ANNOUNCER: Previously, on MasterChef Australia...
Please welcome Hugh Allen!
(APPLAUSE)
..Hugh's secret ingredients...
JULIE: Oh, God.
DANIEL: Oh, stop it, Mindy!
MINDY: We are firing up today!
..set the stage...
Today's the day to push.
..for an exciting elimination.
They made some incredible showstoppers...
JOCK: The feature ingredient didn't just sing, it serenaded us.
..but in round two...
..Julie played her pin...
My heart is hurting because one of my friends is gonna go home.
..and it was Aldo who had to say farewell.
ALDO: I take the best part of all this competition,
which is the love and the friendship for life.
Tonight, they'll be tickled pink...
BILLIE: These ingredients are fun.
Like, really fun.
..with a mystery box of wonder.
# '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. #
MINDY: Here we are. JULIE: Here we go again.
Here we go. Morning.
ALVIN: Shall we open the doors? Yes.
Find out what's on the other side. Yes.
(ALL EXCLAIM) Here we are!
Oh, my God.
ANDY: Come on in, guys! Find a party box!
Get your party box.
Why is it dark? Party box?
A party box? It's a disco box.
That's a bit of fun, isn't it? Hey? It's mystery box day
but not as you guys know it.
Sarah!
Top seven, how does that feel?
It feels incredible.
I walked into the kitchen at the start of this season
and didn't except to get to this point, so...
Yeah, I can't believe it. Pinching myself.
You must be pretty stoked
because you've smashed it out of the park in terms of beating, you know,
where you were in your last season, where you got to in your last season.
That's gotta feel great. Oh, totally.
I think... I set myself a couple of targets.
First was top 10, then to beat my spot from last time
and then now, I just wanna get to finals week. (CHUCKLES)
Julie. Yes.
You're a party girl, aren't you?
I sure am. Yeah?
You wanna bust a move? (LAUGHS)
Nobody wants me to bust a move. OK, OK.
Fair enough. Any ideas what's gonna be under the box?
Uh, I'm hoping it's party food.
I love party food. Party food? That's a good guess.
Mindy. What about you?
I'm all for a party so I can't wait to see what's under the box. Yeah, she is.
Got lots of colours going on, flashing lights.
Feel like I'm at a disco so let's bring it on.
Well...
..let's actually bring it on.
You can lift your lids...
..now.
(ALL EXCLAIM)
BILLIE: Fruit Loops?
Sprinkles? Wait, are they sprinkles?!
(LAUGHS) Oh, my god.
Cool.
A little bit of colour for your Monday.
This is the rainbow box. (CHUCKLES)
All the ingredients you see before you have one thing in common -
they're very colourful.
We have...
..some beautiful painted crayfish.
Scampi caviar.
Fruit Loops.
(CHUCKLES) Dragon fruit.
Multicoloured corn.
Fennel, mukhwas.
Flowering pineapple sage.
Rainbow chard
and some turmeric.
Alright, you'll have 60 minutes to cook us anything you like
but your dish must include one of these colourful ingredients.
Because it's a mystery box,
the pantry and garden are obviously closed
but you'll have the under-bench staples.
Not to rain on your parade
but, today, the makers of the three least impressive dishes
will go into tomorrow's pressure test where one of you will go home.
Good luck, everybody. Your 60 minutes starts...
..now. (JUDGES CLAP)
MINDY: Oh, all these things to think about.
(BILLIE LAUGHS)
60 minutes is no time!
Oops. (CHUCKLES)
ALVIN: Oh, God, I'm SO gonna drop this.
I'm all about the rainbow... (CHUCKLES)
..but this rainbow needs to be good to me.
I'm making turmeric noodles um, with crayfish and chard.
I've worked with crayfish once or twice in my life.
Chard, I've worked with before.
And obviously, I've worked with turmeric before so,
yeah, let's see if I can do this.
Oh, my God!
Like, I'm all about colour, I'm all about rainbows,
but seriously, these ingredients are mind-bending.
Like, that crayfish is just screaming out at me
so I'm going to do a turmeric and pepper crayfish.
Gonna throw it through some noodle and create a really beautiful dish.
I'm gathering...there'll be a fair few noodles today.
ANDY: You reckon noodles? I reckon, like...
If I looked at the ingredients,
maybe make painted cray noodles with turmeric in the noodles.
Maybe, like, ribbons of the chard
for ribbons of... Into the noodles, you know?
