( music playing )
- ( crowd cheering ) - Gordon: Here we go.
- Yeah! - Let's eat!
- Finale. Here we are. - Wow. Wow.
( cheering continues )
Welcome, everyone, to "MasterChef: United Tastes Of America" finale!
Right. Thank you so much.
This has been one of the most incredible seasons ever.
This season on "MasterChef"
we brought the nation together like never before...
This is "MasterChef: United Tastes Of America." Come on!
...as the best home cooks from four regions of America...
Everybody knows Westside's the best side.
Hell, yeah, the best cook's from the South.
- The Midwest is best. - Northeast, baby!
...went head-to-head in a regional rumble.
- Let's go! - Come on, South. Y'all got it.
- Rally, rally, rally! - All: West, West, West!
Fight for your region. Fight for your team.
- I plan to win it. - I don't know about that, Wayne.
South is talking trash already.
This will be the most strategic season ever.
Oh, ( bleep ).
- ( all shouting ) - Who's baking which cake?
Kyle's a great chef, so I'm gonna screw him over today.
I like people to be a little bit afraid of me.
Everybody's out to get you.
It's not all fun and games anymore.
I am choosing the Midwest.
- What the heck, Jen? - You have a vendetta
against that part of the country or what?
With a quarter of a million bucks at stake?
- Yes, sir. - It was a season of teamwork.
- Are you ready? - Hell no.
- ( all shouting ) - ( sirens )
- Here they come, guys. - It was completely raw.
- That's terrible. I want them done perfectly. - Okay.
- I don't know if I like this sauce! - Did you put it in already?
- No! - What?
- Switch! - No, it's an ice cream scoop.
- It's "DisasterChef." - This is so terrible.
We're not in the ass end of nowhere! We're in the Dodger Stadium!
( bleep ) Does anyone care in here?
- Joe: It's the restaurant takeover. - Check the filet.
- Feels medium rare to me, Chef. - Survey says, ( bleep ) raw.
Hey, hey, hey, hey! Don't ever disrespect me or my restaurant.
But ultimately, it was every cook for themselves.
A very professional creation.
- You played the grill like a piano. - Thank you.
- It's perfect. - Oh, my goodness.
- Man, you got a homerun there. - Thank you, sir.
- It's spot-on. - Very delicious.
- Thank you. - Cake is absolutely spot-on.
- Thank you, Chef. - Could've been cooked by the chef de partie.
- Wow. - Exceptional. Definitely Michelin star worthy,
- let me tell you. - Thank you, Chef.
And now just three home cooks remain.
Will it be Jennifer from the South,
Grant from the Midwest,
or Kennedy from the West?
Only one will be crowned America's 13th MasterChef.
( cheering )
- Whoo! - Woohoo!
Are we ready to meet our three amazing finalists?
First up, a 42-year-old mom of six
from Little Rock, Arkansas.
- It's Jennifer! - Yeah!
( cheering continues )
Jennifer: I can't believe I made it to the finale.
This has been the most amazing journey.
I'm so blessed and thankful for my family,
but being here has given me so much independence,
and I have found what I wanna do for the rest of my life.
- Whoo! - ( both laughing )
The last 13 years I've been raising six babies.
It's been the joy of my life.
But at the age of 40,
I needed to follow my culinary dreams.
- It's a big yes for me. - I cannot believe it.
I was over the moon to be a part of the top 20.
It was so surreal.
I'm gonna cry. This is so hard.
But my goal was to make my family proud
and represent my Southern heritage on a plate.
For elevating a home dessert, it's as good as it can be.
The best dish was cooked by Jennifer.
- Oh. Thank you. - Go on, Jen!
I started this competition strong,
but I also faced a lot of hurdles.
This doesn't taste like the Jennifer that I know.
Flag goes to Jennifer.
Stop what you're doing. Five minute time-out.
And it created such an inner strength
that I honestly didn't even know was there.
Aarón: This is impressive considering
the adversity that you had to face this evening,
But that's what supermoms do, right? You make it happen.
Gordon: I think you've endeared the word "grill"
100% across this plate.
I can do hard things. I can do hard things.
I started to realize that I do deserve to be here. I do have the skill.
- Whoo! - This journey is for me.
Visually, it's just so beautiful. Great job.
So I wanna show my six babies
that it's never too late to chase your dreams.
I wanna be the next MasterChef,
so I'm pulling out all the stops.
Next up, we have a 32-year-old beer salesman.
Representing the Midwest, please give it up for Señor Grant!
( cheering )
Grant: It's the final three. We are in the finale.
I look back to the beginning of this competition and back to auditions,
and how many people were there vying just to get an apron.
And now to look and it's just me and two others,
I mean, never in my wildest dreams
would have assumed that I would be in this position.
