Gordon: Previously...
The hottest party celebrating 10 seasons of "MasterChef."
...the top 18 battled it out for immunity
in an epic team challenge.
Do not ruin our party,
or your team will face elimination.
Stop pissing around! It's ( bleep ) raw!
Michael: It's chaos right now.
Gordon: Blue Team won immunity,
while the Red Team faces elimination.
But it was a bittersweet victory
for team captain Noah.
Blue Team, it was clear to us that not everyone
was pulling their weight.
Someone from the winning team
will also be facing elimination.
Noah, the choice is yours.
- And tonight... - Joe: Please put on your blindfolds.
...a Season 10 elimination challenge
like you've never seen before.
Holy crap-balls!
And for one home cook, it will be their last night
inside the MasterChef kitchen.
Cook for your life.
Joe: Whoa!
- Noah. - Yes, Chef.
Who from your winning team will face elimination?
As the team captain, if I would've lost, I'd fall on the sword right now.
But I believe Subha was hurting us immensely.
I don't think that's fair.
Well, Blue Team, everyone except for Subha,
- please head up to the balcony. - Let's roll, guys.
- Good luck, Subha. - Good luck, Subha.
That's crazy.
Red Team, and Subha,
put on your black aprons. Let's go.
Subha: I feel awful.
I'm going into another elimination challenge.
Because I actually contributed to the winning thing.
Noah's very threatened by me,
and now I have to fight my way back.
Tonight, it's all about
what's under here.
It's actually been cooked on "MasterChef"
more times than anything else.
It's the most delicious,
most spectacular...
- chicken. - Yes.
An absolute stunning protein.
- In fact, a chef's dream. - Not going home tonight.
I am so happy. My husband loves chicken.
I cook chicken sometimes twice a day.
So I'm feeling very confident.
Now, to be a true MasterChef,
you have to be able to take a stunning bird like this,
and break it down into all its delicious parts.
Yep.
It's so easy, honestly, for me,
I could do it with my eyes closed.
- Really, Gordon? - Yeah.
- All right, well, here's the deal. - Go on.
- Oh! - Oh, my God.
Put that on for size, my friend.
- Lord have mercy. - Oh, my gosh.
Unbelievable.
Sarah: He's actually gonna cut up this chicken with a blindfold?
Wow.
Two drums, two thighs,
two wings, two breasts, one carcass.
- You watching up there? - Yes, Chef!
Lift up the knife, pierce back the skin, literally slice through.
Pull back, pop out that joint.
Come 'round, slice off.
Again, pierce, pull back, pop out.
Slice down. From there, feel where the knuckle is.
Off. One thigh, one drum.
And now, for the exciting part.
Chicken wing.
- Oh. - Cut through the wing.
- Snap off. - Unreal.
Snap off. Back to the main part of the bird.
Feel the breastbone down the middle.
Come through the wishbone.
And let the knife do the work.
Breast on. Peel back that skin.
Very carefully, feel the knife.
In.
Through. Down.
Incredible.
Pull back the filet, and off.
One carcass, two drums, two thighs,
two wings, two breasts. Done.
Noah: Well done. Well done.
Easy.
"Zorro" Ramsay.
I hope all of you are ready to follow Chef Gordon's lead.
Please, head to your stations.
As a vegetarian, I've never broken down a chicken in my life,
so I'm really freaking out that I may not get the chicken
exactly how Gordon wants it.
Okay, guys, if you are able to wow us today,
you'll join the Blue Team on the balcony
and save yourselves from elimination.
Please open up your drawers
and put on your blindfolds.
Dorian: This can't be real.
Holy--
What?
That is insane.
- Is this really happening? - Medics. Medics.
Gordon: Just stand on this side, please.
Joe: At least three medics.
We have to do this blindfolded?
Like, holy crap-balls!
You can take your glasses off, Subha.
- 'Cause you're not gonna need 'em, buddy. - You're not gonna need 'em.
I can try. I might not have any phalanges,
but I can try it.
Your five minutes...
starts now.
Okay, guys. Take your time. Focus.
- Noah: Come on, guys. - Fred: Be careful.
