- 2 days ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Each team must craft three distinct fine dining snacks.
00:04Your inspiration is from the bounty of New Zealand's ocean.
00:08That's bending my brain in a really good way, which is exactly what we want.
00:13The team that impresses us will be safe from the next elimination.
00:17And that team is Nishan and Roy.
00:20This challenge is dedicated to the art of preservation.
00:24These have got all the flavour from the earth.
00:27We want to see something spectacular, but most importantly, taste something spectacular.
00:32One team will be going home.
00:34I don't want to go home.
00:35It's dry. It's overcooked.
00:37Your time with us has come to an end.
01:01We saw the pantry. There was like some charcuterie.
01:04Yeah.
01:05Kind of vague for us, so we didn't really connect any dots.
01:09Good, everyone. How are we feeling?
01:11Good.
01:11Pretty good.
01:13Nishan and Roy, how are you feeling about being safe from elimination?
01:17So we're still going to do our best.
01:19Yeah.
01:19Yeah.
01:20Still going to do our best.
01:21We're lucky.
01:23We just feel lucky.
01:26Today, we're celebrating another iconic Kiwi brand.
01:30Its influence on Kiwi kitchen spans over four decades and is a proud recipient of numerous design awards as well.
01:38It's Click Clack, your handy kitchen companion.
01:42From gadgets and appliances to neat storage solutions, Click Clack turns kitchen chaos into order.
01:48Before Click Clack entered our kitchens, food preservation was a different kettle of fish.
01:56You could smoke things, cure things in salt, confine, pickling, fermenting.
02:02These were all techniques that were used for many different cultures over the world for many generations to preserve food.
02:10And also, in doing that, they discovered flavour.
02:14With that in mind, this challenge is dedicated to the art of preservation.
02:21Each team must create two dishes where the hero element in each is made using a traditional method of preservation.
02:28Think confit, curing, pickling, fermenting, smoking.
02:31The world is where I start.
02:34I love all of these techniques.
02:35A lot of it's the base of the flavour that I use in my kitchen.
02:39We expect beautiful art, cool, creative combinations with layers of flavours that are going to blow our minds.
02:48Preservation and fermentation is something that we do very often at Aoster.
02:51I think this is going to be a great way to display the techniques and skills that I've learnt over
02:55my years, so I'm excited.
02:58As always, we want to challenge you to present your dishes in a way that breaks the restaurant mould and
03:04blares the line where food meets art.
03:08At the end of the day, one team will be going home.
03:12I am super nervous.
03:14If one element could go wrong, it would be us going home today.
03:18Yeah, don't want to go home today.
03:19I do not want to go home today.
03:21So it's time to dial in and give us everything you've got.
03:25You have seven hours to create your dishes.
03:28Let's go!
03:33Today is an elimination, but every challenge for us we take as 120%.
03:38We have to do the best as we can.
03:41I was thinking we can make ash and basically use that as a preservation technique.
03:46Clean the bread and put in coffee.
03:50A plate on an easel.
03:51Okay.
03:53Like art.
03:54Yeah, like art.
03:55Taste of art.
03:56Mmm.
03:57Star drink.
04:03Shalots, shalots, shalots.
04:09The way we decided to go for the two dishes were to connect a bit of our background stories.
04:15Charcuterie in general has always been in my life as in his.
04:20I'm going to get these.
04:21Hungry kumras handling.
04:23Yeah.
04:24I'll get the fire going.
04:24We've got a deer offal dish.
04:27This is the deer heart, liver, and then deer sweetbreads.
04:32It's a thyroid gland just here.
04:38This mountain bird is already being cured in salt.
04:42That's how Maori people preserve the bird itself.
04:48I will confit and make a croquette and have the stuffing inside.
04:55I'm building a hangi.
04:57So we have some wet soil, wet cloth.
04:58These little baby kumras are going to go into the oven.
05:01And all that soil, the moisture is going to steam and permeate through the vegetables.
05:05So you get really earthy flavored kumras.
05:13How much do we say we add miso?
05:15Just a spoon.
05:17That and then we taste.
05:19Slowly.
05:22Morning.
05:23Morning.
05:23Morning.
05:24Tell us what the dish is.
05:26Over here I'm doing a kingfish.
05:28I take off some ribs, almost like a piece of meat.
05:31And we're going to preserve into a confit duck fat.
05:34So that's your preservation side.
05:35That's our preservation.
05:36We have many, many elements.
05:38Yeah.
05:39He's going to do the fermented mushroom cremo with miso caramel, candy, crispy enoki.
05:44You're leaving no stone unturned when it comes to incorporating preservation into every element of your two dishes.
05:51We're going to play 120% this time.
