MasterChef – Thurs, Jun 2 – cube taste test

TV blurb: The losing Greek feast challenge team now face elimination. Contestants who fail the round one blind taste test must then impress the judges with a dish using the ingredient they did not correctly name.

Ooh – blind taste test – this should be fun.

Wow – this is a kind of cool challenge. They have to do a blind taste test of food cut into one-inch cubes, which will really mess with their senses. I like it.
The first four to fail go through to elimination.
In the firing line are Cecilia, Zoe, Anastasia, Intense Matt, Mimi, Heather, Upswept Do Charlie.
IM has to decide whether to play his immunity pin or not and, wisely, he decides to use it. Gaz seems a bit surprised, which is a sign of his regard for Matt’s cooking. However, Matt failed on an identification test last time and you’d kick yourself is you had immunity and never used it. The contestants on the gantry are delighted they don’t have to do it.
George says the cubes are arranged from easy to hard, although when George says “hard” the camera pans to a piece of broccoli.
Cecilia is up first and you can tell from the crunch sound alone it’s an apple. Charlie gets cheddar cheese, Heather cucumber, Zoe chicken, Elise feta, Mimi orange, Anastasia avocado, they skip Cecilia’s second go, Charlie chocolate, Zoe beef, Elise watermelon. It’s up to Mimi for a second guess and it looks like mango but she says nectarine. She knows when George tells her to remove the blindfold that she’s bombed out.
Anastasia chomps on a carrot and it’s round three. Cecilia gets what looks like ham but the challenge is messing with her mind and she says chicken, which someone else already had. Charlie gets eggplant, Heather, pineapple, Zoe tomato, Elise radish, Anastasia cauliflower, Charlie blue cheese (I hope he gets water after this or his tastebuds will be trashed for the next round), Headband Heather says grapefruit but it’s a lemon. Zoe screws up her nose at raw tuna and then presses the cube against her lips to feel the texture, while her fellow contestants giggle at the sight. Elise gets a cube of meat and says veal but it’s lamb.

Round two
So they have 60 minutes to cook a dish featuring the ingredient on which they bombed out and poor Cecilia drew the short straw here: it’s Elise lamb, Heather lemon, Cecilia ham and Mimi mango. All are relatively well rounded cooks who have had one or two glimmers of brilliance.
Cecilia is having another of her brain freezes (at least she has an excuse) and is the last one in the pantry.
Mimi is making mango syrup, jelly and custard. What, no parfait or smoking gun?
Heather is doing lemon calamari with cornflake crumbs. She mentions she wants to start a new career in “cheffing”. I think you mean cooking, Heather.
Elise is doing crumbed lamb cutlets, which seems simple. They’d better be spectacular. But she’s frenching all six bones when really she only needs to do three – what a waste of time.
Fifteen minutes in and Cecilia has not started. She’s making ham croquettes with caprese salad – mmm, tasty. The judges love fried stuff so they should appreciate this.
Gaz and George pop over to Heather’s bench to put doubt in her mind about her accompaniments. Don’t know why she’s not doing a lemon aioli as they love a good mayo. And she hasn’t mentioned a salad to provide relief from the acidity.
We hear Heather say “lemon” a million times – she’s gone lemon crazy.
Elise finally gets her lamb in the oven and only then does Matt wander over to tell her it’s too simple. Info that would have been helpful 40 minutes ago, Matt. Her idea of wow factor is to add caramelised onions cooked in beer. Doesn’t seem that fancy pants.
IM thinks Cecilia is on to a winner with her croquettes. But has she “heroed” the ham enough. Maybe she needs a ham dust to scatter them with?
Oh crumbs – Heather’s crumbs are not sticking to her calamari. She goes the double coat and that works.
Elise realises her crumbed lamb won’t cook in the oven in time so she chucks it in the fry pan.
Matt pops over to remind Cecilia that hot ham balls will wilt salad and that she needs to think about her plating. “Plating has been a shocker in my dishes, in this kitchen,” she tells confessional. Yes, we remember your god awful stuffed parsnip, Cecilia.
Mimi is getting a winner edit with her mango dessert – no sign of problems.
IM is shouting helpful advice from the balconey and tells Elise to taste her sauce. It’s too salty and rubbish but she serves it anyway. So she’s in grave danger. When will they learn – don’t put dodgy elements on the plate!

