MasterChef Aus S11E12 – Recap

Today is the immunity challenge. Fighting with a stick for immunity is Derek, Tessa, Jess, Steph, Simon, and Blake.

The hopefuls walk in and see Matt, George, Gaz, and Nigella standing at the front. Nigella is wearing a white outfit.
The boys are generally going for a bit of a match – all three of them wearing blue suits, albeit of different shades. George has a white shirt with a bit of black on it, and Gaz wears a pink shirt and matching pocket square.
Matt, however, is wearing white and yellow stripy pants. Think of the first episode – they were like that. As well as a white shirt, Matt also wears a white cravat and pocket square with yellow flowers on them.

They then reveal who the mentor this time is. It’s Billie, and she comes in wearing a green top with pink flowers on it.
When she gets to the front, it’s revealed that Billie has never met Nigella before. She’s more refined than the contestants, and keeps her cool the whole time.

Nigella announces the challenge. The contestants are to cook a, “dish that celebrates custard.”
Steph boasts that she can whip up a custard in five minutes.

Sixty minutes on the clock to cook a dish that celebrates custard, Gaz tells everyone that the best dish will go to round two to fight the professional chef.

Time starts, as does the montage.

Things of note: Derek’s idea normally takes about 2 hours. Tessa has a lot of elements. Simon hates sweet things. Steph forgets her eggs.

When time ends, the tasting starts.

Simone’s first.
Japanese Set Custard with custard and various things to pit on top, which he arranges in front of them. George lets him borrow tweezers he keeps in his suit pocket.

“That’s fantastic, Simon. You’ve nailed that, so… well done,” Billie says, completely unenthused. She’s probably regretting coming on the show as a mentor.

Nigella and Matt say some very poetic things about it. George gifts Simon his tweezers.

Next is Derek. He’s cooked salted egg yolk custard buns. They crack it open, and see the custard has risen to the top.
“It was too ambitious for the time, that’s all I can say,” Nigella says.

Jess is up. She brings out a salted custard with berry crumble. Nigella says it’s too salty.
Blake presents his chocolate brownie with strawberry custard. Nigella says it was quite dry, and not enough space for the custard to be celebrated.

Up next is Steph, with her coconut custard with black sticky rice and mango. They try the dish. Billie liked it, as did Matt.

Finally, Tessa. She did a chilli chocolate crème brulee with a biscuit. Gaz loves it as well. Nigella says she celebrated custard brilliantly. Billie had excellent words to say on it.

Now, it’s the decision.
“We’d like you all to come down the front please,” Matt says, as he and the others walk away to confer.

The return to give the verdict – it’s Simon. Billie helps him swap the apron for the jacket.
Matt starts to tell us about the professional chef, Coskun Uysal a Turkish chef from Melbourne.

I took a phone call, so I missed some of the deets about what was happening, but generally Simon got to choose ingredients that he wanted, and then pick from there. Like last time, Coskun only gets 60 minutes.

Billie can’t control her excitement. She loves being here. This was definitely not as a last resort, as a favour, or due to a feeling of obligation. Definitely not. You can see how enthused she is to be here.

Deadset though, Jess, yelling from upstairs, is more enthusiastic than Billie.

Montage.

Simon decides to crack out the tweezers and everyone cheers over it.

Finally, time is up.

First for the tasting is duck breast and pea puree. It’s a small portion, which the judges aren’t too impressed with. It’s cooked beautifully, apparently.
They practically lick their plate. It was excellent, and they all enjoyed it.

They’re ready for the next dish, which is Simon’s. It’s a roast duck breast with confit leg, and peas pureed and fried.
The first thing Gaz notices is how Simon tried to trim up the leg to make it look nice. It ended up looking a bit hacked at, and not very nice.
Gaz says it’s nice looking otherwise.
George cuts up the pieces and uses his new tweezers to plate it. The confit isn’t tender enough and George hacks a bit to get them all some.
The confit leg should’ve been left off the plate.

With the tasting over, it’s time for the decision.
Coskun – 9 across the board. Total of 36.
Simon – 6 across the board. Total of 24.

The judges thank Coskun and Billie, before telling them Nigella will be back tomorrow, and tomorrow will be a massive day.