Gordon: Tonight on "masterchef: Generations"...
- Welcome to the top 20. - ...We throw the generations into the deep end
With a notorious "masterchef" classic.
Your first mystery box challenge.
- Ooh, I'm scared. - Lift!
The secret ingredient is you!
They'll have to transform childhood memories
Into a masterchef-worthy dish.
This pin will keep your entire generation safe from elimination.
Millennials are gonna win, hands down.
- Come on! - I burnt my plantains.
- Oh, my gosh. - Gordon: It's failing on multiple levels.
It literally tastes like spicy baby food.
Gordon: But it's charming and really elevated.
The sauce is really where the magic lies.
It's retro and modern at the same time,
And that's exciting.
( music playing )
- All right. - Let's go.
- Indeed. - Here we go.
- Top 20. - This is exciting--
The first time these four amazing generations
Going head to head.
"masterchef: Generations,"
Let the fun begin.
Come on, come on, come on, come on!
Let's go, baby! Let's go, baby! Let's go!
- Oh, my god! - Welcome back, everybody. Come on!
Yeah! Whoo!
- Whoa! - Man, we got the boxes already.
- Whoa! - Awesome. Look at that.
Walking into the masterchef kitchen
As one of the top 20 is just mind-blowing.
We can do this, baby boomers!
We got the boxes? Oh, my gosh.
I may have eight grandchildren,
But I am not your typical granny.
Yeah, it's the real deal.
I'm ready, I'm focused, and I think I can make it
- All the way to the end. - Gordon: Oh, my goodness, me.
Welcome to the top 20 of "masterchef: Generations."
- Yeah! - Wow.
Ready to become america's next masterchef?
All: Yeah!
But this season we're hunting for the answer
To the even bigger question--
Which generation has the best cooks?
- Whoo! - It's right here.
- Is it gen z? - Yeah! Whoo!
- The millennials? - Yeah!
- You already know! - Whoo, whoo, whoo!
- Gen x? - Whoo! Gen x!
Or once they've changed their batteries,
- Is it the baby boomers? - Baby boomer, yeah!
Well, all of you, get to know your generation inside and out,
Because how you cook individually matters most of all.
But what you do as a group will also affect your fate.
- We got this. - Let's go.
Because each night whoever cooks the best dish
Will earn...
- Oh. Oh! - Yes.
- There it is. - Oh!
- ...The immunity pin. - ( cheering )
This pin will keep you safe from elimination across the next challenge.
But even more importantly, your entire generation
Will be safe from elimination that night.
- Wow. - We got this.
We're gonna get it.
Okay, even though you're playing together for now,
Just one of you will win the title, the trophy,
And of course, a quarter of a million dollars.
Yeah!
If you want to be america's next masterchef,
You have to be tactical about how you play this game.
Arthur: The generation that I want to take out first is the millennials.
Collectively, they're very strong,
So I think picking them off one by one is gonna hurt their gameplay.
I'm not worried about gen z.
And then the boomers, they're pretty much
Just sleeping all the time.
Now, this season, we are throwing you into the deep end,
Which is why tonight you're already facing
Your first mystery box challenge.
Oh, my gosh.
All of you, head to your stations. Let's go.
- Whoo! We got this. - As a team. Come on.
- We got this. Come on. - As a team. Let's go.
I hope it's some crawfish or some crab or something.
- Ooh, I'm scared. - I'm feeling super anxious
Knowing there's a mystery box challenge on the first day.
Anything with the word "mystery" in it freaks me out.
- Oh! - Feeling good?
- Yep. - Yes!
Now on the count of three, lift your boxes.
Let's do this.
Judges: One, two, three, lift.
All: Oh!
So cute.
Oh, that's awesome.
Oh, my god.
- That is so cute. - You gotta love it.
Gordon: That's right. In tonight's mystery box challenge,
- The secret ingredient is you. - That's awesome.
- Are y'alls in black and white? - One year old. Look at this.
Now tonight, you'll have one hour
To take the nostalgic comfort food from your childhood
And transform it into a modern day restaurant-worthy dish.
- Yep. - Aarón: Use your own memories
To make us a super memorable dish.
All of you, use everything this kitchen has to offer that you didn't have back then,
Including those incredible viking ranges.
Remember, whoever cooks the worst dish
In the remaining generations will be eliminated.
- Right, everybody ready? - Yes, chef.
- Yep. - Your time starts now!
- Let's go. - Go, go, go, go, go!
- Go, millennials! - Go, go, go, go, go, go!
- Let's go, let's go! - Aarón: Let's go, boomers.
Do you have all the knee braces on?
- ( laughter ) - onions.
