MasterChef Australia (2009–…): Season 2, Episode 4 - Top 50 Part 4 - full transcript
Last time on
MasterChef Australia.
For some of you
this will be the last time
you'll ever cook in the
MasterChef kitchen.
The pressure of the
fresh produce challenge
was too much
for some.
And we said goodbye
to four more hopefuls.
I can happily walk away
and say I gave it what I could.
Tonight, ten spots in
the final 24
are up for grabs.
You're about to enter
into a gladiator-style battle.
To get their chance,
they'll face off.
It's a little bit out of the
frying pan into the fire.
The first will be
a test of precision and accuracy.
This is gonna be tough.
The second will see them
cook off
against a giant of
the culinary world.
Question is, can you cook
as well as Matt Moran.
Maybe I'm out of
my depth here.
I can't believe it's day four,
it's the MasterChef top 50
and I'm still here.
There are 22 spots left
in the top 24,
and I'm really keen to get
one of these as I wanna
get fast-tracked to the end
of this competition.
I feel like we're getting
a little bit closer to
narrowing down the bunch,
which is exciting.
That's what I like to see,
a bit of excitement.
You're walking to the kitchen
and you wanna have a go.
What's next?
You've spent the last three
days cooking up a storm
in the MasterChef kitchen,
and we've seen some really
passionate cooks
and good food.
Some creative food.
Which is great to see.
You've got two very
comfortable and relaxed
contestants over there.
Jimmy and Claire,
you did well.
Two safe spots
in the top 24.
They've saved themselves
a little bit of the pain and drama
that you guys might be going through
in the next couple days.
The big thing about today
is that ten more places
are up for grabs.
When I hear that there's
ten places up for grabs
by the end of the day,
I'm thinking,
okay, today could be
my best shot.
This could change your life.
Right, this is the way
it's gonna work,
there's two challenges.
What is the first challenge?
It's called mise-en-place.
Put in place.
Preparation, the way you
peel your vegetables,
the way you prepare them
to then go on and cook something.
The smart chef is the
chef that stands still
and doesn't run around
like a lunatic all day.
Why? Cause he's had
mise-en-place.
He's put everything into place,
he's gotten himself or herself ready
to start preparing
for the day.
George has explained
what mise-en-place is,
this is going to be
a mise-en-place marathon.
If you look behind me,
there's four benches.
Each bench is a station
with a task set up,
ready to go.
Each one of those tasks
has to be completed
with precision and accuracy.
The kicker here is,
if you're not doing a great job,
we're gonna knock
you out.
Noone's being eliminated here,
but you don't progress.
You complete one,
you do it well,
you move on to the next task,
and then the next task,
and then the next task
until there are only four
of you left standing.
We need to make sure that we're
getting from one bench to the others
so the pressure's really on
to make sure
that you're doing the right thing
on that bench, on that station,
and then you get through
to the next one.
Those four that show
great skills
across all of those tasks
will go straight through
into the top 24.
Right.
Enough of the talk,
you can go and take your places
at the first bench.
Off you go.
Your first mise-en-place
is the basis
of any good recipe.
In front of you is a pile of eggs
and you have to perfectly
separate those egg whites
and the egg yolk.
The egg whites
need to be clean.
The egg yolks as well.
Clean and intact.
This is how you do it.
Just crack the egg gently, then you
cup that egg yolk into the shell
allowing that second
white to come off.
You want all the egg white
to come off.
So once again.
Cupping that little yolk,
separate the yolk,
done.
It seems to be a fairly
easy task, but...
with all the pressure in the
MasterChef kitchen,
even simple task can
seem quite daunting.
Get going until you receive
a tap on the shoulder.
When you do,
step back.
It means your work is not
up to scratch,
and you will no longer be
participating in this challenge.
I'm determined not to have them
tap me on my shoulder, yeah, no.
Ladies and gentlemen,
pick up an egg
and get cracking.
Oh my God.
I step up and the first
thing I notice,
my hands are just shaking
like a leaf.
So what would normally be
a simple task, was just made
a hundred times harder.
Jackie, what's that?
I got the yolk in.
You can't use that now,
because you've got fat running
all the way through there.
So you've got, spread yolk, spread
yolk all the way through there,
- I will right that.
- Gone. So tap on the shoulder, Jackie,
step back.
I'm the first one, I couldn't
believe that.
Now remember, if we tap you
on the shoulder, that's it,
you're out of the challenge,
and you step back.
Jake, mate, you're a messy bugger,
so step back, my friend.
Tony, bad luck, buddy.
Dominic, you're done,
step back.
Every time the judges walk past you,
you're just expecting
to lean over your shoulder and give you
the tap and it's all over.
It's really, really tense,
but you've gotta remain calm.
Nothing you can do with that,
goes in the bin.
Yeah.
Gee.
That's another one.
You're done. Get out.
Stand back.
Have a look behind you
because there's seven people
that have been
tapped out.
We're looking for three more.
Henry's doing brilliantly. He's
very slow, very precise,
which is unlike Skye.
Oh, Skye.
Sorry, my darling.
There's a goldfish in there, George.
There's a goldfish.
- Oh, my gosh.
- And fish food.
- Look at all the fish food.
- Oh my gosh.
You are out.
Alright, that's nine out, we're
looking for one more person.
This is where
the pressure's on.
You don't know when your
time's gonna come,
so you're sort of just waiting
for that tap.
It's very,
very stressful.
Stop for while
I see.
Ohh. Look at that!
Breathe. It's all shell.
It's loads of shell.
It's no good,
man.
I'm the last person that
actually gets tapped out.
So I am quite
disappointed.
Right, that's it!
Well done!
We have tapped out
ten people.
So unfortunately, those ten
do not go onto the next task.
You are out of
the challenge.
The rest of you, you are
one step closer.
One step closer to earning
one of those four spaces
in the top 24.
Let's go.
Coming up.
The mise-en-place challenge
continues.
They're like sharks coming
up and down the bench,
looking at you from a tank.
Four chefs will secure their place
in the top 24.
This is the girl to beat,
come on, guys!
And later.
Head to head with Matt Moran.
Make sure that oil is hot.
Six more places are at stake,
emotions are high.
Devastated. Gutted.
And dreams are shattered.
We'd have gone from
separating eggs,
now we're on the next bench,
waiting to start that challenge,
before we can move on
to anything else.
Guys, in front of you
is a box.
Let's have a look what's sleeping
underneat those dooners.
That's right, your second
mise-on-place task is
julienne of carrot.
Julienne of carrot is one
of the most common cuts
in any hatted restaurant.
We're looking for perfect
matchstick-size
carrot julienne.
I've never done it. To tell you
that I'm terrified
would be an absolute
understatement here.
Right, first step.
We need to
barrel the vegetable.
Give it a flat
surface to work on.
So we end up with
a beautiful block
ready to do the
next step.
Matchstick.
Not cricket bats.
Then we're moving to
julienne mode. Okay?
Equal, perfect
sticks of carrot.
And there you have it.
Perfect julienne.
I know what it is,
I've done it before,
but I'm not very precise.
Get chopping!
- That's what we're looking for.
- Good.
- That's fantastic.
- Look at those.
- Look at that.
- Look at those babies.
That is fantastic.
This is the girl to beat.
Marion is making beautiful
flawless carrot julienne.
Come on, guys!
It's just wonderful to have
someone say something like that,
and it's kind of a weird feeling
when you haven't felt that before.
What is that?
It's like a skateboard ramp.
Okay.
You're out.
- I'm not happy, George.
- I'm not happy either.
Too thick.
I could feel the judges kind of,
you know, they're like sharks
coming up and down the bench,
looking at you from a tank,
you're kind of thinking,
I hope I'm doing alright.
I just keep my head down
and keep cutting.
It's like a little...
It's like a little moustache.
Step back.
Yeah.
- George, is that what you did?
- No.
Please, step back.
There are two more people
that are gonna get tapped.
We're coming down the line
for the last time.
Sorry, mate.
- Are you happy with that?
- They're good.
One more carrot.
Let's get it done.
What's that?
What's that one?
You're out.
Right, that's it.
We've knocked out ten.
- Well done, guys. Brilliant.
- Well done, guys. Well done.
A big deep breath,
and on to the next bench.
Four coveted spots,
think about it.
No more challenges,
no more tests,
no more eliminations,
straight through to the 24,
off to the MasterChef kitchen.
That's what you came
here for.
Your third mise-en-place task
is under those cloches.
Yes.
Oysters.
To shuck oysters.
It's one of those
dying arts.
And to show you
how it's done,
I'm gonna let
Gary do it.
Ah.
Let's go.
Right.
Oysters.
You've got two choices,
you're going at the hinge,
which is really hard work,
or you can go in at the side,
which tends to be
a little bit easier.
It's about trying
to tease the oyster
and prise it open.
And once you prise...
once you're starting to prise,
then you can release it
all the way around.
And then you've got to
release underneath the...
on the top shell, so that
you can lift off the top.
Alright?
Then all you've got to do,
is you've just got to release the little
abductor muscle
that's on the corner there.
Then make sure that that oyster
is loose in its shell.
Good luck, guys.
Now here's the kicker!
It's a race.
You have to shuck twelve oysters
as fast as you can.
And they have to be
beautiful.
We're not accepting
rubbish.
The first ten
to shuck twelve perfect
oysters
go straight through.
No tapping on the shoulder,
this is different challenge,
different task.
You heard it from Gary.
We want perfect oysters.
We're not gonna accept
oysters
that are slashed and gashed.
Let's get shucking.
We have the first one opened up
here, Courney's on fire.
Come on!
We've got an oyster up
from Adele and Aaron.
Courtney's on oyster
number three.
Daniel's on two,
Marion's on two,
Phillip's on two.
Aaron's on five.
Loving it.
Considering I haven't shucked
one oyster in my life,
let alone twelve perfect ones,
I'm feeling that maybe
I'm out of my depth here. Aside
from the fact that I'm pretty positive
that I'm gonna stick the shucking
knife through my hand at any moment.
Have you opened it,
eased the side,
or did you use the hinge?
- I'm actually going in from the hinge,
just cause that's how
my dad's taught me.
- Does your dad flip them over as well?
- He does.
Gee, he's an oyster
connoisseur, isn't he?
He is. My grandfather is actually
an oyster farmer.
Ahh.
- It's all coming out now.
- Sharnee's grandfather is an oyster farmer.
- Go, Courtney!
- Go, Courtney!
