NARRATOR: Previously on MasterChef Australia...
..the darling of desserts brought a doozy of an elimination.
This is your pantry...
..for both rounds.
(GASPS) And...
..Brent played his pin early...
I'm playing the pin.
Brent's played his pin, ladies and gentlemen.
..so the others pulled out all the stops.
Hot tray!
I am frantic, but I am giving this everything I've got.
(DECLAN SIGHS) If I'm going home, I wanna go home on a bang.
JOCK: It ticked all the boxes for me.
MELISSA: That was a delicious plate of food.
KIRSTEN: I loved every aspect of what you created.
Amazing.
But we had to say farewell to Malissa.
MALISSA: I've made the top 6 and I'm gonna walk away with that.
I feel so proud of the person I've become.
Love you!
Tonight,
our top 5 are tantalisingly close to the finish line.
THEO: My eyes are on the prize, for sure.
Could this mystery box lead to their immunity?
(JOYOUS MUSIC)
THEO: Top 5!
Can you believe it?
We made it through! RHIANNON: Oh, man.
Honestly just...crazy. I know.
RHIANNON: Here we go!
(ALL CHEER)
THEO: Oh!
They're the bonny top 5!
Pick a box!
Morning, everyone!
ALL: Morning!
There's only five of you left, so you know what that means.
You're the top 5 of MasterChef 2023!
(ALL CHEER)
And the good news keeps coming.
Ooh!
If you cook one of the best dishes over the next three days...
..you win a spot straight into Thursday's Immunity Challenge,
where one of you will become the first contestant
into Finals Week!
Oooh! Oh, whoa!
Yes!
Now we're talking, eh? What about you, Theo?
Grin from ear to ear.
Mate, I'm pumped.
I'm raring to go.
I wanna get that finals position locked in straightaway.
And, Rhiannon, all the way up the back there.
You're stoked, aren't ya? Mate, I'm so stoked.
How do you feel, though? Top 5.
Do you reckon you can go all the way?
Yeah, bloody oath. Like, I'm proper competitive, you know?
So my gloves are off and I'm, like, ready to rumble.
Well, let's rumble.
(LAUGHS)
Let's talk about the little mystery box in front of you.
I'm just gonna let it do all the talking.
You can lift your lids now.
Oh!
Ah!
Ooh!
THEO: I lift the lid of the mystery box
and I see gardening equipment and some tomatoes.
What have we got here, eh?
You'll notice there's some gloves, some secateurs, a trowel
in each box.
Today, we want you to put these tools to good use.
Roll up your sleeves, because in this cook,
you'll be utilising the beautiful MasterChef garden.
The MasterChef garden is an absolute blessing.
Such fresh ingredients literally on the doorstep.
So we want you to use at least two ingredients
from out in the garden in a delicious dish today.
As well as the garden ingredients,
we got a little surprise in the box there for you -
some fresh Perino tomatoes to use in your dish.
OK, here are the rules.
We're giving you 60 minutes.
The regular pantry is open.
So there's nothing stopping you from
knocking it out of the garden today.
(WHISPERS) Yes!
Go wild.
Are you ready to get your hands dirty?
CATH: Yes.
Yep.
Good, because your time starts now.
(JUDGES CLAP)
(EXCITING MUSIC)
RHIANNON: Whoo! Here we go!
Let's go, girlfriend! Let's go.
I never thought I would be top 5
and, you know, the closer you get, the more hungrier you get.
Now competitive Rhiannon is coming out.
It's, like, game on.
I'm very excited today.
What are we picking, ladies?
Well, I'm doing, like, a roasted eggplant base.
And then I'm gonna do a hibachi snapper.
Yeah.
And then I'm going to do a tomato-and-roasted-eggplant
sort of dressing.
Nice! Yeah.
The only fish I've cooked in this kitchen is with Josh Niland.
I got a high-five off him.
But that's it.
So this is the only time I've cooked fish on my own.
I'm totally hoping to show the judges that I deserve the spot
in the top 5.
Today's the day! Pull it out.
We got 60 minutes, you know? Make it happen!
I want the dish to have a beautiful smoky flavour so, you know what?
I'm gonna push my comfort zone.
I'm gonna use the hibachi.
