NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
MELISSA: From Stanley Restaurant in Brisbane, Louis Tikaram and team!
...our home cooks took on the pros...
Today, it ain't your average relay.
ALL: Ohhh!
...in a MasterChef relay with a major twist.
There's no handover. No communication between cooks.
Oh, my God. What has he got here?
LOUIS: To be thrown into a kitchen with zero communication,
it's quite daunting.
They bravely went up against the best...
JOCK: It's so delicious. It is absolutely perfect.
...and the Cantonese cuisine experts lived up to their reputation.
The runaway winners were team Stanley.
(APPLAUSE) There you go. Well done, guys.
Tonight, who will win in the final face-off
of Home Cooks vs Pro Cooks?
BRENT: I've just gotta back myself and go for it.
White-apron day, it's a happy day. Yeah, it's a happy day.
BRENT: I've been up on the gantry all week
just watching pro chefs
cook in the MasterChef kitchen.
So I've had time to sort of mentally prepare myself for today.
What's it gonna be today? Mmm.
I wanna beat the professional chefs,
and I think with Rue and Theo,
we've got what it takes to win the challenge.
Are you nervous, Rue? A little bit, I'm not gonna lie.
Are you? Nah. This is a free hit today, Rue.
Too excited!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
(CATH LAUGHS)
(LAUGHS)
CONTESTANT: Whoo!
Morning, everyone.
I'm too excited. (LAUGHS)
Theo, Rue, Brent,
all week long, you've been patiently waiting to take on the pros
and here you are.
Finally.
This is your chance to save yourself from Sunday's elimination.
So, let's get straight to who you're up against.
Ooh-la-la.
(GIGGLES)
There's no doubt that this team
is from the hottest restaurant in the country right now.
RUE: Ooh!
They opened only one year ago, but in that time,
they've won 'Time Out' Restaurant of the Year
and Best New Restaurant of the Year in the 'Good Food Guide'.
Plus, Andy and I reckon it's the tastiest meal we've both had
in the last 12 months.
Wow. OK. Jesus.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Taking the flavours of the Philippines
and cooking them over fire,
they're making every dish goddamned delicious.
Wow.
It's no wonder they are the hardest restaurant to get into right now.
Please welcome, from Serai in Melbourne,
Ross Magnaye and his team!
Let's go! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
We're all excited on the gantry seeing the team from Serai.
(JOCK WHISTLES)
They're winning awards, smashing it every which way,
so I'm really excited to see what they're gonna bring today.
Hello.
Ross, mate, welcome to the MasterChef kitchen.
Thank you, sir.
How's it going? The restaurant's pretty busy.
We're pretty happy, we're pretty blessed that, um, we're here now.
So, yeah.
And we love it because it is so different
to what we've had in the past.
There's no rule book. Yeah.
So, basically, it's modern Filipino,
uh, but, we take, like, the best Australian ingredient
and marry it with, like, traditional Filipino flavours,
bring it together and we cook everything in the wood fire.
Nice!
What guns have you brought with you?
Uh, Shane Stafford, my business partner and creative director.
And Leandro, one of my CDPs. He's amazing.
So, we're pretty excited. Nice.
Leandro. Yeah?
How are you feeling about being in the MasterChef kitchen?
I'm pretty excited, actually.
I've always watched MasterChef when I was a kid.
Now that I'm here, I'm very happy. Yeah.
Yeah. CATH: Oh!
Brent, how are you feeling about what's going on over there?
Uh, well, yeah, it's gonna be a bit of a challenge now, I guess.
(LAUGHTER)
Now?
Well, it was a challenge before
and now it's just, yeah, even more of a challenge,
but we'll probably learn... learn a bit too, I guess.
Let's get straight into it.
RALPH: Here we go.
This classic MasterChef challenge,
it's about the two most important things in this kitchen -
time and it's also ingredients.
(EXHALES)
For time, you'll start with 75 minutes.
As for your ingredients, they're under these cloths.
Every four minutes, we'll reveal a new cluster of ingredients...
RALPH: Oh, my God.
...that you can use to fortify your pantry.
OK.
You can start cooking whenever you'd like,
but you can only use the ingredients
that have already been revealed at the time that you start.
Ooh!
OK.
The individual that cooks the best dish today
will win for their team.
And if that dish is cooked by one of you guys,
you are all immune from Sunday's elimination.
So the question is, what is more important to you - time...
Or ingredients. ...or ingredients?
Are you ready? Yes.
Your first set of ingredients are... the pantry staples.
CONTESTANT: Yes! Oh, OK.
Not bad.
And your time starts now!
What's in that?
You've got six eggs, salted butter, unsalted butter,
we've got 00 flour,
some caster sugar, self-raising flour,
white vinegar, extra virgin olive oil,
some full-cream milk and thickened cream.
Have I got any takers?
I love milk, though, but nah. No, thank you.
I know I need to have a bit of a strategy going into this challenge.
I'm not gonna worry about time today.
My focus is the ingredients
and going as far as I can down the line
and give my team a shot of winning.
OK, so officially, no takers for just the staples?
No. BRENT: No.
THEO: No, thank you. OK.
