Category — Masterchef Australia

Last week I accosted Jonathan Daddia, from Series Two,  in a local cafe to get an update on what he has been doing since his time on Masterchef finished.

Jonathan who was known as “smugathon” said he is trying to get a food product manufactured but there are a few hurdles to do this in Australia. However he said he wants to keep it local. Also the reason why he was not on the Masterchef Australia – Where Are They Now, was that he declined.

Either he has a life or has been slightly scarred by the Masterchef experience as he said he did not watch Season Three, nor has he watched any of Season Four. When I asked if he would be willing to go on a Masterchef All-Stars series (OK we can fantasise about that) he said he didn’t think so.  This is a pity as he was one of the more memorable cooks of all the seasons, both in quality and also personality. It was always good to see him give a bit of lip back to the judges.

At the moment on the show the only contestant prepared to chat back to the judges is Lydia, however she did keep her mouth shut when Gary Mehigan announced “This is the first pressure test of the series!”.

I think he mean the first pressure test in the top 24 where someone is eliminated. As Shannon Bennett from Vue De Monde set a pressure test for the top 50.

Tonight it was Lydia, Wade and TK battling it out to make the best eight textured chocolate cake by Peter Gilmore. This is one of his iconic dishes from his three hat restaurant Quay. As George said it has “eight alaments” in it. So lots of places where to trip up.

Peter Gilmore was quite hands on, and did show them how to plate it up, and also gave lots of advice to the contestants in the 3 1/2 hours they were cooking it. Advice that most appear to ignore.

“I’m not following the recipe but I think I have got it under control” said TK. She reckons she read the recipe and she thought the order she was doing it in  was better for her.

“Why are you making layer six now?” said Peter. “I am concerned but I don’t want to stress out right now.” said TK. Though she did start flipping out when she was tempering the chocolate.

Wade reassured Peter that he did have enough chocolate in his mousse, and Lydia after splitting her chocolate and caramel cream realised she did not have the time to go back and re-do it.

At the judging table were George, Gary, Matt Preston as well as Peter Gilmore. But the Quay chef’s role appeared to be plating it up for the judges, and giving his feedback about it. However he is not allowed any say in who should stay and who should go. This is different from Top Chef in the US. Where the guest judge normally announces the winner and has a say in who will being going.

Wade who had been fairly calm the whole time, had an issue with his mousse being too wet and the dacquoise disappearing. Peter said this was a sign there was not enough chocolate in it.

TK did not temper her chocolate properly so did not get the crack when they cut it up. However Peter said she nailed the mousse.

Lydia was last to plate up.  Her ganache had difficulty breaking through the chocolate was this because her ganache was too thick because of the way she had made it or had it thickened up whilst waiting to serve it.

Gary had thought her mousse and cream were curdled, however Matt said only the cream was curdled. However nothing was going to stop Lydia from being eliminated not even telling Peter she had brought his cookbook and she loved him.

Lydia is also working on a cookbook and the working title is “Lydia’s Bucket List: 100 Recipes To Share With You Before I Get Eliminated”.

In the space of a week, two contestants who had a bit of spark have been eliminated. Are the judges ageist or are the expectations of the older contestants higher? Let’s hope we are not stuck with a bunch of bland contestants. Yes it should be all about the food, but as a viewer we don’t get to taste the dishes and need a bit of drama, wit or a laugh to keep us tuning in.

It appears we are seeing more of the dishes cooked this year which is a good thing, however I would like to know how they tasted.

This was particularly pertinent in the mystery box challenge where the judges only officially tasted three dishes. They may not necessarily be the best ones there, just the ones they like the look of.

Who else was curious to know how Matt’s dessert style crab custard garnished with peas and pomegranate seeds tasted like? Or Kath’s dish where she ground the cocoa nuts and infused it in a custard?

The mystery box was a mixture of ingredients including blue swimmer crab, pomegranate, eggs, nuts, peas, coconut and seeds.

