MasterChef
Weekly Updates
Check here every Thursday for weekly updates from the Our Kitchen Chefs (all very talented people working at Fisher & Paykel with their own blog- www.ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com). We will have tips & tricks from the show- to help you become a MasterChef too. We will also update about the products they are using, and how to get the best for your kitchen appliances.
29 April 2010 The Grande Finale!
What an amazing day for the two chefs, Kelly and Brett, with 4 challenges to divide them and leave only one to be the first MasterChef New Zealand. Each challenge was allocated a different amount of points depending on difficulty with a grand total of the day of 100 points.
The first challenge was a Minestrone soup taste test with 20 ingredients, each worth one point. They were given 2 minutes to sample the soup and write down all the ingredients that they could taste, see or smell. Surprisingly both chefs failed to write down any liquids; however they both did very well at picking the herbs, spices and beans. In the end it was a very close challenge with Kelly taking it out by one point.
Next up for the day was the creation challenge, worth the most points, 40, of the day. They had to focus on kiwi food, each having to choose a certain cut of lamb. Brett opted for a lamb rack whereas Kelly went for a lamb fillet. Brett's herb crusted lamb rack with mash, pea puree, baby carrots and red wine reduction was stunning; the judge's really loved his puree and awarded him the definite winner.
In the next challenge, a sausage machine was unveiled to the contestants. Ray McVinnie gave a demonstration on how to use the contraption to mince meat and then case sausages. The contestants were given the task of producing the best sausage with a maximum of 10 points up for grabs. Kelly kept her sausages simple, marrying sage, onion and garlic with chicken and pork. She poached the sausages first to ensure the chicken was well-cooked but too much heat when frying caused a couple to split. Brett's sausages were more complex with fennel, thyme, sage, garlic, raw apple, veal and pork. The judges were first sceptical with Brett's flavours but in the end, judges loved them both.
The last challenge was the most difficult of all in the series. To create a croqeumbouche or French wedding cake for a maximum of 30 points. This comprised of making choux pastry and baking profiteroles, filling the profiteroles with crème patisserie and then piling them into a tower structure - stuck by sugar and finally finished with spun sugar. Brett's crème patisserie was too runny but he didn't let it defeat him; he repeated it with success. Kelly's crème patisserie was described as 'perfect', although her caramel was undercooked which made it tasteless and sticky. Both contestants were commended for their efforts but it was Kelly's croquembouche which won her this challenge.
Our congratulations to both Brett and Kelly for their hard work in the intense final challenge, they did an excellent job. Brett's overall points earned him the title of NZ's first MasterChef, what a feeling that must have been. Although Kelly came out second best, she was offered a job at Euro, Simon Gault's reputable restaurant in Auckland's viaduct harbour
We are looking forward to meeting with Brett and providing him with a top of line kitchen. We are sure he will continue to enjoy cooking his culinary creations at home for his family. For details on his kitchen prize package please visit our Izona website, www.tomorrowskitchen.co.nz. Finally, we were absolutely delighted to be part of MasterChef and were excited to hear Season 2 had been announced. In the meantime keep visiting Our Kitchen for cooking inspiration.
22 April 2010
It's getting down to the wire now; the pressure is on as the four remaining contestants vie for that top spot. Guest judge Al Brown ushers in the theme of cook book style meals. Contestants are to think of a cook book idea and create a starter, main and dessert centred round that idea that could be in their book.
Contestants are given five minutes to select 30 ingredients from the pantry that will help them achieve their vision. Tracey decides on the idea of a cook book about simple, yet impressive meals to prepare for dinner parties entitling her cook book 'Let me entertain you'. She makes a play on the simple shrimp cocktail serving it with potato wafers and a tomato concasse salad. The dish was well presented but overall the judges found it a safe choice and lacking in flavour. Both her main and dessert suffered the same problems, with either not enough herbs or too little sugar (a cardinal sin!).
