The cooks have one hour to make their appetizers. Natasha is preparing pan seared scallops with seaweed salad couscous and heirloom cauliflower puree, while Luca cooks pan seared duck liver with toasted French brioche and peaches. The judges are a little bit confused by Natasha’s dish, and they worry that Luca’s dish is too sweet.

When time is called, the cooks bring their appetizers to the Master Chef Restaurant, which is a table and chairs with an unimpressive tablescape. Joe likes Natasha’s wacko combination, Gordon finds the scallops expertly cooked, and Graham enjoys the fluffy couscous. Gordon is loving the smell coming from Luca’s dish, but thinks it needs another minute in the oven. Graham, however, finds the dish delicious, but heavy, and Joe calls it a masterpiece.

Next, Luca and Natasha have one hour to prepare the perfect entree. Five spiced monkfish with infused jasmine rice and a coconut curry sauce. tamarind and balsamic glazed beef short ribs served with sunchokes and truffle puree. Luca is using the pressure cooker to make his short ribs, so there’s no way of knowing how the meat will come out until they are finished. Natasha is wrapping her monkfish in cow stomach lining and plans to leave it on the fish.

With ten minutes to go, Luca opens up the pressure cooker. But all of the worry and anticipation has been sucked out of the show because it is clear that the cooks have practiced and prepared these dishes to death prior to the show. Of course Luca’s short ribs are cooked. And no kidding Natasha knows how to sear the fish.

Anyway, the judges think that Natasha’s dish is pretty much flawless, and Luca’s short ribs are like butter. Since the competition is too close to call, the dessert is very important. Panna cotta with sweet tomato jam and mascarpone. Lime panna cotta and coconut panna cotta. So they’re both making panna cotta. This is just dumb.

Luca has a “disaster” as he realizes that he forgot to strain his panna cotta. I’m not sure what that means, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the end of the world. Natasha’s lime panna cotta was the wrong consistency so she only went with the coconut panna cotta, which is also not the end of the world. The judges flick the spoons to test the boing in the panna cotta, and the only thing Gordon would change about Natasha’s dish is to put more on the plate. Gordon tastes Luca’s panna cotta and rambles on about lusciousness and excitement.

So can we call a winner yet? Or are we going to have to suffer through another episode? Finally, the winner of Master Chef is Luca. He gets a quarter million dollars, maybe a cookbook, a trophy, and, most importantly, he gets to watch the look of crushing disappointment on Natasha’s face as the confetti rains down. Congratulations, Luca. And congratulations to everyone who made it through all twenty-five episodes.

This again? Mystery Boxes. They’re filled with food from all fiftyish of the states, and the cooks are divided into teams of two (Luca and Natasha on the Blue Team and Krissi and Jessie on the Red Team) must prepare a three course “restaurant quality” meal.

The Blue Team’s three courses starts with a seafood trio with avocado puree and mango sauce. Joe calls it “unusually weird,” but the fish is cooked very well. For an entrée, Natasha and Luca made rack of lamb with parsnip puree. Gordon gives it a “good job.” The dessert is a strawberry tart with vanilla pastry cream. It’s falling apart and a little thick, but Graham thinks that the flavor is there. The Red Team bring their dishes forward and…the plates are full. Lobster salad with citrus vinaigrette. Jesse says that although Krissi made the vinaigrette, she had to redo it at the last minute. Rack of lamb with swiss chard. Gordon notices that it’s not cooked properly. Jesse launches into a “Krissi sucks” monologue, and “I had to do everything myself blah blah blah are the cameras on?” In the end, the lamb tastes delicious. For dessert, there’s an apple tart with Chantilly cream (without the crust due to lack of time).

To nobody’s surprise, the Blue Team are safe from elimination and go on to the top-three-finale-oh-please-let-there-be-a-finale-I-can’t-take-it-anymore. So Krissi and Jessie go into a Pressure Test.

