The eighth episode of MasterChef Italia 13, which aired on the evening of February 1st, can be summarized as follows. The nine contestants in the competition found a variety of brightly colored ingredients on the counter, with the potential to give strong shades to the dishes: beets, purple cabbage, spirulina algae, saffron, fresh turmeric, fresh spinach, avocado, tomato paste, pomegranate, and raspberry. These could be combined with dishes of various colors and three “white” main ingredients to be used as a canvas: turbot, scallops, and daikon. “We want imagination, madness, sparks,” said the three judges Bruno Barbieri, Antonino Cannavacciuolo, and Giorgio Locatelli.
In the end, the best dishes were prepared by Antonio, Marcus, and Michela. Michela, in particular, won the last golden pin with her dish “Vividly Colored”: saffron scallops and beetroot turbot with spirulina daikon, spinach gel, and turmeric waffle. This new achievement of Michela upset Kassandra, who showed her displeasure with a grimace. “Don’t shake your head, it’s not nice,” scolded Locatelli.
Alongside the judges was Pierluigi Roscioli, a master of leavening at the eponymous bakery in Rome, who guided the aspiring chefs in creating a pan pizza in two stages. They had to form and work the dough by “slapping it” with energy, as chef Cannavacciuolo repeatedly urged them to do. The contestants had to complete the pizza the next morning by rolling it out, seasoning it with ingredients of their choice, and baking it in the oven. For three people selected by Michela, Kassandra, Eleonora, and Antonio, there was an additional challenge: to make a second gourmet pizza with crispy crust reheated in the oven.
In this case, one of the disadvantaged contestants, Eleonora, prevailed over the group, stuffing the pizza with chickpeas and eggplant, and bringing a second proposal of a sweet pizza with chocolate mousse. “To break taboos, deep thinking is needed,” commented Cannavacciuolo. However, to reward the courage, the judges decided not to eliminate the contestant, who received a black apron and the opportunity to compete in the MasterChef kitchen at the pressure test with the losing team of the next challenge. The common theme of the challenge was the use of the grill: the aspiring chefs, divided into two brigades, had to prepare a three-course menu using only this cooking method.
Overseeing everything was Errico Recanati, chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant “Andreina” in Loreto (Ancona). The red team, composed of Michela, Settimino, Sara, and Kassandra, competed with a skewer of Chianina offal with black cabbage sauce, carbonara bucatini (without egg), and distant-cooked chicken with cauliflower and tangerine chutney. Against all odds, given the bad relationships among its members, the test ended with a victory of 18 to 2 for the red team. The five were called to cook a dish based on kidney and mashed potatoes starting from a negative review found on the internet, taking into account the user’s criticisms of the “original dish.”
Marcus, who left the kitchen forever, forgot the pan on the stove, burning the meat.