ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia,
Oh, my God. What a mess!
KEYMA: I have to bring my A-game.
JOCK: Oh! Wow!
It's a half-a-kilo truffle!
..in a high-stakes immunity cook.
This cabbage is, like, worth more than my damn mortgage.
# Every day I'm trufflin'... #
They unearthed some incredible dishes.
JOCK: Like, that's proper good.
ANDY: It is so on point it's not funny.
But Keyma was the one who stood out...
Brilliant cook on the pork. I'm so proud of you.
Thank you. Well done.
..and secured her spot in the top four.
Tonight...
DANIEL: If I don't make the right decision, I'm going home.
..get ready for a nail-biter of an elimination.
# '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. #
SARAH: This is stunning.
BILLIE: Look at that! Wow.
The scenery here is absolutely breathtaking.
We've had such an amazing trip.
You know, this is what the whole competition is about -
beautiful produce,
and getting to cook in such an incredible place, like Tasmania.
"Lawrenny Distillery."
JULIE: This place is amazing.
Like, there's mountains in the background.
There's this crystal-clear river rushing by.
The air is crisp and icy
and it's just stunning.
Julie, how beautiful is this?
Isn't it gorgeous?
Tassie's been incredible so far.
I've always wanted to come to somewhere like this.
I mean, we've done some cool things
that I don't think anyone will ever get to do.
I also never, ever expected to be in an elimination
against three other Favourites.
The three last remaining Favourites of this season, and...
..me. (CHUCKLES)
It sounds like a bad joke, almost.
BILLIE: Hi. ANDY: Afternoon, all.
How are we? SARAH: Hi.
Good.
So, we're standing here on the banks of the incredible River Derwent.
This is our last day in beautiful Tasmania.
But, sadly, for one of you,
it's also your last day in the competition.
By the end of today, five of you will become four.
KEYMA: It's a pretty, you know, kind of bittersweet feeling
because I'm really happy to be immune,
but Julie, Billie, Sarah and Daniel, one of them is going today,
and it is very, very heartbreaking.
Well, we are standing in this beautiful place for a reason.
Tasmania has some of the purest water sources in the world.
And that water - this water -
is used by Lawrenny Distillery just over there
to make its award-winning whisky and gin.
Interestingly, this year Tasmanian distilling
celebrates 30 years of fine whisky making.
And today you get to pick which one you showcase
in a four-course service challenge.
What? Oh, my God.
Oh, wow. What?
A service challenge? There's only four of us cooking.
We normally have four on one team.
This is definitely going to be a tough challenge today.
Oh, Jules! (LAUGHS)
Everyone's looking around, going, "There's not many of us."
Here's how it's going to work.
Each of you are going to pick a token from this bag.
The number you pick corresponds with a course.
What do you want?
Number one, that means you're cooking a vegetarian course.
Number two, seafood.
Yes!
What? Two - fish.
Fish. Yes.
Nice one.
Number three, meat.
Number four is dessert.
Julie, get in there.
JULIE: I'd be happy with number one. Number one?
You want a veg course? Oh...
Goddammit! (LAUGHS) Oh, she got dessert.
Dammit. (LAUGHS)
Billie, do you want it? I'm guessing that's the one Billie wanted.
Oh, gosh.
One.
One - veg. Vegetarian.
Do I have to pick? (LAUGHS) So, that means...
There you go. Three.
You got three. Meat. Meat.
Daniel. Yes.
Fish. You looked pretty happy about that, mate.
Yeah, I'm pretty stoked with that.
There's plenty you can do with fish and plenty you can do with alcohol.
Excellent.
Julie, you didn't look very happy about getting dessert, at all.
No, it's not my forte,
but, you know, I'm here now, so...I'll bring it.
You must do a lot of different desserts
at the cooking school, though, no? Surely.
I tend to have other presenters come in and teach those, 'cause...
(LAUGHTER) Oh, you sneaky!
Alright.
You're going to have three hours
before your course needs to leave the pass.
In it, you must showcase either gin or whisky.
Each of you will need to feed 20 very special diners
and, of course, us three.
Whoever cooks the least impressive course will be eliminated
and our top four will be decided.
Sarah, you're on the vegetarian course,
so you're going to kick us off.
Your three hours will start as soon as you enter the kitchen.
Good luck. Thank you.
SARAH: I'm excited to get into the challenge,
but I am a little bit nervous
because it's a vegetarian course to start with.
