Gordon: Previously on "MasterChef: Back to Win"...
Welcome to the top ten.
You have to elevate gas station snacks
- into gourmet dishes. - Wow.
That's the secret of any great chef-- elevation, right?
- It's about to go down. - Let's get it!
I melted the gummy bears down. I poured the beer in there.
- What? - That sounds disgusting.
I want that immunity pin back.
And while some created snack magic...
It's ( bleep ) delicious. It's one of the best dishes that you've cooked.
Immunity goes to Christian and Shanika.
- ...one cook was left behind. - ( bleep )
- It's difficult to eat. - The fondant is gross.
Unfortunately it does not taste good, young lady.
Say good-bye.
- Tonight... - Top nine.
...another winner's mystery box reveals a familiar face.
- Gerron! - And he's spicing things up.
Oh, my God.
- Emily, your favorite. - This is my worst nightmare.
But if they can't stand the heat...
- When we have too much spice, we don't want that. - Yeah.
I'm not gonna make that mistake.
Bowen, don't use that ( bleep ) caviar.
( bleep ), where did the last minute go?
...they'll have to say good-bye
to the MasterChef kitchen.
( bleep )
It's a little bit bizarre.
It's hard like a hockey puck.
Gordon: You've missed the mark.
You're a much better cook than that dish was.
I hate this part.
- All right. - Top nine.
- It's a big one. - Yup.
But an even bigger surprise inside that box.
Hello? Things are gonna get hot tonight.
Things are gonna get very hot.
- Whoo! - Welcome back, guys.
- Mystery box. - Oh, that's a big mystery box.
- Oh. - This mystery box is so huge.
I'm pretty sure there's a person inside.
- Oh, here it is. - Here we go again.
Who's under the mystery box this time?
- Yeah, it's a big box again. - I know, right?
We are on top nine right now.
I've been on the top three three times,
and I am just so close to holding that trophy, I can even taste it.
Right, welcome back to the top nine.
Whoo!
Shanika and Christian,
enjoy that immunity whilst it lasts
because that last challenge was the final time
we're giving out the immunity pin this season.
Michael: Come on!
- I knew it. I knew it had to end. - Come on.
- You're lucky. - Yeah!
I'm the only one out of the top nine
who has not gotten the immunity pin.
But, hey, I'm not here to win that immunity pin.
- I'm back to win. - So after tonight,
all of you must cook in every single challenge.
Wow.
But whoever cooks the best dish tonight
does still get a huge advantage in the next challenge.
Ooh!
And trust me, you want that one.
But, of course,
if you're the worst cook of the night,
you will be eliminated.
Now we've got another exciting winner's mystery box
for all of you tonight.
Are you ready to see who's under here
and what they've brought for you?
All: Yes, Chef.
You're gonna love this one.
Let's see who's inside.
- Uh... - Oh.
- Wait, wait. - Ooh, there's smoke.
( gasping )
- Oh, my God. - Who is it?
Wow.
Who is that?
- What? - ( cheering )
Oh! Gerron!
Hey there!
Good to see you, man. Welcome back.
- Hey, Chef. - What an entrance. Man!
- That was epic. - Good to see you, buddy.
- Gerron: Hi, Joe. - Shanika: Oh, my God.
It's Gerron.
Gerron is the winner of my season, season nine.
Gerron!
Congratulations, Gerron!
He's known for big, bold flavors.
Big plates, you know what I mean?
And heavy on the spice.
- Gerron, welcome back, young man. - Thank you.
What an absolute pleasure.
And one of our most recent winners.
How much has your life changed since then?
Oh, my gosh, Gordon, it's changed tremendously.
I'm working on a family-inspired cookbook,
traveling the world doing cooking classes.
I've opened up a restaurant.
And I'm working on my own brand of Nashville hot sauce.
I mean, life-changing, completely.
Amazing.
How does it feel to see some of the competitors
- you recognize? - Oh, it feels amazing.
I mean, Bowen, Emily, Shanika.
I mean, strong, strong cooks in the kitchen.
I'm excited to see, you know, how they've developed
as chefs over this period of time.
Bowen, would you like Gerron to come and work
with Shanika in your restaurant?
Of course.
But I cannot pay you a lot.
Right, everyone, please head to your stations
so we can see what's under your Gerron-inspired mystery boxes.
Right, on the count of three, lift those boxes.
- One, two, three. - Lift.
- Whoa! - Wow.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Oh, what the hell? - Oh!
There's all this weight of just chilies
from all around the world.
Jalapenos, serranos, poblanos, Thai chili peppers.
I mean, the list goes on. I love spicy food.
I'm always cooking with chilies and peppers, so I'm excited.
- Let's go. - Whoo!
- Emily, your favorite. - Yeah, my favorite.
I hate spicy food,
so this is my nightmare challenge.
This is not even, like, "not my favorite."
