TV review
Kitchen Impossible
In the end, love wins: why Tim Mälzer lost his analytical skills
Tim Mälzer (right) can’t handle the harmony between Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle
© RTL/Markus Hertrich
The crux lies in the simplicity: Tim Mälzer no longer tastes anything and sweats because of home cooking. The lovers Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle hit the TV chef on the Achilles’ heel.
Tim Mälzer has already proven that one is not enough for him. In the fourth episode of “Kitchen Impossible” he again invites two opponents, this time even a couple: Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle, who each run a restaurant in Zurich. They cook separately for work, but also like to cook together at home. Mälzer’s idea is to drive a wedge between them. In vain: In the end, love wins.
These are the highlights of the fourth episode of “Kitchen Impossible”
These are the duels
Tim Mälzer challenges Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle. Oskan runs the “Gül” restaurant in Zurich, which specializes in modern Turkish cuisine. Stöckle’s “Rosi” is more hearty with home cooking. In this episode, Mälzer cooks in London in the star restaurant “Trivet” and in Unterthingau in the Ostallgäu with Stöckle’s mother.
Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle are allowed to prove their skills in Vienna with two-star chef Konstantin Filippou and have to prepare the snack “Oyster Cake” at a street food stand in Singapore.
The most beautiful moment
There is another kind of declaration of love for Mälzer’s mentor Gennaro Contaldo. It seems when he’s around, the TV chef’s compass goes haywire: “I love this man so much,” says Mälzer. “Everything I am I owe to him.” Like a son who wants to make his dad proud, he wants Contaldo to be there when his first box is analyzed. “Now I’ll show you what I’ve become and how I earn my money,” says Mälzer.
Mälzer’s Achilles heel
The challengers Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle send Tim Mälzer to the city where they met and fell in love: London. At her Canadian colleague Jonny Lake, who runs the star restaurant “Trivet”, Mälzer has to cook the hearty-sweet dessert “Hokkaido Potato”. A nasty task, because on the one hand Mälzer does not understand the dessert and on the other hand neither the sake nor the potato can be tasted in the individual components. Oksan and Stöckle hit his Achilles’ heel exactly.
The tastiest dish
Mälzer finds it difficult to bear: the good mood of the lovers. No task clouds Oskan’s and Stöckle’s happy disposition. In Singapore, Mälzer sends the couple to a traditional Singaporean hawker center. Here you can find street food that you won’t find anywhere else in the city: for example the “oyster cake”. A savory fritter filled with oysters, meat and shrimp, deep fried. “Tim couldn’t know, but we love to fry,” says Oskan. “The art of frying is always underestimated.” The cake sounds simple at first, but it is almost impossible to cook it true to the original. For nearly 60 years, Jolene Hoon, owner of Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake, has been making the cakes from her mother’s recipe. It took her five years to learn and perfect dough making. Oskan and Stöckle only stay a few hours. At the end, Oskan says, “Tim finished us off with a snack.”
The most beautiful home cooking
It’s always nicest at home, thought the couple who sent the TV chef to Stöckle’s homeland: to the idyllic Allgäu. Mälzer has to face what appears to be a simple task. Cooking traditional Bavarian classics made by Stöckle’s mother Anneliese. A heart kitchen that actually suits Mälzer. But that’s exactly where the crux often lies: the TV chef gets meatballs with potato salad and steamed dumplings with vanilla sauce baked, but he doesn’t count on the stove, which he has to ignite with firewood. In the end, the home cooking makes him sweat. The verdict of the jury is: “It just tastes a little better with mum.”
The winners
In the end, love wins. The very likeable couple Elif Oskan and Markus Stöckle are not only the winners of hearts, but also beat the self-proclaimed “Mister Kitchen Impossible” with their style.
The eighth season of Kitchen Impossible started on February 12th and will be shown on Vox every Sunday from 8:15 p.m. This and later all other episodes of “Kitchen Impossible” can be seen at RTL+ be streamed.