(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
SARAH: I cannot believe I am in the grand finale.
The competition is fierce today.
Billie is an incredible cook.
She's a legend and past winner.
She's been through this before.
She knows what it takes and...
..she is gonna be tough to beat.
BILLIE: When I won MasterChef, I was 24.
But this time, it's a bit different.
I've gained so much from being here
and kind of reignited that food passion.
Sarah...is an absolute force.
So it's gonna take everything I have to win this competition again.
But I do, I wanna create MasterChef history.
We made it! We made it!
Final two. Can you believe it? Oh! I know.
No, I can't believe it. I can't either.
Here we go. One more time.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Go, girls!
Wow. Everyone looks so glamorous. I know!
I feel very underdressed. (LAUGHS)
Wow, what an entrance, fit for two finalists.
Let's make it official, in case it wasn't clear already.
This is the grand finale of MasterChef 2022!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Billie, Sarah, the last women standing.
(BOTH LAUGH)
Soak this up and take a big, deep breath.
'Cause one of you is about to lift that trophy,
pocket a cool $250,000,
and take home the title of Australia's MasterChef for 2022!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
It's crazy. Oh, what?
Through all of the time that you spent in this kitchen,
this moment is what you've done it for.
And all the while,
family and friends, they've been supporting you from afar.
Well, today, they are gonna be on the front lines with you two.
Because...
..here they come.
(BOTH EXCLAIM)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Oh! Your daughter came!
Who is that? Who is it? Hey?
Hi.
Hi. Can I have a cuddle?
Hi. How are you?
Come here! Run, monkey!
(LAUGHS)
Hi.
Mmm, my little angel.
Oh, my God. Hi, Joe.
We're so proud of you, darling.
Come on, let's go!
Bring the families down, Sarah and Billie.
You brought the whole gang here today.
I know! My God.
Righto, Billie, you got quite the crew there.
I do. Do you wanna introduce us?
Um, this is Haydn, who you met at the family day.
This is Ada, my daughter. Hey, Ada.
This is Frankie, my little sister.
Georgie, older sister.
This is my mum, my brother Joe, and my sister Rosie.
And Sarah, who have you got?
I've got my big brother, Stephen. Who we met.
Yes. My mum, Lorraine. Hey, Lorraine.
And my little angel, Phoenix.
Phoenix. What's happening, mate?
Good. You good?
Billie, how's life changed since Ada came into your lives?
Oh, God.
So much. Um...
Yeah, I don't think you really...
Yes. Um...
(EXHALES) (CHUCKLES)
Yeah, it's, um... It's been very hard, being away from her. Um...
Yeah. She's, um...
..given a lot of meaning to my life and, um...
..has made coming here, um, even more worth it.
Because I feel like...
..I'm a happier and more confident and capable person
and I think...
Yeah, might make me a better mum, I guess.
Lorraine. Hi, Andy.
Big smile over there.
You must be so proud of Sarah.
I am.
Sarah has always been driven, from the time she was a little thing
and she has been powering since last MasterChef
and hit the ground running.
You know, win or lose today,
I'm scared, actually, about what's going to happen next.
(LAUGHTER)
It's only gonna go on from here.
Bigger and better.
And Sarah, hearing your mum speak, you must be so proud of her
and inspired by her.
Yeah, absolutely.
And...I feel like...
You know, my mum is a superwoman.
She raised us on her own
and I never for a second felt like I was without anything.
My mum made us feel like we had everything, and we had so much love
and...the most incredible upbringing, and my mum...
Oh, stop it. ..sacrificed her life to give us that.
It's, um... She's the superwoman. It was worth it.
And if I can be half the woman she is
and take this little man on that journey,
it'll be interesting to see what he grows up to be.
(LAUGHS)
Righto, family and loved ones,
now it's time to be the cheer squad on the gantry, so head on up.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ALDO: Come on!
It's so special having the family here
and I really wanna make them proud.
They've done so much for me over the last few months
and I, yeah, wanna make that worth it, for me, but also for them.
Now we have to cook. I know!
(BOTH LAUGH)
Well, Billie, Sarah, welcome to your final challenge.
And let me tell you, it's a belter.
(CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY) (GROANS)
Today's challenge will take place over two rounds.
And across both rounds, your dishes will be scored.
Whoever has the highest score at the end of the second round...
..will win.
Mel. MEL: Thank you.
Oh, no. I don't wanna know. Something underneath there.
Yeah, what is it under there?
In round one, you'll have a choice
between three classic MasterChef challenges.
But you'll only be cooking in one.
OK.
So...
..your choices are - first up...
..a mystery box...
(SPECTATORS EXCLAIM) Oh, my God!
You can see yourself in it.
..which will be you versus nine random ingredients
and of course, the under-bench pantry.
Next...
..is a brief. Oh.
I'm scared of the brief. I know.
You can cook whatever you want
with an open pantry and an open garden,
as long as it hits the brief.
Ooh. (LAUGHTER)
And lastly, a cloche.
Oh, my God. Oh. Seriously!
I didn't want to have to make any choices today. I know!
There's usually one or two ingredients under here
that you MUST feature.
Of course you can cook whatever you want - there's an open pantry -
but featuring what's under that cloche is key.
So...
..you'll each get to remove an option from the table
until you're left with your challenge.
Alright, come and grab a token and that will decide who goes first.
Far out. (CHUCKLES)
Number one will take the first off the table.
Do I even need to pick? Yeah. (LAUGHS)
Ooh. It's you.
It's me. It's you.
Alright. Put 'em up for us.
So, Billie, you'll be taking the first choice off the table.
Sarah, you'll get the final choice.
I think having the pantry and the garden there
with the brief or the cloche option is...pretty important.
The mystery box -
although I like having those parameters when cooking,
I just don't know what's under there.
Alright, Billie.
Which of these challenges would you like to take off the table?
The mystery box. (SPECTATORS EXCLAIM LOUDLY)
(BOTH LAUGH) Why the surprise?
