Previously on “Top Chef”: we pretended the chefs went straight to Italy, even though they were in LA in the summer and it's clearly cold when they're in Italy. The Quickfire was to make aperitivos, which are supposed to be one-handed snacks to have with beer. Stephanie was the only person to make a hand-held item but apparently that was not important and Kevin won. Then everyone had to make dishes to be served with white truffles. This was tricky, because you have to showcase the truffles, which shouldn't be cooked. Melissa won, for making congee and staying true to herself. The bottom chefs all made OK dishes, but didn't showcase the truffle. So since they all failed in the same way, the judges said the judging was difficult. Stephanie served very bitter radicchio, and she knew it was bad but served it anyway. Gregory threw out his back, and made a stew he knew he could execute, but didn't go with white truffles. So even though the judges said his dish was perfectly fine, and Stephanie's dish was bad, Gregory was eliminated. I personally think if they all failed the challenge in the same way, then the person with the worst dish should go home, and from what we saw that was Stephanie. (click for more)
We're still at Judges' Table from last week with the final four. Padma says they're going go on a food tour of Parma. Home of Parmigiano Reggiano and prosciutto de Parma. There is a lot of product placement about who is paying for this trip. No Quickfire this week. The Elimination challenge is to make two courses, primi and secondi. Primi is pasta or rice (meaning risotto but who knows with Melissa here), and secondi is an entree, meat or fish. They must use Parmigiano and prosciutto at least once. I think you don't have to put both in both courses. The trip is supposed to be for inspiration.
At the place is Lorenzo, who looks kind of like Christopher Palu from Project Runway. Everyone goes in and gets suited up with all the paper booties and hairnets and stuff to watch the cheesemaking. Kevin does not have to wear a hairnet apparently but he should probably have a beard net on. They go look at the storeroom, and have them walk over with eyes closed to surprise them. Then they crack open a round to taste. Kevin makes a very weird face, almost like he hates it. Melissa grew up with the green can of Parmesan so this is intense. They ask for someone to cut another wheel open and Bryan says that he'll do it. So he gets to carry the wheel back out to the car.
Next stop, a farm that's been operating since 1949. This storeroom is also impressive. Everything is trimmed by hand. They all get to sit down and taste. Kevin says you should always slice it and serve as is, never cook it. Was he trying to ask a question? Because it sounded like he was telling the farmer how to eat prosciutto? Anyway, she agrees you should never cook it. Not stuff this good anyway. Kevin wants to find a whole leg of pork and have like, double pork I guess. They get a whole leg to take home.
Shopping is a lot of pointing, but it's a lovely outdoor market and little shops. Stephanie wants to be vegetable-forward, which is risky but also unique. Kevin finds some beans. Melissa is making XO sauce, because it has cured meat in it and she can put the prosciutto in instead. They finish shopping after it's getting dark, and then it turns out they have one more stop. To the restaurant where they'll be cooking tomorrow. Oh and to spend the night. At the restaurant. I don't know.
So it looks like a big villa, at least. They all get taken down to the spooky cellar, where they find the walls and ceiling covered in hams. I guess there is something about this particular cellar that ages them well? Many of them are labeled with chef's names. At the end there is a table and candelabra with a bunch of samples. Yeah, everyone is eating like normal people and Kevin keeps scrunching up his face like it's painful. Calm down. There's also a nice table by a fireplace for dinner. Bryan says “gracias” because we can't let Kevin be the only awkward one. One course is cooked in a bladder? I don't know. We have to sit through a montage of the season and everyone's “favorite” moments. Melissa tells us that her relationship with her father really improved after her season. I'm so glad. I'm worried about this edit, but I'm glad her family is supportive.
In the morning Stephanie says she's glad she made it further than the first time she was on the show, so that's great, and now she's in a happy place so her food should taste amazing.
Three hours to cook. People are making pasta, of course. Bryan wants to just make pasta with butter and Parmesan. But first he has to get the wheel open. Melissa is making pasta too, so there will not be congee somehow. But there will be things like bonito in the broth. She's got some technique to clarify the broth but time is tight because she's also making XO sauce from scratch. Kevin is making pasta e fagioli. And then pork roast with prosciutto. Pork on pork. He says the beans will complement the cheese. Stephanie is stuffing prosciutto between the leaves of the cabbage quarters which looks cool, at least. So apparently the technique Melissa was using to clarify the broth was to simmer it and form a raft of all the solids and impurities on top. But she left it unattended too long and it boiled, which causes the raft to break down, which means starting over. Kevin puts his pork roast in the oven as he interviews about how difficult it is to cook this cut perfectly. Last minute frantic working. Melissa gets her broth clarified. Padma speaks beautiful Italian again.
Stephanie: fresh fettuccine with prosciutto ragu and Parmesan. Melissa: chicken anolini with yuzu and Parmesan brodo. I think it said “anolini” and not “agnolotti” but either way it's filled pasta in broth. Melissa's broth is delicate but you can still taste the parmigiana. It's very balanced. Stephanie...I can't tell if they like it or not. I think so? The prosciutto flavor is lost a little bit, but it's also unexpected. I think it's worse than Melissa's but not really “bad”.