So I'm really proud of myself.
The initial reason I came to "MasterChef" was validation.
Hi, Mom. Are you proud of your son?
More than I could ever tell you.
Aww.
Growing up, I generally hadn't had
a lot of great self-confidence.
Over the last four to five years,
I started taking cooking seriously.
- Let's go! - And when I walked out with the apron,
that was just so special to me.
How's your pasta, Grant? It looks beautiful.
Thank you. That's what the Midwest is all about, baby.
I love where I'm from. I love being from Iowa.
To be able to represent the Midwest was incredible.
Grant, this dish screams the Midwest.
- Chicken is cooked beautifully. - Thank you very much, Chef.
And throughout this entire competition, I really feel like
I showed that we can do more than meat and potatoes.
I got out of my comfort zone, and I pushed myself further
than I've ever gotten in my dreams.
I have a crusted amberjack here with some pan-roasted gnocchi.
The fish is flakey and smooth,
and that gnocchi is out of this world.
Gordon: Pork's cooked beautifully, and I can taste
how desperate you are to win this competition in this dish.
- Great job. - Thank you, Chef.
I came on "MasterChef" as a guy
that had a hard time believing in himself,
and now I know that I'm here for a reason.
Cooking is what my calling is,
and I have a new air of confidence to me.
I'm here today to tell you that nice guy's gone.
- Ooh! - Gordon: Good.
I feel like tonight's the night to change my life.
I want my photo up there on the balcony.
I wanna be right next to the other 12 that are up there.
I'm not gonna let it slip through my fingers now.
I'm gonna be the next "MasterChef."
Finally, 26-year-old festival vendor.
Representing the West, please welcome Kennedy.
( cheering )
Kennedy: Being in the top three in this finale,
it's just overwhelming in the best way possible.
But I've always known my whole life I wanted to be a chef,
and I just never really had the tools or the understanding
of how to get to the level that I wanted to.
And now that I'm here, I feel like the world is my oyster,
and I have so much more opportunity and it's amazing.
Hello.
Welcome to my home.
Before "MasterChef," I was just a small town girl
living in my tiny bus and living little dreams.
Let's go, West! Wild, wild West!
When I started this competition,
I really wanted to prove that I have the mentality
of a MasterChef in the kitchen.
Gordon: I think the refreshing thing for me is to taste food
this elegant so early on in the competition.
- Thank you, Chef. - You're at home here. I can taste it.
- Good job. - Thank you so much, Chef.
I've learned that I can handle pressure,
and I've learned that I can go outside my little bus
and I can cook in a big kitchen.
I kind of wanna be the one that stands out from the crowd.
You are playing this game at the highest level.
Congratulations. You win the immunity pin.
Being challenged has turned me into someone who craves success.
And winning made me feel like I was doing everything right
and people were noticing.
Kennedy is definitely one
of the stronger cooks here.
I was definitely targeted multiple times throughout the competition.
There is one person who has been putting out
top three level dishes.
- Are you looking at me? - Kennedy.
Your target is getting bigger
than the "MasterChef" logo on the doors there now.
Everybody's coming for me.
I kind of wanted to be a threat.
I mean, in this competition,
being a threat, it's a compliment.
You're just making me a stronger chef, that's all you're doing.
And it made me just wanna push myself and stay in the top
for the rest of the competition.
You took one of the most challenging fish to cook,
- and it's beyond reproach. - They're beautifully put together,
and they look like a plate of art.
No matter what they throw at you, you're gonna come back.
It's really delicious. I'm really kind of blown away.
- Thank you. - Gordon: Thanks, Kennedy.
And now getting to the finale, I really wanna go out with a bang.
I want this more than anything I've ever wanted in my entire life.
I'm just so ready to win "MasterChef."
Gordon: A hearty congratulations from Joe, Aarón, and myself
for making into the "MasterChef: United Tastes Of America" finale.
- ( cheering ) - Yeah!
Jennifer, here to support you tonight,
your husband Brian and your six kids.
That's a lot of kids, Jennifer.
Brian, who's been feeding the kids?
They are here. They survived.
- To say we missed her is not enough. - Sure.
And we are so proud of where she is.
Well, thank you so much for making the effort to be here tonight.
Aarón: Grant, here supporting you this evening
is your beautiful wife Emily, your son,
and of course your parents Laura and Matthew.
Thank you so much for being with us this evening.
Grady, what's your favorite thing to cook with your dad?
- Uh, mac and cheese. - Gordon: Mac and cheese.
- Yes! Classic. - Love that.
Emily, how proud are you of him?
He's overcome so much and believed in himself,
and we both cry a lot.
We're so, so proud. There aren't words for it.
