Masterchef (2010) s06e05 Episode Script
Clawing To Victory
Previously on MasterChef All of the people coming through these gates will be fed by you.
- Wow.
- What? The first team challenge of the season Where is my fish? Put the home cooks through an emotional roller coaster That is ice cold and raw.
Resulting in a Red Team victory.
After an intense pressure test What in the [bleep.]
is that? You've got one foot outside the door.
The ride came to an end for Darah.
Tonight Watch your fingers.
It is live.
The home cooks claw their way to the top Ow! Hoping to get a leg up on the competition.
Oh, my God.
Ugh, so gross.
And It's beautiful.
What is in this box? A very special ingredient divides the MasterChef kitchen like never before.
Give me the basket that I want, or you will become my mission in life.
Oh, my God.
Welcome, guys.
Come on down.
There's 19 people left.
I am one step closer to getting that $1/4 million that can change my life.
I can smell it.
I can feel it.
I can touch it.
I can taste it.
I'm not the typical Texas teen.
While other 18-year-olds are out partying or getting wasted with their friends, I'm at home cooking and preparing for my future.
I'm ready to show everyone that I could be the youngest MasterChef.
- Excited? - Yes, sir.
- Yes, Chef.
- Energized? - Yes, Chef.
- Good! Because it's time for your next mystery box challenge.
As with every mystery box challenge, you'll each have to make us an incredible dish using whatever you find under those boxes.
It's time to find out what's under all of your mystery boxes.
Please, you have to lift this one up carefully, and just watch your fingers.
It is live.
What is? On the count of three.
One, two, three, lift.
- Ah! - Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, they're going everywhere.
Crabs! Live crabs, clearly.
And lots of them.
Oh, my God.
I want to die.
Shellfish just reminds me of, like, giant bugs, aliens.
I am, like, mortified.
So gross.
Ew, stop moving.
As they are all living ingredients, make sure you treat them with the respect that they deserve.
The advantage tonight is a game-changer.
You want to win tonight.
Right, are you ready? Yes, Chef.
Good.
I can't wait to taste your crab dishes.
- Your 60 minutes starts - Stop.
Now.
Aww, you grabbed my steam basket.
Ah, ah, ah! Ah! Wow, crabs.
This is right up my alley.
I love crabs.
And we have three different types here.
The easiest crab to cook tonight would be the Dungeness.
- So much meat.
- So much meat.
- Yes.
Exactly.
- There you go.
I would not mess around tonight with tiny blue crabs 'cause the yield in the crabmeat is very little.
Exactly.
Yup.
Ten times the work.
Ah! It's hot.
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
Treat it with respect.
I'm a vegetarian.
I grew up vegetarian, so I've never made crab before.
But I know what flavors seafood goes with, which is usually citrus and spicy.
So I'm making blue crab with a tomato curry and rice.
Hopefully, that works out for me.
It's time to experiment.
My family's from Mazatlán, so we always cook with seafood.
So I'm thinking about making a traditional rock crab and Dungeness crab soup.
Mexico has some of the best flavors, especially when it comes to seafood, and I can't wait to bring that to the judges today.
- What is that? - Get it, Shelly.
- Get it, come on.
- What is that? This is your chance to show that you dominate in the animal kingdom.
Lovely.
Oh, my God, you're huge.
Ha! Chef, can I ask a question? Olivia, what's wrong? I've never made live crab before.
This is an absolute first.
Fantastic.
Welcome toMasterChef.
So the triangle, the top of the triangle - That's it.
- It's obviously right there.
Right there and then immediately into the thing.
- 100%.
- And then I crack it open.
- And then there is meat inside.
- Yes.
There is meat.
The majority of the meat is all in the claws, and underneath the top there, where the eyes are, that's where the brown meat is.
And in the purse, there's meat in there as well.
- Okay.
- Okay? That will be the interesting part.
Thank you.
What are you doing? I think I'm gonna do some sort of crab cake Benedict with asparagus and a caper relish.
Crabs Benedict sounds nice, by the way.
- Thank you.
- Good luck.
- Just do it? - Just do it.
- Just do it? - Just do it! Okay, I'm sorry.
I'm making crab cakes with a mango salsa and a avocado cream sauce.
I have an advantage because I live in Seattle.
We have the best seafood in the entire world.
So it's so important for me to win this mystery box, so I can make Seattle proud.
- Charlie, how's it going? - What you see, Chef? I feel real confident about this with this protein, actually 'cause back at home, back in New Orleans, Louisiana, this is what I do almost every day.
Does your family eat a lot of crab? I eat crab, like, three times a week.
Do you dip it in drawn butter? Do you just crack and eat? No butter, I just crack and eat.
Yup.
Very clean.
Very fresh.
Well, seafood, ain't nothing clean about eating seafood, so, uh, you know, usually, I stink for the rest of the day.
Fair enough.
Do you have an idea? Do you know what you're gonna be What the dish will actually become? Well, what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do a pan-seared blue crab, a New Orleans-style crab cake, and, um, spicy hollandaise sauce.
I'm gonna be watching out for you.
- Good luck.
- I'ma think hard.
I'ma think hard.
Just over 20 minutes to go.
Whoo! There we go.
All right, Jesse, is there anything that you would've liked to have seen instead of these crabs or is this Absolutely not.
I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, so I feel like I have a huge advantage.
I've been crabbing plenty of times, man.
So what are you making? I decided to go with a little dumpling in a fish stock soup.
Then, I'm gonna do, like, a marinated crab and apple salad.
Beautiful.
- Thank you, sir.
- It smells awesome.
Thank you.
Okay.
Guys, just over eight minutes.
Whoo! All right, got a little something.
Wow.
It smells awesome out there, huh? - Doesn't it? Incredible.
- Yeah.
- Spicy, Cajun-y.
- Exactly.
- Cognac.
I mean, incredible.
- Speaking of Cajun, Jesse Has he come out of his shell? He has come out of his shell.
Well-played.
- He's so excited right now.
- Good.
Surely.
Charlie should be at home for this.
- He should be happy as Larry.
- Absolutely.
Yup.
I'm expecting big, big flavor from them.
- I am worried about Olivia.
- Get out! Ew.
She's never worked with live shellfish like this before.
Oh, my God, it's happening.
I'm not so concerned about her.
She's overcome her fears.
She's doing an amazing crab cake Benedict.
Sounds delicious.
It tastes good.
You've got to start plating, guys.
You want that advantage.
Trust me.
Oh, that's good! Oh, thank you, God.
Thank you.
Do those crabs justice.
Come on.
You got it, Charlie, keep going.
Now it's down to the finishing touches.
Here we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
- And stop! - Time.
Hands in the air.
Here we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
- And stop! - Time.
Hands in the air.
- Yours is gorgeous.
- Ha! Now, as you know, in every mystery box challenge, we miss nothing.
We watch you cook.
We taste.
As you go, all of it comes together in the decision that we're about to make.
Now, we want to look at the three best dishes of the night.
The first home cook made some stunning crab cakes.
The plating was magical and a welcome surprise.
We are very much looking forward to tasting the dish that belonged to Amanda.
They call my name.
Yay! At this point in the competition, I definitely don't think people are seeing me as a front-runner, but now, everyone else can see that I'm a force to be reckoned with, and I'm here to win.
Amanda, first of all, well done.
Looks amazing.
Describe the dish, please.
Thank you.
We have Dungeness crab cakes.
And on top of it is a mango arugula salad with an avocado cream sauce.
Why Dungeness crab? It's what we have in Seattle.
It's an absolutely delicious flavor.
It's so sweet and goes great in a crab cake.
And also, you get the most crabmeat.