No, I haven't used the hibachi much and I'm a little bit scared of it.
But I thought, "You know what? I'm ready to give it a red-hot crack."
(CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY)
MELISSA: What are you doing, Cath?
I'm gonna do a summer lasagne. Oh!
How would you define a summer lasagne?
So it's gonna be an open lasagne.
Some roasted tomatoes, grilled zucchini,
some, um, ricotta.
Liking what I'm seeing. OK.
I'm just going out to get, um, garlic.
Go and do it!
(MUTTERS) Garlic, garlic, garlic!
Love this mystery box. Absolutely love this mystery box.
Any time the contestants have free rein at the garden
and they HAVE to use it,
I think is a good challenge -
and I hope they use it to their advantage today.
For me, I'd wanna try and stick out from the crowd.
There's plenty of stuff out there. Plenty of stuff.
But, you know, tomatoes are in the mystery box.
What's your favourite tomato combo?
Uh, tomato and burrata. Classico.
Done. You? Nice.
Uh, chilli lemon crab. Yum!
For me, tomato and black pepper.
You know, and then you can just centre the dish
around those two big flavours.
It is every cook and chef's dream
to have that kind of garden to draw on -
whatever is in season, whatever is just smelling good,
looking great,
and they can integrate that into their dish today
hopefully for the best dish of the day.
THEO: Let's go.
Let's go! Oh, how good is it out here?
Mate, it's beautiful!
Oop!
Walking into the MasterChef garden,
I can smell beautiful aromas from the herbs.
I've got so many ideas in my head,
but it just keeps pointing me in one direction.
I've wanted to do this since the start of the competition.
And today's challenge, it's all about the garden,
so now's the perfect time to bring this dish out.
Oh! What a day! Oh!
Look at this!
Beautiful!
How nice is it out here?
What are you thinking, mate?
Look, I wanna use the really nice herbs
in dolmades.
Ooh! I love dolmades.
My mum's recipe. Yep.
What's in your mum's version of dolmades that makes them so good?
Uh, I don't know actually if it's anything different.
I think it's a lot of love in there, that's for sure.
Um, loads of mint, loads of thyme.
Those things are what make them the best
and I think I can do that today.
Amazing. I'm looking forward to that.
Are you serving them with anything or...
Yeah, I'll make a dip with it too, I think,
and a tzatziki, 'cause it goes really well.
So good. Mate, I'm excited. Thanks, mate.
So dolmades are stuffed vine leaves
normally with rice and herbs.
And you can get good ones in a can,
but the ones that are homemade by yiayias
and by, you know, my mum and things like that just...
It's another world.
I really need to push hard today.
This dish means a lot to me and a lot to my family.
I'm fighting super hard for that first-class ticket
into Finals Week.
I want it so bad, so my eyes are on the prize for sure.
I need to really be aware that
I need these dolmades to cook for a long time.
Usually we would take anywhere between two hours and three hours
to perfect the filling of the dolmades.
We would let them simmer away for 45 minutes, an hour.
And today I've got 60 minutes.
So I need to really work fast.
I don't love working fast as it is. I'm kind of a cruiser.
And so I'm hoping that I can pull it off.
More lemon.
Alright.
Beautiful day!
Feeling really good about today's challenge.
You know, open pantry, open garden.
It's a pretty awesome day.
Alright, alright.
I see the big banana tree.
Yeah. They're looking good.
So I'm thinking, "Beautiful. I can serve my dish on the banana leaf
"or steam some kind of fish on the leaf."
Would you look at this?
I see all the beautiful red chillies just light up.
They look like they're ready to harvest,
so I get my hands on a bunch of chillies.
JOCK: What have you got there?
I got some chillies and some banana leaves.
Have you tried one of those chillies?
Yeah. They're not very spicy. The seeds are.
Did you have a little bite? Yeah, I did.
I had a little nibble. Eat a whole one.
No, I can't do that. Why?
Well, if there's money involved, I might.
Go on, then. 20 bucks. (LAUGHS)
Why don't YOU eat a chilli, Jock?
Why don't WE eat a chilli together?
Nuh. Come on, let's go.
Nuh, been there, done that.
Come on! Not happening.
Nuh. Nuh.
Look, I'll give us a little small one each.