To really highlight whisky,
I feel like Japanese cuisine would be the best.
Japanese flavours are something that I really love.
You know, whisky is, obviously, huge in Japan as well.
I am making a whisky broth
with Tokyo turnips, mushrooms and parsnip chips.
First thing I need to do is get my broth on.
I am adding kombu, some shiitake mushrooms, onions, some dashi,
just really trying to build out this flavour.
This is my last cook in Tasmania.
I definitely want to make sure it's one to remember.
ANDY: Daniel, mate, you're up.
DANIEL: I'm up. I'm ready to go.
I'm jumping in there, running straight in,
ready to get started with it.
Hey, Sarah. Oh. Go, Dan. Whoo-hoo!
What are you making?
Uh, I'm doing gin-cured salmon.
Gin and salmon - yum, Dan. Sounds good.
I've got this beautiful gin here, and I want to showcase that.
So it seems to be, like, a bit of a no-brainer to do a gin-cured salmon.
And I could incorporate the aromats that it has in it
with some of the other fresh produce that we have.
I've got three hours before my service kicks off,
and I want to try and get everything done in a certain order.
Filleting salmon's a pain as it is.
There's just so much prep work involved.
The bones are super fine, especially on these smaller ones.
They're like little hairs, and I've got to pin-bone them all.
And then I have to create my cure.
But it's just going to take so long.
Two down, Jules,
two to go.
It's kind of nice to have this time
to think about exactly what I want to cook.
I'm on the meat course,
so I'm thinking I want to cook with lamb.
Lamb has that really rich, round flavour
that could pair really well with whisky.
JULIE: I just wanna get in, get on with it.
Get it over with. I know. Got a bit of a wait ahead of you, Jules.
I'm the last course,
so I've got to sit around for quite a while before I can get started.
I have a recipe in my head.
I'm thinking about the whisky toffee pudding
with a whisky butterscotch sauce,
ice-cream, and a pecan peppered crumb.
Just wanna to get in there now. Mm-hm.
How you travelling, Sarah? Hello. Not bad.
I'm excited. What are you cooking? (LAUGHS)
I'm making a whisky broth...
Indian, or...no spices? No.
It's Japanese inspired. Oh, Japanese.
Right. Wow.
I thought you would have gone Indian.
I feel like it's kind of hard with Indian
to really make whisky the hero,
so I went down this path.
OK, I've got kombu, onions, mushrooms and lots of whisky.
Whew!
It's all going to hang on the depth of flavour you get into the broth.
I can't wait to try it. Good luck. Thank you.
I need to make sure that this broth really celebrates whisky.
It's the only element where I'm going to be highlighting the whisky.
Dan. Hey, Dan.
G'day, guys.
You pulled the fish token. I did.
Did you choose gin or did you choose whisky?
I've chosen gin.
So, it'll be a gin-cured salmon.
How long are you gonna cure it for? I want at least an hour.
Yeah, that's my plan.
So, did you pin-bone all these?
I haven't pin-boned them yet. That's what I'm doing now.
(SNORTS) It's going to take you a while to get through them.
Yeah.
How are you portioning it?
It's going to be, like, nice little thin slices.
Like, to cut thin slices out of that, times 23 plates...
It's going to take forever.
You're wasting a lot of time.
And this is just one element on the plate.
That takes time, and you've only got two of these.
Good luck.
You right? Yeah.
You can go different ways.
Just don't box yourself into a corner
where you are going to run out of time.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
Come on, man. You don't want to be the one going home today, alright?
Nah. No worries.
(CHUCKLES)
So...
Agh!
I'm just... Yeah. Like...
I've set out to do this task, and the flavours will work,
the plating will be beautiful...
..but they're right -
this is...this is too much work.
What do I do now?
I've just got a lot going through my mind right now.
I have to try and reconfigure the dish massively.
So I'm just trying to figure out how I can do that.
Knowing that the elimination is at the end of this challenge,
I need to think and make a right decision now.
And yeah, that sucks.
Shit.
DANIEL: So, I've come into this challenge,
I had a really clear idea.
Agh!
Gin-cured salmon.
And it's gone horribly,
and it's now turned into a disaster.
Judges just sort of said that I probably won't get it done in time.
So I have to try and reconfigure the dish massively.
So I'm just trying to figure out how I can do that.
Judges are just totally right.
I'm not going to have enough time to create my cure
and then to develop its flavour for this fish.