The secret of a great crab cake is to cut it open and see 90% of the cake full of crab.
And there is the crab.
- Beautiful.
- Thank you, Chef.
Mmm.
Here's the thing.
Crab cakes, delicious.
Moist, not dry.
Panko, crisp.
Crunchy on the outside, sweet Dungeness crab in the center.
Avocado cream, delicious.
Salsa, amazing.
For me, to perfect that dish, more Granny Smith apple.
- Okay.
- Yeah, 'cause you've got the acidity to back up the sweetness, but they're cooked beautifully.
- Great job.
- Thank you so much, Chef.
How we doing, Amanda? - Good.
How are you, Chef? - I'm doing great.
- Mmm.
Delicious.
- Thank you.
Only thing is, you know, maybe adding some heat.
A little Thai chili, like, really, really minced, you know, tossed in there so you get a little bite and a little explosion of that heat with each bit.
- Absolutely.
- Cook on it's perfect.
Preparation, seasoning, good job.
Thank you so much.
And what's the avocado cream composed of? So it's avocado, a little Greek yogurt, lots of lemon juice, some cilantro, salt, pepper.
The yogurt in the avocado cream is really light and refreshing.
Yay.
Very bright flavors.
Really moist.
Really delicious.
Really great job.
- Thank you.
- Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, guys.
Yay! Whoo-hoo.
Okay, now the second dish that we would like to take a closer look at, this person was really smart on their twist on this classic preparation.
This home cook has definitely had some issues.
Hopefully, now is the time that she is starting to rise.
Please step forward Olivia.
- Yeah.
- Whoo! Thus far, everything I've made has been absolutely ugly, and I'm really excited to show people that I'm a fashion stylist for a reason.
I took something that I thought was absolutely disgusting and made it really, really gorgeous.
Wow, clearly, it's one of the prettiest plates out there tonight.
So what is it? So it's a crab cake Benedict with a caper and herb aioli, micro arugula, a poached egg, and roasted asparagus.
Hopefully I pierce it, it oozes, - kind of envelops - It should.
The crab cake itself.
Exactly.
Mmm.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
Good job.
Very flavorful.
Very strong.
That natural sweetness of the crab and then this poached egg, it definitely takes a lot of skill to be able to get that many different things going on.
- And it is cohesive.
- Thank you.
Asparagus, probably the weakest thing on the plate.
I think it needs salt, but presentation, beautiful.
Cook on the egg's great, so you should be proud.
Thank you.
Right, so why would you put aioli and the poached egg together? Instead of the hollandaise, it's with - The flavoring is within.
- Mmm.
And then the sauciness comes from the poached egg.
Mm-hmm.
Delicious.
- The dish showed great finesse.
- Yes.
- We loved the style of it.
- Thank you.
One thing you're gonna have to learn to stay in this competition, you're gonna have to start overcoming your fears.
- Yeah.
- But, you know, this dish shows that you've grown in confidence.
And there's some very talented chefs behind you.
Definitely.
And you need to start stepping up.
And this is exactly what we want to see.
- More of this stuff.
- Okay.
- Got it? - Got it.
- Thank you.
Good job.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
The third and final dish that we'd really like to dig into a little deeper was put together by someone who clearly knows their crabs.
Please step forward Jesse.
Damn.
It's not me? At this point, I'm rooting for Jesse.
You know, 'cause us Louisiana boys, this is what we do.
I got to show him a little boot love, honestly.
- Hi, Jesse.
- Hey.
Just remind me really quick, where are you from? I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Yeah, you are.
- So I loved seeing the crab.
- What's the dish? What I've prepared is a dumpling with crab soup served with avocado, mango, cucumber, green apple salad.
All right, let's give it a taste.
All right.
Is there sausage or andouille in the broth at all? Peppercorn bacon was the first ingredient I put in the pot.
Very smart.
I'm getting that sort of smoky, peppered spice that I would expect to find in a stew or a broth down South.
The side salad slaw is good, but sometimes, your proudest star, even though seemingly simple and humble, really can stand on its own.
And I think, in this case, it really could stand on its own.
It's very delicious.
- Thank you very much.
- Very delicious.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
- Jesse.
- Yes, sir.
How much do you love crab on a scale of one to ten? - 100.
- 100.
- Do you have a girlfriend? - I do.
Yes, sir.
And was that the first thing you gave her, was crabs? Probably - I don't have - I mean for dinner.
- Yes or no? - Yes.
Yeah.
- Delicious.
- Thank you.
Dumplings, delicious.
Broth Bacon fat? Come on.
I mean, seriously? - So good.
- You can cook.
- Let's get that right.
- Thank you.
You need to cook more like this every time you come to this kitchen.
- You got it.
- Period.
- Got it? - Absolutely.
Great job.
Well done.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
Jesse! Good job.
- Okay.
- And development of - Exactly, it's - Twice.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Amanda, Olivia, and Jesse, three stunning crab dishes.
Any one of them could be served in one of our restaurants.
But who has it? Who nailed it tonight? The winner of that extraordinary mystery box crab challenge and this individual is gonna get a huge advantage.
Congratulations goes to Jesse.
- Well done.
- Yeah, baby.
Good job.
Boom.
The Southern boy wins, man.
I killed the crab dish.
I have all the power.
I'm like the Wizard of Oz right now.
Thank you.
Olivia, Amanda, please head back to your stations.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Chef.
Right.
Tonight, Jesse, for the first time ever in MasterChef, you will not be going back into that amazing pantry with us.
You're gonna get your major advantage right here.
Listen carefully because the fate of everybody out there is now in your hands.
Your choice, who do you want to send, right now, out of those MasterChef doors? What? Tonight, Jesse, you will be deciding everybody's fate from right out here in the MasterChef kitchen.
Your choice.
Who do you want to send, right now, out of those MasterChef doors? Stephen.
Well, if you use your upcoming advantage smartly, you never know.
- That could easily happen.
- Okay.
- So, Jesse - Yes, ma'am.
For your first advantage, you will not be cooking in this upcoming elimination challenge.
Thank you.
Tonight, every home cook is gonna be cooking with something that no other country in the entire world holds with such respect.
Inside this box is a very special, awe-inspiring ingredient.
It's a gift from Mother Nature.
Open it.
What is it? It's like a scene out of Pulp Fiction.
They lift the box up, and it's just glowing, and their eyes are just, like, fixated on it.
- Wow.
- It's beautiful.
What is in this box? Stephen, what do you think is in this box? My [bleep.]
destiny.
So, guys, none of you will know what ingredient you're cooking with tonight until you go into the pantry.
Oh.
But, before that, Jesse has some very big decisions to make.
If Jesse hands you a regular shopping basket, then you'll be asked to make a savory dish.
If Jesse hands you a basket with a bow, then you'll be making a sweet dish, cooking or baking with the amazing ingredient in here.
Let me give you a little insight.
To use this incredible ingredient as a dessert, it could be game over.
All of you, please come on down and collect your baskets.
First up, Derrick.
Derrick, I've never seen someone cook so just smooth.
I know there's people that are gonna crash and burn baking with this ingredient.
You're not one of those people.
There's no point in me giving you a sweet basket.
- Wow.
- Wow.
Savory basket.
- You better kill it though.
- I'll remember it.
- Don't ruin it.
- I'm keeping tabs of everyone.
- Right.
Veronica.
- Jesse All the moms in America love a boy that loves moms.
There's too many weak links right now.
So, I'm sorry, but I need to see you bake with the sweet basket.
I take no offense.
Veronica has a sweet basket.
So I want to give the stronger contestants the savory baskets.
We're going savory.
Thank you, Jesse.
Because, sweet or savory, they're gonna not be at the bottom three on either one.