I don't know, that would be maybe where I'd go with it.
What would you do?
Today's tough and I tell you why it's tough
'cause painted crayfishes are not like a normal cray.
They don't have bags of flavour,
falls apart, but it's still almost, like, rubbery a little bit.
Mm. Do you know what I mean?
So you've gotta be really, really careful when you cook it.
Um, you've got dragon fruit.
It's not known for being massive in flavour.
No. You know what I mean?
Chard. It's nice and colourful. Yeah.
It just tastes like any other normal green.
Erm, the pineapple sage, pretty cool. Yeah.
It's a nice fragrant flavour.
The mukhwas. Yeah, the mukhwas.
That's a flavour-full of jumble sale going on here.
Coriander, of fennel of, uh...
Rosewater. Rosewater, date. Sugar.
I dunno, it's tough. Yeah.
This... It's gonna be hard for 'em. Yeah.
But! Hey, these are...
Top seven. ..not just some of...
There are top seven. Seven.
Top seven. Top seven.
So they are gonna have to bring it and they should be able to bring it.
Like, we're at the pointy end right here.
You know, the three least impressive dishes are going in... Pressure test.
Yeah, going into a pressure test
so they've got everything to play for today.
Um, I'm looking forward to some good, colourful dishes, if nothing else.
Absolutely. Let's go see what they're up to.
Daniel. G'day, lads. How are we?
We're great. Sugar? Yep.
Fruit Loops. You're going sweet?
Yeah, I'm going sweet again, yeah. Whoo!
I'm doing, um, like a play on fairy bread.
So I'm gonna do, like, a boozy mille-feuille.
Wow! Yeah. OK.
So, I've got some rough-puff.
I'm gonna do a Fruit Loop sort of creme pat inside. Yep.
I'm gonna use the candied fennel here.
That's gonna be in the caramel so it's gonna be a spiced caramel.
That's gonna be the body of it.
So it's... Yeah, mad play on...
Wow. ..fairy bread, obviously...
I saw those and... What made you think of this?!
These.
Never seen 'em before but they look like hundreds and thousands and...
Like, it's a party... You know? What's a party without fairy bread?
(ALL LAUGH)
We know you're good at rough-puff. (CHUCKLES) Yeah.
We know you can do it and in time.
I think the construction of this... Yes!
Cooling the creme pat down, making sure...
Yeah, yeah. ..it's not a mud slide.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
That's the trick. Good luck. Thanks, guys, cheers.
Whoo! The boat's getting pushed out by big Daniel!
(BOTH LAUGH)
Today really is, for me, a race against the clock.
Like, I think I've got a great concept,
I know I can do the puff and that, no worries.
It's about getting both the caramel and the creme diplomat done
and chilled in time
so that it's cold enough so that I can assemble.
(EXHALES) OK.
Alrighty. Play on.
So, top seven.
After yesterday's elimination challenge,
I no longer have a safety net of an immunity pin.
And I know from memory
that things just tend to get a little bit harder as we go along.
Mate, 60 minutes for a mystery box is...hard enough,
but with these ingredients...
Yeah. This is, like, extra added fun.
This is one of the trickier mystery boxes I think I've ever seen.
There are some left-of-field ingredients.
Things I've never cooked with before, things I don't know how to prepare.
Unfamiliar things.
It's a bit bitter to be honest.
So...I'm going to use the crayfish today.
I just think that's the main hero ingredient under this box.
And I'm gonna work the turmeric and the rainbow chard into that.
Today, I'm gonna make a cold crayfish salad.
The crayfish itself, I'm just gonna shuck out of its shell
and then, um, saute in turmeric and ghee.
I didn't know this existed but it's beautiful to look at!
It's so exotic to look at.
I've absolutely got my work cut out for me today.
I'm gonna need to get the very best I can out of each element
that I'm putting on this dish.
Colour our worlds with flavour, 45 minutes to go!
ANDY: Come on!
ALVIN: That's just great, isn't it?
BILLIE: These ingredients are fun. Like, really fun.
Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one, it's pretty cool.
I had a pretty big day yesterday, in the elimination with Aldo
and it was emotionally draining and tiring, but...
..today's a new day.
BOTH: Billie! Hi. Hello.
ANDY: That looks like choux.
It is choux. It is. I'm doing, um...
..Fruit Loop choux.
So making a cereal milk creme pat... OK.