Stop! Stop, stop, stop.
We're kidding. Really? Thank you, medics.
Whew!
Wuta: Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.
Right. Everybody ready to break down your chickens?
- Yes, Chef. - This time for real.
Your five minutes start now. Let's go.
Let's go, guys. Let's go, guys. Focus!
Precision, Wuta. Precision.
Being able to break down a chicken is something that every home cook learns.
It's a fundamental of cuisine.
Gross.
For me, it's a great way to identify
their sort of basic technical skills.
Joe: And it's not just about knife skills.
You have to know where the joints are,
where the give points are, because you have to use
the anatomy of the chicken to help you break it down.
Exactly that. One minute gone, guys. Four minutes to go.
- Joe: Sarah's nervous. She's shaking. - Gordon: I know.
Come on, Sarah! You got this. You've got this.
Oh, yes.
I have broken down a cooked chicken,
but I am no expert at butchering,
so I am so relieved that I don't have to do it.
Subha's got both the wings and legs off already. Very fast.
Subha: It's redemption time. I want to get back on the balcony.
Guys, we're coming up now. Just two and a half minutes to go. Halfway.
Oh, jeez.
Gordon: Let's go, Micah.
- Subha's done. First one finished. - Gordon: Very good job. Wow.
Subha: I feel good about this one, because every part looks good.
I even completed the task well ahead,
so I'm confident that I'm going to get upstairs.
90 seconds to go, guys. You should be on the breast.
Micah, let the knife do the work.
Let's go, Kimberly.
- Breast. - Joe: A lot of home cooks,
I think, probably when they do this the first time,
they leave lots of breast meat on the breastplate.
Biggest mistake. How do you eliminate that?
So, you find that center backbone
and you run your knife in a way
that you don't leave any flesh on that carcass.
I can't get the second breast off.
Gordon: That second breast is the hardest,
because there's no leverage anywhere,
so you got to be super careful.
We're down to 30 seconds to go!
Come on, put your chicken pieces on display.
Not today. I ain't going home today.
- Looking good, Jamie. - Let's go, guys.
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three,
two, one.
Five, four, three, two, one.
- That's it. Hands in the air. - Stop, guys! Hands in the air.
Beautiful.
Great job, guys! Proud of y'all.
Okay. Now it's time to take a much closer look
and to see how well you've done.
If you are able to wow us today,
three of you will be joining the Blue Team
up in the balcony, safe from elimination.
Gents.
Shari: I grew up with my grandparents owning a farm.
They would butcher their own chicken.
And it's hitting me really hard at this moment.
I'm just thinking, "Why did I not listen to my grandma more?"
Wuta, have you ever done a chicken like this before?
- Never. - All right, let's see how you did.
- Think I left some meat on it. - Yeah, you left a little bit of meat on here. It's heavy.
- Wow. - These are real sloppy.
- Gordon: But they're flat, aren't they? - Mangled.
Not quite the plumpness that we want in a chicken breast.
Yeah.
Jamie, how do you feel that you did?
I wish my skin was a little bit cleaner on the chicken breast,
but the thighs and the legs I feel good about.
I think you're being a little bit too critical.
I think you did a fantastic job.
You left a really great amount of skin on there. I love that.
- You made some really clean cuts. - Thank you, Chefs.
- Dorian. Well, that's a skinny carcass, huh? - Yes, it is.
- Nothing left. - Very little.
But that's the best part of the chicken.
- You've done this before. - Yeah, I have.
- It's apparent. - Plenty of times.
The question, Dorian, is it good enough to get you upstairs?
- Yes. - We'll see.
Michael, let me say, you do have that beautiful robustness with the breast,
and you were able to leave a lot of the skin intact.
Kimberly.
- There's a lot of weight on that. - Yeah.
That's a lot of weight.
Sarah: This is so stressful right now.
The judges are being very critical
of everyone's chickens.
Shari, it's like-- there.
You know, I think I just got a little bit too much
of the thigh left on the carcass.
Aarón: It's disproportioned.
It's half the size, as you can see.
Sarah: I have to redeem myself in this,
so I made sure every cut
was the best that I could do.
