Our competitors awaken to find a big fortune cookie on their table telling them to go to Chinatown. Dave points out that the music during the trip is a riff on "Turning Japanese." Serena points out that she's not going to be able to do this just because she's Asian, and Dave wonders whether Serena will start throwing around soy sauce and garlic like Debbie Lee. Anne informs the contestants that they will be making noodles from scratch. They do at least get to avoid some steps in the process, but they will be pulling the dough into noodles. I have a strong feeling that at least half the contestants will not flour their noodles enough to keep them separated. I'm not sure I would want to try that, especially not as a beginning cook.
The chefs teach knife skills, and Bobby opens a cat food can of red curry paste. I use red curry paste all the time, but my curry paste comes in a jar, thank you! Anne teaches smashing garlic, and Dave predicts that someone will end up hurting themselves. I'm more worried about fingers in the julienne cut on the carrots. The noodle-pulling begins, and Serena is the first to end up with a gloppy mess. Tiff is good enough at pulling noodles for Bobby to ask her during evaluation if she has done this before.
Erica, it's not toofoo, and it's not supposed to melt! Bobby just said it's supposed to heat through. Sherrill decides to skimp on the curry paste, but Serena uses the extra in her dish. Bobby tells Sherrill she's a very confident cook, and she replies that she cooks at home. Yes, honey, but you're on this show for a reason! Anthony describes his noodles as a fat kid and a skinny kid getting into a fight and leaving their fingers in a bowl. Bob turns his frown upside down and makes Anne smile as well with his consistent knife cuts. Rachel thinks Anne is giving her tough love...honey, that wasn't tough love, she was being really nice to you! As I typed this, though, I kept having the Freudian typo of "touch love"...well, now! Vinnie wins for the blue team, and Sherrill loses. Bob wins for the red team, and Rachel loses.
The theme of the main dish is comfort foods around the globe, with meatballs. Bobby comes perilously close to quoting Babylon 5 with his comment that every culture has a meatball. Trust me, that was Dave that noticed that and not me!! Uh oh, Anne and Bobby are teaching them to assemble the meat grinder? That's dangerous with this crowd. Tiffany is grossed out by what meat looks like raw. Dorothy wins brownie points for being able to correctly answer the question of why an egg is added to the mix. Bobby's making the meatballs small...how much you wanna bet that someone makes giganto balls that end up raw in the middle? And with his being pork... Anne talks about searing the meatballs before adding chicken stock to cook in order to avoid soggy, sad, limp-looking balls while Dorothy snickers.
Each of the competitors gets a country, but no recipe. Fortunately, they do get a basket of ingredients appropriate to the country. Unfortunately, they're encouraged to taste test...before they've developed a sense of taste and palate. Dave's now taking bets on who will be the one with the raw meatballs. My money's on Anthony, since he's the one always rushing at the end. Erica can't figure out that it helps to take the top off of the food processor to remove the contents. Vinnie hopes that Rachel will make things easier for him by dropping the ball; Rachel can't even make the ball to be able to drop it! Aside from the hair, David keeps reminding me of Clay Aiken...I guess it shows that I watched Celebrity Apprentice last night. Sherrill says Sweden is safe and reminds her of the Alps and skiing, since it's part of Switzerland. You know, Tiff not knowing where Lebanon is doesn't surprise me, but not knowing that Sweden is a separate country?? Wow, Anthony's done early! OH, NO, Serena should not be given extra time!!! She decides to garnish her Spanish meatballs with something like $200 worth of saffron! Sherrill turns out to be the one with big balls, and Bobby hopes they're cooked. Dave is going nuts as he sees Sherrill's pink sauce, which he says looks like Pepto Bismol.
Time for tasting and evaluation. Erica wants to please the four flavors the tongue can experience, which apparently includes "crunchy." Anthony wins the Indian meatballs. Bobby listens to Serena describe her Spanish meatballs and decides as he's laughing that he's quitting all the rest of his jobs to just do this. Serena beats Bennet despite her waste of saffron. Both Sherrill and Bob have pink sauce, but it's actually lingonberry, so it isn't as frightening as it looks. Sherrill thinks she is getting a slap in the face from Bobby for him telling her that her tennis balls are raw. If you want a slap in the face for raw food, honey, try Gordon Ramsay! Dave points out that Sherrill is frequently wrong but never in doubt. Score one for Bob. Dave says that Rachel's meatballs looked sad...someone has to have sadplate now that Bob is no longer sadface. Vinnie does not look like he will go home on meatballs, so he will eventually be allowed back into Philly. Tiff and Melissa show their Lebanese meatballs; Melissa has no flavor, and Tiff wins. Dorothy and David have a close competition on Greece, but Dorothy wins. Kelli's goat cheese turns out to have been a better move than it looked at the time, adding flavor and moisture, and she beats Benjamin on France. Red team beats blue by one country, and we approach elimination.
Dave thinks it's not looking good for Rachel, and I think Sherrill's on the chopping block. Dorothy wins the day on the red team, and Vinnie on the blue team. Benjamin avoids being among the bottom two by a hair, leaving Erica and Sherrill hanging. Rachel and Bennet are on the bottom for the red. Anne foreshadows her choice by pointing out that Bennet has been showing improvement, and she does indeed send Rachel home. Erica and Sherrill are told they have very different problems, with Erica being a tornado in the kitchen, and Sherrill is reminded that she came here to learn new skills rather than to repeat what she had been doing. Sherrill is sent home, and she says that she'll continue cooking, you just watch. Oh, believe me, I'll be watching the headlines.
Next week we get Food Network Dance Party!
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