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00:00Last time on MasterChef Canada.
00:08We're talking take-in.
00:10Top six.
00:11That finish line is getting closer and closer.
00:14This is intense.
00:16Veronica.
00:17Liv.
00:18Miriam.
00:19You may head to the gallery.
00:21Koichi, Andres, and Boo, you now face a pressure test.
00:25I am cooking for my life right now.
00:27Fifteen minutes left for your donuts.
00:30I feel like I'm about to give up.
00:32You overloaded your fryer.
00:33Big mistake.
00:34Koichi, unfortunately, the ride ends here.
00:43Here we go.
00:45Whoa.
00:46Hello.
00:47Hello.
00:48Mystery box.
00:50I am top five, and it's amazing.
00:53What are these?
00:55This is, like, so outside of my comfort zone.
00:58Cool.
00:58But, you know, it also just kind of shows me how strong I am.
01:03I'm the last man standing, and I'm up against the most powerful women in this competition.
01:08It's so cool, but it's also really scary.
01:12I've had really, really good days, but I've also been on the bottom a couple of times.
01:16So, I have to prove that I can overcome anything.
01:21Well, hello there, MasterChef Canada Season 8 Top 5.
01:25Woo!
01:26Yeah!
01:28Veronica, how do you feel about getting this far?
01:31It feels great, and I'm very proud of every single one of us.
01:35I think everyone is a great cook, and can't wait to see what the upcoming challenges are.
01:39Liz, what do you think you need to do to get to that next level?
01:44I think I just need to keep pushing.
01:47You have really high expectations, and the cooks around me are so strong.
01:52Oh, one thing's for sure.
01:53You always need to know how to adapt in the MasterChef Canada kitchen.
01:57You've definitely come a long way from your first mystery box, and today, your journey continues.
02:02As you take a stab at another one, pick a box, any box, and stand behind it.
02:09The first mystery box was very challenging, and it seems like this one's just going to be a lot harder.
02:17I think a mystery challenge, you have to highlight whatever is underneath that box.
02:23Last time, I was able to do that beautifully, and I hope this time, it's not as challenging.
02:28Are you ready to see what your future holds?
02:31Not really.
02:33One, two, three, lift!
02:39Ooh!
02:40Okay!
02:42Rainbow trout!
02:43It's whole fish.
02:45Hey there.
02:47There's Japanese medai, sea bream, sea bass, rainbow trout, and amberjack.
02:54Hi!
02:56Oh no, I'm a landlocked girl.
02:58Like, I am not comfortable with fish.
03:01My dress has got a big one.
03:02You've got a big one.
03:03Big guy.
03:05I've never seen a fish like this.
03:08This thing's huge.
03:09I don't know if that's good or bad.
03:13Fish is one of the most versatile ingredients, with countless ways to prepare.
03:16And it all begins with a proper fillet.
03:19Who here knows how to fillet a fish?
03:23Wow.
03:24Okay.
03:25Well, you're in luck, because today I'm going to show you.
03:28Oh.
03:29And you're going to do it with me.
03:34Oh, it's a follow-along?
03:36Filet-along.
03:37Filet-along.
03:39It's a masterclass with Chef Hugh.
03:41How exciting.
03:43This is so cool.
03:44Chef Hugh is a professional chef, and he's going to teach us how to fillet a fish.
03:49Like, this is what I signed up for.
03:51I've got an arctic char, but it's remarkably similar to all these fish in front of you.
03:58I'm going to go step by step with all of you.
04:00Keep up, but remember, your knife is a friend in this.
04:03You want to make sure that the sharpness of the knife is guiding it, but not guiding it
04:07to your digits.
04:10Ready?
04:12This is it.
04:13This is my butchering 101 right here.
04:17Okay.
04:17You're going to cut through the bone right behind the head.
04:21Then we're just going to take that belly and just flop it up.
04:24Now, you want to watch your fingers, and you are beginning to cut against that center spine,
04:29snapping through all those little bones.
04:34Make sense?
04:35Once you get that off, you're going to flip that over and do the other side.
04:42Chef Hugh, he makes it look so easy, and then I'm like, where do I put the knife again?
04:49Chef Hugh is going fast.
04:50If we don't stop him, he will be done with that fish in, like, two seconds.
04:55Don't be scared of a knife.
04:57Just come down and use it to go underneath.
05:00Good.
05:02Andres, what did you do there?
05:05My fish, it's seen better days.
05:08I kind of did a hack job here.
05:10Oh, my God.
05:11You're leaving all your flesh back.
05:12That's a lot of fun.
05:13Okay.
05:13See that?
05:14That's what I want to see.
05:15Okay.
05:16There's a hole in mine.
05:19My fillets, they're looking a little rough.
05:23Wow.
05:23Sorry, fish.
05:24Guys, we're trying to go under and move.
05:26That is the gnarliest fish fillet piece.
05:30Oh, no.
05:31I live on lack.
05:32So if you just do it like that, okay?