Alright. The next set of ingredients to add to your pantry are...
...fresh aromats.
MALISSA: Ooh, yummy! Fresh aromats.
So, we've got galangal, we've got ginger,
we've got turmeric, we've got horseradish, we've got onions
and we've got garlic.
Plus, the staples.
If you choose to go now, you will have 71 minutes.
RUE: Time or ingredients?
Both are really important to me.
But you have to stick to what you're good at,
so I'm thinking dessert, dessert, dessert.
Rue, dessert day?
Is that what we're thinking? Dessert day.
So you need some time is what I'm... what I'm feeling.
Yeah.
With the staples, there is not much flavour that I can work with.
So I'm hoping sometime soon there would be some fruits.
Any takers?
Nothing?
Zero? Nada?
OK, you've waited 8 minutes and now you get your hands on...
...wine and grape-related things.
RUE: OK.
Chardonnay, shiraz, prosecco and some red grapes.
It'd be nice to drink it, though.
Theo, all you need is on that first table.
I know. But I don't think a bread is not gonna win today.
I think I need to do something a bit more.
I don't know what I'm waiting for. ANDY AND JOCK: Yeast.
(ALL LAUGH)
Somewhere under there, maybe.
I need time as well, so it's not working for me.
I'm not gonna go pastry, I'm not gonna do anything bread-wise
because I want to do something different today.
But for me, time is quite crucial in this kitchen.
I want to have as much time as possible to develop flavour
in whatever dish I decide.
There's nothing in my mind where I'm like,
"Yeah, that's what I want and I'm gonna wait till that."
So if I see something that works
and I can think that I can create a good dish, I'm gonna jump on it.
ANDY: 11 minutes off the clock.
And now...
...you have...
GANTRY CONTESTANTS: Oh! Yum!
...fresh veg.
So we've got a trio of mushies here, some brussels sprouts...
(GAGS) ...zucchini flowers...
(LAUGHS)
...spinach, green beans, heirloom tomatoes, little baby carrots,
broccoli, parsnip and some kipfler potatoes!
Vegetables are revealed. (CHUCKLES) It's too safe.
Nah? Surely?!
Nobody? Not one?
Nah? Nothing? No?
I already have a dish in my head.
I wanna do a dish based on what we do at the restaurant.
I'm thinking beef, so I'll wait.
The suspense! I know. It's like ages, isn't it?
The longer you stand there, the less time you have.
Just so you know. Yeah.
You guys didn't want to go? No.
Where's the time? That one?
How much time left?
CATH: Time's moving so quick.
Come on, guys!
No-one has started cooking yet. This is crazy!
We're gonna have some starters with this one, for sure.
Yeah, I reckon so. This is the one. This is definitely the one.
I'll have baskets ready for you, OK?
OK.
I'm gonna have at least two.
RUE: Wow!
You now have 59 minutes.
Everything we have revealed and...
...beef! CONTESTANT: Wow!
That's what we're talking about. I told you.
THEO: Beef. I think I can do something with that.
I don't really have a plan yet,
but I know that I need as much time as possible
to beat these Serai boys, so I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go. Oh, interesting!
CONTESTANTS: Yes! CATH: Yes, Theo!
ANDY: What did I say? Whoa.
Did you have an idea or are you just gonna try and work it out?
Not really. I'll try and work it out, yeah. I need time as well.
Yeah, well, hurry up!
I don't really know what I'm doing at this stage.
Uh, maybe some bone marrow.
Um... steak. I just can't think of what I'm gonna put with it.
I don't know.
Like, look at that!
Oh!
Bone marrow with butter? Steak?
I'm going for it. 59 minutes. I think I got this in the bag.
I'll take it. Oh!
JOCK: Hey!
(CHEERING)
Good man.
You did say you were waiting for beef.
I'm thinking I'll make a Wagyu steak seared on a hibachi grill
with onion jam, smoked bone marrow butter
and just sauteed mushrooms on the side.
Hey. (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Good on you, mate.
With galangal, ginger, turmeric and garlic.
Pretty nervous, but also excited at the same time, you know.
Back in the Philippines,
after school, I watched MasterChef Australia.
It was really fun.
I feel pretty nervous, but also excited at the same time
to be here in MasterChef!
You know, see my face on TV.
THEO: Whoa! CATH: Oh, man!
I think Theo's strategy was just to get as much time as he can
for this challenge.
But he's looking a little bit stressed
and I think he's second-guessing his decision.
I don't really know what I'm doing, but.
WOMAN: Go, Theo!
ANDY: Come on, Theo!
(CHEERING)
I'm kind of trying to figure it out on the fly
which... isn't the greatest thing.
I reckon he has no idea what he's cooking.
MELISSA: No. JOCK: He's panicking.
BRENT: What are you thinking, Theo?
I don't really know what I'm thinking just yet, to be honest.
I'm getting a bit worried now.
You know, time versus ingredient,
I thought time was gonna be the most important thing today,
but I'm starting to think maybe I went a bit too early.
I should have waited. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
(TENSE MUSIC)
THEO: I should have waited.
I went for the beef pantry,
um, because I was worried about running out of time.
I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright.
So, I am doing, um...