..and the choux pastry, I've made the craquelin with some of those as well,
to get the Fruit Loop flavour in. Yep.
Um, so yeah, sort of sweet, salty, um, little choux buns.
Have you made choux pastry with Fruit Loops before?
No! No.
Course not. This is a first?
This IS a first but most mystery boxes are firsts, I think.
Well, she set a very, very high bar with choux.
How are these gonna be better than cookies & cream choux?
I don't know if you can beat that.
That was so good.
Well...
That's the challenge. That's the challenge.
I think the judges probably have pretty high expectations
so I feel like I'm gonna have to...
..really amp up the flavour in this dish to stand out today.
KEYMA: Um, I'm excited.
It's a fun one although I haven't used many of the ingredients.
Just probably turmeric, that's it.
I love mystery boxes.
I just get to play with new ingredients.
Many times, these ingredients, I haven't seen before.
It's scary and exciting at the same time.
I mean, scary because I don't know what to do with them
but at the same time, it just makes me think outside the box
and make awesome stuff - sometimes, not so awesome.
(LAUGHS)
Keyma. How are you?
Very good. You? What's that? Yeah, good.
This is the craquelin for my choux buns.
Oh. You're doing choux as well?
Yes. I'm doing choux as well. Double choux.
We've got a choux-off. Choux-off.
OK, what's inside your choux?
So I'm gonna make a... Socks.
(CHUCKLES) ..pineapple sage creme pat with dragon fruit jam.
OK.
And I have, I don't know what's this called,
this is the craquelin on top.
The mukhwas. Mukhwas.
What?! BOTH: Something.
Mukhwas! Yeah.
Yeah, whatever. OK, so you've never used it before. Nup!
(LAUGHS)
What's in there?
So this is just... Some of these.
The cookie crumb with some of these. Yep.
Um... Mukhwas.
So, it's a mukhwas craqeulin. Mukhwas craquelin.
A plain-flavoured choux. Yes.
And then the inside, you're thinking about doing...
Pineapple sage creme pat. ..pineapple sage creme pat.
And dragon fruit jam. And dragon fruit jam. OK.
Sounds very interesting. It sounds like a solid idea.
(LAUGHS) Awesome! Like a solid idea.
I think this will all come down to the flavour of the creme pat for me.
Yep.
Like, how are you gonna get maximum flavour and the aroma
of the pineapple sage - which can be really nice -
without the sort of tannic astringent...
Yeah. ..ending that pineapple sage has.
Taste. Taste. Taste. Taste. Thank you.
Today, I have Billie cooking in front of me
and she's doing choux buns as well.
It makes me feel a bit nervous.
(SIGHS)
I mean, Billie, she's the queen of pastries.
She does pastry seamlessly.
I'm just, like, "Keyma, you have to stay focused and not mess it up!"
(LAUGHS)
JULIE: (CHUCKLES) Go, Dan.
(CHUCKLES) Oh.
BILLIE: Alright. So...
..need another thing.
So, after my chat with the judges, I've realised
there are some pretty high expectations
after my cookies & cream choux buns.
So I feel like I'm gonna have to really amp up the flavour
of these choux buns.
I've eaten mukhwas before but I haven't...
..I haven't cooked with them.
They're sugar-coated fennel seeds
and they look like hundreds and thousands.
Making a praline paste from the little fennel seed sprinkles
and then sort of emulsifying that with some oil
and that will be the little paste in the bottom of the choux.
They do have a strong flavour so I think more than ever,
the balance will be key.
So...so, so much pressure today.
KEYMA: So I've piped my choux pastries and I'm happy with them.
And now I need to put the mukhwas craquelin on top to finish it off
before I put them in the ovens.
So, yeah, I'm really happy.
I'm just really hoping to stand up against Billie.
180...
(TIMER BEEPS)
60 minutes for a mystery box with such complicated ingredients
is...tough.
So, I'm gonna do crayfish two ways.
So, I've blanched the tail...
..I'm gonna use half of that to do beautiful little medallions
and the other half to do a Swiss chard-filled leaf.
I'm gonna do a little crayfish oil to bring it all together on top.
These ingredients, although they look reasonably familiar,
they are very different in taste and flavour.
So the corn, I've just tried and tastes nothing like sweet corn.
I mean, I've cooked crayfish a lot but not specifically this variety.
My last lobster dish was the one that I won,
which kind of makes me nervous, there'll be certain expectations.
