Tonight on FOX Masterchef returns with an all-new Wednesday, September 14, 2016, episode and we have your Masterchef recap below! On tonight’s double-episode of Masterchef called, “Finale,” in the first part of a combined Season 7 finale, the Top 3 cooks must create a mouthwatering appetizer in one hour.
Did you watch last week’s episode where Katie was sent home and the Top 5 moved forward? If you want to get catch up before tonight’s episode we have a full and detailed Masterchef recap of last week, right here for you!
On tonight’s Masterchef episode as per the FOX synopsis, “In the next challenge, with help from some familiar home cooks, the remaining three will have 60 minutes to prepare an amazing appetizer dish. In Part Two of the season finale, the contestants will have one hour to create entrees and an hour to create a dessert. After evaluating the final dishes, the judges will reveal America’s next MASTERCHEF, and the deserving home cook will walk away with a MASTERCHEF trophy, a book deal and the $250,000 grand prize. Find out whose culinary dreams will turn into a reality in the all-new “The Finale, Pt. 1/The Finale, Pt. 2″ season finale.”
Don’t forget to join us for our Masterchef recap tonight from 8PM – 10PM to find out which contestants have what it takes to make it to the Finale. While you wait for the recap, make sure to check out all our Masterchef recaps, news, spoilers & more!
Shaun, Brandi, and the ever angry David had surprised everyone when they made into tonight’s MasterChef finale. However, they each swore that it would be them that won the ultimate title in the end. So the judges decided to put that resolve through the toughest test and they allowed to go back home for a surprise visit.
And while a visit back home doesn’t seem earth-shattering, its best to remind everyone that these same finalists had families at home that missed them and truly needed them when they were off doing the show.
So that naturally made a few of the finalist tear up. Brandi for instance had told the judges that her son truly needed her at home and that she did feel bad about leaving him in order to go through with MasterChef.
Though what made Brandi stay on in the competition was the fact that their lives would be forever changed for the better if she won and that she would be teaching her son that he could still pursue his dreams even if he never got out of their small town. And so that’s why Brandi and later David wanted to keep cooking on the show despite being separated from their children because of it.
But Shaun on the other hand had told the judges that he wanted to stay on and eventually win the competition because cooking made him feel like he belonged. Shaun said that he had been a DJ for half of his life and that he never felt he had a voice until MasterChef.
So that joy we’ve seen on his face throughout this entire competition was basically him into coming his own. Albeit, finally! And so it was understandable why Shaun didn’t what to give that up or come back home defeated because he genuinely just wanted to win more than anything.
Tonight’s finale challenge however has been the breaking point of so many young hopefuls in the past that the judges warned all three of the finalists that they think should long and hard about what they want to cook while they were at home. So that time away ended up giving the finalists opportunity they needed to seriously consider what they wanted to make for their three courses because each course had to be special.
The finalist had apparently been told that they needed to create a unique three course meal that was MasterChef restaurant worthy. Although, on the day of the competition itself, that’s when they had then been told that they weren’t cooking for their usual judges.
As it happens the finalists were going to be cooking for tonight’s guest judges on top of everything else. So tonight was really do or die yet they were several times throughout appetizers preparation that the contestants had a near-die moment. Like when David fell behind both Brandi and Shaun because he was having a tough time deshelling an egg. Or when Brandi tried to cook pork belly in a short amount of time and had gotten lucky with its eventual tenderness by pure luck.
Yet, everyone got their act together when it came time for judging. Brandi had cooked Braised Pork Belly with Apricot BBQ sauce and Squash-Parsnip Puree for her appetizer because she had wanted to showcase how she could take the cheapest piece of meat and turn it into something high-end. So she had gotten praise for sticking close to her roots although the puree hadn’t exactly won everyone over.
Brandi had later been told that she could have left the parsnips out of there or had made it a little bit smoother so that did take some points away while the pork belly itself won over Ramsay who said it wanted to add that to his menu.
Now David tried to be different. David had wanted to go more high-end than usual so he cooked Beet Cured Salmon with Soft Boiled Egg, Filo Dough, and Salmon Roe with Caviar. But the only thing that the judges considered to be a consist pleasure had been the eggs. The eggs had been cooked beautifully and had still had that soft running yoke though the flavors on the rest of the dish had been all over the place. The Filo Dough for instance had been too strong of a taste and others had thought dish bordering on the bland side. So David hadn’t won over the judges with his appetizers.
Though David got lucky because Shaun’s dish had surprisingly been even worse than his. Shaun had cooked Halibut Cheek with Vadouvan Carrot Puree, Pickled Mushrooms, and Uni Foam yet no one liked it. Shaun had been told that the pickled mushrooms had been disgusting and that he shouldn’t have added that to his dish. So Shaun had tried to be strong as he was hearing criticism unlike anything he’s ever gotten on the show and, well, his show of strength slowly turned into arrogance. Before it became a slight temper problem.
