NZ Masterchef 2012

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fifie, Apr 14, 11:06pm
Thanks for this elliehen, watched the show and liked this take on the minestrone soup,will be making when the cooler weather arrives.

mwood, Apr 15, 5:34pm
MasterClass Chef Workshop ! LOL more like "Kitchen Hand 101"

elliehen, Apr 15, 5:57pm
Really!I was very pleased to see 'Leftovers Risotto' and 'Fridgecleanout Minestrone' being made.I plan to make both.

Don't forget that the programme is Reality TV for entertainment.Not many high end chefs will be watching, unless for amusement.

elliehen, Apr 15, 8:29pm
Ray McVinnie is talking to Jim Mora on NatRad right now.

He says he knows that Masterchef is a 'game show' but anything that encourages NZers to cook has to be good, and that he personally learns something new every time he goes on set :)

Edited to add:He also says his favourite cookbooks are by Elizabeth David because they are unpretentious and about simple food.He said he's read the biographies of her too and has decided she must have been a 'miserable old bag' who led a 'fairly septic life' but the cookbooks stand apart.

mwood, Apr 15, 8:44pm
Exactly - "Kitchen Hand 101" - Masterchef it is not/they are not LOL

elliehen, Apr 15, 9:08pm
But they're only hunting for the next one at this point in the show, and only for the next 'amateur' Masterchef.That's fair enough.

charlieb2, Apr 15, 9:10pm
lol. thanks for sharing that snippet!

mwood, Apr 15, 9:18pm
No it is not - a "Chef" is a trained and qualified "Cook" - a well earned Qualification - a best all these people are potential Amateur Master Cooks. A huge fake out. USA and UK have real chefs competing head to head for the title. These are an embarrassment - only worth watching for the morbid cringe factor LOL

deus701, Apr 15, 9:42pm
There is a UK one called Masterchef Professionals where they take real chefs to compete against each other.One of my favourite was the japanese 'Iron Chef' series. IMHO the junior masterchefs has more talent than the adult ones.

Also did anyone notice that when the Regal Salmon ad comes on, it labels Nadia as "Nutritionist and cook" .not chef.

elliehen, Apr 15, 10:26pm
Speaking of Nadia, I've just interrupted work for a break and Nat Rad is now interviewing her about her new cookbook.

One pearl of wisdom, "if you eat the foods you really truly enjoy, you'll find you want less of them".

mwood, Apr 15, 10:36pm
Note : Does not work for beer.

elliehen, Apr 15, 10:42pm
OK, personally I don't waste time watching programmes for 'morbid cringe factors'.

I watch- with only one eye because my computer is within range! - for snippets of interest about food in general (I learned some more about rice varieties this episode); for the competitive edginess that an elimination contest brings; and with genuine appreciation of the personalities and expertise that people bring to something that is not their day job.

And a TV Reality Show called 'Potential Amateur Mastercooks' just won't pull in the viewers or the advertisers.

BTW I'll bet the real Masterchef contests in those other countries you mention create a furore every time someone is eliminated.You just have to look at Book Awards like the Man Booker to see what infighting and backbiting goes on amongst publishers and authors when the longlist is reduced to the shortlist ;)

elliehen, Apr 15, 10:43pm
Beer!A food!I'll bet you don't let your teenagers believe that one ;)

elliehen, Apr 15, 10:49pm
For anyone who wants to listen:

Eight Months to Mars - Ray McVinnie
He's busy teaching a course in gastronomy at the Auckland University of Technology, writing for Cuisine magazine (which he's been doing for 20 years) and a Sunday newspaper, and you've almost certainly spied him in action as a judge of the highly-popular television programme, MasterChef. (27′45″)

Download: Ogg VorbisMP3 | Embed

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons

mwood, Apr 15, 10:54pm
Yed it's true - beer is no longer just for breakfast.

elliehen, Apr 15, 10:57pm
Then you'll love this link ;)

http://voices.yahoo.com/beer-worlds-oldest-health-food-1529769.html

What's with the 'yed'!Have you already had your three bottle meals today!

sumstyle, Apr 15, 11:17pm
What bollocks.Standard nutritionist hype that doesn't apply to every mindset.

elliehen, Apr 15, 11:42pm
Bollocks for some, obviously!

However, I find if I take the time to prepare the good food I like, I'm less likely to reach for the quick-fix stuff which can also be appealing but ultimately less satisfying.

Take something like hot-smoked salmon and salad, for example (something I enjoy).It's hard to overdose on that!

I came in only half-way through her interview, but perhaps she was encouraging those people who see food as the enemy not to deny themselves the food they enjoy!

deus701, Apr 15, 11:48pm
"In 2003 at Harvard, they did research and learned that the higher the amount of cooking in any society, the lower the obesity. End of story. Interesting, eh! It's common sense. You eat less, you eat better food, you understand what you're doing, so it's much better."

an excerpt from Rays interview

elliehen, Apr 16, 12:34am
Makes perfect sense to me.

mwood, Apr 16, 12:47am
Fail : Philippines - no cooking skills and no obesity LOL

elliehen, Apr 16, 3:14am
You must know more about Filipinos (or Filipinas!) than I do ;)

bedazzledjewels, Apr 17, 3:33am
Some of those lamb dishes looked so good. A bit surprised at who went home though.

miri_s, Apr 17, 3:42am
I guess she had never been placed in the top, for the previous challenges.That was probably the deciding factor.Tony's gratin sounded dubious, but I guess we'll never know how the dishes actually tasted.

kuaka, Apr 17, 3:54am
Probably if you spend too much time in the kitchen cooking, you're too tired to pig out on what you've eaten!