MasterChef 2014

Lad last night managed to slip in 'buttery biscuit base' while stifling a giggle. Good lad :D
 
jellybeard999 said:
That was brilliant, he barely got the phrase out without laughing :D
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Did anyone else feel a bit suspicious of that lad? 21 years old with those kind of skills yet never been trained as a chef? Maybe he's spent the last 6 months at home cooking full time training himself, I dunno, just seemed a bit too good to be true
 
oli collett said:
Did anyone else feel a bit suspicious of that lad? 21 years old with those kind of skills yet never been trained as a chef? Maybe he's spent the last 6 months at home cooking full time training himself, I dunno, just seemed a bit too good to be true
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Didn't Gregg ask him at one point if he'd worked in a pro kitchen and he replied something like "I wouldn't be allowed on here if so."
 
Tax Evader said:
Didn't Gregg ask him at one point if he'd worked in a pro kitchen and he replied something like "I wouldn't be allowed on here if so."
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One thing being in a pro kitchen, but has he studied cooking and stuff? Thing is there's one thing being a natural when it comes to flavours, but having the technique as well..

Hope he doesn't end up in my mate's semi anyway!!
 
A couple of my mates have questioned his skills too - suspicious that he might be a plant for the TV ratings :D
 
We couldn't figure out how he got through selection only to come out with a dish like that. I'd half expect their menu choices to be vetted before filming.
 
So, finally managed to start catching up with MasterChef and I’m enjoying the changes they appear to have made since last year’s series. I don’t think they’d swapped the Invention and ‘Own Food’ tests round last year, had they?!

Anyway, I think it’s an inspired change from the usual format. Allowing all the contestants to show their abilities early-doors and then put them through an invention test does seem to make more sense than doing it round the other way. It's strange how a little change like that can make such a difference, especially in how you perceive the individual contestants.

I also really liked seeing Torode cook from the very boxes the contestants were being given, although we could have done without Greg's usual mugging to camera throughout the section. As before, was this in last year's series? I remember Torode doing some cooking, especially when showing the dish he wanted the contestants to replicate, but I don't recall him doing invention tests.

And do the contestants get to see the contents of both the invention test boxes before they pick one? I couldn’t quite work that out from what I’ve watched this far – some episodes allude to them being able to peer in first, where others show them discarding one box without having opened it. I guess it doesn’t really matter, but it would be an interesting additional twist if they kept the contestants in the dark right up until the reveal of the contents.

All-in-all, I'm enjoying MasterChef a lot more than I thought I would. It's been very interesting to see what all the previous finalists have been up to and play 'spot the missing one' from the bunch they have assembled and I think the only aspect that hasn't sat well for me so far is making the contestants stand in front of the them and introduce their dishes.

It's cringeworthy and, with the menus being on the tables, totally unnecessary.
 
im getting pee'd off with the contestants thinking they did really well because they got to the 1/4 final.. fact is 9 times out of ten times it was because some people were crap and had to be sent home.. not because you did a great job
 
I'd agree with you there. I'm only one week in but I wouldn't say that either of the two that went through has earned it - glaring mistakes from others have secured their places rather than their own individual brilliance.
 
glitch said:
And do the contestants get to see the contents of both the invention test boxes before they pick one? I couldn’t quite work that out from what I’ve watched this far – some episodes allude to them being able to peer in first, where others show them discarding one box without having opened it.
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they have to pick the box blind. it's only then they get 10 minutes to prep their menu/ideas before cooking starts.

i have to say i thought tonight's quarter final was disappointing. the right people went through based on what happened in the week though.
 
it wasn't immediately clear to me either but a few have grumbled about wishing they had picked the other box after seeing the ingredients they had chose.
 
oli collett said:
Thought I'd bump this as my friend was on last night, and some of you may have noticed he made it through! He somehow got the sodium citrate a bit wrong in the cheese sauce hence the seasoning issue in the mac n cheese, and i think he was a bit ambitious with the brisket chilli cooking time, but hopefully he'll do well tomorrow night in the quarter finals :)
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Just watched Micheal's first episode and I'm really surprised by what he chose to cook for the final round. He was that close to getting knocked out due to some really silly little mistakes and poor menu planning.

I reckon his best dish was the mackerel with the beetroot, which bodes well for the future. If he can come up with that in an invention test, he's got the necessary skills to succeed in the competition.

EDIT: Not entirely sure he got through to the next round by virtue of his own skill, but here's there nonetheless. He muffed the palate test up and I thought his salad was messy and lacked textural and visual variety, but Peter Griffin seemed impressed and he's hard to impress at the best of times.

Good work, sir.
 
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Jack doesn't seem to have been professionally-trained from where I'm sitting. He's made far too many basic mistakes for that and he'd be a lot better at presentation if he'd been through catering college or similar, so I just think he's done his homework, as it were.

My bet would be that he's got foodie parents, gets to eat out a lot and has been been fortunate enough to have some cooking lessons along the way. If the foodies parents guess is accurate, he'll no doubt have grown up in a home environment where he's got access to countless cookbooks and is able to experiment and learn.

It'll be fascinating to see what he does in the semis, as he's not really done anything that unexpected. All the dishes he could practice beforehand have been executed with a reasonable degree of success and he's been relatively fortunate in the invention and palate tests. He's also been relatively immune to criticism from the judges, which someone more senior than him wouldn't have got away with.

Take nothing away from him though - for someone of his age, he's extremely impressive and you can only learn so much before talent kicks in and takes you the rest of the way.
 
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