So Shaun had lost his cool during appetizers. However, that wasn’t typically like him and so that had been disconcerting. For both the judges and David who had initially been happy to hear how bad Shaun did had then looked outright shocked to see the other man suddenly lose his temper. And truly its saying something when someone else’s temper manages to shock David. Especially as we had all gotten used to it being David that blew up at everyone.
Shaun though had taken the criticism and its aftermath as a learning curve. After the incident, he had gone back into the kitchen with the other two finalists and had changed up a few things for his main entrée. So it had looked as if he was scaling back on being too adventurous. Yet, Shaun being Shaun, he still wanted to take risks and he did so with his next meal. Shaun had cooked Spice-Rubbed Venison with Cipollini Onions, Smoked Plums, Black Truffle, and Fiddlehead Ferns as his main course and fortunately for him it had been a great meal.
The judges had loved what Shaun did. Even though some had doubted his ability and didn’t think he would could pull off such an ambitious dish. So Shaun’s main course had redeemed him in the judges’ eyes. One second they had all been prepared to write off and in the next they loved his vision that said was quite unique. But while Shaun had been told everything great about his dish, Brandi had suffered a bit of setback with her. Brandi had apparently cooked Seared Duck Breast with Andouille-Greens, Blackberry Demi-Glace, and Ramp Hush Puppies and the judges had loved it. To a point!
Some said that they loved everything about her dish while others said that it wasn’t her best and the dish’s plating was off. Brandi it seems had plated the dish with mostly dark colors and so that led to some of the judges calling her dish gray. Almost as if it was boring and that they didn’t think it would taste good seeing as it wasn’t visually appetizing. So Brandi had been told that her pork belly had been better. And everyone there had known that her pork belly hadn’t been perfected when she served it to the judges.
David’s main course on the other hand had been the worst of the night. David had cooked Cabbage Wrapped Guinea Hen with Foie Gras, Morel Mushrooms, and Yellow Wine Cream Sauce and the protein had been raw when he served it. So that had cost David dearly. He had tried to go high-end again and again he hadn’t been able to fully pull it off. Yet, what worked the most against David had been his own presentation.
David had walked in and had served his dishes with a sour face so right off Ramsay had known that something was wrong. Though tonight wasn’t the first time that David ran into the problem of resting bitch face. Resting bitch face was when someone looked angry for no apparent reason and you know you don’t want to be around them in case they take whatever it is that’s wrong out on you. So that face on David was a giveaway that his dish tonight was in fact going to be crap.
And funnily enough there had been several things about the dish that the judges loved. The judges loved the blend of flavors and the crème sauce. So if David hadn’t made it too complicated on himself then he could have won over the judges with what he did. However, he did what he did with the appetizers. He wanted to impress the judges so he made things additionally complicated and he repeated that by doing that again for his desert.
David had made Stuffed Cherries with White Chocolate Glaze, Cherry Compote, and Cookie Crumble. Which together looked beautiful yet it was a complicated dish because there were nine components on it. So the judges had worried about David in the lead up to tasting the dish because they thought it would be all over the place and admittedly a few of them did question why he would add to cherries knowing that cherries tasted great on their own. But the judges liked it for the most part with the judges being heavy on the most part bit and so that desert had been right up David’s alley.
So David got lucky there and he did know that his desert was better than at least Brandi’s. Bradi had Cornmeal Madeleine with Bourbon Caramel Sauce, White Chocolate Mousse and Glazed Peaches however the judges had been aghast when she added something as heavy as cornmeal to her Madeleines. They said that desert was usually light and that Brandi had sort of ruined it by adding the cornmeal that did make it heavier. And barely reminded anyone of what actual Madeleines tasted like.
Though while Brandi hurt her dish by trying to add a little of herself to it, both David and Shaun were able to showcase some of their skills without hurting their position in the competition. Shaun had apparently made a Salted Caramel Tart with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Coulis and there were a few problems. Like an undercooked crust and Coulis that made the dish slightly soggy yet no one really minded. And yet the judges truly enjoyed his dish like they enjoyed David’s because the parts he had gotten right had outweighed the parts that he had gotten wrong.
And so the judges had a tough call. No one finalist made it through all three courses without committing some offence or another. So the judges had to decide the winner of Season 7 of MasterChef by potential and what they’ve seen so far in the completion. Such as Brandi coming a long way, David being known more for his temper than his cooking style, and Shaun who had been a strong contender since day one and who only had an off night tonight because he had thrown everything at winning.
So when the judges made the choice, they chose to make Shaun the next MasterChef winner.
