1 ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia - three close friends faced off against a Marcus Wareing masterpiece. I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, no! Ow! Hot! In an intense and emotional cook... ..Anna forgot to glaze her veal and she was eliminated from the competition. MasterChef, it's just been the best experience of my life. Tonight - immunity is back on the line. You're here today for one thing. But if they want the pin, first they have to plate. You only have four minutes. You've got to be kidding me! Whoever serves up the best-looking dish wins... That was crazy! ..to take on an industry powerhouse. MATT: Nick Holloway! I wouldn't want to go up against him. Nick's on top of his game. Flavour town in there! But so is his competition. That is a yummy dish. It doesn't get any closer than this. 10. 9. 9. Another 10 out of 10. Oh, God! # 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. # Able 2015 MATTHEW: Competing for immunity this morning... Let's go. ..and I'm pretty excited. I've had one chance at this before and I didn't quite get there. It's important to try and do as well as I can today. You know, this competition is getting really tight, and an immunity pin would give someone that real advantage. JESSICA: I want this pin SO bad. I will be doing everything in my power to get this pin today. Wow. Look at that. Upbeat, happy, smiley. I love this day! And the fact that you did so well in the invention test - what a cracker little menu that was. Well, you're here today for one thing, and that's this. Beautiful, shiny, gold MasterChef pin that we haven't given out yet this year. Ohh! Is today the day? Is today the day we give that pin away? I hope so, Shannon. Today IS the day. It has to be. What do you reckon the contestants have got to do to just nudge that score up and get it over the line? Know what your strengths are. Because then you'll choose the right pantry and then cook within yourself, and use that belief. Cooking is about confidence and it's about fun and putting that on the plate. And I think that if you get that formula right, we're in business. MATT: Round one... ..is something that should appeal to all three of you, 'cause I know that all three of you have been working on this part of your game. It's also something I think that... ..pretty much all the contestants we've ever had in the MasterChef kitchen have struggled with at one time or another. So, today's the day to step up to the plate... ..because round one is all about... ..plating up. Ohhhh! (OTHERS EXCLAIM, LAUGH) MATTHEW: I'll just come upstairs! (LAUGHS) My heart kind of sinks, because it hasn't been a strength of mine in the competition to date. The judges have slammed me a few times for the way that I present my dishes. So I know this isn't gonna be an easy challenge for me today. JACQUI: Plating is not my strength. I'm a mum of young kids, and the most important thing is getting tasty food on the plate quickly. It's not really about presentation so much. But I want to do everything I can to make sure that I'm the one cooking off against that chef today. Follow us. JESSICA: I am super, super, super happy that the challenge today is a plating challenge. You know, there are people that are better at it than me, but, um, it is definitely one of the things that I consider a strength. Plating up is super important, 'cause it gets the appetite going, it stimulates us and gets us excited. So, over here, you've got a selection of plates that you can pick from. Over there, you've got a selection of prepared ingredients ready to go. But they're not just any old ingredients. The ingredients here form a dish straight from the Press Club. My team and I have put together a dish that is modern, and this dish is called beef moussaka. Alright. So, what we've got here is a selection of ingredients. We've got a pine nut milk bechamel. Braised beef. Onion puree. Crispy eggplant. The rind of the feta made into gnocchi. Onion rings. Charred onions. And some roasted beef. There are a lot of elements to go on this plate. You know, we've just seen them and we're gonna have to put them on the plate straightaway, so there's not really any planning or thinking time. Um, yes, a big task. Great plating is all about detail, and what we're looking for is a plate of food that we can eat with our eyes. You need to bring precision, focus and your creative flair to the plate so you get through to the next round. All the ingredients, for a start off, that you need for this dish are at your benches. You have to pick a plate, pick the right plate, and use those ingredients to do George's moussaka proud. Now, there's gonna be no time to mess around. You only have... ..four minutes. MATTHEW: You've got to be kidding me! Four minutes to do a plating-up challenge? It's gonna be, you know, an intense four minutes. Are you ready to step up to the plate? Do you want that pin? If the answer's yes, your time starts now. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JACQUI: Matthew and Jessica have run to the plates. I don't. I run straight to my bench. I want to get a look at those ingredients and I want to start tasting to see how I might put it together. JESSICA: I really want to do this dish justice, and I'm thinking about how George would plate up his beef moussaka. So I take about a minute to kind of try and visualise this on the plate and do whatever feels natural to me and try and make it look beautiful. Already, one minute's down. Three minutes to go. There's so much to do. I haven't even got my plate yet. I'm feeling the pressure. I need to get things happening. So the first thing I do is concentrate on the meat. I want to give it some sort of delicate touch, so I slice across the grain, because George tells us that this is a modern take on a moussaka and I want it to look modern and not old-fashioned. WOMAN: Go, Matty! JAMIE: Think about how