Now, Kennedy, here to cheer you on tonight
is your sister Mads and your best friend Asana.
- Hey. - Mads, how proud are you right now?
That's an unfair question. I mean, I watched her be born,
and I was proud of her from her first word,
- which obviously had to do with food. - Crowd: Aww.
When we were kids, we used to pretend to do this little chef show
- against each other... - Right.
...and obviously she'd always win since she was a kid.
I'm just so proud of her, and I love you so much, baby.
Also cheering you on, you have some of your former competitors here.
Welcome back, all of you. You look great.
- Thank you. - Jennifer, how important is tonight's finale?
I grew up in a small town in Arkansas,
and I am so honored to be able to represent the South.
I hope that I can bring home that trophy and for the South.
- You will. You got it. - Go, girl!
Gordon: Absolutely. Grant, how hungry are you for this?
Tonight's huge. The Midwest is known as the flyover states.
We're often overlooked, and I'm excited to be able to put not only Iowa,
but the entire Midwest on a map through "MasterChef."
- Love that. - Go, Dad!
- Kennedy. - Hello.
You went from cooking on your beautiful school bus...
I sure did.
...to the "MasterChef" finale.
This journey has been so insane.
I'm a small mountain town girl.
I grew up in Denver,
and representing the West is amazing.
I mean, to represent a whole region as one person
is an incredible honor.
Right, tonight is your last chance
to demonstrate that you are worthy of the grand prize
because only one of you can go back to your home region
- with a quarter of a million dollars... - Ooh, baby!
...a complete state of the art Viking Kitchen...
- Whoo! - ...including an amazing Viking refrigerator,
plus a complete set of kitchen tools and bakeware from OXO,
the amazing MasterChef trophy,
and the title of America's next MasterChef.
Now if you want to prove that you are the best cook
in this very special "MasterChef: United Tastes Of America,"
you must make a full three-course meal.
An appetizer, an entrée, and of course, a spectacular dessert.
We wanna see dishes that show us where you came from
and where you're headed next.
Now, Jennifer, give us an insight to the menu.
I was born and raised in the South,
so I'm gonna provide you with delicious Southern food
and flavors, but with French fine dining techniques.
- Ooh. - Nice. Grant?
So my theme is Italian heritage meets Midwest roots.
I'm gonna use a lot of the Italian recipes that I learned growing up,
and I'm gonna stick in a lot of what makes the Midwest the best.
- Love that. Kennedy? - So my theme is self-acceptance through the eyes of nature.
I really wanna tell a story about who I am but also where I'm from,
so I'm using just ingredients that are indigenous to Colorado,
really bringing you to fishing, hunting,
and really getting a taste of who I am as well.
They all sound amazing. Right, let's get started with the appetizers.
- You three ready? - Yes, Chef.
Your 60 minutes start now! Let's go!
Come on. Let's go!
Let's go!
- All right, what do we need? What do we need? - All right, let's go.
- Let's see. - Kolby: Even though I'm from the South,
I definitely want Kennedy to win.
She's somebody who I look up to as a chef
because she's really creative,
she has a flavor palate like none other,
and that's somebody that I really could see
taking the MasterChef title to the next level.
Where are my morels at? Morels, morels, dried morels.
I wanna see Grant win from the Midwest.
Everyone keeps calling the Midwest, like, flyover country.
And I get it, but when it comes to food,
I think Grant's got some really bold flavors
and he's gonna show that the Midwest is definitely here to play.
- Whoo! - Yeah!
- Go, Dad! - Whoo!
- Let's go, Jen! - All right, Jennifer!
Jennifer's style is classic, and she knows flavors.
And we all know the South's got great flavors,
so she's about to give us a show. I am excited for her.
- Let's go, Mom! - Go, Grant!
- Whoo! - Yeah!
Come on, Ken. You got this, Kennedy.
So this is it, the grand finale.
Three phenomenal chefs
from different corners of the country,
but this is the moment these three incredible amateurs
show us what they've got.
And tonight, once and for all,
we'll all learn where America's best home cook comes from.
- Yes? - Absolutely.
- ( cheering ) - Go, Mom!
- Yeah, she is. - She was meant to do this.
- ( cheering ) - Kennedy: Tonight could change my life.
I mean, a quarter of a million dollars is on the line
and the title of MasterChef, and having that on your resume
can do so many things for you.
It would really kickstart my career.
So this has to be the best meal I've ever cooked in my life.
- Let's go, baby. - Pressure is on.
- You got this, Grant. - Come on!
- Let's go! - Come on, come on, come on!
- ( cheering ) - Yes!
Gordon: We've got 45 minutes remaining
to cook us your amazing appetizers.
- Come on, guys. - Grant: Let's go.
