Were not here to cook a chicken schnitzel.

[u/ts4184]

Sad to see them go. I can't deny that I was entertained.

It got me thinking about the costs of these menus. Surely scores should take that into account, scrutinising people that use very high end ingredients vs kitchen staples.

King crab, caviar and pigeon compared to a simple chicken parmi is just such different worlds. Jane and shane probably spent more on the Himalayan pink salt and oil for that confit that the other teams spent on their whole menu!

Id love to see more (successful) higher end cooking on the show but how can you compare two dishes at such wildly different price points.

Edit: to clarify, im saying that its unfair to compare two dishes that use ingredients at such different price points. Its a show about elevating home cooking to restaurant level. It should be about elevating the ingredients not just buying the best of the best.

[u/MelbsGal]

No, expensive ingredients should not be taken into account if the cooks absolutely butcher them, as Jane and Shane did.

I’d much rather eat a chicken schnitty than dried out pigeon leather.

It’s about skill in cooking, not what your budget is. The unclassy bogans at least served an edible menu even if it was simple fare.

[u/ts4184 → u/MelbsGal]

Thats my point. Im not saying they should be scored more for using higher end ingredients. If anything the should be scored less. Especially for butchering them.

If someone's going to make an incredible dish with chicken livers and hearts or other cheap cuts scores should favour them more than someone dropping king crap and caviar.

[u/Choice-giraffe- → u/ts4184]

Your post sounds like you mean the obvious. That people that pay more should get scored higher.

[u/MelbsGal → u/ts4184]

You literally said scores should take the cost of the ingredients into account 🤔

[u/ts4184 → u/MelbsGal]

Yeah my bad. It seems I wrote something a little ambiguous. Seems like half of you took it the way I meant and the other half read it like you.

It should take the cost into account just like the average person would in a restaurant. If you had a great meal for $25 or a very average meal for $150 of course the $25 meal wins.

[u/Weekly-Afternoon-38 → u/MelbsGal]

Agreed - it's about skill.

I remember a past team "cooked" yabbies, which were horrifically expensive and they didn't cook them properly (they were still black in places) and when asked they said they had never/seldom cooked them before. Whereas, in another series Anna and her brother from Tasmania cooked a lemon tart for dessert and kicked it out of the park and got a solid 10.

Champagne, lobster, truffles, etc. aren't going to save you if you can't do them justice. It reflect badly on your skill.

[u/Odaptiv]

I thought she said 'shitzel'.

I have nothing to add to this conversation.

[u/MelbsGal → u/Odaptiv]

She did say schitzel, I heard that too.

[u/Infamous-Mention-851 → u/Odaptiv]

She did, on purpose, being funny, because Shane laughed. One of her few moments using ‘umour.

[u/Odaptiv → u/Infamous-Mention-851]

They do have 'fun' in the kitchen.

[u/Silver_Morning2263 → u/Infamous-Mention-851]

I got a completely different take on that. That schnitzel is so out of their experience that they didn't even know the correct pronunciation and they were scoffing at the very thought. Purely based on their admitted gaps in low end food knowledge.

[u/Infamous-Mention-851 → u/Silver_Morning2263]

Maybe!

[u/cottontail20]

It’s a cooking contest, not a ‘How much money can we spend on this meal contest. So no, they shouldn’t take cost into account. Simple dishes done well should always trump fancy ones done badly.

[u/ts4184 → u/cottontail20]

Have I written this post badly? Thats exactly what im saying. If one person is spending $50 and another is spending $500 and the dishes are tied for taste and experience, of course the cheaper one should win.

[u/Sad-Olive-158 → u/ts4184]

I’ll be honest, I misread your post but couldn’t agree more with your sentiments here. Expensive doesn’t mean instantly better. I’ve had some incredible home cooked meals with ingredients from Lidl (I’m in the UK) and some restaurant stuff you can tell is frozen and bagged.

[u/1Bookworm]

I actually googled this as they had really expensive ingredients. Apparently they get $1000 per week. From that they use $500 to buy ingredients and decorations. Hoping someone who was on MKR can confirm.

[u/AtrophiedWives]

I think there needs to be a better scale for scoring that accounts for difficulty. The bogans’ menu was so basic, very hard to fuck up.

[u/Ok_Committee8707 → u/AtrophiedWives]

But isn’t the show supposed to be about good home style cooking ? I know what I’d rather have - although some cream or icecream with the sticky date would have been good.

[u/Legitimate_Bread_992 → u/Ok_Committee8707]

Yes and even the awakening moment last night “we should have just done meat and 3 veg” umm yeah???

[u/AtrophiedWives → u/Ok_Committee8707]

I was wondering what the actual directive given to contestants is and tbh its official description sounds more like home cooks aiming for restaurant quality, not home cooking that you’d see on Come Dine With Me.

"transform an ordinary home into an instant restaurant complete with theme and table decorations for one pressure-cooker night”

[u/Outside_Ice_9970 → u/Ok_Committee8707]

They made the cream but decided not to put it on the plate as it would melt.

The whole time I was thinking find something to put it in and still serve the cream.

[u/Silver_Morning2263 → u/Ok_Committee8707]

Yeah - couldn't understand why they didn't just put the cream in a jug or a bowl rather than not at all.

[u/Jazzlike-Seaweed-612]

I bet she made him sit in the cuck chair while she stuffed herself with those pigeons

[u/TheKZA]

On the other end of it, I can't believe there wasn't more of a penalty for the bogan's square of bog standard sticky date pudding, without even a bit of piped cream or a quenelle of ice cream or something. It should've been marked down massively by just how basic the dish was.

[u/Legitimate_Bread_992 → u/TheKZA]

I felt that the bogans got penalised heaps, compared to that gross couple 

[u/Mindless-Student-345]

Something was off about that whole menu. She tasted an egg and said it was delicious yet smashed up claws which would have leaked moisture in the bottom and on the top and who knows how long sitting it all was would definately make it watery. The pigeons... confit takes a while to cook .. slow.. and then choose to pressure cook. i was confused was it a plug for a product placement like the Adelaide girls having no idea how to use the airfryer and mixer.

[u/Due_Perspective_2808 → u/Mindless-Student-345]

The steam oven was mentioned many times - how many people just happen to have one of them

[u/Puskarella → u/Mindless-Student-345]

The pigeon made no sense. It's such a small bird, and you don't confit whole pigeons or the breasts will turn to leather. You can confit pigeon legs, but the breast should be cooked differently (roasted on crown, or pan fried). They clearly had NO idea what they were doing.

[u/Gumbanks12]

The show is pretty slick at casting, eh?

[u/purpletreefrog007]

The way I look at scoring is like gymnastics- you have a "difficulty" score and an "execution" score. Some teams think expensive ingredients are going to win over the table , but if they're not cooked properly they lose more points from me.