BUDERIM paramedic student Nathaniel Milevskiy is through to the MasterChef Top 24 thanks to a personal dish.

His apple pie and moonshine crispy pork belly paid tribute to the time Milevskiy spent living in the US, where he finished high school and attended university.

"It's a shout out to my time in the (United) States," he told the Daily.

"The apple pie moonshine puree takes me back to nights with my mates where we'd be listening to country music and having a good time.

"It's my original creation and a recipe I'm proud of."

The 29-year-old pushed himself to the limit to plate up the pork belly, which is normally slow cooked over hours, in just 60 minutes.

"I knew I was taking a massive risk, but if I pulled it off then it was going to be a massive reward," he said.

"The day was stressful leading up to it, but once I got behind the bench and started cooking I went into my happy place.

"But with 10 minutes left in the cook it wasn't looking good, so I just cranked the oven up and it (the crackling) blossomed out."

The judges, particularly Gary Mehigan, were impressed with his flavour combination and the crunchy crackling.

He was one of 19 cooks to receive a coveted white apron in last night's premiere alongside Noosa's Matt Sinclair, who broke the show's "death dish" curse with a tasty mushroom risotto.

George Calombaris commended the coffee roaster for his courage and Sinclair promised to make the judges proud.

Noosa-raised teacher Elena Duggan also made the cut with her take on fish and chips.

The MasterChef judges' auditions continue tonight at 7.30pm on Channel 10.

GIVE IT A TRY

Apple Pie and Moonshine Crispy Pork Belly

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Crispy pork belly

• 1 pink lady apple, thickly sliced
• 600g pork belly
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 85ml Jack Daniels whisky
• vegetable oil
• salt, to taste

Apple puree

• 2 pink lady apples, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla pod, halved and seeds scraped
• 125ml Jack Daniels Whisky
• salt, to taste

Mayonnaise

• 3 egg yolks
• juice of ½ a lemon
• 90ml vegetable oil
• salt and white pepper, to taste

Coleslaw

• ½ small red cabbage, thinly sliced
• ½ sugar loaf cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 pink lady apple, grated
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 250C.

2. To make the crispy pork belly, line a baking tray with baking paper. Lay apple slices on tray and top with brown sugar, cinnamon stick, vanilla pod and whisky. Score skin of the pork belly, coat with oil and season with salt. Place pork on top of the apple layer and into the oven until skin is crisp and pork is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Once cooked, remove from oven and set aside to rest.

3. To make the apple puree, place all ingredients and 125ml water into a medium saucepan and cover. Cook on low heat until apples have just softened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, discard vanilla and cinnamon and transfer to a food processor. Blitz until smooth then set aside, keeping warm.

4. To make the mayonnaise, place yolks and a squeeze of lemon juice into a canister jug and blitz with a stick blender, gradually adding oil until emulsified and pale. Season and set aside.

5. To make the coleslaw, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Add mayonnaise and stir through until evenly coated, set aside in the fridge.

6. To serve, smear apple puree on to plate, top with portion of pork belly and spoon some coleslaw beside.