- Oh, sorry, dude. - I need a blueberry. I'm gonna get one of these.
Move, move, move, please! Sorry, sorry.
Christopher: When you're in that pantry,
Not only are we the last ones in there,
But then I got kids behind me like, "get out of my way."
- Come on, guys. Move! - This pantry, it's like "lord of the flies."
It's like everybody for themselves.
Excuse me, excuse me.
- Well done, becca. - Hey!
- Let's go, let's go! - Let's go get a mixer.
All right, peel the potatoes.
- Gotta get the pressure cooker. - Oh, I forgot vinegar!
Oh, my god, where am I?
( chuckles )
- Chop, chop, chop. - There we go.
Guys, if you're using pressure cookers,
- Get them on, get 'em going. - Get 'em closed.
There we go. In you go, in you go.
I feel pretty confident that millennials are gonna win.
So right now I'm gonna make crab cakes,
'cause I grew up in new jersey crabbing.
I think it's millennial
In the fact that it is a classic.
I'm trying to elevate it using colors,
And also I'm gonna do a nice microgreens salad with it.
That's just gonna kind of elevate it
And bring it to the next level.
Millennials are the best.
We've been thrown
So much change in our lives,
So I think we're gonna rock.
I don't even know why
You invited other generations.
I mean, millennials are gonna win, hands down.
Big night. The battle of the generations begins.
Someone's gonna win immunity.
They have a lot to play for here.
There's a lot of pressure,
Not only to represent yourself,
But your generation,
Come out with a statement and with a bang.
Come on, dough. Come on, dough.
"dough" not fail me now.
The generational influence
Will definitely be clear tonight.
- We'll see in their dishes... - Come on!
...In the techniques, in the plating.
I think the generational factor will really
- Come into play this season. - Absolutely.
Geags: This is how the boomers do.
We don't need any electric blenders.
This feels like a nice gym workout.
10 minutes gone.
We're down to 50 minutes remaining.
So I am making a stroganoff,
And it's going to have braised short ribs.
And it was a family favorite growing up
And something that I'm really excited to elevate
Here in the masterchef kitchen.
The hardest part was getting those short ribs in
As fast as possible, right?
The longer they have to cook, the better.
And now we're just working on developing the flavors of the sauce,
Making sure it's perfect and exactly where I want it to be.
All right.
- Murt, murt. - What's going on? What's going on?
- Bring me the memory and what the dish is. - All right.
I'm actually half-brazilian,
So I kinda grew up going to brazil a lot with my mom.
And one memory I have is going and climbing mango trees.
And it's also a big thing in florida,
So I am making a chicken mango curry
With a green tea-infused rice.
- Are you gonna season that with some aromatic spices? - Yeah.
'cause it's gonna need something to counter-balance all that sweetness.
Correct, correct. So I'm gonna season it
With curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper.
- Aarón: Okay. - I'm gonna win this immunity pin.
Don't even worry about it. No stress.
All right, well, best of luck, okay?
- Good luck. - Appreciate it.
Growing up generation x, one of my very favorite meals
That my mom would make was sloppy joes.
It's gonna be a stylish joe today.
It's made with fresh ingredients,
A lot of vegetables, a lot of good spices,
Cooked on the stove and not from a can.
- Sunshine. - Hello, chef.
What are we making? I saw a bit of a--
- Was that a lamb shank? - Lamb shank? Yes.
I'm gonna serve it with a creamy potato, some roasted carrots...
- Right. - ...And some pan-seared trumpet mushrooms.
- A lamb shank in 60 minutes? - Yes.
Sunshine, how are you gonna cook this thing?
I am gonna braise it.
- Uh, you've got 39 minutes to go. - Yes.
I'm getting it on right now.
Get that pressure cooker up to pressure
And get that thing moving.
I would have got that on first, no?
- Yes. - Yes.
How long are you gonna cook it for?
I'm gonna cook it for the next 30 minutes.
Yeah, I'd cook it for the next 38.
- Okay, yes. - The very best of luck.
I'm definitely taking a big risk with this dish.
I mean, I have never cooked a lamb shank in the pressure cooker.
It's so crazy to get something
That would normally take five hours and do it in 60 minutes.
I feel like the world is spinning around me.
So this childhood dish challenge tonight, what are we looking for?
Regardless of the generation,
I think you have to reach back into your memory
And bring something, either a flavor, a vision,
And put it on the plate today.
- Ah! - You okay?
( laughs ) onion in my eyes.
- You good? - Yep, thank you.
The amount of knowledge across these four generations is gonna be huge.
Aarón: You have warren at 70 years old,
And then you have adam at a ripe age of 23.
