Original subtitles

DEPINDER: Top six. LAURA: How exciting.

CALLUM: Yeah. Wow.

Nearly there. Mm-hm.

It's a good day today. It's a white apron day.

It's a mystery box. One of my favourite challenges.

And with...six of us remaining, which means

we're going to see some cracking food today.

So let's do this thing.

Hey. Yeah. Hello!

(CHATTER)

POH: Straight to your benches.

Just gonna run. (LAUGHTER)

SOFIA: Yes, Sarah.

CALLUM: I don't even know how to react then.

Is that allowed? Are you gonna steal my box?

Oh, it feels like a competition!

(LAUGHTER)

I'm so happy for you guys

because you are on the cusp of hitting a major milestone.

By the end of this week,

we're going to have the top five of MasterChef: Back To Win.

Wow. ANDY: What about that?

SARAH: That's cool.

LAURA: I feel like top five is a huge milestone for everyone,

and I definitely am getting all the feels

of my two previous seasons.

It's just an incredible feeling to know

that I'm so close to getting where I want to be.

With the finale edging closer,

we're making each cook tougher than the last.

And one thing's pretty clear -

you're all here to take out the trophy and claim the title.

And it just so happens that today's mystery box

is set by someone who's done just that.

(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM, LAUGH)

A true MasterChef success story.

It's...

..this guy over here.

(LAUGHTER, CHEERING)

Our very own Andy Allen.

(APPLAUSE)

Let the games begin.

(LAUGHTER)

He's doing evil hand rub. (LAUGHTER)

So, setting a mystery box, which I've never done before,

I...I put a lot of thought into this

'cause I realise how good you guys are,

the stage of the competition that we're at,

so this is going to test you.

But I think we're going to see some of the best food yet.

You can lift your lids now.

(CONTESTANTS EXCLAIM)

Beautiful.

Oh, this is gonna be good.

SARAH: I definitely expected a few punches of flavour from Andy,

and I think he's delivered.

There's some really interesting ingredients

that are a little bit unique.

So it's really, really exciting.

You are looking at some of my absolute favourites in there.

Yeah.

OK. Should we unpack what's going on? Yeah.

So I'll run through them.

We've got bay lobster,

which are from a beautiful farm in the Northern Rivers.

Australian bay lobster.

Bone marrow.

Greek-style yoghurt.

Purple daikon.

Honeynut squash.

We've got a spent cumquat jam, seaweed tapenade, and shiso.

LAURA: Yum.

The fact that I've handpicked these ingredients

isn't the only reason that this mystery box is so special.

Winning this competition is going to take everything you've got.

And that's exactly what this challenge is all about.

This is the everything box!

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

BEN: Yeah, boy. A few knowing nods.

Yeah. Got it.

Oh, I am so screwed!

This is the most dreaded challenge on MasterChef Australia.

I have never done this.

And this is the weirdest bunch of ingredients.

Like, this is wild.

That's right. The notorious everything box.

We normally ask you to incorporate

at least one ingredient from your boxes,

but today, you must use all of them.

There is a bunch of big flavours,

and I think that's going to be a challenge,

putting them together and taming them,

so we just don't get an absolute blow-your-head-off dish

that doesn't make any sense.

This is the perfect time to pull out all the stops,

because here's what you're cooking for today.

The four most impressive dishes will put their makers

into tomorrow's immunity challenge.

So you need to do everything in your power

to avoid being in the bottom two.

Bring it on.

You'll have 75 minutes.

Cook anything you like,

but you must use everything in that box.

The pantry is closed. The garden is off limits.

It's just you, your under-bench staples,

and those eight ingredients.

Get ready. Your time starts now!

(APPLAUSE)

DEPINDER: Oh, my God!

(CHATTER)

(BEEPING)

Oh, God. Stop it.

CALLUM: This is, like, a crazy mystery box.

We need to use every single ingredient in one dish.

I don't think any one particular ingredient is throwing me off.

I think it's probably just more the combination

of having to use them all together

that's the really challenging part.

This is an amazing bunch of ingredients. Big flavours.

So, just trying to work out a way to get them all to go together

without any one sort of taking over the show.

(CHUCKLES) These flavours don't naturally go together,

but I think Andy's chosen a box of things

that don't naturally go together to force us to be creative

and come up with inventive ways to use them.

And for me, these flavours sort of speak of the sea.

It's got the seaweed tapenade and the bay lobster.

They're both beautiful flavours.

Nice.

I'm going to basically make the bay lobster the star of the show

and everything else going to be a supporting role.

The standard is so high in this competition,

it is hard to stand out,

so you've got to do it any way you can.

