Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Previously on MasterChef Australia...

ANDY: Welcome to Doha!

(WHOOPING)

..Doha dished up one extraordinary week.

BEN: I can't believe we're actually here.

JAMIE: I'm on top of the world right now.

As the competition for immunity heated up...

Ooh!

Yes, bring it on!

I'm cooking dough in Doha. What more do you want in life?

..the food was as stunning as the surroundings.

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

they win the competition.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Your dish is epic.

I am flabbergasted.

POH: This is such an exquisite expression

of everything I've tasted in Doha.

With winning dishes for Callum,

Jamie, Ben and Depinder.

Oh, my God!

Tonight, four incredible competitors

face a nail-biting elimination.

(BIRDS SING)

LAURA: It's nice to be home.

This home or a regular home? This home.

Yeah.

Doha was absolutely incredible.

But I'm feeling so good to be back in the kitchen.

Oh, God.

Not in a black apron, though,

so that's definitely dampening the mood.

Oh! OK.

Oh, there's two cloches.

Are we facing each other?

SARAH: The benches are facing each other.

That scares me a little bit,

because definitely looks like we have a battle on our hands.

We're back!

Yay! Back to black.

Well, that trip, it was an experience of a lifetime, eh?

But now it is back to business.

Back to win.

I know the bond between you all is super strong...

..but today you are going head-to-head in a MasterChef duel.

Oh. Ah!

We are putting you into two pairs.

In the first round, you'll be battling it out one-v-one.

Each pair will be using the exact same ingredient.

If you win your duel, you'll be safe.

If you lose, you'll be cooking in round two

in the final face off where someone will be going home.

Oh, gosh.

So it goes from a 25% chance or a 50% chance of going home.

Yep. That's fun. That's real fun.

There's four of us cooking in an all-in elimination.

Oh!

It's not where you want to be.

One small mistake, one little slip-up can send you home.

I learnt this the hard way.

This is so hard.

So I was on season six and season 12...

..and I came second twice.

Nougat itself was supposed to be cut up in very small pieces.

So the first dish I was eliminated on

was Peter Gilmore's Chocolate Ethereal

because I didn't cut my nougat - I'll never forget.

Texture of the ice-cream.

I think it feels a bit icy.

The second time in Back To Win was my Jerusalem artichoke ice-cream...

It's unfortunate

because the flavours are fantastic. ANDY: Spot-on. Beautiful.

..was a little too icy, defo.

Amelia, you are the winner of MasterChef Back To Win!

Sorry! I'm sorry!

I'm sorry.

Uh, the would-have, could-haves and the should-haves,

I think I'll be thinking about

why I came second twice for the rest of my life.

I know the exact points in both seasons where I went wrong,

which I think is a great thing to learn from your mistakes.

So hopefully I've learned enough mistakes

to not stuff it up this time.

At this point in the competition, every cook counts.

So let's see who you're up against.

Grab a token out of this bag and stand next to your opponent.

Good luck, everyone.

Thank you. Thanks.

Oh! What have we got, ladies?

OK. Alright.

So, Sarah, you're going head-to-head with Alana.

And, Snez, you're up against Laura.

Snez, and Laura...

Oh, God!

..you'll be duking it out with...

..hazelnuts. OTHERS: Ooh!

Love. Yeah, OK. I love that.

Yum. Yum. OK.

Hazelnut is definitely my strength.

I know what hazelnut works well with.

But then again, hazelnuts are Laura's strength.

It's such an Italian staple.

Come on, every Italian dessert has a hazelnut in it.

I'm like, "She's going to kill this."

Sarah and Alana...

..you'll be fighting it out with...

..horseradish. OTHERS: Ooh!

SARAH: OK. OK. Mm-hm.

Two very distinct ingredients.

Really think about how you're going to use them.

Show us what you can come up with.

We're giving you 75 minutes.

The pantry and garden are open.

It doesn't matter who your opponent is,

you're all in for one hell of a fight.

Your time starts now!

(CLAPPING)

Oh, God! Gonna get hazelnuts

'cause my brain's not working!

SNEZ: What do I do? What do I do?

Oh. Where did the cocoa butter go?

Let's go, Lozzie. You too, Snezie.

SOFIA: It's really hard to imagine any of these four leaving today.

Everyone can feel the tension here. Yeah.

You can feel how much it means to these four

and how fierce they're going to compete to get this done.

It's such an interesting one for me because normally in an elimination

you're up against, like, four or five, you know,

and you just need to be better than one of those.

But today it's like in this first round,

you're looking eye-to-eye at your opponent

and you need to beat them.

It is one-v-one.

I've got a feeling all four of them are going to go all out today.

Yeah. They know what's on the line.

Yeah, I think so too.

CALLUM: Go, Snezza. DEPINDER: Let's go, girl.

Hey, guys, I got a direct support here.

Yeah. Yeah, you do, babes.

Hope nobody has chewing gum. (CHUCKLES)

DEPINDER: Nice work, Loz.

LAURA: I'm pretty nervous going up against Snez.

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

I mean, whenever you're facing each other in a cook-off,

terrible things happen, I feel.

It's like when you're looking your opponent in the eyes,

that's stressful.

Oh, the bread queen is back.

This is delightful.

LAURA: Snez is so match-fit.

She literally just finished the last season...

It's delicious. Ha-ha-ha! Yes!

It's really, really good.

..and she's come straight into this one,

so she's all guns blazing.

This is yams, dumplings with red plum.

She's cooking some of the best food she's ever cooked...

