Tag: MasterChef

MasterChef – day 3 – Shannon Bennett pressure test

The last apron is up for grabs and the contenders have to recreate a dessert from our fave MC chef, Shannon Bennett. I believe it’s a take on a Snickers bar.

Shannon has his hair tied back – yay!
He lifts the cloche on Bistro Vue’s Snickers-inspired chocolate bar. Peanut caramel fudge, peanut crumb, choc parfait, honey nougat, tempered choc, brown sugar crumble, caramel peanut icecream.
Headscarf lady got a brief confessional! I don’t know her name or occupation but I’m thinking pottery teacher or reiki healer.
Ranger Miles has never made parfait, nougat or tempered chocolate. No surprise. At least two of those feature heavily in each season. This is going to be a balls up. Some MKR-like casting here with character triumphing over skill. Does he just want publicity for a future business venture?
Love the theatre of Shannon pouring his soz over the tempered choc to enrobe the dessert.
Ooh, headscarf lady is named Melissa and she’s a barista. Dangerously, she says she’s quietly confident because she can follow a recipe. Yep, and she over whips her cream.
Not once, but twice. This is Jordan all over again with last night’s dodgy ravioli dough.
At least Gaz liked the taste of the butter she made.
Ranger Miles is actually the first one to finish his parfait, although that does not require specialist skill, and his cara el is nice and dark
Sarah (she of the stewed apple beef) looks a bit crazy eyes in her determination to succeed but she seems to be falling behind.
Blonde Lauren has a moment of madness and touches boiling caramel with her bare hand – ouch! That’s really going to make it hard to grip anything.
Intense Sarah “doesn’t have time” to check if her nougat is whipped to stiff peaks. Umm, you just look with your eyes and keep the mixer running! It’s way too runny, which is obvious to everyone but her.
Miles has been doing really well until this point but his peanut caramel seizes and he has to start it again.
Again there are invisible contestants – we haven’t heard from Ginny who liked Gary’s eyes, or the other blonde lady who made salmon tartare – or are they the same person?
Miles tries to temper chocolate for the first time, dropping the thermometer in in the process.
Jordan’s run out of time so Shannon tells her just to chuck melted chocolate on the acetate. Melissa does the same.

Time for judging and hopefully we will see the invisible contestants here. Everyone has five minutes to plate up their components.
Jordan is first and her nougat is rubbish and she has two shards of non-tempered chocolate. Can I just fast forward through the bits where each person is asked: how badly do you want the apron? They love the peanut caramel and ice cream but the presentation is a letdown.
Melissa seems like a lovely lady and did well to come back from her cream disasters but her chocolate is not tempered. Gaz loves the flavours. Shannon admires the ice cream.
Burned hand Lauren gets praise for her nougat. Invisible Molly is praised for her soz but the parfait is a dud. Flirty Ginny is missing the tempered choc and peanut caramel but is thrilled just to be in the presence of the judges.
Intense Sarah is having trouble getting her choc off the acetate and her nougat is super runny. George asks her: “Have you done enough?” Urgh. Shannon starts kindly, praising her for tempering chocolate (her first time, apparently). George likes the ice cream and Gaz said the parfait is the best of the lot, but the caramel and nougat are too soft.
Miles’s chocolate looks brilliant but his peanut caramel is very pale because he rushed the second go. His nougat looks soft, given his peaks looked stiff. He tears up as Matt pushes his emotional buttons. Shannon says the chocolate is the best thus far and he showed determination. The soz cascades beautifully. Matt is licking his lips. He loves the parfait and ice cream – both the best of the day. But the peanut caramel sucks.
Miles – I apologise. I fell for the editing trap and thought you would suck, and you did not.

Top three are Melissa, Miles and Sarah. And it’s Miles.
Sarah is trying to stay cool but she’s gutted.
So, that’s the top 24. There are quite a few faces in the crowd I’ve never seen before.
Tomorrow it’s an invention test set by the lovely Billie, last year’s winner – she of the cool, calm demeanour who was always drama free.



