ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia... Where's our waiter? Service! ..a stressful team challenge... Go, go, go. ..had them cooking a Greek feast. Come on, come on, come on! The pressure was on. I really need help. And Zoe's red team was sent to elimination. (TEARFULLY) I let them down. I take full responsibility. Tonight, a brand-new game. Let me introduce you... ..to the one-inch cube! (GASPS) Blindfolded, they'll test their tastebuds. Cheese? Avocado. Apple. The tiniest mistake could put them in the firing line. I feel so nervous. The first four to get it wrong... What's your answer? ..will go into the next round, and with just 60 minutes standing between them and elimination... You're cooking for your place in this competition. ..this will be the most crucial hour of their lives. MIMI: My place in the MasterChef kitchen is riding on this. The pressure is on. # Burning up in my heart # Like a flame # Like a bright shooting star # In our souls # We all know # Our dreams make us who we are # We got today # So spin me round and # Show me the way # Back to # Burning up in my heart # Like a flame # Like a bright shooting star # In our souls we all know # Our dreams make us who we are. # Able 2016 CECILIA: Yesterday we had a team challenge. It was a very, very close competition, but the blue team won, so my team is going into elimination. I want to stay in this competition as much as possible because every week I'm growing. I'm going to fight with everything I've got. MATT SINCLAIR: Today, I need to figure out whether I'm gonna play the immunity pin or not. As the competition gets tougher, obviously the pin becomes more valuable. So I'm trying to talk myself into keeping a hold of it as long as possible. Another day in the MasterChef kitchen. It is, of course, an elimination. So at the end of the day, somebody is going home. Now, obviously the elephant in the room is Matt wearing that immunity pin. Yep. Did you sleep? On and off. Yeah? I'm not surprised. So, thinking, what are you going to do, what's the right thing to do? Yes. Big decision for you, right? Yeah, huge. Huge. Um, yeah, my mind and my stomach were doing backflips. Charlie, would you play the pin? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Oh! Yeah. What about you, Mimi? I think I would definitely play the pin. I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I didn't and then I got sent home. Wow. Interesting. Matt, it's your decision and your decision alone. Yep. So, do you play the pin and stay in, or do you keep the pin and take your chances against these other cooks? Um... I'm going to play the pin. You're going to play the pin? Things can happen in this kitchen, and if they did and I got sent home, I'd find that hard to live with. OK. I think you give that pin back to George and back in the safe it goes. Good job, Matty. A little bit disappointed that I had to use it as early as what I did, but the pin, it's done it's job for me. It's kept me in the kitchen, it's kept me safe. Off you go, upstairs. Thanks, guys. Good luck. And I can come back in here next week and just try to produce some beautiful food again. So, what culinary conundrum have we got planned to confound you today? It's something totally new for the MasterChef kitchen. You've heard of sugar cubes. There's the Rubik's cube. We've even heard of Ice Cube. Let me introduce you to the one-inch cube! Oh! Uh-oh! Correctly identify the cube and you're safe, you stay in the game. Be one of the first four to get it wrong, and you'll find yourself in the second round cooking for your place in the competition. (SIGHS) I really want to be safe in this first round. I'm standing next to some of the strongest cooks in the competition and I do not want to go up in a round two elimination with any of them. The kicker is... ..you'll be identifying those one-inch cubes wearing... ..a blindfold. Oh, no. (OTHERS LAUGH) I feel like all senses play a massive role in eating food and the taste of it, and sight is probably one of the most important in that. So I feel so nervous. Food cubes. Blindfolds. Matt's up on the gantry. I'm thinking he's probably pretty glad he chose to use that pin. Right. Let's bring out the one-inch cubes. Oh, my God! (HARRY CHORTLES) Holy cow. HARRY: Who knew a one-inch cube of food could be so terrifying? Like, we're up in the gantry, we don't have blindfolds on, and I can't even tell what these cubes are. This challenge is going to be so, so difficult. CHLOE: Wow. TRENT: Oh, no! (LAUGHS) GEORGE: Thank you, gentlemen. Right, what you guys can't see is a table has been wheeled in full of one-inch cubes. We've arranged the cubes from easy... ..to hard. The longer you stay in the game, the harder they're going to get. Right, let's get this game started. Cecilia, you're first. CECILIA: I am so nervous right now. Ahh. My hands are starting to shake. I need to get this right. (CRUNCH!) I bite into it and the fragrance pops out straightaway and