Masterchef, Matteo shows off a “winning octopus”

In the Christmas episode of Masterchef Italia, the 27 year old Matteo Rinaldi from Bergamo he confirmed his place in the program by first winning the judges’ approval in the “Golden mystery box” and then fighting to keep the coveted white apron in the first “skill test” of the season.

The competition kicked off with the first and only «Golden mystery box» of this edition which awarded two «Golden pins» (the «salvation» pins that allow those who own them to play them to avoid elimination) to Matteo Lee and Dounia. The theme of the first test was the appetizer, a dish to prepare with the aim of making themselves known to the judges, the chefs Bruno Barbieri, Antonino Cannavacciuolo and Giorgio Locatelli. Matteo’s «Family meal» dish was a cream of potatoes with seared octopus, artichoke and courgette flowers in batter and was among the four best of the test, so much so that it allowed the aspiring chef from Bergamo to go up to the balcony and skip the «Invention test». The latter was dedicated to one of the most loved dishes on the peninsula: polenta, with different consistencies and creative combinations.

After observing the test from the balcony, Matteo then returned to his position for the second part of the evening. The twenty amateur chefs challenged each other in a «Skill test» focused on the stories of the great families of Italian haute cuisine, with guests Roberto Bottero of «Arnaldo Clinica Gastronomica» in Rubiera whose first Michelin Star dates back to 1959 and was the first Italian restaurant to obtain it, and chef Antonio Dipino of the «La Caravella» restaurant in Amalfi, the first restaurant in southern Italy awarded the Michelin Star. The two guests have the task of bear witness to glorious and successful culinary stories, built starting from the family. Third story is that of chef Giorgio Locatelli who proposed the recipe for split whitefish with potatoes, a lake fish which for him, originally from Corgeno, on Lake Comabbio, has no secrets.

The contestants had to replicate the dishes proposed by the chefs IN a pairs challenge. Matteo worked with his colleague Jonny, unfortunately the result did not satisfy the judges who sent them back to the next step of the «Skill test» in which the remaining competitors cooked on their own, replicating chef Locatelli’s dish. «I gave up everything to be here, it’s my revenge” Matteo told chef Cannavacciuolo during the test. Next appointment to follow the path of the aspiring chef from Bolgare on Thursday 1st January, again at 9.15pm, exclusively on Sky and streaming only on Now, always available on demand.