S13.W2 (E05-09): Superstars Week

[Athena]

Starts April 25, 2021.

[SnideAsides]

I hope when they have all the guests next week, they wheel the big TV in through the doors and all the way across the kitchen for shits and giggles. Bonus points if any of the guests does a slo-mo Baywatch walk while they're being wheeled in.

[katisha]

Well, that was one tough elimination challenge so early in the piece. Might have known that of the bottom five, Blokey's cake would receive the most praise because they just can't resist the "sausage-fingered tradie bakes a cake" storyline. But Yo Yo is another who clearly didn't have many strings to her bow other than what she cooked to get her onto the show and her efforts tonight were a complete cluster.

Tim is almost scarily focused, isn't he.

Edited April 25, 2021 by katisha

[SnideAsides]

Now we've just got to hope there's no second-chance challenge that means Yo-Yo returns.

[dippydee]

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.

 

Edited April 25, 2021 by dippydee

[babs1226]

Those were two competitions I've never seen before.  Taste tests, yes, but not a tin full of different flavor biscuits.  The cake challenge reminded me of the technicals on The Great British Baking show, but much more intense.  The addition of the creme anglaise was sneaky, but was it really necessary with that cake?

I agree about Yo Yo's limited skill set.  She should stick with medicine for now.  Bye Yo Yo.

 

[katisha]

12 hours ago, babs1226 said:

Those were two competitions I've never seen before.  Taste tests, yes, but not a tin full of different flavor biscuits.  The cake challenge reminded me of the technicals on The Great British Baking show, but much more intense. 

And they were at it again with the first team challenge.  Never seen that type of challenge before where one half of the team started the cook and the other half ended it, and you had a non-cooking captain calling the shots and (in theory) overseeing everything.  I know they've had to think outside the square because of COVID and that's actually led to some really creative ideas which have freshened up the show IMHO. 

I had to chuckle when Tommy (who I also really like) said something like, "Looking at me, you might assume I make dumplings by hand every night but I usually just buy them pre-made and heat them up."  Hehehehe!  He really didn't look all that skilled and I think his slowness nearly caused poor Eric to have a conniption.  And as for what Tom thought of Therese's multi-element dessert where the one thing she DIDN'T start to make was the element that had the required "flavour bomb" in it, I don't think it would be printable and I can't say I blame him.  It's not fair to your team-mates to do stuff like that in a challenge which can land you all in the elimination (and it did).

[dippydee]

8 hours ago, katisha said:

know they've had to think outside the square because of COVID and that's actually led to some really creative ideas which have freshened up the show IMHO. 

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. 

8 hours ago, katisha said:

And as for what Tom thought of Therese's multi-element dessert where the one thing she DIDN'T start to make was the element that had the required "flavour bomb" in it, I don't think it would be printable and I can't say I blame him

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.

Edited April 26, 2021 by dippydee

[katisha]

Hmm, is it just me or does anyone else have the biggest craving for mac and cheese and bread and butter pudding?  😋  Some of those mac and cheese dishes had me drooooling.  I wonder how hard it was for Therese to resist the temptation to produce a pasta ice-cream with a parmesan crumb, bechamel tuille and blue cheese granita?  No word of a joke, I was preparing for that outcome!  As it turned out, Tom went slightly nuts and "did a Therese" with that mille-feuille so I was actually glad he ended up in round 2.  Sometimes doing something simple well can be its own reward.

Eliminations aren't very stressful at this stage of the competition because there's barely been time to learn even half the contestants' names, let alone form any kind of attachment to them.  But if I had to choose between Katrina and Dan, I'm glad Katrina left.  Good luck to her anyway and if they bring them back for the second chance thingy again this year, we'll see her then.

 

 

[SnideAsides]

They've done the Nigella's Storytime challenge before (using one of Matt Preston's food reviews) and it was just as obnoxious then. I think part of the issue with this week is having to have the guests on the big screen means there's only so few ways they can be involved in the challenges, leading to shit like getting one of the world's most respected Italian chefs to demonstrate how to make fucking mac and cheese. (I also question the wisdom of calling the Middle Eastern chef's core ingredients "flavour bombs", but that's a whole other criticism for another day.)

