MasterChef Australia 7 (2015)

Please take note that the comment section below are full of spoilers, if you don’t want to know, DO NOT READ THE COMMENT SECTION.

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Update April 27, 2015: MasterChef Australia has finally set a date for the premiere of series 7 after Channel 7 announced today that its MKR6 grand finale will air next Monday. So MCA7 will now start on Tuesday May 5, 2015 at 7:30pm on TEN. I just have to have a little chuckle that the once almighty MasterChef now has to bow its head to the little upstart MKR. Four or five years ago Channel 10 could schedule MCA when and where they want and top shows from rival channels would schedule around MCA so that they would not be crushed by MCA, not anymore now the producers have basically destroyed its reputation in season 5…

The seventh series of MasterChef Australia is expected to return to our TV screen after Easter in April late April or early May most likely.

Seventh series of Masterchef at Coldstream Hills Winery for filming
MasterChef taste of the gourmet region
Shannon Bennett replaces Kylie Kwong as guest mentor on this year’s MasterChef Australia — and is already stirring the pot
The Winners Of Masterchef Australia: Where Are They Now?

George Calombaris promises hot recipes in this year’s MasterChef
Time For A Paddlin’ (Chris Badenoch’s new venture)

Update April 10, 2015: MasterChef Australia has been promoting three contestants from the 2015 group on TV the past week, I must say I’m not very impressed! The most boring and insipid promos I’ve ever seen, to be honest! These contestant promos should get viewers interested and intrigued by the contestants so we begin to anticipate the return of the show, not turning it around and focused on the judges in yet another same-old same-old scenarios that had happened repeatedly in all the previous seasons! Are these contestants the most interesting and skilled contestants they could find, really? The producers were so keen to show us faux tear jerking back-stories every seasons, yet they couldn’t come up with some interesting personalities to promote? I think the producers have manipulated the outcomes so much that they had wrung all the spontaneity and joy out of the show. There were joy and happy contestants who actually seemed to enjoy cooking in the first three seasons, yet from later seasons, we got contestants who just crapped on with their back stories, cried and their cooking seemed a chore to them, all about using fancy equipment and wanky platings that needed a thousand textures and elements with bucketful of flowers to decorate. I would love to see an episode where all modern equipment are banned and they have to use their basic skills to cook a dish! Where are the happiness and joy in cooking that relates to the viewers at home watching?
All we got from those promos were dull, dull, dull contestants standing like deer in headlights in front of the judges! One cooked a curry that’s too hot for George’s tastebud (we have seen that happened so many times already on MCA, yes we get it, George can’t eat hot spicy food), another cooked haggis which the judges did not like to eat. And on that subject, no professional credibility on the judges if they judged the food not on how good or bad it was made, but on whether it suited their palate or not! And the third tried to re-invent a roast, which most probably will turn out to be a pot roast after all…
Also interesting that two of them were originally from the UK, that says a lot about the falling TV ratings here in Australia for the show and they are trying to appease the international audience by casting token contestants from the UK, and the subcontinent, where they have their largest oversea audiences. Last year the show started strong, but really descended into a non-event when they once again tried to push for a young winner for the third year in a row! So far the only bright spot from the 3 promos are that they are all older contestants, not in their teens or the early twenties. However that said, I would not be surprised if the winner this year will be young and a female, more manipulations from the producers and not from really looking for a worthy winner.

Game of Thrones, Deadline Gallipoli, Reno Rumble, Catching Milat and MasterChef head all set to screen in coming weeks
Australian chef Brett Graham from The Ledbury in London returns for MasterChef appearance

Update April 25, 2015: Another First Look promo, déjà vu? Feels like we have seen it all last year. More pannacotta and pasta for auditions, what’s new? Hopefully not another Emelia who kept making pannacotta last year! A 5-year-old can make a pannacotta if they have a workable recipe, no real skill there! And don’t be fooled by those gorgeous desserts near the end of the promo, they are pressure test dishes, not contestants’ dishes!
I just wish they have kept those pressure test dishes secret and not shown them in these early promos so they will surprise and delight viewers when those episodes air, as it is, it will be ‘meh’ when the times come. The stupidest thing is, when they do get around to showing those episodes, they try to do the suspenseful editing by showing the chef lifting up the cloche and boom, go to commercials, as if we will be surprised by seeing those dishes for “the first time” after the commercial break. That tells me either of two things, there is no communications between Ten’s promo department and the production company, or the promo department has to scrap the bottom of the barrel for any tiny titbits of interesting moments they could get their hands on to show in the promos! Somehow every time I see those promos, the criticism of a certain Paul Hollywood from GBBO keeps popping into my head, “style over substance, style over substance!”:

Update April 26, 2015: Just checked the TV EPG for the next week, it looks like the Grand Finale of My Kitchen Rules will be aired on Monday May 4, 2015. There was speculations previously that MKR finale will be on Sunday May 3, and MasterChef Australia will premiere on Monday May 4 to avoid being crushed by the MKR finale. So now the MKR finale looks likely to be on Monday May 4, MCA may premiere on Sunday May 10!

Stakes are high on MasterChef

Update April 29, 2015: It is interesting reading the following article that Matt insisted the judges never let the producers influence their decision. Then it is very bizarre that we got alternate female/male winners for 6 years! Coincidences, for 6 seasons?! I should go buy lottery tickets! Also very disappointed if that is the case that the judges preferred to let younger contestants get to the finals by constantly helping them (more so than the older contestants who mostly got confused by the mind games from the judges) through the competition, which is very obvious as when they actually reached the grand final (Callum in S2 and Laura last year) they fell apart without the constant help on the final day. Of course now it is common knowledge that Callum did not want to be a chef anymore after a brief work experience stint at George’s restaurant, same with last year’s Emelia who left pursuing a marketing career after working briefly at George’s restaurant. The winner last year, Brent (remember him? This is how memorable he is that I had to think hard and google to remember his name!), is currently in India promoting Season 7, obviously has a lot of free time up his sleeve, not sure if he’s still pursuing a chef career, not likely I would say! The most bizarre thing is runner-up Laura recently putting out a cookbook, without any credibility apart from being in a reality show and not even the winner, maybe ghostwriting involved by the famous granny constantly referred to last year… So if the judges have all the control, then more and more it felt like they are now looking for potential young apprentices they could employ in their restaurants rather than actually awarding someone who can cook from the get go and is consistent through the competition. The first three winners, Julie, Adam and Kate could cook when they entered the competition, yet the winners since season 4 actually told us they entered the competition to learn how to cook!
Oh, yes, the bit about fake dockets, casting on ability and back stories had me LMAO! So fake dockets are more real life than actually getting the 120 real diners to order the food… Cast on ability? Explain Season 5 then… Less backstories, yeah, let’s see how that plays out this season… Also the bit Matt mentioned about Hayden’s elimination that they eliminated Hayden even though he’s very popular with the viewers, that didn’t gel as the show is filmed so far in advanced that the producers/judges would not have any idea how each contestant would be accepted by the audience or being popular because by the time the show began airing they would have filmed maybe 2/3 or even 3/4 of the show already!
The secret ingredients producers use to cook-up MasterChef that viewers don’t realise

Chef Shannon Bennett is happy to be part of the MasterChef Australia team

Episode 1, Tuesday, May 5, 2015
For the first time in seven years, I did not even sit down and watch the premiering episode, yes, the TV was tuned to MasterChef, but I was in and out of the room and only catching bits and pieces of the episode. From what little I saw, still the same-old contrived audition process. A note to the producers, to tug at viewers’ heartstrings, it has to be a real surprise or an impulsive action, not artificial set-ups as lame as the bits I saw on the episode. Whatever we may think of the silly feuds on MKR, the real emotion on Steve’s face when he saw his parents appeared on last night MKR finale was much better executed than the contrived “drama” tonight on MCA. The only moment my ears pricked up was hearing there’s a contestant who sleeps with 7 dogs, that’s the most riveting thing on tonight… I will wait until the audition is over and see how Series 7 develop…

Scallop tortellini in Citrus Butter Sauce (Matthew Hopcraft)
Haggis, Neeps and Tatties (Fiona Grindlay)
Coconut Panna Cotta (Reynold Poernomo)
Chocolate Mousse with Rhubarb (Melita Tough)
Gnocchi Napolitano (Ava Stengherlin)
Lamb with Fondant Potato and Salsa Verde (Stephen Rooney)
Goan Fish Curry (Jarrod Trigg)
Spiced Lamb Cutlets (Jessica Arnott)
Vietnamese Wet Rice with Salmon and Tamarind (Kha Nguyen)
Eye Fillet with Seasonal Vegetables (Sara Oteri)
The Golden Egg (Marcus Cher)
Vanilla Pannacotta with Saffron Gel (Anna Webster)
Steak and Chips (Jacqui Ackland)
Coffee Poached Pear and Ice-Cream (Ashleigh Bareham)
Pulled Chicken Tortillas (Kristina Short)
Steak, Mash and Bone Marrow Sauce (James Bell)
Mini Chicken Koftas (Georgia Barnes)
Whiskey Chocolate Fondant with Orange Cream and Praline (Billie McKay)
South African Sliders (Andrea Farinha)
Sri Lankan Fish Curry with Coconut Sambal and Rice (Jamie Ward)
Vietnamese Spiced Crab (Amy Luttrell)
Cheese and Crackers (John Carasig)
Sambousek with Tomb (Rose Adam)
Tom Yum (Jessie Spiby)

LOL, did this reviewer actually watch last year audition episodes, this year is exactly the same rehash as last year!
MasterChef Australia season 7 begins: Would you like cries with that

The 20-year-old who prepared the “best” dessert according to the judges and with the backstory of his mum not wanting him to go into the food industry apparently is the brother of one of MasterChef Indonesia judges, Arnold Poernomo, according to this tweet. So I don’t quite understand the sob-sob backstory about the resistance from his mother of him working in the food industry, and finally her quick full support only when they appeared on TV??? The turnaround into support was just too quick and easy, so how bad was that resistance in the first place? I wasn’t paying full attention but did they show or mention his famous brother at all during his segment???

Wow, really surprised by the ratings for MasterChef Australia! It did better than last year…
MasterChef Australia devours House Rules, Reno Rumble in TV ratings
Can MasterChef save reality television?

Episode 2, Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Pressure Test – Bistro Vue’s Warm Chocolate Orange Mousse (Shannon Bennett)

Tonight the Top 24 will enter the MasterChef Kitchen, but TV Tonight is already hinting there will be a change to the Top 24, someone may be pulling out same as last year??? So one of the two girls who missed out last night may get in after all. Also there will be two episodes tonight, meaning they intended to start series 7 either last Sunday or Monday instead of Tuesday due to the finale of MKR, so an extra episode has to be slotted between Tuesday and Friday to catch up. If it had started on Sunday, this week’s 5 episodes would have neatly wrapped up by Thursday, and they also would not have to bump The Living Room to a later timeslot on the Friday schedule to make way for the fifth episode. Also Thursday seems to be it for a double episodes since they used to do double episodes of elimination, then MasterClass if there was one, on Thursday last year.

Episode 3, Thursday, May 7, 2015 Judges’ Mystery Boxes
Gawd Almighty, do we really need to see them leaving home?
Yep, Mario is out and Jessie has made it in to the Top 24. Apparently Mario did not fit with the guideline regarding his previous experience, so he has to pull out of the competition! That makes 15 females, 9 males, on track for a female winner……..

Gary’s Mystery Box – Duck, rhubarb, cauliflower, onions, artichokes, stinging nettles, hazelnuts, wild rice?
Matt’s Mystery Box – Chicken thighs, bacon, celery, corn, lemon, miso, maple syrup, pepita?
George’s Mystery Box – Abalone, heirloom cucumbers, fetta, olive oil, ouzo, caper leaves, mastic, oranges
75 minutes, Brent Owens will be around to “inspire” the contestants, hahahahaha….. Can we see a lot of negative space platings?

Will be switching over at 8pm to watch Poh & Co. for half an hour for the final episode…
I’m back! Really enjoyed the wonderfully produced Poh & Co. the past 6 weeks, wow, time flies, hope they make another series next year!
LOL, and the first thing I see when switching back to MasterChef is pink, undercooked duck! Yuck!
Is Brent even qualify to judge? Or is he there just to eat?

Top 3: Jessica, John, Sara

Duck Confit with Duck Skin Crumb (Sara Oteri)
Olive Oil and Fetta Ice cream with Orange Butter Cake (John Carasig)
Miso Maple Glazed Chicken with sweet corn puree (Jessica Arnott)

Top 24 MasterChef contestant booted off the show for having professional experience
Adelaide’s Jessie Spiby gets chance at MasterChef top 24 after contestant gets booted for having professional cooking experience

Episode 4, Thursday, May 7, 2015 Massimo Bottura’s Team Challenge
Winners of Mystery Boxes will be the team captain.
Each team must cook for 40 guests, Italian dishes, main and dessert
2 hours mise en place

Green Team – Sara (captain), Stephen, Jarrod, Rose, James, Anna, Jessie, Jamie
White Team – John (captain), Matthew, Fiona, Jacqui, Melita, Billie, Ava, Andrea
Red Team – Jessica (captain), Marcus, Reynold, Kristina, Amy, Kha, Ashleigh, Georgia

Sorry, still fuzzy with the contestants, will have to re-watch to get all their names…

LOL, Marcus is already taking over the red team.
Now Massimo came over to tell the red team Carbonara is too hard to do in the time frame. Yet they are going ahead with it. Geez, will these people never learn? A professional chef giving you advice and you don’t listen???
Hahaha, 1 hour down, and Gary is pissed off! He admonished all three teams that Massimo said simplicity, yet all three teams chose to do time consuming dishes, stuffed zucchini flowers, arancini, and Carbonara…
John’s team had dropped arancini balls… and using sourdough for the crunchy elements.
Sara’s team also decided to drop zucchini flowers…
Jessica’s Marcus’ team still going ahead with carbonara… Pasta Disaster on his way to meet Marcus…
Here comes pannacotta again… Best cooks ever????????????????????????????

Judges’ Tasting
Green’s Seafood Salad – raw fish in the salad!
Red’s Carbonara – pasta too dry, not enough sauce! Fail!
White’s Lasagne – looks the best out of 3 mains, Massimo is happy, really good, very delicious!

White team’s pannacotta is not set! Only 10 minutes to go, in to blast chiller…
Green team did not serve main to 4 guests. James is in trouble.

Judges’ Tasting
Red’s Mascarpone Ice Cream – something wrong, Campari macerated strawberries the culprit!
Green’s Pine Nut Panna Cotta – the only thing good on the plate is the fig, LMAO!
White’s Basil Panna Cotta – Phew, they set! Good, lovely, beautiful texture…

Massimo finished both White Team’s main and dessert. Can we say White Team wins now…

Best Main: White Team
Best Dessert: White Team
Elimination Bound: Red Team

Summer Vegetable Lasagne with Pesto Sauce (White Team)
Basil Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis and Pinenut Tuile (White Team)

Episode 5, Friday, May 8, 2015 Elimination
Jessica, Marcus, Reynold, Kristina, Amy, Kha, Ashleigh, Georgia

It is just too early for an elimination, we don’t even know the contestants yet, so couldn’t care less who is eliminated… Although hoping it is Marcus, just too arrogant in team challenge, another clueless contestant who likes to play with molecular gastronomy but, basic cooking skills???

Round 1: Name That Fish
Safe: Amy, Kristina, Reynold

Round 2: Filleting Snapper
Safe: Jessica, Ashleigh

Round 3: Cooking a Fish Dish
Safe: Georgia, Kha

Eliminated: Marcus

Pan Seared Flathead with Potato Puree and Salsa Verde (Georgia Barnes)
Seared Tuna with Crushed Potatoes and Vinaigrette (Kha Nguyen)

Spoiler! Select hidden text below to read…
After the elimination episode on Friday, they showed a montage of upcoming episodes, and in one scene involving Marco Pierre White episode, they showed a line-up of contestants (unless it was sneaky editing, but definitely next Sunday episode and since there was an encore today, I purposely recorded that bit to get the image), there were 21 contestants and so we can figure out which two contestants are going to be eliminated this week – James and Kha (still not too familiar with the contestants yet but I am quite sure the four males on the left are Matthew, Jamie, Reynold and John, and Jarrod and Stephen towards the right side)! At this rate we will be getting an all female top 10!!!

Episode 6, Sunday, May 10, 2015 Mystery Box and Invention Test
Mystery Box – chicken, coriander leaves, blue swimmer crab, camomile flowers, asparagus, blood oranges, coconut, popping corn

LOL, already getting bored with the episode. As usual we are only shown the 4 or 5 contestants with their “drama” – Georgia, Sara, Ashleigh, Stephen and Reynold, yet there are 23 of them cooking!