Like, "Oh, you know, I don't love it, but I'll do it."
No. I cannot with spicy food.
I put every kind of pepper under the sun
inside those mystery boxes.
So don't be afraid to get nice with that spice.
Tonight you'll have to prove that you can keep up
with his spicy palate and cook dishes with heat.
You will have only 45 minutes to cook a hot and spicy dish
using the peppers under Gerron's mystery box.
- Right, you guys ready? - All: Yes, Chef.
Your time starts...
- Now. - Let's go.
- Oh, boy. - Come on, Willie. Come on, Willie.
Wow, Willie, you're Usain Bolt there.
Roasted red peppers.
Lemon.
Where's the plantain?
We have Japanese eggplant.
Being Lebanese, I'm no stranger to spices
and flavor and peppers.
So I wanna take those flavors that I learned
from my childhood, from my grandparents,
and really bring it to my plate today.
Oh, it's super important for me to impress Gerron.
I watched his season and I loved how he stayed true to his roots,
and that's what I'm gonna do.
Aarón: There you go, Amanda. Good job, young lady.
- Thank you. - Need my peas.
Come on, baby.
Willie, you getting set up for success tonight.
- Get it done. - Heard.
Okay. Perfect.
So I'm gonna be doing an Indian samosa today
using a ton of fresh chilies,
and I'm gonna be making two different chutneys as well.
I absolutely love Indian cuisine,
and my father was a huge fan of everything spicy.
This dish is inspired by my childhood
and my dad's love for spice.
You know, he passed away from cancer
when I was six years old,
so this is a dish that I'm cooking with my heart today.
Everybody's off to a strong start.
I'm a sweet and spicy boy,
so I want to be able to be putting myself on the plate.
I'm making a seafood stuffed pepper,
and it's served with spicy chili sweet sauce
and also fried plantain cake.
In China, we always eat spicy food.
I like burning my mouth.
That's the spice level I really like.
So the peppers for me are not an unfamiliar ingredient.
Where's my cayenne pepper?
Okay, breadcrumbs.
Oh, so he's using those peppers. Got it.
You know, I like spicy food, but everyone's going savory.
Let's stand out. Let's go sweet.
Doing dessert in 45 minutes, there is no room for error.
But the last time I took a risk,
I won the immunity pin.
So today I'm elevating a churro
and gonna make it nice and spicy
with a spicy chocolate dipping sauce.
Everyone can throw a chili into something, make it hot,
but it's about that balance.
And I think that's what's really gonna shine in my chocolate sauce
is the balance of heat, the fat, the sweet.
It's all gonna come together.
You didn't wanna go savory tonight, Derrick?
Christian's been slicking by with that immunity,
but he don't got that crutch anymore.
Ha!
'Cause there's no more immunity to win tonight.
How many immunity wins you got, Derrick?
I got three 'cause I got your two,
'cause I'm living in your head rent free. Good-bye.
- Mm, he told your ass. - Ah!
Gordon: Seven minutes gone. 38 minutes remaining. Let's go.
So, a heat-inspired challenge tonight.
Top nine, someone is gonna win a game-changing advantage.
Sadly, somebody will be going home.
Gerron, so good to have you back here, but what would you make tonight?
What would you do in 45 minutes?
Maybe a jambalaya, you know?
I would go on those traditional New Orleans flavors.
I would do maybe some bone marrow
and maybe create a hot sauce on the side
to kind of cut the richness of that bone marrow
within my jambalaya.
And that's important to remember.
We want them to bring the heat,
but not obliterate our palates.
So that balance is going to be key.
When we have too much spice, the actual flavor of the food
can be drowned out by that spice, and we don't want that.
Gerron: So I would do some sort of cooling element,
like a yogurt sauce that will downplay that heat a bit.
Exactly. When you start the fire, you gotta have the water hose.
- Absolutely, absolutely. - Absolutely.
If you can't stand the heat, get out the kitchen.
Oh, my God.
Well, you know, she don't like spice.
Like, she hates spice.
So, I'm a super taster,
and basically it means you just have more taste buds.
When I eat something spicy, it overpowers everything else.
So I'm not able to actually taste the food that I'm eating
if there's really almost any amount of spice to it.
So this is definitely stretching me in terms of conceptualizing a dish
and then being able to put that together.
So I'm basing my dish
on something very familiar to me.
There's nothing I like about this challenge.
I have to use chilies.
I have to make a dish in 45 minutes.
( sighs )
You gotta be ( bleep ) kidding me.
This is about to be serious.
Someone's going home.
Ten minutes gone, 35 minutes remaining
in this heat-inspired challenge tonight.
Man, that clock moves fast in 45 minutes.
- It sure does. - Oh, sugar.
- I don't miss that clock. - I bet you don't.
Dara: Come on.
Willie: Come on, come on, come on.
Yeah.
