ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
It's Khanh Nguyen! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
...he brought three courses of mind-blowing brilliance...
MALISSA: Khanh's entree is the most beautiful dish
I've ever seen in my life.
...in a Pressure Test pitting the pros...
Game on.
...against our home cooks.
MELISSA: With immunity on the line
and reputations at stake,
the pressure is well and truly on!
It was actually really good.
Everything tasted very close.
I thought the beef was cooked perfectly.
And the pastry was great.
And for a pie, that's what you want, right?
And the seasoned professionals won the day.
(LAUGHTER)
Tonight...
CATH: We're taking on the professionals at their own game.
...it's a classic MasterChef challenge
that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
(BIRDSONG)
(GENTLE MUSIC)
CATH: I want to cook today! ADI: Oh, it's 50-50 today.
50-50 chance.
Ooh! Let's go, guys! RUE: Let's do it!
Ohhh!
And who are the 3 chefs gonna be? I know!
That's been my favourite part of this week,
seeing the chefs come in.
Come in.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
JOCK: Good morning!
Ohhhh!
DECLAN: I walk into the kitchen today
and there's only two benches set up.
So, I'm not quite sure what's going on here.
Look at all this.
I know. Wow.
(CONTESTANTS CHATTER)
Morning, gang. CONTESTANTS: Morning.
We are smack-bang in the middle of Home Cooks vs Pro Cooks Week.
Yeah.
All this week, you're going head to head against teams of chefs
from some of Australia's hottest restaurants.
All you have to do to be immune from elimination
is beat the chefs in a classic MasterChef challenge.
You know the drill.
Grab a token out of the bag.
If you get green, you're cooking today.
50-50. Ladies first.
ALL: Ooh!
(ADI LAUGHS)
Yes!
Adi and Cath.
Oh!
Ooh! Declan!
Deckers is in!
Alright, guys, let's do it.
Alright, hold your tokens up for me.
Declan, Cath, Adi... Yes?
...you're up.
Everyone else, up to the gantry.
(THEO SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) (APPLAUSE)
Oh, man! Ohhh.
It's gonna be a big one. DECLAN: We'll beat them.
(LAUGHS) Oh, I'm scared! I'm so scared.
Good team, guys. We'll do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll be OK.
So exactly who are you up against today?
(SIGHS)
This team's restaurant might sit on the Brisbane riverfront,
but it's inspired by Hong Kong's Stanley Bay.
They pair the freshest Australian produce
with traditional Cantonese flavours.
The head chef of Stanley Restaurant in Brisbane,
please welcome Louis Tikaram and team!
ANDY: Yeah! (ALL CHEER)
Come on!
(JOCK SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Yeah!
(WHISTLES)
Stanley is an institution.
These guys are at the top of their game.
They have worked together for so long.
They're a well-oiled ship.
Not who I wanted to see walking through the doors, to be honest.
Louis, welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen!
Thank you so much. Great to be here.
Who have you brought with you?
I've got Ben and Mark, two really great young chefs from Stanley.
Talk to us. How's things going at Stanley?
Really good.
Stanley, you know, it's primarily Cantonese flavours.
Basically, it's just all about the produce.
If you've got the best produce,
I think you've got the best Cantonese food.
So, the seafood, the meat,
the veggies that come just from around Brisbane,
we just let the produce shine
and just try to bring something new to, uh... to Queensland.
Righto. Let's get to it, then.
Ohh!
Today's challenge,
it is a MasterChef classic.
It has appeared in almost every season.
And it's created some of the best triumphs
and the biggest tragedies.
(LAUGHTER)
We call it... the MasterChef Relay.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Ha! Ho ho ho!
Oh, man.
Oh.
DECLAN: I've certainly seen team relays on MasterChef before
and they are not easy, they are frantic.
It's gonna be tough and we just really have to work as a team.
So, here's how it's gonna work.
In your teams of three,
you'll work together to create one dish.
But you're cooking relay fashion - one after the other.
Contestants, you guys have got to think really carefully
about who you want to cook first
because they're obviously gonna decide what you're cooking today
and what path you go down.
Today, it ain't your average relay.
Oh!
Because today, it's a secret relay.
Oh!
You have zero handover time with your team.
ALL: Whoa!
RALPH: What a stitch-up! (LAUGHS)
CATH: This twist is...
...uh... I don't know what to say!
