1 ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... MAN: Parade, march! ..our contestants served a two-course Aussie dinner... Everyone's feeling panicked. ..to the men and women who serve this country. Wouldn't change a thing. Love it. Absolutely delicious. They delivered stunning desserts. That is brilliant. But undercooked lamb put the Red Team square in the firing line. Nup. And that's why, Red Team, you're going forward to elimination. Tonight... We want an uber salad. ..a humble side dish... ..takes centre stage in a drama-charged elimination. I'm giving it everything. They'll need to be their best. It's delicious. Seriously yum. It's everything you want a salad to be. Because no-one wants to slip up and face the second round. You're going to love this challenge. # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like a brighter shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. # We got today. # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # So spin me round and... # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # ...show me the way... # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # ...back to... # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like a brighter shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. # Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2015 Happy birthday, mate. Cheers, dude. 21, yeah? There's 11 of us. Odds are... Your odds are better than last time, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And I got through, so I'm just going to go in guns blazing and just go crazy. Yeah. Reynold and I, we're like best mates. We look out for each other and today's Reynold's birthday. So all I know is that he wants me to stay so we can celebrate it together. It'll be my birthday present to you to survive. (LAUGHS) SARA: I'm here. I'm here for a reason. I've just got to get my head into gear and just fight as hard as I damn can. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) ROSE: I've done two pressure tests and I'm now in this elimination, so today it is really important that I show the judges that I can actually do this. I just really want to stay. Oh, the highs and lows of the competition, isn't it? One day a team challenge where you're pumped up, you're putting up what you think is great food. You're gonna win, you're sure about it. And by the end of the day, things have changed. And now, of course, you find yourself in an elimination, wearing the black aprons, instead of standing up there safe and sound and looking on. 11 of you face this elimination. At the end of today, someone is going home. Georgia... Yes. ..what's going on in your mind? You're like a regular at this nightclub. (LAUGHTER) Here I am again. VIP pass. Yeah. Yeah. Straight to the front door. What's going on? Um, you know, competition's tough. GEORGIA: Last week, in elimination... I'm shaking. ..I was one little spot away from going home. I lost my cool. Georgia, you're safe. I don't want to be in that position again. I'm focused today. I'm a lot calmer than last time. So just gonna take whatever you guys throw at me. Today's elimination will take place over two rounds. You're gonna love this challenge. (MUTTERS) Oh, God. In the past, what we're gonna ask you to do is something that came as an afterthought, a side dish, but it's graduated to being the centrepiece of so many great lunches and dinners. When I first arrived in Australia, I noticed that all the blokes were out around the barbecue prodding the dead cow. But I wanted to be in the kitchen, making the salad. KHA: I'm scared. I don't eat as much salad as I should. I don't actually cook that much salad. So, in today's first round, that's what you're gonna do. You're going to make a salad. But not just that kind of old-school, on the side of a plate, limp butter lettuce, woody cucumber, really terrible tomato. We want what we would call an uber salad. The sort of salad that can sit in the middle of the table and replace the crown roast or the whole salmon. A salad that makes us go, "Wow." Here's the bad news maybe. You have 30 minutes to give us a delicious, blow-away salad that's going to keep you safe. What we're looking for in the tasting are the bottom four. And those four will go into the next round. The good news is you have an open pantry so you can cook anything you want. Be creative. We're excited. Your time starts now! SARA: Half an hour's not a lot of time, especially when you've got to run around, think of an idea, pick the ingredients. If I put up a salad that doesn't blow their minds, I'm one step closer to going home today. I'm going to be in the bottom four and have to go through to the second round. I'm kind of looking at the produce trying to get some inspiration and I see all these beautiful heirloom tomatoes - different shapes, different colours - and I'm like, "Yep. You're going to do a tomato salad "in a way that isn't traditional and it's going to be unexpected." KHA: Has anyone seen vinegar? AMY: I've got this idea of a roasted peach salad, which is beautiful. But I'm looking around and there are no peaches. There doesn't seem to be many fruit option. So I'm still thinking on the same lines. I see some beautiful figs. I know that that's a lovely summer fruit and that will be beautiful in a salad as well. (CONTESTANTS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) GARY: Kha, be careful, mate. Today I'm doing a pasta, macadamia and honey salad... (BREATHES HEAVILY) ..with baby carrots. GEORGIA: I'm definitely feeling the pressure. My biggest thing is just to stay calm. I can't let nerves get the better of me. It nearly cost me my position in the competition last time. I'm not doing that again. I've got my carrots peeled. I just need to blanche them. I'm going for crunch and texture today and those carrots have to be perfect. If I leave them