You got another half an inch on the bottom.
And that's why when you pop out that bone,
it opens up for the knife to come down in here.
It's a shame.
Renee: I'm getting kind of worried.
My confidence level is kind of going...
Gordon: Micah, here's the issue here.
It's like a three-breasted chicken.
- There's a third portion on there. - Did you wear the blindfold?
No, Chef.
Renee: I think my chicken looks good.
But we shall see what the judges will say. Ugh.
Renee, how do you feel you did?
- I give myself a 90. - A 90?
- That's, like, an A-minus. - I'm my worst critic.
This is the actual spine of the chicken right there.
And this is the ass of the chicken right here.
- So, you still thinking 90? - An 80. Or a "D." A 60.
So the weight's inside there.
Renee, I appreciate how much you think of your ability,
but you left a lot here.
Thanks.
First of all, Subha, I mean, you did it in three minutes.
It wasn't the fastest. We're looking for the most accurate.
- Yes, Chef. - Have you been accurate?
I believe so, Chef.
Right. Well, let's talk about the chicken.
Thighs, nicely done. Wings, good job with that.
The issue I've got, this bit here.
It's like another portion. What happened there?
I went too fast, perhaps.
Joe: Look how much you left on there.
Look, you can invite another family member to dinner.
- Subha: Agreed, Chef. - Had you paced yourself,
it could have been perfect.
Right. Thank you.
Precision. It's not about time. It's about accuracy.
Tonight's task was to perfectly break down an amazing chicken.
It's a job I could do with my eyes closed.
Some of you didn't even do it properly with your eyes open.
But, for those few that did excel,
tonight, you are worthy of immunity.
Now, when I call your name,
please make your way to the balcony.
- Jamie. - Oh, boy.
- Woohoo! - Attaboy!
Gordon: Michael, congratulations.
- Dorian, head upstairs. - You go, Dorian.
I'm so proud of my chicken carcass.
I got my white apron back,
and I got to show the judges that I can break chicken down
as well as any butcher.
So those of you who are still at your stations,
I hope you are all up for your next challenge.
Because after this, one of you will be eliminated.
And guess what all of you guys are gonna be working with?
- Any guesses? - Chicken?
Exactly. Our hope is that you didn't butcher things too badly.
In this challenge, you will have to take your chicken,
and turn it into a dish worthy of this competition.
There is no better test of home cook skills
than to deal with a humble chicken.
You know those breasts can go dry.
Those thighs can be undercooked.
And it can be so bland.
Trust me, we have tasted so many incredible
chicken dishes across nine seasons of "MasterChef."
This is season 10.
You need to work extra hard to wow us.
Along with that chicken that you all have broken down,
you will have access to the full
and unbelievably stocked MasterChef pantry.
And of course, our beautiful herb garden.
Get creative.
You are the top 18 of the best home cooks anywhere.
Prove that once again tonight.
I completely butchered the challenge today.
Are you ready to cook the most outstanding
chicken dish of your entire lives?
- Yes, Chef. - Renee: So now I have no idea
what I'm going to do.
Gordon: Your 45 minutes starts...
- now. - Let's go, guys! Come on.
Oh, crap.
Your 45 minutes starts...
- now. - Let's go.
Come on.
Oh, my goodness!
Sarah: Having led my team to a loss, and now this?
I really have to redeem myself.
I have to prove to these judges that I am a good cook,
I deserve my spot here.
I need to wow them.
Let's go, guys. Come on.
- Keep it going. - Aarón: Let's go.
Guys, a whole chicken broken down like this,
is truly the culinary white canvas.
You can paint anything on it.
- You can express yourself. - Yeah, chicken is so bland,
you need to bring in big, bold flavors.
- It is the perfect opportunity to shine. - Absolutely.
7 minutes gone. 38 minutes remain. Let's go.
Oh, God. Wuta's handling that chicken breast kind of all over.
I'm going to use my breasts that they said was a little bit on the sloppy side,
to show them that even with sloppy meat, you can make something amazing.
Thing about living in the Bronx,
sometimes you have a bad cut.
So you make do with what you have.