I think cooking a crayfish two ways
is a great move to impress the judges.
And I think at this point in the competition,
you're up against really incredible cooks.
Every dish needs to be great.
Wow.
I need to push the boat out and really put up amazing dishes.
If I can do that each challenge...
..then I'm one step closer to that grand finale.
Nice. (CHUCKLES)
How you going, Keyma? Having a win?
It's looking good. I just hope everything...
..is done on time. (CHUCKLES)
Yeah, same. (LAUGHS)
So, rough-puff is done.
It's in the oven, cooking away.
That should be sweet.
I'm just steeping my spiced fennel in some cream now
before I make a caramel.
Creme pat's pretty much mixed together and everting,
it's just on the heat now to thicken up.
Once that thickens up, strain, cool down, blitz, fold and...
..should be it.
I think for me, who I am as a dessert cook is,
like, is filthy desserts.
I don't think I'm gonna be the bloke who does the plated desserts
with the parfait and the crumb and that sort of thing.
I don't get ridiculously excited
about things like peanut butter and bacon ice-cream.
And... (CHUCKLES) ..and a fairy mille-feuille.
Like, it's kiddish, you know, and I am a big kid, really.
When you're in here, you sort of draw inspiration from random spots.
Uh, for me, I loved the lights and everything, lifted it up...
..see the hundreds and thousands
and it just sparks that bloody kid-like imagination, doesn't it?
Right. About half an hour to go in the cook,
I've got my noodles, my egg noodles are resting.
My broth is on the go with all those shells.
My cray's cooking in the oven.
I just wanna keep developing the flavours at the moment
and just keep watching that clock.
Uh, feeling good. I'm just...
..doing all the elements
and then I'm going to pull apart my crayfish in a second.
The crayfish needs to be done properly because then otherwise,
I won't have a dish.
Hope you've got some bright ideas!
'Cause you've only got 30 minutes to go.
MEL: Alvin. Hi.
How are you going with that cray? Not cray-cray yet. (LAUGHS)
Not cray-cray yet? Well, that's good.
JULIE: Half an hour to go, I've blanched my crayfish
and he's chilling.
I've pickled my chard stems and I've chopped the leaves for the salad.
So the next thing I need to do is the turmeric-flavoured mayonnaise.
Dried ground turmeric is one of my favourite things to use.
I think it's beautiful.
It's got a sweetness to it, it's got an earthiness to it
and it's got a beautiful vibrant colour.
So I really want it to be the element
that's really driving this dish today.
It's really gonna be the thing that brings everything together.
So far, I'm happy with how this is going
because I think my main pressure point's gonna be
the cook on the crayfish.
So I just wanna make sure I've got a nice, clear window of time
where I can really nurture that.
SARAH: So, I've blanched my crayfish
and now I'm creating a crayfish oil.
I'm gonna put a little bit of the oil in my filling
but I also wanna finish on the top of my dish.
BOTH: Sarah. Hi.
ANDY: What's going on? You don't look like you're loving life.
(LAUGHS) I'm doing, like, the poo chute just as you walk up.
Ah, lovely. Right on time. (LAUGHS)
Uh, what's the dish? So, I'm doing crayfish two ways.
So, I'm gonna do part of the crayfish medallions
and then a stuffed Swiss chard leaf with a few flavourings inside.
You're doing two different... Two different lobster things.
Yeah. I mean, is that...
That means that you've got two chances of it being good
or bad. Raw? (LAUGHS)
No, but I mean... No, I agree.
You're better off focusing your energy on one of 'em.
Yep. You want to stand out today.
You don't wanna be in the bottom three - obviously. No.
I am concerned that if I drop the crayfish two ways,
then the dish might turn out quite simple
and I'm worried that it won't be interesting enough.
But on the other hand,
I have really opened myself up to a lot of scrutiny
if I don't get both elements cooked perfectly and finished in time. I...
..I just don't know what to do.
Oh, God! Argh!
Yep. I mean, is that...
That means that you've got two chances of it being good or bad.
Raw? (LAUGHS) No, but I mean, you know,
you're better off focusing your energy on one of them.
You don't wanna be in the bottom three. Obviously.
No.
Jock's worried that I could be doing too much with this crayfish.
Oh, God. Argh!
Now that I'm thinking about it,
it's two completely different preparations of the crayfish
and one is hard enough.
