Ohkay so, it was a pretty good episode but I must say the judges are getting a lot of talk time in each & every episode. It’s ohkay, it’s their job to do the briefing but the literal spoon feeding tends to get a bit tiresome to listen to. I think like the professionals, they should treat the contestants as grown ups & after giving out the details related to the challenge, they can let them carry on with the cooking but literally every 60 minute episode to say the least involves 20 minutes of the judges instructions (remarks excluded) which makes the episode seem a bit boring.
Anyways, this was an immunity challenge & the contestants got Quail as a core ingredient that they had to work with. It was once again a 60 minute challenge with an access to the pantry twice. I really didn’t get the ‘tuk’ of pantry pass? They could’ve easily told the contestants that after first 5 minutes in the pantry they can access it once for the last time but to see the contestants scurrying to the judges to hand them the pass seemed unreasonable & kind of unprofessional.
Amna came up with ‘Moroccan Quail w/ Couscous, Rocket Salad’ & as appetizers she presented ‘Zatir & Haloumi Fatayer’. Chef Mehboob liked the dish because it had balanced flavors, he appreciated the flavors of quail, salad & tahini. Chef Zakir felt that her dish had a perfect balance & the quail was tender, succulent & flavorsome. Chef Khurram liked the fatayer as well as the quail & also commended Amna for the presentation.
Maryam came up with ‘Crispy Fried Quail w/ Mashed Potatoes & Asparagus’. Chef Mehboob liked the quail as according to him she pulled it off really well. Chef Khurram felt that the sauce could’ve had a little more spiciness to make it complimenting to the dish.
Rayyan presented ‘Pan Seared Quail w/ Herbs’. Chef Mehboob felt that the core ingredients of the dish was weak & the side components weren’t helping the taste of the quail much. Chef Khurram liked the presentation. Chef Zakir (as usual) wasn’t satisfied with the flavors.
Gulnaz made ‘Smoked Quail w/ Zeera Rice’. Chef Zakir liked the quail but felt that when tasted with the rice & sauce, nothing was working together. Chef Mehboob found that the quail was the best he had tasted so far as it had a local flavor. Chef Khurram commented that the presentation should be improved but he also liked the flavors of the quail.
Khurram presented ‘Quail Tempura w/ Wasabi Sauce’. Chef Zakir bluntly told that he shouldn’t have worried about his choice & rather should’ve worked on what the judges would like. According to him the sauce was so overpowering that it dominated the flavor of the quail.
Sidrah presented ‘Shahi Quail Curry w/ Garlic Naan’. Chef Mehboob felt that the usage of cardamom changed the whole dish & the gravy wasn’t rich enough to be labeled as mughlai/shahi. Chef Zakir got a bit too carried away because Sidrah chose to change the name of the dish!?!?!?!. He was like ‘serious kab honge app log’? *sigh*
Zain presented ‘Smoked Quail w/ Stuffed Rolls’. Chef Mehboob felt that the rolls were too thick but the quail had some very nice flavors but it was a little overcooked. Chef Zakir felt that the quail was overcooked & lost its flavors.
Iqra presented ‘Stuffed Quail w/ Hummus & Quail Jus’. Chef Khurram found the hummus flat & Chef Mehboob felt that this wasn’t a good performance by her.
Madiha came up with ‘Fried Quail w/ Creamy Salsa’. Chef Mehboob felt that the selection of ingredients was limited & the quail was overcooked. Chef Khurram found her performance quite average.
Ammarah created ‘Quail Ravioli & Grilled Quail’. Chef Khurram didn’t appreciate the presentation much. Chef Mehboob felt that she presented 2 dishes within a dish & needed to concentrate more. Chef Zakir felt that the quail was flavorsome but the ravioli was thick.
Saad presented ‘Oven Braised Quail w/ Veggies’. Chef Mehboob felt that the quail lost it’s flavors because of the cooking technique. Chef Khurram didn’t like the presentation & also felt that only the meat had it’s own flavors & Saad failed to induce some self-created flavors in the quail.
So, the top two dishes that the judges selected were of Amna & Maryam. Amna won the immunity for the weak & was appreciated for her dish a lot. Maryam won herself an untold advantage. The next round would be an elimination round but I don’t really get why don’t the contestants wear black apron in every elimination because supposedly every elimination round is a black apron round.
I was told by one of the readers that she felt these reviews were being followed by the team of MasterChef as she felt that the changes were being made in the episodes every time something regarding it was mentioned in the review & this time I felt the same thing & if so, I would commend the team for being considerate & open to audience’s feedback. I did mention that the cameramen should speak to the contestants while they are cooking & this time around we got to see the contestants talking about their dishes. I hope that the contestants do not only speak about how good their dish is & how confident they are about the dish but also mention which techniques they were using & some more stuff like that.
Chef Zakir was as always a bit too stern but then I feel the little disclaimer that he gave was again in order to clarify the image that he is being stern in order to bring out the best of the contestants. I think there’re a lot of ways of bringing out the best in people & that certainly doesn’t happen by belittling them. It was pretty evident that the judges didn’t appreciate the contestants & their approach with the quails because by the end of the round they were speaking about the Pakistani dishes that they would’ve liked to see in this round. I think it should be highly appreciated that the contestants are not being one-dimensional & are being too brave to try different dishes & are opting for different techniques, I am glad the contestants are definitely not sticking to the ‘kormas’ & ‘karahis’. Share your views about this episode.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.