We are down to the final seven after Daniel was sent home last week. It does not seem so long ago when there were thirty finalists standing in the Masterchef kitchen. It is no surprise that Courtney, Elizabeth, Christian or Big Willie are still there. Leslie and Jaimee are not a surprise either, but The Cutter Zone is. Never thought he would make it this far. He has had some bad outcomes but shockingly others did worse paving his way into the final seven. But this episode not only saw apples being used for savory dishes but a tag teamed competition to cook dim sum that sent another popular cheftestant home.

The mystery box awaits but first they get notes from home. Real notes they can read that hopefully inspire them to go on. And the mystery box has lots of apples, so many that they fall to the floor for dramatic effect (I pity the poor staff people that have to clean them up). But they are not for dessert but for a savory dish. That keeps the show from being predictable and forces them all to be creative. The three top dishes all used pork. Christian had an apple stuffed pork chop with bacon, brussels sprouts, zucchini and red apples. Leslie had an apple stuffed pork loin with bacon and gruyere cheese with apple mashed potatoes. And Courtney had a pork loin stuffed with apple, pancetta, swiss chard with pink lady apple juice sauce and an apple and celeriac salad. A lot going on there. All three dishes were terrific and, to be honest, I would want to eat all three! But since only one can win, Courtney gets the win. Just keep a kitten away from Elizabeth who made a dumb comment about stabbing one if Courtney won.

And for I think the first time in Masterchef history, the judges decide the elimination contest will be to cook five perfectly done dim sum dishes. I love dim sum but I know it is a lot of work to pull off. It is not prepared food unless you buy it so and most good restaurants make it from scratch (frozen dim sum is about as appealing as warm milk on a hot day). Courtney gets the choice of selecting the teams. And her chief targets are Big Willie, Christian, and Elizabeth. Jamiee is good but in her mind beatable as is Leslie. The Cutter Zone is in a world of his own but easy to set up for a fall. Courtney pairs up Christian and Big Willie, Elizabeth and The Cutter Zone, and by default Jaimee and Leslie. And the twist is that this is a tag-team challenge so only one will be cooking/prepping while the other sits out watching the other working.

By putting Christian and Big Willie together, she probably knew they would clash and burn. Meaning while Christian is a decent cook, Willie does not do upscale well. He also works deliberately rather than rushing. Christian yells at him a lot rattling Willie. Jaimee and Leslie are also having problems as well. It looks like they are just not working well either. Elizabeth and The Cutter Zone seem to be humming along and working okay. Ah but looks can be deceiving and in this episode what you think you saw was not exactly as it turned out at all. You would think the worst dish would come from Jaimee and Leslie.

Au contraire! Though they seemed to be out of sync they produced the best dim sum of the challenge. Gordon thought it would be a disaster as did the others. Instead it looked beautiful and tasted great by what the judges said. It was obvious these two were not in any danger of being sent home tonight. Which brings us to Willie and Christian. Burnt pot stickers, rubber balls for dumplings, no sauce for the pork buns, and under seasoned cabbage. Really quite shocking to see it come out this way from two normally strong chefs. Gordon sums it up best and say both do not deserve to continue in this competition. Wow. What a punch in the gut that was to these guys. Elizabeth and Cutter’s was just as bad. Nothing tasted or looked good. Nothing was seasoned. Courtney hit bullseye here. In fact I really thought it would send Cutter home.

But those culinary gods are tricky and mysterious in their ways. If it had been me, I would have dropped one (the worst) from each team. My choices would have been The Cutter Zone and Willie. Not to be though. After sending up Jaimee and Leslie (and the most forced hug ever on the show), they sent up Cutter and Elizabeth. Really? They said by just the smallest margin (like .008) they eke out a save. Christian and Willie now face the angel of death and the scythe of his. I was thinking of the old nursery rhyme:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Or something more ominous like when that demon praying mantis on Buffy:The Vampire Slayer was deciding to mate and then kill either Zander or the other guy before they were rescued.