- Two, four, six, eight, on a nine.
- That's what I'm talking about.
Sharnee's on a ninth,
she's catching up to Courtney.
Wow! Who would have thought?
It's the Melbourne Cup of Oysters
right here in MasterChef!
Come on.
Adele's on five.
Callum... oh, he's on two.
Soon as you have twelve,
and you're happy with the quality,
you're ready to send them
to the restaurant,
shoot your hand up.
- That's it. Number one.
- Ohhh! Sharnee! Number one!
Let's have a... let's have a look.
Do they look good?
Yeah, they're good. They're beautiful,
you've kept all the juice, Sharnee.
The judges are happy
and I've realized I've won,
and it's the best feeling.
And Courtney.
Are you happy?
Ah, they look beautiful.
Well done! Fantastic job.
Give me five.
Oh! Aaron!
Phillip!
That's four people through.
All right.
Up here, Peter.
Let's have a look.
Yeah, happy with that.
Yup, that's excellent.
Good job.
Whoa! Number five.
Nah. What that's one there?
That's disgusting.
- Daniel's done. Let's have a look.
- Nah. Do it again.
Yup, happy with that.
Brilliant job. You're through.
Number six. Four
more spaces to go.
- Marion!
- Number seven.
Marion, give us a look.
Marion number seven.
Three more spots to go!
Come on, guys!
Ten, eleven... Bingo, twelve,
you're in. You are through.
There is two more spots
to go, Claud is done.
Excellent, you are through
to the next bench, Claud,
brilliant job.
One more space!
- Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
- Hand up.
We've got one here!
Let's have a look.
Are they good enough?
That's the question.
Stewart's got his hand up.
This is the last spot.
George, are they good?
Got that last spot
still up for grabs.
Come on, guys, let's go,
one more spot!
- Hand up, hand up!
- Yeah.
We've got one here.
Let's have a look.
- Stewart's got his hand up.
- It's the last spot.
Are they good enough?
- George, are they good?
- They are fantastic.
Sorry, mate.
Just missed out.
It just feels amazing.
It just feels like I can actually
achieve this.
Look at this. How good
do you feel?
Huh? The ten of you
standing here,
having completed all
those basic tasks,
and won through.
Look at those guys over there,
looking on jealous,
wishing they had
the opportunity
that you have
right now.
Why?
Because you've got the chance
to secure yourself a spot
in the top 24.
Straight through,
no more tests and
challenges,
straight through to the
MasterChef kitchen.
Gee! Wouldn't that be
fantastic?
Okay, four of us are going in,
six of us aren't.
I'm a gambling woman,
and that's a pretty good odds.
So let's start this thing up,
pumping up,
and roll the next task in.
- It's a whole tank of fish.
- Oh, my god.
In that box is either my ticket
into the competition,
or it's, you know,
into another challenge later on,
so I've really got to get,
whatever's in that box, done.
So the lid comes off
this huge blue box
and it's all these amazing looking
Tasmanian atlantic salmon.
So this is the challenge.
You're gonna fillet the fish.
I've never filleted
a whole fish before.
You go to the fish shop
and you buy it.
You're gonna give us six
perfect portions
weighing 180 grams.
We will give you
a ten gram leeway either way,
because you're beginners.
Food cost is one of the most
important things
in keeping your
restaurant alive.
And that goes right down to
filleting the fish.
They have to weigh 180 grams,
or you start losing money.
And if they're too under,
then you start losing customers.
The first four people
to deliver
six perfect portions
at 180 grams
secure those spots
in the top 24.
Right, first thing I do,
is remove the head.
Right, next step
is we wanna take this first
fillet off.
We need clean movement
with our knife, running
the length of the fish.
And then, you wanna click
the first bones
and what I end up with,
the perfect fillet of fish.
So we need six portions
at 180 grams
with 10 gram leeway
either side.
Always skin-side down
when you portion fish.
175.
That could be.
A little square up
and then what do we got?
179.
I look at George's fillets
and I'm...
I'm trying to get a feel
for the size,
what thickness I should be
cutting mine in comparison to his.
Six fillets, 180 grams each.
How hard could it be?
This is your moment.
Make it happen.
Go.
I grab my first fish, and I think,
let's just be confident
and cut straight behind the head,
look beautiful and start filleting,
and it just happened
perfectly.
I'm thinking, looks great,
let's do the portioning,
and then I realize, I've got
no idea how much 180 grams is.
- Are they... are those yours?
- Yeah. That one is more.
I need to go up and at least
weigh some
so I know what 180 grams
feels like generally,
then that's gonna give me
a rough gauge
on what the others
need to be.
Right, let's go.
So we're looking for 180,
that's 201
you're 20 grams,
you can trim that away a bit.
165.
151.
That one you can't use,
these you can trim away a bit,
tidy up, let's go.
Phillip weighing one.
207.
So Marion, you gotta get 180 grams,
that's 200, okay?
Gee, Peter, that's small.
130 grams.
Right, let's have a look.
168. Too small.
On the second visit up to the judges,
and I'm thinking, okay,
the only thing between me
and the ticket into this competition
are six 180 gram
pieces of fish.
- Marion, first one on, 189.
- Bang!
176!
Third one.
183.
Three out of three,
Marion.
Halfway there.
181.
- That's it.
- Four out of four.
They look good, George,
they look good.
183.
Well done, Marion.
You need one more,
and you've got a spot
in the top 24.
There's no way I can be that lucky.
I've had five in a row.
Put it on, let's see
what it says.
Marion, you need one more,
and 180 grams
with 10 grams leeway
either way,
and you've got a spot
in the top 24.
I'm thinking, this last one
is gonna stuff me up,
and I'm gonna have to go back
and cut whole another salmon.
Put it on,
let's see what it says.
180!
That's it! Marion is
the first one through!
I think I might have squealed,
I'm not a squealer,
I've never squaled in my life,
and I was squealing.
I think I might have done two,
but, you know, what can you do?
So exciting.
- Well done.
- Well done.
Right, that means
there's three spots left.
First go, Claud.
Deep breath.
159, too small.
- 151 grams. Too small.
- Too small.
So you've got three.
Come on, guys,
don't lose heart.
Just when you thought
you're out,
these guys are still getting it wrong,
so keep joining that queues.
- You need another two.
- Good luck.
So I'm in front of Gary and George,
I put my salmon on the scale,
it turns out that I actually
get a few right.
You have four!
174 grams.
- You have five.
- One more and you'll be through.
- One more, how does it feel?
- I'd be very relieved.
I've got five right, and this
last one has to be spot on.
Come on, mate.
Let's do it.
174!
- The little beauty.
- Good luck, mate.
Well done, mate. Good job.
Well done.
So relieved and so excited
to get through to the top 24.
Never experienced, you know,
wanting something so badly,
and just finally getting
so much relief,
that it all actually
has happened.
Right, Aaron, go.
I put my first fillets
on the scale,
and hey, they actually
start weighing in.
Three of them in fact
are good.
- 172 grams. Spot on.
- So you've got four.
185 grams. That's five.
You need one more.
- I only got one left.
- I pick it up, I place it down,
and it's under.
128 grams, Aaron,
so close.
Disappointed? Absolutely.
Absolutely mortified.
Aaron, back on.
Let's have another go.
- Adele.
- Yes.
Have you done it?
That's the question.
I hope so.
189.
183.
So Aaron leaves
and I think,
there's two spots down,
there's two left,
there's Adele,
and then there is me.
182! That's what I'm talking
about. You've got five.
- Yeah.
- You need one more.
Shit. Okay,
do that one.
For God's sake.
It's alright. It's okay.
- Adele.
- I know. It's alright.
- Shall we have a look?
- Yeah. It's okay.
You tell me what number
it says on the scales.
183.
I'm in, I'm in,
oh my god, I'm in...
I'm happy, happy, happy.
Right, we've got one space left.
One space left,
and there's seven of you
standing here.
Courtney,
let's go.
190.
185 grams. That's two
that are right.
172 grams. That's three
that are right.
You're halfway there,
Courtney.
I'm standing behind Courtney
and there's one spot left,
and I was just thinking
it's done, it's slipped away.
181 grams!
Four out of four,
two more to go.
174 grams.
Five out of five.
Courtney,
go for your life.
Ah! 178!
You're through!
- How is that one?
- Oh my God.
I've got it. I've got the last spot.
I'm through.
I can't believe it, I'm just
thrilled. I'm in.
Well done to the
four winners.
You guys have nailed the basics
of any commercial kitchen.
So you deserve to join
Jimmy and Claire.
Right, guys.
Time to take off those
plain white aprons
and pop on
the MasterChef aprons.
Marion, congratulations.
Wear it with honor and pride.
Congratulations.
Adele, well done.
- Courtney, congratulations my darling.
- Thank you.
- Daniel, well done, big boy.
- Thank you very much, George.
Congratulations.
Look at that.
How does that feel?
Good on you guys!
Good on you guys!
Guys.
Go over and join
Jimmy and Claire
in the top 24.
Well done.
Right, let's get into
the next challenge.
You came here for a spot
in the top 24.
That's why you're
here.
Let's not forget there was
10 spots up for grabs today.
4 of them have already
been taken,
meaning six
are left.
If you want one of those
six spots,
you have to cook
to win.
You're about to enter into
a gladiator-style battle,
a one-on-one competition
with one of Australia's top chefs.
And he is, of course...
Right, let's get into
the next challenge.
You're about to enter into
a gladiator-style battle,
a one-on-one competition
with one of Australia's top chefs.
He opened his first
restaurant in 1991,
and that restaurant
is Aria,
he has just opened
his second Aria in Brisbane,
let's welcome a true
MasterChef
to our arena,
Matt Moran.
I'm Matt Moran,
head chef and co-owner
of Aria restaurant
in Sydney and Brisbane.
My cooking style, there's
a little bit of technique involved,
but it comes down to great produce
and don't do a lot to it.
Simplicity in food
is not such a bad thing.
Does it taste alright?
What I try to always instill
in my young apprentices
is you're gonna be in the industry,
you wanna be succesful,
you gotta have passion,
you gotta have drive.
I think the basic mistake
amateur cooks make is
they rush into it, they actually
don't think the recipe out.
Matt Moran, welcome back
to the MasterChef arena.
This is a crucial point
in the competition.
These guys are on their
food journey,
tell us something
about yours.
Well Gary, my food journey
started 25 years ago,
and I have to say,
when I first started,
I had an interest in it,
but it became real love and real passion.
