They are the best of the best in the MasterChef Australia kitchen and tonight Seven became Six.
With immunity challenge winner Laura safe and watching from the gantry, it was Emelia, Poh, Callum, Reece, Tessa and Reynold who battled it out in a two-round challenge.
In round one, contestants had to choose a classic dish from around the world and cook it perfectly. The judges were looking for the three best classic dishes which would secure their makers a spot in the top six. The bottom three would have to cook in round two where someone would be going home.
Tessa chose to make fish and chips in 60 mins and Reece and Poh chose to do a crème caramel in 60 mins. Reynold and Emelia decided on a bombe Alaska in 90 mins while Callum decided to cook a chocolate souffle in 60 mins.
Emelia loves the classics and although she hadn’t made a bombe Alaska before, she was confident that she knew how to nail all the elements. Reynold’s usual style of cooking is a lot more modern, so he was cautious about this challenge.
Callum has made hundreds of fruit souffles before but never a chocolate one, so he decided to experiment with a bit of trial and error. Poh and Reece went head to head with their crème caramels and Tessa chose to cook the only savoury dish of the bunch with her fish and chips.
Judgement time and Emelia, Callum and Reece nailed their classic dishes. While Poh’s crème caramels didn’t set in time, Reynold’s sponge was too thick, and Tessa forgot capers in her tartare sauce along with her fish being overcooked.
In round two, three of MasterChef’s biggest superstars faced off in an electrifying elimination challenge: Poh, Tessa and Reynold. The judges set them a huge task – to create a sweet or savoury dish that the judges have never seen before.
Reynold decided to create a dish inspired by the taste of space, which contained the flavours of rum and raspberry.
Tessa chose to stick to a cuisine she knows and loves, Indian. But to make her dish truly unique she combined Indian flavours with a Mexican concept by creating an Indian taco.
Poh decided to create a dish that’s a spin on her Chinese Malaysian heritage – a rempah udang. But in true Poh style, halfway through her cook she decided to add a Malaysian banana leaf dessert, and once again, took things down to the wire to get her dish completed on time.
At the tasting, Poh’s gamble of making two dishes paid off – the judges loved her rempah udang and dessert. But Tessa’s tacos and Reynold’s space creation both contained flaws. Tessa’s dish had too many big flavours going on and Jock questioned whether her hot sauce and salsa were truly Indian versus Mexican. They also declared Reynold’s rum to be lacking, and his mousse wasn’t really a mousse.
After final deliberations, Tessa’s dish was deemed least impressive and she was eliminated from the competition.
