Original subtitles

BEN: Oh, yeah. Are you ready for this?

LAURA: I'm so excited. I can't wait.

I'm so ready to relax. Put my feet up.

(LAUGHS)

Oh, my God. Top eight.

I'm finally on my first-ever international trip

on MasterChef,

and I'm going to Doha.

Hello. Hi.

Welcome on board. Thank you so much.

And to be lucky enough to fly Qatar Airways business class

is a truly unbelievable experience.

Oh, my Lord! I think I could settle in here.

Oh, my God. Oh, hello!

Wow.

Hi. Allow me to introduce our Qsuite.

By sliding the door, it allows you

to have full privacy throughout the flight,

and I'm happy to inform you we are equipped with the Starlink,

which is the high-speed Wi-Fi,

and it allows you to be connected throughout the flight.

Fantastic. Thank you. Welcome.

See you later.

Bye. I can do that too, Benny! (LAUGHS)

Bye! Bye.

(BOTH LAUGH)

Bye, Hot Toddy. See ya.

High five.

(BOTH LAUGH)

This is so bad.

I am so excited to be going to Doha.

Thank you so much!

How luxurious! So luxurious.

May I offer you a date?

I would love one. Thank you!

For me, travel is all about learning

and understanding new cultures...

(CHUCKLES)

..and just kind of getting inspired.

You'd like to have some Arabic coffee as well?

Saffron? Saffron and cardamom.

I can smell it already.

I love Arabic cuisine.

Oh, so vibrant!

All of these amazing flavours.

So I'm already blown away with the experience.

Hi, may I offer our cellar list and a la carte menu?

A dine anytime service,

so it means you can order throughout the flight

at your desired timing.

So I can have whatever I want, whenever I want?

Yes, at any time. Oh, this is going to be good.

Wow, that is amazing.

The business class experience is very relaxing.

Wow! Stunning.

Some lovely food, a couple of drinks.

Delicious. Yum!

Obviously it's going to be a big advantage

for those who had a nice relaxing time on the plane

like myself.

Yeah. Thank you.

I'm on top of the world right now.

Never been to Doha,

so I'm super interested to see how incredible

the flavours are in this part of the world.

LAURA: Yum! SARAH: That looks so good.

And obviously how beautiful the place is.

This is the best day of my life. (LAUGHS)

I'm treating this trip as a learning exercise,

and then I'm surrounded by a whole lot of other foodies who

that's all they want to do as well.

See you in Doha? See you in Doha.

Oh. Sleep well.

Good night. Good night.

This is going to be such a fun trip. I'm ready to go.

Good night, Ben. Good night.

Good night, Jamie.

Good night, Sarah.

Oh, my gosh, this airport is amazing!

Bingo. Oh, here they are.

Oh, good spotting. LAURA: Look at the judges.

WOMAN: Oh, there they are.

Look at the bear! I know, it's amazing.

Wow.

It's huge.

G'day, gang.

Hello. (ALL CHEER)

Hello.

We've been missing you.

How are we, crew?

(OVERLAPPING RESPONSES) Good.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your flight.

Especially those who were sitting pretty

in business class. Eh?

Very much so. Yes.

We are at the iconic Lamp Bear at the Hamad International Airport.

I'm so pumped to say this.

Welcome to Doha.

(ALL CHEER)

ANDY: Well, we have an unbelievable adventure

planned for you lot.

And it all starts with a mystery box in a jaw-dropping location.

WOMAN: Whoo! Oh, yeah!

SNEZ: My God, guys, look at this.

(CHEERING)

BEN: Exciting!

Look at our kitchen.

Wow. It's like Safari Town.

G'day. How are we?

Come on. Get on down here. Let's go.

Let's do this.

Have a squiz at this.

If this isn't pure bliss, I don't know what is.

Welcome to Our Habitas Ras Abrouq.

It's pretty amazing.

Plus, we think it's the perfect setting

for today's mystery box.

Callum. Salut!

Salut.

You look like you've just opened an ice-cream parlour.

(ALL LAUGH)

I was going... I was going for tennis player,

but I'll take ice-cream.

Callum's cones.

That's a side business. Yeah, yeah.

Anyway, have you been to Doha before?

No. This is my first time to Doha,

and I was expecting the food to be amazing

and the architecture to be amazing,

but I think the scenery has blown all of us away.

And I think something

that's actually really been amazing to me has been the people.

We feel so welcome. Fantastic.

I cannot wait to get cooking. Yeah.

Well, let's get into it, shall we?

Yeah. Let's do it.

