Tonight’s chocolate challenge was interesting. All three teams had problems in the last minutes of preparation and had to rush to plate up.
Theresa and Elise struggled to make their ice cream and were forced to turn it into a cream, which meant their white chocolate dish was too sweet, but they scraped through because Matt and Elena did even worse with their Japanese garden pond (milk chocolate) which suffered in presentation, plus the green tea jelly was bland. Mimi and Harry won the challenge with their black forest floor (dark cholocate), the tempered chocolate logs were well made and liked by the judges and diners.
Thought last night was a fantastic ep 
So interesting to see the pop-up inside the heritage listed old Melbourne Uni car park (original Mad Max).
I’m a sweet-tooth, so that helped…
Bad luck to poor old Matt & Elena.
No George?
And almost no Heston either. Barely any chit chat between the judges and him during the actual cook, and then he seemed uninterested at the table, where Matt and Gary were left to critique.
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Matt was going on about the flavour of the green tea in Elena and Matt’s dessert and said “Heston’s technique brings out the flavour more. They should have used that”. Well that’s fabulous so actually have Heston in the kitchen sharing his techniques with the contestants rather than merely judging the dishes at the end and looking like he’d rather be anywhere but there. It was the same with the liquid nitrogen. Heston uses it all the time but Elise and Matt were clueless about how to use it. Don’t expect them to emulate Heston’s dishes when they have no idea how he does things. His appearance has been totally wasn’t thus far.
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So tonight it looks like only 1 contestant will go up for elimination. I still think it’s a bit ridiculous that 7/10 contestants will be up for elimination this week. Hopefully the elimination challenge is a Heston pressure test or something… would be good to see something Heston on the show. Otherwise like everyone has mentioned he feels just like a fill in judge, although the contestants definitely have been thinking more creatively with him there, so maybe he has been more involved behind the scenes than we’ve seen? At least I think we get a Heston Masterclass on Thursday.
I think Masterchef should think about doing some challenges around the country. I think they might have done this in previous seasons. But these pop up restaurants could have worked around the country and could have given it some needed promotion in other states.
Yes, when MC was based in Sydney it visited SA, WA and Tasmania while a finals week challenge in 2010 was done at Government House in Canberra. It has never visited Queensland and NT so the producers could consider that in the next season. However, the show spent more than a week in each state. To do pop-up restaurants around the country is a logistical challenge which will see the judges, contestants and crew crisscrossing the country in a short period, although it should be relatively easy to rent stoves and ovens in major cities like Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
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Yeah agree it’s hard logistically to do a pop up in every state, but we have had full weeks in previous years in other states. I guess a lot of budget this year has gone towards an overseas trip too so probably no need for an interstate trip.
Tonight’s episode filmed at the historic Rippon Lea estate had the four remaining contestants cooking with inspiration from very old recipes. Gary said they would be judged on creativity and deliciousness. At the end of tasting, Theresa was sent into elimination not because she failed those two criteria (she actually ticked both boxes) but her tardiness in the kitchen. Was it fair? I must say however Theresa was the only contestant who struggled to plate up in the last five minutes of cooking, the other three were well prepared and plated up on time (although Harry had last minute dramas with split white chocolate cream and had to freeze fruit with liquid nitrogen instead).
The rule said contestants had to read their given recipe to get some inspiration, so it was strange to see that Harry going straight to make his own trifle when he saw the word at the top of the recipe, without actually reading it. It was after he finished with most of the ingredients that he went back to the recipe to see how he could make the dessert more Heston-like.
Elyse deservedly got dish of the day for her take on taffaty (apple) tart, the fennel nougat tart.
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I spotted a guy wearing a blue shirt and a backpack in that episode also,during the tasting of the dishes, that must have been you
You may have noticed the steel fences in the background when Heston and Gary were demonstrating making roast chicken in tonight’s MasterClass at the Carousel Cafe in Albert Park. They were the fencing for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix which took place in late March this year. Due to its location, Carousel closes its doors for a month each year for the F1, so it was good to see the cafe opening its doors just once during the period for the filming of the MasterClass.
I never thought Heather would be in danger of elimination after she picked yellow in the rainbow colour cooking challenge, and decided to make her own twist on lemon delicious. Unfortunately, the judges thought Heather plated up a confusing combination of flavours inspired by the colour yellow. The pudding didn’t hold its shape, and the judges also found her of bitter chocolate ganache, white chocolate mousse and a poppy seed, coffee and dukkah crumb clashed with the pudding, so she was out. When the knife pull took place, the judges said whoever picked blue, indigo and violet would find it hard to make dishes inspired by the darker colours, and so it proved with Matt (blue) and Chloe (indigo) both in the bottom 3 alongside Heather. Only Trent (violet) succeeded with his jerk chicken with beetroot almond puree.
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Yes I did notice that
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In regards to production location, it’s a clear difference to MKR (i.e.) not travelling to each city all the time.
Most others like The Voice, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, etf do the same (i.e.) remain in one location.
Who cares, the shows are all smashing the ratings.
Obsession continues tonight, with Chloe spared even though she failed to meet the brief - which ALWAYS means you go home on this show. Think of Parsnip Lady being sent home for not meeting the brief - even though she actually DID have ham in her dish.
Three of them actually didn’t meet the brief. But yes, Chloe is definitely this year’s protected species.
Heston Week was an absolute fizzer. He barely featured in a single episode, looked like he would have preferred to be anywhere but there and when he finally cooked he cooked a chicken and potatoes??? What a waste. He should have had more of a role like Marco where he mentored rather than judged.
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Heston also made a chocolate mousse with just chocolate, boiled water, and a bowl of ice. It was incredible to see him doing it so easy.
I agree that Heston week has been disappointing this year. Marco and Nigella were far better, maybe give him a break next year and get someone else in.
Regardless in my opinion the right person went last night. Both Heather and Chloe completely missed the brief, neither dish portraying the colour that they had been given. However Heather made a pretty basic dish that looked like just slop on the plate.
Theresa is really standing out at the moment as a contender. That little mushroom looked amazing.
If Therese can sort out her time management she is definitely a contender.
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But it isnt when you look at individual cities.
I think the show is great. I just think to see greater figures in individual cities you could do some l different locations. A bondi beach instead of brighton beach. A trip to Maggie Beers Farm during the Maggie episodes etc. And they must improve figures in Brisbane. Thats exactly where they should have done the pop up restaurants. Bring some hype to food in Brisbane like they have obviously done so well in Melbourne.
I’m sure Ten, WIN & advertisers are over the moon Turdall 