Tonight on FOX Gordon Ramsay’s Masterchef continues with an all-new Wednesday, August 29, 2018, season 9 episode 16 & 17 called “American Heroes and Waste Not Want Not,” and we have your weekly Masterchef recap below. On tonight’s Masterchef episode as per the FOX synopsis, “The eight remaining home cooks divide into two teams and race against the clock to serve restaurant-quality dishes to 25 California firefighters. Then, the seven remaining contestants face a Mystery Box challenge filled with waste—literally. The home cook who makes the best dish from food scraps will be safe in the elimination challenge, during which they’ll take on another Mystery Box Challenge—but, this time, with all the best and freshest ingredients.”
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The Final 8 catered an important dinner for LA’s firefighters on tonight’s all-new episode of “MasterChef”.
The dinner was being held in appreciation for the firefighters. Their work and what they did during the Thomas Fire was so crucial that it preserved the region as a whole. Hence the dinner. The Masterchef contestants were going to be catering the event for their next Team Challenge and so first thing first the team captains were assigned. The captains were chosen from last week’s challenge and were Cesar and Bowen. The two had both shown in the past that they still needed to work on their communication and they were given a chance with this dinner to show that they were capable of improving, however, the judges had made things a little bit harder with this Team Challenge.
The team captains had to flip for a choice. The choice was whether or they wanted to choose the team they cooked with or the protein they wished to use, so a coin was flipped. Bowen eventually won the toss and he chose to pick the protein. Bowen had led the Red Team that consisted of Shanika, Samantha, and Ashley and together they cooked seabass meanwhile the rack of lamb was left to the Blue Team. The Blue Team was led by Cesar and his team was Gerron, Farhan, and Julia yet none of them had been concerned about cooking lamb. They thought they had a great team and had put Farhan on lamb because he was used to cooking with the protein. And so both teams had felt confident until the judges tasted a sample of each dish.
The judges had to step in when Bowen proved he needed instruction on cooking his team’s sea bass and so the Red Team were given a quick tutorial though Bowen’s confidence plummeted following the lesson. He began to second-guess himself and made a few mistakes in the kitchen. Only Bowen was lucky because his team easily stepped in to help him cook the protein and so he should have been able to pick himself up afterward instead he kept making mistakes. It had gotten so bad that Ramsay took the team away from Bowen and handed it over to Shanika. Shanika wasn’t going to be anyone’s friend and her bedside manner left a lot to be desired, except she snapped her way into delivering great pieces of fish.
The Blue Team had had fewer setbacks overall because once they figured out that Farhan wasn’t cooking the lamb properly – they quickly fixed it. Julia had even kept watch over Farhan to make sure he didn’t make the same mistake again and so they ended up working as a stronger team. They weren’t like the Red Team. The Red Team ultimately stepped up but it had been too late for them. The firefighters had eaten both dishes and they decided that the Blue Team won this week’s Team Challenge. They said the lamb had been cooked to perfection and the flavors worked overall because they took more of a risk. And so things hadn’t gotten well for the Red Team when they found out they lost.
They easily turned on each other. The one person that had gotten the most flank was Bowen because he cracked under pressure and so Ashley lashed out at him. Bowen, on the other hand, had thought that was unfair. He said he tried to do his part and had snapped back at Ashley, so the other team members had had to take them in hand to stop the argument which they did. The team lost because of a lack of communication in the kitchen and so they stopped arguing about it because they knew they had to focus on what came next. The Red Team had lost the challenge and it meant they would have to cook in the Pressure Test. And the Pressure Test tonight was not one bowl of pasta but three.
Joe Bastianich gave a Masterclass on three different versions of pasta. He should his reluctant students how to cook each version to perfection and had shown how easily things could go wrong if they forced even a single step yet there were still mistakes in the kitchen. Bowen was again left frazzled and he would often take steps that could have waited until the end. Meanwhile, Shanika had problems with her dough. The dough had been too hard and she hadn’t had enough time to make another one. She instead worked on what she had until it was good enough and then rushed through the other stuff just to make sure she had something to offer the judges. It was perhaps her worst night yet in the kitchen and she wasn’t afraid to admit it.
The true star of this Pressure Test was Samantha. Samantha was used to cooking with pasta and that experienced was on display tonight with the judges. They enjoyed Samantha’s dishes the best and so it was the other three that disappointed them. Ashley had put her own spin on things and that hadn’t been what the judges asked for. They took points away from Ashley because of that and still her display hade been better than Bowen. Bowen had done his own thing as well and it worked out half as well because he never had pasta before. He admitted that to the judges and they had been shocked he came so unprepared to MasterChef. They thought Bowen would at least familiarize himself with the dish and so tasting the dishes had been a disappointment.
