Tonight was another Heston Blumenthal Masterchef Challenge, this one was about four senses (five senses, minus taste). Amy had first choice because of winning last night, she chose sound. The rest of the contestants had a knife pull to decide the order. Jamie was first and chose smell, Laura was next and chose sight. This left Emelia with touch.
Within minutes of starting, Amy cut herself and needed the nurse. She had some bandages and could continue cooking. She was going to cook an Amuse-Bouche, some fresh bread and a fish stew while playing the sounds of the ocean.
Both Laura and Jamie were cooking salmon and Emelia was cooking an apple panna cotta.
Jamie’s salmon was to bring back his days living in New Zealand near a salmon farm. He was using green tea and was going to use oil, dry ice and smoked wood chips to introduce the smell element.
Laura’s salmon dish was a citrus cured salmon in a Japanese style. She was making a ‘beetroot’ that had a completely different flavour, this was the sight element.
Just then, Amy noticed her bandage was leaking and she got blood all over he dough. She had to throw it out and start again.
Emelia was struggling with her dish. Her apple jelly wasn’t setting and she was very emotional over her dish, which was inspired by her late grandmother.
Jamie was having fun, he made “snow” with liquid nitrogen. Laura seemed to be cruising through.
Judging
Jamie was first. His dish was a green tea cured salmon with compressed apple and green strawberries. He had a lot of theatrics with his dish, it had an oil burning smell of the forest, crackling of a fire and blow torched wood chips for the smell of the fire. The judges tasted his dish. The subtle flavour of the yoghurt in the dish was good, but the curing of the salmon was a bit dull. His dish was “flat” and while the theatrics were good, the dish lacked flavour.
Next was Amy’s dish. It was seafood stew with fresh oyster and a bread roll. She told the judges to eat the oyster and listen to the sounds of the ocean, then eat the stew and listen to crackling fire. The dish was very rustic, the oyster was good but the fish in the stew was overcooked and needed more care in preparing. The idea of a fish stew didn’t take the judges to the seaside.
Next was Laura. Her dish was a citrus cured salmon with beetroot kelly and coriander oil. Her “beetroot” was a cucumber, miso and carrot jelly which was her visual joke. The combination of flavour was “yum”, the salmon was cured very well and the dish had layers of flavour.
Finally, it was Emelia. Her sense was touch and her dish was a lemon verbena panna cotta with an apple jelly and marscaponne ice cream. She served the dish with cold spoons to amplify the crunch of apples. The judges loved the dish and although the jelly hadn’t set like an apple it had a good texture. There were loads of different textures and it took Heston back to his childhood.
Laura had the best dish of the night.
Amy had the worst dish and will be joining Ben, Tracy and Brent in elimination on Friday.