I want it to be kind of a conceptual dish,

elevating the taste of the sea

and the vibrancy of all those vegetables.

I'm going to head in a certain direction,

and I'm going to figure a few of the things out as I go along,

and I'm going to try to elevate it to high restaurant standard.

I really want this dish to get me in the top four

because I want to be in that challenge, I want immunity.

It's the best way to get to top five.

So, you know, that's what I'm here for.

How do I open this? Do you know?

How do I open this? Yeah, the top, the top.

Take the little screw thing off the top.

It'll just come by? Yep.

Oh, Thanks, Lozzy. Oh. Got it, got it.

Got it?

Oh, my God.

This mystery box is not for me.

Like, this is as far as you can be out of your comfort zone.

No spices. There's zero spices. Like, zero.

I've usually got an entire basket of spices sitting on my bench.

I don't have them today.

And I've only really cooked with

two out of eight of these ingredients.

Um, I've cooked with Greek yoghurt

and I've cooked with the honeynut squash.

The rest of them, I'm just like...

My brain's, like, short-circuiting itself.

Uh...

I mean, everyone here around me

is probably more used to using ingredients like these than I am.

So I think I have a little bit of a disadvantage.

I think today I'm just going to rely on my instincts.

I'm going to rely on real basics of the food,

like the sweet, salty, acid, all of those flavour profiles,

to stand any chance.

Um, so today I'm going to be doing, um,

lobster and daikon top dumplings.

I've never made dumplings in the kitchen before,

but I do make them at home.

I make them all the time,

so I'm kind of getting inspired by that today,

because I can just visualise sitting in my house

having this dish with my family.

OK.

I just need to step back and think about it logically

what each of these flavours do.

I have no idea what I'm going to do

with the seaweed tapenade and the yoghurt,

but I look at the bone marrow,

I'm like, "Oh, I can probably incorporate that

"inside the dumpling."

Generally when you have, like, soup dumplings,

they have like some kind of gelat...gelatinous bit.

So I'm actually roasting the bone marrow to add the gelatinous part.

I've never cooked with bone marrow,

but I think it's going to add that nice fattiness and that flavour

with the lobster meat inside the dumpling.

I just hope the judges like it

because it's so different to how I normally cook.

Whoo-hoo.

BEN: Look at that. Beautiful, Cal. Yeah. Beautiful.

You gotta love an everything box

because they're really designed to test these guys.

But I think the key is

we don't want what they cook to actually taste like a challenge.

It has to be so seamless.

But that's not easy the way you've put it together, Andy.

No, I really wanted to test this crew

because they're the best of the best,

so they should be able to deal with anything that's thrown at them.

Um, and I'm not going to lie, this is going to be a challenge.

There's a lot of heavy hitters in there.

Um, it's kind of classic my style.

And now it's about kind of taming the heavy hitters,

using some in more subtle ways than others,

and bringing a dish together that makes sense.

Because if we just get everything on the plate that's loud and proud,

it's gonna be a bit of a disaster. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Yeah.

It has to be really thoughtful at this point in the competition.

And to me, when I saw the box right away,

I thought, "How am I going to get these two to be friends?"

which is the bone marrow and the bay lobster.

So I'd hone in on that.

And then I'd just start looking at things like

sweetness from the squash, texture, that can be puree.

Um, then I've got some citrus,

I've got some acidity in the yoghurt.

I love that, because it's gonna force these guys

to do things that they've never probably done before.

And that's when you can get greatness in this kitchen.

That's what we're looking for. Yeah.

So quiet in here. BEN: Yeah, isn't it?

LAURA: It's so quiet.

What's that? 3.5.

Goddamn. I'm not very good at thinking quickly.

I think to win this competition,

taking risks is the most important thing to be doing.

So I've got my little stencil here,

and arts and crafts is coming out

because I feel like I can have a little fun with this

and play around.

So I'm making Andy cigars.

Sarah. Hello.

ANDY: Hey, Sarah. How are you?

What are you making?

Well, I'm inspired by the lovely Andy today.

Oh, stop it. (LAUGHS)

And I've never seen you out in your own regular life,

but what I imagine is you sitting there... (LAUGHS)

Oh, love story time. OK. Me sitting there.

I imagine you sitting there just with, like, the bone marrow,

just having a little scoop straight out of the bone marrow,

having a really complex cigar.

(LAUGHS) You like that image?

I love it. That's what I'm imagining.

OK. Paint the picture in the dish. Yeah.

So, basically, I've used the seaweed in the, um, tuiles.

Pumpkin puree inside. Right.

Um, you know, diced-up lobster as well inside.

So when you bite into it,

you do actually get all of these complex flavours

that are kind of hidden away.