Nuh, I'm not doing it. Why?
I'm just... I'm just gonna exit.
(LAUGHS)
Everything's sort of on track.
So good.
This...is gonna be epic!
DECLAN: This stage in the competition,
you go hard or you go home, pretty much.
I'm gonna be going as hard as I can.
So today I'm doing my take on a traditional Thai dish,
pla tod kamin, which is a turmeric-and-garlic fried fish.
There was these beautiful dinner-plate-sized snappers
in the pantry.
I'm gonna be serving it on my banana leaf.
I'm gonna be chucking some chillies from the garden
in that turmeric-garlic marinade
and it's gonna have a beautiful
tomato-Thai-basil vinaigrette over the top.
You know, I never thought I'd make it this far.
So I've just gotta keep motoring
and yeah, just give it my best.
ANDY: We want a plate full of garden goodness.
45 minutes to go.
(JUDGES CLAP)
BRENT: It's a white-apron day. I'm feeling good.
As sad as it was departing the immunity pin,
it got me to top 5.
This is as far as I have been in this competition.
And I need to prove to myself that I deserve to be here.
So I wanna win today
because that gets me into the immunity cook-off
and the chance to get into top 4.
It's gonna be a race to the finish.
It's time to unleash the secret weapon.
Today I'm doing pork belly on a skewer.
It's gonna be pressure-cooked first, then finished on the hibachi.
A sweet adobo sauce.
We've got corn and fennel underneath that.
And a really refreshing salsa on top.
and a pinakurat, which is a coconut spiced vinegar.
So this dish I've been working on for a bit.
It's like my little baby.
You know, I'm trying to hang onto it
because I know it's really, really yummy.
And I think today, with using two ingredients from the garden,
it's gonna marry up perfect for this dish.
Alright.
The chillies - I've been seeing 'em every morning as I'm walking in.
They're red, they're ripe, they're ready to go.
Look at these beautiful chillies. Whoo!
They're going into the coconut vinegar, which spices it up.
Betel leaf's going in with the Perino tomatoes, a salsa.
And the finger lime on top. Beautiful.
Alright, let's go.
I wanna win this today.
So it's time to take it up another level.
I'm really excited about this challenge.
Ooh! Nice!
Today I'm going to be making a summer lasagne.
It's good? Happy?
It's gonna be a real push to do it in 60 minutes.
So I'm using those beautiful tomatoes,
gonna pick that beautiful fresh parsley and basil.
(WHISPERS) OK.
What more could you need?
There's a lot going on in this dish.
I'm just worrying about getting it done.
I've got 40 minutes to go.
I just need to get moving.
Whoo! Lasagne in an hour!
I've got my ricotta on.
I've got my pasta resting.
I've had my tomato roasting.
I've just put those tomatoes infusing and some garlic from the garden.
I think I have to be mindful today
about doing so many elements -
especially that ricotta.
Come on. Come on.
It's not your usual lasagne
where you have that bechamel sauce.
Just relax. Relax.
You can do this.
The ricotta is replacing that creamy element,
so it's very important to have this as part of the dish.
Hopefully in this time frame, I can get it done
and get it done to a standard that deserves it to be the winning dish.
Let's go.
Parsley? (SNAPS FINGERS)
So with my dish today I'm gonna be dicing the tomatoes
and serving that with my Thai basil that I've picked from the garden.
My marinade from the fish -
I'm incorporating my chillies from the garden.
Lots of chillies going in there. I love a bit of chilli.
They're going in with turmeric and garlic.
I'm gonna marinate the fish in that.
This is just gonna give it that Thai flavour.
And I'm just gonna let it sit and marinate
before cooking it.
OK. Alright, hang on a sec. I've just gotta make sure...
RHIANNON: Fire, fire, fire today.
I love fire, and I'm, like, if you've got it, play with it!
(LAUGHS)
They're gonna be nice and smoky.
Rhiannon. G'day, Andy.
Lot of charry-charry, smoky-smoky...
Smoky-smoky, charry-charry, yes. What's going on? What's the dish?
I'm doing, like, a chunky eggplant Thai-style relish...
OK.
..with a beautiful tomato and eggplant dressing
with hibachi-fried snapper.