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MasterChef premiere chat – Sun, May 1

Hi gice. Let’s boom, boom, shake, shake the room …

I hope to have a premiere recap up later (allowing for SA time difference), but chat away in the meantime. And for those of you drinking tonight, feel free to have a big slug when the phrase “food dream” or the word “journey” are uttered.
HERE WE GO …
So we start with a fast-paced montage of the highlights of the season and it does look jampacked and super glossy. MC’s budget (and ad revenue) must be sooo much bigger than MKR’s – no dodgy home restaurants where people’s carports have been decorated with velvet curtains to hide the Colorbond. Good to see some past contestants return to set challenges down the track, including this little number from our old fave from last year, Reynold the dessert king.

Reynold's dessert creation - looks like spheres and soda siphon microwave sponge are still trendy.
Reynold’s dessert creation – looks like spheres and soda siphon microwave sponge are still trendy.
And then there’s this blue orb thing, which looks super cool.
No idea what this is but I can't wait to see them make it.
No idea what this is but I can’t wait to see them make it.
Wannabe contestants are ushered into the warehouse, along with their loved ones, and the judges are treated like rock stars when they walk in. Matt is wearing a stunning purple tartan suit and a black cravat with a shimmer to it.
First cravat of the season.
First cravat of the season.
Usual spiel about the winner getting $250,000 but, unlike last year, Matt says they don’t have a set number of aprons to give out.
First up to cook is teacher Celia, who got through in 2014 with her audition macarons but had to pull out due to lasting effects of a brain injury she’d sustained in a snowboarding accident. Okay, yes, it’s the usual “I’m doing it for my kids” “you can achieve anything” yadda yadda, but how cute is little Nathan (even if he does have a rat’s tail) encouraging his mum whip up a spectacular plate, and the footage of Celia cooking with her kids at home. We know she’s going through anyway, but that dessert looks awesome.
Yum!
Yum!
“It’s a level up from what you brought us before,” says Gary. Surely it’s time to bring in the kid for a teary hug?
Aww. First one through.
Aww. First one through.
It’s schmaltzy and the “uplifting” music is corny, but I’d rather watch someone with a brain injury cook a killer dessert than fame-hungry people who barely know one end of a spoon from another on MKR.

Next up is the coffee roaster dude with one of those button earrings. We know he gets in because we’ve seen footage of him in the preview, freaking out in a team challenge. Good on him for giving the death dish, risotto, a go – and for wearing a glove when handling the raw meat. Hope he’s not one of those “I don’t do desserts” guys.

Matt the coffee roaster has an intense look about him.
Matt the coffee roaster has an intense look about him. George likes him because they have the same hairdo.
The risotto is a winner but George’s “Will you make us proud?” goes down like a lead balloon. And then he pulls out the signature “big boy”. Can we hurry up and get to the cooking competition?
Next, Anastasia serves up water buffalo from her friend’s farm and it has that “garden on a plate” look George favours.
Remember when we used to want our plates full of food?

Remember when we used to want our plates full of food?
It’s the first time they’ve used water buffalo on the show. Way to guarantee air time – but not coming to a Coles near you soon. The judges love it.
They whip through the next few people.
Charlie the golfer has done a poached pear and it looks simple, but it’s amazing how many times people have served up hard pears on MC. What’s with golfers and cooking shows – first Tarq on MKR and now this dude.
And here we have Michaela, 23, from the promo, who plans to do a croquembouche in an hour. Even if she fails they’ll bring her back next year for a redemption arc. Her profiteroles look pale and her filling is runny. She spends her time in front of the judges spinning sugar, which is always entertaining when you know it’s not you cleaning up after.
Michaela's in a spin.
Michaela’s in a spin.
Gary doesn’t look impressed at her decision to do croquembouche in the one-hour timeframe. Gary likes the spun sugar but that’s about it. “There’s a fine line between bravery and experience,” says Matt, kindly.
More montage and I hope we get to see who made this.
Yum!
Yum!