I think for you guys,
if you're gonna be in the top 24,
you're gonna have to show
real passion to be there, I think.
So today we'll be asking
you all the question:
Can you cook as well
as Matt Moran?
This is how the challenge
will work.
You're all gonna have to cook
one of Matt's dishes
inspired by his menu
from Aria.
Matt will cook his dish
stage by stage.
And you will
cook with him.
Only those of you that
keep up with Matt Moran
and of course
nail the standard
will be left at the end
plating up the dish.
We will taste,
pick the best six dishes
that will go straight through
to the top 24.
Okay, so the challenge is to
face off against Matt Moran.
I don't mind cooking against
the other competitors,
but this is just a little
bit out of my league.
Matt, what is the dish that they
all have to cook today?
George,
it's a boned out
quail,
which you have to bone out,
panfry, served with potato gnocchi,
some caramelized pumpkin
and some burnt butter and sage.
I've never boned quail.
I've made gnocchi once
and it was shocking.
This is gonna be tough.
You've got four stages
to get through.
First stage is perfectly
diced pumpkin,
and then you're gonna
blanch it,
so it gonna take three minutes,
you don't wanna do it any longer,
you don't wanna do it
any shorter.
Matt takes six minutes
on a slow day,
we're giving you
eight.
Your eight minutes
starts now.
Guys, start your burners
straight up, yeah?
You want perfectly
1cm dice, yeah?
Matt Moran explains to us that
the pumpkin needs to be cubed,
and it needs to be quite precise,
it needs to be very neat
it need to be even pieces.
At any time you can look at
the screen and see what I'm doing, yes?
The first stage is to
cut the pumpkin, boil it
for three minutes
and refresh it in
ice cold water.
Just saying now Matt is done,
pumpkin's in the water.
I have my cool, so I drop mine
in the water literally as they say that,
so I'm thinking, oh,
keeping up with Matt.
Is that working?
Refreshing in the ice water
just stops the cooking process,
makes sure you don't have
mushy pumpkin at the end of the dish.
You have ten seconds to go.
00:37:47,494 --> 00:37:48,572
00:37:48,772 --> 00:37:49,933
00:37:50,133 --> 00:37:51,141
00:37:51,341 --> 00:37:52,662
00:37:52,862 --> 00:37:54,077
00:37:54,277 --> 00:37:55,462
00:37:55,662 --> 00:37:56,756
00:37:56,956 --> 00:37:57,956
00:37:58,156 --> 00:38:01,824
That's it, stop what you're doing,
step away from your benches.
Mushy pumpkin we have,
don't we?
Let's look at what we've
got here.
Well done, man.
I'm saying it now,
that is so overcooked.
It was like he was squashing my heart,
and squashing my chances,
in his fingers I just
watched it crumble.
Matt, Gary and I
have wandered around
and made the decision
on who has met
Matt Moran's standard of
the pumpkin preparation
and who will be continuing on
in this challenge.
Sarah,
Dominic,
Bel,
Jake,
Tony,
Devon.
Unfortunately, you will not be
continuing on in this recipe.
You can now leave your
work stations.
Right, guys.
Stage two of the recipe
is the fun bit.
Gnocchi time.
The most important thing
when you're making gnocchi
is that the potato's nicely cooked,
you don't add too much flour,
there is a guideline there for you,
but you've gotta feel it also, yeah?
Some potatoes will vary,
in dryness or not.
Right, guys, Matt Moran
takes twelve minutes
to make these gnocchi.
We're gonna give you
sixteen.
The last time I made gnocchi,
it took about half an hour,
and it was awful.
Matt Moran, contestants,
it's gnocchi time.
To make the gnocchi,
I take the potatoes,
which now have been cooked,
mash them through a fine sieve,
add an egg yolk and some flour,
little bit of salt,
and just start to work
that into a dough.
We're looking for pillowy,
velvety, soft gnocchi
that just puffs away
in your mouth.
It's all about pressing
that potato through,
not rubbing it too much,
so it doesn't develop the starch,
and get gluey.
This is the part of the challenge
that I'm feeling most confident about.
I mean, pasta's what
I do best.
But, I start weighing stuff instead of
going by feel,
which is how I normally
cook at home.
As I'm rolling out the dough,
it's not working the way it should.
Thank God, I start actually
thinking properly,
and I start doing it
by feel.
I do a final roll, and it
springs out and goes, bing,
and everything's perfect.
I only have a couple of minutes to go,
so I think I've got to get this gnocchi
into the water, and as it's rising
to the surface,
I realize that it's
far too mushy.
Oh, shit.
It falls apart.
You have sixty seconds
to go!
Come on, guys, Matt Moran's
got his gnocchi finished,
you should be pulling
yours out.
Guys, thirty seconds to go,
come on!
You have ten seconds
to go!
00:41:31,139 --> 00:41:32,220
00:41:32,420 --> 00:41:33,533
00:41:33,733 --> 00:41:35,053
00:41:35,253 --> 00:41:36,661
00:41:36,861 --> 00:41:37,972
00:41:38,172 --> 00:41:39,356
00:41:39,556 --> 00:41:40,669
00:41:40,869 --> 00:41:41,869
00:41:42,069 --> 00:41:46,049
As before, everything down,
stop cooking.
00:41:52,212 --> 00:41:53,411
00:41:53,611 --> 00:41:54,716
00:41:54,916 --> 00:41:55,981
00:41:56,181 --> 00:41:57,181
00:41:57,381 --> 00:41:59,057
That's it.
Henry, that's something
what not to do,
don't put them all together
without putting any oil in them.
- How are you, Aaron?
- Very well.
- Nice gnocchi.
- Thank you.
Nice shape and nice texture.
Nice looking gnocchi, chef.
- Little bit long.
- Yep.
As the judges are approaching
my bench,
Matt doesn't even give it
a second glance,
he pretty much just
keeps moving.
And Gary sort of peeks up
a bit and gives me the death stare.
I just feel terrible.
I'm so embarrassed
what I put in front
of them.
You've completed the
second stage.
We've walked your stations,
and we've identified those gnocchi
that don't
meet Matt's standard
Lacey.
Greg.
Katie.
Henry.
Jackie.
Sharnee.
And Fiona.
I could have done the dish,
if I had a couple more minutes,
you know, would have made all
the difference.
I was really, genuinely
disappointed in myself.
The next stage of course,
is the quail.
Matt, tell us about
how you debone the quail.
The quail's not a chicken.
It's much smaller.
And its bones are much smaller
and much more brittle.
You've gotta cut it down
the backbone,
you've gotta take the bones out,
you've gotta be really careful
that you don't rip the skin,
because when you fry it,
it will makes all the diference
to the quail itself.
So be careful, and watch
what I do.
Now Matt takes only a few minutes
to debone the quail.
We are gonna give you
six minutes.
Six minutes, I wouldn't know
where to start.
Best of luck.
Let's kick this challenge
off now.
The winglets off first.
Knife up the back of the spine,
cut it in half.
Then you open it up.
Very carefully, and then you
start to pick away the bones
on either side.
I'm trying to watch what
Matt's doing,
and I lose track,
he's just so quick.
I'm gone.
If they are a little bit too
hard to move,
then you start using
knife, yeah?
Panic sets in, so I just
go with my instinct,
cut the backbone out,
get my hands in there,
rip every bone out,
it's crazy.
Remember, you can use your
fingers as Matt's done
to find all those
little bones.
I have never deboned a quail,
I've got no idea what I'm doing
whatsoever. Not particularly confident
about the outcome here at all.
Right guys, you've got
two minutes to go, come on.
Get a knife on the bone under it,
and start boning under it, yeah?
Boning knife,
not carving knife.
I'm... I know I'm doing
it wrong.
When I look at it,
I see a mess.
I see an absolute mess.
Cut under it.
- Like this?
- Be careful.
Knife away from you.
We're down to the final
ten seconds.
00:45:28,536 --> 00:45:29,649
00:45:29,849 --> 00:45:31,024
00:45:31,224 --> 00:45:32,305
00:45:32,505 --> 00:45:33,844
00:45:34,044 --> 00:45:35,664
00:45:35,864 --> 00:45:37,224
00:45:37,424 --> 00:45:38,608
00:45:38,808 --> 00:45:39,962
00:45:40,162 --> 00:45:41,162
00:45:41,362 --> 00:45:44,921
That's it. Knives down.
Step away from your benches.
- Carrie.
- Matt.
- Were you watching?
- Bit of a mess that one.
It's missing a thigh,
that one.
What have I done?
Not great.
Not bad.
- It's good, isn't it?
- It's very good.
I was trying to fillet it,
and then I
went right through, chopped
the muscle, just take it off.
I don't know about chopped,
but it's hacked.
Sorry.
You've just completed
the third stage
to Matt Moran's dish.
Based on the high standard
of Aria restaurant,
we've made a decision.
Jo O'Brian.
Carrie.
Jason.
Joanne Zalm.
Jen.
Kate Nugara.
Sadly, you will not be
continuing on in this challenge,
if you could please
join the others.
Walking away from
my station
just feels awful.
Right.
Now onto the fun bit.
Stage four.
Service time.
Game on, ladies and gentlemen.
Matt, what's it all about?
It's all about, George,
getting the prep done,
and cooking it to order,
getting it out there,
you know, making sure
that the quail is not overcooked.
It's all-important,
it will become very dry.
Your butter is beautifully browned,
not too dark, not too light,
otherwise it's too fatty.
And get it all up together,
and get it all hot.
The odds are getting better
all the time.
Fifteen of you competing
for six spots in the top 24.
Matt's got eight minutes
in which to cook his,
you guys have got ten.
And your time starts now.
The final stage
of the challenge
is to actually cook
and plate the dish.
Come on, guys, you need to
push it along,
try and keep up
with Matt.
Quail, I think, is done well,
it's got some nice color on it,
but we can't overcook it.
It's a very thin bird,
very small animal. We're really
looking for a nice pink color there.
And remember, you're chasing
six spots in the top 24.
The odds are good,
but by no means
have you clinched it.
So keep going.
Matt's got his pumpkin
in the pan already,
you've gotta ask yourself,
why that quail has come out,
don't overcook it.
You want that spot
in the top 24,
this is where it counts.
Right now, right here,
MasterChef. Come on!
I'm feeling like I'm bit
under the gun here.
I really haven't
looked up too much,
because I've just been so focused
on what's in front of me.
