Original subtitles

WOMAN: Can't wait for this mystery box.

SNEZ: Yeah, I know.

WOMAN: I feel like it's going to be a good one.

I'm keen. I'm keen as a bean.

MAN: What's Monday mystery box going to bring us, eh?

JAMIE: Oh, yeah! Bring it on!

Alright, let's go.

Ooh!

Here we go, everybody!

Ooh, are they here?

Find your spot behind the box. Let's do this.

Let's go together, Snez. Yes. (LAUGHS)

Hey.

Who doesn't love a mystery box, eh?

The best way to start a new week. Or is it?

Rhi-Rhi, if you had to use one word to describe mystery boxes,

what would it be?

Love!

Oh!

I love mystery boxes.

Not knowing what's coming up

and the variety of, maybe, ingredients

that I don't get to cook with.

So I love just having that unknown in this little box.

That's my definition of anxiety.

(LAUGHTER)

Audra, are you a fan of mystery boxes?

Um, I often tell my husband I don't like surprises,

so, uh...no.

No! (BOTH LAUGH)

I like to know what I'm doing...

(WHISPERS) Same! ..most of the time.

Life's a mystery as it is, we don't need any more.

Well, if there's one thing

that you can count on in this kitchen,

it's never knowing what's around the corner -

sorry, Audra -

especially in a mystery box, right?

They may look like ordinary boxes in front of you,

but there is more than meets the eye.

Instead of lifting your lids today,

you'll be unwrapping them.

On the count of three, unwrap your box.

One, two, three!

Ah!

CONTESTANTS: Ooh!

LAURA: Oh, so cool. JIMMY: Wow!

SAMIRA: Oh! (LAUGHS)

Oh, my God, Christmas has definitely come early.

The mystery box is a present wrapped for us.

Like, this is a really cool little twist

for mystery box.

Ah! That's epic.

That's so cool.

Are there any of those people here that save wrapping paper?

It's not me. Yeah! Guilty.

Ha-ha! You are? (LAUGHS) Guilty!

SNEZ: Is there something underneath? SARAH: I don't think so, no.

Believe it or not,

those are actually ingredients wrapped around your boxes.

Wow!

Very cool. Oh.

Well, what you're actually looking at there is paperbark...

..vine leaf, lotus leaf, pandan,

corn husk... Ooh.

..cabbage,

betel leaf, banana leaf

and parchment paper, of course, for en papillote.

SNEZ: Oh, maybe we get to wrap something in something.

JIMMY: Asians love a good wrap.

We have san choy baos, we've got spring rolls.

You know, it's just one of those things.

It's a great way to eat.

I'm really excited about this.

DEPINDER: No wonder it was wrapped. Yeah, yeah, yeah!

(LAUGHS) Duh!

Today, you need to bring us a delicious dish

that includes an element that's been wrapped up in one of these.

Food is a gift.

We want to feel excited when we unwrap it.

You'll have 75 minutes.

The garden is open,

and your wraps will be waiting for you in the pantry,

which is also open for business.

(MUTED CHEERING)

(LAUGHTER)

The cooks who bring us the bottom four dishes will fall

into tomorrow's pressure test...

..where someone will be going home.

If you don't want your time

in the MasterChef kitchen to be wrapped...

Oh, that's a good one.

..game faces on.

Ba-boom, boom.

Let's do this.

Your time...

..starts now! ANDY: Yeah!

Yes! RUE: Oh!

(LAUGHTER)

WOMAN: Oh, my God, it's, like, chaos.

WOMAN: I'm having a really hard time here.

Couple of limes. Here we go.

Plenty of chilli.

The cabbage is looking so good!

There's so many different leaves and wrappings to choose from.

Oh, yeah.

There's banana leaf, vine leaf, baking paper.

I can't even name them all, there's that many.

BEN: Might help if I got some of these, eh?

But for me, it's the paperbark. It's so me.

I love when food is cooked in paperbark.

It's got that beautiful native Australian flavour

and it's just my style of food completely.

I'm going to use the paperbark from the mystery box,

and I'm going to make a coral trout,

that will be steamed inside the paperbark,

a beautiful, like, reduction of some mussels and pipis

to make like a sauce,

and then lots of little native ingredients.

I love cooking with native Australian ingredients.

When I first left MasterChef, way, way, way long ago,

I started working at Arrana

and that whole restaurant was about native Australian ingredients.

And so I just fell in love instantly with this whole different,

diverse culture of food.

That smells nice.

So, native Australian ingredients are known to be quite rough and rigid.

They're really acidic,

they can be really tart.

So, it's choosing the right ones, using the restraint,

but also really highlighting ingredients

that would go with coral trout.

I know these flavours. I know how to put up really good food.

I just need to make sure it's super tasty.

RUE: Whoa! Hello.

