Top Chef 2/21/19--"Kentucky Farewell" summary

Previously on “Top Chef”: we finally mentioned KFC and had everyone make fried chicken for the Quickfire. First, though, everyone had to identify herbs and spices while blindfolded. Sadly Sara bragged about how great she'd be at this and then she was actually good at it. Justin couldn't even get salt. Sara won, although she didn't win immunity or any advantage. The Elimination challenge was to make a dish for a progressive dinner honoring Muhammad Ali. Each person got a dossier about one of Ali's fights, and had to “be inspired” while also working together enough to make some kind of cohesive dinner. Sara raised a stink about getting the fight that was in Kentucky, because suddenly she doesn't want to do it just because it's in Kentucky. But tough, because she does (and then lies about how she's fine with it). Eric won by making African cuisine, and he's emotional about it. Eddie had trouble when they're supposed to be inspired by things, and once again he made a sort of lackluster dish with lackluster inspiration and he's eliminated. (click for more)

On Last Chance Kitchen, Michelle and Eddie have to make “the story of your life's most difficult knockout”. Eddie actually did well, making a dish that he would have made his mom, had she not passed before he became a chef. Michelle made a dish from a period when she thought about quitting cooking. Michelle ended up winning, which I was surprised to find out. She's coming back this episode, and usually they don't say who won so it's a surprise when they come back.

Tom arrives at the house just before 8am. No one is awake yet. He demands they meet him in the garden, but he doesn't really do much to wake them up. He just kind of knocks on the doorway and bails. Remember the garden? Hope you planted good things! This is the last Quickfire in Kentucky. The guest judge is Rita Michel, who of course knows Sara because she's local. Tom tells them all Last Chance Kitchen never stopped, so here is Michelle! They're all really excited, and I'm not sure they'd have the same reaction to other people. Obviously the Quickfire is to harvest the garden and make something. 45 minutes. Tom tells them they should all have seen this coming. The winner gets $10,000.

Sara brags that she's kept up with her garden and brainstormed for this exact challenge. Adrienne claims to be a eighth generation farmer. Michelle had a garden, but I also realize she physically hasn't been here to tend her garden, so this is maybe unfair. Justin jokes that he's got plenty of radishes. Maybe start and end with radishes. Adrienne realizes she's the last one, as she's taken ten minutes to get her stuff. Kelsey plans for fried green tomatoes, which is probably not the worst idea. Eric doesn't want to cook his vegetables. Michelle is making ranch. Adrienne plans for a salad too. Kelsey manages to burn herself because she just picked up a pot without checking to see if it was hot. She announces that someone left a boiling hot pot out (as far as I can tell with the edit, no one asked her about it, she just announced it to the room) and Michelle says that's her, and she called it. Kelsey says she didn't hear and then claims she's not blaming anyone. Sure. That's why you bitched about it to everyone. At the end, Michelle doesn't have time to get all the vegetables she wants on the plate.

Eric: green tomato and coconut soup, fresh vegetables, seasoned with paprika and honey powder. Kelsey: fried green tomatoes, pickled vegetables salad, and ricotta with dill, green onion, and basil. Michelle: roasted radishes and chard, poached egg, fresh purslane with tomatoes. Adrienne: baby summer squash, zucchini, green goddess aioli, pickled green tomato and cucumber blossom. Sara: roasted radish, cucumber, squash, Cypress goat cheese. Cypress is a brand name, I think. Justin: radish chard salad, scallion, radish top, arugula pistou, roasted turnips, pickled chard stems and dill.

The guest judge says after looking at the garden she was shocked by what they got out of the garden. Heh. Eric was the least vegetable forward, Kelsey's ricotta wasn't very good, and Michelle didn't have enough vegetables. Adrienne had a great variety (and cucumber blossoms), Sara had good acidity, Justin had lots of vegetables and herbs. The winner is Justin. Nice. He jokes that now his vegetarian girlfriend will demand more vegetables.

Tom announces that the finale this season is in Macau. Everyone reacts as if they're all going, except one person will be eliminated. First, though, everyone has to go to Lexington. Once there, they find Padma in an auction house. The Elimination challenge is to make a dish inspired by “your own pedigree”. A thank you dish for their mentor, that would impress them and show them what the contestants have learned, if the mentors were here to taste them. Because they'll be here tomorrow to dine. Nice. Everyone is emotional about their mentors coming. The auction house is because they each have $500 to bid on luxury ingredients. However, they will have to buy everything else out of that $500 too. Winner gets $10,000.

They at least told them what was coming. Not like a Survivor auction where you just have to hope you don't spend all your money too soon. Adrienne is upset because none of her mentor's signature ingredients are for sale. First item is six whole rabbits. No one bids. Really? Do they have to buy something? Next is Iberico ham. Sara is determined, and she just bids and no one challenges her. This is boring. Wagyu beef tenderloin, which Eric takes with no problem. Adrienne take fois gras, Justin takes yellowtail, and Kelsey takes caviar. Everyone seems to be paying the same, except I think Kelsey paid a little more, but it's not clear if she had to outbid someone or if they just started the caviar at a higher price. Michelle buys some salmon. Suddenly there are 45 petite daikon radishes and EVERYONE wants them very badly. Weird. Justin pays $50 for them after a bidding war. Last item is heirloom asparagus. These go for $95 after Adrienne and Sara fight for them. Adrienne is worried that she won't be able to find duck at Whole Foods. She says duck is so important to her mentor she has to be able to make it. Also Gail will be here! Probably not with the baby though.