Because, well, I can't say anything, can I?
Because I can't communicate!
Whoa! (LAUGHS) What is that?
As if these relays aren't hard enough!
Alright, teams, you've got 75 minutes in total.
That means 25 minutes per team member.
25. OK.
You can cook anything you want, sweet or savoury.
The pantry's open, but the garden will be closed today.
And remember, there is no handover, no transfer of information.
This is gonna be so fun! I can't wait for this.
Contestants, you guys have a little chat now
and decide who's gonna cook first in the MasterChef relay.
Chefs, because you guys cook together every day,
we're gonna decide your order.
DECLAN: Ooh! ADI: Wow!
Gotta give you guys a chance. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for nothing.
Alright, contestants, have a little chat.
Oh, gee, what do you want to do?
I'll go first. Alright, Deccy.
Do you want to go second or...? Yeah, I'll go second.
I'll go last, yeah? Alright.
Contestants, who's cooking first?
Declan. Yeah.
Alright.
Declan's cooking first.
Ben, you're cooking first.
Louis, Mark, Cath, Adi, out to the garden.
(CONTESTANTS SHOUT AND APPLAUD)
DECLAN: Good luck.
Normally, I would go first.
I would set it up just like I do at the restaurant.
I think Ben's got probably the brunt of the pressure,
so let's see how we go.
Alright, Ben, Declan,
you've both got 25 minutes in this first leg of the relay.
Good luck. Your time starts now.
(CHEERING)
DECLAN: OK.
Ah, shallots, shallots. Yes.
Just behind.
The salt, which was here somewhere.
Go, mate!
Go, Declan! Go, Deccy!
Going first in this cook and it is a lot of pressure.
It's pretty tricky coming up with a dish idea.
I need to set something up
that I think these ladies will be able to finish off
without communicating at all with the handover.
GRACE: What are you making, Declan?
Um... I'm just gonna set up some Asian flavours.
So, Asian sauce, some rice,
fried shallots.
RUE: Oh, yum.
We've got Stanley that specialise in Chinese Cantonese cooking
and I'm going down that route as well
because I've decided we need to go all-out to impress the judges.
Oh, fishy! Oh, recommended.
I've picked snapper that I want to steam. That's a no-brainer for me.
I'm confident that we'll be able to do a good fish dish.
I'm going to prepare the snapper so the girls coming in after me
can literally grab the fish and put it in the steam basket.
This protein will require about 15 minutes to cook,
so I'll be leaving it for the last person to cook in our team.
Really, if you guys lose, nothing happens.
But if we lose, we could be... we're in the elimination...
Yeah, we could go that, yeah. Next week, we could go home.
So, you know, you guys are pretty much safe, so think about that.
All three of you. All three of us.
BEN: My name is Benson Skelton.
I've been cooking for about 12 years now.
I started when I was about 15 years old.
So, today, I plan to cook a Cantonese-style crispy chicken,
steamed young snapper
and then just a few little sides and accompaniments with it.
Like a banquet style, not just one dish,
'cause that's the style of cooking we do at Stanley Restaurant.
(STOVE IGNITION CLICKS)
My priorities are getting the master stock on for the chicken.
In my master stock, I've got soy sauce, water, ginger, garlic.
MALISSA: Ooh, yummy!
We normally use cassia bark, but I've chosen to use cinnamon today.
Got some Szechuan pepper, some dried chillis.
CONTESTANTS: Ohhh! Spicy!
Very flavoursome.
Lots of impact just in that one pot.
Ben, what's happening, mate? MELISSA: Hi, Ben.
Alright, so we've just started the master stock
which we're gonna poach the chicken in.
Mm-hm. OK.
It's gonna be a pretty simple crispy chicken dish with condiments.
We're gonna have some steamed rice, some greens.
We're gonna have a steamed snapper as well.
That will come with a nice white soy
with an... uh, fried ginger on top.
So I'm just leaving a few hints
and hopefully they'll be able to make it work.
So will they... they'll know exactly what it is
just by what's on the bench, is that how you're gonna communicate...
Uh, that's what I'm hoping so. ...what's happening?
And if my head stops racing.
You're nervous! I am, I am.
How nervous?
Uh, first time in the MasterChef kitchen, so pretty nervous.
Yeah. I can't wait.
And who doesn't like crispy chicken? That's it. Yeah.
