1 ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia ` our contestants drew on childhood memories... Pretty much what I love to cook. ...as they fought for a spot in our final five. I think I've done my memories justice. But when Matthew's flavours didn't balance,... He knows deep down that this is not his best effort. ...a house favourite left the competition. (APPLAUSE) Thanks, guys! Tonight ` they're our top five of 2015. It is game on. Now, in finals week,... I could win this. ...they will face the challenge of their lives. Going to give it my best shot. With the intensity building... I'm pretty lost at the moment. Nuh. ...and the trophy within reach,... You wanna be in that top two. ...they will deliver the best food... Absolutely delicious. ...we've seen this season. What we're tasting today is incredible. But even with cooking this good, only two can be safe. If I call your name, you're in tomorrow's pressure test. # Burning up in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # In our souls, we all know # our dreams make us who we are. # Burning up in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # Supertext Captions by Ericsson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2016 I'm so happy I've made it to finals week. Who would have thought a girl from Bowraville would make it this far? Winning MasterChef would really change my life. JESSICA: I am SO proud to be here in the top five. I'm gonna put everything I've got into this. It is game on now. Finals week is huge. I have no idea what's in store. But I feel like I've got my eye on the prize and I can potentially win this, and I'm going to give it my best shot. Today, I'm determined to go all out. I wanna show the judges how creative I can be, and I could win this. REYNOLD: To make it to top five is amazing, because thousands of people applied for this, and... only five of us are left. Oh! JESSICA: Walking into the kitchen on finals week ` this is just the best feeling ever. The finale is SO close now. This is really the time to show the judges what I can do. Good morning! ALL: Morning. Welcome to finals week! (ALL LAUGH EXCITEDLY) Yes! Can you believe it? Who would have thought you'd get this far? And I know that your brain's working already. "What is going on? No mystery boxes on the bench. "What have they got planned for us?" Now I am scared. I am sure they're gonna throw everything at us. This week is gonna be massive. Let's reflect for a second and put it into perspective. 11 weeks ago, you walked through those doors with a couple of things, some skill; a palate, most definitely; an attitude ` a great attitude, But above all, a dream. A dream to win MasterChef. And you're standing here at the start of finals week, and it's SO close. It's nearly yours. And you're gonna have to work hard. So, beginning of the week, normally you'd expect to see mystery boxes. Today is a little bit different. We think you've earnt the right to pick what goes in today's mystery box. GEORGIA: Oh! Wow. JESSICA: I would love to pick my own mystery box, but that can't be... that's too good to be true. I know there's gonna be a catch here somewhere. But... you only get to pick one ingredient each,... (ALL CHUCKLE, GROAN) ...and then once you five have selected your five ingredients, it's our turn to pick the final three ingredients to pop in that box. Wow. And you won't get to find out what anyone else has chosen... until you lift that box. This is a huge twist. We never get to pick the ingredients. It's a little bit scary, because I have no idea what the other four will pick, and who knows what the judges will pick? Georgia, you're closest to the pantry. Yep. So you're gonna go first. You're gonna pick that first ingredient. Come on. Let's go. (GIGGLES) God! Ooh! Ooh. See that nice, big mystery box? Now you've got 30 seconds... OK. ...to pick an ingredient. Oh my goodness! GEORGIA: I only have 30 seconds to choose an ingredient. I was, like, "Oh, that'll be easy." No, it's not easy. It's so hard. Do I choose a spice? Or do I choose a herb? What if I wanna do a protein? But what if I wanna do a dessert? The figs are gorgeous, actually. Yeah, the figs are nice. I'll go with the figs, actually. Yeah? Done. They're in season at the moment. They look super luscious and ripe. Essentially, it doesn't matter what anyone else chooses. If I can come up with something to do with those beautiful figs, I'll be OK. Don't tell anyone what you've picked, all right? OK. (LAUGHS) Brilliant stuff. Jessica? Cool! In you come. You don't know what she's put in. Did she put a protein? Did she put a fruit? (SIGHS) Who knows? Today, I don't care what anybody else chooses. I'm thinking I need to play to my strengths,... So, what are you gonna pick? I'm gonna go prawns. All right. ...and I want a protein. Wow. How is that gonna go together? This is getting interesting. Some disparate ingredients. Reynold, in you come. You've got something in mind, haven't you? Yeah. Um, I'll probably go with... Almonds. ...flaked almonds. I'm just gonna focus on almonds, what I can do with the almonds and just be flexible with that. And if I have another ingredient that I'd like to use, then I'll incorporate that in. BILLIE: My God! Sara? In you come. SARA: I've only got 30 seconds. And you've had 10 seconds already. (LAUGHS NERVOUSLY) I really wanna choose something that'll stand out, something that's just a bit different to everyone else. Cos you've got about five seconds. Right. What are you gonna pick? I think I'm gonna go the squid. Now it's time to be creative. It's time to bring my A game and make a dish that will really impress the judges. Ooh. Delicious. Let's go. Billie? An ingredient you wanna cook with. Yeah. Being last, I think that someone's already chosen a protein. Time. That's it. You've gotta go. Pick something. Yep. I'm gonna go with this. What are you gonna pick? Oh, beets? All right. Give us a few. So I've gone back to my roots and chosen an ingredient that's really versatile ` the good old beetroot. Right. Billie? Let's go. In you come, boys. JESSICA: Be nice to us! I'm actually really nervous about what the judges are going to choose. MATT: Hmm. They could choose something to really... stuff us up, maybe. They might choose an ingredient that doesn't go well with anything that we've picked, making us, you know, really think about what we wanna cook. Some, kind of, flavourings would be really great. Like a citrus or a vinegar, or maybe some herbs. Hopefully they're nice to us. Right. Let's take it out. MATT: Let's go. 1 All I know is that there's squid in there. So I hope there's something else that will go with it. Ready to see what's in the box? REYNOLD: Yep. GEORGIA: Oh! BILLIE: Whoa! So, Georgia, you picked figs, Jessica prawns, Reynold almonds, Sara the squid, Billie ` surprise, surprise ` the beetroot. Gary's put in lemons, I've put in dill, George has put in very, VERY dark chocolate. That was pretty random. I'm just gonna stick with my figs and build a dish around that. I'm happy with that. The beetroot for me,... yeah. I have an idea. Some rules. First