With the last two Masterchef eliminations, farewelling male cooks is a curse brewing in the kitchen.
After a close-run team service challenge with Marco Pierre White, 11 contestants faced elimination: Nicolette, Harry, Miles, Matt, Anastasia, Trent, Olivia, Con, Zoe, Adam and Cecilia.
The contestants entered the MasterChef Australia kitchen to see 26 cloches, each with a letter next to it. Round one was an alphabet game, where contestants had to guess the name of ingredients beneath the cloches. The first four contestants had to guess incorrectly went into round two, in which they had to cook for their survival.
The group got off to a strong start, but Adam was the first to falter. Incorrectly identifying a rambutan as a lychee, he went into the elimination round. Cecilia was next, unable to name a turnip-like vegetable which was revealed to be jicama. Matt was caught out by the salted or pickled plum known as umeboshi. Finally, Harry incorrectly identified crocodile as cod.
With 60 minutes to create a dish, Adam, Cecilia, Matt and Harry had all the correctly identified ingredients from round one at their disposal.
Matt decided to debone a quail and serve it with celeriac puree and basil oil. Harry opted for a smoked and seared tuna with celeriac remoulade. Cecilia cooked a brined and smoked tuna salad.
Adam chose lamb chops and lamb backstrap, adding a sauce and charred zucchini to his dish. Disaster struck when he added cream to his pan before straining the fat, ruining the sauce. In an effort to save his dish, he added inca berries to his salad, along with crispy lamb fat salvaged from the pan.
The judges loved Matt’s dish. Matt Preston declared him a potential contender for the finals. Harry’s dish also impressed, but while Cecilia’s fish was well-cooked, it was simplistic and her mayonnaise was too eggy.
Adam’s dish was found to be flat and unseasoned, and the judges agreed his time in the MasterChef Australia kitchen had come to an end.
Adam is now managing a shared workspace in Adelaide, where he hosts events and cooks. He is also continuing to build his adventure, travel and food business, The Adventure Locker.