Yeah. I want all of those things. Mate, good luck.
Thank you.
It is a bit daunting going up against the MasterChef contestants
because it is our reputation on the line.
He's got his little bowls. I love when they get little bowls.
ANTONIO: They're so freaking organised.
PHIL: Yeah, yeah.
Stanley is on the line as well, so the expectations will be quite high.
MALISSA: Wow! THEO: They're exactly the same.
Declan has chosen pretty much in the same cuisine as Stanley.
That's a bold move to go up against giants in their own game.
So, to beat them, they're gonna have to go above and beyond.
So, yeah, I think they're up against it, to be honest.
(SIGHS) Alright. So...
I've prepared the snapper and put the rice on to cook.
Now I need to move on for setting up Cath.
I prep everything and sort of have it in order
so when Cath walks in,
she knows, "Alright, fish is there, steam basket's there.
"We're gonna be doing a steamed fish."
"There's some sauces there.
She can work on balancing the flavours of the sauce.
MELISSA: Hello, Declan. Hello. How are we?
Inspired by the Stanley team... Yeah.
...I can see some Asian, South-East Asian flavours going on here.
Yeah.
How are you communicating with no handover?
Um, I was gonna get some flour, sprinkle it on the bench...
(LAUGHS) That would be the Andy Allen approach.
OK. Um, so I'd love to be able to do a steamed fish with the girls.
Um, and I'm just gonna set up the base for it
which I think is most important, is those sauces and those flavours.
Mm-hm. Um, a rice on, obviously.
Have you eaten at Stanley Road?
I have not, no. I've eaten there a few times.
Yeah? Recently too. It's very good.
If you want a chance at beating these guys...
Yeah? ..you're gonna have to bring it.
OK. Yep. Seriously.
I thought it was a great idea to cook Asian against Stanley,
but I'm sort of second-guessing myself.
Is this gonna be good enough to beat them?
Now I'm thinking, "Should I change this dish?"
(TENSE MUSIC)
DECLAN: I thought it was a great idea to cook Asian against Stanley,
but I'm sort of second-guessing myself.
Is this gonna be good enough to beat them?
Now I'm thinking, "Should I change this dish?"
Nah, there's not enough time.
(SIGHS) Oh...
I don't have enough time to change this dish.
I just need to make sure that the flavours I'm putting on the bench
are out of this world.
I just think going up against, um, these guys and this team,
it's gonna be packed full of flavour, their food.
So I've sort of got to match that.
MALISSA: Declan, what are you frying?
Um, fried shallots.
Ooh, that smells so yummy!
(LAUGHS) Yeah, I'm just going for flavour.
This, then this.
I'm leaving ingredients on the bench for Cath
so she can make a sauce for this dish.
Gochujang.
I'm grabbing anything that can add flavour
and I'm laying them out for her.
Hopefully, this all makes sense for when she comes in.
We're gonna have to try and read Declan's mind.
(LAUGHS) I know! And be like, "What the hell's this?"
ANDY: Ben, Declan, a fair bit going on here,
but you've only got five minutes till handover!
Come on, boys! (CONTESTANTS CHEER)
There's no handover! Five minutes till change.
BEN: My master stock had finally reached the boil.
So I dropped the chicken in.
MALISSA: Oh, in goes the chook! RALPH: Look at that!
I love that! I love your work.
(TIMER BEEPS)
BEN: I've left a timer on counting down for the chicken
just to give them an idea of how long it was on.
My strategy is, um, hopefully that they will be able to pick up
from what I'm trying to do with the ingredients I've got laid out here.
Ooh, he's really set them up very well. That's good to see.
Yeah.
The fish, I just chose to pull out and leave on the bench
and of my teammates will hopefully be able to steam it.
Having a look around seeing that the contestants
are doing the same thing as us.
Looks to me that they're doing an Asian-style snapper as well.
Kind of battle of the fishes.
Ben, Declan, you have 10 seconds to wrap up what you're doing.
(TENSE MUSIC) And... make it count.
Alright, let's go! Tools down. ANDY: Time's up, gang!
(CONTESTANTS CALL OUT AND CHEER) Well done, Declan!
Well done.
Let me get the door for you.
Alright.
Well done. See you in a bit. DECLAN: Thank you.
Get ready, guys. Here we go.
Contestants,
who's gonna cook next?
