TV

‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: Golden Snitches, Edible Pebbles And The Final Immunity

150 points to Reynold!

by Michelle Rennex  8 July 2020
masterchef reynold immunity recap snitch

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

We did it, y’all. Last night was our final immunity challenge for the MasterChef: Back To Win season.

Riding the high off their nature Mystery Box wins, Sweat King Callum, Pasta Lover Laura and Dessert King Reynold entered the MasterChef kitchen with beaming smiles, which only got bigger after Andy revealed that the immunity cook had absolutely no rules.

Giving the top three the opportunity to really showcase their skills, the judges let them decide between themselves how much time they’d get for the challenge. Asking for three hours like an absolute madman, Reynold was outnumbered as Laura and Callum instead agreed on two.

With those two hours, the Dessert King decided that he was going to take the opportunity to “pull out his big guns”, which really makes you question what the hell every other science experiment he’s cooked so far has been classified as? Anyway, he shared that he was taking inspiration directly from Harry Potter, and would be trying to recreate an eight-element edible Golden Snitch. Taking inspiration from an actual wizard? Sounds about Reynold, tbh.

Also planning to whip up something bonkers, Laura settled on two beach-inspired snacks with pebble-looking oysters and driftwood-looking crab. Then, back in the human realm, Callum decided to make a chicken liver parfait with a Davidson plum gel, onion puree, charred leek and wattleseed crackers.

Speeding through the episode and with 30 minutes down, Callum realised that he had to make his liver parfait a little fancier to even stand a chance against Reynold and Laura’s lavish dishes. To do this, he decided to add a sugar brûlée to the top of his liver puree…………….. delicious, I suppose. Also working on her savoury snack creations, Laura started blitzing some raw egg and raw oysters into an grey-ass emulsion……………. scrumptious, I guess.

Meanwhile, working away on all his very many elements, the Dessert King started to make some edible wings, like the wizard he is. Adding his honey tuile to a feather mould, and getting the majority of the screen time, it was clear that it was Reynold’s challenge to lose.

Having a quick chit-chat about the dishes that were being whipped up, Jock acted like he had never heard of Harry Potter, one of the largest franchises in the world, before. Playing dumber than dumb, Jock asked Mel whether they eat the snitch in the film. Ah, yes Jock. Indeed, they eat the impossible-to-catch, dirty, gold piece of sporting equipment in Harry Potter. You’ve cracked the code!

As Laura begun to make meringues out of squid ink to resemble the pebbles for her dish, she hit a snag as her meringue sheet started to crumble. While her meringue shells worked, the thin sheet, that was meant to act as the pebble lid, didn’t. So thinking on her feet, Laura decided to replace her squid ink lid with a disc of fresh apple to keep her raw oyster emulsion in place, and hopefully balance out all the saltiness.

Meanwhile, with his bench looking like an absolute fucking bomb site, Reynold started to dip his Snitch body into chocolate before slapping on his trusty ol’ safety goggles. Whipping out his spray gun, the Dessert King begun to spray his Snitch, following it with a cheeky dusting in gold, which sounds about Reynold.

As all seemed to be going well, with just 30 minutes to go, Reynold struggled to get his feather tuiles out of their moulds. As he tried to take each fragile biscuit out, he sadly cracked them all as became increasingly more frustrated. Having to literally step away from his bench to relax for a hot second, the Dessert King was able to salvage four feathers to complete one full Snitch after calming down. Phew.

Back over on Earth, Callum was basically left twiddling his thumbs as he had already completed all his elements. Deciding to start plating, Callum took the liver parfait out of its mould and begun to carve three rectangular cubes of meat mush for the judges. Sprinkling sugar over his meat sticks, Callum melted his sugar tops so they’d be ready for service.

Meanwhile, Laura also started to assemble her lil’ crab snack sandwiches and ran into the garden to grab some sea parsley. Taking a page out of Reynold’s book, Laura poured some liquid nitrogen over her greens so that she could make a powder to sprinkle over her oyster “pebbles”.

Also using liquid nitrogen, as per usual, Reynold prepared his magical element of a smoking yogurt snow. With only two minutes to go, the Dessert King started to assemble his edible art piece, and somehow actually managed to glue all four wings onto his ball without breaking any more.

Presenting his sugary liver sticks first, the judges thought Callum’s dish took parfait to a new level. Andy absolutely frothed the brûlée top, while Jock called the chicken liver parfait one of the best he’s ever had. Similarly, Melissa found the sugar top fun and joyous, which is never how I’ve heard blended liver be described, but sure.

Up next Laura brought in her beach on a plate, which, fair play to her, looked pretty damn impressive. Chomping down on her crab crackers and oyster pebbles, Melissa felt that Laura’s choice to add the apple was the right decision. Feeling the same way, Jock thought that Laura nailed her brief too, with the platter transporting him right to the seaside.

Clearly saving best until last, Reynold presented his Snitch and added the extra wow factor by pouring his smoking yogurt snow into the base of his bowl. Happy with his efforts, the Dessert King even called the dish his prettiest yet — and Jock agreed, describing the Snitch as “inspired” and declaring it the best dish Reynold’s ever made. This sentiment echoed by Andy and Melissa, who thought the dessert was a “game changer” and not only beautiful, but perfectly balanced too.

Despite Laura and Callum both doing amazing jobs that would’ve won immunity on any other day, there was just no denying that Reynold’s masterpiece was the best of the best and so he scored the first spot in Finals Week. You’re a wizard finalist, Harry Reynold!

On the next episode of MasterChef: Back To Win, the bottom four have to cook a four-course meal for the judges — and six of the best chefs in the country — in order to join Reynold in Finals Week.

MasterChef: Back To Win returns Sunday 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.