Top Chef: Slacker Loses

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Top Chef: New York
The Last Supper

Here is a quick run down on the two challenges:

  • Quickfire Challenge: Create a dish with eggs
  • Elimination Challenge: Cook “The Last Meal” for a Culinary Master

There are times when the chefs think they have to do something weird and out there to get noticed. They think they need to cook “big” instead of  “safe”, but sometimes I think they get confused with “safe” and simple. Someone can have great technique in the kitchen, which the judges adore and also make a simple dish that highlights the flavors of whatever they are making. There are some contestants that might try to get too much going on in a dish and try to hide that it might not be the best thing out there or forget about flavors. I hear time and again the judges rave when someone does something simple but well seasoned and really tasty. I thought of that again at the beginning of this episode with the quickfire challenge.

Quickfire Challenge

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The guest judge for the episode was Wylie Dufresne, chef/owner of WD-50 in New York. Padma scared/excited everyone by saying there were only five of them left and the final four would be heading to the finale in New Orleans. Padma commented that Wylie was known for eggs. He agreed saying that breakfast is his favorite meal of the day and thinks that good egg cookery is a sign of a great chef. Padma told the chefs to create an egg dish that would surprise and delight Wylie. Padma told them that the winner of the quickfire would have a serious advantage during the elimination challenge.

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Stefan
Eggs Two Ways–Poached Egg on Brioche with Ham & Bearnaise and Panna Cotta with Mango Puree & Sweet Bearnaise

Stefan made eggs two ways–one savory and one sweet. He made the panna cotta look like a poached egg so that when it was broken into, the mango puree looked like an egg yolk. Then he made the actual dish he was trying to imitate next to it with an actual poached egg. Wylie said it was very clever.

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Leah
Quail Egg in Potato with Caviar & Brioche with Ricotta & Bacon Hollandaise

Leah said the brioche part on her plate was like a bacon, egg and cheese with the ricotta as the cheese. Wylie said it was very nice.

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Carla
Green Eggs & Ham with Green Tomato Salsa & Jalapeno Oil

Carla said her inspiration was Dr. Seuss since she was not that comfortable with molecular gastronomy, which is Wylie’s specialty. Padma said it was very pretty. Wylie agreed and said it was not too spicy, but very nice.

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Hosea
Japanese-Style Trio–Egg White Roll with Salmon & Asparagus; Egg White Sticky Rice with Poached Shrimp & Avocado; and Avocado & Tempura-Fried Egg

Wylie asked how Hosea made the egg white sheet. He said he had about six egg whites that he raised the temperature up on them slowly and then put it in the oven for about two minutes until it became that sheet he would work with. Wylie said it was a neat idea, but it wasn’t very eggy.

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Fabio
Trio-Quail Egg with Buckwheat Pancake; Coconut Milk Panna Cotta with Mango Puree; and Lychee Soup with Melon Yolk

Fabio said he was not a fan of breakfast so he used the eggs like dessert. Wylie asked him how he made the egg yolk out of the melon and they discussed some gastronomy stuff I didn’t understand. Then Wylie said that there was just a lot of dessert on the plate and only one of the three things contained eggs.

Losers

  • Fabio – Wylie said that since he didn’t like breakfast, he danced around the challenge and didn’t showcase the egg.
  • Hosea – Wylie liked what he did with the egg white and he did like the tempura, but he didn’t feel it was a Japanese experience. He said in a true one, the components flow from one to the next and he didn’t get that with his dish.
  • Leah – He liked the fake egg. He liked the ricotta acting like an egg and how the egg yolk was involved, but he thought the potato ravioli was too heavy and greasy.

Winners

  • Carla – He liked the playfulness of her dish. He said humor is always good in cooking and she did that nicely.
  • Stefan – It was clear that his technique is strong. He said the way the “fake egg” mimicked exactly what an egg yolk should do when it broke. That was great and his eggs Benedict was expertly prepared. It was a very nice dish overall.

