MasterChef Australia 5 (2013 – the game-show season)

Update July 18, 2013: Good news to all the oversea readers! LOL, now that nobody is watching the show, MCA has released official full episodes on YouTube… I’ll try to add the video to correspond to each episode, but since I’d not been watching every episode and the show is so forgettable this year, it will take me some time to figure out which video goes with which episode… But please don’t hesitate to let me know if I’d put the wrong video to wrong episode. Note: All links to videos are no longer valid.

Update September 21, 2013: Spoiler Alert: winner mentioned in the following article which revealed the MasterChef contract for the contestants –
Be aware: there are lawyers in the MasterChef kitchen

Interesting! I thought the normal season of MasterChef Australia this year won’t hit our TV screen until the late second half of the year, but the first promo is already out! So maybe season 5 will arrive sooner than expected, could it be here by mid-year? This is the season that is currently being filmed in Melbourne (with an interstate trip to WA earlier this month), hopefully with a change of location and scenery, there will also be a lift in the cooking standard of the contestants…
And please, please, please, to the MCA producers and editors, no more invisible contestants! Give equal airtime to all contestants and show ALL THE DISHES cooked!
On a side note, here’s an interesting article about product placement (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3) on reality TV, specifically using MCA as an example.

Update May 2, 2013: MasterChef Australia has revealed the Top 22 contestants for 2013.

Update May 5, 2013: Below are 3 contestant promos (joined together) featuring Lynton, Christina and Daniel. There are some others that have been shown on TEN but I can’t find them on YouTube…

Update May 12, 2013: MasterChef deserves a ranch dressing

Update May 18, 2013: Series 5 of MasterChef Australia is set to premiere on Monday, June 3, 2013 at 7:30pm on TEN. (see Update May 24, 2013.)

Update May 20, 2013: MasterChef Australia has released the First Look #1 promo for season 5.

Update May 23, 2013: LOL, this is the funniest thing I’ve read for a while, TV Tonight has done a fake ratings report targeting the recent silly trends of networks manipulating the coding of reality shows for ratings. Good to have a laugh first thing in the morning.

Update May 24, 2013: TEN has changed the premiere date for Series 5 of MasterChef Australia, it is now set to premiere a day earlier on Sunday, June 2, 2013 at 7:30pm. Here’s the newest First Look video.

MasterChef Australia to produce a series of 3 collectible cookbooks called the MasterChef Collectibles in conjunction with the show for 2013

Update May 26, 2013: TV Tonight has released a brief synopsis of the first four episodes which forms the first week of Series 5 MCA. It looks like the “girls vs boys” theme may be for the first two weeks only…
MasterChef to take ratings battle to some of Australia’s best performing TV shows
MasterChef judge George Calombaris serves it up to his critics
MasterChef contestants lack skill but personalities add spice

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Episode 1, Sunday, June 2, 2013
MasterChef recap: It’s back, and with so many questions
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Was I dreaming, or was it a snoozefest? The first episode was so weak and boring I nearly fell asleep. It lost me in the first half hour when the mathematical genius from the boy’s team told us that to get 1 kg of egg whites, he needed to separate 20 eggs. What the… That would only be possible if he magically found 20 eggs that contain no egg yolks but with 100% egg whites within their shells! Or maybe he has access to a special Coles that stocks gigantic alien chicken eggs normally… It was even more amazing that none of the other 10 male contestants found the flaw in that logic! And they are supposed to be the best cooks in this year series…
Any average home cook or hobby baker would know that a large egg is about 60g, about 7-8g is the shell, and that leaves 52-53g of actual egg white and yolk. As a general rule of thumb, as well as for ease of remembering and calculation, we normally say 50g of combined white and yolk for a large egg, and 20g is the yolk, 30g is the white. How difficult is that? Even if the eggs in this episode were the jumbo size, they are still only about 60g of white and yolk combined for each egg, and about 40g is the white and you still could not get 1 kg of egg whites out of 20 jumbo eggs!
The supposedly rivalry and sledging between the girls and boys, or should I say women and men, were so fake it wears thin very quickly and I don’t think I can stand to watch anymore of them. I cannot believe I am going to say this, but the thrash talking from the girls in MKR this year were at least done with conviction, not the wishy-washy, awkward heckling that we saw here tonight. Producers, however you wish they could be, they are NOT actors… So give us competent cooks, and the drama will flow naturally from them, NOT by prodding…

MasterChef launch escapes egg on its face, while few flip for Paper Giants
MasterChef returns with 1.1 million viewers

Episode 2, Monday, June 3, 2013
MasterChef recap: What an offal mess on the eel of misfortune
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After the lame opening episode last night, did not feel compelled to watch the second episode (what with the promo saying worst dish ever has put me off, I watch MCA to be inspired, not to see worst dish ever). Instead watch The Voice which proved to be a much more entertaining choice with the enthralling performances from Harrison Craig, Luke Kennedy, Miss Murphy, Celia Pavey and the emotionally charged song from Steve Clisby.

