🎙 Under Bench Staples: Episodes 6-16, Live!
Have you tuned into our post-show podcast tracking each broadcast of MasterChef Australia yet? Expand the email below for all the details
This is your weekly reminder about Under Bench Staples, our MasterChef Australia reaction podcast following Season 15 with snappy post-broadcast reactions.
This is the home of our MC AUS content and free for all to access (you can opt-out of these infrequent mailings via your Substack account settings) and, as explained previously, we’re same-day publishing as best we can (each episode goes out on Channel W/UKTV Play 7pm UK time, then drop an episode before 9pm same-night).
We’re combining a couple of episodes into one email to spare your inbox! You can also subscribe to Under Bench Staples wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify, GoodPods, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Amazon Music.
In our sixth episode it’s straight into an elimination challenge with Back to Win Champion Emelia Jackson –– one of our favourite contestants ever and forever retaining the title of Queen of Choux.
SERVICE PLEASE! HANDS! Did someone call for a pair of legends? MasterChef Australia alumni Matt Sinclair and Sashi Cheliah return to mentor rival kitchens as we delve into the first service challenge of S15! It’s definitely a tale of two opposite kitchens, but which team (and which mentor) smashed it? Tune in for our summary!
In Episode 8 we recount the immunity challenge, set by none other than judge Andy Allen, all about the majesty of the humble chook: rotisserie chicken! Plus, in round two we see Theo face off against Andy's old mucker, Darren Robertson of the Three Blue Ducks with a challenge that pits ingredients against time....
Concluding the “Secrets to Success” week with former contestants, OG winner Julie Goodwin sets a taste test challenge of her seafood stew, which features 50 ingredients and between them the contestants have to ascertain what all the ingredients are.
Now heading into week three of the competition we’re introduced to BIG week, where everything is larger than life as the stakes get higher. We delve into the minutiae of ice cream sandwiches, savour the ideas of twists on Snickers and melktart and lament some of the pasta approaches (in this, the season of pasta, it seems! MAKE IT STOP!)
Big lamington energy with this one, it's pressure test time and we speculate over a new drag queen on the scene, Sharon tres-lecki, plus size up how each of the contestants cut their sponge. We repeat the oft-delivered advice from many teachers of "read the recipe" and we ponder about how woodwork class in school may ultimately help out in the technical end of cookery.... or maybe it hinders?
Then the second service challenge of the season, this time off-site at a street food market in Melbourne where 1,600 dishes leave the kitchen. We keep a keen eye on who shone with leadership and vision and who faded into the background and our dreams will now be of braised Chinese-style pork belly and Thai beef salad but hold the burnt garlic-tainted rice, por favor.
Next, a BIG immunity cook with a dashing Spanish chef to go head-to-head with! Here, we mention once or twice we wrote a cookbook on deep-frying as we judge the contestants' use of appliances whilst also discussing what WE would spend the 10K Harvey Norman prize on before inviting ourselves on a press trip to Australia…
Next, the contestants are gifted the luxury of time –– an overnight pause between two cooks. We delve into the majesty of slow-cooked lamb and we urge all and sundry to protect Robbie at all costs whilst circling back on the thrills and spills of pasta so far this season.
Entering Nostalgia week it’s like shopping at a German discount store: so many off-brand cereals, the mystery box challenge being turning iconic childhood cereals into delicious dishes. We talk about our own inspirations and even manage to dissect the intricacies of Zonfrillo claps, Hollywood handshakes & Preston spoon banging....
Finally, for the pressure test ep of week three, it’s the Viennetta of your dreams. Plus, we take stock of how the judges be judging and indicate who we think - overall - is leading the pack right now and those who are trailing behind a bit...