in the water too long, they're going to be soft. And it's not a side dish vegetable challenge, it's a salad challenge. They need to be crunchy. ONLOOKERS: Come on, Amy. AMY: I'm treating this salad like a roasted peach salad. But obviously the figs are a completely different fruit. I really want to get a beautiful char on those figs, really caramelised so that I've got that sweet, slightly burnt crispiness. So I'm just sprinkling them with a little bit of honey, putting them straight in the oven. I don't know how this is going to go. CONTESTANTS: Come on, guys. REYNOLD: Go, Kha. Come on, buddy. The dish I'm making is a pickled carrot and daikon salad. This salad is a part of my upbringing and pretty much every Vietnamese person's upbringing. Hey, daikon. There are a few risks with this dish. The carrots and the daikons have to be perfectly chopped in fine strips. And I know my knife skills aren't the best. REYNOLD: If I were you, I'd shave them. I'd use a mandolin. We've only got 30 minutes and then I've got a shaky hand. It's a near-impossible task. ROSE: I know that I can make a beautiful salad. I am the salad queen. I eat salads almost every day at home. I make these really bizarre, weird, crazy concoctions of salads and my family love them. And I really hope the judges really like the flavour combinations. My God, I tried that. Why didn't it work? Thank you, George. Can you do it in a bowl next time, please, George? I'm just going to roughly cut, in kind of obscure shapes, the tomatoes. What are you making? There's lots of chopping, that's for sure. Yeah. I had this vision of just red. I wanted ruby, like, pomegranate, red capsicum, red... ..you know, heirloom tomatoes kind of a thing. Why chop everything? I look at that in there, that looks amazing. Just so beautiful. I'm chopping them different, so I want to showcase some like this and like that. OK. So you're just going to kind of toss it together. Yeah. I'm thinking flat on the bottom. Yeah. Just be careful. OK. Gaz, what's going on? She's got all these beautiful tomatoes and radishes, look gorgeous. Now she's chopped them up really small so we've got thin slices that look a little watery. And I'm looking in the tray and going, "They're all different and delicious shapes in their natural form. "You don't need to do much." (INHALES SHARPLY) We don't really ask for much - creative and super delicious. That's what we're looking for in this salad. You've got 15 minutes to go. Come on. Oh, that looks good. What have you got in there? Coriander and... Um, I've got coriander, carrots, orange zest, orange juice, butter and honey. Yum. What's that going with? Um, it's a quinoa salad with, like, a tahini yoghurt. Mmm. Beautiful. ASHLEIGH: I want to bring out the sweetness of the carrot. I kind of want to reduce the cooking liquid so it's a bit of a sticky glaze so they're nice and shiny at the end. Um... I'm feeling nervous, but I'm desperate to survive through this first round. I don't think I've got it in me to fight it out in a second round. So I'm just completely focused on what I'm doing. So, I take my figs from the oven... ..they seem to be losing colour. They're not caramelising. They seem to be getting a little bit soggy. It's not a good start at all. The figs are my main element to my dish. I really need to nail these figs today. I want to be safe. I want to be up on the gantry. I don't want to be going through to that second round. I really don't know what I'm going to do at this stage. KHA: I've got the carrots and the daikon chopped and then I put it in a pickling juice. My mum, like any other Vietnamese mum, loves this salad. Normally we have this salad with some prawns, but it's an inventive challenge so I decide to use some scallops and reinvent the dish. They look good. But I doubt myself and I'm really scared, not knowing if they're cooked or not. The only way to check is cutting one open. Opaque. REYNOLD: Taste it. Yeah. Go. Good. And they're perfect. But I can't have un-uniform scallops so I decide to cut them up to keep them the same shape. REYNOLD: I think Kha could be making a huge mistake by cutting up those scallops. They're beautiful scallops and he shouldn't cut them. He should keep them whole. If the judges don't like them, it's going to push him further to the elimination. 1 GEORGIA: The challenge today is to prepare a salad. We've got 30 minutes to do it. And four people that don't put up the greatest dishes are going to go through to round two of the elimination. Ahh... It's so risky making something that you haven't made before in an elimination challenge. But they asked for creative and inventive. You can't fall back on a classic. It's got to be new. WOMAN: Go, Georgia. I've got my carrots out of the hot water and they're perfect. Nice and crunchy. The next thing I need to do is get stuck into my dressing. I've got yoghurt, tahini and lemon juice. It's beautiful and creamy. And that's going to go across the plate like the base of the dish. WOMAN: Oh, that looks delicious. I think it's creative. And I think it's going to taste fantastic. I just hope that the judges like it. MATT: We love the smells. We love the energy. But the question is, with 10 minutes to go, will we love your dish? Come on, guys. What are you liking the look of? You know what I'm loving, is the smell of vinegar, acidity. You've got oranges. You've got fennel. You've got yoghurt over here. Super clean over here from Matthew. Like, how organised is he? And chalk and cheese too because Rose is so totally messy. Just trying not to embarrass myself with the amount of mess that I've made today. The couscous, the mint, the orange. There's a lot going on. I'm sort of starting to second-guess that it looks the way that it should. I realise that I do have a lot of ingredients and I can see that it's probably a little bit too wet. It might be a great salad for home, but you've got to step it up in the MasterChef kitchen. And I'm starting to think this isn't going to be good enough. Well, this is the home run in the first round. Five minutes to go. Come on! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Oh, shivers. I'm making a spicy pork and fresh herb salad. MELITA: The last five minutes, it's pretty frantic. I'm chopping up herbs. I need to make sure that once all of the herbs are added in that it's all balanced in flavour. Come on, guys. Come on, guys. I start plating up, but I've got a lettuce that I'm thinking, "Oh, maybe I'll plate in there." I start to get some lettuce leaves off and they look kind of raggedy and not that great. 'But I haven't got any other ideas at this stage. And I've just madly got to get this on the plate. Oh, shit. Sorry, Jacqui. You're right. JUDGES: Oh! Nuts. AMY: My figs are not looking so good at all. I've really got to come up with another plan now. I have the idea I'll put a couple of Brussels sprouts into my salad as the green base. I've used Brussels sprouts before in salads and I know it's got a beautiful sweet flavour when they're raw. So I think that's just going to add another little texture to my dish today. GARY: We asked for a beautiful, creative, simple salad. Let's hope it's come together. Two minutes to go. GEORGE: Come on, guys. (CONTESTANTS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) ROSE: There's not many ways I can plate this salad up. So I just pick it all up, drain some of the dressing off and garnish it with some feta. 30 seconds. Dress. Dress. Dress. Come on. CONTESTANTS: Come on, guys. Come on! Come on, guys! Come on! 10 seconds. ALL: Nine, eight, seven, six... MAN: Kha, the scallops. KHA: Yeah, they're in. ..five, four, three two, one. Time's up. (CHEERING) Yours looks awesome. I'm shaking. I know. Good, George. Looks good. Oh, look at that. That looks great. GEORGIA: So, we've got baby carrots with crispy parsnip, a tahini yoghurt on the bottom and macadamia oil and honey dressing. It's all about the carrots. If those carrots are amazing... I want them to be bitey. I want them to still be crunchy. OK. Ooh, they are crunchy. Yummy. I'm just going to say absolutely delicious. I really love it. I get excited when I have things like that because there's just something a little bit different about it, which steps it forward, which is those macadamias. For me, what I love about this dish is the kind of golden toast on the macadamia. And those wonderful, sweet, crisp parsnip chips together are a really clever combination and one I've not seen before. So that's super creative. I like it. I like it a lot. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) The judges are so happy with me. I'm so stoked. Wow, that looks like a riot. I love it. It looks really, really good. It's a couscous, roast pumpkin, prosciutto and goat's cheese salad. Shall we just taste it? Yes. GEORGE: Oh, yeah. That is seriously yum. Love the pumpkin. Love the goat's cheese. Love the prosciutto. I love the couscous. The couscous is just beautiful. It falls like rain from your fingers. It's fantastic. And I taste that and that's everything I want a salad to be. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Kha, what's the dish? It's a pickled carrot and daikon salad. And then I've put, like, scallops in. Are you happy with the way you've cut everything? Uh, it's not precise as I'd love to, but... MATT: The problem with this dish is it is clumsy in terms of the cutting and it impacts on how you eat it. Yep. And you've taken those beautiful scallops and you've chopped them up. It doesn't excite me. I look at it and go, "That is flat." Ooh, that looks good, doesn't it? Balsamic roasted beetroot and red onion, red quinoa and goat's cheese. Everything needed a bit more cooking. But the combination's delicious. Thanks. Really yum. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Phew! It's an achara, which is a Filipino pickled vegetable. I think it's a really delicious, tasty salad. And we love pickly things these days. I think the key here is think about how you might drop those flavours onto the plate and just bring it bang up to date. So, san choy bow. Cold. It's a Thai pork and fresh herb salad. It needs fresh and crunch and less meat 'cause it's not actually about the meat. (CHUCKLES) Mmm. But having said that, it's tasty. So, Anna, tell us what you've done. I've done a fig and prosciutto salad with a goat's cheese mousse. Absolutely classic combinations. And I love the idea of spray cream. It's one of my favourite things. It's good food. Thanks. Ashleigh, how are you feeling today? I'm feeling nervous today. I don't want to go through to the next round. What's the dish? It is a quinoa and baby carrot salad with a yoghurt tahini dressing. I'm just imagining a glass of wine and that salad comes out. You'd be pretty happy, wouldn't you? I love the fact the carrot looks sweet and sticky and roasty. I'm salivating. Come on, break it up and eat it. Oh. (CHUCKLES) Have you eaten all the carrots? They are soft, aren't they? Oh, the soft carrots. They're just absolute... For me, I could just eat a plate of those. You know, the crunchy quinoa. It's delicious. It really is. Thank you. Yum. That is a cracking dish. I'd seriously consider chatting to my chefs at Gazi and do a similar take on that 'cause that is wonderful. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) ASHLEIGH: It completely blows my mind. I was so surprised. I didn't realise it was that good. Amy, what have we got there? I have a Brussels sprout and roasted fig salad with a blue cheese crumble. The figs look like they've, you know, roasted too much. Yeah. I'm just now trying to fit the ingredients together. And in fact they don't all work together. Yeah. The Brussels sprouts... But the idea of blue cheese, bacon and fig... Yeah. I've tried to overcomplicate it. I think I've just gone too far and just done too much. Rose, what's the dish? It's a fennel, orange, with couscous, pomegranates, roasted lemon and tomato salad. You know what it is? It's just a lot of stuff mooshed together. You have to give each ingredient space to shine. Yeah. Hello. How are you? Hello. The way I like to do it is present tomato not always cut square. So some are, you know, in little quarter pieces, some are half, some are slivered. I can't see it. It's all mushed up into one. OK. Imagine if you'd done that three times the size and then you had, you know, another one like that and, you know, another one like this where it just played to the beauty of the ingredients. What's that? All of a sudden you're creating space. Yeah. We're plating up on stainless steel. This could be the next big thing. This could be the new thing. I'm enjoying this, George. It's quite nice. (LAUGHS) Have you got any olive oil? (LAUGHTER) Oh, they're nice. Look at those. MATT: Finish it off. Finish it off. A little...little rubbly bits of goat's cheese. Not too much. Just tiny bits. It's the same as we said to Rose, restraint. Yep. Restraint. Restraint. And allowing the produce to speak. It looks so much better. And I kind of look at what I did and I was like, "Why would you even plate like that?" Three cooks absolutely nailed the brief for an uber salad, a salad that had everything - had creativity, had texture, had flavour. If I call your name, you're safe... ..and please step forward. 1 If I call your name, you're safe and please step forward. Georgia. (APPLAUSE) Ashleigh. And also step forward to safety... ..Jacqui. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) They love my dish. I'm safe. I'm not going home. I get to go up to the gantry. I'm totally relieved. If I call your name, you're also safe. Matthew. (APPLAUSE) John. Anna. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) I'm so relieved. Beyond words. Just thank you. There's five of you. But only one of you did just enough to keep them from going into round two and the potential of going home. And that person is... ..Melita. Ridiculously relieved. Just so relieved. I couldn't get up those stairs fast enough. Well, now it gets interesting. Let's get into round two. AMY: There's all these cloches lined up. I think it's going to be really strategic today. There are four sets of cloches here. And under each set is a category. Each of you gets to pick a category. Within that category you have three choices. And whatever you choose within that category, everyone's got to cook with it. SARA: I'm thinking it's time to think strategy. You're in the bottom four and you do not want to go home. First up, what are your choices? This is cuisine. So, you've got French, Spanish or Vietnamese. (CHUCKLES) Kha's going, "Yeah, I'm definitely going Vietnamese this time." That's if you get that choice, Kha. Let's see what the ingredients are. Ooh. Look at that. You've got some beautiful veal cutlets. You've got quail and prawns. The next one is cooking times. You've got half an hour, 45 minutes or one hour. And the last one is cooking apparatus. So, you've got a cooktop, oven, or deep fryer. ROSE: I just think, "Oh, Kha, Sara, Amy, "please be kind." To decide who chooses first, good old-fashioned knife pull. Sara, you'll be first, Kha second, Rose third. And, Amy, you're fourth. AMY: As soon as I pick out the number four I realise I could really change everything here. Right, Sara, you're first. Which category will you pick? Ingredient. Come forward and pick up what everyone must cook with. It's strategy time. I'm looking at those core ingredients - veal, the prawns and the quail. I've cooked quail once before. And I'm actually really hoping that the other contestants have never cooked it. But it might give me an advantage. ROSE: I don't cook quail. They're so small and they're so expensive. And I would have to buy a truckload of quail to feed my family. So I've never cooked a quail before in my life. Kha. You're next. Which category? Cuisine. Cuisine. (CHUCKLES) Vietnamese. Yeah. But there's a lot of expectation now. My strategy with cooking Vietnamese is that I can play on my heritage. I know my Vietnamese flavours. Hopefully the other three haven't cooked much Vietnamese food. AMY: I've been to Vietnam a lot of times and I know the food, the street food. So I'm comfortable with that. Rose. You're next. I'm going to pick equipment. My brain is going, "Do I play strategy "and just pick something really complicated "and see if anyone can handle cooking with the oven, for example?" But at this point in time, there's only one Vietnamese dish that's floating through my head and in order for me to make that Vietnamese dish I need the stove top. Amy. You get one choice, cook time. AMY: I may have the last choice, but I am comfortable that Sara's picked quail. I know how to cook it. If someone else can't do that in that time frame, that does benefit me. I think I'm going to go 45. SARA: Amy picked 45 minutes. You know what? That's the best of both worlds. I can work with that. You've all made your decisions. You all must cook with quail. The country's Vietnamese. The only cooking apparatus you get to use is a cooktop. And you will get 45 minutes to produce that dish. This is really huge for me right now. I've never cooked Vietnamese food before. But I'm not ready to go home. I didn't put everything on the line to come here just to give up. Now, remember, you can use the pantry, anything you want. These rules apply. You have 45 minutes and your time starts now. Peanuts. Peanuts. Peanuts. Should be with the nuts. Can you see lemongrass? Yeah, I'm looking for it as well. There it is. There it is. AMY: Today, what I want to do is create a dish that is Vietnam on a plate. That beautiful