Do you want a job? Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

..but also the competition has seen.

I made komorac.

It's a pasta veil.

Fregola soup with baccala and pipis.

I'm honestly terrified to be cooking against Snez.

(QUIETLY) But don't tell her that. (LAUGHS)

My ingredient that I need to use today is hazelnuts.

Uh, so I'm going to make a dessert.

I'm gonna do a salted hazelnut gelato,

some Montenegro, a brown butter hazelnut cake.

And I'm just adding, like, a little riff on that.

I'm gonna add some quandongs in there,

so I just feel like I can't make something without

a little native spin sometimes in life.

The first thing I crack onto is making my salted hazelnut gelato.

I need to roast these nuts off and then infuse them into the milk.

Blitz that up to flavour the milk before I make the gelato

with some hazelnut paste and all the usual suspects.

OK, that, that, that. Little bit of salt.

I'm now working on my Amaro Montenegro syrup

that the quandongs will cook in.

Quandongs are a native Australian peach,

so you get this really nice fresh tartness.

And bringing that into a dish that's got chocolate,

hazelnuts, orange and the Amaro Montenegro

could be super risky or it's going to work really well.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Hi, Laura. Laura.

Hello.

How's your relationship with hazelnuts, first of all?

Love, hazelnuts. That's good.

My favourite nut in the nut family.

And what is the dish with your beloved hazelnuts?

Um, alright, so I'm doing a dessert.

Um, I'm kind of like, playing on, like,

northern Italian flavours.

Um, so I've got hazelnuts,

Montenegro, orange, chocolate.

But then I'm just adding in something very me.

Right. Which is?

Quandongs.

Have you paired hazelnut, chocolate and quandong before?

Never.

Never? No.

So what do you think that is going to be like?

Um... How are they going to work together?

Well, that's a...that's a great question, Andy.

Can you ask me in about 35 minutes?

Good luck. Good luck, by the way.

SNEZ: Hey, Loz, can I grab some...?

Loz, can I grab some of those,

some hazelnuts? Yeah, yeah. Hazelnuts?

Yeah. I'll come and get them. Yeah, come and get some.

Go for it.

'Cause I only had the other...other ones.

I just want this brand. Yeah.

Thank you. Teamwork.

My immediate thought is a dessert.

But then I'm thinking

"Laura is Italian, hazelnut is in her blood.

"She's going to have dessert 100%."

I need to think outside the box.

Oh, this is salmon. How did I pick up salmon?

And I'm gonna make a hazelnut-crusted cod

with beautiful hazelnut beurre blanc.

I can feel the pressure in the room. 58 minutes to go!

Come on, let's go! Let's go, guys.

WOMAN: Go, guys!

That's it's a weird time call, 58 minutes.

SNEZ: 15 minutes and everybody's already cooking,

and I'm just coming with my ingredients.

I really need to pick up my pace.

So first thing I do is I cut the beautiful fillet of my fish.

I get the bones and put them with aromatics in a boil

to make a stock to cook off my vegetables.

Next thing to do is get started with my beurre blanc.

I never heard of hazelnut beurre blanc together before,

but I'll make it work.

Huge risk today.

I'm cooking beurre blanc for a French man

and I'm completely changing it.

Nice, Sarah.

Thanks. Keep going, girls.

I'm coming off the back of a couple of rough cooks in Doha

and I'm up against Alana,

but I feel like my superpower is staying calm in this kitchen,

so I'm back in the right frame of mind.

I love a bit of horseradish.

For me, when I think of horseradish,

it instantly kind of goes down that beef path,

and I am making some savoury doughnuts.

So savoury doughnuts,

a horseradish cream stuffed inside.

A little beef glaze on top.

A little bit of pea puree underneath,

then some seared Wagyu beef on top.

So a few different elements coming together for that one.

The most important step of this dish is to get these doughnuts proving.

It's a 75-minute challenge so I'm under time pressure with that.

That should say 0.1.

I'm sure Alana is going to lean into her strengths and go for a dessert,

but I am going to battle it out for round one and I have to be safe.

I am not going into round two today.

My plan is to give the judges a beautifully tasty dish

and something that really is so unique that it beats Sarah's.

Ooh!

Sarah's been in the MasterChef kitchen competing three times.

WOMAN: Let's go, Sarah.

And she's had this incredible career here in Australia and in India.

The smokiness. I love that she used that traditional method.

It's so cool.

SOFIA: Sarah knew she had to cook us

one of the best butter chickens we've ever had, and she did.

She pairs flavours.

SARAH: Vegemite beer is beurre blanc is loaded with all the things we love.

She comes up with these amazing combinations and textures.

She is one of the best cooks in this kitchen.

Alana! Hello!

Hi, Alana.

You're up against Sarah with horseradish.

What's your strategy? Uh, I'm going dessert.

Going dessert? Yeah, going dessert with...

Yeah, horseradish dessert.

I just think that, um, for me to stand out in this duel,

I need to go with my best foot forward, and that's dessert.

So that's what I'm doing. I'm doing a horseradish ice-cream today.

Yeah. What else?

To go with, I've got a really beautiful soaked almond biscuit

that's going to go on the bottom.

I've got a little bit of goat's curd cream

going on there as well.

Have you ever had a horseradish dessert?

Yeah, with wasabi. I did a wasabi ice-cream.

How did that go down? Not great.

Oh, no! Don't tell me that.

There's a lot of big-hitting flavours in your dessert.

Are you certain they all go together?

I'm pretty certain they're all going to go together,

but I know that I've got to try and tame that horseradish.