- Matt, where are you up to?
- Gary, mate, my pumpkin is cooked,
and out of the pan,
my gnocchi is now in the oil,
I'm gonna brown that,
add a little bit of butter,
burn it and the sage,
I'd say about two minutes.
Gee, come on,
guys!
Are you trying to match
what Matt's doing?
- I am. I am.
- Minute for minute?
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Good luck.
- Thank you, sir.
It's quite a buzz actually, because you
have Matt Moran there cooking
and it feels like you're racing
against him,
so you see every stage that he's doing,
you try to match with him
so it's quite... there's quite an energy
and intensity to it.
There you go,
guys.
Come on, guys,
Matt's done,
this is service time.
Hurry up with those entr�es.
Come on! Get that quail up.
You have sixty seconds
to go.
Oh, shit.
- Did you pour all the butter?
- Yeah.
Oh no.
Stupidly I tipped all of my gnocchi
out onto another paper towel,
and I drained my brown butter.
I could not believe I just lost
all my flavor, and sauce
for the dish.
Immediately I just stuck my spoon
in some butter, threw it into the pan,
tried to make a quick
brown butter sauce.
What a jerk!
This is the final
thirty seconds.
The thirty seconds that could
possibly change your life.
Make that plating
absolutely smashing.
Come on!
This is really taking it
down to the line.
I remember that beautiful
pecorino cheese on the gnocchi
and I don't wanna miss out
getting that on the plate.
You have ten seconds
to go!
- Ten seconds! Come on!
- This is it, guys.
00:50:30,575 --> 00:50:31,639
00:50:31,839 --> 00:50:32,839
00:50:33,039 --> 00:50:34,039
00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:35,239
00:50:35,439 --> 00:50:36,439
00:50:36,639 --> 00:50:37,639
00:50:37,839 --> 00:50:38,839
00:50:39,039 --> 00:50:40,039
00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:43,477
That's it! Put your pans down,
plates down.
You're done.
I've put everything I've got
into this, everything I've got, and...
I really need this, I really need
this to go well for me.
Brilliant job.
What a thrill.
What a thrill to be cooking
alongside Matt Moran.
To be honest, you were
racing Matt.
He was taking his time,
he looked pretty relaxed,
but you know what,
towards the end there,
I saw a little bead of sweat.
So he was under pressure too.
So good job. You've put a lot of
hard work in.
A lot of effort. But I'll tell you
right now, there is a few of you here
that won't even get your dishes
to the tasting table.
Based on your plating.
Matt has made his decisions.
Overall, guys, I'm incredibly impressed
by what dishes you put on the plate.
But, unfortunately, there are couple
that really lack the presentation.
And that's something that I would
not let go pass my pass.
So unfortunately,
a few of you
are not going to go
to the tasting table.
And they are:
Richard,
Graham,
Mark,
Callum
and Alvin.
For the rest of you,
congratulations.
Those of you who aren't
going through to the tasting table,
you may go and join
the group.
The last name was mine
and I was devastated.
Gutted.
The ten of you have made it
through every stage.
You should be rightfully
proud of yourself.
The question is,
can you cook as well
as Matt Moran?
I'm a little bit pumped at this stage,
and I'm thinking, you know what?
Maybe, just maybe, there's
a sliver of hope for me yet.
Next, who has cooked
as good as Matt Moran?
Great chef, classic techniques.
Who will impress the judges?
Which six will go through?
The leg is really
quite raw.
And who left a bone
in their quail?
So far in this challenge,
you've had to please
the three chefs.
But it's tasting time, and just like
in any good restaurant,
you never know when the food critics
are gonna walk through the door,
and taste your food.
And of course, we bring to you
MasterChef's very respected food critic,
Matt Preston.
As a critic, when you walk into
a restaurant like Matt's,
you expect that dish
to be perfect.
Perfect in taste, perfect
in technique,
and perfect in presentation.
When I walk along this line,
and taste your dishes,
I look at them with a
restaurant critic's eye.
That gnocchi isn't pillowy,
that quail is undercooked,
your chances of going through
to the final 24
may well, like the great gnocchi,
just... disappear.
Here's the challenge.
A perfect dish
by great chef. Beautifully thought
out. Classic techniques.
This is the yardstick, by which
your dishes will be judged.
Why am I next to Matt?
He's probably cooked a perfect dish,
and they're gonna judge it
against him first. Like...
who needs that?
What makes, for me, this dish
so great, is the confidence
that comes with cooking
it lots of times.
For me this dish is an
experience of tastiness.
- Well done, matey.
- Thanks, Matt.
Jonathan.
- Feeling confident?
- Relatively, yeah.
It's nicely presented.
The only thing that I would say
is the quail hasn't been touched
as much by that caramelization,
and I would like a little more
of that butter sauce.
George didn't say anything.
So I'm at a loss.
Good, bad, indifferent?
Say something.
Magnificent gnocchi, I really
like the way
you got that great color
on the pumpkin.
And there's a really strong, rich
sage flavor
which really sets that pumpkin
alight. So well done.
Thanks.
You happy with that?
I am, yes.
Quail's a little bit dry.
But the flavor's good.
- Well done. It's gorgeous.
- Thank you.
The flavor's like
a bit of punch.
- Matthew. Looking nervous.
- Yes.
- Phillip.
- Hey, George.
I caught you from
the corner of my eye
giving your cross
a little kiss.
You know, it's kept me
on the right path so far, so...
Why do you want this so much?
Everything until now
comes back to food.
It's what my grandmother was
all about and, you know, like,
I'm doing this for her as well.
Tell us about your
grandmother.
She had this son,
called Phillip.
And he was about my age
when he passed away from cancer,
and, like, when I was born,
that's why they named me Phillip.
She...
I'm trying to do everything for her
because she sees him in me,
so, like, I really wanna make her,
like, proud,
because she didn't get the chance
to see him
go through the rest
of his life.
So I do that for her.
- Done a great job so far, Phillip.
- Thanks.
You've really taken the butter
right to the edge.
But to the edge
where I actually like it.
The quail could do with
a little bit more color,
but it's cooked perfectly.
It's beautiful.
- Thanks George.
- Well done.
Thanks, mate.
Thank you.
The judges were playing a bit of
good cop, bad cop,
so I was feeling a little bit
of mixed emotion,
but I thought, I've probably
done enough.
You need some gnocchi lessons
from my wife,
that'd be the first thing
I would suggest,
they're just... chewy.
You've overdeveloped the gluten,
they got that kinda bounciness
to them.
It's a pity, cause otherwise
that dish is beautiful.
Thanks, man.
- Stewart.
- Gary.
Is this dish good enough
to get you into the top 24?
- I desperately hope so.
- Desperately hope so.
The quail looks a little insipid,
it's not colored well enough,
and the leg is
really quite raw.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Oh no.
In the back of my head,
I'm thinking,
he's playing a practical joke on me,
he's playing a practical joke on me.
But I know...
I've left a bone
in the quail.
So disappointed.
- This in a restaurant?
- Crucified.
So disappointed.
The hero of the dish is, thank
heavens for you, the gnocchi.
It's plump, it's got a little bit of
resistance when you bite into it,
which it has to have, otherwise
it just ends up being sludgy,
when you bite into it, it just
pops slightly, and then it disappears.
That's a really nice gnocchi.
Well done.
That's excellent to hear.
Thank you.
I'm daring to dream,
but I'm terrified that that dream's
not gonna come true.
Now six spots left in the
top 24 for today.
The question is, in terms
of that dish,
did you cook it as well
as Matt Moran?
I'm very nervous.
My heart's pounding,
ahh, this could be it.
If I call your name,
please step forward.
Jonathan.
Peter.
Jonathan,
Peter,
let's hope you're smiling
for a reason.
Congratulations.
It's white MasterChef
apron time.
Getting in the top 24
will change my life.
Welcome.
To be able to just have
that little bit of hope that
I can take this passion further
and actually
really let it engulf my life
is just
so exciting.
- Cheers mate.
- Brilliant.
Three days of cooking,
two main challenges,
cooking against Matt Moran,
and I'm in.
Well done. Go and join
the rest.
Congratulations, mate.
Finally, I'm there.
I'm there.
Aaron.
After the bone incident, I'm about
99.99% sure that I'm going.
George found the bone
in the quail,
and that's not good.
You can't do that again.
I understand.
But can I tell you,
that gnocchi
was your savior.
It was light, it was fluffy,
it was beautifully cooked,
and it was the best on the line.
And for that, and you may smile...
You're going through.
Thank you.
Thank you.
- Well done, buddy.
- Thank you very much.
- Congratulations. You deserve it.
- I appreciate that.
That gnocchi was
absolutely phenomenal.
Thank you very much.
Don't ever leave a bone
in there again. Alright?
I promise I never will do it again.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you all. Appreciate it.
Adam.
Kate. Please step forward.
Well, the question is,
was your quail dish
good enough to put you
into the top 24?
Congratulations, you're both through
to the top 24.
Oh, my God.
- Congratulations, man.
- Thank you.
- Thanks very much.
- You deserve it.
- Welcome to the top 24.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
One more very special place
left in the top 24 today.
One person whose life
is about to change.
That person is
Phillip.
Everyone just erupts in cheers,
and it was definitely, by far,
the best moment of
my whole life.
Well done, buddy.
Good stuff.
Well done. Well done.
Well done.
- Good job.
- Thanks.
Phillip.
Welcome to the top 24.
Just gonna go all out. All out.
I've got the opportunity now,
and not gonna let it go.
Tomorrow night on
MasterChef Australia.
Welcome to MasterClass.
It's a change of pace
as Gary and George
serve up a 90-minute special
for the gourmet chef in everyone.
- George, you excited?
- I'm pumped.
On the menu, simple,
yet spectacular baby vegetables.
This is what it's all about.
Adding the love to the food.
And quick and easy
raspberry dessert.
And Gary shows you how to work
the grill like a pro.
I bought the mustard, Gary.
Forgot the beers.
Plus, for the first time,
Matt Moran takes you
into his award-winning kitchen
to whip up the perfect party starter.
No more cheese and crackers
anymore, um?
- Then, on Sunday.
- Today's now or never.
With only twelve
places left,
two challenges will put the
remaining hopefuls to the test.
Come on!
First, they'll face off
in a mystery box.
This chocolate mousse is either
gonna make or break me.
Then finally, they'll have to impress
a big gun of Australian cuisine.
Neil Perry.