Next up was Brett he cooked with an intense Asian theme and decided to call his cook book 'Intrepid cooking'. He presented three amazing dishes with intense colour and as indicated by the judges, flavour. Most interesting was his dessert vanilla rice with mango in banana leaf parcels with a pineapple salsa. The judges were most impressed.
Next comes Kelly with her zany and imaginative ideas, which at first somewhat dumbfounds the judges. She plans to entitle her book 'Emotional eating and feeling food', making it all about eating healthy food for the senses. Although some of her flavours sound a little odd (goat's cheese and blueberry parcels for the main?) her food is a hit with the judges, in particular her pineapple digestive which has pineapple served three ways.
Finally its Steve's turn he decides to make a Kiwi affair and goes with the book title 'Kiwi as'. A cook book devoted to cooking with what we have in this fair country through hunting, fishing and native foods we have available. Straight off the bat the judges are disappointed, the idea is unoriginal and been done before. Steve's biggest mistake though was not thinking about pairing of flavours and textures, white bait and avocado was a big no no as was a tomato and kiwifruit salad with his fish.
Due to the lack of thought of flavours and seasoning in Tracey's and Steve's meals they are both sent packing in a shock twist. Brett wins making it through to the final first followed by Kelly, next week should be a tension filled affair with a two hour finale to see who New Zealand's Master Chef is.
The take home lessons from this show are that thinking about the simple things, flavours and seasoning is actually what separates an average cook from a great cook. Always think about the food you are pairing, if you have a magnificent ingredient like white bait let it shine, a simple squeeze of lemon juice will zest up its flavour without compromising it. Always taste your food as you go, it's amazing what a little bit of pepper or salt (or even sugar) can do to your dish.
15 April 2010
The pressure is starting to mount in the kitchen as the contestants faced the hardest challenge yet: preparing a ten course degustation for three major kiwi foodies. Each constant was given 3 1/2 hours to prepare 2 dishes, ranging from tomato consommé to a wattleseed seasoned ostrich fillet to a lemon souffé. The judges for the day included Josh Emett, executive chef for Gordon Ramsey, Michael Meredith, owner of Meredith's Restaurant and Simon Wright, owner of the French Café. All three were flown into Bracu via helicopter, signifying their stature in the food industry.
Surprisingly, the dishes considered to be the easiest really challenged our constants, while the most difficult dishes were served perfectly. Kelly excelled at the Lamb Saddle as did Tracey with her Market Fish; they both overcame challenging techniques all the while being very time conscious. Easier dishes, such as the cheese board prepared by Nigel failed to meet the judge's expectations and resulted in the dish being sent back to the kitchen due to cold Brioche.
Tracey won the competition with her market fish and tomato consomme dishes; she composed herself well given the tough challenge and loud orders from the head chef of Bracu. Her performance really showed her as a standout in the competition and we are very interested to see her performance next week.
Some related links from Our Kitchen if you feel like having a go at some potential degustation courses:
Seared tuna with laksa sauce and sesame rice
Fried tofu in ginger, soy and butter sauce
Vanilla panna cotta with coconut macaroons
8 April 2010
A contagious case of the jitters swept though the contestants during the pressure test last night. The challenge was to recreate a very impressive chocolate pistachio Marquise dessert by Matthew Metcalf of Icing on the Cake. The techniques involved were quite challenging and included; sugar work, making marshmallow, poaching rhubarb and making tuiles.
Kirsty could not take the pressure and her attempt turned into a bit of a disaster leading to her elimination from the show. She had trouble with the marquise - splitting the mixture meaning it was very grainy.
Steve won the challenge with his cool and calm work, replicating the dessert beautifully - Matthew said that if he hadn't seen Steve plate it then he would have thought that he had taken one of his from out the back!
Steve's exciting reward was to help develop a marquise dessert of his own to be served at Auckland's Euro restaurant, a privilege for this aspiring chef.