Mystery Box Winner: Georgia

Blood Orange and Chamomile Tart (Georgia Barnes)
Blood Orange Granita and Chamomile (Reynold Poernomo)
Coriander Chicken Roulade with Noodles (Ashleigh Bareham)
Orange and Chamomile Brulee with Coconut Tuile (Billie McKay)
Asian Inspired Crab Broth (Sara Oteri)

Invention Test
Theme: Guilty Pleasures
Core Ingredient (chosen by Georgia): Chocolate, Bacon, Cheese
Time: 90 minutes

Now they are doing James’ back story, we can already see the future for him with the spoiler above, hahaha…
Reynold for the win, since they have been promoting his dish the whole weekend… No training? Not buying that, now knowing his background, just google “ArtPlate” or “Nomz Kitchen & Pastry”, he grew up surrounded by all those desserts… Even if the “not allowed to work in the patisserie” is true, he still would easily have access to all the unusual expensive commercial, professional ingredients/equipment to practise with, or be privy to all the professional techniques or recipes from his mum… The only problem is, he can’t depend on just desserts to get him through to the end, let’s wait and see how good he is with savoury dishes…

Here’s The Forbidden Fruit by Reynold Poernomo:

“The Forbidden Fruit” by Reynold Poernomo

Now compare that to this from his mother’s creation (not the end product):

“Passionberry” by Art Plate

Top 3: Reynold (Dish of The Day), Jessica, Ashleigh
Bottom 3: Jamie, James, Rose, Georgia + Andrea who was sick today so automatically advanced into Pressure Test

The Forbidden Fruit (Reynold Poernomo)
Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart, Figs and Olorso Sherry Creme Fraiche (Jessica Arnott)
Chilli Cocoa Pannacotta with raspberry curd, raspberry sorbet and chocolate puffed millet (Ashleigh Bareham)

Episode 7, Monday, May 11, 2015 Sat Bains’ Pressure Test

Do I need to tell you who’s going home tonight? LOL

BTW, some contestants are on social media this year, does this mean also those are from the eliminated contestants? So if we see them on social media, they are already out in real time. I can’t see how those still in the competition can do social media when they are not allowed to have phones in the house.

Eliminated: James
MCA, you are very good at giving out spoilers to your own show, RESPECT!

Pressure Test – Sat’s Beef and Mushrooms (Sat Bains)

More spoilers! Top 12? Again you know what to do to read the spoiler below…
Here are the possible Top 12, we can clearly see 6 reds and 6 greens, note in the first image, the two in front are chefs (refer new confusing update below under Ep 21), not contestants. 4 male contestants left at this stage – John, Jamie, Reynold and Stephen. The females I will leave it to you as I still can’t identify a lot of them at the moment…
Update May 14, 2015: For identification of female contestants, see spoiler below under Ep 8.

MasterChef Behind the scenes, Andy and Ben on life after the show

Episode 8, Tuesday, May 12, 2015 Immunity Challenge
George is not feeling well, so only Gary and Matt doing the judging, alongside Shannon who will mentor contestant in Round 2.

Round 1 – Create a Dish using a Jaffle Maker, 45 minutes

LOL, misleading promo to get viewers to tune in… Reynold’s dish looked good but failed in taste. I actually thought he might have an advantage by not having a preconceived idea of what a jaffle is since he had never heard of jaffles before.

Winner: Ashleigh

Jaffa Jaffle (Ashleigh Bareham)

Round 2 – Cooking against a Professional

Chef: Ben Williamson, Gerard’s Bistro, 60 minutes
Ashleigh: 75 minutes
Ashleigh’s Choice: East, West

Scores:
Ashleigh: Gary 8 + Matt 7 = 15
Ben: Gary 8 + Matt 8 = 16
No immunity pin given out.

Chilli Coconut Chicken with Coconut Rice, Lychee Relish and Roti (Ashleigh Bareham)

Marco Pierre White: My two former workers on MasterChef Australia
MasterChef: Fans cry foul over kitchen experience

More Top 12 spoilers (Updated), Top 3 prediction??? Look away if you don’t want to know, LOL
Reply to IT (comment #3 below), see if what I found out matches yours. Top 3 looks like Melita, Amy and Andrea to me, right? Can’t find Reynold’s Twitter account, but his Instagram account is active.
Oops, wrong, just saw Amy’s tweets, but still no Melita’s or Andrea’s…
Update May 14, 2015: Just found out that Melita and Andrea are both updating their Facebook pages, now that’s blown the top 3 theory out of the water, so went back and looked at the above Top 12 images again, here’re whom I suspect the females are… Red – Jessie? (girl in front), then definitely Jacqui and Georgia, and then I think Ava?… Green – Amy?, Billie, Ashleigh? (can’t really see her at all!), and the last girl is Anna, I think. So Melita and Andrea do not even look like making it to the Top 12! I have added a fourth image above in the Top 12 spoiler showing the 5 difficult-to-identify females, my guess are (from left to right) Anna, Ashleigh? (behind Amy?), Amy?, Billie? (behind Amy?), and the red girl on the right is Ava, I think…
My guess is there might have been a break (at the moment in real time, and maybe still 5 or 6 remaining) before filming the finale week which may be in the last two weeks of May, so might be wise to see if whom from the top 12 stop tweeting in the next week or so…

Episode 9, Wednesday, May 13, 2015 Puckapunyal Army Base Team Challenge
Cooking 120 2-course meals for Army personnel & Legacy guests
Theme: Australian Finest
Mise en Place: 2 1/2 hours
Service: 90 minutes

That was an interesting opening! Bugle Wake-Up Call. First time we see the new house?

Red: Matthew (captain), Sara, John, Rose, Georgia, Ashleigh, Kha, Amy, Anna, Melita, Jacqui
Blue: Stephen (captain), Reynold, Fiona, Kristina, Andrea, Jarrod, Jessica, Jessie, Jamie, Ava, Billie

Poor Reynold, 11 members in the team and he’s doing dessert all by himself?
Matthew is just stubborn, after Gary’s numerous questionings of the method of cooking and the other elements to accompany the lamb, he’s still going ahead with the original plan of sous-vide, disaster waiting to happen…
Stephen on the other hand is not leading the team, but just being very indecisive…
Geez, didn’t they plan or count the number of servings and cook accordingly?
We can see Reynold just doing desserts and platings for every future team challenges.
LOL, sous-vide for 35 minutes(?), and then searing, still the lamb is so pink in the middle, so what was the point of all that time wasting doing the sous-vide; having first to wrap each rack individually, then unwrapping each after sous-vide, then having to sear again… No concept of time management!

Elimination Bound: Red Team
Saw that coming a mile away, LOL, since we already know who will be eliminated tomorrow.

Fillet of Beef with Parsnip and Macadamia Puree and Seasonal Vegetables (Blue Team)
Berry Melba (Blue Team)

Geez, why is MCA so rigid in publishing the winner’s recipes only? I’m more interested in red team dessert, but of course loser’s recipe is never good enough to be published in the stupid producers mind… Just because a team lost a challenge doesn’t mean they do not have a good dish, and in the same vein a winning team may have a bad dish! So recipes should be published in a case-by-case decision, not just idiotically publishing only the winning team recipes!
MKR is actually very good in giving out all their recipes, good or bad, so viewers at least have a choice!

Episode 10, Thursday, May 14, 2015 Elimination
Matthew, Sara, John, Rose, Georgia, Ashleigh, Kha, Amy, Anna, Melita, Jacqui

Round 1: Create an Uber Salad, 30 minutes
Bottom 4 go into Round 2

Why is George helping Rose with the pomegranate?
Finally seeing some of the invisible contestants tonight…
LOL, comparing the julienne skills of Kha and John, Kha’s salad is thick and clumsy, while John’s salad is more like julienne and looks appetising.

Safe: Georgia, Ashleigh, Jacqui, Matthew, John, Anna, Melita

Baby Carrot, Crispy Parsnip and Honey Macadamia Salad (Georgia Barnes)
Baby Carrot and Quinoa Salad with Yoghurt Tahini Dressing (Ashleigh Bareham)
Cous Cous, Roast Pumpkin, Prosciutto and Goat’s Cheese Salad (Jacqui Ackland)
Quinoa with Balsamic roasted beetroots and caramelised onion (Matthew Hopcraft)
“Atchara” (Pickled vegies with BBQ chicken) (John Carasig)
Roasted fig with prosciutto and goats cheese (Anna Webster)
Spicy Thai Pork salad with fresh herbs (Melita Tough)

Round 2: Contestants’ Choices
Choices: Cuisines (French, Spanish, Vietnamese), Ingredients (Veal Cutlets, Quails, Prawns), Cooking Time (30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes), Cooking Apparatus (Cooktop, Oven, Deep Fryer)

Knife-Pull to determine choices.
1. Sara: ingredient – quails
2. Kha: cuisine – Vietnamese
3. Rose: cooking apparatus – cooktop
4. Amy: cooking time – 45 minutes

Safe: Sara, Amy, Rose

Vietnamese Charred Quail Noodle Salad (Sara Oteri)
Spiced BBQ Quail (Amy Luttrell)

Eliminated: Kha
When the second round came up, I would think Kha should have got it in the bag if I had not known the result beforehand… Undercooked quails and lack of caramel sauce… Now off to watch the penultimate episode of the penultimate season of American Idol on Channel 11…

MasterChef elimination: Kha Nguyen lands dream job at Chapel Street restaurant Tokyo Tina after getting boot from show
MasterChef: Curtis Stone and Shannon Bennett team up with Marco Pierre White
THE RATINGS RACE: How Australia’s watching in May – MasterChef triumphant

Episode 11, Sunday, May 17, 2015 Marco’s Apprentices Week Begins

Balancing Flavours Mystery Box:
Sweet – Muscat, dates
Sour – lemon, yoghurt
Bitter – endives, cumin seeds
Salty – anchovies, pigface
Umami (or MSG, hahaha) – pork chop, parmesan

Cooking Time: 60 minutes

John’s choux pastry gnocchi sounds interesting!
LOL, Marco and George comedy act, hands or forks? George who holds knife and fork like a child wants to use knife and fork, while Marco who knows how to use knife and fork wants to use his hands to eat…

Winner: Ashleigh

Date Frozen Nougat with Lemon Curd, Cumin Crumb and Cumin Praline (Ashleigh Bareham)
Endive Cups with Pork, Date, Pigface and Anchovy Mayonnaise (Georgia Barnes)
Pan Seared Pork Loin with Fresh and Braised Endive (Jessica Arnott)
Date and Mustard Glazed Pork with Cumin Salt (Sara Oteri)
Parisian Gnocchi with Pork and Cumin (John Carasig)

Mother Sauce Invention Test – Make a foundation sauce and use it to cook a dish
Choice of 5 mother sauces (Ashleigh’s choice) – veal jus, hollandaise, velouté of chicken, béchamel, vegatable nage

Cooking Time: 90 minutes

Actually really like today’s challenges, testing them with the basics of flavours and basic sauces, that will sort out the cooks from the pretenders!
What happened to the wonder kid, Reynold? Hardly saw him in today’s challenges, apart from arriving and him in the line-up during the “Dream” talk from Marco! He must have cooked a savoury dish in the mystery box… And now no chance of making a sweet dish using veal jus, LOL
Well, we still don’t know what he cooked, shown almost everyone’s dishes in judging except his, and maybe a couple of others…

Top 3: Billie, Matthew, Georgia
Bottom 3: Andrea, Jacqui, John

Wow, can’t believe it, that bottom 3 gave away who’s going home tomorrow…

Spiced Duck with Sweet Potato Puree and Raspberry Jus (Billie McKay)
Beef with red wine sauce, vegetables, prosciutto & goats cheese stuffed mushrooms (Matthew Hopcraft)
Mushroom Ravioli with Hazelnut Crumb and Mushroom Veal Jus (Georgia Barnes)

Episode 12, Monday, May 18, 2015 Marco’s Pressure Test
Andrea, Jacqui, John

Love the way Marco brought a bit of class to the show! Butchering a lamb saddle!
His mentoring is 100% better than the 3 house judges, demonstration at the start then no helping at all during the challenge as he told Andrea, “I’m here to observe, not to help.”
Love that this year they did not provide recipes to the observers up in the gallery, so they could not shout instructions to the 3 below fighting it out. I don’t mind the encouragements from them, but shouting instructions in previous years were really unfair!
John reminded me a bit of Adam from Season 2, he has the skills but just not knowing how not to do too much in a dish. Remember Adam’s 3-course pizza in the early days?

Eliminated: Andrea

Pressure Test – Lamb Noisettes a la Forestiere with Madeira Sauce (Marco Pierre White)

How MasterChef Australia 2015 has made a Lazarus-like return to dominance

Episode 13, Tuesday, May 19, 2015 Immunity Challenge
Billie, Matthew, Georgia

Round 1 – Create a Dish using only A Single Egg, 30 minutes

Oops, Billie under boiled her only egg… How could she not have timed it?
Oh dear, Sara, shut up! The way she’s commenting, is she the Masterchef Expert Egg Cooker? Can you do better if you’re down there cooking?
Now Matthew has under poached his egg… Egg white has drained through the sieve!
LOL, 5 judges, 3 contestants…
Another plating scandal? Matthew when he put the egg yolk onto the asparagus, there was just a little egg white, but then when they showed the final plating there was a lot of egg white attached to the yolk??? Come on, we know there was a long wait between finishing cooking and tasting/judging, don’t tell me they did not poach another egg to replace the first egg without the egg white??? One egg only, what a load of bullock!

How the hell did the egg in the first 2 images end up looking like the one for judging in the third image?
Winner: Georgia

Fried egg, black bean and tomato salad, and goats cheese cream (Georgia Barnes)

Round 2 – Cooking against a Professional

Chef: Joshua Pelham, Estelle Bistro, 60 minutes
Georgia: 75 minutes
Georgia’s Choice: Above the Ground, Below the Ground/Sea

Shannon’s advice to Georgia, on knowing Marco, that was to cook like Marco’s eating at home, cook simple, less is more.
LOL, the left-over truffle, being thrown up to the gallery by Josh…
Josh is now doing a master class on cooking marron to the contestants up in the gallery.
Sara is the smart-arse today on cooking…
Oh dear, Georgia’s hot broth/bisque did not manage to cook the raw prawns.
Josh’s dish received good reviews, except Marco who said his pet hate is salmon caviar which was in Josh’s dish.

Seafood and Fennel Broth with Prawn and Scallops (Georgia Barnes)

Scores:
Georgia: Gary 7 + George 8 + Matt 8 + Marco 8 = 31
Josh: Gary 8 + George 9 + Matt 9 + Marco 7 = 33
No immunity pin given out. That was a harsh score from Marco for Josh (I know, I know, it is more of the producers’ way of drumming up drama, but sheesh…), how could he have known Marco did not like salmon caviar (or was that common knowledge), then again Marco should not have scored based on personal choice??? What’s next, they will have to make a list of judges’ pet-hates, so nobody cooks with those ingredients ever again in MasterChef kitchen??? Let’s see, Gary’s cranky with kransky; now Marco’s soured on salmon caviar; George, can’t remember (I was going to say chillies but I don’t think he hates chillies, rather he can’t take too much chillies); Matt, but he’ll eat anything, well, maybe not haggis, LOL. Nonsense judging…
On a side note, did anyone watch Justine’s show yesterday? Last year runner-up Laura was there showing us a sardine recipe, all she did was coat some pre-prepared sardines with flour the whole segment! I was waiting for her to show us how to prepare, butterfly and debone the sardines which was the main point of the dish, but none of that was shown because someone else did all the preparation behind the scenes, MasterChef runner-up, what a laugh, LOL.

