‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: “Please Don’t Look At Me”

It’s Secret Week on MasterChef Australia, which is a lot like a normal week on MasterChef Australia only the judges say “secret” a lot.

Blake is gone, having put glue on his plate in lieu of potato puree in last week’s elimination, while the remaining contestants face the Mystery Box. This week it contains a dumpling rolling pin, as the secret is that the contestants are going to be making dumplings. This gives you an idea of the loose definition of “secret” we’ll be encountering over the next few days.

Contestants have 60 minutes to make a plate of dumplings that take the judges “straight to the heart of Chinatown”, so I’m spared a hotdog/sandwich moment when someone makes ravioli. Din Tai Fung’s Edward Yulianto pops in to give a dumpling demonstration, leaving as quickly as he arrived like some sort of dumpling superhero.

Then it’s time for the contestants to see who can make the best little lumps of joy.

All eyes are on Derek for this challenge, since he got his white MasterChef apron on the back of a plate of dumplings and has been making dumplings all his life. The judges take turns swinging by his bench to call him “Dumpling Master” and remind him he is representing his family today, because they take sadistic pleasure in inducing mind-numbing anxiety.

There’s enough pressure on Derek to crush a small car, but he handles it well, deciding to keep his pork and prawn wontons simple and traditional. He also chooses to mince his own pork belly so he can control the fat content. “Fat equals flavour,” he says, the mission statement of Lizzo’s ‘Juice’.

However, Derek runs into a bit of a problem with his tiny dumpling rolling pin, being unfamiliar with handling something so small. “I don’t actually use a pin,” he laughs to the camera. He typically uses a pasta rolling machine instead, which is far from traditional but a shortcut I can respect.

Wisely unwilling to risk his dish in an attempt to save face on national television, Derek rolls out his dumpling dough like he’s making fettuccine. “Please don’t look at me. Please don’t look at me,” he chants as he feeds it through the machine, ducking low to hide from the judges. I relate hard.

Fortunately, it works out for him. The judges love Derek’s pork and prawn wontons with Szechuan sauce, George expressing admiration at the self-minced meat and Gary punching the air with a “boom, yes!” that I hope his family mocks him for.

Christina’s experimental addition of black sesame seeds to her dumpling dough made her stand out in the tasting as well. They don’t ruin the skin as Matt feared, and vegetables in her filling make her pork and black sesame dumplings with cinnamon bark, star anise and orange broth taste fresh.

The judges also try Joe’s prawn dumplings with secret dipping sauce; Tati’s unfortunately undercooked prawn dumplings with mushroom, beetroot and coriander; and Anushka’s pork and chicken dumplings with chicken broth and Asian aromats. Anushka looks incredibly shocked to be tasted, as am I considering she was making her dough with 25 minutes left in the cook.

In the end, “Derek’s delicious dumplings” win the cook, and he avoids shaming his family. I’m happy because the humiliation of losing a dumpling challenge would have taken years to recover from.

With Derek on the gantry and an abrupt switch to the hermit life averted, it’s now time for the secret-themed Invention Test.

Contestants have 75 minutes to cook a dish with a secret, whether that be a secret family recipe, a secret ingredient, or any other kind of secret they can come up with. Like high school Visual Arts students, they can pretty much just do whatever they want as long as they can justify it.

Sandeep takes the opportunity to go wild with the open pantry, gleeful over having access to every spice his little heart desires. I’m convinced he’d be rolling in them like a cat in catnip if given half the opportunity. He’s bringing back his “secret garam masala” for Secret Week, which we previously learned contains “secret cumin, secret cardamom, secret cloves, secret star anise, secret cinnamon, secret bay leaves”.

Secret king Sandeep also makes a “secret chutney” to serve with his Tandoori style lamb chops. He calls it “Killer chutney” because “it’s to die for”, but his enthusiasm is somewhat dampened when the chilli almost kills George during the cook. 

There’s also no charcoal tandoori oven for Sandeep to use, so he makes do with a Japanese hibachi grill. He has a bit of trouble managing the heat, and it produces an impressive amount of smoke that wafts directly into his eyes, but Sandeep soldiers on with his signature cheer.

“I’m loving it,” he says, genuine despite his face indicating he is very much not loving it.

Meanwhile, Leah is breaking out the molecular gastronomy, topping her lime and strawberry cheesecake shooters with strawberry caviar. She makes it all the time at home, and is super excited to show it off. It will never not blow my mind that molecular gastronomy is now a casual weekend thing people do at home.

Unfortunately, Leah’s cook goes nowhere near as smoothly as Derek’s. First she forgets to turn the stove off when running to grab a tray, and her lime curd thickens up too much. Then, with five minutes to go, her strawberry sodium alginate mixture simply refuses to form spheres when dripped into the calcium lactate bath.

The resultant reddish squiggles look less like caviar and more like little chunks of fish poop, but there’s no time to redo it. Leah is devastated, and so am I. It’s always rough seeing someone fail at something they’re good at.

The judges kick off their tasting with Sandeep’s Tandoori style lamb chops with ‘Killer’ and ‘Not So Killer’ chutneys. In response to notorious chilli wimp George’s reaction, Sandeep has mixed some yoghurt into the Killer chutney to soften it into a milder manslaughter. George loves the chutney, and the chops are beautifully cooked to boot.

Though Sandeep reckons he hasn’t “eaten a better vindaloo in [his] life” than Steph’s traditional pork vindaloo, made using a recipe “stolen” from her mother-in-law, his secrets beat hers out for a place in the Immunity Challenge alongside Derek.

Joining them will be Larissa, whose kanafeh with rose and strawberry sorbet used cornflakes for the crumb instead of the traditional semolina, and Tati. She’s massively redeemed herself for her Mystery Box cook, and Gary dubs Tati’s sour chicken curry with rempeyek peanut crackers “the recipe of the season” thus far. I want it.

Unfortunately, not everyone had a secret worth sharing. Anushka’s pistachio shortbread with pistachio ice cream lacks flavour, as does Kyle’s lime and mint salad with lime sorbet. And of course, Leah’s cheesecake shooters are as disappointing as they appear, with eggy curd and misshapen strawberry caviar that doesn’t taste like strawberry at all.

The three will be going into the next elimination, where one of them will exit the running for Australia’s Next Top MasterChef.

---

Amanda Yeo is a Sydney-based writer, lawyer and MasterChef enthusiast who still thinks Reynold should have gotten an immunity pin for his 30/30 dessert in season seven. Follow her on Twitter: @amandamyeo.