- Right, Emily. - Chef.
Tell us the dish. What are you doing?
We're making a shrimp fra diavolo.
- So it's gonna be a nice spicy tomato sauce. - Wow.
You're gonna have chili-dusted fried shrimp over the top.
- What chilies are you using? - Fresh Fresno chili.
I'm charring that right now.
We're using some Espelette pepper.
We're using red pepper flakes.
We're gonna be using a little bit
of Calabrian chili oil as well,
so keeping it in that kind of European fashion.
Okay, one thing that I see that you're doing really well
- is you're charring that chili over the heat... - Mm-hmm.
...and I think that starts to activate multiple levels of flavor.
- Exactly. - So I love to see that.
You're not a big fan of the heat, are you?
I don't love spicy food. We're opposites.
- You're a spicy person. - Right.
When you put down plates, you put the M at the top,
and you plate every plate the exact same,
because these all look out of order now.
Tonight's about spice.
- You don't want to make your dish overly hot, right? - Right.
You wanna find ways to play into the flavors
of the pepper or of the heat.
- That's the goal. - Smart move with the shrimp.
It's sweet, so that will help cut through that spice.
- But, you know, get that balance right. - Balance, exactly.
Remember, somebody's going home.
I'm hoping it's not me tonight, Chef.
There is 30 minutes to go. Good luck.
- Yes, Chef. Thank you. - Good luck.
Thanks, Gerron. Thank you.
( coughs )
- How your cornbread looking, man? - Good.
So hot.
Willie, so what are you making?
So today, I'm gonna be making something
that you should be familiar with, Chef,
crawfish and shrimp étouffée.
- Ooh-whee! - Etouffée.
- What exactly is an étouffée? - It starts with a roux.
- He's gonna get the roux nice and dark. - Joe: It's beautiful.
Aarón: And then cook it down with our trinity,
which is bell peppers, celery, and onions.
He has his roux rocking and rolling,
and what about this basket spoke to you and said étouffée right away?
The spice. In New Orleans, they use spice,
and they use it really nicely.
Think about infusing those chilies at different stages,
I used this one here for my stock. I don't know what that's called.
- Yeah, this is called the chili manzano. - Okay.
Which is a great chili from Mexico,
which is mild and doesn't have a lot of flavor, but it has--
Joe: This is a jalapeno, right?
- Aarón: No, that's a shishito. - Shishito.
- This is a jalapeno. - No, that's a chili serrano.
- Well, where's a jalapeno? - No, here it is.
- That's a jalapeno. - That's a jalapeno.
- Yes. - Sí.
- It looks exactly the same as this one. - No, they're-- no.
How am I supposed to tell the difference? They look exactly the same.
No, chili serrano is thinner and it's actually spicier.
- Love that. - ( sighs )
All right, let that cook down.
Michael: When I think of spicy food, I think of Texas.
I grow peppers at home every summer.
It's something I truly love to do,
so this is definitely something I'm familiar with today.
I am making a spice crusted hanger steak
with a homemade habanero harissa.
I have a lot of chili going on,
so I'm using a charred eggplant and feta whip
to help balance out all those spicy notes.
Last week, I was almost sent home
for taking a huge risk making dessert
when it wasn't a dessert challenge.
This time I'm not gonna make that mistake.
What happened last week is not gonna faze me.
I'm coming back stronger than ever today.
Looking good. Look at that.
- Whew, okay. - Hi, Bowen.
How excited were you when you saw Gerron under that box?
Exciting, and then to see Gerron's success,
I'm really happy because I'm trying to see my success in that.
Seeing Gerron to be from same season,
has his restaurant, has his own cookbook,
I want to prove to the judges,
and especially Gerron,
I have that skill.
So I will bring all the spicy, all the smoke
into my dish tonight.
What are we making?
I'm making a seafood stuffed pepper mofongo.
Okay, what peppers are you using from the mystery box?
Poblano pepper and the Thai chili,
some cayennes, and also the green chilies.
So how do you plan to keep that heat at a great level
- to where it's not overly spicy? - I have my sauce, too.
And my sauce is sweet and will make it balance out.
- What's in the seafood here? - Okay, it's lump crab meat,
crawfish tail, and pork, and then some caviar.
- Did you say caviar as well? - Yes, black caviar.
Black caviar? And you plan to cook the caviar?
Yes.
Gordon: Really? Is that a dish?
- Yes. - Right.
Bowen, you got 23 minutes to go.
Okay.
Get these guys ready for frying.
Dara: Perfect.
Willie: We gonna try a little hot pepper!
- Make sure you wash your hands, my G. - Mm-hmm.
- Aarón: Derrick. How you doing, buddy? - What's up, Chef?
- Uh-oh. I see dessert. - I'm doing well.
I'm making a Sichuan peppercorn-dusted churro
with a spicy Thai chili chocolate sauce.
