1 ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia, power apron week began with a vengeance. MATT PRESTON: The first contestant to wear the power apron is Elise. But in the next round, Elise's triumph turned to tragedy... You've gone from the highs to just having an absolute brain freeze. ..landing her in elimination with Elena and Zoe. Tonight, a pressure test by one of Australia's most award-winning chefs. MATT PRESTON: Ross Lusted. This one's gonna be a challenge. It's do or die... I'm really worried. (CHEERING) Go, Elena! This recipe is confusing me. ..as they face what could be their last cook in the MasterChef kitchen. This one, you're burning. (GASPS) Get a move on! With the threat of elimination... Snap out of it. Get them out! Get them out! For God's sake! ..the pressure will reach boiling point. I really want to be here to the end. # 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. # We got today. # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # So spin me round and... # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # ...show me the way... # Ooh, yeah, yeah. # ...back to... # Burning up # in my heart # like a flame, # like the brightest shooting star. # In our souls, # we all know # our dreams make us who we are. # Able 2016 TRENT: How you feeling this morning, Ana? You nervous? ANA: Oh, yeah. ELISE: Oh, it'd mean everything to me to stay in this house. You know, I still... I want to have my cake store, I want to do that. You know, I'm in a good head space, I know what I have to do, so I've just got to go in there and fight. ZOE: Being in MasterChef, it's really the first time that I've taken the time out to do something for me. I didn't really enjoy anything and I just kept thinking about cooking. ELISE: Mm. I think that I've got my head in the game today. ELENA: When I woke up this morning, I had this, um, beautiful sort of thought of my Oma. Wow. Last week, Gary had mentioned, during my Spanish pork dish, that I had brought them a plate of sunshine. Elena, that was just absolutely the taste of sunshine and Spain in a bowl. And my nan used to call me 'Sunshine Girl' when I was little. Why aren't I bringing plates of sunshine ALL the time? That's what I want to be doing. I would be really disappointed if I went home today. I'm just hungry to... to fight for my position here. ELISE: This is my fifth time in black, my second pressure test. I know how to cook. I just have to trust my judgement. Let's do this, girls. (CHEERING) ELISE: I'm going to give it my absolute best today and not let the pressure get to me. (APPLAUSE CONTINUES) A few smiles on your faces, which is unusual, actually, when you walk into this kitchen in a black apron. You know, the prospect of going home is never a pleasant one. But the reality is one of you three is going home. Anastasia, obviously it's not you. You're wearing the power apron. And while you're not cooking today, you do have the power to change the game for Elena, Zoe and Elise. Everything in power-apron week has to be momentous because that's the power of the power apron. And the pressure test is no exception. We've invited a titan of the culinary stage to set the dish you will cook today. He's picked up every accolade there is to get for a chef in Sydney - Chef of the Year, Restaurant of the Year. He's also been named the Hottest Chef in Australia. Please welcome... ..from The Bridge Room in Sydney... ..Ross Lusted. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE CONTINUES) Hi, guys. Ross has two cloches of...I don't know. Like, I'm just thinking this is not a usual pressure test. What is happening? (MATT CHUCKLES) The fun starts. You know, Ross, there's an old Chinese proverb that says, "When a man enters with two cloches, "storm clouds are not far behind." There's a couple of clouds under there. Oh, my. Aren't there just a couple of clouds! When you were coming up with these dishes, give us a sense of how your kitchen team reacted to them. Every time we do this, it scares my chefs because every time somebody sees this on MasterChef, they come to the restaurant and they want to see the dishes. So, it's equally as hard for you guys to cook it, but my chefs are probably more stressed back in Sydney, I can tell you, today. Basically, what you're saying is the dishes under these cloches are enough to scare your team in your kitchen. Yes. Ow! Ow. ZOE: I'm freaking out. If Ross's own chefs find it difficult, then it might be impossible for us. Now, the question is, Anastasia, have you worked out what your power is yet? I have a feeling I'm choosing one of the dishes. You're absolutely right. Your power is to choose between those two dishes under the cloche and, ultimately, influence who stays in this competition, I think. Yep. Ross, reveal the two dishes that Anastasia has to pick from. This is my... ..chicken dumpling, silken chicken and ginger fried rice. (EXHALES SHARPLY) Are you ready for the next one? ANASTASIA: Yep. Perfumed stone fruits, elderflower and peach biscuit. CHLOE: Both dishes are looking incredible. Really challenging. Anastasia has a tough decision to make. Before we worry about you three, let's worry about Anastasia. Do you want to come and step over here? Yeah. Anastasia, you know these three contestants really well. You've lived with them. You know who's