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Episode Recap: The Elements
How do you account for taste? Celebrity chef Ming Tsai was on hand for tonight's episode that from start to finish had everyone's palate cooking overtime. My favorite challenge each season is Restaurant Wars but Antonia was doubly stoked when she won her favorite Quickfire Challenge to compare and identify 15 higher quality ingredients while blindfolded. With the highest score of 12 out of 15 correct, her immunity seemed to cause the most friction in the kitchen.
The Meals on Wheels Chicago Celebrity Chefs' Ball was the setting for the Elimination Challenge, which used a theme of the four elements. Accordingly, each chef pulled a santoku knife and divided into four teams of three to create a first course that complimented water, air, earth or fire for 80 guests. Ironically, each team had a pair that worked together in last week's EC.
I'm a big fan of butternut squash soup but might not have wanted to serve it to a crowd of 80 people. Keeping it hot enough rather than having the server spill it would give me pause. Antonia did say she would be on board to make a squash soup but eventually sold Spike and Zoi on the idea it may not appear to be of high quality. Only in her confessional did she speak out against it. Ultimately it was Chef Ming who said that a well-made soup would have been the way to go. The Earth team just couldn't win. Head judge Tom Colicchio wanted to get rid of both Zoi and Spike for not rejecting Antonia's input over serving a bland beef carpaccio. But to her detriment Zoi was responsible for intentionally under seasoning the accompanying mushrooms and frisée salad, which is what got her eliminated.
I couldn't wrap my head around what went wrong with the fish preparation over on team Water. Richard's method of poaching the salmon not only changed its texture but also did nothing to help him get rid of the scales. Mark was called out for his vanilla parsnip purée and this is probably the third time Andrew pulled out the tapioca pearls.
It's interesting that Jennifer gets by each week neither being on top or on the bottom. The Duck Breast with Citrus Salad and sparkling Pomegranate Prosecco presented by the Air team might have gone by without a negative comment had Chef Tom been a fan of the trend of serving little drinks with dishes. And it might have been a little redder had our buddy Ryan not thrown out most of the pomegranate juice. His comment must have been bleeped, but I had to laugh when Nikki told him that you draw more attention when you curse.
Stephanie has only faltered once in the EC. Tonight she not only kept Dale and Lisa at arm's length but also made the grilled shrimp with pickled chilis. But it was Lisa who impressed the judges with her method of laying the bacon flat with the fat facing the same direction and basting it with maple syrup and miso showing Chef Ming that she too can make east meet west.
Second Bites
• Tempers really flared from members of both the winning and the losing teams. Do you think those with the loudest voices (Dale, Lisa, Spike) will be done in by them?
• The text poll listed Dale, with 56%, as the contestant who deserves a spanking for being the most difficult over Lisa and Antonia. I'm still stuck on Andrew's comment from two episodes ago about not leaving and having security drag him out.
• What was the term used referring to the method of poaching by the Water team? And was this done in a pouch?
• Considering the drama of this week's losing team, should the person with immunity be less involved in the decision-making during a team challenge?
For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.
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Apr 10, 2008 2:21 AM
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I was hating Hat Guy already. Now I REALLY hate him!
Here is Antonia's exact quote:
"If you two are totally into soup, I will make a BLEEPing good soup with you."
He was totally in the wrong. And Chef Ming is was wrong on this too. I would have been disappointed by mere soup if I was a guest at that event, no matter how great it tasted. Does it at least come with some crackers??
Did Zoi deserve to go? No. She cooked well and Hat Guy had every chance to check her seasoning. As much as I would have hated to see him go, Richard really was the weakest this time.
Glad to see the prizes are back! I laughed at how Dale didn't get that Lisa was able to impress Chef Ming. If he had innovated something Ming had never seen before like she did, he could have gone to Italy. He didn't, so he's staying stateside!
Dale is just as much of a complainer as Lisa is (if not more). He just does it all during the confessionals.
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Apr 10, 2008 3:18 AM
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I wasn't a big fan of Zoi's, so that didn't bother me much. But it was "hat guy" after the judging that was the biggest turn-off for me.