I'm thinking, "I've cooked this for my daughter every morning." A Granny Smith apple. (LAUGHS) Yes, you're right. Apple. I'm really relieved. I'm not the first person to get out of this challenge right now. Charlie. CHARLIE: I've never done a blind tasting before. I can barely contain my nerves. I know I have to get this right because there's no way I want to go into round two. I grab the cube. It feels pretty firm. Cheese? What type of cheese, Charlie? Like, cheddar cheese. Correct, Charlie. Well done. Far out. Now I've got one correct, I've got a little sigh of relief. I hope that I can guess a couple more right. GARY: Heather, off you go. HEATHER: Having one of the major senses taken away is scary. My heart's out of my chest. Please be a cucumber. I'm not, but what you just tasted is. Well done. Brilliant. Well done, Heather. Good job. Phew! Lucky, lucky. ZOE: My first cube comes out... ..I'm really nervous. I don't want to go to round two of elimination. I have a feeling, it's kind of squishy... ..but, oh, it doesn't feel like a fruit or a vegetable. I have a taste, but I just can't think about what it is. I pull it apart and...it comes off kind of stringy. Chicken? Correct. Well done. MATT: There you go, Elise. Feta? You're absolutely right. Mimi. It's an orange. Orange is right. Right, Anastasia. It's avocado. I'm really used to just picking up something and I just know it by the shape. Chocolate? The fact that all of the food is presented in the same cubes makes it really difficult to try and distinguish them. I'll say beef. Zoe, you're correct. That is beef. Well done. But the food knowledge is really good. Everybody's getting everything right. Watermelon. GARY: Well done. MATT: It comes round to Mimi for her second guess and I'm looking at it and the first thing that popped into my head was nectarine. MIMI: Ooh. I'm touching it and I feel a really smooth skin. I'm tasting the food and I can taste something really nice and juicy and stringy. It's also got a really vibrant flavour to it. I love this. I always eat it. (OTHERS CHUCKLE) But I can't think of the name. It's smooth. It's a nectarine. What's your answer? Mm-hm. It's a nectarine. It's smooth. Mimi? Yes? Take your blindfold off. Oh, shit. I'm sorry, it's wrong. Oh! Can you tell now? Mango. Mango is my favourite fruit. I pretty much eat it every day and I got it wrong. It's something so familiar, but without sight, I had no idea what it was. Right, go and stand over there. I'm so sorry, Mimi. You're into round two. Sorry, Mimi. I'm the first one through to round two. I'm really disappointed. I'm freaking out, because this is one step closer to going home. Anastasia. ANASTASIA: It's so nerve-racking. I know I have a good knowledge of food, but my tastebuds are almost, like, diminished because I'm so nervous. Do you know what it is, Anastasia? Is it a carrot? Are you sure? Yes. Anastasia... ..it IS a carrot. Oh, my God! (LAUGHS) Right, Cecilia. CECILIA: One spot is taken for the second stage of elimination. There's three left. It's getting harder and harder as the rounds go. Oh, it's so smooth. So, I taste something really salty and I know it, but what comes in, like, a thick thing, tastes like... ..oh, I don't know, feels like chicken but it's really salty? Cecilia, what is it? It's salty. Having something in a cube, it's really, really confusing. I know. Um... I'm so nervous. I'm feeling a bit mind-blank. I just can't think on the spot. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in the second stage of elimination. 1 GEORGE: Cecilia, what is it? It's salty. One spot is taken for the second stage of elimination. There's three left. What's your answer? I don't know. Um... I'm so nervous, I'm feeling a bit mind-blank. I just can't think on the spot. I need it. Chicken. I'm sorry, Cecilia, that's wrong. Oh! (SIGHS) What is it? Ham. Ham. Please join Mimi. You're in round two. I got mango wrong and I eat it every day. My heart sinks because I was only in elimination a few days ago. I can't believe that I have to cook for my survival again. So, Mimi, Cecilia, you're the first two contestants through to round two. And remember, guys, we're looking for two more. Pressure's on. MATT: Charlie. Mm-hm. I've got a little gem for you here. Is it eggplant? Charlie, well done. That's eggplant. GEORGE: Heather. Pineapple. Right, Zoe. (WHIMPERS) Tomato. MATT: There you go, Elise. (CRUNCH!) (WHISPERS) I don't know. Elise, we need an answer. (GROANS) Uh, radish. Well done, Elise. HEATHER: Everyone is doing really well and I'm really worried. Cauliflower? You're correct. There's definitely added pressure because it's getting harder and harder. Charlie, you're next. Uh, it's blue cheese. Charlie, that is correct. And all of a sudden, it's my turn again. I hope I can name that...cube. Heather, for you. Yes. I pick up the cube and it's so wet, and I taste it and I'm like, "Eughh!" Yeah, instant memory back to Grandma having half a grapefruit, and it was so