MasterChef falls in ratings due to hot competition from The Voice, House Rules
The Voice loses its Midas touch, as MasterChef bombs

Episode 3, Tuesday, June 4, 2013
MasterChef recap: when Tim Tams go wrong
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How Dan’s dorm dashed a dream
NCIS beats MasterChef elimination

Note: LOL, panic stations at TEN, this Wednesday’s MasterClass episode has been moved to Thursday so it will not go up against State of Origin.

Episode 4, Thursday, June 6, 2013
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See what you get when you alienated viewers who want to watch good cooking instead of rubbish back stories and clueless contestants, we switched off! It is such a simple logic! If you want to attract viewers who want to watch the show for a laugh with contestants making a fool of themselves, they are not going to stick around watching MasterClass! As such, after the disappointing first couple of episodes, I chose to watch the 3 fantastic cooking shows on SBS instead of MasterClass after you promoted the episode with How to boil an Egg! I am not even looking forward to next week’s episodes with the ridiculous and endless American Boot Camp-style promotions, they are a real turn-off. Doesn’t the term “Boot Camp” signify that they are in basic training, if the contestants need boot camp, then it means none of them can cook (which I guess ties in with the first MasterClass on how to boil an egg)? I am also beginning to suspect that the show is being filmed and made in the US with all the American terminologies! What’s wrong with some Aussie love instead… Haven’t you learned anything at all after the “cattle rancher” bungle? Also what’s up with the seductive female voiceover in the promos, it sounds like someone accidentally edited their dirty phone calls onto the promos, LOL!

MasterChef severely burnt in the ratings

Episode 5, Sunday, June 9, 2013
MasterChef recap: Big, bad Barossa bootcamp (by Adam Liaw)
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Bye, bye, MasterChef, it was good while it lasted. I have stopped watching for now, might come back next week after all this silly gender war is over. I think it is more fun reading the recaps than watching the show itself, so I will only update with the links to recaps in future episodes, unless something interesting happens with the show for me to come back watching it again. The Great Australian Bake Off, where are you hiding? I’m still waiting, waiting, waiting… Looking forward to watching that…

Episode 6, Monday, June 10, 2013
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The Voice reigns, MasterChef struggles

Episode 7, Tuesday, June 11, 2013
MasterChef recap: Lynton proves he’s no seafood basket case
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Socceroos defeat Masterchef (and Jordan)

Episode 8, Wednesday, June 12, 2013
MasterChef recap: Silencing the lambs with too much chicken blood
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Coming the raw chicken: MasterChef evictee feels humiliated

Episode 9, Thursday, June 13, 2013
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LOL, apparently MCA website could not even put up a recipe properly. As I did not watch the show including the MasterClass episode this week, was not aware of the situation. From the comment in the recipe below, read for yourself. So just a reminder, from now on, use the MasterChef recipes with caution. Although with the uninspiring cooking this year, I don’t think a lot of people are rushing to try out the recipes.

Recipe: Carême Pastry’s Raspberry Tart

Episode 10, Sunday, June 16, 2013 (Kids’ Week)
MasterChef recap: Child’s play in the kitchen
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Thought I would give this show another go seeing this is the start of Kids’ Week, well, well, well, sad really, it has not improved, in fact it is getting worse! IT IS NOW NOT EVEN A FAIR COMPETITION! So the Invention Test to determine who go into the immunity challenge tomorrow are only for the “chosen 9” plus the winner of the Mystery Lunch Box, the other contestants do not even get a look in… Feel sorry for those who did well in the Mystery Lunch Box, but then being cast aside and not participating in the Invention Test! What sort of a competition is this… There are some idiot producers on this show! It just shows they have no faith in their own original product.
Incidentally, giving away all the surprises in the coming weeks is not going to induce former loyal viewers to come back if you are not really looking for, or even giving the impression or pretend to look for, the best cooks, as it appears to be so far with the randomness and the frivolous nature of the so called “competition”, the focus on back stories, and what a waste of time showing the house chores segment at the beginning (I would have like to see more dishes being shown using those precious few minutes).