05:54Just like flavor, flavor, flavor.
05:55I wish you luck today.
05:57Yeah.
05:57Thank you so much.
05:58Appreciate it.
06:03This is a stag that I shot up in Mount Tapanuku a couple years back now.
06:08Something I'm pretty, pretty fond of doing as much as I can.
06:14There you go.
06:19Glue everywhere.
06:21Yes, chef.
06:23This is for EXO, which is basically like the building block of a scampi course.
06:27The EXO sauce, that's cool.
06:28Just keep rocking on that.
06:29Yeah.
06:30Hello, Tommy and Danny.
06:32Hi, guys.
06:32Tell us about your preservation challenge dishes.
06:35So we have come down to two different types of preservation.
06:38So we're going to do a confit and ash preservation.
06:41We're going to start off with a hangi.
06:42So we've got some kumara in the oven and between layers of soil and towels.
06:46Yeah.
06:46That's going to give it a really earthy depth of flavor.
06:48Wow.
06:48And then to finish, we're going to do an umu.
06:50A good way to preserve them is to dip them in wood ash.
06:53Yeah.
06:53Umu being from Samoa, right?
06:55Yeah.
06:55Yeah.
06:55So hangi is cooked under the soil, under the earth.
06:58Umu is above ground.
06:59Umu kumara or kumumara.
07:02Kumumara.
07:02Then we're going to do a confit on a scampi.
07:05Just coated with some EXO and some kombucha.
07:09Celebrate and highlight these techniques.
07:11Now this is an elimination, so there is no room for error.
07:14We want to see something spectacular, but most importantly, taste something spectacular.
07:19Absolutely.
07:19Yes, sure.
07:22Just twist and pull.
07:24Okay, easy.
07:27This looks very cool.
07:30You officially have my attention.
07:31Tell us about your dish or antelope tree.
07:35Uh, yeah.
07:36We've got a deer offal dish.
07:38Three bites of deer offal going up the antler here.
07:41There will be a tartar on the bottom using the tendon and the heart,
07:45and we'll be making an elderberry hot sauce from preserved pickled elderberries.
07:50Then moving up, we will have buttermilk fried sweet bread with an elderberry ketchup.
07:55Oh!
07:56And then at the top, you're going to have deer liver parfait and elderberry jam.
07:59Okay.
08:00So using the preserved elderberries in three or four different preservation methods.
08:04Yeah.
08:04I think the offal is something that should be celebrated, and it's not something that we see enough of.
08:10Yeah.
08:10That's one dish.
08:11Okay.
08:12That's dish number one.
08:13Dish number two is using scampi.
08:15We'll be sousing the scampi.
08:16A pickled cure, and then a very light torch.
08:19Love it.
08:19With smoked pumpkin juice, some confit pumpkin and pickled pumpkin, all sorts of different varieties of pumpkin.
08:24Love it.
08:24And then salted snapper mosaic elevated vertically, like an art piece.
08:29All right.
08:30So you've got the deer dish.
08:30Okay, yeah.
08:31You've got the scampi and pumpkin and the art piece.
08:33So lots of different individual bites.
08:35There you go.
08:35What we're going to do is pretty show-stopping and out there.
08:37I think the most important is just executing everything that we have planned in our head.
08:42So we've got a lot of work cut out for us today.
08:43You do.
08:45I'm super excited to eat the dish, but when you think about how you're not going to lose today,
08:49the art is amazing, but at the end of the day, it's about flavor.
08:54Absolutely.
08:55I don't want to go hard.
09:11Today's challenge is cook two dishes and the whole ingredients is preserved.
09:16Using traditional method, we have seven hours to cook and 10 minutes to plate.
09:22We want to show people how we cook with our Asian patinate, but with New Zealand favors.
09:28Hello, Yashan and Roy.
09:30How are you?
09:31Good, thanks.
09:32Titi.
09:32Yeah.
09:33Oh.
09:33Wow.
09:34The martin bird, they solve how the Maori people cook.
09:37They put stuffing inside of the bird.
09:39Yeah.
09:39So I will make a stuffing and do it like a croquette with the stuffing as a center of the
09:43croquette.
09:44Awesome.
09:44I love that.
09:45That's layers of history, respect for culture, but also reimagining it in a very different way.
09:51The other one, I'm going to do a Korean tartar.
09:55I'm going to use New Zealand beef.
09:56If you see here, I have two kinds of kimchi.
09:59I will use both kimchi for this dish.
10:01In a preservation challenge, if you have a Korean chef that didn't do kimchi, it'd be quite weird, wouldn't it?
10:09One thing that I love to see in food is who you are, where you've come from, little clues in
10:15the dishes.