You got this, babe.
Kennedy: Smoked oysters.
Yeah, Kennedy.
Brian: All right, Jennifer!
- Go, Mom! - Right, Jennifer.
- Hi, Chef. - Come on, girl, how you feeling?
This is exhilarating. It is the dream of my life to be on this stage right now.
- So... - ( cheering )
Give us an insight with your appetizer.
I'm doing a lobster succotash with corn purée,
and then I'm going to finish it off with a beautiful champagne caviar vinaigrette
that will have also some citrus notes in it as well.
Oh, so no beurre blanc with the lobster?
No. You know what? I think it's going to end up being a beautiful dish.
Love that. Love that. Love that.
Is this how your kids get to eat every night?
- When dad's not cooking, yes. - ( laughter )
- That is very true. - This dish sounds tricky.
Good luck, and do not-- do not undercook that lobster, yes?
- Yes, thank you, Chef. - The very best of luck, Jennifer.
- You got this! - Whoo!
Looking good. Looking good.
- Yeah. Really hard. - He's working hard, isn't he, honey?
- You better score them fish, girl. - Whoo!
- All right, Kennedy, how are you?
- I'm great. How are you? - Take me through the dish. What are you making?
I'm making a crispy skinned trout over a truffle potato,
oyster mushroom, pea purée,
and a quenelle of trout roe and smoked oyster aioli.
- So the peas and trout's a pretty classic dish. - Yeah.
How you kind of taking it to the next level?
I really wanted to show myself through my androgynous journey.
I've struggled a lot growing up of whether I wanted to masculine or feminine.
- Mm-hmm. - So I decided when I grew up that I accepted both sides
and that I'm androgynous, so--
Go, Ken! Talk about it, Kennedy.
I totally appreciate that. How does that translate into food?
So I'm starting off with a more feminine dish as my appetizer.
I want it to look like a beautiful fish
swimming in a river with wildflowers and really get that feminine side.
And then you'll have to see for the rest of the menu what's going on.
- ( laughs ) - Come on now!
Well, listen, timing is pivotal, especially on your fish.
- Good luck. - Thank you.
Go, Ken! Whoo!
I got it, baby. Thank you.
- Let's go, Jen! - Ah!
- Nice! - Go, Dad!
We are now halfway!
30 minutes to go, guys. Come on.
- Grant! How are we, señor? - Wonderful, Aarón. How are you today?
I'm doing great. What do we got going on here, señor?
So this'll be raviolo al uovo with a morel cream sauce.
Right now I am rehydrating some morel mushrooms in some cream right here.
It's something that really ties in Iowa.
Every spring we hunt morels down by the creek.
- Down by the creek, huh? - Yes.
- Or by the crick. - By the crick. I got you.
I think that this is something that's really gonna speak to both Iowa and Italy.
You're talking about a very technically complex dish.
- Not a lot of places you can hide with this. - Right.
You feel confident with the pasta dough where it stands right now?
Grant: I feel incredibly confident with it.
Probably bring it out in about another 10, 15 minutes maybe
so I start getting it rolled out.
You feel you're gonna do justice and put Iowa on the map as a culinary destination?
- 100%, Aarón. No doubt about it, baby. - Orale!
- Oh, yeah! - Yes!
All right! ( speaks Spanish )
Thank you.
- Let's go, Grant. - Come on, Grant!
20 minutes remaining. Come on, guys, keep it going.
- Come on. - ( cheering )
- Kennedy: Okay, let's get it. Let's get it. - How cool is this, honestly?
Three amazing finalists all playing to their strengths.
- Jen: Mmm! Perfect. - So, Jennifer's appetizer,
I mean, packed with jeopardy, let me tell you.
She has to blanche it first and then sauté
- the lobster tail in butter. - Joe: So blanched lobster,
- difficult to do. - Yeah, there's a ten-second window
of being overcooked or undercooked.
You're undercooked, it's game over.
Overcooked, it tastes like rubber.
Jennifer: All right, let's do this.
And also she's doing a caviar vinaigrette.
But doesn't lobster want something fat and rich with it?
I know, I mean, if she's leaning towards that French influence,
then it should be a butter sauce like a beurre blanc,
- but she's not doing that. - But you have to applaud the fact
that she's going away from the norm.
I think the acidity is gonna be key
in the success of Jennifer's dish.
Well, that's the jeopardy, isn't it?
- Kennedy: All right. - Joe: Kennedy, she's making steelhead trout
with a pea purée and oyster aioli.
- Gordon: Oyster? - Both: Aioli?
And the trout and the pea purée?
That is a lot going on there.
The big question is does it all work together?
Fingers crossed.
- Oh, yeah. - My boy Grant with the pasta.