Overall Winner: Carla. She commented to the camera later that she won with a simple dish. She did not overthink it and she was the only one that did not use molecular gastronomy. I think she won since they didn’t mention anything about molecular gastronomy for the challenge, even though that is what Wylie is known for. Carla actually followed the the directions of the challenge.  Wylie told her she stuck with one thing on the plate while everyone else made at least two different components on the plate. He said she just stuck with one and made it great. That is what pushed her through.

Elimination Challenge

Carla would find out her advantage after they drew knives. Each one drew a knife with a famous chef’s name on it.

  • Fabio – Lidia Bastianich – Host of award-winning cooking series, chef/owner of six restaurants
  • Hosea – Susan Ungaro – President of the Beard Foundation. They give out awards for best chef and best restaurant each year.
  • Stefan – Marcus Samuelsson – Chef/Co-Owner Aquavit
  • Leah – Wylie Dufresne
  • Carla – Jacques Pepin – Award-winning chef & best-selling author

Fabio was thrilled that he got the “queen of Italian cuisine” in America. Padma said they drew names of superstars of the culinary world. Top Chef asked them what their last meal would be and that would be what each of the chefs would be cooking. Padma listed off the dishes that each chef wanted.

  • Wylie  Dufresne – Eggs Benedict
  • Marcus Samuelsson – Salmon with Spinach & Roasted Potatoes
  • Susan Ungaro – Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes Provencal
  • Lidia Bastianich – Roasted Chicken & Leafy Salad
  • Jackques Pepin – Roasted Squab with Fresh Peas

Once she was done, she asked Carla if she wanted to swap dishes with any of her competitors. She was thrilled to be cooking for Jacques Pepin so she kept it. They would be creating a five course meal for the superstar chefs and the judges. The next day they would have $300 and 30 minutes to shop, then two hours to prep and cook before serving their meal. After the meal, one person would be eliminated and everyone else would go to the season finale.

The chefs shopped and started to prep their food. They weren’t sure if they should make the dish traditionally or do their own spin on it. Leah decided to do her own spin on her dish. Hosea was making his dish mostly the traditional way with a slight difference in preparation. Carla, Stefan and Fabio seemed to be sticking to traditional preparation. While prepping, Fabio did something where his finger bent back and he broke his pinky. The medic asked if he wanted to go to the hospital after she bandaged it up a bit, but he didn’t want to put himself out of the competition. He said he was willing to chop the finger off, sear his hand on the grill to stop the bleeding, continue cooking and the next day deal with a nine fingers. He was just fine with a bandaged up pinky finger.

When all the judges and chefs sat down, Padma let everyone know that Jacques Pepin would be representing all of them at Judges’ Table. Tom said there was some latitude in what the contestants could do with the dishes, but it was taking the basic dish and elevating it to another level with their own take on it.

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First Course – Leah for Wylie Dufresne
Eggs Benedict with Slow-Poached Egg & Bacon on Challah and Salad of Mixed Greens with Vinaigrette

Leah said she kept it pretty traditional. She slow poached the eggs since she knew that was how Wylie liked it. She made a salad since there was so much fat in the eggs Benedict dish, she wanted to lighten it up a bit with a salad. Wylie said that the egg whites were a bit watery and he wouldn’t think he would want to eat a salad on his last day. Marcus said the dish was all about textures and she did not seem to get that. Jacques thought the egg whites should be thicker, but otherwise it was really good. Toby personally likes his egg whites runny so he liked it.

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Second Course – Stefan for Marcus Samuelsson
Salmon with Spinach Two-Ways, Roasted Potatoes & Dill Sauce

Stefan said he wasn’t sure what kind of spinach Marcus liked so he made creamed and sauteed spinach. He added a dill sauce since Marcus is from Sweden.  Marcus said he grew up near the water where they would have a piece of fish, some potatoes and a bit of dill on top. He said Stefan nailed that, but the salmon was overcooked. Wylie said his fish was horribly overcooked. He said in terms of execution, it was not as successful as Leah’s dish. Lidia said that if she served the dish to one of her clients, they would say it was overcooked and send it back. It killed the entire dish. Jacques said he liked the dill sauce and appreciated that it was well seasoned. Susan said if he had not told them that he did two kinds of spinach, she would not have even known it.