MasterChef: a former contestant’s (Alice from S4) predictions

Episode 14, Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Chinese Whispers Recipe-Relay Team Challenge
75 minutes, 15 minute-chunk to cook for each contestant, 45 seconds to pass on information about the recipe
Captain decides on a dish

Red – Billie (captain), Ashleigh, Jessie, Sara, Reynold
Blue – Jarrod (captain), Fiona, John, Amy, Georgia
Yellow – Jacqui (captain), Jamie, Stephen, Ava, Matthew
Green – Melita (captain), Rose, Kristina, Anna, Jessica

LOL, Jacqui decided to make corn taco without checking first if there was masa flour in the pantry!
After the first change-over, the captains were led to a room where there were 4 silence TV screens to watch the rest of their teams cook.
Jamie now decided to make flour tortillas using plain flour.
LOL, blue team’s recipe is going haywire with John… White chocolate in mussel and coconut broth? John keeps running to the pantry to get new ingredients. Oh, he’s changing the recipe, no way, he’s complicating the recipe again! Nooooooooooooooooo…… Wow, Jarrod can lip-read.
Rose can’t cook, now Kristina has to rescue their dish…
Corn taco became wheat tortilla, now it has become flatbread.
No wonder Amy is confused, a simple dish became so complicated because of John… Now Georgia, hence explained the meltdown in the promo, LOL
Red team left Reynold for the plating up, still haven’t seen him cook a complete savoury dish.
Georgia decided to do a last 5-minute challenge… Good work for putting up a completely new dish in 5 minutes, instead of what should have been a 75-minute challenge dish!
Yellow and Blue Teams fighting to the bottom… Very interesting, both teams have one/two members that do not make it to Top 12…

Safe: Green, Red
Elimination Bound: Blue
LOL, I was just getting to like John, but now not too sure I like his attitude at all. After being told he needed to “edit, edit, edit” his too-complicate dish just a couple of days ago, he went and did it again…
The promo for Sunday’s Mystery Box prominently shows one of the contestants who is facing elimination tomorrow (it is Georgia if you want to know, but some of us already know that contestant is safe tomorrow, LOL)… Well done, MCA, keep giving us spoilers, we love it…

Lobster Medallions with Seafood Broth (Green Team)
Stuffed Chicken Thigh, Fennel and Carrot Puree and chicken jus (Red Team)
Grilled prawns with chilli sauce, tomato salsa, lime may and flatbreads (Yellow Team)

Will John’s rogue ways send fellow MasterChef contestant home
What MasterChef teaches us about food and the food industry

Episode 15, Thursday, May 21, 2015 Elimination
Jarrod, Fiona, John, Amy, Georgia
75 minutes to cook 5 identical plates of a dish for judging, 4 for the judges and 1 for themselves, as they will join the judges and critique their own dish

Georgia is the prawn queen this week, has she cooked anything else this week?
John still hasn’t learned his lesson, cauliflower three-way as a side, on top of a main of chicken roulade, and a jus? Maybe he’s feeling sorry and trying to eliminate himself? LOL.
Massive shock elimination? Spoilers tell us differently. Hahahahahahahahahahaha…
Why is Amy wrapping her tortellini one by one, wouldn’t it be faster if she did a few at a time? Line a few pastry rounds on the bench, dollop, dollop, dollop filling in, then wrap, wrap, wrap.
Oh, now Georgia waiting for the oil to heat up in a big pan. I would pour the oil into a couple or three pans and heat them up separately, that will be faster since you got less oil to heat up in each pan?
Oh no, Jarrod just fell down and pushed all his croquettes onto the floor…
LOL, they just did the first tasting with John’s dishes, can’t see the point of them tasting the dish with the judges at all… No difference to the usual critiquing, or was it just to make them make 5 dishes to round up the number?
Promo for Sunday, can we just say now there will be verjuice in Maggie Beer’s mystery box, LOL.
Jarrod managed to plate up, but only one croquette per dish instead of three. Gazpacho lacking acidity… Looks like he’s going home unless the other person mucked up their dish.

Safe: Amy, John, Georgia (as expected from spoilers, hahaha)
Eliminated: Jarrod
Yes, massive shock indeed, we haven’t even seen much of Jarrod at all in three weeks, he could have not been in this competition at all for all we know!
Marco is coming back, we can guess that will be for a service challenge, yeah, no, yeah, no, yeah, no…

Sesame and panko crumbed prawns with wasabi mayonnaise (Georgia Barnes)
Chicken roulade stuffed with mushroom and spinach (John Carasig)
Quail tortellini and brown butter sauce (Amy Luttrell)

MasterChef Australia 2015: Did Jarrod take the fall for John at elimination

Episode 16, Thursday, May 21, 2015 MasterClass
Twice Baked Souffle (Gary Mehigan)
Mac n Cheese (Marco Pierre White)
Apple Tart (Shannon Bennett)
Butternut Pumpkin Soup with Smoked Parsnip Cream, Parsnip Chips and Jamon Chips (Curtis Stone)
White Chocolate Mousse (Matt Preston)
Mango Daiquiri (Matt Preston)

Why Australian cooking icon Maggie Beer rejected MasterChef when show started

Episode 17, Sunday, May 24, 2015 Maggie Beer’s Mystery Box & Invention Test
LOL, the MasterChef website already gave away the Top 3 Invention Test winners… Might as well go and re-watch Eurovision, hahaha. Will be switching back and forth watching between MCA and Eurovision.

Maggie Beer’s Mystery Box – gardening tools (garden gloves, secateurs, trowel)
60 minutes, must only use what they can dig up from the MasterChef Garden outside, plus basic pantry ingredients, and a bottle of verjuice, of course

Winner: Georgia, Kristina, Matthew, Jessica, Sara, Melita

Stuffed Zucchini Flower with Capsicum Ragout and Capsicum Nage (Melita Tough)
Summer Garden Pasta (Kristina Short)
Lemon & Thyme Ice Cream Sandwiches (Georgia Barnes)
Chocolate Mint Parfait Sandwich and Roasted Rhubarb (Matthew Hopcraft)
Mediterranean Vegetable Tart with Cavolo Nero, Smoky Eggplant and a Herb and Chilli Salad (Jessica Arnott)
Eggplant and Ricotta Tortellini (Sara Oteri)

Invention Test – Cook a Savoury Dish
Core Ingredient (Melita’s Choice) – Apples, Stone Fruit, Berries
Time: 60 minutes

The 3 best dishes will be from Billie, Jessie and John according to MCA website.
Now only need to watch the 3 others they focused on, they will be the bottom 3, easy peasy:
First one is Fiona.
Next is Jamie.
Now they are showing Melita, probably because she’s the winner of Mystery Box and the one who chose the core ingredient (should be) Jacqui, got confused, LOL.
The fourth one they focused on is Rose.
Guy just came on Eurovision encore, still goose bumps moment even though already watched it live this morning.

Top 3: John, Billie, Jessie (3 for 3, LOL)
Bottom 3: Jacqui, Rose, Jamie, Fiona
LOL, did I just confuse Jacqui with Melita above? Problems of trying to watch 2 shows at the same time…

Beef and Plum Sauce with Crispy Rice Noodles and Sweet Potato (John Carasig)
Duck with peaches three ways (Billie McKay)
Pan fried duck breast with black lentils and charred peaches (Jessie Spiby)

Move over Zumbo: this punk princess of pastry is new wild child in MasterChef family

Episode 18, Monday, May 25, 2015 Carrot Cake Pressure Test
Jacqui, Rose, Fiona

That is a carrot cake? Not my thing, it may looks good as a piece of art but if I want a carrot cake, I want a big chunk of cake, not a tiny sliver of cake with a thousand other things on it that has nothing to do with the cake and confusing my palate! What happened to less is more, the ethos of last week…
I also don’t see the attraction of these type of desserts, if I want a mousse, I eat a mousse, I don’t need jelly, foam, parfait, cake, ice cream, crumbs, etc., to go with it. A main element with maybe one or two accompaniments/sauces is enough, not so many elements that you don’t know what you are tasting. I wonder if they didn’t say it was a carrot cake, would anyone recognise it as a carrot cake or even call it a carrot cake after tasting it? If you transfer this idea to a savoury dish, can you imagine a bit of fish, crab, prawn, quail, chicken, duck, lamb, pork, beef all composed into a piece of artwork on a plate, would you even want to eat that?

Eliminated: Fiona

Pressure Test – Carrot Cake (Anna Polyviou)

Episode 19, Tuesday, May 26, 2015 Immunity Challenge
John, Billie, Jessie

Round 1 – ABC food Identification
26 cloches labelled A to Z, containing an ingredient under each cloche with name starting with that letter.

Knife pull to determine running order.
1. Billie – (B) Brazil Nuts, (M) Mustard Cress (a type of micro herbs, don’t know, out) – have to admit when seeing that micro herb, I have absolutely no idea what that was, that was a hard one!
2. Jessie – (P) Palm Sugar, (C) Choy Sum (Chinese Spinach, wrong, out)
3. John – (G) Galangal

“Winner”: John (He’s lucky he got third to name… because Billie and Jessie basically self-destructed… John did not win it, he got lucky! What if John also got it wrong in his second round? All three would have been on equal scores at that point, but we never got to find out.)
Don’t like this challenge at all, like the idea but execution of that idea is just unfathomable. It would be better if they all have to write down the ingredient name, after each contestant chose a cloche to name! And make it 3-strike out instead of 1-strike out, so at least it will go a bit longer. I don’t know, maybe applying something like the penalty card system of warning, contestant has to hold a yellow “MasterChef” flag after 1 strike, a red “MasterChef” flag for a second strike, and out when they got 3 strikes. That would make it more interesting, wouldn’t it? Geez, why am I still naïve about this type of challenge? They always make it unimaginatively dull and unfair! Of course after such a quick “elimination”, we never got to see all the other ingredients under the un-opened cloches!

Round 2 – Cooking against a Professional

Chef: Duncan Welgemoed, Africola, 60 minutes
John: 75 minutes
John’s Choice: Before (raw/fresh ingredients), After (processed ingredients)

John wants to make a pork adobo, but no vinegar in the “Before” pantry, so decides to use lemons instead.
LOL, Duncan asked where’s the chinois? The contestants upstairs did not know what that is! And they are supposed to be the best… After Marco’s week last week with all the sauce making, I’m surprise they still did not know a chinois which is essential in straining sauces… That also differentiate a pretend chef (as in home cook) from a real chef, the cook only recognises a simple strainer/sieve, a real chef uses a chinois.
John still don’t know what “simple” means, LOL. But it is good to see Filipino food being featured with John in the competition.
Listen to Shannon, John!

Scores:
John: Gary 8 + George 7 + Matt 7 = 22
Duncan: Gary 8 + George 8 + Matt 8 = 24
No immunity pin given out.

Pork Adobo with Coconut Rice (John Carasig)

Episode 20, Wednesday, May 27, 2015 Abbotsford Convent Bakery Team Challenge
Baking challenge for a lunch time crowd of 500 customers, 11am to 2pm
Team that makes the most money wins
Items to bake include breads, pies, pizzas, and desserts

Team pick by drawing red or blue coloured tokens from a flour bag:
Blue – Ava (captain), Billie, Stephen, Jamie, Rose, Jacqui, Melita, Ashleigh, Anna
Red – Sara (captain), Amy, Georgia, Matthew, Jessica, Kristina, Jessie, John, Reynold

3am wakeup call…
Bread makers have to leave straight after team pick, rest of teams to arrive at 7am.
Ava is obsessed with lemon tarts even though her team members think too time consuming to make.
Reynold is on desserts, surprise, surprise, NOT!
LOL, blue’s pie is $3.50, red’s pie is $7.50… You can buy two pies from red and still 50 cents leftover than from the blue…
30 minutes before door opens, still nothing on the shelves…
Blue team’s tart pastry is too short and they are breaking as they rolled them out…
Red has started filling their shelves, blue is now behind.
Blue only has brownies to sell. What happened to their breads???
Red has now earned $300, while blue only $50 in their till…
Red team’s second batch of pies are now stuck in the tins, LOL. The $7.50 pie, is now de-constructed… Now at $4.00, hilarious…
Reynold’s Swiss rolls, and John’s butter cream biscuits are not selling as quickly. No surprise Reynold made those Swiss rolls like a pro without any problems which is not easy…
What, former contestants coming back next week? Justine, Poh, Andy and Ben, and Callum…
Wow, Ashleigh’s brownies accounted for 30% of their total…

Red – $3205.80
Blue – $2565.75

Winner: Red

LOL, it is just between 2 out of the 9 from the blue to go home tomorrow according to spoilers…

Oops, someone in charge of the MCA website made a boo-boo by releasing losing team’s recipes! There were scones and choc chip cookies last night? Can’t recall seeing them at all!
Chicken, leek and bacon pie (Blue Team)
Pizzas with Caramelised Onion and Blue Cheese (Blue Team)
Scones (Blue Team)
Raspberry brownie (Blue Team)
Lemon curd tart (Blue Team)
Choc chip cookies (Blue Team)

Episode 21, Thursday, May 28, 2015 Thai Elimination
Ava, Billie, Stephen, Jamie, Rose, Jacqui, Melita, Ashleigh, Anna
3 rounds with guest chef Benjamin Cooper

Round 1 – 10 minutes to cook a Thai dish
Ava, Billie, Stephen, Jamie, Rose, Jacqui, Melita, Ashleigh, Anna
Top 3 dishes will be safe

Safe: Anna, Billie, Ashleigh, Jamie
Geez, if the third and fourth were so close, why not just give Ashleigh the safe vote too since she did so well last night?

Thai-style Mussels in a Coconut Broth (Anna Webster)
Pan Seared Scallops with Pork Larb and Thai Dressing (Billie McKay)
Grilled Scallops with Lemongrass and Mandarin Dressing (Jamie Ward)

Round 2 – 20 minutes to cook a Thai dish
Ava, Stephen, Rose, Jacqui, Melita, Ashleigh

Safe: Stephen, Ava, Ashleigh

Prawn Coconut Curry (Stephen Rooney)
Crunchy Thai Salad with Prawns and Caramelised Coconut Dressing (Ava Stangherlin)
Mussel and Coconut Broth (Ashleigh Bareham)

Round 3 – 30 minutes to cook a Thai dish
Rose, Jacqui, Melita

Food Dreams week next week, just saw another promo, noticed two more former contestants will be back, Hayden and Kylie (S4).

Safe: Rose, Jacqui
Hahaha, have the editors finally caught on? Focusing on the 2 safe contestants during most of the last challenge and only showing the soon-to-be-eliminated contestant right after time’s up…

Marinated Chicken Skewers with Coconut Rice and Cucumber Salad (Jacqui Ackland)
Chicken Larb with Egg and Rice (Rose Adam)

Eliminated: Melita
Poor Melita, being eliminated because in the frantic plating up, she did not realise no chicken pieces made it into the plate but left in the pot!
And speaking of larb, I’m not an expert in Thai food, but I always understood that one of the essential ingredients of larb is ground toasted rice, yet no one, even Ben Cooper, commented on it, unless I missed it?
Oh, by the way, anyone interested in Thai cuisine should check out Duncan’s Thai Kitchen on GEM airing Saturday around midday. The problem is GEM never does any promos for the show, so always have to chase around their schedules to find it, Series 2 of the show just started and I have already missed Episode 1 last weekend… I always have more respect for chefs who can speak the native language of the cuisine they specialised in, so they will show you more authentic recipes.

Next week, all 5 episodes will feature returning former contestants in Food Dreams Week:
Sunday – Poh (Mystery Box) and Hayden? (Invention Test?)
Monday – Kylie (Pressure Test – the most qualified of the returning former contestants as she’s the only one who has worked for her chef white as a pastry chef, onya!)
Tuesday – Callum (Immunity Challenge)
Wednesday – Andy and Ben (Mexican Team Challenge)
Thursday – Justine? (French Elimination)

I’m thoroughly confused re Top 12 Spoilers above:
“LOL, the Top 12 spoilers above may not be the Top 12 after all! When I was capturing the returning former contestants images for next week, look closely at what Bendy’s are wearing. Andy has sort of paisley green shirt on with sleeves rolled up, Ben is wearing a blue shirt. Now that’s made me question the supposedly Top 12 led by two “chefs” in front (image 1 spoiler under Ep 7), who I now suspect are actually Andy and Ben! I was not paying attention to the two in front at that time, so wasn’t looking closely at who they were before. Now that’s confusing, for next week team challenge, there should be 16 contestants, not 12! What happened to the missing 4 contestants? Any ideas?
Please don’t tell me there is going to be some sort of silly immunity from team challenges thingy going on…”

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers, what a pain… It is not over till the fat lady sings (no pun intended, hahaha), now that the Top 12 theory has evaporated into thin air, this has got to be the Top 13 Top 14, could be a Masterclass episode team challenge (thanks IT), unless we are fooled again, LOL. Very difficult to identify as we can only see their backsides, but a few silhouettes are undeniable. Feel free to list your guesses of who they are in the comments, just remember to precede with “Spoiler Alert” before the names of the contestants you think they are, so there’s your homework for the weekend:





Poh’s MasterChef revenge challenge
MasterChef favourites: Where are they now?
The Sunday Telegraph’s Dream Dishes (in PDF file) – includes recipes from Colin Fassnidge, Darren Robertson, Gary Mehigan, Neil Perry, Matt Moran, Guillaume Brahimi, Christine Manfield, Manu Feildel, Adrian Richardson, etc.

