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Master Chef 2

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apskip:
MC2, Ep. 9

First was the Mystery box Challenge, for which Ramsay warned the chefs to open the box carefully as what was under it would bite them. That might be true figuratively but not literally.  The ingredients included purple potato, Japanese eggplant, zucchini, green beans, garlic, paprika, red tomatoes, green tomatoes, Spanish rice, radish, green pepper and eggs. The challenge was to make a restaurant-quality vegetarian main course.

The chef rated worst was Christian, as his dish was jumbled and not cohesive. Alejandra had a vegetarian korma with Asian pear sauce with salad ingredients on the side. Jennifer had vegetable terrine with curry powder, eggplant and cumin. Adrien had green gazpacho with Spanish rice and green sauce of avocado, green tomato, blanched arugula and parsley. Jennifer was judged the winner despite her eggplant being slightly undercooked and given a huge advantage.

Whitney Miller was introduced in the kitchen to Jennifer, who was allowed to sample 3 dishes from Whitney’s new cookbook (product placement) “Modern Hospitality: Simple Recipes with Southern charm.” Jennifer got to pick one recipe for all to cook (without the recipe):
Cranberry chipotle BBQ Chicken + potato salad
Shrimp + Grits with Andouille Sausage, roasted red pepper sauce, salad
Crispy Catfish with a complex slaw, sweet potato fries, tartar sauce

Jennifer picked the last one because the ingredient combinations were tricky and likely to be difficult to match. After returning she was given a basket of all the 29 ingredients needed to replicate the dish. The other 12 chefs had to guess, selecting their ingredients in 5 minutes before cooking began.

The judges stated that the slaw would be the most difficult to match, as it had purple cabbage, carrots, apples, pecans, jalapeno pepper and Brussels sprouts. Several chefs were mistaking the jalapeno for green bell peppers and missing the heat. 3 chefs had problems with their frying oil so hot that it flamed.

There were Suzy, Christine, Erryn, or Tracy. Judges’ comments for the other 9 were:
Jennifer – pretty good (but not considering her advantage)
Adrien – not plated correctly (which he knew but did not apparently have time to correct) and poor flavor
Esther – good
Christian – very good
Alejandra – average except that she used raw garlic in her tartar sauce, a major technical mistake
Giuseppe – very good
Derrick – coating a problem, slaw horrible
Jennie – salty, slaw poor; overall disgusting
Ben – really good     

The winners were Ben and Christian, who will be team captains next episode. The losers were Jennie, Adrien and Alejandra (Derrick dodged a bullet here). The chef eliminated was Jennie.

apskip:
I will not be able to do any MasterChef 2 recaps for 11 days starting next week. If anyone wants to do them, fine; if not I will when I am back.

apskip:
MC2, Ep. 10

This episode started with a team challenge with 6 chefs on each team. The Red team captain Christian selected Adrien, Alejandra, Giuseppe, Derrick and Erryn, a mostly male team. Blue team captain Ben selected Jennifer, Esther, Suzy, Christine and Tracy, a mostly female team. The challenge was to create dishes for a rooftop cocktail party fitting these categories:

“Vegetable Course”
Main Course
Desserts

The menu for the Red team was Tomato Mint Gazpacho, Beef Tartare and a dessert tray with an assortment of berry and mascarpone fruit tart. It was originally supposed to be profiteroles but that was technically too demanding for either Giuseppe or Esther to pull off so she switched. The Blue team menu was gazpacho Duo, Beef Wellington, and a tray of berry tart w/ whipped cream profiteroles originally planned but Giuseppe was unable to pull it off. Each guest voted for the Red team menu or the Blue team menu. The result was 54% in favor of the Red team on the Gazpacho, 100% (extraordinary for the Beef Wellington over the beef tartare and 53% for the Red dessert. That gave Red the victory 2 points to 1 in spite of their total dominance of the main course. The Red team was exempt from the Pressure Test.

 2 hours was allowed to create a fabulous looking and tasting 6-layer cake with appropriate fillings between layers and icing on the outside. Ramsay called it the most difficult pressure test ever on Master Chef and since desserts are not the forte of most chefs who are not pastry chefs or bakers I would agree with him.

