The thirty remaining contestants barely had a chance to catch their breath before facing two back-to-back challenges that would ultimately test their cooking technique and creativity. “If you can’t chop an onion, how do you expect to put food on a plate?” That’s what the judges asked the MasterChef Top 30 as a dump truck piled high with six tons of onions backed into the cavernous warehouse.
This two-tiered challenge proved to be a nerve-racking whirlwind for the production crew and contestants alike. I confess: when Gordon warns the contestants, “if there’s anybody here who’s not nervous— get nervous,” I was convinced he was really speaking to me in code; as I was super anxious about making sure everything went perfectly smooth from a culinary standpoint.
The warehouse location we shot in was in the middle of nowhere and completely vacant. Our fabulous location manager, Stephen, found it and the space really was perfect for the feel we wanted to grasp, which I think came through in watching it. While the warehouse was amazing, it was also totally bare bones. We were responsible for bringing in absolutely everything: stoves, ovens, equipment, running water, sinks, refrigeration, and a portable pantry just to hit the heavy highlights.
Now, you can’t just walk into a grocery store and purchase 12,000 pounds of onions and 50 cases of eggs. Weeks in advance, I was on the quest to procure these items in massive volume. Gill’s Onions in Oxnard, California were gracious enough to donate all of the onions for this crucial challenge. Oxnard is about 50 miles outside of Los Angeles. My amazing production assistant, Scott, drove to the farm and did the heavy lifting—filling our dump truck with sacks and sacks of onions. The problem was, legally the truck could not be piled over the rim with cargo while in motion, so some adjustments needed to be made. There was super Scott, filling up his Kia Spectra until his car was so weighed down, it hugged the pavement like a low-rider!
The next hurdle was physically setting up the actual onion challenge: the contestants must impress the judges with their knife skills in order to make it to the next round. The Culinary and Art departments created thirty chopping stations, all precisely in line with one another. Each measured only 3-feet wide, and equipped with identical cutting boards, knives, bowls, towels, and trash cans.
After the sea of onions is sprawled before them, the contestants are told the challenge by the judges. In reality production, we then stop and read the rules and give the contestants an opportunity to ask questions. After a bathroom break, all hopefuls get in line.
Once the voracious chopping gets underway, I then had to sprint to the other end of the warehouse to make sure the “egg tower” was standing tall without much breakage. I’ve got to say, I’ve never before filled a flat-bed with onions or stacked a fork-lift full of eggs, who has, but the accomplishment was enormously fun, pun intended.
The second phase of the challenge is one of my favorites: prepare a memorable dish with a single egg in only 30 minutes–the rest is up to the contestants. This is a seemingly simply exercise that really shows creativity in cook. Eggs can be boiled soft, medium, hard, poached, fried, scrambled, baked, shirred, or whipped into something extra-ordinary. The judges were looking for the egg to be the hero of the dish. What would you make?
A great example of pushing the limits and expounding on the challenge was Tracy Nailor’s delicious dish: Caramelized Banana Napoleon. She was the only contestant savvy enough to prepare a dessert and utilize the yolk to create a creamy custard and make the most of the whipped whites and turn them into a heavenly meringue. This kind of thought is what the judges are looking for in mentoring a MasterChef.
So now we have the final 14 best amateur cooks in America!:
Avis White,
David Miller
Faruq Jenkins
Jake Gandolfo
Jennifer Hamiter
Lee Knaz
Mike Kim
Sharone Hackman
Sheena Zadeh
Slim Huynh
Sheetal Bagnat
Tony Carbone
Tracy Nailor
And Whitney Miller!
The competition really begins next week in a 2 hour episode WEDNESDAY AUGUST 18TH 8:00 – 10:00 P.M. ON FOX!