Amina gave Matt Preston a lesson in middle eastern cooking when he made the statement that crab was not usual in that cuisine. In fact she said it was very popular where her father grew up in Alexandria which of course is on the coastline.

Her concept of crab with pomegranate sauce sounded good but she appeared to be under the same assumption as Matt that you had to use as many of the mystery box ingredients as possible, as there were eggs and peas garnishing it as well.

Filippo won and was given the power in the invention test.

He was confident as it fit in with his skill set of bread making. The contestants had to make their own sandwiches by baking their own bread, and he also had to pick between the main ingredient with a choice of bacon, tomato or lettuce.

He obviously decided to take pity on Amina and not select bacon, but being Italian he picked the tomato.

They had two hours to make the dish.

Gary was looking extremely interested in Sam’s is cheese sandwiches fried in duck fat, however he over did it adding bechamel sauce. However he also had the added problem of his bread being so thick so the right balance was not there.  In fact it looked like a bread roll.

To be fair it did not look much fattier than Lydia’s polenta sandwich. Matt Preston queried whether it was going to be a vegetable stack, though Matt did put it together to eat with his fingers. However Gary thought it was far too oily.

Mindy made murtabak a staple in Malaysia, it is roti with filling wrapped inside it. I had never thought it was a sandwich before but it got in on a technicality.  By the way what happened to Mindy’s bottom lip did she burn it?

TK was having a shocker, her bread did not rise and looked like a rock. The issue was she killed the yeast by adding  boiling water to it. Gary Mehigan advised her to make flat bread quickly. This made her sandwich quite fusion as she was doing a Vietnamese pork roll.

Alice was being adventurous and made a New York style Bagel with rare roast beef. She even made her own bagels which Gary and George were sceptical about but in the end they declared her concoction delicious.

Dalvinda made a naan bread with spinach puree, chicken and a tomato chutney. However it had the added touch of mozzarella cheese sprinkled in it so she went a bit fusion there.

Debra made walnut bread with a goats cheese, onion and tomato topping and Gary loved it. In fact he gave her a hug and said we just want to thank you for coming on the show and cooking consistent beautiful food. Clearly something he is not getting from a lot of the contestants this year.

The top three were Mindy, Debra and Dalvinda. However just as Filippo was giving everyone the death stare it was announced there was a top four and he was included in it. But his three different breads with three different toppings did not win, it was Mindy’s murtabak that won her the chance to compete in the immunity challenge.

Filippo tried to look gracious about it but he knows this was probably his best shot to win an invention test.

Bottom three were TK, Wade who had made a stodgy Vietnamese pork roll, and Lydia. Lydia looked very displeased being in that line up. They will be competing in a pressure test tomorrow night set by Peter Gilmore from Quay. It won’t be easy.

A bit of Friday fun provided by Julie Goodwin winner of Masterchef Australia Season 1 where she sings and does a bit of spoof (not in a Craig Thomson way) with Wilko from Star FM a Central Coast radio station.

I saw it on TV Tonight’s website and the biggest laugh I read his first paragraph:

A couple of years ago when I suggested to Julie Goodwin that she was the new Susan Boyle she seemed to take offence. It was meant as a compliment, because both had come from oblivion to become a star for the masses, but I don’t think she quite got my drift, wrapping an interview abruptly thereafter. Oops.

OK when Kevin thought the pasta he had selected was lasgna I thought he deserved to be instantly eliminated, but when he was turfed at the end of the episode I was not happy about it.

However Kevin really has no one to blame but himself for his demise.

He was the first one up on the pasta identification challenge and he picked “lasagna” however it was actually lasagnette (I think) so he did have the first part right I guess.

Of course none of the others got it right and for the last six in line they should send Kevin a case of beer each, because they were automatically safe as only six people were to go into the next round.

