MC4, Ep. 4
The new format for challenge uses a common Pantry Box containing eggs, bacon, flour, sugar, vanilla bean, herbs and spices, all of which would be used for dishes as needed. The first Mystery Box Challenge had bacon, one tomato, a handful of chocolate and a russet potato tasking the cooks to create with the basics.
About 30% of the dishes (those of Adriana, Bri, Bime, Jonny, Beth, Eddie, James) were not featured on the telecast of this episode. Krissi’s dish was langoustine mac and cheese. Sasha did Langoustine Cheese Grits. Here are the rest of the langoustine dishes:
Bethy – with gnocchi and bread
Howard – poached with spinach citrus/ mango salad
Malcolm – stuffed tail over pasta
Jordan – bisque of fingerling potato, tomato, cream sauce
Lynn – poached with coconut, pine nuts and lime beurre blanc sauce
Kathy – boiled, avocado, beets, crispy skins
Luca – saffron, over fettucine, with lavender and garlic
Jessie – fried tempura with shiitake mushrooms and swiss chard
The judges reserved their highest praise for Jessie and Jordan, who won the honor of being team captains for next week’s challenge. The loser of the week initially looked like Howard, for an underwhelming, bland spinach mango salad, or Malcolm with his uninspired pasta, but Sasha’s dish showed no skill or redeeming value at all and this earned her the only elimination this episode.
With the final decisions made, these 18 home cooks were moving forward to the next round:
Lynn Chyi, a 27-year-old IT systems administrator from San Diego
Natasha Crnjac, a 26-year-old stay-at-home mother from San Diego
Howard Simpson, a 26-year-old barback from San Diego
Savannah Sturgess, a 27-year-old special-education teacher from San Diego
Krissi Biasiello, 34, paralegal from Philadelphia PA
Jonny Blanchard, 28, carpenter from Marlboro MA
Bime Cruz, 35, boxing coach from Taunton MA
Sasha Foxx, 42, a singer from Tuscaloosa AL
Malcolm Green, 27, unemployed in Cambridge MA
Adriana Guillen, 26, college admissions representative from New York NY
Eddie Jackson, 32, personal trainer from Americus GA
Beth Kirby, 29, writer/photographer from Chattanooga TN
Bri Kozior, 22, theater assistant from Doylestown PA
Jessie Lysiak, 27, yacht stewardess from Social Circle GA
Luca Manfe, 31, restaurant manager from Astoria NY
James Nelson, 26, in retail sales in Victoria TX
Kathy Prieto, 29, an office Assistant from Bronx NY
Jordan Roots, 29, a delivery driver from Minneapolis MN
Bethy Rossos, 28, a high school physical education teacher from Estacada OR