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Episode Recap: Film Food
This week's episode required the chefs to think with both sides of their brain, demonstrating their technical skills as well as their imagination. The Quickfire Challenge was almost more demanding than the Elimination Challenge, and it came with a higher reward giving the winner immunity rather than sending someone home.
Padma, joined by Chef Daniel Boulud, who makes a return visit as guest judge this season, announced that for the QFC the chefs were to create a beautiful vegetable plate demonstrating at least three techniques. As Richard said, technique is more than knife proficiency. And while I can appreciate the fact that not all chefs attend culinary school, should they not be well versed in creating food art? Perhaps the word art isn't accurate but there is a lot to be said for presentation.
It was interesting that both Richard and Ryan spent time training with Chef Daniel, but Ryan vocalized that preparing foods like this was not his style. Lisa also mentioned this and was told her poached egg, blanched asparagus and batonettes of bell pepper showed no train of thought and went back to basics. Manuel may have used the "sentimental jinx" this evening by saying he missed his sons. Chef Daniel told him that he showed level one techniques with his blanched asparagus and brunoise of yellow pepper. At least he knew that brunoise is a method of fine dicing.
Looking almost as frazzled as her accompanying chiffonade of frisée but landing a cut above the rest was Zoi serving a shaved asparagus salad and a "perfect" poached egg with batons of green beans. Richard presented varied textures with his blanched mushrooms, pickled beets and sliced radishes but Dale won immunity showing "amazing knife skills" with daikon marinated in tobanjan. (As I've previously mentioned I prefer milder flavors, which is probably why I've never encountered the term for spicy miso sauce known as tobanjan.)
Entering the reel world of the Elimination Challenge, the chefs were to satisfy the palates not only of the judges but also of film critic Richard Roeper, actress Aisha Tyler and other guests with foods inspired by favorite movies. The chefs broke into teams to prepare a six-course meal that you wouldn't find at a concession stand.
Even if you rarely go to the movies it shouldn't be a set back. Ryan seems like a really nice guy and I can't imagine what he would have made with his first film choice Dumb and Dumber. Mark's little known choice of the Australian dark comedy Bad Boy Bubby, about a mother who has kept her son in seclusion for 35 years and, well, let's just say I don't think this would be tasty too. Luckily Ryan recalls (with help) A Christmas Story, and just like in the movie, the store is out of the duck that they had hoped to buy. Coming up with Plan 9 (from Outer Space) Ted Allen and several guests liked the flavors of their quail breast with carrot purée, cranberry chutney and quail spring rolls.
Serving the sixth course, Lisa and Stephanie, who won last week with a dessert, were wise not to present a rerun. I would never have considered the film Top Secret! a culinary inspiration but their NY strip steak and braised short ribs with caramel sauce was called "harmonious". Aisha thought the dish felt organized but Ted wanted to know "does it say Val Kilmer in a cow suit?"
Richard's favorite film was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and it proved to be an inspiring first course. He won the challenge delivering a smoked salmon accompanied with Andrew's faux caviar made of tapioca pearls (which he used before) and a wasabi white chocolate sauce. What connected the food to the movie was telling the judges that if you floated to the ceiling after drinking the fizzy pear and celery soda burping would be the way to get down.
Zoi did not comprehend Richard's risk-taking flavor combo. She and partner Antonia also could not translate what they considered to be the vibrancy of the two women in Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her when presenting a rack of lamb with saffron cauliflower purée. Maybe they were subtly influenced by the fact that the two women actually spend most of the film in a coma.
It was thumbs down for Manuel this week even though Spike was the Vietnamese cuisine expert. Though Chilean sea bass was faulted as a limp choice for their summer rolls, the tilapia Spike wanted to use wouldn't have been any better. It was correctly suggested that a firmer shellfish like lobster would have been the better choice. And adding the Swiss chard garnish did nothing to make the plate cohesive. Manuel had a sense that he was going to leave and I'll bet he won't be watching Good Morning, Vietnam with his sons for quite a while.
Second Bites
• If Manuel had insisted on creating something inspired by Like Water for Chocolate, would Spike have been the one leave? Or would it have been Zoi or Antonia?
• How are your knife skills? Can you create more than a tomato rose?
• The text poll wanted to know what you thought of Andrew's idea to present the food as Oompa Loompas. 85% thought it "fell short". Was it wrong of me to burst out laughing at his playful impersonation?
• When thinking of film food, I would have picked Amélie because she worked in a café and I love French pastries and espresso anytime of day. What film would you choose to satisfy your cinematic taste buds?
For more tasty treats about Top Chef, check out our Online Video Guide.