Sorry for the lack of updates this week, my laptop is acting up, takes ages to load a page, so given up and trying to fix it. Also since we already know who’s would be eliminated, might as well take a break from constantly updating and just simply watch the show without doing anything else, what a refreshing change, LOL. Will update this weekend with possibly Top 10 spoilers…

Episode 22, Sunday, May 31, 2015 Poh’s Mystery Box & Hayden’s Invention Test

Poh’s Mystery box (60 minutes) – soaked glutinous rice, prawns, curry leaves, chillies, cucumber, garlic chive flower stalks, limes, dark palm sugar, grated coconut

Reynold’s cooking a savoury dish today, and they are finally showing it…
A lot of desserts…

Winner: John, Georgia, Reynold, Jessie, Rose

Bibingka with Coconut Caramel Glaze and cucumber pickle (John Carasig)
Coconut and Lime Eclairs (Georgia Barnes)
Butter Poached Prawns with Prawn Vinaigrette (Reynold Poernomo)
Coconut Lime Prawns with Cucumber Soup (Jessie Spiby)
Lime and Palm Sugar Upside Down Cake (Rose Adam)

Hayden’s Core Ingredients (John’s choice): Pork, Mussels, Beef
Time: 60 minutes

Top 3: Georgia, Anna, Ava
Bottom 3: Ashleigh, Kristina, Rose

Apple and Bacon Crumble with Maple Semi Freddo and Pecans (Georgia Barnes)
Roast Pork Belly with Mash, Crispy Kale and Pickled Pear (Anna Webster)
Sticky Ribs with Coleslaw and Spiced Cashews (Ava Stangherlin)

MasterChef – a mystery box of a cooking show

Episode 23, Monday, June 1, 2015 Kylie’s Pressure Test
Ashleigh, Kristina, Rose

Kylie’s Toffee Apple (Kylie Millar)

Eliminated: Kristina

Episode 24, Tuesday, June 2, 2015 Callum’s Immunity Challenge
Georgia, Anna, Ava

Round 1 – Kitchen Triathlon
Task 1 – Chop an Onion into brunoise or fine dice
Task 2 – Separate 3 eggs & Whip 3 Egg Whites to Stiff Peaks
Task 3 – Joint a Chicken

Winner: Anna

Round 2 – Against a former contestant

Former Contestant: Callum (60 minutes)
Core Ingredients (Anna’s Choice): Black, White
Anna’s Time: 75 minutes

Good to see Anna actually discussed the dish with Shannon while choosing the ingredients, I don’t think that’d happened before. Usually the contestant decided on a dish, picked their ingredients, then tell the mentor their dish…

Scores:
Anna: Gary 7 + George 6 + Matt 6 = 19
Callum: Gary 7 + George 7 + Matt 7 = 21
No immunity given out!

Dry Aged Beef, Black Pudding, Carrot Salad with Blackberry Dressing and Mushroom Puree (Anna Webster)

Episode 25, Wednesday, June 3, 2015 Andy & Ben Mexican Team Challenge
Hitting a piñata containing red and green tokens to decide team members.

Red – Sara (captain), Jessica, Ava, Georgia, Jacqui, Stephen, John, Jessie
Green – Jamie (captain), Matthew, Rose, Amy, Billie, Reynold, Anna, Ashleigh

Total Money Intake: $11,891.85
Red: $5,807.70
Green: $6,084.15

Winner: Green
Elimination Bound: Red

Charred Corn with Jalapeno Mayonnaise and Cheese (Green Team)
Marinated Sirloin of Beef with Chimmichurri and Slaw (Green Team)
Churros with Ancho Chilli Chocolate Sauce (Green Team)

Tomorrow’s night Justine elimination dish looks like Duck à l’Orange. Can’t wait to see how the contestants re-invent it, LOL.

Episode 26, Thursday, June 4, 2015 Justine’s French Re-Invention Test Elimination
Sara, Jessica, Ava, Georgia, Jacqui, Stephen, John, Jessie

Knife-Pull from a knife-block of 9 knives with (supposedly) a French classic written on each knife, then Matt pulled out Coq au Vin and Cassoulet to demonstrate and ruling out those two dishes. Yeah, as if we believe there were 7 other different dishes on the rest of the knives! Don’t they have to stock the pantry with appropriate ingredients?
Then they all decided to let Ava pull out a knife…, LOL.

Re-Invention Test (90 minutes) – Duck à l’Orange

Contestants they are focusing on:
Ava, Georgia, Jessica, Jacqui, Jessie
So the two boys, and Sara are safe!

Jessie’s dish got good response, she’s safe!
Jessica is now giving her dramatic sad performance in front of the judges, she’s safe!
Jacqui could land in the bottom. Her hot pot lacked sauce and flavour.
Now they are running John, Sara and Stephen quickly through the tasting.
Georgia is also giving another one of her sad performances, she’s safe!
Ava is the last one up for tasting, George asked, “Where’s the orange?” Uh-oh…

Best Dishes: John, Jessie, Jessica, Stephen
Bottom 2: Ava, Jacqui

Eliminated: Ava
LOL, since we have already guessed Ava is in danger of going tonight, that when we were shown she was the one who ended up choosing the dish at the start of the episode, I was thinking such irony…

Duck with Coriander Praline and Grand Marnier Sauce with Cardamom Cauliflower Puree and Glazed Carrots (John Carasig)
Duck Breast with Pumpkin Puree, Orange Carrots (Jessie Spiby)
Duck Breast with Braised Celery Heart, Carrots & Orange Sauce (Stephen Rooney)
Spiced Duck Breast Salad with Duck and Orange Hoisin Sauce (Jessica Arnott)

End only the beginning for plucky contestant chopped after MasterChef duck disaster
MasterChef Australia heads to the High Country
10 things about: Adam Liaw, 2010 Masterchef Australia winner

Episode 27, Thursday, June 4, 2015 MasterClass

Goat’s Cheese Mousse with Walnut Brittle, Lemon Curd with a Lemon, Thyme and Honey Syrup (Callum Hahn)
Fish Soup (Gary Mehigan)
Lobster Sliders (Gary Mehigan)
Coconut Calamari with Blackberry Sorbet, Blackberry Jelly and Blackberry Coulis (George Calombaris)
Shredded Duck Rendang with Pandan Coconut Lace Pancakes, Sticky Turmeric Rice & Cucumber Coriander Relish (Poh Ling Yeow)
Prawns à la Plancha (Matt Preston)

Top 12 or Top 10 spoilers below, don’t scroll down if you want to avoid seeing the spoilers as I think even with the thumbnail sizes, you can still recognise some of them! I’ll probably delete them this coming Sunday before the next episode so they don’t spoil it for others who don’t want to know.
Update June 7, 2015: Note that I have deleted the 5 images showing the Top 12 and possibly some of the Top 10 because they revealed too much even in thumbnail sizes and may spoiled it for readers who may not want to know.
Next week is Top 14, then the week after Top 12 team challenge is most likely to be the High-Tea Anniversary type challenge. Then 2 weeks after would (Thanks neel for your eagle eyes, that complete blue team you mentioned is now added) be I believe these two images from the Top 10 team challenge, unless I was mistaken again, I can only see roughly 10 contestants, but with Rose hiding most of the red team behind her, I can’t really tell, LOL. Definitely one blue contestant (most likely a female) cannot be identified, the one hidden behind Stephen in the first image, the half hidden blue one is Sara I’m quite sure but the rest you can tell quite easily, the red team can be easily identified from image 2 also.
So Jamie, and John are definitely gone by then. The un-identified one could be either Georgia, Jacqui, or Jessica.
Update June 5, 2015: As per neel mentioned in the comments, that must be the Top 12 challenge, which means Jessica is the missing link in the red team as suggested by the high tea one which would be a later challenge with Rose looking like the captain there, Top 10 or even Top 8, intriguing!

Episode 28, Sunday, June 7, 2015 $1-Ingredient Mystery Box & Curtis Invention Test

$1-Ingredient Mystery Box – 1 pear, 1 chicken wing, 3 onions, can of cannellini beans, 1 lemon, a bottle of dry ginger ale, black olives, beans, peanuts
60 minutes

LOL, just show how much attention I’m paying to the show, I just noticed before the opening credit, they said the winner will write a column in the monthly Delicious magazine, no cookbook from the winner this year? And how long is that deal, one year?
Contestants in the Mystery Box limelight: Georgia, Jacqui, John, Matthew, Jamie
Hahaha, why don’t John just boil down the fresh milk to make evaporated milk for his Halo-Halo, won’t it work? Maybe it will just burnt???

Winner: Georgia, Matthew, John

‘Halo-halo’ – Milk Granita with Sweet Cannellini Beans, Poached Pear, Peanut Brittle, Crème Caramel and Soft Meringue (John Carasig)
Crispy Chicken Drumettes, Pear Chutney and White Bean Puree (Georgia Barnes)
Lemon Meringue with Ginger Ale Poached Pears (Matthew Hopcraft)

Invention Test: Cooking in teams of three, 2 dishes – 1 sweet, 1 savoury (60 minutes)
Teams are selected by the benches (3 per bench) they are already on in Mystery Box challenge.
Curtis Stone’s Core Ingredients (John’s choice): Pumpkins, Beetroot, Pomegranate

Teams:
John, Stephen, Reynold
Matthew, Jacqui, Jessica
Georgia, Jessie, Jamie
Amy, Rose, Sara
Anna, Billie, Ashleigh

Don’t understand how Rose got this far, now she can’t even make a sorbet using a machine, and it seems that’s her only job?

Tasting:
Matthew, Jacqui, Jessica – good reviews on both savoury and sweet dishes
John, Stephen, Reynold – Gary doesn’t like main, go to commercials… pomegranate not coming through in main overpowered by vinegar, Reynold’s sweet dessert interesting…
Amy, Rose, Sara – love main, but a mis-step with dessert
Anna, Billie, Ashleigh – love main’s flavour but no pomegranate flavour, dessert too bitter and dry
Georgia, Jessie, Jamie – beautifully composed main, delicious dessert

Top 3: Matthew, Jacqui, Jessica
Bottom 3: Anna, Billie, Ashleigh
Now quickly off to watch Esio Trot which has already started, haha…

Spiced Pomegranate Glazed Lamb with Red Capsicum and Yoghurt Sauce, Roast Carrot and Fresh Pomegranate (Jacqui Ackland, Jessica Arnott, Matthew Hopcraft)
Orange Blossom Pannacotta with Pomegranate Liquid Centre, Cinnamon Crumble, Pistachio Praline and Pomegranate Syrup (Jacqui Ackland, Jessica Arnott, Matthew Hopcraft)

Episode 29, Monday, June 8, 2015 Marcus Wareing’s Pressure Test
Anna, Billie, Ashleigh

I cringed every time Stephen whistled at the chef! Did he think he was in a sheep dog trial competition and whistling to his sheep dog, “that way, Bluey, the three sheep are in the front, one is extremely well-fed and time for slaughtering…”
I just find it very disrespectful to the chef… Where did he learn his manner? Geez… No word for it!
Can I? Can I just reveal who’s going home now, Can I? Can I? LOL. Really getting tired of all the unnecessary “drama”.

Eliminated: Anna

Marcus Wareing’s Braised Veal (Marcus Wareing)

Episode 30, Tuesday, June 9, 2015 Immunity Challenge
Matthew, Jacqui, Jessica

Round 1 – Plating Up Challenge (4 minutes) – Prepared Ingredients from George’s Beef Moussaka
LOL, so the winner is not the best plating up, but the only one with all the components on the plate. Shannon preferred Jessica, both Gary and Matt liked Matthew’s but he missed the crispy onions, George also preferred Matthew’s plating up over Jessica’s, but he chose Jessica in the end because she got everything on her plate. Jacqui also failed to put two or three ingredients on her plate, and Jessica is the only one who put everything on her plate! Did they even mention that every ingredients has to be on the plate?

Winner: Jessica

Round 2 – Cooking Against a Professional
Chef: Nick Holloway, chef/co-owner, Nu Nu, Palm Cove (60 minutes)
Jessica: 75 minutes
Core Ingredients (Jessica’s Choice): Big, Small

Scores:
Jessica: Gary 10 + George 9 + Matt 9 = 28
Nick: Gary 10 + George 9 + Matt 10 = 29
No immunity pin given out! Looking back, Gary had given the same scores for contestant and chef every week except during the Marco’s week, is he the fence-sitting judge? LOL, I would love his job, being paid lots of money for not making any judgement!

Pan Roasted and Confit Quail, Pumpkin, Carrot and Mandarin (Jessica Arnott)

Masterchef to dish up picturesque King Valley
King Valley’s starring role on MasterChef
The losers in this TV war are the viewers

Episode 31, Wednesday, June 10, 2015 King Valley Team Challenge

Creating a three-course Italian meal for 80 members of two local Italian families, the Pizzinis and the Dal Zottos

Prep Time: 3 hours – teams have to drive off-site to pick up proteins, first team back will start the clock for the preparation time of 3 hours.

Teams chosen by splitting standing group down the middle. Each team must cook for 40 members of each family.
Red Team (Pizzini – Sangiovese) – Georgia (captain), Jacqui, Jamie, Stephen, Billie, Matthew, Ashleigh
Blue Team (Dal Zotto – Prosecco) – Jessie (captain), Sara, Rose, John, Amy, Jessica, Reynold

Just watching how Jessie handled herself well as a captain that wouldn’t it be ironic if she went on to win when she wasn’t even the original Top 24?
Where has Gary disappeared to, he’s not at the tasting table, and haven’t seen him in the kitchen either?
LOL, the polenta-gate… Matthew has saved the day for Georgia twice now, first the chicken, then the polenta, no panicking, just use his head…

A tie for both entrées and desserts, the mains will decide the winner.

Winner: Blue

Rockmelon Gazpacho with Fennel and Prosciutto (Blue Team)
Roast Chicken with Prosecco and Grape Jus, Candied Lemon and Lentils (Blue Team)
Prosecco and Peaches (Blue Team)

Episode 32, Thursday, June 11, 2015 Mystery Box Elimination
Georgia, Jacqui, Jamie, Stephen, Billie, Matthew, Ashleigh

3-Round Mystery Box – Scampi, Dijon Mustard, Watercress, Mandarins, Lamb Rack, Dark Chocolate, Walnuts, Eggplant, Fresh Horseradish
Once an ingredient is used, it won’t be replenished in subsequent rounds if they have to cook again. Pantry staples will not be replenished either.

Round 1 (30 minutes) – 2 will be safe

Gary, “What are you making?”
Ashleigh, “I think I’m making a mistake!”
LOL.
Wow, Matthew made pasta from scratch in the 30-minute time frame and it looked delicious with the scampi!
Georgia’s scampi fritters also looked delicious, droollllll!
Jacqui’s fondant is also successful.

Safe: Georgia, Matthew

Creamy Scampi Linguine (Matthew Hopcraft)
Scampi Fritters with Horseradish Mayo and Watercress (Georgia Barnes)

Round 2 (30 minutes) – 2 will be safe
Jacqui, Jamie, Stephen, Billie, Ashleigh

Billie’s ice cream sandwich looked yummy.
Jamie’s scampi dish is good.

Safe: Jamie, Billie
Hahaha, we know who’s going home!

Pan Fried Scampi, Crustacean Reduction, Walnut Crumb (Jamie Ward)
Mandarin, Chocolate and Walnut Ice-cream Sandwiches (Billie McKay)

Round 3 (30 minutes) – 2 will be safe
Jacqui, Stephen, Ashleigh

Whenever the judges asked, “Are you going home today?” I really wanted someone to answer, “I’ll be if you keep wasting my time by asking me silly questions like that!” LOL.

Safe: Ashleigh, Stephen

Mandarin Brulee with Walnut Butter Biscuits and Walnut Praline (Ashleigh Bareham)
Chocolate Mousse with Walnut Praline and Mandarin (Stephen Rooney)

Eliminated: Jacqui
Poor Jacqui, I think she was robbed, at least she’s made a good dish in the first round. Stephen’s mousse in the third round is not technically as difficult to make compared to the fondant Jacqui made in the first round. And geez, it did not look completely set when he was plating up, but looked very set when the judges were tasting it. They must have put it in the fridge while the judges were tasting the other two dishes first. (Well, if the sequence of tasting is correct as aired.) Has Stephen made a fantastic dish yet? I can’t even recall any. It is very clear they don’t want to eliminate a male contestant today, as there are so few males left at the moment and we’re not even half way through.
Hate this type of elimination! Someone could potentially cook the worst dish in round 1 and 2, and just managed to cook the second worst dish in round 3 and be safe! Whereas another could cook the third best dishes in round 1 and 2, and ended up the worst dish in round 3 and be eliminated! It would be better if the worst dish in round 1 and 2 goes straight to round 3 rather than saving the best dishes in round 1 and 2, this also test their consistency in cooking, ie. those who consistently cooked good dishes in round 1 and 2 are safe from cooking in round 3.

LOL, the news media finally cottoned on how the judges helped some contestants by giving them specific hints during the challenge if they want them to stay over another contestant. Others whom they want to eliminate, the judges will make some inane comments to make them question their dish and play with their mind. This is not new, it has been happening very often the past few years…
MasterChef Australia: Did Gary Mehigan save Stephen Rooney?

