Previously on “Top Chef”: for the Quickfire there was some product placement and we were meant to believe a national brand would make gelato out of pork rinds. But Nick and Ashleigh still won immunity. Ashleigh was thrilled since she'd just returned from Last Chance Kitchen. The Elimination Challenge was to be inspired by some famous Texan women. Some of this was successful and some people just got inspired by women in their lives or whatever they felt like. Evelyn won for actually being inspired by Selena and making a well-balanced pretty dish. Monique made a weird bean salad with dry oysters so she was sent home. (click for more)
On Last Chance Kitchen, Tom made Monique and Sarah make broth, since that was part of Monique's problem, and then even though they both managed broth in half an hour, Monique only seasoned her broth and none of the other components of her dish so she was eliminated.
Luke brings up working at Noma. He quit to take some time off and then open his own place, but then Covid hit. He likes learning, but mentions that when you work at Noma everyone assumes you know everything.
The Quickfire has a lot of spices, and also Ope Amosu (a local chef) and also Kwame. Love Kwame. This will be about Nigerian cuisine. Soups, stews, and swallows, which are starches that have been cooked until tender. You break off pieces and dip them into the soup or stew. First though we have to draw knives for what swallow you have to use. Jackson, Buddha, and Luke have iyan (yams). Jo, Evelyn, and Jae have amala (green plantains). And Ashleigh, Nick, and Damarr have eba (cassava). I find it SUPREMELY interesting that the three white chefs are a group, the three black chefs are a group, and the Asians and the one Hispanic woman are a group. Make a dish with the swallow you are assigned. Winner gets immunity.
Before we do any cooking we all taste everything. It looks really good. Plenty of information about dishes, spices, how to get a “draw”, meaning that slime that you get when you cook okra.
30 minutes to cook. Some minor fighting for things. Nick is thinking about gumbo. Buddha has guinea fowl which is very interesting. Ashleigh is making stewed greens which sounds perfect. They don't have a lot of time to get flavor into their dishes. Damarr blends something and it overflows. Evelyn asks Jackson what he thought about what he tasted up there and he kind of goes “Uhhhh...it was interesting to experience a new cuisine”. Heh. To be fair he is frustrated to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he can't taste it. There better be some kind of huge dramatic reveal that he can't taste anything. He's hoping he can perfectly cook fish and it'll work out. Jo tells everyone there are back-up spices in the pantry and then mutters “why do I help people?” Nick throws some spice in so his stew isn't as sweet. Damarr also thinks his dish is spicy. These judges won't care.
Jackson: snapper with tomato sauce and herb salad. Luke: chicken thighs with bitter greens and dried crayfish broth. Buddha: shrimp and guinea fowl with peanuts and fried plantains. Nick: okra stew with chicken thighs and crab. Ashleigh: sukuma wiki with grilled shrimp. Sukuma wiki is stewed collard greens. Damarr: scotch bonnet and shrimp stew with diced pineapple. Evelyn: tamarind and chicken wing stew. Jo: chicken and kale stew with suya and banga spice. Suya is a spiced meat skewer and banga spice is a blend with chilis and a bunch of stuff. Jae: poached mackerel and wilted arugula in beef stew.
Overall, this was great. However, Nick's stew was too sweet, and Evelyn somehow used flavors that drowned out the dish? I'm not sure how the flavors in the dish drown out the dish but sure. Buddha used peanut which spoke to the judges, and Damarr was bold in all the right ways. Then somehow Jackson's dish was enjoyable which is crazy to me. I guess he's just that good that he can make sauces without having to taste them. The winner is Buddha.
Padma goes to introduce the Elimination challenge and then it gets dark and they play the fake T Rex roar and show the Jurassic Park logo. Evelyn is like, “Jurassic Park!?!” because she doesn't know what this has to do with anything just like me. Joe Flamm walks in and I don't recognize him until Padma says his name, which is hilarious because that just goes to show how memorable his season was. Also he's got a dumb “costume” which is khakis and a bandanna. Anyway, product placement, but at least Jeff Goldblum is in this movie. Oh and a “special message” from the stars of the movie. Remember when Chris Pratt wasn't famous and he actually showed up to the show instead of calling it in? Also this just reminds me that he's going to play Mario and I had forgotten that garbage Nintendo decision and now I'm sad. Whatever, they will get assigned a dinosaur and their “lifestyle and diet” will have to be “showcased” in the dishes. I put quotes because remember that time they went to the zoo and they were supposed to match the diets of the animals they got assigned and then no one did? Yeah. The non-famous costar will come judge. Joe has dossiers for everyone. Oh also it's a team challenge! Haha. So it sounds like each team has a sea dinosaur, a flying type, and a land type. So the teams are not “everyone with the same dinosaur” which should make it slightly more interesting. Buddha, Nick, and Damarr have the sea dinosaur. Evelyn, Ashleigh, and Jo have the flying one, and then Luke, Jackson, and Jae have velociraptors. Look you don't care about the names but everyone knows which one is the velociraptor. The actual team you're on has to come up with a progressive menu, meaning the dishes all have to go together. THOSE teams are Luke, Damarr, and Ashleigh; Buddha, Jo, and Jae; and Jackson, Nick, and Evelyn. 15 minutes to plan now, and 2 hours to cook tomorrow, at the history museum. Winning team gets to go to the film premiere.
