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Heston Blumenthal in the MasterChef kitchen

Heston Blumenthal enters the MasterChef kitchen to a 'rock star' welcome.

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UK celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal makes his second appearance on MasterChef Australia tonight, but this time is given a “rock star welcome” in the MasterChef Kitchen.

Matt Preston says, “It’s like Madonna walked through those doors”, while eager contestant Michael gushed, “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this!”

Joining Michael in the elimination are Rachel, Craig and Shannon.

But the smiles turn to frowns for some, when they realise they must cook Blumenthal’s Perfect Burger and Fries from scratch, including the bread, the cheese, the tomato ketchup, the pattie, the lot!

Yes we’d like fries with that…..

Blumenthal, who is seen regularly on SBS, last appeared in the UK episodes of 2011’s MasterChef Australia.

It airs at 7:30pm tonight on TEN.

18 Responses

  1. In general MasterChef is a good program but I think it is falling into the now antique formula or talking resteraunt needs and not actually what the best in gastronomics attempt to achieve.

    If we watch the best cuisine culture in Italy or France and now in Asia’s top schools the concentration is on combining creation, taste and tradition. Unfortunately, the United States – with some of the best Chef’s and access to ingredients – and Australia follow the “what works in running a resteraunt” as being the only criteria.

    The foods demanded, produced and judged are wonderful there is no question – but they are not when judged by the top schools of thought at the standards now needed in some quaters to be really judged a “Master”.

    To obtain a that famed “Star” or an Italian FCI standard the chef tested does not always go for the trendy new but shows that they can make the original and traditional to perfection with a twist of their own – colour, presentation or simply by doing as good but in a healthier way.

    Though I have seen elements of this in MasterChef Australia over here in Europe, the emphasis on what we call here Resteraunt Chic is in fact what we consider Resteraunt Cliché.

    Try a bit better, stop the dramatic pauses and look for perfection and you may raise the shows’ quality.

    VLC
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    International Academy of Gastronomy in Paris

  3. Who the heck cares if they are treated like rock stars or not – half of them are probably more talented than what constitues a rock star these days anyway.

    People have idols in all walks of life – in this case Food.

    I personally would think a lot more of someone who identified a chef as their idol rather than a football player.

    Each to their own for goodness sakes.

  4. @Qubec, I agree with you. Chefs have morphed into the new rock stars, without a doubt. People like Heston, Nigella, Jamie, Manu, Maggie Beer, etc, are treated like rock or movie stars. Chefs have huge public profiles now, thanks to the fact that many of them have their own long-running TV series, umpteen cookbooks and so on, so public recognition is very high. I note that now they are even called “Celebrity Chefs” to reflect their current rock star status. True, in the scheme of things in life, chefs don’t occupy a particularly important place. They are no more important or interesting than any other profession, but they are in a highly aspirational industry, one that makes good television, so they are now in our faces. The whole “Michael meeting his hero, obscure chef X from the US” was way overplayed, it really was cringe provoking on Monday night. Ninety percent of the viewing audience were going “who”??

  5. @Qubec ” And just because you have a star doesn’t mean you are a star for anyone outside of the industry”

    You just agreed with me. As i said, these chefs are stars to people within the industry. That also reaches to the fans of the industry which the contestants currently are. If viewers claim to be lovers of food and fine dining well then i think that shows the ignorance of the viewer for not having heard of the guest chef. However you can’t accuse the show of alienating the audience just because they don’t get as excited as the contestants get over a celebrity chef.

    Yes of course there is no show without a viewer but keep in mind there would also be no show without talented, exciting, name sake chefs to guest appear on a show that airs for close to 3 months. I could be wrong but i don’t think they get paid a huge amount to take time out to appear on the show, they most probably come on to get some publicity for their respective restaurants and food projects so the least the show can do is drum up a bit of hype about them.

  6. My family enjoyed tonight’s episode. I’ve seen a few episodes of Heston’s Feasts and explained to them that he’s a perfectionist, but they still couldn’t believe how much time is spent making a simple meal like a hamburger in his restaurant.

    It was good of the judges to hold back on their criticism of the woman who came last. Let’s face it, her bun did not look as good they said it was and her presentation was awful. But she deserved a bit of sympathy after losing so much time.

  7. @Trix- I never once mentioned Heston in my post, I simply said I was sick of Every chef who came in being treated as a rock star. 
    @Steve- I’d have to disagree with you there! It isn’t just about the contestants, it’s also about the viewer. Without us there would be no show! I would say a large majority of viewers are not “foodies”, so if we don’t know someone, why should we care if the contestants are excited? And just because you have a star doesn’t mean you are a star for anyone outside of the industry. Yes, the show is about the industry but since non-industry people watch the show then they should make sure not to alienate people by making every person who enters a rock star…

  9. Yay 😀 Heston!

    Very clever chef! (And a scientist) I love watching him and his shows. What he does with food is brilliant :3

    It was great to see him last year in Aussie Masterchef when they were in London with his Fruit bowl (which was actually different types of meat).

  11. @Qubec
    I have news..it’s not all about you.
    Sure i don’t know who half these Chefs are either but that’s because i’m not a ‘foodie’ where as people who go on MasterChef are. Think about it, if you were an aspiring chef and had dreams of opening up your own restaurant one day and having it be world-renowned, wouldn’t you have a food idol?

    It doesn’t matter if the viewers don’t know who the chefs are. The main focus is on the contestants, so if they do know them then that’s what counts. Besides if you someone does have a michelin star restaurant then you are a rock star as far as the industry is concerned.

  13. @Qubec, considering Heston Blumenthal has two television series that have recently gone to air on separate channels, he’s an internationally renowned chef with a 3 Michelin hat restaurant in London, I think it’s a bit of a long bow to say that he’s not someone that the public would recognise. I agree that chefs are no more important to the fabric of society than engineers, teachers or builders, but from imho he’s one of the most exciting, nuttily creative chefs out there. And my 13yo son thinks he rocks because he combines science and cooking, two of his favourite things 🙂

  15. Finally, a reason to watch this thing. But why couldn’t he set them a challenge to make a meal out of nitrogen, lighter fluid and fish plucked from the distant shores of Latvia? You’re losing form Heston 😀

  16. I’m so sick and tired of how every chef that walks into the Master Chef kitchen is treated like a rock star. It’s really tacky. I respect that many of these cooks are very good at their jobs, but at the end of the day they are just that, cooks. It’s not as if they are actual rock stars or movie stars, you know, people who the public actually recognize. So often they make a big hoo-haa about someone and my family and I just turn to one another and say “who?”. And this is a family who has eaten at a number of top restaurants. I think the reason Master Chef’s ratings are down is because people are not relating to the show. It’s too big for it’s own good and making rock stars of chefs simply adds to the issue.

    1. Natasha: Given it was in TEN’s Media Release not really. We can’t declare every plot synopsis a Spoiler either, so it’s a judgement call about what the content is. I would have considered it a Spoiler if it gave the outcome of the Challenge. But I don’t view a teaser as a Spoiler any more than a trailer.

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