Some related links from Our Kitchen if you feel like having a go at some of these techniques:
Making Marshmallow
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2010/03/orange-blossom-marshmallow/
Green tea crème brulee with tuiles
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2009/07/green-tea-creme-brulee-with-burnt-orange/
Poached pears
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2009/08/pears-poached-in-spiced-red-wine-with-mascarpone/
1 April 2010
An exciting yet slightly contentious twist to Master Chef last night saw three previous contestants invited back onto the show, giving them a second shot at the MasterChef dream! The existing six contestants were spilt into two teams, with Kirsty leading the Red team and Karyn leading the Blue team. The three contestants invited back to the show - Kelly, Nigel and Tracey, formed the Black team. In order for the Black team to earn their place back in contention, they had to take out this challenge. And seeing them stay would force all three members of the Red or Blue team home.
The challenge of creating an exquisite seafood picnic lunch was carried out Al fresco, at the Villa Maria Winery. The teams were only able to use barbequing equipment which really tested their adaptability and ingenuity.
The Black team did enough to take out the challenge with their Italian tomato and crumbed mussels, crayfish bisque, Island/Italian-inspired raw fish salad and our favourite - the John Dory roulade.
The judges were anything but impressed with the Blue team, tipping their bagged-mesculin salad onto the table, slating their bland snapper and sending all three of them home.
Our summer has just ended, but hopefully we can get in a few more BBQ dinners before it gets too cold. Here are some recipes that the Our Kitchen team have recommended to cook on the BBQ:
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2009/11/lemon-basil-barbequed-fish/
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2009/12/eye-fillet-of-beef/
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2009/09/mussel-fritters/
25 March 2010
This week's show was all about Chinese cuisine. The contestants were given a tutorial the day before on Chinese cooking at Auckland's China restaurant. Close attention was required — no pens and paper allowed. The next day, the challenge was to create four authentic Chinese meals to be served at once, replicating a sit down dinner.
Karyn and Kirsty were the best of the bunch, both creating four excellent dishes. Karyn's simple, clean flavours went over well, while Kirsty took the top spot with her Lemon Chicken, stir fry topped with a beautiful egg net, and the best carrot rose we've seen! The secret to a perfect carrot rose? Kirsty lightly steamed hers before shaping, making the carrot more pliable
The bottom two were Brett and Rob, Brett was off to a bad start when selecting his ingredients as he forgot Ginger and Garlic — two ingredients that define the Chinese flavour profile. But the challenge proved to be Rob's downfall; his Chickens' feet were a rubbery mess. They required much longer, slower cooking than he anticipated. His soup was what Ray described as a 'master stock' — much too intense to finish a whole bowl.
This week's episode really got us thinking about the key ingredients and flavours which define a cuisine. On Fisher and Paykel's cooking blog Our Kitchen, Sarah talks about the flavours that epitomise Thai cuisine: Galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves — you can find here recipe for an incredibly delicious Thai chicken salad here:
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2009/06/thai-chicken-salad/
18 March 2010
This week the group was broken into two teams again and asked to cater a Deutz Cuvee cocktail party for the opening of The Great Room in the Langham hotel. As the winner of the Pie challenge, Nigel was made the leader of the Red Team and was asked to nominate the leader of the Blue Team. Seeing Karyn as the youngest in the group and therefore one of the weakest he chose her as the leader of the Blue Team. The rest of the contestants were then chosen individually like a backyard game of baseball.
Once again the teams were given the recipes they needed to prepare, over 1000 canopes! The guests this time included LadyHawke, Liam Finn, Celia Harvey, Lauranie Jacobs and Connie Clarkson and impressing them was no easy challenge! This week the guests also acted as judges, placing red or blue chip into a cup signifying the canopes they liked best.