I'm thinking there'll be fewer big catering challenges this season, but there still will be some. Victoria's basically Covid-free and restrictions have steadily eased since filming would have begun, so it's definitely possible, even if the crowds may just be dozens instead of hundreds. Or maybe with the role it played in the world's Covid-safe filming setups, this might finally be the year they make them cook lunch for the cast and crew of Neighbours. I can't believe they've been filming in Melbourne for nearly a decade and haven't done it yet.

[ReallyRealReality]

8 hours ago, katisha said:

Hmm, is it just me or does anyone else have the biggest craving for mac and cheese and bread and butter pudding?  😋  Some of those mac and cheese dishes had me drooooling.  I wonder how hard it was for Therese to resist the temptation to produce a pasta ice-cream with a parmesan crumb, bechamel tuille and blue cheese granita?  No word of a joke, I was preparing for that outcome!  As it turned out, Tom went slightly nuts and "did a Therese" with that mille-feuille so I was actually glad he ended up in round 2.  Sometimes doing something simple well can be its own reward.

Eliminations aren't very stressful at this stage of the competition because there's barely been time to learn even half the contestants' names, let alone form any kind of attachment to them.  But if I had to choose between Katrina and Dan, I'm glad Katrina left.  Good luck to her anyway and if they bring them back for the second chance thingy again this year, we'll see her then.

 

 

I'm thankful to find out that the 'bumper' announcement saying "Sunday night on Masterchef Australia, superstar week continues..." was wrong and that there was no (nearly) week long thing happening there that we (the rest of the world) were unaware of.  🙃  Nearly gave me a panic attack that I'd have to start all over trying to figure out names and faces.  It's bad enough I couldn't remember who Katrina is, so I decided to re-watch a little of the previous episode and I just have to comment on the outstanding chipotle peanuts 'flubs' from the editing room.

The teams have run to their stations and are compiling their menus and tasting the flavor bombs while Melissa is shown happily tucking into a 2/3's full jar of chipotle peanuts saying "these are addictive", followed by the teams rushing thru the pantry and the judges talking to Yotum about his dishes and displaying the full jars of flavor bombs as they do their initial tastings along with his menu descriptions... 1 (numbing oil), 3 (fenugreek marinade) then 2 (chipotle peanuts) but they left in Andy's statement and hand gesture signaling from 1 to 2, "and let's go down one to those chipotle peanuts".  I'm not quite sure why editing decided to switch the order up, maybe to follow along with Yotum's  meal order, but it was very distracting because it was obvious when the peanut jar was always at different levels throughout their tasting.  I'm not sure if they were being used as palette cleansers or what, but the jar was never as full as it should have been.  🤣

 

[babs1226]

I was surprised that none of the contestants in round 2 thought of french toast initially, and it seemed to take Tom forever to think of it. They all did produce great dishes.  

I like the new exit. Much nicer to see them walk off instead of getting in a car. 

 

[SnideAsides]

I wonder if maybe they thought it would taste more like egg than bread?

I'm just happy they actually called it French toast instead of eggy bread.

[dippydee]

On 4/27/2021 at 8:16 AM, katisha said:

Hmm, is it just me or does anyone else have the biggest craving for mac and cheese and bread and butter pudding?  😋

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.

[katisha]

1 hour ago, dippydee said:

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.

Oh, God, me too.  Just...no.  It's NOT an ice-cream thing.  Can we just get Therese a job working for Creepy Ice-Cream Ben and be done with it? 

I learnt a couple more names today for contestants I'm starting to like.  One of them is Pete, the former corporate worker turned tattoo artist who now says he wants to be a chef.  He seems a really nice bloke and obviously has some skills too.