And it's about... And the goat's curd as well.

And the goat's curd. Yeah.

Alright. Good luck, Alana. Thanks, ladies.

I'm nervous for myself now that the judges

have talked about their concerns.

I know this dish is so out there,

and these flavours are risky and you will never see it on a menu.

But for me to win today, I need to make them work.

(BUTTONS BEEP)

Wow. You could hear a pin drop in here at the moment.

ANDY: Oh, game on.

We have two super exciting duels on our hands.

We've got Snez v Laura.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Laura's going for dessert.

She's going to be doing a multitude of different elements.

She's talking about using hazelnut paste

to fold through the gelato.

A lot of fat in the hazelnut paste. Yeah.

So how will that react?

It actually does sound like quite a conventional dessert in many ways,

'cause she's got the financier, the ice-cream, all that.

But it's just all those little tiny twists

that she puts in there. Yep.

The Laura-isms, if you want to say?

She's giving it her little twist. Yeah.

Snez, she's got the hazelnuts in two spots, right?

The hazelnut beurre blanc,

which I'm interested to see how that comes together.

A piece of fish.

She's going to crisp up the skin

and do a hazelnut crumb over the top of that.

Mm. She's got vision. She has.

When you think, the plan is fantastic.

If she knocks this one on, it's superb.

And then on the flip side, you've got Alana v Sarah.

I mean, there's a lot of invention in Sarah's dish

because she's riffing on a classic thing.

SOFIA: Those flavours make so much sense, how she's recreating them.

Then with Alana's dish, we can't get our heads around it quite yet.

I feel like horseradish ice-cream could become one of

those MasterChef mega wins or mega fails,

depending on how it goes. Yeah.

SNEZ: How are you going, girl? ALANA: Good. How are you?

Oh, my God.

You're punching on ice-cream? Yeah.

That's the way! Horseradish ice-cream.

When the judges taste my dish,

I want them to first taste that sweetness of the ice-cream.

And then all of a sudden,

that horseradish flavour will take over at the end.

I know that there's big flavours.

The judges have reaffirmed that for me.

But I love big flavours in a dessert.

I'm not about subtlety, so go big or go home

is going to be my motto today.

My biscuit is now cooked.

I want it to be slightly fluffy,

almost halfway between a biscuit and a dense cake,

but then brushing it with this really beautiful syrup

is going to give it a lovely flavour.

CALLUM: Oh, nice, Alana.

Nice Alana. Nice work girl.

I've got my ice-cream on churning,

my goat's curd has started.

There's obviously quite savoury flavours with that,

goat's curd and the horseradish, it's quite punchy.

But, yeah, it's just about trying to balance it all out.

DEPINDER: The doughnuts look alright? JAMIE: They look good. Yeah.

Nice work. Sarah. Thanks.

Great.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Come on, keep pushing!

30 minutes to go!

DEPINDER: Let's go, girls.

SARAH: 30 minutes left and feeling alright at the moment.

I'm doing a savoury doughnut with the horseradish cream

stuffed inside the doughnut.

Got a little kiss of horseradish, which I like.

A little glaze on top,

and then nice slices of seared Wagyu.

My doughnuts have risen,

so I'm going to get those in the deep fryer very shortly.

I have no idea. I can't see what Alana is doing.

But I feel like she's looking pretty focused.

Yeah, baby!

Alana's strengths are in

experimenting with flavours and desserts.

I think that she's been pulling together

some really weird kind of combinations.

ALANA: Basil and olive oil ice-cream

with an ancho chilli and hibiscus broth.

Burnt butter parfait

with a little flaky butter pastry on the bottom.

Gingerbread bundt with an artichoke and mascarpone ice-cream.

And is really good at bringing different flavours together

and pushing the boundaries.

SOFIA: Oh, look at the colours on that.

She whips out one of those desserts and we all know it's fantastic.

So this round is going to be really tough.

I am throwing everything at it

and I have to get my doughnuts into the fryer.

Are these the doughies? Yeah, they're working.

Working? Yep.

Ooh! Popping up nicely.

They look like eggs. (CHUCKLES) Little mini ones.

Sarah, are they a little Indian thing...

Ooh! ..or is it a Sarah thing?

Yeah, it's a Sarah thing. (CHUCKLES)

Oh, watch out, it's hot.

I'm like, no fear of any oils.

My skin doesn't even feel it anymore, which is like, crazy.

My doughnuts are puffing up beautifully, thank goodness.

I'm definitely not frazzled.

I'm feeling really, really good, actually.

Game on, that's for sure.

SOFIA: Time is ticking away. You have 20 minutes to go!

Come on, let's go! DEPINDER: Come on, guys.

SNEZ: So much to do and not enough time.

The most challenging element for me today is that beurre blanc.

This is make or break.

Soon as I add my hazelnut, I taste it to see if I need more.

It can't be overpowering or too sweet.

DEPINDER: How does that taste, Snez? It's actually yum.

It's unexpected. It's like savoury,

sour and like...earthy.

And my second challenging point here is the cook on that fish

and making sure that crust is perfect crunchy and not burnt.

My plan is to separate the skin

and then finish it off with this hazelnut crumb.

Oh, come on, Snez.

There is a one in four chance of going home.

You have 15 minutes to go! DEPINDER: Let's go!

(CLAPPING)

Cooking a fish skin in a sandwich press is a next level crispiness.

It's a revolution.

If I'm going to win this today, if I'm going to win against Laura,

I need to elevate everything I do.

How are you going, Snez? Yep, pumping. How are you?

