1 (MAJESTIC MUSIC) MATT PRESTON: Well, this is it. The MasterChef finale. GARY: The competition this year more than any other year has been so fierce. Out of all eight seasons, I think we can safely say that this finale will push them further than we've ever pushed our contestants before. This MasterChef finale's gonna be epic. It's gonna be a respectful battle, but it's gonna be about who really wants it. The thing about both Elena and Matt is they've got this sense that it's their destiny to win. And I think what we'll see with this finale - whoever blinks first will lose. (ELENA SQUEALS) Yeah! (LAUGHS) Whoo! Elena. (APPLAUSE) Once Elena realised that this was a safe environment to make mistakes, to let herself go, to show us who she REALLY was, her food changed. Wow. And it's become complex, it's become interesting... Robust and full of flavour. Matt's food is like Matt - brooding and intense, but always delicious. That inner want, desire and passion - you're born with that. He's born with a gift. His intensity is something that you can feel. The guy is brilliant. ANNOUNCER: It began with 24 amateur cooks. Don't stress. Don't stress. You can achieve things that you never thought possible. Arggh! Arggh! Genius! Come on, Brett! Push! Inspired by the best chefs in the world... Heston Blumenthal! Peter Gilmore! Marco Pierre White! The one and only domestic goddess, Nigella Lawson! I asked for divine indulgence, and that's what you gave me. "Yes, Marco!" There's so many people! It's crazy! ..they overcame extreme pressure... (MIMI WAILS) It's not coming out. Go, go, go. Be careful! GARY: Quick, quick, quick! Come on! Arggh! Hustle, hustle! No! YEAH! ..and created extraordinary food. Wow. MATT PRESTON: Pure elegance. Delicious! (GARY CHUCKLES) Oooh! Yum! Snap. But... ..one by one... ..they said goodbye... ..until... ..just two remained. YEAH! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Tonight... This is it. ..the day that could change their lives forever. It's a bit dreamlike. They'll fight for their future... There we go. ..but it will all come down to one man... Heston Blumenthal! ..and one dish that will leave them speechless. It doesn't really get any harder than this. My heart is...in my throat. The grand prize for the winner of the country's biggest cooking competition ` a monthly column in Australia's leading premium food magazine, Delicious, $250,000 to kick-start their food dream, and the title of Australia's next MasterChef. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Welcome to the grand finale of MasterChef 2016. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) We are absolutely thrilled. We're excited. We couldn't think of two more deserving people to be standing here on what will be an absolutely incredible and memorable day. At the end of today, one of you will walk out of the MasterChef kitchen a quarter of a million dollars richer. One of you will have your name etched onto that trophy. One of you will be Australia's MasterChef for 2016. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Matt, what has being in MasterChef meant to you? (SIGHS) I think the biggest thing for me coming into the competition was fear of failure. Being able to overcome that... it goes far beyond a cooking experience. This is a life experience and something that has changed us FOREVER, in the best way possible. And I couldn't thank everyone that was involved enough, because...um... ..yeah, you've just made it absolutely incredible. Thank you. Good stuff. Elena? Um... ..I think it's...given me, and hopefully others, permission to dream. I think...self-doubt can get in the way of wanting bigger and better things for yourself, and maybe pursuing passions is scary because you don't think that you can make a living out of it... ..um...but I know that's not true now. So, here you are in the grand finale, and how brilliant does it feel? Yeah. It's...it's thrilling. The finale will take place in three rounds. Three rounds, three courses. This will be the most important three-course menu you ever cook in your life. Entree, main and dessert. Gary, Matt and myself will score your dishes in each round. Whoever has the most points at the end of round three will be crowned... ..Australia's MasterChef for 2016. This is the grand finale of MasterChef. It's GOING to be hard. It's gonna be pressure like you have never felt before. You have the winning of this in your hands... ..but the losing of it is in your heads. Lose focus for just a second... ..and you'll find yourself in a world of pain ` and let us tell you, never before has it been more important to go into that final round with a decent lead. So, round one - the entree. Over the past three months, the three of us have been watching you develop. We've got to know your cooking styles, what you like to cook with. So, what we've done is we've selected 10 beautiful ingredients especially for the two of you. ELENA: When they reveal the most beautiful display of a lot of my favourite ingredients, I'm really happy. There's a lot of things that I love to cook with there. I'm stoked. There's some very, very serious possibilities of putting up a cracking dish. One of these ingredients must be the hero of your dish. We've got pork, we've got duck eggs, and we've got some gorgeous, plump fennel. There's sea urchin from Tasmania, plucked out of the sea early this morning. Goldband snapper. We've got some quail from New South Wales. MATT: Quail - bingo. I've got a couple of ideas floating around. Of course, from Western Australia, wonderful marron. ELENA: As soon as I see the marron, I feel like it's this beautiful gift and can't wait to get stuck in. You have 60 minutes to create the most delicious entree you can. You must make three plates of that entree - one for each of us. You have an open pantry and full access to the garden. There are 30 points up for grabs in round one - 10 points from each of us. Here goes round one. Your time starts...now! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: 100% today I'm gonna work with the quail. That's what I'm gonna build my entree with. And I start collecting a few bits and pieces that I think are gonna help me put together a dish. Stock. Stock, stock, stock, stock... I've got to take my cooking to a whole new level today, especially against Elena. Cooking with her has always been a pleasure, but today, we're going head to head, so it's a whole other matter. I'm gonna have to bring my A game if I'm gonna have any chance of taking her on. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) The pressure is MASSIVE. Ah! The quail! I just can't let it get to me. ELISE: Go, Elena! ELENA: Making it this far, I just have to keep striving for more. We're closing in on the finish line, but I'm just getting started - beginning with this entree. Come on, Elena! I want it to be beautiful, I want it to show good technique, I want it to show my growth and development - all of which mean I've got to do a LOT in an hour. HEATHER: Nice work, Elena! But I know I have to prove myself, and I know Matt's gonna be throwing everything he's got at the cook, and I'm gonna have to do the same. Um, today, I'm gonna do roasted quail on the crown, and then confit a couple of legs just in some olive oil, serve that with a charred corn and a little chorizo base and a roasted capsicum and walnut puree. ADAM: Come on, Matt! Come on, Matt! I need to break down these quails. And I also need to break up a few quails for the base of the sauce. Come on, Matty! CON: Let's go, Matty! I'm gonna french the legs on the quail today. This dish, it needs to be pretty, it needs to be delicate, and just taking those little extra steps, that little bit of extra care and thought - all these little things add up. Come on, Matty! Let's go, Matty! It feels like I'm cooking for my life today. I don't think I've felt pressure like this before in the kitchen, um, so, just want to try to stay focused. Come on, Matt! Come on, Matt! CHLOE: Go, Elena! Whoo! ELENA: Today, I'm going to do marron two ways. I have a couple of different textures and flavours in mind. I want a dashi-based ponzu dressing for a little smoked vegetable salad. HARRY: Come on, Elena. And then I want the beautiful marron to, sort of, definitely be the hero. I want one tail on each plate, and I really want to try these marron crackers. With an hour? I know it's a lot to do in an hour, but if I can pull it all off, it'll show a lot of skill and it'll taste delicious. To make the marron crisp, I need to remove the flesh from two of the tails, blitz that with some tapioca flour and eggwhites. It's going to take a little while to dehydrate in the oven before I can then deep-fry it. Elena. Hi. What are you doing? I'm making marron crisps... OK. ..to go along with my marron on my dish. GARY: So, you're blitzing it, drying it, frying it? Is that what you're doing? Yes. I'm gonna do a...dashi-based ponzu dressing... Work at the same time. ..with some smoked vegies. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Wow. That...that's biting off, uh... I can do it. ..a little bit, isn't it? But if it works out, brilliant. Hurry up! Yeah. Hurry up. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) The judges are right - I've bitten off a LOT. But that's the point. I can't stop now to rethink the dish. The nerves are creeping in, but I've just got to run with it. CHLOE: Elena's looking really nervous and I definitely think she's feeling the pressure and the enormity of what today means to them. So I think she's a bit flustered. It'd be really tough down there. 30 points up for grabs in round one. 30 minutes to go. Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: My quail legs are ready to confit, but first, I want to get my charred corn and chorizo salsa done. So, I roast the corn off in a pan, take the skin off the chorizo... ..blitz that up... ..then I combine them. Extremely under the pump. Are those legs on, confiting yet? Nah. I'm gonna throw... They're going in now. Uh, need to hurry up, mate. Let's go! Come on! Push, Matt. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I drop everything. This confit needs to start. CHARLIE: Come on, Matt. CON: Go, Matty. You can do this. With so much at stake, I can't let time get the better of me. ELENA: I'm smoking the vegetables for the salad that the marron is gonna sit on. I've got my pot of dashi reducing with all of the Japanese flavours in there. I need that to thicken and get a little bit syrupy so that I can use that in the dressing. I go to taste the dashi reduction... ..and it's way too bland. THERESA: Oh, Elena! The dashi reduction is crucial. If the flavours aren't there, the dish will fail. I'm running out of time. I need flavour in a hurry. I'm going to add all of the shells of the marron to give it extra oomph. I'm hoping that's gonna save me. MATT: The sauce to accompany this dish today is gonna be a Pedro Ximenez reduction, which is a sweet sherry, and that, for me, is just gonna sort of round everything off with the other flavours going on the plate. Good job, Matt. And I'm tasting it, and it's at the point where I want it. I'm really happy with the sauce. Just gonna finish it with a little bit of butter. Looks so good, Matt. I'm stoked with the sauce. It's got a beautiful, rich flavour to it. There's depth to it. I feel like the dish is definitely taking shape. I'm just praying that those confit quail legs cook in time. Good decisions at this stage of the cook will make all the difference! 15 minutes to go! Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) CHLOE: Go, Elena! Go, Matt! Come on, Matt! Come on, Elena! Keep pushing! Go, Matt! Go, Elena! ELENA: I'm racing to get everything cooked. Keep pushing. But my major concern is still that reduction. I've thrown in the marron shells to try and pump up the flavour, and I just hope that it's working. So... So, is this your reduction? That is doing nothing. 1 That is doing nothing. If you want any kind of complexity, you've just...you've got to take the panic away. The panic gets on top of you and you stop thinking like an intuitive cook and you start just making stuff. Making stuff is never gonna be enough. Just think for a minute. Come on, Elena! Come on, Elena! ELENA: To get this dish up, I need to get more flavour into my dashi dressing. I'm gonna caramelise some of these shells to really try and give it the flavour that it needs. It's dawning on me that I've taken on way too much for a 60-minute cook. We know it's the finale, but the question is, have you bitten off more than you can chew? There is only 10 minutes to go! Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Extremely under the pump. I touch one of the quail legs and it feels really, really tender. Looks good, Matty. Good stuff, Matty. Just got to finish them off... um, in the pan, crisp up that skin. Elena, Matt, now it's time to push yourselves like you've never pushed yourselves before! Come on! MAN: Come on, guys! GARY: Five minutes! Five minutes! Come on! ELENA: Especially with three plates, I wanted to give myself about 10 minutes to plate beautifully these entrees, but I don't have 10 minutes. Come on, Elena! The pressure is ridiculous, but... BRETT: Come on, Elena! ..I have to get food on these plates if I want to have any chance of winning this competition. WOMAN: Come on, Elena! (ONLOOKERS SHOUT FRANTICALLY) MATT: If there's one thing that the pressure and the nerves and the stress of this environment that we're in today does to us, it finds another gear. CON: Let's go, Matty. Come on. You don't have any other option. You have to put all of that food on the plate. Come on, Matty! GEORGE: Come on, guys! Come on, Matt! You have to get it done. No questions asked. Make it happen. Come on, Elena. Matt, come on. Start to dress! ELENA: I've got lots of beautiful flavours on the bench. I just have to bring them together. HARRY: Come on, Elena! My smoked vegetables, my marron and my crisps have all turned out perfectly. I just hope I was able to get enough flavour into that dressing. Leave nothing behind! One minute to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: I've got to produce three beautiful, delicate-looking dishes, and I kick off with the puree on the base, some of the corn and chorizo salsa, and I'm just, sort of, alternately placing the leg and the breast of the quail... ..dress it with the coriander and the pine nut gremolata... Matty, that looks beautiful! JIMMY: Matty, that's awesome. ..and I feel like it's just missing something. It needs... (CLICKS FINGERS) ..some microherbs! 30 seconds! Come on! Come on, run! Ten seconds! Nine! ALL: Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it! Entree is done! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (GROANS) You right? Yep. Good girl. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) SEVERAL: Go, Elena! The dish - what is it? ELENA: Today, I've made: Now, were you keeping the nerves under control? Um, it was way tougher than I had anticipated. Yeah. Um... I don't want to disappoint anyone. OK. Are you happy with the dish? Um, I definitely would have liked a little bit more time to refine it a little bit further - take my dashi dressing maybe five more minutes. Elena, we're gonna taste. I was worried about this dish because I think it needs a bit more depth of flavour in that dashi. But what I love about it - the marron tail is perfectly cooked. Delicious. It's tasty and yummy. On a day like today, when it means so much to you, you know, you can retreat into doing something that you've probably done... weeks ago, but what you've done is you've added another dish to your repertoire that is perfectly cooked marron and the vegetables that have got some lovely textures through them as well as flavour. It's a beautiful, fresh dish that really makes a star of the marron. I really like the crisps and I like the fact that they've got a salty hit, 'cause I think the marron needs that. You haven't disappointed us and you haven't disappointed yourself. Thank you. Thanks, Elena. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Right. Let's get Matt's dish in. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Thank you. What have you cooked us? MATT: It looks great. It's delicious. I love it. I love that sauce. It's absolutely delicious. It just... It's like, boom! You know, full of flavour. It's sophisticated. You know, it's smooth, it's complex and delicious. And you add that together with all the other flavours that you've got on that plate - I think it's absolutely delicious. The cooking of the confit legs is absolutely beautiful. I think this is an absolutely delicious plate of food. Well done. Thanks, Matt. Thank you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Let's score. 30 points up for grabs. Elena... ..let's see how you went first. I scored your entree... ..seven out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Elena, I scored your dish... ..eight out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I scored it... ..eight out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) So, Elena, that gives you a total of 23 points. Matt, I scored your dish... ..eight out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Well done, Matt! Matt... ..I scored your entree... ..nine out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Matt... ..I LOVED the dish. Nine out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MAN: Well done, Matty. So, Matt, that has got to put a smile on your face, because it gives you a total at the end of the first round of 26 points! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Elena, 23 points. A little bit of ground for you to make up. But it's still early days. Plenty of time to make a big difference. Yep. Three points down, and I'm definitely not giving up. I'm... It actually kind of just makes me a bit more hungry for it and more determined to do what I came here to do, and that's put my best cook forward. So, round two is the main course, and you'll be pleased to hear that there are no rules. You've conquered every challenge, you've fulfilled everything we've asked of you, and we feel that now you've earned the right to cook whatever you want in the next 75 minutes. Any cuisine. Any style. Any ingredients. You've got an open pantry. The garden's in play. All we ask for is one dish, three plates - that's one for each of us. Remember, 30 points up for grabs for each of you in this round. Matt, Elena... ..your time starts now! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ELENA: Round two - no rules, no excuses. The entree threw me, and I can't let history repeat itself. Uh... I'm gonna make twice-cooked lamb with a lamb jus, a macadamia nut, onion, garlic puree, pickled beets, and some vegetables. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I let myself down in that last cook. I let myself get completely overwhelmed by the pressure, and...I'm kind of refusing to do that this second round. Go, Elena! Go, Elena! I know what Matt is capable of with savoury dishes. Anything less than my best is only gonna widen his lead. It's all or nothing. MATT: Today, I want to cook a beautiful crispy-skin barramundi fillet and serve that with a few different forms of brussels sprouts, some fondant potatoes, and finish it with a nice pancetta broth. I'm thinking, you know, I need another element to really, sort of, kick this broth up a notch. I may have managed to pry a three-point lead out of round one, but I know Elena, and the pressure is on. A weapon like her in the kitchen is not gonna let that happen twice. I see the prawns and I think... I'm gonna go with the prawn heads and pair that with the pancetta to... (CHUCKLES) ..give this broth some serious backbone. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I am absolutely pumped about this idea. I just want to get started. ELENA: Now that I've braised my lamb, I need to start building the stock in the pressure cooker. I want to be building these beautiful flavours from the get-go. My entree didn't have the intensity of flavour that I really love about cooking - the cooking that sort of warms you from the inside. And that's what I need to bring to this main course. Good job, Ellie. My lamb is gonna take at least an hour in the pressure cooker, and then I've still got to glaze it at the end. I'm pushing it, but I have to utilise every second of the cook if I'm going to close the gap with Matt. MATT: I put my barramundi fillets aside for later. CHARLIE: That's it, Matty. Now I need to get cracking on the prawn head and pancetta broth. I think seafood lends itself really nicely to the meatiness of pancetta, and that salt and the fattiness that it brings to it. I think it's an incredible combination. Right. What's the dish? Um, so, I'm gonna do a...just a crispy-skin barramundi fillet, um, and then serve that with some braised brussels sprouts, and then make a broth using pancetta and prawn heads as a base. Did you say prawn heads and bacon broth? Yes. OK. The critical part when you're making this is not overworking that broth. I'm only putting the thought in your head, 'cause you really... This IS the grand finale. I think there's a lot going on, a lot of flavours, but not all of it making sense. And when we eat it, it's got to make utter sense. It's got to be absolutely yum. Whoa! Gary's just, bang! He doesn't like the idea of my broth. Alright? Do it, man. Go for it. Thank you. It's completely rattled my cage, 'cause I was so happy and clear with this idea. I don't know what to do. I j...I just don't know. 1 MATT: I'm cooking a crispy-skin barramundi fillet with brussels sprouts and a pancetta and prawn head broth. But Gary doesn't like the idea of the broth. I thought it was a cracking idea. Now I'm not sure. Do I want to take the punt? At the end of the day, I-I have to back myself. So I just get them prawn heads roasting off to start to bring out the colour. Good. Good, good. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Here I am, round two, grand finale of MasterChef 2016, and my gut's telling me it's gonna be OK. ZOE: Go, Matty! WOMAN: Whoo! There are only three things you need to worry about - those three main courses! 45 minutes to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) GARY: Come on, Matt! Come on, Elena! CHARLIE: Go, Elena! ELENA: My lamb is still cooking in the pressure cooker. I'm adding my finishing touches to the sauce and then I can leave it to reduce. ELISE: That smells amazing, Elena! MIMI: That smells so good! HARRY: My mouth is watering. The next half an hour is all about the little details - elevating the dish from something good to really special. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) HEATHER: Go, Matty! You're looking good, Matt! MATT: I've got to kick off with these brussels sprouts. Today, I want to prepare them in a couple of different ways. Firstly, blanching some leaves. Those sprout leaves just pop. The second preparation is to halve them and then fry off the cut edge until they are beyond golden. CHLOE: They look awesome, Matt. NICOLETTE: Yum! The bitterness in the caramelisation is gonna perfectly balance against the rich broth. I want to make sure that I'm being conscious of everything I'm putting onto the plate. You know, it's all about the detail. CHARLIE: Come on, Matty! ZOE: Go, Elena! ELENA: With my sauce reducing, it's time to get my pickled vegies on the go. I'm gonna use a raspberry vinegar in the hot pickle for the beets and in the cold pickle for the onion. Raspberry vinegar can be too strong, but today, I think it's perfect to cut through the richness of the lamb. ELISE: Lovely. CON: It's really smart. It's probably something I wouldn't think of. If I want to have any chance of making up those three points, I need to be thinking about the flavours in every element that's going on this main-course dish. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: The next thing I need to prepare are the fondant potatoes. One of the biggest skills that you develop in this competition is how to jam flavour into a dish in a limited amount of time. I've got this beautiful broth here developing. Why would I want to use anything else to cook these potatoes in? CHLOE: Whoo! Beautiful! Flame on. ELENA: I need a creamy element on this plate, so I'm making a macadamia nut, onion, garlic puree. Most purees are smooth and velvety, but I want a slightly granular consistency. That texture is gonna come from the macadamias to add another layer to this main. MIMI: Great ideas, Ellie. I have to think about the eating experience as well as the flavours that are going into this dish. Oh, yum! ELISE: That looks amazing. JIMMY: How they're cooking at the moment, it's really beautiful to watch. There is so much riding on this. 20 minutes to go. Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: That pancetta and prawn head broth is my main concern at the moment. The whole main course is riding on it. It's good, but it needs something. Good isn't enough. You've got to take that idea from here... It's got to be up here today. Especially when Gary's already questioned the broth. I've put everything on the line to back myself, and I can feel the weight of that decision bearing down on me. But this dish, it's got to have my stamp on it. It's got to be big and bold. I've just got to take a moment to think, "What does it need?" I've got it. Saffron! It's gonna be all about harnessing those big flavours to get that to work with the seafood. MILES: You can smell that saffron instantly. JIMMY: It just smells intoxicating. While my broth is reducing, with just over 15 minutes to go, I put a test piece of barramundi on to give me an indicator as to how long these other pieces are gonna take. ELISE: Yummy, Ellie? Is it delicious? Yeah, with butter and... Is it delicious? Is it delicious? ..butter and salt. My puree has turned out exactly as I wanted, my sauce is reducing nicely, and my pickled vegetables are ready to go. Now I'm just waiting on that lamb in the pressure cooker. When that lamb comes out, I'm gonna need all of my focus and every second to get it finished perfectly in the pan. It's the only way that I can make sure that I'm not just putting up a GOOD dish - that I'm putting up something remarkable. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) THERESA: Looks good, Matt! MATT: I think my test piece is done. TRENT: Oh! I want to eat it! So I break it in half. The fillet is WAY under. When barramundi is under, it's just...it's stringy and it's...it's rubbish. This is nowhere near good enough. But that's the whole point of doing a tester. Come on, Matt. 10 minutes. Go, Elena! This tester was in for about seven minutes, so I know it's gonna take longer than that. With 10 minutes to go, I'm gonna have to keep my eyes glued to these fillets. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Make sure it's cooked perfectly. The fact that these are the three fillets that I'm gonna plate up on my last savoury dish in this competition, I have to nurture them. I've got to look after these, because this is all I've got, and they have to be spot-on. If not, I've got NOTHING. I won't have a main and I can kiss that lead goodbye. 1 GEORGE: Contestants! Five minutes to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ELENA: It's time to take the lamb out of the pressure cooker. MIMI: Oh! That smells so good, Ellie! ELISE: Nice lamb, Elena? It's falling apart. Good job, Ellie! Well done! Come on, Elena! It's soft, it's tender, and it's taken on all of the flavour that I had hoped in that pressure cooker. But... there's less than five minutes to go and I still have to glaze the lamb in the pan. You can do it, Elena! You've got it, Ellie! I was going to use sugar to help caramelise the lamb, but it's not gonna work fast enough. I need a plan B. I can't let one element let me down like in round one. I just have to fix it. Run, Elena! Run, run, run! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I know what this lamb needs - molasses. You've got this! Come on! ZOE: Go, Elena! I get it on that lamb to caramelise and create this textural, barky, crunchy crust. Oh! Molasses. Yum. This is the home stretch! Three minutes to go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: My barra needs just a couple more minutes in the pan. Now I need to start getting everything else on the plate. This dish needs to be worthy of being in the grand finale. Go, Matt! Tasting this broth, it's packing some SERIOUS flavour. It's fully loaded. Like, I couldn't have put anything else in there. It's...it's good. You've got it, Matty! Come on! Come on, Elena! Keep pushing! Come on! Get stuff on there! ELENA: I've got to start building this main so that as soon as the lamb is ready, I can rip it off there, put it on the plate as beautifully and delicately as possible. Make it beautiful. I have to treat this plate like I'm building a piece of art. HEATHER: You've done such a good job, Ellie. Bring it home. You've got one minute! GO! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Time is running out, and it's go time for that barra. I grab it off the pan, have a look and... HARRY: Is the fish perfect? Ho! Crispy skin, golden caramelisation around the edge - spot-on. Matty, they look beautiful, mate. MILES: What about your meat? Get your lamb out, Elena! Go, Elena! ELENA: My molasses has done its job perfectly. It's nice and shiny and rich. Push, Elena! HARRY: Get it on the plate! Come on! Ten seconds! ALL: Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Matt, Elena, that's it! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Well done! How'd you go? (LAUGHS) Another cook down. Ohhh! Oh, Matty! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) ELENA: I stuck true to myself and I felt like myself, and whatever happens now, I'm really happy. Elena, what's the dish? ELENA: You said this morning that you think the MasterChef kitchen has given you permission to dream. Yeah. Absolutely. You know why? Because you're realising how good you are, what potential you have. I think, um...if I compare it to making an artwork, it can take months and months, and you never really get a reward, and I feel like I'm able to look at things and create, like, a little... a little artwork and there's instant, or almost immediate, feedback and enjoyment. And...it's pretty satisfying and rewarding and... ..that I can see...a future in supporting myself and my family in it. How lucky are we? You know, you talk about, you know, art taking months, but here you are, on a day where it means so much, you can, in an hour and 15 minutes, give us something that gratifies us, that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside in its appearance, and to listen to you talk makes us so happy. So, Elena, thank you. It's time for us to taste. Thank you. Enjoy. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) It's a pretty dish, isn't it? GARY: Looks like a little plate of jewels. Lovely. Mmm. I'm running out of words to express something that blows my mind. It sends shivers down my spine. It's delicious! Mmm. It's those little clever additions of... the vinegar that's used to pickle. She used a raspberry vinegar. Yeah. Smart. You know, that's Elena. Yeah. You know, rather than what everyone would go for - brown vinegar, malt vinegar, white vinegar. And then this sauce - oh, my gosh! Does she know how to make sauce! This could sit in any good Michelin-star restaurant and be happy. 100%. She's absolutely delivered a beautiful dish. This is the Elena that...that got here, that's in the grand final. It's the one that we were expecting to see... Yeah. ..in the entree round. I think that's an absolutely smashing plate of food, and... ..gee! I love this restaurant. Can we come again? (LAUGHS) Yeah! (LAUGHS) Yeah! Yeah, absolutely. Let's get the next dish in. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MATT: My dish is everything I'd hoped it would be, but there's still a big question mark hanging over my head. Gary was not a fan of my broth, and I trusted my intuition over his. Not listening to one of the three people that hold your fate in their hands, I don't know how that's gonna affect the scoreboard. 1 GARY: What's the dish? MATT: It's a: Tell me the truth here. How do you feel about that dish? When I look at it... (SIGHS) ..um... (SIGHS) ..pretty proud. (SOBS) What's...what's up, mate? Um... ..I just, um... ..I can't believe how far I've come. Wow. OK, well, I'm sure I speak on behalf of the boys, but that looks amazing. And when you talk about YOU can't believe how far you've come - nor can we. That is...drop-dead gorgeous. Don't know what it tastes like, but drop-dead gorgeous. Here you are, Matt, and...you know, what you do is you capture us and you transport us into the warmth and generosity of your spirit and your heart. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. We'll taste now. Thank you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I was worried about that broth. (INHALES DEEPLY) Let's see whether or not I'm still worried about it when I taste it. I was worried that... his combination of flavours wouldn't make sense. So, I thought, "It's not gonna work. Why would you do that? I wouldn't do it." I've been proved wrong today, and they make utter sense. That broth, it's subtle - almost as... it's as good as a consomme and it's got bags of flavour. Oh, it's...it's the entire package. 'Cause it's got so much thoughtfulness. It's not just a piece of fish and vegetables - it's a perfectly cooked piece of fish, but then clever. That hard caramelisation on the brussels sprouts to assist with the broth, then freshness of the leaves. There are dishes that read really well on a menu, but the really great dishes for me are the ones that, when you put them in your mouth, when you taste them, they make perfect sense. Yeah. And in 75 minutes, he's brought us a dish that tastes like it's been on a great French menu for 50 years. That was an absolutely cracking course - two beautiful dishes. From the bottom of our hearts, that tasting was an absolute pleasure. Food worthy of a MasterChef grand finale, and more importantly in our minds, food worthy of a great restaurant. The question is... ..how did we score your dishes? Let's start with you, Matt. I'm gonna smile when I say this, 'cause that food makes me happy. That fish was delicious. It was cooked perfectly. I could not cook it any better. And that's why... ..I gave you a ten out of ten! (WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Yeah, Matty! Matt...I loved it. I scored it... ..a ten out of ten! (WILD CHEERING) At the risk of giving someone deja vu - ten out of ten! (WILD CHEERING) Well done! Well done! (ELENA LAUGHS) Ohhh! What?! Matt, that spectacular dish gives you a grand total of 30 out of 30. That means you're now on 56 points! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Gary, how about Elena? And I'm gonna smile again! (LAUGHS) Because it was delicious, it was soft, it was tender, and the use of that molasses - inspired. I loved the dish. TEN OUT OF TEN! (WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I loved it, I loved it, I loved it - I loved it! (WILD CHEERING) Ten out of ten! CHLOE: Well done, Elena! That dish was an Elena flavour bomb, and that's why I gave you ten out of ten! (WILD CHEERING) Well done! (LAUGHS) Good time to pull them out, I guess. So, Elena, you also scored 30 points, so that means you've got a grand total of 53 points out of 60. Well done! MATT: Yeah! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) This is the first time it has ever happened on MasterChef - two perfect scores. That food - drop-dead gorgeous, amazing. It has been a long journey. But you haven't had to do it alone. You've been supported by all of your new friends. And we also know that you've been supported from afar... ..by the people that matter the most to you. So we think it's only fitting today that they join us and support you through this final round. Take a look behind you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (SOBS) Ohh! (BOTH SOB) (BOTH SOB) Oh! (LAUGHS) You've just been chipping away. Yeah! (SOBS) Oh! (SIGHS, LAUGHS) WOMAN: Look at this one! Matt, introduce us to your family. Uh, this is my sister, Rachel, my mum, Vicky, dad Craig, and my wife, Jess. Elena? What about you? This is my sister Alexandra, my dad, Owen, my partner, Eric, and my mum, Carolyn. Jess, he talks about you every single day. Aww! (MATT SNIFFLES) I mean...we feel like we know you. (ALL LAUGH) Nice to meet you, George. Um... (CHUCKLES) Nice to meet you too! (LAUGHTER) Matt, how does it feel to have your family here? Oh, I didn't even think Mum and Dad... would, um...be able to make it. Um... Yeah, Rach and I sent them off overseas and... What, they came back from overseas? From Italy. Yeah. From Italy? From Italy. I can't believe it. It's what families do, mate. WOMAN: Absolutely. (SNIFFLES) It's all good, son. Stop it! (LAUGHTER) There's gonna be a big tearfest in here if we're not careful! Eric? You missed your girl? (CHUCKLES) Yeah, like nothing else. Yeah? Like nothing else. Extremely, extremely proud of her. This is just mind-blowing where it's taken her, and...yeah. Well done, man. Mums, dads, sisters, Eric, Jess - up to the gantry, where you can watch on, cheering and biting those nails. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Good luck, Ellie. So, let's get down to business. Every day that you've spent in the MasterChef kitchen has been leading to this very moment. We have saved the best till last. There are 40 points on offer in the next round, and we can promise you this - you are gonna have to cook better than you have ever cooked to earn every single one of those points. We think this is going to be the greatest final round in MasterChef history. 1 MATT PRESTON: Time for the dessert. (LAUGHTER) You wait till you see this! (LAUGHTER) My heart is racing. There is so much at stake. I'm three points down. I'm gonna have to fight harder than ever before. Our quest to find a pressure test worthy of this occasion has once again taken us around the world. (BOTH GROAN) We thought we could never top last year's pressure test. We were wrong. It takes not one... ..but two of the best chefs in the world to bring it to us. (GROANS AND LAUGHTER) Two chefs. OK. How's this one gonna go down? Does that mean we get to work together? (LAUGHTER) GEORGE: No. MATT PRESTON: These are two chefs famous for boldly taking food... ..where no chef has ventured before. Two chefs revered for the precision of their technique. Two chefs...whose dish will decide which of you becomes Australia's MasterChef for 2016. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) I can't even begin to fathom what sort of monster is about to walk into this kitchen. Now I'm scared. Please welcome the number seven chef in the world, from Dinner by Heston, Ashley Palmer-Watts, and his mentor from the Fat Duck... Oh, nuh. ..Heston Blumenthal! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Whoo! ELENA: Oh, my God! (LAUGHS) ELENA: I can't even begin to imagine what they've got in store for us. I consider running out of the door for a brief moment. HESTON: How are you? Hey, Heston. Oh... No, no, no, no, no, no. Looking at the size of the cloche, there's gonna be some pretty serious gear under there. I'm...I'm petrified. Are you two scared yet? Considerably. I thought Heston was done and dusted for the season. (LAUGHTER) So, Heston, last year, you brought us a botrytis, which was devilish in its complexity. How does this dish under this cloche compare? That botrytis dish was immense. And there were many moments where you could fall off a cliff. Uh, th-this does have, er, maybe a few more cliffs. MATT: Nuh. No, thanks. I think I've just entered my worst-case scenario. There's close to 100 steps. (GROANS) (LAUGHTER) 100 steps? That's like climbing Mount Everest and then realising there's another mountain behind it. Heston, Ashley, it's time to show them the dish you're bringing them. So, today... ..you'll be cooking... ..my... ..verjus in egg. It looks like a little egg. (WHISTLES) Come on. Come forward. Knowing Heston, an egg is never an egg. There is a world of pain about to hatch out of that thing. HESTON: This dish was inspired from a recipe book in 1726, I think it was, by a guy called Patrick Lamb. And that's the Georgian period, which was the last great period of British gastronomy. Before now, of course. And it was called eggs in verjus. And the recipe was really quite simple. It just said, basically, you take some eggs and then finish with verjuice. So, what I decided to do was just flip it on its head. Instead of putting the eggs in verjus, we put the verjus in the egg. GEORGE: Well, and the addition of 91 steps. Yeah, the small matter. Yeah, the small matter. (CHUCKLES) We have the pastry nest, with some candied orange zest, a little thyme, and then on top of that, we have some sugar work to complete the nest. And then we have the egg. HESTON: Then we have the egg. Well, the egg is chocolate casing, and inside... Well, I'll show you what's inside. MATT: Oh, my God. Now, there, that's a coconut panna cotta, that you can see is nice and delicate. And then... ..there's a fluid gel. That is a mixture of mandarin and thyme. Thymol is the molecule that gives thyme its flavour. And thymol, there's quite a lot of it in mandarin. And the combination's fantastic. It looks just like an egg yolk. This is beyond a plate of food. This is a science. This is an art. So, if you crack through - it's not quite finished yet - underneath is...a coffee parfait. You know, it goes on and on and on. It's...it's a masterpiece. GEORGE: Alright, here's another one for tasting. So you get one each. Give it a crack. ELENA: Tasting all of the elements completely messes with your head. You're seeing an egg, but you're tasting sweet, sour, salty, bitter notes, all perfectly balanced in this incredible dessert. Ashley, you want to run through some of those crucial pressure points? Yeah. I mean, it's where to start. There's quite a few. I think one of the first ones I'd mention is probably the panna cotta. Make sure you allow it to set enough. And then probably the most challenging part is gonna be the eggshell. You know, as you can see, this eggshell is incredibly thin. But you'll see it has two layers. So, first of all, you're gonna spray in some milk chocolate, you're gonna form the outer layer, which is very, very thin, and then the inside layer is the WHITE chocolate layer. And then the last step in assembling this dish is making sure that you've joined this really beautifully, smoothed it as much as possible, there aren't any gaps. And that's the key. This is super critical. I've now been doing MasterChef basically since the beginning. That would make any professional chef either quake in their boots or just get their bags and run away. So, um... yeah, it doesn't really get any harder than this. Is it possible? Yes. It is possible. I mean, I saw you guys earlier on in the series and I've seen what you can do. You really can do it. ELENA: I can't even think about the enormous task that's ahead of us. I just have to focus on catching up those three points. Matt, Elena, this is what they call the dignity of labour. We don't just give you that trophy. It's a rite of passage. You have to earn that. This is a marathon. You have five and a half hours to cook and assemble Heston's beautiful dish. There are 40 points up for grabs. This is your make or break in this competition. If you want that trophy, if you want that dream to come true... ..then make this dish the best dish you've ever, ever put up in the MasterChef kitchen. No-one gets to experience this kind of day. No-one. Are you ready? Yep. Yep. Your time...starts... ..now! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) NICOLETTE: Let's go, Ellie. MATT: The first thing I do when I race back to my bench is number all of my pages to give myself some sort of reference point, because there's pages upon pages upon pages upon pages. There's way too much to get through. I'm just gonna have to take it step by step. ELENA: It's gonna take everything that I've got to be able to pull this off today. Three points behind in round one, perfect score in round two, which is an incredible encouragement going into round three, and I...I want to maintain that focus. Yes, it's gonna be a marathon, but I signed up for it, so...bring it. The first element that I'm gonna be working on is the coffee parfait. That coffee parfait sits inside the egg at the bottom. Reading over the process, just to make this parfait is insane. There are numerous elements that I have to make first before even combining them together to make the parfait. The first element that I'm gonna be working on is a pate a bombe. To make the pate a bombe, I need to whisk the egg yolks until they're light and fluffy... ..form a sugar syrup, then very slowly combine the two until soft peaks form and it's beautiful, thick and voluminous. CHARLIE: Good stuff, Matty. So I've just got the pate a bombe on. I'm just gonna whisk that up until it cools, and then I need to get started on the base for the crystallised coffee. The crystallised coffee is another element that will be incorporated into the parfait. To make the crystallised coffee, I have a sugar syrup on the boil and I need to bring that up to 150 degrees before I can combine it with coffee grounds and instant coffee. Come on. I need to take my time with the syrup. It's excruciating, because I have to come to a complete standstill and watch over it. But if that's what I've got to do, that's what I've got to do. There's no margin for error with a recipe this intricate. Any one mistake could be enough to completely throw the whole dish. I've got to stand there with a thermometer, wait for it to hit 150, and then go. HESTON: What are you on? ELENA: 137, 138... Matt, what are you on? 122. That's still rising, though? Yeah. Come on. I tell you what, the suspense is doing ME in! Once I've got that mixture up to 150... ASHLEY: There we go. OK. ..I can then add the two types of coffee, and then I need to whisk that until it forms a crystallised coffee. It's been excruciating to get this sugar syrup up to 150 degrees. But it's there. I add my coffee. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk. And... ..nothing. When you're whisking it, it looks like nothing's gonna happen. It's, you know, just gonna stay as a syrup. ASHLEY: Keep going. Keep going. WOMAN: Come on, Elena! I can see that something is happening. It starts to turn into a medium to coarse crumb. That is so cool. That's so cool. My God. ASHLEY: That's it. Keep going. Keep going. Then the more that I whisk, it's almost a powder, and it is so cool. MAN: Wow! WOMAN: Wow! Good job, Ellie. (LAUGHS) I can't wait to see what other little science experiments are hidden in this recipe. Keep going, mate. Keep going. ASHLEY: Keep going. Keep going. Go, go. Don't stop. Don't stop. I'm standing there whisking. All of a sudden...it just turns. Keep going. That's it. (CROWD CHEERS) Whoo! Bang! It crystallises. Thank God! Now, how good did that bit feel? It's crazy. I've never, ever crystallised anything unless it's by accident. GARY: Elena, Matt, the challenge is keeping the energy levels up. Because if you don't, you won't put up this dessert. Come on! Let's go! Come on, Matt. Come on, Elena. ELENA: This recipe is beyond anything we could have imagined. Nothing is what it seems. Everything has a Heston, futuristic, Willy Wonka spin on it. There's a lot of unknown ahead of us. I'm running in with my eyes wide open, but one thing's for sure - it's gonna be tough. 