It’s episode 48 of MasterChef Australia 2023 and Curtis Stone has returned to lead the top three in making a Scotch Fillet with Red Wine Sauce, Pomme Purée, and Roasted Bone Marrow.

The catch is that Curtis will be working at top speed, and Declan, Brent, and Rhiannon must keep up with him. If they don’t, they won’t know how to cook the dish. Plus, after the acclaimed chef finishes his cook, the contestants will only have an additional ten seconds to finish theirs.

The winner’s dish will have to look and taste like Curtis’s, and that chosen cook wins the massive advantage of having an extra thirty minutes in the semi-final cook-off.

The Cook

For the first step, Curtis guided the three contenders as he cut and deboned his own rib eye from a huge scotch fillet. Declan was a bit knife happy and ended up removing too much fat from his. However, Curtis was impressed with Rhiannon and Brent’s cuts.

Despite his haphazard start, Declan was leading the charge and managed to keep up with Curtis’s rapid paste. However, things start to go wrong for the Carpenter when he realised the buttermilk for his Pomme Puree was a completely different consistency to Curtis’s. Upon the Michelin-starred chef’s recommendations, Declan started his buttermilk again from scratch, which cost him a significant amount of time.

Meanwhile, Rhiannon fell quite far behind at the beginning of the cook but managed to catch up to Curtis about halfway through. Brent kept a close pace with the chef, and headed over to his bench multiple times to make sure that his ingredients and dishes were matching up.

The judging

The task was for the Home Cooks’ dish to taste and look as similar to Curtis’s as possible. So, naturally, they tasted his dish first to have it as a benchmark.

First up for judgment was Rhiannon’s dish. Melissa Leong said that the marrow was “very healthy” looking and Andy Allen commented that the onion jam was “really nicely done”. However, Curtis said that “sadly, the mash was a little grainy” and the dish was underseasoned.

Declan was next, and Andy Allen commended his choice to re-do the buttermilk but said the onions were a little raw and that too much fat was cut off the steak during the butchering.

Jock Zonfrillo agreed but said that the steak and bone marrow was cooked “really well”.

Brent was last to the judges’ bench and Curtis said “All in all, Brent’s done a good job.”

Meanwhile, Jock “couldn’t agree more” with Curtis, adding that the sauce was beautifully emulsified and said the highlight was the steak.

The Verdict

The judges all agreed that Brent’s dish was the closest in presentation and taste to Curtis’s, and crowned him the winner of the task – and the advantage.

MasterChef Australia airs Sunday – Thursday at 7.30pm on 10 and 10Play.

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