Listen, you're gonna give me the basket that I want.
Or you will become my mission in life.
I want savory.
Give it to me, please.
- Wow.
- Jesse.
- Wow.
- So I'm just gonna give the weaker contestants the sweet baskets because they're probably gonna struggle.
You're baking.
So let's just weed out the you know, the runts right now.
Justin, yeah, you're baking.
- That's fine.
- Justin has a sweet basket.
Obviously, Jesse made it clear that he thinks I'm weak.
But I want to prove him wrong and that's what I'm gonna do.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
Get up to that balcony and stay safe - for the next 60 minutes.
- Thank you.
It's gonna be really difficult to make this ingredient the star of the dish, you know? The people who have the sweet basket, - All right.
Oh, my God.
- Corn! Whoo-hoo! - Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, my God.
It's corn ears forever.
We got corn coming from every direction.
Look, I've been growing corn for years.
I have a deep, loving relationship with corn.
I'm excited for this challenge.
This is like corn heaven.
But I don't love corn that much though.
- Or corn hell.
- Yeah.
Corn hell.
Usually, sweets are my thing but my brain doesn't wanna go down corn and dessert.
It says those two don't go together.
Anybody see sugar? I'm so excited.
Let's go.
Careful, careful, careful.
Now, along with the corn that you guys just grabbed from the pantry, you will have access to a limited pantry of ingredients, things that will really go well with that corn.
Is everyone ready? Yes, Chef.
You have 60 minutes to make us the corn dish of your lives.
And your time starts Now.
So, Christina, why is the sweet corn dessert so much harder? You know, I think it's because we really always associate the flavor of corn with the savory kitchen.
So it would be like taking cabbage or bell peppers - Sure.
Yeah.
- and trying fold them into a dessert.
It's just not where our mind - naturally goes to.
- Naturally goes.
On the flip side, in terms of the savory I mean, it's not a pass with a savory basket.
- No, no, no.
- I think if anything, they could just completely lose themselves - in making corn the star.
- Exactly.
Mmm.
I'm so excited.
I'm dedicating this dessert to my first and oldest granddaughter.
I'm making corn créme bruleé.
Come out of there.
There we go.
I am making some sweet corn tamales today.
Corn is a staple for all Mexicans.
I mean, we eat corn tortillas, corn tamales, corn everything.
So I think Jesse doesn't realize he just gave me a hand up.
All right, guys.
You got 35 minutes left.
All right, Justin, what are you making? My dish is a cream puff stuffed with sweet corn garnished with a candied corn sugar drizzle.
Justin, one dessert dish do you think that's excessive or no? No.
I don't understand what you're making here with all this stuff.
This is a filling for my profiterole that I just put in there, that I actually infused with ground up Corn Pops.
That, it has minor sweet tones to it.
But it's not overly sweet.
That's where you're getting the filling from.
A lot of times, a little pinch of salt or a little pinch of acid with something that isn't as innately sweet as corn There's about a teaspoon of salt in that.
I understand that.
But we just tasted that and I said, "Hey, don't forget, you're probably gonna need salt.
" That's my most polite of telling you that definitely did not have enough salt in it.
I feel like you're a little shut down.
Is this your last day? Is this, like, your Hail Mary? Justin, we just tasted that and I said, "Hey, don't forget, you're probably gonna need salt.
" That's my most polite way of telling you, that definitely did not have enough salt.
I feel like you're a little shut down.
Is this your last day? Is this, like, your Hail Mary? Of course not.
This is not my last day in theMasterChef kitchen.
I have a really good idea of what I'm doing, that's all I can really say at the moment.
Good luck.
What I'ma do is I'm 'bout to make some bangin' corn grits.
And I'ma put a traditional barbecue shrimp over the top.
I really, never really elevated corn myself.
But I'ma pump out the best thing I could possibly do for these judges.
I am doing a sweet corn panna cotta with some caramel candy corn.
I think Jesse might think I'm a weak link.
So this might be something good for me to do to prove that I'm still a contender in this race.
Watch out, brother.
Watch out, watch out, watch out.
Ooh.
Right, Shelly, how are you feeling? - Feeling good, Chef.
- Savory.
What are you doing? Definitely.
I'm doing a five-spice shrimp taco with a roasted corn guacamole, and a Sriracha lime slaw.
Corn is one of those things, sometimes, - that's in the background.
- Yes.
So I want to make sure that it's the star of my dish.
- It's got to be the hero.
- Definitely, Chef.
Good luck.
- Stephen - Hi, Christina.
- What do you got working? - I'm gonna go with a chipotle chili sauce for my chorizo corn tamale topped with a roasted, caramelized corn.
Oh, yes.
What's the inspiration? Palm Springs, baby.
It's Mexican heart there.
All my hombres are farmers.
We pick our vegetables and then, we sit down and eat our tamales.
- Viva la Mexico! - Sí, güey! Yeah! Compadre.
Oh! All right.
Looking forward to it, Stephen.
Somebody tell me when it's two minutes.
Last two minutes.
[bleep.]
.
Start thinking about your plating.
Claudia's sounds delicious.
She's doing a dessert tamale - That sounds very inventive.
- Very.
Oh, Shelly's tacos are looking beautiful.
- They look great.
- Oh, those look awesome.
Here we go.
Ten, nine Come on, Charlie.
Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two - Wow! - One.
And stop! Hands in the air.
Well done.
- Good job, guys.
- Great job.
Good job.
Jesse was in control.
It's time to find out how you did.
First up, Stephen, please, let's go.
Oh.
Wow.
So, Stephen, Jesse gave you a savory basket.
In fact, he didn't actually give you one, you demanded one.
I demanded for him to give me what I needed to get.
Right.
What's the dish? Here, we have a corn tamale with chorizo, an avocado and caramelized corn salsa here, corn sauce, and then, a red chili sauce.
Why chorizo in the tamale? Give it some more of a complex flavor, I suppose.
There you go.
Yup.
Excellent.
And then, I would, um Are you telling me how to eat now? - Absolutely not.
- Good.
- Just a suggestion.
- Thank you.
Avocado.
There you go.
Excelente! I think that's a good bite.
The tamale with the chorizo, nice idea.
What you've done is put together a really good energy of corn.
Because you've used them four times, you've been smart, you've come out of the box, and I think, personally, this has been your best effort in this competition so far.
- High five.
- Great job.
- Yeah, I would mow that down.
- Nice.
I think that's great.
It's a really refined, delicious version of street food.
- Nice.
Yeah.
- You know? It's a lot of different techniques on the plate.
- This is reduced.
- Yeah.
- This is perfectly caramelized.
- Nice.
- This has been steamed.
- Yeah.
- This has been smashed.
- Yeah.
Easily one of the best dishes we've had.
- Gracias, compadre.
- Sí, güey.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
- Bueno.
Yeah.
- Right on.
Good job, Stephen.
Next up was given a sweet basket by Jesse.
Veronica.
At first, I was concerned that no one would want this ingredient in a sweet dish.
But now, I'm feeling really confident and I'm feeling like they're gonna like it so much.
All right.
So, Veronica, what'd you make? I made an amazing corn créme brulée with a delicious dark brown caramel corn.
So, secret to a créme brulée, like, the number one thing when you order it in a restaurant is the moment where you can crack the top wide open.
- Yeah.
- There's, like, nothing - more gratifying.
- Yeah.
So, I'm gonna go in right here.
Go, girl! Oh, yeah.
You can hear that crack.
That is, like, the only texture that a perfectly creamy créme brulée really needs.
So let's give it a taste.
Veronica, the créme brulée is not So let's give it a taste.
Hmm.
Veronica.
The créme brulée is not well done at all.
