Tag: MasterChef

MasterChef – Mon, May 30 – Elimination test

Oh god, I can’t sit through the pounding music playing over everyone’s heartfelt recitations of how much they want this so I skip forward a little.
Brett has had two flashbacks in two days, so surely it’ll be him tonight, rather than Upswept Hair Charlie or Sister Theresa.
Matt Preston in a tame blue and mustard ensemble rattles off the guest chef’s impressive CV. And yet, I find myself doubting his cheffy credentials as he does not have tattooed arms.


What does quail afternoon tea mean? I’m looking at it and I still don’t know. Apparently it’s a thing in the UK, to eat a savoury afternoon tea. It’s pearl barley mushroom porridge, liver parfait (looks like pate to me), tea and duck consomme, quail soft-poached quail egg.
This is going to be painful to watch – everything is so brown and finicky. Can I skip to the end?


More Brett back story … gastro pub … glamorous family photos … he’s a pilot … he cracks jokes.
Theresa is impressed that following the recipe is working for her. Well, der. Brett and Charlie are already stuffing up their parfaits, one adding butter, the other not straining. George and Jason come over to stare at Charlie, at which point I’d be scanning the recipe for what I did wrong, but he’s feeling the pressure and the stare is ignored. Poor Charlie – he does seem talented but just not suited to the unusual pressure of the TV kitchen.
Ooh – just had an Elena sighting.
Now it looks like Charlie has stuffed up his mushroom parfait and everyone on the gantry is wincing as they watch.
George pops over to Theresa’s station to utter a helpful: “There is so much to do and so little time.”
My recording scrambles for a few minutes and comes good as the guest chef bucks Charlie up by telling him his consomme is perfect, and then he praises Theresa for her parfait. Wow – encouraging contestants – what will they think of next?
Brett knows his parfait is stuffed and – after some heckling from Miles about how easy it is to be a pilot – the judges tell him he needs to move faster.
Everyone on the gantry tells Theresa she needs to hurry up – yeah – 10 people yelling at you is not helpful. She is getting into a flap.
More TV scramble and, appropriately, the snow clears as Charlie breaks one of his soft-boiled eggs. And another.
Now everyone is yelling at Brett to “push! push!” and he has a little moment – aww. As does Elena on the gantry. You can tell from his talking head to camera after that he is normally pretty easy going was shocked by his tears. Chef Jason comes over to give him a cuddle and gets him to refocus, and here come the crescendoing violins of triumph. And then he get the guitar and drums building up speed, so here comes Brett’s redemption arc. His motoring through his other tasks and decides wisely not to worry about redoing the icky-looking parfait.
Back to Charlie and he’s broken 11 of his 12 quail eggs. Jason pops over to encourage him and he finally manages to peel an egg. Hallelujah!
Theresa is behind so she has to forget about the quail egg or she won’t have quail.
Brett’s parfait is wrong but it tastes okay, whereas Charlie’s unsieved parfait “looks like cat food”, as he says. Charlie also has to make up for the mushroom flavour he’s missing from not making enough puree so he pops extra fried mushrooms on his barley.
Theresa is in such a tizz she can’t find the cooking string she needs for her “tea bag” but luckily Brett is listening to the gantry and runs over to give her his.

Time for the judges to taste
Theresa is up first and as she wheels the elements in we’re reminded she didn’t do the quail egg and then she twigs she left the crucial “tea bag” back in the kitchen. Oh, Theresa …
George gets out his tosser tweezers. Whatever happened to tongs? Jason like the textures and the quail is well cooked. Gaz says she nailed the parfait. But she missed two elements.
Brett gets a lot of time chatting with the judges – including a bit about him watching the show on TV and wondering why previous contestants were crying. So he’s won, right? Jason says the parfait looks “rough” but the egg is perfect and he’s done a good job with everything else. Matt is in raptures and even the mucked-up parfait taste ok.
Charlie’s hair is starting to lose its sculptural quality so you can tell he’s frazzled. Luckily that lucky last quail egg worked and it’s gooey in the centre. Jason says the consomme is sensational. The parfait is icky and the mushroom flavour is missing from the barley. Charlie is surely going home. Sure, Theresa left off two elements but Charlie served up two not right elements and the judges loved Theresa’s parfait.

The verdict
Brett is safe. Oh – suddenly we’re hearing Theresa’s consomme lacked flavour and she’s going home. Charlie dodged a massive bullet there.
The end blurb says she’s been doing work experience at many top kitchens, including at Reynold’s restaurant. Good on you, Reynold. I wonder if he put her spectacular fallen ice cream from the audition round on the menu?
fallenicereacm

Tomorrow night: It’s yet another jaffle challenge and there are two immunity pins on the line. “That’s one of the best dishes so far in the competition,” says Gaz of one dish. I’m predicting that will be Matt’s. Or maybe Elena will finally get airtime?



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MasterChef – Sun, May 29 – Mystery Box


To quote Brad Pitt: What’s in the box?

Matt Preston is back in purple but it’s more of a strong lavender shade tonight, with an Impressionist-style white, purple and green cravat. The contestants have 60 minutes to produce a dish and – here’s a twist – the winner gets a shortcut straight to the immunity pin challenge. And they are told not to waste too many mystery box ingredients. Anyone who’s watched the show before knows they’ve previously cooked with kitchen scraps, so the savvy ones should stockpile some ingredients for the next round. Here’s what’s in the box:

Mmm, pork belly.
Mmm, pork belly.