We thought you'd take the brief.
Alright, mystery box, begone.
OK, Sarah.
You have the final and potentially, the most important choice, I think.
Which would you like to take off the table?
The brief or the cloche?
Phoenix, what do you reckon?
MEL: Ooh!
Which one should she take off? I think keep the brief.
Keep the brief? Yep.
OK.
I'm taking off the cloche.
Alright, you're taking off the cloche.
Cloche, begone.
ANDY: See ya.
So that's it. then.
Both of you are cooking to the brief that is in this envelope.
Please be kind, brief.
Please be kind. Please be kind.
OK, your brief today...
..is to cook a dish that is...
..sweet and savoury.
(SPECTATORS EXCLAIM AND MUTTER)
OK.
In this round, you will have 75 minutes to cook us
a dish that is both sweet and savoury
or savoury and sweet.
The pantry and the garden are open.
And the three of us will score your dishes out of 10
meaning, for round one, there is a total of 30 points on offer.
This is the dish that will set you up for the title, so make it count
and most importantly, make it delicious.
Billie, Sarah,
round one of the grand finale...
..starts...
..now. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ALDO: Come on, guys! Let's go!
The atmosphere in the kitchen right now, it's electric.
We have Billie, who could make history
by winning that trophy a second time...
Uh... Um, rosemary.
..versus Sarah, who is tougher than a $2 steak
and a bloody amazing cook.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT)
Go, Billie.
Go, Sarah Todd! Come on!
It's anyone's game.
This is gonna be an epic battle.
Come on, Billie!
Billie. Hey, Mel.
Because finale, all three judges are here...
Oh, my God. Wow. ..to wish you luck
and find out what's going on. This is nice. Yeah.
Tell us what the dish is, please.
So, the dish is a dessert. It's flavours of rhubarb and cumin.
So, I'm doing a cumin panna cotta.
On top of that will be a rhubarb rosemary sorbet, um,
some honeycomb pieces
that will also have a bit of cumin on them too,
to reiterate the savoury.
Big job on the balancing. Totally.
ANDY: Good luck, Billie. Yep. OK. Thank you.
Good luck, Billie. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I haven't had a good history with brief challenges.
So I'm gonna give this round everything
and I need to make sure that I hit the brief.
Savour how sweet it is to be in the grand finale.
60 minutes to go! Come on!
(CHEERING)
Sarah. Hello.
Tell us, what's the dish.
So, I am doing sticky chicken wings with a touch of India
and then I am making, like, a tomato-based sauce
so that'll be at the bottom of the plate...
Like a bit of a butter chickeny kind of number? Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, nice. I like that. Yeah. It's like, yeah.
Those kind of flavours.
For my chicken wingettes, I am gonna confit that
and then push out the bones.
And then finish that with the sticky glaze.
There's 30 points up for grabs. Yeah.
I know. How many are you gonna get?
I mean, as close to 30 as possible.
(LAUGHS) Is the goal. Let's do it. Let's do it.
MINDY: Let's go, Sarah! Let's go!
Come on, Sarah!
Go, Sarah. You got this!
(APPLAUSE)
BILLIE: I'm really making sure to think about this brief today.
I wanna make sure everything on that plate
has a good balance of sweet and savoury.
Go, Billie!
So, the panna cotta is flavoured with cumin.
It has a bit of vanilla in there as well,
but that really savoury flavour of cumin,
I think, will form a good base for this dessert.
Good running, Billie. Keep it up.
I like the idea of setting the panna cotta in the bowl
so that I can build on top of it and make the dish look really pretty.
But also the way that it eats as well,
that you get a spoonful of everything.
Good job, Bill. Go, Bill.
Got 45 left.
So, I want this sorbet to be...
..quite sweet, with rhubarb and sugar
but also a big hit of rosemary to bring back that savoury note to it.
But I taste it...
..and I just can't get the rosemary flavour
and the rhubarb flavour is even muted as well.
Go, Billie! Go, Billie.
Go, Bill.
I'm just getting a bit of, um, acidity.
Is there not enough rhubarb? I don't know.
(CHEERING)
The rhubarb flavour's not...
..really coming in enough.
This dish needs that sorbet.
It needs the sweetness.
It needs the flavour of rosemary as well
to carry those savoury flavours of cumin.
Go, Bill. Come on, Billie.
It was easy before. She was cruising.
The brief is sweet and savoury, so I need to make sure I hit that
and I need to make a quick decision.
Come on, girls. Come on!
I have to ditch it.
Come on, Billie. Come on, Billie.
I'm rapidly running out of time
and if I don't come up with another idea,
any chance of winning that trophy again has gone.
Yeah. So, not happy with the sorbet mix.
So I'm pivoting. I'm going to do a rhubarb snow instead of a sorbet.
I just don't want to put anything on the plate that I'm not happy with.
And I know that that sorbet
is not going to be something that I'm happy with.
Going up against Sarah, she's such a good cook.
So it's very important today to start off strong with this dish,
to give myself the best chance at winning this.
Classic MasterChef. Tell you what.
For my sticky wingettes, I've got my butter chicken-inspired sauce
in the pressure cooker.
Chicken wings, normally pretty rustic as a dish
and it's grand finale, so I'm refining this dish
by confiting the chicken wings
so they're cooked just perfectly and juicy and tender on the inside.
And I really want to show my two loves -
those French techniques with Indian flavours.
But, before coming back to MasterChef,
I was very confused
with the direction of my food.
And it wasn't until I cooked my lobster dish with an Indian touch,
and it was such a big light-bulb moment.
That has all the refinement of a three-Michelin-star dish.
You've fused it so very well with French because that is your passion.
And that gave me the confidence to cook more of my own food.
I think you've done something which very few people do to me.
Impress me.
So, I'm hoping that the judges see me in this dish
and my style, and the way that I've developed
throughout the competition.
Whether you're cooking a sweet that's savoury,
or a savoury course that's sweet, you've only got 30 minutes to go.
(CHEERING AND SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT)
Is that for the sorbet?
