MC2, Ep. 17
There are 5 cooks left in this competition and the challenges get harder. This episode started with any Mystery Box Challenge. The ingredients were ground beef, ground veal and ground pork, corn (on the cob), celery, bell peppers, butter, carrots, potatoes, rice Worcestershire sauce, cheese. The cooks have 60 minutes to create a stunning dish. Ben immediately thinks those ingredients were just right for Shepherd’s pie and remembers that he had promised Ramsay at the beginning that he would cook him something British. This may be the last opportunity. The others decide on:
Christian – chili (which Suzy says takes too long)
Suzy – Shepherd’s pie
Jennifer – meatloaf
Adrien – 3 different meatballs in 3 different sauces
The cooking proceeded with the judges closely monitoring what was happening, because they would have to choose the top 3 dishes to taste based on what they saw. Those chosen were those of:
Jennifer – meatloaf with bell pepper and other vegetable bits integrated, homemade ketchup, roasted corn
Adrien – beef meatball w/ carrots, celery, potatoes, mushrooms in yellow pepper picadillo sauce, veal meatball w/parsley and parmesan sauce, an unknown third meatball w/ a red sauce
Ben – Shepherd’s pie with inner layer of ground veal, celery, carrots, onions sauteed in butter and outer layer of garlic mashed potatoes, red wine reduction and Worcestershire sauce
On tasting, Adrien’s dish was far too salty so he was effectively out. It was Jennifer vs. Ben and Ben won his first Mystery Box Challenge. That gave him a special advantage, which was to choose from 3 signature dishes for a world famous chef (the one and only Gordon Ramsay). Those were pan-roasted filet of halibut with crab, new potatoes and basil vinaigrette; roasted duck breast with honey-glazed baby onions, minted peas, and Madeira sauce; roasted loin of venison set on a bed of braised red cabbage and a red wine sauce. Ben chose Ramsay’s venison dish because he believed he had more experience cooking venison than any of the other cooks. Ben was then given a basket of the correct amount of the 5 primary ingredients for that dish (venison, parsnips, red cabbage, mushrooms, Madeira red wine for the sauce). He was also given the unique opportunity to ask Ramsay 3 questions to help him decide cooking methods. Here is where Ben squandered some of his advantage, as he failed to ask the most important question, which was how long and at what temperature should the venison be slow-cooked before final cooking. Ben did ask about how the parsnip puree was made (small amount of milk blended in, the finishing with cream). The third is about searing, which Ramsay replied was done with being warmed (effectively light poaching) in butter first, then seared at the end.
The other cooks were given an opportunity only to taste the dish and from that they had to select 5 ingredients and discern cooking methods. They then had 90 minutes to prep and cook. Here was the feedback given to each one after tasting their dish:
Ben – venison way overcooked (Joe said it should have been at 140 degrees and Ben did it at 200 degrees); parsnip puree broken; Ben knew he had totally squandered his advantage
Christian – parsnip puree broken; too much pepper used to season; meat not the hero of the dish
Adrien – venison cooked with butter in a pan, which gave the wrong results; “all over the place”
Jennifer – her dish was a disappointment on flavor
Suzy – by far the best, even though she had never cooked venison before; got the balances right
So, Suzy was quickly off the hook. Jennifer and Christian were placed in the same grouping and let off the hook after some drama. That left Ben and Adrien. Ben was eliminated.