Tue, May 9, 2017
In the 32-minute first round, Eliza, Sarah and Karlie had to make a savoury dinner plate with just one trip to the pantry. Sarah's Pan Friend Barramundi with Bok Choy and Vinaigrette won the round and she advanced to the Immunity Challenge against Jarrod Di Blasi, who was the Victorian Young Chef of the Year. She chose one of the judges' home fridges (Gary's which contained Asian Ingredients) and with 75 minutes, prepped a XO Marinated Steak with Pickled Mushrooms and Potato Mash while Jarrod made a Sashimi of Whiting with Roast Bone Dressing and Avocado Puree in 60 minutes. Jarrod received overall praise on the creativity of his dish while Sarah's dish also pleased the judges but her mashed potatoes and her marinade divided the judges' opinions, giving her 23 points to Jarrod's 27.
Wed, May 10, 2017
The contestants arrived at the 400 Gradi Pizzeria headed by World Pizza Champion Johnny Di Francesco for a team challenge cooking for 250 guests. The two teams: Green Team (Diana, Karlie, Sarah, Benita, Eliza, Bryan, Ben, Trent, Callan, Pete and Ray) and Red Team (Eloise, Tamara, Nicole, Michelle, Jess, Pia, Samuel, Sam, Josh, Arum and Benjamin) had three hours preparation and service time to cook and plate an Italian three-course meal: two pizzas, a pasta dish and a dessert. During their first challenge, both teams struggled in prepping their respective pizza dough and desserts. The Red Team's pizzas received higher praise than the Green Team's, which had technical issues with the topping and the crust. However, the judges slammed their bland pasta and heavy sponge dessert compared to the Green Team's, and sent the Red Team into elimination.
Thu, May 11, 2017
The losing team members faced a two-round elimination challenge featuring the core ingredient: potatoes. The first round was to cook a classic side dish of chips and dip in 60 minutes. Samuel, Arum and Eloise had the Top 3 chip dishes while Benjamin, Jess, Josh and Michelle served soggy chips, sending them to the second round. After 60 minutes to cook a dish with potatoes, Jess and Michelle delivered exemplary dishes. While one of Benjamin's sweet potato doughnuts was mushy, Josh's undercooking of his potato resulted in his gnocchi being lumpy and made him the third contestant to be eliminated.
Thu, May 11, 2017
The judges individually presented their respective simple dishes to the contestants in their MasterClass: George demonstrated the cooking of broccoli on a grill, Gary presented a dessert that featured chocolate and beetroot, and Matt cooked nuggets and chips. Gary helped George make his Lamb Tortellini with Butter Sauce and Yoghurt Dressing.
Sun, May 14, 2017
Ben Shewry showcased his Mystery Box that contained Australian ingredients for the contestants. After 75 minutes, the top five were Jess, Tamara, Trent, Nicole and Ray, with the latter winning the challenge. Ray's advantage for the Invention Test was to choose one of the three cooking techniques that had to be highlighted in the contestants' dishes. Throughout the second challenge, Ray, despite choosing smoking as the highlight of the dish, was responsible for under-cooked crayfish and under-smoked broth, while Pia failed to plate up all of her elements. Sarah, Sam and Eloise impressed with their inventive dishes while Ray and Pia were joined by Pete in the Bottom 3.
Mon, May 15, 2017
Pete, Pia and Ray had four-and-a-half hours to recreate pastry chef Andy Bowdy's signature twelve-element intricate layered cake. The judges were impressed with Pete's dish overall, despite him burning his second batch of candied pecans, and he was declared safe. Ray lost points in the presentation of his cake layers but was praised on the tasting apart from his thick biscuit base. Although Pia's dish had the best presentation, her meringue was soft and sugary and her bavarois was too dense. The errors in Pia's dessert outweighed Ray's bulging cake appearance and her time in the MasterChef Kitchen was over.
Tue, May 16, 2017
In the 45-minute first round, Eloise, Sam and Sarah were tasked to cook a dish with the use of a waffle maker. While Sam and Sarah opted for the sweet option for their waffle dishes, Eloise's savoury take on chicken and waffles with chilli soy caramel won her the opportunity to cook against chef Charlie Carrington of Atlas Dining in Melbourne. Eloise had the advantage to beat the chef by choosing the indulgent pantry that had sweet ingredients and, with 75 minutes, cooked a dessert of chocolate and peanut butter. The judges applaud Eloise's dish over Charlie's midnight snack dish that left them uncertain of his mascarpone ginger beer foam, awarding her the immunity pin with 28 points to Charlie's 21.
