Ben Starr – The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: Master Chef

  • A Post-Masterchef Perspective

    I have just spent the past 5 hours reading a fraction of the 949 tweets, 549 emails, and 1752 Facebook messages that have been posted in the 300 minutes since MasterChef finished airing on the East Coast.  (Update, as of 11pm August 10, about 24 hours after the show has ended, my email inbox has…

  • MasterChef: Shepherds Pie and Venison Backstrap

    Today will be the last mystery box of MasterChef. After today, the final 4 will be announced and will go head-to-head in the semi finals. I have not won a single mystery box in this entire competition. And when I analyze my competitors, this is what I think: Christian – Sure, he may be a…

  • MasterChef Top 9: Scallops and Pigs

    I think, by now, we’ve established the fact that I hate mystery boxes.  So you can imagine that I’m less than thrilled that it’s time for another one. We lift our boxes and I see 3 massive, gorgeous scallops, still in their shells.  “Diver’s scallops,” announces Gordon.  That means these scallops are each foraged, by…

  • MasterChef: Mothers and Benedicts

    So they drive us to Pasadena and drop us off at this MASSIVE swanky hotel, and I’m immediately afraid.  If I have to cook cuisine that matches the sophistication of this place, I’m screwed. It’s a team challenge with Tracy and Giuseppe as team leads.  I couldn’t be more conflicted about whose team I want…

  • MasterChef: Giant Lobsters and $500 Truffles

    If I’ve learned anything on MasterChef, it’s that you can be on top one day, and out the door the next.  So even though I’m coming off a pretty triumphant week, winning the catfish challenge, being a team leader, and making a 6-layer pumpkin carrot cake that Gordon Ramsay said was one of the best…

  • MasterChef: Celebrities and Cake

    Did all that just REALLY happen? Watching it felt like a blur. These were easily the two most intense and personally trying challenges I experienced on MasterChef. I’ll try to condense them into words, but I’m not sure it will work. Team leader. That’s nothing new to me. I’ve been president of this or that…