Gordon: Previously on "MasterChef: Back to Win"...
- Ramsay to Coast Guard. - The top 18 faced their first team challenge of the season.
You will be feeding the women and men of the U. S. Coast Guard.
- Uh-oh. - Let's get some chow, men!
- How long are you blanching them? - Don't holler at me.
Don't jump ship.
But under a heavy barrage of pressure...
Where's the potatoes?
It's stressing everybody out.
On the ( bleep ) floor,
and we've just put them back on the grill?
( bleeping )
...one cook fought a losing battle.
Alejandro, hand me your apron.
Tonight...
It's a secret that's so big,
I'm almost afraid to say it on national television.
...a shocking truth sets the cooks on a challenge
no one saw coming.
- I actually love vegan food. - That can't be true.
Tonight you have to cook an incredible vegan dish.
Vegetables by themselves? It's like a bad nightmare.
You gotta go now.
With immunity and elimination at stake...
This is a crowd pleaser, a money maker, and a winner.
...the proof is on the plate.
- That is not good. - The errors are significant here.
Say goodbye.
It's an exciting challenge tonight.
And this genre of food is very hard to execute.
Mm. Yeah.
( cheering )
- Welcome back. - Let's go!
- Let's go, guys. - Let's go, let's go!
Being top 17 and winning our first team challenge, it feels amazing,
but so far I've been right in the middle of the pack.
Good to see you all. Line up.
I wanna show the judges that I'm not here to just skate by.
I'm here to win.
Right, all of you, welcome back to the MasterChef kitchen.
We just came off a very big field challenge,
so tonight we got a clean slate.
That means the immunity pin is up for grabs again.
- All: Yes, Chef. - For tonight's challenge
we're doing another "MasterChef" first,
not just because the challenge has never been seen before,
but because I've been keeping a culinary secret
I've never told any of you.
It's a secret that's so big,
I'm almost afraid to say it on national television.
Don't worry, Gordon. This is a safe space.
- We'll support you. - Right?
After all these years,
I can finally admit
that I actually love vegan food.
- Wow. - That can't be true.
Are you serious? Mr. Beef Wellington likes vegetables by themselves?
This just sounds like a bad nightmare.
It's taken me 20 years to get to this point.
( bleep ) cauliflower steak.
Should be a ribeye steak, not a cauliflower steak.
You know I'm not a rabbit,
and yet you serve me food that's fit for a rabbit hutch.
In fact, I'm not even going to eat it.
Guys, honestly, if I can learn to cook phenomenal vegan food
after all those years hating vegan,
then you can learn too.
Anyone with a good knowledge of flavors and techniques
is capable of amazing vegan cooking.
All: Yes, Chef.
So, tonight your challenge
is cooking us an incredible vegan dish.
When it comes to cooking vegan food, look at me.
I'm a meat guy.
- Wow. - This is gonna be hard.
But first, to give you all a little inspiration,
I'm gonna show you how to prepare a vegan version
of one of my signature dishes
and turn my famous beef wellington...
I knew it!
...into my infamous beet wellington.
- Oh, wow. - Everyone, please, eyes wide open.
- Whoo! - Being a pastry chef, I don't personally
have a ton of experience cooking with vegan food.
I've never worked without dairy on my side,
so it's definitely gonna be a challenge.
Gordon: I wanna say, beets, I mean, the most amazing beets.
I've part blanched this beetroot here, okay?
Beautifully seasoned it, blanched it in boiling water.
We're gonna wrap this with a vegan beet crepe.
We've taken the tops of the beets,
puréed them with some fresh chives, and made a proper crepe batter.
So lightly oil the pan, season the bottom of the pan,
get that toasting a little bit,
and this crepe in.
Now spread it throughout.
From there, release that.
A little tap, tilt that down,
around, push away, and turn over
and get a really nice color on there.
- Stop it, Chef. - Va-voom.
That goes onto your cling film, okay?
From there, take your mushrooms
and literally just spread that out nice and thinly.
I've got some chestnut mushrooms that I've chopped, take all the water out.
Next take your beet, stick that in the middle, okay?
So we roll that over nice and tight like that, squeezing the ends.
And just tighten that like that.
You can now start to see that sort of shape
of the wellington.
We set that in the fridge, literally like that, five minutes.
Now we start with that vegan pastry.
Lay that down.
We don't use eggs, clearly, 'cause it's vegan.
What I've got is this incredible brine from chickpeas.
- Mmm. - Oh!
Gordon: So brush nicely.
Once you've set your little cylinder in the fridge,
literally sit that on top there.
Now we're gonna roll that over nice and tight
- and then squeeze and twist. - Wow.
Set that again in the fridge five minutes.
Now once that's set,
get your brush again
and lightly paste over with your brine from your chickpeas.