Eric's “mentor” is Bryan Voltaggio, who is the hotter Voltaggio don't @ me. I put “mentor” in quotes because Eric has only staged at his restaurant briefly. Everyone else worked for much longer with their mentors. Kelsey's hand is all bandaged. I believe she is buying canned crab meat. Adrienne is worried about buying her mentor's favorite foods, and they don't show if she got duck or not. Or did they? No, I don't think they did?

3 hours to cook. Michelle is roasting her salmon bones, to make a sauce from marrow. Kelsey is making gumbo, because one time she made it for family meal? She also makes her roux with oil and not butter. The problem with roux is that it takes a long time and you have to watch it, and Kelsey wants to make two of them. One very dark and one more of a caramel. Justin makes two-hour kimchi. Half his fish is sashimi and half is miso-cured. Eric is making an African dish, but deconstructing it. Sara bought that lovely ham and she's grinding it up to make broth to poach fish in. Adrienne did find duck at the store. Kelsey complains about how she has to dig through her canned crab to find shells, because she injured herself. Yeah but how easy would it have been to pick whole crabs one handed? Michelle checks on her fish and that white albumen is showing up. Which usually means it's overcooked. She panics. Eric's pomegranate seeds aren't juicy enough but he's pickling them anyway.

Michelle: slow roasted salmon, crispy skin, grain porridge with burnt citrus and marrow broth. She's relieved she pulled the fish when she did. Michelle wanted the dish to be feminine and respect the farmers and vegetables. The judges really like the balance and also the salmon. Graham says maybe the vinaigrette is too rich.

Kelsey thinks this is the best gumbo sauce she's ever made. Kelsey: gumbo with crab, seafood sauce, and garnished with caviar. Once again, she's calling things names that don't go. “Gumbo” is not a quinelle of crab salad with vegetables that you pour a thick sauce over at the table. She does not get to talk about her intentions or her mentor, just about her two rouxs. The flavor is good, but someone found shells.

Adrienne is very frantically throwing things around, as her mentor is telling everyone her plating is the most beautiful he's seen. The plates are not as bad as I've seen, but they're not impressive either. Adrienne: spiced duck breast with seared foie gras, spring vegetables and garden herbs. Basically her mentor likes duck and mushrooms. It needs more spice, and it was rushed. And they all know it's not plated well.

Justin finishes plating...and now he's got five minutes left. So he puts the plates under the heat lamp. Justin! Only half your plates are supposed to be warm! This can't turn out well. Justin: yellowtail two ways: sashimi style and miso cured. Tom says every time someone does something two ways, he wishes they'd do it one way. The sashimi is bland, and the miso cured fish has a butter sauce which is now room temperature and greasy. His mentor says he appreciates that Justin went outside his comfort zone. The cooked fish is inconsistent.

Eric doesn't like how his plates look but they taste great. Eric: waakye with wheat berries, barley, and quinoa cooked in sorghum leaves, and plantain puree. Waakye is a Ghanaian dish that's usually made with rice and beans. Padma jokes that she's had plenty of Bryan's food, and this is nothing like his food. Heh. Eric says that the deconstructing and reconstructing is what he took from staging for Bryan. OK that does sound like Bryan. The grains are lovely and well cooked, and the meat is well cooked, but Tom wants something “fresh”. So I guess he wants vegetables, and because there aren't any, he thinks the dish is unfinished.

Sara: olive oil poached sea bass, Iberico ham broth, soy beans, black eyed peas and baby lima beans. She talks about how her mentor had a ham and walnut broth that she loved. She also kisses up to the Quickfire judge, who is also here. It's perfectly cooked, and then we also have to kiss up to how Sara works in Kentucky. Sigh.

Judges' Table. Padma says there is one clear winner, and that is Sara. Ugh. I do not like Sara. I don't think her food is terrible, because that dish sounded great, subtle and perfectly done. I just don't like her personality.

Justin admits that he finished plating too early. Tom tells him that in addition to the inconsistent cooked fish, he had too much kimchi and not enough raw fish. Adrienne gets upset as acknowledges she was in a hurry and her plating suffered. The duck was very well cooked but it needed more spice. Kelsey claims that she wanted her gumbo to be how she had it growing up. You did not make crab salad and sauce when you had gumbo when you were a kid. Stop saying shit like that. They liked the two rouxs, but there were shells. Michelle cooked her salmon perfectly, and she used all the parts of the ingredients she had. They do not show any criticism. Eric wanted to try something new, and Gail tells him the grains upstaged the Wagyu beef. Tom still wants something “fresh” and “bright”.

Padma wishes they could all come to the finale. First things first, they seem to agree Michelle did a fantastic job. Kelsey's sauce was flavorful and layered. We do not mention shells. Do you think Tom would care more about the shells if he was the one who got them? I bet so. Eric's grains are still blowing everyone away because it's so unique. Definitely not the worst dish, even if Tom is still whining about it. Adrienne had a great idea but couldn't follow through. No spices and bad plating. Justin's kimchi was fine, and more creative than Adrienne, but the execution was terrible.

Eric, Michelle, and Kelsey are going to the finale. Kelsey looks ill for some reason. Justin is eliminated. Aww. He's really glad for the experience, but he won't pretend it doesn't suck.

Next week: street food, Chinese food, Eric disagrees with the judges.