MasterChef Australia All Stars – Sun 7:30pm, Mon-Thu 7pm, Ch10
http://www.masterchef.com.au/
Tonight, the Blue team has to deal with their worst nightmare – waking up with Gary or George standing over their beds. Poh’s worried, Justine’s confused, Julie’s determined and Chris is still angry. Look at how fame has changed them!
Another morning on Sydney Harbour reminds us that we’re in MasterChef. Julie and Poh are determined to win this challenge today, and while Chris thinks there isn’t going to be a loser he’s simply living in a wash of self-delusion. Somehow in Sydney traffic all the teams arrive at once and enter the kitchen to lacklustre applause, at best.
Gary’s pleased the Blue team is standing in front of him as he wasn’t prepared for any other team. He reminds them that the winner will take home $10,000 for their charity, just like all the Cheftestants have reminded us so far. Regrets, we’ve all had a few, though Matt P tells them today is all about redemption. It’s one of those great match ups – Fraser v Ali; Collingwood v everyone; Food v Aaron.
The question is which of the nightmare dishes will they face up to today – the knives will decide. Each Cheftestant has to pick a knife from their own block to determine which dish they’ll be working on. Everyone’s worried, but Justine steps up first and selects Pear Tart… the last time she did it she made burnt crumbs and that was her downfall. Next Poh claims a knife and has to face a chocolate tart, which was her downfall in the finale. Tempered chocolate will get you at the best of times, and Poh hasn’t tempered any chocolate since. Temperamental much?
Julie has to make Puddle Pie. Julie’s not sure if she’s happy about it, and neither are we. Chris selects the vanilla pannacotta knife; the same dish he made in a Zumbo challenge the first time around. Gary reveals he’s become a praying man because he hoped Chris would get that – and it also reveals him to be a complete bastard.
Each of the Cheftestants have differing times to complete their dishes – Poh & Chris get 2.5 hours, and Justine & Julie get 90 minutes – so the former two get into it as the others are banished upstairs. True to form, Chris looks angrier and Poh looks more frazzled than ever.
That Georgie Parker seems like a nice lady – is life that tough that Amcal Chemist ads are as good as it gets for her?
Chris recaps everything that’s happened to far in 30 seconds. Doesn’t crack a smile once. Poh never thought she’d have to revisit this tart dish and has even tattooed that just above her waistline. Chris hates the dish he’s working on – it’s not his style (so few pig’s trotters). Gary, George and Matt P discuss form and come to the agreement that all four Cheftestants are screwed.
Poh promises to follow the recipe to the ‘T’ which will mean her Tchocolate Tsorbet will be Tperfect. There’s pressure points, churners, blast freezers and a general lack of interest from the audience. Chris has 1,000 little processes to get things done but he knows he has to get the pannacotta in the fridge ASAP. When he opens the door he notices all his hopes and dreams are laid out in front of him in a side of bacon. It only makes him angrier.
Chris focuses on the macarons because that was the thing that beat him last time, so he hooks in and beats the dough and finds that really hard. The balconistas warn Poh that the almond meal might be too think to work with, as does Gary, so Poh kicks on and does her own thing anyway. Chris tries piping the mixture and it’s not overly successful. If only the Fireball would pop up to save him – oh, there it is.
Over the break Poh & Chris haven’t really progressed, though George takes the chance to be sexually inappropriate with Julie & Justine as a pair. Chris realises the mixture isn’t any good and he has to start again. ALL. OVER. AGAIN. Poh finally catches up to realise that the mixture is too stiff but perseveres anyway (as does Poh). Like it’ll make a difference.
Julie & Justine are welcomed down to start their dishes and it’s straight into Messville for Julie, right after the anxiety attack over the pie itself – and it’s the pastry that’s giving her the most grief. Nothing’s gonna bring Julie down though. Except abject failure.
Justine is working on Matt Moran’s pair. Sorry, Moran’s Pear Tart. Gary & George cannot help themselves to pop over and interfere, though they do catch her out when she admits to only preparing two pears when the recipe asks for four. They hang around longer than are welcome and she has to shoo them away before they ask about her helping with their pairs.
Poh is reminded about her macarons and races off to check them – they’re not good. Chris isn’t pleased with his either… they’re lumpy and not the smooth shells he was expecting. Poh decides the best way to fix it is to complain to Matt P about them, though it fixes nothing.
Cyclone Julie is in full swing – spoons akimbo – but at least her pastry looks like it’s worked out fine. She knows what she did wrong last time and intends full well to overcome those issues. Poh’s Tsorbet has come up a Ttreat.
