Last night MasterChef 2011 came to a close in a drawn out two-part finale where contestant Kate Bracks ultimately triumphed against her younger component Michael Weldon in a tight race.
The format for finding the winner was a three stage culinary triathlon to be performed in front of the judges, as well as all of the series contestants – including insufferable chatterbox Rachel and the elusive ousted cheater Matt. And guess who else turns up? All the celebrity chefs and former contestants from the previous series?!? This really is an exciting night. Ellie/Allie was inexplicably wearing her MasterChef kitchen outfit.
Awkward:
Stage One is a Mystery Box Challenge (MBC). Because it is the final this is no ordinary MBC. Kate and Michael have 45 minutes to make a dish from four boxes, having to select and prepare something from each box before moving onto the next. Michael made a steak and oyster pie and Kate made pan-fried Balmain bugs and crab and rémoulade salad. Kate’s rookie struggle to gut the crab cost her, and it was Michael who ended up with an early two point lead once the judges announced their scores.
Michael announced the leader
Stage Two was an Invention Test where the finalists were asked to deliver “the best dish they ever cooked”. Alas Michael did not do that. He made a butter-poached lobster with fennel and the dish suffered from his poorly formed decision to keep the tails on his leeks – as per something he’d seen at a cool food joint in New York. Kate made roasted breast of quail with some other things. The quail was good and the jus was delicious. Kate overtook Michael on the score board with a solid hand of 9 out of 10 from the judges.
Stage Three was a Pressure Test for which everyone jizzed their pants over guest chef René Redzepi. He revealed his world class dessert “Snowman” to a chorus of gasps. It really did look like a tiny snowman.
Kate and Michael both performed well but Kate ultimately took out the trophy as the MasterChef 2011 champion. Everyone celebrated.