Yeah, good.

What was I doing?

Let's go, Lozzie.

So I'm looking at my gelato and it's definitely doing its thing.

It's thickening.

It's wrapping itself around that paddle and it's looking really good.

So I decide to give it a taste.

Instantly my heart sinks...

..because this is icy.

The texture is not right.

I don't know what's happened.

It's not right.

(EXHALES)

POH: Loz, it's the fat content.

Yeah, it's wrong.

You've got 11 minutes, Laura.

Yeah, I know.

So this is really icy.

It's unusable.

You're not gonna use it? No, I can't.

'Cause that's a big hazelnut component

in your dish, eh?

Yeah. What's the plan?

Um...

My stomach is in a knot, and I don't know what to do.

ANDY: So this is really icy.

What's the plan?

Um...

All I want to do right now is curl up into a ball and, like,

cry my heart out and run away.

But I can't do that.

I'm just gonna almost make, like, a...

..uh, like a mascarpone hazelnut paste whip.

Right. Make it super salty.

I don't have any other options right now.

No, you've only got 10 minutes. Yeah.

Can I pull something together in these last 10 minutes

that's going to replicate that gelato,

bring a hazelnut element and hopefully save this dish?

I don't know.

Laura, I can tell you're rattled. Pull it together.

Yeah. Take a breath. Focus.

'Cause you can do this.

DEPINDER: How does that taste, Snezzie?

Oh!

You happy, girl?

Yum!

I'm looking at this crumb

and I'm looking at the cook on that fish,

and it looks bloody perfect.

I'm so proud.

Oh, my God, Snez. Let's go.

ANDY: This is getting serious. Five minutes to go.

(APPLAUSE)

CALLUM: Let's go, Lozzie. Come on, mate.

Just keep going, Loz. It's beautiful.

Let's go, Laura.

Just make it the best you can, Loz.

You can do it, Laura. Come on, mate.

Let's go, Laura. Let's go, Loz.

Come on, girl.

DEPINDER: How does the ice-cream taste, Alana?

Yeah. It's good. A little bit of white chocolate.

Just a little bit of that amazing... Horseradish.

Yeah. Perfect. It's really nice.

The end of the cook is so close,

but I've only just got enough time to plate it up beautifully.

The soaked almond biscuit goes first into the bowl,

then plums on top of that.

And then I pipe the goat's curd cream

all around the edge.

I am super happy with my dish,

but I'm going up against the absolute best.

And for me to beat Sarah,

I need to really elevate this dish.

So I'm adding some celery oil

because I want to bring

that really beautiful, fresh, cooling flavour

to that horseradish cream.

Three minutes to go.

SOFIA: Come on! JAMIE: Come on, guys. DEPINDER: Come on, guys.

Nice work, Laura.

Come on, Sarah.

SARAH: Last few minutes

and I'm really happy with all my elements.

I've got my doughnuts that I've tossed in caraway salt.

I've got to pipe just the right amount

of horseradish cream in the centre,

a pipe of the pea puree,

that sticky glaze on top of my doughnuts,

and then layer it with the beef as well.

DEPINDER: Nice work, Lozzie.

BEN: Go, Loz.

(SIGHS)

It's alright, girl.

It's so not.

The first thing that goes onto the plate

is my hazelnut financier.

On top of that, I'm going to pipe the whipped chocolate ganache.

And sitting on top of that is

all those beautiful halves of that quandong.

(SIGHS)

I think it is actually really delicious,

but because that hazelnut gelato is not on there,

and what happened in those last 15 minutes,

I'm truly gutted with this dish.

SOFIA: Time is running out.

One minute to go.

SNEZ: God, it's so well cooked.

I'm starting with my fish on the bottom

with my beautiful beurre blanc sauce,

and I finish it off with my gorgeous little mushrooms

and a half of the carrot just sitting there.

What else do I have?

I still have this beautiful fish skin,

so I cut the nice fine strip...

My God, it's so good.

..and I put it on my plate.

So shaky.

And I'm so happy with what I see.

I just hope I've done enough to survive this round one.

Oh, my God, how much time?

The battle is over in 10...

JUDGES: Nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one.

Girl! Well done.

Well done. How'd you go?

Oh, my God, I've no idea.

(LAURA WHIMPERS)

What happened?

DEPINDER: Is Laura OK?

Are you alright?

Oh, no. No, no. You're incredible.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

(SOBS)

Everything was going so well.

It's OK, it's OK. Shake it off.

You got this. You got this. Oh, thank you.

Hey. What's up? Hey.

I just, deep down, have this feeling...

Sorry.

..I'm going home today.

I'm just so broken.

Sorry. No...

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

I know it looks like I'm getting emotional

over a goddamn ice-cream.

Like, the picture is so much bigger.

You're doing this with an almost one-year-old little girl.

You had a baby, like... I know.

..a month ago.

I feel like coming back here,

I've given up spending the first six months

of my daughter's life with her.

And it's just all the emotions of everything,

coming back for the third time,

not being around Florence, just like...

(SIGHS)

You got this. You got this. Honestly.

Food's great. You're incredible.

POH: Well, four incredible cooks.

Two intense battles.

Let's see who's come out on top.

Snez and Laura, in your duel, you were cooking with hazelnuts.

We'd like to taste your dish, Snez.

(APPLAUSE)

Let's go, Snez!

Mm! Looks good.

SNEZ: So today I made hazelnut-crusted fish,

hazelnut beurre blanc,

crispy fish skin

and sauteed carrots and mushrooms.

I think it looks really refined.

