You Got Grapefruit In My Chocolate

Air Date: 05/26/2002

Contestants: Ogura Yuuko (小倉優子), Hirayama Aya (平山綾), Muroi Yudzuki (室井佑月)

Guest Judges: Ishida Junichi (石田純一)

Theme Ingredient/Recipes:
Grapefruit / Fruit Jello

Recap: I'm missing chunks of this episode, pretty much the entire start. So I'm somewhat guessing when it comes to the theme ingredient and what the actual dish is. Fruit Jelly doesn't quite describe it, so I'm presuming it's a type of jello salad made with gelatin. This was also the first episode that I was introduced to the 'hint' feature of the earlier shows.

In earlier renditions, there would be a professional chef who would cook the same dish as the competitors, which would be used for comparison at the end of Tasting Time. The view of his cooking station was blocked by frosted glass, and the Apron Girls could ask for a 'hint', at which point they would move the barrier.

Yuuko was having a hard time figuring out where or what to do to make gelatin, so she was given the 'hint'. Not that it helped much, as she still wasn't sure what she needed to make the gelatin (even after being reassured that it was somewhere in her station). She managed to find the sheets of gelatin (in the States, we are more used to it in the powdered form), and proceeded to put them into her sauce. Which was already chilling on ice. In fact, the cooking time was pretty much taken up with her screams of despair, which Ishida found quite adorable.

Emi then pointed out all the various types of chocolate that Yuuko had put into her dish. She loves her chocolate.

Hirayama was up first for tasting, and everyone was impressed with the way her dish looked. It also had a great texture and taste. Joushima was a bit confused, because the talent company that represents her (HoriPro), has only sent them really bad cooks. Including, with a shout-out to her from Hirayama, Horikoshi Nori. But everyone really liked it, it had a perfect taste and balance. The even had Yuuko and Muroi taste it.

Muroi was next up and her dish didn't look as good. The jelly really hadn't firmed up, so it kind of spread out across the plate. However, it was also really good and they had the others try it as well too. Which left Yuuko as the main event.

She couldn't plate her dish properly, because it was still in a liquid form. The sheets of gelatin had never dissolved, so they floated like pieces of paper. She knew that it looked really bad, she kept trying to hide it from the judge and discouraged him from eating the gelatin. The results were interesting and Ishida had to be reminded what show he was on. The taste wasn't bad... just odd. It also was strange to eat, because you had the gummy gelatin, the soupy grapefruit mix, and the crunchy chocolate chips. Ishida asked about the chocolate thing, and was told about the Macaroni Gratin incident. Joushima told her to stop using chocolate, which I believe was the same thing her manager told her. That being resolved, Emi thought she was going to escape the tasting, but Joushima remembered to not only have her taste it, but thoughtfully moved her bangs so the camera could get a better shot of her brow.

Judgement time was quick, because all contestants remained on the Ranking Board. Yuuko dropped a bit and was told not to forget her promise not to use chocolate. The other two were new entries, and Hirayama was given kudos for being the highest-ranked member of HoriPro.

Ranking ( out of 89 ):
Hirayama Aya: 6 (new entry)
Muroi Yudzuki: 8 (new entry)
Ogura Yuuko: 40 -> 50