Top Chef: All About Presentation

Top Chef: New York
Today Show: Rocco DiSpirito

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: Create a Breakfast Amuse-Bouche
  • Elimination Challenge: Create a Dish For a 2 1/2 minute Live Television Presentation

In one of the challenges, the chefs had to make an amuse-bouche. I had never heard of that term before I started watching this show. It is just one bite of food that is supposed to whet your appetite for the meal you are about to eat. The best ones have a lot of flavor in just one bite. Yum! I actually had one once when Jer and I were eating a chef’s menu at a restaurant in San Diego. I got excited when I got one since I knew what it was. It was a  little spoonful of lobster bisque in one of those fancy spoons that also acts like a little bowl.

Quickfire Challenge

The guest judge for the episode was Rocco DiSpirito, who I think shows up every season. Fabio was shown talking to the camera about how Rocco makes Italian food, but he isn’t a real Italian. He says he does a good job with it so he likes him. Ah, Fabio is funny. When the chefs are told that they need to create a breakfast amuse-bouche for the quickfire challenge, Jamie was freaking out since she never eats breakfast. WAT! I love breakfast. It is awesome. I could do with a huge breakfast as my main meal of the  day and have a light dinner later on. That would be just fine. I don’t understand not liking breakfast. They had 30 minutes to create their mouthful of wonderfulness.


Melissa
French Toast with Eggs, Strawberries & Bacon

Melissa said her favorite thing in the world is eggs in a nest. Rocco said he would eat anything off the fried french toast. It was great.


Stefan
Huevos Rancheros with Salsa & Cheese

Stefan currently lives in California so he thought he’d go with what Californians like with heuvos rancheros. He had a crazy tool that cut a perfect circle on the top of the egg shell so he used that to empty the shell and used it as a holder for his amuse-bouche. Padma said it was a beautiful presentation. I love huevos rancheros. I’d eat this one.


Radhika
Potato Cake with Egg & Bacon

Radhika really liked a hearty breakfast so that is what she tried to make. Rocco said nothing besides just nodding at the food. Radhika took it to mean that he wasn’t impressed.


Daniel
Cornflake Crusted Zucchini Flower Stuffed with Hash

Danny said that growing up, he used to have corn flakes for breakfast every day and also used to have zucchini flowers. He wanted to make a bite that was crunchy, sweet and savory all together. Rocco said the problem with cornflakes is they are very sweet so he had to make sure the flavors are very balanced.


Ariane
Stuffed French Toast with Chili Maple Syrup

Ariane made a stuffed french toast that she makes for her kids all the time. Since Rocco mentioned he loved bacon, she threw that in there somehow. Rocco said it was very well put together. It was the right amount of sweet and not-so-sweet. I love french toast. I’d eat it!


Jamie
Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato Breakfast Sandwich

Jamie told them she was a fan of the savory breakfast so she made a play on a BLT/breakfast sandwich. Rocco said it had nicely layered flavors. Rocco said the bread did its job perfectly. I want to eat this one. I think it looks good.


Leah
Bacon, Quail Egg & Cheese with Grilled Bread

Leah wanted to concentrate on getting all the flavor components into one bite to make it a true amuse-bouche. She noticed some of the other chefs had small plates, but they were still two or more bites to it instead of just one mouthful that is the definition of an amuse-bouche. She hoped have a good tasting bite and following the rules of the challenge would get her a win. Rocco said it was well done. Padma said it was the perfect size. I’d eat this one too! Can you tell I love breakfast?


Fabio
Brioche with Brulee Banana & Espresso Cream

Fabio said he doesn’t have bacon and eggs for breakfast. He likes to have brioche, fruit and a cappuccino. Fabio said he doesn’t like to be weighed down by breakfast. He wants something light to keep him energetic. Padma pointed out that the espresso shot was very rich and she thought it was interesting that he brought that up since it felt like a pudding. I am wondering why he didn’t lighten up his brioche bite with some strawberries and skipped the espresso.


Jeff
Twice Baked Potato & Yogurt Sorbet with Fruit

Jeff had so many ideas that he had a problem focusing on just one thing. He said it was probably going to be the only breakfast challenge so he wanted to impress them and do as much as he could. Didn’t he learn in the last challenge that he fails when he does too much? He needs to learn to focus on one thing. For someone that organizes others fairly well, like he did in the last elimination challenge, he doesn’t organize himself very well. Rocco listened to Jeff’s description of food items and then pointed out that they were two different dishes. That isn’t one bite Jeff! Some of the others can even stretch it by saying their things might have been very big bites, but you had two different things on your plate. Why?