So what’s this Pressure Test I’ve  been hearing so much about? Jessie and Krissi will have seventy-five minutes to perfect chocolate mousse, chocolate molten lava cake, and chocolate soufflé. Melting, baking, freezing, and Krissi is a little behind schedule getting her soufflé into the oven. In the final ninety seconds, Jessie’s molten lava cake is barely holding together and Krissi puts her plate down on the table at the very last second.

Krissi’s soufflé is undercooked while Jessie’s is “phenomenal.” Both mousses look the same though Krissi claims that hers is “more airy.” Graham agrees that Jessie’s is too dense. Both of their lava cakes are “preexploded,” and more raw than molten. After much sighing and hand-wringing, Jessie is moving on to the semifinals. Wait, what? The semifinals? How long are they going to drag this out for?  Well, goodbye, Krissi. At least Joe invited you to Del Posto.

Episode 24

The three chefs face a Mystery Box containing…different ingredients. The contestants will have sixty minutes to remake an elevated version of whatever dish they made on Day One. Natasha made empanadas with skirt steak, Luca made broccoli rabe ravioli, and Jessie cooked sea bass en croute.

Natasha presents her audition dish that is plated beautifully if you like your food separated into quadrants on a giant cutting board. Joe calls it “a fun way to sample a lot of different flavors.” Luca made a prettier version of his ravioli dish. Graham enjoys the flavor and calls it “way better,” but he’s not a fan of the sauce. Gordon also criticizes Luca’s sauce because “why cheese sauce?” Jessie plated the same dish, only she sliced the fish. The judges go ga-ga over it, for some reason that is lost on me. Oh but don’t worry, nobody is getting eliminated today. No, we will have to contend with three cooks for quite some time. This competition determines who gets an advantage in the next competition. And the winner is Jessie.

Jessie gets to pick what ingredient she wants to cook with, and that ingredient will be unavailable to Luca and Natasha. Natasha had the second-best dish, so she gets to choose from the remaining ingredients, and Luca gets stuck with the leftovers. The ingredients are grana padano cheese, kobe beef, and Alaskan king crab. Jessie picks the beef, Natasha selects the crab, and Luca gets that delicious grana padano cheese. They grab the remainder of the ingredients from the pantry and have sixty minutes to cook something not disgusting.

Jessie’s grilling a steak, Natasha’s steaming a crab, and Luca’s wrapping his cheese in veal. Jessie asks to borrow a tablespoon of butter from Natasha, but she declines. Luca, however, tosses her the butter. Aaaaand time’s up!

Luca presents a local northern Italian dish of pancetta wrapped veal with grana padano and frico. Joe’s only criticism is that there are a lot of rich things on the plate so it could have used a bit of acidity. Gordon thinks the dish has excellent balance of cheese and veal. Graham thinks it tastes good but looks gross. Natasha presents a cold king crab yakisoba salad with vegetables. Gordon uses his favorite word—phenomenal. Joe doesn’t love the raw peppers, but he likes the way the dish showcases the crab. Graham blathers on about harmony. Jessie is last, and presents seared kobe beef with ponzu butter and noodles. Joe calls it “a good dish.” Graham likes the flavor of the beef and doesn’t think it needs the ponzu butter. Gordon finds the noodle greasy. Jessie decided to keep her papaya salad off of the plate because she found it confusing, but when the chefs taste it anyhow, they find it delicious.

After a long, drawn-out blah blah, Natasha moves on to the finale. The other chef is…Luca. Yes! Whoo hoo! Go home, Jessie! You and your Botoxed forehead.

Next week, something called a finale, which I’m hoping means the end.

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

Episode 21

Don’t laugh (or cry), but this is Episode 21 of Season Forever. And in an effort to make the upcoming season of MasterChef Junior more palatable, Gordon, Graham, and Joe have brought their sons onto the show. For the Mystery Box challenge, the kids get to fill the boxes with fifteen items of their choosing. The cooks will have one hour to create a delicious dish out of whatever ingredients a bunch of kids decided to pull off of the shelves.

