And four became three when the MasterChef NZ contestants had a baptism of fire in Bali.
Archery and elephant-riding in Ubud were part of the mix of experiences for last weekend's top four MasterChef NZ duos, before they slugged it out in two unfamiliar kitchens to complete their Bali week challenges. In last Sunday's show, Jaimie and Bec, Nikki and Jordan, Verena and Tanisha and Karena and Kasey cooked pan-Asian food at Club Med Bali. In Monday night's show, they headed to Bumbu Bali Cooking School to cook Indonesian cuisine. Bumbu Bali has run for more than 16 years under the watchful eye of chef Heinz van Holzen. It's the longest-running Balinese cooking school. "All we do here is cook Balinese food," says Heinz. "And we try to do it as authentically as possible."
As Heinz explained to the contestants, some people are under the misapprenhension that Balinese food is "spicy" but this is not the case. "Balinese food is spiced, not spicy," he explains. "The blending of spices is the art of Balinese cooking."
Heinz had some great cooking tips for the contestants. He revealed that a very, very hot grill is the key to cooking good satay, a ceremonial food that is cooked for specific occasions. Heinz was very specific about the optimum weight of the chicken pieces threaded on to a satay stick - 16g is the precise recommended weight for the best result. The secret to good peanut flavour in a sauce is peanut skins. "Seventy-five per cent of the flavour is in the skin."
In the following 2½ hours the four duos worked furiously to complete their Balinese dishes. Ultimately, Jaimie and Bec were the victors. As judge Simon Gault said about their dishes, "that food is outstanding".