I expect we’ll see a lot of fish or pork dishes with Asian flavours, as everyone always goes straight for the protein. I hope someone does a lime dessert – Charlie? Karmen?
Will Anastasia get airtime tonight? We haven’t seen her for a while. Who else? Elena? Cecilia? Electrician Trent?
We get a talking head from Brett about his barra bromance, so it will be great or dreadful. Intense Matt is getting airtime about hispork belly so perhaps there’s yet another victory in store for him – go Intense Matt!
Nose Ring Chloe is getting the ditherer edit usually reserved for Theresa but decides to go with a smoked nougat.
Oh, here’s SWishy Pony Tail Zoe – we haven’t seen her for a while. She’s doing sponge with smoked vanilla ice cream. Smoking is hot, hot, hot this season. Anastasia gets to speak – the editors are giving some of the usual suspects a rest. She’s doing pork belly.
Wow – and Trent can talk! He’s never been tasted – but he’s never had any shockers. He’s making miso pork and corn dumplings with miso caramel sauce. Matt Preston is pushing him to make a broth so there’s no repeat of the dry ravioli-style dishes they’ve been seeing.
Brett is getting the flashback about his pilot background and his food dream of running a gastro pub in Victoria with his daughters. So he’ll get tasted.
The edit is focusing a lot on Intense Matt’s pork belly and whether it will be tender or not. I predict a triumph. Anastasia is getting the same edit (again pronouncing it missoo) but I reckon her pork won’t cook.
Trent is having dumpling dramas – they don’t look right so he rolls more dough. Zoe is staring at her cake as it’s not cooked in the centre. It’s a small cake but why didn’t she do a second one that was just muffin sized? They always need a back-up plan. George tastes her smoked ice cream and loves it, so even if her cake flops she’ll get tasted – as has happened before.

Time to taste five dishes
Pilot Brett is up first with his crispy barra with corn two ways and pickled beetroot: Matt says it’s classic, delicious and well rounded.
Anastasia’s vanilla sticky pork with beetroot: “This is a cracking dish,” says George, but it needs salt. Matt says it needed more time in the pressure cooker to be perfect. Gaz likes her.
Trent gets his first tasting for his pork and corn dumplings with a miso and caramel broth: Gaz loves the presentation. Matt says the balance of flavours is great. They all love it.
Zoe’s sponge with miso glaze and smoked vanilla ice cream: “That is one of the best ice creams I’ve tasted in this competition,” says George. But her cake sucks. Matt says she should have just served the ice cream with the miso caramel sauce.
chloemay29
Chloe’s smoked lime and vanilla nougat with lime crumb and beetroot caramel: Ooh – she gets the Matt tap of the spoon. And then from George. And then even Gaz comes to the party. They think all the elements are in balance. “I do want to lick the bowl,” says Gaz. And, yes, Chloe has won. She’s been a bit up and down this season but has done quite well when put in a pressure situation.

Invention test
There’s no pantry and no herb garden but they do get the usual staples. They’re cooking with whatever’s left in that mystery box, including their scraps – and they get extra credit for using scraps creatively.
Elena gets a talking head – she and Harry both have some barra left. Given most people would have cooked with either pork or barra in the first round, they still have opctions.
Heather is doing barra mornay with coriander root and corn cob-infused bechamel.
Mimi us making coriander ice cream with lime syrup cake – quick, get some smoke in there, Mimi, or you won’t have a chance.
Pilot Brett is doing a pork sanger with flatbread and miso mayo.
Intense Matt is making san choy bau with barra wrapped in beetroot leaves.
Karmen is doing a savoury dish for once and it sounds interesting: barra with pickled beetroot “scales” and a burnt miso sauce. If only we knew what she’d cooked in the first round – presumably a lime dessert.
Charlie is making miso ice cream but it may not set.
Brett is making a miso mayo to go with his sanger but he is running out of ingredients (presumably egg) and stuffs it up. It’s because you didn’t drizzle in your oil, Brett!
Oh – here’s Theresa. She’s doing vanilla miso ice cream with a corn custard. The judges are a little worried she’s doing two soft-textured. Gaz as much as tells her to make pastry.
Charlie’s miso ice cream is too runny so out come the trusty red silicon moulds.
Matt is making floss and crispy skin with his barra for crunchy textures. No sign of many of the contestants featured in the first round, so they’re out of the running.
Elise is making a parfait and a soil – haven’t had one of those for a while. What’s the difference between a soil and a crumb?
Heather is trying to make a rough puff to go with her mornay and Matt pops over to give her instructions on using the smoking gun. Smoking guns are the new sous vide – expect to see a lot of them on MKR next year.
Mimi’s dome-shaped lime syrup cakes look delish, but Elise is having cake trouble – she’s doing one of those siphon microwave cakes in a paper coffee cup but her siphon isn’t charging. George and Gaz tell her it’s because her cake mixture is way too thick. Uh oh.
Intense Matt says his dish is “a texture bomb” and it does look inviting. Karmen’s fish with beetroot scales also looks fabulous.

Uh oh - nose wipe alert - hope that was sweat, Theresa!
Uh oh – nose wipe alert – hope that was sweat, Theresa!

Time to taste
Will we see what people like Miles and Elena have made?

Intense Matt’s barra san choy bau:

Good one, Matt.
Good one, Matt.
The judges love the look of it. “You have no idea of the pleasure of this dish … I’m just thrilled that you’re putting up beautiful food,” says Gaz. “That is making the hair on the back of my head stand up.” So Gaz is Team Intense Matt, too. They even liked that he did two sauces.
Happy intense Matt and a rare Cecilia sighting.
Happy intense Matt and a rare Cecilia sighting.

Charlie’s miso ice cream with corn crumb (but his caramel has seized): George tries to smash the caramel with his spoon just to rub in to poor Charlie how much he’s ballsed it up. The ice cream is a bit funky – and not in a good way. He’s usually perfect hair is all floppy. So he’s bottom three.
Heather’s barra mornay: Matt likes the idea of the dish. And he loves the flavour and textures.
Brett’s roasted pork in coriander flatbread: Matt loves the pork. “Is it a disaster dish? No.” George says the bread is undercooked and “blanket-like”. Ouch. As Brett already knew, it needed soz.
Elise’s vanilla parfait with lime curd and coriander sponge: Ok, but it could be better.
trentmay29
Trent’s lime and vanilla tart with semifreddo: (This plating with mini meringues torched with a creme brulee torch must be hot right now) Gaz loves the tart.
Elena’s corn fritters with miso pork fish floss: “Very impressed,” says Gaz. Just to remind you, here’s what Elena looks like.