tart that I used to get her to sprinkle sugar on mine. So I think that memory just takes over for me. That's a grapefruit. Yep. Heather, please remove your blindfold. I'm sorry, you're wrong. What is it? Lemon. Lemon. It's a lemon. I'm in shock. I am so... I was 100% sure. I can't believe it. It's... Yeah, this isn't good. Zoe. Yes? Zoe... No! Zoe, it's back to you. No. It's kind of slimy. I have a sniff. Doesn't really smell like much. I have a taste and it's kind of meaty. (GIGGLES) You're not a fan? I pull it apart a little bit and then I sniff my fingers. Smells like fish. So I'm thinking it could be tuna, could be salmon, could be trout. They're the only three fishes that I really think that I could eat raw. Can I do something weird? Yeah, you can do something weird. Depends how weird it is. How weird is it? I just want...to feel the texture properly on my lips. Yeah, cool. Wh-what...what...? (LAUGHTER) No, don't laugh! It's the way that Ferran Adria tastes ham, tastes prosciutto. Why are you touching it to your lips? I want to feel the texture. Mm-hm. I think the most sensitive part on my face is my lips... (GIGGLES) ..and sometimes when you touch something with your fingers, you can't really... you don't get the same...sensation. My hands smell like... Do you recognise the smell? I think so. Is it tuna? You're absolutely right. It's tuna. Well done! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Great work. Gee! Well done, love. That was hard. Tuna's right, and I can't believe that I've got it right and my lip trick worked. (LAUGHS) Elise. Mmm? ELISE: I'm so stressed out right now. The cooks in round two are such tough competition. I do not want to join them. Whatever this cube is, I have to get it right. Oh! It's, like, squishy. I'm feeling it and it's a weird texture. I'm thinking, "What is this?" I try to pull it apart to see whether it breaks in half and it doesn't. So I start smelling it and, yeah, it smells like meat. Oh, my God. The texture, it's a protein. I know it's definitely a protein. It tastes like veal. I'm thinking, "What else could it be?" What's your answer? Veal. I'm sorry... Knew it! ..it's not veal. You can take off your blindfold. What do you reckon it is now you're looking at it? Lamb? Are you kidding me? Absolutely. It's lamb. It's funny, isn't it? Once you look at it... Yeah. ..you kind of know. Elise, go and join the others. I'm sorry, you're in round two. Uh-oh. Oh, my God. I'm in the second round and I'll have to cook for my position in this competition. So, Charlie, Zoe, Anastasia, you can take your blindfolds off. Congratulations. You survived the one-inch cube challenge. You can head up to the gantry. Well done. Good job. ANASTASIA: Thank God I made it through round one. Biggest relief ever. I'm not going into that elimination. Mimi, Cecilia, Heather and Elise, you're facing round two. Then, of course, someone is going home. And to save yourself in round two, you have to cook a dish that heroes the ingredient that you got wrong. So, Mimi, that means you're cooking with mango, Cecilia ham, Heather lemons, and, Elise, you got lamb. CECILIA: The only thing I can think of that I've ever made with ham, asides from sandwiches, is, you know, that big leg ham for Christmas. But I can't hand them over a big leg ham for Christmas. So, here are the rules. You have 60 minutes to cook us a delicious dish. You have an open pantry, an open garden. And of course, the least impressive dish will send their maker home. All clear? ALL: Yep. No excuses. Some great ingredients. Your time starts now. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Come on, guys! Come on, guys! Bread. The beauty about this challenge is I think each contestant's got an ingredient with which they are very familiar - lemons, mango, lamb and ham. It is that thing you could struggle to taste stuff you know so well. If you were given something like ham, have you got any, kind of, creative genius...? Jeez, I'd love to, you know, dig into the skin. What can I do with it? Braise it first, then crispy-fry it. The bone - make a clear and tasty stock that I could turn into a jelly. Shred the meat. The meat, shred. Maybe crisp - feather some and crispy it. It's about clarity of an idea and putting up a dish that'll keep you in the competition. Mmm. (CONTESTANTS CALL OUT ENCOURAGEMENT) Flour, egg, tomato, milk, salt, breadcrumbs... I don't feel great that I have to cook with ham today. ..parmesan... I have no idea what I'm going to cook. My brain has gone blank. Where's parmesan? I really need to come up with an idea right now and I'm running out of time. Go, Mim! So, I'm going to do a mango syrup with a mango jelly, and then I'm going to have a custard and some fresh mangoes on the plate too. I love cooking desserts and I think it's one of my strengths, so I'm definitely playing to that today. The first thing I do is work on my custard. My game plan is just to work really hard and make sure that my food tastes