1 hour ago, dippydee said:

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 no fan of any kind of seafood but I have to say that both Linda's pasta dish (I also learnt her name in the last couple of days) and Aaron's lasagne looked amazing, especially that lasagne.  But, yeah, that was a mystery box that could have gone in a lot of other less predictable directions.

[SnideAsides]

I enjoyed Clare awkwardly side-eyeing the judges whenever they were talking to the contestants rather than her. I hope that whenever we can get international chefs back on the show properly, she's right on top of the list.

[Aerobicidal]

The Brent focus is becoming extremely grating. We get it--he can't speak English, he doesn't know what the ingredients are, and he can't believe he can cook desserts. Well, guess what? It doesn't take much to make ice cream on top of a crumb, regardless of what this show's trying to sell its viewers. 

I have been waiting over thirteen months to eat in a restaurant and I can safely say I would be enraged if my dessert was ice cream on a crumb. Any contestant still making those dishes should be elbow bumped straight off the set.

Nigella's verbose language challenge earlier in the week was very meta coming from a show that could be the basis for a Ph.D thesis on inarticulateness (looking at you, Andy).

I would like to see a little more constructive criticism, less crumb, three eliminations a week, and less ice cream. But I'm enjoying this season more than I've enjoyed this show in a very long time, and only planning on regularly skipping the Thursday episodes.

[misgabi13]

On 4/27/2021 at 7:14 AM, dippydee said:

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.

Having just watched Wednesday night's episode I had to chuckle at what you said Dippydee - as so many made ice cream!

On 4/25/2021 at 11:44 PM, katisha said:

Tim is almost scarily focused, isn't he.

I love watching Tim!  He is so calm and focused but has the driest of wit!

[katisha]

8 hours ago, Aerobicidal said:

The Brent focus is becoming extremely grating. We get it--he can't speak English, he doesn't know what the ingredients are, and he can't believe he can cook desserts. Well, guess what? It doesn't take much to make ice cream on top of a crumb, regardless of what this show's trying to sell its viewers. 

And why do we have to flog this same dead horse season after season?  It almost wouldn't BE Masterchef AU if we didn't have a tradie in the cast whose every step away from steak and chips is hailed as the coming of a new dessert savant or something.  

Tonight's episode was just OK for me but I was glad to see Pete and Depinder do well because I really like them both.  

Lastly, who came up with the "mee-cro-war-vay" thing?  I think we're going to be hearing a lot of it this season!

[misgabi13]

1 hour ago, katisha said:

Lastly, who came up with the "mee-cro-war-vay" thing?  I think we're going to be hearing a lot of it this season!

Nigella said it a few months ago in her new series and broke the internet!  So, yes we will be hearing it all season!

I have an issue with Aaron - he was a crap captain for the team challenge, then he admitted to stealing Jock's porky mac and cheese - which I could live with.

However, tonight he makes the cornflake icecream that he totally stole from Larissa (who possibly stole it from Billie???).

He has no inventiveness but they all act like he made up these dishes.

*sigh*

[dippydee]

9 hours ago, misgabi13 said:

Having just watched Wednesday night's episode I had to chuckle at what you said Dippydee - as so many made ice cream!

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.

16 hours ago, Aerobicidal said:

The Brent focus is becoming extremely grating. We get it--he can't speak English, he doesn't know what the ingredients are, and he can't believe he can cook desserts. Well, guess what? It doesn't take much to make ice cream on top of a crumb, regardless of what this show's trying to sell its viewers. 

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.

Edited April 29, 2021 by dippydee

[Rosenrot]

I could bathe in Tom's voice, plus he looks like Will Poulter, and I'm alright with that. 

Had so many bad, thirsty Jock puns this week but forgot them all. :( One had definitely something to do with "When it comes to cheese, MAKE IT RAIN!!"   

Not a fan of the obviously pre-recorded chef visitations. I understand why they had to do it like that, but to me, it's just cringe-y on all possible levels. Would almost have been better not to have them at all. 