Possible Spoilers below regarding power apron
————————————-Spoilers———————————
“Now that the Power Apron is back, with guaranteed immunity for the week and power apron to be won next Tuesday, is it possible Jessica got it? Looking at the Top 12 team challenge again, we know there are definitely 6 blue members, but we only see 5 red members with Jessica not in sight. And we know Power Apron would be in play by next Wednesday team challenge! I could be totally off the mark here, maybe Jessica was just out of the camera shot. However I think not and Jessica gets to decide team members, which explain why all 3 of the tall, good looking females and 2 dessert makers ended up in a team with one less member cooking Japanese/Vietnamese food, and Rose in a 6-member team with Georgia and Matthew who have proven themselves to be better cooks???
We also know Jessica and Rose walked together in this week wineries challenge implying good friends maybe? Now that may explain how Rose has survived another week and is still there in the High Tea challenge later, Jessica may have saved her during the Power Apron week???
Update June 12, 2015: LOL, forget my wild guesses in regards to the power apron above, they are WRONG!
By the way, how come no one is wearing the white power apron for the team challenge, or is that because we can’t see that person?”








Slow news spoiler day, this is someone’s hands in the blind taste test elimination next Thursday… Hand experts out there, can you identify whose hands they belong to? LOL.

Update June 14, 2015: If that is Georgia’s hands and meaning blue team loses, then either John or Matthew is going next Thursday, because I went and looked at the Heston’s episode bit, and Sara is still there (if there’s no sneaky editing going on). Oh Boy, that means 3 boys all going in a row, Jamie, (John or Matthew), then Stephen??? Well I have been getting it wrong, LOL, maybe the opposite is true, red team loses and Ashleigh is going next Thursday? But Jessica cut her left thumb tonight, that can’t have healed so quickly and I don’t think that pair of hands matches anyone else in the red team?

Episode 33, Sunday, June 14, 2015 Power Apron Week Begins

Mystery Box (60 minutes) – Fresh Honeycomb, Star Anise, Blue Cheese, Granny Smith Apple, Figs, Rosemary, Pecans, Bacon
Must use every ingredient in the Mystery Box to create one dish.

LOL, Amy, Matthew, and Stephen are already speaking when they walk into the kitchen.
Now Georgia, Jessica and Ashleigh are telling us what they are making.
Jessica has just cut her left thumb!
Now Reynold is talking, and Jessie, wow, the editors are going all out tonight, so many contestants being focused on, I’m speechless!

The judges have decided to taste 4 dishes instead of three because of the high standard of cooking: Matthew, Reynold, Ashleigh, Jessie
I think Jessie got it, the judges are falling over praising her dish!

Winner of First Power Apron: Jessie

Figs with Cheese and Honey Parfait, Smokey Snow and Apple Caramel (Jessie Spiby)
Blue Cheese Tortellini with Figs and Rosemary Oil (Matthew Hopcraft)
Deconstructed Cheese Platter with Honey Rosemary Ice-cream (Reynold Poernomo)
Apple Terrine with Honey Rosemary Ice-cream, Bacon Pecan Crumble (Ashleigh Bareham)

Invention Test: One Ingredient Three-Way
Jessie was told about the Invention Test in the pantry, and that everyone can choose their own core ingredient but must showcase it in three ways in a dish, then the next minute what we saw was she rushed out of the pantry and started cooking. Everyone else looked on in surprise! LOL.
This is funny! Everyone standing there and trying to decipher Jessie’s core ingredient, and only Jessie cooking.
OK, now Jessie told us she’s got 30 minutes head start. That’s not a powerful apron she got… Time advantage sometimes played against the challenge, as they may overthink the dish!
Gary just told them they will choose the top 4 dishes, the winner will get the Power Apron, and all 4 go into the guaranteed immunity challenge. Bottom 3 go into Pressure Test as usual.
Back to Invention Test, the rest of the contestants get 60 minutes to cook.
LOL, Georgia is a different girl tonight, happy and giggly…
Reynold is a happy boy, cooking dessert twice tonight!
Looks like 3 boys are in trouble, Matthew, Jamie and Stephen…
Amy also in trouble, left the third element off the dish in plating up…

Top 4: Reynold, Billie, Sara, Jessie
Winner of Power Apron: Reynold
Bottom 3: Matthew, Stephen, Jamie, Amy

Tempered Chocolate Log with Chocolate Raspberry Ganache and Chocolate Soil (Reynold Poernomo)
Fennel Sorbet, Fennel Cream, Fresh and Roasted Fennel, Barley and Coconut Crumble (Billie McKay)
Spiced Lamb with Braised, Charred and Raw Cauliflower (Sara Oteri)
Pan Fried Duck with Beetroot Three Ways (Jessie Spiby)
Lemon & Zucchini Cake (Georgia Barnes)

Reynold also has power in tomorrow’s Pressure Test and Wednesday’s Immunity Challenge, does it mean he has double-power? That’s more powerful than Jessie’s mere 30-minute head-start advantage…

Episode 34, Monday, June 15, 2015 Power Apron’s Pressure Test
Matthew, Stephen, Jamie

Pressure Test (2 hours) – Masterchef-Up a Roast Dinner into A Fine-Dinning Dish; 3 plates required

Power Apron’s choice (Reynold): Roast Chicken; Roast Beef

They have toned down the power this year, it might as well be non-existence and be a normal challenge, 30-minute advantage last night could be a normal advantage for the Mystery Box winner, and the choices tonight, just like the immunity challenge choices but even simpler, LOL.
For the spoiler in us, are we looking closely at the hands of Billie, Amy and Jessie up in the Gallery? Hahaha…
Jamie doesn’t understand the challenge, LOL, he’s trying to roast the whole chicken as per normal…

Best Dish: Matthew
Eliminated: Jamie

Chicken Roulade with Pumpkin Puree, Caramelised Onion and Pommes Dauphine (Matthew Hopcraft)
Roast Chicken with Toffee Carrots, Braised Celery Stick and Fondant Potatoes (Stephen Rooney)

Only four men left on MasterChef Australia

Episode 35, Tuesday, June 16, 2015 Power Apron’s Immunity Challenge
Reynold, Billie, Sara, Jessie

Immunity Challenge: 3 rounds of Duel, in the first two rounds the four contestants are split into two duels and winners of the first two rounds cook in the third round to win the Immunity Pin and Power Apron.

Reynold with the Power Apron gets to decide the core ingredient and cuisine from a choice of six ingredients and six cuisines, he also gets to choose who to cook against in the first round.

Core Ingredient Choices: Goat, Pork, Pipis, Flathead, Beef, Chicken
Cuisine Choices: UK, Lebanon, France, USA, India, China

Round 1 (30 minutes) – Reynold vs Jessie (French cuisine using Pipis)

Winner: Jessie

Tarragon and Dill Nage with Pipis and Cauliflower (Jessie Spiby)

Coin Toss to decide Round 2, Sara called head, Gary tossed and tail came up, Billie decided cuisine first, Sara then decided ingredient.

Round 2 (30 minutes) – Billie vs Sara (British cuisine using Flathead)

Billie got plenty of help from Georgia with the aioli, LOL
Sara also got help in the final minute, LOL
Is this a team challenge?

Winner: Billie

Fried Flathead with Potato Three Ways (Billie McKay)

Coin toss again with George, Billie called tail and tail came up, Billie picked cuisine, Jessie picked ingredient.
Round 3 is blind tasting.

Round 3 (60 minutes) – Jessie vs Billie (Chinese cuisine using Chicken)

Uh oh, Jessie messed up her fresh rice noodle…
Why didn’t she adjust the batter?
Billie got it I think, judges loved her dish!

Scores:
Jessie: Gary 8 + Matt 8 + George 8 = 24
Billie: Matt 9 + George 9 + Gary 9 = 27

Winner of Immunity Pin and Power Apron: Billie

Twice Cooked Orange Glazed Chicken with Chilli and Cucumber Salad, Chicken Skin Salt (Billie McKay)

LOL, tomorrow Captain John is getting too ambitious again, aiming for 6 dishes, Georgia is making 2 dishes all on her own, disaster waiting to happen…
Rogue John + Jittery Georgia + Foggy Rose = Team Calamity surely?

Episode 36, Wednesday, June 17, 2015 Power Apron’s Team Challenge

Saigon Sally vs Tokyo Tina – Each team has to serve 50 customers, they can choose how many savoury dishes to serve, but must have 2 desserts.
Prep Time: 2 hours
Service: 90 minutes

Billie with the Power Apron gets to choose which restaurant to cook in and also choose her team members.

Red Team (Saigon Sally) – Billie (captain), Jessie, Amy, Jessica, Reynold, Ashleigh
Blue Team (Tokyo Tina) – John (captain), Georgia, Sara, Matthew, Stephen, Rose

Red Team decided on 2 mains with 2 desserts.
Blue Team, just John in fact, decided on 4 mains with 2 desserts.

LOL, right from the start, blue team in chaos with the number of dishes, team members try to talk John out of making so many dishes, but he’s not listening!
After the judges talked to Billie that they have no varieties, they decided to add another main.
Hahaha, looks like fake dockets again, George picked up the first docket from above the self at the pass, not from the waiter?!
Jessica may get dish of the day for her pork dish, and we know who she will save if given the chance.
John is obsessed with white chocolate, LOL.
Looks like desserts will let Blue Team down. They basically did not have time to prepare them after having to concentrate on the 4 mains.
Wow, surprised Reynold is the only one making mistake on the Red Team with the honeycomb.
All the drama from the Blue Team, no drama from the Red Team apart from the burnt honeycomb.

Winner: Red Team
Winner of last Power Apron: Ashleigh (that’s a surprise!)

Coconut Poached Chicken with Vietnamese Slaw (Red Team)
Pork Belly and Betel Leaf Salad with Tamarind Caramel and Sriracha Mayo (Red Team)
Mandarin Prawns with Vietnamese Slaw (Red Team)
Lime Parfait with Lemongrass and Ginger Syrup and Coconut Crumble (Red Team)
Coconut Tapioca with Lime Curd, Coconut Crumble and Raspberries, Star fruit and Mangosteen (Red Team)

Episode 37, Thursday, June 18, 2015 Power Apron’s Elimination
John, Georgia, Sara, Matthew, Stephen, Rose

LOL, poor TV reception from Channel 10 tonight, it is that time of the year again…

Ashleigh with the Power Apron can save 1 contestant, and she decided to save Stephen because he has been at a low point in the competition, and she felt it would not be good to get eliminated when he’s not at his best.

Round 1 – Blind Taste Test (Gary’s version of Bibimbap, 29 ingredients)
3 minutes tasting; 2 minutes to write down ingredients
Ingredients – shiitake, rice, egg, garlic, sesame seeds, laver (nori), beef, sesame oil, pepper, cucumber, carrot, daikon, peanut oil, sugar, salt, kimchi, fresh ginger, bean sprouts, soy sauce, gochujang, spinach, zucchini, apple cider vinegar, pickled daikon, dried anchovies, garlic chives, chestnuts, gosari (bracken), fish sauce

Results:
Sara – 16 ingredients
Georgia – 15 ingredients
Matthew – 13 ingredients
Rose – 11 ingredients
John – 10 ingredients

John is the only one who knew the dish and got the least ingredients correct, LOL
After so many years, contestants still do not realise if their brain goes blank, just write down anything, start with all the seasonings you can think of, then all the meat/protein even if they are not there! Surely you will get 1 or 2 correct, then you got at least something to cook with. Georgia was the only one who verbalised that in the on-camera recap.

Round 2 – Cook a dish with only the correctly identified ingredients (60 minutes)

Nooo, they are doing Matthew’s backstory, hope that’s not a sign.
John is making risotto, with mayonnaise???????????? That did not work out, so he’s changing his dish at 30 minutes mark… Now it is rice balls…
Georgia is setting the kitchen on fire!
The foggy one is having difficulty peeling a boiled egg, LOL
Judges like Georgia’s dish.
The fog might be clearing a little tonight, Rose did a simple broth and the judges liked it.
Matthew’s dish tasted better than it looked.
Sara’s dish got good review, after Gary told her to make it more punchy.
Did John use all his 10 ingredients in the rice balls? The judges think he’s too try-hard!
All the girls looked safe, it is down to the two boys…

Eliminated: John

Kimchi Soup with Vegetable Noodles (Sara Oteri)
Sesame Beef Tataki with Gochujang Aioli, Pickled Vegetables, Puffed Rice and Carrot Chips (Georgia Barnes)
Beef Tataki with Toasted Rice (Matthew Hopcraft)
Beef and Mushroom Broth with Vegetables (Rose Adam)

Episode 38, Sunday, June 21, 2015 Heston’s Mystery Box & Invention Test

In the introduction, Gary just told the contestants that by the end of this week, they will have their Top 10? We have 11 contestants today, tomorrow there is an elimination bringing the contestants number down to 10 already! They are doing something unusual, but what?! No elimination on Thursday, so still Top 10, familiar faces might not be returning contestants? However they always have uneven number of contestants at the end of the week so the Monday eliminations make it even by team challenges, curiouser and curiouser!
Maybe the eliminated contestants are back next Sunday?

History Mystery Box (60 minutes) – Finger Limes, Macadamia Nuts, Lemon Myrtle, Bush Tomatoes, Warrigal Greens, Quandongs, Wallaby, Emu

Winner: Reynold, Sara, Billie

Lemon Myrtle Emu with Emu Floss and Bush Tomato Chutney (Sara Oteri)
Wallaby with Macadamia Puree (Reynold Poernomo)
Lemon Myrtle Syrup Cake, Caramel Macadamia Parfait, Australian Fruit Granola (Billie McKay)

Heston’s Liquid-To-Solid Invention Test (60 minutes) – Using a cocktail ingredients to create a dish, can be savoury or sweet
Cocktail (Sara’s choice): Espresso Martini, Bloody Mary, Whiskey Sour
Core Ingredients (Whiskey Sour): Whiskey, Lemon, Sugar, Egg, Cherry

No way, don’t tell me the foggy one makes top 3 in Invention Test?
Sara is breaking down, so she’s safe?
LOL, Matthew is being very invention, but looking at his dish, 4 giant bloodshot eyes stared back at me, shiver!
Nooooooooooooo, Heston just said the foggy one nailed it! Immunity pin is in danger!

Top 3: Ashleigh, Rose, Matthew
Bottom 3: Stephen, Georgia, Amy

Whisky Sour Trifle with Apricot and Rosemary (Ashleigh Bareham)
Whisky Sour Ravioli (Matthew Hopcraft)
Whisky Sour Mousse (Rose Adam)

Episode 39, Monday, June 22, 2015 Guillaume Brahimi’s Pressure Test
Stephen, Georgia, Amy

Pressure Test (2 1/2 hours): Jewel of the Sea

Geeez, finally, finally, finally, Guillaume said stop crying, good on him, cooking is supposed to be joyous, not the end of the world!

Eliminated: Stephen
Thank goodness, we don’t have to hear his wolf-whistles anymore, LOL, go learn some manner.

Jewel of the Sea (Guillaume Brahimi)

Episode 40, Tuesday, June 23, 2015 Immunity Challenge
Ashleigh, Rose, Matthew

Round 1 (60 minutes) – Make a Sticky Date Pudding but no modern equipment are allowed
Love this challenge, and so hilarious to watch them using the rotary beater…
LOL, Georgia up in the balcony, she looked bored…
LOL, the foggy one’s cake is so dense it can bounce off the floor… and she’s ecstatic about it?!?!?!
Matthew’s put too much bi-carb soda in his cake!
Looks like a win to Ashleigh, her problem will probably only be the broken cake.

Winner: Ashleigh

Sticky Date and Ginger Pudding with Ginger, Salty Caramel Sauce and Orange Creme Anglaise (Ashleigh Bareham)

Round 2 – Cooking against a Professional

Chef: Jim McDougall, The Black Stump, 60 minutes
Ashleigh: 75 minutes
Ashleigh’s Choice: North (ingredients from northern tropics), South (ingredients from southern temperate)

Oh, OK, the choice allows Ashleigh to cook another dessert in the second round, she might have a chance! Do we really need blind tasting here?
Jim is hot-smoking butter!
Strangely delicious? Judges opinions on Jim’s dish…
Grossssssssss, George is now licking the plate of Ashleigh’s dessert!
Think Ashleigh might have it in the bag?????

Scores:
Ashleigh: Gary 8 + George 9 + Matt 9 = 26
Jim: Gary 7 + George 8 + Matt 7 = 22

Ashleigh’s got it, second pin has been given out this season, 2 weeks in a row! Now 2 pins in play in the Top 10!

Passionfruit Semi-freddo with Chocolate Mousse, Coconut Crumb and Ginger Tropical Fruit Syrup (Ashleigh Bareham)

Haven’t switched off TV with NCIS on, and they just played another promo for tomorrow’s team challenge, Billie (red) said the biggest disaster in the MasterChef kitchen she’s ever seen, and Sara (red) running wildly…

Flight of fancy: Traditional high tea enjoying a revival

Episode 41, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 The Hotel Windsor Team Challenge
The contestants are split into two teams to prepare afternoon tea for 100 guests at Melbourne’s The Hotel Windsor.