I'm... It's still in... It's still, like, in my head a bit.
Sirloin steak with, um, bone marrow butter.
Got some good flavours to play with.
And, um, yeah.
I'm thinking of doing, like, maybe a stuffed mushroom,
but I'm still kind of winging it a little bit.
I'm gonna do my best with the ingredients that I have
and try to keep my team out of that elimination on Sunday.
What am I doing?
So, we've got 55 minutes and...
...fruits!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER) Oh, my gosh! I'm going! I'm going!
Yeah! Yeah! (LAUGHS) I knew it.
It's fruit! Finally it's my time to shine.
Would you just like to take the entire thing?
Probably. (LAUGHS) There you go.
Enjoy!
Wow, you're going hard on the blueberries.
Well, I have a few ideas.
I'm thinking blueberries and lemon can work really well together.
Lemons.
I'm gonna get myself some...
Got it? Ginger.
I'm a dessert girl. I am going to stick to desserts.
I'm going to stick to what I know.
MALISSA: Go, Rue! PHIL: Let's go!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER)
Straightaway, I have an idea for my dish.
But I have less than one hour to do it.
THEO: What are you making?
I think a lemon parfait. OK.
Today I'm making a lemon parfait
with a blueberry, lemon and ginger compote,
blueberry sorbet and some meringue shards.
OK.
I think it's a great idea!
I just have to execute in 55 minutes.
JOCK: Now, you will also have 51 minutes,
everything that's here and...
...seaweeds.
Oh! Ooh!
Ooh.
Kombu, dried seaweeds, different varieties, some nori,
seaweed paste, seaweed vinegars, wakame.
Full selection, right? Even a seaweed soy sauce.
But if you've waited this long, you may as well another four minutes
for what's next, actually.
You really want to stitch them up, don't you?
I'm not stitching anyone up.
(LAUGHTER)
Devil, angel, devil, angel, devil, angel!
I just don't want to be standing up here by myself at the end.
For me, I think ingredients over time.
I'm pretty confident I can create something within half an hour.
I'm really hoping that there'd be some seafood at some stage
which takes a minimal amount of time to cook.
I'll probably err on the side of waiting to see what comes up.
ANDY: So, 47 minutes left.
I am going to give you to add to all of those goodies...
MALISSA: Oh! ...quail and quail eggs.
Yummy! GANTRY CONTESTANTS: Oh!
Nothing?
Nah. CATH: Wow!
That's a good one.
Oh, I'm starting to worry for the boys.
(LAUGHS)
I kinda like the risk factor of waiting till the end.
And when you're under the pump, right,
you know what it's like in a kitchen.
Yeah.
Sometimes you do your best work when you're up against the wall.
Right?
Time is seriously ticking away, but I'm gonna stay strong
because I just know that there's something good coming.
Something's just like, "Just hold on!"
I'm digging it. I'm digging it! Look at how stressed you are.
Whoa! There is hundreds... of dishes! Do you want these? Huh?
Do you want these? Take it. Hundreds of winning dishes!
You're panicking.
(LAUGHTER)
MELISSA: You now have 43 minutes, plus...
...herbs and spices. ANDY: Ohhh!
(APPLAUSE) Nah.
There you go.
Mint, parsley, tarragon, thyme, basil, cinnamon...
Coriander, mate.
Ohh!
One more and I think I'll go.
Doesn't matter what's under there? I've got something in my head.
So... yeah. Right. Here we go.
Alright, you'll now have 39 minutes,
all of the ingredients that you can see that are revealed,
plus...
...some grains!
Oh, grains. Argh!
ANDY: Yes! (LAUGHTER)
Stitch-up! (BOTH LAUGH)
I'll go, I'll go. Oh!
I don't reckon he's gonna use that at all.
(LAUGHS)
I was hoping to get something like fish sauce or like shrimp paste
because I could feel the pressure building.
39 minutes, I don't want to waste any more time,
I just have to go with it and just start cracking.
Yeah, I reckon the sirloin.
I've chosen the Wagyu, the bone marrow.
Take two just in case.
Citrus, lime, lemon, mixed herbs, ginger, turmeric, garlic, butter.
And the seaweed. Right.
I had a dish brewing in my head already. I'll go for it.
Hello. RUE: Hi!
Oh, damn. (GIGGLES)
39 minutes to cook.
Uh, I feel confident.
I think the dish I'm making
is something similar we do at the restaurant at Serai.
So, basically, I'm making roasted bone marrow
with a kilawin,
which is, like, it's a Filipino kind of beef tartare, smoked.
And some, uh, really beautiful spiced butter dressing.
At Serai, basically, we take the traditional stuff
that I learnt from my grandma's cooking and my mum's cooking,
bring it to the restaurant and make it sexy.
And we take the smoke and the fire seriously as an ingredient as well.
Need some smoke in the food, you know.
Try to represent what we do at the restaurant.
I think I'm in my element, cook in fire.
And beef, bone marrow, steak, butter. Yep.
Hopefully it will work.
Oh.
I can't believe they waited this long.
THEO: How are you doing, bro? I'm very good. Yourself?
Good, mate, good.