I've seen in this competition time and time again,
doing too many different elements can trip you up.
I feel like maybe I was doing too much
so instead of doing crayfish two ways, I'm gonna stick to one.
So I'm thinking to just go down that path of doing only the chard leaves.
OK, concentrate.
I wanna really push this dish
and create something that is quite unique and an incredible dish.
DANIEL: The pressure point's the creme pat.
It needs to cool right down to a point where I can actually pipe it
so there's a bit to get done in that regard.
I think I should be able to do it.
(EXHALES) I don't wanna be in the bottom at all.
I wanna keep going. I wanna...
Got no interest in doing a damn pressure test tomorrow,
that's for sure.
Yeah, I wanna give it a crack.
Whoo!
MEL: Alvin. Mm-hm?
Um, question - how much do you not wanna be in the bottom three?
It's a silly question, really,
I don't want to be in the bottom three.
Do an interpretive dance of how much you don't wanna be...
Am I covered in turmeric? Do I have, like, turmeric in my teeth.
(LAUGHS)
Sar, what do you reckon about this thick?
Or a little bit thinner?
What do you reckon? Thinner. looks a bit thick. Yep.
I'm going OK. I've got lots of my elements done.
Most important thing to this dish is obviously the flavour.
So, I've finished with the turmeric mayonnaise
so now it's time to start pan-frying the crayfish,
which is really the hero of my dish.
So I put the turmeric onto the crayfish flesh
and a little bit of salt to season it before I cook it.
When turmeric's cooked in a pan,
it goes the most gorgeous, golden-brown colour,
so I really want that for this dish.
I cook these in the pan for a scant minute or two.
I pour the ghee over the top as it's cooking
so it's sort of cooking all around evenly
and as soon as I can see that it's just translucent,
I take it out of the pan.
Yeah, I'm happy with that cook on the lobster, it's, um...
I am happy with that, yep.
I don't know if it's 'cause it's top seven
or it's because of these weird ingredients...
..but there's some tension in the room today, I can feel it.
And I think it just is the fact that there are so few of us
and that nearly half of us are going into the pressure test.
Oh, it's gone missing!
We're all friends so we all talk about it.
You know, there's nobody acting as though they got this.
We all feel the pressure and the weight of the position that we're in.
Hope all those crazy ideas are starting to come together
'cause you've only got 15 minutes!
How you going, Dan? Yeah, good.
Just got a lot to do. Doing alright though. Going alright.
I pull my puff out of the oven...
(WHISTLES)
And I'm really happy with the colour on it.
I've eaten enough pastry now
to know that I reckon that is going to offset those other sweet elements
really well.
Yep. Sick.
So while my rough-puff is resting, I start working on my caramel.
Oh, my goodness, I'm bloody under the pump.
Oh!
Keep it movin'.
So, my choux buns are in the oven
and the pastry cream is chilling in the fridge
and I'm working on this mukhwas praline paste
that will also go inside the choux.
Praline tastes good.
It's got that nice strong fennel flavour,
um, but also, the flavour of caramel from the sugar.
I think the Fruit Loop flavour and the mukhwas will go well together.
It's basically fennel and citrus
and that's, you know, a great flavour combination.
So I'm feeling confident with this one.
KEYMA: So, my choux buns are in the oven
and my dragon fruit jam is on the go as well.
Now I need to start working with my creme pat.
Now we've got the creme pat.
So, the pineapple sage is simmering into the milk for my creme pat,
for 20 minutes or so.
I was hoping for that flowery taste to infuse into the milk.
But I'm tasting it and it doesn't taste like anything.
It's...it's been... I can't feel it at the moment.
I don't. So I'm gonna add some more and...
(SIGHS)
That pineapple sage is not coming through at all in my milk.
(MUTTERS)
I need to think about something else to be able to pump up
some flavour into this.
The time is ticking.
So...the pineapple sage is simmering into the milk
for my creme pat for 20 minutes or so.
I was hoping for that flowery taste to infuse into the milk.
(SIGHS)
But I'm tasting it and it doesn't taste like anything.
I don't...
I need to think about something else to be able to pump up some flavour
into this.
So I look into the box
and the only thing that comes to mind is using the mukhwas again.
I have to be really careful with the mukhwas.
It's a super strong flavour.
It's beautiful but if you do it too much, it's...
It just takes over the whole palate.
I just couldn't taste the pineapple sage
and I didn't have enough time to continue steeping it
so it's gonna be mukhwas and dragon fruit choux buns.