- Do you feel like going the route of the churro... - Yep.
...that you're gonna separate yourself from the pack.
'Cause it seems that no one else is going dessert, right, Joe?
- Right. - No one. You're the only one.
I'm trying to show that you can also put spicy in a dessert.
The chocolate sauce isn't outside the box, but I'm gonna really make sure
that that heat balances correctly.
But then I'm gonna take the churro and I'm gonna dust it in Sichuan peppercorn,
- get a little tingle in the mouth feel. - Excellent.
Churro is something you have as street food,
so you gotta figure out how to make this elevated.
- Yeah. - So you're using the Thai chilis, right?
- Yeah. - Cacao and chilies
is something that's very Mesoamerican,
- very traditional. - Okay.
So what I would do if I were you is make your chocolate base,
- play with a couple of different flavors. - Sure.
And you can always put another one in there
if you feel that the chili is not there, okay?
- You got a lot of risk involved, young man. - Yeah.
- Good luck. - Good luck, Derrick.
Derrick: Thank you, Chef.
Looking good.
Gordon: Guys, 25 minutes gone.
20 minutes remaining.
All right, let's get these bad boys going.
Right, Emily, so you know the heat is that Achilles' heel
and she don't wanna go anywhere near there.
Tonight, she's forced to go there.
- The dish sounds good. - Gerron: Yeah, it does.
Gordon: It's a beautiful shrimp dish
with a sort of tomato spiced infused sauce.
I'm just excited to see how her dish is gonna play out in the end.
Ooh, yeah. Baby!
Big Willie's going down to my neck of the woods
with a crawfish and shrimp étouffée.
Wow, in 45 minutes? An étouffée?
Yeah, it's an étouffée. Look, the key to it
is making sure that that roux is cooked out
and really extracting the most amount of flavor that you can.
I'm on a hot tamale train!
Derrick is gonna give us our only dessert tonight.
- He's making churros with a spicy chocolate sauce. - Gordon: Wow.
Whoo! It's there.
That's a spicy chocolate.
It's very street food. It's very simple and sort of--
- How did you elevate it? - Yeah, how do you elevate?
So we're kind of a little bit puzzled by that.
Gerron: Derrick is piping the churros very, very thin.
If I was him, I would for sure go back and get a large piping tip,
make sure that those churros were nicely sized.
Joe: Because they have to be doughy inside, too.
- They can't be like cookies. - And Bowen?
Gerron: I'm worried about how great his dish will turn out.
- Gordon: Yeah. - He's using multiple chili peppers.
He's also using that poblano. Then with the seafood--
I just hope it's not overdone on that spice.
- He also said he's got caviar in that mixture. - Gerron: Yeah.
- Bowen? - Gordon: Yeah.
Bowen, don't use that ( bleep ) caviar.
Shanika: Bowen is trying to add caviar in his dish,
and I don't think that is a good idea
because caviar is like a topping,
something to enhance the flavors.
So I'm a little bit nervous for him.
Bowen: I'm going to show some spiciness today.
I'm using the caviar in the mixture,
because I just want to bring the flavors
and give you the crunchiness when you're tasting the food.
As long as you know what you're doing.
You know me, Shanika.
( bleep )
I want to show the judges something creative on a plate,
something you've never tried before.
So I don't feel nervous because I want to take a chance.
I have to show Gerron what I got.
Shanika: Let's hope it works out.
Bowen, don't use that ( bleep ) caviar.
You know me, Shanika.
As long as you know what you're doing.
I have to show Gerron what I got.
Shanika: But I got faith in him.
He gonna pull through.
He always does.
You got this, B. You got it.
Half an hour gone. 15 minutes remaining.
( bleep )
Hi, Dara, how are you? What are we cooking up tonight?
So today I'm going Indian, and I'm making samosas
- with a tomato chili chutney. - Oh, man.
Oh, man, I love a good samosa.
Listen, you are spicy right now.
I mean, you have on these pepper earrings.
It's the only way I know.
- So you're making the dough for the samosas. - Dara: I am, yep.
What's the chili you're putting in the samosa?
So there's Fresno as well as serrano
and Kashmiri chili pepper in the filling.
I'm also using Fresno and serrano in the chutney.
How do you plan to balance the spiciness in the dish?
Well, this chutney is made with brown sugar,
so I hope it will balance out the spice.
The potato and the pea kind of helps balance that spice as well.
The secret of samosas is making sure we pack the filling.
- Yes, Chef. - And so it's sort of one-third dough,
two-thirds filling. Make sure there's no air in there...
- Yes, Chef. - And give us that beautiful flavor.
That's my biggest goal today.
Right, young lady, they sound amazing. Good luck.
- Thank you so much, Chef. - Yeah, thank you.
Ooh, ( bleep ), that's good.
Oh! That's not what we want.
