MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 61 is called Semi-Finals: Service Challenge. Billie, Daniel and Sarah are in the Top 3 and have to cook a three-course meal. Judges Andy Allen, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo, had given them a day to come up with their entree, main and dessert dish ideas. The person who cooks the least impressive course will get eliminated from the show.
The synopsis reads, “Billie, Daniel, and Sarah arrive for the Semi-Final, desperate to fight for one of two coveted spots in tomorrow’s Grand Finale.”
MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 61 Recap Contains Spoilers
For MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 61 service challenge, Billie, Daniel and Sarah get 4 hours to cook 23 dishes (including the judges) from each course. They will have 45 minutes after every course to prepare the next dish. Chef Shannon Bennet will guide the contestants.
Billie starts working on her dessert first as it’s a complicated and time-consuming dish. During the last hour, she starts working on her entree dish, Mussels with pea and horseradish soup. The flavour in her entree dish wasn’t balanced well. For her main dish, Billie made Apricot Duck with roasted radicchio. Her dish was on time, but the duck was overcooked. Her dessert Lamington was the best she made today.
The judges love Sarah’s entree, Scampi with curry consomme and salsa. However, she sends her main dish and dessert very late. Her main dish is Lamg Saag which is very delicious. But the delay in service can backfire. For dessert, Sarah made poached pear and chai flavour. The dish was delayed, and the peaches were undercooked.
Daniel had a stressful cook today. He first had to change his entree dish, which sounded similar to his main dish. Dan made cured kingfish which the judges enjoyed eating. Sadly, he faced trouble with hibachi for his main dish. Dan was late to serve his coral trout main dish. The cook on the fish skin wasn’t up to mark.
Daniel wanted to serve pineapple tarte with coconut sorbet for his dessert. Unfortunately, he kept his sorbet in the blast chiller instead of the refrigerator. In the blast chiller, his sorbet becomes stiff, and he fails to scoop it out. Dan serves only the pineapple Tarte which doesn’t appeal to the judges.
All the three contestants made mistakes in their dishes in MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 61. However, Daniel and Sarah served their main and dessert dishes late. So it came down to the two of them. Even though Sarah served 2 courses late, only her dessert had issues. Daniel had issues with his main dish, and his dessert dish wasn’t complete. Hence, he gets eliminated from the show.
About his journey in MasterChef Australia Season 14, Daniel shared on Instagram, “My experience has been nothing short of life-changing. I can’t list my favourite moment because I’ve loved every second.
The best thing about this competition is that you have people from all walks of life, coming together, sharing their passion and having a crack at their dream. I used to be too shy to post a photo of something I cooked on social media but now I look at me.”
MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 61 Review: Final Thoughts
It’s weird how the two finalists are two Favourites. Even though I am happy for the ladies, it makes me wonder if the show only featured new contestants, we would see new faces in the finals.
Watch the episode on Disney+ Hotstar.
Also Read: MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 60 Review: “Moo” for the Semi-Finals