Pork belly minus crackling? What?

Rachael is the latest contestant to leave the Masterchef kitchen.

Make sure you serve up pork crackling. That is the message that came through loud and clear after Rachael Ciesiolka was eliminated from MasterChef Australia tonight.

Judges Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan have a history of drooling over any dish that includes pork crackling — something Rachael clearly forgot.

The 45-year-old data manager from the Northern Territory exited the Channel 10 cooking show after failing to plate up crackling as part of her pork belly dish.

"Do they (judges) love pork crackling," Rachael says. "My husband loves pork crackling too so for me to not be able to put up pork crackling for the judges was like letting my husband down too."

Rachael faced off against Tash Shan, Ben MacDonald, and Brent Owens in an auction-based elimination episode where contestants had to bid for ingredients.

Each contestant had 100 minutes cooking time but had to bid in 5-minute increments rather than dollars for protein, vegetables and other pantry items.

Rachael had to stump up 25 minutes of cooking time to get pork belly after a bidding war with Tash and Ben.

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Rachael gets a bit hot under the collar after burning her dish. Courtesy: Channel 10

Rachael hit a hurdle when she lost the bidding for Asian greens — the perfect accompaniment to pork belly — and had to settle for foraged native greens including samphire and saltbush.

By the time Rachael had nabbed flour and vinegar she only had a cook time of 50 minutes for her saltbush pork dish.

Brent served up rib eye steak with parsnip chips, smoked beetroot and puree. Tash did Harissa-stuffed mackerel with Asian greens. Ben plated up roasted pigeon with aubergine puree and green pepper custard.

Eliminated ... Masterchef Australia contestant Rachael. Source: Supplied

Hard worker ... Masterchef Australia contestant Rachael. Source: Supplied

Rachael was stressed from the start. She poached the pork in vinegar and water while roasting her crackling. Coating her pork in a flour, saltbush and mustard mix, she deep-fried it, hoping for lumps of golden saltbush-covered pork but the coating turned black.

"I should have left the mustard out because as soon as I put it into the oil it burned," Rachael says. "Seconds count in this competition. I knew I definitely did not put up a dish I was proud of."

With five minutes left on the clock, Rachael started over. Taking advice from her fellow contestants on the balcony, she deep-fried more pork and teamed it with the foraged greens.

The judges were quick to express their disappointment that there was no crackling and Rachael tearfully explained her kitchen disaster.

That was enough to send Rachael home. Ben, Brent and Tash received rave reviews for their dishes.

Since leaving MasterChef Australia, Rachael has started her own gourmet in-kitchen dining service called Cook's Night Off.