Well, under here is a selection of ingredients

that are used and celebrated all across this region.

We ready to see what's under the box?

Yes. Let's do this.

It's full.

Wow. Wow.

Wow. Yes!

Oh, my gosh! Yes!

ANDY: How incredible is this spread?

Oh... Wow.

We've got hamour fish,

lamb leg,

Medjool dates,

Lebanese zucchini,

parsley,

some saffron.

Got to have that.

Pistachio, black pepper,

cardamom,

fenugreek.

There's some cumin in there.

Cinnamon sticks.

Whole dried chilli.

Whole dried ginger.

Turmeric.

Nutmeg in the shell.

Oh, cool.

We've got some Laban kefir, kishk.

We've got loomi, which are black limes,

pickled green plums...

Yum. Yummy!

..and eggplant.

Yes. Nice.

Today we want you to use at least one item

from this mystery box in a cracker of a dish.

You'll also have access to your under-bench staples.

We're giving you 75 minutes.

Ooh.

You've got these beautiful ingredients

and this breathtaking location to inspire you.

So, we want you to cook up something truly special.

Today we are looking for the top two dishes.

Ooh. Ooh!

OK. OK.

That's spicy.

If you cook one of those,

you'll be immune for the rest of the week.

What? What?!

Guaranteeing a spot in the top seven.

Wow. That is massive.

A lot to play for.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good luck, contestants.

Are you ready? CONTESTANTS: Yes.

You must be joking. Are you ready?

CONTESTANTS: (FORCEFULLY) Yes. Yes.

Go and... Go and cook.

Time starts now. Allez!

OK. Gosh.

Have a look at this. OK.

Oh, wow. Alright.

Alright. Right, right.

Oh, my God. Did I open my box to see what I'm doing?

Yes, yes, yes.

SOFIA: I cannot get over this place.

I mean, just look at it.

And these ingredients are gorgeous as well.

I feel like we've kind of brought the souk to the mystery box.

Yeah. It's the best of the best, isn't it?

This kishk, it's a bit like yoghurt that's dried,

so it's got that fermented flavour in it.

Can you, like...? Oh, yum.

Can I do a little...? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

'Cause it's got grains in there too. It's wheat, right?

Yeah. Mm.

Oh, yum! That's good.

Yum.

I can imagine thickening soups.

I'd love to see it in a dessert as well.

Those pickled plums, I mean, look at them.

Oh, you can smell it!

Mm. The crunch!

The intensity of it. Yum!

And very perfumed. Oh, yeah.

It's like they're nearly preserved as well.

And not too salty, equally, which is interesting.

Really good. They're really savoury.

I find them really savoury. So good.

And then these black limes, like, these are special.

Loomi, they're called.

And it's just sun-dried.

So it's kind of similar

to like how you do black garlic, I suppose.

Oh, that's sticky. Fragrant.

Do you know what they smell? They smell really smoky.

They've got a beautiful smokiness to them.

This amazing array of ingredients,

I'm hoping to see them really try and lean into these flavours.

Yeah. Massively.

And I think, like, immunity right now - super important.

I think this cook could set someone up

to go really deep in the competition.

Hmm, I can't... Oh, there we go. Oops. (LAUGHS)

It's our first challenge in Doha.

I was reading the Arabic side.

And I'm so excited because the overseas trip

is always like a turning point in the competition.

You're right near the pointy end

and it's a great chance to kind of prove yourself.

I'd like to think that affectionately

some of the other guys here call me Calculator Callum,

and it's probably because I'm quite methodical

with how I normally tackle these MasterChef challenges,

but I don't want to cook a Callum dish in Doha,

I want to cook a Doha dish in Doha.

And that's how I'm gonna learn and evolve

and actually kind of get the most out of this trip.

It's hard to not feel inspired when you look around

and you see the Gulf here.

So it makes sense to cook a beautiful fish dish today.

I'm gonna make, like,

a spicy black lime kind of fish curry in a way.

So I'm going to do it with a lovely flatbread.

I'm going to do it with some pickled eggplant.

Frankly, I'm going to work it out a little bit as I go

and hopefully I can, um, you know,

do something the locals will be proud of.

My style of cooking is a little bit more refined,

but today I want to make something really rustic,

because something I've noticed from Qatari cuisine

is that you'll never just get like one dish on the table.

It's always about the way of eating

and having a few things on the table,

and you're passing them around,

that real sense of kind of tradition and community.

And so that's the experience

I want to create for the judges today.

The first thing I want to do

is make this dough for this flatbread,

because making dough outside in 40-degree heat

is frankly a very silly idea.