Zoe’s pork belly with miso butterscotch: “Another great dish,” says Gaz.

You can see her dessert plating come into play here.
You can see her dessert plating come into play here.
Karmen’s barra: “It just utterly makes sense,” says Gaz – his cranky pants must be in the wash. George says it’s incredible and she can win the comp.
Theresa’s sweet corn milk tart and miso ice cream (she whispers “sorry” as the judges taste): Matt says it tastes like tuna mornay: “I really don’t like it.” She’s bottom three.
Mimi’s coriander ice cream with lime syrup cake: Gaz thinks it’s clever and moreish. “It’s as if the coriander says ‘I need to be in ice cream always’,” says Matt.
That’s it – no Anastasia, no Nicolette, no Miles and no Harry all episode.

Top three
Going through to the invention test and a chance to fight for immunity with Chloe are easy picks: Intense Matt, Karmen and Mimi.
Bottom three are also obvious: Charlie, Theresa and Brett

Tomorrow: Chef Jason Atherton sets the pressure test and it’s a quail afternoon tea. What? Google says he received a Michelin star and previously worked for Gordon Ramsey. And he hosted the UK’s version of MKR, but doubt that will get a mention. I don’t know how Brett will go in this as it looks quite fiddly and he’s more about bold flavours, not flashy techniques.



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MasterChef – May 26 – Cake challenge

The blue team from last night’s fete challenge is facing the firing squad. Well, the cake squad. They have to play Name That Cake. I hope, as with all these challenges, that they don’t bomb out early so we can play along at home.
The first three contestants to fluff on their cake knowhow will be sent to elimination, where they have to bake – you guessed it – a cake. And this will be the last night we see Nigella.


The contestants enter and the cakes are already on display, so as the judges talk they are sneaking peeks. Intense Matt is very worried but you’d imagine if Charlie or Con go through to elimination they at least are used to doing sweet stuff.
Matt gets first pick and chooses what looks like a brick of a lamington – but he’s worried it may be a trick and they are messing with his mind. But, yes, it is what it seems.
Airline captain Brett picks the Swiss roll and then it’s Con’s turn. He picks a carrot cake and Elise grabs black forest (one of my faves), Charlie gets cheesecake. Mimi has orange and poppyseed cake and it’s Matt’s turn again. He grabs the ginormous Victoria sponge cake (how many eggs went into that monster?) and Brett then gets mudcake. So far no tricks. Con gets opera cake, Elise angel cake (does she mean angel food cake?). Charlie is up and he’s sweating bullets. He’s up between what looks like two fruitcakes and Gary and George do the “wow, brave man”. “If you name this, you’re a legend,” says George. Charlie knows it’s not right but he says “fruitcake”. It’s a simnel cake – a type of Easter cake. So Charlie is the first one to bomb.
Mimi grabs a Paris brest, which is like a giant profiterole. Matt selects a cake with chocolate truffles on top but he gets a surprise when he slices it. “I’m worried for you, Matt,” says Gaz. “Even my palms are sweating.” Matt says “chocolate truffle cake” but it’s a Dobos torte. Never heard of it, but thanks to the magic of Wikipedia I now know: A Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The five-layer pastry is named after its inventor, Hungarian confectioner József C. Dobos, who aimed to create a cake that would last longer than other pastries in an age when cooling techniques were limited. The round sides of the cake are coated with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, or almonds, and the caramel topping helps to prevent drying out.
If Intense Matt goes tonight I will be cranky.
Brett reckons it’s time to pick a cake he’s had his eye on from the start and has been keeping up his sleeve – but then he cuts it and he starts second guessing himself. But he goes for moon cake, the Asian treat, and he’s right.


Con comes up for his third go and picks what looks to be some kind of layered meringue. He says continental cake but it’s some Icelandic cake called Vinarterta. So that’s our bottom three – damn – I wanted to know what the other cakes were.
Elimination challenge
Con, Charlie and Matt have 90 minutes to bake a cake. It’s not long to mix, bake and cook a cake for decorating.
Con is making a pound cake but he reckons he doesn’t have a tried and true recipe. He must only know finicky desserts and ABPC recipes. His cake will have a savoury strawberry and thyme savoury syrup and lemon creme fraiche filling.
Intense Matt is making carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing. Yum, but he’d better tricksy it up a bit – chuck some $7 rocky road on it, Matt. He’s following his mate’s mum’s recipe but he’s spicing it up a bit.
Charlie is baking a chocolate and raspberry sponge cake with hazelnuts but he puts all his mixture into one pan, so it will take longer to cook. Nigella comes over to tell him off for not splitting the mix.
Con is worried about timing so he cranks his temp up to 200C, until Nigella comes over to tell him off as it needs a low, slow, bake. I’m sensing a theme here. Will Intense Matt get a talking to next?
After panicking, Con decide to ignore Nigella and stick with the pound cake. I’m thinking Con is going home.
Matt is doing an onion and carrot jam with star anise and cinnamon for the centre of this cake. He’s the only one doing something a bit different. Then he works on the best bit of any carrot: the lemony cream cheese icing.
Poor Charlie says “it’s do or die” as he realises his sponges aren’t cooked in the centre and he has to bung them back in the oven.
Intense Matt is getting a lot of confessionals about how much fun he’s having, whereas Charlie’s are about all the glitches.
“Now it’s time to just go to town on this bad boy… to make it overloaded with love,” Matt tells the camera.
However, Con is surely going because he got the back story about quitting his job and delaying his wedding.
Charlie has done lots of fancy pants decorating stuff with toffeed hazelnuts, while Matt has gone the rustic look and Con’s cake looks, well, simple and fine, but he’s worried it’s dense.
The judges taste