Wed, May 17, 2017
Four teams: Yellow Team (Benjamin, Sam, Eloise, Eliza, and Bryan), Red Team (Diana, Trent, Samuel, Callan, and Ray), Blue Team (Tamara, Sarah, Karlie, Jess, and Michelle), and Green Team (Benita, Ben, Arum, Pete, and Nicole) competed in a relay challenge where each member had 15 minutes of cooking time and 45 seconds to pass their instructions to the next cook. The captains Diana (Red Team), Benjamin (Yellow), Tamara (Blue) and Benita (Green) were tasked with choosing a dish that featured maple syrup. Benita and Tamara chose the savoury option for their dishes (Green's Singaporean Chilli Crab and Prawns, and Blue's Asian Sticky Pork Belly with Bao Buns and Slaw) while Benjamin and Diana opted for Maple Ice Cream desserts. Throughout the following changeovers, Benita's choice of dish confused her team members when she decided to replace the palm sugar with the syrup at the start of the cook, the Red Team struggled with their jelly element which they failed to plate at the last minute and the Yellow Team provided improvements to their dish. Michelle, who was the third to cook for the Blue Team, struggled throughout and tampered with the elements of her team's dish, forcing the last two members to salvage it. The Yellow and Red Teams were applauded for their desserts despite the missing jelly in the Red Team's dish, while the judges praised Diana's leadership and organization of her team's dish. The Blue Team's dish was criticised on their overcooked pork while the Green Team's maple flavour couldn't be detected despite using all of the syrup throughout the cook. As their dish failed to highlight the core ingredient, the Green Team were sent to elimination.
Mon, May 22, 2017
Christy Tania showed Bryan, Samuel and Trent her gravity-defying ice cream dessert for them to replicate in three hours, with thirty minutes to make their sugar balloons. The time pressure proved too much for the contestants as they had flaws in their dishes: Trent's balloon was too small as it dispersed when he presented his dish to the judges, Samuel used excess chocolate to cover the crevice of his cone after he poured his hot chocolate sauce during the cook, and Bryan's semifreddo was icy, too dense and contained dollops of meringue in the mixture, while he ran out of time to make his balloon. Ultimately, Trent and Samuel scored in taste and presentation, respectively. Despite having a good run in the competition, Bryan's first Pressure Test proved too much, ending his time in the MasterChef Kitchen.
Tue, May 23, 2017
As a team, Callan, Diana and Sam individually competed against one of the three guest pastry chefs for immunity. By knife draw: Sam was pitted against pastry chef Lauren Eldridge, Diana faced chef Angélique Pereto and Callan cooked against KOI Dessert Bar's Reynold Poernomo (from season 7). In 75 minutes, Diana made a dark chocolate sorbet with orange sauce, Sam cooked a deconstructed black forest gateaux and Callan baked a layered sponge cake with fruits, jelly, toffee and chocolate ganache. In 60 minutes, Reynold made a mango cream with spiced pineapple and lemongrass ginger consommé, Angélique decided to cook a dessert of green tea with coconut and raspberry, and Lauren did a honeycomb with crème fraiche ice cream. When Reynold's dessert scored 27 points, the judges felt Callan's use of his chocolate ganache was unnecessary and gave him 16 points. Diana's dish was liked by the judges but the creativity of Angélique's dessert highly impressed the judges, giving her a perfect score of 30 to Diana's 18. While Sam earned rave reviews on his dish, Lauren's use of two simple elements and precision earned her high praise (27-28).
Wed, May 24, 2017
Two teams: Red Team (Sam, Trent, Ben, Arum, Karlie, Diana, Sarah, Pete, and Eliza) and Blue Team (Nicole, Tamara, Eloise, Benjamin, Ray, Jess, Samuel, Callan and Michelle) were tasked by Darren Purchese to construct edible dessert art installations in their respective stations for public viewing in seven hours. Sarah's Red Team chose a Japanese zen garden concept while Tamara's Blue Team took inspiration of a beehive. During prep time, the Red Team overcooked their first batch of dehydrated strawberry cherry blossoms and forced them to only make 300 blossoms while the Blue Team took too long to make their honeycomb biscuits and to build their cookie cutters. Both teams were praised in their creativity by the judges but the Blue Team's installations lacked balance in the sweetness of each element over the Red Team's and sending them straight to elimination.