Got a big enough fish, there, darl? (LAUGHS)

Today, I am using the parchment paper.

I'm doing en papillote,

which is pretty much like a fish parcel.

I am doing a steamed barramundi with a fishbone sauce

inspired by a bouillabaisse.

I start filleting my fish

because I need the bones to make the sauce

but good Lord...

This is the biggest fish I've ever had to cut.

..this barramundi is about half of me.

Oh, my gosh!

Once I finish this, the rest is easy,

but good Lord!

SNEZ: Let's swap. Swap ya.

You alright? Good job. Yeah.

Uh, Jean-Christophe, first of all,

thank you so much for staying up all night

and wrapping those boxes. (LAUGHTER)

That was... We really appreciate it. It was a pleasure! (LAUGHS)

And all that hard work, I guarantee,

is going to create some amazing dishes

because there's nine ingredients there

that are wrapping that mystery box.

Will they wrap one element of their dish?

Will their whole dish be wrapped? It's going to be interesting.

And there's also a trip hazard, as well,

because you wrap something,

you put it in the oven or put it over the fire,

you don't really know what's going on inside.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I think because we have given them

so much free reign here,

I really do want to see that creativity.

We want them to absolutely go for gold today.

But the sad fact is we are looking for those four bottom dishes

to go into the pressure test.

That's right, yeah.

Behind.

Jamie, you are going like the clappers, mate.

Yeah, mate. Um...

What are you making? I'm sensing tamales.

We are making tamales oaxaquenos.

So, instead of using corn husks, we're using banana leaves.

Wow!

So, it's like a beautiful, soft corn pudding

that's stuffed with a rich, intense pulled chicken

that's flavoured with all of the beautiful dried chillies

that you get from Mexico.

Tamales is something that you have, like, a whole family around

and you make heaps and heaps and heaps of them

and it takes all day... Not 75 minutes.

Not 75 minutes

but this is trying to push as hard as I can.

Today, I am making tempura betel leaves

with chicken cooked in lotus leaf.

This is a really beautiful leaf to use.

It adds a really fragrant element to the chicken.

JEAN-CRISTOPHE: Salaam alaikum.

SAMIRA: Wa alaikum salaam. How are you?

Very good, thank you. Are you OK with your dish today?

Yes, I hopefully will be.

Today, I am making mahshi.

So, I'm going to make Egyptian-style stuffed and rolled cabbage leaves.

I don't want to be in the bottom four today,

so I'm really hoping the Egyptian recipes pull through today.

Ah, look at that clock, crew! You've only got an hour to go!

SOFIA: Let's go.

Nice! There we go.

As soon as I revealed that mystery box,

it was like a punch in the back of the head,

"You're doing dolmades today!"

I'm so excited today because I've got the chance

to make dolmades again in this kitchen.

I made them last time and I stuffed it up,

so this time it's redemption.

The last time I made dolmades in the MasterChef kitchen,

we had 60 minutes to cook

and that was not enough time.

JOCK: The rice isn't cooked. Yeah.

The vine leaves haven't cooked down.

They just needed more time, man.

Mum was great, you know, she reacted fine,

but my dad was another story.

He was very disappointed in me and he was like.

(IMITATES DAD) "I can't believe you cooked dolmades

"on the show and you didn't even cook them properly."

Hopefully, this time, redemption.

I've got to make sure I get these dolmades cooking

as soon as I can because they need a lot of time.

So, yeah, pressure's on.

Normally when you're cooking dolmades,

it's between 45 and 60 minutes in a pot.

But today, I don't have the time for that

and I need to use a pressure cooker.

WOMAN: Just do cute, tiny ones.

Theo! Hello, Theo!

Hello! Let me guess!

You have to be doing dolmades.

Actually, yes, I am. (LAUGHTER)

But this is quite rare for me.

I've never done them in the pressure cooker, so...

Mm. ..I don't really know what's going to happen in there.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

I'm hoping that it will come out alright.

The thing that stresses me out about using that is,

because it's such volatile heat,

might the whole thing just fall apart under the pressure?

Yeah, that's...

I mean, I've stuffed this up once,

to stuff it up a second time,

is my mum going to forgive me again?

I don't think so.

Cabbage is taking whole of my bench.

RUE: Oh, my gosh.

I'm never touching a barramundi again.

JIMMY: Hey, have you got some salt here?

DARRSH: Yeah. Thank you.

You've got some there, though.

Oh, did I? Oh! (LAUGHS)

I just wanted yours. (LAUGHS) Yeah, mine's better!

Today's challenge is all about

creating something that is wrapped.

Today, we have otak, which is one of my absolute favourite things.

Otak is almost like the bacon of South-East Asia.

It's something that's savoury that you usually have

either with your breakfast or lunch, you know.

Traditionally, it's like a fish paste

that's wrapped in banana leaf.