So think about that experience. How much have you lived?
How much have you cooked and tasted?
Just under a five-decade spread, 47-year difference.
- Yes. - But in food terms, that's a lot, aarón.
Aarón: Oh, my god, it's a lifetime.
And think about all the food culinary adventures
That inform the way you cook.
Eh! Okay. It's good.
Right, generations, halfway.
30 minutes gone, 30 minutes remaining. Let's go!
Rebecka: All right, boomers! What's going on back here? We good?
- We win this thing, becka. - I believe in us.
Oh, my god. Isn't he adorable? Just look at that face.
But, anyhow... ( laughs )
Well, this is mac and cheese.
And, of course, every christmas, every thanksgiving,
There was always mac and cheese.
And mom did it a lot with fried fish, all kinds of things.
But I'm elevating it by the cheese, pancetta.
I'm doing it with lobster, which...
- Rebecka. - Yes, sir?
Tell me about the dish. What are you doing?
I'm doing a re-envisioned meatloaf.
Meatloaf was my mom's weekly meal.
So I am doing a blackberry hoisin meatloaf
With a gochugaru potato spear to go with it to go with it.
- Gordon: Love that. - And I'm gonna do my bok choy.
So I'm gonna bring it into the era
- Of all those young people. - I love that.
Are they in the oven already? They're in the oven already.
- They need, like, 35 minutes. - You move quick, don't you?
Oh, yeah, I'm fast. Look out, people.
I mean, they think I'm slow, they think I'm old.
- I'm coming for 'em. - I hope so. That's the attitude
- And the spirit we want from the baby boomers. - Absolutely, yeah.
- The very best of luck. - Thank you so much.
- Hey, girlfriend. - Sorry.
Whoo! That's a little spicy.
Too much cayenne, queen!
- How's it going, man? - How are you, señor adam?
Can you explain to us
What you got going on here, brother?
Adam: So I'm doing a fried caramelized peach pie.
- Like a hand pie? - Yes, and with that
I'm doing a spiced vanilla goat cheese whipped cream,
- And then candied basil. - Wait, are you doing dessert or a savory dish?
It's a dessert, but the goat cheese
Is gonna bring some tang to it.
That's a pretty kind of gen z idea.
Your dessert is not necessarily a dessert or a savory dish.
- It doesn't identify. - I like that.
Why does something have to identify as a dessert
Or a savory dish? I don't want to be labeled.
- I don't want to be-- - do you want to be labeled?
I don't want to be put in a box.
You miss the dude ranch?
I miss the ranch a little bit. I miss the outdoors.
But, I mean, this is the dream,
So I can't think of a better place to be.
Joe: You look like you're in good shape here. Keep it up.
Appreciate you guys.
I'm looking at this photo of myself, and I'm like,
"oh, my god, how did this girl make it to 'masterchef'?"
I'm making pan-fried chicken thighs
With smoky party jollof rice and carob-fried plantains.
This is something that we would eat
Whenever we'd go to a party as kids,
And it's just so exciting to see, you know,
My little self looking at me cooking jollof rice.
- Gen x, baby. - Let's go.
- Gen x! Gen x! Whoo-whoo! - Come on, gen x!
- Daniela. - Hello, chef.
Tell me the dish. What are you doing?
It's part of my heritage. I'm half-serbian.
So I'm doing a smoky stuffed cabbage roll,
Which is a serbian dish that I ate growing up,
And it's called sarma.
And because it's a long braising process, I broke up the components.
I'm using lamb and smoked pancetta.
How are you gonna cook that? Are you gonna poach them in--
I'm gonna poach the cabbage in the broth,
So that it gets more flavor and it isn't that sweet.
- Love that. Good luck. - Thank you, chef.
That is looking good.
- Guys, just under 20 minutes to go. - Yes, chef.
- Man, look how busy this kitchen is. - Aah!
Joe: So I've seen a lot of dishes that are very, very personal.
These stories are coming through-- their generation, their childhood memories.
All right, come on, gen z! We got it. Come on.
From gen z, murt's doing a chicken mango curry.
He's also making green tea rice.
It sounds like a social media post.
- Green tea rice. - Aarón: Exactly.
Can I have some of that flour? Are you done with it?
- Here you go. - Oh, you're amazing!
Adam from gen z, dude ranch dude, right? He's making, like, a hand pie.
Aarón: It's stuffed with this beautiful sort of filling of peaches,
And then he has, like, a lemon curd that's flavored with basil.
- Gordon: Love that. - So it's very sort of kind of out there and gen z.
I'm just happy that one of the youngest is doing a dessert.
- Yeah. - And it sounds very elevated.
