Masterchef: Top 12 Compete

The Round of 12 opens in Venice Beach where the chefs have been dropped off wondering what their next challenge will be. Next thing they know, the three judges roll up in three food trucks, horns blaring.

For the first time, the group will be divided into three teams. Because she won the previous challenge, Stacey gets the advantage of picking all three teams:

Stacey’s team – Tali (chosen surprisingly #1 because he is a team player and weak opponent in the event of a pressure test), Frank, Becky

Second Team – Monti, David, Anna, Tanya

Third Team – Christine, Mike, Josh and Felix.

Next, Stacey gets first choice of the different coloRed food trucks, not knowing what each color will mean. Stacey chooses the Red truck – Mexican cuisine. Monti’s team is given the Yellow truck – American cuisine. Josh’s team is given the third and final Blue truck – Indian cuisine.

Each team must elect a team captain. Obviously, Stacey is her own team’s captain. Josh decides to be captain of his team, as does Anna.

Each team must plan and prepare one $7 dish to serve the impending crowds, with 90 minutes before service.

Right off the bat, David and Monti butt heads with differing ideas on the side for their burger. In the end, David wins out with chips.

For the Blue team, Josh and his team decide to go with a Chicken Tikki Masala (though Michael has no idea what the dish is).

Masterchef: Top 14 Compete

After a 4am wake up call, the chefs learn that they will be cooking breakfast service for the entire hotel at which they are staying. As mentioned in the previous post, Christine and Josh are team captains with Christine having first pick and an extra perk because of her apple pie victory. The teams, in the order that they were chosen, are:

Team Christine: Felix*, Scott, Tanya, Mike, Stacy, Ryan
Team Josh: Becky, Frank, Anna, Monti*, David, Tali

*chosen by captain as expediter

Christine's extra perk is the opportunity to trade one chef for another. Without hesitation, she gets rid of Ryan for Becky.

Gordon Ramsay makes it clear right away that the key to expediting in the kitchen is communication, and each kitchen is a polar opposite of the other. Monti is screaming out orders (in two languages), pushing dishes out of the kitchen in rapid succession. Meanwhile, Felix is silent, keeping to herself, which is creating confusion in the blue kitchen.. It is clear that this is everyone's first experience in a professional kitchen.

While both kitchens continue to get dishes out, it seems they are being returned just as quickly. Quality is suffering for the sake of quick service. After a dish is returned to the blue kitchen with a hair in it, tension is at an all-time high, but despite a few arguments between Josh and Monti it appears that, in the end, everyone appreciated one another and the blue team turned in an overall great performance in the kitchen.

Over in the red kitchen, they were drowning throughout service at the direction of a silent Felix. The worst moment for the inexperienced expediter came at the end of service when she was still trying to send dishes out after time was called, resulting in a cheating accusation by Gordon Ramsay.

Though the blue team appeared to outperform the red team, it all comes down to customer satisfaction. Surprisingly, with 60% of the votes, the winning team was the red team, meaning the blue team must face an elimination pressure challenge.

As the chefs wait to enter the kitchen, Ryan and Tali are shown talking of their "alliance" (wait...what?) and about how Monti is at blame for the loss.

Once in the pressure challenge kitchen, each judge saves one contestant from the challenge. Their selections: Joe: David; Graham: Frankie; Gordon: Josh, psych...Monti. Well deserved!

This type of pressure challenge is my favorite. Cooking a dessert, the chefs will bring what they feel is their best dish when they feel it is ready with a 60 minute limit. The challenge: Molten Lava Cake. As Gordon says, "when you slice into it, you should be rewarded with a chocolate gooey surprise. Leave it in the oven too long and you have a brownie; pull it out too soon and you have a mess." Let's see what the chefs have to present.

Ryan's test cake, when pulled out collapses in a messy heap. Graham Elliot says "diarrhea on a plate." Precious, little time remains to cook another. Josh also pulls a test cake too early and it, too, falls apart.

Tali is the first chef to present before time runs out. Cooked to perfection, there is a nice gooey center. We will wait to hear how it tastes.

Anna also serves before the time and hers appears to be even better than Tali's.

With two minutes to go, Josh's second cake is ready to serve and when cut into, a beautiful runny center gushes out.

As time expires, Ryan gets his dish to the chefs just in time, however; the cake is a mess, collapsed on the plate. In poor taste, Monti, David and Frankie audibly chuckle on the balcony.

The judges' takes: Josh and Anna both produced a Molten Lava Cake of "pure perfection" according to Ramsay. They nailed the pressure test, and received big compliments from all three judges. The self proclaimed "Dream Team" is left standing in front of the panel in disbelief that one of them will be leaving. Tali's was stable but floury, while Ryan's was tasty but a complete mess. Gordon Ramsay turns the table and asks the chef "who knows he didn't make the better Molten Lava Cake" to turn in his apron. After a moment's hesitation, Ryan the "Flavor Elevator" removes his apron and hands it to Chef Ramsay -- a noble move in the end for a very arrogant chef.

And like that, we're down to 13 chefs. Who will be the next to go? Who impressed you this week? Share your comments below.

Masterchef: Top 15 Compete

Another interesting night in the Masterchef kitchen kicked off with one of the more bizarre mystery box challenges we've seen in 3 years. When it was time to reveal the task at hand, the chefs lifted the lids to find sheep's head, bull testicles, cow tongue and a mess of other disgusting ingredients. All the chefs were left gagging at the sight in front of them...except Christine. As she said, this was probably the first time her blindness gave her an advantage over the competition.