it's gonna eat, Matt. I think I'm just gonna eat everything. This is a great challenge for me. I mean, it obviously isn't playing to my strengths, but it gives me an opportunity to, you know, show what I've been practising and hopefully, you know, under the pressure of a challenge like this, actually bring out a good plating of this dish. JESSICA: I love the plating process. This is something that I find easy, and it is anything but easy today. It's never too late to change your plate! Two minutes to go! GEORGE: Come on, guys! I'm definitely starting to get really nervous. The beef just looks all wrong. It's on the wrong side of the plate. It is just not working for me, and I am getting really, really flustered. Come on, come on. I've decided I'm just gonna scrap it, get a new plate, start again. Come on, Jessica! Come on! Go, Jess! Come on! Jessica's messed up her plate and she now has to start from scratch. She seems pretty stressed right now. Time is absolutely running away from me, but I need to clear my head and, um, get some food on this plate. 90 seconds! Come on! (APPLAUSE) Go, Jessica! STEPHEN: Come on, Jessica! Get it! Come on, Matthew! Don't forget those onions! SARA: Let's go, Jess! Hurry up! Make sure you use every element! 10 seconds! Nine! JESSICA: We've only got a few more seconds left. SARA: Have you got the onion puree? I look down and realise that the onion puree is not on the plate, so I grab it and smack a little dot in right next to the beef. One! Pick up, please! (LAUGHS) That went so fast! Yeah! That was crazy! I just got that onion jam in there, which is an absolute relief. I'm really happy with how the plate looks. You know, there's definitely a couple of things I would change, but that's always the case with me. (GROANS WITH RELIEF) MATTHEW: Time's up, and I'm reasonably happy with the way that I've plated this up. It looks better than, you know, probably most of the things that I've plated up in the past. My brain just went, "Pffff!" Where did the time go?! Oh, bugger! JACQUI: Time's up... Ohhh! ..and I start to realise there's two, maybe three elements that I haven't even put on there. I'm thinking at this point it could be that that immunity pin has just slipped out of my grasp. But you just never know. Well, that's a wonderful four-minute challenge, isn't it? And you've all interpreted it in a different way. Some better than others. Ha! Let me show you how I'd plate it up. OK. First up, the beef. Let's go beef... ROSE: Watching George plate up his dish is such a thrill. It's amazing. I mean, this is a Press Club dish. Onion. Braised beef. This is George's creation, and it's watching an artist create an artwork. Now gnocchi. He's calm, he's cool, he's collected. He's taking his time. He's being really precise. JESSICA: George plates very, very delicately. You know, he loves getting his little tweezers out and doing things that are quite, you know, spaced out and modern and really beautiful. Come on. Count me down. ALL: Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Beautiful. Yeah? Yeah! Oh! George finished plating up, and it looks so different to everybody else's dishes that are there. It's...beautiful. Interesting, isn't it, when you see the...you see the dish as it was kind of conceptualised and served in the restaurant versus your idea of it. Jacqui. I think this one's too spread out. And I think the balance is a little bit off, you know? Yeah. Sorry, Jacqui, that's my opinion. The sliced beef, Jacqui, um, from a practical point of view, not an aesthetic point of view, is a no-no, because the beef's gonna go cold so quickly. No crispy onions there, no pine nut bechamel. Sorry, Jacqui. Matthew. I think this...this element on here, Matthew, is absolutely pretty as a picture - I love this. MATTHEW: Gary had some really positive comments about the way that I've plated this up, so I'm actually feeling quite good and hopefully have a chance to cook off for an immunity pin this afternoon. And I love the definition between the fresh elements and the braised beef... JESSICA: Matthew's done WAY better than I expected him to. (CHUCKLES) I definitely underestimated him. Jessica, I'm quite drawn to this too. It's more of a tumble of ingredients, which I don't mind. What I don't like is how the jus has run into the sauce. I definitely think there, Jessica, that, uh... ..you've drawn my eye straightaway to the fact that it looks very clean, all the elements are very, very close together, and you achieved the objective of what George has created in terms of all those harmonious flavours coming onto one fork. Mmm. Yeah, I'm in a totally different camp to you, I think. I can see why you like Jessica's dish, but for me, Matthew's dish is the standout of those three, for a number of reasons. The way you've glazed these little cubes of beef so they look really... they look sticky and delicious, and that just looks wonderful. You've left the beef plain so you can see how it's cooked. And this little plating here is so beautifully contemporary. Pulling everything together tight into a unit is exactly what all the cool kids are doing. MATTHEW: The judges have some really positive comments about the way I've plated this up, so I'm definitely in with a chance. Where are your crispy onions? Oooh! I didn't notice! GEORGE: Mmm. 1 I think this... ..this element on here, Matthew, is absolutely pretty as a picture. I love this. For me, Matthew's dish is the standout of those three. Where are your crispy onions? Oooh! I didn't notice! GEORGE: Mmm. MATTHEW: Unfortunately, I've actually forgotten to put the onion rings on the plate. Hopefully that doesn't cost me in the end. George, it's kind of your call, isn't it? Plating up is wonderful and something that I hold very close to my heart. But...we need a winner. Um... (CLICKS TONGUE) Matthew, LOVE that there. I think that's really beautiful. But you've missed an element. Jessica, um, I