As the last week of the MasterChef heats, we were expecting a good few mishaps before the semi-finals kick in and everyone starts cooking some truly astounding dishes. However, there was certainly a lot more good than bad, with plenty of incredible cooking on show (mostly from Matt, who was pretty incredible). There was even a chocolate tree with orange blossom candy floss. That’s not to say it was an accident-free week, though – as you’ll see below.
Virtually all the chefs struggled with this initial skills test, attempting to fill their pasta with a hot filling, sealing it as fast as they could and chucking it in the boiling water – which unfortunately resulted in some pretty waterlogged results. It’s best to let the filling cool completely and take the time to ensure a watertight seal, although that’s admittedly tricky during a timed test in front of Marcus, Monica and Gregg.
Chris seemed to seriously upset Jay Rayner by leaving the green tops on the strawberries in his dessert, which goes to show that while they might add a splash of colour, they’re always best removed. In fact, the use of strawberries in the dessert were rather uninspired – if you’re going to include some fruit in your pudding, don’t just serve them as is in a professional cooking competition.
Whenever you’re leaving something to set, freeze or chill, always (always!) make sure the door is properly closed on the blast chiller before you rush off to get on with other tasks. Tom learnt that the hard way – his dessert of aerated sheep’s milk mousse with a sorrel granita relied entirely on set, chilled and frozen elements, all of which unfortunately retained their liquid state due to an open door. A fatal blow.
Matt was far and away the most successful chef of the week, doling out unusual, inspired dishes that made the most of ‘new Nordic’ techniques. Pickled pine leaves, caramelised miso soufflés, Arctir char smoked with sheep dung – in the wrong hands these dishes could’ve gone very, very badly, but Matt obviously knew what he was doing. He’s certainly a hot favourite to go through to the final.