Sadly Willie is sent home in the end. A really nice guy with a positive attitude. He was liked by just about everyone because, well, he was a nice guy who rarely said anything nasty about anyone. Even Courtney. They sent him home because his time was simply up. Christian is the better upscale cook of the two (and the ego that goes with it). I wish Cutter had been in that spot and sent home. Willie has ten times more ability than Cutter in this competition. Cutter has gotten lucky but that will run out eventually. And next week it looks like Leslie and Cutter are getting into it in another restaurant episode.

So here are my power rankings:
1. Courtney
2. Jaimee (moves up since Elizabeth tumbled this episode)
3. Elizabeth
4. Leslie
5. Christian(moves down due to being in last place)
6. The Cutter Zone

So who do you think will make top four and top two?

Masterchef Cookbooks

It is week 12 of Masterchef US. Eight are left after Ahran was sent home last week.

Ah the humble chicken. So versatile and popular around the world. Before the pig was brought to Mexico by the Spanish, chicken was the meat most ate. Now our brave cheftestants will deal with chicken cut up and randomly assigned to them. In teams. Yes once again the Culinary Trio has decided that this challenge will be done in teams. But instead of making a winner of a challenge decide it (or do it themselves), they have to decide amongst themselves. So that means if you want to pair up with someone who is really good, you had better use your best talking points. The most surprising match up was Elizabeth and Leslie. Elizabeth and Leslie got into it early in the competition. But Leslie made the simple play that he would defer to her in what ever she did. And it worked resulting in one of the best dishes of the night saving them from the dreaded pressure test. Another surprising combination was Courtney and Christian. Both have sparred in the past but worked well as a team producing also a delicious dish that saved them.

But the teams that failed were Jaimee and Daniel & Willie and Cutter. Jaimee and Daniel did chicken wings. They were okay but nothing that screamed Masterchef. Joe said they looked like something he would get at an airport. Ouch. Cutter and Willie were all over the place during the cooking with confusing styles that resulted in a poor dish. So the they all get to face the dreaded pressure test. Except it was actually three challenges and each challenge would have a winner saved. The final two would battle it out as to who would stay.

Now remember in the past they have made people cook the perfect fried egg. Sounds simple until you have to cook a lot of them and they have to meet the exacting standards of Gordon, Graham, and Joe. This first round had them do a poached egg. Tricky but not so hard to do providing you follow some basic techniques. Some hot water, a little vinegar, and some seasoning usually will do the trick. As Daniel found out, stirring the water with the egg can result in a disaster, like the yolk separating from the egg white. I have never seen that before, a poached egg with no yolk in it. Joe could not believe it either. The Cutter Zone pierced the egg during plating so it splattered. Thankfully it was cooked and Gordon liked it. Jaimee did okay as did Willie. And Willie was deemed the best and headed up to the balcony.

The next challenge was egg ravioli. Now I have never seen this type of dish before where you put egg yolk inside a ravioli. It is a take on the poached egg but the twist it is inside the pasta. So both the pasta and the egg have to be done right. Yikes! Turns out it is not that unusual. I found many recipes during a web search. Here is one at Food Network by Mario Batali, and another by Martha Stewart. This is something I might want to try as it sounds like a great combination. Of course you have to get the pasta right, seal the egg yolk inside it so no water can get inside, and have the courage to place it in hot water for a period of time. If it comes out right, bravo! Done poorly and you get the Bronx jeer (look that one up if you are not familiar with that term).

The Cutter Zone did something odd to his ravioli. He used a fork to press down the sides making indentations. It got jeers from Gordon. Yet that was not a problem in the end since his egg ravioli was deemed the best of the lot. Amazing. I thought Jaimee would have nailed it. Daniel’s was not closed properly so water got in turning the yolk not so runny. More like a set fried egg. So The Cutter Zone scores big and heads to safety leaving Jaimee and Daniel at the bottom. Jaimee was a surprise because she is usually a consistently good cook. Not surprised by Daniel being there. Both wish they could do a Harry Potter and wave a wand to disappear. Alas they now face….