Thu, May 25, 2017
The losing contestants (except Eloise, who used her Immunity Pin) had to correctly guess each sphere of a dessert ingredient such as liquorice, coconut, milk chocolate, ginger, macadamia nuts and dried dates while blindfolded, to avoid landing in one of three places for the second elimination round. The bottom three: Ray (who mistook grapes for watermelon), Benjamin (banana instead of rockmelon) and Tamara (cucumber rather than rockmelon) had 75 minutes to cook their desserts with the ingredient they guessed incorrectly. Both Tamara and Ray impressed with their dishes but, while Ray struggled throughout the challenge, it was Benjamin's overcooked bananas that sent him home.
Sun, May 28, 2017
Thai cuisine expert and chef David Thompson set up a Mystery Box Challenge for the contestants to cook their dishes with his chosen Thai ingredients, with Tamara, Diana, Michelle, Karlie and Samuel selected as the top five. Karlie won the advantage in the Invention Test which was the choice between two of Thompson's dishes to cook an inventive dish with the ingredients of the chosen dish. She chose his pineapple and crab curry (over his tom yum soup) and several contestants prospered with their dishes to compete for three places in the Immunity Challenge. Tamara, Ben and Samuel had the top dishes chosen by the judges. Jess, Sam and Trent had technical errors in their dishes and were at risk of elimination.
Mon, May 29, 2017
Jess, Sam and Trent had three hours to replicate "After the Eucalypt Fire", a 14-element emu dish cooked by Brisbane's Chef of the Year Josue Lopez. Despite his beetroot leaf puree being grainy, Sam was first to be declared safe. Jess' puree was bitter and lacked vibrance while Trent was praised for the cooking of his emu, his plating was unorganized and the lack of the essential crispy elements in his dish sent him home.
Tue, May 30, 2017
Ben, Samuel and Tamara had 45 minutes to recreate a classic macaroni and cheese in the first round. Tamara's chilli mac 'n' cheese won her the chance to cook off against Melbourne chef Clinton McIver of Amaru. From a choice of herbs, she chose rosemary and cooked Chicken Rosemary Garlic Dumplings with Chicken Broth in 75 minutes while Clinton made a Rosemary Lamb with Pickled Vegetables and Pear in 60 minutes. Both of their dishes were praised on simplicity but Clinton's modern flavours of his dish beat Tamara's overall quality presentation by 27 points to 26.
Wed, May 31, 2017
Four teams: Yellow Team (Ben, Karlie, Callan and Michelle), Blue Team (Diana, Eliza, Ray, and Sam), Green Team (Tamara, Sarah, Eloise, and Arum), and Red Team (Pete, Jess, Samuel, and Nicole) competed at the South Melbourne Market to cook two snacks (savoury and sweet) and sell them to 1000 people, with only two teams to be pronounced safe after they delivered the best dishes and earned the most money from the public, the bottom 2 teams will go into tomorrow's elimination and from there someone will be their last cook in the MasterChef Kitchen. All the teams struggled to plan their dishes: Michelle's Yellow Team attempted to estimate the mass of their ingredients, Tamara's Green Team took a lot of time to prepare the food and Sam's Blue Team had issues with the lime curd in their dessert. After service, the teams made $13,728 to be donated to Kidney Health Australia. The judges applauded the Blue Team's dishes that were free from flaws and declared the team safe. The Green Team was also safe with takings of $4,158. But for Red and Yellow Teams, they were sent to elimination.
Thu, Jun 1, 2017
The eight losing contestants faced a three-round elimination challenge to cook dishes in 45 minutes with only six eggs available. Ben, Michelle and Nicole had the top dishes in the first round. Karlie and Samuel thrived in the second round, sending Callan, Jess and Pete in the final elimination round. The judges doubted Pete's choice of cooking a simple steak and chips with a fried egg but they applauded his dish in the tasting. Callan was also safe with the creativity of his smoked egg yolk. Jess' flavours of her dish were flat while her egg cracked in the cooking which was overcooked, and she was eliminated.