good at sweet. You know who's good at savoury. I want you to think about it very, very carefully. Because at the end of the day, their future in this competition is in your hands. Yep. Being in a pressure-test situation, it's always gonna have a sad result. I'm gonna choose a dish which I think I would like to cook on the day if I was standing in their place, and that they would also really like to cook. Anastasia, is it gonna be Ross's beautiful chicken dish or his perfumed stone fruit? Um... I'm gonna choose the perfumed stone fruit. Excellent. Good choice. Well done. ANASTASIA: I know that you all love desserts. But for me, like, what excites me the most is the colour of this dish and the smell of it. Anastasia, thank you so much. I'm gonna go and have my chicken dinner now. Up to the gantry, Anastasia. Well done. CONTESTANTS: Thanks, Ana. Right, guys, step forward. You need to get up close and personal with this incredible dessert. ELENA: It smells incredible. ELISE: It looks amazing. Ross, step through this. Stone fruit, it's just spectacular. The things I like with stone fruit, and I like to do in my restaurant, is play with texture all the way through. There's a lot of little components in there, whereas I felt the chicken, you probably had a bit more time up your sleeve. This one's gonna be a challenge. GEORGE: Do you want to taste? Definitely. Yeah. Yes, please. ROSS: So, the first bite you're gonna get is the fresh, beautiful nectarine of the sorbet. ZOE: It's so beautiful. So, now you've had that beautiful, delicate taste, as you get into the dessert, I want to excite your palate again. So, keep going. You'll find something else. Wow. What you can't see underneath the plated fruit is burnt peach butter. We take the peaches and we've cooked them on the hibachi grill until they're black. And I don't mean lightly. I mean black, black, black. It's sweet, though. It's, um... It's delicious. It's amazing. The biscuit - this is a beautiful Indonesian layer cake. When you look through it, it's like a piece of stained glass. It's amazing. It's easy to do. They do it in every village in Indonesia. But to make it into that is gonna take some technique. You have to add the bicarb of soda. Don't try to rush it 'cause it won't be cooked. You won't have the proving of the bicarb. The bicarb makes the holes. If you don't have the holes, you're just gonna have a piece of toast. It's beautiful. It tastes like the crispy parts of pancakes, cooked in butter. Those are the things that evoke childhood memories, which I think are fantastic in food. And, you know, we all have this wonderful history of food in our lives, as...being chefs. And those, I think, are the things that are integral in creating a dish - that it does sing to some part of your history and some part of your life. It's...it's not that simple, is it? You need to take care. The simplest things are the hardest things in a kitchen. We've poached the nectarines to make the sorbet. We've taken the sauce from the poaching liquor - made a beautiful syrup for the fruit. It's perfumed fruit - think about the final taste and how much you're reducing and "Are you getting everything out of the fruit that you've got?" This syrup, it's just... it's so amazing and so beautiful. Right. Step back into line. CONTESTANTS: Thank you. It ties everything together and I just...I can't wait to cook it. GARY: Right! You want some rules? ALL: Yep. You've got two hours to create Ross Lusted's beautiful dish. You also have five minutes to then plate up and present that dish to us. Are you ready? ALL: Yes. Ross, would you like to get 'em started? Good luck, everyone. Time starts now! (ONLOOKERS CHEER) I read the recipe and I'm already starting to panic. I've never made anything like this before. But I've put myself in this position of being in my first pressure test, but I need to just be calm and follow every step to a tee. I have a look at what needs to be done in the first step and that's to start on the peach biscuit. The biscuit is one of the toughest elements on the dish. It needs to be wafer-thin and crispy and have bubbles in it, so that it looks almost like a stained-glass window. It sounds a little bit strange, but in order to make this biscuit, we first need to make a cake. I put flour, bicarb soda and the peach powder in a bowl. Adding the bicarb soda will aerate the mixture. That's what's going to give the biscuit that stained-glass effect. At this point, I'm feeling pretty good. Everything's going to plan. But I'm only three steps in. (LAUGHS) ELENA: I am so pleased that we are getting to do this Indonesian cake. My nan's from Indonesia and thinking of her just gives me that little bit more... ..determination and focus. To make this batter, I need to make a caramel and then just gently stir it through those dry ingredients to get that thick batter formed. CHLOE: Good job, Elena. That looks really good. HEATHER: Mm. That's really good. ELENA: I feel like it's really important for me today to make sure that I pay attention to every detail in this recipe. I need to treat it with time, care and respect. If I don't get something right, it's gonna be very evident on my final presentation. I want to make sure that I nail every element. I love making desserts - this is what I'm here for and this is my passion, this