Reality of ratings, overkill and viewer fatigue starts to bite MasterChef

Episode 11, Monday, June 17, 2013
MasterChef recap: It’s not all child’s play in blind man’s pantry
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The Voice finale hits a ratings high note

Episode 12, Tuesday, June 18, 2013
MasterChef recap: Schooled in jaffle politics
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LOL, that was a hilarious recap to read. The line: “She then shakes his hand, poor Curtis unwittingly providing a DNA sample that will be used to make an army of Stones in Faiza’s laboratory.” had me laughing so much I nearly choked. Also, “Boy Band” Daniel, genius, hahaha… LOL, now if we can call Lynton “Charming”, then we could have a “BoyCharming” bromance this year to continue the bromance saga of MasterChef, could we not? Since cooking is no longer a priority, we must look elsewhere for entertainment…

Episode 13, Wednesday, June 19, 2013
MasterChef recap: Who the true eggheads are
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OK, the promo for the cake in this episode sucks me in to watch again. Never can resist a cake episode. Drool…, but OMG, how annoying is one of the contestants.
And what’s that coming up next week? Another red herring with the promo, or another controversial exits by two contestants.
I don’t know if the disappointment from loyal viewers and the low TV ratings have prompted the producers to finally change their tact and to ditch the constant conflict/disaster dishes promos in the first couple of weeks, as the last couple of days, all the promos seem to suggest there will be a lot of “fantastic”, “inspiring” cooking coming up, LOL, I think it is just a bit too late to be honest for this season unless there is a mass elimination, and a new batch of MKR-style “gatecrasher” contestants, but with good cooking skills, coming in…

Recipe: Bernard Chu’s Lolly Bag Cake

MasterChef cake challenge helps revive a taste for flavours of the past
Opera singer’s last MasterChef song
Plate up actual talent, please

Episode 14, Thursday, June 20, 2013
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MasterChef Australia hit by two injuries as ___ sent home

Episode 15, Sunday, June 23, 2013 (Italian Week)
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LOL, how incompetent must these contestants have been this year? Not only were they given the recipes to cook with, they even needed a nonna each to hold their hands. That’s the only explanation for the nonnas’ presence in this episode, as them being there were definitely not for the benefit of the viewers (we didn’t see much of them, did we?)…
Although the self-esteem boosting ramblings from Kelty is getting on the nose, I did agree with one thing he said… Why would you reduce the price when there was a queue willing to pay the original price? Just show how clueless the 3 amigos on the blue team were (even with the supposedly seafood expert and the fastest knife-wielding ninja on the team), can’t cook, can’t sell, enough said.

Viewers say ‘no grazie’ to Italian Masterchef

Episode 16, Monday, June 24, 2013
MasterChef recap: Quailing in their boots
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Another bloke buckles under the pressure on MasterChef
MasterChef loser says it lacks creativity
Mystery bug strikes Masterchef judge on oversea filming trip

Episode 17, Tuesday, June 25, 2013
MasterChef recap: Pizza delivers a lot of drama
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Episode 18, Wednesday, June 26, 2013
MasterChef recap: The Spill
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I give up! I really am trying to get any tiny smidgeon of interest in this show this year but, try hard as I might, I am not getting anything! I watched this week because of the Italian theme, but was I inspired by any of the cooking? NO! Sunday night, they cooked to recipes given; Monday, again to recipe given except for the pasta dough (and with so much instructions from the balcony, it was a comedy rather than a cooking competition); Tuesday, pizza, again dough recipe given, and the toppings were just scattering of ingredients on top of the dough, and then wasting time on pizza delivery, really, has the show morphed into Fast Food franchises?
I am now convince the people who made this show do not cook or don’t know how to cook, and had only kindergarten education. Clearly they are incapable of counting more than the fingers on one hand, and would struggle when they had to show six or more dishes in one episode. Tonight I watched again and there were only 8 contestants cooking, and yet again, they only managed to show only 5, and concentrated most of the time on the two worst dishes. We only saw the last 3 dishes at the end, about 2 to 3 seconds each… When we asked to see all the dishes cooked, we didn’t mean just a few seconds at the end! At the very least, give us some sort of explanation how they cooked those dishes… Also I was aghast with the standard of the dishes put up tonight, the few good dishes were about the standard of something the Junior MasterChef contestants would put up. In a 60-minute challenge, this was the best dish, which according to the recipe, only took 30 minutes to make, I’m very, very impressed, really, I am, the incredible high standard of season 5 contestants…
The theme week made it so much easier for the contestants to know what they will be cooking in that week. So by night 4, they should have ample time to really bone up on basic simple Italian dishes if they don’t usually cooked Italian dishes at home. Big, big fail to the contestants, and to the producers for choosing these contestants!
Talking about the dishes shown, or not, even on MKR, they managed to show more of all the dishes in every single episode, and they got them in with all the dramatic bitchiness on the side. That is why they are now the No. 1 reality cooking show, and MCA is falling to the bottom of the heap. I think The Great Australian Bake Off can easily beat MCA when it premieres, and I am ditching MCA to watch that!

