Tomorrow night: Reynold says it’s “time to show the judges what it takes to win” even though he just served a plate of food that tastes like a gas cloud in space.
We’re really down to the final few when Reynold’s nervous.
Thanks for following along again. I’ll see you next week!
Updated
Tessa is eliminated
Andy says that, to decide between the two dishes, they “had to refer back to the brief”.
Reynold wanted to create something they’d never seen before with his presentation. Big tick.
Tessa wanted to create something they’d never seen before by fusing Mexican ideas with Indian flavours. But, in the end, it was the Mexican flavours of hot sauce and pineapple that ended up dominating. Because of that, Tessa is going home.
“I couldn’t beat Reynold - his mind is so incredible,” Tessa says. A reminder: Tessa’s first season of MasterChef was only last year! Her career is only beginning.
She also apologises for being “a crying mess”, but is maybe the most elegant crier I’ve ever seen in my life?
Kia kaha, my fellow Kiwi! I loved your calm but secretly pissed-off presence in the kitchen and also your freakish ability to cook every fish. I’m sorry that Jock rigged the comp on the capers.
And we’re back for the final verdict.
As expected, Poh has the best dish! “It’s like nothing we’d ever had before,” Jock says. She lives to morosely stare into an oven another day.
It’s now down to Tessa and Reynold.
Last but certainly not least: Reynold’s space rock. It is literally smouldering on the plate. At the absolute least, he nailed the presentation.
The on-screen description just reads “Space” haha.
Out of this world 😍 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/ugG2m7AcDK
— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 28, 2020
So is this the big disappointment Reynold seems to think it is? Jock loves the raspberry sorbet and the textural contrasts, but “the mousse wasn’t a mousse and the sponge was damp”. Yikes.
Andy says that the rum element is also “non-existent”. The judges love the concept, but the dish doesn’t quite live up to the hype. Is the (excellent) concept enough to get him through?
I can’t believe we’ve ended this episode with Poh being the only one who is definitely safe.
Tessa is “so happy” with her tacos. Her bright and beautiful platter includes chapati, tandoori flathead, asafoetida and mint raita, pineapple salsa and smoked chilli hot sauce.
The new element? It’s like normal tacos, but India! Ok, it’s not from outer-space but sure.
What an incredible spread! Spoilt for choice 🧡 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/NvqJepW9XB
— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 28, 2020
The verdict: “she’s a tasty taco”!! Andy is loving it. His only critique is that the fish is quite lost in all the other bold flavours of the dish.
For Jock, the “jury’s out”. He says “flavour bomb” 562 times, and wonders if each flavour bomb is balanced well enough with the bombiest flavour of the other flavour bombs.
Mel has similar concerns. Pending a Reynold disaster, this is enough to send Tessa home.
It’s time to taste (again)!
Poh is first up. She says the thing that’s new about her dish is the presentation (a lettuce cup instead of a banana leaf) and also the texture (sago is more gelatinous than rice).
Lett-uce eat all of this to ourselves 😍🙏 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/bdocfttDH4
— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 28, 2020
She cooked this dish because “if I go out today, I want to go out with something from my heritage”. Mel says that the smells of her dish made her “a little bit ashamed that I don’t know more about my heritage”. (Mel was born in Australia and her heritage is Singaporean Chinese). Wow, that is quite sad.
But hey what does it taste like?
Jock says the rempah udang is “brilliant”. He says it’s spicy and chewy and smart, and the little dessert actually adds to the overall dish. Mel says it’s “a salty funk”, but in a good way.
This would usually mean Poh is safe, but in this calibre of elimination who knows.
Time is up! Poh has made one good dish and a microscopic dessert, Tessa has finished her Indian tacos and feels happy but intimidated by the competition, and Reynold has made an intergalactic space rock.
Good job everyone! May the loosest unit win.
A little shoutout to Tessa for her general demeanour in this and every challenge.
I adore that Tessa's 'cool, thanks' sounds exactly like my 'get fucked mate'. Her fish looked great. #MasterChefAU
— Shroomkin - Social distancing since 2014 (@shroomkin82) June 28, 2020
Poh seems to be going well with this ridiculous challenge she has set for herself!
Poh is like that kid that says “omg I know you asked for a 2 page essay but I wrote 8 pages and a little reflection piece, don’t yell at me tho😌”#MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/fdjNA3c8DJ
— Kelly Lynch (@kellylynch771) June 28, 2020
Although, unsurprisingly, there’s not much time at all for her dessert. She’s making just one, very small kuih koci, which the judges will have to share with tweezers.
