joe.bastianich

MasterChef's Joe: Meet the Final 3

Hello MasterChef fans, Monday night we watched the Final 4 compete in the second season of MasterChef USA.  Over the last two months, it was Suzy, Jennifer, Adrien and Christian who rose to the top out of thousands who tried out, and as we saw this evening, not one of them is ready to go out without a fight!   By now our remaining foursome have endured a constant stream of intense and emotionally draining tasks -- arguably some more fair than others, and yet have remained passionate and resilient.  We felt they were ready and capable to take it to the next level by representing their country before a panel of highly revered international MasterChef judges. Competing for yourself is one thing, but...

Tue, Aug 16, 2011

MasterChef Joe: It's Sink or Swim Time

Hello MasterChef fans, It's hard to believe that after starting out with 100 amateur home cooks at the audition round, only six remain -- it's getting down to the wire! From here on in, each challenge grows in intensity, and Monday night was no exception. It was sink or swim time, baby!

Tue, Aug 9, 2011

MasterChef's Joe: Cooking Isn't Child's Play

Hello MasterChef fans! Monday night the remaining eight amateur cooks faced another stressful team challenge -- cooking for 200 hungry kids! Anyone who is a parent knows how frighteningly hard kids are to please. In fact, if you are a mother or father of three, that usually means you'll end up making three different things for dinner! This challenge really boiled down to knowing your customer. The pressure to win them over was intense, but in the end, the red team emerged victorious. Initially we judges had serious concerns for the red team. Unable to wrap our heads around the idea of a fried chicken nugget burger, we feared they were making a huge mistake. It seemed a bit gimmicky and conjured up thoughts of deep fried Twinkies or Snickers bars -- or worse -- school cafeteria food! But the red team had strength in their ability to be flexible and take our constructive criticism seriously.  Recognizing that their initial idea wasn't going to cut it, they had the good sense to make a change for the better and worked together as a unit to get it done. Christine didn't seem to be a terribly assertive or decisive leader, but at least she knew when to heed the advice of teammates, which unfortunately, is more than I can say for the blue team.

Tue, Aug 2, 2011

MasterChef's Joe: Cooking Isn't Child's Play

MasterChef's Joe: It's Time to Go Whole Hog or Turn Tail and Go Home

Hello, MasterChef fans, With only nine remaining home cooks left, the competition is intensifying, and things are getting personal! By now all contestants should be more than comfortable with our MasterChef mystery boxes -- they've had a lot of time and practice with this format. From here on in, Graham, Gordon, and I expect the bar to be raised with every task.

Wed, Jul 27, 2011

MasterChef's Joe: It's Time to Go Whole Hog or Turn Tail and Go Home

MasterChef's Joe Turned On by Aphrodisiac Challenge Risk-Taking

Hello MasterChef fans, What a night! Rounding out the Top 10 of this competition, we are left with some serious contenders, all getting closer to some serious prize money. This motley crew includes an architect, former beauty queen, neural engineer, and a Florida homemaker (with more affinity for the F-word than Gordon!), all of whom found themselves with another mystery box and elimination challenge, this time of much more intricate fare.   Preparing lobster and truffles requires a certain amount of sophistication, something that all of our remaining contestants should have in the kitchen, and as we'd hoped, everyone seemed reasonably comfortable -- enough to get right to work. With Christian clearly having the most experience with lobster, Gordon, Graham, and myself were especially looking forward to what he'd come up with. What we didn't want was more of the same nasty attitude that he's been increasingly throwing our way as we narrow things down.

Tue, Jul 19, 2011

MasterChef's Joe Turned On by Aphrodisiac Challenge Risk-Taking

MasterChef Joe's Beef With Bad Leadership and D'oh! Dough-Making

Hello MasterChef fans! Only 12 contestants left in the game and the pressure is mounting. Emotions are running high, bonds are forming, rivalries intensifying, and nearly everyone was on the verge of tears at some point during the night -- Gordon included! Monday night our remaining home cooks faced their third team challenge -- to create three passed hors d'oeuvres for a rooftop cocktail party at an elite Hollywood Hotel.  Passed hors d'oeuvres might seem simple -- but this format of conceptualizing, proportioning, and serving food is not what our hopefuls are accustomed to -- and the clientele might not have been either. Our invited guests are used to fine foods and have sophisticated palates. Well-heeled and well-traveled, they not only expect the best, they eat it every night. This food needed to be smart, sexy and savory, without any gimmicks.

Tue, Jul 12, 2011

MasterChef Joe's Beef With Bad Leadership and D'oh! Dough-Making

MasterChef’s Joe: Was a Vegetarian Main Course Too Challenging?

Hello again, MasterChef fans! I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July.  Tuesday night we found ourselves down to just 13 amateur home cooks, a far cry from the thousands who lined up to audition across the country just a few short months ago. Observing this group as they focused tirelessly on the mystery box challenge of a vegetarian entrée, we judges felt we were finally seeing execution on a professional level. No panic-stricken looks and fewer last-minute scrambling runs to the MasterChef pantry -- it was evident that we were left with the most capable group thus far.

Wed, Jul 6, 2011

MasterChef’s Joe: Was a Vegetarian Main Course Too Challenging?

MasterChef's Joe: The Good, the Bad and the Skin-Graft Crepe Get Their Just Desserts

Hello again, MasterChef fans, Monday night's episode proved true the old adage that there's nothing to fear but fear itself. So many poor decisions were made during both the mystery box challenge and the elimination test that were based out of fear and insecurity. From multiple uncooked dishes by Jennifer, Jennie and Alejandra, to that horrible skin-graft crepe cake concoction from Max, the night's mishaps were indeed the lowest of the low since the audition round and left us judges with something we too might have to fear -- the outcome of this competition!

Tue, Jun 28, 2011

MasterChef's Joe: The Good, the Bad and the Skin-Graft Crepe Get Their Just Desserts

MasterChef's Joe: Never Serve Raw Flour and No Egos on a Plate, Please!

Hello, MasterChef fans, Last night was the first real opportunity we judges had to closely critique and mentor our remaining hopefuls through the cooking process, and found our gut instincts from the audition round were indeed correct -- we've got some serious talent on our hands this year! However, this is a competition, and the weeding out must continue! Last night we saw two major mistakes that proved to be the undoing for contestants Marc and Angel. Salmon I thought was a pretty fair choice for our first mystery box challenge. Likewise, French cuisine is something that most people in America are at least somewhat familiar with. If the contestants were to fail here, it would be as a result of their own lack of culinary know-how, and not due to any curve balls being thrown their way. During the French cuisine elimination challenge, it was Angel's lack of versatility that did her in after she failed to deliver on a basic French fruit tart. Angel is a perfect example of someone who cooks what they know and can cook it well. If I could give her any advice it would be to venture outside of her comfort zone and experiment with new cuisines, as she's past the point of perfecting her hometown favorites.  The next MasterChef needs to be well versed enough to take it to the next level.

Tue, Jun 21, 2011

MasterChef's Joe: Never Serve Raw Flour and No Egos on a Plate, Please!