It's incredibly stressful
when you've got this idea set in your head
and you plan your whole cook around that.
I'm going to have to pivot
because if I don't make the right decision, I'm going home.
Yeah, a bit of a freak-out.
I'm taking a step back. I'm thinking about it.
I'm like, OK, let's just say
I keep all of the same elements that I planned in my head.
Can I use this fish that I've already filleted?
And how can I still get that flavour through the fish?
Curing that salmon's gonna take too long,
so I'm going to confit it instead.
I'm thinking I can confit the fish in oil
and all the aromats should still permeate the meat
like I originally intended.
Yep. OK, cool.
(SIGHS) Alright. I'm all good. Let's go.
I don't have to make a rub.
I just have to get all the botanicals in there with some nice oil
and sit it in at a low temperature pretty well all the way through
till it's just cooked, then that's done.
I can still spend all the other time on every other element.
So I just need to hustle, get this done
because I've lost bloody 20 minutes...
..and get going.
BILLIE: I'm on the third course, and I have to cook with meat,
so I've chosen lamb.
So, I'm doing a lamb loin
crusted in a crispy pearl barley spice mix.
The whisky component is the sauce -
a lamb jus pretty heavily spiked with whisky.
I'm also going to do a carrot and orange spiced puree
and, yeah, some mushroom duxelles.
There's a lot of work to do in this service challenge.
Three hours to create 23 dishes on my own.
There's a lot of prep.
I'm going to have to take the loins out of all of these lamb racks
and then cut the bones up for the sauce.
So I need to be really organised and move as fast as I can.
It's going to be a tough one, for sure.
It's top five, so it has to be hard, right?
JOCK: Alright, Julie, your time starts now.
I'm starting. How are you going? Oh, my gosh.
Go for it, Jules. Are you good?
Yes. Good luck, darling. Good-o.
How are you going, Billie? Good, Jules.
Just...butcher station at the moment.
Looks amazing, darling. Looks amazing.
Thank you. Good luck, Jules. Good luck.
Oh, finally, it's time for me to go in and start cooking.
Thank heavens for that.
I drew dessert as my course,
so I'm doing a toffee pudding
with a whisky butterscotch sauce,
a chilli whisky ice cream
and a peppered smoked pecan crumble.
I knew when we came to a distillery
that we'd probably be cooking with gin and whisky.
Part of getting well with my mental health
was stopping drinking, and I did that a while ago.
So I'm going to cook all the alcohol out of the whisky
before I put it into all the elements that I want it in,
to make sure that the balance is right.
I'm making a simple sugar syrup with whisky,
and I'm going to boil it before I pop it into my ice cream.
But, of course, cooking all the alcohol out of the whisky
before I put it into the ice-cream
removes that sort of heat from it.
So, to counterbalance that,
I'm going to put a chilli syrup into the ice-cream
to bring some of that heat back.
OK, everyone's cooking now.
So that means, Julie, you've got 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Billie, 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Daniel, you've got 1 hour and 45 minutes.
That means, Sarah, 75 minutes until service.
Let's go, guys. Come on. Come on. You can do it.
SARAH: Because my dish is a Japanese-inspired vegetarian course,
my goal is to add in elements
where you get that kind of bite or, you know, meatiness to the dish.
So, I've gone for a few different types of mushrooms here,
and I just want that to kind of really bulk out the dish,
be that real kind of meaty texture for a vegetarian dish.
I'm also creating a pickle for the mushrooms
and I'm creating a slightly sweeter pickle for some blackberries.
(COUGHS)
(LAUGHS)
The flavours of mushrooms and blackberries,
as weird as it sounds, they go really well together
and it will bring different layers of flavour to the dish.
As I'm working, the whisky broth is developing.
I can see the colour is changing.
And as I'm tasting it, I can definitely taste the whisky.
But I don't think the Japanese flavour's coming through.
It doesn't taste like I described to the judges.
I need this dish to wow the judges,
or I could be going home today.
SARAH: Today, a top-four dish needs to be one that stands out.
Tasty and, of course, hit the brief.
Hmm.
So I just need to work on that a little bit more.
Mm-hm. Oof! Ooh.
It's just the mind going, "Is that enough Japanese flavours?"
"Is it too much whisky?"
Bottoms up. (LAUGHS)
It's finding that happy medium.
I'm just at the point where I'm just not sure if this dish is enough
and trying to think of if there's anything I can add
to make those Japanese flavours come through.