10:16So I'm excited.
10:18You're safe today, but still we want to see the best out of you.
10:21Thank you, chef.
10:25What we're going to do now is going to take that skin off here.
10:29Sticks to the baking paper, that'll go on the side.
10:32We're going to drape our umu kumara in that skin.
10:35So, lots going on, lots of flavors.
10:38I'll do the preserved lemon now.
10:40That'll dress the umu kumara.
10:43Pretty keen not to be eliminated today, Danny, so let's just...
10:46Yeah, pretty keen.
10:47Let's focus on winning.
10:48Yeah.
10:50Mushies.
10:53It's going to be good.
10:55It smells really good already.
10:57And there is the fermented mushroom in the ice cream.
11:00Ice cream made out of miso caramel and fermented mushroom ice cream.
11:04The combination of flavor, obviously, we think about it and we know it's kind of work in our crazy minds.
11:09This is pretty, pretty, pretty tasty.
11:12OK, ice cream is done.
11:21We're making ice cream cones for our dear liver parfait.
11:27What's going in the bottle of it?
11:28Jam.
11:29And then reformed elderberries from elderberry wine.
11:32Golden, we want golden, right?
11:34Yeah, just like your tart shells.
11:36Sweet.
11:39The energy in this kitchen is huge today.
11:42You're all pushing the limits.
11:44The competition's on fire.
11:46They're getting better and better.
11:47Every single team is using preservation elements in really interesting ways that are unique to them.
11:52Fermentation, pickles, you've got kimchi, you've got confine.
11:56All of them can cook really, really well.
11:58But the end result is always flavor.
12:01Well, this is the thing.
12:03Preservation allows for development of flavors that you can't get when you cook things that are fresh.
12:08There is a real opportunity to build on flavor here.
12:11On a day like today, it's an elimination challenge.
12:14Not meeting the brief could send someone home.
12:16It could.
12:21What are you making now?
12:23White kimchi.
12:30Is it good?
12:31Yeah, pretty good.
12:32Okay, thank you.
12:35We're pretty good on the deer snacks.
12:37Everything's sort of going, so I'm going to start prepping the snapper and the carpaccio.
12:41It's part of our scampi dish.
12:42After it's been cured with some of the scampi, then we're going to make an art piece that's going to
12:47sit on the easel.
12:50I need you to do all the scales for the mosaic.
12:53So pumpkin, seaweed, nasturgeon leaves, amaranth fleets.
12:57So there'll be a vertical carpaccio.
12:59When it comes to impressing Vaughan, it's got to be something new that he hasn't tasted or seen before.
13:05And that's probably going to be the hardest to do because Vaughan's been everywhere and anywhere.
13:10We've got shitloads to do.
13:11Yep.
13:14And hello.
13:15Hello.
13:16How's your kingfish?
13:17Yeah, it's good.
13:19Looking good?
13:19We prepped, cured in citrus curing salt and sugar.
13:23In the curing process, how does the texture change?
13:26It will make the meat firmer and take out extra water inside the fillet.
13:32During the cooking process, it's much more consistency.
13:35The meat is much firmer.
13:36And then we're going to confit into the duck fat.
13:39So we're releasing that.
13:40Are you feeling good about the challenge so far?
13:43Definitely we're not going to eliminate it.
13:45Yeah.
13:45Yeah.
13:45We want to win even if there is no winner.
13:48Yeah, exactly.
13:55There's a honey protected layer.
13:57So inside, we have our curmer.
14:00These have got all the flavor from the earth.
14:03Oh.
14:04Oh, wow.
14:04Cool.
14:04What's the deal with the katouche?
14:06So this is milk skin.
14:10Soy milk skin.
14:11Soy milk skin.
14:12Yes.
14:12So the kumara has come out of the hangi now.
14:14And then we're going to roll that with this.
14:17Yeah.
14:17Wow, interesting.
14:18Also hay and wood ash.
14:19Season it heavily with sumac, a bit of salt.
14:21That'll roll in the kumara.
14:22So you'll get that sour first.
14:24Yeah, we want it to be earthy, but then we want it to pop with acidity from the preserved lemon
14:28and finger lime.
14:29Then the silkiness of the soy milk skin with the sour cream.
14:32A lot of flavor, a lot of techniques.
14:34Man, it sounds pretty cool, though.
14:35It's interesting.
14:36I've never heard of that.
14:37How do you think of wrapping a hangi kumara in a soy milk skin is beyond my mind?
14:42But hey, I'll leave that with you.
14:52Scampi oil.
14:53Scampi, chili, and orange oil.
15:00Lick, almost done.
15:03Sauce done.
15:04Glaze done.