And then I've got some toasted pumpkin seeds
that sit on top,
and that goes in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes.
As that's cooking,
we're gonna start dressing the plate.
And this is where the dish goes up
to a completely 'nother level now.
Nice.
It's so incredible watching Gordon cook...
We've got golden beet purée.
...he's like an artist bringing paints and colors to life on a blank canvas.
Take these roasted beets and just sit them on the plate.
You just see all these ingredients
just magically transformed into this beautiful vegan dish.
I'm stunned by that transformation.
Take your pastry out.
All: Wow.
That is perfect.
Slice off the ends very carefully.
You can feel how crispy that pastry is.
Lift that up.
Nicely done.
Wow.
And look. Amazing.
- Oh, wow. - That's perfect.
Gordon: A little touch of acidity with a beautiful balsamic vinegar.
And then finally going to finish that
with a nice bright green vinaigrette.
Wow, Chef.
Gordon: And there we have a beautiful roasted beet wellington.
And that's how a true MasterChef
executes a delicious vegan dish.
It's so gorgeous.
Now tonight you'll have one hour
to create a stunning vegan dish.
Now all of the produce will not be found in that pantry.
It will be found in our beautiful MasterChef garden
which is located outside.
All: Oh.
Out there you will find all the freshest fruits and vegetables
that you could ever desire for the most delicious vegan dish.
You'll have access to a limited pantry
with even more vegan-friendly ingredients.
Whoever cooks the best vegan dish tonight
will earn the coveted immunity pin.
And the cook who makes the worst dish tonight will be eliminated.
- Is everybody to hit MasterChef garden? - All: Yes, Chef.
Right. Your 60 minutes start now.
- Let's go. - Go, go, go, go, go.
Go, go, go, go!
- Get to the garden! - Come on, guys. Hustle.
- Push, push, push! Let's go! - Go, go, go, go, go.
Go, go, go, go, go. Come on.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Move it! Move it!
Pressure's on.
- Ooh, that's beautiful. - Oh, my God.
- Okay, and this. - Basil, I am so sorry.
Jalapenos.
The MasterChef Garden is incredible,
but why couldn't we have some meat on ice out there?
We couldn't have a couple turkey legs
or some steaks out there? Like, come on.
Ginger.
Oh, mushrooms. More mushrooms. Sweet.
- Gabe, you good? - Yes, Chef.
- Got a lot of stuff out here. - Inspired?
- Oh, hell yes, Chef. - Good man.
- Mushrooms, leeks. - Gordon: Brandi?
- Brandi: Yes? - Is your garden like this at home?
I actually have a huge herb garden at home...
- I bet you do. - ...because there's not very many herbs
- at the grocery stores around me. - Right.
Garlic. No, I don't need it.
I'm so excited to be doing this vegan challenge
because I was a vegetarian for a good chunk of my life,
and I actually raised my daughter as a vegetarian.
Now I'm about to do a dish that means so much to me,
something I cook for my daughter all the time,
so I'm really excited to show what I can do.
Let's rock and roll, Shanika.
Look at that. Yeah.
Okay.
Ooh, this is heavy.
- Using our muscles today. - Let's get it.
Willie: Come on, come on, come on.
Get those flavors.
Gordon: What a beautiful garden out there.
- Aarón: Yeah, absolutely. - I can see a lot of ideas flowing.
To do the kind of ambitious, complex preparations
to get to a vegan dish and make it flavorful
without using dairy or meat is very difficult.
- Really have to pull out your creativity here. - Yeah, absolutely.
Nope.
Look at this!
Bowen: I can do this!
- There we go. - Being Lebanese,
a lot of our food is veggie forward,
and I'm going to use recipes
that my grandmother taught me.
I'm making Lebanese falafel, it's what I grew up on,
with watermelon radish, the micro cilantro, and parsley.
This challenge was made for me,
and I'm really excited, and I hope the judges love it.
Shanika: All right, go-time.
Dara: Perfect. That's awesome.
Tonight I'm making a jackfruit Peking duck taco
with pickled vegetables and garnished with a ton of fresh herbs.
Jackfruit is a great meat substitute,
and it takes on whatever flavors you put into it,
so I'm really excited to showcase this.
There we go.
Brandi: I don't know what that is, but it don't look good.
Honestly, I have not tons of knowledge with vegan food.
I'm a meat and potatoes kind of girl,
but, you know, I wanna show that Southern food is versatile.
So I'm gonna make a creamy vegan cashew polenta
with crispy lemon kale and a fresh herb oil.
Hopefully I can be able to hold my own in the kitchen today.
Don't forget the kale.
Come on, come on. Get it in there.
Gordon: 15 minutes gone!
We're down now to 45 minutes.
Keep it going.
Whoo! Let's go, guys.