Red the colour of defeat for Faiza on MasterChef

Bitter-sweet taste of TV fame
Sweet tooths salivating over the “Cronut” know it’s a cross between a croissant and a doughnut. Its creator, New York pastry chef Dominique Ansel, has trademarked the name, so that’s why Australia’s macaron specialist, Adriano Zumbo, calls his version the “Zonut” but whether he will be creating a monster version of that or anything else on MasterChef is a mystery because he’s still waiting for the call.
Zumbo, a dedicated pastry purveyor with a tattoo of Willy Wonka on his arm, has been a regular guest on the Channel Ten cooking show since the first series in 2009 and is best known for the tower of terror that was the croquembouche. Yet a new sugar king, Bernard Chu from LuxBite, appeared during Kids’ Week to parade his seven-layered Lolly Bag Cake. Zumbo said he “hadn’t heard” from MasterChef about creating another mind-boggling challenge. The program is guarded about the talent line-up to prevent giving anything away to contestants.
The macaron competition for South Yarra’s well-heeled is set to intensify because Chu’s store in Toorak Road isn’t too far from Zumbo’s upcoming outlet in Claremont Street. Chu’s Lolly Bag Cake has been a huge hit, and in the past six days he has sold 1500 slices to customers waiting 45 minutes in a queue to hand over $7.50 and devour layers of childhood favourites such as bananas, freckles and spearmint leaves. The victory for Chu has been even sweeter because he moved here from Malaysia 10 years ago and had no idea what the lollies were. “It was very, very hard for me,” he said. “It was a challenge.” While keeping troops in the kitchen calm as they toil to meet demand, Chu is sifting through 220 email orders for a full-sized Lolly Bag Cake.
How to make a [k]ronut at home

Episode 19, Thursday, June 27, 2013
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Episode 20, Sunday, June 30, 2013 (Wild West Week)
MasterChef recap: could this be the funniest episode ever?
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No need to bother watching this week, unless you have a lot of spare time to kill. If it is anything like the Tasmanian week last year sponsored by the Tasmanian Tourism, there will not be an elimination, no one will win an immunity pin. Just a week to promote Western Australian Tourism sponsored by Tourism Western Australia…

MasterChef rounds up Fremantle during Wild West week
Wild West MasterChef in ratings wilderness as House Rules builds for big finish

Episode 21, Monday, July 1, 2013
MasterChef recap: Guillaume heats up the kitchen
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Episode 22, Tuesday, July 2, 2013
MasterChef recap: Just like herding cooks
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Episode 23, Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Recap: MasterChef and the attack of the killer carrots
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OK, I was wrong, there was an elimination. But seeing that the contestant could not even follow a simple instruction of something called cooking using heat, it is inevitable he had to be eliminated…

Totem stumbles with seafood in Wild West elimination
Eye was never on MasterChef prize

By golly! The promo for next week theme “Heaven & Hell” starts with the long awaited Mystery Box, but what’s going on, the Mystery Box comes with recipe included??? What is the point of a Mystery Box when they are told to cook with a recipe? Isn’t it the whole point of showcasing the contestants’ creativity using the mystery ingredients? Now you have even taken that away from the viewers! This show is going from bad to worst…

Episode 24, Thursday, July 4, 2013
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Episode 25, Sunday, July 7, 2013 (Heaven & Hell Week)
MasterChef recap: MasterChef goes to hell in a Mystery Box
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All these team challenges on MCA this year is doing my head in! I thought tonight, finally, with the return of the Mystery Box, we get to see individual challenge, albeit with the recycled Zumbo’s Macaron recipe for half of the contestants jumping into Hell, and the other half doing the Heaven boxes. How silly of me. Of course not, it is another team challenge in pairs! In previous year, they were all attempting Zumbo’s recipe individually, this year, they are making it as a paired team, not with a new recipe but with a recycled recipe, indicating how incapable this year’s contestants are… Or that the producers have just gotten lazy, and given up trying all together!
MCA used to be the leader in innovative reality show with a sense of fun and celebration. Not anymore. Instead of trying to make a show of high quality competition with capable, likable contestants, it went down the road of the mediocre, run-of-the-mill, second rate reality show, not only that, it has no faith in their original brief of the show, and now trying to copy MKR with all the team challenges. It doesn’t work! MKR is made with contestant in pairs right from the beginning, and they stay as a team throughout the competition and win as a team. What MCA is trying to do is just idiotic. MCA is an individual competition! We used to watch to see the excellence of the individual contestants and we follow their individual progress through the competition. Now we don’t get a chance to witness that anymore, of the episodes that I have watched this year, I don’t see any contestants (given the chance) with any creative skills worthy of the competition. I will be switching over to watch the premiere of The Great Australian Bake Off in two days time… LOL, maybe I will just record Bake Off every Tuesday and re-watch it on the other four days when MCA is on, I’m sure it will be more riveting than the rubbish MCA is serving up this year.