Not putting a dish up complete,
it's a bit of a no-no.
I don't wanna go.
MasterChef Australia.
For some of you
this will be the last time
you'll ever cook in the
MasterChef kitchen.
The pressure of the
fresh produce challenge
was too much
for some.
And we said goodbye
to four more hopefuls.
I can happily walk away
and say I gave it what I could.
Tonight, ten spots in
the final 24
are up for grabs.
You're about to enter
into a gladiator-style battle.
To get their chance,
they'll face off.
It's a little bit out of the
frying pan into the fire.
The first will be
a test of precision and accuracy.
This is gonna be tough.
The second will see them
cook off
against a giant of
the culinary world.
Question is, can you cook
as well as Matt Moran.
Maybe I'm out of
my depth here.
I can't believe it's day four,
it's the MasterChef top 50
and I'm still here.
There are 22 spots left
in the top 24,
and I'm really keen to get
one of these as I wanna
get fast-tracked to the end
of this competition.
I feel like we're getting
a little bit closer to
narrowing down the bunch,
which is exciting.
That's what I like to see,
a bit of excitement.
You're walking to the kitchen
and you wanna have a go.
What's next?
You've spent the last three
days cooking up a storm
in the MasterChef kitchen,
and we've seen some really
passionate cooks
and good food.
Some creative food.
Which is great to see.
You've got two very
comfortable and relaxed
contestants over there.
Jimmy and Claire,
you did well.
Two safe spots
in the top 24.
They've saved themselves
a little bit of the pain and drama
that you guys might be going through
in the next couple days.
The big thing about today
is that ten more places
are up for grabs.
When I hear that there's
ten places up for grabs
by the end of the day,
I'm thinking,
okay, today could be
my best shot.
This could change your life.
Right, this is the way
it's gonna work,
there's two challenges.
What is the first challenge?
It's called mise-en-place.
Put in place.
Preparation, the way you
peel your vegetables,
the way you prepare them
to then go on and cook something.
The smart chef is the
chef that stands still
and doesn't run around
like a lunatic all day.
Why? Cause he's had
mise-en-place.
He's put everything into place,
he's gotten himself or herself ready
to start preparing
for the day.
George has explained
what mise-en-place is,
this is going to be
a mise-en-place marathon.
If you look behind me,
there's four benches.
Each bench is a station
with a task set up,
ready to go.
Each one of those tasks
has to be completed
with precision and accuracy.
The kicker here is,
if you're not doing a great job,
we're gonna knock
you out.
Noone's being eliminated here,
but you don't progress.
You complete one,
you do it well,
you move on to the next task,
and then the next task,
and then the next task
until there are only four
of you left standing.
We need to make sure that we're
getting from one bench to the others
so the pressure's really on
to make sure
that you're doing the right thing
on that bench, on that station,
and then you get through
to the next one.
Those four that show
great skills
across all of those tasks
will go straight through
into the top 24.
Right.
Enough of the talk,
you can go and take your places
at the first bench.
Off you go.
Your first mise-en-place
is the basis
of any good recipe.
In front of you is a pile of eggs
and you have to perfectly
separate those egg whites
and the egg yolk.
The egg whites
need to be clean.
The egg yolks as well.
Clean and intact.
This is how you do it.
Just crack the egg gently, then you
cup that egg yolk into the shell
allowing that second
white to come off.
You want all the egg white
to come off.
So once again.
Cupping that little yolk,
separate the yolk,
done.
It seems to be a fairly
easy task, but...
with all the pressure in the
MasterChef kitchen,
even simple task can
seem quite daunting.
Get going until you receive
a tap on the shoulder.
When you do,
step back.
It means your work is not
up to scratch,
and you will no longer be
participating in this challenge.
I'm determined not to have them
tap me on my shoulder, yeah, no.
Ladies and gentlemen,
pick up an egg
and get cracking.
Oh my God.
I step up and the first
thing I notice,
my hands are just shaking
like a leaf.
So what would normally be
a simple task, was just made
a hundred times harder.
Jackie, what's that?
I got the yolk in.
You can't use that now,
because you've got fat running
all the way through there.
So you've got, spread yolk, spread
yolk all the way through there,
- I will right that.
- Gone. So tap on the shoulder, Jackie,
step back.
I'm the first one, I couldn't
believe that.
Now remember, if we tap you
on the shoulder, that's it,
you're out of the challenge,
and you step back.
Jake, mate, you're a messy bugger,
so step back, my friend.
Tony, bad luck, buddy.
Dominic, you're done,
step back.
Every time the judges walk past you,
you're just expecting
to lean over your shoulder and give you
the tap and it's all over.
It's really, really tense,
but you've gotta remain calm.
Nothing you can do with that,
goes in the bin.
Yeah.
Gee.
That's another one.
You're done. Get out.
Stand back.
Have a look behind you
because there's seven people
that have been
tapped out.
We're looking for three more.
Henry's doing brilliantly. He's
very slow, very precise,
which is unlike Skye.
Oh, Skye.
Sorry, my darling.
There's a goldfish in there, George.
There's a goldfish.
- Oh, my gosh.
- And fish food.
- Look at all the fish food.
- Oh my gosh.
You are out.
Alright, that's nine out, we're
looking for one more person.
This is where
the pressure's on.
You don't know when your
time's gonna come,
so you're sort of just waiting
for that tap.
It's very,
very stressful.
Stop for while
I see.
Ohh. Look at that!
Breathe. It's all shell.
It's loads of shell.
It's no good,
man.
I'm the last person that
actually gets tapped out.
So I am quite
disappointed.
Right, that's it!
Well done!
We have tapped out
ten people.
So unfortunately, those ten
do not go onto the next task.
You are out of
the challenge.
The rest of you, you are
one step closer.
One step closer to earning
one of those four spaces
in the top 24.
Let's go.
Coming up.
The mise-en-place challenge
continues.
They're like sharks coming
up and down the bench,
looking at you from a tank.
Four chefs will secure their place
in the top 24.
This is the girl to beat,
come on, guys!
And later.
Head to head with Matt Moran.
Make sure that oil is hot.
Six more places are at stake,
emotions are high.
Devastated. Gutted.
And dreams are shattered.
We'd have gone from
separating eggs,
now we're on the next bench,
waiting to start that challenge,
before we can move on
to anything else.
Guys, in front of you
is a box.
Let's have a look what's sleeping
underneat those dooners.
That's right, your second
mise-on-place task is
julienne of carrot.
Julienne of carrot is one
of the most common cuts
in any hatted restaurant.
We're looking for perfect
matchstick-size
carrot julienne.
I've never done it. To tell you
that I'm terrified
would be an absolute
understatement here.
Right, first step.
We need to
barrel the vegetable.
Give it a flat
surface to work on.
So we end up with
a beautiful block
ready to do the
next step.
Matchstick.
Not cricket bats.
Then we're moving to
julienne mode. Okay?
Equal, perfect
sticks of carrot.
And there you have it.
Perfect julienne.
I know what it is,
I've done it before,
but I'm not very precise.
Get chopping!
- That's what we're looking for.
- Good.
- That's fantastic.
- Look at those.
- Look at that.
- Look at those babies.
That is fantastic.
This is the girl to beat.
Marion is making beautiful
flawless carrot julienne.
Come on, guys!
It's just wonderful to have
someone say something like that,
and it's kind of a weird feeling
when you haven't felt that before.
What is that?
It's like a skateboard ramp.
Okay.
You're out.
- I'm not happy, George.
- I'm not happy either.
Too thick.
I could feel the judges kind of,
you know, they're like sharks
coming up and down the bench,
looking at you from a tank,
you're kind of thinking,
I hope I'm doing alright.
I just keep my head down
and keep cutting.
It's like a little...
It's like a little moustache.
Step back.
Yeah.
- George, is that what you did?
- No.
Please, step back.
There are two more people
that are gonna get tapped.
We're coming down the line
for the last time.
Sorry, mate.
- Are you happy with that?
- They're good.
One more carrot.
Let's get it done.
What's that?
What's that one?
You're out.
Right, that's it.
We've knocked out ten.
- Well done, guys. Brilliant.
- Well done, guys. Well done.
A big deep breath,
and on to the next bench.
Four coveted spots,
think about it.
No more challenges,
no more tests,
no more eliminations,
straight through to the 24,
off to the MasterChef kitchen.
That's what you came
here for.
Your third mise-en-place task
is under those cloches.
Yes.
Oysters.
To shuck oysters.
It's one of those
dying arts.
And to show you
how it's done,
I'm gonna let
Gary do it.
Ah.
Let's go.
Right.
Oysters.
You've got two choices,
you're going at the hinge,
which is really hard work,
or you can go in at the side,
which tends to be
a little bit easier.
It's about trying
to tease the oyster
and prise it open.
And once you prise...
once you're starting to prise,
then you can release it
all the way around.
And then you've got to
release underneath the...
on the top shell, so that
you can lift off the top.
Alright?
Then all you've got to do,
is you've just got to release the little
abductor muscle
that's on the corner there.
Then make sure that that oyster
is loose in its shell.
Good luck, guys.
Now here's the kicker!
It's a race.
You have to shuck twelve oysters
as fast as you can.
And they have to be
beautiful.
We're not accepting
rubbish.
The first ten
to shuck twelve perfect
oysters
go straight through.
No tapping on the shoulder,
this is different challenge,
different task.
You heard it from Gary.
We want perfect oysters.
We're not gonna accept
oysters
that are slashed and gashed.
Let's get shucking.
We have the first one opened up
here, Courney's on fire.
Come on!
We've got an oyster up
from Adele and Aaron.
Courtney's on oyster
number three.
Daniel's on two,
Marion's on two,
Phillip's on two.
Aaron's on five.
Loving it.
Considering I haven't shucked
one oyster in my life,
let alone twelve perfect ones,
I'm feeling that maybe
I'm out of my depth here. Aside
from the fact that I'm pretty positive
that I'm gonna stick the shucking
knife through my hand at any moment.
Have you opened it,
eased the side,
or did you use the hinge?
- I'm actually going in from the hinge,
just cause that's how
my dad's taught me.
- Does your dad flip them over as well?
- He does.
Gee, he's an oyster
connoisseur, isn't he?
He is. My grandfather is actually
an oyster farmer.
Ahh.
- It's all coming out now.
- Sharnee's grandfather is an oyster farmer.
- Go, Courtney!
- Go, Courtney!
- Two, four, six, eight, on a nine.
- That's what I'm talking about.
