That’s it for me tonight! Thanks for following along for another elimination. I’ll be back next Sunday - feel free to email or tweet me at any time during the week with your predictions for the final.
As always: stay safe, eat good food, and someone please check on Julie Goodwin.
Seriously, I can’t take this any more. #MasterChefAU
— Julie Goodwin (@_JulieGoodwin) July 12, 2020
Updated
This means we have our top four! Reynold, Laura, Emelia and Callum will battle it out in finals week - starting tomorrow night.
We don’t know much about what that will involve exactly, but we do know that at some point Gordon Ramsay is Zoom-conferencing in to torment them one last time. A Zoom call. They really found the one way to make Gordon Ramsay worse for everyone.
At least sweet angel Reece won’t have to worry about that.
Fly now Reece, go join these other angels in #MasterChefAU heaven 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/6CfNnB0keb
— Dean Nye (@Dean_Nye) July 12, 2020
Reece is eliminated
Despite the confusion in Callum’s flavours, Reece is the one going home tonight. “Your proportions were not quite right,” Jock says, “your seasoning was out, and we all felt it just wasn’t finals-worthy.”
“I just love everyone in this room,” Reece says. “I’m so grateful to meet you guys and have that support - that meant so much to me.”
“When you walk out that door today, I want you to strut like you mean it,” Mel adds. “You are 10s across the board to us. You are wonderful, and we will miss you.”
A big goodbye to MasterChef’s #1 tart. In the immortal words of Katy Perry, who was a guest judge in May: “you’re the tits, Reece”.
Updated
The judges announce the clear winners: Emelia and Laura.
“You had me at fish and fennel,” Jock tells Emelia, once again clarifying that traditional flavour combos are fine…
Kinda unfair that Reece got dragged all episode about his damn beets, when Laura literally just made meat and three veg and was never questioned about it. Where was the "classic or cliche?" line for everyone else? Justice for Reece 💔 #MasterChefAU
— Michelle Rennex (@michellerennex) July 12, 2020
Wait, don’t the guests even get coffee? Just dessert and GET OUT #MasterChefAU
— Dean Nye (@Dean_Nye) July 12, 2020
I guess even celebrity chefs have to adhere to the 1.5 hour booking reservations.
BREAKING NEWS
Stage three restrictions being enforced in relation to Reece going home. #MasterChefAU
— Kirsty Webeck (@KirstyWebeck) July 12, 2020
Callum’s confusing dessert
Callum is very happy with the flavour combination in the end, and describes it as “a native Cherry Ripe”. He plates up the big bowl of plum and aniseed myrtle confetti:
“There was a lot to love in this dessert,” Jock says. The flavours were all great - but, he says, he would have preferred it if the cremeux wasn’t on the plate.
Mel agrees that something is amiss: it all tastes good, but the different elements are all vying for attention. It would have benefitted from some restraint.
The bottom two dishes are obviously from Callum and Reece: one did “too much”, the other did” “too little”.
A Davidson plum, floating in perfume, served in a man’s hat #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/myNmuSsLcG
— Geo Kara (@geokara) July 12, 2020
Current mood: happy for Emelia, very nervous for Reece.
It’s so empowering to see a woman stand in front of a group of people and talk so confidently about her abilities, “I’m an exceptional cook”, you absolutely are @emeliajacksonMC 👏👏👏 #MasterChefAU
— Emily Chapman (@emilyechapman1) July 12, 2020
Every time I get stressed that Reece might be sent home, I remind myself that Katy Perry called him “the tits”, and in the end, that is the true victory. #MasterChefAU
— Michael Lucas (@MrMichaelLucas) July 12, 2020
Anyway. That means there’s just one contestant left cooking. Let’s check in on Callu- oh no, he’s drenched in sweat and rattling off a 500-point list of ingredients. Sorbet! Rocks! Crumb! Nuts! Sherbert! Oil!! Everything is fine.
Laura’s fancy roast
It’s time to taste Laura’s main course.
“How’d you go tricking up the peas, mint and lamb?” Andy asks.
“I just kept it really simple,” Laura says. Hm.
Mel says Laura’s absolutely achieved what she set out to do: take something simple and make it sophisticated. “You have nostalgia in bucket-loads, but you also have finesse and flavour.” She thinks the lamb is perfectly cooked, the peas are light and fresh, and the jus is rich in flavour.
Jock says the only thing he would have changed is serving the lamb on the bone. They all love it.
Great! Very happy for her. But scusi, why did Reece get chewed out for serving a basic flavour combo in beetroot and goat’s cheese, when peas/mint/lamb is on the table?