Looks like this group just can't get along. Not that there's ever been total peace and harmony in any season, but this time they practically all started off on Day One with problems.
Wow, they go from NO prizes to a huge trip to Italy? Quite a leap. If I'd been one of the previous winners I'd be wondering what the heck was going on.
I haven't exactly picked a favorite, though I do kinda' like Stephanie, except she's a little too quiet to get much attention. Maybe that's intentional for now. I think I might also like Antonia, but undecided right now.
And I found it a little hard to find anything they made tonight to be very exciting. Is it just me?
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Apr 10, 2008 5:33 AM
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Maria - The cooking method is called sous vide. It is the technique of cooking ingredients in a vacuum-sealed plastic pouch, usually for a long time at a low temperature. I have had it with duck before in a beautiful presentation of breast prepared sous vide and then the crisp skin put back on.
Not loving any of the personalities this year. Just can't get excited about anyone so far. Would have loved the shrimp this week. Hello - bacon, fantastic. My personal motto, ''everything is better with bacon.''
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Apr 10, 2008 6:44 AM
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Being a big fan of all the cooking competitions, I believe sous vide is best used to slow cook tougher cuts of meat or any poultry, not fish. Even if the fish had come out good, I felt Richard should have been sent packing because of the scales. There was no excuse for that. I would rather have bland food than scales. I don't think I could have tried any of the other dishes after having fish scales in my mouth.
I'd love to know more about how Lisa cooked the bacon, although I can't see myself cooking that much bacon any time in my life. I will have to head over to Bravo later and check it out. I'm sure it will be the featured recipe this week.
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Apr 10, 2008 7:33 AM
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Sous vide! Thanks for spelling that out. Now that I think about it, wasn't that method used in a previous season?
I'm sure the judges take into account the dish in front of them and not previous performances. I'm referring to previous winner Richard who probably should have been sent packing for serving scales on salmon. It seemed that being on a losing streak as Zoi was trumped under seasoning mushroomns.
And Lisa came off tough but had she gone along and served deviled eggs, like Dale recommended, she would never be heading to Erbusco, Italy.
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Apr 10, 2008 8:44 AM
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Zoi deserved to go, I actually thought she should have gone weeks ago, but I think the producers wanted her to stay for some forced storylines (the whole couples thing) and apparently they eliminated her at a perfect time (as per the whole 5 person blow up last night and the promos for next week)....
Look, she was in the losing team for three straight weeks and for two of those weeks, she cooked dishes she didn't want, so clearly 1) she wasn't cooking as well as the others 2) she didn't stick up for herself making stuff she wanted...
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Apr 10, 2008 9:24 AM
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Sous vide cooking is a great way to prepare mostly proteins without overcooking them. They are placed in an emmersion bath and the temperature of the water used to cook it is closely monitored and usually held within a half a degree of temperature. If you want your beef at 125 degrees you would seal it up in a pouch, and set the temperature to 125. It cannot be overcooked this way but it's texture can be changed.
I am really getting sick of Negative Lisa and Squash Soup Spike! I can tolerate Dale for a while longer but he is starting to get to me too!
As for favorites - I still like Stephanie and after last night I like Antonia too.
If you have $500 and want to serve an up[scale dish - couldn't you do better than squash? You could probably serve 400 plates of squash soup for $500!
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Apr 10, 2008 11:39 AM
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I really like Zoi but I thought it was time for her to go. She has consistently been in the bottom throughout the weeks. She handled it well and made some nice closing comments. Unfortunately, her gal pal (I just can't remember her name) did not handle it so well. I do not feel it was her place to get involved with that teams dynamic just because she is Zoi's partner. She should have kept quiet on that one and let the competition go on. They have said throughout the season that they realize they are here to compete and how they would be able to handle things. Then, she simply blew the roof when it was all said and done.
And seriously, how many stupid hats, or should I say stupid ways to were a hat, does Spike have. He looks simply ridiculous. I am ready for him to go.
I really like Stephanie. She reminds me of a bigger version of Kate from Lost. I really hope she goes far but she may need to stand up for herself a little more. She kind of got bogged down between the Lisa/ Dale war. I can see why Dale was so angry. Lisa did nothing but complain and try to bring that team down and then she gets the big prize? I have worked with that type of constant negativity before and it really makes for a long day. I have no idea how he was able to handle it in a competitive setting.
