Salt and pepper. Knife and fork. Orange and fennel. Maple and bacon. They’re just a few examples of perfect pairings, the focus of this week’s challenges on MasterChef Australia.
Sadly for Olaolu, one not-so-perfect pairing was him and his chosen combo of pineapple and coconut, which sent him packing during the elimination cook.
During Monday night’s cook, the 34-year-old whipped up a tropical trifle with whipped yoghurt, coconut crumb, macerated pineapple in Malibu. But in the end, the judges deemed it too safe and underdeveloped for this far into the competition. If you ask Olaolu, it wasn’t the ingredients’ fault.
“My downfall wasn’t the flavour pair, but the memory of my melty ice cream sandwich from the previous day,” Olaolu tells TV WEEK.
“It made me pick something that felt safer but ultimately missed the brief. It’s a delicious flavour combo and I will definitely be cooking with it again.”
Admittedly, Olaolu had “mixed feelings” about leaving the competition.
“I’m very grateful for the experience and glad that I showed a few Nigerian dishes,” he explained. “But I had plenty more to show and it’s sad that I didn’t get to. I was also already missing my fellow contestants and feeling huge FOMO for the rest of the competition.”
What made the transition back to regular life easier was his family’s unwavering support and pride at what he’d achieved. After all, he’d won challenges, met world renown chefs and even pocketed a cash prize of $10,000 along the way! Despite having multiple exciting moments in the kitchen, he says the highlight was the friends he made along the way.
“Meeting a bunch of other food nerds who also happened to be legends,” he says with a chuckle.
“And because we’re constantly practicing, we’re always eating tasty food. Eating multiple MasterChef-worthy dishes a week is a pretty good life.”
Now, Olaolu feels like the experience has inspired him to follow his heart — and his palette — to share his Nigerian culture through food.
“Through this competition, I’ve seen first-hand how much you can connect with people through food,” he explains.
“Whether it’s through cooking together, sharing the food itself, or sharing stories around the food, there’s so many ways food can help people understand each other. I’ll be trying to do that however and wherever I can.”
You can watch MasterChef Australia on 10 or 10Play. For recaps of every episode, click HERE.
