.
Go, Mel.
MELANIE: The choux is in the oven, and while it's cooking
I can focus on the other elements of the dish.
When I have a cheese board, I always have quince paste,
so I'm just trying to cook down the pears a little bit
to try and get that really sweet kind of jamminess
that you get from a quince paste.
And that goes with the salty blue cheese,
which is cooling in the fridge.
They look pretty good.
They do look alright. Just alright?
Well, we'll see what they look like when I cut them open.
I'm never too optimistic until I cut one open and see how good they are.
Oh, come on, let's have a bit of confidence.
(LAUGHS)
I'm feeling reasonably happy with how it looks,
and I'm just hoping that it's enough to win a pin.
15 minutes to go!
(SPECTATORS CLAP) Let's go!
I'm not even thinking about what Matt's doing,
because that will just throw me off.
Lets go, Aldo.
Go, Aldo!
The agnolotti are going good, so I'm very happy.
And I think I'm going to... start to too soon.
So, there's coriander inside the fish cakes,
and these are just simply pan-fried.
I mean, you're really trying to feed us there.
Yeah, which I'm...I'm loving it.
Jock ordered it. (LAUGHS) I'm loving it.
I ordered bulk fish cakes, and she's brought it.
You got it. She's delivered it.
Jock wants bulk fish cakes,
which is lucky, 'cause that's how I cook.
So that's what I'm making.
Anyone got any...lemon?
Lemon.
Nuh? That's alright.
Andy mentioned about making sure
that there's not too many huge flavours going on in a sweet dish
'cause it could sort of clash.
But balancing difficult flavours
is the type of cooking that can win you an immunity pin.
And winning the pin is a huge step towards winning the competition.
I'm sticking to my guns.
Everything's going OK so far.
I'm just waiting on everything to finish.
I'm waiting on the coriander seed biscuit.
I've got the panna cotta in the freezer, setting,
and the passionfruit syrup's almost finished as well.
Putting savoury ingredients where sweet ingredients normally are
and vice versa,
it's probably one of my favourite ways to cook,
and it feels nice to sort of get back in that groove.
I hope the judges sort of experience something new.
It's always nice to give them something
that they haven't had before.
So, hopefully it all goes to plan.
Good man, Michael. I love it. Love what's going on.
Something smells like pizza.
MICHAEL: The broth is on. I just need to cook down a little bit further.
My fish is filleted, my hibachi's hot, so that is ready to cook.
And I want that smoky, charry, barbecue notes on my fish
to pair really well with the sweet, rich, smoky, pineapple-y ham broth.
But, tasting my broth,
I'm just a little bit worried that it's too experimental.
MELISSA: Hello. Hello. How are you?
Good, thank you.
Mind if I taste? Please.
I'm still trying to work out if I like it.
(CHUCKLES)
It's hammy and pineapple-y.
I mean, yeah, it's... (LAUGHS) I think it's what I want.
It's...that's what it... what it says on the packet.
(LAUGHS) It's a weird packet, potentially, but...
(LAUGHS)
The more and more I cook this dish, the more and more I'm concerned
that it might be a little bit too out there
and definitely a bit weird.
But cooking against a guy like Matt Stone,
who is super creative and super inventive,
you kind of need to go to that next level to...
..get anywhere near winning a pin against him.
So there's nothing to lose today,
apart from an immunity pin,
and confidence,
and just some self-respect.
(LAUGHS)
Seven minutes to go.
Let's bring it. (CHEERING)
Let's go, guys.
WOMAN: Come on, Minoli. Go, Julie.
(HUMS)
Come on, Billie!
Time to see if the panna cotta set nicely.
Hey! OK. Let's go.
(SPECTATORS OFFER ENCOURAGEMENT) Yum, yum, yum.
It's set and has all worked out fine.
Now I'm just hoping that once it all comes together it'll be balanced.
That's good.
Broth, I've just turned off. I'm gonna strain it and balance it.
I've got some more pineapple juice to add into it.
Rather than season with lime, I'm gonna season with pineapple juice,
so, for that freshness and brightness.
When you're cooking a dish that is based around a really unique broth,
it's all about the balance of flavours in there.
So I need to make sure I season it with the sweetness, the saltiness,
the sourness and the heat.
That's hot.
But I think I'm in a good spot.
MAN: Yes, that's it, Michael. Lovely.
The choux turned out well.
I'm just trying to bring it together
so that it tastes like a cheese board.
With the blue cheese and this pear compote gel,
I really like that sweetness that goes with the salty blue cheese.
Two minutes, guys! Come on!