So I decide to make togarashi.
Togarashi is a Japanese seven spice.
I am using some toasted noris.
Dried chilli, chilli flakes, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, some ginger.
Salt.
All very Japanese ingredients.
I am going to add it to parsnip chips to add that flavour.
It's gonna add a really nice crunch
but it's also gonna be like a little bit spicy.
Hopefully, it all comes together nicely and the judges like it.
How you going, Billie?
Yeah, just prepping lamb, Dan. How are you going?
Uh, prepping salmon.
I'm just finishing butchering this lamb.
I've got meat everywhere.
I have the fat from the lamb, I've got the bones, I've got the loins.
It's always good to have a hand
when it comes to this sort of prep but...
I get the bones into the oven
to roast until they're really nice and caramelised.
I've also got a lot of lamb fat so I get that into the oven,
just to render the fat down so I can use the fat to finish the sauce
or in other elements of this dish.
MEL: Billie. Yep.
You've been motoring since the second you set foot into your kitchen.
Uh-huh. How's it all going?
There's a lot to do. Yep.
I've got my lamb prepped, I've got the bones roasting in the oven.
Great. Nice caramelisation going on there.
Yep. Wanna get them really dark. Deep flavour, yep.
And then they'll go into the two sauce pots.
Just over an hour, is that right?
You have 1.5 hours to go. I've got 1.5 hours, yep.
OK. Thank you.
I've spent a huge chunk of this three-hour challenge
butchering these racks.
So I'm really gonna have to motor to get on top of things.
JULIE: So my ice-cream's churning and I'm getting on now with the pudding.
This dessert is very similar to my normal sticky date pudding.
It's probably one of my go-tos when I do make dessert.
And it's always a crowd-pleaser.
Argh!
Ordinarily, I would blitz up dates with boiling water
but instead, I boil the whisky and blitz up the dates with that,
just to infuse them of that whisky flavour
and that will go right through the cake.
There's a lot going on in the kitchen today and the oven is busy.
So it's just a bit of a juggling act, to make sure that everything fits.
I'll just put it in the bottom. I should be right.
I manage to get my cakes in, there's a shelf just for me in there.
The bottom shelf.
And, uh, in they go.
This sticky date pudding, it's gotta be fudgy.
You can't overcook it but if you undercook it, it's sticky...
It's quite a tricky one.
(EXHALES)
Now that the salmon's in the oven,
I can get started on the other elements.
I can finally breathe again. 'Cause I had to really hustle there.
So it's in, that's gonna cook.
It should take about an hour.
But that's good, now I can just smash out the rest of the stuff,
make sure that's good and I'm good. I feel good now.
Um, I need, uh, some sugar.
I'm really excited about getting to start the other elements.
Oh, hey. (LAUGHS) Hey, guys.
They will all work quite well with each other
and reinforce the gin flavour.
What I love about gin is that it's a base alcohol
that has been infused with botanical flavours,
like Tasmania pepperberry, juniper berries, orange,
some cypress and grapefruit.
So by picking the same notes that's in the gin
is a perfect way of infusing same flavours into my dish.
Got some beautiful rye.
Gonna chop it up finely, put it in the oven,
get it super dry and crispy, then blitz it right up
and then I can add the aromats of the gin into that.
Oh, God! I've got so much shit to do. (CHUCKLES)
I'm also going to do a compressed cucumber with the gin
and a few other citrus.
And then a nice sweet pickled radish.
And then I'm sort of thinking, "Well...
"..it needs a bit of a bite, a bit of creaminess to it."
There's some beautiful fresh wasabi in the pantry
so I'm gonna try and make that a wasabi cream.
So...splash of this.
Each element provides something
so the whole thing ties in together balanced.
That's what I'm really trying to focus on today.
Oh, yeah, that's alright.
Ladies and gentlemen, your diners are arriving!
And that means, Sarah, five minutes till service.
JOCK: C'mon, let's go! (APPLAUSE)
MEL: Come on, guys!
BILLIE: So my lamb is all prepped, the bones are in the oven,
the loins are resting.
But knowing that I spent so much time on the lamb,
I have so many different things that I need to do at the same time.
I'm really gonna have to motor.
Oof.
I've got everything on the go at the moment,
so just have to move on to the barley.
So I wanna use barley to make a crust for the lamb
because it's one of the first things they use to make whisky.