Here were the cakes presented:
Jennifer – banana split cake w/ strawberry, citrus, mixed nuts
Tracy – chiffon cake w/ sweet basil, citrus infused icing
Christine – apricot berry cake w/ apricot+ raspberry fillings, hazelnut liqueur
Suzy – ganache cake w/ Chantily cream and raspberry Chantilly icing
Esther – lemon raspberry cake w/ lemon curd, fresh raspberries lemon syrup
Ben – pumpkin carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting, candied hazelnuts

The 3 best cakes by far were from Ben (nearly perfect), Jennifer (also nearly perfect) and Suzy (very good). Christine, Suzy and Esther were all rated way below standard. Christine had excelled on the beef Wellington earlier, so she got a pass. Esther was given the boot because she was out of her depth and Suzy, who had a wonderful cake before messing it up with add-ons near the end, was lucky to survive.

franxaverian:
MC 2 Ep. 11

The episode starts with another mysterybox challenge. The main protein that the contestants have to use is lobster.

3 dishes were chosen:
1. Derrick --> Butter Poached Lobster with Potato Puree and Tomato Mango Salad
2. Alejandra --> Thai Style Grilled Lobster with Red Curry and Mango Salsa
3. Jennifer --> Baked Lobster with Roasted Fennel & Mashed Potatoes

note: When Jennifer's dish was tasted by Graham, Christian started eating his dish. He was reprimanded by Joe who threatened to come personally and take him out if he does not behave next time.

Winner of MysteryBox Challenge: Jennifer

The choices for the advantages to be chosen from have a theme of aphrodisiacs. They are:
1. Oysters
2. Artichokes
3. Truffles

Jennifer chose truffles so everyone will cook with a $500 truffle each. Jennifer was given another advantage. She could opt out of the challenge and enjoy drinking wine from the gallery while watching the other contestants cook or participate in the challenge with a risk of being eliminated if she cooked the worst dish
In the end, she chose to cook with the others.

These are the dishes (Suzy's, Ben's, Christine's and Derrick's dish were not tasted):
Tracy: Truffle & Corn Soup with Shallots, Thyme & Truffle Butter --> Light and balanced soup.
Christian: Pan Seared Fillet with White Asparagus Salad and Truffle infused custard --> Smart & delicious.
Giuseppe: Tagliolini with Spinach, Pancetta & Truffle --> Really good, deemed as a force to be reckoned with after being in the middle for a long time.
Adrien: Seared Fillet on Truffle mash, chilli and fig mushroom sauce --> Have issue with plating.
Erryn: Truffle Steak with Yellow Carrots & Brussels Sprouts --> Really bad that Gordon was speechless
Alejandra: Veal Cutlets with truffle, leek and marsala sauce --> Not very good.
Jennifer: Coddled Eggs & Truffles with Pancetta, Three Cheeses & Thai Pepper --> Eggs were still wobbly(quite undercooked).

Top 2 dishes: Tracy & Giuseppe. They will be captain for tomorrow's challenge

Bottom 3: Erryn, Adrien, & Jennifer

Jennifer was sent back first because there are two other worse dishes than hers.

The judges offered Erryn/Adrien to step up and gracefully bow out of the competition.

Eliminated: Erryn

And there were 10 left.......

franxaverian:
MC2, Ep. 12

Team Challenge:
This episode started with a team challenge with 5 chefs on each team. The Red team captain Giuseppe selected Suzy, Alejandra, Ben, and Derrick. Blue team captain Tracy selected Jennifer, Christian, Adrien, and Christine. The challenge was to cook 3-course dishes for the mothers of the judges after considering the mothers' preferences:

Appetizer
Main Course
Desserts

The menu for the Red team was Mixed Green Salad with Crispy Polenta, Spaghetti Carbonara, and Apple Pie The Blue team cooked Carrot Ginger Soup, Pan Seared Turbot with Caramelized Fennel and Poached Pear.

The result was 2-1 to the winning of Blue team, taking the points from Main Course and Desserts, even winning the heart of Gordon's mother who dislike fish.

Elimination Challenge:
Each contestant have to make eggs benedict in 30 minutes. Giuseppe is at his disadvantaged position as he has never made eggs benedict before and his egg was quite undercooked. Derrick's dish had a lack of sauce while Alejandra's eggs were overcooked.

Ben and Suzy made the overall best eggs. Alejandra was the next one declared safe.

Finally, Giuseppe was eliminated because of his raw eggs.

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