22 aspiring masterchefs enter, only 20 remain at the end. They faced their first Mystery Box challenge and the elimination round was all about the apple.
*I like it when Masterchef shakes things up. The first Mystery Box challenge had ingredients in their own pantry. Now they just had to make a meal that met the high standards of Masterchef.
*The top three were Katrina (pork schnitizel), Dan (savory eclairs), and Hetal (coconut curry soup). Dan took top honors and went back to the pantry.
*So many deserts but fortunately they are just for show to demonstrate the wide range of Chef Tosi. She wants a humble apple pie but Dan thankfully does not have to cook it. He gets a bag of apples though to pick those he can save. In this show, the old wisdom about an apple a day keeping the doctor away has been rewritten. Now an apple will save you from making an apple pie from scratch.
*Making an apple pie is not as easy as it looks. You have to get the pastry just right, a filling that is sweet but not overly so, and make sure it is properly cooked. No one wants an underdone pie. Or one that falls apart when you cut into it.
*Olivia seemed unclear about whether she needed a crust. Gordon had to remind her that Tosi wanted an apple pie. And the gong of doom could be heard as she noted the addition of goat cheese in the apple pie.
*A pie might be ugly but Veronica proved it can also be delicious. She went against that chef maxim that good dishes must also look immaculate and won.
*The top ones were (in my view) Christopher,Sara, and Veronica. Christopher won.
*Olivia’s pie was overpowered by goat cheese landing her in the bottom. Mateo’s crust was too thin and it fell apart. Breanna created apple soup. This being a double elimination, Breanna and Mateo got chopped. Olivia was saved literally by a slim apple wedge.
*So far things are moving at a fast clip since the premiere. No sense of who the standouts are or if there are any villains. The next episode might start revealing who has the cooking chops and those just passing through the kitchen on the way to ordering pizza for dinner.