MasterChef reheats in the ratings

Episode 26, Monday, July 8, 2013
MasterChef recap: Forces of Heaven and Hell in all-out-battle
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Pip whips her way out of the MasterChef kitchen
MasterChef stars hit Ballarat

Episode 27, Tuesday, July 9, 2013
MasterChef recap: Lying, cheating and biting your way to the top
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Episode 28, Wednesday, July 10, 2013
MasterChef recap: Pig heads, eyeballs and cake
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Liliana’s colourful cake doesn’t keep her safe

Episode 29, Thursday, July 11, 2013
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This is hilarious after seeing the promos for next week! From the original concept of looking for people who wants to see if they have potential to work as a “chef” for a living, it is now so bad that becoming a chef is totally out of the question but to see if the contestants are even good enough to run a fast food shop! Really? MasterChef it is not, instead Pizzas, Burgers, Fish and Chips franchises, here we come…

Episode 30, Sunday, July 14, 2013 (Fast Food Week)
MasterChef recap: fast food follies (recap by Adam Liaw)
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Hmmm, Matt drove to get takeaways while contestants had to cook fast food in the time it took Matt to return with his… Sounds familiar? Methinks it is a complete rip-off of Take on the Takeaway which is currently on 7TWO Sunday morning.

Spoiler Alert: Now that I’ve completely lost interest in watching this year show, have no problems actively looking for spoilers, and found this photo of contestants while filming in Ballarat last week, you can see the 7, OK 6 with one just showing the back, who’re still in the show…
Do reality formats have an expiry date?

Episode 31, Monday, July 15, 2013
MasterChef recap: Tactics and tears as elimination beckons
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Elimination meltdown: Jules Allen exits MasterChef

Episode 32, Tuesday, July 16, 2013
MasterChef recap: Staring at goats and Alfas
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The Humping Incident – How to milk a goat with George Colambaris and Kelty!

Episode 33, Wednesday, July 17, 2013
MasterChef recap: Hot dog’s breakfast
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Having just tried making brioche last weekend, so after reading the recap, went over to check out the hot dog brioche recipe in this episode, that’s not a brioche dough! That was just a typical sweet bun dough recipe, just one egg and 75g fat to 500g flour. I was struggling with the amount of butter (fat) and eggs (4) used in my brioche, even though only using 40% of butter (200g butter to 500g flour) as I was hand kneading, which was really the least amount of fat used that could be qualified as a brioche dough as I understood. Proper brioche could used up to 100% butter to flour ratio! Looking at the supposedly “brioche” used in this episode it was just barely 15% fat (50g lard + 25g butter = 75g fat total) to 500g flour… Am I missing something, or the chef does not even know what a brioche is?

Samira’s fast food exit reveals MasterChef Top 10 – LOL, we know what happens next, don’t we? (see spoiler above)
Masterchef picking wrong recipe, says star performer Poh Ling Yeow

Oh, no! What with all the team challenges this year on MCA, now just read that the next season of MasterChef NZ will have teams of two contestants battling for the title, copying the format of My Kitchen Rules… If there is going to be a MCA Season 6 next year, I dread to think…

Episode 34, Thursday, July 18, 2013
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The Ashes breaks top ten while Masterchef fizzles out

Episode 35, Sunday, July 21, 2013 (Stretching-A-Dying-Show Week With The Extraordinary “Elimination” Pin)
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LOL, the “Elimination” Pin, that’d have been worth watching if it was true. Alas, but it was only just an error of the weekly episodes’ synopsis given out by Channel 10/MCA in the TV guide this week (see Wednesday episode on your guide), hahaha, a good joke that was… Imagine the contestants vying for an elimination pin so they could eliminate themselves from the show…

Jules Allen weeps at the end of Masterchef journey but it’s the likes of Rachael Leahcar who’ve really done it tough

Episode 36, Monday, July 22, 2013
MasterChef recap: Hello to old faces
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Episode 37, Tuesday, July 23, 2013
MasterChef recap: Cold comfort from frozen wasteland
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Heads up! Local MasterChef thursday

Episode 38, Wednesday, July 24, 2013
MasterChef recap: The Big Butter Battle (recap by Adam Liaw)
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For wont of something to watch on TV since there was nothing else of interest, I watched this episode and Nicky was making “ginger panna cotta”. Why he called it “panna cotta” was a mystery, but what he was trying to make was a Cantonese ginger custard. I found this recipe online, but I’ve never made it myself so it is just for info only.
Cantonese Ginger Custard 薑汁撞奶

Episode 39, Thursday, July 25, 2013
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Episode 40, Sunday, July 28, 2013 (Love Week? Shouldn’t it be “Love & Hate Week”? LOL)
MasterChef recap: Love in a mystery box
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The Block finale ratings go Sky High
Heston surprise guest on MasterChef – maybe to the contestants but certainly not to the viewers since MCA has been showing promos of Heston’s Week since ages ago…

MCA Episode 41, Monday, July 29, 2013
MasterChef recap: Death by chocolate (recap by Adam Liaw)
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BB Episode 1, Monday, July 29, 2013
Big Brother recap: Space Barbie, new housemates and that TWIST

