Tonight on MasterChef, the contestants take a poorly timed trip to the picturesque coastal town of Apollo Bay on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, which sounds like a lovely place to visit for those who live within 5km and need supplies.

Perfect week for a road trip around Victoria… Wait. #MasterChefAU

— Jo (@joughnought) June 7, 2021

As it turns out, Apollo Bay is also the crayfish capital of Victoria. Jock gives a mini-masterclass on how to get the most out of a crayfish, to ensure you’re using all the good stuff like the ovaries and the soft, green pancreas known as tomalley.

Once again, so helpful and relevant, says all of Victoria, as they open another packet of Easy Mac.

The contestants are paired up and each team must create two crayfish dishes, one familiar and one inventive.

Contestants get creative with their cray by swapping out the proteins that they usually use for crayfish.

Elise uses the crayfish legs to make a trippa alla Romana, while Tommy uses the crayfish in place of crab in a Vietnamese bún riêu.

I demand lamingtons made with ground lobster shell #MasterChefAU

— Lynn K. (@_lynnnnk) June 7, 2021

And absolutely nobody decides to make tomalley tamales, which seems like a missed opportunity.

Pete proves himself to be a creative thinker once again, by pumping out yet another completely nutso dish called crayfish onions, which blows the judges out of the water.

“I just wanted it to look like onions, but inside is a crayfish,  fennel and sautéed onion filling, and everything that was left of the crayfish went into that stock,” Pete says.

Jock describes the dish as ‘ethereal’, in what is a dramatic and completely unexpected break from saying ‘luxury’. He then pulls Andy aside to explain what ethereal means so he can use it himself in the weeks to come.

Andy’s gonna try to up the word game and say something like “This lobster donut is ergonomic”#masterchefau

— I simp for Lady Dimitrescu (@shroomkin82) June 7, 2021

Surprisingly, the fish queen herself, Sabina, comes unstuck with an uneven cook on her crayfish and she is seriously crabby about it. Meanwhile, Minoli’s ovary aioli (the ‘minovaroli’) is not properly emulsified, which sends their team into tomorrow’s elimination. 

Don’t cry ovary split aioli #MasterchefAU

— Traces of Nuts (@yumtors) June 7, 2021

Joining them in the bottom four will be Amir and Linda, who also did an offal job of today’s challenge.

Tune in on Tuesday night to see Minoli, Sabina, Amir and Linda go head-to-head in a vegetarian elimination challenge set by Alla Wolf-Tasker in her Daylesford home, which you also cannot visit.