We've got some gen x magic going on here.
From gen x, daniela's taken the classic dish from her grandma growing up.
It's a stuffed cabbage with big chunks of lamb and rice, and it's braised for hours.
But she's trying to fast-track this thing with a ground lamb, pancetta,
And then she's just blanching the cabbage.
I think she's gonna be up against it getting this thing done in time.
That thing takes hours to cook properly.
So sunshine from gen x, it's a tough one, this one.
She's cooking that whole lamb shank inside that pressure cooker.
I'm gonna be amazed if she gets it done within 60 minutes.
It needs to stay in there for at least 55. Bold move.
If you're braising in those pressure cookers, don't take them off the gas
Until the last couple of minutes.
Sunshine: Oh, my gosh. Seriously?
Let's go!
These are burnt.
- Why today? - What happened?
- I burnt my plantains. - Oh, my gosh.
- ( groans ) - there's nothing worse
Than an overcooked plantain.
Bitter and just not good.
Fatima: I'm trying to get my chicken right,
And I completely forgot I had the plantains in the pan.
And, oh, my god, they are burnt.
I'm freaking out because I don't have much time on the clock.
And now I have to run back to the pantry
And I have to get another plantain.
Not a good sign.
( groans )
We're down to our last 15 minutes.
- Joe: Let's go, guys! Come on. - Come on!
15 minutes!
- Sunshine: Okay. - Becca: Come on, little herbies.
Does everyone have their plates?
If you don't, you should grab them soon.
I can't believe I burned my plantains.
I have another set on fire right now.
I hope they'll be cooked before the time runs out.
Whoo! We got this, millennials.
♪ I believe in us, let's go ♪
( laughs ) my hands are shaking.
Hello, kamay, what's the good word?
So right now, we're making some crispy haitian chicken,
And making a sos pwa rouge, which is kidney beans.
And these beans usually take a long time
Because they start from dry, but I had to use canned beans.
- That's a millennial trick. Saving time. - Take us back to haiti.
Do you have a memory specifically of being there?
American people have bacon wake them up.
I had stews and fish and chicken.
I want to make that little girl proud
Because I don't think she knew
What she was capable of back then
Because we had humble means.
So right now I'm adding some more modern twists.
I quick-pickled my own fresnos and my own red onion.
I added rice flour to make sure it's nice and crispy for you.
- Wow. - Well, kamay, someone is going home tonight.
- Make sure it's not you. - It's not gonna be me, chef.
- Thank you, chef. - All right.
- Gordon: Geags. My man! - Hey, chef ramsay, how are ya?
- Look at that. - I was about 10 years old there.
- Pee wee football. - What position were you?
I was a running back at the time.
I bet you were a bloody fast at running back.
- I used to be, yeah. - Good for you.
Tell me about the dish. What are you doing?
Well, I'm making a shepherd's pie.
What? That's the kind of comfort food I grew up with.
Yes, it's half hamburg and half lamb.
I'm gonna make a spicy corn with it and nice creamy mashed potatoes.
- My mother was on welfare with four kids... - Right.
...So pretty much it was a filling, delicious meal.
I love shepherd's pie. It needs flavor.
- Caramelized vegetables, all right? - Yes, yes, yes.
- Awesome. - Do it justice, will you please, yes?
It's awesome, thank you so much.
- Hey. - All right, si, what's happening?
- What are you making? - I am doing a vietnamese soup.
It's traditionally made with catfish or shrimp.
But today I'm gonna elevate it a little bit and bring the millennial side to it,
And just get some lobster in there, you know?
Cook it lightly and let the lobster be sweet and have the proper texture
- 'cause it can go rubbery real fast. - Absolutely.
- Okay, does this dish come from a memory? - Absolutely.
I was eating a delicious soup that my dad made
In san jose, california, after we immigrated here.
I'm going to bring all those childhood memories into this dish,
And hopefully bring it home for the millennials.
- All right. - Good luck.
Thank you so much.
Is this your bowl? Oh.
( bleep )
Gordon: We're down to 10 minutes remaining.
Gotta get my green onion!
Oh, my god, I haven't run this much since I was in high school.
We got the rice going, we got the pickles going, we got the marinade done.
You're cooking for your younger self here.
Make her proud. Come on, kamay.
From the millennials, kamay's doing this very interesting
Haitian twist on fried chicken.
And it has a sauce of red beans,
So it's gonna be loaded and packed with flavor.
From the baby boomers, geags, he's doing the shepherd's pie.
I'm not a big fan of what he's doing.
The lack of vegetables in the lamb? It's just greasy.
Come on, get prettier. You look really bad.
Fantastic. All right, let's go.