- Right, young man, I know you're feeling pissed off. - Yes.
- However, that was the captain's choice. - Yes, sir.
But what you need to do now is cook your way back up to that balcony.
- Yes, Chef. - Tell me about the dish. What are you doing?
It's called Chettinad chicken.
It's from the southern part of India,
and it's usually done with very dry spices
and it's cooked in the gravy.
Southern India? Are we spending three hours doing this dish?
- Yes. - Are you mad?
I have done-- I believe that I can get this thing done.
You can't fast-track a curry.
I will try my best to make sure that the chicken
is fully cooked for you and fully flavorful.
- And then... - And then?
- Plate it with some finesse. - Yes. Yes, sir.
- And speed up a little, yes? - Yes, Chef. Absolutely. Thank you, Chef.
Gordon: Use your time wisely, guys, okay? Let's go.
The golden color on that gravy is insane.
She's got everything in the bag.
Renee: Comfort food is my style of cooking.
So I'm going to make pan-fried chicken
with mashed potatoes and homemade drop biscuits with a pan gravy.
My granny used to make it
all the time when she was living.
And that's something that's very, very dear to me.
And I'm 100% sure they're gonna love the taste.
Hello, Kimberly. Oh, look, you got the spice rack out.
I do have the whole spice rack out.
Aarón: What is your dish?
So I'm doing a roasted rosemary chicken,
with a Mediterranean rice and a sauce.
- And you're just using the wings and drumsticks. - That's correct.
So more of the economical cut.
Something you would have at a regular family dinner during the week.
Correct. This is something that I feel comfortable making.
It's something that is a personal request
- from my friends and family. - Joe: You think that bringing
a home dish is what is gonna save you?
Hopefully, I can elevate the flavors enough
that it will save me in this. Thanks, guys.
Kimberly: I feel incredibly confident right now.
My mother is, like, a master of chicken,
so I'm hoping that I can channel my mother's energy
to push me through this elimination round.
Oh, my God. This is just too stressful.
- Young man, what's the dish? - Yes, sir.
What are you doing to stay in the competition?
I'm doing coq au vin with herb-roasted carrots.
- Gotcha. Coq au vin is a classic French dish. - Yes, Chef.
- What inspired this dish? - Julia Child. I love her.
She's completely bold. She didn't care what anybody else thought.
- And I love this recipe. It tastes like home to me. - Good.
Coq au vin is a hard dish to pull off.
But it's a chance to prove that I have everything
I need and more to be a serious competitor.
Micah's is the most refined.
- It's a French culinary classic. - Yeah.
Gordon: 25 minutes remaining.
- So what have you seen, Gordon? - I'm really worried about Micah.
- You know, coq au vin. - And it's one of those dishes that's so iconic
with traditional French cuisine.
You can't mess it up, 'cause there's nowhere to hide.
Here's the problem. I already saw him pour
a bottle of wine into the chicken.
That's gonna be chicken sangria, not coq au vin,
because he's not gonna be able to burn the alcohol out of the wine.
He may have time to get that done.
- Hurry up, Subha, run! - One of you is leaving the competition.
- That oil is about to ( bleep ) on fire. - Yeah, it is.
- What? - I see that, too.
It's about to catch on fire.
Whoa!
Shari: I'm making a tandoori-inspired chicken leg.
Because I wanna stay here,
I'm going back to those flavors that I know,
and this is what I feed my family.
Shari.
- What are we doing? - I'm doing a tandoori.
- Stop it. A tandoori? - I am. I am.
- What's happening to you? - I like to cook Indian food.
- Subha! - Yes, Chef?
Shari's doing a tandoori. We have no tandoori oven.
I don't have a tandoori at home, so--
I feel like there's something missing in this competition.
A little Minnesota.
What other cuisines can you cook?
I grew up in the midwest. I can cook midwestern food.
- Italian dishes. French-- - Italian? I can do some Italian.
- Spanish-inspired. - I can do a bouillabaisse.
Now you're talking. Everything you're doing here
is a little bit of the mother-in-law.
You're cooking for her every time!
It's not about the mother-in-law.