Sun, Jun 4, 2017
Celebrity chef and writer Yotam Ottolenghi made his first appearance as this week's guest judge. His Mystery Box had ingredients that are used in Middle-Eastern cuisine: freekeh, tahini paste, lamb, date syrup, parsley, eggplant, rose water and sumac. After 75 minutes against Michelle, Eliza, Sarah and Ben, Karlie won the challenge for the second time, gaining the advantage of a 30-minute head start to cook a stuffed dish in 60 minutes. She then won the Invention Test, and joined Diana and Tamara with immunity. Pete and Ray, facing their third Pressure Test, were joined by Eloise, after all three served undercooked dishes.
Mon, Jun 5, 2017
Eloise, Pete and Ray had one hour to recreate five dishes from Yotam's mezze feast: flatbreads, lamb koftas, deep fried olives, butter bean hummus and roasted ricotta with broad bean spread. Eloise won praise for the overall taste and quality of her dishes. Ray also won praise with his feast but served large chunks of onions in the koftas and some of his dishes were under-seasoned. Pete's disorganized plating failed in presentation while his flatbreads and fried olives received praise in the tasting, but overcooking his lamb and pomegranate jam was enough to send him home.
Tue, Jun 6, 2017
Karlie, Tamara and Diana compete in the first round where each of them take turns to name one of the 25 ingredients of Yotam's pastilla. Diana and Tamara were eliminated in consecutive guesses which left Karlie to cook up against O.MY head chef Blayne Bertoncello. Both of them had to feature the ingredients from the first round to cook their dishes. In 75 minutes, Karlie cooked Braised Chicken with Onion Sauce, Chipotle and Tomato while Blayne made a Tomato Salad with Chicken in 60 minutes. Karlie was praised for the cooking of her dish but received mixed reviews on the blubbery chicken skin. While Blayne's salad lacked acidity, it received overall praise for its taste and presentation, winning by 35 points to 30.
Wed, Jun 7, 2017
Two Teams: Green Team (Sarah, Karlie, Diana, Arum, Tamara, Samuel and Sam) and Blue Team (Nicole, Eloise, Callan, Ben, Ray, Michelle, and Eliza) had to cook a feast with vegetable-based dishes to impress 10 meat-eating guests and the judges. In the two-hour prep time, Callan's poor leadership and decisions pushed the Blue Team over the edge while both teams had issues in cooking their flatbreads. In the tasting, both teams' dishes were praised for highlighting the brief but their flatbreads were undercooked, and it was the Green Team's overuse of the sour plum compote that diluted and imbalanced their fried halloumi dish which sent them to elimination after the Blue Team won the challenge.
Thu, Jun 8, 2017
The seven contestants took turns identifying a chosen sliced cross-section of an ingredient. Incorrect guesses led to three contestants being sent to the elimination round. Arum, Samuel, and Tamara had 75 minutes to cook their dishes from the pantry of ingredients that were guessed correctly in the first round. Arum's apple dessert was applauded, saving him from elimination. The verdict came down to Tamara's fruit tart with unusual flavour combinations and Samuel's vegetable tart with disproportionate quantities. As a result, Samuel was eliminated. Yotam, with assistance from Matt, presented three dishes to the contestants: a salad of cauliflower, shallots, barberries and pistachios, scotch eggs with aubergine and manchego; and a pistachio and rose semolina cake. George cooked one of the dishes from his Press Club restaurant: a potato skordalia, while Gary made a savoury yabby tomato tart.
Sun, Jun 11, 2017
Curtis Stone presented the ingredients for the Mystery Box challenge. Sam beat Diana and Ray to secure the advantage for the Invention Test. He chose three core ingredients (kingfish, capers and turnips) from farmers' produce. This season introduces the Power Pin that grants the wearer 15 minutes extra time in any individual challenge until the finals. The best dish in this Invention Test will win the pin. Diana, Karlie and Michelle were named the Top 3 with Karlie delivering the winning dish for the pin. The four cooks facing elimination are Arum, Ray, Sam and Tamara.
Tue, Jun 13, 2017
The previously eliminated contestants returned for a second chance to cook for a place back in the competition. In two rounds, they could only choose one core ingredient from the given pantry to cook a first-round savoury dish and a second-round dessert dish. Jess, Samuel, Bryan, Tamara, Pete and Lee had the top savoury dishes and advanced to the next round. The top three in the second round were Bryan, Tamara and Jess. After her elimination in the previous episode, Tamara returned to the competition after producing the best dish.