Hibachi-fried snapper. Yeah.
Like whole fish or... Just a fillet.
Yep.
I'm just trying to think a little bit more cleanly than I normally do.
If you know what I mean.
Like, just have a beautiful eggplant relish,
a beautiful piece of snapper and a beautiful dressing.
Where does the texture come in?
Any texture going on?
You need to think about some sort of garnish.
It sounds creative, the two relishes.
I'd try and match the creativity with a garnish.
OK.
And I think everything's looking quite dark.
True.
I think two things. Texture. Yep.
And then also colour. OK.
They're the two things that you need to think about.
Maybe you can combine 'em. Yes.
Thanks, Andy.
So let's just have a think outside the box.
I need to sort of think about a crispy element.
So, yeah, I'm kind of trying to...
..have a little think while I'm playing.
I'm gonna do this. Hang on, you can wait for that.
I just want this done first, OK?
How ya goin'? Hey. How you goin'?
Yeah, not bad!
Alright, we've all had a little look around.
Who did you see? I went to Rhiannon.
It seems like a good idea and I trust her to make the flavours kick.
It's a hibachi piece of snapper.
Then she's got some charred eggplant
which she's going to make into some relish.
I was, like, "Where's the rest of the dish?
"Where's the texture? Where's the colour?"
So she's now thinking, "How can I get that into the dish?"
'Cause it just sounds like fish and two...
Components. Right. Accompaniments. Yeah.
Cath is doing an open summer lasagne.
So there's a pangrattato, there's ricotta that she's making.
She seems solid on the idea,
not solid on how much time she has left.
What I can feel is Finals Week.
You know, they're ramping it up.
They know that they only need to cook
a handful of absolute crackers and they are into the grand finale.
So I think we're on the home stretch now.
Yeah. Sounds good.
Here we go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
We can do this.
Now is not the time to be in the weeds. You have 30 minutes left!
ANDY: Let's go, top 5!
Did that just happen?
I'm really making a mess today.
Come on, sweetie. You can do this, love.
I am running out of time
and I need to roll these dolmades.
In the filling, I've got my onions, rice,
my beautiful Perino tomatoes,
thyme, oregano, mint.
But I've got 30 minutes to go
and I haven't even put my dolmades on.
And they need way longer than that to cook.
I get it on...quick sticks.
I have to push on, get 'em in the pot.
Who knows - maybe I've got a stroke of luck
and they cook in 30 minutes time.
My mum's dolmades,
what it showcases is the herbs.
And that's what I love about it.
Hopefully do her justice
because she would love that - I know she would.
This dish, it's really something that's close to my heart.
My mum showed me how to cook them
and my yiayia showed her how to cook them.
When my...my yiayia was sick,
there were some recipes we said,
"We've gotta get this written down now
"before Yiayia passes away."
Because these are things that I wanna learn
and I wanna teach my children.
They're so important for our culture and for everyone.
I mean, you wanna be able to taste the old traditions
of every single country.
This is something that should be important to everyone.
You know, with, like, 30 minutes,
pushing it.
I've really gotta motor.
Oh! I don't have much time.
Probably running on adrenaline, so full speed ahead.
I'm just cutting up the Perino tomatoes to go in the little salsa.
The herbs are going in there too.
Ooh, yeah!
I've got the pork in the pressure cooker.
Then you've gotta get it onto the hibachi.
I've gotta get the sauce reducing. I've gotta glaze it.
There's so many things to do.
(STEAM HISSES)
My mind right now, it's racing
because I've picked a dish I know it takes at least 60 minutes to do.
Tell you what, big rig's struggling a bit.
I need to be, like, laser-focused.
Brent... Yup.
How is it going? Yeah, good.
Pork looks good.
OK. So what needs to happen now?
Reduce sauce into glaze? Yeah. I am gonna be...
Are you gonna get it done? Yeah, I'm gonna.
Definitely. I mean, you're so close now.
It's gonna come down to the last 15.
So I think just hold onto the bull with both horns
and just finish this dish.
Make it the most delicious thing
you could possibly offer us today.
Awesome. Thanks, Mel. Thank you.
I wanna win this today.
I wanna get into that immunity cook-off.
I came back to prove to myself that I can go the whole way.