- I know it's about to be good. - So Grant is doing traditional ravioli with an egg yolk.
The raviolo al uovo, we all know the jeopardy.
We've seen it over the years. There's a lot of technique here.
You gotta make the pasta,
you gotta know how to extract the egg yolk,
put it in the center of the ravioli, no air bubbles,
boil it, and have it be perfectly runny.
- The construction is key. - Looks so good.
- Thank you. - Beautiful.
Gordon: Last ten minutes, guys. Keep it going, yes?
- Come on, Jennifer. - Beautiful.
Kennedy: All right, let's go!
( cheering )
Look at that pasta sheet.
Ooh, Grant, be careful.
- This is what he does. - I know.
Come on.
Gordon: Oh, no. Grant is in trouble.
- He's struggling. Wow. - What is he doing?
Come on. This is insane.
The top piece of pasta's a little bit too wet.
It's sticky. It's very hard to work with.
What I'm worried about in this technique,
- it's gonna have too much air inside. - Yeah.
Joe: Too much air in the filling will also burst the ravioli.
Right now I am really struggling in shaping
those really difficult egg yolk raviolis,
but I'm a little worried about time right now.
- Come on. - When I put it in that boiling water,
if this egg yolk breaks in this raviolo, I'm done.
Grant is playing a risky game right now
because his raviolis could literally explode in the boiling water.
- Oh! - Be careful, Dad.
Oh, my Lord.
Joe: Grant is playing a risky game right now
because his raviolis could literally explode in the boiling water.
- Oh, my Lord. - Be careful, Dad.
- Okay. We're good. - Five minutes to go!
- Come on, guys! Finish up strong! - Let's go!
- Y'all got it! - Beautiful.
- Perfect! - ( cheering )
- You good, Kennedy. You good. - You good!
Kennedy's just taken a steelhead trout out of the oven.
- Look at the color of that skin. It looks beautiful. - Joe: Wow.
- But did it go in the oven long enough? - I don't know.
- Grant: Oh, yeah. - There it is.
Grant's just taking his raviolis out of the water now.
- Any of the egg yolks burst? - Perfect so far.
- Wow. - Grant, those are gorgeous.
- Mmm. - That lobster looks good, Jen.
Go ahead, girl.
Gordon: 60 seconds to go!
- One minute, guys! Come on! - Grady: Go, Dad!
You got it. Make it clean.
Madison: You got it, Kennedy.
Show us your artistry, baby girl.
Yeah! Team Kennedy!
Come on, Jennifer. Get it on the plate, baby.
Go, Mom, go! You got this, Mom!
Judges: Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
- Hands in the air! - ( cheering )
Everybody looks good!
Grant: I think I took a really big risk doing a technical dish.
I'm a little worried about the sauce, but I'm hoping
when they break open that egg yolk, it mixes all in,
it's gonna be that perfect texture,
exactly what they're looking for.
There's a lot riding on this, so I need it to be perfect.
Well done, Jennifer, Grant, and Kennedy.
What an extraordinary performance.
Please make your way around to the front. Thank you.
Whoo!
Wow. Time to taste those delicious looking appetizers.
First up, Jennifer, please make your way down, thank you.
I am feeling proud, nervous,
but this dish is the first out of the competition
that represents me.
My French fine dining with Southern fusion,
it's important to set the tone right from the beginning,
so I hope this dish does that for me.
I've made for you a lobster succotash
with a sweet corn purée, truffle oil,
and a champagne caviar vinaigrette.
The lobster looks like it's perfectly cooked.
It all looks very, very refined,
very much the kind of restaurant dish that we requested.
- Thank you. - Yeah!
- Yeah, Jen! - Yeah, so I love how generous and abundant the lobster is.
It's definitely the star. And I'm interested to taste this vinaigrette.
Hopefully it's well-balanced.
Gordon: Let's find out, shall we?
Jennifer, where's the truffle oil, please?
- It's in the vinaigrette. - Mm-hmm.
- Joe? - The lobster is, uh...
...expertly cooked.
Good job, Mom! Whoo!
It's tender, it's firm. It's not under, it's not over.
It's perfect. The dish to me is generally lacking in salt.
That said, I love the contrast between the acidulous nature
of the vinaigrette the corn cream.
Caviar kind of gets lost in the mix,
and I don't taste the truffles at all,
but with a few small adjustments,
this is a top-notch dish.
- Good job. - Thank you. Thank you.
Whoo!
Yeah, I think for me what's beautiful about this
is that you know what works with lobster, right?
Tomato, corn, all of these really familiar flavors
that I think only exacerbate the beautiful sweetness of lobster.
You cooked it perfectly, but I almost wish
that that vinaigrette wasn't there
'cause it's really big with a lot of lemon.
