MasterChef – elimination and Nigella masterclass

Masterclass is back – yay! But first we have to get through that pesky elimination, so the episode runs for two hours.
The blurb says: The contestants in the losing team are in the kitchen for what will be the last time for one of them. Plus, the first Masterclass of the season with Nigella Lawson.



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53 Comments

    • Nope.

      They are not penalised for guessing so you would guess the ingredients just by looking and tip the trifle out and then taste the layers individually.

  1. Oh good, I like Masterclasses. I don’t remember Nigella’s previous ones, if any, but I hope it’s not a sweet dish. Also hope she gets through it without saying “unctuous”.

    Can’t recall who is in the losing team. Any chance of Fake Vintage going home?

      • I’m not a fan of carrot cake. It’s a vegetable & doesn’t belong in cakes. But then she added ginger which I hate & walnuts which i’m not overly fond of.

      • I made the carrot cake today. With the added ginger, the cake was delicious even without any spices (only if you like ginger).

    • They used to do a masterclass every week in the early seasons. Now they only have them with the guest chefs. Assume there’ll be one next week with Gordon Ramsay.

  2. Listen, I could have guessed 12. Like, you know, cake and that. 🍰
    Plus a lot of the ingredients were right there on top, for the looking. I am assuming panic makes for bad guessing.

  3. The taste test was a bit different. They were not blindfolded and they get to cook with the complete list and not with just what they have guessed.

    In Nigella’s trifle (nobody can scorned the trifle again as Nigella has declared it an important entry in the culinary canon).

    Vanilla Beans
    Strawberries
    Unsalted butter
    Raspberries
    Saffron
    Honey
    Sugar
    Tonka bean
    Liquid Glucose
    Cream of tartar
    Rose Petals
    Blanched almonds (not activated)
    Pistachio
    Cardamon
    Cream
    Plain flour
    Milk
    Baking Powder
    Gelatine
    Water
    Egg

    Safe with 18 ingredients is Lisa (Damn. There goes my theory)
    17 Ingredients is Kristen
    13 Ingredients is Reece
    12 Ingredients is Fake Vintage and Wentworth (aka Sachi)

  4. Go Hoda! Her manner & smile are gorgeous, &, as the judges say, she “is a cooks cook” & makes everything.

  5. Wow, I know it sounds dumb, but I grew up knowing that sifting flour was the way to do stuff, but I didn’t wonder why. Eliminates lumps. Duh! I knew that cooking & sewing at school was wasted time for me, cos academic stuff was my thing . My back story for food is that I watched my really dear Mum make yum stuff & licked the spoon, & my Nanna
    was a fab cook too. My brothers & I nicked a huge range of home cooked biccies & cakes from tbe kitchen cupboards when we stayed as a family at Nanna & Pop’s at Easter & Xmas. I reckon I assemble food well now & can cook pretty well , but I do little from scratch like Mum, Nanna & Hoda.

  6. Hoda is pulling out way too many cards at the moment… the turkish delight was not necessary she should’ve saved that for another time.

    Enjoyed the Masterclass with the professionals trying to do better Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine… Don’t think they did better than the contestants on those.

    I know Nigella’s food is generally not for looks but her nachos looked like someone threw up on them… and her carrot cake looked like something you buy from Coles.

    • She’s not being strategic enough but it was nice to see her so happy and relaxed while cooking. What was Butcher Boy thinking trying to do a Bombe Alaska

  7. More ice cream, another panna cotta although it was called something else, more katafi (Hoda already made katafi ice cream cones), more caramel sauce, BORING!
    Disappointed that retro person and Reece did not go to the elimination round and then maybe one of them could have been eliminated.

  8. How did the judges know who got the most right? We never saw them check them. Did they do it in the ad break? They used to ask them to say each item & when you got one wrong you were out.
    I would have said jelly, custard, cake, cream & whatever fruit was in it. Wouldn’t have thought to list every ingredient in them.

    • Agree. The list include things like

      Vanilla Beans
      Strawberries
      Unsalted butter
      Raspberries
      Saffron
      Honey
      Sugar
      Tonka bean
      Liquid Glucose
      Cream of tartar
      Rose Petals
      Blanched almonds (not activated)
      Pistachio
      Cardamon
      Cream
      Plain flour
      Milk
      Baking Powder
      Gelatine
      Water
      Egg
      Thanks Maz
      Might as well asked them to list the ingredients in the triffle

        • I ordered them last year, they taste a bit like vanilla and almond/marzipan. I think it is very aromatic as a spice and they smell fantastic. They had a bad reputation for many years due to the coumarin level (which is also in your cinnamon and I am sure, most of us use cinnamon A LOT!), but it is not dangerous as you also do not use it everyday.
          If you like to experiment and want to use something else than vanilla, you can give tonka beans a try, you won’t regret it.^^ I ordered them on Amazon, I did panna cotta once with tonka bean flavour and everyone loved the flavour.

  9. Well I’m disappointed that Tim’s gone. For one, he showed a bit of personality, something which is lacking these days on MC, with all the homogenised ‘loveydoveyness,’ incessant hugging and lack of characters.
    And secondly, because I tipped him to win. C’est le guerre.

    Hoda’s getting a lot of love for basically churning out Lebanese stuff – how is that showing versatility, when it’s all you’re good at? If they wanted a Beef Wellington or Shepherd’s Pie, she would Lebanesify it, and the judges would swoon over it.
    But she gets the demographically acceptable tick.

    Kristen’s another one getting a free ride, for obvious reasons … for the moment.
    Her ‘self-esteem issues’ seemed to dissipate when she was lumbering around the cafe as A Boss.

    MC is too PC these days – everyone is following a rigid script. I guess they want to avoid the MKR-type nonsense and want to show some ‘class,’ but it’s just boring, there’s a sameness to it all.

    • With the contestants cooking foods from their cultures it seems too much like MKR. Would have been more interesting if they randomly chose different regions and had to make desserts that matched using the ingredients from Nigella’s trifle. Push them to cook something more original and out of their comfort zones. Let’s find out how masterful they are. Tim failed because he was not comfortable with making desserts. The contestants should be practicing different techniques and cuisines (sweet and savory) before they apply for MC, after they are accepted and while they are living in the MC house.

      Have posted this previously and apologize for repeating myself but they need to ban/hide the ice cream makers.
      Bring on Gordon Ramsay. Maybe he can shake things up a bit.

  10. I’m happy to see contestants making food from their own culture as long as it’s done well. It’s still early days. It would be boring if all we got on the show was people cooking Mod Oz cheffy food

    • Don’t have an issue with them cooking food from their cultures but they need to be all around cooks and many of them are not. They have their niche foods and when asked to cook something out of their comfort zones they get flustered and fail or they make ice cream. 🙂 They can’t think “out of the box” so to speak. They are not inventive or flexible.

      • The people who are “I don’t do desserts” or “I don’t do savouries” kill me. Sure, have a dream of being a pastry chef but at least once you get cast get the basics down

      • Sometimes I think they just want the 15 secs of fame. If they can last a few weeks and cooked a few decent dishes, they get known.

        Like Tim. Now he is known and said he is going to open a restaurant.

    • Maz, I love the carrot cake. I made mine on Fri and it’s the best carrot cake for me. I love the ginger in it.

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