California finds Masterchef’s Final 6

California finds Masterchef’s Final 6

Last night Harry, Mimi and Brett faced the daunting task of cooking for celebrity chef Curtis Stone, in his award-winning restaurant Maude in Beverly Hills.

The contestants had 90 minutes to prepare a dish that represented their food dream.

Passionate about desserts, Mimi planned an elaborate chocolate aero mousse with honey ice cream, whisky jelly, honeycomb, lemon curd and a caramel whisky sauce.

With six separate elements, Curtis worried that Mimi was attempting too much. With 20 minutes left, disaster stuck when she realised that what she thought was a freezer was in fact a fridge and none of her elements had set. Shifting the elements quickly to a deep freeze, they just set in time for her to plate her dish.

Inspired by of recipe from his mother, Brett chose a dish that could sit on the menu at his dream country gastro pub. He revamped meat and three veg by making a pork fillet, with carrot and ginger puree, roasted fennel, roasted and pickled brussel sprouts, a mustard and basil soil and a rich jus.

Brett’s cook was derailed when he realised he did not have any bones to form the base of his jus. Cooking the pork perfectly, he did what he could with the sauce, adding chicken stock for extra flavour.

 

Harry wanted his dish to reflect his love of food and adventure. He opted to make a marinated lobster with enoki mushrooms, pomegranate seeds, micro herbs and a citrus crème fraiche. He added a burnt lemon sauce, a rice paper crisp wafer and a cucumber, fennel and coriander broth.

Curtis was impressed by Harry’s broth and the crisp wafer. While Gary loved his creativity, he thought the burnt lemon flavour overpowered the lobster.

The judges were impressed by Brett’s perfectly cooked pork but felt the dish lacked the classic sauce that they would expect at this stage of the competition. Curtis agreed, commented that a “jammier” sauce would have added to the dish.

Mimi’s dessert wowed the judges. Matt said it reminded him of some of Reynold’s (season seven) best dishes. The judges could not fault the dish and agreed that Mimi was safe.  While Brett and Harry both served dishes that were the essence of their food dreams.

Brett’s pork and puree were let down by his sauce and he farewelled MasterChef Australia. And  has returned to his day job as an airline captain. He still plans to open a gastro pub in the future with his daughters.

 

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