Wed, Jun 14, 2017
MasterChef Australia Season 8 runner-up Matt Sinclair mentored two teams of contestants: Red Team (Callan, Diana, Sarah, Karlie, Eliza and Nicole) and Blue Team (Ben, Arum, Michelle, Tamara, Sam and Ray) to create pop-up restaurants and cook a four-course meal to be served to 100 customers in three hours. Tamara, having an advantage after earning back her place in the competition, chose to spare Eloise from the team challenge. Karlie's Red Team were assigned to cook dishes with meat and Ben's Blue Team cooked seafood dishes. Both teams struggled early in the prep time: The Red Team fell behind making their dishes due to a series of technical errors, while the Blue Team had issues of preparing their entrée and delayed their second main dish in preparing the noodles. Both of the teams' dishes show technique and flavour but the Blue Team's delayed tuna dish with technical flaws and confusing apricot flavours of their dessert took them to elimination.
Thu, Jun 15, 2017
The contestants chose a covered bench of their choice with different ingredients and kitchen equipment, to make a dish without the use of the pantry. Ben received praise for the cooking of his Moreton Bay bug bisque. Tamara's use of the hibachi grill for her duck dish met with acclaim. Sam succeeded in the cooking of his lamb apart from his use of fruit. Michelle's crepe dessert was applauded for the use of apple in three different ways. Ray tried to think of a dish with the use of a fryer and an oven, and he decided to cook a simple fish and chips dish, of which the judges were not impressed with its lack of originality. Arum, despite his concerns of the rareness of his steak after having issues with his cooking time, was commended on the quality of his dish. It was clear that Ray's dish did not match the competition and he was eliminated.
Sun, Jun 18, 2017
Heston Blumenthal took the Top 12 contestants on a road trip around Victoria for the week's challenges inspired by the four classical elements: earth, air, fire, water. They arrive at Swan Hill on the Murray River for their first challenge based on water. Contestants were given 75 minutes to cook a dish with Heston's Mystery Box ingredients: corn, olives, oranges, Murray cod, currants, saltbush, oats and snails. Diana, Karlie and Sarah produced the top dishes, with Diana gaining the advantage of extra time and mentoring by Heston in the second round. The least-performing contestants from each challenge will be sent to this week's Elimination and they don't get to cook for the rest of the week. In the Invention Test, some of the contestants produced inventive dishes but Diana (whose elements in her dessert were disjointed), Tamara (whose technical dessert was too sweet) and Sarah (who served undercooked yabbies) struggled. Tamara only just made it to safety, but, there was no life rough for Diana and Sarah who were the first two contestants to face elimination.
Mon, Jun 19, 2017
The remaining 10 contestants arrived at the silo mill in Brim, Victoria for their second challenge. They were divided into pairs: Green Team (Eloise and Michelle), Red Team (Tamara and Eliza) Blue Team (Callan and Sam), Yellow Team (Arum and Ben) and Purple Team (Karlie and Nicole) had 75 minutes to cook a main dish and dessert inspired by the earth. The Purple Team (Karlie and Nicole) were first to be declared safe after impressing with their saltbush lamb dish, and grapes and grains dessert. While the Blue Team's (Callan and Sam) dessert pleased the judges, their chocolate lamb dish was deemed the worst with undercooked meat and an unnecessary flavour combination. The elements conflicted in the main dish of the Yellow Team (Arum and Ben), however, their dessert was enough to save them and the Blue Team was sent to elimination.
Tue, Jun 20, 2017
The remaining 8 contestants arrive at the salt pans of Mildura for their air element-based challenge. They split into two teams: Red Team (Tamara, Karlie, Nicole and Michelle) and Blue Team (Ben, Arum, Eloise, and Eliza) had two hours to cook a three-course meal, including a salt element dessert, to be served to the guests and the judges. The progress of Eliza's Blue Team strive in the captain's poor leadership, composing a small underseasoned entrée. While Nicole's Red Team were fascinated with their entrée and main dishes, they struggled to cope their team member Michelle whose making the dessert - their whipped chocolate ganache was too thick and lacked salt in the plate. Eventually, the Blue Team wins and were pronounced safe with their other course dishes. For the Red Team, their dessert failed to meet the brief and Nicole, Michelle, Tamara and Karlie joined the others in elimination.