amazing. I'm going to fight so hard today to make sure that I'm not the person going home. NICOLETTE: Good job, Mimi. HARRY: Heather, what are you making? I'm making a lemon calamari. Oh, beautiful. TRENT: Is that cornflakes? For the crumb, I'm going to use a recipe that my mum taught me. Her secret ingredient is cornflakes, which makes the crumb nice and crispy. WOMAN: Good job, Heather. Looking good. The crumb's going to be really important today to bring the lemon flavour into the calamari. It's got to be lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon. Everything's at stake today for me. I don't want to go home. I want to be in this competition as long as I can, hopefully start a new career in cheffing. So, yeah, it's really important to me that I stay. WOMAN: Come on, Elise. Today, I'm going to do a lamb cutlet crusted with a lemon crumb. I'm also going to do a pumpkin puree and a sauce. I don't want to go home yet. I'm going to give it my absolute best. I'm going to keep fighting. I've chosen quite a simple meal, so I need to bring extra flavour into this dish through a sauce. Yum! Oh, that smells so good, Elise. My main concern is that it does take a lot of time to french lamb perfectly. I'm going to be pushing myself. Go, Elise! Who's going to inch their way to safety? 45 minutes to go! Come on, guys! Keep pushing! Mimi, Elise and Heather, they're cracking on with their cook. Parmesan... There's no sign of Cecilia. Come on, Cecilia! The fact that Cecilia is already 15 minutes down and hasn't even struck a blow, she's really going to struggle to get everything on the plate today. Come on, Cecilia. Push! CECILIA: Time is not my friend today. It took me way too long to think of what to cook. But I finally came up with an idea. It's going to be a ham, tomato, cheese theme. Today I'm going to make a ham croquette with a Caprese salad. Go, Cecilia! Ham is the hero today, so I want to cook it to taste and shout out "ham". I have a lot to do, but I'm not giving up. I'm fighting right now to stay in this competition. Good stuff, Cecilia. Keep pushing. ZOE: Go, Mimi. Good job, girl. Today I'm going to hero mango. So I'm going to do mango a few ways. How is it, Mim? Good. My custard's finished in the mixer, so I strain it off into a baking tray and put it in the freezer to cool off. And I hope it sets in time. So, the next thing I need to do is work on my mango jelly. I've heated up the mango juice for my jelly and I've got to stir in the gelatine, and then I'm pouring a thin layer into a tin so that I can cut a round-shaped disc of jelly and put it over my custard once it's set. It's a huge risk putting two setting elements on a dish, but it's a risk that I'm willing to take. I want to show technique today. I really want to show the judges that I deserve my spot in the competition. CHLOE: Good job, Mim. Good job, Heather. Hi, guys. Ooh, what's in there? It's my lemon pepper cornflake crumb. Ooh. OK. And what's getting crumbed? Calamari? Calamari. Smell that! That is... That smells good, doesn't it? Yeah. That's beautiful. As soon as I think lemon, I always think lemon pepper calamari. It's always what I had when I was growing up with Dad. So it's how I like to eat... What are you serving it with? I'm doing a pickled lemon salad. I'm doing a white pepper dipping sauce as well. I love the sound of the crumbed calamari. I'm just not sure that you're on the right track with all the other lots-of-lemony elements. You can overdo it, can't you? Yeah. Alright. Remember what you're fighting for here. Yeah. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) I've got to do something amazing to not go home today. I've got to hero lemon. I've seen people get eliminated before for not covering the brief. So I'm not going to stop putting lemon in absolutely everything, but I also need to create a balanced dish. The simple reality is you're cooking for your place in this competition. 30 minutes to go. Come on. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ELISE: I can't believe the amount of time and effort that has gone into frenching my lamb. (GROANS) Come on, Elise. Quick, quick, quick. I have to work so quickly to make sure that I get all the fat and meat off them. Arrgh! Watch your fingers. I know my lamb is going to take at least 20 minutes to cook. I need to hurry up and get on and crust this lamb and get that into the oven as soon as possible. The last thing I can do in this competition is to serve up raw lamb. If I do that, I'll be going home. Arrgh! 