Tag Archives: Masterchef Canada

MasterChef Canada pump(kin)s up the competition

After a week off because of the Juno Awards, MasterChef Canada was back with the Top 10 cooking on Sunday. Doctor Shawn clearly should cook outside of his comfort zone more often: despite no knowledge of baking or working with pumpkin, he wowed the judges and had the best Elimination Challenge plate of the night.

But the biggest shock wasn’t what Shawn was able to do, but what Michelle wasn’t. One of the strongest home cooks going into this season was eliminated after her pumpkin soup was deemed unsatisfactory by the judges. Her elimination led to plenty of tears by the remaining competitors and a little head-scratching on my part. Yes, I know every judgment is made solely on your latest dish, but Michelle has, overall, been pretty impressive. Alas, she’s gone and we’re left to wonder what could have been. Meanwhile, April Lee and Jennifer got a massive wake-up call and need to improve if they want to continue.

At the other end were Mary (pumpkin gnocchi), Shawn (pumpkin soup) and Terry (pumpkin risotto)—Jeremy and Matthew’s absence from Elimination Challenge judging meant they were safe—whose pumpkin plates won raves from the judges and landed them all captain status in next week’s team challenge. Shawn and Mary have been obviously strong out of the gate, but Terry is quickly closing in on them. He’s also got a great story; you can’t help but cheer for him to win.

And then there’s Veronica. She appeared to be the villain of the season early on—being a confident lawyer will do that—and she seemed cold and detached. Clearly she’s anything but; she and the likable Michelle are best friends and she spent a lot of time sharing personal stories regarding her father. She’s also one hell of a cook; her Japanese Matcha Roll Cake was outstanding and claimed her not only the Mystery Box challenge win but a spot in a Becel margarine ad. After Michelle was eliminated, Veronica pointed out that the other home cooks are merely competitors and she’ll take them down one by one. The remaining Top 8 better watch out.

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Sunday’s MasterChef Canada sinks another home cook

Listen, I never really thought that Mary was going to go home. Yes, she botched her attempt at making some succulent trout in Sunday’s Elimination Challenge, but that’s her first stumble of the season. So when I saw her standing next to Sean—who has suffered several gaffes since the season began—I was 90 per cent confident it was he who’d be instructed to take off his apron. My suspicions were correct, but Mary needs to be smarter.

It’s a common belief among MasterChef competitors that more complicated plates will win over the judges. But as Mary, Veronica earlier this season, and others in the past have learned, that’s not always true. Mary, who’d been given a trout as her protein, planned to complement the fish with a carrot sauce, cauliflower puree and other ingredients. But her plans were too ambitious; the puree was lumpy and the sauce never made it to the plate. Worse? She left bones in the trout, a major no-no. Luckily, Sean’s plating of sturgeon was 70s-era awful, sealing his fate.

Meanwhile, with five weeks into the competition, major plotting is taking place. Jennifer and Terry, winners of the Mystery Box challenge, served notice by assigning tough fish to players like Mary, Jeremy and April Lee in a bid to get them out of there. That didn’t work this time around, but the move did amp up the drama. Kudos to the producers for having the home cooks pair up for the Mystery Box so soon in the season; it not only forced competitors out of their comfort zones but revealed some interesting alliances. It also showed that Terry is a truly fearsome competitor with the skills to not only make it far but possibly take the title.

Next week, the remaining home cooks host a lavish meal for the fashion industry’s biggest names at Casa Loma and team leaders Veronica and Jacqueline have it tough.

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

MasterChef Canada salutes the firefighters

Reality television is a heightened reality, not really “real” at all. Footage is filmed and then the storytelling is all done in the editing room. The result? What happened in Sunday’s episode of MasterChef Canada, where an open smoker door and open oven door was played up for dramatic effect.

Listen, I get that Sean likes to constantly check on food—he probably opens his front door in the winter—but there’s no way cracking the barbecue smoker lid for a few seconds to check on those ribs is the reason Team Red’s weren’t as tender as Team Blue. That is, unless Sean opened the smoker and walked away for five minutes. Now, he could have done that, except no one actually said how long the lid was open. Everyone was talking about how bad it was he’d done it, but there was no indication as to the time lapse. The outcome? The Blue Team won and Sean was blamed for the loss. (I also find it interesting that Matthew got to pick his “dream team” all at once, but no one mentioned the fact Michelle got an extra home cook in the deal.)

