The A-Z of Masterchef Australia 2020
A recap of the popular reality cooking show that you didn’t know you wanted
The new season of MasterChef may have ended in July but we still have withdrawal. It was an equal parts good and equal parts frustrating few months watching some of my favourite contestants and chefs return to the kitchen for a chance to win. In the middle of a lockdown and tired of all the food trends, it was nice to tune into a wholesome cooking show. The three very good-looking judges were a refreshing change from the old white men (who we loved).
I watched all 61 episodes of the show. It was predictable (this viewer created a drinking game out of it) in the way it always has been: with fake drama, rumours, talk about favouritism, a much-hyped guest judge, disrespect for unknown cuisines, tiny portions of food, kitchen mishaps, and one awful street food challenge. At least we got some good memes out of it.
**Spoilers below**
A for Andy Allen
The chef and Season 4 winner returned to the kitchen as a judge this season, with food critic Melissa Leong and chef Jock Zonfrillo. Andy’s journey to victory in Season 4 is packed with too many goof-ups, included a split pant. He didn’t disappoint this season, pulling out a ‘boyband’ wardrobe, which included ankle-length pants, an all-white outfit, and a suit with no socks. He followed his Jock around like a puppy, agreeing with everything he said. And, his critiquing was neatly summed up by a contestant: “a collection of words that make no sense”. I’m going to take a leaf out of Andy’s book and start using ‘banging’, ‘cracking’, ‘ripper’, and ‘cat-like happiness’ in my food stories too.
B is for Brendan Pang
The Perth-based cook — he owns a dumpling truck, Bumplings — was immediately dismissed as the dumpling guy. Who cares? The soft-spoken chef cooked up some brilliant Chinese-Mauritian dishes and his dumplings were drool-worthy. The highlight was his bromance with Cakeboi Reece Hignell — they cheered each other, heckled each other when on opposite teams and generally, bickered like an old married couple! Fans have rightly called for a spin-off show featuring the two of them travelling and cooking.
C is for Callum Hann
The Mr Congeniality of the MasterChef kitchen award went to new dad Callum Hann. He came fourth this season, but we all know this doesn’t matter because he won MasterChef Australia All-Stars’ in 2012.
He was the sweetest, most genuine person in the kitchen, and the only one who showed remarkable growth, playing with flavour combinations and ingredients to create truly unique dishes.He also cracked the ultimate dad joke. When asked to comment on the importance of his shiitake dish, he said, “There’s not mushroom for error.”
D is for Davidson plum
The native ingredient was the star of the season. Dark purple with red flesh and a vibrant brightness, it cropped up in sorbets, gels, granitas or just as a side, charred accompaniment. It led fans to wonder if someone had stock in the Davidson plum lobby! Most of the contestants used it — Reece made a plum jam for his wallaby and pepper berry pie, Callum used it as a gel alongside his chicken liver parfait, and most famously, and Emelia Jackson’s’s winning pistachio financier had a Davidson plum and raspberry sorbet.
E is for Emelia Jackson
This year’s winner was probably the least controversial person on the show. Emelia Jackson aka Millsy aka ‘just a simple cake-maker’ entered the kitchen with confidence, an all-consuming passion for choux and much sass. Though she got flak for making desserts, she actually made an equal number of savoury items. She stamped her claim in the first episode, with a dessert that Gordon Ramsay called a MasterChef final-worthy dish. Mid-way through the season, bookies had picked her out as winner. She barely got any airtime in the show in the beginning, before making a heavily lipstick-ed comeback. It was cute watching her friendship with Lozzi (Laura Sharrad); she even went out of her way to help the latter in the semi-final.
It was a treat watching her sassy retorts and honest comments, from the “Watch me whip, watch me Rey Rey” to telling the judges, “I just need a break from all the crippling anxiety”.
F is for fridge
This season’s most intriguing fridge appearance — beyond the open fridge that probably cost Laura the finals — was Gordon Ramsay’s lockdown fridge. COVID-19 restrictions meant the chef couldn’t fly across the globe for the finals week appearance and appeared via video. He set a Mystery Box Challenge featuring the contents of his fridge, which included rhubarb, scallops, cheese, Pimm’s, and breem. It was impossible not to notice the 42 bottles of Evian water that took up an entire shelf. Was it panic buying? Did he not have a tap? Think of the plastic trash, mate! Luckily, he ended the call with his son, which helped erase the horror of his fridge.
G is for gantry
It’s a word I never wish to hear again. The gantry is that tiny, uncomfortable little balcony overlooking the cooking benches where contestants spend much of their time standing — why no chairs? — watching others cook and offering encouragement and advice. Everyone wanted to be up there and talked about it non-stop. This season, Khanh Ong used the gantry to parade some great fashion, including a harness; Emelia cemented herself as queen of the gantry with her quick retorts and Reece and Jess won the award for best support.