The judges taste
mimimango
Mimi’s mango: It looks terrific in that bitsy, edible flower kind of way that’s in fashion, with the obligatory mini carafe of soz on the side. “It’s a sophisticated bit of cooking,” says Matt. George loves it so much he licks his thumb.
Heather’s lemon: George divvies up the food and can’t help but do a cheffy smear on each plate with the mayo. Gaz loves the cornflake crumbed calamari but the whole dish is super lemony.
cecliaballs
Cecilia’s ham: “It looks prettier than expected,” says Gaz, master of the backhanded compliment. It’s at this point I notice George is wearing a blue suit with a faint tartan pattern – did they get one of Matt’s suits retailored for him? The judges like the croquettes but think there’s way too little ham.
Elise’s lamb: She’s already kicking herself for deciding to serve the soz. Matt points out this is the first time she’s had to cook for her MC life. She’s served up all six bones. Gaz likes the lamb and pumpkin and George is a fan of the onion. But they hate the salty soz.
Sounds like Cecilia will be going home for not “heroing” the ham and serving lots of cheese.

The verdict
The judges lurrrve Mimi’s mango and say she’s a contender. And, yes, Cecilia is going home. Fair call but she did have the toughest ingredient.

Bye, Cecilia.

Bye, Cecilia.

Where is she now? She’s doing work experience at a Melbourne Dessert Bar and hopes to open a cafe where kids are taught to cook.

On Sunday: SA food entrepreneur Maggie Beer is back with a mystery ingredient for an invention test. Is it verjuice?



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70 Comments

  1. Zoe, Cecilia, Heather, Charlie, Intense Matt, Anastasia, Elise, and Mimi are all up for elimination, by my reckoning. Hope Charlie, Intense Matt and Cecilia are safe tonight.

  2. Zoe eats that piece of chicken, pulling it apart, eating it with her mouth open. Did not look attractive

  3. So apparently eating blindfolded means chewing with mouth open and speaking before swallowing ick. Little pigs.

    • My house hates it when Mimi is given airtime because I go on a complete rant . Smug gesticulating entitled PAIN. I really dislike her more than any other contestant.

  4. I have only just joined (babysitting the beautiful ones) and missed the taste test. Seems from the comments that I missed the best of this episode.
    Must agree that Cecilia seems very subdued. I would be disappointed if it was her turn to go. She is a better cook than a lot of the others and, given yesterday, it would be incredibly unfair.

    • I think Cecilia always struggle with savoury. Unfortunately she got ham. She would have done well with mango or lemon

      • Yes – with desserts she has a plethora of well practised techniques to fall back on. She’s done pretty well for someone who had a horrific brain injury.

      • ham steak and pineapple 😉 Agree, very hard to “hero” otherwise they judges wouldn’t have mentioned it as they started. George was prattling on about flossing it? Well, cooked lamb with crap gravy beats ham croquette with bugger all ham inside.

  5. Mimi is going to ‘hero’ mango. ‘Heroing’ should be grounds for instant elimination.

    Is there any relative that Heather has not name-checked this episode?

    • Have to agree, grapefruit and lemon not even close. Hells Kitchen blind taste test is a lot more complex.

  6. Ham and pineapple pizza with a fennel jew might have done it.

    Blind taste test. As a viewer you gotta be blind to get through it.

    Zoe has blood on her hands.This is cruel.

  7. I knew it was not Elise going home : not enough air time yet. So Cecilia is going. This is so wrong and Zoe should hang her head in shame.

    • Surprised that there was an Elise.

      I kept thinking she had wandered over from another reality TV show.

      • She must be an intruder. I think there’s one called Elena , too. They’ve been hiding in the Diary Room. Well spotted.

  8. Now I have to put up with more Mimi.
    The way the judges
    went on and on about the mango. She sliced and diced a mangoe with some custard she made/cheated using a Thermomix. Added a pansy flower. Big deal.

    So wrong for poor Cecilia to cop it. Inedible gravy (Jew) beats well cooked and scrumptious croquettes with 2 pieces of ham . Oh, the injustice!