I thought the Mark, Spike, Richard pairing was a dream team but I guess not. They did seem to work well together but I guess Tom was right about over confidence. By the way, Tom sure was the hatchet man this competition. I have to agree with him on little drinks. I have never understood the purpose and I think they kind of confuse.
Until I think of something else...
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Apr 10, 2008 12:07 PM
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I think the cheftestants with immunity are in a bad situation during team challenges no matter what they do. If they sit back and let the other members of the team drive the effort, they're criticized for coasting on their immunity. If they are deeply involved, they get dinged for "jeopardizing" those who don't have immunity. It's definitely a double-edged sword.
I really can't stand either Spike or Andrew, and think Spike should have gone last week instead of Manuel - the victim of another damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't dilemma. Zoi really wasn't excelling so far, but I felt badly for Jennifer. The twosome really had handled the whole 'partners competing together' with grace.
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Apr 10, 2008 12:59 PM
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Zoi most definitely deserved to go and I'm not just saying that because I absolutely can't stand her. She is a baby though but she underseasoned the food. By the time Andrew (or Spike, I can't tell them apart yet) tasted it it had already been plated, he couldn't go and re-season each plate. Zoi was in charge of the mushrooms, she should have been in charge of the mushrooms and that included tasting the mushrooms. She herself said she had tasted them and thought they tasted delicious. Clearly her palate is not as refined as Andrew's or the judges or any of the guests in the room who tasted her food and all said that it was bland and underseasoned and for that reason alone, esp. considering the QF challenge about palates, she was the one who deserved to go home.
Andrew/Spike was at fault for not speaking up about the soup. If he felt that Antonia should take a backseat, he should have told her that and she probably would have. She has immunity, who cares what she has to say?
I thought the fighting at the end was ridiculous and I hope Jen goes home soon. Kicking chairs and cursing because your girlfriend got kicked off? Give me a break. Dale just used this opportunity to lay into whiny Lisa but I didn't care as much about that because I don't care much for Lisa anyway. Stephanie is emerging as my favorite. She is cool, level-headed and a great chef.
Who I want to see go home: Lisa, Jen, Nikki (who is way overdue to leave), Spike/Andrew.
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Apr 10, 2008 1:10 PM
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Well, people wanted more drama, and they got it.
Me? If I wanted to watch "Hell's Kitchen", I would have watched it on Fox yesterday.
I like showing the skills of these competitors and solely that. With "Project Runway", they just kept raising the bar with contestants. I thought "Top Chef" was in the same vein.:-\ With Speed Freak still in the running, there's your drama. ::sigh::
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Apr 10, 2008 1:14 PM
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All in all I thought it was a good episode. I was surprised at Richard though. He seemed to fall apart. I couldn't tell from the way the show was edited if he cleaned the fish beyond just running it under water or not. Big oversight and he's lucky he didn't go home. As for Spike, I think it's laughable that he will have to start being more vocal and expressing his desires...wasn't he the one that misled an opposing team member about the lack of food in one of the neighbors homes they were pilfering for food? Isn't he the guy that helped get Manuel sent packing by insisting on preparing his specialty 'Vietnamese' food for the movie challenge? I'd say he has no problem vocalizing his desires. He's cocky and he annoys me. I'd be okay with him going. Don't have a favorite yet. I actually think that Dale is pretty talented, albeit a whiny baby.
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Apr 10, 2008 1:37 PM
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The Earth group overlooked the best highend earth ingredient- truffles! They could have done a squash soup with a truffle crouton or truffle oil. Or something interesting root vegetables.
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Apr 10, 2008 1:41 PM
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I also didn't like that the show turned into "Hell's Kitchen". I thought "Top Chef" was above that. I watched the entire clip at the Bravo website and the editing was weird on the show. And it seemed to be that the entire "screaming match" was before it was decided that Zoi was going home. So unfortunatly she was there for it. Not the kicking of the chair but the (Spike, Dale, Lisa, Antonia) stuff.
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Apr 10, 2008 1:58 PM
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