They actually grow it here on this farm
so it's a little bit of a nod to that,
but it's also a great ingredient to work with.
I've boiled my barley and I need to get that into the fryer
so that it crisps up and puffs up.
So I drop it into the oil, turn around to grab something else and...
Oh, shit! Shit!
Oh, no, that's hot oil!
I'm like, crap, it's hot oil that's going everywhere but I feel useless.
Um...
I'm just sort of watching it.
You alright? Oh.
It's bubbled all over the bench, all over the cooktops.
I've created such a nightmare.
Oh, yeah, feeling the pressure now.
I'm in trouble.
This has really set me back.
I felt like everything was going really well and really calmly...
Oh, yeah, feeling the pressure now.
Are you alright? Oh.
..but all of a sudden...
Sorry.
..I have hot oil bubbling all over the bench.
OK. Um...
I've put some cold oil in to bring the temperature down
and to stop it from bubbling.
But looking around, I've created such a nightmare.
There's hot oil everywhere.
All over the other induction burners.
I can't afford any dramatic situations right now.
I just need things to be calm and organised,
and now there's oil everywhere.
I had a bit of an oil overflow with my barley,
which has really sort of set me back in time.
So I'm going to, instead of frying it,
I'm just going to get it into the oven
and if it crisps up, then I'll use it.
But if not, I might just have to ditch that element.
Our four-course menu starts in three minutes!
Let's go!
I got my pudding in the oven, so I'm quite excited about that.
My ice-cream's churning.
I've just got to work on the butterscotch sauce,
and then I should be sweet.
A really good butterscotch sauce should be rich...
..deeply caramel.
It should feel beautiful as you eat it.
It should have a little touch of salt in there
to elevate that caramel flavour.
And of course, for this challenge, it's got a smack of whisky.
Sarah's about to start her service, but I've got the second course.
I've pretty well got everything under wraps now. I'm happy.
I'm just working on my little wasabi cream at the moment.
So, I've put a bit of gin in there as well that layers with the wasabi.
So it's quite nice, it's quite botanical.
Because it's one of those elements that just needs to be perfect.
Yep, that will be nice.
It's that time.
JUDGES: Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one.
That's it! Service has now started.
Let's go, Sarah.
I AM pumped for service.
This is the funnest part of the whole challenge,
finally getting to serve real diners,
so I'm very excited.
I'm plating the dish with my poached mushrooms
and turnips on the bottom,
sauteed mushrooms with the black garlic on top,
then finishing with my pickled mushrooms,
pickled blackberries...
..and a generous sprinkle of spicy togarashi on top.
And the waiters will be serving the broth around the outside.
OK, service.
Thank you.
I hope it's a top-four-worthy dish.
I think I've hit the brief,
it's just going to come down to those flavours.
So I'm just hoping that when you're sitting down at the table
and tasting all those flavours together, it really works.
ALL: Thank you. Cool.
Thank you. Thank you.
Alright, so, course one from the lovely Sarah.
It is mushroom and whisky broth, poached Tokyo turnips,
togarashi and whisky-pickled blackberries.
Looks very pretty. Smells amazing.
Good waft of whisky, which is a good sign.
ALL: Yes.
There's a lot going on, isn't there? Mm.
We've never seen this kind of food from Sarah ever.
This is a first.
And I like it.
Like, I like that she's going down that road.
The broth is beautiful.
Just umami-packed, it's beautifully seasoned, it's nicely balanced.
I really like the pickled mushrooms.
Then we've got the sweetness of those pickled blackberries as well.
I thought that was delicious.
What I'm not enjoying is the togarashi.
I'm just not sure whether it goes
with the whisky elements in the dish.
The togarashi itself is nicely made.
I can imagine it on a number of different dishes,
but in your mouth you have the end of the whisky on the palate.
It's competing with the chilli and you're starting to really struggle
with which you can discern the most of.
Yeah. That's definitely a flop.
I think chilli and whisky is a real hard thing to balance.
At the end of the day, has she showcased whisky? Absolutely.
I just think the togarashi was the problem here.
And on a day when you've got a 25% chance of going home, a bit risky.
Service. Thank you.
I finally had a chance to sort of think,
"OK, yeah, cream's done, pickle's done,
"cucumber's done, crumb's done.
"Sweet." OK, I'm at a stage where I can start cleaning up
and thinking about plating.
And I'm happy, like, yep, OK, cool.
Like, I've worked my arse off, I've got everything done.
