The final is here and the 12 that started have been whittled down to the final three of 2009′s Chris Badenoch, Callum Hann from 2010 and the winner of 2011, Kate Bracks. Who will take out the title tonight?
The contestants enter the MasterChef Kitchen and Callum is determined to win this time, as other participants are on the balcony. Tonight’s winner will recieve $25,000 for their charity.
Maggie Beer enters and the first challenge will see the contestants cook a family feast using fresh produce and some pantry items. The two with the best dishes will go through to the final round. They have to not only feed the Maggie and the judges, but also the other nine contestants from the MasterChef All Stars series.
Maggie declares she wouldn’t use tomatoes because they are out of season.
The contestants are making in 2 hours -
Kate – Vinicotto glazed pheasant stuffed with an orange, parsley, walnut and speck and roasted beetroot salad, a parsnip and pear mash with almonds and carrots cooked in verjuice with pine nuts.
Chris – Salt crusted chickens stuffed with crunchy potatoes in duck fat with black pudding and apple. Also roast parsnip with pickled quince, braised fennel, roasted carrots and cudites with anchovy dip to start.
Callum – A pearl barley, pine nut, muscat grape and parsley salad with pheasant legs with braised fennel, bread for dipping into the burrata, a celeriac puree, a pheasant jus, carrots and orange with burrata and roasted crown of pheasant with vincotto and verjuice.
Callum chose vegetarian because his sister is a vegetarian. Dani is very unimpressed he is not doing any meat! Chris is crusting his chooks and must make sure every surface is covered! OMG – Dear old Kate has never cooked a pheasant before – why do it now? I am predicting Callum will go through with his vegetarian feast and one of the birds, as they are quite similar. Probably Chris will get through so a past winner doesn’t take the final glory.
Great Callum – I just wrote all that and you decide to add a bloody protein – so scrap that thought from before everyone! He has bowed to the peer pressure from the gallery and judges. Callum is also doing pheasant and George and Gary are worried they won’t be cooked properly and that Chris’ chickens won’t be cooked through – but it will keep cooking in it’s crust.
With 15 minutes to go it’s time to BOOM! BOOM – Shake the room, God I love George. We are suddenly at the “pointy end” of the competition and it’s time to serve the dishes and see which two will go through.
Chris – He has kept the chicken in the crust so hopefully it will be cooked! It looks great, Dani says it’s juicy and Gary thought it was beautiful but the thigh was a bit raw on Aaron’s thigh was under done. Mostly positive remarks though!
Callum – They ALL love it, loving the puree as is the salad and Maggie loves the combination of flavours – he’s safe! (in my opinion)
Kate – After much worry the pheasant is cooked through, the stuffing is fab and Matt feels it’s a classic. Oh dear actually poor Aaron’s got raw meat again. Her salad was also slightly critisised.
Now for the scores.
Chris
Maggie – 8
Matt – 8
George – 8
Gary – 8
= 32/40
Callum
Maggie – 9
Matt – 9
George – 9
Gary – 9
= 36/40 – Callum is through
Kate
Maggie – 8
Matt – 8
George – 8
Gary – 7
= 31/40 – Kate is out!
Haha my prediction was right! But she has raised $11,000 for Tear Australia. Kate heads upstairs and they bid farewell to the lovely Maggie Beer. Now for round two of the grand finale.
Now it’s a pressure test set by no one else but the 2012 Sydney Chef of the Year and from the exquisite Quay – Peter Gilmore! this dish will be about old memories and making mistakes into triumphs – the dish is a spin on the classic SNOW EGG that cost Callum the grand final in 2010. This is a huge advantage to Callum so as a result, Matt announces that he will get to taste the egg and get to plate up one before the challenge starts – so Chris will go in tired. they are making this with jack fruit rather than guava though. This is BS! Chris ends up just getting a basic lesson it. They will have to make four and they have 3 hours for the challenge.
they start cooking with Callum four points ahead and they say he doesn’t have an advantage because it was 2 years ago and Chris now runs his own restaurant. that’s just wrong – if Callum wins I declare WAR on Ten! Chris seems flustered and is messing up his measurements and they think his jack fruit puree may be too intense. Also his meringue isn’t as glossy as Callum’s – well the little bugger has cooked it before and Chris hasn’t. His first batch of meringues has split and he has to start again. Poor Chris.
Callum is about three steps ahead of Chris and his second batch has worked. Both struggle with the praline that goes over the egg. They serve up their dishes to see who will take out the finale.
Chris – Their is inconsistency and no finesse but the egg is beautiful, it’s a different take on Peters and there are negative and posotive comments, but it doesn’t look good.
Callum – A bit inconsistent and the ice cream has melted because he has done it out of order. They like the flavour and is like Peters but is a very impressive effort – think he has taken the title.
Chris
Peter – 7
Matt – 8
George – 8
Gary – 7
= 30/40
Callum
Peter – 8
Matt – 9
George – 8
Gary – 9
= 34/40
Callum ended up on 70 to Chris’ 62.
So Callum wins – bloody rigged if you ask me! Congratulations to Callum though. Look forward to a massive rant by me on all of this though. Callum has donated $10,000 of his prize money to Chris’ charity (so sweet) and has himself raised $20,000 for the Cancer Council. What a bittersweet end though to what I thought was a great series. I just don’t think the finale was a level playing field.
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