And so I want to make it with enough time

that if I bugger it up, I've got enough time to fix it.

But I know if I can get it right,

it's going to be the perfect kind of accompaniment

to scooping up that hamour poached in the black lime sauce.

So it's a risk, but a risk I'm willing to take.

Cooking dough in Doha. What more do you want in life?

OK, what are we keeping?

So I'm gonna do a steamed piece of this beautiful local fish,

and then I'm gonna make a really intense broth

with lots of these spices.

And then I'm going to play with these zucchinis

and these really cool plums.

They kind of taste like green tomatoes crossed with an olive.

And do, like, a little zucchini and plum little salady number.

So, yeah, aiming for the top, as always.

Hey! Hi, guys.

Tell us what you're making.

So we have a little, like, sweet, sour thing going on.

So we've got some very sweet eggplants braising away here.

Smells amazing. So, dates, spices. I'm gonna have that

with some of the sourness of the, uh... This guy.

I'm so glad you're using the kishk. I've never tried it before.

It's actually hydrated. I'm gonna make a bit of a sauce with it and a beautiful piece of the fish

,

which I've dusted with some of that beautiful, um,

the black lime.

Will it be a top two dish? That's what I'm going for. So... Good luck, Ben.

Hey, Alana. Hello. How are you?

We're good. You must be good, too. This is, like, totally your jam.

I love it, love these ingredients.

I'm doing a beautiful fish curry with some date jam

with pickled plums as well.

So excited.

POH: Depinder.

I've never seen these many spices in any mystery box ever.

So I'm going to do lamb-stuffed flatbread.

And what's this?

This is like a date kind of like a sauce.

I've also got, like, an eggplant,

kind of like a baba ghanoush.

LAURA: Oh, how good's the dessert, Toddy?

Beautiful.

I feel like, you know, tropical vibes.

Should we go for a swim, maybe?

I feel so happy being out in the elements.

I mean, when the water is as pristine as this...

And I love the heat. I'm a North Queenslander,

so I'm used to this kind of weather.

I am so excited to be cooking in Doha

because I travel to learn

and I do that through food.

As soon as I got onto the business class flight,

the flight attendant walked over with this beautiful Arabic coffee.

It's green coffee beans with cardamom

and some other spices,

and a date.

So I got quite inspired by this and I'm putting my own spin on it.

The run.

Sarah. Sarah.

What are you doing? Hello.

Good. How are you? We are loving life.

Yeah! Let's get straight to it.

What are you gonna do?

So I'm going for a little tea party, actually.

Oh, OK.

So I'm making a bit of a consomme.

What's the base flavour of that?

So it's lamb, and then lots of spices.

So I'm going to go hard on the saffron and,

you know, a few other spices.

And then I'm going to make a little bickie as well.

And so the biscuit, is that sweet or savoury?

It's a savoury biscuit. Right.

But then date puree a few other ingredients.

I'm going to use a bit of citrus from the plums.

And what kind of pastry are we talking in the biscuit?

Um, just like a rough puff.

No way. A rough puff?

Yeah, ish.

A rough puff in the elements?

I know.

And the time to do that.

Sarah, like, I have loved you taking risks in this competition.

I think it's what makes you a threat to winning it.

There's risks

and then there's cooking rough puff outdoors.

Wow!

(GRUNTS)

MAN: Nice.

ANDY: There's risks

and then there's cooking rough puff outdoors.

Yeah.

Will it pay off? Good luck.

Thank you. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good luck. Yeah.

Oh, Sarah. What a decision!

I know.

Very brave. Huh?

Brave is... Yeah. 'Brave' is one word.

The key to a good rough puff

is everything has to be super chilled.

Oh, that is hot.

The butter needs to be chilled,

the flour needs to be chilled.

And you need to get all of these beautiful layers.

So if everything melts together,

you've essentially just got a shortcrust pastry.

God, that is piping hot!

And I don't want that today.

I want some flaky layers that really add to my dish.

Which one's the blast chiller? Oh, this one.

Now I'm probably thinking,

"Yeah, maybe this is a little bit of a crazy idea,"

but I'm here for it.

Hope you're having fun in the sun. You have one hour to go.

Come on! Yeah!

SNEZ: I'm loving the mystery box.

I'm familiar with most of the ingredients

and I can't keep thinking how lucky I am.

So, yes, bring it on.

Definitely pinching myself today.

Is that olive oil? Extra virgin.

And the fact that I also made it this far

and cooking with these amazing people

and in this location,

it's just, I never thought this would happen.