Thank you.

POH: It's very considered and I think it looks beautiful.

ANDY: Alright. Shall we taste the dish? Yeah, let's go.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Are you nervous? Very nervous.

Are you? Yeah.

Snez...

..your beurre blanc...

(LAUGHS) 'Cause it's a bit of my little speciality.

..that was probably the very best one we had

for a very, very long time.

Thank you, Chef.

I love the introduction of the nutty paste into your sauce.

That was very clever and just perfect.

The cook on the fish is money, money, money, money.

You've kept those hazelnuts just caramelised, not burnt.

And then the flesh of the fish is just melting in your mouth.

I also love that you put those little vegies on.

They're done in such a refined, petite way.

And I think this dish, hazelnuts aside,

just shows such a wonderful evolution of you.

You should be really proud. Thanks, Sofia.

Nice, Snez! BEN: Well done, Snez!

Well done, well done. Good job.

Next up, Laura.

Go, Laura.

(APPLAUSE)

(SIGHS)

I've made a hazelnut and brown butter financier.

A whipped dark chocolate ganache,

quandongs, cooked down some Montenegro,

and a salted hazelnut mascarpone whip.

It was a bit emotional after the cook.

Yeah.

'Cause mascarpone wasn't plan A, was it?

No. (GROANS)

Yeah, it's just frustrating.

I think I know why.

'Cause I was in the room

when it happened last time in this kitchen.

Yeah.

Probably cost you lifting that trophy.

Yeah.

How brave you are.

Laura, this combination is just so you.

I love the sharpness of the quandong

with the bitterness of the Montenegro.

The way you incorporated those quandongs is just so delicious.

They've got this wonderful astringency to them,

and they kind of serve

as these little boats for the caramel.

I didn't miss your ice-cream.

I thought the texture of the replacement

was really luscious and smooth.

But I think you needed to punch harder with the hazelnut.

OK. When you've got a dark chocolate,

and when you've got Montenegro,

and when you've got an intense native Australian ingredient,

you need the hazelnut component to match up in its intensity.

And for me, that was just too subtle.

It is friggin' delicious.

The use of the quandong, chocolate and hazelnut is off the charts.

I love it.

It's so interesting. It's so uniquely you as well.

I just, I don't know whether it's because

we knew that there was

a salted hazelnut gelato coming our way or not.

Yeah.

But I think I miss it.

I wanted the luxury of that element.

Well done. Thank you.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: All the best.

(SIGHS)

In the battle of Sarah versus Alana,

you were cooking with horseradish.

We'd love to taste your dish, Sarah.

(APPLAUSE)

What have you made, Sarah?

I've made savoury doughnuts stuffed with horseradish cream,

seared Wagyu with a pea puree

and a red wine glaze.

That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to see from the brief.

That doesn't happen very often.

(ALL LAUGH)

Sarah.

The doughnuts were perfection,

so fluffy and just gorgeous mouthfeel.

And I love the play on beef and horseradish.

I really loved how much horseradish was in my little doughnut.

I loved all the elements.

The little garnish of watercress to add to the spice hit.

You've got this beautiful, rich glaze over the top

that kind of looks like chocolate,

so I get the reference back to the doughnut.

Your meat is so beautifully sliced and it's thin

and you can, you know, work your way through the flavour.

And I've just got a little, like, tickling sensation

in my schnoz right now from the horseradish,

which I really love.

It was exactly how it was meant to be.

So props to you. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Go, Sarah.

We'd like to taste your dish, Alana.

Go, Alana.

ALANA: I'm looking at my dish as I'm walking up to the judges

and I'm really proud because that's me on a plate.

That's my ideas.

Oh, wow. OK.

But I know that I'm kind of walking that fine tightrope of,

"Is this flavour combination going to work?"

It doesn't look like horseradish anything, does it?

There's a lot riding on this.

POH: That is very pretty.

Very modern.

I love that little splash on top.

Alana, horseradish too.

What'd you cook?

I've made horseradish ice-cream with goat's cheese cream

soaked almond biscuit,

celery oil and fresh plums.

Big flavours. Let's see if they work together.

Alana, we're supposed to have a bit of suspense

because it's a duel.

You know what?

I love it!

Didn't make that much noise, but you know what?

It's a napkin.

Ah, yes. He has to express himself.

You know what?

First I was intrigued,

then I become mesmerised,

and now I'm super impressed.

And what I love,

the horseradish is raw in your ice-cream

and you can get that kick.

You can get the vivacity of what horseradish does very well.

And also it's beautiful colours, too.

The celery oil is perfect.

It brings not just the aspect visual,

but also it's well welcome with horseradish.

Alana, you smashed the balance of the flavour in that ice-cream.

If chilli has a hot heat, horseradish to me has a cool heat.

And when you get that with ice-cream,

which I haven't had before,

it's something that's quite exciting.

It just, it wakes you up a little bit.

I was craving a tiny bit more sweetness.

A few of those savoury elements, particularly the goat's curd cream,

we're competing a little bit.

I think on this occasion

you probably just pushed the savoury a little bit too hard.

I didn't love the goat's cheese. OK.

'Cause I really loved

what the white chocolate and the horseradish was doing.

I get what you were trying to do,

but, for me, it was just too tart.

OK.

You've definitely done an unbelievable job in areas,

but I feel like there was just too many things.

You know, if you just pulled it back a little bit,

it could have been an absolute knockout.

Yeah. Thanks, Alana.

Thanks, Alana. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well done, Alana.

Yeah. (APPLAUSE)

Oh, fingers crossed.

