MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 48 is a service challenge. The episode is called ‘Loved Ones Service Challenge’ and has a runtime of 57 minutes. The synopsis for the episode reads, “In today’s service challenge, contestants are cooking for their loved ones. The team with the best menu will win a shot at tomorrow’s immunity challenge.’
The key ingredients of the service challenge are something right out of the MasterChef garden and it is herbs! In this service challenge, the teams are going to have to prepare a three-course meal with one herb as a feature ingredient in each dish. The first two herbs are going to be picked by the teams’ chief herb pickers and the third herb is going to be offered by the judges.
MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 48 Recap Contains Spoilers
The teams are green and aqua in MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 48. We have Daniel, Aldo, Billie and Mindy in the green team. Keyma, Alvin, Julie and Sarah are sorted in the aqua team. From the green team, Daniel is the first herb picker and, Keyma is that for the aqua team. They pick Thai Basil and Coriander, respectively. Jock picks the third herb and it is Tarragon.
But who are our contestants cooking for in this service challenge? Well, it is their loved ones, of course! It is all tears in the MasterChef kitchen as the family members of different participants walk in. For Julie, it is her husband and her sons, for Mindy it is her mother, father aunt and for Alvin, it is his partner Mark and his friends.
Keyma’s children and husband walk in along with Billie’s husband, nan and parents and Daniel’s girlfriend and family including his mother, father as well as brothers. Sarah’s boy along with her mother, brother and nephew come in and lastly, we see it is Aldo’s mother, sisters and his husband who come in to support him in this challenge.
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After the emotional get-together, the challenge starts. For the green team, Billie is the one doing desserts featuring coriander, Aldo takes over the entree with tarragon and Mindy and Daniel focus on the main with Thai basil. For the aqua team, Sarah is the one working on the entree with coriander, Alvin’s in charge of the main with Thai Basil and the dessert comes from Keyma using tarragon as Julie leads the team.
The best part of this challenge is that the diners, who are the loved ones of our contestants get to watch them as they cook before heading to the MasterChef restaurant to be served. After 90 minutes of cooking the first entree is served by the green team and it is Tarragon Emulsion with Pan-Seared Scallops and Pangrattato. The dish is beautifully cooked and flavoured but there are certain textural issues.
The entree from the Aqua team is a Cafreal with Marinated Kingfish and it is bang on. Thai Basil Eggplant Curry from the Aqua team lands up next as the main. The sauce for the dish is beautiful but, it somehow feels incomplete. Thai Basil Fish Curry by the Green team is the next main. It is another dish that the green team nails.
When it comes to desserts, Green team’s Billie serves a Coriander Spider which includes coriander seeds, vanilla parfait, coriander praline, apple-coriander sorbet, coriander meringue finished with a gin, coriander and apple fizz. In isolation, all the elements are good but, they don’t exactly come together to create a good balance.
The aqua team serves Tarragon & Pineapple by Keyma which includes tarragon ice cream, tarragon crumb, tarragon & lime syrup, caramelised pineapple and fresh pineapple salsa. It is a dessert well-loved and appreciated by the judges.
MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 48: Who Heads to the Immunity Challenge?
It is the aqua team that lands up in the upcoming immunity challenge. The team includes Julie, Alvin, Keyma and Sarah.
MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 48: Final Thoughts
MasterChef Australia Season 14 is really taking out all the big emotional guns as the competition is progressing. With the top eight left, this service challenge was a meaningful one with everyone’s loved ones coming over. The herb twist was a really tricky one and it was nice to see most of the contestants fair well.
You can watch MasterChef Australia Season 14 Episode 48 now on Disney+ Hotstar.
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