The losing team from the greenhouse challenge now face elimination. The first three to fail the blindfold taste test will have 75 minutes to prepare an impressive dish to stay in the competition.
I LOVE it when they do the taste test. Was it last year they did the one where all the food was in same-sized cubes? That was cool. Let’s hope no-one bombs out early because that’s no fun.
– Dr Ray gets a flashback. Is he a goner?
– Eloise loses her nerve and plays the pin.
– It’s Sweet Week so everything they taste is sweet or can be used in a dessert. Given they use fennel and beetroot in desserts that doesn’t help much
– captain Tamara is first and she gives it a good squeeze first. Licorice. I hope they get a palate cleanser – those on the gantry should be whipping up a cucumber sorbet.
– dr Ray gets a talking head about how he has a good palate, so you know he’s a goner. He’s handed what’s obviously grapes but is befuddled and says watermelon.
– the food Golden Ball Mich spat out on all the promos is fresh ginger.
– Beardie Ben guesses rockmelon when it’s banana. Shows how much we rely on our sight.
– Tamara guesses rockmelon for cucumber.
Damn – that was too quick.
– The losers have to hero their death ingredient.
– Beardie Ben is making banana pancakes with ice cream and a rum and choc sauce.
– Tamara is a bit freaked out by the cucumber so she starts making a yoghurt parfait in the red moulds of doom.
– Ten mins in Dr Ray is still in the pantry. He’s running out of time to make even a grape jelly.
– He is doing a play on a cheese board, including a goat’s cheese mousse with grapes four ways. Oh he IS doing a jelly. And a gastrique (a bittersweet reduction)
– Tamara goes cucumber mad, slicing, dicing and juicing for a granita. Didn’t Glowing Elena do heaps of cucumber dishes last year.
– the judges pop by to tell Ray he needs something crunchy.
– Tamara pops some cuke in a bag to vac seal it for pressed cucumber.(Mr Juz: is she putting it through a laminator?)
– Ben is getting distracted and starts burning stuff.
– Tam is obviously going to be safe.
– George looks like a serial killer watching a victim as Ray’s tuille shatters. Luckily the broken one still looks pretty on the plate.
– Now I think Ben is going home – his dish is not as refined.
The judges taste:
– Cuke: They love it, especially the granita.
– Banana: (Thank you, Ben, for saying you’d rather cook hearty food than “micro” food.) They love the choc sauce and ice cream but the bananas are overcooked. He’s a goner.
– Grapes: They think it looks great and the mousse is delish. And they love the sauce Ray was worried about.
Ben is going home. He says the highlight of the comp was the greenhouse challenge.
Now he’s working as a cook at a WA eatery and will embark on a charity motorbike ride.