15 minutes to go. Tessa is taking a little risk by cooking with asafoetida - a dried gum that could overpower her Indian tacos and throw out the flavour balance.
And Reynold’s ganache is… still not great. He just has to go with it.
30 minutes to go! Reynold’s having trouble with his rum ganache. It’s not whisking properly. He’s putting it back into the fridge to set more.
Reynold can not go home on this challenge. It is just not possible. It is designed for him to win.
I just can’t believe this really happened.
No one:
— robert. (@FierceRobert) June 28, 2020
No one:
Absolutely no one:
Reynold: “Have you tried space?” #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/LCVjvOfmX7
Poh acknowledges how wild and unnecessary this is. “They’re thinking: this lunatic! She’s self-sabotaging! But…”
Mate, gonna stop you right there. I hear enough of this from myself at the psych.
Jesus Chris, Poh. POH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Poh was plodding along well with a perfectly delicious dish, but then decided to make a second dish for kicks. She’s doing a dessert. As well. For some terrible reason.
Not only that, but she’s choosing to do kuih koci, a dessert she couldn’t successfully complete in a challenge earlier in the season. “Don’t yell at me!” she tells the judges. Andy looks like he’s about to cry.
Tessa is nervous. And at this point she hasn’t even heard about Reynold’s space expedition. She says that Reynold is “a wizard”, and she’s intimidated by Poh’s deep knowledge.
She’s making “Indian tacos” with tandoori flathead with pineapple salsa.
Reynold goes ‘full-on batshit’
Oh, here we go. Here. We. Go.
Mel asks Reynold what he’s up to, and he casually replies: “have you tried space?”
He then winks at the camera like he’s Jim Halpert.
Reynold is making a dish based on a part of the Milky Way that tastes like raspberries and rum. This is, weirdly, a real thing. Some background from Eater:
“In 2009, astronomers were able to identify a chemical called ethyl formate in a big dust cloud at the center of the Milky Way. Ethyl formate happens to be responsible for the flavour of raspberries (it also smells like rum).”
Reynold wants his dish to look like a meteor and also a gas cloud. He rightfully acknowledges that he’s going “full-on batshit”.
Poh says she’s leaning into her Chinese-Malaysian heritage and making steamed sago dumplings with rempah udang - “a dried shrimp crumble”. It’s usually served in rice and banana leaf, but Poh is using sago with a lettuce cup.
She seems confident! But she also seemed confident about that creme caramel so idk.
Round two: let’s get weird
In this round, the judges want the opposite of the first challenge: “something we’ve never seen before”. Jock says that could be “a unique flavour combination, a crazy technique, or even a one-of-a-kind presentation”.
It can be sweet or savoury, it just has to be ~crazy~. Poh, Tessa and Reynold have 75 minutes, and an open pantry.
The contestant with the least impressive dish - ie, Tessa or Poh - will be going home.
So, which three contestants will be cooking in the second round? It seems almost certain to be Poh, Tessa and Reynold.
And… it is!!
Emelia, Callum and Reece - along with Laura - are safe for another week.
This is controversial take, but I stand by it.
Poh is still the perfect meme of lockdown life. I kind of want her to get eliminated so she can finally be free. #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/wtlE46T8Dh
— Meg Watson (@msmegwatson) June 28, 2020
Damn, between this and the celery heart last Sunday, someone in the production team has it out for Tessa.
Should have just told Tessa to put the capers in there then hey Jock #MasterChefAU
— chris (@chrisbmelb) June 28, 2020
Tessa gets (controversially) marked down on capers
Tessa’s fish and chips are served up on a bed of old newspaper, as all good fish and chips are. The chippies are perfectly crunchy, but unfortunately the fish is a bit overdone and the tartare is not really “classic” as it doesn’t have any capers.
Jock says “if anyone were to look that up I’m sure they would find capers in there” and, as someone who has just completed a quick Google search, I can say he’s right.
The judges told Reynold about the sponge. Why didn’t they give Tessa a head’s up on this one?
I love Reynold but if the challenge is about knowing your classics, why tell him which element he’s missing? #MasterChefAU
— True Krys (@heartmadeofsoul) June 28, 2020
Updated
Reynold’s orange and vanilla bombe alaska is up next. The flavours are great and fresh, but the sponge is too thick and a bit dry.
Emelia has certainly won the bombe-off, but will it be enough to keep him out of the second round?
Emelia torches her bombe alaska. The judges are totally entranced. The layers down the middle look beautiful and defined. The meringue is “perfect”. Jock just says it’s “brilliant”.
Her choice of Grand Marnier to light the dessert was also an extra stroke of genius to enhance the orange flavours.
