All language subtitles for Masterchef.Au.S16E44.720p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-WH

VOICEOVER: Previously
on MasterChef Australia...

Please welcome Guillaume Brahimi.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

..it was a dish worthy of royalty.

(GASPS)

GUILLAUME BRAHIMI: It's a dish made
for the King of France.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Wow.

They impressed the Frenchmen...

You're too good. Oh, my God!

Ah! Stop it!

..and used painstaking precision...

HARRY: I'm freaking out right now.

I feel like I'm doing
heart surgery on a bee.

..not just once, but five times.

Magnificent job.

It's delicious.

But it was the end
of the MasterChef journey

for Darrsh.

DARRSH: This competition has just
lit such a fire in me...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
..and I'm just excited

for what the future brings.

Tonight, it's a monumental moment

for our top five.

(EXHALES HEAVILY)

(SNIFFS)

MIMI: Top five!
HARRY: This is insane.

SAVINDRI: It's just not sunk in,
to be honest.

Can you believe it, Pezza?
PEZZA: (LAUGHS) No, I can't.

NAT: Let's get this!

Hey!

Let me officially welcome you

to the top five of MasterChef 2024!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

How good?!
Well done.

Hey!

Well done, guys.

Top five - can you...? I...
Can you...? Can I believe it?

And there were five.

You've all grown so much

since you first walked
through those doors,

and we couldn't be prouder.

One of you is going to win
this competition.

The title is within reach
for every single one of you.

PEZZA: That trophy is just shining
and would look good

with "Josh Perry" written on it,
I'm sure of that.

Now it's up to you
to make every cook count.

Especially today...

..because this is the last immunity

of the competition.

Oh, God, that gives me goose bumps!

That means the winner
of today's challenge will go

straight through to Finals week.
Oh!

(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)

This is the most important immunity
of the competition.

Game on.

Right then, let's get
this challenge started.

Head to your benches.

MIMI: Woo-woo-woo!

I see little wooden boxes
on everyone's bench.

It's giving, like, 'treasure chest'.

Something interesting
is going to happen.

It's a very small box.

The key to that coveted spot
in Finals Week,

it is right in front of you.

OK.

You can open your chest now.

(GASPS, SIGHS)

NAT: Oh, so cute.

When you first applied
to be part of this competition,

you named someone that you considered
to be your food hero.

And all of you...

..you named a family member.

For me, although I loved
growing up on pine-burgers,

unfortunately, it's not my mother.

But it's our late, great mate Jock.

The time that we spent cooking
in this kitchen and creating

an energy where people like you
could just reach for the stars

and succeed with everything you do...

..I learnt so much about that
from Jock.

Um...

..and he taught me so much more,
probably, about being

a good husband, being a good son,

um, and hopefully, one day,
me being a good dad, so...

..I miss him a lot.

POH: Pezza,

what does that person in your photo
mean to you?

Uh, well, I guess,
without Nanna Marg... (CHUCKLES)

This is not good.

(CRIES)

(SNIFFS)

Yeah, I guess I'm not as big
and strong as I think I am.

But, yeah, Nanna Marg,

she was a lovely nan and showed me
a lot of cooking,

so she was one
of the best cooks I knew.

Makes the best sponge cake,
as yous got to try, so...

Ha-ha! Can confirm.

..she was really great.

She was like a little old lady
off the Golden Girls,

and she used to give me the bird
all the time.

But when she did, she went like that
because she wasn't...

..she wasn't...uh, she didn't
want to be rude, so she'd say,

"You little mongrel!" And like that,
she'd go, old Nan.

(LAUGHTER)

She was a funny old duck.

Yeah, but really always felt
fulfilled once you went

to Nan's table, you know,
and you had a feed.

Sounds like she was
a massive inspiration for you.

It's nice to hear.

Sav,

tell us about your photo.

Um...I've got my mum.

It's actually a picture
of her cooking,

and... (SNIFFS) ..I took this photo
in 2016.

And I remember this meal so well.

She's in everything that I do.

The hand that guides me is my mum.

The energy that moves through me
is my mum.

All the good in me is my mum.

Yeah, I just miss her.

I miss her an awful lot,

and it doesn't get any easier.

I think your mum would be so proud
of how you've conducted yourself

in the competition,
in terms of just being open

and honest and vulnerable.

Thank you.

Harry, who's your person
in the photo?

HARRY: Nonna.

I love her a lot.

And, uh, I've been thinking
about her, you know, the whole time

I've been here.

(VOICE QUAVERS) You know, a lot
of my memories about food

come from with her.

Well, you know, like,
finishing school

and, like, if she'd pick me up,
it was just all about food.

Like, "Why haven't you eaten?
Eat some more."

And just, like,
classic Italian nonna,

just, like, constantly feeding me,
so... (LAUGHS)

She's an amazing cook,
but just an amazing woman.