Ketchup, wine, coffee, pineapple, mini marshmallows, coconut, peanut butter, bacon…it’s about as random as you would expect.  So how do you make a restaurant quality meal out of all of that crap? The judges ask to taste Luca’s dish. He prepared pineapple napoleon with white chocolate. Gordon is surprised that Luca didn’t destroy the pastry with the pineapple, Graham likes that he left the passion fruit out of the dish because it was too acidic, and Joe calls it “top notch.” They also examine Jessie’s vanilla cream puffs with coconut and fruit. Graham thinks it’s simple yet refined, an a nice mix of the selected ingredients. The last dish the judges want to taste is James’s passion fruit turnover with blueberry mint puree. Joe likes the flavor, and Gordon calls it “incredible.” Krissi is pissed because they all used pre-made puffed pastry, but whatever.

James wins his first Mystery Box challenge and receives an advantage in the Elimination Test. He is safe from elimination, and gets to hear about the three greatest dishes the chefs have ever tasted. Joe presents marinated boton shrimp with sea urchin and caviar, Graham talks about his Grandpa Franny’s sandwich with softshell crab, and Gordon blathers on about a toothless lady on a boat who made Vietnamese noodle soup with slow cooked pork. James gets to choose which one of the three dishes the cooks will have to replicate. He selects the Vietnamese pork noodle broth because it has the most ingredients and the layering of flavors in the broth will be nearly impossible to recreate in seventy-five minutes.

Right off the bat, Krissi is thoroughly confused. She tastes it, but can’t place the flavors. So she just takes the same ingredients that everybody else chooses from the pantry. Natasha is layering her flavors slowly, Krissi has a nice base, Jesse is slowly preparing her vegetables, and Luca is overdoing the seasonings. When time is up, everybody has a decent looking dish in their bowls.

Natasha gets a good sear on her pork, but the broth is a little sweet for Graham, Gordon also notices the lack of sourness, and Joe finds it lacks salt. Luca’s dish is called “perfect,” and Graham seems reluctant to hand it over to the other judges. Jessie’s soup “has depth,” and Gordon thinks it’s delicious. Finally, it’s Krissi’s turn. Graham says that the flavors are all there, but it’s over spiced.

Luca wins the Elimination Challenge, and Jesse is safe. Between Krissi and Natasha, Krissi is safe and Natasha is…not going home. This show will never, ever end. Ever.

Episode 22

The cooks have been brought to a ranch outside of Los Angeles to cater a party for oh holy hell on a Cronut, it’s Paula Deen. No. Freaking. Way. I don’t even know what to say. Guh. Well, let’s ignore the giant butter-encrusted racist elephant in the room and talk about the challenge. The contestants will have ninety minutes to cook Southern-style food, and Luca gets to assign the proteins because he won the last challenge. He gives himself pork chops, and assigns Natasha catfish, Jesse alligator, Krissi shrimp, and James chicken.

Cooking, grilling, chopping, sweating, and with five minutes left, James’s chicken isn’t cooked all the way through. The cooks serve their dishes to the guests, and it’s Jesse’s Cajun alligator with andouille mac and cheese, Luca’s spiced pork chop with brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes, Krissi’s citrus grilled shrimp with collard greens and fried green tomatoes, Natasha’s Cajun catfish with potato au gratin and cabbage slaw, and James’s bourbon BBQ chicken with black-eyed peas and honey glazed carrots.

While the guests are eating, Gordon notices that the pork chops are undercooked and has Luca toss the chops back onto the grill. Natasha’s catfish is also undercooked, and the guests pass on eating it for that reason. The judges loved Luca’s pork chop, the alligator is delicious, and Krissi did a good job with her shrimp. James’s chicken was ordinary, and as for Natasha’s catfish, the lady with a bad case of diabetes says, “some things you just gotta fry.” The top two dishes are from Luca and Jesse.

Luca and Jesse are safe from the Pressure Test, plus they get to decide who has to cook what dish. The first is Gordon’s seared scallop salad, the second is Joe’s filet Rossini, and the third is Graham’s Greek yogurt panna cotta with stewed rhubarb. They decide that Natasha will cook Gordon’s dish, Krissi’ will cook Joe’s dish, and James will recreate Graham’s dish.

