Quick – get the Haterade out of the fridge, gice. It’s SA’s Lauren and Carmine versus Vic’s Tasia and Gracia cooking off for the title of MKR 2016 winner and – dare I say it – two fiddy kay!
How many previous winners can you name? Here’s a list:
Season 1 Veronica & Shadi, Qld
2 Sammy & Bella, NSW
3 Leigh & Jennifer, SA (beating Nic & Rocco)
4 Dan & Steph, Qld
5 Bree & Jessica, SA (beating Chloe & Kelly)
6 Will & Steve, NSW
Here we go … it’s highlights from the past three months of MKR (THREE BLOODY MONTHS! What am I doing with my life?) set to inspirational music, yadda yadda.
The finalists pull up at Kitchen HQ, L&C are in bad guy black, Sisters in innocent white, as we hear voiceovers about their dreams and determination, they walk inside and – oops – someone forgot to pay the power bill.
Phew – someone found the light switch but no doubt there will be another 10 mins of chat before anyone sets foot in the kitchen.
Pete and Manu arrive and sadly there’s no purple velvet in sight. Manu and Tasia and Gracia talk about making families proud; Pete and L&C talk about being fighters.
They have to serve a five-course menu, producing 100 plates, with the first course served in two hours.
Carmine says their menu plan is to start light and “end on a nice heavy dessert”. Who on earth wants to end a five-course meal with a heavy dessert? Their first course is beef carpaccio with porcini cream
Carmine and Lauren’s menu
Beef carpaccio with porcini cream (Yum – let’s hope it’s more successful than Jordan’s oyster cream last night. Smart move picking something that doesn’t require much cooking. Will we get a “respect the produce” comment here?
Milk-braised pork belly with scallop and apple
Saffron linguine with butter-poached bug tail (pasta and seafood – their deadly combo)
Beef sirloin madeira jus and mushrooms (guessing they will go the sous vide again here as it’s been so successful for them)
Chocolate, cherry and coconut
The Sisters say they are serving spicy dishes but will cool everything down with dessert.
Sisters
Seared scallop betel leaves
Chicken ribs with chilli and sweet soy
Grilled king prawns with balado and quail egg (Google says balado is chilli sauce)
Crispy skin duck with green chilli sambal
Pandan pudding with coconut and kaffir lime ice cream
Yum, yum, yum! I want it all.
In the C&L kitchen Lauren is making the tomato and saffron sauce for the linguine and BINGO – she drops the “two-fiddy kay”. Dreadful gangsta talk aside, she and Carmine are a good team in the kitchen – much better than most couples we’ve seen compete. Remember Dee and poor whatsisname? 
On the other side, Gracia is in charge of all the sauces – she’s been the soz champion of the series.
With an hour of prep to go the families arrive.
And then it’s the turn of the eliminated contestants.
Oh – is that it? No Cops, no Stepsies, no Tarq and Dad, no Cookie and Chris, no Cougar and Cub (but they are Splitsville so fair enough) – who else are we missing?
The Sisters have to cook 60 scallops, which is tough – even ole Duck Nut Nev knows that. Carmine is slicing his carpaccio and the thickness looks a little inconsistent.
Oh, hang on – just got a glimpse of Mr Chops and Chris in the crowd, so they just didn’t get their own grand entrance. You’d think the Chopses would warrant a frame just to see what he’s wearing.
The teams start to plate up the first course and the girls’ betel leaves look so glossy and inviting. Carmine is giving his beef a remedial massage to smush the dressing in.
Time to chew the first course
1st Course – Beef Carpaccio with Porcini Cream #CarmineLauren #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/CdGCShy129
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
1st Course – Seared Scallops Betel Leaves #TasiaGracia #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/SNoM0GkdzW
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
The judges think the carpaccio is a well-executed classic and a good way to ease into a five-course meal. Zana wants more flavour.