From the millennials, si's going ahead and making his vietnamese soup.
- Uh, it has lobster. - Joe: The broth has a lot of potential.
The dish maybe seems a little ambitious.
And I hope he's not overcooking that lobster.
Okay, final two minutes. Start plating.
- We got this! - Perfect. It's right where I want to be.
Immunity on the line. Come on!
This is the moment of truth right here.
Aah!
Murt, I mean, look at him. He's all over the place.
The mess at that station, that's not a good sign.
Dear, oh, dear.
We are down to the last 60 seconds.
- Come on, come on, come on. - Okay.
Joe: Let's go, guys. Come on! Plate it up.
Don't forget your garnishes. I almost forgot mine.
Gordon: Let's go, geags. Start plating.
Everything on the plate, guys.
Good, good. Ooh, chicken's looking perfect.
Judges: Five, four, three, two, one.
- And that's it! Hands up! - And stop! Hands in the air!
Well done, everybody.
- We did it. - Yes!
All right, guys. Oh, looks good, sunshine.
- Just glad I got it done. - I know. Me, too.
Yo, guys, we are doing this.
The millennials are gonna take it today.
- Nice! Nice! - Good job, boomers.
- Let's get this one. - Good job, boomers.
Geags: I think all the flavors came together.
I just didn't get my shepherd's pie
Under the broiler in time.
I don't think I've ever made this dish better,
So I'm actually really excited for the judges to taste it.
I'm actually very-- like, there's normal confidence
And there's "confidence" confidence.
I'm right here right now.
That's what you're looking at.
I'm gonna get the immunity pin,
And whatever benefit we have for the next challenge,
I'm using it against the millennials.
Your guys' dishes look amazing.
Every challenge, we're trying to knock one of them out.
'cause I want to win. I wanna win here.
Gen z to the top, baby!
Tonight, we asked you to take the iconic dishes from your childhood
And turn them into dishes worthy of the masterchef kitchen.
Right, it's time to find out which generation
Is really starting out strong and which one will say good-bye
To their first home cook tonight.
Gents, shall we?
- Murt. - How y'all doing?
Explain the idea with the green tea in the rice.
Us gen z-ers, we use tiktok a lot.
So I saw something where they used green tea in japan with rice.
Thank you.
Okay, fatima, what do we have here?
So this is inspired by an ethnic dish,
But I definitely modified it a lot.
You took a lot of liberties.
Murt: The judges walking around and giving you mixed emotions
Is probably the worst thing in the world.
- What kind of cream is that? - It's a lemon basil curd.
- Thank you. - They look at you,
- Say one or two things... - Joe: Very interesting.
...And then they just walk away.
You're like-- you don't know what to think.
All right, si, so this sauce
- Gets poured over? - Yes, sir.
All this stuff gets mixed together.
- Yes. - Thank you.
Be confident, si. You got it.
- You blended these beans? - I blended them and then I strained them.
And then I let it simmer with some aromatics and habanero.
- Thank you. - Thank you, chef.
Murt: So, at the end of the day, someone's going home.
It's not gonna be me. I'm confident.
My dish is definitely top of my generation,
And I think I'm good.
Did you test the tenderness of that lamb shank
- Before you pulled it out? - Um, I did not.
So you didn't even taste it before you put it on the plate?
I didn't taste it.
Daniela, do you feel that that that little cabbage roll
Would have benefited from being cooked in a sauce?
I think that's a great suggestion.
Rebecka: This challenge was really difficult.
- Rebecka. - But I'm really feeling like I pulled off
An elevated meatloaf, and it just reminds me of my childhood.
It seems like you got a lot done.
- Are you happy with the presentation? - Yes, yes.
Thank you.
Geags, are you happy with the way everything came out?
I am. Wasn't able to brown it enough.
What is that there? Is that fat?
- You didn't drain it before it went in? - Did I drain the meat?
No, drain the fat from the meat.
Joe: This is all the fat from the meat.
It's a lot of fat.
( bleep )
Guys, um, some good dishes. Really good dishes.
We need to pick four top dishes, one from each generation.
- Right. - Oh, my gosh.
It's the best example of what's old is new again
- That I think I've ever seen. - Yeah.
Are we happy with the choices, gents?
Oh, yeah.
Right.
It's time to highlight
The best dish from each generation.
First up is from the millennials.
This cook did a great job
Of elevating traditional flavors.
Please come forward, kamay.
- Whoo-whoo! - Yes, girl!
Kamay: I feel honored that I am a top dish.
But getting that immunity pin is pivotal to my survival
And it's my goal every time
I step into the masterchef kitchen.