The second round was to make pasta. They had to make 250 grams or more of fettucini. Mindy, Kevin, TK, Emma, Jules and Kylie were battling it out. Mindy was first through, she is starting to come across as nice but a little intense, then Kylie who went to the dark side and asked for a hug from the judges.

Jules admitted she had never made pasta so she was always going to be in trouble. But seriously if you are selected to go on Masterchef you need to have done some cooking basics and one of these is make pasta. Maybe they need to change the application form to not ask about their childhood but make them tick the boxes on what they can and can’t do cooking wise. Can you make mayonnaise, short crust pastry, cook a steak etc.

Kevin’s portion was too small so had to go back and make some more.

However in the end it was him and Jules who were the last two standing and in this situation it was not a positive thing.

The final challenge was to make Egg Yolk Raviolo. Kevin was confident because he thought Jules inexperience with pasta would make her be behind him, however she in fact managed to finish and sprinkle cheese on it, something Kevin left out.

The judges preferred Kevin’s presentation but they liked the flavour of Jules’s better. He was criticised for too much zest in the ricotta, and not enough lemon juice in the sauce.

Kevin in the end was eliminated – first person into the top 24 and first one out. It is a pity that considering the decision was line ball they did not keep the contestant with some personality in.

However he is going to use his new found fame for good rather than evil and his starting a campaign to improve the food at sporting stadiums. Can’t complain about that. Below is a clip that is the first step in that campaign or you can support it at www.stadiumgrub.com.au. Who do you think should have been eliminated?

It was a baptism of fire on Masterchef with “restaurant wars”, which appears to be coming a bit of a feature at the start of the season. The question is are they up to working in a professional kitchen? But it really doesn’t matter what they churn out because the winner is the team with the most money in the till at the end of the evening not what the food tastes like.

Why didn’t they ring a corporate friend to come and present them with a big cheque… Oh hang on that is Celebrity Apprentice.

They were split into two teams with Andy and Emma told they were team captains because they had been the other cooks in the immunity challenge. Emma at 19 really drew the short straw, but again we had it flagged something like this was going to occur as she said earlier how she did not want to be the team captain.

At that point every contestant was crossing their fingers that she would not pick them. However if you were over 30 you had no fear at that. In fact both Andy and Emma picked the young ones first. Lydia was selected last, and from seeing her briefly on screen maybe it was because of her personality. She is bossy but looks like she has a good sense of fun. More of her please than Emma who has had more than her 15 minutes of fame in the first few weeks of the show.

She even took the piss out of herself when it was shown she missed the tiger prawns in the freezer, as she had expected to see peeled ones. However don’t expect her to win but hopefully she will give some quality TV moments. Maybe she needs to be stuck in a car with Filippo.

They had five hours to prep and plan their menu. There appeared to be two entrees, two mains, and two desserts. The red team ended up opening late as they had not finished their prep, I don’t get why they didn’t bring them in and feed them Filippo’s bread while they were waiting.

The problem for the cheftestants in restaurant wars is they get hit with a full restaurant as soon they open. They have pretty it full for the whole of service. This does not occur in the real world unless you are a top high profile chef.

Emma looked liked she was losing it, and was getting dirty looks from her team mates at times. But to be fair she was given the responsibility of being at the pass and even if she had watched season upon season of Hell’s Kitchen this was not going to help her. Though she did use Gordon Ramsay’s tone at times…

“Service please is what we normally say” advises Gary Mehigan and she screamed “Service!”. However towards the end she did appear to have it under control but this might have been because Kylie was pumping out her desserts with great efficiency.

Kylie deserved to be praised by Gary, as she was smart in what she had made and it was all pre-prepped. She did Creme Brulee, and a Paris Mess, and both looked great. Whereas on the blue team Julia made chocolate fondant which meant it had to be cooked at the time of the order which meant there was a time lag in getting them served.

Also Kevin was being a tad naughty getting flirty with the girls when drumming up business for the restaurant. They must have been disappointed when they found out he was gay, I know I was.