1 MATT SINCLAIR: We've got five and a half hours to replicate verjus and egg - a monster task set by Heston and his first lieutenant, Ashley Palmer-Watts. My heart is...in my throat. Come on, Matt. Do this, babe. So now I'm just moving on to the base of the verjuice egg yolk that's gonna go inside the egg itself. The next element I need to make is the verjuice egg yolk, which is a fluid gel, and that needs to be nice and runny, just like a soft-boiled egg. To make the verjus egg yolk, I begin by combining some mandarin reduction, citrus reduction, triple sec and verjus. Take 500 grams out of that mixture and I pour it into a mixer. I combine that with malic acid. I need to bring that up to 85 degrees. Once the mixture reaches temperature, I can then add gellan, which is a setting agent, and I blitz it up a little bit more. Transfer that into an ice bath... and then let it set. CON: Looks good, Matt. Well, it's still very liquid at... Ooh, actually, she's starting to set already. Time during this cook is just evaporating into thin air. I have to keep two steps ahead of myself if I want to even think about plating this thing up, let alone catching up to Matt. I would love to take my time, but time is one thing that I don't have, so I'm gonna have to motor. I take the 500 grams of that mandarin verjus for my egg yolk. I add my malic acid and the gellan. I look at my recipe and immediately realise... ..that I've made a mistake. I've messed something up. I, um...I've just added the gellan one step too early. Like, half a step too early. ASHLEY: OK. You've mixed the two powders together? Yep. You've basically got to get the liquid up to 85 degrees... And then add it. THEN add the gellan. Otherwise, it's just not gonna set. Yep. I've added the gellan too early. My egg yolk isn't going to set properly. I'm really annoyed at myself that I've made this error. So, I would...yeah, I'd go... start again now. Just make sure that this counts. Have you got enough to do another one? Suggesting that I start again, but I've already used most of the ingredients in the previous batch. I'll have close, but... I need 500. That's 257 - I've got half the amount. I don't have enough to do a full batch. I'm down by three points, and I can't afford to make any mistakes... and I've made one. WOMAN: You're OK, Ellie. You've got this. (ELENA SIGHS HEAVILY) I can feel everything start to flood over me. Every struggle... ..every emotion. Every moment in this kitchen that's challenged me. If I let myself think about it too much, it's just too overwhelming, and that's when the obstacles happen. And I don't have time for obstacles. I'm not gonna break down. I can't afford to break down. I'm three points down. If I break down, I lose. I'm in the grand final of MasterChef. I'll be damned if I don't make it the rest of the way. Would it be better to do a half-batch with that? Yep. Just read the recipe again. Really, really key. I can't not have this egg yolk - it's kind of essential to the dish. So I have to measure out a half-quantity of all the ingredients and start again. Make sure you get it exactly right. You've got one chance. One chance to get this right. WOMAN: Come on, Elena. You got this. WOMAN: You got this, Elena! Now's the time not to crack under pressure! Three and a half hours to go. Come on, guys, let's go! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) I need to make a move with the fluid gel. She's certainly set. Now I just need to transfer it into the mixer and I blitz it at 30-second intervals... (BLENDER WHIRRS) ..until it's silky-smooth and to make sure there's no grain left in it. CON: Looks good, Matty. Yeah, it's super smooth. Once the verjuice egg yolk has been blitzed into a fluid gel, I then take it over to this vacuum machine. You shut it, and basically, it looks like it's injecting all of this air in. It starts to mushroom up and head towards the top of the bowl, and then, out of nowhere, it just does a complete flip, 180, and bang! (AIR HISSES) It just sinks... ..and it sucks everything out of it. What just happened? And what you're left with is this paste on the bottom... I've never seen anything like it before in my life. THERESA: Looks good, Matt. I'm really hoping this half-batch of egg yolk gel has set firm. I check on the consistency. WOMAN: Oh, nice, Elena! It was definitely set. So I blitz that until it's as smooth as possible. Come on, Elena. You got this. Whoo! Come on, Elena. Whoo! Go! Go! Go! Go, girl. Good job, Elena. Whoo! MATT: The next element I need to move on with is the coconut panna cotta, and that, essentially, is gonna be the eggwhite. The panna cotta is like a soft-boiled egg. It's got that slightly gelatinous texture to it, but still firm enough for me to pipe the egg yolk into. To make the panna cotta, I need to combine yoghurt, coconut milk and coconut cream and blitz that with a hand blitzer for 30 seconds to combine it. Getting the consistency of this panna cotta right is crucial. It makes up the whole body of the egg, so if I don't get it right, it could literally fall apart. To make sure that the panna cotta sets properly, I need to bloom some gelatin powder until it's a thick, slushy consistency before combining it with the other ingredients. While the gelatin's blooming, I need to get the milk, coconut cream and caster sugar up to 60 degrees. I can then add the bloomed gelatin... HARRY: Good job, Elena. ..add that, with the rest, to the coconut mixture and start to pour it into the moulds. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) I need to put that into the fridge and get moving onto the other elements. There's a lot of detail in these recipes, and it's hidden details. You've really gotta read it word for word, which is probably the scariest thing about it. I make the panna cotta. Once the mixture reaches temperature, I can then add the gelatin and stir that until it's combined. Look at the difference. I'm a little worried about Matt's bloomed gelatin mixture. It's nowhere near as thick as Elena's was when she put hers into the panna cotta. Could work, though. Could be absolutely fine. I just hope it still sets alright. ELENA: I'm working on the honeycomb that forms, eventually, the nest on the plate. I need to start constructing the gold spun sugar and the kataifi pastry nest to support this egg. The first thing I need to do is make some honeycomb. WOMAN: Whisking! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) WOMAN: Oh, great! (CHUCKLES) Then I need to allow that to set before I put it under the heat lamps to start pulling it. WOMAN: Oh! Looks stunning, Ellie. How crazy is that? WOMAN: That's amazing. MAN: That's amazing. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) MATT: The next element is the kataifi pastry nest. I need to combine clarified butter mixture with the kataifi pastry. Then I need to shape them into beautiful, even, round circles, pop them in the oven until they're golden brown. WOMAN: Good job, Ellie. Right, listen up, you two. Two hours to go. Come on. Let's get a hustle on. (SPECTATORS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) ELENA: With two hours to go, I need to check on my panna cottas, make sure they've set. They need to be reasonably firm before I squeeze in that egg yolk. I'm so excited - my panna cottas have set. I start to very carefully remove panna cotta from the centre so I've got enough space there to fill it with the egg yolk. HARRY: Oh, looks amazing, Elena. Good job. MATT: When I go and check on the panna cotta, it's been in there for probably close to an hour now, and... ..it's really loose. Like, super loose. Is that starting to set? Hmm, no. (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) He's going to ruin. I've got no idea what's going on. HESTON: If you do not get the panna cotta... ..you've got no dish. I'm gonna have to start again. With an hour and a half to go, every minute is make or break. And now I have to wait for an hour for another batch of panna cotta to set when I don't even know how I messed up the first one. You're right. Stay...stay cool. Stay cool. I'm just throwing time down the drain. (SNIFFS) 1 MAN 1: Come on, son. MAN 2: Come on, Matty. You're right, mate. You're right. Stay cool. Come on, keep going. Come on, Matt. Dig deep, babe. MATT: It's all a bit of a blur for me at the moment. I've sort of got a mix of emotions between frustration and anger. The panna cotta is... it's nowhere near set. I'm gonna have to make a second batch. But I can feel that time is just closing in on me. (ALL SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) Come on, babe! Let's do this! I can definitely hear my family up there, and I feel...I feel awful for them because they're watching me down here... and I'm...I'm suffering. I'm hurting down here. GEORGE: Take your apron off. Put it up a bit higher and tie it. And just compose yourself for a sec. It's getting on top of you, and you've gotta just... you know, you've gotta deal with it. What...what haven't you dealt with in this competition? It's one dish. Yes, it's a pretty elaborate dish. Stop, take a minute, take a deep breath, yeah? Compose yourself. (SNIFFLES) 'Cause it'll be like this in the kitchen one day. Yeah? So, come on. You can do it. You know, you've gotta do it, mate. Yeah? You've gotta earn it. You know, think about what's at the end. It's only you, the obstacle, if you let it be an obstacle. You're not giving up. (SPECTATORS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) You're not giving up. We don't let anyone give up in here, yeah? I'm not gonna let you give up. You hear me? (BREATHES DEEPLY) Come on. Go, Matt. Come on, Matt! Go, Matt! Go, Matt! I'm not gonna give up. Never. You will never, ever seen me... drop tools and back out of this. I'm racking my brain trying to figure out why this panna cotta hasn't set properly. Then it hits me like a freight train - I mustn't have bloomed the gelatin powder enough. I'm not gonna make that mistake again. I'm in it for the long haul. I'm... Just keep going, one step at a time. It's all about the egg! That tempered chocolate egg! One hour to go! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) ELENA: With an hour to go, I need to temper my chocolate to create the shell for this egg. It's, um...this is...this is tough. The tempered chocolate eggshell is the key visual, theatrical component of this dish. It holds everything together. And the appeal of this egg is that beautifully fine, sharp shell. When Heston cracked it, it just kind of fell and broke apart, like a normal eggshell. To achieve the perfect crack, the temper of this chocolate has to be perfect. This is the egg mould, and I have to get those little speckles to create the eggshell look. Then I need to work on two tempered chocolates - the inside of the shell is white and the outside is milk. And that's gonna be sealed together around the panna cotta and the egg yolk and the parfait to create that egg. The first thing I need to do is work on the milk chocolate egg layer. I need to combine the colouring with the milk chocolate. The colour's quite amazing. I just have to mix this together, and then I'm gonna temper it on the marble stone. I haven't ever tempered chocolate on marble before. I know that this is the most technical way to do it, but, um, it's not something that I'm familiar with. I don't do a lot of tempering. It...it kind of freaks me out a little bit. GEORGE: You got it? Do I need to bring three-quarters of it down to 27 on the marble? Yes, you do. And I measure it on the board? On the board. OK. And then? What are you gonna do next? And then very slowly bring it back up to 32. Great. You've got it. Come on. Just do it now, yeah? Alright. WOMAN: You're all good, Ellie. Oh, my God. HARRY: Oh, my God, this is temper. That's a hard temper. I'm just freaking out now. When you're lowering and increasing temperatures, you can't vary a degree. One degree below 27 or one degree above 32 and it's not gonna temper properly and you won't have that perfect crack. MAN: Good work, Ellie. (SPECTATORS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT) This second batch of panna cotta, I've put every ounce of my focus into making sure the bloomed gelatin has thickened before I add it in. Good boy, Matt. Come on, Matty. You can do it. Come on, Matt! So, I'm gonna throw these in and, yeah, cross my fingers. I'm definitely edgy. But at the same time, I've got a workload ahead of me like you wouldn't believe. I need to move on to the tempered chocolate. So, my head needs to be there. Come on. ELENA: Is it not working? (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Guys, it's very simple. You need to get that eggshell done. Yes? Yes, George. It's the only important thing at the moment. That's it. Get that eggshell done. 45 minutes to go! Come on! Wow, it drops fast. 27.3, 27.2. My milk chocolate has hit exactly 27 degrees... MAN: Beautiful. Good work, Ellie. Good job. Good job. Good job. ..so I can incorporate that with the rest of the mixture, bring that up to precisely 32 degrees to ensure I get that perfect crack, pour it into the container that attaches to the spray gun, and take it over to the spraying station. (SPRAY GUN BUZZES) That's so cool! This spray gun is so noisy and kind of fierce. I'm a little bit nervous. I just want to get it right. I need to take a lot of care spraying just the right amount. It can't be too thick, because there's another layer of WHITE chocolate to go in there. ELISE: Clean them off really well, Elena. Scrape off all of the excess. I need to leave that to set and hurry back to temper my white chocolate. Come on, Matt. Come on, Matt. Come on, Matty. MATT: I'm finally up to tempering the milk chocolate egg layer. This is where it starts to get pretty intricate. Tempering chocolate like this is a whole new world for me. ZOE: That's it. Just keep working it, Matty. The hardest thing about trying to measure the temperature on this marble is you've got the thermometer there, so you're constantly just agitating this chocolate to bring it down and move the chocolate over the top to try to give yourself some form of indicator as to what temperature this chocolate's at. As I'm agitating the chocolate, I starting thinking about everything else I have to do and mapping out how I'm going to tackle it. When all of a sudden... ..I see it's dropped way past 27. What have you got, Matty? It's at 25. It's way under. I'm trailing behind Elena. I've already lost time remaking the panna cotta. I need that eggshell or I don't have a dish. And there's no time to start over. So I use what I've got and get it up to 32 degrees. Hopefully the temper isn't too off. (SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE GANTRY) I head over to the spraying booth... ..and just in sweeping motions, I want a really, really, really thin layer. Then I need to get my mould onto the rack so the excess chocolate can drip out... ..to get a nice, thin, even layer of milk chocolate. (SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM GANTRY) Ellie didn't put them upside down. ELENA: As soon as my white chocolate is in temper, I actually have to fill the moulds entirely and then tip out the excess. Before I pour it into the moulds, I notice there's some dry clumps in the milk chocolate layer. Oh, God. It's not as even as it should be, but there's no time to start this whole process over. I just hope that it doesn't affect the final eggshell too much. THERESA: Good job, Elena. While I leave my eggshells to set, I can start constructing the nest that the egg will sit on. It's absolutely very delicate and I'm gonna have to be very careful. HARRY: Beautiful, Elena. There we go. (SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT) I go over to the fridge and I check on that second batch of panna cotta, and she's good as gold. Honestly, I'm stoked. I can see the texture of it as I scoop out the midsection to make space for that yolk. The texture of it, it is, it's like a soft-boiled egg. I told you you could do it. Yeah? Yes, George. Yes? Yes, George! Get the plate down, start plating up. The walls may be buckling under the pressure, we may be able to cut the tension with a knife, but you are getting there! 10 minutes to go! Come on! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Go, Ellie! ELENA: I have to get these eggshells out of the moulds and I have to get them filled. I then need to seal it. Gentle... (CHEERING) I'm pretty excited about my tempered chocolate. They are shiny and they look like eggshells! They look incredible. What a buzz. I can put the panna cotta in. WOMAN: Good job, Elena. WOMAN: Careful. MAN: Gentle. WOMAN: Yes, Ellie! And then there's a little gap at the bottom for me to put that coffee parfait under that panna cotta. I need to seal them so that they hold on the plate. Just melt the edge ever so slightly... ..close it together... very, very carefully apply a little bit extra of that milk chocolate mix to create a seamless, delicate egg. Without that final seal, you risk the egg splitting open. If the egg isn't constructed beautifully, the rest of the elements almost don't matter. This is the hero of this dish. Way to go, Ellie! The final set for the egg is to pour a tiny amount of liquid nitrogen over the top of the egg. Essentially, you're freezing the egg in time. The next three minutes are gonna make all the difference! Come on, you two! Come on, babe! Let's do this! Let's go! I've just managed to put this nest together... and now I need to finally start assembling this egg. (CHEERING) The pressure of this cook is bearing down on me. Time is practically up and I've got the most finicky process to go in sealing this egg. I've got hot hands, the most fragile of all chocolates, a millimetre thin, and I've got to try to glue that together without breaking it, without melting it. (SIGHS) Man. And I've got about a minute and a half to go. Come on. I melt the edge of the chocolate and I gently put it together and it looks like it's... JUST holding. MAN: That's it, Matty. (CHEERING) Just stay there. Just stay there, please. Your last minute in the MasterChef kitchen! One minute to go! Bring it home, Matt! There's a couple of steps in here that's telling me to seal this egg with the excess chocolate. You've got it mate! Come on! I don't have time to do that. I need to finish this thing off and get it on the plate, otherwise it's not gonna be there. What?! I need to take it over to the liquid nitrogen right now. WOMAN: Where's he going? MAN: What's he doing? ZOE: I think he's just not gonna do it. HARRY: Oh, my God. Matt just totally skipped the final sealing step. He'd better pray to God that that thing holds together. For the last time - THIRTY SECOOOOOOOOONDS! ELENA: All of my elements are done. I know I still have to plate up the egg. But I see Matt running over to the liquid nitrogen station. MATT: What do I do? He looks a little bit lost as to what he's supposed to do next. I'm just gonna help him. Here. Put it on there so it doesn't ruin the rest of your stuff. Glove on. Glove on. And just a tiny spoon of this over the top. Yep. WOMAN: Oh, Elena! She's helping him. Yep. Just over the top. Yep. Yep. Yep. That's it. That's it. I can't believe it. I've got every element up. This is gonna come together. This is going to happen. This is it! Ten seconds! Nine! ALL: Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it! ELENA: It's pretty awesome to have just completed that marathon. Whatever happens from here is in the hands of the food gods, I think, as the judges say. MATT: Today we've been through the biggest test here in this kitchen on MasterChef. It's something you can never explain to someone. You don't know what it's like until you're in there in the thick of it, feeling it close in on you. It's one hell of a thing. Ohh! You did it. You did it. You did it! (SIGHS) Oh, no! I think he missed something. WOMAN: What did he forget? Well done, guys. Thank you, Ashley. That was very, very tight. Well done. WOMAN: What's wrong? MAN: I don't know. WOMAN: I have no idea. MAN: It's opened up, hasn't it? It's opened up. MAN: Yeah. (SIGHS) I'm gutted. It's not