And I think in this case you needed the beurre blanc.
Other than that, great job.
Jennifer, I absolutely love this dish.
It's delicious, it's fragrant, it's powerful, it's you.
Lobster's cooked beautifully. I think the lobster needs that level of acidity,
so I quite like it.
It does wake it up and brings it to life.
A beurre blanc may have been better,
- but what a great start. - Thank you. Thank you.
Great job, Mom!
- Yes, ma'am. - All right, Jennifer!
- It needs salt. - Yeah.
- I think salt would've helped everything. - Yeah.
I think she was thinking that the caviar was going to deliver that.
The hero as the lobster was cooked beautifully.
- Perfect. - Great start.
- All right. - Next up, Grant.
Can you bring forward your appetizer?
- Thank you. - Yay, Grant!
- Let's go, honey. - All right, big G.
Grant, can you please give us some insight on what you made?
So this is a raviolo al uovo with a morel cream sauce,
finished with truffle butter and shaved black truffle.
Young man, you took a risk tonight, let me tell you.
Making that pasta in the finale tonight,
that's a bold move, let me tell you.
Pasta's transparent. It looks super thin.
It looks great.
But that egg yolk should be liquid.
How long did you poach them for?
- 75 seconds, Chef. - Mm-hmm.
- Shall we? - Yep.
Joe: Let's take a look.
The moment of truth.
Grant, that egg yolk should be liquid.
Joe: Let's take a look.
The moment of truth.
- Sav: Oh, there it is! - ( cheering )
Joe: Wow. It looks nice and runny.
Good job, Grant.
Grant, it's delicious. It's everything you want from an egg yolk ravioli,
let's get that absolutely clear. Really beautifully done.
Mine could've done with another 30 seconds cooked,
less runny, a little bit more richer,
so you get a chance for that protein to set.
Be careful with those morels. It's a super strong flavor,
and it's sort of slightly overpowering.
- Sure. - But the technical ability
of putting that raviolo together is a risk, and it's good.
- Really good, indeed. Well done. - Thank you, Chef.
I have to say, I just love the seasoning
by way of the truffle and the cheese.
It's earthy, and it's also restrained at the same time, which is not easy to do.
I agree with Chef Gordon. Pull back a little bit of that mushroom cream sauce.
- The pasta's the star, not the sauce, right? - Absolutely.
Joe: This is a delicious dish, but if you told me you were gonna boil the raviolis
for 75 seconds, I would've told you that's not enough time.
I think it could've benefited by 45 seconds more of boiling time,
- and it would've been perfection. - Thank you, Joe.
Thank you, Grant.
Awesome!
The flavors are all good. Just a little bit of the cooking time on the ravioli.
- Yeah, yeah. - Okay, Kennedy, please bring us your appetizer. Thank you.
- Let's go! - Going into this tasting,
I'm feeling a little bit of butterflies in my tummy.
I mean, having the live crowd there just hyping you up really--
it puts you into a different gear,
and I hope the judges see the vision that I really planned.
Today I made crispy skinned trout
over truffle potatoes, oyster mushrooms,
a tarragon pea purée, saffron tuile,
with a trout roe and smoked oyster aioli quenelle.
Kennedy, it looks absolutely stunning.
I mean, seriously, it looks like a cover
of a famous chef's cookbook
because it just looks so appetizing.
Thank you, Chef.
Kolby, can you see that from up there?
- Looks amazing. - Mads?
- Yeah? Okay. - Come over a minute, will you please?
- Do you mind? - I'm on my way.
Look at you. Look at you, look at you!
- Hi. Oh, I will. - Come and sit down.
- ( Kennedy laughs ) - This is my seat, thank you.
No, it's all good. How does that look to you?
- How does it look? - Oh, wow.
I just see her on the plate.
There's the rainbow aspect of her queerness,
a little fish swimming down the river,
and I see the foliage, like the forest.
And I know your artistry, so I see all the whimsical things inside of it.
- Would you like a job? - That's what I was about to say.
- You're gonna take our jobs. - Great job, girl.
Madison: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thanks, Mads. Seriously, stunning.
Now the big question is does it all work together?
- Shall we? - Joe: Yep.
- Trout is cooked deliciously. - Thank you.
Gordon: I mean, seriously, it's crispy on the outside.
The temperature is absolutely spot-on.
There's a lot going on underneath.
But be very careful with that smoked oyster aioli.
Especially with a salty roe. It's powerful.
And I don't know if the smoke and the saltiness works.
I'm struggling to take this dish to task.
Great job.
Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
With a dish like this, what's beautiful
is the freshness of the pea purée
and how they help have a beautiful respite
from the richness of the steelhead trout.