The cooks have forty-five minutes and access to the pantry. Natasha is scrambling over her ingredients, Krissi is overcooking her meat, and James’s panna cotta may not have time to set. It’s time for judging. Natasha left some of the vinaigrette off of the plate, but she cooked the scallops perfectly.  Krissi replicated the dish to near perfection, but the beef is overcooked (it’s medium on the top and medium rare on the bottom). Also, she left the skin on her carrot. Finally, James brings this weird little fishbowl up to the judges. It’s the wrong consistency because the panna cotta hasn’t set, but the flavor is on target.

The judges decide to send James home because his dish never came together.

Next week, “the most explosive episode in Master Chef history.”

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

Twenty episodes, and the cooks finally see the inside of a real kitchen. The judges meet the remaining six contestants on the top of a roof because whatever. Oh, wait. Five contestants. Krissi is afraid of heights. The cooks will take over WP 24, one of Wolfgang Puck’s many “fine dining” restaurants. Natasha and Bri are team captains. In a schoolyard pick, the teams are:

Blue Team: Bri, James, and Krissi

Red Team: Natasha, Jessie, and Luca

The cooks will have to learn to prepare the restaurant’s top four dishes to twenty-two guests. The dishes are steamed scallop shu mai, crisp lettuce cups with lobster, Singapore-style chili prawns, and stir fry wagyu beef. All of the dishes are prepared in a wok, which could throw some of the cooks off of their game.

James is concerned with this team because Bri is moving slowly and is a vegetarian, and Krissi doesn’t know the first thing about Asian cuisine. But the women surprise James and rocket food out of the kitchen. Meanwhile, the Red Team is running behind thanks to Luca having no idea how to steam shu mai. He’s been sending them out raw, and they’ve been returning to the kitchen trash bin.

When the teams move on to the main coarse, the Blue Team starts to have some problems. Krissi has never touched a wok in her life, and her food is going out cold. In contrast, the Red Team is working their woks like pros. Chef Ramsey is losing his sh*t over the lack of Blue Team entrees leaving the kitchen. The Blue Team eventually send out their last dish and the diners submit their comment cards to the judges.

The judges give the win to the Red Team. That means Bri, James, and Krissi will cook in a Pressure Test. This is Krissi’s millionth Pressure Test, by the way. The cooks will have forty-five minutes to prepare fried calamari with marinara sauce. They will start with six whole slices of squid that they must prepare themselves without puncturing the ink sac.

Apparently the difficult part is the oil temperature, which is hard to keep consistent. James as cleaned squid before, but Krissi has not and she’s butchering the squid. James’s squid are overbreaded, Krissi’s are a mess, and Bri is burning the oil. Yet it still looks better than most of the fried rubber bands that come out of this country’s kitchens.

Bri’s squid have too much flour on them which is causing the calamari to taste burned. Graham tasted one that is undercooked. She also added lemon to her marinara sauce which, according to Joe, is stupid because it’s adding acidity to acidic food. Krissi’s squid has a bready texture. Joe thinks her batter tastes like funnel cake. James cooked his calamari perfectly, with evenly-sliced squid. But he sort of forgot to make a marinara sauce, so it tastes like it’s straight from the can.

James is safe because of his tasty calamari. Krissi is also safe because her calamari was slightly better than disgusting. Bri is going home again.

Next week, the judge’s sons take charge of the Mystery Box.

The Losers are given five minutes in the Master Chef pantry to grab whatever they want, but when they get in there, all they find are eggs. Eggs, eggs, and more eggs.The judges are looking for the perfect sunny side up egg. Well, it’s more like as many eggs as they can cook in fifteen minutes. Lynn has twenty-seven eggs plated, and the judges start eliminating ones that still have the squishy mucus on top or are crispy on the edges (which is how I like them, but apparently I have an unsophisticated palette). When the judges finish, Lynn is left with eight perfect eggs. After the judges finish with Bri, she has thirteen perfectly cooked eggs. Bime plated thirty-two eggs, but he’s really pretty bad at cooking eggs because the judges whittle it down to nine eggs. That means Lynn is going home.