Kevin is going around to each person sprinkling ground Parmesan on each plate. Tom is making his smirky face. Bryan: chitarra with soft egg yolk and aerated Parmesan fonduta. Chitarra is pasta you make with a box strung with wires, where you push the dough through the wires to make spaghetti. Fonduta is like fondue. He does tell them to mix it up before eating, which I think you usually get dinged for telling people how to eat. Kevin: raviolo filled with cannellini beans and Parmesan whey, under fresh bean ragu, borlotti bean brodo, Parmesan. Bryan's pasta is the best pasta, but the aerated fonduta is not working. One of the other chefs says Bryan's dish is devoid of love or passion. Ouch. Kevin's beans and vegetables were beautiful, but it's got too much salt. Also the extra cheese on top of the broth was overkill.
Stephanie is thrilled with her cabbage and brags that she's having a really great day. Melissa: scallops with prosciutto XO sauce and radicchio. Stephanie: prosciutto braised cabbage with Parmesan fonduta, turnip and cabbage puree, chestnuts. Melissa's fusion is going over well. The XO sauce is balanced. Stephanie's cabbage is like a lasagna and everyone loves it.
Bryan: bass, violina squash, pumpkin seed pesto, prosciutto de Parma. Kevin: roasted fresh pork coppa with heirloom apples and 36-month prosciutto. Tom is holding his fork awkwardly again. Think of how you hold your fork in your left hand to cut something. How it kind of extends from your hand and you can point with it like an extension of your index finger? Most people then keep holding the fork that way if they don't switch hands. Tom holds his fork almost vertically, but then won't adjust so as he tries to eat, his pinky is down by the tines of the fork so he has to swing his whole hand around and turn the fork upside down. It just looks so uncomfortable. Kevin's sauce is nice, but Tom thinks the prosciutto is an afterthought. Plus someone says the pork is tough. Oops. He was bragging it was perfect. Bryan's dish is a great technique, but it still has no soul and the pesto doesn't work at all. Underseasoned and too smooth.
This was a hard challenge. The contestants go back to a Stew Room to talk about how they're never confident. Fair. These guys are too critical of themselves to ever think they've nailed it.
Judges' Table. Tom says the food was actually very good and they should be proud. The top two are Melissa and Stephanie. Yay! The Melissa edit was a little scary. Stephanie is humbled. So her pasta was actually a bold flavor. I just didn't understand what people were saying. Also they loved the cabbage. She used both Parmesan and prosciutto but it wasn't too salty. Melissa's broth was elegant and had a huge depth of flavor. The XO sauce was amazing. The winner is Melissa. She's really tearing it up. Also Stephanie cooked her prosciutto in both dishes, which she wasn't supposed to do, and it turned out just fine.
Bryan had the best pasta today, but when you aerate Parmesan you lose the salt crystals? I guess if you have quality Parmigiano there are salt crystals that pop when you eat it and you can't have that in foam. Padma gently tells him that the Italians said there was no heart or soul in this dish. Bryan looks poleaxed. He kind of gets loud about trying something new and pushing the envelope so of course there's no heart in it, it's a brand new thing. Then he gets sniffly and I think he's really upset. I think he was trying to be professional but it made him look like he had no emotions. But the sniffles. Kevin put too much cheese, especially his sprinkle on top, so when you ate the raviolo it was just cheese. And then it was too salty. He does get praise for all the vegetables. Bryan's fish was beautiful, but it was all soft with no texture. The pesto didn't really work. Or possibly it didn't have enough garlic. The judges do not tell him this dish didn't have soul either. Kevin gets some praise from Padma about bringing pork and apples to such an elevated table, but the pork was dry and tough. And then Tom says it was seared more on one side, so that means the juices don't stay in the meat? I guess, I don't cook big cuts of meat ever so I don't know. Also the prosciutto was an afterthought. Kevin says he thought today went well, and then that this was the most soulful food he's made since he's been here. Kind of a low blow, don't you think? Anyway, soulful food is all he cares about right now.
When the contestants go back to the Stew Room, Bryan does not ask Kevin what the hell that was, because Bryan is less petty than I am. The judges hate this part, because at this point it's very nitpicky. Bryan's pasta was superior, but he ruined the main ingredient he was supposed to highlight. Kevin's beans were great, but the raviolo was flat. Neither used the ingredient well. In the Stew Room Kevin says, “You had this awful modern way to use the ingredient, and I literally brought out the box and was like 'hold tight, gonna give you some parm'”. Awful? Bryan kind of laughs but that was another dick move. Kevin's pork was not cooked properly, and then Gail brings up that they're spending all this time talking about the pork, but none talking about the prosciutto because he just kind of put it on the plate. Bryan's dish did utilize the prosciutto slightly better, but everything on the plate was soft and the pesto was a mistake.
Tom says...something meaningless, and then they send Kevin home. Huh. Bryan rubs his forehead because I think he was expecting to go home. I thought they might send him home too. Kevin interviews about fighting for what you think is right, which has absolutely nothing to do with this challenge or anything here.
Next week: the typical final challenge, Malarkey, Lee Anne, and Kevin return, I think the judges cook for the contestants. Scuttlebutt is that Lee Anne is a last minute replacement for Gregory because his back injury was far worse than they let on.
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