Here we go – the end of the line. Phew. It’s been a long hard season for those of us who have seen this show for years.
We start with a loooooong intro about the 3 contestants. Andy
says Pete is basically ready to step out and start a restaurant. Mel says
Kishwar has come a long way (by cooking the same stuff over and over again). Mel
also adds that no-one expected Justin to be here – I mean who could have predicted
this surprise when the judges were randomly eliminating super-star contestants.
No one could have possible seen this coming.
There are going to be three rounds in the Grand Finale – and
for the first time, it will be held across 2 days. Today Round 1 and 2 –
tomorrow Round 3.
For Round 1 – they start with a mystery box with ingredients
chosen by some of the best chefs in the country. A parade of big name chefs who
have appeared on the show this season show up – Khanh Nguyen, Martin Benn,
Darren Purchase, Alla Wolf Tasker, Kirsten Tibbals etc. Each of them have
brought one ingredient for the mystery box and the contestants can choose one
more from the garden.
The box has duck, Passion fruit, mushrooms, kohlrabi, King George
whiting, gold chocolate, tomato ponzu – it seems like quite a good box.
Kishwar is amazingly not going Bengali today. She is making
a pan seared King George whiting butterflied out, using the duck fat to cook
the mushrooms and serving with some pickled kohlrabi. This is a welcome move,
she wants to show the judges she is not a one trick pony.
Pete is also doing pan seared King George whiting with
kohlrabi scales and a Geraldton Wax oil.
Justin is cooking duck – but he doesn’t have a clear dish idea
yet.
Jock and Andy is asking Kishwar why she is bothering to show
her skills when they are willing to hand over the trophy for the most basic Bengali
food. They have basically told her to not make this classy, genuinely
interesting dish and instead make something “more Kishwar” which was never a
criteria for judging anyway. She is going to change her dish entirely now. Excellent.
Now she is making whiting wrapped in pandan leaves on the hibachi.
She says she is happy with doing a dish which speaks to her heritage – what part
of King George Whiting or Pandan or Hibachi exactly speaks to Bengal / Bangladesh?
Justin still doesn’t have an idea – and says he is very
distracted by seeing Jock in a kilt. Martin Benn is there to encourage him and
tell him he did a great job at Society so he should get a move on. Now he has a
plan – he is intensifying the flavour of the mushrooms but putting them in the
pan.
Kishwar is now praying her fish packets are perfect – again not
sure why on Earth she changed her dish.
Pete’s kohlrabi scales look amazing. Justin has finally decided
on passion fruit glaze over the duck.
The guest chefs are leaving now – which means we don’t have
a service challenge like last time. Also the poor guys get to eat nothing.
Round 1 Tasting
Pete’s KG whiting with kohlrabi, pine mushrooms and Geraldton
wax. Jock says the fish is beautifully
cooked and in general the dish is good. Fish was opaque, glistening and delicious,
and the broth was delicious as well. Mel says clean, concentrated, refined,
sophisticated bowl of food. Andy says this dish belongs in any top restaurant in
the country. Calling it now that I cannot imagine anyone else more deserving of
this win than Pete.
Kishwar’s Pandan wrapped whiting with duck fat mushrooms
with kohlrabi salad. This looks super simple compared to Pete’s dish. Mel says it
was super delicious. Andy is very happy with the fact that she has put pepper
in her fish! Talk about bare minimum expectations! Jock says it was delicious but
the fish was dry.
Justin’s Passion Fruit glazed duck with mushrooms and
pickled kohlrabi. Mel says it is a lovely plate of food and the duck cooked
perfectly. Kohlrabi has a nice acidity and crunch. She felt the mushrooms were
a bit dry. Jock also says the duck was fantastic – but the mushrooms being a
bit slippery could have made it great.
Scores
Kishwar – All the judges give her dish a 7/10. Total of 21
points
Justin – Somehow all of them have rated his dish as well
7/10. This makes no sense at all. Kishwar’s main protein element was dry and
imperfectly cooked, one of the side things in Justin’s dish ‘could have been
better’ C’mon! This is ridiculous. They are going to totally screw him over in
this.
Pete – Mel and Jock give 9/10; Andy gives him a 10/10. He is
in a big lead with 28/30 after the first round.
Now for Round 2. Mel says they have to be inspired by their families
who are coming in now. In other words, here come the waterworks. Best moment of
this reunion is Kishwar’s daughter trolling
her about how she always cries.
In this round the families are going to choose the ingredient
that the contestants will cook with from one bowl of balls, and one ‘curveball’
for the cook. So basically, another lucky dip – as stupid as it gets –
especially for a final. Just have a regular service challenge.