15:07Melt the gelatin for our mushroom and tonka cremeau.
15:12When it's hot, let's still make it set in the fridge.
15:15And then we're going to mold it.
15:18It's going to be a part of our soury mushroom dessert.
15:21Be a plain out of the box, some flavor.
15:23It's going to be like umami, salty, sour, sweet.
15:28Then let it set in the fridge.
15:30That's good?
15:30Yeah, I think so.
15:31Yeah.
15:31Sure, now pass by in the fridge.
15:33I'm coming.
15:34Yeah.
15:36Not sour, eh?
15:37No, sour, no.
15:38Sour?
15:39Good.
15:43May we please address the skull in the room?
15:46So cool.
15:48Looks like a piece of art just on its own.
15:49I'm assuming this is where the tartare will be presented.
15:52Yes, it is.
15:54So the mutton bird's still confing away?
15:56Yeah.
15:57We're just cooked and I can get the react out.
15:59And most of this is ready.
16:01Yeah, the stuffing is ready with sourdough and some fruit inside to give it a sweetness.
16:04Yeah.
16:05Amazing.
16:05Sounds exciting.
16:06I can't wait to eat it, especially the kimchi.
16:12Super thin, eh?
16:14I'm starting to dress our cured scampi and snapper, carpaccio.
16:22So we have a full mosaic of vegetables.
16:25The pumpkin needs to be wafer thin.
16:29Okay, well that's not going to be thin enough, is it?
16:31Nah, no one, yeah.
16:35We're going to do a sugar dome to cover the mushroom dish.
16:42Ah!
16:44Air came out on the side.
16:45Just the air came out on the side.
16:46What we're doing here in Test of Art is something that we've never tried before.
16:52We need more.
16:54There's one other batch.
16:55Third time lucky.
16:57We experiment here, which is something that, you know, you can do here because this is the purpose.
17:01We'll try one more.
17:03What do you think this size?
17:06Yeah.
17:07I don't want the kimchi flavor too strong, because otherwise it's going to cover the tartar itself.
17:13Kimchi flavor only.
17:17What the hell?
17:19That's a new thing.
17:21They're making sugar.
17:22Vamos.
17:24And they want, like, a whole dome.
17:26Ah.
17:27Yeah.
17:29Okay, we need our solution.
17:31Okay.
17:31Well, it's an elimination challenge, so tiny things can just mean you're going home.
17:48Today's challenge is to cook two dishes with a hero ingredient in each.
17:52Preserve using a traditional method.
17:54Eko, eko, eko, eko.
17:55We have seven hours to cook and ten minutes to plate.
18:03We want to make a kind of cracking shell to cover the dish.
18:07We're trying.
18:09Look at that.
18:12It's pretty cool.
18:13I think it's too thin.
18:14They're really cool, but we need to play safe.
18:18Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, you know?
18:20That's the beauty of it.
18:21Enjoy the process.
18:22That's why we do what we do.
18:24It just didn't fit the purpose, so obviously we decided to, okay, like always, stop thinking
18:30too many things, just stick to the plan, just keep following and keep going.
18:34Yeah?
18:35Oh, it's got me done.
18:44The deer tartare.
18:45Josh, that size?
18:47Yeah, that's better.
18:50Hello.
18:51Howdy.
18:52How's it going?
18:52What's happening?
18:53It's going really well.
18:54I'm really happy with what we've achieved so far.
18:56I'm fascinated by what's going on here.
18:58This is the elderberry hot sauce for the tartare, the jam for the deer liver parfait,
19:04and then the ketchup for the sweet bread.
19:06I'm going to try the hot sauce.
19:07Try the hot sauce.
19:11It's definitely got some spice.
19:13And then this is a shiro plum vinegar with vermouth as the base, which is what we'll be
19:19sousing the scampi in.
19:21Beautiful.
19:21Served in your pumpkin bowls.
19:22This is your cutlery for your scampi dish.
19:25Incredible.
19:26We've got a name for these, haven't we, buddy?
19:28Yes, we do.
19:29It's very special.
19:29This is the clork.
19:33That's classic.
19:34I love it.
19:35I absolutely love it.
19:36I look forward to utilizing the clork to great effect.
19:39Yeah.
19:39Clork on.
19:40Yeah.
19:41Clork on.
19:42Clork forever.
19:46We need to make a rice crackle.
19:53We're going to skew the leek and barbecue, kunagi-style.
19:59Because after, when you're going to barbecue, you know it's going to be like mashed potato.
20:03It's okay, no?
20:04No, it's okay.
20:04Yeah, yeah.
20:05It's good.
20:05It's good, no?
20:06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:10Walking around, I love the usage of ingredients.