Me! It's me! (LAUGHS)
Stanley Road, it's gonna be you, Louis.
Let's go! Aha! (LAUGHS)
Cath, Louis, come on in.
Let's do it, eh?
It's my turn to go in.
There is no communication
between cooks.
There's no handover.
Let's go, Cath! Whoo! (CONTESTANTS CHEER)
Let's go!
Oh, my God, what has he got here?
I need to work out what Declan's plan is.
If only I was mind-reader.
OK.
Oh, man, what does he want me to do here?
Cath looks a bit shell-shocked.
I can see all of these Asian ingredients on the bench.
So Declan's gone Asian up against the professionals?!
He's got rice. He's got... That's still for something or not?
What are you doing there, buddy?
Oh, Cath!
It looks like we're taking on the professionals at their own game.
He's using those...
I can't believe it. And Asian, it's not one of my fortes.
So... I'm feeling really nervous right now.
He's got the wok. He's gonna steam the fish... maybe.
I'm gonna just maybe that on towards the end so the water's going.
He's got rice here. I've just turned that off.
I could see that a lot of liquid had already gone, so I've done that.
Declan's set up the fish for steaming and the rice.
So, check - I know what's going on there.
That's for a sauce, I reckon.
Um, looks like these are gonna be for the, um, garnish, I would say.
But he's actually left a lot of condiments out on the bench.
Oh, man, what does he want me to do here?
I don't know exactly what they're for,
so I'm not really sure where he's going with it.
He's got coriander there. Turmeric.
And chilli. So why's he got the turmeric?
Time's slipping away.
I'm a bit worried now. I've got all these ingredients on the bench.
I'm really not too sure what to do with them.
I get on to making a salad to go with the fish and the rice
whilst I think about what I'll do with those ingredients.
Oh, Cath, like...
She hasn't done anything.
Chicken.
Communication in the kitchen is, like, key.
It's everything.
I tell my guys overcommunicate
and that's my number one advice to any young cooks.
Steamer.
Being thrown in to a kitchen with absolutely zero communication,
for me, as a control freak, it's quite daunting.
Dirty stuff. I'll get on him for that.
My number one goal is not to become a meme.
Coriander.
Bok choy.
Looking at what Ben set up,
it's clean, structured,
and I'm confident what I need to do.
There's chicken, veg, rice.
Mate, there's a bit going on here.
With doing a lot, that means there's a lot that can go wrong.
Don't worry, mate. That's... that's how I like it.
What do you reckon Ben's thinking?
Uh... definitely steamed fish.
And I think this is the beginning of a master stock chicken.
Yes.
Then he's got deep-fryer set up,
so I think maybe it might be crispy skin.
What do you think you're gonna try and do in the next 20 minutes
to get Mark set up?
I'll leave him to do most of the cooking.
Nice. A true head chef. I think the... Yeah.
I just fluff around. So I just do a bit of fluffing.
See, this looks good, right? See?
Oh, Louis, wow! (LAUGHS) See that? That's like...
Hi, I'm Louis Tikaram. You can find me at... No.
(LAUGHTER)
So, basically, I'll put together a few condiments and dip-in stuff.
Yeah. This is already cooking.
Yeah.
I really want to try and get everything set up for Mark
as much as possible
so he can just fry the chicken, steam the fish and put it together.
Stay calm. Stay clear-headed.
Yeah. Don't think too much. Don't think too much.
Don't have a preconceived idea. True.
Cath and Louis, 12.5 minutes down,
so you're halfway through till that silent handover.
Let's go!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER) Come on!
Go, Cath! Go, Cath! You're doing good!
Ooh, I've got to cook it at some stage.
Andy? ANDY: Yo.
Can you pass me a big bamboo steamer?
Ohh. Cath, am I allowed to get him a steamer?
Is that OK? No, I'm sorry.
(LAUGHTER) Sorry, Louis. Sorry, no.
Sorry not sorry!
No. Alright, let's go, Cath.
You... you set it. You set the tone.
Oh, no! (LAUGHS)
Oh, yeah, here. You can use it now if you want to.
(LAUGHTER)
So I've made the salad.
And now I'm just deciding what Declan really wants me to do
with all of these other ingredients.
This is stressful! I know, right?
I'm a bit worried about the MasterChef contestants at the moment.
Declan didn't set up his... his bench the way that Ben has.