Don't paint yourselves into a corner, five minutes to go!
Like that? Loved it.
Painted cray.
Yeah, you save your best for the end.
Oh, I kind of like that.
Uh, the cray is good. (CHUCKLES)
The cray is good.
Just seems like it's tender and juicy and sweet so I'm quite happy with it.
(TIMER BEEPS)
Five minutes to go and I am going to cook my pasta,
throw my lobster through and I'm gonna plate up.
So far, so good.
It is coming together but down to the wire again.
Thankfully, I've got all my elements finished.
Need to move quicker.
I've got my crayfish filling, which has been just roughly chopped.
Got my pickled corn, my, uh, sauteed rainbow chard stems.
Little bit of the oil, the mustard and stirring all of this together.
(LAUGHS)
It's tasty.
I'm rolling the filling up in the leaves, folding in the sides
and trying to make it as tight as possible
so they don't fall apart...
Oh, my gosh!
..and popping them onto the hibachi.
I just want them on long enough to get a slight amount of char
because they're quite thin and I don't want that crayfish to overcook.
Vine leaves are a little bit thinner, I would say, than a Swiss chard,
but I really like the flavour of this together, so I'm happy with it.
BILLIE: This one's gone pretty fast.
God, the time is flying in this cook
and I still need to assemble these little choux buns.
So I'm taking the choux out of the oven
and there's a...bit of smoke that gets me in the face
and some of the edge ones are a little bit burnt.
Argh!
Oh, so close!
But thank goodness, there's a few in the middle
that have survived the heat so I'm pretty...pretty relieved about that.
Oh, I left them in for a little bit too long
but there's a few there that are great, so I'm very lucky.
(CHUCKLES)
So, the creme pat's tasting good
but there's only a very, very mild flavour of Fruit Loops
so I don't think I wanna call them Fruit Loop choux buns anymore.
I think I need to lean into the mukhwas.
It's more fennel...
Oh! (CHORTLES)
Whoops.
So, I have all my elements ready.
So, I have my choux buns have cooled down.
I have my creme pat, jam and I'm starting to build my dish.
The...the... All the flavours, they do work.
So I pipe the whipping cream on top, add my little dragon fruit,
a little flower, some dust of mukhwas on top and it looks beautiful.
I'm so happy with what I've produced.
The choux pastry is really nice! (CHUCKLES)
Make sure you finish off strong!
One minute to go.
(JUDGES CLAP)
(EXHALES) Goodness.
So, it's time to plate up my fairy mille-feuille.
The way I want it is I want three layers of the rough-puff,
the Fruit Loop creme diplomat piped in
and the mukhwas caramel piped in between of the diplomat.
On top, I'm dusting it with some of the grounded mukhwas as well
and I'm throwing on a few of the little pineapple sage leaves,
just for a bit of garnishing.
Oh, I'm shaking like a bloody leaf!
I am actually really happy with the way it looks.
It's a little bit uglier than what I wanted in my head,
but in the time that I had,
I'm actually pretty stoked with a 60-minute mille-feuille
with the two flavours that I have.
JULIE: As I'm putting my plate together,
look, I think I've used these ingredients as best I can.
I've cooked the crayfish as well as I can,
I've done the rainbow chard three different ways
and I've used the turmeric throughout the whole dish.
I hope I've done these ingredients justice.
I am sure there's gonna be
some absolutely cracking dishes out there.
Final touches! 10!
JUDGES: 9! 8! 7!
6! 5! 4!
3! 2! 1!
That's it!
Whoo! (LAUGHS)
Well done, everybody!
Today, we gave you a colourful but challenging mystery box...
..and we are looking for the bottom three
to go into tomorrow's pressure test.
Let's see how you did.
First up, it's Keyma.
KEYMA: Billie's choux buns look amazing
so I just hope mine has what it takes to beat them.
Hello.
Keyma, what's the dish, please?
Today, I made mukhwas and dragon fruit choux buns.
OK.
Keyma, I was worried about this,
just the mukhwas is such a strong flavour
and I was thinking,
"Is this gonna taste of anything other than mukhwas?"
And I need not have worried 'cause it was delicious.
Brilliant choux. It was light,
perfect craquelin you got on there as well,
the little sable you got on the top. The jam! Great colour.
There's a little hint of the mukhwas in there,
which is actually very nice.
