MasterChef Australia - S13E42 - Khanh Nguyen Pressure Test

Contestants walk in for the pressure test today to Mel making weird wolf noises. She introduces the chef who will bring the dish for today - Khanh Nguyen from Sunda. Tommy and Depinder seem insanely excited about the torture that is about to follow. 

Andy tries to make small talk with Khanh who is not interested and frankly offended that the only person close to his stature i.e. Jock is not engaging with him. He cuts straight to the chase and says “can I show the dish now?”.

They have to make his insanely good looking Pork Wellington with a lattice crackling and flavours of bahn mi.

Tommy’s excitement levels are through the roof – while Maja is pretty certain she is going home today. 

Pete is trying to see how many layers there are for some reason – while standing 10 feet away – when they are anyway going to get a piece to try on their plate.

Depinder also is a bit too excited to try a dish that could potentially send her home.

Khanh says this is not even on the menu at Sunda and the only person who is allowed to cook this is Khanh himself. So a totally reasonable dish to give to a bunch of home cooks to make. 

They have 4 hours 15 mins to cook this dish – and then another 15 mins to plate up

Everyone starts the cook with different approaches -  Depinder has already finished her Pork loin while Pete is still reading the recipe. Pete pulls peak HR interview answer and says “Being a perfectionist is annoying”.

Andy says he has just realized that Maja has done 2 pressure tests and it is the first pressure test for the other three – so the logical conclusion is that "it is game on!" for ALL for them. What was the point of that information about being the 1^st or 3^rd pressure test again? 

Then, for good measure, he explains how pressure tests and recipes work.  Khanh cannot take this nonsense any longer – he cuts Andy off and talks about the actual dish, the pressure points and the challenging portions of the recipe.

Tommy is super happy that this cook involves flavours that he knows. Side note – this pastry dough has maggi seasoning! Did not see that coming.

Pete the Perfectionist has left out the egg from the pastry – so he has to start the pastry again. Mel has come to tell Pete to not be a perfectionist – this is the same person who will send this guy home for less than perfect food.

Depinder is done with her pate as well – and Scott makes the terrible pun “joke” for the day saying it looks “offally good”. As is the theme this year, immediately after this, Depinder explains the joke.  I’ve never hated Scott or Depinder more than this exact moment.

Tommy is  oblivious to the fact that this is a stressful cook that could potentially send him home – he is too happy for this shit and is literally whistling – and probably stressing the fuck out of everyone else.  

Maja says her head is not in the game – she cannot even read anymore. Khanh comes and tells her the most basic things like where to keep the pate.  

Pete seems to be back on track – while Depinder and Tommy are motoring along and making the pork skin lattice. Pete is trying to be super precise – but he’s given up and is pushing on with something that looks kinda like the real thing.  

Maja is now struggling with the Pork lattice – and has cut half a centimetre too short. She has now put extra stress on herself by seeing that the others are already on the next step.  She then proceeds to pull a mega-Kishwar and totally breaks down. Mel peps her up and she gets back to cooking.

All this while, Tommy is still whistling.

Pete has made up time and now he has to assemble his Wellington. 

Maja says she needs to hurry along and at this moment Andy asks her to stop - and then tells her that she needs to hurry along – which he literally just stopped her from doing. Idiot.

Tommy has already put his wellington in the oven. Depinder has not rolled her pastry like Tommy – it has thick edges which could lead to raw pastry at best, and raw meat inside at worst.   

Pete has taken his time with the Wellington but Maja’s pastry seems a little thick.  

Everyone is now on to their pickles – Depinder is rushing through hers for some reason – given that she was amongst the first to get her Wellington in the oven. 

The Tasting

Pete -  Khanh says if he closed his eyes and ate this – it would be tough to tell the difference. Jock also says hes done an incredible job.  

Tommy -  Khanh says the inside of the wellington is really good. Jock says it was very very close to Khanh’s version. Khanh agrees that every single element was very well done – and it was super close to flavour.

Depinder -  Khanh says it looks very good, the pork is cooked well. Jock says texture of the dressing is weird and salty. Khanh says the pork is the best yet and the pate is also the best yet.  But the seam of pastry is raw. So there are a couple of flaws. 

Maja -  Pastry is super thick but all layers are there. Andy says his pork is just cooked.  Jock’s pork is raw on one side. Mince is also raw on one side. Pastry is super thick so stuff has not cooked.

This is a no brainer – Maja is going home.

I’d just like to point out that this damp squib would not have happened if Wynona had been brought back. Maja had 3 good dishes and that got her into the competition, but post that she just delivered the same quality stuff as she has always done.