Matt’s carrot cake: “To me that is everything a home-baked cake should be … it looks generous and it looks like you want to feed someone and make them happy,” says Nigella. George dishes up and it looks terrific. Nigella likes the zing of the marmalade and Gaz is in hog heaven.
Con’s thyme pound cake: “It looks heavy,” say the judges. Nigella says it’s not evenly cooked because he bammed up the heat. Matt says the syrup has barely soaked into the cake: “It’s rubbery, it’s bouncy.” The love the flavours he’s used but not the texture. Oh dear.
Charlie’s choc raspberry hazelnut sponge: The judges say it looks dense. Matt loves the mix of flavours but Gaz says “that cake’s dry and dense” and points out he’s not going back for seconds. But Nigella defends the cake’s honour: “I don’t think it’s a failure as a cake … I don’t think it’s offensive.” Matt says Charlie overbaked it.
They do the “Matt’s safe but the other two are sooooo close”. Yeah, as if you are going to send golden boy Charlie home.

And the loser is …
Ok, first it’s time for the judges to praise Intense Matt and it’s lovely to see the look of joy creep over his face as he absorbs Nigella’s praise. I’m Team Intense Matt.


And Con’s gone. Go home and marry your fiancee – and in a surprise twist, the remaining contestants will cater your wedding! Now, that would be fun. Gaz, for once, is not wearing his cranky pants and tells Con he has talent. And where’s Con now? Moved to Hobart to open a Melbourne-style cafe.
Time for masterclass so I’m out.



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MasterChef – Team challenge – May 25

The contestants rock up at MC HQ and – once they get over the shock of Matt’s magenta suit and waistcoat combo (is that dupion silk) – and Gaz tells them they are feeding a huge crowd at an MC fete that’s being set up just up the road at the Melbourne Showground.
There are three teams of six, each of which must prep a savoury and two sweet dishes – and one sweet dish has to feature jam. So expect lots of jam doughnuts – not that there’s anything wrong with that.
The team captains are Heather (yellow), Mimi (blue) and Teeny Top Knot (red).
It’s a money-based challenge, so the team with the least money in the till is up for elimination.
They also have to factor in that they have to get the food from the MC kitchen out to the fetegoers, with no heating equipment at the fete. So I guess no jam doughnuts, then.

What they’re cooking


Yellow team (who are being smart about picking stuff they can churn out in big quantities): Rocky road popcorn; corn on the cob; blondies with jam (white choc brownie).
Gaz is worried the corn will go cold (can’t they just wrap them in foil to keep warm?) and Heather thinks on her feet as to how they can use the corn they’ve already cooked. They decide to do a potato, bacon and corn salad. Heather notes Gaz has a catering company, which I didn’t realise, so he knows about feeding crowds.
Blues: potato chorizo frittata; chocolate cupcakes filled with jam; hedgehog slice. I don’t know about their decision to do three chocolate dishes.
Reds: Asian chicken salad; scones with jam; brookies (the cookie/brownies Harry made for Nigella in the midnight feast challenge). Do people really want to eat a cookie at a fete?
Gaz is worried that Harry’s recipe for 12 brookies won’t easily convert to high volumes. Dessert champ Cecilia has been put in charge of them and it’s taking forever just to melt the chocolate for the first 10 batches. Scooping each one on to the tray individually is also adding to the time – blue team has the right idea with hedgehog slice which you can just press into a tray, bung in the fridge and slice up.

I’m a bit sad no-one is doing food on a stick, which is surely compulsory fete food. Luckily for the blue team, Cecilia suggests to Harry they do choc chip cookies instead as they’re quicker to prep. To his credit, he listens, and decides the brookies they do have will be sold as “limited edition”. Way to spin, Harry.
We keep coming back to Intense Matt talking about his frittata, so you know there will be a problem. Luckily Nigella tells them there’s no way their uncooked sliced spuds will cook in time, so airline captain Brett decides they’ll deep fry the sliced spuds to have crisps to scatter over the top.
On the teeny top knot team Theresa and Harry are having maths dramas figuring out their chicken salad portion size. Luckily Cecilia – yep, the one with a brain injury – knows how to do maths. She’s been a champ this episode. Her team has picked another labour-intensive dish which requires a tonne of shredded cabbage and laboriously shredding poached chook.
It’s fascinating watching the yellow team mixing up their huge vat of blondie mixture and their bath-sized tub of raspberry jam. They are paying the price for Nose Ring Chloe cooking one huge batch of blondies rather than splitting it into more manageable quantities. So they have nothing in the oven as yet. They need to cool their bath of jam so dish it out into metal trays which they put on glass shelving in the freezer and CRACK! The shelf shatters and they have to chuck out heaps of their jam lest they injure the public. Luckily they made a humungous amount so it’s not too bad.

Time to sell
Blue team decides its prices and settles on cupcakes for $5, frittata $7 and hedgehog slice $5.
Yellow team decide on $7 for rocky road popcorn, blondies with fresh raspberries $10, potato salad $12. Wow – seems a bit exxy.
Red team will sell brookies for $6, choc chip cookies $3, scones $6, Asian chicken salad $12. They could have bumped up their scone price, I reckon, but hopefully will sell heaps of Cecilia’s cookies as they are the cheapest thing on offer.

The red team’s salad is selling well – I guess it’s the only full meal type dish on offer – so Harry has to do the sprint back to the kitchen to stock up on more supplies.
Brett is a good salesman for Blue, heading out into the queues to flog cupcakes to hungry punters.

The judges taste
Nice to see Matt and Nigella in hats, sending a sun smart message you don’t usually see on reality TV. Nigella looks like she would sizzle if the forecast was anything better than “overcast” and Matt’s fedora makes him even more pimp like – an image aided by his gold pocket watch.
Blues: The cupcakes gets the thumbs up. Nigella says her grandma used to make a similar dish to the hedgehog slice but the frittata is a flop. The quantities are out of whack but the flavours – and the crunchy crisps topping – are tasty.


