Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

Tag: pressure test

  • MasterChef 4 recap: (S4E16)

    (WARNING: This blog contains the crazed ravings of a MasterChef season 2 survivor who has no inside knowledge of how this season was produced.  Everything in this blog should be considered opinion and nothing else.) Before I begin, I need to address a MasterChef issue that’s been flying around the TV gossip websites today.  These…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: Weddings and Macarons (NOT Macaroons!) S4E12

    (PLEASE NOTE: This blog is not endorsed or approved by Fox or MasterChef, and you probably shouldn’t read it. What follows are the crazed ramblings of a MasterChef season 2 survivor who has no knowledge of the production of this season.) It’s group challenge time, and the contestants are introduced to Aaron, a “flavor scientist”…

  • FRANK: The first MasterChef love child

    During the filming of MasterChef season 2, Jennie Kelley and I had become very close.  During one pressure test challenge, our team was safe and we were watching the opposing team battle it out from the safety of the balcony above.  Jennie and I were distraught, watching our friends cooking at the very limit of…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: Burgers and Lobsters in Las Vegas (S4E8)

    (PLEASE NOTE: This blog is not approved or endorsed by MasterChef or Fox, and you probably shouldn’t read it.  These are opinions from a former MasterChef season 2 contestant who officially has no inside knowledge of the making of this season.  …well, not officially, anyway.) Because of the disastrous Eggs Benedict pressure test, the judges…

  • MasterChef 4 recap: Firefighters and Benedicts and the Return of Walmart (S4E7)

    (PLEASE NOTE: This blog is not approved or endorsed by MasterChef or Fox, and they would probably you rather not read it.  The opinions contained in this blog are from a Season 2 competitor who witnessed the filming of virtually every episode of that season, but I have no inside knowledge of THIS season of…

  • MasterChef recap: The Final Four

    (Please note: This blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef, and they would prefer you not read it.  This blog reflects my own uneducated and uninformed opinions about Season 3 of MasterChef, and I have no inside knowledge about how the show is judged.) We’ve got 4 contestants left: Christine (age 33), Becky (27),…

  • MasterChef recap: Michelin Stars and Walmart Steaks

    (Please note that my blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef or Walmart, and that they would probably both prefer you not read it.  The information below consists solely of uneducated opinions and assumptions and should not be considered factual.  I have no inside information on how MasterChef is judged or produced.) Please also…

  • MasterChef: Rancheros and Huevos

    Today’s blog is brought to you by WalMart, which can figure out how to sell a dozen organic eggs for $3, but not how to make a commercial with decent actors. (That’s a joke, my blog is not endorsed by Walmart, though the link above will lead you to a fascinating article that talks about…

  • MasterChef 3: Food Trucks and Tortellini

    All throughout my season, we kept waiting for the food truck challenge.  Food trucks were all the rage throughout the country last year, and we just KNEW we’d have a food truck challenge.  But they saved it for this season. A few short years ago, most American’s wouldn’t be caught dead eating at a food…

  • MasterChef: Michelin Stars and Massive Salmon

    We’re dropped off at the Walt Disney concert hall, a Frank Ghery monstrosity in downtown Los Angeles, and we can barely look at it because its curvilinear aluminum panels are gleaming like a mirror in the midday sun.  And my mind is flying from place to place…are we catering for the LA Philharmonic?  Making green…