Recap: Christian was sent home leaving Courtney, Cutter, Elizabeth and Leslie as the top four.

I will be honest here, I did not expect the top four not have Christian in it. I am further surprised both Cutter and Leslie made it. Neither were on my list for the top four but Courtney and Elizabeth were.

Now I expected when the two teams were formed that Team Red (Courtney and Elizabeth) would easily best Team Blue(Cutter and Leslie). They both had to cook with foods that were not that difficult to work with. That is not what happened at all. Instead both teams had problems. Individually both Courtney and Elizabeth are perhaps the best home cooks ever on the show. Yet they canceled each other out producing a weird appetizer but their entrée was at least better though not up to their usual high standards. Their lack of communication meant they each made sauces and did not tell the other.  Not unsurprisingly Cutter and Leslie did not do well either. Leslie decided to let Cutter do his thing and not interfere much. Cutter tried to work with Leslie and found him not wanting to talk much. So both of them made mistakes–critical ones–like screwing up a sauce that ought to have been easy to do.

So in the end both teams produced fair to awful dishes. It was unbelievable that both teams would end up this way. And just by a millimeter, Courtney and Elizabeth got saved. Personally I would have either sent them all back to cook one dish that would sort it out better. But since I am not in charge, it is but a dream in my head. So Cutter and Leslie now go into a culinary thunderdome and they have to cook from the box they did not choose: California. And they had to cook three separate dishes for each of the chefs. It came all down to a Salad Niçoise with seared tuna in the end. Cutter had the better looking one but his tuna was sliced too thick and not well cooked. Leslie’s dish was a real mess! He forgot the quail egg but got the tuna right along with the vinaigrette for the salad. And getting the tuna right was what saved Leslie. The long saga that was called The Cutter Zone has finally ended. He had his moments but there was just no way he would be in the top two.

Now we have our top three: Courtney, Elizabeth and Leslie. My money is still on Elizabeth to win this over Courtney. I cannot see Leslie in the top two unless either he really steps up the plate and one of the other two really goofs something up bad. We are now in the final round and soon a new Masterchef will be crowned.