think you picked the wrong plate, and the jus has run, but we do love how you've put everything on the plate. It looks quite beautiful. And that's why YOU, Jessica, are going through to round two. Well done. (APPLAUSE) JESSICA: I have won the plating challenge. I am relieved and immediately super excited to get cooking. Jessica, congratulations. You've now got the chance to win this little baby here - an immunity pin. Oh! Before we do that... ..Shannon, the honours? (SQUEALS) Thank you! Thanks. It's amazing to put this jacket on. It's so exciting. I really, really, really wanted it, so, um, yeah, here we are. Um, there's a saying that anything that's born and raised in the country will always return to the country, and so it is with this chef, who was brought up in Lakes Entrance and then moved to Melbourne to work in three of the absolutely defining restaurants of this city - Stella, Blakes and Pearl. Wow. At their time, the pinnacle of hip dining in Melbourne. 11 years ago, he went, "Not for me." And he moved north - far, far north - to Palm Cove, where, for 11 years, he's been the head chef at Nu Nu. Please welcome Nick Holloway! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Alrighty! SARA: Through the doors comes Nick Holloway, and he's a pretty formidable chef, and I sure as hell wouldn't want to go up against him. JESSICA: I'm really scared of cooking against Nick Holloway. He is an amazing calibre of chef. A seasoned professional! He's got many, many, many years of cooking under his belt. Nice to meet you! (GIGGLES) And you. He's gonna be a serious competitor and I'm feeling a lot of pressure. Nick, welcome. Why the move? Why did you go north 11 years ago? Oh, well, you know what they say about country boys. It's very difficult. You know, I moved to the city for many years, and I just really wanted to be back in a smaller town with more, kind of, spirit and community values and 'know your neighbour' sort of stuff. Well, Nick, I hope you're on top of your game, 'cause you're gonna need to be today. Jessica is one of those contestants that are most worrying for a professional coming into the kitchen. Excellent. She has that ability of taking pretty much any ingredient and dragging maximum flavour out of it. We could be playing from the same deck, I think, so... Yeah, it could be a battle of the big flavours today, which is great. Bring it on. So, Jessica, Nick, it's time to see who's gonna impress us. And the rules are simple. You've got to give us one delicious dish. Now, there is a choice of two pantries. You would not have been able to ignore what's sitting behind us. The question is, what's under those cloths? Jessica... Mmm. ..there's a slight difference with the timings, as you know. You get 75 minutes to cook your dish. You are the amateur, after all. And, Nick, you only get 60 minutes - but plenty of time to put up something gorgeous. Jessica, you also - because this is YOUR home, the MasterChef kitchen - you get to choose which pantry of ingredients you both have to cook with. So, are you both ready to see what the choices are? Most definitely. Alright. Fingers crossed. Alrighty. Your first choice is... ..big. (EXHALES SHARPLY) There's definitely some amazing-looking ingredients that I'd love to get my hands on. And your second choice is... ..really, really teeny. One teeny-tiny little bench with teeny-tiny little ingredients. Very difficult decision. Big or small? It's kind of like you and I. (BOTH LAUGH) I know you're both staring at this table, and I am too, because there's an absolutely brilliant array of ingredients. Look at those tomahawks! I just want to pick one up, actually. Now, THAT... (CHEERING) ..is what you call a rib eye! Which is gonna be sweeter, the succulent... (LAUGHTER) ..teeny cutlet, or that heavily marbled, fatty tomahawk? Look at these babies here. Oooh! Who, I wonder, has cooked with an ostrich egg? Never. Or...the delicacy of a little quail's egg. Yeah. Beautiful. Nick, how are you feeling? You're looking slightly nervous. Yeah, I... Yeah, interested to see how it plays out. Remember, Jessica, whatever table of ingredients you pick, that's all you've got to cook with. The only thing you've got on your bench - oil, salt and pepper. There's no milk, flour, butter, sugar or cream. So you've got to be clever in your choices. The one thing that Shannon always tells us is to play to our strengths, so I'm doing that today. Jessica, have you had time to think? Yeah. I keep going back and forth. Yep. My plan today was to come in and cook with things that I've cooked with before. There's a lot more stuff on the small table that I cook with all the time. So? I'm going with the small table. Brilliant stuff. (APPLAUSE) Good choice, Jessica! (LAUGHS) Jessica, for you, it's all about one thing - getting your hands on that pin. This will be a blind tasting, so we won't know which of you has cooked which dish. That means we have to leave you in the capable hands of Shannon Bennett. Good luck to you both. Thank you. GEORGE: Good luck, guys. Jessica. (APPLAUSE) OK, Jessica, this is it. (CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY) You've chosen the small pantry. You've got 75 minutes, and your time starts now. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) There are some really gorgeous ingredients on this table. I'm gonna pick the quail. It seems like a really, kind of, smart option for me today. It's quite an easy protein to cook. And then there's some really beautiful, kind of, orange things on this table - so, lovely little pumpkins, little baby carrots and some mandarins. So, I'm gonna go with a really nice, kind of autumny-vibe dish today. Yeah, you've got your arms crossed. There's a bit of defensiveness coming in the body language, Nick. I'm worried. Are you alright? Huh? (LAUGHS) Oh, no, don't worry about it. I'm just deep in thought. Have you got any ideas what you're gonna do? No. No. NICK: I've got no idea what I'm gonna cook yet, so I'm feeling the pressure now. Jessica has made some really wise decisions... (APPLAUSE) ROSE: Go, Jess! ..and I think I'm gonna have some stiff competition. I feel out of my comfort zone. I've never been in a cooking competition before in my life. Your arms are crossed again, mate. And I'm feeling like a fish out of water. 