1 1 CHARLIE: Come on, guys! Let's go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Come on, Elise! ELISE: Arrgh! Go, Cecilia! Come on, Heather. HEATHER: To save ourselves in round two, we have to cook with the ingredient that we got wrong in round one, and I'm cooking with lemons. And I'm definitely going to be covering that brief today. There's going to be lemon in everything I do. Good job, Heather. Keep working hard, girl. I'm cooking a lemon-inspired crumbed calamari. I've got my crumb done. I've got my white pepper lemon dressing done. Gary and George just said that I need to think about how I'm putting the whole dish together. You know, just looking for a balanced dish, not too much lemon. But it's hard because you always want to hero the lemon and then you can almost have a bit of an overpowering one ingredient. So I'm thinking I want, like, a lemon and honey mayo to bring a creaminess and try and balance that dish out. CHLOE: I'm definitely worried about Heather. She's got a lemon mayonnaise, a lemon vinaigrette, she has lemon in her coating. I think if you get lemon right and you balance it out properly, you'll get this beautiful citrus kick. But if you take it too far, it can just taste a bit bitter. So I'm just hoping that she gets it right today. ELENA: Happy with the flavour, Heather? Yeah. Good. It couldn't be more important to me today to cook well and prove I can stay in the competition. ELISE: Arggh! HARRY: Come on, Elise. Get 'em in, get 'em in. 20 minutes to go and I'm freaking out. This lamb needs all that time to cook. I'm not even going to have time for it to be rested. Quick, quick, quick, quick. Elise, you've got pumpkin, you've got lamb. Great on a...you know, a Saturday night dinner or a Sunday lunch. Yeah. What are you going to do to MasterChef it up? Um...yeah. Well, hopefully my sauce will go really well with it. And I've done a nice lemon crumb. You're not worried we're going to be going, "Oh, there's another crumbed lamb"? I know. Oh, Matt! Matt's spot-on. I'm cooking for my survival in this competition. I just need to think of some other elements to bring extra flavour into this dish just to put that MasterChef twist up. (GROANS) WOMAN: Come on, Cecilia! CECILIA: Today I'm going to make a ham croquette with a Caprese salad. Time is ticking. I have a lot to do. ANASTASIA: OK, Cecilia, just focus and push. There's two types of croquettes - there's potato base and a bechamel base. I really love the bechamel base because it reminds me of the beautiful layer inside a lasagne. So I'm going to have a bechamel ham croquette today. TRENT: Ham, cheese, tomato croquettes. Yum. CHARLIE: Not a bad idea. Yeah. MATT: I think Cecilia's idea of using ham in a croquette is genius. You know, creamy, crunchy, delicious. Three ticks from the judges. If she can hero the ham enough in this dish, she could be onto an absolute winner. My bechamel and ham mix is ready. I'm going to chuck it into the blast freezer so it cools down as quickly as it can... Great, Cecilia. ..so that when I deep-fry it, it doesn't melt into the fryer. Keep pushing, girls! CHARLIE: Good stuff, Mimi. Watching Mimi today, she's really poised in the kitchen, calm and clean. MIMI: My custard and my jelly are both setting in the freezer, so the next thing I need to do is work on my mango syrup. I've made a plain sugar syrup and then I've added some mango juice and I'm going to add some passion fruit to balance out the sweetness of the syrup. I'm really happy with how my syrup's tasting. There's another depth of flavour there. It's really nice, sweet-and-sour. Today I'm making a lemon-crusted lamb cutlet with pumpkin puree and a red wine sauce. Matt just came around and said I need to put something a bit more, um, sophisticated to it. So I'm going to do some caramelised thyme onions. But I'm going to add something in there to help step it up and take it to the next level. ANASTASIA: Go, Elise. Elise runs to the pantry, and when she comes out she has a bottle of beer. I think that's really cool and interesting. HARRY: Good stuff. Good idea. When the judges say they want a wow factor, they want something different, not, like, your stock standard pub meal that you'll get at your local tavern. I just hope that, you know, putting the thyme in there, putting the beer just to make them go, "Wow. That's a good dish." We love this kind of drive, focus and determination. But of course, there's a lot at stake. 15 minutes to go. Come on. (CHEERING) Come on, guys. Come on, Elise! Come on, Mimi! Go, Heather! Come on, Cecilia! Come on! I've got 15 minutes to go, so now I'm going to get the croquettes ready. I'm getting some bechamel sauce, I'm putting some Colby cheese in the middle, rolling it into a nice ball, keeping the cheese in the centre. So now I'm going to get the skin of the croquettes ready. I have a bowl of flour, two eggs, and panko breadcrumbs with some cheese. It's going to give it that nice flavour. Come on, Cecilia. A good croquette would be really, really nice and golden and crunchy outside while having a really gooey, warm, tasty centre inside. These croquettes are the ham component, the hero of my dish, and they look good, so I'm really, really happy right now. CHARLIE: That's it, Cecilia. MATT SINCLAIR: Cecilia pulls her croquettes out of the fryer and they look absolutely stunning. She's put tasty cheese in the croquette, parmesan around the croquette