Come on, Aldo.
Alright, let's do it.
So it's time to plate up. I start off with the caramelised cream.
That's sort of the base and the foundation for the dish.
Yum, yum.
Then I add the marinated oysters and that gives me
a bit of room to get some volume into the dish.
And from there start just layering in some of the fresh herbs,
fresh flowers, and then finish it with the cucumber juice
and the fragrant, flavoured oil.
I've got some really great flavours.
Stunning.
The dish has come together pretty well.
Alvin, are you happy with the flavours?
ALVIN: Yeah.
Really happy with myself for cooking this dish.
I've completely flipped mapo tofu on the head
and used brussels sprouts instead.
There's a little glimmer of hope that I will convince Jock
that he loves brussels sprouts.
Well done.
ALL: 10! 9! 8!
7! 6! 5!
4! 3! 2! 1!
(CHEERING)
Go, mate. I'm happy.
How do you go? Oh, alright.
That was really fast, wasn't it?
It goes really fast.
The cook was great.
I've given myself a good chance at beating the chef.
I'm happy with my dish.
Fish is cooked perfectly.
The ham and pineapple broth tastes like ham and pineapple.
But now it's up to the gods.
We call them the gods - the judges.
Wow. What a cook. Seven contestants.
Some good-looking dishes.
Seven pins up for grabs.
And one legend in the kitchen in the form of Matt Stone.
Let's get the first one in.
ANDY: The legend himself. G'day.
How are you, mate?
Super. There we are.
So what's the way?
Very nice.
Gorgeous.
Matt Stone. What have you made?
I've got some grilled oysters
marinated in a juice of charred cucumber jalapenos,
a little dressing made with some finger lime,
lemon myrtle and Geraldton wax,
and an array of herbs and flowers from the garden.
Beautiful. Delicious.
You reckon you beat them all?
Or you reckon you got a couple beat? What do you think?
I reckon I...hopefully have a couple beat at least.
I'm pretty happy with what I put up, so fingers crossed.
Awesome. Alright, mate. We'll get into it.
Thank you. Enjoy. Ta. Thanks, mate. Thank you.
Well, what I love was that, you know, for the first two minutes
Matt wasn't overly clear but then he went out into the garden
and, true to form, was inspired by what he found there,
and formed a dish based on, you know, the produce at hand.
Very smart idea.
And hopefully it's paid off.
So much going on there in terms of flavours.
The sharpness from finger limes,
the creaminess from the oysters themselves,
but obviously from that reduced cream ever so slightly caramelised.
Could have done with a touch more acid for me, a bit more of a lift,
but other than that, it is a beautiful dish.
Every different herb you get produces a different flavour
and a different texture,
and it's all going off at the same time in the right way.
I was wondering how he'd go packing the flavour into a dish like this,
because really,
that's what he needs to do to beat the other seven cooks out there.
Which I know he wants to.
He wants to walk out of here undefeated, yeah. He wants to smoke them.
And he set himself up for success there.
The only question now is, is it at the very top
or has it left a little room for a pin or two to be given away?
Let's score it.
Good luck, Alvin.
I'm feeling confident that everything I envisaged the dish to be
I managed to put up.
So I hope I will beat Matt Stone's dish
and convert Jock to love brussels sprouts.
ANDY: Alvin. Alvin.
Hello.
Ohh!
JOCK: Well, well, well.
What's the dish, please, and what's the ingredient you chose?
I chose brussels sprouts, and today I made a brussels sprout mapo tofu,
and we've got some pickled brussels sprouts leaves as well
because I'm going to turn Jock today with these brussels sprouts.
(LAUGHS)
Alright. Get out of here. Thank you. Enjoy.
Thank you.
Look. Let's just call a spade a spade.
Brussels sprouts are not your thing.
Andy and I like them.
So it really does come down to,
if you can be convinced that this is good.
He's having a good go.
I'm not discriminating.
(TAPS DRUMROLL ON THE TABLE)
Does he like it?
VOICEOVER: Missed an episode of MasterChef?
enjoy another serving or savour past seasons at:
He's having a good go.
I'm not discriminating.
Hoping to turn Jock with this dish.
(OTHERS LAUGH)
(ANDY PLAYS DRUM ROLL)
Does he like it?
The charred ones with the mapo sauce...
..and the tofu, I enjoyed.
I really enjoyed. I'm... I...
He's converted me on that part.
I enjoyed the acidity punch from the pickled ones.
But in terms of converting me,
I'm kind of... I'm not 100% sold, yeah.
I thought it was a decent effort, um, from Alvin.