Where's my cumin?

There's my baby.

In my last cook, I was in the bottom two.

And this week I really need to stick to my strengths.

Whooo!

I need to cook my best

and show them why I'm here.

Wow.

That is amazing.

How exciting is this? I am so excited.

You look lovely.

You look so like you belong here.

Yes. I feel like we belong. Oh, my goodness!

OK, tell us what you're making.

So I'm thinking Middle Eastern-inspired mezze.

I'm gonna have this little flatbread

stuffed with spiced lamb, eggplant dip,

and I'm also doing this like a zucchini tabbouleh

that's mixed with this beautiful green herby sauce.

And also I'm making infused olive oil,

so I'm going to make my own dukkah.

It's mezze. It's mezze. Yeah.

But I'm going all in. Go all out.

I want to show you this is why I'm here.

Go full mezze. You look good today, I like it. I feel good.

I feel like this is good chaos. Thank you.

Good chaos. Whoo!

How hot's Doha? I feel... I don't know about these guys.

I feel super refreshed after my massive sleep last night.

(LAUGHS)

I really want immunity today

because, one, I would like to enjoy the rest of my time in Qatar

without having to worry.

Two, I want to be guaranteed top seven,

which is going to propel me in a really good light

into the rest of the competition.

And three...

Have I won one before?

I don't think I have.

So, three, I haven't won one before.

¤9 million worth of saffron.

Given the ingredients that are in front of us.

I feel like there's going to be

quite a few people that will be going down

the lamb, bread, curry, spice, kind of route.

I don't want to do that.

The way I stand out from the crowd is by standing out from the crowd.

So while everybody goes this way, I'm going to go this way

and do something completely different.

Jamie! Yes!

What is cooking? Jamie.

Uh, very little today, actually.

I want something cool and refreshing.

So I'm doing a crudo dish.

OK.

I'm using the hamour. Yep.

But then the main ingredient that I want to use

that's been sort of revolutionary since I tasted it

is the loomi.

So you get this beautiful sour and slightly bitter flavour

coming out of it.

So I've blended that with a little bit of saffron

and then some dates

to essentially create a really bright citrus broth.

And then I'm going to use this kishk to make a little emulsion,

and then a little pepper, turmeric and parsley oil over the top.

A raw fish dish? How's that going to be enough?

You have to work your way through this to a tasty tale.

Sure. Easy.

Maybe not easy, but we'll go.

Shoot for the top two, mate. I reckon... Good luck.

Yeah, good luck, mate.

Given the judges' feedback,

I need to think about how I can elevate this dish.

Because this needs to be at such a high level

to make sure that I win that immunity.

There's an ocean full of possibilities today, team.

40 minutes to go.

There's a Gulf full of greatness today.

Hold on. What else have I got?

No, that's it.

Oh, shit.

My lid is in the sand.

I don't want to get my food sandy. I'm screwed.

I'm just starting my little broth now for the fish.

And I've got to get cracking onto that flatbread

pretty soon as well.

I'm gonna make a black lime sauce kind of broth situation

that I'm going to poach that fish in.

And I'm going to start by toasting off a bunch of spices

and a little bit of zucchini in there as well.

I've never worked with black lime before,

but I've read about and I've seen it.

You kind of pierce lots of holes in it so the liquid can get in

and it adds this really beautiful kind of freshness and acidity,

and kind of used like a spice in there as well.

Yeah. Today is all about balancing flavours.

These flavours are such big, bold, punchy flavours

that there's just no other option than to get them perfectly balanced.

And they're, uh, yeah, they're not subtle flavours.

They're big... They're big boys, so it's gonna be fun.

So it's, like, salty and sour and punchy.

So I need something

that's kind of like a little bit more chilled

that's going to bring it all back together.

So I'm just going to add a zucchini and kefir salad.

So it's kind of like a gentle,

acidic, creamy, yoghurty kind of vibe.

Perfect.

So I now need to get cracking on this flatbread.

Even though I'm in the shade,

the actual bench is still really hot today.

So I've got to work quickly right now.

I'm trying to roll out this dough for my flatbread

as quickly as I can,

but because it is so hot, the dough is getting sticky.

It's really hard to work with. It's starting to tear.

It's literally melting onto this incredibly hot bench.

I am starting to think that making dough in Doha,

whilst it sounds catchy,

terrible idea. (LAUGHS)

CALLUM: I'm rolling out the dough for my flatbread

and it keeps sticking and tearing.

This dough is literally melting,

and I need to figure out this flatbread

because it's absolutely integral to this dish.