and then bocconcini in the salad. I have absolutely no doubt it's going to be delicious, but it could create a bit of confusion - is it a ham dish or a cheese dish? Guys, you have 10 minutes to go. Come on, Heather. HEATHER: I've got 10 minutes to go and it's time to get the calamari crumbed and into the wok. I slice my calamari up and I've dipped it into the egg bath and I'm putting it into the crumb. It's just not sticking. CHLOE: How do they look, Heather? It's not sticking. The batter's not sticking. Literally not sticking. It's just not sticking, so I'm, like, panicking, thinking, "OK, my calamari and my crumb's out the window." What am I going to do? If I don't come up with a plan B, I'm going home. 1 CHLOE: How do they look, Heather? It's just not sticking. The batter's not sticking. I'm, like, panicking, thinking, "OK, my calamari and my crumb's out the window." So I run back to the pantry thinking if I grab some flour and put that into the crumb, that will give it a bit more, you know, depth and something that will stick to the calamari, at least. CHLOE: Are you double-dunking them, Heather? Yeah. I do another egg wash, put the calamari back in there, recrumb it... Come on, Heather. ..pressing the crumb on, really trying to get that going. And it's such a relief to see that this crumb is really sticking to this calamari this time. That looks good, Heather. Good job. Now I need to put it into the oil and check it cooks and hope that it's good. How's your lamb? Oh, it's not going to cook! I'm freaking out. My gut is sinking. I'm going to have to fry it. If I don't hero this lamb, and if I don't make it perfect, then my whole MasterChef journey is over. ZOE: Come on, Elise. NICOLETTE: Good job, Mimi. CHARLIE: Go, Heather. Good work, Cecilia. Keep it up. I've finished my croquettes, so I'm starting with the Caprese salad. So, Cecilia, how are you going to maintain the crunch of the croquettes in the salad? Salad cold, croquettes hot. You want those croquettes to be... ..to not be...have the heat sucked out by the salad. And also, you don't want the heat of the croquettes to make the salad wilt. OK. Plating has been a shocker in my dishes in this kitchen. Oh, my God. Today I really need to nail it. You don't want this to be the last cook in the MasterChef kitchen, so come on! Five minutes! Let's go! MIMI: The custard and the jelly are the most important things on my plate. I need to check if they're set. And the pressure is on. Without my custard, it will just be a bowl of mango. And without my mango jelly, then I've just got custard and mango on a plate. I really need them both to set perfectly. This jelly is so delicate. It's just perfect. Good work, Mimi. My custard's looking really good. I'm really happy with it. I'm just gonna put it into the piping bag, then I can start plating. Nice. Beautiful, Mim. It looks really good. HEATHER: With minutes to go, I'm still cooking the second and the third batch of calamari. I want it to be generous. I need that golden crunch. I need it to be spot-on. Oh, beautiful. Two minutes to go, guys! Come on! Come on, guys! Push! Push! Go, Mimi. Get it on! Come on, Elise! Come on, Elise! Keep pushing! ELISE: I pull my lamb out of the pan. I'm just praying that when I slice into this lamb that it's going to be cooked perfectly. It's got this beautiful pink colour and I couldn't be happier. Yum! Go, Mimi. Keep pushing. MIMI: Plating's going to be so important today. It's been one of my weakest points in the competition. I just want to get it right today. My place in the MasterChef kitchen is riding on this dish and I really need to make this look so beautiful. CECILIA: I'm trying really, really hard right now to make sure every detail is... as good as it can be. I haven't seen my kids for a really long time and I just... ..I want to make being away from them worth every second. And I need to do that by learning as much as I can and staying in here as long as possible. Everything that should be on the plate, on the plate! One minute to go! One minute! Push! Get it on the plate! One minute! Come on, guys! ELISE: I've got enough pumpkin puree. My caramelised onions have worked. My lamb is cooked perfectly. MATT SINCLAIR: Have you tasted your sauce? I taste my sauce. I'm absolutely devastated. It's really salty. I've reduced it way too much and it's far too salty. I don't know what to do. 30 seconds! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) 30 seconds, guys! Come on, Elise! I know I need to do a sauce with my lamb. Time's ticking away. I'm just going to serve it. Make sure everything's on the plate! Make it look perfect! Go! Go! Go! Ten seconds! Nine! ALL: Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it! Your time is up. (APPLAUSE) Wow! Well done, guys! CHLOE: Looking down at the four girls after their cook, honestly, all of them have put up such beautiful food, I think it will be a really tough decision for the judges. I don't know who it will be that will go home. 1 Well, four contestants, all having to cook with the ingredient they failed to identify in the one-inch cube challenge. We're looking for delicious food heroing either lemon or mango or lamb or ham. So...intense cook, and I think we'll get some good tucker. And they certainly had some fight in them, which was great to see. I think they can all see the possibility of winning this competition. Well, the food looks good, that's for sure. Shall we get the first dish in? Yeah. ELISE: I'm so happy with how my plate looks and tastes. I've put up something that I'm proud of today, and I hope that the judges really like it. Wow. That looks spectacular, doesn't it? Thank you. I think you were surprised when you didn't get your... you know, inch cube right. Definitely. It's weird having that sense taken away from you. Mango's my favourite fruit, so I don't know how I got it wrong. I'm really happy with the dish and I think the flavours are there. I really hope this tastes as good as it sounds. Thank you. (SIGHS) Talk about this challenge being all about that ingredient, you know, and her ingredient was mango - there is mango everywhere. Are those little chunks of mango and then mango jelly cut up? Yep. That's right. So you've got a little mango jelly, more mango jelly, the pieces of mango, that little custard underneath. I can't wait to tuck in. Yeah. That custard's good, actually. That custard's very good. And the little...you know, those little passion fruit seeds are fantastic. Yeah. It's a little burst of flavour. I mean, there's absolutely no doubt this is all about mango. I love the textures of the jelly and the fresh fruit. Fruit, jelly, custard - it's such a...kind of, a kids' party-type combination. But by the addition of the passion fruit, you take the mango into whole different places. It's a sophisticated bit of cooking. I love the use of technique we're seeing there with the gel. It's a delicious plate of food. Yeah, really. Yeah, lovely. Right, let's get the next dish in. HEATHER: Lemon is really the hero of my dish today. It's in my crumbed calamari, it's in my honey lemon mayo and it's in my lemon pepper sauce. I just hope that I've delivered the well-balanced dish that the judges are asking for. Didn't expect to find yourself in this situation today, I'm sure. To me, I came here to cook and prove myself and show technique and show what I've learnt in this competition. I like to push myself and I like to be challenged, and I think that's why I'm enjoying this environment so much. Alright, Heather, well, I think it's time for us to taste and to hopefully see whether this dish is good enough to keep you in the competition. Thank you. Thank you. What do you think of the dish? Oh, I'm sort of drawn to these crunchy, golden bits all over the calamari. The mayonnaise looks good. Alright, let's taste. I love that crunchy calamari. The cornflake and lemon crunch is probably an inspired idea on this dish. I love it. Give me bowls of that. And it's a good mayonnaise. I sort of even... You've got this flavour of tartare in ways, because there's that pickle, the mayonnaise. Oh, yeah. It's very lemon-heavy. That's the only thing I'm finding. Like, there's no relief. Because you've got candied lemon, lemon dressing, pickles and a lemon mayo as well. Right, let's get the next dish in. CECILIA: I'm really happy today. I've plated a beautiful dish. I'm proud of what I achieved. Hopefully it's enough. Looks prettier than expected. Yeah, it looks great. I'll be honest with you. Yeah, it looks great. I was really worried about how you were going to plate this dish, but I think you've managed to combine the crunchy and the fresh and keep the integrity of both intact. Well done. It looks great. Are you pleased? Yeah. How are you motivating yourself, you know, mentally? I just know that I'm away from my kids, and so... ..every second I'm away from them, I feel like I need to do something that's worth more than that second I'm away from them, so when I come back, I've got something to give back to them. Cecilia, thank you. We'll taste now. Thank you. The wonderful thing about those kind of oozy bechamel-based croquettes - it's when you bust them open and it, you know, kind of spills out. She's got the texture right. The croquettes are crunchy, they're oozy. You know, that's a great start. Yeah. I mean, the biggest problem for me is I can't really taste the ham. There's three different cheeses on this plate of food, and, like, I got two squares of ham. I just want more ham. Big tick for the croquette, very small tick for the ham. It's more like a cheese dish, which is a shame, because in concept, this could be a really cool dish. Mmm. Alright, let's get the next dish in. ELISE: I can't believe in the last few minutes of this challenge I served my sauce. It's something that I'm not proud of. And I'm kicking myself for that. One little element on your plate that's terrible - that could send me home. 1 You've not