The flavor had been there and that meant it was the pasta itself that the judges hated. The pasta had been too thin each time with each dish and that was the test. Both Bowen and Shanika had failed this Pressure Test and the judges decided to judge everyone based solely on the test, so
“MasterChef” found themselves down to last seven as they went into the second hour of tonight’s all-new episode.
The contestants walked into their kitchen to find Mystery Boxes waiting for them. They soon learned that their Mystery Boxes held traditional leftovers that normally people would throw away but tonight the contestants were told how this quickly turning into a waste. Billions of good products were getting thrown out every day because no one thought they could cook with gizzards, liver, and carrot leaves. The judges had told everyone how they became interested in finding out what could be done by cooking with these pieces and so that came to be the challenge. The contestants each had to cook a desirable and restaurant-worthy meal with protein that would have gotten thrown away.
A few of them of the home cooks rose to the challenge, however, most of them couldn’t help watching their fellow chef. Chef Ramsay had taken part in tonight’s challenge and he took the added step of making both the main dish as well as a desert with his own Mystery Box, so not that surprising he probably did the best out of everyone. He decided at the last minute to make a three-course-meal in fourth-five minutes and all of them had been beautiful. He made Chicken Liver Mousse Parfait with Chive Blini as his appetizer, Braised Hamachi Collar with Carrot Top Chimichurri and Broccoli-Cauliflower Stem Salad as his main dish, and Salted Caramel Beetroot Stem with Vanilla Shortbread and Lemon Whipped Cream as dessert.
The remaining judges had enjoyed all three dishes though there were three other dishes they believed made excellent use of these throwaway products. The first person to get called was Samantha. Samantha created a Chicken Bone Broth with Juice Pulp, Cauliflower Stems, and Crispy Chicken Skin. It looked like it could be in a restaurant and tasted just as a great. The judges had even completed her on making the both green because it elevated the dish. The second person the judges called was Ashley. Ashley created a Juice Pulp Herb Agnolotti with Chicken Livers and Mushroom Brown Butter Sauce. Again the brightness of that green thrown in there had been a smart move because it elevated the dish and it didn’t hurt that it tasted just as great.
As for the last person the judges called, they called Cesar. Cesar created Chicken Liver Skewers with Beet Tops, Mushroom Stems, and Broccoli-Cauliflower Stems and tonight’s challenge had been personal for him. His father came to this country with nothing and would often have to go looking for food in dumpsters just to eat a meal. So that always meant something to Cesar. Cesar had wanted to show how even something called scraps could be used to feed someone that would have gone without otherwise. And so it wasn’t surprising when Cesar won this challenge. He put a lot of himself in this dish and that made it taste delicious. Therefore, Cesar was safe from elimination and he received an added advantage.
Cesar’s last advantage was saved until later on and so it had nothing do with the Elimination Challenge. The remaining six contestants had to cook and the challenge tonight was for each contestant to cook with the whole pieces of the former scraps. They had shown what they could do with scraps and so the judges wondered what would they do with the Rolls Royce of products. The contestants themselves tried to elevate meals they were familiar with meanwhile the judges looked for something more. They wanted to see how far everyone’s come since Day 1 and so they went around to see what they were doing. They were also asking questions along the way and it’s apparent that everyone believed Bowen was done.
None of the other contestants had much faith in him and Bowen could have let that get to him. He chose not to and he even regained his focus in the kitchen. Bowen created a Pan-Seared Hamachi with Sweet and Sour Kale Salad and Cauliflower Puree. The judges had liked it and they were glad to see Bowen back on his feet. The next person they called was Julia. She created a Roasted Chicken Breast with Cauliflower Couscous and Beet-Carrot Puree. The judges thought the dish hadn’t had enough flavor and so they had been disappointed with Julia because she looked better than that during her first week. Moving on, the judges next called Ashley. Ashley created a Pan-Seared Hamachi with Roasted Beets and Cauliflower Puree.
The judges thought Ashley’s tasted great and they loved the seared on that fish. The judges next called Farhan. Farhan created a Spice-Crusted Hamachi with Beet Puree and Kale Fritter. The cook on the fish had been somewhat okay and unfortunately, the flavor hadn’t been there either. The judges next called Samantha. Samantha created a Pan-Seared Rib Eye with Mushroom Cream Sauce and Carrot Vinaigrette Slaw. She had got a great color on that steak and had shown she wasn’t afraid to take risks. And as for Gerron, it seems Cesar’s final advantage was to save someone from elimination and he chose to save his friend Gerron.
No one got that chance and so someone was sent home tonight.
The judges felt that between Farhan and Julia that Julia’s dish was just too bad to overcome.
The judges voted and the chose to eliminate Julia.
THE END!