‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: Guessing Games, Takeaway Dishes And A Farewell To The Fedora
"Hopefully Jason Mraz is a guest judge this week so we can keep our fedora quota up now Chris has left."
Another week, another episode left wondering when Ice Cream Ben will finally get arrested elimination from the MasterChef kitchen.
Wrapping up ‘Suburban Week’ — which, let’s be real, was really not much different to any other week — the contestants returned to the MasterChef kitchen and were greeted by a heap of silver cloches.
Jock started the cook by explaining that the ‘burbs aren’t always about eating out, sometimes it’s also about eating in via takeaway — which is the exact same statement that can be said about the city, showing just how dumb the suburbs concept really is.
Anyway, proving that that MasterChef cooks are ~just like us~, Jock made the contestants share their fave takeout cuisines and dishes. Turns out that Jock did this because under each mysterious cloche was a different popular take-away dish that the contestants had to guess the name of and its country of origin.
This was bad news for Fedora Chris, who thinks he’s better than the rest of Australia because he never orders takeout. Good for you, Chris. Some of us are lazy, alright? Let us live.
Feeling the judgement from Chris: "We NEVER get takeaway. We ALWAYS cook." #MasterChefAU
— Mel (@melb_mel) May 10, 2020
The rules of the game were simple: The first four people who failed to correctly identify a dish and its origin country would have to cook in the second round.
Starting easy, Andy first unveiled a margherita pizza, and thankfully no one got it wrong. Though, it was pretty hard to tell with Chocolate Balloon Boy Reece, considering he scribbled down his microscopic answers with the common garden ant in mind.
After Jock finished dragging Reece’s handwriting, Andy revealed a Vietnamese beef pho to which Hayden said “ooo ramen” and I — I truly cannot handle this man any longer. Who let him in this all-star competition?! Lmao, anyway despite his initial guess, Hayden, along with everyone else got the dish correct.
Moving along to Chinese peking duck pancakes, Ice Cream Ben stumbled HARD and called the dish rice paper rolls from “Veitnam” even though a Vietnamese dish literally just came out. Acting like Ben had just been arrested on set, the entire kitchen fell silent while Ben looked around cluelessly trying to figure out what happened.
Perhaps shocked by Ben confusing rice paper rolls with pancakes or by his inability to spell Vietnam correctly, Khanh literally gasped at the sign of Ben’s board, which landed the ice cream-maker the first spot in the second round.
The way all the contestants were dramatically reacting to Ben getting the peking duck pancakes wrong has me CRYING. Why are they acting like THIS is the moment that got him arrested?? 💀 #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/U41MIxRa6r
— Michelle Rennex (@michellerennex) May 10, 2020
The fourth dish shown was a laksa, which was kinda slack considering the dish exists on so many different Asian take-away menus across Australia. It’s kinda like throwing spring rolls up on the guessing table and asking the cooks to decide which country gets to have ownership over them.
As a result of the mean ask, the contestants were split between Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. But in the end, the judges were looking for Malaysia as the origin country — however also accepted Singapore because it was part of Malaysia up until 1965. Cheers for the cheeky lil’ history lesson, Jock.
This technicality just saved Dessert King Reynold and Redhead Sarah from a spot in round two. Sadly the same couldn’t be said for Tessa and Fedora Chris, who both said Vietnam (again?!) and Tracy, who chose Thailand. With that, only four dishes in, the first round was over.
To torment the bottom four, Andy and Melissa then continued to reveal the rest of the dishes so those safe on the gantry could have a little bit of fun — and probably because the producers didn’t expect the contestants to be THAT bad at the game and so needed to fill up a bit of air time.
Unveiling a whole bunch of dishes the bottom four said they could’ve guessed correctly if given the chance, Melissa pulled out foods like Aussie Chiko rolls, Greek gyros, British fish ‘n’ chips, Indonesian nasi goreng and Curtis Stones’ favourite, Korean bibimbap.