- All right, Señor Fred, Frederico. - Fred: Hello.
Aarón: What do you got going on? Talk to us about your dish.
So I'm doing a take on mapo tofu.
I'm making mapo tofu gnudi,
and I'm gonna serve it with a mapo sauce
which a Chinese spice sauce.
So the gnudi is an Italian pasta
where it's just the filling that's coated in a little bit of flour.
So the flour is just a container for usually ricotta.
So how do you transform that concept of the Italian gnudi to the vegan gnudi?
Silken tofu has a very similar consistency to ricotta.
But the question is ricotta, you would bind it with eggs.
What are you gonna bind this with?
I'm gonna bind it with flour, salt, and chives.
I've done this technique before, and it actually does come together very organically.
Joe: This is super ambitious.
The idea of the dish is good,
so I hope you can pull this off.
Fred: I'm taking a risk
by doing something that no one's ever done before
or even attempted in this kitchen.
There is definitely a lot of pressure to succeed,
because I got my apron on a dessert that was vegan,
but I've never done this dish in 60 minutes.
Oh, gosh. I need to really hustle.
And I'm hoping that it'll work out, but I am nervous.
Oh, God.
For this vegan challenge, the stakes are high for me
just because I got my apron on a dessert that was vegan,
but I'm just gonna keep myself focused and power through.
I've got this.
Gordon: Just over 40 minutes to go.
Remember three stunning plates, one immunity pin up for grabs.
- Let's go! - Behind. Sorry.
Come on.
We got this.
Right, Dara, how are we feeling?
Hi, Chef. I'm feeling great.
Gordon: Tell me about the dish. What are you doing?
So today I'll be doing a jackfruit Peking duck taco.
Wow, and what are you gonna do to that jackfruit?
I'm gonna be marinating it in hoisin,
- sesame oil... - Wow.
- ...a ton of Asian flavors. - Wow.
Smart move on the jackfruit. Love that.
Where did it come from, this idea?
Chef, this is a dish, Peking duck,
that I eat every Christmas Eve with my family.
- Right. - And it's a dish that I know
- has a ton of flavor. - Young lady, elevate this dish.
- Good luck. - Yes, Chef.
Willie: Perfect.
All right, these are done.
I'm doing a coconut key lime panna cotta
with a passion fruit and mango coulis
and a toasted macadamia and pink peppercorn crumble
and vegan doughnuts.
I got an ambitious dessert today,
but I definitely want to stand out.
Shayne from Texas, you are a meat man at heart, right?
- Yes, sir. - Y'all love your beef.
Have you ever cooked a vegan dish before?
I actually-- I feel like I have a lot to live up to.
On the last challenge I was on, on "MasterChef Junior,"
- I won the vegan dish. - You won?
- Wow. - Yes, sir.
Gordon: I never thought I'd say this,
but you've just turned me vegan for the night.
- Do you want to turn vegan? - No, Chef.
I'm gonna be making a risotto arancini,
and I wanna incorporate some fresh vegetables.
- So I'm adding pumpkin. - Aarón: Okay.
Now we're three challenges in,
and you're our youngest competitor.
Do you feel like you belong here with the adults?
Shayne: I definitely feel like I belong here.
I don't think age is necessarily a matter in the kitchen.
It's all about what you've done and your experience,
and I feel like I definitely have enough experience to be here.
- Good luck. - Perfect.
And I need some tomato in there too.
Right, Derrick, how are you feeling?
- Hi, Chef. - Tell me about the dish.
I'm kinda inspired by you a little bit.
I'm taking a classic beef tartare
- and making a beet tartare. - Okay, nice.
So a tartare is beautifully cut if it's a beef.
- Derrick: Yup. - So you're gonna finely dice?
I'm gonna pressure cook them, chill them,
and then I'm gonna mix them in the food processor
with capers, some balsamic,
and then I'm putting a smashed avocado.
- Well, give one base the texture. - Okay.
Just don't give me two layers of purée.
'Cause if I'm gonna eat a beetroot,
I wanna have a bit of a bite to the beetroot, okay?
- Okay. Yup. - Okay.
What would immunity mean for you tonight?
Derrick: I've been kinda middle of the road,
and I wanna show people that I'm stepping up,
and that I'm here to win this thing.
- Young man, good luck. - Yes, Chef. Heard.
Fred: Keep it together.
Shelly: Done, done, done.
I have a full vegan menu at my restaurant.
So it probably is my advantage tonight.
- Bowen! - Hi.
- How are you? - I'm doing pretty good.
- What is this? - Bowen: Chickpeas and also mushrooms.
- Oh, nice, and so talk to us about your dish. - It smells good.
I want to make cabbage roll and also tofu scallops,
serving with mango coconut risotto.
Joe: How are you gonna cook the tofu?