Reynold has some tough competition.
Poh brings her puddle of creme caramel up to the judges and Jock is disgusted. “It’s water. I can’t even turn it out.”
The good news: her flavours were perfect. The bad news: she’s definitely cooking in the second round.
It’s Poh’s turn, but she’s kind of stuck as her creme caramel is more of a caramel milkshake. It was only a matter of time until this happened.
Poh finally flew too close to the to the sun. Makes me a bit sad cuz you could see it meant a lot to her- she really knew it would’ve been perfect had it set #MasterChefAU
— Fiza Zali (@fizawanders) June 28, 2020
Reece’s creme caramel is next. It looks to be a perfect consistency as the judge’s divvy it up.
The judges say it is on the sweeter side, but he “nailed it”.
It’s time to taste!
The judges rush over to Callum’s souffle and it looks pretty textbook. It’s risen really well, and the inside looks gooey as heck. It’s a big googy chocolate egg.
Mel says it’s “expertly balanced”. Jock says the cook is “perfect”! Callum is surely safe from the second round.
Poh takes a ramekin out because time is up. It’s liquid. Her creme caramel is a bowl of sugar soup. This has not gone to plan.
Reece is turning out his creme caramels. He baked a few sizes so he had options. The big ones collapse into a ball of goo, but the little ones look great!
There’s only a minute or so left on the cook, and Poh is still in front of the oven, crouched on all fours, head getting third-degree burns against the glass.
Both Emelia and Reynold take their sponge out of the oven. Both seem to be tracking pretty well, but Reynold is concerned about how “classic” his is.
Bombe alaska is the corona of desserts. It’s the one thing you are guaranteed to get on cruiseships #MasterchefAU
— Tree Fiddy Kay (@fiddy_kay) June 28, 2020
A note to any film producers out there...
Please make this film immediately. https://t.co/E4ztVUwwr1
— Maeve Marsden (@maevemarsden) June 28, 2020
15 minutes to go! Jock is freaking Tessa out about the temperature for her hāpuku, but she seems confident in what she’s doing. Andy is reinforcing the importance of timing for Callum’s souffle.
Poh has entered a meditative state in front of her oven. She has transcended “pressure” and “time” and “this competition”. She has always been here, and she will always be here, watching, waiting.
Also what do you reckon about the judges telling Reynold about the sponge?
I don’t like the blatant helping with the forgotten sponge. #MasterchefAU
— Victoria (@movetheair) June 28, 2020
If he’s in the top three of this challenge, it does seem kind of unfair.
I am not the only one relating to Poh right now.
Poh looking sadly at blast chiller gif has superseded Poh staring nervously at oven gif #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/t9Wp7AHvQa
— Kristen Amiet (@KrissiAmiet) June 28, 2020
Lmao this is such a mood #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/5wfGlh6Jan
— robert. (@FierceRobert) June 28, 2020
We live here now 😂 #MasterChefAU @fooderati pic.twitter.com/hZBC4ZAjqV
— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 28, 2020
Callum is tracking well with his souffle, but he has to be careful about the timing. He can’t have it sitting out with time still on the clock. Compared to Poh’s situation, this is a great problem to have.
Melissa ventures over for a quick interview on Poh’s process: “Do you live here now?”
As a Victorian, I feel connected to Poh. The rest of the world whizzing on around her while she’s trapped, sadly hunched in the corner, desperately waiting for something good to happen.
Poh sets up camp next to the blast freezer
An update on Poh:
She has graduated from crouching next to an oven to crouching next to a blast chiller. I guess MasterChef really does test your full range of skills.
Updated
Tessa seems to be on to a good thing with fish and chips. Fish is her specialty. And she has no direct comparison to be worried about, with everyone else in this round cooking a sweet dish.
She does say it’s trickier than it looks though: “there’s a lot of technical points”. I have seen enough episodes of Kitchen Nightmares to know how badly people can mess up fish and chippies.
Poh says the caramel for her creme caramel is taking “a looooong time”, which is extra concerning coming from her. She usually cooks it for longer to create a stronger taste, so Reece will likely have a time advantage on her.
FYI Poh has previously published the recipe for her “classic creme caramel” on SBS. She advises resting the caramel for two hours and 10 minutes or, alternatively, overnight. Eep.
What other dishes are missing from the classics board?
If #masterchefau was serious about showing classic desserts then milo on ice cream would've been on the board*.
— Jess (@_jessticulate) June 28, 2020
*Maybe this was the dessert redacted on the blackboard? pic.twitter.com/5Xh38jSgXy
Uh oh. Reynold is cruising along with his orange sorbet and vanilla parfait, when Jock says “you haven’t mentioned sponge”.