Hoo this is a risky game that was definitely devised by a white person #MasterChefAU
— Dash Jayasuriya (@gameonmoll) May 10, 2020
the masterchef writers just want to highlight the whiteness of these contestants and im here for this comedic value thank you channel ten #MasterChefAU
— renee 🔫 // ke spoilers (@liekestoe) May 10, 2020
In round two of the elimination cook-off, the bottom four were tasked with creating a takeaway dish of their own in 70 minutes. The twist, however, was that the dish not only had to be MasterChef-quality but also able to withstand actually being delivered.
Melissa revealed that this would be done by having actual Deliveroo drivers bring the dishes to her home — which, if we’re being honest, meant that the food would likely get to her cold, overcooked, leaking out of the containers and missing a couple of components.
Ruling out ice cream for a delivery challenge, Ice Cream Ben had to shy away from his speciality. Instead, he dipped back into his Indonesian heritage and started whipping up a nasi goreng — which is actually quite smart because rice holds heat and can’t really overcook in transit.
Also aware of the fact that most proteins continue to cook in takeaway containers, meat-lover Fedora Chris opted for a vego option too. Going for the ‘travel-friendly’ aka boring dish of a saag paneer with a flatbread and rice, Fedora Chris again took to opportunity to brag that he never gets takeout because he always cooks.
Ok King Of Home Cooking, enough. We’re pieces of shit, we get it.
Who likes takeaway? Everyone loves takeaway! Literally every human regularly purchases takeaway!!!
*5 mins later*
Chris: urgh we n e v e r get takeaway#MasterChefAU
— 🍔 (@onefatman) May 10, 2020
As the boys toiled away, Tessa got cracking on her South-Indian fish curry with paratha, chutney and rice, which was a real Choice™️ considering how fast fish dries out once overcooked. Meanwhile Tracy, despite literally just being in the top three for the immunity challenge, was well into butchering her poultry for fried chicken — quite possibly the dumbest choice for a dish that needs to be delivered.
But just like Fedora Chris, Tracy tried to justify her lack of takeout knowledge by saying that the Barossa Valley really isn’t “known” for takeaway. And, sorry? Girl, you’re cool and all but what kind of bullshit excuse is that? A quick Google search shows that the Barossa has at least 35 restaurants that do takeout. Honestly, just do a Chris and say you’re better than us for never ordering takeout and leave it at that.
Anyway, after spending ages cutting her chicken, Tracy realises that perhaps a dish that’s known for being crunchy probably won’t fare well stuck sweating in a container for 20 minutes. So she tearfully changes tack, and instead uses her chicken strips for a green curry served with rice and salad.
I cry over fried chicken too, Tracy. It’s okay. #MasterChefAU
— jackson langford (@jacksonlangford) May 10, 2020
With 45 minutes remaining, the boys send Melissa off home to wait for the dishes to arrive. This gave Andy and Jock time to continue to terrorise the busy cooks with their terrible attempt at banter.
After not being able to get anything out scarily calm Fedora Chris, the judges set their sights on Tessa and begun questioning her choice of protein. To defend herself, Tessa explained that she had planned to cook the boys and Melissa’s dishes for different amounts of time to prevent the fish overcooking in transit.
Continuing to annoy the contestants, Andy and Jock then visited Ben, who was busy preparing the eggs to go on top of his nasi goreng. Frying a sunny side up quail egg for the boys and deep frying a boiled chicken egg for Melissa, Jock began fussing over how the judges were being served tWo DiFfeReNt DiShEs.
Despite Ben literally just trying to ensure his egg survived through delivery — you know? Like the challenge was asking him to do — Jock, maker of on-the-spot rules that make no fucking sense, said that the variation in the dishes wasn’t allowed. Hmmmmm, just like how Queen Of Law Sarah was suddenly not allowed to use the root vegetable leaves in her dish that one time?? Absolute fucking nonsense, tbh.
Rightfully ignoring the judges, Ben continued with his plan because that “same dish” rule was literally pulled right out of Jock’s ass to inject a bit of drama into the episode.