Guy sounds excited by the “bang” the scallops have started the Sisters’ menu with, while the Fass planned to pace himself with food tonight but ended up cleaning his plate. “They’re nailing it,” he says. The other contestants agree it’s delish.
So, round 1 to the Sisters.
Second course
Lauren gets on to dessert, the cryptically named Chocolate, cherry and coconut. No, it’s not a Cherry Ripe (my fave choc bar) but includes a cherry sorbet (ah, remember back when the Miners redeemed themselves with a chocolate dome and cherry sorbet – it seems so long ago).
The Sisters are doing fried chicken with, as Manu says “200 chillis” in the sauce. 
We cut to a confessional of the girls saying they want to open their own restaurant. I’m thinking food truck would work better for them.
Lauren is confident her pork belly dish will be great, but her crackle has not worked at all. Travesty. She chucks the pork skin in the pan. I would have slice it off and chucked it under the griller, but she must have discussed the possibility of this happening with their cooking teacher. The skin looks bubbly but they’re waiting for the judges to let us know if it’s worked. There’s a lot of talk about whether deep-fried chicken ribs are grand final worthy, so of course they will be. 
Time to chew second course
2nd Course – Milk Braised Pork Belly with Scallop and Apple #CarmineLauren #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/jpYegbp9Mp
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
There’s a lot of crunching so the judges are happy. Fass thinks it’s a very well-balanced dish.
2nd Course – Chicken Ribs with Chili and Sweet Soy #TasiaGracia #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/hHG63GRxue
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
“They’re doing some clever things in the kitchen here,” says karen. “This is spot on for me.” Liz says the chicken is a great balance of sweetness, acidity and heat, but Fass thinks it’s a little hot.
Third course
The girls are trying to recreate the flavours of a childhood dish they ate from a hawker stall in Indonesia. Watching them cook makes me so glad an Indonesian cafe opened in my neighbourhood last week. They’re fancying things up by adding quail eggs. The quail industry must lurve when it’s MKR and MasterChef season so they can quadruple their usual sales. 
L&C appear to be rushing, or at least that what it looks like in the edit. Carmine is the one keeping a cool head.
Back from the ad (and Karen flogging Swisse) we get Nev again providing the quail egg commentary. Of all people!
While plating up Lauren finds a bug that’s under, so back in the pan it goes. She’s swearing as she plates up, burning her fingers. She’s frantically yelling at Carmine.
Plating done and the Sisters’ dish looks appetising, but I’m wondering what happened to the soz for C&L’s pasta. The teams are ecstatic to have got the course out, but perhaps that’s more because this is when they get a break in filming, as the finale is usually filmed over two days.
Time to chew third course
3rd Course – Saffron Linguine with Butter Poached Bug Tail #CarmineLauren #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/3mJOkFAdKJ
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
Guy says it was perfectly executed. Karen: “This is a wow dish.”
3rd Course – Grilled King Prawns with Balado and Quail Egg #TasiaGracia #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/g9aoOQPzBr
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
We get the fake out of the judges wincing over the chilli and drinking water, but they all love it. “This dish is just singing off the plate,” says Fass. “It really wakes you up.” The gooey quail egg offsets the chilli heat.
Over to cooking expert Nev for cliched commentary: “This could go either way. It’s gonna be close.”
Fourth course
Carmine is in charge of this dish while Lauren concentrates on dessert, which includes tempering chocolate for a tonne of moulds. Risky. The Sisters are cooking their duck breast but Curly Laura is worried they don’t have much time. From the sidelines, Carmine’s mum is yelling at Lauren to crack the whip and she sounds a lot like her daughter in law. They try and build up tension over whether the steak will be cooked properly, but, der, that’s the whole point of the sous vide – if the temperature is right you cannot stuff it up.
Over in the other kitchen we finally hear some of the Sisters’ trademark bickering, much to the delight of the crowd. 
Carmine is shaking as he spoons the sauce on to the plate. I’m worried the girls’ duck will bleed over the plate.