The things that I loved was... his sauce.
That mapo sauce is, like...
It's spicy, it's rich.
And it had a lovely coating on those brussels sprouts.
Good colour on the sprouts, too.
The only thing that I think this dish needs
is maybe some flavour in the tofu.
I think that would have taken it up to another level.
But all in all, pretty solid effort.
Yeah, strong effort today.
Let's score it.
Good luck, Billie. Good luck.
Thanks, guys.
BILLIE: Today, I cooked a dish that I'm really proud of.
The challenge was to feature a flavour
and I know coriander's there, throughout the dish.
ANDY: Hello. Hello.
It's a bit of a strange dessert.
I'm not sure if it's good enough to beat Matt Stone.
Billie, you chose coriander.
I did, yeah. And what did you make with it?
I did a coriander panna cotta with a coriander biscuit
and a coriander stem and passionfruit sauce.
Wow.
Alright, thanks. Thank you, Billie.
Thank you.
(BILLIE SIGHS)
JOCK: Looks the business. It does.
MELISSA: Yeah. Looks interesting.
JOCK: Alright.
I really enjoyed that.
The flavour of it, I think it was beautifully done.
It just wasn't sweet. It was on that savoury edge.
But then you had this acidic sweetness
came through from the passionfruit
and just swept through your palate
and just find the coconut flavour,
find the coriander flavour,
and just left such a beautiful taste in your mouth.
I...I think it's very clever
and I think it was very well executed.
Mm. The textures were there in contrast.
The flavours were there in contrast.
You know, I have to say, Billie won her season, she's come back
and she's definitely flown under the radar since she's been back.
And I think we've all been waiting to see
when she might poke her head out
and really make a play
and show us what she is made of.
And I feel like this dish is that.
JOCK: I loved it. Let's score.
Hello. Hello.
So, I've got duck, smoked eggplant,
a pineapple and mango spiced chutney and pomegranate.
I really enjoyed that dish.
However...
..Minoli's feature ingredient was pineapple
and I couldn't taste it.
Had her chosen ingredient been eggplant today,
which wasn't on offer,
um, she might have got a pin.
Alright, Melanie. What have you made us?
They're a cheeseboard eclair.
MELISSA: Retro picnic fun times, hey?
ANDY: Mm.
It had that light, airy, sort of crackly outside
and made the perfect vehicle to fill it
with that mascarpone-lightened blue cheese.
I thought it was very, very good.
Hello, Julie. Hello.
What have you cooked?
Um, Thai fishcakes with two dipping sauces.
The flavour of the fishcakes is really good.
If only they had been cooked through,
'cause it's undercooked.
Aldo, what have you cooked?
We've got agnolotti del plin with mussels.
ANDY: Ohh...no.
MELISSA: Oh, wow.
Pasta recipe great, cooked nice and al dente.
But execution in terms of having beards
in five out of six of the mussels,
I don't know if it's gonna get it done today.
Alright, guys.
Good luck! Good luck, fella.
Thanks, guys. Looks awesome, mate.
I've never made or heard of a ham and pineapple broth before.
It's definitely one of the weirder ideas I've had in this kitchen.
ANDY: G'day, mate. How are ya?
Very good. Excellent.
I'm almost certain this dish is a little bit too out there, a little bit too unique,
and putting it in front of three judges
that, you know, I'm really desperate to get good feedback from,
it's the most nerve-racking thing.
Pineapple... Yeah.
..the featured ingredient. It was.
What did you make?
A little ham and pineapple broth with some barbecued coral trout.
Um, yeah, I love ham and pineapple flavour combination,
so I thought I'd play up to that.
Righto, mate. We'll taste.
Thanks, mate. MELISSA: Thank you.
Enjoy it. Thank you.
ANDY: Rightio.
Hmm.
Well, I must be in Hawaii because that was 'lu-wow'.
(LAUGHS)
No... No, no. You said it.
It's all good. Hawaiian, right?
You know, that whole ham and pineapple vibe
is super-delicious for a reason.
And this broth is full of hammy pineapply goodness
in equal measure.
So, what you get is this rich, smoky broth
that's then lightened by the acidity
and the fragrance and the aroma of the pineapple
and so you get this sweet-and-sour thing going on.
The coral trout, beautifully cooked.
I hate ham and pineapple on a pizza, right?
But ham and pineapple in a broth, I'm diggin' it.
Um, this is...
..a delicious dish.
Funnily enough, it's not something I'd order on a menu -
you know, grilled coral trout with ham and pineapple.
The reality of it here, today, is...it is sensational.