Amanda, you're the calmest cook out here tonight, girl.
Hey, Amanda, what we cooking up?
So today I'm making lamb stuffed eggplant,
and I'm making shatta sauce with chilies and vinegar.
It's a traditional condiment in Lebanese cuisine.
And to balance out, I have some cooling yogurt sauce
just in case it is a little bit too spicy.
One thing I like is that you have a cooling agent
to counteract the spiciness of the hot sauce if it gets too hot.
Sounds delicious. You got used to eating,
you know, hot food at a young age, right?
Since I was a kid, it was, like, spicy food is a thing.
And now even my daughter Hannah loves spicy foods.
Yeah, chilies, which ones are you using?
So I'm using the Hungarian, the serrano,
the jalapenos. I'm using a variety.
- Sounds good. Good luck. - Thank you, Chef.
- Thank you so much. - Gerron: Thank you.
Whoo! It's spicy, guys.
Get these in the fryers. Get these in the fryers.
Flip over. ( bleep )
Things are gonna be heating up with all these damn chili peppers.
- Shanika? - Yes, Chef.
Man, the heat is on in this kitchen tonight.
- It is. It is. - Extraordinary dishes.
From up there, who's looking good? Who's looking competent?
I mean, right now, I'm not gonna lie,
Emily looks like she's confident in what she's doing.
I just hope her spices are there.
- Gordon: Yeah. - And Amanda, I'm just shocked
at how calm she is when she cooks.
- Gordon: As you know, it's in her wheelhouse. - Right.
So this should be a home run for her, right?
- Right. - Christian?
- Yes, Chef. - Who's looking vulnerable?
I was looking at Derrick's churros.
His churros look kind of dark.
So, we'll just see how everything works out for him.
Interesting, indeed.
Aw, no. Is that burnt?
There's five minutes left on the clock,
and my churros are overcooked.
I'm realizing that I've used the wrong star tip,
so they're not puffy enough.
That's too small.
45 minutes is, like, the bane of my existence.
I mean, at least 60 minutes gives you wiggle room.
If you make a little error, you can fix it.
But 45 minutes, it's, like, you make an error
and you're kinda stuck with it.
Damn it.
Your churros are kinda dark, Derrick.
Derrick: What do I do? What do I do?
So there's not enough time for me
to cook enough of them and plate them.
I'm just left with really crunchy churros.
I don't have time for that.
Gordon: 40 minutes gone.
We're down to the last three and a half minutes remaining.
- Let's go. - Let's go. Come on, Emily.
Oh, ( bleep ).
Shanika, do you know how good is this sauce?
It looks good.
Bowen: It's spicy as hell.
- Let's go. - 90 seconds to go.
- You've gotta be kidding me. - ( bleep ), where did the last minute go?
Where that cornbread going, Willie?
It's gonna go right on top.
Emily's just started plating. She's gotta go.
Oh, ( bleep ), she working like me.
She working to the last minute.
( bleep )
Quick, Emily. 20 seconds to go.
Aarón: Less is more. Let's go.
Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,
three, two, one.
Aarón: That's it. Hands in the air.
Ooh, ( bleep ). I feel amazing.
Uh, everything I wanted to come out, came out.
I could honestly cry right now,
because the flavors that I wanted, everything is there.
You know, being in the bottom two weeks in a row,
it lit something up under me, because I know--
I know that I'm better than that.
Derrick: I took a big risk tonight,
but I'm worried because my churros are not puffy enough.
This risk might not have been the one to take today.
Tonight's challenge, you had to use some of those chili peppers
inspired by our season nine MasterChef Gerron.
Thank you so much for putting these cooks' feet
into the fire with that mystery box tonight.
Now because you've got a couple of season nine friends down here,
it's only fair we have you watch from the comfort of the balcony.
- Good job, bud. - Whoo!
- We'll see you shortly. Thank you. - Yes, sir.
- Excellent. - Gerron!
It feels good to be up here on the balcony.
- Hmm. - Now as you know,
there's only seven of you cooking this evening,
so we're gonna be tasting all seven dishes
to identify who's top and who is not,
because one of you will be going home tonight.
Remember, guys, there is no immunity,
but the winner will get a huge advantage
in the next challenge.
First up, we'd like to taste Amanda's dish. Come on down.
Yay.
This dish pays homage to my Lebanese roots,
and I hope the judges really get that heat,
and I hope my eggplants are cooked perfectly.
Joe: Okay, Amanda, tell us what dish you made
and which of the chilies you integrated into your recipe.
I made batinjan harra.
It's a grilled eggplant dish
that's filled with lamb,
and it's spiced with Hungarian
and habanero peppers.
And I have some fresh pomegranate
and some crispy fried shallots for textural crunch.
- It just looks beautiful. - Amanda: Yay.
- I'm excited. - Thank you.
It looks amazing.