Yeah. I'm not making it anymore. Oh, sorbet's ditched?
Yeah, no. Rightio.
I wasn't happy with the mixture of it, so see you later to that.
So, what's this?
This is going to be, like, a rhubarb and rosemary snow.
Oh, we're pulling the snow out. OK. Pulling the snow out. Yeah.
It just wasn't rhubarb forward before. Yeah.
And I couldn't get enough rosemary out of it either, so...
Just pivoting, Andy, in the grand final. This is good, though.
Because it means that you're following the brief.
Yeah. I'm not missing that bloody brief again, I tell you what.
(SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT)
MINOLI: I think today is going to be an epic day.
It's like watching Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer battle it out
because they each have their strengths,
but they're both just spectacular to watch.
Oh, look at it go. Yeah, Billie. Yay!
Nice job, Bill.
The snow seems to be turning out really nicely.
It's this beautiful pink colour.
Beautiful, Billie.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I feel like things are starting to turn around.
Yeah, Sarah! Go, Sarah! Come on!
My butter chicken-inspired gravy, it's looking and smelling beautiful.
I'm really happy. Yeah.
I take out one of my wingettes
and I go to slip out the bone and it just slides out perfectly.
This is exactly what I was after.
Still beautiful and juicy and tender.
So, my intention is to make the gravy slightly more savoury.
But I'm thinking maybe I can incorporate jaggery,
which is a cane sugar.
So, this sauce is loaded with tomatoes, onions.
You know, those flavours are on the slightly sweeter side as well.
And then reinforced with that jaggery.
I think that's where the balance is going to come in.
I'm feeling OK.
Just... It bloody flies. What happens in this kitchen?
Billie, where did this time go? I don't know.
ALDO: Keep going. Come on. (LAUGHTER)
Don't talk. Keep moving, please.
ALVIN: There's no time to chat.
Billie and Sarah, make sure you hit the brief and bring it home.
Five minutes to go.
(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)
Come on, girls!
Go, Sarah! Come on!
Go, Bill!
I try the honeycomb, and I'm really happy with it.
The cumin flavour actually works quite well.
It's also another reinforced sweet/savoury element.
I've got everything ready to go. I'll just start plating that up now.
Now. I need to go now.
(CHEERING)
I take my panna cotta out of the fridge.
Come on, Billie. Whoo!
I start putting the rhubarb on top with the honeycomb.
Nice, Billie.
The rhubarb snow.
Yes, Billie. Whoo!
And the rosemary syrup.
Good work, Bill. Go, Bill.
Two minutes to go!
Come on! You got this!
SARAH: As this sticky honey jaggery glaze
is coating those beautiful chicken wingettes,
I'm seeing it change the colour and slightly darken
and they're looking and smelling beautiful.
I'm plating up. I add the gravy. I've got my little wingettes.
Like magic. Whoo-hoo, Sarah!
Coriander and mint oil and the salsa in between.
That's stunning, Sarah. Thank you.
Gantry, let's do this!
ALL: Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six,
five, four,
three, two,
one!
JOCK: That's it! (CHEERING)
Oh, my God!
Billie...
(BOTH SPEAK INDISTINCTLY)
High five. High five.
Oh, my God.
The first dish we'd like to see in round one of the grand finale
belongs to Sarah.
(APPLAUSE) Go, Sarah.
We still have another round to go.
Billie's an amazing cook,
especially when she's under pressure.
So I need to get as many points as I can.
Sarah, what did you make us?
I made sticky wingettes with a gravy.
Shall we taste it? Let's do it.
Please.
The look.
Chicken wings, eh?
Very brave to do chicken wings in the grand finale.
What you have done is made them luxury.
One of the best things about this
is that you can still taste chicken wings
and it's clean and white and fresh and beautiful
because you confited it.
Just that one thing made so much of a difference in this dish.
Your gravy was incredibly well balanced,
with the exception of the sweet and the savoury,
which popped out in amongst all the other tastes on the palate.
Amazing. Very, very well balanced. Thank you.
You've hit the brief for me in two ways.
Definitely that gravy.
I'm glad that you put some jaggery in it
because it does have that sweetness and depth of flavour
that you're looking for, and that we wanted in this challenge.
Then the jaggery glaze as well. That's another tick on the brief.
Really, really tasty and played to your strengths.
And I'm glad that you definitely ticked the brief.
Thank you.
There was so much refinement and consideration
in every element of the dish, and I'm really impressed with it.
I loved the glossy glaze over the top
and it really did highlight
the parts of the caramelisation on the skin
where it did really have that burnished glow about it.
It was gorgeous.
A very well-balanced plate of food.
Thank you so much. Nice one, Sarah.
Thank you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Well done, Sarah!
Well done, Sarah.
Good on you. Amazing. Aww!
The next grand final dish we'd like to taste belongs to Billie.
Come on, Bill!
Billie, what's the dish?
So, I did a cumin pannacotta with rosemary and rhubarb.
OK, we'll taste. Thank you.
It's not... It's not set.
Billie... Mm-hm.
..got bad news for you.
This panna cotta is not fully set.
OK.
I can't believe I did that to myself.
Like, it's round one in grand finale,
and I've brought the judges unset panna cotta.
I am so disappointed for you that the panna cotta didn't set
because we're in the grand finale.
I know. I know that it's...
..it's the foundational aspect of this entire dish, and it's not set.
That's a really tough pill to swallow,
but the flavours are really sound.
The honeycomb is the last experience I have on my palate right now.
It was really crunchy. It was not at all sticky.
And it's just leaving a lovely perfume of sweetness
and that little bit of cumin in there as well.
To be able to balance it takes a lot of skill.
It was very clever.
It's the kind of dish that only you could conceive of.
And in that regard, I'm deeply impressed with this.
Thank you.
Whether or not you hit the brief, I do think that you did.
Billie.
The panna cotta, it's like a thick custard, really.
It's hard when you do it in the bowl
because it presents itself as being set...