05:35Oh.
05:36Okay.
05:36Um, wow, you actually understand this.
05:40Kudos.
05:42Okay.
05:43Now, if you want to take off the skin, slice into it to the skin, but not through the skin.
05:49And then you're just going to gently pull down.
05:51Now, from this point, you're just going to trim off any excess fat and whatnot that would be remaining.
05:58And then you can kind of trim down just for nice shape.
06:03I feel like I'm not far off.
06:06Maybe I could have been a little bit tighter in some areas, but I think it looks pretty good.
06:11Butchering fish.
06:12It's a lot harder than you think, especially for your first time.
06:16But I think I understand it a lot better now.
06:21Well, that master class went swimmingly.
06:25Using the fish you just filleted, your challenge is to make a duet of MasterChef-worthy fish dishes.
06:32One raw and one cooked.
06:36Two dishes.
06:37We haven't had to do that yet before, so I don't know.
06:40I don't know.
06:41Top five, you've come a long way to get this far.
06:44But now there's no more advantages, no more pins.
06:48It's all on you to cook your heart out, to make your way to the semifinals.
06:53I've been gone for so long for my family.
06:55I've got to make this worth it.
06:57Bring it on.
06:58The home cook who lands the best dish will reel in a splashy boost of $5,000
07:05toward their culinary dream, courtesy of CIBC Adaptive MasterCard.
07:10Whoa.
07:12Nice.
07:12You have 75 minutes to serve up the catch of the day two ways, cooked and raw.
07:20Your time starts now.
07:24Go, go, go, go, go.
07:25Oh, my gosh.
07:2875 minutes, I think they have the time to really put something together that's going to shine.
07:32We are making them do two dishes, but I do think we've been fair.
07:35I really want to get into semifinals, so hopefully I can create two dishes true to myself.
07:43Soy sauce, soy sauce.
07:45Ah.
07:46And I never won any of the challenges.
07:49There's a few where I'm really close to winning, but I didn't.
07:53It's like, you're good, but not good enough.
07:56But the only option is to push myself even harder.
08:00Today, my goal is to win.
08:02Okay, I guess I can go back.
08:05All right, let's go.
08:06This is heavy.
08:07Oh.
08:08All right, let's get organized here.
08:11We actually had a full fish challenge on my season of MasterChef Canada, and it was pretty intimidating.
08:15I think people underestimate the amount of precision that it takes to chop up that fish.
08:20You want pristine slicing, or else you get that really fuzzy, kind of mashed texture.
08:28I got Japanese madei.
08:30It's a little thicker than the other fish.
08:32You have to be really careful with how I cook it.
08:35I have the sea bream.
08:38A little concerned.
08:40I haven't tasted it.
08:41I haven't cooked it.
08:42I've never butchered it.
08:43Does it come from an ocean?
08:44Maybe a river?
08:45I don't know.
08:45What's going on with you?
08:46I know nothing about you.
08:48Hopefully I get the cook correct on it, and it all works out.
08:52I find that every culture really has their own style of raw fish application.
08:57You know, whether you're doing a crudo, which is a raw, thinly sliced fish, typically dressed
09:02with oil, citrus, and seasonings, a more Mediterranean style.
09:06You can also do more of a sliced fish soy sauce base for, like, a more Asian, kind of Japanese
09:12approach.
09:13Oh, buddy.
09:13I think what we're really looking for is just a good, punchy flavor for this first
09:17little bite.
09:18This is kind of the intro to their two-fish course meal, essentially.
09:23So I got to do a raw preparation, like a little mousse-bouge situation.
09:28That bite is extremely important.
09:30It's got to be packed, full of flavor.
09:32It's got to be complex.
09:33It's got to be delicious.
09:35Working with raw fish, I feel like it's almost less forgiving.
09:39Less space to hide.
09:40I feel like it's trickier than the cooked fish.
09:42So I am going to do a crudo that I've never done before, and I'm going to do, like, little
09:49mini tacos.
09:50It's not really a taco, though.
09:51They're just going to look like little tacos.
09:53I'm also going to do this salsa verde gel that I have not done before.
09:59I'm just thinking, like, at this point in the competition, like, maybe I need to push
10:03myself a little bit further outside of my comfort zone.
10:05Now is not the time to play it safe.
10:07Oh, my gosh.
10:08I hope this is okay.
10:11Look at how beautiful these colors are.
10:15I got rainbow trout.
10:16I've had it before.
10:17I know it tastes kind of like salmon.
10:19For my raw dish, I'm making a rainbow trout crudo marinated in a dashi mango sauce topped
10:26with mango salsa on a spring roll tartlet.
10:30Normally, you would put them in a deep fryer, but it could go really wrong.
10:35If I burn them, so I'm making my tartlet in the oven.
10:39This is a lot more stressful than I thought.
10:42These tartlets need to be crispy because they're the serving vessel for my raw fish.
10:48I want it to have a nice contract with the raw fish.