Yellows: The long-awaited blondies get an “oh yeah” from George. Nigella says “such a pleasure”. Rocky road popcorn should be a big seller, reckons Matt. The potato salad is a bit old school, says Gaz, being smushed together. Nigella thinks it’s still tasty but the other judges aren’t so keen.


Reds: Chicken salad is a winner. Miles’s scones are “a very happy little mouthful”, says Nigella. The brookies don’t look as plump as when Harry made them in the previous challenge and the judges are far keener on Cecilia’s choc chip cookies.

Over at Blues, Brett sends Matt out to check on the competition’s prices and they realise they are the cheapest stall – not really their fault – they were first to set up. It could bite them later as it’s been alluded to a few times.
With a few minutes to go prices are slashed and the teams are running out into the crowd to beg punters to take the food off their hands.

Time to announce the winners


The three teams have raised almost $18,000 between them for a children’s hospital.
The winning team $6326 is Yellows. Good one, girls. They had the top-selling dish of the day: rocky road popcorn.
There is only $208 between the other two team. Red team earnt $5892.
So Blues, led by Mimi, are for elimination. The others are Intense Matt (I’d be surprised if he went), Charlie (ditto), Con, airline captain Brett and a blonde girl we’ve barely seen – I think it’s Elise.

Tomorrow night: It’s a name-the cake-challenge – that’s my kind of challenge. The first three contestants who fail to correctly name a cake go into a cake bake-off elimination challenge.



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MasterChef – Immunity challenge – May 24

It’s Mimi, Karmen and Harry’s chance to compete for an immunity pin.
The blurb says: Matt Preston and Nigella Lawson arrive at the contestant house in the middle of the night as the three best from Nigella’s invention test are asked to create a midnight snack for a chance at immunity.
Please tell me Matt will be wearing a red velour dressing gown, black satin cravat and uggies.
Here we go – because everyone wants to be on national TV in their PJs.

We start with Matt and Nigella creeping into the MC house and waking up Harry and co. Bit sad the judges aren’t wearing their PJs because I would have loved to see Matt’s night-time get up. Peter Alexander missed a sponsorship opportunity there.
They have to make a midnight feast and Nigella wants it to “feel like a snatched pleasure”. They only have 30 minutes to cook.
Harry works in hospitality and says he usually turns to chocolate for his late-night snack. He’s making a “brookie” – a cross between a cookie and a brownie. Nigella is going to love this.
Karmen is going American diner with fried chicken with waffles.
Mimi is doing brioche French toast with maple bacon, which is probably too simple.
The other contestants have wandered into the living area to watch the action and look very sleepy.
Nigella is worried Karmen’s chicken won’t cook through but she’s cut it small. She’s also doing a chilli-infused maple sauce – yum! The girls are moving fast but poor Harry is stuck staring at the oven, willing his biscuits (I can’t bring myself to call them cookies) to bake in time. He cranks the heat to 220C and makes a Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) cream to go with them.

These are the three finished midnight snacks:


The judges taste …
Mimi’s French toast with maple bacon and bananas: Is a worthy contender, says Nigella.
Karmen’s chicken and waffles: Matt loves the crunch but Nigella says it needs salt.
Harry’s “brookies”: Nigella is digging in and loving the gooey centres.

And Harry wins and gets the chance to cook for the immunity pin. He looks good in chef whites but check out his teeny top knot:


He’s up against Lachlan Colwill of Hentley Farm, who’s a young gun SA chef who’s won a lot of “best new” awards here recently. Here’s a link to the restaurant Hentley Farm
Harry has to cook between Christmas Sweet and Savoury and goes sweet, so he can do a take on his mum’s pavlova – a move which surprises everyone who thought he’d go ape for the seafood. However, he may also be thinking that it’s likely Lachlan doesn’t do a lot of desserts, as he’d have a pastry chef to focus on those.

He sketches out his idea for a meringue “sandwich” with berries and ganache but Shannon does not look happy. Shannon explains how he plates pav at Vue de Monde and it sounds all deconstructed bits and bobs. But Harry isn’t keen. Fair enough – not everyone can pull off modern fancy pants plating. At least if he gets all the elements ready he can think about the plating as he cooks.

It’s Lachlan’s turn to start and, while he’d much prefer to be cooking savoury, he decides to do an ice cream pudding for an Australian summer-friendly cold Christmas dessert – a wise choice given that Shannon said that’s what he made for the Bennett household this year. And he’s using almonds because they remind him of home – heaps of almond growers here in SA.
Harry takes his meringues out of the oven but they are not sturdy enough for him to fill as he’d planned. is it time for Shannon’s idea with meringue blobs and a brulee torch?
But it’s ok – Lachlan’s having trouble, too. He’s tempering chocolate but has spread it out on a stainless steel bench to cool – not realising the oven is underneath. The onlookers on the gantry are worried for him. Eventually Cecilia tells him of his silly mistake.
Harry pulls his meringues into little artsy blobs and whips up a white choc ganache with passionfruit.
Lachlan has grabbed the compulsory red silicon moulds to slop his ice cream into – will they set in time? Yep, they do.
Harry is slowly plating up – tweezers are involved and George would be so happy – and Shannon tells him he needs more of the passionfruit cream and to fill the plate with the elements. But Harry only puts a few delicate bits of everything on. It looks cute but it’s barely a mouthful.
Lachlan is happy the ice cream worked but is regretting not doing a brandy syrup for a boozier flavour.

Time for the judges to taste


They like the festive look of Harry’s pav. Gaz finds the meringue very sweet so the dessert needs more tartness to balance it. The port-soaked cherries get the tick of approval.
Gaz is licking his chops at the look of Lachlan’s pud. “I think it’s a fun idea of putting a snowball on the table,” says Matt. Gaz loves the choc and the nut “snow”. Nigella wants more booze and George thinks it needs more fruit to be Christmassy.

