The competition has well and truly begun on Masterchef
Bursting through the doors of the kitchen to greet the Top 24 contestants, Gary delivered the news that the first mystery box of the season was a special one. Each judge chose three favourite ingredients to go under the box, revealing George picked lemons, tarragon and calamari; Gary chose spatchcock, mangoes and tamarind; while Matt selected brussels sprouts, fish sauce and spring onions.
Time starts and Huda was keen to show the judges her style, opting to make a lemon ice cream with tarragon crumbs. Gary and George visited her bench and wondered if she was doing enough with her time and she decided to completely change her dish, opting to make chicken pie with caramelised mango.
Abbey was in her element breaking down the spatchcock, intending to serve it with brussels sprouts several ways and spring onions and zesty lemons. Gary was overwhelmed when tasting Abbey’s dish, saying it was what chicken dinner dreams were made of, which caused Abbey to envision her fiancé at home who will have fomo when he learns of the meal he has missed. Matt said it was rich, fantastic cooking and it came as no surprise when she was announced as the winner of the mystery box challenge.
With Abbey sent up to the gantry to await her place in this week’s immunity cook, Matt told the contestants there was good reason why they wanted to be in her shoes, directing them to the back of the room where a series of black mystery boxes were walked in and placed at their benches. In the MasterChef kitchen, black signifies someone’s just hours away from leaving the competition.
Before they went through their ingredients, all eyes were on Tim. As the winner of last week’s immunity pin, he elected to play the pin and joined Abbey in the gantry.
The remaining 22 contestants revealed that the black mystery boxes were filled with black ingredients – blackberries, eggplant, black tahini, dark chocolate, black garlic, black tomatoes, marron and black angus porterhouse steak.
The contestants had 75 minutes to cook a delicious dish using at least one ingredient from the black mystery box. The judges were looking for the bottom four, whoever cooked the worst dish will be going home. The remaining three will go into tomorrow’s pressure test. The top three dishes will join Abbey in this week’s immunity.
Derek decided to make a chocolate crème brulee with a blackberry sorbet and Tessa had her first crack at cooking marron, pairing it with a black garlic butter. Kyle is a pescatarian, opting mainly to cook vegetarian meals at home, but in a bold move he decided to use the steak and serve it with an eggplant baba ganoush and black garlic butter with roasted tomatoes.
Having learnt a lot during her immunity cook with Curtis Stone last week, Dee opted to use the porterhouse again, intending to pan fry it and serve it with a blackberry sauce and eggplant chips. Nicole seared her steak and made a blackberry sauce while Yossra prepared a caramelised eggplant salad to serve with her steak.
Huda didn’t feel she showcased her skills in the first mystery box cook and was keen to correct her mistake this time round, opting to make creamy eggplant with grilled steak and a tomato and blackberry vinaigrette. But she was nervous about working with steak and hoped she didn’t overcook it.
As the judges tucked in it was time to deliver the verdict. The top three were announced – Tessa, Kyle and Derek – with each to take their place alongside Abbey in this week’s immunity. Kyle was thrilled to be named as dish of the day. But where there are highs, there are lows, and the bottom four were announced as Huda, Yossra, Dee and Nicole.
When George cut into Huda’s steak, the judges were disappointed to see it was medium well and overcooked. The vinaigrette was delicious but Matt said everything else needed lower temperature and slower cooking. The dish lacked one stand-out flavour, which is a big problem in Gary’s books. As a result, Huda became the first contestant eliminated from the 11th season of MasterChef Australia.
Since leaving the MasterChef kitchen, Huda has launched her own dairy-free ice cream business, Sassi Ice Cream. She continues to teach people about enjoying a healthy connection with food.