Just try to be focused,
don't let the nerves get the better of me.
It's just about making smart moves, smart decisions...
..and just keeping the mind calm, baby.
So that's what I'm gonna do.
Cath. Hi!
How you doing? I'm good!
Open lasagne, I hear. Yeah, Jock!
I'm doing beautiful fresh tomatoes. I've got some ricotta there.
And just having a little open lasagne.
How are you doing the tomatoes...
So, look, I've roasted them and then I'm gonna have some fresh as well.
So a bit of a mix. Multi-texture. Yeah! Yeah, yeah.
Multi-depth of flavour. Yep. Yep.
Yeah, yep. Just done that. I'm just gonna...
I just need a little bit.
Oh, ooh! Oh, oh, ooh!
That doesn't look as if it's worked out well.
I can't believe it.
Something's not right with the ricotta.
Oh, my God!
JOCK: That doesn't look as if it's worked out well.
CATH: I'm really nervous right now
because something's not right with the ricotta.
There's not a lot that separated. There's a lot of milk.
But there's not a lot of ricotta.
Yep. I'll get enough out, though, Jock, I know.
Alright. Yep.
Just keep an eye on your time, Cath.
Less than 20 minutes. Yep.
Yeah? Yep.
Come on, Cath. Yep.
Come on, sweetie pie.
Just need a little bit there.
I have to make a decision right now.
I actually run back into the pantry
and I check to see whether we've got some store ricotta...
Oh! Ricotta!
..to add to the ricotta I've made.
(SIGHS)
Right, you can do this.
Fingers crossed that it'll get me through today.
(SIGHS) OK. Take a deep breath.
Oh, my God, oh, my God.
Bit of fishy business going on over here.
Mate, what are you doing?
I'm doing a dish called pla tod kamin
and it's like a turmeric-and-garlic fried fish.
I'm doing two different sort of elements to it.
Steaming the body of the fish
and I'm just going full-bore fry on the head and wings.
Looking for that spot in the Immunity Challenge, yeah?
Yeah, bloody oath I'm looking for that spot!
Well, mate, only the best dish
will make it through to that Immunity Challenge.
So give it your best, eh?
Alright, thank you. Good luck, mate.
Alright.
It is so easy to overcook or undercook a fish in the steam basket
but today I know exactly what to look for in the fish.
Ahh!
And I just want that beautiful, tender flesh
to fall straight off when the judges are eating it.
I have to nail it.
Top 5 - we all should be able to nail the cook on a fish.
OK, crispy, yeah.
Fresh element, fresh element...
So I've finished the eggplant mix.
I'm thinking eggplant on the bottom, fish on the top...
Mmm!
..and put the salsa around that.
But I still need to put something crunchy in it.
And I see some beautiful radishes.
Gotcha!
That's what I'm gonna use.
You know what? I saw these bad boys.
Beautiful pickled radish.
That'll be my crunch.
I'll pickle it - it'll give my acidity.
So I thought, "That's where I'm gonna go."
Feeling really good with this cook
but I look up and it's, like, time is ticking away.
I gotta get onto the fish!
Like, this is gonna be on top of my dish!
I haven't even started filleting it.
I've still gotta cook it.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC)
So now I've rolled all my dolmades.
I have to really just cross everything
that I can -
maybe we'll do one of them too! -
and hope that they cook in time.
But I need to move on.
I need to make a bright, beautiful tzatziki.
Who would have thought - dolmades and tzatziki!
Classic combo.
The best thing in the world, really.
So, yeah, I gotta get it right.
This is my mum's recipe. I can't make a mistake with this one.
It's so nice, a good accompaniment for these dolmades.
It's just gonna lift it.
A bit of brightness. Beautiful thing.
I taste my tzatziki and it's just like my mum's.
Oh, man. So good!
I am super happy with that.
I know that I'm gonna be cutting it fine with the dolmades,
but this tzatziki is a winner - I know that.
Now I have to pray to the Greek gods
that my dolmades will cook in time.
(PROCESSOR WHIRRS)
I hope you've taken what's out there
and you're gonna celebrate it in here.
10 minutes to go. ANDY: 10 minutes!
So I've really applied the pressure to myself today.
How's it looking, Brent?
