‘MasterChef Australia’ 2016 recap and spoilers: Matt’s fast hands save team from Mimi’s mistakes, leading them to victory with Elena

It’s just the second day of California week in “MasterChef Australia” Season 8, but the stakes were definitely higher. In episode 52 that aired on July 11, the contestants fought for a chance to have a guaranteed spot in the finals week. As the competition goes down to the wire, the challenge was steered towards a more difficult direction – right at the alley of the world’s best female chef.

In the end, Matt Sinclair stepped in to save the day – and his teammates Mimi Baines and Elena Duggan. They managed to impress not only judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston, but the two Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn, as well. The three “MasterChef Australia” hopefuls, along with Trent Harvey now have a shot to go straight to finals week.

Spoiler Alert! This article contains "MasterChef Australia" Season 8 spoilers. Read only if you want to know more about it.

Network Ten posted a sneak peek of Tuesday’s episode, which centres on the fast track to finals challenge. Amidst the vineyards of the Napa Valley, one of the four contestants will win their ticket to finals week. It’s all about grapes, the judges say, and everyone would fight furiously with their eyes on the prize. All four are set to deliver outstanding dishes, but one will surpass them all.

It could be anybody's game on the upcoming challenge, with all the contestants proving to be worthy contenders so far. Since the beginning, Matt has been considered a frontrunner, ending in two immunity challenges and winning one. Elena has managed to cook a couple of dishes that were deemed the best this season. Mimi, on the other hand, was among the few who survived the tough Heston week challenge. Despite being a late bloomer, Trent has come out of his shell and is now considered a serious threat this year. With the finals so close, the four could definitely taste victory.

“MasterChef Australia” Season 8 recap

Another daunting challenge faced the remaining “MasterChef Australia” hopefuls in California. They found themselves at Atelier Crenn, owned by Chef Dominique. Sporting chef whites, they knew it’s going to be a massive day, and they weren’t wrong at all.

The judges informed the budding chefs that they’d embark on a combination of pressure test and team challenge, wherein they had to recreate two of Dominique’s signature dishes right in her restaurant’s kitchen. The contestants were grouped in two teams of three, with the exception of Trent, who won the best dish from the previous cook. Matt, Mimi and Elena belonged to red team, while Brett Carter, Elise Franciskovic and Harry Foster formed the blue team.

Dominique revealed the dishes they had to make within two hours and 45 minutes, plus another 15 minutes to plate up and serve. First was a savoury dish is called a Walk in the Forest, with mushrooms as the hero ingredient. For dessert, the teams had to replicate a plate called Beet, made up of beet sorbet coated in glaze, toasted oats, chocolate, chocolate crumble, coffee grounds, mandarin pudding, tempered chocolate root and some garnish.

When time started, the contestants went to their respective areas and quickly assigned each member for a task. In the red team, Matt took the helm for the savoury dish, Mimi on the dessert and Elena would assist both. Over on the blue, Harry was the floater while Brett handled the savoury and Elise expectedly volunteered for the Beet. Mimi and Elise worked in a dessert kitchen separate from the others.

It was all systems go for both teams, and everything was going smoothly for the mains. Down at the dessert kitchen, both Mimi and Elise were trying to manage the dish by themselves. Amid all the rush, Mimi suddenly cut her finger while peeling the beets. She immediately felt faint and became worried about the time she lost while her finger was being treated, but she soon picked up where she left off and regained her composure. A few moments later, Elena left Matt to handle the mains so she could help Mimi with the dessert.

Elise, on the other hand, began to feel the pressure and the brunt of working alone. She started making mistakes in an attempt to cut corners. She put the beetroot juice while it’s still hot in the blender and it expectedly exploded. She also found out that her chocolate crumble was wet – it doesn’t have the right consistency at all. Dominique came over and told her she had no choice but to do it all over again. Elise asked Harry for help, and he said he’d be down there after he finishes something.

Harry also hit a snag when his mushroom paper curled up while inside the oven, which was too hot. Like Elise, he had to start from scratch with only a few minutes remaining and with Elise crying S.O.S. Speaking of Elise, her second batch of chocolate crumble still didn’t work, but she had no more time left to make another set. What’s more, she’s worried that the beet sorbet won’t set properly. Harry finally came down to help her and they managed to finish all the other elements in time.

It’s the red team’s turn to run into trouble. As she checked off the various elements from the recipe, she realised they forgot to make the beetroot glaze. However, time was up – they had no choice but to make it while plating up. When it was time to plate up the mains, Mimi decided to be generous with the meringue and put too much. She also didn’t toast the meringue enough, which was definitely noticed by the judges and Dominique later.

As a result, while the other elements of the red team’s dish were spot-on, their take on Walk in the Forest was not well-balanced. Dominique said the meringue definitely overpowered the other flavours. The blue team seemed to have a better version of Dominique’s dish. Brett, Elise and Harry nailed the presentation, and the flavours were well balanced. The judges and Dominique enjoyed the dish thoroughly and they were absolutely impressed with the outcome.

It was crunch time for the dessert, with both teams running into trouble. The blue team struggled to plate their sorbet, which was melting quickly. When they presented it to the judges’ table, Dominique said she wasn’t crazy about the texture of the dish. Everything seemed so soft and wet that they all seemed to meld into one, failing to offer the different flavours it should be giving.

The red team, on the other hand, also had a massive challenge: their dish was incomplete without the glaze. While they were plating up the dessert, Matt stepped in and whipped up a beetroot glaze within minutes, saving their dessert. The red team’s dish looked more similar to the original, and the judges and Dominique were definitely impressed. Dominique even said that if she was blindfolded, she would think it was made by one of her chefs. It was quite apparent that Matt, Mimi and Elena presented the better dessert.

When the moment of truth arrived, the judges announced that Matt, Mimi and Elena won the task. For their prize, they would have a chance to go straight to the fast-track to finals challenge for a four-way battle with Trent.

Find out what happens next on “MasterChef Australia,” and stay tuned for episode spoilers. “MasterChef Australia” Season 8 airs every Sunday to Thursday at 7.30pm on Ten.