Too much fat, and cooked too high, too quickly.
So, just from a technique standpoint Fail.
I think, for me, the real downer is this dish doesn't taste like it celebrates corn.
I will say I do like the sugar caramel on top of the créme brulée.
That, for me, you definitely succeeded in.
But this is a corn challenge.
It's not the a caramelized sugar on top of créme brulée challenge, so.
Correct.
It's not.
I'm definitely not sold.
Thank you.
I feel like I've been flogged with a cattail thing.
And so, my brain just goes into, you know, writing my swan song.
Next up, Shelly.
- Let's go please.
- Okay.
Back in Brooklyn, me and my little girl, we could corn all the time.
I know my daughter loves this dish, but I hope the judges give me the same love.
Shelly, you had a savory basket.
Yes, Chef.
Shelly, I mean, it looks amazing.
- What's the dish? - Today, I made a five-spice shrimp taco.
And I did a roasted corn guacamole, and I have a vinaigrette that was all tossed in corn oil.
- What's the slaw? - I used rice wine vinegar, - some soy, some corn oil - Mm-hmm.
.
And a little bit of honey.
Shrimp, cooked delicious.
The, sort of, cool down with the slaw, delicious.
Right amount of corn in there.
It's great.
One of your best performances.
But, for me, you're growing in confidence, which is what MasterChef is all about.
So don't stop.
Good job.
Bullet! Next up, a sweet corn dish.
Claudia.
I've prepared for you today a sweet corn tamale with a plantain purée, and I've also made a Mexican chocolate sauce.
The tamales are a staple in my family.
Especially around the holidays.
- Mm-hmm.
- And so, I wanted to share a little bit of my heritage with you today.
I love the flavor.
Nice acidity, actually, in the plantain purée.
The chocolate sauce, love it.
The tamale, the technique is great.
The only thing that I guess I would have an issue with - is that it feels pretty dense.
- Right.
But technique-wise and presentation, - awesome.
- Thank you, Chef.
- Great job.
- Justin please.
Let's go.
It is a basic pâte a choux.
It's filled with a creamed corn reduction, kind of.
And then, there's candy corn drizzle on top.
Choux pastry's undercooked.
'Cause it's got a sort of wet almost like a wet cornflake inside.
- Yes, Chef.
- Mixture's way too sweet 'cause you've got sweet on sweet with the caramel.
But more importantly, was that canned corn in the center? Yes, Chef.
You don't think that the best flavor would've come from a fresh corn? Uh, likely.
Tommy.
All right.
So what do we have? I did a sweet corn panna cotta with orange and vanilla bean.
That's beautiful.
The texture, it's so velvety, so well-refined.
My only criticism would be that I wish there was just a little bit more corn flavor so that corn was just a little bit more of the star.
But I'm very impressed.
Wow.
Thank you.
Last up, Charlie.
Let's go please.
- Go, Charlie.
- Go, Charlie.
I've never made a dish where corn is, like, the star of the dish.
But shrimp and grits is a Louisiana staple.
And hopefully, I did my state proud.
So what's the dish? What I've prepared for you is yellow corn grits.
With traditional New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.
You grew up with this kind of thing, right? - Yes.
- Confident? For the most part, I am satisfied.
You've got dried rosemary in there? Yes, sir, dried rosemary and dried oregano.
Right.
Your grits give me the [bleep.]
.
All right.
Describe the dish.
What I've prepared for you is yellow corn grits with traditional New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.
Your grits give me the [bleep.]
.
- All right.
- Yeah.
They are undercooked, they're bland, and you've got an amazing shrimp there, but corn is not the star.
This should be you in your comfort zone.
- So I was expecting more.
- I understand.
You have got to wake up, quickly.
- Big time.
- I will, Chef.
And I'm here to learn.
I mean, I come from humble ingredients - and humble beginnings.
- So do I, Charlie.
But I want but this is what I wanna do.
- I wanna elevate.
- So give me some of that love.
- And I wanna taste it.
- I'm sorry.
If y'all give me the opportunity, I'm coming back harder and stronger.
- I promise you that.
- Do you know what? Charlie, time, right now, is not your friend.
Yes, sir.
Hearing that I got one foot out the door already, I feel like dirt.
Hopefully, they see that I got drive.
Hopefully, they see I'm the hardest working home cook here.
I'm just praying that they see something that says this boy got potential.
He can potentially be a MasterChef.
Wow.
Unfortunately, one of you will be leaving the competition tonight.
Give us a moment, please.
We need to discuss this in great detail.
So Stephen.
I mean, that plate.
- Yeah.
It was awesome.
- That's his first time - he's reined it in.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it was good.
- That looks delicious.
- Thank you.
- And then, further in, you've got Charlie.
Big disappointment.
- Yeah.
So sad.
- I mean, really bad.
I mean, the shrimp and grits were, miles away, - undercooked and bland.
- Yeah.
- And just lost.
- I got to get better fast or I ain't gonna be here.
I'm too simple.
Shelly's was a big surprise tonight.
- It was beautiful.
Beautiful.
- Man, she did a great job.
She's finally evolving.
- Mm-hmm.
- Hey, girl.
- Good job, girl.
- Justin was terrible.
- God.
- Really bad.
We don't wanna see them cook with candy on it.
- Yeah.
- I don't know how to use corn? It's like it made no sense.
There were two standout dishes tonight.
- Congratulations, Shelly - Oh! and Stephen.
Beautiful flavors, beautiful presentation, great technique.
Two of the best dishes of the night.
Totally safe from elimination.
And also, team captains in an upcoming challenge.
All right, guys, unfortunately, we need to identify the three worst dishes of the night.
If I say your name, please step forward.
Veronica.
The second disastrous dish of the evening, - Charlie.
- It's cool.
The third and final disappointment of the evening, make your way down, please Justin.
Tonight, one home cook is going home.
One home cook let themselves down.
One home cook has gone has far as they can in this competition.
Please step forward Charlie.
You're a 25-year-old air conditioning technician from New Orleans.
Tonight, you made us a dish from your hometown that we expect you to know inside and out.
But your shrimp and grits was not good.
Luckily for you, Charlie, there were two worse dishes.
Go back to your station.
Thanks, Chef.
Made it by the skin of my teeth.
But they expect more of us than I'm giving right now.
I can't go no lower.
If I go any lower, I'm out the door.
So it's on the up and up for me now.
Veronica, Justin, how ironic is this that tonight we've got the oldest up against the youngest? As Jesse predicted prior to handing out those baskets, you both struggled.
Jesse, who do you think should be leaving tonight? I'm shocked that Justin used canned corn.
He didn't use the ingredient.
I don't see any other way but I think he knows that he should go home.
Well, Jesse, you're absolutely right.
Tonight's hero was the corn.
Justin, your time is done in the MasterChef kitchen.
Veronica, head back to your station please.
Justin, sadly, tonight, you did put up the weakest dish.
I'm sorry.
Please take your apron off and leave the MasterChef kitchen.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
I'm only 18 and I am proud of myself.
I'm proud of how far I got.
And a lot of people my age can't say that they lived out their dream at such a young age.
You're gonna be a beast in the kitchen, brother.
You're gonna be a beast.
I'm going to finish high school, I'm gonna go to college, and I'm gonna become a chef.
This is just another step on the ladder to success.
Next time Vegas, baby.
Your enterteiners are in the building.
It's a high-stakes team challenge.
Pick your star players or your star ingredient.
But when the home cooks bet big We're opening in 60 seconds.
And look at this [bleep.]
.
Whose gamble will pay off and who will lose it all in the dreaded pressure test? - Whoo! - Come on.
Don't even cut it, just bring it.
Hey, you, what are you doing? Look at me.