One of the things that is going to be the key

is to make a really lovely rempah.

Rempah is basically a spice paste,

so you do need to sort of blitz that up.

You do, sort of, adjust your different levels of chilli,

but you need to actually cook that down,

so it's got that really lovely richness to it.

I'm going to blitz it in that.

Oh, how's our timing? Jimmy?

Hi, how are you? Very good.

You're in your happy place, aren't you, Jimmy?

I'm in my happy place today. What are you making?

Today, it's something that I really love.

It's called otak.

And what's the perfect otak? What is the texture?

The perfect otak, to me,

it has to be like a lovely soft mousse,

but I'm going to texture it up,

so what I'm going to do is do the mousse

with the prawns and the bonito,

and then I'm going to texture the actual snapper

by actually just using a spoon

to sort of get that texture to it

and then adding it in at the end.

So, what do you normally do it with?

Prawns and mackerel.

When somebody is so familiar with a dish, though,

our bar now is... (WHISTLES)

I hope I meet those bars... Hit the bar, Jimmy...

..but it's going to be something I love.

..hit the bar! Sounds epic! Thank you so much.

I'm cooking from here.

Like, they're all from memories

and I do like elevating the memories from something simple

to be something quite beautiful.

So, this here is my otak,

but today, I'm scraping in some snapper

just to give it a little bit of texture when they open it up.

Because sometimes, when it's just all kind of one dimension,

it's not such a nice eating,

but this adds a really lovely texture to it.

It might be a little bit different,

but I feel that's going to elevate this a little bit.

BEN: That's burning.

Today, I am going to make a vine-wrapped piece of barramundi.

I'm going to hide a little bit of cooked red pepper

underneath the vine leaf,

so when they cut open, there's a bit of colour

because the rest of it's going to be green, green, green.

The rest of the plate's going to be all grape.

So, a verjuice and dill sauce

and grapes of all different textures.

Fish and grapes does sound unusual,

but there is a classic French dish called sole Veronique,

which has a cream sauce and grapes

so I'm using that today as inspiration.

I'm pretty sure it's going to work OK.

The verjuice is going to give acidity.

It's going to match the grapes and the fish.

So, yeah, I mean, let's hope they like it.

The barramundi is quite a thick piece of fish,

which obviously means it's going to take longer to cook,

but I'm going to put it into a water bath.

A water bath should be relatively foolproof.

As long as it's cooked, you can't overcook it

because it will take it to a maximum temperature

and hold it there for you.

Goodbye, good friend.

Good luck in there.

Everybody, you have 45 minutes to go!

JEAN-CRISTOPHE: Allez! Good luck!

Come on, put it in a bag.

SOFIA: "Put it in a bag!" Love it!

RHIANNON: So, from the mystery box today,

I got banana leaves

and I'm making a tapioca prawn dumpling.

My mum used to go to Cambodia and Vietnam quite a lot,

so this is a little ode to her.

And then you just have a dipping sauce,

and I'm going to do, like, a little shallot oil.

Talking really fast. (LAUGHS)

You're excited. I'm excited. You're excited.

SNEZ: I am using cabbage.

And I also found the cabbage fermented leaves on the list,

which I'm blown away.

So I'm making sarma, which is a Serbian national dish.

Sarma is like this very sour, sour, sour cabbage leaves

stuffed with minced meat and a lot of smoked meat

to kind of round it all out.

Ooh!

Audra. Hey.

How about you? Tell me what you're using.

Oh, my God, can you guess? So many goodies there.

I'm doing, um, an ayam percik.

So it's basically chicken that's marinated in this luscious sauce

because I love Malay flavours,

and I feel like not many people know about it.

Yeah. So I'm going to do a double whammy.

I'm going to wrap it in pandan leaves as well.

Yes. So you pretty much just fold it through.

And then you marinate the chicken and you chuck it in here

and then you fold it back in here. Wow! This is fantastic!

So it looks a little bit like a little weave.

So I'm going to be cooking, uh,

cabbage-wrapped snapper with a pipi sauce.

I've got a few things on the go here.

I've got my pipi sauce that I'm making here.

I've got my stock, I'm going to cook some beautiful potatoes,

that I've made from the fish.

Potatoes about to go in.

I've got my parsley oil working.

It's kind of right at that point of the cook

where there's four million things happening.

I haven't actually touched my cabbage yet,

which is the entire point of this challenge.

So, at some point, I'm going to have

to start wrapping some stuff, which is not yet.

(TIM WHISTLES)

This mystery box ingredients

and the brief for the challenge don't necessarily cater

to my strengths as a cook.

I don't wrap a lot of things in my style of cooking.

I mean, unless it's pastry or bread,

but I don't cook with a lot of leaves and things like that.

Oh, I'm getting my inner wrapper on today.

I'm MC T-Bone today, so my palms are sweaty,

knees weak, arms are heavy.

