Note from BW of Brazil: Well it seems there’s cause for another celebration this week. Earlier this week, we presented a story documenting the second straight victory of an Afro-Brazilian woman in the traditionally all-white Miss Brasil competition. Today, meet Michele Crispim, the winner of the fourth season of the very popular Master Chef Brasil reality show broadcasted on the Band TV network. Not just known for her cooking skills, Michele has also made a name for herself with her other talent as a passista in a samba school. Congrats Michele!
Catarinense Michele Crispim wins the fourth edition of MasterChef Brasil
By Natalia Leal
The 28-year-old Michele Crispim of Santa Catarina won the fourth edition of MasterChef Brasil, on Band TV, on Tuesday night. She competed for the trophy of Brazil’s best amateur cook with the 30-year-old Deborah Werneck from Rio. In addition to the title, she will receive a prize of R$200 thousand and take a course in the renowned kitchen of Le Cordon Bleu gastronomy in Paris.
Born in Florianópolis, but living in Palhoça, in the greater Florianópolis area, Michele reached the final after defeating one of the favorites of the edition, the 40-year-old Valter Herzmann from (the state of) Santa Catarina. Contained and focused, she had five individual wins and four group wins throughout the edition and stood out more in the reproduction of the dishes than in recipe creations. Until then, Michele didn’t reach the final as a favorite and even among the participants – who followed the competition in the kitchen itself – didn’t have the support of the majority.
The high point of the decision, the announcement of the winners was different once again. Deborah and Michele were invited to each hold a smartphone, live. The winner was the one who received the “Masterchef call”. In two previous editions, the champion was announced before on Twitter and then on the TV broadcast.
Menus had choices of very Brazilian ingredients
As in previous editions, both had to prepare a kind of tasting menu, with starter, main course, and dessert. Michele bet on Brazilian ingredients and a recipe inspired by her family and won over the jury.
For the appetizer, she chose marrow covered with mushroom crust, surprising the chefs Erick Jacquin, Henrique Fogaça and Paola Carosella, responsible for the judgments of the dishes. Then, Michele served a hump steak filled with pupunha palm and puree of pupunha and garlic, accompanied by roasted garlic sprouts and, despite some defects pointed out by Paola, received praise from Fogaça. The dessert was a tropical tartare, with pineapple, tapioca soaked in coconut milk and baba de moça (egg coconut custard cream).
Deborah chose to serve all the dishes accompanied with farofa, a mark of hers in the program. The appetizer included scallops with sorrel aioli with bacon farofa, whereas in the main dish the highlight was chayote laminated with Brazil nut farofa and a chayote chutney, that accompanied lobster medallions. The dessert was a tangerine puff pastry.
Fogaça, Jacquin and Paola praised the choice of the two competitors for their Brazilian ingredients and also for the search of an identity itself in the dishes. Jacquin went on to say that the dishes made last Tuesday were the best he has eaten in the show’s history.
The new edition for professionals starts in September. This was the fourth edition of MasterChef Brasil for amateur cooks. Michele is the third woman to win the race, preceded by Elisa Fernandes in the first edition and by Isabel Alvares in the second. The third MasterChef Brasil was won by Leonardo Young.
Band TV’s program with its largest audience, the franchise already has a date to go on the air again. The second edition among professional cooks starts on September 5th.
Champion of ‘MasterChef’, Michele Crispim has already been a passista and paraded for the Portela samba school;
Michele Crispim was a passista in the Carnival of Santa Catarina
By Arthur Leal
Long before she became a MasterChef champion, Michele Crispim already showed off a talent in a very different area … Samba! In a video shared on YouTube, the 28-year-old from Santa Catarina appears on an SBT TV show in 2010, dressed as a passista (Carnaval dancer), showing a lot of samba no pé (samba in her feet).
“As a child, I paraded in a samba school in Florianópolis, called the Embaixada Copa Lord. I always participated actively and was invited, at the time, to participate in the program. But I’ve stopped living as a passista for some time. Today I’m too old for that (laughs). In Florianópolis, I was elected as Rainha do Carnaval (Carnival Queen). It was a very cool experience because, at the time, I was a professional dancer,” she said the Band reality show champion in an interview with EXTRA on Wednesday afternoon.
But who thinks that Michele left to the side her passion for samba is mistaken. Two years ago, she was seduced by the 450-year-old plot of Rio, chosen by Portela and paraded for the Madureira school.
“In Rio, I paraded for Portela in 2015. My husband and I (Rodrigo Quintino) liked to attend the samba schools, not only from Portela, but also from Mangueira and Salgueiro. Then, as a birthday present, I decided to present him with costumes so that we could parade,” she said, taking advantage of the repercussion of her victory in the program to practically guarantee her presence in the Marquis of Sapucaí next year:
“We like Rio’s carnival so probably we’ll parade next year, God willing!”
MICHELE CRISPIM – EMBAIXADA COPA LORD
Source: O Fuxico, Diário Catarinense
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