Minoli’s inventive ‘crayfish doughnuts with ovaries aioli’ misses the mark

A truly bizarre recipe using a very unusual ingredient was presented on MasterChef, with a surprise reaction from the judges.

A MasterChef contestant has presented a gross-sounding dish to the judges tonight — but while they were somewhat excited to try her “ovaries aioli” made from the innards of a crayfish, the result was disappointing.

Monday night was the start of the show’s ‘coastal week’, with contestants travelling to Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road, otherwise known as the crayfish capital of Victoria.

On arrival, Jock taught the cooks how to break apart a crayfish and separate the tripe, tamale and ovaries, before the contestants were asked to pair up and work together to present a familiar and inventive dish to avoid elimination.

RELATED: Why Mel broke down in tears

MasterChef headed to the coast, cooking with crayfish at Apollo Bay. Picture: Channel 10.

Opting to use the new skills, team Sabina and Minoli decided to incorporate the ovaries into their dish, with Minoli creating an entree of cray-doughnuts with “ovaries aioli”.

While Jock and Andy were excited by the sound of the dish, it was met with a lacklustre response during tasting, with the judges commenting that her aioli missed the mark.

While carrying her plate to the table, Minoli was aware the aioli was “an issue”.

“Is it supposed to be split?” Jock asked as he eyed the plate.

RELATED: Elimination cook has contestants in tears

Minoli was dismayed by her “split” aioli. Picture: Channel 10.

After tasting the doughnuts, Mel said: “I love the idea of it, what was really great was biting into it and just seeing beautiful generous chunks of cray,” adding that while it was “conceptually great, it was a shame about the execution on the dipping sauce.”

Jock agreed: “I was so looking forward to that aioli. It didn’t work out today and that’s fine, sometimes it doesn’t work out.

“As far as being inventive is concerned, you’ve definitely ticked the box. It was unusual, it was the only one of its kind today. Good on you for trying it.”

The judges were impressed by the cray-filled doughnuts, but the sauce was too much of a let down. Picture: Channel 10.

Sabina’s familiar dish was a classic crayfish cooked on a hibachi with a butter sauce, which the judges praised for its simplicity, but commented was “unevenly cooked”.

Unfortunately, they were both sent into the elimination cook, along with Linda and Amir.

MasterChef Australia continues tomorrow night from 7.30 on Channel 10.