Calm down or I'll throw you in the [bleep.]
pool.
- Wow.
- What? The first team challenge of the season Where is my fish? Put the home cooks through an emotional roller coaster That is ice cold and raw.
Resulting in a Red Team victory.
After an intense pressure test What in the [bleep.]
is that? You've got one foot outside the door.
The ride came to an end for Darah.
Tonight Watch your fingers.
It is live.
The home cooks claw their way to the top Ow! Hoping to get a leg up on the competition.
Oh, my God.
Ugh, so gross.
And It's beautiful.
What is in this box? A very special ingredient divides the MasterChef kitchen like never before.
Give me the basket that I want, or you will become my mission in life.
Oh, my God.
Welcome, guys.
Come on down.
There's 19 people left.
I am one step closer to getting that $1/4 million that can change my life.
I can smell it.
I can feel it.
I can touch it.
I can taste it.
I'm not the typical Texas teen.
While other 18-year-olds are out partying or getting wasted with their friends, I'm at home cooking and preparing for my future.
I'm ready to show everyone that I could be the youngest MasterChef.
- Excited? - Yes, sir.
- Yes, Chef.
- Energized? - Yes, Chef.
- Good! Because it's time for your next mystery box challenge.
As with every mystery box challenge, you'll each have to make us an incredible dish using whatever you find under those boxes.
It's time to find out what's under all of your mystery boxes.
Please, you have to lift this one up carefully, and just watch your fingers.
It is live.
What is? On the count of three.
One, two, three, lift.
- Ah! - Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, they're going everywhere.
Crabs! Live crabs, clearly.
And lots of them.
Oh, my God.
I want to die.
Shellfish just reminds me of, like, giant bugs, aliens.
I am, like, mortified.
So gross.
Ew, stop moving.
As they are all living ingredients, make sure you treat them with the respect that they deserve.
The advantage tonight is a game-changer.
You want to win tonight.
Right, are you ready? Yes, Chef.
Good.
I can't wait to taste your crab dishes.
- Your 60 minutes starts - Stop.
Now.
Aww, you grabbed my steam basket.
Ah, ah, ah! Ah! Wow, crabs.
This is right up my alley.
I love crabs.
And we have three different types here.
The easiest crab to cook tonight would be the Dungeness.
- So much meat.
- So much meat.
- Yes.
Exactly.
- There you go.
I would not mess around tonight with tiny blue crabs 'cause the yield in the crabmeat is very little.
Exactly.
Yup.
Ten times the work.
Ah! It's hot.
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
Treat it with respect.
I'm a vegetarian.
I grew up vegetarian, so I've never made crab before.
But I know what flavors seafood goes with, which is usually citrus and spicy.
So I'm making blue crab with a tomato curry and rice.
Hopefully, that works out for me.
It's time to experiment.
My family's from Mazatlán, so we always cook with seafood.
So I'm thinking about making a traditional rock crab and Dungeness crab soup.
Mexico has some of the best flavors, especially when it comes to seafood, and I can't wait to bring that to the judges today.
- What is that? - Get it, Shelly.
- Get it, come on.
- What is that? This is your chance to show that you dominate in the animal kingdom.
Lovely.
Oh, my God, you're huge.
Ha! Chef, can I ask a question? Olivia, what's wrong? I've never made live crab before.
This is an absolute first.
Fantastic.
Welcome toMasterChef.
So the triangle, the top of the triangle - That's it.
- It's obviously right there.
Right there and then immediately into the thing.
- 100%.
- And then I crack it open.
- And then there is meat inside.
- Yes.
There is meat.
The majority of the meat is all in the claws, and underneath the top there, where the eyes are, that's where the brown meat is.
And in the purse, there's meat in there as well.
- Okay.
- Okay? That will be the interesting part.
Thank you.
What are you doing? I think I'm gonna do some sort of crab cake Benedict with asparagus and a caper relish.
Crabs Benedict sounds nice, by the way.
- Thank you.
- Good luck.
- Just do it? - Just do it.
- Just do it? - Just do it! Okay, I'm sorry.
I'm making crab cakes with a mango salsa and a avocado cream sauce.
I have an advantage because I live in Seattle.
We have the best seafood in the entire world.
So it's so important for me to win this mystery box, so I can make Seattle proud.
- Charlie, how's it going? - What you see, Chef? I feel real confident about this with this protein, actually 'cause back at home, back in New Orleans, Louisiana, this is what I do almost every day.
Does your family eat a lot of crab? I eat crab, like, three times a week.
Do you dip it in drawn butter? Do you just crack and eat? No butter, I just crack and eat.
Yup.
Very clean.
Very fresh.
Well, seafood, ain't nothing clean about eating seafood, so, uh, you know, usually, I stink for the rest of the day.
Fair enough.
Do you have an idea? Do you know what you're gonna be What the dish will actually become? Well, what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do a pan-seared blue crab, a New Orleans-style crab cake, and, um, spicy hollandaise sauce.
I'm gonna be watching out for you.
- Good luck.
- I'ma think hard.
I'ma think hard.
Just over 20 minutes to go.
Whoo! There we go.
All right, Jesse, is there anything that you would've liked to have seen instead of these crabs or is this Absolutely not.
I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, so I feel like I have a huge advantage.
I've been crabbing plenty of times, man.
So what are you making? I decided to go with a little dumpling in a fish stock soup.
Then, I'm gonna do, like, a marinated crab and apple salad.
Beautiful.
- Thank you, sir.
- It smells awesome.
Thank you.
Okay.
Guys, just over eight minutes.
Whoo! All right, got a little something.
Wow.
It smells awesome out there, huh? - Doesn't it? Incredible.
- Yeah.
- Spicy, Cajun-y.
- Exactly.
- Cognac.
I mean, incredible.
- Speaking of Cajun, Jesse Has he come out of his shell? He has come out of his shell.
Well-played.
- He's so excited right now.
- Good.
Surely.
Charlie should be at home for this.
- He should be happy as Larry.
- Absolutely.
Yup.
I'm expecting big, big flavor from them.
- I am worried about Olivia.
- Get out! Ew.
She's never worked with live shellfish like this before.
Oh, my God, it's happening.
I'm not so concerned about her.
She's overcome her fears.
She's doing an amazing crab cake Benedict.
Sounds delicious.
It tastes good.
You've got to start plating, guys.
You want that advantage.
Trust me.
Oh, that's good! Oh, thank you, God.
Thank you.
Do those crabs justice.
Come on.
You got it, Charlie, keep going.
Now it's down to the finishing touches.
Here we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
- And stop! - Time.
Hands in the air.
Here we go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
- And stop! - Time.
Hands in the air.
- Yours is gorgeous.
- Ha! Now, as you know, in every mystery box challenge, we miss nothing.
We watch you cook.
We taste.
As you go, all of it comes together in the decision that we're about to make.
Now, we want to look at the three best dishes of the night.
The first home cook made some stunning crab cakes.
The plating was magical and a welcome surprise.
We are very much looking forward to tasting the dish that belonged to Amanda.
They call my name.
Yay! At this point in the competition, I definitely don't think people are seeing me as a front-runner, but now, everyone else can see that I'm a force to be reckoned with, and I'm here to win.
Amanda, first of all, well done.
Looks amazing.
Describe the dish, please.
Thank you.
We have Dungeness crab cakes.
And on top of it is a mango arugula salad with an avocado cream sauce.
Why Dungeness crab? It's what we have in Seattle.
It's an absolutely delicious flavor.
It's so sweet and goes great in a crab cake.
And also, you get the most crabmeat.
The secret of a great crab cake is to cut it open and see 90% of the cake full of crab.
And there is the crab.
- Beautiful.