The stand out dishes were Kylie’s desserts, the blue teams entrees, and Ben, who was cooking for the red team, scallops and fennel dish. Conversely Mario’s pasta looked like it could choke someone it was so dry, and the croquettes on the red team just looked ordinary. Unfortunately there was no feedback on what Filippo’s bread was like.

Red team made $2232, and the blue team made $2738.  The blue team deservedly won and props must go Andy who led the team beautifully both in prep and when service began.

And of course Emma cried when she realised she was up for elimination. I note the first elimination is different from last year where only two of the team were up. And it was Kumar and the team captain Tom who had to duke it out then with Tom going. Thankfully the whole of the red team are going to have to participate in the elimination challenge which is all about pasta.

The immunity challenges in the past series have been one of the episodes that have attracted the ire of viewers, and again they have changed the format and at this stage I don’t think they have it quite right. However it is unknown if this will be the same format each week.

Firstly it is not really Ben just fighting it out for immunity pin he has to pick two other contestants to help him win it. As regular commenter Miss Petal wrote yesterday, why would two other contestants want to cook well to let someone else get an immunity pin. This will be particularly true as the competition toughens up and they realise there are weekly eliminations.

The three amateurs cooks have to front up against a reputed chef and two of their sous chefs to make a three course meal. After the main ingredient is selected both teams can cook what they want. In this challenge the fabulous Dan Hong from Ms G’s was the chef. This guy is great TV so hope this is not the last time we see him on our screens this season. In fact maybe Masterchef should do what Top Chef does to keep things fresh and mix up key personnel each season.

The “advantages” given to the amateur team was Matt Moran as mentor, however it could be good if he was more hands on and not in a Seal way. Also in this challenge Ben and co had an extra 30 minutes to cook. Ben gave Andy the entree to do, and Emma the dessert.

The blind tasting needs to occur, but in this case it was obvious who the dishes were cooked by. All asian dishes had to be Dan’s, and then there were tortillas again….

The other obvious issue was the editing, we have Andy and Emma at the beginning sitting in the Masterchef house repetitively saying “so glad we are watching from the sidelines”, and fast forward to Ben being told he could pick two contestants to help.

At this stage my seven year old pipes up “I know who he picks the two from the beginning”. I now know how Yoda must have felt when he realised Luke has taking onboard all his knowledge he has to impart. “I have taught you well my child”.

But seriously if a seven year old can pick it and she does not watch the show that much maybe they need to think about how much they are flagging the up coming plot lines.

Dan Hong got to select the ingredient from either honey and lemons, he picked lemons. After this it was then Ben was told to select two people to assist.

When Ben saw the ingredients he said “Baked lemon cheesecake was the first thing that popped into  my head”  well if that is the case he should have picked Kevin whose favourite dish to cook is this.

Ben cooked:

Snapper Taco Cerviche – Is this going to be Ben’s trademark the home made tortilla? However this time Andy made them. George picked apart his whilst Matt Preston ate his the way it was meant to – wrapped up. The judges did say they would have just preferred the ceviche.

Prawn Ravioli with Lemon Butter Sauce the downside was the prawns were under cooked and again they would have preferred just the ravioli. But the plus side it did showcase the ingredient. This was the dish Ben made.

For dessert the Lemon Cheesecake came with a sperm like garnish, though none of the judges described it as such. In fact they made no comment on the semi collapsed dessert at all.

Dan Hong and team made:

Sashimi with Lemon Ponzu – all the judges loved it but George who made sure he did not get any chilli in his mouth and also complained about the sinew. Seriously it is an issue when you have a judge who is not partial to anything with a bit of fire in it.

Prawn and Duck Sang Choy Bow – again the judges loved the dish however they could not taste lemon only lemongrass.

Then came the Deconstructed Lemon Tart which was greeted with moans and groans by the judges – yes very Harry Met Sally and comments like ”that’s alright we know each other well enough.” and “I don’t mind being last” did not help remove that image from my mind.