Time to chew fourth course
4th Course – Crispy Skin Duck with Green Chilli Sambal #TasiaGracia #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/alaFoJfkpu
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
Liz is happy with the crispy skin and lack of fat. Karen says the flavours are “outstanding”.
4th Course – Beef Sirloin with Madeira Jus and Mushrooms #CarmineLauren #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/uLE6AbSIUZ
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
Karen reserves most of her praise for the meat. Manu loves the jus. Pete says the dish was “faultless.”
Curly Laura gets to say the compulsory cliche: “It’s going to come down to dessert.”
Fifth course (dessert … are we there yet?)
The girls are adding a lot of salt to their tapioca, and the judges loved the saltiness in their original instant restaurant. The other teams not so much. Tasia: “Lauren has been known as the queen of dessert …. I know she’s going to make a fancy thing for her dessert but we’re just going to try our best.” Aww, they’re so cute. I even like them when they are arguing over the number of raspberries to use in their dish and Tasia mutters: “Fine, I’ll give you frickin’ five.”
Lauren is doing a take on a cherry ripe, with six elements to the dish: choc dough, choc cake, cherry sorbet, cherry compote, coconut macaron and coconut biscuit crumb. Lauren’s choc domes are turning out well, although the choc looks a little less shiny than it should. Lauren is happy with her plating up, as it’s “bitchin'”.
Plating of the final dish done, the crowd goes wild (after a producer pokes them with a hot cattle prod). 
Time to chew fifth course
5th Course – Pandan Pudding with Coconut and Kaffir Lime Ice Cream #TasiaGracia #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/n8ZHUgpaLW
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
Fass thinks it’s a great finish and they were smart to calm the flavours down after the chilli punch. Karen: “Sublime”. Manu loves the arse-cream.
5th Course – Chocolate, Cherry and Coconut #CarmineLauren #MKRGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/XiHNMQFGvl
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 26 April 2016
Liz says they’ve built to a decadent dessert and there’s a lot of work in it. Guy thinks they brought out the big guns.
And, of course, we have to cut to Jess just so they can wring one more “I don’t eat chocolate” out of her.
Judges’ comments and scoring
We didn’t hear a single negative throughout the judging (come on, judges – there must have been one or two things you’d like tweaked), but I’m thinking the Sisters have got this for their creativity and complex flavours. L&C have obviously been practising super hard and have improved in leaps and bounds, whereas the Sisters were contenders from early on.
First, more of the chat we got at the start about how awesome both teams are.
L&C are judged first. Guy gives their linguine a “mamma mia” and it’s all praisey and very serious, until Fass says: “Can I tell you, I still have a nightmare about opening a bag of pasta.” 
But he’s happy about the linguine pasta: “That’s one of the best pasta dishes I’ve seen.” More praise from everyone.
T&G’s turn … You can tell Karen really loves their flavours – she’s much more passionate in her critique, dropping words like “ballsy” and “sexy”. Fass loved the sauce from their prawn dish: “Guys, you don’t need 250 grand – you open a sauce factory and you’d be loaded.”
L&C
Liz 9; Fass 8; Karen 8 (and at this point we know the Sisters have won, because they’ll get some 10s); Guy 8; Manu 9, Pete 9. Total 51/60
T&G
Karen 9; Guy 9; Fass 9; Liz 10; Manu 10; Pete 10.
Lauren and Carmine are gracious in defeat: “There’s no other team we’d want to share this experience with. We love you guys.”
Well, that’s finally over. The Sisters won. The people are happy the “bad guys” were defeated while the producers are happy Lauren relished her TV smack talk role. All is right with the world. 
So, see you for MasterChef?
If youse ain’t first , youse are last.
Memorable? – all of them. Not really. Future anonymity for tonight’s winners almost guaranteed.
After $unrise, down the “s” bend to obscurity. Flushed with success.