of all, you have 60 minutes to give us one delicious dish. You have to, as usual in a mystery box challenge, use at least one of those ingredients. But you have regular pantry ingredients ` cream, butter, eggs, milk, sugar and vinegar. We're gonna taste everybody's dish, and the winner gets an all-important advantage in the invention test later on today, so it's worth fighting for, especially because it's finals week and a lot rides on every single challenge. You're in it to win it. Your time starts... now. So many opportunities here, really, to succeed. Yeah. Great little mystery box. No excuses today. Start of finals week, and they are our top five, and we wanna see delicious food. Matt, what do you reckon? Combination? Calamari. Yeah. Dill. Lemon. Use the almonds as a crumb. Something lovely, golden, crispy, crunchy. I'm imagining a beetroot tarte Tatin, with chocolate ice cream or... Oh, beautiful. Yeah, nice. That could be really interesting. But the kind of advantage that they're heading towards in the invention test, you want all these advantages going into finals week. Ooh, yeah. You wanna set yourself up for success. And you start off at the beginning of the week doing well ` boom. This is my big chance to show the judges just how creative I can be. So today, I'm going to cook textures of squid with beetroot. So, the first thing I need to do is slice and juice my beetroot, because what I wanna use the juice for is to actually colour my squid so the squid is purple! I think it will look cool. Hey, guys. Hello! You chose the squid, didn't you? Yeah. So, obviously using it. Yeah. OK. You're gonna do something funky, aren't you? I was thinking about using the beetroot as a colour for the squid, so when you cut it in, it goes red and then white. I... I would avoid, but then, that's me... Yep. Beetroot and squid together. ...the beetroot and the squid, yeah. I love the way you conceptualise a dish. But don't forget flavour. Yes. I will. Thank you. I really wanna use the beetroot as a decorative element, but... Gary just said beetroot and squid don't really go well together. (LAUGHS NERVOUSLY) GEORGIA: I'm going to make a dessert today, so I'm going to use the beetroot, the dark chocolate, the almonds and the figs. I'm going to make a chocolate dacquoise. A dacquoise is basically a meringue biscuit that uses a nut meal, and you mix it into the meringue mix and bake it. With beetroot-poached figs and a dark chocolate ganache. If that's not going to impress them, then I don't know what will. You picked great ingredients! Now all you've gotta do is bring us great food! 40 minutes to go! Come on! (JUDGES APPLAUD) REYNOLD: I'm definitely gonna play to my strengths today and make a dessert. Reynold. Hey, guys. Almonds. Almonds and citrus. Nice. What's the dessert? Uh, so, I'm gonna try and make an almond cake and an almond ice cream with a lemon curd. All right. Brilliant. You've got this week to go. Imagine if you put up a great dish every challenge. Yeah. That's my plan. I'm really gonna go for it this week. Now is the time to do it. So I'm gonna pack this dish with lots of elements. Today, I am gonna make a prawn chawanmushi, which is a little, kind of, savoury Japanese steamed custard. With prawns, lemon and dill, it's a beautiful combination. I really wanna make a statement and show the judges that I can win this competition. The very first thing I need to do today is get my prawn broth on as a basis for the custard. It needs to be full of flavour before I even get that custard into the steamer. So that needs a lot of work. No better way to start finals week than with a win! 30 minutes down. 30 to go. Come on! Come on, guys. Today, I chose beetroot. It's one of my favourite vegetables. So I'm going to cook a neat little stack with lots of different layers of beetroot piled on top of one another. Billie Beetroot. What are you gonna make? I'm doing a... little beetroot, dill and lemon stack. (GARY CHUCKLES) Yeah, look, I... I'm not gonna knock it, and obviously, we were doing this in the '90s a LOT. Yeah? Yep. Are we doing it now? Think, "OK, what can I do to make it look...?" (GASPS) Wow. OK. It's not one of those bad stacks from the '90s that we all went, "Eugh." I'm shocked Gary and George don't like the idea of my dish. I need to take it to the next level. This beetroot stack has to be spectacular. 1 I'm already halfway through this mystery box challenge, and I'm really worried. Gary and George don't think my beetroot stack will look modern. So I need to drag it into the 21st century. I'm thinking of adding another element to the dish. Mum taught me how to make ricotta, so I think if I make my own smoked ricotta, it'll add a modern look and a modern taste to the dish. Now we're in finals week, I wanna show off all of my techniques. I've decided to push on with my crazy beetroot and squid idea. I know Gary is not sure about it, but I have to back myself. I've got my beetroot juice, and now I'm going to mix it with my squid. There's no going back now. It looks awesome. I really hope this works. Reynold ` should I be concerned about him? No, cos we know he's brilliant at this. You know, he's playing to his strengths with almonds and citrus, and he'll have lots of interest on there. Georgia? Figs, chocolate, you know, dacquoise ` it all kind of makes sense. That's really great. Yeah. And, you know, Billie, her stack. I've got a question mark next to it. How's it gonna look? Yeah, I've got a funny feeling it's not gonna look great. But you never know, she might, uh, do her Billie magic and put a beautiful dish on the plate. Um,... a bit worried about Jessica's chawanmushi. They're easy to make. They're quick to make. So, what can you do to put little jewels of flavour or pops of crunch on there? I think that's the key. Cos they're amazing cooks, you know? I mean, it's about getting it right on the day. And at the start of the week, especially THIS week, we need to be building on success. Today, I am making a prawn chawanmushi, which is a savoury Japanese steamed custard, and I'm just putting my custards together, putting some little prawn in the bottom. The custard's going in there. These custards don't leave me much wriggle room timing-wise. Um,... so, they can't go on too soon or too late. Cos overcooked or undercooked are both really bad. It's finals week, and we're expecting great things. 