Inside Cuisine judges Junior MasterChef

A few weeks back now Rebecca Varidel and Natalie Manning from Inside Cuisine were invited to be two of the guest judges on Junior MasterChef. We’re excited to see if we made it onto the show and not the cutting room floor when the episode goes to air tomorrow night (Sunday 9th October 2011) on Network 10.

It was the first offsite challenge of this series, held at celebrity Chef Michael Moore’s revolving Summit Restaurant, in Sydney. Representing Inside Cuisine, Natalie Manning and I were guest judges among fifty of Sydney’s esteemed food critics and bloggers. The 4 course menu was cooked by 4 (colour coded – blue, yellow, red and green) teams of junior chefs (each with a Master Chef guiding them) and looked (and tasted) not only delicious but the kids surpassed themselves with dishes that are technically difficult: Prawns with Goats Cheese Curd with Salad and Citrus Herb dressing, Olive Oil Poached Quail with Spiced Eggplant, Brined and Seared Beef Fillet with Creamed Cauliflower and Black Grape mignonette and Spiced Cherry Compote with Vanilla Mascarpone and Crostini. Any restaurant would be proud serving up food like this.

What was it like behind the scenes?

We were seated in the revolving Summit restaurant, just like customers, and all around us there were lights, cameras and action.

I was surprised just how many crew it took to make the show with producers and cameramen and sound crew.

Did we get a chance at second takes?

We would just be sitting, eating, chatting, comparing notes and giving our scores – at our table of four (which included Natalie’s school friend, MasterChef magazine writer Zoe Lyon) then we would be asked a question for filming. Our answers were all very spontaneous.

Well although we haven’t seen the final episode that will go to air tomorrow night – and don’t know what made the show and what didn’t – no, we didn’t get a chance to say anything twice. One take was all we got. Gary Mehigan made one small gaff and got to quickly retake just one line. As far as I saw, all the filming of the kids was just taken as it came.

Which of the four courses did we enjoy most?

Well that would be telling. You’ll have to watch the show – at 7.30pm Sunday night – to find out.