No surprise the only dish that won for the contestants was Ben’s and that was only because Dan did not showcase the ingredient in the main. Will this make him bitter and twisted and thinking he might have won if he was running solo?

It was good to see more screen time from Matt Preston last night, his evocative description of what an entree is brought back memories of why we love him on the show.

What did you think of the immunity challenge? Will it work?

It could have been the nerves of the first time cooking in the Masterchef kitchen but there was really no stand out dishes last night, but on the plus side there were quite a few laughs.

The mystery box challenge was not that difficult. When it was revealed there was a mirror there and nothing else this meant they had to showcase themselves on a plate. They probably did not even have to quickly think on their feet as Alice cooked tongue and I doubt that is a pantry staple.

They had 75 minutes to cook and the person with the  best dish would have the chance to cook for immunity. As is always the case in the early episodes we did not get to see all the dishes.

Debra who is the series mother earth figure was nervous and teary  and when asked by Gary about what she saw in the mirror said “How courageous I am to be here, and how courageous  we all are to be here.” said Debra.  Thankfully she held back from asking for a group hug. If she can hold it together she might go far in this series.

She was making lime syrup cakes, however she was rattled and used the wrong sugar and left half her flour out. She basically turned them into a collapsed souffle, but the cake’s flavour was good enough to make it top three.

As was Emma’s whose Five Spice Chocolate Cake with Chai ice cream. This sounded like an interesting flavour combination however her ice cream did not set,  and she turned it into creme anglaise. Also her cake did not rise and she stacked it up b she got into the top three.

As did Ben with a Beef Taco and some Tuna Tostadas. Ok he did make his own tortillas which could be a Masterchef first, but there did not appear to be enough for the beef to be encased by one. Gary also criticised him for using porterhouse steak not a secondary cut. However would a secondary cut  have soften in the 75 minute time frame?

Gary Mehigan appears to be the hard-arsed judge this season. He was particularly rude to Melbourne hipster Alice about her tongue she was cooking. George was concerned the tongue would not be able to cook in the time frame. She responded “It is a big risk to take”. George retorted  ”There’s risk and then there is stupidity”. I note there was no suggestions on what she could do to save the dish.

Alice responded with a thank you which I hope is hipster speak for “Get stuffed”. The lecture continued at the tasting before Gary had even tasted it, and I hope she got a small glimmer of pleasure that Gary had to taste something unpleasant. Props to her for not breaking down completely by the way she was treated.

However Gary’s attitude towards Sam who was roasting a duck was completely different. After pointing out that he would have difficulty cooking it in time, Gary suggested he chop it up and in fact even helped him to do so. Sam appears to sweat so much it needed to be addressed in a talk to camera. It is not the heat of the kitchen but just something he always does. Maybe he needs to invest in those tennis head and wrist bands to stop it dripping into his dishes.

In fact this is a perfect branded TV opportunity to have a sponsors name emblazoned across them. Seriously I hope series four is not remembered as the year of the sweat. Sam is not alone in this, Wade, Filippo and Kevin are guilty of the drip.

It was ironic that after Gary’s help Sam was told he had actually over cooked the duck. However Sam’s potato rosti looked good.

Beau the labourer stuck with a simple steak with red wine jus. Not a bad strategy to keep it simple. I note in the continuing saga of stockgate he used a pre-made one.

Even though he cooked the steak perfectly medium rare he was told he needs to step it up a bit or he will hit a roadblock.

I note they did not say the same thing to Julia who made cupcakes which was a cop out.  This was well and truly in her comfort zone as she makes them for the markets at the weekends. At one stage it looked like she might make top three. Let us hope  she is not going to make these at every opportunity. We get it you want to open a shop, now show us some other things you can cook.

Ben ended up wining the opportunity to cook for immunity, and Debra must be kicking herself because if she had not stuffed up her dish she probably would have won.