It does work.

You had a one-in-four chance of going home

when you walked in here today.

For two of you,

those odds are about to get tighter.

First - hazelnut duel.

Snez.

Silky fish, gorgeous crust and rich, nutty beurre blanc.

That was an absolute winner.

Laura, your flavours, technique and textures,

they were all on-point,

but we were missing the indulgence

that we would have got from that gelato.

And because of that, Laura, you'll be cooking in round two.

All good. Snez, you're safe.

Well done.

Now the horseradish showdown.

This was a really tough one.

And the decision was not unanimous.

Both of your dishes had positives...

..but one of them had a few too many flavours going on.

The goat's curd was distracting.

Alana, you're headed into round two.

Snez, Sarah, you're safe. Congratulations.

You can join the others up in the gantry.

Thank you. Good luck.

Thank you. Thank you.

SNEZ: Oh, my God, Sarah, I can't believe it.

That was so stressful.

Oh, dear.

Laura, Alana, it comes down to you

and whatever ingredient is under this cloche.

You now have a 50/50 chance of going home.

I'm thinking that's a 50% chance of staying in this competition.

That's my mindset.

No matter who wins this duel, we're going to be losing a champion.

I feel like this is like a huge wake-up call.

Like, huge.

In this round, you're going head-to-head using...

..fennel seeds.

Oh, that's such a good one! Wow.

Oh.

SOFIA: Oh, they smell amazing. ANDY: Wow.

Whoa! Whoo-hoo!

I love them.

This could go either way. It could.

You'll have 75 minutes.

The garden and the pantry are open.

Cook whatever dish

you think will keep you in this competition.

Just make sure fennel seeds features in it, OK?

BOTH: Yep.

Good luck. Your time starts now.

Come on.

(APPLAUSE)

Oh, it's so heavy.

Alright.

Coming into round two,

I've still got that, like, deflation,

that broken feeling from round one.

Like, all that trauma and all the build-up of emotions,

I'm just...

I'm just still trying to accept the fact of what's about to happen.

Like, if that was a one-round cook, I'd be eliminated.

That's terrifying.

The smart decision here is to use fennel seeds

in an Italian dish and make a knockout pasta dish.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good luck. Yeah.

Let's go, Laura. Here she comes!

POH: Seafood. Surely she's going to make pasta.

But Alana could just completely wipe the floor with this.

So I'm not going down that track.

I'm making a dish that is, like, for me,

something that I could cook at the end of this competition

and maybe win off.

And that's why I'm doing it.

But it's something that's so intricate and delicate,

like there is so much that could go wrong.

Like there's almost more can go wrong in this dish

than can go right.

So I'm going to do a chilled squid noodle dish.

I'll do a little roasted fennel oil,

also do a little smoked fennel dashi to go with it.

The charred fennel dashi is going to comprise of an actual dashi broth,

as well as a charred and fresh fennel juice.

I'm going to combine both

to balance out a broth that's really deep in flavour

with umami-rich Japanese flavours,

lots of seaweed,

charred pipis to add flavour and depth,

as well as the depth of flavour you get from charring that fennel.

OK, ladies, 60 minutes to go.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

DEPINDER: Go, guys! SNEZ: Go, girls! Push, push!

Come on, Laura. Come on, Alana.

This is the worst odds I've had in the competition so far

about going home, so, yeah,

I am going to try and get as much of me on a plate as possible,

hero those fennel seeds.

This is a be-all and end-all cook,

and I want it to be a dessert.

It's what I do really well.

Go, Alana.

I'm going to be making a burnt fennel seed pavlova

with some other beautiful elements on top,

so a sour cherry sorbet, a little bit of a diplomat cream.

To beat Laura, I basically have to make the best dish

I've done in this competition.

Oh, the pressure is on.

I mean, I've done it before,

I've had plenty of top dishes...

..but this has got to be like the top, top dish.

That's the only way I can win this challenge.

This is anyone's game. You have 45 minutes to go.

SNEZ: Come on, girls! DEPINDER: Let's go, guys.

(APPLAUSE)

Hi, Alana. Hello. How are you?

So, tell us what you're making.

So I'm doing a burnt fennel pavlova with a sour cherry sorbet,

some candied fennel stalks... Yeah.

..and lots of really pretty garnishes on it as well,

that are just going to give lots of different flavours and textures.

But remember - not too many! Exactly.

I think that fennel seed was your ticket to a win here...

Yeah. ..because it is so you.

It's what we've seen you be so successful at,

putting really unique savoury or spices into a dessert

and just creating something that just wows us.

Yeah. Like, you've got a chance here.

Just taste, taste, taste, edit, edit, edit.

Just bring us that perfect dish.

Now you've just given me an idea. I need to go to the pantry.

Tune in on that little flavour whisperer.

Thank you. What did I say?

I don't know, just flavour combinations.

Now I need to go get something.

Laura is an absolute force to reckon with.

I feel like it's a bit David and Goliath at the moment.

BEN: Go on, Alana.

And I've been trying to think what I needed to add

to this sour cherry sorbet,

just so it had another layer of flavour.

I'm thinking a little bit of cracked pink peppercorns

and some dried rose petals will be just enough

to get that sour cherry sorbet across the line,

because the pressure is on

to cook the best I've ever, ever, ever cooked in this kitchen.

DEPINDER: You OK? Yeah.

That's hot.

After what happened in that first round cook,

I've got all those emotions and they're, like, still right there.

So it's just trying to, like, combat those,

keep them at bay and focus.