They should have had the product placement in the Quickfire and had Nigerian cuisine as an Elimination.
Jackson convinces his team they should all make the same cuisine, which sounds like it's going to be Southern cuisine. Also everyone with velociraptor is going last, and he wants to make dessert to stand out because clearly everyone else is going to make meat. Evelyn doesn't want to do fowl for the air dino, but sweet potato that is airy somehow. Sure. Luke is going to make something that looks like scales. Buddha is getting an alligator. Sure. Jo wants quail, because air, and she says it's open-ended because it eats everything. Jae is struggling because she can't think of anything. Jo promises her she doesn't have to be super literal. But Buddha has immunity so he knows Jo and Jae are under more pressure. I missed shopping. Ashleigh is making wings because flying. Nick wants bite-sized food for whatever reason. Jae also brings up Buddha's immunity which they REALLY want to make sure you remember.
In the morning, Evelyn worries because there aren't margins anymore. There are too few people to end up in the bottom.
They all go to the museum into the exhibit. Lots of oos and ahs at the bones. Buddha jokes that it looks like him when he wakes up. Hilarious.
Everyone runs and starts cooking. Buddha pulls out the alligator, and admits he's worked with it but never broken one down. He is making smoked alligator, then Jo has barbecued quail, and then Jae has a duo of lamb. I was going to be mad about duos but I feel like this is the first I've seen one this season. Buddha is going to take risks since he has immunity. I mean yeah, and still try hard, but I hope he doesn't screw his team. Jo stuffs her quail and she's making glazed carrots because she remembers in a scene from the first movie, after they fed the dinosaurs they had dinner and there were carrots? Dang.
Nick is making a crab croquette, then Evelyn has a pork tenderloin, and then Jackson is really going to make a dessert of cacao cake. I am not sure how Evelyn and Jackson are going to argue they were inspired by their dinosaurs but honestly I hope they pull it off. The cake will be gory. Jackson feeds his team so they can taste for him. He claims he has never used five spice before, and he tastes some and then sticks his fingers in his ears and makes a weird face. I have no idea what's going on. Evelyn laughs that he's weird.
Ashleigh asks how the oysters look, and Damarr says the oysters are large but pretty. They're trying for a progression of both flavors and sizes. Damarr is making a dukkah fried oyster, Ashleigh has wings with shito (a hot pepper sauce), and then Luke has an entree sized dish. Ashleigh says she sort of made this dish last time, in that she was supposed to be making candied pork and the pork she served wasn't sticky or super sweet so everyone was disappointed. It was tough too, don't forget that. Luke has trouble using the pressure cooker. But he has to because he has short ribs.
Jae breaks up some noodles, and Buddha is concerned because there are a lot of components to her dish. There is plenty of calm working and no one is freaked out yet. The judges come in and the stupid music sting plays. Well at least Kwame and Joe are there because I like the former contestant viewpoint. It's going well, seems like. We have to fake like something huge is on the way to the judges table by shaking the water glasses. Look it's not like product placement is new but this is the most obnoxious it's been in a while.
Buddha: smoked alligator, potato, beets, and salmon roe with alligator cream. It looks like little dumplings. Damarr: dukkah fried oysters with Fresno chow chow and oyster cream. Nick: crab croquette with pepper puree and pecans. Buddha's dish is beautiful and also very well balanced. Nick needed more red pepper but it was good. Damarr had good textures. Tom wants “evidence of a kill” so apparently he's bloodthirsty.
Jo complains that her carrots didn't take the glaze like she wanted but she's out of glaze so she's stuck. Evelyn: pork tenderloin with black garlic sauce, pecan crumb and sweet potato puree. The puree is “airy”. Ashleigh: shito wing with watermelon relish. Jo: barbecue stuffed quail with romesco and roasted carrots. Evelyn's dish is great. Ashleigh made a great relish but the wing itself is “flabby”. The quail is dry and Jo's carrots are boring. Tom of course wants to rip the quail apart with his hands and have crushed bones. Calm down Tom.