OK. I'm not a huge cigar guy, but I'll...

..just for today, for right now...

You like the picture. ..I love 'em. Yeah.

Good luck. Thank you.

I have an idea in my head of how I'd like this to come together.

So, um, it is a little bit experimental again,

so I'm just trying to get these tuiles right,

and hopefully it works.

How are you doing?

LAURA: Well, Chef. How are you?

You ready to smash it? Yes, I am.

I love the everything mystery box.

Last Back To Win, I did really well.

I was up against Poh.

We were cooking in the all-in mystery box

and she went on to win immunity against us.

So I think it's pretty cool to see that full-circle moment.

And she's now a judge.

There's quite a few elements I want to make,

but I've got a firm idea of what I want to cook

and I'm feeling really positive.

POH: Laura. Hello.

So, last time you did an everything box was with me.

What's your approach this time? So, the bug,

I'm just going to blanch it quickly, take it out of the shell,

and then grill it on the hibachi with some butter.

Um, I'm going to make a little, like, green veloute-esque sauce

with some of the radishes I'm cooking down

to, like, bulk up the sauce and to thicken it.

I'm also going to blanch some of the turnip leaves.

I'm roasting the bone marrow

because I'm going to brush the pumpkin in bone marrow fat,

and then pickle some of the turnips.

So my thing is, like,

make sure you can actually taste every single thing on the dish

and it has a purpose.

It's definitely got probably one or two more components

that you would normally have.

So, that's going to be the interesting one for me is, like...

..don't have a component on the plate because you need to use it.

Can you be creative in other ways? Yeah.

It's going to come down to how you edit.

And we want a complete cohesive dish at the end.

Done. OK.

Good luck, Laura. Thank you.

Andy has made it quite clear

that there's definitely way too much going on with this dish,

and I need to really pull it back.

(SIGHS)

If this was a normal mystery box,

I would just take an element off the dish.

But today, I still need to use all eight ingredients inside that box.

And right now, I just don't know how to fix this.

Sorry, I'm just having a moment. My brain is just like... (BURBLES)

Give this everything you've got!

45 minutes to go!

(APPLAUSE)

Everything, Laura. Give it everything.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Ah! Come on.

The everything box. Ha, ha, ha!

Every single ingredient in this mystery box

needs to be somewhere in the dish that we make.

You can tell this box has been put together by Andy.

There's some big flavours here and a lot to wrangle,

but I think we can make a pretty cohesive dish.

Up for grabs today is a spot in the immunity challenge tomorrow.

Top four dishes go through.

And immunity is everything right now.

I've managed to get immunity the last couple of weeks,

and it's seen me through comfortably to the top six.

I want to be in that top four today,

so we're just trying to work hard and work smart.

My strategy for this mystery box is keep it simple, make it beautiful,

and I'm drawn straight to the bay lobster as the main event.

These are so beautiful, and they're massive,

the ones that they've given us today.

So I'm going to make use of that.

I'm going to take extra care taking this meat out of the bay lobster,

because I want to use this as the vessel for me to serve this dish.

Alright, Callum? All good, Chef. How are you?

Lifting the lid on Andy's mystery box

and seeing that bay lobster in there and the bone marrow,

it's easy to sort of get swept up in the bougie ingredients,

but I think the things I'm most excited about

are those beautiful vegies -

the purple daikon, the shiso, and that honeynut squash.

You know there's going to be so much flavour in there.

The dish is gonna be quite vegetable-forward.

So with the ingredients I've got here,

I'm going to do shiso sopressini.

I'm going to do it with bay lobster stuffed inside purple daikon

and a seaweed tapenade dashi sauce.

In its very bones, this dish is essentially a pasta dish.

So I'm making a shiso pasta dough,

and the dough is looking really nice.

It's given it a really beautiful kind of colour as well.

I'm going to fold it into the sopressini,

which translates in Italian to 'surprises'.

So I'm hoping when the judges eat this pasta dish

that it is a good surprise rather than a bad one.

(LAUGHS)

Who's a pasta princess now, Callum?

Always, mate.

OK, cool.

It's just about getting enough flavour in this sauce now,

but then also balancing out

some of those big, bold, punchy flavours that are in Andy's box.

Probably the part of the dish I'm most concerned about

is making this sauce.

I've never used seaweed tapenade,

cumquat marmalade,

and bay lobster shells to make a sauce before.

They're such punchy ingredients

that it could really easily dominate with one flavour or another.

To try and balance them out it's just going to be a case of

tasting, tasting, tasting all the time.

Because if you don't know what it tastes like,

then it's hard to... hard to balance them.

So there's gonna be lots of spoon juice today, I think.