So now it’s Bri versus Bime, and the contestants will be judging this round along with Joe Bastianich. It’ll be a blind taste test, and Bri and Bime will be cooking with king salmon. In one hour, Gordon would like to see seven identical dishes with a crispy skin and a salmony interior, and a side of potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

Bri made salmon with roasted potatoes, and Bimi cooked his salmon with mashed red potatoes.  Both dishes are well-cooked, but Bri’s roasted potatoes are called “plain Jane” and Bime’s hollandaise sauce is slightly undercooked. In other words, who the heck knows. But the votes are in, and the apron goes to Bri.

Next week, live birds and seven contestants.

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

Does it seem like this show will never end? There are seven contestants left, and a giant Mystery Box filled with their loved ones. They have to cook their loved ones?! No, that would be too awesome. The cooks have to prepare dishes inspired by their loved ones with up to fifteen items from the pantry, plus a whole lot of other staples. Except for Krissi, whose family didn’t bother to show up. Instead, she receives a recorded message from her son and a giant dog.

The judges ask to taste Natasha’s dish. She prepared green curry with coconut, corn and rice. Joe calls it light and assertive, Graham thinks it’s beautifully balanced, and Gordon goes to his old standard “delicious.” Next, the judges taste Jessie’s seared duck breast with brussel sprouts and blackberry reduction. Graham is blown away and thinks it’s the best she’s made in the competition, and Gordon tosses out a “beautiful.” The final dish is from Luca. He cooked pan seared halibut with white asparagus risotto. Gordon enjoys the dish, and Joe thinks it is delicious.

The winner of the Mystery Box challenge is Luca, which is surprising because the judges didn’t seem all that into it. The loved ones say goodbye, and Luca is taken into the pantry. He will not be choosing what the contestants are cooking in the Elimination Challenge because the judges have already selected Japanese cuisine. Tempura, sushi, rolls…Luca will not have to cook in the competition, but he will get to decide which contestants will work together in three teams of two to replicate the dishes. So let’s see who Luca paired up:

• James and Jordan
• Natasha and Krissi (duh)
• Jessie and Eddie

Surprise! It’s a tag team challenge. Each team will have sixty minutes to replicate the plate of Japanese classics. Natasha, Jordan, and Jessie bark directions from the sidelines while their teammates take the first round. Live sea urchins are a challenge for everyone, and Gordon chastises Jordan for washing uni which you are apparently never, ever, ever supposed to wash. Natasha is cranking out the dishes with Krissi acting as her sous chef, Eddie looks confused, and Jordan and James, who everyone thought would be the Dream Team, is semi-crumbling under the weight of their own egos. In the final five minutes, you can almost hear Luca’s cackling from up above.

First up is Natasha and Krissi. The plating is visually beautiful, and the rice is cooked perfectly. Gordon is amazed that the plate was pulled together in the last few minutes, and Joe has gained a new respect for Natasha. James and Jordan present their plate. Joe notes the excellent cut of fish…except for the shrimp which look like they’ve been stepped on, and Gordon calls it bland. Jessie and Eddie present their sushi. Graha picks at the uni and finds the sea urchin’s intestinal tract, and the rice is overpowered by the vinegar, and Joe calls it gross.

Natasha and Krissi are safe, so Luca’s catfight strategy failed. James and Jordan are also safe, saved by their technical ability to filet the fish. I think we all know what is going to happen next. Eddie is going home.

Next week, it’s a night of second chances with the return of Lynn, Bime, and Bri.

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

The eight remaining cooks have been dumped in the wilderness, forced to climb a hill and bond with nature. It’s time for them to show the judges that they can cook without the luxuries of the Master Chef kitchen. They must spend the night in the middle of nowhere and prepare a delicious camping knie flint cast iron skillet and a wooden spoon. Bri and Natasha are team captains. Red Team Bri selects James, Eddie, and Luca. Natasha Blue Team picks Jordan, Jessie, and Krissi. But Gordon is an ass and switches the team captains, causing automatic friction between Bri and Krissi. Bri chooses three rabbits as their protein, and Natasha’s team has pigeons.