You know, the dish is really good,
and what I really like about it
is the eggplant is so light,
but it has this braised meat on it.
And it's kind of flavorful, intense,
and the flavors all kind of work well.
The heat level is perfect. Good job.
- Thank you. - It's an exercise in texture
from the crispy shallots on top.
And each one of those chilies
are speaking in a flavor point of view.
They're not being muddled
or kind of all mixed together and jumbled.
- It's really smart. - Gordon: Amanda, it's delicious.
Smart move with the pomegranates to sort of cool down.
But when you got that ground lamb like that,
get those pans piping hot and caramelize it
so we've got texture on the individual ground lamb.
- But it's good. - Thank you.
Man, that's good. Beautiful.
- Yup. - Come on.
( sighs )
The next dish that we would like to taste,
please come down, Señor Derrick.
I'm the only person that did dessert tonight,
and when you're taking a risk
when there's only seven cooking,
it's dangerous.
Hopefully it pays off.
Aarón: Derrick, what's your dish?
Derrick: I have a Sichuan peppercorn
cinnamon sugar-dusted churro
with a Thai chili chocolate sauce.
Young man, I just wanna say kudos
for having the ( bleep ) to attempt a dessert tonight.
I think you've tried to elevate this street food phenomenon
to a fine dining plate.
I just hope they're not too crispy.
How did you get the Thai chili into the chocolate?
I took about 12 Thai chilies and steeped them in the cream
as I was heating it with vanilla and cinnamon.
( crunching )
Oh!
( crunching )
They crispy, bro. They are crispy.
Derrick, you can hear that, right?
- Yes, Chef. - That's super crispy.
Okay, young man, let's deal with the elephant in the room.
So, wrong nozzle. It's just way too thin.
- If I can show you that there. - I can see it. No, I--
- Gordon: You can see it's perforated. - I know I could do it better.
- Gordon: So there's no cushion. - Yeah.
These needs to have that fluffy doughnut texture on the inside
and the crispiness on the outside, but actual chocolate's delicious.
The heat, it's there. That's the nice thing.
Is it infused enough? I don't know.
I thought it was a crazy bold move.
If you pulled it off, delicious.
But you missed the mark.
There's tons of flavor in that sauce,
and that really is a redeeming quality in this dish.
And the cinnamon and the Sichuan peppercorn
are an interesting pairing by the way.
- And I like that. - The tingle is nice.
Yes, but the churros-- you know what you did wrong.
- Yeah. - Joe: Crunchy, greasy,
cooked at too high a temperature.
This is disappointing.
- Thank you, Derrick. - Thank you, Chef.
Stand tall, brother.
Okay, the next dish we'd like to try is Willie. Come on down.
I'm feeling really good about my dish.
I love the way it came out.
I'm just hopeful that the judges see
that I understood the task and I delivered.
Joe: All right, tell us what this dish is.
Willie: I made a crawfish and shrimp étouffée
with a jalapeno cornbread,
and I used the jalapeno and the manzano pepper
inside my seafood stock as well.
Gordon: Visually, Willie, it looks plain,
but I'm dying to see if you can get that roux
cooked out in 45 minutes.
A bold move by you tonight, and I hope it tastes good.
The spice is delicious.
And there's no sweetness in that cornbread,
which really does act as a great cooling agent across the étouffée.
- It's good. - Thank you, Chef.
The fact that you were able to capture the essence
of an étouffée in this abbreviated time period
was a stroke of genius.
You've got a depth of flavor in there.
And the heat, I was concerned
that was gonna be too abrasive, but it's not.
I think the sweetness of the vegetables
helped you in that regard.
Willie, the dish is good. I like the flavor a lot.
The spice is in moderation. It's balanced.
- This is great! More like this. - Thank you.
- Good job, Willie! - Thank you.
- Good job, Willie! - All right, Willie!
- Willie! - He's arrived.
Big Willie in the kitchen.
Next up, Bowen, can you please bring down your dishes?
Willie: Come on, Bowen.
I've put in lots effort,
and also I think I showcased my creativity,
and I'm really proud of my dish.
Aarón: Can you please describe your dish?
Bowen: I made a spicy seafood stuffed pepper
served with mofongo mashed plantain cake.
And then the chili I used is the banana pepper,
and also the Thai chili and the jalapeno.
Bowen, unfortunately it just looks weird.
- Mm. - Can you tell me what exactly
is inside that chili?
Ground pork, crab, crawfish tail,
and also a little bit of black caviar.
- ( gags ) - So you cooked the caviar?
- Yes. - And that's where the problems begin.
I told him not to do it.
I ( bleep ) told him not to do it.
- Bowen, you cooked the caviar. - Yes.
And that's where the problems begin.
I told him not to do it.
I ( bleep ) told him not to do it.
Gordon: Let's taste it, shall we?
( exhales )
Ooh, that's hot.