SARAH: (SIGHS) OK.

For my take on Middle Eastern tea and bickies,

I've got my lamb consomme on the go.

I've used all those spices from the mystery box,

so I'm really happy.

But for my rough puff...

..the key to getting this right is

a quick sprint to the blast chiller

in between each lamination of this pastry

and to just work as quickly as possible.

I do my folding and then pop it in the blast chiller.

Behind you.

Once it's had enough time...

..I do more folding...

..and then chill again...

Alright, I'll run again.

Oh, my God!

..do my folding...

CALLUM: Go, Sarah.

OK. Crazy.

..chill again.

All I'm doing is running! (LAUGHS)

OK.

There's some layers in there. (LAUGHS)

Um, so, yeah, I mean, it should be flaky.

There's no backup.

(LAURA LAUGHS)

Why are you laughing? 'Cause it's hilarious.

You've done this three times, and there's no backup plan.

My pastry, it's looking great.

Pop it in the oven and...say a little prayer.

ANDY: Any rough puff regrets, or what? Potentially, potentially.

No rough puff regrets? Potentially.

POH: Guys, you have 26 minutes to Doha!

Nice one, Poh-ha.

LAURA: Cream for my steamed fish with aromatic broth.

I've got my pickled zucchinis in the fridge

and my little diced plums.

I am just making a little black lime salt now

to kind of season up the salad and whatnot with.

I've fried my zucchini off.

I'm going to crack on to making a little green spiced oil,

and then probably start thinking about this fish.

It's kind of all slowly coming together.

That just fits in there.

ALANA: Fish curry is almost finished. I have to blend my,

um, little date jam here, just finish off my sauce,

and I'm going to be straining my parsley oil here.

BEN: My pan-roasted hamour.

The aubergines are braising away.

I've got the saffron and kishk sauce ready to go.

Yeah, I've sort of cooked the fish and make it look pretty.

Yeah, so we're moving along alright.

(EXHALES)

DEPINDER: I'm just working on my lamb-stuffed flatbread.

Um, I've done basically everything.

I just have to finish off with my salad

and my baba ghanoush, which is almost ready to go.

SNEZ: For my Middle Eastern-inspired mezze,

eggplant puree and zucchini tabbouleh.

It's done.

And now I'm working on this stuffed flatbread with spiced lamb.

So I want bread to be a hero.

And I want that mince to also sing through it,

so when you bite into it

to be kind of perfect amount of mince to bread.

Benny, can I use yours? Is that OK?

And now I'm starting on my dukkah.

Dukkah is my favourite thing.

It's like a brilliant mix of nuts,

spices and seeds to put on top of anything or everything.

It's just such a clever idea, whoever came up with it.

Ah! Look at that.

Hey, how about these muscles, Benny?

Oh!

God gives me strength! Ooh!

CALLUM: I've been head down, bum up,

just trying to figure out this flatbread.

I've got this pastry brush

and I'm basting the bench with butter.

I'm basting the dough with butter and it's becoming

a little bit easier to work with now.

It's starting to come together.

Lovely. Looks great.

Really happy with how this dough has turned out because it now looks pretty good.

It's got lots of little layers to get nice and crispy and crunchy.

And then it's into

a hot pan that is like,

hotter than this friggin' desert we're in right now.

Start getting some really nice kind of charry colour on there.

It's looking pretty good.

I've got the fish gently kind of poaching away

as slowly as I can in that sauce.

I need it to be, like, just flaking away

from that bone and be really kind of soft and delicate.

I've got my zucchini and kefir salad.

I've got the eggplant pickle done.

So it's kind of starting to come together here.

This is looking fab. No ice-cream today?

(BOTH LAUGH) Yeah, I wish I had actually, to be honest.

That would've been lovely to have right now.

10 minutes to go!

Yalla, yalla! Allez, allez!

JAMIE: For my hamour crudo, my emulsion's made.

My pickles are done.

I'm just playing with the balance of flavours in the broth,

trying to get some sweetness in there, just using the dates.

If I can get that earthy sweetness in,

that'd be great.

This broth needs to be

really clean, really acidic,

but still have a beautiful undertone of sweetness and smokiness

from that loomi and date combination.

The judges seemed to like my idea in concept.

However, doing a raw fish dish this late in the competition

might not be enough.

Oh, I brought the good knives over. Jesus!

Originally, I was going to serve the fish as is - sliced.

Perfect.

But we're in Doha, it's top eight.

This is where your momentum starts to build into the end.

