dippydee

I had the exact same thought. The others showed a lot more skill and adaptability. These guys had their preferred choice of ingredients and still somehow made that terrible dessert. It seemed like they were just phoning it in, and trying to use dishes already on their menu. I think the other teams were forced to think and adjust more because of cuisine and ingredient constraints. Im glad Kishwar and Tom are safe and it was nice of the Lucy Liu chef to help Kishwar), less so about Aaron and Brent but can’t be helped. I thought they did well as a team. I think they’ll be in the elimination. The restaurant team will have home field and I’m not sure they’ll do an elimination with just 4 people. Also are they doing to do a double elimination since they missed Tuesdays one or is it just the one?

Yep. As soon as I saw the team I knew it’d be a one way ticket to elimination for them. No way was that team beating the professionals, but somehow they were even worse than expected. Lemongrass-less starter, their main looked a mess and their dessert didn’t look much better either with all those messy blobs all over the place.

Wow a whole week of my least favourite things. Mass cooking (sort of) and cooking vs professionals. I’m not looking forward to this much at all. That said, this episode was entertaining. Adam is all kinds of fun. I liked him stepping in to help Eric save at least some of his fish (and Depinder getting a free lesson). I’m glad the pink team is safe (even if I don’t entirely buy it), since I like Depinder, Linda and Elise. Eric was just along for the ride.

I liked that one too. I remember being genuinely surprised when Elena won. I thought Matt had it in the bag since they were still alternating back then.

Ok worst was Emma’s season. So flipping terrible. None of those people were cast for cooking abilities. My fav I think, despite creepy ice cream Ben and Tamara nearly ruining it was S9. I really liked Diana, Karlie, Sarah T, Arum (who was one of the few meat and two veg blokes who didn’t irritate me). It helped that one of my favourites won. I think for most seasons my opinion of it gets really influenced by how I feel about the winner, I liked S11 a lot with Tessa, Simon and Nicole but Larissa winning soured it for me.

I knew he’d go for green olives next! Of course it’s in ice cream form since he’s been coasting by on it since the start. I’m not saddened by the elimination at all. It’ll be good to see some of the others get some screen time. If I’m picking, Aaron to go next please. They need to let a few dudes go to even things out a bit.

At this point they’re going to have to start giving the others some help. They get 90 minutes while Depinder gets less. She might not do the most complicated food but she seems to be doing her thing on a whole other level by herself. The fire cooking looked like a lot of fun. I’m sure it takes a lot of practice to get the techniques down and not burn everything but it looks like it all tastes delicious.

Julia and Kylie were actually pretty damn good. I think my judgement is clouded because Andy was such a weak winner thanks to the old system of alternating Male/female winners. I just can’t see anyone else winning this year. At the moment she is just so far ahead of everyone else except maybe Pete (who shows occasional flashes of real inspiration). Of course that means I’m expecting the shock elimination for her because they do want their dude winner this year.

It was kind of an odd combination but I think Toms on the right track. This season could use a little weird (as long as it’s not in an ice cream). I think the contestants this year are pretty good technically for the most part, there is just a huge lack of imagination in them. We had the granita challenge and that time with Clare Smyth where everyone made seafood pasta. These guys just need some cooks where the brief the show is so fond of is a little more constrictive to force them to think on the spot. Im still giving that title to Emma’s and Andy’s seasons for now.

I was shocked! there were no granitas either. I don’t know what to do with myself. Tomorrow looks promising too. No ice creams, just burning stuff. The judges trying to put Depinder off her stride midcook and then being super impressed when she ignores them and does her own thing anyway seems to be becoming a trend. It’s cool to see one of my favs a kadhai paneer on the show, it’s almost always a meat curry of some sort. I like Tommy, he is very easy on the eye but his bento was essentially a copy of the chefs. I understand keeping it traditional but there are so many more options in Japanese cuisine.

Lol! I knew Therese was in trouble when the desserts not only had no ice cream but that she’d actually have to bake something for them. The judges made things so much easier by letting them use the pin right til the end and she still messed it up. Bye bye. They both did really well considering how fiddly and technical the challenge was. I was especially happy for Justin who just looked like he was having the worst time of it for the entire cook.

