By Kim
The first ten minutes of the episode consists of seeing what Sheldon and Brooke have been up to since the last competition. Let me sum it up for you: cooking and hanging with family. Then there's an extended recap of Last Chance Kitchen, which I will sum it up as CJ won a lot, and then Kristen beat him and she won a lot -- including beating fan favorite Lizzie last week -- so she joins Sheldon and Brooke in the finale.
The challenge is to make a three-course meal to be served to judges and diners at Craft, Tom Colicchio's restaurant. Here's what they made:
First course: Sheldon made sashimi spot prawns, court bouillon, radish and Asian herbs. Kristen made chestnut velouté, duck rillette and Brussels sprouts. Brooke made crispy veal sweetbread salad with kumquat, beets and mustard. The judges have nothing but compliments for Sheldon, but think Kristen's dish needed acid and Brooke's needed some different prep.
Second course: Brooke has a hard time in the kitchen getting her food out on time. Kristen made seared ahi tuna with veal mustard jus and Meyer lemon puree. Brooke made braised short ribs, Parmesan sauce, nettle puree and squash dumplings. Sheldon made roasted quail, pine nut purée, garam masala and tangerine. The judges loved Brooke's dish the most, thought Kristen's was unevenly flavored and didn't think Sheldon's dish reflected his cooking style.
Third course: Brooke made brown butter cake, whipped goat cheese and blackberry sauce. Kristen made curry chocolate with cashews. Sheldon made white chocolate mousse with apple and fennel. Everyone loves Brooke's, but some think Kristen's dessert is too basic and think the fennel is overpowering in Sheldon's dessert.
At Judges' Table, it's interesting that Tom seems to disagree with the groupthink of the other judges since he ate separately from them. I would love to see a challenge where all the judges ate separately and then had to cast ballots or something to see if that actually made a difference.
In the end, Sheldon gets sent home, because he committed the cardinal sin (see also: Carla Hall) of trying to cook different food than what got him to the finale. That means it's Brooke and Kristen in the finale, so we will finally have another female winner!
Think you've got game? Prove it! Check out Games Without Pity, our new area featuring trivia, puzzle, card, strategy, action and word games -- all free to play and guaranteed to help pass the time until your show starts.