20:14Crazy combinations, tasting little bits and pieces of ferments, umami blasts.
20:19I am really loving Josh and Bailey's elderberry hot sauce and the jam and the ketchup.
20:26Same ingredient, but they taste completely different.
20:29The Italians, kingfish, usually I love raw.
20:32Mm.
20:33Cooking it, it loses its juiciness so fast.
20:36But the curing process or the brining process that they're doing tends to keep all of the
20:40beautiful fats and oils inside it.
20:44I'm just hoping that we have a beautiful bite of one of New Zealand's finest fish.
20:48Yeah.
20:48What do you think about your Shannon Roy?
20:50I mean...
20:50You're still hung up on the kimchi.
20:52The smells coming out of that place, delicious.
20:54It's very strong.
20:56Mm.
20:56But it just makes you want to eat it.
20:58Tommy and Danny down the back, they seem very confident.
21:03More confident than maybe I've ever seen them in the competition so far.
21:07What they're doing is just so unique as well.
21:10Mm.
21:10Hungry style kumara, adding layers of flavour around it from soy milk skin to ashes.
21:17The process is different.
21:18What we will have at the end of this challenge is a series of dishes that really make us think
21:24and hopefully make us feel something great as well.
21:27I'm excited about today.
21:33Got nice wild gorse flowers for our scampi.
21:37The scampi will have a little XO kombucha.
21:39And then on the top of that, laid over the back of the scampi, almost like scales, will be these
21:44little gorse flowers.
21:45It's a delicate floral flavour of coconut almost a little bit, so it matches our theme.
21:51We'll probably need about 30 petals per dish.
21:54Lucky we're not in the restaurant.
21:55We might have to do about 900 to 1,000 pieces.
21:59One thing I really like about Taste of Art is the fact that the world is my oyster.
22:02I can do anything I want and have these creations that may never see the light of day.
22:06In a way, Vaughan and Melissa are quite lucky to be tasting these amazing things.
22:09Whatever those crazy thoughts that come into your mind and you can actually put it on the plate.
22:13Yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:16Yeah, let's make a cork.
22:18Maybe open one back.
22:22Look at that.
22:24It's breaking down the titi.
22:27Hot.
22:27Well, it's still got some nice colour through it too, huh?
22:29Yeah.
22:31Wow, what's that?
22:32It was seaweed.
22:33It's really traditional Korean one.
22:35It looks like moss.
22:36Can I try a bit?
22:42Wow.
22:43Well, that's very cool.
22:44Exciting, man.
22:45I love seeing stuff I've never seen before.
22:48We're seeing a lot of that.
22:54Cremor?
22:55Not bad at all.
22:57Mushroom, mushroom, mushroom.
22:58You know what I think about the two of you?
23:00You're fun guys.
23:02Yes.
23:02Thank you.
23:04Very good.
23:07That looks so cool.
23:10This is the tense bit.
23:22Taste of art, bruh.
23:26Josh and Billy's plate was so colourful.
23:29It's just like a picture.
23:30That's what art is.
23:31Especially when you go to the gallery,
23:33there's something going to be on the wall.
23:36We need to try our best
23:37because everyone's presentation is so good today.
23:41We have really strong competition,
23:43but we will keep trying.
23:45Now we just want to go to the final.
23:47We want to stay until the last.
24:03Today's challenge is to create two dishes,
24:06showcasing preservation techniques.
24:08There's a lot riding on today.
24:11I don't want this to be the end of the journey for us.
24:13F*** the hell.
24:15What?
24:15Why'd you do so much?
24:17I don't know.
24:18I'm just trying to be safe.
24:19All right guys,
24:20you have 10 minutes to go.
24:25Turn the flaps together.
24:28That's cool actually.
24:30That's really.
24:40Yeah, I think just more converture probably.
24:43Take it out.
24:44Yeah.
24:48With the kingfish,
24:49besides using every element of the fish itself,
24:52our preservation technique is hanging
24:54on our sculpture made with bone.
24:57That's how charcuterie is made.
24:59So we can put one here and one here.
25:03Building our umu fire pit.
25:05This will be contained in this soil.
25:11I made the stuffing earlier,
25:13so now I grab the rayette over it.
25:15I will cram it and make the croquette.
25:18So we'll have the mutton bird and the stuffing inside.
25:23You've found everything already?
25:24Time goes really fast today.
25:33I don't like sticks.
25:34We'll do it without sticks.
25:36No sticks.
25:37Yeah, I think it's nicer.
25:38Just plain.
25:39Clean.
25:40I don't really know what anyone's doing around me.
25:43But all we can do is do the best we can
25:45and hope that it's enough to stay in the competition.