But then mystery boxes,

I think the key is to get a bit creative,

to think outside the box, so to speak.

Hey, Tim! Hey, guys.

What are we wrapping, mate?

Ah, I'm doing beef bulgogi today in cabbage leaves.

Um, like a cabbage roll. OK.

So we'll have the beef, some sticky rice,

some beans and some spring onion.

Roll them in the cabbage leaves.

Then I'm going to crumb those and deep-fry them.

So they're going to be crispy cabbage rolls.

It's like a Korean Chiko Roll. (LAUGHS) Yes, it is.

Korean Chiko Roll. There we go. There's the name for it.

So you're inventing a dish? Yeah, I guess, I mean...

I've never had anything like that. Neither have I!

Oh. I'm excited for you to try it.

If you pull this off, this will be a dish

on one of your menus, for sure. Yeah. Wow.

But if you don't, you'll be in the bottom four.

Good luck. Thanks, guys. Appreciate that.

I definitely don't want to be going into tomorrow's pressure test.

I know how difficult those pressure tests are,

and I want to stay out of it.

Yeah. This is a dish that I've never done before.

Um, risky today, but, hey, it's a wrap day.

And, um, I'm going to wrap these up and see what I can do.

RUE: OK. My gosh, that took me a while.

35 minutes to go,

I finished filleting my fish, and I'm starting on my sauce.

Time's gone so quick.

I swear, time doesn't move this fast in my house.

I have my bones frying in the pan.

And in order to achieve that depth of flavour,

I add in onion, carrot and fennel because I want the sweetness

from these ingredients to be in my sauce.

OK, let's leave that and move on to the next.

I still need to put my fish in the oven.

Perfect barramundi, honestly, flaky, soft, moist.

And you know what?

En papillote actually makes that aspect really easy to achieve.

So I am hoping I'm gonna do justice to this cooking technique.

If my fish is not cooked well,

then there's a chance I'll go to elimination,

because that's the wrapped element.

But I know the flavours in this will be phenomenal.

We cannot wait to unwrap our presents.

30 minutes to go!

SNEZ: That's impressive, Sarah.

Alright. 30 minutes to go. Going way too fast.

Today I'm going to make a lemon myrtle

and paperbark-wrapped coral trout.

A beautiful, smoky kind of, like, sauce.

And then lots of little native ingredients.

I place my Goolwa pipis and the fish head from this coral trout

straight onto the hibachi.

I want to get a really nice, smoky, roasty flavour

through both those elements before they go into the broth,

and that's going to really add this depth of flavour to this broth.

And it's going to go from, like, a beautiful buttery fish sauce

to something that's smoked and elevated.

Perfect. Perfect.

And it's time to start this paperbark fish.

So I'm going to wrap it first in lemon myrtle.

Season that up nicely.

And hopefully that beautiful lemon myrtle flavour

will also penetrate into the fish.

I was never good at wrapping presents.

Hey, Rue, put your finger there. Thanks.

I feel like so much can go wrong with wrappings and food.

So, essentially, when you wrap something,

you serve it whole.

Say a prayer. # I say a little prayer...

BOTH: # For you... #

You don't know what's happening inside.

It could be raw. It could be overcooked.

How will I know if it's cooked, Rue?

I know! That's all I'm thinking of. I have to open one.

Have you done yours yet? No.

Go, go, go, go, go. Yeah, I know.

In a day where mystery box bottom four always go into a pressure test

and you don't know what's in that wrapping,

that's terrifying.

Oh. I'm in! Thank God for that.

Ooh! Hot!

Chicken is in. It's marinated and in the leaf.

Anything that's wrapped, you can't see what's inside.

So that's always a little bit of a tricky point.

JAMIE: Oh. I'm making tamales oaxaquenos.

It needs 20 minutes to steam.

If that fails, I have a tasty sauce

and some salsa and nothing.

There is no plan B. Go hard or go home.

I am loving this challenge. So good.

It is so exciting, the dishes that are coming up. I'm just...

Every single one of them, I want to get my chops around.

Oh. That's hot.

Phew!

Smells like different corners of the globe in here today.

POH: Oh, yeah, it does. What have you guys seen?

So, Ben.

I think Ben is going to smash if he manages to do it properly.

So he's using barramundi, vine leaves

and he is going to be doing sauce Veronique with grapes.

So if you manage to combine the whole lot and cook it properly,

it's going to be absolutely amazing.

Just jack this up a couple... Is that sous vide?

It is, mate. Sous vide.

Under vacuum, my friend. Ooh!

Under vacuum.

What I'm excited about is Tim,

wrapping that bulgogi in the cabbage.

'Cause he's, like, never done it before.

He's like, "I don't wrap stuff."

Like, he's pushing it. POH: Good on him for...

There's a lot to be excited about,

but a lot to be worried about as well.