I think I've overcome the confusion,
so I've finally got the idea for my dish.
But I'm feeling a little bit stressed
about the pantries that have been revealed after I chose.
So I am doing stuffed mushrooms with bone marrow and vegetables,
and then a sirloin steak with bone marrow butter.
I'm gonna stuff the mushrooms with a nice medley of vegetables -
carrots, onions, garlic.
And I'm gonna add some of that bone marrow into that as well.
But I've got limited ingredients to get the stuffed mushrooms right.
We'll see, we'll see.
But it looks like I'm going up pretty much head to head with Serai here,
so I just need to just go for it.
Um, I think I'm pretty happy with my dish now, actually. Um...
So this is the onion jam.
A spiced dish seasoned with red wine.
and the spice mix that I make.
(WHIRRING)
And then I'm making bone marrow butter
and then sear the steak on the hibachi grill.
So there's, like, a lot of smoky flavours and stuff.
I think modern Australian-Filipino twist as we're doing at Serai.
I'll do some sauteed mushrooms as well.
So, yeah, it's gonna be pretty amazing.
(TENSE MUSIC)
RUE: OK, so I have my sorbet churning. I hope it sets.
I am trying to showcase everything I can do,
so I hope it will work out for me
'cause I'm trying to do so many things
with such little time.
Beautiful Rue. Hello! (LAUGHS)
Inquiring minds wish to know,
I mean, obviously, you're going sweet.
But what are you making? What's the dish?
Look, um, my goal... (LAUGHS) ...with the little time I have...
Yeah.
...is to make a blueberry sorbet.
Yeah.
...with a lemon parfait.
OK. Blueberry sorbet, lemon parfait. Um...
Lots of things that really benefit...
I know.
...from time to set and churn properly.
Is that it?
I'm going to try and do a meringue shard
which I'll actually pop in the oven probably.
And, um, I'm also going to do, like, a blueberry sauce.
Right. OK.
I really hope that at least one of those things sets.
Yeah.
'Cause otherwise you have a meringue shard and blueberry sauce.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm really worried that I'm doing too much.
In order to get four elements perfect, you need a lot of time!
Do I have the time, though?
Do I have the time?
(TENSE MUSIC)
Oh, here we go!
Yep. You've waited 40 minutes.
When we reveal this,
you'll have 35 minutes.
Are you ready for it?
Yeah. Ready.
You've waited all this time for it.
Under here we have...
...seafood!
Whoo. OK. JOCK: Here he is.
Shane's off. (CONTESTANTS CHEER)
Oh, look at those big Venus clams!
So, Shane, did you have kind of a dish
and all you were waiting for was the seafood?
Pretty much. (LAUGHS) Yeah. Well done.
Well, you got your wish, mate. I did.
You just had to pay 30-odd minutes for it.
I lost a bit of time, you're correct.
You've waited this long. You might as well wait.
Wait it out.
BRENT: I've got a clear idea for a dish.
I'm just waiting for an ingredient that can really elevate this
to the next level, so I'm sticking to my guns, I'm gonna wait it out.
I hope I've made the right decision.
PHIL: Go all the way. I'll wait.
You're burning a hole on that clock. A good cook's a fast cook.
Well, look, surely there's something really good at the end.
I had an idea in mind for flavours.
It's a play on a sauce we use at Serai. It's called palapa.
It's like a spice base from the south.
I'm gonna use that as a base,
add some butter, some crustaceans, some heads
to kind of infuse the butter with it.
I'm gonna play around with some fruit.
So, star fruit, peach, coriander.
So kind of like a salsa on top of that as well.
I know I'm gonna be able to cook the bug on the hibachi
within a four- or five-minute time frame.
And I'm gonna give myself another half an hour
to amalgamate all of the sauces and things.
And I'm confident I can get that to taste pretty good.
Hoping to be standing here comfortable and ready to go
by the time the bell rings.
PHIL: Brent's still up there. I didn't realise.
Mate, I can hear the cogs ticking in your head.
Yeah!
(LAUGHS) DECLAN: Let's go, Brent.
Don't panic, man.
Ohh.
Whoa, that time is ticking, though.
You've held fast, you've waited all this time.
You have all of these ingredients.
You also have 31 minutes and...
...caviar, white truffle, gold leaf.
Alright. OK. Sweet. Luxe, mate. Luxe!
Here it is, the luxe bundle. The last one.
Nice! Straight for the caviar.
The caviar is just screaming at me
and it's exactly the kind of ingredient
that will just take my dish, you know, to the next level.
MELISSA: Go, Brent!
I just hope, you know, waiting for this little gold tin of goodness
is gonna be worth it.
I've had heaps of time to be just sitting there,
thinking what I can do
and zucchini flowers have been in my thoughts since I've seen them
and I'm thinking about stuffing them with scampi and bug
and making it a seaweed mayo on the side.
31 minutes, Brent. Yeah.
It's definitely gonna be a push today.
I've only got 31 minutes, but I do have a great idea.
I've just got to back myself and go for it.
Everyone's cooking! We can't wait to see what you're making.
But you've only got 31 minutes to go!
Let's go!
(APPLAUSE) MALISSA: Go, guys! Go, go, go!
