This week the recruits are being schooled on flavor combinations. At least one problem with these worst cooks, is that on top of having no skills they tend to not be adventurous eaters and even recognizing the ingredients is difficult for them.
The challenge is to create three sauces with no instructions. The recruits have to taste and recreate on their own. The sauces are salsa cruda, romesco and pesto. Ty has never seen or eaten any of the sauces. I see trouble on the horizon.
The pesto teams do not realize that the food processor is for processing food just until done and process the poor basil leaves beyond recognition. Chef Anne's red team prevails.
The romesco teams are stumped on how the sauce is thickened but all agree it's not bread. (It really is.) Chef Robert's blue team makes a tastier sauce and wins the second round.
The contest comes down to the salsa cruda. One team has done inconsistent cuts and taken themselves out of the running. Chef Anne's red team wins the day!
For the second round Chef Anne demonstrates how to make a halibut dish with the salsa cruda, and Chef Robert demonstrates a shrimp dish with romesco. Erica says she doesn't like fish and none of the contestants on the blue team has ever seen a raw shrimp. Blue team has a lot of trouble with peeling and deveining the shrimp and their side of the kitchen soon resembles a slasher flick.
The dishes made by Chef Anne's team have varying degrees of success. Carlos does well, but Priscilla doesn't season her fish. Kelsey doesn't budget her time correctly and undercooks the bacon. Nurse Jen misses the vinegar in the salsa and underseasons her fish. Joshie tastes his salsa then returns the spoon to the fish, which upsets Chef Anne. And it's a shame because he cut the cruda really well. Erika overcooks her fish and her knife cuts are disappointing.
For the blue team, Kelly the vegetarian cooks her shrimp very well. She is also rather excited that she got the poo out of the shrimp. Georg cooks the shrimp well and her sauce is almost perfect and she is more surprised than anyone. Anna cooks her grits well. Kat uses far too many red pepper flakes and seems surprised when Chef Robert's mouth is burned. Matt has killed his shrimp. Ty worked so slowly he didn't finish the dish at all. Chef Irvine tastes the parts that didn't make it to Ty's plate and both the romesco and the shrimp were well-cooked so he dawdled his way to not having a winning dish.
The final challenge of the day is designed to show the recruits that they can make fresh food really easily so they no longer have to rely on frozen meals. Chef Anne demonstrates a dry-rubbed, pan-seared ribeye with mushroom sauce, smashed red bliss potatoes and glazed baby carrots. The recruits are excited but pretty sure they won't be able to multitask properly.
Chef Robert demonstrates an herbed turkey breast with English creamed peas, potatoes and a cranberry compote.
The contestants have 60 minutes to replicate the dishes. Kat is on her way to destroying her turkey when Chef Robert has to tell her to add the chicken stock to the pan so as not to dry out her turkey. She insists she's 'got it' but it's clear she seldom does. Anna is doing really well and Kelly decides she is the blue team stepchild.
Over on Chef Anne's team, Jen is on her way to destroying her steak but decides not to panic. Joshie is in love with his carrots and their glaziness. Priscilla decides her problem is her fear. I'd say it was adding what looked like a cup of cayenne to her dry rub. That's gonna hurt later. Erika plays with her hair while cooking and loses time because she has to run over to wash her hands every time. The wasted time kills her carrots. Ty decides that he is worried about overcooking his food and his solution is to pull the pans off the burners and he decides to cut and plate his turkey really early. As in pink early. Georg cannot work the burners on her stove. Matt burns his potatoes and decides that making new ones even wider will improve his second attempt. For a scientist he is not too bright. Once again, Kelsey chars her food and the steak is her first victim, followed by her blackened carrots next. Everyone is plating or resting their steaks and Priscilla hasn't started cooking hers yet - her only hope is that Chef Anne is part werewolf and likes it bloody. Kelly forgets to slice her turkey but comes in under the wire.
Joshie redeems himself on the steak round. Carlos undercooks his steak. Erika overcooks everything but her steak still tastes good, it just doesn't look good. Jen cooks her steak well! Priscilla puts a slab of steamed steak on her dish and her potatoes are not caramelized. And the cayenne comes home to burn Chef Anne! Kelsey's dish is an all-around disaster.
Over on Chef Robert's blue team Kat is up first and fails on the cranberry compote. Anna does well. Kelly's cranberries popped! Matt has several problems. Overcooked chicken, the peas are wrong and then the PAN cooked the potatoes wrong. Matt's metric was off. I swear that's what he said. Georg undercooked her peas, the turkey is bland. Ty is sure he hit the dish out of the park and his peas are OK and his potatoes are OK but his turkey is pink and inedible and Chef Robert can't try it.
In the stew room all the recruits are sure their number is up. Ty thinks his only hope is that someone was worse than him.
Blue team winner: Anna! Anna thinks Chef Robert is hot and oh yeah, she won a challenge!
Red team winner: Joshie, believe it or not! Then he's cocky and I don't like him anymore.
The other recruits moving on are Kelly, Georg and Kat. Ty and Matt are in the bottom on the blue team. Red team members moving on are Jen, Carlos and Erika. Kelsey and Priscilla are in the bottom.
Matt must go back to his labs, slide rules and Texas Instruments calculators and leave boot camp. For the red team, Priscilla will go back home and her husband will still be doing all the cooking.
Next week: grilling!
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