She's so supportive of all
of her kids,

but all of her grandkids, as well,
you know, and whatever

we're passionate about or, you know,
want to do with our lives,

she's just, you know, all for it.

So, yeah, it's fitting
that it's under the lid here.

Nat, tell us a bit more
about the person in your photo.

It's my mum, and she's holding
my two favourite fruits,

some mangosteen and some rambutan.

She's honestly the strongest woman
I've ever met.

Just seeing how much my mum has done
and sacrificed - like, she worked

and had a restaurant for 30 years,

and all her love is just expressed
through food.

It's so hard for her
to, like, sometimes cuddle me

or, like, show affection,
but she shows it through food.

And the reason I am the cook I am
today is definitely because of her.

What's been the chat
since you've been

in the MasterChef competition
with your mum?

Oh, the chat has changed so much.

We used to be so distant,
and we've been talking a lot more.

She's just been loving, like,
sharing all these old,

ancient recipes,

um, like, all the foods
she grew up eating as a kid.

I've never seen her so proud of me.

Like, she's never really said that,
ever.

Like, she's never been able
to verbalise it.

But she has been now.

Um, Nat,

I just wanted to say something.

Uh, after I was on MasterChef,

it was, like, one of the first times
my mum had ever expressed

that she was proud of me. (CRIES)

And I think that's why
when I'm in this kitchen,

I am very emotional
because it affected so much

of my life, outside of cooking.

And, um, cooking became that thing
that bonded us

because we did have that...

..uh, very Asian thing of having
trouble expressing our love.

So, like, it's just so amazing
how this kitchen connects us

in so many different ways.

Mimi, who in that photo
has inspired you?

MIMI: This is a very old photo

of me and my mum

and my mum's mum. (CRIES)

My grandma is my hero because...

..um, there was a large portion
of my life

where she became my second mum,

and even though she didn't
speak a drop of English,

she, without knowing how
to communicate with us,

just picked up what we liked
to eat, what we didn't like to eat.

That's just...

..everything to me.

It's so nice hearing all
of you cooks talk

about your family members
as your food heroes,

but it's...it's in quite
a different way

to my family food hero,

who is my mum.

Um...

(SNIFFS) Oh, I thought
I was doing so well.

You've got this. You've got this.

Um...

Oh, Sofi.

Uh...

Um, food in our lives
has, um, changed quite a lot

because my dad's not able
to eat anymore.

So... (SIGHS)

..yeah, mum's taught me all
my enthusiasm and sharing love

through food, but just
eating together as a family,

it's something we've always done.

And I think, with the change
in...in our lifestyle, um,

we want to all be together.

But it's harder
to come together around food

when one of you can't eat.

So, that's been an incredibly
difficult time for everyone,

but especially my mother.

So, when this all wraps,

I'm very much looking forward
to taking her out for dinner,

at least weekly.

Love you!

(WHISPERS) That was beautiful.

Your stories are fundamentally...

..touching.

Everyone's speech,
all of you, you know.

And what is important
is to understand

that we are all the same.

It doesn't matter
where you come from.

It doesn't matter
what language you speak.

Food is the biggest currency,

the most global currency
around the world.

It's, for us, a way
to express ourselves.

Well, today, those loved ones
are going to be your inspiration...

..because we want you
to bring us a dish

inspired by your food heroes,

the people that helped ignite
your passion for cooking,

but also inspired you
to follow those food dreams.

You'll have 75 minutes,

and you can cook anything you like,

but make sure it tells us a story.

Whoever brings us the best dish
will win immunity

and be the first person
that goes to Finals Week.

(WHISPERS) It's OK.

Your time starts now.

(APPLAUSE)

Good luck, everybody.

Prawn.

Porky eye again.

Straight out. One chook.
Nothing else.

I just didn't want to, like, carry
the chook around, so...

(LAUGHS)

PEZZA: Family's everything to me.

That's me, in a nutshell.

Big softie at heart.

And today, I'm doing one
for Nanna Marg.

Last immunity up for offer.

Allez, Pezza!
Come on, Pezza!
Go, Pezza!

Let's bring it on.

Nope. Eggs.

I should know
where the eggs are by now.

So much emotional charge
that is going through this kitchen.

So, I need to really, really turn
that emotional charge and energy

into something good.

So, this dish is going
to be inspired by my mum,

and I'm going to channel

her ability to turn scraps
into beautiful,

beautiful plates of food.

HARRY: Bloody olive oil,

it needs a bigger spout.

Non obviously taught me so much
about Italian cooking.

So, the inspiration is prawn pasta
that Nonna taught me.

But then, I'm going to put
my own flair on it.

So, I'm going to do
Italian prawn tostadas.

Mimi, I know you've got
prawny hands,

but I just really wanted to do this
the whole time we were up there.