Mm-hm.
..because it's confined into a large surface area.
Yep.
The flavour of it is really nice. Beautiful cumin note.
That sets you up for everything else that's on there.
The cumin comes through in the honeycomb beautifully.
You've taken that quite far to the edge.
So, there's a nice little touch of bitterness in there as well.
What you've got here is delicious.
You know, with all of those things that are going on,
it is absolutely delicious.
But it could be better with a set panna cotta.
OK. Thank you.
Thanks, Billie. Thank you, Billie.
MATT: Well done, Billie!
Well done. Whoo!
This panna cotta has been a major fail, and this round is scored.
Yeah, I'm in a pretty bad place, I think, going into round two.
No, I don't...
What better way to kick off a grand finale
than by choosing your own challenge in round one?
Let's get to the scores.
Sarah...
..it was a bold move to bring us chicken wings in a finale.
But for you, I think it was the right move.
I gave you nine out of ten.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Thank you.
Another nine out of ten.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
I scored you an eight out of ten.
MAN: Well done, Sarah!
Which means, Sarah, for round one,
you have a total score of 26 out of 30.
Thank you.
Well done, Sarah. Well done.
Go, Sarah!
Billie.
Your cumin panna cotta wasn't fully set, unfortunately.
But it was full of some beautiful flavours.
So I scored your dish...
..a seven out of ten.
I gave your dish...
..seven out of ten.
I also scored it seven out of ten.
Thank you.
So, Billie, that means, for round one, you get a total score of 21.
Well done.
Oh, I'm devastated.
I really missed the mark.
Yeah, it sucks.
It's a big ask to come back from being five points behind.
I don't know if I can do it.
In this round, there are 40 points up for grabs.
And it is a pressure test.
The person who set this pressure test is a megastar.
Someone who thinks about food in a way that is unlike anybody else.
Would you like to find out who it is?
(LAUGHS)
(ALL LAUGH)
Do you have a choice? (LAUGHS)
MAN: Oh, wow.
Oh, my God.
WOMAN: It's Heston. MAN: It's bloody Heston, man.
(SPECTATORS EXCLAIM)
Oh, I just got chills.
All of the dishes you just saw were reinvented by a man
who's about to walk through those doors.
He's made it his mission in life to re-imagine historical cooking
in a modern context.
He's set not one, not two
but three finale pressure tests already,
and this will be his fourth.
I think you know who it is.
Please welcome the man himself,
Heston Blumenthal!
I just... Yeah, I'm in a bit of shock.
I'm thinking, "Oh, my God."
Heston is an absolute genius when it comes to food,
and he is definitely in a league of his own.
How are you, mate?
SARAH: He has re-created the food industry.
And seeing him walk through the doors - so much joy.
Welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen, Heston.
So great to have you back in
for no other special day but the grand finale.
Amazing.
I can and cannot believe that these two are in the final.
There you go. I know both of them.
Billie... Yeah.
..because you've worked at The Fat Duck,
we had to choose a dish that wasn't from The Fat Duck.
So the dish today is one of Heston's historical dishes
from Dinner By Heston.
Wow. OK.
This means, of course,
that you have never cooked this dish before.
You would never have worked on this dish when you were working
at The Fat Duck, and, therefore, you have no advantage,
despite having worked for Heston before.
Mm-hm.
Alright, Heston, why don't we put them both out of their misery
and show them the dish that you are challenging them with today?
So, today...
..for this final, I would like you to cook...
Oh, wow.
..my taffety tart.
Oh, my God.
Come on in, ladies. You're dying for a closer look.
OK.
Oh. (CHORTLES)
Oh, my God. Oh, that is so stunning.
SARAH: At first glance, this looks like simplicity on a plate,
but these layers start to reveal themselves,
and there is so much complexity...
..that it's really hard to even comprehend
just how many elements go into this dish.
So, Heston, where did the idea come from - taffety tart?
Historically, around about 1600.
So, the tart wasn't quite like this.
Basically, it was a cake until we got hold of it.
So, there are apples that are cooked into a compote.
There is very fine rolled-out puff pastry.
They are really difficult to do
because you have to push them just to the verge of being burnt
so that it has enough bitterness
to compensate for the sweetness of the apples.
Then there's crumb.
There's fennel, fluid gels.
There are crystallised flowers.
Taffeta, it's like silk,
so the awareness of the crunch from dresses connected to this.
Wow. OK.
That crunch, that's really key and important,
that the crispy layers get that.
It's complex. It took years to do.
The original taffety tart never looked like this.
No. I wouldn't imagine. Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
BILLIE: This is no ordinary tart.
This is such a stunning piece of...art.
It's multiple layers of really delicate flavours.
It looks terrifying.
The ice-cream has a significant amount of vanilla in it.
Wow.
Billie, how are you finding it?
Oh, it's SO tasty.
You get actually the bitterness from that pastry,
but the apple as well is still there.
It's apple-pie-ish.
This dish has so many delicate yet distinct flavours.
There's the fennel, the apple, the caramel,
and then the speckles of vanilla through the ice-cream.
Nothing is overpowering each other.
Like, it's so magical.
OK, ladies, for the final time, here are the all-important rules.
You must replicate Heston's taffety tart as closely as possible
in flavour, texture and presentation.
You have a total of...
..5 hours and 15 minutes to complete the dish.
Wow.
Each of us will score your dishes out of 10,
giving you a possible total of 40.
Those points, they'll be added to your first round score,
and that will determine our winner.
Billie, Sarah, you two have come so far
and you've ended up in this very moment.
There's only one cook standing between you and that trophy.
Heston...do you want to start the cook, mate?
Ready? Steady.
Go!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SARAH: I know I'm five points ahead, but I know I'm up against it.
Billie's a machine in pressure tests. This is her forte.
I know she can catch up.
I am going to have to dig deep to keep a lead.
This is going to be an epic fight to the finish line.
I can do this. I can do this. Yeah, you can!
Yeah! Go, girl! Let's go, girl! Keep pushing, Sare!