Quail eggs, carrots, a little bit of oil, spices, vegetables, and a whole lot of nothing. Bri has an idea—braised rabbit and they can make fresh pasta out of flour, quail eggs, and…is that it? Over at the red team, there’s a lack of ideas. When nature’s light goes out, the blue team continues butchering the meat and plans their pasta dish and the red team is test-roasting one of the pigeons.

The next morning, the blue team’s rabbit is braising and Krissi explains that she will have to make the pasta about forty-five minutes before service, which, yeah. Scary. The red team explains to Gordon that spit-roasting their pigeons will cause the meat to fall off the bone with deliciousness.

With one minute left, Luca’s freaking his team out about a sauce, and Bri dumps an entire plate on the ground. Vegetarians, amirite?  The blue team scrambles to poach food from the other plates and ends up making a hot mess.

The blue team presents their braised rabbit ragu with quail egg pasta. Joe is impressed with the fresh pasta made in the wilderness, and Gordon finds the rabbit to be delicious. The red team serves up roasted pigeon with faro risotto and baby carrots. The pigeon is perfectly cooked—crispy on the outside, and pink on the inside.

The results will be delivered by colored smoke signal, because this is big budget television. Gordon is red, Joe is blue, and it’s down to Graham. The contestants are going blind staring at the sun, and then…red smoke! Pigeon beats rabbit. That means the blue team faces a Pressure Test. Twist! The Red Team decides which member of the Blue Team is safe from elimination.  They decide to save Krissi because everybody is confident that they can beat her in the end.

So what’s this Dreaded Pressure Test all about? The three cooks will have one hour to cook six chocolate éclairs, which Graham calls a “mouthgasm of epic proportions.” Gawd. I haven’t thought about chocolate éclairs in forever, but now I can’t live without one. Okay, focus. Bake those éclairs!

Eggs are whipping, chocolate is melting, butter is beating….Bri’s pastries are undercooked, Jessie’s having trouble with the filling, and Jordan’s glazing looks like eew.

Bri brings up her tray of éclairs. Visually they look flat because they are undercooked, and Gordon has trouble finding the pastry on the inside, and the pastries fall apart in Graham and Joe’s hands. Jordan is next. His have plenty of filling, but it makes the éclair too sugary for Graham and Gordon’s liking. Finally, Jessie in her first ever Pressure Test. Her pastry is soggy, and there’s no cream on the inside. Gordon notices that her pastries are cracked down the middle due to the way she incorporated her eggs.

Jordan’s chocolate éclairs are tolerable enough to keep him around for another week. Jessie is also safe from elimination, which means Bri goes home. For a vegetarian, she’s alright. Just put a little bit of bacon on it.

Next week, a frantic tag team challenge and a Mystery Box filled with loved ones.

(images via)

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

It’s the Mystery Sausage Box Challenge! Or, as Gordon calls it, “a delicious sausage machine!” The remaining contestants have sixty minutes to use their meat machines to make their own sausage using any kind of meat you could dream of (or some bland and blah vegetarian proteins) and cook one incredible entrée.

The judges ask to taste Natasha’s dish. She made breakfast with chicken sausage, fried egg, and potato hash. Gordon calls it a “posh breakfast” seasoned beautifully. Graham agrees, and Joe calls the sausage “a winner.” The next dish they want a bigger taste of is from Eddie. He made pork sausage with purple cabbage and apple chutney. Graham thinks it’s a “stellar dish,” and Gordon gives it a “wow, wowwowwow,” followed by a bonus “wow.” Krissi is the final dish the judges want to taste. She made Italian sausage with peppers and polenta. Joe calls it, “simple, but elevated.”

The winner of the Mystery Box Challenge is Eddie. He gets an advantage in the Elimination Challenege. He is safe from elimination, and he gets to choose which ingredient his competitors have to use: ham, mushrooms, or shrimp. He selects mushrooms since they are not usually the main ingredient in a dish. But that’s not all—half of Eddie’s competitors will get fresh, delicious wild mushrooms, and the other half will get canned.