Jae starts plating super early, and Buddha thinks it will all get cold, but he also thinks his opinion doesn't matter at this point. Jackson makes bloody handprints, or at least claw marks. Jae: lamb duo, spiced rack of lamb and lamb meatball with pickled napa cabbage. Luke: braised short rib and broccoli with onions and seaweed broth. Jackson: fudgy cacao cake with sweet potato, pecan and raspberry blood. Also Jackson acts like a velociraptor rolled through the kitchen and killed someone. Shush. The lamb is soggy, although Gail says she knew Jae was pushing herself. It's a busy plate. Luke's dish is a great idea but the short rib is kind of chewy. Padma complains that he mentioned Mongolia, but it's not Mongolian beef. They love that Jackson went for it, so making dessert seems to have paid off.
Judges' Table. The winning team is Evelyn, Nick, and Jackson. Nick wanted to do seafood but he wanted it to be refined. Padma loved the croquette. Kwame tells Evelyn that her sweet potato was really airy so they got the inspiration. Jackson finally gave Tom the violence he wanted. Gail knows they really thought about the menu and the progression. This means Evelyn won again. She's on a roll.
So are we going to talk to everyone else? Padma tells Buddha that he's fine, and also his dish was great so he's fine anyway. Jae's lamb was mushy and then the plate was really busy. It never came together. Jo lost focus and the carrots were sad. She was worried about the quail cooking, and Tom says it was dry. Damarr did well, his oyster was crispy and the chow chow was delicious. Luke had a great presentation, with scales and “claws”, but the beef was a little tough and they were all expecting Mongolian beef and they didn't get there. Ashleigh had a bitter note in her sauce, and Kwame says it probably over reduced. The flavor didn't get into the meat.
Padma says they need to pick a bottom team, and then a loser. The most negative comments were for Jo and Jae. Padma says those two had more problems than Ashleigh and Luke combined. Kwame and Padma straight up say Jo should go home. The quail was overcooked and the carrots were boring. Tom (because someone has to argue the other viewpoint) says he didn't like Jae's dish at all. Joe feels at least there was some kind of flavor. Tom insists it was terrible.
Padma tells Jo, Jae, and Buddha they were the worst team. At the end of the day you still have to cook great food. Jo is eliminated. She knows she failed at execution, and she says over the last few challenges she knew she couldn't kick it into another gear. But she's proud she's made it this far with such competition.
Next week: Restaurant Wars! They brought back serving randos and not just a chef's table which is too bad. I liked not having to train caterers and pretend to decorate a restaurant.
Last Chance Kitchen: Jo interviews that she took a chance. Her cooking is simple so there is no room for error. Sarah says everyone lasted longer than her, but now they're coming into her world. She wants to kick Jo's ass and get it overwith.
Tom wants something stuffed. But clearly both the stuffing and the...stuffer? Stuffee? Anyway, everything has to be cooked and when you stuff things like meat it's hard to cook both components properly without drying one out. Jo is avoiding birds because to cook the stuffing safely, you end up drying out the bird. She's making either stuffed pasta or stuffed vegetables depending on if there is ricotta in the kitchen. She can't find ricotta so stuffed squash it is. It's safe but she wants to be sure she can execute. Hopefully the squash will cook. She's got some cut lengthwise and some cross-ways like cups so she's hoping one orientation will cook. Then she puts it in the regular oven and not the wood oven. She's going to stuff them with caponata, which is eggplant. Sarah is making dumplings from rice flour, stuffed with mushrooms. Oo, and deep fried. Sarah explains to Monique that her restaurant is “whole animal”, meaning they always have extra tallow around. It's been working for her, though, to make things she's made at the restaurant. Jo knows it's tricky to make really simple food because there's nothing to hide behind.
Tom Time! Jo says she's stuffing squash, and maybe she has time to get done. Tom makes a point that she's roasted the squash in the oven, and then she's just putting the caponata on top. Well technically inside. Yeah that's a good point, I feel like “make me something stuffed” means you cook the thing with the stuffing inside. Sarah tells Tom usually her dumplings have whatever scraps she's got. She thinks Tom is always on the lookout for mistakes. Sarah is starting to flail, she can't find biscuit cutters, so she's using a tart pan, so now the dumpling is too big. She's about to reach into the fryer and Tom starts roasting her for it, while he laughs and says she should just go ahead and he totally won't judge her. Jo's squash is a little undercooked but maybe putting it on the grill will be OK. Sarah is flailing and Jo is bragging in confessional that her station is clean and she's done. She is literally walking around.
Sarah: rice dumpling stuffed with odong and wild mushrooms. Odong appears to be a soup with sardines in tomato sauce? Jo: caponata stuffed delicata squash. Tom knows it's hard in half an hour. Sarah's plate doesn't look that great but she made a dumpling from scratch and it's got good textures. Jo had good flavors, but it wasn't enough. Undercooked. So Sarah wins. Plus she didn't cook the stuffing with the squash at all. Sarah says she's the phone call you want to get out of but you say bye and they keep talking.
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