Everything about Masterchef Canada, eh?

Review: High end to Southern comfort on MasterChef Canada

“I may not have won MasterChef Canada, but I definitely was the best-looking throughout.” And with that, the series said goodbye to Michael, one of the most compelling and entertaining characters in the franchise.

In the early stages of this season, Michael was painted as the villain, a well-dressed home cook with high-end tastes who looked down on his small-town competitors. But as with all reality TV, the story is all in the editing; as Season 2 has progressed Michael not only was shown to be a likeable dude but a valuable team player to have in your corner. Unfortunately, it all came to an end on Sunday after a raw piece of fried chicken resulted in him hanging up his apron for good. It was a shame, really, because Michael would have been great as a finalist. Still, I’m sure we’ll see him as a sous chef for the two competitors who do go into the finale on May 24.

Luckily, Michael was able to show off his skills in a professional kitchen, as “Fine Dining Under Fire” began with the Top 6 ascending 54 storeys to cook in Canoe, Michael Bonacini’s landmark restaurant. It was there the Blue Team led by Cody and with David and Christopher on board faced off against Line captaining the Red Team with Michael and Sabrina.

The results were eerily similar to Season 1’s venture to Claudio Aprile’s Origins: both teams struggled early before getting into a groove and serving up respectable plates to the 60-odd seated in the restaurant. Cody took a more collaborative approach to his leadership and the Blue Team flourished, finishing their service with just a couple of blips. The Red Team never recovered from a slow start and Sabrina stepped in to lead when Line got overwhelmed. It got so bad that Chef Bonacini donned his whites and got in there to help out.

That, paired with plating that was a little off, handed the win to Cody, David and Christopher and sent Michael, Line and Sabrina to the Elimination Challenge, to prepare fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans in just 45 minutes. And though Michael’s chicken breast was the best of the bunch, that raw leg was his undoing.

Next week the finalists get teary when their families drop by for support and to cheer them on.

Notes and quotes

  • I was playing “find the Canadian TV industry people” during the episode and spotted Bell Media execs, one television critic and Marilyn Denis.
  • “She’s acting like my daughters did when they were teenagers.” Line with the line of the night about Sabrina.
  • “I’ve been working on a fried chicken recipe for 10 years.” And I would like to sample it, David.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Tonight: MasterChef Canada, Motive, Big Brother Canada

MasterChef Canada, CTV – “Fine Dining Under Fire”
The Top 6 home cooks confront their most difficult team challenge: the Restaurant Takeover. The pressure is raised considerably when the teams learn that the professional kitchen they’re taking over is one of the finest in the country, and belongs to MASTERCHEF CANADA judge Michael Bonacini – Oliver & Bonacini’s Canoe. The losing team then faces a Pressure Test featuring a familiar comfort food that is deceptively difficult to master.

Motive, CTV – “Best Enemies”
Detectives Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman), Oscar Vega (Louis Ferreira), and Brian Lucas (Brendan Penny) investigate a murder case in which a photographer, known for his sleazy treatment of women, is the prime suspect. Their efforts to solve the case are impeded by Internal Investigations Sergeant Gavin Saunders (David Lewis, Man of Steel), who interviews Sergeant Cross (Warren Christie), Lucas, and Vega about Angie and her methods.

Big Brother Canada, Global
The houseguests face nomination in tonight’s episode of Big Brother Canada.

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Michael Bonacini puts his career on the line for MasterChef Canada

Michael Bonacini sits atop a restaurant empire that boasts eight high-profile eateries in the Toronto region. He and Peter Oliver have built a reputation for incredible food amid wonderful settings. So it would seem impossible for the remaining MasterChef Canada finalists to sully his name with one bad service. Was he nervous at the thought of Cody and Line leading their charges around the Canoe’s hallowed kitchen for Sunday’s Restaurant Takeover?

“You’re damn right I was!” Bonacini says seriously. “Even the thought of re-watching it and reliving it on Sunday makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck a little.” While there were some friendly faces in the restaurant in Bell Media employees and at least two television critics, it didn’t make things less stressful for the veteran chef and restaurateur. Bonacini explains Canoe was selected because if its iconic location 54 storeys above the city’s financial centre and reputation made it the perfect place for the Top 6 to show their chops for 60 invited guests.

During Sunday’s episode, Cody, David, Christopher, Line, Sabrina and Michael have mere moments to absorb the news they’ll be preparing appetizers and mains in Canoe’s kitchen before they’re whisked to the top of the TD Centre and donning their whites. Bonacini outlines the ingredients needed for each plate and how to prep and plate them before hungry diners descend.

“It didn’t take long for the deer-in-the-headlights looks and silence to come over them,” Bonacini recalls. Sunday’s menu items include onion soup, tuna tacos, white salmon and steak, four dishes with several ingredients each and with plenty of pitfalls. But regardless of what goes on the plates, the biggest challenge for the remaining home cooks was the biggest killer in a professional kitchen: timing. Mess that up, Bonacini explains, and you’re dead.

“In an à la carte kitchen, you have all these orders coming in and you have to be able to handle that,” he says. “You might have special dietary requests, things requested a certain doneness and you have to be able to time all that out. It’s an enormous amount of pressure.”