Do you think the right person won?

The top 24 contestant episodes kick off tonight on TEN at 7.00pm and I would like to make some wild guesses about who will take out this series title, but thought I would wait until after the first mystery box challenge tonight….

The top 24 have 14 women and 10 men, 12 contestants are under 30 years of age, and 12 are 30 years and older. Occupational trends appear split between manual labourers, students, and a few health workers. As usual there is a wide range of cultural diversity from European, Asian backgrounds, and even this year there is a Canadian.

Who are your favourites at the moment? And who do you think will be this year’s villain?

The top 24 are:

Alice Zavlasky – a 26 year old secondary school teacher she has already been identified as the hipster of series four.

Amina Elshafei – the 27 year old nurse has a South Korean and Egyptian background so should do some fantastic dishes, also she looks like she will keep calm under pressure. For religious reason she won’t eat pork, however she should go far in the series.

Andrew Strickland – a 48 year old married hairdresser whose kids encouraged him to apply for Masterchef. He admits he can’t follow recipes.

Andy Allen – the 23 year old electrician is the good looking boy of the series. He is currently at a cross roads and is looking at the reality TV show to give him some direction. As you do when you are having a mini-life crisis.

Audra Morrice – the 41 year old account manager and mum of two has an Singaporean and Indian heritage. She hopes to have a concept store which holds “Audra’s Gourmet Delights” and offers cooking courses. She looks like she could be cool under pressure, and her chocolate tart was one of the stand out dishes of the top 50. Audra is one to watch.

Beau Cook – a 27 year old construction worker wants to change his life. He admits his technical knowledge and desserts are his weak points. Don’t expect him to make top ten.

Ben Milbourne – a 30 year old teacher. He has a cookbook which features dishes from restaurants in Tasmania.

Dalvinder Dhami – a 35 year old public servant her strength is Indian cuisine, however she has limited knowledge on how to cook beef because she does not eat it due to religious reasons.

Debra Sederlan – 50 year old senior account manager who likes to cook organic food, her dream is to open a holistic retreat.

Emma O’Shaunessy – 19 year old former student her food idols are Adriano Zumbo, Donna Hay, and Maggie Beer. She wants to open her own dessert bar, but she shows she has a competitive streak as she has a black belt in karate.

Filippo Silvestro – a 38 year old financial planner who is a family man. Apparently he rings his mum each day, I hope he also rings his wife as well… He hopes to apply his wellhoned financial skills to a career in food by advising people in the industry or by being a career food writer and blogger.

Jules Pike – a 28 year old Customer Service Officer dream is to open her own food and wine bar.

Julia Taylor – a 25 year old legal secretary already has a cupcake business she operates at markets on the weekends however she would like to have shops which sells her wares.

Kath Von Witt – 38 year old art gallery director. Foodies are going to love her as apparently she is adventurous and recently cooked a pigs uterus.

Kevin Perry – is the 34 year old casino marketer. He moved to Australia where he met his partner Erik. He collects cookbooks. He could be one of the favourites at this stage and he definitely has the talent and personality, but he states he likes to follow a recipe this could be his liability as the competition goes forward.

Kylie Millar – a 24 year old Masters student and would like to open her own dessert bar. With only 15 weeks to completing her physio degree she realised she did not want to work in the health industry.

Lydia Guerrini – a 38 year old PhD student in psychology she has two kids and would like to set up a food promotional company;

Mario Mohorko – a 40 year old automative detailer however he also has his own theatre company which he has received 18 nominations at an amateur theatre awards.  He writes, acts and directs for them. Also he would like to open a cafe or restaurant which showcases Eastern European cooking.

Matt Howell – an 18 year old uni student who currently works in a fast food restaurant, he knows his inexperience is going to be a liability.

Mindy Woods – a 30 year old physiotherapist who has quit her job for the show. Her strengths are asian cuisine and she hopes to open an “Asian inspired, share restaurant with dumplings, beer, sashimi and sake”. And bad luck guys she is into girls.