is what I want to do. But I start fretting and my mind goes blank. This is my second pressure test and I know that time's not on my side. I need to work as fast as possible. "Add dry ingredients to the warm caramel." OK. So, I chuck in the dry ingredients into this caramel and I don't know how it's going to react. I mix that really, really quickly. I've never made this type of batter before, so I don't know what it's meant to look like. I thought it was going to be a bit more light and fluffy, and mine isn't - mine's quite hard and dense. So, I just leave that to prove for 10 minutes. It's very rough technique, what she's doing here. That doesn't look right at all. I think Elise is going too fast. Pastry is a science. It's not a 'throw it together and let's see what happens'. You've got to be delicate and you've got to be thoughtful about those processes, otherwise you're just guessing. She'll need to just slow down, I think. GEORGE: Yeah. MIMI: Good job, Zoe. ZOE: While my dough's proving, I need to get on to the white nectarine poaching liquor. The liquor is going to form the syrup that will need to go on the fruit at the end. It's also what I'm going to poach the nectarines in, which is for the sorbet. If I don't get this right, then I could ruin not just the sorbet, but also the syrup. Whoo! Go, Zoe! I put some champagne, water, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and put it on the heat to boil. Once my liquor is boiling, I add the nectarines and I've got to boil that till the nectarines are really soft. WOMAN: Good job, Zo. Whole...white...nectarines. While my nectarines are all poaching, I need to finish off my batter for my biscuit. I beat together condensed milk and eggs until it's light and fluffy. Then I need to fold my peach batter into my egg mixture. But when I do that... ..it just doesn't look right. And I can see that it's a little bit lumpy. Oh, I think I stuffed it. Elise looks worried. Yeah, it's really lumpy. Is it? Why do you think it's lumpy? I didn't do a step right? Yeah. OK. When you mixed your batter, you've got to go in slowly and you've got to create a batter. You went...way too quickly. Could I just strain it? You might lose a lot of your batter. The bicarb, the caramel, the flour, everything. Mm-hm. Because that's the key part. OK. I don't really have time to do it again. Well... I need to decide whether to start again or do I strain it and risk it? Why am I questioning myself? I'm not feeling confident right now. Oh, I don't know! 1 Zovirax fights cold sores and cuts healing time by half compared with no treatment. So you can too. 1 ELISE: It's really lumpy. When you mixed your batter, you went way too quickly. Could I just strain it? You might lose a lot of your batter. The bicarb, the caramel, everything. Mm-hm. Because that's the key part. OK. I need to make a decision. I need to decide whether to use this peach biscuit batter that's lumpy or to start again and to make a new one. I don't have time to do it again, so I'm just gonna...go with it. So, I decide to put it through a fine sieve... ..and get rid of those lumps. HARRY: Oh, she's strained it. I'm a little bit worried. When Elise passed the mixture through the sieve, she left quite a lot of sugar and caramel still in there. And, you know, maybe that's gonna make the cake dense. GEORGE: Ross's recipe is all about timing. You've had 30 minutes. 90 minutes to go. Come on! (CHEERING) (ONLOOKERS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) ELENA: I've taken my time with my batter and I'm really happy with it. That's the best batter we've had all day. But I'm starting to get a little bit concerned. It feels like everyone else is just powering on. I know I've fallen a little bit behind. And I can feel myself start to get panicky. This is no place or time for self-doubt. There's no time for it. I have to get on to my nectarine sorbet and the first thing I need to do is prepare the poaching liquid. The liquor is for poaching nectarines, but also, that liquid will then be reduced to a syrup to be able to put on my fruit. Champagne, water, vanilla, sugar... I'm paying quite close attention to the recipe and make sure that everything I'm doing is done well. Half...split. (MUTTERS) KARMEN: Elena, you need to work faster. ELENA: This is my first pressure test. I'm not multi-tasking and I am struggling to make decisions. You can do it, Elena. Come on. I'm somewhere I don't want to be. I don't want to be feeling like my emotions are getting the better of me. Is it a half split vanilla bean? What does it say, Elena? Well, it could be read one of two ways. So, is it a half-split vanilla bean or is it half a split vanilla bean? TRENT: Instinct. Huh? Go with your instinct. OK. CHLOE: I'm really worried about Elena. She's falling pretty far behind. Elena, your nectarines. Well, it has to boil first. She hasn't even got her nectarines poaching. And Elise and Zoe have already done that. She really needs to dig deep now. Elise, stuff on the ground already. Work neat and tidy. Clean, yeah? Yes, George. I want to nail this recipe. I need to have this perfect. But the pressure's starting to get to me. Nnnn! I'm starting to get a bit stressed. I'm cutting corners, I'm not doing it properly and I don't know what's going on. Ah! Elise, you need to start