Aarón: So, can you please tell us
What you prepared and how this relates
- To your childhood? - In front of you,
You have a crispy chicken thigh
With a haitian red bean sauce, white rice,
With pickled fresnos and red onions.
When I was growing up, my mother, she would just fry the chicken
Instead of the traditional stewing,
And I've elevated it now with the topping
And the rice flour in the coating of the chicken.
- Kamay, it looks delicious. Really delicious. - Thank you.
And the crispness of the chicken is second to none.
- It's browned beautifully. Good job. - Thank you.
Shall we?
Aarón: Chef, your thoughts?
Chicken's cooked deliciously, okay?
'cause you've done wonders with the sauce.
And the refinement on those beans, yeah, definitely is elevated.
Yeah, I just love the fact that you went so bold
With that haitian seasoning on the chicken.
But maybe could you have done something more
With the rice instead of just a plain rice?
- Okay. - I couldn't disagree more.
I think the white rice is the perfect neutrality.
And this is amazing, because the pureed beans
And the chicken on their own are well-seasoned, delicious.
When you put all three together, you have magic.
- Good job. - Gordon: Thank you, kamay.
- Thank you. - Atta girl, kamay.
Rice, beans, and chicken, except it's, like,
Taken to another level.
Next up, gen z.
This dish had some complex flavors,
But the execution was exquisite.
Please come forward...
- Adam, well done. - Atta boy, adam!
Adam: I'm kinda surprised to be in the top four.
Everyone's dishes around me looked amazing,
So it was very humbling, and, yeah, I'm hoping
To save my generation with this dish.
Yeah, so this is a fried caramelized peach pie
With a spiced vanilla goat cheese whipped cream,
A lemon basil curd, candied basil, and then a basil oil.
Adam, it looks delicious.
It's got all the right colors, it's popping,
And the only one tonight to sort of have the gumption
To make a dessert.
It's really amazing that someone at 23 years old
Could make a dish like this.
Either you got really lucky or you're really good.
- I appreciate that. - We'll find out.
Shall we?
So, flavors are delicious. The crisp of that pastry, that's just exquisite.
Peaches cooked beautifully. Lemon curd, exceptional.
Adam, I think the magic in the whole composition of this
Is the fact that you didn't overcook the peaches.
And I just think it's a very interesting choice
- To use basil for flavor. - Thank you.
It doesn't taste like this was made by a dude rancher.
- It's delicious. - Yeah.
- Giddy-up. - Right, right, right.
- Nice job, adam! - Good job, adam.
- The curd's good. - Oh, my god, it's so great.
- It's great. - Yeah, very good, indeed.
Okay, the next dish we want to taste is from gen x.
This featured some very, very ambitious techniques.
Please come forward...
- Sunshine. - Go, sunshine!
Go, sunshine!
Sunshine: I am so proud of myself
Because this dish is me on a plate.
This is my region, it's my ancestors,
It's everything I believe in.
I took a big risk. I hope it pays off.
I made a lamb shank with herb potatoes,
Roasted carrots, and some pan-seared trumpet mushrooms.
My grandparents always had goats and sheep.
We would always have stew on the table,
So there would always be a big dutch oven.
Uh, sunshine, it looks hearty.
It's rustic, it's charming,
And it's really elevated.
Having the confidence to cook a lamb shank
Inside that pressure cooker in under 60 minutes,
- I love that. Shall we? - Thank you.
Lamb's delicious. I'm just glad you left that lamb shank
In that pressure cooker for that length of time
'cause you've got all that flavor and that marrow
- Coming from the bone. - Delicious.
- Really good job. - Thank you.
The flavor of the lamb is amazing
Because it's rich and profound.
I taste the braise. I taste the crust.
- Really an excellent dish. - Thank you.
For me, the sauce is really where the magic lies.
To get that profoundness in such an abbreviated time is pretty impressive.
- Good job. - Thank you, sunshine.
- Thank you. - Good job, sunshine!
- Nice job. - Good job, sunshine.
Lovely mash. Creamy and delicious.
Yeah, that's impressive. That's very impressive.
Okay, the final dish we'd like to taste,
From the baby boomers, this individual took
Simple comfort food and brought it to the next level.
Please come forward...
- Rebecka. - Go, rebecka.
- Baby boomer! - Go, boomers.
Rebecka: Honestly, I think this is pretty scary.
I'm putting a meatloaf in front of michelin star chefs and restaurateurs.
I'm just hoping the judges feel like it's elevated enough.
This is a blackberry hoisin meatloaf
With a bok choy in sesame oil
And a gochugaru potato spear.
I grew up eating a lot of meatloaf.
This is a super boomer dish that's elevated.