The canopes that really intrigued us were the Lovage vichyssoise, melon cantaloupe caviar and goats cheese ravioli. For ideas on other canopies made by the Our Kitchen Chefs please visit www.ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com
Head Chef Vulka put some very real pressure on the teams to get a sample of each dish for him to test. This really worked wonders for the Blue Team as the scallop was slightly undercooked but they were able to ensure this didn't happen with ones served to the guests. Some of the guests even commented that the scallops were so good it swayed their vote from the Red to the Blue team.
Some key ideas we learnt from this episode:
- Always keep a clean work space— clean as you go
- Slice your vegetables not chop to retain flavours
- Keep food moving out to the guests- food should be the one constant
In the end the Lovage vichyssoise made by Karyn, the pan fried scallops and the goats cheese ravioli were the winners on the day. The judges commented that the teamwork of the Blue Team and motivational leadership of the Kayrn was reflected in the food, and they won by a landslide. Although having an advantage, Nigel went home with a tear in his eye. We look forward to their attempts to cook four different Chinese dishes next week.
11 March 2010
Last night's show was another good one, with the contestants being given the mystery box challenge of baking two pies (one sweet and one savoury) in two hours. This challenge should have been a walk in the park for our contestants with pies definitely being a national favourite!
Being last week's winner, Brett was given the advantage of knowing the night before what the challenge would be. His hours of study didn't give him the wining edge though — he was beaten by Nigel, whose 'Irish' (beef and Guinness) and sweet crumble pies had us wishing we were there to do some taste testing.
A lot of the contestants had trouble with the heat in the kitchen and that affected quite a few of the pies. Steve had the forethought to chill his butter before making the pastry and this showed through in his finished products, with his chicken pot pie being one of the judge's favourites. This saved him from elimination as his sweet pie (banoffi) needed longer to cook and was served up as an unset disaster.
Kelly was eliminated this week after having an off-day, creating two disappointing pies. She attempted a pumpkin pie having never made (or even tasted!) one before, as well as a stuffed chicken prosciutto pie which Ray Mc Vinnie said was as bad as a TV dinner...ouch!
Some tips from the Our Kitchen team for working with pastry:
- Always start with cold butter; some recipes also specify iced water. As a good rule of thumb, any liquids should be fresh from the fridge into the mix.
- Never over-process your pastry or it will be tough, instead of crumbly and light. Pulse until the dough is just coming together, then turn the mix out onto the work surface and gently form it into a ball with your fingertips.
- Always rest pastry in the refrigerator before attempting to roll it out.
- For some dishes it is preferable to bake the pastry case empty or 'blind', before you add the filling. This ensures the pastry is crisp rather than the filling taking all the heat and the pastry remaining undercooked and soggy.
- There are some great pre-made pastries on the market now, try to find one that uses butter rather than vegetable shortening for better flavour — simply add some delicious filling and presto! Pie Time.
Here are some links to some of our favourite recipes using pastry:
Chicken Stock and Chicken Pot Pies
An ode to ham — Part Two: Leftover ham tortaBeef Tomato Olive and Rosemary Pies
4 March 2010
MasterChef got very exciting this week, with the remaining contestants being divided up into two teams and moved out of the MasterChef kitchen to Ellerslie racecourse. It was their first opportunity to cater for paying guests, making over 240 dishes for the Ronald McDonald House charity event.
Their first task was to make and decorate a cake resembling a Ronald McDonald House. Normally this task would take 3 days, however the 4 contestants chosen were given one night! They did a spectacular job and the cake decorator from Icing on the Cake was really impressed.
Next up in the challenge, each team were given three recipes which they had to prepare and sell to punters at Ellerslie. Blue team had a seared yellow fin tuna starter, crispy skin snapper main and a chocolate fudge cake dessert. Red team was given a mozzarella and tomato entrée, peppered eye fillet main and créme brulee dessert. We found it very interesting to see a focus on technique rather than originality, as the resident judges provided all recipes.