What's the sauce around the outside?
'Cause it is so hot.
I put cayenne pepper and also ground chili peppers.
It tastes very strange.
There's two or three things going on here.
The actual chili that you grilled
tastes quite nice.
It's the filling inside
that's a little bit bizarre.
Damn, Bowen.
Gordon: When you cook caviar like that, it goes hard.
It's like little tiny ball bearings
in your mouth.
So I'm a bit confused here.
Aarón: This is way too much plátano.
This is green plantain that is thick and dense,
and it's overshadowing
any good elements that you have here.
Yeah, I mean, it's hard
and heavy like a hockey puck.
It's way too spicy, and cooking caviar is--
it's an amateur mistake. You don't cook caviar.
- You should know that. - Okay.
- Thank you, Bowen. - Aarón: Thank you.
Thank you, Chef.
- Man, that's way too hot. - Yeah.
It's like the sauce is raw, no?
- Nothing's cooked out. - Aarón: Yeah.
Next up, Michael,
please step forward.
Michael: I feel like I really used
the peppers effectively today.
I have both fresh and dried chilies
in almost every element on this dish,
but I hope it wasn't too much.
So, Michael, give us an insight into the chilies
that you selected and describe the dish please.
Michael: The dish is a spice-rubbed hanger steak
with a spiced carrot salad,
habanero harissa sauce, feta, and charred eggplant purée.
Gordon: Michael, the dish looks beautiful.
It's got that nice balance between the colors,
and I think the most important thing tonight
alongside that heat is the cooling element.
So smart combination with that feta and eggplant.
It's firing on all cylinders.
It's crunchy, crispy,
spicy, cool, creamy.
It's got everything going on. Top notch dish.
- Very good. - Thank you so much, Joe.
I think the brilliance lies in the fact
that you used dried chilies and those three fresh chilies.
Because you have a beautiful contrast of something
that's a little bit smokier and richer and deeper in flavor.
And then also there's texture with that rub.
It just sticks with you in a good way.
Yeah, Michael, it's delicious. The protein's cooked beautifully.
- Tough on this one, hanger steak. - Yeah.
And beautiful combination of the spice,
'cause it's not overheated because the coolness in that feta.
But I think it needs more feta in there,
because you've got a lot of spice going on.
- Okay. - But it's a really good dish.
- Wow. Thank you, Chef. - Good job.
I mean, that boy can cook. I ain't gonna lie.
Yeah, he can. Yeah, he can.
Right, next up, Dara, please. Let's go.
- Amanda: Yay, Dara. - Willie: Come on, Dara.
This dish is inspired by my dad's love for spice.
I was cooking from my heart. I think it shows on the plate.
Gordon: Right, young lady, describe the dish please.
Dara: The dish is a potato and pea samosa
with a tomato chili chutney
and a serrano mint chutney.
Visually, it looks beautiful. The sort of perfect appetizer.
The pastry's blistering nicely.
- You made that dough, right? - I did, Chef.
Yeah. How long did you let it rest for?
For about 15, 20 minutes.
It needed a little bit more time,
but it's thin and it crisped up.
Great use of spice. Great use of sauces.
Great flavor.
Just the ratio of filling to dough
is out of balance, but very good.
This makes my palate dance. I love it.
I think the idea of the potato being that perfect sponge
for all those beautiful big bold flavors was so smart.
You stuck in that family, the jalapeno, Fresno and serranos,
and I think that was smart 'cause they have very similar flavors
- but they don't supersede one another. - Thank you, Chef.
I think the nice thing for me is you've got those
chili influences across the condiments as well.
That's nice, but the dough needs to rest longer,
and it could be a touch thinner.
- Yeah. - Doughy. Thank you.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Dara.
Yeah, mine's really thick here.
Joe: Everything else is really good.
If it was just a little bit lighter--
- It's just too thick. - Look at the end.
Yeah.
Right, finally, Emily,
please make your way forward.
Thank you.
You know, the thing I'm most nervous about
is just the judges tasting the spice,
because of my lack of experience cooking with chilies and spice
that it's gonna be a little lacklust on the palate.
Emily, give us an insight to the chili you used
and describe the dish please.
Emily: This is a chili-dusted
shrimp fra diavolo with handmade pasta
that incorporates that Espelette chili pepper
and a spicy tomato sauce pancetta,
and then some Calabrian chili oil to finish it off.
Emily, it's restaurant quality,
but I think tonight we were concerned
about your attitude to spice because you don't like it.
Let's hope it tastes as good as it looks.
This dish is, uh...
Emily, this dish is, uh...
Top, top notch.
It's textbook. I mean, the pasta's perfectly made.
It's fresh pasta, but it still has a nice toothsome feel to it.
Tomato sauce is bright, acidic.
Chili integration is perfect.
- Great dish. - Thank you.
Yeah, for me, the shrimp's not greasy.
