MasterChef Australia All Stars is set to premiere on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 7pm, a day after the finale of Season 4 on Wednesday night. The 2 names missing from the lineup are Season 2 winner, Adam Liaw, and Season 3 runner-up, Michael Weldon. Adam is not able to participate due to his filming schedule for his upcoming TV show on SBS, Destination Flavour which is due to air on Thursday, August 16, 2012, at 8pm on SBS ONE.
Blue Team (2009): Julie Goodwin, Poh Ling Yeow, Chris Badenoch, Justine Schofield
Red Team (2010): Callum Hann, Marion Grasby, Jonathan Daddia, Aaron Harvie
Yellow Team (2011): Kate Bracks, Hayden Quinn, Dani Venn, Kumar Pereira
MasterChef All Stars (Photo courtesy of MasterChef Australia)
Ep 1, Thursday, July 26, 2012 – The Return of The Croquembouche, Tag-Team Styled
Episode 1 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Masterchef All Stars wins night
That was fun to watch! Interesting to note that they all started to get nervous again as soon as the challenge began, but the way they did’t really take it that seriously, especially the blue team, LOL, “don’t listen to Zumbo” indeed! That Hayden, wow, the next dessert king? The way he was flinging the angel hair, so confident doing that and it looked beauuuutiful! Also laughing at the cheeky blue team trying to pass off Zumbo’s croquembouche as their own, LOL. Looking forward to more for the next three weeks. As much as I love the red team, I have to go for the blue team though, because that was when I fell in love with the show! Go, Blue!
Tag Team Challenge – Croquembouche 2012 (Adriano Zumbo)
Ep 2, Sunday, July 29, 2012 – 3-Way Head-To-Head Lebanese, Chinese, Indian & French
Episode 2 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Got to love Jono, just remembering again why it was such fun to watch him in Series 2. “I’m taking it to the next level”, said he and someone on the balcony (I think Marion), “Down!”, LOL.
Poh was robbed, methinks! Making potsickers from scratch, including the pastry dough, was no mean feat in just 30 minutes compared to Dani’s toffee pops which were just making a fritter batter and frying, then melting sugar for toffee and spun sugar!
Contestant Recipe (Lebanese) – Kofta tabouleh tahini yoghurt and flatbread (Julie Goodwin)
Contestant Recipe (Chinese) – Lychee Toffee Pops (Dani Venn)
Ep 3, Monday, July 30, 2012 – 3 Ways to Snag 100 Firies
Episode 3 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Team Challenge – Spiced Duck Sausage (Red Team)
Ep 4, Tuesday, July 31, 2012 – How to Hide 8 Chefs Inside A Mystery Box
Episode 4 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Mystery Box – Crab and sea urchin souffle with black pepper sauce (Marion Grasby)
Ep 5, Wednesday, August 1, 2012 – Chop-Chop Onions & The Blind Bolognese Relay
Episode 5 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Ep 6, Thursday, August 2, 2012 – A day For Redemptions But Will The Blues Turn Blue?
Episode 6 Recap by Adam Liaw
Overnight TV Ratings
LOL – What are the chances that all 4 of the blue team drew desserts for their redemptions! Would have loved to know what each of their other two choices were, unless the producers were sneaky and all of their three knives had the same dish on them! Poh and Justine were both re-making Matt Moran’s desserts – Aria Chocolate Tart for Poh (finale dessert) and Warm Pear Tart for Justine (Celebrity Chef Challenge), Chris’ was Adriano Zumbo’s Vanilla Pannacotta with Macarons (Pressure Test) while I think Julie got off easy with just her Puddle Pie (finale week Mystery Box Pie Challenge).
Redemption Pressure Test – Passionfruit Puddle Pie (Julie Goodwin)
Redemption Pressure Test – Aria Chocolate Tart 2012 (Matt Moran)
Ep 7, Sunday, August 5, 2012 – 12 Chefs, 3 Food Critics and I Don’t Know Why Half Of The Chefs Were There When We Didn’t See Them Cook At All?
Episode 7 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
The concept was good and exciting, having 12 chefs competing head-to-head with the All Stars but once again the decision of not showing us what half of the chefs cooked, not even giving us a hint of what their dishes were was baffling! Just really a waste of what could be a fantastic episode but instead nearly sending me to sleep!
Immunity Challenge – Lemon and Blueberry Meringue Tart (Kate Bracks)
Immunity Challenge – Sri Lankan Breakfast (Dani Venn)
Ep 8, Monday, August 6, 2012 – The Pressure Of The Beef, Will It Turn to Tears?