Yes! Theo, I'm a bit worried about.

He is doing dolmades, which I love.

Oh, he's tried this before and they were raw!

But he's using the pressure cooker.

And what worries me about that is a leaf,

a thin leaf in a pressure cooker.

I am so worried it's just going to disintegrate.

There's a lot on the line because if you're experimenting

with techniques that you've never used before,

that could be what sends you into the bottom four.

The judges are just worried that this pressure cooker

might be too much pressure for the dolmades,

and they might split apart.

so we're never going to know until I reveal it.

So that's simple... As simple as that, really.

Oh.

I'm doing an ayam percik.

Whoa! The smell!

Do you like it?

What do you think? I'll be on my knees.

(BOTH LAUGH)

I hope you like it.

Oh, that smell is really taking me in.

You know that.

I'm dying to...what's happening inside.

So my cabbage rolls are cooking in the pressure cooker.

So this is my whole dish.

We'll have a therapy session if it doesn't work out.

If I, like, freak out. Or we'll high five if it does work.

You'll hear me, like... OK. OK.

How are you doing, darling?

Good. I need to put my fish in.

I put some ingredients that are mirroring

what's in the sauce underneath the fish.

I am feeling quite good,

but I look up at the clock

and I'm telling you,

someone is working against me when it comes to time.

We're getting dishes wrapped up from all around the world,

but you've only got 10 minutes to go.

10 minutes!

And I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh, where has the time gone?"

I'm hoping this is enough time to cook this fish perfectly.

Jean-Christophe. G'day, mate.

How are you? You look like you've got a lot to do. Yeah?

Got a little bit to do.

Still got to just finish off my meat,

wrap all my ingredients and then deep-fry them.

This is my crumbing station.

Crumbs are a mixture of panko, fried shallots and sesame seeds.

And very quickly, the cabbage, is it going to be raw or steamed?

It's going to be blanched and then deep-fried.

So you haven't blanched them yet? Not quite.

Are you gonna be ready on time? Yes. Absolutely, absolutely.

I got to hustle, but we'll be ready, mate.

Everyone's excited about what you're doing.

It's a bit of an experiment. Yeah.

But I think it'll work. Yeah. Celebrating the grape.

It's great, full grape.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Grape liquid, grape grapes, grape leaves.

So, yeah, there's some fish in there too, but, you know.

Can I have a look? Yeah.

Oh, cool. Yeah. Everything's coming together.

The fish has been cooking away for about 20 minutes.

I think I'd better have a look, make sure it's cooked.

The fish should be 48 degrees, so it's ready.

I look down and it's still about 10, 15 degrees

away from where I want it.

Seriously? Come on.

This cannot be happening.

I think something's gone wrong with Ben.

I chose to use the water bath because it's foolproof.

Unfortunately, it may be foolproof,

but it's not idiot-proof.

I realised what I've done is

when I've turned the water bath up and pushed play,

I've actually paused the water bath. I turned it off.

This is an absolute nightmare.

I realised what I've done is

when I've turned the water bath up and pushed play,

I've actually paused the water bath. I turned it off.

This is an absolute nightmare.

He was supposed to be sous-viding, but now he's got the fish in a pan.

Yeah. And there's only four minutes to go.

I've got to get this fish cooked.

Luckily, I've got a pot of water on the boil,

so I quickly get it into the pot.

I've got to get this up to mid-to-high 40s as quickly as possible.

Hopefully I'll save this.

Cooking it in a pot is not as precise,

but I've got a thermometer.

I've got my fish heating up as fast as possible,

thermometer in it.

But I'm not going to know if this is cooked until it gets cut open.

This is like too much.

You've got three minutes to go.

Come on. Good luck.

My cabbage rolls need about five minutes in the deep-fryer,

and I've just put my last one in with three minutes to go.

It's going to be touch-and-go.

Just some bowls, some bowls, some bowls.

Therapy or high five? We'll find out.

They look good. They look soft. They're kind of falling apart.

Which is exactly what you want.

Trust me, make this work.

Because tomorrow's pressure test... I know, sure, yeah.

..no-one wants to be there.

Ah! Hot!

Oh, yum. Oh, they taste spectacular.

Go, Theo. You got this, buddy.

I've got my dolmades in the pressure cooker.

My tzatziki is beautiful.

My avgolemono is bubbling away,

but it all comes down to this pressure cooker.

If I open this pressure cooker and they're not cooked, I'm done.

I'm praying to every single Greek god that these are cooked.

It's like I'm telling these dolmades to be cooked

the way my dad tells me to do everything in my life.

"You need to be cooked. Come on, hurry up, hurry up."

Oh, hell, yeah. Yeah, buddy.

I'm so excited for this. Yes! Hee-hee!

(ENTHUSIASTICALLY) We are SO excited for this tasting.

Two minutes to go.