1 STEPHEN: Come on, Jess! ROSE: Let's go, Jess! NICK: I think I'm gonna have some stiff competition. I feel out of my comfort zone and I'm feeling like a fish out of water. But once the burners get turned on and I get to smell and taste and feel, I'll feel totally at home. JESSICA: My strategy today is to keep things really, really simple. I am just gonna try and do a few elements and do them really well and not get overcomplicated. I'm gonna make a little roasted quail dish today, with a pumpkin puree and some roast carrots and the flavours of mandarin and some pine nuts over it. There's not a lot of ingredients in the dish, so the ones that are there really have to sing. So, where's this dish leaning towards? I'm definitely leaning towards nice, autumnal, warm, wintry kind of food. Yep. OK. Yep. Yeah. A warm winter dish that you would cook at home, taken to another level. Yes. Exactly. OK. Good luck, Jessica. Thank you. Alright. I'm getting fired up, people. I'm getting fired right up. (LAUGHTER) I'm gonna try and not let Nick's experience intimidate me too much. He might have all the experience, but I know my way around this kitchen, so I am gonna give it everything I've got. Looking good there, Jessica. (GIGGLES) Thanks! Nick's a funny one. Obviously likes to talk a lot. I feel like a coiled spring. You know what happens when you get cocky, Nick. But I'm trying to ignore him and just focus on my own cook. The thing that's gonna take the longest for this dish is actually roasting the pumpkin, so I get the pumpkin cut up, take the skin off it and get it into nice, small pieces so it cooks quick, toss it in a little bit of that mandarin, oil, salt, pepper, get it in the oven... There's no fat, so that's the only way I'm gonna get it sweet. ..and it's just got to stay in there nice and hot till it really breaks down soft and gets really nice and sweet. (SIGHS) Jessica, you've had 15 minutes. Yep. That means there's one hour to go. OK, Nick. Bring it. Your time starts now. I'm on? You're on! Go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I'm on! Looking at the table, my eye's drawn to the quail straightaway. I see that as the best of the proteins in conjunction with the rest of the vegetables and fruits on the table. # Do do do do do... # I really like that combination of juicy, succulent, pink sort of flesh with some of the other things I notice on the table - grapes, plums, beetroots, radishes. I'm gonna grab some of those. I'm gonna grab some of those. Finger limes. Bay leaves. Some more citrus. Get some of those bad boys right there. Slightly bitter, slightly sour, sweet - fantastic combinations to go with quail. I'm gonna get a bit of everything, really, I think, and then, uh, figure it out maybe a bit closer to the end. Oh. OK. (LAUGHTER) Quails love turnips. ROSE: Nick at the moment is grabbing a whole bunch of different ingredients, so I don't really know that he actually has a clear vision for what this dish is gonna be. And I'll be back for some herbs later on, I think. You'll be back? You've got everything anyway! Yep. Bingo. Let's cook. Let's do it. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) # Do do do do do... # (LAUGHTER) JESSIE: I think Nick is really, really charismatic. There's something about him that is really endearing. ROSE: Any thoughts on what you're making yet? I'm thinking, uh... Well, actually, I won't say it out loud. Just in case it doesn't work! Arggh! (LAUGHTER) He's quite funny and he talks a lot, and, um, I think today is gonna be a really, really fun cook. Um...roasting tray. The clock's ticking and I'm trying to get my brain together and the dish together. Bowls. I figure that once I start cooking and I let those ingredients speak to me a little more, I'll get a better idea of the direction I'm headed. I'm thinking... about a little riff on beetroots... ..radishes... ..grapes. Hang on. I need some grapes. One sec. (GRUNTS) If I'm gonna impress anyone today, I'm gonna need to make sure I've got some great techniques involved and some really beautiful processes that are gonna give my dish the edge over buggerlugs. Go, Jessica. (LAUGHS) Crank it up, mate. Definitely a little bit nerve-racking. As soon as I start to deconstruct this quail, I'm probably a little bit, you know, more confused than I thought I would be. The legs and the breasts cook quite differently, so I need to make sure I treat both of them, you know, how they need to be. I was thinking about starting off in the pan so they get nice crisp up on them, and then finishing them in the oven to make sure they're cooked through. My instinct would be... 'Cause you've got some oil here. You could confit the legs, even. You know? They don't take long to cook. OK. Shannon suggests that confiting the legs could be a nice way to go. I think he could be onto a winner with that one. I don't know if you've ever done a method like that. I mean, you've got to be comfortable doing something like that. It's not something that I've done before, but I understand the process behind it. Confiting is essentially cooking something in fat. What that does is it makes the meat lovely and moist and soft, falling off the bone, but it allows you to really kind of crisp up the skin as well, so you get the best of both worlds. It's either gonna be make or break, 'cause if it works, it's gonna be amazing, and if it doesn't, then I am gonna be in trouble. Not quite sure how this is gonna work, but we're gonna give it a go. First things first - I've got to get some poaching liquor ready for the quail. So I use some beetroot, sugarplums, blueberries and grapes and blended that all up in the blender, made sure it was seasoned correctly. 