I will be honest, I never thought in my career
I'd say I love the plating of a ( bleep ) meatloaf,
- But this one, it looks so good. - Thank you.
Look, rebecka, I hate meatloaf.
- ( laughing ) - great.
Last time I ate meatloaf, I was watching "the brady bunch."
( laughter )
But this looks like something that I really want to eat.
Gordon: Shall we?
Rebecka, there's nothing more that screams out
The baby boomer era than meatloaf,
And what you've done is elevate it.
It's spicy, it's rich.
It's really good. Well done.
Thank you.
I just think the seasoning and the exotic nature
Of the five-spice, it's fragrant.
And the bok choy is probably the best bok choy
- I've had in a long time. - Thank you.
Everything to me tastes great.
This dish is retro and modern at the same time,
- And that's exciting. - Thank you, rebecka.
- Thank you. - Uh, it's delicious.
- Joe: Very nice. - Amazing.
Thank you.
Right, adam, kamay, sunshine, and rebecka,
Right now we need a moment, please.
Excuse us.
- ( sighs ) - good luck.
- I'm really proud of you, man. - Yes. Okay.
Top two for me was one dessert and one savory.
- I agree. - ( sighs )
- Like, my heart is in my throat. - I know.
It's also so on spot for what we were looking for.
- Yeah. - I think we know.
Ready?
Right, tonight's best dish was cooked by...
Tonight's best dish was cooked by...
Rebecka.
- Congratulations. - ( cheering )
Rebecka, please come up here.
You win the immunity pin.
Safe from elimination.
It feels so amazing to win the first immunity pin.
Thank you.
Go ahead and get your generation up to the balcony.
- Let's go, baby boomers. Let's go. - Come on, guys!
- All right. - Please be careful of the stairs.
I think I've, like, put the terror in everybody's eyes.
They're like, "oh, she was a grandma. We don't worry about her."
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
So let that be a note to everybody.
The boomers, we're coming for ya.
Thank you so much. You saved us all.
I would've been going home, I think. Whew!
Well done! Rebecka, how are you feeling?
Oh, I feel very special.
I'm so glad I got to hang out with my guys.
Now, geags, consider yourself very lucky tonight.
Rebecka has just extended your stay here
In the masterchef kitchen big-time.
Oh, yeah. Big thank you.
Because that was one of the worst dishes
In your entire generation.
Now it's time to taste
The worst dishes of the evening.
The first dish we'd like to taste is from gen z.
This dish had rustic plating
And all the flavors were clashing.
Please step forward...
- Murt. - ( gasps )
Murt: I thought I had a strong dish.
I didn't think I was the bottom of my generation.
I've made this dish quite a bit
And everyone's liked it.
Maybe other people were lying to me,
But I'm just confused.
Yeah, so I made a chicken mango curry
With a green tea cilantro rice,
A jalapeno salsa, and crispy chicken skin.
I remember growing up and picking mangoes in the mango trees in brazil.
I wanted to try to, you know, make mango the star of the dish.
Murt, I got excited when I heard you were doing a curry, but it sort of drowned.
A curry, it should be coated in the gravy, not swimming in it.
You know, this doesn't look like it comes from tiktok.
It looks like it comes from an early '80s cooking channel.
- But let's see what it tastes like. Yeah. - Shall we?
So, traditionally mango is served as an accompaniment, as a chutney.
But we're swimming around to identify what's in there.
- Was that a piece of mango? Is it a piece of chicken? - Yeah, I understand that.
The chicken is cooked correctly and it is delicious.
I actually like the green tea in the rice,
- It just needs more seasoning. - Okay.
Yeah, murt, it was so sweet,
You can't even distinguish any of the spices.
- Okay. - It's just heat, lots of cumin, and mango. That's it.
It literally tastes like spicy baby food.
- Okay. - This is exactly what we're not looking for.
- Mm-hmm. - Thanks, murt.
- Uh, way too sweet. - It tastes like baby food.
It looks like it, too.
Okay, the second dish we need to taste
Is from the millennials.
This cook was certainly ambitious.
But they appeared to have focused more on the plating than the actual flavors.
Please come forward, si.
Keep your head up, si. It's all right.
Hearing my name, it was definitely a little bit of a shock.
I put my whole heart on this plate, my culture, my generation.
I'm just hoping it's not my time to go.
It is a vietnamese sweet and sour soup with lobster,
Scallion purée, a yuzu broth with a coconut milk, and a rice roll.
So, as a kid, we used to eat this a lot with shrimp
And I wanted to elevate it with lobster.
Listen, si, it looks strange. Weird.
So I think that in the masterchef kitchen,
The truth talks and ( bleep ) walks.