Blue – Reynold (captain), Ashleigh, Georgia, Amy, Jessica
Red – Rose (captain), Jessie, Billie, Sara, Matt
Team chosen by denoting 1 and 2 side by side based on where they are standing. Rose is given the captain role because it is her birthday today, and Reynold volunteers himself to be the captain.

Guest Chefs – Kirsten Tibballs, Darren Purchese, Bernard Chu, Christy Tania

Prep. and Packing: 3 hours (in the MasterChef Kitchen)
Final Prep. before Service: 30 minutes (at The Hotel Windsor)
Service: 30 minutes

They have to make a minimum of 5 different items per team, and enough to fill 25 stands which are about 80 of each item.
Preparation is at the MasterChef Kitchen, then they have to pack everything and transport to The Hotel Windsor for service to 100 guests.
Reynold mis-judged the size of the choux buns that Ashleigh was making and luckily Gary queried about the size before it was too late!
LOL, Billie’s tart shells are so thick when she cut them out…
After they are out of the oven, the tart shells stuck to the tart cases… Now the tart shells will become crumbs, LOL. So that is the biggest disaster in the promo!
Now Georgia is running out of lime curd…
Blue seems to be more prepared than Red at the hotel final preparation.
LOL, at the start of service, Blue has almost all of the stands filled, while Red only has 3 stands ready…
At the chef’s table, the Blue Team’s only problem seems to be the tart shells made by Amy, the rest are good!
For the Red tasting, there seems to be a few problems, meringue is missing from one item because they replaced it with cream.

Winner: Blue (they blitzed it on tasting, no contest)

Chocolate Popsicles (Blue Team)
Raspberry Profiteroles with White Chocolate Ganache (Blue Team)
Chocolate Ganache Praline Tart (Blue Team)
Kaffir Lime, Coconut and Tapioca Pudding (Blue Team)
Strawberry Shortcake (Blue Team)
Bonus recipe – The Hotel Windsor Scone Recipe (The Hotel Windsor)

Tomorrow’s elimination spoiler:


“These two are from the new promo, in the first image, we see a group of 9 watching as the returning contestants come back; the second image we see Jessie appears from the side! Quite sure Jessie is eliminated from Round 1 tomorrow.”

Episode 42, Thursday, June 25, 2015 Elimination
Rose, Jessie, Billie, Sara, Matt

Billie handed in her Immunity Pin, so that left 4 to cook in the elimination.

Round 1 (90 minutes) – Pie
Top 3 will be safe.

Everyone except Jessie are making pastry first, while Jessie decided to make filling first!
LOL, Amy who made lousy pastry last night is now giving advice about pastry…
Matthew’s pie looked like the best out of the four, surely! He’s safe and the judges send him up to the gallery straight away even before tasting the other three pies!
Rose’s pie is tasty even though lentil is undercooked.
Jessie serves up raw pastry!
Sara’s pastry is too crumbly!

Worst Dish: Jessie
Hahaha, no mention of elimination!

Best Ever Beef, Pepperberry and Red Wine Pie (Matthew Hopcraft)
Spicy Beef and Lentil Pie (Rose Adam)
Chinese Chicken Sweetcorn Pie (Sara Oteri)

The eliminated contestants are back!

Round 2 (60 minutes) – Eliminated contestants cook
Winner of this round goes head-to-head against Jessie in the final round.
Expected returnees: Kristina, Kha, Stephen, Ava?
LOL, The Great Australian Spelling Bee??? How are they going to manipulate a winner, give them the words to spell before they go on stage to spell???
Matt P tells Stephen his original dish is not good enough, so he’s changing his dish! They desperately want a male contestant back???
I think it is between Kristina and Stephen, all the focus are on these two!
Wow, this episode is 2 hours!
LOL, John’s dish… Need I say more?
The camera work might’ve just given it away, with Kristina’s tasting the camera captures Jessie in the background and then focuses on Jessie name on her apron with Kristina in the foreground!
Stephen got rave review too.

Best Dishes: Stephen, Kha, Kristina

Winner: Stephen, yeah after he got told to change his dish, Kristina’s robbed!

Lobster and Mussels with Roast and Confit Fennel and Lobster Bisque (Stephen Rooney)

Round 3 – Jessie vs Stephen

LOL, Stephen is making dessert! Fail, fail, fail! Jessie might have a chance to come back!
Great idea, put jelly to set in the blast chiller, fail, fail, fail! You get the idea, I really, really, really don’t want to see Stephen back again, LOL.
Rhubarb lumpy puree, fail, fail, fail! If I say enough fails, will I get my wish?
All focus on Stephen so far, fail, fail, fail! I’m channelling Marco with triple threat!
Frozen jelly, fail, fail, fail!
Stephen’s dessert lacks acidity, and fruit, good, fail, fail, fail!
Sunday’s strangest Mystery Box, will we see century eggs?
Jessie is putting on her tears, clever girl!
“Delicious!” Jessie’s dish, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Final member of Top 10: Jessie, again, what’s the point of this 2-hour episode? We started with Jessie in the Top 10, and ended with Jessie in the Top 10?????????????????

Lobster with Carrots, Fennel and Dill Mayo (Jessie Spiby)

MasterChef’s top 10 form guide

Episode 43, Thursday, June 25, 2015 MasterClass (web extra, not shown on TV)
Update June 26, 2015: Geez, just doing my daily goggling this morning and lo and behold there were extra MasterClass recipes in the search results from the past 24 hours! Went to MasterChef facebook page and found out THAT MasterClass (the third this season) was not shown on TV due to the extended 2-hour convoluted episode last night…

Chips, Dips and Vegetables on a ‘Hills Hoist’ (George Calombaris)
Roast Chicken and Confit Leg with Carrot Puree (Gary Mehigan)
Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Cupcake (Matt Preston)
Hot White Chocolate with Cinnamon and Marshmallow Foam (Matt Preston)

Episode 44, Sunday, June 28, 2015 Mystery Mystery Box & Invention Test

The strangest ingredients being put together for a Mystery Box.
Mystery Mystery Box (60 minutes) – Sugar Ants, Pheasant, Sorghum, Achacha, Armenian String Cheese, Amchur (Dried Mango Powder), Uqa/Oca (New Zealand Yam), Mexican Cucumbers/Mexican Sour Gherkins, Coffee Flour

LOL, just found out the New Zealand Yam is in the family of that dreaded weed, oxalis!!!

Winner: Billie, Jessie, Rose

What, all three chosen are desserts? Jessica’s dish looked very creative, yet… Flabbergasted!
Sounds like everyone is judged on chef standard, while CWA is the standard for judging when it comes to The Foggy One’s dishes.

Puffed Sorghum, Parfait with Ant, Sorghum and Amchur Powder Praline, and Achacha and Amchur Caramel (Jessie Spiby)
Ant Caramel Parfait, Pickled and Caramelised Mexican Cucumber, Pickled Yam (Billie McKay)
Achacha Tart (Rose Adam)

In the invention test, the winner of the mystery box challenge will get to decide on the pantry items, the cuisine and the cook time for every contestant.

Rose’s choice:
Ingredients Choice: Meat/Poultry/Egg, Dairy
Cuisine: European, Asian
Time: 30 minutes, 45 minutes

Oh, I get it now, winning Mystery Box is a curse, the judges have a plan to put the foggy one in the bottom 3 in Invention Test, fingers and toes crossed!
So in the foggy one’s world, son-in-law eggs has been renamed Thai-style Scotch eggs in an ASIAN Invention Test??? Getting foggier, and foggier!
LOL, Georgia’s trying to thread egg in a warm/cold soup???

Top 3: Sara, Jessie, Jessica
Bottom 3: Reynold, Matthew, Rose
No way, the only two males left in the competition into the Pressure Test! But the plan worked to put Rose in the bottom 3, LOL.

Sesame Glazed Beef with Wasabi and Shallot Relish, Chilli Nori Salt and Sake Radishes (Jessica Arnott)
Caramel Duck with Mandarin, Pickled Daikon and Herbs (Jessie Spiby)
Chinese Poached Chicken with Black Sesame Paste and Spring Onion Oil (Sara Oteri)

Episode 45, Monday, June 29, 2015 Pressure Test

Pressure Test (2 hours and 15 minutes) – Janice Wong’s Cassis Plum

Matthew is very composed and surely he’s safe.
Reynold is just very unsure of himself and makes a few mistakes, and noooooooooo, leaving the rice crispies off the plate!
Rose got everything on the plate, but her sphere is not sealed properly and looks wonky! It is all down to taste…
Matthew is safe!

Eliminated: Rose
Finally!!!!!!!!!!

Cassis Plum (Janice Wong)

Episode 46, Tuesday, June 30, 2015 Immunity Pin
Sara, Jessie, Jessica

Round 1 – Create a dish showcasing batter

Why does boiled egg always has to have runny yolk? It irks me no ends, soft set yolk is also delicious! Yes, I understand today Jessie needed the runny yolk for her tartare, but every time someone boils an egg in MasterChef, it is always a predictable overdone “cliffhanger” to see if the egg has runny yolk??? Maybe the French technique does need runny yolk to act as a “sauce”, but in most Asian cuisines, boiled egg with set yolk is the norm as accompaniment for many dishes!

Winner: Jessie

Tempura Egg with Beef Tartare (Jessie Spiby)

Round 2 – Cooking against a Professional

Chef: Ross Lusted, The Bridge Room, 60 minutes
Jessie’s Choice (75 minutes): Sweet, Savoury

Scores:
Ross: Gary 8 + George 10 + Matt 10 = 28
Jessie: Gary 8 + George 9 + Matt 8 = 25
No Immunity Pin given out! Now off to watch the feuding twins on The Voice, the only interesting bits so far!

Beef Fillet with Beetroot Two Ways (Jessie Spiby)

Bonus Recipe – Ricotta Pancakes with Melted Raspberries and Sweet Lemon Butter (Curtis Stone)
Bonus Recipe – Slow-roasted Sirloin with Anchovy Butter, Potato Gratin and Baby Carrots (Neil Perry)

OK, this looks like the teams for tomorrow team challenge –
Yellow – Ashleigh, Amy, Matthew
Blue – Reynold, Jessica, Sara
Red – Georgia, Billie, Jessie

Episode 47, Wednesday, July 1, 2015 Low and Slow BBQ Team Challenge

Guest: Andy Groneman (US Pit-Master Champion)

Hickory and Coffee Ribs (Blue Team)
Maple and Mustard Lamb, Blue Cheese Broccolini with Crushed Pecans (Blue Team)
Chicken Drumsticks and Sweet Smashed Potatoes (Blue Team)
Pickled Watermelon Salad (Blue Team)

Episode 48, Thursday, July 2, 2015 Rick Stein’s Elimination

Eliminated: Amy

Pan Seared Red Emperor with Roast Sherry Carrots and Fennel (Billie McKay)
Coconut Fish Curry (Matthew Hopcraft)
Snow Crab Bisque with Fennel, Tomato and Tarragon (Georgia Barnes)
Murray Cod with Peas, Bacon and Lemon Sauce (Jessie Spiby)

Episode 49, Sunday, July 5, 2015 Top 8 Déja Vu Mystery Box & Invention Test

Déja Vu Mystery Box (60 minutes) – 8 Mystery Boxes from the past 8 weeks return. The contestants have to pick one without knowing which is which!

Jessica – Mystery Mystery Box
Reynold – Heston’s History Mystery Box
Georgia – Week 2 Mystery Box
Ashleigh – MPW’s Balancing Flavours Mystery Box
Sara – Maggie’s Foraging Mystery Box
Matthew – Power Apron (All-Ingredients-Must-Be-Used) Mystery Box
Billie – Poh’s Mystery Box
Jessie – $1-Ingredient Mystery Box?
Matthew and Jessie swapped their boxes after they’ve picked but before opening.

Reynold has decided to make a dessert, surprise, surprise, not, hahaha…
Dear, dear, deary me, Jessica is having trouble coming up with a dish!
Matthew’s fig-gate, LOL
Nothing from Ashleigh and Jessie so far, so their dishes are NOT going to be tasted!

Winner: Matthew, Reynold, Billie

Curry Leaf and Lime Parfait (Billie McKay)
Blue Cheese, Apple and Fig Tortellini (Matthew Hopcraft)
Salted Caramel and Macadamia (Reynold Poernomo)

Conceptual Invention Test (60 minutes)
Top 4 go to Immunity Challenge, bottom 4 go to Pressure Test

Billie’s Choice: Earth, Wind, Fire

Interesting choices, “Earth” is the easiest, “Fire” for hot spicy dishes? But how do you conceptualise “Wind” in a dish? Smell, aroma, flowing, or maybe lots of airy foam???
I’ll be switching channels at 8:30pm between MasterChef and Tour de France (waiting for Taste le Tour segment), so will only update the Invention Test result…
What’s wrong with Jessica today, she looked very grumpy the whole day? Worried that if she’s into Pressure Test and still in that state of mind, she might be a goner tomorrow!

Top 4: Georgia, Reynold, Jessie, Matthew, Sara
Bottom 4: Matthew, Ashleigh, Billie, Jessica
Looks like Mystery Box curse strikes again!
What do we think, another difficult dessert tomorrow? Matthew should be safe if he’s as precise as he was last week with Janice’s Pressure Test, Ashleigh should have no problem. Billie can do dessert. That leaves Jessica as the weakest, and her first Pressure Test, not looking good for her chances!

Strawberry Patch (Georgia Barnes)
Chocolate, Hazelnut, Coffee & Vanilla Cremeux with Mousse (Reynold Poernomo)
Smoked Frozen Yoghurt with Blackberry, Beetroot and Red Wine Sauce (Jessie Spiby)
Beef with Smoked Leeks, Beetroot Gel and Black Pudding Crumb (Sara Oteri)

Episode 50, Monday, July 6, 2015 Darren Purchese’s Pressure Test
Matthew, Ashleigh, Billie, Jessica

Pressure Test – Darren Purchese’s Passion Flower
Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
Final Assembly: 10 minutes

Looks like it is between Jessica and Ashleigh. Jessica scrambled the mousse and Ashleigh just couldn’t get the tuiles right!
Now in the final few minutes, Matthew is in trouble too, missing little elements…
Billie should be safe, her presentation is very good!
Ashleigh’s petals did not open when she poured the sauce!
Jessica’s presentation looks better than Ashleigh! And the petals open!
Now Matthew’s collar that holds up the petals has broken into pieces and he can’t get the petals to stand in without that collar!
Phew, he managed to arrange the collar and put in the petals! And the petals open! But the judges said he did not temper the chocolate properly!
Gary just said it is between Ashleigh and Matthew!
Dish of the Day went to Billie!
Jessica is safe!

Eliminated: Ashleigh
That’s ironic, one of the two dessert experts is gone on a dessert challenge! However good to see she’s now working as a trainee under Christy Tania at Om Nom Dessert Bar.

Passion Flower (Darren Purchese)

What? MasterChef history in the making tomorrow, whatever that means???
Just saw the new promo, someone is going to get a pin tomorrow with 3 perfect scores!

Episode 51, Tuesday, July 7, 2015 Immunity Challenge
Georgia, Reynold, Jessie, Sara

Round 1 – Name That Herb

Knife-pull to determine order.
1 Reynold – Kaffir Lime Leaves, Vietnamese Mint, Flat-Leaf Parsley, Chervil, Chocolate Mint,
2 Jessie – Rosemary, Dill, Lemon Myrtle, Chives, Thai Basil,
3 Georgia – Coriander, Basil, Tarragon, Sage, Dandelion? (wrong, first one out) Milk Thistle
4 Sara – Curry Leaves, Bay Leaves, Oregano, Shiso, Celery? (wrong, second one out) Lovage

Wow, impressive! I thought it will be a very quick round but they have actually correctly named more than half of the herbs!
This time going first actually benefited them as they got more chances to name the easy ones after so many were named!

Winners: Reynold, Jessie

Round 2 – Cooking against two Professionals
Monty & Jaclyn Koludrovic, Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, 60 minutes
Jessie (main) & Reynold (dessert), 75 minutes

They have to cook Main and Dessert, combined scores have to beat the professional chefs to win 2 pins!
Not looking good for the chefs, they spent 10 minutes in the pantry, leaving them less than 50 minutes to cook, and their mousse dessert normally takes an hour and half to set!
Jaclyn is making restaurant-size quantity dessert! That’s is going to waste a lot of her time!
Hahaha, Reynold’s sphere inspired by Cassis Plum but in tropical flavour?
Both desserts are sphere-shaped! I think the sphere desserts are so dominant this year is due to the availability of the silicon moulds which you can turn out in solid form, without them it would be harder to turn out using the old-fashion metal moulds (need to warm the mould and melt the outer layer to turn out!)
Oh, no, Reynold’s sphere has melted at the tasting table! Did the judges realise that mousse was a sphere?