Shouldn’t that be $bend 😛
Funnily enough, I do have some Gatorade in the fridge tonight :). I prefer that to Powerade, Powerade just tastes funny to me. Anyway. I don’t really want to watch it tonight. I’m almost sure that the sisters will triumph … because it’s unfathomable, to me, that seafood in a bag will be rewarded with two-fiddy-kay (grrrrr).
Then again, I said that last night, so go figure.
But now that they sous vide everything, maybe it’s in the bag!!! 🙁
I don’t want to watch either ….but then again this could be the greatest ever train wreck seen on MKR. I’d eat a bag of raw seafood before trusting the producers to run a fair fight.
Cocoa for me. If it gets too bad, I’ll smoke some “kale”
The girls menu sounds yummo!!!
Will the cougar and cub return ?
They’ve consciously uncoupled, so both would be on the lookout for meat.
How obvious was it that the other contestants were happy to see the girls but I didn’t see any hugs go C/L’s way from them.
Looks like Carmine has a meltdown and throws something
A horse head?
Amazeballs!! Call Nonna for directions!!
Ain’t good in the hood.
Hurry up and vote in the new poll, gice.
Just did 😆
I will eat in Tasia and Gracia restaurant anytime!!
Me too
T & G’s scallops looked amazeballs.
I want some
How much did C&L play with that food – totes disgusting
What!!!! Another sous vide!
Don’t forget another jus. The girls chicken looks gorgeous.
Takes out some of the guesswork and skill doesn’t it?
I’ve been watching “Guardians of the Galaxy” on Foxtel movies, tonight (it’s one of my favourite of the Marvel comics movies), and I switched the channel briefly to see what was happening … just in time to catch a comment from Jess, up in the peanut gallery. I *immediately* switched it back to cable.
I wonder how awkward this was for the cougar and cub (who may have split up by now in the filming process), and is anyone else keeping their eyes out for Tim to hold up a sign saying, “Help me!” at the cameras?
I read a No Idea article where Tim and Dee had an epiphany about the state of their relationship after watching themselves. Apparently counselling is the order of the day for them.
Does Zana like anything?
No, bless her heart. No she doesn’t.
Ducks nuts has no pwobs with chillies tonight
Jess looked like the only one eating with a knife and fork
Has anyone spotted cougar yet?
No, I haven’t.
Never heard of chicken ribs before. I know they explained it’s wishbone with the meat attached. Is it sold in asian butchers?
I would have put the pork under the grill for crackle if oven didn’t work.
I think Manu got that one wrong. It’s the scapula not the wishbone.
Our Woolies and IGA delis sometimes have ribs mixed up with wingettes.
Thanks, will have a look tomorrow.
That chicken looked really good. Tho there were a few comments about the heat.
Carmine’s hands all over the raw meat.Deal breaker.
Lauren grabbing handfuls of pasta…..
Justifying it by saying they were “massaging” the flavour – to me it was up there with the disgusting rum baba. So gross.
Girls could blow this with too many chillies. I hope not.
Ha ha ha. Public not convinced there is crackling pork skin.
So the fake out (and it had better bloody be a fake out) is that there is too much chilli in the girls’ cooking. Grrrr
And the crackling was toughling.
First time we’ve seen Lauren close to losing it. Of course both teams always finish right on time. I just wish they’d quit the whole faux drama “they’re not going to make it”.
I would prefer the sister’s third course. I thought the Linguine looked a bit dry.
But Guy was singing the praises. The critiques are just there to con us to believe that this is going to he very close
Tim and Dee seem to be sitting alone 🙂 Maybe because the cougar sans cub was a no-show ?
Would you want to sit next to her?
Still no sign of cougar.
Sorry Julie didn’t see your post.
I am still preferring each of the girls meals….i do like italian normally. But the girls do such yummy looking food.
Same Jewels and not bothered by the heat either.
But have to say gangsta girl has improved heaps and won’t be hard for judges to figure out who cooked what so a rigged result no matter what happens.