Come on, guys!
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
THEO: 31 minutes?
Joking!
Go, Brent!
Quick.
LEANDRO: I'm making a Wagyu steak with onion jam,
smoked bone marrow butter and sauteed mushrooms.
It's just all about smoky flavours. Very Serai.
I can't believe I'm here.
Just being in MasterChef is... mind-blowing.
I loved watching MasterChef when I was a kid,
but the new judges are cool as well.
I kind of have a crush on Melissa Leong. (LAUGHS)
(LAUGHS)
She's so gorgeous. Seeing her in person, it's just... She's amazing.
I'm like, "Wow!" (LAUGHS)
GRACE: Oh, that smells so good! Yum!
Ooh!
ROSS: I'm making beef tartare and roasted bone marrow.
I'm roasting the bone marrow now. Hopefully that's gonna be nice.
And then, like, a spice-based dressing.
It's basically a sauce that we do at the restaurant
which is kind of like a spiced butter dressing
with traditional Filipino flavours.
A little bit confident. I reckon he nail it.
It's gonna be punchy, flavourful.
We want to win, so, you know, it's a challenge.
I'm competitive, though. We have to win.
No matter when you started, you've only got 15 minutes to go!
ANDY: Oh, yes!
(CHEERING) MALISSA: Come on!
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
DECLAN: Let's go, Theo!
Go, Theo!
THEO: My steak is looking great.
It just looks nice and caramelised and I'm happy with that.
Yeah, it's just got to all sort of come together now.
I've got 15 minutes to go
and I've had my mushrooms on the hibachi
just to get that smoky flavour.
And now I'm gonna stuff them with my vegetable filling
and my bone marrow butter.
I want it to be something that complements the steak,
but I know that balancing this dish with these limited ingredients
is gonna be tough.
We'll just have to... have to play it by ear
and, um, yeah, just the amount of time that I've got
and I just need to just go for it.
Alright, everyone's cooking
in the old increasing-decreasing MasterChef challenge.
It is a classic. MELISSA: Yep.
Theo, it sounds good.
I just hope it's not just a Wagyu steak, mushrooms
and some greasy vegetables.
ANDY AND MELISSA: Yep. Yep. It needs something to balance.
Yes. You know what I mean?
Leandro, he's doing, like, an onion jam and a Wagyu sirloin
cooked on the hibachi.
It's sounding good to me. Yep.
Ross is doing a modern Filo beef tartare...
yeah. ...carpaccio-esque vibe.
Yes. Lots of spices going on there.
And a bone marrow sauce as well.
Shane's dish also sounds very, very good as well.
So, Moreton Bay bugs.
Uh, basically like a spiced butter sauce or a take on a palapa.
Yeah. JOCK: Ooh!
It sounds super delicious if he can bring everything together
and it sounds like he will.
I like it. Yeah, same.
So, Brent's doing stuffed zucchini flowers.
He's stuffing them with bug and langoustine.
And he's tempura-frying them. OK? Yep.
He is gonna luxe the life out of that
with a big old dollop of caviar.
Can he produce the perfect tempura batter
with a light, fluffy mousse?
Mate...
And... and a beautiful mayo in 31 minutes? I'm crossing fingers.
And then Rue wants to make a lemon parfait, a blueberry sorbet,
a meringue shard and a blueberry consomme, so...
It's too much. It's too much.
(TENSE MUSIC) PHIL: Is it looking good?
We'll see. (LAUGHS)
I am making a blueberry sorbet and, look, um... (LAUGHS)
...it's not going.
Not good. (LAUGHS) I'm not feeling great.
I am feeling so stressed in this moment, I'm not going to lie,
because I look at my blueberry sorbet
and I'm just thinking it's never gonna set.
And I don't know if I'm going to be able to get
all four elements finished in time.
Rue. Hello!
What's happening? Oh, my gosh! Um... (LAUGHS)
I heard you're trying to do too much.
I think I... Have you done too much?
Oh, I was trying to do, like, a lemon parfait with a meringue shard.
Yep. And a blueberry sorbet.
And a blueberry lemon sauce.
You can't do all that. Yeah.
So what are you gonna do? Parfait ready?
I'm probably going to just put the parfait,
the meringue and the sauce, yeah.
OK. You got it? Do it! OK. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Thank you.
Forget the sorbet.
I'm just gonna focus on the three things I have
and make them really perfect.
If my parfait sets, that would be awesome.
I'm hoping my teammates are carrying me.
BRENT: Come on.
DECLAN: Let's go, Brent!
BRENT: So my dish is stuffed zucchini flowers.
It's got scampi and bug in it,
crustacean oil, uh, seaweed mayo,
uh, and caviar on top.
Yummy, yummy!
Brent. Whoo! You waited the full time.
Yep. What's happening?
So I'm just getting the tempura batter.
I love it! I'm pretty excited about this.
Yeah, I'm pumped as well.
The hardest thing about waiting till the end is that thing.
Time. Yeah. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
Yep. Thank you!
Let's go.
I have a really clear idea of what I want to do.
But time in the kitchen, it goes like that!
There's a lot to do and there's not a lot of time.