25:49Okay, everybody.
25:50Time is up.
25:52What's up, brother?
25:54Yeah.
25:55Woo!
25:58It's elimination.
25:59Impressing Vaughn and Melissa would mean a lot to us.
26:01I would like to make at least the final.
26:03Yeah.
26:04I would be very disappointed if we didn't reach the final.
26:07Yashan, Roy.
26:10You have 10 minutes to play.
26:12Let's do it!
26:16I go fry this now.
26:18Let's try it together.
26:20I'm making Korean tartar.
26:21So I use gochujang sauce, white kimchi,
26:24shallot and chives mixed.
26:27It should be not white.
26:34I fried my martin bird.
26:36Then you put the apple syrup.
26:41So now it's ready to go.
26:53First, I have the martin bird croquette with stuffing
26:56and rillette, which uses the confit.
26:59And I put apple syrup,
27:01glazed bones inside of the croquette.
27:03The New Zealand beef with Korean traditional kimchi.
27:06We marinated it with gochujang paste,
27:09soy sauce and manuka honey,
27:11rolled by roasted seaweed.
27:14And there's egg yolk and white-baked caviar on top.
27:40It's really great.
27:46It's really delicious.
27:50The beef tartar.
27:51I think a combination of flavors is awesome.
27:54You've got the vinegar from the white kimchi,
27:57you've got the umami blast coming from the red kimchi.
28:01It complements the beef.
28:03You can still taste the beef from wrapping it in the Korean seaweed.
28:07The accent of the ocean through it is really cool.
28:11You've got some preservation.
28:12That meets the brief for me.
28:14I really, really enjoy the dish.
28:16It's absolutely delicious.
28:17The tate was delicious.
28:19The cracker is really light.
28:21It held together really beautifully
28:22and you have all those beautiful flavours of umami and acidity
28:27from the two different kinds of kimchi
28:29and the gochutang added that beautiful spike of flavour.
28:33I love the idea of a croquette.
28:35I think it's fun.
28:36And the presentation of having the mutton bird bone
28:39as that little handle.
28:41What an elegant canapé.
28:42And the texture of the fry on the outside.
28:45I love that really crisp bite.
28:46But with the croquette,
28:48I think the ratio of the riet to stuffing
28:50changed the textural balance of what was going on here.
28:53I would have loved to have had a bit more of that silky riet
28:55and a little bit less of the stuffing.
29:00The titi.
29:01This one has a few technical issues.
29:05It was kind of hard for me to eat the whole thing
29:07because the bird meat on the outside is quite dry.
29:11The flavour, it's good, but the stuffing is kind of a little bit boring.
29:16So you've confit it, but it needs a sauce.
29:19It's dry.
29:20It's overcooked.
29:21And I don't know how something so beautiful
29:24could be turned into something that bored me.
29:28It's lucky you're immune today.
29:30I would be nervous about that one.
29:34Up next, Tommy and Danny.
29:41See on the mushrooms.
29:42I'm just going to get the kumara umu in.
29:44I'll be jumping on cooking the scampi after.
29:46It has already been configured.
29:47Yeah, right.
29:48This is our umu that we're building here.
29:50This is Samoan cooking.
29:51So we've got embers above the earth.
29:58Pork rib is super fatty.
29:59It's just going to cling to this tray.
30:01And get the gouache claws on.
30:04Yep.
30:05Take your time on those.
30:05Make them fantastic.
30:09Sunflower seed tofu.
30:10There's some fermented mushroom powder.
30:16Ribs are off.
30:18Wait, scampi?
30:19Yep.
30:19Scampi is on the plate.
30:20Yeah, let's go.
30:28Cool, huh?
30:29Very cool.
30:39We have scampi coated with some XO and some kombucha.
30:43Finished with a little sauce on the side made up of sunflower seed tofu.
30:46Next, some cured, sticky pork ribs.
30:48Seasoned with sour fermented honey.
30:50On the side, umu kumara.
30:52Toss in a little dressing made with roasted yeast butter,
30:55preserved lemon, some ash and hay to finish.
31:26The
31:36¡Gracias!
31:58So juicy, I love the sweetness of the honey on the top.
32:01I would smash so many of those, it's not even funny.
32:03You hit the brief, but you smashed it for me on the flavour profiles.
32:08You have shown respect and given us a reason why.
32:12These techniques should never be forgotten.
32:15The langoustine dish and the texture is just so tender
32:18and underneath having the earthiness of the exo, the mushroom, so lovely.
32:23I love the flavour that the soil has permeated through the Coomera,
32:29and it really is such a subtle but significant element of the dish.
32:34The sweetness and the tenderness of the pork really elevated the Coomera,
32:39which was a spectacular choice by you.