I want to be creative,
so I'm going to marinate with tamari
and the olive oil and then with leeks,
so it gives a flavor.
And also I want to give a scallop look.
Joe: Very smart.
If you can nail the flavors
and make it right and tasty,
you have a winning combination on your hands.
- Good luck, my friend. - Yes, thank you so much.
Okay, got 'em.
Nice.
Gordon: We're down to 30 minutes to go.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Salt.
Dara: You got this.
- Samantha. - Chef.
- Right, how are we feeling? - Good, Chef.
Tell me about the dish. What are you doing?
I am doing a stuffed potato pancake, Chef.
- Gordon: Wow. - Inside is going to be
a very cooked down meaty mushroom filling.
Right.
They've got a lot of earthiness,
and it's just a great meat substitute for vegans.
And then I'm gonna do some caramelized onions on top,
and I'm going to attempt at making a vegan sour cream.
Where'd the idea come from?
Living in New York, I went to a pierogi shop a lot.
So it's kinda playing off of that.
How are you gonna stuff the potatoes
because that's not even boiling yet?
You need to get these potatoes cooked fast,
and you've got a lot of mushrooms packed in one pan.
Get another pan on there so you can switch them out as well
so you got two things working at once.
- Yes, Chef. - That way it's gonna move twice as quick,
and make sure in that mushroom, make it flavorsome inside.
This is "Back to Win" now. You came back for a reason, yes?
- Yes, Chef. - Prove it. Let's go.
Yes, Chef. Thank you, Chef.
Gabriel: Almost there. How you doing, Dara?
- Doing good. How are you? - I'm doing, girl.
Gordon: I've never seen the MasterChef kitchen as energized as this.
Amanda: Let's go, pita.
- I am so impressed I have to say. - Honestly.
So Derrick's doing beet tartare.
The only issue I had is he's gonna purée the both of them,
the avocado base and a beet purée,
so I said, "Look, give it some texture.
Don't just stick two purées on the plate,"
but if that comes together, they could be stunning.
Bowen: Perfect!
Now Bowen, gonna take these tofu, and they're mimicking scallops.
- Really? - Aarón: And if Bowen can transform
those tofu cylinders
and give them any kind of resemblance to a scallop,
- that's a stroke of genius. - Absolutely.
- This is good. - Now Fred is doing a version
of a very traditional Chinese dish called mapo tofu,
which is traditionally with some sort of ground pork or beef,
and he's gonna make these little dumplings or gnudi.
Joe: At the end of the day, this dish is complex.
He's got a lot of techniques going on, but Fred,
he's the strongest vegan cook in this competition,
so I have sky high expectations for him.
Fred: Oh, gosh. It's salty.
- How you feeling, baby? - I'm all right. A little rushed.
Samantha, she's doing a potato cake, a sort of vegan inspired pierogi.
- Oh, wow, that's cool. - Joe: Love that.
Gordon: Beautiful idea, but she's way behind.
She still has to assemble all the pierogi elements,
and her potatoes aren't even cooked yet.
- That is not good at all. - That's not a good sign.
Gordon: Guys, 25 minutes to go. Keep it going.
I'm worried because it took me 15 minutes
to peel and dice all of those potatoes,
- and they're still boiling. - Come on.
I'm a little nervous.
If I take too long,
I won't get enough components on the plate.
- Oof. - Samantha: Oh, my goodness.
Just stay calm. Breathe. You got it.
Samantha: Oh, my goodness. Just stay calm. Breathe. You got it.
- No. - Time is working against me.
I have a lot of potatoes to cook
for my vegan potato pancakes,
but luckily my potatoes are just starting to finish cooking.
Hell yes.
The priority is definitely getting these potatoes shaped
and formed into those potato pancakes.
In order to get that done,
unfortunately I'm sacrificing a little bit of the other elements.
So I have to make sure that everything that goes onto that plate is perfect.
Let's go, Samantha! Let's go!
Gordon: Guys, 20 minutes to go.
Keep it going.
Oh, yes. Let's cook, baby.
I'm coming behind. Coming behind.
Shayne: Perfect.
- Shelly, what's up? - Hey, how are you?
What's happening here? This looks like a curry.
Yep, yep. I'm making a curry tofu
- with a vegan roti. - I like that.
I gotta represent all my Caribbean cooking that I grew up eating.
I'm just trying to channel my daughter right now
- 'cause this is one of the dishes she really likes. - Of course.
What are some of the other vegetables you're going to put in here?
Green beans, it's gonna have some bell peppers.
But, Shelly, in my humble opinion,
you're using vegetables that are easily found.
- Yes. - You have a beautiful MasterChef garden out there.
Think about maybe some more luxurious vegetables.
I'm gonna try to really stay true to tradition as much as possible.