- I know. - It's "MasterChef,"
not "Master Mother-In-Law."
It's gonna be good, Chef. It's gonna be good.
Gordon: 10 minutes to go.
Great move, Sarah.
- I'm expecting Sarah to bounce back. - Yeah.
She led her team to the loss, so tonight is redemption.
I'm not going home tonight. This is my dish.
I'm staying here, and I'm going to get myself back on that balcony.
That is fantastic!
Start thinking about the plating, let's go.
Taste everything.
Renee, make sure those biscuits are cooked.
- Subha? - Yes, Chef?
Get out of neutral, get into first gear. Let's go!
- Yes, yes, yes. - Come on, two minutes! Here we go!
Subha, looks like you got a lot of flavors going on there, buddy.
Yeah. Thanks for sending me here.
- Oh! Oh-ho! - You're welcome, Subha.
You're welcome, my brother.
Kimberly, do you like where the consistency of that sauce is?
- Taste! Taste, young lady! - 90 seconds to go, guys. Let's go!
What's he doing? Left, right?
You're not bringing in an airplane!
Put the pan down, Subha! Work with two hands!
- Come on! - Oh, jeez ( bleep )!
- Put the pan down! - Not with your hands!
Two hands! Let's go! Come on!
- 45 seconds to go! - Aarón: Come on, Subha!
Let's go! There you go. With finesse!
- 30 seconds, guys! Come on! - Come on, guys!
Come on, Subha, let's go! Get all the elements!
- What do you have up there? - Less is more, Micah.
Nice, Sarah. 20 seconds to go!
Aarón: All right, here we go, guys!
Gordon: That's enough. That's enough. Don't go crazy.
Aarón: All right! Let's go!
Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one!
Aarón: That's it. Hands in the air.
Kimberly: I'm a perfectionist,
so I'm not happy with the plate.
I'm not sure how it compares to everybody else's dish,
but I did the best I could.
So, you know, only-- only time will tell.
- Great job, Wuta. - I didn't know if I can get it done,
but I got it done, you know?
What an incredible cook-off.
Now it's time to taste
those extraordinary chicken dishes.
First up, Wuta, make your way down.
I think a lot of people are counting me out this challenge.
I haven't tasted the chicken,
but I always think that food is more about the love,
the timing, and paying attention to it.
Wuta, describe the dish, please.
So what we have here is fried chicken
with about eight spices in the batter,
- and roasted potato. - So you used the breast, which is interesting.
Because traditionally, it's a tough one to fry.
It's a brave one.
I wanted to show you guys that even with something
that you guys told me wasn't good enough,
that you can still make good food from it.
Let's see how that's cooked.
- Hmm. - Mm-hmm. Yeah.
I like the boldness. I like that you have
a chip on your shoulder and you want to prove us wrong.
That really says a lot about you.
But I feel like you need a fresh element to this dish.
There's no greens.
There's nothing that's a departure from fried.
You need something to give you a break.
It's not really my type of dish,
but I think that you're finally
- putting yourself on a plate, Wuta. - Thank you, Chef.
Wuta, you've made one crucial faux pas.
There's a couple of almost like nodules of flour that haven't been cooked out.
When you have a chicken breast that thick,
the coating needs to be super thin.
- Just a light-- - You need to pat and dust that off
because it's super-thin chicken.
With this delicacy, I don't want to taste the flour.
Thank you, Chef.
Great job, Wuta.
Sarah, can you bring your dish down?
Gordon: Describe the dish please, Sarah.
Today I have for you a buttermilk
spicy fried chicken with celery root two ways.
I have a puree and a celery root slaw.
Sarah: My heart is pounding
because I really want to redeem myself.
I'm, like, trying to read their faces,
but their faces are totally blank,
and I'm getting nothing.
Which is strange for me, because I'm an interrogator.
That's what I do for a living.
Visually, it's got finesse. I've never seen such
a beautiful, artistic piece of fried chicken.
Joe: It's super modern. It's like gastro-pub New York, London.
Yeah, and I love the textbook cuts on all the celery root.
Gordon: What's the seasoning in the coating, please?