The first thing I start on is my caramel.
This is for two elements - one for the poached apples,
and, secondly, for the apple caramel gel.
I get my caramel started in a large pan.
So, start with a layer of golden sugar,
and let that caramelise, and keep going layer by layer
until all the sugar has caramelised.
Heston's dish had both of these caramel layers pushed to the limit.
They really were quite a dark caramel.
I remember the flavour being slightly bitter.
So that's what I'm going for.
MAN: Go, Sarah.
BILLIE: I'm very annoyed at myself that that panna cotta didn't set.
That was such a huge mistake.
And that puts me in a pretty bad position for round two.
I can't afford any mistakes in this round.
I need to be concentrating, be focused,
because I can't afford to lose any more points.
Come on, Billie! Go, Bill.
I've poured the white caster sugar into a frypan
to caramelise, to get really dark.
Sarah and Billie have different sugars.
Exactly. Yeah. Who's right?
Who's right and who's wrong?
She's using that one, she's using white sugar.
Sarah and Billie have different sugars.
Exactly. Who's right?
Who's right and who's wrong?
BILLIE: I'm working on my caramel,
but just looking at it, the colour isn't right.
Um...
Heston's was much darker in colour.
Oh, no.
Yep.
Straight off the bat, I've made this mistake, and it's very annoying.
Got another pan?
Go to the pantry and get another one.
You got it, girl. You're right! Go, Billie!
I think it's just the intensity of this challenge, and the nerves.
Onya, Billie!
This could put me behind.
But there's no room for error - I need perfection.
WOMAN: Good work, Bill.
I start melting down the golden caster sugar.
It has to be taken right to the edge
so that it has that bitterness that Heston's dish had.
Once it's really caramelised, I add in some butter,
whisk that around, and then take it off the heat
and gradually add in some apple juice
a little bit at a time.
Good stuff, Bill.
Come on, Sarah! Let's go! Let's go, ladies!
Come on, Sare!
SARAH: I'm working on the butter sheet and the dough
that form the puff pastry.
So, I am rolling out my dough
and getting approximately
the measurements that it says on the recipe.
And for my butter layer, I roughly roll it out
and do my first book fold.
Come on, Sarah.
Just need to keep pushing.
Once that's done, pop it in the fridge to rest.
Great work. Beautiful, mate. Beautiful.
ALDO: Go, Billie! Come on.
BILLIE: When it comes to puff pastry, precision is key,
because you want to create those multiple, multiple layers throughout,
which gives it that crisp texture,
which was such an important part of Heston's dish.
This recipe is so detailed.
There are dimensions in here, and it needs to be these dimensions
otherwise there won't be enough dough to cover the butter
and it will end up being a buttery mess rather than a nice puff pastry.
The puff pastry on Heston's was really crisp, really delicious,
so, yeah, just got to make sure I follow that recipe to a T.
Oh, Billie, I love it. Ingenuity!
Good work, Bill. Yeah, good job, Billie.
Puff pastry is all about laminating,
so, yeah, just trying to get that done.
You got this, Sarah.
I know I can multi-task.
So, at the same time, I need to work on the poached apples,
vanilla biscuit and crystallised rose petals.
Whoo!
There is so many elements going on here,
but I'm actually decent at multi-tasking.
Let's go, Sarah.
Come on, girl.
It's what happens when you become a mum.
Hey, my angel.
Hi.
You get to the finale, you really want to do
what you do best, you know, tap into that strength.
Sarah is such a good cook, and if Billie wins again,
that's going to make MasterChef history.
You got it, girl. Well done, girl. Let's go.
Three hours to go. Three hours! Come on!
Yeah!
Yes! Come on, ladies!
BILLIE: I need to really concentrate on this pastry.
Between each roll, there needs to be a lot of sugar added
so that the pastry caramelises as it cooks in the oven.
ALVIN: Amazing, Billie. Good pastry work.
I get it onto some preheated cast-iron trays
and put it into the oven.
Keep going, girl. Keep pushing, yeah?
The pastry element of Heston's dish is a big pressure point.
While that's in the oven,
I'm working on my crystallised rose petals,
the vanilla biscuit and poached apples.
Yum.
They're good.
Looks good, Bill.
(TIMER BEEPS)
Billie, your timer.
I take my puff pastry out of the oven...
..and I feel like they are golden brown.
The recipe's saying golden brown.
JULIE: What do you think, Billie?
MINOLI: Get the darkest ones possible, Billie.
But I'm not sure that they're quite as dark as what Heston's were.
They were taken to the bitter edge
and were really thin and really crispy.
There's no way putting it back in the oven will work.
I'm so far behind Sarah.
I can't afford this mistake.
But the only way that I can rectify this
is by grabbing some more puff pastry from the fridge
and doing this entire step again.
Let's go, Billie. Come on, Billie.
What's she doing again?
She's doing it again.
Oh, bugger.
Go, Bill. Hustle, babe.
Go, girl. Move!
Come on, Bill! Go, Bill.
Ladies, if you want to get your hands on this trophy,
you got to get to the end of that recipe.
(ALL SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)
ALI: Come on, Sarah! Let's do this! Push, push, push!
(TIMER BEEPS)
My timer's just gone off,
and I go over to the oven to check my pastry.
Please work.
ALI: Come on, Sarah. ALVIN: Come on, Sarah. You got this.
Oh.
Oh, no. It didn't work.
But what didn't work?
I have no idea.
It is terrible.
It's so wrong.
It's all kind of melted apart.
It's just completely wrong. It's so wrong.
So wrong.
Like, I don't know what to do.
The lamination of her puff pastry is not great.
SARAH: It's so wrong.
It's all kind of melted apart.
OK, how? I have no idea.
Oy, oy, oy.
I can't handle it.
But there is nothing I can do at this point.
She needs to get it together, seriously. (LAUGHS)
I really need to try and salvage as much as I can.
Come on, girl.
(SIGHS) You did it, babe.