Wed, Jun 21, 2017
Arum, Ben, Eliza and Eloise faced off in their last challenge inside Jack's Magazine from Maribyrnong, Victoria. The challenge was a two-round Invention Test cooking dishes (savoury and sweet) with the element of fire as inspiration. Ben's dish met with acclaim from the judges with Arum also declared safe while Eliza and Eloise, both had technical issues with their dishes, were sent to the second round to compete and avoid landing the last place of the Elimination Round with Eliza's Peach Ember dessert beat Eloise's Rhubarb Sorbet with Smoked Italian Meringue to join Ben and Arum in the Top 3.
Thu, Jun 22, 2017
Elimination Challenge: Deception - The contestants return to the kitchen after their four-day road trip for the Elimination Challenge. From MasterChef Australia (series 6), the contestants got 75 minutes to cook a dish that focused on culinary deception what they've never seen. While she struggled with her caramel element, Eloise was safe after delivering the dish of the day. Ultimately, Sam and Nicole (both of their dishes had less deceptive creativity) were among the Bottom 3 while Michelle presented a frigid parfait when she took a risk of using cream cheese for the base for the mixture while her coating was butyraceous and hard. Michelle's dish had too many flaws and it's enough to send her home. Masterclass: Heston Blumenthal, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston - Heston presented dishes with different cooking methods of eggs. Gary made a Blue Eye Cod with Bacon and Mussels. Matt showcased his use of molecular gastronomy in making his ice cream bread and baked a self-saucing chocolate pudding. Lastly, Heston served a spit roasted barbecue lamb to the contestants.
Sun, Jun 25, 2017
Peter Gilmore's choice of ingredients from his Mystery Box tasked the contestants to cook a dish in 75 minutes. After winning the advantage for the Invention Test over Arum and Diana, Tamara was given the choice to pick one of Peter's three technical dessert dishes that were used in Pressure Tests of previous seasons: Guava and Custard Apple Snow Egg (from MasterChef Australia (series 2)), Eight Texture Chocolate Cake (from MasterChef Australia (series 4)) and Cherry Jam Lamington (from MasterChef Australia (series 8)). She chose his series 8 Pressure Test dish, requiring the contestants to cook a dish inspired by the lamington (coconut shavings) in 60 minutes. It was Eliza, Eloise and Sarah who won the opportunity to cook for immunity. Callan, Arum and Nicole failed to recreate the flavour of the dish and were sent to elimination.
Mon, Jun 26, 2017
Arum, Callan and Nicole had three hours and forty five minutes to replicate a Bajan three-course meal - a fried snapper, a charred pumpkin with salted cod, a black pudding with cucumber and a spiced cucumber juice by guest chef Paul Carmichael. None of them managed to complete all the elements in their dishes, particularly in their pumpkin. Arum's cooking of the fish damaged the presentation, but his dishes stood out in the tasting. After Callan struggled throughout the challenge and won praise for his fish, his accompanying dishes were let down by lots of little details: too much spice and vinegar and his pumpkin was undercooked. However, despite being praised on her pumpkin as the stand out dish, it was Nicole's failure in deboning her fish and Nicole's first Pressure Test was enough to send her home.
Tue, Jun 27, 2017
Eliza, Eloise and Sarah were given 60 minutes to cook a stuffed dish in the first round. The judges loved Sarah's chicken wings with mushroom filling and she competed in round two against chef Ben Devlin of the Paper Daisy restaurant. From a choice of similar paired ingredients, Sarah picked prawns and shrimp paste for her 75-minute cook. Both she and Ben received overall praise on their grilled prawn dishes but the professional won the challenge by one point over Sarah (28-27).
Wed, Jun 28, 2017
The Top 10 were divided in pairs for the team challenge: Green Team (Tamara and Sarah), Yellow Team (Diana and Sam), Red Team (Karlie and Ben), Blue Team (Callan and Eloise) and Purple Team (Arum and Eliza). Through the use of communication, they had to cook two plates of the same dish while each member was separated by a divider. None of the teams' dishes matched completely, but all won praise in the tasting. The split decision came down to the Green Team (Tamara and Sarah) and the Purple Team (Arum and Eliza) with the judges voting the Green Team as the winners. Ultimately, Eloise and Callan's overcooked scallops and Diana and Sam's misplaced praline sent them to elimination.
