‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: They Literally Set The Kitchen On Fire
It’s Queensland Week on MasterChef Australia, and what better way to enjoy a clear Brisbane night than with an oil fire.
It’s Queensland Week on MasterChef Australia, and what better way to enjoy a clear Brisbane night than with an oil fire?
Contestants are assembled at Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves for an open-air night cook, kicked off by a surprise fireworks display. It’s a bit excessive, but Tati absolutely loses it and that’s all that matters.
Apparently she flippin’ loves fireworks, and the display excites her more than any guest chef ever could.
For their first challenge, contestants have 60 minutes to cook a dish using a Mystery Box full of “cracking” local Queensland ingredients. Everything in it cracks: Coconut, quail eggs, lychee, pork belly, blue swimmer crab, even a can of beer.
It’s a novel idea, but not many of the ingredients go together. There isn’t much that’s fresh or colourful either, and contestants don’t have the benefit of the MasterChef pantry — just what’s in the box plus their underbench pantry of staples.
The end result is a bunch of monochrome, boring looking dishes. Derek at least makes the most of the opportunity by drinking his beer.
The judges choose to taste Tati’s crab croquettes with quail egg and peanut sauce; Abbey’s oysters, crackling with crab sauce and lychee vinaigrette; Tessa’s Aussie bacon and eggs; Nicole’s Queensland crepes with lychee caramel; and Simon’s blue swimmer crab salad, oyster mayonnaise and candied peanuts.
Nearly everything is only OK, which I suppose is the best you can hope for when you give people oysters and peanuts to work with.
Simon’s crab salad wins him the chance to cook for immunity, with judges finding it exciting both in terms of flavour and texture. There’s no gantry, so he simply wanders off to the side and out of this episode of MasterChef.
Then we’re on to the second challenge, where crap goes down. There’s no Invention Test on MasterChef this week. Instead, contestants are to run seven food trucks in teams of two, serving seven different cuisines to 400 people.
Raising money for charity Second Bite, the two trucks that serve the best food and earn the most cash will get to join Simon to cook for the Immunity Pin, while the teams with the worst food and smallest earnings will go into the Pressure Test.
Teams have to make one dish to be priced at $5, and another to sell for $7.50. They have two and a half hours for prep, then an hour and a half to serve as many people as they can.
Derek gets off to a great start when he is randomly assigned to the Chinese food truck. He’s absolutely stoked, and feeling super confident because he cooks Chinese at home all the time. He and teammate Abbey quickly agree to make char siu pork noodles and spring rolls, and get enthusiastically get stuck into it.
However, half an hour into prep, the judges swing by to tell them they’re idiots.
“You’re crazy if you do that,” says George, disparaging their noodle idea.
“Um,” says Derek and his arms.
George points out that their food truck is equipped with six deep fryer baskets, which they currently aren’t using effectively. Fortunately there’s still two hours left in their prep time, so Derek and Abbey take on the advice and switch from noodles to crispy pork with Asian slaw, served with a honey soy glaze.
It sounds just as delicious as the noodles. However, the change means that Derek is not only folding and frying 240 spring rolls during service, but battering and frying pork as well. Presumably, Abbey is serving customers while Derek becomes one with the deep fryer and ascends this mortal plane.
Meanwhile, Tati and Sandeep have been assigned the American truck. It’s just behind British as the second most boring cuisine on offer, but they take on the challenge like champs, deciding on a menu of chilli con carne and buffalo wings with blue cheese dipping sauce.
Unfortunately, they quickly fall incredibly behind, both still peeling onions half an hour into the cook. An hour later they haven’t even started prepping their chicken, nor their celery, nor have they made their dressing.
Sandeep is panicking, and so am I. Five minutes before 400 ravenous Queenslanders descend upon their location, all Team America has to show for themselves is a tray full of raw chicken.
“I just don’t know what to do,” says Sandeep to the camera. He looks and sounds like he’s about to cry, or laugh and then cry. Either way, crying is not off the table. He screams a little as he preps the chicken.
“I think we are in trouble,” understates Tati.
However, Sandeep refuses to succumb to the mind-numbing terror. “I should just put this moment behind me. Panic cannot take over now,” he says to the camera. “We have some hungry people to feed, and they want chicken. I’m gonna make some chicken.”
Things look dire as service starts. Other trucks begin doling out food, and customers begin leaving America’s line. Then, much to his delight, Sandeep discovers the wonders of industrial deep fryers. Their ability to cook kilos of chicken at a time mean piles of crispy golden hope soon appear for Tati to serve.
My beautiful dream team is back on track, and making a valiant effort to catch up with their competition.
In the Vietnamese food truck, Larissa and Steph are serving crispy pork belly and Vietnamese salad for $5 and pho for $7.50. It’s an amazing price for pho, but then again this is a version of the dish that takes less than three hours to make.
They face a minor hiccup half an hour from service, when Larissa discovers her oven crammed full of pork belly wasn’t set at the right temperature. Fortunately there’s enough time to fix it, and the pork skin crisps up nicely. Their dishes are colourful and fresh, and Larissa thinks they’re in with a chance to win.
Then Steph says, “Um, holy shit we’ve got a problem.”
“It’s alright Steph, it’s OK,” reassures Larissa, presumably without looking to see what the problem actually is.
“No it’s not. Help! Help!”
The problem is that their truck is literally on fire.
Tall flames are leaping from the back of the oven, and Steph and Larissa quickly evacuate the truck while professionals move in with a fire extinguisher. Apparently the fat from the oven full of pork caught alight, and half their pork belly has gone up in smoke and flames. Larissa despairs that they won’t have enough left for service, and I respect her goal-oriented focus even in the face of a literal fire.
Sadly, the situation is even worse than they expected. George takes Steph and Larissa aside and tells them that, due to the chemicals from the fire extinguisher, all their food is now tainted. They can’t serve either of their dishes to the customers, as it could make people sick.
I might still risk it, because eating delicious food that is bad for me is my passion, but you can’t gamble with other people’s health. The Vietnamese truck is shut down, the queue dispersed, and all Team Vietnamese can do is watch with teary eyes as their hours of hard work are marked for the bin.
“It’s OK, it’s not the end of the world,” says George, which is easy to say when you aren’t the one risking eviction from MasterChef. Steph and Larissa are devastated. The fire is out, but the challenge is over for the Vietnamese Team.
Together, MasterChef’s seven food trucks raised over $5000 for Second Bite. However, the Korean Team raised $1045 all by themselves, their Korean fried chicken being a big hit, and customers apparently enjoying their BBQ beef bulgogi more than the judges did.
Nicole and Anushka will therefore join Simon to cook for the Immunity Pin. Also cooking will be Chinese Team Derek and Abbey, having been the only food truck to serve “two consistent and delicious dishes”.
Unfortunately though unsurprisingly, Vietnamese Team Steph and Larissa are automatically put into the elimination, having only raised $55 before their truck caught fire. It seems unfair that they should be at risk of going home because of an accident like that, but no other outcome would be fair to their competitors.
Also in the Pressure Test are the British Team: Ben and, in a bemusing turn of events, HRH Prince Harry. Their loaded baked potato was soggy and boring, while their Sunday roll roast in a brioche bun needed something fresh in it.
Gotta hand it to Ben and Tim for really nailing the essence of British food with sloppy presentation and bland flavours. #masterchefau
— Shut Down SETI (@shutdownSETI) June 2, 2019
Steph, Larissa, Ben or HRH will be leaving MasterChef tonight, and I am unashamed to say I hope it’s one of the men. Team Vietnamese don’t deserve that.
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.