Masterchef: Semi Finals Week

[Pebbledashery]

In preparation for tonight!

I'm sure in the 'good old days' Final's Week lasted 5 or 6 episodes. There were a couple of trips (cooking in the jungles / navy ship / posh restaurant in Spain) and then some elimination tasks (chef's table, final invention test) and then the final 3-course cook off.

My rose-tinted glasses are steaming up!

Yeah didn’t they go off and cook lunch for companies or did I make that up?

Have to say this series hasn't engaged me as much.

Wow boiled egg pastry

Yes, Romaining, I remember beachside open-air cookouts and suchlike, and someone would usually provide some jeopardy by fainting in the heat or something. Ah, the good old days….

I do agree Pebble. They've done something with the format that doesn't quite work for me. I prefer it when the judging is at the end of the episode rather than mid way through.

At least the other chefs are teaching them well.

I know some of it is Covid-related but I miss the big catering tasks - cooking for the army, the cast of Emmerdale, employees at the car factory, dinner at a National Trust property etc.

I miss the mass catering challenges, in the past they did one for the Holby cast, it was brilliant (and there was always a boring pasta bake for the veggie option and a old fashioned school pudding).

I think the start of covid knocked that sort of thing on the head. Perhaps as we get more back to normal they'll bring it back.

Yeah me too

I miss the industrial vats of custard <eyes mist over>

This has been the most boring series I can remember. I think there were too many contestants and so it was harder to get invested in them. The tasks have all been too samey and all these celebrity chef rounds are pointless.

And the 'bother, I underestimated how long it would take to chop 42kg of onions'.

I guess it was Covid related but I also liked them in the big catering challenges, creating a menu and working as a team.

And prepare 50 salmon 🤣🤣them were the days

Yeah, I miss the navy ships and the construction crews

Eddie is driving me mad.

Speed up, Eddie.

No, I can't, because <excuse> says Eddie.

Blah.

Uninspired.

Yes and someone would suggest cottage pie and then collapse under the weight of all the potatoes, peeling, boiling mashing for 40 people!

I bet Eddie knows all about tides and navigation and how to dump a body at sea in a way that ensures it never washes up. If I were a beetroot-faced gobshite I would be careful how I talked to him.

I like Clare Smyth. And Paul.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Now, if it was 'the bare Pierre Koffmann', that might be worth seeing.

🤣🤣🤣

Yummy. Uncooked ravioli filling.