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Apr 3, 2008 3:21 AM
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I know it is the obvious choice, but could not believe that no one chose Big NightThink of the beautiful and mazing dish that could have resulted from the sights, sounds, and food in this movie. The elegance of Isabella, the tenderness of Tony the desperation of Stanley and the playfulness of Minnie. Ahhh, that would have been perfection. I really liked the Willy Wonka dish and love to be surprised with supposedly mis-matched ingredients like that. Would have loved to try the savory caramel sauce too.
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Apr 3, 2008 6:49 AM
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Sadly, my first instinct was Silence of the Lambs. Liver, Fava beans. You have the whole dish right there.
But I guess it would have brought up thoughts of cannibalism and that might not have been too good.
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Apr 3, 2008 9:03 AM
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Am I the only one who thought Spike should have gone home. Vietnamese is what he does and the judges didn't like any of it. I think they are letting him stay until he runs out of ridiculous hats.
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Apr 3, 2008 9:30 AM
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There are many many films that sit on my list of favorites, and the subject matter and genre vary greatly: Hudson Hawk, Fight Club, Star Wars, 12 Monkeys, Indiana Jones, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, The Princess Bride, MASH, Smokey and the Bandit, The Dirty Dozen, and on and on they go....
But my favorite movie...I mean I can watch it every day and never ever get bored with it...The Fifth Element. I don't know why. I don't know how. It just always captivates and enthralls me. The costumes and sets, the witty dialogue, the hilarious moments (My favorite is always the mugger who tries to jack Corbin Dallas at his own door. "No no...take it...Iiii don't neeeed it!").
I can barely even comprehend the types of dishes that could have been crafted off that movies concept. Good vs Evil plate of Surf & Turf - pan seared Sea Scallops and a Petite Filet w/ a black butter truffle sauce and dallop of Wild Mushroom Rissotto. Or perhaps a wild mixed sushi plate with colors as vibrant as Leloo's outfit or Ruby Rhod's hair!
Just scrumptious.
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Apr 3, 2008 9:43 AM
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How about Chocolat? Silence of the Lambs came to mind with the lamb the girls were buying but I thought about the angle of it's so good you won't be able to talk! How about Grease? LOL Padma would have loved that.
A funny thing. On Hell's Kitchen, someone tried to do a white chocolate with meat combo and Gordon actually spit it out and threw it in the trash.
White choc can be bland and sweet so maybe it could have worked, but I would need to taste it. Also, the girl that commented on how she can't cook like that if that's what they want, well what kind of chef is she? You have to take a risk. They could have thrown in some yellow food coloring instead of too much saffron. Chefs do that. Why do you think Tandoori Chicken is red? It's food coloring.
More ideas- Babette's Feast, Enchanted, Into the Wild- lots of possibilities!, The Dinner Game, Chinatown, Napoleon Dynamite, Under the Tuscan Sun
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Apr 3, 2008 11:34 AM
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Still not liking Andrew.
HATING Hat-Guy.
Ryan was kind of a jerk to the Kiwi.
Zoe, I love ya babe, but you can't complain that others have a more complex palate than you. You do realize what show you're on, right?
Still no clear favorite for me. So I guess I still am favoring Stephanie, even though she didn't get much screen time this week.
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Apr 3, 2008 11:57 AM
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xtine16:
On Hell's Kitchen, that guy tried to make a dish with white chocolate and raw venison, caviar and scallops. No wonder Chef Ramsey threw up!
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Apr 3, 2008 12:05 PM
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Mario,
I, too, enjoyed Anderw as an ompa loompa ... though I don't think it would have played with the judges. That dish looked interesting and I have to say that next time I have some celery root in the house (soon), I will be putting together some wasabi, white chocolate and celery root puree to see how it tastes. I wouldn't have thought of that myself, but I can almost wrap my taste buds around it. But it has to be premium white chocolate ... preferably imported. Most of the domestic stuff is horrible. (And Gordon Ramsey was really over the top in his reaction to white chocolate ... though I think that dish really sounded disgusting ... I can see the heat and sharpness of the wasabi against the sweetness and vanilla notes of the white chocolate and the creaminess of the celery root, but I can not see the white chocolate with real caviar, raw egg, raw venison and scallops and capers, ugh).
Cloe -- LOL -- I never thought of Silence of the Lambs, but now I am sorry nobody it with a nice Chianti. It would have been a better dish than Il Postino, I think.
I loved the idea of this challenge; so very much t work with. What sort of surprised me is that there are some really amazing food movies and nobody picked any of them. Chocolat, certainly, but also Babette's Feast, Eat Drink Man Woman, Tortilla Soup, Like Water For Chocolate, Big NIght (which was on TV last week) and movies with great food scenes, like in The Joy Luck Club where they are all making dumplings.