The scores
Harry’s pav: Gaz 6, George 6, Nigella 7, Matt 7.
Lachlan’s pud: Nigella 6 (the crowd is shocked), Gaz 7, George 7, Matt 7.
So, Lachlan wins – and he’s relieved to have survived the pressure of the TV cameras.
And it’s a win for us, the viewers, us there were no items from our “MasterChef should ban this” lists. yay.

Tomorrow night: It’s a team challenge at some kind of show or festival where they have to serve heaps of people. And Matt is wearing an amazing magenta suit with a white fedora so we can easily spot him in a crowd.



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MasterChef – Pressure test – Mon, May 23

Tonight it’s Pierced Nose Chloe (sans tie dyed shirt) versus Ranger Miles and Brother Jimmy in a Pressure Test allegedly set by Nigella.


Note how Nigella looks even younger when she’s not wearing her clingy plum dress. You can tell by her complexion she hasn’t spent much time in the Southern Hemisphere.
If you are a Nigella fan make sure you have a look around the web for her Who Do You Think You Are? episode. Her Mum was the heiress to the Lyons Coffee House fortune. Or you can just read the synopsis here BBC write-up.
Miles and Chloe did quite well last time they were in the bottom three, so perhaps Jimmy will get in a tizz tonight and go?

I was going to do a recap but had to start fast forwarding when we got the sob stories. And then Cloche 3 was lifted to show ABPC. So I’m out, but a few thoughts:
There is no way ABPC would set in the fridge for an hour. They must allow for another three hours of production time for them to really set.

Theresa needs to shut the hell up.

Watching Jimmy flap is excruciating.

Watching Nigella quote Latin at Jimmy to stop him flapping is excruciating.

I was happy to see Miles using a mandolin with the safety on. Phew.

No, Miles, your burnt soz does NOT have to go on the plate.

Even I can tell from looking at the outside of Jimmy’s lamb it’s going to be raw.

Intense Matt barely made the edit last night but he’s had a few talking heads tonight. He’s in it for the long haul.

It’s funny seeing Nigella freaking out as she realises contestants may not get elements on the plate.

OMG, Chloe – ABPC is more important than soz! Just get it on the plate already.

Nigella’s shirt looks like a black saying PJ top.

So, Jimmy is obviously going home so time to skip through the judging.

I Googled the ABPC recipe and it says minimum four hours in the fridge needed.

Urgh – all that unrendered fat on Jimmy’s lamb.

Matt’s pondering about the dessert possibly saving Jimmy is ridiculous – please just give the viewers some credit and tell it like it is.



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MasterChef – Nigella week starts

Nigella Lawson Week starts tonight.
Contestants have 75 minutes to create a delicious dish based on Nigella’s divine indulgences. The top three will have a chance at immunity while the bottom three face elimination.

RECAP
Matt Preston says this week’s guest is a food hero of his and when he says her name the contestants go berserk. They seem more excited than for MPW (perhaps the producers promised those who cheered hardest they could escape the MC for a caffeine fix).
“I want flavours that are bold but not tricksy; I want food that is made to give pleasure, not to impress …I just want to be made happy when I eat your food. And I’m wearing something stretchy – I can eat a lot.”
She’s in the figure-hugging jersey dress we’ve seen in the flogged-to-death ads but next to the other judges she looks so pale skinned and much younger than her 56 years.

What’s in Nigella’s box?


Yum – lots of great flavours there that automatically go together. Anything with feta and pancetta is a winner is a must eat for me.

After no air time since a strong showing in the first week, Mimi makes a reappearance. She’s doing a layer-style cake of pumpkin sponge with cumin ice cream. With only 60 minutes to bake a cake and cool it enough to fill it with ice cream, is the reason we’re seeing Mimi purely because she’s heading for a fall?
Zoe is also doing a pumpkin-based dessert – a mille feuille filled with pumpkin, cumin and chestnut filling. Wow, it’s going to be really tough to do puff pastry in that time.
Here’s Heather the jus queen (wearing a headband so we can tell her apart from the other pony tail wearers) and she’s doing a pumpkin filo stack. Is anyone NOT using pumpkin? Nigella tells her you should be able to read the newspaper through super-thin filo pastry.
Finally, someone who is at least using the chicken. Jimmy is doing cumin and ginger chicken with pumpkin and chestnut puree. He is going to “hero” the ginger.
Oh my god – Elena speaks!! She’s doing pumpkin parfait, pancetta crumb and cumin tuille. She’s a high school visual arts teacher who wants to inspire young people to grow their own produce. This is a lot of air time on Elena. Is she the winner?
Nigella and Matt pop over to tell Zoe she’s mad for trying rough puff in 60 minutes.
Dessert enthusiast and golfr Charlie is doing savoury: crispy chicken with cumin and pumpkin puree with a pancetta and chesnut crumb. He wants to take the pumpkin “really far” – is this MC speak for burnt?
But what are Karmen, Harry, Intense Matt and Theresa cooking? Anastasia? Chloe? Ranger Miles? Trent? Airline captain? The judges come over AGAIN to hassle Zoe about her pastry.
Elena – after asking Karmen for some quick advice on praline – is happy with her tuille. Zoe takes her pastry out of the oven and it’s a flop.
It’s plating up time and Mimi’s cake is boiling hot so she can’t put the ice cream in it. Just put it in a side dish, Mimi!
The challenge is over – did no-one use the pipis? Surely someone made ravioli? Did Con do pumpkin panna cotta?

The tasting
The judges pick five dishes to taste.
Heather’s filo pumpkin stack: Nigella loves the textures and flavours: “This is something that creates joy.”
Jimmy’s chicken with ginger and cumin: Jimmy is beside himself to be in the presence of Nigella. “I can’t believe it,” he whispers to Matt. Gaz is more enthusiastic about it than Nigella is – the skin wasn’t crispy.
Elena’s pumpkin ice cream stack: It’s her first time being tasted and she’s thrilled to be there. Matt loves the cumin tuille but the deconstructed nature of the dish makes it hard to enjoy the flavours together. Nigella likes the flavours.
Zoe’s mille feuille with pumpkin chestnut cream: “It’s kind of a successful failure,” says Nigella, adding the pastry tastes like caramelised butter cookies.


