After the team challenge yesterday, Simon, Derek, Tessa and Tim are into the elimination, and tonight, it’s the auction.
Matt is wearing a red plaid suit, and it’s honestly a look. I love it.
George isn’t wearing socks today, and it feels more of a Queensland Week look, but go off I guess.
As always, Gaz wears a usual sort of suit.
I’m super tired today, so I can’t take any photos.
The judges stand in front of a big shelf of ingredients, and get straight to the rules. There are twelve ingredients to bid for. They’ll all start with 120 minutes, and bid in lots of 5 minutes. The ingredients are below, along with who got them and for how much. Once they have something from the category, they are ineligible for the remaining ones. That means whoever hadn’t bid for the first three gets the last one for free.
Under their benches are their usual staples, bar the eggs, as it’s an auction ingredient. The pantry and garden are closed. They’ll have to use at least one ingredient from each category they win.
Matt’s the auctioneer, and gets everything going quickly and smoothly
The first category is protein.
First is pork belly. Tim wins and bids 25 minutes, leaving him with 95.
Next is eggs. Derek wins and bids 10 minutes, leaving him with 110.
Next is John Dory. Tessa wins and bids 25 minutes, leaving her with 95.
Finally, lamb. Simon wins be default and loses no time, keeping him at 120.
The next category is vegetables.
First is root vegetables. Simon wins and bids 25 minutes, leaving him with 95.
Next is allium (onions). Derek wins and bids 30 minutes, leaving him with 80.
Next is citrus. Tessa wins with 5 minutes, leaving her with 90.
Finally, nightshade (tomatoes, eggplants, etc). Tim wins by default and loses no time, keeping him at 95.
The next category is like misc, I guess.
First is fresh herbs. Tessa wins with 40 minutes, leaving her with 55.
Next is spices. Simon wins with 20 minutes, leaving him at 75.
Next is spreads. Tim wins with 5 minutes, leaving him with 90.
Finally, condiments. Derek wins by default, and keeps his 80 minutes.
Each contestant will end at the same time.
First to cook is Tim. He has 90 minutes, pork belly, nightshade vegetables, and spreads.
Second is Derek. He has 80 minutes, eggs, allium, and condiments.
Third is Simon. He has 75 minutes, lamb, root vegetables, and spices.
Finally, Tessa. She has 55 minutes, John Dory, citrus, and fresh herbs.
I have 5 minutes and approximately 50 grams of salami.
Tim’s time starts and he gets straight into it. Eventually, everyone ends up cooking.
ANUSHKA WATCH: Anushka, the 49 year old optical distributor, is wearing her tortoise shell like frames. We’ve definitely seen these before, which puts a hole in my theory that she has a pair of glasses for every cook.
The judges stand around and watch as Derek tries to make tortellini with quail yolk inside each one. He cracks each one so carefully, and they keep splitting. He gets one to work and tells us he just needs to make two more. He’s got 3 quail eggs left. The next one breaks at the last second, and George comes over to tell him it’s a mess.
Derek agrees and scraps it. It’s now a 20 minute challenge. I’m so worried about him now. He and Anushka are my favourites, so if he goes, and Tim and Simon are still there, I’m going to be very sad and disappointed.
Tim’s pork belly hasn’t crackled at the top, and if I know the trio of judges, crackling is very important to them, and they won’t tolerate un-crackled crackling.
He puts it back into the oven under the grill, but the crackling starts to burn around the edges.
Thankfully, time ends, and I can stop stressing about Derek’s egg yolks.
It’s time for the tasting, and Simon’s first.
He’s cooked carrots and lamb.
Gaz loves the colour of the dish, and calls it absolutely incredible. After eating, he says it fills his heart with joy, and says the carrots are the tastiest bit by far.
They all agree it’s great.
Next is Derek.
He’s cooked duck egg with smoked pasta and onion sauce.
When the judges grill him, he tells them he only really had 20 minutes. He pushed himself and took a risk, but it hasn’t translated. Matt looks really sad at this story, but tells him he might not have time to do it again.
Derek says he’s worried about going home.
By the look, they say it’s a small dish and not a lot. It’s about two spoonfuls.
Gaz says the onion sauce wasn’t good, and Matt says the big egg yolk wasn’t appealing.
Next is Tim.
He’s cooked crispy pork belly with glazed pork rib, potato mash and crispy potatoes.
They say the ribs and the mash are nice, but the fat isn’t melty, the crackling isn’t crispy and it’s leathery. George calls it a shame.
Finally it’s Tessa.
Her dish is John Dory with citrus and herbs.
Tessa says she’s never been in an elimination before, and it was a hard cook for her.
Gaz says it looks pink along the bone. George reminds her that it all rides on the fish.
They slice the fish and find it’s cooked very nicely.
After tasting the dish, they talk about how great it is and don’t say anything negative about the dish.
It’s down to Tim and Derek, and I’m terrified for Derek right now.
The trio of judges come out to reveal who’s out. Gaz tells Tessa the Dory was cooked perfectly, and she’s safe. Then, he tells Simon it was perfect and he’s safe as well.
Matt tells Tim that his dish had a few dramas. He tells Derek the pasta ricotta was good, but asked why the duck yolk, and the sauce wasn’t very good.
“It’s with great sadness, but Derek, today you’re going home,” Matt says.
After his montage, Derek hugs everyone before heading out.
Where are they now? Derek has gone on a food tour and plans on opening a restaurant in Perth.
As usual, this recap was written as I watched the episode, so there will be spelling and grammar mistakes.
I posted a MasterChef rant about Sandeep, and you can read it here. I also did a bigger rant about the rest of the season, and you can read that here.
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Felicity Feiner 
And this was all because he went and lifted his paddle for eggs. Simon did not deserve to get that lamb for free. Derek really disappointed me. He was one of my faves.
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