Here were some that didn’t get shown on TV, but the Bravo site had their pictures. It was more middle of the road dishes, I imagine.


Alex
Sweetcorn Crepa


Carla
Silver Dollar Pancakes with Mixed Fruit


Hosea
Fried Quail Egg with Sweet Potato Hash


Eugene
Pork Sausage with Bacon Sandwich

Padma asked Rocco how breakfast was when he was done sampling. He said it was good, but only a few got breakfast and amuse-bouche together. Padma first asked who he thought fell short in the challenge.

Losers:

  • Daniel – All he tasted was corn flakes. He would have loved to tast more of the zucchini flower.
  • Fabio – It would have been a great miniature dessert, but for breakfast, he preferred something a bit more savory.

Winners:

  • Stefan – Even though it was more than one bite, the container made it a great amuse-bouche.
  • Leah – Great arrangement of flavors in the perfect bite.
  • Jamie – She had a beautifully assembled amuse-bouche and it was perfectly executed.

Quickfire Challenge Winner: Leah

He would have loved to pick Jamie and Leah, but if he could only pick one, he picked Leah. As the winner, she got a copy of his new book. It was the second time in a row she won the quickfire challange. She would have immunity from elimination. Jamie was upset since she is consistently in the top of the challenges, but is never picked as the overall winner again and again.

Elimination Challenge

Padma talked about as a chef, it is important to have a good presentation style to the public since the more people know about a chef and like them, the more they will seek out their restaurants, buy their books and eat their food. They would need to create a dish for a 2 1/2 minute live television presentation. They would each do their presentation one at a time for the judges in the kitchen. Carla and Leah were freaking out about being on television. Carla said that getting everything exact would be hard since they would cut her off if she wasn’t done in the time. Leah doesn’t have the desire to ever be on live television. Rocco gave some advice that they should make a recipe that is easy to follow and set themselves up for success. If they pick something difficult, then there are more opportunities to make a mistake. They would be judged on both their presentation and the quality of the dish.  Fabio was concerned about trying to speak perfect English on live television while he was cooking.

The chefs went shopping for 30 minutes with $100 each. Fabio, Eugene and Hosea all went behind the counter to cut their own fish. The Whole Food guys were more than happy to let them cut the piece they wanted. Less work for those guys! Alex decided to go outside the box and make a dessert. He went with creme brulee. He said that if someone does dessert, they almost have a free pass since no one expects them to do good dessert. What? Now, the chefs have given passes on desserts in the past, but that’s when the chefs didn’t have a choice on making it. He’s making the decision to make one so it is all his own doing if he succeeds or fails.

Melissa was trying to figure out what part of her dish she wanted to do for the presentation because she wanted to make sure it was timed perfectly. Jeff said his dish had fancy terms, but it was really flavorful and easy to make. Fabio saw Alex making the creme brulee and said it was impossible to do in an hour. It has to be mixed, cooked and cool down and it couldn’t be done in an hour. Jamie was going to do a dish that she had done on live television before. It was a salad with a fried duck egg. She was most concerned about making sure the egg was cooked in the two and a half minutes. Leah was glad she had immunity because she had never done live television or a demo before. Radhika was concentrating on bringing through her personality and style in her demo. Ariane was concentrating on keeping her dish simple and wonderful. Danny said he had his own restaurant and tv show (he does?). He wants to act and thinks he lights up in front of the camera. He does? He believes he is very charismatic. He wants to make people laugh and teach them how to cook.

Rocco, Padma, Tom and Gail walked in to be part of the presentation with each chef. They were gathered around a camera and a timer set for 2.5 minutes.


Ariane
Beefsteak Tomato Salad with Watermelon & Feta Cheese

Ariane wanted to show her pride in New Jersey with some New Jersey beefsteak tomatoes. She finished up with 14 seconds left on the clock.


Jamie
Salad with Duck Egg, Bacon & Caviar

Jamie felt confident going into it since she had done live television before. Jamie thought everything was going well except for some of the egg white around the yolk of the egg is not done cooking. She had to make a decision to keep it cooking and go over time or plate it. She decided to plate it. Gail asked how they could tell if the egg was ready. Jamie said she could tell that the egg white had set up. Rocco tried it and said it was raw egg white.


Alex
Rose Infused Creme Brulee

Alex said he was going to make everyone at home feel like a top chef with a very simple, easy to make, elegant dessert. Alex ran out of time. He said he was distracted by Padma asking questions and he stopped what he was doing to explain things instead of multi-tasking. The judges tried the finished creme brulee and it wasn’t done. It hadn’t  completely set.


