Editor’s note: Hilo’s Felix Fang is a contestant on the Fox TV show “MasterChef,” which airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channels 3 and 83. Her weekly blog about her experiences on the program will run each Friday in the Tribune-Herald until she either wins or gets voted off by the judges. Unless otherwise noted, the first names of those mentioned in this blog are other contestants on the show.
Editor’s note: Hilo’s Felix Fang is a contestant on the Fox TV show “MasterChef,” which airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channels 3 and 83. Her weekly blog about her experiences on the program will run each Friday in the Tribune-Herald until she either wins or gets voted off by the judges. Unless otherwise noted, the first names of those mentioned in this blog are other contestants on the show.
In Monday’s episode, we arrived at Venice Beach and were greeted by three gorgeous food trucks captained by the judges! Stacey, who won the dessert challenge, had the enormous advantage of not only choosing her own team but also the two others. Her dream team of red was Tali, Becky and Frank. She picked Monti, David, Anna and Tanya for the yellow team. Josh, Christine, Cowboy Mike and I were the leftover team of blue. I couldn’t have been happier.
Josh wanted to be team captain and our truck’s theme was Indian food — which he loves, so great. But it was my insistence that we do a finger-food naan wrap with salad and Christine’s amazing chicken tikka masala that won over the customers. We were a great team and the boys de-boned the chicken thighs like there was no tomorrow.
It may have been my fault that didn’t make the most sales for the win. The purple yogurt slaw, which took a lot of time to make, was my idea. We could’ve pumped out more orders otherwise. But at the end of the day, we were happy to come in second and not have to face the devastating pressure test.
The tortellini challenge was extremely intense. I really wanted to make them after watching Joe’s demo! OK, maybe not in this situation. Everyone seemed to be struggling in one way or the other. We were sweating bullets and David was sweating Scotch. Did you see how perfect his tortellinis were? Fat fingers and all, David awed us with his finesse.
Monti did well as she often makes pasta at home. Tanya almost threw in the towel, but a pep talk from Graham reminded her to be strong. We were in shock to see Anna poke little holes in her Italian dumplings. I have never seen her so frazzled and dropping F-bombs! She didn’t boil her consommé quickly enough and the judges had no tolerance for raw pasta. So we had to say good-bye to the lovely Anna.
Tuesday’s mystery box challenge was really fun! It was the cutest kit of rabbit, wild carrots, berries, rice and herbs. I prepared rabbit three ways: front legs buttermilk, battered and fried; saddle leg braised in the pressure cooker with stock, berries and wine; and the breast pan seared on top of a carrot puree shaped like a carrot, complete with stem. Good hare day for me, but a better one for Frank, Cowboy Mike and Becky. Becky finally won a mystery box challenge after three times of being in the top three.
Becky’s advantage was tools of the trade was being able to choose for herself and the rest of us what cooking device to use, between a pizza stone, wok and deep fat fryer. She took the fryer and threw the stone at us. I make breads and pizzas at home so yeast dough is my friend; the time limit, however, was not.
I started two small batches of dough to see which one I liked better, one using all-purpose flour and the other, self-rising. After a half-hour of rise time, I baked a pinch to sample. The AP flour tasted better, as it should, and both had the same rise, so I went with that. I made a macadamia nut pesto and topped the pizza with shrimp and marinated chilies.
I was ecstatic to see how golden and crisp it looked when I pulled it out of the oven. I finished it off with a salad of fresh mozzarella, tomato slice and arugula. I really thought I had a chance of making the top three. Damn!
Gordon questioned why I left the shrimp tails on. I told him I like how it looked, it was just the fans of the tail. He was in shock that I like to eat shrimp tails and talked about how bizarre it was and how it must hurt when it comes out the other end. Graham asked me if I had joined a gang, perhaps because of my blue bandanna. Joe ripped my crust, saying it was heavy, but I saw the air pockets that define a well-developed dough. That is why I looked so angry.
I know I didn’t look happy to be in the top 10, but that shot must’ve been taken after they told us they were cutting a second person. Tanya is very close to me, and it really upset me to see her feelings being played with. I know I shouldn’t take these things so personally, but I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m there to cook, not to act.