8 hours ago, katisha said:

And why do we have to flog this same dead horse season after season?  It almost wouldn't BE Masterchef AU if we didn't have a tradie in the cast whose every step away from steak and chips is hailed as the coming of a new dessert savant or something

Tell me about it. Blokey's schtick is getting real old real fast and the sooner he goes, the better IMO. I have to say though that I did like his "this ingredient is pretty, and desserts are pretty, so therefore it is going into a dessert" approach. Food Logic 101!  

Edited April 29, 2021 by Rosenrot

[SnideAsides]

I'm finding Aaron and Pete far more irritating, but maybe that's just because they've been getting more exposure the last couple of nights.

Overall though, my problem is I don't feel like this is a particularly strong group of chefs. Like I know we were probably due a dud batch, especially after last year, but the gap between legitimate contenders and people who can't cook but fit a niche the show is going for feels wider than basically any season except the stupid Battle of the Sexes year where someone served raw chicken in the grand finale and still got 7/10 scores from the judges because they wanted to save face about how they let someone so incompetent get so far.

[babs1226]

I never eat avocados any time of day, because I don't like them, but I never knew they were a breakfast thing.  

I am curious why Aaron couldn't use the liquid nitrogen on the mixture he had in the churner.  Why did he have to make a new one?  Does anyone know?

Brent doesn't bother me, which is good, and  I thought his ice cream dish was creative.  Therese annoys me for some reason.  I'm not sure why yet.

I just noticed tonight that the red scooter is gone.

 

[seltzer3]

I actually thought that this group of contestants seem really talented.  However, they really need to chill it with the ice cream.  Didn't expect 5 ice creams for dessert, and there was an ice cream overload the challenge before.

The bacon one, you could do so much more than ice cream (donuts, pies, cakes etc.)

Depinder is definitely the one to watch.  Even when she makes ice cream she has really good plating skills (making the Alaskan bombe, and the meringue avocado)

FYI, Aaron was hilariously bad when he was team leader.  Poor guy just looked like he wandered onto the set. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by seltzer3

[Rosenrot]

Heeey, hold on just a second. Jock doesn't like Earl Grey? Woah. I think I'll have to reconsider my plan of kidnapping him and forcing him to marry me at gunpoint, because what would we drink together if not Earl Grey? 

Pete is being endearingly awkward in his talking heads and I like him. 😊 (I probably would not like his bacon ice cream, though.)

Heston was just as useless as all the other chefs before him, which is a shame. Damn you, Covid!

Edited May 1, 2021 by Rosenrot

[Niuxita]

Look at Linda go! Being immediately saved in the elimination challenge and then selected to cook for immunity the next day (Earl Grey misstep notwithstanding). I thought she would be one of the first to go given that we weren't even shown her audition, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see her doing well so far and I'm digging her vibe. Between her and Kishwar, I hope this is the season of the stay-at-home moms absolutely crushing it in the competition (although now I'm scared that Kishwar has been featured minimally this week).

Lord, FIVE ice cream dishes in the immunity challenge? Yawn. 

Agreed that the Brent overpraise is getting a bit much. I thought for sure he would be selected to cook for immunity but then Conor came out of nowhere, so I think/hope that might be the judges' approach with him. Act like he invented desserts/ice cream/anything that isn't something he would normally cook but then pick someone else who actually deserves it when it comes down to it.

Mel looked lovely in pink.

[katisha]

Never mind - wrong thread!

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by katisha

[displayname]

It's just too much of ice cream for me.

[babs1226]

I really liked the team challenge.  It was a nice change.  I felt bad for Tommy.  He knew desserts weren't his strength, and Dan obviously knew more about making desserts, so Dan should have stayed in the competition imo.  I'm sure Therese was kicking herself for choosing the gooey cake over the baked one.

[babs1226]

I'm really enjoying the competition this season.  So many new and different challenges.  I also like the mystery box being toward the end.  Get the eliminations out of the way then let everyone have fun with their cooking.