Jeff
Malfouf Roll with Shrimp & Muhammara Sauce

Jeff had done some tv, live tv and plenty of demos. He felt pretty good about his chances, even with his crazy name dish with Middle Eastern flavors. He finished in time and the judges seemed to like it. Fabio was confused watching Jeff’s presentation since he was using ingredients that were not readily available or known to the average tv viewer.


Fabio
Tuna with Roasted Carrots & Asparagus Salad

Fabio made a dish that was easy to make and what he knew his mom could find in the store. He completed his presentation in time and the judges seemed to like it.


Daniel
Ginger Soy Skirt Steak with Cabbage Salad

Tom was very concered with the amount of smoke that was coming off Danny’s burner. He wondered if they should call the fire department. Padma said it was delicious when it was done.


Stefan

Minestrone Soup with Pancetta & Herbs

Stefan didn’t talk too much during his presentation, but he did have a swap out pot ready with his simmering soup after he showed how it would be prepared and then left on the stove for a while. He had the other pot ready to go underneath the table. Tom was impressed and Padma said it looked delicious.


Hosea
Crispy Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Peas

Tom liked the use of wasabi peas.


Eugene
Tuna Sashimi & Pea Shoot Salad

Eugene had some problems answering questions about the difference between sushi and sashimi, even though he had said earlier, his background was making sushi. I thought the difference was sushi was served on rice and sashimi was not.


Melissa
Blackened Habanero Shrimp

Padma said she loves hot food, but it was very hot. Tom had to spit it out since it was too spicy for him.


Carla
Tortilla Soup

Carla ran out of time while doing her presentation.


Radhika
Sweet Shrimp & Cucumber Salad

Radhika also ran out of time.


Leah
Duck Breast with Corn & Blueberry Hash

Leah wasn’t even close to done when the time ran out. Padma said if it was live television, the only thing they would have seen was the corn salad with blueberries.  She said she didn’t want to ever do live television.

Judges’ Table

Padma asked what dishes and presentations did they find disappointing. With Jamie’s duck egg salad, Padma was not excited about tasting the raw egg white. Tom talked about Leah having no confidence. As soon as she started talking, it went downhill. Padma said she did have immunity and Tom said it was a good thing. Tom said Alex made a silly choice with picking creme brulee. Rocco said Carla had a nervous energy that did not make him feel comfortable. Tom said she didn’t get through the presentation, but she did at least create a good dish. Padma brought up Daniel finishing his recipe. Gail found him charming. Padma said he was lovable. Tom said smoking out the studio was bad and his mugging for the camera was not that good. It was a little over the top. Padma thought Stefan did fine. Tom said the swap out was smart, but his personality just wasn’t great. Gail said it was amazing how spicy Melissa’s shrimp was. Rocco said that if Melissa was on a tv show, the host was ask for her to never come back on again for making something so spicy. Tom said Jeff had a lot of things on the table, but he pulled it together and did it in time. Rocco said he also had a confidence that is needed for a live demonstration. Rocco said Fabio would be a dream guest on a talk show. Gail said she wanted to hang out with him all day. Tom said he made fun of his accent, which put everyone at ease. Padma thought Ariane hit it out of the park. Tom said her presentation was perfect.

While the chefs were in the stew room (where they hang out while the judges talk about them), Padma came out to tell them the bottom three were Melissa, Alex and Jamie. The top three were Jeff, Fabio and Ariane. She told them it was getting late so she would see them at Judges’ Table tomorrow. Back at the loft, Jamie didn’t want to talk to anyone. She was very angry at herself so she went straight to sleep. Alex kept talking about making a wrong decision with his dish choice but then started ragging on anyone that made a salad. Leah brought up that Alex seemed ready to go since he was getting married in twenty days. She didn’t think his head was in the game. Leah told Melissa to fight for herself in there. Melissa said the most brilliant line ever about the scariest thing about failing is failing. Okay then!

Today Show

The next day at 2am, Tom showed up and told Ariane, Fabio and Jeff to get up and meet him in the kitchen. He told them that as the winners, they would be preparing their dishes for the hosts of the Today show who would choose the winner. They would go over to the building the Today show was filmed, prepare the dishes in the kitchen and then watch their dishes being tasted live on television from the green room. They headed over to the studio at 3am. Jeff was complaining that he would be serving a Middle Eastern roll to a bunch of ladies with unsophisticated palates at 6:30am. Fabulous attitude! It is also nice to assume that their palates were unsophisticated. Ariane was ready to take on the kid chefs and show them what she’s got. Fabio was excited to be in a big tv studio.

