MasterChef – Mon, May 30 – Elimination test

Oh god, I can’t sit through the pounding music playing over everyone’s heartfelt recitations of how much they want this so I skip forward a little.
Brett has had two flashbacks in two days, so surely it’ll be him tonight, rather than Upswept Hair Charlie or Sister Theresa.
Matt Preston in a tame blue and mustard ensemble rattles off the guest chef’s impressive CV. And yet, I find myself doubting his cheffy credentials as he does not have tattooed arms.


What does quail afternoon tea mean? I’m looking at it and I still don’t know. Apparently it’s a thing in the UK, to eat a savoury afternoon tea. It’s pearl barley mushroom porridge, liver parfait (looks like pate to me), tea and duck consomme, quail soft-poached quail egg.
This is going to be painful to watch – everything is so brown and finicky. Can I skip to the end?


More Brett back story … gastro pub … glamorous family photos … he’s a pilot … he cracks jokes.
Theresa is impressed that following the recipe is working for her. Well, der. Brett and Charlie are already stuffing up their parfaits, one adding butter, the other not straining. George and Jason come over to stare at Charlie, at which point I’d be scanning the recipe for what I did wrong, but he’s feeling the pressure and the stare is ignored. Poor Charlie – he does seem talented but just not suited to the unusual pressure of the TV kitchen.
Ooh – just had an Elena sighting.
Now it looks like Charlie has stuffed up his mushroom parfait and everyone on the gantry is wincing as they watch.
George pops over to Theresa’s station to utter a helpful: “There is so much to do and so little time.”
My recording scrambles for a few minutes and comes good as the guest chef bucks Charlie up by telling him his consomme is perfect, and then he praises Theresa for her parfait. Wow – encouraging contestants – what will they think of next?
Brett knows his parfait is stuffed and – after some heckling from Miles about how easy it is to be a pilot – the judges tell him he needs to move faster.
Everyone on the gantry tells Theresa she needs to hurry up – yeah – 10 people yelling at you is not helpful. She is getting into a flap.
More TV scramble and, appropriately, the snow clears as Charlie breaks one of his soft-boiled eggs. And another.
Now everyone is yelling at Brett to “push! push!” and he has a little moment – aww. As does Elena on the gantry. You can tell from his talking head to camera after that he is normally pretty easy going was shocked by his tears. Chef Jason comes over to give him a cuddle and gets him to refocus, and here come the crescendoing violins of triumph. And then he get the guitar and drums building up speed, so here comes Brett’s redemption arc. His motoring through his other tasks and decides wisely not to worry about redoing the icky-looking parfait.
Back to Charlie and he’s broken 11 of his 12 quail eggs. Jason pops over to encourage him and he finally manages to peel an egg. Hallelujah!
Theresa is behind so she has to forget about the quail egg or she won’t have quail.
Brett’s parfait is wrong but it tastes okay, whereas Charlie’s unsieved parfait “looks like cat food”, as he says. Charlie also has to make up for the mushroom flavour he’s missing from not making enough puree so he pops extra fried mushrooms on his barley.
Theresa is in such a tizz she can’t find the cooking string she needs for her “tea bag” but luckily Brett is listening to the gantry and runs over to give her his.

Time for the judges to taste
Theresa is up first and as she wheels the elements in we’re reminded she didn’t do the quail egg and then she twigs she left the crucial “tea bag” back in the kitchen. Oh, Theresa …
George gets out his tosser tweezers. Whatever happened to tongs? Jason like the textures and the quail is well cooked. Gaz says she nailed the parfait. But she missed two elements.
Brett gets a lot of time chatting with the judges – including a bit about him watching the show on TV and wondering why previous contestants were crying. So he’s won, right? Jason says the parfait looks “rough” but the egg is perfect and he’s done a good job with everything else. Matt is in raptures and even the mucked-up parfait taste ok.
Charlie’s hair is starting to lose its sculptural quality so you can tell he’s frazzled. Luckily that lucky last quail egg worked and it’s gooey in the centre. Jason says the consomme is sensational. The parfait is icky and the mushroom flavour is missing from the barley. Charlie is surely going home. Sure, Theresa left off two elements but Charlie served up two not right elements and the judges loved Theresa’s parfait.

The verdict
Brett is safe. Oh – suddenly we’re hearing Theresa’s consomme lacked flavour and she’s going home. Charlie dodged a massive bullet there.
The end blurb says she’s been doing work experience at many top kitchens, including at Reynold’s restaurant. Good on you, Reynold. I wonder if he put her spectacular fallen ice cream from the audition round on the menu?
fallenicereacm

Tomorrow night: It’s yet another jaffle challenge and there are two immunity pins on the line. “That’s one of the best dishes so far in the competition,” says Gaz of one dish. I’m predicting that will be Matt’s. Or maybe Elena will finally get airtime?



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51 Comments

  1. It doesn’t look good. I am assuming it tastes a-maz-ing.
    And a lot of steps are required because this increases the chance of a disaster and therefore ups the entertainment value?

      • It seems that the guest chefs are stepping up when the regular judges fail to provide support to the outlier contestants.

      • Gary can’t be more supportive because he is bored rigid by Masterchef and is just taking the $$. The only time he gets a bit interested is when the dish is presented by some young nubile pretty little thing who may believe that culinary success requires licking the chef’s spoon.

    • So his cranky pants were in the wash yesterday but they’ve dried overnight and he’s got them back on? Perhaps they shrank a bit (or his waistline expanded) and they’re chaffing.

