MasterChef Australia - S13E44 - Unconventional Maggi Immunity Challenge

Immunity challenge today - Depinder, Pete, Tommy and Justin play for a spot in the top 10.

Oh, I see Sabina is back today. I guess if you have to miss a cook – a mystery box is probably the best one to bunk.

There are 2 rounds for this challenge. In Round 1 – they have to use whatever is under the cloche in an unconventional way, and the top 2 dishes face off in round 2.

The item is Maggi 2 minute noodles – this is the second maggi product placement in the last 3 episodes. Surely some sponsorship scenes.

The others are in the pantry looking for ingredients and Pete is at his bench ‘planning his cook’. He draws a singular pot, gives up and goes to get his ingredients.

Justin is treating the noodles like flour – making tacos. He is making tortillas of the noodles. And making chicken for filling with the taste maker. This is actually a really nice idea – I am starting to not hate Justin again.

Pete is cooking the noodles and is planning to blitz it with eggs and other stuff to a paste and then make a gnocchi. Mel asks him why he didn’t blitz the uncooked noodles and use maggi as a flour i.e. exactly what justin is doing. He doesn’t have an answer – either as to why he is not doing something he didn’t think of earlier or why the judges are telling him exactly what is setting apart a competitors dish. 

Tommy is making a prawn and pork patty – and he plans to use the noddles a bit like kataifi by rehydrating them and then deep frying them. Essentially he is using them as a crumb.  

Depinder is making Chicken 65 – with the noodle as a crumb. Mel tries and fails miserably at giving the impression she has any clue whatsoever what chicken 65 is.  Andy who also has no clue what he is talking about in general says its not the most creative use of the noodles. Remember this is EXACTLY what Tommy is also doing. I guess the judges wants everyone to do the exact same thing – because that is what creativity is really all about.  

Andy tries to tell the other judges that Depinder is not creative, and Jock tells him to shut up.

Everyone seems to be worried about Pete’s dish – but in their face because his gnocchi seems to actually work.

Tommy’s chao tom looks amazing as expected.

Justin’s maggi tortilla has worked brilliantly and he is cracking on with his tacos.

Pete is now ditching the gorgonzola sauce and is getting some parmesan cheese and making a sauce from that. Because the TYPE of cheese was the problem, not the fact that cheese itself doesn’t work with gnocchi (as per Jock).  

Justin is super confidently saying that he is making it to the next round – but has a mild panic attack when he cannot find his whole ass chicken. Spoiler alert – he finds the chicken. For some reason Justin has picked a disgusting looking, hot pink Tupperware box to serve his tortillas in.

The Tasting

Tommy continues his trend of giving punny names to dishes (which occasionally feature his own name) and calls his dish today a “Kataifi Chao Tommy”.  He immediately endears himself to all by making fun of Andy’s chilli tolerance – Andy’s ego is hurt and asks Mel to load up the chilli.  

Jock says he’s made the classic better (as if he had any clue what a chao tom is supposed to taste like).  Mel is also really happy. Andy says he’s good with the chillis, but Jock sees through this lie and is mocking him. TLDR – everyone finds this delicious. 

Depinder -  Andy finally admits he has not clue as to what exactly chicken 65 is. Andy is forced to admit that the dish is insanely good and also has to eat his words and admit that it is indeed creative. Jock says this is the best fried chicken ever – he loves it.

Pete’s gnocchi is great. Mel says the texture is fantastic. Jock also says it’s a good gnocchi. Andy says he’s nailed the brief. Everyone is a bit on the fence about the sauce though.

Justin’s dish is extremely well received. Mel says he has hit out of the park today. Andy says the tacos are near perfect. Jock also says brilliant use of noodles.

This is actually a really tough cook to judge. In the end - Depinder & Justin go through to round 2.

Now they have to pick any item from the pantry and use it in an unconventional way.

Both of them are doing desserts. Depinder is trying to do a savoury dessert with Sriracha. Justin is doing, in his words, something weird with coke.

Depinder’s has made her Sriracha anglaise but is worried that Sriracha has a garlicky taste which may not work well. She is also making a coriander granita.

Justin is making a coke spider type dessert – but his coke anglaise is not coke-y enough. So now he is adding a coke jelly to the dish. Justin is also adding a tempered chocolate disk with crumbled potato chips on top. This actually sounds like a great dessert.

The Tasting

Depinder – Mel says she likes everything. Andy says ice cream texture was flawless – but the garlic came through. That’s the only thing he’s questioning.

Justin -  Mel says this is amazing – great texture, good balance. Jock also says all components were well executed and well made. 

Amazingly Justin wins this one. Everyone, most of all Justin, is amazed that this guy who served celery and grapes to the judges a few weeks ago is the first person in the top 10.