15 minutes to go. Come on. Come on! REYNOLD: Today, I'm making a dessert with almond ice cream, almond sponge cake and lemon curd. George said don't forget flavour, so I'm gonna add a meringue, lemon jam, milk skin and an almond tuile to my dish. It's a lot of stuff, I know, but I'm going to give it a crack. The next thing I do is start working on the milk skin. The whole saucepan has been in the oven to make the skin form on the top. Then, stupidly, I touch the handle,... and it's scorching hot. I burn myself. It hurts like hell. But I can't let it get in the way. I've gotta push on. GEORGIA: Today, I'm making a chocolate dacquoise with beetroot-poached figs and a dark chocolate ganache. My dacquoises are in the oven. I'm about to juice my beetroot. I'm going to use the beetroot juice to make a poaching liquid for the figs, and then I'm going to reduce it to make a syrup for the dessert. Georgia, you look like you're freestyling. (LAUGHS) I know what I'm doing. Yep. Using a LOT of the ingredients from the mystery box. How are you gonna bring this all together on the plate? I want it to be really colourful. I want there to be different levels of texture, different levels of flavour. Have we got an ice cream to go there? What's gonna...? Is there any cold element? There's no ice cream, no. OK. Um... Yep. OK. Thanks, Matt! It really sounds like he wants me to put an ice cream on this dish. He's probably right, and I've still got a bit of time, so I'm going to do a beetroot cream. I need to get a serious wriggle on. It's time to check my beetroot-soaked calamari. I pull it out of the juice,... and it's purple. It is completely purple. It looks crazy! (LAUGHS) It's looking really cool. And as I pan-fry it, it starts to go orange as well, so I've just scored myself another colour. (CHUCKLES) You've gotta think of this as part of your finals. You want a top score. 10 minutes to go. Come on! (JUDGES APPLAUD) GEORGE: Come on, guys. REYNOLD: 10 minutes to go, and my hand still hurts. But I've gotta get everything together ` my sponge cake, lemon jam, tuile and my ice cream. I've left a fair while to plate up. I wanna make sure that the dish looks nice, because the judges have really sort of hammered me about that today. So I take the stack out of the fridge, and I'm really hoping that it doesn't collapse when I turn it out. Ah. If this doesn't turn out properly, I have nothing left to use. It's the only one I've got, and I'm rapidly running out of time. So I carefully lift up the mould off the stack,... and it seems to be holding up OK. I'm so relieved that it's worked. I did not have time to make any more, so really happy that one worked. Now I just have to put in all of my effort in plating up this beetroot dish. I'm just scattering the crumb and the smoked ricotta freely. I like it. I think it's looking really modern. I don't know why we're telling you with five minutes to go. Start plating up. Come on, guys. Let's go! GARY: Come on! (JUDGES APPLAUD) I've finished cooking my squid, but now I need to move on to my prawn crumb before plating. I've toasted off my almonds, and I'm deep-frying some of the prawn meat, but I really want this crumb to have a really punchy prawn flavour, otherwise it'll be pretty bland. As a last-minute thought, I kind of think, "Why don't I just use the prawn heads that I fried up earlier?" When I eat prawns, I kind of eat the whole prawn anyway, so... what harm would it be just adding the heads into the crumb? I like this crumb. It's PRETTY punchy now. It's... It's undeniably prawn. So now I have all my elements ready, I just wanna spend some time to really get the plating right. And I still hope that this beetroot and squid combination pays off. Last push! Three minutes to go! Come on! Come on, guys! Come on! MATT: Come on! JESSICA: I'm taking my chawanmushi custards out of the steamer, and they look great. But I look around and see all the other dishes... and realise that I need to take this dish to another level. I've got some squid in the freezer, so I've decided I'm gonna make some tagliatelle out of the squid. I really am hoping that this works. There's some amazing food out there! But, you know, if it doesn't look spectacular, you won't win! One minute to go! Come on! Come on! Come on! REYNOLD: As I'm putting all the elements together, I'm pretty happy. I think this dish looks good. 30 seconds! Come on! I'm loving plating up my dessert. I love how it's all coming together and it is absolutely delicious. It's got a creaminess to it. It's just yum. And I'm really starting to get excited about this dessert. Can't wait to taste. 10 seconds to go. Nine. JUDGES: Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Time is up. Time's up. I'm looking down at my dish. I like it. It's looking really modern. I'm really happy with my dish. I think I've hopefully proved the judges wrong in that it's not a typical vegetable stack and it's something more modern and hopefully more tasty. Mwah. How did you go? Oh, looks beautiful. It's big! That looks really nice. GEORGIA: My dessert's a little larger than life and probably a bit bigger than what I wanted it to be, but I love the way it all turned out, and I'm really excited for the judges to taste it. It's got to that point where it's a pleasure watching you cook. Not only are you calm, but putting some beautiful food on the plates. We can't wait to taste. And this is where it counts ` the confidence booster of a mystery box win. Who knows? First up... Sara. BILLIE: Go, Sara. SARA: As I walk my dish up to the judges, I'm thinking, "How is Gary going to react to my beetroot and squid dish?" If he still doesn't think the combination works, I'm not only going to look utterly ridiculous, but my start to finals week could be an absolute disaster. 1 GARY: The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to Sara. SARA: I'm about to have my dish tasted by the judges. Gary doesn't believe in the combination of squid and beetroot. So he's either gonna think I'm a complete idiot or a genius. What's the dish? So, it's kind of textures of squid. So I have the pan-fried beetroot ones, deep-fried legs... and a squid ceviche. I wouldn't have gone near beetroot and squid. I've gotta say, it looks... Mmm. ...absolutely spectacular. And you've done it brilliantly. That colour is just amazing. For me, it's the best-plated food I've seen... this season in a mystery box challenge. Wow. Like, there's nothing I'd do to that. Hopefully... (GARY CHUCKLES) ...we're dizzy after we eat the thing. It's the best food you've put up in this competition, for me. Wow. Thoughtful. Creative. And this is the time to be doing it. Finals week. Sara, for me, a great dish is like a playground. And... that is what this dish is like. Because every corner of the plate has a surprise, has a contrast, has creaminess and freshness from the dill, a really funky prawn-heady flavour in the crumb which goes beautifully with the tentacles. Well done. Love it. Thanks. You know, it's funny, when a young apprentice comes to you, there's a point where you've gotta go, "You know what? Can't teach you any more. It's time for you to... go somewhere else." Sara, it's time for you to go somewhere else. Can't teach you anything else. I can teach you how to run a restaurant, I can teach you all the nuts and bolts of it, how to do things faster, how to be more precise, but creativity ` you're there. Wow. Thank you so much. (APPLAUSE) This is a really special moment for me, and I'm glad I backed myself, because it paid off. Thanks, babe. Next up ` Reynold. REYNOLD: Sara's a hard act to follow. But I still think my plating is pretty good. I just hope all the elements work together. Well, it certainly looks, uh, impressive. Tell me what the dish is, first up. It's almond with lemon. I've got an almond ice cream