Episode 8 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Homeward Bound: Red Aaron & Yellow Kumar
Pressure Test – Beef Wellington (Gary Mehigan)
Ep 9, Tuesday, August 7, 2012 – A Walk Down Memory Lane To Their First Dishes
Episode 9 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Contestant Recipe – Coffee cake with Vincotto Poached Pear Salted Almond Crumble and Kahlua Mascarpone Ice Cream (Kate Bracks)
Ep 10, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 – Slaughtered by A Chicken
Episode 10 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Homeward Bound: Red Jonathan & Yellow Hayden
Contestant Recipe – Chilli Popcorn Chicken (Dani Venn)
Ep 11, Thursday, August 9, 2012 – Here Come The Cake Ladies of CWA
Episode 11 Recap by Adam Liaw
Overnight TV Ratings
8 CWA cakes
CWA Cakes Pressure Test – Citrus Sour Cream Cake; Lumberjack Cake; Chocolate Honey Sponge Roll; Boiled Fruit Cake; Neopolitan Cake
The Land Cookery Competition Recipes 2012-13 from CWA of NSW (pdf file) – Passionfruit Cake; Citrus Sour Cream Cake; Madeira Cake; Lumberjack Cake; Chocolate Honey Sponge Roll
Bonus Recipe – Lamingtons (Glad Shute, CWA)
Bonus Recipe – Lamingtons (Mrs Joyce Pascoe, CWA)
Merle Parrish’s Top 10 Show Cooking Tips (from Greens Mandurama Nov 2011 Newsletter):
1. Smooth baking paper well on bottom of tins before putting mixture in.
2. Tap cake tins on bench before putting them in the oven, helps remove air bubbles during cooking.
3. Don’t cool show cakes on wire racks as it leaves lines on the base of the cake.
4. Don’t decorate cakes with nuts as they get caught on the knife and dragged through the cake when the judge cuts it.
5. Use uniform jar sizes (around 400g Filled) for Jam entries, cover lids if they have advertising.
6. Chocolate crackles shouldn’t have additional chocolate collection on their base.
7. Pikelets need to be cooked right through.
8. Display items on plastic plates, not foil and cover with oven bags as they won’t sweat.
9. Peach Blossom Cake – inside pink needs to be the same as the icing, keep a bit of the inside mixture to help match it with the icing.
10. Freeze lamington cake before icing, it stops the icing soaking into the cake.
Ep 12, Sunday, August 12, 2012 – The End Of The Mystery Boxes
Episode 12 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Homeward Bound: Blue Poh & Red Marion
Mystery Box – Greek style chicken skewers yoghurt flatbread tzatziki (Julie Goodwin)
Mystery Box – Mexican Chicken Tostadas (Dani Venn)
Ep 13, Monday, August 13, 2012 – The Trouble With Zeus
Episode 13 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Homeward Bound: Yellow Dani
Pressure Test – ZEUS – 8 tastes of chocolate (George Calombaris)
Ep 14, Tuesday, August 14, 2012 – Keeping Up and Staying Up
Episode 14 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Déjà vu indeed! As I had said at the end of Season 2, Callum should not have been in the final 2, the show is MasterChef, NOT MasterChef Apprentice! Yes, he has improved a lot in the two years since and that is expected because he is young and can absorb knowledge like a sponge but it is now just embarrassing to still see someone who should be competent in All Stars being helped and helped again by the judges to see him through each round. Very disappointing to watch! Go, Chris, win the whole thing as he is the only one in this All Stars who has actually fulfilled the dream of running a restaurant and worthy of being in a show called MasterChef.
Homeward Bound: Blue Julie
Invention Test – Toffee Apple Sorbet with Macadamia Crumble and Rosemary Cream (Kate Bracks)
Ep 15, Wednesday, August 15, 2012 – That Ship Has Sailed But The Green Team (Season 4) Finally Made It Onto All Stars
Episode 15 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Team Challenge – Lime and Chilli Squid with Herb and Pickled Onion Salad and Lime Aioli (Kate Bracks with assistance from Julia Taylor)
Ep 16, Thursday, August 16, 2012 – Going Round and Round… and Round
Episode 16 Recap
Overnight TV Ratings
Homeward Bound: Blue Justine
What a dill you are, Channel Ten. We knew who left halfway through the episode because you decided to show a promo for the finale on Sunday and there was a shot of Justine standing on the balcony! I turned off in disgust and waited for Destination Flavour to begin on SBS instead!
And, what a surprise that we ended up with one person from each team in the final! The whole thing, especially the last few episodes, felt very set-up. And please, I always thought panna cotta has to be set in a mould and turned out to serve. Callum’s panna cotta did not look completely set at all when the judges were sampling eating, it looked like if it had be set in a mould and turned out, it would have flopped!
Invention Test – Caramelised stout pannacotta chocolate mousse and cinnamon crumbs (Callum Hann) Note: It took 1 hour 55 minutes to make according to the recipe but Callum managed it in 45 minutes, even if we take into account Callum did it fast due to the competition condition and reduce the recipe time by half it still takes more than 55 minutes, so the panna cotta will set in 40 minutes or not? Go figure!