(GROANS)
I'm starting to question... have I made a mistake here?
MELISSA: Eight minutes to go! ANDY: Come on!
CONTESTANT: Come on, guys! Come on! Come on!
Go, go, go, go, go!
DECLAN: Let's go, Brent.
BRENT: Um, yeah, left it right to the end.
Hopefully it hasn't, um, bitten me in the bottom.
I've got my zucchini flowers stuffed
with a scampi and bug mixture inside.
I'm going as fast as I can,
but I've still got a lot to do.
There's frying to be done, mayo to make
and then balancing everything.
You know, I've just gotta back myself
and just put up the best dish I can
and hopefully it's enough to save us and get us immune from Sunday.
DECLAN: No, you got this, Brent.
(TENSE MUSIC)
I think I'm happy with what I have.
The onion jam's done.
Wagyu steak is medium-rare as I like it to be.
I just have to whip the smoked bone marrow butter.
So I'm, like, whipping the bone marrow butter
to make it, like, very creamy, more mouthfeel in the flavour.
Then I also use the charcoal to impart that smoky flavour.
MALISSA: Oh, wow!
Trying not to burn the place down, but, yeah...
Setting the kitchen on fire.
My dish, it's all coming along together quite well now.
I had a play around with making a little salsa
just to sit on top of the bug
using some star fruit which is nice and sour.
Brings a real acidity to the dish.
And this brightens everything up,
so I'm pretty confident on the flavours I've produced there.
How are you travelling, Shane? Pretty good, thanks, Andy.
Ooh, yeah, I'm liking this! Yep.
Yes, it's going to be like... look like it's a whole bug.
All that balancing it out?
Mate, like, honestly, this is yours to lose right now.
Oh, thank you. No pressure. (LAUGHS)
ROSS: First time in the MasterChef chicken,
I think time definitely goes faster
and can feel a bit of pressure now.
Ahh!
I'm confident with the flavours that I'm doing.
My bone marrow is ready to go.
I take the diced beef
and I dress that with the spiced-butter dressing.
With the herbs for a bit of freshness.
Seasoning is an essential part
of the food that we do at the restaurant.
It has to be balanced, flavourful.
A party in the mouth. I want to excite the judges.
GRACE: Oh, that looks just next-level good.
CATH: It smells beautiful!
Looks so good!
Yes, so yum!
Three minutes to go! Let's go!
MALISSA: Come on, guys! Let's go!
DECLAN: Come on, Theo. Go, Theo!
I'm slicing the steak and it's perfect, so I'm really happy.
But I am worried about the balance of the dish as a whole.
CATH: How's that, Theo?
I'm loving the flavours, but I think it's just missing something.
I think this is too heavy.
I know that there's a lot of fat going on here,
but I don't have the ingredients to balance it out.
It needs some freshness or some acid or something,
but I don't know what the hell.
If I had herbs, I could do a nice chimichurri.
But I don't have that.
I'm working with what I've got.
I've got some grapes and I'm trying to coax out some acidity from them.
I've done my absolute best to balance this dish
with the ingredients that I have.
I just hope that it eats really well as a whole.
PHIL: Let's go, Rue! CATH: Let's go! Come on!
(LAUGHS)
JOCK: Let's go!
I have ditched the sorbet and I've just decided to go with my parfait,
the meringue shards and a blueberry compote.
My parfait is in the blast chiller
and I am really hoping it's set
because if my parfait does not set today,
I will have nothing on the plate.
Order up in one minute! JOCK: Let's go!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER) Come on!
Let's go! Come on, come on!
Oh! Oh!
Oh, my gosh, yes! My parfait's frozen.
Oh! Thank God.
Oh, my gosh, the parfait has set.
I am feeling so relieved.
I'm thinking... just get that parfait on the plate!
30 seconds!
(CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
Sauce, sauce, sauce.
I think I'm gonna get there. I think I'm gonna get there.
I've tasted it all together.
It's absolutely delicious.
Perfectly cooked zucchini flower.
It's got scampi, Moreton Bay bug inside,
and that mayonnaise is an absolute killer.
GRACE: Nice work.
And then the pops of caviar on the side.
So, let's just hope that waiting for this caviar was worth it
and makes my dish elevated into the next level.
Alright, gantry, let's have it! 10...
ALL: 9, 8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3,
2, 1!
That's it! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
(WHISTLING) Well done, Rue.
Well done.
Good luck to you.
Yeah. Good.
Ooh, look at you! BRENT: Yeah, look at me.
How'd you go, bro? Awesome, brother.
Look at that. Good job. Awesome.
Well, we saved a doozy for the last challenge
of Pro Cooks vs Home Cooks,
so let's see how you went.
The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to Ross. Let's have it, mate.
Hello. Hey.
What's the dish? It's a seared beef kilawin.
Filipino-style. Basically like a beef tartare.
A roasted bone marrow.
Dressing with a bit of butter.
Fair bit of Filipino flavours in there.
Beauty. Super simple.
It's a pretty you dish, let's face it.
Yeah.
Ross...
(GANTRY CONTESTANTS CHEER AND APPLAUD)
It's like eating at Serai, to be honest.