H is for hibachi
Every season of the show brings a new gadget to light. 2020 saw the appearance of the hibachi, a portable Japanese grill. It even led to a 1600% hike in sales! If you took a shot every time someone mentioned or used the hibachi grill in an episode, you would be well sozzled mid-way through. It got used in practically every cook, and more often than not ended in disaster.
I is for ice cream
This season had plenty of weird flavour combinations: Sarah Tiong’s miso and corn, Tessa’s beetroot and aniseed myrtle and Khanh’s anchovy ice cream. The most controversial ice cream story has to do with the chef known for making them. Ben Ungermann, who came in second in season 10, disappeared from the show mid-season for what they explained was a “personal matter”. In reality, he got charged with sexual assault on a 16-year-old. Creep.
J is for Jess
Sweet, baby-faced Jess Liemantara was a tiny ball of sunshine and hugging machine. She cooked her heart out, creating some fancy desserts, helped everyone and hugged everyone. It’s hard to believe she’s just 22; she was 19 when her season aired. Anyone remember how she fangirled over Reynold — who wouldn’t? — when he made a guest appearance in Season 10?
Jess had the greatest non-romantic love triangle with fellow Audreys, Brendan and Reece: the name is a throwback to Season 10 when Jess bought them matching stuffed monkeys named Audrey.
There was not a dry eye in the room when she got eliminated. She had to stand alone and cry as restrictions meant the contestants couldn’t hug her (which was stupid given that they’re spending hours of the day together in one closed room). She and other ray of positivity, Sarah Tiong, are now BFF and eat dumplings and drink wine together.
K is for Katy Perry
With no cooking skills, Katy Perry made a short and expensive (she reportedly got paid $100,000) appearance on the show that’s given her much royalty for using her song as their title track. She walked into the kitchen in a skin-tight leather dress, visibly pregnant and proceeded to remind everybody of the fact by saying, ‘with child’ and ‘my unborn child’ (#shitfamouspeoplesay). Her unborn child would’ve certainly grimaced at her attempt to sing Hot ‘n Cold with the contestants (only Hayden joined in with the wrong lyrics), her staring down at the camera, and her twerking. She flirted with a blushing Sarah whispering in her ears and talking about liking ‘sweet meat’. It was the raciest episode yet. The highlight was her telling Jock to “put it in my mouth, daddy” and later, “make us a lovebite”, and her “you’re the tits” feedback to Reece.
L is for Laura
Poor Laura Sharrad. She received the most hate and trolling this season. On day 1, fans wondering whether Jock would show her partiality because she worked with him at Orana. In the initial few weeks, people started noticing she rarely got a negative judgement from him, and that she was cooked a lot of pasta. She did seem to coast by, judgement-free, leaving behind more deserving contestants. But there’s no denying she’s a good and inventive (when not making pasta) cook. And watching her break down after losing the finale to her friend was devastating.
M is for Melissa
The saving grace among the judges this season was food writer Melissa Leong, she of dangling earrings, fierce lipstick and outspoken pride in her Asian heritage. She was easily the best judge, offering support and encouragement, useful and sometimes poetic critiques and understanding of the struggles of the Asian Australian immigrant life. We loved her positive energy, her beaming smile and her childlike enthusiasm for dishes.
N is for native ingredients
It became the catchword of the season. Native Australian ingredients played a starring role in the Season 10 episode that featured Prince Charles, whose apparent love for them didn’t translate to eating them. This year, lemon myrtle, saltbush, quandongs, desert lime, samphire, wattleseed, muntries, and of course, the popular Davidson Plum featured in different dishes as crumbs, toppings, infused in oils, and even turned into ice cream.
O is for oven
This season, Aunty Poh Ling Yeow aka Po Po aka the Poh-llercoaster taught us about the uselessness of time as a concept. In most challenges, she chose to make elaborate dishes, last-minute accompaniments and sometimes, just extra dishes! She pulled it off most of the time. In a time challenge, she used the entire 90 minutes to make a strawberry chiffon lychee cake, putting it together at the last moment. Watching her was stressful and chaotic. Her journey this season can be summed up as spending time peering into the oven hoping her cake would bake on time.
P is for pasta
If Brendan was Dumpling Guy, then Laura was Pasta Queen. In the initial few weeks, it was a guarantee that the Season 6 runner-up — who runs a pasta restaurant Nido — would end up cooking it. Beyond Laura’s undoubtedly skilled pasta dishes, what stood out was a Pasta not Pasta dish in an elimination challenge. Indian viewers would have recognised the spin on khandvi! The pressure test by Helly Raichura from the not-so-secret suburban Melbourne restaurant, Enter via Laundry taught us that Indian food can sell just about anything, Australians do not use chickpea flour, and they just cannot pronounce asafoetida.
