She is the flavour queen and the queen of our hearts, our hearts which are now broken because tonight, Favourite Minoli, left the MasterChef kitchen.
Following their less than stellar cooks in yesterday’s coffee mystery box challenge, Sarah, Minoli, Harry and Jenn headed to Daylesford for the first part of their pressure test set by the legendary Alla Wolf-Tasker of the Lake House.
Jock revealed that they would be cooking one of Alla’s dishes, Summer Cucumbers With Murray Cod, without a recipe. Alla ran them through the steps and complexities of the dish, before they headed back to MasterChef kitchen to cook the dish by memory.
With 30 minutes left on the clock, the contestants were feeling the heat, but none more so than Minoli with Alla expressing concern that she wouldn’t have enough time to complete the dish. Harry cooled her vichyssoise in an ice bath, but when she cut into her cod she could see that it was overcooked and opted to play her pin and head to the safety of the gantry.
Minoli had 90 seconds left to plate, and raced to get something up for the judges to taste. In the rush to get elements on the plate, she neglected to strain her dill oil and misplaced her cucumber linguini in the mess on her bench. In an outpouring of emotion post cook, Minoli was devastated with the dish she was putting up.
After a stellar cook, Jenn was first to the tasting room where the judges agreed that her dish was very close to the original.
Minoli was next and when the judges taste her vichyssoise, it was bright and wonderfully balanced. However, her haste of plating revealed many imperfections, from missing cod roe, dill fronds and cucumber linguini to overcooked fish and unstrained dill oil.
When it was Sarah’s turn, the judges found the rushed vichyssoise had started to split and the fish butchery had left a chunk of sinew in Mel’s cucumber cod roll, and a small fish bone in Andy’s confit Murray Cod.
After a challenging cook, and on a day for precision and memory, Favourite Minoli battled with time and was announced as the seventh contestant eliminated from the MasterChef kitchen.