'Cause you really want the quail to lie languidly in a bath of strong, beautiful, fruity sort of flavours. I like the idea of cooking animals in the kind of food that they eat or the...complementary flavours. It's just a nice way of, sort of, starting to get things on the plate to start to talk to each other before you plate it up. Yeah. ROSE: Nick's teaching us about pairing up proteins with the things that they would eat, just to reinforce those flavours throughout the meat. Like, it's insane. Who would ever think to do that? Like, I'm, yeah, definitely learning a lot. Nick, Jessica! No pressure, Nick. 45 minutes to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) The second thing I do - I start to simmer some grapes in some mandarin juice with a little bit of salt. Once they've simmered for a moment or two and they've got really sticky and juicy, I pour them onto baking paper and put them in a really low oven. The idea is I'm gonna have some fresh grapes, I'm gonna have some slightly simmered grapes, and then I'm gonna have some chewier grapes - sultanas - to mix through at the end, so we've got grapes all the way through. Fruit sugars are lovely. Seeing as though the challenge involves having no sugar, you know, you've got to think on your feet and find sugar from another source. You know? SEVERAL: Yeah. Winning's in the little inches, the millimetres. Every scrap from here is gonna go in this pot to flavour the broth to poach the quail. GEORGIA: Love his philosophy. Yeah. It's actually really entertaining watching him. He's amazing. His philosophy's fantastic. He's really funny and... yeah, his food smells really good. Shannon! Nick! (LAUGHS) What are you doing now? Uh, I am trying to make a really, uh, pretty dish with different textures and different flavours, with the hero really, I think, being the grapes, the beetroot and the quail. OK. Good luck, buddy. Ah, thank you very much. I just might add - everything seems to be going SWIMMINGLY well around there, by the way. That doesn't add any pressure at all, does it? I mean, I'm all for a BIT of sabotage, but not... Oh, mate, I've been going easy on you. (LAUGHS) Jess, have you got a sauce or something to go with it? Good call. To make this little sauce, I chop the carcass of the quail nice and fine and brown it off really well in a pan. You want to get lots of, kind of, caramelisation, 'cause that's where the yummy flavours are. Once I've got that brown, I'm gonna add some shallots and some carrot and a little bit of water just to get a really nice little quail jus for the top of the dish. Come on, Jessica! OK. That's for a little sauce? Yeah. Great. That'll tie the dish nicely together. I'm liking what I'm seeing. OK? I'll keep an eye on Nick. I'm gonna just stir the pot with him and see what's going on. No worries! Some more grapes. How are we going, Shannon? I was coming to see you. I... I just need some more food! (LAUGHS) How can you need more food?! (LAUGHS) I'm taking all the grapes, Jessica. Is that OK? Nick's already gone through his second pair of shoes... (LAUGHTER) ..just going to the pantry. Crank it up, Jessica. SARA: She's cranking. Is she crankY or crankING? I'm good. I'm just trying to block your chat out. ALL: Oooh! Oh! Yeah! She's got some sass! (LAUGHS) ROSE: You've got this, Jess! Nick's reputation's on the line here! 30 minutes to go! (ALL CHEER AND APPLAUD) Give it to him! Give it to him! Between Shannon and the gallery, I feel they're all out to slow me down and throw me off my game. But, uh, I've got my eye on the prize. I've got a million ideas still racing around in my head, but it really is time to get down to business. Next. What are we doing? I've really got to start finishing off these processes, getting some food finally cooked, and we'll get it on the plate. I've got my jus on. I've got my pumpkin in the oven. Now I really want to try and get some of this mandarin flavour into the quail just to kind of tie the whole dish together, give it a bit of a lift. So I zest a whole bunch of the skin and rub that and some salt and pepper into the flesh. And the next step is to cook these lovely little baby carrots in a pan with a whole bunch of mandarin juice to give them a nice acidity. Jess, what are you cooking those in? Mandarin juice and a little bit of oil. Yeah, beautiful. Thanks. (LAUGHS) I think Jessica's got a really good chance today. She's a really strong cook. She's always got bags of flavour in her food, which is what the judges love, so I really think it could be anyone's game. ROSE: Oh, the carrots smell so good, Jess! They're looking really good. (CHUCKLES) What's going on over there? What's happening? She's nailing it, that's what's happening. Should I just step away now? She's doing really, really well. How are you going, Jessica? I'm doing good. Thanks. (GIGGLES) Oh! You'd better get your skates on, buddy. Alright. Come on! Cook! I think this challenge is throwing Nick a little bit. I don't think he was expecting the pressure to be what it actually is. Are your, um, grapes drying out? Yep. Yeah? We've got some flavour town in there. Nice! I feel really good in the kitchen today. I feel like I've picked a really smart dish. It's kind of delicious flavours that go together. My aim today is just to make it as hard for the judges to separate what I'm making from what Nick's making so, uh, I'm in with the best chance. I am giving every little ounce of my being today to win this pin. Yeah, I want it so bad. WOMAN: Go, Jess! MAN: Come on, Jess! You can do it! My bench is an absolute mess. But I've made my mind up. I'm going to cook autumn fruit-poached quail with candied grapes, radish and fennel. I had to scramble a fair bit today, and I hope that once I finally get the food on the plate, it's tasting the way it should and not a reflection of the way I've been working. Mmm. That tastes bloody good. My God, time goes quick in this MasterChef kitchen! Oh, yeah! There is 15 minutes to go! WOMAN: Come on! Come on, Jessica! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Right. Good, good, good, good, good, good, good. I'm feeling like the dish is coming together, but I'm also starting to get pretty flustered. I've got a lot of things kind of happening, and I look over and realise that my carrots have been in that pan for AGES. They have gone completely black and charred on the bottom. SARA: Shit. I just really, really hope that I've got enough time to fix this, because if I put blackened, charred carrots on the plate, that absolutely rules me out winning any immunity pin today. 1 JESSICA: I look over and realise that my carrots have been in that pan for AGES. Arggh. I have absolutely burned the hell out of my little carrots. They're blackened and gross on the bottom. Bitter. Also, make sure you wash them. I just got a little bit of grit. OK, cool. Make sure your next batch, give them a good wash. Alright. Coming down to the wire. I have to get a second batch of carrots on. Fortunately, I'm working with little baby carrots today. They are thin and they don't need a huge amount of time to cook. There's no mandarins left. The biggest problem I have right now is there are no mandarins left in that pantry. Time to start putting all this together! 10 minutes to go! Come on! Come on, Jessica! Cooking the carrots without the mandarin juice is, um, not gonna be an option. It really needs the brightness and the acidity from that, kind of, citrus. Can anybody see where the other half-mandarin I had is? Massive worry - if I don't have this element on the dish, then, you know, there's not really any point in finishing it off. Hey, Jessica. Here you go, mate. ONLOOKERS: Aww! There's another half-mandarin for you. JAMIE: Look at that! Isn't that sweet? Hope it doesn't cost you! Look, it might give her the edge, but this is what cooking's about. We're here to do the same thing today, and that's cook some fantastic food. Alright. Let's do it. The next step is to get this pumpkin puree on the go. You need liquid. Yeah. I don't want to add too much, kind of, plain grapeseed oil. It doesn't have a huge amount of flavour to it. So, definitely worried about that being a missing element from it. JESSIE: Jess, what about your confit duck leg oil? Yeah. Cracking idea, Jessica. Jessie suggests that I use the oil from the confit quail legs in my puree, which is a fantastic idea. It's just gonna add a little bit of meatiness and tie the whole dish together. I want... Come on, let's hurry. Let's hurry. Yep. Let's hurry. Come on. Come on. You're on the home stretch, Jessica. Yep. Leave yourself enough time to plate up, OK? Shannon's starting to look really nervous, which is not a good thing. I've got to get this quail out. I've got to plate it up. I am running out of time. Right. Time to start putting this bad boy together. Come on, Jessica! Come on! This is it, guys! Two minutes to go! Come on, Jess! OTHERS: Come on, Jess! Come on! NICK: The pressure's on and the clock's ticking. I've got to concentrate and actually deliver a dish. The quail's cooked slightly pinkish. This is how I like it. Some would think it's undercooked. But I've just got to hope that the judges see things the way I do, or I'm done. Oh, yum. Ooh, yum! Yum! 10 seconds! ALL: Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Whoo! (SIGHS) I am absolutely ecstatic. This is definitely one of the better cooks that I've had in the competition. I think that I've done a really good job. Ah! (LAUGHS) That looks yummy! I've tried one of my little confit quail legs, and I'm super glad I took the risk on doing that. They're delicious. So, um... Fingers crossed! (GIGGLES) I'm really happy with the dish that's turned out. Time's up. The food's on the plate. I feel like we've all done the best we can today. I know I've put my heart and soul into my dish. Happy. Look, it's in the judges' hands now. It's all just a waiting game. GARY: I'm looking forward to this one, because I think Jessica is EXACTLY the girl to take this immunity pin out. She's been cooking brilliantly, and she's flavour-driven, which I love. Well, let's find out. Let's get the first dish in. WAITER: This is confit and pan-roasted quail, pumpkin puree and mandarin-glazed carrots. Gee! Look at those carrots! MATT: Mmm. Look at that puree. Those carrots look GREAT! Look at that quail. Look at the colour on the quail! Looks good. It's just ultimate autumn, isn't it? Looks like they've confited the legs and, you know, roasted the breasts of the quail. So, that's fantastic. That's showing technique. Let's taste. Mmm. Have you eaten the carrot top? Mmm. Delicious. And, you know, you mentioned the tops of the carrots. I thought, "For sure, I'm gonna eat a top of a carrot "and it's gonna be full of grit," and no - and delicious! How good are those confit legs? That's a cracker. I got a whole one! (CHORTLES) Mmm. Really good. Yum. Ooh. I mean, it's the sign of a nicely cooked quail, when you can eat the meat straight off the bone. It's super delicious! Can you pass me that plate there? You know what? Again, I'm gonna refer to what was on the table, and there was no butter on the table. I mean, that pumpkin's been roasted, so you intensify the flavour, you bring out the sweetness, you make it a bit darker and richer without having to add things like butter, cream... Yeah. ..X, Y, Z. That is tasty, that puree. I love it. I mean, straight up, I love the dish. I think it's delicious. There's beautiful caramelised flavours in there. And what I like most is the flavour in the pumpkin. It's really sweet, really roasty and caramelised. I... I think there's mandarin in that pumpkin puree. Yeah. That gives it that little... It's good, isn't it? The puree - good... ..but it's just... It's little... For me, it's just lacking some of that freshness. I disagree. We're all thinking slightly different. 