MasterChef – Mon, June 6 – elimination

Punk pastry chef Anna Polyviou is back (yay – first female chef this season). The bottom three contestants from the mystery box challenge have just three hours to recreate and 15 minutes to plate up her Mess.
Now that looks a far cry from the Mess I’m used to, which is what you make when your pav cracks.


Last year Anna set the bottom three the challenge of making this carrot cake:
annacarrotcake
It was Fiona V Rose V Jacqui. As usual, Rose did quite well at following a recipe when the pressure was on (helped by landing in elimination so many bloody times) and was praised by Anna, while Scottish Fiona was sent packing.
****
So it’s Tiny Top Knot Harry, Floppy Fringe Charlie and Pony Tail Nicolette in the firing line but, wisely, Nicolette uses her immunity pin and Elise has to take her place. Elise has never been in the bottom three before but she loves cooking desserts; while we know Charlie tends to rush recipes and make mistakes and Harry’s strength is savoury.
Anna arrives and reveals her “pink Death Star”, as Harry calls it.


It looks fabulous but to make good on the “Mess” name, she picks it up and smashes it on the bench. How do they serve this in the restaurant? On a massive platter? Otherwise the floor would be covered in coulis. Actually, it’s probably more of an exhibition dish.

And they’re cooking … Elise seems calm but warning bells start ringing the moment we hear Harry say meringue kisses are easy. They’re not as pretty as Elise and Charlie’s.
We’re getting Charlie back story: He wants to open a cafe on the Mornington Cafe with his sister. Do I sense a Charlie redemption here? Has he finally calmed down and found his groove?
Uh oh – Harry’s stuffed up already! He’s realised he’s forgotten to put sugar in his sponge and has to start again.


Elise is doing well, but we get a talking head from Zoe saying Charlie looks to have forgotten to put gelatine in his berry mousse. Nooo!
It’s time to temper the white chocolate and Anna mentioned at the start how tricky this can be. None of the contestants has tempered white chocolate before but at least Anna said the temperatures they need are in the recipe.
It looks like Zoe is the anointed one of talking heads today, as she again points out Charlie is not stirring his white chocolate. So, that back story was because Charlie’s going home.


Ooh, Elise is a pharmacy technician. I guess those skills come in handy when making desserts as attention to detail is crucial. But she’s starting to feel the pressure now and she accidentally boils her mousse. She’s serving it anyway – a tactic that served airline captain Brett well when he cookied up his quail pate in the last elimination.
The red silicone moulds of death are wreaking havoc. Elise can’t pop out her domes (that sounds risque) and someone on the gantry hekofully yells out: “Don’t stress!” A brulee torch does the trick, but the moulds of death strike again for Charlie, due to his forgotten gelatine.
Charlie manages to get his white chocolate dome out nicely but Harry and Elise are having dramas and as Elise pushes on hers cracks appear. Harry starts slamming his mould on the bench and I have to look away. Even Mr Juz, who doesn’t watch cooking shows, glances up from his iPad and says: “I’m stressed out just watching this.”
Come on, Anna – tell them what to do – Australia is on tenterhooks.
Was I wrong – did we get Charlie back story because he is the only one who gets a successful dome? Anna yells at Harry not to blow torch it or it will melt.
Guys, at least get your other elements on the plate so you can serve something. Harry finally gets half a dome out. And then so does Elise! Thank god for that. The white chocolate bra cups are a bit banged up but at least they have something to serve.

