MasterChef ™
Baker:
Season:
Week:
Challenge Type:
Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Soup
Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Soup with Lobster, Scallion Purée, Yuzu & Coconut Milk Broth and Rice
Si: "I am doing a Vietnamese soup. It's traditionally made with catfish or shrimp, but today I'm going to elevate it a little bit, bring the millennial side to it, and just get some lobster in there. You know, cook it lightly, and let the lobster be sweet and have the proper texture."
Judge: "Does this dish come from a memory?"
Si: "Absolutely. I was eating a delicious soup that my dad made in San Jose, California, after we immigrated here. I'm going to bring all those childhood memories into this dish and hopefully bring it home for the millennials."
Judges, talking behind the scenes
"Si's going ahead and making this Vietnamese soup. It has lobster. The broth has a lot of potential. The rest of the dish maybe seems a little ambitious, and I hope he's not overcooking that lobster."
Si: "It is a vietnamese sweet and sour soup with lobster scallion puree. I used a broth with a coconut milk and a rice roll. So as a kid, we used to eat this a lot with shrimp. I wanted to elevate it with lobster. "
Judges
"Si, it looks strange. Weird."
"So I think that in the MasterChef kitchen, the truth talks and walks. I think you're just trying to create what you think is a super fancy dish that's gonna impress us. We're not that easy to fool.
"Let me tell you. See, this is out there in a way that's very strange. I think you fell in love with a bunch of ideas and didn't harness the actual concept of the dish, and it's not delicious."
"To me, the actual lobster is a little bit overcooked, slightly rubbery. My saving grace with this dish is the broth. The broth is exceptional, but the dish is just weird."
"I think ambition got the better of you here. Looks like dishwater. It's not something you want to eat visually. You took probably some good techniques and ideas and flavors in your mind's eye as a child, and then you wound up ruining it. Sorry."
"I think that you have some good ideas, but you tried to create something that was out of your league for sure. "