In round two, I'm making

a cold squid and fennel noodle salad.

I'm gonna have chard fennel noodles,

as well as a fennel dashi broth.

My dashi is on,

the toasted fennel salt is ready for later

to season the noodles with.

I'm just cutting my noodles now.

SNEZ: Here you have to be delicate.

Like, literally 30 seconds cooked too much,

a millimetre that the noodles aren't cut perfectly

is going to ruin this whole dish.

DEPINDER: Let's go, Laura.

I cannot stuff this up.

If I stuff this up, I'm out.

So I took my absolute time to make sure

that all of these squid noodles are the same size and texture.

SNEZ: Oh... Let's go, Lozzie. Come on, come on.

BEN: Come on, Loz. CALLUM: Let's go. Lozzie.

Plain and simple - make this your best dish yet.

15 minutes to go!

My sour cherry sorbet is ready to go.

SNEZ: Nice, Alana. Is it nice? JAMIE: Is it tasting good, Alana?

Yeah, it's really yummy.

I have my burnt fennel seed pavlovas in the oven.

The pavs, I am wanting them really crispy on the outside,

fluffy on the inside.

They've been in for about 20 minutes or so now.

They're not far off coming out.

And then I'll torch them for the burnt side of it.

Every pavlova has some sort of cream element on it.

For me, I want to do a cream diplomat today

and I'm thinking, "What flavours can I put in there?"

And a little bit of honey and a really strong vanilla bean

I think is going to be a great flavour profile

to go with the sour cherry and the fennel.

The end of the cook is so close,

but I want to add some sort of fresh fruit.

And to win this challenge,

it can't be just fresh fruit on a plate.

SNEZ: What's that, Alana? Marsala.

Last time I made a marsala syrup, Sofia couldn't stop raving about it.

Strawberries, marsala, fennel seed pavlova, sour cherries

and a crunch from kataifi pastry -

I have so many things going on right now,

but I feel like at this point in the competition,

you're not going to get anywhere without taking some risks.

Andy, remember your parting words to Alana

when you left her bench was "edit, edit, edit"?

She is now adding things.

So she's got on her bench

pink peppercorns, rose petals, marsala, fresh strawberries.

She's got a lot of decisions to make. Yeah.

What to put on, what to leave off, how much of things to put on.

I'm stressing because I think while this is Alana's talent

for feeling her way through things,

this is not the moment to do it.

Only three minutes to go. Come on!

BEN: Come on, guys.

Oh, my heart stopped.

CALLUM: Are you cooking the noodles, Lozzie?

Uh, yep. I'm going to cook it in some of the dashi

and then serve it with the broth.

So it'll just be, like, just poached.

Lovely.

It's time to start cooking these noodles

for about 5-10 seconds, if that.

They don't have long at all.

This dashi broth has been bubbling away

for pretty much this whole cook and I've been tasting it throughout,

building that depth of flavour,

making sure you can taste every single ingredient

that went into that broth.

But there's definitely a fine line of I may have used too much fennel,

and maybe that fennel seed flavour isn't coming through.

Just... I just want it to be fennel seedy.

OK, one minute. 30 seconds to go!

(CHEERING)

Let's go, guys. Come on.

Looks great, Lozzie. Thank you.

It all comes down to this.

I've got those squid noodles with that fennel noodles as well.

It's been dressed with fennel salt, fennel oil, some lemon juice.

The fennel fronds are sitting really nicely on the squid.

Fennel. Fennel. Fennel. Fennel. Fennel.

JAMIE: She is shaking.

CALLUM: Alana? Mm.

I'm feeling extreme pressure.

I put down the burnt fennel seed pavlova,

honey and vanilla bean cream diplomat,

the fresh strawberries, the candied fennel stalks,

kataifi pastry.

So many different elements going on this plate...

This is the final countdown.

..but I don't think I need to take something off.

I just think this is going to be a beautiful flavour combination.

10... ALL: Nine,

eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

(CHEERING)

SNEZ: Well done, girls.

Well done, gorgeous.

I'm gonna join.

Aw, group cuddle.

Well done. Well done.

You happy? Yeah, I am.

Good. Good. Good.

Oh, I'm glad I got through the cook.

I felt fine throughout the whole cook,

but it's just the idea that, you know, you could go home

on the back of this.

Good luck, Loz. Thank you.

Here she is. Hey, Laura. Hello.

Laura, what's your dish?

So it's a squid and fennel noodles

with a fennel dashi and a fennel seed oil.

And so where exactly is the fennel seed?

Where isn't it I think is a real question.

Great.

This is the closest you've come to leaving the competition so far.

Yeah. How does that make you feel?

Um...

Slightly terrifying, to be honest.

Um...

Oh, God.

I just feel like I've given up so much of my life

for this competition.

And I don't regret that decision in all three times at all.

I just...

Like, I know I'm good enough to win it.

And I think both times I've made silly decisions

and it's come down to something that I know I could have fixed,

and I would like to end a large chapter of my life

on a high.

Yeah.

No matter what happens, Laura,

we all think you're a phenomenal cook.

Thank you.

Can you please finish your dish for us? Love to. (EXHALES)

There's so much riding on this dish.

You just start questioning - Is there enough fennel seed?

Is it too much fennel? Is that squid cooked right?

I've got the angel in me going like,

"This is an absolute banger of a dish,

"and I know it's going to be elite."

ANDY: Thanks, Laura. Thank you. Enjoy.

But then I've got the devil sitting on my shoulder going,

"This could be the last experience you ever have in this kitchen."