Time to taste
Harry is first to plate up his Mess and it looks not too bad. Not as speccy as Anna’s, but pretty darn good. Anna tells him the chocolate looks good. Gaz asks the leading eotional questions and we see Harry’s cocky facade drop as he says he has no job or home to go back to. That and the fact he’s been locked up in the MC house with no access to Tinder. To cheer him up they let him smash his Mess. Geez, I wish Matt had worn his vanilla thickshake suit today. Gaz loves the curd and George says the choc is great. Anna doesn’t like the meringues but he’s done a great job overall.
Elise plates up and her mousse is running and there is a crack in her dome, which she tries to cover up with a choc disc, knowing the judges will still spot it. No tears from Elise. Hers is super splatty, because of the runny mousse. The judges aren’t fuss about the crack and they like the curd. Anna says she’s done well but the mousse is runny.
Charlie plates up but knows his chocolate dome in thick – he’s worried it won’t smash. At least he seems calmer about his lot in life. Chuck it, Chuck! He does and … ad break. We get serious looks from the judges and it did smash, so, total beat up by the editing suite. The judges like the flavours but note the chocolate is really thick and the curd is very soft (because he forgot the gelatine).

The judges’ verdict
Harry’s version was the best so we know it has to be Charlie. Poor Charlie – you seem lovely but the peculiar pressure of the MC kitchen was not for you. Anna gives him an uplifting chat and offers him work experience in her kitchen. So, when is Channel 10 giving Anna her own Chopped-style show? She has that theatrical vibe.

Epilogue
Charlie has completed work experience at Burch and Purchese. He is currently working at East – Bar and Dining in Mount Martha. (Working at? Does that mean he’s a waiter? Only three desserts on the menu but it’s close to home for him east)

Bye, Charlie!
Bye, Charlie!


Tomorrow night

It’s a reinvent-the-eclair immunity challenge with Chloe, Brett and my new fave, Trent. Yum! Surely Chloe is the frontrunner, though, with her dessert track record. Will she do some kind of smoked caramel, parfait-filled eclair?



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MasterChef – Mon, May 30 – Elimination test

Oh god, I can’t sit through the pounding music playing over everyone’s heartfelt recitations of how much they want this so I skip forward a little.
Brett has had two flashbacks in two days, so surely it’ll be him tonight, rather than Upswept Hair Charlie or Sister Theresa.
Matt Preston in a tame blue and mustard ensemble rattles off the guest chef’s impressive CV. And yet, I find myself doubting his cheffy credentials as he does not have tattooed arms.


What does quail afternoon tea mean? I’m looking at it and I still don’t know. Apparently it’s a thing in the UK, to eat a savoury afternoon tea. It’s pearl barley mushroom porridge, liver parfait (looks like pate to me), tea and duck consomme, quail soft-poached quail egg.
This is going to be painful to watch – everything is so brown and finicky. Can I skip to the end?


More Brett back story … gastro pub … glamorous family photos … he’s a pilot … he cracks jokes.
Theresa is impressed that following the recipe is working for her. Well, der. Brett and Charlie are already stuffing up their parfaits, one adding butter, the other not straining. George and Jason come over to stare at Charlie, at which point I’d be scanning the recipe for what I did wrong, but he’s feeling the pressure and the stare is ignored. Poor Charlie – he does seem talented but just not suited to the unusual pressure of the TV kitchen.
Ooh – just had an Elena sighting.
Now it looks like Charlie has stuffed up his mushroom parfait and everyone on the gantry is wincing as they watch.
George pops over to Theresa’s station to utter a helpful: “There is so much to do and so little time.”
My recording scrambles for a few minutes and comes good as the guest chef bucks Charlie up by telling him his consomme is perfect, and then he praises Theresa for her parfait. Wow – encouraging contestants – what will they think of next?
Brett knows his parfait is stuffed and – after some heckling from Miles about how easy it is to be a pilot – the judges tell him he needs to move faster.
Everyone on the gantry tells Theresa she needs to hurry up – yeah – 10 people yelling at you is not helpful. She is getting into a flap.
More TV scramble and, appropriately, the snow clears as Charlie breaks one of his soft-boiled eggs. And another.
Now everyone is yelling at Brett to “push! push!” and he has a little moment – aww. As does Elena on the gantry. You can tell from his talking head to camera after that he is normally pretty easy going was shocked by his tears. Chef Jason comes over to give him a cuddle and gets him to refocus, and here come the crescendoing violins of triumph. And then he get the guitar and drums building up speed, so here comes Brett’s redemption arc. His motoring through his other tasks and decides wisely not to worry about redoing the icky-looking parfait.
Back to Charlie and he’s broken 11 of his 12 quail eggs. Jason pops over to encourage him and he finally manages to peel an egg. Hallelujah!
Theresa is behind so she has to forget about the quail egg or she won’t have quail.
Brett’s parfait is wrong but it tastes okay, whereas Charlie’s unsieved parfait “looks like cat food”, as he says. Charlie also has to make up for the mushroom flavour he’s missing from not making enough puree so he pops extra fried mushrooms on his barley.
Theresa is in such a tizz she can’t find the cooking string she needs for her “tea bag” but luckily Brett is listening to the gantry and runs over to give her his.