Scores:
Jessie (main): Gary 7 + George 8 + Matt 8 = 23 +
———————————————————————————— = 53 combined
Reynold (dessert): Gary 10 + George 10 + Matt 10 = 30

Monty (main): Gary 10 + George 9 + Matt 9 = 28 +
———————————————————————————— = 54 combined
Jaclyn (dessert): Gary 8 + George 9 + Matt 9 = 26

No immunity pins given out! That was a let down after the big promo hype!

Lobster with Orange and Fennel (Jessie Spiby)
Passionfruit Sphere and Coconut Granita with Pineapple (Reynold Poernomo)

Episode 52, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 7-Course Degustation Challenge
7-course degustation menu for 40 diners at Circa: The Prince

Each contestant has to cook a course for 40 diners. Gary will be running the pass, George and Matt will do the tasting.
Mise en Place & Cooking: 2 hours 15 minutes (staggered start for each course)
Service: 30 minutes to plate and serve, each contestant can have another contestant to help in plating up

The contestant won’t know their core ingredient until they walk into the kitchen to start preparation. Top four dishes safe, bottom three go into elimination.

Knife-pull to determine which course to cook:
1 Billie – Marron, plating-up helper Jessica
2 Georgia – Celeriac, plating-up helper Reynold
3 Matthew – Tuna, plating-up helper Billie?
4 Sara – Quail, plating-up helper Georgia
5 Jessie – Lamb, plating-up helper Matthew
6 Jessica – Plums, plating-up helper Sara
7 Reynold – Chocolate, plating-up helper Jessie

Can’t believe it, Reynold gets to do dessert! What luck!!! He will be safe for sure!!!
Billie is as calm as can be, she should be safe.
Georgia is in BIG trouble, late for service and running out of soup! She was going to serve 40ml per bowl, that’s just 2 tablespoons, what was she thinking? The way she was pouring into the bowls at the beginning, they looked at least quarter-cup worth per bowl, no wonder she ran out…
Reynold struck gold twice tonight, he got chocolate as his core ingredient!
No drama from Matt, he should be safe.
Oh no, Reynold’s just burnt his chocolate for his crémeux!
Sara’s gone through her service without a hitch, George said best dish so far.
Jessie is late for service and in trouble! Lentil overcooked, lamb undercooked!
Now Reynold said his crémeux is too runny, half an hour to go for him!
Jessica has done her service, her dish looked good for someone not known for dessert. Judges liked it but said plums slightly overcooked, not much techniques shown.
The pressure has got to Reynold, it happens every year with the young contestants in restaurant’s individual service.
Dish of The Day went to Sara!

Safe: Sara, Billie, Matthew, Jessica
Bottom 3: Georgia, Jessie, Reynold

Marron with Avocado, Miso and Wasabi Lime Puree (Billie McKay)
Tuna Ceviche with Rhubarb (Matthew Hopcraft)
Roasted Quail with Miso Sweet corn Puree and Blackberry Vinaigrette (Sara Oteri)
Roasted Plums with Goat’s Cheese and Thyme (Jessica Arnott)

LOL, looks like Georgia bids on the wrong item, sardines, tomorrow!

One of the dish from the time-auction elimination, looks like Georgia’s plating?

Episode 53, Thursday, July 9, 2015 Time Auction Elimination
Georgia, Jessie, Reynold

The contestants facing elimination will take part in a time auction. Each contestant begins with 100 minutes to bid for items in three categories. The more they spend the less time they have to cook.

Time auction choices:
Proteins: Chicken Eggs Sardines
Greens: Root Vegetables, Citrus, Nightshades
Seasonings: Herbs, Spices, Condiments

Chicken – Jessie, 25 minutes
Sardines – Georgia, 5 minutes (LOL, Georgia was so focused on eggs that she thought the bid was on eggs and raised her paddle!)
Eggs – Reynold, 0 minutes

Nightshades – Georgia, 5 minutes
Citrus – Reynold, 25 minutes
Root Vegetables – Jessie, 0 minutes

Spices – Jessie 15 minutes
Herbs – Georgia, 15 minutes
Condiments – Reynold, 0 minutes

Cooking Time:
Jessie – 60 minutes
Georgia – 75 minutes
Reynold – 75 minutes

Sara just mentioned that Jessie put a lot of spices in her sauce which might not cook out and make the sauce bitter. That was said post challenge which meant that was what happened!
Watching Jessie cook is so frustrating, she always moved slowly like she’s got a lot of time…
On the other end, Georgia is always jittery, and multi-tasking to the max…
Very little focus on Reynold, all the focus on Georgia and Jessie!
Jessie is gone, her chicken is raw with just 10 minutes of cooking time left!
Now she’s put the breast on the pan to cook more.
Now Reynold’s just found out his curd is not set! He’s lost on what to do next!
Oooh, that dish (image above) is Reynold’s dessert! Georgia has done the “negative space” plating instead! LOL, just show how much I know, NOTHING!
The judges are interrogating Reynold to make him cry, very low blow!
But they like his dessert!
Georgia looks safe, judges like her dish too.
Yep, bitterness in Jessie’s sauce! Sara was just repeating what the judges said, LOL.
Reynold is through to Top 6!

Eliminated: Jessie
Even though I like Jessie to stay longer, I think it is time she goes as she has not been cooking well the past couple of weeks.

Grilled Sardines, Potato Sand, Potato Puree and Tomato Salad (Georgia Barnes)
Lemon Lime Curd with Balsamic and fresh Citrus (Reynold Poernomo)

The promo for next week team challenge with Marco:
Red: Matthew, Billie, Reynold
Blue: Georgia, Sara, Jessica
Let’s hope it is blue into elimination, or else one of the boys is goneski with Billie in their team! Ooops, I think that is Sunday’s “team” challenge with each contestant making one of Marco’s dishes, no elimination from this challenge, I think? I reckon the true team challenge is next Wednesday with elimination after that?

Some screen captures from the promos for Sunday’s team challenge at MasterChef Kitchen:

Blue Team Dishes

Red Team Dishes

Episode 54, Sunday, July 12, 2015 Marco Pierre White’s Service Challenge
Service challenge for 120 diners.

Preparation: 3 hours

Red: Matthew (entrée), Billie (main), Reynold (dessert)
Blue: Sara (entrée), Jessica (main), Georgia (dessert)

Wow, intense! The clock started as soon as they walked into the kitchen. But where are the three house judges? No sign of them!
The first three walking into the kitchen (orchestrated, of course) were automatically ushered by Marco to the red side of the kitchen, the last three into the blue side.
Always impressed by Marco’s menacing mentoring sessions!
The winning team goes into the final Immunity Challenge, no mention of the losing team!
Marco told them at service, they have to serve a plate every 20 seconds.
Georgia the first to make mistake, she miscalculated and used only half as much butter for her puff pastry.
The three judges finally appeared…
They finally realised they have to work as a team, so Sara was appointed captain of blue team, Matthew the red team.
Reynold’s the first to jump in to help his team member, Billie prepare the 70 snappers.
Billie now helping Matthew with the pasta, no sign of help yet at the blue team!
Sara finally pulled rank and asked Georgia to help with her entrée minutes before service starts.
Sara’s prawn entrée slightly overcooked.
Matthew’s tortellini undercooked!
Red team started serving their main, but blue team is now behind, nothing is ready!
Red team’s snapper is spot on! But some scales on the fish at judges’ table.
10 minutes into main service, blue team still not ready to serve.
Blue team’s lamb is cold, but cooked beautifully.
LOL, Georgia was making her dessert, not helping with the main service, and answered “Yes, Marco!” when Marco was talking to Jessica and Sara at the pass. Marco then turned around and asked Georgia, “why are you answering!”
Jessica is now running out of potatoes! Now using pea purée from the entrée for the last 5 dishes.
Oh, no, why is Reynold dropping the doughnuts off his dessert when the batter is already done?
The plating looks completely different without the doughnut!
Georgia forgot the sorbet during plating until Marco asked about it! And of course the judges got the ones with the sorbet!
The judges said the puff pastry was very good, but when George was tearing it, it looked soft! If it is flakey, you won’t be able to tear it apart like George did!
Marco told them they managed to get a dish out every 30 seconds!
Georgia’s dessert got the dish of the day! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? No mention of the earlier plates going out without the sorbet!

Winner: Blue
OK, I hope the plan is to give them a shinning moment going for immunity and then eliminate one of them on Thurs, right, right, right? Can we all cross our fingers! LOL.
Also Shannon is the one they have to cook for the immunity pin, can’t see them winning against their mentor. What does it say about the Immunity Challenge if Shannon loses to one of them when he’s been mentoring them the whole season? Oh maybe they can’t risk Billie, or Reynold winning against Shannon, so giving the chance to the weaker blue team and MAKE SURE no pin given out?

Poached Prawns, Champagne Butter and Salmon Roe (Sara Oteri, Blue Team)
Slow Cooked Lamb in Cumin Jus with Asparagus en Papillote, Carrots and Potatoes (Jessica Arnott, Blue Team)
Carmelised Peach Tart with Ginger Verbena Sorbet, Diplomat Cream and Mango (Georgia Barnes, Blue Team)

Red Team dishes, recipes from 2013 MasterChef Australia: The Professionals
Aromatic Golden Duck Broth, Duck and Ginger Dumplings with Otway Forest Shiitake Mushrooms (Marco Pierre White)
Baked Local Snapper, Roasted Tomato, Port Lincoln King Prawns, Zucchini Blossom and Basil (Marco Pierre White)
Vanilla Creme Brulee, Mixed Seasonal Berries, Warm Doughnuts and Yoghurt Sorbet (Marco Pierre White)

What’s going on? This is from the promo shown during CSI: Cyber, showing Matthew, Reynold, Sara and Jessica! Is this round 2 after the cook-along, don’t tell me they mis-edit Thurs elimination into tomorrow’s promo???

Episode 55, Monday, July 13, 2015 Cook-Along “Yes, Marco” Pressure Test
Matthew, Billie, Reynold

No elimination tonight but worst 2 dishes go straight to Thursday’s elimination.
Well, the promo already gave away which two contestants go to Thursday’s elimination and which two contestants have lost team challenge on Wednesday! Is there any point in watching? LOL.

Safe: Billie
Elimination Bound: Matthew, Reynold

What’s on TV Thursday: MasterChef memories cut right to the emotional point

Episode 56, Tuesday, July 14, 2015 Final Immunity Challenge
Sara, Jessica, Georgia

Round 1 – Something Sweet for a Cuppa Tea (30 minutes)

Georgia is making a version of Monte Carlo;
Sara is making fig scones;
Jessica is making raspberry friands.

Winner: Georgia
By winning round 1, Georgia will also get an advantage in tomorrow’s team challenge.

Quick Monte Carlos (Georgia Barnes)
Fig and Walnut Scones (Sara Oteri)
Burnt Butter Friands (Jessica Arnott)

Do my eyes deceive me, it looks like Georgia’s apron in her post commentary segment has wrinkles on the left side where pin is usually placed???

Round 2 – Cooking Against a Professional
Marco will act as mentor.

Chef: Shannon Bennett, Vue de Monde (60 minutes)
Georgia: Choose 10 ingredients from 20 of the judges’ favourite ingredients (75 minutes)

Georgia’s Choice: Lemon, Chicken, Celery, Miso, Eggs, Banana Shallots, Dill, Leeks, Marron, Blackberries

Shannon has to cook with the left-over 10 ingredients!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shannon’s ingredients: John Dory, Tonka Beans, Ricotta, Mastic, Figs, Coconut Cream, Broken Rice, Chicory, Curry Leaves, Thai Basil
Surely this is a set-up to give away the pin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now Billie is telling Georgia how to cook marron. Is she going to abandon the chicken now?
LOL, the marron won’t come out of the shell, the flesh has broken…
Very impressed with Shannon to come up with a fantastic dish using those horrible ingredient combination! Even Marco is impressed!

Scores:
Georgia: Gary 8 + George 8 + Matt 9 = 25
Shannon: Gary 8 + George 9 + Matt 9 = 26
No immunity pin given out!

Marron with Blackberries and Celery (Georgia Barnes)

LOL, Channel 10 is airing Andy & Ben Eat The World this Saturday July 18, 2015 at 4pm. It is a foodie travel/adventure series that sees Season 4 winner Andy Allen and best mate Ben Milbourne follow their curiosity and appetite to culinary destinations the world over. Is this how Andy spent his winner’s money?

Episode 57, Wednesday, July 15, 2015 French Team Challenge
Team Challenge at L’Hotel Gitan for 70 diners.

Preparation & Cooking: 3 hours

They have to plan the French menu, order the ingredients with a budget of $1,000 and cook 2 mains and 1 dessert. Although they said French, but since the restaurant is owned by chef Jacques Reymond (he used soy sauce and other Asian sauces in his French dishes!), it is more like modern fusion French, seeing they are using ingredients like miso and baby corns!
Georgia’s advantage is to choose her team member.

Blue: Georgia, Billie
Red: Sara, Jessica

Safe: Blue
Elimination Bound: Red

Prawn, Mussel and Sweetcorn Bisque (Blue Team)
White Chocolate Mousse with Spiced Pomegranate Syrup (Blue Team)
Eye Fillet of Beef with Cauliflower and Speck Puree, Mushrooms and Red Wine Jus (Blue Team)

For Jessica’s Burnt Butter Sponge recipe from the Red Team dessert, Jessica says to use her Burnt Butter Friands recipe, but leave out the thyme & use hazelnut meal instead of the almond meal.

The promo for tomorrow’s elimination showed four dishes, looked like Sara making lasagne(?), Jessica making prawns, Reynold no surprise making a dessert, and Matthew pasta. Judges said one dish blows their mind… Later during Mdm Secretary, they showed another promo that only showed the dessert, so Reynold must be safe if that is the best dish, and technically the most difficult and with most elements out of the four.

Episode 58, Thursday, July 16, 2015 Childhood Memories Elimination
Matthew, Reynold, Sara, Jessica

Time: 90 minutes

Sara is making pappardelle with broccoli sauce, so this is the green pasta shown in promo!
Reynold is making a chocolate ganache, with rosemary ice cream and honeycomb. He is trying to make honeycomb again after failing last time.
Jessica is making spicy seafood broth with prawns.
Matthew is making lasagne!
LOL, we got Sara’s and Matthew’s dish confused from the promo… Hmm, worried for Matthew, is it too simple and homely at this stage of the competition? It has to be perfect to be impressive. At least Sara is doing something different with her pasta dish even though still very simple.
LOL, Matthew adding tons more cheese to his béchamel after Marco questioned the taste of the sauce, overkill? He did not think it through about the theme, childhood memories do not mean re-creating a dish, but creating an inventive dish that evokes childhood memories.
LOL, good to see Reynold so happy with his honeycomb!
Did Sara just add tear sauce to her pasta?
Why are they tasting dessert first? Judges loved Reynold dessert. By the way, MattP is not here today, so only Gary, George and Marco doing the judging, or should I say only Gary and George are doing the judging.
The judges liked Sara’s simple pasta dish.
Gary said Matthew’s lasagne is out of balance, Marco reckoned his construction of layers is wrong, he should have kept the cheese and béchamel separate rather than cooking cheese in the béchamel as a cheese sauce.
Now the judges are questioning how to tackle Jessica’s dish of broth with whole prawns with shells on. Do they dip their fingers into the broth??? Yeah, world problems! Use a spoon!
Gary liked the broth, so did George. Marco thinks it is too messy to eat.
Reynold is safe, George said best dessert this year.
Gary said Jessica’s broth best of the season.

Eliminated: Matthew

Chocolate with Orange and Rosemary (Reynold Poernomo)
Charred Prawns with Prawn and Paprika Broth (Jessica Arnott)
Parsley Pappardelle with Broccoli Sauce (Sara Oteri)

Episode 59, Thursday, July 16, 2015 Marco’s MasterClass
Penne with Fresh Tomato Sauce (Marco Pierre White)
Monochrome (George Calombaris)
Apricot Chicken (Matt Preston)
Sweet Chili Chicken Thigh (Matt Preston)
The Perfect Steak (Marco Pierre White)
Bonus Recipe (web exclusive) – Scattered Sushi (Gary Mehigan)

These are some of the dishes being promoted for Finals Week, not sure if they are all from Sunday’s episode, or through the week:

Gastro Park’s Grant King Pressure Test

Episode 60, Sunday, July 19, 2015 Pick Your Own Mystery Box & Food Trend Invention Test
The contestants pick an ingredient each (without others knowing what it is), plus three ingredients from the judges

30 seconds to pick an ingredient:
Georgia – Figs
Jessica – Prawns
Reynold – Almonds (flaked)
Sara – Squid
Billie – Beetroot

Judges ingredients:
Gary – Lemon
George – Dark Chocolate
Matt – Dill

Time: 60 minutes

From the most recent promo, dish #4 is Georgia’s, the new-moon-shaped plated red coloured dish.
Sara’s is the squid tube dish, dish #5 shown above.
Reynold is making almond cake with lemon curd.
Jessica is making prawn chawanmushi.
Billie is making beetroot stack, could be dish #1 above.
LOL, a few red-coloured dishes after George’s masterclass’ red monochrome dish last week!
So the top 3 dishes look like from Georgia, Sara and Billie, all red dishes.
Reynold is still in it dish #2 is his, I think? Can’t see the whole dish yet.
Dish #3 must be from a later challenge, Invention Test or later in the week, as the plating is on a board on wooden bench, could be team challenge dish?
No, dish #2 is also not from this challenge, the brown tuiles(?) above looks like the one Reynold put on his almond cake here.