- Thank you, Chef.
Mmm.
Here's the thing.
Crab cakes, delicious.
Moist, not dry.
Panko, crisp.
Crunchy on the outside, sweet Dungeness crab in the center.
Avocado cream, delicious.
Salsa, amazing.
For me, to perfect that dish, more Granny Smith apple.
- Okay.
- Yeah, 'cause you've got the acidity to back up the sweetness, but they're cooked beautifully.
- Great job.
- Thank you so much, Chef.
How we doing, Amanda? - Good.
How are you, Chef? - I'm doing great.
- Mmm.
Delicious.
- Thank you.
Only thing is, you know, maybe adding some heat.
A little Thai chili, like, really, really minced, you know, tossed in there so you get a little bite and a little explosion of that heat with each bit.
- Absolutely.
- Cook on it's perfect.
Preparation, seasoning, good job.
Thank you so much.
And what's the avocado cream composed of? So it's avocado, a little Greek yogurt, lots of lemon juice, some cilantro, salt, pepper.
The yogurt in the avocado cream is really light and refreshing.
Yay.
Very bright flavors.
Really moist.
Really delicious.
Really great job.
- Thank you.
- Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, guys.
Yay! Whoo-hoo.
Okay, now the second dish that we would like to take a closer look at, this person was really smart on their twist on this classic preparation.
This home cook has definitely had some issues.
Hopefully, now is the time that she is starting to rise.
Please step forward Olivia.
- Yeah.
- Whoo! Thus far, everything I've made has been absolutely ugly, and I'm really excited to show people that I'm a fashion stylist for a reason.
I took something that I thought was absolutely disgusting and made it really, really gorgeous.
Wow, clearly, it's one of the prettiest plates out there tonight.
So what is it? So it's a crab cake Benedict with a caper and herb aioli, micro arugula, a poached egg, and roasted asparagus.
Hopefully I pierce it, it oozes, - kind of envelops - It should.
The crab cake itself.
Exactly.
Mmm.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
Good job.
Very flavorful.
Very strong.
That natural sweetness of the crab and then this poached egg, it definitely takes a lot of skill to be able to get that many different things going on.
- And it is cohesive.
- Thank you.
Asparagus, probably the weakest thing on the plate.
I think it needs salt, but presentation, beautiful.
Cook on the egg's great, so you should be proud.
Thank you.
Right, so why would you put aioli and the poached egg together? Instead of the hollandaise, it's with - The flavoring is within.
- Mmm.
And then the sauciness comes from the poached egg.
Mm-hmm.
Delicious.
- The dish showed great finesse.
- Yes.
- We loved the style of it.
- Thank you.
One thing you're gonna have to learn to stay in this competition, you're gonna have to start overcoming your fears.
- Yeah.
- But, you know, this dish shows that you've grown in confidence.
And there's some very talented chefs behind you.
Definitely.
And you need to start stepping up.
And this is exactly what we want to see.
- More of this stuff.
- Okay.
- Got it? - Got it.
- Thank you.
Good job.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
- Thank you.
The third and final dish that we'd really like to dig into a little deeper was put together by someone who clearly knows their crabs.
Please step forward Jesse.
Damn.
It's not me? At this point, I'm rooting for Jesse.
You know, 'cause us Louisiana boys, this is what we do.
I got to show him a little boot love, honestly.
- Hi, Jesse.
- Hey.
Just remind me really quick, where are you from? I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Yeah, you are.
- So I loved seeing the crab.
- What's the dish? What I've prepared is a dumpling with crab soup served with avocado, mango, cucumber, green apple salad.
All right, let's give it a taste.
All right.
Is there sausage or andouille in the broth at all? Peppercorn bacon was the first ingredient I put in the pot.
Very smart.
I'm getting that sort of smoky, peppered spice that I would expect to find in a stew or a broth down South.
The side salad slaw is good, but sometimes, your proudest star, even though seemingly simple and humble, really can stand on its own.
And I think, in this case, it really could stand on its own.
It's very delicious.
- Thank you very much.
- Very delicious.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
- Jesse.
- Yes, sir.
How much do you love crab on a scale of one to ten? - 100.
- 100.
- Do you have a girlfriend? - I do.
Yes, sir.
And was that the first thing you gave her, was crabs? Probably - I don't have - I mean for dinner.
- Yes or no? - Yes.
Yeah.
- Delicious.
- Thank you.
Dumplings, delicious.
Broth Bacon fat? Come on.
I mean, seriously? - So good.
- You can cook.
- Let's get that right.
- Thank you.
You need to cook more like this every time you come to this kitchen.
- You got it.
- Period.
- Got it? - Absolutely.
Great job.
Well done.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
Jesse! Good job.
- Okay.
- And development of - Exactly, it's - Twice.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Amanda, Olivia, and Jesse, three stunning crab dishes.
Any one of them could be served in one of our restaurants.
But who has it? Who nailed it tonight? The winner of that extraordinary mystery box crab challenge and this individual is gonna get a huge advantage.
Congratulations goes to Jesse.
- Well done.
- Yeah, baby.
Good job.
Boom.
The Southern boy wins, man.
I killed the crab dish.
I have all the power.
I'm like the Wizard of Oz right now.
Thank you.
Olivia, Amanda, please head back to your stations.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Chef.
Right.
Tonight, Jesse, for the first time ever in MasterChef, you will not be going back into that amazing pantry with us.
You're gonna get your major advantage right here.
Listen carefully because the fate of everybody out there is now in your hands.
Your choice, who do you want to send, right now, out of those MasterChef doors? What? Tonight, Jesse, you will be deciding everybody's fate from right out here in the MasterChef kitchen.
Your choice.
Who do you want to send, right now, out of those MasterChef doors? Stephen.
Well, if you use your upcoming advantage smartly, you never know.
- That could easily happen.
- Okay.
- So, Jesse - Yes, ma'am.
For your first advantage, you will not be cooking in this upcoming elimination challenge.
Thank you.
Tonight, every home cook is gonna be cooking with something that no other country in the entire world holds with such respect.
Inside this box is a very special, awe-inspiring ingredient.
It's a gift from Mother Nature.
Open it.
What is it? It's like a scene out of Pulp Fiction.
They lift the box up, and it's just glowing, and their eyes are just, like, fixated on it.
- Wow.
- It's beautiful.
What is in this box? Stephen, what do you think is in this box? My [bleep.]
destiny.
So, guys, none of you will know what ingredient you're cooking with tonight until you go into the pantry.
Oh.
But, before that, Jesse has some very big decisions to make.
If Jesse hands you a regular shopping basket, then you'll be asked to make a savory dish.
If Jesse hands you a basket with a bow, then you'll be making a sweet dish, cooking or baking with the amazing ingredient in here.
Let me give you a little insight.
To use this incredible ingredient as a dessert, it could be game over.
All of you, please come on down and collect your baskets.
First up, Derrick.
Derrick, I've never seen someone cook so just smooth.
I know there's people that are gonna crash and burn baking with this ingredient.
You're not one of those people.
There's no point in me giving you a sweet basket.
- Wow.
- Wow.
Savory basket.
- You better kill it though.
- I'll remember it.
- Don't ruin it.
- I'm keeping tabs of everyone.
- Right.
Veronica.
- Jesse All the moms in America love a boy that loves moms.
There's too many weak links right now.
So, I'm sorry, but I need to see you bake with the sweet basket.
I take no offense.
Veronica has a sweet basket.
So I want to give the stronger contestants the savory baskets.
We're going savory.
Thank you, Jesse.
Because, sweet or savory, they're gonna not be at the bottom three on either one.
Listen, you're gonna give me the basket that I want.
Or you will become my mission in life.