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Third Course – Hosea for Susan Ungaro
Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes Provencal & Beurre Blanc

Susan said it looked beautiful. Marcus thought he did a fine job of being creative and staying true to the dish. Jacques said he did not cook from his gut. He said it was not a tomato provencal. He expected it to be cut in half and seared to get a caramelized flavor. Toby said it was a bit disappointing. He was expecting something a bit more traditional. Lidia said she was not a lover of cream. Susan would have loved a little more garlic but overall she thought it was the right flavor for the shrimp. Tom said there were two ways to look at it. Each judge needed to ask themselves what their expectations were of each dish and if he did not meet that expectation did he do a good version of his version.

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Fourth Course – Fabio for Lidia Bastianich
Roasted Chicken with Herb-Roasted Potatoes & Caramelized Cipollini and Leafy Salad with Carrots, Heirloom Tomatoes, Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar

Wylie said the chicken was awesome. He thought it was the first time during the dinner that he felt that the cook channeled the chef properly. He said it was super tasty and his only criticism would be the salad. He thought it looked like something you would get on an airplane. Marcus said it was the first dish he had seen that could go straight into a restaurant. Lidia said she was hoping it would be just like how it turned out. She wanted something simple, straight forward and really well seasoned.

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Fifth Course – Carla for Jacques Pepin
Squab with Lemon Thyme Butter Sauce, Demi-Glace & Butter Tarragon Peas

Carla told them that peas are her favorite so she hopes that they enjoyed them. Susan said Carla made her a convert. She would not have selected it as her last meal, but she thought the peas were perfection. Marcus thought it was beautiful when the chef cooks very simply with the food, but he thought the breast was a little bit overcooked. Lidia said she liked her squab how it was served. She didn’t want it blood red. Tom said the difference of opinion was the older and younger generation of chefs where the younger generation loves squab to be a bit on the rare side. He said he does too.  Tom loved that she made it so simple with the squab and peas and that was it on the plate. Jacques said the peas were scrumptious. He would die happy with the meal.

Judges’ Table

Padma asked all five remaining contestants to come in front of the judges. Jacques told Leah that he liked the way she made the eggs benedict with the texture, but he thought it could have used a bit more cooking. He thought the sauce was too thin and he could see the egg, when normally you would not. Leah said that she was afraid it was too thick so she thinned it out. She said she might have thinned it out too much. Padma said she might have thinned out the flavor too. Jacques said it was a good dish but there was some problems with the technique.  Tom told Stefan that it was pretty unanimous that the salmon was overcooked. Padma said the spinach two ways seemed like spinach one way. Tom said the dill sauce was good and went well with the salmon, but there was cream of sauce for the salmon and cream of sauce for the spinach. Stefan grabbed his head in pain for the criticisms, but did take them well. Toby said it would have been nice if the potatoes had been crispier to have some sort of variety in the textures on the plate. Padma told Hosea that Susan really liked his dish. Tom said she also said that it was not her idea of shrimp scampi. He said she was looking more for the traditional presentation of broken butter, oil and more garlic. Jacques said the shrimp was cooked really well, but the tomato was too refined. He wanted it seared to get the caramelized taste. Hosea said he wanted it refined and he didn’t want to put out anything ugly. Jacques said he shouldn’t sacrifice taste.