Just having a little taste of this sauce.

Wow, that's so interesting.

Interesting.

I've never tasted anything like that before.

I'm trying to, like, wrap my head around it.

Like, cumquat, seaweed...bay...

That is crazy, but I think I like it.

(BLENDER WHIRRS)

(BLENDER WHIRRS)

Oh, Jamie.

Sorry. Oh, sorry.

Sorry, sorry.

'Cause I'm so strong, you know. Thanks.

Poh and Andy came to my bench and said

they reckon there's more elements on my dish than I usually put up,

and I totally agree with them.

You know, there's eight different ingredients under there,

but it's not just thinking about eight different elements.

It's maybe what goes with what.

So I finally edited my whole dish in my head,

and I've got four elements that will actually fit on the plate way better.

I'm making a glazed bay bug tail

with a little green emulsion and some roasted baby squash.

I'm also going to make a really fun and fresh,

almost vibrant little salad combining the daikon and the yoghurt.

I'm straining some yoghurt here to try and get the whey out of it

to make a little vinaigrette

to, um, have over some of those blanched leaves.

I've taken the pickled daikon off the dish completely,

but I really like the pickle liquid that I've made,

and I think I can use that with that yoghurt whey in my vinaigrette.

Fingers crossed that this will show the judges

that I'm really thinking about ingredients in a different way,

and trying to be really creative with what goes with what.

I'm feeling really confident right now.

I just need to bring everything together.

Timer.

Where's a spatula?

Make this your ticket to tomorrow's immunity challenge.

You have 30 minutes to go!

(APPLAUSE)

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Can I suggest something?

Yeah.

Do you think it's the best way using just your hands?

Fingers?

Do you think you could use something inside?

Have you tried... Maybe, yeah. I can try that.

Using some kind of a... That is a good idea.

BEN: I've experimented with some inventive ways to use the vegetables.

For my conceptual dish, it's all about the taste of the sea

and the vibrancy of all those vegetables.

And I've got the daikon braising away

and a stock basically using the seaweed tapenade and some water

to infuse that seaweed flavour.

Yum.

It's good.

And I've come up with an idea

that I could make a mousse using some of the bay lobster

and stuff the daikon.

Sounds weird, but if done right, could hopefully make the difference

between me winning this challenge or not.

The one thing I'm missing at the moment is a bit of texture.

Everything's a bit mush on mush on sauce.

So, the daikon is soft and so is the bay lobster,

and you've got a veloute,

so nothing in here is giving much resistance when you bite it.

But I need to work hard, work fast.

So I'm going to put that to the side and come back to it if I get time.

Oh. Yum.

I did not think that I would be making dumplings today

with the weirdest bunch of ingredients,

but somehow this whole idea of making dumplings came together.

And I've got the lobster filling ready to go

with the bone marrow through it.

It actually tastes really nice.

You can still taste the lobster, as well as the, um...

..like, the depth of flavour from the marrow.

So now I'm working on my dough,

but I'm still a little bit unsure

what to do with the seaweed tapenade and the yoghurt.

The only thing I can think of is to do

kind of like a soupy sauce number.

Depinder. Hi, Depinder.

Hey, guys. Do I need to apologise straightaway?

No, no, no, no, no. Yes!

Actually, no, it challenges me. It's kind of good.

It's putting me outside of my comfort zone,

which is, like, what you want me to do at this point in the competition.

You and everyone else, which is... You're not alone.

So it's good. OK. What's the dish? OK.

So I'm doing lobster and daikon top dumplings,

and I'm going to do a sauce with these two.

So that's what I'm going for at the moment.

Like a seaweed yoghurty... kind of like a nori yoghurt sauce.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sea..

The seaweed and yoghurt sauce? Yeah.

These two together can work. Yeah.

However, the yoghurt is super acidic and tart.

Yeah.

And then the seaweed tapenade is, like, punchy and umami.

And if you don't get the balance right,

all of the hard work that you've gone into creating this dish...

Yeah. ..falls short.

Yeah.

The seaweed and yoghurt sauce. Yeah.

This is going to be about balance for you.

OK. So you want me to be careful with these two flavours?

Cohesion. It could work.

Yeah. Cohesion, cohesion, cohesion.

Yep. Yep.

That's your challenge. Good luck. Got it. Thanks.

Good luck, Depinder.

Yeah.

The day just got worse for me,

but I can't think of where else I could use a yoghurt

as well as the seaweed tapenade.

So I need to make sure I try my best,

trying to balance all the flavours.

It's just so out of my depth.

That's why I'm, like, dying on the inside.

You don't want to make my everything box a mystery!

You've got 40 minutes to go!