cooking, yeah? You know how to do it. Yeah. I don't know what's going on with you today. I don't know. Well, come on. Snap out of it. Yep. Yeah? Yes, George. NICOLETTE: You're doing so well, Elise. I don't feel like it. HARRY: Come on. Motor. Push on. It means everything to me to be here and, you know, this recipe's confusing me. I don't know why. And I'm just trying to... Aaagh! I'm just doing everything in my power to concentrate and keep it together to get this perfect. MATT SINCLAIR: Trust yourself. Yep. NICOLETTE: You're doing so good. Thanks, guys. I need to get on to my white nectarine sorbet. I need 600 grams of flesh from the white poached nectarines. I add that into the mixer and incorporate some glucose, stabiliser and some sugar. HARRY: Nice. CHLOE: Nice. That's really good. 600? I need 600 grams of white nectarine flesh but I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get 600 grams. I'm really worried, um, about how much flesh I'm getting out of the nectarines. I have 300. That's OK. I only need one quenelle so I've halved the recipe. BRETT: Uh... I know it's a risk to halve the rest of the ingredients for the sorbet. But I don't have time to make 600 grams. I'm really hoping it has the same flavour and texture as Ross's. Elise, Zoe and Elena, you've got to get your charcoal burning. Get your charcoal on the gas, get it up to temperature and then get it into your hibachi. If you don't have that charcoal on now and up to a red-hot, you're not gonna be able to grill your peaches. You've got to get on to that. ELISE: So, the next thing I need to do is the burnt peach butter. It had this beautiful, sweet, peach-flavoured charcoal and it just worked so well with the dessert. Wow. For the yellow peach butter, we need to use a hibachi grill. Kind of like a...a Weber. So, we need to put these coals and the wood pieces onto the gas stove, just to make them nice and white and hot. (POPS) MIMI: Good job, Zoe. Oh! Are you alright, Zoe? I think that's pretty hot. My coals are really hot. I need to put them on the hibachi. Good one. (APPLAUDS) Good job, Zoe! To make the burnt peach butter, you need to slice the peaches into one-centimetre thickness. They need to be charred on the outside, but not all the way through. There needs to be enough moisture in the peaches to still provide a little bit of sweetness. If they're too burnt, they're just going to taste ashy. Ohh! Sorry! I need to get one centimetre of the yellow peaches. Nuh. But, you know, I don't have time to measure this, so I just cut them up really quickly and get them onto the grill. This is so weird, to get your head around. You're burning peaches until they're charcoaled for a dessert. You know, I don't really know what I'm looking for. BRETT: Oh, that's nice and black. HEATHER: Good job, Elise. I...you know, I just hope I'm doing it correctly. I tell all my chefs, there's a difference between grilling and burning. And that's burning? You're burning on this one. (GASPS) You're not grilling. No, it's good. It's good. Oh, it's good? This one, you're burning. (LAUGHS) Oh. GARY: It actually says it in the recipe, doesn't it? Yeah, burn. Alright. Thank you. Just be careful. Some of these aren't one centimetre. So, don't cook them too much otherwise you won't have enough moisture left in them. OK. MIMI: They look really good, Zoe. Well done. GARY: If you want this challenge to be peachy, then get a move on! One hour to go! Come on! (ONLOOKERS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) BRETT: When you get five seconds, Elena, put some coal on the stove. ELENA: There's a lot to be done and I'm way behind the other two girls. It's quite a tricky recipe to follow, you have to be multi-tasking, and I don't know that I was quite prepared enough for that. CHLOE: Elena, get your nectarines in. ELENA: No... It's not boiling. BRETT: Put a lid on it, then. Yeah, just use your instinct, Elena. I'm trying really hard to be strong. HARRY: Elena, you've got to pick up the pace. The pressure is really getting to me. Gotta keep moving fast, Elena. I just don't know if I can get this done. KARMEN: Elena, you've gotta stop double-guessing things. Just use your instinct, OK? 'Cause you're wasting time doing that. (BREATHES SHAKILY) HEATHER: Come on, Elena, you can do this. CHLOE: Elena, you're doing so well. (BREATHES DEEPLY) Just stay focused. I have a brief moment of thought that... ..this could be me going home today. HEATHER: Are you OK, Elena? Um... Just give me a second. 1 1 HEATHER: Are you OK, Elena? ELENA: Just give me a second. I'm really...struggling with the idea that...this could be me going home today. I just need to...step away from that for a moment. I would love to be here to the end. I really want to be here to the end. I really just need to think about what this dish is all about. That beautiful, fragrant fruit. The fragrance of this fruit really resonates a strong memory with me. My Oma and Opa had a stone-fruit orchard that my mum grew up on. She picked fruit, she would have it at its absolute optimum freshness. And I think she instilled that love of fresh produce in myself. Thinking of my Oma and my mum I think just gave me this lovely warmth and strength. I want to take those beautiful memories as inspiration and...and harness it and use that to power me through the rest of