Um... (LAUGHTER)
Beautifully roasted piece of bone marrow. It's cooked beautifully.
You've got a punchy sauce.
The butter in there just enriching all of the aromats.
Most importantly and most impressive, the beef.
Great sear on there. And then making it balanced.
It is delicious. Thanks, Jock.
You've literally come in here and just done what you do best.
Taking those Filipino flavours and just elevating them,
but also playing with it a touch.
Like, the amount of umami that you got in there
from the kelp paste, it replaces the fish sauce
with another layer of complexity and umami.
It's... it's really, really flat-out cooking.
And it's something that expect from you.
You were so cool. You were so calm.
Mate, it's an absolute belter! You should be so stoked, man.
Ross, what you do for Filipino cuisine
by elevating it, modernising it
and celebrating it in the way that you do
makes me so, so happy to be Australian.
Thank you.
You guys are making me emotional.
ALL: Ohhhh!
(LAUGHS)
Thanks, Ross. Nice one, Ross. Righto, mate!
Awesome!
Awesome. Thank you.
Well done! Well done, Ross!
Next up, Rue.
Walking this dish to the judges,
I am kicking myself for trying to do too much
with not enough time.
Because I just know it's not what I wanted to give them.
Here she is! (RUE LAUGHS)
I'm just crossing my fingers for my whole dish.
NARRATOR: Get inspired by our fabulous home cooks.
Stream full episodes of MasterChef Australia now on 10 play.
JOCK: Rue, talk to me, what've you made us?
I have made a lemon parfait
with a blueberry, ginger and lemon compote,
and, um, some meringue shards.
So you had 55 minutes.
You tried to do two frozen elements,
being the parfait and a blueberry sorbet.
Yeah. Yeah?
Yeah... And meringues.
Yeah.
And a blueberry compote. Yeah.
Um... (LAUGHS) You know what?
Um, in my head, it was gonna work.
But I decided it's not gonna work.
(LAUGHS) It's not gonna work! (LAUGHS)
It's OK, Rue. (LAUGHTER)
Did you just self self-soothe? (LAUGHTER)
She's like, "It's OK, Rue.
"It's OK." Yeah.
I'm gonna do that next time.
"It's OK, Mel, it's alright." I love it.
Rue, uh, the parfait, good flavour, but it feels rushed.
Yeah.
Meringue - same story. Yeah.
It hasn't dried properly and therefore it's gone soft.
Yeah. (CLICKS FINGERS) Like that.
Blueberry compote, I love!
I love the ginger in there. I love the balance.
It's the perfect offset for a sweet meringue and a lemon parfait.
Yeah.
But if you'd only concentrated on meringue, compote and parfait...
And the parfait, yeah.
...like that could have been a winner today.
You didn't give yourself enough time.
Yeah.
You just need to think about, "How can I pare it right back?"
It's the only thing stopping you. That is it.
Thanks, Rue. Thank you!
Thanks, Rue. (APPLAUSE)
RUE: I could have had a winner!
ANDY: Next up to the tasting table, Leandro!
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you.
Ooh, yeah!
Boom! (CHUCKLES)
Leandro, what have you cooked for us today?
Today I made a Wagyu steak
topped with smoked bone marrow butter, onion jam,
and mushrooms sauteed in a spiced mix.
Leandro, you said you were really excited
to cook in the MasterChef kitchen.
Did it live up to your expectations today?
All in all, I'm pretty happy. Yeah.
It's one of my dreams, cooking in a MasterChef kitchen.
ALL: Ohhh!
You just won a whole bunch of new fans on the gantry!
Mate, the steak was perfectly cooked.
Some nice balance on there with the onion jam really peaking
versus the mushrooms that had those aromats in there.
Thank you.
You did Serai proud, mate. Well done.
I'm so happy to be here as well. Thank you.
Ohh! Thanks, brother. (CHUCKLES)
That butter was delicious.
Like, that is... I want that on my steak, do you know what I mean?
Like, really great. Smoky flavours are brilliant.
Thank you so much for bringing your food to the kitchen today.
I thought it was a really fantastic dish in terms of conception.
It's beautifully balanced. Nicely seasoned.
I think it eats really well together.
Well done! Thank you.
(APPLAUSE) Thank you, Leandro.
Thank you so much, guys.
Thank you.
Well done, brother. Thank you.
Next up - Theo! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
THEO: Walking my dish up to the judges,
I am happy with all my elements.
But I am worried about the balance of the dish.
I've done my absolute best with the limited ingredients that I did have,
so hopefully I've done a good job here.
Righto, Theo, what did you make?
Uh, I made steak with stuffed mushrooms
and bone marrow butter with garlic as well.
Nice.
So much suspense.
Theo.
The cook on the Wagyu - beautiful caramelisation.
The salt crust - delicious.
And the steak is cooked beautifully as well. Really well done.
But... seasoning and balance,
the big things that's missing for me is acidity.
OK.
Theo, the steak is bangin'.
Like, in any restaurant, that is exactly how you want
a piece of Wagyu sirloin sent off the pass.
Like, it is top-notch.
So, I actually think it's the challenge
that for you from the get-go
because there's some decent cooking here, but it just needed lift.
