MasterChef – Tues, July 11 – Souffles

Juz 28 Comments

The three best invention test performers now face a special souffle immunity challenge.
Good to see all that hot air in the MasterChef kitchen being put to good use.
It’s Tamara, Eliza and Arum in the running and my pick would be Eliza, as she’s strong with desserts – that’s if they do a sweet version.

Winner gets to cook off against a chef. If they beat the chef they are fastracked to finals week.

Tamara will use goat’s cheese, basil and raspberries. Urgh.
Eliza passionfruit (sounds delish but we’re reminded she auditioned with a cheese soufflé but did not get waved straight through).
The judges are super excited by Arum’s retro prune and Armagnac (brandy) soufflé.
(THAT’S ME DONE FOR NOW – MR JUZ IS MAKING ME WATCH THE MIST TV REMAKE AND IT’S ALMOST AS SCARY AS WATCHING TAMARA PUT BERRIES IN A GOAT’S CHEESE SOUFFLÉ)

I’m back! The judges say Eliza’s was a tad overcooked (she overwhipped her first batch of egg white end had to redo) and Tamara’s was a bit odd. Arum wins even though he forgot to put his prune purée in – he had a great rise on his soufflés.

SECOND ROUND


Arum gets to cook against chef Federico Zanellato, who has worked at many great restaurants and now heads LuMi Dining in Sydney, which serves modern Japanese with an Italian twist (the menu includes miso-strone). Arum gets 75 mins to cook; Federico (who seems a friendly chap – let’s call him Fed) 60 mins.
Arum also gets to pick 10 core ingredients from the limited number displayed. He doesn’t have to cook with everything he picks but it means poor Fed is left with the dodgier stuff. This is a much bigger advantage than usual.


Arum grabs (I think) beef (he loves his beef), Pernod (aniseed liqueer), apple, fennel, onions, stinging nettles, lemon, macadamia, celeriac and black pudding. He decides to cook beef with smoked celeriac and apple puree with black pud and Pernod sauce.
Thank goodness Arum knows how to pronounce celeriac, unlike Shannon and his celery-ack (betcha that’s how George says it, too).
Poor Fed gets – in addition to his staples – mussels, sorghum, persimmons, caraway seeds, black vinegar, jerusalem artichokes, lemongrass, mascarpone, chocolate, chilli. Fed isn’t thrilled by the ingredients but he wisely chooses to make pasta: tortelli filled with mussels, chilli and artichoke.
Arum is cooking a mattress-sized steak but Karlie and Eliza are worried about his flipping technique. They seem to be barracking for Fed anyway and are shouting down to him how to use all the equipment.
The obligatory last-minute hurdles are: Arum’s steak hasn’t had time to rest and Fed hasn’t had time to cook his pasta and could do without the yelling from the gantry while he’s trying to concentrate.


Fed kindly tells Arum that his dish “looks sick”. I like him – bring him back next year, please, MC!

THE JUDGES TASTE


The steak is bleeding on to the puree below so the judges must know straight away it belongs to Arum.
Otherwise it does look pretty. George says it’s sophisticated; Gary a “crowd pleaser”.


Fed is worried it’s too simple and he didn’t have time to make tricksy garnishes.
The artichoke and mussels go well together. They like it but Matt says it’s simple.
Well, there we go: MasterChef stacked the deck so much against the guest chef that the contestant was virtually guaranteed a win.

THE SCORES
Fed: Gaz 8, George 8, Matt 8
Arum: Gaz 9, George 8, Matt 9



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Juz

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28 Comments

  1. On the Masterchef Facebook page people are uniformly assuming Tamara will be coached to beat the chef and win the pin.

    • Not a surprise but thanks for the update. I think I’ve caught your lurgy Terese. I’m having an early night and going to check in here tomorrow for the result and comments because I have no interest in watching Tamara win a pin.

      • Oh no, take it easy. Early bed with a cuppa and a book will make all the difference.

      • Take care JB – I just know a little chilli parfait praline with bacon ice cream would see you right. Need me to pop over with one? I could have it in the blast chiller in a jiffy.

  2. Eliza sets my teeth on edge. She’s a cocky minx.
    Too many blondes left in the competition.

    I hope Arum cooks for the pin

    • Eliza, for the most part, is a competent cook.
      And you do realize that Arum is a blonde too? Or does he have the privilege to be considered a whole person, since he has a dick?

      • Everyone left is a decent all-rounder. The edit hasn’t done Eliza any favours as she was invisible for much of the series. Could be another Elena on our hands?

  3. Tonight immunity challenge was designed to make sure the contestant will win. Luckily Tamara stuffed up and didnt get the chance to cook against the guest chef

    • Oops, didn’t the producers miscalculate on choosing souffle to feature?…if only they had picked dumplings…

  4. Okay, so I was taking a child to footy training and missed it. But a cold field in winter sounds way better than berry with goats cheese!

  5. Oh thank God for that. So glad Arum is through to the finals. I was sure Tamara’s souffle would be ‘perfect’ & she’d be in the 2nd round & ‘beat’ the guest chef & be through to finals week.
    I was worried Arum was a goner when he forgot to put his date mixture in his souffle. How the hell did he do that?
    Smart arse George tells Eliza her egg whites were over beaten just as she realised it herself. Talk about stating the obvious.

  6. Did a little recap for those who missed it. Don’t bother watching it if you did. Arum cooked well both rounds but they were so desperate for a success story they made it impossible for the guest chef to win. Luckily he was a lovely bloke who went with the flow and, hopefully, bookings at his restaurant will skyrocket as a result.

  7. Glad that Arum went on to cook against the chef as opposed to it being Tamara but Frederico’s hands were tied and, of course, this was a set up for the amata to win. Arum’s bleeding beef, though, should not have been awarded 9s.
    IMHO no one should be fast tracked to finals week but whatever.

    • They need to do that because tonight challenge is to cook 2 entree, 2 mains and 2 desserts. If 7 contestants left than the equation is out of whack.

      Also Arum soufflé was the best. It rised to perfection. The other 2 were not as great

  8. Can you use the immunity pin in the Finals Week? If not, I think ‘they’ will give a difficult dish to Sarah, maybe a dessert so she will get herself into elimination and have to use the pin.
    The maker of the next worst dish will have to take her place.

    • One of the souffles last night was still bubbling when a Stooge cut into it. I was amazed. This must have been $hine’s finest hour.

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