Archie Thompson’s enthusiasm in the MasterChef kitchen was second to none, but he just missed out on a place in the semi-final when his feature ingredient went missing in action.
The celebrities arrived at Melbourne’s internationally acclaimed Vue de monde restaurant and the judges revealed that each celebrity had to cook one course of a five-course degustation. Vue de monde Executive Chef, Hugh Allen, assigned each celebrity a native ingredient to feature in their dish. After winning immunity, Rebecca’s position in the semi-final was guaranteed, so it was her job to help her fellow celebrities plate their final dishes.
Archie was the first to cook and his feature ingredient was wattle seed. Archie attempted a tomato kibbeh salad, accompanied by a marmalade and wattle seed jam. It was a typically frantic cook for Archie, but with the help of Hugh and Rebecca, he presented an impressive plate of food. The judges loved the dish, but they struggled to taste the wattle seed.
Nick was in charge of the second course and finger limes were his feature ingredient. His mind instantly went to seafood and he decided to construct a tuna tartare with finger lime and pickled daikon alongside a tomato consommé. The judges were amazed by the sophistication of Nick’s dish and the feature ingredient was front and centre.
Next to cook was Dilruk and he was excited to see his feature ingredient was macadamia. He prepared a Sri Lankan black pork curry using macadamia milk. Jock said he had delivered theatre to the dish and Melissa was very impressed with the rich flavours of his curry paste.
Course number four belonged to Collette and her native ingredient was Dorrigo pepper. She decided to cook Dorrigo duck with pickled beetroot. The judges were blown away by Collette’s presentation, and the dish tasted phenomenal with the Dorrigo pepper clearly featured.
Tilly was cooking the dessert course with lemon myrtle, and she suspected the citrus flavour would work well in a crème brulée with shortbread on the side. The judges found the texture of her crème brulée beautifully smooth and the taste of lemon myrtle came through loud and clear.Every dish was worthy of the stellar location, but Archie’s dish failed to highlight his feature ingredient of wattle seed and for this reason, he was eliminated from Celebrity MasterChef Australia.
Upon leaving Celebrity MasterChef Australia, Archie Thompson said: “I’ve been emotional with my football career and this is just another ride, journey and experience that has been amazing.
“This experience has taught me so much about myself and I didn’t want it to end. Who would have thought that coming into the MasterChef kitchen I would learn so much more than cooking.”