Perfect.

Great.

Oh, my gosh, you've done so much, Loz.

Two minutes to go...

I'm very happy with my sauce.

Yeah, that's looking good.

And I start pouring my sauce in the jug, ready for plating.

Ooh! Oh, my God, Rue! Oh, my gosh!

Sauce on the floor. Sauce on the stove.

I'm honestly about to give myself heart palpitations.

Um, damn!

But luckily, I still have enough sauce.

And now I'm just praying

that this fish is doing great in that oven.

You're doing great, sweetie.

Wrap it up, gang! One minute to go!

One minute to go. I've got no choice.

I've got to get this fish out.

Oh, my God, I hope this is cooked. I hope this is cooked.

(EXHALES)

Here he is. What's he got?

They look good. They look good.

That's a wrap in 10...

JUDGES: Nine, eight,

seven, six,

five, four,

three, two,

one!

That is it. Well done. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Bravo!

Oh! Good job.

RUE: Oh, my gosh, Rhi.

Oh! TIM: Oh, my God.

Praise... Oh.

How are you going? Alright? Alright.

Hey, man.

Wow! That was an exciting challenge.

So you can imagine how much

we are looking for tasting your dishes.

So, the first one is...

..Laura. (APPLAUSE)

LAURA: I'm so proud to put this dish up today.

The challenge was so meant for this dish.

It's something that, you know, elements of that I've wanted to do

for a while, so this is me on a plate.

Laura? What's this?

So this is my paperbark and lemon myrtle-wrapped

coral trout,

a little smoked sauce and warrigal greens.

It looks stunning. Looks incredible.

I like that you've gone full present and wrapped it with a little bow.

Thank you. And I'm terrible at wrapping presents,

so I was like... I took my time with this one.

Well, it looks like you're good at wrapping fish. Yeah.

Should we? Mm.

Ah, I see, I see, I see. Ooh.

Wow.

If this was on the menu, I think it'd just be called...

..Laura. (LAUGHS)

It's just so you.

Oh! (CHUCKLES)

Good. Flaky.

Thank God. Oh-ho-ho!

I would order that over and over and over again.

(APPLAUSE)

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Thank you. It's just so well put together.

So you've got that very mild flavour of the sea,

and then all those citrus notes come from the natives.

Then you've got that lovely richness from the butter sauce.

And the fish is just cooked so beautifully.

Thank you. It's pretty incredible.

It's the...it's the complexity of the sauce.

With the smoked pipis, the smoked head, it's...

Yeah, I'm getting... I'm done here.

My hairs are standing up. (CHUCKLES)

(LAUGHTER)

Laura, I get asked a lot what Australian food actually is.

If I could bring them a dish that I think perfectly explains that,

it would be yours, here, today. Oh, yeah. I would guarantee it.

Well.

What makes it a quintessential Australian dish to me

is that it has classic French technique in it,

native Australian ingredients

that you can't find anywhere else in the world,

and you've presented it in a really simple

but extremely sophisticated way

that puts Australia on the world stage.

Oh, yes. Bravo!

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Very well done.

Thank you. Ah, thank you.

Jamie.

(APPLAUSE)

JAMIE: I made tamales oaxaquenos.

I wanted to go south today and use the banana leaf.

Jamie, I don't know if I've ever had a good tamale.

Yeah. But when I tasted that,

I was like, "I think this is what it's meant to be."

(LAUGHTER)

Rhiannon. (APPLAUSE)

What have we got going on?

# My name is Rhi, I like to rap

# I'm hoping today I get a clap. #

(LAUGHTER) Yeah!

We've got tapioca prawn dumplings

with a chilli dipping sauce and a shallot ginger oil.

Your take on prawn dumplings, I adore.

# I don't think you're in the bottom four. #

Ah! (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS)

(APPLAUSE)

Samira.

SAMIRA: Today, I have made you Egyptian mahshi.

It's filled with rice, lots and lots of herbs,

and it's got a tomato-based sauce.

Samira, this is so tasty. This is you at your best.

Thank you.

Next, Snez.

Yeah! (APPLAUSE)

SNEZ: So, I made sarma, or stuffed cabbage rolls.

The cabbage rolls, they literally melt in your mouth.

Beautiful dish, and this is exactly the sort of thing

we want to keep seeing from you. Thank you.

Audra.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDRA: So, today, I've made for you pandan ayam percik,

which is the chicken,

lemak nasi kuning, which is the turmeric rice,

mango kerabu, which is a little salad,

and keropok, which is the crisps.

I was basically trying to stuff as much of that into my mouth

as quickly as possible before we had to start talking.

(LAUGHS)

That was so delicious!

(APPLAUSE)

Ah!

Rue, you're next.

(APPLAUSE)

My fate in this competition comes down to the cook on that fish.

I put it in the oven with 10 minutes to go.