So it was the Red Team ended up in their first Pressure Test of this season. Matthew, rightly so, chose to save himself from cooking and picked best bud Jeremy to join him in the loft. That left Sean, Vince, Jacqueline and Mary to fend for themselves. Of those, I knew Mary would be safe as soon as Michael Bonacini revealed cupcakes were the challenge. Mary lives and breathes baking and her confections stole the show. The biggest surprise was Jacqueline, who didn’t let a little celiac disease stop her from creating wicked-good delights for the judges.

Meanwhile, the ham-handed Sean and Vince were in a neck-in-neck race for “clumsiest looking” cupcakes, something Vince won and was eliminated for.

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

MasterChef Canada’s first cut of the season

With just three weeks of competition completed, we’re starting to see some trends from MasterChef Canada‘s latest group of home cooks. Sean can be counted on for enthusiastic yelling, timely quips and questionable wardrobe choices. Veronica supplies the cold confidence and seemingly unshakable opinion she’s the best. Matthew is creative and can somehow keep a hat precariously perched on his head while cooking. Dr. Shawn? Well, he might be Season 3’s winner.

The Montreal native set himself apart from the pack early on Sunday night during “At Home and Abroad” by winning the Mystery Box challenge. With key ingredients from all 13 provinces and territories at their disposal, Shawn decided to create a maple syrup cream tart. Shawn has never made a tart and never baked. Usually, admitting such a thing would has assured a quick exit from MasterChef, but Shawn wowed Michael, Alvin and Claudio with it, winning the test and saving himself from the Elimination Challenge. After choosing South American cuisine (Claudio’s background) as the theme of the week, Shawn also picked Terry and Vince to accompany him in the loft and be safe for the week. Shawn explained he chose them because they seemed like nice guys and hopes they’ll help him out in the future. Mary opined it’s because their friends.

Regardless of the reason, the Elimination Challenge proved to be devastating for three cooks. (Neither Mary nor April Lee were shown during judging, so I knew they were safe from elimination.) Jennifer, David and Veronica all felt the judges’ wrath, Jennifer for frittering away an hour of her time only to present churros, David for an un-Southern empanada and Veronica for bland stuffed tortillas. Jennifer was plagued by technical difficulties and David just plain admitted he had no clue what South American food looked or tasted like. Veronica, meanwhile, was confident her plate was a winner and seemed shocked things didn’t go her way. I’m sure Veronica is a nice person and all, but at this point in the competition I’d be happy if she went home. Her confidence comes off as arrogance and a lawyer background creates an unreadable poker face. As Chef Michael pointed out, she needs to cook from the heart to advance. Luckily for Veronica, she’ll get to do that for at least another week as New Brunswick carpenter David was instructed to pack up his tools and go home.

Next week, top home cooks Michelle and Matthew will be team captains as the squads prepare a barbecue meal for hungry firemen. From the looks of things, someone’s ribs gets burned. Who do you think has the best chance of winning? Comment below or via @tv_eh on Twitter.

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

MasterChef Canada reveals the Top 14

Well, two out of three ain’t bad. We’re two weeks into MasterChef Canada, and Mary and Michelle—two home cooks interviewed by TV, Eh?—are still in the hunt. Both ladies are now part of the Top 14 revealed on Sunday night. The former earned her apron in Week 1, while the latter added to her wardrobe by creating a baked apple tart in just 30 minutes.

Michelle was smart to try a tart. It was a big gamble, of course, but Claudio Aprile, Michael Bonacini and Alvin Leung are impressed by moxie and cooking. Not to mention baking is a difficult skill. The odd man out was Travis (with regard to TV, Eh?), who despite going into MasterChef Canada with confidence was eliminated in Sunday’s final test.

And what a final test it was. First, the final 18 were tasked with doing mise en place (break down a chicken into eight pieces, clean and devein shrimp, shuck six cobs of corn, julienne three sweet peppers, separate the yolks from the whites of two dozen eggs, peel and core an apple) in just 15 minutes, something that no one was able to complete. For the record, I might have gotten the chicken, corn, peppers and eggs done. Sean, a.ka. “Headband Guy,” Julia, Matthew and Jacqueline were all awarded aprons, leaving the remaining home cooks with a final decider: create a dish using any of the mise en place items in 30 minutes. Surprisingly, almost every one of them chose to use chicken as their main protein, something that takes longer than shrimp to prepare. I would have made fresh linguine and added peppers, corn and shrimp with a light tomato sauce.

It’s too early in the competition to say who, besides Michelle, has a good chance at becoming a long-term competitor. That said, I’m impressed with Doctor Shawn and carpenter David. On the other side? I was turned off by Veronica’s confidence-bordering-on-arrogance and if next week’s teaser is any indication, her attitude gets her into trouble.

Who are your favourites so far?

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

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail