Top Chef, 11/9/11

Time for the last ten chefs to try to win a chef’s coat.

Group Three:
Everyone enters the Top Chef kitchen, where Padma, Tom, and Hugh Acheson (I LOVE HIM, and I am so stoked that he’s a judge this season!!!) are waiting. The chefs introduce themselves. Ok, it happened again. I said last week that I wasn’t going to pick early faves — and then promptly fell for Nyesha. This week I’m falling for Chaz. The other chefs are touting their accolades and awards; however, Chaz cracks everybody up with, “I was nominated by my mom as one of her two favorite sons.” LOL. Plus, he kinda looks like my friend Charles.

After some discussion and a game of rock-paper-scissors, the chefs decide who gets which tray of ingredients. On each tray, something secret is hiding under a cloche. “Ready, set, lift!” Padma says, and the chefs find timers with the amount of time they have to cook: 60, 40, or 20 minutes. All the 20 minuters are, of course, mad. Cooking begins. Tom and Hugh walk around the kitchen intimidating-oops-I-mean-observing everyone.


Oh my god. Watching Beverly go to town on that nasty nasty gross octopus is making me physically ill. I freely admit that I’m a bit of a culinary wuss: I gladly leave eating the out-there stuff to others. OH NO — Chaz got risotto. Anything but that! Throughout the seasons, having to cook risotto has been the downfall of many a contestant. “It’s been a stumbling block for a lot of Top Chef people in the past,” Hugh says. :( And Chaz has only 40 minutes!

20-Minute Peeps

- Kim: pan-seared lamb chop with kalamata olives, arugula, and pan jus
- Andrew: roasted mushrooms with spinach, poached egg, and a brown butter vinaigrette (Vegetarian dish. More challenging, if you ask me.)
- Paul: grilled trout with rustic Asian tomato salad

Paul: in. Kim: out. Andrew: must cook again. When Andrew enters the stew room, where the other chefs who have to cook again are waiting, somebody asks him, “What are you in for?” Ha ha ha ha hahaha!

40-Minute Peeps

- Chaz: loses track of time, has nothing plated when clock runs out, is sent home. DAMN YOU, RISOTTO!!!
- Berenice: Asian style short rib with cabbage slaw
- Laurent: duck with lemon uzu curd and arugula sautéed with pomegranate molasses
- Jonathan: Spanish style brussel sprouts atop tomato sofrito with paprika and hazelnut gremolata

Jonathan and Berenice: out. Laurent: must cook again.

See? See what I mean about vegetarian dishes being harder to make? In both rounds, vegetarian dishes totally tripped up the chefs. Anybody can work magic with a slab of meat. Making a satisfying, delicious meatless meal is much, MUCH harder and requires way more skill.


60-Minute Peeps

Ok, Lindsay is good people. She tells a struggling Ashley how to take the lid off the pressure cooker. Some would have just let her struggle.
- Ashley: Filipino “kare-kare,” a braised oxtail dish
- Lindsay: braised veal over polenta with a warm salad and charred pickled carrots
- Beverly: Korean “nakji bokum,” an octopus dish (YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK)

Lindsay (yay!) and Beverly: in. Ashley: out.

And now it’s down to all the chefs who had to cook again. Edward: “If they leave me here in the stew room long enough, I’m going to kill the other five people to get that jacket.” HA HA! These six are competing for the last two available spots. They have 45 minutes and can use any ingredient in the kitchen to make an amazing dish. No mercyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!


- Edward: bbq duck, pickled corn, and candied bacon over sweet Asian custard
- Molly: jumbo stuffed prawn with a mousseline of shrimp over uzu burblanc with ponzu pudding and soy glazed watermelon (When it takes me that long to type the dish, I get irritated.)
- Janine: seared scallop with baby clams, bacon, corn, watermelon, and snap peas
- Grayson: bacon-wrapped shrimp over polenta with a port wine fig sauce
- Laurent: tartare scallop, and seared scallop with relish over fennel with saffron
- Andrew: mussels cooked in sherry with fregula pasta, charred corn panna cotta, and charred shrimp

How funny that 5 out of 6 chose seafood. Noticing this, Edward strategically chose duck, but then he grossed me out making a sweet + savory dish. I reiterate for the umpteen quillionth time: I HATE SWEET + SAVORY, and I wish to Almighty God it would hurry up and be considered passé. Please, culinary world? Please stop trying to make dinner + dessert a thing.

Out: Molly, Laurent, Janine, and Andrew. In: Grayson and Edward. I’m hoping he doesn’t sugar it up all season long, but I’m cool with Edward cuz he made me laugh.