This is a very challenging fish to cook.
The flavor pairings that you put together
create something that's really magical.
Thank you, Chef. Thank you.
- ( cheering ) - ( Sav muttering )
I think this dish for me is a lot about clarity.
Clarity of ideas-- of your ideas. Clarity of flavor.
The trout itself is perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked.
The trout roe is a great amplifier of it,
and I didn't even wanna like the saffron tuile.
And then I ate it, and I was like, "You know what? I'm wrong. She's right."
- So... - Whoa!
You are to be commended because there's nothing easy
about what you were trying to communicate on a personal level,
on a culinary level, and you nailed it.
- Yeah! - Amazing.
- Great job. - Hell, yeah!
That's my baby.
Great job.
- It's cooked beautifully. - Yeah, I love this dish.
It's definitely the strongest start by Kennedy.
- Yep. - That was fantastic.
Wow, what a start. Let's make that absolutely clear.
Good job.
Now let's move on to the next course-- the entrée round.
In a three-course meal, your entrée should be proof
that you are bringing something that is undeniably you to the table.
Jennifer, tell us what you're making for the entrée round.
I'm going to be making a rack of venison persillade
with a roasted root vegetable, a parsnip potato purée,
and a beautiful bordelaise sauce.
Grant, what will you be preparing?
I'll be making pork loin medallions
with a salmoriglio sauce, an agrodolce,
celery root purée, and beer braised baby fennel.
- Wow. - Aarón: Kennedy?
Today I'm making rabbit saddle,
seared rabbit liver, beets, pickled cherries,
and a juniper berry sauce.
Sounds like we're in for quite the entrées.
Well done. They sound delicious.
- Right, are we ready? - Yes, Chef!
Good. Then your 60 minutes starts now.
- Come on, guys. - Let's do it.
- Let's go. - Go!
- All right! - Okay.
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!
I'm so glad the judges saw the technical risk that I took with my appetizer.
Fennel, fennel. Oh, yeah, that's big fennel.
But I didn't quite execute it to the level that I wanted to.
Bone marrow.
And just one little mistake can ruin the entire chance at winning the MasterChef trophy.
- Gordon: Here we go. - Going into this entrée round,
I know everything has to be absolutely perfect.
I tried to really show
high technique and skill with my appetizer,
but the caliber of the competition is tough.
- Yeah, Jen! - Yes!
This is my chance to wow the judges.
This is my legacy and my future on the line here.
So I'm going to really give this my all.
Joe: Entrée round. Very important.
Gordon: Yeah. Three phenomenal chefs,
but three very tricky proteins.
Jennifer: Y'all ready for some beautiful venison?
- That's some flavor right there, Jennifer. - It's coming.
Gordon: Jennifer's dish, that rack of venison, come on.
- That is a showstopper right there, isn't it? - Aarón: Absolutely.
Gordon: But the secret of that tonight is the resting of that venison.
Two minutes over, then it's dry, because there's no fat in there.
- So a big risk there. - Beautiful right here.
Grant: Let's get it in there, baby.
But with Grant's pork tenderloin,
there's nowhere to hide, okay?
That thing's gotta be roasted whole,
and then the cut and the slice
is actually trickier than the venison,
because while this is a tenderloin,
we can get away with it being slightly mid rare, but not rare.
- Very, very tricky. - Totally.
- Rabbit time. Rabbit. - Ooh!
- Oh, shoot! - Rabbit!
Gordon: And then the biggest risk-taker of all,
Kennedy, she's gonna be attempting to cook a rabbit.
Joe: A rabbit is an animal
that weighs about two to three, four pounds.
So you're dealing with little itty bits of meat
that are so easy to overcook, over-season, under-season.
That is real precision, restaurant-y type of protein.
Yeah. It has to be one of the most unforgiving proteins tonight.
Get that wrong, it's game over.
Pulling out the big boys. All right.
Just pour it all in there. Yeah, yeah.
There you go, big G.
- We're not skimping today, baby. - Yeah.
- Pretty! - That's pretty colors over there!
- Jennifer: Perfection. - We're now 15 minutes down. We've got 45 minutes left.
- Let's go, guys. 45 minutes left. - Got this.
- Come on, Grant. - Grant.
Come on. Grant, how you feeling?
- Great. I'm feeling great. - Yes.
Okay, loin of pork, right? It's a tough one, this one.
So unforgiving. Hardly any fat.
I'm from Iowa. I'm from the Midwest. This is what we do.
We're the number one pork producer in the nation.
I gotta show everybody that that's what we're all about.
I love that. Tell me about this exciting agrodulce.
My great-grandparents were from the island of Sicily,
and so I'm bringing in some southern Italian ingredients.