No, you’re not seeing things, yes, I’ve added the link to Big Brother launch recap here, since MCA is more and more like a mish-mash of Big Brother, The Amazing Race and goodness knows what instead of a cooking competition with the producers manipulating the outcomes, judges giving chosen individual a masterclass during challenges and episodes after episodes of concentrating on personalities rather than the cooking, and all those silly twists that promotes luck more than actual skills in cooking. I actually did not plan to watch BB at all (after following the first 3 series, I gave up), but I must admit I did enjoy it the first episode, especially seeing how the halfway house will work out, shock, horror… So might as well enjoy both the recaps from MCA and BB this year, since both shows are made to induce hilarity, LOL

Recipe: Louros Chocolate Entremet (Kirsten Tibballs – Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School)

Baking paper in chocolate cake a no-no for Neha

Episode 42, Tuesday, July 30, 2013
MasterChef recap: Outside the kitchen the romance continues
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MasterChef falls to 19th most watched TV program on Tuesday

Episode 43, Wednesday, July 31, 2013
MasterChef recap: The Verndict
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LOL, Ben is on fire this morning, one of the funniest recaps ever…

Vern the first booted out of MasterChef’s Top 10
Heston puts the blowtorch on cooks
Science affliction

Episode 44, Thursday, August 1, 2013
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Recipe: Eve (Kirsten Tibballs – Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School)
Update November 6, 2013: There are a lot of searches for this recipe the past couple of days, so it seems viewers from some particular country are watching this episode the last couple of days. As usual, Ten changed their links for all their recipes again (they do this every year, they don’t seem to understand that by doing this all outside links to their site are deemed useless, it appears they want to make their site as unfriendly to use as possible!), so the above link (as with all other links I’ve provided on this page) is now obsolete and if you click on that, it goes straight to the home page of their new site and there is a BIG SPOILER with the current winner appearing on that page… So be warned! The link below is the new page for the recipe…
Eve (Kirsten Tibballs – Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School)

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Episode 45, Sunday, August 4, 2013 (Heston Week)
MasterChef recap: Heston’s sweet surprise
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Finding Heston’s royal pud a trifle hard to track down? Why not whip up your own?
Bonus Recipe: Diamond Jubilee strawberry crumble crunch (Heston Blumenthal)

Episode 46, Monday, August 5, 2013
MasterChef recap: A real Blumen challenge
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Heston’s Hay Smoked Mackerel with Salmon Roe

Heston’s Braised Chicken with Sherry

Heston’s Strawberry Sundae

Finally an episode I enjoyed from this season, just because of seeing how Heston’s mind worked and how he prepared a 3-course meal in 90 minutes using the core ingredients of eggs, wine and milk. Obviously the exact recipes he cooked are not available, but I found these 3 similar recipes which have elements of the dishes he cooked in tonight’s episode:

Bonus Recipe: Hay-smoked mackerel, lemon salad and gentleman’s relish (Ashley Palmer-Watts and Heston Blumenthal)
Bonus Recipe: Braised chicken with sherry and cream (Heston Blumenthal) Hint: Dust the chicken pieces with skimmed milk powder to achieve an intense meaty flavoured chicken, the added extra protein will bring about the Maillard reaction – a chemical reaction similar to caramelization.
Bonus Recipe: Heston Blumenthal’s strawberry sundae
Bonus Recipe: Lemon Sparkling Ice-Cream Cornets – this recipe includes Heston’s lemon ice cream made with milk, yoghurt and dry ice

Episode 47, Tuesday, August 6, 2013
MasterChef recap: Taking the bird into the garden for a good stuffing
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Heston’s Edible Garden

The edible garden looked fantastic! Hilarious seeing Daniel walking around looking like a model doing nothing, just a decoration for this episode… And we can work out who get eliminated tomorrow and who next week in Dubai from the spoiler above, so no suspense for next week which means we can just enjoy watching Heston this week and the scenery of Dubai next week, LOL…

Bonus Recipe: Heston Blumenthal’s garden salad with sauce gribiche Hint: Sounded like they used pine nuts instead of the Grape-Nuts (is this cereal even available here?) in the episode for the soil.