Sam Davis – 34 year old private banker, he hopes to work in the food industry. His girlfriend probably is one of the few to not mind him being locked away in the Masterchef house as she is training for the London Olympics. She is a part of the water polo team.

Tran Kim “TK” Nguyen – a 22 year old has deferred her law degree. She states she has only really gotten into cooking and would like to open an asian fusion tapas bar. Her Vietnamese heritage will be her strength.

Tregan Borg – a 25 year old social worker and hopes to educate disadvantaged children about food. She also plays roller derby so is pretty robust, and will be getting married later this year. She states her lack of measuring could be her downfall.

Wade Drummond – a 28 year old commercial labourer wants to open his own cafe. His strengths are matching flavours and Asian cooking. Preparation, timing and presentation are weaknesses.

It will be interesting to see how these contestants go over the coming weeks who will be embraced by Australia and who will struggle under the intense pressure of the Masterchef kitchen.

What is the policy on using stock on Masterchef? Last week we had Gary going ballistic at Matthew about using pre-made stock pushing the offending article under his nose.In that case Matt only had 60 minutes to finish his risotto, unlike tonight where the twelve contestants had 90 minutes to complete their dish. However Gary and George made no comment about the unmarked stock containers on the benches of at least two contestants tonight. See evidence below. There appears to be some hypocrisy on this issue.

Tonight the selected twelve who were battling it out of the last six spots had to cook a french dish, and to add to the pressure they had as guest judge french chef Jacque Raymond.

They were cooking at Montsalvat, the oldest artist colony in Australia. And it looked damn hot all the guys were sweating profusely into their dishes. Hopefully the judges had their Hep A shots before the series commenced.

As with each year there were people in the top 50 we hardly saw, which was code for they were not going to get through. So Keene, Roger and Harvey it was nice not knowing you.

However the biggest travesty was Yukio not getting in. This is the one of the first controversial decisions of the series. OK so this series is all about the cooking, but also there needs to be some entertaining personalities on there. He was a great polarising character.

Fillippo thankfully was selected even though the judges had been fairly benign about his Pissaladerie and quite critical of his cherry clafoutis. In fact Matt Preston called it a cherry omelette.

Emma was smart she kept well within her dessert bar comfort zone and made a macaron with salted caramel filling. She was warned by Jacque not to put too much salt in the caramel but in the end was criticised for there not being enough. Strangely she only presented the four judges with three macarons saying it looked better on the plate. She was the last one through to the top 24, and on Twitter people were saying the 19 year old was this year’s Dani. She appears to be talented but think once she has to cook savoury dishes week after week she will struggle.

Kath the Director of an art gallery  got told off by Jacque for putting her Bouillabaisse in a food processor. He advised her to put it in a mix master. The judges thought  it was great but did give her a tickle up about how messy she was when she cooked.  George Calombaris also said she needed to clean the mussels better.

Mindy the physio from Brisbane who has given up her job and home made pork belly and scallops with apples. It was a taste of Normandy. Jacque thought it was brilliant. Matt Preston thought it was the best dish she had cooked in the competition. She was in.

Mario the car detailer cooked Duck a’lorange with liver pate and grand marnier jelly which melted and compromised his sauce. Gary thought “The duck was well cooked, but the pate one of the worse I have seen”.

At least Mario admitted he did not think it would get him through. However Jacque loved it however thought the liver pate was unnecessary. He was in the top 24.

Karen cooked choux ala rose. However, Jacque thought the creme patissiere was too runny and the rose water overpowered the dish. Goodbye Karen.

Dom the 20 year old student made stuffed chicken wings with seared scallops and sauce albufera. Matt Preston asked whether she had the maturity to go on to survive in the Masterchef kitchen. We did not get hear the reply but it must not have eased their concerns as she did not make it.

