80% of these recaps.
Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester Hotel died on the way back to his home planet.
…and Twist
In order to decide on the final three who get to go do a completely unpaid 40 minute advert for Alain Ducasse, the contestants had to put a twist on a classic dish and to help judge the dishes, the glass on the Emergency Anna Haugh alarm had been broken
she really is such a good judge – I loved the way she critiqued the food and I’m excited for her to take on the role of fulltime perma-judge next year.
This was a challenge that very much sat Sophie firmly in her wheelhouse as she began to weave bacon out of wheat starch and summon eggs with a pentagram of candles and tofu to create her Chinese Take-away Fry-up which if anything, was perhaps a little too twisted to the point of getting a little confused
I do really like that it looks a bit like three Deliveroo riders had a collision and can’t work out which dish belonged to which guy. The beans caused a bit consternation with Sophie not really managing to instil that sweet and sour flavour into them, I think it was just a shame that she’d made them central to the dish when the more important part of it is clearly her Fake Mystery Meat
I want an entire science-based TV series of Sophie explaining the alchemical process of her plant-based wizardry because this sentence would’ve had her thrown in a duck pond in the 17th century
Like, I don’t know if Sophie is doing anything particularly new in the eyes of most vegans and plant-based cooks, but within the realms of MasterChef she is very much a new perspective and I’m so pleased that she’s been as well received and embraced by the show as she has been.
Harry was a little more ordinary, with his twist on a Beef Wellington being to use venison and haggis in place of the beef and mushroom duxelles respectively. While I wasn’t initially enthused about the idea of the dish, I feel like we have seen this before, his execution was absolutely phenomenal and felt like a fine dining dish
that’s just a stunning plate of food – you couldn’t hope for a better cooked wellington. I thought it odd he wasn’t doing a fish dish, but I am glad it wasn’t the million-and-oneth plate of ~luxury~ fish and chips.
The last of the main courses was from Sam and ultimately the success of Harry’s Wellington really spelled the end for Sam and his Roast Beef with Massaman gravy
it looks very pretty and I do like that the whole thing was born of spite, I think that’s an underrated motive in the MasterChef ouvre
unfortunately for Sam, he’s had to sit on this extremely prolonged and drawn out “I told you so” as the judges generally thought the food was rather under seasoned and unluxurious.
Lastly we have Claire, who was certainly ready to fight for her place in the finale as she’d come dressed like a patio cushion samurai
she’s like the sister of the Ninja Turtles (A Ninja Her-tle?) that they’d introduce later to try to appeal to girls except it’s the 1980s so she doesn’t fight crime, she stays in the sewer cave and cooks pizzas for them when they get back.
The outfit is only half as whimsical as her shoving a rice pudding in a roulade and screaming “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” like Slade though
it looks a mess, but honestly that’s kind of just Christmas food in general so she kind of gets away with. I personally wouldn’t have made this dish at this stage in the competition – but I do like that it speaks to Claire liking to cook Danish food due to her husband’s heritage and blend it with something from her side. It’s cute, I just don’t know if I really saw “MasterChef” in it.
A Twisted Classic Ranking:
1. Harry’s Highland Wellington
2. Sophie’s Fake-on and Fibs
3. MERRRRRRRRRRRRY CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAS!
4. Sam’s Roast Dinner Spite
I was surprised that they brought the decision down to either being Sam or Sophie going home – I thought there was more suspense in Claire potentially being eliminated if I’m honest. But given the dishes and their reception, it was pretty clear that Sam had fallen a little shorter in their expectations
I’m sad for Sam – I wish he’d showcased more of his Thai influence in these later stages of the competition, I think that was his major success and point of interest at the beginning and then he started to blend in a little more. I’m still happy that he made it this far and I know he’ll go far once he finds his niche.
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