Previously on “Top Chef”: everyone had to make mushroom dishes on tree stumps. Not sure why they were on stumps or why whoever cut them failed at making them tall enough, but whatever. Gabriel won, but he did not win immunity. The Elimination Challenge was to make “surf and turf” dishes in pairs, using local game meats and fish. With a double elimination. The contestants met with some local Native Americans to learn about the local foods, and then served several of them along with the judges. Sara and Shota both made a good dish, and were creative about using smelt and not just frying it, so they won. Nelson's knee injury he got in the orchard was still bothering him, and he also overcooked their fish, so he and Gabriel were eliminated. (click for more)
In Last Chance Kitchen, we had two parts. In the first part, it was supposed to be a three-way battle, but Nelson really messed up his knee and he dropped out. So it was Gabriel vs. Jamie, supposedly making dishes with ingredients used in the first dish they cooked. It's entirely possible Gabriel just picked a dish he can make and had no actual memory of making it, but in the end it didn't matter because Jamie beat him. Then in the second part, I guess someone really didn't want Gabriel to survive because Tom had everyone battle to stay as the champ of LCK. Including the peanut gallery. Sasha made some pasta from scratch in 30 minutes and was declared the winner, so she'll battle whoever loses today. See they could have just said Gabe was the champ of LCK and saved an episode.
We skip the usual re-hashing of the last challenge to take everyone straight to the Top Chef Kitchen, Melissa, and the return of Jamie to the competition. You could have guessed who it was based on the preview from last week, where everyone cheered and jumped up and down so it clearly wasn't Gabriel. Lots of smiles and hugs. For the Quickfire, you will take a “second chance” at something you failed at. This could be from outside the competition. Also you have to use ingredients such as fish heads or “soft cucumbers” or imperfect produce or whatever. Winner will have immunity, and this will be the last immunity this season.
30 minutes to cook. Maria has bananas and shrimp? Sure. Jamie is remaking the turkey from the first episode. She jokes that poultry is trying to kill her on this show. Gabe is making mole from burnt bread. He asks Sara for permission to use yogurt. Heh. Avishar managed to screw up some turkey when he was younger and almost burned down the apartment. Also put hot peppers in oil and gassed out the neighbors. Shota is making fish heads but his “old ginger” isn't grating well because it's dried out. Dawn is roasting a tuna collar, with peanut curry (referring to her first challenge when she didn't get everything on the plate). Avishar describes some cucumbers in confessional as “flaccid”.
Shota: “aradaki”: soy braised fish head. I believe “aradaki” refers to the sauce? Sara: spoon bread and bay shrimp gravy. Avishar: jing du style turkey chop with smashed cucumber salad and chili yogurt. “Jing du style” is a sweet and tangy sauce, I think. Gabe: carrots and burnt bread mole. Jamie: turkey karaage and Indonesian corn fritter. Karaage is usually Japanese fried chicken so it's fried nuggets. Byron: North African mutton tartare. Chris: celery root and pear bisque with carrots and chive oil. Dawn: fire roasted tuna kama and peanut sauce. Kama is another name for the collar. Maria: shrimp cake with grilled habanero and banana salsa.
Still a couple of mistakes. Maria's dish didn't taste like shrimp, and Byron's mutton tartare was too gamy. Also Avishar's turkey was dry. Dawn had a lot of flavor, Shota perfectly cooked his fish, and Gabe's mole had complex flavors. The winner is Shota. He says maybe now he'll have more confidence.
Elimination Challenge. Padma brings up Covid, and then mentions how volunteers have stepped up to make meals for front-line workers, and also Jose Andres. He's really stepped up to do a lot of humanitarian work. He calls in on the TV and tells everyone about World Central Kitchen. People need people like these chefs to take care of them and provide good food. Kwame comes in as Jose talks about how great Kwame is. Heh. Maria is crying because she's married to a firefighter. So today they'll have to each make 65 meals for hospital workers. It has to be able to be packed to-go, and it's recommended they each have a protein, a vegetable, and a starch or grain. Obviously it will be reheated so you have to account for that. 2 hours to prep tonight, and 2 hours to finish cooking and pack meals tomorrow. The All-Star judges will deliver, and then the judges will be served in the Top Chef Kitchen. I think they should have to reheat and eat the meals out of the to-go containers. Then after Kwame shows them the trolley of PPE and sanitizer, Padma tells them to go to the Stew Room to suit up, while they “restock the pantry” so they'll have enough ingredients.
