by Todd Betzold

 

I hope you are sitting down because you are in for one mother of an episode on MasterChef.

 

It's another team challenge, as the competitors head to a California hotel to cook a stunning three-course meal for all three judges' mothers. The teams will be responsible for making an appetizer, entrée and dessert based on the two-minute meetings the captains for each team, Tracy and Giuseppe, have with the mothers to decide their likes and dislikes.

 

The captains first choose their teams, with Tracy choosing Adrien, Christian, Jennifer and Christine for the Blue Team and Giuseppe choosing Alejandra, Ben, Suzy and Derrick for the Red Team.

 

The teams decide on menus for the meal, with the Red Team going with an odd combination of two Italian dishes to start and ending with the American apple pie. The Blue Team comes up with a risky menu and is serving fish as the entrée when Chef Ramsay's mother specifically stated she does not like fish.

 

Ben questioned his team's choice in making crispy polenta in 60 minutes for the appetizers and Christian questioned his team's choice for the soup presentation and that it is too simple.

 

The teams present their appetizers to the mothers. The Blue Team presents a Carrot Ginger Soup and the Red Team has a Mixed Green Salad with Crispy Polenta. Mixed results from all the mothers, as the soup is too sweet by one and perfect from another and the salad is tasty from one and another preferring a different choice of greens.

 

The teams head back to kitchen and have ten minutes to finish up the entrée. Giuseppe is making a spaghetti carbonara and his team questions him on using boxed spaghetti instead of homemade pasta, but he claims to have done it plenty of times and knows what he is doing.

 

Time for entrees to be presented to the mothers. For the Blue Team, they have Pan Seared Turbot with Caramelized Fennel and for the Red Team, they have Spaghetti Carbonara. More mixed results, with one saying the pasta is too dry and another saying it is a perfect rendition of carbonara and for the fish one saying they loved the way it looked and one saying it needed more acidity.

 

The competitors head back to kitchen and finish up their desserts, with Christian again questioning Tracy and her decisions on the meal. He doesn't like plating a whole pear, so she switches it up and slices them, which then makes the plate too bare. She adds a whole pear to the plate and tries to make it look as presentable as possible.

 

The teams present their dessert dishes. For the Blue Team, they have Poached Pears and for the Red Team, they have Apple Pie. The mothers seem to enjoy both desserts and positive reactions for both teams.

 

It is decision time, with the winning team needing a win in two of the three dishes to not have to face the pressure test. For the appetizers, the mothers choose the Red Team with their Mixed Green Salad. For the entrees, the fish impressed them all and a win for the Blue Team. Down to the dessert and the mothers go with the Poached Pears and a victory for Tracy and the Blue Team.

 

Now it is time for the pressure test. The theme of this test will be eggs benedict, which gets a scream of joy from Ben. They will have 30 minutes to make the perfect dish for the judges to try. During the cooking, all the competitors choose Giuseppe as the weakest one in this test.

 

As we see Derrick and Giuseppe struggle to plate as the time runs out, the competitors bring their dishes forward.

 

Ben is up first and the judges come up and they all taste it with no comment, which freaks Ben out. Giuseppe is next, whose plate looks like a disaster and Chef Ramsay said his egg fell off the muffin and is trying to run away from the dish. He also comments that the eggs are raw.

 

Suzy is next and again tasting and no comments from the judges. Derrick follows with a plate that has very little sauce on it, but Chef Ramsay does state that the eggs are at least cooked.

 

Lastly is Alejandra, whose eggs end up being overcooked and sauce is solidified butter. Joe, trying to be his badass-self judge this season, asks her if she misses her husband and that she may be seeing him tonight.

 

All five competitors are brought before the judges, with Ben, Suzy and Alejandra being told they are safe. This leaves Derrick and Giuseppe, which is a no-brainer for anyone watching at home. Chef Ramsay said it is a shame to see either of them go home, but they are basing their decision purely on the eggs benedict dish. It's the raw eggs versus the insufficient sauce....and in the end, the insufficient sauce wins out as Derrick is safe and Giuseppe gets asked to turn in his apron.

 

 

MasterChef airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 9/8c on Fox.

 

(Image courtesy of Fox)

 

 

Follow Todd @tbetzold