Buttermilk, a little bit of salt, and pickle juice,
actually, for the brine.
Chicken's cooked beautifully.
You know what, Sarah? You have done something that's very remarkable.
That puree and that slaw
can go with just about any protein in the world.
I mean, that's how good the setup is.
Gordon: What you've proved tonight is that your perform
so much better cooking individually,
than you can driving a team.
I'm hoping, if you're still here, that controlling a team
and standing above the competition
bounces back, because that's what it's gonna take.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
Sarah: I'm feeling so validated.
As team captain, this weight that I've had on me
losing the challenge is totally gone.
Subha, come on down.
Gordon: Let's go.
Subha: I'm happy to present this dish to the judges,
because this is the time for me to show them
that I can cook good Indian food.
This is my redemption, and also a chance
to prove to those in the balcony
that I can be better utilized in the team challenges.
I made Chettinad chicken,
which is traditionally from the south India region called Chettinad.
It's cooked with roasted coconut, pepper, and a lot of dry spices.
And I contrasted that with a saffron basmati rice, cabbage, and peas.
So, visually, you know...
I see food like this,
I want to send you to LensCrafter.
- Joe: Aww, come on. - It doesn't look attractive.
- Come on. Oh, really? - It looks nice.
It looks like the cat's crawled all over the plate.
What is this thing here?
- Uh, it's the sauce. It's the Chettinad sauce. - Joe: It's the sauce.
- It's a home dish. - I know it's a home dish. Here's the thing.
At this stage of the competition, I just want finesse.
Everybody's sharpening their knives
and everyone's getting way more finesse.
So, shall we?
I gotta say, sadly, sometimes Indian food,
the presentation doesn't live up
to the flavors that are involved.
And here...
it tastes a lot better than it looks.
This is such a smart dish.
For me, it tastes delicious.
I just wanna go back with my blindfold on and eat it.
Because it's not gonna win a beauty contest, is it?
- Yes, Chef, I agree with you. - Let's be honest.
You and I are never gonna be on the cover of "GQ," are we?
- No, Chef. - No, but the flavors are there!
- It's bloody delicious. - Joe: I think it's fantastic.
It conjures up everything I think about southern Indian food.
I think the white heat is really great.
The cabbage and peas, I've never had before.
- Excellent. - Thank you.
And, um, this dish, Subha, is "Subha-dooba" good.
- Good job!
- I've never seen you eat three bites of curry. - It's really good.
I think you're turning Joe on to curries.
- Which is a hard proposition. - It's been 10 years coming.
Subha, you might be the guy who breaks the code.
Subha: I made Joe love curries.
- That is an amazing thing. - Good job, Subha!
I think Noah is going to regret putting me in this position,
because what goes around comes around.
- You did great, Subha. Absolutely amazing. - Deep breaths, Subha.
- Thank you. - Noah. Huh? See?
Awesome. Grew in front of our eyes.
Unbelievable. It looked awesome.
Now the question is, does he forgive you or does he come at you?
- I hope he comes at me. - Hmm.
Next up, Renee, please.
I believe my granny's gonna really be proud of me.
I put my passion into this plate.
So I know she's looking down on me
in heaven saying, "Good girl."
Describe the dish, please.
This is me on a plate.
It's my southern fried chicken,
garlic-roasted mashed potatoes, and a biscuit.
It might seem basic, but it's really dear to my heart,
'cause my grandmother was very poor.
And when they could afford meat,
she'd make pan-fried chicken in a cast iron skillet.
Gordon: I'm dying to taste it. Where's the gravy gone?
The gravy's on top of the mashed taters.
- Gotcha. - Taters?
Taters. Or potatoes.
When I think of southern home cooked food,
- I think of this dish. - Thank you.
And this could be a cover picture of a southern cookbook.
I think tonight you've taken a big risk, you're baking biscuits.
Nobody else is baking anything else separate, so I'm pleased.
Thank you.
How's the chicken cooked? All right?
Mm-hmm.
Aarón: I love the seasoning of the chicken.
The mashed potatoes, I would imagine grandma making those.
But good stuff right here. I can capture the essence.