What temperature did you confit your fish at?
Um...I started it at...
I pretty much got it at 130.
And then I just realised I forgot to turn my fish down.
Have you checked it? Hey?
Have you checked it? Yeah, I'm about to now.
No, no. I forgot to turn my fish down.
He said 130.
Oh, crap.
As soon as I look inside, the oil, it's just...the fish is white,
it's overcooked, and my heart just sinks down into my stomach.
He doesn't look happy.
I've got 30 minutes and I've just overcooked my fish massively.
I've just forgotten about it.
I feel like I've literally been slapped across the face,
and it's just like I'm lost.
Oh, shit, I don't know what to do.
I can't...I can't think.
All I'm thinking about is I'm going home.
My gut is just wrenching.
My time's up, I'm done for.
I've just shot myself in the foot. I've let myself down here.
JUDGES: What are you gonna do?
I'm not going to put it on a plate.
Oh, no.
I'm supposed to actually start service,
and I've got nothing to serve.
It's alright, buddy. Come on, mate. (CLAPS)
I run to the pantry and there's some big squid.
I have to use the squid.
JULIE: You alright, mate? No, my fish...
Just breathe, honey. Just breathe.
Can I do it?
Oh, shit!
Applications for next season are now open.
Go on, get on it!
This has gone terribly to shit.
I've got less than 30 minutes to turn this dish around.
JULIE: Can I do something, Dan? No, you're right, Jules, thank you.
You sure? I just need to...
I'm good, yeah. Take a deep breath in.
Thanks, Jules. Thank you. OK. Give me a smile.
You got this, Dan.
All I need to do is cook fish.
I know how to clean a squid out.
I know how to cook it and I know how to get it done in time.
Just quickly sear them off in a pan and then get them on a plate
and hopefully everything else makes up the dish.
I've got two pans on the rip and I'm going for it
and I'm just getting everything done so I can get my other elements out
and plate up and send them all out as soon as I can.
The odds of me managing to survive today are gonna be very bloody slim
but I'm just gonna do my job and make sure I get it done right.
(SIGHS)
I'm calling it Gin Squid.
Seared squid with wasabi cream,
rye bread crumb, compressed cucumbers
and pickled radishes.
Right, service!
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
Here we go. JOCK: Ooh.
MEL: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Alright, so this menu obviously says Botanical Salmon Confit
but we know that he had an issue with that, so instead we have calamari.
So I think it's literally the same dish.
Yeah.
Bar the sub out for some seared calamari.
Yeah. OK.
It would have been nice with the salmon.
It's better with the calamari.
The cook on the squid was perfect.
Um, loved the crumb.
Orange zest and juniper in the crumb
just highlights that beautiful gin flavour.
The whole dish tastes like a gin and tonic, doesn't it? Mm.
It's very, very simple, don't get me wrong, but how often do we say,
"Do each element as best you possibly can"?
And I think that was beautiful.
Well played, Daniel. Yeah.
Really, really well played.
I think what's so clever about it is that
what he's done is exploded out what ingredients make the gin
and put it back together into a dish.
Every element has it infused in some way.
The blue cypress needles, the flavour of the juniper in the crumb.
The echo of the citrus, again, through it.
I like that the wasabi creme fraiche
gives the dish a little bit of richness.
It does need that to bring everything together.
Subtle perfumed layers
on top of a really perfectly cooked piece of squid -
can't be mad at that.
I can't believe he's done that. (LAUGHS)
Honestly.
It has made the dish better, the squid.
Yeah. The squid lifts everything up.
I'm flabbergasted.
I think he's in there thinking he's gonna go home. Yep.
But he's pulled a rabbit out of a hat.
We've said time and time again the way to win this competition
is making smart choices. Yep.
He made the smart choice of looking at that salmon and going,
"Come hell or high water, I'm not putting that on a plate."
This tasting all of a sudden just got a whole lot more interesting.
Oh, yeah.
Well done, mate. So proud of you. Oh, thank you.
Lifting yourself up when shit goes wrong
is the hardest thing you'll ever do.
And you just nailed it today so...whatever happens. OK?
Daniel's plates have gone out and the pressure is huge...
OK.
Let's get some sort of order happening here.
I've got my sauce done, the glaze done,
but I'm a bit worried about the cook on the lamb.
..and it's a really awful feeling,
not knowing exactly what it looks like inside
because there's no turning back from here.
