Courtney Roulston was eliminated from MasterChef: Back To Win competition on Tuesday, after losing Jock Zonfrillo’s seriously tough Pressure Test.
MUST WATCH: MasterChef’s Courtney reveals the REAL reason for her elimination
Despite her 10 years’ professional experience, the chef says the recipes were just too complicated for her to handle.
Speaking to Mid North Coast’s Krysti & Bodge on Wednesday she said that there was a major problem with the challenges this season.
She said the recipes were too complicated and included ingredients that were so obscure even experienced chefs would be left scratching their heads.
“I didn’t know what a boab was. I still don’t know what it is. Kohlrabi cones?” said Courtney, who was asked to make Orana’s signature prawn dish on Tuesday.
She explained that the techniques were also foreign to her.
“I’d never put burrata through a siphon gun before… that’s why I took so long reading the recipe,” she said.
“I thought they gave me the Taiwanese version and I couldn’t actually understand it.”
Courtney was eliminated after a sudden-death knockout, which saw half of the group go head-to-head to recreate judge Jock’s dishes from his fine dining restaurant, Orana, in South Australia.
“Courtney, your burrata and your lamb butter were the best of the lot but… one dish was incomplete. And that was yours, Courtney,” the judges told her, after already cooking two near perfect dishes against Ben and Reece.
Unfortunately, Courtney left the dressing off the damper and lamb dish. Just prior to judging, she admitted: “I know my dish doesn’t have the dressing on it, it’s missing an element. But if my butter’s good and my dampers are good, really just trust that it’s gonna be enough to stay here today.”
But it was the difference between her and the boys’ work.
Courtney first appeared on MasterChef in 2010, and is ecstatic at how far the industry has come since then, telling the judges, “I think the last 10 years, a lot has got better for women in kitchens. A lot’s changed between 2010 and 2020 for women and I just thought to find a voice, to run a kitchen, I would possibly find it here.”
She added: “I gave it my all today. I’m most proud that I just had a crack. I came back, I feel like finale dishes from 10 years ago is what we just cooked today.
“The competition’s tough but it’s the greatest experience you can get.”
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