There aren’t many recruits left.  Here is what happened in week 5 of Worst Cooks in America.

For the Skill Drill they walked into the room with a TV instead of the Chefs to great them.  They were informed that they were going to follow a recipe without help.  The recipe steps were on a board in pieces which they had to first put in the correct order.  My 16 year old commented that she was pretty sure even she could do that.  They had 30 minutes to put that together, prep and each make their own dish.

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Chef Anne for the red team made Roasted Pork Loin with Cider and Chunky Applesauce.

Chef Robert for the blue team made Veal Paillard with Lemon Sauce, Haricot Verts Salad, and Mashed Red Potatoes.

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The recruits split up doing different parts of the recipe. Some didn’t read the complete direction.  The pieces were small and simple on their own, a few sentences, not very difficult.

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Ty sliced his potatoes instead of cutting into chunks and used a huge pot of water.  They aren’t going to mash well let alone cook.

Kelsey and George realized they were burning the veal and started over.  Exactly what they should have done.

Jen and Joshey didn’t rest their pork.  With 5 minutes left they had plenty of time.  All the juice just ran out of the pork.

There wasn’t much to this portion of the show.

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The Main Dish Challenge was a game day party for football season.  The NY Jets Kris Jenkins, who claims to be a good cook, and his wife were throwing a party with 30 guests.

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The chefs taught them how to make a basic potato pancake appetizer.  They each had to come up with a topping on their own and not use the topping the chefs showed them.

Chef Robert made: Avocado-Bacon Relish and Cheddar Fondue (The potato pancake recipe is in this)

Chef Anne made: Marinated Lamb Shoulder Chops with Tzatziki, Arugula, and Feta

They asked Kris Jenkins who’s was better.  He said they were equally as good but then pointed to Chef Robert.

You can watch the video.

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They were then able to leave for the night so they had all night to think about what they wanted to do.

When they arrived the next day the kitchen was all set up for the party.

Uh oh, a surprise!  They are also going to be assigned another appetizer.

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For Blue:

Kelly – Black Bean Taco Fritters with Spicy Mayo

Ty – Blue Cheese Chicken Meatballs

George – Cheeseburger Roulades

Kelsey – Crab Cakes with Grilled Corn Relish

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For Red:

Carlos – Mini Grilled Gruyere and Ham Sammies with Cornichons

Kat – Chorizo and Manchego Puffs

Jen – Mini Corn Cakes with Avocado and Tomatoes

Joshey – Shrimp Balls with Water Chestnuts and Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce

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Joshey hates shrimp.  Chef Anne told him to taste it and he loved it.

They had to do 35 pieces of the above plus 35 potato pancakes with their own topping in 75 minutes.

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Kat re-read the recipe over and over to make sure she was getting it right.   She was giving up and Chef Anne was getting pissed.  Chef Anne saying something to her helped kicked her into high gear but it doesn’t look good once you do give up.  In the end she was told her own topping of cheddar and prosciutto was bland, not enough salt.

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Ty burt his pancakes so they were sticking to the pan.  For his other appetizer he cooked in a deep dish pot instead of a pan so his meatballs were deep fried.  His topping of Spicy Chicken and Mayo they said had too much mayo and pepper however the guests really liked his food.

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Kelsey’s crab cakes were burning and falling apart.  She started over and did a better job. For her topping she did a Dijon steak that they told her was too spicy.

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Jen said she was in pancake hell since she had two recipes that called for making pancakes.  Jen’s topping was Buffalo Spice.  She forgot the chicken and the Chefs told her they felt like they were missing meat.  Also her Avocado was turning color on her mini corn cakes.

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Kelly got screwed.  That black bean taco fritter looked gross.  It just didn’t look appetizing at all. Kris Jenkins told her that her fritters looked scary and her topping on the pancakes was cheese and tomato.

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Carlos used grated cheese instead of slicing and Chef Anne told him that it was great he was thinking like a cook.  His topping was Steak with red pepper.

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George still has no confidence in herself even though she was doing well.   They said her cheeseburger appetizer was seasoned properly and they liked the texture of her shrimp, tomato and onion pancake topping.

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Joshey did a BBQ Burger as his topping. They told him that his pancakes were floury and not cooked enough.

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I noticed some recruits were not done topping and plating their stuff when time was up but somehow that never made much of an impact.  I guess they were allowed to finish as the tasting went on since no one complained there wasn’t enough food.

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This is who went home this week:

Red team – Chef Anne – Jen eliminated

Blue team – Chef Robert – Kelly eliminated

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See you next week! I am off to make a shopping list for some of the recipes featured in this episode