And I'm hoping the MasterChef gods come through here

because I do not want to end up in tomorrow's pressure test.

Rue, what have you cooked?

I have made an en papillote

with a bouillabaisse-inspired sauce and dill oil.

How are you feeling? Um...

I'm just hoping my fish is cooked. Yeah.

So you don't know? I do not know.

Oh, wow. OK. I do not know.

OK.

I do not know.

I'm going to unwrap the fish. Ooh!

# Daa-da-da-daaa! #

I think my heart is beating so fast because I'm thinking,

"I hope this fish is cooked. I hope this fish is cooked."

ANDY: Oh.

I'm scared for you. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: I'm not sure.

I'm a little bit worried, too.

I'm just going to cut into it. OK.

Oh, Rue! Oh, man.

Oh, I'm gutted. Very raw.

I know. I know.

Well, obviously, Rue, your barramundi is completely raw...

..so we're not going to taste your dish.

I'm bummed because I spent so much time and love,

pouring my heart into that sauce,

and, um, it's unfortunate.

I'm really sorry, Rue.

Sorry, Rue. Thanks. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Oh.

I wish I had spent as much time on the fish as I did on the sauce.

It's an absolute bummer.

Next up, we have some wrapped goodness - Jimmy.

(APPLAUSE)

Yeah. Classic. (JIMMY CHUCKLES)

(WHISTLES)

Jimmy, what have we got?

Well, today, I have Otak-Otak for you.

So it's a fish paste that's inside. It's actually made with some prawns.

It's got a rempah in it.

Um, we've also got some bonito.

Normally, I would use Spanish mackerel.

I also flaked in some snapper to give a little bit of texture to it.

We've got super high hopes for this because...

(LAUGHS) Yeah, this is a dish that you know

like the back of your hand.

This is one of my favourite, favourite dishes.

And for me, this is much more fish-heavy...

..rather than aromatic-heavy.

So I feel like the balance of the fish and your rempah

is slightly out.

And did you also cook the rempah? Yes, I did.

You do? Yes. Oh, that's interesting.

I think cooking it has deadened it a little bit.

I'm really sorry, Jimmy.

I know this is really disappointing for you.

Jimmy, I think you definitely picked the right dish for this challenge,

but I think you might have gotten excited

with the playing of textures and flavours and different seafoods.

I know...I think you said, usually, you use a mackerel.

Yes. Um, and there's a reason for that,

because that oiliness carries all of those aromats really wonderfully,

whereas what's happened here is, it's not that textural,

there are just kind of a couple of bits of flakiness

that interrupt the smoothness for me.

So I kind of wanted you to lean much more heavily one way or the other.

Yeah, we'll see where you end up, Jimmy.

Good luck. Sorry, Jimmy.

(APPLAUSE)

Next up, Theo.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

THEO: I took a massive risk today

using the pressure cooker to cook these dolmades,

and I think it's paid off.

Who's a happy boy, hey? (CHUCKLES) Yeah, pretty happy.

If you don't like these dolmades,

I'll probably get my dad to come and have a chat with you.

(LAUGHS)

Tell us what you've got going on.

So I have dolmades,

and I've got avgolemono sauce, and I have tzatziki to go with that.

I believe they're cooked perfectly,

and they're exactly the way my mum cooks them.

Do you have a mum impersonation,

like you have a dad impersonation?

Last time I disappointed her, she was like,

"Oh, no, I wasn't disappointed. At least you tried.

"You tried, it's fine." (LAUGHTER)

My dad was like, "No." Yeah, I was about to say.

"You stuffed it up completely." (LAUGHTER)

I'm sorry, I can't wait. They are so damn good.

Ah, yes! (LAUGHS)

(APPLAUSE)

So good!

They are the best dolmades I've ever had in my life.

Oh, wow.

It's sweet. And you can taste the rice.

You can taste every little ingredient in there.

Everything that good Greek food is all about.

And I'm so glad that you've redeemed your...

Yeah.

..your past sins. (LAUGHS)

I've got goose bumps, yeah.

Oh, I want to do a bit of role play,

because I was going to be you, and you were going to be your dad.

OK. You want to do that? Yeah, yeah.

So, imagine, like... Yeah. Imagine, like...

(LAUGHTER) ..I'm you.

Imagine, like, I'm you.

(IMITATES THEO) Hey, Dad, made you some dolmades.

(IMITATES FATHER) OK. Let's see.

Yeah, it's good, but I think it could be,

uh, a little bit better.

(LAUGHTER)

That is all I need.

(CONTINUES AS FATHER) Not as good as mine.

Thanks. Thank you. Thanks.

Thanks, mate.

The next one belongs to Sarah.

(APPLAUSE) Thank you.

SARAH: Tempura betel leaves with chicken, cooked in lotus leaf.