1 Absolutely love the carrots. The puree - good... ..but it's just... It's little... For me, it's just lacking some of that freshness. Yeah... See, I... Yeah... I disagree, 'cause I think, that kind of dish, it's all warm and comfortable in front of the fireplace, you know? It's a cold and chilly day and everything's rounded and earthy. I'm not saying that this isn't a delicious dish. It IS a delicious dish. It IS a delicious dish, but I ask myself the question, would it be better if there had been a little bit of butter in that puree? And I go... .."Maybe." Mmm. Well, we're all thinking slightly different. Before we score, I just want to point out - look at that. And you're still dipping your fingers in, Matt Preston! No, no. No, it's great. (LAUGHS) Shall we score? That is a rock'n'roll dish. Delicious. Great start. Hoo hoo hoo! Let's get the next dish in. Yeah. WAITER: This is: Hey, that looks alright, doesn't it? Yeah, nice. I love the colour. I love the colour of those little...little radishes there. And they look like some little fennel tops. Very pretty. It looks flavoursome. Shall we taste? Yeah, great-looking dish. Let's go. Let's do it. Ooh, that sauce looks good, Gary. Yeah, it does look really good. And it looks like there's... there's poached grapes, isn't there? Or...yeah, poached grapes and fresh grapes. Ooh. Is that chard I see? That could be a, um... ..a Jessica indicator. Can I have a little scrape around in that bowl? Ooh! It's good, isn't it? I don't care who's cooked that dish. I love that. Mmm! For a table of ingredients that had no sugar on there, you know, there was no honey on there, you know, there is SO much delicious sweetness that's come out of the cooking of this dish. Yeah. That's so yum. And that's obviously from caramelisation of the bird and also those grapes - that of, as you cook them down, they're intensifying. Yeah. Yummy. A bit like a botrytis grape. That is...that is a yummy dish. Yeah, I'm... There's not much I can fault on it. I like it. I like it a lot. And I think the thing that jumps out at me is how much flavour's packed into the bird and grapes and that vinaigrette, or sauce, that's in the bottom. And there's a nice contrast between fresh and cooked grapes, and also that dried fennel, a little bit of herb. There are two types of good dishes. There are good dishes you can't fault and there are good dishes that achieve greatness BECAUSE they're surprising... Mmm. ..and because they do that essential thing of... You know, a sweet sauce, your immediate reaction is, "Oh, it's gonna overpower the quail," and that quail still stands as the hero of that dish. Yeah. And it's beautifully cooked. You know what I'm most pleased about? This is the closest one so far, isn't it? Oh, yeah. For me, look, I'd eat both of them, and I'm not going, "Oh, that one's... "..that one's slightly overcooked, so I'm gonna mark it down." Yeah, but you... I like both of them. I think they've done a great job. I'm gonna be fascinated to see how you score this one, boys! We have a battle on our hands between these two. Yeah, there's no doubt. Big-time. It must have been an exciting cook, MUST have been, judging by the food that you put in front of us, and, Jessica, this is all about you, because it's about your opportunity to win that immunity pin. And for you, Nick, it's about walking out of these doors... What's MY opportunity? (LAUGHS) ..with reputation intact! So, fingers crossed for the both of you. Alrighty. The question is, who's taken those teeny-tiny ingredients... ..to make the biggest impression? Let us tell you that both of those dishes were absolutely superb, and that's why we've got big smiles on our faces. Well, that's a start. (LAUGHTER) (LAUGHS) It's a start. Are you a little bit nervous, Nick? Yeah! Terrified! I love the fact we're making you a little bit nervous. It's great! Shannon, firstly, Jessica, how did she go? Oh, great. I think Jessica's got some real talent. I'd say it's the best immunity cook so far. Let us tell you that both of those dishes were absolutely superb, and that's why we've got big smiles on our faces. Well, that's a start. (LAUGHTER) (LAUGHS) It's a start. Are you a little bit nervous, Nick? Yeah! Terrified! I love the fact we're making you a little bit nervous. It's great! Shannon, firstly, Jessica, how did she go? Oh, great. I think Jessica's got some real talent. I'd say it's the best immunity cook so far. I gave a little bit of input when needed, and I was admiring someone who could enter into the professional realm of cooking one day. Thank you. So, shall we find out what the scores are? Yes. Please. First of all, we have to ask, who cooked which dish? Jessica, what did you cook? I made the quail with the pumpkin puree and carrots. So, that meant, Nick, what did you cook? I cooked, uh, quail poached in autumn fruits. I think we'll reveal the scores for Jessica first. What do you reckon? Oh! Course you will! Huh? (LAUGHTER) Just to keep you in suspense, Nick. Oh! Yeah. Standing in front of those judges is very intimidating. I know I've put my heart and soul into my dish. Look, it's in the judges' hands now. I'm an absolute bundle of nerves. I reckon, as I'm getting older, there's a certain type of food that I really, really love and there's a certain type of food I really don't love. And, Jessica... ..I LOVED that! Holy sh...! 10 out of 10! Oh, God! (JESSICA LAUGHS) (SQUEALS) Jessica... ..you know why? You know why? And I'll just talk about one element. That quail was just absolutely delicious. It was dark, delicious, caramelised. And the fact that you cooked the quail breasts beautifully and pink and then you confited the leg was absolutely wonderful. Well done. Thank you so much! That ups the ante, doesn't it? (LAUGHS) Jessica, I