The Dreaded Egg Souffle

Souffle. Many a chef will perspire making it. And now Jaimee and Daniel now must cook a stunning cheese souffle. Both struggle to get it done and have to watch carefully as it forms in the oven. Will it rise or not? Fortunately both are successful in that regard but, of course, looks are not as important as its taste. Both have their plusses and minuses. Daniel though over salts his souffle. And usually in most food competitions using too much salt not only puts you in the bottom but can often end your chances. For Daniel, it was the end of the road. He gave up his job to enter the Masterchef competition. He has shown considerable talent over many challenges but it is not to be. And so we bid farewell to Daniel. Up on the balcony you know Leslie, who despised Daniel, was gleeful about finally seeing him going. Seven aspiring masterchefs left.

My money is still on Courtney vs Elizabeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8RDaJzGak

It is week 11 of Masterchef (US). Ten are left after Scottish Francis went home last week.

Well it comes down to three–Ahran, Leslie, Victoria–to face the dreaded pressure test this week. And no ordinary pressure test as it was a double elimination. For Ahran, it was more stressful than taking her college admission tests. Victoria had never been in a pressure test before. And Leslie. Well this is his fifth. He really hoped to be on a winning team. And ought to have been that way considering how the two teams were led.

Courtney and Jaimee were team captains and of the two, I expected Courtney’s team to win. Jaimee is a good cook but I was unsure she could lead a brigade of chefs. And she had problems right from the start. They did not like her idea of cole slaw on the burger and went a different direction. Communication was a problem and led to confusion in preparation and serving. Some people gave up waiting for her team’s food. Courtney, on the other hand, was well organized. There were problems with Christian putting to many eggs in the ground turkey making it too moist. And Leslie underseasoned the fish. Both were overcome but, in the end, the disorganized team won.

Not surprisingly Courtney took the lifeboat offered and headed up to the balcony. I suppose for her it was the sensible move but she did not stand with her team. And she wonders why people do not completely trust her?

Christian got a pass because his burgers were good. Or is it because they did not want him in the bottom three when two are going to be eliminated?  Never think for a second they do not take it into consideration at this stage. These are three they wanted because none of them are in the top tier or bottom. They are right in the middle. Ahran is young, inexperienced, but shows tremendous talent. Leslie has shown surprising techniques that has keept him around. Victoria has shown she has good and consistent skills as well.

Using spot prawns made three ways made the pressure test even more stressful. Three complete different preparations in which the prawns are the star. My money was on Ahran or Leslie because of the three, they have the most tenacity in my view. If it came down between the two, it would be finesse that would be the difference between staying or going home. And Leslie pulled it off. All three of his preparations were fine, with some quibbles here and there. Ahran and Victoria each had problems with one of their dishes. Victoria served up raw prawns for the butterfly prawn dish. That is a major technical foul. Ahran under seasoned her butterfly prawns.

It was sad to see Ahran go. This young lady has real talent and I expect to be reading of her success down the road. I hope she goes to work for Gordon to get some real world kitchen experience and further her culinary training. And now we have the top eight: Big Willie, Christian, Courtney, Cutter, Daniel, Elizabeth, Jaimee, and Leslie. Wow! It went by pretty fast and will get faster now as we head towards the finale. Right now I see Courtney, Christian, Elizabeth and Jaimee as the top four. Big Willie and Daniel are the second tier followed by Cutter and Leslie. Any little mistake at this point could send you home. My money is on Courtney and Elizabeth to be the top two but anything can happen at this point.

*It is week 10 of Masterchef (U.S.). 11 remain after Christine went home last week.

This week was about choices and pasta, specifically bad pasta. They were given two mystery boxes for the first time in Masterchef history. Under one box were ingredients found in many kitchens and pantries, while the other had upscale proteins, cheeses, and other things you only get at high end grocery or specialty stores. The choice was to select one box to cook from and produce, of course, a stellar dish. Courtney and Leslie, who both cooked from the upscale box, get called up. Victoria cooked from the ordinary box. All three had stellar dishes but Leslie used three proteins to great effect and won the round. Victoria though really showed how cleaver she was in taking tilapia and making it a cut above the ordinary. Courtney loved being able to cook with those expensive ingredients but like Victoria has to wait outside while Leslie goes into the pantry. And you know they were worried because Leslie has some bones to pick with a few of them.