I think you're just trying to create what you think
Is a super fancy dish that's gonna impress us.
We're not that easy to fool.
Please.
Thank you.
Aarón: Yeah, let me tell you, si,
This is out there in a way that's very strange.
I think you fell in love with a bunch of ideas
And didn't harness the actual concept of the dish,
And it's not delicious to me.
The actual lobster is a little bit overcooked, slightly rubbery.
My saving grace with this dish is the broth.
The broth is exceptional, but the dish is just weird.
I think, um, ambition got the better of you here.
It looks like dishwater. It's not something you want to eat visually.
You took probably some good techniques and ideas and flavors
In your mind's eye as a child,
And then you wound up ruining it. Sorry.
- Aarón: Thank you, si. - Thank you.
- Yeah, what a shame. - I think that he had some good ideas,
But he tried to create something
- That was out of his league, for sure. - Yeah.
All right, so the final dish that we must taste is from gen x.
It was a creative effort, but the execution was definitely flawed.
Please come forward...
So, the final dish that we must taste is from gen x.
Please come forward...
Daniela.
Taking that walk with my dish is mortifying.
I almost feel like I have to apologize to the judges
For being so ambitious and trying to do something
That was clearly not the best choice.
What you have in front of you is a sarma,
It's a stuffed cabbage roll with lamb, pancetta,
And sauerkraut, braised in a tomato sauce.
This normally is cooked for several hours,
So I tried to recreate it
Without having that long time cooking.
Look, white winter cabbage, it's so tough, you can make shoes out of it.
And I can just look at this and I know that cabbage is raw.
You could have shortcut this and boiled it,
And then put it in for a quick sauté,
But you just didn't give it the cooking time it needed.
Shall we?
( crunching )
So you can hear that crunch on the cabbage,
Which is not right.
Damn.
So, the cabbage is the opposite of what it should be.
It's crunchy. It's like eating a salad.
So it's the total antithesis of the essence of the dish.
You know, there's a saving grace in that filling. I love the seasoning.
- But it's very hard to get over that cabbage. - Such a shame.
The actual sauce is delicious.
But it's not a real representation of how it should taste,
And so it's failing on multiple levels.
Sorry, daniela.
- That's such a shame, that. - When you do a dish like that,
- It's like a promise, right? - Yeah.
You need, like, three hours to do this dish.
Right, murt, si, and daniela,
We have a very tough decision to make.
Excuse us for a moment, please. Gents.
You did good.
I thought my dish was good.
So, murt's chicken, the chicken was cooked beautifully,
- But it was just so sweet. - Yeah, it was too much.
- There was no balance. - Si, the lobster.
It was overcooked as a whole, and it was confusing.
It's like he had the ambition of a finale dish,
- And it just all fell apart. - That's a good point.
- But the broth was exceptional. - Eh.
- Daniela? - Nice idea. Didn't have the time.
- But the filling was delicious. - I totally agree.
Heads up, guys. Heads up.
- All in agreement? - Yes.
- Yeah, sure. - Yeah. Shall we?
Hold hands here?
Now, we've come to a decision.
The home cook who will be leaving masterchef tonight is...
Si.
Murt, daniela, head back to your stations, please.
( whispering ) oh, my god.
Si, unfortunately tonight,
Your aesthetics took over the actual balance of that dish.
The broth was delicious,
But then it was a difficult dish to eat.
- We'd like you to keep your head held high. - Yes, sir.
And, honestly, I'd like to take this moment
To say thank you for sharing that vietnamese culture with us.
Your father would be incredibly proud.
Please place your apron on your bench
- And say good night. - Thank you.
- ( applause )
Si: I'm disappointed about being eliminated
'cause I had so much more to show,
So much more to prove about vietnamese food.
- Take it home for the millennials. - Yeah! We absolutely will.
But I was a little bit too ambitious, and that was my biggest disappointment.
But I have no regrets, and I'm sure my dad,
My mom, my family, and my culture is very proud of me.
- Bye, si. - Bye, si!
- Love you. - We love you, si.
Gordon: Next time on "masterchef: Generations"...
Welcome back to "masterchef: Generations."
- Yeah! - Your challenge is to make a masterchef-worthy dish
- Out of aged foods. - Take the wheel, jesus.
But as rebecka unleashes a surprise aged ingredient...
- I can't look. - ( all groan )
They didn't see that one coming.
...Some are sent into chaos.
- You got a plan, sunshine? - No.
- He's got a blowtorch. - No way that's gonna work.
- Damn it. - What's burning?
- ( alarm beeping ) - joe: It's gonna be inedible.
Gordon: That's way too raw.