I want savory.
Give it to me, please.
- Wow.
- Jesse.
- Wow.
- So I'm just gonna give the weaker contestants the sweet baskets because they're probably gonna struggle.
You're baking.
So let's just weed out the you know, the runts right now.
Justin, yeah, you're baking.
- That's fine.
- Justin has a sweet basket.
Obviously, Jesse made it clear that he thinks I'm weak.
But I want to prove him wrong and that's what I'm gonna do.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
Get up to that balcony and stay safe - for the next 60 minutes.
- Thank you.
It's gonna be really difficult to make this ingredient the star of the dish, you know? The people who have the sweet basket, - All right.
Oh, my God.
- Corn! Whoo-hoo! - Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, my God.
It's corn ears forever.
We got corn coming from every direction.
Look, I've been growing corn for years.
I have a deep, loving relationship with corn.
I'm excited for this challenge.
This is like corn heaven.
But I don't love corn that much though.
- Or corn hell.
- Yeah.
Corn hell.
Usually, sweets are my thing but my brain doesn't wanna go down corn and dessert.
It says those two don't go together.
Anybody see sugar? I'm so excited.
Let's go.
Careful, careful, careful.
Now, along with the corn that you guys just grabbed from the pantry, you will have access to a limited pantry of ingredients, things that will really go well with that corn.
Is everyone ready? Yes, Chef.
You have 60 minutes to make us the corn dish of your lives.
And your time starts Now.
So, Christina, why is the sweet corn dessert so much harder? You know, I think it's because we really always associate the flavor of corn with the savory kitchen.
So it would be like taking cabbage or bell peppers - Sure.
Yeah.
- and trying fold them into a dessert.
It's just not where our mind - naturally goes to.
- Naturally goes.
On the flip side, in terms of the savory I mean, it's not a pass with a savory basket.
- No, no, no.
- I think if anything, they could just completely lose themselves - in making corn the star.
- Exactly.
Mmm.
I'm so excited.
I'm dedicating this dessert to my first and oldest granddaughter.
I'm making corn créme bruleé.
Come out of there.
There we go.
I am making some sweet corn tamales today.
Corn is a staple for all Mexicans.
I mean, we eat corn tortillas, corn tamales, corn everything.
So I think Jesse doesn't realize he just gave me a hand up.
All right, guys.
You got 35 minutes left.
All right, Justin, what are you making? My dish is a cream puff stuffed with sweet corn garnished with a candied corn sugar drizzle.
Justin, one dessert dish do you think that's excessive or no? No.
I don't understand what you're making here with all this stuff.
This is a filling for my profiterole that I just put in there, that I actually infused with ground up Corn Pops.
That, it has minor sweet tones to it.
But it's not overly sweet.
That's where you're getting the filling from.
A lot of times, a little pinch of salt or a little pinch of acid with something that isn't as innately sweet as corn There's about a teaspoon of salt in that.
I understand that.
But we just tasted that and I said, "Hey, don't forget, you're probably gonna need salt.
" That's my most polite of telling you that definitely did not have enough salt in it.
I feel like you're a little shut down.
Is this your last day? Is this, like, your Hail Mary? Justin, we just tasted that and I said, "Hey, don't forget, you're probably gonna need salt.
" That's my most polite way of telling you, that definitely did not have enough salt.
I feel like you're a little shut down.
Is this your last day? Is this, like, your Hail Mary? Of course not.
This is not my last day in theMasterChef kitchen.
I have a really good idea of what I'm doing, that's all I can really say at the moment.
Good luck.
What I'ma do is I'm 'bout to make some bangin' corn grits.
And I'ma put a traditional barbecue shrimp over the top.
I really, never really elevated corn myself.
But I'ma pump out the best thing I could possibly do for these judges.
I am doing a sweet corn panna cotta with some caramel candy corn.
I think Jesse might think I'm a weak link.
So this might be something good for me to do to prove that I'm still a contender in this race.
Watch out, brother.
Watch out, watch out, watch out.
Ooh.
Right, Shelly, how are you feeling? - Feeling good, Chef.
- Savory.
What are you doing? Definitely.
I'm doing a five-spice shrimp taco with a roasted corn guacamole, and a Sriracha lime slaw.
Corn is one of those things, sometimes, - that's in the background.
- Yes.
So I want to make sure that it's the star of my dish.
- It's got to be the hero.
- Definitely, Chef.
Good luck.
- Stephen - Hi, Christina.
- What do you got working? - I'm gonna go with a chipotle chili sauce for my chorizo corn tamale topped with a roasted, caramelized corn.
Oh, yes.
What's the inspiration? Palm Springs, baby.
It's Mexican heart there.
All my hombres are farmers.
We pick our vegetables and then, we sit down and eat our tamales.
- Viva la Mexico! - Sí, güey! Yeah! Compadre.
Oh! All right.
Looking forward to it, Stephen.
Somebody tell me when it's two minutes.
Last two minutes.
[bleep.]
.
Start thinking about your plating.
Claudia's sounds delicious.
She's doing a dessert tamale - That sounds very inventive.
- Very.
Oh, Shelly's tacos are looking beautiful.
- They look great.
- Oh, those look awesome.
Here we go.
Ten, nine Come on, Charlie.
Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two - Wow! - One.
And stop! Hands in the air.
Well done.
- Good job, guys.
- Great job.
Good job.
Jesse was in control.
It's time to find out how you did.
First up, Stephen, please, let's go.
Oh.
Wow.
So, Stephen, Jesse gave you a savory basket.
In fact, he didn't actually give you one, you demanded one.
I demanded for him to give me what I needed to get.
Right.
What's the dish? Here, we have a corn tamale with chorizo, an avocado and caramelized corn salsa here, corn sauce, and then, a red chili sauce.
Why chorizo in the tamale? Give it some more of a complex flavor, I suppose.
There you go.
Yup.
Excellent.
And then, I would, um Are you telling me how to eat now? - Absolutely not.
- Good.
- Just a suggestion.
- Thank you.
Avocado.
There you go.
Excelente! I think that's a good bite.
The tamale with the chorizo, nice idea.
What you've done is put together a really good energy of corn.
Because you've used them four times, you've been smart, you've come out of the box, and I think, personally, this has been your best effort in this competition so far.
- High five.
- Great job.
- Yeah, I would mow that down.
- Nice.
I think that's great.
It's a really refined, delicious version of street food.
- Nice.
Yeah.
- You know? It's a lot of different techniques on the plate.
- This is reduced.
- Yeah.
- This is perfectly caramelized.
- Nice.
- This has been steamed.
- Yeah.
- This has been smashed.
- Yeah.
Easily one of the best dishes we've had.
- Gracias, compadre.
- Sí, güey.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
- Bueno.
Yeah.
- Right on.
Good job, Stephen.
Next up was given a sweet basket by Jesse.
Veronica.
At first, I was concerned that no one would want this ingredient in a sweet dish.
But now, I'm feeling really confident and I'm feeling like they're gonna like it so much.
All right.
So, Veronica, what'd you make? I made an amazing corn créme brulée with a delicious dark brown caramel corn.
So, secret to a créme brulée, like, the number one thing when you order it in a restaurant is the moment where you can crack the top wide open.
- Yeah.
- There's, like, nothing - more gratifying.
- Yeah.
So, I'm gonna go in right here.
Go, girl! Oh, yeah.
You can hear that crack.
That is, like, the only texture that a perfectly creamy créme brulée really needs.
So let's give it a taste.
Veronica, the créme brulée is not So let's give it a taste.
Hmm.
Veronica.
The créme brulée is not well done at all.
Too much fat, and cooked too high, too quickly.
So, just from a technique standpoint Fail.