(JUDGES CLAP)

How's my cigars coming along? (LAUGHS)

Good. Just getting them... Where's the dish at?

So, basically, um, seaweed tuiles are done.

Bone marrow's roasted.

The filling is in the process.

I just want the slight texture to come through,

so just, yeah, trying to bring all of that together, basically.

Cool. Righto.

I think with a creative cook,

it's really important to execute it well

so, inside, the filling has to be perfect.

I've got my roasted honeynut squash.

And I'm going to mix these together with a little bit of that yoghurt.

I think it's going to balance out that sweetness

and not overshadow this stunning bay lobster.

You will get the textures from the lobster,

so the bay lobster I'm keeping nice and chunky.

I'm going to stir that through.

The pumpkin's going to be a little bit creamier.

So I think that there's a nice balance of textures in there.

I've worked my arse off to make a mousse

using some of the bay lobster for my conceptual dish.

I've got my daikon cut out.

I get some of the mousse and spoon it inside.

That needs to go in the steamer till that mousse is set.

Look at this.

(GASPS) Oh, you did that? Yeah. Why not?

(LAUGHS)

Cool. I love it.

And then I'm going to do a veloute made from the tops of the daikon

and basically make it into a really smooth, velvety sauce.

I'm happy with how my dish is going to come together.

The only thing I'm really worried about probably

is the texture, 'cause everything's quite soft.

The issue here is clearly that it's going to be soft on soft on soft.

But I don't want to start making crunchy things

or just more things for the sake of it.

I'm not going to change it now,

because I want the dish to be tender to eat.

I'm just hoping it all works when I get it done.

I'm sorry to say, 10 minutes to go!

(JUDGES CLAP)

Ohh!

That's delicious.

I've made my puree.

I've used the jam to make my pickling liquid.

Radishes and pumpkins are done.

I've got my roasted marrow butter.

And I'm about to do my bay lobster on the hibachi.

It's time to cook my bay lobster.

And I've got this beautiful

bone marrow and seaweed glaze that I'm going to

be brushing over it while it cooks.

I want a little bit of that smoke to impart and cook it really gently.

I am confident with the flavours,

I'm confident with the creative nature

and, hopefully, how it looks.

Hi, Sof. How are you? I'm great.

I can't wait to see how you plate this.

Thank you. I can't either. (LAUGHS)

My shiso pasta is ticking away on the stove.

I think the sauce is weird and wonderful and amazing and delicious.

And now we need to get the beautiful daikon leaves

and the bay lobster stuffed inside that purple daikon.

But folding these beautiful little shapes

is maybe not a strength of mine.

Like, you remember one night

you tried to show me how to make culur...culurgiones?

What are the little...? Oh, yeah, culurgiones.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And you got so frustrated with me, you were just like,

"Ah, just let me do it."

Because... Can't do that now.

..I do not have the delicate fingertips for this kind of work.

I've got these big sausages for fingers,

so, uh, you know, delicate work, not as ideal.

But I'm trying to make them really beautiful and really consistent

because, visually, I really want to be able

to show off those beautiful vegetables

I wanted to highlight at the start.

We want to see everything on that plate!

Five minutes to go!

(JUDGES CLAP)

How's the yoghurt and seaweed coming along together?

Yeah. So, that's that. Is that it?

Um, yeah. I'm going to taste it one last time.

I'm constantly tasting this yoghurt seaweed tapenade sauce

because I just want to make sure

it's the perfect carrier for these dumplings,

and perfectly balanced.

But it's very, very, very hard,

because when I cook something like a curry

that I know...I know how it tastes.

Like, I know how it SHOULD taste.

With all these ingredients, this is just beyond that.

Can't wait to rip into your dishes! Two minutes to go!

(JUDGES CLAP)

LAURA: I've got my vinaigrette ready to go in a spray bottle,

and I've got four elements going on to the plate.

I've got my bay lobster - that's cooked, ready to go.

I've got the green veloute - it's tasting really good.

And the last thing to do is finishing off my honeynut squash.

I started with so many different elements,

but I am definitely happy with how I've finished this cook.

There's lots of ingredients that kind of went into everything

and, yeah, fingers crossed it's a banger.

That's a crazy-looking dish, Benny.

Wowee. Thanks, mate.

That's what I'm aiming for. Yeah.

Crazy challenge. (CHUCKLES)

This plate-up is really insane.

It actually feels like I'm painting something.

It's like the colours are so bright, even brighter than I thought.

It does feel like this dish is restaurant quality

and, hopefully, that's going to be the difference here today.

30 seconds to go!

SARAH: I've got my filling into a piping bag

and I'm filling my cigars.

OK, this better work.