10:51Maybe just do this.
10:53So it just cannot get soggy at all.
10:56Okay.
11:00For my raw, I'm doing a sea bream apple achar.
11:05Achar is a form of pickling in India that is done with oil and acid.
11:11And my dad is the one who taught me how to do it.
11:15And I thought it would be a cool application.
11:18And I'm making a taro puff for my achari white fish.
11:24Hi, Chef.
11:25Hi, Fu.
11:26How's it going?
11:27Good.
11:28I heard something about taro.
11:29Yeah.
11:30I'm going to try a taro puff.
11:31This is a big risk.
11:32I've never made it before.
11:34So let's try.
11:35A taro puff is a crispy taro dumpling.
11:38It's my favorite dim sum dish.
11:41Oh, no.
11:42So I hope I get the texture right.
11:44It takes a little lower heat than you'd actually imagine it does.
11:48To get that rise and to get all those little wispies,
11:51it seems a little bit ambitious.
11:52Ambitious, yes.
11:53Yes.
11:54Yes, Chef.
11:55Good luck, Fu.
11:56Thank you so much.
11:57Chef Craig loves taro puffs.
11:59These better be perfect.
12:01I hope I don't disappoint Chef Craig.
12:03Cooking is so punk rock.
12:08Like, to a T, you really don't have to follow any rules.
12:12And I'm just trying to bring that big energy into the kitchen today.
12:17I grew up with my dad and my grandma always cooking amazing food.
12:22My dad taught me never to follow a recipe.
12:25I can just be myself.
12:27So my strategy to win this challenge is to just use very bold, loud, screaming flavors.
12:34Hey, Andres.
12:35Hey, Andres.
12:36How are you doing?
12:37That's a beautiful medai that you have there.
12:38Oh.
12:39Such top quality fish.
12:40It's a nice fish.
12:41Look at this skin.
12:42Beautiful.
12:43So what are you making?
12:44So my raw dish is a Thai-inspired crudo.
12:47I'm going to be frying up a wonton wrapper.
12:49Okay.
12:50For my cooked fish, we're going to make a carrot sauce.
12:53Okay.
12:54And I do want those nice colors, so we're going to have a purple cabbage puree.
12:58I'm using Parmesan, date juice.
13:01There's a lot going on in that plate.
13:04Oh.
13:05Watch that.
13:06Coconut is one of the things that burns the most in the kitchen.
13:08Get it out of that pan right now.
13:09Got a lot of time.
13:10That's done.
13:11Okay, Andres, we're going to let you keep doing your thing.
13:13Sounds good.
13:14Good luck.
13:15Get rid of that coconut.
13:16No more coconut.
13:17All right.
13:18My last challenge, I faced the pressure test and I almost went home.
13:22So today, I have so much to prove.
13:25I need to totally nail this.
13:27CIBC is helping Canada's next master chef realize their dreams with $100,000.
13:33Homecooked, you've got 40 minutes left on your two fish dishes.
13:4040 minutes.
13:4140 minutes.
13:42Okay.
13:43I'm using a lot of bold flavors.
13:45Today, I have so much to prove.
13:47I need to totally nail this.
13:49But I like making my own rules.
13:51And sometimes that means not following the crowd.
13:55I'm praying it works.
13:57Today, I'm making Japanese inspired dishes.
14:00One is the miso and then the other one for the raw application, it's a ponzu dashi base.
14:06The judges' critiques are more like precise and targeted now.
14:11They're picking on the tiniest mistakes.
14:14So I can't just wing it.
14:16I actually have to make my dish perfect.
14:19I have tried sashimi grade salmon at home.
14:22So I'm a bit more confident in my raw dish.
14:25But I'm a bit clueless on my cooked dish.
14:28I don't know.
14:29I have zero confidence right now.
14:31I don't know what to do.
14:35I got the sea bass today.
14:37I've never made sea bass before.
14:39And my raw dish has some salt curing, which I've never done before.
14:43It's equal parts sugar and salt.
14:46Okay.
14:48Liz feels a little not scattered.
14:51I think she's feeling a little bit nervous today.
14:53There's so many different directions my mind is going.
14:56The judges want to be surprised at this stage.
14:59They don't want to see anything predictable.
15:01They want new, exciting, flavorful food.
15:04But it has to be done properly.
15:06So I'm going to be making a sea bass crudo,
15:08which I've never made before, with an aguachile,
15:11which, again, I've never made it before, but I know what it is.
15:14I'm going to need more cilantro.
15:16Aguachile is essentially just spicy water.
15:20And the fish itself is so light and so delicate.
15:23So the aguachile is the perfect, like, really light way
15:27to get flavor in every bite without it being heavy
15:30and overpowering the very, very delicate fish.
15:33Kumquats is like a flavor I don't normally get to work with,
15:36but they're so beautiful that I'm going to try.
15:38If you don't take any risks, they won't get rewarded,
15:40so you might as well try.