Winner: Billie, Sara

Textures of Squid with Beetroot and Chilli (Sara Oteri)

Invention Test (60 minutes) – Food Trend Challenge
Choose from 3 of the most popular current food trends

Sara’s Choice: Cheeks and Jowls, Peel to Stem, Savoury Sweets

Hmmm, interesting Reynold is choosing chicken with celery, surprised he’s not doing a sweet dish using fruit.
Billie is using cauliflower.
Sara is using watermelon with soft-shell crabs.
Jessica is using silver beet with Manchego cheese.
Gosh, Reynold wasted nearly half an hour messing with the chicken when it is not the theme ingredient and left his theme ingredient celery sitting there!
Georgia is using parsnips and baby carrots.
Reynold is in trouble!
Sara is still unsure what to do with the watermelon skin.
Georgia is making a million things and running out of time.
Jessica thinks her dish is too homey.
Sara is not going to use the watermelon skin, BIG MISTAKE!
Reynold managed to get a dish up! Celery and mushroom.
Judges think Sara’s plating is not up to scratch, and not meeting the brief of using everything from the watermelon, and George thinks she could have done more with the watermelon.
Billie should be safe, after tasting.
Jessica dish is flavourful, Gary thinks she delivered on the silver beet but not too sure of the cheese.
Judges asked why Georgia used 2 core ingredients? But judges then said she pushed herself successfully and liked the dish, she’s safe.
Matt thinks Reynold’s dish is tasty! Gary crossed his fingers for Reynold!

Bottom 3: Sara, Jessica, Reynold
Georgia and Billie are safe, judges said Reynold did not show enough techniques in his dish so he’s into Pressure Test. Tomorrow’s Pressure Test is a molecular gastronomy gnocchi dish from Grant King! The techniques of molecular gastronomy may suit Reynold, but a savoury dish?
The new promo just showed in tomorrow Pressure Test that Reynold is in trouble and George saying to Reynold, “You look like you’re giving up!”

Cauliflower Miso Cream, Pickled Cauliflower Stem, in Spec and Oyster Mushrooms (Billie McKay)
Parsnip and Baby Carrots with Honey and Scallops (Georgia Barnes)

Gourmet chef Grant King returns to MasterChef, ‘Some of the best things are the most simple’

Episode 61, Monday, July 20, 2015 Molecular Gastronomy Pressure Test
Sara, Jessica, Reynold

Pressure Test (2 hours) – Grant King’s Liquid Butternut Pumpkin Gnocchi in a Mushroom Consommé
The contestants get 5 minutes plating up time at the end of cooking.

Reynold is already falling behind right from the get go, George came over and whispered to him, “if you give up, I’ll never let you forget it!” LOL.
Nooooo, Jessica just put yeast into hot milk for the brioche!!!!!!
Sara and Reynold did the same thing, what is going on, these are the top 5, and they have no idea about using yeast??? I’m flabbergasted!
Georgia noticed it and she did not say anything.
Hahaha, none of the brioche has risen! They all have to re-do the brioche.
Jessica is deviating from the recipe by grating the pumpkin.
Sara has just made a huge mistake, forgetting the egg white for the raft.
Sara may have just rescued the consommé by adding the egg white at the end.
Jessica’s gnocchi is not forming into shape!
Reynold’s gnocchi spheres are good! He did know something about molecular gastronomy…
Jessica noticed Reynold, who is in front of her, cooling the gnocchi mixture, so she put hers into the fridge to cool.
Sara also could not get her spheres right.
Now Jessica at least get some shapes for her gnocchi.
Nooooooo, Reynold and Sara both forgot about their brioche in the oven at the end of cooking!
Flavour is good, gnocchi is good, but cloudy consommé and missing brioche for Reynold.
Clear consommé, gnocchi good, flavour good, very close to Grant’s original for Jessica.
Clear broth, some good flavour but gnocchi fell apart, no seasoning, no brioche for Sara! She is gone!

Eliminated: Sara

Liquid Gnocchi with Mushroom Consommé (Grant King)

Looks like a dessert challenge tomorrow and an advantage up for grab? Dish #2 and #3 above are from tomorrow it looks like.

These are three desserts shown in tomorrow’s challenge:

Georgia

Georgia

Reynold, can only see the top of his dessert

Reynold’s ?

Billie’s ?

MasterChef’s Gary Mehigan plans travel food show
Lessons from a Master

Episode 62, Tuesday, July 21, 2015 No Rules Challenge
The contestants can choose their own cuisine and whether it’s sweet or savoury, however they must decide on the cooking time together.

Winner of this challenge will get an advantage for tomorrow’s challenge.
They agreed on 90 minutes.

Billie’s dish is inspired by growing up in a farm and eating cornflakes.
Jessica is making a dessert based on a cheese plate. A surprise as everyone is expecting Jessica to cook savoury.
Georgia’s dessert is inspired by her grandmother and lemon meringue pie.
Reynold is making an original dish of apple and caramel which will represent the dessert bar that he plans to open.
Everybody is making dessert!
Straight away, Reynold has burnt his white chocolate!
George is dubious about Billie’s use of lemon verbena and saffron.
LOL, those lacy brown things on Reynold’s dessert could be tuiles after all, as he just put his caramel tuile mixture into the oven!
Billie said her “cornflakes” is radioactive? Hahaha, just the colour after she added a drop of yellow food colouring…
Reynold’s tuile is not the usual tuile but a stretched tuile, no wonder it doesn’t look like tuile at all.
LOL, Georgia’s dessert is not served on a board but wooden spoon, the image above (dish #3) is very deceptive…
Jessica decided to make up two plates so she can choose the best one to serve. When she was plating up, one of the waffles broke in two on one plate, and guess what, in the final moment of putting a quenelle of ice cream, she put it onto the plate with the broken waffle!
Billie’s dish is very clever and delicious according to the judges! The lemon verbena mousse and saffron “cornflakes” worked!
Georgia’s wooden spoon represented her licking the wooden spoon when her grandmother made lemon meringue pie. Judges think her dessert is too sweet, and not really reminding them of lemon meringue pie.
Jessica is upset with her plating, putting the ice cream onto the worst looking plate. Gary thinks her dessert smells good when George is dividing the dessert, and they say very delicious and they have forgotten about the presentation.
So the best dessert comment has got to go to Reynold! Gary says it is the best looking dish, from contestants as well as compared to the professionals. Really? Matt thinks it’s overload of caramel, and wants more freshness of apples and Gary is “SHOCKED”. George says it is YUM.
Georgia is out of running! It is between the other three.

Winner: Jessica
That is unexpected! The judgement came down to taste and maybe also that Jessica is doing the trendy savoury sweet dessert of the moment! LOL, the promos showed the three desserts that did not win, and misled again by the “best dessert” blurb in the promo!

Roast Figs with Gorgonzola Cream and Oloroso Ice Cream (Jessica Arnott)

Episode 63, Wednesday, July 22, 2015 The Press Club Service Challenge
The contestants will be running service in George’s restaurant, The Press Club, and will be cooking a 4-course meal for 35 of the finest chefs and restaurateurs in the country.

The best dish will go straight to semi-final.

Course 1 – Monokhromos – Green Greek Salad with Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread)
Course 2 – “The Whiting that Wants to be a Lamb Tzatziki” with Treacle Bread
Course 3 – Devil’s Footsteps (lamb, potato, leek)
Course 4 – Crème Brûlée alla Greque

Jessica got the advantage to choose her dish first, she chose course 3 lamb dish
The other 3 contestants did the knife-pull to determine their choice:
Knife 1 Georgia chose course 1 salad
Knife 2 Billie chose course 4 dessert
Knife 3 Reynold got course 2 whiting

Time: 4 1/2 hours

LOL, George has morphed into Marco with his triple-threat of saying the same thing three times!
Georgia’s first course received good feedbacks.
Reynold is struggling, and Billie offers to help.
Oh no, Reynold got one dish sent back, raw fish!
Now judges think the whiting dish lacked that lamb flavour.
Jessica now regrets choosing the lamb dish, and Georgia steps in to help her with the plating.
Jessica just dropped two of her cannelloni without anymore backup, this is the second time she has not made more than required.
Judges think with Jessica’s dish some elements are not perfect.
Billie is just as calm as ever, getting her dishes done after having time to also help Reynold earlier.
Billie’s dessert gets good review from the judges.
Jessica and Reynold into elimination tomorrow.

Winner: Georgia
Is Georgia the protected species, the “Laura” of 2015? Her dish is the simplest (so simple indeed that the producers even have to figure out how to waste half an hour of her time by having her run to the community garden to pick some herbs), Billie’s dish is much more complicated and she did it well without any drama. Again kitchen performances no consideration at all! No matter how well the series started, it is always at this end that it descended into pure disappointment, same as last year, I’m getting bored already! If Billie is eliminated tomorrow, I would’ve lost all interest in the semi-final and final!

Monokhromos – Monochrome A Green Greek Salad (George Calombaris)
Tsoureki (George Calombaris)
The Whiting (George Calombaris)
Treacle Bread (George Calombaris)
The Devil’s Footsteps (George Calombaris)
Creme Brulee a al Greque (George Calombaris)

So, have just looked at the 4 recipes, re. number of steps to make:
Georgia’s salad – 9 steps
Billie’s dessert – 11 steps
Reynold’s whiting – 13 steps, & scaling, filleting, pin-boning the fish would be a major job!
Jessica’s lamb – a whopping 53 steps! Basically 5 times as much work as the other three!

Brett Graham’s at The Ledbury: Waste Not, Serve Hot
Our own master chef: Brett Graham
Flame-Grilled Mackerel With Smoked Eel and Shiso (Brett Graham)

Episode 64, Thursday, July 23, 2015 Flame-Grilled Bonito Pressure Test
Billie, Jessica, Reynold

Gary is sick, so only MattP and George with guest chef Brett doing the judging.

Do we need to do any recap for tonight? LOL.
MasterChef Australia has leaked the result of tonight’s elimination five hours before broadcast

George just asked Reynold whether he did a sketch of the dish before he starts, and he said it’s in his head! Bad idea, didn’t he mess up the Cassis Plum plating?
Now a few minutes later, he is blurry about the dish, can’t remember the shapes of the cucumber! I think he’s just too focus on desserts, he just refused to learn about savoury dishes. Even Andy (S4) and Brent (S6) were so willing to learn when they were so much worst than Reynold at the beginning. The proof, this year it is Georgia who’s always listened to the judges, and that’s why the judges loved her, and constantly giving her advice/hints because they know she would take their advice without questions, ditto Laura last year and Callum in S2!
Sure enough, Reynold nearly forgot the pickled cucumber, until Georgia reminded him of it, then he couldn’t remember whether 1 or 2 pieces! He put two, and found out Billie and Jessica only put 1 piece!

Eliminated: Reynold
So how predictable is it? We all knew a female is going to win this year, and it is now confirmed!

Flame Grilled Bonito with Pickled Cucumber, Celtic Mustard and Shiso (Brett Graham)

Episode 65, Thursday, July 23, 2015 Final MasterClass
Bonus recipe – Shannon’s Donuts (Shannon Bennett)

Australia’s finest chefs on food, style and how paddock to plate got sexy
Juggling, dancing like a pony, colour coding fruit — the weird secrets behind MasterChef’s final three
Cuisine queens swap aprons for glamour before final MasterChef food fight

Episode 66, Sunday, July 26, 2015 Semi-Final

Service Challenge with Shannon Bennett – 2 courses each for 20 guests plus 3 judges
Mise en place – 4 hours

Reception from Channel 10 is not the best tonight, so hopefully it will last until the end of the episode.
The contestants were told of the challenge after the MasterClass, so they have time to choose their dishes to cook and test them prior to the challenge tonight.
Once again, taste is going to be the judging criteria, getting very tired of watching service challenge when kitchen performances are ignored!
Georgia is hacking the poor ocean trouts to kingdom come, oh dear!
Shannon is not very impressed with the forever struggling Georgia, but thinks Billie is what this competition is about, working her way through with determination.
Billie is now having some problems rolling the lamb shanks meat into cylinder, then realised she has burnt her roasted rhubarbs.
Jessica has also burnt something, the crumb for her dessert.
Billie is the first to get her dishes out, followed by Jessica. Georgia is falling behind. All this is going to count for nought, late service, not a problem as long as the dish tastes good even if you get your main at midnight…
Judges love Billie lamb main, delicious, gorgeous.
Georgia is near breaking point, what’s new?
George thinks Jessica has nailed it visually with her main. Gary of course is in heaven with the crackling. Full flavour dish!
Billie and Jessica has begun serving their desserts, but Georgia, is she even half-way through her main service?
Judges thinks Georgia’s dish is complex, very “cheffiness”, but those tiny pieces of cold ocean trout??? Are there even 120g worth as Shannon suggested at the beginning? That has to be a cold main dish, anything hot on that plate?
“That’s so good!”, “Absolutely delicious!”, “That’s what modern dessert is about” greeted Billie’s dessert.
Jessica is doing another savoury sweet dessert, Grapefruit and Popcorn. Gary loved it, George thinks he can taste the gelatine in the gel inside the parfait, Matt thinks the sponge is a bit heavy, and questions the combination of flavour.
Matt thinks he can see the pressure on Georgia’s dessert. George thinks it is his favourite dessert.
Think it is Jessica’s time, her dessert is the only one with negative feedback…
Billie is the first through to the finale!

Eliminated: Jessica
So predictable…

Roast Lamb with Mint Peas (Billie McKay)
Dill and Rhubarb Spider (Billie McKay)
Cured Ocean Trout with Flavours of Cucumber and Apple (Georgia Barnes)
Mango Sorbet with Vanilla Yoghurt Parfait (Georgia Barnes)

Episode 67, Monday, July 27, 2015 Finale – Billie vs Georgia

Round 1:
Producers’ Mystery Box (1 hour) – La Luna Goat Cheese, Strawberries, Shiitake Mushrooms, Yacón, Daintree Vanilla, Pear Cider, Honey, Yellow-Eye Mullets, Australian Beef, Pineapple Sage

Round 1 Scores:
Billie: Gary 7/10 + George 7/10 + Matt 7/10 = 21/30
Georgia: Gary 8/10 + George 7/10 + Matt 8/10 = 23/30

Goat’s Cheese and Vanilla Ravioli with Strawberry Broth (Georgia Barnes)
Strawberries with Cider, Goats Cheese, Grapeseed Oil Cake and Strawberry Sauce (Billie McKay)

Round 2 (90 minutes): Cooking a dish for their loved ones, 6 plates

Round 2 Scores:
Billie: Gary 8/10 + George 8/10 + Matt 9/10 = 25/30 + (Round 1) 21 = 46/60
Georgia: Gary 9/10 + George 9/10 + Matt 9/10 = 27/30 + (Round 1) 23 = 50/60

Wow, didn’t expect this, they are making sure Georgia wins this! In Round 1 and Round 2, judges played with Billie’s mind about her dishes being too simple and leading her to overcomplicate her dishes.

Mushroom Custard, Hazelnut Granola with Sauteed Mushrooms and Mushroom Pickle (Georgia Barnes)
Fennel, Ginger, Orange and Scallops (Billie McKay)

Round 3: Heston Blumenthal’s Pressure Test – Botrytis Cinerea
5 hours + 15 minutes plating up.

Heartbreaking to see Billie trying to make the sugar ball for nearly an hour! At least got one done in the end. Georgia did not have time to make the sugar ball and she ditched it.

Round 3 Scores:
Billie: Gary 9/10 + George 9/10 + Matt 9/10 + Heston 9/10 = 36/40 + (Round 1 + 2) 46 = 82/100
Georgia: Gary 8/10 + George 8/10 + Matt 7/10 + Heston 7/10 = 30/40 + (Round 1 + 2) 50 = 80/100

Botrytis Cinerea (Heston Blumenthal)

Winner: Billie
Yay!!!
Oh my gosh, Heston is offering Billie a job at The Fat Duck!!!

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