I want this dish to look quite simple on the plate,

but when you bite into it, you get this beautiful array of flavours.

We're wrapping it up in ten!

JUDGES: Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!

Five! Four! Three!

Two! One!

Yes! Well done.

SARAH: Oh, God.

Good job. Good job, darl.

Nice, bro! Well done, mate.

Well done. Well done.

Oh, yeah! That looks sick.

Thank you. So does yours.

I've tried my best, using, you know, the basics of food -

like, the sweet, salty, sour, bitterness.

Trying to balance all of those flavours is what I've done today.

So I just really hope that the judges really like it.

CALLUM: Some of my favourite challenges in MasterChef

are some of the trickiest ones,

because it pushes you absolutely to the end of your creativity levels.

I think it's worked.

Um, but, yeah, just keen to see what the judges think.

We asked you to use everything in Andy's mystery box.

We're looking for the top four to go into tomorrow's immunity challenge.

The first dish we'd like to taste was made by Sarah.

Ooh!

Tell us what your dish is.

So, today's dish is Andy's Cigars, served with bone marrow, so...

(LAUGHS) Yeah, that looks good.

(LAUGHS)

So, everything in Andy's mystery box is in those cigars?

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Andy.

(LAUGHTER)

It's really good with the glasses It looks good!

You can see around, yeah. Exactly.

It's good. Is that the picture?

Yeah. That's exactly the picture I had in my mind. (LAUGHS)

OK.

Sarah, once again, you are fantastic.

Your thought into the dish is impeccable.

And what I like is the way you've managed

to separate your list of ingredients,

which I believe they don't match,

and do something to the opposite,

and to end up something so quirky which works very, very well.

This is the type of dishes.

Your presentation is impeccable again.

The creativity of that beautiful tuile

with the seaweed tapenade inside is, like, genius.

It's genius.

But I think the ratio

of the honeynut squash and the bay lobster and the pickles

is a little bit out.

I would have loved for it to be

a lot of the bay lobster in there with the pickles

and then just a lick of that puree.

Yep.

The question was, did the concept work?

I think, close...

Oh!

(GROANS) ..but no cigar.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you! Thank you.

The next dish we would like to taste belongs to Callum.

(CHUCKLES) Keen bean.

What is your dish?

CALLUM: So, it's purple daikon stuffed with the bay lobster

and its own leaves,

and I've got shiso sopressini there,

and the sauce is a bay lobster kind of dashi.

That looks stupidly good, doesn't it?

Callum, I love it when you walk down here with a big smile on your face.

No, I think it's, um... it was a really fun challenge today.

I think that, while...you know, we've had some amazing challenges

with guest chefs, and we've been overseas together,

but I think that some of the challenges we've had

that the four of you have set over the competition

have been some of my favourite,

because you could see how much, like, you actually care, Andy.

Do you mind if I ask, how long did it take you

to actually put these mystery box ingredients together?

Far out! Um...

It started before we went to Doha...

Wow! ..and it ended yesterday.

OK. (LAUGHS)

Well, it was a good box. Thank you. (LAUGHTER)

This dish really does look like it's from a fine dining restaurant,

and I think that's because it has this sort of aura of intrigue.

I've got so many questions, and they can only be answered

by digging into every element and finding out what's in them.

Shall we? Mm.

I think, for me, when I put the ingredients together,

I didn't want it to be obvious, you know.

I didn't want there to be like,

"Oh, yeah, this goes with that. Oh, yeah, it's..."

You guys are past that.

We are past that, you know?

And when you can put those ingredients together,

you achieve greatness.

And, Callum, that is greatness.

Did I think I was ever going to get a shiso and seaweed tapenade pasta?

No.

Did I ever think that was going to be paired with a purple daikon

that was stuffed with the bay lobster and beautifully cooked?

No.

Mate, it's exactly what this place is designed for.

You would never...you would never create that ever in your life.

But, mate, I think you've got a dish

that will stick with you forever in that one.

Callum, I'm not sure if you can see from there,

but my hairs are actually standing up on end.

Tasting your dish, every mouthful just gave me goose bumps.

You've got this lovely green, origami-like pasta.

The dumplings are so gorgeous and gossamer thin

that you can see how well you've cooked the lobster through them

before you even bite into them.

And that's the kind of talking point

that you get when you sit down in a restaurant.

It's not just about where the food has come from.

It's how you've used it.

It's superb.

It's simply superb. Well done.

I love you too. Thank you.

Yes!

Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

Told ya. Thanks, mate.

Well done, bud. Thanks, pal.

Next dish was made by Jamie.

(WHISTLES)

Interesting.

What is it? What are we looking at?