Eddie gives James, Jordan, Bethy and Bri the fresh mushrooms, and sticks Jessie, Krissi, Natasha, and Luca with the canned pellets of disgustingness. Eddie explains that his strategy was to give James and Jordan the fresh mushrooms so that they’d do something way too complicated and forget that the mushrooms are supposed to be the star of the dish.

First up is Bethy. She presents the judges with Szechuan noodles with wild mushrooms. Graham is overwhelmed by the sesame and ginger, so he never tastes the mushrooms. Joe is thoroughly confused by the dish, and also can’t get past the sesame oil.  Next is Natasha. She made canned mushroom ravioli with crispy pancetta. Joe says the tarragon is a good decoy for the canned mushrooms. Gordon is similarly impressed with how she masked the icky gross eew food. James made wild mushroom chowder with crème fraiche and arugula. Graham finds it too rich and heavy, and Joe is amazed at the way Eddie played to James’s inability to edit.

Jessie had canned mushrooms and made mushroom risotto with pancetta and risotto. Gordon likes the risotto! Luca used the canned mushrooms to make cream of mushroom soup with vegetables and croutons. It’s a little thick for a soup, but Graham thinks it’s tasty. Krissi made canned mushroom cassoulet with eggplant and pancetta and, like everyone else who made pancetta (seriously, what’s with the multi-pancetta?), she masked the taste of the canned mushrooms. Bri made grilled sage wild mushrooms with beet and goat cheese salad. Graham calls it delicious, and Joe calls it “fabulous.” Jordan made mushroom ravioli with beet cream sauce and fried mushrooms. The problem Gordon has with it is that he abused the fresh mushrooms so much that they may as well have been canned. Joe is not impressed with his pasta.

After giving props to Natasha’s canned mushroom extravaganza, the judges give the win to Bri. Both will be team captains in the next Team Challenge. Up for elimination are Jordan, James, and Bethy. James is safe and sent back to his station as Jordon and Bethy sweat it out. Gordon does his long-pause-between-words thing and eliminates Bethy.

Next week, the contestants go camping and cook in the wilderness.

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

Episode 11

This week begins with thirteen contestants and a Mystery Box Challenge. What’s in the box, what’s in the box, what’s in the box…pig’s head! Eyeballs! Ears! Snout! Ahh!  But the pig’s heads in the boxes were just for horrifying, gruesome show, because the real porky ingredients have already been neatly broken down. Each cook will have ninety minutes to make a delicious dish out of various parts of the pig’s face.

The judges taste the dishes as they go along, and decide that they want to taste more from Lynn. He prepared braised tongue and cheek with parsnip puree. It is perfectly seasoned and greatly pleases Joe. The next dish is from Jessie, who cooked braised cheek and ear with black eyed peas and roasted corn. Graham said the dish “explodes with flavor.” Jonny’s dish also impressed the judges. He made tongue and cheek tacos with roasted corn, and Graham’s just pleased that he didn’t turn it into a maple glazed mess. Gordon called it delicious and said it is Jonny’s best dish so far in this competition.

The MasterChef judges with last season’s winner, Christine Ha

The winning dish is from Lynn, who gets a “unique” advantage in the Elimination Test. To announce the theme, the judges bring out last year’s Master Chef winner, Christine Ha, who is plugging her cookbook and will judge this test. Oh, and she’s blind. Lynn gets to choose between chicken, catfish, and dungeness crab. Lynn is safe from elimination, and can assign one ingredient to one cook, and another for the rest of the competitors. He decides that Krissi will cook with catfish, and everybody else will use the crab.

Krissi’s not happy about the catfish, and Bri, a vegetarian, is squeamish about killing a live animal. The cooks have sixty minutes to prepare a dish, but there’s a twist—they must cook blindfolded. Like Christine. There’s groping, there’s squeezing, there’s reaching, the crabs are pinching…and Gordon announces that JUST KIDDING TAKE YOUR BLINDFOLDS OFF!