- Thank you. Appreciate it. - It looks like it tastes.
It's super, super homey.
The one issue I've got with this dish
is the fact that the mashed potatoes are so wet.
You've overcooked the potatoes. It's taken on too much water.
And so whatever you add into that, it just becomes even more watery.
Chicken, for me, is cooked fine.
And the star of this dish
has to be those biscuits.
But what a shame that mash is nowhere near
the standard of MasterChef or even your grandma.
Thank you.
Chin up, Renee. Chin up.
Next up, Shari. Please come down with your dish, thank you.
Shari: Gordon wants me to cook different cuisines,
so it makes me nervous
knowing that this is another Indian dish.
I know that my chicken and my potatoes are good.
But there's not gonna be any BS-ing him with this.
I did a tandoori chicken with a traditional yogurt marinade,
some turmeric and cumin spiced potatoes,
- and then my chutney turned into a foam. - Wow.
Unfortunately, I added too much liquid.
I had to save it. I thought fast.
- I ran back... - Sure.
- grabbed some cream... - Smart.
threw it in a siphon. You get a foam.
Let's get it straight.
Visually, it looks beautiful.
- Thank you, Chef. - Yeah, and one
of the difficult challenges with Indian food
is how do you present it beautifully?
- And I think you've solved that riddle. - Thank you.
Joe: Yeah, it looks really nice.
It's a great balance between,
certainly, Indian colors and upscale plating.
- Thank you. - Gordon: Should we taste?
- Now how long did you cook the drums for? - For about 15 minutes.
The chicken's delicious. I love what you've done.
- It's the foam that spoils the dish. - It was supposed to be
- a nice chutney. - I know what it was supposed to be.
- But I'm a firm believer, if it's not good enough... - Don't put it on the plate.
- Don't put it on. - Gordon: ...Don't put it on.
So you make this delicious chicken,
beautiful spiced potatoes.
And then you spoil it with, you're saying,
a fake chutney.
- It's a mess. - Yeah, you know what?
I have to disagree with Gordon.
I actually like this little faux chutney, whatever you did.
It's a cooling element to all the spice.
Yeah, I think that the sauce, the foam, is excellent.
The potato recipe I'm going to steal from you,
- because it's spot-on. - I would love to share it.
It's spicy, delicious.
- Very good dish. - Good job.
Next up, Micah, please. Let's go.
Micah: Making coq au vin was definitely a risk.
It is a tricky dish.
But I think that it'll be--
it'll be-- it'll be good.
Today I've made coq au vin with sautéed pearl onions
and mushrooms and roasted carrots.
Have you ever had coq au vin before?
- Yeah. - Where had you eaten it?
Um, I've made it for myself and my uncle made it for me.
- Never eaten it in a restaurant? - No.
Unfortunately, you picked a dish
that without having tried an original version
is impossible to duplicate.
It's just that particular.
You've got balls of steel, young man,
to try and do a coq au vin in 45 minutes.
In France tonight, that dish takes four hours.
It's got that red wine taint, but there's no sauce.
Coq au vin is traditionally served almost in,
like, a casserole, with ladles of red wine.
- Rich, delicious flavor. - Yes.
Chicken is cooked beautifully.
- It's just not a coq au vin. - Yes, Chef.
Kimberly, please, let's go.
Kimberly: I look around the kitchen and I feel like
I'm not worried about myself at this point.
I wasn't super confident in breaking down the chicken,
but I feel like I've cooked this dish enough times
that it's good enough to save me.
Describe the dish, please.
I made a rosemary herb chicken
with a Mediterranean rice and pureed mushroom sauce.
I love the fact that you used the wing.
Even in my restaurant-- at the highest level,
we use the wings as well. You know that.
Joe: The plating leaves a little bit to be desired.
- I would expect more finesse. - You know, I'm puzzled
just by the description, Kimberly, to be very honest.
You're saying mushroom sauce, and I don't see any mushroom--
What is a mushroom sauce? When's the last time you pureed mushrooms?
If I'm make a mushroom sauce, it's rehydrating a dried mushroom.
- But pureeing? - I've never pureed a mushroom, no.