SOFIA: I love that lotus leaf chicken curry.

It's juicy, it's fragrant, it's fresh,

and you can really taste that lotus in there.

Didn't need the betel leaf.

I liked it, I just don't think it belonged on that dish.

The next one is Darrsh.

(APPLAUSE)

DARRSH: Inside the parcel is whole baked snapper,

a couple of hoppers and a seeni sambol.

Looks pretty good, Darrsh. Awesome.

Firstly, the fish, mate. It is cooked so well.

I really like the seeni sambol, as well.

Gives that beautiful sweetness.

The hopper, I think you nearly got there.

It was crispy, but it just didn't have that flavour that you get

from the overnight ferment.

And the sauce, great. I just wanted a little bit more salt.

OK. Sure.

A little bit more salt. Yep.

Callum! (APPLAUSE)

CALLUM: So I've done snapper wrapped in cabbage

and a pipi and finger lime sauce.

Callum, obviously, fish was cooked perfectly.

The sauce is so perfect - it's perfectly balanced.

But when I hit the cabbage,

it's a bit leathery, and it tips the whole dish into over-seasoned.

Yeah, sure.

But otherwise, a really beautiful dish and looked stunning.

Tim, you're up.

(APPLAUSE)

TIM: I've never made a dish like this before.

It's really giving off Chiko Roll vibes.

And I love a Chiko Roll.

This is something that I would love to eat,

and I just hope the judges love it, as well.

(LAUGHS)

Well, in the spirit of fun,

we're going to call them Tim's Chiko Rolls.

So, essentially, they're bulgogi beef

fried cabbage rolls,

and there's a little gochujang mayo on the side.

Oh! (CHUCKLES)

It's glistening. It looks pretty juicy.

Tim, I thought you smashed the flavour in the bulgogi.

Like, it was marinated well, it was cooked really nicely.

Saying that,

then you just went crazy with everything else.

You've got beans in there, you've got rice in there, you've got cabbage,

you've got your gochujang mayo.

For me, it's just so much.

Tim, I liked everything up to the cabbage.

I felt like the bulgogi filling was really lovely.

I think it's pretty spot-on,

and I quite liked sort of the burrito-inspired rice and beans.

But I think where it starts to go over the top is when you start

to crumb and fry and have that outer coating.

I think it could have been much better if you had just, like,

pickled the cabbage leaves and given us a bit of respite

with some acidity.

Thanks, Tim.

(APPLAUSE)

Next one, Ben, please.

(APPLAUSE)

BEN: I've got this beautifully presented plate of food.

It's going to look amazing with the sauce poured on top.

(APPLAUSE) (WHISTLES)

The problem is, hiding underneath that veneer of vine leaf

is a piece of fish that I've got no idea if it's cooked or not.

Right, Ben, tell us, what is your dish?

Yeah, it's barramundi wrapped in vine leaf

with a dill and verjuice sauce

and various sorts of grapes.

Well, let's find out if your fish is cooked.

Yeah.

Right, Ben, let's find out if your fish is cooked.

Yeah.

I wanted closer inspection.

Oh, no.

Oh, I reckon that's just short. Definitely not.

Can we quarter it and serve it and...?

Look, if anyone's going to eat the fish that's on the edge,

it's definitely me.

But with barramundi,

like, it's just...it's not the one to do that

because it does have that real tough sinew in it.

And when that sinew doesn't break down,

then it's really hard to wrap your head around.

And for me, mine's just a little bit under.

But it's a very interesting dish.

Everything together is very interesting.

Like, the whole symphony of grapes on the side,

the butter, the dill sauce.

And what I really, really like is the roasted pepper

with the vine leaf.

It's delicious. Mm.

It's such a good combination.

I think there is definitely something that you can work on there

that could turn into a very good dish.

Good luck. (APPLAUSE)

Three or four more degrees, another three or four minutes,

it would have been perfect.

But it's not.

And I just cannot see any way

I'm not going to be in another pressure test.

I speak for all of us up here

when I say that was a cracker of a cook.

Laura, that was insanely good cooking.

Theo, those dolmades, mate, they absolutely dominated.

Well done.

Samira, Snez, Audra, flat-out flavour.

Top-tier belters.

Good stuff.

Unfortunately, it's not all good news.

There's still a pressure test tomorrow,

and four of you will be cooking in it.

If I call your name, please step forward.

Rue.

Ben.

Jimmy.

And Tim.

You're all cooking in tomorrow's pressure test.

Trust me when I say -

nothing can prepare you for what we have in store.

So make sure you get plenty of sleep...

..and come back tomorrow ready to fight.

Good night.

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow night... It's Steven He!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Today, you're gonna cook my...

Oh, wow!

That's mad!

This thing belongs in the Louvre.

How the hell am I going to make that?

This puppy

will be one hell of a party trick.

Captions by Red Bee Media