You've got the bay lobster, which was done over the hibachi

with bone marrow,

roasted bone marrow butter enriched honeynut squash,

and some pickled honeynut squash and pickled radish,

and a little shiso oil.

Gotcha. You just went like...

..you leant into the big, bold flavours, didn't you?

You enjoy that? Yeah, absolutely.

Like, this is probably one of the best bunch of ingredients

that I've ever had in a mystery box.

And to be forced to use everything, I think, was really interesting.

I think we'll dig in.

Jamie, I think there are lots of really lovely elements on this dish.

I love the way you cooked the bay lobster.

Love that puree.

That was so beautiful and sweet.

I also really like

that you enriched that honeynut squash with the bone marrow.

I think that's such a good use of the ingredient.

I think the cooking of the bug is mint, absolutely mint.

And I think that's where I'm getting

that kind of beautiful umami and sea flavour,

from that base that you had on there.

It was really well done.

There is not a bad component on the plate,

but it's just about how it's put together.

Yep.

I feel like it should have been plated.

Yep.

And I think, if you'd had this as a plated dish,

it would have been a game changer.

Jamie, it is an explosion in your mouth.

It is sublime, again.

So, well done. Keep on going, yeah? Thank you.

Alright, mate. Thank you. Nice, Jamie.

Thanks, guys.

The next dish is yours, Ben.

Because this dish is all quite soft,

I have got a little bit of concern about the texture of my dish,

but I wanted that mouthfeel,

because it's kind of a conceptual dish

and I'm trying to elevate this in a way that I wouldn't normally do.

Whoa! Oh, wow.

So pretty!

I'm just praying that it tastes as good as it looks.

Ben, what have you made?

I've made a bay lobster with pickle and braised daikon...

..and a daikon top veloute.

So pretty!

I don't know whether it looks like something from underwater...

Yes! ..or another planet.

Yeah, it's colourful.

It looks a little bit like an underwater scene.

Yeah. Coral. Coral-like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's so pretty, Ben.

So, in terms of the textures

and what you wanted the concept to be,

how's it going to eat?

It is a soft dish,

but I didn't want to start putting crunchy stuff on it.

I didn't want to make...

I wanted to stick to the ingredients as much as possible

without using the staples, so, that's why...yeah.

Yep. Yep.

Mate, if you can pull this off, you're a bloody genius, I reckon.

Fingers crossed.

Oh!

That is very satisfying. Wow.

Ben, I love the way it looked...

..and there was the perfect amount of texture.

There was all these different layers of tenderness,

which was really lovely.

A very sensitive approach to texture.

Yeah, everything is really sort of satiny and slippery and luscious

and I'm glad you chose

not to put anything super crisp and crunchy in there,

because I think it actually would have interrupted

that lovely, flowy feeling of eating it.

And the technique, as well,

in stuffing that daikon with the mousse,

that vibrant purple scallop - which is what it looked like to me

if we're going back to the underwater theme -

um, that was wonderful.

So, you executed this brilliantly.

Thank you.

Texturally, I'm glad

that you didn't go over the top with a heap of texture.

And for me, the mousse in the daikon -

I think that's so creative.

I think your plating...

Like, the way that you conceive dishes,

but then the way that they get to the plate,

it's just gone through the roof. POH: Mm.

It's pretty bloody genius.

Like, it is pretty bloody genius.

Thanks, guys.

Well done, babes. Cheers.

Genius! Genius.

The next dish we'd like to taste was made by Laura.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Mmm!

(GASPS) Wow!

May I spray your leaves? Oh, please.

Would you like to finish your dish? I just need to just spray them.

Can you tell us what the perfume is?

Perfume?

Eau de MasterChef Kitchen.

Um, it's a purple daikon pickle

with olive oil, whey and some of the jam.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: It's very good. I think I do want some.

Can I just...? Yeah.

Oh, my God. I was gonna say.

(LAUGHS)

See what...see what Alex thinks.

It's yummy. It's really yum.

That's good. That's a good start.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: What is your dish?

I've got the glazed bay lobster, torched honeynut squash,

there's a little salad, and the green veloute.

Well, Laura, it certainly looks like a concise dish.

So, let's taste. Thank you.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Uh, Laura...

Man, I was worried,

and then you come up and you've got four elements on the plate.

You had.

You HAD four elements on the plate.

Um...

It was so good!

Yes!

It was so good! Yes!

What's so great about your dish, Laura,

is you've used technique to make sure that you incorporate

all of the ingredients in the everything box...

Yep.

..while still reigning it in and holding back.

And that's where you've really shone today.

Um, this... Uh, what are we calling it?

MasterChef No. 5.