Sharnee's on a ninth,
she's catching up to Courtney.
Wow! Who would have thought?
It's the Melbourne Cup of Oysters
right here in MasterChef!
Come on.
Adele's on five.
Callum... oh, he's on two.
Soon as you have twelve,
and you're happy with the quality,
you're ready to send them
to the restaurant,
shoot your hand up.
- That's it. Number one.
- Ohhh! Sharnee! Number one!
Let's have a... let's have a look.
Do they look good?
Yeah, they're good. They're beautiful,
you've kept all the juice, Sharnee.
The judges are happy
and I've realized I've won,
and it's the best feeling.
And Courtney.
Are you happy?
Ah, they look beautiful.
Well done! Fantastic job.
Give me five.
Oh! Aaron!
Phillip!
That's four people through.
All right.
Up here, Peter.
Let's have a look.
Yeah, happy with that.
Yup, that's excellent.
Good job.
Whoa! Number five.
Nah. What that's one there?
That's disgusting.
- Daniel's done. Let's have a look.
- Nah. Do it again.
Yup, happy with that.
Brilliant job. You're through.
Number six. Four
more spaces to go.
- Marion!
- Number seven.
Marion, give us a look.
Marion number seven.
Three more spots to go!
Come on, guys!
Ten, eleven... Bingo, twelve,
you're in. You are through.
There is two more spots
to go, Claud is done.
Excellent, you are through
to the next bench, Claud,
brilliant job.
One more space!
- Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
- Hand up.
We've got one here!
Let's have a look.
Are they good enough?
That's the question.
Stewart's got his hand up.
This is the last spot.
George, are they good?
Got that last spot
still up for grabs.
Come on, guys, let's go,
one more spot!
- Hand up, hand up!
- Yeah.
We've got one here.
Let's have a look.
- Stewart's got his hand up.
- It's the last spot.
Are they good enough?
- George, are they good?
- They are fantastic.
Sorry, mate.
Just missed out.
It just feels amazing.
It just feels like I can actually
achieve this.
Look at this. How good
do you feel?
Huh? The ten of you
standing here,
having completed all
those basic tasks,
and won through.
Look at those guys over there,
looking on jealous,
wishing they had
the opportunity
that you have
right now.
Why?
Because you've got the chance
to secure yourself a spot
in the top 24.
Straight through,
no more tests and
challenges,
straight through to the
MasterChef kitchen.
Gee! Wouldn't that be
fantastic?
Okay, four of us are going in,
six of us aren't.
I'm a gambling woman,
and that's a pretty good odds.
So let's start this thing up,
pumping up,
and roll the next task in.
- It's a whole tank of fish.
- Oh, my god.
In that box is either my ticket
into the competition,
or it's, you know,
into another challenge later on,
so I've really got to get,
whatever's in that box, done.
So the lid comes off
this huge blue box
and it's all these amazing looking
Tasmanian atlantic salmon.
So this is the challenge.
You're gonna fillet the fish.
I've never filleted
a whole fish before.
You go to the fish shop
and you buy it.
You're gonna give us six
perfect portions
weighing 180 grams.
We will give you
a ten gram leeway either way,
because you're beginners.
Food cost is one of the most
important things
in keeping your
restaurant alive.
And that goes right down to
filleting the fish.
They have to weigh 180 grams,
or you start losing money.
And if they're too under,
then you start losing customers.
The first four people
to deliver
six perfect portions
at 180 grams
secure those spots
in the top 24.
Right, first thing I do,
is remove the head.
Right, next step
is we wanna take this first
fillet off.
We need clean movement
with our knife, running
the length of the fish.
And then, you wanna click
the first bones
and what I end up with,
the perfect fillet of fish.
So we need six portions
at 180 grams
with 10 gram leeway
either side.
Always skin-side down
when you portion fish.
175.
That could be.
A little square up
and then what do we got?
179.
I look at George's fillets
and I'm...
I'm trying to get a feel
for the size,
what thickness I should be
cutting mine in comparison to his.
Six fillets, 180 grams each.
How hard could it be?
This is your moment.
Make it happen.
Go.
I grab my first fish, and I think,
let's just be confident
and cut straight behind the head,
look beautiful and start filleting,
and it just happened
perfectly.
I'm thinking, looks great,
let's do the portioning,
and then I realize, I've got
no idea how much 180 grams is.
- Are they... are those yours?
- Yeah. That one is more.
I need to go up and at least
weigh some
so I know what 180 grams
feels like generally,
then that's gonna give me
a rough gauge
on what the others
need to be.
Right, let's go.
So we're looking for 180,
that's 201
you're 20 grams,
you can trim that away a bit.
165.
151.
That one you can't use,
these you can trim away a bit,
tidy up, let's go.
Phillip weighing one.
207.
So Marion, you gotta get 180 grams,
that's 200, okay?
Gee, Peter, that's small.
130 grams.
Right, let's have a look.
168. Too small.
On the second visit up to the judges,
and I'm thinking, okay,
the only thing between me
and the ticket into this competition
are six 180 gram
pieces of fish.
- Marion, first one on, 189.
- Bang!
176!
Third one.
183.
Three out of three,
Marion.
Halfway there.
181.
- That's it.
- Four out of four.
They look good, George,
they look good.
183.
Well done, Marion.
You need one more,
and you've got a spot
in the top 24.
There's no way I can be that lucky.
I've had five in a row.
Put it on, let's see
what it says.
Marion, you need one more,
and 180 grams
with 10 grams leeway
either way,
and you've got a spot
in the top 24.
I'm thinking, this last one
is gonna stuff me up,
and I'm gonna have to go back
and cut whole another salmon.
Put it on,
let's see what it says.
180!
That's it! Marion is
the first one through!
I think I might have squealed,
I'm not a squealer,
I've never squaled in my life,
and I was squealing.
I think I might have done two,
but, you know, what can you do?
So exciting.
- Well done.
- Well done.
Right, that means
there's three spots left.
First go, Claud.
Deep breath.
159, too small.
- 151 grams. Too small.
- Too small.
So you've got three.
Come on, guys,
don't lose heart.
Just when you thought
you're out,
these guys are still getting it wrong,
so keep joining that queues.
- You need another two.
- Good luck.
So I'm in front of Gary and George,
I put my salmon on the scale,
it turns out that I actually
get a few right.
You have four!
174 grams.
- You have five.
- One more and you'll be through.
- One more, how does it feel?
- I'd be very relieved.
I've got five right, and this
last one has to be spot on.
Come on, mate.
Let's do it.
174!
- The little beauty.
- Good luck, mate.
Well done, mate. Good job.
Well done.
So relieved and so excited
to get through to the top 24.
Never experienced, you know,
wanting something so badly,
and just finally getting
so much relief,
that it all actually
has happened.
Right, Aaron, go.
I put my first fillets
on the scale,
and hey, they actually
start weighing in.
Three of them in fact
are good.
- 172 grams. Spot on.
- So you've got four.
185 grams. That's five.
You need one more.
- I only got one left.
- I pick it up, I place it down,
and it's under.
128 grams, Aaron,
so close.
Disappointed? Absolutely.
Absolutely mortified.
Aaron, back on.
Let's have another go.
- Adele.
- Yes.
Have you done it?
That's the question.
I hope so.
189.
183.
So Aaron leaves
and I think,
there's two spots down,
there's two left,
there's Adele,
and then there is me.
182! That's what I'm talking
about. You've got five.
- Yeah.
- You need one more.
Shit. Okay,
do that one.
For God's sake.
It's alright. It's okay.
- Adele.
- I know. It's alright.
- Shall we have a look?
- Yeah. It's okay.
You tell me what number
it says on the scales.
183.
I'm in, I'm in,
oh my god, I'm in...
I'm happy, happy, happy.
Right, we've got one space left.
One space left,
and there's seven of you
standing here.
Courtney,
let's go.
190.
185 grams. That's two
that are right.
172 grams. That's three
that are right.
You're halfway there,
Courtney.
I'm standing behind Courtney
and there's one spot left,
and I was just thinking
it's done, it's slipped away.
181 grams!
Four out of four,
two more to go.
174 grams.
Five out of five.
Courtney,
go for your life.
Ah! 178!
You're through!
- How is that one?
- Oh my God.
I've got it. I've got the last spot.
I'm through.
I can't believe it, I'm just
thrilled. I'm in.
Well done to the
four winners.
You guys have nailed the basics
of any commercial kitchen.
So you deserve to join
Jimmy and Claire.
Right, guys.
Time to take off those
plain white aprons
and pop on
the MasterChef aprons.
Marion, congratulations.
Wear it with honor and pride.
Congratulations.
Adele, well done.
- Courtney, congratulations my darling.
- Thank you.
- Daniel, well done, big boy.
- Thank you very much, George.
Congratulations.
Look at that.
How does that feel?
Good on you guys!
Good on you guys!
Guys.
Go over and join
Jimmy and Claire
in the top 24.
Well done.
Right, let's get into
the next challenge.
You came here for a spot
in the top 24.
That's why you're
here.
Let's not forget there was
10 spots up for grabs today.
4 of them have already
been taken,
meaning six
are left.
If you want one of those
six spots,
you have to cook
to win.
You're about to enter into
a gladiator-style battle,
a one-on-one competition
with one of Australia's top chefs.
And he is, of course...
Right, let's get into
the next challenge.
You're about to enter into
a gladiator-style battle,
a one-on-one competition
with one of Australia's top chefs.
He opened his first
restaurant in 1991,
and that restaurant
is Aria,
he has just opened
his second Aria in Brisbane,
let's welcome a true
MasterChef
to our arena,
Matt Moran.
I'm Matt Moran,
head chef and co-owner
of Aria restaurant
in Sydney and Brisbane.
My cooking style, there's
a little bit of technique involved,
but it comes down to great produce
and don't do a lot to it.
Simplicity in food
is not such a bad thing.
Does it taste alright?
What I try to always instill
in my young apprentices
is you're gonna be in the industry,
you wanna be succesful,
you gotta have passion,
you gotta have drive.
I think the basic mistake
amateur cooks make is
they rush into it, they actually
don't think the recipe out.
Matt Moran, welcome back
to the MasterChef arena.
This is a crucial point
in the competition.
These guys are on their
food journey,
tell us something
about yours.
Well Gary, my food journey
started 25 years ago,
and I have to say,
when I first started,
I had an interest in it,
but it became real love and real passion.