street food - charred skin, the zesty, the spicy, the zingy - all of the beautiful flavours to really transport them back to Vietnam. MAN: Come on, Kha. Come on, Kha. Great work, Kha. WOMAN: Whoa! MATT: Kha, are you alright? Yeah. All good. I'm doing a pan-fried quail with a caramel sauce that's got a lot of, like, chillies, lemongrass, garlic and all that. I normally only eat quails, like, at Asian weddings. So it's sort of a spin on that dish. I've been going out with my girlfriend for 10 years now. I want to marry her but I feel like I can't support her yet. So I want to have this career in food. My dream is to open up my own food truck. I want to reinvent the pork roll. Get that all going and then I feel like I can actually bring her into my life, support her and our kids in the future. I know my Vietnamese flavours, but this is a risky dish because I've got to make sure the caramel is well balanced but also the quail is cooked perfectly. WOMAN: Go, Rose. I go and eat Vietnamese food probably three times a week. But because I eat it so often I just never cook it. So, yeah, I'm freaking out. I'm totally freaking out. WOMAN: Go, Rose. I'm cooking a Vietnamese salad with pickled carrot and herb garnish and some shredded, poached quail. The first thing I've got to do is start to put together my broth, which is my chicken stock, lemongrass, garlic, chilli, some coriander roots. WOMAN: Come on, Rose. Come on, Rose, you can do it. Then I get my quails into the broth to get them poaching for the finished dish. I'm feeling really nervous about cooking quail. I don't really know exactly how long I'm supposed to cook it for. But actually really it is just a little mini chicken. I know you can't serve chicken pink, so I'm just going to leave this quail in until it looks like it's well cooked. I don't really know what it's called. I'm going to do a marinated and charred Vietnamese-style quail. And I'm going to pair it with a fresh noodle salad. I kind of screwed up the salad and I want to redeem myself. I start deboning my quail and I'm rushing. But I'm trying not to rush it too much because I picked quail, I can't screw this up. Good work, Sara. Well done. Three more bones. It's so finicky. I need to get it into a marinade to infuse that flavour. I'm frantically chopping garlic, lemongrass, grating some ginger. I want to put as much punchiness into this as possible. I'm super worried going into this because I don't actually have that much Vietnamese food. I love pho, but it's like the one thing I have. I just hope that I can get these Vietnamese flavours right. She's awesome at deboning quails. I'm cooking a spiced barbecue quail today. This dish means quite a lot to me because that's one of my favourite things to eat in Vietnam, specifically a little place in Nha Trang. So that's where I'm trying to take myself and maybe even the judges back there today. I've travelled to Vietnam many times. I did a little bit of volunteer work in an orphanage up there. And, um, I really feel quite connected to this dish and, um... Yeah, I'm hoping to put those flavours on a plate today. Don't let this be your last cook in the MasterChef kitchen. 30 minutes to go. Come on. Personally for me, the difficulty, you put me into a challenge like this, it wouldn't be the time or the quail, it would be Vietnamese. You want sticky and I think you want some edge to the food. And I'm going to blow you away with flavour and with texture. And everything else doesn't matter. KHA: So, I've got my caramel sauce. I've added the fish sauce and it's a bit too salty so I add some coconut water just to balance it out. REYNOLD: That looks good, Kha. Well done, Kha. I'm worried that it's not thick enough and that it doesn't have the flavours. You know the secret to a good caramel fish sauce is getting that caramel really dark, isn't it? Does your mum make it at home? Yeah. She doesn't... She cheats, though. She buys, like, a caramel sauce on the side and adds it. Oh, does she? Yeah. Well, all mums cheat a little. All mums cheat. But that's the key. Yes. Yes. The caramel sauce is very important. It's vital to my dish. If I don't get it right, I could be going home. ROSE: My quail has been simmering in the broth now for about 10 minutes and I've kind of lost track of time. I'm feeling a bit nervous because I have never cooked quail before. What's in there boiling away? I'm poaching my quails. Poaching? Yeah, how long are you going to cook them for? Not for very long. Are you going to cook them pink or...? Quail is supposed to be pink? I didn't know quail was supposed to be pink. They're boiling to death in there. Nice and pink is not like chicken. You don't serve chicken pink. So I've probably cooked it for too long. I can't believe I've made such a big mistake so early on in the cook. 1 (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) ROSE: We've got 45 minutes to cook a Vietnamese dish using quail. And I have never cooked quail before. They're boiling to death in there. I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, "That's been on the boil for a long time." I think I may have cooked it for too long. So instantly I take it off the heat and out of the pot. I just hope that I haven't taken them too far. My God, I keep dropping my limes. SARA: I eat pho all the time. And they're the flavours of Vietnam that I know. So I'm using those flavours to inspire this dish. I'm making a cold noodle salad with a charred quail. But I've never done anything like this before. I want to do a rice paper roll fried. I don't even know if it works. But I figure if I can give it a go, it might be that one thing that sets me apart. I want to try and puff this guy up, see if it works. Yeah, they puff up really well. Do they? Yeah. Absolutely. I've never done it before. It just occurred to me. It's beautiful. Are you going to try one