If it's overcooked, I just have to send it out.
Bugger.
I cut into the lamb and I'm looking at it and...
..oh, no.
I think it's a little bit over.
It's overcooked and that could be it for me.
Um...
But... (CHUCKLES)
It's a bit of...
It's still nice and pink blushing.
As it's sitting there after being cut,
the colour's coming back into it.
Actually, it's looking better the longer I'm looking at it.
And it looks really pink and rosy and it's cooked medium rare.
I'm so relieved.
This is gonna take me a while to get the hang of this, I think.
So to plate up, I'm putting the crispy barley on top of the lamb loin
with some of the whisky glaze.
I'm nervous that it might be too crunchy
but the flavour of the lamb fat with the barley and the spices
are really good with the rest of the dish.
So I'm still gonna use it.
To finish the dish, I put a spoonful of the puree,
a spoonful of the mushroom duxelles and then the sauce on at the end.
OK, service, please.
Here we go.
Ooh-hoo.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
OK.
Course three from Billie - lamb loin crusted in pearl barley,
orange carrot puree, whisky lamb sauce.
How's that lamb looking?
Beautifully pink. Yeah.
Some lovely cooking there from Billie.
Start with the lamb. Beautiful cook on the lamb.
Mine was kind of just heading from medium rare to medium,
which I really enjoy.
The lamb was spectacular.
The orange and carrot puree, it was lovely.
Beautiful texture.
I love the link from the orange in the puree
and the rosemary in the duxelles
and the whisky in the duxelles.
Those three for me were dynamite in terms of flavour combinations.
I love the flavour the pearl barley gives the lamb
but the texture for me, it's just a little bit too tight.
Some significant technique, to be sure.
That sauce was whisky-prevalent
and I like the nutty flavour of the pearl barley.
But...there are parts that are... worrisome in terms of the texture.
The only flaw for me is the crumb.
If she had just blitzed it a little bit just to break it down,
I think it would have made a world of difference.
Is that gonna see her in trouble today? Maybe.
I think we're gonna be judging on the smallest of flaws today.
That's definitely a flaw.
Service, please. (CHUCKLES)
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
This is black apron day, which is always hard.
Um...
(TEARFULLY) Yeah, definitely didn't do what I hoped to so...
Oh, God.
I'm a bit nervous about going home, I think.
(TIMER BEEPS) Oh! That's my cake.
(GRUNTS)
Whoo! (CHUCKLES)
So I get my cakes out of the oven...
Oh, no, no, no, no.
..and they are quite dark on the bottom.
I think I've burnt them.
There's no time to make this again.
This is actually something that would send me home.
(GRUNTS)
..and they are quite dark
on the bottom.
Oh, shit.
Oh, God.
There's no time to make this again.
So I'm gonna try and take the parts of that cake that are cooked properly
and serve it to the diners.
That's all I can do.
I've only got a few minutes to go and I've just got to set up
so that I can have a beautiful smooth surface.
My plate has whisky date pudding.
Gotta have a nice amount of sauce. (LAUGHS)
It's got a beautiful big ladle full of that lovely butterscotch sauce.
Nobody likes stingy sauce.
It's got a nice big spoonful of pecan pepper crumble.
And on top of that is sitting my whisky chilli ice-cream.
Alright, service, please.
I'm on the home stretch.
Last few to go.
If I'm the person who is eliminated today,
obviously, I will be shattered.
But at the same time, I'm very proud of what I've done.
I've overcome a few challenges here
and what I see in front of me
is something that looks beautiful...
Service, please.
..and I hope the judges like it.
There you go.
Oh.
I am stoked to have made it this far.
Can't even tell you how happy I am
that I got to come down here to Tasmania.
Whatever happens from here on in,
I will always be thankful that I said yes to this.
Thank you. Thanks very much.
Course four - sweet by Julie.
Whisky toffee pudding, whisky butterscotch,
whisky chilli ice-cream and pecan crumble.
Does look pretty sexy, doesn't it?
Smells amazing.
(SPOON HITS BOWL)
What's going on there?
The bottom is hard. I don't know why.
Does she know she's burnt the cake?
Whoa.
Look at that.
Yeah, it's burnt at the bottom but look at that.
We've all got a burnt bottom.
To the point where it's...it's,
you know, on the palate, it is burnt.
(SIGHS)
The...the disappointing thing about this
is that she's nailed the brief. Mm.
Yeah. She nailed it.