Happy Corner store wants our Masterchef Lynton in their kitchen

Episode 48, Wednesday, August 7, 2013
MasterChef recap: You have to be Heston!
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LOL, that was so funny, ooops, wrong show, I meant SlideShow on 7… Even the pull of Heston on 10 was not strong enough as we already know who’s eliminated tonight, so ended up watching SlideShow instead as Thank God You’re Here was one of my favourite shows. Maybe will catch the repeat of MCA on the weekend if it was worth watching after reading the recap tomorrow…

Bonus Recipe: Heston Blumenthal’s bacon and eggs – includes recipes for Heston’s Carbonara & Heston’s Quiche Lorraine

Noelene excited for life after MasterChef – so the spoiler is on track, LOL
Offspring death brings Ten back from the dead

Episode 49, Thursday, August 8, 2013
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Update November 6, 2013: Be warned, Ten changed their recipes links a few weeks ago, so all links below are obsolete, and they will bring you to the home page of their new site and there is a BIG SPOILER about the current winner appearing on that page!
Recipe: The Perfect… Scrambled eggs (Heston Blumenthal)
Recipe: Roasted leg of lamb with garlic, rosemary and anchovy (Heston Blumenthal)
Recipe: Tagliata steak (Heston Blumenthal)
Recipe: The Essential… Flourless mustard sauce (Heston Blumenthal)
Recipe: Sorbet (Heston Blumenthal)

Episode 50, Sunday, August 11, 2013 (World Food Week)
MasterChef recap: Oasis in the culinary desert
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Hmm, interesting about the elimination tomorrow, as it is not what is expected according to the spoiler… My guess is no elimination unless the person whose back was only visible in the spoiler was not the person we thought…

Episode 51, Monday, August 12, 2013
MasterChef recap: missing beef cheeks served with a side of sob
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Spoiler is king! LOL, so as predicted, no elimination…

Episode 52, Tuesday, August 13, 2013
MasterChef recap: Holy mole, Mexican wins the day
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Funniest line tonight, Lynton taking phone orders for their Mexican takeaways, picked up phone and answered with: “MasterChef kitchen, Mexican speaking!”

Recipes from the Masterchef pop-up restaurant

Episode 53, Wednesday, August 14, 2013
MasterChef recap: It’s a small and messy world after all
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So that was the last of the spoiler coming true, need to find some more spoilers now, LOL.

LMHO, oh, Ben, Ben, Ben, genius: “In the end she decides to make an Eton mess, a famous dessert named after prestigious North American public school Eton. The audience pauses for a moment to consider that, with finals week almost upon us, this elite competition has come down to Eton mess versus a bagel, and let the crushing despair seep through us all.”

Struggle with plating leads to Churchill’s elimination
From bologna frittatas to wonton tacos, ‘MasterChef Canada’ hopefuls wow the judging panel at open casting call

Episode 54, Thursday, August 15, 2013
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Spoilers Alert:
LOL, Channel 10 don’t even care anymore, don’t even have to look for spoilers, they are giving it away like candies… These two images are from the preview for next week’s episodes shown on Channel 10 tonight, Friday, Aug 16. Spot the missing contestant who is going to be eliminated on Monday night. Left is Sunday night episode 55, right is Tuesday night episode 57 when the final 6 cook at Season 1’s Chris Badenoch’s restaurant, Josie Bones, and there is an elimination on Monday night.

MCA5 Ep 55

MCA5 Ep 57

Episode 55, Sunday, August 18, 2013 (Dreams Week)
MasterChef recap: Week of dreams turns to beige
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LOL, Dreams Week! Do you get the feeling that the contestants were coached through their recipes before cooking in tonight’s episode? It seemed odd that with so many less than average cooking so far that suddenly they all cooked so well tonight and everything went smoothly, not a single disaster!
And what cracks me up was that with all the emphasise on showing how much they had improved in their cooking that the best dish was a raw dish! So all the others who actually slaved over the stove cooking and applying their new found techniques still could not beat someone whose dish had a raw main element, classic! What did it say about the standard of cooking this year when matt declared the raw beef the best dish in the whole of the “competition” this season… Faint…

Episode 56, Monday, August 19, 2013
MasterChef recap: Kitchen of dreams
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That was a dream sequence yesterday, wasn’t it? So most of them woke up and failed again to cook like they should be in the penultimate week…
And oh! I finally got it! To get best dish of the day is to cook as little as possible, yesterday raw beef, tonight salad… and spent 2 hours making it… LMHO…

Kelty surprised by viewer love and hate

Episode 57, Tuesday, August 20, 2013
MasterChef recap: 300 bottles of beer on the wall
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Lovely seeing Chris and Julia from Season 1 again, and what a big difference 5 years made to the show, and not in a good way…Once such a fantastic show, now not even a shadow of itself…LOL.
Tomorrow, why isn’t Rishi using his immunity pin? The show is so forgettable I can’t remember, he still has the pin, hasn’t he? Usually the pin is not usable in the final week, and tomorrow is the final elimination before final week… It would be hilarious if he’s eliminated and not using the pin! LOL, checking back, Rishi had already used his pin a few days after winning it! That was one of the episodes I did not watch, no wonder have no recollection of it…

Episode 58, Wednesday, August 21, 2013
MasterChef recap: Elephants and erotic literature
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Lucy Wallrock leaves MasterChef on a sweet note

Episode 59, Thursday, August 22, 2013
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Episode 60, Sunday, August 25, 2013 (Finals Week)
MasterChef recap: Finals week
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Kitchen drama is cooling

