MasterChef Australia has returned to our small screens for its 17th season. Returning favourites and previous winners are here, and they are (as the episode title suggests): Back to Win! For those who missed the most recent episode, we have the recap of each episode of MasterChef Australia: Back to Win below.
Here’s what happened in last night’s episode.
Episode 3
The first person to leave the challenge is a blinder: Pete has decided to leave the challenge for “personal reasons”. He is currently undergoing cancer treatment, so chances are it’s related to his personal health.
Back to tonight’s episode, Poh lifts Gordon’s cloche to reveal Gordon’s challenge: Gordon’s favourite late-night dish. In true British fashion, it’s a classic: beans on toast. However, it has that “Gordon Ramsay elevated flair” with the addition of a runny duck egg, chunky bread and special seasoning.
The challenge tonight is to cook their favourite late-night dish. They have 75 minutes, and the best dish will score a spot on Gordon Ramsay’s menu at his new restaurant in London!
The Cook
As aforementioned, the challenge is to cook their favourite midnight snack and thereby share their creativity and their personality with the judges.
So when it comes to late-night snacks, there are a lot of different ideas. Some people instantly think about a dish they’d have on a late night out with their mates (hello Declan’s kebabs), some think about blending cultures (like Audra’s Indian and Japanese dish inspired by her and her husband’s heritage), some think about something sweet and cheeky to enjoy at home (like Darrsh’s native Australian s’mores), and some think about a dish they serve to others (Andre’s spicy assassin pasta that he serves to his workmates). And some, do something fun like reimaging a dish, like Laura’s twist on vegemite on toast by making a vegemite ice cream!
We get a look into what Depinder has been up to since her last MasterChef journey, including her new supper club series, which focuses on sharing regional Indian style cuisine. So her dish is inspired by late-night street eats from India: butter chicken that is literally chicken marinated in butter with beautiful spices. The judges point out that she may not have time to cook the chicken…
The dishes and the judges’ remarks
We won’t cover all the dishes (watch the episode for full details), but in this recap of MasterChef Australia, we’ll share the highlights (and lowlights).
Andre is first up with his Spaghetti Al’Assassin, aka spicy assassin pasta with burrata on top (to counteract the spice in case it’s too much for the judges!) Despite its appearance, Andre’s spicy assassin dish “told a story” to the judges. Jean-Christophe said he thinks he’s “mad” for doing something “quirky” and “bizarre”, but it works.
Darrsh’s Native Australian S’mores are dubbed a “celebration” by Jean-Christophe. It’s not too sweet, and the addition of native ingredients is described as “warming” by Poh.
Jimmy has the guts to serve Taiwanese dumplings to the “Dumpling Queen” Poh, but she loves them and calls them “really balanced”.
Depinder’s Aslam Butter Chicken was a risk with the short cooking time, but Jean-Christophe says, “I love it.” Furthermore, Andy says it’s “exactly what I’d go for” late at night at a deli.
Audra’s dish was another risk as it was her first time creating the dish! She calls it “The Magic to a Happy Marriage”, as it’s a marriage of Japanese methods and Indian flavours. Andy calls it “perfection”.
Jamie’s potato tortilla with mussels is also called perfect by Andy and a “winning dish”.
Laura’s dessert twist on Vegemite on toast is a definite risk with a Frenchman on the judging panel who has never eaten Vegemite before. Or maybe that could be a winning strategy? Turns out, yes, it was! He calls it “sublime”.
With so many great dishes, the judges appear to have to nitpick. Andy points out two mistakes: Declan’s shish kebabs are a little bit under, and Tim accidentally left a bit of lamb bone in Andy’s dish.
The Winner
With so much talent in a season with returning favourites, it can be hard to choose a winner.
The top five dishes chosen by the judges are from: Darrsh, Audra, Depinder, Sav, and Laura. However, there can only be one winner.
The winning dish was “ridiculously tasty”, says Sofia. “The key to a winning dish… is also the key to… a HAPPY MARRIAGE!” Yay for Audra! Her dish was not only a success, but it will be on the menu at Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant in London!
The next episode is the season’s first elimination episode.
Tune into the episode on 7pm Sunday, 4 May, 2025 or stream on 10Play.
Episode 2
Tonight, the winners from the first episode’s challenge, the green team, are taking part in an immunity challenge put to them by Gordon Ramsay. The winner of the challenge wins the only immunity pin in the entire season!
