Will It Be A Sweet Victory or Sour Final Note?

Masterchef Recap – 23 May 2011

We begin this elimination challenge in the Masterchef House as Rachel, Ellie and Chelsea each in turn stop their packing to gaze at photo’s of their loved ones.  After a big group hug it’s into the black SUV’s and off to the Masterchef Kitchen.  Must be a slow news morning as the Channel 10 chopper has time to swoop low and follow them over the harbour bridge.

We are met by judges as usual waiting at the front of the work benches.  Matt Preston towering over his colleagues is resplendent in a lime shirt with delicate floral cravat. Gary reminds us that “the very special Masterchef experience will be over for one of you.” The challenge Matt tells us is “the two most scary words in the Masterchef lexicon – a pressure test!”  As we wait to discover the twist we are informed it will be “a pressure test on steroids” – no recipes or ingredients will be provided.  Rachel’s “stomach just drops and she thinks – what?” 

As the tension building music reaches its muted crescendo the cloche is lifted to reveal - Sweet and Sour with Fried Rice!

The biggest dangers we are told is not knowing what the protein is and not having a recipe. Fortunately the contestants have an opportunity to taste.  Rachel starts by licking the batter after which she is “100% confident it’s pork.”  Chelsea observes there is both bacon and Chinese sausage in the rice, whilst Ellie thinks there might be tomato sauce in the sweet and sour.  The girls will have 75 minutes to cook with an open pantry.

Gary then provides the inevitable bad pun asking “will it be a sweet victory or a sour final note?” Meanwhile the other contestants have gathered in the gallery above.  We hear from Danielle who helpfully reiterates for the viewers at home that there will be 75 minutes to cook with an open pantry.

As prepping gets underway Dani observes from above that Chelsea has chosen a basmati rice.  Spoiling the viewers feelings of schadenfreude, regrettably she informs Chelsea of her error.  We then see Ellie boiling up a huge pot of water, eschewing the more traditional absorption method of rice cooking.  To add to the risk of disaster she then washes the cooked rice.

Time for the judges to wander around for a chat.  George asks Chelsea how much she wants to stay in the competition?   She responds passionately “I want it so much, I want it this much!” as she violently stabs her chef’s knife deep into the chopping block (no doubt sending a scare into the OHS observers).  With 30 minutes to go Gary informs us that his “money’s on Ellie.”

Next a tender moment as George brushes flour from Chelsea’s face and counsels that  “you need to trust yourself now,” before posing the rhetorical question to one and all – “how hard would you fight to stay in this competition? The next 15 minutes will tell us!”

Observing keenly from the gallery Danielle thinks Ellie has “gone into meltdown”, whilst Peter thinks Rachel “has lost it.” As plate up time approaches there is time for another inevitable bad pun as George asks – “how is this challenge to end? Will it be sweet or sour?” As the final countdown starts Ellie splashes soy sauce into her rice. In what could prove a prescient observation she wonders “what was I thinking...I think I’ve blown it.”

Time to present to the judges table.  Rachel is up first. Matt studies the dish – “just looking at it, it is a fabulous replica” Tasting the sauce he confirms it is “a note perfect replica.”  Sadly the pork lets the dish down.  Clearly browning before battering and frying was not the way to go.

Ellie is not happy with her fried rice.  Matt admires the “crunchy batter” Gary concurs pronouncing it “crispy gorgeous.”  The sauce is also good.

Finally up is Chelsea who puts up a colourful fried rice but we are wondering where is the rest of the sauce? George manfully hacks through the pork, noting "it is really really tough.”

As we go to a break Gary tells us “it’s a big decision, a tough decision, but one we are here to make.”  Not for the first (nor we suspect the last) time each of the contestants has been let down by a different element of the dish – Rachel’s pork, Ellie’s rice and Chelsea’s sauce. 

Judgement time as the three girls assemble for the decision.  Just time for a final round of teary sound-bites as Rachel and Ellie talk about their families and we learn about the lots of hurdles Chelsea has been getting over. 

Rachel is pronounced safe.  The final word goes to Gary – “Chelsea, I’m sorry you’re out.”