with sponge cake, a curd, and an almond tuile. I think the combination of that really dark, golden tuile with the way you pushed that lemon jam, the bitterness of your curd, the creaminess of the ice cream ` that combination is absolutely delicious. Delicious, delicious, delicious. It's a brilliant, creative dish from you, Reynold, and I love the fact that you're still showing us different ideas. Great stuff. Really good work. Well done, Reynold. (APPLAUSE) SARA: Good job, buddy! Georgia? You're next. BILLIE: Go, George. As I'm taking my dish up, I'm thinking about Matt saying to me it needs ice cream. I'm just hoping that my beetroot cream is a good substitute. What have you cooked, Georgia? Uh, today, I've made a chocolate dacquoise with beetroot-poached figs,... a beetroot cream... and a dark chocolate ganache. It looks wonderful. It does look wonderful. Thank you. It's so hard to look at this dish with all that dacquoise on there and not be thinking,... "Where's the ice cream?" But... after the second mouthful, that disappears, because of the salt and because of the bitterness of the chocolate. There's enough creaminess in terms of the beetroot cream that you've piped on the plate to give us that... that creamy mouth sensation. Gee, it's sophisticated cooking. What you've brought us, Georgia, is beetroot, chocolate, figs, and it works. What we're tasting today is... incredible. (LAUGHS) Thank you. Thanks, Georgia. Thank you. Thank you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (LAUGHS) Next up ` Jessica. (APPLAUSE) I'm nervous. The pressure of finals week is crazy. Oop. There is no room for error. And what did you cook? I made a prawn chawanmushi steamed custard with some squid noodles, squid tagliatelle, on there, with dill and some lemon through it. Well, the consistency's good. It's good. It's a good set. Yeah. Consistency's really good. There are very few places where you can go out and get THAT kind of quality of little custard with that kind of intensity of flavour and that kind of thought. I think, though, you could have given us a touch of salt. Gee, it's gonna be a tough tasting, because we're talking about, you know, too many grains of salt, too few grains of salt. This is a kind of... a tasting by microns. This should be the week where you're bring out the big Jessica guns and you're blowing us away, yeah? Yeah. Thanks, Jessica. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) The last dish we'd like to taste belongs to Billie. (APPLAUSE) Taking my dish up to the judges, I'm feeling nervous, because they weren't really happy with the whole idea of a beetroot stack. I guess I'm only hoping they can see that I've improved on that old idea and made it new. Ooh! I've done a beetroot and dill stack with shortbread, almond and crispy beetroot, smoked ricotta and pickled beetroot. It doesn't look like a '90s stack, that's for sure. It looks absolutely smashing, and bang up to date too. Full of texture. Pretty, isn't it? Very. Very very pretty. Oop. I'm squishing it. (BILLIE CHUCKLES) Sorry, Billie. It's all right. What I love about it is the intensity. It's just beetroot pure and simple, but manifested over a couple of different things, you know? It's dry, it's crispy, it's crunchy, it's sour, it's soft. It's a vegetarian dish, yeah? And it's a vegetarian dish that could sit proudly on a great restaurant menu. There's some smarts there, and the smarts for me is the smokiness of the cheese. Cos what it gives it is this... Bacony. Yeah. This faux bacon sort of flavour, this sort of meaty flavour that is really yummy. Well done. Thank you. Thanks. I'm so happy. What a great start to the week! Well done, Billie. I'm just thrilled that I made a classic dish fresh and modern. What a way to kick off finals week, with some beautiful food! But it does make our job very hard. This mystery box really is about one thing ` it's about giving you momentum as you move into finals week, and I think what we saw from all five of you was you... (CHUCKLES) really push yourself. You all put up dishes that gave you that momentum. And certainly, in terms of the next cooks that we're coming up to, we're so excited, cos you continue all cooking like that, we are gonna have a cracking finals week. Every dish... had something that we really loved about it. But two... we felt we couldn't improve on. And those two... were Billie and Sara. There can only be one winner. We picked... 1 What a way to kick off finals week, with some beautiful food! But it does make our job very hard. MATT: Every dish... had something that we really loved about it. But two... we felt we couldn't improve on. And those two... were Billie and Sara. And then we come down to that age-old question. Which one, sitting in a restaurant, would you order again? Well, we're looking for flavour, crispiness, texture, technique, and we're also looking for... a surprise. And, Sara, that's what your dish gave us. Well done. Congratulations. Thank you! Thank you! (GEORGIA SQUEALS) Thanks, mate. You've won the mystery box. That means you have a big advantage coming your way. You're gonna find out about that when you hit the pantry with George and Gary. GEORGE: Come on, Sara. (GARY CHUCKLES) Today, your choice is between three of the most popular food trends. You ready to find out what they are? Yes. First up... cheeks and jowls. Any idea what these might be? Uh, like, beef cheek or even pork cheek. But it's all that 'nose to tail', isn't it, when you think about it? Very on trend at the moment. Delicious when you get it right. Absolutely. Terrible when you get it wrong. Disaster when you get it wrong. And that's generally from not cooking it properly. Yep. Your next choice is... peel to stem. Hmm. This is the 'nose to tail' of fruit and vegetables. No longer do we just peel something and use the core. We use the whole lot. For example, a baby carrot ` we take the green of that baby carrot and wash it well, we might burn it a little bit and make a pesto out of it. Mm-hm. The third choice is... savoury sweets. We've seen a lot of this so far this series, talked a lot about it. Question is, what do you wanna play around with? Do you want to play around with savoury sweets, do you wanna go peel, stem, leaf, or do you wanna go cheek and jowl? It's definitely between the cheek and jowl or the peel to stem, and that's because I know that there are strong dessert people in the top five... Yeah. ...and I don't want to... Do savoury sweets. This is such a difficult decision. If I make the wrong choice, I could be going into a pressure test and possibly knock me out of this whole competition. (GARY CHUCKLES) This is the last invention test of the season, and this is a corker. We asked Sara to pick from one of three of the most popular current food trends. Sara? Which one did you choose? I chose... peel to stem. You've got to bring us a dish that heroes this trend. It's using all the vegetable, all the elements of the vegetable or the fruit. So, really, this is stalk to tip, root to leaf, or even, in this case, peel to stem. Georgia, are you bamboozled? No. I'm just