The issue with MasterChef this year isnât the judges. It is the lack of personalities. The contestants are all very beige.
For some reason, I still donât know which contestant will win the competition even though it has reached the top 10 stage, unless previous years when I had 1-2 clear favourites.
I know they do it every season, but the commentary from the gantry is really annoying. Even the contestants cooking appear annoyed.
What is the biggest immunity ever?
Nornie Bero from Melbourneâs Mabu Mabu will be guest chef on masterclass tomorrow night.
Probably associated with it being a double elimination on Sunday.
The winner of Thursdayâs immunity challenge would not only be safe from double elimination, but also win $10,000 worth of groceries from Coles. The winner will also have one of his/her recipes published in Coles Magazine.
10 showed an Acknowledgment of Country message at the start and end of Monday nightâs episode at Uluru, as well as Tuesday nightâs episode at Simpsonâs Gap.
Mondayâs opener:
Mondayâs closer:
Tuesdayâs closer:
Season 13 premieres on pay TV channel Lifetime across South East Asia on Friday, July 6.
I hope Sydney is out of lockdown by then. Masterchef gives me something to look forward to four days a week.
Finals week begins tonight with a service challenge for the six remaining contestants at Martin Bennâs new restaurant Society in Melbourne CBD. This episode was filmed in mid May when the restaurant invited the six contestants to create the first dishes to customers. Restaurateur Chris Lucas (whose company Lucas Group owns Society) had planned for Society to officially open its doors in mid June but it was postponed by Melbourneâs latest lockdown, now it will open on July 22, pending on further easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne.
I think part of it is that there hasnât been a lot of focus put on the contestantsâ food dreams / backstories throughout the season (I.e. what goals they are trying to achieve by being on MasterChef. It might sound cheesy but it is a factor that is used at least in fictional narratives, because being able to understand peopleâs goals can help with putting yourself in their shoes, and cheering them on with their goals). This year, all of that seemed to be all lumped in during auditions.
E.g. I recall when I was watching in 2018, I could remember Sashi previously being a prison guard, and Ben being good with pressure tests because he is used to following recipes/instructions in the construction industry, etc. I think flashbacks like this were often brought up throughout the season.
This year, I think I couldnât really tell you what most of the contestants would like to do with their time in MasterChef, and $250,000, from what I have watched on TV alone, unless I go and read their profiles on the 10Play website, or watch some of the video extras. I think it is more about a filming and editorial decision than about the actual contestants.
But then again, having that backstory stuff more prominently can also detract from the cooking, so itâs not really an easy balance.
This might be a bit random but I was very enticed by Emelia Jacksonâs MasterChef finale dessert and Martin Bennâs semifinal Toffee Apple from last year. I wanted to taste them for myself so I wanted to re-create them.
(Thatâs a nice thing with food, it still largely retains being ephemeral, currently. If you want to hear a musical piece, a live player can be listened to again, with a recording of a performance. If you want to look at an art piece again later on, there is a way to record it, by taking a picture of it. If you want to taste something, there currently isnât really a way to do that other than to have it re-made.)
Reflections on recreating pistachio, raspberry and white chocolate dessert
I donât have an ice-cream machine so I went with store-bought sorbet (It was strawberry and raspberry sorbet, so it wouldnât have been as tart and zingy as Emeliaâs Davidson Plum sorbet, but still paired nicely enough with the pistachio). And I eat vegetarian so I made the mousse without gelatine, but it still seemed to hold fine, after being in the freezer and the fridge.
My white chocolate shell was a little too thick (I used too much coconut oil as as a substitute for cocoa butter and I had to try and work with a different solidifying temperature), but I really enjoyed making it and eating it otherwise, and I really liked the flavour combination of pistachio, raspberry and white chocolate.
https://10play.com.au/masterchef/recipes/toffee-apple/r200708yewqx
Reflections on recreating toffee apple
Please excuse the apple, but I donât have a lathe, and that was a bit out of my price range. So while searching online about a lathe, I stumbled on the Japanese technique of Katsuramuki, which a seller said that the lathe they made was inspired by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFjR24x8amM
Here is someone doing katsuramuki with an apple, though I did not find this video after I finished making it. It did make me realise I needed a sharper knife (I experienced some lacerations because I found myself having to rock the knife rather than shimmy it up and down, and sometimes it was hard to get it through the apple. Itâs also difficult because the knife is pointed towards one of your hands, though I tried to be careful. I would love to practise more.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqhsBXyklWs
But it was this video, in combination with videos like the first, made me realise why Reynoldâs apple was more cylindrical than spherical:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHLVqjCPWis
It was because he had chopped off the ends of his apple strips, which I noticed after rewatching the episode. But yeah his mistakes were quite minor (along with not taking the toffee to the edge of being bitter enough, and reheating his pumpkin leaves in the oven). Though when you get to that stage in the competition, every little detail matters a lot.
Fortunately for me, I did not have to do that in a competition setting. Which reminds me of what Martin Benn said in an interview with Good Food in relation to that episode, haha (âpersonally I would never put myself through what they doâ):
âThe contestants are amazing,â says Benn.
âYou donât understand how good they are until you see them work. Itâs an intense and super-competitive environment and they have the intelligence, concentration, precision and timing to create a dish on the first go that uses techniques Iâve developed over 10 years. A lot of accomplished chefs wouldnât be able to do it. Personally, I would never put myself through what they do.â
He would employ any of them in a flash. âThey are 100 per cent qualified to work,â he says. âTheyâre all very talented.â - Good Food
(If you are wondering, I did not create the recipes in one go â I broke it up over two days for Emeliaâs recipe and more for the Toffee Apple.) but making it definitely added to my appreciation of what the contestants do, too ^^
I got the leaf moulds cheaply online, unfortunately they were small but I had the idea of imprinting them several times on a larger leaf shape. And I got some ingredients from Kirsten Tibballâs Savour School.
I didnât have a Thermomix for the pumpkin and persimmon leaves, so I heated up the mixture in a saucepan, in between blending it in a food processor. And I just used a cheesecloth in place of the superbag, for the sour apple jellies.
Celeb MC has wrapped according to social media posts. When do we expect this to air?
I would guess a similar time as to when Junior MasterChef aired last year.
I wonder if 10 will do Masterchef the Professionals season 2 next year
Maybe they could get Marco back since Matt Preston is no longer associated with the show. Or maybe they can wait until the 10th anniversary of the first season in 2023.
No thanks.
Or Maybe a Limited Run Event: Masterchef State of Origin with Teams cooking for A Australia Sized Trophy.