So let me gets this straight Reece wants to do a vegetable dish and gets blasted for making a “safe” option, Laura does a traditional roast meat dish, using the word simple a lot and they are like “yep that’s fine”. 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️ If he goes home I’m gonna lose my shit. #masterchefau
— Beceldora (@beceldora) July 12, 2020
Laura cuts into her lamb, and it’s perfectly cooked! Great news. The less good news: she plates it up with the peas and pan-roasted celeriac and it... sure does look like a Sunday roast!
I mean, it looks like a rich person’s Sunday roast. It’s the kind of Sunday roast that your friends’ parents with the heavy cutlery and a cabinet that hides their TV might serve. But it’s still a roast.
Callum has so much time left that he’s adding another element: an aniseed myrtle oil. The stressful music starts playing. That is the same ingredient which he described as “really strong and overpowering” not that long ago.
He’s also making a Davidson plum sherbert - which comes from a recipe he learned from Darren Purchese.
I don’t know if jamming all these chefs’ recipes into one dessert at the last minute is the best way to get ahead here.
And it’s paid off! The fish is cooked perfectly, the skin is crispy, the flavours are delicate and balanced. Mel says that the fish totally stands up as a redemption dish.
Kirsten Tibballs says she would “happily pay money for that in a restaurant” which… is actually not the glowing compliment I think she intends it to be?
Either way, it’s thumbs up all ‘round.
Emelia’s fish catharsis
Emelia plates up her barramundi and broth. She’s really happy with how it’s all turned out, and says she won’t ever forget this moment - bringing some of her best work forward to the country’s top chefs. It looks great!
But it turns out that this kind of immense, high-pressure situation provokes some other emotions too!! Emelia starts crying when she talks about making the fish.
“Desserts are really my passion, but I am truly an exceptional cook. I’m just such a good cook. It is my passion. Since the Josh Niland fish disaster, I’ve intentionally stayed away from it, so I think I’ve done myself a little disservice in that regard.”
I love it. It takes a lot of guts to back yourself like that.
But also big lol to Jock asking “what led you down this path?”
What led Emilia down this path?? A 1/4 chance, she picked fish out of a bag you handed her Jock you muppet #MasterChefAU
— matt young (@mattyoung_au) July 12, 2020
Laura gets teary and says “winning isn’t everything, but I just have so much to prove”. You just know that at this point in the competition she’s been reading all those jokes about pasta…
30 minutes to go and Laura whacks her big lump of lamb in the pan. She says her place in the competition is ultimately coming down to how she cooks a piece of meat.
“Are you nervous about the fact there’s nowhere to hide, and there’s a table full of royals over there?” Jock asks.
“Yep. I am actually.”
“WhY tHo????” Jock adds.
A normal exchange.
Callum’s major issue at this point is balancing the aniseed myrtle with the other flavours in his dessert. It’s such a strong flavour, he says, so it’s a bit of a juggling act to make sure you can taste it without it overpowering the dish.
It’s a slight risk, sure. But something’s missing.
poh would have been absolute chaos in this episode and would have made the snobby guest judges wait because she decided to cook 2 dishes because she couldn't choose between them and I miss her #MasterChefAU
— Jess (@dykeoksana) July 12, 2020
It’s the moment of truth for Emelia’s broth: she cracks through the disgusting thick skin of fish guts and egg, and dumps all the fish heads and goop into a sieve. Cooking is such a fine art.
And… it worked! The broth is looking much more clear and silky.
Can any actual food people tell me if the below is true??
Google tells me the difference between cloudy and clear broth is purely aesthetics so I guess it’s a fine dining vs home cook type of thing #MasterChefAU
— Fiza Zali (@fizawanders) July 12, 2020
Laura is adding another vegetable to her Sunday roast that is not a Sunday roast. She’s roasting celeriac in the pan because a puree would be too basic (??). Ahh yes, these complex big buttery chunks are much better.
Reece begins the feast
Reece’s beetroot and goat’s cheese entree is served up to the table. Melissa asks if the combo is “classic or cliche?”, but Reece stands by it. He wants them to appreciate the bright flavours of the vinaigrette and the varied textural elements.
“I thought there were some real positives,” Andy starts - which is not super reassuring. He says the beetroot was cooked perfectly and the flavours were good, however it was overall a little sweet.
Mel agreed the different elements were tasty, but the dish was “timid”.
“It’s a nice dish - but we weren’t looking for nice today,” Jock adds.
The council of celeb chefs agree. It’s… fine.
Reece awkwardly watches on from the gantry as Australia’s finest chefs tear his work apart.
Reece is finally plating up. He tries his dish - which is definitely not a dessert - and loves it! Let’s see what the supreme council of celebrity chefs think.
After having a two-hour anxiety attack in a large leather armchair, Callum can actually start cooking his dessert!
He’s using aniseed myrtle, Davidson plum and chocolate to make a variety of sorbets and snows and crumbs. He’s also recreating a macadamia element which he’s previously eaten at one of the celebrity chefs’ restaurants. Hm. Needlessly risky. Poh’s spirit lives on.