He's got a load of sauces down one end,
so now it's confusing to Cath because as soon as someone walks in,
it's on your bench, "I've got to use it."
OK, so I could see there that Declan had a few, um, condiments here.
So maybe I'm gonna make a dressing for it, for at the end, I think,
with these here.
I'm not overly confident with Asian ingredients,
so I'm gonna stick with all of the ingredients
that Declan's left on the bench and make a sauce.
Here we go. Yeah. This is sort of what I was hoping for.
Building on that sauce that will go with the steamed fish.
So I'm tasting it as I'm making it,
but I just can't seem to get those flavours right.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
It's so hard not to communicate.
I'm not even sure what I'm doing
is actually what Declan wanted me to do.
I'm a bit nervous for her and for us.
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm!
I thought that I'd made it really clear for Cath,
but she looks confused.
OK.
So now I'm really worried.
(TENSE MUSIC)
CATH: It's so hard not to communicate.
Oh, damn it!
I'm not even sure what I'm doing
is actually what Declan wanted me to do.
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm!
I'm a bit nervous for her and for us.
I thought that I'd made it really clear for Cath,
but she looks confused.
So now I'm really worried.
OK.
Oh, man! I'm just gonna have to figure this out
and try to balance his sauce.
Hey, Louis, how are you going?
I'm really, really, really amazing, actually.
(ALL LAUGH)
Are you? Oh, really?
Wow! (LAUGHS)
We've seen it before and we're seeing it again,
time really flies in the relay!
Five minutes till changeover! Oh, what?!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING) Go, Cath!
LOUIS: I'm gonna cook some rice now
and I've just put on some ginger oil for the steamed fish
like we do at the restaurant.
In a relay challenge,
the guys knows me, they know me very well.
Mark is almost like a mini-me.
He's been with me since day one at Stanley.
He's just gonna be able to read my mind, fingers crossed.
Mmm. Rice is on.
The steamer's good.
The ginger oil.
Coriander.
The plate's there, chicken's out, deep-fryer's hot,
condiments are done, fish is ready.
Do the fish for him.
Greens are there.
I think he's just gotta come
and just start to hustle and put it together.
One minute till handover!
ANDY: Come on, Declan, let's go! (CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
CONTESTANT: Go, Cath! Go, Cath!
My time's nearly up. I just... I can't believe it.
I've left the sauce for Adi when she comes in.
Just put that in there...
I just can't seem to get those flavours right.
There's condiments on one side,
there's condiments on the other side.
I'm just hoping that Adi will come in
and she'll be able to fix the sauce.
Quick, quick, quick.
LOUIS: 30 seconds to go.
I would have really wished for the rice to be boiling.
But it's got maybe a minute before it boils,
so I'm just gonna leave the lid on the side
and hopefully Mark sees the rice boiling,
puts the lid on, turns it down.
Louis and Cath, your time in the kitchen is over. Tools down.
Time to head to the locker room.
JOCK: Let's go, friends! ANDY: Come on!
Come on, Louis! Come on, Louis! Come on, Louis! Come on, Louis!
Come on, mate.
ADI: My brain is just ticking over.
You know, I'm trying not to get ideas,
but I just know that I don't want to go down
any sort of an Asian path today
because these boys from Stanley,
they cook Cantonese cuisine at the top of their game.
We are not going up against that.
Mark and Adi, the kitchen's yours!
Good luck!
You've got 25 minutes to bring these things together.
ADI: OK.
JOCK: Come on, in you come, in you come! Let's go!
Let's go, Mark! Back bench.
LOUIS: Mark is a very cool, calm and collected cat.
Everyone ran in. Mark... Markie strolled in.
Markie's looking around. He's doing a bit of a gaze.
Maybe too cool. Maybe his cucumber's a little too cool. (LAUGHS)
So, as I walk in there, I tried to figure out as much as I can.
Fryer.
Going in, I was just, like, expecting it to be, like, all done.
But when I came in, I see that, "OK, I need to fry the chicken.
"I need to cook the fish and I need to make the sauce for the fish."
Get the fish on, Mark.
I see the, like, raw fish on the steamer basket,
so that's Louis's plan, so...
And then I see rice being boiled in the pot.
And it's all dried out.
It needs some water.
Oh, no!
The cardinal sin of rice is to stir it.
The first thing Mark does is give the rice a stir.
Let's just try to fix it.