Once they were able to gain their composure, they had just sixty minutes to prepare their best dish for the judges. In the end, 3 dishes were chosen for the taste test. The chefs at the head of the class: Christine, Ryan and Becky. Ryan ended up taking the challenge, much to the dismay of most of the other chefs.

With a victory in a mystery box challenge comes an advantage over the competition in the elimination challenge. Ryan's rewards were: 1) a free pass to the next stage, and 2) the ability to determine what each chef's main ingredient would be. Obviously, he accepted #1. For the ingredients, he had to choose between tuna, ham or crab. For whichever one he chose, he would get to decide which half of the field cooked with the actual product and which half had to cook with an inferior version of it. He went with crab. Notable decision included Ryan rewarding his "partner in crime" Tali (huh?) with the biggest $60 dungeness crab while giving his nemesis Monti canned crab. He also gave Christine live crab -- the one chef that was hoping for the canned substitute. As Monti put it, "what kind of d*** gives live crab to the blind chick?"

Masterchef Round of 16

In the first team challenge, the chefs are driven out to the middle of desert-like training base where they had 2 hours to prep and cook for 201 hungry Marines who have been flying helicopter training missions all day. Because they were the strongest in the Round of 18, Frank and David were chosen captains..

Team David (Red team): Kansas City-style Pork Chops with Cheesy Potatoes

1. Becky
2. Helene
3. Mike
4. Josh
5. Ryan
6. Monti

Team Frank (Blue team): Grilled Chicken Breast with Pasta Salad

1. Stacy
2. Felix
3. Scott
4. Tanya
5. Tali
6. Christine
7. Michael

Seconds before the Marines arrived, Gordon noticed that the pork was raw, sending the Red team scrambling the save their dish. Then, during service, the Red team quickly ran out of food which led to Marines having to stand around waiting to eat. The service took a big turn for the worse when Joe noticed a Marine about to take a bite out of a raw pork chop. Unable to cook the chops all the way through quickly enough, the backup grew by the minute. Monti and Becky stepped up to speed the process while captain David stood back helplessly.

Frank got a little generous with his pasta servings and they too began to run low on food. Though the portions were a bit tight, they did not get into as sticky a situation as the Red team did. The one thing the Blue team had going for it was the fact they were able to cook their food properly. However, the menu did not seem to resonate with the Marines which didn’t do the Blue team any favors.

After service, the Marines were asked to step behind the team that they felt was the strongest. It was a pretty even split so the judges had to count the two sides. In the end, the winners of the first team challenge was the…Red team. Winning by just 16 votes, this win can be credited to the girls on the team who really stepped up when the odds were stacked against them.

Masterchef: Final Auditions & Top 36 Bootcamp

(From L-R; Joe Bastianich, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot)

Masterchef continued Monday evening with the continuation of the audition round, followed by the Top 36 bootcamp to narrow the field. Let's start with our audition recap...

Stacy from Apple Valley: The 29 year old from the desert cooked an Espresso Crusted New York Strip Steak. As Gordon stated, there was a lot going on with the plate, unfortunately highlighted by the vegetables rather than the steak. Only Graham Elliot approved, as she was sent packing. After she left the room, Graham urged the other judges to re-taste the dish, resulting in a reversal of opinion by Joe Bastianich - a Masterchef first!

Masterchef Season Premiere: Part II

"As the judges take their places for Round 2, anticipation is in the air as the first batch of home cooks create the dishes that could change their lives forever." The process is the same as Day 1. The chefs get an hour of prep before facing the judges. And now for the contestant recaps!

Felix: She starts out her final preparations in front of the judges with a swig of alcohol. After a quick five minutes, she is confident that her Crispy Risotto with Steak Tartar and Quail Egg will win the judges over. Chef Ramsay says her confidence is borderline arrogance and his decision is a no. After Bastianich disagrees, the choice was Graham Elliot's. Just after Ramsay throws out one last shot to make her cry, Elliot approves and she receives her apron. This one stands no chance in the next stage.

Luca: A restaurant manager raised in Italy, but working in New York is surprised by his mother during prep who has flown in from Italy. Weak attempt at an early tearjerker, Masterchef. Luca prepares a Venetian-style dish -- Calf's Liver with Lemon Polenta. Although his Italian conversation with Chef Joe Bastianich was charming, his cooking was just overcooked and he gets a firm "no" from Elliot and Ramsay. His response: "I feel...uh, very sad."

A few more unknown contestants get through to the competition, which leads us to...

Masterchef Season Premiere: Part I

Masterchef is back for its third season and momentum seems to be building for Ramsay's latest American project. If you're new to the show, Chef Gordon Ramsay is out to find the best amateur chefs in America. With the help of chefs Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot, Ramsay has a unique tryout premise. The contestant hopefuls are asked to prepare their best dish, which is judged by the three. If it is good enough, the amateur chef earns a white Masterchef apron, along with entry into the competition. Click below for a recap of the Monday's Masterchef hopefuls...

He's Back!

Both Hell's Kitchen and Masterchef seasons debuted tonight on NBC. Recaps will be up soon, but we're happy to have Gordon back and look forward to some great cooking reality shows this Summer!