Charlie’s chicken with cumin feta pumpkin puree: George eats with his knife and Nigella pulls him up on it – thank you, Nigella! Please, teach him some manners. “Absolutely delicious,” says Gaz, kindly pointing out how much nicer it is than Jimmy’s dish. Nigella thinks it’s fabulous.

Who will the judges pick?
The judges have two fave dishes and let Nigella make the final pick. They are Heather and Charlie’s dishes. Surely Heather gets points for making filo?
And Heather With The Headband wins – well done.


She’s whisked away to the pantry and shown three core ingredients from which to pick.
She has to make something divine and indulgent and gets to choose from chocolate, lemons and pistachio. Heather chooses chocolate and everyone should be happy with that.

Aha – Anastasia speaks again … so, she’s in trouble?
Karmen is thrilled to have a chocolate challenge and she’s doing a miso caramel with sponge and mousse – it sounds as though there are a lot of elements.
Chloe, who did so well in Reynold’s “Moss” pressure test, is wearing a tie-dyed shirt because they want you to know she’s more chilled than a parfait. Inspired by Reynold’s mousse recipe, she’s doing mousse with fruit and nut granola. We’ve heard she has a photographic memory so she should do okay with the mousse at least.
Harry plans to do his first dessert – a dome filled with meringue, parfait and fizzy chocolate something. Jimmy is making a tempered chocolate berry sphere while Mimi is keen to redeem herself with a beetroot sorbet and salted chocolate tart.
Heather is doing some kind of chocolate crackle; Charlie semi freddo; Zoe a choc raspberry tart.
And Anastasia has gone rogue and is doing a savoury dish – a beef stew with cacao powder. Good on her for trying something different.
Who haven’t we seen at all today? Con, Nicolette, Intense Matt and airline captain Brett for starters. Is Cecilia still in it?
Ranger Miles is doing a cheesecake with lots of components and Matt is worried it’s too much.
Back over at Chloe’s bench, she’s stuffed up Reynold’s mousse mixture – the one thing about which she was confident. She switches to Plan B: semi freddo.
The company which makes those red silicon moulds must be happy with all the exposure they are getting. Karmen’s domes work but Jimmy’s are buggered. And Miles has realised Matt was right and he made way too many things – none of them well. Poor Chloe is serving a plate of crumbs and puddled semi freddo.

Time for tasting
Mimi’s salted choc tart with beetroot sorbet: It looks cute and it’s not dome shaped, so it stands out from the rest. “I just adore these flavours,” Nigella says. She gives Mimi a kiss.
Chloe’s puddle: “You’ve got to stick to what you know,” George tells her. “If you try and do things beyond your reach, you’re going to fail.” Isn’t this the EXACT OPPOSITE of the whole MasterChef ethos? Did he take a Grumpy Gary Pill today? Luckily Nigella pitches in to say Chloe had a bad day and we need to make mistakes so we can learn from them.
Anastasia’s chocolate Mexican bowl: Nigella likes it.
Elise’s (ah – there’s one I forgot) lime white choc mousse: Nigella loves it
Charlie’s white choc semifreddo with strawberry consomme: Pretty and good technique.
Matt’s fennel and almond butter cake: He’s made a dukkah and the judges think it’s clever.
Heather’s snap, crackle and pop: Not chocolately enough. So much for the advantage.
Zoe’s white choc raspberry tart with lychee and rose sorbet: “It’s making me smile,” says Nigella.
Jimmy’s “buried chocolate”: As he feared, Nigella can’t hack through the chocolate of his failed dome. Gaz winces at something he tastes. George tells him he has so much potential but he doesn’t know how to temper chocolate.
Harry’s white chocolate and rose royales: They aren’t perfectly finished but the judges are keen to pick them up in their hands and chomp away. “I’m enchanted,” says Nigella.
Miles’s cheesecake and gelato: It’s another puddle – two in fact. It sucks, but Nigella loves the tea cream and says if he’d done that and a simple choc cake he’d be safe.


Karmen’s “chocolate decadence”: The judges are thrilled by how interesting it looks and Nigella loves the ice cream. They all love it. “This is rock ‘n’ roll stuff,” says George.
There we have it – not even a tasting edit for some contestants.

Top three
Mimi, Karmen and Harry
Bottom three
Miles, Chloe and Jimmy. No surprises there. So it’s the 24-year-old versus the two “old” guys.

Tomorrow night
The bottom three have to cook three Nigella dishes in an hour.



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MasterChef – Thurs, May 19

I do miss the MKR days in as much as there was no show on Thursday, meaning I had time for my first reality TV love: Survivor. And it’s the finale tonight, so I’ll be glued to that.
Tonight on MasterChef it sounds like there will be ceviches aplenty, or perhaps some raw desserts: The losing team from the service challenge now faces elimination as the contestants create a dish without any cooking. The bottom three will then cook-off to avoid elimination from the competition.


