Masterchef Semi Final 2014 2

Tonight is the Masterchef Semi Final for 2014. It is Brent, Emelia and Laura who will compete head-to-head with the two top cooks going in to tomorrow night’s final. See who wins the Masterchef Semi Final here. The contestants will have 4 hours to cook for 20 guests, plus the judges, so they will have to cook 46 dishes in total. They were told about the challenge last week and were able to plan their dishes and practice them. Who won masterchef semi final?

Emelia’s main was beef cheeks jerusalem artichoke puree. She was cooking the cheeks in a pressure cooker.

Brent was cooking roasted pork belly with onions and a celeriac cream, guinness reduction, popcorn powder and a cider gel.

Laura was making her dessert first, a chestnut parfait and coffee and rum mousse.

Gary asked Emelia if she had cooked her beef cheeks for 45 minutes in the pressure cooker, she said she had cooked them for 80 minutes. She took one out and it was falling apart. This wasn’t how she had hoped they would turn out.

Laura started her mains. She was cooking chestnut quail, so she had to break down 25 quails.

Brent’s started his dessert, a pistachio cake brushed with fennel and an apple cloud.

Emelia was cooking a chocolate ice cream fig leaf anglaise but was still unsure about another element to tie the dish together.

Gary and George weren’t sure Laura was going to get all her elements done in time. She still had to puree her chestnuts, finish her quail and cook the rest of her dish.

Brent was moving on to his ice cream. He was using liquid nitrogen, which would be quick to get his ice cream set. Emelia was also using liquid nitrogen.

Laura was on to the mushroom component of her main. She got her chestnut puree into the thermomix. Meanwhile, Emelia had her timer too close to the stove and it set on fire and melted.

George grabbed Laura. He showed her the menu and it said her quail would be smoked. She was going to char it, not smoke it but decided she would change her dish. With only minutes of prep time left, this wasn’t ideal. She started smoking her quail and the guests walked in. There was 1 minute to go.

Service started. Laura had to cook her quail to order. Straight up, there were 4 orders for each main course. Emelia was first to plate up in 4 minutes. Brent was falling behind, but he and Laura were still plating up. Brent was done after 5 minutes and Laura was still going. Emelia had already plated another 4 as Laura’s were going out.

Mains Judging

First was Emelia’s glazed beef cheeks with artichoke puree. It was “exciting”, “brilliant” and left Gary dumbfounded. He couldn’t think of anything that could make the dish better. She “absolutely nailed it”.

Brent’s roasted pork belly with apples and celeraic cream was a “sexy pork belly”. The pork was very tender and the crackling was “wow”. Brent “nailed it”. It was like salt and vinegar chips. The judges loved it.

Laura’s smoked quail with chestnuts polenta and pine mushrooms was last. There was worry her quail will be undercooked, but it was “spot on”. Gary said it was delicious, the chestnut cream was “smashing”. There was a lot of detail in the dish. She “played to her strengths”. It was a very clever dish.

Dessert

It was on to dessert. Laura plated her first dessert “chestnut forrest”. Unfortunately her chestnut mousse wasn’t firmly set. She needed to get it on the plate so decided to put it at the bottom and put the crumb on the top.

Emelia started plating her dessert. Her mandarin curd was runny and hadn’t set. She decided to turn it into a chantilly.

Brent’s dish was first to go out. He was very quick to plate up.

It went straight to the judges. The dish, seasonal apples with pistachio and fennel was “wow” it was an “absolute knock out”. Gary said it was one of the nicest things in the kitchen all year. It was an incredibly complex dish, “stunning”.

Emelia’s whipped chocolate ganache with mandarine chantilly curd and fig leaf anglaise. The ganache was delicious, the crumb was rich and creaminess of the chantilly but the mandarin curd was missing, the touch of acidity would have broken through the richness of chocolate.

Next was Laura’s chestnut forest. Gary said he had “died and gone to heaven”. It was delicious. It was “on another level”. Every element on the dish served a purpose, it was well thought out.

It was very close the judges had a hard time picking the winners.

The first person through to the final was Brent.

Emelia was eliminated from Masterchef tonight.

Laura will be facing Brent in the final