It is crunchy. It's well-seasoned.
You used the right peppers in this, yeah.
- Just really smart choices. - Thank you.
I think what you've gotta understand is that you should be using
more of these ingredients more often.
But the dish has got finesse.
Even the chili all around the outside
is a bright lift to that pasta.
- So, well done. - Very good job.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- That's really good. - Wow.
( no audible dialogue )
( sighs )
Okay, all of you,
Joe, Aarón, and myself have some very,
very important decisions to make.
Excuse us, please. Thank you.
- So, top dishes. - Yeah.
Gordon: I have to say, Amanda's was beautiful.
Aarón: Think about how many chilies she used.
- She used five different peppers. - Five.
I hate this part.
Emily's on the other hand was on another level, I think.
Yes, that was restaurant quality.
- Gordon: Michael was good, the hanger steak. - Joe: Yeah, Michael's was good.
Maybe not on the level of the other two.
So on the negative side, the churros were a problem.
Overcooked. Overcooked, yeah.
And Bowen was literally
grabbing everything in that pantry.
You don't put pork with caviar, let alone cook caviar.
No. So we all agree on who's going home?
- Joe: Yes. Shall we? - Aarón: Yes, we do.
It's a shock.
These debates are never easy, let me tell you.
But there were two dishes tonight that really stood out
for all the right reasons.
Please come forward, Amanda...
...and Emily.
Nice! Nice job.
Right, Amanda and Emily, tonight you cooked the best dishes by far.
Amanda, yours showed a level of confidence.
The lamb was absolutely spot on.
Emily, you should cook with more spice
if you can deliver a dish that showed
restaurant quality beyond belief.
But there was one dish that we felt
had that slight edge.
This individual will gain a huge advantage
across the next challenge.
Congratulations goes to...
Emily.
Great job. Congratulations.
Spicy food? I'll cook with more spice.
I mean, I can do it, clearly, so...
Please, both of you, head upstairs. Well done.
Yay.
Emily: Shock of all shocks.
I think every single person in this room tonight
was counting on me to be at the bottom, if not going home.
- Congrats. - Good job. good job, good job.
Now for the not so good news.
There were two dishes that we felt completely missed the mark.
I think both of you know who you are.
Why don't you both make your way down here? Thank you.
Oh, my God. No.
This is my first time being in the bottom.
I didn't do my best. This risk could send me home.
Bowen, tonight's dish completely missed the mark.
Overcomplicated, badly executed,
and not the right balance of heat.
Derrick, we love the tenacity,
but your technique tonight was off.
The churros weren't made properly
and they were the star of your dish.
But Joe, Aarón, and myself felt there was one dish
that did miss the mark more than the other.
The person leaving "MasterChef: Back to Win" is...
Bowen.
Derrick, say good-bye to Bowen
and head back to your bench please.
( sighs )
Bowen, I wanted this dish to work so badly.
It just was the wrong choices you made with those ingredients.
Bowen, I have to say you're a much better cook than that dish was.
Young man, you know, top nine.
You've been an absolute pleasure
to mentor for the second time in this competition.
I think you've got a very bright, exciting future in front of you,
and I can't wait to get to that bistro to sit down at that table
and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
- Thank you. - From of the bottom of my heart,
we are going to miss you, young man.
Come and say good-bye. Come on!
- Ah! - You were great, Bowen.
- I'm very proud of you, okay? - Thank you.
- We're coming for dinner. Remember. - Thank you.
Gordon: Please place your apron on your bench
- and say good-bye. - Aarón: Thank you, Bowen.
- Joe: Bye, Bowen. - Bowen: I'm proud of myself
because I'm taking risks.
In the competition, I've been up, I've been down.
It's just like a rollercoaster.
- Oh, Bowen. - Willie: Good-bye, Bowen.
Emily: Gonna miss you.
I think MasterChef gave me the explosion
to set me up for success.
- I'm going back home to earn monies, okay? - Yes.
So I will go back to home,
be humble, be loved.
Bowen, we'll see you on the 29th!
Joe, Aarón, and myself.
Three top, 7:30 for three.
You better come.
- Gordon: Next time... - No.
...the top eight face
their biggest challenge yet-- the wall.
You and a partner must create dishes
that look and taste identical,
but you won't be able to see each other.
This is gonna be a mess.
- Salmon is in! - Heard. Let's go!
And with double elimination on the line...
- How that sauce looking, Willie? - Is that Christian?
- Shanika, you there? - it's time to get in sync...
- Got it. - Duck's at 130! I'm pulling it!
- What are they doing? - Use the cream you cooked them in!
- I already strained it. - Gordon: No! Look at me.
- Ugh! - You need to get on the same page now.
...or they'll be out of the kitchen for good.
- It just looks bland. - It tastes like cough syrup.
It's that disappointing.
Oof.