Brilliant. (CHEERING)
Take a breath and reset. Yeah.
I know I'm five points ahead, but I know Billie can catch up.
Billie has won before.
The pressure of a grand finale, this is her forte.
I can't afford to let one small mistake slow me down.
Yes!
I just need to keep moving forward.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
The next step is my ice-cream.
Come on, Sarah!
I add in the milk, the vanilla bean,
one coffee bean, because this is a Heston recipe and it's very specific.
One.
Smells good, Sares. You need to motor.
I remember how perfectly set Heston's ice-cream was.
She makes lab glasses look sexy.
(LAUGHTER) Come on, Sarah!
As I'm adding my liquid nitrogen to the stand mixer,
I'm extremely nervous to take this too far.
I don't want to add too much
because I'm worried that it will overset.
750mL.
There's very little done.
Everything is just taking so much time per element.
Come on, Sarah! You got this.
If I'm going to beat Billie,
I need to stay one step ahead the whole time.
It's a little bit runny.
Oh, Jesus.
You're on the final stretch of the grand finale.
Bring it on! One hour to go!
(CHEERING)
(TIMER BEEPS)
BILLIE: I check my second batch of pastry,
and I'm using my instincts this time around.
I've spent so much time on these,
I can't afford to ruin the pastry twice.
A bit more.
It's nice and dark, but I think I can push it a little bit further...
Two minutes. JOCK: Yep.
Uh-oh.
..and hope that that gets the really deep golden colour.
Nice, Billie. Make it perfect.
(TIMER BEEPS)
This pastry is one of the most important elements on this dessert.
(SPECTATORS EXCLAIM)
Oh, Billie! (CHEERING)
DANIEL: Good-looking pastry, Billie.
MINOLI: Just stunning. Beautiful, Bill.
And it's looking really good. It's really dark. It's really shiny.
The sugar has caramelised.
Crisis averted, thank God.
Nice work, Bill.
But I'm in a bit of a situation now.
Uh...
It's so involved.
WOMAN: There seems to be so many pages, still.
Because I'd had to redo my puff pastry,
I know that I'm trailing behind Sarah.
Keep going, Bill.
So I need to move fast.
Come on, Billie! Let's go, Bill.
Just keep pushing. You need to keep the pace up.
Now I have to get onto my ice-cream.
(ALL SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)
Go, Billie! Let's Go, Sarah!
SARAH: Now I'm working on my poached apple layer.
DANIEL: How about them apples, eh?
These were really caramelised.
They had a beautiful colour to them.
So I'm glad that I have enough time to get this right.
MINDY: So just move a little bit faster, babe.
I've noticed that Sarah is already working on the poached apples,
and I'm still working on my ice-cream.
You need to cut your apple, babe. Cut your apple.
I'm starting to feel the panic.
I'm so far behind Sarah, but there's nothing I can do.
This is a dish by Heston,
and I need to get every single part of it perfect
if I have any chance of making up those lost points.
She basically has to get almost perfect scores, I reckon.
Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. To be in with a chance.
At this stage, I cannot see how I'm even gonna finish.
SARAH: I know how far behind I am.
But this ice-cream needs to be perfect.
Heston's ice-cream was beyond perfect.
The texture, the flavour, everything about it.
And I can see it all starting to come together now.
Beautiful, Bill.
Oh, that looks good, Billie!
I think it's pretty good.
It might need one tiny little bit more nitrogen.
(ALL CHEER)
That's it, Bill!
I'm really happy with how it's turned out.
Good, Billie!
I have to get onto the poached apple layer, the apple fluid gel,
and also the rose cream.
Come on, Billie. (SIGHS) OK.
I'm happy with all the elements so far,
but I know it's now possible that I will run out of time.
You need to keep the pace up.
Billie and Sarah,
this whole competition is over for you in 30 minutes!
(CHEERING) JOCK: Come on, girls!
Come on, ladies!
SARAH: My rose cream and apple fluid gel is done.
Now I need to make the crumble.
Get it in the fridge, girl! Keep moving. Let's go, Sarah. Let's go.
This is the last element.
The crumble was on top of the tart and also under the ice-cream,
and it just had this beautiful texture,
like, this really is that crunch that Heston is talking about.
Going well, Sarah.
While my almonds are in the oven, I'm working on my vanilla salt,
my candied fennel seeds and my brown butter,
and bringing all that together for my crumble.
Beautiful. Oh, my God, amazing.
That looks amazing.
I think it really resembles what I had when I tasted Heston's.
I think it's got that perfect amount of crunch,
it's really, really tasty.
Nice one, Sarah! Let's go.
I can't believe I'm on the home stretch.
OK.
BILLIE: My poached apple layer is done.
And I've made my rose cream.
Yeah, good job, Billie.
As well as the apple fluid gel.
The last thing I need to do now is making this crumble.
Pick up the pace, babe.
SARAH: I am so proud that I have finished all of my elements.
I just need to put it all together.
Heston's dish was so precise.
I feel like I really need to nail this.
It's a great colour, Sarah.
Got my vanilla biscuit on the base, I add my apple caramel gel...
..and my poached apple layer.
Don't let it crack. You got this!
JOCK: Billie, Sarah, you're so close!
You got 15 minutes to go!
(ALL SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT)
BILLIE: All of my elements are now made, and I'm checking off the items
on the recipe to make sure that I have everything done.
OK, that's done, vanilla salt's done.
And I'm looking at this crumble,
and it looks...
..oily.
Heston really emphasised the importance of the textures
in this dish, and the crumble was really crispy and quite dry.
And the crumble that I've got here on my bench...
..is really wet.
Go, Sarah. You got this, Sarah.
You got it, Sares.
BILLIE: My whole MasterChef journey this time around
has brought me to this point.
Oh, Bill...
And I can feel the title slipping away from me.
Last time, when I won MasterChef, I wasn't ready.
Keep pushing, Billie. You're doing so well.
But now, after becoming a mum,
I feel like I'm capable and confident and ready to do what I want to do.
