Today’s challenge is all about cooking with fire – and hence the contestants are all waiting outside the kitchen – where they have set up a pantry and 4 cooking stations with fire pits and stuff.
When Andy explains what the challenge is all about, Pete is even
more nervous than he usually is in every cook, Depinder is feeling good, Scott
is excited, and Jess is just happy to be here.
Today’s Master is Scott Pickett from the restaurant Matilda 159.
He starts off with a masterclass showing how to make fish, prawns and oysters
in different ways using the fire.
Fusion Dan is picking up a lot of things in this masterclass which
means he is sure to burn down the kitchen in some future challenge.
We know Scott Pickett is a big-time chef because he completely
ignores Mel and Andy and talks only to Jock. Is even helping him with the coals
and stuff. Mel and Andy are reduced to asking inane questions to contestants
like “Are you enjoying yourselves?” to make themselves useful.
Scott has some experience of cooking barbecue – he is making a
coffee cured trout with a citrus glaze.
In a move that every single person expected as soon as the
challenge was announced, Depinder is making Tandoori chicken. She is very
comfortable with this prep and they apparently have a proper tandoor at home –
her only challenge will be to actually work the fire which she doesn’t normally
do.
Jock says simplicity is the key tonight which is good for Jess and
not so good for Pete.
As usual Pete is experimenting like anything. He is putting potatoes
on the coals, beef on the grill and a charred cabbage.
Jess on other hand is making a carne asada taco. She knows she’s struggled with keeping things
simple and today she is determined to do that - and now Andy comes and tells
her the dish is too simple, so she needs to nail every element.
Out of depth in the food department, Mel is in charge of announcing
how much is left. For some reason she feels the need to use a phrase with fire
in it even though it makes no sense at all in this context – “Where there is
smoke there is fire - 1 hour to go”. All contestants are puzzled what she means
but ignore her.
Meanwhile Pete has already burnt his hazelnuts. He is surprised that the fire is hot –
not sure exactly what he was expecting to happen there.
Scott is making beer and buckwheat damper and cannot find a bottle
opener. Good guy Brent comes like a stud and opens the bottle with a knife. I
propose Brent wins immunity just for this.
Jess has now added a quandong salsa with her charred chillies and
tomatoes. It looks great.
Depinder doesn’t have a tandoor so has to figure out how to make
the naan. She tries putting the dough on the coals directly and it unsurprisingly
burns. Now she is doing some R&D with her grill and her pan to replicate
the tandoor. On other hand, her chicken is cooked nicely and she’s happy.
Depinder’s naan seems to be working on attempt no.4 where she uses
the grill directly on the coals. Now like proper desi overachiever, she is
making smoked lassi.
Scott’s trout is on the grill but the skin is sticking to the
grill. He is struggling to remove the fish from the grill with the big spatula.
The skin looks burnt - he is taking off the skin. From far off, Scott Pickett
comments how the skin was perfect and he should have left it on.
The Tasting:
Jess says she has mixed feelings about her dish because the
tortillas are dry and the meat is under cooked. Valiant effort but surely not
top dish material.
Scott is now thinking maybe he should have left the crispy skin on
the trout. Jock says yes, he should have left the crispy skin on the trout
as that had all the flavour of the fire. Scott Pickett rubs it in and says it
was perfect and would have elevated the dish. Overall the dish is good but
could have been great. Poor guy.
Pete brings up his dish. Mel asks him how the challenge went for
him and as he starts giving an honest answer, tells him to shut up because “enough
theory lets eat”. Jock says the steak was really nice but needed more
caramelization, puree was good idea but not well executed as it turned out to
be grainy.
Depinder is happy with dish and thinks she has nailed it. This is
her challenge to lose. Jock says it was excellent work. Pickett also says the
chicken was absolutely stunning – and he is also stealing this lassi idea for
his restaurant. Best compliment ever.
This is an easy win for Depinder, the judges don’t even bother
conferring. She has won another immunity challenge and is safe. Jock puts on
some unnecessary pressure saying she is the one to beat in this kitchen. The contestants take their revenge by giving her the worst nickname of all time - Queen Pindo.
Next up we have an all-in elimination from Curtis Stone. Cheers
and see you then.
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