Aw, the poor lady who spilt cinnamon everywhere.
Aw, the poor lady who spilt cinnamon everywhere.
Some decent-looking macarons which could have won people a finals spot five years ago aren’t enough to win an apron.
Carmen the qualified surveyor from Perth has the familiar story of Asian Aussie going to uni to please parents. She’s been working as a waitress to get her foot in the door of the hospitality industry.
Look at the gloss on that caramel!
Look at the gloss on that caramel!
As she plates up her choc pave with salted caramel and peanut and popcorn ice cream, George makes little monkey noises of excitement and then leans in to sadistically ask: “Are you nervous?”
Gary goes to his happy place.
Gary goes to his happy place.
Of course, she gets through – this ain’t no season one cupcake challenge standard cooking. She almost comes a cropper afterwards when her excited family tries to Clothesline her to the ground with jumping cuddles.
Zoe, 31, is making a Greek yoghurt panna cotta and she’s brought half of Greece with her to cheer her on. What’s the bet Yaya gets a cuddle from George later on?
Yaya rocks a comfy cardy.
Yaya rocks a comfy cardy.
Oops – they’re multiplying!
Can Channel 10 give the yayas their own show?
Can Channel 10 give the yayas their own show?
Zoe’s other Yaya is there, too, and soon it’s not a cooking competition – it’s a competition to boast about what they each taught Zoe and to shower her with compliments. “They look beautiful Zoe – so like you,” says Zoe.
In the judging chamber the panna cottaa has the necessary wobble. Matt thinks it’s one of the best they’ve had. George heads out to fetch the family and Yaya No.1 pounces on him like a long-lost son.
What a good Greek boy that Georgie is.
What a good Greek boy that Georgie is.
Even Gary and Matt get a cuddle. Hope she didn’t break a hip doing the zorba after.
Heather gets through with kingfish sashimi. That’s all we know. Tall Ash gets the nod for his barra and scampi and a couple of other people, including an airline captain.
Miles the ranger from Central Queensland is doing a spicy Laotion pork belly dish – that’s going to be tough in the time. Looks like he’s passed on his passion for cooking to his son, who’s now an apprentice chef. He wants to start a cafe in the former Shell servo in which he lives. “I like bold flavours. I don’t have too many subtle recipes in my entourage (sic),” he tells the judges. Matt notes the pork needed more time, but the flavours were good. He tells them he’s been practising hard and they give him the nod to cook again for the second chance round.
Ranger Miles, I don't think you'll last long, but what a lovely family you have.
Ranger Miles, I don’t think you’ll last long, but what a lovely family you have.
Harry, who made the salmon dish, also gets a second chance, as does Lauren who made a super sweet peanut butter and jelly dessert, and nameless rapping Turkish delight girl. Souffle girl gets another go because Matt likes her balls, but not her souffle.
Nicolette, 19, is doing a lemon dish using fruit from her dead grandad’s tree. Poor grandma has come along to the audition and she looks like she should be home having a rest and a nice cup of tea.
Pretty
Pretty
She’s Greek, so of course they send George over to make her cry. She’s through, and at 19 she’s one of the youngest to ever appear on the show. SA’s Laura (who lost to Brett) was also 19.
Then it’s the siblings and we’ve been led to believe only one will make it through. Why can’t they both make it, if they’re good enough? Would be good to see them go head to head in challenges, although they would have the edge on other contestants in terms of emotional support in the MC house. Little sis is up first with a dessert and she embarrasses her teenage kids by mentioning her pants are falling down as she cooks.
Theresa's pistachio fallen ice cream looks cool.
Theresa’s pistachio fallen ice cream looks cool.
You know she’s in when she gets the spoon percussion on the stainless steel bench from Matt.
But they make us wait to see if big bro got in – first there is pork belly guy and another panna cotta girl, the fish ‘n’ chip girl.
An Adelaide lady is up next.
Hopefully we'll learn your name one day, Indian lady from SA.
Hopefully we’ll learn your name one day, Indian lady from SA.
She’s from an Indian family and she likes to talk as much as she does cooking, especially since her father told her being a chef was a man’s job.
And now we get big bro Jimmy cooking tuna with granita and, George style, he pulls out chopsticks to plate, much like George and his tweezers. He seems a cheery soul and his warmth makes for good TV. They are totally going to make his sister give him an apron.
“That is one of the best dishes I’ve tasted in top 50 ever,” says George.
Stoked.
Stoked.
I’m Team Jimmy – any of you who are Team Theresa are dead to me.
They’ve given out 19 aprons in this episode and Matt says there are five to give away tomorrow to the second chancers – what happened to no limit on the aprons? There are 11 people left, but then the announcer says only four will make it through. Does someone leave? Guess we have to stay tuned.