Being on MasterChef in season six propelled me

into opening one of my favourite projects ever, in Alba,

and closing my restaurant Alba

was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

But I'm a different person now.

The MasterChef kitchen is helping me realise

that I still have stuff to say,

and any chance at immunity is super important.

It gets me one step closer to taking this competition out.

So I need to think about how I can really elevate this dish,

but with less than 10 minutes to go...

..I'm running out of time.

JAMIE: For my hamour crudo, I need to think about how I can

really elevate this dish to try and win immunity.

I see all these spices in front of me.

So I take the fenugreek, the cinnamon,

some black pepper,

a little bit of cumin and some of the turmeric,

and then blitz it into a beautiful spice rub

that can go around the fish.

I'm gonna use this one. Is this on?

I want the fish on the inside to be completely raw,

with a beautiful toasted spice on the outside.

This could really give me the edge that I need to win this immunity.

This is fun, eh? It's ridiculous.

How lucky we are!

Hoo!

Time to start plating up.

For my eggplant dip,

I want to make the shape of the eggplant on the plate.

My zucchini tabbouleh is fresh,

and I'm plating my dukkah in an actual golden mortar and pestle.

I really, really enjoyed today's cook...

OK, oil!

..and I just hope the judges like it, too.

You alright? I need a spatula. I'm running out of time.

Get a move on! You've only got five minutes to go! Allez!

DEPINDER: Let's go, mate. Let's go.

LAURA: Whoo! Nice flip.

I now need to get all this hard work I've done onto the plate.

I think today I did take a few risks,

trying to make a really thin dough on a very hot bench.

And this is not the kind of food

that I would normally cook in this competition.

Lovely. That's great.

But I've really tried to lean in to cooking a Doha-centric dish.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Three minutes to go! Allez!

SARAH: So I've got my rough puff in the oven.

My consomme is clarified.

I have

my loomi powder, I have my date puree,

and now it's about

bringing everything together.

But I am literally down to the wire with my rough puff,

and it's time to take it out.

Ooh, wow. It looks good. Shit!

LAURA: Oh, my God.

Let's go!

I think it's looking good, but I just hope

that it has flaky layers that really add to my dish.

It's working. It's working!

One minute to go! Yes! Whoo!

The fish is done. It smells fantastic.

And as I cut into it, it's perfectly raw on the inside.

Sweet.

It's time to get everything on the plate.

I put some of the pickled zucchini as well as the pickled plum...

..and then layer a small round of the fish on the top.

And the loomi tea goes on the side with the parsley oil.

Raw fish dish may seem easy,

but there's so much work that has gone into

all the flavours

and the balance of this dish, as well as the textures.

You've got to be finishing your dishes in 10...

JUDGES: Nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one!

(LAUGHTER)

SARAH: Oh, my God! Did it!

SNEZ: Oh, my God. Well done, well done.

Oh, my God!

SOFIA: Did you get it, Sarah? Yeah, I got it! (LAUGHS)

Hey, Jamie. Hey, Jamie. Jamie, how are you?

Ooh, hello. Beautiful.

(GASPS)

Hello, mate. What did you cook?

JAMIE: So I made a spice-cured hamour

with a saffron, date and loomi tea,

a little turmeric and parsley oil and a kishk emulsion.

Enjoy.

Jamie, I love this dish

because it's such a fantastic response to today.

What you saw in the mystery box,

but also you responding to the climate around us.

I thought you made really good decisions.

You know, to make a ceviche-style dish

with Middle Eastern ingredients

is something that I don't think many people would think to do,

but you've done such a great job of that.

Your dish looks simple, but is epic.

And what I like is the fact that you've got a good repertoire.

We know you have, and you are now finally about to balance it

with your techniques and your confidence.

I am flabbergasted. You are...

Oh, I can't kick the table.

But you are... If I could jump over there,

but I can't stand up,

I can't give you a kiss, so I'm stuck here.

But I'm telling you something.

Hey! Yes! A baby one.

Jamie! Jamie!

Jamie, that is, like, one sophisticated,

complex, raw fish dish, mate.

I think you should be so rapt with what you've done here.

The spice work is incredible,

and I feel like it's all kind of anchored down

with the fenugreek and also the saffron.

Um, those two are just holding everything together,

along with that emulsion.

I feel that provides the body for all the spices to do their work.

I really loved that kind of smokiness

of the black lime, which just permeates the whole dish.

And there were so many beautiful textures

along the ride as well.

Dishes like this, mate, they don't just win immunity,

they win the competition, in my books.

This is extreme cooking. Thank you.