now? Why not? Ooh. There you go. (SIZZLE!) (APPLAUSE) They're fantastic, aren't they? That's fantastic. I love it. Absolutely. This is a great idea but how are you going to bring it all together? And are those flavours going to be bang-on? There's so much pressure and there's just so much at risk today. I'm in the bottom four. I don't want to look back on this cook and think I could have done better. I'm giving it everything. Come on, guys. Pressure's on! 20 minutes to go. Push it. GEORGE: Come on. AMY: I love Vietnam. I'm comfortable cooking with these flavours. I've got every opportunity to make a beautiful dish. I'm going to do a barbecue quail and do some beautiful herbs, stir-fried, on the side as well. At the same time, I'm preparing my nuoc cham dipping sauce, with a punchy fish sauce and lime juice in it. Here we go. I've chosen the dark fish sauce. It's a lot more pungent. I've got to be really careful about how I use this today otherwise this sauce could be a disaster. Let's go, Kha. Get a move on. KHA: I've never cooked with quail before. I've eaten a lot of quail, so hopefully that would help me. Cut through the joints. Yep. Nice. The first step I do is I part them. So I take the drumsticks off, the wings off, and then I French the drumsticks so they look pretty. Cook it on the crown and then take it off after, yeah? I want the quail to be golden-brown, perfectly crisp on the outside. So I'm cooking my quail breast on the carcass because it will give it more flavour. Your mother will be sitting at home watching this going, "Come on, Kha." She'll probably go, "What am I doing? "You're doing it wrong." I'm feeling immense pressure. It's a Vietnamese challenge. I'm Vietnamese. I don't want to go out on a challenge that I should be good at. It isn't just about delicious food, it's about avoiding elimination. You've got 15 minutes left. AMY: 15 minutes to go, I put my quail on to cook, skin side down. I really want a nice, charry, smoky flavour on that quail. This dish has to be perfect. This is me on a plate. This is my love for Vietnam as well. I really want to stay in this competition to show what I can do. It can just sit on heat there now. WOMAN: Get your pan on, babe. I'm putting it on now. Get it nice and hot. With 15 minutes to go, I start cooking my quail. I want to have a charred kind of exterior to it. But unlike a chicken or a duck, quail is so delicate and fiddly. It's such a small bird, it's so easy to overcook so I'm just being careful not to overdo them. WOMAN 1: Come on, Sara. WOMAN 2: Come on, Sara. ROSE: My brain is just going a million miles an hour and I'm feeling really like I'm losing control of my cook right now. I'm worried a bit about the quail. And I'm out of my element with this dish, with the cuisine. You've got some peanut, praline, chilli, yeah? Keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it together. It feels like I have all the components there to make a beautiful dish. But the only thing that's going to stop me is me. You can do it. You know you can do it. Come on. I know I can. Don't... Don't... Don't let the emotion of the moment get on top of you. Just cook and let the food win you. I feel like I need a high five. Come on. Let's go. Come on. Come on. (CONTESTANTS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) MAN: Don't forget those breasts in there. KHA: I put the quail in the pan. And looking at the clock, it should be done, so I take it out. I cut the quail breast off the carcass and it's still raw. I can't believe the quail's raw. I'm running out of time. I've got to do something about it. If I serve the judges with raw quail, I'll be going home straightaway. You've got five minutes, right, to get control of it. Because what you want is that quail to be cooked perfectly. It's in your hands, yeah? I don't want it too hot, though, do I? It's very important to have the temperature to be perfect. If it's too low, the skin won't get crisp. And if it's too high, then it burns. Are they done? Squeeze them. Have a feel. Have a feel. Still really bouncy. REYNOLD: Kha's cooking his quail breast a bit more, but he's only giving it about 20 or 30 seconds. I'm a bit worried that's not going to be enough time to cook it. I've cooked it again. I'm not too sure. I can't tell. But just feeling it, it feels like it's been cooked through. Go faster. ROSE: I can see that there's still a bit of skin on the quail, so I've decided to pan-fry the outside just to get that beautiful golden, crusty skin on the outside of the quail. Beautiful. I'm just hoping that it's still nice and pink on the inside. With the aroma in this kitchen, we're sitting by the river, we're about to crack a couple of ice-cold hooters. Two minutes to go. Two minutes to go. Two minutes? Gotta plate. Gotta plate. KHA: I've got my caramel going, but I've got two minutes to go and I know I have to plate now. So I place the quails on the plate, I carefully roll up my cucumbers and pour on the sauce and it looks beautiful. REYNOLD: Kha's rushing and he hasn't put enough caramel sauce on. Hopefully there's still enough flavour. You've got 30 seconds! Come on. Go, Amy. Come on, guys, bring it home. Come on, guys, you can do it. GARY: 10 seconds. ALL: Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three two, one. Time's up. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Vietnamese means a lot to me. It plays a big part in my heart. This is exactly what I would have wanted to put up if I had two weeks to plan it, so I'm hoping I've done enough. Well done, Rose. ROSE: Right now I'm just feeling really scared. This little plate of food is going to determine my destiny in the MasterChef kitchen. If I've overcooked this quail, this could be the last time that I go into this kitchen and I get to cook. Are you pleased? I'm... Yes and no. I'm pleased because I really, really listened to what you guys said in the earlier cook about restraint. And focused... What are you most afraid of? I'm afraid that I'm going to go home today and I want to be here. I really do. It's all or nothing for me. I walked away from my family. I've walked away from my life back home. If you don't believe in yourself, then who's going to believe in you? And I'm really pushing to let myself do that. But what seems to happen, though, is you put up a dish that you're not happy with and then you sneak inside your shell again. I know. This competition exposes you, it does. It opens you up, yeah? And you're going to learn so much about yourself. You've already learned how much... Look at that. Can you believe you could put up a dish like that... No. ..two weeks ago? So start believing in yourself, yeah? Sorry. Come on. Right, get out of here. Thank you. And we'll talk to you later. Thanks, guys. Wow. She has learned because, look, there's a little bit of...you know, sophistication and comfort in there. So that's lovely. Shall we taste? It smells good. Yeah. Grey. I am the master of the way. I am the master of the way. ALL CHATTER, LAUGH Hey! Over here, mate. (LAUGHS) Hey! Over here, mate. (LAUGHS) Thank you so much. See ya! Hey, thanks for driving tonight. Hey, thanks for driving tonight. You owe me. Hey, thanks for driving tonight. You owe me. (LAUGHS) Fair enough. Kate was giving me the eye as well. What?! What?! She was. No. No. BOTH LAUGH What's that? What's that? Oh crap. Don't worry about it. You're well under. Don't worry about it. You're well under. Yeah, but it's a lower limit now. Good evening. Any alcohol tonight? Good evening. Any alcohol tonight? Uh, just a couple... with dinner. Good evening. Any alcohol tonight? Uh, just a couple... with dinner. Yeah. She's fine, eh. Stop. That's over 250 micrograms. I now require you to accompany me to the booze bus... Oh stink. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do say... It's a failed result, ma'am. ...may be given in evidence in court. You could ring a taxi and pick your car up in the morning. Let's call your mum and dad. They're, like, 10 minutes away. Let's call your mum and dad. They're, like, 10 minutes away. We're not calling my parents. CHILDREN ARGUE CHILDREN ARGUE Please. Behave yourselves. No. In the car. INDISTINCT RT CHATTER 1 It smells good. Yeah. Grey. (SIGHS) Biggest problem? Quail. Yeah. We saw that in the pot, you know. It was boiling away. That's so tender, isn't it? That's so tender, it's so small. And I've got a really dry quail breast. I love the way she was thinking and that desire to put some caramel in there. I love the pickled carrots. I think they're really zippy and zingy. There are lots of great thought processes going on, but the execution, hmm? Everything is a little bit out of balance. SARA: Walking in with my dish, I'm super worried. I don't really know Vietnamese flavours so I'm wondering if it's enough. (SIGHS) Are you desperate? You've got no idea. Every day I'm in front of you guys, I'm learning something I've never learned before. Everything in that today is what I learned from the salad. There's sweet, there's crunchy. Everything on that plate is everything I've got in 45 minutes. OK. Off you go. Thank you. I'm hoping that that salad tastes delicious. I mean, it looks appetising. It looks crispy, crunchy, golden colour. There's herbs. You know, it's good. So, come on, serve up. I don't want to stop. Mmm. I want to keep going. I really do. I love it because I can still taste quail. It's quite a balanced dish. I think she's done a great job. I get crunch. And most of all I get all that meatiness off the mushrooms and quail that all match perfectly. I think it's absolutely beautiful. I really do. She's brought us a Vietnamese dish that has all that elegance and subtlety of a great French dish. It's light. It's fresh. Because of that, what you say - the quail, which is beautifully cooked - is the star. Yeah. Let's get the next dish in. Absolutely. AMY: If I went home on this dish, I would be absolutely devastated. I love this food. It's also my love for this culture and this country, so I really don't want to go home on a Vietnamese dish today. What's the dish? I've done a spiced barbecue quail. I notice you used a really stinky fish sauce, not the clear one. More of a pasty one. Yeah. Yeah. I know in a Vietnamese dipping sauce it needs to be quite strong and zingy. Alright. Amy, thank you. Thank you. Amy... ..it looks really good. Thank you. (CHUCKLES) Off you go. Hopefully it's tasty. The shallots look a little bit dark. I know Matt loves burny shallots. (CHUCKLES) So let's taste. I'll tell you what, that sort of char, though, that does remind me of Vietnam. In all the little street stalls where they've got all the little things on and they're smoking away. Guys, this smells wonderful. I'm excited. Oh, yeah. I love it. It's so tasty. And that's what Vietnamese food is. It's tasty. And she put bags of flavour in there. And actually I just want to keep... My mouth's watering. How's the quail cooked? Perfect. No criticisms 'cause it's still moist. And I love the fact that the fish sauce she's used, which is very aggressive and very kind of funky bottom of the fishing barrel on a hot day, she's smashed it with loads of lime juice but not too much sweetness. So it is a really fresh, bright, vibrant dish. And that balances the salty char of the quail perfectly. Yeah. Yeah. It's really good. What can I say? I love it. I absolutely love it. KHA: Staying in the competition is the most important thing to me at the moment. I want to go as far as I can and prove to my parents that they're wrong, but also make my girlfriend proud. Oh, it looks good. What's the dish, Kha? Pan fried quail with Vietnamese caramel. Kha, we know you're a dab hand with Australian food. How often do you cook