Oh damn, it turns out they have been doing something to fix the image problem!
The woman from Smith and Daughters was making food for the locked down towers in Melbourne this week. #MasterChefAU
— Jane Hayman (@JaneDecember) July 12, 2020
Good news story: Shannon Martinez and other chefs have been helping the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre prepare thousands of meals for residents of Melbourne’s locked down public housing blocks.
Now, with everyone in place at the table, Jock is leading a meeting of celebrity chefs like it’s a dystopian oligarchy in which they feast on the flesh of young workers.
They discuss Emelia’s previous trouble with fish. Tut tut! Meanwhile the underlings toil, dreaming of one day seeing their families again. In the distance, a pandemic rages.
Over to Laura’s roast that definitely isn’t a simple roast. She’s grabbed a rack of lamb from the pantry but is, controversially, cutting the meat off the bone. She says it’s a risk because the bone delivers such good flavour, but it should allow her meat to caramelise evenly.
Reece has 10 minutes left! He’s running it right down to the wire and, in his frantic rush, he accidentally calls his entree a dessert in front of Jock. I’m a little worried for Reece.
why is it that when someone does something in their comfort zone the judges are like why aren’t u taking a risk then when someone takes a risk they’re like wow r u sure u wanna risk it tonight u could go home #masterchefau
— 𝘫𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘯 ★彡 (@jasminkaylaa) July 12, 2020
!! It’s time for the hot chefs. Who are they??
It’s Jo Barrett and Matt Stone from Oakridge, Shannon Martinez from Smith and Daughters, Peter Gunn from Ides, Kirsten Tibballs from Savour School, and Darren Purchese from Burch & Purchese!!!
To fix her bowl of lumpy slop, Emelia is creating some kind of broth magic called a raft. You blend together a bunch of meat with egg white, and then dump it in your broth. Mmm... yummy? It rises to the top and sets “like an omelette”, and then clarifies the broth beneath it.
This is real food sorcery. I actually love it.
If you just joined the blog: welcome!! Here are your main points:
Tonight’s elimination show is a service challenge. Emelia, Callum, Laura and Reece are cooking one course each in a four-course meal for the judges and six of Australia’s “hottest chefs”.
Reece is making a beetroot and goats cheese dish that the judges are gaslighting him out of doing (too simple). Emelia is making flathead in a Japanese broth. Laura is making a lamb roast (for some reason, not too simple).
Reynold, who has immunity tonight, is up in the gantry in a white suit.
Meanwhile, Reynold looks like he's off to a Backstreet Boys costume party #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/tcyYws4z4T
— ✨ Miss Natski ✨ (@Natski82) July 12, 2020
Emelia wants her broth to be “beautiful, silky, shiny and clear” but it kind of looks like a corn chowder.
Andy asks “is there any plan B?”
Meanwhile, Reece is having a breakdown about how many extra elements he needs to add to his dish. If he gets eliminated because the dish is too busy, this will be a total stitch-up.
If Reece goes home tonight, I’ll happily blame Jock and Andy. It’s his dish, not yours. #MasterChefAU
— Bel (@bellebonski) July 12, 2020
And, it’s time for Laura to start cooking her meat course! Like Reece and Emelia before her, she gives her hands a three-second rinse in the sink to please the corona-courteous producers, and then quickly moves on.
Laura’s dish is “based around peas, mint and lamb”. She says it’s “inspired by a Sunday roast, but the techniques have to be perfect”.
Mel asks her how exactly it’s going to be exciting or better than a Sunday roast. The answer: an interesting sauce. Hm.
After absorbing Jock’s criticisms into the fibre of his being, Reece is sprinting to the garden to make a new vinaigrette. He’s going to make two - his standard red wine version, and one made from lemon myrtle - and then see which he works best.
Important note: he also apologised to the plant before cutting it. “Sorry lemmy myrtle!!”
The lemon myrtle version is a bit more adventurous and unexpected. It sounds good! I wonder if it will go with the chocolate and hazelnut, but sure.
Jock stirring the pot and pulling out ol’ reliable. #MasterchefAU pic.twitter.com/ADLJThmZOX
— SpikyTrap (@SpikyTrap) July 12, 2020
Last few weeks "Why are they trying stuff in elimination?"
— The Washing Up (@thewashingup) July 12, 2020
Tonight "You need to try something new in elimination" #MasterchefAU pic.twitter.com/6bU9r34BmS
It’s time to undermine someone!
Jock comes over to wreak havoc on Reece’s emotions. He says that the combo of beetroot and goat’s cheese “sounds safe”.
Hm. Something to think about...