In the challenge, the contestants have to cook along with Gordon. They have to cook two dishes: roast duck breast with parsnips for the main, and for dessert, a British pub classic: sticky toffee pudding. At any point, Gordon can send them up to the gantry, eliminating them from the challenge. The person whose dish most closely resembles Gordon’s in states and presentation will win the challenge.
Callum has a little bit of an advantage as he won a challenge set by Gordon in a previous turn on MasterChef Australia; he is also an experienced restaurant owner and successfully led the green team to victory on the previous episode. A definite contender.
The immunity challenge
We start with the sticky toffee pudding, and straight away, Rue makes an error and adds all the measured-out sugar into her pudding mix. Unfortunately, she realised when it came to making a nut brittle that she needed the granulated sugar for the brittle. As she tries to fix her mistake, she cuts her finger. The kerfuffle slows her down. After her finger starts bleeding again, Gordon sends her to the gantry.
Duck is a tricky meat to cook. Many of the cooks’ duck breasts are at varying stages of readiness. Audra then starts to fall behind as she is concentrating on the flavours and getting everything balanced perfectly.
When they come to finishing off the sauce, Ben realises that he accidentally left out the port wine from his sauce. He quickly adds it in…but it’s unclear if it has enough time to cook out and properly infuse.
Cath then starts to fall behind. As everyone starts to move on to deseset, her parsnip puree is still unpureed. And when she gets to it, she accidentally still have the parnsip mixture out of her blender. Gordon goes to check on her and points out her ducks are raw and sends her to the gantry.
When it comes to blitzing the brittle, Callum’s blender gets stuck and won’t turn off, turning his brittle crumb into a brittle dust.
The cooks will have 20 seconds after Gordon finishes to finish their own dishes. As Gordon plates his dish, a few cooks race up to check what he’s doing as the closest to his dish will win the challnge
Rhiannion was doing well thus far, but when it came to plating she mixed up her sauces and initially put her jus on the dessert plate! A quick wipe down fixes that.
As the countdown starts, the cooks frantically pile all the elements on their plates. It is chaos. But even if they don’t look good, they should taste good!
The judge’s remarks
Callum is first up. Gordon likes his dishes, but does mention that he has too much sauce on his duck dish. The cook on his duck is “beautiful”, Gordon calls it “exceptional”, and his overall dish is a “good effort”. Jean-Christophe calls his dish “impeccable”, and Sofia echoes his comments. Andy calls out the brittle crumb as being too fine.
Next is Audra’s attempt. She missed the mascarpone cream on her dessert. She felt her instincts went out the door today. Unsurprisingly, the fat isn’t rendered on her duck, but Andy says it’s not too far off. However, her sauce gets a “brilliant” from Jean-Christophe. If the cook had been better, she would have been a contender!
Rhiannon had some nice aeration on the pudding, but needed more sauce and missed the mark on some elements.
Matt is next, he’s duck is nowhere near cooked. But his pudding is one of the best today, says Gordon.
Darssh’s duck is also under, but his dessert dish gets great comments from the judges.
Finally, Ben is last up. The cook on his duck is “really good” says Andy, and Gordon calls it “exceptional”. So, his mixing up of wine and stock didn’t matter in the end. His dessert also gets an exceptional and his caramel sauce for the sticky toffee pudding is dubbed the best of the night.
Who wins the challenge?
It’s a toss-up between Callum and Ben, and everyone knows it.
Both delivered on taste. But only one was more similar to Gordon’s dishes: Ben!
Turns out the brittle crumb was Callum’s downfall. Now Ben as the security of the immunity pin, the only one this season.
Gordon also says his goodbyes, but he’s leaving something behind: the prize for the winner of tomorrow’s challenge hidden under a cloche…
Tune into the next episode of Masterchef Australia on 7.30pm Wednesday, 30 April 2025 or stream it on-demand on 10Play.
Episode 1
Season 17 starts with a bang! After getting a heartwarming intro to some of the returning contestants (Declan, Audra, Theo, Laura, Callum, Sarah) the contestants head into the Masterchef kitchen and are greeted by a cross-armed Gordon Ramsay in a spotlight.
“This, right here, right now, is your chance to rewrite history,” Gordon says to the gathered contestants.
Then he introduces the judges, Andy Allen, Poh Ling-Yeow, Jean-Christophe Novelli, and Sofia Levin, and hugs Jean-Christophe, calling him “My brother from a different mother” and remarking that he’s just here so that Jean-Christophe doesn’t ‘f*ck it up.”
The challenge in this episode is a service challenge with Gordon Ramsay running the kitchen. The contestants are broken up into three service teams.
