Food Network Star, 8/7/11

Iron Chef time, baby! Which means I get to see some Alton Brown. Yes! I love you, Alton.

Battle Lamb:

I’m not a fan of Mary Beth, but no one deserves to have to work with Penny. Maybe since she herself has already been eliminated, she'll play nice? Nope. Tigers don’t change their stripes. She can’t let this opportunity to sabotage MB pass. The judges even tried sending Alton over to ask her to speed up … with no results. Go back to obscurity, you petty harpy. But I do hope that if MB loses to Vic, she doesn't try to blame Penny. The petty harpy may be chopping onions waaaaay too slowly, but MB's the one actually cooking the lamb. Ok, Jeff is totally killing Suzie in the commentary battle. All hail Sandwich King! Judge Suzy: “Jeff’s very cute.” DAMMIT, SUZY. I told you: I saw him first.

Battle Lobster:


(I gave up meat for health reasons, but I still cook it for friends and family, so I guess I have to be counted among that hypocritical number who are ok cooking/eating meat as long as they don’t have to watch the animal die. I get the two-facedness of that stance; believe me I do. But still. I’ll stuff and roast a turkey, I’ll buy and bake lobster tails. But I just can’t throw a living animal into boiling water to die. Hi, I’m a double standard-having wussy. Lol.)

Ugh. Chris. Who reminded everyone that the judges make the right call sending him home with this: “You’re not going to cook it first? Oh — no, it’s for ceviche.” *SIGH* Clever, Suzie! Lamb "enchiladas" rolled in Swiss chard are very creative. Meanwhile, Jeff’s overreliance on mayo could hurt him. Got my fingers crossed that the sandwiches are delicious, cuz then the judges’ll overlook it. MB was totally killing Vic in the commentary battle, until Alton stumped her with that sea salt question. She didn't recover well at all. A simple "I don't know AB; let me look that up and get back to you!" would have worked. Uh oh: all three of Suzie’s dishes were hits, but Bobby didn’t like Jeff’s taco.

Judging:

Vic beat MB — saw that coming. But she gets points for not trying to blame the loss on Penny. Darn! Suzie beat Jeff. Jeff vs MB in the elimination: even though he did get knocked for not making his own aioli, I wasn’t worried. He made three different sandwiches; two were a hit. She made lamb chops and lamb chops and lamb chops, poorly cooked ones at that. Buh-bye, boring “Sunday suppers” concept! All hail Sandwich King.