Yep. You know what I mean?
You couldn't have done a better dessert.
The whisky in the sauce is just stunning.
It's delicious. Mm. Mm.
The execution here is the problem.
And it's a shame. I'm really disappointed for Julie.
What an incredible few days it's been.
From shucking oysters on the east coast
to digging up truffles in the north-west,
to standing right here in the Derwent Valley.
We've cooked in some of the most beautiful locations
ever on MasterChef
and we have loved every minute of it.
Finals week in Tasmania has shown us just how beautiful food can be
when it's cooked by people as talented as each of you.
And the fact that one of you is about to go home...
..breaks our hearts.
Daniel.
You had the fish course and you chose gin.
After prepping salmon to cure it,
it then became a confit dish
and you eventually served us squid!
You know what?
We're so glad you did.
Because it was perfectly cooked...
..and just the right vehicle to feature the flavours in that gin.
And, mate, it was dish of the day.
(JULIE LAUGHS) Well done, you're safe, buddy.
Far out.
Billie.
Your lamb was perfectly cooked.
And the lingering flavour when we finished your dish
was that whisky.
Well done. You're also safe.
(SPLUTTERS)
(WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY)
Good luck. You too.
Sarah, Julie, comes down to the two of you.
Julie.
Your dish was simple.
Sticky date pudding, ice-cream and a whisky caramel to die for.
It looked a million bucks on that plate
and more than that, you absolutely smashed the brief.
Sarah.
Your broth was beautifully balanced and it hummed with whisky.
Your turnips and mushrooms were great too
but the togarashi,
it distracted from the beautiful flavour of your broth.
But...Julie...
..the bottom of all of our cakes...
..were burnt.
Which left a bitter, burnt flavour in our mouths.
Which is why, I'm sorry, Julie, for the first time ever...
..you're going home.
You're amazing.
(SOMBRE MUSIC)
It's all good. It's all good.
ANDY: Julie Goodwin,
you are the living, breathing example of the power of MasterChef.
You're an inspiration to so many people,
not just out there,
but to all of the people standing here and to me.
Thanks, Andy.
We are all so glad that you took that phone call
and decided to don that old MasterChef apron again.
Because it has been an honour to have you cook for us.
Thank you.
I've had the most incredible time
and, yeah, it was a big decision to come back but...
..I'll never regret saying yes to that.
We talk about the MasterChef family and...
..you know, I was there in the first generation of this family
and it feels kind of appropriate to be handing over,
you know, to a new generation.
So I feel really proud to be able to do that.
I'm not disappointed by that whatsoever.
It feels right.
And I think just for myself...
..I can finally be at peace
with the idea that the first time round wasn't a mistake.
Mm. You know?
I made it to the top five this time so it can't have been a mistake.
Mm. And, uh...
..it has shaped my whole life.
It has shaped everything that I do.
It has shaped all of my family's experiences growing up
and I...
..I couldn't be more grateful to MasterChef. It's...it's...
It's a huge part of my life.
Thank you for coming back
'cause it has meant so much to the three of us. JOCK: Yep.
So much to these guys and so much to the people who are watching as well.
Thank you.
But, unfortunately, Jules, it's time to say goodbye.
(CHUCKLES)
It was coming one way or another, wasn't it?!
Oh. (LAUGHS)
Congratulations. You did so well.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mel.
In all honesty, I'm so proud of making it this far.
I am so thrilled that I got to have the whole experience, you know?
Right up to the very end.
You're amazing. Thank you.
Thanks for cooking for us.
It's been my honour. It's been my honour.
Come up the scenic coast sometime, I'll fire up the pizza oven.
Yes! It's a date.
I came into this competition not knowing if I had the skills or...
..the mental fortitude to see it through.
And I'm proud of myself for holding myself together
and managing to do this.
I...I didn't think I could.
But I did.
See you later, my friends.
JOCK: Give it up for Julie Goodwin, everybody!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I love youse!
Love youse!
I'm going home!
I don't know what's on the other side of this for me.
I honestly don't.
But I'm at peace with whatever happens,
I'm excited for whatever happens.
The future looks good.
ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia,
it's a challenge
that takes them back to basics...
(GROANS)
Oh, God, it hurts.
..as they fight to be fast-tracked
to the semifinals.
SARAH: I've been in five immunity cooks,
I've never won.
Surely today has to be my day.
And they're all playing to win.
Captions by Red Bee Media