The final 5 are starting to take shape on My Kitchen Rules with another elimination last night.
Competition rivals Chloe & Kelly and Helena & Vikki won the first two places in MKR’s Top 5 on Wednesday night during Kitchen HQ’s first knock out round, sending Victoria’s Josh & Danielle out of the MKR kitchen. The experimental foodies left the competition after losing the sudden death cook-off in the third round to fellow Victorians, Helena & Vikki who scored 39 out of 60.
In the first of three challenges for the night, each team had to fillet a rainbow trout, a test of their accuracy and team work.
Despite Chloe’s reservation that their finished fillets looked different to the other teams, the WA’s girls won the trout challenge with judge and co-host Pete Evans saying they had demonstrated “great skill.”
The early win gave Chloe & Kelly the advantage of choosing what ingredients (brains, rainbow trout or lemons and limes) the teams would cook with in the second challenge.
Chloe & Kelly surprised their competitors and judges when they chose to cook with brains. Kelly explained their controversial decision, saying they “didn’t want beige,” believing the ingredient was a great opportunity to impress the judges.
Josh & Danielle’s confit ocean trout with Asian herb salad and deep fried brussels sprouts was praised by the judges with Manu saying their trout was “cooked to perfection.”
Pete said their fried brussels sprouts were “beautiful and very on trend,” but criticized the couple after finding a bone in his fish.
Having to showcase lemons and limes in their dish, the flavour of Vikki & Helena’s lemon poached barramundi with crispy potatoes and leek puree impressed the judges, but their cooking technique let them down.
“The flavor you got into that barramundi was sensational,” said Guy Grossi. But there was one thing severely wrong: the centre of my barramundi was raw!”
But it was Chloe & Kelly’s dish of crispy brains with lentils and green sauce that won over the judges with Manu praising the girls for taking a risk.
“You had the power today and you decided to choose the brains. You’ve tossed a coin. And was I impressed? You bet I was. Because those brains were perfection on a plate.”
Pete agreed: “Most people are probably thinking ‘brains are not my cup of tea’, but if everyone tried your brains, I think they would be converted.”
Chloe & Kelly’s second win sent the girls straight to the Top 5, leaving Helena & Vikki and Josh & Danielle to fight it out in a sudden death cook-off featuring each team’s signature dish.
It was a battle of savoury vs. sweet with Josh & Danielle plating up a main of Mexican spiced beef in broth while Vikki & Helena chose to dish up their grandmother’s favourite dessert, Greek walnut cake with a vanilla crème anglaise.
While Pete and Manu questioned if Vikki & Helena had done enough in 90 minutes, Guy Grossi said their dessert was “the sort of cake you would find in a beautiful Greek pastry shop.”
Judge Liz Egan agreed: “I love it. That cream anglaise is gorgeous and there is plenty of vanilla bean in there.”
While the judges said Josh & Danielle had done well to plate up after their first attempt at the beef failed, it wasn’t enough to save them from elimination.
Fighting back tears, Danielle expressed the couple’s disappointment about leaving the competition: “Our time had to come at some stage, and we were hoping we‘d make it to the end, but it didn’t happen. But we’re proud.”
“It’s pretty exciting to think that we’ve cooked for two of Australia’s tops chefs and received great feedback,” added Josh.
My Kitchen Rules airs Mondays to Wednesdays at 7:30pm on Seven next week.