Vietnamese? Not that often, to be honest, because my mum does all the Vietnamese cooking, so sometimes I ask her to teach me. And she gives me little hints, but I think she wants me to not know it so I can still rely on her and come back and eat her food all the time. I think I was a bit like you, Kha. I never cooked with Mum. People think I cooked with Mum in the kitchen. That never happened. She did all the cooking and we weren't allowed to get in there and do it. And I'd been in a professional kitchen for at least eight years before I started embracing my Greek heritage and cooking modern Greek. So don't try and live up to our expectations. You've gotta develop your own style, find out what that is. But you know what we're fascinated about? Is whether or not that tastes Vietnamese. I'm more fascinated whether it tastes good. Get out of here. Right. Let's taste. It's that little detail of the, you know, the Frenching of the bone. It looks great. It looks really nice. That quail has to be cooked perfectly. Ooh. Ooh. 1 Ooh. Ooh. A little bit under maybe. What do you reckon? OK. If that went out to a restaurant, would the customers eat it? It's a little too cooked down one end and, you know, a little bit raw on the other. Ooh, yeah. That's the bit that's gonna count...or not. Scrape it off. (CHUCKLES) The Frenching of the quail bone. Yeah. He did a good job. He's done a great job there. Caramelised it well. That's showing technique. Caramelised it really well. But my honest truth? I don't like the dish. I like things rare but that's still... It's a bit too gelatinous rare for me. And I just think it's just missing stuff. Just missing stuff to make it interesting. But where's the caramel? The caramel is supposed to be sticky and kind of finger-licking and, you know, soaking into the underside of that quail. And there's just not a lot there. Flavour. It needs flavour. I'm looking at your faces and I know your hearts are pounding. Elimination day is never comfortable for anybody. And at the end of it, obviously we know one of you is going home. Round two was in your hands. Kha, you picked Vietnamese. Sara, you picked quail. Amy, you chose 45 minutes to cook in. And, Rose, you chose the cooktop. So set yourselves up to put up some wonderful food. And two of you did. We felt really they absolutely nailed the Vietnamese flavours. And those dishes belonged to Sara and to Amy. So you're both safe. (APPLAUSE) And the food that you gave us was absolutely delicious. Amy, let's say a reflection of what you'd find on the street. It was charry and interesting, most definitely funky. And at the other end of the scale, Sara. It was delicate, it was sophisticated. It was a little understated but it was creative, it was wonderful. And we loved it. I'm so happy. But I'm also like, "Sara, let this be a lesson. "Don't you ever end up here ever again." So, it's down to you two - Kha and Rose. For one of you, your time in the MasterChef kitchen, no matter how much you want it to continue, is about to end. Kha, beautifully Frenched quail, good golden colour, but it was undercooked. Rose, bags of flavour on the dish. Your quail was overcooked. But...while one dish looked good, it didn't deliver the flavour we were after. And that's why you're going home, Kha. I'm sorry. I'm sad. But deep down inside I knew my dish wasn't perfect. It's a sad moment. But I think what we need to do is celebrate the highlights, Kha. And there's been plenty of them. That dish you brought us in auditions, that Vietnamese rice with bits of scallop in there. MATT: That is delicious. Then you backed it up with that dessert. It tastes amazing. It was super sensational and we loved it. And I think you made some great friends while you've been here in the MasterChef kitchen. Especially Reynold, I think. Yeah. You've been a good mate. Definitely supported me all the way through the elimination last time. Um, every step of the way, always been supportive like a big brother to me. I'm proud of what he's done in the competition. He's done really good dishes. I know he's going to do really well outside the kitchen. Kha, memories? Emotions? What do you want to say? Um... I've had a blast. Like, these last few weeks, probably the best of my life. I'm glad you got to taste a few good dishes. At least I know what I want to do with my life now. I'm not too sure if I've proved my parents right or wrong, but I'm proud of what I did. And I'll just keep that. Now I'll put 110% in everything. We're always trying to prove our parents that, you know. I still don't remember the day my dad's told me I've done a good job, you know? It's just the way it is. And if that's your dream, that food truck, it can happen, mate. 'Cause when you love it, it means something. Thank you so much. Can I come shake...? Please. Good luck, honestly. Thanks. Good luck, mate. It was a pleasure. AMY: Kha will be absolutely sorely missed. Like, he's been such a beautiful person. It was amazing, guys. Sorry, mate. Win it for me, OK? You guys are in big trouble with this guy. Even though I am leaving early, I think my parents will be proud. Hopefully they'll see that I actually want a career in food and that I can actually do well. ANNOUNCER: Next time... Oh, my God! Yes! Hello. He's one of the world's greatest chefs. I'm glad you're smiling. The godfather of modern cooking. I think I've stopped breathing. Time starts now. And he's here to take on 21 new apprentices. You're the chosen ones. The pressure will be relentless... Yes, Marco! ALL: Yes, Marco. Push. Push. Push. Come on. ..the scrutiny intense... Apprentices - balance, balance, balance. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. ..but Marco Pierre White gets results. What you created was, without question, exceptional. You should be very proud of yourself. They just need to hold their nerve. You like it? Able 2015