Oh, hi.
How are you going?

I know, I just...I can't stop it
when it starts.

When I first saw that photo,
it was emotional because my grandma,

being a solo parent,

she obviously struggled,
but she always managed

to find her way to serve us food
that we enjoyed.

So, today, I'm making
a noodle soup dish

that is prawn-based,

and I'm doing a prawn and pork ball
that's fried on the outside, on top.

So, this whole dish hangs
on the flavour and intensity

of the broth, yes?
Yep. Yep.

Good luck, Mimi.
Thank you.
Good luck, Mimi.

Key to executing this dish
is that the broth needs

to be full of umami flavours,

but I don't actually know what
the ingredients are.

To be honest, my grandma's version
just has whatever.

Like, it's a fridge raid for her,
but every...it slaps every time.

She used to cook this,
every Chinese New Year,

for every person in the family.

So, I'm just trying
to recreate the flavour profile

from that memory.

I'm actually just gonna take...

I want some clams to make sure

I get that broth extra fishy
and delicious.

And she always puts meat
and seafood together.

So, I'm gonna put in
a bunch of chicken wings

and chicken feet to make sure
I get that meatiness in there,

and then into the pressure cooker
for as much as I can leave it

in there, with some toasted spices

to bring more depth
and body into the broth.

Hopefully I've picked
the right ingredients

to replicate that broth.

What an emotional start
to this cook.

I'm so proud of these five
because they just open up.

We can feel the love in the room,
and I think we're very blessed

because they're going to give us
probably the best meal ever, so far.

The meal was touching them.

It's so interesting
because you're normally cooking

for immunity, to save yourself.

I feel like this is so much more.

You're cooking for immunity
to propel yourself into Finals Week.

POH: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I think that's why we're going
to see some all-time food today.

They're cooking to win now.
Mmm.

One hour to go!

Let's go, all! Come on.
Allez!

(APPLAUSE)

You OK?
Hi, Chef. Yeah. I'm OK.

You're fantastic way
of mixing spices together,

is it coming from your mum?

It's 100% my mum. Yeah.

That's something I learned from her
from a very young age.

Very emotional morning today.

The story behind the photo,

that was one of the last times
that my mum cooked for me

before my mum was diagnosed
with cancer.

You don't realise something
is happening for the last time

when it's happening.

It's... You know, hindsight's 2020.

Cooking a dish that's an ode
to my mum means so much to me,

and I want to do my mum proud.

Hi, Sav.
Hello.

What are you doing today?

Um, I'm actually making the dish
that she's making there, which...

In the photo?!
Yeah.

So, she's making chicken curry
and tempered potatoes.

I want to capture the soul
of what she's done

and what I've grown up eating.

Yeah.
Yeah.

Uh, so what it is, is my version
of chicken curry.

I really want to go
for the chicken breast.

Why chicken breast?

Um...

Just remember this is your ticket
to Finals Week.

Breast is notoriously
the hardest part to get right.

Yeah.

I am feeling an insurmountable
amount of pressure,

cooking my mum's chicken curry.

Good luck.
Thank you.

I just want to honour
the memory of my mum today,

more than anything else.

But now I am sort of
second-guessing myself.

I'm just thinking, "What can I do?"

Poh has voiced concerns
about the chicken breast,

and I completely get it.

It is a hard part of the chicken
to cook, but the reason

I am committed to the chicken breast
is because that's what I remember

from my mum's original dish.

And for me, that's such
a strong memory,

like, eating those breast pieces
that were just so full of flavour.

And I know I can make that chicken
so nice and juicy and tender.

So, yeah, I'm going to stick
to my guns, but I don't want

to do just a traditional
chicken curry, because, to me,

that's not reflective of my growth.

I want to make a modern version
of my mum's original dish.

I don't even want it
to look like a curry.

And I believe, that with everything
I've learned in this competition,

I can knock this out of the park.

Perfect.

Happy with that.

I'm getting started
on my curry sauce.

Cumin.

There's going to be a lot of love
going into my sauce.

It's going to have the spice mix

that I'm going
to, essentially, curate by hand now.

Ooh, that's about to get very,
very in-your-face in a second.

Um, don't inhale that.

(COUGHS) That's got to be Sav.

It's Sav.

(COUGHS) Oh, what is that?

Sav. Chilli powder, from here.

Jesus. What's everyone dying from?
(COUGHS)

Whoops.

Is this a strategy?

I have no idea what you mean.

Growing up, it was pretty hard.

My mum and dad were always working,
like, big hours to look after us.

My mum is literally
the strongest person I know.

She's so resilient.

She never wasted anything.

They didn't throw anything out.

She was cooking leftovers
for dinner, the lot.

She produces the most amazing food
out of nothing.

Scraps into gold.

I think that is so, so inspiring.

So, I'm making
roasted bone marrow...