Well done. Thank you. Well done, Jamie.

Thank you very much. Well done, mate.

Wow.

SARAH: That cook was so crazy,

and I was literally down to the wire.

JUDGES: Hi, Sarah.

There are risks, and then there is making rough puff

in the Qatar desert

and serving it with, like, a savoury tea and bickies.

POH: This looks very intriguing.

I just hope it's paid off.

Sarah, what's your dish?

SARAH: I made a beautiful lamb consomme,

and then I've also done a date rough puff

OK, well, what came over you to make rough puff pastry? (CHUCKLING)

It's the heat. Heat.

I swear it's the heat! I was not thinking.

Were you halfway through going, "What am I doing?"

Only when Andy came over. (LAUGHS)

So before that, you were... I just weirdly reminded her that we were in the desert.

Yes!

Sarah...

..did your risk pay off?

Totally.

I absolutely love it.

Your rough puff is crunchy.

It's cooked perfectly.

It's the right lamination.

It's the right colours.

And it really, really makes sense with your consomme.

Your consomme is balanced, seasoned, very meaty.

Thank you. So, my respect to you.

Amazing. Thank you.

I just want to reiterate

the madness of making puff in the middle of the desert.

And I can't believe it, but you've got the layers,

and it is cooked so perfectly to the edge,

so it's definitely got those savoury notes.

I love how you made that date paste savoury

with the addition of the spices,

and you've seasoned that quite heavily.

This is fantastic. I love this little consomme.

You've got so much beautiful clarity in that.

I think you've done a really great job.

Thanks, Sarah. Thanks. Thank you.

Hi, Depinder. DEPINDER: Hello.

Stuffed lamb pita breads,

date sauce with cardamom, eggplant,

baba ghanoush and zucchini and plum salad.

I love how much of that lamb you just rammed into the bread.

The bread you did wonderfully, and your spice work is phenomenal.

Your date chutney, I love the spices in there,

particularly the cardamom.

I think it just...

It just screams Qatar.

Yeah. But the eggplant dip is what kind of didn't go.

The eggplant and the date together was just a bit of a clash.

Hi, Alana. Hey. Hello. How are you?

Fish curry, kefir and kishk sauce, and parsley and loomi oil.

I thought that there was a beautiful sourness to that curry,

and I think the kefir, but also the kishk,

really, like, brought this dish to life for me.

But I didn't love the bread.

Unfortunately, I thought it was a bit doughy

and it just didn't do the job that I wanted it to be.

JUDGES: Hello, Laura! Hello!

Steamed hamour

with a zucchini and pickled plum salsa,

and then a little aromatic broth and parsley oil.

Fish and the black lime,

beautifully cooked and lovely combination.

It's a very refreshing, clean-tasting dish.

And I love that broth. It's just so bright.

And then you get that little hit of chilli.

It's just really weird how that flavour

kind of licks around your palate.

It's a very bewitching dish.

Thanks very much. You deserve a bit of a...

Oh, my God, I need that. Thank you.

No, that's my fan!

Ready? Catch.

Oh, shit!

Oh, the broth! The broth is everywhere!

Oh, my God! (LAUGHTER)

Benny. Hello, Ben. Hey, Ben.

BEN: Pan-roasted hamour, braised aubergine,

a saffron and kishk sauce

with a little salad of zucchini

and the pickled plums.

Mm.

Can I have a bit of eggplant?

Just a little bit of eggplant. Did I not give you one?

Yeah, just a little bit of eggplant.

Sorry. I'm so sorry. You've got two on your plate.

(LAUGHTER)

Poh likes eggplant.

Ben, I think the kishk sauce was revolutionary.

The salad was textural. It was acidic.

It was everything it needed to be.

And the eggplant was, like, an absolute star.

Just a shame that the fish was a little over

'cause I reckon, if not, that could have been a top two dish, mate.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: I'm totally stunned

the way you've managed to introduce the kersh...

..the kirksh...the kishk...

Kishk.

Yeah. The way you've introduced the kiksh...the kishk...

Kishk! Kurshk! Kooshk!

Kishk! Kishk! Yeah, yeah.

Kishk, kishk, kishk.

That's it, kishk. ..kishk was fantastic.

Thank you, Chef.

POH: Hey, Snez. SNEZ: Hello.

You guys look comfortable there. Yeah.

Oh, that looks beautiful.

So tell us what you've made.

Middle Eastern-inspired mezze.

So this is bread stuffed with lamb,

dukkah-infused oil,

eggplant dip,

and zucchini tabbouleh.