Oh, fair enough.
Thank you, Theo. I loved it, mate.
Next up, Shane!
(APPLAUSE)
Wow! Look at that.
Ohh! Ohh!
Alright, Shane, what's the dish, please?
Bug cooked on the hibachi with palapa butter.
Palapa is like a spice base from the south of the Philippines.
And on top is a little salsa.
So it's got nectarine, star fruit, coriander and ginger as well
just to freshen up a bit.
Looks like a picture, mate. Thank you. (LAUGHS)
What about the smell?
Shane... Yes.
How many minutes did you have? Uh, 35.
35 minutes?
(LAUGHS)
35 minutes! (CHUCKLES)
Once again, it's like I'm eating in Serai.
It looks so simple.
Can I tell you? It is... so complex.
Yeah, good.
Bug perfectly cooked, straight off the bat.
And then you get this little fresh hit from the fruit.
Just delicious.
What strikes me is the expertise in which you've balanced that dish
and that, for me, is... is stunning.
Well done. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Shane, all hits, no misses here. Absolutely phenomenal work.
It's such a casual flex
to have something that looks that spare on the plate,
but when you dive into the textures, the flavours, the balance,
the finesse, the technique, it's all there,
but it doesn't feel laboured at all.
It feels completely effortless.
It's a perfect dish.
Great. Thank you.
It is five-star cooking.
You should be a super-stoked, man.
Very clever, Shane. Well done.
Thanks, guys.
The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to Brent!
(APPLAUSE)
I'm really proud. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
But the guys at Serai, they killed it today.
They're at the top of their game.
So I'm praying that my dish is enough
to keep my team safe from Sunday's elimination.
Brent, danger man,
all the way to the end.
Everything revealed before you decided to cook.
What's the dish, please?
Today I've cooked you stuffed zucchini flowers
with scampi and Moreton Bay bug,
and then a crustacean oil mayonnaise.
And also the caviar.
Brent.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Well done!
That is delicious.
If I'd seen that on a menu, I would order it.
And after eating it, I would order it again.
And that salty caviar just lifts the whole thing.
It's just that luxe element... Yeah.
...that you can't re-create in any other way.
Yeah.
This is why it pays off sometimes to wait till the end.
Mate, it's so good! Thank you.
This is kind of like the most luxurious version
of prawn toast you could get, you know.
Yes! That's what it is.
The filling, it celebrates all of that beautiful crustacean flavour,
but the texture, it's bouncy,
and it's bound with that galangal and ginger and the heat in there.
You've used that tropical root, rhizome heat
to bring complexity of flavour into it, which is genius.
Absolute genius.
The tempura - great. The zucchini - lovingly treated.
And the mayonnaise was just gentle enough
to not overtake what was going on with the zucchini flower.
Fried food, caviar, beautiful technique.
Absolutely incredible dish.
Thank you, Mel. Thank you. Well done.
I loved it.
31 minutes, you know, to get all of that done, that ain't easy.
But I think that you took a risk,
you had an idea and you just went for it.
And that risk, mate, it has paid absolutely dividends.
Must be a good feeling. Well done. Yeah. Yeah, it's good.
Awesome. Thank you!
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
Time was definitely of the essence today.
In another MasterChef classic like this,
tough choices had to be made and risks, they had to be taken.
We settled on what we believed were the top three dishes.
It's no secret they belonged to Brent, Ross and Shane.
Brent, you had the least amount of time to cook,
but you used it to craft one of the best dishes
you have ever brought us.
It was clever, considered, beautifully finessed
and a testament to how far you've come.
Ross and Shane, you both brought us dishes
that were complex, powerful, punchy and flawless.
At the end of the day, when we're splitting hairs
between two incredible dishes from the same team,
of course it's that team that deserves to come out on top.
Congratulations, team Serai! You win!
ANDY: Well done!
Ross, Shane, Leandro, you look like you had fun out there today.
Did you? Yeah? Yes, certainly did.
And from what we tasted,
it's very clear how Serai rose to the top so quickly.
Your food is bloody incredible.
Thank you so much for coming into the MasterChef kitchen
and teaching everyone here, including us, a thing or two.
Rue, Theo, Brent,
I'm sorry to say this means you are cooking in Sunday's elimination.
So, all of you, go home, make yourselves a cup of tea
and we'll see all you back here.
Thank you. See you, guys!
(UPLIFTING MUSIC)
Couldn't get the team safe on Sunday,
but you know what, I'm stoked at the feedback that I got from the judges
and I'm very, very proud of how far I've come as a cook.
You know, every good cook in this kitchen
is one step closer to that top 10.
I'm stoked.
MALISSA: Good job, Brent! Amazing.
PHIL: Hey, Brent, good job, mate.
NARRATOR: Sunday night on MasterChef Australia...
It's Rick Stein! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
...a global superstar...
Morning!
The Rick Stein!
...shows us how it's done.
That could be a still life.
That could be a painting.
Then...
RUE: I think I've lost the plot.
...an elimination shows us
just how tough the competition can be.
DECLAN: It is a bit of a disaster.
Oh, careful.
Oh, my God!
Captions by Red Bee Media