Sara, Jessica and Jessie are competing for immunity tonight. In the first round they are competing to see who can make the best batter. The winner of round one will compete against the guest chef.
In round one they need to make a dish that showcases batter. It needs to be golden and crispy on the outside and steamy in the middle, not soggy. They have 30 minutes. The pantry and garden are closed so the contestants can only choose from the bench in front of them.
Jessica is not very confident, she is making a batter but has no recipe in mind.
Sara is making a prawn and scallop mousse sandwiched between eggplant.
Jessie is making a tempura egg with a beef tartare. She was a bit worried
Sara’s eggplant sandwhich with prawn and scallop mousse recipe had a great flavour, but the batter didn’t work with it. It was very oily. Jessica’s squid with mexican spiced batter looked great. Matt loved the spices in the batter but it had soaked up too much oil. That was Shannon’s criticism also, it had great flavour but has soaked too much oil. Jessie’s beef tartare with tempura egg was next. She was hoping for a runny egg, but it wasn’t. “Such a shame” said Gary. Matt said the idea was brilliant but the combination of hardboiled egg and beef didn’t work. But it was a batter challenge and the hero was the batter. It was great batter, she won the first round and will compete against the guest chef.
The guest chef tonight was named the “hottest chef in Australia” lat year. He is head chef at the bridge room in Sydney, Ross Lusted. Ross’s specialty was asian food.
As the winner, Jessie could choose between sweet and savoury. The sweet choices had a variety of sugars, chocolates, fruit. The savoury table had seafood, cheeses and vegetables. Jessie chose savoury.
Ross has picked a variety of ingredients but he isn’t really sure what he is going to make yet.
Jessie has picked some beetroot and beef. She is going to make some pickled beetroot and a beetroot glaze.
Ross has finally decided to use squid with ginger and corn as his main ingredients.
Time is up. It’s time for the judges to taste the first dish. First up is Jessie’s dish of beef and beetroot. Gary loves the simplicity of the dish. George says all of the flavours combined are complex and yum. Matt says it’s a delicious dish but he wants more, maybe some spice.
The next dish in for tasting belongs to Ross. He has made squid with sweet corn, ginger and spinach. George says it is a wonderful dish as it has so much technique. Gary says there is no doubt that it is absolutely delicious however he is searching for more flavour in the green sauce.
It’s time to hear the scores.
Jessie
Gary – 8/10
George – 9/10
Matt – 8/10
Total: 25/30
Ross
Gary – 8/10
George – 10/10
Matt – 10/10
Total: 28/10
Ross wins the challenge tonight. Jessie doesn’t win the immunity pin.