- Aarón, when's the last time you pureed a mushroom? - You don't do that. No.
Gordon: Should we taste? So...
I want to taste the sauce.
It's not really a sauce. It's a cream.
It's curdled.
- What did you put in there? - I put in some butter and heavy cream.
Heavy cream. You know what you made?
Mushroom-flavored cottage cheese.
Kimberly, the actual chicken you've cooked well.
Great color on it.
The thing that absolutely destroys this dish
is that texture of the sauce.
It's like a cold vomit.
Crap.
- Grainy bits in there. - It's curdled.
Aarón: I've gotta say, the rice has beautiful flavor.
The chicken is cooked well, to your point.
But that sauce is very off-putting, Kimberly.
- Mm-hmm. - I'd prefer to see the mushrooms in the rice.
It's a shame, because you've cooked the chicken beautifully.
- Okay. - Thank you.
Kimberly: I'm super disappointed.
Based on the criticism,
I think that there's a possibility
that I might be going home.
But Gordon is telling me
that my chicken is cooked perfectly,
that the flavors are there.
So I'm thinking, "Chicken challenge?
You know, Kim, you still got this.
You're still in it."
Some outstanding dishes.
- I mean, where do you go? - Look, there's two roads here.
I think the people who went the super-traditional route
did recipes that are familiar to them--
and those who pushed the envelope.
And I think there are winners on both sides.
- Aarón: Yeah. - It's those that fell short
- we need to penalize. - Yeah, I agree.
Okay.
First of all, well done. That cook was extraordinary.
The energy? You did yourselves proud.
But it is a competition,
and sadly, somebody is leaving tonight.
Shari...
- Sarah... - Yes, Chef.
Please, head upstairs.
Two of the best dishes of the night.
Way to go.
Micah, you presented us a coq au vin.
It wasn't a coq au vin.
It was a sautéed chicken
finished with mushrooms and onion.
But the chicken was cooked beautifully.
- Head upstairs. - Thank you.
Good job, Micah.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
- Subha. - Yes, Chef.
Tonight you executed a southern Indian-inspired dish.
It didn't look the most attractive,
but we all agree, it certainly tasted on-point.
Subha, head back upstairs where you belong.
Thank you, Chef.
Good luck, guys. Good luck.
Great job, Subha.
Subha: It feels good walking up to the balcony,
and I wanted Noah to come and put the apron back on me,
because he was the one who put me down there.
- Hold on. - That's redemption.
- I got you. - I'm here to stay.
I'm here in it to win it.
The rest of you, please come down to the front.
It sucks. I thought I hit the home run with this.
But once again, I find myself in the bottom three.
This is not where I want to be.
One of you three has cooked for the very last time
in the MasterChef kitchen.
Kimberly, the only one that cooked a chicken wing.
But the sauce was broken
and the texture of a cottage cheese.
Wuta, the fried chicken-- crisp on the outside,
slightly dredged in flour,
a little bit too heavy.
Potatoes delicious.
A touch of seasoning missing.
Renee, you gave us a take on grandma's fried chicken with a biscuit.
It lacked a touch of finesse,
especially with the mashed potatoes.
You should know how to nail a mashed potato.
Somebody has to go home.
Kimberly, please step forward.
Kimberly,
I'm really sorry to say,
but you've cooked for the last time
in the MasterChef kitchen.
- Aww. - Wuta, Renee,
head upstairs, please.
Thank you, Chefs.
Wuta: I'm feeling really relieved.
But I need to start delivering on these challenges,
because I don't want to be in the bottom three again.
I want people to know that I'm a force
to be reckoned with in this kitchen.
Thank you, God. Thank you.
Kimberly, promise us you're gonna continue cooking.
I will definitely keep cooking.
- It's okay, girl. - You got it.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity
to cook in this kitchen.
It's something that I will never forget
for the rest of my life, so thank you.
Great job, Kim. Proud of you, Kim.
Kimberly: I feel sad that I'm going home.
At the same time, I'm grateful that I had this opportunity.
Go kill it, guys. Go kill it!
This is not the end for me.
This is just the beginning.