Like, hopefully this is gonna fix it.
Next, I need to make the sauce for the fish.
ANDY: You got the professional chefs from Stanley doing their thing.
Doing their whole banquet.
Two different proteins. Yeah.
A lot of different condiments. Some greens, some rice.
There is a whole feast there. MELISSA: Yep.
Versus our MasterChef contestants
who have got a steamed fish and rice and a salad.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's like... The thing with that is, if they do that perfectly...
Yeah.
And the guys from Stanley, if they just stuff up one little element...
Yeah.
...which could be rice, could be greens,
could be fish, could be chicken, could be the condiments,
I'm sorry, but our MasterChef contestants take it home.
It happens all the time, right?
If there are more things to compare,
if there's something that is faulty,
we'll be focused on that and not on the entire thing.
Adi, there's two main things
that really she's gonna have to concentrate to get this, right?
Is the fish, you know what I mean?
Like, really nail that and get the flavour brilliant.
And then the other one is the sauce for the steamed fish.
I think what we're all trying to say here is...
This could go either way.
Got some nice garnishings.
Chillies that we're gonna go with. OK.
We've gone with some sort of an Asian flavour today,
which I did not want to see.
A little Asian salad.
Coconut.
I'm also a bit concerned
because I'm not sure where in Asia these flavours are coming from.
We've got gochujang on the table,
there's mirin from Japan,
there's, you know, sesame oil.
Like, yeah, they're Asian flavours, but from what country?
I just can't believe... we're doing Asian
against guys who cook in an Asian restaurant.
Oh, it's really hard to know.
Like, I don't want to completely go rogue and do my own thing.
So I just think I'm gonna go with it
and hope that the flavours carry us through.
Adi. Hi, Andy.
It's just gonna be a whole fish and rice,
a little salad and sauce for the fish.
JOCK: Have you tasted it? I haven't tasted that yet.
And then this? I don't...
Oof! I don't know.
There was some of that in the... (DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Jock looks pretty worried about the sauce.
I taste it
and it needs a lot of work.
Pretty strong.
Gochujang, we're not gonna use that.
Ketchup manis, no, thank you.
I'm just gonna start adding a few different things into this sauce
and just keep going and keep going until I'm happy with the balance.
That fish just needs a bit of attention.
It's pretty big, the fish.
MELISSA: The most critical part of this cook is in front of you!
15 minutes to go!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
DECLAN: Adi is still working on the sauce,
but she needs to get that fish on now
if it's gonna have enough time to cook.
This is stressing me out. Yeah.
(TENSE MUSIC)
I don't know what my other two team members
had planned for this sauce,
but I just need to balance out the flavours.
That fish just needs a bit of attention.
Oh, there's brown sugar as well. Soy sauce.
Adi needs to get that fish on now
if it's gonna have enough time to cook.
Come on. Come on. Come on, Adi.
I've got chillies, lime, soy sauce, sugar,
ginger, garlic, some scallions.
I'm pretty happy with the flavours.
Sweet, sour. It's nice.
But time is getting away from me.
She's stressing me out. Yeah.
Righto.
OK, let's just season this and get it cooking.
The sauce took me longer than I expected
and I know I need to get this fish in the steamer basket.
I hope that I've left enough time.
Mark, Adi, 10 minutes to go!
(ALL CHEER)
ANDY: Come on! MALISSA: Go, Adi!
RUE: Look at the chicken! Oh, yum!
That looks so good!
Oh, my goodness. This looks amazing.
Hey, Mark. How are you?
Mate, the bigger question is, how are you?
There seems to be a lot going on.
What dishes do you think are happening here?
So, soy sauce, I'm gonna deep-fry it.
The first thing in mind is, like, I need to deep-fry the chicken.
Yep.
And then I saw fish on the steamer basket,
so Louis set it up for me
and, like, probably a big feast for everyone.
What's going on with the rice? It's looking a bit dodge in there.
Yeah. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
You've got a fair bit of work to do to bring this together.
A lot that can go wrong.
When you're doing a lot, that means there's a lot that can go wrong.
Yep. Let's motor, Mark.
Thank you. Let's go.
This rice is overcooked.
I put too much water on it.
Mark, how's the rice?
Yeah, it's overcooked.
Going on the plate?
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
I'm still trying to fix it, but...
...let's try.
Time, it just goes really fast.