So I have some golden raisins that I have pumped up,
and then I am cooking down with some champagne vinegar.
I have some toasted pistachios, shallots,
- and parsley in there as well. - I love that.
What are we doing with the baby fennel?
Grant: I'm gonna sear them,
then I'm gonna braise them in beer.
I sell beer for a living,
and so I really wanna be able to show today
that it can be ingredient that can be used in fine dining.
- You feeling good? - Feeling great. Absolutely.
Having my family here, having Grady right there in front of me,
seeing what I've been working for for so dang long,
this is really, really special to me. I'm excited to be able to do it.
- Good luck. Come on, Grant. - Appreciate you. Thank you.
- Love you, bud. - Y'all are gonna love it! Whoo!
- You got it, Ken. - Let's go!
- How are you, Kennedy? - I'm great. How are you, Aarón?
- How do you feel where you're at right now? - I feel really great.
But honestly, I've never even worked with rabbit before.
- Really? - Wow.
Yeah, I studied a lot because I wanted to take a risk.
I didn't wanna play it safe.
I feel like there's a difference
between a cook and a chef,
and a chef creates a menu,
and a cook follows a menu.
- So I really-- - Come on!
Ooh. Good line.
- Preach to the people! Yes! - Tell them what's up.
Rabbit doesn't have a lot of inherent fat,
That's a very tricky protein.
How are you gonna work with it
to kind of ensure it doesn't dry out?
So I really just want it to speak for itself.
I'm just gonna sear it, baste it with butter,
rosemary, thyme, and just let it rock on the plate.
I love that. So beet root is gonna have a big part of this, right?
It sure is. So I came up with a feminine appetizer,
and I'm gonna have a really masculine entrée.
It's called "Hunting Rabbits," and it's gonna look like
you just killed a rabbit on a plate pretty much.
- But in an appetizing way. - Very masculine! Ah!
Love that! This could be a showstopper.
- So best of luck. - Thank you. Thank you.
- Grant: Whew. - Grant, how's that fennel?
Doing good.
Reagan: Come on, J. That looks so good.
- Stay focused, baby. - Hi.
- Jennifer, hello. - Hi, Joe.
Okay, so you seared the rack of venison.
- Yes. - And it's in the oven now.
- You have the crust on it. - Yes.
And the sauce is a...
It is a French bordelaise sauce.
You have reducing red wine, you have some beef stock,
you have some garlic herbs.
So this is about as classic
- as French cuisine gets. - I know.
And a very, very difficult sauce to make.
Jennifer: This is my baby here,
and I am so proud of this sauce.
- You are? - And I am batting for the fences today
with this entire menu.
And you have also some big jeopardy with the venison
because if the venison is too rare,
then it becomes too bloody. It tastes like iron.
- Right. - And if it becomes slightly overcooked,
- it becomes mealy and liver-y. - Right.
So you really have no margin for error.
I'm gonna rely on sight, on touch, and if I need to,
I'll temp it because I wanna make sure that it's perfect.
My husband and sons right there behind me are big deer hunters,
so I wanted to honor them and make them proud.
- That guy over there shoots venison? - Oh, yeah.
He looks like a clean cut Italian-American guy
who works in an office somewhere in a nice suit.
There's four deer in the freezer right now.
Last question, is he more Southern home style
- or more French classic cuisine? - You know what?
He loves everything that I cook.
- That's right. - Good luck, Jennifer.
- Thank you. - Yeah!
Great job, Jennifer!
30 minutes gone. 30 minutes remaining.
Halfway, guys! Halfway! Come on.
Kennedy: Beautiful! Okay, let's get it. Let's get it.
- There we go. - Beautiful color, Grant.
- Grant: Thank you. - Grant, you got meat that ain't been in the oven yet.
- Uh-huh. - You got 24 minutes left.
- I know. - All right.
Gordon: So Grant is taking a big risk with this pork tenderloin.
Look, he hasn't even started searing them yet, and we're halfway.
And you know the resting is just as important as the cooking, so he's running out of time.
- He is holding on to the very end now. - He's stressing me out.
And the question with Grant, is he being too ambitious?
There's a lot of jeopardy in that.
( groans )
Gordon: Next time, the grand finale continues...
You're one course away from being crowned America's next MasterChef.
...as the three finalists finish their battle for the title,
the trophy, and a quarter of a million dollars.
- My snow's not working. - I've never seen her like this before.
- ( bleep ) - Jennifer is a little bit in panic mode right now.
- Oh, my gosh. - Uh-oh.
- It's getting intense. - This kind of dish floats around the dining room
in our restaurants and it's a head-turner.
This is a full-flavored dish
that is the perfect ending to your menu.
America's next MasterChef is...