Tag: ice cream

MasterChef – Mon, June 27 – Heston ice block challenge

For one day only, Melbourne’s iconic Brighton Beach bathing boxes become ice cream stands selling Heston-inspired ice creams and ice blocks. The least impressive team will face elimination.
Poor kids, rocking up expecting a delicious treat and copping a scoop of fennel and beetroot parfait …

Poor Trent and Heather – the “losers” paraded in front of the other contestants in their elimination blacks.
The other contestants have to make ice cream for 500 people and laugh nervously when they hear they have to do savoury ice cream. And not only do they have to be savoury, they have to trigger nostalgia.
The team pick is done by a zoopa dupa lucky dip into George’s Esky, which is literally cool.
The teams are: IM and Harry, Elena and Theresa, Mimi and Elise, Brett and Chloe. They have 4.5 hours to make one flavour of icy poles, two flavours of ice creams and waffle cones.
IM and Harry are going nuts with their flavour combos, doing prawn cocktail and Vegemite and butter ice cream and a gazpacho icy pole.
George and Heston (or let’s just call him “H” from now on, as his buddy George does) are worried about Chloe’s smoked beetroot, goat’s cheese and dill ice cream. They reckon the strong cheese will coat the roof of the mouth. Last time Chloe ignored a chef’s advice (in the Curtis Stone challenge) she and teammate Nicolette ended up in elimination. But it’s okay – Chloe has done it before and it’s awesome. What do George and H know?
Theresa is having waffle cone dramas and H tells her it’s because she needs more sugar in her batter.
Mimi is making cucumber, ginger and mint ice blocks and her mix is a lovely green colour, while Chloe and Brett are creating carrot and ginger icy poles with soda water and edible flowers (bleagh) – will the bubbles affect the freezing process?

Theresa has finally mastered her waffle cones but has yet to start her mustard ice cream with bacon and hot chips. She knows it will take forever to crack all the eggs for it so she decides to use an eggless recipe she half remembmers from seeing on TV. Oh dear. And if she fails she’ll take Elena down with her.
Mimi and Elise give a cucumber ice block to H to try and he says it’s too sweet. So they add vinegar. At least they’re ahead with their waffle cone making. Harry hasn’t started his but decides he’ll do waffle cups instead, which will be quicker than cones.
Mimi’s second ice cream is pea and ham ice cream but they are rushing it and don’t properly cook their peas and chuck a whole bunch of half cooked pureed bacon in it. Ick.
The boys’ Vegemite ice cream looks good (they’re serving it with a toast crumb topping – hope it tastes better than Cadbury’s Vegemite chocolate), and Theresa’s eggless ice cream seems to have worked. Whereas Chloe’s beetroot ice cream looks weirdly dry because of the overload of goat’s cheese. And that’s why you always listen to the chef. Her second ice cream is rosemary mascarpone and her ice blocks are ready but the soda has separated.


Uh oh – here comes the crowd, including a bunch of sprinting kid who are going to be sooo disappointed there’s nothing chocolate on offer. IM looks deliriously happy to be there – he’s still on his hot streak.

The judges taste


IM and Harry’s Vegemite and panko crumb ice cream: They like the texture and the crumb but H thinks there’s too much Vegemite.
Gazpacho icy pole: The judges love it. “That’s a cracker,” says H.
Prawn cocktail ice cream: George loves the look. Matt says it equals other savoury ice creams he’s had elsewhere. They like the concept.


Mimi and Elise’s pea and ham ice cream: The cones look great but Matt pulls a face when he tries the scoop. “I don’t like that at all… they’ve made me feel a bit queasy.”
Ginger, cucumber and mint ice block: H says it’s still too sweet.
Sour cream and chives: They redeem themselves; H says it’s delicious. The texture is great. So, one out of three.


Elena and Theresa’s mustard, bacon and french fries ice cream: H says he likes chips on the beach. “I reckon this ones the best one so far,” says Gaz. H says he could eat a tub of it. [Sorry I doubted you, Theresa.]
Lemon, pine nut and rosemary ice cream: It’s not right, the judges say. It’s bland and a bit medicinal.
Chilli, lime and coriander icy pole: They love it . “It’s like a frozen bowl of Thai dipping sauce,” says Matt.


Brett and Chloe’s beetroot and goat’s cheese ice cream: “Oh God,” says George, and not in a bang the spoon on the table way. “It’s got that curdled consistency in your mouth.”
Mascarpone, rosemary and bacon ice cream: The cone looks good and they like the bacon crumb. “That’s pretty tasty,” says Matt.
Ginger and carrot icy pole: “Oh dear.” “Oh god.” “There’s no flavour of carrot here.” Brett must have thought he was on a winner when he was teamed up with Chloe at the start of the challenge. Now he’s in real danger of being eliminated this week.

The judges decide
The two teams who stood out were Theresa and Elena and (Theresa gets dish of the day for her mustard and chips ice cream) and Matt and Harry (the prawn cocktail wasn’t perfect but, with tweaking, could become a signature dish).
Chloe and Brett are going into elimination with Trent and Heather, who have suddenly appeared again on the sidelines to stare at Heston, unable to touch him because they’re dead to him now.

Tomorrow night
An underground carpark is the scene for a pop-up chocolate-themed restaurant. We see the teams are Elise and Theresa, Mimi and Harry and Elena and IM. So I’m barracking for Elena and IM. Does Elena need an abbreviation now, too? She’s always so radiant and glowing – GE?



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