Welcome to the Able And Game recap of Masterchef Australia S10E06 (Monday Night Elimination Challenge).



But firstly a couple more intros


Is Ben going to be cut-throat in the competition? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Gina must have told the producers she wasn't happy with this set up. She is clearly pulling spaghetti out from that pot. It isn't even Barilla or something fancy, it is home brand spaghetti right next to the handmade pasta on the racks. Unless the spaghetti is a sauce for the fettuccine and she is joining Jo in some carb on carb action?

 

Maggie Beer has entered the kitchen. There are rules and regulations on how you need to behave when Maggie Beer is in the kitchen. When referring to her, you must call her YOUR HERO. You must always look Maggie in the eye and she will eat all colours of M&Ms provided to her in her rider.

Maggie gets them to cook Tarte Tatin, which you can pronounce TATATAAAAN. This is the same challenge from Season One of Masterchef and Julie Goodwyn competed in this elimination and then she went on to win so this gives the contestants hope that one of them might also win the whole show.


We also discover all the things Metter keeps on his bedside table. However this ends up creating more questions. How many steps per day does Metter get on Masterchef? Why two cups, does one have sparkling water and one have still? What is the green square? What is in the blue tub. Is the bottle of water sparking or still?




Metter is a project manager for multimillion dollar banking deals so he reads the instructions to the recipe very carefully. He didn't read it carefully enough and rolls out his pastry 5 times without chilling it between rolls. What he should be doing is just copying Samira and Michelle who are in front of him and doing everything correct (so far!).

 

Metter doesn't redo his pastry even though Maggie thinks it is going to be utter rubbish and not worth putting in her mouth. He then cuts his fingers and one tiny drop of blood falls on his apples and he has to throw them all out. This is mentioned a few times to hopefully make the judges feel bad because it probably didn't even go on the apples.

Also, I should note: what is up with contestants yelling out advice from the gantry? Sometimes they tell people what to do, other times they see things going wrong and recoil, wishing they could just let them know their caramel is burning and still on the stove. This makes no sense and annoys and confuses me.

Cooking is finished and it is tight. Will the pastry be cooked enough? Will the apples, which is quintessential to this dish be cooked? Will the caramel be the perfect colour of amber, but a dark amber, but not too dark?

 

Samira walks into the judges room to deliver her tarte and starts talking in rhyme.

I can't believe I'm here
Sitting in front of Maggie Beer
It's like cooking for someone who is so dear
Cooking for my hero, Maggie Beer



Samira makes the best tarte, everything is perfect and the judges eat huge portions despite having to eat two more tartes after this one. George then makes a bold claim, the tarte is so good one could eat it without ice cream and custard. Matt and Gary are aghast that George could make such a foolish statement. Matt grabs at a chunk with his fist and shoves it in his mouth and makes a face that indicates that it could, in certain circumstances, could be done. A circumstance like you've cooked a tarte and assumed you have some premium Maggie Beer vanilla ice cream in the freezer. You place the tarte on the plate, it is perfectly cooked and you open you freezer to realise you partner ate all the ice cream for breakfast that morning. You grab the keys to make a quick dash to the supermarket only to realise you have no petrol. You go to get the jerry can from the boot and realise it has a hole in it. It's 9.35pm on a Sunday night and the buses are not running so you walk to the supermarket (a 40 minute round trip) and discover the supermarket is closed because it is Easter Sunday. You then call a cab to take you to the IGA you know is open, only to discover it closed at 10pm. This is the only acceptable circumstance that tarte tatin can be served without ice cream.

 

Michelle's tarte is next and it is too dark and the apples don't have enough structure. The pastry is a carrier for burnt caramel flavour and despite loving bitterness, it is too much for Gary.

The only thing that can save Michelle is large uncooked apples and dense pastry and that is the exact dish Metter serves up. Metter lost his way around the apples and if they were only willing to eat blood he might have been safe.

Goodbye Metter!