“Everyone calls me the dessert queen!” NO THEY DON’T STOP TALKING YOU SILLY PERSON.
Trash Talkin’ Turtle
It’s like … nobody calls her the dessert queen. Nobody. Nobody has ever called her that in all the months this show has been on.
But they’ve called her the tart queen. Oh wait, maybe that was just tart.
You win 🙂 .
Once Lauren had the lesson in tempering chocolate,she is doing it at every opportunity.
I thought it looked too dull and the domes were of uneven thickness. It all happened too fast for a good look. The sorbet sounded yum.
And not actually achieving it.
And Carmine’s sous vide lessons are well to the fore.
I think the Sisters got this or maybe not!
I hope the sisters have it….but i can’t tell from the judges comments.
LP and Brussellsprout I was thinking the same thing – they’ve been taught to do a few things well. Whereas the girls seem to have a natural affinity for matching flavours.
I cannot compute a world where two fiddy kay enters the lexicon.
I cannot.
Please tell me it’s just the final producer fake out.
i’m a bit worried because L2 fiidy k & C seem to have been given more airtime tonight.
Or maybe every minute they’re on just seems an eternity.
Why not blow your nose into the meat , as well ,Carmine? Protein PIg.
And we cut to Jess one final time, just so she can remind us that yes, she still doesn’t eat any type of food, so it’s great that she decided to apply to be on a cooking show.
*headDESK*
Perhaps the producers slipped her an extra $50 to say it.I just wish we’d seen her entire outfit – were there white knee socks to match the fringed cape?
I don’t think I could’ve handled much more than the fringed cape, to be honest. Yikes.
Let’s see how long they drag out the scoring, squeeze another ad in maybe?
Yes 😃😃😃
I think the girls got this
Yeah, it seemed like the judges were being slightly more complimentary of the girls’ menu, but then, that might just be wishful thinking on my behalf.
It’s going to be close with those critiques.
Oh boy it is hard to pick. Please not L&C.
Lauren takes credit for all the cooking but Carmine did a hell of a lot of really good stuff unfortunately.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I can’t wait to see the turtle crash and burn now.
What Dave? You’re not looking forward to her media career?
She’ll disappear to become a nasty, embittered old Nonna who spends her days grumbling about the two fiddy k that slipped through her grubby fingers.
Woooooo!
Yay whoooo whoooo. 😀
They did it….well done girls……yaaaaaayyyyyyy
Phew.
All I’m gonna say is, thank goodness.
Although, the second the judges started giving out 8s for Lauren and Carmine, that’s when I was thinking, no, that means the girls will score higher. And what I really enjoyed was the simplicity of Pete’s final comment. “It was perfect,” and he holds up a “10” card. I’ll give them props, they know how to make those dramatic moments.
Good work from the Indonesian sisters. Not only were they amazingly talented, but they were so damn likeable. Bless their hearts.
My only negative would be the prize money. Given how much money they rake in for advertising, it should be double at least!
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/reality-tv/tasia-and-gracia-take-out-my-kitchen-rules-grand-finale/news-story/c04ebe403d5d266693adf4d1cb39c815
Great work from the sisters and it’s good to see winners that can not only cook but can walk away proud of their behaviour throughout the series.
Yeah, they were fiery, but you never got the sense that it was vindictive or nasty. That’s just their personality. And the thing is, they know each other so well that it *works* for them. That loud and fiery back-and-forth, it’s how they keep themselves going in stressful times. From the outside, it looks like they take strength from that. It’s just how they work, and they work well together.
Lauren can kiss the Two fidddy K goodbye. 😚😋
Thank goodness for that. Congratulations to the girls.
Thanks Juz for sticking it out for the longest series of alltime and giving us the fab recaps.
Hear hear!
Yes thanks for the diligence and very entertaining recaps, written to perfection!
Thanks, gice. God, that went forever!
Ze recaps were joosy and full of flavour , boodiful presentation. I loff ze soz. For zis , I geef you a “10”