running through my head different vegetables, different fruit. My mind's just... (TRILLS) Yep. (ALL CHUCKLE) Billie, you've played with vegetables in all sorts of different ways, haven't you? Yeah. I love doing that sort of stuff. I'm pretty excited about this one, actually. Great. Well, look, the rules are very very simple. You've got 60 minutes to bring us a dish. You've got an open pantry, and there's an amazing selection of ingredients in there. We're gonna taste all your dishes. Two of you will be safe. The other three ` straight through to a pressure test, where one of you will go home. Everyone clear? ALL: Yes. All right. Your time starts now! Today is the first time I've actually stood around a little bit lost in the pantry. I'm thinking... (GROANS) "Do I add a protein? Does it just have to be vegetables? "Do I use one vegetable? Do I use two? "Do I use a fruit? Do I do a dessert? "What vegetable or fruit has the most amount of peel to stem that I can adapt into a dish?" This is HARD. Really really hard. REYNOLD: I haven't got a dish in mind yet, but I'm somehow steering towards celery, and I think that will work well with chicken. (GRUNTS) Yeah, I'm feeling pretty confident. Like, I'm on a high. I've won the mystery box. I just need to carry that through now to the invention test. (SIGHS) I don't think this is gonna be a surprise to anybody, no? No. I mean, this is how they've been cooking, to be perfectly honest. I mean, whether it's celery ` we've seen that a few times, and I've really enjoyed what they've done. You know, braised the root, pickled the stem, used the leaf ` I think they're all clever ways of using one particular item. The main thing is I don't wanna see a protein-centric dish. I wanna see a dish that's all about the vegetable. And I want to see more than just, you know, "OK, I've done my carrot three ways." I wanna get a sense that, you know, there are the leaves, there's the sweeter core, there's the peel. Show me how you've heroed each element of that, and the sort of stuff that would normally be thrown away in a kitchen 20 years ago. There's no excuses. Open pantry. Lots of ingredients. I think we'll see some great dishes. Hope so. BILLIE: I really love this concept of 'peel to stem'. It suits my style of cooking country-inspired food. Growing up, Mum cooked cauliflower all the time, so I know that every part of that cauliflower can be used. I'm just not sure what my dish is going to be. Billie! Ah! Hi. Clever, clever, clever, clever. Cauliflower. Yeah. Great. Um,... with... mushrooms,... um... I don't really know what it is, actually. I... am planning on doing, like, a toasted cauliflower... crumb. Cauliflower is, I think, the best ingredient you could pick to... Yeah. ...to create a dish for this challenge, right? Yeah. You need to focus in on that and really bring us something that's extraordinary. OK. This is the food I love to cook. It's finals week, and I can't just deliver a simple country dish. I'm going to use everything I've learnt to show off this cauliflower in many different ways. I'm gonna be making a... (CLICKS TONGUE) poached chicken roulade. With, um, a celery cream. Uh, braised celery cream with some, uh, mushrooms. The biggest concern is not getting the chicken cooked in time. Um, hopefully, this dish will keep me safe today, but I've got a lot on my hands. I've got to break down that chicken, and I've gotta break it down fast. SARA: I'm making a compressed watermelon salad with pickled watermelon rind and soft-shell crab. For me, crab and watermelon go really well together, because you have the salty sweetness of the crab, but also the sweet crunch of the watermelon. I would love to use the skin in this, but I don't know how to use it yet. This cook is incredibly important today because I know that if I don't do well today, I'll go through to a pressure test, and I am the only one to have gotten into the finals without having done a pressure test yet. Believe me when I tell you this. You wanna be in the top two today. 20 minutes down, 40 minutes to go. Come on. I'm gonna make a stewed silver beet with some Spanish Manchego cheese. I know the judges love fatty cheese and butter, so I'm gonna pack in lots of both to win their hearts. The last thing I want to do is go into a pressure test this week, because it's gonna be the hardest one we've ever done, and it's gonna be against people who are better than they ever have been. REYNOLD: This is the most important cook so far. I've been working on this chicken for 25 minutes. But I really need to get this roulade right. It's just about ready to go in the oven. Ooh. Hello! I don't really care about this. Cos I care... I'm interested in this. So, what are you doing with this? Ooh. Isn't this the challenge? Yep. And it's sitting here on your bench. Yeah. Yep. What is wrong with me? The chicken is not meant to be the hero. It's meant to be the vegetable. This is such a HUGE mistake. I've wasted half my time. I'm in trouble. 1 I don't really care about this. I'm interested in this. So, what are you gonna do with this? Ooh. Isn't this the challenge? Yep. And it's sitting here on your bench. Yep. This is such a HUGE mistake. I can't believe I've missed the brief completely. That was a complete waste of time. You know, this is about peel and stem, and I've wasted about 20 minutes already... well, pretty much 30 minutes, um, trying to get... you know, break down a chicken. So that is really annoying. I'm starting to panic now. It's gonna be a race against time. So I've got no choice but to use the celery and the mushrooms. Other than that, I've got nothing else. This is gonna be braised celery heart, celery puree, some pan-fried mushrooms, and that's gonna be garnished with some of the celery leaves. Hopefully, I've got enough time to make that work. Never has so much ridden on one vegetable or one fruit! 30 minutes gone! 30 minutes left! GARY AND GEORGE: Come on! I really wanna push myself today, so I've decided to go with parsnips and baby carrots. I think this dish is definitely inventive. I'm using two vegetables together with scallops, honey and speck. So, Georgia, what am I heroing here? Are we talking carrot stem, peel and the leaf? Is that what we're talking about? Yeah, we're talking whole parsnip and whole baby carrot. Why are you doing it to two things rather than just one? Um, I just feel like they go really nicely together. They're a nice contrast. I think they marry nicely with the flavours. And I'm going to put it with honey, speck and thyme. So, you're doing parsnips, carrots, four different elements. Are you sure it's all gonna talk to each other? I hope it does. Matt comments that I've taken too much on potentially. But this is finals week, and you've gotta create something that's amazing. It can't just be good. It's gotta be amazing. And that's not easy. I'm happy with the dish in that it's inventive. I'm using pretty much every part of the cauliflower, and I'm hoping I can sort of turn that into a new, modern dish. I slice the stem really thin, and it's pickling to add a sour taste. I'm going to