Masterchef Season 4 of the American competitive reality television series MasterChef had a premiere on Fox on May 22, 2013.
The remaining contestants were asked to prepare a dish in 60 minutes using various cuts of lamb at their choice. When 15 minutes left, Joe started to take off some aprons due to many mistakes. At the end of time, all but eight contestants were divided into two groups, and one advanced to the MasterChef kitchen. The judges then tasted the remaining eight dishes, in couple of two. Malcolm, Jonny, Bri (despite being a vegetarian) and Beth had the best ones, and went on in the competition. However, after a while, even the Italian restaurant manager Luca (who failed to impress the judges in the third season's audition) was admitted, bringing the total of competitors to 19.
The total number of contestants near the end of episode three is actually 20; there is a clean shot of all 20 contestants, which occurs when Luca joins the rest of the contestants. However, at the beginning of episode four, there are clearly only 19 contestants.
The mystery box for this episode challenged the contestants to create a high quality dish using simple ingredients - namely chocolate, potato, bacon, and tomato. The top 3 consisted of Bime, who created a Potato Hash topped with a Poached Egg, Natasha, with a Lemon and Chocolate Tart, and Krissi, who made a Potato and Bacon Frittata served with a Tomato-Basil Salad. Between the three, Natasha emerged as the winner, with the judges raving over her dessert. This was the first time in MasterChef history that a dessert won a mystery box challenge.
Contrasting with the mystery box challenge, the elimination challenge for this week was to test how the contestants treat some of the world's most expensive and high-end ingredients. Since Natasha won the mystery box challenge and thus given immunity from elimination, she was given the advantage of choosing the difficult ingredient that her fellow competitors would have to cook with - langoustine, veal chops and Stilton blue cheese. Additionally, her third advantage was that she could pick one other contestant to be safe from elimination. Natasha ended up picking Savannah, who she felt was no threat in comparison to the others. For this challenge, the top two dishes belonged to Jordan, who created a delicious Langoustine Bisque, and Jessie who made a delicious dish of Tempura Fried Langoustine, despite never having worked with the ingredient before. Gordon then announced that both Jordan and Jessie would become team captains in the first team challenge. The three worst dishes belonged to Sasha, for making a heavy shredded langoustine and cheese grits; Malcolm, for making a stuffed langoustine over pasta, and Howard, for making a poached langoustine over a simple salad, which Gordon refused to taste. In the end, Sasha was deemed to have produced the worst dish and was eliminated.
For this team challenge, the contestants found themselves having to work together to feed over 300 elementary school children. As Jessie and Jordan produced the two best dishes in the last invention test, they became Team Captains for this challenge. On her Red Team, Jessie picked: Lynn, Bethy, Beth, Bime, Natasha, Bri, Luca, Malcolm. For the Blue Team, Jordan picked: Savannah, James, Eddie, Jonny, Krissi, Adriana, Howard, Kathy. Each team was assigned to create one entree and one dessert. The meal must contain a protein, a starch, a vegetable and a fruit. The blue team swiftly decided on their menu of Pasta with Turkey Meatballs and Green Bean Salad and an Apple Crisp for dessert. The red team, on the other hand, took their time coming up with the menu, eventually agreeing on a Chicken Teriyaki with Rice and Corn Entree and a Strawberry Crumble for dessert. Despite their initial quick decisions, the blue team realized that they would have to make 600 meatballs and changed their menu halfway through prep time, instead making a meat sauce to go with the pasta. The red team also came across difficulties during prep due to their overly salty teriyaki sauce. Fortunately, they managed to salvage the sauce by sweetening it up. In the end, the Red Team scored 58% of the votes, making them the winners of this challenge.As the blue team lost the challenge, they were to face the dreaded pressure test. This week, the judges tested the contestants baking abilities by having them create a delicious Cheesecake in 90 minutes. Gordon revealed to Jordan, the Team Captain, that he could excuse any 3 of his team members, including himself, from the pressure test, ensuring their safety from elimination. He chose to save Howard, James and himself, much to Krissi's dismay. As for the final products, Krissi created a Cheesecake with a Raspberry Compote and Raspberry Bombs. Kathy made a Cheesecake with a Blueberry-Blackberry Compote. Eddie, despite his lack of baking experienced, managed to create a Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with a Mixed Berry Compote. While the judges criticized him for not draining the berries, resulting in the berries tainting the color of the cake, they commended him for his great effort. Krissi, Kathy and Eddie all managed to produce cheesecakes that granted them immediate safety from elimination. The other three contestants were not as lucky. Jonny made a Pineapple Cheesecake with Coconut and Raspberry-Blood Orange Whipped Cream. The judges found the flavor of the cheesecake pleasant but chastised his choice of pineapple, adding that the cake's appearance could have also been improved. Despite her confidence in her baking abilities, Savannah produced an overly sweet Salted Caramel Cheesecake with a Hazelnut-Almond Brittle and a Honey Whipped Cream that the judges agreed contained too much crust. Lastly, Adriana made a Guava Cheesecake topped with Mango and Shredded Coconut. While the judges appreciated her attempt to be creative, the canned guava paste added an overall strange and unpleasant taste to the cake. The bottom 3 consisted of Jonny, Savannah and Adriana. Ultimately, Adriana was the one to be eliminated for her poor choice in using guava paste.