Tonight on MKR, married Germans Robert and Andrea were eliminated from the competition after their Instant Restaurant scored just 46, landing the couple at the bottom of the final round two leaderboard.
Modern Italians Simone and Viviana, fussy friends Mike and Pete, kitchen queens Janey and Maddie, mother and son Caz and Fergus, loved-up couple Hannah and Lawrence and competitive brothers Rob and Liam advanced to Kitchen HQ to continue their quest to become MKR champions.
Robert and Andrea put their heritage on a plate, wowing their fellow contestants with the setup – but not the food – at Unser Bayerischer Hof (our Bavarian yard).
Serving up the riskiest menu ever seen on MKR, Colin called the entrée of Leberknödel Suppe (Liver dumplings in broth), “a polarising dish, but I love that you’ve taken your heritage to us, that’s what MKR is about.” He praised the “texture of the dumplings and clear beautiful stock” however both Colin and Manu agreed the dish was too salty, scoring a five from both judges.
Accepting the critique, Robert acknowledged: “It wouldn’t cross his mind that it’s too salty, that’s the German way.”
The pressure in the kitchen intensified as they prepared the main course: Fleischkaese Bratwurst with Potato Salad and Red Cabbage. Robert hit a snag trying to get the sausage meat into their skins. The skin kept breaking at a crucial point, costing time and the fear the sausage meat would dry out. After serving their main, Robert’s greatest fear come to fruition, the sausages were dry. Most guests struggled to finish the dish, giving loved-up couple Lawrence and Hannah hope they might stay in the competition.
Delivering his critique, Colin admitted: “Sometimes I don’t like my job. The meat in the sausage is too dry, I don’t know if that is the stress of the competition, or we don’t have the right equipment. For me it was a fail.”
Robert admitted their hiccups in the kitchen resulted in the meat sitting outside for too long and drying out but was not making excuses. Manu agreed: “The sausage was dry, the potato unseasoned. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out in the kitchen for you.”
Devastated, Andrea and Robert put on a united front back in the kitchen hoping to redeem themselves with dessert. Andrea took charge with the Black Forest Cake, based on her grandmother’s recipe, but dessert didn’t sweeten their score. Manu thought the ratio for cream versus biscuit was off, Colin agreed “the cake is a little bit dry. You’ve panicked and put extra cream on to moisten it.”
Departing the competition Andrea admitted they were “disappointed in ourselves today. We still love each other, and we will cook the same dishes again and we know we can nail it.”
Robert agreed it was not their night in the kitchen: “we do better on a daily basis, we do better every day.”