Padma told Fabio that his chicken was delicious. She said Lidia was very happy with it.Toby said it wasn’t too fussy and it wasn’t too refined. It tasted great. He said that Fabio recreated something that reminded her of her childhood and that’s probably what the chefs had in mind when they were picking their dishes. Jacques said it was very well seasoned. Tom said there was one problem with the dish and the salad on the side. Padma said that Wylie called it an airplane food salad. Fabio said she had a point and he was going to go shoot himself for doing an airplane salad while laughing. Tom told him airlines were always looking for good chefs. Carla said that she wanted to keep everything simple and make it perfect. She said she was disappointed in the breasts being overcooked. Tom said that he agreed it was overcooked, but there were some that disagreed with that since they preferred it that way. Jacques said if they hadn’t seen the breasts, they would not have been able to tell it was overcooked. He said that it looked overcooked, but when he bit into it, it was very tender. He thought the peas were incredible. Jacques said he loved it.  They were all sent out.

Tom said overall, they all enjoyed the meal. He said they still needed to decide if the meal was executed correctly or not. Padma thought the decision on who would win the challenge would be between Fabio and Carla. Tom agreed. Tom said if Fabio opened a restaurant with that dish, he would be known for that dish. He said that said a lot. Toby said he did make a mistake with the salad and that was universal. Tom said he did break his finger so it was hard for him to slice things. Toby asked if they should take that into account and Tom pondered it. Jacques said if he took two perfect things he ate that night, it would be Carla’s peas and Fabio’s potatoes. Padma agreed that the peas were perfection.  Tom liked that she kept the peas separate, but then also wished they had been worked into the dish a little bit.  Then they moved onto who would be going home. Padma said that everyone agreed that Stefan’s salmon was overcooked. Tom agreed with that but said the rest of the dish was really well seasoned and rest of the garnishes were good. He had a bigger problem with thinned hollandaise and undercooked eggs. Toby said he has had eggs benedict where they overwhelmed the entire dish. He said that since she erred on the side of caution, he wouldn’t dock too many points off for that. Padma loved the bacon and Jacques agreed. He did said that the way she wanted to make the eggs, she needed another 5-7 minutes to finish cooking them. Tom said the temperature needed to be 2-3 degrees higher. Toby said his least favorite dish was Hosea’s dish. Jacques said that he technically did everything right with the shrimp and tomato. Tom said that he appreciated that Hosea was trying to find his own way. Jacques said the shrimp was good. Tom agreed it was cooked properly. Toby said it was well executed but overall, it lacked impact and it was a little dull. Tom agreed that’s why it wouldn’t win, but wasn’t sure if it was enough to send him home.

The chefs were called back in. Tom told them all that they delivered some great dishes, but they were unanimous with the overall winner of the challenge. Jacques informed Fabio he won. He would be going on to the semi-final round and he also won a huge bottle of wine. Fabio said it would be gone in a couple of hours. The wine also came with a three-day, two-night trip to vineyard in Napa Valley. Tom told Carla that they agreed the peas she made were superb so she would be going to the semi-final round. They were both able to leave the kitchen and celebrate.  That left Stefan, Leah and Hosea. Tom told them all that they thought their dishes were the weakest. Tom told Leah that her egg was slightly undercooked and the hollandaise sauce was probably right the first time. He wished she hadn’t second guessed herself. Tom told Stefan that the flavors were great, but they all agreed the salmon was overcooked. Tom told Hosea that he went too far outside of what shrimp scampi was supposed to be. Tom told them that they all deserved to move onto the semi-final round, but one would have to leave. Padma asked Leah to pack her knives and leave. It is about time! Stefan and Hosea would be going to New Orleans.

Questions

  1. Did Leah deserve to go home for her slightly undercooked eggs and thin sauce or did Stefan create a bigger foul with his overcooked salmon? Did the rest of his dish save him?
  2. Did Hosea deserve to be in the bottom three for making his dish different than the traditional way?
  3. Should Carla have won since some loved her squab and didn’t think it was overcooked and she had perfect peas, while Fabio had great chicken and potatoes but a lame salad?
  4. Did Fabio’s hurt finger come into play with their decision?
  5. In the finale, usually one chef is gone during the last Quickfire Challenge and only three get to compete in the actual final challenge. If that is still the case, who do you think won’t make it to the final three?
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