crisp up the bacon into salty shards. I'm using the florets with some mushroom and miso to make a zesty puree. And some big cauliflower steaks. I'm really stretching myself in this challenge. I have high hopes for my watermelon salad with pickled rind and soft-shell crab. I've broken the watermelon. I'm now moving on to pickling the rind. I want this rind to pack a bit of punch with star-anise and cinnamon. It should be spicy both in an aroma sense and in a heat sense. I'm compressing the watermelon using our vac-sealers, basically, intensifying the watermelon flavour. I'm confident in the processes, techniques and flavours, but in the back of my mind, I am still thinking, "What are you gonna do with the skin?" You're compressing watermelon? I am compressing watermelon. Have you added a flavour? I've added a little bit of lime on top of it... OK. ...just to give it a bit more sharpness, but it's very sweet and I kind of want to retain that sweetness, so I don't wanna overpower it with anything. So, what's lovely about doing this is you're actually adding a flavour into the cellular structure of that fruit, which is really yum. And it changes the texture and the colour, and I think it's a really nice way to eat it. So, what are you doing with the green peel? Um... (LAUGHS) Um,... I wasn't sure. I don't know what it's going to do. You can saturate that with syrup, can you not? Cook it, cool it, cook it, cool it. Remember, you've gotta champion THIS. Peel to stem, yeah? Yes. Peel to stem. That's what it's all about. You wanna be in that top two. Yes. I'm worried because I am very aware that my dish currently has watermelon flesh and the watermelon rind. So I need to figure out quick smart what I'm doing with the skin. My rich Spanishy-style silver-beet stew is underway, and I think doing this breadcrumb with some Spanish manchego cheese is gonna tie in really nicely and add a bit of, kind of, salt and fattiness, which is gonna make it really yummy, and the breadcrumb's gonna add a nice crunch. Chorizo. It's one of my favourite ingredients. And if I'm doing a Spanish dish, it's really gonna heighten the flavour of it. So... (CHUCKLES) I've got a lot of things on the go at the moment. Interesting, isn't it? Cos you've got a bit of confusion. You've got Reynold, who was fiddling around with a chicken for 25 minutes, and, really, it's not a chicken challenge, it's a celery challenge. Um, I really think Sara has been very clever... Yeah. ...to pick this, because she's... I love the idea of compressing the watermelon and the pickled rind. Be interesting to see what she does with the peel of the watermelon. With the skin itself. Cos that could be a challenge. Yeah. It can be a little tough, too. And what about Jessica? You know what? I love her cooking. But she's gonna grate manchego cheese, and I don't want her to think that just cos she's putting yummy fat on there that we love, that's gonna win our hearts. Yeah, yeah. This is finals week. She needs to extend herself. And you know what it is? It's sort of getting them... fixated on that ingredient and showcasing it. It's gonna be interesting. So much going on! So much to do! So little time left! 20 minutes to go! 20 minutes! Come on, guys! Yeah, I think the dish is sort of finally coming together now. 20 minutes to go, and I have an idea of what it's gonna look like on the plate. My biggest concern is just hoping that it'll work in 20 minutes' time. REYNOLD: Time is ticking really fast, and I've gotta save this dish. I think this is gonna be braised celery heart, just a couple of mushrooms and celery puree. With less than 20 minutes to go, I'm turning my celery stalk into a puree. And I blitz it up,... and... it's too watery. Uh, my puree is watery. I don't know what to do. This is one of the worst feelings I've had. I'm pretty lost at the moment. I'm trying to figure out what I should do next, um, and I don't even know. It's pretty scary in the MasterChef kitchen not to have a dish, and time is ticking. Gotta think now. I've gotta take a step back and just think a little bit. I can't focus. I can't think of anything else to do with the puree. I'm blank. I've... I've got nothing. 1 REYNOLD: With less than 20 minutes to go, I'm turning my celery stalk into a puree. I blitz it up, and it's too watery. I don't know what to do. I can't focus. I can't think of anything else to do with the puree. I'm blank. I've... I've got nothing. MATT: Well, Reynold, what's going on? Um, I don't know what's going on. My head's not in the game. I'm just winging it. Which I shouldn't be doing at the moment. I'm trying to figure out what I should do next, um, and I don't even know. Yeah, it's... Yeah. It's not my day. Think about what techniques you can apply that are quick that show us, with celery. Is there something you can use on that basis? That's the sort of thinking I wanna hear. Cos to go home now, when you're so close... Yeah. Whoa! REYNOLD: Matt's right. I've gotta think quick to save this. I don't wanna go up against these guys in the pressure test tomorrow. I taste the celery puree, and I'm just thinking, "It tastes really nice. But it's not a puree. Can I use this as a soup instead?" I'm slowly coming up with a dish. I can have the braised celery heart in the middle, and then pour the soup around it, and the mushrooms on top. But I'm really worried that there's not enough time to cook it. No time to take your foot off the accelerator! You have 15 minutes to go! Come on! MATT: Come on, guys! GEORGE: Come on, guys! Push! GEORGIA: OK. Today, I'm cooking parsnips and baby carrots with scallops, honey and speck. I'm really running out of time now, and there's still such a lot to do. I've still gotta finish off those parsnips and baby carrots AND make my parsnip puree and get the scallops on. So I'm definitely pushing myself today. I'm doing an enormous amount of elements. But this is finals week. There's a lot at stake. And so if I don't hustle and move like the Flash, I'm not going to have a dish at the end of time. How are they looking? We're on the same page with this. Billie, probably of all of them, has done the most. You know, she's using cauliflower in a number of different ways. And that's good to see. Um, I just think Georgia's doing a hundred things to a hundred different vegetables, and a bit of confusion. Sara, really, doing two things with the watermelon and unsure about what to do with the green part. Jessica, look, I don't know. At least she's playing with the stem in different ways and the leaf in different ways, so I kind of see with that. Reynold ` totally lost. I think now they've just gotta really focus. Yeah. Absolutely. Cos this challenge is SO crucial. Top two, bottom three. SARA: With 10 minutes to go, I think some of my elements have come together. My compressed watermelon is tasting good. The rind is pickling nicely. I'm steaming my crab, and I'm also going to fry some of my crab to give some extra flavour and texture. But I still haven't figured out what I'm doing with the watermelon skin yet. One of the biggest things I've learnt from the judges