Some of my favourite episodes of MasterChef Canada have been when a chef who has a specialty drops by spotlight their skills. On Sunday’s newest episode, it came in the form of Chef Shigeo Kimura, a.k.a. the Godfather of sushi in this country, whose incredible knife skills were shown off in front of the remaining competitors.
The instalment started off on a sweet note, as Andre—the winner of last week’s Mystery Box Challenge—was saved from being kicked out. As for the rest, they would be run through a gauntlet of three grueling Japanese-themed challenges on the road to at least one cook going home. And while Jeremy was particularly excited, Barrie seemed concerned.
Chef Kimura prepared a snapper sashimi that was razor-thin and gorgeous. But where Chef Kimura had years to perfect his craft, the competitors had a mere 15 minutes to break down their own snapper and present it to Chef Michael, Chef Alvin and Chef Claudio. Chef Kimura would judge their knife skills and which Top 4 would join Andre in the safe zone in the gallery.
Andrew was confident his time working with fish in Halifax would help him, and Thea quickly called on a medic to staunch some bleeding. April Lee, meanwhile fell a little behind the rest of the group because she’d gone back to get the other snapper fillet after damaging the first. Jeremy and Andrew were the first to plate their snapper and were confident they’d be safe from elimination. As expected, Jeremy (his cuts were exquisite), was tops followed by Mai, Andrew and Thea, who headed to the gallery.
In the second round, the remaining contestants tackled maki, creating a customized roll with rice on the outside and a tempura element. The Top 3 dishes would earn those cooks safety. Marissa planned for a surf and turf maki, Andy went with a scallop tempura with yellowtail tuna, Barrie a fish and chips maki with tempura crab, April Lee aimed to add deli meat to her maki, Andrew a veggie roll, and Jen a ginger poke roll that had her scrambling (and swearing). Barrie’s sushi rice wasn’t ready, so he threw it into the cooler … and then returned to the wrong station. To say the test and time limit was a struggle was an understatement.
Jen’s swearing paid off: Alvin enjoyed her roll. Andy’s rice to ingredient ratio was off; Marissa’s consistency was off; Barrie’s roll featured rice sandwiched between two seaweed rolls, which wasn’t part of the challenge; April Lee’s executive deli maki was disappointing; and Christopher’s roll was good, but a little under seasoned. The Top 3 were Christopher and Jen, who were joined by Marissa.
That left Barrie, Andy and April Lee for the final test: creating okonomiyaki, a savoury Japanese pancake. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, this was a replication challenge, meaning the pancake must contain eggs, dashi, shrimp, cabbage and sauce, topped with grilled, marinated octopus, Benito flakes, pickled ginger and green onion. April Lee hoped her experience making it at home would give her an advantage.
With a 20-minute deadline, it seemed almost impossible. Everything seemed to be going OK … until April Lee flipped her base pancake. It actually wasn’t as bad as the show teased as they headed to commercial. April Lee’s pancake broke a bit but was by no means the catastrophe the edit hinted at. Barrie was the first to plate his pancake, and everyone was worried it wasn’t cooked all the way through.
Alvin deemed Barrie’s okonomiyaki little underdone, Claudio loved April Lee’s, and Michael loved Andy’s but judged it under seasoned. When it came down to it, Barrie was eliminated from the competition.
MasterChef Canada: Back to Win airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