Time for the judges to taste
Theresa is up first and as she wheels the elements in we’re reminded she didn’t do the quail egg and then she twigs she left the crucial “tea bag” back in the kitchen. Oh, Theresa …
George gets out his tosser tweezers. Whatever happened to tongs? Jason like the textures and the quail is well cooked. Gaz says she nailed the parfait. But she missed two elements.
Brett gets a lot of time chatting with the judges – including a bit about him watching the show on TV and wondering why previous contestants were crying. So he’s won, right? Jason says the parfait looks “rough” but the egg is perfect and he’s done a good job with everything else. Matt is in raptures and even the mucked-up parfait taste ok.
Charlie’s hair is starting to lose its sculptural quality so you can tell he’s frazzled. Luckily that lucky last quail egg worked and it’s gooey in the centre. Jason says the consomme is sensational. The parfait is icky and the mushroom flavour is missing from the barley. Charlie is surely going home. Sure, Theresa left off two elements but Charlie served up two not right elements and the judges loved Theresa’s parfait.

The verdict
Brett is safe. Oh – suddenly we’re hearing Theresa’s consomme lacked flavour and she’s going home. Charlie dodged a massive bullet there.
The end blurb says she’s been doing work experience at many top kitchens, including at Reynold’s restaurant. Good on you, Reynold. I wonder if he put her spectacular fallen ice cream from the audition round on the menu?
fallenicereacm

Tomorrow night: It’s yet another jaffle challenge and there are two immunity pins on the line. “That’s one of the best dishes so far in the competition,” says Gaz of one dish. I’m predicting that will be Matt’s. Or maybe Elena will finally get airtime?



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MasterChef – May 26 – Cake challenge

The blue team from last night’s fete challenge is facing the firing squad. Well, the cake squad. They have to play Name That Cake. I hope, as with all these challenges, that they don’t bomb out early so we can play along at home.
The first three contestants to fluff on their cake knowhow will be sent to elimination, where they have to bake – you guessed it – a cake. And this will be the last night we see Nigella.


The contestants enter and the cakes are already on display, so as the judges talk they are sneaking peeks. Intense Matt is very worried but you’d imagine if Charlie or Con go through to elimination they at least are used to doing sweet stuff.
Matt gets first pick and chooses what looks like a brick of a lamington – but he’s worried it may be a trick and they are messing with his mind. But, yes, it is what it seems.
Airline captain Brett picks the Swiss roll and then it’s Con’s turn. He picks a carrot cake and Elise grabs black forest (one of my faves), Charlie gets cheesecake. Mimi has orange and poppyseed cake and it’s Matt’s turn again. He grabs the ginormous Victoria sponge cake (how many eggs went into that monster?) and Brett then gets mudcake. So far no tricks. Con gets opera cake, Elise angel cake (does she mean angel food cake?). Charlie is up and he’s sweating bullets. He’s up between what looks like two fruitcakes and Gary and George do the “wow, brave man”. “If you name this, you’re a legend,” says George. Charlie knows it’s not right but he says “fruitcake”. It’s a simnel cake – a type of Easter cake. So Charlie is the first one to bomb.
Mimi grabs a Paris brest, which is like a giant profiterole. Matt selects a cake with chocolate truffles on top but he gets a surprise when he slices it. “I’m worried for you, Matt,” says Gaz. “Even my palms are sweating.” Matt says “chocolate truffle cake” but it’s a Dobos torte. Never heard of it, but thanks to the magic of Wikipedia I now know: A Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The five-layer pastry is named after its inventor, Hungarian confectioner József C. Dobos, who aimed to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. The round sides of the cake are coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, or almonds, and the caramel topping helps to prevent drying out.
If Intense Matt goes tonight I will be cranky.
Brett reckons it’s time to pick a cake he’s had his eye on from the start and has been keeping up his sleeve – but then he cuts it and he starts second guessing himself. But he goes for moon cake, the Asian treat, and he’s right.