Yeah, it's coming there. Coming there.
I need to get this sauce reduced, balanced, into almost a glaze.
Tell you what - getting real worried now.
There's not much time left.
It's gonna be so close.
My mind's doing the calculations of how long things are gonna take.
And it is not gonna reduce with this amount of liquid in the pan.
Running out of time.
I've just made a call. I'm gonna pour half into a bowl.
Keep reducing, keep balancing.
I will go right down to the last minute.
Five minutes, crew! Come on!
Come on, let's go! MELISSA: Whoo-hoo! Come on!
Oh, man. I'm going insane.
Five minutes to go. Fish goes on the hibachi.
It's been heating for a while.
Oh, my God! This is so hot!
Oh, man...
This is cooking way faster. I'm not ready!
This is, like, "Aah! What's happening?"
Oh, dear. The fish stuck.
Shit.
I'm panicking and I'm trying to lift it
and the skin's sticking and it's looking terrible.
What am I gonna do?
Bloody hell. What a mess.
I get the nice fillet off and it looks destroyed.
Far out.
Oh, man. The fish stuck.
Just not happy with how it looks.
So I'm just gonna try a couple of little pieces
just to try and make it look as good as I can.
I've got two more pieces - put them on quickly
and hope they look a bit better than my first piece.
I don't know - this is not what I envisioned
at the very beginning of the cook.
It's not where I wanna be.
Um...
I'm, like, a bit...
..a little bit worried.
We hope we dig your dishes.
Three minutes to go!
Come on, push, push!
Finally the sauce is reduced. It's balanced, it's perfect.
Plating it up, it's what I wanted.
That corn and fennel on the bottom.
Then the pork goes on top.
Salsa on top of that.
And then when you pour this adobo sauce,
it just drowns the corn and fennel
and then that's what you're scooping up.
This is the dish I've been working on
and hopefully the judges like it.
Dig deep, everybody. Two minutes to go. Come on!
(JUDGES CLAP)
How long?
(WHISPERS) Alright, alright.
Yeah, the nerves are starting to kick in
because there is so much riding on the cook of this fish.
If this fish is cooked inconsistently...
..I'm gonna have no chance
at landing myself for a spot in that immunity cook.
Can I just pinch some of your spoons there?
Yeah. Just take 'em all!
(CHUCKLES) Just take them all.
So my ricotta, I'm just trying to balance it out.
The texture's probably not as creamy as I would have liked.
That's done. That's done.
But I'm happy with my pasta.
Oh, mate, I'm pushing it.
I need to plate this up. So...
I've featured those beautiful Perino tomatoes
roasted and fresh.
So I think the flavour altogether
will be beautiful.
One minute to go!
(CHUCKLES)
Was that it, was it?
Come on, Andy. Put your back into it, mate.
(SHOUTS) One minute to go! MELISSA: Whoo!
(LAUGHS)
So the dolmades have been cooking for about 30 minutes.
There's no time left.
I have to taste one of these dolmades.
Cut into it, I take a bite...
..and my heart sinks.
The flavours are there,
it's just not exactly where it needs to be.
So the only thing I can do now is plate up.
And I'm definitely thinking about presentation.
So I'm gonna use the props from the mystery box.
I'm gonna use that trowel. I'm gonna sit my dolmades on it.
And that's how I'm gonna plate up and I think it's gonna look amazing.
(BOOMS) 30 seconds!
(JUDGES CLAP)
(MOMENTOUS MUSIC)
Time's running out.
Everything's just...rush at this point.
Put radishes on top. Hide those pieces of fish.
Let's put the beautiful salsas for some more colour.
And I'm thinking, "Ugh, this looks terrible."
JUDGES: 10, 9, 8,
7, 6, 5,
4, 3, 2, 1.
That's it!
Whoo!
Yes!
Well done, everybody. Nice work.
Yes!
Good job. You too, buddy.
I'm confident with all the elements.
Hopefully this is gonna be my dish today.
For this challenge, you had beautiful fresh tomatoes
and the bounty of the MasterChef garden at your disposal.
We're looking for the best dish to go into Thursday's Immunity.
And the first dish we'd like to taste belongs to Brent.
