Sarah has become the latest to tumble from the MasterChef Australia kitchen, eliminated after just making the Top 10.
Battling friends Chloe and Jess, Sarah bowed out in a tricky pressure test featuring Saransh Goila from Mumbai as she was tasked to make his butter chicken alongside a coriander and mint chutney, pickled onions and Roomali roti. The trio had two-and-a-half hours to recreate Saransh’s dish and accompaniments. Sarah started with the marinade for her chicken, mixing mustard oil, garlic and onion paste and cashmere chilli powder to yoghurt, before deboning the chicken and popping it into her marinade. Both Chloe and Jess removed the skin from their chicken before this step, and the gantry could see Sarah had missed it. As the chicken would ultimately cook over hot coals, the fat from the skin would now affect the way it cooked and it was clear she was in trouble early.
When she skewered her chicken and popped it on the grill with 90 minutes to go she realised her error as smoke filled the MasterChef Australia kitchen. She contemplated how to fix it, but decided the damage was done.
Sarah and Chloe added a hot coal from the grill to cold butter, creating a smoke to sit inside the butter sauce, adding a beautiful deep smoky flavour to the dish. Jess added the smoke but not the butter and on the gantry Khanh hoped it wouldn’t affect her flavour.
Sarah struggled today but with 15 minutes she had caught up and hoped she had done enough. Chloe was first to be tasted and Gary admitted it was pretty damn close to the real thing, and Saransh too was impressed, it was exceptionally good.
Jess’ bread was the thinnest, and Saransh was impressed at her ability for someone so young. When they tasted they loved the creaminess and texture of her chicken despite its lack of smoke.
Sarah battled with time and she was worried her chicken was burnt after she left the skin on as it cooked. She admitted she felt this could be her last day in the MasterChef Australia kitchen and Gary admitted while it was tasty, it was very different to Saransh’s dish – while his was smoky, Sarah’s was charred.
In delivering their verdict Chloe was praised for her dish, she nailed Saransh’s butter chicken. It came down to Jess and Sarah and while Jess’ dish lacked smokiness, Sarah’s skin on her chicken created a bitter char and ultimately led to her elimination.
Sarah is launching Wild, a pop up restaurant in Tasmania. She hopes to own her own restaurant later in the year.