- Okay. - 'Cause when I tend to veer from that,
that's kinda when I screw up things.
Does the vegan challenge intimidate you?
- No, I feel really good. - All right, thank you very much, Shelly.
- Joe: All right, Shelly. - Shelly: Thank you, Chef.
This is hot, hot, hot. Do we got some smoke?
We need all the smoke today.
All right.
Willie: Ooh, yes.
Dara: I'm doing good.
I'm so proud of this polenta.
Brandi: You can't even tell it's missing butter and cream.
- Right, Shanika. - Yes, Chef?
- How are you feeling? - Good.
I'm making homemade mozzarella right now,
so I can form my balls, get them cool.
- You're doing a homemade mozzarella? - Yeah, vegan.
Gordon: Tell me about the dish.
So I'm doing a caprese salad. I'm gonna use heirloom tomatoes.
- Wow. - And I'm having a basil vinaigrette.
- You know, I love that idea. - Check out that drip.
- I love that idea. - Check out that drip.
How are you gonna make vegan mozzarella?
I'm using nutritional yeast, agar-agar, a little bit of tapioca flour.
- Yes. - Once I'm done cooking this down,
so it gets solidified, I'm gonna marinate them
in that olive oil with a little bit of oregano.
Man, where are these ideas coming from?
You know, I went vegan for three months
after I gained 30 pounds eating pasta
every day in culinary art school,
and I had to make recipes that tasted good to me.
- Gordon: Sounds amazing. - Thanks, Chef.
That's good, that's good, that's good.
- Hello, Amanda. - Hi, Joe.
What are you cooking for us today?
Oh, I'm making falafel.
Aarón: Are you gonna do very traditional?
Are you gonna add your own little twist to it?
So I was inspired by the garden,
so I have some watermelon radish which isn't traditional.
We have the micro cilantro that I'm gonna have with my tomatoes
and dress them in a little salad, and pickled red onions as well.
You're playing a high risk game here,
because I have a certain opinion on falafel.
I'm sure Aarón does, as Gordon does.
I know the dish, and I know what it's supposed to taste like.
Right. That's true.
So this better be top, Amanda.
- You got it. - Aarón: Thank you, Amanda.
Gordon: We're down to the last ten minutes now.
Last ten minutes. Keep it going. Come on.
- Behind. - Keep going.
The speed in what they're working is incredible, isn't it?
Shanika: Okay, that's good.
Shanika, she's doing a homemade vegan mozzarella.
- Oh, wow. - This dish sounds amazing.
It's gonna be cool. That's perfect.
Amanda is making a falafel, but it's a huge risk
because we all know what we want our falafel to taste like.
Will hers get to the level? I don't know.
Gordon: Last five minutes. Keep it going.
Think about your plating, guys. Let's go!
Shelly: Oh, my gosh.
Everything's going good, and then I realize there's five minutes left on the clock,
but I didn't fry my tofu.
And I am freaking out right now
because I got rotis to create
and my curry's starting to reduce way too much.
Oh, look. Shelly's really behind.
- She needs to hustle. - Oh, God. Okay, here we go.
Let's go, Shelly, come on. Finish up, finish up.
Let's go.
- Derrick, taste the textures. - That's what I'm doing.
Come on, let's go. Samantha, let's go.
Come on, get color.
- Let's go! Come on, guys. - Aarón: Let's go!
- Worried about Shelly. - Me too.
What is she-- she's rolling more roti at two minutes left.
- Nah. - That is not good.
You gotta go. You with me?
Yes, Chef. Yes, yes.
Let's go! 70 seconds.
Shelly, come on, let's go.
All right, get the roti out, and get it cut now.
- Now. Now. - Yes, Chef.
Aarón: One minute, everyone!
Garnish, garnish. Let's go!
Oh, gosh.
15 seconds to go! Now, Shelly!
Dara: Oh, my goodness.
Judges: Ten, nine,
eight, seven, six,
five, four,
three, two, one.
- And stop. Well done! - That's it. Hands in the air.
- Whoo! - Whoo!
( sighs )
Yes!
You good?
Shelly: No.
I'm emotional now because I'm representing so many people
that I feel like I really didn't do it justice.
I just know it could be better.
I just hope somebody screwed up more than me.
Now we're going to take a final look at all of your dishes,
and from there we'll determine who's in the top three
and, sadly, who's entering the bottom three.
Bowen, did you invent this dish today?
Yes, I was trying to make some Italian flavor in there.
Coconut mango risotto.
- Italian flavor? - Italian flavor? Coconuts and mangos?
No, it's Italian risotto,
but I made my own flavors.
- Thank you. Thank you. - Thank you, Bowen.
- Shanika, what was the cooking that you did? - Yes, Chef?
The cooking that I did was with my mozzarella.