Con comes up for his third go and picks what looks to be some kind of layered meringue. He says continental cake but it’s some Icelandic cake called Vinarterta. So that’s our bottom three – damn – I wanted to know what the other cakes were.
Elimination challenge
Con, Charlie and Matt have 90 minutes to bake a cake. It’s not long to mix, bake and cook a cake for decorating.
Con is making a pound cake but he reckons he doesn’t have a tried and true recipe. He must only know finicky desserts and ABPC recipes. His cake will have a savoury strawberry and thyme savoury syrup and lemon creme fraiche filling.
Intense Matt is making carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing. Yum, but he’d better tricksy it up a bit – chuck some $7 rocky road on it, Matt. He’s following his mate’s mum’s recipe but he’s spicing it up a bit.
Charlie is baking a chocolate and raspberry sponge cake with hazelnuts but he puts all his mixture into one pan, so it will take longer to cook. Nigella comes over to tell him off for not splitting the mix.
Con is worried about timing so he cranks his temp up to 200C, until Nigella comes over to tell him off as it needs a low, slow, bake. I’m sensing a theme here. Will Intense Matt get a talking to next?
After panicking, Con decide to ignore Nigella and stick with the pound cake. I’m thinking Con is going home.
Matt is doing an onion and carrot jam with star anise and cinnamon for the centre of this cake. He’s the only one doing something a bit different. Then he works on the best bit of any carrot: the lemony cream cheese icing.
Poor Charlie says “it’s do or die” as he realises his sponges aren’t cooked in the centre and he has to bung them back in the oven.
Intense Matt is getting a lot of confessionals about how much fun he’s having, whereas Charlie’s are about all the glitches.
“Now it’s time to just go to town on this bad boy… to make it overloaded with love,” Matt tells the camera.
However, Con is surely going because he got the back story about quitting his job and delaying his wedding.
Charlie has done lots of fancy pants decorating stuff with toffeed hazelnuts, while Matt has gone the rustic look and Con’s cake looks, well, simple and fine, but he’s worried it’s dense.
The judges taste


Matt’s carrot cake: “To me that is everything a home-baked cake should be … it looks generous and it looks like you want to feed someone and make them happy,” says Nigella. George dishes up and it looks terrific. Nigella likes the zing of the marmalade and Gaz is in hog heaven.
Con’s thyme pound cake: “It looks heavy,” say the judges. Nigella says it’s not evenly cooked because he bammed up the heat. Matt says the syrup has barely soaked into the cake: “It’s rubbery, it’s bouncy.” The love the flavours he’s used but not the texture. Oh dear.
Charlie’s choc raspberry hazelnut sponge: The judges say it looks dense. Matt loves the mix of flavours but Gaz says “that cake’s dry and dense” and points out he’s not going back for seconds. But Nigella defends the cake’s honour: “I don’t think it’s a failure as a cake … I don’t think it’s offensive.” Matt says Charlie overbaked it.
They do the “Matt’s safe but the other two are sooooo close”. Yeah, as if you are going to send golden boy Charlie home.

And the loser is …
Ok, first it’s time for the judges to praise Intense Matt and it’s lovely to see the look of joy creep over his face as he absorbs Nigella’s praise. I’m Team Intense Matt.


And Con’s gone. Go home and marry your fiancee – and in a surprise twist, the remaining contestants will cater your wedding! Now, that would be fun. Gaz, for once, is not wearing his cranky pants and tells Con he has talent. And where’s Con now? Moved to Hobart to open a Melbourne-style cafe.
Time for masterclass so I’m out.



