The Russians are here. Apparently we are meant to hate them when really they just call a spade a spade – albeit with a fluctuating accent that is sometimes a little Blofeld.
Can they cook or were they cast to be the baddies? So far in this group we’ve had great cooks (Team Tassie), guys we know can cook but had a few flaws (Italian mates), and some half-okay cooks who are still better than most of Group 1 (ie, they know what a colander is). Time for a team to bomb?
Oh, and, Windsong – here’s a treat for you:
BONUS: Henry & Anna had a pawesome special guest who stole the show at their Instant Restaurant! š¶š#MKR | https://t.co/QTLreqjoeY pic.twitter.com/Z6csOsmIm4
— #MKR (@mykitchenrules) 17 February 2018
Love the puppy – thanks Juz!
“Accents” are all over the place!
How long have they lived in Australia?
It was interesting listening to them and hearing the Russian accent slip every now and then.
The girls say meat is very important in Russian cooking – note they are not shopping in Coles. Entree is some kind of jellied meat terrine using pig trotters the butchery has labelled as ādog treatsā.
Main is cabbage rolls. Yum! My Nanna used to make those and she was most definitely not Russian. Their taxi bill
Is $286 – luckily MKR is paying. The editors are going super literal with the music: Boney Mās Rasputin, Kate Bushās Baboushka among others. Iām thinking the only one we wonāt hear is Stingās Russian
Dessert is a White Russian – a spin on the cocktail, involving white choc and copious amounts of alcohol. Itās a glass dessert so less can go wrong, plus the ambiguous name means they can skip elements and no-one will know.
Crew doing their bit to stuff them up. Short of one cabbage roll. Oven not working properly. At least they can cook.
The drama begins early with Hadil Aka Man Eater 1 snubbing Olga aka the White Russian as they arrive. Olga plots her revenge by planning small portions for ME1, which they would have been getting anyway.
I love Henry and Anna even more because they scored fairly and not strategically.
The judges love the jellied meat entree but it freaks the teams out a little. Have they not seen a terrine before? Even human garbage disposal Matt is not keen on the texture. Mum loves it because she remembers the days when gelatine was a must at every dinner party
The girls have not cooked enough cabbage rolls and some are dodgy looking. Why oh why did they not make 10 extras?
Not allowed to do so?
Should have cooked the rolls in two smaller pots to control the heat better. Girls are not happy but Pete still loves it. Manu says again a little under seasoned. Everyone forgets chefs have a huge tolerance for salt.
Quick question for people paying more attention than me, because I missed it.
Are Olga and Valeria Russian? Channel 7 didn’t really make it clear, so I’m a bit confused on that point.
Anyway, at least they can cook. The meat jelly looked quite a bit off-putting, but the main and dessert looked pretty amazing. They’re both still just a little annoying, though.
I’m surprised the producers didn’t force these girls to cook stuff like:
Rachmaninoff of Lamb
Chernobyl Cheese
Moscow Marron w/ Solzhenitsyn Soz.
Putin Pie
etc to further ram their ethnicity down the viewers’ throats.
Ch 7 tried hard to make me hate them but what the hell , they can cook.
Everyone loves it bar Man Eaters.
I love, love Anna but why has wardrobe dresses her in a pinny thatās like a tissue poking out of a box?
Very, VERY unfortunate/poor choice of wardrobe. Makes her look flat as a pancake and it appears she has no neck.
The judges love dessert (you can tell the girls know about texture and flavour). As Anna says, itās a belter. Even ME1 has to admit itās great
Anna and Henry score a 9; military 7; mates 6 (some game playing there); sisters 8; in laws 8; mum 9: MEs 6.
Not sure how the Russians will go in a public challenge but they are great at the food they know.
Judges: entree Pete 8, Manu 9
Main M 8, P 9
Dessert M 10 P 10
Total: 108
They beat Henry and Anna by one point. Yay – more people who can cook!
Tomorrow itās off to Coffs Harbour for the sisters to cook.
We actually have a very similar din “German cuisine”: https://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/680421170503575/Wirsingrouladen.html#letzte-sfs-anleitung
I HATED it when I was a kid.^^ Never enjoyed cabbage, unless it was red cabbage with apples. I am happy they did well, I do not really like the man eaters.
White Russian. Oh dear. Ever watched The Big Lebowski and for everytime they said “f*uck* in the movie you drink a White Russian shot? No? Well, dont. š
Anyway, I am not too bothered by the Russian girls. Perhaps because I am used to the kind of stoic behaviour and the cold aura. We have Russian/Ukrainians in our team at work, my manager is actually a nuclear power plant physicist.^^ She says about herself “I am not human”. First impression – yeah, not human. But I like her, just do not bullshit around and accept her being blunt. She says what she thinks and is extremely honest. It is just their mentality and culture. While we Germans always try to not step on anyones’ feet and dance around, they simply say how it is. On the other hand,if Germans wouldn’t do it, we would be evil aggressors. So, please, next year’s MKR should feature evil Germans. š
PS: Did one of them actually say “ScheiĆe” during the cabbage incident? š
Coming from a Russian background myself and growing up on Galouptsi and Chaladyets couldn’t believe they did these dishes. Firstly I’m suspect on how good they were, as their style of doing it was quite different to my grandmothers recipes. With the cabbage roles my gran would boil them in a tomato based broth (and generally being jewish used beef/chicken as the meat), with the chaladyets they must of used gelatine for not sure how it would of set using the natural gelatine within the bones.
Also considering they are bakers surprised at the choice of dessert, lots of fine russian cakes they could of made.
In the end well done to them, but you can see how much cooking experience (professional) they have… look at their knife skills and organisation.. also helps that russians tend to cater for large groups too.
Not sold that their menu was better then the Tassies, but congrats and looking forward to the nasty Chinese Take Out girls and Jordanians getting some bad critique.
My Anglo nan would also do the cabbage rolls in a tomato-based purĆ©e. I donāt mind cabbage. I reckon all the people on the show making a fuss about it have never had it cooked properly, ie, not cooked to death
It was pretty awful when the Chinese restaurateurās daughter was saying Dad always taught her to be the champion, to the best.
Avid followers of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Not conditioned to lose so hope for their sake all goes well.
Not a fan of the Russians but at least they can cook. My mother made rolled cabbage but I didn’t like it and wouldn’t eat it. She also put beet and horseradish sauce on a few things.
That dessert looked a bit on the small size to me.