This is just beautifully balanced.
Could you imagine if he hadn't balanced that broth properly?
That would have been a train crash.
Fish perfectly cooked. That little side-hustle salad made the dish.
That's in with a chance today.
Come on. Big-time. Surely.
I knew that Michael had food in him like this
but he's just...I feel like he's finding himself in the kitchen.
That right there, that stuff, that can win you the competition as well
because it's absolutely perfect.
Let's score it.
Well, today we asked you to battle it out
against an expert chef, Matt Stone.
Not only did you have to make us love your dish
using controversial ingredients -
you had to make us love it more than his.
Alright, let's see if any of you succeeded
and won yourself an immunity pin in the process.
Time for the scores.
(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM)
ALVIN: It's quite nerve-racking,
waiting, you know, for the judges to reveal everyone's score,
especially when there's seven shiny pins
calling out our names.
But, really, our eye's on the prize,
which is Matt Stone.
We just need to beat that one.
Julie...
..you served us Thai fishcakes.
The flavours were sound
but, unfortunately, the fishcakes themselves were undercooked.
And because of that, we could only give you a score...
..of 16.
Minoli...
..I wish this was an eggplant challenge
because the eggplant was cooked beautifully.
Unfortunately, though, the pineapple disappeared.
We gave your dish a score of 22.
Aldo, your dish - unfortunately, it was overpowered by blue cheese
and there was beards in the mussels.
That's why we scored your dish...
..17.
Billie?
Not much to say here.
We loved it.
We were crazy over the flavours.
And the coriander sang through the whole dish.
We scored your dish...
..27.
(GASPING, CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(LAUGHS) I just...
..I...I can't believe it.
I really can't.
But it all comes down to what Matt scores.
Michael, I...
..hate pineapple on a pizza.
But I loved it in your broth.
And for the first time, you balanced a dish perfectly,
which is why we gave you...
..29.
(EXCLAMATIONS AND APPLAUSE)
I'm...I'm pumped.
I mean, it's one off perfect.
My risk has paid off.
That was the full spectrum of emotions...
I... Yeah.
You were like..."Aah-ehh..."
I'm... Yeah.
Alvin?
I didn't think anybody could make me love brussels sprouts.
And I was right.
CONTESTANTS: Ohh...
But the char on your brussels sprouts, together with the sauce,
made your dish a solid...
..23 out of 30.
Well done. (APPLAUSE)
Melanie?
Another choux success.
And your use of blue cheese was spot-on.
We gave you a score of...
..24.
(APPLAUSE)
Ooh.
(LAUGHTER) ANDY: Now...
..the name of the game was to beat Matt Stone's score.
Ooh.
So, Matt, that means you need
a perfect 30 out of 30
to beat all seven cooks.
You reckon you got it in you. How you feeling?
Um... (LAUGHTER)
I think it was a really yummy dish
but, uh, by the sound of things,
there was a lot of really yummy dishes, so...
Well...
..you lived up to your reputation.
Your dish was fresh, super-interesting
and beautifully cooked.
You wanted to bring us a dish that celebrated sour and bitter.
And, mate, you did just that.
It was a triumph.
Overall, Matt...
..we scored your dish...
..26 out of 30.
Which means, Michael and Billie...
..you guys have won an immunity pin!
(APPLAUSE)
Well done!
Billie, Michael, let's do this.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
There you go, mate. Pin that on yourself.
I'm shocked. Thank you very much.
I...I did not anticipate... beating Matt
or getting a pin.
Great news.
Michael, mate, that's got to feel pretty good.
I feel so good. Yeah.
Um...feels weird beating Matt.
He's, like, one of my favourite chefs.
So, it's... Yeah. Mate, well done.
Dish looks amazing.
Thanks for coming in. So cool.
(LAUGHTER)
It's always a pleasure to have you in the MasterChef kitchen.
We love you. We love everything you do.
It was by no means an easy decision.
You're at the top of your game. Your dish was absolutely beautiful.
Everybody, give it up for Matt Stone.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Go home, have a cup of tea, come back. We'll see you here shortly.
See you, guys. Ciao.
VOICEOVER: Sunday night on MasterChef Australia...
MELISSA: Shannon Bennett, he's a legend.
Shannon literally wrote the book on French cuisine.
..we're turning up the heat
with a surprise service challenge.
SHANNON BENNETT: French cookery
is the simplicity of one recipe
done perfectly.
Can the Fans defeat the Favourites
for the second time?
DANIEL: It's not my style of cooking at all,
so I'm terrified.
Captions by Red Bee Media