    • Absolutely agree Lola. just because Cecilia could cook and not just chop up a mango she had to go. If only she had thrown some bizarrely flavoured soil under her croquettes she might have survived.

  9. Hypocrites – they wanted her gone, then heap praise on her. So much time taken showing those pigs eating😠

  10. “Caramelisy”~ a new word. Thanks George, you idiot.

    Love the camera pan to guilty Zoe when Cecilia copped it. Don’t hug those rotten judges.

  11. Oh so Cecilia got out is it?So sick of MC stereotyping “diversity” n then getting rid of them one by one by pandering to the all Aussie white home grown bloke/gal w/ the unfulfilled”food dream” preferably in a blue collar job,quite OK looking.Last time’s winner was a female right?So I’m calling it here first…it’s gonna be between Intense eyes, Cute Charlie n the buzzed haircut(dunno name)& one will be 2016 winner!The oldies are gonna be taking the hit falling by the wayside one by one as Shine ‘caters to the youth demographic’.I’m so over this show, didn’t watch it last 2 years thought I’d check it out seeing the “inclusive” bunch…bah!same old shit.Her are the replacement’s for this season Therese for Audra(s4)(a far better cook than any of the remaining wannabees),Carmen for Tash(including the white boyfriend n sweet expert)…Nidhi for the Deepalis n Dalwinders, oldies for oldies…yadda yadda..
    A big shout out to rravers BDd, Maz,Jus,Pandy,Daisy..where’s Grumpy,Eliza,simon,jd…miss the site.Still prefer this site than talking tv which I reckon is too PC n clinical….don’t feel free & comfy venting there.Adios amigos….ttyl.

    • Have to disagree on Charlie. He will be gone within weeks. Too many close calls and too much sweating.
      I predict only one male in the final 5, and that would be intense Matt. That pouty pained duck face is tv gold.
      Very little to time given to Elise (which one is she again?) So my guess is final 2?

      • Yep, Charlie is a panic merchant. As was the lovely Julie Goodwin but in the first season it was a very different standard then.

  12. I haven’t really been watching MC – dipped in tonight and now know why I can’t get into it.
    What a ridiculous farce the judging was and it was far from a level playing field to start with. They should have just told Cecilia not to bother cooking because it was clear from the outset she was going and yet from the comments here she was the red team member who least deserved to be up for elimination .

  13. Is Zoe touched in the head? Her babyish speech, the way she was manhandling the food and practically rubbing it against every orifice – it was disturbing to watch.
    Tuna all over the world are swimming to the Northern Hemisphere in fear.

    And thanks to Miss Blood On Her Hands, poor Cecilia gets the boot – after putting up an Herculean effort the day before. I hope she put a dead ham in Zoe’s bed before she left.

    Nothing special about Mimi’s mango affair; processor, blast chiller, twiddle thumbs, add flowers.
    And I’m disappointed Heather’s not doing jews anymore – was always a highlight.

    • I want the judges to award a “saved” pin to one person from the losers of each week’s team challenge.

      • In the early seasons, the losing team has to nominate 3 contestants for elimination. Sometimes the quiet one get picked.

        Maybe for a bit of tension (and to see how genuine their comrades is,) losing team has to pick the best performer from their team to be saved from the Elimination challenge.

        • They do that on MC USA sometimes. The captain will have the opportunity to choose one of the team members or himself/herself to save. Cecelia shouldn’t have been in this elimination based on her performance in the team challenge. Zoe should have been in the elimination.
          I don’t like the way they did this taste challenge. Just as unfair as the name the ingredient/name the cake challenges, IMO. They could wear blindfolds and sound blocking headphones and everyone taste the same thing and then tell the judges/stooges what they think each item is. The people who get the fewest correct go to elimination challenge.

      • The maturity level displayed makes her like the Kyrgios of Ma$terchef.

        Add to this the awesome Zoe three word vocabulary~

        “Keep pushing, gice!”

        More wooden than the Trojan Horse.

        • Ha, if Zoe were in charge of the Trojan Horse, it would’ve been empty when opened. She would’ve delegated the soldiers to ‘other tasks.’

    • ” Dear Endemol $hine Producer

      So difficult for the discerning viewer. On MKR a jus is a “juss” but bugger me on Ma$terchef it’s a “jew”. Please help. ~ Confused, Adelaide”

  14. The blind taste test with some of them chewing open-mouthed and loudly smacking their lips was almost enough to put me off cooking my own dinner.