Does anybody else want some pasta? I love them stuff and some of them looked pretty darn delicious. of course it needs to be followed by ice cream because that is the only light dessert in the world. I agree. I had high hopes because I was starting to like quite a few of the contestants Depinder, Kishwar, Tommy and Elise (who is Italian in case you missed it) but the seasons cooks are so lacking in originality. Everything is an ice cream or the ice creams lazy cousin the granita or sometimes if it’s Conor, both. The show needs to add some structure to the challenges to force the contestant to actually think on their feet and maybe hide the ice cream maker for a week or two at least. So far I think I’m rooting for Depinder who seems consistent in everything she does and Pete who seems chill and at least willing to try some outside the box stuff even if he can’t cook chicken ;)

First up I’m amazed Melissa could walk in those shoes. My feet hurt just looking at them. I rolled my eyes hard at them pretending that hitting the brief is important as 1) the brief is usually so vague anything could be adapted to fit it and 2) the only time they use it is when they need an excuse to send someone home so they can save someone they like who had a crappy cook. For real! Elise wins the episode for me. I know she made an ice cream but at least it wasn’t the main focus of her dish and she was nowhere near a flipping cucumber granita, and sticky toffee/date pudding is one of favourite desserts. The judges need to take away their ice cream machines and blast chillers. Though I will admit a twisted part of me is now so numb I’m actually interested to see how far Therese can get exclusively making ice creams. That was foul, it just looked so unappealing. I’m not happy the judges are encouraging this nonsense. It also strikes me as lazy. After olive oil cake and now olive ice cream. What’s next? He’s just going to serve them some green olives and call it a day? I feel like Conor is getting the judging I was expecting Brent to get, weird over praising over very basic things.

Lol! Sure it’s a much more sedate affair focussed on actual cooking and not sob stories and one trick ponies but the downside is Gregg exists so it all evens out in the end ;)

Seconded! For a moment I was coming round to Therese but it turns out “pushing the boat out” for her is just another ice cream with a horrid wet looking disc instead of a crumb. You had blue cheese and corn woman! And a full pantry! There’s really not a single savoury dish she could think of with that pair? I also didn’t get why people were so shocked by that combination, seems like the sweetness of corn against the saltiness of blue cheese would mesh pretty well. Despite Therese I really liked the task in general, letting them pick something they liked but adding that twist of the second ingredient to force them to actually think and improvise. Though some of those pairing were a easier than others. Poor Dan got severely screwed with liquorice. He’s right, it’s evil and disgusting. Depinder lucked out massively with chilli and mango it gives so many options. I’m glad she didn’t do an ice cream and showed some range with the fried chicken (and hopefully someone used the rest of those 3 chickens after she only used the wings). On a not cooking front Depinder and Tom remain my favs, the “shut up Tom” exchange was funny.

Elim episode: I liked the twist. Good on them for shaking things up a bit. I was also super impressed with Therese’s tart. There may be hope for her yet. I’m glad Kishwar was ok as well, im not ready for her to go yet. Mystery box episode: So much ice cream and pasta. I won’t hold it against them too much since the basic pantry does limit their options somewhat. I will say Therse’s crispy roti with caramel looked soooo good. I want some of that now (she can keep her basil ice cream though). Kishwar’s pasta also looked yummy. Im glad Depinder didn’t let the Jock and Andy put her off doing her dish her way and it worked out for her. Those things usually go the other way when the judges are waving the warning flag and hinting something sounds terrible. I might be misremembering but didn’t Conor already make an olive oil cake once before? Or was that someone else? Me too. The returning contestants was fun but I didn’t like Shashis season too much and season 12 was mostly fine until the end when Larissa took over the show (and my girl Tessa wuz robbed!)

How was Brent the only one exposed to COVID? I thought they all lived together for the duration of the show. Though I suppose I’m glad I don’t have to hear him being praised for doing the bare minimum in a cook. I think Tom and Depinder have become my favourites. Watching the pair of them bounce around with excitement about pretty much everything was the most enjoyable part of the episode. Yeah. That’s what happens when you never go near an oven and just make frozen things all day long. I wonder if that third pin is going to be in action tomorrow. Therese doesn’t seem to do much other than dessert and even those aren’t that great. I’m think that must have played into but also Reynold’s food is just kind of specific and technical. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to put up a Callum or Poh type dish (both of which looked infinitely nicer than that charcoal monstrosity). Their food is just more relatable (and delicious looking). Me too. This was a fun task, I guess the new guidelines are good for forcing them to get creative with team tasks since they can’t have them cook for random crowds at the beach/market/pop up restaurant etc.

Callum!! And Poh!! And Reynold I suppose. It was so nice them back and to have real life people who could properly interact with the contestants. I loved that nobody wanted wanted to do a Reynold dish except Therese, I think both Callum and Poh’s styles are far more accessible to people. I will say that his charcoal black sesame concoction looked completely unappetising but the green thing looked pretty cool. Week 3 seems a little early to expect them to do a Reynolds I would have thought it’d be better to save him for a pressure test later down the line. I did laugh at him practically inhaling Depinders cake though, I don’t blame him it looked and sounded absolutely delicious. Aaron is starting to annoy me, I can’t quite work out why but I’m just not a fan. Tommy had a bad one but I’m glad he’s safe. Minoli seemed nice enough but I still don’t really have many feelings about most of the contestants yet so I’m not too upset about her leaving.