32:41And I think you've executed everything to perfection, so well done.
32:44Awesome, guys.
32:47Julia and Pierre, we'd like to taste your dish next.
32:50Great. Let's go.
32:54So, I'm gonna barbecue the kingfish and the leek.
32:58The leek have been cooked into the ashes.
33:03And then after barbecue, I'm going to rest the kingfish
33:07in a duck fat and vanilla beans.
33:13I'm preparing the chocolate and hazelnut soya for our ice cream.
33:17Then I'm going to start plating on our cremeaux mushrooms as well.
33:27This one?
33:28This one, this and this?
33:29Candy, then hockey.
33:30We cook into sugar syrup, then deep-fry.
33:36This way?
33:37The other way. Yeah.
33:38We do one like this.
33:40Like that.
33:41I will do straight.
33:44Inch of salt.
34:02You're shaking.
34:04Are you nervous?
34:05Sometimes.
34:06Woking up to the judges, we are super happy.
34:09Yeah.
34:09I'm nervous.
34:10Yeah.
34:11Because we knew Yashan and Roy, they were not in, like,
34:13in the middle nation with immunity.
34:15And I think Tommy and Danny, their dish was, like, super cool.
34:18So, obviously, you reach a point where everybody's got high-level qualities,
34:22and tiny things can just mean you're going home.
34:40The name of our dish is heritage and...
34:44And discovery.
34:44We decided to go with the fish charcuterie as a heritage,
34:47and discovery in the mushroom cremeaux.
34:52My dad used to bring me with him going fishing.
34:54And we used to make charcuterie of fish.
34:57That's gonna be...
34:58That.
34:59Be emotional.
35:00Are you being emotional?
35:02Yeah, a tiny bit.
35:03It's, like, all of these remind me about my family,
35:05far away from New Zealand.
35:06We feel very fortunate for you to share these stories with us,
35:10and we can see it in what you've produced.
35:12Thank you.
35:45Charcuterie from the fish, cured in salt.
35:48It really had a clean flavour.
35:49You kept it on its own.
35:51The kingfish was awesome the way you cooked it.
35:54The texture was really nice.
35:56It felt like eating steak as opposed to a fish.
35:59You guys are a little bit wacky.
36:01You think outside the box, quite weird combinations,
36:03but they really work.
36:05And they keep me really interested through it.
36:08You've used preservation techniques to extraordinary effect.
36:12The kingfish chop, it was luscious.
36:15The way that you were able to maintain a silky but firm texture
36:19and really highlight the quality of the kingfish.
36:22It was as close to flawless as you could probably get it.
36:26This mushroom madness dessert, I really love it.
36:30It's savoury, but it's sweet.
36:32The smoked caviar with the mushroom ice cream.
36:35It kept me really interested.
36:37The candida enoki was really nice.
36:39And the concept, the visual, it looked really good.
36:43I've eaten a billion cremos in my life.
36:47When you apply too much gelatin, yes, it allows a product to sit there for a little longer,
36:52but it also changes the texture to a point where it was a little distracting.
36:59But what I loved was the candida enoki and the mushrooms in general.
37:03I thought the texture was really interesting.
37:05The flavour profile was something I'd never tasted before.
37:08So, nearly flawless.
37:10One little problematic element, but I am very impressed.
37:13What a magnificent job in your own wacky Italian way.
37:18Thank you.
37:19Thank you.
37:22The cremo is set, I think, a bit too much.
37:26Too much in the fridge.
37:27I guess pressure is on and you do mistake.
37:29Dumb mistake.
37:30Dumb mistake, yeah.
37:32All right, Josh and Bailey, you've got ten minutes to show us what you've got.
37:39Let's go!
37:43Brush that first.
37:44Super, super, super lightly, yeah?
37:50So the lemon's in the tartare, so now we're against the clock, eh?
37:53Mm-hmm.
37:55That's scampi to come out.
37:56Whose silly idea was it to do five things instead of two?
37:59Yeah.
38:06Bailey, did you put salt on the mosaic?
38:08No, sure.
38:14Two breaths on the scuba.
38:16Mm-hmm.
38:16On the bottom platform.
38:17Oui.
38:30Your first dish is a celebration of pumpkin and scampi.
38:34We have soused the scampi tail, so pickled brine.
38:37We've got a smoked pumpkin juice, confit pumpkin balls, and then our mosaic is made from salted snapper and cured
38:44scampi with an array of raw vegetables.
38:48Your second dish is a celebration of deer offal, starting with a confit fried sweet bread with elderberry ketchup, cured
38:55deer heart tartare on a dehydrated tendon cracker, and then finishing with a smoked liver parfait.
