MasterChef – Recap & Review – Finale

photo: fox

MasterChef
Finale

Original Air Date: Sep 15, 2010

JD – Staff Writer
jd@thetwocentscorp.com

It’s over already? At least it got renewed, but eight episodes doesn’t seem like enough. It is what it is, though, and last night’s episode was pretty awesome, I must say. Our cooks had to face off against each other head to head, narrowing the field from four to two, and then two to one, leaving the champion standing tall. I was extremely happy with the winner. Were you?

So here’s how it went. Gordon drew a name, David. David then drew a name, Sheetal. So Sheetal and David are pitted against one another in the first round of the semi-finals. That means Lee and Whitney are going head to head later. In each round, the judges each pick one dish they want cooked for them, and the cooks have two hours to complete three dishes. The first cook to get two out of three votes, moves on to the final round.

Oh, and the cooks get a surprise before they start cooking. Their families have been brought in to watch the show, including Lee’s mother, who flew all the way from Israel.

Semi-finals Round One: David vs. Sheetal
David, ever smug, says that he “fished his wish” out of the bowl. Obviously, he doesn’t think too highly of Sheetal, and I believe he’s said that before. If I recall correctly, he one called her one-dimensional. Honestly? To me that says that David isn’t as confident as he acts if he was wishing to compete against the person he assessed to be the weakest competitor. I like Sheetal, but going into the semi-finals, I would have called Sheetal and David the weakest. But maybe that’s just because David kind of annoys me.

So what did the judges pick for David and Sheetal to cook? Joe wanted veal Milanese. Graham wanted an apple pie so good that he wants to rub it on his stomach while eating it with the other hand (a statement that both made me laugh and go “wtf” at the same time). And Gordon wanted clam chowder.

Sheetal’s reaction: “Crap, double crap, and oh, and apple pie!” Of course, once she gets going, her confidence comes back. She whips through her apple pie like she’s done it a hundred times, while David struggles to get his crust to stay together. It doesn’t look good for him at all, so he eventually gives up and decides to make a miniature version of an apple desert, lining a ramekin with his crust that wouldn’t stay together, filling it with apples, and covering it in a crumb topping. His mother is impressed. I’m not.

They move on to their clam chowder, and David, being a New England boy, has the advantage. Sheetal actually asks the judges for advice, which I think is a little shady, but they don’t tell her what to do. They only confirm that her plan to season the broth with shrimp shells is a good one.

The Milanese is next. Sheetal goes traditional, pounding the veal out and pan frying it. David makes a bold move by not pounding his and cooking it in the oven. David says he’s just “that bad ass”. “Either that or out of your mind,” is Joe’s response. Gordon says it looks like more of a veal chop than a Milanese.

Sheetal does her usual flailing around at the last minute and almost doesn’t get her pie on the plate. Cut to commercials—oh my God did she do it? Of course she did. Now on to the tasting.

Clam chowder:
Gordon says Sheetal’s clam chowder looks the most traditional, and says the seasoning is exact, with the right amount of heat at the back. He calls David on the drizzle of olive oil on top of his, wondering if it was due to too much time on his hands. He says David’s broth is much thinner than Sheetal’s, and that the clams are cooked perfectly.

Who wins the clam chowder round? David, because there is more of a clam flavor throughout, and Gordon wanted three bowls of it, rather than three mouthfuls.

Apple pie:
Sheetal’s apple pie doesn’t look like much on the plate, but Graham calls it beautiful in its simplicity. He calls her crust amazing. David’s apple pie isn’t an apple pie, but more like an apple cupcake, according to Graham. The crust on the bottom is very thick, but it was delicious.

Who wins the apple pie round? Sheetal, who Graham says should be very proud of herself.

Veal Milanese:
Joe says Sheetal’s veal is cooked almost perfectly and is finely seasoned. He says David’s dish is very unorthodox, but doesn’t say much else.

Who wins the veal Milanese round? David, who gets to move on to the final round.

My Two Cents:
Sheetal got robbed. David’s apple pie wasn’t a pie, he’s veal Milanese was a veal chop, and as for the clam chowder… well, I obviously didn’t taste it, but Sheetal’s looked better to me. I like thick chowders, and she had fresh herbs and bacon on top. Bacon makes everything better, doesn’t it?