Debra made the Walnut and Roquefort Tart her own twist on the witlof and pear salad. However she did have a pared back witlof and pear salad to serve with it. Jacque thought it was a great interpretation of the salad and Gary thought it was absolutely beautiful. It was the dish of the day and she was into the top 24.

Yukio was sent on his way, and philosophically said maybe he will find a different path. The judges showered the contestants with champagne with Amina scuttling off to the sidelines to avoid it probably for religious reasons.

The top 24 has 14 females and 10 males. There are eight finalist from NSW, seven from Victoria, three from Queensland and Western Australia, and one each from South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

I will put the top 24 names up when they are all up on the Masterchef Australia website tomorrow.

On Masterchef Australia last night at times I thought I was watching the Twilight Zone as at judging time plates kept on appearing and disappearing from the kitchen benches or in fact there were no food on the white plates. At time I wondered if I was seeing things or in fact not seeing things.

When the judges were about to start the tasting they panned down the room and there was barely a dish on the benches or the ones that were empty.

This was particularly the case when it came to Beau who was up the front. They were about to announce the last person whose dish was to be tasted and panned to Beau standing at his empty bench, then they announced his name and he turns to his right and picks up the dish!

Maybe because of the delicacy of the dishes they had to be put in the fridge. Who knows or whether it was shot after the tastings had been done we will never know. Last night showed that Masterchef was not back to basics, but to be honest I like a challenge where it showed who of the remaining contestants may have the flair to make an impact in the top 24.

It was a cooking baptism of fire with the pressure testing set by Shannon Bennett from Vue Du Monde, it was his take on Peach Melba. The dish had many “alaments” and  they had two hours to complete it.The kicker only twelve of the dishes were going to be tasted. However in the end it was lucky the judges even had the twelve to taste. As some people must have only plated up half a dish.

Andy an extremely good looking, 23 year old, electrician was so excited he blew out his pants. Considering they were not that tight it mystified me how he did it.  His cooking technique surprised Shannon as  did not think Andy was going to be able to do it. Was Shannon surprised a tradie could cook? Not sure how many chefs out there hold fine arts degrees Shannon! However he then said maybe as an electrician he is used to being methodical and that was what his recipes were about. His looked the best and he was put through to the top 24.

Beau had the advantage from the previous challenge of seeing and practising the recipe the night before, and that must have helped him, as even though his white chocolate cage collapsed his dish got tasted.

Kylie a physiotherapy student wants to have cafe and dessert bar and was in her comfort zone, and even though her dessert did not have the vanilla mousse she was through to the top 24.

Lydia the greek mum from Perth who looks like she could be a lot of fun and managed to do enough to get through, as did the intense looking legal secretary Julia who sells cupcakes at markets at the weekends.

Keen a good looking asian guy given his first screen time of the series also got his Peach Melba tasted but it was not good enough to obtain an apron. However Ben the teacher from Tassie finally got through.

Unfortunately Fillippo and Yukio must have had a disaster as neither of their dishes were tasted.

With only six spots left to fill, and twenty seven contestants left, they were then told the judges would be culling them down to twelve to compete for them. This was a tad harsh.

Surprisingly Tania was sent home, but Kath who made the Singapore Crab at the auditions was given one last chance. Mario the car detailer and another guy with beard fluff were retained.

Fillippo had to go into the great hall to face the judges himself. They acknowledged how serious he was but said he was getting another opportunity to cook. This guy has to get through to the top 24. His intensity is fantastic, and will give far more entertainment then Beau who looks a tad bland. You just know at some stage he is going to flip out.

Also the guy can cook.

Yukio also got the same solo treatment not sure if they were trying to make him cry again, but he toughed it out and he will get one last chance.

Deb and Karen were also given chance, as were Roger, Keen and Mindy. Last to get the green light were young girls Emma and Dom. Whereas poor James who we never saw was sent home.

Sunday the top 24 will be finalised and at this stage most of the contestants look interesting and showcases a diversity.