Linda Herrick: An under-rated Kiwi sport: Men cooking

<i>Masterchef</i> judge and Euro chef Simon Gault. Photo / Herald on Sunday

It was the Croquembouche which sorted out the man from the lady in last night's finale of Masterchef New Zealand.

A towering cone of French wedding torture cuisine, it was a horrific 30-point challenge that made finalists Brett and Kelly shudder. Brett's custard failed to set and Kelly's spun sugar glooped. But Brett won out despite having to make his custard twice.

What a finale to a long, gruelling challenge in which both finalists had crashed consistently throughout the series, proving the power of determination and sheer nerve.

School teacher Brett had so often been at the bottom, and full of self-doubt, while Kelly was super-pumped - and the kitchen protege of judge and Euro chef Simon Gault.

But any chef who can call her dessert a Pineapple Digestive - as Kelly did last week - clearly has not commanded the diction of chefdom.

It was seriously mean of the judges last night to detract points from Kelly and Brett from the Taste Test for identifying ham instead of pancetto; tomato paste, rather than tomato puree. These things matter in cook-world. Not for the rest of us.

Masterchef New Zealand has proved a chic opportunity to exploit an under-rated sport in this country: men cooking. No one swore much, that we know anyway, and no one flung pans. But I did admire earlier contestant Karyn of Nelson who had a beer on the job.

When it came to the last lap, Kelly and Brett were both so nervous they could barely taste what they were cooking. It's all very well for judges to tell them to make sausages and cook them gently with love. But homemade sausages, like a dream, can burst so easily.

The ultimate task, the Croquembouche, was a recipe from hell, but hardly original; Masterchef Australia included the same demand.

So well done, Brett and Kelly. And a great opportunity for advertisers, who took advantage of many, many long breaks during the two-hour final.