Snez, it's really clear to me that you're in your happy place

when you're making mezze.

Your dukkah with that oil mix -

to have those beautiful fresh pistachios in there

and that kind of...that lovely earthy greenness coming through,

but then the saffron as well.

And it reminds me of the halva

and the things that you find in the markets here.

I love your little flatbread with the lamb in it,

because I think everything on the plate

has got quite a lot of acidity and salt in it,

and the richness of the lamb actually adds a bit of sweetness as well to the dish.

And you always just do a brilliant bread.

Thank you.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: I love the way you've converted the eggplant

and the zucchini.

And with the introduction of the pickled plums,

I think that was very, very special actually, and very well balanced.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Snez.

Thank you. Whoo! Enjoy. Thank you.

CALLUM: Today I took some risks.

I definitely cooked a dish that's quite unlike anything I've cooked

up until this point in the competition.

So I hope that the judges

like this more kind of casual, relaxed version of my food.

ANDY: Callum! CALLUM: Hello, everyone.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Hello, Callum. POH AND SOFIA: Hi, Callum.

How much fun is this? SOFIA: Oh! Hello, Callum.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: What have you made it?

So, I've poached the hamour in a black lime sauce...

..achar, like an eggplant pickle,

zucchini and kefir salad,

and flatbread.

OK, let's taste it.

There we are.

Well, I have a problem.

We cannot bang that table.

It's not strong enough.

Otherwise, I'll be jumping on top of that table.

Callum, you are a star.

You've actually gave us a reflection of what really was in the mystery box.

With the delicious mix of spice,

your flatbread is impeccable.

It's well seasoned.

Your zucchini with the pistachio -

well done to that.

And the fish!

You've managed to cook it so precisely with the broth.

So you've got my salut.

Thanks, JC. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

For you to be able to use all those ingredients

that you are completely unfamiliar with,

with such clarity and expertise...

..just shows, like, you have got an amazing palate

and incredible skills.

I loved every single element on here.

It is just so delicious.

And that bread...

..is one of the best breads we've had in the kitchen this season.

It's so crispy.

You should be incredibly proud of yourself.

Thanks, Poh.

ANDY: This is very different from previous dishes

that we've seen from you.

Like, even your savoury dishes, they're not as, like, rustic

and kind of all in as this one is.

Like, this is the food that I was hoping to get,

like, you know, in the restaurants of Qatar.

It's so fresh, it is so alive,

and so many spikes in so many different places.

The achar is beautiful. It's got this lovely hum of saffron.

The fish, mate, is cooked so well.

And the bread? The bread!

The bread, the bread, the bread. The bread - so perfect.

Like, for that to be super crispy

and to be able to, like, hold its structural integrity

when mopping all of that goodness up is exactly what the dish needed.

Mate, well done. Well done. Ripper food. Thank you, Callum.

Thank you.

Thanks, Callum. Thanks, everyone.

That was... JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: What a star.

That was so good!

POH: What a scorcher of a start to our adventures in Qatar.

Guys, it's so, so clear

that the competition has never been more ferocious.

There were many dishes out there today

that were a feast for the eyes, the palate and the soul.

That said,

we did need to pick two winners, and it wasn't an easy decision.

The cooks walking out of here with immunity today are...

..Callum...

..and...

..Jamie.

Callum, mate, for you to pull off a curry like that in those conditions

with flaky fish and bread that was bang-on...

Mate, that's not just madness, that is top-tier cooking.

Well done. WOMAN: Well done, Callum.

And Jamie! Huh? You're crudo - that was absolutely outstanding.

That is the kind of food that wins this competition.

And it's clear that you've got your eye on the prize.

Well done, mate. Thank you.

Congrats, you two.

You're both immune for the rest of the week!

Everybody else, not to worry,

'cause you've got another chance to win immunity tomorrow.

(CONTESTANTS CHEER)

And we'll be in another beautiful location.

See you there.

Today was a treat. Yeah. Pretty special.

So, all of us, too, by the way. All of us because that was memorable.

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night... Look at this.

..with incredible inspiration...

LAURA: So beautiful.

..at their fingertips...

DEPINDER: It's so inspiring.

SNEZ: I think locations can definitely reflect what's on your plate.

Come on, let's go!

..can they create a Doha degustation...

Oh, my God. SARAH: I'm freaking out.

SOFIA: Come on. Push, push, push.

Yeah. I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying.

..worthy of a Michelin star restaurant?

This place is one of the most awarded restaurants

around the Middle East.

Captions by Red Bee Media