All at sea with MasterChef Ireland? Donal O'Donoghue trawls through last night's episode
At the beginning of last night’s episode of MasterChef Ireland, the five remaining contestants were all at sea. By that I don’t simply mean that they were in fishing boats, casting into the depths for fish – because they were – but that the quintet were not quite sure what was coming next. All they were told was to catch as much fish as possible because they were going to need them later. So they did.
“I presumed the challenge today would have something to do with fish,” said Clare Anne. Now she was in a boat in the Irish sea, and clutching a fishing rod. Hmmm.
Out on the high seas the Fishy Five (Mary, Mike, Brídín, Clare Anne and Christine) had competition from a hungry seal. Back on dry land the competition was going to be just as voracious. And waiting on the harbour side – looking like Captain Birdseyes – were the dynamic duo of Dylan and Nick.
The contestants were handed sacks of fresh produce which they had to combine with their own fish to create a meal. This task is the classic one: the equivalent of say, arriving home late from work and deciding to create a wonder dish from what you can find in the fridge. In my case that would be a dish created from chocolate, an old tube of tomato paste and something wrapped in tin foil! But this is MasterChef so the five are given fancy products - green stuff like shallots and chervil and fresh beetroot and so on.
“So what are you hoping for today?” asks Nick Munier, the more serious side of the double act.
“I really hope that they cook the fish correctly,” says Dylan sporting a look that says he’s not too hopeful.
Then the five are whisked (in a good way) from the harbour side to Aqua – a restaurant at the end of the pier (and the end of the line for one). Here, they are given half an hour to prepare their dish and half an hour to cook it. It’s short and sharp and some emerge looking shell-shocked.
Clare Anne offers up a sandwich – but a very classy one. She gets a thumbs-up and cries.
Christine plates up a winner. “This is what you call sexy food,” says Nick, licking his lips.
“You’re back in the competition!,” says Dylan to Brídín, who offers her a high five.
As for Mary (who at one point looked more likely to melt than the knob of butter on her frying pan), she knocks it out of the park with her dish. “Mary, I love you!” says Nick but without licking his lips.
Mike’s report card though reads: could do better.
But we’re only at the halfway stage: or as the judges put it: ‘It’s time to take it up a gear.” Time for the master class. Enter John Burton Race.
The Michelin-starred chef – who once mentored one Dylan McGrath - cooks the classic fish dish, Sole Bonne Femme. The class take notes. They look nervous. They take more notes. They still look nervous. There is one fish per person. No second chances. And, as race puts it, if they leave it in the oven for more than 30 seconds, they are going home.
If Race is a tough taskmaster (“That looks chewed” he tells a rattled Clare Anne) he is an even tougher judge.
Mike? Good job.
Clare Anne? It’s very difficult to find a positive.
Christine? That’s a very good effort.
With Brídín he simply picks out a bone and holds it aloft. “Very naughty,” he says. Bridín looks like a chastised schoolkid.
“Have you ever seen that film called Ratatouille?’ he asks of Mary.
“Ah, the little rat,” says Mary, thinking she might be smelling one.
“This is brilliant,” he says. Whew.
So even before the judges walk in with their stonily serious results faces, the writing’s on the menu card. No surprises that Clare Anne lost her apron. Or that Mary is now the favourite for the semi-finals.
“A natural cook,” reckons John Burton Race. And with her jittery kitchen style, she is also a natural TV entertainer.