finished. I'm just really disappointed. (SNIFFS) Yep. Just really disappointed. (SNIFFS) It doesn't matter, mate. You're a winner anyway. It's...it's, um... (SNIFFS) it's pretty... pretty difficult to, um... ..put everything...into... ..into that and then what you're left with is not satisfactory. Well done, son. Good on you, mate. ZOE: Well done, Matty. TRENT: Well done, Matty. We're so proud of you, mate. (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) (SOFT APPLAUSE) (SOBS) I just want to go home. Yep. Oh, baby. 1 MATT: Not correctly sealing the egg is definitely gonna cost me points. But I've got every element on that plate. And with a three-point lead, I'm still in this. Wow, Matt, hardest thing you've ever done? Yeah, big-time. How do you feel? Uh... (LAUGHS) No, it's all good. (SNIFFS) It's all good. You know, that is an incredibly tough challenge. You know, if you put that dish, that recipe, in front of any chef in the world, I guarantee you there'd be some struggles for sure. And you've just put it up. It may not be perfect, but we're absolutely proud as punch of the way you handled yourself through what was a marathon cook. You had a kind of tunnel vision at one point where you could see only what was right in front of your eyes, and you pulled yourself out of it. That's a hard thing to do. And that to me is pretty, pretty impressive. What do you want us to remember about you, you as a person, from this plate of food? Um... ..how much I love doing that. How much I love food. Just plain and simple. You know what, Matt? We can see the passion. We can see how much you want it. We'll taste and we'll see you soon. OK. Thank you. Uh, look, obviously, there's a few little... mistakes there. HESTON: It's open. Give it a crack. OK. That looks like an egg, doesn't it? ASHLEY: Absolutely. Looks beautiful. (LAUGHS) Well, that was a great dish. Yeah. To eat as a whole, he did a fantastic job. It surprised me. He showed great ability to dig deep, pull himself out of a position where I didn't think he'd be able to plate a thing up. Yep. And, you know, what we were extremely worried about - that panna cotta - he's got the texture of boiled eggwhite. But really nicely cooked eggwhite. Yeah. Yep. A dish like this is all about presentation as much as the flavour. So, for me, the split egg at the end of time, that's a significant problem. The eggshell wasn't tempered. It's gonna make it very, very difficult to score. Like we said, it's all about that final presentation, that you don't get that discovery of what's inside. And it just shows how fragile the whole process is and, you know, you've got to go right to the end to pull it off. GEORGE: Shall we score? GARY: Yeah. ELENA: I can't believe that I've plated something so beautifully and delicately. Somehow I found the belief inside myself to say that I COULD do it. I'm not nervous anymore. I'm not fearful. I'm proud and...grateful. GEORGE: Wow. (GARY LAUGHS) What a day! I mean, not only having your family in the building, a couple of pretty amazing chefs. What can you say? Yeah, I'm... I'm just so thrilled that I...didn't miss a thing. I'm really proud. There's a whole batch of things there that could have gone horribly wrong, and... ..you put... ..a pretty-looking egg up on its nest. Amazing. Elena, now it's time for us to taste. Thank you. Thank you very much. MATT: Thank you. Thank you. Even at this distance - and I am a fair way away - I can see the egg looks like an egg and the nest looks wonderfully golden. So, I mean, I think that's an amazing job she's done. That's an egg. Certainly is. Hey? Look at that. From a visual, the chocolate work does look slightly thick. HESTON: It's thinner on this side than this side, the egg. Having said that, I don't think there's much else I can actually fault on that. GEORGE: Yeah. The balance of the flavours, I thought were delicious. This is food that... ..the experience is so much more in the visual of it as well as the flavour. I mean, we always say in this kitchen flavour always wins, yeah? But this is the grand finale. It's a dish that...it's got to evoke that feeling, you know? And we got that with Elena, 'cause the egg was sealed, the crack was there, so, big tick. That's awesome. This one just had more impact. GARY: It did, didn't it? You know, it delivered more texturally. Yeah. And it seemed a little bit bolder to me. For the last time this year, let's score. I think... I think that's right. That's right. It's pretty freaky, isn't it? When you think about it, these are amateur cooks cooking a dish that belongs in a three-star restaurant in five and a half hours. I mean, you wouldn't find something this technical in a lot of three-stars. No. Let's go and reveal who's becoming MasterChef 2016. Let's do it. 1 Welcome to the grand finale 1 You're retired, so these days, everybody travels to you. Maybe you only do school runs. You work from home, so drive mostly on the weekend. At Youi, we tailor your insurance premium to how you use or don't use your car. It could save you lots. Call: 1 Welcome to the grand finale of MasterChef 2016. (CHEERING) We started with 24 of the best amateur cooks in the country in our search for the one. And it all came down to today's final challenge set by Heston and Ashley. There is no question that that third round was the most difficult and demanding pressure test we have ever seen in this kitchen. Heston, Ashley, how did they go? Incredibly well. Any professional chef having a go at that would have thought about turning round and walking straight out of that door! (LAUGHTER) For two amateur cooks to take that dish on is mind-blowing. You did the dish proud, and you did us proud. I can't wait to see what you do next. For one of you, life is about to change forever. It's time to reveal our scores. Matt, you've got 56 points, Elena, 53 - so, a three-point difference. Matt, we're going to score your dish first. Matt, we loved your panna cotta. And we scored your dish... ..seven out of ten. Thank you. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Matt, I scored you seven out of ten. Matt, I scored your dish... ..seven out of ten. Matt, I absolutely loved that coffee parfait - the flavour, the texture, absolutely wonderful. I scored your dish... ..seven out of ten. So, Matt, that means you've scored 28 points... ..which gives you a grand total after round three of 84 points. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Elena, that means you need 32 points or more to win the title of MasterChef for 2016. The crunch and the texture made all the difference, and that's why I scored your dish... ..eight out of ten. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Elena... ..I scored it... ..eight out of ten. Elena... ..I scored your dish... ..eight out of ten. That means you need an eight or more from Ashley and Heston to become Australia's next MasterChef. ASHLEY: Elena... ..your dish was clearly a beautiful egg sat upon a lovely nest... ..but more importantly, had flavour, texture and balance. And that's why we scored your dish... ..nine out of ten! (WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Elena, you are Australia's MasterChef for 2016! You have won $250,000, a monthly column in Australia's leading premium food magazine, Delicious, and most importantly, you've won the title of Australia's MasterChef. This is a moment in your life you'll never forget. Elena, on behalf of the three of us, thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure watching you cook, watching you grow and eating those incredible, intense, flavour-bursting dishes time after time. I'm just so grateful for the entire experience. (TEARFULLY) And really thankful to share it with these guys and these guys. Brilliant. Um... (SIGHS) Matt. Thank you, Matt. I think, yeah, our friendship has just grown and he's been a huge support to me when I've just needed to be still or be silent sometimes. And I've loved cooking beside him, working under him and beside him as a leader and as a teammate. Yeah, I've learned a lot about food from Matt, and I just love it. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Oh, mate! (BOTH LAUGH) You earned it. You absolutely earned it. Thank you for your friendship and support throughout the competition. I think everyone knows it's not easy. And to have a couple of people throughout that that you can rely on and talk to and genuinely bounce how you're feeling off each other, you know, it makes it doable. So, it's been an absolute pleasure. And to go toe to toe with Elena today, I mean, what a way to wrap it up. Honestly, brilliant. Matt, I don't think we've ever had anyone in this kitchen that has as deep an emotional connection to food. And your tenacity is... ..unbelievable. We cannot wait to get into the queue of your food truck - me front, George, Gary, Shannon right behind. HESTON: And I'll have the chauffeur's cap on, hey? (LAUGHTER) And to help you achieve that dream... thanks to the new ANZ Travel Adventures Card... ..we're giving you $40,000. (ALL EXCLAIM, CHEER WILDLY) Unreal. Is that gonna help? Oh! (LAUGHTER) It would take me a long time to come up with that. Yeah. That's...oh, phenomenal. Um... Thank you. You know what? That's not all we're giving away tonight. Harry, you made it all the way to the final three. To help you achieve your food dreams, we're giving you $10,000. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Elena, there's only one thing left for you to do. Come on. Hoist that trophy above your head! (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Elena, you are Australia's MasterChef for 2016! Captions by Ericsson Access Services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Able 2017