(SIGHS)

I...bloody love that.

I bloody love that.

The initial flavour that you get is deep roasted fennel seed.

And that was the question mark for me -

how is this going to play out

because there's all sorts of fennel going on?

I was worried that the fresh fennel elements would take over that fennel seed, but, nah.

That fennel seed salt that she made with the anise seed

and the roasted fennel seeds is just everywhere,

littered throughout that dish.

I feel a bit differently to you, Andy.

I bloody, bloody love it!

(JUDGES LAUGH)

Um, the fact that she could get the seeds to really shine through

shows that she was really thinking about how she could hero this.

What I like the most is the smell

and the flavour and the colour of the oil.

What amazed me too is the squid.

It is so perfectly cooked.

And to turn a dashi so quickly with so much depth,

so concentrated flavours...

This is a phenomenal dish.

Just walking up to the judges right now...

Hey, Alana. Hi, Alana.

..I'm looking down at my dish

and I'm just thinking, "This could be it."

Do you want to finish your dish? Yes, I can do that for you.

(TEARFULLY) You have so much joy

coming into this kitchen,

and to think that you've put it all on the line in one challenge...

Alana, what did you make?

So I've made a burnt fennel seed meringue

with a sour cherry sorbet,

some little candied fennel,

a little bit of crispy kataifi,

a honey and vanilla creme diplomate and some marsala strawberries.

Wow.

This competition, has it been different this time?

Having kids, you know,

what do you think they're going to think?

Because, like, I feel like you've kind of surprised yourself

at the things that you've been able to create.

They're going to be expecting

a lot more high-end desserts at home, I can tell you.

I think, for them, they're just so proud.

Like you said, I've totally surprised myself.

I feel like I've had imposter syndrome

since the moment I walked through those doors.

I can tell you now,

you are not an imposter in this kitchen.

I think that you've cooked some of the most unique, interesting, bloody, delicious desserts

that we've seen in the competition ever.

Unique flavour combinations is what you've come to be known for,

and I think there's going to be a couple in there

and we can't wait to taste. Thank you.

(JUDGES THANK ALANA) Thank you.

What do you guys think? Love it.

I love the look of this. I love the tones.

And I just know it's going to be interesting

because it's from her. (OTHER JUDGES AGREE)

My question is -

have all these different flavours taken away from the fennel seed?

Let's find out.

I really enjoyed a lot of the elements

on Alana's dish.

I really love the sour cherry sorbet

and how sharp it was.

I love those little crispy bits of kataifi

that she'd cooked in ghee.

I love those little bits of candied fennel stalk as well,

adding crunch, like fresh crunch, to the dish.

Yeah, look, it looked a million bucks,

but I don't think it's come together,

especially the fennel seed.

Yes, it's there,

it's just fighting so hard with so many other flavours on this dish.

With all of those flavours around the plate,

it's drowned out the fennel.

Yeah.

Laura. Alana.

Sadly, someone needs to go home.

One of you presented us with a bowl of food that was so good

it made us emotional.

On the other hand,

the cook being eliminated brought us a dish that looked exquisite...

..but, unfortunately, as good as the other flavours were,

they competed with the fennel seed.

It's for those reasons...

..I'm sorry to say...

..Alana, you're going home.

I'm so sorry.

Alana, I know you came back to win.

And even though you've fallen short,

the cook you've become, the growth we've seen from you -

some of the flavour combinations that you've put up

have just blown our minds.

Yeah. They shouldn't work, they defy logic.

It's been such a joy to watch your talent unfold

and get to know you.

I just want you to know it's really hard to see you go.

And it's so lovely to see how much grace you have, always.

You're going to be really missed. Thank you.

I really enjoyed meeting and, you know, getting to know you all

and all these guys as well.

Um, yeah, it's just been incredible

just to create some really nice friendships.

Snez, what are you going to miss from Alana?

Oh, everything. She's been my girl from day one.

She's always that yes girl - OK, last-minute walk,

last-minute drink, last-minute dinner.

I have hundreds of photos of her napping in every possible spot,

and that's a proof of solid friendship.

Honestly, and she's such a joy to be around.

I'm definitely going to miss her.

Thank you. Thanks, Snez. I'm gonna miss you.

Alana, have you had a good holiday from the kids?

Oh, my gosh.

My brother literally said to me,

"You are not going to know yourself when you go back.

"It's going to be so loud."

At the moment, I can actually just hang the phone up

when they're screaming at my mum and...

You don't necessarily have to tell them you got eliminated.

(LAUGHTER)

I have thought of that, don't worry.

Alana, I'm sorry to say,

but, for now, it's time to say goodbye.

Thank you. Well done. Seriously, well done.

I might not have come out on top this time,

but I'm so grateful

for all of these skills that I've learned.

Thank you. Aw. Thank you very much.

Alana-14-years-ago would never have had the courage to do the dishes

that Alana-present-day is currently doing.

Oh, well done.

Oh, can't wait to see what you guys cook next!

I'm just so excited to take all of that -

that I've learned of myself, of my cooking ability -

and just keep building on that

as soon as I get out of this kitchen.

ANNOUNCER: This week on MasterChef Australia...

ANDY: Here we go!

..O-M-G.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G!

It's a week of immunity...

Whoo! Love the sound of that!

This is gonna be good. I'm so excited.

This is gonna be good. I'm so excited!

..and it's more important than ever...

Immunity at this point

in the competition is everything.

..because without it,

a favourite could be going home.

The only person who can shield you

from elimination is you.

Captions by Red Bee Media