Victorian couple Eve and Jason prove slow and steady wins the race as they defeat father and son Mike and Tarq in sudden death cook-off
They have been criticised for their simplistic menus and choice of pre-prepared ingredients over fresh produce, but tonight Eve and Jason silenced their detractors by winning their first sudden death cook-off by two points with a score of 41.
Both teams presented their best three course menu to hosts Pete Evans and Manu Feildel and guest judges Karen Martini, Guy Grossi, Liz Egan and Colin Fassnidge.
Eve and Jason prepared an entrée of seared scallops with cauliflower and miso. The judges agreed the cauliflower and scallops were the prefect flavour combination with Guy noting the team had done an “excellent job” of searing the scallops. Pete agreed the seafood was “perfectly cooked”, but admitted he would have scored the team a 10 had they added more miso to the dish.
Mike and Tarq stuck with the seafood theme for their entree serving up Thai prawn bisque with prawn toast. While Liz said it had “lovely depth of flavour”, Colin disagreed saying: “it needed some lime leaf or Vietnamese mint, something to give it a little punch.”
Manu sided with Liz on the entrée saying: “Coming from home cooks, I think this is pretty good. If I was in a restaurant and I was given that, I would be really, really happy.”
Demonstrating their love for curries again, Eve and Jason prepared a main of Sri Lankan beef curry with toor dhal.
Colin liked the heat in the dish and said “the meat braised well, but the dhal on the other hand, is overcooked”. Guy agreed saying there was no “structure” to the dhal.
Karen praised the curry saying it was “gorgeously fragrant”, had good texture and had been cooked perfectly. “I think they’ve done a fabulous job,” she countered.
Manu agreed with Karen saying: “There’s nothing wrong with the dhal. That’s what dhal is. It’s mushy. It’s supposed to be like this.” His only criticism of the dish was that it was missing a bit of salt.
Mike and Tarq presented a main of sesame crusted tuna with homemade soba noodles and miso broth.
Liz was impressed with the dish saying it was “a very generous piece of tuna”. She also commended the team for making their own soba noodles. Colin disagreed with Liz on the tuna, saying the serving was out of proportion.
“I think a lot to do with seared tuna is the two characteristics of the seared and the raw, cause I like to eat the cooked and the raw. Here there’s a small bit of seared, but too much of the raw,” Colin said.
He also questioned the team’s addition of tofu to the dish given the amount of tuna on the plate. His final words on the main: “It’s a good dish, but a clumsy dish.”
Eve and Jason finished their menu with butterscotch pears with ginger cake and yoghurt sorbet.
Guy said the pears were “cooked beautifully” with “great flavour”, but noted the ginger cake was “a tad dry”. Manu loved the pear and sorbet elements but said: “The butterscotch really made the dessert too sweet for my liking and the ginger cake is dry.”
Unfortunately, it was Mike and Tarq’s dessert of Indian rice pudding with stone fruit compote that sent them home.
While Pete acknowledged a lot of work had gone into their dessert, all judges agreed their rice was “stodgy” with Colin making the point that “you shouldn’t be able to quenelle rice pudding”.
On leaving the competition, Tarq said: “We’re pretty gutted. We did come here to win, so going home this early isn’t the ideal situation.
“It’s like going for a tap in on a putt on the last hole to win a tournament and missing the ball completely. That’s about how I feel right now.”
Talking about his son, an emotional Mike said: “I’m proud of what he’s done,” adding their experience on My Kitchen Rules had been “awesome”.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and being able to share that with dad is a pretty special thing,” concluded Tarq.