this cook. HEATHER: Come on, Elena. Keep pushing. Get those nectarines in! Get them in, Elena. There's a lot to achieve, but I still feel like I can do it. HEATHER: Good work. CHLOE: Perfect, Elena. I finally put those nectarines in for the white nectarine sorbet. I need to get my peach slices on the hibachi for my burnt peach butter. Even though I'm a little bit behind, I'm quite determined. I'm not ruling myself out. Remember, your place in the competition hinges on the next 45 minutes. Come on! Let's get a move on. Come on, guys! Come on Let's go! Go, Zoe! ZOE: My peaches have been on the hibachi for a while now. They are nice and burnt, and still fleshy in the middle. I dice them up and put them in a saucepan. And I add some dark muscovado sugar, and I put that on a medium heat. It sort of caramelises and the liquid evaporates. In terms of looking at the peaches, you can see nice, orange bits of peach there. That's what you want to see. That's what you want to see. That's gonna give you that fresh peach flavour... Mm-hm. ..to balance out the burnt peach flavour. Keep going. Don't... Don't listen to us. Don't listen to him saying nice things about you. Just keep going. NICOLETTE: How's it looking? Yeah, it's very...burnt. My peaches are ready. I need to cut them up into cubes. And as I'm cutting them on the board, some parts are a lot more burnt than others. Were all of those cut to one centimetre when you grilled them? Um... ..the majority of them. I didn't cut my peaches thick enough and it really shows because I've got a lot more burnt bits. There's a little bit too much charring there... Uh... ..compared to the balance of moist fruit. Alright, so, just... Get it cooking and keep tasting it and see where you're at. I'm trying to pick out the best pieces and I really just hope that doesn't affect the whole flavour of my burnt peach butter. Once all the liquid has evaporated, I now need to use the stick blender and incorporate small bits of butter into the mixture to emulsify it. That peach butter looks very, very dark. The test is gonna be in the taste. Right. It looks the right colour. Let's see if she's left enough moisture in there that I actually get to taste that richness of the peach. ZOE: My biggest concern at the moment is the cake not cooking. If the cake doesn't cook, then I don't have a biscuit and that's one of the main elements on the dish. I cut it in half and it's cooked. MIMI: Looks good, Zo. That looks really good. Fantastic. How does it look? How does it look? Looks good. Looks alright? Ah! Now I just need to get it in the blast chiller until it's firm to slice. ELISE: So, the timer goes off for my cake and it's meant to spring back when you touch it. It's not really springing back. I'm really confused. See how much of that is sitting in there? What's happened is you've taken the sugar out. That's making your cake dense. OK. My cake's cooked but I just hope I have got enough bubbles through there when I slice it up. Elena, is something burning down there? I hope so. (HARRY LAUGHS) This is definitely multi-tasking at its best. I've got several different things on all at once. I might just do two more minutes. I still might be able to pull this off. Elena, your cake's looking great. GARY: That's good. Great. OK, thank you. I know there's a lot to go, but I'm really gonna push myself now. HEATHER: Good work, Elena! HARRY: Come on, Elena! NICOLETTE: Come on, Elise! Go, go, go! ELISE: I'm goin'! While my sorbet is churning, now I need to do my syrup. I do that by taking the poaching liquid, straining that into another saucepan and placing that on a medium heat, just to reduce that down. The syrup is one of the key elements for this dish. It ties everything together, and getting it to the perfect consistency is most important. Looking at my syrup, it looks perfect. So, I place some elderflower into a container and pour the hot liquid over the elderflower to get that nice, fragrant flavour through there. ROSS: Beautiful. That's a sprig, right? Just confirming. The dish is called perfumed stone fruit and the essence from the elderflower is what gives the dish its beautiful perfume. And the syrup also gives it that gorgeous, vibrant colour. So, I really need to nail this element. Watch this Zoe, really. Yeah. OK. You're very close. Don't forget, it's got to cool down. When it cools down, the sugar's gonna set. Yes. The syrup looks a little bit watery, so I'm just gonna leave it on the heat for a little bit longer. I'm hoping it'll thicken up. Quick as you can, Elena. CHLOE: You've got to really push for this sorbet now. ELENA: This sorbet needs 30 minutes to churn. I've got 33 minutes left. I can still do this. The nectarine is really hot. Far out. I'm just gonna have to put up with burning fingers. And I blitz that until it's a really smooth puree. HEATHER: Come on, come on, come on. You can do this. HARRY: Good stuff, Elena! (APPLAUSE) What next? HEATHER: You're doing really well. CHLOE: You're doing so well, Elena. I'm really concerned that if this poaching liquid does not reduce far enough, that it's not gonna be syrupy enough. I've got enough there to play with, so I ladle a couple of spoonfuls out into a shallower dish with more surface area, so that I can reduce that in a quicker time. Come on, Elena! Come on Ellie! Go, Ellie! By