Masterchef

[rjs1]

Well, the show is on early enough so that people can catch it before they go out I suppose. Is this Sorrel in London we're talking about?

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Yes.

I suppose some people might watch Masterchef to get in the mood for a romantic evening, but...

[Matthew Grant]

Well, the show is on early enough so that people can catch it before they go out I suppose. Is this Sorrel in London we're talking about?

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Yes.

I suppose some people might watch Masterchef to get in the mood for a romantic evening, but...

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I caught my first episode of the new series. I see that they still have the appalling table manners - is it necessary for them to make a lot of noise when they eat? Is it to show the public that they really are eating it, why are they always licking the back of the fork, why does the cutlery always have to be shoved in their mouths at great speed causing it to crash against their teeth? Ahhhhhhgggggggghhhhhh Greg and John, you eat like badly behaved kids trying to antagonise their parents.

Apart from that, still bloody awful toe curling entertainment. The judges have no idea what they really want, and are constantly critical before they have even seen, let alone tasted the dish. Last night we get a winner who burnt a key component of her dish and couldn't serve it so she was left with Kidneys and mash potato. Rubbish. What I also find astonishing is the poor quality of the majority of contestants.

I love the line "Now you are going to cook the best plates of food you have ever cooked in your life. You have one hour."

Jeez, I can knock up something pretty decent in an hour but it certainly won't be the best plate of food I have produced in my life.

Edited January 31, 2006 by Matthew Grant (log)

[origamicrane]

you know one of the thing I wanted to do last year for the show was to actually look through one of John Torode's cook books and cook one of his recipes for the challenge.

Thought it be quite amusing to take a recipe from his book, cook it and then let him rip the crap out of it before revealing it was his recipes.

but i didn't get that far anyway

[Richard_D]

you know one of the thing I wanted to do last year for the show was to actually look through one of John Torode's cook books and cook one of his recipes for the challenge.

Thought it be quite amusing to take a recipe from his book, cook it and then let him rip the crap out of it before revealing it was his recipes.

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Haha, I might try that one next year, judging by his recipes I doubt I'd get very far . I have to admit I did enter this year purely because I thought I could do better than last year's winner (I think I mentioned in a previous post I was a bit competitive ), but I got a phonecall for a screen test just I was going on holiday so I couldn't go

When I was a poor student in 2001 I got to the semi's of the old version and in my phone interview this time I told them that they were too quick to diss the older version as I reckoned the contestants might have been seen as 'dinner party specialists' but they were of a much higher quality and would have kicked these half-baked upstarts who 'wanna be a chef' around the kitchen and back.

[Pizza Napoletana]

I also applied this year without having seen the previous series of masterchef goes large. After the telephone interview, I was invited to an audition and asked to present a cold dish made by myself that did not need re-heating.

So I presented a cake made quickly in the morning (before going to work, from which I then went to the audition).

It was a Sorrento Costiera/ Iaccarino's inspired Aubergine and choccolate cake, filled with a limoncello soaked sponge cake topped with a ricotta, valrhona chocolate chunks, lemon and orange zest mixture. I thought I had blown them off, a true MasterChef... Instead they offered me a standby position... I accepted it, but told them that I would be really disappointed to see the show and discover that less skilled cooks had been their first choice. They later informed me that the series was completed and invited me to apply next year.

I can now say to be very happy not to have participated! There would have been no context with the judges not even able to understand what a skilled and knowledgeable cook I am. Having reserached extensively from Point to Ducasse, by Bocusse and Chapel, reading Maximin, Robuchon and Gagnaire to cooking Adria's inspired Foams and hot gelatines, Herme's cakes, Keller's savouries cones and Blumenthal slow cooked meat, I cannot believe that if the show was serious about self taught cooks, without professional training and experience, they would not have selected me.

This is just another reality show, with cooking as a secondary topic.

[Richard_D]

I personally would love to see a real masterchef.

real prize money for pro chefs.

were all the best chefs in the uk would be invited to participate.

and you have a panel of judges that blind taste and judge the food.

an ironchef with teeth.

the format would be heats with themes or specific dishes.

then as it gets to the final 16 each task would be a different set piece

like restricted budget, surprise box of ingredinets, mass catering, presentation.

Would love to see a round with all of the uk celebrity chefs battling each other!! 

would make absolutely amazing tv i think as real reputations would be on the line!

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Just seen this in the Observer today. Looks interesting. Real chefs representing regions of the UK cooking dishes to be voted for by the public. The end result - a menu for the Queen's 80th birthday.

It would be good if they could carry on the format.

[June Pickering]

I think this will make for very interesting TV viewing. I'm wondering if Hester Blumenthal was overlooked. I somehow can't imagine HRH eating some of his dishes.