All three judges presented their favorite stuffed pastas. And those can be hard to get just right. He ends up choosing caramelle, a stuffed pasta I never heard of before. According to the website Classic Pasta:

These small, filled pastas, are shaped into tubes or cylinders, almost like mini-cannelloni, and then the ends are twisted. The resulting shape can be compared to (pardon our French): bon-bons., Sometimes they are called (pardon our English): sweeties. These are generally a holiday, or festive, or Sunday brunch preparation, mainly in Parma and Piacenza.

The ingredients are actually very simple. The pasta filling is usually fresh mozzarella, basil, garlic and pepper although you can add prosciutto and ricotto cheese as well. The sauce is also simple ripe tomatos, onions, butter, salt and pepper. The devil, if you will pardon the expression, is how you put it all together. Simple but requires technique and attention to detail. As they prepare to make their pasta, one more twist is thrown in. Leslie gets to decide who will use a wood roller to roll out pasta rather than a pasta machine. Talk about sending someone to old school tech! Leslie walks around and teases them with the roller. He hugs Ahran. Then he hands it to Daniel and takes the pasta maker away. He does not like Daniel much and the feeling is mutual. Daniel promises to be like Babe Ruth and targets Leslie calling him a !@#$%@. Thanks Daniel for showing how mature you are. The word JERK is now firmly applied like a scarlet letter on your forehead.

One person I knew would have a problem was Big Willie. He has never seen pasta like that before and probably not eaten at many Italian restaurants. I had a sinking feeling this could be it for him but never fear, the Scot is here. Scottish Francis that is who decided to use raw beet juice to color his pasta. Meanwhile Daniel is concocting some fantastic caramelle dish that will blow your socks off. Literally. Meanwhile The Cutter Zone looks like he is moving along just fine. Courtney reminds us she is a 3rd generation Italian so she knows how to make pasta. Jaimee is also of Italian heritage but puts her head down to make her interpretation of her father’s recipe.

Now what I think distinguishes the good from the bad in this competition is how they designed the dish. Those that stayed with the essential format did well while those who walked off the beaten path ended up in a bad place. Scottish Francis, never known for being conventional, decided on a weird concoction. He used raw beet juice to color his pasta to make them look like candy. But it was all over the place and turned out poorly for him. The time was not yet right for this recipe. Something popped into my head when that was said by Gordon. It reminded me of something Dumbledore said in one of the later Harry Potter stories. Something about a guy who thought the world was ready for a pot made of cheese. And this was not the time for Scottish Francis wonderland adventure in pasta making.

Big Willie did a dessert. A dessert! Gordon was not amused and upset that with all the ingredients available this is what he did. That is way off the beaten track heading towards the rabbit hole that Scottish Francis fell into. He can make the most wonderful home dishes but clearly when out of his comfort zone he does goofy things like this. Did he not learn from his previous mistakes? It appears not. He joins Francis in the bottom.

And then there is Daniel. This is the guy who promised to knock it out of the park. He is proud of his dish. And it is a smashing failure. It was all over the place with its salinity, acidity, and heat (habanero!). Joe recoils at the heat in his mouth. There is not much more to say here except that Leslie knew Daniel would over think his dish. And now Daniel is on the bottom with Big Willie and Francis-in-Wonderland. Hey if The Cutter Zone could produce a decent dish that got praised, you know something has turned for the worse with these guys.

The two winners though really showed how you make a simple dish exceptional. Jaimee did an interpretation of her father’s recipe. Joe thought it not only visually appealing, but a tribute to her father as well. It was quite touching and I bet her father was pleased at the compliment she got over the dish. Courtney was very good as well using fresh tomatos rather than canned. Joe loved the proportion in the filling and overall how good the dish was. Jaimee was the winner of the two but both are team captains next week.

Leslie was really hoping Daniel would be sent home. Alas it was not to be. Both he and Willie got a pass because Francis-in-Wonderland simply went too far. So he was sent home and the final ten are now confirmed. Ten left and the competition really kicks up now. No room for mistakes, intentional or otherwise. The merciless gaze of Sauron Joe Bastianich is on them now.