Brent was facing Martin Boetz in the celebrity chef challenge. Martin is the executive chef and owner of Longrain Sydney and Melbourne, restaurants known for their exquisite Thai flavours.

Brent was to attempt one of Longrain’s signature dishes; egg net with prawns and pork with a cucumber relish. Matt said the dish was an explosion of textures and aromatics that have to be in balance and that if the egg net wasn’t lacy and light, the dish would be a miss.

The MasterChef contestant had a half hour head start and Martin helped Brent as Brent grew flustered. Trevor yelled from above, asking if Brent was actually going to do any cooking.

With 45 minutes to go, Martin started cooking his own dish. The watching contestants cheered when Brent pulled his egg net out of the frying pan successfully. The other contestants noted that Brent was now keeping his nerves in check and was cooking calmly.

Sam observed that Martin didn’t seem to have everything together as the minutes counted down. They wondered if the chef would have time to plate up as Martin hadn’t yet assembled his egg net on the plate with 30 seconds to go.

Both Brent and Martin plated up in time, however, and it was time for the judges to rate the dishes, not knowing who cooked which.

Gary said Brent’s dish had lots of good flavours. George said the vegetables had been shredded beautifully. Matt observed that the flavours were evenly balanced but said the egg net was a bit too heavy and didn’t have the delicacy it should.

Gary said there was a lot more lime leaf in Martin’s version and it was much more fragrant. George said the egg net was beautiful – fine and lacelike – and the dish was put together with a lot more finesse. Matt said it was a lime war between the two versions of the dressing.

George gave Brent 6 out of 10. He said for him, the egg net has to be like beautiful La Perla underwear, whereas Brent’s looked like nana knickers. He said the flavour of the dish was good, though, and he’d pay money for it in a restaurant.

Matt gave Brent a 6, saying the cucumber relish was impeccable. Gary judged Brent’s dish to be a 5 out of 10. He said it hit all the right notes but presentation let Brent down.

Gary gave Martin’s “beautiful” dish 8 out of 10. He said the egg net was crispy and the balance between the flavours stood out.

George also rated Martin’s dish 8 out of 10 and Matt gave it 9 out of 10. Martin had won the challenge and Brent gave him a kiss on the cheek after George said he could tell he wanted to.

The judges told Brent he’d done a good job and that the other contestants should watch out for him.

Stay tuned for a seafood challenge.