The ingredient they use raw in round one must be used cooked in round two, if they are in the bottom bunch of cooks. Ooh, nice twist. The contestants have all picked a wide variety of core ngredients.
Nidhi picks cauliflower and Con has tuna. Charlie has strawberries, Jimmy scallops and sister Theresa pear (her raw bok choy salad doesn’t sound that appealing). Ranger Miles picks tuna but Gaz tells him his wasabi mayo is too eggy. And then he kindly waits til there are only 12 minutes left to tell Nidhi her cauliflower salad is too simple. Hey, Gaz, if it’s tasty I’d be happy to eat it – just because it doesn’t have meat or fish doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of being a good dish.
Chloe is doing scallop ceviche and again she appears calm and collected, tasting as she goes. Con plates up his tuna and it’s very George garden style. Theresa is panicking. We haven’t even seen what Elise is cooking – come on, MC – there are hardly any people in this challenge. Show her for 10 seconds. And what’s Karmen cooking? And Heather the “jew” queen?
The judges taste …
Con’s tuna with avocado mousse: They clean the plate. He’s safe.
Nidhi’s cauli salad: “I taste missed opportunity,” says Matt. He wanted pomegranate and dried fruit in there.
Chloe’s scallop ceviche with cultured cream and pressed cuke salad: It’s pretty and they like it.
Heather’s ponzu ceviche scallops: Yum and perfect are the words used.
Karmen’s sashimi salmon with avo mousse: Yum
Elise’s beef carpaccio: “Pretty darn tasty.”
Charlie’s strawbs with coconut: “It’s not a complex dish but gee it’s a delicious dish,” says a smiling Matt.
Miles’s tuna sashimi with wasabi mayo: The mayo is still rubbish.
Theresa’s pear and bok choy salad with walnuts: The presentation is blah but Gaz “wants more”. “I don’t see any growth here, Theresa.
Jimmy’s scallop ceviche with fennel salad: It looks pretty but there’s too much lime juice. The acidity overwhelms the other flavours.

The bottom dwellers are Theresa, Nidhi and Miles. So no sibling showdown.

SORRY, GICE, HAVE TO FLICK OVER TO SURVIVOR (But I’ve seen who goes)



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MasterChef – Tues, May 17 – Pass the popcorn

Ooh, this could be fun. Will anyone do a savoury dish, I wonder?
TV blurb says: The three best performers in the invention test must create a dish using popcorn as the core ingredient. The winner will then need to out-cook the professional guest chef for immunity.

So, is it wrong to be watching MasterChef while eating spaghetti from a can? Shh, don’t tell George. Betcha Gaz has done it, though.
Nicolette seems to be the only one who knows what she’s doing for the popcorn challenge. Con is blitzing popcorn with melted what chocolate – I hope he’s going to strain it. But then, he confesses he doesn’t even eat popcorn. Anastasia disappointingly faffed around and tried to cook a giant chook breast with only 15 minutes to go. She’s lucky it’s not an elimination challenge. And she does not know how to pronounce miso.
Con seems to have forgotten popcorn should be prominent, instead building a dessert he obviously had in mind and then trying to shoehorn the challenge to fit.
Do we need to add Not Another Bloody Parfait to the lexicon? Will Nicolette’s dish be too sweet? Anastasia has to fry her sliced chicken and loses her popcorn crumb in the process. She’s no chance. Sad, given she did so well the other day with her maple syrup squid and Spanish quail.
The judges taste and they love his jelly and mousse but there is no popcorn flavour. Is he being secretly paid by Pedro Ximenez?
Anastasia’s dish is tasty but there’s hardly any popcorn.
Nicolette’s popcorn parfait looks interesting and the judges like the plating. Shannon says she showed restrained use of salt and they state the bleeding obvious: she has won. Well, that was a bit of a letdown as it was no competition at all.


Guest chef immunity challenge
It’s the chef from Ricky’s at Noosa: Braden White.


Nic gets to choose from shellfish or fish. Nicolette freaks out because she loves desserts. And Ricky’s specialises in seafood. She picks fish and has 75 minutes to cook. Hopefully Shannon will give her lots of advice. She’s doing confit salmon and has to fillet a massive fish. She is working smoothly but slowly.
She is yet to start pin boning as Brayden – with the obligatory tatt sleeves – picks out mulloway.
The chef is chopping white onions at super ninja speed and he’s talking the contestants of the gantry through his cooking process.
Poor Shannon is doing his best to add tension by yelling stuff like “your reputation is on the line” – God love him.
With less than 20 minutes to go Nic hasn’t started cooking her fish. Her oil is too hot, so she takes some out and adds room temp oil. Now it’s too cold. It’s a Goldilocks moment. We know the judges eat the dishes cold, so why not have started cooking the salmon ages ago – if she stuffed up one piece she would have had time to do a second.
Up on the gantry the airline captain is worried Braden’s fish will keep cooking in the pan after he takes it off the heat.
Thanks to Braden I now know how to make fennel dust from carrot top and fennel fronds. I love a good bowl of dust for dinner.
Time’s up and Nicolette definitely kept her cool for someone who’s only 19. Perhaps she knows more about savoury dishes than she let on.
At least we went one day (probably really two days) in the MC kitchen without someone stacking it.
Time to judge


Nic’s dish looks pretty and delicate and I’d love to eat that crispy salmon skin right now. She got a bit lucky with the confit working. The judges love everything about it but note she hasn’t trimmed the brown bit from the salmon, which gives away who cooked it.
And then Braden’s dish is placed in front of them and it looks so beautiful – and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t believe in flowers on plates. The judges are in plating-up heaven just looking at it. George is itching to get the tweezers out but instead disassembles it with a fork and spoon. “What a clever dish,” George says. Matt loves the different textures but the fish is overcooked. So the comment from the airline captain wasn’t a red herring after all. Ooh. Gaz says it’s a minute overcooked but still delicious.
The scores
Braden’s mulloway
Gaz 8/10 George 9/10 Matt 8/10 and Matt’s the only one they show commenting on the overcooked fish.
Nic’s salmon
Matt 9/10 Gaz 8/10 George 9/10.
She won! That’s a surprise – well done, Nicolette. Braden must be dying inside but Ricky’s is definitely not short of customers.

Coming up
Tomorrow night two teams have to recreate dishes from Melbourne restaurants Huxtable and Pei Modern and have to memorise the ingredients and processes. I would suck at this. Sadly for Huxtable any publicity to be gained from being on MC is too late, as this message is on their website: We regret to inform, after 5 and a half years Huxtable Restaurant has closed for trading.
Sunday is the start of Nigella week, so expect lots of lingering shots of her licking spoons.



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