8.01.2011

Guest blog from Alvin the MasterChef contestant: Lobsters and truffles

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WOW! How can you NOT talk about Monday night’s episode of MasterChef?! Talk about BOLD moves… The night starts off with a Mystery box… actually two mystery boxes. The traditional small one on each of the contestant’s station and a GIANT mystery box in front of the judges. In the words of Derrick Prince, the box in front of the judges is “coffin sized.”

Chef Ramsay reveals the contents of the giant box… LIVE lobster. I have a confession… I’m terrified of lobster. I don’t eat it, I don’t touch it, when I see them in the grocery store, I walk on the other side of the isle. I know, not very “foodie” or “chef like” of me. It’s not killing a live lobster that scares me; It’s the fact that they look like giant cockroach monsters. Now there are a few things that would encourage me to cook/eat lobster… $250,000 is one of those things. But the rules of mystery box challenges state that you can use as many or as few of the box ingredients as they desire. I would have been brainstorming a vegetarian dish!

Derrick, Alejandra, and Jennifer are in the top three. I would have picked Alejandra’s lobster with red curry and mango salsa (if I HAD to pick a lobster dish… ewww). Jennifer wins with her baked lobster and gets to the pantry to pick the ingredient for the elimination challenge.

The theme: aphrodisiacs… The options: oysters, artichoke, or black perigord TRUFFLE… Jennifer picks the only real option: truffle. After the judges reveal the ingredient to the other contestants, they give Jennifer the option to enjoy champagne and immunity as she watches from the balcony… or to cook alongside the other contestants (and risk elimination).

In a SURPRISING move, she bypasses her free ride into the top 10 and chooses to cook. (I would have taken the bottle upstairs with me) but mad respect to Jennifer for taking the road less traveled.

The road less traveled lands Jennifer in the bottom three with her undercooked coddled egg. I think she could have used some help from an immersion circulator! (Perfectly cooked eggs every time!) Although she’s in the bottom, she’s the first one sent back to her station.

Alone stands Adrien (HATE seeing him anywhere near the bottom) and Erryn. Both of these contestants definitely had a bad day in the MasterChef kitchen. In another twist, Chef Ramsay gives Adrien and Erryn the option of acknowledging that they had the worst dish of the day and gracefully bowing out of the competition.

Erryn takes that bold step forward! If you watch closely, Adrien tries to stop him but is unsuccessful. Erryn takes his apron off and leaves the MasterChef kitchen. I think it’s clear that Erryn didn’t quit… he held his head high and recognized that he had an off day. You can’t help but respect that. Having cooked with and alongside Erryn Cobb, I can say that he is wildly talented. I look forward to seeing what he culinary successes he has in the future. In the mean time, check out his new site Cobb Cooks.

Viva Top 10! Viva Team Adrien! Tune in tomorrow to see them cook for the judge’s moms! Houstonians, the only place to watch MasterChef is Swaye Bar (3730 Washington @ Yale) Come early to enjoy drink specials and bar snacks made by your favorite freak genius! As always, I’ll be live tweeting @AlvinSchultz during each episode of MasterChef!

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