is, if it doesn't work, don't put it on the plate, cos it could bring down the whole dish. But in the back of my mind, I'm seriously, seriously worrying about actually answering this brief. After doing so well this morning, I hope I don't make any bad decisions now that could cost me my place in this competition. REYNOLD: Time is ticking away really fast, but at least now I'm meeting the 'peel to stem' brief. But I've gotta be inventive to stay out of the bottom three. So I'm going to do a quick parsnip cream to add a bit more complexity to my dish. It MIGHT keep me safe. Guys, pressure's on now, huh? 10 minutes to go. Get a wriggle on! Come on! (JUDGES APPLAUD) Come on! I'm feeling really stressed right now. I am in a mad scramble to try and get everything together. It does look a little bit homey, which is not gonna fly this week. I'm pretty worried. I definitely feel like I'm meeting the brief in this challenge. I know the main flavours work really well together, but I'm not really sure about the cauliflower leaves. (CHUCKLES) Hi. This is such a beautiful vegetable. Yeah. But the main thing is to bring out the flavour of them, and I always think they're a bit... (CRUNCH!) ...almost cabbage-y. I mean, how good are they? Yeah, I know. Just raw, they're great. Always remember, the real aim of the challenge is, how can you use the stuff you'd normally discard? You're on the right track for sure, but is there more you can do? Yeah, probably. Cos, you know, there are only two places for safety. Yep. OK. Gonna be hard to get. Thank you. I've come this far, and I don't wanna fall at this stage, so I really have to push myself. I'm going to blanch the leaves, and then cool them down and use them as a garnish on my dish. I just hope it's enough, because at this stage, it just comes down to the tiniest of things that can send you through to a pressure test. GEORGE: You've got four minutes to plate up! Come on, guys. Come on! After doing so well this morning, now I'm an utter mess. I'm just throwing everything on to the plate. I couldn't think of what to do with the skin of my watermelon, so I've decided to leave it off my dish. I know I haven't met the brief using the whole fruit. I don't know what I was thinking picking watermelon. I really wanna plate up a beautiful dish, but I'm just trying to get every element on the plate. Usually when you're plating up, you wanna make sure that every mouthful has enough of each element so that you're getting the whole experience. But I think this is actually just turning into a complete mess. I don't even know if it's balanced, because I haven't had time to taste it yet. We want to see EVERY part of that vegetable or that fruit on the plate! One minute to go! GEORGE: Come on, come on! Come on! REYNOLD: As I'm plating up, I'm actually quite happy with it. And I've used the whole celery, made it the hero. After the disastrous cook I've had, I'm surprised. I'm actually really proud of actually putting something like this up. Right. This is it! 10 seconds! Nine. JUDGES: Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Far out. That's it! Time is up. Well done! (JUDGES APPLAUD) Well done! A lot of shaking heads. A LOT of shaking heads. JESSICA: It was a bit of a crazy cook for me. But I think it'll be delicious. I packed heaps of flavour in there, and it looks nicer than I was expecting it to. And I've used the whole vegetable, so I really hope that's enough to make me safe. SARA: I'm really not happy with my plating. I feel like I lost the plot towards the end of that cook. Um, but I think I've been inventive with my flavour combinations, but in terms of inventiveness with the application of my fruit ` not so much. (GROANS) Oh! How did you go? That was so hard. Time went away. That looks nice. Nuh. I've thrown it on there. GEORGIA: I hope that I've cooked everything correctly. I hope that it's balanced. I really didn't even get any time to think about what I was doing when I plated up. So I'm just hoping that I've really done enough. What a great cook that was ` intense to the max. You had 60 minutes to feature a dish where it was all about peel to stem. At the end of today, two of you will definitely be safe, three of you will go through to a pressure test tomorrow. And you know what happens at the end of that ` one of you will go home. MATT: The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to... Sara. When you take your dish up to the judges, you know instantly through their body language if it's a success or a failure. I'm hoping that in the first two seconds that I put my plate down, that it's a success. 1 GARY: The first dish we'd like to taste belongs to... Sara. (APPLAUSE) SARA: Today, I've made a compressed watermelon and watermelon rind salad with soft-shell crab. It's really just... Yeah, I'm a bit stunned. It's not your plating up at all, and I'm not sure I like it. I'll be honest with you, I've got used to this sophistication. You know, delicate, sophisticated, interesting. MATT: Now, you've used the flesh of the melon. Yes. Have you also used the skin as well? Um, I haven't used... I've used the rind, and I've pickled that. So, you've used the white interior of the rind, but not the skin? No, I didn't. Let's hope it tastes good. Crab and watermelon is a lovely combination. And I really like the pickle of the white interior. But do I feel that you have... shown us what you can do with ALL of the watermelon? No. OK. For me, the watermelon's good,... but I want more. I want more, and I think about that watermelon, and I think about there's so much you can do to it. You know, make vinegar out of the juice. Uh... You know, really extend yourself and push yourself. And your plating up on this one? You know it. It's not... It's nowhere near what you've plated up in the past. Nowhere near. Thanks, guys. Bleurgh! (APPLAUSE) Big-time I'm in trouble. I haven't met the brief. Pack your bags. You're going into a pressure test. Now... we'll taste Billie's dish. BILLIE: I'm feeling pretty good walking my dish up to the judges. I feel like I've met the brief, which is a huge pressure point in invention tests. It's just the flavour and texture that I'm a little worried about. So, I've done a cauliflower puree, which I did from the florets, pickled cauliflower stems, cauliflower crumbs with the scraps that were left over from cutting it up, and cauliflower leaves as well. You know what I think is really clever about it, is that you could almost re-create the cauliflower. Yeah. Mm. You know, if you put the greens under there,... I think you're on to... you're really really on to something here. Yep. Oh, and there's little chunks of... roasted cauliflower. It's nice being in the middle. Matt's going, "Give it to me!" (PLATE SLIDES ACROSS) I love it. I really do. I love it dearly. Cos it's a clever vegetable to pick, and you've done so much. You know, it was all about celebrating that vegetable in all its light, and you've done that. You've given us light and shade, and... zip and zing and... (CHUCKLES) ...texture and... Just... everything. It's just an... all-round brilliant