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MasterChef – Day 2

And it’s time for the second chancers to cook. I was pondering how many contestants last year who were second chancers actually made it far into the comp, and thanks to Wikipedia, I now know this:
Auditions Part 2 – Sixteen second chance contestants were given the chance for the nine remaining spots in the Top 24, in a two challenge rounds. In the first round, an Invention Test, contestants had 75 minutes to cook a savoury dish from their choice of three different world food markets. The 8 best dishes won their makers a spot in the main competition. James’s dish was so good that he received an apron during the tasting. The other seven contestants receiving an apron were Georgia, Mario, Billie, Andrea, Jamie, Amy and John. The remaining eight contestants faced a Pressure Test set by Shannon Bennett for the one remaining spot in the Top 24. They had two hours to create his layered Warm Chocolate Orange Mousse, with a number of technical elements including tempering chocolate. Rose’s version was declared the best and she won the last apron.

So, winner Billie and Gary’s fave, runner-up Georgia. Speaking of Georgia, check out this recent pic from Facebook. She looks very different to her frazzled panda eyes MasterChef days.

DAY TWO
There are 11 contestants and five aprons. Four are up for grabs today. Losers go to a pressure test tomorrow to fight for the final apron.
George: “Flavour, passion etc.”
Each person gets a basket with 10 fave ingredients they supposedly use all the time at home. They only have to use one thing from the basket – boring – I like it when they have to mix weird stuff together.
Harry, bartender with the weird hair, catches his own seafood near Magnetic Island. He’s a veritable Ozzy from Survivor. He’s making lobster with some spicy flavours. So, Harry got airtime so he’s either amazing or appalling.
I like graphic designer Jordan’s honesty: “My favourite things probably aren’t the best to cook with – more just to eat as a snack.” They include oreos, apples, feta, prosciutto. She loves desserts but decides this is the perfect time to do savoury, with egg yolk ravioli. Yeah, don’t play to your strengths when you are trying to get on to MasterChef.
Our park ranger is making a spicy pie but he has Gary wincing when he says he’s not going to pressure cook his meat. He changes his mind but it makes me think Miles does not watch the show.
Snapper lady is a dab hand at filleting a humungous fish while coral top lady is a dab hand at Frenching lamb ranks.
Poor Jordan has stuffed up two batches of pasta dough. Make something else, Jordan! No, she keeps going even though she now only has one egg left for the filling. So it will be one ravioli
Adam from SA (go SA!) grew up on a chook farm, so he’s making roast chicken and chips with a mushroom medley. He wants to win one of his fave things, which is tinned stock powder. They blur it out but it looks like Vegeta. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Adam! That stuff may fly on MKR but not here.
HR person Sarah is doing beef cheek with pasta but she doesn’t have tomatoes so she’s using apple instead. That’s going to be beef with stewed apple. I want to see a picture of everything else in her basket so I can figure out what I would have made.
“I’ve spent a lot of time Frenching,” says Elise AKA coral top lady. Ooh, have you? She lucked out with some decent ingredients that complement each other – I reckon she took a punt they could be used for an invention test.
Vegeta dude is chastised by the judges and has a d’oh moment. Miles the ranger is happy with the flavours of his pie but he’s lining quite a large tin – will it cook in time?
As usual there are people in the room who are invisible, although we get glimpses of other raviolis.
Apple beef cheek girl thinks her dish stinks and she doesn’t want to serve it. She fell into the trap of thinking she had to serve a protein. Matt goes over for a pep talk and who wouldn’t be cheered up by a six-and-a-half-foot block in purple tartan suit and a cravat. Wisely beef cheek girl – Sarah – decided to do crepes with fruit compote.
Snapper lady Mimi looks like she knows what she’s doing and is getting a few confessionals where she has to explain the components of her dish. She’ll be safe.
Ranger Miles’s pastry is undercooked and he can’t get the damn thing out of a tin. He leaves it in the tin. The pressure test beckons.

