Masterchef - could you win it?

lucylu

I love Masterchef on BBC2 where amateurs must cook food prove they have the skill, talent, commitment, originality and drive to convince the judges for the title Masterchef.

Some nights the standard is very high and more nights the talent is average.

So, do you think you would have the skills, confidence and flare win?

What would your signature dishes be that would blow the judges away??

The Sweeper

Hahahahah not a chance.

I never cook single serving style food. Never have. I'm more a "cook a lot and let everyone help themselves" type person. When I throw a dinner party and set the table for dinner, everyone has an empty plate in front of them, and the centre of the table is filled with heat-proof pads on which go an assortment of large, covered serving dishes with spoons.

I know I'm good with ingredients, flavours and textures, but the final touches - plating up and drizzling - not my thing. I have a pretty good handle on the alchemy of salt, sugar, spices and herbs, but that's about it!

watna

Nope, not a chance in hell. Celebrity masterchef is on here at the moment and they keep referring to the celebrities developing from a "good home cook" to a chef.

I will always be just a good home cook - and i wouldn't have it any other way!

Dizzyblonde

I wouldn't stand a chance.
My family and friends love my cooking but I wouldn't expect others to.

Fletch123

I was talking about this to my OH last night- I would have to learn a lot more to even consider entering- how to fillet a fish, to cook a steak perfectly to order, how to cook scallops perfectly etc etc. then I might stand a chance at getting through to the next round.

I'd probably cook the judges dishes using fresh in season ingredients, keeping the flavors strong and simple.

I'd love to give the invention test a go! I'm suprised that no one the other night cooked the mackeral with a warm potato salad given the ingredients.

The Sweeper

Interesting what you say there Fletch about strong flavours and seasonal ingredients.

A few weeks ago, there was a party at my old housemate's place. I announced well in advance that I was going to be out, because basically through a mixture of artiface and my own inability to stand back, I would have ended up doing a load of cooking.

The "replacement cook" was heralded as a genius in the kitchen, someone whose food you would die for, someone who attends cookery masterclasses and such like. Her ingredients definitely sounded interesting - back straps of lamb, oven-cooked medley of meditteranean vegetables, a side salad of more interesting things, a starter of prosciutto and something else I can't recall.

The upshot was: the food was crap. The lamb was pan-fried in advance, without seasoning, and reheated on the day. (I would have cooked it as the last thing - seasoned it and let it sit in a marinade of a little olive oil with some bruised rosemary and whole cloves of garlic that had been flattened, then showed it the barbecue on both sides before resting it appropropriately. I may have been tempted to substitute port for the oil in the marinade, actually, to lend some sweetness. That would also have allowed me to make a reduction sauce in a separate pan while the lamb was resting.)

The vegetables were basically chopped into a casserole dish and roasted in the oven before being served up in their own juices. Where was the salt and pepper, most particularly the salt? What about some herbs, some olive oil, some capers, some anchovies?

To be honest, for the amount of preparation that went into the food, and the level of presentation of the finished product, I was astonished at the lack of flavour. (I wasn't at the party and didn't eat with them, but I picked at some scraps the next day from the fridge.) My housemate even grudgingly admitted to me later that she felt I was a better cook (I have to admit I felt pretty smug - after my uncooperative refusal to participate in the party prep, the replacement cook had been trumpeted as Saint Culinary Reborn for two weeks.)

Good ingredients do have their own flavour, but I believe you should use herbs and spices, oils and pickles, to enhance and complement that flavour, not necessarily drown it out.

Alun

I couldn't win it to save my life .. I don't do the whole (fake) "drive and ambition" thing for a start, and if some ponsy chef in a professional kitchen told me to redo a dish just because it didn't look pretty enough, he'd probably end up with it stuffed in a place where the sun doesn't shine I can cook, however.

taztastic

I've been feeling quite strongly about this for some time now. As I remember Masterchef started out as a chance for talented amateur cooks to show off their talents and cook a knock out dinner as they would for their very intimate chums.
Now it's something like X-Factor for would be Heston-Blumanthal types (forgive possible typo in his name). It does have some appeal but I really miss the old-style show.

Also, I'd be so awful at it it's unreal. I do love cooking but I have the attention span of a gnat and consistently forget about something in a pot/oven/microwave. Even making porrige in the morning is risky.

P. Breathnach

I'd fail it on salt. The judges seem to want plenty of seasoning, and I simply refuse to use lots of salt.

[I'd fail it on a lot of other things too.]

Fletch123

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Good ingredients do have their own flavour, but I believe you should use herbs and spices, oils and pickles, to enhance and complement that flavour, not necessarily drown it out.

Absolutely, herbs and spices should always complement and enhance rather than be a tool to show off that you have truffle oil or that you're sophisticated enough to put star anise in your mashed potato



Has anyone else noticed that at the beginning of the episode when they're whittling it down from 6 to 3 it's usually the contestants who say that their dream is to open a restaurant that are the ones who get kicked out first?


Taztastic- I don't think it's too X-factory as they don't do sob stories for the contestants ("I should win this because I had a horrible maths teacher in school and I need to prove him wrong" kind tripe), and they usually don't have an interview with contestants that have been kicked out- once they're out, they're out!


Don't know what I would have done with the ingredients tonight, the rabbit would have phased me big time.

rockbeer

Fletch123 wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed that at the beginning of the episode when they're whittling it down from 6 to 3 it's usually the contestants who say that their dream is to open a restaurant that are the ones who get kicked out first?

If I was a judge I'd kick these people out first too. They're invariably rubbish cooks with overinflated opinions of themselves, and they really annoy the hell out of me.

If your dream is to open a restaurant, don't go on TV hoping for a short cut. That has to be the surest way to make sure your dream remains a dream.

Start at the bottom. Go and learn your trade in a professional kitchen, see if you can stand the heat. Then if that works out go on to college and learn about business management.

Take the right steps and it might become a reality.

Mr Magnolia

We really enjoy the show too. This programme and 'Come dine with me' are the 2 most watched programmes in our house at the minute.

I'd like to think I'd give it a good go. A simple scallop dish to start and a classic, well rehearsed Tornadoes Rossini for a main would probably be my selection.

Fletch123 wrote: »

I'd love to give the invention test a go! I'm suprised that no one the other night cooked the mackeral with a warm potato salad given the ingredients.

As would I. We record the show and watch it in the evenings. I pause it after the ingredients are read out and my wife and I would name which dishes we woudl cook in there position.

It's a pity they don't suggest which dishes they were thinking of when they put the ingredient list together. They don't just pick random ingredients, there's generally 2 or 3 dishes that are crying out to be cooked.

The Hill Billy

I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell. For a start, I wouldn't have any interest in becoming a chef & cooking in a professional kitchen. Also, my preferred style of cooking is way too "rustic" & nowhere near the more polished style that is required.

Mr Magnolia

It's not always refined food they go for though. I think I remember a rustic Liverpudlian cook getting to the final in a recent enough series.

TheHairyFairy

Is it time for "Boards Dine With Me" ? A few of you should get together and do this, it would be a great read for the rest of us.

taztastic

Taztastic- I don't think it's too X-factory as they don't do sob stories for the contestants ("I should win this because I had a horrible maths teacher in school and I need to prove him wrong" kind tripe), and they usually don't have an interview with contestants that have been kicked out- once they're out, they're out!

Fair point - probably should have watched an episode of X-factor before I made the comparison.

Also I think they introduction of the ingredients task is a really good one since it makes people be a bit more adventuous and well read in culinary terms rather than sticking to their comfort zone. Great suggestion about pausing after the ingredients and coming up with your own dish. Like countdown for cooks.