(CONTESTANTS CLAP)
Walking the dish up to the judges,
I'm kinda scared, because
this is a dish I've been working on for quite a while.
God, I hope it...hope it works!
Brent, what have you made us?
I've made pork belly, adobo sauce,
tomato betel leaf salsa,
and corn and fennel.
Please sauce.
Just remind us again - what did you yank out of the garden?
Went and got finger lime, betel leaf, red chillies.
Brent...
..that would probably have been
one of the best things you've cooked in the kitchen.
Epic.
Because all the flavours are there.
Salsa with the corn and the fennel is delicious,
is really, really, really great.
Brings a lot of flavour to the dish.
Beautiful flavour of the adobo.
It's humming through just underneath that coconut.
I think it's cracking, mate.
(GROANS)
(LAUGHS) This is where it's at.
Like, it's so bloody good, mate.
So delicious.
As far as the flavour goes, man,
that's a 10.
That is a flat-out 10.
I couldn't agree more. Flavours - fantastic.
I like that the predominant flavours coming out of this
are sweet, spicy and smoky
because I think you know how to tame them
and how to bring them into a beautiful shape,
because the flavour balance here was really inspired cooking.
Well done. Yeah, awesome. Thanks, Mel.
Well done, mate. Thanks, guys.
Next up, Theo!
Oh, I feel deflated, I feel disappointed.
I would have loved to have served them my mum's dolmades.
I've let my mum down, my yiayia down.
It's a really horrible feeling.
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Pretty obvious, but what did you make?
THEO: Dolmades.
It's not exactly where I wanted it to be,
so I'm a little bit disappointed and angry at myself -
especially being my mum's dish, so, yeah...
Theo.
You know exactly what I'm about to say.
The rice isn't cooked. Yeah.
And the vine leaves haven't cooked down.
And they haven't been able to take on
some of that beautiful tomato liquor that was in the pot either.
'Cause the taste is beautiful.
It just needed more time, man.
I am gonna give you props for your plating, though.
Like, great prop.
Something that looks fantastic.
You've gone to a little bit of extra effort.
Produce comes out of the garden, it tells a story.
It's really nice.
So thank you for going to the extra effort of plating it up beautifully.
This plate of food is no disparagement on your mum's recipe.
I can taste what it might have been like
had you had an extra half an hour
to kind of let things meld a little bit more.
The tzatziki was nice.
It had a really nice balance of flavour to it.
Beautiful texture and just the right balance of everything within there.
I know you're hard on yourself. I'm not going to add to that at all.
Just as you continue to survive in this place,
make smarter decisions and you will stay longer.
Thanks, guys. Thanks. Thanks, Theo.
Cath!
Cath, what did you make us?
This is my summer lasagne.
Roasted tomatoes with some fresh tomatoes and basil,
ricotta and pasta.
Easy to see where you used those beautiful tomatoes.
What did you use from the garden?
Uh, so I used some parsley and basil and the garlic.
Cath.
My biggest problem with this is the ricotta.
And I can see with the perfect ricotta, actually,
that would have been absolutely delicious.
You're so close with that.
It's a beautiful, summery, garden-kinda dish.
And the star of the show are the tomatoes.
I think it was THE correct dish to do today, especially for you.
The ricotta just let you down there a little bit.
Oh, Cath, this could have been an absolute belter.
It was good, but it may not get you
the spot today that you need in the Immunity.
Alright. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Cath!
Thank you!
Thanks.
Good job, Cath. That's alright.
It was awesome.
Rhiannon, let's go!
I'm taking my dish up and I'm feeling really deflated.
The pressure got to me today.
Hey!
Looking at my plate and I'm, like...
My fish!
Like, I absolutely annihilated it.
(MUTTERS) Ooh, that looks like raw fish.
So I'm kind of like, "Eeh..."
Hey, Rhiannon. Hey.
How are ya? Good.
I'm not feeling good.
How are you? Very good. What'd you cook?
Snapper with eggplant and a tomato-and-eggplant relish.
Is there any reason you went for the snapper?
Oh, you know what?
Like, I've just been cooking a bit of snapper and I just like it.
Right. OK, that's... two great reasons.
(LAUGHS)
You can't argue with that logic! No!
That's really, really sound.