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MasterChef – Nigella week starts

Nigella Lawson Week starts tonight.
Contestants have 75 minutes to create a delicious dish based on Nigella’s divine indulgences. The top three will have a chance at immunity while the bottom three face elimination.

RECAP
Matt Preston says this week’s guest is a food hero of his and when he says her name the contestants go berserk. They seem more excited than for MPW (perhaps the producers promised those who cheered hardest they could escape the MC for a caffeine fix).
“I want flavours that are bold but not tricksy; I want food that is made to give pleasure, not to impress …I just want to be made happy when I eat your food. And I’m wearing something stretchy – I can eat a lot.”
She’s in the figure-hugging jersey dress we’ve seen in the flogged-to-death ads but next to the other judges she looks so pale skinned and much younger than her 56 years.

What’s in Nigella’s box?


Yum – lots of great flavours there that automatically go together. Anything with feta and pancetta is a winner is a must eat for me.

After no air time since a strong showing in the first week, Mimi makes a reappearance. She’s doing a layer-style cake of pumpkin sponge with cumin ice cream. With only 60 minutes to bake a cake and cool it enough to fill it with ice cream, is the reason we’re seeing Mimi purely because she’s heading for a fall?
Zoe is also doing a pumpkin-based dessert – a mille feuille filled with pumpkin, cumin and chestnut filling. Wow, it’s going to be really tough to do puff pastry in that time.
Here’s Heather the jus queen (wearing a headband so we can tell her apart from the other pony tail wearers) and she’s doing a pumpkin filo stack. Is anyone NOT using pumpkin? Nigella tells her you should be able to read the newspaper through super-thin filo pastry.
Finally, someone who is at least using the chicken. Jimmy is doing cumin and ginger chicken with pumpkin and chestnut puree. He is going to “hero” the ginger.
Oh my god – Elena speaks!! She’s doing pumpkin parfait, pancetta crumb and cumin tuille. She’s a high school visual arts teacher who wants to inspire young people to grow their own produce. This is a lot of air time on Elena. Is she the winner?
Nigella and Matt pop over to tell Zoe she’s mad for trying rough puff in 60 minutes.
Dessert enthusiast and golfr Charlie is doing savoury: crispy chicken with cumin and pumpkin puree with a pancetta and chesnut crumb. He wants to take the pumpkin “really far” – is this MC speak for burnt?
But what are Karmen, Harry, Intense Matt and Theresa cooking? Anastasia? Chloe? Ranger Miles? Trent? Airline captain? The judges come over AGAIN to hassle Zoe about her pastry.
Elena – after asking Karmen for some quick advice on praline – is happy with her tuille. Zoe takes her pastry out of the oven and it’s a flop.
It’s plating up time and Mimi’s cake is boiling hot so she can’t put the ice cream in it. Just put it in a side dish, Mimi!
The challenge is over – did no-one use the pipis? Surely someone made ravioli? Did Con do pumpkin panna cotta?

The tasting
The judges pick five dishes to taste.
Heather’s filo pumpkin stack: Nigella loves the textures and flavours: “This is something that creates joy.”
Jimmy’s chicken with ginger and cumin: Jimmy is beside himself to be in the presence of Nigella. “I can’t believe it,” he whispers to Matt. Gaz is more enthusiastic about it than Nigella is – the skin wasn’t crispy.
Elena’s pumpkin ice cream stack: It’s her first time being tasted and she’s thrilled to be there. Matt loves the cumin tuille but the deconstructed nature of the dish makes it hard to enjoy the flavours together. Nigella likes the flavours.
Zoe’s mille feuille with pumpkin chestnut cream: “It’s kind of a successful failure,” says Nigella, adding the pastry tastes like caramelised butter cookies.


Charlie’s chicken with cumin feta pumpkin puree: George eats with his knife and Nigella pulls him up on it – thank you, Nigella! Please, teach him some manners. “Absolutely delicious,” says Gaz, kindly pointing out how much nicer it is than Jimmy’s dish. Nigella thinks it’s fabulous.