The plates were done and taken away. The chefs were shown to the green room. Back at the loft, the other chefs were waking up to find a tv (there normally isn’t one so they are shut off from the outside world during the competition) to watch the other chef’s dishes on the Today show. The four hosts tried Ariane’s dish first. Meredith doesn’t like watermelon but she said it wasn’t the dish’s fault. She would just eat around it. They all liked it. The next dish was Fabio’s dish. They were all talking at once and it was hard to tell what they were saying. The last dish was Jeff’s dish. A few of them were saying “mmmm” or “well” before Kathie Lee went to spit her bite out. Not good! They all huddled up and talked. Then they decided that even though it might not have been the most original, good was good, so they went with Ariane‘s dish.

Winners

Fabio, Ariane and Jeff came into the room with the judges. Fabio said she deserved to win. She made a great plate. Ariane said it was a wonderful experience. As the winner, Ariane won a set of kitchen tools that Rocco hand-picked himself. She got about two dozen different kitchen utensils to use. Ariane said she needed the win to get herself back into the game. Padma said she got one more thing. She would be presenting live on the Today show the day after the episode airs.

Losers

Melissa, Jamie and Alex came in to hear how they were bad at stuff. Melissa said that she thought her dish was well balanced. She had tasted it with the shrimp by itself and with all the other ingredients. She understood that it was too spicy for some of them. Rocco said he had a hard time believing that she could have eaten a few bites of that dish. He said the heat was too intense and beyond belief. He found it inedible. Padma said the entire left side of her mouth was on fire. Gail said habanero is not a spice you want people at home playing around with if they don’t have experience with it. Jamie said she just got frazzled. She knew the egg wasn’t set properly but she wanted to get it on the plate to finish in time. Tom said another thing to make sure it got done and she was running out of time would be flip the egg over. Jamie agreed. She said she understands what she did wrong and what she can do to fix it in the future. Rocco said he was put off by her recoiling and folding her arms when she didn’t was called out for the egg being raw. She said she did it because she was mad at herself and wasn’t meant to be defensive.

Alex said that he thought the easiest way to get to the top was to be different, but he picked the wrong dish. Tom asked why he chose it. He said he wanted to be different. He said the whole point of the competition is to push yourself. Tom said the whole point is to win. Tom said his mistake was impossible to do in the hour prep time so he couldn’t possibly finish. Alex said he set himself up for failure. Alex said he should have picked something easy. Gail said a live television segment is not the time to try something new. Padma asked if anyone had anything else to add. Melissa said she really wanted to be there and never wanted to be anywhere else. I just want her to cut her horrible bangs, but that’s just me. 🙂 Tom said that Melissa made it sound like that someone doesn’t want to be there. She said no, but she really wanted to be there. It didn’t sound like much of an argument. Alex said that he had shown them that they can cook. Tom said Jamie and Melissa have shown they can cook too. He said he hasn’t shown them the best he can do yet. They asked them to leave so they could discuss.

Rocco said all three delivered an inedible dish. Tom said Jamie’s egg was very close to being done. Rocco said cooked egg and raw egg were not very close. Gail said the execution failed. Rocco said Jamie’s presentation was unforgivable in the way she recoiled in anger and it was a fatal flaw. Rocco was amazed that Melissa defended the amount of spice in her dish as being okay. He said that amount was unacceptable under any circumstance. Gail said Alex’s dish was flawed from the start. There was no way he could make it in the time. Tom said if it was solely on presentation, he would have been fine, but he didn’t actually make his dish.

They called the chefs back in. Tom told Melissa she created a dish that was way too spicy and that would have caused any on-air host to flinch and react the way they all did. Tom told Alex he chose the wrong dish to cook, he couldn’t complete the task and he never gave them a creme brulee. Tom told Jamie that she gave them a raw egg and once that happened she was very standoffish and didn’t convey any personality on television. Padma asked Alex to pack his knives and go.

Questions

  1. Was Alex the right one to leave since he never could have made the dish he picked? Should it have been Melissa who didn’t think she did anything wrong with her super hot haberno shrimp? Or should it have been Jamie who didn’t finish her dish and didn’t have a good on-air personality after it failed?
  2. Was Ariane the right choice for the overall winner? Do you think someone else should have been in the top three to go on the Today show that wasn’t picked?
  3. Any of those breakfast quickfire dishes make you as hungry as they made me?
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