MasterChef September 8, 2021 Eliminated Alejandro Valdivia In Semifinals (Recap)

Hey, “MasterChef” fans. Tonight, September 8, 2021, another new episode of MasterChef season 11 did indeed air with judges: Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sanchez, and Joe Bastianich. It was another 2-hour episode ,and it featured the semifinal round with the final 4 contestants: Autumn, Kelsey, Alejandro and Suu.

Tonight’s episode featured a culinary triathlon competition. They brought on three legends to cook their signature dishes, and the contestants had to follow along at their pace. The contestants who did it the best, made their way into the finals.

Up first, was legendary Chef Nyesha Arrington. She cooked a pan seared rib eye with green peppercorn sauce, fine herbs salad and pomme puree dish. The contestants had to keep up with her, and they had just 10 seconds to plate their food after she was done plating her dish.

During the competition, Nyesha started preparing the dishes and yelled out what she was doing to the contestants. Suu said she couldn’t keep up with her. Alejandro said, “Nyesha’s speed is insane.”

Suu definitely ran into some issues and kept saying “I can’t keep up.” Suu said she accidentally put her potatoes in boiling milk instead of boiling water, but she had to just work with it.

Soon, everyone started having problems keeping up with Nyesha. If they asked questions, they were just told to listen and keep up. It was brutal. Autumn had an issue with her potatoes not being cooked good enough. Alejandro did too.

Kelsey straight up said, “Preparing these potatoes like Nyesha is hard.” Alejandro revealed that he added too much milk to his potatoes. So, he was trying to extract as much moisture as he could from them.

Kelsey said she saw butter oozing out of her potatoes when she tried to plate them ,and she didn’t know what to do about it. Autumn, Kelsey and Alejandro were all unhappy with their potatoes when the challenge was over.

Kelsey presented her plate first. Gordon said, “The steak has a nice sear. The butter is broken.” Nyesha said, “All the flavors really worked. I love the caramelization. The sauce is delicious. It could’ve used a tiny bit more acid on the greens.” Aaron said, “The sauce is well balanced.” Joe said, “The potatoes broke, but they were still edible. It was good.” Gordon said, “Good job.”

Alejandro was up next. Joe said, “The steak was not cooked medium rare. It was just cooked rare.” Gordon said, “The steak actually taste better than it looks.” Nyesha said, “The potatoes are underseasoned.” Aaron said, “You weren’t paying enough attention to the chef, and it shows.” Joe said, “You made a lot of errors, but this would make a great dish for flying coach.”

Suu presented her version of the dish. Nyesha said, “The sear looks beautiful.” Joe said, “The steak is undercooked.” Nyesha said, “The steak is undercooked, but the salad is vibrant.” Aaron said, “The potatoes look very greasy.” Joe said, “The seasoning is inconsistent throughout.” Gordon said, “Show a little initiative. If your steak is not ready, put it back in the oven.”

Autumn presented her dish. Nyesha said, “Visually, it’s the most beautiful one.” Joe said, “The steak is rare and a little undercooked, but the pepper sauce is perfect.” Nyesha said, “The steak is seasoned nicely. The potatoes could’ve cooked longer.” Aaron said, “You got the potato concept right.” Gordon said, “The seasoning was great. It’s a shame the steak was a little undercooked.”

After all of that, the judges announced that Kelsey won the first round! So, she was safe and made it through to the finals!

From there, they brought on the second, legendary chef, which was Italian chef Suzette Gresham. She cooked a squid ink risotto with fried calamari dish. Again, the contestants had to keep up with her, and they only had 10 seconds to plate their food after Suzette finished plating her dish.

During this challenge, Alejandro started making mistakes right from the jump. Autumn said, “I have no experience cooking calamari.” Alejandro made another mistake towards the end where he accidentally messed up one of Suu’s dishes. He just seemed out of it. He tossed away her calamari. Gordon really got on to him about it too. It was intense. Alejandro apologized to Suu. Suu said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m not mad.”

Alejandro presented his version of the dish first. Gordon said, “Visually, the colors popped.” Suzette said, “Unfortunately, the risotto isn’t cooked fully. The dish isn’t cohesive.” Gordon said, “You boiled too fast.” Aaron said, “The rice is toasted well, but there’s very few places to find comfort in this dish.” Joe said, “The rice is about 2 minutes undercooked, but the flavors are good. This dish is a little bit below standard.”

Suu was up next. Joe said, “You missed adding the tomatoes.” Gordon said, “The rice is cooked beautifully. The calamari is flat, but the foundation is there.” Suzette said, “There’s not enough wine. It’s a little sweet. The risotto is good.” Joe said, “It’s too sweet, and that’s because you weren’t able to find that right balance.”

Autumn presented her dish. Gordon said, “Visually, it looks beautiful. The rice is delicious. The balance of squidding is spot on. It’s really strong.” Suzette said, “You did great.” Aaron said, “I’m impressed with the way you cooked the rice.” Joe said, ” You lit my palette on fire. It made me want to eat more. I would be proud to serve this dish in my restaurant.”

After all of that, the judges declared Autumn the winner of the second round! So, she was safe and through to the finals.

That left just Alejandro and Suu to battle it out in this 3rd round. They brought on none other than Gordon Ramsey himself as the legendary chef they would have to keep up with.

Gordon cooked up a pan roasted turbot with ricotta gnocchi, sautéed spinach & mushrooms and sautéed shrimp dish. This time, the contestants were given 15 seconds instead of just 10 seconds to plate their food after Gordon plated his dish.

During this challenge, Suu kept asking a lot of questions again, but they weren’t getting answered. She was just told to listen and watch. Gordon started cooking at lightning speed. Alejandro said, “Gordon is cooking so fast. I don’t know what to do, but I need to catch up.”

At one point, Gordon ran up to the balcony to see how Alejandro and Suu were doing all while his own food was still cooking. It was wild.

When the challenge was over, Alejandro presented his version of Gordon’s dish first. Gordon said, “Visually, it has great color. The seasoning is on point. The fish is slightly overcooked. The mushrooms are slightly undercooked, but the flavor is great.” Aaron said, “The sauce is memorable.” Joe said, “I like it. Everything is cooked well. It’s the construction worker version of Gordon’s dish. Very good.”

Suu presented her dish. Gordon said, “I love the color. The fish is cooked beautifully. It’s somewhat soggy. The seasoning is on point.” Aaron said, “The mushrooms have nice integrity. It needs more sauce.” Joe said, “Everything is properly seasoned. It needed more acidity, but everything is perfectly cooked.”

After all of that, the judges announced that Suu was the winner of this 3rd and final round! So, she was safe and through to the finals. That means poor Alejandro Valdivia was indeed eliminated. Gordon told Alejandro, “The turbot was overcooked. That was the one thing that set you on the back foot. Tonight, just wasn’t quite your night.”

Alejandro said, “Thank you all for giving me the opportunity.” Gordon told Alejandro, “If you need any advice ,at all, in the future, give me a call.”

So, Autumn, Kelsey and Suu will be your all-ladies finalist for season 11. How do you guys feel about that? Let us know in the comments section.

The next, new, finale episode of MasterChef season 11 is scheduled to air next Wednesday night, September 15, 2021 at approximately 7 pm central standard time on FOX.

Alright guys. That’s all we’ve got for this latest “MasterChef” TV show report, but definitely stay tuned for more.

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