Who will the judges pick?
The judges have two fave dishes and let Nigella make the final pick. They are Heather and Charlie’s dishes. Surely Heather gets points for making filo?
And Heather With The Headband wins – well done.


She’s whisked away to the pantry and shown three core ingredients from which to pick.
She has to make something divine and indulgent and gets to choose from chocolate, lemons and pistachio. Heather chooses chocolate and everyone should be happy with that.

Aha – Anastasia speaks again … so, she’s in trouble?
Karmen is thrilled to have a chocolate challenge and she’s doing a miso caramel with sponge and mousse – it sounds as though there are a lot of elements.
Chloe, who did so well in Reynold’s “Moss” pressure test, is wearing a tie-dyed shirt because they want you to know she’s more chilled than a parfait. Inspired by Reynold’s mousse recipe, she’s doing mousse with fruit and nut granola. We’ve heard she has a photographic memory so she should do okay with the mousse at least.
Harry plans to do his first dessert – a dome filled with meringue, parfait and fizzy chocolate something. Jimmy is making a tempered chocolate berry sphere while Mimi is keen to redeem herself with a beetroot sorbet and salted chocolate tart.
Heather is doing some kind of chocolate crackle; Charlie semi freddo; Zoe a choc raspberry tart.
And Anastasia has gone rogue and is doing a savoury dish – a beef stew with cacao powder. Good on her for trying something different.
Who haven’t we seen at all today? Con, Nicolette, Intense Matt and airline captain Brett for starters. Is Cecilia still in it?
Ranger Miles is doing a cheesecake with lots of components and Matt is worried it’s too much.
Back over at Chloe’s bench, she’s stuffed up Reynold’s mousse mixture – the one thing about which she was confident. She switches to Plan B: semi freddo.
The company which makes those red silicon moulds must be happy with all the exposure they are getting. Karmen’s domes work but Jimmy’s are buggered. And Miles has realised Matt was right and he made way too many things – none of them well. Poor Chloe is serving a plate of crumbs and puddled semi freddo.

Time for tasting
Mimi’s salted choc tart with beetroot sorbet: It looks cute and it’s not dome shaped, so it stands out from the rest. “I just adore these flavours,” Nigella says. She gives Mimi a kiss.
Chloe’s puddle: “You’ve got to stick to what you know,” George tells her. “If you try and do things beyond your reach, you’re going to fail.” Isn’t this the EXACT OPPOSITE of the whole MasterChef ethos? Did he take a Grumpy Gary Pill today? Luckily Nigella pitches in to say Chloe had a bad day and we need to make mistakes so we can learn from them.
Anastasia’s chocolate Mexican bowl: Nigella likes it.
Elise’s (ah – there’s one I forgot) lime white choc mousse: Nigella loves it
Charlie’s white choc semifreddo with strawberry consomme: Pretty and good technique.
Matt’s fennel and almond butter cake: He’s made a dukkah and the judges think it’s clever.
Heather’s snap, crackle and pop: Not chocolately enough. So much for the advantage.
Zoe’s white choc raspberry tart with lychee and rose sorbet: “It’s making me smile,” says Nigella.
Jimmy’s “buried chocolate”: As he feared, Nigella can’t hack through the chocolate of his failed dome. Gaz winces at something he tastes. George tells him he has so much potential but he doesn’t know how to temper chocolate.
Harry’s white chocolate and rose royales: They aren’t perfectly finished but the judges are keen to pick them up in their hands and chomp away. “I’m enchanted,” says Nigella.
Miles’s cheesecake and gelato: It’s another puddle – two in fact. It sucks, but Nigella loves the tea cream and says if he’d done that and a simple choc cake he’d be safe.


Karmen’s “chocolate decadence”: The judges are thrilled by how interesting it looks and Nigella loves the ice cream. They all love it. “This is rock ‘n’ roll stuff,” says George.
There we have it – not even a tasting edit for some contestants.

