New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

The Masters draw pots to choose their order, with lucky Rick and Tony going first and second (as the winner of the QF and the person who drew pot #1 respectively), and unlucky Susan going last. There are only two portions of each protein available for the seven Masters, so she will get the scraps.

The Masters head to Whole Foods to shop and most everyone seems daunted by the challenge - and it gets even worse back in the kitchen. Proteins are tougher than they thought, they’re more different than what they’re used to, they realize that they’re not sure how to prepare the proteins. It’s pretty amazing how low the morale is. There’s not a single person who looks confident, save for Susur who has black chicken and monkfish liver, two ingredients that he’s worked with as a Chinese chef.

With finally some visible chinks in the armor of these Masters, this challenge is turning out to be the best one of the season so far. There’s lots of drama, uncertainty, hand-wringing, and looking over the shoulder to see what the Master who shares your protein is doing.

The diners today will be our typical three critics plus Andrew Zimmer, the appropriate host of Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods.” He’s brought along two culinary-expert friends to sample what the Masters have made.

Rick goes first with a poached black chicken mousse with roulade, monkfish liver tourchon and buttered leaks. Andrew calls it stunningly executed but wants the flavor of the monkfish liver more in his face. James disagrees, calling it “respectfully treated.”

Tony goes next with a crustino and calamari, along with some braised goat leg and a goat cheese ravioli. He had some trouble with his goat leg, which didn’t come out tender, and as a result, there’s very little goat leg on his ravioli. Andrew says that it smells divine and that the squid doesn’t overwhelm, but James is sad that the goat leg has been reduced to a few threads on his plate.

Susur has a French-meets-Japanese dish of poached monkfish liver with a black chicken velouté plus a monkfish liver sausage stuffed in a chicken leg. Both ingredients are integrated with the other in two ingenious dishes. Andrew says that he didn’t want to like it, with all those sauces, but that it tastes great. James notes that you can taste the monkfish liver much more prominently here than in Rick’s dish.

Jody is next with a Sicilian spiced roast goat with a geoduck chickpea chowder and homemade harissa. Gael laments that the goat needed to be cooked further, but notes that the chowder was an excellent way to turn the dish on its nose.

Marcus steps up to bat with a geoduck and kangaroo sausage, a geoduck cous cous and a kangaroo tartare. Andrew likes the flavor but says that the number of elements on the plate is interfering with his enjoyment.

Jonathan is depressed; he had a really hard time finding anything that would work. As a result, his plate looks horrible. It’s a sloppy mess. He has a giant squid fritto misto, fideo with duck tongue, and fried duck tongue. Andrew says that the duck tongue is the best he’s eaten in a long time, but that Jonathan’s plate is a writer in need of an editor.

Continued:       1       2       3       4