Thu, Jun 29, 2017
Callan, Diana, Eloise and Sam competed in the time displacement elimination challenge from series 8 where they had to gather their ingredients from one of the following four different hidden pantries on the prescribed time limit. Eloise, Sam and Callan had 60 minutes to cook with herbs, fruits and vegetables while Diana waited for the last pantry (protein) with 30 minutes left to cook. Her risk paid off when her dish was praised by the judges, along with Eloise's ice cream dessert. The difficult decision was between Callan and Sam as their dishes did not impress. Sam's flavours had work together but his techniques let him down when his flawed elements impacted the presentation and taste of his dessert and Callan took a risk with odd flavour combinations in his ice cream dessert but while something's didn't work, the judges like his plating and his techniques were really on the money. Sam was send home. Tamara and Sarah will fly business class for the Top 9 contestants' trip to Japan after winning the team challenge.
Sun, Jul 2, 2017
After arriving in Japan with the judges, the Top 9 contestants each bought one ingredient around Tokyo for the Mystery Box: scallops (by Tamara), lily root (Sarah), soya beans (Callan), honey yams (Arum), cherry blossom radish (Eloise), wagyu (Karlie), sesame dressing (Diana), miso (Eliza) and sake (Ben). After 60 minutes, the three best dishes were cooked by Karlie, Eloise and Diana, who was the winner for the Invention Test's advantage. She chose wasabi (over ginger and soy sauce). The contestants then had 60 minutes and an open pantry to cook their dishes. Beating Eliza and Sarah was Ben, whose Wasabi Ice Cream with Yam Fondants and Nutmeg Biscuit earned him a chance for immunity.
Mon, Jul 3, 2017
The other contestants arrive at the Michelin-starred restaurant of chef Tsutomo Kodama where each must cook a dish of a Japanese eight-course degustation menu under mentorship by George. The two contestants who produce the best dishes will join Ben in the Immunity Challenge. Tamara had the first course of shiso with crab and yuzu. Eliza was assigned to cook white asparagus accompanied with a quail egg for the second course. Diana's assigned core ingredient for the third course were clams, producing a clam broth with spring onions and ginger floss. Mackerel was assigned for Eloise's fourth course dish, with cauliflower, tomato and wasabi. Karlie had the fifth course with mushrooms in different ways. Arum's dish of marinated eye fillet with sake, broccoli and wasabi was the sixth course. Callan produced a dessert with matcha for the seventh course. Sarah was last with a savoury dessert of black sesame for the eighth course. All of their dishes (except Eloise's and Callan's, after struggling with the flavours) earned general acclaim from the judges and the customers. The dishes of Karlie and Sarah won overall praise from the judges and they joined Ben to compete for immunity.
Tue, Jul 4, 2017
Ben, Karlie and Sarah arrive at the Obuchi Tea Plantation in the foothills of Mount Fuji for the two-round immunity challenge. In the first round, each must cook a dish with one of the three Japanese fruits of their choice (fuji apple, shiranui and yuzu) to land two places in the second round. Karlie and Sarah had 60 minutes to make a dish that featured tea as the main ingredient. Sarah managed to claim the immunity pin after beating Karlie's Tea Poached Chicken Broth with her Tea Braised Pork Belly, Vegetables and Bean Curd.
Wed, Jul 5, 2017
The contestants arrive at the food stalls of Shinjuku where they were divided into teams of three: Blue Team (Tamara, Sarah, and Callan), Yellow Team (Karlie, Eloise, and Diana) an Red Team (Arum, Ben, and Eliza) to cook three Japanese street foods to be served to 100 diners. The Yellow Team won the challenge with the prize of a private MasterClass and they were first to be declared safe. The Red Team's beef skewer dish lacked sauce but otherwise, they were also safe. Although the judges applauded the prawn dish of Blue Team member Sarah, it was the technical flaws of her other team members' dishes that sent them to elimination.
Thu, Jul 6, 2017
Sarah decided to participate in the elimination round by not using her immunity pin. She, Callan and Tamara had 75 minutes to make a dish inspired by their personal past and future at the Akagi Shrine. Callan made a sushi-inspired dessert, Sarah made a dish called "steamboat" (pork with mushrooms, taro and wombok), and Tamara made pork dumplings with a spicy broth. Both Tamara and Sarah had outstanding dishes and they were both safe, whereupon Callan was eliminated when his dessert lacked flavour in its roasted rice ice cream.