Whoa! That's a big, chunky boy!

..with a jeow som, which
is a Lao and Thai dipping sauce,

a pomelo green salad,

and I'm also going to do khao jee,
which is a sticky-rice patty

that you would charcoal
on the hibachi after it's cooked.

I chose bone marrow and sticky rice
because those are the things

that we had left over quite often,
when I was a kid.

So, this dish is an ode to my mum
for teaching me

we shouldn't be getting rid
of, like, leftovers.

We should be eating the leftovers.

I'm not letting my mum go today.

I'm 100% channelling her,
channelling her energy.

I want my mom to see this,

and she's just going to be like,
"Wow,

"I can't believe you made that."

You've only got half an hour to go.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Allez!

Hey, Pezza!
Hey, chefs. How are yous doing?

So, what is the dish?

Nanna Marg, I think, was really...

She always cooked Poppa
a meat and veg, you know?

And I've done that at the start
of the competition,

but it's time for me to lift it
to the next level.

So, I'm going to do
a venison backstrap today.

I'm going to crust it
in some parmesan and panko,

serve with butternut pumpkin,

and then finish it
with a nice, rich blackberry jus.

Wow.

Sounds like this is all going
to come down

to the cook of that meat.

Yep. Exactly right.

Game that's very lean
is notoriously tricky to cook.

Yep.
It has to be perfect.

Yep.

Nan always burnt and cooked
the ring out of hers,

You know what I mean?

I know that sounds bad,
but that's how older people done.

Yeah, yeah.
But I really want to see

that nice pinkness and medium rare.

It's got to be medium rare,
if not rare,

for game to taste yummy.
Yep, yep. Beautiful.

You look really energised
and vibrant.

I think what you guys
have been telling me is starting

to sink in...
Great!
Yep.

..that I deserve to be here,
and...and if I'm here,

might as well have a crack at it
and really enjoy it...

Absolutely.
..because this is
a once-in-a-lifetime.

Good luck.
Thanks, girls, Appreciate it.

Did your nonna show you
how to make pasta?

Yeah. Egg pasta, yeah.
I can see the way...

We'd make raviolis every Christmas.
I can see the way you...

(CHUCKLES) Yeah.
Good teacher, obviously.

Yeah. Thanks, Chef.

Non obviously taught me so much
about Italian cooking

and pasta making.

But today, I'm going to make,
um, a bit of a creation

and put my own flair
on the traditional Italian side

of my heritage, and then my love
of seafood and progressive cooking.

So, I'm going to do
Italian prawn tostadas.

A tostada is sort of like a cracker.

So, my plan is to transform
my pasta dough into a tostada.

I think that will just
be the perfect vessel

to hold some saucy prawns
in a nice, fresh salad.

That looks epic.

Hey, fellas.
Hey, mate.

How are we?
A lot riding on this one.

Oh, yeah. There's a heap
riding on it.

So, are you making, like,
a pasta tostada?

Yeah, so, I'm gonna, um...

..obviously roll
the pasta dough out.

I'm going to cut them
into, you know, circles.

I'm going to deep-fry some, like,

tostada, you know, chips,
essentially.

So, it'll be the tostada,
then the prawns,

then a bit of the salad.

OK.

Um...

..it's a little strange for me.
OK. Yeah.

Yes, it's creative, but it needs
to have the same soul

as the family meal
that you talked about.

Yeah.

Good luck, mate.

Andy's got concerns
that my dish might be too strange,

but I want to use what I've learnt
in this competition

and my freedom to sort of
be creative.

Plus, I think Nonna would be really
proud of this weird, wacky idea.

Woo!

So, I'm gonna back myself.

High risk, high reward.

MIMI: Yeah, baby.

Feeling good!

Sorry.

This looks very inappropriate.

To go with my broth,

I've made a pork and prawn stick

that I will set in shape
in the freezer

before I slice it beautifully,
on top of my noodle soup.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Mimi.
What are you working on?

Working on the noodles.

How are they going to be?
They...

I want them to be the best noodles
I've ever damn made in this kitchen.

My grandma taught me how
to do noodles,

so I just really want
to get the noodles right

and do my food hero justice.

I'm into this.
I'm definitely into this.

Good luck. Well done.

Good luck.
Thank you.

My egg noodles are

eggs, flour and salt. That is it.

But it's a feel thing.

I'm happy with the texture
of my dough,

but in the back of my mind
I'm worried about the broth.

The broth is supposed to coat
every single noodle beautifully,

and that's what you get
when you slurp it all up.

For me to replicate the broth
from memory is a risky choice.

And also, on top of that,
my broth is simmering away

in the pressure cooker, so you don't
taste it until it comes out.

So I can only hope
that I've pulled it off.

I'm really excited
because it feels like

everyone is channelling
all of their emotions

and sort of embodying
their family members

to bring us some really
tasty food today.