Lol! The Thursday episode was basically the stuff of my nightmares. Five ice creams on crumbs. I at least give some points to Linda and Depinder for also making cakey things but darn that episode sucked hard. I used to skip the immunity episodes but now they’ve changed the format and the winner only gets immunity from the next elimination I’ve actually started watching them (though I could have missed this one and it’s many many ice crumbs). I like this format more because it makes the episode feel like there are some stakes as opposed to the cheftestant getting outcooked by a professional 9 times out of 10. Yeah. I really don’t like when they do this. They’ve made it clear the bar is so much lower for him, as long as he completes his cook he’ll get a special sticker and a pat on the head. It’s ok at the moment because there are a lot of people left and I have no idea how good/bad some of them actually are but if my favourites start going before him I’m not going to be happy.

Not just you. Some of those Mac and cheeses sounded amazing and follow it up with bread pudding? I’d be in a food coma but it’d be worth it. I have no option on who went home since I’m still learning peoples names. So bye Katrina, maybe we’ll see her again in the returning contestant episode. Clare Smyth’s dish looked so pretty and the ingredients were diverse so I’m disappointed so many just made pasta. Seems unimaginative, still some of them must have been good since the judges rewarded two versions of it. I’m glad Depinder did well, I’m still not sold on wasabi ice cream but at least she made something nobody else did. Conor’s ice cream sandwich was also different, it looked a little simple, his plating needs work but it must have tasted really good. Can we talk about the horror of caramelised onion brandy ice cream?! Eww!!! And I say that as someone who loves caramelised onions on pretty much everything. I’m so glad the judges didn’t reward that nonsense.

Yeah. I’m not sure why he’s so hung up on Malcolm when it’s clear that Ainsley who is an actual killer is the same as him. She shares the same ruthless streak. If anything Malcolm is Jessica’s kid, he’ll do what he has to but it wears on him and you can see it. I also hope they make the escape story a whole family thing. The Whitley family dynamics are the best part of the show (Gil/Jessica being second).

Definitely. The new twists in the challenges are pretty interesting. Also added bonus I’m hoping COVID era rules means we don’t get those mass catering challenges which I hate. Im glad the brown team won, Elise was a total boss. Micromanagement can be useful in the correct situations. Plus most of the people’s whose names I’ve learned (Tommy, Kishwar, Elise) were on that team, so yay my favs! And I’m glad Depinder did well too. I was a little confused did Wynona just make ice cream with no idea on what goes with it? That seems like bad planning but I’m glad it turned out ok. I just hope Mel didn’t curse the season by announcing new ice cream royalty in week 2. Did IceCream Ben teach them nothing?! I don’t need the rest of the season to be about ice cream scooped on crumb already. There wasn’t much competition regarding who would be bottom. Improperly cooked meat is one of the biggest no nos. I’m surprised at how bad that guy was, the whole thing looked charred to a crisp and they’re talking about finishing it in a pan. The poor boy had no poker face. I felt bad for him, all that food made and nothing with the main ingredient. I’d have been pissed too. He did well to salvage it as much as he did.

Tommy is an absolute cutie. I was pleasantly surprised that at least most people got over half those flavours right. Those taste tests usually go pretty poorly for the cheftestants. Nigella looked like she was having a lot of fun with her video appearance. I always like her on this show (and in general) she just seems to enjoy food so much, I respect that.

Trent’s audition must have been absolutely amazing since didn’t have a single good cook out of the 3 I saw from him. I know he said savoury wasn’t his thing but his desserts were poor too. That tart was terrible, I bet Reece is somewhere yelling at the tv. Still too many people but I’m liking Depinder now too, after cooking choux for Emilia and the yummy looking biriyani she seems like a good one.

Yay show I’ve missed you. Masterchef UK is fine but I absolutely cannot stand Greg so it ruins half the joy for me. It’s just so nice to see Melissa eating elegantly again. I skipped the first episodes because I’m not a fan of the auditions. There’s just too many people to keep up with, there are still too many people to get any real sense of them but so far I do like Elise and Conor and I’m joining the Kishwar fan club too. I’m not sure about Beardy McBloke he seems nice enough but like the kind who always ends up going really far despite being really basic. Also super happy to see Emilia, she’s always hilarious but she seemed so much freer And funnier without the weight of competition.