Dad and daughter duo Peter and Alice, from Chewton in Victoria, were the first contestants on the new season of MKR to plate up to judges Manu Feildel and Nigella Lawson – and they were understandably excited.
Peter runs a café, Alice works there too, and together they’ve been cooking the dishes they were about to serve up for years and years.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: MKR duo present disastrous dessert
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They were using Alice’s grandma’s tried and tested recipes, guaranteed to please – what could possibly go wrong?
Remove a lot, as it turned out.
As the affable duo welcomed the other contestants into their home, the setting seemed perfect: sweet vintage flourishes on the dining table, a room full of cute collectables and curios, and a homey retro vibe.
This year’s MKR theme is good home cooking, and Peter and Alice had devised a simple but delicious-sounding menu that fits the theme.
They were so warm, hospitable, funny and expressive that you couldn’t help but immediately like them and want them to do well.
Although their entree was not a huge hit with the judges, they were redeemed with an excellent main meal, and then it all fell apart with a disastrous dessert.
“There is nothing on my face but sheer terror,” Alice said as a “poker-faced” Nigella and Manu tasted each of their offerings.
“They don’t give away anything!”
‘lots of pressure’
The entree, Sunday Roast croquettes with Grandma’s relish, failed to impress either judge.
“First to cook tonight,” Manu said. “It’s a big deal, isn’t it?”
“Lot of pressure,” Alice nodded. “Lot of pressure.”
Manu said he didn’t really get the “Sunday roast” feel from the croquette – questioning the dad and daughter’s choice to use braised beef cheeks.
“So, the meat was not roasted, then?” Manu asked.
“When I read roast, I got something different.
“I would have put more spice and seasoning in there as well.
“So I think the idea of it is magical, it’s fantastic, but I think you missed the point.”
Nigella agreed, saying the entree needed more seasoning, something that would make the diner think of Sunday roast stuffing.
The relish also didn’t hit the mark with either Manu or Nigella, with the sweet/sour balance not quite right.
The pair were crestfallen, agreeing that the idea was great, but the execution faltered.
Manu’s pep talk
It took a kitchen pep talk from Manu during the cooking of the main to drag Alice out of her deep funk after their first effort failed to impress the judges.
Manu’s interjection worked, and Alice and Peter then pulled out a stunning main course, parmesan crumbed lamb cutlets with minted peas, silverbeet and salsa verde.
This meal was a hit with both the judges and the other contestants, reinstating their confidence in the kitchen.
It was destined to be smooth sailing from there, right?
Dessert would be a breeze, rounding off the night with a bang after a shaky start.
Wrong!
desert disaster
Peter and Alice decided on one of Grandma’s favorite desserts, a delicious lemon pudding, for the final dish of the night.
But Alice’s grandma used to bake the lemon delicious in a casserole dish; Peter decided to add a retro touch by individually baking each dessert in a vintage teacup.
“It has to be this soft, silky sponge and then this beautiful, rich lemon custard beneath,” Peter explained.
It was meant to be fluffy and spongey beneath the surface, a “step down from a soufflé.”
But when Manu and Nigella tapped into the teacup and through the top layer, there was just a soupy, watery, unappetizing mess below.
Peter had underestimated how long each dessert needed to bake for, assuming that the crispy top meant it was cooked all the way through.
What they put on the table was runny, watery, and as one contestant claimed, “inedible.”
Manu told the devastated duo that if he’d been served that dessert in a restaurant, it would have immediately been sent back.
Everyone is gutted for the pair, who had been so welcoming, so nice, and so on-point with the previous plate.
But it was clear that the pressure of being the first team to plate up to Nigella and Manu got to them; their timing was all wrong and they hadn’t presented a cohesive menu.
Peter was particularly dejected, saying he’d cooked the lemon delicious hundreds of times, but on the one night where it was really important to get it right, it hadn’t come off.
“This is a pudding I’ve made every week for 30 years,” he said.
“I have to make it once, for 12 people, and it’s a disaster.”
‘Heartbreaking’
Nigella told the pair she was “sorry” the disaster happened on the wrong night, saying the dessert fail was “really heartbreaking.”
“It’s not your fault,” an utterly deflated Alice said.
“No, I know, but I wanted to see you with a smile back on your face,” Nigella replied.
“It was our last chance of redemption,” Alice said later.
“And unfortunately, we just didn’t get it right.”
MKR continues on Channel 7 and 7plus Monday to Wednesday nights at 7.30pm.
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