Paul Harrison and Brigitte Kriehn leave MasterChef NZ

Paul Harrison and Brigitte Kriehn leave MasterChef New Zealand.

EMBARGOED UNTIL 8.30PM, MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2014

Paul Harrison and Brigitte Kriehn become the sixth duo from the Top 15 to leave MasterChef New Zealand on Monday, February 24 (7.30 pm – 8.30 pm) on TV ONE.

In tonight’s episode the Top 10 duos had one hour to prepare, cook and plate two fish dishes, where the fish was the hero, with ingredients of their choosing from the pantry.

Auckland friends, Paul and Brigitte were tasked with transforming gurnard into two MasterChef-worthy gourmet dishes.

Working quickly, they decided Brigitte would make a healthy version of fish and chips - coconut crumbed gurnard, chunky chips, mushy peas and baked tomatoes – while Paul would prepare sous vide gurnard with orange marmalade, courgette and capsicum.

Plating up, they were a little surprised at how much the gurnard had shrunk after being cooked in the sous vide, but congratulated themselves on a job well done.

“I’m really pleased when I look at my dish, as I wanted it to be just fish and chips,” said Brigitte.

“There’s a lot more I would like to add to Paul’s though,” she added.

“I would have constructed it differently. But Paul’s really confident with what he’s doing, so I have great faith in him!”

Presenting their dishes for tasting, they were in for a shock.

“This is fish and chips, right?” queried Master Chef judge Ray McVinnie.

“Yes,” replied Brigitte.

“You’re right, it’s fish and chips – that’s all it is!” snapped back Ray.

Moving onto the second fish dish, it was Paul’s turn for interrogation.

“Why did you sous vide it?” demanded Ray.

“You’ve just made it really floppy, flaccid and sort of flavourless. That fish was dead when it arrived, and I think you’ve killed it again," he said.

“This is not the best dish to sous vide,” added fellow judge Josh Emett.

“You’ve got a gurnard, you’ve got to take that small fish and do something with it – make it more. And what you’ve done makes it less.

“It’s pretty bad guys, I would have expected more from you,” he said.

In the Bottom Two alongside duo James Culleton and Glynn Rudolph, the two teams were told that their dishes were both equally average.

Unable to decide unanimously which team to send home, the judges rustled up a sudden death challenge to determine who would go.

With just 15 minutes to cook eggs three ways – poached, fried and scrambled – Paul and Brigitte threw themselves at what could be their second chance.

But with the judges declaring their scrambled eggs ‘dry’, they were on their way home.

“I have seen some great food from you guys, you’re great cooks!” third judge Simon Gault told them. “I really thought you had more to show us. I expected you to be here longer than this.”

Visibly disappointed, Brigitte said she hadn’t wanted to go out so early in the game.

“I’m a mum of three children, I gave up a lot to come here,” she said. “It was a significant sacrifice, and I had a whole lot more to give.

“To get this far, it's a terrible way to go out.”

ENDS

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