Good on you, Billie! Go, Bill.
So I want it a whole lot more.
Keeping going! You got this, girl!
Go, Bill!
Come on, Bill! Go, Bill!
So, so close to the finish line,
I cannot afford to put anything on this plate
that I'm not 100% happy with.
I think I'm just going to have to push and make this crumble again.
ALVIN: Nope. Just doing it again. What's she doing again?
The crumble.
Billie, you're nuts!
Oh, my God.
DANIEL: Billie's so far behind.
Now she's decided to redo her crumb
with no time left on the clock.
She wants everything to be perfect, which is great,
but it's not going to matter if you don't get everything on the plate.
Get it on the plate!
PHOENIX: Take your time. You have enough time.
SARAH: Constructing this tart
is like the building blocks of a house.
So many layers.
I add one layer of pastry.
Nice, dark one.
Now I delicately pipe on my rose cream.
Beautiful. Yeah, it looks good, Sarah.
Now for my last layer of pastry,
I do a layer of that apple fluid gel...
Looks good, Sare!
..and add on my crumble.
Check everything, Billie. Nice and quick, nice and quick.
Get that mixed together.
Oh, yes.
(ALL CHEER AND SHOUT)
SARAH: Oh, my gosh, it looks so damn beautiful.
Did I just make that?
Beautiful. That's it, Sarah!
BILLIE: I've made the second batch of the crumble and...
..it's so much better.
(CHEERING AND SHOUTING)
It's crispy, it's drier, it reminds me of Heston's.
Nice, Billie. Make it perfect.
And now I need to start plating this dish up.
But I'm going to have to move really, really fast,
but be really gentle and really careful
to make this dish look as good as I can.
Come on, pull it together.
Can't believe I'm about to say it!
You've only got one minute to go! Come on!
(CHEERING AND SHOUTING)
Go, girl! Move!
(SHOUTING AND APPLAUSE) Yeah, Billie!
Yes, Billie!
Wow-wee! Beautiful, Bill.
Amazing. Come on, Billie.
You got this. You're killing it.
And for the final time!
ALL: Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,
three, two, one!
JOCK: That's it! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
What the hell? That was hard!
That was hard. That was so long.
(CHEERS)
(SHRIEKS, LAUGHS)
Oh, my God! Well done.
BILLIE: Today was tough. Today was really hard.
Smashed it.
Right down to the wire there.
Well done. Thank you.
I did the crumble again.
So good.
And hopefully that decision was worth it.
Um...yeah, I tried my best.
Good luck, Sarah. Thank you.
For the last time. I know.
(BOTH LAUGH)
I feel so happy walking this dish in to the judges.
I don't know if it's perfect...
..but I am five points ahead...
..and I just hope I can keep the lead.
How are you doing? Good.
Yeah, I'm feeling good.
Yeah, I'm actually feeling sad
because it's the last time I'm going to be doing this.
So it's a strange feeling.
Your family's been on the gantry all day, cheering you on.
What would it mean to you to lift that trophy?
Oh, gosh.
I think my mum would be very, very proud.
I think just sitting here now, getting to this point in itself...
..is pretty amazing.
Thank you.
Shall we finish the dish? Yes. (LAUGHS)
Thank you, Sarah. We'll taste. Thank you. Enjoy.
ANDY: Thanks, Sarah. Well done. Thank you, Sarah. Well done.
Thank you.
What do we all reckon? On appearance?
It's pretty impressive.
The ice-cream looked pretty... pretty soft.
Yeah. Yeah, it's rapidly melting.
The pastry is a little tougher than yours.
See what I mean? I see.
Yeah, it's bendy. So less glass-like.
I think she's done an amazing job, first of all.
The fluid gel, texture and flavour,
just as good as yours.
Lemon zest, the fennel fronds, everything present.
The little crystallised rose petals were beautiful as well.
And then onto the taffety tart itself, I think the caramelisation,
which is the key thing that I remember from tasting yours,
is that bitter edge.
And I think she's captured it beautifully in the caramel.
The pastry, there was a slightly different texture.
I don't think it detracted a huge amount from the flavour,
other than you lost some of the biscuity-ness
of the puff pastry that yours had.
And I think she got very, very close to yours.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, this is not the easiest dish to do.
And it's really, you know, sort of one of...
Understatement of the century. Understatement.
But a lot of it hangs on the finesse of the layers
and pushing that level of bitterness.
And I think she's done a great job.
I mean, I think she's done a pretty...pretty impressive job.
I agree. I think an extraordinary effort.
There are a lot of positives here.
However, I'm going to just go straight to the negatives.
Is her probably not book-folding her pastry
as well as she possibly could have,
and is the loose ice-cream going to open the door for Billie?
I think, flavour-wise, it was lovely.
The texture was a little bit loose.
I would say it does read, in comparison to yours,
ever so slightly on the sweeter side.
I think it's an amazing plate of food, but it's game on
because it's not perfect
and it's going to be very, very interesting to see
what Billie brings to the table.
Well, head to the link below
to apply for the next season of MasterChef Australia.
Good luck, Billie. Thank you.
There's lots going on in my mind.
Having made all the pastry and the crumble twice,
you know, I hope that was worth it.
JOCK: Billie. Hello.
I'm five points behind Sarah,
so I'm going to need perfection to have any chance of winning this.
(SIGHS)
I can breathe. And...breathe.
What about your time here?
Like, I always think why
especially the winners come back.
Mm.
I'm a mum first and foremost, I think.
The last two years has really solidified that.
But I think pushing myself into these sorts of situations
is what I need to do a little bit more of,
and that's where the discovery really happens, I think.
I feel like I've grown a whole lot.
I think I've realised I am capable of doing this...
..and this has given me a lot of confidence,
being back here, and I do feel capable
and do feel like I really want it now.
Billie, I've seen you look up at the scores a couple of times,
you know, and just go, "No, I'm going to remake that."
Yeah.
And we've seen you do that with the crumble,
we've seen you do it with the pastry.
