The final five arrived in the MasterChef Australia kitchen tonight and quickly realised something was different when Gary asked what they would like to cook.
Jamie said he would like a foraging challenge, Emelia was keen to cook Greek food, Tracy wanted to cook something beautiful with seafood, and Laura wanted to cook with her favourite ingredient, artichoke. Brent had unfinished business with a dish he almost cooked in Heston Week, a seafood dish for his father called “Light at the end of the tunnel”.
The top five were told there were no rules. They could cook whatever they liked, with unrestricted access to the pantry and the garden, and were even allowed to decide their own cooking time as a group.
Realising she need to show the judges she could push herself, Tracy decided to make poached and pan-fried lobster tail with two sauces – a buerre blanc and a bisque reduction – plus roasted garlic and potato puree with a drizzle of chorizo oil. The judges questioned whether she needed both a rich and an acidic sauce. Tracy was confident about her dish, but added corn kernels for a pop of colour and crunch.
Tracy burnt her uerre blanc sauce and had to start again. With so many elements on the go, things started to unravel. Everything made it to the plate, but she was very disappointed with the look of the dish.
During the tasting, Jamie was praised for his vegetable salad with duck. Laura showed she could take her home-style Italian flavours to restaurant quality, while George said Emelia’s reinvented baklava parfait was better than his mum’s.
The judges admired Brent’s ambitious dish but felt it was a prototype that just missed the mark. Tracy’s presentation let her down and while her two sauces were clever, they weren’t perfect. While individualelements were delicious, the dish felt unfinished. The judges decided Brent had edged Tracy out in terms of creativity and Tracy was eliminated.
Since leaving the MasterChef Australia kitchen, Tracy has been doing work experience at Adelaide’s Orana restaurant and will be writing a regular food column for Barossa Living magazine. She is also planning to hold a stall at the Barossa Farmer’s Market with home baked goods and products.
This mum of three from the Barossa is determined to live life with no regrets and that includes pursuing her long-held food dream.
Based in Angaston, seventh-generation Barossan Tracy Collins is married to winemaker Jaysen and is mum to daughter Finella, 11, and sons Harper, 8, and Charlie, 6. Parents Elaine and Trevor, along with sister Kelly, 34, and her two young children, also live locally.
A 20-year industry veteran, entrepreneurial Tracy is an award-winning hair stylist, being named among the Top 10 colourists in Australia by Harper’s Bazaar in 2012. Many of her clients are in the food industry, including Maggie Beer, for whom she does hair and make up and whose daughters she grew up with and to whom she remains close.
Cooking since she was eight years old, Tracy is self-taught. With respect, she says that her mum was a terrible cook: her idea of a meat timer was the smoke alarm. She loved cooking with her grandparents and recalls making chicken and pearl barley soup, complete with a chicken fresh from their farm.
In 2008 Tracy faced a lengthy battle with an undiagnosed virus and pleuritis, which affected her heart and saw her bedridden for four months. There was a very real possibility she might not survive and it took a year to recover fully.
The global financial crisis hit soon after, and Tracy and Jaysen were in danger of losing their business and home. Jaysen also had to care for the children on his own.
Facing a further health scare in 2012 when bulged discs and sciatica required surgery, Tracy became even more determined to succeed. She is determined to show her kids that “you can overcome any obstacle if you put your mind to it and live life to the full with no regrets”.
“I no longer wish to live on the periphery of the food industry,” she says. “I am now willing to ‘just do it’ and pursue my dreams.”
Tracy dreams of opening a communal eating house in the Barossa that blurs the lines between restaurant and café, focusing on honest food, shared plates and bringing people together.
But she won’t be stopping there. Tracy envisages multiple food businesses, plus a range of products and cookbooks. She also wants to give back through clean water initiatives.
Tracy says her food heroes include David Thompson, Matt Wilkinson, Andrew McConnell, Stephanie Alexander and, of course, Maggie Beer.