What I like very much so far,
on Pezza, is this lovely

reduction with blackberry.

It's very, very fruity,

so it's a lovely core,
and it's not even finished yet,

so I can imagine it's going to be...
it's going to be even better.

POH: Sav is actually cooking
the dish that's in the photo.

The one thing that I'm a little
bit worried about is she's wanting

to use breast, but I'm not sure
if that's the right choice.

However, I'm really keen
to see her reflection

on what she feels she's learnt.

I'm pretty keen to see
how Nat's dish comes together.

Yeah!
Like, you know,

she's taking a memory of the dish
that her mum used to cook

with all of the leftovers,
after a family feast.

Remember, this dish is done
with leftovers.

Leftovers means the rice
is already cooked.

You're probably using
last night's protein.

She has to do all of those.

I'd back her in that, but I just hope
that she can get this done.

This is the most important cook yet

because it's their last shot
at immunity,

and whoever gets it is going
straight into Finals Week.

Finals Week, baby!

NAT: My bone marrow is in the oven.

Alright, let's prep these bad boys.

For the cook on the bone marrow,
I want it to be silky smooth,

basically, like a custard.

You're just getting, like,
that fatty,

like, lip-smacking fattiness.

I take them out,

and they are looking damn good.

Perfect.

I have the sticky rice khao jee
in the pressure cooker.

I need to mould it into little balls
and flatten them into patties.

But I am trying to refine
a leftover dish,

so I'm also gonna chuck it
on the hibachi.

I'm hoping for that to make them
golden, with a few, like,

dark brown bits, adding so much more
flavour than there usually would be.

OK.

Hey, Nat.
How are you going?

I'm good.

It's been an emotional ride...
Oh, yeah.

..but, you know, that's part
of MasterChef.

What are you making?

So, I'm making a roasted bone marrow

with jeow som

and khao jee,

which is a sticky rice patty.

These are all things
that my mum makes,

and I really want to show my mum
how much she taught me.

And I want her to be proud
that something

that could be leftovers can
literally be, hopefully,

in, like, a five-star restaurant.

Um, so that's what I'm trying to do.
That sounds amazing, Nat.

Good luck, Nat.
Keep going.

Thank you.

I definitely didn't realise this,
but being in the MasterChef kitchen

has shown me I'm completely
inspired by my mum.

And she's just taught me so much.

15 minutes to go!

Come on!

(APPLAUSE)

Fry time?
Uh, it's prawn-cook time

and fry time.
OK.

So, I've still got to fry off
the tostadas, finish the sauce,

cook the prawns.

I've tasted the sauce, and I think
I've seasoned to perfection.

It's got heaps of depth.

It tastes exactly
like Nonna makes it.

And now, I've got to get frying
the pasta-dough tostadas.

I've never made
these fried tostada shells before,

but I think it'll fry up pretty nice
if I do it at the right temp.

I've just done my first one.

(TOSTADA CRUNCHES)

Thin, crispy.

A little bit chewy, as well.

Um, it's gonna be a perfect vessel
for the sauce.

I think I'll fry it just
a little bit hotter so it gets

a little bit crispier,

um, but I'm really happy with it.

It's a ballsy move to reinvent
Nonna's classic prawn pasta,

especially on a day like today,
but I just want to show the judges

that I've come such a long way,
in terms of my ideas and creativity.

And I feel like I've done that
in this cook.

(CLAPS) Yes!

You're doing it for the people
in those photos.

Eight minutes to go!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: Good luck.

My blackberry jus
is coming along quite nice.

It's glossy, it's got that really,
really nice taste.

Pumpkin's looking really good.

Nice and caramelised,
which was what I was after.

But now, it's the moment of truth
with this venison.

I've rolled it in that beautiful
parmesan and panko crumb.

Now it's time to slice it,
to see what it's like.

Venison is a very hard
protein to cook,

and my whole chance at immunity
is riding on this venison

to be cooked to perfection.

It's the hero of the dish,
the venison.

Think it might be the wrecking
of me, to be honest with you.

I'm not sure what's going to happen.

Let's do this.

My heart is just pumping,
10 to the dozen.

The venison has to be spot-on
for me to have a chance

to get straight through
to Finals Week.

It's so beautiful and pink.

I'm really pumped
with the cook on this.

It's time to start putting
this venison on the plate

with the butternut pumpkin
and the sauce

if I want to have plenty of time
to make it look pretty and elegant,

to really show how I've grown.

It's funny, but I don't think,
back in them days,

Nan would have went
to a gourmet restaurant.

I don't reckon she'd ever eaten
anything like that,

and so well presented,

but I think, Nan,
she'd be so proud of me.

Six minutes, everyone.

Six minutes!

Come on!
Allez!

Oh!

Um, I'm running out of time so fast.

