So after much scrambling and screaming from Gordon and commercial breaks, Sheetal and David finish their three dishes. Gordon would like to try the clam chowder first. David is confident; Sheetal imagines what an upset it would be if her clam chowder were to win. In a break from tradition, David has desired to drizzle olive oil over his chowder, telling Gordon that he's trying to be ballsy. Joe smiles, though it's unclear whether that's caused by the olive oil or the co-opting of his favorite word. Gordon decides to taste the more traditional-looking chowder first. That's yours, Sheetal. Gordon finds the seasoning precise. "Really good indeed," he says. And David's? It's got a thinner texture, but the clams are cooked perfectly. It's a difficult choice, but after much hemming and hawing, Gordon declares David the winner of Battle Chowder on account of the clam favor. "If he wins the next one," Gordon reminds Sheetal, "you're leaving MasterChef." Somehow, I think that's unlikely, and not just because the apple pie competition is next.

Graham saunters up for his turn to taste the two dishes. Sheetal's dish is traditional -- "My take is not traditional," David says. Or that appetizing, the recapper says, eyeing that charbroiled crust with a disdainful glare. Graham finds Sheetal's pie "beautiful in its simplicity" and thinks the crust is amazing. Graham warns David that his not-really-a-pie pie better be the most orgasmic experience ever. It's not. The crust is thick, the apple thin, and while it tastes more delicious than it apparently looks, Graham would prefer another piece of Sheetal's pie. So we're all tied up, as if there any doubt.

That means it all comes down to Sheetal's traditionally-prepared veal Milanese and David's apparent affront to God and nature and Mario Batalli. Joe pokes at his food a bit, and asks the contestants a few questions before tucking in. Sheetal's is cooked "almost perfectly," Joe says. "It's very, very finely seasoned." And David's? Well, it's so thick, which is decidedly not traditional. "This is a truly difficult decision," Joe says, because the producers have apparently decided we have not strung the tension out far enough. And one lengthy commercial break later, Joe finally picks the dish that shows "tradition combined with technique and innovation." That'd be David's veal, in case you found Joe's verbal gymnastics unbearably opaque.