Semi-finals Round Two: Whitney vs. Lee
When names were drawn in the beginning of the episode, Lee admitted he was a little intimidated by Whitney. Whitney, on the other hand, just grinned like she didn’t have a care in the world. I would be intimidated by her too. Little, young Whitney has proven herself over and over (with a few stumbles), and Lee has only been cooking for a year. He’s good. Really good. But I think Whitney is better. So did she prove his apprehensions right?

What did the judges pick for Whitney and Lee to cook? Joe wanted a chicken Parmesan. Graham wanted an eggs Benedict (YUM!). Gordon wanted cheesecake, and the smug grin on Whitney’s face when she looked at Lee after Gordon said that was the best thing ever.

They both get right on the cheesecake first, with Lee doing a traditionally baked cheesecake with a rhubarb compote. Whitney is opting for a no-bake cheesecake, which Gordon thinks is a risky move.

When they move on to the chicken, Joe is confused by Lee’s approach. Lee has decided to do a pounded, stuffed, and rolled chicken, and Joe wonders aloud why Lee doesn’t just make what he asked for. Whitney also goes away from tradition and stuffs her chicken too, putting the cheese on the inside rather than on top.

Whitney shows some awesomeness in cooking her egg for the eggs Benedict, dropping it into swirling water. I have never succeeded in poaching an egg, so maybe I’ll try that next time. She puts a twist on the eggs Benedict by replacing the English muffin with a grit cake. Lee is also spinning the recipe with a potato latke on the bottom instead of the muffin.

Of course there is always drama at the last second. This time Whitney plates her egg, and the yolk breaks. With fifteen seconds to go, she has to recook her eggs, which makes me pretty confused, actually. How does an egg cook in fifteen seconds? It’s gotta be the way they edited that that made it seem that way. Anyway, she gets a new egg done, and it’s time to taste.

Eggs Benedict:
Graham called Lee’s egg sexy, and said he would be psyched to order it in a restaurant. Whitney’s egg is “really beautiful”, but the grit cake is too big, like a “truck stop grit cake”.

Who wins the eggs Benedict round? Lee. I saw that coming. Even when Whitney was cooking, I was looking dubiously at how big her grit cake was.

Chicken Parmesan:
There is a bit of a narrow-eyed death stare in Lee’s direction after Joe tastes his dish. He said later that it worked on his palette, but it was a strange interpretation. He said that Whitney’s was rogue in appearance, but she got the flavor right.

Who wins the chicken Parmesan round? Whitney.

Cheesecake:
Gordon said Whitney’s cheesecake was very fragrant. He said Lee’s cheesecake was a lot lighter than it looked, and that he got the crust down. Honestly, I thought Lee’s cheesecake looked gross. The compote was almost grey-pink. Ew.

Who wins the cheesecake round? Whitney. Gordon said she took a huge risk and it worked. Even though he didn’t win, Lee asked if his mother could come down to taste his food. It was incredibly touching to watch, actually, and I admit I got teary

My Two Cents:
This was a tough one. I liked both of them, and they are both very good cooks in their own right. In the end, I wanted Whitney to win, though, so I was pleased with the results. And I wanted to eat her cheesecake. I’m just sayin’.

The Final Show Down: Whitney vs. David
Again, the cooks get two hours, but this time, they get to pick their own best dishes, an appetizer, entree, and dessert.

Whitney chooses a corn cake topped with black eyed pea puree with shrimp and turnip green pesto for an appetizer. Her entree is a country fried chicken on top of creamy collard greens. The dessert she chooses is a white chocolate bread pudding. My first thought? Oh, no! She’s seriously going to compete with down home cookin’?!

David’s appetizer is a scallop ceviche and cream of pea and mint soup. His entree is a beef Wellington, and his dessert is a nectarine crepe. In my mind, he’s obviously pandering to Gordon. Beef Wellington is one of Gordon’s signature dishes, and something that’s a staple on Hell’s Kitchen, and Gordon also says that nectarine crepe is a favorite of his too. Something tells me David’s choices of Gordon’s favorite foods are intentional, and I think it was a stupid call to make something Gordon loves and has perfected himself, as he’s likely to be more critical of it.

