After losing the team glasshouse challenge, nine contestants faced elimination: Tamara, Jess, Nicole, Benjamin, Ray, Eloise, Samuel, Michelle and Callan.
Round one was a blind taste test. After Eloise decided to use her immunity pin, the eight contestants had to use their sense of taste to identify a series of sweet spheres. Ray incorrectly guessed grapes, Benjamin was off the mark with banana and Tamara was unable to name cucumber.
In round two, Ray, Benjamin and Tamara had to create a dessert using their incorrectly guessed ingredient as the hero of the dish.
Benjamin cooked banana pancakes, aiming to keep the dish simple with a choc mint ice cream and rum and chocolate sauce. He had several elements on the go and later, as he raced to finish his ice cream, he burnt his chutney. Benjamin wanted to keep the caramelised bananas warm, so he put them in the oven but worried it was overcooking them as he planned to later fry them in butter.
Ray struggled early, wandering the kitchen for 10 minutes looking for inspiration. He ultimately decided to serve a wine and cheeseboard-inspired dessert, whipping up a goat’s cheese mousse with grapes roasted, pickled, fresh, and within a jelly.
Tamara decided to make sweet yoghurt parfaits to be served with various cucumber elements and a cucumber granita.
With minutes to go, Benjamin fried off his pancakes and Tamara plated her various cucumber elements. Ray’s second tuile was overcooked and broke so he was forced to plate up using his first one. But he was still not happy and plated for a third time.
Tamara’s dish was tasted first and her yoghurt parfait with cucumber five ways was a big hit. The judges loved its sweetness, freshness and overall balance.
The judges also loved the combination and flavours of Ray’s dish. Benjamin’s bananas, however, were overcooked and ultimately saw him sent home. He became the seventh contestant eliminated from the MasterChef Australia kitchen.
Benjamin is now running the kitchen at Paddock and Farm in Perth. He is about to embark on a ninemonth motorbike ride, tracking down the best regional dishes along the way.