Oh, Master...this Mas... (LAUGHTER)

That's very good, Andy.

This vinaigrette,

I was expecting it to really whack me in the face with vinegar.

Yep. But, by using the yoghurt in there,

it's got this slight brightness and creaminess

that also mellows out the bitterness of those perfectly blanched leaves.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: This...

This is absolutely fantastic. Thank you.

Because you've used this yoghurt differently than anybody else.

Let's call it Fleur de Laura.

And you know what?

I...I have...

It's on Andy.

POH: Uh-oh. Uh-oh! Come this way.

Come this...come this way. That's weird, buddy.

Come this way. You're weirding me out.

Did he put some on? Yeah.

You're weirding me out.

Mwah! (LAUGHTER)

That's it. You see? That's what you've done!

This is an addiction of... You know?

You want to kiss.

So, your dish... Thank you.

..thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

(LAUGHS) Do you need a cold shower?

Hey, by the time I go back home,

my wife is going to give me the sack, you know that?

Well done, Loz. Thank you.

Good job! Thank you.

This is what food does to you - it drives you cuckoo!

This is superb.

Next dish we would like to taste belongs to Depinder.

Thanks.

I was not in my comfort zone today.

Oh!

I've only ever cooked with two out of eight of these ingredients.

I'm not familiar with them at all.

And I've tried my best... (CLEARS THROAT)

..but I'm very nervous.

The nerves are probably, like, as bad as they can get, yeah.

Thank you.

What is it?

So, I've made lobster dumplings

with a seaweed tapenade and a yoghurt sauce.

Um, and I've got the cumquat and the shiso leaves

in a vinaigrettey dressing, almost.

I bet you never thought you'd say that.

No. No.

Never. Especially the combination of it all.

Like, I felt so out of depth.

But then I just tried my best

to balance it out as much as possible.

So, we're really intrigued

about this seaweed and yoghurt combination,

whether it's worked.

Oh, OK, yeah. Yeah. So let's taste.

Oh! Oh!

I'm not gonna kiss you.

I'm gonna give you a high five. Oh. Thank you.

Depinder! Thank you. Oh!

Thank you.

I'm not, like, hyping it up here - I think that this

is the most impressed I've been with you for a cook.

Because this... You shouldn't have succeeded, right?

Like, I'm sorry... Yeah, technically. Yeah.

..but I wrote you off.

Yoghurt and seaweed? No, thanks.

That was your challenge, to be able to balance that,

and I feel like you've done that so well.

So well.

And for you not to throw the toys out of the cot

when you lifted the lid... Yeah.

..and just to zone in and go,

"You know what? I'm gonna use my palate."

'Cause you have such a sensational palate.

Um, you used your palate and your skill

to come up with an amazing dish.

Yeah.

First, the dumplings are impeccable.

Cooked very well. Beautiful thickness.

And you preserve all the beauty of the bay lobsters.

Now, what intrigued me the most is the seaweed sauce.

Because the seaweed, obviously, is quite salty

and it's quite dominant.

What is interesting is the way you've emulsioned the sauce

to give a bit of lightness to the seaweed.

So it is enjoyable.

I think it's superb. Oh, thank you.

Thanks, guys.

Oh, my God!

Great work. I wasn't expecting that.

Well done, mate. So good. Thanks, guys. Thank you.

Lovely. Oh, wow.

With everything to play for today, it really was all or nothing.

There isn't a single person here

who doesn't want to get their mitts on immunity right now.

And tomorrow, four of you will have a chance to win it

in a cook that we're really excited about.

Let's find out who's done the job.

The top four dishes today were made by...

..Callum... Yeah!

..Laura... Yay!

..Ben... Thanks.

..and lastly...

..Depinder!

Whoo!

(LAUGHTER)

Right here!

That's...that's so much more like it.

I'm very happy.

You four are heading into tomorrow's immunity challenge,

and is a bloody good one to be cooking in.

(ALL EXCLAIM)

This, I guarantee, will be a day you will never forget.

See you all there. Catch you later. Goodnight.

Thank you! See you, guys.

I'm so happy!

So good! Yeah, nice.

VOICEOVER: Tomorrow night...

Please welcome Hugh Allen!

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

..it's the immunity cook of a lifetime

at one of the best restaurants in the country.

Oh, my God, I've got goose bumps.

We're at Vue de Monde.

There are chefs from all over

that would do anything to be in my shoes right now.

But can they impress Hugh

using his very special ingredients?

Today you are cooking with...

Oh. OK.

I'm like, really? Really?

DEPINDER: I do not know

what I'm gonna do with this ingredient.

Yeah. I don't know how I feel about this.

Captions by Red Bee Media