Welcome to the Able And game recap of the Monday Pressure Test episode.

Hoda, Lisa and Sarah get up and pack their belongings at the Masterchef house. They talk about what this journey mean, both to each other and to the camera.
Lisa says everyone is bloody amazing, but she is going to fight for her place.Her lipstick is her warpaint, like Braveheart.

Hoda agrees with what Matt said yesterday about her third album being difficult.

Fun fact: the door to the Masterchef house is really big.

Today’s pressure test has been set by a living legend.

It’s Alla Wolf-Tasker from The Lake House in Daylesford.

Alla talks about how this dish is all about seasonal appropriateness, balance of texture, balance of flavour and technique.





The cloche is lifted, and the dish is called Autumn harvest.
Intense piano music plays.
If I had to describe it visually, it would be a big pile of stuff on a plate.
Hoda can see crispy elements. And height. Hight means weird hard stuff is lurking underneath.

Hoda, Lisa and Sarah start to eat it and a lot of the elements are a light brown colour. It is not an appealing colour for food.





They have 2 hours 45 minutes to complete the challenge and there is 8 pages of recipe.


The cook starts

Sarah is reading the recipe through.

Lisa is spending too much time on a garnish that chopped up and plonked on at the end.
Alla and George tell her to read the recipe until the end and Lisa looks stressed.

Typical Masterchef quotes are yelled out:
NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP!
LET’S MOTOR
TIME IS GOING SO FAST
PUSH [insert contestants name here]

They need to confit and egg yolk. This is done by popping it into the Sous Vide machine for 60 minutes at 65 degrees.
Sarah puts the yolk in and they tell her to read the recipe again. Whole egg goes in. Whoopsies!

Lisa has removed the skin from her shallots. Someone in the gantry tells us this isn’t right.

Sarah is making some crispy elements. Deep fried kale. Deep fried sage.

Sarah tells us she is obsessed with carrots.

Hoda is still doing her pasta dough and it is taking ages because it is tough.

Matt yells out “Sarah, Lisa. Good energy!”.
Nothing for Hoda.
He then whispers to Alla that he is worried that Hoda needs to find another gear.
He starts asking Hoda if she has done her carrots and her puree. She hasn’t. He is concerned, he doesn’t want crunchy carrots.




Hoda burns her hand. She says she is in excruciating pain, yet she seems calm and serene. Matt was lying, surely this is good energy?

Hoda keeps cooking while her hand is in iced water. She realises she isn’t getting anything done and decided to cook with extreme pain radiating from her burnt hand.

Lisa has a back up egg in case one of her egg yolks breaks.

People in the gantry ask Sarah about her eggs and her duck and she tells them she’s on it. Stop talking to her, she has all the timers pinned to her chest!

Eyesballs lurch upwards at this utterance from Matt:
“The dish is called autumn harvest, but you don’t want to be the one that autumn leaves”




SARAH USES THE MICROWAVE!!!!
HERO OF THE DAY!!!
No wait, that is Hoda for cooking with a burnt hand.

Sarah’s celeriac puree overflows in the microwave.
Khanh screams OH MY GOD despite not actually being able to see the microwave overflowing with milky celeriac fluid because it is directly below the gantry. Unless giant mirrors are set up on the other side of the kitchen, so they can see what is going on.
Or they edit it so most of the reactions are related to something entirely different.





Gary point blank tells Sarah she won’t finish.




Someone in the gantry yells “Sarah, you need to get it on the plate love”.
They edit out Sarah screaming NOOOOO SHIIIIIIIT!

Someone on the gantry yells “come on Lisa, get elements on the plate”.
They edit out lisa screaming I’M TRYING, SHUTTTTTUPPPPP!


Cooks over everyone hugs.

What are everyone’s “it could be enough to send me home” elements?
Hoda’s crunchy carrots
Lisa not doing the dish justice (Masterchef speak for everything is rooted)
Sarah forgetting her chestnut puree.

TASTING

HODA
How do you feel? Wrecked.
George can’t cut through the carrots. UH OH!
But she has nailed a lot of the flavours.

LISA
She got flustered and she doesn’t know if she got the balance right.
It looks thrown together. But Gary says the egg yolk looks so plump, it’s unbelievable.


Matt says it may not be the most elegant, but all the elements are good. If you get your head around the size…
GARY CUTS IN
He doesn’t like it!
Alla agrees, it is unbalanced. You need to show restraint.
Matt then says yeah yeah, it’s unbalanced.

SARAH
They tell Sarah the cook got on top of her.
Alla tells her service is an eternal pressure test.
Matt asks if this is their last conversation. She reveals she forgot the chestnut puree and cries.
The plating is good. Finesse and elegance.
George chomps on some kale and Matt says that sounds crunchy.
Alla says there isn’t enough chestnut flavour but George says there is a bit in the sauce.
Gary says it eats well.




What is worse. Missing flavour or missing ingredients?

RESULTS
They all did something well and they all did something that missed the mark.

Lisa is going home. Sad face.

If you're in Brisbane we will be visiting for The Finders Keepers Market this weekend. Pop by and say hello and chat Masterchef with Anna!

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