I think for you guys,
if you're gonna be in the top 24,
you're gonna have to show
real passion to be there, I think.
So today we'll be asking
you all the question:
Can you cook as well
as Matt Moran?
This is how the challenge
will work.
You're all gonna have to cook
one of Matt's dishes
inspired by his menu
from Aria.
Matt will cook his dish
stage by stage.
And you will
cook with him.
Only those of you that
keep up with Matt Moran
and of course
nail the standard
will be left at the end
plating up the dish.
We will taste,
pick the best six dishes
that will go straight through
to the top 24.
Okay, so the challenge is to
face off against Matt Moran.
I don't mind cooking against
the other competitors,
but this is just a little
bit out of my league.
Matt, what is the dish that they
all have to cook today?
George,
it's a boned out
quail,
which you have to bone out,
panfry, served with potato gnocchi,
some caramelized pumpkin
and some burnt butter and sage.
I've never boned quail.
I've made gnocchi once
and it was shocking.
This is gonna be tough.
You've got four stages
to get through.
First stage is perfectly
diced pumpkin,
and then you're gonna
blanch it,
so it gonna take three minutes,
you don't wanna do it any longer,
you don't wanna do it
any shorter.
Matt takes six minutes
on a slow day,
we're giving you
eight.
Your eight minutes
starts now.
Guys, start your burners
straight up, yeah?
You want perfectly
1cm dice, yeah?
Matt Moran explains to us that
the pumpkin needs to be cubed,
and it needs to be quite precise,
it needs to be very neat
it need to be even pieces.
At any time you can look at
the screen and see what I'm doing, yes?
The first stage is to
cut the pumpkin, boil it
for three minutes
and refresh it in
ice cold water.
Just saying now Matt is done,
pumpkin's in the water.
I have my cool, so I drop mine
in the water literally as they say that,
so I'm thinking, oh,
keeping up with Matt.
Is that working?
Refreshing in the ice water
just stops the cooking process,
makes sure you don't have
mushy pumpkin at the end of the dish.
You have ten seconds to go.
00:37:47,494 --> 00:37:48,572
00:37:48,772 --> 00:37:49,933
00:37:50,133 --> 00:37:51,141
00:37:51,341 --> 00:37:52,662
00:37:52,862 --> 00:37:54,077
00:37:54,277 --> 00:37:55,462
00:37:55,662 --> 00:37:56,756
00:37:56,956 --> 00:37:57,956
00:37:58,156 --> 00:38:01,824
That's it, stop what you're doing,
step away from your benches.
Mushy pumpkin we have,
don't we?
Let's look at what we've
got here.
Well done, man.
I'm saying it now,
that is so overcooked.
It was like he was squashing my heart,
and squashing my chances,
in his fingers I just
watched it crumble.
Matt, Gary and I
have wandered around
and made the decision
on who has met
Matt Moran's standard of
the pumpkin preparation
and who will be continuing on
in this challenge.
Sarah,
Dominic,
Bel,
Jake,
Tony,
Devon.
Unfortunately, you will not be
continuing on in this recipe.
You can now leave your
work stations.
Right, guys.
Stage two of the recipe
is the fun bit.
Gnocchi time.
The most important thing
when you're making gnocchi
is that the potato's nicely cooked,
you don't add too much flour,
there is a guideline there for you,
but you've gotta feel it also, yeah?
Some potatoes will vary,
in dryness or not.
Right, guys, Matt Moran
takes twelve minutes
to make these gnocchi.
We're gonna give you
sixteen.
The last time I made gnocchi,
it took about half an hour,
and it was awful.
Matt Moran, contestants,
it's gnocchi time.
To make the gnocchi,
I take the potatoes,
which now have been cooked,
mash them through a fine sieve,
add an egg yolk and some flour,
little bit of salt,
and just start to work
that into a dough.
We're looking for pillowy,
velvety, soft gnocchi
that just puffs away
in your mouth.
It's all about pressing
that potato through,
not rubbing it too much,
so it doesn't develop the starch,
and get gluey.
This is the part of the challenge
that I'm feeling most confident about.
I mean, pasta's what
I do best.
But, I start weighing stuff instead of
going by feel,
which is how I normally
cook at home.
As I'm rolling out the dough,
it's not working the way it should.
Thank God, I start actually
thinking properly,
and I start doing it
by feel.
I do a final roll, and it
springs out and goes, bing,
and everything's perfect.
I only have a couple of minutes to go,
so I think I've got to get this gnocchi
into the water, and as it's rising
to the surface,
I realize that it's
far too mushy.
Oh, shit.
It falls apart.
You have sixty seconds
to go!
Come on, guys, Matt Moran's
got his gnocchi finished,
you should be pulling
yours out.
Guys, thirty seconds to go,
come on!
You have ten seconds
to go!
00:41:31,139 --> 00:41:32,220
00:41:32,420 --> 00:41:33,533
00:41:33,733 --> 00:41:35,053
00:41:35,253 --> 00:41:36,661
00:41:36,861 --> 00:41:37,972
00:41:38,172 --> 00:41:39,356
00:41:39,556 --> 00:41:40,669
00:41:40,869 --> 00:41:41,869
00:41:42,069 --> 00:41:46,049
As before, everything down,
stop cooking.
00:41:52,212 --> 00:41:53,411
00:41:53,611 --> 00:41:54,716
00:41:54,916 --> 00:41:55,981
00:41:56,181 --> 00:41:57,181
00:41:57,381 --> 00:41:59,057
That's it.
Henry, that's something
what not to do,
don't put them all together
without putting any oil in them.
- How are you, Aaron?
- Very well.
- Nice gnocchi.
- Thank you.
Nice shape and nice texture.
Nice looking gnocchi, chef.
- Little bit long.
- Yep.
As the judges are approaching
my bench,
Matt doesn't even give it
a second glance,
he pretty much just
keeps moving.
And Gary sort of peeks up
a bit and gives me the death stare.
I just feel terrible.
I'm so embarrassed
what I put in front
of them.
You've completed the
second stage.
We've walked your stations,
and we've identified those gnocchi
that don't
meet Matt's standard
Lacey.
Greg.
Katie.
Henry.
Jackie.
Sharnee.
And Fiona.
I could have done the dish,
if I had a couple more minutes,
you know, would have made all
the difference.
I was really, genuinely
disappointed in myself.
The next stage of course,
is the quail.
Matt, tell us about
how you debone the quail.
The quail's not a chicken.
It's much smaller.
And its bones are much smaller
and much more brittle.
You've gotta cut it down
the backbone,
you've gotta take the bones out,
you've gotta be really careful
that you don't rip the skin,
because when you fry it,
it will makes all the diference
to the quail itself.
So be careful, and watch
what I do.
Now Matt takes only a few minutes
to debone the quail.
We are gonna give you
six minutes.
Six minutes, I wouldn't know
where to start.
Best of luck.
Let's kick this challenge
off now.
The winglets off first.
Knife up the back of the spine,
cut it in half.
Then you open it up.
Very carefully, and then you
start to pick away the bones
on either side.
I'm trying to watch what
Matt's doing,
and I lose track,
he's just so quick.
I'm gone.
If they are a little bit too
hard to move,
then you start using
knife, yeah?
Panic sets in, so I just
go with my instinct,
cut the backbone out,
get my hands in there,
rip every bone out,
it's crazy.
Remember, you can use your
fingers as Matt's done
to find all those
little bones.
I have never deboned a quail,
I've got no idea what I'm doing
whatsoever. Not particularly confident
about the outcome here at all.
Right guys, you've got
two minutes to go, come on.
Get a knife on the bone under it,
and start boning under it, yeah?
Boning knife,
not carving knife.
I'm... I know I'm doing
it wrong.
When I look at it,
I see a mess.
I see an absolute mess.
Cut under it.
- Like this?
- Be careful.
Knife away from you.
We're down to the final
ten seconds.
00:45:28,536 --> 00:45:29,649
00:45:29,849 --> 00:45:31,024
00:45:31,224 --> 00:45:32,305
00:45:32,505 --> 00:45:33,844
00:45:34,044 --> 00:45:35,664
00:45:35,864 --> 00:45:37,224
00:45:37,424 --> 00:45:38,608
00:45:38,808 --> 00:45:39,962
00:45:40,162 --> 00:45:41,162
00:45:41,362 --> 00:45:44,921
That's it. Knives down.
Step away from your benches.
- Carrie.
- Matt.
- Were you watching?
- Bit of a mess that one.
It's missing a thigh,
that one.
What have I done?
Not great.
Not bad.
- It's good, isn't it?
- It's very good.
I was trying to fillet it,
and then I
went right through, chopped
the muscle, just take it off.
I don't know about chopped,
but it's hacked.
Sorry.
You've just completed
the third stage
to Matt Moran's dish.
Based on the high standard
of Aria restaurant,
we've made a decision.
Jo O'Brian.
Carrie.
Jason.
Joanne Zalm.
Jen.
Kate Nugara.
Sadly, you will not be
continuing on in this challenge,
if you could please
join the others.
Walking away from
my station
just feels awful.
Right.
Now onto the fun bit.
Stage four.
Service time.
Game on, ladies and gentlemen.
Matt, what's it all about?
It's all about, George,
getting the prep done,
and cooking it to order,
getting it out there,
you know, making sure
that the quail is not overcooked.
It's all-important,
it will become very dry.
Your butter is beautifully browned,
not too dark, not too light,
otherwise it's too fatty.
And get it all up together,
and get it all hot.
The odds are getting better
all the time.
Fifteen of you competing
for six spots in the top 24.
Matt's got eight minutes
in which to cook his,
you guys have got ten.
And your time starts now.
The final stage
of the challenge
is to actually cook
and plate the dish.
Come on, guys, you need to
push it along,
try and keep up
with Matt.
Quail, I think, is done well,
it's got some nice color on it,
but we can't overcook it.
It's a very thin bird,
very small animal. We're really
looking for a nice pink color there.
And remember, you're chasing
six spots in the top 24.
The odds are good,
but by no means
have you clinched it.
So keep going.
Matt's got his pumpkin
in the pan already,
you've gotta ask yourself,
why that quail has come out,
don't overcook it.
You want that spot
in the top 24,
this is where it counts.
Right now, right here,
MasterChef. Come on!
I'm feeling like I'm bit
under the gun here.
I really haven't
looked up too much,
because I've just been so focused
on what's in front of me.
- Matt, where are you up to?