39:04Well, if this isn't taste of art, I don't know what is.
39:11This is absolutely spectacular in terms of presentation.
39:14Thank you.
39:15You're really going all out.
39:16I don't want to go home.
39:17This being an elimination.
39:18I don't want to go home.
39:19No, we do not.
39:20No.
39:23Clork.
39:24Ah, yes.
39:24Clorks.
39:25Yes, clorks.
39:26The pumpkin and the scampi or langoustine.
39:29Cool.
39:38Mosaic.
39:40Oh.
39:46The deer.
39:56Shit.
40:04Super pretty.
40:10I love the imagery of everything.
40:13You have surprise, reveal, interactivity, sensory experience, a really artistic flourish that makes fine dining a pleasure.
40:23I love the pumpkin dish.
40:25The flavour of the langoustine is gorgeous.
40:27The texture is absolutely perfect.
40:29It's perfectly cooked.
40:30The pumpkin really adds to the scampi.
40:33It elevates its sweetness.
40:35It all comes together in a perfect matrimony of textures, flavours.
40:40Amazing.
40:42The snapper silk.
40:44Super pretty to look at as a mosaic.
40:46Masterfully done, artfully presented.
40:48This is taste of art.
40:49This is exactly what we expect and we hope for.
40:53The deer head, with all the levels of flavour going right up to the top.
40:57The cone at the top was magical.
41:01One of the best liver pâtés from a deer I've had.
41:04Creamy and it goes so well with the elderberry.
41:08The flavour on the heart's good.
41:11Maybe a little bit under-seasoned.
41:13The sweetbread, taste-wise, it's really good.
41:16But it's so chewy, it's inedible.
41:20But all in all, you've met the brief.
41:23And I really, really love what you've done.
41:26Thank you.
41:27Thank you.
41:27There is some masterful work here.
41:29I want you to be so proud of what it is that you have produced.
41:33Fantastic food and, most of all, a taste of art.
41:36Congratulations, guys.
41:37Thank you.
41:40The sweetbread's a bit chewy.
41:42We both kicked ourselves as soon as we saw that.
41:45It makes me feel extremely nervous.
41:50For millennia, preservation has not only been an essential way for humans to survive, but to thrive.
41:56In this challenge, you celebrated this time on a tradition with style, substance, and sophistication.
42:04Chefs, I'm impressed.
42:07As this competition thins out, you have all risen to the occasion.
42:11With your level of care, attention to detail, and technique.
42:16But this is an elimination.
42:20Please step forward, Julio and Pierre, and Josh and Bailey.
42:25We kind of knew it was going to be us.
42:27Yeah, because with the small mistake that we make.
42:30But at this level, it counts.
42:32Everything counts.
42:32Yeah.
42:34Julio and Pierre, your tales of family, culture, and memory brought us closer to you.
42:39And you showcased the art of preservation, bound with flavour, to great effect.
42:44But there were textural issues in your mushroom dish that could not be overlooked.
42:49Josh and Bailey, the artistry of your dishes was evident in your presentation and conception, with flashes of brilliance everywhere.
42:57But your sweetbreads were tough to eat and detracted from the overall experience.
43:04Both teams possessed textural flaws.
43:08But only one flaw could not be overlooked.
43:12That's why, Josh and Bailey, your time with us has come to an end.
43:18Just that one little detail, making something inedible, I just couldn't let it go.
43:23I'm so sorry, Josh and Bailey, how are you feeling?
43:26Devastated.
43:27Yeah, pretty gutted.
43:29I missed something that I've done a thousand times, and I'm going to hate myself for it for the next
43:36few hours.
43:37Well, I think it's safe to say that the future of fine dining in New Zealand is strong with chefs
43:42like you leading the pack.
43:44It has been an absolute privilege to see what you can do and to consume your food.
43:48That one little detail pushed you under.
43:50But through this entire competition, you two should be super proud of yourself.
43:54You're both super talented chefs, and I'm going to be excited to see what both of you do in the
43:59future.
44:03All right, everybody, rest up because your next challenge is going to turn your world upside down.
44:13Minister and Vaughan, my feedback has been very helpful. The help has been great.
44:18Onwards and upwards.
44:19Thank you, Chef.
44:21Youngblood.
44:23In this challenge, these table settings, artfully curated by farmers, will be your canvases.
44:29We want your art to showcase the plate.
44:32We're going to win. We're going to beat your own game.
44:34We'll be okay.
44:35No way.
44:36It has a really pick-me-up childish feel to it.
44:40I might cry. I love that.
44:43This is an elimination challenge, and that's why I'm sad to say you're leaving us tonight.
Comments