- Gordon: Good job. - Aarón: Thank you.
Shanika: Thank you.
And what's the cream?
- The cream is a garlic cashew aioli. - Gordon: Beautiful.
Derrick: I took all your suggestions, hand-diced the beets.
Visually, it looks beautiful. Really good.
I know some of my fellow contestants are really nervous
about this being a vegan challenge
because they love to eat meat.
- Joe: You taste that? - Yes, I did.
Stick your finger in it.
A touch more salt.
Amanda: It's truly anyone's game.
This competition is super fierce.
You made the taco shell yourself?
- I did. It's a Mandarin pancake. - Yeah.
I think some people are doing too much conceptually.
You can do incredible things without having such elaborate food.
Joe: All right, Fred, this dish was really ambitious.
- Did you get it all done? - Fred: Yes, I did.
- You tasted that, right? - Yes, I did.
Sweet.
I feel like I stayed true to myself in this challenge,
and can't necessarily tell that from the other dishes.
Samantha, it's just fried mashed potatoes.
Samantha: It's a stuffed potato pancake, so the mushroom filling is in there.
- It's inside? - It's inside, Chef.
Mysterious.
If I mess this up, I'm gonna be super disappointed in myself.
Amanda, do you feel that your lovely family, would they be happy with this falafel?
- Absolutely. - Thank you.
Were you planning on giving it some more color or wow
or is that what it's supposed to look like?
- I was, but I ran out of time. - Ran out of time.
Michael, you kinda separated yourself from the pack.
You're one of the few that did dessert.
Do you think that decision paid off?
- I hope so. - Gordon: Well done.
Brandi, are you happy with the decision of putting in some cashews into that polenta?
I am. It's super creamy.
I feel like it tastes like it has heavy cream and butter in it.
Mm-hmm.
- Wow. - Yeah, a lot of good stuff out there.
- Gordon: There's some great dishes out there. - Joe: Yeah.
How many techniques did he do? He was a busy boy.
Yeah, that's, like, a restaurant ready dish.
Mm-hmm. Let's go to the bottom.
Look at that garden out there and then look at her plate.
Aarón: There's nothing happening.
She's usually pretty smart. Something's not right today.
- Shall we? - I'm ready.
Tonight the plates, some of the most spectacular.
It really confirms how much I've grown to love vegan food.
With that said, we've agreed on three exceptional dishes.
Remember, one of you three
will receive a stunning immunity pin,
and the first dish we'd like to taste and take a much deeper look at,
we felt that this individual put their own spin on vegan food,
and it really does ooze such finesse.
Please come forward...
- Derrick. - Yes.
Wow, what a relief. Finally, I'm in the top three.
I listened to Gordon, I took all of his advice,
and got it on the plate.
I'm stoked.
Gordon: Young man, describe the dish.
Derrick: This is a beet tartare
with a smashed avocado base, a cashew garlic aioli,
and a scratch made sesame crostini.
This dish is flashy. It's you.
It's just everything we want on a plate.
Thank you, Chef.
Derrick, the beetroots are delicious.
I'm glad you didn't just blitz your beetroot,
so we got some texture.
But a touch of chili running through that,
I think it would've been a near perfect dish.
Yeah, I think the genius for me
was you were able to pair beets with avocado,
which is hard sort of marriage to make.
You have something that's very creamy and fresh with avocado,
and then you have beets, which are very earthy and dense.
The fact that you chose those particular ingredients
to highlight the beets I think is really smart and clever.
- Thank you. - Joe: I think this dish is better
than versions I have of this in my restaurants.
This is a crowd pleaser, a money maker, and a winner.
- Great dish. - Thank you, Chef.
- Thank you, Derrick. Good job. - Good job.
Wow. That's awesome.
You killed it, Derrick.
All righty, the second dish that we would like to taste further
is from someone who has been in the middle of the pack up to this point
but came to life by cooking in her cultural wheelhouse.
Please come forward, Amanda.
- Yay! - Get it, girl.
I'm so excited.
I know my family would be so proud of this dish.
Aarón: Amanda, please describe your dish.
Amanda: Today I made for you a falafel
using cilantro, parsley, and mint from the garden.
And I also made a pickled watermelon radish
along with a tomato cilantro salad
and a creamy tahini sauce and homemade pita.
It is everything that a falafel should be.
It is inviting. It looks so beautiful.
This is just too good to not want to just jump in right now.
The pita bread is thin.
It's got that toasty flavor that you want.
But what lifts this for me which I've never had before
is the pickling of those radishes.
Right amount of acidity in there. Delicious.
But then the falafel, the crispiness,
the way you were flavoring that chickpea,
and the cook on them is exceptional.
So it is street food elevated to restaurant quality.
Thank you, Chef.
I bow down to your falafel-ness. This is unreal.