15:42I just really hope it works.
15:47What's the stock for?
15:48I'm going to do, like, a little bit of, like, a coconut corn sauce.
15:53Okay.
15:54I'm going to use some of that in there as well.
15:55That makes sense.
15:56For my cook preparation,
15:58I'm doing a pan-seared amberjack fish
16:01on top of some roasted fingerling potatoes
16:04with a creamy corn curry sauce.
16:09I'm going to think about my family
16:10and pretend that, you know, this is not high stress.
16:13I'm just in my kitchen having a good time.
16:16This competition has been super eye-opening.
16:19I'm learning about what I'm capable of
16:21and how strong I actually am.
16:23I'm getting more confident.
16:25The passion is increasing,
16:26and I'm starting to feel like I have a shot.
16:30I think I can be the candidates next, MasterChef.
16:37Liz.
16:38Hello.
16:39So you're curing this guy lightly?
16:40I'm salting that one, so that's my cooked fish
16:42that I'm going to be using.
16:43Yeah.
16:44And I'm salting it just to try to dry out the skin a little bit.
16:47Yeah.
16:48And what's this?
16:49This is a celeriac and fennel puree.
16:50This is going to be with uncooked.
16:51Okay.
16:52Turn down your heat.
16:54And stir it.
16:55Okay. Will do. Thank you.
16:56Because I'm worried.
16:57I've got so many different elements for both of these dishes.
17:00So keeping both dishes in line
17:02is actually proving to be quite challenging.
17:05And then your cooked dish is going to be?
17:07I'm making a fresh fennel salad.
17:09Okay.
17:10Maybe fresh celery.
17:11I'm pan searing the sea bass.
17:14I've got some other things I'm going to play with there.
17:16I think celery is totally unheralded.
17:18I love celery.
17:19Okay.
17:20Well, I love celery too.
17:21It's crunchy and good.
17:22And worked well with fennel.
17:23Yes.
17:24These are flavors I really like today.
17:25That's good.
17:26So hopefully it works.
17:27Good luck with it.
17:29It's a big guy.
17:30My cooked dish is inspired by Chilean cuisine.
17:35I'm preparing a seared Japanese medai with a carrot sauce.
17:40I want to use pisco to add depth to my sauce.
17:44Pisco is a very common Chilean and Peruvian spirit.
17:48But the kitchen doesn't have pisco,
17:51so I pivot and grab the next best thing, which is cognac.
17:55Let's mash things together.
17:57What are they using the cognac in?
17:59Do we know?
18:00The carrot sauce.
18:02Yeah.
18:03This is definitely a giant risk,
18:06but I need to show the judges that I deserve to be here.
18:10This has to work.
18:14You know, there's so much versatility with fish.
18:16You can cook it so many different ways,
18:18whether they pan fry, deep fry, poach, or bake.
18:21I'm looking for the home cook that highlights the flavor
18:24and texture of the fish and prepare something
18:27that's going to stand out.
18:28I'm just trying to do a test on my sea bream
18:33to see how it cooks and, like, what the texture ends up being.
18:37Between the raw and the cooked application,
18:39I'm more scared of the cooked application
18:42because my experience with cooking fish is very limited.
18:46It shrinks quite a bit.
18:49Typically, the way that I study an ingredient is trial and error.
18:53And I don't feel like these experiments are helping.
18:58I can't see the vision.
19:00I'm running into a creative block,
19:03and this is not the time to be in a creative block.
19:07Pull it. Pull it.
19:17Shrinks quite a bit.
19:18I am struggling right now.
19:20I've never worked with this fish before,
19:22and I don't know what I'm going to do.
19:25Usually, I can figure things out incredibly quick.
19:29But today, I am not myself.
19:32I've been dealing with my back issues.
19:37About a year ago, I sustained a spinal injury from an accident.
19:41I lost the ability to walk, to teach, to dance,
19:45and most importantly, I lost the ability to cook.
19:49I've been dealing with pain, and that's been taking a toll on me.
19:54But right now, I'm here.
19:57I'm in the MasterChef Canada kitchen,
19:59and I want to make myself proud.
20:02So I need to just keep working through it.
20:04I just want to make it to semifinals.
20:09Home cooks, 20 minutes left.
20:1120 minutes left, everybody.
20:13Oh, my gosh.
20:14It's flown by.
20:16To really become Canada's next MasterChef,
20:18you really need to keep pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.
20:22Yeah, I see that gleam in all of these home cooks.
20:28I like eating whole fish, like steamed whole fish.
20:31That's how I like it.
20:32And then you pour hot sizzling oil on the fish.
20:37It's really good.
20:38I might do that.
20:39For my cooked dish,
20:41I'm making a miso soy pan-seared rainbow trout
20:45with mushrooms and pickles and green onion ginger oil.
20:49It's going to be a Chinese-Japanese fusion.
20:53I will say Veronica's cooked dish does sound in her wheelhouse.
20:57And we love when she cooks in her wheelhouse.
