Welcome to the Able And Game recap of the Masterchef Australia Thursday Night Elimination Challenge.
Tonight the 11 people from last nights losing Red Team have to cook in an elimination challenge. They need to cook a dish that is inspired by the dish that made them fall in love with food. They have 75 minutes, and open pantry and open garden.
The contestants are getting ready at The Masterchef House, their rooms look like a school camp dorm room circa 1991 and they have to sleep in bunk beds. Aldo sticks photos to the bunk above with bluetac, but he has to rip them off because he could be going home tonight.
Also, Matt is away. They don't tell us why but we figure it out at the end.
Adele talks about how she really wants this, but tonight this is elimination. You don't want this Adele.
The judges walk around chatting to everyone and we find out some fun facts:
Genene grew up in the '70s and eating cheesecake and pavlova was the thing to do
Brendan has good knife skills
Matt Preston doesn't like jam (this is a big surprise)
Aldo is constantly squeezing gelatin
Escabeche is a spanish pickle
Cream does not lighten up corn fritters
Ben has such good eye sight that he can tell from the gantry that a pig trotter is overcooked
Jenny is having a shit cook. Her egg is over whipped, it's all gone blobby. George looks at the batter like it's green vomit from The Exorcist and Gary tells her what he's thinking: it's going to be dry. It's a tense and, lets be honest, awkward moment where Gary tells her whipping over whipped egg whites into the soft mixture isn't going to expand properly. I want Jenny to correct Gary because she is folding the over whipped egg whites in not whipping it in, but all she offers is a sorrowful "no", then a heartbreaking "okay". She then says "meringue chunks" and chucks the cake in the oven because she has no time to make another and it needs to cook. Then the paper around the tin gets caught and it is a hot mess of green sludge and Jenny enters a level of stress that is beyond stress.
George then starts to scream and scares the bejebus out of Genene. She jumps, they stop the music, Aldo screams Genene. Genene tells George she saw him there, she just didn't realise he would yell. I'm going to assume, up until now, Genene has had her headphone in and has been catching up on the Chat 10, Looks 3 podcast.
The cook finishes, the judges go to that room and Gary cuts George off and says get the food in because he wants to eat. And talk about food dreams in an environment that is kind of like a bad job interview.
They also show us their preferred fork to mouth entries.
Judges thoughts on the food:
Brendan is happy with his cook and rightly so because the radish cake is delicious. I'm calling Brendan as an early favourite because he was calm under pressure when his boiled pork was dry.
Genene's cheesecake with three layers all baked at different times is delicious. Gary loves cheesecake, but it has to be light.
Gina's green pasta has BAGS OF FLAVOUR.
Adele's corn fritters are pretty heavy and like bullets. There is no punch and she should have lied and said her Grandmother was a corn farmer. LOLOLOL.
Aldo's panne cotta is lovely because Gary loved the visual of Aldo touching a wobbly one when he was a kid and Gary calls him a naughty boy and Aldo says ALWAYS and flirting is so much fun to watch on TV.
Also, his story combines old and new memories. WOW.
Now we run into the speed tasting section:
Lisa made Canh Chau, a sweet and sour soup with fish that is perfectly cooked. That is said as George pushes away his plate that has, what looks like, uneaten fish.
Tim has made fried chicken and Gary is happy as it looks super crunchy.
Jo has made white chocolate mousse, ice cream, chocolate dirt and strawberry stuff.
Jenny's macha sponge looks bad on the plate judging by the judges turning up their noses at it. They are right, it isn't good and Jenny tells them she is a perfectionist that lacks clarity and Gary loves her honesty.
Reece comes in with his lamington inspired by his Nan, who he has mentioned many times this episode. They love his dish, it is the best and the judges are happy.
Denise comes in with the trotters. She wonders if they were a step too far and I wonder why she didn't say a trot too far.
Gary and George look like they don't even want to try the trotters, they look really scared and I'm assuming they had a tanty with the producers about it and asked if they could pretend to eat it and they were told no, just eat it and stop complaining.
Gary says it looks boiled. What does he think it did in the pressure cooker for 60 minutes? They complain some more about how it is just a boiled trotter and that it hasn't reached the level of softness and all the vegetables are the same colour and Denise is in real trouble. Corn fritters with cream added to lighten them bad? We will see.
Judges deliver their verdicts
Top three dishes
Reece: "We loved your interpretation of your Gran's laminton. It's was your Gran right?"
No Gary, he said NAN about 8 times. Poor Nan is probably sitting at home thinking what a toss pot Gary is, but how great her grandson Reece is for making her lamington all fancy and gourmet.
Aldo: "Wobbly bits"
Brendan: "Turn it into a signature dish." This means he will be making a radish cake ice cream in an upcoming episode
Bad dishes:
Adele: "Fritters heavy and chili was missing"
Jenny: "you know you had problems"
Denise: "Gristly"
Final Verdict: Denise is going home. SAD FACE.
Also, it is revealed in the promo for next week why Matt has been away. He has been prepping for the arrival of INTERNATIONAL GODDESS OF THE KITCHEN!!!
Nigella week is coming!
