With the competition reaching boiling point this Saturday night, Alex Casey provides some ways you can make a meal out of MasterChef Australia season finale. //

I have had an on-and-off relationship with MasterChef Australia throughout what feels like its three-year season. Taking extended holidays over summer to the family bach, I found it had a unifying quality. Nothing brings a family together more than screaming at a television because someone has botched their quenelle at the last minute (that’s French for ‘scooping ice-cream’, you ignoramus).

This Saturday, the beautiful journey is coming to end in a whopping two-and-a-half hour finale. There will be tears, there will be spills, there will be buns. If you are planning on watching it, I have assembled a few activities to compliment the Masterchef experience more than truffle oil on a duck egg.

MasterChef Bingo

Print these out and distribute them amongst your friends and family. Use a bingo pen, or simply dab some tomato sauce on it with your finger. Culinary. An obvious issue here is that Jamie has since been eliminated, and therefore there will be no shots of his sweaty moustache. Here’s hoping he’s sweating in the recap, or sweating at the grandiose reunion.

Pin the Cravat on Matt Preston

Print out this and pin it to your wall:

Print out this and hold it in your hand:

The objective here is simple, to correct the only known image of Matt Preston without a cravat and make all things right in the world again. Blindfold up, spin around three times whilst chanting “sous vide”. See if you can get that chest hair covered up before the end of the ad break.

The Pantry Run

Set yourself your own Masterchef challenge by charging the pantry in the ad break. Give yourself 15 seconds to grab as many different elements as you can, and see if you can create a delicious hors d’ouvre to accompany the visual feast. Vegemite smeared on a olive with a crushed noodle garnish? Interesting, textural.

Truffle Bobbing

Get a bucket, fill it with water, and place a single truffle in it. Your task is to fetch the truffle using only your mouth, because truffles cost literally a million dollars each and Masterchef doesn’t fuck around with quality.

Hang Up Some Eye Candy

Decorate your steamy Masterchef den with some hot hall-of-famers.

Young Marco Pierre White:

Sensual Josh Emett:

Coy Nadia Lim:

Play Blind Man’s Chop

This Marco Pierre White original is a new take on an old classic game. Famously known for chopping onions wafer-thin without looking, White is a crazed ninja when it comes to knife skills. Take a leaf out his book by staying glued to the telly while you attempt to dice an onion. If you look down – you lose. If you lose a finger – you lose. If your eyes weep – you lose. Have 111 on speed dial, because this is sure to be an exciting MasterChef emergency.

 

MasterChef Australia airs on TV1 at 7.30 Friday and Saturday.