As if the challenge to provide quality food to paying guests was not hard enough, the teams also had to impress the owners of one of the most prestigious restaurants in Auckland: The French Café. Overall, both teams did a great job for such an intense challenge and pick of the night was the seared yellow fin tuna entrée prepared by Brett in the Blue team. We also found it intriguing when the judges critiqued Karyn's mozzarella and tomato entrée because it required no actual cooking. We thought she did well with the dish she was given by the judges.
Finally the results! The teams were not only judged on the food, but also on their teamwork and the leadership of their executive chef, Brett for the Blue team and Tracey for the Red team. In the end leadership became a deciding factor with Tracey eliminated.
Next week is the pie challenge; pies are somewhat of a Kiwi icon and the blog team are excited to see what varieties are in these chef's repertoires. Check out the pies from team at Our Kitchen:
Chicken stock and chicken pot pies
Beef, tomato, olive and rosemary pies
25 February 2010
And then there were 10...This week Auckland chef Tony Astle had the contestants re-creating two of his dishes - a Thai red curry made with tripe and served with quail eggs, and a roulade with cream, fresh berries and berry coulis. Initially, it looked like the curry would be more challenging, but in the end it was the roulade that a lot of contestants struggled with. Beating egg whites and sugar never looked so difficult!
Kirsty's mistake of serving the quail eggs in their shell nearly saw her leave the Masterchef kitchen, but it was the roulade, along with a very dirty plate that proved to be Andrew's downfall.
Some tips for making a successful meringue:
- Older egg whites are best, as they will whip up better. Also have your egg whites at room temperature for the same reason.
- Ensure there is no egg yolk in your whites, this will prevent you from getting nice stiff peaks.
- In the same vein ensure your utensils and bowl are completely grease free, you can do this by running your whisks and bowl under scalding hot water and drying them with a clean tea towel.
- Use a stainless steel or copper bowl, plastic will prevent your egg whites whipping properly because no matter how much you clean it fat sticks to plastic!
- Let your whites become slightly frothy first by whisking them before you add your sugar.
- Gradually add your sugar, this allows the sugar to adequately dissolve into the egg white and give your meringue the right texture.
- Towards the end of mixing your mixture should glossy and smooth and be able to hold a medium to firm peak (i.e. it will double over on itself but sat on the surface) when the whisk is pulled out.
- If your mixture is lumpy, losing water and 'foamy' it is over whipped. To fix this add some more egg white and whisk until smooth and glossy again.
- Vinegar is useful to use in meringues as it prevents the mixture suffering from over whipping, which results in lumps, loss of water and collapse.
- Cornflour is also useful as it sets the mixture slightly and allows it to maintain its thickness.
Try our recipes
Vanilla panna cotta and hazelnut macaroons
In Tony's home kitchen he has chosen a range of great Fisher & Paykel appliances, to view click on the link below:
19 Feburary 2010
The final 12 made it into the MasterChef Kitchen this week and now the pressure is really on. The set looks amazing and the MasterChef team were really impressed with the style, design and performance of our appliances. We have already seen some great food prepared, and cooked on our products and cannot wait to see what gruelling tests are lined up for them next!
But for today, bring on the chicken challenge: cook chicken with a choice of ten ingredients and make sure it 'wows' the judges. We really loved all the variations that the chefs cooked up: from chicken salads, gnocchi, chicken & corn soup, and chicken curry. Rob's curry was absolutely wonderfully presented, such a different take on what could have been rather boring dish. His perception and execution was something a lot of people could learn from. Both Kelly and Tracey's dishes looked beautiful too and finished 1st and 2nd respectively.
Cooking chicken can seem like an easy task - just make sure there is no pink! But to cook chicken perfectly involves making sure the moisture and texture is retained, which proved to be a difficult task for some of the chefs. Once chicken is overcooked, it cannot be saved by its sauce or accompaniments. Here are some tips for cooking chicken:
- If you are cooking in a fry pan, begin by frying your chicken at a high heat to seal in the juices.
- If you are stir-frying - cook your diced chicken first, about 3/4 of the way through. Then remove it from the pan and cook your vegetables and sauce.