Who succeeds in that environment and who crumbles? Tune in on Sunday night to find out.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Review: Tea and teamwork on MasterChef Canada

Last week, the home cooks were tasked with cooking for MasterChef judge Graham Elliot, this week they were cooking alongside Claudio Aprile.

A key lesson should have been taken by every one of those home cooks present and future contestants as Chef Claudio presented a master class in calm. Where even David can get a little flustered under the gun, Claudio had no wasted movements during the Mystery Box challenge. While the Top 7 ran to the pantry to get extra ingredients, Claudio seared off his lamb and started prepping his potatoes. It may have been all in the editing, but Claudio might not have used anything from the pantry, preferring to keep it simple. The result? He was done with 15 minutes to spare, cleaned up his station, sat down and took the time to plate his final dish. (It was refreshing to see the three judges have a little bit of fun, especially when Michael took away Claudio’s goat cheese and Alvin ate half of his pear.)

Despite David’s unique idea of making a pistachio purée, it was Sabrina who won the Mystery Box—and a huge advantage. (For all of those viewers who moan when David wins, look at the reason why: he veered from the usual pistachio crust and made something different.)

The Elimination Challenge was a sharp contrast to Claudio’s control in the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s “Tea for Two.” Chaos ruled when Sabrina teamed up the six finalists to re-create a traditional English afternoon tea platter of desserts, scones and sandwiches.

At first blush it appeared the pairing of Line and Cody would self-destruct. After all, they aren’t friends, and have clashing personalities. But a funny thing happened midway through the profiterole making: the two meshed and got along. Every time they swapped out to continue the challenge they gained momentum on the way to winning the night and scoring captaincy’s in next week’s team challenge.

David and Jennifer, meanwhile, were a frigging disaster. They started strong, with Jenn coaching David through the first steps of making pastry. Then she went off the rails. David had to guide her, listing ingredients for pastry cream and ultimately making all of the sandwiches with just four minutes before time ran out. After all that, their profiteroles were missing whipped cream.

With David doing most of the work during the hour, it was easy for the judges to eliminate Jennifer from the competition.

Notes and quotes

  • “I might be old, but I ain’t dead. And that’s some eye candy going on up there.” — Line, describing Chef Claudio in his chef’s whites.
  • Claudio taking part in the Mystery Box Challenge was like watching a sports car rev at a stoplight next to a kid on a three-speed bike.
  • The smirks traded between Chef Claudio and Chef Michael were hilarious.
  • Sorry, but most of the home cooks’ lamb dishes looked like a mushy mess.
  • Did the chefs not have to make scones? I didn’t see any footage of that.

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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Review: Losers return to MasterChef Canada

I don’t like it when reality shows bring eliminated contestants back to win their way onto the program. To me, if you have been cut, you weren’t good enough in the first place and don’t deserve another chance. And you certainly don’t deserve another shot at winning the MasterChef Canada title and $100,000 over someone who has been in the trenches every single week.

So I went into Sunday’s latest episode, “Walking on Eggshells,” with a bad taste in my mouth. To me, Andrew, Cody and Kevin were nothing more than a dramatic twist that didn’t need to be there. This season has been filled with enough twists to keep me interested, so why this overkill? Regardless of my thoughts, the trio competed in the first challenge of the week, to prepare the perfect egg three ways.

The judges didn’t make things easy on Andrew, Cody and Kevin—they had just eight minutes to make a three-egg omelette, poached egg and soft-boiled egg—and the trio sweated it out. Kevin, who always seems to be a bit of a bull in a china shop in the kitchen, broke his poached egg yolk and was out of the running early, leaving the door open for Cody and Andrew. Cody ultimately won a spot back in. I won’t spend any more time whining about it.

Instead, I’ll spotlight Cody’s bonehead move of giving David a pass for the week. He is one of the strongest chefs in the kitchen and instead of making him battle, Cody let David off easy. Armchair David indeed. I understand Cody’s reasoning of putting David up there so he’s not competing with him, but he’ll have to face David sooner or later.

As for the rest of the finalists, they had an almost insurmountable task in recreating a sea scallop mousse. I’m sorry, but how can the judges expect the home cooks to master a dish that Michael Bonacini messed up the first few times he tried to construct it? Making things worse for herself was Jennifer, who forgot to grab eggs from the pantry. Kudos to Michael for taking time out to talk her off the ledge, but she had a tough road ahead of her. And yet she pulled it off by using a roux to thicken the custard and snagged a special nod from the judges.

Jon’s double shot of whipping his mousse too much and leaving a chunk of lobster cartilage in the finished dish put him firmly in the bottom next to Cody and his chunky mousse and Michael’s puddly creation. Jon’s two mistakes were enough to send him home and keep Cody in the competition.

Notes and quotes

  • “I’d rather cook what lays the eggs.” — Kevin
  • “It’s one of the most attractive poached eggs I’ve seen.” Uh, thanks Alvin.
  • I love that the finalists refer to David as “Armchair David,” because he’s always in the gallery watching others compete.
  • “I don’t get a mousse. Why would you do that to food?” Amen, Jon. Amen.
  • Does anyone have time to sit in that little library/study at the back of the kitchen?

MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.

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