been in a pressure test. You've never been in the second round of an elimination. How much pressure did that put on you, knowing you could go home this cook? It was hectic. Your mind just goes elsewhere. It's just crazy. It's so much pressure. But at the same time, you enjoy it, because you're cooking food that you love. I'm hoping it's enough. Elise, thank you. We're going to taste now. Thank you, guys. Crumbed cutlets. The golden crumb looks lovely. She's made a simple dish look attractive. It looks beautiful. It's flavours of Sunday roast. They're comfortable flavours. And I think she did that purposely. I love the crispy crumbs. I think the lamb's cooked beautifully. And I do like that pumpkin puree. It's kind of deep and dark. I like the onions. I love that, sort of, caramelise-y, sort of, sweat down... ..you know, soft onions with meat. It's always delicious. But that sauce was salty. It wasn't balanced correctly. Mmm. Mmm. It's really tough and precarious when your future in the competition hangs in the balance. But the unfortunate reality, as you very well know, is that somebody is going home today. This challenge was all about heroing the ingredient that you named incorrectly in round one, and what we can say is that one of you heroed their ingredient in exceptional style. What it was was spectacular, it was sophisticated and it showed great technique. It was cooking that told all three of us that its maker deserves their place in this competition. And that's why you are safe... ..Mimi. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) That dish was absolutely beautiful. It was the complexity, that every element championed that mango. You had the gel, the mango - different cuts, different pieces of that mango. That custard that was beautiful and silky and soft that just turned that dessert into something really, really special. Mimi, brilliant job. Well done. You can go and join the others. Thanks. (CHEERING) Heather, Cecilia, Elise, it comes down to you three and it comes down to the dish that you cooked today. Elise, that crumbed lamb was cooked perfectly. But...your sauce was too salty. Heather, lemon was everywhere in your dish, and we especially loved it in that crispy, crunchy cornflake crumb. But with lemon everywhere in your dish, there was just no relief. It dominated. Cecilia, your croquettes showed great technique. They were crunchy on the outside and they were oozy in the middle. But there just wasn't enough ham in your croquettes, and your dish was really more about the three cheeses you used than that hero ingredient. And I'm sorry, Cecilia, that's why you're going home. It's OK. Oh, Cecilia, if it wasn't hard enough to lose you that first time, to then lose you again now, when you've been such a big inspiration, I think, not just to your kids but also to everyone here, it's a bad day. We're going to miss you. Thank you. What we will remember is not only who you are as a person, but, obviously, the food. That black sesame three ways that got you into the competition. For me, as a chef, I look at that and go, "Wow. Lots of technique." The dish is delicious. Let's not forget Marco's mystery box. MARCO: You've done a fantastic job. It's like the lightest lemon meringue pie in the world. (GIGGLES) What are you going to remember most about your time here at MasterChef? Everyone here and, you know, watching everybody grow and studying together and... And your feedback. I got feedback from you guys, you know? Not many mums get that. (LAUGHTER) You know, Cecilia, I think we've loved seeing you grow, but I think more importantly, what we admire is your incredible example to your kids, you know? And that's really the crux of it. You should be very proud. And when you walk out those doors, obviously, you're going to go back and see them. I reckon they're going to be extremely, super proud of you. Alright? And, I'm sure, super excited to see you. Thank you. Can I have a final hug? Yeah, of course you can. Good luck, Cecilia. Thanks, Gary. See you, Cecilia. Good luck, hey? (APPLAUSE) Good luck. Thanks, guys. I'm disappointed today because I'm going home, but at the same time, I've learnt so much, you know? Every week, I can cook better dishes than what I started. (CHEERING) It's been an amazing journey. And even though I made mistakes, I've learned that I can get up and keep going. I've taught myself that's all I have to do - just get up and keep going. I think my kids will be proud of me. ANNOUNCER: Next time - a very special guest. Give a warm welcome to Maggie Beer! (ALL CHEER, EXCLAIM) Australia's favourite foodie is back. I love Maggie Beer! And she'll challenge them with the boldest ingredients in an invention test yet. You could do lots with it. There'll be nowhere to hide. Wow. And no playing it safe. You've made this before? Never. But with great risk... I'm impressed. ..comes great reward. I could eat a whole dish of that. And for the contestant who delivers the winning dish...