BOWRAVILLE'S Billie McKay has hit “the benchmark” for amateur cooks in the MasterChef competition, cooking her way into the Top 10.
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Ingredients featured in Australia’s first ever cook book – published 150 years ago – made up Sunday night’s mystery box by ‘immortal chef’ Heston Blumenthal, and Billie’s macadamia syrup cake, caramel nut parfait, smoked ricotta and Australian fruit granola dish was classed in the top 3.
The ingredients included macadamia nuts, finger limes, lemon myrtle, warrigal greens, bush tomatoes, quandongs, wallaby and emu … “things that have been hunted and foraged for in Australia for thousands of years”.
Before the cook, Billie said she was “excited about Heston being here, I’m really nervous though … he’s amazing”.
“Having him in the kitchen makes me feel inspired and makes me want to match some flavours that seem a little bit different.”
After walking around the kitchen, the number of elements in her dish had Heston and judge George Calombaris concerned.
“I’ve got a lot of elements going on, but I’m cooking in front of Heston, I want to impress him,” she said. “Having him here talking about history and invention … I decide to use some ricotta.
“Growing up on a dairy farm, mum always made cheese from the milk that comes straight from the dairy. That fits in with this dish, it’s history for me and it’s invention for me.”
Fortunately, Billie’s creation paid off.
“It looks like the dish that could end up being like a bit of a train wreck – but it works,” Heston said. “It does feel like the taste of Australia.
“I’ve just gone back and eaten half of it ... I think it’s a great dish.
“It’s all so well balanced and the use of ingredients showed real skill.”
The invention test was a different story, with Billie not receiving much air time, but her creation was enough to get her through to the Top 10.
The task was for contestants to turn a liquid into a solid ... essentially taking the flavours from a cocktail - in this case a whisky sour - and creating a dish.
n Heston Blumenthal is famous for his unique culinary vision. He has received acclaim for introducing the world to multi-sensory cooking, food-pairing (where recipes are created by identifying molecular similarities between ingredients and bringing them together in a dish) and flavour encapsulation.
He is often described as a culinary alchemist and is proprietor of three Michelin star restaurant The Fat Duck.