I turned my sticky rice patties,
and they are looking damn good.

They're so golden,
they're so crispy looking.

Mwah! Amazing.

It's just, like, buttery, eggy.

You eat it
with the roasted bone marrow.

The bone marrow is perfectly
custardy and fatty.

And what's going to cut through that
is the sauce and a salad.

If my mum's leftovers get me
into Finals Week,

I think she would
be very proud of me.

But the thing I'm worried about

is I'm serving a leftover plate
for the judges.

You know, there's nothing pretty
about bone marrow.

There's nothing pretty
about this whole, entire dish.

So, I need to put extra thought
into plating,

to a point
that it's fine-dining worthy.

I want the plate to tell a story,

and for it to be beautiful,

to reflect how beautiful...

..our family is.

SOFIA: Stunning.

What do you do
with the end of that, Mimi?

Just asking for a friend?
Just asking for a friend.

That would be me. (LAUGHS)

My pork and prawn stick
looks so good.

I take my noodles out,

and these noodles
are the perfect texture,

and they have beautiful
size and length.

I think they are the best noodles
I've ever made.

They look stunning.

And I'm hoping that I've made
an umami bomb with this broth,

because my waipo used to cook this

with whatever she found
in the fridge.

I just had to guess,
based on the flavours,

which is one of the most risky
things to do in this kitchen.

It's not quite there,
and I don't know what it is.

Come on.

This dish represents my grandma.

My waipo.

I need to do it justice.

So, I need to fix this broth.

I immediately get it onto the stove
so I can start adjusting seasoning.

Uh, I'm just waiting
for my chicken breast.

Gonna check it.

It's looking quite juicy.

It's actually cooked perfectly.

Happy with that.

I want to have a really pretty,
tidy, colourful plate.

I've got my potato puree.

I am getting my little
leafy salad dressed.

My curry sauce is a bit more mellow.

It's a bit more refined
than my mum's.

Visually, it looks pretty good.

However, there's also a part of me
that just goes,

"Should I have just done a classic,
traditional ode to my mum?"

That is weighing on me.

But either way, it is an absolute
honour to be able to give the judges

a seat at my mum's table

and at my table.

Well, we cannot wait
to try all your food,

but there is one minute to go!

One minute!

One minute to just go
into Finals Week!

HARRY: Today, I've taken
a really creative approach

to transform my prawn pasta
into a tostada.

It's prawns, it's garlic,
it's chilli, white wine.

Like, it's a winner.

But even if I don't win...

..I'm definitely going to make these
for my nonna one day.

For the first place
in Finals Week,

10...

JUDGES: Nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four,

three, two,

one!

(APPLAUSE)

PEZZA: Yeah, I think Nan
would be proud of me.

She'd be proud of where I'm at
in the competition.

So, I thought I'd just, uh,
give them something to look down on

and see a little bit different.

They're going to be saying,
"Boy, that venison!

"You're going to get
in trouble today."

I just hope Nan's with me today
and gets me over the line.

My mum would say that does not
look like a chicken curry. (LAUGHS)

She'd be like, "What is that?
That is not chicken curry."

There was this feeling, constantly,
through the cook,

"Should I have just, you know, stuck
to the traditional version?"

It was a huge risk for me,

but you don't know till you try.

I think she would be proud of me
on that front.

The first dish we'd like to taste
belongs to...

..Pezza!

(APPLAUSE)

My dish looks really, really pretty.

I'm really proud of it.

Going up to the judges, I just hope
that they're as excited as what I am

when they taste it.

Ooh!

Looks bloody lovely.

Tell us what you've made.

A Parmesan And Panko Crumb
Venison Backstrap

with Butternut Pumpkin Two Ways

and a Blackberry Sauce.

I've seen the photo of Nan today,

I just thought, "I'm going to cook
a nice bit of game,

"if there's something in there,
and I'm going to do it,

"just jazz it up a little bit."

What do you reckon Nanna Marg
would think of that though?

Nanna Marg would definitely say
the venison is underdone.

(CHUCKLES) She'd want to put it back
on the stove and give it a...

She wants it like
a bit of boot leather.

I'm pretty dying to get into this.

It looks very inviting.

Wow.

You've smashed that out of the park.

The cook on venison,
when it's done well,

makes it taste
like the perfect steak.

Your cook is so meticulous
that you can see the different rings

of colour in the meat,

where it started to caramelise
and change.

You've got a really
clever dish here.

I just think it's...it's such
a good reinterpretation,

through the generations
of your family.

And it's ended up with you, here,
in the MasterChef kitchen.

Venison needs flavour
because it is so, so lean.

And wrapping it
in that little crispy,

crunchy parmesan and panko crumb,

it gives it texture,
but it also gives it seasoning.

The sauce is where the money
starts to roll in for you.