The Stew Room has manuals for everyone, with the safety guidelines. There's a shot of some workers cleaning the prep tables. Chris lost an uncle to Covid. Avishar says it's a reminder of what life is like outside the bubble they're currently in.
2 hours today. There's a lot of ingredients piled in boxes everywhere. Shota can't find sushi rice to make rice balls so he takes drumsticks. Chris is making sweet potato gratin, and he's hoping to bake it today so it can set overnight. He's worried about consistency. Maria is going to make tortillas from scratch. Sara is making a vegetarian dish, because she doesn't want it to be too heavy. She knows it's a risk. Then she crows about “having” to use yogurt. I know people have talked about this season being unique for how well everyone gets along, and certainly when Gabriel is the “villain” of the season and he's not even that bad honestly, it's true. But when Sara laughs about yogurt, everyone laughs with her and no one says in confessional “It's Top Chef not Top Yogurt”. You know? Jamie is one of nine children so they ate a lot of soup. Soup is comforting. Shota says he's making miso-braised chicken and he sounds pretty defeated. He tries to put a giant pot in the oven but the door won't close. He wants to be inspired but he just isn't. Avishar has curry which seems like a good idea. The other good idea he has is to have Shota taste it because he knows he doesn't have a normal spice tolerance. Everyone seems pretty tired when the day is over.
In the morning Dawn gets to call home and talk to her mom. Her mom had a stroke 6 months ago, and she has been caring for her. But her mom told her to go on the show. Dawn wants to win and make her mom proud.
Day Two. 2 hours to cook and pack. Maria is making her tortillas in the wood-burning oven because there is absolutely no space on the grill. Jamie is frying her eggplant for her soup. She talks about it like this is perfectly fine, but she is doing it because there's no oven space, so hopefully it turns out. Sara is making flatbread, but of course the wood oven is full. Actually I feel like she says it's full but then the next shot she's making bread in there so...? Tom, Padma, Gail, and Kwame arrive to the Stew Room (remember it's outdoors) to sit at the picnic table and talk about the challenge. The other All-Stars come out and everyone talks about how it takes a team and whatever. I think Sara is plating and packing with five minutes left. Looks like they're staggering deliveries? It says “5 minutes until the first hospital delivery”. Only Sara and Maria are shown plating so I guess each hospital just gets three dishes and you hope you like them.
Ah so the judges ARE going to eat out of the to-go containers. Jamie: kimchi tofu soup, bulgogi braised pork, eggplant, and steamed rice. Sara: lentil falafel, carrot and pumpkin seed hummus, tomato salad, and flatbread. Shota: miso-braised drumsticks with sweet potatoes, cauliflower pickles, and napa cabbage. Jamie's soup is delicious, and they like that the soup was separate from the rice and the pork, so you could mix them as you wanted. Sara was very successful with her flatbread, and of course they like the yogurt. Sadly Shota's chicken is kind of gray and Padma says the cabbage is also gray. Gail says it's classic Japanese comfort food but there's nothing worse than boiled chicken skin. Fair. Blais (they let the delivery boys eat the meals too) says this clearly isn't up to Shota's usual level.
There's a lot of teamwork for this second delivery. Plenty of people helping pack dishes. Hilariously in the car Dale and Carrie are like “Back in my day we had to make 300 plates! Kids these days!” Hee. Maria: “puerco verde”: pork in grilled tomatillo salsa with cabbage and avocado slaw, corn salsa, and tortilla. Avishar: Bengali style beef curry with chana cauliflower and basmati rice. Chana is chickpeas. Byron: “pollo a la brasa”: Peruvian style grilled chicken, aji amarillo potatoes and vegetable corn salad. Aji amarillo is a type of pepper. Avishar finally cooked his rice properly, but Tom says the curry is “broken”? It's not flavorful and it has a weird texture. Maria put a ton of flavors in her dishes, but then Tom says to turn the tortilla over because it's raw. Byron made chicken legs properly, unlike Shota.
Chris: grilled chicken breast with sweet potato gratin and charred cauliflower, leeks and Brussels sprouts. Oh sorry “leaks” because that's how someone spelled it. Get your shit together, Bravo. Gabe: achiote chicken with black bean sauce, sweet corn tamale and green beans. Achiote is another name for annatto, a sort of peppery spice. Dawn: tamarind braised top sirloin with coconut rice grits and maple red onion braised cabbage wedge. Chris cooked his chicken breast perfectly, but it's not seasoned at all. He said he used habaneros and everyone was shocked because they don't taste it. His gratin is also not cooked through. Gabe's whole dish has flavor but his chicken is a little dry. Gail says it's unfocused. They rave about Dawn's food. Then all the All-Stars return and crowd around the table to share their opinions about everyone's dishes.
Judges' Table, where everyone is here. There's a Zoom call with the people they fed talking about how they appreciate the meal. Basically everyone cries. Dawn, Jamie, and Sara are the top three. Sara's flatbread was delicious, and Tom says you don't miss the meat which is the sign of a good vegetarian dish. Jamie wanted something comforting, and even though it was spicy she balanced it. And the eggplant had a great texture. Dawn has a way with seasoning her food and building layers. The winner is Jamie. She looks confused but then starts giggling and saying “I'm back bitches”.
Avishar, Chris, and Maria are the bottom. Aww. Tom starts by saying he knows they all worked hard today. He also thinks Maria knows exactly what was wrong with her dish, but she doesn't because she thinks it's the pork. She had no idea the tortillas were raw on one side. Maria says the challenge got the best of her emotions. Padma tells her that without the tortilla she wouldn't be standing there. Chris wanted to make something comforting. Padma wants him to get “down and dirty” with his food? Anyway, everything needed salt and I think they're offended that he said there were habaneros on the chicken and they couldn't even taste that. Avishar wanted something he'd serve to his dad. The rice was actually fine this time, but his curry was bland. It turns out he didn't sear the meat before adding the stock. I knew you were supposed to do that to get the flavor from the browning, but Kwame says it helps the seasoning stick better as well.
Tom says these are all rookie mistakes. Maria had the best stew of the group, but the tortilla was raw. Both Avishar and Chris had bland dishes. They think Avishar didn't even season the meat before he put it in the broth. But Padma says “Nothing that Chris makes has any seasoning in it.” Gail says it doesn't have soul either.
Tom declares chefs equivalent to front-line workers because they are feeding the community, and then says for that reason it's hard to send someone home for rookie mistakes. But then they send Avishar home. Not Chris? Hmm. He's fully ready to win Last Chance Kitchen.
Next week: Restaurant Wars, open kitchen this time so everyone can see you. Wait, I'm wrong. It looks like they set up a U-shaped tall table for the judges to watch everything, as opposed to a regular restaurant set-up with diners? Yeah, they have shots of the judges at the table but no shots of other tables with randos.
Last Chance Kitchen: Avishar is upset that he failed the hospital workers. Sasha thought he would go further. Tom says the curry tasted bloody. Avishar is nervous because he knows how this works. It's all ingredients with “blood” in the name and also some actual blood and like, pig's heart. Also blood sausage which I think is the most normal thing on there. Both Sasha and Avishar have used blood before at some point. Avishar says he's used blood to thicken sauces before.
I think they have 30 minutes. There is no more peanut gallery which is sad. Things are more fun with the peanut gallery. Avishar asks Sasha how she's doing and proceeds to use up all his garbage puns. They are terrible dad jokes. Sasha has used blood sausage a lot and she says if it's one thing she knows, it's stick to what you know. So lots of beets and blood sausage. Avishar is supreming blood orange segments. They're both using the same ingredients but Sasha knows they'll be totally different. Avishar asks Sasha if she thinks he could put blood into eggs and scramble them. Would they coagulate at the same temperature? Sasha says “...probably?” but in confessional she points out if you don't put anything else in there it's going to be very metallic. She's got a lot of spices. Sasha drops a sausage on the ground. Oops. Then she makes pickled red onions to counter act the fat in the sausage?
Tom Time! Tom doesn't make as many faces at Avishar as I thought he would, but he does get very confused because he thought there was a heart missing. But no one is cooking heart. Now he's disappointed. Sasha laughs that Disappointed Dad Tom is all an act and she's not falling for it. Avishar's blood and eggs look horrifying.
Sasha: brown butter basted blood sausage with beet puree, pickled onions and blood orange segments. Avishar: “bloody good breakfast”: blood sausage with blood scrambled eggs, blood orange, and blood vinaigrette. Those eggs look gray and lumpy and gross. Sasha had a great variety of textures. Avishar's dish is balanced, and the eggs taste better than they look. Tom says they're both good but Sasha is the winner. Avishar is happy with the result because I think he's proud of his dish. Sasha is ready to keep winning.
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