Creme pat's smooth, rich, delicious
and a beautifully nice, simple whipped cream to finish it off.
It's certainly flawless in its execution. Well done.
Keyma, I can see the expression on your face,
you're quite pleased with yourself.
And you should be, it was a really lovely bite of food.
I love the play of the richness of the creme pat
with the lightness of the whipped cream.
It really did work to be a nice vehicle
for the candied fennel flavour of the mukhwas.
I quite enjoyed the theatre of the little explosive jam in the centre,
so there's some very nice technique.
Keyma, it is really, really well done -
technique and flavour, spot on.
You've been toying with trying to create
this kind of doughnut/choux pastry for a while in this kitchen now,
I think on a day when you don't wanna be in the bottom three,
it was a perfect day to do it.
So well done. Well done, Keyma, thank you.
Whoo!
(EXHALES)
Next up to the tasting table - Billie!
Whoo!
KEYMA: Good luck, Billie!
BILLIE: Keyma's just had a great tasting, which makes me nervous.
So I really hope I've nailed the flavours in mine.
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Billie, what did you make?
I made mukhwas choux.
Gotcha. Righto.
It looked beautiful.
I liked the, you know, the crunchy caramel top
with the, you know, the joy of all those hundreds of thousand-looking mukhwas on top.
Unfortunately, because mukhwas just has such an intensity of flavour,
um, a hint of them over the top
to continue on that beautiful rainbow speckle
might have been enough.
JOCK: Billie. Mm-hm?
The texture of your cream is beautiful.
The choux is nice and light.
I think you got stuck between it being maybe too simple
and then trying to find your way out of that 20 minutes into the cook.
Am I right? Yeah. Yep.
It was a tough one, Billie.
Like I too, thought it was just gonna be boxed off
because you are so good at choux pastry.
You are so good at editing along the way and finding yourself perfection
but it just hasn't happened here.
I feel like because there are a few flaws in the dish,
it maybe ending you up down the bottom today.
OK. Thank you. ALL: Thanks, Billie.
Bugger. All good.
Next dish to the tasting table belongs to Daniel.
I've made a few desserts in this competition
but I've gone all-out with this one.
Whoo.
And I really hope that I bring it today
and hopefully, impress the judges.
Daniel, what have you made us, mate?
So it is a fairy mille-feuille.
It has a Fruit Loop creme diplomat,
a mukhwas caramel
and a little bit of the pineapple leaf flowers on top.
Yes! (LAUGHS JOYFULLY)
Yes! No way.
(CLAPPING CONTINUES)
Mate! (LAUGHS)
You having me on or what? No, I'm having myself on -
Fruit Loops and mukhwas and a rough-puff.
You're so good at rough-puff.
That was as good as most puff pastries that you would have.
Thank you, mate.
First thing I could taste was beautiful buttery pastry,
then I could taste Fruit Loops second
and then the mukhwas was just a very, very light aftertaste.
Mate, that is...stupendous work.
Really? Thank you very much! (CHUCKLES) That's awesome.
Isn't it cool that at this point in the competition,
you can shock yourself in a positive way.
Oh, yeah, bloody oath, that's for sure.
The pastry is biscuity, buttery and shatteringly good.
And then in between that, you have these layers.
Everything, as Jock said, gets called into line
because of how caramelised those beautiful layers of rough-puff are.
I thought, "Great idea, let's see if it actually looks
"and tastes as good as it is in his mind."
And it actually does.
Very proud of you, mate, very proud of you.
(CHUCKLES) Well done, Daniel! Another good one.
Yes! (LAUGHS)
Whoo!
I can't believe that! Well done, Dan.
I can't believe it.
Next up, it's Alvin.
I made turmeric noodles with crayfish and rainbow chard.
Alvin, I think you did really well.
From a flavour perspective, it's a robust plate of noodles.
This was great flavours, great balance.
Well done. Thank you very much.
Next up - Mindy.
I cooked for you today a rainbow cray with egg noodles
and a turmeric butter.
Mindy, loved the presentation,
I thought it was a really cute Chinese restaurant vibe
in a really good way.
Unfortunately, your flavours aren't as intense
as maybe I would have hoped they would be.
Painted crayfish is such a tough one.
What you did do expertly is make some brilliant noodles
and the butter sauce is fantastic.
The real negative here is the crayfish itself
and how that's cooked.
Where will that see you today? I'm not sure yet.