20:59For sure.
21:00Let's try the white soy sauce.
21:01This sounds delicious.
21:03Food from my home city tastes different
21:05than any other Chinese restaurants in Toronto.
21:08I love that.
21:09I think that's why I prefer experimenting with Chinese food
21:13and that fusion flavor.
21:15It's kind of delicious.
21:17Got a lot of green things going on over here.
21:20Yeah.
21:21I'm doing a little bit of a gel, like a salsa verde gel.
21:24Okay.
21:25Can we taste what's going on in here?
21:26You know what?
21:27I'm not sure.
21:28I don't know.
21:29I'm not sure if I like it yet.
21:30I don't know.
21:31But here is the back of the spoon.
21:32I don't know if I like it yet.
21:33I can adapt.
21:34It's got a bit of spice,
21:35and it's just going to be like this tiny little dollop on it
21:37just to give it some freshness.
21:39The texture is a little grainy.
21:40It's a little grainy.
21:41Yeah, I agree.
21:42Maybe it had a little bit too much agar agar in there.
21:44The flavor's quite nice, though.
21:45Yeah.
21:46So you can figure out how to make it work.
21:47This gel, it's already set too much.
21:50The flavor is great.
21:51It's super bright and acidic,
21:53but it has this weird mouth feel
21:55that I don't think I can recover from.
21:57So I'm just going to chuck it and do an avocado mousse instead.
22:01I hope that they don't miss the punch of flavor
22:05that I could have had with that gel.
22:08Time's really catching up now,
22:12so I'm a little worried.
22:14I have to cook my fish still.
22:16Finish the sauce that I'm making.
22:19It's getting really scary
22:21because a lot of my elements aren't actually done yet.
22:25My crudo, that's a main component right now
22:28that needs to get done.
22:29I still need to plate,
22:31and I need to make this look really good.
22:33There's a lot that I have to do still,
22:35so I'm hoping I can really amp it up right now.
22:38The clock is ticking,
22:40and I still don't know how I'm going to cook this fish.
22:45But then finally, like, it hits me.
22:48Why not just poach it in my pan sauce?
22:51So I'm going to poach it instead.
22:53My train of thought is that the flavors will go inside of the fish,
22:57it'll prevent it from sticking,
22:59and it should keep it moist, right?
23:03Trying my best here.
23:05Every low I've had has taught me who I am
23:08and to kind of own my place and fight for it.
23:12Wow.
23:13I really like this.
23:16So who's going to be poaching her fish,
23:18which I think will be really nice?
23:19To me, it's a warm jacuzzi of flavor for a protein.
23:22Poaching's a way you can get a lot of flavor into the fish,
23:25but when you overcook with a poach,
23:27the texture's not right.
23:33I'm not happy with them.
23:36My little tortillas did not turn out,
23:39and I don't feel great serving them,
23:41but I need crunch somewhere.
23:43So I'm going to try to do a little taro root chip,
23:46you know, because I've done taro before.
23:48Did Mary Ann have taro before?
23:50She did not.
23:51She does now.
23:54I spent all this time messing around with this taco tart,
23:57but I put it in my mouth, and it was just, like, dust.
24:00Like, it is so dry.
24:02I can't serve this to the judges.
24:04A lot of adapting is happening here for sure.
24:13Five minutes to go.
24:15Need to start thinking about plating.
24:17Let's get some plates.
24:18A lot of things didn't go well today.
24:21Like, a lot of things that I tried did not go as planned.
24:24I had a little bit of, like, a gel situation,
24:27and then I had these little taco shells that didn't work out,
24:30but I adapted.
24:32So I don't have time to worry about it.
24:35Can't dwell on it.
24:36It is what it is at this point.
24:37I just need to make sure I get this fish cooked nicely.
24:39I got to hustle at this point.
24:41I definitely am crunched for time.
24:45Two and a half minutes left,
24:47and Boo is still working on her taro puffs.
24:49Now, how long do those typically take to fry?
24:51It takes longer than you imagine.
24:53There's so many variables about it,
24:54and that's what makes the taro puff
24:56one of the most difficult items at dim sum.
24:58I'm worried about my puffs.
25:03Weird texture.
25:04Oh, no, Boo doesn't look like you like that.
25:07I don't like it.
25:09My taro puffs did not work out,
25:11and I'm kicking myself right now
25:13because I didn't think of a backup plan.
25:15It's a lost cause.
25:16Oh, .
25:19Final minute! Let's go!
25:21Get everything on both plates!
25:23All right, what else are you doing, girl?
25:25Let's get everything dished up.
25:27Let's go.
25:28That's plenty.
25:30That's ready to go.
25:32Yes.
25:33These dishes need to come together right now.
25:36The fish looks like it's well-cooked,
25:39but I'm a little worried about that skin.
25:41It doesn't look crispy enough.
25:43I don't know.
25:44Should I leave it, or should I take it off?
25:46I don't really have time to make that decision.
