‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: Walleed Doesn’t Know What He’s Doing, But He Sure Is Doing It
Walleed, Walleed, Walleed, Walleeeeed, I’m begging of you please lead your team.
This week’s MasterChef Team Challenge takes place by the beach at Noosa, which means all three of the judges are wearing shorts. Matt has paired his with a striped suit jacket and cravat because he will never stop, no matter how much people beg.
Each team is barbecuing for 150 guests on the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club balcony. They have two and a half hours to prep before service starts, and each must serve four dishes: One meat, one seafood and two sides.
Their four dishes must also be served on one plate, because there is no rhyme or reason at a barbecue, only the lawless quest for more meat.
Fortunately they contestants won’t be left entirely to their own frequently misguided impulses. Former MasterChef contestants Elena Duggan and Matt Sinclair will mentor the teams, with Elena helping Green Team and Matt assigned to Blue.
Both teams have no problems picking their dishes, and quickly get stuck into prep. However, half an hour in, Elena points out that Green Team’s menu isn’t exactly cohesive. Most of their dishes have a tropical, Asian slant, while Steph’s grilled eggplant with tomato salad is very Italian.
“So would you order Italian and Thai together?” she asks. This seems like something that should have been pointed out half an hour earlier, but better late than never.
Something has to give, but Steph does not want to completely change her dish. She’s already cut up a mountain of eggplant and she’ll be damned if all that work will go to waste. Instead, Steph suggests they use Asian flavours for the eggplant, though this means they’ll have to replace the tomatoes with something else.
Indecisive team captain Joe isn’t sure what to do, and Steph realises she’s going to have to take control of this group assignment if they want any hope of a Distinction. She decides to replace the tomatoes with mushrooms, and hope an Asian dressing will tie the dish to the rest of their menu.
Joe is at least making a valiant effort to lead Green Team. He has decided not to take charge of a dish so he’s free to move around and help out where needed, which is either a terrible or terrific idea.
Meanwhile, Blue Team captain Walleed is prepping eggplant while struggling under the yoke of leadership. Walleed was nominated as captain for his grilling skills, but he isn’t a naturally verbose guy. Speaking up doesn’t seem to come easily to him, no matter how many increasingly worried faces mentor Matt gives him, and the pressure is getting to him.
With 60 minutes to go, Blue Team is seeing the effects of Walleed’s absent parenting. Tati hasn’t started the salad dressing yet, Sandeep is still working on the chutney for the lamb, and the eggplants haven’t been glazed.
Sandeep repeatedly calls for Walleed. “Walleed, you added palm sugar to this, right?”
“Uh, I’m not sure, man,” Walleed responds when he eventually looks over. He is very clearly not coping.
Finally having had enough of watching Walleed implode into a tiny dense pearl of stress, mentor Matt pulls him aside for a quick chat. “It’s your job to keep these guys on track,” he says. “Guide these guys. You need to be the calm inside the storm right now.”
Walleed realises that if he doesn’t start leading Blue Team will likely go into elimination, and it’s like he’s taken a giant swig of Michael’s Secret Stuff from Space Jam. He steels himself and strides back onto the kitchen floor, ready to rally the troops for the remaining 45 minutes of the cook. “Alright, come on guys, let’s go, let’s go!”
Kicked into gear, it’s like an entirely different person is wearing Walleed’s skin. He knows exactly what’s going on, is doling out encouragement, and is pushing his team along to a strong finish. The judges are proud, as am I. “I actually totally forgot you were the captain Walleed, until now,” says George. “This is your challenge, yeah? This is your chance to shine.”
Back on Green Team, they’ve decided to cook their steak on the grill, then use the barbeque as an oven to finish it. It sounds like a good idea, but Nicole has never used this method before, so she wisely does a tester.
After 12 minutes in the oven, the tester is still raw in the middle, which makes sense because the fillets look like they could feed a family of four. Nicole decides to cut them in half so she can sear them off and they will cook quicker.
“Are you confident with this way that we’re cooking them?” asks captain Joe as Nicole slices.
“I’m actually not, Joe, but you know, it’s all right, we don’t really have another option,” she responds, which is the kind of thing you hear on MasterChef right before people end up in black aprons and tears.
With 15 minutes to go, the 300 diners arrive. Simon on Green Team is barbecuing their prawns, but he’s having trouble pressing the seafood flat.
The prawns have been butterflied and need to be pressed open on the barbecue so they don’t continue cooking in the shell. This will also help them absorb flavour from the ginger vinaigrette, which Tessa is applying as they go out.
Unfortunately, like angry teens or new lovers with embarrassing kinks, the prawns refuse to open up. Green Team don’t have time to give each prawn the space and attention they need, so Simon ends up barbecuing them more or less closed and hoping they don’t overcook.
With one minute until service, Derek throws Blue Team’s lamb back onto the barbeque for 30 seconds on each side. He’d already cooked them earlier and let them rest, so this is just to warm them up a bit. Nevertheless, he’s concerned he might be overcooking them — a concern I very much share, considering judge Matt thought they already looked a bit dark earlier.
There’s nothing that can be done about it now, though. Service starts, and Blue Team immediately start sending their food out. It takes Green Team a little while longer to get organised before their food starts going out, but fortunately they only lose a few minutes, and soon 300 delicious looking plates have been served.
“I’m just proud of everybody, and I’m especially proud of my captain [Walleed],” says Sandeep to the camera. “You’ve done a great job, brother.”
Good on Walleed for stepping up ???#MasterChefAU
— Jan-jan ??? (@chibi_benedict) June 5, 2019
“We honestly think that was the best food we’ve seen in Queensland in any challenge,” says Judge Matt, when announcing the results, which is nice for morale but sad for professional chef Ben Williamson from yesterday’s Immunity Challenge.
The judges love Blue Team’s charred prawns with garlic turmeric butter and green mango and papaya salad, and the lamb cutlets with spicy marinade and fresh chutney and charred eggplant with tamarind glaze were delightfully flavoured. Unfortunately, while Gary and Matt’s plates are perfect, George’s lamb is overdone.
Meanwhile, Green Team’s sunshine salad, steak with green sauce and pickled eggplant with mushrooms are all delicious, with Nicole’s steak having turned out beautifully medium rare.
However, the kitchen god did not smile upon Green Team this day, and their barbecued prawns with ginger vinaigrette are a big let down. Barbecuing the prawns closed caused them to overcook in the shell, making them fibrous and difficult to eat, and they don’t taste of ginger at all. “It’s such a waste of all that hard work,” says George.
Unfortunately for Green Team, their prawns are a large enough disaster to eclipse Blue Team’s inconsistent lamb. Green Team are now headed into tonight’s elimination, where one will die.
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.