Darren Purchese serves up a peachy pressure test

Darren Purchese serves up a peachy pressure test

Lisa, Brendan, Jo  and Jenny faced an epic sweet challenge set by Darren Purchese last night.

Jo was positive going into the cook, determined that every time wearing the black apron was an opportunity to showcase new skills. The group was tasked with making the dish that inspired Darren to become a pastry chef – peach Melba. Topped with a sugar cage, this dessert featured vanilla ice cream surrounded by a tempered white chocolate collar. Inside was a crunchy raspberry flavoured striped tuile around a peach schnapps and peach poaching syrup jelly. Inside yet another layer was the poached peach.

With three hours on the clock, the contestant to make the least impressive dish would be sent home, and Brendan started the cook sketching out what he had just seen.

Jo’s ice cream was in the churner before she measured out sugar, water and glucose for her sugar cage. She poached her peaches in peach schnapps and vanilla bean, and with such a delicate and soft step she took care ensuring the liquid didn’t boil.

With one hour down Jenny was still working on her second sugar cage. Dropping it into her container it dropped harder than she thought, breaking again. She was devastated and had no choice but to repeat the step again – now making her third sugar cage.

With an hour to go, the group raced to complete the complicated and decadent dish. Jo’s tuile had developed big air bubbles and Darren told her she’d need to repeat it. She was emotional and worried this was going to be enough to send her home. She refused to quit, she had worked too hard to get here and was focused and determined to keep fighting.

In the final minutes, each of the contestants raced to plate the various delicate elements into their own beautiful peach Melbas. Both Lisa and Jo failed to include their white chocolate collar, but at the end all four hugged each other, proud of their efforts to try and survive the epic cook.

Brendan was first up for tasting, and George said it was exceptional. Jo was next and without a chocolate collar, she was nervous about missing a crucial element. Matt was impressed with her fine sugar cage, but the tuile was overly thick, and her peaches had been poached slightly too far. Gary said the dish was flat and the overall balance of flavours wrong.

Jenny nailed the desert and Darren agreed Lisa had done an excellent job. But after serving overly soft peaches and an overly thick tuile, it was Jo who was sent packing, becoming the eighth contestant eliminated from the MasterChef Australia kitchen.

Jo has worked at Cutler and Co, Supernormal and Om Nom. Her travel food tours will be a reality soon, with trips planned to Italy, Spain and France.

 

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