How in the world does one get offered a big, juicy T-bone steak as part of a Mystery Box challenge … and completely ignore it? It’s almost blasphemous.
But that’s exactly what Becky decided in this first portion of the competition between the Top 13 hopefuls: She decided to wave off the steak. That takes balls.
Instead, she cooked a peach. And got away with it. Still, it was the steak which ultimately won the challenge; Tanya’s Tarragon creation won her that honor. But still … to turn your back on a T-bone …
But Becky’s incredibly bold move was nothing the height of ambition against some of the drudgery the chefs concocted with the Judges’ Favorite Desserts challenge that would send one contestant packing.
Between Joe’s tiramisu, Graham’s shortcake and Gordon’s trifle, there was quite a range in the Elimination contest for the remaining 12 contestants. (Note: Tanya’s steak got her the pass on having to participate. Go, her.) Which also meant there was plenty of room for dessert screw ups.
First: How do you screw up a strawberry shortcake? Sure … it’s easy for me to sit back and plunk out words to review about what came out my cathode ray tube (*waits in anticipation for any comment that’s surely forthcoming*), but … it’s freakin’ strawberry shortcake! Outside the ruining of the shortcake itself (which Scott ended up doing spectacularly), it’s rather difficult to fudge such a simple dessert. But that’s exactly what Christine did in minimizing her strawberries to a practically non-existent state. Who does that?!? Again: It’s freakin’ strawberry shortcake! “Strawberry” is in the name of the dessert! Kind of hard to miss! And, in a switch-up, Tali actually showed he could come up with an interesting idea putting together a foamy filling for his shortcake dessert, something which surprisingly won Graham over.
But forget about the lack of strawberries. It was Scott’s over-working of his shortcake dough that end up getting the best of him and earning him a one-way ticket toward the MasterChef exit.
Notes:
Quotes:
“This is really good …” — Graham to Tali on his strawberry shortcake
“Thank God …” — Tali
“This is the first time I’ve ever made a tiramisu.” — David to Joe as Joe samples his dessert
“That’s pretty apparent.” — Joe
“You were trying to show off and it beat you in the ass.” — Joe to Becky regarding her trifle
I’m sorry, but the strawberry shortcake Graham used for the demonstration looked like a Pillsbury Grand biscuit, not some homemade shortcake! My grandma used to make strawberry shortcake with biscuits (homemade, not Pillsbury, but not shortcake either), and real shortcake does not look like that. I call shenanigans!
That trifle was also not a stellar example of a trifle — colored jimmies? Really? And not enough layers or pudding. Very weird.
Sorry to see Scott go — probably one of the nicest, down-to-earth contestants ever to be on MasterChef.
At least Christine’s taste good but yeah really cmon Christine there’s a reason why they named it Strawberry short cake!!!