doing this, I'm starting to catch up. TRENT: Watch your syrup, Zoe. The syrup's getting there. CHLOE: Zoe has reduced her syrup. But I'm just worried that she's taken it too far. It's looking really dark... ..and more like toffee than a syrup. ROSS: Contestants, there's three of you, there's one slicer. See if you can get a wafer out. Don't forget - these have got to be cut, they've got to be pressed between two trays, they've got to be baked. Don't leave it till the last minute now. ZOE: I check on my cake and it's nice and firm. I need to slice it up now. Alright, let's go. CHLOE: Come on, Zoe. You never would have thought that I would be using a deli slicer, especially for dessert. Let the machine do the work, alright? Slowly. I start slicing at 1mm thickness and it's working. Look at that. Well done! (CHEERING) Well done. The biscuits look beautiful and the holes are there - I'm really happy. ROSS: Zoe has got her wafer out. She is ready to go in the oven. ANASTASIA: Go, Zoe. I need someone else ready to slice. ELISE: Yep, I'm ready. BRETT: Come on, Elise! It's the moment of truth. So, I'm slicing it on the deli slicer. Nuh. I can see little holes through there. But they're not as good as Ross's. Alright, get it in the oven now. I'm just hoping I've done enough that it keeps me safe. TRENT: Come on, Ellie! MATT SINCLAIR: Go, Ellie! ELENA: I've never made biscuits as complex as this before. ROSS: Slice and catch. That's right. Let it go. Keep going. There are so many steps to get to this one point, this one beautiful moment of slicing them and seeing how thin they are. Well done. Well done. TRENT: Beautiful, Elena. But it's just like I'm having this moment of...of sheer joy. ROSS: Quickly. This is actually gonna work. Oh, my gosh. I know they still need to bake, but it's all coming to that sort of end moment, and you can see how close you are to having that final goal. Concentrate, cut it, buttered, bake it. CHLOE: Go, Elena. Come on, Elena! GARY: It all comes down to these last 10 minutes! Make sure every single little component of Ross's dessert is ready to go! Come on, girls! Go! Come on, Elena! ELENA: I'm feeling pretty ecstatic. MATT SINCLAIR: Beautiful, Elena. Good stuff. There was a few moments during that cook that I didn't even know whether I'd be able to pull this off. CHLOE: That looks really good, Elena. It tastes amazing. HARRY: Elena, you've caught right up. Keep it up. KARMEN: Yep. Good job. ELENA: I can't believe it. I was behind and I've caught up. If I can give myself an advantage here, I might still stand a chance of being able to plate up something beautiful today. So, I start preparing the fruit for the plating. ROSS: I see you slicing your fruit. Why are you doing that? You have five minutes at the end of the session to be able to cut your fruit. I feel like I was doing a good thing by over-preparing and potentially giving myself an advantage. At the end of the cook, I've still got five more minutes to plate up my dish. But I'm too scared to leave it all to the last minute. I carefully place them into the airtight containers and, hopefully, they'll be alright for plating. Right now, you know why it's called a pressure test! Two minutes to go! CHLOE: Come on, guys! Is it set? MIMI: Yeah, that's fully set. Take it out. CHLOE: Wafers! Get them out! Get them out! HARRY: You need a spatula! (WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE) GARY: 10 seconds! ALL: Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four... CHLOE: Be really gentle! ..three, two, one... That's it! Step away from your benches! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GARY: Well done. CHLOE: Well done! Well done. ANA: Good job, Zoe! CHLOE: You guys did so well. NICOLETTE: Well done, girls. HARRY: You got everything done and it looks really good. Yeah, I got everything done! I don't know how I did that. ANA: Well done, Zo. I can't believe it! It looks like all the elements are coming together. But I'm so nervous. I hope that I've done enough. But you can never be 100% sure. 1 MATT PRESTON: Well, what a fascinating cook - our three amateurs confronting your fragrance of stone fruit. And there is so much hidden technique in that dish, you could see each of them stumbling at different places along the way. Now the plating - that's the last five minutes that will make or break this dish. That's right. Yep. Let's get the first dish in and see how they've gone. Fantastic. Today, I...I really struggled. When it comes time for plating up, I'm trying to put that behind me and move forward and fight for my position here. My five minutes starts. I take my fruit out of the containers. I'm a little bit concerned that it doesn't look as fresh as I would like. But I need to start assembling my dish. I've got my ring there, ready. I put the burnt butter onto the plate. I start putting each of the fruit pieces on. I can feel I'm running out of time and I can feel myself start to get panicky again. The whole time, I'm just thinking that I have to nail this presentation. I want it to be beautiful and I want it to pay respect to Ross's beautiful recipe. Time's up and I can't believe that I've plated something so beautifully and delicately. And, yeah, I'm really happy about it. Elena, your first time sitting in that chair for a... It is. ..for a