- Gary, mate, my pumpkin is cooked,
and out of the pan,
my gnocchi is now in the oil,
I'm gonna brown that,
add a little bit of butter,
burn it and the sage,
I'd say about two minutes.
Gee, come on,
guys!
Are you trying to match
what Matt's doing?
- I am. I am.
- Minute for minute?
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Good luck.
- Thank you, sir.
It's quite a buzz actually, because you
have Matt Moran there cooking
and it feels like you're racing
against him,
so you see every stage that he's doing,
you try to match with him
so it's quite... there's quite an energy
and intensity to it.
There you go,
guys.
Come on, guys,
Matt's done,
this is service time.
Hurry up with those entr�es.
Come on! Get that quail up.
You have sixty seconds
to go.
Oh, shit.
- Did you pour all the butter?
- Yeah.
Oh no.
Stupidly I tipped all of my gnocchi
out onto another paper towel,
and I drained my brown butter.
I could not believe I just lost
all my flavor, and sauce
for the dish.
Immediately I just stuck my spoon
in some butter, threw it into the pan,
tried to make a quick
brown butter sauce.
What a jerk!
This is the final
thirty seconds.
The thirty seconds that could
possibly change your life.
Make that plating
absolutely smashing.
Come on!
This is really taking it
down to the line.
I remember that beautiful
pecorino cheese on the gnocchi
and I don't wanna miss out
getting that on the plate.
You have ten seconds
to go!
- Ten seconds! Come on!
- This is it, guys.
00:50:30,575 --> 00:50:31,639
00:50:31,839 --> 00:50:32,839
00:50:33,039 --> 00:50:34,039
00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:35,239
00:50:35,439 --> 00:50:36,439
00:50:36,639 --> 00:50:37,639
00:50:37,839 --> 00:50:38,839
00:50:39,039 --> 00:50:40,039
00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:43,477
That's it! Put your pans down,
plates down.
You're done.
I've put everything I've got
into this, everything I've got, and...
I really need this, I really need
this to go well for me.
Brilliant job.
What a thrill.
What a thrill to be cooking
alongside Matt Moran.
To be honest, you were
racing Matt.
He was taking his time,
he looked pretty relaxed,
but you know what,
towards the end there,
I saw a little bead of sweat.
So he was under pressure too.
So good job. You've put a lot of
hard work in.
A lot of effort. But I'll tell you
right now, there is a few of you here
that won't even get your dishes
to the tasting table.
Based on your plating.
Matt has made his decisions.
Overall, guys, I'm incredibly impressed
by what dishes you put on the plate.
But, unfortunately, there are couple
that really lack the presentation.
And that's something that I would
not let go pass my pass.
So unfortunately,
a few of you
are not going to go
to the tasting table.
And they are:
Richard,
Graham,
Mark,
Callum
and Alvin.
For the rest of you,
congratulations.
Those of you who aren't
going through to the tasting table,
you may go and join
the group.
The last name was mine
and I was devastated.
Gutted.
The ten of you have made it
through every stage.
You should be rightfully
proud of yourself.
The question is,
can you cook as well
as Matt Moran?
I'm a little bit pumped at this stage,
and I'm thinking, you know what?
Maybe, just maybe, there's
a sliver of hope for me yet.
Next, who has cooked
as good as Matt Moran?
Great chef, classic techniques.
Who will impress the judges?
Which six will go through?
The leg is really
quite raw.
And who left a bone
in their quail?
So far in this challenge,
you've had to please
the three chefs.
But it's tasting time, and just like
in any good restaurant,
you never know when the food critics
are gonna walk through the door,
and taste your food.
And of course, we bring to you
MasterChef's very respected food critic,
Matt Preston.
As a critic, when you walk into
a restaurant like Matt's,
you expect that dish
to be perfect.
Perfect in taste, perfect
in technique,
and perfect in presentation.
When I walk along this line,
and taste your dishes,
I look at them with a
restaurant critic's eye.
That gnocchi isn't pillowy,
that quail is undercooked,
your chances of going through
to the final 24
may well, like the great gnocchi,
just... disappear.
Here's the challenge.
A perfect dish
by great chef. Beautifully thought
out. Classic techniques.
This is the yardstick, by which
your dishes will be judged.
Why am I next to Matt?
He's probably cooked a perfect dish,
and they're gonna judge it
against him first. Like...
who needs that?
What makes, for me, this dish
so great, is the confidence
that comes with cooking
it lots of times.
For me this dish is an
experience of tastiness.
- Well done, matey.
- Thanks, Matt.
Jonathan.
- Feeling confident?
- Relatively, yeah.
It's nicely presented.
The only thing that I would say
is the quail hasn't been touched
as much by that caramelization,
and I would like a little more
of that butter sauce.
George didn't say anything.
So I'm at a loss.
Good, bad, indifferent?
Say something.
Magnificent gnocchi, I really
like the way
you got that great color
on the pumpkin.
And there's a really strong, rich
sage flavor
which really sets that pumpkin
alight. So well done.
Thanks.
You happy with that?
I am, yes.
Quail's a little bit dry.
But the flavor's good.
- Well done. It's gorgeous.
- Thank you.
The flavor's like
a bit of punch.
- Matthew. Looking nervous.
- Yes.
- Phillip.
- Hey, George.
I caught you from
the corner of my eye
giving your cross
a little kiss.
You know, it's kept me
on the right path so far, so...
Why do you want this so much?
Everything until now
comes back to food.
It's what my grandmother was
all about and, you know, like,
I'm doing this for her as well.
Tell us about your
grandmother.
She had this son,
called Phillip.
And he was about my age
when he passed away from cancer,
and, like, when I was born,
that's why they named me Phillip.
She...
I'm trying to do everything for her
because she sees him in me,
so, like, I really wanna make her,
like, proud,
because she didn't get the chance
to see him
go through the rest
of his life.
So I do that for her.
- Done a great job so far, Phillip.
- Thanks.
You've really taken the butter
right to the edge.
But to the edge
where I actually like it.
The quail could do with
a little bit more color,
but it's cooked perfectly.
It's beautiful.
- Thanks George.
- Well done.
Thanks, mate.
Thank you.
The judges were playing a bit of
good cop, bad cop,
so I was feeling a little bit
of mixed emotion,
but I thought, I've probably
done enough.
You need some gnocchi lessons
from my wife,
that'd be the first thing
I would suggest,
they're just... chewy.
You've overdeveloped the gluten,
they got that kinda bounciness
to them.
It's a pity, cause otherwise
that dish is beautiful.
Thanks, man.
- Stewart.
- Gary.
Is this dish good enough
to get you into the top 24?
- I desperately hope so.
- Desperately hope so.
The quail looks a little insipid,
it's not colored well enough,
and the leg is
really quite raw.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Oh no.
Oh no.
In the back of my head,
I'm thinking,
he's playing a practical joke on me,
he's playing a practical joke on me.
But I know...
I've left a bone
in the quail.
So disappointed.
- This in a restaurant?
- Crucified.
So disappointed.
The hero of the dish is, thank
heavens for you, the gnocchi.
It's plump, it's got a little bit of
resistance when you bite into it,
which it has to have, otherwise
it just ends up being sludgy,
when you bite into it, it just
pops slightly, and then it disappears.
That's a really nice gnocchi.
Well done.
That's excellent to hear.
Thank you.
I'm daring to dream,
but I'm terrified that that dream's
not gonna come true.
Now six spots left in the
top 24 for today.
The question is, in terms
of that dish,
did you cook it as well
as Matt Moran?
I'm very nervous.
My heart's pounding,
ahh, this could be it.
If I call your name,
please step forward.
Jonathan.
Peter.
Jonathan,
Peter,
let's hope you're smiling
for a reason.
Congratulations.
It's white MasterChef
apron time.
Getting in the top 24
will change my life.
Welcome.
To be able to just have
that little bit of hope that
I can take this passion further
and actually
really let it engulf my life
is just
so exciting.
- Cheers mate.
- Brilliant.
Three days of cooking,
two main challenges,
cooking against Matt Moran,
and I'm in.
Well done. Go and join
the rest.
Congratulations, mate.
Finally, I'm there.
I'm there.
Aaron.
After the bone incident, I'm about
99.99% sure that I'm going.
George found the bone
in the quail,
and that's not good.
You can't do that again.
I understand.
But can I tell you,
that gnocchi
was your savior.
It was light, it was fluffy,
it was beautifully cooked,
and it was the best on the line.
And for that, and you may smile...
You're going through.
Thank you.
Thank you.
- Well done, buddy.
- Thank you very much.
- Congratulations. You deserve it.
- I appreciate that.
That gnocchi was
absolutely phenomenal.
Thank you very much.
Don't ever leave a bone
in there again. Alright?
I promise I never will do it again.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you all. Appreciate it.
Adam.
Kate. Please step forward.
Well, the question is,
was your quail dish
good enough to put you
into the top 24?
Congratulations, you're both through
to the top 24.
Oh, my God.
- Congratulations, man.
- Thank you.
- Thanks very much.
- You deserve it.
- Welcome to the top 24.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
One more very special place
left in the top 24 today.
One person whose life
is about to change.
That person is
Phillip.
Everyone just erupts in cheers,
and it was definitely, by far,
the best moment of
my whole life.
Well done, buddy.
Good stuff.
Well done. Well done.
Well done.
- Good job.
- Thanks.
Phillip.
Welcome to the top 24.
Just gonna go all out. All out.
I've got the opportunity now,
and not gonna let it go.
Tomorrow night on
MasterChef Australia.
Welcome to MasterClass.
It's a change of pace
as Gary and George
serve up a 90-minute special
for the gourmet chef in everyone.
- George, you excited?
- I'm pumped.
On the menu, simple,
yet spectacular baby vegetables.
This is what it's all about.
Adding the love to the food.
And quick and easy
raspberry dessert.
And Gary shows you how to work
the grill like a pro.
I bought the mustard, Gary.
Forgot the beers.
Plus, for the first time,
Matt Moran takes you
into his award-winning kitchen
to whip up the perfect party starter.
No more cheese and crackers
anymore, um?
- Then, on Sunday.
- Today's now or never.
With only twelve
places left,
two challenges will put the
remaining hopefuls to the test.
Come on!
First, they'll face off
in a mystery box.
This chocolate mousse is either
gonna make or break me.
Then finally, they'll have to impress
a big gun of Australian cuisine.
Neil Perry.
Not putting a dish up complete,
it's a bit of a no-no.
I don't wanna go.