MasterChef – Recap & Review – Top 14

MasterChef

MasterChef
Top 14

Original Air Date: Aug 10, 2010

JD – Associate Staff Writer
jd@thetwocentscorp.com

Last night was a bit of a culinary whirlwind. Over the last two episodes, the judges picked 30 chefs to compete for the title of Master Chef, but of course it would have been impossible to actually follow that many contestants though the whole show. So this week, 16 of them get sent home. The tests given to them were both pretty basic–as basic as you can get, really–but a chef needs to have the basics down before they can even hope to win a competition. Some people were impressive, others not so much, and a few of the people we got to know during the auditions failed to make the cut.

Challenge 1: Chopping Onions
Everyone knows how to chop an onion, right? Wrong. It so basic that it seems like child’s play, and Gordon demonstrates it for the chefs, making it look like nothing. But to actually do it with good technique, getting the slicing and dicing even, takes skill.

In the first challenge, the chefs had to chop and dice onions until they’re told to stop. Gordon and Graham judged each contestant, and decided if they will either be in or out of the competition. This isn’t the most exciting thing to watch, though the fact that four people slice open their fingers in the first minute of chopping is pretty funny.

Challenge 2: One Egg
This is yet another challenge that sounds a lot simpler that it is. The chefs have to cook one egg perfectly, and that’s pretty much it. There is a ton of things for the chefs to choose from to accompany it, but the egg still has to be the star of the dish.

Who went home:
Obviously, a lot of people went home, so I’m just going to talk about the ones who stood out during the auditions.

Darryl, who made a baked egg – Our chef with the three fingers on each hand got cut after excelling at the onion chop in spite of his disability. Joe said the dish was “clunky”.
My Two Cents: They didn’t really explain his dish, and just looking at it, I couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t look appetizing at all.

Adeliz, who made huevo diablo – The stand out from last week, who Gordon gave a second chance to, is cut from the competition. Gordon said her dish was so hot no one would be able to finish it.
My Two Cents: I’m disappointed that after such a good show last week, she’s gone, but honestly, the dish looked terrible. What was up with serving it in an avocado?

Tamar, who made a fried bara and eggs sandwich, with a strawberry and mango smoothie – Joe said it felt heavy, like it might sink, and that the smoothie seemed like an apology for a bad dish.
My Two Cents: I thought it was brave for her to make her own bread, and thought it sounded like a good idea, but as soon as Joe said it was heavy, I could see it. Another disappointment from the audition episodes.

Who stood out:
Slim, who made a pan fried rice noodle egg roll – She gave us a pretty impressive Vietnamese name for her dish, but ultimately the egg stood out enough to get her through.
My Two Cents: I have to say, Slim is just plain adorable. They didn’t say a whole lot about how her food actually tasted, but it looked good to me. I’m interested to see more of her.

Tracy, who made banana pudding napoleon – She made the only dessert in the competition, and broke the egg into its white and its yolk. Joe said he was impressed by her technical abilities.
My Two Cents: I would have never even considered making a dessert with this challenge. It was a gutsy move that really set her apart from everyone else.

Sheetal, who made a baked egg with wild mushrooms – Sheetal is Hindu, and doesn’t eat eggs. On top of that, she chose a dish that wasn’t oven proof and put it in the oven. She had to take it out early and hope carryover heat would finish the egg. And it did. Joe said it was cooked perfectly.
My Two Cents: Obviously Sheetal was the big “oh my God, is this going to work?!” contestant of the show. It worked this time, but we’ll see how it goes in the long run.

Faruq, who made avocado and jalapeno stuffed egg – Gordon said the dish was seasoned well, but seemed fragmented.
My Two Cents: I agree with Gordon; there seemed to be too many unrelated things on the plate. But the eggs part itself sounded very good. I do tend to like almost anything with avocado, though.

Jenna, who made fried egg with steak – Gordon said it was seasoned perfectly, but the way she cut the steak left it dry. Even still, she made the cut.
My Two Cents: I want to like Jenna, but I’m having a hard time. She started crying before the judges made their decision, and it seemed like she was playing on the judges sympathy when she explained that as a mom, it meant a lot to her to have something like this outside of her home and this was her one shot. If you listened really hard, you might have heard my eyes rolling.

David, who made poached egg and steak over whipped potatoes – Gordon thought the overall dish was just perfect, until he got to the potatoes, which were lumpy.
My Two Cents: This was the best moment of the show. Gordon got all into David’s space asking David to help him understand how David could have made that mistake, and David looked like a deer in headlights. I laughed SO hard. Is that wrong?

This episode was both fun to watch, and so fast it seemed like it all flew by. I can’t wait until we actually get to see more of each of the chef’s performances and cooking styles. I was disappointed to see a few of the people I liked from the auditions go, but I couldn’t disagree with the judges decisions at all.

So what do you guys think of our top 14? Give me your two cents!

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