pressure test. Um, is this dish good enough to keep you safe? Um... I think, at the start of the day, I was focusing on my Oma calling me 'Sunshine Girl' and then...then this reminded me of her again, 'cause it's got an Indonesian layer cake in there and she's Indonesian and the stone fruit also reminded me of her and my mum, 'cause they had a stone-fruit orchard, growing up. And...I don't know, it just... I...yeah, I would hate to go home on something that I'd enjoyed so much. Yeah, I think it's... I think it's brilliant that you've had that epiphany. I think it took Billie, last year, until the last two weeks before she understood that what could make her food from good to great was a connection with who she was and where she'd come from. What do you think, Ross? If that was put down in front of you in a restaurant, you'd go, "Wow, that looks great." It's pretty. GEORGE: Thank you, Elena. Thank you very much. What do you reckon? ROSS: Beautiful precision in her presentation. There's a...there's care, there's delicate... MATT: But also, the syrup looks wonderful and juicy. The colour of the fruit, the thinness of that wafer... GEORGE: Right, let's taste. ROSS: The sorbet is fantastic. GARY: Yeah. It's just got a really nice shine to it. A great...great consistency and texture. The wafer's great. She did a good job there. MATT: They're thin, they're crisp, they're delicious, and the syrup is really good. The issue is that the recipe very clearly said, "Cut your fruit in the five minutes." By cutting the fruit early, I've lost some of that beautiful freshness. Yeah. GEORGE: But, really, it's not a major thing. This is a beautifully presented dish. Right, let's get the next dish in. Great. My five minutes starts and I'm happy with all the elements on my plate. But when I go to add my syrup... Shit. My syrup's over-reduced. I just get this sinking feeling in my stomach. I need to think quick. I add a little bit of water and I figure if I can heat it up a bit, I can get it to a syrupy consistency. I get the syrup into the microwave... ..I put it on the plate... It's...it's like a caramel. It's not a syrup at all. I can't believe that... this is happening. It's really disappointing. I've had such a good two hours cooking and...I can't believe it's really going to come down to this syrup. I just hope I've done enough to stay. INDICATOR CLICKS RHYTHMICALLY (GASPS) SILENCE (EXHALES SLOWLY) Mate, I'm so sorry. I thought there was time. You just pulled out. I don't have time to stop. It was a simple mistake. LOUD RUMBLING Please. (VOICE TREMBLES) I've got my boy in the back. I'm going too fast. I'm sorry. (SOBS) SEAT BELT CLICKS EERIE CREAKING HARSH WHOOSHING 1 GEORGE: Zoe, first time in the pressure test. Yes. You happy with this plate of food? Um, I feel that my syrup is a bit... ..I suppose, over-reduced. Um, but other than that, I'm pretty proud of myself. What would you do if you went home? Honestly, the first thing I would do is try to get a job in a kitchen. I had so much fun cooking this dish. Um, it was tough, it was intense. I was nervous and scared. But...I loved it. I loved every second of it. Ross, what do you think? You've got so many elements there. You were on time. You've got everything there. You did a good job. Thank you. (SIGHS) OK, Zoe, we'll taste. Thank you. What do you think, guys? Obviously, we can see the syrup is thick. ROSS: Yeah. You talk about that perfume, don't you? That's the perfume. That's...that is the perfume. And I'm not getting that now because it's gone down to a gel. GARY: Oh, that's absolutely... ROSS: That's glue. Well, it's toffee now, isn't it? It's toffee, toffee. GEORGE: Let's taste. It's a real shame about the syrup. Oh, yeah. Such a shame. I'm picking up a slight flouriness in her...her ice-cream. ROSS: It might be that she over-churned her sorbet. Well, there was half the quantity as well. Half the quantity. And as much as she thinks she did the right thing... ROSS: It changes the texture. GARY: There's no doubt there's mistakes on there. But I'm just impressed with the positives. Peach butter, which is... you know, it's delicious. It's charry but it's still fruity. Yeah. Yeah. It's still sweet. You can actually taste the flavour of the peach. Yeah. And that little biscuit is just so light. Those wafers are totally transparent. That's what you want to see. ROSS: Yeah. Let's get the last dish in. ELISE: See you, guys. ZOE: Smash it. I'm devastated with myself. I love desserts. I'm not happy with how I cooked today. Usually, I'm really cool, calm and collective. I panicked. I freaked out. I just need to get my head straight and get everything on the plate. I'm happy with most of my elements but my peach biscuits, they're just not as crispy as what Ross's was. It's attention to detail, and this is one of the details. So, I'm thinking, in the back of my head, that I'll possibly be going home on the back of this dessert. GARY: How'd you go? Um, it wasn't my best cook. You seem a bit flat. Yeah, I am. Do you think maybe you haven't done that well? As well as what I wanted. You think you might be going home? OK. And what do you think you could have done better, then? Uh, the wafers. I wish I, um, didn't stir the mixture as much and I don't have as much holes that I wanted. But you got all the elements. Yeah. And that's