A traditional bombe alaska should have a layer of sponge at its base. What’s the bet Emelia has this covered already…
Callum is the only one making a souffle today. It’s a tough dish because, in MasterChef speak, “there’s nowhere to hide”. It lives or dies on the way it rises.
Callum says he teaches them all the time, but he’s never made a chocolate one before. Will that make any difference? Sweetie scholars let me know!
Also did everyone catch croquembouche on that “classics” board? Lol
The incredible part is that the croquembouche was listed as a 'classics' dish for a regular immunity challenge on #MasterchefAu. Back in season 1 it was THE finale pressure test. How things have changed
— Andrew Brown (@AndrewBrownAU) June 28, 2020
60 minutes to go, which means that all the other contestants can start their cook. Everyone sprints to the pantry and Tessa slings what is possibly a small shark over her shoulder.
Reece and Poh are both doing creme caramel - which is making Reece nervous - but they’ll likely be doing slightly different styles. Poh’s is usually slightly more bitter; Reece likes it sweeter.
Poh says it will be “a battle of the custard queens”, which is a Drag Race challenge I would absolutely watch.
It’s going to be especially tough for Reynold going against Emelia, who has dedicated her whole career to classical sweets.
Andy comes over to her bench and concurs. “Yeah, I feel like you’re classicker.”
What a perfectly cromulent observation.
Reynold says he’s worried because he doesn’t have any classical training. (How is he this good from being self-taught??? Is all training a total rort?)
He also says he made a bombe alaska in his previous season and it was a disaster. Seems like a weird choice!
Everyone picks their dishes.
Tessa: fish and chips
Reece: creme caramel
Poh: creme caramel
Reynold: Bombe alaska
Emelia: Bombe alaska
Callum: chocolate souffle
Andy, who spends every episode talking about how much he hates cake, is weirdly stoked with this big list of desserts.
Round one: cook like a normie
Tonight’s elimination is in two rounds. In round one, the contestants with the best three dishes will be safe. The remaining three contestants will then cook again to stay in the competition.
The first challenge: cook like a normie. Hayden would have smashed this challenge. The judges unveil a big menu board with classic dishes “from around the world” - carbonara, fish and chips, seafood paella, beef vindaloo, bouillabaisse, creme caramel, chocolate souffle, apple tarte tatin, bombe alaska, and croquembouche.
Nearly all of those are from Europe, but sure!
The task is pretty simple: pick one and cook it well. “Just make it exactly how it’s supposed to be made.”
Reynold is stoked.
We’re on! And Emelia is narrating again as the producers desperately try to jam in more footage after neglecting her for two months.
“Missing out on the title six years ago really devastated me,” she says. “This would be my redemption.”
Calling it now: she’s going to have the best dish of the day.
Hello! Hope you’re all doing well. It’s time for the food show to make us cry again. Tonight’s MasterChef elimination starts at 7.30pm. Here’s what you missed this week...
It was a good week for: Laura, who won her first ever immunity on Tuesday night thanks to some buttery Moreton Bay bugs with Jerusalem artichoke and watercress. This cook was part of another taste-test challenge, where contestants had to construct a pantry out of ingredients they correctly guessed from A to Z.
Not only did Laura win the challenge, but Melissa also described her dish as “food cooked by someone who is happy and centred”. This is a beautiful (if not extremely strange) blessing from the MasterChef queen.
It was a bad week for: Poh, who had to compete for immunity with a random grab bag of foods that do not even tangentially relate to one another: duck, persimmon, tarragon, octopus and yuzu.
Poh looking at her available selection of ingredients #MasterchefAU pic.twitter.com/aDqDe4tuRJ
— Tas Mavridis* (@TasMavridis) June 23, 2020
Miraculously, she pulled it together. She made a list. She managed her time. She plated up a duck breast with charred persimmon (her most hated food) and octopus emulsion (???). But it simply wasn’t enough.
It was also a bad week for Tessa who – after being cheated by a celery heart last week – missed out on the immunity challenge by simply not putting some parsnip on her plate.
When you get to the shops and realise you forgot your tote bags 😥 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/0gPmuca56p
— eeek (@eeeka208) June 22, 2020
Tonight: Reynold is in trouble again! In the first round of tonight’s elimination challenge, contestants must cook “classic” “dishes”.
It's going to be one classic heart-racing Elimination Challenge 😳 7.30 Sunday on @Channel10AU #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/gTeBsg6xae
— masterchefau (@masterchefau) June 24, 2020
Updated