No worries, guys. Thanks. Thanks, Mindy.
Julie Goodwin!
Wow, so colourful.
Julie, what's the dish, please?
It's a...rainbow crayfish salad.
Julie, I think the biggest problem with the plate of food here,
it just lacks cohesion.
You know, yeah, there are all the different elements there
but for me, I'm just struggling to get the perfect bite.
I think this was a tough box for not just you but everyone out there
because there's no obvious driver.
And for me, you've gone with the turmeric, noticing on your apron
and also on the crayfish as well.
And for me, it just hasn't played that linking card
to all the other components of the dish.
There are some really good flavours going on here.
There's some really well-thought-out pieces of the puzzle.
I like the fresh chard. I love the pickled stems.
I like elements of the things together but I'm still struggling
to find the right configuration for that winning bite of food.
OK.
Do you know what it reminded me of
is that sort of Scandinavian open sandwich kind of guy.
You know what I mean?
Like, some rye bread would bring all those things together, for example,
do you know what I mean? Yeah.
When it's on the plate like that, naked, it's hard to comprehend
and because it is turmeric-heavy, it is a struggle.
Texturally, I think it was a win, all your individual flavours were a win,
there was just that missing link there for you today.
That missing link could see you in trouble today.
Alright. JOCK AND ANDY: Thanks, Julie.
Next up, Sarah!
KEYMA: Go, Sarah.
I'm really happy that I made just one good dish instead of two.
I just hope that I made the right decision.
ANDY: Sarah, what are these?
It's crayfish and rainbow chard cigars.
Oh, gosh. Wow.
Amazing.
I actually think that is one of the best things
that you can do with a painted cray.
The texture of the crayfish actually is beautiful.
It doesn't have a huge amount of time to cook inside the leaf itself,
meaning that it is just spot-on cooked.
You've got a beautiful bounce to the painted cray
but then you've got an amazing starchy bounce
from that sweet corn as well. It's very, very clever.
And your sauce has got all the depth of flavour in it as well.
I'm so glad you just...
You did one thing and not, you know, crayfish two ways.
You got to focus all of your energy
and all of your attention into that one thing and it was a cracker.
Well done. Thank you. Thanks.
It was interesting, it was intelligent.
It made me think about what I was eating.
All of it's tantamount to a delicious bite of food.
You're demonstrating a huge amount of technique there
and a huge amount of restraint,
which I know is very difficult in here
because you wanna be all-singing, all-dancing.
Um, but you should be very pleased with that.
Wow. Thank you.
Sarah Todd knows her way round a crayfish, doesn't she?
That's two from two
that you've been top of the class with a crayfish dish.
I think it was a really smart move to do this whole mix
of interesting goodies.
With the crayfish cubes, the corn kernels, the pickled corn kernels
and the pickled stems as well on the rainbow chard,
rolling in the rainbow chard and then grilling it
just gives that slight bit of smoke
without it overpowering the delicate flesh of either.
That is an absolute cracker, Sarah. Amazing. Thank you.
Well done, Sarah. Nice one, Sarah.
(APPLAUSE)
Wow. Thank you. (CHUCKLES)
Today, we challenged you to turn colour into flavour.
There was a lot of great dishes today.
Daniel, your mille-feuille was sensationally sweet,
and Sarah, your cigars were smoking.
Well done.
Good job.
Unfortunately, though, for three of you,
your dishes were a little washed out.
If I call your name, unfortunately, you're in tomorrow's pressure test.
Billie. Yep.
Julie.
And Mindy.
Well, guys, at least we're certain of one thing,
the climb towards the end of this competition is getting steeper.
Billie, Julie and Mindy,
tomorrow's pressure test could take you one step closer to the peak.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Be brave, be bold, go get some rest and we'll see you tomorrow.
Well done, guys. Thanks, guys.
MINDY: It is going to take every fibre of my being... (LAUGHS)
..to make sure that I don't go home tomorrow.
I'm cooking against Billie and I'm cooking against Jules!
They're winners of MasterChef!
I'm gonna have to dig deep and bring it on.
ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia,
it's all about the girl power.
JULIE: We are bringing the sisterhood.
These three legends of the MasterChef kitchen...
Good morning, ladies.
..take on a pressure test
from the queen of chocolate...
Inside that black velvet exterior,
there's gonna be a world of pain.
..and it will give you goose bumps.
Captions by Red Bee Media