The dreaded crumble is about to go in the oven for Justine, and she knows it’s critical to get it right this time. Julie puts her tart case in the oven with barely enough time to get it out at the end. HISTORY HAS TAUGHT US NOTHING. Poh’s nemesis, the chocolate half pipe, is causing her all sorts of grief. Recipes are only a guide after all. Everything is going down: the temperature of the chocolate; George’s pants as he gets near Justine; Poh’s chances…
30 minutes to go and Poh is losing her temper with the tempered chocolate. The judges are casting aspersions on Justine’s success as well as Chris’s macarons. Julie is saved criticism, mainly because she’s her own biggest critic.
Poh’s tempered chocolate hasn’t worked and she’s stressed, but she’s putting in the fridge in the hope it’ll help. MORE FLASHBACKS. Justine’s caught up looking at the recipe over and over and over and over and over. Nerves and Gary’s hand on her arse has got the better of her, though at least her crumble hasn’t burnt this time. Yet.
Chris seems to be right across it. Aaron and Dani are amazed that he’s cleaning down and has all this gear ready to go. George is amazed – he’s not seen a bench that clean in his restaurant in years. Chris begins plating up and, while he’s disappointed with his macarons, everything else looks pretty amazing.
Julie’s now playing a waiting game. Waiting for things to cook, chill and as is customary, fall apart at the last minute. “You all good?” asks George. “Yeah, nah no no no no,” says Julie. Too much to do and too much waiting to do. Poh has decided to temper more chocolate simply because she can.
Julie takes the case out of the oven but doesn’t want to take it out of the tin immediately, but after 30 seconds in the blast chiller she collects herself and pops the tart casing out. IT’S WORKED! Now she has to fill, dress and plate it in almost five minutes.
Justine’s popped her tart out and just as she’s slicing the tart she cuts her finger. Poh’s running around looking for her tart (still in the fridge), and someone forgot to tell George that “Boom boom shake the room” doesn’t rhyme when he says it.
The final parts are plated, the chaos is over, and all is well – except for Poh’s tempered chocolate, which is still in the tube she set it in. “I just let it get on top of me psychologically,” she says. Given she’s sharing a kitchen with Gary & George she really needs to reconsider some of the things she says.
The big reveal for all the Cheftestants, now that their stations have been cleaned down by a lackey and their dishes put back in the fridge. Poh goes first and there’s some concern straight up over the missing tempered chocolate half-pipe. George allows her to add the “not shiny” tube to the plate because, let’s face it, she’s not gonna win and it counts for nothing. George loves the sound of his own voice and reminds us as he crack’s Poh’s tube (not a euphemism). The tart and the sorbet are declared to be perfect, and she walks back to her bench to the applause of the star struck balconistas.
Justine presents her pear tart to the warm affirmations of the judges based on looks alone. The tart don’t look bad either. Gary is of the opinion after many mouthfuls that it looks beautiful (thanks Chris!) and the elements have all come together, but the tart needed a little bit longer in the oven. Special thanks to Chris, at which point Gary says there are special rules for Justine so everything’s alright.
Chris delivers the vanilla pannacotta, and he thinks it’s better than last time in taste but it may not look as good as it should. George paws clumsily at the food with his spoon, then grabs a macaron to inhale. He offers the pannacotta is brilliant and that the pannacotta is like an amaretti biscuit, which Chris quickly agrees and says it’s more amaretti than failure.
The puddle pie has made it, and Julie’s nerves are in better shape than they were before. Matt P offers her the chance to cut and serve her tart for the judges and it looks to have come out as a complete success. Julie agrees it looks 1000% better than last time, and has held together just right. She’s exorcised a few demons, namely ones called Gary & George.
Blah blah blah everything looked great and tasted excellent, so let’s go to an ad before we have a chance to tell you all who won. OMG this drawn out judgement gets old super quick. JUST TELL US WHO EFFING WON ALREADY!
Matt P offers metaphors aligning the Cheftestants to Blue Knights going in to battle against their Dragon dishes. Yes, yes, we all get that they cooked good and that. The best two dishes are determined to be Julie and Poh but there can be only one winner and it’s Julie by a country mile. Poh & Julie embrace and run out of the MasterChef kitchen holding hands and skipping.
Julie’s won $10,000 for her charity and understandably she’s stoked to win. Julie asks if she can share the prize with Poh’s charity, which the judges quickly agree with and so now both Julie and Poh are winners, as are their charities! HOORAY FOR EVERYTHING!
The other teams join them on the floor and it’s hugs all round. Gary assures everyone there’s still money to be won by the others, and asks for a hug. Touchy feely much? On Sunday, the game changes as they compete as individuals against 12 of the country’s best chefs ahead of the start… ELIMINATION!