The fact that the berries
are there, and just humming

in the background,
and just giving it that slight,

little bit of acidity,
it is spot-on.

The butternut squash, your two ways,

the colours are very rustic,
very authentic.

You've managed,
with your big fingers,

to deliver this crispy
little shallot.

It's just...

..perfect.

Pezza, this is a stunning dish.

It is so well thought-out,

and I hope you can remember
what you first served up,

and just have a look
at what you've done here

and the way you're thinking.

It's completely transformed.

(LAUGHS)

Well done.
Thanks, Pezza.

I'm really excited.

I don't want to be too confident,

but I'm feeling like I could
be the first one going into Finals.

Well done, cobber.
Thanks, brother.

Alright.

Next, we'd like to taste
the dish from Mimi.

(APPLAUSE)

Literally always pick the most
dangerous thing to carry.

Careful.

(LAUGHS)

This dish is my gift
to my grandma.

I wouldn't be the person
that I am without her.

SOFIA: Woo!

I could not be prouder
of the dish I put up.

I could not be prouder to celebrate
my family food hero, my waipo,

and I really hope
that I've done her justice.

VOICEOVER: In the mood to cook?

Grab your aprons and try
these delicious

MasterChef-approved recipes
on 10Play.

Mimi, tell us what you've made.

This is my version
of Spicy Pork and Prawn Noodles,

with a Pork and Prawn Roll
and Prawn Chilli Oil.

Alrighty, let's have a taste.

You're like the umami queen in here.

(LAUGHS) Let's face it.

That broth is, like, so magical.

You get those little funky bits
of dried shrimp

that are a little bit
sort of jerkied.

There's just lots of lovely
little textures and little pops

in your mouth that you discover
with every mouthful.

It's just a really delicious,
comforting bowl of soup.

And I don't know your waipo,

but it definitely feels
like a bowl of love

that your grandma would
have served to you.

Mimi, the way you did the noodles
was spec-ta-cu-lar.

Neat, quick - it's amazing.

And they are tasty.

Anchovies, the ginger,
the dried shrimps -

everything is very well balanced.

Well done.

Mate, those noodles, like,
they could possibly

be the best noodles we've ever had
in the kitchen.

Like, they...

Honestly, the texture of those...

..is perfect.

It just goes to show, like,
how much of an art it is,

the amount that's going on here
to still have that textbook texture.

It's incredible work.

The prawn stick,

it was delicious in flavour.

I just thought it could have been
a little bit tighter.

I just would have liked
a little bit more bounce.

That would be my only negative
on what would be a bowl

that I would happily pay money for.

Very, very cool Mimi-style food
we got today.

Do not stop.
(LAUGHS)

Well done, Mimi.
Thank you.

It is fantastic.

Ah, yes!

She's just gone and done it,
hasn't she?

The broth that I have worked so hard
to get right is perfect.

My grandma would be so proud
to see what I've done.

Next up, Sav.

(APPLAUSE)

SAVINDRI: Choosing to do this today,
for me, was a step forward

in taking something that means
a lot to me, and then refining it.

My mum would be immensely
proud of me

for pushing myself
out of my comfort zone.

Can you tell us what is your dish?

I've made my version
of my mum's Chicken Curry,

Potatoes and Leafy Green Sambal.

I've tried to capture all the things
that I love about the original dish

but change how I approached it.

It doesn't look very Sri Lankan.

It does not look Sri Lankan at all.

If my mum saw that, she would say,
"That is not chicken curry."

(JUDGES LAUGH)

Shall we?

Sav, this is by no means a bad dish.

What it is, is the very first crack
at the R and D of a new dish.

Yeah.

I love the flavour
of those potatoes.

Like, that...that turmeric,
the colour of them,

but they are a bit gravelly.

Yeah.

I thought the sauce was delicious.

Could have done
with a little bit longer.

The chicken is really tasty,
but it's kind of like...

I know you...you've said
you refined it,

but it's kind of 'chicken dinner,
not chicken dinner'.

Like, it's a chicken breast
on a plate with mashed potato

that, in some ways,
is actually pretty dated.

Today is the final shot at immunity.

Were it an elimination,
just because of the standard,

you might be in trouble.

Sav, I really empathise
with where you're heading

with this dish, because
when I was in the competition,

I was always trying to figure out,

"Do I cook a traditional dish
in its original form?

"Do I try and modernise it?"

And for that reason, I really
applaud you for making this dish.

I think when you're working
with traditional dishes,

they actually need a lot more
R and D than, like, a modern dish.

All the parts were there,
but it definitely just suffered

from time and a few little glitches.

So, I would definitely
keep working on it.

This was always going
to be your hardest cook

in this competition.

With everything
that you've been through,

to open that box, and then,
not only that, but for you to try

and recreate the dish
that was in that photo,

cooked by your mum that you've got
so many memories attached to -

that is 55 out of 10 difficulty.