Top three
Mimi, Karmen and Harry
Bottom three
Miles, Chloe and Jimmy. No surprises there. So it’s the 24-year-old versus the two “old” guys.

Tomorrow night
The bottom three have to cook three Nigella dishes in an hour.



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MasterChef – May 5 – first elimination


The TV blurb says: In the first elimination challenge, three contestants choose a cloche containing a single ingredient to be used in a dish for the judges.
So, let’s hope the bottom 3 can shake off the TV jitters and put up some great dishes. Who do you reckon is going home: Charlie, Theresa (sister of Jimmy) or Ashley (the beardie one)?

JUST A FEW THOUGHTS AS I WATCH (SA TIME) …
Ok, I’m going for Theresa just because no grown woman should have to sleep in a bunk bed. These aren’t Top Model teens, MasterChef. No doubt she hurt her hand trying to clamber down to find the loo in the night.
Love a good cloche challenge – I hope they show what was under each one. Wouldn’t it be good if one just had a cup of water in it to mess with their minds?
Charlie picks the cloche with fresh ginger. Beardie Ashley get mushrooms. Theresa – after praying it’s not shellfish – gets prawns but is worried a second pick will turn up something weird, so she sticks with them.
The other cloches had oranges, seaweed, pineapple, venison, mint, cardamom, coffee, broccoli and licorice. What, no offal? That must be later in the season.
Theresa uncertainly says she’s doing doing prawns with tarragon butter and prawn oil mayo with avocado.
Beardie Ash is making another bloody ravioli, trying to redeem himself from a similar dish in last night’s Mystery Box challenge.
Charlie is doing a ginger chocolate cremeaux. The worry is chocolate will be the hero, rather than ginger.
Theresa is still frazzled and the judges are trying to talk her out of having so many oily elements on her dish. Focus, woman – the just want you to chuck some salad or something fresh and acidic on.
Ash is doing the oh-so-trendy 63-degree slow egg with his mushroom ravioli. But he’s stuffed up his pasta dough. Again. he starts over.
Theresa is doing some weird thing freezing a layer of avocado in the blast chiller.
Luckily for them, Charlie’s cremeaux has split. Quick, Charlie – do a ginger custard or one of those soda siphon microwave sponges. But, no, he decides to make it all over again. Aargh, Charlie, it’s not going to set in time! He candies some ginger as well. However, he’s happy with his second cremeaux so the dessert gods may be smiling on him.
Ash is feeling confident, so of course he’s jinxed himself and stupidly chucks his ravioli in a frypan with hot oil. He says it’s too late to do anything, but could he not have just fished them out?
Time to judge
Cravat update: Matt is wearing a white cravat with a blue coral-type design.
The judges try Ash’s ravioli first: The flavours are classic but the egg is a bit overcooked and the ravioli skin is tough from frying. Good in concept, poor in execution.


It’s Theresa’s turn and she’s still freaking out. Her prawn oil crisp thingie looks yummy, but it’s the most complicated part of what’s basically a prawn salad. The judges think she’s “heroed” the prawns (that’s another word to add to our MC drinking game: “hero”) and they love the prawn bickie.
Pro golfer Charlie plates up delicately and tears up when describing how his passion for cooking was stronger than his passion for his golf career.

Flowers are not food.
Flowers are not food.

But the judges are obviously worried whether the ginger will be “heroed”. They taste and, yep, it’s a delish dessert but doesn’t meet the criteria. I’d feel sorry for Charlie if he got sent home on a dish that was delicious, given it’s the first elimination.
Theresa wins and brother Jimmy starts bawling – awww – I’m still Team Jimmy.


And, phew, Charlie is safe. It would have been sad to send home someone who obviously knows so many dessert-making techniques – plus he has nice hair.
Ash drops the word “journey” in his farewell comments, thus meeting his contractual obligation. Unfortunately for the producers he does not cry into his beard.

Marco week begins 7.30pm Sunday, which I know will please many of you (although not as much as a Shannon Bennett week would). So, a drink every time he yells “Yes, Marco!”?



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