You could slice the tension in that kitchen with a knife. In one corner of Ossiano, a restaurant at Atlantis The Palm, was MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris, game-face firmly on. Sweat dotting his newly-lean face as he hollered a slew of warnings: he didn’t want dirty hands, detested snotty noses and hated the sight of sloppy chopping in his kitchen.
“Guys, you have just an hour to go. And from where I stand there’s lots and lots to be done,” said Calombaris, almost shaking with urgency. That cue was enough to send half a dozen harried contestants scurrying to get their tasks done. Suddenly, they began to fillet their fish and slice a gigantic slab of beef tenderloin with supersonic speed. Video cameras followed their every move, but their focus was on surviving the challenge and meeting Calombaris’ searing culinary standards. There was a lot riding on this one. It was the elimination round of season five of the popular cooking challenge show MasterChef Australia.
“Let’s leave our mark here in Dubai. Let’s be the Aussies who came and Aussies who left. We don’t want to be eaten by sharks here,” warned Calombaris, just before he shepherded the cooking hopefuls to the Ossiano kitchen. His war cry was made more dramatic by the restaurant’s gigantic fish tank, which houses thousands of marine creatures.
“If you don’t care, you don’t belong here. Every onion you peel, every dish you create – you should care,” said Melbourne native Calombaris.
For the first time in the history of the hugely popular show, two episodes were filmed in the UAE in June. A day before the elimination challenge — which required them to serve a room full of Atlantis VIP guests — the contestants had to compete in a desert challenge that involved cooking camel meat and making desserts with local favourites such as dates and cream.
As in every season, the participants were reminded that failure to create perfection on a plate would send them hurtling back home. Interestingly, these warnings sound far more morbid and crushing on television. Watching it being filmed, it’s more about getting the shot and technical elements right.
“That’s because it’s an off-site shoot and it is all unfamiliar settings. Even doing that promo that you saw us shoot, takes around ten to 15 minutes in a studio, but in an unfamiliar surrounding it takes a lot longer,” said Gary Mehigan, another member of the famous judging trio.
Anybody who’s a MasterChef fan will tell you that this cooking face-off among amateur chefs is as much about the food as it is about the cheerful judges and their colourful personalities. Unlike the usual reality shows, these judges aren’t acidic in their appraisal. In fact, during the course of the day, tabloid! discovered that they are extremely protective of their contestants. Just before the VIP guests were ushered in for their meal, Mehigan reminded them to be “patient” and to keep in mind that these were amateur cooks who were “slightly struggling” with the task given to them. The contestants choose their dish and course depending on the numbers engraved on the gold coins nestled in a treasure chest.
“When somebody cooks something for you and puts it in front of you, I never feel the need to put them down,” said Mehigan. “It’s like managing my own staff or my own children. I don’t see them as my children but I see it as my responsibility to nurture them like my staff. I want to be constructive and positive.” His judging partner Matt Preston, who was, as always, suited up, believes in giving the benefit of the doubt to the amateur cooks.
“Cooking [outside] of your kitchen is very hard. How ovens, kitchens and cooking pans behave is different in another setting. It’s like playing a piano, we have our black and white keys. But the notes are different,” said Preston. Perhaps their gracious attitude propelled their guests to enjoy the dining experience a lot more. The dishes that were presented on our table at the end of the challenge could at best be described as a mixed bag. While a seafood salad was refreshing, the main course — beef tenderloin — was too rare for my liking. Surprisingly, the service didn’t include noting down how the guests liked their meats cooked. While overcooking a good piece of beef is sacrilege, having blood on the plate isn’t perfection either.
The meal wasn’t the only highlight of filming at Atlantis. The life of the party were judges Preston and Mehigan, who were intent on soaking up all Dubai has to offer (Calombaris, overseeing the kitchen on the shooting day, kept a low profile). The pair were more than happy to pose with fans and regale us about their Arabian holiday.
“What’s nice about Dubai is that it is a melting pot of cultures and nationalities. I went to the old part of Dubai and loved it. Dubai reminds me of the [Australian] Gold Coast which sits on this stretch of land — it comes out of nowhere and it becomes this bustling metropolis,” said Mehigan. Preston, who was reminded of Shanghai when exploring Dubai, let us in on a wishlist.
“From Dubai, I want a baby camel, George wants a baby dolphin and Gary wants a belly dancer – those things would be good,” said Preston with a booming laugh. His Middle Eastern adventure was all about exploring the old parts of Dubai such as the Creek and the spice souqs.
“I loved the scene of Indian and Iranian traders by the dock. We know Dubai as the city with the world’s tallest building, the Rugby Sevens — but when you are in the old parts you forget all that. I can imagine my grandfather getting off an abra here and then heading to Sudan,” said Preston. He’s also obsessed by the breads served in Dubai, and made sure to sample all he could, dining at posh spots and sampling street food.
“We dined at Zuma, Hakkasan, Atlantis and also tried the shawarmas on the streets. Who would have thought that something as simple as that could have such range? How they shave the meat, and that bread is so fascinating. It looks as if there’s nothing to it but there is so much going on there,” said Preston. Surprisingly, neither judge expected MasterChef Australia to cook up a global storm. The show, which has millions of fans worldwide and is fuelled by lucrative sponsorships, has the same charm as any nation’s comfort food. It gave cooking a cloak of respectability to culinary aspirations and the phrases ‘plating up’ and ‘caramelising’ are now a part of the lexicon of many households.
“When we started out, we were thinking on the lines of, it’s a new show or it could be cancelled after its first ten episodes. But it just went crazy. I remember we were doing numbers and we touched 1.6 million and we asked our producers whether that was good. The producers then went, ‘Good? We are going to carve this on our gravestone’.”
Quote Unquote
“People are going to say what they are going to say. But it’s your baby. In the end everybody should realise that is our integrity on the line. We take that very seriously. When television goes away we are left with what we do and what we love,” said Gary Mehigan, when asked if reports that MasterChef Australia is rigged upset him.
A MasterChef Australia judge’s top tip for entertaining:
“Don’t cook to impress”
“When friends come home for dinner, cook something that you are comfortable with or that you feel emotive about. Keep it simple. Sometimes the simplest things are the most delicious,” said Gary Mehigan.
Did you know?
For the first time, Preston will be joining his co-judges Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris in the weekly Masterclass episodes.
“The idea is to do something homestyle. Lots of young people don’t get home to cook and they want good home food. It’s an art. I will be teaching how to make food with no frills and no hassles ... The most downloaded recipe of Masterclass has been on how to make a pumpkin soup. You would think, it’s almost Australia’s national soup and everyobody knows it, but tens of thousands downloaded to make it,” said Preston of his Masterclass debut.