25:49A few things.
25:51Still have a few things.
25:53Be cool.
25:55Okay, take a breather, girl.
25:58No seeds.
25:59I'm not getting kicked off MasterChef
26:01for seeds in this.
26:03Five!
26:04Four!
26:05Three!
26:06Two!
26:07One!
26:08Time's up!
26:09Hands up!
26:10Woo!
26:11Wow.
26:12Oh, my God.
26:14I got the food on the plate.
26:15That's all you can really hope for at the moment.
26:16It's just not as great as I would have wanted it.
26:17But I'd still eat that.
26:18Like, gladly.
26:19Nervous.
26:20Nervous.
26:21Took a risk, and it didn't work.
26:22I hope the favors are good.
26:24I think the dish in my head could have got me to semifinals.
26:26This dish, I'm not so sure.
26:27We'll see.
26:28We asked you to turn your mystery box fish into two enticing dishes.
26:33One raw, one cooked.
26:34On the line is your spot in the semifinals.
26:37Liz, please put your hand in the bowl.
26:39I'm not so sure.
26:40We'll see.
26:41We asked you to turn your mystery box fish into two enticing dishes.
26:45One raw, one cooked.
26:47On the line is your spot in the semifinals.
26:50Liz, please bring up your fish dishes.
27:00I hope they really like this, because this is food that I want to eat.
27:03These are flavors that I'm drawn to, and I hope that they are too.
27:07Today I made sea bass two ways.
27:10My raw application is in a crudo with a cilantro, lime, aguachile, and some kumquat.
27:17And then the cooked application, I have pan-seared sea bass with a celeriac fennel puree
27:23and a fennel and celery slaw with a caper beur blanc.
27:29The presentation of these two dishes are really stepping it up.
27:32They look great.
27:33Thanks.
27:34Let's start with your raw dish.
27:44Liz, I think in the last few cooks,
27:46you've loosened a little.
27:48It feels a little more free.
27:49And I think that's such a great direction that you're going in.
27:53Your raw application of the fish was so good.
27:57That aguachile was bright and punchy and fun to eat.
28:01Your cuts on the fish are also beautiful.
28:04Super nice and even.
28:05Really lovely.
28:06Like a treat to eat.
28:08I really enjoyed the texture of the fish.
28:11That salt and sugar that you used firmed it up just a little bit before you sliced it.
28:16Yeah.
28:17Gave a really nice flavor to the fish.
28:18I love kumquats.
28:19And you used them right.
28:20It's really balanced.
28:21It works.
28:22And it's a really elevated plate of food.
28:25I mean, this is a master chef type of plate.
28:29Now let's try your cook dish.
28:31For the cook dish, I found that texture on that skin a little bit gummy.
28:47Yeah.
28:48I was fighting with it just a little bit.
28:49Yeah.
28:50But fish was cooked perfectly.
28:51It flakes really nicely.
28:53And you see how moist it is.
28:55That's exactly what I look for in like a restaurant quality cooked fish.
28:59This puree, it is buttery.
29:02It is smooth.
29:03It's velvety.
29:04The celery yak and that fennel play together so well.
29:08It is bananas how smooth it is.
29:11Overall, it all makes sense.
29:13It works.
29:14You're threading the needle through and it's making sense.
29:19Godless.
29:20Godless.
29:21Godless.
29:22Thanks, thanks.
29:26Marianne, please bring your dishes to the front.
29:28So I made amberjack two ways.
29:31I have a raw preparation, which I did a spicy lemony dressed crudo with a charred scallion and avocado mousse on the bottom.
29:43And for the cook preparation, I did a corn curry sauce with some roasted fingerling potatoes and a crispy rice chip on top.
29:53Let's give the raw dish a taste.
29:55Marianne, this did exactly what I want an amuse to do.
30:08I'm like drooly.
30:09I'm like feeling ready for the next bite.
30:12It was bright.
30:13It was tasty.
30:14I love the crispy elements that you added as well.
30:17Like the taro chip.
30:18Great pivot.
30:19That avocado that's really rich and there was that scallion.
30:24I got the fish.
30:25You could have embellished a little bit more, but it's tasty.
30:29The fish was beautiful.
30:30You treated it really daintily in a nice way.
30:34Let's give the cooked version a try.
30:45The fish is actually cooked really well.
30:47You nailed that.
30:49By just questioning the potato and whether it needed to be there.
30:53And the sauce that you have, it's not quite a sauce, not quite a soup, it's not quite a puree, it's not quite a liquid.
31:00This kind of texture is confusing.
31:02Right.
31:03But then that crispy chip on top was really good and nicely seasoned.
31:07It brought that like salty, little bit of deliciousness onto the dish as a whole.
31:13There's definitely some areas that I was aware that I could have been a little bit better, but I think overall I did pretty good.
31:21Andres, please bring up your fish duet.
31:25I'm nervous.
31:27I'm nervous because I did take a peek at the other dishes and they look phenomenal.