As I am cooking, I haven't even realised
that I only got a few minutes left.
Two minutes to go! Two minutes!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
ADI: Everything is down to the wire.
I just need to get this fish on the plate.
I hope it's been cooking for enough time.
Every single element needs to be perfect
if we want to beat Stanley.
Come on, Adi. Come on, Adi! Come on!
60 seconds!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
Come on, Mark.
RHIANNON: Oh, that looks so yummy!
Oh, I think he needs to, like, start plating, like, five minutes ago.
MARK: I'm trying to figure out, like, what should I plate first?
I start carving all this chicken.
I grab the fish steaming on the basket
and I put it on the plate.
But I'm a bit worried about the rice.
It would have been nice to put the rice there,
but it's better for me not to put the rice with it
because, you know, it's not really a good one.
Oh, damn, burnt rice. It's annoying, isn't it?
Gantry, let's do this!
ALL: 10, 9, 8, 7,
6, 5,
4, 3,
2, 1!
Relay's done! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
(JOCK LAUGHS)
MALISSA: Well done!
Hey, hey, well done! Good job!
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
I fumbled with the rice. It was so good watching this.
Looks good. You got it all done.
It's just the rice I'm missing.
Look, we got it up. DECLAN AND CATH: Yeah.
I just hope that I've cooked the fish properly.
Yeah.
'Cause if that's the thing that makes us lose today,
that's gonna be on me.
No.
Oh, I think we did pretty good with it. Yeah, it looks promising.
'Promising'?
It looks very good!
(LAUGHS)
Mark was maybe too cruisy.
I'm from Mullumbimby, but he was very cruisy, yeah.
But he knows more than me and I feel like I wanna eat it,
so that's always how I judge everything.
Hopefully good enough for the judges.
The old MasterChef Relay made even more interesting by no handover.
A tale of two very different benches today.
Contestants v the pros.
We'd love to taste the dishes by team Stanley!
Yeh-yah! Whoo!
LOUIS: Bringing our food to the judges,
it's Stanley's reputation on the line.
The MasterChef contestants' dish, it looks great.
They chose to, you know, cook Asian
and then they've done a steamed fish as well!
So we're not comparing apples and pears.
We're comparing apples and apples here,
so I think it's anyone's challenge at this point.
ANNOUNCER: In the mood to cook?
Grab your aprons and try these delicious MasterChef-approved recipes
on 10 play.
(TENSE MUSIC)
Talk us through your menu.
LOUIS: Well, we did a crispy-skin chicken,
uh, steamed fish, ginger and shallot,
and some steamed Asian greens, bok choy,
just with simply with oyster sauce.
So a little bit of a mix and match with the condiments there.
There's chilli if you like it hot.
Salt if you want it a bit more salty.
The shallot ginger relish just to mellow it out.
Looking at the offering that you guys created in this relay
with no handover whatsoever, are you happy?
Yeah. I feel very proud.
Um, it's something I've always told the boys
to always think of balancing a full meal
rather than a dish.
And when I came out and I saw a few proteins and spices,
I felt really happy.
Um, I have to ask, Asian banquet, Cantonese banquet, no rice?
Oh, Mark's on a keto diet, so he's...
(LAUGHTER)
He's, uh... We call him...
He's from the Philippines, so he's Tito Keto.
Tito Keto! So, yeah, he's my Tito Keto.
Amazing. So he said, "Absolutely not, Louis.
"No. I'm just looking after your health."
No lid on the rice. It had consequences.
You checked it. No good. Didn't serve it.
Yep.
Well, gentlemen...
...it's delicious.
Perfect cooking on the fish.
It's really, really beautiful.
And, you know, cutting the tail off and trimming it the way you did
just to make sure that it was cooked perfectly, every part of it,
rather than having an overcooked tail piece is very clever.
The sauce is delicate but packed full of flavour
and it complements the flavour of snapper beautifully.
It's so delicious.
Chicken, um, twice cooked, crispy skin,
just with three very simple condiments, you know, ideal.
That is absolutely perfect.
Got the texture of master stock chicken
and then you've got that crispy skin over the top.
Um, I've got no... faults.
Even the sides, the bok choy with the oyster sauce,
I mean, I've got no faults with any of it.
It is all perfectly executed.
Well done, guys. Thanks, Jock. Thank you.
Clean, classic, considerate Cantonese cooking
with modern considerations.