Kishwar gets white soy sauce and her curveball is smoke. Considering
white soy is commonly used for all sorts of marination and can be used to substitute
salt – this is super easy.
Justin gets ruby grapefruit as his ingredient and fusion as
his curveball. In other, unrelated news, Dan has orgasmed on the gantry.
Pete gets quince and steamed. This seems like he hardest of
the lot – certainly the most random ingredient.
Mercifully, Jock adds that neither have to be heroed – so that
is at least a good thing. In other words, they have to just make whatever they
want and somehow use the ingredient and curveball.
Justin is going fish curry. He is using one of his mom’s
curries but with a twist – using Australian native ingredients. He is planning to
use the grapefruit as seasoning because it is quite sour.
Pete is stuck and lost with this challenge. He doesn’t seem
to have figured out that he just needs to cook whatever he wants and
incorporate some element of the ingredient. Jock comes and yells at him, says
he has wasted time mucking about, and explains in clear terms that this challenge
is pointless and he should just make a dish he wants and get the quince in, in the
simplest way possible.
Now he has got his act together. He is now juicing the
quince, he plans to turning it into a glaze and he will cook quail since it
cooks quickly. He plans to steam asparagus as well.
Kishwar has taken to heart the advice that she has been
given by Jock and Andy - make Bengali food
and she will simply be handed the trophy. Unfortunately, unlike the semi final
where she made something truly complex like nalli nihari – she is making aloo
bharta with rice and fried sardines. So basically, an incredibly simple dish
she would have made at home without spending months in this kitchen learning from
the best chefs in Australia.
Kishwar says she is cooking this dish how it has been cooked
for hundreds of years it seems. Rice, mashed potatoes and fried fish. For a
finale. Amazing.
Justin is trusting that his instincts are correct and the fish
is perfectly cooked. Why do these things in the final – just check things no?
Pete’s quail temp is 44 and he wants it to be 50 – he wants
to rest it to get to 50. Not sure how this works. It also seems like a biggish
gap to make up in just resting.
Pete is cutting into his quail – not sure if he’s happy with
the cook on that or not. He is in laser focus mode and has ignored everyone
asking if he is happy with the cook on the quail.
Round 2 Tasting
Kishwar’s aloo bharta with rice and fried sardines. Mel says
this is powerful food. Jock says sardine cooked to perfectly. Unbelievably she
might actually win this challenge - because I have a bad feeling both Justin
and Pete have fucked up their meat.
Justin’s Poached fish in a curry broth. Jock has stolen the
big bowl and started eating the broth. Andy says again – best dish he’s put up
in the competition. Fish is expertly done. Phew! Mel says he has used the ruby
grapefruit was very smart. Jock says it was perfect.
Pete’s Quince glazed quail. Looks extremely elegant. Jock says
his piece was beautifully cooked – rare like it should be. Andy also says his
meat is perfectly cooked. Mel says the sauce was perfect, but the quail seems
raw. Now I am not sure how quail that was in the oven, cut and placed on a plate
could possibly yield 2 pieces that were perfection and one that was RAW. I have
a strong feeling they are just pulling down Pete to make tomorrow’s challenge
interesting.
Scoring
Kishwar – Everyone gives her 10/10. She ends up with a total
of 51. This is absolutely insane. She has basically cooked a dish she would have
made in the first week of the competition. This is not even a complex, heavily
spiced, highly dependent of balance of flavour dish. This is just mashed
potatoes with rice and fried fish. Jock says this is exactly the kind of food
that belongs in this kitchen.
So let me get this straight – this supremely simple, basic
dish is what you expect in this competition. This competition which exists for
the sole purpose of allowing home cooks to realise their food dreams and go
professional. And you think, a basic bitch home dish which would have barely
found a place in the first few episodes is worth a 30/30 in the finale.
Go home everyone, they’ve broken Masterchef.
Justin - Mel gives him 9, Jock 10, Andy 10 – 29/30. He ends
up with a total of 50 points. Even assuming Pete’s quail’s one bite was raw while
the rest of the dish was perfect, he deserves to be in the lead here.
Pete –Jock gives him 10/10. Andy gives him 9/10. Mel gives 6/10
because of the allegedly raw quail. He ends up on 25/30 with a total of 53.
Yup – this was totally not planned to have the 3
participants at a cliffhanger of 53-51-50 going into the final round. Absolutely
believable.
Fuck this shit. Can’t wait for tomorrow and this ordeal to
be over.
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