How'd you go? 'Cause it was a bit of a topsy-turvy cook for you.
Like, I went alright with, like, the vegetable components.
It was just the fish. I left it till too late.
I noticed!
You didn't even have the fish on the hibachi
until, like, five minutes until the cook was gonna end.
Yeah, I'm a bit devo about the fish. Not gonna lie.
Mmm.
Is it raw?
It's raw.
Once again, I just, like, let the time get away from me.
And I was probably too busy with everything else
and then I just left it way too late.
So, yeah, I'm really disappointed.
It is a missed opportunity.
Don't do that again.
(SIGHS) I know.
Good news is - what colour's that apron?
White! Yeah, baby!
That's bloody awesome news. (LAUGHS)
Thanks, Rhiannon. Thank you, Rhiannon.
Thanks, guys.
Just gotta...pick up my game.
(SIGHS)
The next dish we'd like to taste belongs to...Declan.
I'm looking at my dish and I'm just so nervous about
the cook on the fish.
I only cooked one and if this one's no good,
then it's not gonna be a good day for me.
Hey! Chunky salsa, guys.
Declan, what have you made us?
Today I've made you my take on a Thai pla tod kamin.
Fried fish with tomato, Thai basil vinaigrette to go on top.
And what did you use from our beautiful MasterChef garden?
Today I've used the banana leaf which I'm serving it on,
chilli and the Thai basil.
Love that.
But this dish is really gonna be about the cook on the fish.
Shall we?
Hmm. Interesting.
(INHALES SHARPLY)
Declan.
Firstly, the cook on the fish is outrageously good.
This is the food that you're good at - you know, the stuff you wanna
put down in the middle of your dinner table,
that's the stuff that you just absolutely nail.
Perfect steam on it.
Serving it whole as well so you get the flavour from the bones,
the moisture from the bones.
That's where it's at. Thank you.
Declan, the evolution of your cooking is very, very clear
and I'm very impressed with what I see in front of me,
both on the plate and the man himself.
Thank you.
I like that you gave us two different cooking techniques
that allowed us to experience the texture and the flavour of
the main part of the fish
and then the heads and the collars deep-fried and beautifully marinated
in those aromats.
I think you did a fantastic job today.
Thank you.
Mate, you nailed it. Look at that. It's, like...
It's beautiful. And it's still glossy, translucent, sexy.
So good.
And presentation - fantastic.
You know, you really thought about how it was gonna come together.
The banana leaf on there.
You had a vision in your mind how it would look
and when you do that from the start,
you end up putting up a dish that looks a million bucks.
And it did. So well done today, mate.
Thanks, guys. Nice one, Declan.
ANDY: Today we wanted to see you celebrate the MasterChef garden
by putting freshness front and centre on your plate.
We were looking for the dish of the day
to send one of you straight through to Thursday's Immunity Challenge.
So let's find out which of the five of you came out on top.
There was definitely two stand-outs.
In a good way.
Declan is your name,
and today, fish was most certainly your game.
It was perfectly cooked, every part of it.
Brent.
The flavours of your dish were 10 out of 10.
The salsa and that adobo sauce
were absolutely brilliant.
But...
..we settled on a thing that we always come back to
before anything else.
Flavour.
Which means Brent,
you're the winner, mate.
Well done, buddy.
CATH: Eh? Whoo-hoo!
Congratulations! Thank you.
The next time you cook, it will be for a spot in Finals Week.
Ooh-hoo!
Not bad!
Not bad.
RHIANNON: Not bad at all.
For the rest of you, not to worry.
There are still two more spots up for grabs in that Immunity Challenge.
Ahh! Ooh!
So go home, get a good night's sleep.
'Bye!
Thanks! See ya! (LAUGHS)
NARRATOR: Tomorrow night on MasterChef Australia,
they're off on a top 5 road trip.
THEO: This is incredible. Just an epic, epic place to be.
First stop - the classic MasterChef time auction.
20. JOCK: 20 minutes?
Going once. Going twice.
Can they create an amazing dish
with a limited pantry...
We're looking for the top dish today.
DECLAN: Competitive Declan has come out.
..and when their time is going...
RHIANNON: This is madness!
..going...
CATH: Come on, come on.
..gone?
Captions by Red Bee Media