31:33My dish does not look like that.
31:35I made Japanese medai two ways.
31:38For the raw fish, I took the Japanese medai and seasoned it with very bright Thai flavors.
31:45It's on a guantan tostada.
31:47And for the main, I made cabbage puree, carrot sauce with cognac, and a little carrot top pesto just on the side.
31:56It's a kaleidoscope of different colors and a lot going on.
32:00Yeah.
32:01Let's try the amuse.
32:12Andres, I'm just going to tell it to you how it is.
32:15This dish is a total mess.
32:19The flavors are all over the place.
32:21It's lacking of salt.
32:23It's way too much sweetness.
32:25And the ideal amuse should be no bigger than one or two bites.
32:29This is four bites.
32:31It's a lot.
32:32There's the lettuce on there.
32:33There's the coconut.
32:34There's the fish.
32:35There's the lime leaves.
32:36There's a lot of elements.
32:38The actual cut on your fish is uneven.
32:41One of the things with any raw application of fish is that it needs that care and precision.
32:47All right, we're going to go on to cook.
32:51The fish was cooked really, really nicely, but I would have rather you just remove the skin.
33:04If you're not going to get the skin super crispy and pristine, don't put it on.
33:08Okay.
33:09But I really love this carrot top pesto.
33:11I thought that sauce was really nice.
33:13It was bright.
33:14The puree of cabbage, it tastes good.
33:17There's way too much of it.
33:18It's taking away from the beauty of the fish.
33:20You just need to be more, I think, intentional and get to your destination without these crazy amount of deviations.
33:31The judges were not impressed with my dishes.
33:34But maybe I luck out and someone else did worse than me.
33:40Boo!
33:41Can you bring up your fish duo, please?
33:45I had already sold the judges a taro puff and I had, like, miserably failed at this.
33:50Now I'm scared that the fish is not going to deliver also.
33:55My plate feels incredibly vulnerable.
34:04I made sea bream two ways.
34:06For the raw application, I've prepared a apple sea bream achar.
34:11I wanted to put the achar on a taro puff.
34:15Mm-hmm.
34:16But once I fried it up, I did not like the texture.
34:18Mm-hmm.
34:19And so I decided to leave it off.
34:21Okay.
34:22And then for my cooked application, I poached my sea bream in a white wine green peppercorn yuzu sauce.
34:31And then I made a fennel green apple slaw.
34:36Let's try the raw dish.
34:47I really liked the flavor of this.
34:49It was punchy.
34:50I liked the little bit of heat.
34:52It's got a smoky heat to it somehow hanging around in my mouth, which I think is really nice.
34:58Your knife cuts are regular.
34:59I really enjoy the little bites and, like, the little different textural nuances.
35:04Yeah.
35:05I appreciate the fish is cut very pristinely, but it's actually too small cut for this bold of flavor.
35:11Okay.
35:12Because it kind of enrobes every piece in a big pucker of spice.
35:16Okay.
35:17You got a bit of a palate killer here.
35:19It's so unfortunate that you didn't get the taro on there.
35:23That would have offset the bold spices.
35:26All right.
35:27Let's give the cooked version a try.
35:29Boo, um, it's hard to create dry stuff out of moist environment, but somehow you have.
35:47The fish is overcooked.
35:50Because you would think poaching, because it's wet, it'll stay moist, but somehow it just pulls that moisture out.
36:00The flavor itself is pleasant, but I think that that sauce is pasty and is viscous.
36:07We got a little bit lost on this one.
36:11My heart was definitely not on that plate today.
36:14I don't know what was on that plate.
36:16I am scared.
36:18Veronica, please bring up your fish duet.
36:22I'm more confident in my raw dish.
36:25A little unsure about the cooked one, but I hope the two of them together will get me into the semi-final.
36:31I made rainbow trout two ways.
36:34For my raw fish, I made a rainbow trout crudo marinated in a mango dashi broth topped with a mango salsa.
36:41For my cooked dish, I also made a pan-seared miso soy rainbow trout topped with pickled daikon and carrot and a ginger green onion oil.
36:52First, the raw dish.
36:54I love this crispy spring roll wrapper tart shell.
37:07It's crispy.
37:08It's crunchy.
37:09It did exactly what you hoped it would.
37:11Flavor-wise, it was tasty.
37:13And the texture is very nice, and I think it looks really cool on the plate.
37:16It was too much of the trout as a ratio to the mango and the other elements.
37:23But I thought it was very pretty to look at.
37:26I thought it was well thought through.
37:28Now for the cooked dish.
37:35Your cooked application, the cook on the fish, is A+.
37:40Very, very nice.
37:41It's juicy.
37:42It's tender.
37:43It's got a really nice color on the outside, which I think was added to by that miso glaze you did.
37:48Yeah.
37:49But the flavors, I think, are a little bit muted.
37:52Yeah.
37:53You didn't push the envelope, especially when it came to ginger scallion sauce.