I think A Christmas Story team should have been recognized among the top three. That team so clearly embraced the challenge, had a very specific scene in the movie, and made a great and nice looking, dish.
The QF challenge ... great idea, bad execution. I thought most of the vegetable plates were ugly. They were asked to do three techniques and make a good looking plate. Most of the plates were ugly. Dale's was good looking and showed great skill. I truly admire the ability to cut around a vegetable like that ... I have really good knife skills but have been afraid to try that. But it wasn't a knife-skill challenge. It was an unspecified technique challenge and why so many of them went for simple basic knife skills like brunoise or batons to the exclusion of other techniques, I don't know.
There are a few really imaginative, highly skilled chefs in this group but most of them are not imaginative and so far their skills have seemed pretty basic. I think at some point when you cook, you have to step out and try different combinations and flavors together. Make the food your own. And I don't see most of this group doing that.
I really wanted to taste that meat dish from Top Secret. it looked so good. Definitely something I might order at a restaurant.
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Apr 3, 2008 12:16 PM
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Why do you think Tandoori Chicken is red? It's food coloring.
True Tandori Chicken does not have food coloring. It gets its red color from spices!
This was a god episode but the whoe premise of Food & Movies almost drove me crazy. All I could think of were the ridiculous:
CAT on a Hot Tin Roof - could have been pretty creative!
Snakes On a Plane - Could have done a lot with that one!
Lord of the Rings - imagine the presentation.
On a bit more serious of a note - one could have done a great plate with Forrest Gump - lots of shrimp and chocolates to choose from.
But if it were me I would have done an italian dish from "Goodfellas". Specifically something with garlic sliced razor thin!
I thought that it was a good episode but the chefs that said that "They knew that the white chocolate wasabi sauce COULDN'T taste good" came off looking like idiots!
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Apr 3, 2008 12:27 PM
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The first thing I thought of was the movie "Se7en" and either doing 7 samples each representing the 7 deadly sins or combined the sins into maybe 2 or 3 samplers (greed, lust, gluttony and sloth together, wrath and envy together).
I really, really hate Zoi. She is such a whiner and a sore loser. This is the second time in a row she has won the "Poor Sport" award for whining and making excuses while at the bottom. I hope she is kicked off as soon as possible.
I didn't think Ryan was being mean to Mark, I think he was just a) unsure about what the heck the Kiwi was saying and b) not sure about the challenge at all as he's not a movie watcher. I didn't recognize any of the movies Kiwi listed off so I'm glad they went with A Christmas Story and the scene of Ryan with his hands on Kiwi's shoulders trying to remember what the movie was about was hilarious. Mark looked a little scared. I agree that they should have been in the top 3. Out of all the dishes, that was the one I most wanted to taste.
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Apr 3, 2008 1:51 PM
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achyfakey- Yes, it was raw (how gross!). I just thought about the chocolate aspect.
I've seen supposedly real Tandoori recipes that use food coloring. I know it's supposed to be spices, but...
Lord of the Rings! Love it! Forrest Gump- great idea!
How about- Fried Green Tomatoes, Moonstruck- a lot of food in that movie, Mystic Pizza, Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, Kentucky Fried Movie, gosh, I could go on for days!
Grease is still my favorite idea!
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Apr 3, 2008 1:55 PM
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xtine16--
Grease was the first thing I thought of too. The Little Mermaid could have inspired some interesting seafood as well. I actually thought Willy Wonka was the most interesting choice where they really thought about the movie before the food. I doubted most of their choices as "favorite movies."
Dumb and Dumber could have been intersting. "Pretty bird, pretty bird..."
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Apr 3, 2008 10:28 PM
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quori ~ I never get sick of the Fifth Element either! I love the singing alien with all the tentacles coming out of her head.
We had just watched Hell's Kitchen too and I thought it was a pretty wild coincidence!
Ranger ~ Love the Forrest Gump shrimp and chocolates idea! Bubba shrimp. Good Fellas is also a great idea and movie ~ one of my favorites.
I thought the Munchkin idea was hysterical. But I'm not sure if the judges would have. I also thought it was funny when the guy couldn't think of the title of A Christmas Story. You know ... it's a Christmas movie....
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Apr 4, 2008 1:20 PM
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Even though that female team wound up doing "Il Postino", I can't believe that no one discussed the most obvious choice to me--"The Godfather." One of the most respected movies of all time that would have worked for almost any Italian dish. Also, you could have really impressed the judges by serving some red wine from Francis Ford Coppola's vineyard.
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Apr 4, 2008 1:45 PM
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