Wednesday 7 January 2009

Cooking doesn't get tougher than this...

PORK chops cremated in bottled sweet chilli sauce, undercooked asparagus spears... cooking doesn't get ROUGHER than this...
Welcome back Masterchef Goes Large!
Only two episodes in to the new series and already I am hooked.
BBC Two's daily dose of Gregg Wallace and John Torode has preserved me from the post-Christmas blues.
I delight at the first round 'invention test', imaging what I'd cook as a contestant, and I love to watch the amateurs sweat it out in the pro-kitchen.
Similarly, I play along in the final round, musing over what I'd serve up as my 'two best plates of food'.
Admittedly, I'd struggle as my food lacks finesse - although I'd hope that Gregg would still tuck in with a big spoon, before proclaiming, 'Cor, blimey, that's good.'
If this series follows the same pattern as last year's (which if Gregg and John's dialogue is anything to go by, it will), the three finalists get to work in some of the world's top restaurants. In 2008, James, Jonny and Emily proved their mettle in Bras, Pierre Gagnaire and Troisgros - all three Michelin star restaurants in France.
This, for me, was the highlight of the series and I can't wait to see where the top trio are sent this year.
In the mean time I will very much enjoy the heats, safe in the knowledge that I may not be Gordon Ramsay, but I can cook a pork chop...
Have you tuned in to Masterchef Goes Large yet? What do you think?

9 comments:

Jim said...

I don't watch any cookery programmes Emily, Sad really, but if I watch I get hungry, and then I start picking or should that be pigging :)

Emily said...

Oh, I know. The minute they start tucking into puddings, I reach for the chocolate stash!

Mrs Woffington said...

I had the Masterchef cookbook for Christmas, but as I'm usually not home until 7.30pm/8pm, Nigella Express - and a rice cooker - is a lot more useful.

Emily said...

Good afternoon. What's the Masterchef cookbook like? Does it contain the best recipes of recent finalists? I have seen some of James Nathan's recipes in BBC Good Food Magazine and they are super tricky marked for the 'confident chef'... which I am not. Like you said, Nigella Express is a lot more useful when you return from work absolutely starving!

Mrs Woffington said...

The format is 'inspired by Joe Bloggs', so I think Gregg Wallace and John Torode have taken the finalists' ideas and tinkered with them, and you also get a few of Torode's recipes in there too. They're rather nice, but I doubt I'd bother stuffing a pear with blue cheese, for instance, unless I was entertaining.

Jim said...

Oh I agree Mrs W, I leave that type of thing to restaurants.

Life is to short to spend it pfaffing around in the Kitchen, unless it's your hobby or something. Me? I'd rather be down the pub :)

Mrs Woffington said...

Yup Jim - in the words of Shirley Conran: Life's too short to stuff a mushroom.

Jim said...

Shirley Conran said that? LOL,, a woman to respect then. :)

Emily said...

Glad we all agree. I sometimes feel a bit inadequate when I watch these cookery shows. They make you feel like a failure if you've used dried pasta (rather than homemade), or served up a risotto and used (horror of horrors) a stock cube...