It's just everything you expect, you know?
The creamy herbaceous interior of the falafel is there.
You didn't over-fry the exterior, which a lot of people do.
I love it. Beyond reproach.
- Thank you so much. - Aarón: Delicious.
This is a perfect falafel,
but in this level of competition,
is a perfect falafel enough to win immunity?
We'll find out.
- Good job. - Thank you, Amanda.
Thank you so much.
Good job, Amanda!
Hey! Ha ha!
- Good job. - Awesome. Good job.
Thanks.
The final vegan dish in the top three
that we'd like to taste, it's made by a cook
who really presented a restaurant quality plate,
and it belongs to Bowen.
This moment is what I've been waiting for.
The technique, the flavors,
the creations all in this dish,
I deserve to get the immunity pin.
All right, Bowen, tell us what you made.
Bowen: I made a tofu scallop Chinese cabbage roll
and a mango coconut risotto,
and then served with Thai curry sauce.
It looks appealing. It looks complex.
You can see the work, you can see the thought,
and you can see the time that went into it.
Thank you so much.
Can't wait to eat this.
Look at that.
- Tofu is exceptional. - Thank you.
Risotto, I don't think it needs that risotto,
and there's nowhere in Italy that puts mango in a risotto.
But the flavors are on point,
and I think what you've done is beautifully articulated
the fake scallops with the sear
and just the perfect color on them. Good job, Bowen.
Aarón: What you have here is truly elegant.
I don't know how, but you did it, young man.
I'm really taken back by it.
If you want vegan food that's creative,
that's packed with flavor,
that has voice and a narrative, this is it.
I think that dish is kind of a triumph in textures as well.
This is real top class dish.
Thank you. I'm really happy.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
- Good job, Bowen. - Good job.
- Delicious. - Come on.
- That was good. - Great job.
Very tough. So Derrick, the beet was delicious.
Just keep cooking like that.
- Gordon: And falafel? - Is it good enough?
Honestly, it was delicious.
Joe: Bowen's dish?
I think it is so clever to make those scallops.
Gordon: Yeah, it's a tough one.
- Joe: Got it? We agreed? - Yeah.
Derrick, Amanda, Bowen, three amazing vegan dishes,
but only one of you will receive the immunity pin.
The dish tonight that deserves the immunity pin
by a fraction above the other two,
congratulations goes to...
Gordon: Derrick, Amanda, Bowen,
the vegan that dish that deserves the immunity pin
by a fraction above the other two,
congratulations goes to...
Amanda!
- Yay. - Let's go!
- Thank you. - Good job.
- Gordon: Please, come and get your pin. - Thank you.
Yay! I have the immunity pin!
Yay! Thank you. Thank you so much.
I didn't think it was gonna happen.
I'm so proud of myself.
All three of you, please, make your way up to the balcony. Well done.
- Great job. - Good job, Amanda.
Amanda: I love the balcony!
This is amazing.
Sadly, we also noticed a few dishes tonight
that did not meet our "MasterChef: Back to Win" standards.
That means one of you will be leaving.
The first dish we must examine even further
looks slightly anemic, a little bit unfinished,
and we were concerned
it may not be cooked properly either.
Please come forward...
- Shelly. - Yep.
I'm so disappointed in myself right now.
This is a dish that I've made on a weekly basis
for my daughter. I should've done better.
Gordon: Please describe your dish and tell me what you brought in from the garden.
Shelly: It's a curry tofu topped with a vegan sour cream
and a scratch made roti.
And from the garden, green beans, bell peppers, and shallots.
It doesn't look like you. It looks bare.
100%.
Shelly, oh, dear.
Watching the way you cooked previously,
it's such a dream.
Tonight you've had a nightmare, young lady.
The curry's just over-reduced,
and there's nowhere near enough vegetables in there
that screams a beautiful vegan curry.
The balance of spice is delicious.
The rest is just-- it's not Shelly.
These dish is so warming and emotional.
I can tell it's emotional for you.
I think in your head,
you wanted this to be something so grand
that you forgot to kind of put in some of the elements of the dish.
It just needs more veggie.
You could've really realized that garden in a different way.
- Absolutely. - Joe: I agree with all the comments.
It seems like an unfinished dish to me, which I think it is.
Absolutely.
- Thanks, Shelly. - Joe: Thanks.
Okay, the next dish comes from a cook
who made an impressive mark in season nine,
but whose vegan cooking skills missed the mark tonight.
Please come forward, Samantha.
Samantha: My heart is definitely in my stomach.
Bottom three is never an easy place to be.
My dish may look simple,
but at the end of the day,
I think the seasoning is on point,
and I think the judges will see that.
- Joe: Thank you. - Samantha: Mm-hmm.
Okay, Samantha, what did you make us?
Samantha: Today I have for you a stuffed potato pancake
with a mushroom filling, and I made a vegan sour cream to go with it.
It looks so minimalistic.
It's like we took half your time away.
Shall we?
Aarón: You know, what this tastes like to me
is like a frozen pocket of something
that you would get in the frozen section.
It's just mashed potatoes with mushrooms in there.
There's no heat, there's no usage of herbs.
It's just really boring.
This seems to me like-- I'm gonna tell you straight.
It seems like one component out of four
of a mediocre breakfast or brunch plate.
I've got hardly any flavor in my mushrooms.
All I've got is a really nice crispy outside of that potato.
It's almost like I'm talking to the wrong person
because I know what you've done,
but I'm just not tasting it tonight. I'm sorry.
Yes, Chef. Thank you.
Aarón: The final dish that we would like to taste from the bottom three
is from somebody whose sauce left a lot to be desired.
Oh, ( bleep ). That's me.
Please come forward...
Aarón: The final dish that we would like to taste from the bottom three
is from Fred.
Fred: I took a huge risk with this dish,
and the judges know I can execute vegan food properly.
- Fred. - But I can see there's a lot of disappointment
in the three judges' eyes.
Joe: Fred, please describe your dish.
Fred: I have here today a tofu gnudi
with a mapo sauce that features the roasted garden vegetables
and some tofu crema.
Fred, you know, you plate like an artist,
and it's like you had blindfold on tonight.
This presentation is like we're back to "MasterChef Junior."
It's just clumped in a bowl.
Uh, ooh, Fred,
my issue here is you've got so much salt
it's absolutely imploding.
And the gnudi are rock hard
and so there's just no texture.
There's a richness behind the tofu.
I love that, but it tastes canned.
- Oh, damn. - For me to see this and that promise of mapo tofu,
and I get this and I'm just completely let down.
It is way over the top salty,
but the great thing that I love is actually the eggplant.
It's perfectly cooked. It's melting in your mouth. I dig that.
Joe: The idea of the dish is good,
but your technique really let you down.
The errors are significant here,
because it's difficult to eat this.
It's hard to believe that just last week
you were wearing an immunity pin and standing tall
and proud in front of the competition,
and you've fallen flat, young man.
Thank you, Fred.
Shelly, Samantha, Fred,
Joe, Aarón, and myself have got a very tough decision to think about.
Please excuse us. Gents.
I hate this part.
Gordon: So, Shelly's, the dish was half-finished, wasn't it?
- Yeah. It's too bad. - And Samantha's,
it's almost like Samantha had checked out halfway through.
I can't believe that that's an hour of work.
- Yeah. - Mine was boring, you know?
- They called my canned. - They called mine frozen.
Fred was dreaming tonight. That's not him, is it?
- No, it's not. - The eggplant was good.
Yes, that was one pleasant respite.
- Are we clear? - Yep, we're clear.
Ready?
- Good luck, guys. - You too.
Right, this has been a very tough decision,
but there was one dish that we felt was way below par.
That dish belongs to...
Samantha.
Aw, Samantha.
Tonight that dish wasn't anywhere near "MasterChef: Back to Win."
Fred, Shelly, say goodbye to Samantha
and head back to your benches, please.
I love you so much.
- See you in New York, okay? - Thank you.
Young lady, tonight you may have cooked like you'd given up,
but let me tell you something really important.
I haven't given up on you. Continue that journey.
- Promise me? - Yes, I promise, Chef.
You have so much talent. You know what's right and what's wrong.
This doesn't define you. Hopefully it just makes you stronger.
Sam, please place the apron on your bench and say goodbye.
- Thank you. - Take care.
Love you, Sam!
Samantha: To be back to cook for these judges again has been amazing.
It's an amazing experience connecting with some of these other chefs.
( murmuring )
In past seasons, they've looked at somebody's potential,
but we all have potential,
so that's not a factor this season.
Season 12 is unlike any other beast.
Damn.
See you later, girl.
But my culinary journey is not over for me.
Bye, everyone.
The competition is just too tough this year.
- Gordon: Next time... - Welcome back!
the cooks take a virtual culinary trip around the globe...
Japan!
...in a Southern inspired fusion challenge.
Oh, great. Ethiopian Southern fusion? That ( bleep ) crazy.
With celebrity chef Tiffany Derry in the house...
The idea is to punch in as much flavor as quick as you can.
I'm really scared now.
- Taste that before? - Never even heard of it.
- Gordon: Oh, my Lord. - Why is it dropping?
They look like they're burning.
- Gordon: Southern fusion... - You're onto something.
Joe: It really is a celebration of flavor.
It's called perfection.
...spirals into confusion.
- Joe: This dish was bad. - Just bizarre.
It's kind of a disaster.
I should've paid attention in geography.