Episode 61, Monday, August 26, 2013
MasterChef recap: Goodbye to a complex dish
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Christina Batista the first to go on MasterChef finals week

Episode 62, Tuesday, August 27, 2013
MasterChef recap: Cry me a carpaccio
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Episode 63, Wednesday, August 28, 2013
MasterChef recap: Duelling incompetence
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LOL, another hilarious SlideShow tonight, more danswers please, so funny! And switched over to MCA, WHAT? Rishi is gone???????????????????????????? Really……. (But I guess the producers have to cull the only reasonably capable contestant now before it is too late, because if Rishi is in the finale it will be a one horse race and the producers can’t afford that, NO DRAMA!) And the final three are told what they will be cooking in the finale in advance, really, so they can practice their finale dish…….. They must be really bad in what they are supposed to be good at… What a BIG difference the top 3 of GABO compared to the last three on MCA5, heaven and hell… Imagine them having to bake those mega impressive petits fours from GABO last night…

I can see the working titles for the winner’s cookbook:
101 Nutty Ways with Middle-Eastern Lamb
How to Cry 101 Ways into A MasterChef’s Dish
101 Ways with Skippy

It looks like Lynton is going to win this year, as per MCA rulebook, winner must be humble!

Masterchef’s muscle man ousted for his mussels
Lynton has the right stuff to win MasterChef, says Rishi

Footnote (added August 30, 2013): Alright, I finally watched the episode to see how Rishi was eliminated. Wow, did not surprise me at all, it reminded me of the bottarga-saga last year with the switcheroo (Episoide 31) which saved Andy who went on to get the crown!
First the Indian challenge. OK, granted Rishi’s mussels were overcooked but the sauce was good and I’m sure authentic because of his background. On the other hand, Emma’s mussels were cooked to perfection, but something was wrong with the sauce. I asked why, and went to look at the recipe, Emma used white wine in the sauce which I’m sure is not authentic for Indian cuisine, no wonder it tasted off. So for an Indian challenge, should Emma have won? The perfectly cooked mussels without a good Indian curry, is it considered an Indian dish? The judges kept saying when they could not decide, they always went for the dish they would come back for, but that is not real judging! So the mussels alone won it for them, what’s so Indian about it without the curry. That is bias judging, meaning as long as it tastes good (just the mussels), no other criteria needs considering (judges, this is supposed to be a COOKING competition, not a food critiquing competition, there are so many other criteria to consider, not just how it tastes, if you are just food critiquing, then you are on the wrong show)! So the techniques, themes, etc. all went out the window, what is the point of setting theme challenges then? If someone cooked a fantastic Thai dish in an Indian challenge, but the other person cooked a below par Indian dish, the Thai dish would still win in an Indian challenge?
To the second French challenge, again the charred leek sauce was flawed because Rishi forgot one of the steps, but at least he tried a new technique he learned. And I don’t begrudge Emma and Lynton for not telling Rishi about it (well, why stop now when they were so welling to help all the weaker contestants all through the series, also remembering all the “helps” Emma gave to a few better contestants during eliminations that got them eliminated), they may not have done it deliberately, but subconsciously, they would have realized Rishi is a threat to them in the finale. To Samira’s sweet potato chips and coriander! Now those were not French ingredients! To the plating, Rishi’s flawed sauce was just one element, he’d got another sauce on the plate, and the leek sauce was not even touching the other elements on the plate. So the judges disregarded the sweet potato chips and coriander (both without using any techniques to make) on Samira’s plate, but considered the leek sauce (French and technical to make) so offensive that they had to eliminate Rishi. Once again did not consider technique and theme for the challenge when judging. Enough said. No wonder there were so much conspiracy theories floating around with these types of wishy-washy judging!

Episode 64, Thursday, August 29, 2013
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Hmm, isn’t the cheat’s bread done by Matt Preston tonight the famous No Knead Bread by Jim Lahey? Did he give credit to Jim? As I only saw the last bit after switching over from watching Curry Nation on SBS…
LOL, went over to have a look at the recipe on MCA website, which idiot decided to call it No “Prove” Bread? Don’t you know when you leave the dough overnight in the fridge, it is already doing low temperature PROVING! If it is indeed No “Prove” Bread, you should just bake it straight away without leaving it to “prove” overnight… It should be No “KNEAD” Bread. LMHO, just prove how incompetence the people who made the show is, or have no idea about cooking or baking…

Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread

Episode 65, Sunday, September 1, 2013
MasterChef finale recap: Proof’s in the pudding
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Really? Emma won? “Flight of Fantasy” ending to a joke season…

Emma’s the MasterChef winner with her chicken dinners
Channel 10 axes MasterChef spin-offs and freshens up main show for 2014
Worst ratings ever for MasterChef grand final
Why MasterChef isn’t a write-off … yet
Jules Allen talks about her MasterChef experience