That's what your mum
would be proud of.

Thank you, Sav.
Thank you.

Next up, we'd love
to taste your dish, Nat.

NAT: To just serve the judges
leftovers is risky.

They might think
that that's a little bit weird,

but I think that this is the perfect
representation of how I would

thank my mum for everything
she's done.

I think would be very proud of me.

And I am proud of her.

Whoa!
What the hell?!

OK.

Oh, my gosh.
I think this is a... Whoa!

Oh, smell it!

OK!
Oh-ho!

Far out.

Tell us what you made.

I've made Roast Bone Marrow

with a Pomelo Salad,

a Jeow Som

and Khao Jee.

Let's eat, let's eat.

(WHISPERS) Gonna go all in.

Nat,

that's a special dish.

It's got so many layers behind it.

Throughout this competition,
you've changed so much

that you just...you're so open
with your memories.

And I don't think we saw that
on day one.

On day one, it was just like,
"There's my sick food - now eat it."

Whereas now, you really want
to talk about where it came from

and why it's so special to you.

The dish itself - it's fun,

and the bone marrow
was so well cooked.

Like, Sofia didn't leave me much,
but...

..but what was there was like...

It slid out like it was on
a little slippery slide,

and then just landed
on my rice cake.

It was perfectly done.

I love the chewy, crunchy,
charred bits of glutinous rice.

I LOVE glutinous rice.

And I also love
that you're teaching us the way

that you grew up eating.

Your mum, she's going
to be incredibly proud.

Well done.

Your sticky rice - I love that.

Your dressing
and your little salad - phew! -

10 out of 10.

You work like a chef.

You're so focused.

You're very, very dangerous.

You've got a lot to offer.

I can see in your eyes.

You're growing fast.

Nice one, Nat.
You're special.

(APPLAUSE)
You are special.

NAT: I really poured my heart
into this dish.

My mum would be so proud
of this feedback.

Now, I really want that immunity,

way more than ever.

The next dish we'd love to try...

..belongs to Harry.

Yeah! Come on, Harry.
You're next.
(APPLAUSE)

I'm interested to see
what these look like.

It was a risky call to reinvent
my nonna's pasta dish,

but I'm stoked
with what I've come up with.

I think it's a new interpretation
of prawn pasta

that I've never seen before.

JUDGES: Oh!

(SIGHS)

Harry, what have you made?

I've made you
Garlic Chilli Prawn Tostadas.

Oh, they smell great. Mmm.

Alright, let's dive in.

Hands for this one?
Yeah. Yep.

Hear that, Harry?

Is that a crunch?
You got the crunch, mate.

(TOSTADA CRUNCHES)

Harry, the only way
your four surviving grandparents

wouldn't eat this
is if they had dentures.

(LAUGHTER)

The crunch on that,
I could feel it in my brain.

It's unbelievable! It's so good.

And I think what's brilliant
about this dish is you've taken

those comforting flavours
of, like, a warm, big,

generous bowl of pasta,

and you've made it quite
light and summery,

but it is still comforting.

It smells like Italy.

It was a joy to eat.

Thank you, Harry.
Thanks, Sofia.

Harry...

..Nonna,

..us...

..would be very, very satisfied
with that, mate.

That is ripping.

The 'tostada', as you're calling it,
is epic.

You had the nous to just watch it
like a hawk, press it down,

make a few air bubbles
so that it did compact

into an edible bite.

The sauce, it's just got
that beautiful sweetness,

the beautiful depth
from the prawn oil.

This is just a different side of you,

just shows how far you've come
in the competition.

Just keep cooking like this.

Nice one, Harry.
Cheers.

SAVINDRI: Well done, mate.
Thanks, mate.

Very proud of you.

This was your last chance
to win immunity.

And with standards this high,

we really had to drill down
on the tiny details.

We came up with two dishes
we almost couldn't choose between.

Pezza...

..and Nat.

We were splitting hairs.

But with situations like this,

it comes down to which dish
we'd dive into again

and again and again.

And that dish was yours...

..Nat.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Yay! (CHUCKLES)

Oh, my God.

Well, Nat, congratulations.

You have just guaranteed your spot

in Finals Week!

Wow-wee!

Everybody else...

..Sunday, one of you will be,
unfortunately,

leaving the competition.

So, you've got to be ready
for this one.

Well done, everybody. Great day.

VOICEOVER: Sunday night,
on MasterChef Australia,

Finals Week is looming.

POH: Today decides whether

you're heading to Finals Week

or heading home.

Oh, my gawd.

But to get there,

they have to survive...
Urgh!

..an extreme elimination.
Oh-ho-ho! Ugh!

SAVINDRI: It's awful.

I don't like it.

That's wrong on so many levels.

(RETCHES)

It's time to tame this beast.

Captions by Red Bee Media