So last night I'm pretty sure we made history...
First, they make us go deep sea-diving for our dungeness crab! HA! Catch up with the episode to find out how true that is! And then, without a heads up, the judges decided to make this MasterChef: SVU and pulled out the black light on us! I don't think you want to get caught with a blacklight doing anything, let alone leaving shell in your yield of crabmeat in front of Chef Ramsay and Chef Sanchez.
After an incredible masterclass performed by my mentor on butchering crab, we had to follow suit. Now, outside of mussels, this is the only other seafood that I've ever had to deal with live. Talk about internal struggle, those beady, little eyes staring at you, it's trying to crawl its way to freedom, oh the horror! But you have to do it or you're going home- that simple.
Then, those who did well with their yield, extracting the claws/leg meat while leaving them intact, made an eye-catching presentation with the shell, and impressed the judges got to go straight up to the balcony. Mind you we, had 30 minutes. 15 minutes for the crab to boil; 15 minutes to do everything else.
(Ryan is a pro with the seafood. Let 'em know.)
Those who were not safe had to battle it out by perfectly recreating Chef Ramsay's Crab Benedict. Of course, they announce not one, but TWO contestants will have to go home to make things worse and more intense. Nevertheless, the elimination challenge was a mix of those who had never poached eggs before, never made hollandaise, and one who had not even had crab before. If Shanika, who is allergic to all shellfish, can pull off the skills test, then the fellow home cooks can step up to this grueling challenge. Whousaw, ultimately 2 went home, and now ya girl has officially made it through to Top 20 home cooks in America!
How'd I fare with this challenge? The deep-sea diving of our own Dungeness crab ;-) was the hardest part. Your visual perception completely changes looking through water. The key is to do a sneak attack! and scoop up the crab from the back, so your hands don't get clawed the hell off. Once I knew that, I had to coach myself through it, keep yelling SCOOP, and the crab was mine! We eat snow crab legs all the time back home when they're on sale, so cracking into claws was all gravy. I had never needed to actually break into the crab's body before and "the purse" and all this new terminology. This part was fascinating and super enlightening. Another challenge accomplished; can't wait for the FIRST TEAM CHALLENGE NEXT WEEK! OH MAN Y'ALL YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS A SECOND! June 20th! Tune In! Until next time, crave on!
(Farhan, Gerron, and SJ are just having a good ol' time back there- aint they! SMH, love y'all. Ashley, what is you doing baby?)
