MasterChef was back with the first quarter-final of series 22 on Thursday night
MasterChef was back with the first quarter-final of series 22 on Thursday night (Image: BBC)
MasterChef fans were left scratching their heads over Thursday night’s quarter-final challenge.
Series 22 sees celebrated chef Anna Haugh and restaurant critic Grace Dent take over from Gregg Wallace and John Torode as judges. The pair will test 48 of the country’s best amateur cooks with an array of spectacular challenges.
On Thursday’s first quarter-final of series 22, the first challenge saw the amateur home cooks tasked with creating pancakes, making the most of the fresh produce on offer.
However, it was the second challenge that left viewers baffled. During the episode, legendary food critic Jay Rayner joined the show as a special guest as he set a task for the cooks.
Jay, 59, said: “The challenge I’ve set you sounds very simple. I’ve asked you to make a salad. But we do not want a limp bowl of lettuce, we want structure, texture, we want a killer dressing… something that will rock us back on our feet.” The chefs were then given 90 minutes to create their salads.
However, viewers were left baffled over the salad challenge taking to Twitter, now X, to share their thoughts. One person said: “#masterchef A salad …, a salad, are you for real” to which another account put: “Salad? Or a mix of things #MasterChef.”
Elsewhere, another fan referenced The Simpsons as they joked: “#Masterchef You don’t win friends with salad, you don’t win friends with salad…”
Another baffled viewer simply commented: “A salad?! #MasterChef” while a different fan quipped: “No good story ever started with ‘I was having a salad and then'”.
Following the challenge, Jhané and Sabina left Anna, Grace and Jay blown away with their incredible salads. Jhané opted for a Thai-inspired salad with grilled pork, pork skin, sugar snap peas, lettuce, mint, fennel and thai basil. Jhané served it with deep fried rice paper and a lime sesame dressing, which was praised for being a ‘clever’ presentation.
Guest Jay was left delighted as he gushed: “This is exactly what I was hoping for when I set the salad challenge!”
Meanwhile, Sabina also impressed with her ‘harmony salad’, which was spiced black pea falafel, gem lettuce, carrot, pomegranate, salted chicken skin, beetroot quail eggs, puffed rice and curry leaves. It was served with a confit garlic and mustard oil dressing. Jay praised the salad for being “amazing”.
After all the contestants had shown off their creations, Jay admitted: “It was a tough challenge asking them to make a salad, some of them embraced it brilliantly!”
At the end of the show, it was revealed that Jhané and Sabina had sailed through to the next round, they were joined by fellow contestant Jim.
MasterChef season 22 is available to stream on BBC iPlayer