37:58That is a sauce that should be super, super powerful.
38:01Yeah.
38:02But it's beautifully cooked.
38:04You know how to cook.
38:05You understand flavors, and you are on the right path.
38:09Continue.
38:12Good job, Veronica.
38:13I think the judges like both of my dishes, and I do want to win.
38:18But at this point, I'm done with guessing.
38:21I did my best, and it is what it is.
38:23Fingers crossed.
38:26All right, we've got a big decision to make, so give us a second.
38:32That wasn't an easy one.
38:33No.
38:34That was a lot to get done.
38:36I'm really disappointed.
38:37It was definitely one of my weakest attempts in the kitchen.
38:41I don't want to go home.
38:43Steaks couldn't be any higher.
38:46I've got a lot to show the judges still, and I want to show them that this matters to me.
38:50And that I will do better.
39:05This was another tough one.
39:07You all went outside your comfort zone, but there can only be one winner.
39:11The first home cook moving on to the semifinal is...
39:23Liz.
39:24Good job.
39:25Good job.
39:28Thank you so much.
39:29This feels surreal, and it means that I'm going into the semifinals with a vote of confidence.
39:35I'm really happy.
39:37I'm really happy.
39:38Liz, for your skill in the fishery department, you also net a $5,000 boost thanks to CIBC Adapta MasterCard.
39:48Thank you very much.
39:49That means a lot.
39:51This is so exciting.
39:53I want people to be cooking the food that I'm making and enjoying it in their homes.
39:59So getting $5,000 from CIBC is going to give me a huge boost towards realizing my food dream.
40:06Veronica and Mary Ann, you are safe and also semifinalists.
40:13Yay!
40:15All of you can head to the gallery.
40:19I'm going to semifinals, and I feel excited.
40:23But I think my mom will be more proud of me if I make it to Pound 3.
40:29I am so excited.
40:31I can't even believe it.
40:32I'm going to sleep good tonight.
40:34Or not at all.
40:35I don't know.
40:36One of the two.
40:39Boo and Andres, both of you got tripped up.
40:42And unfortunately, one of you will be going home today.
40:45Andres, there were too many ideas on both your plates.
40:49And your crudo was overly sweet.
40:53Boo, your poached fish was overcooked.
40:56And the achara was too intense.
40:58The home cook whose dish rose just a little bit higher is...
41:09Boo, you made it to the semifinal.
41:13Yeah.
41:15Well deserved.
41:18Okay?
41:19Get over there.
41:20Making it to the semifinals feels amazing, but now I need to reset myself and go back to cooking from my heart.
41:31Andres, your passion for food and life is pure punk rock.
41:38We love your enthusiasm, and we know your students are going to be so inspired by your journey.
41:45You guys made my dream come true.
41:51I've never been around so many food nerds.
41:55You're all incredible, and I'm just so happy that I even got a chance to do this.
42:00So, I'm really, really, really proud.
42:03Come here.
42:04You're gonna drink.
42:05Thanks a lot.
42:07This has been not only the most fun experience I've ever had in my life, but also the most difficult thing I've ever had to do.
42:19Good job, Andres.
42:21Thanks, Boo.
42:22Keep going, keep going.
42:23Yeah, I would have done a lot of things differently, but I know that I put my heart into this, and I can only just be proud of what I did.
42:32It looks like chaos, but I like it.
42:34Yeah.
42:36Andres, take a look at the gallery.
42:39Who do you think is going to be Canada's next MasterChef?
42:41You're asking me the hardest question on earth.
42:44I think, Boo, you got this.
42:47Take it home, okay?
42:48You're the best. We're gonna miss you so much.
42:54Woo!
42:55I'm going home today.
42:57It is a little upsetting, but I got to actually show Canada, show my family, my friends, my students, my community, who I am.
43:05And I think that's, like, priceless.
43:08See ya!
43:09Rock on!
43:10See ya!
43:13Next time...
43:14Welcome to the MasterChef Canada semifinal.
43:18So let's play a little game.
43:20Whoa!
43:21Whoa!
43:22Okay, fingers crossed.
43:23Playing safe is not going to get you a spot in the finale.
43:26This is the energy that I like.
43:29Okay, I need to get working.
43:30Ooh, look at that.
43:32I'm astounded that you pulled this off.
43:34I was a little confused.
43:36There's a lot riding on this one bike.
43:44That went ahead of the hat.
43:45So I was lucky.
43:46I catered from the generation of themprese.
43:48And the Japanese church journey that everything you've had to do to cover.
43:51Peace.
43:52I was lucky to have been present at Mauva.
43:54Diantness and I have a touch with you.
43:56amention.
43:57done into the family tree.
43:58I never get anywhere.
43:59I'll do that.
44:00I remember there were 좋은 people who look mir Industrial and clearly.
44:04I stand at components.
44:05I never spend my time with that.
44:07I want to play to be bright because it seems more different, I'm aware of your things.
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