It’s episode 14 of MasterChef Australia 2023 and an Immunity Pin is up for grabs if a contestant can beat a world-class chef in a cook-off!
Being the winning team for last night’s Service Challenge, tonight it’s time for Adi, Cath, Robbie, Phil, Declan, Jessica, Grace and Amy to battle it out in the kitchen.
In the first round, the contestants will compete against one another, with the victorious cook facing off against celebrity chef Sergio Perera.
And if they win? They will take home the Immunity pin and be safe from Sunday’s elimination.
The Cook – Round One
Upon arrival to the kitchen, each chef was welcomed by the judges Jock Zonfrillo, Andy Allen and Mel Leong plus a massive gift at their station. Upon unwrapping it, they discover they all have a different appliance that they can use in the challenge. The catch? The gifted appliance is the only one they’re able to use!
Declan had a pressure cooker, Amy had a stand mixer and Phil had an ice cream maker, but it’s Robbie who’s left stumped over his appliance.
When Jock asks him exactly what his machine does, Robbie straight up says that he doesn’t know, and things are beginning to look grim for him in this round.
“Poor Robbie, he’s never seen a cold press juicer in his life,” Jock laughed.
The contestants were told that along with the chance at the Immunity pin, the winner of this round would also take home a $10,000 gift card for Harvey Norman. And, TBH, most of the contestants (and Andy, too) seemed more stoked about the gift card than the chance to skip an elimination.
The contestants got started on their appliance-inspired dishes and Cath was one of the first to hit a speed bump with her Cream and Jam Butter Cake when Mel made it clear that her dish was looking extremely sweet.
Cath narrowly avoided a breakdown and held herself together before coming up with the idea to put some basil in her jam to balance out the flavours.
Meanwhile, Phil was looking nervous about his ice cream-making task, knowing that his last attempt failed miserably. Despite being advised to simplify his last dish, Phil decided to go all out and make a Tea Ice Cream with a Chocolate Hazelnut Biscuit and Chocolate mousse.
The rest of the contestants seemed to cruise through their dishes with minimal problems.
Judging Round One
First up is Cath with her Family Birthday cake, and Mel gave her a figurative pat on the back while saying that the cake was delicious and “the jam and the cream are both really fresh and a little bit sour which really lifts everything up.”
Phil was nervous coming forward with his second ice cream dish for the season and the dramatic music that was swirling seemed to suggest he wasn’t going to be well-received. Turns out, it was just trickery from the sound producers and all the judges enjoyed his dessert, with Jock telling him it was a “redemption dish”.
It seemed that Robbie got the hang of the cold press juicer because all three judges loved his “Robbie’s Duck” dish.
“The flavour in the duck was brilliant, and the cook in the duck was brilliant. I think you’re a flavour smith,” Jock declared.
Amy made Sardine Flatbread, and while the judges didn’t mind it, they didn’t have a whole lot to say. The same went for Grace and her Anchovy and Cheese Croquet with Chilli and Yoghurt Sauce and Adi and her Kataifi Prawns and Mayonnaise.
After skimming through the past few contestants, Declan’s dish reveal of Thai Chicken Broth with Peanut and Lime Sambal got a lot of screen time, and for good reason as the judges were blown away by his creation.
“Declan, I loved it,” Mel said. “This is the exceptional food that we’re looking for”
Andy agreed. “You’ve cooked the best dish in round one, which means, mate, you’ve won this,” he said while flashing the Harvey Norman gift card. Declan was sent through to round two to cook against a world-class chef in order to win immunity.
“I’m bloody over the moon, what a day I’ve got goosebumps,” he exclaimed.
The Cook – Round Two
Declan’s next task was competing against Sergio who has worked at elBulli in Spain which was ranked the best restaurant in the world five times.
More recently, he’s teamed up with Chris Hemsworth to kick start his app Centr as the key chef.
If Declan beats Sergio he will get the immunity pin. If he doesn’t, he still gets to keep the $10,000 Harvey Norman gift card, which feels like a win-win to me.
Because of his triumph in the last round – and probably also because Sergio is a world-class chef – Declan was given a 15-minute head start in the challenge.
The men were presented with four different flavour pairings; dark chocolate and parmesan, carrots and raspberries, mushrooms and blueberries, and mandarin and tarragon.
Delcan chose Mandarin and Tarrgon to pair with fish. This left Sergio with one of the other three options and he decided on blueberries and mushrooms… to also cook with fish.
Despite the similarities in their dishes, Declan wasn’t too worried.
“Declan is my name and fish is my game,” he chirped with a grin.
While the men got stuck into their dishes, the female contestants (and Robbie) fangirled over Sergio and his good looks from the balcony above.
He wasn’t phased by the attention and happily sauteed his blueberries while grillinf his mushrooms to accompany the fish.
“Everything seems perfect right now,” he said.
With only 20 mins to go, Declan was only just selecting his fish and pointed out that it needs a “good 15 minutes” in the steamer.
As expected, Declan began to stress that his fish wasn’t cooked enough.
Alas, he managed to finish cooking it just in the nick of time and the MasterChef contestant plated up as the last few seconds ticked down.
The Verdict
Sergio’s dish was up first and the judges are impressed.
“Fish is cooked through… morish, I want to keep eating it,” Jock said.
However, Mel said that while there’s some “undeniable skill going on”, she “doesn’t know if she’d say it was the most cohesive”. Andy agreed and said he wishes it was more mushroom-forward, and it looked as though Sergio was in trouble.
Meanwhile, Jock was impressed with Declan’s dish, calling it “beautiful” and said his only criticism is that he thinks the sauce could have done with a finer strainer. However, Andy said that the dish needed a bit more salt but thought it was a “solid” effort.
The Results
Cue the results: Declan got an eight from Andy, an eight from Mel and a nine from Jock which brought him to a total of 25 out of 30.
Sergio got an eight from Jock, a seven from Andy and a seven from Mel, bringing him to a total of 22, meaning that Declan was victorious and he won the immunity pin!
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