Ep 17, Friday, August 17, 2012 – The All Stars MasterClass
Overnight TV Ratings
Masterclass – Truffle Mac N Cheese (Neil Perry)
Masterclass – Rockpool green salad with palm sugar dressing (Neil Perry)
Masterclass – Deep fried souffle with wasabi ice cream and umami crumb (Poh Ling Yeow)
Masterclass – Ginger macarons (Callum Hann)
Masterclass – Lime and chilli creme brulee (Kate Bracks)
Rumour MasterChef: The Professionals for the second half of 2013 & the 3 judges maybe replaced
Ep 18, Sunday, August 19, 2012 – The All Stars MasterFarce Finale
Episode 18 Recap by Adam Liaw
Overnight TV Ratings
The Farce continues. I cannot believe they gave Round 1 to Callum after they prompted him to change his menu where his original menu was just doing side dishes for a family feast! The scoring system is also seriously flawed, I would have like to see them score on techniques, difficulty of the dish on top of the taste of the dish. I would also like them to deduct points if they got help from the judges!
Then the second round, seriously, another Snow Egg that Callum had attempted before which put Chris in a distinct disadvantage even before they start!
Watching the series, I get the feeling of when you play games with a five year-old and you always let them win. It is laughable when a MasterChef All Stars champion didn’t know how to prep artichokes (he should have been eliminated then and there for some deep-fried crumbed artichokes and chopping some vegetables for a salad, if anyone else had done that the judges would have queried about the simplicity of the dish but apparently not for Callum…) and didn’t know that they have to scale a fish before filleting them, seriously! If there is a MasterChef International where champions from different countries compete, how would he have fared without help from the judges during each challenge, I shudder to think…
It will take a lot of changes for series 5 to lure me back to watch I think, at this stage even as a MasterChef-tragic, this is it for me, I don’t know if I can be bothered anymore…
Chris, you are a champion in our hearts regardless of the result!
Contestant Recipe – Vincotto glazed pheasant parsnip mash roasted carrots and beetroot salad (Kate Bracks)
Contestant Recipe – Salt crust chickens with roasted carrots and smashed potatoes (Chris Badenoch)
Contestant Recipe – Roast pheasant with vincotto and celeriac puree (Callum Hann)
Pressure Test – Jackfruit Snow Egg (Peter Gilmore)
MasterChef makes switch from Sydney to Melbourne
Welcome to MelbourneChef
I can’t wait to watch Masterchef All Stars tomorrow night on Channel 10. I will be hoping the Red Team win. I love Callum Hann, and Marion Grasby is very hard to beat. Jonathan is good for the Red Team, but as much as i like him, of the “ROCK GURU” of the team.
So go REDS.
Comment by Anna (Giuliani) Muscat — July 25, 2012 @ 11:55 pm |
What a horrible negative thing to say that (IN YOUR WORDS) Callum is a Masterchef apprentice. He is actually a celebrity chef, so there. As for Chris, a leopard never changes it’s spots.
He has improved alot in the two years since Masterchef. In series 2 he was cheating.
None of the others and certainly not Caalum (the youngest contestant) did that, only Chris. Deep down, he is not a very nice person. AGAIN, my opinion
Comment by Anna (Giuliani) Muscat — September 27, 2012 @ 2:30 pm |
LOL, that’s the funniest thing I’ve read today, are you being sarcastic? Callum is neither a celebrity nor a chef! The most he can be called is a reality “star”, and for that matter, none of the contestants are chefs! They are just cooks! And why is being an apprentice so horrible? That’s actually a compliment to Callum if he wants to improve his basic culinary knowledge because I think he does have talent in cooking, just not the complete skill yet, maybe in five to ten years time when he improves his skill to a stage that will justify him being a winner in this competition! And I was referring to Callum when I said “he has improved a lot in the past two years”, not Chris. And how do you know Chris is not a very nice person? Do you know him personally? We only see what the editors want us to see, it is a TV show! Don’t get me started on cheating, when someone chose an ingredient that he did not know how to prep, then get a masterclass on how to prep the said ingredient from the judge during the challenge, if that is not cheating I don’t know what is?
And don’t get me wrong, I don’t know any of the contestants, and I have nothing against Callum. It is the way the show is being manipulated to get what the producers wanted as the winner that’s make the viewing so disappointing. For a competition based on skills, not talent, I want to see fair competition based on individual skill on cooking, not someone being led by the judges through every (well, most anyway) challenge.
Comment by SeaDragon — September 27, 2012 @ 5:11 pm |
[...] far behind as his online recipe for butter garlic prawns turned out as good as the delicacies on Masterchef Australia that we kept watching while we ate in respectful silence. Respect… for the [...]
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