The judges taste Krissi’s dish first. She made fried catfish with bacon cheddar mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. Gordon said it looks like a teevee dinner. Christine says it takes too earthy and fatty, and Joe thinks it tastes like mud. Krissi thinks he didn’t like it because he got into a fight with Joe while she was cooking which displayed a complete lack of respect and an unwillingness to learn.

Next up is Natasha who made ginger crab cakes with beet salad. Joe calls it “really, really good.” Bri prepared a summer crab stack with pea and avocado mash with corn. Graham likes it a lot. James cooked spicy crab creole with rice and seafood broth. Christine enjoyed the heat at the end, and Gordon calls it “phenomenal.” Beth made mascarpone crab cake with grilled peach and avocado salsa. Joe spits it out because it’s raw. Luca prepared a watery crab risotto with asparagus and lemon. Christine finds it way too salty, and Joe picks a bit of something out of his mouth. He asked Luca to bring him the sauce he used in his dish, and it’s fish sauce. Which is a revolting thing to add to a risotto.

The judges select the top two dishes. The first is Natasha and her crab cakes, and the second is James’s spicy crab creole. They are both safe from elimination and team captains in the next challenge. The three worst dishes are from Beth, Luca, and Krissi. Luca gets a dressing down before he is sent back to his station. The judges send Beth home and implore Krissi to “get it together.”

Episode 12 

Gordon introduces the contestants to a flavor scientist and his foodie fiancé. The cooks will be preparing the food for their wedding reception. The bride has a long list of “no” ingredients, including peanuts, beets, Indian food, radishes, bell peppers, dill, cilantro, olives, air, water, and marshmallow fluff. Graham is preparing the appetizer, Gordon is baking a dessert, and the contestants are in charge of the entrée. There are one hundred guests, fifteen of which are vegetarians.

James is leading the Blue Team and selects Lynn, Jessie, Jonny, Brie and Luca. Natasha chooses Eddie, Jordan, Bethy, Savannah, and Krissi for the Red Team. Then, each team captain has to choose one member of their team who will not be cooking in the challenge, and will not have to cook in a Pressure Test if that team loses. Natasha selects Krissi, and James chooses Bri.

The Blue Team decides to cook lamb medallion with parsnip puree, and grilled mushrooms over goat cheese crème fraiche for the vegetarians. The Red Team settles on halibut with baby roasted carrots and a salad with pancetta vinaigrette, and eggplant for the vegetarians. Natasha’s Red Team gets off to a scattered start, and Gordon commands her to get her act together and control her station. The Blue Team is equally disorganized, with Lynn sweating all over the plates. The Blue Team falls so far behind that Graham has to take over and expedite so that the wedding guests get their food before the cake is cut.

The happy couple chooses the Red Team as the winners.

The bride and groom announce the winners. It’s the Red Team’s halibut. That means the Blue Team goes into a Pressure Test. But, the judges each choose one cook to save from the Pressure Test. Joe selects Jessie, Graham saves Luca, and Gordon picks James. That leaves Lynn battling Jonny.  So what’s the challenge? Macarons. The cooks have sixty minutes to bake twelve macarons with at least two different flavors. All twelve macarons must fit inside of one long, skinny box.

Lynn’s macarons are too big, and he puts fresh raspberries in the middle, which will make the pastries soggy. Jonny’s too thick to fit twelve in a box. For some reason, Jonny decides to jam the macarons in the box and slam it shut, leaving a mess of crumbs and filling. Lynn, on the other hand, presented two of his macarons on top of the box.

Lynn made raspberry and vanilla bean with salted caramel. Gordon found his vanilla bean too sweet, and criticized the fresh fruit inside of the macaron. But overall it was good. Jonny made a chocolate macaron with peanut butter mouse and mascarpone with raspberry filling. They are an ugly, broken mess that is described as “a war zone.” But, they are baked well and taste delicious. The judges convene and decide to send Jonny home. You just can’t smash a macaron.

Next week, it’s C-list star Eva Longoria and “one of the most shocking eliminations of the season.”