    So, the word hero is now a verb. Elise purees the vegetable “punkin”. Up-herself Mimi speaks of the other dishes as though she has no doubt she is safe with her unimpressive mango blobs. If she’s so clever, why couldn’t she identify a cube of mango? Heather isn’t able to properly crumb calamari without a lot of drama. Ah, you amateurs, you’re so…amateurish. And inept.

    I can’t say I’m really sorry to see Cecilia leave, although I think she should have been given a pass tonight after last night’s impressive effort by her as the lone dessert maker. We haven’t see her for a while and again, all she spoke about was her kids. I hope she finds something that makes her see herself as more than a mother.

    George plating, making the ubiquitous smear of goop, and using his tweezers is so, so annoying. I kind of want to smack him.

  15. Yuck, how disgusting did the chicken eating process look? :S I hate people chewing with their mouth open. I also always see that when people have chewing gum in their mouths…

    Apart from that, I felt a bit sorry for Cecilia. She was nice and sweet but I suppose she was a bit more limited in her abilities.

    Some people seem to have picked Intense Matt as the winner. I don’t think he will win. Not sure why but he might be too similar to Brent as the winner. When I watched the audition episodes I got the feeling that they might build Miles up to be the winner. All that bla bla regarding him. Thankfully his cooking abilities are rather limited.

  16. OMG, some disgusting pics of Matt eating on Daily Mail website. Best eat breakfast before you look😊

      • Originally, the Calombaris claim was that George put on the weight eating his mother’s pasta when he ‘d get home from work. With no one looking , he could probably just dispense with spoons, tweezers and just stick his head into the bowl and go for it. Yeah? And he’d keep pushing.

        It looks like $wisse have got George’s ar$e in a sling these days.

        Jenny Craig found out the hard way with Jowl$y.

        • one reason why I avoid Swisse: the corporate tactic of getting celebs to sell their vitamins. Like the celebretards need more money and like the public should take health advice from celebrities that are paid to give that advice.

          piss off Swisse!

          • After the recent Four Corners , purchasing any vitamins at all should be reconsidered. I only bother with Vitamin D.

            $wisse have already been hammered in court, yet the celebs line up to endorse that snake oil.

  17. Thanks for the great recap Juz.
    I would be no good at a blind testing. i am very fussy with food & like to see what I’m eating. If they could tell what it was from the smell & knew it was a food they didn’t like could they guess without eating it? That was obviously ham or bacon & chicken had already been picked. How could she possibly think it was chicken again. I would think ham would feel & smell different to chicken.
    Make up your fucking minds judges. Too much lemon. It was the HERO of the dish, there’s supposed to be a lot of lemon. But then they complain about not enough ham & too much cheese. There can NEVER be too much cheese. Stupid judges.
    Was sorry to see Cecilia go, it didn’t seem fair.

  18. Excellent recap – I am thinking we may need to add “obligatory mini carafe of soz” to banned list.

  19. Thanks for the recap, Juz.

    Well the good news according to preview on The Living Room (for folks who don’t like Maggie, she’s only around on Sunday)
    Then….
    Anna Polyviou (punk pastry chef) – Elimination Challenge
    Kylie Kwong Chinese Street Food Challenge

  20. The 4 contestants in the Elimination challenge should have a choice of cooking with any of the 4 ingredients which they couldn’t identify.

    Then they can decide what to ‘hero’ in their dish.

  21. I finally watched the service challenge. The blue team were machines – kudos, Miles, for your leadership. Poor Cecilia must have been exhausted after that. No wonder she did poorly in the next challenge after that schemozzle.

  22. I felt let down by the super hype up promo for MC. I was expecting some ridiculous delicious desserts and savoury.

    Yes, the audition looked promising but it all went downhill from there.

    We are half way through the series and no more salivating dishes.

    The best dessert on MC by MPW was a con. Charlie need to do work experience with Reynold.

    Last year crop was so much better

    • Because it mentions her “favourites”? Could well be. One contestant she mentions has featured heavily in the promo.

  23. So setting a very difficult dessert and expect the contestants to do well. Basically is who can do worse?

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