MasterChef Aus S11E09 – Recap

Up for elimination today is Anushka, Derek, Larissa, Tessa, Kyle, Simon, Monica, Walleed, Sandeep, and Yossra. They’re all wearing black and saying little things about how they need to bring their A game, etc.

Today’s elimination is wild. When the contestants come in, Tessa decides to use her immunity challenge and gets out of it. George and Gaz wheel out a big bech full of weird ingredients.
Matt announces that when they entered the MasterChef house, they were asked to name their favourite and least favourite ingredients.
This is them.

There will be two rounds, both sixty minutes. They’ll have to chose one of their ingredients for the first round and cook with it. The top six is safe, and the bottom four are up for the second round.
In the second, the four up for elimination have to cook with the ingredient they didn’t choose the first time.

Now, the important stuff of the episode.
Today, George is in a grey suit with a pink shirt. Gaz is also in a grey suit, but his has white lines. It’s a bit checked, but I don’t know if that’s what I’d call it. He’s wearing a white shirt, with a pink pocket square, and he’s also wearing cute glasses again. Matt is wearing a blue suit with a white shirt. His cravat and pocket square are blue and white.
Anushka is wearing her elimination glasses, which are white. They complement her black outfit. We’ve seen this look previously, so I’m looking forward to seeing if she wears them throughout the rest of the series.

Time starts, and the montage begins.

At one stage, Kyle confesses that he’s never cooked quail, so he looks like a fuckwit in front of the judges.
“I’m good with flavours,” he assures us.
Like, good for you, I’m good at decimating a bag of chips and identifying what dip I’m eating, doesn’t mean I can cook a fuckin quail.

So that was the highlight of the cook.

Time is finally up, and the tasting begins.

Anushka is first. She’s made a cake with chocolate sauce. George pours out all the chocolate onto the plate, while making eye contact with her. Then he licks the lip of the pourer.
They all really liked it, and Gaz said that she’s obviously a really good baker.

Sandeep is next. He’s done a lamb curry. They like it.
“You know flavours, Sandeep,” one of the judges said. “There’s no question about it.”

Monica does noodles and a broth, it’s enjoyed.
Simon is next. He did ribs and the boys LOOOOVED it. They tell him to take his spare ribs upstairs, share with the other contestants, because he’s safe.

Next is Christina. She does a lamb rack. Gaz calls it a, “Sham. It’s a bit confused.”

Walleed did chocolate. George says there’s a bit of a technique issue.

With more lamb, Yossra. She did chops, mash and gravy.

Derek did a prawn laksa, had nice flavour.

Kyle did his quail with gravy and roast vegetables. Gaz tells him it’s undercooked. George says, “99% of people would send that back. It’s a shame, because you know the flavour.”

Finally, Larissa. She was planning on making pancakes, but at the eleventh hour, it fucked up, and she ended up with a banana caramel sundae. Matt tells her that the pancakes would have been terrible with these flavours, the ice-cream is so good.

Safe is Monica, Sandeep, Larissa, Anushka, and Derek. They head up to join Simon.

The next cook starts with Walleed, Kyle, Yossra and Christina. They have an pen pantry, open garden, and their last ingredient.

Walleed and Yossra have their worst ingredient, while Kyle and Christina have their favourite.

Christina tells us about how having kids put her plans on hold. Her favourite ingredient is chocolate.

Walleed hates the texture of okra. His mum used to make it a lot so he knows a dish and will be using her recipe. I have no idea what okra is, so I don’t have anything to say about this dish. I’m sure he’ll be fine, because we don’t know a lot about him, and he’s been pretty good at cooking so far.

Kyle has chilli, so he’s doing a curry.

Yossra’s least favourite is white chocolate, and she’s going to make a mousse. She’s never used white chocolate to make mousse before, so she’s a bit worried.

20 minutes left, and Gaz tries Kyle’s curry. It’s bitter and Kyle has to start that again. Kyle confesses he hasn’t been tasting as he’s going. Rooky error. Even I, someone who can hardly boil an egg (if at all), knows that you have to taste as you’re going.

Montage for the last bit of time, and then it’s all over.

Tasting time, and Christina is first. She’s made a pana cotta? Look, I don’t really care about learning how to spell it. Anyway, the judges like it.

Kyle next. He’s made a snapper with red curry sauce. He did the sauce for 8 minutes, so it makes me question what the 40 minutes of working on the curry was all about, if he did it in 8.
The judges aren’t keen on the presentation. The fish was cooked nicely, though.

When Yossra brought out her mousse, it was a runny mess. The trio say that the next dish has to be terrible for them to let her through to the next round.

Walleed is next.
Matt tells him they’re worried about his dish, because it’s a 30 year old memory recipe that he hated.
He’s kinda like, Welp it’s in your hands now, so…
When he leaves and the trio start the judging, they’re shook. It’s really good.
I’m very relieved for him, he’s probably one of my favourite contestants, and we still haven’t seen like anything from him so far.

That means Yossra is going home.

She’s working on a cookbook.

The rest of the episode is MasterClass, and we all know I don’t care for cooking, so that’s the episode.