Yeah.
Do you think you've done enough?
I think, in other pressure tests, I've sort of just gone,
"Oh, no, it'll be OK."
But this one, I just thought,
"Nuh, I just have to make sure everything is perfect,"
and trying to use a bit more of my instincts.
It was amazing to watch. It's great to hear as well.
Would you like to rocher? Sure.
Thank you.
We'll taste. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.
Thanks, Billie. Well done. Thank you. Thank you.
(CHUCKLES) Hey. How'd you go?
Yeah, good. (BOTH LAUGH)
HESTON: It does look, um, pretty impressive, doesn't it?
ANDY: Yeah. MELISSA: Certainly does.
There's just another level of precision and finesse, isn't there?
Ooh, looks good.
That was just like a hot knife through butter.
Wow.
I think when you're five points behind,
you can either concede defeat right there and then
or you can push and graft...
It's just not in her, is it? ..like you've never done it before.
It's not in her to concede.
Everything is there, present and correct.
Really clear layers and beautiful textures.
The biscuit is beautiful.
It has the right amount of biscuity flavour and texture.
The gel has that perfect amount of bitterness.
You can really sort of pick up on every single, clear, distinct layer.
You can see the textures are as they should be.
My mind is blown.
I have to say, I think there's a real finesse
about what she's done here.
The ice-cream texture, to the finesse in the layers...
..and the way the whole thing is put together, really impressive.
The pastry is unbelievable.
It is so good. It's flaky, you could see the layers.
Beautiful golden caramelisation on it.
Your spoon just went straight through it as well.
There was no resistance whatsoever.
And then the crumb on top, I'm glad that she went back and did it,
because she wasn't happy with it and it wasn't right,
and it's made the dish better for it.
Definitely feeling her way through this recipe...
Yes.
..is paying its dividends now in the tasting.
And, you know, for sure, the pastry - very, very good.
You know, the lamination - there is the difference.
Look, I think it's safe to say
that Billie's dish is better than good, you know.
The big question is, is it good enough
to make up those five points
that would mean she would take that title out for a second time?
There's no better way
than to end the grand finale of MasterChef Australia 2022
than with a Heston Blumenthal pressure test.
MELISSA: Every time you walk into this kitchen
you set a new precedent of culinary excellence
that can only be met by the best of the best.
How would you describe these two finalists?
To get this far, let alone today's challenge,
is something incredible.
And...
..tasting your dishes today, they were wonderful.
They showed so much dexterity, finesse, and...
..nearly five and a half hours?!
Sorry. But I'm not really.
(LAUGHTER)
It has been a huge day.
We are moments away from announcing the person
who will get their name on that trophy...
..claim the title...
..and take home $250,000.
This round, it was a pressure test
and there was a total of 40 points up for grabs - 10 from each of us.
Sarah, you had the lead.
So, all you needed to do was keep it.
Are we about to see your name on the trophy for the first time?
Or, Billie, can you lift that trophy for a second time?
Now, Sarah...
..there we so many positives in your tart
but it wasn't perfect...
..and your ice-cream was a little loose.
So, I scored you...
..a seven out of ten.
Sarah, it was a pretty impressive effort.
I also scored you seven.
From a flavour perspective, your dish was very close to Heston's.
And because of that, I gave you...
..eight out of ten.
Thank you.
It was beautiful to look at, and an extraordinary effort.
I gave you...
..an eight out of ten.
(CHEERING)
So, Sarah, that's a score of 30 out of 40 for this round,
bringing your total score to 56.
(CHEERING)
Billie...
..that means that you need to score 36 points from us to win.
Your dish had to be near perfect.
Billie, I love the fact that I could feel the emotion in that dish.
And it was delicious.
Nine out of ten.
(CHEERING)
Not only was that pastry unbelievable...
..but almost every element matched Heston's.
I gave you...
..a nine out of ten.
(CHEERING)
It truly was an incredible feat.
And I scored you nine out of ten.
Billie...
..your tart...
..showed an incredible attention to detail.
It blew my mind.
And because of that, I scored it...
..ten. (CHEERING)
JOCK: That means, Billie McKay,
you're the winner of Masterchef Australia 2022!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Billie, congratulations.
You've just won $250,000.
Oh, my God. I can't believe it.
I am so grateful for this experience.
I've learned so much about myself.
It's changed a lot about me, and I'm really excited about that.
And I admire Sarah so much.
She's an absolute force.
She's done so much since being on MasterChef the first time around,
and I'm really inspired by her.
Um, and she's a, you know, beautiful person to boot, so...
So are you, Billie.
Now you're making me cry!
Well, Sarah, commiserations.
You've impressed us week after week
not only with the calibre of your cooking
but with your incredible fighting spirit.
And we can't wait to see what you achieve next.
Thank you.
It's been so much fun.
I learnt a lot about myself, and I'm walking out feeling so grateful,
so much love and happiness, and just in a really good place.
For coming in second place, you won't be going home empty-handed
because we'd like to give you $30,000
to help you with your culinary ambitions.
Thank you.
(CHEERING)
ANDY: And, of course...
..we can't ignore our third-place-getter, Daniel.
For you coming third, we're gonna give you $20,000.
(CHEERING)
Whoo-hoo!
Oh! You wouldn't read about it!
The Milky Bars are on you.
(LAUGHTER)
Billie, congratulations.
(CHUCKLES)
You came here with a lot to live up to.
Because you're already a member of the winners' circle.
But, this time, you're leaving with so much more.
Tonight...
..you have rewritten history.
You are now the first cook ever
to win MasterChef Australia not once, but twice.
We are bursting with pride...
..and we could not be happier for you.
Thank you.
Billie, I think you know what happens next
'cause you have done it before. (LAUGHTER)
The only thing left to do is to come over and lift that shiny trophy.
(CHEERING)
JOCK: Give it up for Billie McKay, everybody!
(CHEERING)
Whoo!
(CHEERING CONTINUES)
Whoo!
Captions by Red Bee Media