Before the cooking starts, all the former cooks come in to watch, a cliche of these sorts of shows, bringing everyone back. At least Whitney and David aren’t stuck with them as sous chefs, a la Hell’s Kitchen or Top Chef. The former competitors have their say on who they want to win—Sharone, Avis, Tracy, Sheetal, and Lee are for Whitney, Jenna and Mike are for David. Apparently Whitney is the favorite even among former competitors, and I would throw my vote in there too, even if I wasn’t so enthused about her food choices.

The judges are quick to point out that David would be stupid to write Whitney off, but they also admit that David’s choices are more sophisticated, and if he pulls them off well, it’ll blow Whitney out of the water. The cooking starts, and it’s not long before David starts putting on a big show for the people watching, bantering and showing off. Wow, is that annoying. Gordon eventually tells him to shut up (nicely), thankfully.

Halfway through cooking, Whitney changes courses and turns her dessert into a souffle instead of a bread pudding, which she admits she’s nervous about. Meanwhile, David is taking chanterelle mushrooms, which cook up amazingly, and pureeing them, much to the judges’ horror.

Things are actually going pretty smoothly, but again, it wouldn’t be a competition without an “oh my God, disaster!” moment at the end. With ten minutes left, Whitney goes to plate her chicken… and drops it on the floor. Fortunately, after a moment to collect herself, she jumps right back in and starts a new piece of chicken. With only seven minutes left on the clock, and the whole audience cheering her on.

And then it’s judging time.

Appetizers:
David serves his ceviche and pea soup, and tells Gordon not to eat them together, which Gordon is baffled by. The ceviche is apparently very spicy, and Gordon and Joe appear to choke on it a little. In spite of choking, Joe says he likes the dish and the contrast between the soup and ceviche, even though Gordon disagrees.

Whitney serves her dish, and unfortunately the shrimp aren’t cooked through. The judges liked it (even if they didn’t eat the shrimp), though, and Graham said it was true southern cooking elevated to another level.

Entrees:
David’s beef Wellington was seared well and seasoned well, according to Gordon, but he had a problem with David’s choice. He says David took the best cut of beef and made his life difficult with it, and while it was good, it wasn’t perfect. David starts crying. I agree with Joe when he said David’s cockiness is a front. David is actually extremely sensitive, and this is not the first time he’s cried.

When Whitney’s chicken comes up, Gordon is very worried about it being cooked, especially since Whitney didn’t even touch it to check for doneness when she plated it. He cuts into the thickest end first, and fortunately the chicken is cooked. In seven minutes! How she did that, I have no clue. Graham calls their dishes like civil war on the plate, David’s sophisticated dish against Whitney’s low country food. Gordon says David’s Wellington would be great if he cooked it another five hundred times to perfect it, but the judges all agree that Whitney’s chicken is unbelievable.

Dessert:
David’s crepe was very good according to the judges. Joe said he couldn’t stop eating it.

Whitney’s white chocolate bread pudding/souffle has been turned out of the souffle mold, which confuses Gordon. She she says she did it so they could eat it with the sauce. He said it was like she and David switched roles, with her going for the sophisticated, over-ambitious dessert.

So who won? Whitney!!!! And yes, I realize the extraneous exclamation points are grammatically incorrect, but she deserves them!

!!!

Confetti falls, everyone hugs, Gordon showers everyone with champagne (ew, sticky hair), and it’s all around excitement!

My Two Cents:
I couldn’t be happier for Whitney! You guys who’ve been reading these reviews this season know that I had a hard time getting to like her, but going into last night’s episode, she was the only one I was pulling for. It was pretty amazing. The judges almost didn’t let her into the competition because of her age (Gordon voted against her), and while she struggled in some areas, she came in and wiped the floor with the other contestants in every elimination challenge she was part of. And there was never any bravado or showboating. I think that was what finally won me over. After she lost the critics challenge last week, her quiet determination did me in.

So what did you guys think? Did the right two people go into the finals? And more importantly, did the right person win? Give me your two cents!

(And as you probably know if you’ve been reading this site, MasterChef has been renewed for another season! I’ll see you all for some cooking fun when it comes back!)