Maja had been sent home by a pressure test before, so was determined not to make the same mistakes again, but the intensity was too high and her second chance in the MasterChef kitchen drew to a close.
Following their loss in yesterday’s team challenge, Maja, Tommy, Depinder and Pete arrived at the MasterChef kitchen ready to cook for their place in the competition.
Mel introduced today’s guest chef and MasterChef Australia alumni Khanh Nguyen from Sunda. Khanh revealed his dish, pork wellington with lattice crackling and flavours of banh mi, and with four hours and 15 minutes on the clock, the contestants needed to complete nearly 100 steps.
Pete plated up his dish first, the pork was a touch overcooked, but Andy said they were splitting hairs and the dish was very close to Khanh’s.
Tommy was confident with his knowledge of Vietnamese flavours. He was elated with his dish and Jock admitted it was 99 per cent accurate.
Depinder’s dish had both negatives and positives, the texture of her dressing was odd and salty, but the pork and paté were the best of the group.
Maja struggled throughout the challenge. The thickness of her pastry had stopped the inside of her Wellington from properly cooking. The pressure was too great and Maja’s errors sent her home from MasterChef Australia for the second time.
Growing up on a hobby farm in Tasmania’s Huon Valley gave Maja Veit an appreciation of food origins from a young age. Along with her parents Michael and Henni, who immigrated from Germany, Maja and her younger brother Tom enjoyed running amuck on the farm and were lucky enough to enjoy self-grown produce every day.
In the kitchen before she could walk, Maja was always helping her parents cook, especially with her mum baking fresh stone-ground bread. When the family moved back to Berlin for four years when Maja was two, the toddler was often called on to help her oma (grandmother) in the kitchen, leading to some of her fondest food memories.
It was rare for her oma to let anyone into the kitchen but Maja somehow managed to sneak a spot. Maja loves cooking for others and showing her care for people through the food she creates.
Splitting her time between Western Australia and Tasmania since 2018 and with a passion for French cuisine, Maja hopes the classics will make a comeback onto Australian menus.
Formerly the owner of a pop-up market stall, Maja is already half-way to realising her food dream as she hopes to convert an old vintage Airstream trailer into a picturesque pop-up dining experience.
With a passion for indigenous ingredients, Maja was recently fascinated by a trip north to the Pilbara in Western Australia. Realising how many edible natives exist, Maja was inspired to experiment in her cooking and hopes to get people excited about trying some of the oldest foods in our country.