The judges taste
1 Harry’s lobster with sambal and broth: “I think you’ve got some talent,” says Gary. It’s delicious.
2 Jordan’s egg yolk ravioli with basil oil: The music builds as Gary cuts the ravioli. Will the yolk be runny? Cut to ad break. Geez, never saw that coming. Yes, it’s runny. Gary appreciates the effort but they all think it needed more elements.


3 Mimi’s snapper with chilli and broth: This looks lovely and she’s done the trendy broth in a bottle thing.

Give me that and a bowl of steamed rice and I'd be happy.
Give me that and a bowl of steamed rice and I’d be happy.

Matt thinks it’s a beautiful plate of food given the limited ingredients she had. She’s one to watch. We get a lovely closeup of George’s sweaty head. Gazza hands her an apron on the spot – after Matt does the obligatory fake “ponder”. Well done, Mimi.
4 Invisible Lauren’s beef with eggplant puree: Beef good, not so the raspberry “gastrique” (which Google tells me is a fancy name for a sweet and sour sauce). Hopefully there’s not too much gastric on this season.
5 Invisible Molly’s salmon tartare: Good but too rich and lacking freshness
6 Invisible Melissa (older lady with the funky headscarf) fennel and salmon ravioli: George damns her with “It needs … flavour.” There’s no sauce. He uses the word “lubricate” and it sounds so wrong.
7 Invisible Jenny (or is it Ginny?) has managed to serve up multiple ravioli: Ricotta and orange rav with a lentil orange salad. She confesses she thinks Gaz “has got pretty eyes”. Argh.
8 SA boy has served his chicken and chips sans stock powder. He gets the thumbs up from Gaz.
9 Beef cheek apple girl Sarah-turned raspberry crepe girl: George commends her for putting up a dish. The crepe is fine and they’re happy she learnt a lesson.
10 Park ranger Miles serves up his stuck pie: George tries to prise it out of the tin and manages to get it out in one piece. Gaz has to eat humble pie and says it’s tasty. Matt loves the flavour. George says it’s hugworthy.
11 Elise’s pistachio-crusted lamb with parsnip mash (continuing the theme of MKR where everyone did parsnip mash): Elise is one of those weirdos who loved the pressure of the challenge. Gaz loved the lamb (which actually looks super rare). They liked her Frenching skills.

The other aprons go to: Elise for the lamb, Harry (who reminds me of last year’s winner, Brent) for the lobster and Adam the chicken man.
Tomorrow night they’ll do battle for the final apron. So, based on tonight’s air time, does it go to Sarah or Jordan. They have to recreate a Shannon Bennett dessert, so I know many of you dear readers will be delighted to see you favourite MasterChef regular on the tellie again.



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MasterChef starts Sun

Only a few days until MC starts on 10. In the meantime, read this nice interview with the MC three.
story in The Age
Th first two nights are auditions while the blurb for Tuesday says: In the final round of the judges’ auditions, seven contestants all vying for the final apron must prefectly recreate Shannon Bennett’s popular chocolate bar in the first pressure test of the season.
And on Wednesday: The top 24 contestants enter the kitchen for their first mystery box challenge to create a dish with ingredients chosen by 2015 winner Billie.



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