great to see. I've got to stop fighting with myself and just give myself more confidence to say that, you know, I can go in there, I CAN cook, I CAN do this. Thank you, guys. Thank you. We'll have a taste. (SIGHS) Matt, what do you think of the presentation? Um... That stone fruit really glows. You know, the essence of the dish is fragrance of stone fruit. Uh, two things I'm concerned about - one is the...the peach butter and the other one is that filigree biscuit should be finer, bigger holes. GARY: Yep. You got it. Look, I think the stand-out positives on the plate are absolutely the syrup - I think it's... It just pops, you know? It looks beautiful. When you look at it, it just... It's a lovely colour. And that sorbet - you know, great... Great sorbet. ..great consistency and texture. GEORGE: What's disappointing is that butter. It's ashy, it's grainy. Um, it's...it doesn't taste of peach at all. Mm. MATT: It's pretty obvious that Elise's peach butter is a problem. It's pretty obvious that Zoe's syrup is a problem. I'm trying to weigh up, in my head, what's worse - the ashy flavour, which is something I can avoid... ROSS: Mm. ..or not having that syrup, which is so much part of the essence of the dish. GEORGE: Well, it's interesting. It's a bit like a see-saw at the moment. They've done good and bad in different aspects and it's pretty much lineball. But we need to make a decision. GARY: Yeah. And, uh...we need to let them know. 1 That was a massive task. You had to re-create Ross Lusted's perfumed stone fruit with elderflower and peach tea biscuit. I don't think you could have ever imagined that you would have cooked a dish like that when you came in this competition. It's incredible, and you have to pat yourself on the back. You have to take a moment just to appreciate the fact that you did it. Ross, how did they go in the kitchen? I think you did fantastic. I can honestly say I have young chefs who work with me, that they struggle with making that recipe that you did today. The amount of effort that went into today's pressure test was very impressive. Elise, Zoe, Elena... ..today was all about getting the details right. Let's start with you, Elise. The texture of your sorbet was good. And your syrup was beautifully fragrant. But... ..your peach butter was ashy. And your biscuits lacked the open texture that Ross's had. Elena... ..you were the only to really bring the elegance of Ross's plating. Your sorbet was the best. Your biscuit was the best. But... ..you cut that fruit too early and too finely. Zoe, your peach butter was the best of the bunch. Your biscuits were crisp. However, your syrup was more of a caramel than a syrup. And your sorbet was over-churned and that changed the texture. The name of the dish is perfumed stone fruit. And both the sorbet... ..and the syrup are essential to deliver the promise of the title. Zoe... ..I'm sorry - that's why you're going home. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. Zoe, it really was all about the details. There was so much to like about your dish, but...I think you knew, with that syrup... Yeah. ..you had a problem. GEORGE: I'm sure it hurts within yourself. But you know what? If you really love food and you really want to do it, go out and do it! And you've left this awesome impression on all of us here. Oh, wow! MAGGIE: Wow! Uh, that chocolate and tofu cheesecake - how good was that? I think it's a really, really lovely dish. (LAUGHS) I can't pick one thing that... ..that I wouldn't want to do again. Um, everything I've done has been amazing. So...I'm just...so thankful to have had this opportunity... ..yeah, and just be mentored. All I can say is follow your dreams and you will find the path. Thank you. Zoe, hate to say it, but it's those words, isn't it? It's now time to leave the MasterChef kitchen. Bye. I've loved every minute, being on this roller-coaster ride. It really is a roller-coaster. Do we get hugs? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Good luck, Zoe. Thanks. All the best, yeah? Yeah. Good luck. Zoe... GEORGE: See you later, Zoe. (APPLAUSE) (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) The one thing that I can say that I've learnt is to never give up. Ever. Always back yourself and don't ever stop... (SNIFFS) ..believing in yourself. And if you can do that, then you'll succeed. ANNOUNCER: Next time... (CONTESTANTS SCREAM) ..Zoe returns with the rest of the eliminated contestants for the chance to cook their way back into the competition. ZOE: Getting a second chance, I really want to step it up. It's a lifeline... Ohh! ..and they'll either sink... I don't know what I'm going to do. ..or swim. Do you want this thing?! These contestants will pull out all the stops... This is my only shot. You have to blow our socks off. ..and they'll deliver some stunning dishes. Wow! Yeah, I really like it. Oh, my God! But just one can return to the MasterChef kitchen. Maybe you might get your name back on your apron. Donna Marie Rafferty, over a period of years, she has systematically defrauded the government. In partnership with Trevor Oliphant, she has laundered funds, some of which are believed to be offshore. It's a complicated deal. I still need to have a chat with a couple of the investors, make sure that they're happy with the disbursement clauses.