[GastroChick]

John Torode is the most miserable man on earth and I can say this is from first hand experience. He happened to be in the same fishmongers as myself at Borough market and had a permenent scowl on his face!

[Andy Lynes]

Seems a bit harsh to judge a man's entire character on 5 minutes in a fishmongers and besides, purchasing seafood is no laughing matter. Perhaps he was just thinking hard.

[Champagne Sadie]

This program has been at best slightly interesting, and at worst one of the most cringemaking TV shows ever to be aired.

I have time for Torode as he runs a pretty good set up and understands his products. The other chap though is a waste of space selling veg in Guildford.

A few episodes back he told some chap "Now that's a plate of decent restaurant food", in the next section when it was just him and Torode were talking he said "I just don't like his food". He wants to make his mind up. I would have been furious if I was the contestant watching the episode.

I much prefered the old version.

[Andy Lynes]

I used to think it was the two-blokes-in-a-pub-gobbing-off style of off-the-cuff judging that was the worst thing about this programme, but in fact its the portentous voice over that completely oversells the significance of the show that is its real undoing: "Veg chef Steve's mushroom risotto saw him successfuly annexe the Sudetenland, but will his meat free dishes be enough to topple the rest of mainland Europe?" Cue doomy background music and Greg and John staring out poor bloody Steve as he stuffs a courgette.

[Skooter]

I'm looking for Caroline (one of the comeback kids) on the second series. I think that she's on egullet.

PM me if you see this.. would like tochat with you, did not get a chance to say adios to ya.

Scott

[Sarah74]

I used to think it was the two-blokes-in-a-pub-gobbing-off style of off-the-cuff judging that was the worst thing about this programme, but in fact its the portentous voice over that completely oversells the significance of the show that is its real undoing: "Veg chef Steve's mushroom risotto saw him successfuly annexe the Sudetenland, but will his meat free dishes be enough to topple the rest of mainland Europe?"  Cue doomy background music and Greg and John staring out poor bloody Steve as he stuffs a courgette.

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Laugh out loud - thanks for that.

[Andy Lynes]

As the competition moves into the semi final stage this week, we can exclusively reveal that this year's tasks are set to be even more challenging than last year:

prepare a three course meal while being punched repeatedly in the face by a tap dancing dwarf on a bar stool

return a banquet for 190 people to its raw state by invoking the power of Satan

cook a delicious feast for the masked terrorists who are holding your family at gunpoint at a secret location

unicycle blindfolded across Niagara while peeling an apple with an axe

stand for 48 hours with a bag on your head until you confess that you can't really cook

Only by successfully completing all the tasks will the contestants prove they are willing to do anything to be on TV and are therefore worthy of the title Masterchef 2006.

[June Pickering]

Andy... have you ever considered a career as a stand-up comedian? :-)

[camp_dick]

What about the nude mud wrestling with Greg Wallace?

Or is it only the producer of this execrable farrago who gets to do that?

Edited March 6, 2006 by camp_dick (log)

[Matthew Grant]

I had to stop watching after seeing just a couple of episodes of this series. It really is dire. I can't even see why anybody serious about cooking would want to enter

[fisherman]

i do enjoy watching it, but only because it gives me a rare opportunity to shout at the TV. i don't watch any sports, which is, i understand, where most men get the chance to do this.

it's always very very amusing to watch some pompous arse (and no i don't mean either of the presenters) make a complete balls up of something i could

cook blindfold, or even couldn't cook at all, that bit to be honest is irrelavant.

i just like to see people fail, and it's even more gratifying when the aspirational middle class pricks get a good kicking and the digger drivers triumph

[Jonesey]

i do enjoy watching it, but only because it gives me a rare opportunity to shout at the TV.

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me too What staggers me is the way they change the judging criteria from week to week, day to day and contestant to contestant.

[bakerestates]

......you all keep watching though.....

bakerestates

[Andy Lynes]

......you all keep watching though.....

bakerestates

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Apart from Matthew that is. The fact that the rest of us keep torturing ourselves doesn't make the programme any better.

[Matthew Grant]

I was actually told to stop watching it by the better half as I spent the entire show shouting at the TV. I have to say I feel much better for giving it up

[Champagne Sadie]

i just like to see people fail, and it's even more gratifying when the aspirational middle class pricks get a good kicking and the digger drivers triumph

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Nice.

I choose not to watch it, not because of the competitors, but because of Wallace and the format of the show.

[fisherman]

i've downloaded the whole lot, as i can never remember when it's on, i've got the luxury of watching it when i like and rewinding bits i particularly like shouting at

[erica graham]

I'm sooo glad to hear that I'm not the only one to shout abuse at the TV during this, er program (v loose description).