  2. Harry dutifully reads the hole in one pun kindly provided by the producers to support Charlie. Harry left hanging by the peanut gallery.

    • What is to be super proud about looking like you’re going to the gas chamber at judgement time? Good tv, Charlie? How did he survive with that unsightly “barfait”?

  3. So Theresa goes,
    Charlie stays with his cat food parfait.
    Brett cooks another day, I agree BDD I don’t want him to pilot any plane I’m on if he has a breakdown/sooky la la in the MC kitchen !

    • Too right Brett doesn’t appear emotionally stable enough to be in charge of an aircraft. The kiddies train at Toyland might be a safer option for all concerned.

  4. I make a pretty mean ham, cheese & tomato jaffle.
    I know, I know – not fancy enough. Maybe I ‘ll top it with coriander or fennel ice cream or stick it in the smoker. Then the judges will say it’s the best dish that ever came out of the MC kitchen, blah, blah.

    Or maybe I’ll stick a Brookie in my jaffle.

  5. Back to the concept of quail afternoon tea.
    I thought afternoon tea was scones, cakes, sandwiches and a pot of English breakfast tea.
    Too out there for me. I wouldn’t eat this dish for afternoon tea but for a main.
    Why do they have to trick everything up and be inventive, creative and incredible all the time?
    And don’t get me started on the smoking gun!

    • My theory is it’s because the English always used to be mocked for their lousy food. So now they’ve over-compensated with ridiculous, complicated concoctions … in the name of ‘creativity.’

    • Oh yeah the smoking gun. I wonder how much that would set you back. I’d like one of those blow torch thingy’s for creme brulee. I looked once & it was quite expensive.

  6. Well I’m glad Charlie survived because he’s cute, and that’s reason enough.
    His only mistake was not putting the mush through a sieve – so what? Brett’s looked worse, and wasn’t it a problem that he hadn’t melted the butter before adding, that it was going to be too gamey?
    Brett was always going to be safe after that meltdown and the director’s instruction for a cuddle from the chef. There, there, Cap’n.
    If I’m ever on his flight, I hope Doris Day’s on board.

    That whole dish was pretentious and looked revolting. I haven’t seen anything quite so bad since Maggie Beer’s terrine covered with raw chicken skin.
    Anyway, good decision – The Siblings have left the building.

    • Lulu, I wonder how many people got the Doris Day reference. You’re watching some really old movies.

      • Haha. I thought that, because of the old movies, it was kind of folklore that Doris always landed the plane safely! (And I’m still young .. sort of)

  7. Once again, thanks for the recap, Juz, even though I watched the episode tonight. God knows why, the quality isn’t exactly improving. Best amata cooks in Astraya or not.

    I can’t say I’m sorry to see the end of Theresa. She and Jimmy started well, but I think both had a limited repertoire, especially big brother.

  8. Thanks for the recap Juz. I should just stop watching the Best Evah Cooks/Cooking (LOL) show and just read your posts.
    Won’t be flying with Brett. Breaks down in the MC kitchen…how would he do during an in flight emergency? Scary.
    Charlie creates cat food and his mushroom barley mush wasn’t cooked correctly and doesn’t look right but he is still there. Theresa perfect parfait but no egg and no tea bag in the tea so she is eliminated. Think the mistakes were even and both could have been eliminated. If they can possibly give out two immunity pins why can’t they eliminate more than one contestant as needed.
    Liked Jason Atherton…very supportive and not condescending.
    A jaffle for an immunity pin challenge?? Doesn’t look like they will be cooking against a guest chef.

  9. So glad Theresa finally left, her voice and accent were annoying and she always crumbled over pressure, plus they need to get rid of some more girls.
    Half of the others I still don’t know yet!
    What a lot of time and bother for that little dish. I wonder how much they charge for that in the restaurant? Poor quails sacrificed once again.
    I would much rather have a proper English afternoon tea without all that fancy stuff. Yes I’m a simple girl with simple tastes.

  10. Thanks for the great recap Juz.
    Liver parfait. I have one word. YUK!!!
    The only thing I liked about that dish was the roasted quail. The consumme would have been ok.
    Oh my God Terese. After all that stress with the string & Brett giving her his then SHE LEAVES IT ON THE BENCH. Aaaaaaahhh
    Oh well she beat her brother by one week. She can laud it over him now.
    So jaffles tonight. Didn’t they do that last year. Bet no one will do ham, cheese & tomato. That’s my staple. But sometimes I put chicken or leftovers.

  11. If you’re going to $an Francisco
    Be sure to wear some fennel in your hair
    If you’re going to $an Francisco
    You’re gonna cook with some crazy people there

    For those who come to $an Francisco
    Summertime will be a cook-in there
    In the streets of $an Francisco
    Average people with fennel in their hair

    All across the nation
    Such a strange degustation
    Dreams in motion
    There’s a whole generation
    In an alimination
    Failure in motion
    Cooks with no notion

    For those who fail in $an Francisco
    Be sure to wear some fennel in your hair
    If you come to $an Francisco

  12. I couldn’t get interested in last night’s show at all. The various shades of brown quail this and quail that didn’t appeal to me.

    The promo for the jaffle challenge has one of the guys saying how he is doing something totally unexpected and not putting cheese in his jaffle. Geez, dude, how edgy. I don’t know if I will be able to control my excitement.

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