scored your dish... ..9 out of 10! Oh, God. Beautiful, deep, dark puree... and quail, and I love how you prepared that - both confiting the legs and roasting the breast. Well done. (LAUGHS) Hey. How are you feeling, Jessica? Oh, amazing. This is... I mean, it's not even over yet. Doesn't matter if I win or not, because this is already the best point of the competition so far for me, absolutely. Jessica, I scored that beautiful dish of yours... ..9 out of 10. Thank you. Oh! (LAUGHS) Leave it at that! (LAUGHS) The softness, the sweetness of the carrot and the acidity and the complexity and fragrance of the mandarin. That was really just elegant... ..and what we expect from you - all about flavour, but now, much more importantly, as much about technique. Well done. Thank you! (SIGHS) You've scored 28 out of 30, and no other contestant this year has come that close to getting the perfect marks. Well done. (LAUGHS) Thank you so much. I'm in dire straits. Jessica's only two points short of a perfect score, and I'm trying to think about how I'm gonna lose gracefully. I may as well go now. Right, Nick, I'm not gonna keep the suspense too long. I'm just gonna say that I've had... ..close to a perfect day. I love a day when I come in and I eat great dishes. I really do. It makes... makes my day, makes my week. And I scored your dish... ..10 out of 10! (ALL EXCLAIM) It was a perfect day, 'cause both those dishes just... ..they ticked the boxes. They did it for me. I loved it. And if I talk about the quail again, it was just absolutely beautifully cooked, and when I had that first mouthful, it was just beautifully caramelised, it was sweet, and just wonderful. That's what cooking's all about, is jamming flavour into it. Totally. And you did it, and I loved it. Oh, thank you very much. One. (LAUGHS) GEORGE: I scored your dish... Come on! (LAUGHS) ..a 9 out of 10. Arggh! You get a little hug now. (LAUGHS) I loved it again, 'cause that pantry had no additional sugars on there, but you brought sweetness into the dish by just cooking those grapes a little bit to boost the flavour up. It was really beautiful, Nick. Well done. Oh, thank you very much. This is the most nervous I think I've been in the whole competition, waiting for the results here. I'm actually in with a chance. This is just insane. (CHUCKLES) What we loved about this tasting is ALL those positives on each dish. Nick, what I loved about your dish was all those little details - the way you treated those grapes differently, the little sausage, the tiny bit of bay leaf that pops up there, the flavour of the little bit of mandarin on the leg of the quail. Which made, for me, your dish one I wanted to go back and explore again and again. 10 out of 10. Whoo! (LAUGHS) (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) So close, Jess! Oh, come on! Give me a hug, eh? Aww! Cheers. You know what the terrible thing is? Jessica scored this amazing score, and on any other day, you'd now be putting that pin in your hand. But you've come up against a real phenomenon in Nick, and he cooked brilliantly. Well done, mate. Your dish was really just elegant and his dish was just a little bit more complex. So you need to look at this as another marker in the ground of how far you're coming as a cook. Absolutely. And we know you can do flavour. But you're showing us technique now, and that's SO exciting for us. We're starting to see some... ..big characters standing out here, and you're one of them. Well done. Thank you so much. Shannon, are you proud? So close... Yeah, incredibly. Jessica didn't lose today. Nick pulled it out of the bag. You know what I loved? There was no ego in the kitchen today. And I think that was why we all had a lot of fun and... ..um, it was a pleasure to be here and be amongst that, and I think, next time, we're gonna do it. Well done, Jessica. Thank you so much, Shannon. Nick. Thank you so much for... Oh! ..coming down to visit us. We really appreciated it. And everyone needs to go to Nu Nu next time they're up in Palm Cove. Oh, I hope so! (LAUGHS) We've been a couple of times. It's on the list next time we're back up. So, thanks so much again, and we hope, actually, that you come back. I'd love to. It was a pleasure. It was really good fun today, everyone. Thanks again. Thank you for having me. I really felt for Jessica. She pulled out an absolute cracker of a dish today, and, look, I pipped her at the post. I really think that just comes down to experience, and there's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that if she sticks at it, she's got what it takes. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Week by week, they're getting better and better. Week by week, you're getting closer and closer. And that pin is gonna go off. Not today - maybe next week. Well done. But who knows what's gonna happen? Because tomorrow, we're going on a little jaunt up to one of our favourite parts of the country - the beautiful King Valley. (ALL GASP) So, we'll see you up there. Good luck. Enjoy the drive. Get out of here! See you. Shannon, thank you so much. Even though I didn't win, this is definitely one of the highlights of MasterChef and probably my life. The elation is just something that I can't imagine ever being repeated. It's so good! (LAUGHS) ANNOUNCER: Next time - they're off to the King Valley for the Ben-Hur of team challenges... You've never fed 80 Italians. ..cooking an elaborate lunch... You need to move. Come on. ..for two of Victoria's great winemaking families. We need to work really, really, REALLY hard. Their guests expect classic Italian food... Totally out of control. ..with bold flavours... I'm alright. ..served pronto. Blue team, stop! Ooh, that's risky. But how do you pick a winner... That's a really lovely dish. ..when the food is this good? Genius. I can't express how close the result is. Supertext Captions by Red Bee Media Australia Able 2016