I’m worried about Reece. HE REALLY WANTED the veggies and he got the veggies and he totally has a plant based diet and Andy is all ‘yeah boi it’s your day! You can’t lose mate’ if years of reality tv watching has taught me anything, Reece is For sure in trouble. #masterchefau
— Em Rusciano (@EmRusciano) July 12, 2020
Emelia is making crispy skin barramundi on a bed of fennel with a Japanese-inspired broth. It’s a relatively simple dish, she says, which means each element has to be perfect.
She says this is really a redemption cook - to make up for the Josh Niland elimination challenge. All this talk of redemption cooks is giving me flashbacks to Poh :(
Emelia is worried as she’s spent the past six years only making cakes, and doesn’t have service experience (ie, pumping out hundreds of dishes in a hot kitchen while working long unsociable hours and more than likely getting underpaid). What a loss!
It is bad right now though, as she now has to make fish - which she’s messed up in the past - against three people with more experience.
Andy says he’s looking forward to Reece flexing his vegan skills (Reece is vegan IRL). Too bad his beetroot is smothered in cheese and chocolate.
Other notes from the judges: they reckon Callum is going to mess up the dessert which he hasn’t even started yet. Jock just casually throwing an insecurity bomb in the mix, with no regard for whether Callum is in earshot or not. Finals week!!!
Reece is really taking the vegie crown from Simon (RIP) atm. He says he knows how to make veg delicious because he has a plant-based diet, and wants to show off his skills.
The plan: a whole poached beetroot with a goats cheese foam, hazelnut chocolate crunch, and shiraz vinaigrette. Chocolate beetroot! Ok, sure.
Reece says his only concern is that it might be too “classic” and not enough for the MasterChef kitchen. He has included the obligatory MasterChef foam though, so he should be fine.
Today’s challenge: cook for your rulers
Surprise: the creepy dining table is for “six of the hottest chefs in the country”!! Each of the contestants will cook one of four courses - a vegetable entree, a fish course, a meat course, and a desert - and the hot chefs are going to taste them.
Everyone has to draw tokens from a bag to decide which course they get. Reece talks about how much he loves veggies. Can’t get enough of them. It’s extremely dorky how excited he is about veg right now. If he saw a broccoli, he might scream.
Aaand, he got them! Blind excitement pays off.
- Reece is making the vego entree
- Emelia is making the fish course
- Laura is making the meat course
- Callum is making the dessert
Each contestant has two hours to make their dish. They each need to prepare nine plates: three for the judges, six for the sexy chefs. Whoever does the least impressive job is going home.
And we’re on! The composer from the darkest Avengers movies is getting some tidy little royalties with the opening track. Reynold is wearing a white linen suit. It’s finals week, babey (or I guess that’s next week? The ads have confused me.)
The remaining contestants - Reynold, Laura, Reece, Emelia and Callum - walk into the kitchen and see four separate benches, next to a creepy socially distanced dining table.
It looks like an extremely awkward wedding reception at a budget motel.
Hello! Welcome back to another MasterChef elimination – and a special welcome to everyone in Victoria. We really have to cling on to these last few episodes because honestly, what else do we have at this point?
Tonight’s show starts at 7.30pm. Here’s a quick rundown of what happened in the last couple of eps.
It was a good week for: Reynold, again.
After making the best dishes inspired by nature on Monday, Reynold, Callum and Laura faced off in the final immunity challenge of the season. There were no rules so this was their chance to go crazy.
Callum made a bruleed chicken liver parfait. Laura made a beach-themed terrarium. The judges loved both. But ... Reynold made a snitch.
Shut the competition down.
— Kris (@aminutewithkris) July 7, 2020
If we’re basing this on talent, technical skill, enigmatic performance and creativity, this is the best Australia has to offer. #MasterChefAU
pic.twitter.com/QnNui5MpZn
Callum and Laura when they see what Reynold has cooked #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/y85UkxuTCy
— Sam 🌻 (@roryhuntzburger) July 7, 2020
Naturally, he won immunity from tonight’s elimination challenge.
It was a bad week for: People who do not like excessive Harry Potter content.
Immunity challenge contestants tonight! 💫 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/OK62Hw0DEp
— eeek (@eeeka208) July 7, 2020
Jock says he doesn't know about Harry Potter while literally wearing what young Dumbledore wore.... #MasterchefAU pic.twitter.com/8Wr6vx2IyE
— joshu (@josduae) July 7, 2020
Victor Krum caught the Snitch in the 1994 Quidditch World Cup final against Ireland and his team still lost, so there is hope for Callum and Laura yet. #MasterChefAU
— matt young (@mattyoung_au) July 7, 2020
Tonight: Just like last week, everyone except Reynold is cooking to avoid elimination. At the end of tonight’s episode we’ll have a final four!
You can tweet me @msmegwatson or send me an email any time.
Updated