- Blue Team: Samira, Depinder, Theo, Jamie, Alana, Jimmy, Laura
- Red Team: Steph, Andrew, Sav, Pete, Declan, Beau, Tim
- Green Team: Rue, Rhiannon, Matt, Audra, Darrsh, Ben, Cath
The contestants thus far believe they are the only ones competing, however, there is a twist. Three returning legends of MasterChef Australia are back and will be captains for this episode’s challenge: Callum (Green), Laura (Red), and Sarah (Blue). All three have competed multiple times, and they have all placed second.
Service Challenge
They have to make a two-course menu: a main course and dessert. As an extra complication, they must use two ingredients that have to be used in the respective courses: carrot and corn. The three teams have to create 30 plates per service, so 60 plates overall, and have two hours to get it all done.
They are cooking tonight for front-line workers: “Who deserve nothing short of perfection,” according to Gordon, whose daughter Megan is a police officer and his son Jack is in the Royal Marines Commandos.
The Green and Red teams choose carrot for the main and corn for dessert. The blue team is going with corn for the main and carrot for dessert.
On the red team, Laura and Andre used to work together, so she trusts him to sort the main while she leans into the dessert course. However, their ice cream doesn’t go in on time. The crumble burns, which Gordon finds before Laura does. And the sauce is off balance. Gordon advises Laura to step up and take charge.
Over on the blue team, Sarah is comfortable leading her team and is mostly keen to trust her team to lean into their skillsets. However, the first piece of kingfish dished up for Gordon is raw. He has a little bit of a strop and Jamie, who volunteered to do the fish, heads back to the stoves to fry more.
On the green team, Callum is in his element. Gordon comes over to provide some sage advice, and Callum eagerly accepts, “If Gordon says it, we do it.” However, cracks begin to show when it comes to the beef rumps. They are all different sizes, so getting the correct cook on them proves tricky. When Gordon is inspecting a dish, he points out to Callum that the rump in the dish is raw in the middle. The team decides to put the beef back in the oven to correct the cook.
The dishes:
Green Team:
- Main: Beef rump cap with carrot and macadamia puree, carrot top chimmichurri, pickled carrot and fried saltbush
- Dessert: Sweet corn pavlova cup with sweet corn ice cream, mango, popcorn crumble and passionfruit curd
Red Team:
- Main: Pork porchetta, spinach and parsley velouté, glazed carrot with brandy jus, slaw, pickled carrot
- Dessert: Corn ice-cream and buttermilk granita with orange cake, Geraldton wax oil and cornflake brittle and brown milk powder crumb
Blue Team:
- Main: Searched kingfish with corn chowder dressed with popcorn.
- Dessert: Carrot halwa parfait, with a rough puff pistachio cream
The Judge’s remarks
Mains:
The green team’s main dish is up first. The dish gets a “Wow” from Jean-Christophe, who loves the colours and says it looks appetising. Andy remarks on the beautiful textures, colours, and flavours. Poh says it is perfectly balanced. Top marks all around.
Next up is the red team. The judges are instantly sceptical of the main dish as there are a lot of elements to it. Sofia says it feels “rushed; Andy adds that it feels like “seven layers off”, too much is happening, and nothing can shine.
Finally, the Blue team’s offering. Andy is “intrigued initially, but his fish is inconsistent (over not under). There are lots of elements, but unlike the Red team’s dish, it actually works. Poh’s dish was cooked perfectly, and she’s a fan of the seasoning and presentation. Jean-Christophe is impressed overall with the dish and calls it delicious.
Desserts:
First up is the red team. It doesn’t hit the mark for Poh. The cake was too bitter, nothing was balanced. Sofia mirrors Poh’s response, but adds that the granita is great, but doesn’t work with this dish. Jean-Christophe sums it up by calling the dish “corn-fusing”.
Next up is the blue team. The judges all love the look of the dish, and it delivers a “modern interpretation” of a traditional dish, according to Sofia. The team pivoted when Theo’s pastry didn’t work out and created a pastry crumb, which worked.
Finally, the green team. The judges are absolutely wowed by the dish. The look, the textures, everything. Jean-Christophe “loved it”, and Sofia gave it a 10/10.
Who won the episode?
To no one’s surprise, the green team win the service challenge. Callum’s leadership skills were clear throughout, and the dishes were flawless.
The green team will be back to compete in an Immunity Challenge with Gordon Ramsay returning to set the challenge!
Tune in on Tuesday, April 29, at 6.30pm on Channel 10 or on demand on 10Play to find out who wins.