- When the vegetables are nearly done, add the chicken back to the pan to finish it the dish off.
- Breast meat can be the driest part of the chicken so if you are worrying about overcooking - use thigh meat.
- A great chicken dish needs to start with a fresh, clean, preferably free range cut of meat.
Also why not check out the beautiful chicken dishes that our chef's at Our Kitchen (make into a link please) have made lately:
Chicken roulade with proscuitto, sage and garlic
Chicken roulade with proscuitto, sage and garlic
The next episode looks very interesting as the chefs take on dishes from renowned Auckland chef Tony Astle, of Antoine's restaurant. One is a Thai curry made from tripe - or cow's stomach, and the next is a difficult roulade, with meringue rolled around whipped cream and berries. Tony Astle's kitchen at home is fitted out with Fisher & Paykel appliances, the same ones used on set as well as behind the scenes at MasterChef. We will bring you more on these next week!
11 February 2010
Episode two of Masterchef NZ screened last night which showed the 24 cut down to twelve. A huge cut but everyone who went home should be proud to have gotten so far.
First up was a taste test to try and recognise the 19 ingredients in Simon Gault's Ragout. It seemed like the most commonly missed ingredients were the real basics like olive oil, onion, flour, red wine. Only two contestants identified the correct meats - interestingly one of them was a vegan!
The second test saw the contestants have a go at filleting a whole salmon, something that Simon made look easy but quite a few struggled with. It seemed like the boys had it over the girls. It made us think about how reliant we are on our local supermarkets and butchers for preparing our ingredients, maybe its time to get back to basics. You can catch the episode at www.tvnz.co.nz if you need to brush up on your filleting.
The last chance the contestants had to impress the judges before they made their decisions was the 'mystery box' challenge, in which they had to create a dish using some or all of the ingredients in the box. The ingredients included duck, ginger, oranges, plums, and rice paper rolls.
While this challenge sealed the fate for some of the contestants some used the opportunity (and luck) well. A stand out for us was duck in noodle broth by Kirsty, where she shredded the rice paper rolls to make noodles. Karyn also took a big risk by leaving out the duck and making a dessert, but it paid off and was one of the judges' favourites.
Next week looks interesting as the contestants get into the Masterchef kitchen for the first time and tackle some more challenges. If you're looking for inspiration in the mean time don't forget to check out the new recipes up at www.ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com
4 February 2010
Last night the first Masterchef New Zealand episode was screened to our living rooms. If you missed it, the first round saw a huge number of personalities cooking a dish of their choice. We were surprised and impressed at how many people turned up with the confidence to prepare and serve a dish that reflected their personality in the kitchen. It's a tough feat, especially in the restricted time given, the obvious heat in that kitchen and of course the calibre of the judging panel. The flavours, cooking technique, texture and presentation of the dish (and often of the cook him/herself) were all critiqued and had to make serious impact. Those successful were rewarded one of 25 aprons and entry to the next round. We saw such a range of dishes, an ethnic Larb Gai, inventive chocolate covered asparagus and mars bar soufflé, a traditional kumara and chicken galette, a flavourful vegan meal and many, many eye fillets on mash with jus. Our NZ judges are extremely personable, sending those unsuccessful aspirants home with tact and compassion. Even Ross Burden as the toughest of the three was impossible not to like with his made-for-tv smile and charisma. Simon Gault and Ray McVinnie make up the rest of the trio who are going to make one superstar TV chef and break a few budding ones. Go to www.ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.co.nz and see what the team has been cooking recently, Orange and almond slice and Summer fruit salad with peach & mint vinaigrette.
3 February 2010
The team at Our Kitchen have blogged about their experience catering Fisher & Paykel's MasterChef launch last night. It was a top night with amazing food, presentations and a great response from all attendees.
http://ourkitchen.fisherpaykel.com/2010/02/fisher-paykel-masterchef-launch/