Q is for quenelle
I first learned about this elegant egg-shaped presentation technique for soft, creamy components like ice cream and sorbets on MasterChef. It features in every second dish, and certainly all the sweet ones. I don’t think I’ve seen a single dessert that doesn’t have it. And after 12 years, it would be nice to retire this presentation trope and try something new. Imagine a dessert without this dainty oval on the top. How bangin’ would that be?
R is for Reece
He was a fan favourite for a reason. The self-confessed ‘food nerd’ and Season 10 alumnus, Reece Hignell, walked into the new season full of confidence, disarming honesty, and the most amazing facial expressions. He was the true meme-worthy contestant.
We loved his reaction to meeting Katy Perry (he hid in the fridge!), the way he called everyone doll and encouraged people with his ‘seal claps’. He was just the most positive and adorable ray of sunshine in the kitchen. In one season, he went from being cakeboi to curryboi to tartboi and finally potatoboi (for adding potato crisps in a dessert). I could really do with a Reece Week.
S is for the snitch
Dessert King Reynold Poernomo’s creations deserve their own show! Reynold aka Rey Rey returned to MasterChef a clear favourite. To prove he wasn’t just a dessert king, he showed off some serious savoury cooking skills. He will be remembered for serving up space: galaxy raspberry sponge, chocolate and rum mousse and isomalt sugar strings; an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole: tempered chocolate tree, a matcha moss garden and hot caramel to create the sinking rabbit hole; and a deconstructed apple pie with a blown sugar ball. In the season’s last immunity challenge of the season, Reynold pulled out the “big guns” to make a snitch. The dish had brown butter mousse, honey tuile, roasted milk chocolate ganache, tonka bean caramel, yoghurt snow, pear sorbet, chocolate coating and caramelised white chocolate crumble and yoghurt snow. Listening to the ingredients itself was tiring! Who wants to bet this comes back as a pressure test for future MasterChef contestants?
T is for Twists Week
Much of the hate this season went to Andy’s ankle length pants and to Twists Week, a week full of unnecessary and cruel twists. In a team service challenge, the twist had people swapping kitchens and they were forced to cook what the other team had prepared. Then they added vegetarian options halfway through the cook. In the elimination, added to the pressure of cooking a seven-page long Darren Purchese babushka pavlova, they took away the recipes. In another cook, they added ingredients midway through. It was a horrible week and the twists only resulted in additional drama. It felt like they intentionally set up the contestants to fail.
U is for Uysal
Turkish chef Coskun Usyal from Tulum in Melbourne walked into the kitchen with an immunity challenge test that introduced the contestants to something unique (for them, not us): a Turkish dessert gavuk göğsü that had *gasp* chicken in it. It was a milk pudding made with shredded chicken breast. The poor man then had to stand idly by while the contestants were told to take inspiration from it — not cook it, mind you — and create their own meaty dessert. What was the point of bringing him in?
V is for violins
No, they weren’t playing in the background in any episode. In an elimination challenge focused on unusual flavour pairings, Poh opted for mint and mustard. Her dish was pasta — this was obviously an attempt to compete with Laura for Jock’s attention. She chose pumpkin tortellini, a dish she learned from her “violin-making friend from Northern Italy whose mother-in-law bailed on her cooking lessons”. Of course, Poh has a handsome violin-maker friend in Italy. What’s the procedure to get myself one of those?
W is for wine in a cup
In the first week’s immunity challenge, contestants had to cook alongside Gordon Ramsay. The dish: potato-crusted Murray cod with vegetable minestrone and macadamia puree. At the end of the harrowing cook, Sarah Clare decided to celebrate by drinking the leftover wine straight out of her stainless-steel measuring cup. What a boss move! Drinking out of a cup seems to be the perfect response to our current predicament.
X
This stumped me. I’m out of words, much like Andy when asked to give feedback on a dish. Oh, this is ‘xciting!
Y is for You are Loved
There’s no denying that Khanh Hong was a fan favourite this season. He had the most infectious smile and impressed with his keen fashion sense, from the harness to the silk suit in the finale. He wore an array of You Are Loved T-shirts through the season. The proceeds from the sales go to an LGBTQIA+ youth charity Minus 18. The tees, he said, are a reminder that things get better and that there is love for you on the world. Brb, buying myself six of these stat.
Z is for Zonfrillo
Scottish-Italian chef and restaurateur Jock Zonfrillo rounded out the trio of judges for this new edition, impressing us with his accent, his championing of indigenous ingredients, his bespoke suits and vests, and his (mostly) constructive feedback. He also did throw contestants off their game, and his very problematic comment that “Asian food doesn’t lend itself to fine dining” got fans riled up. The latter was part of a fine dining challenge and resulted in Khanh leaving the show after his Vietnamese dish didn’t match up to the Euro-centric definition of the phrase.
Jock’s tartan kilt in the finale stole the show (sorry, Millsy) prompting Khanh to tweet, “Sorry I can’t hear anything over jocks kilt”.
