Masterchef Asia S1E09: Once Upon A Pressure Test

Masterchef Asia Episode 9 opens in Hong Kong Disney Land! Amazing stuff, what a place to have a Masterchef episode.  For a treat, the contestants got to meet Mickey and Minnie and sample some of the rides, before moving onto food-related events.

Pictured: Mice - not on today's menu

It was interesting to see the contestants on the rides, and you can also get a glimpse into which of the contestants are closer to one another - for instance, Ha is again seen with Leong, a repeat of when they went shopping together in Changi Airport.

Masterchef Asia S1E08: Lost in Transit

It is the top 9 now and for the team challenge, the contestants were split into 3 teams of 3, to cook cuisine from one of Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. The 3 team captains were Ha, Lennard and Lica, having cooked the best 3 dishes in the previous episode. 

This challenge was held in Changi Airport, which captured a wide diversity of guests tasting the food. Together with the different cuisines on show, it definitely provided a more even playing field, as the show has been subjected to some criticism for having some advantage to the Singaporean contestants.

 Ha's team was to cook Japanese cuisine, and although Leong was known to be skilled in that area, Ha chose not to select him, instead selecting Sandrian and Priya. Perhaps it was because she forsaw that there would be too many dominating personalities in the team? Lennard's team comprised Jasbir and Marcus, to cook Vietnamese food while Lica's team seemed to have the most disadvantage, since her teammates Leong and Blanche had no expertise on Indonesian food, although Lica had a mis-step in not choosing Jasbir, who was skilled in Malaysian and Indo food

Opps!

Masterchef US Season 5 Episode 18

It is the final 3, and also the semi-finals!  The top 3 are Courtney Lapresi, Leslie Gilliams and Elizabeth Cauvel.

Pictured: Smugness, excitement, and "i-totally-got-this"

I thought it was always quite clear that these 3 were the top 3 among all the contestants.  while i was rooting for Leslie to win, i felt he could only go as far as 3rd as he lacked the versatility that Elizabeth and Courtney had.  My fears confirmed in the opening teaser where they showed the celebrations when the winner was announced - Ahran was clapping but not celebrating, meaning that her good friend Leslie had not won.

The first challenge was to cook an entree for 50 chefs from around the country, including famous personalities such as Cat Cora, from Iron Chef America.

As it is difficult for one pax to cook for 50, the cooks got help from 2 sous-chefs, made up of other contestants that had already been eliminated.  The allocation was done by chance, through the picking of fortune cookies. Elizabeth got Victoria and Jaimee, Leslie got Ahran and Christian, Courtney got Willie and Daniel.

Elizabeth cooked pan seared  red snapper with cauliflower trio, Leslie cooked a filet mignon with herb gnocchi while Courtney cooked a pan seared halibut with beet dashi vermicelli.  It was interesting to see Leslie in full control of the menu as well as the actual cooking process,  given that in his previous partnerships with Ahran and later Elizabeth,  he had ceded full control to his team mates.  it really showed his progression, especially as he was trying a seldom heard combination of beef and gnocchi.

Leslie is on fire

Courtney on the other hand seemed to lose control of her team and it seems that while she is good at cooking, leadership is not her forte, given that she had also struggled as team leader in episode 15.  Instructions were not clear, Daniel and Willie didnt know what to do and the team struggled to get  their plating done in time.

Still, the food was well received and but it seemed that Elizabeth and Leslie were ahead. it was important for both to win, as it would not be easy to defeat Courtney in an elimination challenge. Leslie in particular appeared desperate to avoid another elimination challenge,  having already been through (and survived) a record number of 6 challenges. 

It was Elizabeth who emerged as the first finalist in front of her idols, much to her delight, meaning it was time for Leslie to face his seventh elimination challenge.  He looked pretty downcast, as if he was a cat who knew that he has used up all of his 9 lives.

The challenge was announced and the cooks had to make 3 desserts- New York Cheesecake, Florida key lime pie and Boston cream pie.   Courtney's strength was in baking, but Leslie seemed to be familiar with  the key lime pie and wasnt ready to go down without a fight.

Leslie tries his best Tom Cruise impression

The stress of the moment seemed to get to both contestants,  who started talking to themselves. Courtney as usual was remarking how beautiful her dishes looked while Leslie seemed to be all over the place, muttering to himself instructions and trying to find his utensils.  In his own words, he is "always on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but never going there".

While Courtney appeared the more composed of the two, her food was not without flaws. In particular, her cream for the cream pie was runny which meant that it better taste good or else she would lose on the dish.

Sloppy seconds, anyone?

Time was soon up and Courtney easily had the better cheesecake.  However, Leslie stormed back to win the key lime pie. It was down to the wire and you couldnt have scripted this better. Although Courtney's last dish wasnt visually appealing, Leslie in his state of disarray had used salt instead of sugar.   This basic (and not uncommon- Courtney had also used salt when making donuts in episode 4) mistake eventually led to his elimination.  

What a pity, for if he had taken his chances, he would have made it into the top 2. Nonetheless, i
am sure not many would have expected Leslie to go as far as he has, especially in the early episodes when he was known more for mouthing off instead of his culinary skills.

Spring Onion

Fresh, Crunchy and Tasty, like a healthy version of pop corn 

I never knew how spring onions were grown until recently.  I was whining to my colleague about how anytime i wanted spring onion, i had to buy one whole bag from the supermarket.  I would end up with 6 or 7 big stalks when 1 would be more than enough.  It was not a very good use of my $0.80.

Imagine my surprise when she said that she planted her own spring onion, and this can be easily done by planting shallots (also called scallions)!

Wok Stars Episode 10 - Grand Finale

After episode 9 which turned out to be just a prelude, its finally time for the grand, grand, final finale, for the final cook-off between Kenneth and KS.  

The final episode started with the camera crew catching the contestants at home on the day of the final cook-off.  Kenneth was shown demonstrating his awesome Microsoft Office skills, having planned out his steps to finish 30 minutes ahead of time.  He also shared that he was out to prove that CIA graduates trained in Singapore could cook good food, in an effort to show that the local US-trained intelligence community could do more than just cook up stories about Mas Selamat.

The CIA trains its operatives to kill using all objects shown in this photo, including the chef whites

KS was shown mumbling repeatedly about wanting to beat Kenneth, having invested in a canning machine and a donkey's butt to later open a can of whoop-ass over the walking CIA apron.  He then proceeded to make himself breakfast and left home without finishing it.  It must have been pretty alarming for KS fans because 1. there was still no list, 2. he didnt finish his breakfast, which could mean that the food maybe didnt taste too good, or he had stolen a bite of the donkey butt.

You can tell that he is a Willin Low fanboy from the cap