A massive week with cooking genius Heston Blumenthal culminated in one elimination, with four cooks – Tracy, Ben, Brent and Amy – facing off to earn a place in Finals Week.
In honour of Heston, the challenge was all about culinary deception. The contestants had to create a dish that looked like one thing but tasted like something else, with Heston adding that it should “inspire wonderment and intrigue”.
Way out of her comfort zone, Amy decided to make a “magic” fruit salad, with a savoury blue cheese cheesecake centrepiece that looked like a cherry. Amy started on her port and strawberry jelly to form the gel coating on her cherries.
Ben cooked steak and potatoes which looked like a campfire, Tracy disguised a savoury lamb dish as a fruit crumble with custard and Brent drew inspiration from his job as a bobcat driver, making a dessert that looked like a pile of dirt.
As Amy poured her cheesecake mix into molds, Heston and George pointed out that they were far too big to be cherries – so she called them plums instead. With the clock running down, Amy dipped her cheesecake plums in liquid nitrogen, then into the red-coloured gel for the glaze. It was clear immediately that the gel was too runny: it did not set on contact as expected and melted the cheesecake. Amy persevered, knowing her illusion had been compromised.
With Ben and Brent safe, it came down to Amy and Tracy. The judges said it was a tough call and not a unanimous one. In the end, Amy’s dish was deemed the least deceptive and she was fondly farewelled.
Since leaving the MasterChef Australia kitchen, Amy has been volunteering her time to cook for charity and is doing work experience at Restaurant Amuse in Perth. She’s busy establishing her Miss Flames cooking classes and is planning a road trip to take it around Australia.