Don’t be so dramatic jock it’s an egg dude #MasterChefAU
— Tasha Priya Alderson (@cheekytasha77) May 10, 2020
With 20 minutes to go, in the most unnecessary cool guy motorbike montage ever, four Deliveroo drivers were shown hooning down the street like some type of bikie gang as dramatic, suspenseful music played. But back in the kitchen, the contestants were totally unfazed and continued their cooks.
Everything was going smoothly except for when the camera panned to Tessa’s station and we saw that Tessa channelled extreme Redhead Sarah energy as she absolutely butchered her snapper. Cracking under pressure, Tessa struggled to get clean fillets off her fish but magically managed to actually cook and plate up her dish.
Packing their meals into enviro-friendly packaging, Tracy, Tessa, Chris and Ben then pass their dishes to the four separate Deliveroo drivers, who are all heading to the same place at the same time. Oh, boy! We love the environment!
Biopak food packaging ♻…. but 4 different drivers to deliver to Melissa….. #MasterChefAU
— DT (@heydylano) May 10, 2020
Why did the producers put such threatening music behind the shots of the Deliveroo drivers coming down the street? Are they in a bikie gang? I'm scared #MasterchefAU pic.twitter.com/FHHyeNzhUT
— Michelle Rennex (@michellerennex) May 10, 2020
Anyway, Melissa living the absolute dream, gets her four takeout orders delivered to her at once. Starting with the nasi goreng, Melissa cracks into the perfectly runny whole fried egg and finds Ben’s egg choices very smart. Meanwhile, in the MasterChef tasting room, Jock’s STILL having a sook that Ben’s not given him a chicken egg.
Andy explains that he understands why Ben did it, considering the judges literally asked for the dishes to be “MasterChef’ed up” but Jock still isn’t sold. Unfortunately for Jock The Grinch™️, all the judges found the nasi goreng itself to be absolutely delicious.
Next up, Fedora Chris’ saag paneer, accompanied by a beer, was… just fine. While the dish did travel well, Melissa noted that she would’ve loved to see a little more complexity in the dish itself. The sentiment was shared by Andy and Jock, who also felt the dish was “ok” but not “outstanding”, which is not the critique you want to hear in an elimination cook-off.
if laura served 2 different eggs jock would be like #masterchefau pic.twitter.com/fyEqr2dfD3
— len (@thigh_ride) May 10, 2020
Continuing the curry train, Tracy presented her eggplant and chicken green curry. At home, Melissa noticed that Tracy’s salad container had melted a little after being placed next to the piping hot curry. Obviously that doesn’t change the taste though, and Melissa found the curry was delicious and that the salad was a great, fresh touch.
Like Melissa, the boys also loved the big flavours that the curry was able to deliver in such a short amount of time. Surprisingly, however, the melted salad really proved to the be the star of Tracy’s dish. And despite all the worries about her protein, Tessa’s fish curry was cooked perfectly for both the boys and Melissa at home, but could’ve done with some deeper curry flavours.
Returning to the MasterChef kitchen, Melissa joined Andy and Jock to deliberate over their food experiences. But, honestly? The conversation really wasn’t necessary because it was very clear that Fedora Chris had the worst dish of the day, despite all his calm confidence throughout the cook. And with that we said ta-ta to the hat-wearing, meat-loving, terrible portioning man of the season.
Andy: “We have a tough decision to make”
Australia: “Chris”#MasterChefAU— MollieKweenOfTheAndals (@AndalsKween) May 10, 2020
Hang your fedora out for Chris #MasterchefAU pic.twitter.com/LgdvwUjDeK
— Tas Mavridis* (@TasMavridis) May 10, 2020
Hopefully Jason Mraz is a guest judge on #masterchefau this week so we can keep our fedora quota up now Chris has left
— Dylan Alcott (@DylanAlcott) May 10, 2020
On the next episode of MasterChef: Back To Win, the remaining contestants start ‘Twist Week’ with a service challenge where they have to feed 100 hungry diners.
MasterChef: Back To Win returns tonight at 7.30pm on Channel Ten.
Michelle Rennex is a Senior Writer at Junkee who can’t cook, but enjoys judging people like she can. You can follow her on Twitter at @michellerennex.