There's been sooooooo much talk as to who will win MasterChef the last few days I thought I'd give my own 2c. There's quite a few people that I know who wants Poh to win. From their point of view, she's a great cook and creative with her dishes. From my point of view, she's playing the asian card well. A lot of the asian dishes she cooks that impresses the judges does not impress me at all.
Why? Half of them are very standard Asian dishes presented nicely. I.e. her "funky century egg" with congee is you stock standard century egg and pork congee every asian household knows how to make. You walk into any yumcha place and they also serve this. Yet the judges were blown away by the dish simply because they've never tried century egg before and automatically labelled it as "inventive", "daring", "creative" and a fantastic dish. I can bet any money that if you took that dish and gave it to an Asian person, the reaction would be "Oh, that was nice". Not "OMG THIS IS THE BEST FRIGGIN THING I'VE EVER EATEN! HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS IDEA?!".
Another example, her "mochi" dessert with ginger milk pudding. The "mochi" is actually something we make at home every few weeks. Its something you can find at yum cha. Its also something you can buy frozen at the grocery store and found on every corner in Hong Kong. The same goes with the ginger milk pudding. Its a poor version of the dessert that is found everywhere in HK.
If she had cooked an asian dish and I went "Oh hang, that's actually a really good idea! Why didn't I think of it" then I'll give her points for creativity. But so far, a lot of the dishes are very typical asian dishes. The only reason she's got such a raving from the judges is because its something that a non-asian will order at a restaurant, or its home cooking that you won't find at a restaurant. And I think that's a real unfair advantage that she has over the other contestants.
So by default, I want Julie to win. Actually, I wanted Chris to win, but since he's out, by default I want Julie to win. But I think Poh will probably win. *SiGh*
Why? Half of them are very standard Asian dishes presented nicely. I.e. her "funky century egg" with congee is you stock standard century egg and pork congee every asian household knows how to make. You walk into any yumcha place and they also serve this. Yet the judges were blown away by the dish simply because they've never tried century egg before and automatically labelled it as "inventive", "daring", "creative" and a fantastic dish. I can bet any money that if you took that dish and gave it to an Asian person, the reaction would be "Oh, that was nice". Not "OMG THIS IS THE BEST FRIGGIN THING I'VE EVER EATEN! HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS IDEA?!".
Another example, her "mochi" dessert with ginger milk pudding. The "mochi" is actually something we make at home every few weeks. Its something you can find at yum cha. Its also something you can buy frozen at the grocery store and found on every corner in Hong Kong. The same goes with the ginger milk pudding. Its a poor version of the dessert that is found everywhere in HK.
If she had cooked an asian dish and I went "Oh hang, that's actually a really good idea! Why didn't I think of it" then I'll give her points for creativity. But so far, a lot of the dishes are very typical asian dishes. The only reason she's got such a raving from the judges is because its something that a non-asian will order at a restaurant, or its home cooking that you won't find at a restaurant. And I think that's a real unfair advantage that she has over the other contestants.
So by default, I want Julie to win. Actually, I wanted Chris to win, but since he's out, by default I want Julie to win. But I think Poh will probably win. *SiGh*
2 comments:
You got your wish! I heartily agree with you, just because the judges were unfamiliar with Poh's ingrediants and techniques didn't mean she should have got an automatic rave, Matt as a food critic really should have been more knowledgeable about Asian food.
Yes! I'm so glad Julie won! The fact that she can impress the judges with dishes they eat day in day out, speaks more than trying to scare judges with century egg! hehe
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