‘MasterChef Australia’ Recap: You’ll Eat Raw Brussels Sprouts And You’ll Like It

The latest MasterChef Australia is a “waste not, want not” sort of episode, wherein contestants have to use all the ingredients they’re given. Unfortunately, some of the ingredients they’re given are Brussels sprouts, AKA Satan’s ulcers.

Contestants have 60 minutes to cook this week’s Mystery Box, which contains extra virgin olive oil, Greek yoghurt, rosemary, lemon, leek, parsnip, lamb rack and Brussels sprouts on the stalk.

It’s a decent box, without too many tricky or unusual ingredients. The catch is that the contestants have to use all of the ingredients in the box, not just one or two, which is bad news for very correct Brussels sprouts detractors.

The requirement that everything be used means the final dishes end up containing a lot of leek and parsnip purees. Tessa at least smokes hers, giving her a point of difference. “It’s all the little touches that are gonna get me over the line,” she says.

Another element that makes her dish stand out is that, while Derek is deep frying his Brussels sprouts and Simon is roasting them whole on the stem, Tessa is serving hers raw in a slaw. Raw Brussels sprouts is not something anyone has ever wanted ever, but sometimes you gotta give the people what they don’t want, I guess.

“Could be a bit of a risk, but I want to stand out,” says Tessa, which is definitely going to happen.

“I’m the only one who’s not cooking their Brussel sprouts. I’m also the only one who thinks “Brussel sprout slaw” sounds edible.”#MasterChef #masterchefau

— ?finicalgal (@finicalgal) June 9, 2019

With five minutes to go, hero Walleed is just chilling out and eating some of his lamb while Anushka stares into her oven and repeatedly says “please”. Her piragis still aren’t cooked, so she decides to leave them in until the every last minute. 

Fortunately pleading with the oven seems to pay off, and her piragis eventually come out golden and cooked through. “Even if I don’t get tasted, I’m still happy with my dish,” says Anushka, smiling. That’s good, because she doesn’t get tasted.

There are only 13 contestants left, nearly halfway through the competition, so from today onward the judges are only tasting the top three dishes instead of the top five.

Derek’s fillet of lamb, leek and parsnip puree, and charred Brussels sprouts is so clear and cohesive that it feels as though he had his pick of the pantry, and Tessa’s lamb loin, parsnip and leek puree, and Brussels sprouts slaw is apparently delicious despite the fact that she served Brussels sprouts slaw. I still do not trust it.

However it’s Simon’s Brussels sprouts, parsnip puree, leeks and lamb that wins the cook. The judges don’t even have to turn around to discuss it, impressed enough by the flavour and the inventiveness of roasting the sprouts on the stalk that they ignore that it looks like something you’d see in Aliens.

“I think it’s one of the most interesting things I’ve eaten,” says Matt, which in this case is a compliment. “Not only is it exciting and creative, it’s also jaw droppingly delicious.” Sounds fake, but OK.

Simon ascends, having access to MasterChef‘s gantry this time, while everyone else readies themselves for the Invention Test.

This week, they have 75 minutes to cook a dish using every part of an ingredient, from head to tail or root to stem. Contestants can use it intact or break it down into different ingredients, but the whole thing must be used.

There’s a curated selection of proteins, fruit and vegetables they have to choose from, so they can’t just bake a potato and call it a day. Unfortunately this means nobody will get to go completely off the rails and try roasting a whole suckling pig either, which would have been incredible to witness.

After wavering between the mud crab and the quail, Tessa decides to go for quail, but 45 minutes in she’s still unsure of her decision. She feels she isn’t showcasing the best of the quail and just can’t stop thinking about the crab.

Getting your mind stuck on something like that is how you know it’s love, so Tessa dumps her quail in favour of chilli crab. The mere idea of chilli crab is already more delicious than anything she could have possibly done with the quail, and she’s a lot happier, so it seems like a good change. However, Tessa has lost almost half her time, so has a lot of catching up to do.

Time isn’t the only issue Tessa is up against. She’s playing with chilli now, and needs to make sure she balances it correctly.

Matt swings by to taste Tessa’s chilli paste as she fries it off in a wok. She’s aware it’s hot, but thinks she could probably add even more chilli in. Matt’s face disagrees.

“Whoo!” coughs Matt as he walks away, rapidly turning red. It’s the kind of subtle hint that the MasterChef judges often drop in the middle of cooks. So it’s surprising that Tessa simply smiles and continues stirring her chilli, either completely missing the hint or completely ignoring it.

Tessa smirks as she plots to blow everyone's brains out with her crab #MasterChefAU

— Jan-jan ??? (@chibi_benedict) June 9, 2019

Meanwhile, Nicole is cooking a whole deep fried snapper with a sweet and sour sauce. Her sauce is reducing and her coconut rice is on, so she gets on to frying her snapper with 15 minutes to go.

She wants to cook the fish at 180C for 10-12 minutes, but gets distracted with her other elements and doesn’t pay close enough attention to the fish. The oil significantly drops in temperature, and the skin doesn’t crisp up as it should, but she thinks the flesh is still decently cooked.

Then, because when it rains it pours, the snapper’s tail falls off and onto the floor when Nicole it takes it out of her wok. The five-second rule doesn’t apply in the MasterChef kitchen, so she no longer has the whole ingredient in a whole ingredient challenge.

There are only three minutes left in the cook, so all Nicole can do is hope for mercy since the tail was only semi-edible anyway.

Time’s up, and it’s time for tasting.

It looks like we’re going to see a human man turn into jerky in real time after Tessa’s chilli crab makes a waterfall spawn from George’s scalp. However, despite George’s rapid dehydration, all three MasterChef judges declare her crab absolutely delicious, netting Tessa a chance to cook for the Immunity Pin.

Also in the top three is Ben’s cauliflower with macadamia nut and kaiserfleisch and Abbey’s Textures of Fennel and Yabbies. Both went absolutely hog wild with their ingredients, pureeing, frying, roasting, pickling, confiting and even candying parts of their vegetables, and just generally having a good time.

“When you talk about cauliflower there’s light in your eyes,” said Matt to Ben during the cook. That’s also how you know it’s love.

Unfortunately, the rice stuffed into Walleed’s calamari is undercooked, and he didn’t have enough time to fix it. Christina’s dish also doesn’t work out, as she considers her apple too unstable to plate and in a panic simply plates half.

Finally, despite the deliciousness of Nicole’s sauce, the kitchen god was not on her side this day. Her snapper is nearly overcooked and has a disappointingly but unsurprisingly soggy skin, which sends her plummeting to the depths of MasterChef hell.

The three of them will enter tonight’s elimination, where one will be excommunicated from the church of MasterChef.

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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.