I'm absolutely here for it any day of the week
and that's why you are who you are and you have an amazing team.
The fish is just such a thing of beauty
to have something so clean and simple
and yet so delicate and complex at the same time.
You've managed to balance the holy trinity of all of the flavours
that make Cantonese cuisine perfect right there.
And then, of course, the chicken, beautiful texture on the skin.
Cuisson was absolutely perfect.
And then just having that modern touch of three separate ways
that you can experience the different dimensions of the chicken
and the layers of flavour within that master stock,
it... it's just... it's unstoppable food.
Thank you. Thanks, Mel.
Yeah, there's... there's literally no faults in it at all.
You're not trying to reinvent the wheel here.
It's just simple food done at its absolute best.
Um, you guys are famous for this stuff
and I'm so glad that you've come into the kitchen and really showed off
and that's exactly what you've done, so, well done, fellas.
Well done.
Next up is the contestants.
(GANTRY CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
ADI: I am starting to get nervous.
The guys from Stanley have just got amazing feedback from the judges.
So, our dish needs to be perfect to get a win.
Alright, Declan, you went first, so...
Yeah. Tell me, what's the dish?
Um, so we've got steamed snapper,
um, and we've got a salad and coconut rice with it.
Adi, having to bring it home,
there's a lot of pressure, obviously, to... to get it right,
to cook the fish really nicely as well.
Do you think you've done a good job? I hope so.
What about the sauce, the dressing for the fish?
I tasted the one on the bench, it was a bit "How you going?"
Did you rectify it? Yeah, I did.
Cool. Alright. Shall we taste it? Please!
(TENSE MUSIC)
The old relay.
We did make it even more tough for you guys
by not having any verbal changeover.
Um, unfortunately, I think it's got the better of you guys.
I'll start with the fish. It's just a tad under.
ADI: OK.
The dressing - it was good. It just needed to be flooded in it.
You know? Yeah.
It should've been in some sort of bowl
so you could've literally just gone absolutely crazy with that dressing
because, yeah, steamed snapper's nice,
but it really needs something to take it to the next level.
Yeah.
The salad - some nice textures in there, some nice flavours in there.
If this was going to be you trying to take down the lords back there...
Yeah.
...it really needed to be, like, everything needed to be peaking.
Yeah.
I love that you guys throw yourselves into challenges
with so much enthusiasm no matter what it is
because that is to be commended.
It's not easy in this kitchen and that's not lost on us.
Well done, guys. Thanks, guys.
Thanks, guys. Thank you.
ADI: Oh!
Sorry, guys. I can't believe I undercooked it.
The MasterChef Relay is a classic challenge for a reason.
It's exceptionally challenging for both amateurs and professionals.
Both teams put in considerable efforts for today's relay,
but the runaway winners were team Stanley.
(APPLAUSE)
Yeah, they did.
Louis, Ben, Mark, congratulations.
You guys cooked like a well-oiled machine.
All those services spent side by side at Stanley
has definitely set you up for success
and, today, we were the beneficiaries of just that.
We appreciate you guys coming into the MasterChef kitchen
and giving us a glimpse of just how the professionals get it done.
Great work, guys. Thanks so much for coming in.
Of course, this means Cath, Declan and Adi,
you'll be joining the four on the end there in Sunday's elimination.
So, Rue, Theo, Brent... Yeah? (LAUGHS)
...no more tokens.
It's no secret. You guys have waited long enough.
And tomorrow, it's your turn to take on a bunch of professionals.
And, of course, following the trend of this week,
it will be in another classic MasterChef challenge.
So, go home, put those feet up, get some rest,
come back firing 'cause you're gonna need it.
See you, guys. Thank you.
(BRIGHT MUSIC)
DECLAN: Good job, gents.
LOUIS: Thank you.
MALISSA: Well done!
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia...
From Serai in Melbourne, Ross Magnaye and his team!
Let's go! Yes!
...it's the last chance to take down the pros
and win immunity.
It's my time to shine.
I've just gotta back myself and go for it.
But... We want to win.
It's a challenge. I'm competitive.
We have to win.
...it will take one...
RALPH: I'm setting the kitchen on fire.
...incredible... (SIGHS)
...balancing act.
ANDY: What's more important,
time or ingredients?
Come on.
MELISSA: Go, Brent!
Captions by Red Bee Media