I think, for me, the real downer is this dish doesn't taste like it celebrates corn.
I will say I do like the sugar caramel on top of the créme brulée.
That, for me, you definitely succeeded in.
But this is a corn challenge.
It's not the a caramelized sugar on top of créme brulée challenge, so.
Correct.
It's not.
I'm definitely not sold.
Thank you.
I feel like I've been flogged with a cattail thing.
And so, my brain just goes into, you know, writing my swan song.
Next up, Shelly.
- Let's go please.
- Okay.
Back in Brooklyn, me and my little girl, we could corn all the time.
I know my daughter loves this dish, but I hope the judges give me the same love.
Shelly, you had a savory basket.
Yes, Chef.
Shelly, I mean, it looks amazing.
- What's the dish? - Today, I made a five-spice shrimp taco.
And I did a roasted corn guacamole, and I have a vinaigrette that was all tossed in corn oil.
- What's the slaw? - I used rice wine vinegar, - some soy, some corn oil - Mm-hmm.
.
And a little bit of honey.
Shrimp, cooked delicious.
The, sort of, cool down with the slaw, delicious.
Right amount of corn in there.
It's great.
One of your best performances.
But, for me, you're growing in confidence, which is what MasterChef is all about.
So don't stop.
Good job.
Bullet! Next up, a sweet corn dish.
Claudia.
I've prepared for you today a sweet corn tamale with a plantain purée, and I've also made a Mexican chocolate sauce.
The tamales are a staple in my family.
Especially around the holidays.
- Mm-hmm.
- And so, I wanted to share a little bit of my heritage with you today.
I love the flavor.
Nice acidity, actually, in the plantain purée.
The chocolate sauce, love it.
The tamale, the technique is great.
The only thing that I guess I would have an issue with - is that it feels pretty dense.
- Right.
But technique-wise and presentation, - awesome.
- Thank you, Chef.
- Great job.
- Justin please.
Let's go.
It is a basic pâte a choux.
It's filled with a creamed corn reduction, kind of.
And then, there's candy corn drizzle on top.
Choux pastry's undercooked.
'Cause it's got a sort of wet almost like a wet cornflake inside.
- Yes, Chef.
- Mixture's way too sweet 'cause you've got sweet on sweet with the caramel.
But more importantly, was that canned corn in the center? Yes, Chef.
You don't think that the best flavor would've come from a fresh corn? Uh, likely.
Tommy.
All right.
So what do we have? I did a sweet corn panna cotta with orange and vanilla bean.
That's beautiful.
The texture, it's so velvety, so well-refined.
My only criticism would be that I wish there was just a little bit more corn flavor so that corn was just a little bit more of the star.
But I'm very impressed.
Wow.
Thank you.
Last up, Charlie.
Let's go please.
- Go, Charlie.
- Go, Charlie.
I've never made a dish where corn is, like, the star of the dish.
But shrimp and grits is a Louisiana staple.
And hopefully, I did my state proud.
So what's the dish? What I've prepared for you is yellow corn grits.
With traditional New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.
You grew up with this kind of thing, right? - Yes.
- Confident? For the most part, I am satisfied.
You've got dried rosemary in there? Yes, sir, dried rosemary and dried oregano.
Right.
Your grits give me the [bleep.]
.
All right.
Describe the dish.
What I've prepared for you is yellow corn grits with traditional New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.
Your grits give me the [bleep.]
.
- All right.
- Yeah.
They are undercooked, they're bland, and you've got an amazing shrimp there, but corn is not the star.
This should be you in your comfort zone.
- So I was expecting more.
- I understand.
You have got to wake up, quickly.
- Big time.
- I will, Chef.
And I'm here to learn.
I mean, I come from humble ingredients - and humble beginnings.
- So do I, Charlie.
But I want but this is what I wanna do.
- I wanna elevate.
- So give me some of that love.
- And I wanna taste it.
- I'm sorry.
If y'all give me the opportunity, I'm coming back harder and stronger.
- I promise you that.
- Do you know what? Charlie, time, right now, is not your friend.
Yes, sir.
Hearing that I got one foot out the door already, I feel like dirt.
Hopefully, they see that I got drive.
Hopefully, they see I'm the hardest working home cook here.
I'm just praying that they see something that says this boy got potential.
He can potentially be a MasterChef.
Wow.
Unfortunately, one of you will be leaving the competition tonight.
Give us a moment, please.
We need to discuss this in great detail.
So Stephen.
I mean, that plate.
- Yeah.
It was awesome.
- That's his first time - he's reined it in.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it was good.
- That looks delicious.
- Thank you.
- And then, further in, you've got Charlie.
Big disappointment.
- Yeah.
So sad.
- I mean, really bad.
I mean, the shrimp and grits were, miles away, - undercooked and bland.
- Yeah.
- And just lost.
- I got to get better fast or I ain't gonna be here.
I'm too simple.
Shelly's was a big surprise tonight.
- It was beautiful.
Beautiful.
- Man, she did a great job.
She's finally evolving.
- Mm-hmm.
- Hey, girl.
- Good job, girl.
- Justin was terrible.
- God.
- Really bad.
We don't wanna see them cook with candy on it.
- Yeah.
- I don't know how to use corn? It's like it made no sense.
There were two standout dishes tonight.
- Congratulations, Shelly - Oh! and Stephen.
Beautiful flavors, beautiful presentation, great technique.
Two of the best dishes of the night.
Totally safe from elimination.
And also, team captains in an upcoming challenge.
All right, guys, unfortunately, we need to identify the three worst dishes of the night.
If I say your name, please step forward.
Veronica.
The second disastrous dish of the evening, - Charlie.
- It's cool.
The third and final disappointment of the evening, make your way down, please Justin.
Tonight, one home cook is going home.
One home cook let themselves down.
One home cook has gone has far as they can in this competition.
Please step forward Charlie.
You're a 25-year-old air conditioning technician from New Orleans.
Tonight, you made us a dish from your hometown that we expect you to know inside and out.
But your shrimp and grits was not good.
Luckily for you, Charlie, there were two worse dishes.
Go back to your station.
Thanks, Chef.
Made it by the skin of my teeth.
But they expect more of us than I'm giving right now.
I can't go no lower.
If I go any lower, I'm out the door.
So it's on the up and up for me now.
Veronica, Justin, how ironic is this that tonight we've got the oldest up against the youngest? As Jesse predicted prior to handing out those baskets, you both struggled.
Jesse, who do you think should be leaving tonight? I'm shocked that Justin used canned corn.
He didn't use the ingredient.
I don't see any other way but I think he knows that he should go home.
Well, Jesse, you're absolutely right.
Tonight's hero was the corn.
Justin, your time is done in the MasterChef kitchen.
Veronica, head back to your station please.
Justin, sadly, tonight, you did put up the weakest dish.
I'm sorry.
Please take your apron off and leave the MasterChef kitchen.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
I'm only 18 and I am proud of myself.
I'm proud of how far I got.
And a lot of people my age can't say that they lived out their dream at such a young age.
You're gonna be a beast in the kitchen, brother.
You're gonna be a beast.
I'm going to finish high school, I'm gonna go to college, and I'm gonna become a chef.
This is just another step on the ladder to success.
Next time Vegas, baby.
Your enterteiners are in the building.
It's a high-stakes team challenge.
Pick your star players or your star ingredient.
But when the home cooks bet big We're opening in 60 seconds.
And look at this [bleep.]
.
Whose gamble will pay off and who will lose it all in the dreaded pressure test? - Whoo! - Come on.
Don't even cut it, just bring it.
Hey, you, what are you doing? Look at me.
Calm down or I'll throw you in the [bleep.]
pool.