dish. Thanks, George! I think it's delicious too. And I think this could be an absolute signature of yours. Yep. Because it is delicious. It's comfortable, and yet it's very clever. Thanks! And smart to use miso in the puree. And I love the fact that you do show the cauliflower in lots of different ways ` you know, sweet, creamy, sour, and also slightly bitter and herbaceous. This is the way to start finals week, I think. Thank you. I feel really good with the feedback I got from the judges, and if that puts me in the top two, I'll be absolutely stoked. I'd so much rather be on the gantry than being in that pressure test, which is going to be really hard. (SIGHS) Oh! Next ` Jessica. JESSICA: I'm feeling pretty stressed at this stage. I know that it's delicious, but I don't know that it's, kind of, finals-week-worthy. What did you cook? I made a stewed silver beet and chickpea with a silver-beet stem puree some pickled silver-beet stem, and the crispy leaves with some chorizo and some manchego. And you've laded it with cheese and butter? Exactly. (LAUGHS) Yeah. That's how you win. Isn't it? You know, I'm a little disappointed, because I thought you had an opportunity to make something really pretty. It's wholesome,... Yeah. ...but I'm not sure that's what you'd call pretty. Earlier on in the mystery box, you pirouetted with technique, and here you are slam-dancing with flavour. And that's what you do best, is when you give us creamy and you give us crunchy and you give us all the flavours we know and love. It's hard not to put manchego cheese, chorizo... You know, I'm sure there's other fats and oils in there that have made it extra special. So it delivers in terms of, you know, smooth, gooey, fatty, meaty. So, of COURSE we like it. But the vegetables, you know, we want it to be the hero. We don't want manchego cheese, chorizo to be the hero. I think you'll be really lucky, in all honesty, if you save yourself today in this invention test. A divider dish, I would suggest. Mmm. (CHUCKLES) Thank you. Thank you. I'm worried. I'm worried. The next dish we'd like to taste is Georgia's. (APPLAUSE) GEORGIA: I'm wondering if choosing two vegetables was a crazy idea. I'm hoping that when they eat my dish, it IS balanced and I've done enough. Georgia, what did you hero? I heroed parsnip and baby carrots. Why not just go for one vegetable? I just thought the contrast in colour was really beautiful, and the taste as well, so... OK. Fair enough. ...I went with two, mm-hm. (CHUCKLES) Can we have a little, kind of, look in there? There's the roasted carrots, fried baby carrot skins, the parsnip skins, the parsnip puree, the parsnip core. Oh, the core as well? Yep. I'm questioning, "You know, you're mad. Just use one vegetable. You know, go for that. "You know, don't put yourself under that much pressure." But that's what this week's all about ` really extending yourself and pushing yourself. And that's what you've done. That's a really yummy, tasty, delicious dish. Well done. Thank you! That's... It's really beautiful. It's a really really tasty dish. I love the little trail of honey that runs through a number of those elements. And the core of the parsnip, those little caramelised, burny, you know,... sticky... cores... Bits. ...are absolutely delicious. And for so many years, I've kind of chucked them out, because, you know, they were the 'bad' bit. Actually, they're the best bit on the plate. They're delicious. You know what it is? It's exactly why this is a modern food trend. Cos there is so much more joy beyond just that central orange core of the carrot. Well done. Well done, Georgia. Thank you! Enjoy the rest. Thanks so much. I'll try. (APPLAUSE) I'm blown away. This is unbelievable. I've got a big smile on my face, and I can't believe it. This is a really good way to start finals week. Mwah. Yay! The last dish we'd like to taste belongs to Reynold. REYNOLD: Considering how tough that cook was, I'm pretty happy with my dish. I really hope I can avoid tomorrow's pressure test. It's finals week, and it's going to be so hard. So, what have you cooked, Reynold? Braised celery heart with celery veloute, pan-fried mushrooms and some parsnip cream. This was a half-hour challenge for you, wasn't it? Yes. You know what's amazing, though, is that even though you had 30 minutes, it's amazing how pretty you can make something look. You know, look, that's delicious. You've seasoned it well, the mushrooms go deliciously with the flavour of celery, and you've really delivered lots of celery bang for our buck here. I think celery's one of those funny things where to make a really tasty soup out of it is not actually that easy, and what you've made is a really tasty celery soup. And you HAVE used the heart, the stem, the leaf. So... Thanks, guys. I'm happy that the judges liked the dish and the flavours are there. So... fingers crossed. The nerves, huh? It's because it's important. It's finals week, and a lot rides on every single challenge. This invention test was about... resourcefulness as much as anything else ` about taking that stem, that leaf, that root and turning it into something delicious. There's no doubt that you delivered the flavour, so well done. But beautiful is not always enough. If I call your name, you're in tomorrow's pressure test. Sara. That watermelon just wasn't used enough. You missed the brief. Jessica. Your vegetables needed to be the hero. The last person going into tomorrow's pressure test is... Reynold. To be honest, you really needed to show more technique. I'm sorry, that's why you three are in tomorrow's pressure test. I'm gutted. I need to be safe tomorrow. If I go home at this stage in the competition, I'd be devastated. Well done, Georgia, Billie. You're safe. You brought us dishes that really stood out today. GEORGIA: Choosing two vegetables DID pay off, and I'm safe. I'm not in the pressure test. I've made it to the top four. I'm actually getting goose bumps thinking about it. GEORGE: Jessica, Sara, Reynold, tomorrow, the three of you will face a pressure test. From there, one of you will be leaving the competition. So go home, get rest, cos tomorrow's all about clarity of thought. You got it? Yes, George. You got it?! ALL: Yes, George. Get out of here. Thanks, guys. SARA: It's definitely a worry for me having no experience in pressure tests, and now I'm gonna be up against the best of the best. So... of all the pressure tests, this is the mother of all pressure tests coming my way. ANNOUNCER: Next time ` they've made it all the way to finals week. I wanna succeed in this as badly as I wanna breathe. Please welcome Grant King. But to be in our top four,... My liquid butternut gnocchi. ...they'll need to master the art of molecular gastronomy. This pressure test is part cooking,... Would you start again? I would. ...part chemistry lesson... So, you're not giving up, yeah? ...and all kinds of pain. Argh! This is so bad. And with the semis desperately close, someone will be going home. It is devastating. Supertext Captions by Ericsson Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air.