Tag: souffle

MasterChef – Tues, July 11 – Souffles

The three best invention test performers now face a special souffle immunity challenge.
Good to see all that hot air in the MasterChef kitchen being put to good use.
It’s Tamara, Eliza and Arum in the running and my pick would be Eliza, as she’s strong with desserts – that’s if they do a sweet version.

Winner gets to cook off against a chef. If they beat the chef they are fastracked to finals week.

Tamara will use goat’s cheese, basil and raspberries. Urgh.
Eliza passionfruit (sounds delish but we’re reminded she auditioned with a cheese soufflé but did not get waved straight through).
The judges are super excited by Arum’s retro prune and Armagnac (brandy) soufflé.
(THAT’S ME DONE FOR NOW – MR JUZ IS MAKING ME WATCH THE MIST TV REMAKE AND IT’S ALMOST AS SCARY AS WATCHING TAMARA PUT BERRIES IN A GOAT’S CHEESE SOUFFLÉ)

I’m back! The judges say Eliza’s was a tad overcooked (she overwhipped her first batch of egg white end had to redo) and Tamara’s was a bit odd. Arum wins even though he forgot to put his prune purée in – he had a great rise on his soufflés.

SECOND ROUND


Arum gets to cook against chef Federico Zanellato, who has worked at many great restaurants and now heads LuMi Dining in Sydney, which serves modern Japanese with an Italian twist (the menu includes miso-strone). Arum gets 75 mins to cook; Federico (who seems a friendly chap – let’s call him Fed) 60 mins.
Arum also gets to pick 10 core ingredients from the limited number displayed. He doesn’t have to cook with everything he picks but it means poor Fed is left with the dodgier stuff. This is a much bigger advantage than usual.


Arum grabs (I think) beef (he loves his beef), Pernod (aniseed liqueer), apple, fennel, onions, stinging nettles, lemon, macadamia, celeriac and black pudding. He decides to cook beef with smoked celeriac and apple puree with black pud and Pernod sauce.
Thank goodness Arum knows how to pronounce celeriac, unlike Shannon and his celery-ack (betcha that’s how George says it, too).
Poor Fed gets – in addition to his staples – mussels, sorghum, persimmons, caraway seeds, black vinegar, jerusalem artichokes, lemongrass, mascarpone, chocolate, chilli. Fed isn’t thrilled by the ingredients but he wisely chooses to make pasta: tortelli filled with mussels, chilli and artichoke.
Arum is cooking a mattress-sized steak but Karlie and Eliza are worried about his flipping technique. They seem to be barracking for Fed anyway and are shouting down to him how to use all the equipment.
The obligatory last-minute hurdles are: Arum’s steak hasn’t had time to rest and Fed hasn’t had time to cook his pasta and could do without the yelling from the gantry while he’s trying to concentrate.


Fed kindly tells Arum that his dish “looks sick”. I like him – bring him back next year, please, MC!

THE JUDGES TASTE


The steak is bleeding on to the puree below so the judges must know straight away it belongs to Arum.
Otherwise it does look pretty. George says it’s sophisticated; Gary a “crowd pleaser”.


Fed is worried it’s too simple and he didn’t have time to make tricksy garnishes.
The artichoke and mussels go well together. They like it but Matt says it’s simple.
Well, there we go: MasterChef stacked the deck so much against the guest chef that the contestant was virtually guaranteed a win.

THE SCORES
Fed: Gaz 8, George 8, Matt 8
Arum: Gaz 9, George 8, Matt 9



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